This chapter isn't bad. But it could have been better. Maybe once all 31 chapters are posted I'll revise them all.

We'll see.

(Hey it's me, the author of this fanfic, from the future, this bitch is getting some major rewriting.)

Day 26: Dehydration

Chapter Summary: Max forgets how to take care of himself. Water's important mother fucker.

As much as Max hated any kind of outdoor activity, he was forced to twice a week.

...Forced might be too strong of a word, but David was very insistent that Max get some fresh air and go on a long hike. Which was the worst thing he could suggest.

David had told Max to bring anything he may need. Food, water, light clothes, good shoes. Max couldn't find it in himself to give a fuck. He was still wearing the heavy sweater and jeans, and didn't bother with grabbing a water bottle. 'It doesn't matter.' He told himself. 'I've never needed it before.'

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An hour of driving later, David and Max arrived at the "perfect, hiking pace" as David put it, and it was surprisingly very hot there. Max nearly regretted not bringing water and wearing heavy clothes. But that's what he was used to, so it didn't matter. David pointed to a high point on trail. "We'll probably head up there for about two hours and come back down after a short break. How does that sound?" Max grabbed a large stick on the ground. "Fine. Let's just get this over with." David started walking, with Max close behind him. "That's the spirit!"

An hour in, Max was getting warm under the hoodie and wanted to take it off. 'No, I'm not doing that shit. I've done this before.' Max wanted so badly to remove the thing keeping in the heat, but he had something to prove. Not that he really knew what that was, but who cares?

Another hour passes. David decided that they had gone up enough. "Look Max! If we stop here we can see half the trail we walked up." Looking down on the long, winding path they walked up almost made Max dizzy. Fuck, and he'd have to walk back down that. He shook the unfortunate thought out of his head. "Yeah, it's not that far." What was he doing?

"Oh? You don't think that was an impressive hike?" 'No! It was just fine!' "No. You know we could both do better." 'You're tired and hot! Don't do this shit!' Max's thoughts yelled at him. "Would you like to go another hour?" David questioned. 'No! Who would ever want that?!' "Only if you can." Max challenged. "This is exciting! I'm glad you're finally interested in the outdoors!" 'I'm not! Make us go home!' "I'm not. I just want to see how far you can make it." David grinned. "Alright. Let's walk!" And thus, they walked once again.

'Fuck.'

Thirty minutes had gone by, and Max was extremely dizzy. 'You should have dressed lighter. 'You should have brought water. 'You shouldn't have challenged David.' He was also very mad at himself. This could have been so much easier. But no. He always had to be stubborn and unyielding. Max knew he looked tired, and was now just waiting for David to glance over to him and notice he wasn't doing too great. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be happening. David kept his eyes on the trail. Max coughed, trying to pull David's attention toward him. It didn't work, however, it did make several more harsh coughs escape his throat. 'Fuck, where did that come from?' He hadn't been feeling that sick a minute before. What the hell was happening? Max hadn't noticed he had stopped walking after the coughing fits, and looked at David, who was standing 3 feet away from him. "A-are you doing okay? Max, we can go back down." David had finally noticed that Max wasn't doing too well. Maybe it was time go home? "No. You wanted to come up here and we did. Stop complaining." Max started coughing again. David sighed. "No, let's go." He walked over to Max and picked him up. "Fuck you, David! Put me down." More painful coughs.

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David walked the two of them the rest of the way to their car at the beginning of the trail. The whole way down, David silently cursed himself for not noticing Max's suffering earlier. What kind of parent/guardian was he? What could make the situation better? "Max, maybe you could take that sweater off. It might-" Max punched him in that arm. "It's fine! Fuck off." David tried to reason with him again, the heat was only make him feel worse, afterall. However, this resulted in more loud coughing and even shivering. 'What's wrong with him?' David asked his thoughts. 'Shivering? He must be burning under the sweater.'

After climbing into their car a minute later, Max rolled the sleeves of his hoodie up to free his arms. This didn't help much for the heat, but it was better than before. After getting a close look at the boy, David realized he had not brought any water. 'That must be it! Oh, that darn kid.' He pulled out the water bottle he had brought for himself and tried to hand it to Max. "Drink this." Max turned his head away and refused. "No, I don't need it." David frowned. "What if you're just dehydrated? This isn't new, Max. We know you've done this before." 'Done this before? Than why didn't you catch it earlier?' Max wanted to say, but chose not to. He scoffed and seized the water bottle from David's hands. "And take off the sweater, please." Max wanted to yell at him, but, of course, didn't. He quickly pulled the blue hoodie off of himself and drank down most of the water.

"Better?" David smiled. "Yeah, sure, whatever. Let's just go home."

"Okay!"

Max sighed. 'Holy shit. That was fucking horrible. I'm never doing that again.'

…

'Who am I kidding? I'll probably do it again.'

It's always those darn hikes that get Max, the poor kid.

It's not the best. But it isn't horrible. I don't know how to feel about this one. Someone help.

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