Love after Five

Chapter 9

     It was a beautiful sunny day that wasn't overly hot or humid and with a slight breeze making for an almost perfect weather situation for people to be out and about enjoying themselves.
      On the downside that meant that Dream World was extremely busy and crowded, families and couples milling around in a massive crowded mash.
     "Okay Sweetie, you always have to be holding one of our hands so we don't lose you, okay?" Max said, crouched down next to Bright who was jumping between the balls of her feet, her eyes wide and searching. "And just in case we do lose you-" he trailed off, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a sharpie marker, rolling up her sleeve and writing his phone number on it. "If you get lost, find a nice looking woman and ask her to call this number and we'll come find you, okay?" He said.
      "Okay Uncle Max." Bright said distractedly, her eyes darting between all the different rides and attractions.
     "Bright, you have to listen, okay?" Tul said, holding out his hand and she took it, nodding solemnly.
      "What do you want to ride first?" Max asked, grinning down at her, and taking her other hand so she was once more between them.
     "The cups!" She squealed. "I love going round and round!"
       "Your wish is my command princess!" Max said, leading the group over to the spinning cups, picking Bright up in his arms and putting her against his hip, smiling as she wound her arms around his neck.
      "I'm sorry were doing kid stuff, especially since you do kid stuff all week long." Tul whispered, feeling apologetic.
      "This was my idea you forget." Max said with a grin. "If I didn't like dealing with kids I probably wouldn't work at a primary school."
Tul shrugged in agreement, giving him a smile from the corner of his mouth. He looked very natural with Bright on his hip, listening to her chatter on while he pointed at various things, laughing together.
Tul was struck with a strange sense of detachment, like there was no space for him in this new space Max and Bright were creating- she looked happier with him than she'd ever been with Tul since the accident, her eyes in little half moons as she laughed at Max. Tul often felt like by being the one who had to tell Bright after the accident he'd broken something between them- before he'd been the fun uncle and after he'd been the man who ripped her world away from her.
They reached the spinning cups and the three of them were ushered into a cup together.
"I want to sit on the outside!" Bright said, crawling over to sit on the outside of Max, the man shuffling over, his thighs pressing against Tul's, making Tul's heart pound.
"Hold onto the wheel in the middle Bright, we can make it spin super fast!" Max said with a grin, and she leaned forward, grabbing the wheel in the middle.
"Uncle Tul you need to grab it too!" She commanded, and he nodded, reaching forward to grasp it. Max grabbed it too, their hands touching together. Tul felt his face heating up again, and tried to keep his emotions in check.

Max was having a great time, mostly with noticing how nervous he made Tul. This was a good sign since he wasn't pulling himself away any time they touched, which pretty much assured him that he was interested and nervous, not repulsed and awkward.
He heard some giggling and looked up to see a group of teenaged girls sitting in a teacup across from them looking at them and giggling behind their hands.
Ah, some fujoshi. Always easy to spot. Nice to see they're as active as ever. He thought with amusement. The ride began to go, and he was pushed against Tul as they began to spin. Bright let out a peal of laughter.
"Spin it faster!" She crowed, giggling. He went to readjust his hands to pull it faster, and set them down atop Tul's.
In full honesty he hadn't meant to, but in that moment time seemed to slow down to a stop, noise filtering away and all sensation fading except for the feel of the warm hand under his, and the beating of his heart in his chest.
Is he feeling this like I am? He wondered, looking up at Tul's face. Tul was staring down at their connected hands, his eyes wide, frozen like an animal caught in car headlights.
He slowly looked up and their eyes met, and the rest of the world disappeared except the two of them, staring desperately into each other eyes, searching each other's face. Tul's lips parted slightly, his eyes widening in a mixture of wanting and uncertainty.
"This is so fun!" Bright shrieked, halting the moment, and Max turned his attention back to her, breaking their eye contact for the moment.
I'll have to revisit this later. Max promised himself.

A few hours later Tul was officially over theme parks, but Bright seemed to have an almost endless pit of energy inside of her, as did Max as he rode every ride, and went to every attraction that caught her eyes.
It was getting to the hottest part of the day, and Tul was feeling strangely sleepy and grumpy.
"Alright. I think it's time for us to go get something to eat and head home." Max said to Bright, as though reading Tul's mind.
"Nooooooo." Bright whined, frowning.
"Sorry kiddo, thems the breaks." Max said with a shrug and scooped her off her feet, her legs curling around his waist and arms threading around his neck almost automatically. "Don't worry, we'll come back some other day, okay?" He said.
      "Promise?" She said, snuggling her head into his shoulder.
       "Of course kiddo." He said, holding her with one arm. He reached out and grabbed Tul's elbow with his other hand, entwining their arms together. Tul felt his heart leap into his throat but he didn't pull away.
      I really hope I'm not misreading this situation. He thought to himself. They walked toward the exit, and he couldn't help but notice the stares of a few of the other patrons. A few older people with children looked at them disapprovingly, some teenaged girls were giggling behind their hands, and some people would notice him seeing them staring and quickly look away as though embarrassed at getting caught looking.
     He supposed walking arm in arm with a child really sent the message that they were a long term couple, and if he was misreading Max's intentions this would be quite embarrassing for them both, especially since Max worked in a school and it could reflect badly on him. He made a move to pull his arm away, but Max clamped his elbow harder, dragging him purposefully out of the park.
     By the time they made it to the street to hail a cab Bright had fallen completely asleep, curled into Max like she slept there often, and Max finally let go of Tul's arms to hail a cab. Tul got in first and Max gently dislodged the sleeping child from her hold on him, passing her to Tul, where she snuggled into his chest and kept sleeping. Max slid into the seat next to him, leaning forward to tell the cab driver Tul's address. He leaned back, resting his hand on top of Tul's knee.
     Tul looked down at the hand, and then back up at Max, who met his eyes.
     "Is this Okay?" He mouthed. Tul nodded slowly, his face blushing a deep red and Max grinned at him, reaching up to brush his hair out of his face with his free hand.
      "Good." He whispered, leaning so close to Tul that his lips practically touched his ear so that only he could hear him. "I'm glad."
      Tul swallowed hard not sure what to say in return.
      "This was a nice day." He said to try to break the silence.
      "It was. Maybe next time we can do something with just you and me." He whispered, raising an eyebrow.
     Tul swallowed again.