The first thing Kota registered was the aggressive vibration of his phone against the nightstand.
It was 7:02 in the morning, the thin February light filtering through the blinds in pale gray stripes, and his phone was lit up like a Christmas tree with notifications.
He groaned, rolling onto his side and grabbing the device.
The screen was a wall of unread messages, all from Riley.
He unlocked it and started scrolling, immediately regretting every life choice that had led to this moment.
[3:04 AM] Riley: heyy
[3:04 AM] Riley: heyyy kota
[3:05 AM] Riley: heyyyyy step bro
[3:06 AM] Riley: okay so my dad just told me everything that went down at the bar last night
[3:06 AM] Riley: and honestly he seemed a little TOO excited to have helped you and your dad patch things up
[3:07 AM] Riley: like he came home at 2am grinning like an idiot and said “I saved a family tonight, Riley.
I saved a family.”
[3:08 AM] Riley: he also kept calling your dad “a good man with a heavy heart” which is weird because he’s never said anything that poetic about me
[3:09 AM] Riley: anyways congrats on getting your father’s blessing brother in law
[3:10 AM] Riley: wait no, step bro?
brother in law?
what’s the correct term when your dads are platonic soulmates who met at a dive bar and now you’re legally bound by emotional trauma
[3:11 AM] Riley: I’m going with brother in law.
it sounds official.
it sounds like we’re about to inherit a vineyard together.
[3:12 AM] Riley: BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY
[3:12 AM] Riley: did you see my dad and your dad KISS?
[3:13 AM] Riley: any lingering stares?
any hand holding?
any “accidental” brushing of shoulders while walking to the car?
[3:14 AM] Riley: because my dad has been single for like a decade and your dad is clearly repressed and I think this is the plot of a romance novel
[3:15 AM] Riley: PLEASE tell me there was something.
I need to know if we’re actually going to be step siblings or if I’m getting my hopes up for nothing.
[3:16 AM] Riley: I mean if our dads get together then I will have no choice but to call you “step bro” hehehe
[3:17 AM] Riley: and then we can have family dinners where I sit across from you and play footsie under the table and dad gives us both the death stare
[3:18 AM] Riley: wait that got weird.
forget I said that.
unless you’re into it.
[3:19 AM] Riley: actually I’m not even tired I’m just lying in bed thinking about you and your massive cock and the way you looked when you railed me in the school bathroom
[3:21 AM] Riley: do you ever think about that?
because I think about it every single day.
multiple times a day.
especially in third period when I’m supposed to be taking notes.
[3:23 AM] Riley: I’m currently touching myself thinking about the way you grabbed my hips and slammed into me like I was nothing but a toy for your pleasure
[3:25 AM] Riley: anyway I need to catch my zzz’s.
enjoy the valentine break that your cute little boyfriend gave the whole school.
tell Theo I said thanks for the day off.
[3:26 AM] Riley: and tell him I want to suck his boyfriend’s dick again sometime.
as a thank you.
for the break.
it’s only polite.
[3:27 AM] Riley: goodnight lil bro.
have a wet dream of me.
[3:27 AM] Riley: actually no, dream of me AND Theo AND Sebastian.
at the same time.
with me in the middle.
[3:28 AM] Riley: okay I’m actually going to sleep now.
bye.
Kota stared at the screen for a long, silent moment, his brain struggling to process the sheer volume of unhinged energy that Riley had managed to produce between 3 and 4 in the morning.
He scrolled back up to the top, reread the messages about their dads potentially getting together, then scrolled down to the increasingly horny ones, then locked his phone and set it face down on the nightstand.
He noted to himself, with absolute certainty, to never check missed messages from Riley at 7 in the morning.
Ever.
It was a rule now.
A personal boundary.
A survival mechanism.
After a moment of quiet recovery, he picked his phone back up and opened the group chat with Theo and Sebastian.
[7:05 AM] Kota: Happy Valentine’s Day to my two favorite people.
The replies came almost instantly, like they had both been waiting for him to text.
[7:05 AM] Theo: (♡´ω｀♡) Happy Valentine’s Day, darling!
I was just about to text you.
You beat me to it.
[7:05 AM] Sebastian: Good morning, Kota!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
I have prepared a lengthy and heartfelt message about my feelings for you and Theodore, but I’m still editing it.
It’s currently four pages long.
Single spaced.
I hope that’s not too much.
[7:06 AM] Kota: Sebastian, four pages is definitely too much.
But I appreciate the effort.
[7:06 AM] Sebastian: I’ll trim it down to two pages.
Maybe one and a half if I remove the extended metaphor about the Oxford library and its parallels to our relationship.
[7:07 AM] Theo: Please don’t remove the library metaphor.
I was looking forward to it.
[7:07 AM] Kota: I have a surprise for you both today.
[7:07 AM] Theo: A SURPRISE?!
(´⊙ω⊙`) What is it?
Tell me tell me tell me.
[7:07 AM] Sebastian: A surprise?
Is it a literary surprise?
A romantic surprise?
A sexual surprise?
I need to prepare myself accordingly.
[7:08 AM] Kota: No spoilerssss.
You can’t dangle a surprise and then not tell us.
That’s psychological warfare.
[7:08 AM] Sebastian: He’s right.
This is a violation of the Geneva Conventions.
I’m fairly certain there’s a clause about romantic surprises.
[7:09 AM] Kota: You’ll find out later.
Promise.
It’s worth the wait.
[7:09 AM] Theo: (´;ω;｀) Fine.
But I’m going to spend the entire day vibrating with anticipation.
I won’t be able to focus on anything.
[7:09 AM] Sebastian: Same.
I’ll be useless.
Completely useless.
My students will notice and they’ll ask why I’m smiling and I’ll have to lie and say it’s because of Shakespeare.
[7:10 AM] Kota: Just try to survive until tonight.
Both of you.
Kota set his phone down with a small, private smile.
He swung his legs out of bed and walked over to his dresser, pulling open the top drawer.
Inside, nestled among his socks and boxers, were two small black boxes.
Each one was tied with a thin red ribbon, and each one contained something he had spent weeks picking out.
One for Theo.
One for Sebastian.
He ran his fingers over the smooth surfaces, his smile widening, then closed the drawer and headed for the bathroom.
The shower was quick but thorough, the hot water washing away the last remnants of sleep and the lingering soreness from the previous day’s activities.
He changed into a clean pair of jeans and a soft gray sweater, something nice but not too formal.
It was Valentine’s Day, after all.
He wanted to look like he’d made an effort without looking like he was trying too hard.
When he stepped into the kitchen, the first thing he noticed was the sound.
Humming.
His dad was humming.
Khalil stood at the stove, his back to Kota, a spatula in one hand and a pan of sizzling vegetables in the other.
He was wearing his usual work clothes, but there was something different about the way he moved.
Lighter.
Less weighed down.
The humming was quiet and slightly off-key, a tune Kota didn’t recognize.
Khalil turned around when he heard Kota’s footsteps, and his face broke into a wide, genuine smile.
It was the kind of smile Kota hadn’t seen in years.
Maybe ever.
It reached his eyes, crinkling the corners and softening the hard lines of his jaw.
“Happy birthday, son!” Khalil said, his voice warm and full of a cheerfulness that felt almost foreign.
He gestured toward the kitchen table, where a plate was already waiting.
A chopped veggie omelet, golden and fluffy, with a side of sausages arranged in a neat little row.
“I made breakfast.
Real breakfast.
None of that cereal stuff you usually eat.”
Kota blinked.
“Dad.
It’s Valentine’s Day my birthday was weeks ago.”
Khalil’s smile faltered for half a second, then returned even wider.
“Well, happy Valentine’s Day too, then.
I figure every day’s worth celebrating when you’ve got a family that’s actually talking to each other.” He turned back to the stove, flipping the omelet with practiced ease.
“Now sit down and eat before it gets cold.”
Kota sat, the chair scraping against the linoleum.
The omelet smelled incredible, the vegetables still crisp, the eggs perfectly cooked.
He picked up his fork and took a bite, and the flavor exploded across his tongue.
His dad could cook.
He had forgotten that.
“So, umm,” Khalil said, his voice suddenly nervous.
He didn’t turn around from the stove, his shoulders hunched slightly.
“What are you getting Theo?
For Valentine’s Day, I mean.”
Kota smiled around his forkful of eggs.
“I’m not telling yet.
But I got both of them something special.”
Khalil’s hand stilled on the spatula.
He turned slowly, one eyebrow raised.
“Both of them?”
Kota felt the familiar heart-drop feeling, the sudden lurch in his chest that came whenever he was about to reveal something he’d been hiding.
He set his fork down, his mind racing for an excuse, some way to brush it off or change the subject.
But then he stopped.
The memory of last night came flooding back.
The way his dad had hugged him.
The tears.
The promise to be better.
Maybe it was time to stop hiding.
“Yeah,” Kota said quietly.
“Both of them.
I’m dating two people.”
Khalil stood very still for a moment, the spatula dripping egg onto the floor.
Then he took a slow, deliberate breath and set the spatula down on the counter.
When he turned around, his expression was carefully neutral, the kind of face he made when he was trying very hard not to react negatively.
“Soo,” he said, drawing out the word.
“Who is it?
Is it that elevator boy?
The one with the van and the big mouth?”
Kota let out a surprised laugh.
“What’s with you and Corey? The source of this chapter is g.com.
You keep bringing him up.”
“So that’s his name?
Corey?” Khalil’s lips twitched into a small, teasing smile.
“I just figured, he’s the only friend of yours I’ve ever met.
The only one who’s been in our building.
The one who kept making those weird comments about construction slang.”
“Yeah, that’s Corey.
But no, it’s not him.” Kota hesitated, then decided to just rip the bandage off.
“It’s the AP English teacher.
Sebastian Rupert.”
Khalil’s eyes widened.
He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again.
Finally, he leaned in close, his voice dropping to a whisper that was only half joking.
“I’m glad you’re happy, son.
I really am.
But are you dating the entire school?
At this rate, I’m going to have to start attending parent-teacher conferences as the proud father of the faculty.”
Kota choked on his sausage.
He sputtered, coughing, while Khalil watched with a mix of concern and amusement.
“No, Dad.
It’s not the entire school.
It’s just two people.
Theo and Sebastian.
It kinda just happened.
We all skipped school together and—”
“Skipped school!?” Khalil’s voice shot up, his carefully maintained calm shattering.
His eyes went wide, his hands flying to his hips in his classic lecture posture.
Then, just as quickly, he caught himself.
He took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and forced his shoulders to relax.
“Sorry.
Sorry.
I’m trying to be better about the yelling thing.
Go on.”
Kota stared at him for a moment, genuinely surprised.
His dad was actually trying.
It was weird and wonderful and a little bit terrifying.
“We skipped school one day.
Theo, Sebastian, and me.
We went shopping.
That’s when we all kind of realized we had feelings for each other.
It wasn’t planned.
It just happened.”
Khalil sighed, a long, heavy sound.
He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, his expression softening into something almost resigned.
“Alright.
I’ve met Theo.
He seems like a good kid.
So let me meet the other one soon, okay?
Sebastian.
The English teacher.
I want to shake his hand and look him in the eye and make sure he’s good enough for my son too.”
Kota felt a swell of emotion rise in his chest.
“Yeah.
Soon.
I’ll set something up.” He paused, then added quietly, “Thanks, Dad.
For…
you know…
changing.
For trying.”
Khalil’s face crinkled into another smile, smaller this time but no less genuine.
“You’re still my son.
That’s not something I’m ever going to change.
No matter who you date or how many teachers you fall in love with.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crisp hundred dollar bill, pressing it into Kota’s palm.
Kota’s eyes went wide.
“Why are you giving me this?”
“It’s Valentine’s Day,” Khalil said, nudging him with his elbow.
“Go buy them some chocolate.
Do something nice.
Take them to the nice candy store downtown, the one with the fancy truffles and the little gift boxes.
Sweets are important.
They show you care.”
Kota stared at the money in his hand, then up at his father’s face.
The man who had never once talked to him about love, who had spent years warning him away from anything soft or romantic, was now handing him cash to buy chocolates for his two boyfriends.
The world had truly turned upside down.
He stood up and wrapped his arms around his dad in a tight hug.
“Thanks, Dad.
This means a lot.”
Khalil hugged him back, his arms solid and warm.
“Don’t sweat it, kid.
Now go enjoy your day.
And don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Kota pulled back, grinning.
“That’s a very low bar.”
“Exactly.
That’s why I said it.” Khalil turned back to the stove, then froze.
His eyes went wide with sudden horror.
“OH SHIT, THE EGGS.”