Chapter Text
David didn’t have any siblings. He didn’t grow up with a father. He had a lot a relatives though. A lot of cousins. He had his mother. She tried and David appreciated her. There were times though when she got a little overbearing for him. Times when all those relatives were a little too much. Even for someone as optimistic as David.
He didn't end on a bad note. Simply made plans to move out as soon as he was able. He got a job at his old summer camp. He found an old cabin like house to live in and fix up. He called every now and then. Or answered calls, since he sometimes forgot. Often forgot. He occasionally visited. Although usually, it was the family that invited him. David found that he started avoiding family gatherings, at least the ones that included more than his mother and maybe a couple cousins. That was how he balanced his life. Summer job, winter jobs, and family in between.
Then there was Max.
When David first met the kid, he’d only wanted him to enjoy his summer at the camp. As David got to know him better, got to be subjected to the boy’s penchant for mischief and attempts to make David miserable, he learned how bright Max was. Learned why he was always so unhappy. David had started out focusing more on Max’s happiness for the camps sake, but eventually he was doing it for solely Max’s sake. It was funny how someone that was the complete opposite of him could end up being his favorite camper. Not that David would admit he picked favorites.
Although, perhaps, in the end, that was a good thing. David doubted he could have been as half impulsive otherwise when the kid’s parents never showed up at the end of camp. It probably helped that Max apparently didn’t hate David as much as he implied. So Max went home with his new guardian at the end of the summer and David’s life schedule shifted. Summer job, Max, winter jobs, Max, fully avoiding the rest of his family in between, and Max.
It had been nearly a year and a half since David had bothered to visit his family and he’d only answered a handful of their calls, usually when Max was at school and he had a day off from working an odd job. It was one of those calls that actually kicked things into action. David had been trying to sleep of the feeling of death that came from his persistent insomnia when his phone rang. He hadn’t looked at the caller and simply answered because that was all the steps his sleep-deprived brain could figure out how to complete.
It was his mother. She wanted him to visit because one of his cousins were getting married. How nice, he’d said on autopilot. Could he visit? He hadn’t visited for a long while. Everyone wondered what he was getting up to. They missed his calls, his mother had told him. Sure he could come, he said because that seemed the fastest way to go back to trying to sleep. He was starting to wake up too much and then that would make a stressed David and a stressed David picking up Max from school tended to make an irritated Max and that wasn’t good for anyone. Or so David’s tired brain told him. He realized his mother was still talking to him.
“You’ll get an invitation in the mail later, it should have all the info you need.” She said.
“Mmhmm.” David hummed dreamily into his pillow.
When she eventually hung up, David put his phone on silent, threw it across the room, and dozed for 3 hours. His alarm to get Max forced him from the bed and sleep wasn’t an option once he was standing. As he listened to Max complain about idiotic teachers and annoying classmates on the way home, he didn’t realize he’d forgotten his mother’s call. At least until the invitation appeared in the mail.
It was on Friday, right after Max had gotten out of school. Max was the one in fact who grabbed it out of the mailbox. David had wandered into the kitchen and when he turned around Max had slapped the lavender envelope on the table.
“What the fuck is that?” The boy demanded. David picked it up from the table.
“Shit.” The curse slipped from his mouth without permission.
Max rose a brow and David sat down at the table with a sigh, rubbing at his temples.
“I forgot about this.”
“And what is ‘this’ exactly?” Max asked, gesturing at the envelope.
“An invitation.” David said as he tore it open. “To my cousin’s wedding. Which my mom called me about like a week ago. Except I was in the middle of crashing so I’m not sure what incoherent me agreed to.”
“Obviously you agreed to go to your cousin’s wedding.”
David didn’t answer. He was reading over the invitation. His cousin was Rachel and she was marrying someone named Jake. The time and date was a week duration at her house. Which meant David would have to stay with his mom and possibly a couple other relatives for a few days before and after the actual wedding day.
“You look like you got an invitation to your cousin’s funeral, not their wedding.”
David looked up. “What?”
“I assumed something like a wedding would get you, like, unbearably hyped, but you look like you’re dreading this as much as I would.” Max said.
“Oh. Well, I don’t really dread supporting my cousin’s wedding so much as having to interact with a lot of relatives that are going to show up and judge every aspect of my life especially since I’ve kinda been avoiding contact with them.” David rambled, breath short.
“Do you hate your family or something?”
“No! No, of course not, they’re just… a little overwhelming sometimes. Even for me.” David chuckled. “It’s fine when I only visit them once in a while, but I have been really bad at keeping in touch recently.”
Max gave him a long, hard stare. “They have no idea I exist, do they?”
“...No,” David admitted in a strained voice.
“Are you planning to tell them or are we gonna pretend you're babysitting like some cliche comedy?” Max asked.
The look David shot him made him add, “That's a joke, David.”
“Are you sure? Because to a certain extent, I feel like cliche comedy would be the less complicated route.”
“God, you’re pathetic.” Max shook his head.