Lay Me Down to Sleep

Chapter 12

Having Vegas and Macau in his suite almost feels like how it used to be when they were kids, back when their mothers were alive and they all loved each other. Seeing Macau like this especially makes Tankhun sentimental about those old times. He hates that he feels sentimental and part of him truly wishes Vegas and Macau would leave. But if they leave, then Pete has to leave. Tankhun doesn't want Pete to leave. When Pete looks at him with tears in his eyes before giving him a long, hard hug, like Pete missed Tankhun as much as Tankhun missed him, he definitely doesn't want that. He expected Pete to not miss him much at all. He always felt Pete was his friend, but Pete never liked watching dramas or playing board games. He only enjoyed Jenga and Pictionary. Those are so simple! That's why he strongly prefers playing with Arm. He is always willing to play the harder games and provides Tankhun with the challenge he needs to stay engaged and entertained. 

But regardless…

"I missed you," Tankhun chokes out, then lets go and wipes at his eyes. He forces himself to keep his breathing steady as Pete rubs his shoulder. 

"I missed you too," Pete says gently. 

It's only then that Tankhun lets himself think about why they are in this position, missing each other. It all comes down to his manipulative and slutty cousin, and Tankhun can't help but turn his head in Vegas's direction to glare at him. But as soon as he takes the sight of Vegas sitting in that chair, the lump in his throat gets bigger and tears embarrassingly escape his eyes. Vegas's own eyes go wide with surprise only for a second, but then he looks sullen. 

"You don't need to cry over me being in this fucking chair," Vegas mutters. 

"I'm not crying over you being in a wheelchair! Why would I even care about something like that?!" Tankhun says, his voice raising with every word, "I'm crying over how bland and boring it is! Pete! Why haven't you bedazzled it yet? Didn't you pick up ANY fashion and decor tips from me?" 

Pete immediately bites back a smile, then shrugs before gesturing at Macau, who is currently having some sort of challenging stare off with Kim. And that's strange, since Kim and Macau never had problems with each other at all. They grew more distant as they grew older, but it never stemmed from bitterness. 

"We have kind of been busy with…this," Pete says before his face turns into a frown, "Although, I guess you know how time-consuming and stressful this is." 

Before Tankhun can answer, Macau sharply turns his head and growls. 

"I'M…NOT…STRESSFUL!" Macau yells, his voice high-pitched as he glares at Pete. Pete scoffs at the claim, but quickly fixes his attitude and nods apologetically.

"You're right, you aren't stressful at all," Pete says, then obliges by lifting Macau into his arms when the little boy runs over and holds his arms up, "His nap schedule was a little off today, so he just fell asleep in the car. He isn't the most sociable and perky when he wakes up. Although, he wasn't as a teenager either." 

"Chay seems to have issues waking up too," Tankhun says, then glances at his younger brother, "And Kim pretends he does to get extra attention." 

"Nuh-uh," Kim denies but keeps his eyes on Macau.