Work Text:
Neo’s repainting the back wall of the bar when the good news comes in.
He feels a sharp buzz as his phone vibrates in his pocket. At the same moment on the other side of the bar, he hears Miw’s phone chime, too. Neo knows, instantly, that this can only mean one thing.
The anticipation makes his heart beat a little quicker as he scrambles to set down the roller brush into the little tin of paint on the floor. His hands are speckled with light blue flecks of color — seafoam green , Miw had insisted, but he swears this looks blue. He only bothers to give his palms a cursory wipe on his work trousers before he swipes his phone out of his back pocket.
Just as he’d hoped, there’s a new message waiting for him.
I have some time off next week. I was thinking of coming by to stay for a few days?
Neo knows he’s got a stupid grin on his face as he reads the message a second time, just to make sure. Then he turns around. His eyes instinctively find Miw’s, as sure as a compass finds north. She’s staring right back at him from her perch on one of their bar stools, phone cradled in her hand, lunch forgotten. She’s smiling one of those rare, fond, completely unguarded smiles of hers, the ones she only seems to wear when it’s just the three of them and she thinks no one’s looking.
Neo doesn’t wait. He leaps over the bar, scoops her up off the stool, and twirls her around in a hug. Miw shrieks out a surprised laugh. On another day she might have complained about the sand he kicked onto the brand new bartop, or the paint he’s getting onto her clothes, or how he’s messing up her hair, but today she just wraps her arms around his neck and hugs him back. There’s no room in this moment for anything but the bright, infectious joy of—
“Shin’s coming,” he says, just to make it feel real. “Shin’s coming home.”
Miw kisses him.
It takes them a moment to settle down enough to remember that they need to reply. Miw retrieves her phone from the bartop and opens the messaging app, her nails clicking against the phone screen as she types. It only takes her a few seconds to write a response.
Don’t stay at that house you bought, her text reads. You’re staying with us, or else.
The “typing” bubble appears and disappears a couple times before Shin’s reply finally pops onto Miw’s screen.
Okay, the text says. If you insist. :)
Neo hugs Miw again, smiling into her hair. She holds him for another moment before she takes a step away and gives him a teasing look, her hands on her hips.
“You better clean the sand off the new bartop,” she says. “We literally just bought that.”
Neo grins at her, fond. “Yes, ma’am.”
—♡♡♡—
It’s been over two months since the last time Shin came by to visit them, and both he and Miw have felt his absence acutely. Neo loves Miw — God, does he love her — but it’s never quite right when it’s just the two of them. The new bed they bought is too empty, their bickering is a little too bitter, and their attention is always a bit divided by thoughts of how Shin might be feeling today, or whether he’s staying safe, or what he might think of the updated bar decor, or whether he’d like the new drink Neo made up, or how long it’ll take before Shin is finally, finally be ready to come home to them — for good this time.
Neo knows that Shin still has things he needs to finish to right the wrongs of his father’s empire. It’s important work, and Shin feels responsible for it, no matter how many times Neo and Miw remind him that he isn’t to blame for his father’s actions. They’re getting through to him, Neo thinks — but the work is still there, and Shin is as righteous as he is stubborn. It’s one of the things Neo loves about him.
Still, he can’t wait for the day that Shin is finally able to leave it all behind. As much as he loves when Shin visits, it makes Neo greedy. He doesn’t want Shin for a few days every couple of months. He wants Shin every day, in their bed, in their home, at their bar, on their beach, wrapped up tightly in Neo’s arms, for the rest of their lives.
But until then, Neo will have to be patient. Until then, they’re just going to make the most of the few days they have together.
—♡♡♡—
By unspoken agreement, they close the bar early on the day Shin arrives. Picking Shin up from the dock isn’t really a two-person job, but neither of them is willing to stay behind and wait. They can afford to lose a little business.
It’s a beautiful day — clear and cool, like even the weather wanted to make everything just right for Shin’s arrival. They get to the parking lot early and watch the sea for a while, quiet, until they can finally spot the small speck of the water taxi on the horizon.
The first thing Neo notices when Shin steps off the boat is his casual clothes — shorts and lemon-printed Hawaiian shirt with sandals. As handsome as Shin looks in his tailored slacks and suit jacket, Neo prefers this look. It makes Shin look comfortable and free — more like himself.
The second thing he notices is the small curl of black ink peeking out from under his shirt sleeve.
“Is that a tattoo?!” Miw shouts in lieu of a greeting.
Shin turns and spots them on the dock. He looks almost startled at first, then bashful, smiling with his head tilted down as he looks at the two of them over the top of his glasses. “You noticed right away, huh?”
Neo can’t help it anymore — he needs this boy in his arms as soon as possible.
In a few short strides, he closes the distance between them and wraps Shin in a tight hug. Shin’s bag hangs awkwardly between them and there are other people on the dock watching but Neo barely registers any of it. Shin is here . He’s sun-warm and perfect and real . Neo buries his face in Shin’s hair and breathes in the smell of sea salt and coconut lemongrass shampoo and Shin, Shin, Shin—
“Make room, asshole,” Miw forces herself bodily between them. “Don’t hog Shin all to yourself.”
Neo loosens his hold on Shin just enough to let her in, then hugs both of them close to his chest, and — Yes. This is it. This is where Neo is meant to be. He has his two favorite people in his arms, and his heart has never felt so full.
—♡♡♡—
Despite Neo’s protests, Miw insists on Shin sitting with her in the back seat for the drive home. “You haven’t stopped looking at him since he stepped onto the dock,” she accuses. “If he sat shotgun, you’d probably crash the car.”
She isn’t exactly wrong. His eyes keep being drawn to the rear view mirror, watching Miw curl into Shin’s side so they’re pressed together shoulders to hip. Miw has already rolled up Shin’s sleeve and is admiring the linework of his new tattoo — a set of three delicate roses curling around his upper bicep, their stems and thorns intertwined. Shin designed it himself.
“Why three roses, hm?” Miw teases. “Any special meaning?”
Shin just shrugs sheepishly. Neo and Miw share a smile through the mirror.
It’s a promise, Neo thinks, even if Shin isn’t ready to say it out loud yet. The future Shin’s working so hard to build has all three of them in it, together, a truth as indelible as the ink in Shin’s skin.
The thought makes Neo’s eyes prick and his throat feel a little too tight, and God, he wishes he could kiss Shin right now. The only thing stopping him from pulling the car over and kissing Shin senseless is the knowledge that the faster he drives, the sooner the three of them will finally, at long last, truly be home.
—♡♡♡—
They had a whole evening planned — a home-cooked meal, a walk on the beach, a few drinks at the bar when the sun finally went down. In retrospect, their agenda was perhaps a little ambitious. They’ve barely been home for thirty minutes before the plan starts to unravel.
Neo thinks he’s displayed remarkable restraint actually, all things considered. Aside from the one deep kiss he gave Shin when they arrived, he’s managed to keep things fairly chaste. They’ll have plenty of time to get sidetracked later, he reminds himself. No reason to rush it.
Even so, he can’t quite seem to keep his hands to himself. Now that Shin’s here, in their home, he can’t bear to be more than a few feet apart. He wraps an arm around Shin’s shoulder as he shows off the new pictures they put up in the living room and the updates they made to the bar. He presses sniff kisses into Shin’s temple. He runs his hand up and down Shin’s back idly while they talk, reveling in the warmth of his skin even through the fabric of his shirt.
It doesn’t help that Shin leans into the touch like he’s starving for it. He probably is — they all are. Even Miw, who’s usually the most reserved of the three of them, hasn’t let go of Shin once since they arrived. Neo notices how her arm stays linked with Shin’s, how she fixes his hair, how she pokes his side to tease him. They’ve all missed this.
So, it probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise when they wind up in the bedroom far sooner than they’d meant to.
It starts outside at the bar — still closed for the evening, empty except for the three of them. “Neo made a sweet basil simple syrup that’s actually really good,” Miw says, helping herself to the bottles on the bar shelf. “I’ll get you some.”
“Actually really good?” Neo repeats. “Everything I make is amazing.”
Miw scrunches her nose. “That banana-infused bourbon was disgusting. Don’t subject Shin to that.”
Neo grins. This is a familiar back-and-forth of theirs; they follow the steps of it like a dance.
“It’s not bad,” Neo begins. “It’s an acquired taste.”
Miw snorts. “Well, you’re the only one who’s acquired it.”
“A couple of our regulars like it.”
“They're being polite.”
“Tan’s ordered it twice, actually.”
“That’s because you give them to him half off.”
“No,” Neo corrects. He catches Shin’s eye and winks. “I give them to him for free.”
Miw scoffs, and he can tell she’s rolling her eyes even as she turns to grab a clean spoon from the drawer. She pours a bit of the basil syrup onto the spoon and thrusts it in Shin’s direction. “Here,” she says. “Try this. It doesn’t taste like shit.”
Shin, who had been watching their bickering with fond amusement, looks startled to suddenly have a utensil in his face. That’s probably why he doesn’t accept the offered spoon by the handle, like Miw had probably intended. Instead, he leans forward, parts his lips, and takes the head of the spoon into his mouth dutifully.
“Mm,” Shin says, raising his eyebrows. “It is really good.”
A brief moment passes where Neo stares and thinks about Shin’s lips in a variety of other less innocent contexts. Then he glances at Miw, who’s apparently a mind reader now, because he gets the very distinct sense that she knows exactly what he was thinking about. For a moment, he thinks she might call him out on it. Instead, she gestures for him to come behind the bar.
“Switch with me,” she says. “Make Shin the drink you made for me the other night — the one with your homemade lemongrass gin.”
Neo blinks at her. He remembers the drink well — the stain of her lipstick on the rim of the glass, the way the ice chilled her fingers, and the taste of lemongrass and basil on her tongue when she straddled his lap and kissed him senseless.
“Okay.” Neo nods. “Yeah. Sure.”
He makes the drink.
It’s an easy one, thankfully — just his lemongrass gin, the basil simple syrup, and some soda water over ice. He puts a cherry in it for good measure and slides the glass over the bar. Shin lifts his hand to reach for it, but Miw is faster. She plucks the drink off the bar counter, stands, and holds the glass to Shin’s lips. “Drink up,” she says.
Shin’s eyes go wide, but he does as he’s told. Neo watches his bottom lip curve under the rim of the glass and his Adam’s apple bob as he takes the first sip. Then Miw reaches forward to tilt Shin’s chin up a little higher as she tips the glass forward just a little more — and Shin drinks.
Neo’s pretty sure he’s going to remember the way the two of them look in this moment for the rest of his life.
By the time the drink is nearly finished, Shin’s cheeks are flushed. Miw pulls the glass away and sets it on the counter, cupping Shin’s jaw in her hands. “Good?” she asks, her thumb sweeping away a bit of moisture from the corner of Shin’s mouth.
“Yeah,” Shin croaks. His voice is low and rough. He sounds wrecked already.
God. These two are going to be the end of him.
Neo’s resolve breaks. He reaches across the bar to cup the other side of Shin’s jaw and asks, “Can I kiss you?”
“Please,” Shin breathes, and that’s it.
Neo kisses him with all the desperation of two months spent apart. He tastes basil and lemongrass as his tongue slides past Shin’s parted lips, exploring, and it’s all too easy to get lost in the warm, gentle press of Shin’s mouth against his. Damn, he missed this.
His hand slides up Shin’s arm to rest over his bicep where he knows those three roses interlace, the ink still new and dark. Shin lets out a small, breathy sigh against his lips.
“You guys are a little obsessed with the new tattoo, hm?” Shin murmurs, lips tilting upwards in a smile.
“Shouldn’t we be?” Neo counters. He presses a kiss into the corner of Shin’s jaw just underneath his ear. “It’s pretty romantic.”
“I-I mean, I guess— Oh, shit…”
Neo nips at the delicate skin just above Shin’s collarbone. The angle is a little awkward with the bar counter in between them, but Neo has the advantage of height and skill working in his favor. He sucks at the bite mark lightly, encouraged by the low hiss he hears through Shin’s teeth, and finishes his work with a soft kiss.
“Hey.” Miw’s voice breaks through the haze. She sounds almost out of breath. When Neo pulls away just enough to see her face, her eyes are intent and hungry. “As much as I’m enjoying the show, we paid 50,000 baht for that massive fucking mattress we’ve got. It’s a waste of money if we don’t actually use it.”
Neo laughs, a hot pulse of arousal already settling low in his belly. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“I am right,” Miw replies — a reflex. Then she takes their hands in hers and tugs gently. “C’mon, boys. Bedroom.”
And they follow her. They always will.
—♡♡♡—
After, while Shin’s recovering, Miw gives Neo a very specific look. They wage a silent war over who’s going to be the one to get up to pick up food. Neo loses, because Miw is made of stronger stuff than he is, and also he loves her. He pulls on some clothes and grabs street food from the vendor two roads down.
The cool night air feels good — new and fresh, familiar. The Milky Way spreads across the sky like sea spray, and a dusting of white sand catches the moonlight as it blows gently over the road in shimmering waves. It would have been a perfect night for a walk, he thinks — not that he regrets their unplanned detour. The stars and the sea and the sand will be here for millenia, but they’ve only got a few days to spend with Shin.
For now, at least.
Neo returns to the house fifteen minutes later. He sets two large bags of food on the kitchen table, then slips back to the bedroom door. It’s slightly ajar, light spilling from the bedroom into the hallway. He quietly nudges it open a little wider.
Inside, Miw is straddling Shin’s hips, a hand pressing his shoulder down flat against the mattress. They’re both still naked, but Miw’s hair is forming a dark curtain that hides their faces from view. Still, they make a nice picture. He can hear the soft sounds of gentle, lazy kisses as Miw rocks back teasingly on Shin’s lap, her pale thighs flexing. Underneath her, Shin lets out a soft groan.
Neo watches them for a minute, maybe two, before Miw flips her hair aside and spots him.
“Finally,” she pants, sitting up. “I’m fucking starving.”
Me, too, Neo thinks. He glances from her bare breasts to the fucked out look on Shin’s face. Shin’s not wearing his glasses and his hair is tousled and there’s a flush going from his cheeks all the way down to his chest. The mark Neo left on his neck is blooming a nice, deep red.
“Do you want to take a break to eat?” Neo asks, still staring. “Or do you want to finish this first?”
“Finish this first,” Shin gasps, just as Miw shifts back a little in his lap. “Please.”
And how can they deny a request like that?
“Needy,” Miw says, dragging her hand down from Shin’s shoulder to his chest before resting her palm flat against his stomach. “Are you going to keep standing there, Neo, or are you going to join us?”
Neo’s already taking off his shirt again as he closes the distance between the door and the bed in a few short strides. “Don’t worry,” he says, climbing onto the mattress. “Being with you two in this bed is all I think about.”
“Horny sap,” Miw snarks, but the words lack any of her usual bite. There’s a part of her that’s always dreaming about this, too.
There’s always a bittersweet fervor to Shin’s visits — the joy of his company made almost a little frantic by the reminder that it won’t last. Tonight, though, with those dark ink roses pressed flush against their sheets, Neo finally feels a taste of what it’ll be like to have this forever — permanently. It might not be today, or tomorrow, or even next month, but sometime soon, Shin will come home for good.
There’s no better dream than that.
mixtapestar Thu 26 Dec 2024 04:19AM UTC
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