Arthit walks out through the green iron gates with his head hanging low and a heavy heart that's completely drained. Even though his brother Kohl insists that things are better this way, he still feels guilty for leaving all those years ago. Leaving his brother to fight the demon that's their father all alone feels really selfish now. Kohl not only lost his opportunities of building a career for himself, but he also lost his first love. With all the debts and miserable dramas of their toxic family, Kohl couldn't promise a happy life to his girlfriend of seven years. He had to let her go. And knowing how much his brother has lost because of their selfish father made it that much more painful for Arthit.

Arthit takes a deep breath and closes the green iron gates behind him making sure he hears the click of the latch. With a deep sigh, he turns around to head back to Luke's awaiting car. The bright beaming headlights make it difficult to see ahead so he blocks the light with his hand over his squinting eyes. As he gets closer to the vehicle and the beam of headlights are finally out of his line of sight, he notices a tall figure leaning against the side of the car. Arthit quickly picks up his steps and walks into the open arms of his boyfriend.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Arthit nuzzles into the crook of Kongpob's neck. He takes in the comforting familiar scent of Kongpob as his body melts into their embrace. Feeling like all his energy has been depleted and his mind has gone numb, he just wants to stay wrapped in Kongpob's arms. This whole week, this whole month, this whole year, NO, THIS WHOLE LIFE of his has been exhausting. But he would go through everything again for this moment, for this love, for this man. He would cry right now if his tears weren't already dried out.

"Mmm...are you ready?" Kongpob asks with a kiss to Arthit's temple and the latter nods. So Kongpob opens the car door for him to get inside. He wrapped up his meeting with M as soon as Luke informed him that Arthit was visiting Kohl. He will deal with SuSus' problem later. Arthit needs him right now. Kongpob knew it was a matter of time before the brothers had a good talk, but he also knew it would take a toll on Arthit.

As Arthit scoots into the back seat, he suddenly remembers Luke. "Where did Luke go? Is he trailing us instead?"

"No, since Thak is here I sent him home. But you know the usuals are trailing us."

Arthit notices the privacy screen is up so he will just say hi to Thak later. He lays his head on Kongpob's shoulder. Even though it's dark inside the car, especially with the tinted windows, Arthit can still see the bunny plush in his hand. He hasn't seen this plush for almost six years. He squeezes it in his hand and flips its ears to the back.

"So who's this? Are you going to introduce us?" Kongpob asks softly.

Arthit chuckles at his silly boyfriend. "Kongpob, I would like you to meet Mr. Teddy. Mr. Teddy, this is my boyfriend Kongpob."

"Hahaha... it's clearly a bunny. Why is his name Teddy and not Bunny?" Kongpob pokes the plush in the tummy.

"Hey!!! Its name is Teddy because Kohl named it Teddy."

"And why did he do that? Poor bunny must have an identity crisis." Kongpob laughs flipping one of the plush's ears.

"Hey, don't make fun of it. Can't you have some imagination?" Arthit pouts even though Kongpob can't possibly see it in the dark.

"Fine. Fine. Teddy, it is then. I'm truly sorry bunny. I can't argue with my Tiger. You'll just have to deal with this identity crisis on your own."

Arthit side elbows Kongpob and hits him on the chest with the plush. "Take that! Now, stop making fun of my Teddy."

"Okayyyy. I'm just kidding. But it sleeps on your side of the bed." Kongpob reaches for Arthit's hand and laces their fingers together. Arthit is too cute sometimes for a grown man. Kongpob mentally chides himself for even thinking that. What has he become?

"Kohl won this for me at a local carnival when I was seven. I wanted a big teddy bear but he didn't score high enough for that prize. Instead, he won this small bunny and named it Teddy. I hated it at first because it's not the teddy bear I wanted, plus it has these girly ears. But Kohl told me that he was only getting me a prize and none for Krystal. I was really happy hearing that because I was going through a phase of being jealous of my little sister. After that, I always kept Teddy with me because only I have Teddy. I know I sound silly, but that's how I felt when I was younger." Arthit sighs while flipping Teddy's ears back and forth.

"You're not silly." Kongpob kisses the top of Arthit's head. Kongpob doesn't have any siblings so he has never experienced sibling rivalry. But he understands that every child wants to feel special and loved. And at least Kohl did that for Arthit.

"When I left home, I resented Kohl so much that I dumped Teddy in the trash bin. But Kohl saved Teddy and kept it all these years for me. I'm sorry Teddy. I didn't mean to." Arthit says to the plush bunny.

"Hmm... let's celebrate your reunion with Teddy. It's a little too late to throw a party, but this calls for at least a great feast."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Arthit chuckles at his boyfriend's attempt to lighten up the mood.

With a sly smile Kongpob lowers the privacy screen. "Thak, take us to get the good stuff and to the park."
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"Kongpob, I can't believe 'the good stuff' is fried chicken." Arthit rolls his eyes at the way Kongpob is hugging the bucket of fried chicken like it's precious gold. It was near comical how excited his boyfriend was at the drive-thru window ordering this chicken.

"It's so good! And I only have it once in a great while and on special occasions." Kongpob leads Arthit along by the hand to the same bench they sat on months ago at this park. It was the same spot Kongpob had said his first 'I love you' to Arthit.

Arthit lifts up the little bag in his hand. "Why did you order a kids' meal?"

"That's for Popeye. Save it."

"No wonder that traitor loves you so much. Have you been secretly feeding him fried chicken?"

"Maybe, maybe not... you'll never know."

"Tsk tsk tsk."

Sitting in front of the river and the lit-up Rama 8 Bridge, they quickly roll up their sleeves and start on their feast of fried chicken and cola. Within fifteen minutes, the whole bucket of chicken is gone except for a pile of clean bones. Both men let out a satisfying loud burp without holding back or any sense of embarrassment. They turn to look at each other with silly grins on their faces.

"This was good. I didn't even know I was so hungry." Stretching his legs out, Arthit smiles contently looking across the river.

"Of course you are. It's already past ten. Here." Kongpob hands Arthit a wet napkin to clean his greasy fingers.

Arthit takes the napkin and smiles watching Kongpob try to clean up the mess. "Thanks for everything."

"It's only fried chicken. I didn't even make you my famous instant noodles." Kongpob winks and picks up the trash they've created and places them into a paper bag to throw away later. He looks up again and finds Arthit staring at him.

"For all the things you do." Arthit smiles and leans in for a kiss. Arthit means everything Kongpob has done for him with or without him knowing.

"Mmm...and for this chicken tasting kiss," Arthit adds between pecks.

"Hey, you taste just as delicious."

They pull apart and sit in comfortable silence for a little longer enjoying the scenery.

"Arthit, your dad is almost done with rehab. What do you think?" Kongpob has been waiting to find the right time to tell Arthit and maybe that time is now.

Arthit stiffens hearing that his father may come back soon. His walk down memory lane is still too fresh. His mother has only just started to act more normal and not so anxious and jittery all the time. And Krystal has finally started dating. All these years she has been too afraid and ashamed of their family's mess to date. She used to wear long sleeve shirts all the time just to cover the random bruises she got all the time from trying to protect their mother. And then there's Kohl. After all these years, his brother finally has a chance to breathe freely out of the devil's reach. Kohl finally has a steady job that he's proud of.

Arthit doesn't know what everyone else thinks about his father's impending return, but he is not interested in seeing the devil no matter how much he has changed. He's certain that nothing good would come of it.

"Kongpob, would you be disappointed in me if I said that I don't want to see him again?"

Kongpob takes a moment before he answers. "No. Of course not. It's your prerogative to see him or not. I would respect your decision. Whatever that may be."

"Respecting my decision doesn't necessarily mean you're not disappointed in me. I know you have this inherent nature to fix things because you're an idealist, but some things can't be fixed. And some things don't want to be fixed. Can you understand that?" Arthit really doesn't want to let Kongpob down, especially after all he has done for his family. But Arthit is done trying to please everyone and he's done pretending to be okay.

Kongpob picks up their intertwined hands and kisses the back of Arthit's. "I do understand and I'm not disappointed. The only reason I sent him away was to give everyone a breather. I could have gotten rid of him for good, and to be honest, that's what he deserves in my book. But I don't want you to resent me one day and look at me differently. I don't want either one of us to live with that guilt. So no, I'm not disappointed in you. Instead, I'm proud that you're being honest with me and you're not forcing yourself to do something you don't want to do."

"Thank you for understanding me." Arthit returns the gesture and kisses Kongpob's hand. He thinks he must have done something right in his past life to have Kongpob.

"What about your family? Do you want to let them know? I can find a way to keep him away if you want."

Arthit shakes his head. "No, let them make their own decisions. Maybe a meeting can be arranged. Those who choose to see him can go. But I'm worried about my mother though. I don't know if she's strong enough yet."

"Why don't you, Kohl, and Krystal have a talk first and decide if she's stable enough yet. You guys can all decide together. Then you won't have to put all this burden on yourself."

Arthit nods and turns to look at Kongpob. "So why did we come here? Aren't you tired? We could have taken the chicken home."

Kongpob smiles and turns to meet Arthit's eyes. "Hmm...just in case you forgot, I love you."

~~~~~~
AN: Sweets, here's a little fluff after the last emo chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.

Curtsy,
Lana ❤️