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Chapter Text

It has been 6 months since camp has ended. A lot has changed. He turned 12 last September. He has yet to get a haircut, his curls frame his face and drape over his eyes and neck. His foster mom got him some new shoes after the soles of his old ones fell off. Oh, that's another thing. Max has been in Mr and Mrs Mooresons care for about 3 months now. Some shit happened with his real mom and dad. He didn't hate his foster parents, but he didn't like them all that much. They were too clean and proper and just obnoxiously perfect.
They have family dinner every night with him and his foster brother and their biological daughter and go to church every Sunday and always put their shoes in the shoe rack and coats on the cost hanger and they have to be in bed by 10 PM and the kids can't drink coffee.
Of course Max had his own secret coffee machine and just wore headphones after 10 and kept his shoes and hoodie in his room, but that wasn't the point. This whole family looks like it came out of a stock photo with their sad beige, cross covered house. And obviously they were all white except his Hispanic foster brother. He knew there wasn't a place him in a functioning family like this one.

But it's not like he was getting comfortable anyways because this was an emergency placement home. They take kids last minute and hold them for 3 or 4 months until CPS can find a long term home. He would leave this place and go to his new home later this week, whoever the fuck they were.
Though he did feel sorry for his foster brother, who just arrived here. They didn't really talk about feelings and stuff, but Max knew Evan felt the same way to some extent. Most of the month they had together was spent exploring the forest and getting kicked out of stores. Once they got caught breaking into an abandoned movie theater and weren't allowed to hang out together for 2 weeks.
Emily seemed to like it here just fine, though. She never objected to the rules and was close with her parents. Not so much with Max. It's not that he didn't like her, although he didn't particularly like her, it's that she's essentially a massive fucking snitch. She reports every little detail of her like back to her parents and the few times Max or Evan fought with her or broke a rule in front of her, she ran to mommy and daddy. And she was a very devoted Mormon. If she ever found out that he was trans, Max is pretty sure her little brain would implode.

Right now, he was laying in bed after another painfully awkward family dinner and listening to music while he drew. He didn't used to like drawing, but only having one friend who lives in the same house as you gets fucking boring. God, he missed Nikki and Neil. The music blaring in his headphones was interrupted by a muffled knock on the door. Irritated, he paused his music and opened the door to find his case worker behind it.
She was a tall, slender, black haired woman with her hair in a medium length braid, dark skin and round wire frame glasses named Ms. Lopez. Max actually liked Ms Lopez a bit. She was a lot like Gwen in the way that she kept it real with him and didn't baby him. She knew there was no point in sugar coating things because she knew he's seen much worse. Unlike Gwen though, she had a sweet and welcoming aura to her. Not in the sickeningly sweet way like David, she was a perfect blend of the two.
"Hey, Wendy! You find my new place?" He asked, closing the door behind her as she walked in. He knew he wasn't supposed to call her by her first name, but she wasn't one of those annoying adults that preached respecting your elders. "Hey Max, sure did!" she pat the bed next to her to indicate for him to sit before reaching into her bag and pulling out a neon green folder.
"I met this guy earlier today, he's... Quite the character! But he's nice, I like him." She opened the folder to a picture of a suspiciously familiar ginger, green eyed man. "This is David Cedar. He has 5 years of experience as a foster parent, plus 9 years as a summer camp counselor. He currently doesn't have any other kids with him, but he's one of the only available foster parents in the sleepy peak region and he can house 2 more." Max could here her talking, but he stopped listening after he saw the picture of fucking David in his case file.
Finally, he processed what she was saying and yanked the folder out of her hands. He stared intently at the picture and information on the page. "Fucking DAVID? Are you shitting me right now? Since when is he a mother fucking foster parent!?" He screeched. "Woah, do you know this guy? From where?" Wendy questioned, leaning over his shoulder to see if she missed something. "Wendy, this is the camp counselor I've told you about! The stuck with him every summer for 3 months for the last 5 years of my life David! The on the verge of snapping on me after I purposely fucked with him since I was like 6 David!" Max shouted. "Oh, shit. Do you think we need to keep looking? You may have to stay here a bit longer, and probably have to leave Sleepy Peak, but if your not gonna be happy there..." She trailed off.
Max felt a pit in his stomach for some reason at the suggestion of not going with David. It was probably just the initial shock setting in, obviously. "No! No, I mean, I'll deal with it if it means I get to leave this week. Plus, now I get to mess with him year round." Max closed the folder and handed it back to Wendy. "... If you're sure, dude. Be ready at 9 AM on Thursday, and don't give him too much hell kid." She chuckled, ruffling his hair a bit as she headed out the door.

After he heard her decend down the stairs and the front door slam shut, he pulled out his digital camera and started to look through this pictures from camp. There was Erid and Preston singing a duet of Hamilton at the top of their lungs, Nikki holding on for dear life to Nerris's cape while the elf was riding a horse, and Nurf trying to help a sweaty and exhausted Harrison on a mountain hike. Then there was the picture of the sunset. After staring at it for a moment, Max went to turn off the camera. His finger slipped on the next button and it flipped to a picture of the campers building their robot abomination. He thought the sunset was the first picture on the camera?
Confused, he clicked the arrow again and saw Neil, Nikki, Space kid and Nurf throwing their time capsules into the fire followed by a picture of Campbell covered in ashes, the edges of his clothes singed and fuming with rage. Next was a picture of Max laughing while Gwen's dads dog jumped up to lick his face, and a picture of the dachshund performing. There was also a stalker-ish picture of Max taken from a distance of his beaming with joy watching the dog do a flip. There was a picture of the campers huddled together terrified, listening to space kids haunting scary story, one of Preston's play, the woodscouts hung from the flagpole, an unexplained picture of a wolf happily chewing on a cooked rabbits leg, the bus full of campers after they won Camp Campbell back from Camp Corp, Max, Nikki and Neil laughing by the fountain in the park in the city, the Lake Lilac Summer Social (including Gwen and Jermy dancing in a puddle of vomit), the forgein exchange students before they went crazy, space kids "space ship" flying through the air, and all the campers in their questionable costumes at the order of the sparrow bonfire.
There were a ton of less notable pictures sprinkled in there like Nikki putting green beans up her nose or Neil trying to delicately squeeze one single drop of some liquid into a beaker unaware that Nikki was about to pound from behind and a suspicious amount of Gwen simply existing, and Nikki and Neil's first day at camp.
Actually, there were pictures of everyone's first day of camp that year. And there were pictures of Max his first day last year, and the year before that, and every year since he started going to camp.
Scrolling through the photos, Max started to realize there were pictures he didn't even realize where taken of every single smile or happy memory since his first summer at Camp Campbell. He knew that for a fact because he could count every time he'd smiled before Nikki and Neil showed up on two hands.
Did David leave these for him to find on purpose? Did he just forget about them? And the most important question on Max's mind, why did David become a foster parent the same year he met Max? It had to be a coincidence, right? Yeah, of course it was. What other reason is there?
The drops of water that landed on the screen of the camera must be from a leak in the ceiling. That explains the wetness on his face, too. His nose is only stuffy because his window was open and he has allergies. And he suddenly felt excited to see David because he just couldn't wait to torture him again.

Chapter Text

Max, Evan and Emily were already waiting on the curb outside the house at 9 AM sharp. It took 3 cups of coffee to get Max up and productive at 8 in the morning, but he was ready to get the hell out. Not because he was excited to see David though, of course. He picked at his nails anxiously and checked the time for the 200th time since they came outside. 9:08. She said 9. They should be here by now,  right? Did David realize that it's the same Max from camp and change his mind? Did Ms Lopez forget, or get in a crash or something? Or did-

His spiraling was cut off by the sound of tires screeching to a halt. Wendy waved her long pink acrylics out of the skylight and double honked. "Oh, guess it's time. Well, it was nice knowing you, dude." Evan said with false carelessness. "Don't be stupid. Obviously we'll keep in contact, I know the house phone number. I steal David's phone all the time." Max snuck a quick side hug before turning to Emily. "By, Em. It was nice knowin ya." to his surprise, she wrapped around his waist and gave him a tight hug. "I'll miss you, Max!" She cried. "I'll see you guys later! Promise." He held up his pinky as he walked backwards to the car. He threw the two backpacks containing everything he owned into the van and slammed the door.

"So, you excited? Once David found out it was you he went out and got a bunch of shit for you he thought you would like. I'm pretty sure he's waiting outside for you with McDonald's. Oh,  and he said he had a surprise for you."

"Oh god, it's gonna be all "live laugh love signs" and cheesy shit like that, huh? And the surprised will be a warm embrace."

"You sure are optimistic."

The drive was shorter than expected, and Max could already see a tuft of orange hair bouncing up and down happily in the distance. Yep, that was absolutely and undoubtedly his David. The house he stood in front of was surprisingly large for a Camp Campbell salary. It was 2 stories and has a ton of window. The front had a big and very well nourished garden. It had a decently sized porch with a swinging bench on it beside the front door. The outside wasn't dirty by any means, but it certainly looked lived in. The porch was worn and the paint of the wood was chipping. There was a lot of random objects sitting in the lawn. Max could see David struggling to contain himself as they slowed to a stop in front of the house. He expected to be bombarded the second he stepped foot outside the van. "Hello, Max!" he cheered loudly before the car door was even all the way open. Max saw him start to step forward, then hesitate and step back. Hesitantly, he opened his arms for a hug. The man instantly accepted, picking him up and spinning him around probably without even realizing. "I'm so happy to see you!" He beamed. "Yeah, whatever camp man. Just take me to my room." Max made an effort to hide the obvious grin on his face by turning back to the car and grabbing his bags.

"Oh, is there more in the trunk? I would be happy to help!"

"Huh? No, this is everything."

"You only have two bags? That's everything you own?"

"Yeah? I only take one backpack to camp every summer, dumbass. Im just not materialistic."

David shot a worried glance to Wendy, who just nodded solemnly and gestured towards the house.

"Oh wait, Max! I know I said I had a surprise for you, but I actually have two!" David side stepped in front of the door before Max could go inside. "I already know you got McDonald's, now move!" He unsuccessfully tried to swipe at the doorknob. "Trust me, you'll like this!" David reassured. He turned back to the door and very slowly opened it. A tiny Rottweiler puppy came bounding out and immediately began to inspect Max. "Holy shit, are you fucking serious?! You got a fucking puppy!? What the hell!?" Max shreeked so loud his voice cracked. He dropped to the floor, letting the dog jump into him and lick his face.

"He's all yours! I hope I picked the right breed, I never heard you specify your favorite kind, and maybe I should've let you settle in first before giving you this responsibly, and I probably shouldve let you come pick him out, but-"

"SHUT UP! I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!"

"Oh, good! Well, what's his name?"

"Hmm... " Max looked deep into the dogs eyes as if reading his soul. "Nuke." He decided. "Nuke? Actually I should've expected that. That's a great name, Max." David sighed as he held open the door for the 3 to come in. The door entered into a room with gray carpet and light green walls. There was a brown leather couch in front of a tv with a coffee table made out of a tree stump in the middle. There were houseplants hanging from the ceiling and in the windowsill. There was a small lamp to one side of the tv and a large fish tank on the other. The wall had framed pictures of David  with his mom and with Gwen and a few others around a big picture of the Camp Campbell group picture. There was a few candles lit on the coffee table making the room smell like lilac and the forest. It was much more comfortable than his last home. "This is my living room, I tried to clean up before you arrived. We have Disney +, Netflix, YouTube and Hulu on the TV. There's also a PlayStation, though I'm not sure what games we have. It's mostly just used for the kids." David led the way to the next room, with was through a wide arch doorway next to a flight of stairs. The floor in here was tile with the same shade of green on the walls. The counter was in a U shape with a bar on the right side with 4 stools around it. There was some boxes of cereal and dishes sitting out on the counter as well as the McDonald's. The pantry wasn't built into the wall and had a clear glass door. It was fully stocked with snacks. Behind the bar was a slightly messy circular dining table and a short hallway with two doors on either side "Of course you can help yourself to anything in the kitchen, I tried to remember what foods you like from camp and just got some basic food like mac and cheese and pizza rolls, but I'll cook breakfast lunch and dinner most days. Oh, and on the left is the bathroom and on the right is my bedroom. We can eat now or after the tour." Max answer by turning around and heading up the stairs. At the top of the stairs was a wide, long hallway with 4 doors, 2 on each side. "The first door is the bathroom, them there's the other 2 foster kids room. And at the end is your room! Your other surprise isn't actually here right now, so let's go downstairs and eat for now."

Wendy, David and Max chatted and ate at the dining table for around 20 minutes. Max snuck Nuke a few chicken nuggets when no one was looking. "Hey Max, why don't you and Nuke go check out your new room while I talk to Ms. Lopez for a minute?" David asked, but it wasn't really a question. "Yeah, whatever." Max picked up the puppy and his 2 bags and trudged up the stairs. His bedroom was nothing like he expected. The walls were painted his favorite shade of blue. His bed was a loft with a set of drawers and a desk underneath. On his bed, he had matching pillows and sheets with little dogs on them covered by a black comforter and blue throw blanket. He had a mountain of circular, rectangular and square pillows. There was a dinosaur, a border collie and a Rottweiler plushie at the foot of the bed. At the wall across from the bed was a window with blackout curtains and a trunk with a lock and a dog bed underneath. On the same wall as the door was a closet with some empty hangers and a few things already hung up across from another set of drawers. Max tossed his bags onto the floor and started going through them to put his things away. He hung up his 5 t-shirts and one spare hoodie next to the black and dark red hoodies, striped T-shirt and blue sweater David bought for him. In the drawers there were already a pair of basketball shorts, a light blue pair of jeans, a dark blue pair of jeans, and some sweat pants. He put away the rest of his clothes and moved onto the desk. On it was a couple candles and a water bottle with a big M sticker on it. Inside the desk drawer was a college ruled notebook, a hard back journal, some pencils, markers, pens, and sticky notes. It made his stomach twist that he would have to go back to school soon. People say elementary school is easy, but they've never been a trans, Indian and abused kid in a public school. He noticed a small sticky note on the cover of the hard cover notebook. "Hi max! In my experience, journaling has been very beneficial kids going through a hard time! I will never touch or read this journal, feel free to used it how you would like! :) -Love, David". The other drawers under the loft were empty, probably just for storage. He climbed into his bed and pulled out  2 things from his backpack. A smaller print of the same Camp Campbell group photo in Davids living room, but much more crumpled, ripped and stained. He pinned it to the wall and pulled out Mr. Honeynuts. He placed him gently beside the mountain of pillows and hopped down to the trunk next. The key was sitting on top. He opened it and put inside his half of the order of the sparrow staff, a roll of ace bandages, a pocket knife, a lighter, a slip of paper with some numbers written down, a crusty old rag, a mini first aid kit and a small blank sketchbook before shutting and locking the trunk. The rest of the afternoon was spent playing with Nuke on his bedroom floor. For once in his life, Max actually tried to be positive, but it seems that doesn't come naturally to him. David remembered all his favorite things, probably spent hundreds setting up and fully stocking this bedroom specifically tailored to him, got all his favorite foods, got him a fucking puppy and expects nothing in return. That's the problem. Max knows that just because David could tolerate living with him for 3 months at a time doesn't mean they can live together for long. Whether purposefully or not, Max would break him eventually and he would be sent to another stranger until his broke them too. Hell, he broke his own parents. He knew even if he wanted it to be forever, it just wasn't. This isn't his home, just a place he's staying. David wasted a shit ton of money for nothing. Hopefully his next kid likes dogs and blue. Max took his empty backpack and put in 2 outfits, deodorant, and all the other essentials. He would sneak down and get some food to store away later, too. Just in case. This next surprise better not be as big as the last 2.

Chapter Text

Max heard the front door slam shut at around 12:30. Wendy and David must've had a lot to talk about. "Max, come down here please!" David called from the bottom of the stairs. Groaning, he picked up the now sleeping puppy and trudged downstairs. "Awe, glad to see he's comfortable! Anyways, have a seat on the couch." He said from the fish tank he was sprinkling food into. A second later, he say down on the other end of the couch and turned to face.

"So, I decided your other surprise can wait until tomorrow so the two of us can just talk tonight."

"Talk? About?"

"Well for one, we are gonna need to have you enrolled in school soon."

"What? No! There's only... 8 months of school left anyways, why bother?"

"I know it sucks, Max, but now that your officially places in a home I legally have to enroll you within the next two weeks. But there is a silver lining!"

"You could say that about kittens being murdered."

"I'm going to be your teacher!"

"... What."

"I'm the 5th grade teacher for Sleepy Peak Elementary School! It's quite a small school, only one class per grade."

"Jesus Christ, not only am I gonna be the weird brown queer kid but my dad is the fucking teacher."

"Hey, don't talk about yourself like that! If you ever have any problems with bullies, you come to me, ok?"

"Yeah, cus you'll be real helpful."

"The other thing, I have to take you to the doctor for a general checkup, and to get your vaccinations."

"Absolutely. The fuck. Not."

"You haven't had your vaccines since you were a toddler Max, and in legally required to-"

"Shut the fuck up with your legally required bullshit! Nobody is sticking needles in my fuckin arm."

"Ok, let's make a little deal then. If you go to the doctor and school without a fuss, then I'll buy you your own phone."

".... For real?"

"For real."

".... Fine."

"I'm so proud of you Max! Just one more thing, I'm also required to get you into counseling."

Max felt his blood run cold. Therapy is what got him into this mess in the first place.

"No."

"Max, you-"

"No. Deals off. Ground me, don't give me dinner tonight, beat me, I don't give a shit. I am NOT going to fucking therapy. "

"Woah woah, slow down! First of all, I would never ever take away your food or put my hands on you as punishment! Secondly, why are you so against the idea of counseling?"

"Were not talking about this, I'm not going to counseling. Send me to another home, I don't care."

Before David could object, Max stormed off to his room. He barely made it up to his room before he collapsed against the door in tears. It's already starting. The counselors gonna get him taken away again, or sent to a mental hospital, or decide he's not traumatized enough or some shit and send him right back to his parents. He tried to force his breathing to slow and his eyes to stop watering for a few minutes to no avail. He grabbed the key to the trunk with shaking hands and barely managed to get the key into the keyhole with how unsteady his hands were. When he finally got the trunk open, he pulled out the pocket knife, the rag, and the mini first aide kit. He laid the rag over his lap and put his arm down above it. He steadied the tip of the blade on his arm. A tiny whine snapped him out of the moment. He looked up to see Nuke staring at him with concern. The dog cautiously approached and licked Max's face before curling into a ball on his lap. He froze for a minute, unsure of what to do, before he broke down in tears all over again. He put the pocket knife, the rag and the first aide kit back into the trunk and carried Nuke onto his bed. He curled up in bed and hugged the puppy like a teddy bear, sobbing. His breathing started to return to normal and his face dried after about 30 minutes. He just laid there for a while, staring at the wall, until there was a knock on his door. "Max, can I come in?" He didn't respond. "Ok, I'm coming in. Just throw something if you want me out." He probably would've if his body didn't feel like it was made of lead. Instead he opted to just glare harshly at the man. "I just got off the phone with Ms. Lopez. I understand why you don't want to go to counseling." David said softly. That was the last thing Max wanted to hear. He hated being vulnerable more than anything in the world, and that was probably the most vulnerable and pathetic part of his whole life. "I know that it's scary, and I know you don't want to, but I really am legally bound, Max. But your safe here, your fed and healthy, and there's no reason they could possibly take you away. Ok?" He said. "Your wrong." Max grumbled. "What do you think they would take you away for?" David asked. He glanced in the direction of the open trunk without thinking. Shit. "Oh. Oh, Max..." That was another thing Max hated. Being pitied. "Did... It happen today?" He shook his head. "Are there any fresh ones on you right now?" He didn't respond. "I'll be right back." David left the room and came back a few seconds later with a full sized first aid kit. "Can you come down here, please?" Max begrudgingly dragged himself down the ladder, leaving Nuke on the bed. He didn't need to be asked to roll up his sleeve. He refused to see David's stupid pitying reaction, but he heard a subtle gasp of horror. He knew the cuts were much deeper than David was expecting, to the point he probably should've gotten stitches. He fought as hard he could to keep back tears. He fucking hated everything about this situation. Silently, David disinfected the wounds on his arm and gently bandaged them with gauze. "Hey, look at me." He said firmly, but not intimidatingly. The tears started to fall again as Max met his eyes. "Your not in trouble, ok? You are not going to be taken away." He finally let the sobs in he throat out as he fell into David's chest. He wrapped his arms around the boys shaking shoulders and rubbed soothing circles into his back. When his tears started to dry for the 3rd time, he pulled away and wiped his face aggressively with his sleeve. "You understand that I have to take this away, right?" David said, picking up the knife. "Yeah, I know." Max sighed.

"Here, let's make another deal. If you keep staying clean, then you only have to do 1 counseling session every 9 days. If you relapse and you tell me, then it becomes once a week for the next 4 sessions. But if you keep doing it and don't tell me, then it's 3 times a week. Deal?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"... No."

"Then I guess."

"Thank you. I'm really proud of you. And while I'm here, is there anything else you need? A haircut, new clothes, anything at all?"

"No, I think you already got that covered."

"Ok, we can schedule your doctor's appointment and register you for school first thing tomorrow. Love you, goodnight!"

"Night.... Love you too."

Chapter Text

The squeak of Max's sneakers echoed through the isle as he dragged his feet on the tile. Max insisted that anything David got would be fine and he didn't need to come with him to the grocery store, but some battles simply can't be won.

"There, we got all your stupid groceries. Can we go home now?" He grumbled, leaning his head on the side of the shopping cart.

  He really didn't mean to be as snappy as he was, but the buzzing flourecent lights and screaming baby and his hair brushing against his eyes and neck were just too much today.        That and the ace bandages digging too hard and too tight into his chest making it hard to breathe. It felt like his brain was on fire and his eyes hurt and suddenly he wanted to break the skull of every person who laughed a little too loud or coughed or would NOT stop fucking sniffling.

  "Just one more thing! What's your favorite kind of ice cream, Max?"

"Wha- huh?"

"Go ahead, pick a flavor."

  Confused, he chose a pint of coffee flavored ice cream out of the freezer and put it into the cart. He had been nothing short of an asshole all day, and he was being rewarded with ice cream? David was more of a pushover that he thought. He sat through David's small talk with the cashier while they were checking out and ignored the growing feeling of lightheadedness as they walked through the hot parking lot.

"Thanks for coming with me today, Max! I know grocery stores can be very overwhelming."

"What are you talking about?"

"It was pretty loud in there today, huh? And it was bad noise, like that baby and the freezer buzzing and stuff."

"...Yeah. And the lights, too."

"Oh, I just hate grocery store lights! So unpleasant."

  Max watched the man read his mind like it was nothing as he casually buckled his seatbelt and turned the keys in the ignition. He was positive this wasn't a common experience, because when he talked about how images of gauging his obnoxious tablemates eyes out when he wouldn't stop pressing buttons on Max's computer, she called his parents and said we was a danger to himself or others.

"Yknow what helped me when I used to feel like that? Noise cancelling headphones. Maybe I should order some online for you when we get home." David rambled as they exited the parking lot.

"You used to get like that, too?"

"Oh, all the time! I still do sometimes. I would have horrible thoughts about hurting people, or sometimes myself. I have better ways to deal with those feelings now, though."

  David described exactly what Max was thinking and feeling and has thought and felt as long as he can remember as if they were just talking about the weather. Before Max had time to ask another question, they were already pulling up to the house. It rarely takes more than 10 minutes to get anywhere in this miniscule town.

  As he was unloading the groceries from the car, the lightheadedness continued to grow until it was unbearable. There was static in his vision and everything sounded like he was underwater. He threw the last bag onto the floor and dashed off to his room.

  By the time he was safe inside his room, there were black spots appearing his peripherals. He was vaguely aware of the fact he completely missed the lock on the door before he started fidgeting with the metal clamp on the bandaged, desperate to be able to inhale deeply again.

"Max, are you ok? You didn't get your ice cream." David drummed on the bedroom door. "'M fine, I just was.." He searched in his foggy mind for a moment for any kind of excuse with no success. He didn't realize he was starting to topple over until he was on the ground.

"Max, what was that? I'm coming in!" David cautioned before swinging the door open. He caught a short glance of the peach fabric before Max violently yanked his shirt down. "I just tripped, fuck off!" He half ass the lie without bothering to stand up.  "Meet me in my room in a few minutes, please." David instructed before leaving the room. Fuck. Max really didn't expect the thing to break him to be a total accident. He sat on the floor looking for any kind of exit strategy before hesitantly making his way down the stairs.

  When he walked in, David was crouched down by his closet digging through a cardboard box.

"Uhm... David?"

"Just a sec, you can take a seat on the bed!"

He dreaded what would happen next for a good 30 seconds before David turned to face him with 3 pieces of fabric in his hands.

"Do you know what these are?" He asked as he laid them out on the bed.

"Uh... No?"

"These are binders, the safe and efficient version of what your using bandages for."

Something clicked in Max's mind as he looked between David and the binders.

"So then... Why do you have them?"

David lifted his shirt to reveal 2 dark pink scars across his chest.

"I guess I don't need them anymore, really I should just give you the whole box."

When Max didn't respond, he picked the 3 back up and handed them to the boy.

"Those were the first ones I ever got, so they should fit you." He gestured with his head to the bathroom across the hall. After another beat of silence, Max stoood up and walked into the bathroom.

He had to admit, the binder was far more comfortable than the death trap he created before. Of course he got a long lecture from David about not sleeping in it, exercising in it, wearing it for more than 8 hours and a bunch of other shit he probably sprouted off a trans teen safety pamphlet. Max was shocked at how much he seemed to have in common with David, and almost more shocked he never noticed before. That made him wonder if David ever noticed things about him be thought no one did. At the end of the day they weren't all the same, though, because right now David was eating his strawberry ice cream and Max was eating his coffee ice cream.

Chapter Text

Max was prepared for a long, boring day of being deadnamed by teachers and touring boring cafeterias and boring librarys and boring offices in the ridiculously small K-12 school. The only thing he was look forward to about enrolling in school is plotting his first scheme of the year. David said his suprise is waiting for him at the school, which only made him more sure that it was something stupid.

  He followed David into the heavily air conditioner brick building. It looked like the high schoolers were at lunch, and it felt like all eyes were on him. He was positively convinced they were judging him. He pulled up his hood up and walked with his head down to the office. The second he stepped foot into the room, he heard a very familiar voice call his name. He looked up to see a girl with ratty green pigtails, a yellow T-shirt under a red flannel and dark blue denim shorts splattered with mud and bandaides standing beside a boy with brown curly hair, a yellowish- orange sweater over a white button up and maroon dress pants in front of him.

   Before he could get out a word, he was being bear hug and picked up. "MAXMAXMAXMAXMAX!" She chanted as she spun him around excitedly. "Wha- the fuck? What the hell are you guys doing here!?" He finally managed after being set down. Neil took the opportunity to pull him into a (shockingly tight for the scrawny boy) hug.

   "When David found out you were in Sleepy Peak, he talked to our parents and arranged for us all to go here!" Neil explained.

  "Ok pause, putting that aside, OUR parents?" Max gaped, staring between the two. "Ohmygod, I can't believe I haven't got to tell you! Our parents moved in together, they said it was for money reasons but I don't buy it, and now they're getting married soon!" Nikki bubbled. Max couldn't help but burst into laughter at the thought of the two becoming siblings.

David happily agreed to let Nikki and Neil come over and meet Nuke. He still had to get the enrollment process out of the way first, so they opted to but sit on the bench in the office and catch up. He snapped a picture of them laughing together in his digital camera when they weren't looking. Max became distracted from Nikki's story about falling off the boat during their fishing trip when he saw David hunch over and speak quieter to the secretary.

    "Yes, Maxine Khan, but he goes by just max." He overheard him whisper. "Maxine?" The old woman repeated so loud it made Max physically cringe. "Huh? Who's Maxine?" Nikki asked, looking between David and Max. "Oh, in India Maxine is actually a masculine name!" Neil quickly jumped in. Max shot him a look that said "thank you so much" before returning to the conversation like nothing happened.

    Nikki was sitting on the floor roughousing with Nuke, while Neil was pushed against the wall on the bed as ran away from her as he could get. Obviously Max bullied him for being a pussy before joining him on the bed. They had been talking about everything thats happened in the 6 months they've been apart for hours, and were starting to run dry of stories.

   "Hey Max, can I ask you something?" Nikki asked cautiously, setting down the rope toy she was playing with. "Shoot." He replied. "Why are you staying with David?" She asked. "Oh, just... Some stuff happened with my folks." He vaguely replied. "Yeah, but what kinda stuff?" She persisted as she grabbed onto the bed frame and pulled herself up. "They beat me and they didn't take care of me, pretty much. I told a school counselor about it and she made it a bigger deal than it was." He said as non-chalontly as he could.

    To his dismay, his friends didn't laugh it off and continue the conversation like was was hoping they would. They fell into a tense silence and he could feel their stupid pitying eyes burning holes in his skull. "That is a big deal, Max. That's a really big deal." Neil finally spoke. "You guys know me, it's not like I didn't intentionally set them off all the time. I knew better than to sneak food and break plates and shit. You guys wouldn't get it, it's a cultural thing." He continued trying to brush it off.

   When he eventually looked up, Nikki had tears welling up in her eyes and Neil was fuming. "They're in jail, right? For how long?" Neil seethed. "I dunno, like, 15 years? My mom had additional charges for drug possession so..." "15 years?! What the hell, that should warrant a life sentence! They should never see the light of day again! They should be tortured, locked in an empty square white room for eternity!"

  Neil's furious ramblings were interrupted by a small, high pitched whine. They both looked over to see Nikki's tears had overflowed, and she was now ugly crying. "Woah,  hey, Nikki, I'm fine! Look, I'm right here, with David, away from them." Max tried pathetically to confront the girl. She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him so tight he thought his ribs might break. Usually, he would shove her off then kick her off the bed, but it was obvious she needed this. He silently let himself be smothered, loosely wrapping his arms around her in return. They stayed like that until Nikki calmed down along with the tension in the room. Nikki wedged in between the two and forcibly wrapped one of each of their arms around her. "Wanna play minecraft?"

Chapter Text

Max wanted to spend is last few days of freedom sleeping until 2, but David just had to fuck up his sleep schedule so he wakes up naturally at 8 now. He dragged is feet down the stairs and barely opened his eyes as he made his way to the coffee maker. He rubbed his eyes and started adjusting the the bright natural sunlight that seemed to come from everywhere in the house. He looked over at the dining table to see David already there, still in pajamas and drinking coffee. He was startled to see another person across from him.

  Their hair was in a fucked up messy bun and they wore a purple jacket over their pajamas, a stupid graphic T and shorts.

"The fuck are you doing in my house?"

"Good to see you too, ya little satan spawn."

"Good morning max!"

  David excitedly gestured for Max to sit. He grabbed the mug of black coffee off the Keurig and sat across from Gwen. "I thought you were in California or something." He eyed her suspiciously. "I was. Luckily for you, it was the last day of the meet and greet I was hosting when David called me so I got a flight down." Gwen replied. "And why did you do that?" Max persisted. "David could barely handle you for 3 months without me, what makes you think he can now?" Gwen teased. "Gwen!" David cried. "Fine, fine. I actually have another event in the next town over so I'm staying here instead of a hotel to save money." Max's mind echoed back to when Nikki said Candy and Karl moverd in together for "financial reasons".

  "Let's look over the agenda for the day! At 10 we're going back to school shopping, and we'll probably be back by-" "What?! No, I don't need to go back to school shopping! I have enough clothes!" Max complained. "Max, I mean this in the nicest and most supportive way possible, I’ve only seen you wear the same couple outfits for a long time and they're starting to get a little worn."

   Max hid his face in his coffee cup and was suddenly very interested in the color of the floor tile.

He knew that it was true, he hasn't been shopping in well over 2 years. He just didn't grow a lot, he guessed, because most of his clothes were still oversized on him. But he likes his clothes, who cares if they have a few rips and stains?

    "But, after we're done clothes shopping we can get some snacks and have a movie night tonight! Oh, and your noise cancelling headphones got here in the mail today!" David handed him a pair of basic black wireless headphones. He liked that they weren't the kind with neon colors that stuck 3 inches off his head. The last thing he needed was another glowing, flashing arrow on his head that says "I'M A WEIRDO!".

  "I'm gonna go get started on breakfast, why don't you two go watch TV?" David downed the rest of his overly sweetened coffee and headed for the stove. Max walked into the living room to see Nuke sleeping on her back on the couch. He scooped her up and set her back down on his lap. "That dog is fucking adorable." Gwen commented as she grabbed the remote.

   "What do you wanna watch?" She asked she she flipped through Netflix. "Anything but your stupid K dramas." He rolled his eyes at the memories of Gwen locked in the counselors cabin rambling about who cheated on who.

They eventually settled on a horror thriller with an equal amount of drama and gore. That was one thing he did like about Gwen, she understood just how desensitized he was. Although he could admit the image of an 11 year old boy petting a sleeping puppy on his lap while watching someone get torn open was probably pretty strange from the outside perspective.

  Gwen instantly turned off the show and switched to Gravity Falls when she heard David coming. They ate their breakfast of French toast, bacon and scrambled eggs while watching Mable get obducted by knomes. He wasn't sure what this show was, but he really liked it. Not that he would ever admit to genuinely enjoying a cartoon. He continued watching it until it was time to go shopping.

Gwen convinced David they would find more clothes Max actually liked at a thrift store rather than Walmart. He didn't understand why they were forcing him to get new clothes if he was getting someone else's old ones anyway, but Gwen insisted he would like it. When they got inside, the first thing he noticed was that there was no annoying electric buzzing sound and the lighting was soft and yellow. There was only a few teenagers and middle aged hippy women, no screaming babies. It did smell a bit strange, though.

  He found a surprising amount of clothes he actually liked instead of just tolerating. Not just because of the style, but there weren't so many scratchy or thin or Sherpa textures. They had a lot of clothes that looked masculine but weren't specifically built for men so they didn't fit him weird or look a little off.

  They checked out with a pretty hefty haul and went to Walmart to get snacks for their movie night. It was a harsh change of environment for the quiet, calm thrift store they were just in. The content, almost happy mood he was in was destroyed and replaced with a foul one. David gently placed a hand on his shoulder and handed him the headphones. They helped quite a bit, but it didn't get rid of the hair on his face and obnoxious lighting. Thankfully neither of them tried to engage with him too much since they already knew what he liked.

There was a knock on his bedroom door while Max played with Nuke on his bed. "Come in!" He shouted, subconsciously slipping Mr Honeynuts under his blanket. "Hey Max, how are you feeling?" David asked cautiously. "Uh... Fine? Why?" Max looked the man up and down. "I noticed you were still a bit overstimulated at the store today, do the headphones not work?" He asked. "No, they work fine. But they don't get rid of the stupid blinding light or my stupid annoying hair." Max complained.

"Well I'm not sure what do to about the lights, but I do have a solution for your hair!"

"I'm not going to a hair stylist. They always give me a fucking girly ass pixie cut or a horrendous karen cut."

"Oh I know, I don't like hair salons either. But Gwen has lots of experience cutting curly hair from her little brother!"

"And you expect her not to take this as an opportunity to get back at me for making her miserable for years?"

"Gwen takes hair very seriously."

"... Yeah, whatever."

Max was starting to have second thoughts when he was sitting with a towel around his neck in front of the toilet. Gwen started by rubbing conditioner into his curls and working through every individual tangle with a comb. They she rinsed his head off in the bathtub faucet and brushed through his hair again to get it as flat as possible. She explained what she was doing and why through every step of the process, for him or David he wasn't sure.

  Now he was sitting on the floor as she went through every single section of hair individually, making tiny snips at every hair. He had never in his life put this much effort into a haircut. He had always waited until everyone was asleep before putting it into a pony tail and hacking it off. He never even used a mirror, it was just a few quick snips and he was done. Honestly, he was pretending to hate the whole process a little for than he did. If anything, it was a little soothing. "We're almost done Max, then you get to pick the movie! We got all your favorites." David encouraged.

  He was starting to hate how food motivated he was becoming. He used to get by on school lunch and stolen bites of his parents leftovers, but it seems like his body was starting to get the hint that eating wasn't a battle anymore and it needed way more food than it every had. 3 meals a day plus snacks in between felt like a shit ton of food for him.

  "Anddd done." Gwen announced as she switched off the blow dryer. That was definitely Max's least favorite part of getting his hair cut. "Alright, what movie ya thinking Max?" David asked as he ruffled his now very soft hair. "I dunno, something horror for sure."

The credits song began to play over the sound of the woman's screams. "Are you shitting me right now? That ending was stupid." Gwen scoffed. She tossed the blanket off her lap as she stood up to stretch. "Welp, that's enough low budget horror for me. I'm goin to bed." She tossed the remote onto the coffee table and retreated back to David's room. "Do you want me to leave the hallway light on tonight?" David asked as he got up to follow her. "Not 5, David." Max jabbed, making his way towards the stairs. "Wait, Max!" David stopped him. "You didn't eat any of your snacks?" He held up the unopened boxes of sour patch kids and warheads. "Oh, I guess I just forgot about them." Max snatch them out of his hand and shoved them into his pocket, speeding up the stairs.

  When he got back to his room he threw the candy into the back of his bottom drawer under his loft bed and curled up with Mr Honeynuts and Nuke, ignoring his stomaches annoying growling. 

Chapter Text

Max had his first counseling session. His therapist is a young woman, probably in her 20s, with bleach blonde hair split down the middle and curled to be wavy. She wore long fake lashes, winged eyeliner and pink lipgloss. And lots of highlighter. She wore cateye sunglasses on her forehead and had pink acrylics with gemstones on the ring finger. She wore the work uniform of a button up shirt and shirt with the top 3 buttons undone and her own light pink shirt underneath, tucked into her skirt with a thick black belt. Her name was Ms. Torres. He's not sure what's up with all the yassified women in his life, but it was better than a judgy old bitch as a counselor.

  David came with him for the first session. They explained Max's situation to her, and she asked if there were any significant moments in his past that particularly stuck with him. He said no, even though he knew damn well that was a lie. He wasn't telling a complete stranger that, let alone with David there. Apparently she also talked to Ms. Lopez beforehand, so she knew the gist of it pretty well. She said she wanted to have a session with all 3 of them after she had a few sessions alone with Max. He suspected it was to try and bring his guard down. Not happening.

  Next was the doctors appointment. He said he seemed relatively healthy, but he was malnourished and needed to cut back on his caffeine intake. He also said he was concerned Max had sustained a fracture on his arm that didn't heal properly and he would need to come back for an X-ray. He asked if Max could remember when He might've gotten the injury. He said no. The doctor instructed David to start buying Pediasure and have Max drink it daily, and prescribed him with something called "Zoloft". They gave him his vaccines next. David kept asking if Max wanted to hold his hand, and Max reminded him that he's not a baby. He did end up taking David's hand anyways though, just so he would stop looking like a kicked puppy the whole time. And for that reason alone.

  He apparently had to go to the dentist too, and the doctor referred them to a pediatrician. The dentists appointment went fine, he didn't need braces but would have to come back for a cavity filling. Max particularly hated the pediatrician. The walls had cartooney paintings of animals all over them and they had kids toys everywhere. There was Bluey playing of the TV, which he only watched to pass the time and wasn't interested in at all. They weighed him and announced what the scale read out loud. He wasn't sure why that made him want to crawl into a cave and die.

   The nurses all wore pastel, childish scrubs and the pediatrician himself talked to Max like a child. He made sure to swear excessively and put more bite in his voice for good measure. He gave David a list of food groups he needed to eat more of and how many calories he should be consuming a day. Apparently he had an iron deficiency, a vitamin D deficiency, and a bunch of other deficiencies Max didn't bother to listen to. He still didn't really know why, but all the talk of calories and food and his body were making him feel sick, and it didn't help that the pediatrician gave off major transphobe vibes. It was never what was healthy for Max, always what was healthy for a "young female". 

  After the long day of unwanted and uncomfortable appointments, he had never been more thankful to go home. David dropped him off at home with Gwen and went to the grocery store to get all the things the doctors recommended him. He collapsed face first onto the couch and groaned loudly before Nuke happily jumped on his back. He turned on the TV and aimlessly scrolled through YouTube as Gwen entered the living room.

"Hey, how'd your appointments go?"

"Fine."

"Did they tell you anything noteworthy?"

"No."

"You seem pissed. And not in the usual way."

"I hate the pediatrician."

Gwen joined him on the couch and leaned forward to catch his eye.

"Oh yeah? How come?"

"He was a fucking weirdo. And he was talking about my body like I wasn't right there."

"Wait, he didn't say anything creepy, did he? Because I will raise hell if-"

Max flipped over onto his back and crossed his arms over his face. 

"No, not pedo weird. He was just- ugh. He was like... He was talking about how many calories I should be eating and what I should be eating and just- I dunno. I didn't like it."

"Well, Max, it is his job to make sure your eating healthy."

"Well maybe I just want people to stop telling me I'm fucking malnourished and should go eat a burger. I can eat what I want, I know how to take care of my body."

Gwen made a mental note to tell David about this conversation. It was concerning in a different way than Max usually was.

  Max wasn't sure what the point he was trying to make was, to be honest. He knew the doctors were probably right considering they're doctors, and they were just doing their job, but he felt like he was eating to much as it was. He didn't want medical professionals telling David to ensure he ate even more. He pulled David stolen phone out of his pocket and looked up what "Pediasure" was and why the doctor wanted him to drink it.

  "What is PediaSure ® Grow & Gain? Clinically proven * to help kids grow, PediaSure is a delicious nutrition drink that complements a diet for kids who are behind in growth and is available in 4 delicious flavors."

  Of course it was a fucking weight gainer. What else would it be? Annoyed, he deleted it from the search history and tossed the phone on the coffee table. He turned his attention back to the Markiplier 3 scary games video he selected at some point.

For dinner that night, David made chicken, mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables. He said meat and vegetables were the 2 most important food groups for Max to catch up developmentally, or something like that. He chased a pea around his plate after he was done stabbing fork holes into the chicken and drawing spirals in the mashed potatoes with his spoon. "So Max, are you sure you have no idea when you might've fractured your arm? Not for the doctor, just curious." David asked. "Where do you think?" Max snarled. "Yeah, that's... I figured." David replied. "Woah, fracture? What fracture? Max, you didn't think to mention a fucking fracture when I asked if they told you anything important?" Gwen hollered. "Oh, it was no big deal really! The doctor suspects he fractured his arm when he was young and it didn't heal properly, that's all." David explained. The 3 fell back into an uncharacteristically awkward silence as they ate.

"Max, is everything ok? You don't seem to have eaten much."

"Sorry for not eating your unseasoned white people chicken, David."

"Hey, usually I'm all for bullying David, but he's just looking out for you. Don't be an asshole."

"You shut the hell up too, Gwen. Yknow what, I'm going to bed."

Max dropped his fork and stormed up the stairs, letting Nuke follow him to his room. David stared at the untouched food and chocolate pediasure, and then thought back to the unopened boxes of candy the light before and the way he shrunk in on himself when the nurse read his weight aloud.

  "Gwen, did Max say anything concerning to you while I was gone today?"

"Yeah, actually he did. He was super pissed about the pediatrician talking about his diet, then he said he knows how to take care of himself or something. He was super agitated all day, more so than usual."

"That's... Disturbing. I think I'll keep an eye on that." David put his and Gwen's dishes into the the sink before wrapping Max's dinner in foil and putting it into the fridge.

  After Gwen returned to the bedroom for the night, he dug some whiteout out of his junk drawer and got to work censoring the calories on everything in the house. By the time he was done, it was well past 2 AM, but he knew Max would likely be awake anyway.

A light knock on the door interrupted Max's staring at the ceiling wide awake in the dark time. "What?" He growled loudly. No response. Irritated, he swung open the door to find nobody there. He looked up and down the hallway and was confused to find it empty. Just when he was about to shut the door, he noticed something on the ground right outside his door. He picked it up to examine it. It was the pediasure from earlier with a sticky note attached to the lid.

"Your dinner is wrapped up in the fridge. It's ok if you don't eat it, but please at least drink this!

-Love, David"

He noticed that the nutrition information was vandalized with white out on the calories section. Reluctantly, he accepted the shitty chocolate milk and brought it with him back to his room.

Chapter Text

The light of Davids phone blinded Max's unadjusted eyes when he checked the time. 4 AM. What the fuck was David doing up and moving right now? He listened more carefully for any indicator of what was going on.

  He heard the front door open and close, then the voice of a stranger. He heard David speak again and something drag across the floor before the door shut again. Did David fucking murder someone? Actually, he can't say he didn't see this coming. Max pulled on his hoodie and silently tip toed to the top of the stairs. There was a couple suitcases beside David, who was kneeling on the floor hugging a... child? Another kid stood awkwardly next to them, fidgeting with a button on his comically oversized denim jacket. The kid yelped when he looked up to see Max ominously looming at the top of the dark stairwell. Startled, the other kid and David both turned to see what he was looking at. Wait. He knew that kid.

"HARRISON?!"

"MAX!?"

David joined the 4 already seated at the dining table after passing out the last of the beverages. Coffee for Max and Gwen, tea for Harrison and hot chocolate for the kid. Looking at him closer, the kid looked to be about 8 and was definitely related to Harrison. They shared the same nose and off putting shade of yellow eyes. "So what the hell is going on?" Max interigated. "I was going to have this conversation in the morning, I didn't mean be so loud. A few hours ago, I got a call asking if I could take 2 kids on short notice. I usually don't do emergency placements, but the Mooresons and the 2 other foster families in Sleepy Peak werent available. I certainly wasn't expecting them to be another one of my campers and his brother, though!" David chuckled as if the situation was the equivalent of getting a double yolked egg. "Max, Gwen, this is Oliver, Harrison's little brother. He's 8 years old." The boy gave a half assed wave, obviously exhausted. "Emergency placements usually only stay for 3 months. Is he leaving?" Max asked. "Well it would be the case if I wasn't willing to keep these two longer, but I certainly am! I don't think they're going anywhere." David replied.

The table fell into an uncomfortable silence, nobody really sure what was ok to ask or say. Max finished off the last of his coffee and slammed the mug on the table. "Well, this is too much shit for 2 hours of sleep Max to process right now. I'm going back to bed." He left the 3 sitting alone at the table. "Max is right, you kids must be so exhausted! We can put your things away tomorrow morning, let's get you to bed for now." David sighed. He gave them a short tour before sending them to their rooms for the night.

  Max woke up once again to commotion in the kitchen. He didn't bother to check the time or put on his hoodie to hide his bandaged arm this time before going to check it out. He could vaguely make out 2 figures darting around in the kitchen, trying and failing horrendously to be sneaky. He flipped on the light, startling the shit out of both of them. "The hell are you two doing?" He looked between the boys who were shoving snacks into their pockets. "Max! We were just-" "Don't tell David! We haven't eaten all day and we couldn't sleep and-" Max held a finger up to silence the younger boys rambling. "I mean why the hell are you scurrying around in the dark and shoving shit in your pockets? You don't have to do that here. Cmon, I got more in my room." He nodded his head towards the stairs before leading the way.

  He plugged in the dim yellow fairy lights that wrapped around his room as they entered. "Bottom drawer." He pointed where the sour patch kids and warheads were stashed as he climbed into bed. Oliver took the packet of sour patch kids and sat with his legs against his chest on the desk chair. Harrison lingered near the doorway, unintentionally staring at Max. "What?" He said when he noticed the boy staring. "I was just... How did you- Why..." Harrison struggled to find the words, wringing his hands. "Why am I here? Probably the same reason as you." Max replied sarcastically. "Our parents thought we were the devil's children." Oliver said bluntly. "Oliver!" Harrison hissed. "Shit, really? What happened?" Max questioned.

   Harrison let out a deep sigh and sat down on the floor, his back again the door. "My parents weren't the biggest fan of me after I made Ollie dissapear. When I brought him back, things were ok again, for a while. Then he started getting the same powers as me. They were kinda screwed up in the head and made up this whole conspiracy that we were the devil's child, so them and the church kinda tried to sacrifice us? Someone heard screaming inside the church in the middle of the night and called the police, so here we are." He explained. "Holy shit, really? That all happened just now? Are you guys like... Good?" Max gaped. "I guess I'm better than I was when I was at knife point in a pentagram." Harrison laughed softly, drawing circles on the floor with his finger.

  "You make my story look stupid. I just overshared to a school counselor." They both half heartedly laughed before the conversation died. "I probably shouldn't even be asking this, because it's David, but is it... Yknow, safe here?" Harrison asked. "David is a shockingly bearable parent. Tomorrow he's probably gonna take to the grocery store to pick out what foods you like, and then he's gonna talk to go about enrolling in school and counseling. Then he'll take you both to a bunch of doctors and buy you new clothes and stuff. He's really patient, even when we both know I'm being a little shit. So yeah, it is safe here." Max replied. When Harrison didn't reply, he continued. "He'll take you to get shit for your room, too. And whatever else you need. And Nikki and Neil go to our school." He watched Harrisons face for any sort of reaction, but it didn't look like Max's words were consoling him. "He cooks breakfast lunch and dinner every single day. And he's a teacher at the school we'll be going to. And he's super chill with like, gay stuff. He's not religious or anything." That seemed to put Harrison at ease, he finally stopped picking at his nails.

"Do you guys need to borrow some pajamas or something? I mean if you feel like digging through all your shit right now, be my guest, but I wouldn't." Max asked. "Yeah, thanks. Ollie?" Harrison looked up at his brother, still hunched over hounding on sour patch kids. "Sure, whatever." He grumbled.

Max lent Harrison a baggy mustard yellow T-shirt littered with little holes from aging and some knee length black basketball shorts. Oliver was wearing a slightly different variation of the same thing. With their arms and legs exposed he could see bruises and cuts scattered across both of their bodies, presumably from the nights earlier events. They looked pretty deep, some still bleeding. "Hey, those look pretty bad. We should have David wrap those up before you bleed out or something." He suggested. "No, they don't even really hurt. I would hate to put him out more than we already are." Harrison dismissed. "Dude, it's literally his job to take kids in. These look serious, you could get a real infection. What's putting him out more, slapping some bandaides on a kid or driving him to the hospital with an arm exploding with puss?" He insisted. "Good point, I guess. I'll have him look at them." Harrison agreed. Max led them to David's door and left them there before going back to bed. Halfway up the stairs he heard David open the door and gasp, but quickly compose himself.

  From his bedroom, he saw the bathroom light  flick on and voices echo through the air vent. He could imagine how their conversation went, having lived through something similar a few days ago. He saw the light flick off and heard David clambering back down the stairs. He climbed out of bed and creaked his door open just in time to catch Harrison before he went into his room. "Hey. My doors open, ok?" He cracked his door open a sliver more. Harrison simply nodded with a half hearted smile before retreating to his room.

Chapter Text

  Seeing Harrison and Oliver sitting at the kitchen bar in the morning made Max realized that last night really wasn't a strange dream. Harrison was now wearing a light yellow zip up hoodie and loose black jeans with an unnessicary amount of pockets. He ditched his old white gloves and now had grey and black striped gloves that cut off right under the third joint of his fingers. Ollie had the same jean jacket as yesterday over a plain black T-shirt and shorts. There was one big bandaide and a large bruise on his exposed legs. Gwen was leaning over the counter across from them and telling Harrison her crazy stories about being a famous author while David was already making breakfast. He put his mug under the Keurig and turned it on before joining them. "Good morning Max!" David crowed like he did every morning. Soon after he served their meal of pancakes and sunny side up eggs (with the addition of a strawberry pediasure, iron supplement and a Zoloft for Max) and pulled up a seat beside Gwen on the other side of the bar.

  "So first things first, today we'll have to go get some things for your rooms so you can properly unpack. There's already some basic things like a bed and a dresser, but it's more of a guest room than a bedroom right now, huh?" David said. "I would also like to get some new clothes if you feel up to it today, but no pressure! Max will be starting school soon, but I don't expect you to start with him given the... circumstances." He added.

  "Wait, if I'm going to school and your going back to work, what about them?" Max pointed at the boys with his fork. "Oh shoot, I haven't even thought of that! I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to make my leave..." David pondered to himself. "Hey, I can just watch em during the day." Gwen suggested. "Oh no Gwen, I couldn't ask you to cancel everything you have going on! I'm sure I could find a babysitter, or maybe Mr. Campbell-" "ABSOLUTELY not. It'll only be for a few months until they get back to school, and then I'll be on my way. Seriously, it's no problem." Gwen reassured him. David gave her a thankful smile before turning back to the kids.

"Well then, we'll go shopping for your room and then we can do something fun afterwards! Sound good?" The brothers both nodded. "Max, would you like to come?" David asked. "Nah, I don't feel like walking around a store for the 100th day in a row. I'll just walk around and get to know the area more today or something." He replied. "That sounds like a great idea! You can have a fun bonding day with Gwen!" David said as he put more syrup on his already drenched pancakes.

   Max fiddled with the stolen phone in his pocket and wondered how he was going to tell Nikki and Neil about the situation. He decided to just take a picture of the two with David in the background to make the setting more obvious and send it with absolutely no context. He turned the vibration off and watched the phone explode with messages before shutting it off and leaving it on the counter. He ate his egg and half of a pancake and threw the rest away when David wasn't looking.

Max packed his backpack with 2 water bottles, a small metal bowl, and a mini bag of goldfish before clipping Nukes leash onto her new blue harness and leaving the house. He heavily insisted that he's been way more dangerous places than Sleepy Peak and the crime rate here per year was probably the city he grew up in's weekly news, but David just kept repeating "better safe than sorry" and forced Gwen out with him against her will. Neither of them had ever been anywhere but the 2 stores and McDonald's David took them to in the town, so they had quite a lot of ground to cover.

    They walked through 5 blocks before they finally got out of the endless human farm that is the suburbs. They trekked past the main plaza of the town that consisted of noticing but corporate companies like Walmart and Starbucks before they finally found something of interest. On the outskirts of the town was a nearly empty street with only the occasional car passing through every few minutes. On either side of the road were many small stores connected side by side with their own unique aesthetic they were dedicated to. All the buildings had a welcoming atmosphere, and it was clear many were family owned.

   The first store they checked out was a light yellow brick coffee shop on the corner. The first thing you see when you walk in is a display case under the checkout counter full of pastries. It looks like their whole thing is their croissants, because they had at least 20 different kinds of just croissants. The floor had classic black and white tiling and the walls were the same shade of light yellow as the outside with white accents going horizontally in the middle of the wall. They were squiggly lines that wrapped around the whole wall, probably supposed to resemble steam. They had 2 tables and a little bar beside the big windows with semi transparent frilly curtains. Only one table was taken by two older women.

  The girl working the counter looked at be about 15 with black and purple butterfly braids. She wore a yellow work uniform (midlength skirt and button up short sleeves shirt) with a white apron around her waist.  Her big shiny name tag had "Sam" written in black sharpy.

  "Welcome to Alice and Ediths Coffee and Croissants, what can I get for you today?" She asked in a sweet, bubbly tone. "Sorry, could you give us a minute? We've never been here before." Gwen replied. "I noticed! Go ahead, take your time. Oh, what an adorable puppy! What's her name?" Sam leaned over the counter a bit to get a closer look. "It's nuke." Max mumbled. The girl laughed a little at that. "What brings you to this part of town? We don't get a lot of new customers." "Oh, I'm just visiting, but he just moved to Sleepy Peak and is getting to know the area." Gwen answered for him when he showed no intention of replying. "Well it's really a nice place, if a little boring." Sam rolled her eyes a bit at the last part.

  "I think we'll just get two black coffees and two chocolate filled croissants, please." She looked down and nodded at max for confirmation, who nodded back. "Just have a seat anywhere, I'll bring it out to you when it's ready." The girl replied as she scribbled something down on a sticky note and rang a little bell behind the counter.

  "Yknow, this place is pretty nice. I think David would really love this place." Gwen said, inspecting the decor more closely. "Knowing David, he probably knows all the employees here by name." Max snickered. "Oh, David? The lanky ginger with the tree obsession?" One of the old women asked, turning in her seat to face them. "Y-yeah, that David. Sorry, how do you know him?" Gwen hesitated. "Oh honey, he's been coming here since he was a little boy! He used to be such a feisty child." She laughed to herself. "The kids right, he's practically a family friend now. Though he hasn't come to visit in a while, last time he was here he said he finally got his hands on a foster kid and he's busy spoiling him like crazy."

    She began to turn back in her seat but did a double take. "Wait a minute, your the foster kid, aren't you?" Max nodded sheepishly. "Well, it's great to meet you! Hey Sammy, these two's order is on the house." She raised her hand to get the girl attention, rocking back in her chair a bit. "Oh no, you don't have to do that!" Gwen protested. "Oh hush you, just tell David I said hello. Speaking of which, are you his lil girlfriend?" The woman teased. Gwen blushed profusely. "No, uh, ex coworker, actually. I'm just staying with him since I was already in town. It's Gwen, by the way." "Well, it's nice to meet ya Gwen. I'm Edith, and this is my wife Alice." The other woman waved.

  Max wasn't sure if Gwen was too dense to make the connection, but he instantly connected the dots. Not only because of their names, but because the little picture on the wall of them when they were younger standing in from of the shop holding the deed to the building. Back then it was a dingy old place, the brick was unpainted and worn and it was in rough shape. He thought it was pretty amazing they turned the glorified storage shed into such a nice place, and that presumably decades later they were still happily running their coffee shop with their family. He knew that because he could also instantly tell the cashier was related to the women, he assumed they were her grandparents because the chef in the back looked like she could be the girls mother.

  A few minutes later Sam brought out their order, along with a little cup of whipped cream for Nuke. They headed out of that shop and onto the next one on the street. They went to a hippie crystal shop with incense and Dreamcatchers and tarot cards, all that spiritual stuff. An old woman approached them and said she was the one who made the candles and they could get the candle shaped like a skull Max was checking out for free with any purchase. The cashier said the woman was her mom and she was probably just excited because that candle had been sitting there for a while and nobody has looked at it.

  They also went to an antique store that smelled very strongly of dust. Max noticed a statue of a racist portrayal of an "Indian" man with a feather headdress, but he didn't expect much better from an antique store in a western small town.

   The last store they went to was a little flower boutique. They had everything you could possibly need for gardening along with every single flower or plant Max could name, so he guessed the employees there probably knew David by name too based on his garden. Gwen got a bouquet of dark red and purple flowers to "counteract the blinding brightness of the kitchen". Max got two smaller bundles of yellow and white wildflowers. He wasn't sure why, he just thought they were nice. The cashier gave Max a free white Snapdragon.

  He came home that day with a box of dragons blood incense, a spiral of bismuth, 2 bouquets of wildflowers and a white Snapdragon that he put the stem off into his water bottle on the way home to keep it alive. By the time the bus took them back to their block, David was already home and making dinner. Harrison and Ollie were enthralled in Gravity Falls, which Max forgot to turn off before leaving the house.

  "Hey Max, Hey Gwen! How was your fun bonding day?" David called across the house as they came in the front door. "It was good. Alice and Edith say hi." Max called back. "Oh, you met them! The croissants there are heavenly, I should go pop in and say hello soon! Anyway, dinners almost ready, so why don't you come and tell me about it?" Gwen went into the kitchen to talk to David while Max joined Harrison and Ollie on the couch. He could overhear David babbling about how beautiful the flowers Gwen chose were. "So, you guys wanna show me your rooms?" He asked after the episode ended. "Huh? Oh yeah, sure." Harrison shut off the TV and lead the way up the stairs.

    Harrison room wasn't quite as decked out as Max's was, but he did just get here yesterday. He had a standard twin sized bed with a nightstand beside it. His sheets were black with little white rabbit patterns on them and his yellow comforter was very thick and soft. There was a knitted silky golden blanket folded at the foot of his bed. The dresser on the other side of the room had a rabbits cage on top of it with a magicians tophat next to it. Between the door and the closet was a coat hanger that held a lot of zip up hoodies and vests. He also had a trunk with a lock at the foot of his bed.

  Oliver's room wasn't exactly what Max was expecting, but then again he really had no idea what to expect. The kid had barely said a word since he got here. His white bed frame had 2 long drawers underneath it. His sheets werent visible under a quilted blanket in shades of blue and purple . He had a faded purpleish-blue blanket that definitely wasn't new. He must've brought it from home. He had a clear glass desk across the room with a laptop that he also probably brought from home if the dozens of stickers on it were anything to go by. He had purple led lights wrapped around the top of the walls. There were already lots of scraps of paper littering his desk with strings of numbers and words that made no sense to Max jotted down. Judging by the room Max assumed he was probably into coding or something nerdy like that.

  Max gave them both a housewarming gift of a small bouquet of wildflowers, yellow for Harrison white for Ollie, and a couple sticks of incense. And by gifted he meant leaving them on their beds while they weren't looking. After dinner that night when they all returned to their respective rooms, Max smelled the scent of dragons blood wafting out of both the brothers rooms.

Chapter Text

Ever since Gwen decided she would be staying longer, boxes of her things had been arriving in mail. Max thought the amount of her shit she was having sent down was overkill for a few months, and again thought back to when Nikki said Candy and Karl started by living together out of convenience. It didn't make him any less suspicious that there was only 1 bed in Davids room and they showed no intention of getting another one.

  With her place in the house becoming more permanent, she worked her way more into the household routine. From 3-4 the dining table was her writing space, and her unspoken household tasks were vacuuming and dishes. She also had her own cabinet in the kitchen with her own groceries that no one else was to go into.

   She probably thought nobody noticed the bottles of vodka and wine hidden in the very back of her cabinet, but Max always noticed. She probably also thought nobody else knew when she drank it in the kitchen at 4 in the morning, but Max was usually awake at that time anyways.

He kind of thought her depressing habits like that would be cut out when she achieved her dreams of being a published author, but he wasn't all that surprised she was drinking heavily now of all times.

  She finally got her life on track after being paid peanuts at a job she hates, tormented by a vicious ten year old every day, and now she was putting her whole life on hold to take care of the same little brat for absolutely no pay this time. He was well aware it was entirely his fault, Hell, he did it to his own mom.  Even if David and Gwen would deny it with their lives if he ever brought it up.

   Tonight was one of those nights when he was lying awake in bed, texting Nikki and Neil from David's phone, and heard glass clinking downstairs. He silently creaked open his door and stood at the top of the stairs, listening. He didn't expect to heard another voice besides her muttered whispers to herself.

"Gwen? What are you doing up?"

"David? Why are you up?"

"I heard you leave the room and you never came back to bed. Now you answer me."

God, they sounded like his parents. He knew he probably had nothing to worry about, because it was fucking David, but he still tip toed down the first couple of steps in case he suddenly needed to interject.

"I didn't know you were a drinker."

"David, yes you did. I was hung over like, half of camp."

"Heh, that's true. But I meant I didn't know you were still much of a drinker."

The room was quiet for a minute and Max felt his fight of flight instincts start to kick in with a surge of adrenaline. In his experience, that never meant anything good was about to happen. Like the calm before a storm.

"... Why?"

"Huh?"

"I just mean, it would be normal to have a few glasses of wine with dinner, or go out partying with friends, but you don't tend to drink straight vodka at 4 in the morning if your doing your best."

"I dunno. I mean, I'm doing good. Or, I should be doing good. My career is kicking off, I'm doing the thing I'm passionate about, and getting paid pretty fucking decent for it. So I don't know why I still feel like I'm... Nowhere in life."

Max knew why. It was because of him.

"Yknow what's kinda funny?"

"Hm?"

"Even though I'm where I dreamed of being since I was 12, I think I'm happier like this."

"Like what?"

"Just living with you and Max and Harrison and Ollie in a little house in the suburbs. Fuck, everyone here knows eachother by name. We got free coffee and a free candle and free flowers just because. This town is like the town in a shitty hallmark movie the uptight business girl goes to during the holidays and learns the true meaning of Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely gonna keep writing and traveling and being a hot successful bitch. But it would be nice to come home to this at the end of the day too."

"Aweee, Gwen!"

"Ok, already regret saying that."

"I think that's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me! Or ever said! Ever!"

"Oh my god, shut up. Let's just go back to bed."

  Max stayed perched on the stairs for a minute, confused. If that were his parents, the punches would've started 5 minutes ago. And what did she mean she actually liked living here? With him? Bullshit. How much did she drink?

  Using David's phone as a flashlight, he quietly climbed down the stairs. Gwen left the bottle of vodka sitting out on the counter, about half empty. He was morbidly curious what it was about the stuff that seemed to lure every adult into his life in, like a disease he spread by existing. They always said it made them happy, and made the pain go away, but from what he's seen its only ever caused more pain. His impulse control skills as poor as ever, he swiped the bottle off the counter and sprinted back to his room.

  Max sat in his bed, dimly lit by the yellow fairy lights, staring at the bottle. He was well aware this was a horrible decision. He was actually usually aware that what he was doing was stupid or shitty or non sensical, but he usually found himself doing it anyway. It's not like he was planning on finishing off the whole bottle, he just wanted to see what the hype was about.

  He drank the liquid as fast as he could, leaving a burning trail down his throat. He took a deep breath and chugged a bit more than he probably should've. He thinks people exaggerate how badly vodka burns, although he did cough a little too loud apparently, because a few seconds later there was a knock on his door. Startled, he dropped the (thankfully closed) bottle onto the floor with a loud thud. Harrison peeked his head into the room, his wide eyed darting between the bottle and Max.

"Harrison, what the hell are you doing?!" He whisper yelled with as much power as a whisper yell can hold. Harrison ducked into the room after ensuring the coast was clear outside. "I thought you were throwing up so was making sure you were ok. What are YOU doing?" Harrison pointed an accusatory finger at him. Max let out a long, defeated sigh. "Alright, what's it gonna take to shut you up? Doing your chores for 3 weeks? Letting you have some?"  Harrison gave him a puzzled look. "What? No, j just want to know why? Alcohol tastes like shit. And it turns people into bad people, Max." Max laughed bitterly. "Oh trust me, I know." He snapped. "Then why are you doing it?" Harrison asked.

  Max's eyes dropped from his and onto the bottle on the floor. "I dunno. I just wanted to see what it was like, I guess." Harrison's lost expression didn't shift. "Like, why adults seem to be so fucking obsessed with it. And why they always chose it over me." He mumbled as he laid down facing the wall, legs again is chest. Silently, Harrison climbed onto Max's bed and laid down next to him. "Maybe it wasn't you, or the alcohol, or the drugs. Maybe they were just bad people who made bad choices. And you got stuck in the crossfire." He stated bluntly.

  He didn't even bother to stop the tears from coming. He knew he already looked pathetic enough as it was, so there really wasn't a point. They didn't say anything for a while, just sitting in each other's presence for a while like that. Eventually Max dried his eyes and returned the vodka back to Gwen's cabinet, without a trace of evidence it was ever touched.

  "So, you gonna snitch on me?" He asked as he climbed back into bed.

"No. But for future reference, you should probably tell someone if your gonna do something stupid. And yknow, it I caught you doing something that was really unsafe-"

"Yeah, yeah, I don't need the whole lecture. David's already rubbed off on you."

They continued sitting in silence for a while after that. Harrison didn't go back to his own room until Max dozed off. He pulled a throw blanket over the boy and handed him the bear that he wasn't supposed to know existed. He turned off the fairy lights and lingered in the doorway for a moment. "Night, Max." He whispered to no one but himself before shutting the door.

Chapter Text

"Maxxx" David's annoyingly chipper voice whispered. Max didn't stir, completely ignoring him. "Max!" He repeated a little louder, putting a hand softly on his shoulder. Max grunted loudly and pulled the blanket further over his head. "Good morning Max! Cmon, I need you up and getting dressed for school!" David pulled the blanket down below his face. Max's eyes opened a sliver to glare at him before sending a foot full force into his shoulder.

The day Max had been dreading for weeks was finally here. The first day of school. He dragged himself down the ladder of his bed and aggressively tugged on his outfit of a white and yellow striped T-shirt under his classic teal hoodie and straight cut light blue jeans. He slammed his bedroom door shut and tromped down the stairs, ready to bite the head off of the first person who talked to him.

  Gwen was surprisingly up, scrolling on her phone at the kitchen bar. There was no sign of Harrison or Ollie. Nuke ran up to the boy, her body swaying from the force of her wagging tail. The dog cheered him up a little bit, but not enough to happily face the prison full of annoying, loud children.

  Breakfast was already sitting out on the counter, along with his pills and shitty offbrand chocolate milk. He downed the pills with the Pediasure and picked at his food like usual. He ate about a quarter of his French toast and half a strip of bacon before discretely slipping the rest to Nuke.

   He followed Gwen upstairs and sat on the toilet with the lid closed, waiting for her to spritz his curls with detangling spray and get to work. It was a new little ritual they had, because according to her David would "do it like a white man".

"Hey, are you, like, doing ok?"

"Yes? The fuck kinda question is that?"

"Oh don't play dumb, I saw you give your breakfast to the dog earlier. And you really shouldn't do that by the way, if you want her heart to beat past 5."

"Jesus Christ, this again? Can you and David just drop it already? I know what I'm doing."

To weaken his already weak argument, his stomach growled loudly, the sound echoing through the bathroom.

"Yeah, you were saying?"

"Shut the hell up."

"Kid, I'm really not trying to nag you, you know that right? Me and David are seriously getting worried."

"Yeah, well you wouldn't be if you just minded your own fucking business."

Gwen brushed the rest of his hair in tense silence. When she was finished, he left the bathroom without a word and walked back into his bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

The second David entered the classroom, the room erupted in chaos. Kids were sprint up to hug him, and you could barely hear anyone asking where he had been and screaming how they missed him over each other. Already drained, Max pulled his headphones over his ears and slumped into his seat. It didn't take long for Nikki to find him and pounce.

  "Max! Where have you been? I expected you to start wayyy earlier, causing chaos has been so boring without you! Well, Neil is here too, but we have different classes AND different lunches!" She babbled on. Of course he was happy to see her. But he was running on practically no food or sleep and was just a tad hung over from the night before. Damn, he really wishes he didn't choose that night of all nights to do something stupid.

  The bell rang, hushing Nikki and the rest of the class. "Good morning, students!" David said in a sing song voice. It reminded Max far too much of when he would wake them up cheering "Good morning campers!" every morning with unmatched enthusiasm. "I know I've been gone for a while, but I'm so happy to be back! I had so much going on, but now everything should be returning to normal. Let's start with attendance!"

  He announced. He read through a bunch of unimportant names in alphabet order until he got to Max. "Maxwell Khan?" He looked around the room like he didn't drive him here.

   "I thought it was Maxine?" Nikki questioned loud enough for the whole class to here. Max couldn't tell if he wanted to strangle her or melt into the floor. "No stupid, Maxine is a girl name!" An annoying know it all kid snorted from the other side of their table. "Maxine is a boy name in India, dummy!" Nikki retorted, sticking her tongue out at the boy. "Uhm, no it's not?" a little girl with black hair and dark skin corrected from next to the kid. God damn it, the one time there was another Indian kid in a small town in the west. "Now class, let's not spend time debating names! Nikki, I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding! Max's full name is Maxwell!" David tried desperately to defuse the situation. "Hmm... Ok then... " She accepted, her and the other 2 kids eying him suspiciously. This is why he fucking hates school.

  The day continued just as badly as he expected it to. Obnoxious snot nosed little shits kept whining about how Max was allowed to have headphones in class and they weren't. They didn't even have music playing through them, it was just to drown out their annoying dribble. Another kid behind him wouldn't stop flicking them. It made a loud sound directly in his ear. Max barely, barely held himself back from snapping the brats neck before David separated them.

  At lunch he quickly discovered this was one of those schools where every table had assigned "cliques" . Max found them all loud and annoying and unbearable. Nikki sat with a group of kids who spent almost all of lunch on the playground, playing tag at Olympic level. He tried to sit with them for approximately .2 seconds before he discovered they were not shy about physical touch. The second one girl put a hand on his shoulder while she was cackling loudly, he was put.  He tossed his lunch and went back to David's room, which of course he was also mocked for by a group of complete strangers.

  He stormed into David's room and practicay collapsed in his chair. He sat with face in his knees and his arms around his head to stop any light from coming in, and definitely not to hide the tears pricking his eyes. After giving the boy a couple seconds to stop breathing so hard and shallow, David knelt down beside his desk, putting a hand gently in his shoulder.

"Hey bud, what happened? Is it too loud in the cafeteria?" He asked, as softly as he could. "It's too loud everywhere, and stupid annoying fucking kids won't stop touching me and bothering me and laughing at me for no god damn reason! I fucking told you this would happen, this always fucking happens, and you didn't listen! I told you, everyone can tell I'm a fucking freak!" Max growled, his voice cracking more than would like to admit. Not because he was crying or anything, it was obviously because of his pure unfiltered rage.

   "Woah, woah, Max... Your right. I'm sorry." Max peered up over his arm, looking for evidence on the man's face that he was insincere. He didn't find any. "You aren't a freak. You are wrong about that. But kids can be cruel when they see something different, especially in a place like this. I should've taken your fears more seriously, I'm sorry." He said. Max stared at him for a moment, trying to decipher the secret code to what he just said Everyone his whole life had always told him he was being dramatic, and David was the last person in the entire world he expected to disagree with them. He had only seen David admit there was bad in the world 2 times in the years that he knew him. But no matter how hard he analyzed, he couldn't find any deception in his words or his face. "I'm not scared. I'm pissed." He snarled."I'm going to talk to my class, but is there anything else I can do to help?" David asked. "Whatever. I don't care." He mumbled, pulling his head back in his lap. David stayed for a minute, then got up and left the room.

  A few minutes later, he came back with a curly haired boy in tow. "Neil? Nikki said you don't have the same lunch period as us." He asked sceptically. "Don't tell her this, but I do. I hide in the janitors closet. I love her, but God, hanging out with her school friends is like babysitting 10 of her." He laughed, taking a seat across from Max. They talked for the rest of the lunch period before the bell rang.

  Finally, the bell set Max free from his 8 hour long personal hell. "Nikki and Max, could you please stay and come have a word with me?" He stopped the two. What was left of the class did the annoying "oooo" thing that kids do before leaving. Max and Nikki took a seat in front of his desk. "Max, would you like to explain the situation with your name to Nikki? It's ok if not." David asked. "Well I don't want to." He emphasized the word "I", his eyes darting between Nikki and David. For once in the man's life, he took a hint. "Ok then. Nikki, when Max was younger, he used to be Maxine, but hes Maxwell now." He explained. Nikki gave him back a confused expression. "Max was born in a girl's body, but he knows he's a boy." David reapproached. "Well how do you know your a boy if you were born a girl?" She puzzled. "How do you know your a girl?" Max poised. "I dunno. I was born a girl, and everyone calls me a girl." She replied. "Well how would you feel if on day people started telling you you were a boy?" Max persisted. "I wouldn't mind, I guess." Nikki shrugged. "Nikki, do you feel any connection to being a girl?" David asked. "Not particularly." She replied. "Well do you feel like a boy?" He asked. "Nope." She said. "Do you feel like neither?" He asked. "I don't feel like anything. I'm just Nikki!" She said, happy with her conclusion. "... Well then, as long as you understand that Max is a boy, I guess there's nothing left to discuss." He said. Nikki skipped out of the room, as energetically as ever. "She's an identity crisis waiting to happen." Max commented, also beginning to exit the room.

Chapter Text

As promised, that Saturday David surprised Max with a phone of his own. It wasn't the newest model or anything, being that he was taking care of 3 kids on a teacher salary, but Max was grateful anyway. He was on call with Nikki and Neil near constantly and even managed to get in contact with a few of the other campers.

  The problem arose when after a day or two of having it, Max suddenly became withdrawn and irritatable, more so than usual. David didn't even know that was possible. He tried anything and everything to get him out of the house or even out of his room, but each attempt only pushed Max further away. David started looking into signs of phone addiction and depression in kids, and what to do about it, but nothing he tried seemed to work.

"Uhm, hey David?" Harrison said timidly as he stuck his head in the man's bedroom. "Hello Harrison, what did you need?" David closed his tab on "terrifiedmothers.com" and shut the laptop on his desk. "I think I know what's going on with Max." He whispered, slipping into the room and shutting the door. David sat up and turned his whole body towards him. "Really? What's going on?" He proded.

"But you have to promise not to tell him I told you."

"Yeah, of course. What happened?"

"The other day, I heard him on the phone with someone named Mrs. M?"

David recognized the name as Mrs. Mooreson, his old foster mother. He was really starting to wish the problem really was phone addiction.

"I heard him ask to talk to Evan and... Emma, I think? And I only heard his side of the conversation, but it sounded like she didn't want him around her kids anymore because he's...trans."

   David wasn't an angry person. He believed almost any conflict could be solved by an honest conversation or a therapist or even just some good food being shared. He could probably find a way to forgive the person who hurt him the most in the whole world if he could convince himself they were just a deeply, deeply hurt person who didn't know how to communicate. Actually, he has before. However, right now, absolutely nothing could be done to justify what this woman said to his child. For maybe one of the first times in his whole life, he was truly fucking livid.

  "Ok, well thank you for letting me know Harrison." He replied in an uncharacteristly stone cold voice. Without another word, he stood up, put his shoes on and went upstairs to Max's room.

"Max, we're going to see your friends."

"Fuck off, David. I don't want to see Nikki and Neil. Just leave me alone."

"Not Nikki and Neil. Evan and Emily."

"... What?"

"I have a few words for the Mooresons. Now come on, get your shoes on." David instructed before leaving the room. Max sat there, stunned. His lack of grating enthusiasm felt utterly unnatural on him, especially when it wasn't Max that pissed him off. If he was mad for the reason he thought, then he would have a bone to pick the Harrison later about eavesdropping. But right now, he felt compelled to listen to David for once.

David pulled up to the perfectly pristine white house with it's perfectly straight white picket fence and stormed across the lawn to the front door. Max followed, with a lot less confidence in his stride. He gave the door 3 powerful knocks that could easily be mistaken for a police officer ready to break the door down if they were ignored. A frail middle aged woman with brunnete hair that cut off right below her chin answered the door, tucking her cardigan around her the way teachers do when they're passive aggressively waiting for the class to quiet down. "Can I help you?" She asked, not noticing Max standing behind the man's legs.

   "Yes, actually you can. Your going stop pushing your transphobic agenda onto your children and let them speak to their friend." He demanded. The woman stared at him like a deer in headlights for a few seconds before responding. "Excuse me, I don't know who you think you are but-" "Oh, you will. Max used to be your foster child. You were supposed to care for him, to support him, and respect him like your own child. Well you failed at that, and he's my son now. If your not going to treat the kids your fostering like your fucking children, then you don't get a say in their beliefs, their friends, and most importantly their identity. If I hear about another incident like this with your foster kids, I will ensure you don't ever get the privilege to have people like Max in your life." David scorned.

   Mrs. Mooreson stared at him in shock once a again for a few seconds. By then she spotted Max hunched behind his towering figure and knew what this was about. "Well I'll have you know that Emily is my real daughter, and even if I did allow Evan to engage in this generations delusions, I will not in good faith have my daughter exposed to this sin!" She hissed. "And I truly do feel bad for her, being raised by such a hateful, biased woman. But know no matter how hard you try to "protect" her, one day she is going to be exposed to the world, and she's going to form her own opinions on things, and I know that because I was her. My parents were just like you, and it never stopped me from becoming who I am today. It just made me suppress myself, and hate myself for years. And now I don't talk to my mother, or my father. So if that's the future you want for your daughter, be my guest. But you will not push that onto a kid you clearly don't even see as your own son."

   David took a minute to catch his breathe before he realized he just said all of that in front of Max. He stared back up at the man in absolutely shock, and a bit of admiration. The women stared in shock too, before letting out a long sigh of defeat. "Evan, someone's here for you!" she called into the house before giving him a bitter glare and stomping off.

  Max explained the whole situation to Evan, who now was furious at Mrs. Mooreson, as they walked around town. They spent the whole day together catching up and talking about how their respective homes had been since Max left. Apparently Emily missed him a lot, even after Mrs. Mooreson outed him the second he was gone. Evan gave him her personal number so they wouldn't have to go through her mom to communicate. They agreed to hang out again the next weekend, and maybe meet Harrison and Ollie or Nikki and Neil. 

  He had a lot to think about when he got home and settled in his room, but only one thing was taking up his entire mind. David called him his son. He didn't even correct himself, even hesitate when he said it. He stared at the go-bag he had packed and hidden in the corner since the first day he got here. Maybe this really could work out, maybe it really wasn't just temporary. A soft knock on his door snapped him out of this thoughts.

"Max? I just wanted to let you I'm sorry about earlier. I should've talked to be about how you felt before I decided to confront Mrs. Mooreson, and I wish I didn't yell like that in front of you." 

"David, are you kidding me? That was badass! I really didn't think you had that in you. And uh, thanks and stuff. Your like, a good dad. Or whatever." 

David's eyes lit up and he smiled inhumanely wide."Aweee, Maxx-" "Ok, moment already ruined. I hate you, go die, fuck off." Max threw a pillow at him as an attempt to shoe him out of the room before he saw his grin.

"Ok, ok, I'm going! I'll see you in a few hours for dinner. Love you!"

"Yeah, whatever. Love you too."

Max climbed out his bed and opened the bag for the first time since packing it and began to put everything back in its place. 

Chapter Text

Max awoke, disoriented, to a loud slam against the wall downstairs echoing through the vents. He shot up and listened closer for any other sound. Another loud bang shook his walls. He knew from experience this meant dad, or he guessed in this case David was drunk and pissed. He can't believe he really let himself believe that he was genuinely safe somewhere. Thinking you had a safe place only to realize none of it was real definitely stung more than never having one at all, but whatever. He was used to being stung. And beat, and slapped, and thrown. Not here, not again. Not wasting a second, he leaped out of bed and grabbed the go-bag stashed in his closet. It was light. Shit. Another bang nearly made his heart burst out of his chest. He heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. 

   He tore through his room, throwing everything he could recall being in the bag before back in, and slammed open his window. He was faced with another obstacle. In his old house, his bedroom was on the ground floor and on the side of the house, so he couldn't be seen my any bystanders who may be concerned that a child was wandering the streets by himself at night. This was fine, he was used to being crafty. He had to be.

   He tied a rope from the nature survivalist kit David gave him 2 years ago around his bedpost and threw it out the window. He knew it would be loud and hurt his hands, but he didn't care. He just had to get the fuck out of there. Climbing down a rope with a large backpack on your shoulder is a lot harder than he expected it to be. He slipped a few times, nearly slamming his body against the wall hard enough to alert everyone inside. When he got to the bottom of the thin rope, his chest ached and his hands were on fire. They were bright red and bleeding a little. He concluded that they would probably blister, but he would live.

   Max ran, and ran, and ran. Out of the neighborhood, past the Walmart  and the McDonald's and the Starbucks before his legs started to give out. He didn't even process until he was nearly across town that it was raining. As he slowed his pace, he looked around and realized this was an incredibly stupid idea. He had no clue what he was even running from. All he heard was a few thumps, and it was fucking David, what could it possibly have been? What the fuck was He doing? He also realized that unlike the city, most of the stores in Sleepy Peak closed past 9, which left him wet and freezing in the eerily silent and dark night.

  He tried to remember everything he'd brought with him. He had a mini first aide kit, his toiletries, whatever food he had rationed away in his drawers out of habit, an outfit or two, his digital camera, his phone charger, and Mr Honeynuts. Not a lot to work with in this current situation. He kept walking aimlessly until he finally saw lights on in a store window. He recognized the yellow brick and the warm, inviting smell coming from inside. Alice and Ediths Coffee and Croissants. Logically thinking, he knew they would call David the second he walked into that building. But he didn't care. He barely remembered why he was out here in the first place. He just wanted to go home.

  Sam didn't look up from the pile of dust she was sweeping when the bell alerted her someone has entered. "Sorry, we're closing, come back to- Max?" She leaned the broom against the nearest table and rushed over to the boy, soaked and bleeding. "What in gods name happened to you? It's ok, come here..." She ushered him into a seat and knelt down to inspect his hands. Max yanked his hands away and dug the mini first aide kit out of his bag. He started trying to bandage himself up, wincing in pain with every movement. "No no no, stop! We have to disinfect them first. Romeo, call David!" She called over her shoulder into the kitchen. The boy he presumed to be Romeo asked what was going on, but she didn't answer.

  Sam had just finished wrapping up his hands in gauze when a teenage boy with dreads that fell over his eyes stepped out from behind the counter with a tray containing coffee and a freshly baked croissant, along with a blanket. She tried to ask him what happened a few times, but he found himself unable to reply. "David said he's already been out looking for the kid, what is going on?" He asked to no one in specific as he set the tray on the table. "I don't know, he's not talking." She sighed. "Jesus Christ, his hands... Here, take off your hoodie. It's sopping." He instructed. Max did what he said, wrapping his scarred arms around his stomach. Romeo draped the blanket over his shoulders and sat at the seat across from him.

   Max hadn't been so happy to see food in weeks. He was fridgid from the rain and the croissant was warm to the touch. He wolfed it down and chugged his coffee before he started to sober up and realize the situation he was in. He just ran away over a bump in the night and now David was coming. Before he had time to plan his escape route of come up with an elaborate story about what happened, a car barely managed to screech to a stop outside and a frantic looking David come out of the drivers side. He burst through the doors and his eyes instantly landed on the boy.

  Max shrunk in on himself, prepared to be berated or hit or dragged out to the car to be dealt with at home. What he didn't expect, but probably should've, because it's David, was for the man to rush over to the table with concern lacing his face and hug him. "Max, what are you doing out here in the middle of the night? And you hands, what happened to you? And gosh, your shaking-" "I heard slamming downstairs. Thought you were mad. Or drunk." He mumbled. David stared at him, confused, before realization dawned on his face. "Oh, no no no, Max! I wasn't angry, I just remembered I had a picture in my closet I've been forgetting to hang up, and I didn't want to forget if I didn't do it right then, and I didn't think I needed to warn you because I thought I was being quiet enough! I'm so, so sorry I scared you-" He was interrupted by Max bursting into laughter. His laugh was hollow and a bit hoarse, but it was a laugh. "Of fucking course. You were just hanging a picture up in the middle of the night." He laughed. David laughed, too. More of a relieved laugh than an amused one. "What happened to your hands? Are they ok?" He asked. "Oh, it's nothing. I just uh, slid down a rope. Out my window. Got ropeburn." He hid his hands in his lap under the table.

  "Thank you two so much for keeping Max safe and warm. We won't hold you any longer, I'm sure your trying to close." David apologized to the siblings. "Oh no, it was really no problem! I'm just glad he's ok. And it was nice seeing you David!" Sam replied. "Yeah, good seeing you." Romeo added. Max didn't debate with him on leaving, grabbing his bag and hoodie and walking out to the car without saying goodbye.

  Neither of them had said a word 10 minutes into the drive before David pulled off into an empty parking lot and parked. "Max, I know tonight's been stressful enough, but I do have a few things to talk to you about." He paused and waited for a response, which he did not get. "For one, I am going to have to tell Ms. Torres and Ms. Lopez about this. Not as a punishment, just a safety precaution." He paused again to give Max a chance to speak and was again met with silence.

"I also have a few questions, like did you already have that bag prepacked, and is there a reason you were so quick to run away instead of just checking what was going on?"

"Uhm, yeah. I did. And I don't know, force of habit, I guess."

"I understand that, but I thought you knew you were always safe in my house."

"Yeah. I did too. But I guess not."

"Hey, look at me."

Max looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

"It's only natural to react irrationally to things sometimes when you were raised in a house where you were forced to. But I hope you know that I would never, ever put my hands on you, ok?"

A beat of silence passed without either breaking eye contact. Slowly, hesitantly, Max nodded.

They entered the house as quietly as possible as to not ruin the night of everyone else. The first thing Max noticed was the new picture David was talking about added to the photo wall. It was a picture Max didn't notice was taken of him on the front porch his first day in David's house, meeting Nuke for the first time.

  David led Max up to his room and helped him unpack the go-bag and untie the rope from his bed post. Despite his protests, David tucked him into bed with Nuke, who had grown quite accustomed to the routine of cuddling at night.

"We can take those bandages off and get a look at the damage tomorrow morning. Are you sure you ok? Do you want to sleep on the couch?"

"David, I'm fine. I don't need to sleep on the damn couch, I'm not 7. But yknow what would really help me?"

"Hm?"

"If I didn't have to go to school tomorrow."

"Hmm, I'll think about it."

"Wait, really?"

"If you go to bed right now, I'll consider it. Now get to bed, it's late. Love you, goodnight!"

"Yeah, night. Love you."

Chapter Text

After a rough 2 weeks weeks of emergency counseling sessions, doctors, CPS agents, police officers, home inspections, interviews and many, many tears (mostly David's) it was time for Harrison and Ollie's trial. Max doesn't just remember his parents trial so much as its seared into his mind.

  No matter where his body is, whether it's in his sleep or doing math at his desk, in an instant he can be sitting in that court room again. His mom cried a lot, his dad screamed a lot. Once his dad turned to Max and started going ballistic,  screaming until his face was red and making threatening hand gestures. He had to be handcuffed the rest of the trail. You can guess what the court ruled.

  He was being called in as a witness, as well as Nerris and their parents.

   He was a lot of things as he sat on the bench trying to ignore how scratchy and tight his dress pants were and tight the collar of this button up was around his neck, but thrilled was not one of them. The crowd of people in the public benches were all talking at once, making the room even more unpleasant to be in. Tuning the crowd out, he scanned the room.

   Harrison and Ollie were both looking down at their hands or the table. Harrison was anxiously fiddling with his gloves and Ollie was tugging at a piece of his hair with one hand. Who Max presumed to be their lawyer was a blonde woman with her hair in a slicked back bun sitting up straight with her hands folded in front of her. At the other table were Harrisons parents, looking exactly like Max remembered. Dresses like the Amish and looking terrified at nothing in particular. Their lawyer as a middle aged balding man with serious shitbag vides.

  Sitting right beside Max on the bench was David, dressed nicely and chewing his nails anxiously. On the other side of him was Gwen, wearing a dark purple dress and fidgeting with her phone case. Next to her was Nerris, wearing a lavender button up and a flowy back skirt. When they first made the hour long drive down to Sleepy Peak they ignored David, Max and Gwen and ran straight for Harrison. They hugged him tightly for a long time. They cried, and Harrison did a little too, Max thinks.

  Nerris was sharing a room with Harrison and their parents, the Sallows, were staying on the couch. They were probably the only sane parents of all the kids in Camp Campbell. Mrs. Sallows was a sweet but stern woman. If you were good to her child, than you might as well be her child too. Mr. Sallow was a just a huge nerd. He was super into DC and Star Trek and shit like that. He was a fun guy, though, always up to host sleepovers or a DnD match. Max actually liked them quite a bit.

  Over the week they had been staying in the house, Max would walk in on whispered conversations only for them to immediately fall silent and pretend to be doing something when they noticed him. He had no idea what they were talking about, and it was starting to put him on edge.

    Past the Sallows were just a bunch of strangers.

"All rise for the honorable judge Eleanor Andersons." A voice echoed thought the room through a microphone. Everyone rose in unison for a few seconds. "You may sit." The judge, an older woman with curly hair, dismissed. "We are here today, November 8th 2023, on the accusations against Mr. and Mrs. Martin of child abuse and neglect. State attorney Randall Jones will be representing the Martin's and Bethany Carter will speak for their selectively mute son Oliver Martin, and representing their older son Harrison Martin." She announced.

Oh, Ollie was mostly mute. That made sense. David probably explained that to Max at some point, but he never listens to David. 

Mrs. Carter stood and cleared her throat. "Good morning, your honor. I'm here today to represent 12 year old Harrison and 9 year old Oliver Martin who have been subjected to abuse and neglect from their parents." Max didn't understand why they felt the need to say the same thing twice.

  "As of current, they have been removed from the Martin's custody and placed into foster care under the states custody." Mrs. Carter stated. The judge offered a small nod. "And there are no living relatives of Harrison and Oliver?" She asked. "Not that the government is aware of, your honour." Mrs. Carter replied. "The goal of todays trial is to determine whether Harrison and Oliver should return to the Martin's or remain in the care of... David Cedar, as I understand?" The judge pushed up her glasses as she read a paper in front of her. Mrs. Carter nodded.

   After a bit more back and forth legal shit between the two without a word from Harrison, Ollie, or their parents, they started really getting into the case.

Mrs. Carter spoke evenly and precisely into her microphone. "The oldest evidence I have collected dates back to December 6th, 2017. Harrison came to school that morning with a dark bruise in the shape of an adults hand on his wrist and a cigarette burn on his cheek."

Judge Anderson flipped through a few pages on the pile of papers in front of her. "I see no court records of a report being filed on December in 2017."

"Yes your honour, his teacher reported the incident to the school guidance counselor who called the Martin's in response."

"And where was Oliver during these events?"

"According to the Martin's, Oliver was missing from December 6th, 2017 to December 14th, 2022. I believe the two instances are related."

"Missing? Mr and Mrs Martin, why don't I see missing person reports filed for an Oliver Martin over those 5 years?"

Mr. Martin stood and cleared his throat. "It was our decision to handle the situation as a family. The police simply wouldn't understand the circumstances."

"And what do you mean by that?"

"Harrison has these... Supernatural abilities, your honour."

"He made his brother disappear!" Mrs. Martin piped up.

"Excuse me?" the judge blinked at the woman.

"Harrison is the devil's spawn! He made his brother disappear into thin air! Our baby was never like this before he went missing, he was so talkative and happy, he was a good Christian boy!" She cried.

Judge Anderson banged her gavel on the table. "Mrs. Martin, control yourself." She scolded. "For the negligence of reporting Oliver missing, I can already tell you you will be sentenced with child endangerment and neglect. We'll come back to the matter later. Mrs. Carter, continue."

"Thank you, your honour. Exhibit B, on December 27th, 2019 Harrison was seen standing on the side of th road with no jacket holding a sign that said "I am the Anti-Christ" while his parents were seen watching from the living room window. "

Judge Anderson hummed and turned her gaze to the boy.

"Harrison, is there an explanation for this incident?"

"Yeah, uhm, after Oliver went missing they become convinced I was possessed for a bit until they decided I was the Anti-Christ." His voice was muffled in the microphone and it made a loud ring every time his voice highered.

  Max watched Harrison get more and more uncomfortable while the woman rattled off the most traumatic events of his life like it was her high school English presentation.

"I would like to call David Cedar, Harrisons camp counselor of 3 years, to the stand." Mrs. Carters voice snapped Max out of his thoughts. He offered the man an encouraging thumbs up as he walked to the witness stand.

"Mr. Cedar, walk us through your first day of camp with Harrison. Was there anything out of the ordinary about his behavior? Any bruises, any red flags?" She asked.

"The first time I ever met Harrison, he seemed like any other kid. He was a little shy, but plenty of kids are their first day. However, when we went swimming in the lake a few days later, I noticed a large bruise on his shoulder and a puffy scar a bit below it."

A picture that used to be a group photo of the campers at the lake now zoomed in to be just Harrison was projected onto the wall behind them.

"Harrison, can you confirm or deny that these injuries were caused by your parents?" Mrs Carter asked.

"They were." Harrison replied. "There was another scar on my other arm and one on my ankle that he didn't notice."

"Mr. Cedar, were there any other notable events you can recall?"

"I noticed a few other red flags that didn't quite warrant legal intervention, but it all made sense on parents day. On the 3rd summer. While all the other campers were spending time with their parents, the Martins refused to even look at their son. They seemed terrified of him. Later that day, Mr. Martin approached me and asked me if we've figured out "what's wrong with him". "

"I think that's all we needed to hear. Mr Cedar, you're dismissed."

David sat back down on the bench visibly upset.

"Mr. and Mrs. Martin, do you have an explanation for your behavior that day?" Judge Anderson asked.

"We sent Harrison to Camp Campbell under the impression it was a Christian Camp that would teach him to control his abilities, not teach him silly card tricks. We simply wanted to know if their attempts to exorcise our son had been successful." Mr. Martin stated.

  Max was called to the stand not long after.

"Ms. Khan-"

"Mr."

"My apologies. Mr Khan, it's my understanding that you and Harrison were friends or at least aquantances during your summers at Camp Campbell. Are there any instances we may find noteworthy?"

"Me and Harrison weren't all that close, but I could tell right off the bat he didn't have the best home life. We never really talked much about it, except once after parents day."

"And what happened on parents day?"

"My parents didn't come so David took me to get pizza out of pity. We were supposed to be performing together on stage and apparently while we were gone Campbell, the old owner, got arrested. Later that night after all the parents went home, I ran into Harrison hanging out by the docks. I asked him what was with his parents and he told me they were scared of him because it was his fault his brother was gone. We talked for a bit but the point is Harrison said his parents hated him for what he did."

"Thank you for your contribution, Max. You're dismissed."

   Nerris was up next. They talked about when they had a heart to heart at the end of summer (the second one) where Harrison said he was scared to go home. The Sallows talked about an incident where the Martin's dropped Harrison off in the middle of the night on their doorstep with a note that said they couldn't stand to be around the devil's child one more night. He had a deep cut on his forearm and a red mark on his cheek that eventually turned into a dark bruise. They were going to call the police then and there but Harrison begged them not to and said it would only make things worse. The Martins picked him up the next day.

  "I think it's time we address the incident of October 23rd, 2023. Mr. Jones, what is your clients statement on the situation?" Judge Anderson asked.

"Mr. Martin claims that the day before the incident took place they had a meeting to discuss Harrison and Oliver with the church to decide what to do. I believe it's important to note that Mr. Martin claims that Oliver developed the same supernatural abilities as Harrison about a month after returning home. The church and Mr and Mrs. Martin agreed the best thing they could to was rid the world of the devil altogether. They claim that their intention was not to kill them, but to exorcise the devil from their bodies. Things took a violent turn when Oliver punched the priest in the groan region and made an attempt to escape." He stated.

"Hm. Mrs. Carter, what is Harrison and Oliver's side of the story?" Judge Anderson turned to the woman.

"Oliver and Harrison claim they were awoken at 3 in the morning to their parents tying their respective arms and legs together before they were blindfolded and carried out to the car. A neighbor witnessed the sight and decided to follow them. They were carried into the church and when their blindfolds were removed they were sitting in a pentagram in the center of the church gym surrounded by the priest, the pastor, the Bishop and the Martins. The members of the church were all cloaked and the pastor was armed with a knife. They began chanting in what Harrison believes to have been Latin until Oliver got himself untied, untied Harrison, and tried to make a run for the door. The pastor grabbed under Olivers arm from behind and pulled him back. He left a severe wound on his forearm and stomach before he broke free and punched the pastor in the groan. Mr. Martin pinned Harrison down and slashed his collarbone, thigh and shoulder before the police arrived and the church members ran away." Mrs. Carter explained.

"I see. Considering all the evidence, I think it's very clear the Martins have been suffering from severe mental illness from the trauma of their son going missing for several years. That being said, I sentence both Mary and Joseph Martin to life in prison with vigorous therapy for two counts of child abuse, neglect and endangerment and attempt murder and 30 years for the priest, pastor and Bishop for attempted murder and child abuse." Judge Anderson declared. "Another trial will be held to find out what happened the 5 years that Oliver was missing. Thank you everyone, you are dismissed."

  Max heard the Martins screams and cries as they were dragged out of the courthouse in handcuffs. Everyone else filed out of the room too until it was just David, Max, Gwen, Nerris, the Sallows, Harrison and Oliver. The Sallows took their own car and agreed to meet them back at the house. The drive back home was somber and quiet. Harrison stares out the window with an empty expression and Oliver didn't break his silence streak that started that morning. They arrived home and Mrs. Sallows stopped them from all going off to their rooms, saying she had an announcement to make.

  "Ok, me and Ethan have been discussing this for quite some time now, and no decisions need to be made yet." She preferenced. Everyone nodded and she continued. "We've been looking at houses in the Sleepy Peak area, and we think it's realistic and reasonable to move into town to be available to help out."

David and Nerris looked absolutely over the moon, while Harrison was utterly stunned. Oliver seemed indifferent to the matter, not being as close to the family as his brother. "Mom, are you serious? That would be so amazing, I could go to school with Nikki and Neil and Max and me and Harrison can hang out every day!" Nerris cheered. Although still in shock, Harrison seemed happy too. "Here's the part we all still need to discuss." Diane continued. Nerris put their excitement on hold. "After a lot of thought and consideration, and again absolutely no pressure to decide anything right now, me, David and Ethan have also been considered us adopting you two after we move down here." She said.

  Harrisons jaw fell open. "Are you serious? You want to adopt me?" He gaped. "At the end of the day, it's your decision. Both of yours." She glanced at Oliver when she said that. "We would probably buy a house on this block, hopefully the one right next to you. We would be like a conjoined families, like one big family in two houses." She continued.

"I... I would love that!" Harrison blurted. "Oliver, what do you think?" Diane asked softly. "I want to get to know you more first. But I guess I'm not against it." He mumbled. Nerris leaped up from the couch, hugging Harrison while jumping up and down. "Oh my god, we're gonna be siblings!" They bubbled over and over again. "Mom, when can we move down?" They asked. "Well, the house were looking to get is for sale right now. We can close that deal and go home to pack our things, then we should be able to start moving in in about 3 weeks if things go well." Ethan said. "3 weeks! We're gonna be siblings in 3 weeks!" Nerris hugged Harrison tighter. "Buttt" Diane interjected.

"The process of actually adopting Harrison and Oliver is going to be a bit more tricky. First we'll have to have our home inspected and once that passes, we'll have to apply and be approved to adopt a child. After that goes through, we'll have to go through a few more legal procedures before the boys can move in with us." She explained. "Well how long will that take?" Nerris asked hopefully. "We're hoping to get through it in a month or two, but there's a chance it could take over a year. I'm sorry, sweetie." She broke the news. "Oh..." Nerris looked down, disappointed. "Hey, there's no need to be upset! Like Diane said, even if it's not on paper, we'll still be one big family! You'll only be one house away!" David consoled. "Yeah, I guess your right. We'll go to the same school! And we can have sleepovers every night. Ollie and Max, too!" Nerris piped up again.

Max collapsed into bad with Mr. Honeynuts and Nuke after the long, exhausting day. He laid there for a minute, taking deep breathes, before he pulled out his phone and opened the messages app. He called the group chat with Nikki and Neil before he put the ringing phone to his ear. "You guys will not fucking BELIEVE what just happened."

Chapter Text

A few days after the trial, the Sallows had to go home to pack their things. Nerris hugged everyone and promised to be home soon. Max didn't have to go to Oliver's next trial, but Harrison and David went to support him. Not wanting to be seen as crazy, he claimed he forgot most of what happened due to trauma. Which was true. Most of his time spent in the void or the in between or where ever the fuck he was trapped was a blur. He made up a story about someone pulling him into his van on his way home from school and everything going black after that. He was given mandatory court ordered therapy every 3 days and a thorough medical examination, but other than that things blew over.

   The next few weeks started to blur together after that. He pulled a stupid prank on the 7th grade teacher with Nikki and Neil and they got detention for a week. He took Harrison and Oliver to Alice and Ediths Coffee and Croissants and they met Sam, Romeo, Alice and Edith. He also took Neil and Nikki there, along with the hippy shop. Nikki discovered a new love for geology, which Neil was extatic about because he would finally have something nerdy to talk to her about. He and David tried to cook dinner together which lead to a small grease fire. He and Gwen got caught binge watching a gorey vampire romance at 4 AM by David.

  He wasn't really sure when the days started to blur together the way they did now, and he didn't know why. He started taking a lot more pictures on his digital camera to keep track of the days. He didn't really recognize the person he saw in the picture in the few he was in. It was rarely his whole body, usually just an arm or foot in the shot, but he didn't recognize them as his limbs. The bone in his wrist pertruded too far out of his skin and his jeans fit weirdly around his legs. He didn't really know what this feeling was, but he fucking hated it.

"So, Nerris will be back in a few days. You excited?" Gwen asked as she worked through a tangle on the back of his head. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Wait, that's this week? Oh fuck." Max counted the days on his fingers. "Uh, yeah? We've been talking about it for a few days." She let the comb rest in the rats nest for a minute and gave him a weird look. "Just been busy, I guess." He mumbled.

  He leaned against her leg while she brushed through his hair a little longer than she probably needed to.  He wasn't sure why, but he's been so much more tired than he used to be lately. That was saying something because he was always tired before. "Kay, were done." She shook her fingers down his hair as she stood up and put the detangling spray back in the cabinet behind the mirror. Max cringed at the comfortable headrest being taken away. He got up and dragged himself into his room, plugging in his phone and climbing into bed. He was really hating having to climb a ladder every time he went to his bed. He checked his phone and called Nikki and Neil like he did every night.

  "Max, are you tired? You can go to bed if you want to." Nikki asked.

"What? No, I'm not tired, why?" Max replied, confused.

"Oh, ok then! You just seem a little more out of it than usual, that's all." Nikki said.

  He stayed on call with them for a few more hours longer, although Nikki was right. He did feel a little more tired than he usually would at this time. He immediately started to doze off when he hung up only to wake up an hour later with an unbearablely dry throat. Groaning, he clumsily fumbled down the ladder and made his was down the hallway.

  The wave of lightheadedness that always hit him when he got out of bed was lasting extra hard this time and hitting extra hard. He stumbled against the wall to support himself as his vision started to look like he was wearing sunglasses of static. When the dizziness started to subside, he steadied himself and continued down the hall. He stepped down the first step and the static vision was back 10 times fold. He subconsciously took the second step and then the dizziness hit him. He didn't have time to reach for the handrail before his vision went black and his body went limp. He heard a loud series of thumps  and several doors opening and worried voices from a far away place before he was fully gone.

  Max woke up on the couch, unsure of when he fell asleep or why it was in the living room. He heard David's fuzzy voice talking in a hushed tone before he sat up and rubbed his eyes. His head was on David lap and the man had his fingers tangled in his curls. Gwen was sitting on the floor beside his head. The room was dimly lit by the yellow light of a lamp, but even that made his head pound.

"Max, your up!" David cried, relieved. "I told you we needed to have the hallway light on at night!"  "The hell are you talking about?" Max shooed Davids hands off his head. "You fell down the stairs, you were out for about 4 minutes. Cmere kid, I gotta make sure your not concussed." She gently grabbed his chin and shone her phone flashlight in his eyes. It made his head hurt like hell. "Good, your good." She sighed in relief. "No, we don't need to leave the fucking hallway light on David, I'm not 5. I passed out before I fell down the stairs." He retorted.

   He instantly realized what he said and slapped a hand over his mouth. He saw Gwen and David exchange concerned looks. "What do you mean you passed out first, Max? Has this happened before?" Gwen questioned. "No. At least not like that." He mumbled. "Not like that?" She proded. "I dunno, I just get dizzy sometimes, ok? I get staticey vision and I get dizzy and sometimes I just fall down. It's not like I actually pass out all the time." He justified. "We should mention this to your doctor, it sounds like low iron. That's strange though, of you've been taking your iron supplement and eating what I've been making, your iron should be great!" David puzzled.

"David... He- Max hasn't been eating what you make." Gwen hesitated. Max shot her a look that screamed "shut the fuck up or I'll attack you right now". David was confused for a minute, before thinking back to the night they got into the fight over the pediatrician and he blocked out the calories on everything in the house. "Max, when's the last time you ate? Not just a few bites of dinner or a glass of Pediasure, your last real meal." David asked. Max knew there was no point in lying. He was past the point of no return. "I usually eat school lunch." He muttered. "It's Sunday." David said, mostly to himself.

  "I'm just not that hungry. Most of the time." Max hopelessly tried to defend. "Ok, come on." David scooped the boy up and headed towards the kitchen. It made his stomach twist how effortlessly he did it, like holding a gallon of milk. "Put me the fuck down!" Max kicked and punched at him for a few seconds but found himself to weak to put up much of a fight. David lowered him into a seat at the dining table and flicked on the stove light. He took out a box of mac and cheese and started boiling a pot of water. Gwen followed soon after, taking a seat beside him.

   David strained the noodles into 2 bowls and carried them to the table. Max stared blankly at the food in front of him. He knew he couldn't get away with pushing it around his bowl to make it look eaten or sneaking it to the dog, but he was just so painfully not hungry. "How long has this been going on?" David asked. Max counted on his fingers and thought for a moment before answering. "After the stupid pediatrician. So... 3 weeks ago? 4?" He guessed. "2 months ago?" Gwen gasped. "What? no, that can't be right." Max shook his head as he stared at his fingers. David drew in a long breath and sighed deeply before speaking. "Ok, the first thing we'll have to do is take you back to the doctors and tell your counselor about this." He said. "Are you fucking serious? I have to go back to the place that started this whole fucking mess?" Max complained. "I know it's not the most fun thing in the world, Max, but the doctor is not there to judge you or criticize you. Him, and me and Gwen, are only trying to help you." David pleaded.

"Fine." Max grumbled, accepting it was non negotiable. He shoved a spoonful of mac and cheese down is throat. "Hey." Gwen called his attention. "I know from experience how much this sucks, ok? I'm not gonna lie to you and say it doesn't suck, because man, it really fucking sucks. Getting better, I mean. It's gonna take a long time to start seeing food as a good thing again. It's gonna feel like your dying literally all the time, and your body is gonna freak out when it goes from starving to death to 3 meals a day. But yknow what you have that I didn't? You got a support system, access to the care you need, and people who get it. Your gonna get through it."

  She squeezed his shoulder a little bit and let it linger there before it dropped back to her side. Max stared at her, stunned. After not being able to form a real response, he simply replied. "Yeah, ok." and turned back to his mac and cheese. He forced himself to eat the rest of the bowl and begrudgingly let himself be carried to bed by David after his heavy insistance. "We don't have to talk about things tomorrow. We can just have a lazy day, ok? I will make sure you eat 3 meals, though." Max rolled his eyes and David affectionately ran his fingers through his black curls.

"Goodnight, Max. Love you."

"Yeah, night. Love you too."

Chapter Text

The entire household was sitting outside waiting in the cold fall breeze that Monday for the Sallows to arrive. David and Max were sitting on the swinging bench in the porch. Max was rocking it so high that it hit the wall when it swung back, but David was too excited to care or ever really notice. Harrison and sitting on the 3rd step and Gwen was on the first. Oliver was on the porch railing. Nikki and Neil decided to be there to surprise them too, and they were sitting inside watching out the window.

  Nerris didn't even wait for the car to come to a full stop outside the house before they flew out of the car and sprinted across the lawn. Harrison stood up and met them halfway, nearly being tackled into a hug. After a few seconds of excited greetings, they let the boy go and approached everyone else. They gave everyone else a hug too, of course, while their parents were unloading the car. They said hi and gave everyone a hug, too, but with one arm as their other ones were full of luggage.

   Neil swung open the front door and opened his mouth to say something, but stuttered 3 times and gave up. "Nei-" Nerris started, but was cut off by Nikki barreling out the door and ambushing the elf at light speed.

"The SECOND I went to the bathroom, you get here!"

"Nikki! Neil, I didn't know you guys would be here!"

  Nerris returned the embrace equally as tight. "Max told us you were coming, so we thought we'd come by. Hello, Mr and Mrs. Sallows!" Neil waved awkwardly. Mrs. Sallows chuckled a bit at how nervous he was. "Please, call me Diane. It was so sweet of you two to come!" She said. "How about a tour of the new house?" She offered. "Oh, how rude of me! Here, let me help you with your luggage!" David pulled the last of the suitcases out of the car and shut the trunk.

   They dropped the assorted bags at the front door, the sound  echoing through the empty house. It was pretty nice, a similar layout to David's. The living room and kitchen weren't seperated by a wall, instead the floor just transitioned from carpet to tile. They had an island instead of a bar, but they still had a dining room with a sliding door to the backyard. They also had a hallway in the dining room that led to the master bedroom and bathroom. Instead of a long hallway, the straircase led to an loft room. The bathroom doorway was in the loft, while the 3 other bedrooms were in a short hallway with a linen closet at the end.

   The first bedroom was pretty standard with a bay window and a double door closet. The walls were off white and the wood of the floor,  doorframes and windows was dark oak. Max guessed this would probably end up being Harrison's room.

  The second room didn't have a bay window but it was larger than the other bedroom windows. It had a spacious walk in closet with a built in shelf. It had the entrance to the attic in the center of the ceiling. This was probably Nerris's.

   The last bedroom had a door with a window that led to a staircase that goes into the backyard. Probably not the best idea to give the obvious future troublemaker a direct escape route perfect for sneaking out, but good for Oliver. The floor had blueish gray carpet. The closet was pretty standard with no doors. This house was nice as fuck, and Max wondered what the Sallows did for work to afford such a place on a whim.

   The adults moved in all the furniture from the uhaul that arrived during the tour and collapsed onto the couch in the living room. It was a long, L shaped couch that served as a barrier between the kitchen and living room except for an opening as a doorway. The kids stayed upstairs to help Nerris unpack their room. They put their bed under the window so the bed, window and attic entrance lined up perfectly down the middle of the room. "Damn Nerris, this place is fucking nice." Max commented as he flopped onto the freshly made bed. It had lavender sheets and no comforter, just 3 multicolored and patterened throw blankets on top of each other. They had a yellow and a sage green pillow, and one smaller circular purple pillow. They had a heap of stuffed animals that wrapped around the side and foot of the bed.

   "Yeah, I honestly think my parents have been planning this for longer than they led on." Nerris replied as they stabbed a pair of scissors into the tape seal of a box labeled "nerris decorations" with stars drawn all around it. They pulled out a poster for some anime and started sticking it to the wall with double sided tape. "What do your parents do for work again?" Neil asked.

"My mom is a seamstress, but she just started that last year. She used to work in some boring office job, but now she makes cosplays. And my dad's an animator." Nerris said as they sat down next to Max on the bed, pulling out a big stack of pictures and taping them up right above the headboard. A lot of them were of her family, a few from camp. Quite a few of Nikki, which Max found a little odd. "All of this on a freelance worker and animation salary? Yeah, they have definitely been planning this for a while." Neil replied.

   "No, that doesn't make any sense. They only found out about... Everything going on a few weeks ago." Harrison puzzled. "Wellll, I get the feeling my parents were waiting for the opportunity to get you away from yours, to be honest. After that night you showed up at our door." Nerris confessed. "Wait, really?" Harrison gaped. "It was always pretty obvious you were their favorite, dude. I don't know what your so surprised about." Max added. "Oh, cus your one to talk, Max." Nikki snickered.

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing."

"No, go ahead Nikki. What was that supposed to mean?"

"It's just, you were so surprised when David wanted you to stay, and it was always so obvious you were his favorite."

"What?! No, I was not! We were rivals! He prayed on my downfall as much as I prayed on his!"

Max rebuked defensively. "Max, really? I wasn't even there until last summer, and I could instantly tell you've been his favorite since the beginning. He talked about you so lovingly while you were actively plotting his murder. He kept a tally on his wall of how many times you've smiled!" Neil countered. Max was scrambling for a snarky response, but hopefully he didn't have time to struggle for long. "Hey, what's in the attic?" Ollie spoke for the first time all day. "Huh, now that you mention it, I'm actually not sure." Nerris replied. Without warning, he pulled the cord and a ladder crashed out of the entrance loudly. The door opened towards Nerris's bed, so it landed right at the foot of their bed. Ollie started up the ladder. The campers exchanged glances, shrugged, and followed.

   They fumbled around in the dark for a few seconds before Neil found a cord and pulled it. The room was dimly lit up by a yellow flickering light. The triangular attic was made entirely of wood with the walls being lined with support beams. There was a surprising amount of room to stand and they could even stretch their arms out without hitting the ceiling. It was dusty and covered in cobwebs, like most attics tend to be. There was one large box left sitting against the wall by the previous owners. When Nerris moved it, beams of sun illuminated the room from a small circular window.

"Wow, this room has seriously potential!" Nerris said, examining the splintery walls. "I could use this is a cosplay room, or a- oh, I know, this can be our secret hideout!" Nerris proclaimed. "Our... Secret hideout?" Max repeated. "Yeah, a space only for us! We can have sleepovers in here, and store things we're not supposed to have, and it can be open to all of us, at any time! Even when I'm not here!" Nerris rambled. Max opened his mouth to tell them that sounded like what a middle aged man writing teenagers thinks they would do, but reconsidered. "Yeah, actually, I can see it." He nodded. "But how would we get in here without your parents knowing? You know, if we were really trying to do shit we shouldn't."

"My parents room is downstairs, so they would never know if someone took the backyard entrance through the other bedroom." Nerris replied. Max was a bit impressed by their natural scheming abilities. Camp Campbell must've really rubbed off.

"I love it! We could put posters in between the support beams, and we could probably fit a bean bag in here!" Nikki chimed in. "Yeah, I have no objections." Neil non committedly agreed. "I don't really have anything to hide in here, but it would be nice to have a place just for us to hang out." Harrison commented.

  "The fuck?" Oliver mumbled behind them. Everyone turned to see what he was looking at. While they were talking he had torn the box open and was staring at the contents. Inside, there were a bunch of random forgotten or abandoned objects. There was a Nintendo 64 and a few games, some DVDs and a DVD player, some CDs, and some clothes. While the other started rummaging through the things, Max looked sceptical at the yellow shirt and purple shorts in the box. His face dawned with realization as he held up the purple shorts with the blue triangle pattern.

  "Neil, Nik." He called their attention. They looked up and instantly recognized the iconic outfit, too. "Oh, shit." Neil breathed, his eyes wide. "Wait, is this JASPER'S stuff?! Was this JASPER'S house?!" Nikki shreeked. Max slapped a hand over her mouth. "Wait, what? Who's Jasper?" Harrison asked. "He went to camp with David, and they had a weird frenemies thing going on. Long story short, Jasper died at camp and Campbell covered everything up. David still thinks he just went home early." Max explained. "Ohhh, fuck! Should we be touching this stuff?" Harrison yanked his hand back and wiped it off on his pants as if it was contaminated. "I didn't sense any energy in this house, or connected to this stuff." Nerris said. "Yeah, that's cus his spirit is stuck in spooky island until his body finds peace in the mortal world, which will  probably be never because we're the only people who know he's dead!" Nikki replied non chalontaly.

  "Awe, poor kid. He's probably been trapped there for so long." Nerris stared at the shirt in the box. "Nerris, whatever your thinking, stop. It's not out business to interfere with the spirit realm or whatever, and even if it was, I don't wanna. That kids a fucking weirdo." Max commanded. "Oh come on Max, you can't seriously tell me you don't feel at least a little bad for him! He's been wandering the same boring island all alone for decades, and centuries more to come if we don't do something!" Nerris begged. "Yeah, plus he has to see all of the quartermasters old people parties." Nikki teased. Max shot her a glare. "Nope, I am putting foot down on this one. We are not inviting a spirit into your house the first day you move in, especially when the spirit is a fucking loser."

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to side with Max on this one. We shouldn't be interfering with things beyond our comprehension. We could open a doorway to the spirit realm, or tear a hole between the fabric of our realities! We have no idea what we could be inviting in if we-" "Ok Max, how about we make a deal?" Nerris completely ignored Neil's rambling. "How about we invite him into the attic, just the attic, until next summer and then we can find his body, bury him, and set his soul free?" They haggled. "Are you just gonna do it anyway after I leave if I say no?" Max asked. "Yes." Nerris replied. "Then I guess my hands are tied." He begrudgingly shook their hand, solidifying the deal. "Now that that's settled, have you guys done anything crazy in your new school?" They asked as the started back down the ladder.

  They finished setting up Nerris's room around 9 PM. Their walls were covered in posters from cartoons and anime, and one poster for twilight. Their desk had a lot of figurines and other little trinkets taking up half the surface. The desk had 3 shelfs on the side, the first shelf holding books, the second holding art supplies, and the last having a box of herbs and crystals and candles they said were for witchcraft. The closet had a wall dedicated just to wigs and costumes for cosplay. They used all three built in shelves on their massive collection of shoes. Fairy lights wrapped around the whole room including the closet, making the door impossible to close. Their ceiling had those green glow in the dark stars all over it. They had a little cat shaped rug at the foot of their bed.

   Karl came to pick up Nikki and Neil at around 10, but he spent so long talking to the other adults they actually left at 10:30. Before they left they all exchanged numbers and created a group chat. David, Gwen, Harrison, Ollie and Max left not long after. At around 11:30, when he finally heard David and Gwen go to sleep for the night, he knocked gently on Harrison and Ollie's door and with years of practice snuck them out of the house without making a sound.

  They texted Nerris that they were there and let themselves in through the backyard entrance. When they walked in, Nerris wasn't there but they saw the attic light on. Cringing at how much noise it made, Max pulled down the ladder and climbed up. Nerris, Nikki and Neil were already waiting there. There was a circle of salt on the floor the 3 were surrounding with lit candlestick in between them. In the centers was the box of Jasper's things with a trail of dirt sprinkled on top of it leading into a crack between the floorboards.

"Hi Max!" Nikki said at her usual volume, shouting. Neil shushed her harshly. "Oops. Hi, Max!" She whispered. "How the hell did you two get here first? And what's with the dirt?" Max asked, taking a seat in the empty space between the candles. Harrison and Ollie did the same. "Mom always passes out drunk after dinner if she's home before 5 in the morning, and Karl wakes up at 5 in the morning so he has an old man sleep schedule, so we left pretty early and walked. And thats my dirt from camp!" Nikki replied. "Yeah, but why is dirt here?" Max reiterated. "The dirt from Camp Campbell serves as a gateway between Jasper, represented by the box of his things, and the house, represented by... the house." Nerris explained. "... Yeah, ok." Max rolled his eyes, accepting the cartoonish logic knowing it would probably somehow end up working anyway because that's just how things tended to work out for them.

  "Jasper Collins, if you can hear us, let this trail guide you free from Spooky Island and bring you home!" Nerris read off a script in from of them. They grabbed Nikki's hand in one hand and Neil's in their other, and everyone else completely the circle. Max rolled his eyes as they started reading from a book in Latin. The script they read was so cheesy and they were probably unknowingly just reading random words out of a Latin high school textbook. He looked around confused when Nikki and Neil started chanting the words too, then Harrison and Oliver, than another voice that he soon realized was his own started chanting too.

   He felt the room shake a bit before the lightbulb above them exploded with a bright spark and all the candles blew out with a sudden draft. He squinted in the darkness as the ringing in his ears slowly started to subside.

"Hello?"

  So, they had a pet ghost now. Jasper was incredibly confused when he was wandering aimlessly through the forest one second and in the attic of his childhood home the next, but once they explained he was thankful to be out of Spooky Island, and even happier about finally having some company. He was given a quick introduction of everyone before they realize they didn't have much to talk about.

"Wait, why are we all just sitting in the dark again?" Jasper asked.

"Oh yeah, I got it." Harrison pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight. He left it face down in the middle of the floor so it illuminated the whole room.

  "What is that?" Jasper stared at the phone, puzzled. "Oh yeah, your from the ancient times! Back before phones or computers or fun!" Nikki piped. She pulled out her own phone and scooted closer to the boy. She spent the next half an hour showing him different games and apps, with Neil chiming in with commentary about the technology of phones and all that nerdy shit. Jasper was absolutely fascinated by Minecraft, and was disappointed when the phone didn't detect his fingers on the screen. "Wait, I have an idea!" Nerris hopped up and slid down the ladder, shuffling around in their room for a moment before climbing back up. "So the phone doesn't detect you, but you can interact with things, right? Like, you can move things around?" They asked. Jasper nodded.

"This is a laptop. It's like a phone, but you control it with these little buttons and this thingy. It's called a mouse."

"We had computers back then, you know. They didn't look like this though, that's for sure."

"You did? Anyways, that's not the point! Try and see if you can use it."

Jasper moved the mouse in a circle and the curser followed his movements. He clicked the M key on the keyboard and it appeared in the search bar. "Neat!" He marveled, having been starved from anything modern for years. "You can play Minecraft on this!" Nerris pulled up the app they already installed and patiently taught Jasper the controls. They payed for a server and everyone joined.

"Oh shit, it's almost 5! My dad's gonna be home soon, we gotta go!" Neil saved and quit in Minecraft and darted down the ladder, Nikki following. "Bye Nikki, bye Neil!" Nerris called after them. "Yeah, we better get going too. Night guys, see ya tomorrow." Max stood and dusted himself off before climbing down the ladder. Harrison and Oliver said goodbye too and followed after him. They crept out of Nerris's and back into their own rooms without being heard. Max collapsed into his bed and finally began to drift off after half an hour, only for his school alarm to wake him right back up.

Chapter Text

Max sat at the table watching David butter Max's pancakes and drench his own in syrup. By now he had learned Max didn't like syrup on them so we could eat them with his hands, and because it was nauseatingly sweet. "David, why do you think so many kids from Camp Campbell ended up in Sleepy Peak?" He asked, picking up the pancake and nibbling around the edges. "Mr. Campbell didn't advertise too far out of the state. I think it's because he didn't want the FBI to find him. His face was on a lot of those pamphlets." David replied, taking a seat next to him at the bar. "It's pretty unlucky he ended up with 2 FBI agents fucking daughter, then." Max snickered. David laughed softly, too. They ate in silence for a few more minutes before Gwen came out of the bedroom, still in her pajamas. "Cmon, hair time." She didn't even look back at him as she motioned for him to follow and started up the stairs. Max showed David what he had eaten out of his breakfast, one of the 3 pancakes and 4 strawberries. "This good?" He asked. "Hmm... Ok, but take one more pancake with you." David hesitantly approved. Max peeled one more off the pile, grabbed his coffee mug and followed Gwen up the stairs.

   Ever since the stair incident, they had to keep a much closer eye on Max's eating. They had his meal plan written on a little white board attached to the fridge with a magnet. At first they tried not telling him what the ingredients were and how many calories were in his food, but that just made him refuse to eat altogether. He was doing a lot better being able to keep track of exactly what he was eating. It gave him a sense of control. They had to take him to the pediatrician, who he now knew was named Dr. Wilson, and Mrs. Torres once a week. He also had to show David his plate after every meal and have him approve of how much he had eaten. He hated either being treated like a wild animal who may attack at any minute or an undiscovered creature being examined under a microscope, but Gwen helped. David tried to, and he did a great job for the most part, but there were things Gwen got that he just didn't.

   "Hey, your hairs looking a lot thicker. Your not losing nearly as much." She praised, holding out the brush for him to see. Apparently when he hadn't been eating he'd been losing a lot of hair. Not enough to look like he was balding, but a noticeable amount if you were the one brushing out his hair every morning and night. Gwen thought it was because his hair wasn't used to so much product and care, and she felt bad she missed such a crutual red flag. She thought he didn't notice she felt bad, but he always noticed. "Harrison and Ollie are starting school real soon." She said after a beat of silence.

"Isnt it kinda weird we call him Harrison?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, we call Oliver Ollie. Why do we still call him Harrison?"

"Oh, I guess I never gave it a second thought."

"I think we should start calling him Harry. It fits him."

"Why, cus of the character? Harry Potter?"

"Yeah. He'd probably dig that. He's a loser."

Max finished off the last of his coffee and tore the pancake into tiny pieces, eating the shreds. He knew he had no option but to finish it, but damn it he would do it on his own terms.

"It's gonna be weird. All of is going to school together."

"Things are already a bit weird, aren't they?"

"Not moreso than usual."

"I beg to differ. I mean, I'm your living with David, Me, Harrison and Ollie, but not for long because Nerris, who's our neighbor now, is adopting Harrison and Ollie? Next thing you know after they move out Preston and Nurf are gonna be David's next foster kids."

"Oh god, do not fucking jinx it."

Gwen chuckled and the room fell back into a comfortable silence for a moment.

"It's a good kind of weird though, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess."

She gave his hair one last comb through. When his curl recoiled softly and there wasn't a tangle to be found, she sent him off to go get dressed for school and put the detangling spray and comb away.

Whatever semblance of a good mood he was in that morning was crushed the second they pulled up to the school. "Hey, Maxine!" he heard a boy mockingly call in the distance. He had no idea how the smallest things spread around this school like wildfire, but he thought they all needed to get a fucking life. David searched the crowd of kids for the culprit before Max grabbed his hand and dragged him inside. "Just drop it David, it's fine." He mumbled through clenched teeth. "I'm sorry that happened." David said sincerely.

   They arrived to class together and he heard a loud, punchable boy joking with his friends about how the teachers pet was here with his daddy. Apparently someone in his class lives on their block and saw them entering the house together, so that made the last few weeks extra unbearable. David shot the boy a death glare that looked unnatural on his face before starting role call.

  He didn't bother going to the lunch room anymore, David brought him lunches from home that fit his meal plan and he wouldn't end up staying in the cafeteria anyway. A girl made a sly comment about how he always stayed behind and ate alone with his dad. "Hey, watch it." David scolded. Max was starting to think David was more bothered by the other kids than he was. If anything Max felt a little bad for them. He knew from experience kids become so bitter and hateful and just plain mean when it's all they're exposed to their entire lives. He would probably snap back about how they're only mad because their daddy beats them and their mommy ignores it while his daddy was out here fighting tooth and nail and spending hundreds just to give him a normal childhood, but he refused to stoop to their level. That and it would make him a huge fucking hypocrite. Neil came to David's room for lunch like he did every day now and they talked until the bell rang.

Max made his way past the loud cafeteria on his way back to David's room from the office. He went there to drop off a form or some shit for him, and the lunch bell for the 8th graders rang while he was there. He pulled his headphones over his ears and speedwalked past the cafeteria with his head down. He ran right into a girl much taller than him walking the opposite direction. He fell backward onto the thankfully carpeted floor. "Oh shit, my bad lil dude." She held out a hand covered by a pair of fingerless gloves. Max instinctively glared up at the girl and they both froze when he met her grey blue eyes.

"Erid?!"

"Max?!"

Max texted David he had to do something and would be back to class soon, turning off his phone and ignoring the incessant vibrating in his pocket. "I didn't know you lived in Sleepy Peak. Why have I never seen you around?" She asked as they walked down the vacated 8th grade hallway. "I didn't used to. Moved down here from the city for family stuff." It was technically the truth. "That blows, dude. It sucks here, there's nothing to do . I just moved down here for my dad's work, too. They need to be here to keep a closer eye on Campbell."

   She rolled her eyes as she turned the corner at the end of the corridor to a staircase that was definitely not meant for students. She opened the door to the roof of the building and swung her legs over the edge. "How do you know about this spot? Don't you have a swarm of popular girls chomping at the bit to sit with you at lunch or something?" Max asked as he joined her. Her express dropped a little bit and she gazed over the schools parking lot. "I dunno. I did. At my old school." She murmured. Max stay silent, indicating for her to continue.

   She let out a long sigh and laid back to look at the clouds. "Back in my old town I was super popular. Everyone thought I was cool. And then I moved here, and the second I walk in the doors some kid barked at me and called me emo? Someone called me a literal slur, and I caught a group of kids taking videos of me." She sighed. "You wanna know what happened my first day?" Max asked. Erid gave him a questioning look.

  "Nikki almost accidentally outed me to the entire class, a kid called me a teacher's pet for being allowed to wear noise cancelling headphones, and another kid started flicking them. I had to eat lunch in David's room and a group of kids your age laughed at me for it. Today, I was made fun of for walking into the room at the same time as David and deadnamed before I even entered the building." He deadpanned. Erid gave him a sympathetic look. He didn't really process that in his retelling of the story he outed himself to her.

  "Kids here fucking suck, Erid. It's a 90% white, small,  dominantly Christian town in a red state in the west. Of course people like us aren't built for this place. But didn't you have a whole life changing adventure with Nerris where you learned that other peoples validation was never the point of being cool or some shit?" He said. Erid offered him an understanding smile. "Yeah, I guess your right. Wait, did you say Nikki? She goes here?"

"Oh yeah. Same with Neil, and Harrison, his little brother and Nerris are starting here soon too."

"Jesus Christ, what did I miss?"

"You don't know the half of it."

"Max! Where on earth have you been?" David demanded after the boy was gone for 20 minutes longer than he should've been. "Yeah yeah yeah, I shouldn't leave class without permission, but I had a good reason! I just found out Erid moved here from the city!" Nikki was at Max's side so fast after he said Erid that if you blinked you would've thought she teleported. "Really?! Does she go here?!" She asked eagerly, basically foaming at the mouth. "Yeah, I just talked to her." Max replied. "Wow, I can't believe it! I'm going to the same school as Erid! I can't wait to see her!" Nikki babbled. "Oh, really? Well, that's very nice! I'll have to say hello. But that doesn't excuse skipping class!" David scolded with no real bite. "Yeah, whatever. Sorry." Max rolled his eyes as he sat back at his desk.

"Really? I guess I did jinx it!" Gwen chuckled as she set his snack of a small bowl of blueberries and PB&J in front of him. It seemed like more of a meal than a snack to Max, but he wasn't really allowed to object to his meal plan. David was running after school club that day so Gwen was watching him until 6. "I hope we run into space kid next. Man, I miss that kid." She said "Wanna finish Vampires of Montana?" It was the lastest dumb romance horror they had been binging together. He grabbed his plate and cuddled up with Nuke on the couch, discretely feeding her a couple blueberries when Gwen wasn't looking.

"So, how was school?"

"Shitty. Like always."

Gwen hummed sympathetically.

"Erid is different now, too. Not bad different though."

"Oh yeah? How so?"

"She's not considered cool here. The kids here are just as mean and annoying and insufferable to her as anyone else."

"Ouch, I'm sure that hit her like a semi truck."

"Honestly? She was pretty mature about it. Shes not changing herself into one of those copy and paste straight white country girls just to get her status back, at least."

"Huh, good for her."

  Max sort of wondered if Nerris and Harrison and Ollie would have to face the same bullshit he and  Erid and probably Nikki and Neil did if they were brave enough to be themselves. At least Max could say he wasn't trans, but you can't really do that with being non binary. Just that alone would be enough to doom them, let alone the fact they were a massive dork. And to be honest, there was no way in hell it was just Ollie who got the autism gene because there was definitely something neurodivergent going on inside Harrisons head.

  He decided then and there that he wasn't going to let that happen, or at least not let them deal with it alone. If we was good at anything, it was plotting and revenge. He knew he would face double the ridicule for trying to protect them. He didn't care. They hated everything different, and Max would always be different, no matter how hard he tried. And trust him, he really tried. If they were gonna hate him no matter what he did, there was no point in trying to appeal to people who truly could never be pleased. At least he could stop his friends from dealing with it alone like he did.

  He guessed he wasn't totally alone. He had David, and he really did try, but being and adult vs a bunch of 5th graders there wasn't much he could legally do. Being that David grew up in Sleepy Peak as someone who was also different, he probably had to deal with the same shit Max did. Except that was back when being violently transphobic was normalized and David didn't have a supportive teacher who was also his dad. Max suddenly realized that he started thinking of David as a dad at some point. He would never admit that to him or anyone with a pulse, but it was sort of a nice thought.         

   And he had Nikki, but insults seemed to deflect off of her. She definitely had her fair share of being hated for being different in the flower scouts. He thought that must be where she got such thick skin. That and basically raising herself since she could reach the counter on her own until Karl showed up made her pretty self assured. Max was kind of jealous of the way her trauma really did make her stronger. Everyone always told him what didn't kill him made him stronger, but he didn't feel stronger. He felt tired. Plus Nikki had already established herself a school friend group on her first day, and he didn't doubt they were all biters.

   Then there was Neil, but being in the next grade group up, they rarely saw eachother expect for in an empty classroom at lunch, and he couldn't do much from there. He could offer a listening ear and emotional support, but when you only see someone for 40 minutes a day you can't do much. And Max we sure Neil had his own world of shit going on, being the most stereotypical nerd on the planet and also probably autistic.

   Gwen flipped the TV to gravity falls out of muscle memory when she heard David's keys rattling in the door. "Hey, David." She unenthusiastically greeted. "Hey, guys." David sighed as he flopped down on the couch. "You good?" Gwen asked, pausing the show. "Yeah, I'm ok. I just had to make a rough call to CPS today at work." David replied. "Really? What kid?" Max asked. "Jenny Pe- oops, pretend I didn't say that! I'm not supposed to share that information!" David sputtered. "Pelosi?" Max recognised the name. She was the girl who made the comment about how Max always ate in the classroom. She was a regular bully of his for being a "teacher's pet". "What happened?" Max pryed.

"You know I can't tell you that."

"You already broke confidentially. Besides, if I don't hear it from you now I'll hear if from someone else tomorrow morning. Nobody in this place has a life, all that talk about its other people's."

David sucked in a deep breath and thought.

"Well, I told Jennie's mom Jenny was falling behind in math and may need a little extra help. The mom started using some... not so nice language with her, and she ended up putting hands on her. We had to call CPS, and I'm being kept in the dark about what happened."

  It didn't give Max some sick satisfaction to know Jenny was suffering the way he did, it truly just made him sad. Jenny hurt people because she was hurt by her mom. Her mom probably hurt her because she was hurt by her grandma. The cycle really just felt endless sometimes, and it made him fell so hopeless. Sometimes he worried he would never break the cycle, or that it simply wasn't possible.

Jenny Pelosi was followed by whispers and snarky comments as she walked through the hallway on her first day back after her 2 week leave. Everyone had heard what happened by that point. She marched straight up to Max and tapped on his shoulder. Max was surprised to see her, but not so surprised that she was already here to take it out on him.

"Max, I'm moving out of Sleepy Peak."

"Wh- ok?"

"I'm just here to get all my things out of the classroom. And I just wanted to let you know that... I'm sorry."

Max stared at her in disbelief. This was definitely a first.

"For the way I treated you. You didn't deserve that."

She kicked at the ground, refusing to make eye contact.

"Yeah, I didn't. But I get it."

She looked up to meet his eyes for the first time, surprised.

"We're cool, Jenny. Just don't do that shit again."

Jenny gave him a grateful smile before walking past him into the classroom. Huh, he guessed maybe breaking the cycle was possible.

Chapter Text

1 New message from: The Camp Campbell Survivors

Elfkin: GUYS I HAD AN IDEA

Elfkin: SO YK HOW IT'S ME AND HARRISON AND OLLIE'S LAST WEEKEND BEFORE SCHOOL

Magickid: dont remind me

Hellian: yeah why

Elfkin: WE SHOULD HAVE A SLEEPOVER THIS SATURDAY

Elfkin: AS A SEND OFF TO OUR FREEDOM

Dirteater: OMG YAYAYYYA

Computerfucker: Yeah, sure.

Magickid: sounds fun! ill be there

Magickid: ollie said hes not coming tho :( he doesnt like sleepovers

Elfkin: awwee :( IT'S OK THO!!

Hellion: im down

  Max giggled at the group chat and contact names that he chose. He made a mental note to get Erids number sometime soon and add her before he shoved his phone into his pocket and went to Davids room.

"Come in!" He called when Max pounded on the door. "Hey David, can I go to a sleepover tonight at Nerris's with Harrison, Nikki and Neil?"

"No Oliver?"

"He's not that into sleepovers."

"Well I think it sound like a great idea! But, I do have some concerns."

"Like?"

"As much as you've proven to be responsible, I'm just not all that comfortable with not having any way to be sure you ate dinner."

"Ok, well you trust Diane and Ethan, right? Have them confirm I ate. They can even send a picture of it or something."

"Hmm... It's a big step, but I trust you. Alright, you can go."

"Kay, cool, thanks.

To Camp Campbell Survivors:

Hellian: david said we can go

Elfkin: YIPPEE!

Computerfucker: Dad's ok with us going too.

Elfkin: ok all of you be here by 8 im getting a bunch of snacks and stuff!!!

Dirteater: RAAAHHHRJEJRJRJ

Max set his phone down and grabbed his former go-bag, which was now becoming his overnight bag. He threw in his phone charger, a mango Monster, a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, Mr Honeynuts shoved in the very bottom of the laptop compartment, a vanilla Pediasure, his blue throw blanket, his pills for the morning and his spare hoodie.

Everyone was there at 8 PM on the dot. They ate dinner, little ceasers pizza, and Max saw Diane check a message on her phone and then say she wanted to get a picture of then all. She knew David asked for proof he was eating and she was just trying to be discrete, but it was ok because the picture did turn out cute. They went up the the attic and picked up where they left off on Minecraft with Jasper. Nerris was building a huge elaborate castle which Nikki was gathering the resources for. Neil was trying to start a Minecraft economy powered by emerald, while poor Harrison was just trying to built his little wooden house. Max rage quit when he fell off the side of a revene into lava right after finding diamond, and the others slowly started getting bored of the game too. Jasper decided to keep playing alone so they left the attic and set up base in Nerris's room. Nerris and Nikki were sharing the bed, Max and Neil had an air mattress on the floor and Harrison slept on a futon Ethan brought in for them.

   "Look what I got!" Nerris pulled out a Walmart bag filled with snacks. They had all their favorites memorized. Nikki got oreos and gummy worms. She liked to crush them up in a cup and put the worms in it to make it look like dirt. Neil got a bag of peanut M&Ms, which he was shockingly not allergic to. Max got sour patch kids. He liked to put them in his monster because it made it fizz like crazy. Harrison liked peeps, and Nerris got themselves a pack of chocolate chip cookies.

  Max happily accepted the box, but paused when he saw the nutrition label. He was used to having the calories blocked out on all the snacks in the house so he didn't spend too much time overthinking it. 120 calories in 9 pieces felt like a lot. He did the math in his head an determined that he had already reached his calorie minimum for the day. That was recommended to him by his doctor, he knew what he we talking about. He didn't need these.

  He casually slipped the box into his backpack and looked around to make sure nobody saw. Everyone was distracted laughing at something stupid Nikki did, and he thought he was in the clear, until he caught Neil looking at him. Thankfully, Nikki spoke up before he had a chance to say anything. "Hey, do you guys wanna watch a scary movie? I found this rated R one that's supposed to be SUPER gross." She said, pulling her laptop out of her bag. Everyone clambered onto the bed as Nerris play.

   They were all practically sitting on top of each other, clinging onto each other for dear life at every gross, gorey scene. Safe for Max, who was cackling the whole time. They were all jumping at their own shadows by the credits. "That ending was fucking stupid. His friends just left him at the zoo? What kinda logic is that?" Max judged.

"Max, we just witnessed a man turn into a horrific lump of vaguely seal shaped flesh, and that is your biggest concern with the logic?"

"Yes,  Neil, that is my biggest problem. I thought you of all people would understand that. If I was transformed into a horrible amphibian mass, would YOU just leave me to die in a zoo?" Max teased.

"So, do guys wanna sneak out?" Nikki asked with a misheveous grin. "Nikki, don't you remember last time you snuck out someone called animal control because they thought a feral racoon was outside?" Neil rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you know I would love to Nik, but Sleepy Peak is weirdly strict about their minor curfew. There's cops on almost every street. And besides, what would be even do?" Max replied. Nikki seemed a little disappointed by the collective no she received, but quickly started thinking of other things to do. "I vote we change into out pajamas before we do anything. The collar of this sweater is driving me insane." Neil said.

  Max's pajamas were essentially the same exact thing he always wore but with basketball shorts. Normally he would also lose the hoodie, but he didn't want to ruin the mood by having to explain the scars on his arms. Neil put on a big yellowish orange T-shirt with oversized muted red sweat pants. Nikki's pajamas were an offwhite T-shirt with a fully labeled diagram of the anatomy of a platypus Neil gave her for her 11th birthday and some red shorts. Nerris had a dark grey shirt with the moon cycle in a circle in the center and lavender pajama pants with stars. Harrison had a faded brown shirt with the text "Yellowstone National Park" barely still legable after so much use and black sweat pants. Without his gloves you could see his hands had scars and scabs because he picks at them when he's anxious and the scars from his parents were visible. It put Max a little less on edge about his own when nobody commented on them or stared.

   Eventually they settled on something they could all enjoy in one way or another, painting. Nerris made an acrylic painting of a mystical forest with a blue to pink ombre color scheme. The perspective was from halfway in the sky, with only the tips and upper bodies of the trees being visable and the other half of the sunset. There were pink wispy clouds peppering the sky and towards the top of the sky where it started to fade to blue there were pink stars created splattering the paint brush with their finger. The trees were purple pine trees with branches that drooped but curled upwards at the tip. The remaining sunlight shone through the trees and they did a really cool sun glare effect to make it look like the picture was taken by a camera.

  Neil painted anatomically an correct Stegosaurus skeleton, mostly dug up but still laying in and dusted with dirt. There was a bunch of other little fossils and bones some more buried than others surrounded it, and the head of the shovel was included in the corner as scale. The shovel looked so tiny compared to the skeleton Max thought it was supposed to be a toy one.

  Nikki painted a shockingly accurate portrait of Lake Lilac from memory. The docks could be seen reaching over the water. Every patch of mold and moss was in the exact right spot, even the little dandelion that kept growing back in the crack between the wood no matter how many times it was stomped. She did beautiful lighting on the riples of the water and every tree on spooky island was painted individualy as if she was really trying to recreate one specific tree with each one. The back of Nerris's head could be seen rowing in a canoe across the lake.

   Harrison painted what he remembered of the dimension quartermaster took him to, and where he believed his brother to have been when he made him disappear. His mind mostly filled in the blanks as a purple and black galaxy void, but he knew that was because what he saw was beyond human comprehension. What he en ded up with was an octopus sitting at a table with a tea set in front of background that looked like the final picture in a slideshow depicting a schizophrenic painter's progression as they desended into madness.

  Max painted the fireworks from the Camp Campbell send off ceremony. He included all the campers in the portrait. The fireworks were a bit exaggerated, portrayed as a big blue explosion illuminating the whole camp with some little red bursts surrounding it.

   After sharing their paintings they were content to just settle down and talk for the night. They dozed off giggling about some stupid joke Nikki and Nerris dragged on for way too long about turning Harrison into an octopus with a top hat and donating him to a zoo.

Max shot up from his sleep, sweating and breathing heavily. Forgetting he wasn't at home, he blindy and frantically search for Mr Honeynuts in the dark. He had nightmares about his parents often, actually most nights, but did his stupid fucking brain have to pick tonight of all nights to mesh a bunch of his worst memories together and give him a highlight reel of his deepest running traumas?

   Recollecting where he was, he grabbed his backpack and started digging through it frantically. He got more frustrated and panicked everything second he went without finding the mangy old bear. "Max?" Neil yawned, rubbing his eyes and squinting as they adjusted to the dark. "Fuck!" Max jumped, startled, and accidentally hit Neil in the face. "Shit, sorry!" He apologized profusely after realizing what he'd done. "Max, it's fine, are you ok?" Neil dismissed his throbbing nose and redirected his attention.

"Yeah, yeah no I'm fine!" Max sputtered. "Your hyperventilating." Neil said calmly, but his voice was laced with concern.

"Hey, name 5 things you can see."

"What?"

"Name 5 things you can see."

"Uhm, I guess you, my backpack, uh... Nerris, Nikki, and the moon?"

"Ok, what are 4 things you can feel?"

"Why are you asking me these stupid ass questions?"

"Just do it!"

"Ok, ok! I feel hoodie, my hair on my forehead, my blanket, and my face is... wet?"

Max didn't process before then that he had been crying.

"What are 3 things you can hear?"

"You, Nikki's snoring, and uhm... the air conditioning."

"What are 2 things you can smell?"

"I guess uh, the pizza from earlier, and Davids candle smell stuck in my blanket."

"Ok, what's one thing you can taste?"

"I don't fucking know, my teeth?"

"Ok, good job. Take a deep breath."

Max had stopped hyperventilating and sweating, but his breathe was still heavy and shuddered and water was still falling from his eyes. Neil started breathing deeply, and Max synced his own breathing up subconsciously.

"Are you calmed down?" He asked softly.

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm good."

"What happened?"

"Just a dream."

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Neil, we just watched a rated R movie. What do you think it was about?"

"Max, you were laughing the whole time. We both know that's not what it was about."

Max fidgeted with the hanger loop on his backpack.

"It was just about my parents."

"Ah."

Neil reached into Max's backpack and pulled Mr Honeynuts out of the laptop compartment like he knew he would be there. Max snatched the bear out of his hands and stuffed it into his hoodie.

"Whatever. Fuck you, go die. 'M going back to sleep."

"Yeah, fuck you too. Goodnight."

"Night."

Chapter Text

They house was buzzing with anxiety as Harrison and Ollie got ready for their first day of school. Nerris drove with David and them to school because their parents were working. They all squished into into the minivan, Harrison and Max in the back, Nerris and Ollie in the middle and Gwen in the passenger seat. Nerris would be in Max and Nikki's class and Harrison was in Neil's. Oliver was on his own. Max looked over and noticed Harrison picking at his skin under his glove. He silently pulled Harrison's hand anyway and set in on the seat between them.

"Nerris, are you as excited as I am for you to be in my class?" David asked, far too full of energy for how early it was. "Probably not." They replied sarcastically. David looked a but crestfallen, but didn't say anything. "Well, I am excited to share a class with Max and Nikki." they added. Davids smile returned to his face.

  Max drew in a deep breath as the approached the building. The annoying know it all who sat across from him was standing near the entrance. He put up an illusion of confidence as he climbed out of the car. "Hey, Maxine." He sneered, just quiet enough for David not to hear.

  "Good morning, class!" David clapped to get the students attention. "Today's a special day, because we have a new student joining our class! Come introduce yourself!" David ushered Nerris up to the front of the class. "Uh, hi! My name is Nerris, I like DnD, and larping, and witchcraft and uhmm... Oh, and my pronouns are they/them!" They smiled. The loud, obnoxious boy that particularly bothers Max named Bryson laughed loudly. "Yeah and I identify as an attack helicopter!" He wheezed at his own joke at an ear grating volume.

  "Jesus fucking Christ, Bryson, and you try even the smallest bit to be creative? These jokes been reused since 2016, I swear to God it's either that or "my pronouns are nor/mal." Would it kill you to develop one more wrinkle in your smooth brain to conceive another fucking joke?" Max snapped. "Ayooo, Mr. Cedar Maxine's swearing!" He taunted. "Bryson, that's enough. We don't use hateful language towards anyone in this classroom. If it happens again, you'll be in the principles office. And Max, no swearing." He threw in at the end. The kid whined to his friends about how Max always got away with things because he was Davids favorite.

  "Hey, are you ok? Don't take it to heart, Bryson is mean to everyone." A girl with half up black hair and a white button up asked when Nerris sat back down. "Don't worry, I'm used to kids like him." Nerris reassured.

"It's really cool your into witchcraft! My family practices paganism. Oh, I'm Amelia, by the way!"

"Nice to meet you, Amelia!"

Ok, maybe everyone in this school wasn't as bad as Max may lead you to believe. Just most of them.

Harrison followed Neil into a very, very loud classroom. A throw pencil went flying over his head as he made his way to his seat. Another kid next to him was crunching takis loudly. Coming from a small private Catholic school run out of someone's house, this was a big culture shock. If he stepped foot in a public school in the city, Max was pretty sure his face would probably melt off. The teacher gave two loud claps before starting class, not waiting for the students to quiet down. She instructed everyone to take out the science assignment they had apparently been working on for days.

"Uhm, excuse me miss?" Harrison sheepishly raised his hand.

"What?"

"I don't have the assignment."

"Well who's fault is that?"

"Uh... What?"

"Ohhh right, your new. Well I'll get you the supplies and Neil can walk you through it."

Neil and Harrison exchanged confused glances as the woman slapped a sheet of paper on his desk and walked away. Neil tried to explain the project to Harrison, who was completely lost.

"Ok, let me rephrase. All you need to do is draw pictures of the stages of evolution. That's it, we can do the writing later."

"The... stages of evolution?"

"Yknow, like Homminidia to Ardipithecus Ramidus, so on and so forth?"

"... Huh."

"Apes to humans?"

"I... don't follow? God created the humans?"

Neil pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a deep sigh. This was gonna be a long fucking day.

  Oliver sat down at the desk that had his name on the laminated nametag taped to the desk. "Good morning class, quiet down, we have a new student! Oliver, come introduce yourself!" the frail old woman beckoned him forward. "Didn't you kinda just introduce me?" He replied sarcastically. "Oh, don't be shy sweetie, come on up!" She insisted. Ollie groaned quietly as he shuffled to the front of the room. "My names Ollie." He deadpanned and started walking back to his seat.

  "Why don't you tell us about yourself, Ollie?" The woman encouraged. "You wanna know about me? Ok, my I like coding, I'm 9 years old, and last week my parents tried to sacrifice and murder me and my brother to the Lord because we're the devil reincarnated! Happy?" He said with a mockingly happy smile and voice. The woman stared at him in utter shock, along with the rest of the class. "Thats right, but we survived and now we could be after anyone!" He jumped forward a little bit and everyone in the class jumped, a few kids even screaming. He laughed at them quietly to himself as he made his way back to his seat. He made eye contact with the boy sitting across from him, staring, and made a small flame appear from his fingertip for a few seconds. The kid opened his mouth to say something, but Oliver leaned in closer. "No one will ever believe you." 

  The lunch bell rang and the entire 5th grade class dashed for the door, except Max. "Uh, hey, would you maybe wanna sit with me at lunch? If your not busy!" Amelia asked shyly. "Oh yeah, of course! Wanna come, Max?" Nerris asked when they noticed the boy hadn't left his seat.

"Nah, I have plans for lunch."

"Oh, ok then! See ya!"

They happily trotted away with their new friend in tow. As happy as he was, he was a bit jealous of how quickly Nerris made a friend after outwardly stating they were trans to the whole class. That was fine though, Max didn't need or want friends.

  Neil and Max sat at his desk, chatting like usual, when their routine was interrupted. "Mr. Cedar, there's a situation in the lunch room. You need to come, fast!" Amelia sputtered as she burst through the door. The boys exchanged concerned glances before they got up and followed after them.

   The scene Max found in front of him made his blood boil. It was quite a struggle to get the the front of the gaggle of screaming and cheering children. When he did, Bryson was standing on one side with red knuckles and Nerris was on the other side. On the floor. Their nose was bleeding and the lense of their glasses was cracked. They were shaking pretty hard and crying, but the injuries didn't look severe. Harrison was standing in front of them protectivly, but he honestly looked equally scared. Nikki was on the sidelines screaming frantically, being held back by 3 of their school friends.

  David sprung into action, making sure Nerris was ok first. Max knew while David was distracted would be his only shot. He darted into the middle of the circle and landed a hard punch in the kids face. He ignored the cheering and screaming of the kids around him recording. David noticed the commotion and and instructed Harrison to get Nerris to the nurse before running to break the two up.

   He physically lifted Max up and set him aside and brought the other kid to the nurse. He knew exactly what happened and that the little shit deserved the broken nose he got, but he couldn't say that on camera. Not that he would if there wasn't cameras, because he was usually against very violence, especially against kids. Usually.

  "What the fuck happened?" Max defender as he stormed up to Nikki and Harrison. "And what the fuck are you all still looking at? Put your god damn cameras away and go get a life." He barked at the kids and they finally began to clear out and stop recording when they realized the fight was over. Harrison was breathing hard and shallow and Nikki looked like she was on the verge of tears. "Bryson, he came up to us and started calling Nerris a girl, and when Nerris didn't react to him, he started getting violent." Harrison stuttered. "I bit his arm when he touched them and he freaked out and punched them in the nose. Nerris tried to defend themselves, but he just kept going." Nikki heaved, the dam in her eyes breaking.

  Max took a few deep, long breathes to avoid completely exploding. "Are both of you ok?" He asked as evenly as possible. "He elbowed me pretty hard, but I'll be ok. Nerris is the one who got hurt. " Harrison gestured to his face. There was a circular red mark under his eye on his cheekbone. "Looks like it'll bruise, but you'll be ok." Max sighed, a little relieved, before walking up to one of the 7th graders that was in the front with a camera.

"Send me that video." He commanded. "You wanna see your badass punch? I think you broke his nose, dude. What's your Instagram?"

"Oliver Martin to the principles office, Oliver Martin to the principles office. Your being checked out" the voice on the intercom squeaked. "Christ, they already managed to do something stupid?" he mumbled as he threw his backpack over his shoulder. He was confused when he saw the hallways swarming with more commotion than usual. He tried to weave his way through the sea of kids much taller than him and bumped straight into an 8th grader. He was going to keep walking without apologizing before he was a familiar blur of teal and black on the kids screen.

  "Hey, gimme that." He said as he swiped the phone out of the boys hand and replayed the video. He saw his brother guarding a bleeding Nerris on the floor before David ran in, and the video cut off right after Max swooped in. It ended with a sickening but satisfying crack from the boys nose before the video looped.

   He shoved the phone back into the kids hand and pushed his way through the crowd the rest of the way to the office.

  Max, Nerris, David, Harrison and Bryson sat in tense silence in the principles office. He was an older man with greying hair wearing a suit that didn't impress anyone. "Would anyone care to explain to me what made you four think it was ok to commit physical assault in my school?" He said sharply. "Mr. Lincoln, I was just teasing Nerris, and out of nowhere this little psycho bit me! Everything I did was in self defense, her friends are crazy!" Bryson said. "It's they." Max growled. "Principal Lincoln, thats not what happened at all. I saw the whole thing." Nikki argued. "Look, kids, I had no way of knowing who started it and who said what, but right now it's clear to me that all of you are hurt and all of you hurt somebody. So can't we just... hug it out?" The man stared at them expectantly with a phoney smile plastered on his face. The kids looked back at him, varying levels of shock and anger in their expressions.

   "Actually sir, I do have a way for you to know." Max said smuggly, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He didn't just pick any random kid when choosing where to source his evidence, he was observant. The kid was always lurking with his phone ready every time their was conflict, Max had seen it. He was sort of known in the school for knowing everyone's personal business and having all the receipts. So of course, he had the entire encounter before the fight in full HD. Bryson face paled as Max played the entire thing, begining to end.

   The principle put a hand over his mouth and furrowed his brows. "Well, although bullying is not tolerated at our school, Nikki did bite him first." He said. Max stared back, stunned and furious. He looked around and realized everyone else was too, all except Bryson who had the smug grin on his face again. "Kids, could you all please step out for a moment?"   David said, trying to keep his tone calm but the fury still apparent.

  Max stood outside the principles office, listening to David tear into the old man for what must've been at least half an hour. He didn't remember it all, but some highlights of the rant were "That kid was been bullying my son since he came into this school, and my repeated reports to the school have gone unanswered, and now your defending him?!" , "if this garbage place does get their act together I will be taking my business and my children someplace else", "and that's another thing! Do you have a clue how much glasses cost?! You will be covering the price of that child's glasses or I will make sure your sued so hard-", "your going to call that bleeding childs parents and tell them that you just allowed a hate crime to take place in your facility and they need to pick their child up." And "And you tell the other kids parents they can expect to be hearing from a lawyer real soon." Oliver strolled into the office toward the end of the rampage. Max felt bad he missed the free entertainment.

  David came out and slammed the door behind him. He took a few deep breathes before turning to the kids with a smile. "I'm sorry you had to hear all that, kids! I don't think any of you need to worry about being punished for this incident. Let's go call your parents, and then maybe we can get McDonald's, huh?"

  David called Karl and Candy, who were furious about the incident (although Max could tell Candy was almost excited because now she could sue the shit out of the kids parents if she found a mark on Nikki.) David gave them a ride home and got them McDonald's on the way. When he pulled up to their house, Diane and Ethan were standing on the porch already, looking anxious.

   They ran over to the car when the noticed it pulling up. "Oh, my baby! Are you ok, are you in pain? I'm so, so sorry this happened." Diane wrapped her arms gently around Nerris. They hugged back weakly, exhausted. She pulled back and Ethan grabbed their chin and tilted their head back and forth, checking the damage. "Don't worry, I ensured the glasses would be paid for." David commented. "Thank god your nose doesn't look broken. Your eye might bruise, but you'll be ok." Ethan diagnosed.

"Don't worry guys, I'm really ok. Harrison, Nikki and Max had my back. You shoulda seen the other kid." They laughed. Diane smiled fondly at Max, Harrison and David. "Thank you so much, Max, for having Nerris's back." She knelt down to his level as she said it. "No problem, ma'am. I always got my friends backs." He and Nerris exchanged smiled. "Harrison, it was very brave of you to step in. I'm so proud of you, good job. I'm sorry you got hurt, are you ok? Do you need some ice?" Diane cupped his face as she inspected the already bruising area. "I'm ok, don't worry about me." He replied.

   "And David, thank god you were there. I hate to think how differently things might've turned out if you didn't show up, or God forbid if Nerris had a transphobic teacher..." Diane teared up a bit thinking of what could've happened to her child. David pulled her into a soft hug. "I promise you nothing like this will ever happen again. I'll make sure of it." David reassured. I will too, Max thought to himself as he stared at his bloody and battered friend. He already failed them on day one. But it wouldn't happen again.

  Standing silently off the the side, Oliver had been formulating his revenge, too. Even if he didn't express it, hell, he barely spoke at all, he did care for Nerris. They were going to be siblings after all. He was seething just as much as the rest of them, but he handled his anger a little more strategically. If that dickwad was ever allowed back in that school, Ollie would make him wish he wasn't.

   Gwen was in the couch with Nuke when they entered the house. "Oh shit, is it 3 already?" She pulled out her phone to check to time, seeing it was only noon. "It's 12 o'clock, why are you guys-" Her face dropped when she saw the bruise on Harrison face. "Someone beat up Nerris." Harrison said. "Don't worry, I broke his nose." Max bragged. "Someone WHAT? What the fuck- actually, I think I know what happened. Is everyone ok?" She asked. "Nerris got a bloody nose, a black eye and a broken glasses lense, but they'll be ok. Legal action is being taken, and none of the kids are going back to school for a few days." David said. "We aren't? Sweet." Max pumped a fist in the air.

Max paused the dog grooming video of an Akita he was watching and pressed the notification from Neil.

Computerfucker: Hey Max, not to make a bad day worse but I think you should see this.

Computerfucker sent 4 video      attachments.

Max opened the tiktok video Neil sent him, confused. There was the video of Max punching Bryson taken out of context with an audio of an autistic man from a video that went viral a while ago having a meltdown, screaming. The caption was "SPED kids wild man 💀💀 "

  He felt his stomach drop. The video already had 10k likes. He didn't realize he was still wearing the headphones. That alone usually wouldn't get him targeted, but the kid from school who posted the video already bullied him for "acting autistic" and he made a storytime video a few minutes after the original claiming that Max was severely autistic and Bryson was just teasing Max and Nerris and Max went ballistic.

   There were already tons of reuploads of the videos with different audios making fun of him, all the captions and comments calling him retard or cripple and other things along those lines. Max powered off his phone and stared at the black screen, ignoring the follow up texts asking if he was ok. A few days off school really didn't feel like enough.

Chapter Text

Max woke up to his phone vibrating rapidly. He picked it up and found dozens of missed messages from Neil, Nikki, Nerris and Erid asking about the video. A part of him thought it was all a hyper realistic nightmare. Another part of him was still holding out hope that it was.

"Hi."

A sudden voice from the foot of his bed made him jump and nearly scream. Oliver stood on the ladder, the top half of his body leaning on the bed. "Jesus Christ, why the fuck are you watching me sleep you little creep?" Max tossed a plush pillow at his face.

"I saw the video."

"Wonderful."

"I'm gonna take care of it."

"And how are you planning on doing that?"

"Doesn't matter. Just have your nerd friend here after breakfast. I doubt I'll need his help, but no harm in having backup. Oh, and anyone else who might know the kid. "

Oliver hopped down from the ladder and casually walked out of the room. Max wasn't saying his parents were right about trying to exorcise him or anything, but God that kid could be creepy.

  Max opened his phone and started reading through the messages he missed

Computerfucker: I'm really sorry.

Computerfucker: I'm sure we can report this to the school and have it taken care of.

Computerfucker: Like you said, it doesn't matter what they think right? Who cares if the whole school saw that dumb video?

Computerfucker: Wait that's not what I meant

Computerfucker: I'm really sorry

Computerfucker: are you ok?

Computerfucker: Max?

Elfkin sent 1 video attachment.

Elfkin: WHAT THE FUCK

Elfkin: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS??

Elfkin: Are you ok?

Elfkin: we can find a way to get the video taken down

Elfkin: it's gonna be ok

Elfkin: max?

Extremesportsbarbie: YO NIKKI JUST SENT ME THE VIDEO WTH IS GOING ON??

Extremesportsbarbie: THE FUCKER THAT POSTED THAT VIDEO IS IN MY CLASS I'M GONNA KILL HIM ISTG

Extremesportsbarbie: dude im so sorry this sucks so much ass

Extremesportsbarbie: u good?

Dirteater: IM COMING OVER TOMORROW AND WERE DOINGBSKMEYJING ABOUT THIS VIDEO

Dirteater: IDK WHAT YET

Dirteater: BUT IM GONNA DO SOMETHING

Max replied to everyone and let them know he didn't kill himself before calling Neil. He came downstairs for breakfast and prayed no one said anything to David.

   Thank god nobody did, or he would know because David would be losing his shit. He was in as chipper a mood as ever as he set out waffles on the counter and boiled a pot of hot chocolate on the stove. The first snowfall was last night and David was extatic. The house was already littered in holiday decorations, including some Hannuka ones so, in his words, Neil felt at home. He didn't bother explaining anything to him before letting Nikki, Erid and Neil in. "Morning kids, would you like some hot chocolate? It's getting pretty chilly out there!" David peaked his head around the kitchen doorway and waved. Nikki happily accepted the offer and the 5 went up to Ollie's room with mugs in hand.

   "So, Erid,"Oliver spun in his swivel chair as he sat down. "What do you know about the poster of the video?" "His name is Matex Cooper. He's in my class, 14 years old. He's a huge dick, the kinda kid who moans in the back of the class and shoots spitballs at people." Erid said. "Fucking Christ, of course his parents are insufferable enough to name him Matex." Neil commented. "Anything else? Birthday, address, family members?" Oliver asked. Erid gave him a mildly concerned look as she thought. "His birthday is November 29th. I remember cus we celebrated it last week. He's really into snakes, they're his whole thing." She replied. "Oh, and he lives 5 houses down from me and Neil, same street!" Nikki added.

    Oliver thought for a minute before turning to his computer and typing something. "Melissa and Harvey Cooper. Those his parents?" He asked no one in specific. "Yeah, I think that sounds familiar, actually. What are you gonna do?" Erid asked. Oliver didn't reply as he got back to typing. After a moment he dropped his hands and leaned back from the computer for them to see.

"Hello Mellissa, my name is Chester Smith and the child in the video above is my son. Your son has been bullying him online and in person for several months. Unfortunately for you, I am a lawyer and after careful consideration I've decided I'll be taking legal action against your family. I also see here in your page that you and your husband Harvey are happily married, but I found this post from a 20 year old woman Stephanie Brooks that she's carrying his child? Just curious." Max read the Facebook message of the screen as every jaw in the room dropped.

   "Holy fuck, dude. But we don't actually have a lawyer, what if they put up a fight?" He asked. "Doesn't matter. It wasn't hard to find out Mrs. Cooper is already protecting her dear husband from unrelated allegations, and they're trying to stay under wraps from the law. She wouldn't risk it." Ollie replied. "And I already have my own way of disposing of the video." He opened another tab and pulled up the TikTok sign in page. He typed in Matex's username then a random string of numbers as the password before clicking "forgot password."

    He opened a new tab with Gmail and typed in the email he was given on TikTok before clicking forgot password again. He tried his birthday first, which was a dead end. "Well shit. Anyone here know his school email password?" He asked. "Oh, I got into the school database ages ago. Just in case." Neil pulled his laptop out of his backpack and typed a few things before reading out a string of numbers and letters. Oliver copied down what he said and was granted access to the account. He clicked the reset password email and after a few more seconds he had successfully hacked into the TikTok account. "What are we waiting for? Delete the video!" Nikki said. "The videos already viral, there's tons of reuploads. Just deleting the video won't cut it. Anyone have any dirt on this guy?" Ollie asked. Nobody responded.

   "Wait, I know somebody who might." Max pulled out his phone and searched through this DMs until he found his messages with the 7th grader who sent him the fight. "This guy posts practically any shred of drama that happens in Sleepy Peak K-12. If anyone has anything, it's him." Oliver pulled up the account on a new tab and got to work. The rest of the group searched on their phones, too, and after a couple minutes of digging Erid hit the goldmine. "Yo, check this shit out." Everyone gathered around Erids phone as a video of Matex trying to start a fight with a kid only to get slapped in the face and start crying. "Perfect." Ollie found the video on the computer and uploaded it to Matex's account.

   He deleted the video and replaced it with Max punching Bryson in the face with the original audio. You could hear the cheering of the crowd and the crunch of his nose breaking. "What are we gonna do about the other videos?" Nikki asked. "I'm a lot less worried about being careful with these randos. It'll be no problem to get rid of their videos." He replied. "Wait, are you telling me you could've just hacked into the account and gotten rid of the video like that? Then what the hell took so long?" Max complained. "Oh I'm sorry, did you want me to get kicked out of the account before we were done?" Ollie retorted.

   Ollie as Neil worked together to rid the internet of the video for the next couple hours while Erid, Nikki and Max waited on the bed, playing music and talking.

Incoming call from Elfkin

Max's phone rang as he put it to his ear. "Max, I just was Matex's account! How did you guys-" "Don't give them the credit, I'm the mastermind here." Ollie called from the computer. "Woah, really Oliver? I was... not expecting that, for some reason." They replied. "Oh shit, someone else is texting me. Nerris, just come over. Doors unlocked." Max instructed before he hung up the phone and clicked on the notification.

   Message request from Vipermatex566: wtf bro are you the one messaging my parents and how did u get into my account

Message request accepted.

Karma, bitch

Vipermatex566: what the fuck bro whats wrong with u take that video down its not that deep

Ur username is stupid btw lol

Max set his phone down and ignored the series of buzzes erupting from it. Before long all traces of the video were gone and the version Ollie posted was blowing up. Suddenly Max was almost excited to go back to school. Oliver, however, wasn't done yet. He still had one more kid to deal with. 

Chapter Text

   Nikki, Neil, Nerris and Erid went home after the ordeal was dealt with. Max decided not to mention it to David. He had already made work so complicated for the poor guy, and the issue was resolved anyway. He wasn't sure if Harrison caught wind of the situation, either, since he didn't really use social media and slept in late that day.

   Even though the video was gone, he still felt like shit. The words in the comments repeated on his mind until he felt nauseous. His breathing felt manual, he was locked in his own head and there was a cold sweat on the back of his neck as he went through the motions of the day.

"You seem quiet today." Gwen said as she brushed through his hair. Max simply shrugged. "Is it about yesterday?" She persistented. Max wrapped his arms around his knees, shrugging again. "You did the right thing, yknow. David said not to tell you this, cus he doesn't believe in hitting kids or whatever, but he's really proud of you for sticking up for Nerris." She stopped combing through his hair and leaned forward a bit to try and meet his eye. He didn't seem to notice. "'M fine." He mumbled. Gwen gave a small, defeated sigh and continued working through his hair.

   Max laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling. This sucked so fucking much. He looked around his room for anything to occupy his mind. He could clean the pile of laundry sitting on the floor, but then he'd have to leave the room. His minecraft dog just died which destroyed any motivation he had to play, that was the only game on his phone. Nikki and Neil were having dinner with their parents tonight. Then his eyes landed on his backpack. There was a book in there, but it was just mandatory reading for class. He had his sketchbook, but he wasn't in much of a mood for drawing. He definitely didn't feel like being on his phone. He had a pencil sharpener.

   Max blinked a few times, almost startled by his own thoughts. He hadn't done that in months, not since he came here. But he had experience getting into places he wasn't supposed to, it wasn't like he didn't know how to get screws out. And Nuke wasn't here to stop him right now. He didn't really notice his legs moving down the ladder or his fingers unzipping his backpack.

   "I'm a little worried about Max." Gwen said as she entered the bedroom. "Actually, I noticed he was a bit quiet today too. I hope he doesn't think I'm mad about yesterday!" David replied. "Nah, I don't think that's it. He's seemed dissociated all day." She flopped onto the bed next to him. "It's been a rough week. Let's give him some space, and we can talk to him in the morning." David turned on the dim bedside lamp and started reading, his usual bedtime routine.

   Shit. Max snapped out of it when it was too late. He was already sitting at his desk, holding a rag to his arm trying desperately not to let it bleed too much. Fuck, David, he didn't even think about David. He was usually good at hiding things from David, but he knew his was different. He knew he had to tell him. But God, he did not want to. Even if he thought he could get away with it, it was bleeding way more than usual. Maybe it was the adrenaline or the numbness or the sharpness of the barely used blade, but it did more damage than intended.

   He sat there, gathering his courage for a few minutes before getting up from his chair and walking down the stairs with wobbly legs. Thank god he didn't run into anyone in the hallway or kitchen. He knew David wouldn't be asleep because he never was. Gwen might be, she was a bit unpredictable with her sleep schedule. He knocked on the door with a shaky hand and waited for a response.

   "Come in!" David called, careful not to wake Gwen, to the person at the door. He knew it was probably Max because sometimes he needed scissors or tape for a random project he started on impulse or sometimes he needed melatonin to fall asleep. His face dropped when Max slowly stepped in, clenching a piece of fabric to his wrist. He had a deer in headlights look on his face. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again when no sound escaped.

   David put his book back on the nightstand and ran over to the boy, ushering him out the door and into the bathroom across the hall. Max sat down on the toilet as he pulled out the first aide kit from under the bathroom sink. "Can you please move the rag so I can see?" David asked cautiously. Max slowly loosened his grip, but didn't let go. David took that as an invitation to remove it himself. It was completely soaked in crimson, as well as the skin it covered.

   Trying his best to stay calm, David cleaned the blood with a wet paper towel and inspected the wound itself. It was deep, really deep. "Max, I think your gonna need stitches..." He said, as softly as possible. "What?! No, no hospitals! Just wrap it up with gauze or whatever the fuck and I'll sleep it off." Max barked. "I know, I don't want to either, but the bleeding isn't stopping and this is a pretty deep wound." David insisted. Max's hands started to shake uncontrollably as he looked for a way out but found none. He wished he had just dealt with it himself. 

   He regressed back into shock as he watched David put on his shoes and winter coat and make Max do the same. They covered the injury with a large bandage to keep the bleeding under control on the drive. Thankfully, the ER wasn't very busy when they arrived and they got him in relatively fast. "Excuse me sir, what's your relation to the patient?" A nurse stopped David as Max was rushed into another room. "Dad. Er, foster parent. My name is David Cedar." He replied. "Ok David, I just need you to fill out these forms for me." the nurse handed him a clipboard of blank squares for him to fill in regarding Max's medical history, allergies, medication, name, age etc. David filled it out with ease and brought it to the nurse at the front desk.

   "There, can I go see Max now?" He asked, I little more aggressive than he intended. "He's in room 124, right to your left." The woman pointed with her pen down the hall. David rushed down the wall, skimming through the numbers on the doors until he found the right one. He entered the room just as they were finishing the stitches. The scene of the boy with an iv in one arm and stitches in the other, lying on a hospital bed, made him sick to his stomach.

   The way his eyes glazed open and his mouth fell open a bit made Max wish he didn't say anything and just sucked it up. David walked over and sat on the pleather chair beside the hospital bed.

"What happened?"

"It was stupid."

"Max..."

"It was! Just, some kid posted the fight video without context and said I was some feral autistic kid it something. And it kinda went viral."

"Max, you were being cyberbullied?"

"Ok, no need to be dramatic. It's not like Matex meant for it to blow up, and Ollie got rid of it anyway."

"Matex? Like the 8th grader Matex? Why didn't you tell me?"

Max turned his head to the side to hide the tears welling up in his eyes and steady his breathing, but the heart monitor beeping more rapidly gave him away.

"Hey, it's ok, you're not in trouble!"

"I just didn't want to make work even more complicated for you, so much for that."

"No, Max, don't think like that. You are not the one making my job harder. It's the kids who are hurting you that are the problem."

"Well, I'm the one hurting me right now, sooo..."

"Max! This is not something to joke about!"

"Ok, ok. Whatever."

"Promise me you'll come to me if anything like this happens again?"

"Ok."

  There was a small knock on the door before a familiar woman peeked her head in the door. "Wendy? What the hell are you doing here?" Max puzzled. "Hey, Max! I just need to ask David a couple questions." She said. Max gave him a terrified look. "Don't worry, they ask questions every time a kid goes to the hospital for something like this. They aren't gonna take you away." David consoled, putting his hand softly on Max's shoulder. It didn't really do much for his anxiety, but it's not like he had a say.

"So, David." Wendy started as she put her pen to her clipboard. "How have you found living with Max so far?" "Oh it's been wonderful, he has his low points of course,  but he's been amazing!" David replied.

"How long has Max been self harming, and how long have you been aware?"

"From what I know it's been going on for a long time, but I've only been aware of it for around 2 months now."

"What did you do when you found out?"

"I took away his pocket knife, we had a long talk about it, and I let you and his therapist know."

"Mhm, and are there any other mental health concerns?"

"He was recently diagnosed with anorexia, but he's been cooperative with his recovery plan."

"When was the last time an incident where Max hurt himself happened?" 

"About 2 months ago." 

"Do you believe Max is safe in your care?"

"Absolutely positive."

"Ok David, the case will be reviewed by CPS within the next couple days, but you can expect a home inspection at most. Nothing to worry about." Wendy reached over and clicked off the tape recorder that captured the interview. "So, can I go back and see Max now?" David asked. Wendy gave him a nod and he instantly scurried out of the room. He stopped in the hallway as his phone began to buzz.

Incoming call from CBFL

He knew he was forgetting something.

"David, where the fuck are you!?"

"Gwen! Is everything ok over there? I left in such a hurry, I didn't check on the other kids, or tell you, or make sure-"

"David! Other kids? Which one is with you? I just woke up and couldn't find you. What's going on?"

"Ok, I'm about to tell you something, and I need you not to freak out, ok?"

"What. Did you. Do."

"Max is in the hospital."

"WHAT?!"

David pulled the phone arms length away from his ear and could still hear her loud and clear.

"There was a... uh, little incident. I don't think he would want me to tell you. But he's ok, and we'll be home soon!"

"Are you fucking serious? Fuck what Max would want, you better tell me what the hell is going on or I swear to God David-"

"Sorry Gwen, see you soon, sorry, bye!"

He hung up the phone and ignored the incessant buzzing in his pocket.

The drive home was quiet. Neither of them knew what to say. When they entered the house, Gwen was sitting on the couch with her hair a mess and in her pajamas. She was bouncing her leg on the ground and chewing her nails. "What the fuck is going on?!" She demanded, but her relief they were ok was obvious. "Can we talk about this tomorrow? I'm tired." Max dodged. Gwen's face softened from anger to worry. Her eyes widened when the saw the line of stitches horizontally across his wrist. "Oh, shit." She gasped. Max folded his arms to his chest and averted his eyes from hers.

    "It's been a long night. Let's let Max get some sleep, and we can talk about it in the morning, ok?" David tried to defuse the tension. Gwen gave a small, unsure nod as David followed Max up the stairs. He located the pencil sharpener and tucked it into his pocket. "Great, I can't be trusted to sharpen my own pencils now." Max mumbled. "Max... " David started.

"No, I know. I get it."

"Thank you for coming to me."

"What are you thanking me for? Relapsing?"

"No, for keeping your promise. I know it wasn't easy. As for that video, I'll make sure the school deals with Matex. I'm sorry that happened."

"It's whatever."

"No, it's not. That wasn't ok."

"Yeah, well Ollie and Neil pretty much dealt with it for me, so."

"Are you gonna be ok? Do you want to sleep in my room tonight?"

"Christ, David, I'm not 5. Don't you dare start treating me like a baby because of this."

"Ok, ok, just... My doors open if you need me, ok?"

"Yeah, ok. Night."

"I love you, goodnight."

"Love you too."

When David came back into the room, Gwen was waiting for him on the bed. "Is he ok?" She asked. "He's doing fine, physically. I wanted him to sleep in here, but he said he's not a baby." David sighed as he flopped down on the bed. 

"What happened?" 

"He's been being cyberbullied." 

"What?! Since when, by who?!" 

"Since the fight, originally by an 8th grader but the video went viral." 

"Why the hell wouldn't he tell us? His dad is the fucking teacher, that's like, one of the only perks of that!" 

"He said he didn't want to make my job more difficult."

Gwen stopped herself from releasing the spew of rage inside her when she noticed David's eyes welling up with tears. 

"Oh, hey, David..."She wrapped an arm around him and he instantly returned the embrace. "What did I say to make make him think he was a burden?" He sobbed. 

"Hey, no. You didn't do anything wrong."

"But-"

"No. Max is a kid, one with years of trauma he still has to work through. You aren't the one who instilled that in him. You're doing a great job."

"Really? Do you mean it?"

"Yeah, he hasn't even tried to kill you once in 2 months! That's a new record!"

They both laughed as David wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "And go blow your nose, you look like a sticky toddler." Gwen teased.

"Thanks, Gwen. Goodnight."

"Yeah, what would you do without me? Night."

Chapter Text

   The Sallows successful passed the home inspection, the first big step to adopting Harrison and Oliver. Their adoption application was still pending, but there was no doubt in anyone's mind the family would be the perfect candidate for adoption.

   Diane and Ethan had been spending a lot more time in David's house, and David at theirs. Gwen came half the time but no way in hell she could ever keep up with Davids seemingly infinite social battery. Harrison and Oliver's bedrooms were already being set up with the basics, just a bed and a dresser, but it felt surreal watching the house become ready for two new edition.

   Max didn't want to admit he had started seeing the boys as brothers in the first place, and now he had to come to terms with them leaving. David insisted that he wasn't loosing them as siblings, but gaining Nerris as one. It's not that he had anything against Nerris, or any of the Sallows, but he hated change. Losing two parents, gaining two parents and two siblings, losing said parents and siblings, gaining dad, gaining mom? Gaining siblings, losing siblings, and now apparently not losing siblings but gaining sibling and two parents/ an aunt and an uncle or whatever he was supposed to view Ethan and Diane as was way, way to much change.

   David took the video to the school and had Matex expelled. People tended to stay away from Max after that. It was better than being constantly ridiculed, but it was still alienating. At least he had the bonus power of intimidation now.

  "So, kids," David began as he scooped mac and cheese into the bowls around the rectangular dining table. They had started having dinner with the Sallows more often lately. Max didn't complain, because Diane was one hell of a cook. "Since the Sallows probably won't have legal custody over Harrison and Ollie by the holidays, we were thinking about having one big Christmas celebration, as a family!" He suggested hopefully as he sat down.

  "Oo, can we do secret Santa?" Nerris piped, slamming their hands on the table. "That's a great idea, hun. Harrison, Ollie, Max? What do you think?" Ethan asked. "Fuck it, yeah, sounds good." Max replied, much less enthusiastic than Nerris. "That sounds nice!" Harrison approved. "Sure." Ollie offered a thumbs up. "Great, then it's settled! We'll have Christmas here, since it's a bit more spacious, and we can do thanksgiving at my house. I don't mind a mess." David said.

   The kids went up to Nerris's room after dinner while the adults made arrangements for the holidays. The elf scribbled on torn up scraps of paper and threw them all into a hat. "Ok, we all know how secret Santa works right? I added Nikki, Neil and Erid, just for fun. They can draw their names at school tomorrow." Everyone nodded. They passed the hat around the room as everyone drew a name. Max unfolded the piece of paper in his hand. He got Neil. This was gonna be easy.

   Harrison struggled a bit to read the chicken scratch on his paper. Nikki. Ok, he could work with that. The girl would be overjoyed to receive a rock off the side of the road.

   Ollie internally groaned when he saw he didn't get Harrison. But Max was doable, they did live together after all.

   Nerris pumped a fist in the air as they read their name. Harrison was exactly who they were hoping for.

   Nikki, Neil and Erid received their names the next day. Nikki got Erid, Erid got Ollie, and Neil got Nerris.

   Max knew Neil's two favorite categories of science were chemistry and animal biology. On days off at Camp Campbell when Nikki was doing her own thing Neil would let him ramble about dogs and occasionally chime in with his own fun facts. He didn't have a lot of other friends who were willing to discuss why dogs with white coats and piebald or merle markings were more likely to be deaf.

   That was another thing, he wanted his gift to be something that represented them, their friendship. He knew every year Neil got the exact  same kids chemistry kit at least one day of Hannuka. It was his equivalent of THE art kit that every art kid gets for Christmas. Max wanted his gift to be genuine, not just whatever the first sciencey thing he saw at Walmart was. He considered explosives, but the price tag and difficulty to obtain put them in the maybe pile.

   He was aimlessly wandered around Walmart with David when he spotted a small clearance shelf with the last of the Halloween decorations. It was just some rubber bats, those weird little witches with the long fabric legs, and some horribly anatomically incorrect animal skeletons. An idea sparked as he examined the plastic rat with its big, round off white ears.

   Harrison liked to think he was pretty close with Nikki. They didn't hang out much outside of the group or tell eachother secrets they didn't tell anyone else, but he knew more about her than a lot of people. She liked nature, obviously, and she took up an interest in herboligy that summer. She kept a journal where she pressed all the plants and berries she found in the woods and tested whether or not they were edible herself. There were a lot of trips to the ER. Neil would write down the plants actual names and a little bit about them when Nikki would show off her collection from the day.

   She liked wildlife, too, especially things she was not supposed to touch. Her fascination with poisoness and unfriendly animals got the camp into plenty of trouble. Once she picked up and pet a bear cub, and led its angry mom back into the tent area. They all had to sleep in the counselors cabin that night. Another time a massive snake that she insisted was tame and she was keeping as a pet lunged at Preston during lunch, David had to suck the venom out and cover all the medical expenses out of pocket.

   He was also wandering around Walmart while David did the shopping when he stumbled apon the greenhouse. It was closed off from outside this time of year and they only had a select couple of plants that could survive in the winter, but one in particular caught Harrison's eye.

   Ollie was thankful that he got the one person in the group he knew more than the first thing about besides his own brother. He knew Max liked coffee, dogs, blue, and hoodies. It was broad enough to give him some options, he guessed. If he were to start anywhere, it would definitely have to be with dogs. Max could almost always be found watching dog videos in his room and his eyes lit up when they passed one on the street. He seemed to particularly like Rottweilers.

   As Ollie sped past the books section, he took a step back and did a double take at one book left sitting sideways on the shelf. He picked it up, though it was heavy, to examine it. It was perfect.

   Nerris was extatic to have gotten their future brother. Even though it was months in the future, they wanted to get him some kind of housewarming gift. They knew he liked gold, black, magic, and rabbits. Though he couldn't do much with typical magic stuff, since he legitimately made things magically appear and levitate and all that. He already had a rabbit named Abbra. Nerris thinks there used be another named Kadabra who Harrison made disappear and could never bring back. He liked other things of the magician aesthetic too, like cards. Combining all of these things, Nerris opened their computer and began their search for the perfect gift.

   Nikki screeched in delight when she drew the name of the coolest person on earth. Shopping for Erid would be a bit tricky, since the girl was so loaded she probably already had everything. But Nikki was an expert in all things Erid. She set out after school that day to the mall. The first place she looked was Rue21. The smell of perfume gave her a pounding headache and all she found was tie dye spongebob and Rugrats hoodies. She was definitely never going back there again. She decided to check out Hot Topic next, and considered quite a few things there, especially jewelry, but ultimately decided the majority of it was a bit too emo for Erid's taste. Then she wandered into Spencer's. She spent probably 20 minutes giggling about the objects in the back before leaving, but something shiny caught her eye on the way out.

   Erid was completely lost on what to get Ollie. In the couple hours she spent in his room and few words between them, she had gathered he liked coding, purple, and causing trouble. She knew he had magic too, but he didn't seem all that into it. His bedroom was pretty baren, so that didn't give her a lot of hints. Or maybe that was the answer. His setup as of now was just an old Macbook, but it was obvious he had a lot of real talent, especially for his age. She wondered what he could go with technology like her dad's.

   Neil knew he had this in the bag the second he read the name "Nerris". He played his fair share of DnD with them and knew more than he would like to admit about LARPing. He also knew Nerris was into witchcraft. Neil was never a fan of all that crystals and tarot card stuff, but he found Nerris's perspective on life fascinating. Although he would take any opportunity he got to bring up facts and science when they were talking about zodiac signs or spiritual energy. He shut up real quick every time they reminded him he has played minecraft with a ghost that they summoned in the attic.

   Neil remembered the hippy shop Max took him and Nikki to the first time they hung out. The smell of incense in there gave him a headache, but he decided he could endure it. He nearly gave up and left due to the smokey air before he spotted the perfect gift hiding in plain sight.

The group met up the day before Thanksgiving to exchange gifts. Really it was way to early to be giving Christmas presents, but they all agreed they were too impatient to wait. They sat in a circle and one at a time handed out their gifts. Neil carefully peeled back the messily wrapped and oddly shaped object Max handed him. "Woah, is this a real platypus skull? Max, where did you find this?" He marveled. "David lives practically in the forest. I didn't have to go far before I started finding carcuses." Max smirked. Neil immediately retracted his hand. "Oh I bleached it, you fucking pussy." Max teased.

   Harrison handed Nikki her gift next, cautioning her to be very gentle. Hearing that, Max helped her peel back the tape on the wrapping paper before she demolished whatever it was inside. "Oh my god, I think this is the coolest thing I've ever seen!" Nikki gasped in amazement as the Venus flytrap snapped at her fingers. "You have to feed it flies, but I'm pretty sure you can just put in on your back porch and it can catch them yourself." Harrison said. "Are you kidding me? I'm gonna feed this guy flies by hand every day! His name is Ricardo." Nikki proffesed.

   Max was a bit surprised when Ollie handed him a wrapped perfect rectangle, completely flat and even. The cover of the book underneath the wrapping paper read "The Encyclopedia of Dogs (with nearly 400 breeds)" with a picture of a golden retriever. A little dog sticker sheet fell out from between the pages. "Holy shit, this thing is fucking massive! Every breed has its own page, the index of this thing is like 5 pages!" Max practically screamed, pulling at his hair like he always did when he felt too much of something. Right now it was excitement. "There's another sticker sheet in there of just Rottweilers." Ollie added.

   "Ok, so I actually got you two things, but nothing too extravagant!" Nerris said, handing Harrison two relatively small packages. The first was a gold necklace of the magician tarot card. The second was a stuffed rabbit with a little handwritten tag that said "Kadabra". He was a bit surprised at how personal and sincere the gifts were. He had no idea what to say. "The magician card represents talent and capability. It means unlock your full potential, don't hold back." They explained. Harrison smiled as he clipped it around his neck.

   "Ok, my turn!" Nikki interjected as she handed Erid a lumpy, small package. The wrapping paper was torn and held together solely by one piece of tape. Erid opted to just tear it up instead of picking at the tape. Inside there was a small at home piercing kit and a silver septum ring. "Oh fuck yeah! I'm about to have so many holes in my face none of you will recognize me!" She cheered.

  "So, I forgot this was a small between friends thing, and I kinda went super overboard, but to make it fair I'll take us all to get food after this." Ollie raised an eyebrow at Erid as she pulled over a much larger box than anyone else. His eyes widened when he ripped open the wrapping paper and saw a light up keyboard, the expensive gaming kind. The other box inside had a professional flat screen monitor much bigger than his current laptops screen. "I- wha- ho- I don't..." He sputtered, staring at the girl in shock. "My parents work for the FBI. Trust me, I could afford it." She said, playfully ruffling his hair. "Fuck, thank you." He finally managed.

  "Well shit, you made my gift look stupid, Erid." Neil joked as he handed a small wrapped object to Nerris. Inside was a necklace with a silver sword. The handle had a candy cane like pattern and ended with the head of a bird. The side of the blade had writing in a language they had never seen before, certainly not one that's still used. "Wow, a wizard's amulet! +3 strength!" They beamed.

   The group spent the rest of the night just talking and laughing, Max occasionally spewing facts from his new book as he read. Back home Max never had much to look forward to during the holidays, but for the first time in his life, he understood why the other kids couldn't wait for Christmas.

Chapter Text

   Gwen sat on the edge of her moms bed, swinging her legs and brushing her barbies hair with her fingers and watching her mom poke and prode at her stomach as she looked at her reflect from all angles. "God, I need to return this dress. I look like an elephant." Her mother sighed. It wasn't true, as much as she loved to say it. The woman was slender and boney. "I think you look great, mom." Gwen smiled. "You say that now, but just wait until you have kids, hon. You did this to me, yknow." She joked, but Gwen knew she meant it. It confused her. Her mom was the most beautiful woman she knew, even though she only knew a handful of women, being 7. Her mom said that every time she bought a new outfit, or before any big event, or every time Gwen caught her staring at herself in the bathroom mirror after checking the scale. Her mom was obsessed with that scale.

"Sorry babes, no fast food tonight. I'm on a diet. Actually, we're on a diet," Her mom poked at her stomach from the drivers seat. "And if you cave, I cave. Be strong for me, Gwen." Gwen sighed, looking at her stomach. Her mom was probably right, and parents are supposed to look out for your health. Her dad always took her to get food when he was in town. He just left town after coming by for her 11th birthday, and her mother was snappy and agitated the whole week he was there. Maybe that was why mom hated it when he visited so much.  When they got home Gwen went straight to the bathroom for her shower, skipping dinner. The scale in the corner caught her eye. She knew what it was now, and she kind of knew why her mom was so obsessed with it now. Was that something Gwen was supposed to pay attention to, too?

   Gwen's eyes snapped to her mother when her doctor read her weight aloud. "132 pounds, perfectly health for a 14 year old." He said. Her mom grimaced a bit, looking disappointed. Gwen put her hand on the other arm to hide her stomach.

"Maybe we should go on a diet again, huh?" Her mom said as they left the hospital. "Yeah, maybe." Gwen mumbled, keeping her eyes glued to her shoes. She knew this was coming because she checked the scale after her shower every single day. She tried as hard as she could to get the number down before the appointment. She only ate dinner when her mom cooked it every other day, skipping lunch and breakfast, and afterwards she would exercise in her room for hours. It wasn't enough.

   Gwen stared at her reflection in the dressing room mirror. The big, dark purple gown really suited her. It had flowy off the shoulder sleeves and the bottom was cropped in a triangle between her legs, exposing from the lower thigh down in front and nothing in the back. This was it, this was her senior prom dress. "I don't know, maybe we should get you some shapewear." Her mom frowned, coming up behind her. Her confidence was immediately destroyed. "Really? I thought I was lokking good..." Gwen turned to look at her body from the side. Now that she was looking at it, she could see what her mother was talking about. Her stomach was starting to stick out and her thighs were wider than they should be. "It's ok, we can just get some shapewear, hon. Although maybe we do need to cut back on the McDonald's." Her mom left the dressing room and Gwen overheard her flagging down an employee. She stayed there, staring at the mirror. She suddenly didn't want the dress. She didn't even want to go to prom.

   Gwen could hardly hear her teacher droning on about the colonization of America. Everything sounded like it was underwater and her vision had a static-y film over it. She didn't process the teacher calling her name as her head started to feel heavy. "Gwen, are you ok?" the teacher repeated. She couldn't respond, couldn't think, couldn't hear. She vaguely felt herself starting to topple out of her chair before everything faded into darkness.

   "Your daughter is severely underweight, giving her a feeding tube was our only option." Gwen hear a faint voice in the distance say before her eyes fluttered open. "No, you- oh, she's waking up!" Her mom turned her attention from the doctor to her. "What happened?" Gwen mumbled, her voice groggy. "Your in the hospital, you fainted during history class." Her mother said. "How are you feeling?" The doctor asked. She reached up to feel her face and found a tube running out of her nose. She was instantly more awake, sitting up to find the source of the tube. It led into an IV bag beside her bed. "That's a feeding tube, we gave it to you to keep you alive." The doctor explained. Her mom did not look pleased. "Mrs. Garcia, could you please leave the room so I can talk with Gwen?" The woman asked. "What do you have to say to her that you can't say in front of me?" Her mom shot defensively. "It's just protocol for situations like these, ma'am." The doctor replied. There was a bit more back and forth before her mother hesitantly left.

"Hi, Gwen. My name is Dr. Allen."

"Uh, hi."

"Do you have any idea what led to you fainting?"

"No, I dunno. I just started new meds, I think I'm just getting used to them."

"Gwen, you're severely underweight. Right now, you run the risk of permanently damaging your body, and even death. Do you know what's causing this weight loss?"

The doctor asked, but the question was clearly rhetorical. Gwen wasn't sure what to say.

"Have you been starving yourself?"

"..."

"This is a safe space, Gwen, I only want to help you."

"... I- I mean, I have been on a diet, but starving myself? No, I'm just... Fasting."

The doctor took a few notes on her clipboard after letting out a defeated sigh.

   Gwen couldn't be more relieved to be out of the mental hospital she was put in against her will. She missed her senior prom.  Her mom was waiting outside in the car after she was discharged. "Hi, baby! I've missed you!" She cooed as she pulled her daughter into a hug. "I missed you too, mom." She replied. Even after she was hospitalized for the second time, her mom didn't start taking her seriously until they essentially forced Gwen to get psychological help. "I fasted at her age, there's nothing wrong with trying to look good." She would repeat to every doctor they went to. It made Gwen feel a bit bad for the woman, because she never got the help she clearly desperate needed. But she understand now it wasn't ok for her mom to put her insecurities onto her kids like that, and although she understood, she still resented her mother a bit.

Gwen watched as Max picked at his dinner. She was legally obligated to, if David wasn't, to make sure he was eating. It was nauseatingly familiar watching him force down every bite. She desperately wished there was more she could do about it. But she'd been there, she knew nothing she could possibly say or do would fix it. She was recovered now, at least she was told she was by the doctors and psychologists. She didn't feel recovered, though. She was definitely much better than she was in high school.

  She ate 3 meals a day and had no issue eating fast food. But even though she didn't read the calories on every ingredient while cooking, she had them long memorized. She couldn't remember anything she learned in high school except that a slice of pizza was 285 calories. She still felt a pang of anxiety every time she heard the custom ringtone just for her mom. She still subconsciously rubbed her fingers up and down her ribs while She was lying down. She still instinctively did mental math of exactly how much she was consuming when she went out to eat. She wondered if Max got it from his mom, too. She wanted to make sure he never had a mom like that again. 

Chapter Text

   Max stared at the ceiling above his bed, completely restless. It was only Saturday and he was already going stir crazy. He built an ice bridge in his nether base to travel faster until he decided to test it out, forgot it was unfinished and went flying into a sea of lava with all his items in his inventory. He rage quit after that.

  He scrolled through Neil and Nikki's Instagram for a while. Nikki posted a picture for the top of a leaning pine tree surrounded by other trees and birds about 10 minutes ago, so looked like she was busy. There were some pictures of Neil taken at their house, some pictures of Max from the last time they hung out that he was not aware she took, and some pictures of Nuke. There was a few of her hanging out with Nerris, and some with Erid. Other than that it was just animals and the forest surrounding her house, a lot of bugs. Nothing that kept Max busy.

   Neil's Instagram mostly consisted of science experiments. Not a lot of his personal life or his friends. Again, Max was bored after a few minutes.

  Nerris had a lot of videos in cosplay, some edits, and fanart on their page. A few things Max recognized, but nothing he was really into. Erid posted a lot of pictures that looked like they belonged on Pinterest. Stuff like her skateboarding down an empty street illuminated by a street light and laying on a slide in the middle of the night. Actually, most of her pictures were taken in the middle of the night. There was a video of Nikki  outside of a 7-11 putting a handful of sour candies into a Monster and trying to chug it as the can exploded with fizz. Max could be seen looking mildy amused in the corner.

   He soon found himself falling down a rabbit hole of tracking down the other campers social media. He found Preston's, who mostly just posted his school plays and his handmade costumes. He looked pretty different now. His fashion choices were still very bold, but a little less Shakespeare-y. He didn't have that stupid bowl cut anymore. His hair was shoulder length and cut to frame his face perfectly. He had wispy bangs that curled to the side. He kept his hair in a bun a lot.

   Max also found Space Kids account. Thank god he had lost the fishbowl and underwear over his pants get up, but he was still a massive dork. He wore a lot of shorts over pants and t-shirts over hoodies. He could be seen often wearing a big denim jacket covered in pins and patches, most NASA or space related in some other way. He had a video of a rocket launch he saw live, some pictures with his uncle who Max still refused to believe was the real Buzz fucking Aldrin, and a lot of pictures taken at the planetarium.

    Space kids page led Max to discover Dolphs, because the two were apparently good friends now. Thank fucking god he hadn't started to look like Hitler again since they gave him his makeover. His hair grew out quite a bit and he hadn't bothered to cut it yet. He posted a lot of his paintings, which had drastically improved. Max could almost admit they were actually good. Almost.

   Nurfs account was pretty baren. He had a picture of a man Max assumed to be his principal yelling at him in a way that made his face turn red and his eyes look like they were about to pop out of his skull. Looks like he hasn't changed much. Max was shocked to discover he and Space kid actually followed eacother and regularly liked each other's posts. Damn, Nurf, guess you have changed.

   After looking over his own page, Max decided it didn't give away too much about his recent situation for him to follow them. His account was private and even if you were accepted the only posts he had were of David desperately fanning a flame on the stove while Gwen was screaming at him, a video of him shooting Gwen in the back of the head with a Nerf gun, some pictures of Nikki and Neil, and a few of Nerris, Erid and Harrison. And many, many pictures of Nuke. He was a bit hesitant to make his account known because of the pictures with Gwen and David, but he figured he could play it off.

   He followed all the campers accounts and set his phone down. Great. He had nothing to do again. Usually he was ok at making his own fun. He could hang out with one of his friends or take Nuke on a walk, even just watch TV all day and he was set. But right now the issue wasn't boredom. When things were too much, too stressful, there was this unbearable humming hovering over Max constantly. He used to have a way to make it quiet until he came to this stupid place and David took it away. Then it landed him in the hospital, which he could admit was his bad. But he just needed to make the stupid fucking white noise narrating his life go away.

   He just needed a good distraction. A new hobby that kept his attention enough that the background noise faded, even if just for a bit. But what hobbies had he not already been forced to try over his years at Camp Campbell? He had probably been forced to participate in every single activity to ever be invented.

   Max pulled out the sticker covered sketchbook from the backpack at the foot of his bed. It was a miracle it wasn't completely full after having it for so many months. The pages were wrinkled and aged, making the book puff up and never full close. The corners of the cover were frayed and peeling. He opened to a page that was already half full of doodles and put his pencil to the paper. He waited for an idea to come to his mind and his hand to start moving on its own like always. It didn't. He drew a circle and stared at it for a few seconds, waiting for something to happen. Again, it didn't.

   He drew a cross in the middle of the circle and forced his hand to complete the sketch. The result was a lazy, shitty drawing of a dog. It was definitely not his best work. He sighed and shoved the sketchbook back into his bag.

   Ok, drawing wasn't the mood right now. That was fine, he did other things. He begrudgingly got out of bed and headed down the stairs. He spent a few minutes hyping up Nuke for her walk before clipping her leash onto her harness and tugging on his shoes. He froze as he opened the door to a fucking blizzard he was unaware of going on outside. The big tree across the street looked like it was about it be uprooted from the ground and there was at least 2 feet for snow barricading him inside. Well, shit.

   "Oh, sorry Max, looks like no one's going outside for today! Heck of a storm." David commented from the kitchen, peeking his head around the door frame. "I'm starting up some hot chocolate right now, maybe we can watch some Christmas movies tonight!" He added. Max groaned in annoyance and stomped back up to his room, leaving Nuke and David both confused.

   Max paced around his room, frustrated. He was running out of options and the buzzing was eating away at him. It wasn't so much a literal buzzing sound. It was sort of like an unignorable fog inside his mind that engulfed every thought and seeped into every crevice of his brain. Or it was a constant high pitched screaming like a little kid in Walmart that somehow doesn't shut up the entire time your there. It was a lot of things. But it was persistent and it was unbearable. It was nails on a chalkboard. It was a fly hovering around him in the beating sun while he was running on 4 hours of sleep and wearing a hoodie in 90 degree weather. He'd found some things that muffled it a bit of drowned it out, but nothing made it go away accept his good old pocket knife. That is, until David stole it.

   He mentally sifted through all the hobbies he'd tried out at camp in search of anything to keep his mind busy. It's not like he could ride a horse right now. He didn't have a sewing machine or a sweatshop to keep afloat. Normally he wouldn't be apposed to using David as target practice for archery, but he did want that hot chocolate. Being trapped inside eliminating a good chunk of options.

   There was one thing he was good at at camp. Knitting. He made those dolls of him Nikki and Neil in a matter of seconds, although if you looked at them closely they were anything but flawless. And he walked away with plenty of bleeding fingers.

   He walked past David in the kitchen and didn't say a word to Gwen in their shared bedroom as he pulled out David's craft box from the top of his closet. Actually, he didn't grab it so much as he set it crashing onto his head, but he remained undeterred. He took the necessary supplies back to his room and threw them all out on his desk. He decided to make a tiny hoodie for Mr. Honeynuts so they could match.

   After looking up a pattern on Pinterest, he got to work. He almost immediately stabbed himself with the needle and his stitches were coming out looking uneven. The brief pain of the jabs actually gave him a bit of relief as he kept going, getting little dots of blood on the yarn. A hand gently knocked on the door before it creaked open. "Hey Max, I brought you some hot coco!" David said as he walked in with a steaming mug. Max groaned in frustration as he pricked his finger again. "Thanks, just leave it on my desk." He grumbled without looking up.

   "Max, your fingers are bleeding!" David cried when he noticed what the boy was so frustrated about. "Yeah, no shit. It's fine, I barely pricked myself. Drama queen." He said with an eye roll. David left the room and came back a second later with the mini first aide kit he kept in the bathroom. "Christ, David, I do not need a fucking first aide kit! God, you'd think you would be a little less dramatic having to bandage up Nikki when she fell off a cliff or whatever the fuck every day." Max complained. "I'm just gonna put some bandaides on, not wrap your hands up like mittens or anything." David laughed softly.

"I think I know why you keep stabbing yourself, though. It's the way your holding the needles."

"What's wrong with how I'm holding them?"

"Well, its- your sort of, your supposed to- can I just show you?"

  Max leaned over a little bit to let David get closer. He came up behind him and put his hands over Max's, readjusting his fingers. "I thought you literally taught this. As your job. Why the hell can't you figure out the English language now?" Max teased. "I'm actually not sure." David chuckled.

   The suffocating buzzing sound slowly retreated to the back of his mind before dissapearing as David started pretty much doing it for him, leaving his hands over Max's as he picked up where he left off. Huh, guess knitting really does work, he thought to himself. He chose not to wonder why it only worked after David showed up.