You looked up at Max’ face.
The moment your eyes met, Max released you from his hug, looking out of the window again.
A faint flush of red became visible on his cheeks.
‘Are you blushing?’ you asked, pinching his cheeks.
‘No!’ Max said, brushing away your hand, but turning beet red while doing so.
You giggled, it was so obvious, he was indeed blushing!
‘Better not make fun of me now, there are other things you should worry about!’ Max claimed.
He was right, the safety of the others was more important than Max blushing, but Max was easier to tease than the others were to save.

Hero stopped the car.
They were outside the same squat in which Xiah first discovered the Bandas.
So they did use this frequently, apparently..
‘What should we do?’ Hero asked turning his head towards Micky.
‘I say, let’s just follow them. We can tell the others later, when we have something that’s worth telling.’ Micky said.
‘We really can’t get in contact with them, right?’ Hero asked for the last time.
‘No, we can’t.. I also tried U-know and Xiah. They are unreachable as well.’

‘Take that!’ U-know yelled giving all the power he had left to kick his attacker.
‘Yeah!’ Xiah’s dolphin voice echoed through the empty main floor of the building.
Xiah jumped onto the back of one of U-know’s attackers and started to tackle him down, finishing it off by plumping down on the person with his duck .
It didn’t help much.
The guy was a lot taller than Xiah and just stood up again, shaking Xiah off in the process.

Now that there was no connection any longer, you and Max had no purpose of being in the van.
‘Let’s go on our own.’ You suggested, while your hand was already on the handle of the door.
Max put his hand on your shoulder, holding you back slightly.
‘It’s dangerous.’ He said in a low, serious tone, which you knew was the voice he used when he was either annoyed, angry or concerned.
This time he wasn’t annoyed or angry, he was just deeply concerned.
‘Oppa, we’ve had training, we know what to expect, don’t we? Now come on, it’s our duty to fight crime! Besides, I need you to look after me.’ You said, knowing that the last sentence will convince him.
Sighing Max gave in and released his hand from your shoulder.

Micky rummaged through the dashboard cabin of their car and took out two pairs of sunglasses.
‘Let’s use these!’ He grinned excited, like an eight year old that goes on his first rollercoaster ride.
Hero looked at Micky and smirked a little, as if saying: “You can’t seriously be this excited about a pair of sunglasses”..
Nonetheless, Hero accepted the glasses and put them on right away.
‘Let’s go!’ He said and made a fist.
‘Yeah! Let’s go!’ Micky chimed.
Quickly the two of them got out of the car and entered the slum, sneaking to the squat.
Seeing how there were black clothed men outside the squat, Micky and Hero exchanged a look.
There is no way they could spy on the people in the squat if they can’t get near them.
‘Let’s just drive back to the butcher’s van, there’s nothing we can do here..’ Micky sighed as the guys were in the car again.
‘We could just go back and help the others..’ Hero agreed and started the engine.
They did not tell each other, but they both were afraid something might have happened to you and Max which had caused the connection to fail.

Pulling the key out of the ignition, Max suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.
‘What is it?’ you asked.
Max didn’t answer but continued staring through the side window, or better said AT the side window, for a bird had just dropped its particularly big splash of chalky white trash on it.
The substance was slowly running down, followed and examined by Max’ eyes.
‘You want to leave through my door?’ you asked, grinning a little.
Max nodded and averted his eyes from the bird’s poop.
Just then you saw a black van with blinded windows race off.
Were Xiah and U-know okay?
Quickly you pulled Max out of the van and ran to the place where you last saw U-know and Xiah.
‘They have all gone!’ you screamed in frustration and turned to Max, hoping he would know what to do next, but Max was spacing out, fixated on his and your hand, which were locked together in a tight embrace.
Remembering his nosophobia you lifted a brow and let go of his hand.
There it was again, the red coloring of Max’ cheeks.
You decided not to react on it, but you knew now that you had an admirer.
Why else would he blush when you are close instead of shrieking and moving away, like he does with anybody else who comes too close?

‘Flower, Max.. Where are U-know and Xiah?’ the voice of Hero asked.
You turned around and saw Hero and Micky were with you.
‘We don’t know, the connection broke and at that time they were fighting..’ you reported.
‘Then a van with blinded windows drove away and we noticed the place was deserted.’ Max added, having composed himself again.
Hero nodded, processing the news.
‘Hey look, they left something!’ Micky said from the other side of the room you were in.
All three of you walked over to Micky, wondering what he might have found.
‘No, DON’T!’ Max’ voice sounded, at the same time Micky opened the suitcase.
That was it, you were all covered with splatters of paint in two colors, yellow and green.
‘Oh, why’d you have to do that?’ Hero said annoyed.
Max started shivering all over his body.
His nosophobia was not at all a joke, you knew for certain now.
‘L-l-let’s go h-h-home.. I n-n-need to w-w-wash my-s-s-self..’ Max stammered and turned around.
He kept his arms away from his body, like they did not belong to him anymore.
If he could abandon his body completely, he would have done that, just to stay away from filth.
Quickly you rushed up to Max.
‘Oppa, do you want to walk home or will you drive the van?’ you asked.
‘I’ll walk, do you.. want to walk with me?’ Max answered, looking at you with anticipation.
‘Okay, I’ll walk!’ you smiled back at him.
‘Let’s all walk!’ Hero and Micky chorused.
‘We don’t want to have to clean the car seats, do we?’ Micky reasoned.
‘Then let’s go together!’ you smiled.
You thought you spotted a little hint of disappointment on Max’ face.

At home Max went to take a shower first, then it was Hero’s turn, Micky would go next and you would go last.
By the time you got home, the paint on your clothes had started to dry.
The stains would never get out of your clothes, but luckily you wore some old clothes, so it didn’t bother you that much.
‘Flower, you can take a shower now!’ Micky shouted from out of the bathroom.
While you held your clean clothes in one hand, you opened the bathroom door.
At that moment you dropped your clothes out of shock.
What you saw made your eyes widen and your jaw drop.
Micky was , his towards you, drying his hair with a towel.
Within a second you stood outside the door, unable to say anything.
You were shocked, surprised and most of all deeply embarrassed.
Two minutes later Micky came out of the bathroom with long shorts on, a bare chest and a towel around his neck.
His hair was still dripping water a little.
You couldn’t look him in the eyes anymore, you just stood there, frozen like a statue and looking at your feet.
‘Sorry, I thought you wouldn’t come in right away..’ Micky apologized.
‘I don’t mind that you’ve seen me . That’s okay.’ He continued.
You just nodded shortly and waited for him to walk away.
How could you ever look at him again, without remembering what you saw in the bathroom just now?

________~END OF CHAPTER 18~________

This definitely was a comedy chapter, wasn't it? XD I had sooo much fun writing this! =)