Breathe || Max X Reader - Camp Camp

XXXIII

Word Count: 1,311
David's POV

     "The kids are going crazy!", I insisted. A muffled laugh answered through the speaker. "No, I'm serious Gwen...they're out for blood this time!" I wiped away a bead of sweat that found itself trickling down my forehead. I shot Neil a disappointed glare.
     Gwen coughed into the phone. "David, I don't know what the fuck you expect me to do, this is honestly crazy.", she replied. "There's no way in Hell I'm going to be able to-"
     "Just a second.", I interrupted. "Neil! Get off of my desk this instant!" I cupped my chin with my free hand. "Sorry Gwen, they're getting squirrelly." I was relieved to see Neil getting off of my desk, finally. He'd been stepping on important papers without even realizing it. "Sorry, is there anything I need to repeat?"
     Gwen groaned. "Yeah, can we start with why the fuck we have to adopt this little shit?", Gwen fumed. "There has got to be a more logical way to solve this."
     I shrugged, only to remember that Gwen couldn't see what I was doing whilst being on the phone. "Well, Gwen, we could burn all of Max's behavior documents here at the camp, but it's not legal, so we aren't going to be taking that route!", I chirped. "So Gwen, we're going to have to adopt him so that we have an excuse to keep him at camp without registering him as a camper!"
     I was interrupted by an overwhelming amount of clapping by my small audience of chipper campers. "Get Max back!", Neil chanted.
     "Get Max back!", repeated his group of followers.
     "Shh!", I whispered. I hated to stop the fun, but I wasn't able to hear what Gwen was saying.
      After focusing hard enough, Gwen's muffles eventually turned into a recognizable statement. "...you're the one adopting him, David!", Gwen raged. "I'm just getting the papers and bringing them back!"
     The campers' expression turned to that of concern. "No, no, nothing to worry about, it's all going according to plan.", I assured them, with the phone speaker covered. Preston let out a sigh of relief. I shifted my focus back to Gwen. "There's nothing to worry about, Max's parents definitely won't try to fight for him. And, if they do, I hate to say it...but I'll take them to court."

Gwen's POV

     This job is a Hell of a lot harder than I thought it'd be. "Max, go knock on the door.", I sighed. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I tried to remember the details of David and I's call on the way to Max's house.
     My thoughts were interrupted by Max's whining. "See, I told you they wouldn't even be here!", he yelled. You're literally right beside me, kid. "I knocked a million times, they're not gonna' ans-"
     The front door to Max's house flung open. "What are you doing here, lil' fucker?", asked a large woman, obviously livid. She grabbed the defenseless boy by the collar and lifted him up, until she saw me. "Shit!" The woman dropped Max faster than my readers dropped my Lizards of Love fanfic. "It's uh...an inside joke."
     I rolled my eyes and kept my arms crossed. "Okay, cut the shit, bitch!", I demanded. Woah, this feels good. I think I've got an idea. I was sure to keep the Camp Campbell logo on my shirt covered. "Yeah, I'm here from C.P.S. following up several complaints. He can't stay here."
     The woman's eyes widened. Max whipped his head to show an extremely confused look. I stared at him intensely, hoping he'd take the hint. "Am I going away?", asked the assumed mother of Max. Pathetic. That's legitimately what she's worried about right now.
"No, but your son is.", I replied. I didn't want to go overboard with my little show, or she might've caught on. "I will need to see both you and your son's proof of identification, as well as adoption forms for Max. I will be well out of your way soon afterwards."
The large lady turned around and waddled away into her house. I wanted to say something to Max about how different he looked from his Mother, but I felt like that wouldn't have been something good to say. "Just play along.", I whispered to Max. He put a hand behind his back and showed me a 'thumbs up'. His Mom kept going back and forth through the house looking around. The longer the front door remained open, the more it smelled of cigarette smoke. I noticed that the entrance to Max's house definitely wasn't grand. Little nuggets of dog shit littered the kitchen floor. The house was disgusting. I can't believe this is seriously where Max has to live. Ladybugs crawled in and out of a hole in the ceiling of his house near an old chandelier which wasn't turned on. I assumed that the family didn't have electric seeing as the entirety of the house visible to me was lit only by candles.
I fanned at my face with my eyes wide open before Max would've had to the chance to notice my emotion. I was floored by his living conditions. I hated to admit it, but it broke my heart to know about the way Max was forced to live. I'd spent so long talking about how shitty it was at camp without even taking into consideration that it might've been the nicest place some of our campers had been in. Max had explained to me that his house wasn't very nice before, but he never told me about all of this.
Max's parent navigated her way through all of the pots and pans as well as literal shit to make it back to me. She handed me a cluster of filthy papers. "Here, now get out of here!", she croaked. Oh Lord, her teeth are black! I screwed up my face and shuddered. "Now!" The woman slammed the door in my face.
Max turned around and looked to me. I could tell that he wanted to say something, but he kept it to himself. "What the fuck are you doing, Gwen?", he asked.
Max spoke in a low voice. He wasn't angry this time. "How about we get in the car?", I replied, avoiding the conversation. Max shrugged and started to walk away. "We can listen to whatever music you want this time."

As I started the ignition, I took one final glance at Max's childhood home. The entire place was falling apart. The gutters had fallen off of the roof and were laying in the front yard. The kiddie pool in Max's yard was entirely green, filled with who-knows-what.
Right before I drove away, I noticed something new. A broken photo of an Indian man and his son, Max, laying on the front porch. Glass scattered everywhere surrounding the photo.
It was a lot to handle. I stepped on the gas and I never looked back. I wondered if Max was able to watch me cry in the rear-view mirror. I turned on the radio and cranked up the volume.
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A/N - Once again, just a little reminder that I am very appreciative of your love and support! Getting to read you guys' comments keeps me going and gets me exited to write the next chapter, so remember not to be shy and to comment as much as you'd like! I love being able to chat and interact with you guys. Also, a special shoutout to all of my new readers from the Camp Camp Amino! You guys are awesome for taking the time to support me directly on my Wattpad. ☁️

Comment Question of the Chapter:

What is your personal headcanon about Max's parents? What do you think the situation with them is? Share your thoughts!