Work Text:
Please, see me
Reaching out for someone I can't see
Take my hand
Let's see where we wake up tomorrow
"Lost Stars" by Adam Levine
"It's your day off Saturday, right?"
Ken blinked as the question registered in his mind. He looked up to see Stell casually leaning against his desk, and he looked nervous for some reason.
He glanced at his calendar. "Yup, it's my day off."
"Are you doing anything that day?"
Ken had a million things to do that day. Groceries, cleaning, and laundry come to mind. Kuro's getting old enough that Ken can entrust him to do a few chores like getting him to clean his room, so Saturday is a very full day.
Stell must see his hesitation, and his smile falters a bit.
"I'm really sorry," Ken breathed out. "Just...Saturday is usually spent on chores and errands. Only day of the week I can get on top of house stuff because on Sundays, Kuro and I have our bonding time."
At that, Stell's smile brightens. "Oh, of course! I was thinking, though, if on Saturday night I could invite you and Kuro somewhere?"
This was a thing Ken was still getting used to. Ever since that day he brought Kuro to the office, Stell has become even more of a prominent figure in his life. Stell asked after his son, always seemingly genuinely interested whenever Ken regales him with whatever tale about Kuro’s latest adventures, and he’s got a whole lot of them.
He doesn’t know if they’re a thing really, and Ken really wants to explore that thread more, but Stell hasn’t said anything else. And besides, he’s technically Stell’s subordinate. It would be wildly inappropriate to get involved with him while that is still the case.
“What do you have planned?” He asked anyway, because even if they weren’t really anything yet, Ken did like spending time with Stell.
“I was thinking we could go down to Tagaytay? We can leave Saturday late afternoon, arrive just in time for dinner and to get settled into the house, and then Sunday, we can take Kuro around, maybe even go swimming,” Stell explained. “I think he’ll love it.”
Kuro definitely will, and so will Ken for that matter. It has been a while since he left the city, and he missed the province greatly. He always made plans to take Kuro to Zamboanga with him one day so they can spend time with family, but between work and being a single father, Ken’s either had no time or no money to make his plans come into fruition. Tagaytay is not quite Zamboanga, but it’s a start.
“I think he’d love it too,” he replied, smiling up at Stell, but then he hesitated. “Are you sure you want to spend your Sunday with us?”
“I wouldn’t have invited you if I didn’t,” Stell pointed out. “Come on, what do you say?”
Ken thought over it for a moment. “I’ll ask Kuro and I’ll get back to you tonight, but I think you can count us in.”
“Great! You don’t have to worry about anything, just bring your stuff. I’ll take care of the planning,” Stell said, already whipping out his phone and rapidly tapping away. “Text me your address, I’ll pick you guys up, say 4 in the afternoon?”
“Sounds good,” Ken found himself saying. “I look forward to it,” he added before realizing that he really did.
Stell smiled brilliantly and after a few more minutes of idle chit chat, he headed back to his office and Ken turned back to the spreadsheet in front of him as he tried to get back to work. The numbers were not making a lick of sense, but that probably had something to do with his thoughts drifting over distractedly to his very attractive manager.
His manager, who oh-so-casually invited him and his son on a weekend getaway like it was not a big deal.
He forced himself to look back at the spreadsheet. If Ken dwelled on it any further, he might just start to overthink the invitation. It was just a nice, innocent, weekend away.
He refused to dwell on the idea that it could be something more.
Kuro, predictably, was ecstatic.
In the days that passed since his son first met Stell, Kuro had been harping on and on to Ken about when they were “going to see Mr. Stell again?” It was adorable to see Kuro so excited about another person, and it was worth it to see the betrayed looks on Josh and Justin’s faces when they realized their actual godson was eagerly asking about another person.
It still baffles him to this day how Kuro opened up so easily around Stell. In the time between realizing Kuro was missing and then finding him sitting in his manager's oversized office chair, something had to have happened that had his son giggling happily and beaming up at someone who was, at that point, a practical stranger to him.
It was probably Stell’s super friendly nature. Since Ken started working there, having Stell as his superior actually made the work a lot more bearable. Stell was the type of boss that you would be lucky to have in your lifetime. He was kind and understanding, he listened carefully, and he coached in a way that made you appreciate the time rather than bristle with indignation at needing coaching. He was, hands down, one of the best supervisors Ken’s ever had in his colorful work history, so it made sense that he was good with kids as well.
But, he’s never met Ken’s kid. Even he had trouble getting Kuro to open up to him, and he was his father, but less than ten minutes with Stell, and they were best friends.
He couldn’t even find it within himself to be jealous. He was just glad to see Kuro being friendly with someone else that wasn’t either of his godfathers or his babysitter.
That Saturday, they sped through their errands in record time, far quicker than they usually would be. He forced himself up at 5 am while Kuro was still asleep and proceeded to put on a load of laundry, glad that he invested in an automatic washing machine so he could leave it running while he got started on breakfast.
They went and got groceries next, and when they came back home at around noon, Kuro didn’t even make a fuss about cleaning up his bedroom. His son promptly scooped up all of his toys, threw them in his toy chest, and he even tidied up his little book shelf and drawers without Ken asking him to do so. Ken blinked in surprise when he peeked into his son’s room to see it more immaculate than it had ever been.
Still, he couldn’t really judge the speed at which Kuro got his things done, not when he himself was running around their little townhouse, putting away groceries and then hanging up the laundry he got done earlier in the day.
By 3pm, they’ve got all their chores done, and Ken wasn’t going to deny that both he and his son were buzzing with excitement.
Sure enough, ten minutes before 4, a honk sounded outside and Ken peeked out the screen door just in time to see Stell parking his large Fortuner at the front of their gate.
“Kuro, Stell’s here,” he announced, and before he even knew it, Kuro sped past him and out the door.
“Mr. Stell!” He greeted excitedly as Stell rounded the front of the car, grinning widely.
“Kuro!” He exclaimed, just as excited, arms open as Kuro launched himself at him.
Ken had to swallow his saliva at the sight. Stell was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a white v-neck, the fabric hanging nicely around his frame. He’s always known Stell was attractive - how could he not - but seeing him crouch down to his son’s level, careful arms around Kuro’s shoulders as he listened attentively at whatever his son babbled about had him staring at the pair from their front door.
He called out to them. "I'll be a minute, I'll just go get our stuff."
"Oh, let me help," Stell said as he stood up. "Come on, Kuro, let's get your things so we can get going!"
Ken watched in awe as Kuro took the other man’s hand and he led Stell into their small and humble home. Kuro then bounded to his bedroom to grab his stuff, which left Ken and Stell standing in the living room.
Stell didn’t say anything, but he merely looked around with a soft smile on his face. There were a few pictures around, a lot of them featuring Kuro as he grew up. Ken had maybe one or two pictures of Kuro’s mother on the TV shelf, and he even had one with his best friends and his son. It was a small gallery into their little family, something that Ken was insanely proud of.
“His mother?” Stell asked, pointing to the picture, and Ken nodded.
“Yeah. I keep it up there to remind Kuro about her,” he replied sadly, turning back to Stell. “It wasn’t an easy pregnancy. Complications arose at the last minute and...well, she didn’t quite make it.”
Stell gasped softly. “Oh god.”
“Yeah. I always keep a photo of her, and I talk to Kuro about her as much as I can,” Ken replied with a wry smile. “She loved him so much, even when he was just two lines on a pregnancy test, and I always told him that. He deserves to know about her. Even if I’m fucking up a lot of the time, at least this is one thing that I haven’t messed up.”
“For the record, I think you’re a great dad,” Stell tells him, reaching out with a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I can see you’ve done right by Kuro, and you’re doing your best. That’s really all anyone could ever ask you to do.”
Ken lets out a soft huff. “Yeah, I guess I’m not completely messing up.”
They don’t say anything more between them, and it would be too easy to just lean in and press his lips against Stell’s. He could just lean forward, plant a kiss, finally find out what Stell tasted like. The air around them crackled with static, and with Stell looking at him like that, all soft eyes and lips stretched into a genuine smile, Ken really thinks that maybe he could fall in love a second time.
“Tatay, Mr. Stell, let’s go!”
Kuro’s voice cut between them and they sprang apart as if electrocuted. They turned as one to see Kuro carrying his bag, a large smile on his face.
“Right,” Ken said, the first to snap out of the daze. “Let’s go, I think Mr. Stell here has us on a tight schedule.”
That moved Stell into action, and between the two of them, they managed to get all their stuff loaded into the Fortuner. Soon, they were roaring down the highway. Kuro was more than happy to entertain himself with his coloring books in the backseat, which allowed Ken the time to simply sit back and glance over at Stell who was driving.
“What?” Stell asked when they started nearing the exit to Tagaytay. “You’ve been looking at me, is there something on his face?”
Ken shook his head with a grin. “Nah, just...I’m just excited for this vacation.”
With that, Stell smiled. “So am I.”
They arrived at Tagaytay just a little past six p.m. They grabbed dinner first at one of the Bulalohan restaurants where Ken introduced his son to the wonders of amazingly cooked bulalo. They had a little mini-argument where Ken insisted on at least paying for his and Kuro’s meals, but Stell was hearing none of it, handing his credit card instead to the waitress.
“I told you that you don’t have to worry about anything. I got you,” Stell told him once he got his card back.
Ken huffed. “Fine, but you’re going to let me treat you to lunch when we come back.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Stell responded smoothly, and Ken blushed when he realized what he just said.
He was about to respond when he felt a small tug on his arm. He looked down to see Kuro reaching for him and without a word, Ken allowed him to sit on his lap.
“Are you getting sleepy, baby?” He asked, pressing his lips to Kuro’s hairline.
Kuro shook his head. “I’m just full, tatay.”
“I bet,” Stell said with a small chuckle. “You had a lot of rice, buddy. Did you like the food?”
Kuro nodded. “I did!”
“And what do we say to Mr. Stell?” Ken prompted him, and Kuro scrunched his nose adorably before he got the hint.
“Thank you, Mr. Stell!”
Stell had a ridiculously fond grin on his face. “You are most welcome, Kuro. Now, what do you say let’s go get settled into the house? If we’re lucky tonight, it’ll be cloudless and we’ll be able to do a bit of stargazing.”
Those were, apparently, the right words to say to the six-year old because before they knew it, Kuro was practically begging them to get a move on.
The house Stell was referring to was apparently owned by one of their company’s grateful clients. Ken listened as Stell told him about how this particular client was on the verge of bankruptcy, but Stell painstakingly worked to help them to the best of his ability. He wasn’t a manager yet at that time, and it was before Ken got hired, but the clients were apparently so impressed that they offered the use of their Tagaytay home to Stell if he ever wanted to go on a vacation out of the city.
“I’ve always gone by myself,” Stell said as he unlocked the front door.
“You had this large house all to yourself?” Ken asked, gaping at the sight of what looked to be a swimming pool in the garden.
Stell shrugged. “Never found someone I wanted to really bring here. Well, until now.”
And really, Stell should stop saying shit like that unless he wanted Ken to tackle him to the ground and kiss him senseless. Ken was just grateful that he had his arms full of his son. Otherwise, he might have just done that.
“Alright, get settled. There’s like four bedrooms here, so you and Kuro can choose which one you’ll take,” Stell told them. “Then, get in your jammies and meet me in the backyard. Think you can manage to take your tatay out there?”
He directed that last question to Kuro who nodded seriously.
“Alright, I’m counting on you, buddy,” Stell told him before his eyes met Ken’s. “I’ll see you two there in a few minutes.”
Urging his heart to stop doing backflips, Ken went through the entire pre-bedtime routine with Kuro. A quick warm shower was followed by teeth brushing and slipping into comfortable sleepwear. Ken was just glad he packed his long jogging pants because he could feel the biting chill of the crisp Tagaytay air.
“C’mon, tatay, let’s go see Mr. Stell,” Kuro urged, and together, they walked to the backyard.
Both father and son gasped at the sight.
Stell was setting up an honest-to-goodness telescope in front of a bench swing set. He turned around just in time to spot them, and a grin overtook his face.
“Come on here, Kuro, I think you’ll love this,” Stell said, and Kuro walked over, eyes sparkling in awe at the sight of the telescope in front of him. “Okay, buddy, I’ll carry you so you can reach the telescope, but if you look through here, you’ll be able to see the stars.”
Kuro promptly lifted his arms up to be carried. Stell bent over and lifted him up and situated him on his hip carefully, his arms going around Kuro’s small frame and cradling him, holding him, firm but gentle in his movements. There really should be some warning whenever his son and Stell start being too adorable because Ken doesn’t think his heart can survive.
“Wow,” Kuro whispered almost reverently as he looked through the telescope.
“Isn’t it amazing?” Stell asked him, looking up at the sky as well. “This is why I wanted you and your tatay here with me. I knew you two were going to love it.”
He directed that last part to Ken who was still standing off to the side. Ken mustered up the energy to give Stell a smile which wasn’t too difficult considering he was standing there, holding Ken’s entire world in his arms, and treating him with equal amounts of love and care that Ken never really saw with other people or potential partners.
When Kuro had enough of the telescope, the three of them sat on the swing and let the wind rock it gently. Stell was teaching Kuro all about the stars and planets, his son listening with rapt attention until he finally fell asleep, the excitement of the day having finally caught up to him.
“I should put him to bed,” Ken whispered, but he really didn’t want to leave just yet. Kuro’s entire body was snuggled against Ken’s side, his legs draped over Stell’s lap, and moving him meant moving away from this moment.
Nonetheless, Stell nodded. “He’s had a long day, hasn’t he?”
“He was practically buzzing when I told him that you wanted to take us somewhere,” Ken replied, looking back at Stell only to see Stell staring back at him. “Stell, what are we doing?”
Stell tilted his head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“I mean...what is this? The weekend getaway, inviting me and my son,” Ken trailed off as he gestured around them.
“Well, that’s simple. I wanted to see you, and I wanted to see Kuro, and I figured I’d take both of you out on a nice trip because you work so hard to provide for him,” Stell replied. “I figured both of you needed a break.”
Ken chuckled. “You’re damn right we needed a break. Do you do this to all your employees?”
“Only the ones I really, really like,” came the response, and Ken looked up again in surprise.
Stell bit his lip, but he moved closer, leaning into Ken’s space. “I really really like you, Ken, and I know that there’s a lot of things we need to figure out. I’ve always been meaning to ask you out before, but I could never find the courage to do so.”
“Oh,” Ken replied almost dumbly. “But you’re my manager.”
“I’m well aware of that, but I really like you,” Stell replied softly. “And I...I hope you like me too.”
Ken took a deep breath, and he allowed his fingers to run over Kuro’s hair for a moment. “I really like you too,” he finally said, and a genuine smile overtook Stell’s face. “I really like you, too.”
“Can I kiss you, then?” Stell asked, and Ken nodded, finally closing the gap between them.
The kiss was soft, gentle, an innocent meeting of two people hoping to explore something more. Stell brought up his free hand to cup Ken’s cheek, and it was an awkward position considering they had a six-year old asleep between them.
But damn, it was one of the best kisses Ken’s ever had, and now that he knows what Stell tastes like, how he kisses, he finds himself unable to let go.
“I’m ready to try this if you are,” Stell told him as they pulled apart, and Ken nodded.
“I’m ready to give it a shot.”
And Stell leaned in again, and Ken kissed back with equal fervor, a start of something new and beautiful.
He couldn’t wait for what’s next.
Fin