found family | sotus s

- chapter three -

Kongpob finally opened his front door after a long day at work. It had been a really, really bad day and on top of that Kongpob was asked to work overtime, so he was glad that he was finally back home.

"Hey," Arthit called from the living room, "We're watching Star Wars."

Kongpob put his bag down and made his way into the living room. What he found there was his boyfriend adorably cuddled up with Dae, who looked as though he was falling asleep.

Kongpob loosened his tie, "Why are you watching Star Wars?"

"Dae said he hadn't watched. I decided that he was not allowed to be ignorant to the world of Star Wars any longer, so we're watching it together," Arthit smiled.

Kongpob smiled back at him, "Dae's asleep."

Arthit looked positively scandalised, "No he's not!" Arthit said as he slapped Dae's cheek to break the younger boy out of his unconsciousness.

Dae grumbled unhappily, "I promise P'Arthit, I'm watching the movie," Dae slurred with his eyes firmly shut.

Arthit scrunched his nose, "If you didn't want to watch, you should of just said so."

"But P'Arthit, I did say so."

Kongpob laughed quietly to himself before heading upstairs to get changed out of his work clothes.

Kongpob tried not to let the bitter feeling seep into his heart, but he still feels hurt. It seemed so unfair that P'Arthit was so comfortable with affection towards Nong Dae, but always was so uncomfortable with Kongpob. Although he had no doubt in his mind that P'Arthit definitely did not have any romantic feelings for Dae, and that he thought of him more as a small child who needed protecting, he hated that Arthit was still uncomfortable with physical affection towards him after almost 5 years of them being together. Some couples proposed to each other after 5 years, and here Kongpob was, feeling guilty and overbearing when his boyfriend wiggled his way out of hugs, and down right avoided any public display of affection when ever Kongpob was brave enough to try it.

Kongpob knew he had his reasons. He knew that P'Arthit was not completely comfortable with his sexuality yet, that he had never even come to terms with it before he threw himself into a long term committed relationship. It made sense that he dodged hugs and refused to hold his hand in the beginning but it had been five years and they'd barely made progress at all.

Kongpob usually managed to put this aside, managed to not worry about it so much because P'Arthit loved him even if he didn't show it in physical affection. Kongpob had just written him off as a tsundere type and moved on. But seeing Arthit constantly babying Dae and cuddling up to him, made Kongpob wonder if there was maybe something lacking in himself to make Arthit reject him in this way.

He decided that he would forget about it for today. It would come up at a later time and they would figure it out then. Everything, right now, was alright between them. They were still together and they still loved each other.

Kongpob quickly changed into his pajamas, took a deep breath and walked back downstairs, making his way back to the living room. Arthit was sitting by himself this time, still watching Star Wars but instead of being curled up to P'Arthit, Dae taking up three couch cushions on the far side of the couch, fast asleep.

Kongpob looked at P'Arthit, and if he was a braver man, he would pull Arthit into his arms and sit with him. But it had been a really bad day, and Kongpob couldn't take the potential rejection, no matter how small it was. Kongpob sat down on the furthest part of the couch.

"He didn't text Tew yet. He told me earlier," Arthit said, looking at the sleeping boy.

Kongpob nodded, "To be honest, I didn't think he was going to."

"He's not ready yet, I don't think. He's still got a lot on his mind," Arthit said quietly. Once again the jealousy flared up inside of him, wanting Arthit to be concerned about him instead.

"Yeah, well, Tew's going crazy right now because he's completely in the dark. I don't want to have to step in but I will if it will help them figure it out," Kongpob said.

"Forcing them together isn't going to help if Dae doesn't know what he wants yet," Arthit said pointedly back, getting defensive over the younger boy.

"Look, I'm not taking sides here because this isn't a fight. They need to talk as soon as possible otherwise they will be fighting," Kongpob spat back.

"They're going to be fighting anyway, might as well let Dae have time to figure his shit out before forcing them to talk, where he could say something he doesn't mean and ruin everything," Arthit replied bitterly.

"Just because that's what you do doesn't mean that's what he's going to do," Kongpob said darkly.

Arthit was silent. But Kongpob could see the hurt on his face.

"Kongpob, I'm going to bed," Arthit said, then swiftly left the room without another word.

Kongpob buried his face in his hands.

"I don't want you guys to fight because of me," Dae muttered softly, awake but still lying on the couch. Kongpob wondered how much he had heard.

"Sorry, Dae. We didn't fight because of you. I just... had a bad day at work and I took it out on him," Kongpob said, wanting to reassure the boy as much as possible.

Dae sleepily struggled off the couch and walked over to Kongpob, before wrapping his arms around Kongpob in a hug. Kongpob willingly accepted it, needing it after everything that had happened today.

"Don't ruin your relationship just because I'm fucking up mine," Dae mumbled into his shoulder.

Kongpob laughed, "I won't."

Dae drew away from the hug, "Now go apologise."

Kongpob nodded, "Text Tew. Call him, even."

"Nice try," Dae said cheekily before shuffling off to sleep in his own bed.

Kongpob took a deep breath in, and walked upstairs to fix his mistakes. All Kongpob had wanted tonight was just to be comforted but nothing had gone to plan.

He opened up the door to their bedroom and walked over to his side of the bed.

From first glance, it looked like Arthit could be asleep, but Kongpob knew he wasn't. Arthit hated going to bed still angry, and although he loved the theatricality of storming off, he could never sleep well unless they had sorted out whatever argument they'd had before.

Kongpob slipped under the covers on his side. Arthit was facing away from him, "Are you still awake?"

"Of course I'm still awake," Arthit huffed, without turning over to face him.

Kongpob sighed, "I'm sorry I got angry at you, P'Arthit. I didn't want to be mean, I just had a bad day at work and I took it out on you. I'm sorry."

Arthit turned over to look at Kongpob, "Yeah, well, you can't just take it out on me every time you have a bad day."

Kongpob looked down guiltily, "I know, it's just... It was a really bad day."

Arthit looked at him curiously for a moment, before moving to wrap his arms around the younger boy. It was a small gesture, only a hint of physical contact but it meant the world to Kongpob. It meant that he was forgiven. It meant that the time he had wasted focusing on his insecurities had been for nothing. He loved Arthit and Arthit loved him.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled into Arthit's shoulder, whilst moving closer into the embrace. Arthit leaned his cheek on top of Kongpob's head.

"It's okay," Arthit said, "I'm sorry you had a bad day. And I know this whole situation with Dae is really hard on you, but we've got to let them figure it out themselves. They'll grow because of it, they'll learn how to deal with their own shit."

Kongpob giggled, "Just like us?"

"Just like us." Arthit kissed the top of Kongpob's head.

And with that, Kongpob's worries and insecurities melted away as he held onto Arthit. 

- aww, isn't that sweet, and don't worry guys. dae will get his act together in the next chapter ;) -