"I can't believe you forgot the meeting!"

"I didn't forget, I just wasn't interested!"

"How dare you-"

"I have better things to be doing with-"

"The one time I ask-"

Max pretty much froze in the doorway, his backpack suddenly feeling heavier, bearing down on his shoulders with as much weight as fucking possible and Max thought about just letting it thump to the ground. He didn't, though, staying still and silent, not wanting to alert his parents of his presence. Why the hell would he? Directing their anger for eachother onto him, yeah, no. That's what they did. When they were angry at each other, they took it off on Max. And it got violent. Sometimes it got physical, sometimes it was just screaming and yelling.

But as far as they knew, Max was still at school. They probably hadn't cared enough to check the time recently. He probably hadn't been on their minds since morning. Even before that, maybe.

But in certain situations, like now, Max was okay with that.

God, he couldn't wait for the summer. He couldn't wait to go back to that dumb camp. To see David's stupid, cheerful smile. To try to bring him down a little which snide comments and sarcastic remarks and try to get him to realize the world isn't all rainbows and sunshine. 'Cause if he stayed on that stupid high of his it was just gonna hurt him ten times more when somehow when he fell off it.

Not that Max cared. Why should he care?

The yelling from his parents brought him back to the present, and he flinched faintly despite himself when the voices drew closer.

"No, know what? I'm done!"

"Okay you can't just walk out-"

"Watch me! I-"

Max sighed. Yep. Here we go. He thought. Finally he let the backpack drop to the ground, because hey, they already knew he was there now. The weight pressing down onto his shoulders didn't lift, though. It didn't hurt, but it was uncomfortable.

"Max." His father grumbled, running his fingers through his hair. "I - Great. Just fucking great. Shouldn't you be in school?"

"I just got out, Dad." Max explained, staring at him.

"Oh." His father muttered, eyes narrowing, but he couldn't seem to think of anything else. Finally, he did, though. "Go do your homework, then."

"S'Friday." Max sighed. "I don't have any."

"Dammit, boy!" His father growled, and had Max not been expecting that, he would've flinched. Instead, the kid just averted his gaze to stare at the ground. "Just go do something!"

Max caught himself before he could speak again, biting down on his tongue. Oh, go fuck yourself, asshat.

And then his father was out the door, shoving past him, still grumbling. Max was vaguely aware of his mother watching him, though, and he glanced up, raising an eyebrow.

His mother looked worn out. Her hair was messy and her eyes were bloodshot and she looked exhausted. Too exhausted to yell or complain like Max's father, luckily. Max couldn't really feel any sympathy. He'd lost that toward his parents a long time ago.

"Max, honey," Finally his mother spoke, and Max just narrowed his eyes. I'm not your honey, bitch. "Your father and I are… Gonna take a little break, okay?"

"From each other?" Max said blankly, eyes narrowing faintly.

"From… Everything." His mother replied quietly. "We just need some time away. From here, and from each other."

Max didn't know what she expected him to say. He already knew where this was going - They were gonna leave him here. They did that often. They were never gone for more than a week and honestly, Max enjoyed the time to himself, the silence. It was a hell of a lot better than screaming and yelling and anger all the time.

"Okay, bye."

Max didn't know what his mother expected, but her eyes widened faintly in surprise and maybe a little disappointment that Max didn't seem very upset. He stood for a while, staring up at her, before shrugging and grabbing his backpack and heading upstairs to his room.

God, he couldn't wait to get out of this hellhole and go back to Camp Campbell.

Although he wouldn't ever admit that out loud.

"We'll be back soon, okay?"

"Okay." Max's reply was simple, not taking his gaze off of what he was doing. And what he was doing was making himself a sandwich. Or at least attempting to. Where the hell was the bread?

"Call us if you need anything-"

Like you'd answer.

"-Our numbers are on the fridge-"

Gonna ball 'em up and catch 'em on fire as soon as you leave, bitch.

"-Your camp counselor's number is up there, too, in case you can't reach us-"

At that, Max did pause and turn his head for a split second to look up at his mother, then he shut the fridge to look at the door. Sure enough, below the paper that had his parents' numbers scribbled down, was a small sticky note with another number Max guessed was David's.

So how bad is it that if I do need anything - which I won't - he'll be the one I call instead of my own parents?

Max shrugged, and continued his journey to find the bread. Where the fuck was the bread.

"-We'll be back soon."

Amazing speech. Max thought dryly, but he didn't say this. Instead he responded with another; "Okay."

Okay, he really needed to go to the store. They were out of bread.

"Bye, honey-"

Not your honey. If I was your honey, you wouldn't be taking off on me like this.

"-Call us if you need us."

Like hell.

And then, she was gone. His father had already left. And now the house was completely empty. Max shut the fridge and ripped off the paper with his parents' numbers, leaving behind David's, though. He ripped the paper up into little strips, then crumbled them up and tossed them into the trash can, brushing his hands off.

Then he went upstairs to his room, rummaging through his stuff until he found some money he had stashed away. Then he left, too, to go to the store to buy some fucking bread.

Okay he'd intended to go to the store. Really, he had.

But it was dark out and he'd met some really shady kids in an alley who said they'd give him alcohol for whatever money he had. And Max was already in a bad enough mood and he'd never had alcohol before but he heard it was great for bad moods and he was willing to try anything once.

Well, he now had a six pack of beer and he had no idea what to do with it. He sat down outside some corner store and took one of the bottles out. It took him a while to get it open, but he managed. He sniffed it first - Smelled weird as hell - Then took a small sip. He gagged instantly, and broke down into a coughing fit, trying not to choke. Shit, it was strong.

Yeah, he should've been expecting that.

"Damn." Max grumbled once he'd recovered, letting out a few coughs just for good measure. The stuff tasted like shit.

He took another sip. This time he was expecting it, so it wasn't as bad. He'd literally only taken two sips, and the world was already starting to blur out. The good news was, though, the weight pressing onto his shoulders disappeared.

He forgot why he was upset in the first place.

By the third sip, he was sure he was drunk as fuck now. He wasn't, really, just a little more than tipsy, but he wasn't completely drunk yet. Of course, he had an obviously low tolerance for alcohol. Then again he was a kid - What had he expected?

"There's a place I know that's tucked away,
A place where you and I can stay,
Where we can go to laugh and play,
And have adventures every day.
I know it sounds hard to believe, but guys and gals, it's true!
Camp Campbell is the place for me and yoooouuu!"

Yeah. Max was at least slightly drunk.

"Dammmmmmit," Max muttered, staring down at the beer. "Heh, this is gonna end so fuckin' badly... I wanna..." He narrowed his eyes. "When's camp start... Wanna go to camp. Wan'... Camp Campbell. N' David... N' I... Got nobody else. S'not okay... But... Camp.."

He was distracted, so he didn't hear the sirens, but he blinked and jerked a little in surprise when he saw a flash of blue. Then red. Then blue. Then red. Mesmerized, he stared in silence with his mouth half-open, then his eyes started trailing, trying to find the source of the light. And he did.

And he panicked.

Because even slightly drunk, Max was aware enough to know it was a police car. Luckily, though, it didn't seem to notice him and just continued driving down the road.

But Max was sick of not being noticed.

So he reached for a small rock that was near him, and, as the police car drove past, he chucked it as hard as possible. It hit the door, leaving a small dent, and Max grinned to himself, satisfied as he took another sip.

Ooh, dizziness. Max liked it.

The police car stopped.

Max didn't like it.

"Hey, kid," The door opened and a police officer stepped out, taking a few steps toward him. His eyes widened when he saw the kid had beer, though.

"Oh hellllllllllllllllllllllllllllll no you're not taking me alive!" Max grabbed another rock and threw it, this time at the cop, hitting him right in the shoulder.

"Ah-" The cop gritted his teeth, staggering a bit, then continued forward. "Look, kid, just calm down."

"Pissssss off!" Max yelled, reaching for another rock. This one was smaller, but that was okay, because it hit the police officer right in the nose. The cop stumbled back in shock, hands flying up to his face.

Max took the chance to try to stand, but everything started tilting at an odd angle so he gave up and sat back, watching. He wanted to take another sip of the beer but it was kinda hard to move now so he just sat there.

After a few minutes of the police officer trying to get his nose to stop bleeding, he finally came forward, grabbed Max and yanked him up rather harshly. Max winced, but only because the movement made everything start to spin violently. The beer bottle slipped from his fingers and went crashing to the ground and suddenly his arms were behind his back, wrists being cuffed.

Didn't stop him from struggling.

"Nooo, no, get the fuck off of me!" Max yelled. He kicked and screamed and writhed and gave very descriptive threats on how this police officer was gonna die slow and bloody but nothing seemed to be working.

"I just wanted a fuckin' sandwich!" Max shrieked as he was pushed into the police car. He continued to scream the whole way, just random things that didn't make any sense until his throat started hurting and he felt himself losing consciousness.

"Jus' wanted some breaaaaad." The kid whined one last time before giving into the dizzying darkness.

He woke up on some hard-ass bed that really wasn't comfortable at all and was hit with a wave of nausea and a very bad headache. But he mostly felt like he was gonna throw up. "Mmmm…" He looked around, and too tired to make it over to the toilet in the corner of the small room, he managed to wriggle forward and let his head hang over the bed. Then he let it all go, only pulling himself back up completely onto the bed when he was sure he'd gotten it all out of him.

The kid looked around, and let out a groan when he finally realized where he was. "Fuuuuuuuuuck me..."

"You awake there, sparky?" He heard a voice that sounded slightly familiar and saw a face that looked slightly familiar through the bars. Max didn't move, feeling like if he moved he would just… Die.

Instead he managed to raise one hand and flip the police officer off, letting his head drop down onto the cold, uncomfortable bed. "And fuck you."

The cop just sighed. "Where are your parents, kid?"

"Fucked if I know." Max mumbled. He really wished this guy would leave him alone. He just wanted to die in peace.

"You don't know where your parents are? Well can you at least tell me why you were sitting outside a store drinking beer?"

Max grunted. The memories from lastnight were fuzzy. "What'd I do?"

"Well, you freaked out and started throwing rocks at the police car, then at me - And thanks for the broken nose, by the way.."

Max smirked. Victory is mine. "Y'welcome."

The police officer sighed again, now sounding more annoyed. "You're not gonna make this easy, are you?"

"Nope." Max mumbled. "So how long do I gotta stay in this hellhole?"

"Two months."

"Two months?" Max's voice rose suddenly, becoming more distressed as he lifted his head finally, opening his eyes to look at the cop again. "But - Camp.."

"Sorry, kid." The police officer sighed. "That's just how it goes." He turned away, then glanced back. "You hungry?"

Max gagged at the thought of food, covering his mouth, and that was enough of a response.

"Okay, well, tell me when you are." And, with a smirk, the cop added; "I'll bring you a sandwich."

"Fuck you." Max growled, and the police officer just shook his head and headed off, leaving Max pissed and stressed.

Great. Great. He was gonna miss camp. He was gonna miss camp 'cause he was gonna be stuck in this hellhole because he was an idiot and oh god he was gonna miss camp. He didn't think he could be so upset about that, but he was. Camp was the only thing he'd had to look forward to and it was definitely better than being locked up here, or stuck at home alone.

Max groaned and curled himself up slightly, taking a deep breath.

Two months. He thought. Two months and you can get the hell outta here. Get the hell back to Camp Campbell.

And Max honestly never thought he'd hope so much to go back there.

But… Oh, God, he couldn't wait for two months to pass.

Two months passed so. Fucking. Slowly.

And police officers were dicks. They thought they were so fuckin' great. It took all Max had not to start throwing punches, because he knew if he did he'd end up getting more than two months and he coudn't have any of that now could he? So, he managed to keep any physical violence at bay and instead just threw out snarky, snide comments. At least for the first month.

Turns out Max didn't like being locked up.

At all.

It was awful. And Max hated it. He hated being in one small, confined area. He relished in whatever free time he got outside of the cell, but he hated it. Hated that he'd steadily began to curb his tongue and watch what he said to avoid being shoved into that cell sooner. Hated that he hated it.

He just wanted to be at Camp Campbell. With David, and Neil and Nikki, acting all cynical and trying to bring everybody down but inwardly feeling lifted by David's cheerfulness and Nikki's excited nature and Neil… Well, Max didn't really know what it was about Neil but the point was he didn't hate them. He didn't hate the camp.

He hated this. He hated cells. He hated being locked up. He hated jail. He hated counting down the days, desperate for two months to pass.

And finally, they did. Finally he was released from the cell.

But then there was a problem.

"We can't let you go if you've got nowhere to go, kiddo."

Max stared up at the police officer in disbelief. No, no, they'd had a deal. Two months. Two months and then he was out.

"Wait," Max managed, trying to suppress the panic. He had a feeling his parents either weren't back or didn't care so he had to act fast. Think, Max. Think.

"I - I got somewhere to go."

"Really? Where?"

"It's," Max just let the words spill, hardly paying attention to what he was saying. "Camp - Camp Campbell."

"Look, that's nice and all but unless you have an adult family member there that can-"

"Okay, okay, take me to my friend's house."

"Who's your friend?"

"His name's Matt Gangham." Max muttered, eyes narrowing. Telling the lie was so easy, so natural. "His parents used to babysit me. I'll be fine there until my mom and dad get home."

"Okay.." The police officer narrowed his eyes, but nodded. "Okay. Where does he live?"

Max sighed in relief, and inwardly, he smirked. Good. This was working out perfectly.

Max didn't know what to expect when he got to his house, the house he'd told the police officer had belonged to his friend "Matt", but he knew that he wasn't surprised that his parents weren't there. Once he managed to convince the police officer that he would be fine there with "Matt"'s parents, and got the handcuffs off, he wasted no time rushing inside, not even waiting for the cop to drive off. Quickly locking the door, Max went to the kitchen. He grabbed the sticky note with David's number, then grabbed the phone off of the table and dialed the number before putting the phone to his ear.

He didn't even think about it.

Everything felt so… Off.

Answer. Answer. God, please answer..

And he did. "Hello?" David's voice sounded rough with sleep, and Max felt a faint twinge of guilt. He went silent, closing his eyes.

"Hey, David."

"Max?" And David sounded so disbelieving and so fucking hopeful it brought a grin to Max's face for a second. Right now he didn't have to worry about masking his expression. He was alone.

"Yeah…" The guilt was back. He'd said he wasn't gonna come back to camp. But here he was, calling David in the middle of the night. For some reason. Some reason he didn't know.

"Everything alright, Max?"

"Yep," Max lied. No, nothing's alright. I just want to come back to camp. "Sorry for the late-night call. Just… Wanted to tell you something."

"Yeah?" And Max could hear the worry in David's voice. He bit down on his tongue and sighed, going silent. He didn't deserve to be able to call him. He didn't deserve for David to be concerned about him.

But David was the closest thing he had to a father and god dammit he needed somebody. He needed somebody bad.

"Max, what is it?"

"Well," Max sighed. "I wanted to let you know I'm gonna be a little late to camp." But you already know that. "Couldn't call to tell you ea-"

Shit. Yawn. Huge fucking yawn. He was exhausted.

"-rlier. Got into some trouble…"

And he trailed off. Hesitant.

"Trouble?" David sounded even more concerned. Another stab of guilt to Max's heart. "What kind of trouble?"

Max sighed again. "Jail trouble..?"

"You went to jail." He thought he could hear faint disappointment in David's tone, and it made him stiffen. "Wh.. Why, Max?"

Okay. Now he knew one thing for certain.

No way in hell was he telling David about getting drunk. No reason to raise more disappointment, right?

"Well, throwing rocks at random ass police cars out of boredom was a bad idea." Max couldn't keep the pride out of his tone, but his voice had lowered, more distant now. "I didn't take into consideration there might've been cops in the fuckin' car, so."

"Language." David mumbled from the other line and Max almost smiled. "Wow, Max."

"I know. I know." Max mumbled. "Well, I also started fighting when the cops tried to take me back home. Which ended up with one of them with a bloody nose, and then me in handcuffs, then I was behind bars."

Silence. Max took a deep breath. Oh, god, he's disappointed.

"You okay?"

Oh, shit. That took him by surprise. He couldn't let David know that, though. So he cleared his throat and forced himself to sound annoyed.

"I'm fine, David." He replied. "Anyway, like I said… I'll be at camp soon." One way or another. I'll find a way.

"Okay."

Silence again. Max turned and began looking through random stuff on the fridge, flipping through the calendar that was pinned up. Two months. June. The kid listed off the days, finger running over the small squares, before coming to rest on one.

Fathers day

How fucking ironic.

Max felt something inside him - He didn't know how, he pretty much viewed himself as broken anyway - Shatter somehow. His parents were gone. Gone. They'd normally be back in a week. Longest they've ever stayed away was three weeks. They were never the best parents, hell, they were violent and abusive and neglectful but they were his parents and they were gone.

Gone, and probably never coming back.

And Max really, really didn't know how to feel about that.

"...My parents are gone, man."

He didn't realize he'd said the words out loud until David spoke.

"What? What do you mean gone, Max?"

"Well," Max managed to mumble, backing away from the calendar and looking around the empty, dark kitchen. "They said they were gonna come back…. But that was like, two months ago."

Why was he doing this? Why was he talking to David about this?

"Two months…" There was a very long pause. "Why didn't you call me before now?"

Max sighed, "Uh, hey, idiot. Jail, remember?"

"You were in jail for two months?" David sounded stressed and any other time Max would've patted himself on the back for it but all he felt was guilt.

"Hey, time flies behind bars. It wasn't all bad." Oh, oh, God he was lying. He never wanted to go back to jail. Not ever, ever again.

Pause. "Do you need me to come pick you up?"

Yes. "No," Max replied quietly. He'd already caused enough trouble by calling and spilling all of this. "No, I got a ride. I'll be there by tomorrow."

To Do List; Find a ride to Camp Camp.

"Okay." David sounded hesitant. "God, okay…. Are you okay?"

Kick David's ass.

"If you ask me that again, the next time I see you I will punch you in your fucking face, David."

It was so easy to fall back into their normal routine. So easy to pick up that sarcasm and snarkiness and rudeness again.

He heard a snort from the other line and had to suppress a smile.

"Don't laugh. I'm serious."

"I know." David replied almost affectionately, and Max fell silent, mouth suddenly dry. Then David spoke up again. "Hey, Max?"

"Yeah, bitch?"

"Language,"

Fuck off.

"I'm not complaining. I'm glad you called. But… Why did you call?"

David now just sounded confused and concerned but there was something else there, too, something Max didn't understand. Something he wasn't sure he wanted to understand.

Max's barely-there smile faded away and he looked away, gaze trailing around. "I don't know." He finally mumbled. "I mean, I didn't even realize I did call you until I heard your voice." He paused for a second. "...I don't know."

There was silence for a while, and then; "Well, I'm glad you called."

"Fuck off."

There was a low chuckle that brought the barely-there smile back, and Max shut his eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Anyway… Just…" He trailed off. "I'll be there soon to punch you in the face."

"I'm looking forward to it, Max."

Max's small smile turned into a smirk. "Ah, shut up." He mumbled, and fell silent. David seemed to take his advice and he did shut up.

Max wished he hadn't. He wanted to hear his voice. His annoying, way-too-cheerful voice. He wanted David to tell him everything was going to be okay, like he usually did. He wanted David to try to see the bright side of this situation.

But David wasn't. David was quiet and it made Max panic slightly because if David wasn't telling him the bright side of this situation then maybe there wasn't a bright side and Max was just completely fucked?

Shit.

"I'll let you sleep." Max managed to keep his voice steady, staring around with a small frown on his face.

"Okay." David sighed back, sounding concerned. "...Don't hesitate to call me if you need anything else."

And Max hadn't realized everything had started spinning until it finally jerked to a stop.

Those few words, stupid and simple as they might be, they were all Max needed to hear. Because right then, in a situation where Max honestly felt more alone than he ever had in his life, where he felt like he had nobody to turn to, nobody to talk to, nobody at all…

But he did have someone. And honestly, knowing it was David, that was enough for him, it was all he needed.

"Yeah… Whatever."

"See you tomorrow."

"See you." Max murmured. And he looked up, looked around, before his gaze rested on the calendar. Everything seemed to go blank. Everything seemed to stop, jerking to a sharp halt, and for some reason Max spoke up, right at the last second; "David?"

There was a small pause. "Yeah, Max?"

Everything went still. Silent.

Max didn't even know if he was breathing anymore. He just knew he didn't deserve to be able to turn to David, to have David care so much when Max had really always been nothing but a huge dick to him. He didn't deserve to have that. That one, steady thing he always relied on, the thing he felt like he took advantage of, because he did.

Well, not anymore.

He didn't know how this had happened. How they'd gotten like this. How Max started looking at David as more than just some stupid camp counselor. All he knew was that things have definitely changed. Because suddenly Max wanted David to know he did care. He wanted David to know he liked the camp. Loved the camp, even. But he probably wouldn't go that far. He wanted David to know….

He wanted David to know what for all his stupid, snarky, rude comments, Max really didn't hate him. Not as much as he said. Hell, not at all.

But he couldn't say all this. His mouth felt dry and the words stuck in his throat, nearly choking him somehow. He couldn't bring himself to give that big, sappy speech. Not that he wanted to, but he tried, oh, he really tried.

Finally, he gave up. He gave up and shut his eyes, ready to hang up. That was a bad idea. He shouldn't have said anything. He just wanted to say something though. Something… Something that let David know…

"Happy fathers day." The words spilled out before he could stop them and honestly, he wouldn't have tried to, anyway.

Good enough.

Then he added, just for good measure; "...Asshole."

Then he hung up. He hung up and he sat there for a while, staring down at the phone. Then he turned, and grabbed the sticky note with David's number on it before turning and heading upstairs. Well, he'd made a promise and he was gonna keep it, he was gonna be in that camp by tomorrow or he was gonna die trying. Okay maybe that was a little extreme, but he didn't care. Hell, if all else failed, he'd call David to come pick him up, after all, he'd offered, right?

But first he'd check his room for cash. Maybe he had enough to take a bus.