Chapter Text
The rest of the day went normally with the rest of the day going through old albums. When the time for dinner came they ordered food and that was that. Goofy and Donald went to bed early with their reasoning being “we're not as young as we used to be!” They left Bradley and Max on the couch watching TV.
“How are you feeling Brad?” Max was spread out on the couch with his arms open, leaning against the back of the couch.
“Fine. I liked seeing those photos of you when you were young.” Bradley teased. Max rolled his eyes and gestured for Bradley to come closer. He stopped sitting so perfectly straight and cuddled into Max, pulling his knees up and laying his head on Max's chest. “I just wasn't expecting your dad to have a boyfriend. Let alone someone who's related to the Scrooge McDuck.” Bradley explained.
He cuddled deeper into Max. He was warm. The way he breathed comforted Bradley. It made him feel at ease. Max wrapped his arm around Bradley and used his thumb to rub Bradley's arm. He had a way of making him feel safe no matter what. It's not that Bradley was adverse to touch. He enjoyed it when it was meaningful and made him feel loved.
“I thought about telling you sooner but just didn't want to freak you out.” Max explained.
“And that worked so well.” Bradley rolled his eyes. It was so much information to process. His dad was into men, he was dating a duck, he the duck was related to Scrooge, and he had more family.
“Why didn't you tell me?” Bradley asked.
Max sighed. “I just told you I didn't want to you freak out-”
“not about that!” Bradley snapped and picked his head off of Max's chest.
Max looked alarmed. He didn't intend for his words to startle him. Bradley took a breath. “I mean just about everything. You told me that growing up the only people in your family were just you and your dad. Now there's more people? I just don't know why you felt like you needed to hide all of this from me.” Bradley explained. It's not like Bradley would've judged him for such a large family. Was he not accepting enough of him? Sure he wasn't perfect but he always tried to support Max. Even if some of his ideas were stupid.
“Well it's not a traditional family.” Max forced a smile out.
“Traditional?” Bradley asked. Max looked around for an answer.
“Wait here for a second,” Max said, standing up. Bradley watched as Max walked into the same closet that his dad walked into before. He heard him rummaging and search for something. He heard him asking “where is it?” and “it's gotta be here somewhere.” as he searched. It took a bit but soon Bradley heard Max exclaim, “there it is!”
He saw Max walk back with another huge album. “More baby photos?” Bradley asked. Max sat down, “kinda” he said. The cover had a few different people on it. It had his dad, Donald, another who had a purple bow with a dress to match, a mouse with a polkadot dress and bow to match, in the mouses lap was a cat asleep, a dog that was laying on the ground and MICKEY MOUSE?!
“IS THAT?-” Bradley freaked out. Max covered his mouth to stop him from yelling.
“Dad and Donald are asleep, keep it down!” Bradley pushed Max's hand off of his mouth.
“Gross.” Bradley said, wiping his mouth.
“Oh like we haven't done worse.” Max smirked.
Bradley grimaced, “I make you atleast wash your hands before, if there's not enough time to shower. I am not risking any infections.”
Max took a moment of silence to blink at Bradley. “I've eaten your ass-”
“Enough said!” Bradley interjected, “onto the next topic.” Max shrugged it off. He was able to embarrass him enough to make his ears turn red so he claimed it as a victory. Max placed the album on his own lap.
“My dad's always been into scrapbooking. He made this one about his closest friends.” Max's hands grazed over the pages.
“And one of those friends is Mickey Mouse?” Bradley pushed, moving closer to Max. “Yeah. They met in high-school actually. Uncle Mickey, Aunt Minnie, and my dad all went to the same school.” Max pointed at the duck.
“This is my Aunt Daisy. Her and Minnie grew up together. She and Donald dated for a bit but then she realized she didn't want commitment so they just stayed friends.” Max pointed at the dog. “This is Pluto, Uncle Mickeys dog.” Max pointed at the cat, “and this is vigero! Aunt Minnie's cat.” That's a lot of information.
“So how did Donald join all of this?” Bradley asked, gesturing to everything. “Back when they were all in college they went out to a restaurant and they met Donald as their waiter. Mickey is super sociable and every time they went there he got closer to all of them and soon joined the group!” Max explained. Now that really was a lot of information.
“Wait Aunt? Uncle? I thought your dad didn't talk to most of his relatives?”
Max's eyes shifted again. “Well not blood relatives. These people are just close enough that I call them aunts and uncles.”
“Blood relatives?” Bradley pushed. Max sighed. He shifted uncomfortably. “I don't talk to most of my family….” Max confessed. Bradley raised an eyebrow so he would keep going. Max shifted a little away from Bradley.
“Most of my family looks down on my dad for being a single father and a college drop out.” Max confessed. Bradley's eyes widened but he stayed silent. Max continued, “they saw me as a representation of that failure and they didn't treat me well. My dad didn't care for it so he decided we were better off without them. Of course I have relatives that were always nice to me so we are in contact with them but it's very sparing.” Max admitted all of it with a feeling of shame. It seemed like he internalized those feelings quite a bit. Bradley wanted to say something, anything.
“I'm the family embarrassment so I get it.” Bradley admitted. Max looked at Bradley. He didn't know what to say. Did he say the wrong thing? Max smiled and leaned in and kissed Bradleys forehead. He was so gentle. Without another word Max leaned back into Bradley and opened the album.
They looked through it together. There were photos of all of them doing all sorts of things together. Bradley learned that when Max was born Goofy kept him around him at all times and was sure to always be present in his life. He also learned that when Max was 15-17 he was valet for the house of mouse which is how Mickey got his start.
There was so much more to Max and Goofy then Bradley could've ever guessed. It was honestly impressive. Bradley could hardly relate to any of it all. He often didn't know what to say to make him feel better or anything. Was he really making the right decision to be with him?
“Hey Max.” Bradley said. He felt a heavy feeling in his chest. “Hm?” Max said, turning his head around. His eyes had this look in them of joy and love in them. He couldn't speak against those eyes. Bradley hesitated.
“Your dad made a comment about meeting people tomorrow for dinner? What's that about?” Bradley couldn't do it. Max looked confused.
“Tomorrow?” Max asked. Bradley nodded. Max took out his phone. He messed around with it a bit and scrolled.
“Well he's wrong, it's not tomorrow.” Max turned his phone over to Bradley letting him scroll through some messages from a group chat. The messages confirmed that they were meeting for dinner the day after tomorrow.
Bradley breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn't handle much more shock. “There's a different thing tomorrow though.” Max smiled out.
What? Another thing? What other thing? “And what's that?” Bradley asked.
“Well I was just planning on meeting up with some friends and visiting the skate park.” Max was so relaxed. It didn't seem like a big deal. Bradley could probably handle that.
“That sounds fun. Am I coming with you?” Bradley asked.
Max nodded enthusiastically. “Of course! I want you to come with me.” Max exclaimed, grabbing Bradley's face.
Max kissed his nose and smiled. Bradley smiled and cuddled onto Max. Even if he couldn't grasp all he dealt with he was still happy to be with him and maybe that was enough for now.