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Kaveh loved his family with all of his heart, mind, and soul; his entire being is dedicated to them and them alone. That was a given. However, sometimes, all he wanted was quality time to himself to focus on his personal projects, especially the professional ones, such as sculpting a sculpture of a handsome sea god in all of his handsome naked glory for the Folrutiger Aero Foundation that was paying millions upon millions for his work. As much as he loved his husband and children, he needed time alone from them, as he could never finish the sculpture by the specific set deadline appointed to them by his client company otherwise.
Fortunately, his maternal younger cousin, Nilou, was empathetic to his situation and offered him to spend the weekend over at her house, where she lived with her husband, Cyno. The benefit of being with Nilou for an entire weekend was that her husband and Kaveh's husband, Alahitham, were paternal half-cousins as they shared the same paternal grandfather but had separate paternal grandmothers.
Despite Alhaitham's father and Cyno's father having been born to different mothers, they get along well enough that their supposed "difference in blood" never mattered. So, Cyno did not mind spending the weekend at Kaveh and Alhaitham's house. Besides, Cyno's biological grandmother, Milia, who was Alahitham's step-grandmother, was a wonderful woman who always had a whole pot's worth of pancit canton ready for Cyno and Nilou, Alhaitham and Kaveh, and Alhaitham and Kaveh's two kids to enjoy whenever they came to see her at her quaint little cottage.
❀☼☘︎Pancit Canton is a type of Filipino noodles. The noodles are the egg noodles type.
Speaking of his kids, he wondered what they were up to. The eldest, a fifteen-year-old daughter named Yasmana, was a natural-born artist like her father; to be more precise, she was like Kavaeh, the father who brought her into this world. She was most likely sketching out My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fanart of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash in her latest sketchbook, bought courtesy of her other father, Alhaitham. On the other hand, the youngest, a ten-year-old son named Zayn, was most likely staying up past his bedtime playing Honkai: Star Rail on his gaming personal computer. Despite being an adoptive child, he and Alahitham looked eerily similar that one would assume Alahitham had fathered him, too. There was plenty of food and drinks in the fridge and pantry, so it was not like the children would go hungry. However, he still worried for their well-being as that's what parents do, they always have their children in their mind constantly, wondering if they were happy and well.
Of course, it was not as if the children were left to fend for themselves; their other father, Alhaitham, was present along with their paternal uncle Cyno, who could help them out with homework and engage in multiple-person activities. So, there was absolutely nothing for Kaveh to worry about.
With that in mind, he continued working on the final finishing touches of the sculpture. By tomorrow afternoon, it would be ready for a representative of the Folrutiger Aero Foundation to pick up.
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It must have been nighttime already when Kaveh finally finished his latest masterpiece: a sculpture of a handsome sea god that was unlike any other, for he had a jubilant expression on his face despite having sea ivy plants wrapped all around his glorious naked body.
"Awooga," whistled someone loudly in appreciation.
Kaveh turned around and saw Nilou walking over to where he stood. Only she would dare to make remarks like that about his male sculptures. She wore a loose, flowy linen nightgown in the softest shade of blue that brought out her bright aquamarine blue eyes. Her bright, candy-apple-red hair was let loose as she was drying the long locks with a towel.
He arched a dark blonde eyebrow. "Thank you, I think?"
"Sure thing," she said, nodding at the statue in acknowledgement, before her face broke out in a smug smile. "It's based on Kuya, isn't it?"
❀☼☘︎Kuya is used to address an older brother figure in Tagalog.
"Huh?"
Nilou clarified, "The statue of the sea god, it's based on Kuya Alhaitham, isn't it?"
"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, Nilou."
"Sure, you don't, Yah."
❀☼☘︎Yah is the shortened form of Kuya, and it is used to address an older brother figure in Tagalog. Consider this as an informal and casual term.
Kaveh insisted, "Seriously, I don't!"
This time, she arched her eyebrow. "Really?"
"Really."
"Alright, if you say so." Walking over to the statue, she whistled at it once more and remarked, "Good on you for giving your handsome sea god a bubble butt, broad shoulders, big back, and a substantial size to him on where it matters the most."
"Substantial size?" It took him a few seconds to ponder over her words, and his dark, blood orange eyes widened once realization dawned upon him of what exactly she was implying.
"NILOU! Baliw ka talaga!"
❀☼☘︎Baliw ka talaga! translates to "You are so crazy!" in Tagalog.
Nilou shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "What can I say? You truly outdid yourself this time around." Dramatically, she sighed helplessly like a lovestruck maiden, "The Folrutiger Aero Foundation is so lucky to have him in their museum, always up and on display for any and all to see for the remainder of time and space."
He asked, still unsure, "Do you actually mean all that?"
Immediately, she answered, "Of course, I do!" To further prove her point, she patted his back. "Here's a pat on the back for doing a great job!"
"Thank you."
"Sure." Pointing to the door, she informed, "I have the bathroom all prepared with your products; you should take a nice, long bath after spending all those painstaking hours finishing your masterpiece."
He agreed, "You're right, I should."
It was a great thing that the bathroom was prepared for him to quickly take a shower. Immediately afterwards, he took a dip in the bathtub once he was properly clean enough to soak in it for a citrus-scented bubble bath awaited him, and he was very much looking forward to enjoying that. He must have been in the bathtub for over an hour when he finally got out of it.
After drying himself and applying lotion all over his skin, he went in search of a change of clothes, but there were none for him to change into. This was strange. Nilou and Cyno always carried an entire closet's worth of spare clothes for Kaveh, Alhaitham, Yasmana, and Zayn to change into for overnight or longer stays. Did Nilou forget to do today's laundry? Was that it?
He must have spent thirty minutes already walking around the house in a hot pink bathrobe, in search of a decent outfit to change into. In the end, he raided through the laundry room and changed into a plain, white cotton t-shirt and a pair of fuzzy bubblegum pink shorts that had the word 'Juicy' laid out front and center, written out with silver rhinestones. So what if the clothes belonged to Nilou? She's worn his clothes before, and so did he wear hers. It was not the end of the world. Besides, the shorts were rather cute despite them being made for women under the age of thirty in mind, and Kaveh was a man well into his forties.
It wasn't until Kaveh actually wore the shorts that he realized how short they actually were. They barely covered his bottom. Fortunately, Alhaitham, Cyno, and the children would not come over until tomorrow morning for breakfast, so he was safe and sound for now. Or, so he thought.
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Even though Alhaitham, Cyno, and the children were supposed to come over to Nilou and Cyno's house tomorrow morning for breakfast, he decided he's waited long enough. He missed Kaveh terribly, and surely, Kaveh would forgive him for bringing the family earlier than what was decided upon. For good measure, he had pesos upon pesos stuffed into his wallet for when they went to Jollibee. There was nothing quite like bribing your husband of twenty years and running with Jollibee. Who was Kaveh to resist the establishment's infamous spicy Chickenjoy with abobdo rice to go along with it?
❀☼☘︎Pesos are what the currency in the Philippines is called.
Before he started the car to go driving to Nilou and Cyno's house, he pulled out his teal cellphone, which had a Shadow the Hedgehog phone charm attached to it, and called Kaveh's phone number.
Instead of hearing Kaveh live, it was his voicemail that he heard. "This Kaveh that you're calling. Please, kindly leave a message, and I will get back to you as soon as possible."
Although he wished to hear Kaveh's voice, he still sent a response anyway.
Faking a cough, he began, "Hello, Hubby ko, this is your asawang lalaki speaking. I am driving to see you. For a midnight meal, I was considering us going out to eat at Jollibee. I miss you so much that I just had to come to get you early. Don't worry, you will eat everything you want at Jollibee, it is my treat. We will have the entire Jollitown come over. This goes to show just how many pesos I am willing to spend on you. I love you so much, Hubby ko." He ended his message with a kissing sound effect.
❀☼☘︎Hubby ko directly translates to "My Hubby" in Tagalog. Hubby is a shortened cutesy form of the English word husband.
❀☼☘︎Asawang lalaki directly translates to "male spouse" in Tagalog. It's rather a mouthful to say, but Alhaitham is old-fashioned and formal like that. It's actually quite weird to say, but it's just Alhaitham being a silly simp for his husband.
Sitting next to him on the passenger seat was none other than his younger paternal half-cousin, Cyno, who rolled his dark reddish orange eyes at Alhaitham, groaning as he said in a serious tone of voice, "Keep that up, and a third child will come into the household via express delivery by a stork."
Cyno's statement elicited different reactions from the two children sitting in the backseats of the car.
Yasmana, who looked like the feminized version of Kaveh, shuddered at the thought. "To, I don't think I want to think about my fathers like that."
❀☼☘︎To is the shortened form of Tito, which is the Tagalog word for uncle.
Zayn, who was practically a miniature version of Alhaitham, tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Huh? What does that mean?"
"It means nonsense, that's what," answered Yasmana, frowning as she continued, "Thank goodness that you don't go all PDA on us with Ta, To."
❀☼☘︎Ta is the shortened form of Tita, which is the Tagalog word for aunt.
"I would never," said Cyno.
No more was said as Alhaithams started the car, and off they went to Nilou and Cyno's house, where the unsuspecting pair of cousins, Nilou and Kaveh, were doing who knows what.
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Upon closer inspection, Kaveh realized that perhaps Nilou was onto something when she argued that the handsome sea god he sculpted favored Alhaitham a bit.
Like Alhaitham, the statues possessed a pair of firm, round buttocks, a pair of muscular, broad shoulders, a big back indented with all sorts of lines that signified his athleticism, and, of course, an obvious sign of virile masculinity down below where it mattered the most, as Nilou raved about, was, in fact, present.
With a reddening face, he stole several glances at the treasures in between the legs of the statue he had been sculpting for the past nine months. Did he subconsciously have Alhaitha in mind when he sculpted a statue of a handsome sea god who was supposed to be courageous beyond compare, even when poisonous sea ivy plants came to wrap themselves around his body, forever entrapping him under their beautiful, poisonous spell? Perhaps he did.
However, he would not let Nilou have the satisfaction of being right.
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Nilou was not like her neighbors in the neighborhood, for she enjoyed watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic outside, sitting down on her front porch with her laptop in front of her and a cup of iskrambol in hand. She knew for a fact that there were other enjoyers of the animated series, but she liked ot watch her show outside, for she could hear the crickets chirp their little song, and she honestly believed the outside chattering and traffic noises provided an unbeatable ambience.
❀☼☘︎Iskrambol is a Filipino ice cream dish that's made from shaved ice blended with sugar, powdered milk, and banana essence, often colored pink with food coloring. All sorts of toppings are added to it, such as sprinkles, marshmallows, and chocolate syrup.
She finished one episode of her favorite show when she felt a chaste, practically ghostly whisper of kisses on the back of both of her knees. She shivered not from the cold but from the warmth of her husband's lips and the sensation they provided against her skin. Even though she was not cold, Cyno still unbuttoned his linen white dress shirt and draped it over her shoulders.
"Thanks," she said before shyly smiling up at him, "I would say welcome home, but you already did that for me."
He blushed as he said, "You could welcome me home in another way."
"I could," she agreed, now blushing as well.
Unfortunately for them, they were suddenly interrupted by a dramatically loud cough from Yasmana.
"Where's Di?"
❀☼☘︎Di is the shortened form of Dadi. Dadi/Di is Kaveh.
"How should I know? Your Tatay probably got to him already," Nilou answered, her face practically matching the shade of red her hair was for having been caught and interrupted by her teenage niece.
❀☼☘︎Tatay is the word for father in Tagalog. It is considered a respectful but affectionate term of endearment used by children to address their own fathers. It is also culturally used as a respectful title for any much older, respected male in the community. Tatay is Alhaitham.
Nilou was right once again, but she always was, as it seemed to be. Alhaitham had indeed gotten to Kaveh, and he had no intention of letting Kaveh out of his grasp whatsoever.
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When Alhaitham first caught sight of Kaveh, he thought his eyes had been deceiving him. He was so in disbelief at what he saw that he wiped his glasses and rewore them not once, not twice, but thrice just to have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that what he saw was real.
There was his husband of the past twenty years standing in front of a statue wearing nothing but a cotton T-shirt that was transparent enough for him to see his golden sun-kissed tanned skin and a pair of bubblegum pink Juicy Couture shorts that rode up but stopped short to cover the exceptional heart-shaped bottom he packed in the back. His toned thighs were on full display, and to make matters worse for Kaveh but better for Alhaitham, whenever Kaveh raised his arms, Alhaitham was gifted with glimpses of the dark, blonde treasure trail that ran down from his belly button and below.
Deciding to make his presence not known to Kaveh just yet, Alhaitham deliberately took slow, silent steps before pulling Kaveh by the waist so that Kaveh was brushing against the hardness that was Alhaitham's body.
The second Kaveh felt a familiar pair of arms snaking around his trim waist, he knew he was in for trouble. He should have worn Nilou's oversized nightgown that left everything to the imagination instead, as those were the sort of nightgowns that Lola Milia wore, for they were full coverage, covering the arms and legs. Not even the neck and shoulders were spared from being covered. That way, he would not have his body become easily accessible for Alhaitham's pleasure and entertainment.
❀☼☘︎Lola is the Tagalog word for grandmother. Lola Milia would be Grandma Milia in English.
That being said, he would be a liar if he said he didn't like what Alhaitham was doing to him. In fact, he thoroughly enjoyed the constant pinchings Alhaitham gave to his hips and waist, among other places.
"I was going to take everyone to Jollibee, your favorite place to eat out, but we've got plenty of food already," Alhaitham said before bending down to bite on Kaveh's lower back, centimeters shy away from his shorts-covered bottom.
"Like what?"
Instead of answering Kaveh's question, Alhaitham asked a question of his own, "Chicharon ka ba?"
❀☼☘︎Chicharon ka ba? translates to "Are you chicharon?" in Tagalog. Chicharon is the fried parts of a pig.
"Bakit?"
❀☼☘︎Bakit means why in Tagalog.
"Kasi ang ingay mo 'pag kinakain ka."
❀☼☘︎Kasi ang ingay mo 'pag kinakain ka. translates to "Because you get so loud when you're being eaten up by me." in Tagalog.
"Huh?" Kaveh tilted his face to the side in confusion, contemplating his husband's words. Eventually, the meaning behind Alhaitham's innuendo finally came to light, and this resulted in a blushing Kaveh who had steam blowing out of his ears. "Baliw ka talaga!"
Alhaitham smirked at the facial expressions Kaveh was making. He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly as he retorted, "And, you're tempting."
As tempting as it was to have his way with Kaveh right then and there, there was a one-hundred percent guarantee that their mischievous acts of pleasure would result in the sculpture that Kaveh had spent so many months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds working on would get wrecked by the impact of what they were doing. And, so, they had to settle for a quick makeout session before they headed downstairs, where their cousins and their children were expecting them.
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The drive to Jollibee was hilarious to say the least, with Alhaitham grabbing onto Kaveh's thigh with one hand while the other was placed on the steering wheel. Since they did not bother to have Kaveh change into a more appropriate outfit to wear when going out to eat at Jollibee, Kaveh settled on having a Mickey Mouse blanket cover most of his body. It totally was not Cyno's blanket that he was gifted by Lola Milia. At the backseats, by one of the windows, Cyno had Nilou sit on his lap, Zayn sat next to them, and Yasmana got a seat by the other window.
Unlike other Jollibee locations, this specific one they were going to was used to having patrons dressed in all sorts of different outfits. Once, Alhaitham and Kaveh went to pick up everyone's orders wearing a couple's Honkai: Star Rail cosplay.
Once they were finally at Jollibee, Kaveh was quick to order what everyone desired to have. Kaveh ordered his favorite spicy chickenjoy with abobo rice, Alhaitham wanted two cheeseburgers and a large helping of fries, the children wanted regular chickenjoy and spaghetti, Nilou wanted the same meal combination as the children, and Cyno wanted a burger steak with plain white rice. For drinks, everyone had water because Kaveh insisted that it was not good to have sugary drinks at night, and besides, the children were already staying up past their bedtime, so the soda would have disrupted their sleep even further.
After an hour at Jollibee, it was time for everyone to head home to Nilou and Cyno's house. Since it was late at night, the entire Jollitown did not come over to greet and meet them as the mascots were not present after nine PM. That was alright for Alhaitham and Kaveh because the older, happily married couple had an alternative that was a much more fun and entertaining activity to enjoy together, but unfortunately, they had to figure out what to do with Cyno, Nilou, Yasmana, and Zayn, as they did not want an audience whatsoever.
Great minds think alike, as they say, and it did not take long for Alhaitham and Kaveh to come up with the perfect idea on what the fourth extra individuals could be doing later that night. The best part was that it was free to do, too.
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As delightful as it would have been to have a Kathniel binge-watch festival all alone in her quaint, little cottage, Jamila, who just about everyone knew as Lola Milia, did not mind having her family come over to visit her unexpectedly. Besides, she cooked way too much pancit canton to know what to do with, and everyone could enjoy the noodles as they watched She's Dating the Gangster on the television for the umpteenth time in her home.
"You and I should be together. Can't you see? Can't you see?" sang Nilou.
Cyno watched her with pure adoration in his eyes.
Meanwhile, Yasmana and Zayn were having their seventh helping of pancit canton.
"What do you think our fathers are doing?" Zayn innocently asked his great-grandmother.
Lola Milia smirked as she answered, "They are acting out a romantic movie of their own."
Yasmana almost choked on her noodles when she heard what her great-grandmother said in answer. "I suppose you're right to a degree."
Lola Milia was right. A passionate romance movie was being acted out in Nilou and Cyno's house. Although chicharon wasn't being eaten loudly, Alhaitham and Kaveh did have a delicious second midnight meal that took the entire night and early morning for them to finish eating, and they were quite loud about it, too.
The End.
