Work Text:
"He was such a little monkey. Once, we didn't see him all day and had a search party looking for him, only for them to find him napping on a kampu tree branch, oblivious to the chaos he caused," Yaa tells the story of young Pete fondly. "He loved it when he can get a view where he can just observe people passing by, always looking at people." Pete chuckles softly as he stares at the view passing them by and Yaa reaches out to pinch his ear, causing him to yelp lightly.
Two months have passed since the elderly couple was in Bangkok, and this time around, Vegas made it a point to fetch Bpuu and Yaa from the airport himself. They're here to celebrate Wenit's first birthday. Despite being coached by Pete over and over again, both of them settled on Wenit for Venice and Wegat for Vegas. Macau on the other hand, brags at how his two newly found grandparents can pronounce his name fault free.
---
The four walk into the yard to find a huge flaming cauldron in the middle of it. Behind it, on a slightly raised platform is Khun, in his white and gold Greek tunic. Vegas and Pete both stare dumbfounded at the familiar visual. "Hello Khun Nu, is there a party?" Grandpa breaks the silence.
Khun brings his hands in wai, before theatrically opening them up to direct the spectators attention to the flame, "WELCOME BPUU AND YAA, TO VENI(CE)LYMPICS 2.0, THE FIRST BIRTHDAY EDITION!"
At that, a line starts to form behind him. The whole gang is somehow here and Macau walks in with clapping Venice in his arms. Chay hands the baby a small paper cup and Macau nudges him to throw it into the fire. The baby gleefully throws the cup in and the fire roars into beautifully coloured flames causing everyone present to start clapping, almost robotic. Vegas cringes at the sight and he exchanges stares with Pete. The other man shrugs because he has no idea of what's going on as well. Pol and Arm come over with chairs for the special guests. The old couple fondly greets the two familiar faces and they put their hands in wai in the direction of Khun and Kinn before they take their seats.
"Thank you for joining us, Bpuu, Yaa. Today will be the day we will find out the winner of the Venice Gold Medal, finally! Because I am ready, and also because the boy can finally walk," Khun turns his gaze to Venice, "I love you but that was too slow by my standard, kid!"
"Khun Nu, he's one," Pete retorts from beside his grandma. "Pete didn't walk until he's almost two," Yaa continues. Khun shakes his head, "oh poor Pete. However, everyone here should know that Vegas started walking the first day he was born because he's the devil reincarnated." Vegas scoffs at that but it's drowned by the various muffled chuckles and snorts overheard from everyone else.
Game 1 : The Doljabi - The Korean Fortune Telling Custom because, "THE BOY NEEDS TO DECIDE ON HIS FUTURE NOW," Khun declares.
Khun watched this in some Korean dramas and obviously he's determined to give it a shot with Venice. Everyone brought with them an item that they want Venice to pick for a vision of his future. The spread however is nothing like usually seen in Korea.
There are;
- a whiskey glass, "made from the best crystals," Kinn announces;
- a lone boxing glove, "I will train him myself," declares Porsche;
- a light stick, "it's Twice's! The last time we babysat him, he was dancing to The Feels," Pol explains;
- a hand grenade, "don't worry, everyone. It's just the shell," Arm reassures;
- a designer brand sunglasses, "of course he's going to grow up stylish like me," Khun struts to sit down next to Grandma;
- a ultra realistic Glock model, Macau stares at it proudly, "it took me a week to have this baby printed.";
- an ukulele, "Veven is an artist, I just knew it," Chay informs everyone;
- a dumbbell, "he needs these muscles," Time says this while flexing, and Vegas just has to intervene, "who the hell invited you here anyway?";
- a makeup brush, "calm down Vegas," Tay interjects, "Uncle Tay will make sure Venice grows up pretty,";
- and, a coconut, somehow.
Pete is baffled, "is this.. a doljabi or a mafia packing for a day trip out of town?"
Khun shushes him down and explains the rule. It's simple, put the baby down and let him pick whatever he wants. The first item he grabs will signify his future. Venice stares at the items while standing wobbly in front of all them. His eyes sparkling, the baby loves shiny new things. He shifts his gaze towards Pete as if looking for permission and loses his balance, falling on his bum.
"Go on, baby. Which one do you want? Hmm..?" Pete nudges him to go on. He crawls forward and heads straight to the coconut. Sitting facing the coconut, he rolls it onto his lap and proceeds to give it a hug, "bebbiii."
"Aww, he thinks the coconut is a baby," Chay links his arm with Macau. Khun narrows his eyes at the actual baby, "so what, Venice? You will be making coconut babies in the future? WHO THE HECK PUT A COCONUT IN THERE ANYWAY??"
Grandpa lifts his hand up towards Khun, "I'm sorry Khun Nu, I told Pol to put one in there, because I thought we should have something to represent the island." Khun clears his throat, slightly embarrassed at his outburst, "very well then, the baby will grow up to having a luxury island full of coconut trees. Good job, Venice!"
Everyone cheers the baby up and he starts clapping with the coconut still in his lap. Once the cheers die down, Grandma shifts her glance to Vegas, catching his eyes, "or maybe Wenit just want a younger sibling." From across the yard, Pete screams out, "YAA!"
"Good god, not another one," quips Macau.
Game 2 : Favourite Person
"Do we really need to do this again P', there's just no way any one of us can win," Chay tries to reason with Khun. "That's why Pete is not in this game and he will sit ALLLLL THE WAY THEREEE, so that we could have our chance still!" Khun argues while pointing to the far side of the yard, "YOU STAY THERE, PETE!!"
Porsche joins in, "even without Pete, there are still Vegas and Macau, we all know if he's picking someone, it'll be one of them." Khun clicks his tongue, "ai Porsche! Don't talk too much. Vegas is a shitty father and Macau is an even shittier uncle slash brother. We'll win!"
Vegas walks over towards him and they're now inches away from each other, "get out of my house!" Khun pushes him away, "NO!"
Pouring oil to the fire, Macau jeers, "Just kiss him, Hia. He will leave quicker than you can even blink". Horrified at the prospect of being kissed by Vegas, Khun runs to hide behind Kinn and Porsche before yelling some profanities to both his cousins.
In the midst of the quarrel, without anyone noticing, Venice crawls up to Tay. Tay gets on his knees and holds his hands. Venice brings his body forward to hug Tay and starts planting wet kisses on Tay's face. Tay bursts into laughter causing the arguments to halt and everyone to turn in his direction.
"Looks like I win, Khun," Tay chuckles victoriously.
From where he's standing, Pete jumps in, "oh yes, Venice definitely likes pretty people!"
Intermission
Vegas storms into his room with Pete following him closely behind. "I want him out of here," he growls without looking at his lover. Pete hugs him from behind before moving to his front, taking Vegas' face in his hands. "Just hold on for a little more okay, he's going to leave soon," Pete tries to pacify him.
"Did you hear what he said?" Vegas asks, his voice hitching as he said this.
Pete nods, "you're not. You're the best father for Venice. You're great and he loves you, I love you." He leans in to give Vegas a peck on his cheek. "Don't take that to heart, you know how Khun Nu is," he kisses his forehead and continues, "I'm sorry that he said that, he's wrong," he pulls Vegas into a hug. Vegas tsks, "why are you saying sorry for what he said.."
Pete chuckles and continues to plant kisses on his face and neck, bringing his mouth close to Vegas' ear, Pete whispers, "just a little bit more okay, after the next one we can get him to go."
Vegas sighs deeply, rolls his eyes and nods into Pete's neck, giving it a kiss. That is when he notices the two big boxes on their bed, "what's that?"
Breaking the hug, Pete explains, "ah, that's our costumes for the next game. Porsche said everyone has to wear one."
Taking the lid of them, their eyes feast on exquisitely made black and white tuxedoes in their respective boxes, "what is the next game again?" Vegas enquires and Pete shrugs.
Game 3 : The Costumes Showdown
The couple walks hand in hand in their costumes into a dark and quiet courtyard. Their brains go into overdrive and they quickly get into high alert. Pete tightens his grip on Vegas' hand and whispers, "come inside, I'm going to go get my gun."
Right when they are about to go back in, the lights in the courtyard come back on and loud music starts to play. It takes some time for them to readjust their eyes but once they do, they see everyone in fancy clothes. Tears start forming in Pete's eyes when he notices that even his grandpa is in a tuxedo, with his grandma next to him in a beautiful gown. The baby in his little tuxedo is standing next to Macau, one of his hands hugging Macau's leg.
They head to the crowd and the huge 3 tiers cake in the middle of the courtyard. It's topped with a sculpture of 4 figures. Unfortunately, one of the figures, dressed in what seems to be wildly printed shirt has his head on the ground, separated from his body that is hugging the other three figures, one in a simple dress down shirt, the other in a t-shirt and a baby, standing in front of them. Khun takes pride in the cake when he notices Vegas staring at it, "it's a wonderful cake, isn't it?" He smiles at Vegas mockingly and the other man just shakes his head and stares at his feet.
"Well cousin, it's going to take some time before you and Pete could really make it official, but we thought that it's a good idea to celebrate the engagement with Venice's birthday," Kinn offers an explanation and Porsche nods in agreement. "Congratulations, Pete, who would've thought.." Time chirps in, pulling Tay closer to him by the waist.
Game 3 : The Costumes Showdown The Late Engagement Party
Venice starts toddling towards his parents and Vegas lifts him up into his arms, "are you having fun, Venice?"
"Beniis... fuuunnnn," the baby answers him. Vegas laughs, he scans the crowd, and sighs, "thank you.."
"Are you going to cry now, cousin?" Khun takes a jab at him, and not stopping anytime soon, "now you want me to stay, right?"
Vegas passes the baby over to Pete before walking towards Khun, "yes, you can stay but I'll have to give you a kiss to show my gratitude," he turns to look at Macau, "get him, bro!"
"YESSSS," Macau starts heading towards Khun as well and their poor old cousin is now flailing around the courtyard trying to get away from the brothers while screaming for Arm and Pol to come and save him.
The Cake Cutting
Seated in between Pete's grandparents now because that's the only safe cranny in the house, Khun keeps his eyes on both his cousins, looking at them in pure disgust. Earlier he had scolded Arm and Pol for failing to protect him when Macau successfully caught him, resulting in him being kissed on his cheek by Vegas. Kinn calls out to him, "Khun, you organised this party, come here, they're cutting the cake."
"No thanks. I want to be nowhere near the devil brothers," he scoffs, still pouting from where he is sitting, "but I want to make a toast." Holding up his glass of champagne, he asks Bpuu and Yaa to do the same.
Everyone turns to look at him with the glasses in hand, Macau smirks at him and Khun puts his fist up in the air, gesturing that he's going to punch Macau. He shifts his attention to the baby next, "Happy birthday, Venice. I don't think there's any Theerapanyakuls who have ever successfully bring the family together like you, and I don't think any of them realised it yet, but you will be a force to be reckoned with when the time comes. A loving household, with parental figures that are present and always put you first. Boy, you will be unbeatable..."
No one expects this out of Khun, not there, and not then. Vegas for once looks visibly touched, eyes now glistening under the fairy lights in the courtyard. Pete pulls him closer and passes the baby he is carrying to him.
"... that is until Vegas mess up and Pete leave his sorry ass! Then you will come to live with us, and we will all live happily ever after! BYE VEGAS!" Khun snaps his fingers.
Pete reflexively starts massaging his head, "Vegas, give me Venice, I think Khun Nu needs more kisses. Macau, go help Hia."
"AI PETE! WHY DID YOU SAY THAT?? NO... NOOOOOOOOOOOO..."
Bonus
The next day a box is delivered to the house early in the morning, in it, an eleven piece ultra realistic drum set for baby. A card comes with it, with a simple To and From clearly written on it. Venice immediately takes a liking to it, hitting on the various drums with its stick. He enjoys it so much, he squeals at the top of his lungs while continue to banging the instrument.
Three pairs of eyes stare at him while he gets on with it for the longest time, Macau turns to look at his brother and in-law, "I don't know about you, but I think Kim hates us.."