When Push Comes To Shove

Chapter 3

Tuesday, after breakfast

"have you noticed something off about david?" max asks neil, voicing what's distracting him from the work. neil's the more observant one of the trio. if anyone, he'd have noticed.
"no, i don't think i have," he responds, "why?"
"mmm... it's nothing. he just seems to be a little bit out of it recently, ya know?"
"so, like you?"
"the fuck, neil, no. i'm acting normal. i'm perfectly fine."
"sounds like denial to me!" nikki pops in out of nowhere because she's nikki.
"nobody asked you!" max swats at her unsuccessfully.
"i'd pry further, max, but i'm not good with emotions." neil speaks the truth, he is shit at handling his own emotions, let alone someone else's. this is why he sticks to math!

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on the flip side, david is also worried about max. "have you noticed anything different about max?" he asks gwen while cleaning up the mess hall after breakfast.
"if you mean that he's been less of a little shit, then yes. if you mean anything else, then no, i haven't noticed."
"no- well, kind of, but not quite. he's seemed a bit quieter, less willing to cause havoc.."
"is that a bad thing?"
"for max, yes!"
"you're probably looking too deeply into this, david, he's probably just tired, just like you."
"just like me? what do you mean?"
"how much sleep did you get last night?"
the amount of time david has to think to get "....two...?" as his best answer is a little alarming.
"david, you're overworking yourself. you get two hours of sleep a night, sometimes no sleep at all, and still try so hard to be what you claim is yourself. on top of that, you have to deal with kids like max or nurf on a daily basis, and rarely ever falter. it's honestly impressive how you've gotten yourself into such a self destructive cycle like this."
david's quiet. he knows it's true, but he didn't expect anyone to care. he expected to be left to his own devices like always, but he wasn't..
"are you okay, david? like for real, you got some shit you need to talk about?"
"i'm fine." he says quietly, going straight back to the work he was doing.
"davi-" she's cut off.
"i said i'm fine, gwen."
shit, that ain't good. ya done pissed him off, gwen. he won't be upset forever, he just needs a little space. space that he receives, as the room falls into a cold silence.