Melted: A MaxTul AU story

Fifty-Five: Cold Water

"You realize that some people would think you're being a martyr, right?" Michelle Bagnet said as she slid a mango smoothie across her kitchen table towards Max. She knew what Max really wanted and needed was ice cream, but she was not keeping ice cream in her house. Max had self-control, high metabolism, and rock-hard abs; she did not.

It was a couple of days after Tul had called him and the group had discussed Tul's options for going on blind dates arranged by his parents. Max had only seen Tul once since then, briefly at the apartment when he had been checking in on his uncle and Tul had come home. It hadn't gone well.

Usually, when this happened, Tul would perk up upon realizing that Max was there. Even though he was obviously tired from being at work late, he would take a seat with them in the kitchen or the living room to talk a little and catch up with Max. One time, sitting on the floor in front of the windows with Max, he'd even fallen asleep, he'd been so tired. But it was clear that he wanted to snatch any chance he had to spend time with him. However, the previous night, his shoulders had slumped seeing Max's shoes, and when he saw Max, he only gave a stiff greeting, refused Max's offer of food, and went straight to bed.

Max had explained everything to Kuhn Bagnet. He felt like he needed some tough advice. He knew what he said was correct, but he still felt guilty.

"I'm really not being a martyr. I just . . ."

"Just what, Max? Pushing him away when he doesn't want to be pushed?"

Max sighed. "I'll admit that there is a part of me that thinks he has better options than me, but you know that isn't my main goal."

Kuhn Bagnet sat down, taking a sip of her smoothie. It was good, but she really wanted ice cream now, too. Cookies and Cream to be exact. She pushed her smoothie away before she spoke.

"I know what you were trying to do in theory, and I agree with the strategy. Tul needs to try to be the Tul from last year—the same level of resistance and compliance so as to not create any more suspicion than he has already so his work and his caregiver responsibilities can stay under the radar as long as possible. I agree that it's actually lucky for the team that Plustor is so small-minded he's assuming Tul has a thing for Ann. It's even better that he follows that fake story than finding out about Tul's mother or you."

Max nodded at her eagerly, starting to feel better about his choice already. He knew that Kuhn Bagnet would understand.

"However, is that how you really sold it?"

Max looked at his mentor curiously. What did she mean by that?

Kuhn Bagnet stood up, looking into her cabinets. She started taking out bowls and measuring cups.

"Look, Max. Did you tell them that plan without making it sound like you wanted Tul to date other people? Date other people instead of you? Did you say that he should go on the dates, but he should make it clear to them he's only going because he's trying to keep the peace with his parents? A lot of the women will be relieved, too. Most of them hate going on these forced dates as well."

"We did talk about that," Max replied.

"But did you bring it up or did he or someone else?" Michelle finally found what she was looking for in her pantry closet with a look of satisfaction, a look that changed to a look of scrutiny when Max didn't answer her.

"Tul did, didn't he?" she asked. "You made him think of it himself, how he was going to manage these situations and his feelings and the fact that he has difficulty lying."

She rolled her eyes as she turned on her oven to pre-heat. She gave a heavy sigh before she continued. Max was forcing her to bake cookies he was getting on her nerves so much. It made her sad to see his confidence so low that the more he loved Tul, the more he thought he wasn't good enough for Tul.