Camp Camp One-Shots

Fair enough

Posting so soon? And unprompted?? Wow.

Warnings: light abuse mention(starving, yelling, neglect), bullying (?) Tell me if I missed anything.

Ship sailing: none.
~•~

David walked into the room, slowly yet mechanically. Every move, Max could tell, etched into some disappointed part of his brain. He glanced over at the chair closest to the door, the one Max was always in, frowned and took a seat next to his son. Max never moved his head from the principal's direction. 

“Hello, Mr. Pineston.”

“Principal Aylington, hello.” David sighed, taking a seat next to Max. Neither father nor son said a word to each other.

“So, are you aware of why we called you in today?” the principal asked. David glanced down at Max and shook his head, Max looked away. 

“Yes, well…” Mr. Arlington trailed off, looking down at a piece of paper. He sighed, and ran a hand down his face, tugging on his large white beard.

Max thought it was gross, he could see a few crumbs in it.  “It says here that Max attacked a kid, for no reason, during lunch.”

David made a noise in the back of his throat, lowering his head and staring at his shoes. 

Max though they were kinda ugly but this wasn't the time. 

"Okay...okayokayokay-" he muttered. Max felt something in his stomach churn, nervously. David was always disappointed by things like this but he seemed….really disappointed? 

"I- yes…" Mr. Arlington stroked his beard once more, knocking a crumb or two onto his desk. He glanced at the teacher's report. 

"It was said that Max "walked into the cafeteria, extremely angry, and proceeded to march over to Xavier and pull him by the hair." The teacher then goes on to say that he slammed him into the floor and...slapped him a lot." 

David nodded, though his eyebrows were slightly furrowed. Max didn't know if he was confused or angry and he didn't really think asking would be appreciated. 

"Okay...okay-uhm" David glanced at Max, a strange look in his eyes, before looking back at Mr. Arlington. "Could I talk to Max, privately, for a sec?" He asked, voice defeated in a way that pulled at Maxs' heart or something. 

Max felt...bad? 

Yeah, definitely bad. 

When the summer had, inevitably, come to an end, Max didn't really know what to do. He didn't want to go back to his parents, the life he was forced to live. The "perfect" child except when it didn't benefit them. Then he wasn't anyone at all. 

Once he saw they were gonna be late David had come over to him. He was the only one left and it showed that he'd be there for a while. 

"So, how ya feeling about going back?" 

And, with not much else to lose, Max had told him everything. Everything he kept in his head. 

About being born as a way to make his parents' families shut up about having kids. About how, once he was old enough, they used him as a way to make them look good. Like loving, doting parents. 

The neglecting and the starving when he did something wrong. The yelling and arguing and so much more. About the hell he had come to call home. 

And David had listened. 

All this time, no adult had ever listened when he tried to speak up so he stopped trying….but David listened. 

And he found a solution. When his parents finally got there(seven hours later) David had told them that they could either give him up or he report them for child abuse.