Chapter Text
They were only there for a week, so of course, Max managed to get sick in under two of those days. David hadn’t noticed until it got worse, Max not bothering to say anything about his lesser symptoms. Max had gotten a fairly high fever and obviously was not going to be able to sit for several hours in a little suit while David’s cousin got married. The man was plenty willing to sit out to take care of him, but his mother was insistent he still attended the wedding while she babysat. He’d reluctantly agreed.
David knew that she wasn’t exactly fond of Max, in the same way she wasn’t fond of David when he was younger and still had an attitude problem. He knew that she, as well as just about all his other relatives, had shaken their heads at the fact that he suddenly had a kid to look after. A grumpy, troublesome, foul-mouthed kid. David could practically hear their judgmental thoughts about how “impulsive” and “easy to walk all over” they considered him. Funnily enough, though, Max already subjected him to so much verbal abuse that it didn’t have as much of an effect as he thought it would. Although, perhaps that was just a case in point.
The reception had passed and now guests were just meandering around or eating at fancy clothed tables. The cake was being cut. David was feeling a little anxious at being gone for so long and had been considering for the past half hour to skip out early. Then the man’s phone started to ring. He excused himself to the hallway, covering one ear with his hand and pressing his phone to the other in his struggle to hear the caller over the noise of the crowd.
“Davey?” It was his mother.
“Yeah? Mom? What’s up?”
“Ah, listen. Max is, well, um. I can’t find him.”
David paused. Did he hear that right? He stepped further down the hall.
“Sorry, what? What do you mean you can’t find him?”
“I went to check on him and he just wasn’t there. I searched the house, but he’s not anywhere. All I can imagine is that he ran off.” David’s mother’s voice was concerned, but he could detect just the slightest edge of annoyance with it.
“Okay, well. He has a fever, Mom. He’s not far.” David racked his brain.
Max didn’t disappear often. He hadn’t done it lately, but then the kid hadn’t had much reason to. Some stress must have been getting to him. Maybe amped up by his fever? Perhaps his fever had gotten worse and that, coupled with the fact David wasn’t there, had made him feel too vulnerable. Especially around someone he was probably very aware was only providing a polite response to his person.
“I was about to go out and look for him, but I have no idea where to even start.”
“Actually,” David said. “I’m pretty sure he’s still in the house.”
“You know where he is?”
“I know where he probably is, but, Mom. I’ll find him. I’m gonna come home-” David was cut off.
“No! Davey, I can get him. You’re at a wedding. It’s not good to blow off something like that.”
“I’m not blowing anything off. I’ve been here for most of it and I’m sure they’ll understand. Doubt they’ll really notice. It’s more important I get back to Max. I was already thinking about leaving early anyway.” David said stubbornly. He could hear his mother huff through the phone. Thank God he was an adult and she couldn’t just bulldoze through his arguments.
“It’s fine. I’ll be home soon.” He hung up the phone.
For once, David was a little glad that one of the coping mechanisms Max had developed was to hide when he got overwhelmed. David cared for his mother, but she was more likely to make things worse if she had managed to find Max. Like David, she tried to keep a positive and upbeat attitude, but she was also the one who gave him his temper. Hot-head and red-head apparently went hand in hand and she tended to be worse than David at keeping calm.
One of the things that set her off were things like people who were cynical and generally unfriendly. Of course. Max had been poking at her whether he’d intended it or not. David really did not want her to take advantage of a vulnerable Max to chew him out about his so-called attitude problem. That was something that would set David off.
On the drive back, he tried to mentally list all the places Max could fit and, of those places, which he was most likely to go. The worse the stress, the more difficult game of hide and seek. Then again, Max had a fever. That might slow him down. Or it would make him equally determined to be hard to find. David couldn’t help the huff of laughter that escaped him. He was pretty sure his mother didn’t do this kind of thing when he was a kid. That was probably why she didn’t understand Max.
She didn’t know him. David was the one who worked with the kid. She didn’t even know Max existed before now, even if it was the fault of David. But he had been a little hesitant to tell her and the rest of his family about Max for fear of the inevitable interrogation. He’d been vague. Max hated talking about how he ended up in David’s care. David himself always felt a little awkward when he had to bring it up. He’d adopted Max and that was that. Did he really have to explain why?
Obviously. Maybe he could still be vague. If he made it clear Max’s background was a sensitive one, he could just drop little bits of information he’d gathered. Like Max’s hiding habit. They didn’t have to know every detail. He could tell his mother that it was just something Max did, that it was something they were working on. Just like everything else. It took time. Max took time and patience. David was willing to put in that effort. His reward was, well, Max. A bright and funny and talented kid. One that wanted to be his kid, even if he often shy to admit it.
“Mom?” David called out, once he’d stepped into the house. He shrugged off his coat and began to tug at his tie.
“In here, Davey.” His mother stepped in the doorway of the kitchen.
“Where’d you last see Max?” David asked.
“In the bedroom. Where you put him before you left.”
David started to walk down the hallway, his mother trailing after.
“Like I said over the phone, I searched all over the house. Are you sure he’s still here?”
“Yeah, he doesn’t usually just run off outside or anything like that. He’s around somewhere.” David murmured. He peered in the bedroom, glancing over the furniture. Max probably wasn’t in there. A nearby room, though. Perhaps the bathroom. There were cabinets in there and if he felt ill in any other way…
“So he does this a lot?”
David’s brow twitched. His mother’s tone was something like an expectant scoff. Accusing. He sighed.
“If he’s stressed, he does it.” David explained in a clipped voice. “He’s sick and I wasn’t here, so you know.”
She didn’t, he knew she didn’t. David tried to gather his patience.
“Where’s he hiding then?”
“Somewhere a 10-year-old can fit? Someplace you really have to search for.” David started to mumble his thoughts aloud. He paused. “How bad was his fever?”
“Same as when you left. At least, until he decided to disappear.”
David crouched in front of the bathroom cabinets. It was always a guessing game, but he had gotten better at getting this right on the first try. This was one of those times. He opened the cabinet door and Max immediately toppled out of it. Well, at least he didn’t have to coax him out of his hiding spot like he often had to.
Unfortunately, this seemed to be due to Max’s fever. David hardly had to bother pressing a palm to the boy’s forehead. He could feel the fevered heat radiating off him, face flushed and glassy eyes barely open.
“Hey, can you sit up for me, Max?” David asked softly.
The boy was lying limp in his arms, sticky with sweat, but at David’s request, he stirred. Not too incoherent, that was good.
“There we go…” David murmured, as Max shifted himself into a sitting position. He still leaned heavily against the man for support.
“Here, Davey.” His mother handed him a thermometer. “He’s also due for some medicine.”
She headed off to the kitchen, where the all the pills were kept on the top shelf of one of the cupboards. David popped the thermometer into Max’s mouth. He chuckled at the boy’s bewildered face, unprepared for the foreign object. While waiting for the beep of the temperature check, he hoisted Max up onto the counter. David kept a steady hand on his shoulder while he reached over and grabbed a washcloth. He ran it under the water before proceeding to dab the damp cloth over the boy’s face. Max leaned into his touch.
David’s mother came back, rattling a little bottle. She shook out two pills and handed them over. The thermometer beeped. David pulled it from Max’s mouth a pressed the pills into his small, sweat sticky hands.
“Max? Can you take these, please?”
The boy stared at the pills in his palm, seeming to need a moment to process what to do with them, then carefully dumped them into his mouth. David offered him a smile, then frowned as he glanced at the temperature the thermometer read. Fairly high, but still manageable. For now.
“Alright, off to bed with you.” David picked Max up, tilting his head to accommodate for the boy’s arms wrapping around his neck. His grip was still amazingly strong, despite the fever. Max murmured something into his neck.
“Hm?”
Max shifted his head slightly.
“C’n have some water?” He slurred.
“Of course.” David said into the boy’s dark curls. “Mom?”
His mother nodded at the transferred request. She went back to the kitchen. David continued on to the bedroom. He drew back the covers before setting Max on the bed, pulling only a thin sheet over him.
“You gon’ go ‘way again?” Max looked up at him blearily. David sat down on the edge of the bed.
“No. No, I’ll be here.” He assured, smoothing back the boy’s soft curls.