Chapter Text
The move was stressful. Max hated change. He hated that his friends would be very far away. He hated that the apartment complex they were going to live at was called the Pink Palace. Unfortunately, all he could do was grumble. David needed his new far away job and apparently he managed to get a good deal on the rent. Probably because the landlady pitied him. Max did, a little bit. He knew the man was dealing with his own stress. He could hear him pacing more than usual during his bouts of insomnia.
The Pink Palace was a huge, old house that had been split up into three sections. Max and David had moved into the main section of the house. It was bigger than their old apartment. Their neighbors were an elderly couple that lived downstairs and some guy that Max had seen hopping around on the rooftop. Max wasn’t interested in socializing with them. David might have been, but he was too busy to do much more than give a passing wave. He was also too busy to entertain Max, who had gotten incredibly bored with trying to trip the movers as they brought in boxes and furniture.
“David, can I go outside and explore the garden?” Max implored innocently.
“The garden? Uh, sure.” David agreed.
The man wasn’t really paying attention. Which worked in Max’s favor since he wasn’t really going to explore the fucking garden. There was a trail out back that led to some secret well. Max only knew about it since David told him not to go near it. So obviously, he was going to go find it and drop something down it.
Taking a minute to go through David’s things, Max pocketed one of the man’s stupid little tree charms and wandered out the back door. He’d traded out his usual red and white sneakers for a pair of yellow boots. It rained a lot out here and Max didn’t want to get chastised by David for ruining his shoes with mud. When he’d gotten about halfway down the trail he was startled by falling pebbles.
“What the fuck?” Max muttered.
Not seeing what made the stones fall, he picked up one of larger rocks on the path and hurled it up the hill. A loud yowl answered him. Max froze. He thought David was exaggerating when he said there might be coyotes or mountain lions wandering around. Another reason he didn’t want Max wandering around the property by himself. Max took on a quicker pace down the muddy trail, trying not to slip.
Once he got to a clearing, he paused and glanced around. Another yowl sounded behind him and he spun around with a yelp. A black cat stood on a tree stump, staring at him with a look Max could only name as cruel amusement. Admittedly, he wasn’t used to experiencing the expression on the receiving end. Max scowled.
“You little shit.” He snapped at the cat. “You did that on purpose.”
The cat only purred and began to knead the tree stump. Max rolled his eyes. He kicked at a mushroom. Then he took a step back as he realized the suspicious circle of mushrooms he was standing in the middle of. He kicked some more at the mud until most of the wooden cover was visible. With a glance around the clearing, he saw an orange leafed bush and he went over to it. He pried off a branch, but found it was too thin to pry up the cover.
“Oh, cool! You found the well!” A voice suddenly exclaimed.
Max startled and whipped the branch around. It smacked hard into… A fishbowl? Max stared incredulously at the boy he’d made fall over. He was wearing a glass bowl over his head and blue gloves that matched his rubber boots.
“Jesus Christ, where the fuck did you come from?” Max asked.
“Over there.” The boy said, pointing in the opposite direction Max arrived from. He stood, brushing uselessly at his mud splattered raincoat. “Sorry I scared you, I’m too good at sneaking up on people I guess.”
“You didn’t scare me.” Max said. He gripped the branch tighter.
“You know, most people can’t find the well. That’s why it's called the secret well.” The boy continued talking. Max’s eye twitched.
“It’s supposed to be so deep that if you fell into the bottom and looked up, you’d see a sky full of stars in the middle of the day.” The boy looked up with a look of awe on his face.
“That’s stupid.” Max said with a shake of his head. He walked back over to the well. The boy blinked at him.
“You’re the one who moved into the Pink Palace, right?”
“Yeah, what about it?” Max said. He scanned the clearing and spotted a much thicker stick poking out of the mud.
“Oh, well, it’s just a little surprising.” The boy explained. “My aunt Gwen? She owns the Pink Palace. Normally she doesn’t rent it to people with kids.”
“She probably fell sucker to David’s puppy dog eyes.” Max said with a wave of his hand.
“David? Is that your dad?” The boy asked, watching him wedge the stick under the wooden cover.
Max paused. “Sure.” He pressed down on the stick and popped the cover off the well.
“Uh,” The boy shifted anxiously. “I don’t think you’re supposed to take off the cover thingy.”
“Shut up. I just wanna drop something down it.” Max took out the tree charm from his pocket. He held it out dramatically before letting it drop down the hole.
“...So, what’s your name? I’m Space Kid.”
“Space Kid? Who names their kid that?” Max exclaimed.
“It’s more of a nickname. Everyone calls me it.”
“Uh huh.”
“So…” Space Kid gestured at him.
“Max.”
“Good to meet you, Max!” Space Kid said cheerily, sticking out his muddy hand.
Max looked at it distastefully, but he shook it anyway. David would be so proud.
“The pleasure is all yours.” He grimaced, wiping the mud off on his jeans.
Space Kid seemed about to say something but was interrupted by a call of his name echoing into the clearing.
“Uh oh. I gotta go.” Space Kid glanced back at the well. “You’re gonna put the cover back on, right?”
“Obviously.”
“Okay! See you around, Max!” Space Kid said loudly and ran out of the clearing.
“God, I hope not.” Max groaned quietly.
He peered into the well. He had intended to listen for the tree charm to hit the water, to see how far down it was exactly. Space Kid had distracted him though. Max sighed. He picked up a small rock and dropped it down instead. He waited. And waited. And waited, until the gentle sound of the rock splashing into the water echoed back up the well for him to hear. Max pushed the cover back over the well and trekked back to the Pink Palace.
Max didn’t mention his trip to the well or his interaction with Space Kid to David. The next day, however, awful red bumps had broken out across his palms and he might as well have been holding a neon sign that said I went exploring way past the fucking garden.
“Don’t scratch at it, you’ll hurt yourself.” David said, swatting at Max’s restless hands.
He’d accidentally grabbed a poison oak branch when he was at the well and since there were no poison oak bushes in the garden, David had gotten suspicious.
“I don’t have anything to put on it right now, I’ll have to make a trip to the store tomorrow or something. Please be more careful about the plants you touch.” David said, after he’d looked over Max’s palms.
“I didn’t do it on purpose, it was that stupid Space Kid’s fault.” Max griped, shoving his hands into his hoodie pocket.
“He forced you to hold poison oak?”
“No.” Max admitted.
“I don’t see how it’s his fault then. I’d also appreciate it if you listened to me when I ask you not to do something.” David said.
“I didn’t fall down the fucking well.”
“You touched poison oak, which wouldn’t have happened if you’d actually stayed in the garden.” David pointed out.
The man then went back to typing on the computer, deeming the argument settled. Max glared at him. They were in a room that David had hastily made into a little office. Boxes and papers cluttered the floor and desk. Max had been hovering in the doorway, scratching at his palms, and now made to leave as irritably and noisily as possible to get on his guardian’s nerves.
“Oh, I think that kid left this on the front porch.” David said.
Max paused mid-step. He turned to see David reach across his messy workspace to present a lumpy roll of newspaper. Max took it and peeled back a layer of the paper to reveal a note.
Hey, Max! You'll never guess what I found! -Space Kid.
Max groaned with dread at what weird shit this kid could have possibly sent him and opened the rest of the package. To his surprise he found a miniature version of himself looking back with black button eyes. He gingerly picked up the doll by one of its arms.
“Aw. It looks kinda like you.” David cooed when he glanced up from his laptop.
“No, it looks exactly like me. That's fucking creepy.” Max corrected.
Did Space Kid make a fucking doll of him? No, his note said he found it. Sure he did. David only hummed in response.
“I'm gonna go drop it down the well.” Max said.
“No, you’re not.”
“Just seeing if you were paying attention.” Max grinned. He let his arm drop to his side, the doll thumping against his leg as he wandered away from the door and among scattered papers. David sighed.
“If you want me to pay attention to the fact that you disobeyed me yesterday, I can give you an actual punishment.” He warned.
“All my stuff is still packed, you can't ban me from anything if I don't have it in the first place.” Max said.
“Then why don't you unpack it.”
“That sounds exciting.” Max said sarcastically.
“It's productive and it'll keep you from being idle. You get into more trouble when you’re bored.” David said with a raised brow, obviously referring to the well.
“Unpacking is boring.” Max said as he peered out the window.
“Then… explore the house?” David suggested weakly. “It's 150 years old.”
“So? I've already seen the house.” Max circled back to the desk.
“Look at it again. Count all the doors and windows or list everything that's blue.” David plucked up a small notepad from the piles of paper strewn across the table and handed it over. Max gave him an unimpressed look.
“Please? I really need to work.”
Max stood for a moment, considering, before he let out an annoyed scoff and stomped out of the room. He went blindly down the hallway all the way to the stairs before he realized he was still holding the creepy doll he’d apparently been gifted. He lifted it up, a little less self-conscious about looking it over since he was by himself.
Blue hoodie, check. Fluffy black hair, check. Little rain boots. Well, with how often it rained here, Max wasn’t sure if he’d ever get to wear his usual sneakers ever again.
He found that the most unnerving part of the doll was its eyes. Button eyes were supposed to be cute and nonthreatening. At least, they were on Mr. Honeynuts. This doll’s buttons just seemed to stare into your soul. Maybe it was the color. Max’s eyes were a bright contrast to the rest of his complexion and he wondered if the doll would look better if it had followed suit. He stuffed his mini-me into his pocket and continued down the hall.
The notebook David had given him was thin. Likely a majority of the pages had been ripped out. Count all the doors and windows and everything blue. If Max wanted to do this productively he’d put tally marks and only go through the house once. Except he’d already gone through the house before and he was only productive on his own when he was doing something that would fuck with David. So he circled through the house multiple times, jumping in the room right above David’s office every time he went in it, his notes turning from a lame scavenger hunt to a list of complaints that were mainly addressed to David.
1 blue hoodie (me)
12 leaky ass windows
1 set of stairs (but there’s a lot of steps so fuck you)
4 fancy windows (one has a crack and it’s in my room David)
A shit ton of disgusting fucking bugs (in the shower David, unacceptable)
Bad gross water (same shower, did you even check the pipes before renting)
1 stupid annoying rug with a bump in it
1 rusty old water heater (uh don’t push the buttons by the door and don’t ask me why)
1 blue painting (that is so boring it physically pains me)
4 more windows (why are there so many fucking windows)
8 fucking doors
The last room Max ended up in had a fireplace in it. He didn’t write it down. He’d been bored the whole time, but now he was also tired of counting things and finding unpleasant surprises. He shoved the notebook in his pocket, intending to go back and bother David again. He froze. The doll wasn’t in his pocket. He didn’t recall it falling out. It must have though, during his trek around the house. Not that he wanted it. He would simply feel better if he knew where it was. Like shoved under his bed. Max turned and paused stiffly again.
There was a thin, empty cardboard box leaning against the wall. Peeking out from behind it was the doll. It stared at Max with its big black button eyes. Max walked over warily to pick it up. As he did, he noticed some sort of panel also hiding behind the cardboard. Pushing aside the box revealed that wallpaper had been plastered over a little door, preventing it from being opened or unlocked easily. Max hovered a hand over it curiously.
“DAVID! WHERE DOES THIS DOOR GO?” Max called loudly.
Silence.
“I THINK IT’S LOCKED!”
Another bout of silence.
“DAVID! ” Max yelled again, purposely annoying.
He waited several moments and sure enough his guardian came stalking around the corner. David’s face was pinched between irritated and tired.
“What door?”
Max pointed. David rose a brow at it and then looked back at Max. His fingers tapped along one of his crossed arms, the way they did when he was trying to keep his temper. Max watched them quietly.
“Will you find a way to busy yourself and stop pestering me for entertainment if I do this for you?” David asked in a clipped tone.
Max nodded hastily and the man walked out of the room. After some rummaging around in kitchen drawers, he returned with a small knife and a strange key. He crouched in front of the door and cut through the wallpaper to free the door before popping the key into the lock. Max was met with disappointment as nothing but a wall of bricks was revealed.
“What the hell?” He asked, glancing at David for explanation. The man shrugged.
“The house was divided up into apartments. This probably led somewhere we’re not supposed to go, so they blocked it off.”
“That’s so fucking stupid.” Max muttered as David rose to leave. “And why’s the door so small?”
“We made a deal. Why don’t you figure it out?”
“You didn’t lock it.” Max jabbed one final time. David threw the key at him and disappeared down the hall.
The key seemed to be old fashioned upon inspection. It was pitch black and it’s handle part looked oddly like a large button. Max closed the little door. It seemed pointless to lock it. It wasn’t like it went anywhere. He put the key back in one of the kitchen drawers.
Later that night, David finally took a break from his typing to make dinner. That’s what he called it anyway. Max was a picky eater and in his opinion the man had forgotten what passed for food.
“You need to eat, Max.” David pleaded after several minutes of watching him push food around his plate.
“I don’t like mashed potatoes.” Max sulked, looking at said mush distastefully.
“I know. I promise I’m going to get groceries later and you can pick out things you do like, but right now this is all we got.” David sighed. “Try some of the chard? It’s a vegetable I don’t think I’ve given you before.”
“You mean the slime?” Max picked up a spoonful of green gloop on his plate and let it slide off again with a plop .
“Yes. Or you can go to bed. It’s late.” David said, micking Max by letting his own spoonful of green gloop splat onto his plate. He really should have gone grocery shopping earlier.
Max glanced to the seat next to him where he’d carefully placed the doll on top of a bunch of stacked books. He’d put it there so it could stare menacingly at David throughout dinner. Now, he leaned over and, in a fake whisper that David could easily overhear, he asked the doll, “Think he’s trying to poison me?”
He completed the act by making his mini-me nod in agreement. David rolled his eyes.
“Alright, bedtime.”
Max rolled his eyes back, but slid out of his seat and left to go to his room. He took the doll with him.
Bedtime wasn’t so much of a demand for Max to go to sleep as it was to keep him out of the way. David let him stay up later than most 10-year-old kids probably should, but it was because Max had his own insomnia problems most nights. The man was always up later than Max, though. It was a wonder if the man would manage to stay up all night to work or if he would crash from the stress. Max didn’t really care. Either way, he wouldn’t hear David walking around the house as he tried to keep busy. Which was actually kind of a shame for the unpacking.
What he did hear though, after managing to fall asleep for a few hours, was squeaking. Scratching and squeaking that only came from little mice. Or rats.
“Jesus Christ.” Max hissed. This place was awful.
He tried to go back to sleep, but the constant faint scratching and squeaking refused to cease. Angrily he sat up and shifted himself so he hung over the side of his bed to peer beneath it. He caught the faint outline of a little furry ball right as it saw him and proceeded to leap out from its hiding place. A jumping mouse? Interesting.
Then it jumped out of his room through the open door. Max could have sworn he closed that. He quickly got out of bed and followed the mouse. He half expected to have lost it, thinking it would disappear in some hole in the wall, but found he could see its shadow bouncing down the stairs. Max was led down the hallway all the way into the room with the fireplace and the little door. He ran in, nearly falling as his socks made him slip.
The mouse squeezed behind the little door. Max smirked. Trapped, dumbass.
Except it wasn’t.
When he opened the little door, it was hopping down a colorful tunnel that was definitely not there before. Max’s jaw went slack. What seemed to be another little door on the opposite end opened up for the jumping mouse and he could feel a faint draft blow over his face. Admittedly a little mesmerized, Max found himself cautiously crawling through the tunnel. Right back into the same room he left.
“What the shit?”
Something like disappointment settled into Max’s gut. Same old wallpaper. Same old fireplace. Same old David’s shitty knick knacks on the fireplace. Same old-
Wait. The blue picture was different. He’d wrote it down, Max knew it was different. When he first looked at it, it was a depressing scene of a kid dropping his ice cream. Now the kid was happily enjoying it.
There was a noise in the kitchen. Max realized the light was on. Was David trying to cook something in the middle of the night? It was one thing to go on a cleaning spree while sleep deprived, it was another to be using the stove. Max wasn’t interested in learning how to use a fire extinguisher on a person.
“David? What the hell are you doing?” Max asked, squinting against the bright light of the kitchen as he walked through the doorway.
“Max! You’re just in time for dinner!” The man, who was indeed cooking, spun around.
It wasn’t David. It looked like him, with red hair and an obnoxious smile, but…
“You’re not David. David doesn’t have b-bu…” Max stuttered.
“Buttons?” Not David finished for him. The man chuckled and tapped against the big black buttons placed where his eyes should have been. “Do you like them? I’m the Other David, silly.”
“The Other David?” Max echoed, watching as the man turned away again to peer into the oven.
“Yep! Now, why don’t you go on ahead to the dining room? I’ll bet your starving.” The Other David suggested. He pulled on an oven mitt, looking at Max expectantly.
Max, honestly more interested in stepping further away from Not David than dinner, obeyed and edged along the wall out of the kitchen.
Unlike the room with the little door, the dining room had a more obvious difference. There were no unpacked moving boxes in this parallel. Furniture was neatly arranged with decorative belongings put in their rightful places. The room’s atmosphere was bright and warm, which despite himself, was making Max feel more relaxed in this strange environment. He’d been hovering hesitantly by the table, scrutinizing the display of food on it, when the Other David stepped into the room as well.
“Well, don’t just stand there, eat up! And look, I brought more food!” He said, holding up the whole golden chicken he’d just taken out of the oven.
Max slinked over to the nearest chair and sat down in it. The Other David brushed past him to set down the chicken on a little platter that already had several dishes of food. Max watched as the little platter slowly started to spin, allowing him to easily reach any dish as it passed by. The Other David smiled at him as he sat down himself.
“Don’t be shy, take whatever you think you’ll like.” He said, gesturing to the food.
Max frowned, but he supposed he hadn’t eaten earlier and the chicken seemed pretty appetizing. Before he knew it, his plate was filled and he was starting to feel full.
“This is actually really good.” Max mumbled.
“Glad to hear that.” The Other David said. He propped his chin up on his hands, leaning over his empty plate.
Max chewed slowly, still feeling a little wary. He didn’t just trust people. Even if they looked like David. This Other David was doing a poor imitation anyways. He was dressed different, his clothes lighter and less nature related. His posture was more relaxed and natural. A bit like how David looked when he was well rested and simply content. Which was rare. Especially recently, with how stressed the man was. The Other David had yet to ignore Max or be too overbearing. He didn’t seem at all concerned about the side glances he kept receiving, if anything he seemed amused.
“I hope you’re not too stuffed.” The Other David’s voice broke through Max’s thoughts.
A cake was placed next to his plate. It’s candles suddenly flickered on, illuminating the message written in icing.
Welcome Home!
“Home?” Max asked. The Other David nodded.
“Now that you’re here, it most certainly is.”
“Huh. I didn’t even know you existed.” Max said.
“Well, you do now. And I was thinking that after you’re done eating we could do something fun. Anything you want to do.” The Other David suggested.
“Anything?” Max narrowed his eyes. The word was either a loophole or a lie.
“Of course. I won’t have any objections.”
“Even if I wanted to, say, go take a walk into the dangerous and uncharted wilderness?” Max challenged.
“You’re perfectly capable of handling yourself.” The Other David chuckled. “Though I think you and I both know that there’s not very many fun things to do that involve nature.”
“You don’t like nature?” Max blinked. That was unexpected. Poor imitation indeed.
“The only nature thing I like having around here is the garden and that’s because it’s actually interesting.” The Other David scoffed.
There was a repetitive tapping noise. Max glanced down to see The Other David’s fingers drumming against the the table.
“Right.” Max said eventually. “Yeah, I’d love to actually be able to do something… Fun and interesting, but I should get back. To the other David. Original David.”
“Wouldn’t you like me to do something about that poison oak of yours first?”
Max stopped midway out of his chair.
“What?”
“It must be bothering you. One of the unpleasantries of plants, you know.” The Other David rose from his chair and beckoned Max to follow him. “I have something that should clear it up in no time.”
Max obeyed for no particularly discernible reason. The poison oak must have been really bothering him.
“There!” The Other David exclaimed after he had slathered Max’s palms with a cool cream. It quickly stopped Max from feeling the need to scratch at the red bumps. Then, against his will, he yawned.
“Oh, you must be exhausted. Come on, let’s get you to bed. It’s all made up.” The Other David clamped his hands on Max’s shoulders and began to lead him up the stairs.
“But I…” Max protested weakly.
However, he was quickly distracted by the state of his bedroom. The walls were painted dark blue, no longer a pale off-white. His things were unpacked and organized the way they were meant to be. The ceiling didn’t have a crack in it and neither did that one window. His bed had several blankets and sheets and pillows instead of just the temporary sleeping bag.
“Whoa.” Max wandered into the room as the Other David leaned against the doorframe. “This is… almost exactly how I wanted this place to look.”
“Hey, Max!”
Max jolted at the voice that seemed to have come from the little picture frame sat on the nightstand. A closer look told him it was the picture of Neil and Nikki in front of a sign they had rearranged the letter on. They had given him the photo as a goodbye present. They were also actively moving inside the picture.
“Oh, no fucking way.” Max hopped onto the bed to grab the frame.
A little Neil and Nikki waved up at him enthusiastically. A grin started to pull at the corner of Max’s mouth. He glanced back to the Other David, who watched him with a pleased expression. Well, Max supposed he wasn’t really that bad.
“Alright, I really think you should get some sleep now.” The Other David eventually said when Max failed to stifle another yawn.
The man reached for the light switch, waiting until Max had gotten under the covers before he turned off the light.
“See you soon.” He called faintly, just before Max drifted off.