Chapter Text
Enough was enough.
“Your uncle told me that your cousin has gotten quite serious with his new boyfriend.”
Kinn’s spoon made a forceful clink when he set it down on the plate that would have had his mother scoffing in disapproval. Not just scoffing, she likely would have scolded him too. ‘Who raised you to have such bad manners, Anakinn?’ His mother would have chided. ‘Look at Big, he’s so well-behaved.’
Then Big would preen, his cheeks flushed lightly pink, and pretend like he wasn’t preening when Kinn kicked him under the table.
It had been years since they’d had that kind of camaraderie. His mother was dead, dead and cremated, and frequently missed. Big was gone too. Or not gone, necessarily, but he no longer sat down and ate dinner with the family. Kinn’s childhood friend might have willingly suffered through a family dinner on Kinn’s account, showing Kinn up by being well-behaved and stealing the vegetables Kinn didn’t like out of his dish. Big didn’t live in the house anymore, he wasn’t forced to endure the family dinners Kinn was. Big had his own life. It was bad enough that Big had followed Kinn all through college, pressured into taking the business track to pay Kinn’s family back for the care they’d put into raising him.
It was bad enough that Big played his assistant, taking Kinn’s calls, prepping for Kinn’s meetings, and handling everything with such effortless flare that Kinn couldn’t even think about hiring someone else. The fact Big was raised to be Kinn’s perfect assistant made Kinn all the more resistant to inviting Big over for family dinner. There was no need to force Big to accompany him 24 hours a day.
He had to let the other man live his own life. Big had a boyfriend, or at least, Kinn was pretty sure Big had a boyfriend. Big hadn’t told him yet and Kinn wasn’t one to pry but… well. How could Big not have a boyfriend? He was the perfect guy.
“He’s finally ready to introduce the boy to the family.” Korn continued like Kinn hadn’t set down his spoon in the loudest most passive-aggressive manner possible. No, instead his father only paused to take a sip of his soup while smiling indulgently in Kinn’s direction.
Not at Kinn, of course, he wasn’t really looking at Kinn. Kinn wasn’t sure his father had looked directly at him in eight years and ten years back things had been on shaky ground. After Kinn had come out of the closet it seemed like he was made of Teflon, his father seemed to glance right past him. It got worse after Kinn’s first, and last, serious relationship.
“Gun hinted there might even be an engagement announcement in the works. But then,” Korn let out a small sigh and set his spoon down, almost as passive-aggressively as Kinn had, “Vegas was always more serious about his relationships than you, Kinn.”
If Kinn had been holding his spoon he might have snapped it.
Instead, it was his gaze he snapped, staring down at his half-empty bowl of soup. The yellow broth swam in front of his eyes, and the bits of vegetable and fish floated across his vision serenely as he tried to control his breathing.
Oh, Vegas was more serious about his relationships?
Kinn had heard how serious Vegas could be about relationships. There’d been plenty of rumors about how his cousin went through men. At the time when Kinn had been ready to propose marriage to one man, at a time when he’d only slept with three (and since the other two were Time and Tay, Kinn didn’t think they should really count as two separate entries, especially since he’d slept with them both at the same time) Vegas had been well known for using and losing his sexual partners. He’d been considered a champion of the pounce and bounce.
Kinn had graduated with his bachelor’s in business and started working at his father’s company immediately. The family business, the Theerapanyakul legacy, had been a heavy weight on Kinn’s shoulders right away. At the same time, Vegas had been working his way through the master’s students that had once been Kinn’s classmates. It was like he didn’t consider his fellow freshman to be worth his time. Parties Kinn was invited to were often rife with rumors about who Vegas was sleeping
with.
If Kinn had been more vindictive, perhaps he would have made sure that the rumors of Vegas’ slutty behavior would reach Korn or Gun Theerapyankul’s ears. After all, it was probably Vegas who was sure to spread the rumor that Kinn hired escorts when he had an event to attend. At least half of the other people in both Kinn’s age and tax bracket paid for companionship sometimes but Korn never looked down his nose at those boys. No, it was only his second son who had to be shamed for it.
“So I’m inviting Gun and his boys over next month.” When Korn set his spoon aside, he did it gently, and yet it carried all of the same passive-aggressive demands that Kinn’s had and more. Kinn felt pinned down, questioned about his existence, every movement he made compared to his father’s, and found lacking.
Korn delicately pressed his napkin to the corners of his mouth and smiled, slim and pleased and sharp.
“Pa!” Tankhun didn’t bother setting his spoon on the table, no, every dramatic his brother had to fling it onto the floor.
Kinn winced and directed his gaze up at the ceiling. The maids had missed a spot, or maybe a particularly industrious spider had made its home in the corner the night before. A wisp of cobweb floated, blown back and forth by the humming of the air conditioner.
“Yes, Tankhun? Is something wrong?”
Everything.
And nothing, Kinn supposed. What was wrong about Vegas having a boyfriend he was ready to introduce to the family? Nothing at all. It didn’t seem like some kind of scheme, it wasn’t an attempt to show Kinn up, and at the very least it wouldn’t happen at a party. The last time Vegas had shown him up at a party it had made three gossip blogs, complete with pictures, and the topic had trended for 24 hours. Despite the fact that the company’s stock prices had even gone up during that time, Korn had still been disappointed.
“ Everything’s wrong! Vegas ruins everything , ugh, Pa, he’s probably dating someone just as horrid as he is and- and, if Uncle Gun and Vegas are here, Kim’ll never come to dinner!” Tankhun had started off loud and excited and only became louder and more excited the longer he talked. “Pete! Tell him!”
A thwap ing sound followed. Kinn didn’t need to look to know that Tankhun had hit his poor assistant's arm. Unlike Kinn, who refused to bring Big to family functions, Tankhun had no issue with dragging his personal assistants to every family dinner. Pete was a favorite, not only being dragged along on Tankhun’s arm but also being invited along by Korn. Pol and Arm might end up at a party or the lake house because Tankhun wanted them there but Pete was doubly damned, unable to turn down Korn’s invitation even if he could weasel out of Tankhun’s grasp.
Kinn made a mental note to speak to Big about a raise. Tankhun’s assistants were all aware they were on notice 24/7, as much nannies and watchdogs for Tankhun as assistants to him. All three were trained paramedics and versed in all of the medicines and therapies that Tankhun might need if he had an episode.
Not that Tankhun had for years but… it was always a possibility.
“...khun Nu…” Pete spoke slowly, carefully, as if taking his time would help him find the right words. Kinn felt sorry for him. “Khun Kim doesn’t come home anyway.”
True enough.
All three Theerapanyakul men sighed at the same time and Kinn lowered his gaze to his bowl of soup again. It didn’t look any more appealing now than it had before and he knew that it had grown too cold for his stomach. It felt wrong to sit there with food in front of him and not eat it just as much as it felt wrong not to push it aside and make room for something else. Work perhaps. Kinn ate at his desk most days.
“You’re very right, Pete.” Korn’s voice was gentle, “It’s a shame that Khimhant viewed his brother as a role model when he was younger.”
Kinn’s knee hit the table as he jerked backward. His father wasn’t even giving him the benefit of glaring at him, no, instead he was speaking directly to Pete as if Kinn wasn’t at the table at all.
“If he hadn’t been so influenced by Kinn’s wild years, I’m sure he would be willing to accept our help in his career and have more time for his family.”
Pinned down, Pete smiled widely, wildly, and looked like he would rather be anywhere but stuck at the Theerapanyakul table. He’d probably prefer to be one of the house staff, pressed up against the wall and waiting for the signal to take away their soup bowls and serve the second course.
“He wouldn’t have to play for such small venues either! He’d be selling out arenas!” Tankhun stated with a dreamy little sigh and stars in his eyes. He always wanted the best for Kim. Kinn was pretty sure that Tankhun wanted the best for him too but it was hard to tell sometimes, especially during a long dinner.
“I suppose we should just be grateful that Kim hasn’t decided to follow in Kinn’s romantic footsteps.” Korn had set the trap and now he twisted the knife.
Was that a phone or were Kinn’s ears just ringing?
“Better me than Vegas.”
Perhaps Kinn’s father and uncle thought that Vegas’ sexual history wasn’t good dinner table conversation. Scolding Kinn was fine of course. Uncle Gun snidely commenting on Kinn’s ‘lascivious behavior’ was acceptable. Vegas turning fucking the escorts Kinn hired into some kind of strange psycho-sexual competition didn’t matter, not when Vegas was ‘so studious’, ‘hard at work on his thesis’, ‘a serious young man’, ‘soon to get his doctorate’.
Commenting on Kim’s career path was fine but questioning what the hell Vegas was going to do with a doctorate in a subsection of French Literature? What was he going to do with that? Teach? At least Kim’s career made him happy. Kinn was pretty sure he hadn’t seen Vegas happy since he was twelve.
“ Pa .” Tankhun sounded despairing, “ Kinn ! Let’s not fight!”
Korn sighed again, a put-upon little sigh. “Gun said that Vegas planned to propose to the boy.”
Propose.
‘The boy’.
Had his uncle not given Korn a name? Perhaps Vegas hadn’t told his own father the name of his soon-to-be fiance. It would be just like Vegas to keep it secret he was dating either an idol or a stripper. Either would be possible. Maybe one of Vegas’ ex-escorts, one of the ones Vegas had picked up and fucked after Kinn was done with them.
“And Vegas is always willing to listen to his father.”
“Is this about me hanging up on you earlier today?” Kinn questioned desperately. It was the only thing that made any sort of sense. Well, that and his father’s continued disappointment in his romantic choices. Was Vegas seriously planning to get engaged? No, he didn’t believe it. Would Vegas have made such a show of his relationship if he’d been serious about it? More likely he’d have gotten married behind everyone’s backs and shown up hand-in-hand with his new husband.
That would have been more shocking than an engagement announcement over dinner and thus definitely Vegas’ style.
“ Pa , I apologized. I told you, I was running late to a meeting. I called you right back.”
“Oh yeah, Vegas can’t do anything without his father’s permission,” Tankhun said at the same time, the two of them talking over one another to their father. “Remember when our uncle hired that English tutor for him? And that guy practically lives at his house! Still! It’s not like Vegas’ English even needs work. He went to an international school.”
They’d all gone to an international school. Be On Cloud International, where they’d all struggled in English. Well, Vegas hadn’t. Vegas had excelled in foreign languages.
Hence the French degree.
Korn had finally finished his soup. He signaled for the staff waiting in the wings to come and clear the table. A moment later a second course had been laid down.
“Perhaps I should have hired you an English tutor, Kinn. Ken’s been an excellent companion to Vegas.”
Kinn stared at it, unable to comprehend the food in front of him. His stomach was clenched far too tight to eat more than he already had. Perhaps he was just in a bad mood. Family dinners always upset his stomach, especially if his father was picking at him.
Suddenly he remembered Kim, as a teenager, picking at dinner and hiding out in the kitchens late at night to fill his stomach with whatever he could scrounge. Like a stray cat, Kim had wandered around always looking slightly underfed up until he moved out of the house.
Kinn had figured it was a teenage thing, he’d been gaunt as a teenager too. But he was starting to reconsider.
“And khun Gun,” Pete muttered under his breath, not quite quiet enough to completely escape notice.
Korn chuckled, also under his breath, and everyone ignored the elephant in the room that while Ken had been hired as a study partner for Vegas, Ken’s use as a tutor had long ago faded. Well, perhaps ignored wasn’t quite the right word. They all snickered and sneered at the elephant, making snide comments about Gun liking younger men.
“How old is Ken again? Not much older than Vegas?” Korn asked, the words falling gently and landing hard.
“Pete’s age, Pa.” Tankhun was tearing apart his meal, turning an elegant arrangement into an odd mash.
Pete blinked, smile still wide. He’d already managed to eat half of his plate, his movements quick and efficient, his smile wide and his eyes empty. It was hard to tell with Pete how much he hid behind a bright smile and an unruly hairstyle. No matter how many times Tankhun would drag Pete to a hairdresser or shove him into the arms of a stylist, Pete always came out looking deceptively frumpy.
“Ah, yes, that’s right Pete.” Korn smiled at Pete and nodded toward the plate in front of him. “It’s a pity that Ken and Vegas never hit it off. Much like Kinn and Big, perhaps familiarity truly does breed contempt.”
Pete’s smile froze.
“Maybe I’ll bring my boyfriend too.” Kinn heard himself saying.
He hadn’t planned on saying that. He snapped his mouth shut hard, catching the tip of his tongue with his teeth and wishing he’d bitten it earlier. Maybe he should have taken the coward’s way out and filled his mouth with food, stuffing himself so full no one would be able to understand what he said afterward. Or maybe he shouldn’t have come to dinner at all. He’d known it was a bad idea. Big had warned him against it, reminding him that he hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, that he was always in a bad mood after attending family dinner, and that he had an early video call the next day with someone halfway across the world and that if that project failed they were going to be out a significant amount of revenue…
Pete choked.
Tankhun laughed, sharp, loud and shattering. “Kinn!” He giggled and pointed across the table, “You don’t have a boyfriend!” His brother was grinning at him, waiting to be let in on the joke, and at his side Pete was trying desperately to cough up what he’d choked on.
When Kinn looked at his father, Korn hadn’t even bothered to look up from his plate. He took a slow drink of his tea and then, only then , did he look Kinn’s way with a small, subtle frown. “Kinn.”
Disappointment, disbelief, and his father’s patented gently chiding tone. Kinn saw red.
“There’s no need to make everything a competition.” The ringing in his ears just kept on getting louder and louder but it didn’t block out his father’s words. Seeing red didn’t block out his father’s softly disappointed face. “There’s no reason to cause a scene at Vegas’ engagement party just because he’s getting married first.”
No longer a family dinner, no, now it was an engagement party. Pretty soon they’d be throwing Vegas and his new boyfriend a wedding, the attendance of the guests of honor was of course not required.
Kinn was the one who was supposed to be married first. Tankhun might have been the oldest but he had no little interest in romance unless it was happening in a television series. Kinn might never have talked about marriage with Tawan, at least, not in a serious way… but he had planned on it. He’d been planning for it. If the right moment had ever come about, he’d have done it and been damned for it.
There was even a ring, locked up tight in Kinn’s wall safe, tucked under the kind of expensive trinkets that other people had given him as gifts so he wouldn’t have to see the box and hate himself every time he opened up the safe.
“I thought you wanted me to focus on the family business.”
Korn had never liked Tawan. He’d always pushed the two of them apart, always looked for a weakness he could exploit. Focusing on the family business was just an excuse Kinn used to avoid properly dating, for ducking out of blind dates, or avoiding the kind of dates arranged between two like-minded families.
His father fell silent and when Kinn looked at him he saw a confused look on his father’s face. Korn wore the mantle of ‘quietly beleaguered patriarch’ well. It might have fooled someone who didn’t know him as well as Kinn did, who hadn’t spent every year of their life being beaten at chess and taught lessons in the boardroom. For all that Korn was ‘retired’, he was still the mastermind behind the TK Hotel chain. A few years ago Korn was the one sitting in Kinn’s seat at the table, breaking bread with other hotel magnates and crushing smaller chains beneath his heel. Their grandfather might have been the one to found the company, fighting for every scrap of respect he felt due, but Korn had been the one to put the TK Hotel chain on the map.
All over the map. They were a multi-national chain now.
“What does your focusing on the business have to do with Vegas being the first to get married?”
As if he didn’t know.
As if he didn’t know .
“ Pa .” Tankhun sighed gustily. If it wasn’t for the fact that Tankhun’s backup was almost as bad as his father’s attacks, Kinn might have felt grateful. Tankhun’s protection was a double-edged sword though, his attempts to step in either backfiring spectacularly or leading to Kinn owing the kind of favor that ended in a bucket of glitter and a rented room.
“You know that Kinn doesn’t want to juggle a relationship and stepping in as president. You’ve heard how he sleeps at the office. He doesn’t have time to visit you or me, he’d never be able to find the time to visit someone else.”
“…”
Ouch. What made it more painful was that Tankhun didn’t even look up from his phone. Whether he was texting a friend, or his assistants, playing a game, or watching a show on mute, defending Kinn wasn’t worth his full attention. The fluffy white fabric (he wasn’t sure if it counted as fur, he was sure it wasn’t from a real animal though) of Tankhun’s jacket shivered as he shrugged.
“Even though I’ve introduced him to countless options,” ah, so Tankhun was annoyed that none of the people he’d sent Kinn’s way were ‘good enough’, “he hasn’t dated anyone in years. I’m starting to think he’s entered into a pact, like in that movie we watched the other night, Pete.”
Pete blinked.
Whatever the movie was, Kinn didn’t want to know.
“As a matter of fact,” Kinn bit out, “I am seeing someone.”
Or he would be by next month. A month was plenty of time to arrange a date. It wouldn’t be difficult! Tankhun wasn’t the only person in the world desperate to introduce him to his next soulmate. Tay and Time had brought him on more than one double date, attempting to set him up with friends, or cousins, or people they barely knew. The dates generally ended badly and more than once Time had stolen away Kinn’s potential date to screw them in the bathroom.
Tay would know someone, or Time would. Someone who wouldn’t make his father suspicious, someone of good breeding who would be willing to learn enough about him to fake it through one of his father’s interrogations. Without a doubt, his father would interrogate them and so obviously, the usual escort agencies were out. Despite their thorough questionnaires, no escort would pass muster. His father or Tankhun would find out somehow, just like they always found out when Kinn brought an escort to a party instead of ‘a proper date’.
A friend of Tay’s might make Vegas suspicious but that wasn’t important. Vegas would be suspicious and catty no matter what, the important thing would be that Korn wouldn’t be comparing the two of them and finding Kinn wanting.
Tankhun laughed again, loud, sharp, brittle. He met Kinn’s gaze across the table and then tossed his head back, laughing until his shoulders shook and he started to wheeze. When he met Kinn’s gaze again, tears shone on his cheeks. He’d laughed so hard he cried.
“ Oh, Kinn , we all know you’re not dating anyone! If you were, I’d certainly be the first to know.”
Annoyed, aggravated, and aggrieved, Kinn pushed back from the table.
His father didn’t bother to wait for him to ask to be excused or to say goodbye, he was already waving Kinn off as Tankhun wheezed, tears caught at the corner of his eyes.
“Pete, be sure to clear space on your calendar for dinner next month.” Korn adjusted his sweater, examining the edge of it like he might have spilled something. Maybe he had. Or maybe he’d just stained it with the same disdain that he’d used to mark Kinn.
“Ah, khun Korn, I don’t think I’d make a good addition…” Pete tried to demure.
He always tried to demure.
“Nonsense, Pete, you’re practically family.”
Neither of them noticed when Kinn stood up from the table. Or if they did, they ignored it. Kinn brushed past Pol just outside the door. His brother’s second assistant stood with his back to the hall, an expensive name-brand clothing bag hung over one arm. He was holding his phone in the other hand and was clearly in the middle of a game.
“Khun Kinn!” Pol juggled his phone, surprised enough that he almost dropped it. Kinn gave him a look, not a smile, not a sneer, just a look. He probably looked constipated.
His father wasn’t exactly being clever repeatedly inviting Pete to ‘family activities’. Arm and Pol, Tankhun’s other two assistants, were only invited to big parties. Pete was dragged along to small, intimate gatherings. At first, Kinn had thought that his father had wanted to set Tankhun up with Pete. Then he’d assumed that Pete was brought along to make up the numbers with Kim gone. He had even gone so far afield in his imaginings that he had wondered if Korn was interested in Pete.
Korn might have been slightly older than Gun but Pete was the same age as Ken, after all. A May-December romance, wasn’t that what such things were called?
“Pol.” Kinn looked at the no doubt expensive clothes hung over Pol’s arm and wondered just what his brother was planning on dressing up for.
Or dressing up as. His brother didn’t need a reason to put on a costume.
Korn Theerapanyakul was well aware that all three of his sons were queer. At least he’d never had a problem with it, he’d just started investing in Invitro clinics as soon as Tankhun turned 14. Somewhere in Bangkok was a freezer with more than one Theerapanyakul’s sperm on ice. All his father needed to get started on making himself grandchildren was for one of them to sign a waiver.
“Have a nice night.” He said to Pol when the silence became awkward and tight. He didn’t have anything to talk about with the other man. Arm at least he could ask about surveillance or motorcycles. He had no idea what Pol was interested in.
Birding, maybe. Who knew?
“Have a good night, khun Kinn.” Pol’s soft words followed him down the hall. A good night? Oh, that was unlikely. His night had already been ruined.
Fucking Vegas, he really did ruin everything.