The Mansion of Men

It cannot be

It takes six days for Vegas to wake from his coma.

In that time, Macau tries to be strong. He doesn't leave the room. He wants to be there when his brother wakes. He's been assured that Vegas is safe, but Macau stays put. Chay keeps sending him school work, but Macau doesn't open it.

Instead, they talk about everything else. Everything but school or their brothers or anything that's actually real. Sometimes, when it's quiet, during the day and all his friends are busy in class, Macau reads. He's only just discovered the site so there's a lot to see. His favorites are the ones that are set in Korean dramas. He's never really been a drama person, but one day, he decides to watch the dramas that those stories are based on.

'Squid Game' is a ride. It's bloody and reckless like those western movies. Taking the author of the stories as a recommendation source, he finishes 'Boys over Flowers' during Vegas' third day in a coma. Just as he's about to begin 'Protect the Boss', Pete joins him in the chair.

"You haven't moved in days," Pete says.

"K-dramas," he replies, offering Pete one earpiece.

"Oh my god," Pete says, leaning into the laptop in Macau's lap. "Khun-Tankhun is obsessed with these." He leans back with a wistful look on his face. "I miss him."

Macau tries not to frown at that. Because Pete is with them, now. Pete is Macau's. He's here to stay. He's the one who keeps Macau warm at night. The one who asks how Macau is doing. He's the one who let's Macau vent without judgement.

Macau has no idea how Vegas will react to Pete being around, all the time. How will he react when he learns all the things Macau has told Pete in moments of vulnerability? He feels like Vegas will be mad about it. But it's Pete. Macau doesn't know why he's here, but he knows that he'd hate it if Pete returned to the main family.

One more reason to hate that bastard, Tankhun.

Because Tankhun has had Pete for years. He doesn't deserve to have Pete anymore.

"Will you watch with me?" Macau asks.

"Of course," Pete says without even thinking about it.

And that's how they walk right through the show, with Pete spoiling almost everything, because he's seen it before. Macau doesn't care. He doesn't mind at all. Anything to keep his thoughts off of Vegas, is welcome.

By the time Macau suggests 'Sweet Home', Pete laughs.

"Have you seen it?"

"About three times. Khun-Tankhun is obsessive like that."

Tankhun, Macau sneers in his head. His name keeps coming up.

But then it hits him.

Tankhun and his shows. Really, if there was anyone jobless enough to write all those stories on that site, it would be someone like Tankhun. He doesn't have a job. He doesn't go to school. He just drapes himself in crazy colors and waddles around for no reason.

Macau cringes inwardly, imagining that the stories he likes so much... the recommendations that he's grown to trust, might come from someone like Tabkhun.

He shakes his head and cringes. No. It's impossible.

After all, there is no way that someone as... irregular... as Tankhun would ever write such beautiful stories, or have such good taste in Korean dramas.