Adopted by Stromae

vingt-et-un

After a long day, Maelle decided to finish it off with a sleepover in Max's dorm room.

Things were going well in her life nowadays, but she needed to talk about the bad parts, the parts that were only in her mind. She needed to get everything off her chest and Max was the perfect person to talk to.

It wasn't that she disliked talking to Paul and Coralie, it simply wasn't ideal.

Maelle liked to be in control. Lately, there was a very limited amount of things that she could dictate, so she took advantage of those things. She always needed to be in control of awkwardness, of everything.

Therefore, if she talked to Paul and Coralie about all of her feelings, she would have to see them multiple time a day. She knew it would be awkward for at least the first few days, so, she decided that they were not the people.

Talking to Max, she could decide when she wanted to see him again based on his overall reaction. If she wanted, she could just ignore him afterwards and pretend it never happened.

In the midst of her thoughts, the door opened to reveal her foster-brother, "Maelle!" He exclaimed, pulling her in by the arm, "I'm so glad you could come over. We're gonna have so much fun," He told her, smiling.

All she could do was smile in response. She entered the dorm room in which she had been many times by then. She remembered her last vist; Theo on the ground, the hospital visit, the smell of b
vomit.

"Sorry, Theo couldn't come tonight," Max told her apologetically, motioning for her to grab the other side of the comforter to put on the floor, in terms of a makeshift bed, "he has this huge exam coming up and he's been studying constantly. I think it's been distracting him, really." Max shrugged his shoulders.

As they placed the blankets on the floor, for what Maelle assumed would be her bed - it was her turn, after all - Maelle began to speak hesitantly, "You got my text, right?" She asked, looking downwards. He obviously did, since he was expecting her arrival, but she wanted to make sure.

Max raised his eyebrows, "'Can I come over and tell you my life story?' I sure did. That," He began, smiling at her, "is the reason for the gallon of ice cream in the freezer,"

The warm smile on his face comforted Maelle in a way that she could never explain. It was as if she was finally accepted somewhere. Not only did he accept her, he actually seemed to enjoy having her around.

"Yeah," Maelle said slowly, "that one. What flavour did you get?" She asked, sprawling out onto his bed.

He had already made his way to the freezer to get it, so he showed her the large tub, "Neapolitan." He grabbed bowls and spoons, "I didn't know which flavour you liked, so I got three in one. If you only like chocolate or something you only have to eat the chocolate," He told her, shrugging happily.

"So," Maelle began, taking a bite of the ice cream Max had handed her, "how's Theo doing?"

Max nodded slowly, "He's doing alright. I think that visit with the girl at the hospital really helped, so thank you for that," He said, smiling towards her, "actually, I don't think I ever got the chance to thank you properly for being with us. Your presence was greatly appreciated, I'm sure about that,"

Maelle swallowed, "It's a horrible thing, losing your mother," She told him, "I'm glad he wasn't alone for that. That would have made an awful experience even worse,"

Max hesitated, unsure if he should ask the question that he had been keeping himself from saying aloud, "So, you guys are half siblings, right?" He asked, squirming.

Maelle's eyes widened, "I guess we are. It seems weird to put a name on it, it seems like too weird of a situation to have a name. Like, I don't consider him my brother - I just met him. Still, we have the same father," She contemplated, a puzzled look absorbing her features.

"That is weird. I can't even imagine finding out that I had a sibling. Just out of the blue," Max said, imagining himself in her situation. He did that quite a bit. From what he could imagine, he knew that he wouldn't have made it out the other end with as much dignity and happiness as she had. He didn't know how she still looked so alive when everything that fed her soul had died.

"Then, up pops the newest information; it was his mother - Danyka, right? - that had been smuggling the drugs into my - our - father's rehab centre. She was the reason he relapsed, in theory," She ranted, yet stopped when she saw the look on Max's face, "listen, I know what you're thinking. It is his own fault for relapsing, for making her bring him those drugs. I know that. Yet, come on. Sneaking drugs into a rehab centre? That certainly would not benefit him in the long run. My father was under the influence of drugs - what's her excuse?"

Max hadn't thought of it that way. He was sure, though, that Maelle's opinion had taken much time and effort to form, judging by the way she was prepared to defend it.

While they sat, talked and laughed as if they knew each other for years, Maelle found herself glad to have met him. She wished that the chain of events that lead up to meeting him hadn't happened, but he was one of her favourite people.

So, Maelle found it easy to open up to him, since it didn't feel like opening up, it felt like a conversation.

In between bites of ice cream, Maelle casually brought up hard subjects, such as her mother's death, just like how her life was while her father was taking drugs with her in the house. She told him everything, from her childhood, to her father offering her some drugs because 'they make it hurt less'.

She felt like she was home. With Max, she was finally home.

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a/n: heyo whats up its me ur fave author danz