Chapter Sixteen

For the first time in weeks...

There was laughter in the Elsher house.

It wasn't loud.

It wasn't constant.

But it existed.

Sarah nearly dropped the plate she was drying when she heard it drift down the staircase.

She looked toward Micah.

"...Was that Max?"

Micah stopped halfway through making coffee.

"No... It can’t be"

Another laugh.

This one unmistakably belonged to Nate.

Then—

"Oh, come on!"

"That answer is biologically impossible."

"It is not!"

"It absolutely is."

"You can't prove that."

"I literally have three anatomy textbooks."

Sarah blinked.

Micah slowly smiled.

"I think..." He whispered. "...they're arguing."

"They're definitely arguing."

Another burst of laughter followed.

Sarah pressed a hand over her mouth.

It had been months since she'd heard Max laugh without forcing it.

Months.

----------------------

Upstairs...

Max glared across the desk.

"I still think the answer's B."

Nate circled option C for the third time.

"The heart does not have six chambers."

"It could."

"No, it definitely couldn't."

"You don't know."

"I'm almost a doctor."

"You're almost annoying."

Nate grinned.

"That's fair."

Max snatched the pencil.

"I hate biology."

"No."

"You hate studying."

"Same thing."

"Not even close."

"It's exactly the same thing."

Nate leaned back in the chair.

"You know... I used to say that too."

"You?"

"I nearly failed chemistry once."

Max stared.

"No way."

"I'm serious."

"You? The genius?"

Nate looked offended.

"I was never a genius."

"You literally study medicine."

"I also once tried to microwave instant noodles without water."

Max blinked.

"...You're kidding."

"I wish."

"What happened?"

"The microwave."

"What about it?"

"It caught fire."

Max burst into laughter.

"You almost burned your house down making noodles?"

"I've asked everyone involved to forget that story."

"I'm never forgetting it."

"I was fourteen."

"You were stupid."

"I was fourteen."

"Same thing."

Nate sighed dramatically.

"I walked into that one."

----------------------

Their study sessions became routine.

Every evening after dinner, Nate commandeered the dining room table.

Math.

Biology.

Chemistry.

English.

He quickly discovered Max wasn't lazy.

Not even close.

He was simply...

Disconnected.

When he concentrated, he learned frighteningly fast.

The problem was convincing him to care.

"You finished these equations in five minutes."

"So?"

"So you spent three weeks telling your teacher you didn't understand them."

"I didn't."

"You clearly do."

"I understand them now."

"Because I explained them."

"Exactly."

Nate blinked.

"...That's actually a good point."

"I know."

----------------------

One afternoon...

Nate walked into the kitchen carrying a stack of old report cards.

"What are those?" Sarah asked.

"Evidence."

"Against who?"

"Against your younger son."

Max immediately narrowed his eyes.

"You touched my stuff?"

"They were on your desk."

"So?"

"So I found this."

He held up a report card from three years earlier.

Every subject...

Straight A's.

Max looked away.

"That was ages ago."

"You were thirteen."

"So?"

"So what happened?"

Silence.

Max shrugged.

"I stopped caring."

Nate didn't believe him.

Not for a second.

He quietly put the report card away.

He didn't ask again.

Not yet.

----------------------

Later that evening...

They sat on the back porch.

Homework forgotten.

The sun dipped behind the trees.

"You know..."

Max said.

"I never asked."

"What?"

"Why medicine?"

Nate smiled.

"My mom."

"Really?"

"She was a nurse."

"I used to go to the hospital with her during school holidays."

"I thought doctors were superheroes."

"You still think that?"

Nate laughed.

"No... I've met doctors. They're disasters."

Max chuckled.

"So why stay?"

Nate looked toward the sunset.

"Because..."

He thought carefully.

"...when my parents died... I remember sitting in the emergency department, there wasn't anything anyone could do. But one doctor stayed with me. He didn't have to... My parents were already gone. He just..."

He smiled softly.

"...sat beside me."

"He bought me terrible vending machine coffee."

"I hated coffee but he stayed."

Max listened quietly.

"I don't remember his name and l’lI probably never see him again but I remember how he made the worst day of my life..."

Nate looked down.

"...slightly less lonely."

He smiled.

"I wanted to become that doctor."

----------------------

The words stayed with Max long after the conversation ended.

----------------------

A few days later...

The topic returned unexpectedly.

They were sorting through another mountain of homework.

Max stared blankly at the page.

"Nate?"

"Hm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"You've asked that sentence a lot lately."

"Shut up."

"I'll consider it."

Max rolled his eyes.

"You said... when you were my age... you thought something was wrong with you."

"Yeah."

"Did it ever..."He hesitated. "...stop being scary?"

Nate didn't answer immediately.

He closed the textbook.

This deserved his full attention.

"Some days."

"Not every day?"

"No."

"The world can make it scary."

"Being who you are?"

He shook his head.

"That part stopped being scary a long time ago."

"How?"

"I stopped asking myself the wrong question."

Max frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"I kept asking...'Why am I like this?'"

He smiled.

"Eventually... I started asking...'Why am I apologizing for existing?'"

Max stared at him.

"I never thought about it like that."

"Most people don't."

"I keep trying to figure out exactly what I am."

"You don't have to figure it all out now."

"What if people ask?"

"They probably will."

"What do I tell them?"

"The truth... That you don't know yet."

Max looked surprised.

"I can say that?"

"Of course."

"You don't owe anyone certainty, you don't owe anyone a label, you don't owe anyone an explanation, you get to discover yourself at your own pace."

Max let those words settle.

They felt...

Lighter.

Like someone had quietly removed a weight from his shoulders.

"You know what's funny?"

Nate asked.

"What?"

"Back then, I thought every other gay person woke up one morning absolutely certain."

"They don't?"

Nate laughed.

"No."

"Half of us spend years wondering."

"The other half spend years pretending."

"So... I'm normal?"

Nate smiled.

"You are spectacularly normal."

"That's disappointing."

"I know."

"I was hoping for mysterious."

"You can still be mysterious."

"I'll wear more black."

"That's not how that works."

"It helps."

"It really doesn't."

Max laughed.

"So you weren't born knowing everything?"

"I wasn't born knowing how to tie my shoes."

"You still tie them weird."

"I do not."

"You absolutely do."

"They stay tied."

"That's not the point."

"It literally is."

----------------------

Their conversations slowly expanded beyond homework.

Movies.

Music.

Simon.

Micah's terrible dancing.

Sarah's obsession with buying decorative cushions.

Old memories.

New dreams.

One evening Max admitted he wasn't sure what he wanted to study after graduation.

"I used to think Dad and I would figure it out together."

He stared into his hot chocolate.

"Now..."

"I don't know."

Nate nodded.

"You know what I wanted to be before medicine?"

"What?"

"A marine biologist."

Max blinked.

"...Seriously?"

"I was obsessed with sharks."

"You?"

"I had shark pajamas."

"No."

"Yes."

"I'm telling everyone... Are there photographs?"

Micah's voice suddenly came from the hallway.

"There are."

Both of them turned.

Micah leaned against the door, grinning.

"I also have the picture of Nate crying because he thought Finding Nemo was a documentary."

Nate looked horrified.

"I was nine!"

Max laughed so hard he nearly spilled his drink.

"You cried over cartoon fish?"

"He got separated from his father! It was emotional!"

Micah walked out carrying a pitcher.

"You two sound suspiciously friendly."

"We're not." Max answered automatically.

Nate nodded.

"He insults me constantly."

"You deserve it."

"I absolutely do not."

"You microwaved noodles without water."

Nate closed his eyes.

"I told you that in confidence."

"There was no absolutely confidence."

"And you laughed for five straight minutes."

"I'm still laughing."

Even Micah couldn't hold back anymore.

Soon all three of them were laughing beneath the fading evening sky.

Sarah watched from the kitchen window, smiling to herself.

For the first time since Simon's death...

The house sounded alive again.

Not because the grief was gone.

It wasn't.

Not because Nate had healed.

He hadn't.

Not because Max had suddenly found all the answers about his future or his identity.

He hadn't.

But healing rarely arrived in dramatic moments.

Sometimes it looked like unfinished homework spread across a dining room table.

Sometimes it sounded like two stubborn people arguing over biology questions.

Sometimes it was terrible shark pajamas, burnt noodles, and old photographs that made everyone laugh until they cried.

Broken people didn't always need someone to fix them.

Sometimes they simply needed someone willing to sit beside them while they slowly learned how to put themselves back together.

And somewhere between algebra equations, awkward conversations, shared memories, and relentless teasing...

Nate and Max had stopped behaving like strangers living under the same roof.

Without either of them noticing exactly when it happened...

They had started acting like brothers.