Melted: A MaxTul AU story

Fifteen: Hard Truths

Tul went immediately back to the office and started working on that afternoon's projects. He didn't want to think about what had just happened or about the way Max had looked when he left.

Prin had been waiting for his appearance, thinking of the myriad of ways he could tease Tul about his "ice cream date" with Max. Thus, he was surprised to see Tul appear with storm clouds all over his face heading directly into his office. He waited a bit to see if Max would come back, but when the other man didn't appear after twenty minutes, he decided to go into Tul's office himself.

"I have the vendor contracts for you to sign," he said, placing some folders on Tul's desk.

"Okay," Tul replied not looking away from his computer monitor. "Are we still scheduled to meet with the Montopain people tomorrow? Can you bring me those files? I think I should review them tonight. Also, order dinner. I plan to work late. You don't have to. Just leave me with any updated information I might need for tomorrow."

Prin pressed his lips together, trying to decide whether he should ask about what happened now or later. He saw Tul look up, and he followed his gaze. Max had come back to the office. Sukrit said something to him which made him smile, but Prin noticed that the smile was small and tight. He glanced at Tul, and he knew that Tul could tell that Max wasn't completely okay. Prin watched as Tul continued staring for a minute, his face softening, and then his face going cold again. Prin decided to ask later.

"Anything else, Tul?"

"No, Prin. I'm fine. That's it."

But Prin saw that though Tul looked back at his monitor, he also kept stopping to watch Max.

Max didn't come to the office the next day, and Prin noticed that the longer the morning went on with the chances of him appearing decreasing, the more agitated Tul got. He purposefully asked Ann about Max when Tul arrived back from a meeting.

"Ann, is Max not coming in today? I had a list of people who had might know about the Corinne merger from the 60s for him."

Ann nodded. "I thought he was, too, but then he texted Pong saying that he got a call from the library that some documents had come in, so he headed over there instead."

Pong added, seeing Tul dallying in front of his office door pretending not to listen. "Yeah. You know how he gets in archives. He finds that stuff more interesting than us any day of the week." Then he added innocently, "I don't think he'll be coming in. I don't know if he'll be in tomorrow either."

That made Tul look up and walk over to the group. "He has to," he said. "Aren't you looking at the apartment tomorrow at lunch?"

Ann and Prin looked at him in surprise. Pong barely hid his smirk. "Yes. And thank you again. But I know the address. I could take a cab and meet him there. It makes more sense really."

"Oh, sure." Tul looked a bit chagrined. Of course, that makes sense he thought to himself. Why am I acting like this? He forced a smile at Pong and the others. "I just want to make sure that you have what you need, so you can move when you want that's all. No real reason to delay, right?" He then hurried away to his office.

Prin followed and shut the door behind him.

"You care to tell me what's going on? What was that about?"

"I was just confirming about tomorrow that's all." Tul replied, not meeting Prin's gaze.

"Cut the crap, Tul. You haven't been the same since you asked me to buy ice cream. What did you do?"

"Why do you assume that it's something I did?" Tul asked, voice rising from guilt.

"Because you're the only one not acting normal."