#imaxhale

[imthealphanow-blog]

-Derek knocks on the door frame to Max's room.-

Can I come in?

-Max shrugs, not looking up from his sketchbook. Sitting down on the edge of his bed, Derek folds his hands between his knees.-

What about 16?

[asthemoonphasesradio]

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Son Volt - Tear Stained Eye

If learning is living, and the truth is a state of mind You'll find it's better at the end of the line

[imthealphanow-blog]

-Derek examines his scar, coming out either side of his sunglasses. Takes them off. Puts them back on. Takes them off again. He feels a little like the terminator. His one red eye really doesn't help sway him from the comparison.

He's ordered colored contacts as close to his green eyes as can get them. They should be in Monday. The scar...well, there's not much he can do to hide that. 

Lifting his hand, Derek covers his green eye. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Removing his hand, he moves his right hand from his side forward until he can see it. One o'clock. If he was the center of a clock, he wouldn't be able to see his hand past the one. That's how much range of vision he's lost.

Derek sighs, startling as he sees Max out of the corner of his good eye.-

Hey, buddy. What's up?

[sunshinewolf11]

-Scott wakes up with one arm draped over Max, reaching over to Isaac and the imprint of a Mrs. Scarlett game piece embedded pretty deep into his cheek. No 'hanky panky' (as Derek put it--what century are we in?) went on last night, unless you count the several intense of Clue that was played until it was time for lights out. Everyone got super into it; well, Scott got super into it, and it looks like Isaac did too. Poor Max had to threaten to go to his parents' tent before they called it a night.

Several board games have been brought over. And, well, if Max thought Clue was bad then wait until they bring out Uno or Scrabble. Scott's also brought Cards Against Humanity, but that'll wait until all the kids are asleep.

Isaac and Max are still sleeping, Scott notes with a smile. They look peaceful too, their chests rising and falling as morning light filters into the tent casting a sort of golden glow on their faces. Max is sort of painfully adorable, and Scott's glad that they're all going to Disney World together. After everything the kid (and everyone else, really) has been through, he deserves to be in the happiest place on earth.

When Scott's gaze lands on Isaac, his heart skips and stutters and sort of wrenches in his chest. Yeah, it does that a lot. Especially the part where it does that thing where it feels like it might burst in his chest...- I love you.

-It's soft and barely audible, and he's not even awake to hear it but Scott just had to say it out loud. At least once. They've been together almost a year and he's been saying it in his head a lot. Scott just doesn't want to freak Isaac out or anything, okay? It's then he realizes that at someone's stirred. Turning his attention back down, Scott meets Max's eye and puts his fingers to his lips.- Stay there. I'm gonna see what food's been left. Then you wake Isaac up and we'll see what we need to do for the day, okay?

-He steps into his shoes, then heads out the tent. So Max might have heard him say the three words he's been dying to tell his boyfriend. His mother would call him a dumbass, and he can't help but agree with her. He'll tell Isaac eventually. At some point in this trip.- 

[sethclearwaterhere-blog]

-At 4 in the morning, Evan wakes up to eat and decides he's ready to go for the entire day. Well, at least until nap time. Which, if he's any indication, is a while away. Seth doesn't actually notice any of this until Evan's fist hits him in the face.

'e won 'o back ta slee. So early ohmaga. Allison's sleep talk kind of devolves from there. Seth continues to ignore the situation until Evan gums at his jaw and baby slobber slimes its way down his neck.-

Grooooooss. -Evan is unsurprisingly unsympathetic, grinning up at Seth in a way he better be thankful is cute.- Okay, fine. I'm up. I'm up. Hey, buddy. How's my Roo Baby? 

The mountain that is his brother-in-law rolls over, air mattress squeaking underneath him. If it's possible for the shift in position to seem disgruntled, Derek pulls it off. Whispering, Seth carries his son to the front of the RV, letting him play with the wheel until he gets bored of that. Then it's tablet time. Bright colors work for a record 30 minutes. By then, Seth is waking up and Evan's bored. It's still a little cool this early so Seth bundles his little dude up and takes him out for a walk. 

It's nice, actually. Evan 'talks' with him in all the right places and if Seth takes the alone time to try and work on the whole daddy first word thing, no one has to know. They take a selfie as the sun goes up and send it to Allison and when she sends back a my boys are so cute! thirty minutes later, Seth knows it's safe to head back. 

One deal with Peter later and Seth hops back in bed, whispering in Allison's ear. She grins, laughing and nodding as she cuddles up in his arms. At least until breakfast. Seth is no fool. He knows he doesn't stand a chance against the noms. 

When Allison climbs back in bed though, she brings him a waffle because she's the best. Max, however, is confused. 

Aren't you guys gonna go hiking?- 

Yep. -Seth takes another bite of waffle, wrapping an arm around Allison's waist.- We're gonna catch up in a bit, though.

-And if they have no intention of sleeping while everyone's gone, well, he's pretty sure Max is the only one not to know.-

[wereallworksinprogress-blog]

-Peter gnaws on his lower lip as his cursor hovers over the 'cancellation' button. They're supposed to be leaving on their RV trip soon. Plans of showing Evan the ocean and taking pictures of Max with Flynn Rider fly out the window. Derek won't even let Max come over to their house; he's not going to go on vacation with them. Of course nothing's stopping the rest of them going but Allison had suggested they wait a month. With a long-suffering sigh, she'd muttered Derek's name and reminded him he always gets over it eventually. Peter's just angry that Derek would take Disney World away from his child over this.

He still hasn't brought himself to press the button when the doorbell rings. Chris gets to it before Peter does. Nothing surprises him more than seeing Max's grinning face from where he's looking up at Chris while wrapped in a hug. Leah's still coming in the door and she offers Peter a smile before taking Max's jacket.

Max sees him then, turning his sleeve inside out in his haste to get out of it and run over.

Uncle Peter! Uncle Peter! Are you surprised? Wait. Surprise! Mom said if I finished my homework we could come over and I did! And I brought games!

Peter runs his hand over Max's head, which is bouncing in his excitement. Shooting his eyes to Chris, Peter sees he's beaming, practically rocking on the balls of his feet like the cat who caught the canary or something. Peter matches his smile, hunkering down to see what Max brought.-

Just Dance, huh? Well, that sounds exciting. I'll have you know I'm a very good dancer so I hope you brought your A game.

-Peter bursts out laughing when Max replies with I've got some moves. Considering there are no stragglers when Chris goes to shut the door, Derek and Isaac aren't among the party tonight. That doesn't really cause Peter to need to curl up and cry. And with Leah on his side, maybe he won't have to cancel anything at all.-

[imthealphanow-blog]

-There's a part of him that balks at paying to bury the man that beat his son for years. But there is no one else and Bates didn't have any money. And there's a little boy holding his hand and silently crying. It doesn't matter how horrible Bates was. There's always going to be a part of Max that loves him. That doesn't understand why Russ didn't love him the way a father should. For those reasons, Bates had to have a funeral. Some tangible place Max can visit if he wants to. 

Derek looks across at where Peter and Chris stand, holding hands. The men who put Bates in the ground. One day Max will find out about that. Secrets never last forever. Derek doesn't know how Max'll react. He just knows he'll be on Max's side. Peter's not smiling, at least. Derek will take the wins where he can get them. And he's totally planning on dropping all the funeral expenses on them. About time the two of them had to deal with the aftermath of their extracurricular activities.-

[imthealphanow-blog]

-Derek slams the door to Susan's office so hard the glass shakes as he leaves. He doesn't think she blames him. Their adoption case manager looked like she was liable to throw her paperweight through it herself. One week. They were *one week* away from Max's adoption being final. Only to get a notice. Max's biological asshole of a sperm donor was out of rehab. He wanted to 'make amends' with his son and 'earn his way back into Max's life'. Obviously not his own words. Derek's met him. He's pretty sure Russ Bates doesn't know the meaning of 'amends', let alone having any intention of doing it. And yet because he shares blood with Max, he gets to pass go and collect $200. Despite the fact he beat said child his entire life. No. There is no fucking way. Max is *his* son. Derek will slaughter Bates before he gets anywhere near him. The drive home is a blur and it takes a full five minutes sitting in the car before he's able to school his expression enough to go inside. And of course Max runs straight for him. "Derek! Derek! Guess what?! Mom said that once my papers are signed, we can go visit Gramma and Granddaddy! I can see where the stories happened!" His hand falls to Max's head as Max all but climbs up him in his excitement. It wasn't that long ago Max would barely even touch anyone, let alone let someone touch him. That anyone thinks it's a good idea to take Max from them and put him back with Bates? Leah must see something in his face because she slows down in her approach, brow furrowing. Derek clears his throat and puts on a smile.- It's where your mom and I met, too. How about you go play and we'll tell you all about it at dinner?