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merryfuture2023-07-11 05:38 pm
staygame) wrote in merryfuture2023-07-11 05:38 pm
Entry tags:
dark blue kiss: you make me feel (2020)
you make me feel (ao3 link, see original work for author's notes) | dark blue kiss, pete/kao, teen, 1.8k words
tags: day at the beach, canon compliant
---
Pete shows up at Kao's house at 8 in the morning holding three bags of porridge and wearing a familiar, suspicious smile.
"No," Kao says automatically.
"You don't even know what I want yet," Pete protests, pushing his way through the gate. He drops a kiss against Kao's cheek as he passes, quick enough that Kao barely feels the touch, but it's enough to make Kao's face flush.
"Not outside," he reminds Pete, fighting a smile. "So what do you want then?"
"You."
"See, this is why I said no."
They eat breakfast with Kao's mom, who is delighted to see Pete. He always puts on a good show in front of her and Kao is reminded that Pete can actually be charming when he wants to be, even if he does spend half the meal brushing his foot against Kao's calf.
It's when they're clearing the table that Pete strikes. He smiles sweetly at Kao's mother, taking the stack of dishes from her hands. "Mom, can I take Kao to the beach this weekend? He's been working so hard lately. I think he could use a break."
"Shouldn't you be asking me?" Kao points out.
"If I asked you, you would say you're busy and spend the entire weekend doing extra homework for fun," Pete says.
"I think that sounds like a nice plan," Kao's mom says, gently ignoring them both. "Where will you stay?"
"One of my dad's business partners owns a resort," Pete explains. He shoots Kao a wink over his shoulder. "He's offered us a room for the night."
Kao's mother reaches out, squeezing her hand around Kao's arm. "I think that sounds nice."
When they've finished with the dishes, Pete trails Kao all the way up to his room. "I can't believe you used my mom against me," Kao complains as soon as his door is shut.
"It was for a good cause," Pete says, flopping down onto Kao's bed like he owns it. As much time as he spends here, it's not entirely inaccurate.
Kao tugs his duffle bag out of the back of his closet, half-buried beneath a pile of laundry. "What good cause? Having sex in a hotel room?"
"Forcing you to take some time to relax," Pete says.
"Oh," Kao says, grateful that his back is to Pete because he's definitely blushing again and Pete does not need to know that he has that kind of power. It's just that Kao forgets to expect kindness from someone like Pete, whose love language often ranges from headlock to innuendo. Kao covers up his bashfulness with a mature, "Shut up."
"Make me," Pete says cheerfully.
Kao falls asleep less than an hour into the road trip, lulled into a doze by the traffic out of Bangkok. He doesn't stir again until the car comes to a stop and something bright flashes at him, head jerking upright at the disturbance.
Pete is holding his instant camera, grinning at Kao as he plucks the picture out of its slot. "Good morning, sunshine."
"Throw that picture away," Kao complains. There's a crick in his neck from the way he'd fallen asleep and his face is too warm from the heat of the sun streaming in through the window. "It's probably ugly."
"That's why I took it," Pete says, and pockets the photo. "I'm going inside. You coming?"
Kao shakes his head. He's still hanging onto the last vestiges of drowsiness, eyelids heavy and breath slow. "I'll wait here."
He must fall asleep for the ten minutes that Pete is gone, because the next thing he knows, something cold is being pressed to his cheek.
"Here," Pete says. It's a can of coffee. "I need you awake to keep me company. I'm so bored."
Two bags also land in Kao's lap, crispy seaweed and banana chips, tossed casually as not to suggest the presence of a kind gesture. Kao smiles anyway, taking the can from Pete's hand. "How should I entertain you? A song and dance?"
"You could talk about how handsome your boyfriend is," Pete says.
"I like that word," Kao says.
"What word?"
"Boyfriend." He lets it roll around in his brain, the way a single syllable can sound so different when used in a moment of hesitation ("Kao, you're my boyfriend now, right?") or when teasing Kao ("You can't leave now, your boyfriend is trying to kiss you.")
Pete's eyes are on the road ahead as he merges onto the highway, but Kao watches the way he smiles, wide and toothy, no hint of smugness. His smile makes Kao want to do dumb things, like crawl over the car's console and kiss Pete right there and then. He settles for squeezing Pete's free hand. Pete squeezes back in three short bursts, so quick that Kao nearly misses it.
The scenery changes gradually as they approach the beach town, the open landscape around them giving way to restaurants and hotels, flanked by palm trees. The traffic grinds to a halt, congested with fellow tourists, and Pete sighs, impatient.
"We'll be there soon," Kao points out.
"It's annoying," Pete says.
"You don't appreciate the journey enough," Kao says. He drops his head against the window, tilting it to the side to look at Pete scowling. "Didn't you want to take this trip to relax? So relax."
From the outside, the resort doesn't look like much—quaint looking villas with wooden columns and old-fashioned latticework railing—but by the time they step into the lobby, Kao realizes he shouldn't have underestimated any location owned by someone Pete's family knows. The patterned tile floor guides Kao's eye across the open-air lobby to a lush courtyard and beyond it, a view of the sea. While Pete takes care of checking them in, Kao steps out into the courtyard, taking in the sound of the ocean in the distance. Pete was right—Kao needed this break. He can feel the weight of the stress from the last month, the coursework piling up and the headache of setting up his tutoring business, lifting from his shoulders.
Two hours later, Kao is lounged out on a deck chair, full of som tam and spicy shrimp, pleasantly buzzed from the beer they'd been served at lunch. Next to him, Pete has an arm thrown over his face to block out the sun. Pete's Hawaiian shirt is unbuttoned, hanging loosely open and showing off his warm, toned skin. He looks entirely the part of the lazy, rich boy he is and Kao's cheeks go hot for reasons entirely unrelated to his eventual sunburn.
This particular stretch of the beach that the resort owns is mostly quiet. A few yards away, a modelesque woman sitting on her own deck chair as her significantly less attractive boyfriend applies sunscreen to her back. Two children chasing each other through the sand, their parents looking on from under an umbrella. No one is paying attention to them, but even if they were, they're far from home. Maybe this is why Kao feels bold enough to reach out, catching Pete's free hand and intertwining their fingers.
Kao can feel Pete go tense for a moment, before letting his fingers relax against Kao's.
"Did you expect this?" Pete asks after a long stretch of silence. He drops his arm, turning to look at Kao. "When I asked you out, did you expect this is where we'd end up?"
"Did I think the guy who punched me in the face more than once and then tried to pretend like nothing happened after giving me a handjob was serious about wanting to date me?"
"Don't say it like that," Pete says, a childish whine in his voice.
"That's what happened, isn't it?" Kao says, but he rubs his thumb over Pete's, placating him. "To be honest, I thought that we'd break up pretty quickly. That you would change your mind when some pretty girl hit on you or because it was too hard to date a guy."
Kao looks out to the ocean. It's almost been a year, but they've never talked like this, discussed their relationship in any meaningful way. Argued, yes. Talked Pete down off the ledge when Sun even looked in Kao's direction, yes. Sat next to each other on Pete's bed in stony silence until one of them caved, yes. But this, the doubts and fears at the heart of it all—this feels different. "I've always known," Kao continues. "But I thought that maybe I was a whim for you."
He can feel the tension in Pete's body all the way down to his fingers. "I think," Pete says, his voice barely audible over the crashing waves. "I've always known too. But I wasn't prepared to act on it. Not until I met you again."
"Oh."
Pete tugs on Kao's hand until Kao turns back, meeting Pete's eye. "You've never been a whim for me."
The expression on Pete's face is unguarded, sincere, and Kao can only shake his head, trying to hold back his smile. "Why are you being so serious anyway? Shouldn't we be having fun?"
"You're not having fun, huh? How about I race you to the water?"
Pete's up out of his deck chair before he's even finished his sentence. "You're cheating!" Kao yells after him as he scrambles to his feet, sand shifting awkwardly underneath him. When Kao is close, Pete kicks at the water, splashing it in Kao's direction.
"You're going to get it," Kao shouts as he chases Pete into shin-deep waves. He uses his arms to fling water back at Pete, soaking his Hawaiian shirt.
"Get what?" Pete taunts back, grinning smugly like he wasn't just sputtering around a mouthful of saltwater a minute ago. "Get what?"
So Kao tackles him, dragging Pete down into the ocean. "Get that," Kao says.
His triumph is brief—Pete is stronger than he is and even as the water sloshes around them, Pete manages to pin Kao underneath him. They're both drenched now, sand and salt sticking to their skin as they wrestle. Kao forgets that there are people around them. It's just the two of them in their own world, happily trying to drown each other in the waves.
When Kao looks down at Pete, wet hair matted to his forehead, mouth open wide in a laugh, it makes something constrict in his chest. Suddenly the words that felt too big for his throat earlier come tumbling out, nothing to hold them back. "Pete, I love you."
Pete reaches up, tugging Kao's forehead down to meet his. "I love you too," he says, like it's a shared secret and Kao feels so fond, so in love, that he has to kiss Pete.
"I told you this trip would be good for you," Pete says.
"I never said it wouldn't be," Kao says, because he may be in love but some things haven't changed, including disagreement as his instinctual response to anything Pete says in that cocky tone.
"Uh huh," Pete says.
Kao shoves his head under the water.
tags: day at the beach, canon compliant
---
Pete shows up at Kao's house at 8 in the morning holding three bags of porridge and wearing a familiar, suspicious smile.
"No," Kao says automatically.
"You don't even know what I want yet," Pete protests, pushing his way through the gate. He drops a kiss against Kao's cheek as he passes, quick enough that Kao barely feels the touch, but it's enough to make Kao's face flush.
"Not outside," he reminds Pete, fighting a smile. "So what do you want then?"
"You."
"See, this is why I said no."
They eat breakfast with Kao's mom, who is delighted to see Pete. He always puts on a good show in front of her and Kao is reminded that Pete can actually be charming when he wants to be, even if he does spend half the meal brushing his foot against Kao's calf.
It's when they're clearing the table that Pete strikes. He smiles sweetly at Kao's mother, taking the stack of dishes from her hands. "Mom, can I take Kao to the beach this weekend? He's been working so hard lately. I think he could use a break."
"Shouldn't you be asking me?" Kao points out.
"If I asked you, you would say you're busy and spend the entire weekend doing extra homework for fun," Pete says.
"I think that sounds like a nice plan," Kao's mom says, gently ignoring them both. "Where will you stay?"
"One of my dad's business partners owns a resort," Pete explains. He shoots Kao a wink over his shoulder. "He's offered us a room for the night."
Kao's mother reaches out, squeezing her hand around Kao's arm. "I think that sounds nice."
When they've finished with the dishes, Pete trails Kao all the way up to his room. "I can't believe you used my mom against me," Kao complains as soon as his door is shut.
"It was for a good cause," Pete says, flopping down onto Kao's bed like he owns it. As much time as he spends here, it's not entirely inaccurate.
Kao tugs his duffle bag out of the back of his closet, half-buried beneath a pile of laundry. "What good cause? Having sex in a hotel room?"
"Forcing you to take some time to relax," Pete says.
"Oh," Kao says, grateful that his back is to Pete because he's definitely blushing again and Pete does not need to know that he has that kind of power. It's just that Kao forgets to expect kindness from someone like Pete, whose love language often ranges from headlock to innuendo. Kao covers up his bashfulness with a mature, "Shut up."
"Make me," Pete says cheerfully.
Kao falls asleep less than an hour into the road trip, lulled into a doze by the traffic out of Bangkok. He doesn't stir again until the car comes to a stop and something bright flashes at him, head jerking upright at the disturbance.
Pete is holding his instant camera, grinning at Kao as he plucks the picture out of its slot. "Good morning, sunshine."
"Throw that picture away," Kao complains. There's a crick in his neck from the way he'd fallen asleep and his face is too warm from the heat of the sun streaming in through the window. "It's probably ugly."
"That's why I took it," Pete says, and pockets the photo. "I'm going inside. You coming?"
Kao shakes his head. He's still hanging onto the last vestiges of drowsiness, eyelids heavy and breath slow. "I'll wait here."
He must fall asleep for the ten minutes that Pete is gone, because the next thing he knows, something cold is being pressed to his cheek.
"Here," Pete says. It's a can of coffee. "I need you awake to keep me company. I'm so bored."
Two bags also land in Kao's lap, crispy seaweed and banana chips, tossed casually as not to suggest the presence of a kind gesture. Kao smiles anyway, taking the can from Pete's hand. "How should I entertain you? A song and dance?"
"You could talk about how handsome your boyfriend is," Pete says.
"I like that word," Kao says.
"What word?"
"Boyfriend." He lets it roll around in his brain, the way a single syllable can sound so different when used in a moment of hesitation ("Kao, you're my boyfriend now, right?") or when teasing Kao ("You can't leave now, your boyfriend is trying to kiss you.")
Pete's eyes are on the road ahead as he merges onto the highway, but Kao watches the way he smiles, wide and toothy, no hint of smugness. His smile makes Kao want to do dumb things, like crawl over the car's console and kiss Pete right there and then. He settles for squeezing Pete's free hand. Pete squeezes back in three short bursts, so quick that Kao nearly misses it.
The scenery changes gradually as they approach the beach town, the open landscape around them giving way to restaurants and hotels, flanked by palm trees. The traffic grinds to a halt, congested with fellow tourists, and Pete sighs, impatient.
"We'll be there soon," Kao points out.
"It's annoying," Pete says.
"You don't appreciate the journey enough," Kao says. He drops his head against the window, tilting it to the side to look at Pete scowling. "Didn't you want to take this trip to relax? So relax."
From the outside, the resort doesn't look like much—quaint looking villas with wooden columns and old-fashioned latticework railing—but by the time they step into the lobby, Kao realizes he shouldn't have underestimated any location owned by someone Pete's family knows. The patterned tile floor guides Kao's eye across the open-air lobby to a lush courtyard and beyond it, a view of the sea. While Pete takes care of checking them in, Kao steps out into the courtyard, taking in the sound of the ocean in the distance. Pete was right—Kao needed this break. He can feel the weight of the stress from the last month, the coursework piling up and the headache of setting up his tutoring business, lifting from his shoulders.
Two hours later, Kao is lounged out on a deck chair, full of som tam and spicy shrimp, pleasantly buzzed from the beer they'd been served at lunch. Next to him, Pete has an arm thrown over his face to block out the sun. Pete's Hawaiian shirt is unbuttoned, hanging loosely open and showing off his warm, toned skin. He looks entirely the part of the lazy, rich boy he is and Kao's cheeks go hot for reasons entirely unrelated to his eventual sunburn.
This particular stretch of the beach that the resort owns is mostly quiet. A few yards away, a modelesque woman sitting on her own deck chair as her significantly less attractive boyfriend applies sunscreen to her back. Two children chasing each other through the sand, their parents looking on from under an umbrella. No one is paying attention to them, but even if they were, they're far from home. Maybe this is why Kao feels bold enough to reach out, catching Pete's free hand and intertwining their fingers.
Kao can feel Pete go tense for a moment, before letting his fingers relax against Kao's.
"Did you expect this?" Pete asks after a long stretch of silence. He drops his arm, turning to look at Kao. "When I asked you out, did you expect this is where we'd end up?"
"Did I think the guy who punched me in the face more than once and then tried to pretend like nothing happened after giving me a handjob was serious about wanting to date me?"
"Don't say it like that," Pete says, a childish whine in his voice.
"That's what happened, isn't it?" Kao says, but he rubs his thumb over Pete's, placating him. "To be honest, I thought that we'd break up pretty quickly. That you would change your mind when some pretty girl hit on you or because it was too hard to date a guy."
Kao looks out to the ocean. It's almost been a year, but they've never talked like this, discussed their relationship in any meaningful way. Argued, yes. Talked Pete down off the ledge when Sun even looked in Kao's direction, yes. Sat next to each other on Pete's bed in stony silence until one of them caved, yes. But this, the doubts and fears at the heart of it all—this feels different. "I've always known," Kao continues. "But I thought that maybe I was a whim for you."
He can feel the tension in Pete's body all the way down to his fingers. "I think," Pete says, his voice barely audible over the crashing waves. "I've always known too. But I wasn't prepared to act on it. Not until I met you again."
"Oh."
Pete tugs on Kao's hand until Kao turns back, meeting Pete's eye. "You've never been a whim for me."
The expression on Pete's face is unguarded, sincere, and Kao can only shake his head, trying to hold back his smile. "Why are you being so serious anyway? Shouldn't we be having fun?"
"You're not having fun, huh? How about I race you to the water?"
Pete's up out of his deck chair before he's even finished his sentence. "You're cheating!" Kao yells after him as he scrambles to his feet, sand shifting awkwardly underneath him. When Kao is close, Pete kicks at the water, splashing it in Kao's direction.
"You're going to get it," Kao shouts as he chases Pete into shin-deep waves. He uses his arms to fling water back at Pete, soaking his Hawaiian shirt.
"Get what?" Pete taunts back, grinning smugly like he wasn't just sputtering around a mouthful of saltwater a minute ago. "Get what?"
So Kao tackles him, dragging Pete down into the ocean. "Get that," Kao says.
His triumph is brief—Pete is stronger than he is and even as the water sloshes around them, Pete manages to pin Kao underneath him. They're both drenched now, sand and salt sticking to their skin as they wrestle. Kao forgets that there are people around them. It's just the two of them in their own world, happily trying to drown each other in the waves.
When Kao looks down at Pete, wet hair matted to his forehead, mouth open wide in a laugh, it makes something constrict in his chest. Suddenly the words that felt too big for his throat earlier come tumbling out, nothing to hold them back. "Pete, I love you."
Pete reaches up, tugging Kao's forehead down to meet his. "I love you too," he says, like it's a shared secret and Kao feels so fond, so in love, that he has to kiss Pete.
"I told you this trip would be good for you," Pete says.
"I never said it wouldn't be," Kao says, because he may be in love but some things haven't changed, including disagreement as his instinctual response to anything Pete says in that cocky tone.
"Uh huh," Pete says.
Kao shoves his head under the water.