Growing Together

ForthBeam: Changes

It wasn't something he had noticed off the bat.

Forth was still coming to pick him up, still bringing his lunch, and still driving him to and from work whenever he needed a ride. But, even Beam had noticed a change in Forth. It hadn't entirely bothered him, he was adjusting to the demanding schedule of working at the hospital. So, It was nice that at least something had remained a normal part of his day. However, slowly as time progressed it felt like Forth was pulling away.

The lunch dates weren't the same. Sure, Forth would bring him lunch but he slowly started bringing work with him. No more playful or handsy breaks, and the morning drop offs and pickups felt cold, quiet, and tense. Forth always looked too tired or stressed to talk and when they got home Forth would kiss him goodnight and head straight to their shared office to continue working.

He was getting busier and had less time to fixate on him. A part of him was proud of him that things were starting to take shape in his business because he knew how much this meant to him, but at the same time he felt kind of sad.

'I want to start my own business,' Forth had told him one night when he had asked him what he wanted to do in the future. The conversation had sparked because of their nearing graduation at the time and they both knew that Beam had further plans to study. Being a doctor meant that he would always have something new to learn as more research on diseases were released and more medications came into the market.

Forth had always said, he didn't want to go into the family business. It had surprised him to learn that as humble as Forth portrayed himself, that he was a pretty well-off guy. His family owned several hotels & resorts throughout Thailand and his father was trying to branch out of the country. Forth just happened to like a simple life, and had such pride on the things he achieved by his own merits. Like that stupid bike that Beam had once hated, Forth had bought with the money he collected from his first job. The car they owned, was something Forth had bought after they started dating—the second biggest purchase he had done. Forth had been working and saving since he was 15 years old.

Tuition had been the only thing he had made an exception for, and that was because his father had insisted on paying that.

'You're ambition is inspiring Beam, I want to support you and your dreams. At the same time, I want to achieve something on my own that will help us in our future.' Forth said. It had made him blush to hear that Forth wanted to lay a foundation for their future. That night they had spoken about marriage and how much they both wanted to be married one day to each other.

"He's running late again, huh?" P'Oh had grumbled with a small frown as he made his way towards his friend looking no less happy at his phone. This wasn't the first time Forth had been late to pick him up and like the last time, P'Oh had been the one to wait with him until Forth had shown up with a look of guilt.

This time, however, Forth had not even shown up at the hospital for lunch either.

Beam had turned towards his friend when he had heard his voice ring from behind him, "He said something had come up but that he was on his way now..." He half defended, but the look on his friend had him worried, "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Honestly, how stupid can they be?" P'Oh had let out as the searing rage started to boil in him once again at remembering the call he just had with his sister. He said not to mention that his sister had called him first instead of her boyfriend to tell him the news.

"Who?" Beam asked suddenly confused.

"My sister is pregnant again," P'Oh said dryly and with obvious anger. "I don't know why I even bothered giving them the talk. If they were just going to be careless again. Phana is just a couple months old, and Porsche just left on a business trip." Porsche's father's way of punishing him for getting his girlfriend pregnant was to have him work at their company and resume a role of provider—if he felt grown enough to have a child, then he could take responsibility no ifs, ands, or buts. He had no room to argue on career choices now. Which, was something P'Oh had fully agreed on at the time.

"Anyways, I have to go, Emma needs me," P'Oh said before motioning behind Beam "and it looks like Forth is here, too."

That had Beam turning in the direction P'Oh had pointed, only to see Forth getting out of the car and climbing up the steps towards him. He did give his friend a wave goodbye as he left down those same steps, but his eyes had stayed focused on Forth.

"He looks angry," Forth said once he had reached him.

"He's not the only one," Beam said crossing his arms against his chest. "What happened to you today?"

At that Forth had losing the smile, "Work," He said as he wrapped his own arms around Beam's waist and pressed a kiss to his head. "We finally signed off on a lease for a building, it's a big milestone." Forth said before he was lightly tickling Beam's side, "I'm sorry, I missed today. Pete and I also had a meeting with our primary investor about the move and the prototypes. He wanted to review where we-....Beam?" Forth had trailed off when he saw Beam's frown deepen.

"You missed lunch," Beam said simply.

It's all that he needed to say, they both knew that they hardly saw each other as it was. So, for Forth to miss lunch was a big deal for Beam. They hardly were spending any time at night together with how fast things were picking up for Forth and his friends. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again," He promised.

When they got home, Forth more than made up for it, and there was several kisses and scratch marks that would linger for the next few days to prove it. Even once the heat of the moment had settled around them, Forth had stayed in bed with him and listened to Beam tell him about work and P'Oh's news. Forth even had told him about Mork, one of the partial owners of the company, and how his pregnancy was progressing and as well as Kao and Pete's baby.

There seemed to be an awful lot of baby talk around them now.