What is home?

Part 3: Friends

It was Friday night and Max was sitting on the couch with Sebastian and Kimi. He had now been here for five days and he still wasn't used to it.

Charles had a sleepover again and Lance was going to be home around 10 pm. At least that's what they had told Max.

The week had gone by swiftly. The exam he made yesterday was quite difficult. He had known some answers but also found it really difficult. Sebastian had got a phone call this morning that told them he was academically behind.

Well depending on his real age. They still hadn't found anything and Max knew there was an investigation going on. He had talked to another police officer a couple of times.

His name was Valtteri and he had liked the men. He was younger than Lewis but he felt like he could trust them.

Mister Alonso was apparently the headmaster of the school they wanted him to go to. He had told Sebastian that academically Max would fit the best with the year below Lance.

Max wasn't going to lie he felt disappointed that he fell behind so much on his academic skills and he secretly hoped that his age wasn't real so that it seemed like there was less damage. He truly felt like he was giving Sebastian and Kimi more problems.

Alonso however had said that they didn't want Max to put him in a year in which he was two years older than the others. So he preferred to put him in either Lance his year or wait on the birth certificate.

The last one wasn't really an option since they had no idea how long it was going to take to get the real one.

Max hadn't been paying attention to the television he had been looking at his phone with the App Store open. He was thinking about downloading Instagram again to see if he could contact some friends, but he didn't know if social media was allowed in this house.

So he decided to text Charles, he just hoped he wouldn't mind that Max was going to text him during his time with friends.

> Can I download insta or is that not allowed?

He closed his phone directly almost too scared to look at it again to see Charles his reaction.

He looked over to the other couch Sebastian and Kimi had put different snacks on the table all unhealthy and Max had never been allowed to eat them so hadn't reached out. He didn't even know if they tasted good or not.

He snuggled again under the thin blanket he had seen a thicker one and wanted to grab that one but he chose not to. He didn't want to accidentally grab a blanket that wasn't for him and Kimi had given him this one.

However, Sebastian had seen Max trying to snuggle further and further under the blanket and realized the younger one must have been feeling cold.

"Max, you want me to grab a thicker blanket for you?"  He looked over the boy on the couch hoping he would give an honest answer.

Kimi looked over too and saw Max was thinking again. They had seen how much time Max spent in his head and they talked briefly about therapy but didn't know how the boy stood in that.

Lance had gone as well but stopped going two months ago. He had felt like he currently didn't need it anymore and promised he would tell the others if he felt like he needed it again.

Max nodded his head to the relief of Kimi and Sebastian, Sebastian stood up to get another thicker blanket for the boy. Max looked back at his phone and saw a reply from Charles but he was too afraid to open it.

He saw Sebastian next to him with a thicker blanket and went to give the thinner one to the older men, but Sebastian refused to take it.

"You can have both Max," Sebastian gave him the blanket and walked back to his husband to snuggle back against him. Max had never really seen two parents so lovingly to each other and it made him wonder if that was what real love was.