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Max couldn’t say exactly when his feelings for Danny shifted from friendship to something more, but he realized it when he had to watch Danny fawn over Kendall at his old flower shop and leave him behind.
As soon as Danny walked away from him, Max felt a strange feeling in his chest that he hadn’t been able to place at the time. All he knew was that he was angry and hurt watching his best friend completely ignore him.
It was when he was captured by the bell org and had time to consider everything that went down, that he realized how far gone he was. He kept pushing Danny away because he didn’t want to see him with someone else; see him fall for someone else. He’d fallen hard for Danny and it took him nearly dying to figure it out.
Nothing really changed after that. Max wouldn’t let it. Danny could never feel the same way, not when he had Kendall, and Max would never risk their friendship, it meant too much to him.
But once he knew of his feelings, it became a lot harder to ignore them. And it hurt so much more. When he had to listen to Danny gush about Kendall, all he wanted to do was scream and run away. But he was not a kid. He could handle it no matter how much he hated it.
Then something did change. Danny decided to let Kendall go so he could focus on being a ranger and it felt like Danny was choosing him. Max tried not to get his hopes up but Danny had become even more protective and touchy with him and it became hard not to.
Then when he asked Danny to travel the world with him, Max almost expected him to invite Kendall. Their ranger duties were done after all. But he didn’t. And this finally gave Max the courage to ask Danny on the date he’d been wanting for so long. And when Danny said yes, with the biggest smile on his face, Max couldn’t have been happier.