Melted: A MaxTul AU story

Seventy-Four: Three Visits

Author's Note: This is the longest chapter yet. However, it's broken up into three parts. Above is a picture of khao soi soup without the tiny meatballs that Max puts in when he makes it.

***

Saturday

Max decided to take his motorcycle to the hospital the next day hoping that the ride would calm his nerves. It took him a while to get to sleep last night, and then he woke up early feeling wired for the day. He was going to officially meet Tul's mother. Now he understood what Tul had felt when going to meet Kuhn Bagnet, and she knew all about them. He knew Tul hadn't  told his mother about his feelings for Max because the night before he had asked Tul what his mother knew, but their conversation wasn't the best part of their dance.

He smiled at the memory as he stopped at a traffic light.

He remembered, of course, how good Tul smelled wrapped in his arms after Tul had invited him to dance. Max had inhaled deeply, reveling in how much he loved the way Tul smelled before smirking.

"Tul?"

"Hmm?" Tul breathed out into Max's hair. He had been rubbing his cheek against it.

"You asked me to dance."

"Umhuum?" Tul replied softly. He continued to rub his cheek against Max's hair. Nothing felt like this. Max's hair made Tul warm and happy. He pulled Max closer. He felt Max's smile turn into a grin.

"Tul, we aren't dancing. We're just hugging."

Tul didn't even bother opening his eyes.

"And your point is . . .?"

Max pulled back to look at Tul. He was grinning noticing that Tul still didn't open his eyes.

Tul said, "Come back. I don't want to look at you. If I look at you now, I will want to kiss you, and we don't have time for that. I won't want to stop, and I'm trying to respect our agreement."

Tul paused and letting out a breath, he continued. "I know I crossed the line at the farm, but the farm is our special place."

Max's grin disappeared. He was glad Tul wasn't opening his eyes. He didn't want him to his own face, which he knew was filled with sadness and longing.

"Max?" Tul said again. Now his voiced was tinged with concern.

"Yes?"

"Are we going to finish our dance or not?" Tul asked, trying to lighten up the mood.

"What dance?" Max asked with humor in his tone. "You mean the hug dancing we are doing right now?"

Tul grinned, "We'll make it a trend."

Max really laughed at that. "It's not new, Tul, if every high schooler does it."

But he stepped back into the hug and felt instant comfort again. It was amazing how relaxed he felt in Tul's arms.

Tul snuggled in again. "Really? I definitely missed out on that."

Tul had changed the subject right then to remind Max about the next day and to make sure that Max was still going to come. He had assured Max that he had only told his mother that his friends were coming and that he hadn't said anything particularly different about his relationship with Max that wasn't what everyone knew.

"Until I can rightfully claim you, Max," Tul said. "I won't say anything else."

Max had wondered what Tul had meant by that, but he hadn't had a chance to ask anything else because the music had ended, they separated, and the server had appeared.