Chapter Text
Max watched David out of the bus window until the bus left camp and Max couldn’t see him anymore. Sure, there was always next summer, but that didn’t make it hurt much less.
Finally, he stood up from the front seat of the bus and pulled his backpack over his shoulder, moving back to where Neil and Nikki were sitting. The three of them spent the rest of the bus ride talking and laughing, but too soon the bus pulled up to the first stop and screeched to a halt. Neil looked out, a little hesitant to stand up. He wasn’t sure which parent was picking him up, and he wasn’t looking forward to moving back and forth between his two parents, just spending all his time doing stuff with his labs or on his computer.
"...So, this is it...."
Nikki groaned, "I think I see my mom."
"What- you're both getting off here?" Max frowned.
"I guess so," Neil stated. "I live like... 30 minutes away from here."
"Oh..." Max scowled a little. Yeah, he knew he would have to say bye to them soon, he had just hoped... "Fuck. This sucks."
"Yeah," Nikki agreed.
Quartermaster cleared his throat and held up a paper to read off of. "Dolph, Neil, Nikki, Nerris, and Nurf, it's yer stop."
Max looked at the camera in his pocket; David had told him to keep it, so he could keep the sunset photo. Max had spent the last week at camp taking pictures of everything he could- anything that made him happy. As they were scooting out of the bus seat, he pulled Neil and Nikki back in and held the camera up for a selfie. "Get over here, you motherfuckers aren't getting out that easily."
Nikki laughed, enjoying the aggressive show of affection, while Neil looked back, "Huh?" before noticing the camera. Max took the picture once they were all posed, and he turned the camera back around to see it. Someone had given them bunny ears, and Max turned around to glare at Nerris and Preston giggling in the seat across the aisle. Harrison looked a bit confused as to why they were laughing.
"Gee, real mature, guys," Neil complained.
"Aww, I think it's funny!" Nikki laughed when she saw the picture Max took. Nerris stuck her tongue out at Max and stood up with her duffle bag to get off the bus. Harrison reached out to stop Nerris, but Neil didn't care enough to watch why.
"Actually... can I get one too?" He asked, pulling out his phone.
"Yeah, without the fucking bunny ears this time," Max added, leaning over. They all leaned in together and Neil snapped a picture as well, just to suddenly drop his phone as Nurf "accidentally" nudged him as he got his bag on.
"Damn it!" Neil scrambled to pick his phone up, trying to see if his picture turned out ok. In the corner he could see the blurred figure of the backpack about to hit him.
"Hey asshole, watch where you're swinging that shit," Max said.
"Maybe you should watch where you're sitting," Nurf shot back. "Come on, nerds, wrap it up." With that, he started heading for the front.
Nikki gave both of them one final big hug before bounding for the exit of the bus. "C'mon, Neil!"
"Hey... I'll see you guys next summer," Max said, but he sounded unsure about it.
Neil gave a soft, lopsided smile. "Yeah, we'll see you next summer." He stood up and headed for the exit behind Nikki. "See ya, Max!"
The doors snapped shut inches behind Neil as he stepped out, waving at some woman Max figured was his mom. He looked over to Nikki as the bus pulled out of park; she looked a bit pale and wobbly from the "clean" city air, but she still managed to pounce on Nerris and Dolph as they were saying their goodbyes, pulling them into a bear hug. Max kept his eye on them for as long as he could, turning to watch out the back window until they turned a corner and everyone was... gone.
His hand landed next to the camera that slipped off his lap and he picked it up, staring at the last picture it took. He tried to be angry, at Nurf for cutting things off, at Quartermaster for speeding away... but none of it was really sticking.
He missed them already. Damn it, he had gone so soft. He really wouldn’t survive home now.
"Hey, Max!" Preston called over. "Want to help me introduce Harrison to good music? Apparently he hasn't heard much."
Harrison shook his head, looking at his phone as it dinged a couple times. "I guess I never really thought it was that big of a deal..."
"You didn't even know Bohemian Rhapsody! "
Max rolled his eyes, shoving the camera (safely) into his backpack and turning around to face them. "Preston, you wouldn't know good music if it bit you in the ass."
"I know great music!* Preston gasped, affronted.
"Fucking showtunes and musicals aren't real music."
"Yes they are. Besides, I also listen to Queen, Lady Gaga, Bo Burnham-"
"Yeah yeah, gay shit, whatever." Max pulled out the phone he had stolen from David and pulled up the YouTube playlist he had started putting together of all the music he was finding that he liked. "Here, this is real music." He pressed play on one of the Rage Against the Machine songs.
"I'll have you know, Bo Burnham has a song about how he's not gay. "
"Yeah yeah, whatever."
Preston put his phone down now that Max was playing something. Harrison frowned as the song started singing about burning crosses, looking up from his own phone. "...This is music?"
"Yeah, good music."
"What makes it good?" Harrison asked, thinking it sounded a lot like making noise just to make noise.
"It actually means something and it sounds cool."
"What does it mean?"
"It's about the KKK and how they're fucking assholes and the people in charge are basically the same assholes they've always been."
"The KKK?" Harrison asked, looking at Preston.
"They were villainous people that did horrific things to people like Gwen and Nerris," Preston explained, happy to show he still remembered stuff from last school year.
"They were fucking racist, and the people in charge now are still fucking racist, they just hide it better now. And this song is about not being blindly obedient to that shit."
"What do you mean, still?" Preston asked. "Wasn't that back in... Shit, I don't remember... It was a long time ago."
"Oh please. They're still all the same. Putting glitter on dog shit doesn't make it not dog shit."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Preston said.
"This song sounds too angry," Harrison interrupted, not really comfortable with the conversation or the song.
"Well duh, that's the point." Max rolled his eyes. "But fine, whatever. Here, this isn't angry." He played Polarize.
"Thanks," Harrison said, looking back at his phone to send another text to Nerris, but now she wasn’t responding. He finally put his phone down to listen.
"Yeah. These guys are kinda cool."
"Yeah, it's sounding better," Harrison agreed, liking the softer music.
"Yeah, this is real music. None of the pussy shit Preston wanted you to listen to."
Preston rolled his eyes. "You tell me who doesn't sing Bohemian Rhapsody. I was trying to introduce him to the basics."
I wanted to be a better brother, better son
I wanted to be a better adversary to the evil I had done
Harrison's eyes suddenly widened, listening more intently, going a little pale.
Max wasn't paying attention to Harrison. "I don't even know what the fuck that is."
"You-! How?! What? I can't believe the both of you-" Preston started pulling out his phone, "I must fix-"
"Shh," Harrison interrupted.
Max gave him a frustrated look for shushing him, but then eyed him curiously. "You like this?"
"... I... what is it supposed to mean?”
"So like, the whole album is a story about this guy and his like, evil twin or something. His name is Blurryface, and he's the guy's anxieties and insecurities, shit like that. So I think Polarize is where they split, or something? And he doesn't wanna be Blurryface because Blurryface hurts people. But he is Blurryface."
"Oh... Yeah, I... can understand that... I think..."
"Uh-huh?"
"Well, who wants to be someone that hurts people?"
"Lots of people, actually," Max deadpanned.
"...Oh..."
Max rolled his eyes. "But this guy doesn't wanna be, so."
"I-" The singer's voice changed, speaking a different language, and Harrison paused to listen.
Domingo en feugo
I think I lost my halo
Harrison was quiet before pulling out his phone again. "Um... what is this called?"
"Polarize. Twenty One Pilots."
"Ok..." Harrison looked it up and saved it.
"So, this is the kind of stuff you like?" Preston asked.
"Um... maybe? I mostly know hymns and, um... I hear, like, country music at a pizza place I go to a lot, but I don't really care for it."
"Fucking figures you listen to Jesus shit." Max rolled his eyes.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Harrison asked.
"Exactly what I fucking said. It figures that's the kind of shit you'd listen to."
"Some of it is pretty good, actually," Preston said. "But to only know those? Does your family not listen to other music?"
"Well, yeah, but it's more... VeggieTales-type stuff for... kids."
"Holy shit he's a sheltered kid." Max laughed.
"Yeah he is," Preston agreed, before heroically proclaiming, "but I will get him caught up on everything he's missing out on!"
"Yeah, good luck with that."
"So... what other music do you have?" Harrison asked.
For the next hour, Max hung out with Harrison and Preston, sharing music. It was kind of lame, but at least it wasn’t boring. Eventually he moved back to his own seat and started looking through all the pictures he had taken at camp. Not long after, the bus stopped and those two left as well, leaving the bus mostly empty except for Ered, who was busy scrolling through her phone catching up on what had been happening outside of camp, Space kid flying a rocket around, and a couple random campers Max couldn’t be bothered to remember the names of.
It was starting to get late, and by the time they reached the third and final stop, it was nearly dark and starting to rain. Max pulled his backpack on and slowly followed the other two off of the bus. The door snapped shut behind him and, just as it had done at the other stops, the bus sped away. Space Kid was quickly ushered into an SUV after hugging who seemed to be his mom and dad, while Ered was quickly greeted by her dads and told that the helicopter was waiting and they should hurry if they didn't want to get stuck in a hotel for the night. Within five minutes, Max was alone in the rain in the middle of the city.
The rain was slowly getting heavier, so he ducked under the bus stop shelter and pulled his hood up. He squinted through the darkness, trying to find his parents' car parked anywhere, but he couldn't see it. His stomach dropped- they weren't really just leaving him here, were they? There was no way he could get home from here.
There were some headlights coming down the road in his direction, and he felt oddly relieved; at least he hadn't just been abandoned here-
The car passed by, sending water up to hit his legs.
He jumped back, groaning. "Hey, watch where you're going, asshole!" He yelled after the car. The car just kept driving, not paying him any mind.
Fuck. Fuck. It was late, he was in the middle of the city- and who knew how far off his parents were? If they were even coming to pick him up at all? He knew they were mad about the hair thing, but he hadn’t thought they would straight-up abandon him-
More time passed, cars driving past the bus stop, but none stopping to pick him up. By now it was pouring rain, and the shitty little shelter wasn't doing much to protect him. He was cold and wet and shivering, even with his hoodie and the second identical one his parents had sent over the summer.
"Th-his is fuck-king bullsh-shit." They couldn't even be half-assed to bring him home from camp. They really didn't fucking care about him. He pulled out his phone, thumb hovering over Gwen's saved number in David's contacts. She wasn't part of the camp anymore, would she even care? But he couldn't get a hold of David, he had stolen his phone. Finally, he hit call and put the phone up to his ear.
Gwen jumped, almost falling out of bed. She quickly answered with a groan, "David, I'm going to bed, what do you want?"
"...hi, Gwen."
“Max? What are you doing with- did you keep David’s phone?”
Fuck. He hated this. "...my p-parents aren't p-picking me up."
"... What? "
"It's b-been like, a f-fucking hour and th-they're not here. " Max told himself that the wetness in his eyes was just rain. "And I'm fucking c-cold. It's p-pouring out here."
"Yeah, I can hear it from here. Fuck. Where's Quartermaster?"
"I t-told you it's been an hour! He's g-gone!"
"...He was supposed to stay with the campers until everyone- Fuck. Where are you?"
"I don't f-fucking know. The last-t bus st-top."
"I don't know where that is, Max. Look on your phone's maps and tell me what city you're in and what street you’re on."
Max moved his phone to check the maps and his stomach dropped when he noticed the battery. "Ak-kron. I got 9 p-percent left on the ph-phone."
"Ok, I'm going to call the Akron police and have them pick you up and get you inside and warmed up, alright? I'm an hour away, I'll be there as soon as I can."
Great, now he had to deal with the fucking cops. "Th-thanks."
"I'll see you soon." She hung up and groaned. She was supposed to be packing and getting ready to move, not this shit because what fucking parents didn't pick up their kid from summer camp? She found the extension for the Akron police station and called it. "Hello, I'm here to call about a child endangerment situation. A kid by the name of Max Kothari was dropped off at a bus stop in Akron after finishing summer camp. He just called me saying it's been an hour and his parents aren't there. He's cold, wet, and probably starving..."