“Why are you helping us to this extent?” The question was quiet. Not accusing. Just… curious. Heavy in a way that suggested it had been sitting in Thame’s chest for a long time, waiting for the right moment to surface. Po didn’t answer right away. He could’ve said it was contractual. Professional. Expected. But he didn’t. None of that would’ve landed the way he needed it to. So he kept it simple. “I care.”

Po and Thame

I'll take whatever you can give me but never let me be a stranger, that is the only thing I beg for. Because you, my star, will always be the only one in this life that I was meant to love. Even if fate decides that you were never meant to stay with me. If you are happy, then I will be happy too. Your happiness has always been mine.

Po

My star, please.....can you not leave me?" His eyes stung.  His throat burned.  And his head spun. 

Po

I'm begging you—" "......" Stop talking, Po. Stop. Stop it. Stop it.  "—I don't know how to go back to a life without you anymore." And that did it.

Po

I'll take whatever you can give me but never let me be a stranger, that is the only thing I beg for. Because you, my star, will always be the only one in this life that I was meant to love. Even if fate decides that you were never meant to stay with me. If you are happy, then I will be happy too. Your happiness has always been mine.

Po

You can hate me all you want, my star,

Po

It might still be blurry, but that was okay because this—this was where his heart had always been.  With his family, which consisted of five young men who found their way to him.  With this young man named Thame Teema, who found his own way to his heart.  But that was fine because they had a lifetime to fix everything that the world had destroyed, and even if it took a very long time, it didn't matter anymore.  Because he'll gladly spend the rest of his life if it is with them, and if he needs to spend his whole lifetime apologizing to the people he loved, then that won't be a problem as well. So long as they are safe and healthy.  And so long as they are on each other's side, then nothing else matters. 

Po

If Thame wasn't going to make it, he would rather not live in a world without him. But Thame was alive, and that was enough, for now. He can live with that. He could live with that. He needed to live with that.

Po

In that place, he kissed Thame once more as their noses hit one another before they parted, and he thinks that nothing could be more perfect than this.  Because tonight had been made of verses—verses sung by boys who had become men. Verses about dreams no one could kill, about freedom, exhaustion, healing, and the right to choose their own sky. Verses about words once trapped in their chests are now given melody before thousands of people who love them for who they truly are.  But life, he thought, had always been made of verdicts too. Cruel verdicts handed down by strangers, by companies. Painful verdicts given by fathers, by fear, and by anger. A verdict that declared who they should be, what they were worth, and how much pain they had to endure to deserve success.

Po

"I mean it, Thame," He said, holding Thame's face in both his palms. "Be mad. Shout at me, hit me, throw anything or everything at me. Ask questions that would make me uncomfortable. Say unfair and hurtful things if you need to. Tell me where I failed you and the boys, tell me how much it hurt when I left you. Tell me everything." "And then?" Thame asked with a hopeful look on his face.  "And then I will stay even if you're mad. I will stay even if you shout, even if you hit me, even if you throw anything at me. Even if you ask hard questions, even if you hurt me with your words. I will stay even if you tell me how much I hurt you and the boys. I will stay even if you tell me that I'm the worst person in this world. I won't leave." "....." "I will stay even if you hate me for a while." "....." "I will stay even when I hate myself for doing all of this to you and the boys." "....." "I will stay even when talking is hard." "....." "And I will stay until we fix it, because I'm not leaving anymore. I have nowhere to go, Thame. This time, for real, the time left in this lifetime is exactly saved for you and the boys. Nothing else....I'm...I'm gonna be here for the rest of our lives, Thame." Thame, with a few unshed tears on the corner of his eyes, bit his lips and nodded. "...A-always?" So with that, he turned fully and pulled the younger in his arms as well. "Always. My star. Always."

Po

His family.  Alive and safe in his arms.  "I missed all of you so much," he whispered as he lowered his head into the middle of the mess of limbs and shoulders. "Phi's glad that everyone's safe, really. I'm so glad." And for that moment, no one teased him for sounding emotional.  No one made a joke, not even Jun.  They only held him tighter, and for him, for Po, who had craved the arms and feeling of his family, this was enough.  This was more than enough. 

Po

until Pepper spoke again, "I miss being taken care of without asking people to." And then there's Jun, "I miss when I can make fun of Thame about his love life." And then Dylan, "I miss my peace."

"I did not mean—" "I know you don't, I understand you, Thame. I love you." And with that, his hands shook under the sheets. His mouth trembled, and everything in him felt that relief again.  Po understands him.  Po is not mad.  Po understands him.  Po loves him.  "I hate you." "Yes, I know. I love you, Thame." "....I hate you so much." "I know." "You ruined me."

Po and Thame