Chapter Text
Fighting a tyrannosaurus rex with his family- which included his father in child form and a group of domesticated frogs who possessed the ability to speak- wasn't precisely how Max anticipated to spend his Thursday evening, but he'd definitely had worse ones. He should've known that he'd opened his life up to this level of insanity the moment he brought his dad (Davey, as he'd introduced himself upon their "first" meeting) twenty years into the future to repair the family's ship. In Max's defense, there was no one else on the scope of the planet who understood how to fix it, and, unable to tell his actual father out of fear of being punished for breaking it, he settled for the most reasonable alternative: his dad at twelve years old.
Davey agreed to tag along, on one measly condition: Max had to take them to the past afterwards in order to see his birth mother.
Max expected the mission to go smoothly. Davey would fix the ship and Max would drop him off in his present time before he was forced to uphold his end of the deal. It seemed simple enough.
There was only one variable Max forgot to consider: his large, overbearing family.
His grandfather had wandered into the garage while Davey was underneath the ship, apparently searching for the dentures he'd lost for the third time that day. He didn't notice Davey- likely on account of his cataracts- but it was too close of a call for Max to risk him staying without a disguise. The thirteen year old nabbed a pineapple hat from god knows where and shoved it over Davey's head, demanding that he keep it on for the entirety of the trip. When he asked why, Max told him that his family would instantly know that Davey was from the past if they saw his "disgustingly 2007 haircut."
It wasn't completley a lie.
Upon realizing Max had a "friend" over, his family simultaneously invited the child to stay for dinner. Things had gone... relatively normal during the meal. Until the aforementioned tyrannosaurs rex broke through the wall of their house and tried attacking them.
Ravenous dinosaurs aside, the Robinsons emerged victorious and were currently huddled around congratulating one another on defeating the prehistoric beast. You know, normal things that families do.
Max took the commotion as the perfect opportunity to grab Davey, sprint to the garage and head back to the past before anyone noticed their absence. Just as he was preparing to do so, his mom came rushing towards the pair of boys to check on them.
"Are you two okay?" His mother Gwen asked, kneeling onto the damp grass before them and grabbing Max's face to inspect for any visible signs of injury.
"We're fine, Mom," he grumbled, listlessly patting at the hands squishing his cheeks. Gwen sighed in relief at finding him unharmed and patted the boy's head lovingly.
"Well, I'm great!" Davey cheered from besides them, pumping his fist in the air in an enthusiastic gesture. He paced back and forth excitedly, unable to contain the ceaseless energy vibrating off of him. "We totally showed that dinosaur who's boss! Jeez, it was so cool, Mom!"
A sharp silence fell over the backyard at Davey's mistake, and the boy flung his hands over his mouth in embarrassment once he realized what exactly had come from it.
"I, uh- I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" Davey stuttered, uselessly clutching at words that could somehow make the suituation less awkward.
"No, no, it's okay," Gwen suddenly interrupted him, reaching out to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. She tried her hardest to give what she prayed was a reassuring smile before wrapping the boy in a quick embrace. His entire demeanour practically screamed "unloved child", and that, coupled with the fact that he was almost disturbingly familiar to her made Gwen want to provide him with a stable, happy home, as he obviously wasn't getting love from anywhere else. "I'm glad that you're safe," she told him after releasing his shoulders.
"Wait, you're hurt..." Davey pointed at her forehead, his eyes wide with concern.
"Hm?" Gwen reached up to feel for any trickling blood, only then recognizing the throbbing sensation that had spread across her temple. "It's only a bruise, Davey," she assured him after her fingers came back spotless. Nothing a couple ibuprofen couldn't remedy.
"You all sacrificed your own wellbeing to keep one another safe," Davey sniffed, his eyes suddenly welling with tears like he hadn't been shown kindness his entire life. Gwen preferred not to dwell on the possibility that he in fact hadn't been, instead chopping it up to him naturally being emotional.
"Well, of course!" Uncle Art chimed in, blatantly surprised at the child's reaction.
"Isn't that what families are for?" Another unidentified voice from the group shouted.
Max's eye twitched at the heartwarming moment that was beginning to form. He hated anything vaguely sentimental to begin with, but this was the last place he'd expected anything of the sort to arise in.
"Oh-kaaay everyone, it's been an exhausting day full of shit that's weird even by our standards, so how about you all get some rest while I walk Davey home?" Max cut in, grabbing his friend's arm and attempting to drag him away before anyone could protest the decision.
Max, unfortunately, had no such success. Murmurs of disappointment immediately erupted from his family as if they were about to loose one of their own- which they technically were- the majority looking onwards with a distressed expression drawn across their faces.
"Are you sure you have to go now?" Aunt Billie asked, frowning.
"Y'know, it is getting a bit late. Maybe Davey could stay overnight?" Gwen looked at Max expectantly, like he'd jump at the opportunity.
Davey opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by Max before he could get a single syllable in edgewise. "Nope, he can't, super strict foster parents."
"Well, our door's open anytime you want to come over. You never have to ask. The truth is, Davey... we really love having you here," she admitted, her claim instantly supported by the various family members that voiced their agreement.
"Mom. We have to go," Max argued stubbornly, tugging on Davey's sleeve to yank him away from the rapidly escalating situation.
"No," his mother rebuffed. She calmly grabbed ahold of Davey's empty hand and flashed him a gentle smile as if silently apologizing for her son's behaviour.
"What do you mean no?!" Max sputtered, feebly slapping at her hand.
"You have stay," she calmly replied, giving Davey's hand a small squeeze. "Really, who would make a better family for you than us?" Gwen gestured to the family members directly behind her, all of whom were looking onwards with a supportive, loving smile. "Whaddya say, Davey? Would you like to become a Robinson?"
Max swore he could physically feel his brain short circuit on account of the question. This was crossing countless moral boundaries, and he was almost certain this wasn't how adoption worked! His grip on Davey tightened significantly, but the boy appeared too elated to currently receive any pain signals.
"You want to adopt me?!" A blindingly bright grin broke across Davey's face while he uncontrollably stomped on the ground out of pure excitement. "Yes!"
As the rest of his family erupted into delighted cheers, Max's stomach twisted into tight knots. This was not how things were supposed to go. Davey's sole objective was to fix their time machine and be brought back to the present without disrupting the space time continuum. Being adopted by his literal future wife wasn't part of the equation.
Clueless as to what else to do, Max quickly flipped off the hat he'd given Davey to conceal his true identity and turned away to avoid seeing the shocked expressions on his relatives faces.
As expected, a simultaneous gasp resounded throughout the small crowd that was followed by a stunned silence. No one dared to move a single muscle besides Davey who's eyebrows furrowed in confusion before he realized what he assumed to be the root of their shock.
"Oh, okay," the child laughed slightly as he leaned down to retrieve the fallen hat. "You all know I'm from the past now. But that's okay! No one from my time cares about me anyways, so I can easily move here."
Gwen hardly heard his response as she turned to the boy who was attempting to quietly slink away from the unspoken chaos. "Max..." she snarled, stopping him dead in his tracks. "What the fuck did you do?"
Davey's smile promptly dissolved at Gwen's harsh tone that had been nothing short of kind and welcoming a mere moment ago. He watched as Max trudged back to his previous spot, his eyes downcast.
"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't expect things to get so out of hand," he grumbled, sticking his hands in his hoodie.
"What could've possibly compelled you to bring him-" a hand shot out towards Davey, addressing him in a manor that might've suggested he wasn't even present, "-of all people to the future?!"
"Hey," Davey interjected, placing himself between Max and his mother. He couldn't begin to comprehend what was so reprehensible about bringing particularly him to the future, but he doubted it warranted being yelled at. "Please don't punish Max, he was just being a good friend!"
Gwen rubbed her temple and inhaled deeply in a vain attempt to retain her composure. "Look, David," she tried, managing to keep her tone level as she kneeled down before him. "You're- you're a great kid, and there's no ounce of doubt in my mind that you'll find an amazing family. But-" Gwen stood and wrapped her arms around her midsection as if trying to comfort herself amidst the sudden turmoil. "It can't be us."
Davey's heart sank to the floor. This had to be a sick joke, right? Was Max's family secretly full of sociopaths that loved feeding on the despair of children? "But you literally just said that you-!"
"I know!" Gwen raised her voice but caught herself before she was screaming at the person who deserved mistreatment the least. "I know what I said. And I'm sorry. Please, you have to believe that we sincerely love you, and that none of us would intentionally hurt you. But you just... you can't stay."
Davey stood stock still, his hands twitching at his sides as he struggled to take in the information. This alone was somehow worse than the six hundred and eighty four failed interviews with parents that he "just wasn't a good fit for." He thought that he'd finally found a family that understood and cared, but it'd been ripped from him within an instant for unexplainable reasons. "Can I at least go back and see my mom?" He managed, his voice weak. "Max promised."
"Jesus Christ," Davey heard Max groan from beside him, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of a hand smacking square against a forehead.
"You told him what?!" Gwen's anger visibly increased tenfold; the woman shot daggers at her child and tightly gripped the hair at her scalp as unconstrained rage radiated off her.
"I wasn't actually going to do it!" Max shouted, throwing his hands up in a show of defeat. "What, do you honestly think I'm that stupid?!"
Davey's jaw fell slack as he turned towards Max. "What do you mean you weren't going to do it?" He asked carefully, not trusting himself to have heard correctly.
Max's eyes widened for a brief moment as he recognized the weight of what he'd admitted before returning to their usual state of icy indifference. "I just told you that so you'd fix our ship, you moron!"
It was... a lie the entire time?
Max's family, dinner, the promise to finally meet his birth mother after twelve years of believing there wasn't a single soul on the planet who valued his existence? It was all a ruse to get him to fix a damn ship?
Davey kicked at the dirt beneath him. "I can't believe I actually thought you were my friend," he choked out, glancing up at Max with tears spilling from his eyes.
Max's heart stalled at the broken look utterly encapsulating the other boy, and was instantly struck with a huge pang of guilt. "Wait, Dad- shit, I mean, David-" he tried calling, but he'd bolted off too quickly to catch the slip up, sprinting down the hill as fast as his legs would carry him.
"Ahem." Gwen cleared her throat, drawing Max's attention back towards she and the family. He was met with nine expressions that surpassed the regular definition of anger- they each looked thoroughly disappointed, like they were internally plotting out the easiest way to disown a thirteen year old.
"You're in some deep shit," she laughed mirthlessly, even though the amount of trouble he was in was conspicuous simply by reading her facial expression. "I'm calling your father- you know, the real one and not some defenseless kid you dragged here from an orphanage?"
Gwen spun on her heel and stomped away, followed by the remaining family members who each tsked at Max before turning away themselves. Max was left completely alone in the backyard with a singular thought on his mind:
'I seriously fucked up.'