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Venice was sitting in Vegas’ palm, curiously looking over to the coffee table where Vegas’ phone was. The boy was a little bit bored, so he extended out his hands and he glanced up at Vegas, who was chatting with Pete as the other one was seated next to him and he whined again. No one was paying attention to him and as soon as he whined, Pete glanced at him and chuckled.
“Something wrong?” asked Pete and Venice nodded.
“Venice is bored,” announced the boy and Vegas grinned as he glanced over to Pete and then back to their son. “Dada, give phone,” said Venice and Vegas pressed his lips together. Venice wanted his phone? What for?
“And what are you planning to do with the phone?” asked Vegas carefully.
“Make pictures. Pretty, pretty,” said Venice and Vegas laughed, but slowly placed the boy onto the ground and handed him his phone after he opened up the camera application for the boy. Venice already knew how to take photos with the phone as he would often do that and Venice was happy when the phone was finally handed to him.
“Don’t drop it,” said Pete and Venice nodded.
“Yes. Be careful. Venice knows,” said Venice and then giggled as he took a picture of himself, one of a very close up of his nose and he started giggling as he tapped onto the button that flipped the cameras and he pointed the phone at his fathers. “Make picture of papa and dada,” said Venice happily.
“Would be better if you take photos of Pete only,” said Vegas and Pete rolled his eyes.
“Don’t be silly and come here,” said Pete, dragging him closer and he wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pressing him closer and Pete pressed a kiss onto Vegas’ cheek when Venice took a photo of them and he happily skipped over to the couch to show the picture that he made. Vegas wrinkled his nose when he saw himself.
“Cut me out and will be perfect,” said Vegas and Venice narrowed his eyes.
“Dada looks okay,” said Venice and Vegas laughed softly, shaking his head as he took the phone into his hands and started going through his camera roll, slowly going over to the different albums he had in there and a huge grin spread across his lips when he tapped onto the album that he named Venice. Vegas scrolled all the way down and then tapped onto the photo when Venice was still a baby.
Pete leaned closer and smiled.
“Adorable, wasn’t he?” asked Pete and Vegas nodded.
“Cute baby?” asked Venice and Vegas nodded.
“It’s you,” said Pete and Venice’s eyes widened.
“Venice?”
“Yep,” said Vegas laughed when he saw the look on Venice’s face. He looked both surprised and astonished.
“Dada, more. Show more,” said Venice curiously and climbed into Vegas’ lap again. Pete scooted up to Vegas and he smiled when he saw Vegas slowly swiping through the photos. Venice was still a baby on all of them and he grinned happily. Venice was in awe – all of that was him! When he was still a baby!
“Oh, a video,” said Vegas and Venice perked up.
“Of Venice?” asked the boy.
“Mn,” said Vegas and glanced at Pete. “Oh, it’s his first day with us,” said Vegas and Pete felt himself getting a little bit emotional and he reached closer to the phone and pressed the play button.
In the video, there were Pete and Venice. Pete was holding Venice in his arms, eyes full of love and affection. The one holding the phone was, of course, Vegas.
“Come on closer,” said Pet e.“ You can come closer, Vegas. ”
“ No, if I come closer he’ll start crying again. He doesn’t like me yet. ”
“ That’s nonsense, come closer, ” said Pete and started giggling.
So, the camera came closer and Venice perked up when he saw himself on the video. He was in Pete’s arms, looking curiously at Vegas, who was taking the video and he pointed at him.
“ Vegas, he doesn’t bite. ”
“ I… I don’t know. Pete, he started crying when I tried to pick him up the last time, ” whispered Vegas and Pete rolled his eyes.
“ Give him your hand, ” said Pete on the video and Venice observed how his father’s hand slowly came closer to the younger Venice. Venice saw himself curiously looking at his father’s hand and then he giggled and slowly wrapped his fingers around Vegas’ finger and gently tugged on his finger.
“ See? I told you, you have nothing to worry about, ” said Pete and Venice’s eyes widened when he heard a little sniffle. Who was crying?! “ Vegas, all is… Vegas, are you alright? Are you crying? ” asked Pete and the camera suddenly pointed down, now showing the ground. “ No, no, no, don’t cry. This is supposed to be a happy memory. Come on- ”
“ He’s not afraid of me… thank God, ” whispered Vegas and more sniffles could be heard.
The video ended there and Venice looked up at Vegas, who was smiling now.
“Why… why dada crying?” asked Venice, feeling sad and he glanced at Vegas.
“They were happy tears, buddy,” said Vegas and Pete nodded.
“Mn, only happy tears,” said Pete and Vegas nodded. “Nothing to get upset over,” said Pete and gently ruffled Venice’s hair. “C’mon, let’s see what else you have there,” said Pete and Vegas nodded, again swiping. “Oh, look, isn’t this when he first started walking?” asked Pete and Vegas leaned closer, nodding.
“Venice wanna see, Venice wanna see,” said the boy as Vegas finally pressed the play button.
Vegas had a little smile as he was kneeling on the floor, extending his hands out as he was trying to get Venice to try walking again. The boy was really close to taking his first steps and Vegas made sure that Pete was always around with the camera as he wanted to get it on it. He needed to make sure that Venice’s first steps were going to be recorded!
“Pete, is the camera on?” asked Vegas and Pete, who was holding the phone, laughed, nodding.
“Yes, yes,” said Pete. “It’s all ready. All that we need now is Venice finally standing up,” said Pete and Vegas nodded.
“He will walk now, you’ll see,” said Vegas.
“You’ve been saying that for days now,” said Pete and laughed again.
“Trust me, I have a feeling about this, Pete,” said Vegas and Pete laughed again as he watched those two. Vegas was wearing a soft smile on his face. The way that Vegas looked at their son warmed his heart up. Vegas was really getting the hang of being a parent and he was loving it.
“Venice,” called out Vegas and Venice glanced up at him, giggling. “Come to me,” said Vegas and extended his hands out.
Venice giggled and started crawling. Vegas shook his head and moved away from Venice, who slapped the floor in frustration.
“Stand up, you have to stand up,” said Vegas, but in the end he ended up going over to Venice, helping him stand up. He was gently holding Venice up on his legs. Venice was steady on his legs and he happily looked up at his father, who nodded.
“Aw, you two are adorable,” said Pete.
“Okay, Venice now, focus,” said Vegas and Venice glanced at him, holding onto the side of the couch and Vegas slowly removed his hands away from Venice, who was now curiously looking at him, giggling when he saw his father going away from him again and he whined. “Now come to me,” said Vegas, extending his hands out to Venice, who whined again as if he was trying to tell his father to go back.
“I don’t think he likes the game,” said Pete and Vegas rolled his eyes.
“He’s gonna walk now,” said Vegas and Pete slowly nodded.
“Mn. Mn.”
“Venice, come on,” said Vegas and then he winked. “Show Pete how you can walk. Yesterday you took a few steps but he wasn’t there to see it. I don’t think he believes us,” said Vegas and Pete frowned.
“I never said-”
“It’s called motivation, Pete,” said Vegas and Pete snorted.
“Fine.”
“Come on Venice, come on,” said Vegas and then took Venice’s favourite toy, which was a dinosaur toy that he got for him, and Venice’s eyes lit up. He was giggling, slowly letting go of the side of the couch and he extended his arms out, going over to the dinosaur that Vegas was holding in his arms.
Pete was smiling when he watched Vegas and Venice, listening to their giggles and laughter brought so much joy to Pete. So much joy and happiness that he didn’t know what to do with so many emotions at the same time.
As Venice slowly let go of the couch, he slowly dragged his foot forward and he was laughing as he slowly moved his other foot, wobbly on his legs as he slowly made his way to Vegas. Pete’s eyes widened when he watched Venice finally taking his first steps and Vegas was smiling proudly when Venice slowly waddled over to him. Venice was about to fall over, but Vegas scooped him into his hands and proudly smiled as he hugged his son.
Venice was now happily hugging his toy and Vegas glanced over to Pete, who was still holding the phone.
“Did you get that?” asked Vegas and his eyes widened when he saw that Pete was- “Are you crying?”
“Sorry,” said Pete and sniffled, smiling through his tears. “It’s just-”
“Yeah, I get it,” said Vegas and signed Pete to come closer. “C’mere.”
And that was where the video stopped.
Both Vegas and Pete had little smiles on their faces, Pete again feeling a little bit emotional and Venice looked up at the two of them and then he glanced back at the phone, blinking a few times. Now in the video, papa was crying and Venice tried to figure out what was happening. Again those happy tears? Venice didn’t understand why Pete was crying, but… it was funny seeing himself walk like that.
“Venice was funny,” said Venice and Vegas chuckled.
“Yeah?”
“Walk funny.”
“Those were the first steps that you took,” explained Pete and Venice slowly nodded and he clapped.
“Venice was cool.”
“Very,” said Pete and Venice leaned over to the phone.
“Dada, more?”
“How about when he started talking?” asked Vegas and Pete slowly nodded, swiping through a few photos until he found the video. Yes, the two of them had everything well documented.
Venice was very invested in the whole thing and he looked with interest on his face to the phone screen again when he saw Vegas tapping the play button and he leaned closer to the screen. On the video, there were again him and Vegas, sitting on the floor and Venice narrowed his eyes, looking at Pete, who gave him a little nod of encouragement. Venice giggled and glanced at the video.
“Okay, Venice, how about this?” asked Vegas and rubbed his palms together. The boy, who was sitting on the floor and playing with the blocks, was curiously looking up at him. “Try saying this - Kinn is stupid,” said Vegas happily and Venice blinked a few times.
“Vegas, don’t teach him that,” said Pete and Vegas rolled his eyes.
“Why not? I’ll be the proudest dad ever if he says that,” said Vegas and he snickered. “Imagine his first words being Kinn is stupid,” he said and Pete laughed and pointed the camera at Venice.
“Venice, don’t listen to dada, hm? He’s currently a pain in the neck.”
“Shh. Pete, I got this,” said Vegas. “Kinn. Is. Stupid.”
“Vegas!”
Venice started giggling as he listened to the bickering and he flailed his little hands around and then he took a deep breath in, babbling. Vegas and Pete immediately stopped talking and they paid attention to Venice again, both of them laughing and encouraging the boy to say something.
“Pete, I think he’s trying to say something,” said Vegas, crossing his fingers. “Kinn is an idiot,” said Vegas happily. “C’mon, you can do it, do it for dada,” said Vegas and as soon as he said that, Venice happily pointed at him and started babbling again, but then…
“Da… da,” came out of Venice’s mouth and Pete almost dropped the phone. Vegas’ eyes widened and he glanced at Venice again.
“Did you hear that?” asked Vegas and Pete nodded.
“Yes, I think he just said-”
“Yeah! Holy shit!”
“Don’t curse in front of Venice, Vegas,” said Pete and Vegas rolled his eyes, but then looked at Venice again. “What… What did you say, Venice? Can you say that again?” he asked, feeling emotional that Venice’s first words were… calling out to him! Vegas swallowed thickly.
“Dada! Dada! Dada!” chanted the boy happily. The encouragement that he would get every time that he said that word made him say it over and over again, happily giggling when he saw how happy his parents looked and Pete swallowed thickly.
“It’s true, his first words!”
There was some more cheering and the video soon ended after that. Venice was happily giggling and then he looked over to Vegas and Pete, who were also smiling and they nodded.
“See, Venice?” asked Pete. “Your first words.”
“Venice said dada,” said Venice proudly and Pete nodded, ruffling his hair. “And papa?”
“Soon after that,” said Pete. “Vegas wasn’t home, pity I didn’t catch it on camera, but I’ve recorded it with my heart,” said Pete and Venice giggled. Vegas eyed Pete, who sent him a little wink and swiped a few times until he came upon a video where Vegas was reading Venice a bedtime story. That was…
“What’s this one about again?” asked Vegas.
“You telling Venice bedtime stories,” deadpanned Pete and still tapped the play button, but he wasn’t too keen on the bedtime stories that Vegas used to tell their son. “Well, your version of it at least.”
Venice and Vegas were in Venice’s room. Vegas was sitting on the sofa, holding Venice in his lap and was reading him a bedtime story. Well, not really reading, because the stories that he was coming up with were all… original ones. Made up by Vegas. And Pete wasn’t quite on board with them.
“You see, when it’s night, your uncle Tankhun turns into a werewolf,” said Vegas and started laughing.
“No!” said the boy and covered his eyes.
“It’s true,” said a voice coming from the entrance of the room and Pete glanced over to the side, rolling his eyes. It was Macau. “He turns into a scary monster,” he said and Venice’s eyes widened.
“Can’t you two tell him a normal bedtime story, ugh,” said Pete and pressed his lips together. “Baby, don’t listen to these two. They’re wrong. Your uncle Khun is the kindest soul ever,” said Pete and Venice wasn’t sure what to believe.
“Let me remind you that he once slammed his tray against-”
“You deserved it,” said Pete.
“Excuse me-”
“You told me you’ll be telling him a normal bedtime story, Vegas, that’s why I’m recording. If you don’t stop I’ll go away,” said Pete and Macau was laughing.
“And don’t let me get started on your uncle Kinn!” carried on Vegas with his story.
“Vegas, love, do you wish to be sleeping out on the couch today?” asked Pete and Vegas glanced at him. Then he looked over to Macau, who was laughing hard by then, his arms wrapped around his stomach as he started laughing harder. Vegas glared at his younger brother and then he glanced at Pete again, who was now smiling at him, but the smile was… scary.
“So, which story should we read, Venice?” suddenly asked Vegas and opened the book that was in his lap. That only made Macau laugh harder. But, Vegas finally started reading that story.
Venice was giggling when the video stopped and he shook his head.
“Dada is silly, uncle Khun not scary wolf,” said Venice and Pete burst out laughing. “Uncle Khun is cool uncle.”
Vegas pressed his lips together and glanced at Pete, who was now rubbing his back. That was the gist of the whole video that Venice managed to pick up on, but Pete was laughing for a completely different reason and Vegas knew that. That was probably the last time that he told one of his scary stories about the main family to Venice.
“Mn, see, that’s right, your uncle Tankhun is the kindest soul ever,” said Pete happily and Vegas said something under his breath. “No?” asked Pete as he was looking at Vegas. Now that he had seen the video again… perhaps he needed to delete it.
“I’ll delete this one-”
“Nah, leave it. It’s all in good fun, come on,” said Pete.
“Yes, yes,” sighed Vegas and then swiped again, Pete leaning closer when he saw a video that he didn’t really… remember seeing it before. Sure, it was Vegas’ phone, but they usually watched their family videos together and the one that he saw in there… was taken when?
“When was this taken?” asked Pete.
“Ah, this one,” said Vegas and his heart melted right away. “Look,” said Vegas and tapped the play button.
In the video, there was Pete and Venice. Venice was up in Pete’s arms, who was gently bouncing him up and down. Perhaps putting him down for a nap? From the camera angle alone, one could tell that Vegas was taking the video in secret. Pete wasn’t aware of it and Pete sighed, glancing over to Vegas, whose eyes were glued on the screen, his eyes full of love.
Pete pressed his lips together and glanced at the video again. Pete felt his cheeks burning with heat when he heard himself singing. Well, not exactly singing, but humming a melody of a song, a lullaby. Completely oblivious that he was being recorded, Pete had a little smile on his face as he gently placed the sleeping toddler into the crib, gently covering him with the sheets and he smiled, holding the edges of the crib.
“Have a nice dream, little one. Remember, papa and dada love you very much,” said Pete in the video Pete could hear Vegas taking a deep breath in as he was recording the video.
Pete pressed his lips together and looked over to Vegas when the video ended and he narrowed his eyes.
“You’re so perfect, Pete,” whispered Vegas, not even realising he said that out loud and Pete smiled softly as he leaned closer to him, placing his hand on top of Vegas’ and he allowed the other one to link their fingers together.
It was a soft moment that Vegas recorded. Private. Pete didn’t mind it as he leaned closer to Vegas, who had a happy smile on his face as he decided to replay the video again. And perhaps again.
Venice, who got bored, slowly climbed off of Vegas’ lap, allowing Pete and Vegas to carry on looking at the video and he slowly went into Macau’s room, trying to get his older brother to play hide and seek with him, which Macau was more than happy to agree to.