I'm reposting this chpater. I realized that I made a numerical error with Spencer and Max's relationship. They've only been living together for 1 and 1/2 years, but I said that they've been dating for three and moved in together after 6 months. That doesn't compute. Sorry. You don't have to re-read. All I did was change a few numbers and gave Spencer an extra line where they're talking about how long they've been living together.

Original intro: Chapter three is up and it's long! It's almost twice the length of any other chapter I've written! I'm so proud of myself and thanks to Adam for encouraging me to write a longer chapter and the idea of including flashbacks! Also thanks to Alf, Kenzie Jadenwie, and Elemental Gypsy for their support of this story. Prepare for backstory people! Enjoy!


Max climbed onto Spencer's lap successfully distracting his lover from the introduction to psychology papers he was grading. He smiled brightly at his older lover who simply raised an eyebrow in return. "Do you remember when you first asked me out?"

Spencer blinked at the unexpected question. These questions usually came out around their anniversary, not when they had just celebrated a month earlier. "Of course I remember. What's gotten into you Max?"

Max grinned at the Russian whale and snuggled further into his lap. Spencer, realizing that he wasn't going to finish grading the undergrad papers just yet, relented and wrapped his arms around Max's bare waist and leaned back into the overstuffed wingback chair they were sitting in. "Nothing's gotten into me except you… and food." Spencer chuckled at the last part since it was merely added on as an after thought. "I was just thinking about what to tell Kai about us when he gets here in an hour. I thought it would be nice to tell him how we got together."

Spencer smiled and kissed his lover's forehead gently. "If you're going to tell him about how we got together than you'll have to explain how we met on campus and about our lunches. Then you can tell him about how I asked you out to dinner in what I considered a vain attempt to get your attention. Then he'll want to know about our moving in together which means explaining that you've been lying to your parents for the past year and a half about our living arrangements, that we share a bedroom, and that we have a sex-life. Do you really want to explain all that to Kai?" Spencer was looking at him critically again, but Max brushed it off this time.

"Sure! I mean, why not? This is Kai we're talking about. He's like an older brother to me and he likes and admires you. The only questions he'll ask about our sex-life is if we have one and if we're being careful. I don't think he'll mind my not telling my parents about us. He knows that they don't trust anyone that grew up in the abbey. They don't even really trust him that much. If you don't want me to though, I'll just explain that we're together, but I'd rather not go into detail about our relationship and ask him to keep it to himself. Well, I'll do that last part no matter what." Before Max could continue rambling Spencer pressed their lips together in a sweet and gentle kiss.

"Max, I love you, I'm okay with whatever you want to tell him. I just wanted to make sure you knew what he was going to ask when you dropped this bombshell on him. I know Kai really well and I know how protective he is of you. Don't be surprised if he threatens to hurt me if I ever hurt you."

Max blinked in confusion over that last sentence, "but that's a null point because you'll never hurt me."

Spencer chuckled and pulled Max closer. "No, I'd never hurt you." Max tucked his head gently under Spencer's chin and closed his eyes content to relax in his boyfriend's embrace. "You know I really should be grading those papers."

"I know, but they can wait. You don't have that class until Monday and its Thursday."

Spencer blinked several times. "Max, love, it's Friday."

"It is? I could have sworn it was Thursday."

Spencer placed his fingers gently under Max's chin and tilted his head up so that they could look into each other's eyes. "It's a good thing you didn't have classes today. You wouldn't have gone to the right ones." Max blushed, but was saved from further humiliation by the sound of someone knocking on the door. He bounced off Spencer's lap and ran to open the door.

"Kai!" Max threw his arms around the phoenix standing in front of him. Kai laughed and hugged back.

"Max, stop suffocating and let him in" Spencer called from where he was still seated in the wingback chair grading the papers sitting in front of him. Max blushed again and let go of Kai before letting him enter.

"How have you been Max? Good if your greeting is any indication." Max led Kai into the living room where Spencer was sitting. "Spencer, it's good to see you again. Tala's beginning to wonder if you ever plan on coming back to Russia."

Spencer put down his pen and stood to shake hands with his friends. "I might come back for a visit once I'm done with graduate school, but I was planning on staying in America to live and practice."

Max bounced over to Spencer's side a huge grin on his face. "I should hope so! It'd be awfully hard to date you if you were living in Russia!" Max's hands flew to his mouth the minute the statement was out of his mouth. He looked over at Kai who was staring at them in disbelief.

"You two?" Both blonds nodded. "Alright. Explain. One of you."

"Well, it's kind of a long story. So you might as well make yourself comfortable. Do you want anything to drink?" Max was stalling and both Kai and Spencer knew it.

"Max, stop stalling and start explaining everything and I do mean everything." All three took seats in the living room. Spencer and Max sat together on the wingback while Kai sat across from them on the couch.

--Flashback--

Max was walking across the center of campus towards the coffee shop when he saw a familiar blond talking with a bunch of boys and girls that appeared to be upperclassmen. A quick crunching of numbers told him that the blond was in all likelihood a senior. Biting his lip he changed direction and walked over to the group. "Spencer?"

The blond looked at him and raised an eyebrow at him. "Max? What are you doing here?"

"Well, uh, I'm going to school here. I just started this semester so…" he trailed off as the group Spencer was with started looking down their noses at him. "Do you go to school here to?"

"Yeah. I'm in my senior year and I've gotten into the psychology program of the grad school here." Spencer looked over at the group he was with and rolled his eyes. "Do you want to go get some coffee?"

"Sure. Um, I was just about to get some anyway." Max fiddled with his shirt sleeve as he glanced at the group of 20-somethings that continued to look down their noses at him.

"Spencer, he's just some freshman. Let's just go. We have better things to do that hang out with him." Spencer ignored the girl who was speaking to him and motioned for Max to walk with him.

"Come on Max. Let's get some coffee. I need the caffeine and you look like you're going to freeze." Max nodded and walked away with from the group.

"You didn't have to leave your friends to hang out with me. I just wanted to say 'hi' since I haven't seen you in a few years. You stopped beyblading so I haven't seen you in awhile." Spencer pulled the door open for Max to walk through.

"I decided that going to college would be a better use of my time than beyblading. Tala and Bryan did most of the blading anyway. This way I can get my doctorate in psychology and actually do something useful with my life." They were up to the counter and Spencer placed his order. "A mocha with a triple shot of espresso and a peanut butter cookie. What do you want Max?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, a large hot chocolate and a chocolate chip muffin." Max went to grab his wallet but Spencer had already handed over his credit card to pay for both orders. The found a corner table free and sat down with their drinks and pastries.

--End Flashback--

Kai nodded slowly. "Then you just started dating or something?"

Spencer shook his head. "I didn't think he was interested so I didn't make a move. We decided to have lunch every Tuesday and Friday for a while and just keep in touch with one another. We met in December right before finals, but I didn't ask him out until that fall."

--Flashback--

Spencer sat across from Max watching him stare out the window of the small café they were eating lunch in. The younger blond had gotten even more attractive over the summer with his tanned skin and sun-kissed hair. Max looked over and grinned at the Russian. "Max, would you like to come over to my apartment and have dinner tonight?"

"Yeah. Dinner sounds great, especially if you're cooking!" Max watched Spencer's reaction and suddenly realized that the taller blond was asking him on a date. "Besides, I've been hoping you'd ask me out since we started hanging out again."

"So, it's a date. When does your last class end today?"

Max tapped his chin as he tried to recall the start and end times of his Friday classes. "Um, I have a graphic art class at four so I'll be done around four fifty or five."

"How about we meet here are five after five then. We can stop at the market and figure out what to make before going to my place." Max nodded and smiled as a light blush crept onto his well-defined cheekbones.

--End Flashback--

"Cute. How long after that did you two move in together?"

"One year, five months and twenty nine days" Max replied firmly.

Kai raised an eyebrow and Max's precision. "That was specific. You wouldn't happen to also know the hours and minutes would you?" Max blushed profusely at the teasing question.

"The day after Max moved in we celebrated our one and a half anniversary so it's an easy time to remember. Don't ask about the anniversary. Max was being odd about it. Although it almost didn't happen. Max's parents have a few objections to the two of us living together."

"And they don't even know we're dating" Max added.

"Why don't your parents know you're dating?" Kai inquired. The Max he knew told his parents everything. It wasn't like him to be keeping secrets from them.

"Well, mainly because they don't like that I'm friends with him. They don't trust anyone who came out of the abbey. You know that. You know they don't trust you and you weren't in the abbey as long as Spencer. I think that they think he's not capable of being a good friend or something along those lines. They're afraid he'll hurt me even though I've assured them he'd never do that." The sad look in the turtle's baby blue eyes was heartbreaking for both Russians. Spencer tugged Max into his lap and cradled his younger lover in his arms. "I'm okay. It just sucks that they won't listen to me."

Kai sighed softly. "I really don't want to know how you got your parents to agree to you moving in if they don't even know you're dating. I do however have a few other questions since I'm assuming you two aren't practicing abstinence." Max and Spencer both nodded. "You're being safe about it? You both got tested before you slept together?"

"Kai, we're not stupid or willing to take that kind of a risk. Our first time wasn't some spur of the moment caught up in the throws of passion thing. We talked about having sex and the possible consequences several times before hand. We've been very safe about it" Spencer explained.

Kai nodded and smiled at them. "Then I don't have a problem with it. I'm assuming you thought I wouldn't since you asked me to come over for a visit. Are you planning on telling everyone or even your parents?"

"After I'm done with undergraduate school we'll tell my parents. As for everyone else, I don't trust most of them to keep their mouths shut about it."

The three friends spent the remainder of the night catching up and talking about what the reunion was going to be like the next day.


And there you have it. Next chapter will be the start of the weekend long reunion. Please review. Your reviews have been very kind so far and have given me the inspiration need to keep going with this story. Thank you very much! And thank you for putting up with the revision.