Chapter Text
“Mom, I’m fine, alright?” Fluke says over the phone for the 3rd time since his mother called.
It was dinner time in California while it was almost noon in Thailand. Fluke was at home, eating leftover pizza and soda while his laptop was playing a video lecture of a class he’s missed.
“Are you sure you’re fine? Have you checked your temperature again? Did you take your medicines?”
He sighed, set his phone down at the table to grab the thermometer. He placed it under his armpit and waited for a while. At the small beep! sound it made, he pulled it out and read his temperature.
He opened the video to show his mom, “It’s at 98, I’m okay, and I’ve taken my medicines already.” Gulping down the last of his soda, he glanced back at the clock and hurriedly said his goodbyes to his mom with promises of calling again sometime this week.
Fluke set his phone to Work Mode, so that only important notifications will pop up. He needs no distractions. He seriously needed to catch up with his classes. Fluke’s missed two days and there were already too much paperwork piling up. He has 2 assignments to pass in the next two days, a special quiz to take and exams on the next week.
“You good?” A voice says from behind and Fluke sees his best friend emerge from the door of his room in a plain shirt and some sweatpants.
“M’fine. Just loads of work to do,” Clumsily, he started sorting his papers on the table. “I’ll manage. I always do.” He finally says with a proud look on his still pale face and chapped lips.
Ohm crosses the distance from his room to the dining area in four easy steps and before Fluke knew it the tall man was sitting with him in the table. “This is your dinner?” Ohm looks with a frown with the unfinished pizza and the can of soda resting beside it.
His tone was firm yet at the same time gentle. Like a reprimanding older brother.
Like he always is.
“I’m full already.”
“You could’ve asked me to cook something for you.”
“You’re busy, Ohm. I know you are, it’s fine, I’m fine.” Just right after he finished his statement, he let out a yawn he’s been holding for the past hour.
“Go to sleep, Fluke. You’re obviously still not fully recovered.” Ohm warns as he begins shutting off the lights in the kitchen and cleaning up the empty pizza box.
When Fluke doesn’t budge from his seat and just zones out completely, Ohm takes the chance to shut his laptop down and stack the papers together.
The younger heaves a sigh knowing he cannot win against his best friend.
“Wake me up at 6 tomorrow, please?” Fluke looks up at his best friend with tired eyes. His undereye bags have gotten so much worse ever since he got sick, it wasn’t a good sign.
Ohm relents, “Alright, go brush your teeth and head to bed. Your things will be here when you wake up.” And off Fluke goes.
He finishes stacking the papers and making sure they would not fly away anywhere by placing Fluke’s pen case above the stack. The laptop now shut down was placed inside its respective bag to rest for the night.
Ohm makes one look around their home and retreats to his room.
Both of them had a very nice sleep that night.
-
Ohm’s wake-up knock came two minutes after six. “Fluke, wake up. I’m leaving now and there’s breakfast at the table.” Ohm says as he knocks on his best friend’s door for the last time that morning.
On the other side of the door, Fluke awoke to the sun slowly shining from his small window. It was starting to get cold since it was fall and he was having some chills just the other day.
Some sun would be good. He thinks.
After he bathed, put on some clothes, and ate the yogurt and granola bar Ohm left for him, Fluke departs for university which was a 15-minute ride or half an hour of a walk.
He checks his wrist watch and saw that he had an hour and a half to himself before his first lecture, so he decides to stop by his favorite coffee shop just down the university’s street to study for a while.
The chimes jingle as he walks into Café Marie, his all-time favorite place beside their home. “Fancy seeing you so early.” The barista – whom Fluke was already familiar with – Mia, greets.
“Good morning, Mia.” Fluke replies as he swiftly smiles and makes his usual order of a horchata and a takeout piece of cake.
Mia packs the chocolate cake and hands it to him, “I assume that’s not for you to eat? It’s too sweet for your tastes.” She comments.
“Aw, how sweet of you to know my tastes, Mia.” She rolls her eyes and shoos him away from the counter off to his usual table.
Fluke sat down and immediately took a picture of the cake.
Grumpy:
That cake better be for me.
Fluke:
Who else do I give free chocolate cakes to?
You think I do this for everyone?
Grumpy:
Just see when you do.
Auntie’s a call away ;>
Fluke:
Hey!
Grumpy:
I have class now.
I’ll see you later.
Fluke spends the next hour finishing up the video lectures he didn’t get to watch last night. As the café blooms with people, he plugs in his earphones and listens to the professor discussing the topic attentively.
Life in the US is so different than it was back in Thailand. It took Fluke 2 years to perfect his English and a whole month of talking to other people to eliminate his anxiety of not being fluent enough.
He remembers the painful nights of jetlag during the first two weeks. Both he and Ohm were having a hard time adjusting to the time zone – the 15-hour difference is not a joke – and they barely had any time to relax as the academic year opens.
Third year of being a chemistry student was not a joke. He sometimes regrets taking this course because he loved it in high school, but he knew Ohm in engineering was even tougher, so they had to suck it up until they graduate.
Finals of the first semester were approaching and he knew he shouldn’t waste time. He limits his Netflix hours, listens to lectures attentively and studies until early morning. He knew it wasn’t much of a good habit, but it is what it is. University’s much more complex than high school, and you seriously need to work hard to pass or you’d be sorry for yourself.
His phone rings – an alarm – signaling it was time to get going to class. He tidies his things and brings the bag of cake before sending a small wink to Mia behind the counter. The crisp fall air greeted his face as soon as he walked out of the coffee shop.
He took the walk to campus with a small smile and made his way to his first lecture. “God, it’s lab day today.” He remembers before entering the lecture hall 5 minutes early.
Lecture went smoothly but the only thing Fluke hated was the groupwork. He’s not the introvert, not anymore for that matter. He really just dislikes doing work with people who barely talks to him and he doesn’t even know. It was like a life sentence.
It’s been three years, but he hasn’t made a lot of friends in class because the people kept on changing. People kept on switching their majors and moving to different programs that Fluke didn’t get the chance to know them better.
He wishes he did, though.
Before his professor walks out the door, Fluke took the initiative to speak with him. “Mr. Johnson, is it alright if I just do the report myself?” He risks, it’s what he does best.
“Dear, we give groupworks to instill teamwork and unity. Go and do it with your friends, you’ll be having a great time.” And his professor pats him in the shoulder and leaves.
He slugs his shoulders and began to walk out to grab a snack before his next lecture. Fluke then hears someone call his name from behind and when he looks back to see who it was, the face of two guys and two girls greets him.
“Fluke, we’re missing one member. Do you want to join us?” The guy with soft black hair asks and Fluke doesn’t know how to answer, nor does he know their names.
Think, Fluke. Think of their names from orientation.
Fluke looks up at them with a curious look on his face.
The girl with curly brown hair is Pine, the other girl with a sweet smile was Sam. As for the guy with a tattoo on his arm. What was his name again? Goon? Moon?
“Name’s Boun, this is Prem, Sam and Pine. Say it already if you have a group or if you want to work by yourself.” Tattoo gu- Boun says while chewing on his gum.
“Okay. I’ll join the group.” He finally states and the three of them, obviously except Boun, offered their phone numbers with a promise to set a date to get started.
Fluke stutters before he could speak, “Can I suggest a date and place?” Prem looks at him with a small smile and nods.
“My, uh, best friend and I have a house just a 15-minute drive from campus. If you guys are free on Saturday afternoon, we could do it then.” He offers his best smile and looks at their reactions,
Pine was the first to agree. “That’s great! I’d love to see where you live!” and the rest follows.
“Then, I’ll send you the address and I’ll see you Saturday. One in the afternoon works?”
They agree simultaneously and leave for their own classes.
Fluke somehow regrets his decision.
Later that night, a group chat is made and Fluke types in their address and pins it at the top of the chat. They talk about roles and designations for the final lab work and settle in on the agreement that Boun and Prem work on numerical data while Sam and Pine on worded ones. Fluke helps a little with everything and will be the final proofreader of the group.
Lab Group <333
Sam:
Fluke’s great! He’s always at the top of the class.
Prem:
I’m sure we could trust him.
Pine:
Agreed.
Hope this set-up is fine for you @Fluke
Fluke:
It’s okay.
I’ll see you guys Saturday?
Boun:
See ya.
A little after five, Ohm arrives back home and tosses his bag on the sofa. He plops down on it and closed his eyes, seemingly too tired. “I’m home.” He announces just as Fluke finished his bath.
“Your cake’s in the fridge. What do you want for dinner?” Fluke asks while he dries his hair with a towel and proceeds to the kitchen to look for any ingredients they can work with.
“Do we have any for Tom Yam? I’m craving something hot and sour. It’s getting cold.”
Fluke checks their vegetables and saw that there were none. “We haven’t grocery shopped in two weeks, Ohm. Should I call the Thai place for takeout?” He suggests and closes the fridge door.
“That’s fine. I’ll take a nap and wake me up when it’s here.” And then off to his nap Ohm goes.
The younger drapes one of their throw blankets over his best friend’s body and goes off to grab his phone to call the Thai place. He makes an order for the Tom Yam and some other dishes they could eat together with the soup. What Ohm said was true, it was indeed getting colder as the days pass. They may need to bring out their winter jackets soon enough as it will start to snow.
The delivery app said it would take at least half an hour for their food to arrive, so Fluke takes the time to bring out his laptop to type in his essay for his arts class. He works in the dining table so as not to disturb his sleeping friend. Once he was halfway through said essay, his phone pings with a notification that their order was to arrive soon. He goes to put on Ohm’s hoodie which had become his own, and waits outside their door so that there would be no need to ring the bell.
The delivery guy hands Fluke their food and leaves. Fluke then arranges everything on the table and puts his laptop away for now, he would continue on the essay later on. He takes out the green apple juice Ohm favored and went to wake him up.
He shakes Ohm’s shoulders lightly and taps on his arm. “Come on, Ohm. Food’s ready.” With that, the other is awake and slowly coming to terms with the soft light of the room.
Dinner was spent quietly, with a few chatters here and there. As they (Ohm) eat the dessert, Fluke opens the topic about his lab group coming on Saturday.
“Are you here on Saturday? I offered to host our lab group here.” He says, taking the tiniest bit of cake and puts it in his mouth. The chocolate instantly melts and it felt really nice to have that sudden taste of sweetness, but Fluke still does not fancy it.
Ohm thinks for a second, “I will be home, but I’d otherwise be free. My next deadlines are on Wednesday the next week so I have time to kill.”
“Alright. There’ll be four of them, two boys and two girls. They can be energetic so I’ll excuse us in advance.” He says putting down the dessert spoon and gulping down his water.
“It’s fine, I can just join you guys if you’d allow me.”
“Sure, that’s not a problem. You’re better at lab than me.” And they both share a laugh.
They both pause when the doorbell rings, and look at each other.
“Delivery?” Ohm tries to guess.
“I didn’t order anything else.” Fluke counters.
Fluke stood up first to check what was on the door, and to his surprise, all he could do was scream. Ohm, who was previously settled at the dining table hurries to see what it was, and to both of their surprise they were greeted with a child, in a stroller with his (it is definitely a boy) little thumb on his mouth.
Ohm stood as still as water beside his friend. Both men with eyes with open and mouth gasping for air.
“I-is that a kid?” Fluke asks, even though it was extremely obvious by now. He staggers and tries to back away, like he was scared of a mere child.
Ohm takes a deep breath and places a hand on his friend’s back. “It is a kid, Fluke. Do you want to check him out?” Fluke shakes his head violently.
“You look at him first, please. I’ll look when I even my breathing.” Which he still hasn’t done for the past three minutes since he came in eye contact with the child.
Ohm takes two steps forward to the stroller and sees a child – in cute shorts and blue shirt draped in a thin baby blanket – sucking on his little baby thumb. He coos, and so does his heart seeing the child giggle at him, unaware of the whole mystery that’s happening around him.
“Hi!” The child says, much to Ohm’s surprise as he thinks that the kid might be at least two or three years old.
“Hello, little one.” He greets, which the child could barely understand, for sure. Ohm checks the underneath compartment of the stroller and sees a baby blue bag in it.
Fluke, behind him, speaks. “We should, uh, get him in first. It’s a cold night.” And Ohm does just that as he pushes the stroller into the door of their home to warm them up.
Ohm unbuckles him from the stroller and picks him up. “Nya!” He says again and giggles one more time. Fluke hears much more clearly and looks at his best friend holding the child in his arms. It looked so sweet, so domestic, all so soft.
“Fluke?” He calls his friend’s attention who seemed lost for a while.
“Yeah?”
“Can you check the bag while I hold him? He doesn’t want to be let down.” The child says another sound which both of them can only assume was a ‘yes’.
Fluke rummages through the bottom compartment of the stroller and takes out the blue baby bag. He opens it and finds baby essentials likes his clothes and shoes. There were some other stuff, but Fluke was fixated on the papers behind everything.
“Ohm, there’s a birth certificate of the child here.” Fluke says bewildered, as he takes out the proof of the child’s birth, not here, but in New York.
Ohm sneaks a look into the bag one more time, “There’s an envelope, too.”
They place the birth certificate and other papers they assumed were records on the coffee table of their living room, and settle to look at said envelope which has a letter, as it should. Fluke takes out the clean white paper inside and the first thing he sees was his name.
Dear Fluke,
It’s your half-sister, Hanna. I hope you still know me despite only seeing each other a handful of times.
Can I leave you my son for a while? I have some things to do where kids are not allowed so I have no choice but to let him live with someone else for now.
His baby bag has his clothes and shoes and also his birth certificate and immunizations! I’m sure you’ll manage right?
Thanks!
Yours,
Hanna
“What the fuck?” Fluke suddenly blurts out and the child laughs at it, still with his thumb stuck to his mouth.
“Fuck!” He repeats and both Ohm and Fluke looked scandalized. The older looks at Fluke with an invisible question mark on his face.
“I’ll try to call her, first. Can you get the kid – okay maybe he has a name on the birth certificate huh?” Fluke rummages through the scattered papers of immunizations and sees the certificate at the bottom of the pile.
“Okay, little one. Let’s find out what you’re called.”
“Leo! Me Leo!” The kid – Leo – says just as Ohm pulls the birth certificate in his hands. He sees that he is definitely called Leo, Harrison Leo in full, but without a last name.
Is that even possible in modern America?
Fluke disappears to his bedroom to call his half-sister and he doesn’t seem to be coming back in a while to sort things out and presumably call his mom about it.
Ohm skims through the paper once again and only sees Hanna Williams as the name of the mother without a father’s name. Little Leo was born August 4th and was already two years of age now. No wonder this little one could speak words.
“Leo, hm?” Ohm tries, to see if he recognizes his own name like he did earlier.
“Yes! Leo is me!” The older man smiles, seemingly too star-struck with the kid already after being with him for a good 10 minutes.
Fluke comes back not long after, his phone in hand and an anxious look on his face. He tries to smile at Leo, and hold his baby hand in his, only for his finger to get caught in Leo’s small but mighty hand.
“Nya! Pretty uncle!” He says which surprises them both even more.
Leo was seated at the couch with Ohm on the floor. The throw pillows are all around the little kid like a fence to prevent him from toppling over or falling, they wouldn’t want to injure the poor child. Ohm has the television on with some baby cartoons that Leo seems to like since he’s forgotten about sucking his little thumb for a while now.
Ohm looks over to his friend. “Have you called your family?” He inquires slowly. The situation was complicated. Who leaves a child in front of your doorstep at seven in the evening? It’s California, all things are possible but, this is too weird.
“Hanna’s number was not in service anymore. I called Mom and she told me she’ll try to get a hold of Dad or our other relatives who knew Hanna.” Fluke paused, but continues nonetheless.
“I think we need to keep him for a few days.”
“That’s fine.” Ohm agrees, too quickly for Fluke to process he even did. “What’s so difficult with babysitting?”
Turns out, kids needs more than they would seem.
Leo is fixated with the idea of “new uncles” that he practically occupied Fluke’s lap when they settled down for a bit on the sofa, so he was left with the task of keeping Leo occupied.
Ohm then prepared the guest room for Leo to sleep in. It wasn’t really fit to be a 2-year-old kid’s bedroom, but it was all they could do for now. He went ahead and loaded some of their extra pillows for a makeshift nest in the middle of the double bed and brought over new sheets and a blanket for Leo. He also placed the baby bag inside of the room and examined more of its contents. They were mostly clothes and the immunization papers, some baby food that could only be for Leo and a small tiger plushie which he puts in with the pillows.
By the time Ohm comes back to the living room, Leo is sleeping soundly in Fluke’s arms, while his friend is reading over his laptop with an armful of Leo. Ohm glances at the clock and sees it was half past eight in the evening, seems like it was time for kids’ usual bedtime.
“Pretty uncle,” Leo grumbles from where he’s at and starts to demand Fluke’s attention.
Fluke pauses his reading and shuts down his laptop to provide attention to his nephew.
Nephew.
Leo is Fluke’s real nephew. Wow, that just sank in right now.
“Hmm, little one?” Fluke says softly and boops Leo’s cute nose. He carefully arranges the child in his arms and carries him. This is when he notices his best friend, staring at him, still from the doorframe of the guest room.
Ohm almost stammers, “The bedroom is good, we should put him to bed.” He suggests and Fluke gladly agrees as he walks towards the room and into the en suite bathroom.
“Can you grab a towel for me? I at least want to wipe him off of the dirt from outside.” Fluke asks and Ohm complies immediately coming back with some soft towels and a hair brush.
They towel bathe Leo in the quietest way possible so as not to wake the sleeping child. The pair works like it was cut out for them, like they practiced to bathe a child and dress him for bed.
When Leo is finally free of dirt, Fluke dries him down with another clean towel and carries him back to the bedroom to lie him down. He turns around and finds that Ohm already took the liberty of rummaging through the baby bag as he hands him a set of pajamas for Leo.
“Thanks.” Fluke mutters quietly and all Ohm could do was nod in reply.
“I’ll be in the living room if you need me.” Ohm says one last time and then exits the room with a soft look in his eyes as we watched Fluke dress Leo for bed.
He could practically hear his heart thumping but he ignores it. After all, it’s been years and it’s the best thing he could do.
Fluke reappears almost twenty minutes later, obviously sleepy, but still walking straight. “I’ll stay at the dining table; I need to finish my essay.” He says and grabs his laptop from where he left it at the coffee table.
He walks to the table and then makes himself a cup of coffee, decaf. He really needs that sleep tonight, especially with Leo in the picture, he’s going to be needing it for a good while.
Ohm comes up a few minutes later as Fluke was submitting in his finished essay. His best friend was holding his phone, face serious as he continues to swipe up and down in the device.
“What are you doing?” Fluke asks, shutting down his laptop, deciding he’ll continue his other works tomorrow on campus.
His best friends sat with him at the table, handing him his phone. The screen showing an opened shopping app. His shopping cart’s full with over fifty or so baby items. Fluke browses through what is in the cart and then sees over twenty pairs of clothes for Leo and a baby proofing kit for your house!
Fluke somehow shrieks and then looks over at Ohm who was eyeing him curiously. “What is all this? Ohm? Leo doesn’t need twenty pairs of clothes if he’s staying with us for a few days.”
“But what if he stays longer?”
Oh.
Fluke certainly didn’t think of that.
They ended up ordering a load of things: the baby proofing kit, some more clothes (but not twenty pairs), socks and shoes, a high chair and at least five toys that Ohm deduced is perfect for Leo’s curious mind.
Fluke couldn’t stop his best friend, he would’ve only ordered a few items if it were up to him but Ohm is Ohm, and he gets what he wants. Even if they were a thousand baby items.
Some items like the high chair and clothes were on express delivery (Fluke rolls his eyes at this) and are due to arrive at approximately seven in the morning, just before Fluke’s first lecture tomorrow. The other will be delivered throughout the rest of the day while Fluke is out and Ohm tends to Leo by himself.
They retire to bed at around past eleven, as soon as Fluke’s submitted his essay and fixed his materials for tomorrow’s lecture. Ohm checks on Leo while his friend was washing up and found the child deep in sleep (thank goodness.) Fluke was the last one to check on Leo, around eleven thirty as he kisses his nephew’s forehead and muttering a soft ‘good night’.
As he lay in bed that night. Fluke thought of all the possibilities of Leo staying longer. They would have to cross the bridge when they get there.