Family Matters

Chapter Sixteen

I yawned a little as I woke up. I turned my head to the clock and saw that it was only two in the morning. Of course my bladder would decide it wants to act up right now. I got up and left my room in search of the bathroom.

Since I was the only one up, my footsteps were pretty loud when walking down the hall. Once I got to the bathroom, I did my business and washed my hands before leaving.

As I was walking back, the sound of a grunt made me stop. For a second I thought I was hearing things but when I heard the grunt again, I followed the sound. It led to Max's bedroom and his door was cracked open.

I peeked my head in and though I couldn't see his face well, I could still make out his scrunched up face. It looked as if he were in pain.

Was he having a nightmare?

I walked over to his bedside and upon a closer look, I could see that he was breathing heavily. I shook him a little. Max twitched a little bit but his face stayed scrunched so I shook him harder and this time, his eyes flew wide open.

"...what..?" He muttered confused as he sat up and I looked up at him with a small frown.

"I think you were having a nightmare..." I said quietly and Max nodded slowly before rubbing his eyes and wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Sorry...I ain't mean to wake you up" he said and I shook my head before leaving the room as quickly and quietly as possible. I went into my room and grabbed my turtle plush before going back to Max's room.

"She's always kept me from having nightmares...so I don't mind lending her to you for now" I said giving my plush turtle to Max who was just staring at it wide eyed as if he had never seen one before.

"I..." Max seemed to be struggling to say something so I just shoved my plush into his arms before he could say anything.

"You need her more than I do right now..." I lied. I was willing to lose some sleep if it meant that Max could get some.

A small huff from Max caught my attention and his lips were turned up ever so slightly.

"But you can't sleep without her either, can you?" He said and I didn't answer but rather just averted my eyes. Max sighed at my refusal to answer his question.

"You little punk. C'mere" he said making room for me on the bed and I hesitated. On multiple occasions Max had made it clear that he didn't like it when his personal space was being invaded and that's exactly what I would be doing if I joined him.

Max frowned upon noticing my hesitance.

"You're not Kade so it's fine" he said and I nodded slowly before crawling into the bed and Max threw the covers over me, instantly making me feel warm.

He placed the plush in between us.

"Now we can both get some sleep, hm?" He said before stroking my hair, a gesture that was so foreign for someone like Max but I welcomed it all the more because of the relaxing sensation it provided me.

It was when he started to hum a very soothing tune, that sleep had crept up on to me so I closed my eyes and let myself succumb to the world of dreams.

"This is so cute, I could just die! But I'm also really jealous at the same time..."

"Kade, get out of here"

"W-Wait! I need to take a picture!"

"Now!"

"Ow, ow, ow..." the sound of Kade and Lance's voices faded as the door shut softly and that's when I felt the rustling from above me.