Perry heard Jordan yelling at him. He did. He just...couldn't deal with it. Dumb as it was, telling the story he hated so much just...completely drained him. How was he supposed to deal with Jordan? He never could, and Jordan just seemed to be getting worse. Why would this time be any different? And what would change even if Jordan did get better? They'd still have to be on a team together, Archer would still be a murderer, his parents would still be...

They really are dead.

Of course they were, what was he thinking? After four years, he still couldn't process that they were gone? He wasn't even three yet when they died, and now that he was six he still hadn't recovered. That was pathetic.

But... They really were gone. He'd never hear their voices again, never feel them wrap their arms around him, never have them to turn to when he was feeling down. They were just gone. Ripped out of the world by Archer. And he had to stare into the face of their murderer every time he came into work.

No. Not their murderer. Jordan wasn't Archer. Their deaths weren't Jordan's fault. Their deaths weren't Jordan's fault. Their deaths weren't-

The voice that pulled him out of his thoughts was both the best and worst sound he had heard all morning. "Perry?"

He risked looking up to see Maxwell standing a few feet away, watching him with shock and...concern in his silver eyes. "Is everything okay?"

Perry awkwardly cleared his throat, hoping to whatever divine being necessary that he didn't look like he was about to cry. Or had cried. "N-No, I'm fine."

Maxwell looked away from Perry, and Perry followed his gaze to see Astrid sitting a couple feet away. "Astrid? Where are Penny and Jordan?"

Astrid shrugged. "Jordan threw a fit and stormed off. Penny followed him."

Almost as soon as Perry turned to look at Maxwell again, the olive green platypus was sitting next to him. "I..." Maxwell frowned, looking down at the ground in between them. "I've never seen you look so...defeated before, even back when we were kids."

Damnit. So it really was obvious. "No." Perry shook his head, forcing a small smile out as he looked at his teammate. "Just...having trouble waking up."

He heard Astrid snicker and turned to glare at her. The white platypus blinked up innocently, her blue eyes clearly full of all the laughter she was trying to hide. "S-Sorry. I'll..." She cleared her throat, standing up. "I'll be a bit further away so I won't hear you."

Perry sighed and shifted his attention back to Maxwell, who was now watching him even more intently. "So? What happened?"

Perry bit the inside of his bill and stared down at the ground again, unable to make himself meet the eyes of the olive green platypus. He heard Maxwell start talking again. "If..." He sighed. "If you don't want to tell me you don't have to. I don't want to force you."

Thank goodness. Almost immediately after his initial reaction, though, Perry began to hesitate. Did he want to tell Maxwell? It was pretty sad, though, Telling him would probably make Maxwell think less of him. That a fully grown OWCA agent hadn't recovered from losing his parents almost four years prior? Certainly everyone except Penny would think negatively of him for that, right? He did.

But... He couldn't shake this irrational feeling that...maybe Maxwell was different. Maybe Maxwell wanted to know the truth...no matter what the truth was? Maybe that wasn't true, but he kind of... wanted to believe it was.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Perry running through this debate in his head before he finally settled on a decision. "Okay." Immediately, Maxwell's gaze was on him again, and Perry had to look away to avoid his decision being changed. What if those bright silver eyes never looked at him this way again after that? No, you need to stick with this now. "I... I was telling Penny- and Astrid- what happened to our parents."

Silence. When Perry risked looking up, Maxwell was still watching him, his eyes sparkling with concern and curiosity. Perry bit the inside of his bill and looked away, trying his best to ignore the tightness in his chest. "I-I had never told her and when she asked me about it, I realized it was time."

"They... It was Archer, right?" Maxwell said softly.

Perry frowned and looked up again. "You...knew?"

Maxwell shrugged helplessly. "You learn things when you're a wallflower. Plus when we were in training, I noticed that your already rocky attitude with Jordan plummeted way more after...that. I had a suspicion for a while, but since none of it was ever confirmed, I tried not to assume."

"That's...actually really smart." Perry chuckled in spite of himself. "I guess I wasn't exactly subtle, was I?"

Maxwell grinned. "Not much about you is subtle."

"But...yeah." Perry felt his mood drop again as he repeated the necessary basics. "Our family stuck with trusting Archer after most of the other agents started believing he was the serial killer, and he just turned around and...y-yeah." Perry cleared his throat, tracing his finger along the crack in the concrete floor. "I think what happened is Jordan heard the last part of that when he came in, and he got angry at me and accused me of turning Astrid and Penny against him." Perry snorted weakly, feeling himself becoming dangerously emotional again. "Self-absorbed bastard."

He fell silent, scared to say any more in case he broke down into tears in front of Maxwell. That was the last damn thing he wanted.

They were quiet for a few minutes, and Perry nearly jumped when he felt a touch he hadn't expected. Maxwell had lightly placed his paw on top of Perry's, which had been resting on the floor for a while. Perry bit the inside of his bill and forced himself not to look at Maxwell, in case he did something to embarrass himself just by looking at him. Considering the dumb things he had been doing and saying around his teammate recently anyway, it certainly wasn't a risk he wanted to take when he was so emotional.

After another minute or so, he heard Maxwell's voice, quieter than usual. "I...never really knew my parents. I have no idea who my father even is, and my mother quit OWCA, ran off somewhere, and left me behind as soon as I was put up for adoption. So I can't really put myself in your position and understand the pain you're feeling."

Perry frowned. Maxwell...was opening up to him? Quiet, rarely-says-what-he's-thinking-in-public Maxwell?

"But..." The olive green platypus inhaled deeply, and Perry risked allowing himself to look up and found himself staring straight into his silver eyes. "I know that you were very close to them- I could tell just watching you interacting with them when we were kids. I..." He chuckled weakly, looking away. "To be honest, I was always more than a bit jealous. I couldn't care less about my own parents, but that didn't stop me from wishing that I had parents like yours."

Maxwell's gentle grip around Perry's paw tightened, and Perry's breath caught in his throat as he tried to focus on Maxwell's words instead. "I can't imagine someone I care about that much being ripped away so horribly." He smiled slightly up at Perry. "Thanks for telling me. I...know that must have been difficult."

Perry returned the smile. "You, too. Have...you ever told anyone that before?'

"What happened to my parents?" Maxwell paused and looked away thoughtfully momentarily before turning back. "No, I guess not."

Suddenly there was a noise that made Perry nearly jump five feet in the air, but it was just Astrid, clearing her throat. "If you two are done... Perry."

The aforementioned platypus sighed, pulling his attention away from Maxwell to talk to her. "Yeah?"

"You've made it clear that you don't want to be on this team." She paused. "Considering what's happened today... Since you're so...not interested in working with us, you may as well just go home and avoid us. Jordan's not here to tattle on you."

"I-" Taking her words at the surface, Perry's first reaction was to start forming a biting comeback, but then he paused and thought about what he said. "Are you...saying I should just not worry about work today?"

Astrid shrugged, but a surprisingly friendly smile played at her bill. "It's never good to force yourself into something that you don't feel up to."

Perry hesitated. Astrid actually being nice? Maxwell opening up about something he'd never told anyone? Was this all some crazy dream and he'd wake up and the day would restart? What was going on? "I-I guess you're right. Okay." He turned to Maxwell, who pulled his paw away. "I...think she's right. I should probably just go home and rest today."

Maxwell smiled, his eyes warm enough to make Perry's chest tighten again. "You do that."

As Perry turned to walk away, he heard Maxwell speak up again. "Oh, and the girls were talking about potentially stopping by your house after school to see Phineas and Ferb again. Maybe... I'll see you later?"

Perry smiled and nodded back, doing his best act casual and ignore the strange burst of excitement that ran through him. "That sounds great. I'll see you then... I guess."

I hope.