He's still for a long second, way too long to try and play it off as nothing, like what Dave's said hasn't completely floored him. But would anyone have believed it if he tried to brush past this? That's not the kind of statement anybody can hear with calm.

"It wasn't really him," Maxxie blurts out. His hand tightens on Dave's. "It was a nightmare, yeah? Like a really there nightmare, but it wasn't really your dad. You were just fighting a monster, like.. like anybody would do."