Oh Dear God, we've finally made it to the last chapter. This one will be some pure, adorable, family shit. It's gonna be great.

31 whole prompts, written and posted within 34 days. I appreciate all the people who stuck around, and read all the weird and awkward chapters.

Day 31: Secret

Chapter Summary: Max has trouble expressing himself, but his point always gets across in the end.

Max was in his room working on something. David's birthday was in two days and Max wanted to give him something special. He had been taken in and adopted a year ago, so he thought he should thank David in the most… Max way possible. Which was very sincere without seeming that way.

He was writing on a piece of paper as neatly as he could. Max's handwriting wasn't bad, but as an eleven year old child, how nice would it really be? He was trying to cover it from his eyes with his other arm as he wrote. It's not that Max was ashamed of his writing, but knowing that deep in his "jaded heart" there was care for his father figure was still a bit weird. "This probably sucks." He folded the paper in half and hid it under his bed. Now he'd just have to wait two days and he can give the current source of his embarrassment to David.

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The days quickly passed and David was 25, which was very old in Max's eyes. David wasn't expecting much more than a mumbled "happy birthday" from Max, and was very surprised when Max gave him a quick hug and a clear "Happy Birthday". David was very happy. This was certainly progress in Max's attitude. But on his birthday? David's happiness was soon laced with suspicion. "Alright, Max. What's got you in a good mood today?"

"Can't I just celebrate your birthday with you? Damn, it's like you think I can't do anything nice." Max walked into the kitchen and pulled out a box of frozen waffles. "And I was… uh- wondering? Is there anything you wanted to do today?" Max knew it wasn't the best idea, but he was going to be as nice a possible today. One day a year, David can have it easy. He placed two frozen waffles into the toaster to cook them as David responded to the question. "Well," David began. "I was hoping we could stop at a bakery and pick up a small cake for us. And then just stay home."

"Sounds fun?" Boy, Max was not good at this. "Just finish those waffles and we can get going! Make sure it doesn't burn." David walked off to get ready for the day, and Max turned to the toaster where the waffles may have burned a bit. "It's not even noon yet and I'm suffering."

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The car ride to the bakery and back was relatively silent. A few comments on how the cars around them were driving too fast or too slow. Some words on the buildings they saw while driving. The cake David had chosen was small. Vainilla, with a thick layer of chocolate frosting. Four strawberries were placed at the corners, and one in the middle. They took it home and left it in their refrigerator for later. David was insistent that they only touch it after dinner.

Max saw a perfect window of opportunity to give David his little hand written gift. There was a good five hours before David would start thinking about starting dinner, just enough time for David's happiness about the gift to ware down. Slightly.

Max walked into his room and found what he was looking for. He grabbed it and made his way back to David. He was sitting on the floor watching TV, like a child. Max rolled his eyes and tapped on his shoulder. "Hmm?" David looked up at the boy. "I… Made something- a gift, I guess? For you." He handed David a yellow-green sheet of paper, folded to conceal whatever was written inside. David smiled and flipped it open.

Hey asshole.

I've never written a card to my dad. Or an adult. So if this is shitty, don't blame me for that.

You're the first person over the age of 12 to consider me to be worth something. I know that sounds crappy, but who cares? Despite being horrible and annoying, you're not that bad. I'd rather be here than an old run-down house with a bunch of other parentless kids.

Thanks for putting up with my shit.

Oh and Happy Birthday

David could not express the pure joy he felt. He was normally very happy, as we all know, but Max took the time to write a rather sentimental letter. Well, birthday card. He even noticed the 'dad'. "Thank you, Max." He tried to keep he voice from shaking with excitement. What in improvement! Max tolerated him, and even liked the home he'd been living in. No obvious resentment whatsoever!

"Yeah, it's uhh… great? Let's eat some of that cake."

David sighed. He supposed it wouldn't hurt. That was the nicest thing he'd ever seen Max write, he might as well be happy. Besides, maybe doing things that Max wants more often will get him to stop calling David 'asshole'.

One could only hope. And one could only have a great, angry son, with genuine care covered by sarcasm.

"Okay, Max."

Wow, that was fun.

I was asked to make extensions for a couple of chapters, so look out for those. And eventually I'll come back to all 31 chapters and make revisions. Because some of them need some serious work.

Anyways, leave one last review because it was very hard to do this for a goddamn month (I failed 4 times).

Thanks buddy.