Together Till.

Nine

The campers groaned tiredly as they left their tents after David woke them up with a loud yell. Max was one of the last ones to leave his tent and he looked at David but noticed that he wasn't smiling as big as he usually does. It felt... off.

David told the campers of their activities and Max looked around. David seemed off, Gwen wasn't with him nor was Daniel. Something was wrong and Max knew it.

After the campers split up to do whatever Max walked up to David, who was looking at the ground as if he was contemplating something.

"Hey, David." Max said. David jumped at Max's words and he looked down to the child, trying his best to get his smile going.

"Good morning, Max! Is there something you need?"

"Where's Daniel?"

"Oh um..." David started. "He must still be asleep."

Max stared for a bit. David was... he was lying, and very clearly at that. He never really lied to Max so it caught him off guard a bit. "Really?" Max pushed a bit.

It seemed as if David was taken aback a bit by the question. "Y-Yes! Now Max! Please go. I have things to do."

"What kind of things?"

David stared at the curly haired boy, he could feel the corner of his mouth twitch a bit. Max was more persistent today. Why today? David didn't have a good dream, the pills aren't working today like usual, and he just wants to lay in bed and wait out his life.

"Max. You can't pry in counselor business. Please. Go do something with Nikki and Niel, I'm busy."

"But I don't want to hang out with them today. Why can't I hang out with you today?"

David was flat out nervous now. He couldn't reject Max because most likely it would make him suspicious and David definitely didn't want that. So he slapped on his best smile and picked up Max.

"Alrighty! You get to hang out with me today!" David said happily.

Max pushed at David's face attempting to get down. "Nope! Fuck that! I can hang out with Nikki and Niel today! Put me down!"

~~~

After breakfast the campers started their activities. It was at this time that Gwen and Daniel joined David. Gwen looked tired, as usual, but Daniel was spaced out a lot. It took David a couple of tries to get the blondes attention and when he did Daniel only replied with a small mumble of words that was hard to hear. But for some reason David never questioned Daniel on why he was being so quiet.

Max was stuck though. David kept Max beside him but when Daniel came near, David moved Max away from them and he never got to hear them talk. Every time he got near and one of them noticed they went quiet and looked at Max until he walked away far enough for them to continue.

"Do you know what's going on between them?" Max asked Gwen as she was helping Space Kid get a rock out of his helmet.

"Who?" She asked.

"David and Daniel. They're acting weird."

"No. But I did hear some yelling this morning. I think it was Daniel. Maybe David. I dunno."

Max looked back to David and Daniel. They were done talking and David was walking over to collect Max.

"C'mon now Max! Time to do some activities!" He happily said as he picked Max up with an arm.

Max didn't even try to fight the tall red head since he knew that it would fail. They passed by Daniel who looked at Max with some sort of glare. Max noticed the glare and looked back to David who, of course, didn't notice Daniel's stare towards the small child.

"Heya there Neil!" David said. "What're you doing?"

"Just working on a new calculator enhancement." Neil said as he messed with the wires of a small calculator.

"Oh? What is it?"

"I'm fixing it to scream when the person that's holding it is stressed out."

"Oh." David mumbled as he watched the boy.

Soon he put the back on the calculator and turned it on resulting in the calculator letting out a scream that continued on for awhile.

"I-Is it broken?" David asked.

"No." Neil said as he looked over to David.

"Let me hold it?" Max said as he reached out his arms for it.

Neil gave it to Max. It still continued to scream in the child's hands until David took it and it stopped... though it started screaming again when David saw that Daniel was walking up.

Daniel stopped and looked around when he got into clear earshot of the calculator. He looked confused at the noise until he realized that the scream came from the three people standing ahead of him. Daniel walked up and David handed the calculator back to Neil who turned it off and put it in a box.

"Hey there." Daniel said waving a hand.

"Hello." David said quietly as he placed a hand onto Max's head.

Max stared at Daniel until both of the adults noticed.

"Max? Are you okay?" David asked as he looked down to the child he was holding.

Max turned his head back to the ground. He could feel Daniel's eyes in the back of his neck. Max was uncomfortable and to make it seen better David he tried his best to push himself into the counselor.

David noticed this and looked to Max. "Max? Are you okay?" He asked.

"My stomach hurts." Max lied. He wanted to get away from Daniel in anyway possibly.

"Oh! Well I'm sure Daniel can find you something for it!"

Max went wide eyed and looked at Daniel.

"Of course! I'm sure there's something in the counselors cabin, isn't there?"

David nodded and handed Max to Daniel, who walked off with the small child in his arm. Max thrashed around in the blondes grip, trying to get it loose but failed.

"It's no use." Daniel growled.

"Let me go you fuck!" Max screamed out.

When they got to the counselors cabin Daniel opened the door and threw Max in. His body skipped a few feet before it stopped. Max groaned in pain and looked at Daniel.

"You little brat. I'm getting tired of you."

Max scooted away from Daniel as he walked up to the small boy. He grabbed Max and pulled him closer. Max scratched and kicked at Daniel's arms, trying to get him off.

"I'm sure people would be searching for you for a month or two. But after that everyone would forget out you." Daniel laughed slightly as he wrapped a hand around Max's neck.

Max couldn't breathe. He tried but he couldn't get it through, he was trying to call out.

"D-Da... Da... vid..." Max whispered as he held tightly onto Daniel's wrist.

Tears were pouring out of his eyes and he reached a shaky hand towards Daniel, trying to grab his shirt at the very least. As Daniel watched Max try to reach out to him he stopped, froze. Daniel quickly let Max's neck go and let Max weakly gasp and cough for air.

Max became confused when the crazed man brought him into a tight hug. He tried to push Daniel away but was too weak to fight the gesture. He could hear Daniel whispering, "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." over and over with a few sniffles in between.

'I-Is this asshole crying?' Max thought as he wheezed a few more times.