“Let’s just order, Nong. Is it okay?” Mew proposes.
After finalizing a proposal he didn’t get done in the afternoon, Mew goes to Gulf who is napping in their room, again. He really needs to monitor the younger from now on. He is a workaholic but to heck with his work. He has to set his priorities this time.
“Sure, Phi.”
With the confirmation from the younger, Mew just told Gulf that he will wait in the dining area seeing the younger’s disoriented face due to waking. He was even answered with ‘anything’ when he asked what food Gulf would like to order. He sighs. He really has a long way to go with Gulf.
When the order came, Mew immediately fixes the food. He is about to fetch the younger when Gulf comes around before he can stand. But instead of approaching the table, Gulf stands at least a couple of meters away.
“What’s wrong, Gulf?”
Gulf scrunches his nose. “Smells disgusting, Phi.”
“Huh? But this is—”
“Can’t eat that, Phi. How can you eat that?” Gulf can’t hide the irritation in his voice. How can Mew eat foods which smell disgusting?
Mew blinks his eyes before something clicks in his mind. “Oh, okay okay, Nong. Let me put it away. What do you want to eat then?”
“I…I don’t know,” Gulf replies in a small voice. Suddenly, he feels bad for complaining.
“Hmm, what’s the food that you seem to eat without feeling off so far?”
“B-Breakfast…” Gulf mumbles feeling his eyes stinging a bit. He wants to run away from embarrassment. How on Earth is he feeling so emotional over something so petty?
“Nong, don’t cry,” Mew says with a little panic in his voice as he hastily gathers the food almost shoving them away in the process.
“S-Sorry. I just feel like I’m bothering you so much.”
After putting away the foods, Mew hurriedly goes to the younger.
“Ssh, come here,” Mew utters as he envelops the younger. “How many times do I have to tell you that you’re not a bother at all, na?”
Mew can hear Gulf’s sniffs from his shoulder. He sighs. He has been told how a pregnant person behaves but he can never get used to this.
When silence engulfs them as Mew rubs the younger’s back; he adds, “So, the food we eat during breakfast is the only food you like?”
Gulf hums in agreement. Embarrassed is an understatement. Gulf doesn’t know now if he is thankful that the older is hugging him or not because he is sure his face is in total mess.
“Nothing else aside from that?”
“Hmm…”
Although Gulf doesn’t want to admit it, but he likes this: hugging Mew. Mew seems to be the most unfamiliar person he has hugged so far but he likes Mew’s hugs most. And he will neither admit it nor initiate it. Everything just feels frustratingly ridiculous.
“Does this mean that you haven’t eaten properly every after breakfast, Nong?”
Gulf can hear a warning tone from the older voice which makes him lift his arms to wrap onto the older as if to calm the older. He is a little worried of Mew getting mad, because partly Mew is right.
“N-Not really. I mean, I eat, really, Phi. Just…they don’t taste…good.”
Lies. Mew sighs. Guess, the research is right. Strangely, he knows how untrue Gulf’s words are. Or maybe he has been witnessing Gulf spitting untrue words so much that Mew becomes skeptic with the younger’s words. But this time he can feel it, Gulf is not really telling the truth.
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“Sorry…” Gulf mumbles softly, still rubbing Mew’s back.
Mew can only sigh from the younger’s word and gesture. He won’t deny that Gulf hugging him in return feels warm and cozy, a familiar feeling he has long forgotten, almost feels like…home.
Mew can only squeeze his eyes shut from his own ridiculous thoughts.
“But where did you order it, Phi? I always forget to ask you,” Gulf asks quietly getting comfortable in Mew’s hold. He feels like he can even sleep standing like this if that even makes sense.
Mew thinks a little harder trying to connect the dots.
“I didn’t order it, Nong.”
“Then, did you hire a cook for our breakfast?”
Gulf simply assumes it’s either of the two since whenever he comes down, everything is served already.
Mew chuckles and unbeknownst to the older, Gulf has a subtle smile on his face when he feels the warm vibration from the older’s body from such action.
“I cook our breakfast, Nong.”
Mew scolds himself internally. He really needs to get his act together. He shouldn’t have believed with Gulf’s words in the first place. He keeps missing things and he doesn’t like it at all.
“You cook?!”
Gulf pulls away due to his amazement and surprise, mouth agape a little. His hands are resting on Mew’s shoulder. He knew chefs exist but…wow.
Mew laughs seeing the younger’s reaction as he loosely hold him by his waist. Gulf looks like he is seeing a candy for the first time. Mew can almost see sparkles from Gulf’s eyes. Cute.
“Why? Haven’t seen a person who can cook before?”
“Huh? I mean…I’m just surprised.”
Mew can see the honey brown eyes locking on his. He wants to coo the younger. Gulf is just looking so cute like a child with those round eyes.
Mew raises a brow with amusement in his eyes. “Should I be offended by that?”
“N-No…I mean, I don’t know how to cook and I don’t personally know any man who can cook. Well, Dad can, but it wasn’t…” Gulf trails off after his ramble as if thinking for a proper word before he adds in a small voice, “…I won’t really call it food.”
Mew burst out laughing seeing Gulf’s subtle whine. He can’t help but pull the other again in his arms. Who can really blame him? Gulf is looking cuddly when he talks like that.
“You shouldn’t let him hear that, Nong.”
Gulf grins relaxing on Mew’s hold. He leans his head on the other’s shoulder. He is still shy over the entire hugging concept but he can feel himself easily getting used to it. Oddly, he likes hugs now—something he can’t remember getting fond of before. And Mew’s hug is especially…warm.
“How many people do you know to be amazed knowing a man who can cook, huh?” Mew chuckles. “I feel honored.”
“Just few Phi including my brothers,” Gulf replies. “Well, basically no man in our family can cook.”
It might be weird to see two grown tall men standing and hugging in a dining area but the two don’t seem to mind as they are focused on the topic at hand.
“So my cooking is safe for you, huh?
Gulf hums. “Seems like it…”
“The baby is being clingy to his Daddy, huh?” Mew muses.
Gulf’s mind lags hearing the older. He doesn’t know if he is thankful that the older his hugging him because he can feel how heat creeps on his face or NOT because right now, he wants to run and hide somewhere.
“H-Huh..?” Gulf ends up stammering which is not helping him, at all.
Mew covers his awkwardness with a laugh. He is not quite comfortable talking at it like that but if he wants them to be comfortable, he has to shove their walls if that’s what it takes for Gulf to confide to him.
But hell be damned, Mew should’ve chosen proper words. He explains further, “Well, you can’t like just any food so maybe our angel is trying to ask for my attention.”
“Oh, y-yeah…m-maybe…sorry,” Gulf replies feeling his body going stiff as a pole. His mind is shouting to run and hide with the awkwardness.
“Nong, can I ask something?”
“W-What is it, Phi?”
Mew heaves a deep breath. “Can you stop saying sorry from now on, especially if it’s about our angel?”
“So—I mean, o-okay, Phi.”
“Good,” Mew chirps as he pulls away from Gulf warmth one arm still snaking on the younger’s waist.
As much as Mew wants to feel the other’s warmth longer he needs to feed Gulf first. He ruffles Gulf hair with his free hand before he asks, “Now, what do you want for dinner? Let’s test our theory.”
“Theory…?” Gulf asks. His mind is still in haywire.
Mew smirks. “That our angel is being clingy to his daddy?”
Now, Gulf just wants the ground to swallow him up.
Mew chuckles seeing the younger’s face. “Nong, why are you so red?”
“Phiiii!” Gulf whines and tries untangle himself from Mew’s hold but the older used his other arm to hold him in place.
“Okay okay, teasing will be left for later, what do you want?”
Gulf can see Mew’s twitching lips and amusement is visibly dancing in his eyes. He groans in both embarrassment and frustration before casting his gaze downward.
“Anything…” Gulf mumbles quietly. The older seems to not be embarrassed with their proximity and it annoys him a little and he envies Mew big.
“To prove our theory, why don’t you recall a food which makes you feel disgusted?” Mew tries to talk in a serious manner but he can’t help his lips from twitching with the way how the younger is almost squirming in front of him with a face about to combust.
“Am I the guinea pig here?” Gulf can’t hide the grumble in his voice so he keeps his eyes down cast. He can’t look at Mew’s face when clearly the older is making fun of him…probably.
“You’re cuter than those.”
Mew chuckles more seeing Gulf slowly lowering his head with his ripe red face. The younger looks like a snail caving in.
Still laughing, Mew questions, “Okay, okay. I’ll be serious now. So, what is it?”
When they decided what Mew would cook for Gulf, the younger simply sat on the dining chair and waited for Mew to come around. Gulf offered to help out of courtesy but the offer was declined immediately—something Gulf thanked for since he wanted to breathe a little away from Mew’s presence.
Mew hurriedly cooked the dish afraid that Gulf might be hungry already since he knew that the other would never tell him that he’s hungry.
“This is really good, Phi!” Gulf exclaims in delight.
“Really?”
“Yes, Phi!” Gulf beams. “The heck, how can this be so good?”
Mew chuckles seeing Gulf’s face lit up upon tasting the food right after shoving it in his mouth.
“Slow down, Nong,” Mew reminds still chuckling but it seems like it fell into deaf ears.
Gulf never knew how much he loves to eat properly until he tasted Mew’s another dish. Breakfast is definitely different from this.
“So, my theory is right.” Mew grins.
“What theo—oh…” Gulf can feel another heat creeping in, again before he mumbles, “I guess…”
Gulf lowers his head to eat and fix his gaze on his food. It has to be the most interesting at the moment. How many times does he need to blush today?
Mew grins staring at the younger. “I can already tell he or she will be a daddy’s baby.”
Gulf almost chokes from his food, but he manages to let out an awkward chuckle still with his head hung ridiculously low.
“That’s a baseless acclamation, Phi.” Gulf is trying his hardest but he hasn’t prepared for the older’s bluntness.
“Why? Look, our angel is showing his loyalty to my cooking.”
Gulf can’t help but pout feeling a little dejected, and peeks at the older through his lashes. “It’s because I don’t know how to cook.”
“Awww nong, don’t worry about it, na? Just take care of yourself and I’ll do the rest.” Mew winks before he adds, “I guess I have to show off my skills from now on huh? I have a picky someone to impress.”
The evening goes smoothly as they chat and laugh over small things. And Mew can’t help but feel a little better not just because he can sense that Gulf is slowly getting comfortable with him but he can see that the younger is not rejecting his approaches.
Mew really thought that Gulf would punch him in the gut upon hearing his idea but thankfully none of it happened. He heaves a deep breath of relief.
After dinner, they talk some more before Mew dismissed the younger seeing him almost closing his eyes. He goes to his study to settle one thing that he has been considering for a while now.
Gulf’s incident just pushed the older to finalize it. He wants to punch himself because things really had to happen first before he finally comes up with a decision. He’s a workaholic, it has been his lifestyle for how many years but for the baby…for his child, this time he will do everything to secure his child’s safety.
“Son, why are calling late? Is there a problem?” his father answers after a couple of rings.
“Nothing, Phor,” Mew begins. “But I want to talk to you about something important.”
“What is it?”
“It’s about the position…”
Mew sighs after ending the call. He feels a little guilty with his old man. He has been postponing it for quite some time for some ridiculously petty reason but now, he has to do it. He is not trusting Gulf’s words anymore so he needs to spend time monitoring the guy.
The first thing that he needs to work on is Gulf’s sleeping pattern. He finally consulted the doctor earlier to be sure and she confirmed that it is also not so normal. He just sleeps and sleeps.
And the doctor’s words about stress and depression are ringing in Mew’s ears. He doesn’t know Gulf well, but his situation is very prone to those two things—which can harm the baby.
Still in his deep thoughts, Mew proceeds to their room and seeing the younger already asleep, he quietly makes his way to take a quick shower before he climbs on to the bed. He stares at the younger for couple of minutes watching—the steady rise and fall of his chest.
Mew smiles upon noticing how Gulf face seems to bury on Mew’s pillow—something he has been noticing for a few nights already.
There were even times when Mew accidentally wakes up in the middle of the night and he finds the younger real close to him and when he moves to give more space between them, Gulf seems to chase him by his nose which amuses Mew for how many times.
Mew shakes his head as he lies beside and facing Gulf, then proceeds to hold the younger’s hand.
Skinship is one of the most effective approaches to make someone comfortable, Mew thinks and hope for a more open Gulf in the near future before he succumbs to sleep.
***
To be continued...
They're getting there....I think?
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