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Sky tilted his head back and moved closer to the shower head in hopes that the hot water pelting down on him would drive away all thoughts, if only for a moment. Last night had been… absolute hell. All his worst fears had come to life.
But…
Somehow…
Miraculously…
This morning he felt freer than he had in a long long time.
He had been stuck reliving the same night, unable to escape, for years. This time, however, he had succeeded. This time, all of his unanswered pleas for help that wouldn’t stop haunting him, had been answered. His P’Pai had come for him. He had saved him. He had cried for him. He didn’t abandon him. He didn’t push for explanations. He didn’t leave Sky alone even for a moment as Sky clung to his shirt sleeve like a spooked animal all night. He had listened when Sky found the courage to let him in. He had still looked at Sky as if there was nothing else in the world that was more precious. As if he hung the moon. Then, at the end of the night, he had hugged Sky to sleep whispering words of love, comfort, and safety.
This time when the nightmares came so did his P’Pai to chase the demons away. Unwanted hands faded away, replaced by soothing pats and a warm embrace that felt like home. Pleas for help and malicious laughter, replaced by words of reassurance and promises of safety. Sky didn’t know if it had been the P’Pai in his dreams or the P’Pai who was sleeping beside him that had pulled him out. In the end, it didn’t really matter. He woke up feeling well-rested… and happy. He smiled despite himself letting the water wash over his face.
Even the prospect of meeting Pai’s family after being sneaked into their house under the cover of the night couldn’t dispel the happiness completely.
Shit. He had been trying not to think about that.
Pai had assured him that they would love him but P’Pai was forever optimistic and honestly, too in love with Sky to access the situation objectively. So yes, Sky was extremely nervous. He vaguely remembered running into a young woman last night who he later learned was Phan, P’Pai’s younger sister. He had already failed at making a good first impression on her. That left P’Plerng, P’Pai’s younger brother.
He recalled Pai talking about his siblings fondly and promising to introduce them to Sky so he wouldn’t feel so alone anymore. It was obvious from the way he had spoken that they were important to him. What if after last night, Phan thought he was weird and wanted nothing to do with him? What if P’Plerng felt the same way? Sky wanted them to like him more than anything. He wanted to be a part of P’Pai’s life for a long time. He wanted so badly to be accepted into the family that P'Pai loved so much.
At least P’Pai’s parents were out of town. The relief he felt upon learning that was the only thing making him feel any hope at all of salvaging the situation. Still, he was definitely taking a lot longer to shower than he usually did. Pai’s shower felt like the last safe haven before he had to face the music. He couldn’t avoid the inevitable but he could very well delay it.
“My love? Sky? Are you alright in there?” came Pai’s voice from the other side of the bathroom door not long after. The concern and love in those few words made Sky’s heart melt.
“Yeah, I’m alright! I’ll be right out!” Sky called back not wanting to worry P’Pai any more than he already had in the past 24 hours. Time to face the music, Sky sighed to himself finishing up.
With a towel loosely tied around his waist, he took his time looking through Pai’s wardrobe (more like a walk-in closet, Jesus) for something appropriate to wear. He wanted to make a good first impression (or rather a good second impression when it came to Phan) but Pai was not making the task easy. He was clinging onto Sky like a Koala hugging him from behind, his chin on Sky’s shoulder. Whenever Sky moved, Pai moved with him.
Sky sighed.
“P’Pai, if you won’t let go of me, at least help me pick out an outfit”, Sky said looking lost staring at the multitude of clothes hanging in front of him.
“I think this is the best you’ve ever looked”, Pai said placing a small kiss on Sky’s shoulder. “I have no notes”
Sky smiled despite himself before he quickly reined it in. In the part of his mind where the chaos-gremlin version of him lived, a deliciously fantastic idea formed that would get him exactly what he wanted. He smirked as half turned his head to look at P'Pai, “Really? So you want me to meet your siblings dressed in a towel? From what you’ve told me about them they seem like mini versions of you. Are you sure you want them to see me like this? As far as I can recall, if they react the way that you did when you first saw me like this…we might have some problems. Do you really want to take that risk?”
Sky was having a grand old time watching Pai’s reaction to that play out over his face. Brief amusement at Sky’s teasing tone followed by horror, which was quickly overthrown by intense jealousy.
“Let me find some clothes for you”, Pai said immediately detaching himself from Sky as he shuffled through his closet. Sky bit back a laugh. There, that's more like it.
Not long after, Sky was dressed in a large hoodie and a pair of sweatpants. Pai had spent a long time dismissing every other outfit in his closet for fear that it would make Sky look too hot or too adorable and he simply could not have that with his siblings around. Somewhere in between the mountains of three-piece suits, shirts with deep V necklines and loose tank tops like the one Sky had worn to sleep, Pai finally managed to spot his university hoodie from back when he was in England. Sky still looked too adorable in it but there was only so much Pai could do. He decided he would just have to threaten his siblings to keep their hands off of his boyfriend.
Sky laughed out loud at the look on his P’Pai’s face. That adorable look of concentration, as if he was planning a war strategy instead of picking out an outfit for his boyfriend for breakfast, was too cute to ignore. It reminded Sky of the night when P'Pai had cleaned his whole dorm. This was the exact look he had on his face after organizing Sky’s bookshelf. As if every little thing about Sky was too important to be taken lightly. Sky found that look irresistible. He pulled Pai closer with both hands on his cheeks and kissed him deeply before pulling away and kissing his forehead. The look of wonder and shock on Pai’s face was one of Sky’s favorites too.
“Let’s go meet the mini-yous”, Sky said with a smile, leading a still-shocked Pai out of his room, their hands firmly intertwined.
Downstairs in the kitchen, Phan and Plerng sat at the table facing each other, both leaning in to whisper conspiratorially.
“You saw the infamous Sky last night? The one our brother will not stop talking about?”, whispered Plerng, a mischievous smile on his face.
Phan nodded wide-eyed and utterly serious, “I am like 90% sure. I ran into P’Pai last night as they were coming in. I think maybe something had happened that had spooked the boy P’Pai was with. He looked about ready to jump out of his skin at the slightest noise. The way P’Pai was looking at him and holding him delicately as they walked in…it must be the Sky we have been hearing about. I haven’t seen P’Pai this worried since Uncle Frost had that little accident a few years back”
“Did Nong Sky look like he was hurt?” Plerng asked with a frown on his face. He recalled a phone call from Sky he had overheard a while back and the worry on his brother’s face as he rushed to go meet the boy immediately after. He was pretty sure it was the same night that P’Pai had asked him to get a new suit pin made. It had started to dawn on him then that maybe his mom was right and his brother really had found someone worth settling down for.
“I don’t know. P’Pai wouldn’t let me say anything. He just led Sky to his room and then I’m pretty sure I heard them crying.” Phan recalled lowering her voice another octave to make extra certain they wouldn’t be overheard.
Plerng’s frown grew more intense. No matter how much he liked to tease P’Pai, he really loved his brother. And even a blind man could see that whoever this Sky was, he was making their brother feel loved the way he deserved to be. Seeing his ever-smiling big brother cry, always made Plerng feel like the ground beneath his feet wasn’t as stable anymore. It didn’t happen often but there had been a few times over the years as they grew up.
“Have you seen them this morning? Are they still home?” Plerng asked.
“I haven’t seen them myself but the maids say they are home. Apparently, P’Pai asked them to make breakfast for all four of us. He even said they would come down to eat so there was no need to bring it upstairs to the bedroom like last night.” Phan replied. She chewed on one of her nails worrying. She didn’t want to say or do the wrong thing and upset P’Pai or even Sky for that matter. She hoped she hadn’t already done that by running into them last night.
“I’m not sure if I should ask them what happened or pretend as if I didn’t see or hear anything”, Phan worried.
Before Plerng could answer, they heard footsteps coming down from the stairs outside the kitchen. Phan and Plerng immediately jumped apart and tried their best to act like they did every other morning.
Pai had taken the lead in guiding Sky through the house once they’d left his bedroom. He had a huge grin on his face seeing Sky look a lot better than he had when they’d gone to sleep. The relief coursing through him was making it impossible to keep the grin off his face actually.
They rounded the corner to the kitchen entrance smiling at each other and frankly not paying attention to much else until Pai saw Sky’s gaze drift to whatever was in front of them. He could feel Sky stiffen, bracing himself. Pai turned his attention to where Sky was looking and came face to face with his siblings already sitting at the dinner table in their open kitchen acting like the two most suspicious people trying to look not suspicious. Pai sighed and squeezed Sky’s hand twice to reassure him as he pulled him along further into the room.
“Oh, P’Pai! We didn’t see you there. Good morning”, Phan said, pasting a huge smile on her face and not at all acting strange. Plerng did the same, turning a very suspiciously innocent-looking megawatt smile in their direction.
“Good morning you demons”, Pai shook his head and decided not to think about whatever all that was about. Focusing back on the task, Pai made some quick introductions.
“This is my extremely cute boyfriend Sky, who you are NOT allowed to hit on. Sky, these are my idiot siblings, Phan and Plerng. Phan is the same age as you and Plerng is a year older.”
Sky gave them a quick polite greeting, his nervousness only apparent in the way he tightly gripped Pai’s hand.
“Sawadee khrap. It’s nice to finally meet you both. P’Pai has told me a lot about you”, Sky said with a shy smile.
Phan and Plerng exchanged a quick look and seemed to settle on option two. Ignorance it was then.
Phan, personally, was glad to see that Sky looked a lot better this morning than he had last night. Come to think of it, he looked absolutely adorable when he smiled. Especially dressed in that hoodie that was almost too big for him. Both Phan and Plerng sighed dreamily, sharing the same thoughts. They propped their heads up on their hands as they gazed at Sky’s tiny smiling frame.
“Hiii Skyyyy”, they both chorused already enamored. Pai would have found the near-comical cartoon heart eyes on both of them funny if their target was anyone other than his Sky.
“Hey hey hey, what did I just say? No hitting on MY boyfriend”, Pai said, moving to block their view of Sky.
In response, the pair simply craned their necks to look at Sky from around Pai’s blocking presence. Still all dreamy smiles and heart-eyes. Pai sighed in defeat, shaking his head. He decided to focus on Sky instead and turned around so that he was face-to-face with his love.
“Let’s get some food in you my love”, Pai said gently with a reassuring smile, one hand on Sky’s cheek, the other still firmly intertwined with Sky’s.
Sky was, to put it plainly, overwhelmed. P’Pai looking up at him so lovingly normally would have been enough to get him to such a state. Having three instances of those heart eyes directed his way at the same time was making him damn near self-combust. They were P’Pai siblings alright. Maybe Sky wasn’t as prepared for this as he had thought. He briefly considered just making a run for it but steeled himself instead. No, this is important.
At least one thing was for sure, he no longer had to worry about being disliked. He nodded, taking a deep breath, and followed Pai to the kitchen counter where frankly too many breakfast options were laid out in a buffet of sorts. He and Pai quickly filled their plates with a few things and returned to the table. Pai gestured for Plerng to move to the other side of the table so Pai and Sky could sit together and was honestly surprised Plerng did so without complaints. That was unusual, Pai frowned as he took a seat beside Sky.
“So Nong Sky, what did you see in P’Pai that made you agree to be with him?”, Plerng asked, still looking at Sky dreamily, Pai noticed. Maybe Pai was reading too much into his earlier compliance.
“Oi, I’m a total package. Rich, handsome, charming. Sky just couldn’t resist me”, Pai replied, grinning shamelessly at Sky while Plerng made a face.
“Yes, the stalking made you irresistible for sure”, Sky deadpanned. Plerng and Phan burst out laughing.
Sky looked a little shocked at himself as if he hadn’t meant to say that in the presence of their current company. Afraid he’d just ruined everything, he looked at his P’Pai, hoping against hope that he hadn’t just gone over the line. Pai reached out to hold onto Sky’s hand underneath the table, reassuring him that he wasn’t offended. As a matter of fact, Pai was over the moon that Sky seemed to be acting more and more like himself again. He truly loved all parts of Sky, including the snarky ones that cut right to the chase.
“I was desperate! You gave me the best night of my life and then left right after without even giving me your name! I couldn’t stop thinking about you for three months! I had to do something !”, Pai pouted.
Sky couldn’t help but blush at that, remembering all too vividly how that particular night had gone.
Unfortunately, that seemed to be the last straw for Phan and Plerng. Disarmed by a blushing Sky, they proceeded to completely ignore Pai as they showered Sky with compliments and started making a case for why Sky should ditch their brother for either of them instead. They insisted they could treat him so much better and eventually proceeded to argue with each other about which one of them would be a better option for Sky. Sky was utterly dumbfounded and overwhelmed. He looked at P’Pai with a panicked expression on his face, hoping their big brother would calm them down. Sky really didn’t want to cause any fights or upset any of them by saying the wrong thing while trying to stop said fights.
“Stop stop stop stop stop”, Pai called out, making the siblings pause as they turned their attention to him mid-argument. “My Sky would never choose anyone else over me so you can stop wasting your time right now. Anything you guys can offer him, I can offer double, no triple that! And he is already mine so don’t even think about stealing him.” Pai added narrowing his eyes at his siblings as he pulled a shocked Sky into a brief possessive one-armed hug. That was not the response Sky had been hoping for when he looked at Pai for help.
A minute passed and then two.
Finally, Phan and Plerng turned back toward each other and continued to argue about who was better for Sky, completely ignoring Pai’s comments. This made Pai huff indignantly as he jumped in to join the argument, listing all the reasons why they were both clearly wrong.
Sky watched the ensuing chaos dumbfounded. He couldn’t believe that just an hour ago he was still worried that P’Pai’s siblings would hate him. Now they were all fighting over him? How was this Sky’s reality?
By the time the maids came around to check if they should clear the table, the argument had been going on for over an hour. Sky had decided halfway through, after many failed attempts to calm them down, that he might as well eat. He plopped a grape from his plate into his mouth as he watched the three siblings bicker over the kitchen table, breakfast completely forgotten. A wave of contentment washed over him as he took stock of the present moment.
And just like that, P’Pai’s house had gone from being a foreign temporary refuge… to feeling like home.