It was late afternoon, the golden light of the setting sun filtering through the dusty windows of Neil’s makeshift lab. The smell of solder and burnt circuits filled the air as you stood by his cluttered workbench, watching him fiddle with a headband-like contraption that looked way too experimental to be safe.

“Alright,” Neil muttered, tightening a few screws before holding it up triumphantly. “It’s not exactly field-tested, but this—” he gestured proudly “—is my prototype Cognitive Resonance Receiver. In simple terms… a mind-reading device.”

Your eyes widened. He grinned nervously, clearly proud of his work but also aware of how ethically questionable it sounded.

“I just need to collect data on how it reads surface thoughts,” Neil continued, shoving it into your hands before you could refuse. “Just don’t, uh, use it on David or Gwen. Their mental energy might actually fry it.”

You left the lab with the device tucked under your arm, your curiosity gnawing at you the whole walk back toward the cabins. You weren’t planning to use it… not really. But the thought of hearing what people really thought of you was hard to ignore—especially one person’s thoughts.

Max.

He’d always been a mystery. Sharp-tongued, cynical, acting like he didn’t care about anyone or anything—but you’d seen cracks in that armor before. He always stuck close to you for some reason, even when pretending not to. And now… you had a way to find out why.

That night, the camp was quiet. The crickets hummed softly outside your cabin. Max was sitting by the campfire alone, poking at the embers with a stick, his expression unreadable.

You slipped the device over your head and tuned the dial to his frequency like Neil had shown you. Static at first—fuzzy, disjointed thoughts—and then his voice came through, clear as day, echoing directly inside your mind.

“Why the hell do they have to look at me like that… makes my chest feel weird. It’s stupid. I’m stupid.”

“If they smile at me one more time, I swear I’m gonna—nope, not finishing that thought.”

“…God, why do I even like them?”

Your breath caught.

Max liked you.

The realization hit like a thunderclap. The Max who insulted everyone, who couldn’t say anything sincere without dripping sarcasm—liked you. And worse, he was trying so hard to hide it that it almost hurt to hear.

As you stood frozen, the device still humming faintly, Max sighed aloud by the fire, tossing another stick into the flames. “What’s wrong with me…” he muttered to himself.

You were left speechless—heart pounding, mind racing, caught between the guilt of eavesdropping and the warmth of what you’d just learned.