Secrets Kept

What happened?

Arthit turned to see his mom walking toward him with a little boy toddling along beside her. Gasping, he looked toward his friends to see them watching him.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this." He said before standing up.

Arthit crouched and held out his arms to the little boy. As soon as the child saw him, he smiled and let go of the woman's hand, to run unsteadily into his arms. Arthit stood with the child in his arms and turned to his friends.

"Guys, this is Anutak Suthiluck, my son. We call him Fiat." Arthit finished his intro and then waited for the inevitable reaction. He was hoping that no one realize who the last name belonged to as he would like to keep some things secret for now. Fiat turned and waved at the men who were just gaping at him.

"So you're dating someone? I thought you were still single and just waiting for the right person. And you have a baby already." Knott asked, being the first one to recover from the shock. He waved back at the child and smiled. This made Fiat smile and bury his head in his father's shoulder.

"Yes, we have been dating for over 2 years now, getting close to 3 years. And Fiat was a surprise to us. But we couldn't love him any more if he had been planned." Arthit finished.

At this point, Arthit's mom interrupted.

"You still haven't even told me who your partner is, so I would hope you haven't told your friends. Hello, nongs." She says, stepping forward to stand beside Arthit, who shook his head.

His friends showed her respect and said hello before bringing their attention back to Arthit. Tutah began eating his food, but kept glancing at the baby. Prem had began eating as well, but he seemed to be keeping his eyes averted. Arthit assumed he wasn't comfortable around babies. Bright and Knott spoke to his mother for a moment before Arthit had to interrupt them.

"Hey, mom. What are you doing here anyway? Is something wrong?" Arthit asked, pulling her attention back to him and Fiat.

"Oh, well. You hadn't answered your phone all day, so I wanted to see if you were alright. Plus, I figured you would want to see Fiat since you haven't really seen him in a couple of days. I know you're busy, but please remember to call at least once a day. Fiat gets to missing you and he cries. He won't calm down until I show him your picture." She answered, running her fingers through the baby's hair. He had fallen asleep on his father's shoulder and looked so comfortable.

"Alright. Well, go ahead and leave him with me for an hour and I will see if his other parent wants to see him, too." Arthit said, picking up his plate of food and his pink milk. He really looked like a natural juggling all of it. Bright shook his head.

"Just remember, we have hazing tonight at 5. You're lucky that class was canceled for this evening." He said, before resuming his lunch.

Shaking his head, Arthit walked away from everyone. He watched as his mom nodded her goodbye to him and his friends, then walked out the way she had come. He made sure none of his friends were following him, before heading out to look for Kongpob. He was sure this would be a surprise for him.

~~~~~~~~

He didn't need to look far as it was the freshman's lunch time as well. He didn't approach their table, but simple stood in Kong's line of sight until he looked up. He could see Kong's shock when he saw him and their baby boy. The majority of the shock was because of Fiat, he was sure. Motioning to the back of the building, he waited until Kong nodded slightly before heading that way. Kongpob just had to find a way to extract himself from his friend but then he would join them.

He only had to wait a few minutes before Kongpob appeared with a confused look.

"Why is Fiat here? Is he alright?" Kong asked placing a hand on the little boys back. The sound and movement seemed to rouse the baby from sleep. When he saw who it was he immediately smiled and reached for Kong.

"Hi, baby!! I missed you so much." He said reaching for his son. He was careful so as not to knock into Arthit's plate of food, which he could see had hardly been touched. As soon as he had the baby securely in his arms, Arthit took a bite of his food, his pink milk dangling from its strap off one of his fingers.

"Mom showed up with him because I didn't answer my phone today and I hadn't been by to see him for a few days. Did you want to see if your parents want him for a week or so?" Arthit asked after he was done chewing. He watched Kongpob fawn over their son and couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"I will call them now so they have time to come get him. It will take them a little time to get here. From Pathumwan, it takes about 40 minutes to get here. I will have to get my friends to take notes for me in class, but I'm sure it won't be a problem." Kong said bringing out his phone.

As Kongpob typed out the message with one hand, Arthit laughed softly as Fiat reached for the phone only to have Kong hold it more out of his reach. Obviously done with the message, he put the phone in his pocket.

Arthit took another bite of his lunch while watching Kong deal with a fussy Fiat. Their son really wanted that phone so he was babbling away, with some words sounding familiar while others were nonsense. After a moment, Kong's phone chimed, so he had to take it out again to see if M would take notes for him. After a moment he nodded before turning to Arthit.

"I am going to call mom to see when she can get here." He said as he found his mom's number. Clicking send, he put the phone to his ear and waited.

"Hey, mom. Yes, I know it's been a while since I spoke to you last. Yes. I am doing just fine. I have a quick question for you. Would you like Fiat to spend a week or so with you and dad? Yeah, my partner's mom just dropped him off with us and we figured you would like to see your grandson." Kongpob smiled at Arthit at this.

They had been very strategic in their wording when talking to their families about the other so as not to give anything away. They wanted to let everyone know about them, but each of them had their own reasons for not doing so.

Kongpob was afraid his family would be angry for choosing to be with Arthit. He hated to think of his mom or dad looking at him differently or in anger.

Arthit wasn't afraid of his parents, but of what his friends would think. He knew Tutah was gay and that the others never judged him for it, but Arthit knew he wasn't the relationship type of person.

Plus after they told everyone about the other, they would have to explain how Fiat came to be. Which was a complicated story on its own let alone with everything else.

Kongpob finally hung up the phone with his mother as Arthit took another bite from his plate. "Alright, she will be here in about an hour. Should we go some where else for now, so we don't have to stand for that long?" He asked stuffing his phone back into his pocket again. Arthit's mouth was still full, so he just moved and pointed at Kongpob.

Kong just nodded and walked out of the secluded area in the direction of his dorm, knowing Arthit would wait a few minutes before he emerged and headed the same way.