If Max had to describe it this was the best sleep that he has ever had. But it didn't last like he wanted as he felt a hand slowly shaking his shoulder. Max made an annoyed mumbled and cracked an eye opened to see who the asshole was. And no surprise it was Ryan.
"Morning Max, time to get up."
"Go away." Max groaned. "Let me sleep." With that Max turned over and tried to go back to sleep. Ryan figured that Max would still be tired, but they have an early flight so he needs the kid to get up.
"Come on buddy, we got to catch a flight."
"No. Fuck off." Ryan shook his head.
"Alright kid, have it your way." Max smirked thinking that he had won, but yelped when he felt the cover taken off of him. Ryan on the other hand just went and scooped the boy up in his arms. Max immediately was on alert and started wiggling.
"What the hell are you doing?! Put me down!" Max yelled as he continued to struggle out of Ryan's hold.
"Woah, there tiger. Thought you was too tired to get up?" Ryan chuckled. Max only stoped for a second.
"Put me down." Max growled as he narrowed his eyes at Ryan. Ryan only smirked at Max's attempt to be intimidating, but granted his request and put the kid down on the floor.
"Well since your up, get your things. We're heading out." Max only grumbled as a response as Ryan left him and went back to the living room and found Gwen smirking at him.
"Not a morning person is he?" Ryan asked.
"Unless you got coffee for him, I wouldn't bother."
"Coffee, huh." Their conversation was interrupted by a still groggy boy dragging his bag. Just by looking at him they could tell that he was still dead tired, and would be stubborn about it until he literally pass out. Both adults just shrugged it off, if that's how Max wants to do it, then who are they to stop him.
They left the hotel and got on a shuttle to the airport. Max was sitting in between Gwen and Ryan since the shuttle was full today. He didn't want to admit, but he was still really tired and wanted to sleep. Why did they have to leave so fucking early? He tried to fight but couldn't help it when he started nodding off. He jumped slightly when he felt a hand across his shoulder. He looked up to see Ryan's face in concern.
"Hey, Max. Get some sleep, I'll wake you up when we get there." Max narrowed his eyes at Ryan, but he couldn't find anything that said Ryan was lying or anything to him. Ryan was being sincere. He still didn't trust Ryan, but he was too tired. Max finally decided to close his eyes and slowly leaned on Ryan. It didn't take long for Max to be completely out.
"You're not gonna wake him up are you?" Gwen said more as a fact than a question.
"Nope," Ryan grinned.
"He's gonna be real pissed about it."
"Better than just passing out in the middle of the airport." Gwen at least gave him a point on that. If Max were to just face plant on the floor in the middle of a crowd they would definitely have eyes on them. The shuttle stoped at their terminal and Max was still knocked out. Ryan carefully picked the boy up to not wake him up and grabbed their bags and headed out.
When Max woke up he noticed that his surroundings was different. This wasn't the shuttle and now that he looked around there was way more people and the space was larger. This must be the inside of the airport, but how the hell did he get here?
"Oh, he's awake." He looked around to see Ryan next to him. His mind started to piece things together as he narrowed his eyes at Ryan.
"You bastard. You lied to me." He accused. Ryan only shrugged.
"I did try, but you was out of it kid. So the only thing I could do was to drag you all the way." Though Max knew Ryan was only joking he still blushed a bit in embarrassment at the fact that he was carried like some fucking toddler.
"Don't worry Max. No one really paid any attention to you." Which was true. It's a major airport and it's a bit early in the morning. Seeing kids being carried by their parents is nothing new or noteworthy. Though Max thought differently, but stopped when he smelled that familiar black coffee that he adores and looked up to see Gwen coming back with three Starbucks cups.
"Told you, he'll be pissed about it." Ryan only shrugged as Gwen handed him and Max a cup. Though Max was still irked about being carried he wasn't above pushing it aside for some coffee which to took gladly. As they sat and waited for the plane to arrive Max took a look to where exactly they're going and he saw the sign in their gate saying San Diego. So they're going to San Diego. Max has heard of the place but doesn't know it like LA or Hollywood.
"So what's in San Diego?" Both adults looked at Max in slight surprise, didn't think that the kid would strike up a conversation. Ryan recovered more quickly than Gwen to answer.
"Actually a lot. It's great for outdoor stuff and the beach. There's great food there too, I'm sure you'll grow to love it."
"Hmm." Was the only reply that he got from Max and honestly they wasn't even expecting that much. After that Max stayed quiet until they heard that they were boarding. Max saw Ryan and Gwen get up and followed suit but was confused when they were in the first class line.
That couldn't be right. Though Max has never been on a plane he knew that first class is super expensive and that only rich people travel like that. Just how loaded is this guy? Ryan looked down and saw Max's reserved face and reached down to ruffle his hair.
"Don't worry too much about it." Max responded with a grunt and pushed Ryan's hand away. Once they let first class in they entered the plane. But in the first class section there was only two seats on each side. Max sighed and figured that it was only for Ryan and Gwen. So where the fuck is he supposed to sit? He was about to walk down further until a hand grabbed his shoulder.
"Max where are you going?" Ryan asked.
"What does it look like? I'm trying to find a seat on this thing." Ryan raised an eyebrow at his answer.
"You're sitting with me bud." Ryan had to contain himself at the dumbfound look on Max's face as he turned to see that Gwen was siting in front of them and that where Ryan stopped him at still had two emptied seats.
"Come on Max." Ryan guide Mac to the window seat and buckled him in. While Ryan and Gwen were conversing with each other Max was taking in everything around him. The seat was so big and comfortable. Soon the plane was filled and stared to move which startled Max.
This is his first ever flight so right now all of the wonder of the newness went away and now was was left was nervousness. Max hates to admit any weakness, but right now he's a bit afraid. As the plane stared taking off that fear started increasing as his hands started to shake.
His trembling was stopped when he felt Ryan's hand covering over his. He looked over to see that he was still talking to Gwen. He must have seen him and put his hand out to comfort Max. Max originally wanted to swat his hand away, but his fear of the increasing altitude overweighted that decision.
The moment that Max felt a couple of bumps he instinctively wrapped his hands around Ryan's arm and shut his eyes while leaning into Ryan's shoulder. Both Ryan and Gwen stopped their conversation and looked on shocked at how Max was behaving.
Max was mortified at what he was doing and worse he was afraid that Ryan would just brush him off and he would have to deal with it alone...again. His fear, however, was put to rest when he felt Ryan's other hand lightly patting his back.
" It's ok, Iil man. Hang on for as long as you like." Max blushed at what Ryan said. He hated the fact that he was being treated like a child, but wouldn't admit that the unfamiliar warm feeling he got when Ryan said that filled him and Ryan continued to rub circles on his back was so soothing that Max didn't realize when he fell asleep again.
This time when Max woke up, it was to the sensation that he was moving. He opened his eyes to see that he was no longer on the plane and back inside an airport. It was strange because he was moving, but not walking. He looked up to his mortification that he's being carried by Ryan, again.
"Oh, looks like you're awake. You was out for the whole ride, bud." Max only stared at Ryan for a second digesting everything that has happened so far. In the short amount of time that he's known the man, Ryan hasn't shown any hostile or malicious undertones to Max. The man has been very sincere since they met.
Though it was very embarrassing to be seen being carried like this, deep down Max knew that this was something that he wished his own parents had done. So far everything that Ryan and even Gwen has done for him in the span of a day was more than what his parents have done for him in the last 10 years.
Ryan was a bit confused as to why Max was staring hard at him and thought that it was Max's silent demand to be put down. When Ryan made the move to put Max in the ground he was shocked again when Max wrapped his arms around his neck and buried his head on the man's shoulder. He stopped and leaned back up. He looked at Gwen's equally shocked face and knew that she would have no explanation on Max's strange behavior.
"What's wrong bud?" Ryan asked quietly, but Max only shook his head.
" it's alright, Iil man. I got you." Ryan whispered as he readjusted Max. They waited in the baggage claim for Gwen's stuff since Max and Ryan only had a bag. Once they were outside Max took a glimpse at the palm trees and sunny sky.
"Welcome to San Diego Max." Max looked around in awe. This is the first time he see palm trees and the weather was so clear. Nothing like back in New York. They walked to a parking garage where they stoped at a black Rolls Royce. They buckled in and drove off. Max looked out the window to take a view of his new surroundings. His new home.
The drive took about 10 minutes until they entered a neighborhood. As Max looked he saw that these houses were definitely set apart from regular homes. These look like really expensive houses. Surely Ryan doesn't live here, does he?
Max's question was answered as they turned on a driveway and Max was in view of one of the fanciest homes he had ever seen. It wasn't as big as those mega mansions he would see in magazines and TV, but you could tell that the house was defiantly at least 1M.
"Come on Max, you just gonna sit there with your thumb up your ass?" Ryan jokes and he and Gwen exited the car.
"Shut the hell up!" Max fires back causing the adults to snicker. Looks like Max is back to normal. As they got out Max couldn't help but marvel at the house in front of him.
"I feel you Max." Came the voice of Gwen. "Sometimes I can't believe it either." She patted his shoulder as she got her bag and followed Ryan inside. Deciding to get a move on Max followed suite.
If the outside looked luxurious, then it had nothing compared to the inside. Everything was so open, like a warehouse. You could literally see everything from the living room to the kitchen. Looking around he could see many expensive looking paintings and sculptures. Seems like Ryan is some kind of art collector.
He passed by a office that had its own couch and fireplace. He wondered if that's where Ryan worked? In fact that leaves the question, what does he do? Max new a fact that this house is easily more than 1M. So how could he afford it?
"Hey max, come on and let's see your room." His room? Max hasn't even considered that he had one, let alone it hasn't fully sinked in that he was going to be living here. He walked towards Ryan to see a pair of stairs and followed him up. They passed two other rooms and came up to a door that had a sign that said "MAX".
"Sorry, since this was a bit short noticed I really didn't have much to prepare your room, but we can jazz it up once you get settled in." Ryan said as he opened the door and Max let a gasp slip through his mouth as he saw the room.
Back at home he basically had a closet for a room which barely fit the small torn up mattress he had to sleep on and one broken dresser. As he walked inside he could see that he could fit at least seven of that closet in this open space. There was so much space. He could see a huge bed and a dresser along with a table and rolling chair.
"We're also going to have to go to the store for some more cloths for you bud." Max ignored Ryan as he saw a door on the wall. He opened it and gasped at what was inside. It was a closet and it was as almost as big as his room back at his old home. Except this one is just only a closet. He looked back to the room and saw another door, and that one led to a bathroom. His own bathroom!
"I hope you'll be comfortable with this little set up and we can decorate the walls and shit however you like." This was beginning to be too much for Max. Never in his dreams did he thought he would receive something like this.
"Is...is this really for me?" Max asked silently looking up at Ryan as a stray tear came down. Ryan knelt on one knee and wiped the tears away.
"This is all for you bud." With out a second though Max threw his arms around Ryan, who wasn't expecting the gesture, but caught the boy anyways to return the hug. After a few second Max let go and stared at the floor in embarrassment until he looked back up at Ryan.
"You tell anyone that I've done any of that and I'll kill you." Ryan laughed as he stood back up.
"Don't worry kid, your secret is safe with me. Go ahead and unpack and I'll meet you down stairs." Ryan says as he walked out. Max took more time to see his room and couldn't believe that he missed that he has his own TV! And he noticed that there was a game station attached to it.
"No fucking way?!" He whispered in disbelief when he saw that it was the PS5! He couldn't believe it! This was something that he only dreamed of having and now here it is right in front of him! He looked to see that there were several games there too. This must be a dream, that's the only explanation. Why else would someone spend this much money on him?
It didn't take Max long to put his stuff up since he really didn't have shit. Now he wondered what he should do next, head downstairs? Did he have to wait till Ryan came back up to get him? He slowly opened the door to hear the sound of...barking?
He creeped downstairs too see Gwen in the kitchen and A door leading to the backyard was open. He walked outside to the backyard to find Ryan playing with a Pitbull. He didn't know that there was a dog in the house, and the thing was massive. Now besides popular belief Max loves animals, especially dogs. But he would have to say that this one definitely intimidated him. Unfortunately for Max the dog already picked up on the new guest, which alerted Ryan.
"Oh Max, sorry forgot to mention about Duke here. Hope you're cool with dogs." With that Duke went and trotted over to Max. Max stiffened as Duke came up to him and stared sniffing.
"Don't worry Max, Duke is nothing but a giant teddy bear." To further prove his point Duke laid on his back telling Max that he wanted to be petted. Max hesitated at first but when Duke started wagging his tail Max cracked a genuine smile.
"See, told you." With that Ryan tossed a ball to Max and the moment that Duke saw it he got up and started barking. Max looked up at Ryan who only nodded. When Max threw it Duke dashed after it and caught it. He ran back to Max to offer the ball for him to throw it again. Ryan walked to a chair and sat down watching the two play.
"Looks like Duke found a new best friend." Ryan turned to see Gwen with two glasses and set it on the table and sat next to Ryan. They both watched as Max was really getting into playing with Duke with a big grin on his face.
"Yeah, I'm real glad."
"Me too."