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Max was in a very bad mood; he was picked up from daycare by his mother and that was a very bummed out about it. Magnus had already told him that Camille was going to be picking him up; Magnus was busy with office that day, his boss gave him extra amount of work and because it was Camille’s turn to take care of the boy - she came in every week, or every two weeks to see Max - so they agreed upon that. After all, she was still Max’s mother and Magnus couldn’t take away her right to see their son. Though he wasn’t too keen on it because Max always came back in a terrible mood, but he decided that he would make it up to him; Alec and Magnus were going to take the kids to the movies when the weekend would finally roll around and while Max was looking forward to that he really didn’t feel like going out and hanging out with Camille because she always said stuff that he didn’t quite understand and he didn’t like it.
Also, he didn’t like how she didn’t really pay attention what he wanted. They were always doing things that she wanted and Max was just always bored when he was with Camille. On rare occasions she would take him somewhere fun, but this time it wasn’t it, so it seemed. Just like usually, she was on her phone, talking with her friends, sparing Maxie a look or two and the boy was beginning to get very annoyed. Max didn’t get annoyed very frequently, it only happened when he was with Camille and he then pouted because the only source of his happiness was the blueberry cake that he had in front of him. But even that didn’t taste as yummy as usual and he sighed sadly and glanced at Camille, who started laughing out loud and the boy continued sulking.
A bored toddler didn’t really mean anything good, especially if their parent was ignoring them like that and because Camille decided not to pay attention to Max, the two year old decided to keep himself busy; maybe that would even get Camille’s attention and he puffed his cheeks, looking down at the blueberry cake and then as he continued staring it, a very fun idea popped into his mind. Instead of eating it, he could do something fun with it! Max loved arts and crafts, so he decided to make a fun sculpture out of it, dropping the fork that he was holding and buried both of his little hands into the piece of cake and let out an excited sigh because he was finally having fun. And he knew for a fact that it was going to make Camille upset, but he didn’t really care. He was having too much fun.
Max had a vivid imagination, so in his mind he has just made a train station with the cake and a small piece of it was a train, which was going around and around it, happily giggling, his little legs happily dancing under the table because he was totally lost in his own world, completely ignoring everything around him. ‘’Train, choo-choo,’’ said Max and then hunched down when a monster suddenly appeared in the middle of the tracks and he took in a deep breath, gasping. ‘’Monster, run, run, run,’’ carried on Max and then smacked the cake right in the middle of it, the frosting splashing all around them and Camille finally noticed that something was wrong because some of the whipped cream flew over to her hair and she let out a loud shriek when she saw the mess that Max made; the whole table was a mess and she took the plate away from Max.
‘’Max!’’ she shrieked and Max looked down, feeling sad when his train station was gone, his lower lip shaking as he was on the verge of tears. ‘’I thought you were old enough to understand that we don’t play with our food,’’ she said and Max continued to close off to her and his mood even worsened and he didn’t respond to her. He didn’t mean to do anything bad, he was just playing! ‘’Look at this mess, look at this,’’ she said and pointed to his clothes, which were completely ruined. ‘’And my hair, I just got it done, great,’’ she said and huffed. Max glanced up at her and then his eyes found the cake; Camille didn’t even give him the chance to explain himself. Even if he made a mess, Magnus never yelled like this. Papa always gave him the chance to explain himself and then he handled the situation calmly, while still teaching the boy right from wrong.
‘’Sorry, mommy,’’ mumbled Max and clasped his hands together. He apologised because he knew that he did a wrong thing, but it seemed that the apologies didn’t work with Camille, because she wasn’t listening at all as she started wiping the surface of the table and was shaking her head. ‘’Mommy, sorry,’’ he repeated and she finally glanced up at him and shook her head because she was fuming with anger.
‘’Sorry isn’t going to clean up this mess,’’ she said under her breath, thinking that Max couldn’t hear her, but he did and he was even more sad. ‘’Give me your hands, let me wipe them,’’ she said and Max did as he was told, trying to keep his tears back, but he couldn’t really and the two year old started quietly crying, Camille getting even more impatient because she really couldn’t handle when Max cried like that over nothing. ‘’No tears,’’ she said and Max started wiping them away. ‘’Come on, there’s no need to cry, control your emotions a bit more,’’ she said and then sighed, shaking her head. Because Max didn’t want to upset his mom even more, he stopped crying, but it was difficult - he was about to burst into tears at any moment, but Camille didn’t seem to care. ‘’This is a new dress,’’ whined Camille and Max felt guilty.
‘’Sorry.’’
‘’It’s fine,’’ said Camille, but the tone of his voice told Max that it was not okay. Max wanted to cheer her up and in his opinion the perfect way to cheer someone up was ice cream and he decided to try it out. Max hated fighting and he didn’t like being angry with someone; Magnus taught him that you should always forgive to someone, so that as what he was trying to do. Max plucked up all of the courage that he mustered and then gently tugged his mom’s sleeve. Camille looked at him and Max smiled.
‘’Mommy, mommy… ice cream?’’ he asked happily and Camille shut him down immediately because she misunderstood Max’s intentions.
‘’No,’’ said Camille and the smile was soon wiped off of Max’s face. ‘’Only good boys deserve ice cream and you were very bad,’’ she said and then shook her head. ‘’No ice cream today,’’ she said and Max glanced down and fought the tears again, that time successfully, but as soon as he was going to be back home with Magnus, he was going to let it all out.
‘’Max ruined my dress ,’’ said Camille and crossed her arms on top of her chest. She brought Max back home, the boy literally running away from her and Magnus didn’t even want to make a scene about it because Alexander was over Rafael, surprising him, but upon hearing the boy sob as soon as he ran into the loft, Magnus had to ask Camille what happened then. And upon telling him the entire story, Camille was outraged. So was Magnus, but with a completely different reason because she was more concerned about her clothes than a child it seemed and Magnus wasn’t letting it go; she wasn’t going to talk like that about Max, but even though he closed the door, Max could still see them yelling outside the loft. Magnus knew that he should handle it calmly, but he couldn’t, his blood boiling with anger because it was always the same story and if Camille wasn’t going to change, then she wasn’t seeing Maxie again.
‘’Max is two,’’ said Magnus and rubbed his temples. ‘’You have no right to speak to him like that. He apologised,’’ said Magnus and Camille rolled his eyes. ‘’And he only acts like that when he is bored ,’’ said Magnus, pointing fingers at Camille. ‘’And we all know how good you are with him, you are always on your stupid phone, chatting with your friends, so I don’t even understand why you agreed to come and pick him up. If I knew, I’d leave the work, I mean nothing is worth-’’
‘’I am his mother ,’’ said Camille.
‘’Yeah, then act like one,’’ said Magnus because he was pissed off. He was tired of every visit with Camille ending the same; Maxie coming home in a bad mood or crying. He never wanted to tell him what Camille did, but Magnus also didn’t ask too much because Max was a child and talking about it just made him think of bad memories, so instead of that, Magnus distracted Max with something and it usually worked. But now Magnus just had it enough; he snapped . Magnus’ words seemed to have an impact on Camille, looking kind of hurt, but she recovered quickly.
‘’You take that back,’’ said Camille. ‘’As his father, you’re also to blame for this. If you would’ve taught him then-’’
‘’Oh, no, no, no,’’ said Magnus. ‘’Maxie never behaves like this when you’re not around and even if he does something wrong I don’t yell at him,’’ said Magnus and Camille clicked with her tongue. ‘’You don’t yell at a kid because you won’t accomplish anything good. Trust me, I know,’’ said Magnus and Camille looked down. ‘’My dad yelled at me for every single little thing and it took me years to overcome that,’’ he said. Camille knew all of that, yet she still didn’t care?! Magnus grumbled under his breath and then took in a deep breath. He felt sick down to his stomach just to think that Camille would yell at their little boy and he chewed on his lower lip. ‘’Yell at him again and you’ll never see him again,’’ said Magnus, his voice low and Camille’s eyes widened.
‘’You can’t do that,’’ said Camille and Magnus crossed his arms on top of his chest. ‘’I get to see him once a week,’’ she said. ‘’It was like that in the agre-’’
‘’Try me,’’ said Magnus. ‘’Because I’m willing to take this to court again,’’ he snapped and Camille didn’t dare to speak up again. ‘’You’ll apologise to him and promise to him to not yell at him ever again. ‘’Now, excuse me, I have to go back in and clean up the mess you made… like usually,’’ said Magnus under his breath and stepped inside of the apartment, closing the door with a loud slam.
In the time that Magnus and Camille were ‘talking it out’, Alec was in the apartment and he and Rafael were trying to calm down the crying boy. Alec didn’t really know what happened, Magnus just filled him in that Max was meeting his mom and that it usually ended like this, feeling his heart ache and he glanced at Rafael, who was holding Max’s little hand and was trying to calm him down. He understood the situation well, it was like that in the past with him and Gavin too. Not only the fights, but also Rafael refusing to spend time with Gavin. Luckily things were improving, Gavin was working to get his life together and that was why Rafael was also in a much better mood when he came to visit.
‘’Shh, hey, it’s okay,’’ said Alec, rocking the boy in his lap, but it wasn’t really working. Rafael also climbed up on the couch so that he was closer to the two of them and he bit his lip because he didn’t like seeing Max crying; because he was a year older it made him feel protective of the boy and he wanted to know who in the world made his friend cry like that. ‘’Maxie, listen to me, stop crying, okay? Calm down, it’s going to be okay,’’ said Alec and Max only cried louder because he could hear his mom and dad fighting, Alec taking in deep breath and he sighed, trying to distract the crying boy somehow.
‘’Max,’’ said Rafael and gently patted his head. ‘’Is okay, don’t cry,’’ said Rafael and then looked up at his dad because he didn’t know what to do. ‘’Dad, why is Max crying?’’ asked Rafael and Alec pressed his lips together. ‘’Don’t be sad,’’ said Rafael and Alec saw that they boy’s lip was trembling as well.
‘’Mommy-mommy is mad,’’ said Max and hiccuped, Alec trying to say something, but Max continued talking. ‘’Bad boy,’’ he said and pointed to himself, hiding his face into his palms and Alec’s face darkened because it was very obvious what happened when he was alone with Camille and Alec bit his lip, but then took in a deep breath and then smiled, shaking his head.
‘’No, Maxie, you’re a very good boy. Isn’t that right, Rafe?’’ asked Alec and his son was quick to confirm it. Another thought crossed his mind; did Max blame himself for the fighting that was going on?! Perhaps he was still a tad too young for that, but it still broke his heart and he sighed in relief when the yelling finally stopped outside. ‘’You’re very kind and funny, very nice,’’ said Alec and Max looked up at him, hiccuping and Alec gave him a little brave smile and wiped the tears away with the sleeve of his shirt.
‘’Yes and so cool!’’ said Rafael. ‘’Don’t be sad, all is okay,’’ chimed Rafael in.
‘’M-mommy say-’’ started Max, but didn’t finish because when he remembered his mother’s words, he teared up again. Rafael was slowly beginning to realise what was going on and he could still remember how much he didn’t like spending time with daddy at first. He looked at Alec, who stood up with Max in his arms and then started rocking him in his arms. Alec knew that he needed to keep his mouth shut because he didn’t know too much about Magnus’ and Camille’s relationship, but at the same time he was shaking with anger. How dared she say that to a little boy? Alec took in a deep breath and then pinched Max’s cheek gently.
‘’Now, Blueberry,’’ said Alec and Max sniffled, but didn’t cry anymore because he liked that nickname very much and he just nodded. ‘’If anyone dares to call you a bad person, don’t you ever believe them, okay?’’ asked Alec and Max nodded. ‘’Because you’re a ray of sunshine,’’ he said and Max didn’t quite understand it, but he liked sun, so he was going to take that as a compliment. ‘’And if-’’ he started, but then Max wrapped his arms around his neck and gave him a hug and Alec went speechless. And when he turned around, he saw Magnus by the door, who had a hand over his chest and a smile on his lips. Alec smiled back, but was still worried - was everything okay? ‘’Magnus, I-’’
‘’I’ve heard all of that, yes,’’ said Magnus softly and slowly walked closer to Alec and then glanced at Max, who still had red and puffy eyes from crying, but there were no longer tears present in his eyes. Thank God. ‘’I’m sorry you had to hear all of that,’’ said Magnus and bit into his lip, because he wasn’t proud of it… how he handled the situation. ‘’I usually don’t lose my cool like this because I don’t want Maxie to hear us fight, but,’’ said Magnus and then shook his head. ‘’I was just… I’m so tired of this happening over and over again,’’ said Magnus and then made a little pause. Alec didn’t judge him at all, he could relate.
‘’Magnus, is completely okay,’’ said Alec softly. ‘’I understand how it is, you’re being too hard on yourself,’’ said Alec and then sighed. ‘’I think I’d do the same,’’ he said under his breath and then glanced down at Maxie, because he again looked troubled.
‘’Papa,’’ said Max and Magnus stepped closer to him, taking the boy into his arms and Max looked up at his dad. ‘’Angry?’’ asked Max, thinking that maybe Magnus would be angry and Magnus’ heart completely broke when he heard that. Max has never asked him if he was angry with himself. Never. ‘’Papa, sorry,’’ started Max.
‘’That’s not true, I’m not mad at all,’’ said Magnus. At least not with Max, but he was more than angry with Camille! ‘’And what Alec said before is right, you know?’’ asked Magnus and Max blinked a few times. ‘’You’re a very good boy,’’ said Magnus and Max snuggled next to him, Magnus pressing his lips together as he was shaking with anger and Alec stepped closer to Magnus, gently rubbing his back and he pressed in a little kiss on top of Magnus’ cheek, who gave him a little smile and then leaned his head against Alec’s and then sighed sadly. ‘’Repeat after me, Maxie,’’ said Magnus and Max sniffled. ‘’Max is a good boy.’’
‘’Max is a good boy,’’ said Max happily and Magnus gave him a little smile, gently caressing his cheek and then he nodded. Yes, that was correct.
‘’That’s it,’’ said Magnus and ruffled Max’s hair. ‘’Don’t let Camille or anyone for that matter tell you otherwise,’’ said Magnus and Max nodded. ‘’You’re amazing.’’
‘’Haters gonna hate,’’ said Rafael and Alec started laughing. Ah, yes, such powerful message from the three year old; that was something that Izzy said a lot, grinning and he stepped over to his son, gently caressing his hair, but it cheered Max up and he giggled again and then nodded. Rafael was very smart and Max looked up to him.
Soon Max calmed down enough and he wanted to be let down, so Magnus placed his onto the floor and he hurried over to Rafael, who gave him a hug as well and Max giggled happily. Magnus pressed his lips together, chewing on his lip nervously because he was still feeling down; he wished that he could do something more than that, but Max seemed okay now and Magnus sighed sadly. Rafael decided that he was going to keep Max company while Alec and Magnus were going to talk. He had a feeling that it was time for one of those boring grown up talks, so he decided to keep the boy company while their dads were talking. Alec took Magnus' hand into his and pulled him to the side.
"Did he hear us fight?" asked Magnus and Alec nodded. Magnus looked down and ran his fingers through his hair and let out a frustrated sigh - he didn't mean for any of that to happen. "Shit. I'm so sorry," said Magnus and shook his head. "I know I shouldn't have, I lost my cool and I just-" he said, his voice trailing off and he just stopped talking. "This is why we ended things," said Magnus and grumbled. "I wish I could-"
"Magnus, you're doing the best you can, come on," said Alec and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, rubbing his back gently and Magnus gave him a sad smile. "Max is going to be okay," said Alec. "And so will you," said Alec, kissing his cheek and Magnus closed his eyes.
"Yeah," sajd Magnus in the end and Alec nodded happily. "Because we have Rafe and you," said Magnus and Alec chuckled. "I mean it, the way you handled things while I was yelling my ass off out there," said Magnus and bit his lip. "You'd be a great father to him," said Magnus and Alec didn't say anything. Instead he cupped Magnus' face and then kissed him softly. Magnus slowly turned in Alec's arms and happily exhaled as he kissed him back softly and Alec pulled back, Magnus' hand caressing the back of his neck. "Truly lucky," said Magnus and Alec pressed their foreheads together.
"We're the lucky ones," mumbled Alec and Magnus grinned in reply. "So freaking lucky," said Alec and captured Magnus' lips again. Magnus didn't complain. What they didn't notice were the boys peeking from around the corner and giggling.
Max was in a much better mood after that, the afternoon with Camille completely forgotten.