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Kim was ten when he learned his father wasn't as all-powerful and all-knowing as he'd always believed. His beloved older brother was taken without any warning, his bodyguards left for dead. It tooks days for his father and his father’s guards to find him again, and he came back different. Fragile.
Kim was twelve when the lesson was reinforced.
As the newly named heir, fifteen year old Kinn had many new responsibilities and a lot to learn, and so needed a helping hand. Kim had disliked Kinn’s new assistant – hand-picked by their father – the first time he saw him, and had made it clear to any who would listen. Kim thought Non was smarmy and fake and used to getting his way with his good looks and superficial charm.
It was clear from the moment Kim saw them together that Kinn had a crush on him. Kim knew Non knew it, too.
Kim had remembered his nanny telling him to be wary of strange adults that paid him too much attention, that tried to touch him in ways or places no other trusted adult did. Kim hadn't been entirely sure what she meant, but the way Non spoke to Kinn and always seemed to have a hand somewhere on Kinn's body unnerved Kim. It was okay for Kinn to like boys, Khun said so, but Kim had been sure those boys had to be Kinn's age to reciprocate. Non was twice Kinn's age.
Kim had walked in on them once; Kinn with his back against the wall and Non standing close, his arm resting above Kinn’s head. It was like a scene out of one of Khun’s dramas. He’d watched, unnoticed, as Kinn giggled softly at some unheard comment, and Non had flicked Kinn’s earring and then gently ran his finger along Kinn’s jawline.
Kim had silently left, and gone straight to his father to inform him. He hadn’t been believed. His father had thought him jealous of all the new attention Kinn had been getting and his known dislike of Non was a result of that. Kim had been too young to articulate his counterargument and had no evidence of what he’d seen, and so his father believed he had made it up to discredit Non.
He'd tried to approach Kinn about it, but Kinn had refused to see the danger, too caught up in his infatuation, and brushed him off. He'd considered telling Khun, but the thought of causing his still fragile brother any anxiety scared him. He knew that it was up to him to protect Kinn.
Every spare moment he'd had, he'd spent shadowing Kinn and Non, watching them, intruding any time they were alone. He demanded Kinn’s attention any time he could, or simply let his presence be known to prevent Non from having any alone time with his brother. But he knew there were times that he couldn’t be there, and he worried constantly about those times Kinn was by himself with Non.
Eventually, Non caught on.
Kim had been alone in his rooms, studying. No need for bodyguards at home. When Non had knocked on the door, Kim had opened it without checking and Non, bigger and stronger, had slipped in before Kim could close the door again. He'd crowded Kim back into his room, a cruel, nasty smile on his face as he asked Kim what he hoped to achieve by trying to come between him and Kinn.
Kim, with the bravery that came from being young and presumed safe in his home, had talked back. Had shouted every bit of profanity he knew to let Non know what he thought of him and his advances on his brother. Told him that he thought he was a pervert and a scumbag, and Kim was going to make sure he kept his filthy fucking hands off of Kinn.
Non had backhanded him just as Kinn walked into the room, coming to find out what his little brother was yelling about.
Kim had then watched silently, vindictively pleased, as Kinn, who’d had years of intensive self-defense training and already tall for his age, beat Non nearly to death. He'd only stopped hitting him when Chan showed up to pull him away.
Non had disappeared after that. Kim’s father had not apologized for not believing him.
That night, after Khun had corralled them both to his rooms to fuss over them, Kim laid awake listening to Khun's snoring and Kinn’s near-silent crying, and knew he’d have to continue to watch after his brothers.
********
A little over a decade later, Kim remembered that night as he watched Kinn talk to a man with a smarmy, superficial smile.
They were at his album release party, his first EP under his own label. Kinn had organized the party for him, as a gift for the milestone, holding it in the ballroom of one of their family’s hotels. It was meant to have been friends, family, people Kim had met in the music industry so far, and other influencers and celebrities Kim liked. Porsche and Porchay were somewhere in the room, no doubt trying every hors d'oeuvre or drink they could get their hands on. Tankhun was even attending, safe in the knowledge that he was on family property, with his most trusted bodyguards at his side and more throughout the room.
Unfortunately, their father had convinced Kinn that it would be good for their legitimate businesses if Kinn invited investors and shareholders to show off their talented and well-connected family. Kinn had been unable to deny the logic of that, and was now stuck entertaining them to keep them out of Kim’s way so he could enjoy the party being held in his honor. Porsche had already promised that if these unwanted guests got too annoying, they could escape to Yok’s bar and leave the running of the party to the hotel staff.
Kim was hoping it wouldn’t come to that because he knew Kinn, as the host, would still have to stay behind. That was the last thing he wanted, he thought to himself as he watched Kinn’s conversation partner give Kinn another full body once-over, all but licking his lips as his eyes lingered on the open collar of Kinn’s button-down shirt and standing a step too close.
Who the hell did this guy think he was? Was he someone Kinn had to interact with on a regular basis? This skeevy, leering sack of shit, who looked at his brother like he was a piece of meat?
Going by the stiff smile on Kinn’s face and the fact Kinn hadn’t had him shot, he was probably someone important. A majority shareholder or investor who could make business difficult if made unhappy. Someone with power or influence over other investors. Someone they couldn’t easily get rid of without consequences. Kim was going to find out who he was and make life miserable for him if he didn't stop sexually harassing Kinn. For now, Kim would just think of him as Khun Perv.
He clenched his fists as he watched the laughing man reach out and tap Kinn on the chest with two fingers, directly on the bare skin revealed by his half open shirt. His touch lingered a second too long, turning into a brief caress as he pulled his hand back. Kinn’s smile grew wider, more of a grimace of disgust before he controlled it.
Kim headed towards them, prepared to make that pervert regret putting his filthy fucking hands on his brother. He'd almost reached them when Porsche and Chay were suddenly standing on either side of Kinn.
"P'Kinn!" Kim heard Chay say cheerfully as his boyfriend stepped between Khun Perv and Kinn, forcing the man to take a step back. Chay held an hors d'oeuvre up to Kinn's mouth. "Try this shrimp thingy. It's good!"
Kinn's smile instantly became genuine, and he obediently took the food from Chay's hand and popped it into his mouth. He nodded, still chewing. "It is good," he agreed.
Chay beamed back at him.
Standing next to Kinn, pressed against his side, Porsche stared intently at Khun Perv, chewing aggressively on his own hors d'oeuvre, holding his own plate. As Kim watched, Porsche wrapped an arm around Kinn and tugged him closer against him, placing a proprietary hand on Kinn's hip. "Sorry to interrupt," he said, neither looking nor sounding sorry. "My little brother was eager to share his appetizers with my boyfriend."
"Yeah, sorry," Chay said, turning to face the man as well and managing to sound slightly more sincere. "I know P'Kinn likes shrimp, and I wanted him to try it before it was all gone." He did not move from his position in front of Kinn.
Kim came to a stop next to Porsche, smirking at the unhappy look on Khun Perv's face.
"We were having an important discussion, actually," he replied haughtily, frowning. "Perhaps you both could excuse us." He flicked his fingers in a dismissive gesture, giving Porsche and Chay an unimpressed look. "I'm sure our conversation would only bore you."
Kinn frowned at the man and placed his hand on Chay's shoulder and gently guided him to stand beside and slightly behind him.
"Probably," Porsche replied. "You do look like a boring conversationalist."
Kinn sighed, exasperated. “Porsche.”
Chay giggled.
Khun Perv's face flushed. "Do you know who I am?" he asked angrily
"No." Porsche handed his plate to Kim and he took it with bemusement. Porsche licked his thumb on his now free hand, and reached toward Kinn. Instead of going for his face, Porsche went for his chest and used his dampened thumb to rub at the spot the man had touched.
Khun Perv went redder, almost baring his teeth in his anger, obviously recognizing the move as the possessive (and disrespectful) gesture it was.
Kinn rolled his eyes, but a slight smile appeared on his face and he brought his own hand up to hold Porsche’s against his chest.
"I do!" Khun sang out as he swooped onto the scene, as dramatically as only he could, Arm and Pol flanking him. He stopped abruptly next to the man. "I know everything about you, Khun Tor," he said and then leaned close to whisper in his ear.
Kim couldn't hear what Khun said, but Tor paled and his eyes widened in alarm.
Khun stepped back and smiled beatifically. "If you ever disrespect or touch one of my precious little brothers again, I'll make sure you regret it.” The smile dropped from his face. “Do you understand?”
Tor nodded fearfully.
"Great! You may go now." Khun shooed him away, and didn't even bother to watch as Tor power-walked right out of the party.
"You were so cool, Master Khun," Pol enthused, Arm nodding fervent agreement next to him.
"Of course I was. I'm always cool. Right, Kinn?"
"Always," Kinn agreed fondly.
Khun smiled smugly. "Anyways," he said, waving his hand in the direction Tor fled. "We should definitely have that man killed."
“Agreed.” Kim said.
Porsche tsked and stepped away from Kinn. “I don’t know why you didn’t just beat his face in, Kinn,” he grumbled, snatching his plate back from Kim. “I should’ve broken his nasty little fingers off. No, his whole hand.” He began shoving hors d’oeuvres in his mouth and chewing angrily. “Touch my boyfriend,” he muttered around his mouthful of food. “I’ll tear his whole head off. Piece of shit.”
“Hia, don’t talk with your mouth full,” Chay admonished. “It’s gross. Can I have that bread thingy?”
Kinn reached out to stroke the back of Porsche’s neck. “I didn’t want to make a scene at Kim’s party,” he explained as Porsche held his plate out toward Chay, who happily took one of the appetizers. “It might not be good for his reputation. Besides, if the other investors saw me beat the shit out of one of their fellow investors, they might hesitate to give us more money.”
Porsche continued to look unhappy, but stepped back towards Kinn and somewhat forcefully fed him an hors d'oeuvre.
“Do you want us to take care of him now, Khun Kinn?" Arm asked, pulling out his phone to send out the order.
“No,” Kim and Khun answered simultaneously on Kinn’s behalf.
Kinn shook his head in agreement, his mouth full and fending off another hors d’oeuvre from Porsche.
“Let him live in fear a little bit longer,” Kim said, stealing food from Chay’s plate just to get Chay to pout at him.
“We should blackmail him," Khun suggested deviously, rubbing his hands together like a campy evil villain. "He's got all that money I could be using to buy myself stuff."
*********
An hour later, Kim watched from their table as Khun led the whole room in an energetic dance that involved a lot of arm waving and hip thrusting. Arm and Pol were the only dancers able to keep up, as they seemed to already know the choreography.
Next to him, Kinn was focused on an almost empty plate of food, humming happily as he chewed. Ten minutes ago, the plate had been full when Porsche had placed it in front of Kinn before disappearing onto the dance floor with Chay. Kim could see them off to the side of Khun's dance mob, swinging each other around to the beat. As he watched, Porsche pulled Chay into his arms and dipped him low, sending him into peals of laughter.
"Why don't you go dance with Chay?"
Kim looked over at the question to see Kinn’s plate now empty, and Kinn leaned back in his chair, hands folded over his stomach. "Why don't you go dance with Porsche?" he countered.
"Too full." Kinn raised an eyebrow at him.
He shrugged. "Chay is having fun with Porsche right now. Maybe if Khun lets the DJ play a slow song, I'll go steal him away."
"You sap."
Kim snorted. "You're one to talk. If you go more than an hour without giving Porsche a tender kiss on the forehead, you go into withdrawals."
Kinn grinned at him, unashamed.
Kim rolled his eyes.
They sat in silence, watching their family making fools of themselves on the dance floor until Kim remembered his concerns from earlier.
"Do you always have to deal with guys like that? Like Tor?" Kim asked, looking over at his brother.
"You mean the unwanted touching?" Kinn replied wryly, still watching the dance floor. "No, most of our investors have more common sense than to sexually harass a man that might have ties to organized crime, and therefore access to a gun and fewer moral qualms about using it. Tor was just foolishly overconfident."
Kim nodded, relieved.
Kinn looked over at him, and Kim was surprised at the open affection on his face. "You don't have to worry about me, Kim." Kinn looked back at the dance floor where Porsche was cheering on Arm and Pol's Dirty Dancing remake. "I have someone to watch out for me." Kinn laughed as Porsche attempted to lift Chay over his head. "When he's sober anyway."
Yeah, Kim was probably still going to worry.
"Besides," Kinn continued, watching as their older brother began shouting at everyone to line up for the Electric Slide. "We always have Khun."