When it was finally wrapped up - and she was right, it had been the worst - Gwen made her way back to the cabin, abandoning the kids to the Quartermaster for the evening instead of staying with them through dinner.
"It never ends," Max complained from David's room, holding David's pillow over his face while David was tapping away at his laptop on his desk. Neither of them so much as twitched at her entry, and Gwen wondered if that meant they didn't know she was here.
Carefully, she avoided the squeaky floorboards and settled herself just outside the room, between David's and her doors. Time for some judicious eavesdropping because even if Max was right, and Gwen didn't need to know if it wasn't hurting Max or breaking any laws, well... Gwen was really fucking annoyed - and a little embarrassed - that she'd wasted her time busting David's balls over the spawn of satan.
Especially when she thought back over the number of times David had nearly had her convinced he was as asexual and clueless about it as a tree. Yeah, she really should have kept that in mind.
Anyway, if whatever it was was something Max didn't want her to know... Gwen needed to find out to soothe her pride.
"I'm sorry, Max, no one's ever heard of anything like this before," David said, sounding sincere and a little desperate, "I really think I should talk to Harrison to see if he can help."
"I will not crawl back to that magical bastard!" Max exclaimed, then retched loudly, hiccupping afterwards and saying in a quieter voice, "Bag's full."
"Right," David said, and his chair scraped against the floor. There were footsteps, and the window opened. Gwen happened to know that that window was over the dumpster, facing a clearing. That was why she'd immediately claimed the other room when she'd first signed on. The window scraped against the frame again before David padded back across the room and sat.
"Harrison is a threat to this camp," Max muttered angrily after a short silence followed by another series of retching sounds that actually made Gwen feel a little sick, too.
"Max!" David sounded shocked, and his chair squeaked as if he'd turned it sharply - Gwen had left him the cool swivel chair as an unspoken trade for forcing him into the dumpster room when she'd moved in, so she just knew David had probably turned towards Max with some sort of puppy dog look of betrayal. For some reason.
"Yeah, whatever, it's not something to joke about, but I need to dump some of this misery onto someone else," Max said, sounding just as miserable as he claimed.
A sigh, footsteps, and the sound of the bed shifting.
If Max hadn't just reminded her this morning that it was David she'd been accusing, she would have jumped in right then, eavesdropping be damned.
"Look, kiddo," David's voice broke the silence that had followed, "I'm going to ask Harrison about it tomorrow whether you like it or not. It can't be healthy to be... you know, vomiting magician's props all day. Besides," his voice grew strident, more familiar than the odd, sincere softness with which he'd addressed Max, "I owe that rascal a talking to. My campers should not be hexing each other."
"...Fine, do what you want," Max said, and his voice was muffled. (1)
There were a few beats of silence, and then, "You probably shouldn't fall asleep here, Max."
"Fuck Gwen," Max muttered, still muffled.
"After Neil, I'm more surprised I didn't see it coming than that it happened." David sounded a little cross, sour almost, but he seemed to miss the fact that Max had used foul language. Or let it slide. "I'm sorry you had to deal with it, again. I'm not..." A huff at something Max muttered before David continued, "No, I don't want to lean on you, Max."
"Whatever," Max was a little clearer, "You'd never pull that shit, so it's not like I'm doing anything but telling them the truth." Well, that put Gwen's mind more at ease, even if there was still something off about all this.
"And you shouldn't have to," David started, but Max made a noise of disgruntlement to cut him off.
"Not this again; I already told you that you're not turning yourself in or I'll just let the camp get torn down around our ears," he said, and Gwen's heart stopped. She almost missed it when Max added, after a beat of tense silence, "Our bleeding, dying ears. Because you're not there to stop it."
"I got it, Max," David said dryly. Gwen was sure that was as close to sarcasm as David could get.
But maybe she didn't know David at all. Whatever he was supposed to turn himself in for, it wasn't... what she'd accused him of earlier, that was clear enough from Max declaring he was just 'telling the truth' when he defended David. And what the fuck had that last part been? That bit about the camp being torn down with the whole bleeding, dying thing Max had thrown in almost nonchalantly.
What the actual fuck? He was probably just being dramatic. Still...
Gwen held her breath, hoping they'd continue.
"Hey, David, remember that promise you made to talk to me a couple days ago?" Max asked, mock-sweetly, into the silence.
"...Yes," David's answer came reluctantly and the bed shifted.
Evidently Max had unburrowed from whatever had been muffling him because his voice was crystal clear, "So, say a camper grew up, and then attacked the camp. What do you do?"
"Max, for one thing, that'd be years from now."
"Humor me," Max insisted, "I've been vomiting rainbow-colored scarves all day and they are rough on the throat - not to mention the goddamn doves."
As expected, David gave in, "Fine."
"Okay, so, would you protect the new kids against the old camper if they were trying to kill the new kids?" Max asked with a kind of pep to his tone that suggested he was leading David into a trap. Gwen expected David to scold Max for such a morbid question, but there was just a sigh before David answered, neutrally.
"Well, I'd have to, wouldn't I? I couldn't just sit back and watch kids die."
"And what if one of the kids tried to kill the others?" Max pressed, and David made an uncomfortable noise somewhere between a groan and a whimper.
"Max, get your elbow out of my stomach, please. Thank you." There was a moment of silence, as David must have been thinking over his answer, "I'd... isolate them and call their parents to take them away."
"That's actually sort of logical, I guess," Max sounded nearly disappointed that David hadn't done whatever he'd expected the counselor would do. Gwen guessed the trap had been sprung but David had never taken the bait to be caught in the first place. "Okay, so what if I tried to kill the other campers? Calling my parents would just lead to a lot of frustrated voice mails for you, and I'd probably work my way out of whatever you used to contain me with, eventually."
"Well, I guess I'd just hand you over to the cops, then, since you like talking with them so much," David replied with the air of a tease, and there was a soft thwacking sound, followed by, "Owie."
"That can't hurt; you've walked off a bus before."
"It hurts my feelings," David sniffed.
"Right." A short silence where Gwen believed Max had probably made a face or rolled his eyes, "But seriously. Unstoppable Max the Murderer, what do you do?"
"Well, that's not really likely. I mean, do you suddenly believe your fellow campers are portals to an unending evil whose seal is etched in the blood of the innocent around the rim of Sleepy Peak Peak?"
"What the fuck, David?"
Gwen agreed with Max's reaction.
"Derek was chatty." Who?
"...What the fuck, David?"
"I'm not in charge of what they believe," David said with the shape of a smile in his words, "I'm just as much in the dark as you are."
"Okay, ignoring that, answer the question I asked, David."
"I don't know," David's voice was soft now. "But I could never hurt you, Max."
"You're real fucked up," Max said with conviction that knocked Gwen's heart out of rhythm again, "...But I... I believe you." There was a beat of silence, then, "Speaking of fucked up, you really don't... you know.. do anything with them, right?"
"Do...? Oh come on, Max." The disgust and exasperation in David's voice was clear, and Max dissolved into giggles that were just this side of horrified.
"This morning, Gwen said you looked... you know," Max couldn't stop giggling, "What am I... what am I supposed to... to think?"
"Not that." David was clearly disgruntled, "I don't need this from all sides. You already asked once this morning, anyway. I'm not a deviant."
"Well, I mean, you are kind of a deviant," Max pointed out, calming, "Even if no one would guess it's actually-"
"Max."
"-not something sexual, I was going to say," he finished with an air of innocence so strong, Gwen could picture Max blinking up at David with soulful, guilt-free eyes. Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.
"Can we talk about something else?" David asked over the sudden sounds of Max retching and the honk of some kind of horn. After a brief silence, Max groaned.
"Metal," he spat with feeling, "A metal horn."
"The squeeze bit's rubber," David pointed out unhelpfully. A beat, then, "Sorry."
"...And what else do we talk about?" Max complained as if he'd never paused to vomit, "We did the weird sleepover back-and-forth thing all day and I don't want to listen to the Farmer's Almanac or Nature's Birdcalls, so get your hand away from that CD player!"
"You vetoed those earlier; I was thinking a lullaby at this point."
"You have lullabies on CD?" Max snorted, "Gross."
"My mother recorded these herself, thank you very much," David said, but there was a tap as he set it aside.
"Double gross," Max said with a bit more bite to the words, before his voice went muffled again, "And you said I shouldn't fall asleep here."
"Which started this whole regrettable conversation. I remember."
"So...?"
"So," David echoed, then with an intake of breath that sounded like he needed it, "Fuck Gwen."
"Whoa! David!" Max sounded more pleased than anything.
"I mean, not literally, and she's a very pleasant person, so I don't mean anything by it," David hastened to say and Max actually laughed.
"Stop, you're ruining it!"
"I just mean, you're sick, and your parents aren't here, so you're my responsibility," David said a little more firmly, "Regardless of what horrible things people think of me."
"And you care about me," Max prompted, voice a weird mix of hopeful and mocking. It honestly made Gwen a little uncomfortable to hear it, but she refrained from shifting and giving herself away.
"And I care about you," David admitted easily. "So... if this is where you feel safe while you're sick, this is where you're staying." The emphasis was off, and the silence that answered told Gwen it was a more serious statement than she would have thought. Almost a question, from the expectant nature of the stillness in the room behind her.
"...do you normally sleep with all the lights on?" Max ventured, and David laughed, sounding relieved, as if it were confirmation he'd needed. Then footsteps, heading towards the lightswitch by the door, and Gwen scrambled quietly into her own room where she was out of sight. Noting the noise peripherally, David paused by the door, poked his head out, but didn't see any signs of forced entry and the cabin rats made a variety of skittering noises. Plus, Gwen wasn't supposed to be back for another half an hour, at least.
The switch flicked off, but David padded out into the common area, grabbed a blanket from the couch and walked back into the room. There was a squeak from the swivel chair and movement from the bed.
"Don't put your feet on me!" Max complained and David laughed.
"You're taking my bed, so I can use you like an ottoman," he replied cheerily.
"They're so close to my face," Max sounded disgusted. "Just move the chair against this wall and put your feet down that way." David didn't verbally respond, but the chair scraped across the floor, and there were the sounds of him settling in once again. Gwen waited a minute, two minutes, but no one spoke again. She waited a minute more and stood, leaned around the door frames and peeked into David's room.
David had his feet on the bed and the rest of him on the swivel chair pushed up against the wall next to the headboard, eyes shut and already beginning to snore under the blanket from the common area. He fell asleep quickly, after all. Even in as uncomfortable a position as that looked. Max was curled on his side, facing David so she couldn't see his expression. She thought he was asleep, too, until she saw his hand move. He reached out, hesitated, then put a hand on David's arm, curling his fingers into the loose material of the sleeve and seeming to relax. Apparently David had changed into his pyjamas at some point prior to Gwen's eavesdropping.
Gwen swung silently back into her own room and sat as quietly as she could on her bed. If David had been awake, he would have heard her, but luckily for Gwen, Max was not quite as attuned to his surroundings and, furthermore, was more focused on denying his own actions to himself than listening for intruders.
I'm sick and this helps; anyway, I do what I want, Max told himself firmly, eyes squeezed shut and fingers still twisted in David's sleeve, the warmth of the arm beneath seeping through and making him feel a little better. No one's here to call me a baby. And it's not like David's going to shake me off while he's unconscious.
The movement did wake David, though too late to discover Gwen's spy escapades, and a hand covered Max's, making the boy jump. "Good night, Max," David mumbled and began to snore again.
Well, Max could hardly wake David up just to take his hand back, right?
"Good night, Dad," he whispered, secure in the knowledge that no one would hear the wistful statement and hating himself just a little less when David squeezed his hand briefly in his half-sleep, but otherwise continued to snore. It was just wish fulfillment. For some other kid with crappy parents. Like a tangential Make a Wish scenario.
Unbeknownst to Max, in the other room, Gwen put her hand over her mouth and tried not to scream.
Okay, so Max thought or knew David had broken some sort of rule or law that required him turning himself in, then had spoken frankly about people killing other people and protecting the camp from that and it turned out she knew nothing about David because they'd then proceeded to make a bunch of creepy, morbid in-jokes about it. Max, clearly, had some sort of deeper relationship with David that led to some sort of... threat? She supposed that was the right word, so, some sort of threat that kept David from turning himself in, in accordance with Max's wishes, because the camp would... fall to ruin without him or something.
And it all added up to... God only knew.
Jesus, Gwen hoped and prayed that whatever rule David had broken was some worthless, self-imposed "Rule of Camp" that would just make him look foolish if he turned himself in... But Max seemed to think that David confessing would lead to him being taken away.
What could David have possibly done?
Maybe it was poaching. God, Gwen hoped it was poaching.
Or theft! Maybe David had some sort of kleptomaniac streak. Gwen had a degree in psychology; she could help him overcome it.
She laid back gingerly, quietly, in bed.
She'd gone and confronted David this morning without a thought to her own health, somehow trusting in the man she thought she knew, even when half-believing what she feared was the worst of him.
But she didn't know half the tones David had used with Max. Their... whatever it was may not have been what she feared, but it still seemed to cross lines they weren't supposed to cross with the campers.
Gwen stared up at the ceiling, mind spinning through possibilities as she thought, sleepless, through the night.
And underneath it all, she couldn't get that one statement out of her head.
That devil child's voice, sounding more vulnerable and, well, childlike than she had ever heard it, shaping the words, "Good night, Dad."
When she held it up to all the other things Max had said that evening, her heart broke a little. The picture it all painted wasn't a pretty one, and Gwen had always been one for the big picture.
Yet that one detail still gnawed at her.
.
"...And that's why you should never use magic offensively against your fellow camper," David concluded to a dazed looking Harrison. Gwen stood nearby, watching him unobtrusively.
"Yeah, I like, removed the curse ten minutes ago," Harrison told him, blinking rapidly as if emerging from deep waters, "So, can I go?"
"To... apologize to your buddy? Of course!" David grinned, "How thoughtful, Harrison."
Harrison grumbled, but trudged off in Max's direction, leaving Gwen with a beaming David.
"It's always so nice when they get along," David sighed happily, then shot Gwen a glance when she didn't react- with scorn or otherwise, "Gwen, about yesterday, you don't still think-"
"No, I'm pretty sure you're clean on that count," Gwen interrupted, "And we should probably set up the equipment in the sand pit if we want to get through pole-vaulting before lunch."
"You're right," David conceded. Her curt nod and about-face made him a little uneasy, but he couldn't address concerns she didn't bring up. For now, he'd just have to deal with it.
From the secret set of tallies he kept in his desk drawer, he was relatively certain she wasn't due to be... on her monthlies, so he couldn't blame that, just yet. And yes, he knew it was an odd practice, but it was a matter of survival. Was he just supposed to hope he didn't screw up at exactly the wrong time? No, if David was anything, it was proactive.
Pole vaulting was a complete disaster but no bones were broken and not even David was crying at the end of it, so in terms of this year's group, it was almost like a success.
"Hey, up top," Max held a hand up for David with a smirk, obviously thinking along the same lines, "You didn't even weep a little bit when Nurf and Dolph called you an undesirable."
"To be fair, I couldn't really hear them through the sand in my ears ," David said with an edge of accusation to his smile, still returning the mocking high-five on automatic, "I wonder who caused that, Max?"
A smug smirk played cheerfully about Max's expression, "I really think you did it to yourself by standing that close to the edge. It's like you wanted to be dogpiled into the sand. And you know Nikki can't say no to a friend in need."
David tapped Nikki on the shoulder to gain her attention, snatching his hand back before she could bite it, "Nikki, why did you tackle me, earlier?"
"Max told me to," she confessed in an easy, innocent chirp that ended in a smile. David smiled back, then turned that smile on Max pointedly.
"She's a liar and I've never seen her before in my life," Max delivered without a twitch in his expression.
If that was how he wanted to play it... David shook his head, like a wet dog, and sand rained down onto the poofy-haired camper. Max drew his hood up with a wordless noise of protest, then ran for the safety of Neil, who would not abide sand near his equipment. David watched him go with a grin and turned to share the amusement with Gwen, but she was watching him with a flat, unreadable expression that made his smile waver.
"You alright, Gwen?" he tried, smile sympathetic, "You know you can always talk to me about anything, right?"
"Sure," Gwen returned, "I'm fine, though." After a pause a little too long to be natural, she added, dully, "Thanks." An actress, she would never be.
"Right," David's lips closed over his teeth, though the edges remained ticked upwards in a display of good-natured confusion. "Just let me know when you want to talk about it."
Gwen didn't even know what 'it' was.
On the other side of things, David was hoping he didn't.
Janette had sort of closed off, too, at the end.
Shaking it off with a renewed cheer, David refocused on the quarreling children. There was nothing to do about Gwen but wait and see and the campers were currently more relevant, anyway. He didn't know what they were fighting about, but it was good to hear the energy in their voices!
"You witch !" Nikki accused with unholy glee, pointing a finger at Preston and bouncing in place.
"It's just an affected accent," Preston had his hands up in front of him, as if he could clutch an invisible blanket to his chest at any moment, "As an EXPERIENCED thespian - "
"Thespian?" The excitement had an edge of evil to it now, and there was almost no space between Nikki and the other boy, "Give me one good reason I shouldn't hand you over to Neil for dissection right now!"
"What?" came the exclamation from aforementioned scientist as he tuned into the debate, "Why would I throw out the rulebook and go mad scientist like that, Nikki?"
"He's some sort of alien from Thespia!" Nikki shot back with a savage enthusiasm, "We gotta get him before he gets us!"
"Thespian means- " No one was surprised it was Max's hand that cut off Neil's explanation.
"Wait, don't, I want to see how this plays out." He looked enthralled, a mean little grin on his face as he watched Nikki's accusations against Preston devolve into an argument that David finally felt he needed to step in on.
Loudly clapped hands interrupted the back and forth, "Okay, we seem to have a lot of energy to burn off!" David grinned as an idea occurred to him, "Let's have an early lunch, and then we can move onto rock climbing !"
"David, I am not doing rock climbing instead of individual activities," Gwen interjected.
"We can move onto rock climbing and Gwen can watch," David corrected himself without losing the smile and she sighed.
"Fine, whatever."
It was almost normal. Her eyes stayed on him more than usual, though, as the day progressed. And her gaze was harder. She stood a bit further from him, too.
It was after David had caught Space Kid from plummeting to his death for the third time - and they were about halfway up the shallow bluff that should not have posed a problem to any of the children; in fact for the others who had already reached the top, it hadn't - that Max startled him by speaking up from above, legs dangling over the ledge he was perched on, "Isn't this kind of counterproductive to keeping the kids safe?"
"Sometimes a little risk is acceptable for you all to have some fun," David answered almost by rote with a quick smile, putting Space Kid on his back, where his helmet would only knock into the side of his face occasionally whilst David easily bridged the distance to Max's perch. He set Space Kid down beside them, "Here we go, kid. Don't jump."
"'Kay," Space Kid chirped, and David barely believed him.
"What a beautiful view," Nurf commented from behind them, and David glanced back to make sure Nurf wasn't referring to another camper's fresh bruises or anything, but the redhead was just looking out over the forest where it dipped down and away on the other side. Dolph, seated beside him, nodded into his sketchbook, working furiously at what he had at hand.
"It's not uncool," Erid admitted, lounging against a smaller berm that had formed at the top, "but it was like, way too much work to get up here." Clearly in agreement, Preston was sprawled in exhaustion beside her.
"You should've let me charm you weightless," Nerris scolded her with a smug air, but she was clutching onto Harrison's arm around her shoulders.
"Then I would have to hold two people down," Harrison scoffed, and the two fell into a bicker. Neil seemed unimpressed at the implication, but Nikki distracted him by shoving an orange bug in his face for identification.
"I don't know everything , Nikki," he tried to push the hand away, but paused when he really took a look at it, "Though I do know, by coincidence , that that's a squash beetle."
Her smile took on a sly cant, "Oh, coincidence. "
"I don't know everything!" Neil repeated as if the argument had been made many a time before. It was... all so adorable. So sweet. Almost perfect. It made David get a little choked up, enough he had to turn away and back to the open air before him.
"Oh, if only Gwen were here," David sighed, wiping away a tear at the almost idyllic scene of the children coexisting without something being on fire or a child being catapulted through the air.
"I am right here ," Gwen said from the bottom of the bluff as she eyed him over the top of a fashion magazine.
"I meant up here," David called back down, "Where you could really soak in all this friendship."
"I'm not scaling a bluff for anyone," his co-counselor denied, hands tight on her magazine.
A solid weight thunked against David's side and he winced, placing a hand on Space Kid's shoulder anyway.
"Thanks for bringing me up, David," Space Kid said sincerely, looking up at him through the helmet with a smile that made David just about sniffle with joy, "It's pretty cool getting this close to space."
"Any time, Space Kid," David patted his back, voice tight as he tried not to cry. Was he dreaming? Was this whole day a dream?
"...Yeah, I think jumping off might be better than this," Max made no move to put action to his words, but his brow was furrowed and his mouth set in a tight line of dissatisfaction.
"Max!" David was aghast, "Don't even joke about that!"
"Whoa, boy," Space Kid said at the same time, sitting up, "Are you okay, Max?"
"I don't want to hear that from you ." Seeing that Max leaned around David at this point, it was clear he was addressing Space Kid as he continued venomously, "Given the fact that you nearly get yourself killed practically three times a day and force David to save your sorry ass."
"That's fair," Space Kid shrugged, but David was not so blasé.
"Max, how could you say something like that to a fellow camper?" His tone was hard, but when Max didn't budge, David deflated, the worry the original comment inspired in him crawling back up his throat, "What's wrong?" The tone made Space Kid snap into reality just long enough to scoot up the small slope behind him and escape the impending potential emotions at the top with the other kids.
"Nothing," Max hunched over, hands in his pockets, "Other than my general disdain for everything and everyone and especially you , but I feel like we've accepted that." At this point Space Kid had reached safety at the small plateau on top and plopped over onto his back to stare up at the sky.
David wasn't going to lie and say that didn't hurt, but it was still good Max felt safe enough to speak his mind, at least. "Well, I seem to be saying this a lot, but you can talk to me about it whenever you feel ready, alright?"
"Whatever, David." Tone acerbic, eyes rolling, it was a picture perfect example of the usual Max reaction, and he guessed it meant Max was fully recovered from Harrison's magic trick. It probably said something not so great about David that he almost regretted it.
Oh, well.
"So did you even think about how to get us all down?" Max kicked a heel against the side of the ledge, looking down the bluff, "Or had you not even gotten that far, yet?"
"Oh, there's a set of stairs over there," David gestured off to the left, not realizing the amount of hostile attention this sentence garnered as the lounging campers snapped to attention, "I put them in a year and a half ago to extend the trail for the elderly and infirm."
"Oh my god," Max sounded gleeful, "You mean," his voice grew louder, as if trying to spread the word, though the other campers were already listening in, "You had us climb all the way up here when we could have walked?"
"That's the point of rock climbing," David pointed out, "Climbing rocks."
"Lame," Nurf scoffed, "Dolph scraped his knee for nothing." Atop his shoulders, the blue-eyed boy nodded haughtily. It was... still cute, though. Honestly, it could be a little hard to take Dolph seriously sometimes with his big eyes and cartoonish appearance.
"Come, mein friend, let us leave zis traitor," Dolph instructed, and Nurf trotted off to go find the steps down. The magic kids and Preston were right behind them.
"I mean, it was a nice view, and we saw another frozen animal," Harrison was saying as Nerris shook her head.
"Harrison, deceit that makes me sweat through my sorceress ensemble for no good reason is total munchkinry. We have the rabbit behind the crafts hall already, we don't need a hard-to-reach squirrel. Plus, I blew a spell slot for this halfway up."
"So not cool," Erid agreed, directing this drawled rebuke to David before she followed along, Space Kid bobbing happily and obliviously in her wake as they all headed down the stairs and circled around to Gwen.
"Early dinner, then?" David could hear Gwen ask the crowd flatly, glancing up at him and closing the magazine she'd taken out at some point. David shrugged down at her with a weak smile and she stood stiffly from the trunk she'd been leaning on, "Come on, kids."
"Wow, David, they sure appreciated that great camp activity, huh?" Max had pulled his feet up casually, hands on the knees loose in front of his chest, "Still ready to happy-cry just because they forgot to be assholes for five seconds?"
"Max, they weren't... they were just happy," David said, finally, after struggling to address the question and fidgeting until he'd forced himself to draw his own legs up and sit cross-legged, the smile that hadn't entirely died returning as he thought it through, "They aren't as much anymore, but they definitely saw the joy of camping just now, and they'll see it again!"
"Oh, no. They were just too exhausted to escape and trying to make the best of a bad situation," Max snapped in rejoinder, "As soon as they heard there was a way out, they were gone. Like Erid said," his voice went high in a mockery of hers, " so not worth it."
"That's not what she said," David had his hands resting over where his legs lay together, leaned over his lap a bit as he tried to maintain the cheer the kids' fleeting happiness, or at least contentment, had brought him.
"It's the gist of it. My point is, they didn't really care, David. They were just waiting for a moment to leave. Even Space Kid's not cozying up to you anymore," Max spat the last sentence, and continued on with the air of a rant, but some long dusty neurons fired in David's brain at the tone and the context. It took a goodly moment, but eventually David managed to understand another human's hidden motives. The rant cut off with a disgruntled squawk as David threw an arm around Max's shoulders and squeezed.
"Aw, Max," David beamed, his tone somehow sympathetic despite the huge smile it was delivered through, "Don't tell anyone, but you're still my favorite camper." Eyes wild, Max looked sharply up at him, and then away.
"Shut up," he said curtly, but leaned into the affection.
"So there's no need to be jealous," David continued, going just that bit too far.
Ducking under his arm, Max rolled back onto the plateau and stood, "Shut up! I'll push you off right now!"
"You're adorable," David told him sincerely, standing himself as Max fumed impotently, "Let's get going."
He made his customary announcement about the upcoming Camporee tournament at dinner and sent the kids to bed. Everything was going well. Mr. Campbell would be back tomorrow to host the Camporee, Max didn't really want to kill him anymore, Gwen didn't think he was a horrible deviant, and for one brief, shining moment, the kids had seen the beauty of the forest and actually felt it. Plus, it was unseasonably nice for mid-summer. As if the best of temperatures between spring and summer had stuck around just for them.
It made it hard to sleep. At all. Even after he took a second round about the camp.
He just couldn't wait for tomorrow. There was still a pleased buzz in his bones from the four threats he'd neutralized, too. Sure, it had been difficult, and there had been... what Max had seen to worry about, but the kid seemed to have gotten over it. Max had still wanted to stay with David when he'd been ill.
Even if he was back in form, now.
The point was-
"Sugar cookies!"
The blow to his head took him down to the ground, but he wasn't dazed enough to let the next swing land. He rolled away from the foot that kicked out towards him and to his feet. Mr. Sneaky over here was fit, rugged in a way that implied he wasn't a stranger to the forest. He even had a Sierra Club membership pin on the inside of his lapel.
That hurt to see, a little.
"Aw, dang," David feinted towards his face and brought his other fist around and into Mr. Sneaky's diaphragm, pushing a choked noise from him, "I've got a membership with the Sierra Club, too. That's..." An elbow to the temple of the bent over man, "That's really depressing."
Mr. Sneaky coughed, dropped, and executed a spinning kick that knocked David back to the ground. He coughed again and drew a gun, pointing it at David as he stood, voice rough, "Who the fuck are you? What are you doing on Minister Campbell's property?"
"What?" David looked up at the man and squinted through the dark at him. Sure, he'd attacked David , but David was suddenly getting the impression this man wasn't there to attack the campers . "I'm David; I'm a camp counselor here - who are you ?"
"Minister Campbell mentioned a Davey; that you?" Mr. Sneaky- um, the stranger gestured at David with the gun.
"Yeah- yes, who are you ?" David repeated.
"Shit, sorry, you're an employee," he sheathed the gun at his back, ran a hand through his dark dreads, then extended it to David, "I go by Berstuk on the job. I'm Minister Campbell's bodyguard for his visit tomorrow." David took the hand and was pulled to his feet, "I was combing the grounds for potential threats and you were- well, wandering through the woods in the middle of the night. No offense, but you've got something of a predatory look about you in the dark."
"Oh, golly, no apologies necessary; I'm just glad you're taking Mr. Campbell's security so seriously!" It would have been a huge mistake if he'd somehow managed to kill this man, and he was really more relieved he didn't have that innocent blood on his hands than anything. Though he doubted he could have actually killed a professional, David didn't think he'd be able to look Mr. Campbell in the eye if he'd screwed up like that, much less Max. "Want some company? I've been so excited about Mr. Campbell visiting, I couldn't sleep - another walk around the camp might be just the ticket!"
"Oh, uh- no, that's alright," Berstuk had his arms awkwardly folded over his chest, now, and sounded a bit lost, "I really am sorry I- uh, didn't ask questions, first. I'll be more careful, from now on."
"Well, there'll be fruit in the kitchen if you want a snack, and I'll be in the counselors' cabin if you change your mind," David informed him graciously and grinned, "Welcome to Camp Campbell, Berstuk!" It was always nice to have a fellow Sierra Club member around. He could count on them to care about the forest. Plus, any friend of Mr. Campbell's was a friend of his!
"Uh, yeah, thanks," Berstuk gave him an uncomfortable wave goodbye and obviously mentally kicked himself for it, given the grimace that followed.
Berstuk would be fine on his own. If David was to be completely honest with himself, there was a sneaky little part of him that hoped this Berstuk did come across one of the attackers.
It would be nice not to be the only one of Mr. Campbell's employees to know about what was going on.
Plus, Berstuk was a bodyguard . He had to be trained for this, right?
...But it probably wasn't going to happen. There was no use getting his hopes up.
That David was hoping Berstuk was viciously attacked in order to turn his conception of Camp Campbell upside down did not even cross the counselor's mind as he whistled his way into the kitchen. With the door open he was more than close enough to hear anyone trying to cross his tin-can perimeter around the camper tents. He hadn't made the customary weekly scones for the police - sure, Max wasn't actively trying to escape, but that didn't make him less of a hazard to himself and others - and a double batch would ensure the campers had a treat before the Camporee! Fuel for the competition!
He was sure they'd all be trying their best.
By midday, David was thoroughly disabused of that notion. And worse, Mr. Campbell had bet the camp on the outcome of the competition.
"You know," Max had practically appeared next to him as they watched the Camp Campbell campers fail their tenth consecutive challenge, "If the camp's under Wood Scout control, we'd all be miserable, but we'd probably be safer. They've got all that..." he twirled a hand, "fortress shit."
"Entrenched defenses," David elaborated, around the knuckle he was biting anxiously. That... was a good point, but David didn't want to be a Wood Scout counselor. It'd be Nurf's boot camp all over again. Everyday. Forever. He took his hand from his mouth, slamming the newly formed fist down into his hand in sudden renewed determination, "Okay! We just need to pull together! We get to choose the last five challenges, since the Flower and Wood Scouts are out of picks- we can still turn this around!"
"What would we choose as a guaranteed win? Counselor one-on-one battle to the death?" Max suggested with a sarcastic roll of the eyes. When David didn't respond, he looked up to see the man looking deeply contemplative with a hand on his chin, "David, no. I was fucking kidding."
Clearly.
"Yes, I got that, but I mean- you've tried to kill me before, and your machines were very clever," David began absently, as if he were thinking aloud rather than speaking to Max, "If you could get the others to work together," visibly gaining enthusiasm for the idea, David turned more fully to Max, "you could build something magnificent! You'd definitely win a challenge based on that!"
"What? 'Murder-A-Counselor?'" Max drew back irritably.
"Maybe a task - like cracking an egg in the most steps!" He beamed at Max, and turned to the nearby campers to convey the idea, ignoring Max's protests behind him. While they worked through that challenge, he and Gwen could put their heads together and figure out the next! It would take the kind of teamwork they'd been... lacking up until now, but Max was- was forceful, let's say, and David believed he could pull them together!
There was a sharp tug on the back of his shirt, and David returned his attention to Max, "I can't-" the kid's brows drew together and he scowled, "I won't do it. There's no way. They won't listen to me, anyway. No one does."
"And teamwork is not going to win this!" Gwen interjected, rolling right over what David thought was a statement that really deserved some in depth discussion, "You all suck at it! No, we're going to play to your highly specific, ridiculously niche strengths!" She pointed at the campers fiercely, "This is about specialization, and those motherfuckers will never see you coming!"
"Gwen, not in front of the kids-" David protested.
"Get out there and let your freak flag fly!" Gwen demanded, garnering a cheer from the little traitors before they ran off to descend on the other teams like a storm of knives and destroyed self esteem.
Or something destructive, anyway.
David was a little miffed and it was distracting.
"Gwen, they could have figured out how to work together if you hadn't barged in and-" Cutting himself off, he took a moment to remember that Gwen was his favorite co-counselor and just trying to help. There was no need to be angry because she didn't do anything actually wrong . Plus, Max was kind of... side-eyeing him for his tone.
It made something in his gut churn uncomfortably.
"We'd lose the camp if we tried to make that pack of hyenas form a cohesive unit," Gwen retorted, a little stiffly.
"A pack of hyenas is a cohesive unit!" No, that's not what he'd meant to say. David ran a hand through his hair and tried to think of something to de-escalate the situation, unintentionally ignoring Gwen's return rant into silent, sulking submission. He had to admit that Gwen's idea was working... At least if the looks of horror on the competing Wood and Flower Scout's faces were any indication. Across the way, Berstuk was dogging Mr. Campbell like a particularly well-armed shadow; from their faces, they seemed to approve of the tactic. Mr. Campbell was grinning like a madman, and normally that would fill him with warmth, but he was trying to think here.
Darn it.
And of course, always , Max.
"I'll talk to you later," David decided aloud, pointing at Max so he knew what he'd said had not been forgotten. Yes, Max was making a face at him but that was a later problem. He put a hand on Gwen's shoulder, noting the abrupt and unexpected flinch - flinching in return, actually.
He was a little jumpy.
"I'm sorry I snapped at you, Gwen. There's no excuse for getting snippy with my best camp buddy for life. You're right; I shouldn't have put my goals for the campers above the camp." Even if he still thought there had been a chance they could have come together- no, that way led to hurt feelings and bad feelings he shouldn't be having in this context. "Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?"
"...Yes," she gritted out, slowly.
"Great!" David wasn't entirely sure she meant it, but he'd take it if meant he wasn't going to need to think about it anymore! There would be time for that later. And helping to save the camp was evidence suggesting Gwen wasn't going Janette's way, right? That was good! Mr. Campbell was making his way towards their side of the competition, anyway; they'd need to be at attention when he got here. "Hi, sir! And Berstuk!"
"Things seem to be going swimmingly! I was a little worried in the first quarter, but I should have known better," he ruffled David's hair, forcing the man to hold back an excited squeak, "After all, you've never let me down. That I can remember!" They laughed at the joke together before Mr. Campbell sobered and added gravely, "Right?"
Only taken slightly aback by this change in demeanor, David answered promptly, "Right, sir." Somehow, the older man took the resulting break in conversation as impetus to launch into a long, rambling story regarding his journey through the mountains of the far east in search of some kind of gem.
David was enraptured.
What a tale! Heroism, bravery and battles of wit! Not to mention the grave robbing! But surely, the long dead didn't mind. Campbell was on that topic, himself, now.
"-and, sure, there might be some superstition around that sort of thing, but I've been in this business for years and it hasn't come back to bite me yet!" He chortled sagely, stopping for breath for the first time in five impressive minutes.
At this opening, Gwen physically shouldered her way into the conversation, noting that Berstuk twitched the same way David did when startled, before addressing Campbell firmly, "Sir, while I've got you here, I was wondering if the winnings from this bet would be enough to pay another counselor...?"
"I can barely afford you two and Janette!" Mr. Campbell dismissed with a barrel laugh.
"That's one of those things I've been meaning to talk to you about, sir," David interrupted, tone growing a bit pointed, "In person , you know?"
Mr. Campbell stared at him blankly for a moment and gestured for him to continue.
"Privately?" David tried. How could Mr. Campbell not immediately have the unique camp situation spring to mind? David had been giving him coded messages for years about the state of the camp and the man had always responded appropriately. Maybe he just had had such faith in Janette that he couldn't comprehend that she might have... joined the others.
"Unless you have more information than I do, it's not really something to keep private," Gwen gave David a searching look before turning back to Mr. Campbell, keeping one eye on her co-counselor, "She quit. Ran off in the night. Possibly due to the stress of the position."
The emphasis she put on the last sentence went right over Campbell's head.
"Shame, I always liked Jean."
Hands raising against her will in exasperation, Gwen exclaimed, "You called her Janette five seconds ago-" She visibly stifled the rest of her protest and shook her head, "Of course, sir. A shame. We all miss Jean."
He put a bracing hand on her shoulder, "Hold strong, Glenda." As he strode past, Berstuk bravely sent her a sympathetic expression, despite the flames she was close to spitting.
"Mr. Campbell," David tried again, matching pace with the man as Gwen threw her hands up behind him, infuriated but unwilling to chase their employer down. She had a bit more dignity than, say, David. "Janette was... Well, she turned out to be one of them, you know?" He kept his voice low, since Gwen was probably still within range, though she had pivoted to storm back over to the kids.
"Who?" Campbell spared him a bland look.
Alright, he probably wasn't connecting the dots just yet. "Sir, you... do remember what I've told you about what's been happening?"
This prompted, unbelievably, a chuckle, "I can't recall every conversation we have, Davey."
That hit home, a little, but David did already know he wasn't the most prominent person in Mr. Campbell's life, no matter how much he might want it to be otherwise. "This one's kind of important, Mr. Campbell. It's been... happening since Georgio?"
"Davey," he dismissed Berstuk with a wave, giving David hope that he'd caught on and crushing it in the very next sentence, "I don't have time for this nonsense. If I can be honest with you," Campbell leaned in a bit, continuing conspiratorially, "half the time you're talking to me, I'm zoning you out and thinking about Uma Thurman's nose." A gesture that might have been lewd if it weren't about a nose of all things, "That schnoz is calling my name across the stage. Respectfully, of course, and with the greatest admiration."
No, that wasn't- Why was he making this so difficult ? David grabbed Campbell's shoulders, demanding, " Georgio ; do you remember what happened with Georgio ?"
Consideringly, Campbell sized David up, before leaning in towards the counselor's chest, stating clearly and slowly, "Georgio escaped , as you told me in the distant past, and the mystery will haunt us until long after the statute of limitations has passed."
He winked at David conspicuously and David couldn't believe- "I'm not wearing a wire, sir!"
"Of course not," Campbell nodded, patting his shoulder consolingly, "I know you'd never willingly wear a wire- that's why you're probably my favorite employee."
Normally, this would make David's day but he- but- it was coming clear.
"Do you know what they'll let them in means?" he asked in a near whisper, "Did you understand...?"
"Some charming cult nearby, I think...?" Campbell waved it off, "Well, live and let live, I always say. Still, if the heat's on," he winked at David again, glancing pointedly down where David would be wearing a wire, "I'd better get out of the kitchen!" Big belly laugh. Gone, leaving. Walking away. David put a hand over his mouth.
Campbell had no idea.
There was no one -
He walked, very quickly, back into and through the camp. Seeing him coming, Max's prepared smirk faded at David's expression, making him set down his trowel and call out, "David?"
The stricken man walked past like Max hadn't said anything at all and into the treeline, stalking straight ahead into the woods without even making an attempt to follow the path.
"What's his problem?" Max directed the rhetorical question to his friends sharply, hurt giving his words an edge that made Neil take note. And promptly decide to stay far away from it, because a hurting Max was one that hurt other people. Neil was other people! He wasn't touching that with a ten foot pole. In fact... Neil edged a foot further away and resumed filling his pail with loose soil.
"I dunno," Nikki chirped, patting down a wall of the dirt castle they'd begun constructing in celebration of another day as mediocre non-Wood-Scouts, "He was talking with the BIG Camp Man a minute ago. You know, the cool one."
Max peered hesitantly into the shadows between the trees, ignoring Neil's ensuing argument with Nikki about the mechanics of putting in a moat.
"I'll be right back." Instead of running off after David into the woods without any information on what had set him off, Max did what he considered the slightly less reckless thing and went after Campbell. "Hey," he tugged on the man's sleeve authoritatively, "What'd you say to David?"
"Nothing important, kid," he shrugged, trying to turn back to re-counting his 75 dollar winnings from the Camporee. Damn, those Wood Scout customers liked to pay in small bills.
Max kicked him in the shin without hesitation.
"Ow!" Campbell bent over in pain, gripping his leg, "Why, you little-" Before he could formulate the proper expletive, Max grabbed him by the collar, pulling him in close enough to see the fury in his eyes. The sheer audacity of it made Campbell momentarily speechless. What hutzpah this little shit had. Fascinating.
"Listen up, Money Man. You don't know who I am, so I can forgive you for ignoring me once, but only once." He pointed a finger threateningly in Campbell's face, "You can ask either of your counselors- I'm more than a menace. I'm bureaucracy's worst nightmare. Do you know the number of safety violations I've witnessed since I've come here? Do you know the number of them I've had Stacy, our sole photography club member, document?" He leaned back, yelled over to the nearest group of campers, "Say hi, Stacy!"
The actual sole member of photography club Sandy turned, confused, made eye contact with Max and waved uneasily at the man he was holding hostage. She quickly whipped back around to the sane crowd all trying to escape notice of the more colorful campers. They achieved this mainly by hiding in plain sight as people too boring to drag into their dramas and following Gwen around quietly.
"We've got back-ups of back-ups, and that's not even taking the camp itself into account..." Max picked at his nails, trying to sell the lie that would have been a really good idea if he'd actually thought of it before this moment. In fact, he was going to start documenting anything not involving David as soon as he cleared this shit up. "This... I think the word scam is appropriate. This lawsuit-worthy scam you've got going here-"
"Okay, okay, stop with the s-word; what do you want, kid?" Campbell cut in, "Money? Well, you're not getting that , but fame, certainly. Or I can take you on a trip to Thailand that'll blow your little mind, pretty soon." Was he oblivious, too? Max thought he'd made himself pretty damn clear.
"I want to know what you were talking about with David," he reiterated from between gritted teeth, "One way or another, I've invested a lot in his sanity, and I'd like to know how you've jeopardized that."
"What?" Campbell laughed, relieved, "Davey's fine."
"Lawsuits! Scandals!" Max reminded him loudly.
"Alright, already, keep it down," Campbell conceded, hands out placatingly, "I ended that conversation on a high note, I'll have you know."
"What did you say ? All of it!" he added, in case Campbell fixated on some frivolous adult thing that had nothing to do with what drove David over the edge.
"Oh, he just wanted to reminisce with me about an old counselor and our many, exhausting conversations over the years," Campbell wobbled a hand, "Or some nonsense. The kid's lost the plot a little, if you get my meaning. One second he's on about how I didn't remember some local cult's myth about letting something in, the next he's throwing Georgio's name around like I explicitly ordered him not to-" He glanced down at Max as if he'd forgotten the boy was there, not registering the dawning comprehension on Max's face, "Er, so as to keep the sorrow from overwhelming us, you see. Since the poor man went missing, long ago."
"Oh, my god, you were the fucking phone call," Max breathed, having pieced together two and two and come up with five in a miracle of intuition, "Holy shit." He'd known someone had been involved in David's first cover up and he really should have seen this coming.
"Call?" Campbell echoed but Max had already released him and turned on his heel for the woods, streaking past Nikki and Neil without a glance in their direction and plunging into the trees in the direction David had vanished.
"Shit, shit, shit," Max chanted as he hopped over a rock and ducked a fallen branch. He'd tried so hard to break David, for so long, but David had never talked about Max like he did about the vaunted Mr. Campbell. That man was like a god, an ideal father, and a straight shot of saving grace all wrapped up in one perfect burrito to David. Yeah, he listened enough to David's stories to get that much.
After all, it didn't take much listening to figure out and Max had been combing through the mind-numbing tales for information lately.
Finally it made sense that David could cling to some kind of sanity all this time - he'd thought Campbell had his back. It made sense in a way David usually didn't. And now he knew he didn't know and- um... Now David knew Campbell was clueless and, sure, there was a chance the counselor wasn't about to give in and go on a spree, but Max didn't want David taken away from him-
He pushed the thought aside before it could stop him in his tracks because he didn't have time to argue with himself. Max had plans for David, and that was enough reason to go after him.
"David!" he called, directing the anger outward, "Fucking answer me!" He nearly tripped, then hopped awkwardly around the root and pushed through the denser brush, "I'll get myself killed out here! Fucking count on it! David!"
As if to make his words true, Max's next step went awry as the ground gave way with a rustle, the leaves and branches over the pitfall trap having parted under his weight, "Shit!" Retaining enough presence of mind to act before he was fully in the pit, he managed to turn the fall into more of a slide down the wall as soil and roots scraped uselessly against his hands.
Okay.
The ditch was only... almost twice his height. And the broken off pointy-ass sticks around him were raw material to build something to climb out!
...That internal optimism had sounded dangerously similar to David's typical nonsense. "Dammit! David, you shitty cocksucker, I'm going to die here because of you!"
Dimly, as if from a distance, he heard, "Max?"
Jumping to his feet, Max shouted at the top of his lungs, "David! I'm in a fucking pit!"
"Of course you are," David's head popped into view over the edge as he continued, sounding winded, "Are you okay?"
"I'm in a death trap, awaiting death ," Max reminded him irritably.
"No major injuries then," David murmured as if to himself, disappearing for a long moment before loops of rope landed just in front of Max, attached to something up above. David reappeared not soon after, climbing down into the hole.
He landed, took a brief moment to assess the situation, and plucked Max from the ground. "Hold on," he warned, and Max really had no choice but to grip the man for dear life as David tested the rope again and began to ascend, feet carefully but quickly finding footholds in the wall of the pit as he climbed. Max was plastered to him like a spider monkey, but at least there was no one around to see it.
His only saving grace.
It was all very quiet, though. Unnaturally so. David wasn't babbling all the way up and out, or scolding him for running headlong into a pit trap. He'd expected at least a question as to his intentions sprinting out into the forest.
When David made it back to solid ground, he put Max down and stood there looking at him.
Just... looking. Staring, really.
Without smiling, or crying, or lecturing.
It was a little creepy.
His arms weren't even crossed over his chest like he was about to start lecturing. They just hung there at his sides, like David had defaulted to factory settings and couldn't reboot.
"David?" Max ventured, hoping it'd push David one way or the other. He'd been expecting a breakdown, not... this.
David opened his mouth to speak, stopped, and a hand went over it instead, David's other arm wrapping around his middle. His eyes slowly lost focus, and even though he was staring straight at Max, the boy was pretty sure he wasn't seeing anything.
It was a familiar feeling with an unfamiliar cast, but Max wasn't about to stand for that from him .
"David!" he repeated, more harshly, and startled a flinch from the man, getting his focus back in the process, "I know what happened. I... I know, okay?" That didn't mean he knew what to do about it, but maybe if David didn't have to explain what had happened with Mr. Campbell, he'd be able to fucking say something about it.
"You followed me out here," David said, abruptly, his hand dropping from his mouth to join the other arm across his middle. And yeah, okay, that was the wrong thing to be focusing on, but at least he'd spoken aloud. The silence had been starting to get to Max. Just when the camper had begun formulating a response to this new and unexpected dialogue path opening up before him, David continued, "Max, you're not- I'm not-"
A wave of visible frustration passed over his face and he crouched, taking Max's shoulders in both hands, "You can't do that, Max. You know what's out here. I- I am-" His hands jolted back, away from Max, and one went towards his mouth before he changed his mind and rested it on his own knee.
"I can't lean on you. You shouldn't be following me out into the woods when I'm-" His gaze had drifted away while he was talking but darted back to Max before he cut himself off for a third time, tone evening out unnaturally when he insisted, "You need to go back to the camp, Max. I'll walk you back to the path, and it'll take you straight-"
"You're like this close to going completely batshit insane and you want me to- what- leave you to it?" The question rose in volume as it progressed, and Max grabbed David's shoulders for once. From the ferocious fire in the kid's eye, David was a little worried Max was going to headbutt him. "Remember how you said your main problem was being selfish?"
Where had that come from? He remembered that but- what was the relevance? "What are you talking about? Max-"
"Do you remember ?" Max tried and failed to shake him, but it did bring him a little closer to maybe accidentally fulfilling David's premonition of imminent forehead collision, "Well, now you're being oblivious on top of it. Isn't it fucking obvious that I can handle your weird shit? Do you really think there's anything in that murderous butterfly you call a brain doing loop-de-loops in your head that can shock me? I'm not a little kid, David! You can- you can fucking lean on me; I can't believe you made me say that." Max was actually a little disappointed with himself that he couldn't think of a less pathetic way to get it across. "You care about me," he added with the air of a demand, blatantly seeking confirmation.
"Yeah." David's voice was flat, but when Max's gaze flickered uncertainly at the delivery, he exhaled heavily and relented, tone going soft, "Yeah, Max, I care about you."
"Yeah, obviously," Max said, rebuilding steam, "So I kind of want you to stick around and prove it. We've been over this."
That was true, but irrelevant. "I'm not leaving," David pointed out.
"If you snap and start killing innocent people you'll probably end up in jail without trying to leave, David," Max shot back irritably, dropping his grip on the man's shoulders, "It's obvious you're on the verge of a complete mental break -"
David's face contorted in a snarl, "I'm fine! "
It sat, fat and uncomfortable, between them for a moment as the anger drained away into stark horror on David's part.
"I'm sorry," he said immediately, his hand hovering between them as if he couldn't decide whether to reach out or cover his mouth and minimize the damage, "I'm so sorry; I didn't- d-didn't mean to-"
"I've had fucking worse than a shout," Max cut in, but his eyes were averted and his words held a light tremble that David couldn't ignore. Seeming to sense this, Max set his feet, voice firming, "And you're proving my point. I might not know what to do, but I'm... I'm here, aren't I?" He looked up at David, but his gaze skittered across him and off to the side. "Fuck. I have to do it."
"What-?"
Max darted into his arms, unbalancing David enough to hit the ground backside first and squeezing David's middle so tightly it was probably vengeance more than anything. He ducked his head down and squeezed his eyes shut, hiding his face against David's shirt and doing everything he could to deny that it was happening.
The counselor's chest expanded and contracted once, twice, three times before David's shell-shocked query of "Max?" broke the silence.
"It's just a fucking hug, you dipshit." The words were muffled, but clear in their meaning, "Goddammit, I'll have to repress the memory of me saying that."
Well, it was just a fucking hug, so David should probably get on with his side of it. He wasn't exactly signing a contract that he'd rely on Max to keep him sane.
As if prompted by David's arms closing around him, Max's muffled voice grew more steady, "Are you crying yet? I think that's the next step."
No, he wasn't, for once. It was just a hug and not the beginning to Max's likely plan to force him through a breakdown and out the other side, sanity probably intact. At least, not if he had anything to say about it. But maybe it was... helping. David rested his chin on Max's head and tightened his hold on the kid, closing his eyes and just concentrating on hugging Max.
It was a miracle, of a sort, that it was happening at all.
"David? Do you... feel... like, better?" Max prodded, "Or saner, maybe?"
The lack of response was probably freaking him out. Well. Max's ongoing display of concern was freaking David out a little, but you didn't see him questioning it. "Yes, Max, you've healed me of all my ills," David delivered calmly.
There was a beat of silence, and Max emerged, pulling back enough to show David the extent of his disgust, "Did you just sarcasm at me?"
A sigh from the counselor, "Well, it was nice while it lasted."
"While what las- oh, it's- it is helping?" There was more surprise there than the situation warranted, David thought, but Max was already burrowing back into his chest. "See, I can fucking handle it. I've got this."
Unable to stop himself, David smoothed a hand over the back of Max's head and began, helplessly, to laugh. As expected, Max stiffened and tried to escape, but David had a pretty good hold on him by then. "I'm sorry; I'm not laughing at you, Max," he managed between laughs, pulling Max back in tight as the kid relaxed again, "Not at you." He rested his hand on Max's head again, and the laughter bubbled back up, unstoppably.
"You really are a disaster," Max grumbled, squeezing in return.
And Max was insane to trust him. To trust a murderer. A maybe delusional mass murderer. He couldn't believe all these years, he'd thought- and Campbell hadn't even-
David continued to laugh, because it looked like it wasn't just a hug, after all.
...
(Photo sourced from UnSplash https://unsplash.com/@anniespratt)