A Loving Father

Nightmares of the Past (Chapter Two)

Max awoke with a start. He slightly panted, feeling sweat dripping in large drops off of his forehead. He tossed his blanket off of himself, feeling tears burn at the corner of his eyes.
His dream made his writhe in fear, remembering his parents. Each word stung, every "faggot" and "worthless failure" making the Indian wince.
The hot tears began to spill over, the hot tears urgently falling down his face. Max whimpered, shoving his tan face into the soft, sweat-soaked pillow. He clutched to the pillow harder, soaking it even more.
As he imagined every drunken and sober hit, backhand or fist, rage or disappointment, he managed to stumble up and move towards the kitchen. He grabbed a glass from a cabinet after climbing up onto the counter, gently seating the opaque cup down onto the hideous, burnt orange countertop.
Max shut the cabinet door and jumped down off of the counter, feeling himself trembling as he shakily filled the bottle halfway with cold tap water. He seat the glass gingerly into the sink to not make a noise, beginning to tiptoe towards his own bedroom.
He couldn't fall asleep. The boy with black hair's blood pressure was too high and he just couldn't stand the thoughts if being beat once again by his parents- er, they were not his parents anymore. David was his... Foster parent now.
The Indian snuggled in closer to his blanket, trying to sleep. But he just needed someone to be with him, and he left his teddy bear to Camp Campbell.
After pondering for a mere five minutes, head towards the room he believed was David's. He just needed to be with someone, whether he was awake or not.
He opened David's bedroom door, quivering and peaking in. The ginger was lightly snoring, Max sighing in relief. He couldn't let David see him like this- it was like letting David see him smile or laugh. Max carefully shut the door behind himself, and approached the other's bed hesitantly. He managed to worm in easily, cuddling up close to David.
He sobbed into David's back, making a few whimpering noises. This alerted David, waking him up almost immediately. The redhead didn't move but instead listened, his heart breaking as he heard Max cry his tiny heart out.
David turned and wrapped his long and surprisingly strong arms around Max, voice coated in worry. "Max...?" He asked, holding the Indian to his chest and gently petting his raven black hair. God, David teared up along with the younger boy, giving him a light kiss on his darkly toned forehead. "Are you alright?"
Max just continued to obviously weep, his head buried into David's chest. He finally answered him soon after, trembling. "N-nightmare..." He whispered and moved in closer.
David sat up, bringing the shorter boy into his lap, sitting him down. "What was it about? What's wrong?" The ginger asked, completely frantic as he gently rocked the emotionally charged boy back and forth, his eyes beginning to shed his own tears. He was so nervous, not wanting Max to feel any pain. The poor thing didn't deserve it.
Max shook his head before mumbling, "Parents," in a rushed breath, his breathing frantic. David whined slightly and laid them both down, wrapping Max into his loving and warm embrace.
"Oh, no," He muttered, whispering to both himself and Max. "It's alright, it's alright... You aren't with them anymore. They didn't deserve you." David stammered out, brushing thick and dark hair out of the other's tear-stained face.
Max slowly shut his eyes, being comforted by David's warm and gentle arms wrapped around his small frame. His breathing went from being labored to light and airy breaths, the Indian obviously having fallen asleep.
David wiped tears from his fostered son's face, frowning. Max didn't deserve any of this; he was so damaged inside and David could just tell.
David laid back down, keeping Max in his arms. He couldn't fall asleep for awhile afterwards, just brushing Max's hair back and frowning, thinking about all the torture the ten year old had already been through.
He mentally vowed to never, ever hurt Max, because the cute little thing didn't deserve it.
The sun started to rise soon enough, rays of light streaming into the quaint room. The ginger's eyes began to droop, his eyelids heavier than cement bricks. David fell asleep with Max still tucked in his arms, nestling up close to the mentally hurt boy absentmindly in his slumber.