Chapter Text
Perth drove home after a long night shift running after criminals. He was sleep deprived and had a headache. He was waiting for the elevator even if it was coming from the top floor. He was sleepy but he was in no mood to climb 6 flights of stairs.
"Finally!" Perth groaned as the elevator door opened.
"Wait for me!" A voice called after as the doors were closing.
Perth instantly reacted and held the door. A guy entered, carrying two boxes in his hands.
"Thank you." The guy gave him a smile.
Perth was frozen in his place. His sleep, a little forgotten. Perth realised he was staring and quickly looked away.
"Uh- uh- which floor?"
"6. Same as yours." The guy politely replied, already having seen the already pressed number.
If Perth had the time and will to check the building group chat, he'd have known that he was getting a new neighbour on that day. But nothing could've prepared him for the beauty of the new neighbour.
They stayed silent. The guy got off first, hurrying to a door. Perth didn't see anything but heard two voices.
"Took too long. Your kid's been throwing tantrums." First voice said.
Followed by the second voice, a squeal, "Dada!"
Perth widened his eyes and sulked his way to the other side where his door is.
"Of course he is married." Perth mumbled. "Ugh- I'm so single."
Perth spent rest of the day in bed, catching up on his sleep. But he barely slept for 3 hours before his stomach woke him up and asked for food. And of course his kitchen was empty.
"Who has time for groceries and what shop is open at 12 freakish am?" Perth was obviously in a bad mood.
He walked out of his apartment towards the elevator.
"God- I'm starting the day with a tantrum. The fuck is wrong with me?" He was startled to find his new neighbour, with a kid holding his hand.
Perth instantly widened his eyes as he realised he just cursed in presence of a child.
"Sh- sorry. I didn't realise you were there." Perth almost cursed again.
"It's fine khun. Everyone has bad days." The guy politely said.
___
Santa finally finished setting up the house. His brother was of help before he had to go back for some work. Dao was also being helpful, by being asleep and not bothering Santa while he did the heavy stuff. The silence did not last very long and Dao had woken up.
"Dada- I'm hungry." Dao pouted as he watched his father move around the house.
"What time is it?" Santa wondered and searched for his phone. "Oh? It's almost 6. We should go get some groceries. Baby can you wait for some minutes? I'll find some snacks for you until we can get some real food."
"Okay dada."
Santa gave a few biscuits and chips to Dao, apologising again for not paying attention to the time. Then they got out of the house to find their way to a grocery store.
Santa saw the guy from the elevator that morning, muttering something to himself.
"The fuck is wrong with me?" Was what he heard last before the stranger noticed him.
The stranger looked guilty, looking at Dao.
"Sh- sorry. I didn't realise you were there."
And he apologized. So Santa doesn't hate the stranger.
So he politely said, "Sure khun. Everyone has bad days." And honestly he has been worse on his bad days and seen even worse people.
___
"I'm... Uh- I'm Perth Tanapon. I live in 603." Perth said, pointing at the direction of his apartment.
"I'm Santa Pongsapak. I live in 608." Santa pointed in the opposite direction.
Perth smiled in response. The elevator arrived and they got inside. Perth pressed the underground parking button while Santa didn't press anything so Perth just guessed they were going there too.
"I'm Dao." The little boy introduced himself with a smile.
Perth smiled and looked at the kid. "Hello Dao. You have a really nice name."
"Thank you mister. My BoBo gave it to me." Dao replied.
Perth was confused and looked at Santa.
"Oh. He is talking about my older brother. Boun." Santa explained.
"Ah- I see."
"He has been using this to call him ever since he started babbling words." Santa shared, a cute smile on his face.
"I see where little Dao got his smile from." Perth commented. "It's pretty."
Santa widened his eyes slightly as blood rushed to his cheeks. Perth seemed to have realised it as well.
"Uh- uh- sorry. I'm talking nonsense. I- not that I think it's not pretty but- I- uh sorry." Perth panicked.
"It's... Fine. Thank you for the compliment."
Perth just looked ahead with red ears. 'Fuck Tanapon what the hell are you doing? Don't even think of flirting with a married man.' He scolded himself internally.
They walked towards their respective cars and obviously they parked right beside each other.
"By the way," Santa paused. "Uh- is there any other grocery store nearby? Because the one that map is showing seems far and the road seems busy here."
Perth took a glance at the phone. "Ah- it must've came up first when you searched up. There's one a few blocks away. It'll take 10 minutes by car though."
"Can you tell me the address?"
"I'm actually going to the grocery store as well." Perth smiled. "You could follow me behind?" Then he realised how weird that suggestion was so he instantly apologised. "No! Sorry. Give me your phone. I'll type it for you."
Santa nodded. Perth quickly typed out the store name, his moments visible to Santa to let him know he is not doing anything weird. Perth gave his phone back.
"Here you go."
"Thank you khun."
Perth badly wanted Santa to say his name in that beautiful voice of his but Perth mentally scolded himself again.
"No problems khun." Perth smiled back.
___
The next morning, Perth got ready for work. He noticed the missing car of his new neighbour next to his.
"He's gone already." Perth muttered.
He drove to the police station. He was greeted by Joong as soon as he entered the station.
"You know what's new?" Joong asked.
Perth looked at Joong. "What?"
"We have a new officer."
"A new officer?" Perth asked.
"Well he got transferred from Pattaya for 'good behaviour' and because he is a 'good cop'." Joong continued.
"O...kay?" Perth was really confused and lowkey uninterested.
"Tsk- you're no fun to gossip to." Joong complained and left.
Perth was dumbfounded. "I didn't even ask." He said.
Perth shook his head and just went to his desk. He found Est, his team member on the desk.
"Good morning Perth." Est greeted him.
"Good morning." Perth replied back.
A few minutes later their chief came out of his cabin. The rest of the officers stood up to greet him.
"This is Santa Pongsapak, the new officer joining us from today." The chief said.
Perth looked as surprised as Santa.
"And Santa that's your team." Off said pointing at the desks across Perth's team.
The chief left from there. Santa walked to his team. He took the empty desk.
"I am William." A guy smiled.
"I'm Emi. That's Pond and that's Junior." Emi said, pointing at each of them.
"I'm Santa."
"What would you like to be addressed as?" Junior asked. He has met all kinds of people that now he asks that question every time.
"Just Santa is okay. Mr and the officer makes me feel old." Santa said.
"I feel you." Pond chuckled.
"I was the youngest in the old station too. People usually called me Nong San or Ta." He continued.
"I like N'San." William commented.
"But he's your phi Willy." Junior said.
"Good that I'm not the youngest." Santa grinned.
"I'll brief you about the cases in hand and while I'm at it, I'll show you around too." Pond said.
"Okay phi."
Santa mixed with them well, soon creating a friendly atmosphere between them. Days passed by chasing criminals and solving mysteries.