My Feral

7

Max blinks, coming back into the hospital room just as Slit elbows him, hard, in the ribs.

Shooting the older man a glare, Slit holds up his hands in mock surrender, saying, "you left us for a little bit there, Maxy. I was worried."

Panic bubbles up in Max's chest. Had he really just been swept up in a flashback in public? Not just in public, but in front of a patient and old friends, no less. Shit. This isn't good, Max thinks. Not good at all.

Feeling himself start to shake, Max quickly sits back down in his chair.

Slit looks at him quizzically, opening his mouth to ask something, but is interrupted by Nux stretching and making a purely obscene noise.

The panic dissipates as an almost unfamiliar warmth floods Max's face.

Slit chuckles in amusement. Max glares at him.

"Ya know, it's really rude to talk about me like I'm not here," Nux pouts.

"You were knocked out on painkillers!" Slit protests good-naturedly, reaching down and giving his brother a pat on the cheek. Nux sticks out his tongue and licks Slit's hand.

Max chuckles in spite of himself. He had almost forgotten how amusing the brothers were.

Glancing over at Max, Nux raises his good arm and waves at him.

Feeling his face heat up even more, Max waves back and internally curses himself for turning into a blushing schoolgirl.

Of course, he's going to have an existential crisis about this later -because, how is it that he hasn't had feelings or even an attraction to anybody else since his wife passed, but Nux shows back up and suddenly he's head over heels for him- but for now, he's going to enjoy the attention, and that warm tingly feeling in his belly.

"Hey," Nux asks Slit, "where's Furi?"

"She's with Capable. Said that she wanted some 'girl time,' whatever that means," Slit says, pretending to look affronted that his daughter wants to hang out with Cape.

Shit, Max thinks. Cape said that if he spent another all-nighter at the hospital, she would kill him. And, knowing her determination and motherly-instinct, she just might.

Getting painfully to his feet, Max explains quickly, "Cape....er....Capable said that if I was here all night again, she'd kill me. So, I gotta go. Now."

Nux waves again, and Max makes his way to the door.

Just as he is leaving the room, Slit stops him with a hand on the shoulder and hands him Nux's boot. Nodding in thanks, Max makes his escape.