Archive of Our Own ^beta

Porchay stumbled through the market area, laughing as Ohm grabbed his shoulders to stop them both from falling.

“Sorry, man,” Ohm said clapping Chay on the shoulder before moving to walk beside him, Pine on his other side.

Today had marked the end of the exam week from hell, and the three friends had celebrated their freedom at the night market close to their school. It was one of the busier ones that opened a bit before sunset, so they didn’t have to hang around for long after class, and they managed to get a good table and some of the first servings of their favourite dishes before the crowds of local families and tourists really descended.

Now, with bellies full of grilled meat, fried rice and way too many desserts – it had been a hard week, okay – they found themselves stumbling a little between stalls, giddy on sugar and yummy food, before making their way out into a side alley off the main soi.

The three friends made their way down the alley before Ohm and Pine veered to the left to start their walk home. They’d walk down the main road for about five minutes before each getting a local scooter taxi from the top of their neighbourhood to their houses. Chay would have usually gone with them, but since he moved back into the compound, he now lived the opposite direction and not only that, but it could take him forty-five minutes to get there.

“You sure you don’t want to stay in mine tonight?” Pine asked, raising his eyebrow at Chay. And honestly, Chay kind of did. To say he hated going back to the compound was an understatement. Sure, it was beautiful, and luxurious and Chay had everything he needed. Everything he physically needed. Which was a very new feeling.

But what he didn’t have was what was waiting for both Ohm and Pine when they got home – someone to ask about their day, someone to fuss over if they ate enough, how their exam went, even scold them for staining their uniforms. And Porsche tried, God Porchay knew his brother tried. But he was under so much pressure right now. Actual lives depended on Porsche’s ability to do his job. Chay couldn’t imagine that kind of pressure. And Kinn was the only one who could help Porsche through it, so Chay did what any good brother would do. He sucked it up and made himself scarce. He couldn’t even remember if he had told Porsche that it was his exam week.

And as much as Chay longed for the warmth of a family that his friends were both going home to, he’d found that it was so much harder to leave it than it was to avoid it altogether. So, he resigned himself to going back to the compound more often than not.

“Nah, thanks man. You know Porsche, he’s probably waiting for me to go through every bit of the exams in detail,” he laughed out, the lie slipping off his tongue so easily. Porchay wasn’t sure when lying became second nature to him, but he was sure it was the Theerapanyakuls' fault.

“I think I’ll call a Grab from the main entrance. It will be easier there with all the tourists getting taxis here,” he said, half turning as he said to do just that.

“Oh, he’s fancy now!” Pine laughed teasingly, but Chay could hear there was no animosity in his tone at all. His friends knew how hard he and Porsche had had it before. They’d never spoken about it but at least once a week they had both bought way too much food to eat themselves at lunch, and Chay was invited for dinner every few days by both of their mothers, and always sent home with leftovers. Having a taxi app linked with a credit card that he could use when he needed it was so far beyond that Chay’s resources, that Chay now was still not used to using it.

His friends only knew that Porsche had gotten a new job that paid well, and they’d had to move because of it. They had never been to the compound, for obvious reasons, but they still seemed happy for him, even if they never said it outright and Chay suspected they knew there was more to the story than he was telling them.

“Shut up, brat,” Ohm laughed, teasingly shoving his friend’s shoulder. “Please come for dinner soon though Chay so I can stop having to reassure my mother that you’re still alive?” Ohm continued, turning a pleading look on Chay.

“It’s not my fault your mom loves me more, dude,” Chay scoffed back.

“Rude,” Ohm said, flipping him off. “For real though, text us when you get home?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Chay said rolling his eyes. “Bye!”

“Bye Chay!”

“See ya!”

Chay watched his friends amble the rest of the way down the alley before turning on his heel and heading towards the entrance, opening the Grab app as he went to call a car. He could get a bike, but he didn’t fancy spending the whole way home on the back of one this tired, so car it was. Hopefully one dropping off at the market would pick it up and he’d be home within the hour.

Chay could see the lights of the main soi across the mouth of the alleyway now, and the hustle of the crowd could now be heard as people came and went, and stall owners took orders and enticed people to their fares with shouts and smells.

Chay was just considering heading back in quickly and picking up something for his brother when a bulldozer took him out. At least that’s what it felt like. Chay hit the ground hard on his left side, his shoulder, hip and side of his head smacking into the concrete with a thud. Chay thought he saw stars, dizziness overwhelming him as his head lolled back down to the ground.

What the -

SMACK

Chay doubled over on the ground as something hard lodged in his stomach. A foot. Someone was kicking the shit out him!

After what seemed like hours of agony, the kicking ceased and Chay was left lying on his side, his hands around his middle, gasping for breath. But before he could even think about why it had stopped or what to do now, someone grabbed his wrist in a tight fist and pulled his hand away from his body.

“I’ll be taking that,” a cold, harsh voice growled at him.

“Wha…” Chay didn’t know what he was talking about until he realised his fingers were being pried lose forcibly from around something. His phone! They were talking his phone.

Chay immediately let go of the device, letting his assailant take it. Years of Porsche’s training instinctually kicking in.

“Never fight back, Chay.”

“Just give them what they want.”

“Everything is replaceable but you’re not.”

“Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” the voice asked, but Chay didn’t look up. He didn’t even open his eyes.

“He must have a wallet on him somewhere. These rich kids always have more than they deserve,” another voice joined in before Chay felt rough hands turn him onto his back and shove themselves into his pockets.

If Chay could speak around the lump in his throat he would have scoffed at that. He had spent his whole life floating dangerously close to the poverty line and now that he was actually a “rich kid” about two months, he was getting jumped for it. Typical. Could nothing just be simple for Chay?!

His attackers must have gotten his wallet, because the next thing Chay knew was a foot coming down on the side of his face and another down on his wrist. Pain flooded through him, and he couldn’t help letting out a gargled yell. Was he choking on his own blood? He might have been choking on his own blood.

He turned on his side quickly, his ribs screaming at him, and did his best to spit the blood out of his mouth. Quickly running his tongue around his mouth confirmed that he hadn’t lost a tooth, thank God, but he felt like he might have bitten the inside of cheek when he was kicked. Wonderful.

He opened his eyes just enough that he could see two men fleeing the opposite way down the alley, away from the market entrance.

Chay didn’t know how long he lay there but when he felt like he could eventually move, it took him three goes to sit up without feeling like his ribs were going to split him in half. Finally, he managed to hoosh himself into a semi standing position by putting all his weight on this right elbow – his left wrist was definitely broken.

Pff, not just broken. It got smashed under a boot, for fuck’s sake

Standing – or half standing – was such an ordeal that Chay had to take several deep breaths so as not to puke before he was finally able to stumble on to the main road – and straight into a couple that were definitely tourists.

“Oh my god! Can you watch – holy shit! What happened to you?” Chay was good at English, he went to an international school after all, but the voice and the surrounding noise was sending ice picks through his brain, the pain permeating his skull making it difficult for him to understand anything.

“He probably doesn’t understand you!”

“I know that! Oh here, there’s a Thai woman – excuse me! Can you help us?”

Chay had closed his eyes and was breathing deeply through his nose. He really didn’t want to throw up on the people trying to help him.

Suddenly, Chay felt a hand grip his elbow and his eyes sprung open, only to be met with the kind eyes of a local woman.

“Ay, you’ve been mugged, huh?” she asked gently.

“Yes,” Chay breathed out, trying and failing to stop a sob escape.

“Okay, okay, let’s get you over to the police, okay?” she said, turning him to walk him past the entrance towards the police kiosk that was a permanent fixture at this market. Chay stumbled along with her, before turning back and slurring a ‘thank you’ in English at the tourist couple that had stopped and helped him.

They waved back, the woman in particular looking very upset and like she wanted to follow. Chay hoped he hadn’t totally ruined their night.

After what felt like hours walking with a knife through his side, they finally arrived at the kiosk. He didn’t have to say anything, the police just took one look at him before saying something Chay wasn’t following into a radio. He was pushed into a chair, the movement making him gasp in pain. He had barely recovered himself before he was once again being manhandled, this time into the back of an ambulance.

What could have been ten minutes, or ten hours later, Chay found himself lying on a narrow hospital bed in the middle of an emergency room. The bed was tiny, and it creaked every time he moved, which he couldn’t help doing in an effort to find one position that didn’t make him want to just curl up and die with the pain.

“Easy there, you’ll hurt yourself even more,” Chay looked up to find a nurse leaning over him, her hands moving to help Chay shuffle on to his back.

“I need to do a quick concussion check and examine your tummy to make sure there’s no bleeding internally, ok?” the nurse poised it like a question, but she was already shining a pen light in his eyes.

Thankfully, it didn’t take her long to conclude that he’d have a killer headache for days but he didn’t have a concussion, and she didn’t see any internal bleeding but the scans would be reviewed by a doctor.

“You have nothing on you, so I’m assuming you were robbed?” she asked.

“Yes,” Chay responded quietly.

“Okay, well the police sent an officer here after you, so you can tell him what happened,” she said, turning slightly and waving someone over. A few seconds later, a police officer stood beside her.

“In the meantime, who can I call for you?” she asked.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit, SHIT.

Of course, they needed to call someone. Chay could hardly get home like this on his own. But the only person they could call was his brother. His brother who was carrying the weight of the whole minor family on his shoulders, while navigating the situation with his mom and his boyfriend’s dad and Chay could not pile this on his plate.

Chay quickly went through a mental list of who else he could call. Kim? Fuck, no. Why was Kim still always the first person he thought about? No, he was not going there. Kinn was out of the question. Same goes for all his bodyguards. Macau? No, he wouldn’t make it two steps out of his house before his brother and Pete would be on him and Pete would definitely call Porsche. Tankhun wouldn’t tell Porsche, but Arm and Pol would have to report to Kinn where they were going. He could call Ohm or Pine, but they’d have to get their parents to come and besides the fact that they would definitely call his brother, he didn’t want to drag them out here at night.

Fuck.

Chay didn’t know how long he’d been lost in his thoughts but the nurse clearing her throat brought him back to the present.

“Em…do we have to call anyone?” he asked quietly, looking down at his hands, where his wrist was resting gently in the cup of his right hand. He resisted the urge to fidget but only because of the threat of pain he knew it would bring.

“Look kid,” Chay looked up at the officer who sighed at him. A sigh that was one hundred percent exasperation and zero percent sympathy.

“You need to call someone. You have no wallet, no phone, nobody is going to want to let you go like this, but you’re sitting here in an international school uniform, so you don’t qualify for free care,” he said brusquely, making Chay curl in on himself. Which, ow.

A gentle hand on his leg made him look up to see the nurse scowling at the police officer, before she turned much kinder eyes on him.

“Sweetheart, it’s really better to have someone here with you, okay?” she said before looking guiltily at the floor and then back up at him. “Do you know your insurance details, if you have it?”

“No,” Chay sobbed out. He didn’t think he had insurance because he had a whole fucking medical wing in his house. But he couldn’t say that with the police officer standing right there. He knew that a lot of the police force in Bangkok were on the family’s payroll, but he had no idea if this guy was, and he didn’t know what to say to figure it out.

Maybe if he was his brother, or more like Kim…

Kim. Why is he always thinking about Kim?

Chay really didn’t want to call him. Chay really wanted to call him.

He chewed his lip, silently mulling it over. At the very least, he knew Kim was not at the compound, and he had his own guard rotation who didn’t report his movements to Kinn. And he wouldn’t tell Porsche if Chay asked him not to. In fact, Chay suspected Porsche would be the last thing on Kim’s mind if Chay called.

He looked up at the nurse who was looking at him hopefully, and the police officer who was looking at him impatiently.

“Ok, there’s someone. I…I can call him, if there’s a phone…” he said quietly, almost whispered actually.

“Here,” the nurse said, handing him a cell phone out of her pocket. “This is a floating phone for the ER for patients who need to call relatives.”

“Thanks,” Chay said taking the phone. The nurse helped him unlock it, so he didn’t have to move his left wrist.

“He probably won’t answer straight away,” he said, fumbling while keying in Kim’s number. If he does at all, he thought to himself. It wasn’t exactly protocol for a mafia son to answer an unknown number.

The police officer sighed at him again.

Finally, Chay had the number keyed in and lifted the phone to his ear. As expected, it rang out. He dialled again. It rang out again.

“Look kid,” the policer officer hissed, his impatience growing.

“Let him try again,” he heard the nurse scold the officer, cutting off whatever he was about to say to Chay.

Chay hit redial again, his fingers shaking slightly, and lifted the phone to his ear once more.

“I don’t know how you got this number but...”

“It’s me,” Chay said, interrupting Kim before he could incriminate himself in front of the police officer.

There was a second of silence before –

“Chay?” was the whisper that came down the line.

“Yeah,” Chay whispered back, trying to keep his voice steady but all of a sudden, the lump in his throat felt impossible to speak around.

Kim must have picked up on it because the hesitation was gone from his voice when he spoke again.

“What’s wrong?”

“Can you come and get me? Please?” Chay asked still barely above a whisper lest he start bawling in the middle of the ER. It was bad enough that this was how he was going to see Kim again, so he really didn’t want to double down on how pathetic he must seem.

“Yeah, Chay, of course,” Kim replied instantly, the words sounding like they were rushing out of him. “Where are you?”

Chay could hear rustling down the phone line, followed by a door slamming somewhere in the background and the ding of an elevator button.

Kim was coming. Kim didn’t even wait to hear where he was before he’d left whatever he was doing. Chay felt a rush of relief and love swarm him, causing tears to spill from his eyes. He sniffed wiping them away.

This is why he hadn’t reached out to Kim yet after the song. He knew once he spoke to him, he’d forgive him.

“Chay?” Kim asked urgently, and Chay heard what sounded like a car door closing.

“Em…where am I?” he directed at the nurse beside him who gave him the name of the hospital.

“Samrong Medical,” he finally said into the phone, bracing himself for Kim’s response.

“What?!” was the yelled response. “Where in the hospital are you, Chay? And please don’t say…”

“The ER,” Chay cut him off quickly. Best to get it over with. He’d find out soon enough anyway.

Chay heard the deep breath that Kim took, before he heard him say the name of the hospital away from the phone speaker, presumably to a driver. Good, it was good that he wasn’t driving. That meant he didn’t have to put the phone down.

God, Chay felt pathetic. He hadn’t spoken to Kim in weeks, determined to cut him out, and now one incident and a phone call later and he couldn’t bare the thoughts of hanging up on him.

Only a second later, Kim’s voice came back through the speaker.

“What happened?” he asked harshly, causing Chay to wince.

“I…I’m okay.” The police officer scoffed at that.

“Chay, please,” Kim said and Porchay could hear that he was saying it through gritted teeth. He could picture him in the back of an SUV, body coiled, leg bouncing, his fist on his forehead as he tried not to let his stress overcome him.

“I’m ok…really. But I…it…” Chay didn’t know what he was trying to say. But now that he knew Kim was coming, he really wanted him here. Now.

The voice that responded was so gentle, it was worlds away from the one that had just asked him what had happened.

“What is it, angel?”

And that was it. The endearment combined with the gentleness in Kim’s voice unlocked the metaphorical trunk in his chest where Chay was storing all the hurt and the pain and the fear since he’d been attacked. Even if he'd tried, he couldn’t have stopped the sob he let out.

“It hurts, Kim,” he cried down the phone.

“Shit,” Kim breathed back and even overcome with emotion as he was, Chay could hear the desperation in Kim’s voice. “I’m sorry, angel, I’m so sorry. I’m coming ok.”

“I know,” Chay breathed out. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me for this - for fuck's sake can you not drive?! Go the fuck around them! - fucking traffic, I promise, I’m hurrying.”

“I know, don’t get into an accident,” Chay responded. “I’ll be mad at you if you end up hurt too.”

He was trying to lighten the mood but judging by the half sob that came back at him, Chay guessed it fell flat.

“I’m sorry sweetheart, I need the phone back,” the nurse interrupted gently.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, of course,” Chay mumbled out quickly. He had totally forgotten that he wasn’t on his phone. “Kim, I’m sorry, I have to give the phone back. It belongs to the hospital, they need it.”

Even as Chay said it, he felt a rock settle in his stomach at the thought of hanging up on Kim.

“Shit, ok,” Kim responded. “Before you do, put me on speaker.”

“What?”

“Please?”

Chay moved the phone from his ear and put the call on speaker.

“Ok, there you go,” he said.

“How is he being treated?” Chay instantly recognised the authoritative voice the Theerapanyakuls so often used in business settings. It was a far, far cry from the tone Kim had just been using with Chay, and he once again marvelled at how the brothers seemed to be able to switch on their mafia personas when needed.

In fact, it was something that Chay had spent the last few weeks contemplating. Living in the compound had given him a whole new perspective of Kim and his life, and he had been beginning to wonder if the Kim that didn’t care about Chay or how he hurt him was actually the part of Kim that was an act. This whole scenario was doing a lot to prove that theory right.

The nurse looked at Chay questioningly, but Chay could only shrug slightly in response. The nurse had at least been nice to him. Kim could save his burly attitude for the officer as far as Chay was concerned.

“Kim, the nurse here is…”

“How is he being treated?” Kim interrupted.

“Well, sir, you see…”

“The kid has no wallet or insurance details. He’s been checked for a concussion and now he’ll be treated when you get here. Presuming you can sort that out, of course,” the police officer interrupted.

“I see,” came the response. Chay guessed the officer and nurse couldn’t hear it but to Chay the threat in his tone was clear as glass.

“Nurse?” Kim asked, very politely through the phone.

And wonderful. They’ve landed in faux-polite territory. Chay was all of a sudden feeling sorry for the officer. Even if he was an ass.

“Please make sure Porchay is treated to the best possible standard your hospital allows. I can assure you that I will indeed, sort it out, as the officer said.”

“Of course, sir,” the nurse responded, looking at Chay with an eyebrow raised. It seemed Kim’s tone hadn’t been lost on her.

“Excellent,” Kim said. “Chay?”

Chay knocked the call back off speaker before bringing it back to his ear.

“I’m nearly there. Five minutes, I promise,” Kim said, his voice back to the gentle tone that Chay suspected was reserved for him and him alone. And why exactly had he insisted on cutting Kim out? Here he was in one of the worst moments of his life and the only person he wanted with him, was Kim.

“Okay,” he whispered around the lump in his throat that was growing to unspeakable proportions again. “Bye,” he finished, quickly hanging up because if he didn’t, he wouldn’t and he knew he really had to give the phone back.

He looked up to do just that, holding the phone out to the nurse. The nurse who was looking at him with a calculating look on her face. It was clear she had figured out he was someone to someone, and the someone he was someone to, was an important someone.

“Now, isn’t it better that you called him?” she finally said, and Chay felt rather like he was being chastised by his mother by her tone. He just nodded at her, but he couldn’t help the small smile that broke free when she smiled at him and pulled the blanket up to his chin.

“I’m going to start and IV for you for the pain, okay? We’ll let that settle in before we move you to x-ray,” she explained. “We’ll have to get you to move about a bit to get a good look at your ribs so better to have some pain medication in you first.”

“Pff…I’d wait if I were you. You don’t know for sure whoever’s coming is going to be able to pay,” he scoffed at her, the condescension dripping from his tone.

The nurse simply looked at him, utterly unimpressed, before looking back at Chay with a look that said everything she thought about the officer’s manners. Or intelligence. Or both.

“I think I’ll take the young man at his word and see to it that Porchay here - is it ok if I call you Porchay - that Porchay isn’t in any more pain than he needs to be,” she said.

“Thank you,” Chay whispered, his eyes welling up again.

“Suit yourself,” the officer scoffed again. “But while we’re waiting, you can tell me what happened,” the officer said, now sounding bored, as he took a notebook out of his pocket.

He looked up at Chay expectantly.

“Can we wait? Just until…”

“Kid, I don’t have all night to wait for your friend or whoever it is to show up and hold your hand, ok?”

“You don’t have to wait all night,” a voice said from behind him. “Seeing as I’m right here.”

Chay’s head snapped towards the voice so fast, he winced at the pain that laced through his skull at the movement. Nausea rolled through him, so he kept his eyes closed and concentrated on his breathing. He felt a bowl being placed in his hands, and soft pat on his back, presumably from the nurse.

“Just aim for the bowl if you have to vomit sweetheart,” he heard her say gently.

Chay didn’t acknowledge her, he just kept breathing and willing his stomach to settle and the waves of agony to recede.

Finally, he felt steady enough to open his eyes. He did so slowly, only to find himself looking straight into Kim’s eyes. Kim’s eyes that were clouded with worry. Kim’s eyes that glistened with a sheen of tears. Kim’s eyes that Chay had missed so much. So, so, so much.

Chay felt tears well in his own eyes as Kim raised his hand like he was going to touch his shoulder, or maybe even his cheek, but he stopped suddenly, hesitating with his hand in mid-air.

Oh, Chay thought sadly, he doesn’t know if he can touch me.

It was that thought that had the tears in Chay’s eyes spill over.

“Kim,” he sobbed out, leaning his head forward slightly, as far as he could without the stabbing pain coming back.

He closed his eyes again as he felt Kim’s arms finally come around him. His head was gently slotted into Kim’s neck and a hand was softly scraping through his hair.

“You’re okay now, angel, I’ve got you,” Kim whispered. “I’m here, nobody is going to hurt you again.”

Chay didn’t know how long he cried for, but Kim kept whispering to him the whole time, and didn’t let him go. When Chay finally lifted his head to look at Kim, there was a huge wet patch on his t-shirt.

“Shit, sorry,” he mumbled, embarrassed, looking down at his lap again.

“Hey, it’s ok,” Kim said gently, placing two fingers under Chay’s chin to raise his head slightly. “Can you look at me?”

Chay did, and he was completely taken aback by what he saw. Kim had obviously been crying too, although not as heavily as Chay but his eyes were glassy and red-rimmed, his cheeks glistening. But it wasn’t only that. His hair was scraped back in a half ponytail, a look that Chay ordinarily loved, but now, under the harsh hospital lighting, it only allowed Chay to see the black circles under Kim’s eyes, and the weight he’d lost around his face causing his cheek bones to stand out even more. He looked exhausted.

A quick glance down his body showed that he was wearing black tracksuit bottoms along with the black muscle t-shirt Chay had cried all over. Clothes he’d never usually be seen in out in public. He had no jewellery on except for small hoops in both his ears. Chay would guess that everything he was wearing, basic as it was, was probably designer, but he still looked like he’d jumped out of bed to come here. But Chay knew Kim was a night owl.

“Are you ok?” he choked out, looking at Kim worriedly.

Kim just chuckled softly, rolling his eyes good naturedly.

“Only you would ask that from a hospital bed,” he said.

“Kim,” Chay started to push back.

“I’m fine,” Kim interrupted. “I just don’t like seeing you hurt.”

Chay wanted to argue but the pain still rumbling through his body reminded him that he was in fact the one of them in need of hospital treatment. He nodded slightly at Kim, who turned to the nurse.

Taking her cue from Kim, she moved to slot the IV needle into Chay’s right hand, the prick of the needle barely registering amongst the throbbing of his myriad of injuries.

As the nurse hung the bag, she explained to Chay that she’d be taking him to x-ray and for a further scan of his tummy and back to make sure there was no internal damage.

A flood of nervousness rushed through him, and he looked at Kim.

“Can you come with me?”

“Of course,” Kim answered, without even looking at the nurse for approval.

After his final set of x-rays, which Kim couldn’t actually come in the room for, he was wheeled to a private room and transferred to a bigger, softer bed on what seemed to be a different floor to the ER. Chay wondered when exactly Kim had the time to arrange the room, but he decided he was grateful enough for the privacy not to ask. He just reached out for Kim’s hand and smiled at him gratefully. Judging by the smile he got back, his message was received.

“This is a slightly stronger dose now that we’ve done all the tests, ok?” The nurse interrupted as she hung another bag on his IV pole, and Chay looked at her to find her already looking at Kim. “Still, try not to let him move too much.”

“Okay,” Kim replied, nodding seriously at the nurse. Chay would have rolled his eyes if he didn’t think it would send him into shock with pain.

As she was leaving, the police officer from before knocked on the door before entering quietly.

Kim barely spared him a glance before focussing all his attention on Chay once more.

“Can you tell me what happened?” he asked gently.

Chay looked at the officer, an apology on the tip of his tongue for keeping him waiting. But the look on the officer’s face made him stop. He definitely knew who Kim was and was definitely on the payroll, if the badly concealed terror on his face was anything to go by.

Chay felt a gentle hand turn his head back towards Kim.

“You don’t have to talk to him. He can hear you well enough from there. Just tell me, ok?” Kim said.

And ok, Chay could do that. He swallowed harshly, trying to get his thoughts in order and his emotions in check.

“I don’t know where to start,” he whispered to Kim.

“That’s okay. Do you want me to ask you some questions?”

“Yes,” Chay breathed out.

“Okay, where did you go after school?” Kim asked him.

“Em, it’s exam week, so we finished later than usual. It was our last one today, and it kind of sucked, but we’re on break now so we hung around with some people from our class and then headed to the night market at around six,” Chay said.

“The one by your school?” Kim prodded.

“Yeah, eh yes. We, I mean, me, Ohm and Pine, we said at the first exam that if we made it to the end, we’d go,” Kim chuckled slightly at this.

“Okay, then where did you go?” he kept prodding, guiding Chay along in his story as the officer took notes from the foot of the bed.

“Em, we hung around there for a couple of hours before leaving. Ohm and Pine walked home. Pine asked me to go with him to his house, but I didn’t. And I should have. Shit, none of this would have happened if I’d just gotten over myself and gone with him,” Chay sobbed.

“This is not your fault, Porchay,” Kim said forcefully, his hands coming up to either side of Chay’s face holding his head gently.

He wasn’t sure what Chay thought he had to get over, but he knew this wasn’t the time to dig into it. He waited for Chay to nod at him before dropping his hands from his face to continue his questioning.

“Ok, Ohm and Pine went towards their neighbourhood, but you had to go the opposite way, yeah? So, what did you do next?” Kim asked.

“I decided to go back towards the main entrance. I didn’t wanna get the train or a scooter, so I thought it would be easier to get a Grab car from the entrance with all the tourists being dropped off.”

“Smart,” Kim said and Chay could hear the smile in his voice. “What next?”

Chay looked down at his lap and took a deep breath.

“They came out of nowhere,” he whispered, grabbing on to Kim’s hand that had been resting on the bed beside him. He felt Kim squeeze his fingers between his.

“I didn’t even know what happened at first. It felt like one of them body tackled me. He knocked me down. I fell on my left side, but I’m pretty sure I hit my head that first time. Before I knew what was happening, one of them, he kicked me. I couldn’t breathe and I thought I was gonna puke, but he just kept kicking me,” Chay’s breaths now were coming in sharp pants, his fingers tightening around Kim’s. But now that the words were coming, Chay couldn’t stop them.

He felt Kim’s other hand settle at the base of his neck and squeeze gently.

“I don’t know how long he kicked me for, but eventually, he shoved me over and took my phone out of my hand. I just gave it to him, because Porsche, he said…he said if something like this ever happens not to fight, to just give them everything on me, so that’s what I did, I just did what he said,” Chay was looking at Kim now, panic in his eyes, like he needed Kim to understand why he hadn’t fought back.

Kim brought his face closer to his so Chay could see in his eyes how much he meant the next sentence.

“You did the right thing, Chay,” he said, glancing at Chay’s broken wrist. “I’m guessing he broke your wrist even though you let him take the phone?”

“Yeah, he em, he stomped on it,” Chay whispered back.

Kim swallowed harshly, trying to pull himself together, but Chay didn’t miss the clench in his jaw.

“See? Imagine what he could have done if he was that unhinged when you gave him what he wanted? You did the right thing, okay?”

“Okay,” Chay said.

“Okay, then what happened?” Kim prodded.

“There was another voice – I can’t remember seeing him, but he said something about how I had to have a wallet on me, that I was obviously a rich kid,” Chay scoffed slightly at that. Kim thought it probably wasn’t the time to remind him that he was now in fact, a rich kid.

“They shoved me around some more and took my wallet. Then I think one of them hit me again, and then they ran off. They went away from the market entrance,” Chay finished. It hadn’t taken long to tell his story, but he felt drained.

“Okay, angel,” Kim whispered, before he leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on his head. And if Chay hadn’t been so emotional and hurt, he’d probably be reeling at how easily he and Kim had gone from no contact to endearments and forehead kisses.

“Just one more question, okay? How did you get here?” Kim asked.

“I went towards the market entrance. I don’t know how long I was in the alley for though, I think I told the nurse I might have passed out. I fell into a tourist couple. They got the attention of a local woman and she brought me to the police kiosk. Next thing I knew I was here,” Chay said, and for the first time since he’d become aware of his surroundings, he realised he had no idea what time it was or how long he’d been here.

“It’s after 11.00pm now,” Kim told him as if he was reading Chay’s mind. Chay saw him turn slightly toward the officer. The kindness in his face gone.

“When did he get to the police at the market?” he asked the officer sharply.

“Em, he was brought over at, em, ni…nine p.m?” the officer said, shuffling the papers in his notebook nervously.

“Are you asking me, or telling me?”

“Tell…telling you, Mr Thee…eh…sir. 9.00pm he arrived at the police,” he said, looking at his notes again. “The officers on duty called for an ambulance and he was brought here and checked in by 9.30pm.”

Kim turned back to Chay.

“Is that everything you remember?”

Chay thought about it for a second, but all it did was exasperate his headache.

“Yes,” he answered Kim, not looking at the officer.

“I expect my family will be kept appraised of the investigation into this matter?” Kim said, while not taking his gaze off Chay. Chay who was looking at him like he was begging him to do something without saying it.

“Yes, sir,” the officer responded, taking Kim’s request as the dismissal it was and practically sprinting out of the room.

Kim sighed once he was gone.

“What is it, Chay? You can’t expect us to let this go?”

Chay hesitated before answering, before figuring he was going to have to ask Kim to let this go if he was going to get what he wanted. Which was for Porsche to never find out.

“Can’t we though?” he asked Kim, not proud of the whiny note his voice had taken on.

“Why would you want them to get away with this, Chay?” Kim asked.

“It’s not that, it’s just, I was kind of hoping that Porsche would never have to know?”

Kim sighed and put his head in his hands for a second before using them to push his hair back and looking back at Chay.

“Chay, I’m sorry, but he’s going to know,” he said gently.

“Only if you tell him,” Chay pushed back stubbornly.

“Chay, you have - I’m guessing - at least three broken ribs, more probably bruised, and a broken wrist. A very badly broken wrist. And the side of your face is black and blue.” Kim sounded very much like he was swallowing acid as he listed Chay’s injuries. “You can’t keep this from him,” Kim finished.

“Ugh,” Chay huffed out in response, sounding absolutely nothing like the adult he had been trying so hard to get Kim to see him as.

Kim just chuckled at him slightly, causing Chay’s cheeks to redden in embarrassment. He really didn’t want Kim to keep thinking of him as a teenager. He wanted him to think he was mature. That he was worthy of someone like Kim. And now here he was fucking it all up again, and Kim was laughing at him and…

“Hey, hey, hey, what’s with the tears? Porsche won’t be mad at you,” Kim said, totally taken aback by the sudden resurgence of Chay’s emotions.

“I know,” Chay said, still softly crying.

“Then what is it?”

“It’s just, ugh, it’s embarrassing!” he finally cried, looking away from Kim.

“What is? Getting mugged?! Chay you can’t be serious?” Kim pleaded with him.

“Yes! I mean, no. Ugh!” Chay gritted out, frustrated. “Yes, it’s embarrassing to get jumped! Anyone else from the family could have defended themselves, but no, not me! And on top of that, the last time I saw you, I was crying. And now here we are again, with me crying! And I know I must seem so pathetic to you, ugh, I am pathetic! But they kept asking me to call someone, and Porsche is dealing with so much, I couldn’t put this on him too, and anyone else I called would tell him.

But then I thought of you, and I didn’t want to call you because this is the worst possible reunion imaginable, but as soon as I thought of you, I only wanted to call you. And then as soon as I called you, I only wanted you here. And now you’re here, seeing me in all my pathetic glory, and isn’t that just the pathetic icing on my pathetic cake?!” Chay finished his outburst and promptly burst out crying. Again.

Chay felt utterly defeated as he let the sobs take over, wracking through his body. He was vaguely aware of being pulled forward into a solid chest but he couldn’t focus on anything other than the humiliation and sadness rushing through him, overwhelming him.

What felt like hours later, he raised his head slightly, but he was too shy to look at Kim. But Kim lifted his chin slightly, forcing Chay to look him in the eye. Kim looked like had been crying too. He had also moved so he was sitting on the edge of Chay’s bed, facing him, so with his arms wrapped around Chay like they were now, Chay just had to lean forward ever so slightly to be held tightly against him. Which he couldn’t resist doing.

He felt Kim’s arms tighten around him again, and one of his hands going to the back of his head while the other rubbed small circles into the small of his back.

He didn’t know how long he stayed like that before Kim spoke.

“Chay,” he whispered, but his voice rumbled through his chest into Chay’s. In fact, Chay realised he could feel each and every one of Kim’s staggering breaths, as if he was struggling to keep himself together. He didn’t have the mental capacity to think about what that meant right now, so he stayed quiet and let Kim talk.

“Chay,” Kim said again, before continuing. “There is nothing, absolutely nothing wrong with not fighting back when you get attacked like that. Okay? And to be honest, it sounds like their plan was to stun you with the first tackle. It was aimed to take you by surprise. That’s not your fault, okay? None of it is your fault. And it is not embarrassing to be scared or upset or angry because it happened. I’m all of those things too, Chay.”

“What?” Chay looked up at Kim at that.

Kim brought his hands around to Chay’s front and took both of his hands in his own before continuing.

“Chay, I was sitting in my apartment thinking I was never going to get the chance to talk to you again, when this random number calls me. Except it wasn’t a random number. It was you, calling me from a fucking hospital bed,” Kim cuts off there, his breathing becoming more laboured as he looks down at his hands.

When he looks back at Chay, the tears are back in his eyes.

“Fear? Upset? Anger? They were the very least of what I was feeling, Chay. First, I couldn’t believe I was finally hearing your voice again, but before I could even register that properly, I knew something was wrong. But I didn’t know what was wrong. I don’t know how to explain that type of fear, Chay. You being in this hospital bed? There is literally only one worse thing in this world that could happen to me.”

“What?” Chay asked confused, but the look in Kim’s eyes told him exactly what Kim’s biggest fear was and honestly, Chay didn’t know what to do with that realisation.

“Then, why…” Chay stopped, swallowing the end of his question. Now probably wasn’t the time. Kim didn’t let him away with it though. No, instead, he leaned forward and lifted Chay’s chin, so their gazes locked again.

“Then why did I lie to you, ignore you, push you away and break both our hearts in the process?” he said, and Chay gasped at the declaration, because that’s what it was.

A tear slipped down Kim’s cheek and Chay couldn’t help but reach out and wipe it away.

“I’m so sorry, Chay,” Kim whispered. “I needed you to not be near my family. I needed to do what I had to so that you would stay away. I didn’t know then about your mom. I convinced myself that you didn’t actually love me. That it was a crush, like your crush on Wik, because of your crush on Wik, and that if I was mean to you, you’d be hurt yeah, but you’d get over it and move on.”

“That’s not…,” Chay started to interrupt.

“I know,” Kim sighed, smiling softly, but he still looked devastated, with his red nose and cheeks soaked with tears.

“I know, Chay, but all I could see was the target my family and I were putting on your back. I had tunnel vision. I let myself give in the night before you were taken by Tawan and look what happened. When I couldn’t stop them, when I couldn’t save you on time, that’s when I knew I had to walk away, for your safety. But then it turns out that you’ve got a big enough target of your own that has nothing to do with me, and honestly, I didn’t know what to do Chay. I didn’t know how to come back from what I’d done to you. To both of us.

I never wanted it to be like this. I never, ever wanted you to feel like you can’t call me, and I won’t come running. Fuck, if I hadn’t screwed up so bad, I probably would have been with you tonight! Or you would have at least had one of my guards with you, which we’re going to talk about by the way.”

Chay couldn’t help but huff slightly at that. He knew that was going to come up, and with Porsche too, as soon as he found out what happened. Chay had successfully argued his way out of having his own security detail up until now, but he knew this incident would change that.

The look Kim was giving him confirmed that.

“Fine,” he muttered, before gathering the courage to ask Kim what he’d wanted to ask him for weeks.

“So, the song?”

Kim’s eyes widened slightly at the question.

“You listened to it?”

“Of course,” Chay answered, shocked by Kim’s question. “How could I not listen to it?”

“Well, I don’t know. I didn’t hear from you, so I didn’t know. And I didn’t want to presume. And it kind of took everything in me to send it after you blocked me so, I don’t know, it was going to take me a bit longer to work up to reaching out again,” Kim said, shyness creeping into his tone.

“And Chay, I know okay, I know as apologies go it’s - well, it’s not one. But it’s literally the only way I know how to tell you how I feel. I can’t talk for shit, but I knew I could put it in a song.”

Chay just observed him from where he was lying in the bed.

“You know, I’m glad you sent it after I had moved back into the compound,” he finally said.

“Why is that?” Kim asked warily.

“I understand you a lot more now. Before, I was so hurt, Kim. You were the first person I really liked, loved even, and you were also the first person to shatter me. And I’m not stupid, Kim, I know you’re you and you can have anyone. I know I’m just a high school kid. I know I’m nothing special. But you made me feel like I was and then you took that away, and I felt…I felt humiliated,” Chay said, speaking around the lump in his throat. He looked down at his lap to gather himself, only to look straight back up again at the sob that Kim let out.

“Shit, Kim, I’m sorry, I…”

“No, don’t,” Kim breathed out around another sob. “I deserve to hear this. You deserve to tell me this. But Chay, please, don’t ever talk about yourself like that again. You are so special. You’re the most special of all of us,” Kim’s sobs cut off his sentence and he brought his hands up to his eyes in a weak attempt to stop the tears coming.

“Kim,” Chay breathed, leaning up as far as he could without putting pressure on his injured ribs, and pulling him into a hug. Kim fell into it, wrapping his hands once again around Chay, but this time it was his head in Chay’s neck.

They could have sat there for hours but Chay didn’t dare move, until finally, Kim’s sobs subsided, and he started to breathe easier. Slowly, he raised his head from Chay’s neck so he could look at him. They were so close; their noses were almost touching. Chay could feel Kim’s harsh breaths mingling with his own and brushing off his lips. Kim looked wrecked from crying, but he was still the most beautiful human Chay had ever seen.

Chay swallowed before speaking.

“Can I tell you what I think I’ve figured out since moving into the compound?” he asked quietly. Kim held his gaze for a second, before nodding back at him.

“Okay. I think that house is where joy goes to die. I think you were trapped there until you were sixteen with a neglectful, hateful father, a traumatised brother, and another brother burdened by the weight of your family name and business far too young. I think you have to have had two parents, but there isn’t a single solitary thing in the whole compound about your mother,” Chay doesn’t falter as Kim’s eyes widen at that statement.

“I think you created Wik to escape your family and what it means, but you’re actually not as out as you’d like. I’m not sure if it’s love for your brothers or force by your father, but I think you are still involved in some way,” again Chay doesn’t break eye contact, and as Kim’s eyes scour his face, he knows he’s right. Because Kim is searching Chay’s face for his feelings on him still being involved with the family business.

“I think you’ve been playing the role of cold and calculated Kim for years, because it’s the only way to survive in that house. For God’s sake, there isn’t even a comfortable couch in the whole building. I’ve never heard your father speak not in metaphors. The maids pick out the flowers, yet the place constantly smells like disinfectant. There’s nothing homely about the home you grew up in, Kim.

You told me in your studio that Wik is the side of you that you like more. But I think there is more to you than that, Kim. I think there’s your popstar Wik persona, and there’s mafia son Kim persona, and then, then there’s you. The real you, here with me right now.” Chay takes a breath then, breaking his gaze away from Kim’s to steel himself for what comes next. Taking a deep breath, he looked at Kim again.

“Kim, I think…I think you think that you have to play all these roles to survive and you’re keeping the real you hidden, but I meant what I said before. They’re all just sides of you and I…” Chay felt Kim’s hand gently brush a tear off his face, and shit when did he start crying again?

“I like all of them, Kim. I love all of you, and I think you lo…”

“Wait!” Kim abruptly cut in, causing Chay to startle and lean back.

Of course. Of course, he was wrong. Kim didn’t love him. This was all a fantasy Chay had laid out in his head. And now he’d just made himself seem even more pathetic. He’d never recover from this mortification.

“I…I’m sorry, I...”

“No Chay, that’s not it, please come here,” Kim said urgently, pulling Chay gently back towards him.

“Can you look at me?” he asked Chay, but that was a hard no from Chay, he was embarrassed enough as it was.

“Angel, please. Let me say it myself?”

Chay snapped his gaze back to Kim, who was smiling at him gently.

“Chay, angel, I love you,” Kim said, leaning forward to rest his forehead against Chay’s.

“What?” Chay breathed out, shocked out of his internal rambling.

Kim leaned back again but stayed close enough that there was barely an inch of space between their lips.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want you to say it for me first. But I love you. I love you so much, and I’m so sorry I lied about it,” Kim closed his eyes briefly, before looking back at Chay. He held his gaze for a second before his eyes flicked down to his lips.

“Can I...”

“Yes,” Chay breathed out and before he knew it, Kim’s lips were covering his. A hand was cupping his jaw and a thumb was on his cheek. And Kim was kissing him. He was kissing Kim! And Chay was totally unprepared for the rush of want that swooped through him, for the way his breath caught, and his chest tightened. And ow…ribs. Very broken ribs.

“Ow,” he whimpered as he broke away from Kim.

“Shit, sorry,” Kim breathed, moving his hand from his face down to hold his side gently.

“It’s okay, just help me lie down?”

“Yeah, of course,” Kim said as he got up from the bed and moved his left arm, so it was wrapped around his middle with his hand on the small of his back. He leaned forward so that Chay’s head was on his shoulder, then secured his right arm across his shoulder blade and upper back so that his hand was cupping Chay’s skull.

“Okay, here we go,” he whispered, easing him down gently. When Chay was settled on the pillow, he went to pull away, but Chay grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

“Stay?”

“I’m not going anywhere, I was just going to get a chair, okay?” Kim responded.

Chay looked at the bed and then back to Kim. It really wasn’t big enough for the two of them, so the chair would have to do.

“Fine,” he said, pouting slightly.

“Here,” Kim said pulling the chair right up to the bed and positioning it so that when he sat down his head was level with Chay’s.

“See, right beside you,” he smiled at Chay as he rested his elbow on the bed and brought his hand up to run through Chay’s hair, his other hand going to hold Chay’s good one.

Chay just smiled back. But the truth was, the whole night was starting to catch up with him and he really wanted to sleep.

Just when he was nodding off, a knock on the door startled him awake and he looked up in time to see the doctor come in.

“Okay, Pichaya Kittisawat?” the doctor asked.

“Yes, it’s Porchay” Chay answered.

“Porchay, it’s all good news. I’ve had a look at all your x-rays and scans, and you don’t need surgery and there’s no internal bleeding as the nurse deduced. A cast on your wrist and wrapping on the ribs should do the trick. You’ve already been cleared for a concussion, so that’s that,” the doctor finished and smiled at Porchay.

“The nurse will be in shortly for the cast and the bandages and to run through with you the dos and don’ts. No strenuous activity, for example, for approximately four to six weeks,” he said this looking at Kim, who nodded back at the doctor very seriously, completely unflappable in the face of the insinuation. Porchay wanted to curl up and die of embarrassment.

The doctor turned to leave and just as he did, the nurse came bustling in with a trolley full of supplies. Chay was delighted to see it was the same nurse from earlier.

“Now, someone ordered a cast, I believe?”

*

It was two hours later and Chay was bone tired. He could honestly say he had never been so tired in his entire life. And everything hurt. Granted he’d been dosed with pain killers before he left the hospital but apparently, the broken bones he was now sporting would make their presence felt regardless.

It didn’t help that he was tense as fuck, dreading what was to come. After being told he could be discharged, Kim had convinced Chay that he had to tell his brother. His reason being that he had to go home.

“I’d take you back to my apartment in a second, but then you’d only have to explain that to your brother, and the compound has the medical wing with doctors on site. Please let me take you home?” Kim had reasoned.

“Will you stay with me?” Chay had asked him, not quite able to look Kim in the eye. He wasn’t sure why he had become so shy and emotional again. But given he had been beaten up, robbed and then had the most emotionally intense conversation with the person he loved who he thought didn’t love him, all in the space of a few hours, he figured it was probably inevitable that he’d be a little…frayed at the seams.

“Of course, I’ll stay with you. But you know that means telling your brother about us, right? And mine,” Kim grimaced slightly at that part.

Chay just shrugged.

“I really don’t want to be alone,” he had said, a tear escaping his eye.

So now here they were, in the back of Kim’s detail’s SUV, him half resting on Kim’s chest as it was the only comfortable position for his ribs, and Kim’s arms around his shoulder with his hand once again in Chay’s hair.

“Khun Kim, we’ve arrived,” Chay was stirred out of his half sleep by the driver.

He sat up slowly and took a deep breath as he looked out the window to the door of the mansion. The door that his brother and brother-in-law were standing in, in their pyjamas, the former pacing a hole on the marble.

He knew they couldn’t see him and Kim through the blackout windows, so when Kim turned to him and asked him if he was ready to face the music, he snuck a quick kiss before nodding at him.

As soon as Kim knocked at the window to let the guard know he was ready, Porsche was across the entrance and at the door of the car.

“Chay!”

The guard opened the door and Kim turned to get out of the car, blocking Chay’s view of Porsche.

“Just let me help him out, Porsche, okay? He’s okay.” Chay heard Kim say to his brother, his tone gentler than Chay was honestly expecting.

As Kim turned back to help him, he spied an arm lock around Porsche’s waist, and Chay suspected that Kim had wordlessly asked his own brother to help. Whether it was to keep Porsche back or support Porsche when he saw Chay, he wasn’t sure.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Kim hopping out of the car and leaning back in to help Chay scoot across the seat and swing his legs around.

With Chay’s legs now out of the car door and Chay sitting right at the edge of the seat, Kim stepped right up and pulled Chay’s good arm around his neck. Before helping him up though, he leaned down to bring himself eye-level with Chay, so he could whisper to him with nobody else hearing.

“Can you walk? Or do you want me to carry you?”

Chay really thought about it because honestly, he was in too much discomfort to be proud right now. After a quick full body assessment though, he thought he could walk.

He said as much to Kim.

“Just, go slow,” he whispered.

“Of course, as slow as you need,” he whispered back, smiling, before he pressed a quick kiss to his forehead, seemingly without thinking. Chay really hoped his brother didn’t see that.

“What the fuck was that?!” Porsche screeched from outside the car. Okay, he saw that.

Kim looked at him apologetically, but Chay merely shrugged. They were only about five minutes from telling them anyway.

“Ready?” Kim asked, louder this time so their brothers would know to back up.

“Yep,” Chay responded, bracing himself for the pain that was bound to come.

And come it did. Kim practically lifted him out of the car and now that he was standing, was carrying at least ninety percent of his body weight. Chay still couldn’t help the whimper that left him as his ribs jostled.

As soon as he had felt his feet touch the ground, he had closed his eyes and concentrated on his breathing. He could hear Kim whispering to him. He could feel his lips brushing against his ear and then his forehead, as Kim moved slightly so more of his front was to Chay’s front and he was half hugging him while holding Chay up.

“Breathe, angel. That’s it, breathe. You’re okay, I’m not going to let you go, lean it all on me,” Kim kept whispering to him until Chay finally felt like he could open his eyes.

And immediately met the worried gaze of his brother.

“Hia,” he whimpered.

And that was all it took for Porsche to be at Chay’s other side, his hands hovering over his arm that was in a cast and a sling. He settled on putting his hand on his shoulder, never looking away from Chay as they made the very slow shuffle into the mansion.

When they finally made it into the entrance hallway, they stopped to take a breather.

“Bedroom or couch first for a break?” Kim asked.

“I don’t know,” Chay whimpered, the pain rattling through him. He felt Kim move in front of him again, the hand not holding him up cupping his face gently.

“Chay, please let me take you upstairs. You’re literally sweating with the pain,” he said, while wiping gently at Chay’s temple to illustrate his point.

When Chay opened his eyes again to look at him, he could see the concern n Kim’s gaze. The skin around his eyes was tight with worry, his jaw was clenched and there was a furrow between his brows that Chay really wanted to smooth out but that would require moving and moving was not happening. Shit. Maybe he was too proud to admit that he needed more help, but he didn’t relish the idea of being carried across the mansion.

He could feel Porsche move beside him, his hand tightening on his shoulder and Chay knew he was likely to just sweep him up in his arms any second now if he didn’t do something. A quick glance at his surroundings showed Kinn hovering, looking between Porsche and his own brother in concern. There were bodyguards dotted around the foyer too, but they at least were pretending not to be looking at Chay.

“Chay…” his brother started but Chay cut him off. Maybe Chay was just being stupid or selfish, but for some reason the prospect of being carried by his brother in front of Kim felt much more embarrassing than being carried by Kim himself.

“Okay,” he breathed at Kim.

Kim smiled at him in response, nothing in his expression other than relief which made Chay feel better. And then Kim surprised him again by cupping his chin, leaning forward and pecking him lightly on the lips before moving his right arm so it was right across his back, and leaning down to wrap his other arm behind his knees.

In the midst of it all, he thought he heard Porsche make a noise much like that of a strangled cat.

“Okay, brace yourself, Chay. One, two, three,” and then he was up in Kim’s arms, his head in his neck breathing through the sudden surge of pain. But this time, it faded quickly and Chay could admit that being carried was much more preferable to enduring every step from the car to his bed.

He lifted his head and let out a breath of relief. Kim looked him and smiled.

“Better?” he asked, and he wasn’t even slightly out of breath.

“You know, you could at least pretend that it’s somewhat strenuous to carry me like this,” Chay snarked at him.

Kim huffed out a laugh at him.

“And miss this golden opportunity to impress you? Never!” Chay just laughed, because what the hell is his life now?

Kim started towards the elevator calling out to someone to press the button, which they must have done, because it opened just as they got to it and Kim stepped straight in.

So did Porsche and Kinn. Porsche’s face kept going between worried and annoyed as his gaze flicked between Chay’s cast and Kim carrying him.

He was just opening his mouth to speak when the elevator dinged that they were on Chay’s floor.

“Hold that thought?” he asked Porsche who looked back at him like he was on thin ice.

Chay didn’t have the chance to respond though because Kim was already walking them out of the elevator and down the hall.

“I’m the third door on the left,” Chay whispered to Kim.

“Hmm,” was all Kim responded with.

“Hmm? What’s hmm?”

“Oh, you’re right across from me. The rooms on the right are connecting. They’re mine. Or, they were,” he said.

Before Chay could digest that information, they arrived at his door, and Porsche rushed in front of them to open it and walk in ahead of him.

“Okay, here we go,” Kim said, placing him gently on the bed. He went to step away then, but Chay grabbed his wrist and pulled him to sit down beside him. Kim just smiled at him and twisted their hands, so their fingers were inter-locking and looked back at their brothers. He seemed completely unbothered by the conversation that was about to happen, but Chay could feel how tightly he was holding his hand.

“Chay, what happened to you?” Porsche broke into his thoughts. He looked so worried and so sad that Chay felt guilt crash through him.

“I was jumped at the night market by my school. They took my wallet and my phone. A lady helped me to the police, and they called an ambulance. I called Kim from the hospital. We’ve been there all night. I have a broken wrist, three broken ribs and four bruised ones. I banged my head but no concussion,” Chay said, much like he was reading a shopping list.

Tears welled in Porsche’s eyes.

“Why didn’t you call me?”

Chay looked down at the sadness in his brother’s voice, gaze focused on his and Kim’s hands that he had pulled into his lap. He felt Kim looking at him, and he could feel Porsche’s gaze boring through his skull.

Finally, he looked back at his brother.

“I didn’t want to pile on,” he whispered.

“What?” Porsche breathed out weakly.

“I just…the whole minor family thing, and mom and you know the mafia of it all. I didn’t want to add to the list. I can tell you’re not sleeping enough as it is, Hia,” he tacked on almost scoldingly.

The next thing he knew, Porsche was on his knees in front of him, and he was gripping his hand in his. Kim detached himself and moved his hand to the back of Chay’s neck. It was fast becoming a favourite spot of Kim’s.

“Chay, anything that’s happening with you, anything that happens to you, anything you want to tell me, isn’t piling on. Everything you mentioned, yeah, they’re all a lot of pressure, but you’re not on that list. You have your own list, okay? And you, and everything going on with you are the only things on it. It’s the ‘very important - must know’ list! You are literally the most important person in the world to me and you could never, ever be a burden, okay?” Porsche pleaded, leaning down and placing a kiss on Chay’s knuckles.

“Okay, Hia,” Chay eventually answered, squeezing his brother’s hands.

“You know, that’s very similar to what I said earlier,” Kim intervened still looking at Chay. When he said it, he only wanted to help Chay see how he important he was, how special he was. He should have known Porsche would see it as an in though.

“Did you now?” Porsche answered pulling Kim’s attention to him. Kim recognised the question for the challenge it was, and looked Porsche dead on.

“Yes, he’s the most important person to me too,” he replied, his gaze never wavering from Porsche’s.

He let Porsche scrutinise him, let him look for the lie in his face, until finally, Porsche nodded slightly.

“Okay, then,” he said, getting up from where was kneeling in front of Chay.

“Wait, that’s it?” Kim asked, surprised at the lack of interrogation or hostility from his boyfriend's brother. And his brother's boyfriend. Fuck, his family was weird.

It was Kinn who answered, laughing slightly at Kim.

“Oh no, there’s more. But as we have established, Chay is the most important person in this room and he’s injured and needs rest, so you get a pass,” he said, looking at Porsche before looking back at Kim. “For now.”

“Ok, fair enough,” Kim replied, resigned to his fate. But then a thought came to him.

“Speaking of more,” he directed at his brother, who gathered immediately from Kim’s tone that he had switched to business.

“Go on,” Kinn said, straightening. Porsche, also realising that they were about to get into the investigation side of Chay’s attack, stopped fussing over his brother and at once became the head of the minor family.

“We should expect the police report in the morning. A team can pick it up then with whatever they have. If we don’t have anything by 10.00am, they should be hurried along,” both Kinn and Porsche nodded at this. Chay wasn’t sure he wanted to know what hurried along meant.

“And there was an officer at the hospital, assigned to Chay’s case. Don’t know his name, don’t care, but his number was,” Kim pulled his phone out of his pocket and navigated to his notes app. “35699. He needs to be fired.”

“Done,” Kinn responded.

“Kim!” Kim looked at Chay to find him looking back, scandalised. “Seriously?!”

Kim took Chay’s hand again.

“Yes, Chay, seriously,” he said in a gentle but firm tone that left no room for argument. Chay tried anyway.

“But he…”

“I’m sorry, but this is how it has to be. Look, think about this way. How was that officer treating you before I got there? Before he realised it was me who was coming for you?” Kim implored and Chay could see Porsche’s eyes tighten at that.

“He didn’t recognise you and you didn’t know how to identify yourself as a member of this family, and that’s on us,” Kim continued, looking at Kinn and Porsche as he did, who both nodded back at him. “But we can’t be seen to let him get away with treating you that way. We have to make it clear that you’re protected.”

Chay was silent in response to Kim’s declaration, unsure how to digest the news that someone would be fired over him. But he knew that it was useless arguing with the three men in the room. This mafia was business was so much bigger than him.

He finally nodded, trying his best to tamper the guilt and unease that swirling in his tunny. He felt, more than saw Kim lean down and press a kiss to the top of his head, his hand once again cupping the back of his neck.

It was Kinn who eventually broke the silence.

“We’ll handle it as a priority later this morning,” he said, finality in his tone. And that was it, case closed. It didn't take more than a second after that for Porsche to go back to fussing over Chay, getting more and more addled as he fluttered about the room, pulling pyjamas out of a drawer with one hand and pulling the curtains closed with another.

“Do you need help? What pyjamas do you want? Do you need a shower?” The questions were running out of Porsche at a mile a minute.

“Porsche, stop. Stop!” Chay called, eventually getting his brother’s attention.

“I’m okay. Kim is staying. He’ll help me,” he said, smiling in a way that he hoped was comforting at his brother.

It was Kim though who answered, looking at him uncertain.

“Are you sure? It’s okay if you’re more comfortable with your brother,” he said. He didn’t want Chay to be uncomfortable, especially if he wanted to shower or needed help getting changed.

Chay took his hand in his again.

“I’m sure. Is that okay with you?”

“Yeah, of course. Whatever you need.” And that was the absolute truth.

And with that they both turned to look at Porsche and Kinn. Porsche who looked like he was chewing a lemon and Kinn who was looking at his brother like he was trying to work out who he was.

“Right ok,” Porsche finally said. “We’ll see you in later in the morning then.”

Porsche stepped forward again and kissed his little brother on the forehead. “Please call me if you need anything?”

“I will, I promise.”

And then Kinn and Porsche were gone, and the door was shut behind them.

Chay breathed out a sigh of relief, ready to take on the dreaded task of getting ready for bed, when he was startled out of his thoughts by Kim taking his hand back and heading across the room to the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Just a sec…” Kim called back, before he flung open the door.

“Porsche!”

*

Kim didn’t know what had come over him, but he felt unsettled when he watched Porsche and Kinn leave Chay’s room. He had absolutely no idea why, but he needed Porsche to know he could trust him with Chay.

“Porsche!” he called out, causing his brother and brother-in-law to turn around. They hadn’t really got that far.

Kim walked quickly up to them, stopping just in front of Porsche. He resolutely did not look at his brother.

“What’s wrong? Is he…”?

“No, he’s fine. It’s just…shit,” Kim said looking down at the carpeted floor under his feet.

“Kim?”

Steeling himself, Kim looked back up at Porsche. He was absolutely not looking at Kinn.

Kim took a deep breath.

“I love him. I just, I want you to know that what you said in there? It’s the same for me. There is nobody more important than him.” Kim was barely resisting the urge to fidget under the scrutiny of Porsche’s gaze.

Finally, Porsche spoke.

“This has been going on for a while, hasn’t it? You were the one who got him out of the warehouse, right?”

“Right,” Kim responded, and he felt Kinn tense at that.

“So, you were there for Chay, not because we called in the cavalry, which is what I always assumed,” Porsche looked at Kinn when he said this, but to his credit, Kinn looked very much like he was just remembering that Kim had been the one to call him when Chay had been taken.

“Right,” Kim just said again. He really didn’t want to go into the detail about how he’d let Chay get taken in the first place.

Porsche just looked at him for a long minute.

“Okay, I believe you,” he finally said, and Kim felt like a tonne of weight he didn’t know he’d been carrying lift off his shoulders.

“We’ll talk properly later, okay?” Porsche said before squeezing Kim’s shoulder and turning to head down the hall again.

Kim finally risked a glance at his brother.

“There’s more to this, isn’t there?” he asked Kim, and Kim could see the suspicion in his brother’s face.

“Yeah, there is,” he breathed out. He refused to flinch under Kinn’s gaze. Kinn might act all high and mighty, but Kim knew for a fact he’d fucked up royally himself with Porsche.

But Kinn surprised him by simply laughing quietly, like they were both in on the same joke.

“They have a way of getting under your skin, don’t they?” he said, his gaze turning to follow Porsche down the hall.

Kim breathed out a laugh.

“Yeah. Yeah, they do.”

The End.