Midterms had come and gone. Macau and Chay had managed to spend almost all their free time together and now they were on break. Macau was sitting at Porchay's study desk watching as the boy hauled random things into his bag before throwing them back out. Tankhun had called him a few days before telling him to clear out his schedule for the first week of break because they were going to Japan and Chay who had never been out of the country was a tad bit nervous. Tankhun had taken him shopping buying him a lot of things he didn't need and a whole new wardrobe and now the boy didn't know what to pack with him so everything was in and out of his bag.
"Why don't you just pack what you like?" Macau quipped spinning around on the chair.
"But I like everything!" Porchay said finally stopping and sinking to the floor, "I give up, I'm going to lock myself in here or better yet...lock me in your room and don't let me out until Tuesday."
Macau got up from the chair and joined the boy on the floor, "What if I helped you pack?"
"You do realise you could have said that over an hour ago and saved me a lot of energy right?" Porchay smiled gripping tightly at Macau's wrist.
"It was fun watchi..." Chay tightened his grip, "I didn't want t to disturb you," the boy corrected himself smiling sheepishly, "Please let go, I think you're going to break something."
Chay immediately released Macau's wrist like it burnt only to grab his hand when he saw the red mark on the other's wrist, "I..."
"That's gonna leave a mark," Macau said clicking his tongue.
"I didn't mean to squeeze so hard...you made me!"
"It's okay, I'll have a reminder of you while you're gone." he said smirking, "I'm not really into the marking thing though."
It took Chay a second to realise what Macau was saying before turning red as a beet, "Are you going to help me or not?" he asked turning his attention to the pile of clothes on his bed.
Macau chuckled but got up from the floor to help the boy pack. The boys finished packing within two hours but only because Macau had to talk Chay out of packing duplicate outfits in different colours. Once they were done packing the boys got pizza for dinner and talked about how their semester had practically flown by and what they were going to do once Chay got back or rather when they were both back in Bangkok. Macau had a trip to Ireland and was leaving the day Chay landed back in Bangkok so the boys were spending a total of two weeks apart which was the longest they'd been apart since they started hanging out together.
Macau didn't really mind spending time away from Chay if they could still have some form of contact what scared him the most was not being able to fall asleep. He had become accustomed to falling asleep next to Chay over the last month and a bit. He hadn't been able to stay asleep a few days ago when Chay was called home by Tankun because the man wanted to go shopping and insisted Chay stay at the major family house.
The boys were woken by Porchay's alarm at five am or rather Macau woke up and Chay just whined about the noise. Macau sat up and switched the alarm off rubbing at his eyes. The still-sleeping boy next to him was now pouting at the sudden disturbance to his sleep. It's just fourteen days, he thought to himself before lightly shaking the small boy next to him, "Chay, you have to wake up. Porsche is going to be here in an hour."
Porchay grabbed Macau's arm and dragged him down before putting his head on the other boy's shoulder, "Five minutes," he mumbled.
"Chay come one. Your brother is going to be here soon and you take forever getting ready. Get up."
The boy finally opened his eyes glaring at Macau before huffing and dragging himself out of the warm covers. He walked a few steps to the bathroom but suddenly stopped and leaned his head against the door frame staying there a moment too long. Macau rolled his eyes and got out of bed. Porchay had fallen asleep leaning against the bathroom door frame. Macau didn't know how to keep Chay awake but he also knew it was his doing so he dragged Chay into the shower and opened the cold water waking the other boy up like the good friend that he was. Chay didn't appreciate it though because he started yelling and cussing Macau out but the boy had already closed the door and walked back into Chay's bedroom.
Just as he had expected, Porchay was in the bathroom longer than an hour so Macau left a note before leaving. The last thing he wanted was for Porsche to walk into the room to find him sitting in his little brother's bed. As it stood Porsche didn't like that Macau and Chay were friends; he just didn't say anything about it.
See you when I get back. Don't do anything I wouldn't
-Mac
He got a text from Chay about an hour later. The boy wasn't happy that he didn't get a proper goodbye but he liked the bracelet Macau had left on the dresser. Macau smiled at his phone imagining Porchay pouting while typing out the message. He packed his things in about an hour and was home by eight. Vegas was nowhere to be seen and Pete was sitting at the dining table mindlessly stirring his coffee, "Is everything okay?" Macau asked sliding into the seat next to Pete.
The older man hadn't registered Macau's arrival because the boy's question caused him to jump in his seat almost knocking the coffee over. Pete looked at Macau with vacant eyes before blinking a few times, "When did you get back?" he asked looking at the coffee he had slipped onto the oak table.
"I just got back," Macau answered watching Pete look around the table to find a paper even though there were a few right next to him.
The boy picked one up and wiped the spot under the mug, "Are you okay phi?"
Pete stared at his hands a moment before beginning to tap his fingers together. He stayed like that, unblinking, just tapping his fingers until he registered Macau's words almost a minute after the boy spoke, "Yeah, I'm just a little...tired."
That's not true, Macau thought to himself, "Is Vegas home?"
The question seemed to bother Pete because he sighed heavily and sunk into his seat, "No. He's been gone since before sunrise yesterday." he sat a moment longer before turning to Macau, "I'm a little tired so I'm just going to go take a nap. We can hang out when I wake up and you can tell me what you've been up to lately seeing as you refuse to come home these days," He smiled at Macau and ran his fingers through the boy's hair before pushing out of his chair and disappearing into the house.
Macau sunk into his seat wishing he hadn't come home. He knew Pete was upset. He also knew that there was nothing he could do to make him feel better. He was painfully are of the fact that Vegas had been acting a little standoffish lately but he also couldn't question his brother because it wasn't his place. He felt useless sitting there and he wished he could give some of his happiness to Pete, not that there was anything left to give now. The boy had absorbed Pete's energy and all the giddy excitement he felt just an hour was replaced by suffocating dread.
That was one thing he hated most about himself. He had a gift for feeling too much. He always absorbed people's energy like a succulent. That's why he mostly kept to himself. That's why he didn't have friends. That's also why he turned to art.
Macau closed his eyes turning his head to the ceiling and tried to count. It helped sometimes, just not this time. He opened his eyes only to have his vision go black. And then he couldn't breathe and his ears filled with an eerie din. breathe, breathe, breathe. He kept chanting above the noise in his head but that only seemed to make it worse because his chest tightened and then he was choking.
"Macau! Macau..." someone kept calling but Macau couldn't answer no matter how much he tried.
And then there was something warm and hard wrapped around his shoulders just holding tight, hushing. And then Pete. Pete's sweet scent engulfed him wadding off whatever had been trying to suffocate him or was he doing that to himself? He blinked a few times and his vision began to clear or as clear as it could be what with the tears rolling down his face. He grabbed at the arms around his shoulders trying to ground himself, trying to tether himself back and Pete tightened his embrace and began to whisper, "It's okay, you're okay."
Once Macau had calmed down a bit Pete lead the boy to his and Vegas' room and filled the bathtub with warm water and lavender oil before leaving the boy there. When he walked out he found the one person he did not want to see in that moment but given that he was worried about the boy he'd just left in the bathroom he grabbed Vegas by the arm and lead him out of the room, "Where's Macau? His car is out front but he's not in his room?"
"He's in the bath," Pete said looking over Vegas' shoulder.
"Why doesn't he just take a shower like he usually does?" Vegas asked looking at the door behind Pete.
"Where have you been?"
The question pulled Vegas' attention back to the fuming man in front of him, "Are you upset about something?" he asked instead of answering the question.
"I'm going to need you to leave. Don't come back until this evening, Macau and I will be gone when you get back. I need time away from you and Macau needs time away from here so don't try to call me or him. We'll see you in two weeks, maybe more, maybe less. Hopefully, by then you have your act brought together," Pete said staring Vegas down, "Also, I'll need you to tell me if your loyalties lie with me or the person whose perfume has been all over your clothes lately."
With that, Pete turned around and walked back into 'his' room slamming the door behind him. He wanted so much to curl up into a ball and just cry but he knew he couldn't do that until he was certain Macau was okay. He hadn't seen Macau break down like that in a while and he genuinely thought he was getting better. The late-night calls had stopped coming a lot less and Macau stopped going home as much which meant that he was better so Pete was not expecting to hear the boy crying out just as he reached the door to his room. He didn't expect to find Macau clawing at his neck because he couldn't breathe. He didn't think he'd have that kind of effect on the boy in the few minutes they'd been together. He only wished he hadn't shown it so much. He only wished he had gotten away from Macau quicker.
The boy spent an hour in the bathroom. He had gone from feeling nothing but dread to being angry. He was doing so well, he was getting better so why did he have to go and fall off that hard? He wasn't having meltdowns and the nightmares were a lot less frequent. He was getting better so why now?
When he walked out Pete was zipping up a suitcase half his height, "Are you going somewhere?" Macau asked.
"Yes," Pete turned around and beamed at the boy, "Wanna go to Japan with me?"
"When do we leave?"
"When you eat something and finish packing."
Macau nodded and walked out of the room to get dressed in his room. His brother had definitely done something and whatever it was had to be bad because Pete always forgave him for all the dumb shit he pulled but if he needed a time out, Vegas really screwed up.
Macau got dressed and was about to go down to find something to eat when he decided to text Porchay. He knew the boy wouldn't get the message until a few hours from then but he did it anyway.
Mac: I just might accidentally, maybe, unexpectedly (because of P'Pete and Tankun) run into you in a few days.
*~*~*~*~*~
Porchay was pouting as they were led to their cars. His sleep had been interrupted more than once in a single day everyone just seemed too happy for no reason, especially Pol and Arm. He was excited to be in Japan because he had never left Thailand but couldn't he be in Japan after his nap?
Once in the car with two bodyguards Porsche had stolen from Kinn having managed to successfully avoid riding with his brother or Tankhun, Chay pulled out his phone. There was a single message from Macau but his phone died before he could read the whole message, "Just great," the boy huffed slumping in his seat.
His irritation was however almost immediately replaced by exhaustion and the boy fell asleep silently cursing whoever tried to wake him up when they got to the hotel.
Porchay was woken up at 6 am by Tankhun and Arm. Tankhun had suddenly decided that he wanted to go to Okinawa and Porsche had agreed to let him take Chay with. The boy just sat blinking at the two men for a moment before smiling menacingly at them, "I've barely slept an hour since we got here. I don't like this room and this bed is very uncomfortable so please, and I mean with as much respect as it can carry, get out," Chay slumped back onto the bed and dragged the bedsheets over his head.
"But Chay, Porsche won't play with me," Tankhun whined stomping his foot.
"Phi, please just let me sleep in today. I promise we can go play tomorrow and I won't even complain, okay?"
Arm had to drag a protesting Tankhun out of the room shooting an apology over his shoulder on the bed. Porchay spent the next hour trying to go back to sleep but Tankhun had clearly disturbed his peace for the rest of the day. He put his phone on the charger and went to take a shower. When he finally left the room he was met by one of the guards he drove with from the airport and a short woman who looked like she would break people's bones if they ever stepped out of line. She introduced herself as Mina Kurosawa, "Your brother has some work with my older brother so he asked me to take care of you until you have to go back."
Chay smiled awkwardly and mumbled a greeting before piratically running away. He made his way down to the hotel restaurant and thanked the heavens that the staff spoke English. He was seated at a table in the back where he played with the cutlery while he waited for a menu to be given to him. Chay had his head buried in the menu when someone sat in the chair next to his, "Didn't your brother tell you not to wander off alone?"
"I should be asking you the same thing," Chay replied looking up at a pair of brown eyes, "Why're you here?"
"I saw you looking lonely so I thought I would come join you," Macau said tilting his head slightly while smiling at the still confused boy.
"No I mean shouldn't you be in Bangkok still?"
"Is everything alright here Chay?" one of the people appointed as part of Chay's detail asked having suddenly manifested at the table.
"Yeah, all good phi." the boy said not taking his eyes off the boy who was now smirking at the bodyguard.
"Does your brother know that you have company?" he asked glaring at Macau.
"Not yet but I'm sure he wouldn't mind," Pete interjected putting a hand on the man's shoulder.
The man nodded slightly and walked away, "I swear the universe is working against my and Porsche's sanity," Pete huffed sitting next to Macau, "Good morning Porchay."
"Morning," the boy beamed, "Both of you are here, is Vegas here too?"
"Even when I'm sitting in front of you all you can think about is Vegas? You injure me," Macau whined dramatically putting his hand on his chest, "He stayed home doing whatever it is he does," he added slouching in his seat.
"Can you not, please?" Chay grumbled.
Macau just pouted and pulled the menu over his face. Pete rolled his eyes and turned his attention to Chay, "Where's your brother?"
"I'm not sure, I think he's working" Chay shrugged.
Just then Porsche and Kinn walked into the restaurant giggling like children, "When did Kinn get here?" Pete asked clearly confused because Porsche had thrown a tantrum because Kinn had work to do in China and wouldn't be joining them.
"That's what I would like to know," Chay mumbled staring at his brother.
"When did you two get here?" Porsche asked when he go to the table.
"The real question is why is he here," Chay replied, "What happened to China?"
"Detour," Kinn smirked earning himself a smack on the arm before he sat down.
"Where's the other one? Your family is incomplete," Kinn said looking at Macau.
"Back in Thailand, brooding or something," the boy replied.
"You guys just left without Vegas?" Porsche asked this time narrowing his eyes at Pete.
"Something like that," Pete shrugged, "Can we please not talk about Vegas right now? I'm hungry."
At that, a waiter was called to the table. Breakfast was mostly peaceful, if you overlooked Kinn and Porsche taking turns to pick on the two young boys at the table, "I hear you dated my brother," Kinn remarked taking a sip of his coffee.
"Can't I do that? You're dating my brother or whatever it is you call it," Chay replied stuffing a forkful of eggs into his mouth.
"And now you have a thing for Vegas."
Chay slammed his fork down and glared at Kinn. The sudden commotion caused the guards standing a few meters away to stir despite knowing that Chay could do little to no harm to either of their bosses, "Could you guys please stop with the Vegas thing? That man is nothing if not creepy and I don't do creepy older men. Have you seen the way he looks at people sometimes? I swear he thinks about offing literally almost everyone around him twice a day."
The table was silent for a second until Macau started laughing and then choking on his food, "I always tell you not to laugh with food in your mouth," Chay scolded rubbing circles on the boy's back and giving him some water.
"So you don't like Vegas?" Kinn asked narrowing his eyes at the sight before him.
"No."
"Macau?"
"Yes," Chay's eyes widened the second he spoke and Macau only choked on the water he was drinking.
Porsche let out a heavy sigh and gulped down his coffee before turning to Kinn, "We're done here."
The other man tried to protest but Porsche only glared at him silencing him, "I'll be leaving now, I'll see you guys back at home," he smiled at the two boys who were looking everywhere but at each other.
Pete waited until Porsche and Kinn were gone before he spoke, "Macau, I'm going to hang out with Porsche but if you need anything just call and Chay, please keep him out of trouble."
The boys hummed in response and Pete ruffled Macau's hair before leaving to go find Porsche who was probably scolding the head of the main family in front of his subordinates.
"Wanna get out of here?" Macau asked after a moment.
"Yes."