There were very few things in the world that were certain.
One of them was that Max was a grouch. He had been for the entire week and his whole family had noticed, staying clear of the grumpy teenager as much as they could.
When anyone who was daring enough to ask him why he was acting this way, he would just reply with a glare, freezing them in their spot. Not literally though.
The truth was something that Max could never tell anyone, because it was something so far fetched and out there that no one would believe him if did say anything.
He hadn't had a dream about his "kids" in over a week, and it was driving him absolutely batty not knowing more about them.
He really couldn't understand why this was getting under his skin, but it was, and there was no way that he could remedy the situation that would most definitely fix his situation. And frankly, his attitude.
Dinner was quiet on Max's side, knowing that if he opened his mouth at all, the likelihood of something exiting that was insulting towards the recipient was exceptionally high.
The other family members around him were chatting away about their day, Phoebe droning on and on about how her ballet practice had gone.
"And then the director said that I was the best lead dancer he had ever seen for the Nutcracker! He thinks I might even have a chance at becoming a professional ballerina!"
"That's wonderful sweetheart!" her mom praised, smiling proudly at her daughter.
"And what did you do today Max?" Hank asked his son, noticing that he hadn't been eating much of his food.
"Make another ninth grader cry today Max?" Phoebe teased before she took another bite of mashed potatoes.
"No. I didn't really do much," Max muttered, stirring more salt and pepper into his green beans.
"I thought you told me that you got an A+ on your science test today?" Billy questioned his brother, confused that Max hadn't mentioned it yet that day.
"Billy! I told you not to tell anybody!" Max complained, glaring at his little brother.
"Max! That's wonderful! Why would you want to keep that a secret from us?" Barb asked her son.
"Because it wasn't that big of a deal," he explained, turning his gaze back to his plate.
"Not that big of a deal! Max you barely ever get an A+ without cheating! This is huge! We have to celebrate!" Hank said, clapping his hands together at the thought of dessert.
"NO! That's the last thing I want!"
"Then what do you want Max?" Phoebe asked, raising an eyebrow at her twin;s reaction.
"I just want to be left alone!" he exclaimed, slamming his silverware down on the table.
"Max! That is not how you behave at this table!" his mother scolded him fiercely.
Max sighed.
"I know. I'm sorry. May I please be excused?"
"Sure," his father replied before his mom had a chance to answer.
Max left the table, taking his dishes with him.
After he had cleaned his dishes and put his food in a container for later, he silently made his way to his lair, sliding down his slide and out of sight of his very concerned family.
"Did you see that?" Nora asked.
"Yeah. Getting good grades, taking care of his dishes, being polite. Something is definitely wrong with him," Phoebe said.
"I don't think I've ever seen him so down before," Hank said, gazing at the empty spot at the table.
"He's been acting like this all week. I just can't believe that this slum that he's in is causing him to get a good grade on a science test," Barb replied as she placed some more green beans on Chloe's plate.
"Oh this science test wasn't his first good grade," Billy said innocently.
Every person at the table instantly turned their attention to the young boy.
"Uh, I mean, yes isn't that strange?" Bill corrected himself very unconvincingly.
"Spill it Billy," Nora ordered her brother, crossing her arms.
"But Max will kill me if I tell you!" Billy complained, knowing what his fate would be if he told his brother's secret to the rest of his family.
"He will not. And if he tries, he'll be grounded,"
His dad's words didn't really encourage him, but Billy knew he stood no chance against his whole family at once.
He took a deep breath, releasing it with a sigh.
"He dropped his folder the other day in his room, so I helped him pick up his papers. I saw all of his recent grades after I had finished. He's gotten an A in english, an A+ in math, and an A with a smiley face in history,"
"A smiley face?" his mom asked, a quizzical expression on her face.
"Mrs. Austin likes to give smiley faces to anyone that gets an A. She sees it as an incentive tactic," Phoebe explained, telekinetically bringing the butter to herself from across the table.
"What kind of student would that work for?" Nora asked, knowing that that sort of thing would be useless on her.
"Nora. Meet your sister Phoebe," Barb said to her younger daughter.
"Oh, yeah. She would think that that's a reward wouldn't she," Nora replied.
"Hey! I resent that!" Phoebe objected.
"And so do Philip and Brandon," Phoebe continued, bringing two school tests from out of no where, two red smiley faces crudely drawn with marker in their top corners.
"Phoebe. For your own good, you need to stop bringing the tests to the table. It's weird," Barb said to her daughter, placing a hand on Phoebe's arm.
"Don't you mean that it's unique, Mom?" Phoebe said, putting emphasis on the word "unique" and smiling happily at her mother.
Barb shook her head emphatically.
"No. Just weird,"
Down in his room, Max had been angrily working on his MaxVolt, having not been able to complete it yet due to his temper as of late.
Doctor Colosso had noticed the teens change in attitude, trying several times to ask him what was wrong, but was turned down every single time.
Max was on his bed, figuring out what schematics he could improve on his MaxVolt, when he heard footsteps.
"Who's there?" he asked, pointing his flashlight towards his stairs, the beam of light landing on his little sister.
"It's just me Max. And will turn that flashlight off! It's hurting my eyes!" she complained, shielding her eyes from the light.
Max sighed, relieved that it wasn't either of his parents or his twin.
"Sorry Nora. I thought you might be Mom or Dad,"
"Or Phoebe?" Nora responded.
"Even worse," Max muttered, turning on the room's lights so that his sister could see.
"Where is everybody?" he asked moving over and patting a spot on his bed for Nora to come sit on.
"In bed. I had to wait till they were all asleep before I could come down here. I felt like you might want someone to talk to,"
"I kinda do," Max admitted, pleased that his sister had taken the initiative to come to him.
"So what's been going on with you lately?" Nora asked as she sat beside her brother.
"If I tell you, you have to promise that you cannot tell anyone. Not Mom, Dad, and especially not Phoebe!"
"I promise! Cross my heart an hope to fly, burn you with my laser eyes," Nora replied, crossing her heart and then shooting her laser vision for a quick second at the piece of cardboard her brother was holding.
"Aw! So close Nora!" he said, as he examined that the two holes she had made were extremely close to the center of the target.
"You're getting much better," he said, smiling at her.
"So what's up bro?"
Max sighed.
"Do you ever have dreams about the future?" he asked, all playfully gone from his voice.
"Well, I did have a dream once that Mom and Dad bought me a unicorn, and you picked up knitting,"
"What?" Max asked, completely confused.
"All of my dreams are pretty outrageous you know. Nothing really possible," Nora explained.
"But have you ever had a dream that seemed really realistic?" Max asked again.
"No," Nora replied simply, shaking her head.
"Well I did. About a little over a week ago. And the funny thing is, it seemed so real," Max said as he stood up from his bed.
"What was it about?" his sister asked, laying down on her brother's bed and resting her head in her hands.
"Can I trust you not to tell anyone?" Max asked again, wanting to be absolutely certain that she would keep his secret to herself.
"Of course Max. I made the superhero promise!" she reassured him.
Max took a deep breath, nodding his head before he continued.
"I dreamt about my… (gulp) kids,"
"What do you mean, your kids?" she asked.
"I mean, I dreamt that I had three kids, and that they were,"
"You had three kids? What did they look like? What were there names? Telling me they were all girls!" Nora asked excitedly.
"I was getting to that!" Max said exasperatedly.
"And if you ask me one more question before I let you, you're not gonna find anything else out until you actually become an aunt," he threatened.
Nora hurriedly closed her mouth and made a motion that showed she was zipping her lips.
Max explained his dream to his sister with as many details as he could remember, Nora hanging on his every word. Max had always been a pretty good storyteller, but Billy and Nora had been forced to keep quiet about it. Max couldn't have his villain status marred by being a good children's storyteller.
When Max had finally finished, he looked at his sister and sighed and rolled his eyes before he smiled at her.
"Yes, you may speak,"
"That is the coolest thing I've ever heard! Not only am I gonna be an aunt, but I'm gonna get a niece that looks like me!"
"So you don't think it's totally weird?"
"No! This is awesome! What I don't get is why you're telling me this,"
"I'm telling you because you came to me. You didn't go talk to Mom and Dad first. I know, it's odd, but I needed to tell someone, and I felt like you were the only one that I could trust at the moment,"
Nora smiled at her big brother noticing that he seemed happier when he was able to speak about this.
"So why have you been acting like such a grinch lately then?" she asked.
"Because I haven't had any dreams like that one ever since!"
"It's driving you nuts isn't it?"
"Yes!" Max admitted, an extremely irritated expression on his face.
"Just wait. Try thinking about something else and that might help you trigger the dream pattern again,"
"Wow Nora. When did you get so smart?" Max asked, genuinely impressed.
"When you left your health book open," she explained pointing to the text book on his desk.
"I saw it when I came down. That, and I've been paying attention to when you and Phoebe do your homework. I swear, I will never be able to get her visual aids that she drew out of my head,"
Max shuddered at the thought. Phoebe had truly missed out on the artistic gene.
Nora rose from Max's bed, covering her mouth as a yawn escaped.
"You should probably get to bed. It's pretty late," Max said, putting his school books in his backpack for the next day.
"Ok. Good night Max," she replied as she climbed back up the stairs.
"Night Nora. Thanks,"
Few people ever saw the softer side of Max Thunderman.
And no one saw him when he snuck up to Nora's bedside and tucked her in after she had fallen asleep.
Or the genuine smile he sent her way before he left.