Work Text:
“No.”
“Please, Daddy?”
“Absolutely not. We’re too busy, we wouldn’t have the time.”
“I’ll take care of it!”
“We’re not getting a dog, Phu,” Tul said sternly, determined to stop this idea before it got out of hand.
He adored his son, ask anyone and they’d tell you how much. After all, Phupha was all that kept him alive for several years. But even though he wanted to shower his son with everything he could ever desire, he knew that being a good father included knowing when to say no. He learned his lesson from purposefully spoiling Tin, and he was not about to make the same mistake twice and let his sweet little boy turn into a brattish nightmare.
“Tul,” a gentle voice came from the passenger seat beside him. Tul sighed.
Hin, however, was a completely different story.
All his life, Hin had been right there, putting Tul’s needs and wants before his own, putting everyone’s needs and wants before his own. It took Tul far too long to let himself accept that he loved him. And even after that, it wasn’t until Hin had disappeared from his life that he realized just how much he had taken him for granted.
He spent so many years staring at that rock – still safely tucked away in his bedside table – willing to take any punishment for his terrible behavior, if only the love of his life would come back. Then, by some miracle, there Hin was, standing in the kitchen and wishing him a good morning as if he didn’t just implode Tul’s entire world.
And ever since then, Hin had been as selfless and amazing as he ever was: taking abuse from Phupha before he acclimated to having Hin around, getting side-eyes from jealous coworkers at the company who wanted to know where the boss’s new secretary came from, putting up with the Medthanan family drama, helping out around the house even though Tul begged him to let some chores be someone else’s responsibility.
All in all, Tul was completely defenseless against Hin. He gave and gave and never expected anything in return. There was clearly no worry about him ever becoming spoiled. So how could Tul ever say no to him the few times he allowed himself a wish?
He couldn’t.
So when Hin turned to him from looking out of the passenger window and says, “A dog may be too big of a responsibility, but what about a cat? They’re pretty much self-sufficient and it would still give Phupha a lovable companion.”
Well, he was pretty much fucked, wasn’t he?
One look at Hin’s beautiful, kind face and Tul resigned himself to the fact that they were getting a cat. Still, he wanted to seem like he had a little dignity left, so he pretended to contemplate it until he counted to ten in his head and made sure to let out a dramatic sigh before giving in.
“Phupha, you are in charge of cleaning the litter box. Don’t make other people do it, not even once.”
Phupha cheered loudly from the backseat, kicking his feet happily and thanking Tul for being the best dad ever. Tul just looked over at Hin, whose pleased smile combined with the way he took Tul’s hand in his was all the thanks Tul would ever need.
~~~
How did this end up happening? Tul wondered to himself as he looked in the mirror at the kitten in Phupha’s lap in the backseat, then glanced to the one in Hin’s lap in the passenger seat beside him. He hadn’t even wanted one cat, so how did they end up with two?
“They’re sisters, Dad, we can’t separate them!” Phupha had demanded in the shelter as he waved a string for them to paw at.
“Separating those that love one another is never the right answer,” Hin had said in agreement, discreetly sneaking a glance at Tul. Of course, hearing Gonhin say something like that was the equivalent of turning his heart into a puddle, so he didn’t even protest when Phupha scooped both kittens up and loudly declared to the worker that they were taking both home.
Within a few months, the kittens had doubled in size and nearly every house rule Tul had originally set had been broken several times over. He had caught Hin and Auntie helping Phupha in cleaning up after the cats, he had to stop them from scratching up the furniture, he had seen Phupha sneaking them some food off of his own dinner plate. And everything was. Covered. In. Fur.
To top it off, the cats didn’t seem to like him much; maybe he was too tall and scary to them or maybe he was too uninvolved in their care for them to garner interest in him. Either way, he received the occasional hiss, but mostly they just ignored him or scurried away in his presence. He didn’t mind much, Hin and Phu showered the cats with love, and seeing them happy gave him enough satisfaction that he could put up with hissing little shadow-dwellers living in his house.
One thing he wasn’t expecting – though probably should have – was how having the cats gave Gonhin and Phupha something to bond over. Phupha had come a long way in learning to accept and even like Hin before they got the little critters, but, now that they had this, it was going much faster than before. Hin had found an electric litterbox for the cats to use and shown Phu how it works, he had taken Phu shopping for cat toys, and painstakingly taught Phu how to properly play with kittens. He had even gone so far as looking up how to bake homemade cat treats, which he and Phu were taking great joy in making together every week.
It seemed too good to be true. Seeing his son so cheerful and happy while playing with the cats – SomSom and KaNom, he had named them – and seeing him grow more and more comfortable with going to Hin for questions or advice, it gave him a sense of tranquility. Which was ironic, because the cats were anything but tranquil. He couldn’t deny that it kept things lively, though, and led to experiences he would have never pictured himself having.
He got to watch in awe when Phu and Hin actually managed to teach KaNom how to sit on command by offering her enough treats, the glutton she was. And SomSom was always getting into new kinds of mischief. He chuckled as he watched from the couch as Gonhin and Phupha sat at the piano, both of them laughing hysterically as SomSom decided to interrupt their playing by jumping up on the keys and walking around, creating horrible notes with her tiny paws.
He was grateful. He had been so worried he screwed his son up by not making his marriage to his mother work, but knowing he now had two loving homes he could go back and forth between was a relief. He felt lucky that Phupha was young enough to have happy memories of growing up in a house that felt complete. And it really did. For the first time in Tul’s life, the Medthanan household felt like a home.
And maybe he was biased, but he knew it was all because of Hin.
Everything good in life seemed to stem from Hin, and it made sense, because Hin was so good himself. Even the cats could sense it. They took a while to be fully comfortable around Phu, who clearly adored them, but they gravitated toward Hin, undoubtedly able to identify his loving soul and never-ending good intentions. They could tell he was safe and magnetic and filled with kindness just as easily as Tul could.
Tul was reminded of this one day as he walked into their bedroom. Hin was working on his laptop while lying on the bed, his back against the headboard and his legs outstretched in front of him, crossed at the ankles. Both of the cats, now eight months old, were curled up tightly against his hip.
In that moment was when the thought struck him.
If you kept everything else about this house the same, but took Hin away, the place would be dark and stifling. His son wouldn’t laugh as much, he and his brother would still be at war, and even the cats would be a nightmarish headache rather than an amusing nuisance. There would be no expression of emotion the way there was now. Hin’s very presence gave the house warmth with his piano music that fills the halls, homework sessions with Phu, and desserts that he’d make on a whim because he knew Tul and Phu share a sweet tooth.
It wasn’t just Tul who felt it either. He could make Tul’s father proud enough to call Hin his third son, and he cared for Phupha as if he were his own child, never having missed a beat when it came to loving him. It was as if having Tul’s DNA was all it would ever take to for Hin to love Phu unconditionally.
Everything about Gonhin is home to Tul, and he brought the house to life in a way that nothing else ever could.
Walking over to the bed, Tul shooed the cats away with one hand – ignoring the hiss that it earned him – and grabbed Hin’s laptop with the other, moving it off his lap and onto the side table. Hin looked up at him in surprise.
“I need to finish that work by the end of the day,” Hin said with amusement.
Tul couldn’t even bring himself to answer, so momentarily overcome with how full his chest felt. Instead, he laid down with his head on Hin’s lap, burying his face into Hin’s stomach.
“Tired? Was it a rough day?” Hin asked, stroking his hand through Tul’s hair. “Maybe I should’ve gone back to the office after I picked Phu up from school.”
His voice turned from amused to concerned so quickly it made Tul want to sigh. Instead, he picked his head up, meeting Hin’s curious gaze.
“Every day without you is rough. Even if it is just half a day.”
A look of surprise flashed across Hin’s expression before one of pleased embarrassment took its place and he looked away. "Silly," he said softly, continuing to comb his fingers through Tul's hair.
Tul gently shook his head. No matter how many times he told Hin that he loved him, that he couldn’t live without him ever again, Hin never failed to be taken aback by that fact. It was as if he couldn’t comprehend being loved so thoroughly, or perhaps that he couldn’t comprehend being loved so thoroughly by Tul. As if he didn't deserve someone like Tul loving him. But Tul knew that the truth was the other way around, that he was blessed to have the affection of someone who was so genuine and sincere.
SomSom jumped back up on the bed, making Tul turn his head. The cat slowly began creeping closer, one paw at a time, until she was only a foot away. Hin reached out a hand to her and she leaned into it immediately, purring at the chin scratches he gave.
"Here," Hin said, pulling his hand away from SomSom and taking Tul's hand in his. He gently guided it closer to the kitten and let her sniff at his fingertips. Tul watched as she contemplated for a moment before rubbing her cheek against him. He carefully continued to pet her cheek and SomSom began to purr once more. Fighting against the grin threatening to spread across his face, Tul looked up at Hin again, who made his own smile no secret. If petting the kittens got him smiles like that, Tul had no doubt he'd turn into a cat person very soon.
How such a lovely man could ever doubt his worth, Tul would never know. So he would just have to keep on repeating how much he loved Hin over and over again, until Hin could accept it. Until he could hear the words and not be shocked by them. Until he could take Tul’s love for granted the way that Tul had taken Hin’s love for granted all those years ago. That was unlikely though, as taking anything for granted wasn’t in Hin’s nature.
Oh well. He supposed that just meant he would have to say the words every day, in every way, forever.
A smile finally appeared on Tul's face. He couldn’t wait.