I sat awkwardly in our hotel room, now joined by Max and Tyson and currently wondering how I manage to always get myself into these shit situations. I hadn't planned on entertaining guests tonight…

"Do you guys come here every year?" Tyson asked. He was laying on the floor on his stomach, head propped up onto his hands like a teenage girl.

"I wouldn't know." I shrugged. "This is my first year not being home schooled."

"Which is a good thing because you're kind of an idiot."

Avery elbowed me as he chimed in, winking a midst the dumb ass grin that currently covered his face.

Wyatt backhanded him.

"Our school comes here every year." He answered. "Most of us came last year too, when we were freshman."

He took the bong from the table behind him, preparing to prep it while Tyson gave me an awkward look and raised his eyebrow.

"Wyatt, you shouldn't just assume they're okay with you smoking..." I told him.

"I was planning on sharing." He shrugged. "I wouldn't ever force it on anyone, though."

My teammates had both quickly taken to the bottles of alcohol we had smuggled in our luggage, Tyson sipping awkwardly at a beer and Max on what I was pretty sure was his third shot of some sort of flavored vodka, downing it like a champ.

As Wyatt continued packing the large glass pipe with weed, Max happily extended his hand, clearly quite giddy at the idea of getting the first hit.

"Dude, you need to slow down." Tyson told him, eyes now holding clear judgment.

"It's not like it's my first time." He laughed. "I live in New York, remember?"

Without any hesitation, he locked his lips to the open top of the bong, inhaling with zero issue and letting a cloud of smoke fill the room. I had never seen Max behave in this manner before, normally happy and excitable but also shy when it came to being in a group of people. Currently he was acting as though he had known my friends longer than I had, happily making himself a part of the conversation.

"I feel like I haven't had freedom in months." He smiled, letting his eyes wander up to the ceiling and giving a small sigh.

Not saying anything in response, I instead listened, pausing every few minutes to take another mouthful of hot alcohol from a bottle of Fireball that I wasn't being the best about sharing.

"I'll say." Tyson finally chimed in, relaxing himself a bit after allowing himself to get comfortably buzzed. "Sophomore year was so much worse than freshman year." He looked over at me. "You're lucky you were home schooled, Kai."

"I actually like boarding." I admitted. "In a way I guess I like it for the exact reason that Max doesn't like public school. We have more freedom."

"Sometimes too much." Henri giggled, elbowing Emile in the side. They both looked at me and smirked. "Isn't that right?"

I didn't understand what they were getting at. I had never actually taken part in public schooling, I didn't know anything about it.

"He's less supervised at school than we currently are at the hotel." Avery snorted. "Is that part of why you guys chose to do it here instead of in the dorms? Are you turned on by the idea of getting walked in on or something?"

I blushed deeply. I didn't want this conversation to happen when it was only us, let alone when two of my teammates were here as well.

"Knock it off, Avery." Wyatt chimed in, glaring at him in an attempt to end the discussion.

"Hey, we're the victim here, we're the ones who had to listen to Kai have an orgasm outside the door. I'm actually kind of surprised it took you this long to suck his dick, I figured you'd do it his second day here." He smirked at me slyly. "So, how was your first blow job?"

Max and Tyson didn't look at me, instead eyeing the floor awkwardly while I took my turn at being publicly humiliated.

"Seriously," Wyatt said once more. "Stop. Now."

He was glaring at them, making it as well known as he possibly could that he meant what he was saying.

"You're no fun." Avery huffed, looking around to see if anyone was going to back up his childish humor. For the first time in his life the kid seemed to finally be taking a moment to read the room before speaking. "What you you guys wanna do, anyway?" He asked. "You can't invite people over and expect them to just listen to us talk about homework."

He took a swig from one of the alcohol bottles before silently signaling Max to pass back the bong, which he appeared reluctant to give up.

"I didn't really plan on running into them in the first place." I shrugged.

"We could play a drinking game."

"Like what?"

"Truth or Dare… Never Have I Ever… we play them in the woods behind the school all the time."

"That's true." Wyatt perked up. "It would be fun, especially with new people."

Now it was Tyson who appeared more excited, getting into the idea of playing a drinking game significantly more than Max seemed to be, instead he raised an eyebrow in slight discomfort, unsure how he felt about this idea.

"We aren't twelve year old girls." I reminded him with a roll of the eyes.

"It's not like I'm suggesting Spin The Bottle."

"There aren't any girls here." Max chimed up. "We can't even play spin the bottle."

"I'm the only straight one in our entire group." Avery chuckled slightly. "It's happened before."

I hadn't said anything to Max or Tyson about the sexual preferences of my friends and I wasn't sure how it would have ever come up in conversation in the first place. I was used to them at this point and the fact that most of us were gay didn't cross my mind much anymore.

"Oh." Max continued. "I mean, that's fine and all, but I'm still gonna say no to spin the bottle."

"I'm gonna say 'Let's see how drunk I get and take it from there'." Tyson laughed.

I rolled my eyes. I didn't do this sort of thing with my school friends or my teammates, let alone both groups at the same time. I wasn't in a state of mind where I was comfortable being around them and now we were huddled together in a crowded hotel room where Tyson was quickly getting drunk off his ass and Max was higher than The Empire State Building.

"Wyatt!" Avery called out while lighting the bong, inhaling from it before continuing. "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth." He snorted. "I'm not dumb enough to pick Dare right away."

"Good call." He laughed. "Let me think…" He touched his fingers to his chin in a dramatic fashion, playing with an invisible beard I really hoped he wasn't under the impression that he had. "What's the worst rumor you've heard about yourself?"

"That stupid dildo story." He tisked, rolling his eyes with a brief shake of the head. Although I didn't know what rumor he was referring to, it at least didn't seem to be anything he was embarrassed by, appearing more annoyed at what I could only assume was a case of juvenile humor.

"Explain." Avery continued once more. "Not everyone here knows the story."

"It was the very end of freshman year and honestly there isn't very much to it. Someone stuck a suction cup dildo to floor of the shower room in what I assume was supposed to just be a prank, but it ended up turning into some elaborate story about me being the one behind it and doing so in order to masturbate in the shower. Like I said, it was stupid."

"Everyone started harassing you hardcore after that, though. That was when your door got gratified, which is weird because based on my limited knowledge about your sex life that I know too much about regardless of never asking, I believe that you aren't into bottoming."

"I mean, it's fine, I wouldn't say I have any sort of actual problem with it, but I prefer being dominate."

"Wyatt." I interrupted, hoping no one would notice that I was clearly blushing. "This is getting a little graphic."

"Sorry." He giggled. "How about you, Tyson? Truth or Dare?"

"I'll pick Truth too." My overly excitable teammate chimed in, not appearing bothered in the slightest at the idea of knowing that my boyfriend has been fucked in the ass before, something that I myself hadn't even been aware of.

"Who was the last person you made out with?"

Now it was Tyson who went red, bringing an uncomfortable arm to the back of his neck and scratching at his hair. I was pretty confident I knew exactly which direction this was going.

"I haven't yet." He admitted, proving correct my own theory.

"Seriously?" Wyatt said, appearing somewhat puzzled. "You're a world champion, you should have girls lining up for you at this point."

Tyson did little more than shrug before turning his attention to Max.

"Truth or Dare?" He asked.

"Dare."

This entire thing was incredibly stupid. We were going to be juniors in high school next year and here we were behaving no better than preteens. Besides, nothing about this was even a drinking game outside of the fact that there was currently alcohol being ingested.

Rolling my eyes at the lot of them, I took the bong from Avery and took a moment to light it, successfully managing this time around to inhale with what I would only call a mild coughing fit. I needed it right now, though… I needed to relax myself.

"Go get the ice bucket from the counter and fill it up. Bring it back here and dump it down your pants."

Maybe it was the pot or the fact that I had been drinking, but I snorted slightly and tried to pretend it wasn't me when everyone turned around.

"You picked dare." Wyatt smirked at him, "You have to do it or you have to strip."

"Wyatt!" I yelled in horror, punching him in the shoulder gently enough where I wouldn't hurt him. "You do not get to flirt with my teammates!"

Avery, Henri and Emile had all begun laughing hysterically to the point where they had fallen over and on top of one another, now a mangled mess of limbs.

"He's not!" Emile yelled. "We always play it this way! If you refuse a dare you need to remove an article of clothing."

"My teammates are straight!"

"So is Avery. It's not our fault none of you know how to have a good time."

Max had rolled his eyes, trying to hide the faintest hint of a smirk that had formed on his face before grabbing the ice bucket off of the counter.

"I'll fucking do it." He said with a faint chuckle. He was blushing slightly and I wasn't sure if it was from the conversation regarding my friends sexual preferences or from embarrassment that he had just agreed to pour a bucket of ice down his pants.

I rolled my eyes, giving Wyatt a stern glare (he knew what it meant) and accepted my fate of watching this strange process unfold. A process which included Max coming back in the room, being instructed to go stand on the patio, and awkwardly unbutton his shorts before pulling them out enough where he wasn't flashing us and we were able to look on in slight horror as he emptied the contents of the bucket into his trousers before making a noise that I could only describe as that of a banshee.

"Ice is stuck!" He yelled out in pain. "Ice is stuck!"

"To your dick?" Tyson laughed hysterically, tears pooling into his eyes.

"To hair!"

Well, that's one way to learn that Max had gone through puberty in the last year.

Shaking his pants to the point where I was half expecting a turd to fall out, he regained his composure well enough to shove a hand into them and get the remainder of the ice out before joining us once again in the sitting room, but not before I reminded him to wash his hands.

"Alright, smart ass." He said while giving me a sly smile mixed with glaring eyes. "You're up. Truth or Dare?"

"I'm not playing."

"Then you're stripping." Wyatt giggled, moving from his sitting position to one where he lay on his stomach, propping himself on his elbows and happily staring at me with raised eyebrows. "Whenever you're ready."

"You've already seen him naked." Henri reminded him. "Actually, so have we. Remember that night he took an Ambien and then took his clothes off?"

"Enough." I grunted.

"Then answer the question." Avery chimed in. "If you don't wanna strip we could always just imitate what you sound like when having an orgasm, we all got a nice concert of your bedroom noises last night. Did you guys know that Kai is a screamer?"

"If I play will you shut up!?"

I could feel that my face was beet red, heat currently radiating down my earlobes.

"That's the plan." He smirked. "Max asked you, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth..." I didn't have anything to hide.

"What's the drunkest you've ever been?" He asked, ignoring the horror show that had just happened. Not that it made the question any better, he had still happened to find something I didn't really want to talk about.

"At my dads..." I admitted awkwardly.

"Explain?"

"That's not what you asked."

"Correct, I asked what was the drunkest you've been, not where were you."

You know, I normally respected Max. He was a good blader and had a kind soul, but as of today he was slowly making himself a part of my list of enemies. I needed to remind myself never to get high with him again.

"There isn't anything to explain." I shrugged. "I drank a bottle of whiskey, it was disgusting. I don't really remember much of that night but I think I threw a lot of it up in the bathroom."

I left out the part where I got alcohol poisoning and had to go to the hospital in an ambulance to have my stomach pumped.

"Now you ask someone a question." Avery said excitedly with a waive of his arms.

"This is stupid."

"Stop being such a pussy, you popped ecstasy last night and you can't even play Truth or Dare?"

I looked up at Tyson and Max, now both staring at me in what I could only refer to as shock. They were judging me and I didn't blame them. I deserved to be judged.

"Avery." I spat back at the blond. "Truth or Dare?"

"Dare." Not even any hesitation.

"Take off your underwear."

"Kai, you dirty boy!" He giggled.

"Without removing your pants."

"Wait, what?"

I crossed my arms to my chest, smirking for the first time since we ran into Max and Tyson.

"Take off your underwear without removing your pants."

"How the fuck am I supposed to do that?"

"Figure it out."

Confusion set in on his face as he made a poor attempt to slide his underwear down his ass without removing his jeans, struggling to the point where it definitely looked like he was jacking off.

I mean, he might have been, this was Avery we were talking about, after all.

"I think I'm gonna need to rip them." He grunted impatiently. "If I were wearing shorts it might work better."

Everyone was laughing at him now, taking the attention off of me as he attempted, unsuccessfully, to rip his underwear with his bare hands.

I had to admit I was low-key proud of myself for this one.

"I'm gonna step outside a moment." I said with the slightest hint of a grin, standing up and walking out to the patio.

To my surprise, Max followed me, resting his elbows on the gate and looking out into the city while I pulled a pack of cigarettes out of my pocket, absentmindedly offering him one.

"Thanks." He mumbled.

"I wouldn't have pegged you as a smoker."

To be honest, I was just used to offering.

"I'm not, really… only if I've been drinking. I never buy them." He still wasn't looking at me. "So is this the real you?" He asked.

"How do you mean?"

"Smoking, drinking, popping ecstasy… Is this the you we never met?"

I took some time to think before answering him, inhaling on my cigarette and letting the smoke sit for a moment before breaking back out in a sigh.

"I don't think there is a real me." I answered. "This is just what boarding school is like."

"Tyson is worried you're on drugs. Don't be surprised if he brings it up."

"I smoke pot, that's it. The Molly was a one time thing since we were in the city and wanted to have some fun. Coming off of it's not worth it, though. I don't plan on doing it again."

"It's funny..." He chuckled quietly. "We all have lives outside of tournament season, but we don't work very hard to let each other into those lives. We're all friends, but half the time it feels like we don't even know each other."

"I know I should have told you all that I was in state custody."

"Why didn't you?"

"The same reason I didn't want to tell any of you that I was gay. I didn't know how you'd react."

"Do you really think we're that shallow?"

"You said it yourself: Everyone has secrets."

He blushed slightly, giving my shoulder a squeeze before putting his cigarette out and turning around, back now leaning against the gate.

"It's not always about the reaction." He sighed. "It's the judgment. It's knowing that your friends will support you no matter what but also knowing that they'll never look at you the same way again."

Okay, what was happening right now? Was Max about to come out of the closet too or something?

"We should go back inside." Was all I said, opening the sliding door and shooing him in front of me before stepping back into the living room.

"We're playing Never Have I Ever, now." Avery announced, torn skivvies now in his hand and waving around like a flag. He handed Max and me each a shot glass before handing off a bottle of vodka to share. Dmitri had also made it back to the hotel at some point while we were outside, now plopped onto the carpet with a beer in each hand.

Henri cleared his throat, lifting his drink in the air before speaking.

"Never have I ever seen a boob in real life."

Thankfully I hadn't either, meaning I wouldn't need to drink this round.

Looking around the room it appeared that most of us hadn't, the only ones drinking being Wyatt, Dmitri and, oddly enough, Max.

Henri elbowed Emile, signaling that we were apparently going counter clockwise around the circle.

"Not counting a relative, Never Have I Ever kissed a girl." He smirked.

Four drinkers this time. Wyatt, Dmitri, Max and Avery.

"Avery, you're such a fucking liar." Emile yelled, hitting him with the pillow that was on the couch.

"I am not!" He yelled back. "I've kissed a girl before, I was honest about the boob one, wasn't I? Besides, it's my turn now." He gazed at the ceiling for a moment, thinking about what he was going to say. "Since all you queers wanna pick on the straight guys, Never Have I Ever kissed another guy."

Dammit, my time of not having to play was short lived. Now I had to watch Tyson and Max judging me through the corner of my eyes while I filled the small glass, bringing it to my lips and gulping it. Thankfully I wasn't alone, as Wyatt, Emile and Henri all drank with me.

"Wyatt," Avery stated. "You're up."

I was actually curious about what he was going to say. Wyatt had a past that involved a lot of sexual activity and I actually wasn't really sure if there was anything he hadn't done at least once.

"Let's see..." He said smugly, brushing at an invisible beard the same way Avery had, thankfully I at leas t knew Wyatt wasn't under the impression he had a real one. "Never have I ever whacked off to Avery."

To absolutely no ones surprise, not a single drink touched a pair of lips, causing Avery to snort sarcastically.

"Jokes on you." He said. "I'm not into guys, I don't want any of you whacking off to me. Anyway, Kai, it's your turn now."

Well that was incredibly underwhelming… I thought to myself as everyone's eyes made their way to me. Was I gonna be forced to play this game too?

"I've never had sex." I blurted out, now blushing and wondering what the hell had gotten into me.

This time, a significant amount of drinks went up, making me unsure if I should feel better about being a virgin or worse.

Wyatt, Dmitri, Henri, Emile and…

Max?

Hang on, Max wasn't a virgin?

Tyson was staring at him too now, an eyebrow raised in the air as though he was reluctant to believe him but deciding not to ask any questions.

Hell no, maybe it was the alcohol or the pot but there was no way I was ignoring the elephant currently in the room.

"Hang on," I shot up at him. "Are you really not gonna explain that one?" I asked him.

He shrugged at me awkwardly, locking his gaze to the shot glass he still held in his hand.

"I think it's pretty self explanatory." He said.

"How was it?" Avery chimed in, clearly hoping for details. "Like, compared to jacking off I mean."

"Avery, for fucks sake..." I grumbled, bringing my palm to my face. "Regardless of what I may have just said, I actually don't really care to know the details of Max's sex life."

"Why? I had to listen to the exceptionally loud details of yours last night."

"We weren't having sex."

"I know, he was just gargling your marbles."

Just as I was about to tell Avery where he could shove it, I was cut off by Wyatt's hand on my arm, eyes not looking at me, but instead looking across from me, at Max and Tyson.

"Are you alright?" Tyson was asking, clutching cautiously to Max's shoulder. His hands were covering his face and he was shaking, now looking exactly how I had looked when Wyatt talked me through my panic attack so many months ago.

Getting up, I approached him from his other side, touching a hand to his back. I should have been better about sensing that something was wrong, he hadn't been himself lately.

"I just need some air." He responded, ignoring the fact that we had literally just gone outside to smoke not twenty minutes ago. Stumbling clumsily to his feet, it suddenly became obvious how drunk he was, another thing I hadn't bothered taking the time to notice just moments ago.

"Can you guys give us a minute?" I asked my classmates, helping Tyson to walk him out onto the patio.

Even in their state of drunk shenanigans they seemed to respect that something was wrong, leaving us be as we closed the sliding glass door.

"What the hell was that?" Tyson asked him, helping him take a seat on the ground and catch his breath.

"Nothing." Max responded, inhaling choppy breaths while hardly managing a fake smile, gradually able to regain his composure. "I'm totally fine, you guys." He said. "I just drank too much and got dizzy."

Neither of us answered him, instead taking a moment to breath the fresh air of the outdoors and wondering if anyone was going to bother addressing the strangeness that just happened. In the end it was Tyson who spoke up.

"Ecstasy?" He said, an eyebrow raised in judgment.

"It was only one time and I don't want to ever do it again… it was awful."

I didn't know how often Tyson drank but I wanted to tell him that it was the equivalent of taking your worst hangover and multiplying it by ten. I said I wasn't touching the stuff again and I meant it.

He seemed to either believe me or had decided that this wasn't the time or place to begin questioning my life choices, besides, he knew that if I planned on continuing to use drugs that nothing he said was going to stop me. I wasn't always the best listener.

"Kai," He called by name after several moments of silence, resting his hand to his cheek as all three of us sat on the uncomfortable concrete stoop. "Truth or Dare?"

"I don't think this is a good time for that, Tyson..." I grunted.

"Just answer it."

Exhaling deeply, I cut my losses and decided that this wasn't a battle worth picking.

"Truth."

"The day you came to my house when you learned your mother died..." He looked down at nothing, avoiding the gazes of both Max and of myself. "I didn't ask questions because I didn't want to make you feel worse, but you told me that both bodies had been found… what did you mean by both?"

A lump formed in the pit of my stomach, shame finding its way quickly to my face. He wasn't smirking at me or giving me any sort of dumb look. If anything he looked like he felt pity for me, which felt even worse.

"My mom was pregnant when she died." I admitted quietly, keeping my gaze low. "My little sister didn't make it out alive, either."

"I'm sorry." Was all he said in response, or at least all he got out before Max grabbed the empty ice bucket and vomited into it.

"You should probably get him back to his dad." I said. "He's pretty wasted."

Looking at one another and nodding, we each grabbed an arm and helped get the poor kid to his feet.

"My dad is gonna kill me." He whimpered.

"Your dad is gonna kill me." I brought my other hand to his waist, trying to get him onto his feet. I knew Max's parents well and was quite confident that his mother already didn't like me, so the last thing I needed was to be on his dads bad side as well.

Noticing the current struggle we were going through, Wyatt opened the sliding door before quickly moving out of the way so that we could set him down.

"He's fine, just get him to the couch and let him rest. I'll make coffee."

"I want my mom." Max sobbed.

It was official, I was completely out of both my comfort zone and my realm of having even the faintest idea of what I was supposed to do. Max was what you would call a sad drunk; a very sad drunk.

"How are we supposed to get him back to his hotel?" I asked.

"He isn't going anywhere right now. You should probably call his dad and have him pick him up."

"He said his dad is gonna be pissed that he was drinking, besides, he has a baby, what's he supposed to do, wake her up and bring her along?"

"I mean, yes, but if he's worried how his dad will react then just get some caffeine in him and let him rest for an hour. He'll be hungover but he should be alright."

He brought a cup of black coffee to the couch, handing it off to Max who had wrapped himself in a blanket and was attempting to control his sobbing.

"It's so fucking hard." He cried. "I didn't know it was gonna be this hard."

Without the slightest idea what he was talking about, we all simply looked at each other, Tyson suddenly appearing to have come to the conclusion that partying was not what he expected it to be.

"It's not even midnight." I said, setting a hand on a thick mess of blond hair. "You're gonna be alright, just take a break from drinking and let it get itself out of your system."

"I'm supposed to get up when Charlotte gets up."

"Your dad will understand if you stayed out too late, besides, your dad is the parent, he can take care of her."

"She's my responsibility."

"No she's not, she's your sister."

"I got a girl pregnant."

Silence.

Absolute silence.

It was as though a record had come to a screeching halt. None of us made a sound as Tyson and I looked at each other, the gears in our heads more stuck in place than actively turning.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. None of us even knew he had a girlfriend and now he was telling us she was pregnant? "When?"

"After last years championship."

That was ages ago… the juvenile championship only ran every other year, we would have only been fourteen.

"That makes no sense." Tyson interrupted, if you got someone pregnant after the first championship you would have a six month old by now."

Just as quickly as this conversation took off, something in my brain suddenly clicked.

"Charlotte." I said quietly. "She's not your sister, is she…? She's your daughter."

The poor kid was crying hysterically now, the mix of alcohol combined with the pressure that he had built up in himself for who knows how long. It explained everything. Why he didn't seem to be himself this year, why he would change the subject whenever his family life came into question.

Max was the product of teen parents and now he was one.

Tyson grabbed me by the arm, pulling me aside and out of earshot of everyone else.

"I think I should call his dad..." He said, looking over my shoulder at him with significantly more pity that he had looked at me with just moments ago. "If he remembers at all when it felt like to be in his shoes, he'll understand..."

"Where's the hotel you guys are staying at?"

"Just a few miles down."

"Stay here with him." I said, giving a nod that hopefully he understood as meaning I had a plan. "Give me the address of the hotel and then call his dad and say that Wyatt and I will go over there and stay with the baby." I pocketed my hands, giving a sigh that I didn't even fully understand the meaning of. All I knew was that our friend needed our help. "He doesn't need to be questioning his parenting ability right now and if his dad brings Charlotte he's just gonna be worrying about her. Tyson, he just needs his dad right now."

My own past replayed in my head on repeat as I spoke. I had no children, but I understood the fear that came with knowing others were judging you.

I didn't need to grow up or be made into a man.

I needed my dad.

Now that was what Max needed.

Okay so I'll totally admit that this plot twist was not originally intended as part of this story and was added in part way through… but Max and Charlotte are legit two of my favorite characters and I wanted to do something special with them. Whether or not I go into more detail regarding Max and Charlotte is honestly based on you guys. If you like the idea of me doing more with them let me know, otherwise if I've just ruined this story for you please also let me know, haha. I genuinely want your opinions on it. I also have a mild plot hole regarding her age based on the fact that I didn't originally plan this out .