The way this is playing out to me seems like this was going to be another MJF plot to stab someone in the back, but somewhere along the way he caught feelings and now he (maybe) actually has a friend for the first time. The whole deal about him thinking video games are for nerds because he never had someone to play them with and Cole being the exact type of guy who would be down with bro'ing out with anyone over games was the turning point. Plus it also seems like a good way to do a test run of babyface MJF and see just how over he would be (since I get the feeling Max legit is resistant to turning face, maybe this was a way to show him it would work).