Chapter Text
“Oho, she’s not gonna like it if you hold her like that.”
“I can tell, no, no, I’m sorry, don’t leave!”
Satang adjusts Munmuang on his lap to a position that makes her less finicky. She doesn’t look pleased to be there, though, but at least she has, for the time being, found peace.
When she kneads Satang’s lap and he grits his teeth, Fourth can only laugh.
“This is your life now, friend, enjoy,” Fourth says, and Satang, desperate to be relived from his torment but still seeking the joys of cat-on-lap, scratches the back of Munmuang’s neck.
Lord Jumu watches it all from afar, all the way from his tower in the corner of the living room. Fourth calls to him, makes beckoning sounds, but he remains still, only his eyes going from one person in the room to the other.
“I think Jumu is scared,” Satang points out.
“That’s Lord Jumu for you!” Gem calls from the kitchen. “And he’s not scared, he’s just calculating his next move.”
“Maybe he’s a little traumatized,” Fourth says, standing up from the couch and leaving Satang to his own fate. Jumu accepts his petting like a drop of water in the desert — that is, by flopping on his side and blinking adoringly at Fourth. Maybe Fourth really is his favorite, but Fourth can’t even steal him now that he’s adopted Munmuang, who slapped Jumu in the face just a few minutes ago. “Don’t worry, baby, I’ll protect you.”
“No, you won’t,” Gem says, walking into the room with a bag of chips. His hair is still wet from his earlier shower, and the sight of him does remind Fourth that he’s been playing with Satang and the cats for a while now and that he’s really hungry. “You’re a Munmuang apologist,” Gem adds, offering him chips because he’s perfect and Fourth loves him.
“She’s just playing! He’s not hurt or anything, right, Jumu?” Fourth asks his buddy, who meows in return. Such a talkative cat! Fourth stuffs the chip in his mouth and moves to squeeze Jumu a little. The meow he lets out at being squished only makes Fourth want to squish him more.
Fourth hears more than he sees Gem flop on the couch, and out the corner of his eye, he sees Munmuang rush away.
“Battery low, huh?” Satang says, stealing some of Gem’s chips. His battery really is low because he doesn’t even fight Satang for it. “The live event after the shooting really was kind of overkill.”
“He brings it to himself, phi,” Fourth says, poking at Gem’s foot with his own. Blob Gem on the couch only groans. “Recording tiktoks late into the night.”
“Music sounds better after midnight,” blob Gemini says, and Fourth rolls his eyes. Satang only laughs, shaking his head, before standing.
“Okay, I’ll leave you to babysit him,” he says, stretching. “I also want to get some work done. Before midnight.”
“Goodbye, phi,” says Gemini from the couch, dragging out the last word, waving without looking at Satang. “See you tomorrow!”
Fourth accompanies Satang to the door, because the host has no manners.
At the door, Satang pulls Fourth closer to whisper, “He’s been stressing over his acting. Not too much but like—”
“In the Gem way,” Fourth says and Satang nods. Fourth has learned what it means with time — that Gem masks his insecurities with cheerfulness but repeats a task over and over again until he’s satisfied with it.
Satang smiles at him and they fistbump before he leaves. Satang really is his favorite out of Gem’s closer colleagues, and probably Gem’s favorite, too. One of the very few people who knows about the two of them. Helped Fourth choose and pick Munmuang up back when he was still unsure whether he could raise a cat by himself. And his voice harmonizes well with Gem’s, boosting his confidence whenever they have concerts together. Fourth is so glad Gem gets to work with P’Satang in his debut drama.
He walks back to the living room and sits beside Gem. He almost looks like he’s sleeping with his eyes open (which Fourth knows he can do).
“Are you still alive?” Fourth asks, poking his cheek. Gem turns his neck towards him, but otherwise doesn’t move to do anything but eat another chip.
“What do you wanna do tonight?”
“Well, I still have some reading to do.” Gemini whines and kicks his feet. Fourth is undeterred. “What about that game you were playing last week? Have you finished it yet?”
“No. I need you to kill a boss for me.”
“You’re gonna learn a different boss strategy than ‘hitting the attack button until the HP gauge is empty’ eventually.”
“I don’t have to if you beat them for me.” Gem’s smile is blinding. Fourth elbows him before stealing the bag of chips altogether. “Wow. Worst boyfriend in the world.”
“I’m not gonna beat any bosses tonight. Movie night?”
Gem nods slowly as if Fourth just said something sagely.
“You pick,” Gem says, nudging his shoulder.
“What about dinner?”
“You pick that too.”
“Wow,” Fourth says with exaggerated wonder. “Worst boyfriend in the world.”
Fourth doesn’t actually move to do any of those things. The TV is on, playing some mindless program neither of them really pay attention to. Gemini adjusts himself on the couch, crossing his legs and leaning his head against Fourth’s shoulder. Fourth knows that, even though Gem looks seconds away from sleep, his hands are clasped together instead of clinging to Fourth, so that means his mind is still working.
“What if,” Fourth says, “we watched a horrible action film?”
He turns his head to Gem and Gem actually leans back to look at him, a lopsided smile playing on his lips.
“Yeah?”
“Absolutely dreadful. Worst acting ever recorded. Dialogue may or may not have been written by AI. The photography kind of goes off though.”
Gem giggles. Fourth almost moves to pat him on the head before he remembers that specific hand is covered in chip crumbs.
“I do love those occasionally.”
“Deal,” Fourth says, moving quickly to give him a peck on his lips before getting up to discard the bag of chips and wash his hands. Munmuang walks right past him as he walks to the bathroom, probably to sit next to Gem on the couch because he’s her favorite since he doesn’t squish her. Figures.
“You’ll have to pick dinner yourself though!” he calls from the bathroom.
“Ai’Fot!”
“And don’t forget to call your mom!”
As he finishes washing his hands, he looks at himself in the mirror over the sink. He’s still just a university student. He still lives with his family, but he keeps a copy of the key to Gem’s place, which he thought he would eventually have to give back. His hair is longer now, neatly styled sideways in a way that Gem seems to like, considering how much he likes to run his fingers through it before he kisses him even in the light of day, when Fourth visits his filming locations and events. He can play the guitar better now than he used to as a teen, something that makes Gem so happy it seems to burst out of him like sunlight.
And he can walk back to the man he loves more than any one of his fans can claim to, throw an arm around his shoulders, and give him a sniff kiss on his cheek, making him giggle during his phonecall.
“Say hi to mae,” Gem says, and Fourth places his head against Gem’s, the cellphone sandwiched between them, to greet Gem’s mom.
He does choose dinner while Gem talks to his mom, Munmuang moving from her place at the other end of the couch to lie next to his leg.
Gem envelops the hand that he has on his shoulder in his own. His smile as he talks to his mom seems more natural now. And when he finishes the call, he throws one of his legs over Fourth’s, and gestures with his chin for Fourth to press play on their terrible movie, so Gem can forget about his skills and what’s expected of him and can just kiss his boyfriend over poorly written dialogue.
Maybe, once the credits are rolling and their stomachs are full and their mouths are tired from kissing, Fourth will remind his boyfriend of how great and stunning and talented and outstanding he is. Just to watch Gem blush and try to hide and give him an embarrassed but pleased toothy smile. And then Fourth will just have to kiss him again.
Maybe he can do all that if the cats stop sitting all over them.
Fourth huffs.
Don’t they know Gemini is his favorite too?