MAXWELL STERLING ➝ SECOND SIBLING
❖ FULL NAME: Maxwell Jonathan Sterling.
❖ PRONOUNS: He/Him.
❖ AGE: 24. (January 10th).
❖ BIRTH ORDER: Second. Adopted.
❖ GRADE: Sophomore.
❖ MAJOR: Broadcast Journalism.
❖ SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Bisexual.
❖ ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Heteromantic.
❖ FACECLAIM: Daniel Sharman.
I'LL FOLLOW YOU UNTIL YOU LOVE ME
TW: domestic violence, death, depression, drug use, attempted suicide, overdose.
People often say children don’t remember much from their first three years, but Max was the exception to the rule. Of course, he didn’t remember things from when he was a baby, but he always had flashes of memories of when he was a little bit older. A punch. A scream. Begging. A slap. Yelling, and then an eery sort of quiet. Even then. Max didn’t have to wonder what was happening. The bruises he noticed every morning all over his mother were enough. Within a few months, at the young age of four, he was also greeted with punches and kicks by his father. It wasn’t that he was drunk all the time, either. Even when sober, any time he got angry, either Max or his mother were his favorite punching bags. One day, after a particularly bad beating, Max just left. He was only seven years old, but he was tired of his existence being enough to set his father off. At seven, he had nowhere to go, but anywhere was better than home.
Max didn’t make it far before a man in expensive clothes found him roaming the streets. He was cautious, though he was sure he’d seen the man on television, but his mother had always taught him to not talk to strangers. But, how bad could a stranger really be if the man who was supposed to be his hero was the one who made his life hell? Slowly, he began telling the man about his home life, ignoring the horrified look on the man’s face, and continuing – even showing the man how bruised his torso was, broken ribs and all. “We’ll take care of you.” He’d said and after the authorities realized Max’s life was truly in danger, Jonathan Sterling and his wife, Ashley, were able to adopt him.
Life with the Sterlings was vastly different than his life at home. There, he had clean clothes, a room of his own, food on the table every meal, and most important of all, he had peace. Though there were times that he thought maybe they’d get tired of him and take him back to the authorities, that never came. Max was finally able to be happy and be himself; and that was the reason why he begged to change his middle name from one honoring his birth father, to honoring Jonathan. Jonathan had saved his life. Now, no one would hurt him. No one would lay a hand on him again. He was able to talk to his birth mother a few times after the adoption, as she’d gotten herself out of the situation as well and left the state. The last time they talked, she told him to cherish the opportunity. After that, they never spoke again, and he hoped she was doing well and that his father hadn’t manipulated her so she’d go back to him.
As he grew up, Max was a straight A sort of student and played three different sports, wanting to cherish the opportunity he’d been given, as his birth mother had asked him to. Everything had gone to plan until one day, at age eighteen, everything changed. There was nothing out of the norm, nothing that could’ve given him a reason to foresee his life changing in an instant. “Can you go buy me some snacks, Beck?” He’d asked his girlfriend of two years, Rebecca, as he gave her a twenty dollar bill so she could head to the store and get what he’d asked. She left, and that was the last he saw of her. There had been a drive-by shooting at the gas station she’d gone to. Rebecca was one of three who died that day.
The guilt Max felt was immeasurable. If only he’d gone to the station himself. If only he hadn’t run out of snacks and asked her to get them for him. If only, if only… Max knew her death was his fault, and nothing anyone were to tell him could change his mind about it. He’d asked something of her, and she’d done what he asked with a smile. Like always. That was his girl. To cope with the loss, Max turned to drugs and declined his acceptance to Stanford, where he’d dreamed of going since freshman year. Down a dark path he went, doing different types of drugs – marijuana, cocaine, heroin – just to not feel a thing. He wanted to be numb. He wanted to forget that she’d died because of him. At one point, he hurt so much that he wanted to be with her. So, he did what his friends had told him not to do. Ever.
Max took different drugs simultaneously and waited…
A couple of friends found him just in time and took him to the hospital, where Max recovered, but not completely. Even then, he figured he’d never be complete. Though the accident led him to stop doing drugs, he continued to smoke and even deal marijuana from time to time. It’s the only thing that’ll mellow him out enough to not get into fistfights all the time.
Once more, Jonathan saved him. Instead of berating him as other parents would’ve done, he talked to him calmly and got him to understand that all he’d done wasn’t the best coping mechanism. Though he wasn’t going to push, he told him Pacific State University was somewhere he could try going if he wished, and that he’d pay all of his expenses. Max caved and decided to major in broadcast journalism. After all, he had to do something to make his parents proud, right?
BABY, THERE'S NO OTHER SUPERSTAR
Unbothered. A t-shirt. A jacket lazily thrown over it. A snapback tipped upward. Jeans. Max just doesn’t care about his appearance, and will throw anything on if he deems it clean enough.
YOU KNOW THAT I'LL BE YOUR PAPARAZZI
Jonathan Sterling was one of the biggest shooting guards in the NBA, helping the Los Angeles Lakers to many NBA championships. Ashley Sterling (née Matthews) was a sideline/courtside reporter for ESPN, where she met Jonathan. Now, both Jonathan and Ashley work for the network. Jonathan, as one of the NBA analysts and Ashley, as one of the morning anchors on SportsCenter.
