Hugs can carry much weight and many implications. Some hugs are important and others are not; there are many types of hugs and many of them mean nothing while others mean everything. Sometimes a a hug can show love or friendship or comfort. Sometimes a hug leads to confusion and sometimes a hug leads to understanding. Hugs may be wanted, hugs may not be wanted. Sometimes hugs are neither wanted nor rejected. Sometimes a hug is just a hug. Sometimes a hug allows one to understand something. This has no bearing on the story.
Thanks to Scootareader for the inspiration (by which I mean I was reading his blog when this idea hit me like the stench of rotten fruit).