Chapter Text
It had been a whole month and Forth was still living with them.
In that time, both Pete and Kao tried to help the best they could to accommodate Forth into their home and help with Beam—well Kao did. Ever since he had become friends with Rome, he naturally had become more acquainted with the doctor, himself.
He had meet him once or twice over tea at Emma’s place, and he had surprisingly joined them and asked questions about pregnancy and childbirth.
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“Technically I know, I just…I don’t know. I don’t know what it will actually be like,” Beam had said playing with his fingers. They could all tell he was anxious and nervous about being pregnant and being someone’s parent.
All three of them had lived through very distinct experiences throughout their pregnancy.
Emma had it worse, from the morning sickness to the birth all of it was no walk in the park for her. Baby Phana even had to stay back in the hospital another week after she had been discharged under oxygen.
While, Rome had admitted that while his pregnancy and delivery were easy facing his parents wasn’t. Rome didn’t need to mention the part about his parents, everyone present had already known and didn’t want to particularly bring up that painful memory for him.
As for Kao, it had been the first time he had ever shared his journey amongst friends. A part of him regret it when he saw look of sympathy in Emma’s and Beam’s eyes. Rome, had already known, it was one of the things that even brought them together as friends. The similarity in their circumstances with their children’s father had set a deep foundation to their friendship.
“It’s not like I want to keep Forth away from his child, I just…Every time I see him, it makes me mad,” Beam said with a small sigh.
“Maybe that’s just one of your pregnancy symptoms,” P’Oh said butting in and taking a seat besides his sister, “It’s not unheard, some people grow to hate their spouse during pregnancy and can’t stand them.”
“That can happen?” The three had surprised.
“Yeah, it’s normal, everyone won’t have the same symptoms when pregnant. It’ll eventually pass with time,” P’Oh said sounding so sure.
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“Kao, I’m home,” Pete had yelled out as soon as he walked into the house. He and Forth were meeting up with another realtor before the weekend. It seemed they had outgrown their current space yet again and this time they were looking into buying a bigger building.
“I’m in the kitchen,” Kao had called back as he focused on feeding In his meal. Mrs. Lin had left their meals prepped and ready to serve but Kao had not wanted to eat until Pete got home, but he wouldn’t let In go hungry with him.
“Where is P’Forth?” Kao asked when he only saw Pete walk into the kitchen.
“Beam called him to go home,” Pete said with a smile, “I don’t think he will be coming back to our place anytime soon from the sound of it.”
“What do you mean?” Kao said looking at him a little confused.
“Well, it sounded like Beam desperately wanted him home.” Pete said not particularly wanting to repeat Beam’s words of desire.
“Oh!” Kao said beginning to flush a little, “I’m glad things finally settled down for them.” He said watching as Pete went over to the counters and took it upon himself to heat up their meals.
Kao had let In take hold of the spoon and attempt to use it while also using his other hand to clumsily push food into his little mouth. It was cute, but he was getting the gist of how to use a spoon on his own. It made him kind of sad and happy at the same time just watching how big In was getting. It was hard to imagine that their son was getting closer to turning twp—even if that was still months away.
Pete had walked back to the table and placed a plate of food in front of Kao before placing a kiss on his head. He took his plate to the other side to sit across from him, so that he could be by In’s side. “Thanks to my dad, we were able to secure a building closer to the city,” Pete said as he grabbed a spoonful of food and held it out towards Kao so that he could eat.
And without hesitation Kao was leaning forward to eat. “It’s hard to believe it all started in this house,” Kao said with a small smile and in the span of a year the business had grown to the scale that it had—his father-in-law had been their biggest guide in this whole journey.
“How would you feel about getting married in this house, too?” Pete had asked. This house had given them both many happy memories and they grown to understand one another better than before. Their relationship had matured, though sometimes it felt like Kao had always been there and was just waiting on him.
“Pete, I would love that,” Kao said a smile, which had Pete only getting up from his feet and circling the table over to him to plant a kiss to his lips. It was a small giddy peck, “Stop, In is watching,” Kao said with a happy little giggle.
“What’s wrong with him seeing how much his dad loves his mom?” Pete said pulling Kao in for another kiss. It was different from the peck. The kiss was slow and warm, making the heat rush to Kao’s cheeks and when he tried to pull away, Pete hadn’t let him.
Kao’s eyes had fluttered open and met with Pete’s own eyes, and he could see the desire in them and that made Kao’s heart skip a beat.
“MAAA!!” In had ended up crying out getting red in the face as he thrashed in his high chair.
“Guess he’s defending you,” Pete said pulling away with a small chuckle before going to get In. “Dad’s sorry,” Pete said kissing his son’s cheek sweetly.
Kao’s fingertips had ended up coming up to brush against his lips. He supposed it had been a while for them. “Can you give him a bath? I’ll clean down here.” Kao said when he realized the smear of food on In’s shirt.
“Alrighty stinky boy, let’s get you bathed,” Pete said taking upstairs with him.