My Feral

5

When a pair of hands lands on his shoulders, Max sits up in the chair, letting out a surprised grunt, and knocking his book onto the floor. Looking blearily around the room, Max realizes then that he fell asleep at some point.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he looks up at the person standing beside him. Suddenly, the light is switched on, causing Max to wince and cover his face. When the spots have cleared from his vision, he recognizes the person instantly. It's Slit: notorious owner of Shine Cakes, and one of Max's few friends.

Slit grins down at Max, the thick and deep scars at the corners of his mouth pulling upward and tightening with the motion.

"Rockatansky!" he says loudly in greeting, reaching out a hand and pulling Max to his feet. "You keeping an eye on my idiot baby brother for me? How sweet of you!"

Rubbing his eyes again, Max looks between Slit and Nux -who seems to be stirring- noticing that yes, they do share a resemblance to each other.

That's when a memory hits him- of the three of them together as kids, Nux tagging along after Max and Slit, then quickly hiding when the brothers father would appear.

Rubbing a hand through his hair, Max says, "geez, I didn't even recognize Nux when he first came in. Hadn't seen him in years, and he was pretty beat up."

"Like I said," Slit replies, "my idiot baby brother."

Max nods, more in conformation than agreement, and suddenly remembers the massive crush he used to have on Nux when they were kids. Huh. Funny how stuff like that happens. What isn't funny is the blush that he can feel creeping into his face.

Thankfully, Nux chooses that moment to fully wake up, saving Max any further embarrassment.