Work Text:
Peach didn’t know what brought him more joy: having Home actually actively trying to woo him or turning Home down so he could watch him try again even harder.
Back before the restaurant, when the truth of Peach’s car accident had come to light, Peach had told Pangpang that he wasn’t mad at Home, exactly. He was hurt and betrayed, of course, but he’d realized within a day that he would only hurt more if he cut Home out of his life.
“Wait, so then why are you pretending to be so mad at him?” Pangpang had asked.
“Come on. A guy’s got to play a little hard to get, right?” Peach had answered.
Maybe Peach had a little problem, because he was playing hard to get again. Only this time the situation was radically more positive. It had been about three weeks since Peach had noticed that Home was flirting with him. Honestly, it was so obvious that Peach bet even people who spoke no Thai and were from other planets would have recognized it for what it was. But Home seemed to think he was being subtle, so they all let him believe it.
He started to compliment Peach’s food in awkwardly overdramatic ways, like comparing them to food for royalty or talking about how lucky they all were or how talented Peach was. And then he started offering to buy groceries or order ingredients not available nearby, because he wanted Peach to be able to cook anything he could dream of.
“Oh. No thanks,” Peach had said. “I’m okay with what I’ve got. Why? Do you think I need fancy ingredients to cook good food?”
“What? N-No! That’s absolutely not what I meant at all, man! Your cooking is the best!”
“Well, okay then.”
After that, Home brought him flowers – first a small bouquet, which Peach pretended to think was for Pangpang and immediately handed it over; then a bigger bouquet, with peach colored blossoms and a note addressed specifically to him. Peach thanked him for thinking of the restaurant and asked Suradech to decorate the tables with them.
Watching Home pull at his hair as Suradech broke up the bundle into mini table settings gave Peach a special kind of joy.
After that, Home started dropping blatantly flirty comments into conversation. Peach smiled to encourage him, because he generally loved hearing Home make innuendos and compliment Peach’s ass. But when Home did it during work hours, Peach gave him a fake serious look and told him “Don’t be inappropriate, Khun. There are customers around.” Home looked flustered and bowed his apologies to the nearby table. They looked as amused as Peach felt.
Then, a week ago, Home had clearly started planning something. Peach caught him simultaneously complaining to and conspiring with Pangpang, whose giddy grin could be seen all the way across the restaurant. She caught Peach watching them over Home’s shoulder and winked at him. He raised his chin in confirmation, and then Pangpang excitedly leaned in toward Home to help him with whatever plan the heir was concocting.
Later, Kan walked up to Peach during his prep time and sighed. “Khun Peach, do you like Italian food or Korean food?”
“I like… food?” Peach offered unhelpfully. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Home peeking into the room, and something clicked into place. He smiled at Kan, who looked very uncomfortable with her task, and said, “If I had to pick, I suppose Korean. Like kimchi-jjigae or bibimbap.”
“Very good choice,” Kan said diplomatically. “Thank you.” Then she turned and walked away.
And when Pangpang said she suddenly had plans on Peach’s upcoming birthday, the idea was set in Peach’s mind. Home was planning a birthday surprise for him. It was exciting and kind of romantic, and Peach had trouble hiding how much he was looking forward to it. But he also wasn’t done pretending to not understand Home’s advances, pretending to be uninterested. A guy’s gotta play hard to get sometimes, right?
So when Home called him the night before his birthday, Peach was ready to play again.
“So, I can’t help out with the restaurant tomorrow,” Home said, not mentioning that they all knew it was Peach’s birthday.
“Oh. That’s fine,” Peach said, frowning. “We’re not open tomorrow anyway. I was just gonna chill at home. You can come, if you want.”
Home pressed his lips together, and Peach could see the confession trying to escape. But Home reined it in. “Sorry, man. I’ve got plans. You and Pangpang will have to chill without me.”
“Ah.” Peach sighed and laid back in bed. “Pangpang has plans tomorrow too. And I’m sure Kan will be with her or you. I tried to call Best earlier, but he’s also busy.” It was a lie. He hadn’t called Best. But it was worth it to see a tiny flicker of interest, perhaps jealousy, on Home’s face.
“Ah. Um. I’m sorry, Peach.” Home was clearly at the end of his scripted plans. “But don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll have a great time tomorrow.”
“Sure.” Peach gave a tiny smile. “Well, call me if your plans change.”
And they hung up. Peach could barely sleep, he was so excited to see what Home had planned for his birthday.
In the morning, his sister left early, and so Peach started his birthday alone over breakfast. He prepped some ingredients he’d been running low on, then took time to prep himself as well – a shower, proper skin care, styling his hair out of his face. He’d argue he was even handsome by the end of it. Then he sat on his couch and watched a movie. And he waited.
And waited.
And waited.
By the early afternoon, Peach started to wonder if he’d been wrong. Maybe Home and the others weren’t planning something after all. But he went over all the clues he’d gotten, and it all made sense for a surprise party or dinner of some kind. Peach wanted to run his hands through his hair in frustration, but he didn’t want to ruin the styling he’d put so much effort into.
“Maybe I played too dumb and too hard to get,” he mused allowed.
Just then, Suradech walked in the door and cleared his throat. “I’m here to drive you,” he said. Curious and suddenly anxious, Peach gathered his things and followed the man out to the car.
Suradech drove him through the streets and into the empty parking lot of a building that claimed it was a restaurant but… What kind of restaurant was empty during the dinner rush? They got out and walked around to the front, and Peach saw the sign was for a Korean restaurant. Okay. So that checked out, at least.
Inside, the staff was minimal, but they all gave him a wai as he entered and directed him toward a back room with a long table. Inside was his family – Pangpang, Kan, Best, and Home. Kan noticed his arrival first and tapped Pangpang’s shoulder. His sister jumped to attention, pausing in her attempt to squeeze icing onto a cake.
“Hia!” she exclaimed, smiling brightly. “You’re early!”
“Eh? I came when P’Suradech brought me,” he pointed out. “Anyway, is this what you’ve all been doing all day?”
“Surprise!” Home shouted in English and held his hands out in full fanfare. “Happy Birthday!”
Peach looked at each of them, then at the sloppy writing on the cake, then around at the restaurant. He kept his face carefully neutral as he processed how he was feeling. Though they had been obvious about it, he had begun to doubt. And now that he saw them all together, Peach felt full to the point that he might cry.
“Oh? Are you alright, Phi?” Best asked, stepping closer. “Did we do something wrong?”
Peach shook his head and pressed his thumb into his eye to stop anything leaking out. “I’ve been at home, alone. I was starting to think everyone had honestly forgotten. But you were all following Home’s plans.”
Home instantly dropped his arms. “Shit. Ai’Peach! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to make you upset. I just wanted to do something nice for you!”
He got close enough to touch, fretting over Peach’s tears even though they hadn’t started. Peach shook his head again, eyes down like he didn’t forgive Home. And when Home took another hesitant step forward, Peach quickly reached out and snagged the icing bag from his sister. Before anyone could react, he smeared some icing out onto Home’s face.
“Ah?!”
“Hia!”
Best tried to hide his laugh but ended up bent over giggling, while Peach grinned wickedly at his handiwork. A line of green icing traced across Home’s cheek and over half his nose. He looked stunned, and his hands were poised to clean his face but unable to do anything because he probably knew he’d just make it worse. Peach snorted and then brandished the icing bag at the others.
“Surprise parties are a terrible idea. You’re lucky I caught you planning all last week,” Peach scolded.
Pangpang let out a whine. “What?! You knew the whole time?! Augh, that ruins the whole fun of it.”
“It’s fine. But since we’re here and it looks like Home bought out the restaurant, let’s eat. I’m hungry,” Peach said and set his bag down on a chair.
Before anyone else could get to their seats, Home grabbed Peach by the shoulders, turned him to face forward, and then leaned in and rubbed his cheek along Peach’s. The green icing squished between their faces and left them both gloopy and streaked. Now it was Peach’s turn to be stunned.
“Man, you scared me,” Home said. “I thought you were honestly mad. But now we match, and I forgive you! So let’s get this party started!”
The energy in his declaration was enough to get them all moving to take their seats, and the volume was enough to draw in the waiters and waitresses with a round of appetizers. Peach sat too, but he was still a little stunned. Home’s face rubbing along his… He’d thought Home was about to kiss him.
As the others chatted and discussed what main dishes they wanted, Peach grabbed a napkin and wiped his face off. Then Home leaned in and smiled at him.
“Wanna clean my face too?” he asked and presented his cheek.
“Nah,” Peach declined.
Home pouted. “Man, I don’t get it. There’s no way you haven’t noticed me hitting on you, right? Like, I’ve been losing my mind trying to get you to look at me.”
“I’m always looking at you,” Peach interrupted. “You’re hard to miss.”
With an aggravated groan, Home rolled his eyes. “Not what I mean! I’m full on courting you, and you keep shutting me down! Is there really no chance that you – !”
This time, Peach interrupted Home by leaning in and licking the icing from his cheek. Across the table, Best and Panpang both teased them with wolf whistles and a long “ooooooooo!”
“P-Peach?” Home asked, hand hovering by his own cheek. “I don’t understand. So you actually…?”
Shrugging and smiling innocently, Peach said, “A guy’s gotta play hard to get sometimes. Besides, you were so cute when you were frustrated.”
Pangpang screeched when her brother leaned forward and kissed Home on the lips, until Kan put a bite of sushi in her mouth. And Best clapped like it was a show. When Peach pulled back, Home was beaming at him. Handsome.
“Do I need to play hard to get now?” Home asked.
Peach shook his head. “I’m offering to be your boyfriend. Are you gonna pretend you don’t want that?”
“Not even a little bit,” Home said, and then he leaned in for another kiss.
After a moment, Kan politely cleared her throat. “Not that we’re not all happy for you two, but remember that we still need to decide on our dishes.”
“Ooooh! Mae, I want this black ink pasta. Do you think it’ll turn my teeth black too?” Pangpang asked.
“Anyone wanna get grilled meat with me?” Best asked.
They ordered too much food, and they drank a little too much alcohol, but they all had a great time. Like all their family dinners, people stole each other’s food and bickered and laughed. Best took a little bit to get into the vibe, but then it was as if he’d always been there. It was one of Peach’s favorite birthdays, and certainly his best since his parents had died.
Afterward, as Suradech drove them home, Peach leaned on the only sober person in the group – Home – and traced silly lines into his new boyfriend’s chest. Pangpang leaned on the window, half asleep, and Kan sat in the front seat with Suradech, pretending she wasn’t drunk.
“Thanks for the birthday party,” Peach murmured by Home’s shoulder. In his drunken haze, he hummed happily. “I have such a thoughtful boyfriend.”
“Hm? Are we boyfriends?” Home asked. “I don’t think I ever said yes.”
“Ai’Hooooome,” Peach whined.
But Home couldn’t keep up the act. He quickly snuggled in close to Peach and kissed his forehead. “Okay, fine. Since you asked so nicely.”
And Peach couldn’t even pretend to be mad at him. After all, a guy’s got to play hard to get sometimes.