Fix You (Thundermans) [Discontinued For The Foreseeable Future]

Chapter Fourteen

The next morning, Phoebe jogged down the stairs into Max's room, seeing that he was still asleep in his clothes from the previous day. She sighed, walking over to his bed and sitting down on the edge. She gently shook his shoulder as not to aggravate him by being woken up roughly. He groaned sleepily, groggily opening his eyes.

"Max, you need to get up," Phoebe said quietly. Max rolled his eyes, turning over onto his other side. Alright, new tactic then. She stood up, walking into Max's connecting bathroom, grabbing a bucket and filling it with water from the sink. She walked over to his bed, and carefully dumped the full bucket over top of his head. He shot up, gasping.

"Phoebe!" he growled, jumping out of bed. Phoebe squealed, running back up the stairs as Max started chasing her. Due to his longer legs, though, he was easily able to catch up to her, well before she was able to reach the top of the staircase. He grabbed onto her waist, quickly hugging her to get her clothes as soaked as his were.

"Max!" she exclaimed, trying to get out of his grip. To no avail, of course.

"I was sleeping-!"

"It's almost one p.m.!"

Max groaned. "Who wakes up before one in summer break?" he whined, letting Phoebe go.

"Normal people!" Max gave her a pointed look.

"Since when am I normal," he said. Phoebe blanched. True...

Max then yawned, deciding that the conversation was over as he walked over to his dresser to change into different clothes. Phoebe grimaced as he pulled off his shirt.

"Can't you do that somewhere else?" she asked, unable to tear her eyes away.

"Says the girl who's currently in my room."

Phoebe sighed, biting her lip. I should talk to him about what I saw last night... But she couldn't help but want to chicken out.

Gaining her courage, she said, "Max we need to talk." He raised an eyebrow, straightening out his t-shirt.

"About..?"

Phoebe stammered, waving her arms around as if she could gesture what she wanted to discuss. After a bit of charades, she finally sighed, lowering her voice to an almost inaudible level. She cleared her throat quietly. "Your problem," she whispered, as if it was illegal to say. Max visibly swallowed.

"What problem?" he asked slowly, not entirely sure if he knew what she was talking about. Hopefully not what he was thinking..

Phoebe started up the gestures again, and Max rolled his eyes. How would she get anywhere in life with this awkward strategy? She can't just tip-toe around sore topics, if she was even suggesting the topic he was currently thinking of.

"Phoebe," he started, "use your words. Your vocal cords, you know, those muscles in your throat?" Phoebe glared.

"You know what I'm suggesting!" Max shook his head.

"No, not really. Maybe if you used you words-"

"Your cutting problem!" Phoebe whispered harshly, eyes darting around the room as if there were hidden cameras that led to a giant jumbo-tran, which everyone could see and hear.

Max gulped. "I thought we already discussed this?" he said, his sentence coming out as more of a question instead of a timid statement.

"Not to an extent. You never told me that you were still.. doing it! You can't keep something like this a secret!" Max rolled his eyes, again.

"I can, and I will. I don't need to tell you everything that I do every second of every day! The topic never even came up; you're not my therapist, Phoebe!" he said defensively, raising his voice slightly.

Phoebe took a step back. She'd never really seen Max in a full-out anger tantrum, but she considered his a bit scary even without being angry, since he was always trying so hard to be the villain of the family. If he did throw a tantrum of sorts, Phoebe didn't want to be around when it happened. But she still wasn't backing down.

"No, you don't need to tell me everything you do, but I care for you, Max! If something's wrong, I want you to talk to me about it! I'm your gi-" she cut herself off, "-sister! You should tell me these things, I can help you, Max."

Max scoffed. "I'd rather not reveal all of my personal secrets to my sister, thank you very much."

Phoebe's shoulders slumped in defeat. It was obvious that she was getting nowhere..

"I just want to help you, Max," she said softly, frustration dissipating as she turned to leave.

Max glared at her back as she walked back out of the room.