Episode 111 - Life is Better

"Li ba!" Taitai exclaimed in his best whisper shout as he ran down the short hallway. He lifted himself onto the kitchen counter, sitting and dangling his legs, his bare heels gently bumping against a cabinet. "Are you making breakfast? Why're you up so early?"

Amari nodded, mixing the eggs roughly around in the pan. "I had to take my meds. Why're you up?"

"I dunno," Taitai replied absentmindedly. With a smile, Amari nudged him further down the counter.

"Don't sit so close to the stove." He poked the eggs, but they felt a little wet, so he kept stirring. "Is your ba still sleeping?"

"Yeah." Taitai went back to kicking his legs. Raising the wooden spoon in his hand, Amari pointed to the cabinets, and he jumped down, grabbing plates and bowls. After rummaging through a drawer for silverware, he set everything in a pile on the little, square kitchen table.

Amari poked the scramble again and tried a small bite to be sure they were done, then turned off the burner and moved the pan next to the plate of bacon and sausage. He tapped Taitai's shoulder, pointing to the corner of the living room.

"Go get the Little Martin and we'll wake your ba up for breakfast."

Taitai hurried across the room to the line of guitars sitting under the window. The curtains were wide open, letting in the morning sun. Pulling his sunglasses down, Amari tested the brightness. It wasn't painful, so he tossed the glasses into a basket near the door and Taitai placed the guitar into his hand. He lifted the strap over his head and checked the tuning, then nodded toward the bedroom and started strumming.

Racing and jumping onto the bed, Taitai was in the room before him and Yangyang's groan was loud in response, even with the sound muffled under the blanket. Cheerfully strumming and singing to Life Is Better With You, Amari grinned as his husband crawled out.

"What the hell..." grumbled Yangyang. Taitai landed on top of him, forcing another low groan to escape.

As Amari swayed around the room singing, Yangyang grabbed his son around the waist and flung him over his shoulder. Taitai screamed and giggled, and Amari led them out into the hallway.

"You two are crazy." Yangyang was still grumbling, but it was easy to tell from the tone that he was smiling.

When he heard his bells hit the floor, Amari directed, "Taitai, clap," between lyrics. They danced around the small, open space and his hands easily picked up the off beat. Jingling through the room, he hummed to the notes he knew and kept rythym.

Moving into another chorus, Amari swayed closer to Yangyang, grinning brightly. A large arm around his waist pulled him in close and Yangyang kissed him softly on the neck. Then his chin rested on Amari's head, hips and torso moving automatically along with him.

"Life is better with you!" Taitai shouted out as the line was repeated. Yangyang was quick, catching him and lifting him into the air. Singing was abandoned for wild giggling and begging for his father to stop the tickling.

"Ya!" he cried, but that was only punished with more tickling.

"Ya?" Yangyang called back. "Ya? You're yelling at your ba now?"

Barely squeezing a "Sorry!" through the giggles, Yangyang growled in fake anger and placed his son on his feet.

Amari strummed the last chord, then flipped the guitar to his back and strolled the few steps over to Yangyang, hugging and kissing him gently.

"Morning," he said with a light smile.

Yangyang grunted in response, putting his arms around his shoulders and pressing him to his chest. "I smell bacon," he murmured, still groggy.

"And sausage and eggs and toast!" Taitai flew past them to the kitchen and grabbed a plate, heaping food onto it.

Amari slipped from Yangyang's grasp, leaning the guitar against the couch, then took his own plate, feeling his way around the pans and dishes of food and piling them high. He heard Yangyang chuckle behind him.

"Are you two starving?" he teased, and Amari frowned, elbowing him in the stomach. "I can understand the child, he's growing, but what are you going to do with all that?"

Amari took a seat across from Taitai at the table, stuffing a mix of eggs and toast into his mouth. "You make me go run with you almost every day, so I need the energy."

He mumbled the words, his mouth full of food, as Yangyang took a seat next to him and sighed.

"Stupid running," Amari added in a low growl.

"Exercise is good for your brain. And could you at least pretend to be a role model for your son and eat like an adult?"

Amari shook his head and stuffed more into his mouth. "We need to hurry and eat, before Ziggy comes and it gets crazy."

"Crazier than usual?" Yangyang asked curiously, sipping at a cup of coffee. He chuckled as Amari stared, practically drooling. "Caffeine can trigger a seizure. Drink the decaf."

With a loud groan, Amari went back to eating, speaking between bites of toast and egg. "You haven't experienced Pride with Ziggy. Especially this and next weekend. It doesn't seem like it, but he's pretty well known in the Brooklyn 'pride circle,' if that's a thing. He helps out with the Brooklyn Pride celebration every year."

"Well, now you're making me nervous." Yangyang picked at his food and Amari smiled at his hesitant tone. "What should I expect?"

"A lot of color. And excitement." He rubbed his husband's arm to comfort him. "Just imagine Ziggy, more excited than you've ever seen him, making everything very colorful."

Yangyang chuckled and went back to eating. "I think I can handle that."

"Uncle Zig's gonna make everything colorful?" Taitai asked, not fully following the conversation, but listening now that his plate was empty.

Amari nodded and pushed his own empty plate away. "He's gonna make YOU colorful." He smirked at Taitai's confused noise. "You'll see." As if he had heard them talking, there was a loud knock on the door. "Oh. Good timing."

Taitai ran over to the door and opened it, and Ziggy rushed in, throwing a bag onto the floor.

"Taitai!" he shouted in a high pitched voice. Lifting him off the ground, he gave his nephew a hug, making him giggle. After a few exaggerated kisses to the cheek, he stepped into the kitchen. He grabbed a handful of bacon and leaned against the counter, letting out a satisfied sigh.

"This place is so much brighter now," he cheerfully observed and Amari gave him a small nod. "I love it." He waved toward his bag. "Taitai, take that to your parents' room."

Following orders, Taitai dragged the bag to the end of the hall as Ziggy took his place at the table. "Yangyang, did you just wake up? Aweille! It's so late!"

"Zig, it's like..." Yangyang turned and leaned back to check the time. "Nine o'clock on a Saturday. I could have slept at least another hour, but two crazy people woke me up." He took a bite of food and then put his fork down. "Besides, whose fault is it that I'm basically nocturnal now?"

"You signed the contract, tsé?" Ziggy chuckled. "And the club has been closed this week, so no excuses." He clapped his hands and grabbed up the plates, putting them in the sink as Taitai came hurrying back down the hallway. "Looks like everyone is finished with breakfast, so let's get up and get ready!"

Amari only looked toward Yangyang with a shrug and he groaned at the lack of support. "Ziggy. Setup and sound check isn't until two. Why do we have to get ready five hours early?"

"Well, we need get all of you dressed and prepared, get there, meet up with everyone, get some lunch, see what's going on..."

Ziggy sounded offended that he was asked such a ridiculous question, but Amari walked over and took his friend's arm, pulling him to the door. Then he waved his son over, a sly grin on his face.

"Taitai, take your uncle to the coffeehouse, say hello to your aunt Cate, and get me a very large decaf iced coffee." He let out a half-sigh, half-groan. "Tell Cate to put something sweet in it. If I can't have real coffee, it should at least taste good."

Taitai agreed and took Ziggy by the hand.

"And get whatever you want, okay?" Amari ruffled his hair as he nodded, then gave Ziggy a quick pat on the shoulder and flashed him a toothy smile. "You can at least give us an hour to wake up. There's plenty of time."

Ziggy grumbled under his breath, but didn't say anything more, pulled forward by Taitai and pushed out the door by Amari.

Once the door was closed, he returned to the table and sat down on his husband's lap, laying an arm around his shoulders and giving him a long kiss.

"Think we can shower in an hour?" he asked playfully. Yangyang was up in an instant, a hand at his back and an arm under his knees, carrying him to the bathroom.