Work Text:
It certainly wasn't what Max had set out to find, digging through the various closets and cupboards of the mess hall. He had been looking for something to entertain himself, sure, but he had been hoping for a something more akin to a gameboy, or a deck of cards, or a fidget spinner (Correction, his fidget spinner, that David had confiscated the first week of camp, after he'd used it as a throwing star.)
He didn't find anything he was looking for, but he did find a box.
The box was thin but decently sized, and rattled when he pulled it from between two board games. Max turned the box over in his hands, cringing at the loud pattering of small parts that rang out into the silence of the large room. He frowned at the lack of labels, resulting to take the box with him as he hopped off the stool he was using to reach the higher shelves.
Holding the box with both hands to prevent the sound, Max wanders into the kitchen and hops up onto the counter (because its the middle of the night and nobody can fucking stop him). He pulls a knife from the block and cleanly slices the tape holding the box together, before eagerly pulling the lid back to reveal... little bits of cardboard?
"The fuck..?" He frowns, reaching into the box and mixing the parts around with his fingers. He's overwhelmed with sudden nostalgia; something about the sound, the texture, the smell was resonating with him, for reasons he couldn't be bothered to pick at now, or possibly ever. He stares into the box of pieces, the pieces of an image, he realises. A few more moments of staring and Max can recognise the familiar image, and he groans, shaking his head. It was a picture of the fucking camp, because of course it was. He replaces the lid of the box and contemplates for a few seconds, before ultimately deciding to take it back to his tent.
---
Plopping down onto his creaking folding camp cot, Max holds the box in his lap, tapping his fingers on the cardboard in contemplation. Neil, thankfully, had opted to bunk with Nikki for a while due to the girls incessant sleep walking (and more importantly, sleep biting), wanting to make sure she didn't get into any trouble. They had asked if Max had wanted to stay with them, but like hell was Max giving up a chance to have his own tent. Because of Neil's absence, Max had been able to engage in his guilty pleasures much more freely; his stash of pudding cups was significantly less hidden, and Mr Honeynuts, his beloved but raggedy bear was simply tucked into his cot, rather than buried deep in his backpack for fear of more ridicule. His new freedom meant he would be able to put together the weird picture in peace, without someone looking over his shoulder. He hums contently, slipping off of his cot to sit on the ground, pulling his blanket down and wrapping it over his shoulders. He pulls off the lid of the box and dumps its contents out onto the ground.
By the time his joints began to ache, Max had made some significant progress into the picture. He had taken time to separate the colours into piles, and had worked through the night connecting the pieces in each pile. The repetitive actions had calmed Max's mind to the point of drowsiness, something he rarely experienced due to his insomnia, and the instant reward of the correct pieces clicking into place gave Max's brain a dash of equally rarely felt pride. It was like getting an answer right in class, a little victory he could relish in without feeling patronised. As Max stands, his muscles groan in protest, and his legs give a series of pops. He looks over his handiwork, feeling another rush of pride as he sees the image begin to take shape. He'd done this, by himself. He didn't need shitty help from shitty counsellors or his friends; he could do this on his own. He gives a soft smile, his mind at peace with an accomplishment that was his, he didn't need to credit teamwork or help, it wasn't going to be picked apart and criticised by his parents, it was his and his alone.
After another moment of contemplation, Max grabs the blanket from Neil's abandoned cot, draping it over his picture and the remaining pieces. Nobody needed to see this, it was his. Max nods, as if to confirm his own thoughts, and turns to his own cot, tucking himself in the blanket and puling Mr Honeynuts close. For once, sleep came easily to the exhausted boy.
---
Every night for the next two days, before Max went to bed, he would spend a good few hours working on his picture. It was a slow process, but it helped his mind shut down for the day, and the extra sleep was definitely improving his mood, despite how he tried to hide it. He didn't need anyone getting suspicious. Every morning, he draped Neil's blanket over his work, in case anyone came snooping.
Until the third night, everything was going smoothly.
Max was in his usual position; sat against the foot of his cot with his blanket wrapped around him and his picture, and the neat piles of colours, layed out systematically in front of him. It was going fine, he was just getting sleepy, when David had interrupted.
David honestly hadn't meant to intrude. He did rounds almost every night, checking his campers were snug and safe in their tents before he retired to his cabin. The last few nights, he had noticed Max's lamp on, shining through the tent's thin walls. He had contemplated checking in on his troublemaker, but had ultimately decided to respect his privacy. Max didn't like people questioning his behaviour, and David knew better than to walk in unannounced anyway. That is, until the third night he saw Max's light on. It just wasn't like Max to sit in his tent when he couldn't sleep; David knew he'd often wander the campgrounds or sit by the lake, before ending up back in his tent. David had watched this routine enough times to know Max wouldn't wander too far, and knew Max well enough to not try and force him out of his almost nightly routine.
...So what had changed? What was Max doing in there?
David had tried to be respectful about his impromptu checkup, knocking gently on the tent flap and walking in slowly, announcing his presence as he did. He didn't expect Max to be so... startled.
---
Max doesn't scare easily. Its one of the things that he's proud of; the others would scream and cover their eyes at scary movies and sudden sounds, but Max? Max was tougher than that.
...He just hadn't been expecting David's stupid head to poke through the tent flap in the middle of the goddamn night.
"What the fUCK-" Max yelps in shock, frantically covering his work and standing to glare accusingly at David. He points a tiny hand at the counsellor, his other balled into a fist at his side.
"What the absolute fuck, David," He says a little loudly. Instinctively, he looks over at where Neil would have slept and, upon remembering his absence, takes it upon himself to talk as loud as he damn well pleases. "Do you want me to have a fucking heart attack? You're finally sick of my shit so you're trying to scare me to death?!"
David grimaces at the sudden volume, coming fully into the tent and holding his hands up in a sign of peace. "I didn't mean to frighten you, Max," He says with an apologetic smile, tilting his head. "I just came to check on you. I saw your light was on and..." David's eyes drift to the lump of blanket on the ground.
Max notices, flushing, and attempts to bring the attention back to him. "Well I'm obviously fine," He spits, meeting the counsellors eye with a harsh glare. "aside from the fucking cardiac arrest. So you can, i dunno, get the fuck out." H gestures pointedly toward the door of the tent, watching David with an exaggeratedly expectant expression.
"Watch your language there," David looks over the blanket again. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. It's pretty late, you should be asleep." There's a pause as David contemplates whether or not he should ask the obvious question hovering between them. "... What exactly are you-"
"None of your goddamn business, camp man," Max interrupts, not quite yelling, but clearly annoyed. "This isn't camp hours, i can do whatever the fuck i want."
"You can," David agrees, smiling gently in an attempt to diffuse the child's irritation. "I was just wondering what you were up to so late at night, that's all. Making sure its nothing dangerous," He eyes the sheet suspiciously.
Max smirks, crossing his arms. "Damn, you got me. I guess this bomb will have to wait til morning then," Sarcasm drips from his tone. "Its not fucking dangerous, David. Its just something i found in the mess hall."
David nods approvingly, but his voice has a teasing lilt. "Ah, so you'll do camp activities after hours but not in front of your friends?"
"Fuck off, David," He spits back. "I'm not in here making friendship bracelets or some shit."
David laughs good naturedly. "Of course not, buddy. Could you at least show me what you're doing in here?" He asks gently. At Max's look of protest, he continues. "I won't take it away!" He assures the child quickly, "I just want to make sure that everything is safe and... appropriate."
Max is silent for a little while, and David can only assume he's thinking it over. "I'll leave right after, if you want," He bargains, and Max looks up to meet his eyes.
There's another small pause before Max speaks again. "...Fine." The ten year old reaches down and unceremoniously pulls the blanket away from his past nights work.
David blinks. "Oh!" He says brightly, after everything clicks in his brain. "You're doing a jigsaw puzzle? Neat!"
Max looks up from the picture to look at David quizzically, his face still flush with embarrassment. "..Jigsaw puzzle?" He asks quietly, glancing back down. It takes David a moment to realise it's a question. The counsellor tilts his head, a little confused.
"Well, sure!" He starts, unsure what exactly to clarify. "Its a broken apart picture that you put back together- a puzzle! Have you..." His smile falters slightly. "Never done a puzzle before?"
Max feels his heart sting slightly at the sad tone to Davids voice. Great, another thing other kids have probably done a million times. "No," He says pointedly, the venom in his voice failing into something more akin to frustration. "I don't have one of these at home. 'Just found it."
David nods in understanding. "Well, you're doing a great job by the looks of things!" He smiles brightly and looks over the image. "I'll bet you're almost done! But," He pauses, glancing around the small space of Max's tent. "where's the box?"
Max raises an eyebrow, shuffling over to his cot and kicking the plain brown box out from beneath it, in David's general direction. He watches as David picks it up and examines it, just like he did when he first found it. He's a little confused, however, when he watches David's expression shift from a confused frown to a bewildered smile.
"...What?" Max asks eventually, after several moments of silence. He is taken aback slightly as David looks up to smile at him almost... proudly?
"Max, this isn't the box this came in."
Max links slowly, waiting for David to elaborate. "...So what?"
David smiles again, looking down at Max's hard work. "So," he says, meeting Max's eyes again. "The boxes that puzzles come in always have the complete picture on the front, so when you're doing the puzzle, you know what pieces go where."
Max opens his mouth slightly, but realises he has nothing to say. He looks down at his almost finished puzzle, furrowing his brow.
David softly laughs at the camper's expression. Its so unlike Max's usual scowls- he looks so young. He looks... like a ten year old, David realises. "Max, you managed to do all this without even seeing the picture first," He explains with a gentle, incredulous laugh. "That's amazing, do you know that?" He watches Max visibly freeze, before his hands come together inside of his hoodie pocket, a nervous tick. There's a long silence.
"'S just a stupid puzzle," Max says finally, much too quiet for David's liking.
David frowns, suddenly struck with the fact that Max's parents... (Max's parents, who never bothered to show for parents day, Max's crappy parents who never came in person to drop off or pick up their son from camp every year, Max's crappy, crappy parents who didn't care enough to write to their son who'd been gone for three months). That Max's parents probably hadn't said something good about anything Max did in a long, long time. David gives a silent sigh, resolving that if Max's parents weren't going to show this little boy how special he was, then David would do it for them. For Max. It would take a while to get Max to trust him, but it was a challenge David was willing to face head on. It would take a while...
but this was a start.
"Max," David says gently, happily, with a smile as always. He kneels down to be eye level, even if Max won't look at him. "There are one thousand pieces in this puzzle," He pushes childish excitement into his voice, trying to get Max to respond in kind. Trying to get a glimpse of the ten year old wonder that was buried in Max's mature mind. "One thousand. That's so many! it would take an adult weeks to put all that together, even with the picture! But you somehow managed to almost finish it in three nights without even seeing what it was supposed to look like! That's amazing, buddy!" He delights in the slight blush that rises on Max's cheeks and the tips of his ears.
There's a small pause as Max shifts under the unfamiliar praise, before he peeks up at David through a mess of black curls. ".... yeah?" He says hesitantly, just above a whisper.
David's heart could burst from the innocence in Max's tone and the shy look in the boy's eyes as he acknowledges David's words. He was clearly unused to praise, but David would soon fix that.
David beams right back at Max, a big genuine smile that shines pride down onto him. "Yeah." He says it so surely, Max has to avert his eyes to the floor once again, pushing at the base of his hoodie pocket. There's a precious few moments of silence, before Max seems to snap out of it, coughing loudly.
"Yeah, well," Max starts rather abruptly and a little too loud, refusing to meet David's gaze. "'s'not exactly difficult."
David laughs genuinely, standing back up. "If you say so, Max." He meets Max's eyes, giving one final grin. He stretches rather dramatically, the stupid grin still stuck on his face, before setting his hands on his hips.
"Well, I think it's great." He nods. "But it is pretty late, now. You don't have to go to bed right away, but don't stay up too much later, okay buddy?" He reaches over to ruffle Max's hair.
"Oh, and- come tell me when it's finished, yeah?" And with that, David strides out of Max's tent, leaving the young boy alone. Max stands there for a little while, unsure of hwat to do, before he ultimately decides to go to bed and try to forget what just happened. Because what the fuck. He throws the blanket back over the puzzle and climbs into bed, hugging his bear close in an attempt to soothe whatever emotion was flaring up inside of him.
---
Two nights later, at almost exactly one in the morning, David receives a knock on his cabin door. He beams with pride knowing that Max ad finally decided to knock after ten minutes of being outside his door. David practically bounces to answer it, greeting Max with a large grin. "Well, hey, Max! Everything okay?"
Max stares for a few seconds, apparently unsure what to say. David is patient with him, allowing Max all the time he needs.
"... 's done," is what Max finally settles on, his odd spell of shyness apparently returning.
"Your puzzle?" David questions brightly, his smile only widening when Max nods. "That's awesome, buddy! Wait right here." Max is a little shocked when David bounds back into his cabin, leaving the confused ten year old on his doorstep. Max's confusion only grows when David returns with two large sheets of cardboard and a pot of glue with a brush. "Lets go!"
David all but skips to Max's cabin which oddly enough, makes Max feel a little less weird about the whole situation. He clearly wasn't the weird one in this scenario. Only when they reach Max's tent does Max ask what the fuck David was planning to do with the stuff he'd brought.
"Well," David explains cheerily. "I thought we could mount it on some card so you wouldn't have to break it up now that you're done! I thought we might hang it somewhere," He offers Max a tentative smile. "Only if you want to, of course."
That feeling was back. Max clears his throat, suddenly overcome with emotion. He forces a shrug. "Um. Yeah, whatever."
David beams- because it takes literally nothing to get him to smile, the freak- and kneels beside Max's puzzle. Max watches intently as David slips one of the boards beneath the puzzle and places the other on top, effectively sandwiching the puzzle between them. He then places a hand on each of the boards and flips the whole thing, before placing it back down on the ground. He removes the board from the top, revealing the back of Max's fully intact puzzle. "Ta-da!" He announces, earning a signature Max eyeroll (and a tiny smile that was quickly extinguished.). David then gets to work coating the board in the glue, spreading it evenly, and then very carefully places it on top of the puzzle, pushing it firmly with his hands. "There!" He turns to Max happily. "Once it dries, we can hang it up in the counsellors cabin, so it'll be on display, but still kind of private." Max nods with a flat expression that's just a little too forced. David nods in return, carefully picking up the puzzle and holding it firmly.
The two make their way back to the cabin, where David places the puzzle on the table to dry. He then turns, beginning to dig through the supply closet as Max watches from the table curiously. David returns with two similarly sized boxes, both covered in shiny protective plastic. "I've been offering these as camp activities for a long time," He muses. "Kids these days just aren't into puzzles. But you can take one with you, if you want to do another." He holds both options out to a bewildered Max.
"Um. Thanks," the camper says gently, reaching out to take one of the boxes and examining the front. It was a picture of the forest (of fucking course,) filled to the brim with wildlife.
"Don't mention it," David beams. He gestures to the closet behind him. "This is where we keep them, for future reference," He points to a stack of five similar boxes. "You dont have to ask if you want one, just come and grab it. I'll let Gwen know, too, so she doesn't give you any trouble. Just let me know if you want any hung up when you're done." He offers Max a comforting smile. "Now get to bed."
Max snorts softly at the sudden change of tone. "Kay. Thanks again," he tucks the box under his arm, starting for the door. He pauses for a good moment, before running back and giving David's leg a tight, fast hug. He turns back around just as fast, practically bolting out the door.
David can't help but laugh, his heart happy with the peace he's made with his favourite camper.