He'd finally figured it out, but it was too late. They were near the end.
If Axl Heck's whole life could be summed up in one word, the word would be ignorant. A lot of times, he was ignorant to the people around him. Like when he'd spoiled that book for his brother, Brick. He'd never known how much those books had meant to his brother, until he'd practically killed him with one of those books. He'd also hadn't realized until then how much Brick's company had meant to him. He was lucky he was able to fix it.
Unfortunately, this hadn't been enough to erase his ignorance about the next time he was so lucky. Lucky to have a sister like Sue, who was willing to break up with her boyfriend that she liked so much, just so it wouldn't affect Axl's lifelong friendship. She knew this problem was ultimately Ax's fault, but she'd done it anyway. Just for her brother.
Axl had realized this later and had fixed it for his sister, despite still being weirded out about the whole thing. He hadn't even meant to fix it at the time. It had just come out, in a moment of anger that had been directed at Darrin. Really though, he was angry at himself. He just didn't realize this at the time due to his ignorance again.
Then there was his mother. His mother who showered him with more attention more than his own siblings. He'd always found it annoying, to be honest, but it wasn't until he'd thought she was in a ditch that he realized just how much more lucky he was than his brother and sister. He tried to keep this revelation secret at first, like he did with all of them, but when Sue had made that suggestion about her being that he hadn't realized at the time was utterly stupid, Axl couldn't help but be honest about his feelings toward his mother for once in his life.
That had all started with that tracker app Axl had secretly kept in his phone. Axl pretended to have that tracker app purely for selfish reasons, but truthfully he'd secretly wondered about what his parents and family did when he wasn't with them. So secret, it was even secret to himself.
Why did he wonder about this though? It wasn't completely because he was worried about them. It was actually mostly because he wanted to see what exactly they were doing without him. Because truth be told, he liked doing things with them, even when he didn't realize it. His most vivid memories would always be those days they spent fighting and loving each other without showing it. He knew that as a fact now.
Those days like when he helped Brick with a project in his own stupid way or when they both tried to sell a sauce together in a stupid way only they could accomplish together.
Or a day like when he would fight over a plane seat with Sue, only for him to agree to a nine hour bus ride and to walking in a blizzard for her.
The day he had graduated high school and his mother had tackled him over a tie, but had ended up letting him go in the end albeit just barely.
What would stick out in his mind the most though, were the memories he had with his entire family together.
Like when they had all been forced to go camping together and had fought the entire time, except when that bear came.
Or when they'd all nearly starved together because of that reverend and were saved all because Axl had finally grown up enough to realize and express his true feelings.
One couldn't forget, though, the summer that had started in fury and fighting over who was the favorite kid and parent and had ended in fireworks.
Sure, he was forced to hang out with them most of the time, but somehow you always have the best memories with the people you're forced to hang out with.
Because this was what Axl had been ignorant about the most. He loved his family more than anything and it took him so long to finally realize it.
He didn't even realize it until Brick's graduation from middle school. Seeing his youngest brother go on to high school and his sister getting ready to leave for the entire summer had somehow brought on such a wave of emotions that it had washed away his ignorance. Never so blatantly had he showed that he actually wanted to spend time with his family than when he agreed to go with them to drop Sue off at her job with the weak excuse about making fun of Sue. Sure, he was going for Sue, but not just because he wanted to make fun of her. Because he would miss her, too.
So yes, maybe the ignorance did go away a little too late, when everyone was growing up and moving forward, but at least now Axl would never be so ignorant about love again.