It's not like he cared about it, he just noticed it. He wasn't really upset about it, he just knew it was there. It didn't exactly scare him, he just didn't quite understand it. That thing... That thing they had that sperated them from him, they were siblings together, all three of them. But Alex and Justin stood apart, they always had.
The first time he noticed something odd was when he caught them on the magic carpet. He was standing on the balcony thinking about pineapples when suddely he saw a carpet flying past their house, two people on it, a boy and a girl. He'd decided magic carpets were romantic and it'd be fun to take a girl on a date someday with one of them. He assumed this wizard was on a date too.
The carpet flew closer and he caught his brothers face. Max smiled thinking Justin was on a date with Harper or something, he'd always secretly been pining for them. But then he caught the girls face. Dark hair, darker than Harpers and she suddenly started laughing and he knew it was Alex. He jumped back, feeling disgusted with himself for assuming they were on a date, even if he hadn't meant to, it was still... Ugh, just ugh. They both waved to him as they passed, he gave an awkward smile, praying they'd never be able to read his mind.
If they could read his mind, they'd hate him, he was sure of that much. He burnt the mind reading tube after a wizard lesson. He was glaring at Alex, they were fighting over the middle seat, she insisted she got it.
"But you always get it! I want to sit there for once!" he yelled angrily, pushing her slighty, she pushed back harder.
"It's my seat dingus!" she said sticking her tounge out at him, they kept on bickering until their father came into the room.
"Alex! Max! Sit down!" he yelled, grabbing some chalk and heading to the blackboard.
"I would but she won't let me sit in the middle! Why do you like that seat so much anyway?" for a second she glances at Justin, but then turns back to him and scoffs.
"I'm better than both you, so I should get the better seat, duh!" she explains. Max is still confused about the look she gave Justin. But he ignores it, or at least tries too. She just wants to sit next to Justin, he though, but he made himself get rid of those thoughts, it's disgusting, it's gross, it's wrong. How could anyone think like that? He has a very sick mind, he wondered if he needed therapy.
They have a dysfunctional family. How many times have they heard that? Tutor said it, Daphne said it, countless people had brought it up. But for the first time ever, Max agreed with it. Sitting at the dinner table with Alex and Justin and his parents, he couldn't help but stare at both of them, caught up in their own world, fighting with each other in that weird way that looks like flirting. He wanted to vomit. He wanted to scream, to cry, to break something. He hated himself for thinking like that, for honestly thinking that his brother and sister are flirting, how sick can he get? He realised that Alex was kicking him and he shot her a confused glare, she silently apologised and looked back at Justin and Max realised she was trying to kick Justin. Any excuse to touch, he thought dejectively, and found himself standing up quickly, running to the bathroom with no explanation. His own thoughts were making him physically ill. Their family is dysfucntional, in the worst way possible.
He's pretty oblivious, most of the time anyway. Jerry and Theresa were worried about him for a while, Alex and Justin didn't notice of course, too busy having illicit feelings for one another, Max thought in disgust. Before he knew it, Christmas had come and Alex and Justin were home for the holidays, Harper tagged along, but Max was more interested in what his siblings had been getting up too without the risk of being caught by their parents who would undoubtedly disown them both.
He woke up late one Christmas eve and snuck downstairs to grab a quick snack before heading back to bed, while down there he saw it. The thing he'd been dreading his whole life. His older brother and sister, kissing each other under misletoe. He gagged and ran.
Sitting alone in his bed he wonders how they could do something so terrible. He closes his eyes and thinks about it carefully, realising it was bound to happen. They'd always shared that bond, closer to eachother than their own parents... He sighs and makes his way down stairs again, there they are, still kissing each other and he swears he sees tounge. He coughs abruptly. They turn to stare at him, startled. They stutter and stammer, searching for words they can't seem to find. He shakes his head and smiles at them.
"It's fine, I won't tell anyone, don't worry... I always kinda suspected something..." Alex smiles brightly and runs to hug him, followed by Justin who is still looking incredibly flustered. If you can get past the magic, the incest, the secrets, the insanity and over-all dysfunction... They're really very normal.
A/N: Well, I wanted to write something about Max's POV on the Jalex situation... I re-wrote the ending like 80 times though, I'm still not happy with it -___-;; Oh well. I think I switched tenses A LOT in this story, so... uh... I tried going through it to correct it all, but if you notice anything, lemme know, kay?
