Our Kinky Moons

Narissa Panitchayasawad

"I don't want to."

"Baby, please."

"No."

"Come on, just one more time."

"I said no!"

Pha sighed, sitting back on his heels. "Weren't you the one that got upset at me just last week because I wouldn't let you out of the wheelchair? Now you're refusing to get up and walk. Why?"

Yo had a deep scowl on his face. "I told you already, I don't feel like it."

"Yo," Pha softened his voice, resting his hands gently on Yo's knees. "Tell me what's going on. Did something happen?"

Yo shrugged, looking away.

Pha caught him blinking back tears. "Baby, did someone say something?"

"No," Yo shook his head.

"Please, baby, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on," Pha pleaded.

"It hurts too much to walk today," Yo reluctantly admitted, folding his arms in a petulant manner. "My knees don't want to hold me. They ache, my ankles are swelling up like little balloons, and my lower back is aching too." Yo leaned back in the wheelchair, lower lip stuck out in a pout. "Do women have to go through this, too? Would make me feel somewhat better if they did. This sucks."

Pha swallowed the small snort. Yo's words might've struck him as funny, but the situation wasn't at all funny. His baby was in pain, and he'd hidden it. Again. "Yo, you're supposed to tell me when you're hurting."

"I don't want to," Yo repeated his words from earlier, screwing up his face in agitation.

"You need to."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do."

Yo stuck his tongue out at Pha, then looked off to the side, miffed that his fiance wasn't giving in this time.

"Very mature," Pha said sarcastically. He stood and got behind the wheelchair, pushing it towards the door of their apartment. "Let me know if the pain gets worse, hm? I'll give you a pain pill then."

"Okay," Yo said in a small voice. "Sorry."

"It's okay, baby. I just want to make sure you're not in a lot of unnecessary pain."

Yo watched as Pha moved ahead to open the door. They were on their way to breakfast after some light exercises - that Yo had balked at the whole way through because he was hurting - and Yo was very hungry. Like usual. He got the surprise of his life when the door swung open, and standing on the other side with her fist raised to knock was none other but his stepmother.

Narissa Panitchayasawad.

Yo reacted without thinking. He stood up from the wheelchair in an attempt to appear normal, barely keeping back the wince of pain as his knees and ankles protested the sudden movement, his back aching even more. "Auntie, what a surprise. How'd you know where we live?"

Narissa glanced at Pha before telling Yo, "I had to drag it out of Kasem everything that happened a while back. I had no idea what he'd done, sweetheart, I really didn't. I would've smacked him hard for saying such garbage. My darling Win is Bi, and I will not have anyone, not even my husband, putting anyone down for falling in love."

Yo was taken aback. He hadn't known Win's mom was such a staunch supporter of the LGBT community. "Thank you."

"As for how I know where you live, I had Win tell me. Don't get mad at him. I told him I wanted to apologize to you for not coming to see you sooner. Oh, and here," she smiled, handing him a small, gift-wrapped box. "A belated house-warming gift. I wasn't sure what you both would like, so I picked up a few movies for you to watch together."