Chapter Text
It was the third straight day of Max moping around the house. PJ and his family had left for Hawaii last week, and going to the skate park alone had already lost its appeal. It was no fun to finally land a trick he'd been working on if no one was there to celebrate with him.
He was sprawled out on the couch, television, and radio off when his dad got home. A book was spread open over his face. Waffles hopped off his legs to yell at Goofy for food.
He slipped his shoes off at the door and scooped Waffles up, who purred and crawled onto Goofy's shoulders. He stopped by the couch on his way to the kitchen and peeled the novel off Max's face, "Hey, get to talk to PJ today?" He stuck a stray bit of junk mail in the open spot of… The Road? He glanced over the synopsis on the back "This like those Hunger Games books?"
Max shot up and grabbed the book, "Uh, sure. Something like that." He tucked the novel under his arm, "And no, it's only just noon there. We've been trying to catch each other with texts."
"Is that something you ought to be reading at your age?" He cracked open a can of cat food for Waffles, who jumped off his shoulders to do his food dance of anticipation in front of his bowl.
Max flopped back down on the couch with a noncommittal grunt. His dad took a seat at the end of the couch near his feet. "Did you get your grades yet?" That elicited a much louder groan. Max did pull his grades up though and stuck his phone in his dad's general direction. Goofy scrolled through his report, impressed at the number of A's. "Good job, Maxie." He passed the phone back.
"Eh," Max put his phone away, "That's junior high stuff. Next year is when things start getting hard, right?"
"Nonsense, we should celebrate!" He pushed himself off the couch, "What do you want tonight? Pizza? Chicken? Barbecue? Oh, your grandma managed to get a lot of the family recipes online, so we can make friendship bread… might need a couple of days for that, and fridge pickles…"
"Yeah, okay," Max pushed himself up and grabbed his book, "A barbecue does sound kinda nice. Maybe after Peej gets back? If his dad doesn't leave him in Hawaii when he sees his final grades." He stomped his way up to his room. After a moment, his bedroom door slammed shut. It was hard to tell if that was significant anymore. Max tended to get stompy and slammy no matter what his mood was these days.
Waffles curled around Goofy's legs, "What are we going to do about him?" The cat didn't answer. "Interesting, interesting, but I don't think Tony Hawk does motivational speaking at people's houses." He lifted Waffles, who started purring in his arms, "Well, that seems a little more practical, I suppose, but how is buying more tuna gonna cheer up our Maxie?" He grabbed a can of pop from the fridge and started making dinner. Waffles jumped onto the counter and meowed. "Nope, down." He carefully lifted the cat and set him in front of his bowl. That brought him eye-level with the can he'd just opened, "Oh! That's a great idea. Good job, Waffles." The cat, understanding the praise, at least, butted his head against Goofy's legs and tore back into his dinner.
Max was awoken early the next morning by a ping from PJ. The pictures he was sending were gorgeous. His mom was trying to get them to learn more about the native Hawaiian culture this year, now that Pistol was old enough not to completely wreck a class, but their dad was still scheduling all the touristy things they did every year. Wish I was there too, sounds amazing. Can't wait to hear all your stories when you get back.
"Maxie? You awake?" His dad pushed his door open. "Thought I heard…?"
"Daaaaad," he pulled his sheet up over his head, "Why can't I have a lock on my door?"
"We talked about this. What if there's a medical emergency? Or a fire? Or a robbery? Or-"
"Okay, okay. Just, can you try to remember to knock or something then? Please?"
"I'll do my best." He pushed the door open and threw a bag in Max's bed.
He sat up and pulled it closer. His backpack? It felt full. He pushed it back away, "No."
"I haven't even told you what we're doing yet," he brushed past his objections and threw open his curtains.
"Whatever. Can I sit this adventure out?" Max curled back up on his bed and pulled his blankets up over him.
"Well, sure. I don't think Cedar Point will be as fun all by myself though." Max was out his door and in the shower before Goofy finished tying his curtains back.
Max double-checked his bag; towel, trunks, lunch, sunscreen, and change of clothes. Then, just to be safe, he checked his dad's bag. "Okay, everything looks good. Got your keys? Wallet? Phone? Anything else?" They grabbed two pop cans which doubled as coupons and got in the car.
His dad handed him his phone, "They changed the map button, can you put the address in?"
Max found the address and they got on their way in the weak dawn light. Goofy had highly caffeinated coffee in a travel cup, but Max couldn't help nodding off as the miles passed.
The trip was mostly uneventful. They stopped for gas along the way, and Max jolted awake, "Did I say anything weird in my sleep?"
"No, why? Weird dreams?" Goofy hung the gas handle up and squeegeed the windshield clean.
Max stuck his head out the open window, barely missing a face full of dirty squeegee water, "No… No?" He stretched as much as he could without getting out of the car. "How much further?"
"Pretty close now… I think? According to the thingie." He looked around the Speedway, "I woulda thought we'd be in Sandusky by now. Swore we just passed a sign saying Akron. You sure you put the right address in?"
Max rolled his eyes, "Unless they put in a second Cedar Point, yeah." He held the phone out the window, "Unlock it, I'll check. Maybe we lost location services somewhere." Goofy pressed a finger to the sensor and Max checked the settings. According to the GPS, they should be up near the Great Lakes. "Maybe it was an Akron exit." He zoomed in on their location, and it showed their car sitting in a gas station parking lot. "Looks fine. Maybe it's a back route."
"Okay," his dad got back in the car. "Well, we'll know in about fifteen minutes." He hung the phone back in the holder.
"You are on the fastest available route", the device assured them in a calm tone as they resumed the final leg of their journey.