stick in the mud
His mom's blonde hair and blue eyes and petite stature. Dad's unfortunate fashion sense and infectious humor. Intelligence and self-confidence from both of them.
No one knew who'd given Max freckles. Tarou joked about a visiting milkman… Judy gave him a steady, disapproving look, and said something airy about a second-cousin with the same affliction.
Max didn't think it was an affliction. He considered himself cute enough to lick. Especially with freckles. Utterly lickable. Freckles probably tasted wicked good.
"Maybe you've never had freckles 'cause you hang out in a lab all day, getting pasty," Max innocently suggested, giving his mom a blazing grin. His father's grin.
Judy stared at her son, one perfectly manicured hand slowly rising to touch her peaches-and-crème face, trembling a little. Pasty..? "What?" In the background, Tarou burst out laughing.
Standing from the table, rice bowl in hand, Max reached across and poked Judy gently on the nose. "I think I see a freckle coming on, Mom; better be careful."
Freckle..? PASTY? "Wh-what..?"
"I think freckles make people look human," Tarou giggled, watching his ex-wife's perfect face grow cold.
"Humans are lickable, mom," Max added, joining his dad's laughter.
Judy gazed at them steadily, disapprovingly.