en’s writing room

Duang and Qin are sat opposite each other with two large servings of their garlic shrimp dish in front of them.

Their first official date.

The two dig in as they talk about their days, a satisfied smile on Duang’s face as he watches the pleased look on Qin’s face. Between his bites, he asks questions and works on digging to find out more about what the omega but where there was once a lack of interest on Qin’s part, there was now a returned curiousity.

“Have you always wanted to study music?” Duang asks.

Qin nods and hums a confirmation. “I’ve been playing instruments since I was a child.”

He laughs softly at the impressed look on Duang’s face as he asks about what instruments he plays. After a brief list, Qin takes another bite of the food, but holds his fork up to signal he has something to say. Duang waits patiently of course.

“Have you always been interested in art?” Qin asks, and Duang can’t resist the wide smile that breaks out at Qin’s apparent curiosity about him. He nods enthusiastically, beginning to talk about how him and his friends’ art classes in high school and the decision to study art seriously. Qin occasionally interjects to ask additional questions and Duang is quick to answer.

Conversation flows naturally until the two fell into a comfortable silence as they eat.

Then, Duang watches as some of the sauce on Qin’s fork falls and lands perfectly on the cushion of the white headphones around his neck.

The omega sighs before he grabs a napkin and wipes it away. When he looks up as he begins to remove the headphones from his neck, he finds Duang wearing a look of curiosity.

Realizing he’s been caught staring, Duang flushes slightly, coughing and looking away for a moment. After recollecting himself, he asks Qin what was on his mind.

“Why do you always have those headphones on?”

Qin takes another large fork full of the dish, holding it up to his mouth. “They help me focus.” he says, then takes his bite.

Duang hums in thought. “Doesn’t listening to music make it harder to focus on your music for school?” he asks.

Qin laughs, which causes him to choke a little on his food. Duang is quick to hold a water out for him which he takes gratefully. He watches warily for a moment with bated breaths as he waits for Qin to be okay.

When he’s finally stopped coughing, he looks up at Duang’s concerned face and holds up a finger, signaling him to wait for a moment as he regains his breath. Qin pulls his phone out of his pocket as he reaches to switch his headphones on, swiping over to his music.

He looks up at Duang for a moment, analyzing the boy’s face. Duang feels his skin prickling a little under Qin’s watchful gaze. Then, he grabs his headphones from where he had just set them and leans over, pushing them onto Duang’s head and adjusting them so they sit snuggly on his ears. The proximity causes Duang’s heartbeat to pick up, the sound amplified by the noise cancelling headphones.

Their eyes lock for a moment and Duang is, once again, in awe at how beautiful the omega is, even this close. The thumping in his ears is loud as their eyes stay locked, and Duang is so enraptured that he doesn’t even notice the way Qin reaches up, pressing a button on the headphones.

His heart beat is promptly drowned out by a thick noise.

Qin sits back in his seat to watch and Duang’s head tilts as he listens.

The sound is overwhelming at first, but as it plays, he can feel the way it bleeds into and over his thoughts. He feels totally blank, like a reset has just occurred in his mind.

It should be stressful, the pitch verging on unpleasant, but the way it blankets his thoughts is almost calming. He can feel the tension in his mind settle a little with the sound.

After a few more seconds, Qin leans forward again and pushes the headphones off his ears, tugging them so they settle around his neck. The return of the sound around them is stifling, and Duang is tempted to pull the headphones back on, but he’s stopped by Qin’s voice.

“It’s a frequency audio. It’s what I usually listen to when I’m trying to study or focus.”

“A frequency audio?” Duang asks, head tilted in confusion.

Qin hums, going for another forkful of shrimp. “Yeah. Eight hundred fifty-two hertz. It’s supposed to help because it affect’s your brains auditory pacing.”

Duang nods and makes a noise of understanding, but he honestly doesn’t really get it. It appears Qin is well aware of that as he smiles slightly with a full mouth.

He swallows his food down slowly before he re-explains. “It’s just supposed to quiet your mind. It might be placebo, but it works for me so I listen to it a lot.”

Duang is quick to shake his head. “No, no. I don’t think it’s placebo. It worked on me and I didn’t know what it was supposed to do!” He pulls the headphones back over his ears and the audio is luckily still playing.

He points at his covered ear as he says “It’s like my brain doesn’t have room to think. I like it! I think I’m gonna get some headphones and listen to this too!”

Duang is unaware of his vocal volume increase, but he wouldn’t have cared anyways. Qin’s responding wide smile is worth every second of embarrassing himself.

-

A week later, Duang is really, really, really, bored.

Qin had sent him a message on instagram earlier in the day to tell him he wouldn’t be coming to school and now he was stuck with his old routine.

No morning greetings, no walking the omega to class, no lunch together. Just his two best friends and the boring day-to-day he had left behind.

He sighs deeply as him and Pae walk over to a table in the corner of the mostly empty cafeteria. He sits with another deep sigh.

“Geez, no need to look so thrilled to have lunch with us. Maybe I should tell Jamie to hurry with whatever he’s doing since you want to see him so bad” Pae says with a snort as he sits down next to Duang.

Duang looks at his friend with a dramatic pout and the omega laughs, patting his head.

The two begin to dig in, but after only a few minutes, Pae clears his throat. “You know, I’ve been meaning to ask. When are you going to tell Qin about the whole…” he leans in close to whisper, “alpha thing?”

Duang groans loudly. He had been weighing this problem for the past several weeks. He and Qin had surely gotten much closer. It was obvious in the way they had little routines together now, the way they messaged each other often, and the way Qin never turned him down if he wasn’t already busy with something else.

Which meant Duang’s guilty conscience was getting heavier and heavier by the day.

He had no clue how to bring it up, and as much as he wanted to act like it wasn’t true, part of him knew he would continue to hold the truth from Qin as long as possible. It was foolish, he was aware. But they had reached a point now where it was clearly too late for him to bring up without making having to explain the whole situation.

Sure, he knew that Qin was rationale, he knew it was very likely the omega would understand if he told him, but he also knew that sometimes what you believe someone may think may not be true...

He leaned his head on Pae’s shoulder, burying his face in the crook of his best friend’s shoulder as he speaks. “I know I need to, but I’m scared. I really like Qin, and I’m scared of how he’ll react.”

Pae sighs. “Duang. Qin is a good guy. I highly doubt he’ll make a big deal out of it.”

Duang shakes his head, face still buried. “I thought that last time too and look what happened. Also, I already know Qin doesn’t like alphas.”

Pae’s bottom lip becomes irritated as he chews at it in thought and a silence settles between the two of them, Duang pulls his head back to look at his best friend. Pae is only partially shocked to find a level of wetness to his eyes and a plumpness to his bottom lip where he bit at it.

Pae can only smile sadly at him.

Duang scans his friends face for a moment. “I’m scared I’ll lose him Pae. This is bigger this time. The way I feel about him is so much bigger than it ever was for anyone else and now I have to face the reality that my real identity may rip him away from me.” He chokes up a bit. “I wish I would have just told him from the beginning…”

Pae brings his hand back up to pet at his head. “I know Duang. I know. But he can’t blame you for being scared.”

The collecting tears threaten to fall and Duang pulls the edge of his sleeve up to absorb them. Pae looks around to make sure no one is looking their way. Luckily, it appears the emotional scene hasn’t caught anyone’s attention.

Duang picks at his nails as he responds. “I know… But I still should have told the truth. That way I could at least have gotten the rejection up front… I should have never let my stupid insecurities from high school cause me to be untruthful. I was being stupid.”

Pae grabs at Duang’s shoulders somewhat aggressively, forcing the alpha to look at him. “Hey! You are not being stupid Duang. I may not agree with your insecurity itself, but that doesn’t make your feelings and your decision invalid. You have your reasons and anyone who can’t accept that doesn’t deserve you, whether you think they’re the perfect omega or not. Okay?”

Duang’s bottom lip wobbles like a sad child and he buries himself back into Pae’s shoulder once again, trying his best to hold in the emotions.

“Woah, what’s going on here?”

The sound of Jamie’s voice pulls him back out of the crook of Pae’s neck.

When he looks up at his friend, he’s surprised to see the alpha isn’t alone. Duang is quick to wipe at his eyes, hopeful that there is not any residual wetness, then he smiles at Jamie and the person by his side.

His awkward smile quickly turns mischievous as he begins to recognize the second person. It was the fashion student they had been introduced to before.

Fast enough to cause whiplash, his emotional scene takes a total backseat as his need to tease Jamie takes over.

“What’s going on over here? Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” he says, gesturing between the two standing figures.

Jamie reaches forward to swat at him, but Duang quickly ducks from it causing Jamie’s hand to catch Pae’s shoulder instead.

The omega yells out and reaches to tug at Jamie, but fails to do so.

“Yah! I didn’t introduce my friend to you so you could steal him away!” Pae yells at the alpha, then he turns to the other omega. “Marvis. He’s awful, trust me. You don’t have to put up with him. I won’t blame you, I swear.”

Pae looks dead serious when he says it, save for the small quirk of his lips afterward, and Duang watches as his two best friends swat at each other and fight as Marvis watches in amusement.

Duang couldn’t have been happier about the change of topic.

-

Qin was running on empty.

Dara’s fever had finally gone down and she was starting to sound a bit better, but after two whole days and nights locked in the apartment as he tried to nurse her back to health, Qin was exhausted. Which is exactly how he ended up running so far behind today.

He had woken up several times during the night to check on Dara’s temperature, making sure the fever did not spike back up as she slept, and he was pleased to see it remained near normal. This meant she should be able to attend day care as normal, so long as it didn’t rise back up before drop off.

At one point, after waking to another bihourly ‘temp check’ alarm, he had checked his phone and found a surprisingly early instagram message from Duang.

“podduanngg sent you a message: qin! good morning! will you be back today?”

He smiled tiredly at the message and he had intended to message him back, then rest for only a short amount of time, setting another alarm for 30 minutes later to begin getting himself and his daughter ready for the da. However, his tired mind allowed him to subconsciously swipe over to his feed after replying, and before he could set another alarm, he had passed out completely.

It was much later when his body allowed him to finally wake naturally, almost a full hour after he would wake on a normal day, let alone on a day where he had to worry about additional care steps for his sick child.

He woke up in a panic, body able to tell he was late before his mind had any time to catch up, and he ran over to his daughter’s room.

He felt at least a small bit of relief when he found that her temperature was still normal, just as it had been when he last checked. So he picked her up quickly, waking her to brush her teeth and get dressed as fast as possible.

The little girl was still feeling groggy, body heavy from exhaustion after her little body spent over twenty-four hours battling sickness, and she clung to her father as they prepped for the day.

Qin packed her a light lunch, not yet wanting her to have any of the heavier foods they usually had at the daycare. They had a rushed breakfast of microwaveable oatmeal and miraculously slipped out the door only ten minutes later than planned.

While the drive to the daycare was pretty uneventful, Dara still too sleepy to really care what Qin was doing, drop off proved to be much more difficult.

The little girl wept in the crook of her father’s neck, not wanting to be separated after having his undivided attention for a full two days, and she called for him sadly at every attempt to separate.

Qin had to resist his internal desire to turn them around and go right back home. The small girl’s tiny bottom lip was poking out in a way that rivaled a cartoon character, and her eyes were welled up with tears as she called for him.

“Daddy! No leave! Daddy no leave! Dara go home!” she cried out as he passed her backpack to the teacher. Qin’s own eyes welled up in guilt and sympathy for his baby. He wanted to take her home, he really did, but she was back to health now and he needed to get back to his classes.

He spent a few more minutes trying to coax her into going with the teacher, smiling sadly when she finally agreed. He squeezed his daughter tight, giving her a big kiss on the cheek and promising to be back for her before she even knew it. Then he waved at her sadly as he started to back up toward the exit, not fully leaving until he saw the teachers guide her inside to play.

He let out a sigh of relief when he she was finally out of sight and checked the time on his watch. Confirming it was far too late to make it on time for his first class, he decided to let exhaustion win the battle, he would just take his time and be late. It’s not like he had a reason to rush.

-

Duang, after getting the confirmation from Qin earlier in the day that he would be coming to school, waited patiently at the front of the building where the omega’s first class was.

He kept himself busy with games on his phone as he waited, watching as several students came and went from their first classes. But he doesn’t see Qin, even as the start time of his first class comes and then goes.

For a moment he thinks he may have read Qin’s message wrong, but when he opens the message, he confirms the boy did say he would be there.

Duang then thought that he may have mixed up Qin’s schedule. Since he himself didn’t have a morning class that day of the week, he usually he wouldn’t be on campus yet. He had only woken up a little earlier to check on Qin, worried about the omega due to his absence. Plus he had something he wanted to show him.

So it was very possible he misremembered and was too early, or perhaps he was too late, or even in the wrong place completely.

Duang paced across the top of the stairs for a while, continuing to scan the arriving students, but has no luck. That is until a full twenty-two minutes past what he believed to be the start time of Qin’s first class, when he spots the omega walking up the sidewalk. Despite his tardiness, Qin seemed to lack any urgency, instead walking at a leisurely pace with his head down and his headphones snuggly over his ears.

Because of this, Duang doesn’t bother yelling for him. Instead, he runs down the stairs and over to Qin, stopping just in front of him and beginning to walk backwards.

When Qin looks up from the feet awkwardly shuffling in front of him, Duang is surprised by how tired the omega looked. He scans around the building and lawn for a moment. When he spots what he’s looking for, he taps at his own ear, signaling for Qin to pull the headphones off.

When he does, Duang smiles.

“Wait here a moment. I’ll be right back with something!”

The omega sighs, checking the time on his watch. Duang watched as his nose scrunched and his lip pulled inward, the omega presumably debating the tardiness to his class.

He ultimately decides to give in as he steps to the side, out of the way of other students, and nods for Duang to go.

Duang is quick to run off and when he returns, he’s got a canned coffee, which he holds out proudly. Qin lets out a relieved sigh, glad to have some caffeine to fight against his drowsiness. He quickly takes the drink, popping it open and chugging it down.

Finishing it in mere seconds, Qin throws a quiet “Thanks.” over his shoulder as he walks to the nearby trashcan to toss the empty can, then he begins walking toward his class. Duang wastes no time in starting up a conversation as they walk.

However, as much as Qin enjoyed talking to Duang nowadays, his exhaustion had peeked and his tolerance was wearing thin.

He began to tune out Duang’s voice entirely, not on purpose, but his brain decided to shut out external sounds for a while. He hears absolutely nothing, until a hand waves excitedly in his peripheral vision. He turns to look.

“See! They’re even the same brand as yours!” Duang points proudly at the black headphones around his neck and Qin just gives a dismissive hum, if only to show he heard him, but Duang isn’t deterred.

Duang continues to rattle off as they walk. “And I’ve been listening to that thing that you said you listen to! The frequency? It’s been helping me a lot with getting some of my assignments done. Especially for my non-major classes.”

Another lackluster hum.

“I never knew that something like this existed. I feel like I have a hack for my brain now!”

One more hum.

“And this one even has a headphone jack so I realized that if I plugged it into my laptop, I can actually-”

“Duang, can you please just!” Qin raises his open palms up in a jerky motion as he slows to a stop, eyes squeezed shut tightly.

He doesn’t have to finish the sentence for the meaning to reach Duang.

When Qin opens his eyes, he sees Duang standing a few feet behind him. He looks akin to a kicked puppy, and Qin feels guilty, but he was at his wit’s end. He was running on minimal sleep and hadn’t had a single moment of peace for the past two days. What he needed right now was quiet, and Duang was unlikely to give it unprompted.

He closes his eyes again, huffing out so the puff of air makes his hair fly for a moment.

“I just need a bit of space right now. I’ll text you when my class is done, but for now, please just go do something else.” Qin says, eyes still closed. He refuses to look at Duang right now, afraid to see the boy’s sad expression. He needed this right now, even if it made him seem a bit mean.

He hears an awkward cough and a soft “Uh, yeah. I’ll just- I’ll go now. Text me, if you… Uh. If you want,” then the sound of Duang’s retreating steps. Qin sighs to himself one more time before turning to continue making his way to class.

-

Duang sat on the outdoor stairs of the art building, picking at the skin of his thumb.

He felt terrible.

Not because of Qin, well actually, yes, because of Qin, but not because of what he said.

He felt horrible for not being able to read the situation better. He could clearly see the omega was exhausted. Whatever he had been dealing with for the past two days had clearly drained him of all of his energy.

And yet, Duang still went on and on about the stupid headphones. He felt like a fool. The shame started to build, and with a tsunami of piling self-doubt, Duang could tell he was starting to spiral. He was so glad most of the art student’s chose later classes so he didn’t have to worry about peeping eyes as he sat with his body pulled in a tight ball.

His headphones were pulled snug over his ears and his eyes were closed tightly.

Blasting in his ears was the same frequency he had just been going on about, but unlike before, the frequency wasn’t doing anything to quiet his thoughts.

He swallowed harshly as a wave of anxiety came crashing in.

This was a prime example of why he lived the way he did, lying about his true identity and trying to fit neatly into the less expectant role of being a beta.

He had always been told he was unalpha like, whatever that meant. He had heard it time and time again after presenting, and it’s exactly what made him scared of his own identity.

He had been told we was too boisterous, too clueless, and too unbefitting to be an alpha. That he lacked the tact and composure expected of an alpha, lacked the situational awareness that he should have in order to keep his future omega happy.

And now, here he was, proving every single critique right.

He could no longer tell if the ringing he was hearing was coming from the headphones or his own brain.

He felt useless. How could he ever be a good alpha to Qin? How could he keep him happy when he couldn’t even read the obvious signs and adapt to the omega’s needs.

It may have seemed like he was blowing this all out of proportion, but he had faced this before. He had learned the hard way that there was no under-reacting to a problem like this.

As a beta, his flaws could be overlooked. He wasn’t expected to be this perfect symbol of strength and composure who knew exactly how to comfort and support. His passionate attempts to be there were enough.

But when he reveals he’s not a beta? When he comes clean about being an alpha?

Suddenly he becomes useless. He’s no longer just the average beta. He’s a substandard alpha, someone who doesn’t know how to play their expected role.

It’s exactly why his last relationship had ended. Fortunately, it hadn’t been super serious, but it had taken his already weak self-confidence and tanked it completely.

He had to consider the potential outcome every time he wanted to tell someone about his true self, had to weigh the possibilities like a scientist that couldn’t afford to make another mistake.

But he was ready to push past that for Qin. He had been ready from the beginning. He knew he’d be ready to do what it takes to live up to whatever Qin needed from him.

Now, he wasn’t so sure. He wasn’t sure he could be good for him, even if he tried his hardest.

What if he Qin decides he can’t stand being with him when he finds out? Qin already hates alphas, one can only guess how he’d feel about an alpha that isn’t even any good at being an alpha.

Duang was spiraling just at the prospect of Qin’s rejection, but more than that, he was thinking about how terrible he felt that Qin would have to deal with a useless alpha like himself. He would never be able be the alpha he wants to be for Qin. He would always be this sub par man, trying to fit into a role he was born for but could never quite fulfill.

He felt like his head was underwater, even as the frequency rang sharply in his ears.

With his eyes shut tightly, he could hardly remember where he was. His breathing was beginning to become labored, and his heart was picking up in pace.

Then, like a sudden shock to the system, he’s broken out of it by five sharp buzzes from the phone clenched tightly in his hand. He wipes at his eyes before lifting the phone up.

There, he sees a set of new notifications that feel like a splash of freezing cold water.

“qinch_ sent you a message: hey”

“qinch_ sent you a message: could i ask a favor of you?”

“qinch_ sent you a message: i need something from my car but this prof is kinda stickler about leaving”

“qinch_ sent you a message: i’m sorry to ask this of you after i just sent you away, but i could really use your help.”

“qinch_ sent you a message: let me know.”

Duang choked out a laugh as he read through them.

He needed to collect himself. He wanted to prove himself to Qin, even if it felt impossible.

If he wanted to be good to Qin, he couldn’t spend his time losing himself on these stairs. He needed to be there for him.

Wiping at his eyes one more time, Duang let out a deep breath and wiped his sweaty palms on his pants. It was time to begin proving to both Qin and himself that he could be the one for him. Qin was extending him the olive branch, whether he knew it or not, and he would be a fool not to take it.

He had already made enough of a fool of himself today, it was time to turn this around.

He stood without another second of hesitation and rushed to make his way to the building he had just left, sending a quick reply to say he was on the way.

-

Qin let out a quiet sigh of relief when he read Duang’s message.

His exhausted mind had completely failed him and he forgot to grab the materials from his car for his assignment, which just so happened to be worth twenty-five percent of his grade.

And also due by the end of class.

He felt guilty messaging Duang after turning him away like he had, but he had no choice. He only trusted so many people, and two of them were sat on either side of him, so they could hardly help in this situation.

Thus, he had to message Duang and ask for his help.

His leg shook as he waited for the message from Duang saying he was here. There was only about 25 minutes left of class and it would take a good 10 minutes just for Duang to make the trip there and back.

After what felt like an eternity, but was probably less than a full minute later, the notification popped up on his phone.

“podduanngg sent you a message: im in the building, which floor are you on?”

Right. Qin had forgotten that this was not a class Duang was usually on campus for. The knowledge that Duang had come early for him caused another prick of guilt to settle in Qin’s chest.

He quickly sent a message back with the floor and class number, then pocketed his phone, letting out a deep breath.

It’s then, as he looks around, that he realizes he needed to think up a way to get out into the hallway to explain the situation and hand over his car key.

He looks around his belongings when he spots the near empty water bottle tucked in his bag. He thinks for a moment, debating whether his idea would work, but knowing he had limited options, he decides to go for it.

He sucks in a sharp breath and promptly starts coughing exaggeratedly, as he does, he leans forward to grab both his car key and the bottle from his bag. Acting as though he was trying to get water to soothe the cough with one hand, he sneaks the key into his pocket with the other.

When he looks up, he sees the professor looking at him in partial annoyance and partial concern. Qin does his best to continue the act despite the embarrassment settling over him.

He lifts the bottle up as he continues to cough into the elbow, and motions toward the door.

The professor seems to understand enough and nods, gesturing for him to go. Qin doesn’t waste another second before exiting.

Unsurprisingly, when he closes the door behind him, he comes face to face with Duang, who looks at him in concern because of his coughing.

Qin immediately stops, smiling at Duang sheepishly.

“Fake cough, needed an excuse to meet you out here,” says the omega.

He scans Duang’s face and notices the slight wetness in his eyes. Guilt pangs in his chest again as he assumes it’s because of him. He smiles sadly at Duang, but decides he needs to focus on the task at hand. He would make it up to him later.

“There should be a black folder in the backseat of my car. It has the sheet music for an assignment that’s due today. Could you please grab it and bring it back? The class is over in like twenty minutes and I don’t think he’ll accept it after.”

Duang nods quickly and Qin sighs in relief. He holds his key out and waits for Duang to take it.

“Just text me when you’re back, I’ll make another excuse to come out.” Qin says.

Duang replies cheerfully and gives a loose salute. “You got it! I’ll go as fast as possible!”

Then, Qin does something that surprises them both. He smiles softly at Duang, looks around for anyone else looking their direction. When he finds no one, he leans forward and lands a quick kiss on his cheek.

Before either can react, Qin is quick to turn around and walk back into the lecture room.

-

Duang smiled happily to himself as he walked toward the parking lot, feeling much giddier than he knew how to put in words.

No one around him would have ever known that, only minutes ago, he was mere seconds away from an anxiety attack.

Make no mistake, Duang was still feeling uncertain.

His already brittle confidence was shaken, but he was determined to not break. He had made a promise to Qin to pursue him wholeheartedly and he was going to do just that.

He was going to show that he could do it. He could be the perfect man for Qin, and he was starting with this simple favor.

This simple favor that showed that Qin trusted him. Trusted him enough to ask for his help, trusted him enough to hand over his key, and trusted him enough to have him retrieve something important for him.

All he had to do was make it to the car, find the folder, and bring it back. Simple.

Duang picked up his pace a little as Qin’s car came in view.

He jogs right up to the backseat and pulls up the small key fob in his hand, clicking the unlock button.

When he opens the car door, he spots it immediately.

Sat right in the middle of the backseat is the black folder, curiously tucked up right against something Duang was surprised to see.

A car seat.

first of all, shout out to the anon ask on tumblr that asked for scene separators. i’ve been using a blank line between paragraphs as i write and i had no clue it wasn’t copying over when i paste it into ao3 and tumblr… i was listening to 852 hz while writing this and that’s how this chapter title was decided. also, please don’t be upset with qin’s lack of patience in this chapter, reminder that he is a single father to a small toddler, which is realistically no easy feat, especially when children are sick! as always, thank you for all the love and support! hope you enjoy, feedback is always appreciated!

Trying to focus on folding towels after realizing you’ve totally fucked up with the hot guy staying in your hostel is no easy feat, Pond can attest to that.

He honestly kind of felt like throwing up.

It was beyond the fact that he messed up with the guy he had a crush on, because yes, he was willing to admit that he was absolutely falling for him regardless of how long they’ve known each other. This was weighing on him for a whole other set of reasons.

Pond is a man with very few constant figures in his life: His family, a few of the neighboring business owners and island residents, and the couple friends he stayed connected with post-high school, and apart from his family, most were held at arms length. Recently though, things were starting to look different.

It was still a bit sparce, but he was reconnecting with his old best friend, Perth, and finding himself making new friends. For the first time in years, Pond felt like a real person and not some passing character in another person’s much more exciting travel story. It was dramatic, he was aware, but Perth and Phuwin were the first glimpses of change he had seen in years.

And now he was so sure he had totally ruined it. Two birds, one stone.

He dropped the last of the folded towels on the shelf and stood up. He had no clue when Perth and Santa left, probably somewhere between realizing what he was saying happened and Pond beginning to spiral. All he knew was that he needed to fix this, he just had no clue how.

Even if Phuwin didn’t hate him for what happened, how could he ever feel comfortable around him again. He didn’t even know if Phuwin was into men, let alone if he would be okay with a practical stranger of a man kissing him.

How does one even apologize for that? Was it even possible?

It’s not like he could play it off as an accident. It was clearly a kiss. One he had clearly went for without any hesitation.

Surely Phuwin wouldn’t buy the “accident” story. Really Pond had no clue what to do in this situation.

He needed another opinion, because he was gonna talk himself into a full melt down like this; he needed an outside perspective.

He obviously can’t talk about this with Perth, he didn’t really trust any of the other friends he stays in contact with to give great advice, and he can’t risk his usual method of talking it out with his auntie. Which leaves him with very few options:

His mom, his dad, and his older brother.

Fishing his phone out of his pocket, he swipes over to his call list. He chews at the tip of his thumb as he hovers the other over the three favorited contacts. He holds off for a few more seconds of debate before he gives in, picking one, and starting the call.

The ringing grates at his ears as he waits, and it feels like forever. Then, a pause in ringing and a familiar voice.

“Hey bro, what’s up?”

Pond lets out a sigh of relief. “Phi Boom, are you alone right now? I need some advice.”

He hears a bit of shuffling on the other end of the line and then his brother’s voice sounds a bit further when he says “Yeah, what’s going on?”

Pond hesitates for a moment, trying to gauge where to start.

“You remember the guy I had told you about that was staying here?”

A small hum of confirmation sounds through the speaker, Pond continues.

“So I think I really messed up.”

Pond tried to keep his voice down as he ran through the past two days, not sparing any of the details he could remember. However, it seemed his brother was not really understanding the severity of the situation.

“I just don’t understand why you can’t just ask what he remembers from last night? He may not even think this is a big deal.” Boom says. His tone sounds bored.

Pond groans in annoyance at his brother’s lax tone. “Then why would he act like that this morning? He was totally freaked out by me talking to him.”

Boom hums as he thinks. “What if it was a misunderstanding? What if it was a hangover or something like that?”

“I don’t think he was drunk enough for a hang over that intense.”

“You think? Or you know he wasn’t drunk enough?”

Pond groans, not humoring his brother with a response.

“I’m telling you Pond. You said you were super drunk, he might have been too. You just need to talk to him. Ask him what he remembers from last night.” Boom says, confident in his advice.

But Pond is anything but confident in that approach.

“And if he remembers? Then what!?” Pond’s voice nearly peaked through the phone and he had to take a deep breath to calm himself, poking a head out of the storage room door to check for any listening ears.

Once he confirmed he was still alone, he continued in a much quieter tone. “Tell him it was an accident?”

The way Boom clicks his teeth is loud through the phone. “No what? Then you’ll ruin any chance you might have to turn this around. You’ll never be able to get him after that. You have to make it more chill. Apologize but don’t take it back.”

“Ruin my chance? Boom. I’m pretty sure my chance is gone. I drunkenly said I wanted to kiss him in front of his brother and best friends, which, need I remind you, he completely ignored! And then when we were alone, I kissed him without even asking and then he ran away. Not to even mention the fact that his little brother now knows because I told him like an idiot. So even if he didn’t remember, he surely does now.” Pond sighs, breathing quickened because of his whispered rant. “I’ve given up on trying to appear cool to this guy, I just need to figure out how to apologize.”

Pond sits back down on the stool in the room and drops his face into the crook of his elbow. His low groan drags a laugh out of the man on the other end of the line. Pond scoffs at his brother’s laughter.

“I don’t even know why I asked you. You with your stupid fiancé would never be of any help with this anyways.”

Pond hears a small snicker on the other end of the phone and a slightly distant “Hey!”

Pond sighs heavily. “I knew there was no way you were actually alone. You two can’t ever keep a secret. Tell Aou I said hi.”

“You’re on speaker.” Boom says.

Pond groans again. “So he heard all that?”

This time it’s Aou that responds. “I wasn’t here until just a few seconds ago,” he laughs, “I could hear Boom in here talking to someone about ruined chances, so I came in to be nosy. I don’t know the full story, but now I need to.”

Pond sighs, but tells the story again, though a condensed version.

When Pond finishes, the call is silent for a few seconds as Aou thinks.

Aou lets out a hum in thought, followed by what Pond would call a surprisingly put together idea.

“Tell him you don’t remember everything that happened last night but you’re sorry if your actions made him uncomfortable. You can just apologize without clarifying your stance on what happened. That way he knows you feel bad but if there is a chance, it won’t squash it.”

Pond lets out an unsure sigh and ask “Do you really think that’s enough? What if he thinks I’m not being sincere?”

The sound of Aou sucking in air through his teeth is sharp through the phone, causing Pond to wince slightly.

“Unfortunately bro, I think that’s just a risk you’ll have to take. If you’re being sincere, he’ll feel it. If he doesn’t want to believe that, it’s not worth the sweat.”

Pond groans. It’s not ideal, but really what other choice does he have. He sighs heavily before thanking the two of them and ending the call without further thought.

He takes a deep breath and puts his phone away, swiping the now empty laundry basket and exiting the storage room.

But his nerves get the better of him. He steps back in and begins fidgeting with and straightening out the folded towels again, despite their already perfectly organized nature.

He could put this off for a little while longer, surely.

-

Phuwin’s patience was wearing thin. He wasn’t sure what Perth and Santa were doing, but their lack of update was starting to eat away at his mind.

Him, Est and William were sat on the beach, soaking in the sun and relaxing when Phuwin decided he was tired of waiting.

Standing up from his lounge chair, he swipes all of his stuff into his bag and scrolls through his phone one more time, checking for messages. After confirming no new messages had come though, he pockets his phone with a heavy sigh.

His sudden movement catches the attention of his friends and they sit up, waiting for him to say something. When Phuwin finally looks up, he connects eyes with this best friend.

“What’s up?” Est asks.

Phuwin sighs. “It’s been almost an hour with no update. I’m not even sure what they’re doing and if I’m being honest, I don’t trust them to not make it worse.”

William chuckles and mumbles out a quiet, “That’s valid.”

Phuwin gestures to him and continues talking Est. “See, even their best friend agrees… I’m just gonna go back and wait until I can find Pond myself.”

Est huffs out in faux annoyance. “Damn. You’re so impatient,” he says, but he’s already standing and packing away his own things, so his annoyance is hardly taken seriously.

William, seeing his not-boyfriend getting ready, packs away his own things and the three of them make their way to the bar patio. It’s mostly empty, save for the few guests filing in and out of their rooms, so Phuwin takes a seat on the stool nearest to the bar’s gate. Est and William swiftly follow to the stools next to him.

They wait for a little while and talk about plans for later in the day, though Phuwin is passively participating in the conversation, more focused on looking out for Pond.

Then, Phuwin sees him coming from the other building’s stairs, and it appears Pond spots him too. The look on his face would have been comical if it was directed at anyone else, but to Phuwin, it was troubling. His nerves were visible, eyes wide and posture unnaturally straight, and Phuwin could see the stutter in his steps.

Phuwin stands to go over to him, but before he can even utter a greeting, Pond is bowing and running up the stairs, throwing a half-baked excuse over his shoulder as he goes. Phuwin sighs and pops back down onto his stool.

He pulls his phone out of his pocket, considering sending a message to Pond, simply to ask to talk, when he sees a notification he seems to have missed while waiting for Pond.

A single message from Perth.

“big problem. there has been a crazy misunderstanding.”

Phuwin is confused and impatient, so he swipes over to the contact and hits the call button. Bringing it up to his ear, he waits as the line rings, then he’s hit by the sharp sound of a familiar voice.

“We have a problem!” Santa is practically shouting into the mic, and Phuwin has to pull the phone away to spare his hearing.

“Huh?”

Santa lets out a noise of frustration before he continues. “So he remembers. But he didn’t at first. But now he does, right?”

Phuwin hums to show he’s listening.

“Well what he remembers does not match your story. Kinda.”

Phuwin has to pause for a moment. “What do you mean?” Est and William lean in to listen, interest peaked.

Another exasperated sigh is followed by Santa’s whined words. “He doesn’t remember all the details and somehow he thinks it was an unreciprocated kiss.”

Phuwin’s brows knit together. “Okay wait. What do mean? Like how would he think that?”

“Well…” Santa trails with a sigh, then there’s the sound of the phone being fumbled with before he hears Perth’s voice instead.

“Correction Phi. Not just unreciprocated, but unwanted. All he remembers is kissing you, you pulling away and running away. He didn’t remember any of the other details.”

Now it’s Phuwin’s turn to let out an exasperated groan. This situation could not have gone worse.

“This is straight out of a drama. How can his memory be so selectively inconvenient…” Est says, definitely trying to hold in a small laugh, and Phuwin groans out.

He surrounded by a chorus of chuckles from his friends near him and on the phone.

“I’ll figure it out.” Phuwin says, voice clearly expressing his frustration.

He looks up at the staircase Pond just ascended and takes a deep breath.

“I’m gonna go fix this. I’m not sure how long this will take so I’ll text you all when I’m done.”

With that, he ends the call, stands from his seat and beelines for the stairs.

-

Pond was still clearly not ready to face this. The second he saw Phuwin, standing there and seemingly waiting for him, he panicked, which is how he ends up here.

He stands with his back pressed against his room door and takes a few deep breaths, making his best effort to calm his rapidly beating heart. Not feeling any success with that, he shuffles over to his bathroom and switches on the sink.

Splashing cold water on his face, Pond can feel the heat from his face and ears start to cool, and the rhythm of his heart settles just barely.

“It’s fine.” he whispers to his reflection.

He begins to run through the plan in his head again. Ironing the details out for the millionth time when the click of a door’s latch pulls him out of his thoughts. He looks up and locks eyes with a figure standing across the room. Phuwin.

Pond feels the rapid beating in his chest pick up in pace. The short-lived dormancy in his heart now replaced with what felt like a full fledged drumline just inside his ribcage.

Their eyes remained locked as they stared through the reflection.

Then, Pond watches as one of Phuwin’s arms shift behind him and the sound of the door’s lock clicking into place echoes in the mostly silent room.

Okay, so this was happening right now…

Pond closes his eyes for a moment, exhaling deeply. He needed to collect himself if they were going to address the situation right now.

He tried to calm his heartbeat once again, taking a chest filling breath. It would be fine, at least he continued to tell himself as much.

Phuwin was a level headed person. He can just be honest, just like he practiced. Just like Aou said. He can be honest, apologize sincerely and gauge the situation from there.

After running through the apology in his head one more time, he turns around and takes the single step out of the bathroom and into the main room. He swallows and the drag of it down his throat almost hurts, dryness causing a painful pull.

He looks down at his feet, the floor seeming very interesting, and begins to pick at the skin on his thumb. Opening his mouth, his voice comes out embarrassingly shaky.

“Uhm. Phuwin, I wanted to-”

The soft sound of feet padding across the room tears away Pond’s attention, and when he looks up, he makes eye contact with Phuwin once again. This time however, the man is right in front of him, just a mere foot away. The sudden proximity catches Pond off guard, and he steps back in surprise, but a poor miscalculation on his part lands his back directly against the doorway of the bathroom.

He winces at the slam of his body against the wood, closing his eyes for a moment as he stretches his spine away from the frame. When he opens his eyes back up, he’s shocked to find Phuwin has moved again, now only a hairsbreadth away.

Pond’s eyes search him frantically, trying to gauge the emotion on the man’s face, but before he can come to a conclusion, he feels a hand sneak it’s way onto his waist. Then, with a confident look in his eyes, Phuwin moves in, closing the distance.

The press of Phuwin’s lips against his own shocks him into a frozen state. He goes deathly still, too scared to make his move.

Then, Phuwin tilts his head just barely and brings his other hand up to the side of Pond’s neck.

To say he’s confused is an understatement. “I should be apologizing right now,” he thinks to himself, but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t starting to forget exactly why. The feeling of Phuwin’s lips sliding against his own drags him out of his thoughts, and he slowly closes his eyes, tilting his head just so.

At the end of the day, Pond is still just a guy with a crush, he cannot be blamed for losing his train of thought.

He takes a tentative hand and mirrors Phuwin, placing it delicately on Phuwin’s waist. He can feel the small twitch in Phuwin’s lips before they properly lock with his.

Time slows for Pond as their lips begin gliding softly against each other, leaving behind traces of saliva as they tilt.

Pond feels like someone dunked him underwater, entirely thrown off by the contrast of the mental image of Phuwin being upset with him and the physical feeling of Phuwin holding him tightly and kissing him softly.

He readjusts the hold on Phuwin’s waist, pinching at the fabric under his palm, and Phuwin tugs him closer, pulling his back away from the door frame.

The two of them stand so close that the folds of their clothes brush against one another. Pond hopes Phuwin can’t hear the sound of or feel the rhythm of his racing heart.

A soft knock rings against the door. So soft that Pond almost misses it, the cotton feeling in his ears practically blocking all other sounds in the room, but he’s minutely aware of it. Not aware enough however to care to pull away. Whoever was at the door could wait.

The feeling of Phuwin’s hand wrapping around the back of his neck and tugging him closer affirmed the thought. Pond let out a quiet hum that vibrated between their lips that Phuwin quickly echoed, and with that, any remaining reservations he had melted away.

He slides his hand further onto Phuwin’s lower back, tugging his body closer so their chests are flush. His heart stutters at the quiet groan Phuwin lets out between their connected lips.

Starting to gain confidence in his movements, Pond brings the other hand up, tilting the man’s chin with the tips of his fingers. Phuwin’s head gives way to his guidance, allowing his movements to be steered by the taller man. When he’s satisfied with the angle, Pond slides his hand down, cupping the side of Phuwin’s neck and jaw.

He takes a deep breath through his nose, then softly parts his lips, locking them with Phuwin’s once again, but this time, he swipes his tongue across the other’s lower lip.

The soft sound Phuwin lets out as he parts his lips would be enough to cut through any man’s hesitation. Quiet, light, and so imperceptible that Pond wouldn’t have caught it had their lips not been pushed against once another. But he did catch it, and it set a heat in his chest alive.

Encouraged by the needy sound and the unspoken permission, Pond wastes no time guiding his tongue along the entirety of Phuwin’s lower lip then diving into the swipe his tongue against his.

The feeling of Phuwin’s tongue against his own sends chills down his spine and he moves with a renewed vigor, tracing what he could and holding Phuwin firmly against him.

They move in sync, mouths sidling wetly against each other, tongues tangling, and breaths mingling every time they pulled back to breathe. They never stayed separated for long, days of unspoken tension manifesting into desperation.

Pond wants to cry a little when he feels Phuwin’s hand slide down from his neck, dragging across his chest and settling on his lower stomach. The butterflies in his stomach go wild with the placement, and he’s struck with a desperate urge to get even closer.

It seems the feeling was mutual.

Phuwin moved the hand not resting on his torso up and tangled it into Pond’s long locks at the base of his skull. He doesn’t tug, only settles it there. Pond smiles into the kiss, before he pulls back just slightly, tugging at Phuwin’s lower lip with his teeth. When he releases it, the two stay staring into each other’s eyes, foreheads pressed together. Their cheeks are flushed from their interrupted breaths, and for a moment, it feels like the world stops spinning.

They search each other’s faces as best as they can with how close they are, barely pulling back to search for any reservations on the other. When they’re both satisfied with their search, they share a soft smile, far too fond, much too intimate, and not nearly casual enough considering the circumstances, but in that moment, it all felt right.

A few more seconds of labored breathing and Pond decides he’s not ready to part completely. He uses the hand on Phuwin’s back to guide him, turning them around so it’s Phuwin who’s backed against the wall. Pond searches Phuwin’s eyes once more before he tilts his head and they connect once again.

The hand in his hair tightens just barely, and Pond slides his hand to cup more of Phuwin’s jaw, tilting his head further in an effort to catch a better angle to explore his mouth. His tongue traces the ridges of Phuwin’s teeth and their noses bump as they swap angles.

They breathe each other in, bathing in the feeling of their closeness, appreciating the satisfying culmination of their unspoken yearning.

Then, Pond leans a bit two heavy for a moment and has to remove his hand from Phuwin’s back, slapping it against the wall just beside him to maintain balance. The fumble forces them to pull apart for only a split second, but before they can reconnect, they’re interrupted by the loud noise of the door being hit harshly.

Pulling back in shock, Pond turns his upper half to look at the door when he hears a familiar voice.

“Pond! Your friends need to book their room, they said you didn’t answer when they tried earlier! What are you doing in there?” his aunt yells through the wood.

Pond huffs out in frustration, her timing needs to seriously be studied. Closing his eyes tightly, he yells back through the door.

“I’ll be there in a second!”

“Okay, well hurry up,” she replies and the sound of her retreating footsteps echo through the wooden floor boards.

Dropping his head for a moment, he takes a deep breath before he turns back to Phuwin.

When they lock eyes, Phuwin’s go wide.

“Oh.” he says.

Pond freezes, caught off guard by Phuwin’s reaction. His nerves begin to jump with anxiety, unsure of what to make of the behavior, and he hold his breath as he waits for further reaction. Expecting the worst, Pond’s heart beat begins to drum. Phuwin brings a hand up to his face and he feels the stutter in the rhythm.

Then, as if he wasn’t the one to cause them, Phuwin slices straight through all of the anxious thoughts when he smiles and brings his thumb to swipe across his lower lip. A few seconds pass with him softly prodding at his swollen, saliva-covered lip before his hand moves back, beginning to swipe and tug at his hair. Phuwin smiles softly at him.

“You look a bit of a mess. Sorry, didn’t expect things to get so…” He trails off with an almost awkward laugh, looking away from Pond with lips pulled in a tight line. Pond wants to kiss him where the soft flush has settled against his cheeks and nose.

Several long seconds pass with Pond staring at him before Phuwin gets bored being under the analyzing eye.

He brings his hands up to the man’s shoulders and pushes him fully away, chortling out a laugh as he says “Go, before she comes knocking again.”

If not for his image, Pond would have pouted at Phuwin, but he nods and shuffles away, albeit very reluctantly, and backs away to the doorway. When he’s finally close enough, he turns around to grab at the door’s handle when he hears Phuwin’s voice once again.

“Just so you know Pond. That is why I ran last night.”

Pond turned his head to look at Phuwin, who was leaned against the door frame of his bathroom, arms folded and smile lazy. Pond tweaks his head to the side in confusion and Phuwin laughs.

“A knock on the door,” he clarifies, “Perth was coming to the room to sleep, and that’s why I left.”

As the words settled on Pond, his jaw lowered slowly, leaving his mouth ajar. Phuwin pushed himself off the frame and walked forward carefully until he was right in front of Pond.

“Didn’t want my brother-in-law to see me kissing his high school friend…” He looks down to where he’s tugging at the hem of his shirt. “I didn’t realize how it all looked to you or that you wouldn’t remember that.” He said, looking up at Pond with a smile and slowly lowering himself to sit on the edge of the bed.

Pond felt any remaining confusion and subsequent tension in him melt away.

He hadn’t ruined everything, it was all a crazy misunderstanding, just like his brother had assumed, and Phuwin was right in front of him saying so.

He could shed tears of joy, but he held it in. Instead, he looked at Phuwin and nodded with a tightly pulled smile. If Phuwin caught the small wobble in his bottom lip, he didn’t say anything.

“I see.” Pond says softly, laughing as he does, then he pulls a hand up, pointing to the hallway with his thumb. “I should go get your friends in a room now.”

Phuwin just shook his head in laughter and shooed him off.

Pond’s eyes pinched with how wide his smile was and as he walked off, he heard Phuwin call out.

“I’m staying right here so come back once you’re done!”

If Pond’s stomach did a little flip at those words, that was between him and whatever higher power there may be.

gonna try and write this whole chapter in two days. lets see how i do! update: three and a half. as i was writing, it occurred to me that i’ve been writing this story with the wrong type of doors for the hostel rooms but i’m this far in so we’ll just act like that was part of renovations <3 also the situationship has officially begun… also, unplanned aouboom cameo. just imagine them as themselves from We Are as always, let me know what y'all think! hope you enjoyed!

Thai Garlic Chili Shrimp.

That is what Duang has found out to be the secret weapon. Even if Qin seemed reluctant, Thai Garlic Chili Shrimp is apparently the answer to getting him to hang out. Of course he wasn’t privy to that immediately and in turn that meant a failed attempt or two before he saw any success.

His first attempt started after they had their group lunch.

Duang, who was still a little in his head about everything that had happened, was sat in front of Qin and watching the boy quietly, careful to not disturb him.

He watched, mentally jotting down his habits as he picked around his meal, separating out the pieces he didn’t like and happily munching away at the parts he did. After several minutes of Duang’s observation, Qin apparently gets fed up.

“What the hell are you looking at?”

Duang shakes out of his Qin-induced trance and smiles awkwardly, waving a hand in front of him in an attempt to avoid the question. It works, just barely, and Duang holds in a sigh of relief as he watches Qin go back to his food, scoffing and rolling his eyes as he does.

This time, Duang uses a more subtle approach, glancing occasionally as he tunes into the conversation between their friends.

“Yeah, Jamie, Duang and I have been friends since then and we all agreed to enroll in the same arts university.” Pae says.

Tong pats at his two friends’ shoulders. “We’re kinda the same, we all were high school friends and came here together for the music department.”

Jamie leans forward, “What are you all studying?”

Kim swallows down his food and points at the instrument case at his feet. “Jazz.”

Duang half listens as the four of them go back and forth, making unofficial plans and talking about each other’s respective arts. He picks at his own food and takes small bites, not jumping into the conversation much.

That is until Pae accidentally gives him the perfect opening.

“And so you’ve been playing drums since then?” Pae asks.

Tong looks a bit smug as he says “Yeah, You should come by and listen in on one of our rehearsals some day. I can show off my skills.”

The proud look spreads across Pae’s features before he can stop it. He kicks at Duang under the table.

“Would it be okay if we all come? Jamie and Duang love live music. Right Duang?”

He’s no fool, he knows that when a golden opportunity lands in your lap like this, you have to do everything in your power to seize it. But his confidence was still wounded.

He looked between Pae and Tong for a few seconds before responding.

“I wouldn’t want to disturb you all…” He glances at Qin, who seems to be indifferent to the current conversation.

Tong insists. “You won’t disturb us, it would be good practice to be in front of an audience. Right guys?”

What was really a few seconds of waiting for Qin’s response felt like an eternity for Duang. He waited for even a tiny indication of rejection, but is instead met with a quiet “Mm. That’s fine.”

Duang’s smile is instantaneous. Like stepping into the warmth of the sun after a long day in a cold, dark room, the excitement blossomed in his chest at a speed that rivaled time itself.

It wasn’t a big deal, really. It was hardly a real invitation. But after the day he’s had, with fail after fail, and rejection after rejection, the small indication of approval was like a drop of water to a man stranded in the desert.

His smile remained obnoxiously wide as he nodded his head quickly.

“Not that anyone seems to be waiting for my answer, but I’m also okay with it.”

The rest of the group laughs at Kim’s interjection, attention turning over to him, but Duang’s eyes are still glued on Qin. He watched happily as the omega went back to eating, unperturbed by the loud conversation to his right, and if Duang looked closely enough, he’d see the small smile that began to reach Qin’s eyes.

By the time the group was ready to pack up and leave, food finished and conversations reaching a natural conclusion, Duang and Qin had started to talk. Though the conversation was mostly Duang asking questions and Qin giving quiet yes’s and no’s, Duang was buzzing with excitement.

If not for the patch at the back of his neck, the whole cafeteria would likely smell of sweetened dark chocolate. But his body language made it so anyone walking by would be able to tell just how overjoyed he was, pheromones be damned.

As the group stood up from their seats, bags slung over their shoulders, Duang rushed around to Qin’s side, and held a hand out.

“Let me take your bags to your next class for you!”

Qin stares at the outstretched palm for a moment before he looks up.

“No thanks.”

Oh. Right, okay. It’s fine. Totally cool. Duang can be chill and not become super dramatic about his millionth rejection of the day.

“Okay…”

Then Tong slings a shoulder over his and loudly whispers to Duang, clearly intending for Qin to hear what he says. “Don’t misunderstand him Duang. He just has something to do off campus before his next class.”

Qin rolls his eyes at his friend and Duang nods his head slowly in understanding.

“Did you drive here? If not, I can give you a ride!” he asks.

For the first time that day, Duang sees a new emotion settle across Qin’s features. One of hesitance, as if the offer was one that worried him.

His voice is a bit unstable, and weirdly rushed as he says “No thanks. I’ll take the bus.”

And without further hesitation, Qin picks up his guitar case and walks off.

Duang slumps slightly, watching his retreating form, but he doesn’t chase after him, not wanting to pressure the boy.

The four others watch for a while without saying anything, not wanting to risk any emotional responses. Then, for the sake of not being late to their next class, Pae awkwardly coughs, wincing at the roughness of it.

“Well, we have a class on the other side of campus so…” The omega trails off. He awkwardly reaches across the table and taps Tong’s shoulder to catch his attention.

Qin’s friends nod, humming an acknowledgment back, and walk toward Duang before they separate.

“It’s okay Duang. Better luck next time…” Kim says as he pats Duang’s slumped back.

“We’re rooting for you lover boy!” Tong gives him a passionate thumbs up as he walks past, and Duang can’t help but smile a little as he watches them.

From behind him, he hears another exaggerated cough and turns to see his two best friends smiling at him and signaling toward the cafeteria exit. He reluctantly picks up his stuff and goes.

As they walk to their next class’s building, Pae leans towards Duang, looking smug as he says “You’re welcome for securing your next opportunity to hang with your darling Qin.”

The distinct sound of the omega fighting off Duang’s strange affections echoes off the hallway walls.

-

Being in a rehearsal room is not as exciting as one may think it would be, at least that’s what Pae was saying. But Duang? Well he was having the time of his life.

Watching Qin strum and pluck away at the strings of his guitar, melting into the performance like it’s second nature, listening to his voice as it floats through the room like a melodic breeze, it settled on him like a warm blanket sitting atop Duang’s shoulders.

If he wasn’t well aware of Qin’s dislike of candid photos, he’d be snapping hundreds of them right now, but he’d rather pass away than upset the beautiful omega. As far as Duang was concerned, it was miracle he was allowed to stay to watch in the first place. He would do nothing to compromise this once in a life time opportunity.

Him and his two friends were sat on top of some of the unused speakers in the corner as they watched the jazz students practice. While Duang remained occupied by the rehearsal, Jamie and Pae were going back and forth between talking about the unused equipment in the room and scrolling through their phones.

During the a lull in the music, Pae spoke up with a question.

“Would you guys be okay with it if I invited one more person?”

Most of them shrug, indifferent to additional visitors, but Pae’s mention of a new person seems to catch the attention of one of them.

Sounding totally chill and not at all overly inquisitive, Tong pipes up with his own question from behind the drum set. “Who are you inviting?” he rushes out.

Jamie snorts at the tone of the question, but is quickly to mimic a zipped mouth when Pae whips a glare in his direction.

“One of my friends from the omega resources group. They’re a fashion student and wanted some non fashion inspo for an upcoming project. He said he was nearby.” Pae says as he slowly turns back to the drummer.

Tong nods slowly. “Mmh. I mean it’s okay with me if everyone else is fine.”

A chorus of uninterested or affirming hums echoes in the room and the drummer sets down his drumsticks, standing and stretching for a moment.

“10 minute break?” asks Kim. Another round of confirmations fill the air with the cellist and pianist stepping out, giving rushed explanations of running to the restroom.

Duang is quick to shoot up from his spot the second he makes eye contact with Qin, beelining over to him.

“You’re so cool Qin. I didn’t know you were so good at guitar!”

Qin’s brows furrow slightly as he pulls the guitar strap over his head, but he just nods at Duang’s praise. His lack of verbal response doesn’t deter Duang. Instead, he takes the chance to pour more praise out for the boy.

“Your singing is incredible too! I mean I assumed it would be because your talking voice is already like music to my ears, but your singing is even better. It’s like honey, sweet and thick. I wish I could listen to you sing forever.”

No person on earth would be able to hear someone singing praises like this and stay collected, so it’s no surprise that Duang spots a soft flush settle on Qin’s cheeks. He resists the urge to coo at the omega, giving himself a moment to compose himself and instead jamming a thumb in the direction of the door.

“Did you want to get a snack? Or I can go grab you one?”

Qin thinks for a moment then nods, walking over to his bag to grab his wallet then heading toward the door. Pushing it open, he turned back to look at Duang expectantly. Duang beamed at him before following.

Still in the rehearsal room, Jamie called out to the closed door. “No it’s fine! We didn’t want to join or anything!”

The laughter following was enough to put a proud smirk on his face at he looked at the laughing group. He continues to push the bit, making comments about Duang’s single mindedness and kicking up more laughter until the door pushed open again.

Jamie, still looking away, called out to his returning friend.

“Oh, did you finally remember we were here t-”

Jamie’s words get cut short when he makes eye contact with the figure that just entered. The figure whom, as it turns out, is not Duang, but rather a stranger. A jaw-droppingly beautiful stranger.

“Marvis!” He hears his best friend call out and watches as Pae runs over to the stranger and grabs his bag from him, turning to face the group.

“Guys, this is Marvis, the fashion student I was talking about before. Marvis, these are my friends Kim and Tong.” He points over at the two musicians. “And that’s one of my best friends, Jamie. There’s a few that just left but they’ll be back shortly.”

Marvis waves shyly, smiling softly at the group and Jamie’s throat goes dry when they make eye contact again.

He quickly stands and makes his way over to the newly introduced omega.

“Hey Marvis. We were just about to go get something to drin-”

“What? No-” Jamie pinches his eyes up in a strained smile as he claps a hand over his best friends both. “Would you like to join us? My treat.”

Marvis’s lips tuck into a thin smile as he clearly tries to hold in a laugh.

“Well if you’re paying…” Jamie felt a chill run down his spine at the sultry tone of his voice.

Oh how he would love to get used to that.

Releasing his best friend’s mouth, he lets out a smooth “Shall we?” as he motions toward the door.

Grabbing their things, all five of them make their way out of the rehearsal room together. In the hall, Jamie makes a half-baked attempt to squeeze himself next to Marvis and shove away Pae, asking him about his fashion major.

They’re all excitedly chattering away with questions for the new addition when they pause, hearing a familiar voice coming from just around the corner of the hallway.

Pae is quick to grab Marvis’s sleeve and show him a shushing gesture so he doesn’t keep walking and reveal their position.

“You don’t want anything else?” they hear Qin say.

“Nope! I just wanted to get you something since you’re working so hard at your rehearsal.”

Jamie snorts at his friend’s flattery and receives a sharp slap to his shoulder. Pae holds a finger up to his mouth in another shushing gesture, eyes squinted and threatening.

“Well thank you…” Qin says

The sound of a can being popped open echoes around the corner, and it’s clear the omega has begun to take a drink. Jamie tiptoes forward, trying to catch a view of the two without revealing their position.

“So uh… Do you have any plans for dinner?” Duang asks.

The omega comes into view and Jamie watches as he lowers the can from his mouth and shakes his head.

“Well, would you want to go grab dinner together?”

Jamie holds his breath, pushing forward just enough for Duang to come into view just as Qin responds.

“Oh. No thank you.”

He watches as Duang’s form slumps. After a few seconds, he looks down at his feet, kicking at the non existent dirt below him. “Okay…”

Jamie spots Qin awkwardly rub his hands on the sides of his jeans.

The motion appears to catch Duang’s attention, but when Duang looks back up, instead of locking in on Qin, it’s Jamie’s eyes he connects with.

The room feels still for a moment, but then Jamie, who is now joined by the other four peeping around the corner, can’t help but smile softly and shake his head at him in pity.

Jamie stifles a laugh as he watches Duang register the five of their presences. From the corner of his eye, he can see Tong pump a fist at him in a silent display of support.

“Next time!” He hears Kim whisper.

The words themselves are not audible to Duang, but it’s clear he understands as he rolls his shoulders, smile slipping back onto his face, completely rejuvenated by the encouragements.

-

It had become pretty standard at this point for Qin to leave his class and spot his pursuer standing across the hall, always smiling and always eager to ask to hold his bag for him.

At first, he was reluctant, not wanting to give in to the the beta too much, but Qin’s will power was only so strong.

Sure, he wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about Duang’s pursuit at first, had only allowed it because it was too much of a hassle to deny him and deal with the consequences of rejecting a campus golden boy, but it would be a lie to say he hadn’t whittled himself a spot into is heart in the last two weeks.

Duang rushed over as Qin walked out of the classroom, smile as bright as always.

“Qin! How was your class?” he asks as he extends a hand out to take his bag.

Qin nods. “Was so-so, nothing really eventful.” he says as he drops the backpack on Duang’s awaiting arm.

Duang pulls it up onto his shoulder and the two of them fall into quiet conversation as they make their way down and out of the building.

While the atmosphere was stifled and awkward at times for the first few days, Duang’s presence had become familiar, and even though it was usually Duang carrying the conversation, Qin found it comfortable to talk with him now.

As they walked to the parking lot, the two were talking about something Tong had said during their group lunch, which had also become a regular occurrence on days that allowed it. Suddenly, Duang stopped.

“Oh right! I’ve been meaning to ask. Marvis. You two have met before?”

Qin stops and turns around to look at Duang. He purses his lips and nods.

“Mhm. We’ve met at the omega resources center a few times.”

Duang lets out an understanding “Ahh.” and skips forward. Qin watches as he walks past and can’t help but smile at the boy’s spontaneous nature. He speed walks to catch up.

“So are you guys close? Or just kind of know each other?” Duang asks.

Qin contemplates his answer. “I’m not too sure. We text each other sometimes but it’s usually about stuff from the resource bulletins or checking in because of news on Omega Know Now.”

Duang begins to hum in understanding but cuts himself off. “Omega Know Now?” he asks as he turns to look at Qin.

Qin looks back at him and just nods. When Duang’s eyebrows scrunch together in confusion, Qin can’t resist the laugh he releases.

Duang pouts and slows down slightly, “Are you laughing at me?” he asks, slightly bemused.

Qin nods and Duang’s pout deepens.

“You don’t know about the O.K.N.?” Qin asks, to which Duang shakes his head.

“I guess that makes sense actually. Well it’s a blog bulletin where we can post about anything omega related.”

“Anything?” Duang asks.

“Well, within reason. And it’s usually only omegas that post. Usually about stuff that might be helpful to know, like where you can get certain stuff on sale, alphas to watch out for, classes and professors to avoid, stuff like that.”

Duang just nods, but Qin appreciates the engaged look on his face.

Qin continues, “Is there anything like that for betas? I would assume not since there isn’t as many things like that to worry about.”

Duang’s eyes go weirdly wide for a moment and he brings a hand up to scratch at the back of his neck.

His voice is a bit pitched up as he says “Oh! Uh, not that I know of… I haven’t really looked.”

If Qin wants to ask about the suddenly odd behavior, he doesn’t show it. He just nods, satisfied with the response. As he turns back to look in front of him, he spots his car just a bit further down the sidewalk.

Turning back to look at Duang, it’s clear he has noticed it as well. Qin stops ten feet short of the car, mindful of the car seat inside, and turns to Duang with an extended arm to ask for his bag.

Following the now usual routine, Duang pulls the bag off his own shoulder and slips one of the straps over Qin’s shoulder. He walks around Qin to pull the other strap onto his other arm.

Qin had been reluctant, even annoyed, at Duang’s insistence to put his bag on for him at first, but he eventually gave in, too lazy to resist it, and now, he sort of appreciated it. Though he would deny it if you asked.

Duang cleared his throat from next to him, and Qin looked up at him as he slowly reached into his pocket.

“Did you want to go get food later?”

Qin pulled his phone out, clicking the lock to light up the screen. Duang waited patiently for an answer.

Qin read the time on his screen. “4:47.” Unideal but it would be fine if he went now.

Looking up at Duang, he sees the expectant look on his face, and for the first time, he gives him a new answer. Something beside his usual “No thank you.” or “I’m already busy.”

He looks at him and says “I’ll think about it. I have to go now, I’ll let you know when I get back.”

Qin knew he probably wouldn’t end up taking him up on the offer, but even he had started to feel a bit bad about his constant rejection’s considering how sweet and respectful the beta had been of his boundaries.

Nonetheless, he bowed slightly and ran over, slipping into his car without further ado.

Qin’s trip to the daycare center followed his usual routine. Despite his slight delay, he still showed up at the same time he does almost every day.

What changed was the greeting he’d get from his daughter when she’s brought out to him at pick-up.

He smiled as he spotted Dara and one of her teachers come through the daycare’s front doors holding hands. He waves at her as she is walked over to him. He squatted down and opened his arms, ready to welcome a hug.

Before the teacher could react, the small girl tugged her hand out of the teacher’s and ran to her father’s arms.

Qin barely registered the soft yell coming from behind the girl.

A rushed “Wait! Dara! No-” then Qin’s body is softly knocked back by the force of Dara colliding into his chest, then subsequently knocked back by the pungent scent rolling off her in waves.

Careful not to push his daughter away and hurt her feelings, he tugs her into his left arm and covers his nose with the sleeve of the his shirt. He looks up and makes eye contact with the teacher that had brought Dara out, he registers the meek look on her face.

“I’m so sorry Khun Qin… Dara was just playing with Ms. Mani and she caught sight of her blocker patch and ripped it off.”

Ah, that explained the sickly sweet, yet dominating scent of cherries permeating off of his child. He tried to reflect a smile in his eyes as he stood up with Dara in his unoccupied arm, nose and mouth hidden behind the other arm.

“I’m so sorry about that Ms. Khajee. I hope Dara properly apologized before she ran out here. She’s not around people who wear scent patches often so it completely slipped my mind to teach her not to grab.”

The teacher is quick to shake her hands and head in denial.

“No! We should have been more careful.” Qin is endeared by the teacher’s rapidly reddening cheeks as she explains. “Usually we’re more mindful of keeping them out of sight from the children, but I had to come into the school early today, so she had to apply it herself, which caused her to- I’m so sorry! I am totally rambling right now!”

Qin’s smile widened, although she could not see that, and he assured her it was okay. A few more minutes of brief conversation and assurance from Qin that he would teach her properly, Qin and Dara said their goodbyes and began their journey home.

As they left, Qin shimmied the over shirt from his uniform off and wrapped it around his daughter’s shoulders, effectively covering the scent so he was no longer being assaulted by it’s pungency.

Then, as an extra precaution, he took the small scent dampener pen out from his bag and swiped it under his nose, blocking any remaining pheromones that snuck past the shirt.

Before getting home, Qin made a quick call to their neighbor, giving her a fair warning and suggestion of an immediate bath and change of clothes. By the time they arrived, the older lady had applied her own dampener and had the bath running with the laundry loaded up and ready for the small girl’s clothes.

Passing Dara over to Mrs. Nat was a quick process, as it usually was. The routine was familiar to them all, but the additional hiccup caused him to be behind schedule, and if he wanted to make it back on time, he’d have to be quick.

A short goodbye, a promise to be back soon, and a thoughtless retrieval of his uniform later, he was back in his car and heading back to the campus.

-

Duang had done a little digging, and by digging, he means pestering Qin’s friends. The day before, after his most recent of unsuccessful invitations, he asked Qin’s friends a few simple questions to get a feel for what he actually would like.

Through that, he discovered that his own favorite restaurant near campus just so happened to be one of Qin’s as well.

Then through insistence alone, he had found out the exact order that Qin would usually get: Thai Garlic Chili Shrimp. And thus, his ticket to get Qin to go on a date with him was here.

He had intended to pull this card earlier when walking Qin to his car, but throughout the past two weeks, he had learned Qin’s schedule. He came to realize which parts of his schedule were hard deadlines and which were more flexible and his off campus excursion just before five was not to be disturbed.

It would be a lie to say he wasn’t curious, but he wouldn’t dare push the subject. It would feel better to hear from Qin when he’s ready anyways.

For now, he would gladly wait for him to arrive just before his late evening class.

Which, as it so happens, is exactly what Qin could see Duang was doing now.

Walking towards the boy, he was prepared to offload his bag on the beta, who would graciously take it while the two walk up to the third floor for his final class of the day.

As Duang caught sight of him and leaped up from his spot on the bench, Qin couldn’t stop the small flutter in his stomach.

Sue him, anyone would be a little taken by a pretty boy being this excited to see you.

Duang began bounding over, usual pep in his step as he closed the distance, until an unwelcome factor wedges it’s way into the situation.

Duang’s approach comes to a sudden halt, and the gleeful look on his face disappears as quickly as it had come.

Even from the ten-ish feet between them, Qin’s eyes follow the movement of his Adam’s apple as the beta swallows, then there’s a slight upturn of his nose, and finally a downturn of the lips as he begins to chew at the inside of his lower lip.

Qin’s confusion is palpable. Duang was no stranger to speaking his mind, so for the boy to be so clearly nervous and not say anything was unusual.

He watched as he took another step forward and took in another inhale through his nostrils, throat bobbing once again as he seemed to confirm something.

There was only one word Qin could use to describe the expression that settled on Duang’s face before he looked down at his feet: devastation.

For a moment, Qin just stared at Duang’s unusually guarded posture, completely lost as to what the cause was. Then, the sound of another inhale in the quiet hallway and the soft, almost whimper-like sound that followed finally clicked the pieces together in his head.

The scent. The scent that he was probably absolutely smothered in because he was wearing the exact shirt he used to shield it. With the dampener swiped under his own nose, it had completely slipped his mind.

He probably absolutely reeked of some alpha, and considering the circumstances, it was no wonder why Duang seemed upset.

Qin couldn’t even begin to guess how strongly he smelled of pheromones, considering it was strong enough for Duang, a beta, to be struck by it. He could only imagine.

Without any hesitation, Qin was quick to pull the accidentally scented shirt off of him and grab the sweater out of his bag to pull on quickly.

Evidently, that was enough to cut the scent, because only a few seconds later, Qin can see Duang’s posture relax a bit and look up at him. It still looked like he wanted to ask questions, still wanted to prod, but Duang being the oh-so-considerate man that he is, didn’t ask anything.

Qin could practically feel it as the layers he had built up slowly begin to tear away. He smiled softly and held out his bag and Duang didn’t hesitate to grab it for him, although Qin could see the way his nostrils flexed slightly as he tried to search for the scent again.

Satisfied that it seemed completely blocked by the zipper of the bag and the thick fabric of Qin’s sweater, Duang smiled at the object of his affections and signaled him to lead the way, though he knew the route by heart now.

As they walked, Duang was quiet at first, which Qin assumed was due to the residual awkwardness, but before they reached the classroom, Qin saw him slow to a stop in his peripheral vision.

“Uh. Qin?”

Qin hummed an inquisitive “Hm?” as he turned to look at Duang, waiting for him to continue.

“I uh- I was wondering if you thought about it? If you wanted to get dinner together later.” His tone was different than usual, reluctant compared to his usual boisterous attitude, and Qin couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him.

Duang continues, “We can go to the place on that street corner nearby? They have that really good garlic shrimp dish.”

Qin is hardly even registering the context of the words, focusing solely on his nonverbal language and the way the words tumble out of Duang’s mouth. He zones back in when Duang’s head drops before he continues speaking.

“No pressure though, if you’re busy or just don’t want to.”

Be it the guilt of the accidental scenting or the slow wiggle of Duang into his heart, Qin felt absolutely no hesitation as he responds with a simple, “Yeah, that sounds great.”

Duang’s genuine responding cheer was enough to affirm his decision.

a new character added, what do we think? still trying to decide what i wanna do with marvis as a character though. also!! sorry for the full month between chapters. i really wanted to get a better schedule going for my fics but work has been crazy so i have much less free time. i hope you all still enjoy this chapter!

Phuwin woke up with a clinging hangover and an (un)fortunately crystal clear memory of the night before.

He slowly sat up, careful to not agitate his slight headache, and scooched over to the edge of the bed. Leaning over, he drops his head into his hands and groans.

The figure next to him rolled over, reaching out for him.

“Perth? What time is it?”

Phuwin huffed out a laugh, turning to look over his shoulder at his brother’s still curled up form.

“Wrong. Not Perth.”

Santa, with his still closed eyes, turns his head in the direction of the voice and Phuwin can’t help but laugh at the confused look on his face.

The sound of the familiar laugh was enough for Santa to register who it was and he cracks an eye open to look at his brother. The brightness of the room was evidently too much for his hangover and he scrunched his eyes shut again, letting out a pained groan.

Phuwin continues to laugh at his brother, reaching over to rustle his sleep-tussled hair. He swats his hand away, reaching up to grab his wrist as he looks at his brother.

“What are you moaning and groaning about? Hungover?”

The reminder of his own distress causes him to close his eyes, blowing an exasperated breath through his nose and dropping his head forward again.

“I think I did something kinda wild yesterday.” He pushes himself to sit against the headboard, knees tucked up like a child.

Santa, sensing the dolor in his voice, sits up next to him, resting his head on his brother’s shoulder.

“What’s the matter Phi?”

“You have to be chill…”

Santa lifts the hand between the two of them, pinky raised, and Phuwin brings his own up to interlock with it, a nonverbal promise.

“I kissed Pond-”

“I knew it!”

For a moment, Phuwin wants to smack his brother for his over-the-top reaction but then he realizes, that voice was not his brother’s.

His head shoots up and he makes direct eye contact with Perth standing in the partially opened doorway.

The man is still in his pajamas, hair a mess, and key in hand, but the look on his face sends chills down Phuwin’s spine. Before he can even unpack his reaction though, a loud “What?!” pierces his ear.

He whips his head over and finds Santa with his mouth agape. If it weren’t for the context, Phuwin would have laughed.

Perth walks over, sitting down on the bed next to his partner and rests his head on the man’s legs while looking at Phuwin.

“They definitely kissed when he brough him to his room last night.” He turns to look up at his lover. “While we were in here collecting our things and making accommodations for him, he was off smoochin- Ow!”

A sharp smack to the back of his head silences Perth.

“If you’re done gossiping, I’m going to go shower.”

He ignores their rebuttals and protests as he collects the clothes he set aside the night before and walks into the bathroom. He calls out over his shoulder, “I’m using your shampoo!”

-

Pond is chugging down water after sweeping the patio and fighting internal demons in the form of a gnarly headache when he sees Phuwin for the first time that day.

“Morning!” he calls out to him. “How did you sleep last night?”

Pond is somewhat taken aback when Phuwin looks at him in shock, almost scared.

A chill runs up his spine. What could have possibly warranted that look directed at him?

Eyebrows barely upturned, eyes widened, and mouth open ever so slightly.

If it were any other situation, he’ have laughed at the man’s likeness to a deer in headlights. But it being directed at him combined with his hazy memory of the night before? He had no clue what to do.

He watched Phuwin’s throat bob with an aggressive swallow before he responds in an unusually high and unstable voice.

“Uh I’m good.”

Still, Pond tries to remain upbeat “Were you okay last night? I know we had to shuffle around a bit.”

Pond can practically feel the way Phuwin’s eyes flit around his face, scanning, searching. For what? Pond had no clue.

His voice still comes out unnaturally as he says “Slept good, uuh, in the room…. with Santa, y’know…”

Pond can only nod, the remaining awkward tone and uncomfortable response only confirming his fears.

He had totally fucked up. He did something last night and now Phuwin was never going to want to be around him again. End of story. Cut. *Fin*.

Trying not to show his internal panic, he smiles, although anyone could tell it wasn’t genuine, and gestures to a different part of the hostel.

He tries to keep his voice even as he says “That’s good, I uh.. I have to go work on something over… over there. Let me know if you guys need anything.”

Then he quickly walks away, head tucked down.

Phuwin is broken from his ‘watching Pond’s retreating form’ trance by the sound of footsteps bounding down the stairs. Looking up, he spots Perth also watching Pond walk away.

Perth keeps his focus on Pond right up until he’s next to Phuwin.

“Uh, what was that about?”

Phuwin looks rather uncomfortable as he says, “I don’t think he remembers yesterday.”

Perth looks back to where Pond had walked away. “He doesn’t remember the kiss?”

“The what!?”

They turn to see Est and William holding bags full of drinks and snacks. Est’s face is comically shocked as he stands stock still for one second… two… three…

“You kissed Pond!?”

Phuwin is almost knocked to the ground by the force of his best friend running over and grabbing him by the shoulders. Phuwin is quick to pull his hands up to cover the man’s mouth.

“Can you be any louder? Holy shit.”

Est pulls his friend’s hands off his face and whisper yells “How did that? When did that? What?”

Phuwin sighs, closing his eyes and looking up at the ceiling of the patio.

“When I took him to his room last night it just happened.”

“Just happened? You have to give me more than that.”

“Well-”

-

-

“Can you handle the stairs?”

Pond looks at Phuwin, eyes hazy. He thinks for a moment before lifting a hand in a “so-so” gesture.

Phuwin chuckles, pulling the man closer by the waist and tightening his grip on the hand over his shoulder. His own steps aren’t the most stable, having done his own fair few shots, but they’re surely better than Pond’s who is swaying as he stands.

“You should have just tapped out on the drinks, you didn’t need to do every shot.” Phuwin says as they begin climbing the stairs. “I think I even saw Est throw a few over his shoulder instead. You should have taken a page from his book.”

Pond’s laugh, slow and deep, sends a slight chill up Phuwin’s spine, the man’s slumped figure putting his face right next to the his ear.

“Explains why he seemed much more sober.”

The pair giggle together as they slowly make their way up. They took their time, stopping, stumbling, and chatting as they went. Luckily the other pairs had already gone up, so they weren’t holding anyone up on the stairs.

Finally making it to the top, Phuwin releases the tight grip he held, instead keeping only one steadying hand on Pond’s arm.

As they approached Pond’s room door and Pond struggles to unlock it, the man turns to Phuwin.

“I weirdly feel like I’m much very sober mentally but not even a little bit physically. Like this key has never seemed more difficult but I’m fully aware it shouldn’t be.”

Phuwin laughs, taking the key from his hands and unlocking it himself.

Pond bows in gratitude and opens the door as Phuwin talks, “ So you’re one of those people who feel alcohol more physically than mentally I guess.”

Phuwin helps Pond over to the edge of the bed near the bathroom, guiding him slowly now that they’re in the dark room.

He reaches over to flick on the lamp on the bedside, careful to not push Pond as he does so, but Pond, still uncoordinated in his movements, sits abruptly cause Phuwin quickly turn back to him and grab him by the shoulders, making sure the sudden change in elevation doesn’t cause him to fall.

The two laugh for a moment, and Pond apologizes for the scare. When Phuwin is positive the man is stable, he releases his grip on his shoulders, but he doesn’t move away, continuing to stand between his legs and hover above his seated position.

The air in the room is humid, as expected from a beachside hostel, but in that moment, it felt even warmer than usual. The heat from the alcohol and their close proximity boosted the sensation of warmth and fuzzed their thoughts.

A beat passes, the two stare at each other, honed in on the other’s dimly lit features and expressions. The low warm lighting of the room coming from the dated light bulbs make the contours of their faces seem softer, blurred.

Phuwin analyzes Pond’s face, watching as the man’s eyes flit around his own. Call it alcohol induced courage or a confirmed mutual longing, but Phuwin’s head was buzzing with a strange desire to be closer to the man.

He brings a single curled finger under Pond’s chin, tilting his head up as he leans his own down, bending at the waist to match his eye level.

“Was what you said earlier a sober thought then?” His tone is teasing and even in the low lighting, the change on Pond’s ears and cheeks is obvious, a sudden redness spreading across the features.

“Ah, well I…” He scratches at the back of his neck, flicking his eyes and turning away from Phuwin’s face after what felt like forever.

Phuwin mentally chuckles. Despite the man’s unstable movements before, the speed at which he understood confirmed his head was definitely much clearer now. Phuwin could work with that info.

He continues to tease, pressing even further and leaning closer. “You…?” he asks as he uses the finger below his chin to turn towards him again.

It takes him a few seconds before Pond can muster up a quiet “Uh, I was definitely very drunk earlier.”

An exaggerated pout takes over Phuwin’s features as he looks between Pond’s eyes. “So it wasn’t a sober thought?”

Pond mumbles as he says, “Well I didn’t say that…”

The room is dead silent, the two of them continuing to scan each other’s faces in the tense air. Phuwin can hear the sound as Pond swallows down a quiet gulp.

They hold eye contact, blinks soft and breaths slow, careful not to disturb the moment. Phuwin’s cheeks rise as he smiles softly, looking between Pond’s eyes and occasionally flitting lower.

Then, with a confidence in movement he had been missing for hours, Pond presses forward.

It’s nothing crazy and definitely not unexpected, but Phuwin is still somewhat surprised at the feel of lips against his own.

It’s a gentle press, no real pressure behind it, just a soft locking of lips.

Phuwin closes his eyes, leaning forward more. He tilts his head and can feel as Pond mirrors the motion.

The room remains quiet and neither make any move to pull away or deepen the kiss. If anyone were to see them, they may even think the two were frozen in time. Then Phuwin feels a soft pull on his lower lip as Pond slowly pulls away.

The man presses his forehead against Phuwin’s and their breaths intermingle as they look each other in the eyes. Neither say a word, letting the moment sink in.

Phuwin’s gaze lingers on Pond’s still red cheeks. The color seems so much brighter this close. He tilts his head again, leaning in to press another kiss to the man’s lips when an unwanted disruption sounds through the room.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Phuwin shoots up, standing at attention, the knocks making him step back instinctively. Pond stands up, though his movement is still a bit unstable, but before Phuwin can think to help him, another knock sounds.

He panics and the leftover alcohol in his system causes him to act on impulse.

He steps back again, no mental forethought to look at the lost look on Pond’s face, and rushes toward the door and out, past a confused Perth and away from an equally confused Pond.

-

-

“Woah.”

Est was on the edge of the bar stool he pulled out during the story, his jaw slack in a mixture of excitement and shock.

William and Perth, who were still standing in front of the two sitting older men, wore similar expressions.

Phuwin winced as he looked around at his friend’s reactions. “Yeah. And I was expecting him to say something about it or say nothing at all and then he was just completely normal, so I think that reaction threw him off.”

“What? He didn’t say anything?” asks Est.

“I don’t know if he even remembers…” Phuwin looks down at his own twiddling thumbs, “but I’m also worried that he does remember and is trying to act like it didn’t happen.”

“Hey, he’s just a guy, why are you so worried about him.”

“No. I know. I know. But I felt like really at ease with him and I thought we could become close and get along well and now I feel I might’ve ruined any chance at that.”

Perth steps forward and pats Phuwin on the shoulder.

“I get it, you guys seemed to be really close for just meeting. No shame in an instant connection.”

Phuwin tries to muster up a smile, laugh hollow as he says “Yeah… I just don’t know what to do now. If I knew what he was thinking, I could at least know what to say to him, but I just feel awkward.”

The groups sits in the silence, somewhat solemn with Phuwin’s declaration, then an idea strikes Perth. He snaps his fingers and points at Phuwin.

“Then you just need to find out what he’s thinking and what he knows!”

One of Phuwin’s eyebrows tilt up in doubt. “And how do you expect me to do that?”

Perth just smiles.

“You, my dear brother, don’t have to. Santa and I will.”

Almost like magic, Santa appears from the stairs.

“What am I doing?” he asks as he makes his way over.

Perth pulls his lover under his shoulder. “You and me are gonna do a little bit of spying.”

Santa’s face lights up with excitement. “Spying? Like James Bond stuff?”

The group laugh at the display of childlike glee and Perth ruffles his hair softly as he says “Not quite as serious, but a little bit like that I guess.”

Santa folds his lips in tightly, pulling them to the side to express his suspicion.

“Wait… what are we spying on?”

“Pond.” Perth points toward the direction the man disappeared. “We need to figure out what he remembers from yesterday.”

Santa hums as he nods slowly. “Okay okay. Is this related to the…” He jerks his head toward his brother, trying to be subtle. “You know the…?

Lacking any trace of subtlety, Est butts in “The kiss?”

Santa’s eyes go wide, and his head flits around to check if anyone was around. “Geez can you say it any louder?”

Est laughs loudly at his reaction, endeared by it’s similarity to his brother’s, and raises a hand as he apologizes through his laughter. “Sorry! Sorry. Anyways, William and I already know about it, we overheard on accident.”

Perth pinches his fiancé’s check. “So are you in or no?”

No hesitation, he answers “I’m in, I’m gonna get to the bottom of this.”

A pause.

“Wait, why are we spying for this?”

-

After filling Santa in on the full story and conjuring up a brief gameplan, the two start their mission to find and secretly interrogate Pond.

Starting in the direction Perth had watched him walk, they peak into every open door and around every corner, to no avail.

When they’re about to give up, having searched what felt like every single spot, Santa sees an open door at the end of a breakoff hallway he hadn’t noticed before.

There, inside a second floor storage room of the hostel’s other building, they find Pond.

The man is sat on a step ladder in front of a shelf and quietly folding towels with a distant look in his eyes.

Perth clears his throat to catch the man’s attention, but when he doesn’t react, he steps forward and knocks on the door.

Pond’s head whips up to look at the two men standing just outside of the room and he freezes when recognition hits him.

The panic that had finally started to ebb came back full force. His back goes stick straight as he anticipates a confrontation of some sort.

Instead, Perth, casual as always, asks what he’s up to, giving no indication of anything deeper going on. Pond’s eyes flick to Santa, who’s leaning on his partner’s shoulder. He scans his expression, looking for a sign of upset, but is once again met with nothing.

Pond begins to relax the tiniest bit.

“Oh uh. Just folding the spare towels. It’s laundry day.”

The pair give a hum of acknowledgement but don’t reply, letting the silence take over and create an opening for them to comment on his nervous nature. Of course Pond was none the wiser.

The seconds tick by as Pond continues to fold and store the towels, trying to not seem overly conscious of the two watching him. It was awkward to say the least.

For Pond, the way they watched him was nerve wracking and their lack of response was borderline suspicious. It was starting to weigh on him.

Maybe they did know something but they weren’t sure how to bring it up.

Maybe he did do something. Maybe he—

Perth’s voice breaks him out of his spiraling thoughts.

“Are you okay? You look like you’re worried about something.”

Pond’s head whips up once again, honestly kind of shocked at the question.

“Uh, yeah. I’m, yeah I’m okay.”

“Well we were gonna ask if you would join us for lunch but I don’t want to bother you if something’s up.”

A moment of silence passes; Pond thinks about it, scanning their faces. Maybe they didn’t know anything and weren’t here for a confrontation, or maybe nothing even happened.

This time, Santa speaks up. “Are you okay? Did something happen?”

He hesitates for a moment, unsure what was safe to share, but he thinks to himself that if anyone would be able to help him in this situation, it would be these two.

“Uh… Maybe? I’m not entirely sure.”

The duo’s heads tilt in unison, inquisitive looks on their faces.

Pond looks back down to the towels in the basket as he continues.

“I’m not sure why, but I think I may have upset Phuwin?”

“What do you mean?” asks Perth.

“Well this morning, he just seemed really uncomfortable when I spoke to him.”

“Did something happen this morning?”

Pond shakes his head at Santa’s question. “No, he was like that from the moment I saw him.”

“Maybe something last night?” Santa offers.

Pond shakes his head again. “I mean we were with you guys the whole time. What could have happened? That’s why I’m so lost. I don’t know what could be the cause.”

Santa and Perth have to resist celebrating their successful confirmation that Pond did not in fact remember, but they continue to chat with him, trying to help him remember.

Perth clears his throat. “Are you sure nothing happened? What about after we all came back up? I think Phuwin was the one who took you up to the room.”

Pond continues to shake his head.

“Well what all *do* you remember from yesterday?” Santa asks.

Pond huffs. “Everything mostly. I mean I remember going to bed, I remember brushing my teeth and changing clothes.”

Perth feels his heartbeat speeding up with anticipation and he continues fishing for info. “That was while I was in the room, what about before I got there?”

Pond scratches at the back of his neck as he stares at the basket of towels at his feet. “Before? Nothing happened. At least I think. All I remember is Est talking to your friend, and then when we decided to swap rooms, Phuwin helped me to the room and to bed, and then I-”

His head snaps up, eyes wide and jaw slack. Perth and Santa pull their lips into straight lines, careful not to give away a reaction. They watch as Pond sits up straight, throwing his head back with a deep exhale.

Then they watch as he slumps again and drops his head forward.

“I must be crazy.”

The partners look at each other, slightly confused by Pond’s reaction.

“Did you remember something?”

Pond turns his head from where it’s buried in his hands to face them.

“I kissed Phuwin last night.”

Santa, pulling together his best acting skills, pitches up his voice as he says “You guys kissed?”

Pond shakes his head.

“I don’t know...”

Now the pair is really confused. Perth steps forward, speaking calmly to try and soothe Pond’s apparent despondency.

“So you remember kissing Phuwin but you don’t know if you guys kissed?”

Pond takes a few seconds before he responds.

“I just remember me trying to kiss him and then he left.”

The two lovers look at each other, understanding the problem immediately. Their undercover info-fishing work may be done, but now they had a new mission to tackle.

Now, they would have to make Pond realize that it was not an unreciprocated and unwanted kiss without revealing themselves.

im honestly not too sure im cut out to write kissing scenes, i feel like this was kinda lackluster but i hope you all enjoyed it nonetheless! thank you for reading as always!

Confessing his secret was not going to be a next time deal. In fact, Duang was beginning to think it may be a never deal.

Maybe he could find a doctor to make him into a real beta. Surely those existed somewhere.

He could keep living as a beta and him and Qin could live happily ever after like that.

They’d be a beautiful Beta-Omega couple and they’d live a long and happy life together…

Pae smacks him upside the head from where he’s sat behind him on the one of the art buildings’ outdoor stairway. Jamie brings a fist up to his mouth, trying to hold in his laughter.

“Why are you suddenly spiraling?” Pae asks.

“Because I’m absolutely screwed that’s why.”

Pae and Jamie glance at each other, trying to see if the other may know what’s up. Jamie clears his throat, saddling up next to Duang with an arm over his shoulder.

“Weren’t you going to go see Qin?”

With just the mention of the name, Duang collapses forward, head tucked into his folded arms on his knees. The position looks uncomfortable and Pae grimaces as he pats his friends rounded back.

“What even happened? Weren’t you going to tell him about you… you know..”

Duang hums a pathetic confirmation before he lifts his head with a dramatically sad look.

“I went to see him earlier right…”

-

Duang had spent the last two days mentally preparing for the next time he would see Qin. Now that he had officially made his move, he had to really go for it. So he made himself a plan.

He had spent all weekend going over it, scouring Qin’s socials, going through each and every post and comment section. He even went through his friend’s accounts, hoping to scavenge for any bit of info he could.

In the end, he was pretty happy with the plan he had written on his whiteboard.

1. Before going to school, buy snacks and put together a goody basket. 2. Get to school before Qin’s first class. 3. Give the goods to Qin and ask to talk to him privately. 4. Confess to him about being an alpha. 5. Live happily ever after.

It would be easy as long as he stuck to the plan.

Unfortunately, all hopes of it going well were squashed immediately.

Duang had shot awake and instantly recognized it was well past his alarm. The sun wasn’t visible from his window which meant it was definitely not 8 a.m. anymore.

Picking up his phone, he lets out a loud “Shit!” because staring back at him was a big 11:50. Screw being able to get to school before Qin’s class, he wasn’t even gonna make it before his own. Duang shot out of bed, brushing his teeth and getting ready as fast as possible before speeding down to the parking garage and heading to the school.

Standing at the entrance to his class’s building, he checked his phone again and realized he had clearly missed the window to be on time for his own class, so he contemplated what he should do.

He could go to his class, hope the professor excuses his tardiness, and try again another day.

Or, and he was starting to like this option better, he could skip the class, get something from a vending machine nearby and find Qin between his classes. A little different from the original plan, but working on the fly was what Duang was best at.

Duang had fully talked himself into this second option when he was struck with a realization. He couldn’t do it. He didn’t know Qin’s schedule.

Even after scrounging around any social media posts by or about Qin, he only had a vague idea of his schedule based on the timing of his story posts. There was no way he could be sure he’d catch him. He could still be in his first class, could be between classes and hanging around, could be in his next one, and either way, Duang would be none the wiser.

Sighing defeatedly, he began to trudge through the building and to his own class. Shuffling in, he didn’t even bother sneaking in or coming up with an excuse. The professor had made it clear last time that there was no point. Instead, he walked through like normal, dropping into his seat between his friends.

The three worked in a surprising silence for a while, focusing on their work instead of their usual banter, but once the silence was broken, it was like it was never there in the first place.

Pae turned to Duang, eyeing his focused form and shooting a look past him at Jamie. The two shared a confused look as they watched Duang paint in silence, his pout poking out.

“Why do you look like a kicked puppy again?”

At first, Pae thinks Duang didn’t hear him as he dips his paint brush into his water cup, swirling it away and continuing to look forward at his painting. Then, he feels a wet splat hit his forehead, forcing his eyes shut. When he opens them back up, he sees Duang childishly sticking his tongue out and Jamie laugh at the two of them.

“Yah! Asshole!”

“That’s what you get for being shitty.”

“I wasn’t even being shitty! I was asking why you look down.”

“Well you said it shittily so.”

“Shittily isn’t even a word you dumbass.”

“Who are you calling dumbass you dumbas-”

A loud cracking sound stops the two of them in their tracks. Turning towards the source of the noise, they catch sight of their professor, wooden ruler pressed against the wall where he had just smacked it. The glare in his eyes was enough to make the two of them pull their mouths into straight lines, attempting to not laugh out loud.

When the professor finally turned away from them, Jamie spoke up in a hushed whisper.

“So what’s up Duang, why do you look like someone pissed in your cereal?”

Duang turns a glare at him but resists the urge to argue. Instead, he slumps on his stool.

“I slept in on accident so I ruined my plan to surprise Qin with snacks before I told him about you know what.”

Jamie turns back to painting, focusing on the brush strokes as he asks “What does sleeping in have to do with getting him snacks? You can just go between classes to get them and deliver them.”

Duang huffs. “I thought of that but then I realized I have no clue what his actual schedule is… I thought I could just show up early and catch him somewhere near the music building’s entrance.”

He receives a hum of acknowledgement and picks his brush back up, but before he can lift it to the canvas, Pae hits him with something he doesn’t expect.

“He’s in rehearsals right now, his next class isn’t for a few hours probably, you can catch him in one of the rooms in the back hall of the music building.”

When Duang turned to look at him, Pae laughed at the look in the alpha’s eyes, he looked as though Pae had just saved his life.

The two held eye contact like that, looking not unlike a local super hero and a civilian he just saved, that is until they’re interrupted by a cough coming from behind Duang.

“And pray tell. How exactly do you know that?’

Both of their eyes flick over to the other alpha and Pae freezes when he catches the assuming smirk on his face.

“Uhh. Well..” Duang turned his own suspicious eye at the omega, registering the unusual response to Jamie’s teasing. Duang shoots up from his stool, standing with an accusatory finger pointed at the omega.

“How do you know my darling Qin’s schedule?”

Jamie stands, throwing an arm over his friend’s shoulder. “I think our little friend here has been talking to someone… Maybe a certain beta someone…” he says.

Duang turns to Jamie with a confused look. “What?”

Jamie is exasperated at his friend’s cluelessness.

“Qin’s friend. The one he was with on Friday. Didn’t you see them playing eye tag with each other?”

“We were no-” Now it’s Pae who’s shooting up from his stool, causing it to slide and clatter onto the floor with a loud smack. The sound breaks them out of their little bubble and they look around, noticing all eyes on them. The professor looks annoyed, as per usual, and the three of them smile awkwardly as he glares at them.

The omega shuffles over to right his stool and the three of them slowly sit back down. After a few seconds, Jamie leans back, peaking past Duang as he points at Pae and whisper yells.

“We’re coming back to this.”

A loud smack against the wall silences them.

-

Qin was seriously going to kill Tong.

He had dragged the band all the way to this rehearsal room instead of their usual one in the back hallway, something about checking whether it had better acoustics (it didn’t, Qin was positive) and wanting to switch things up. But now that they were there, everyone set up and ready to go, Tong was glued to his phone.

A loud clearing of the throat echoes throughout the room, the alpha it came from stands just to the side of the distracted beta and waits for him to react, but he gets nothing. He clears his throat again but Qin sighs when there’s still no response.

Fed up, the omega stomps over and slams a finger down on the crash cymbal. The loud noise is finally enough to pull the Tong’s attention away from whatever he was doing.

The beta looks up at him, confused as he asks “What was that for?”

Qin rolls his eyes.

“We’ve been waiting for you so we can start but you’re too busy making goo-goo eyes at your phone.”

At least Tong has the decency to look embarrassed as he pockets his phone. Qin sighs then walks back over to his mic stand.

“Okay, full run through?”

-

Duang, Jamie and Pae were weaving through the hallways of the music building stopping at all of the rehearsal rooms, peaking in the small windows as they passed each one. It took several awkward encounters and off-key harmonies as disguises, but after about 10 minutes of searching, Duang finally spotted what he was looking for.

He has started to get lazy with his searching, walking down the hallway and just glancing slightly at the windows when he did a double take. There, in a large room, was Qin and four other students. Duang peaked through the window, watching as the pretty omega strummed at his instrument, and for a second he fell into a trance, utterly mesmerized by his aura.

Then, the sound of his two friends’ voices began to resonate through the hallway as they rounded the corner.

“No, not in that hallway either.”

“I thought you said he’d be in the back hall?”

“I thought he would be! Duang, have you had any-” The two friends pause at the sight of their friend staring dumbly through the window. Jamie snaps a quick picture of it on his phone before they walk up directly behind him. Jamie leans in, right up to his ear and says “Looks like you found him.”

Duang jumps, yelling in fear. “What the hell?” he whispers as he turns to look at his friends. When he focuses back on the window in front of him, to his horror, all five of the people on the other side are looking in the direction of the door.

Luckily, he wasn’t very visible through the small window since he had been peaking through it just barely, so he managed to avoid being caught directly, ducking down and pulling his friends away.

As they make it a few hallways down, Duang turns to the alpha and omega pair. “Okay, you guys go, I’m gonna find a vending machine around here and get something for my darling Qin.”

Pae scoffs. “Oh so you ask us for help and then you send us away. I see how it is. You don’t even care about your poor friends now that you’re in love.”

Jamie wipes a fake tear. “No it’s okay. We get it. We’ll leave since you don’t love us anymore.”

“Yah, I said I’d buy you dinner for helping, don’t be dramatic!”

The too friends look at each other, then back at Duang.

“You’re so right, that’s our fault.” says the alpha as he places a hand on Duang’s shoulder and wipes away another fake tear.

“We were wrong. Forgive us.” The omega clasps his hands together in a mock prayer.

Duang raises a hand, as if to smack them, but before he can, the two back away and scamper off.

-

Tong clasps his hand down on the symbol, silencing its ring. “What was that?“ He asked, scanning the doorway suspiciously. The group simultaneously let out quiet hums of uncertainty as they all directed their attention to the direction of the noise. A few moments pass in relative silence before the group hears a few quiet sounds that quickly retreat from the doorway.

Qin turns to look at Kim and the two of them shrug at each other, Tong scratches at his head in mild confusion, before he speaks up again. “Well, since we were interrupted anyway, wanna take a break and get some snacks?”

They all nod or let out small noises of agreement, setting down their respective instruments and making their way out of the rehearsal room.

Qin turns to the group, saying “You guys go ahead first, I think I left my pen case in the last class so I’ll grab it and get something from the vending machines over there.”

Kim steps forward, ready to say he’ll come with, but Qin stops him, insisting that there was no need and to just go to the nearby machines.

Kim pouted slightly. “Are you sure?” he asked.

“What you think I can’t handle myself just cause I’m an omega?”

Qin laughs a little at the huff he hears from not just Kim, but Tong as well as he steps forward to join the conversation.

“You know that’s not it, but there’s been more and more people posting about alpha’s being weirdly aggressive with their attempted pick ups on campus. We all know that if someone’s gonna get cornered by a weird alpha, it’ll be you. We just don’t want you to get hurt.”

Qin is well aware of what they mean. In recent weeks, the “Omega Know Now” blog had been littered with stories of alpha’s getting excessively angry about being turned down.

There was a suspicion that it had to do with the rising popularity of certain social media trends and influencers, but regardless of the reason, it was becoming an increasing issue. There hadn’t been any reports of actual violence, but it wasn’t unreasonable for his friends to be fearful for him.

Nevertheless, he was sure he could handle himself and he refused to be someone who had to rely on others, alpha or not, when doing something as simple as retrieving something.

He smiled softly and patted his friends on the shoulder.

“I appreciate the concern, but I’ll be fine. It’s not even five minutes, and you know exactly where I’m going. No need to get so worried.”

They’re displeased, but they know him and his stubborn nature, so they give in.

“Okay but if you’re not back here in five like you said, I’m going to go find you.” says Kim, dissatisfaction written all over his face.

He nods and hums an acknowledgement, even if only to please the alpha, before he turns them both by the shoulders and pushes them away.

Walking to his last class was short and uneventful. It was just on the other side of the connected building, so it took only a couple minutes to get there, locate his case and leave.

As he got to the vending machines near the class, he paused to assess. He considered skipping over the whole getting a snack part. He was a little short on cash at the moment and he was thinking of getting Dara something before he picked her up this afternoon.

He pulled his wallet out of his pocket and thumbed through the bills he had on him. He had a few ones and a couple of ฿10 bills. He could definitely get himself a drink with that, but if he was going to get his baby a drink and snack from the convenience store, it would be best to skip over it for now. He would just steal some of Tong’s.

He begins to put his wallet away, but before he can walk off, an arm shoots in front of him, shoving a bill into the machine.

“Pick whatever you want beautiful. My treat.”

Qin follows the arm with his eyes, trailing up until he lands on the face of a tall man he does not recognize, but his scent is a dead give away of his alpha status.

Qin resisted letting out a scoff, instead smiling sweetly and bowing as he says “I’m okay, thank you.” He ducks under the man’s arm and tries to walk off, but the man runs around him, blocking his path once again.

“Hey, no need to be polite sweetheart. I’d be happy to pay for a pretty little thing like you.”

The sharp scent of an earthy, muddy clay, barely concealed by an overpowering cologne, hits Qin’s nose, and if he wasn’t already expecting the push of pheromones, it’s pungency would’ve knocked him back.

The aggressive scent curled around Qin, and he had to resist bringing a hand up to cover his nose and mouth.

“I’m okay, really I don’t need a snack. Thank you.” The scent seemed to deepen slightly, almost souring as he watched the alpha’s jaw clench.

“It wasn’t a suggestion babe. Go ahead and get yourself a snack. Don’t you know you shouldn’t deny an alpha trying to treat a pretty little thing like you?”

Qin couldn’t resist the small exasperated laugh he let out. The lack of vocabulary and reused lines should have been hilariously embarrassing for the alpha, but his shitty attitude was what Qin found to be really funny.

Already tired of the attempt to force him into submission with pheromones, Qin brings his hand up to push the man out of the way. Unfortunately, the alpha resists it, bringing his other arm up in place of the one that was just pushed away.

“I already told you I don’t want the snack, what the hell do you want now?”

The alpha looks shocked by his change in tone, the faux politeness making way to exasperated annoyance.

“What do I want? I want you to apologize for talking to me like that… Crazy bitch.” He pushes out some more of his frankly awful scent as he steps further into Qin’s personal space.

“Maybe if you bat your eyes a little I’ll forgive you. I can’t resist sweet little omegas like yourself…”

Qin is looking up at him, annoyance now at its peak. He knows it would be best to just give in, take the snack and make a polite excuse, realistically it was the best shot at getting out of the situation, but he’d be damned if he let someone talk to him like that.

“Listen. I’m sorry for hurting your feelings, but I’m not interested in your type of alphas.”

The man scoffs and reaches out to swipe a finger underneath his chin, but Qin backs away before he can.

“Like me?” he asks with an irritated smirk.

“Yeah, ugly cocky bastards.“ Qin watched as the anger ignited in the man’s eyes, and the previously sour smell started to smell almost burnt with rage.

“You little bitch. How dare you –“

The overpowering scent of burning pine stops the alpha mid sentence, the dominating undertones, halting him in his tracks.

Qin and the obnoxious alpha’s heads turn toward the origin of the scent and Qin smiles as he catches sight of Tong and Kim approaching.

If he wasn’t already familiar with Kim’s pheromones, the furrow in his brow and clench of his jaw made it dead obvious that the dominating scent was coming from him.

“Why don’t you fuck off man?”

The alpha, who was clearly larger than Kim, still coward at the timber in his voice and intensity of his pheromones.

He turned his head back-and-forth looking between Kim and Qin, debating for a moment, but ultimately raises his hands in a sign of forfeit and walks away, brushing past Qin’s shoulder aggressively as he does so.

The three friends, now standing together, watch his retreating form for a moment before Qin looks away. He turns his attention back to the machine in front of him, seeing the flashing screen of an available balance, and punches in the number for a canned coffee.

Kim scoffs once the alpha is gone from their view. Qin could practically hear his friend’s thoughts based on his expression: “Why act all tough if you’re gonna step down the second another alpha comes into the picture.”

The beta grabs Qin by the shoulders, checking him over.

“Are you okay? Did he touch you or hurt you?”

Qin smiled, endeared by the concern in his friend’s voice. He cracks open the coffee as he talks.

“No, I’m okay. He didn’t touch me, he was all talk. Most he did was push out some pheromones.”

Both of his friends look dissatisfied with the way he brushes it off, knowing full well how dangerous alpha pheromones can be if weaponized the right way, but they know their friend, so they don’t push it. They begin walking back through the hallway to get back to the rehearsal room.

It’s quiet until Tong speaks up again, just before they reach the rehearsal room door.

“Ugh, sorry I just- I can’t believe the audacity.”

Qin gives a half-hearted chuckle. “Just leave it, it’s not worth making a fuss over.”

“But he-”

Qin stops him from continuing. It was unfortunately something he was used to by now and he knew there was no point in getting worked up about it. It’s just the way it was, as upsetting as it may be. He sighs, looking back over his shoulder in the direction they had come from.

For a moment he thinks he sees a figure rush around the corner, but he ignores it, not worried about it now that he had his friends with him.

He turns back to look at Tong. The man looks very upset and Qin finds it a bit endearing how upset he is on his behalf.

He smiles half-heartedly as he says to his friends “This is why I hate being around alphas, it’s always like this. See if I ever get involved with one again.”

Then he walks back into the rehearsal room, ignoring the offended “Hey!” from Kim.

-

Qin’s words continued to ring in Duang’s head even now, as he was telling his friends the story.

“…And then when I rounded the corner, I saw him and his two friends! So I was like super excited about my luck right?”

His friends nod along as he speaks.

“But then I saw him start to turn around and I freaked out and hid behind a corner for some reason.” He ignores the repressed laughter coming from the two of them. “But before I could come out from my hiding spot and give him the snacks and everything, he said something about hating all alphas and never wanting to see one again.”

He slumps forward again, rounded back causing his friends to cringe once more; the two of them are unsure what to do to comfort him.

Luckily, or maybe unluckily, a voice breaks Duang out of his moment of despair.

“Lover boy?”

Duang pauses, the voice sounds vaguely familiar and it takes him a second to register who exactly it was, but when it clicks, his head snaps up. Standing there, at the bottom of the stairs is Tong, staring confusedly at the sulking man, But that’s not who Duang’s eyes land on.

Instead, it lands on the people behind him. More specifically, on the pretty omega standing just to his side. Qin.

Jamie and Pae practically got whiplash with the change in Duang’s demeanor. The faux beta went from slumped and whining to a stick straight posture with a wild smile on his face.

“Qin!”

The omega, who was looking with a somewhat bored expression, nods in his direction politely, but doesn’t give a verbal response.

Duang stood up from where he was sat and began walking over, but he stops in his tracks when he remembers the bag sat next to him. Smiling somewhat awkwardly, he puts up a finger as if to signal to wait, turns around and grabs the small bag of drinks and snacks he had prepared earlier.

He gives himself a second to take a deep breath while he faces away, trying to reel in his lingering nervousness from the previous dilemma, and turns back around with a wide smile plastered on his face.

“I was about to look for you! Here I bought you these.”

He thrusts the bag forward and Qin looks at him, almost annoyed and says “I don’t want any snacks right now.”

Duang’s face falls, and his friends can’t help but wince as he was once again struck down by an indirect rejection. Duang swallows harshly, throat feeling dry as he puts on an awkward smile and moves the bag behind his back, nodding slightly with pursed lips.

An awkward silence falls upon the group for a small while until Tong coughs out and speaks up, if only to to break the silence.

“Uh, we’re about to go get lunch after we finished up rehearsals. You guys want to join us?”

Truthfully, Duang wanted to jump at the opportunity the second it presented itself, but thinking about the current situation, he’s hesitant. He’s worried he’ll do something that will cause Qin to turn him down, especially now that he’s aware he’s fighting an uphill battle with his secret.

He looks over to Qin again, gauging his reaction but he finds no real indication of how he’s feeling. Deciding to play it safe, he opens his mouth to deny the invite, but before he can, Pae speaks up behind him.

“Hell yeah, I was just getting hungry.”

Duang whips his head toward his friend, panicking and trying to convey his current dilemma through his eyes, but their friend group’s telepathy falls short and the omega stands to join the other friend group.

He squeezes his eyes shut tightly before turning around, preparing himself for the steely gaze he’ll definitely have directed at him. Instead, he just finds the same bored look.

Still, he’d rather be safe than sorry, so he musters up another sweet smile and says “I’m okay, you all can go ahead.” He ignores the small annoyed huff beside him.

But Tong is insistent for some reason.

“Oh c’mon, why not? Just come with!”

Duang winces at his urging, but when he looks over at Qin once again to read him, he’s surprised to find a new expression. One of mild amusement.

Then, a small flick of his head, so small Duang would have missed it if he wasn’t watching him so closely.

But he didn’t miss it.

Clear as day, Qin was giving him the okay to join.

Duang almost jumped with excitement, but forced himself to stay cool.

“Okay, then we’ll join you. Cafeteria?”

Hums of agreement fill the stairwell and the group begins walking toward the campus cafeteria.

Duang falls back in the cluster of friends, trying to keep himself collected as they make their way. He walked with his head down, bag of goodies still behind his back, and shuffling quite slowly compared to the rest of them.

He took the time to think over his plan. His total, utter failure of a plan. It couldn’t have gone worse really, and he’s in the middle of a mental debate on whether he should just give up now when he’s stopped by two planted feet in his view.

Looking up, he spots the group a good fifteen feed ahead of him, and directly in front of him is Qin. With an air of uncertainty and reluctance, the omega holds a hand out, waiting.

Duang is confused and looks at the outstretched hand, puzzled by what it meant.

“The snacks.” says Qin.

Duang’s head whips up and he’s shocked for a moment, but then he pauses, swallowing quietly.

“You don’t have to take them just to be polite, it’s okay!”

A minuscule change in Qin’s expression catches Duang’s attention. The uncertainty displayed in his taut brows relaxes into a somewhat pleased visage.

“Do you want to give me them or not?”

Duang nods rapidly.

“Then give them.”

He couldn’t have been quicker to drop the handles of the bag over Qin’s awaiting palm.

Qin opens up the bag to scan the items inside, gives a quiet hum of approval and walks off toward the group.

Duang’s lips are tucked away as he tries to conceal his bright smile. He bounces in place before taking off after him.

“Qin! Wait for me!”

His plan may have been a total fail, but it’s fine, he’ll just have to go back to the drawing board.

thank yall for all the likes! i’m glad people are actually enjoying this story so far! there will be a slight delay on the next chapter by like a week or two while i figure out some non-writing things, but i’ll try not to push it any further than that!!

Waking up at 6:30 was nothing new to Pond, it was his usual schedule after all.

Waking up at 6:30 with a raging hangover? Pretty uncommon for him.

Waking up at 6:30 with a raging hangover and another person laying beside him? Unknown territory.

Which is why his first step of the morning wasn’t the usual full body stretch and heading straight to the shower. It was fighting through his headache to recall who exactly has on top of his arm and how this happened.

Shutting his eyes tightly, he started going through the day before in his mind.

-

Waking up the previous day had been tough.

Pond had managed to avoid getting too drunk the night before, opting to sip on his drinks slowly, but they had stayed up late, excited to mingle with their new addition to the friend group. With his already stacked lack of sleep, he had to really muster the courage to start the next day.

It was a rough time, he wouldn’t deny it, but he was managing.

He had gone the first several hours without seeing a trace of those he spent the night before with, but when they did finally come down from their rooms, Pond would be lying if he said he wasn’t happy to have an excuse to not tag along with them.

He ushered them off, telling them of some nice places to hang around, promising to take them to the less touristy places when he didn’t have to manage his business. They promised to swing by often, even offering to bring him lunch, and they went their separate ways.

The day passes by quietly like that, with occasional visits from the group, but mostly no different from his standard day. It’s not until later in the day that he strays from the norm again.

He was just cleaning up after making several drinks following the initial rush of customers during the bar’s first few minutes open, it always dirtied up all of his utensils so he was diligently cleaning them when he heard his name.

“Pond!”

His head whipped up from where he was cleaning his spoons and spots his aunt approaching from the direction of her restaurant. Pond greets her warmly as he ask what’s brought her over.

“Oh you know, just trying to find something to do.” She makes her way behind the bar counter. “I hired Meen’s son to help around the restaurant and now I have nothing to do most of the time. If I knew he already knew how to cook, I would have told the people down the street that I’d start joining them already.”

She huffs as she takes a seat on the filing cabinet and begins looking around the bar. “Where’s your friends from yesterday?”

“Oh, I told them I had to run the place today and not to worry and just go ahead.”

Truth be told, on top of his lack of sleep, he still felt a little awkward intruding on the group’s time, and knowing his aunt, she would fuss over his introverted nature if she knew that, so he was glad to have the reason to let them be that day. He had enjoyed hanging around them, no doubt, but it was obvious who was an outsider, whether everyone claimed he really wasn’t one.

Pond hums as he continues to clean some of his drink shakers and a few moments pass in peaceful silence.

He hears a sudden excited gasp behind him and turns, watching as his aunt hops off her seat, coming over to stand next to him.

“Perfect, I can watch the place for you and you can go hang out with them!” Pond freezes for only a moment before he scrambles, waving his hands in front of him.

“Oh no I couldn’t ask that of you again. You should rest after a hard day of work.”

She levels him with a deadpan and he remembers what she said when she first came over. He mentally swears at himself, shuffling through ideas in his head, trying to spit out another excuse.

Huffing and glancing off, he scratches at his neck as he rambles, “You know, there’s already four of them, fives a crowd. I don’t want to interrupt their time, plus it’s always easier to do things in pairs, I don’t want to make it uneven…”

He glances at her face and finds a doubtful look, but she thankfully let’s it go, realizing it was too late to join them anyways, and the two go back to peaceful silence.

A while passes, just him and his aunt sitting inside the counter, watching the patrons enjoy themselves, then four familiar faces come to sit in front of them. They each greet Pond and his aunt, and she warmly returns it before stepping back, allowing them to talk.

“What’s up? I thought you guys were gonna be out for a while longer?”

“What? Friends can’t want to hang out with you? We couldn’t steal you away today so maybe we just wanted to hang out.” Perth bickers.

Pond glares at him and Est chuckles ready to give a real answer, “We were, but William will be here soon I think, he was about to board the ferry.”

The mention of a new name seemed to intrigue the lady behind Pond. She steps forward again, smiling as she asks, “William?” Phuwin shoots her a playful grin as he nudges Est. “It’s his special someone.”

Intrigued by the information, she holds up a finger to signal she needed a second. She throws an arm over her tall nephew’s shoulders and pulls him down and around so they’re both facing the inside of the bar.

“What was that about everything being better in pairs? Guess you have to join them now!” she whispers.

Pond looks at her, trying to plead with his eyes but ultimately sighs in defeat. Mustering a smile as they turn back around, his eyes connect with Phuwin’s. The man’s lips are tucked away like he’s trying not to laugh.

Pond blushes, realizing Phuwin had definitely read the situation and could tell his aunt was being nosy. Phuwin, although still very new to the area and therefore the people, was already very familiar with his aunt’s antics, she had made quite the impression on him with her probing questions and head strong attitude during his first two days, and for that reason, he was not surprised at all as she happily spoke up.

“I’m sure you guys are hungry or a little bored! Why don’t you guys steal Pond and he can show you guys some more nice places? I’ll cover the bar again tonight.”

She begins to push him out from behind the countertop as Santa, the sweet boy he is, lights up with excitement. “Really! That’d be great, thank you! We’ll be sure to make it up to you!”

“Ay, don’t seem to excited now, I’ll get jealous.” Perth lands an obnoxious kiss on his partner’s cheek before grabbing Pond’s shoulder’s and pushing him towards the stairs.

“Go get changed, we’ll go get some food once William arrives.”

Pond huffs but complies, realizing it’s too late to convince the group otherwise. As he’s about to reach the steps, he hears Est again.

“Oh. William just said the ferry was cancelled because a bunch of people got seasick and they have to clean it.”

Disgust is audible in Santa’s voice as he replies. “Ew…Well tell William he better get on the next one cause we’re hungry.”

Pond hears the group chuckle at the boy’s quick turn in emotion as he reaches the top of the stairs. By the time he comes back down, the group is all standing, seemingly ready to go, which confuses Pond, but before he can ask, Phuwin speaks up.

“William texted, he’s probably gonna be here tomorrow instead cause that was supposed to be the last ferry for the day.”

Ah, just great, so now he would still be stuck as an awkward fifth wheel for the evening. They all began to hit the path toward the beach and Pond thought to himself “It’ll be fine as long as I don’t draw too much attention to himself.”

Unfortunately for him, the night would show he would fail miserably at doing so.

Starting at a small restaurant a little further inland, the five of them enjoyed a few drinks together as they ate. It was peaceful, and once again, Pond found himself blending into the group quite easily.

They finished their meals quickly, all hungry because of the later than usual dinner time, but stayed there, chatting and drinking for a while after. It wasn’t until they noticed they were the only ones left in the place that they finally decided to head back to the hostel, apologizing to the owner for keeping them and shuffling out quickly.

The slow pace of their drinking ended there though.

Once back at the bar, Perth promptly paid for two entire bottles of whiskey, claiming it was “in the spirit of supporting an old friend’s business” and Santa, as his designated yes-man, insisted that meant the group had to drink them. Something about “not letting good spirits go to waste.”

While Perth, Santa, and an equally pumped Est started to beeline for a corner of the patio that was mostly empty, Pond and Phuwin shared a look of enthused concern.

Phuwin smiled, slinging an arm over Pond’s shoulder as he spoke, “Guess it’s on us to stay responsible tonight.” Pond laughed and nodded in agreement.

However, their intentions were promptly thwarted by the mischievous trio. What started as a couple shots to loosen up, soon became a game of truth or dare. Phuwin had argued against it, saying that he wasn’t a student anymore and couldn’t be playing games like that, but Perth threw out a rebuttal quickly.

“Yes, but your new friend over here never got to experience the classic college drinking party, which means we have to let him experience it now! We can even just do half-shots instead!”

Either Phuwin had a soft spot for Pond’s lack of experience or he was extremely weak-willed because that was all it took to get him on board.

Shot after shot, the group became more and more daring. At first, questions and challenges among the group were simple, easy, innocent.

“What’s one thing you couldn’t live without?”

“When was your first kiss?”

“I dare you to carry Santa and spin around 5 times.”

But then, when they relocated to the actual beach for Perth’s dare to do a cartwheel (something he claims he totally could have done if he wasn’t already a little drunk), they got a little more personal, a little more embarrassing.

“I dare you to text the last person you hooked up with.”

“Have you ever sexted the wrong person?”

“When is the last time you kissed someone?”

Unfortunately, Pond was at a bit of a disadvantage from the jump.

As someone who was naturally a bit shy and also hadn’t done much playing of drinking games, he mentally cursed them every time he was subjected to an embarrassing question or dare, pouring himself up another shot. He had yet to realize that the game had yet to reach it’s peak, the big guns had yet to come.

Pond was starting to get hit with bigger, more thrilling questions and dares he didn’t want to answer, or at least he usually wouldn’t want to, but the alcohol had made him loose-lipped. The group took advantage of that, although they were all quite drunk themselves and it may have been more genuine curiosity than desire to stir the pot.

However, Perth in particular had started to give him questions that he would probably regret answering later on, it was hard to say his actions were drunken stupor alone.

“How many people have you hooked up with since high school?” “Maybe five?”

“Where’s the craziest place you’ve hooked up with someone?” “Car.”

“Who’s the last person you wanted to kiss?” “Phuwin.”

He was met with a collective “Ooooh!” from the group, but his mind was elsewhere. He hardly even realized what he had just fessed up.

Phuwin on the other hand had flushed red the second he heard his name spill out of Pond’s lips. He had kind of figured as much based on the fact that he had caught the man staring at him several times throughout the past few days, and he had definitely been a bit flirty at times, but hearing it verbatim? Of course it would be a bit embarrassing.

Maybe if he were a bit more drunk, he might have said something back, maybe even been crazy enough to do something about it. Instead, he stared at Pond, who was sat with his arms outstretched behind him, gauging the man’s state, then promptly poured himself two more full shots. This would be something to think about later. For now he just needed to lose the tension he was feeling in his shoulders.

The game continued on for a while and at some point, they had ditched the drinks and the overall concept of “Truth or Dare”

Instead they just asked question after question, always answering and always giving big reactions. The group would probably regret it later, but it was fine, at least they would all regret it together.

Eventually, they reached a lull, and Est grabbed his phone to check the time. When he realized his phone was dead, he asked Santa to check for him. Santa squinted his eyes, throwing his head back and groaning out at the brightness of the screen. “Woah, it’s not even midnight yet.”

This caused a folded Pond to lift his head, yawning big. “I should probably head back… I haven’t slept much recently…”

A collective hum of agreement is heard as Est pushes himself to stand. He’s fairly stable on his feet as he leans over to help Pond up.

“We should too probably. Gotta get up for when William comes.”

The five of them slowly get up, grabbing their things. They’re all very drunk, but it’s obvious that some are more so than others. Pond was slumping heavily against someone’s shoulder. Who’s? He wasn’t sure, and Santa was snuggling into Perth’s neck, using the mostly steady man to prop himself up. It was a slow journey, but they collected their things and began to head back.

As they approached the patio, Est stopped abruptly, causing some of the group to stumble into his back.

Sat on one of the stools in front of the counter is a familiar face. The man was talking to Pond’s aunt, but the sound of the confused groans and protests behind cause him to turn.

Est stares with his slightly drooping eyes, smacking his lips during his drunken attempt at comprehension. The man on the stool laughs softly, turning back to Pond’s aunt to excuse himself, and approaches the group. Puckering his lips as he thinks, Est continues to stare as the man comes closer.

The group behind seem uninterested, talking amongst themselves and hardly paying attention as Est asks, “Am I hallucinating? I didn’t think I was that drunk...”

The man in front of him lets out a sharp cackle.

“You’re not hallucinating but I do think you may be that drunk. Your face is so red… Are you guys done for the night?”

“Mm, we’re calling early so Pond can get some real sleep and we can wake up in time for when you come tomorrow.”

William laughs again. “Well then, I assume you didn’t see my messages.” Est shakes his head clumsily. “They actually ran one last late night ferry since the last one got cancelled.”

Finally noticing the person Est was talking to, Phuwin shuffles over to stand next to him, greeting William casually.

“Est’s phone died, we were… uh. I don’t know actually...”

William hums in understanding, nodding as he fought off a smile.

“Ayyyyeee William! What are you doing here already?”

William is startled by the sudden reaction as Perth throws an arm over his friends shoulder and Santa, who still has his eyes closed and is definitely just blindly backing up his fiancé, cheers at his arrival.

They greet each other with quick fist bumps as William explains the situation again then turns to Est.

“So where do I put my bags?”

Est, who was busy play arguing with Phuwin, who is holding a swaying Pond by the shoulders, scratches at the back of his neck.

“Uh, we didn’t book the room because you said you may have to show up tomorrow instead.”

William’s lips pull into an awkward straight line.

“Right. So uh, can we just book one now? I can ask the owner?” He points to the woman behind the bar counter.

Perth laughs, pushing William by the shoulders to face him and wagging a finger in his face.

“No can do! That is not the owner.” He takes the same finger and directs it to the man now draped over Phuwin’s back and shoulders. “That is.”

William follows his finger and lets out an understanding “Ah.” He glances around for a few seconds before asking “So then what should I do…”

The group is quiet for a few seconds, the sound of bar goers behind them fills the air, before Santa gasps loudly where he’s now standing straight up with a finger high in the air.

“You can stay with Est! P’Phuwin can stay in our room!” Then he pauses, thinking for a moment longer before he deflates slightly. “Wait then there would be too many of us in our room.”

Perth chuckles at his sweet fiancé, moving to tug him back under his arm.

“I can stay with Pond. We used to stay together all the time back in high school, right Pond?”

Pond swallows harshly, trying to push down his drunkenness, and hums a confirmation, giving his friend a thumbs up from where he’s now squatting next to Phuwin.

“Perfect! Anyone have any protests?”

Phuwin laughs and says “Just don’t do anything nasty in my bed, I have to sleep there for another week.” Est swats at his best friend, or tries to, as the group laughs.

“Then that’s the plan for tonight made. We can get you two in your own room tomorrow. Let’s head up now.”

The group follows as Perth makes his way up the stairs, movements sluggish due to the alcohol flowing through most of their systems.

When they finally make it to the rooms, Perth goes to grab clothes and a tooth brush from his room before he head’s to Pond’s room.

He knocks to be let in, but instead is met with a suspiciously bright red Phuwin opening the door and pushing past him, bolting to his own room to collect his things for the night. He watches him with squinted eyes before turning to look into the room. There, he spots Pond standing in the door way to his bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror and touching his own lips. His ears are bright red and his previously droopy eyes are now much more open.

Perth considers prodding, but before he can even speak, a big yawn takes over him. Maybe it was the alcohol in his system talking, but he decides it’s not that important, he was ready to sleep.

He changes quickly, before heading to the bathroom where a slightly more sobered Pond is brushing his teeth slowly, ears still bright red.

When they finish their simplified night routines, Pond turns to Perth as they move towards the bed.

“I’m turning off the light now. I have to wake up early.”

“Ah yeah, I forgot. Don’t wake me up when you get up, I’m sure it will be too early.”

Perth hears a deep laugh behind him as they snuggle into the bed’s covers.

“I’ll try and remember that, but no promises.”

“Yah! What do you mean no promises.” Perth releases a big yawn, fighting through sleep to talk.

“I haven’t shared a bed in forever so-” Pond’s yawn interrupts him and when he starts to speak again, the sleep in his voice is audible. “I may forget you’re even here in the morning…”

The room’s silence is pronounced, Pond doesn’t get a reply from the now sleeping Perth, but he himself doesn’t even stay awake long enough to prod.

the next chapter will be slightly delayed (only by a week or two) while i get some non-writing stuff sorted out, sorry! i hope you guys enjoy this chapter, i know it’s kind of slow rolling rn but i swr i plan to make it fun soon :’) thank you guys for all the support so far! i really can’t say thank you enough!!!

The three of them are finishing up a visit to the temple when Duang spots a tall rounded structure just next to the entrance. He stares for a moment before he realizes what it is and runs over.

He digs through his pockets before he turns to his friends who trail behind him slowly and asks, “Do either of you have any coins?”

Jamie and Pae stare as he digs through his coinless wallet before Pae pulls one out from his pocket, tapping Duang on the shoulder and dropping it into his hand.

Duang beams at him. “Thank you friend, I owe you!”

He turns around, clasping the coin in his pressed-together hands and closes his eyes, whispering to himself, “May my confession to Qin go well!” Then he tosses the coin into the wishing well in front of him.

He watches as the coin knocks into the rocks in the center and bounces back, landing less than a foot away from him.

Turning around, he sees his two friends smirking at him. The alpha steps forward, clapping a hand onto Duang’s shoulder. “I’ll help you out friend, I’ll use my wish on you too.” He holds a hand out behind him, turning to Pae with a raised brow.

The omega scoffs but fishes another two coins out of his pocket and hands one to the alpha.

“I’m gonna use my wish to ask for friends that don’t take my money.”

Duang and Jamie laugh as Pae clasps his hands together and makes a wish silently. Jamie follows suit and then the three of them exit the temple.

“Do you need me to bring you guys back to your places?” Jamie shakes his head and waves a finger at Duang, pulling Pae over with an arm around his shoulder.

“We’re going back to yours to make sure you’re at peak form for tonight.”

“I’m not sure whether to be thankful for your help or offended you think I can’t do this on my-” Duang stops and suddenly whips his head around, searching for something, or rather, someone.

“What’s up? What’s going on?”

Duang puts a hand up, silencing his friends as he turns his nose upward and takes a sharp inhale.

Jamie and Pae watch their friend in silence, unsure if he may have gone crazy.

Duang’s eyes shut tightly like he’s concentrating on something as he takes another deep breath. His lips are pulled in a straight line as he turns in various directions.

A few inhales later, his lips turn into a pout and he finally opens his eyes.

Pae and Jamie look at each other with perplexed looks then look at Duang, waiting for an explanation. Instead of giving one, Duang begins to walk away, heading back to his car like nothing happened.

His friends run to catch up and both sling an arm over his shoulders. Pae leans forward, putting his face in Duang’s view.

“You gonna explain why you just went all bloodhound on us?”

Duang scratches at the back of his neck, visibly embarrassed now that he realizes what he had just looked like.

“I thought I smelled that fresh mochi…”

Jamie stops walking, causing the other two to stop and turn to look at him.

“There’s fresh mochi around here? Why don’t we get some? I love fresh mochi, I haven't had it in so long.”

Duang’s lips press into an awkward thin line as he shakes his head.

“No mochi here. But uhh, that’s what Qin’s scent is.”

Pae turns toward him with a concerned look.

“Why the hell do you know his scent?”

Duang shakes his hands in Pae’s face, trying to swat away his friend’s judgement.

“I swear it’s not anything weird! I just happened to smell him as we passed each other on the street…”

That answer seems to satisfy Pae as he reaches to grab Jamie’s wrist, dragging him back over to the two of them.

“I always forget you’ve got a weird heightened sense of smell. You do such a good job acting like you have no sense at all that I forgot.”

Duang beams proudly, unlocking his car as they approach it.

“I’m just that good.”

-

“Daddy. This not good.”

Dara looks up at her father, who’s digging through his bag with the hand not holding hers. He looks down and notices the mess on his child’s face.

He stifles a laugh.

“You sure it’s not good?”

The little girl nods, clear in her conviction. The aggressive motion causes more of her hair to swing forward and stick itself to the food around her mouth.

Qin smiles at her, squatting down with a napkin to wipe her face.

“You sure ate a lot for something you didn’t like.”

The girl stares at him blankly, not quite understanding what he said to her. He pats her head softly before he uses that hand to hold her head in place as he wipes at the mess around her mouth.

She protests, trying to push his hand away and pull her face back, whining at him to stop.

Qin pulls his hand back, but the small face is still covered. He taps at his chin for a moment, squinting as he looks around to see if he can find anything to convince her with.

Then he spots it. Just up ahead is the entrance to the small temple they went to earlier that day, and from where he’s stood he can see the small structure of a wishing well.

He smiles at his daughter.

“Okay Dara, how about this?”

His daughter stares at him, waiting for him to continue.

“If you let daddy wipe your face, we can go make a wish in the wishing well. You remember the wishing well, right?”

Dara squints her eyes and taps at her chin, mimicking her dad’s thinking pose. A few seconds of her thinking pass before she nods.

“Uncle Kim?”

“Yes, very good baby! We went to one with Uncle Kim.”

She nods proudly.

“So what do you say? I clean your face and you make a wish?”

Instead of replying, the small girl just closes her eyes and thrusts her face towards him, giving him the opportunity to clean her up. He smiles as he finishes wiping away the mess, her small face scrunching up in dissatisfaction.

When he finally finishes, he picks her up, and gives her a high five.

“Very good. Thank you baby. Now let’s go to the well.”

The two of them weave through the crowd, bee lining through the temple entrance and straight to the well.

He sets his daughter down and digs a coin out of the wallet in his pocket.

“Okay, do you remember what to do?”

The small girl shakes her head and he smiles at her. Kneeling down behind her, he places the coin in her hands and clasps them together.

“First you close your eyes, then you make a wish.”

The little girl nods, closing her eyes, and Qin pulls her clasped hands up towards her chest.

“New teddy bear!”

Qin has to work hard to stifle the laugh his daughter’s attempt at a whisper tried to knock out of him. He manages and continues his instructions.

“Okay, open your eyes now.” The little girl does as told.

“And throw the coin into the water.”

With all the toddler dexterity she had, Dara tosses the coin in and it lands with a satisfying plop into the water just a few inches from the edge, perfectly landing on top of another coin. Qin chuckles, whispering to himself, “Hopefully that doesn’t block the wish of whichever poor child’s coin we just covered…”

He thinks on it for a second longer before he decides it’s probably fine, then he claps his hands together and picks up his little girl.

“Let’s go now. Daddy just got a great idea.” She looks at him in curiosity. “I think we should go get a new teddy bear.”

Dara’s eyes go wide and her mouth opens wide.

“My wish!”

Qin fakes a gasp. “That was your wish?”

“Yes! My wish!”

Qin smiles at his baby.

“Well then, I guess we have to stop and get one before daddy heads home to get ready.”

She nods excitedly and the two promptly leave to do just that.

-

“You’re sure this shirt looks okay?”

Duang hears two huffs and hums of affirmation from behind him. Turning, he sees his two friends spread out across his bed, staring at the ceiling.

“You guys aren’t even looking!”

Pae lifts his head, gives Duang a thumbs up and drops his head back down. Now it’s Duang that huffs.

Jamie begins to flail his limbs around, not unlike a toddler, and whines out.

“Duang! You’ve been switching between outfits for an hour now! You look fine! You should be worried about what to say! Not what to where.”

Duang purses his lips.

“What is there to practice? I’m just confessing, right?”

Pae sits up, huffing in annoyance. “Yes, but how are you going to say it? Are you going to ask to date him? Pursue him? What’s the plan?”

“Uuuuh, pursue him?”

Jamie sits up now. “Okay, so what will you say?”

“Why do I need to plan it? I’ll just speak from my heart, isn’t that how confessions work?”

Both of his friends stare at each other, clearly doubtful. Pae turns back to look at him.

“Just practice. Trust, you’re going to mess it up if you don’t.”

Jamie nods, standing and walking over to Duang. He puts both of his hands on Duang’s shoulders, leaning down slightly to make direct eye contact.

“Let’s just keep it simple so you can’t screw it up. Repeat after me. Qin, My name is Duang. I want to pursue you.”

Duang glares at his friend. Pae stands and joins them, putting his hands on either side of Duang’s face, squishing it in his grip.

Duang swats them away, huffing and glaring at them before he stomps back over to his mirror.

He plasters on a wide smile.

“Hi Qin! My name is Duang. I want to pursue you!”

He exhales, unsatisfied.

“Hi Qin! My name is Duang. I like you and I’d like to pursue you.”

He smiles. That’ll work.

-

Dara is sprawled across the carpet and playing with her toys when Qin begins to gather his things.

He walks over to the small girl, kneeling next to her.

“Dara baby. Can you give daddy a hug before he goes?”

The little girl looks up at him and at the sweet older lady behind him.

“Where daddy go?” She stands up, putting her small hands on her hips. “Dara go?”

“I’m going to a festival, but I’ll be back soon. You’ll stay here with Grandma Nat tonight, but I’ll take you along next year, promise.”

Dara squints at him for a moment, before she decides she’s satisfied with his answer. She slings her body into his outstretched arms and lands a kiss on his cheek. She pulls back smiling. “Bye bye!”

Then she throws herself back down onto the carpet to continue playing.

Qin smiles and stands up, turning to his neighbor.

“Thank you for watching her tonight. Feel free to help yourself to anything in here. I have to go now or Tong will kill me.”

The older lady laughs at him but smiles and nods.

“Happy to help sweetheart. You go have fun, live your college life. Dara and I will be right here when you get back. Hopefully she’ll be asleep though.” The two of them laugh as Qin slips on his shoes.

“Hope so! Call me if anything happens! Thank you again, bye!”

Then he closes the front door behind him. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he navigates to his messages and shoots a quick message to his friends.

“I’ll be at Tong’s in a few minutes. Sorry, Dara insisted I ate her dinner with her.”

He snorts when he gets a message back from Tong.

“I was gonna yell at you for making us an hour late, but since it was my sweet niece’s request, I will resist.”

He pockets his phone and heads for the elevator.

-

“Duang, are you sure he’s going to be here?” Duang is still stretching his neck out, scanning around the area in hopes of seeing his intended confession target.

“I’m positive, he’s come here every year for the past few years.”

Pae snorts as he guides his friends into the line for a nearby stall selling drinks.

“You sure? Maybe your stalking was wrong. We’ve been here for an hour already and there’s still no sight or whiff of him.”

“He has to be here! And it’s not stalking!” He pouts. “It’s called using my resources.”

Pae nods but his expression betrays him, he clearly doesn’t buy Duang’s assertion.

Duang huffs. “Shush and just help me look!”

He continues to crane his neck, trying to spot the omega.

“I swear I keep catching a hint of his scent. He has to be here.” He takes a deep inhale, and once again catches a faint trace of something warm and soft mixed into all the various smells around them. His friends join him in the effort, peaking around and trying to catch a scent they haven’t actually smelled before.

Pae holds up a finger, pausing the other two. “You said fresh mochi?” He takes another inhale, tilting his head upward and turning to his left slightly, the other two follow his tracking.

Then, the three of them spot him. Qin is in the patch of empty space just on the opposite side of the stall they were lined up for.

Duang turns to his friends, gleeful look spread across his features, and leaves the line, ignoring his friend’s protests. As he approaches, the omega appears to be scrolling on his phone as he stands just to the side of his own two friends that Duang recognizes from the photo on the school account.

Kim and Tong if he recalls correctly.

He stops a few meters away, shakes out the nerves in his hands and takes a deep breath before he calls out. “Qin!”

The omega whips his head up at the sound of his name, his two friends look surprised, but when they see him standing there with a determined look, they opt to step away slightly. Out of the corner of his eye, Duang sees his own friends approaching with bottled drinks. They stand just off to his side, Duang catches a small greeting being exchanged between some of them.

Qin nods at him slightly, his expression is judgmental but also confused, unsure of why this stranger is calling out to him. “Can I help you?”

He swallows, trying to push down his nerves. He had practiced for this. He could do this.

“Hi Qin. My name is Duang!” Okay, good so far.

Qin doesn’t respond, just stares at him.

“I wanted to tell you…” He pauses, closing his eyes for a second and exhaling deeply, trying to calm down. When he opens his eyes, he makes direct eye contact with Qin, who is looking at him, notably looking rather unimpressed. Duang panics.

“My friend likes you!” He lifts his thumb to point at whoever is at his side, which turns out to be Pae. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the omega looking around at everyone and frantically denying.

His breathing is uneven as he freezes, awaiting a response. The seconds feel like they drag on.

“Your friend? The omega?”

Now it’s Duang that just stares, blank expression, no clue how he got it so wrong already.

Qin looks a little apologetic as he continues, “Sorry, but I’m not really into other omegas.”

Pae turns to look at Qin who is now looking at him, “You know it’s actually quite nice, I suggest-” He shakes his head, holding out his hands in front of him in a stopping gesture. “No wait. He’s lying, I don’t like you like that.”

Qin’s brow quirks up, turning back to Duang. Duang turns his thumb to point at himself, fear evident on his face.

“I meant to say I like you.”

Qin purses his lips, expressions betraying the barely concealed annoyance at the whole situation. His tone is no better as he asks, “So is it you or your friend?”

Duang points to himself with both hands, mustering a bright smile. “It’s me. Definitely me. I’m the one who likes you.”

Qin looks unimpressed. The omega slowly takes a few steps forward, causing Duang to lock up with nerves. His warm scent starts to overtake the others around him, which does little to cool Duang’s rapidly beating heart.

“You like me?”

Duang’s head nods frantically.

“Why?”

Duang licks his lips, gulping. “I fell for you at first sight when I saw you a week ago.”

The look on Qin’s face soured, and his scent takes on a slight tang. “So my looks?”

Duang denies strongly, shaking his head aggressively, then pauses and brings up his hand in a pinched gesture. “A little?”

He’s met with a deadpan. “Okay but it’s just why my attention was caught! I think you seem really lovely and I’ll get to know you better.”

Qin folds his arms in front of him. “And how exactly do you intend to get to know me?”

“I’m going to court you!” Duang blurts it out. Totally unsmooth and definitely not what he meant to say.

The passing seconds feel like hours before Qin leans into Duang’s face with a pinched expression and takes a subtle inhale, leveling Duang with a confused look.

“Court me?”

Duang’s smile drops, chill running down his spine as he scrambles to correct himself.

“Uhh, I mean- Pursue you! I’m going to pursue you. Not court. Cause I… Yeah.”

The omega minutely shifts his head back and looks at him in mild contempt, Duang realizes he’s accidentally just yelled in his face.

“Sorry.”

Duang’s eyes follow Qin’s tongue as it peaks out to wet his lips. He scans Duang with a calculating look and slowly nods.

“Okay… Do whatever you want.”

Duang’s mouth drops, surprised at the omega’s approval.

“Really?” He asks, somewhat dumbly. He wants to take it back as soon as he says it, afraid the beautiful man will retract his permission.

“Mm. It’s not like I can stop you.”

Duang nods excitedly, Qin just steps back.

“Let’s go, I need to get something to eat before we go home.” He says out loud.

Qin turns away, beginning to walk off and Kim and Tong follow.

“Bye Qin! Have a good night!”

Jamie and Pae smile and Duang waves happily at the retreating trio.

The second the other three are out of view, Duang begins jumping around as he runs around his friends.

“Aaaagh! He said I can pursue him!”

He stops in between Pae and Jamie, expecting them to join him in his celebrations, but instead, they both shoulder check him, knocking him between them with their movement.

He pouts at them as they begin walking away to the opposite side of the festival, moving toward the exit.

“Duang, you idiot, you almost ruined your cover immediately.”

“How could you say you were going to court him?”

“It’s like you wanted him to know you’re an alpha!”

“We even practiced what you’d say!”

“How did you mess it-”

Duang jumps in front of them, hands spread out in front of both of their faces as he yells “Stop!”

They stop abruptly, almost hitting their friend’s outstretched palms.

Duang lowers his hands only to bring one back up to scratch at the back of his neck, suddenly he has an unsure expression plastered on his face.

“Do you guys think I should have just been upfront about my alpha status? Won’t it be harder to explain if I start to court him as a beta and have to come clean later?”

His friends both squint, thinking about the question. It’s quiet between the three of them for a bit as they ponder. Pae is the first to speak up.

“Come clean to him next time you see him. Just tell him you live as a beta for personal reasons and you corrected yourself out of habit. I’m sure he’ll understand.”

Duang nods, looking at his feet as he scuffs his shoes on the pavement.

“Okay…” Then his head pops up, “I’ll go find him and tell him now!”

He tries to run between his two friends, but he’s yanked back by his shoulders.

“Right now, you need to go home and rest. Correcting him can wait.”

Duang pops out his lower lip in a dramatic pout, looking up at Jamie with sad eyes. “But…”

Pae grabs his friend’s face, turning him to look at him. He digs around for something from his tote bag and pulls out a bottled drink that matches the ones him and Jamie have.

“No buts. You can tell him first thing Monday. For now, we’re taking you back to your condo.”

Duang huffs but gives in, snatching the drink from his friend. “Fine.”

Confessing his secret would just have to be a next time deal.

and now it’s time for their love to bloom (kinda)! let me know what you guys think!! all feedback appreciated! :)

Pond wasn’t sure he was going to get through the day.

After returning to his room the night before, he had tried his hardest to fall asleep but it was futile. The entire day ran through his mind and with Phuwin’s promise to join him the next day, his own thoughts were like caffeine in his system.

Which is what led him to now, leaned over the bar counter with only an hour and a half of sleep in his system watching the guests shuffle out of their rooms as he fought the fatigue that plagued him.

It had been two hours since the hostel had opened and three since he had started his day, but he had yet to see Phuwin come down. He tried to stave off the disappointment, knowing that he really had no right to expect anything in the first place, but it was heard to deny it was upsetting.

He sighed to himself, throwing on a customer service smile as guests walked past. At least he had something to keep him busy.

He shuffled around behind the bar, cleaning up and tidying papers that had not been filed away. Pouring his focus into his work, he hardly noticed the sound of creaking steps as someone bounded down them.

“I’m so so sorry!”

Pond turned around at the sound of the now familiar voice.

Phuwin was standing at the far end of the counter, hair wet and regretful look on his face.

“I completely forgot to set an alarm last night and I overslept.”

Pond stared at him with a blank expression making Phuwin rock back and forth on his heels, waiting for a reaction.

Relief flooded him as he realized he hadn’t been stood up, he had simply slept in by accident.

A relaxed grin spread across Pond’s face, soon followed by a deep chuckle. Phuwin watched him with a soft smile on his face, glad the taller man wasn’t too upset by his tardiness.

Composing himself with a deep breath, Pond walked over to the section of the counter where Phuwin stood and leaned forward, elbows propped on the bar top, hair brushing the tops of his cheekbones as he analyzed the photographer.

“Did you just get out of the shower?”

Phuwin tilts his head in confusion, about to ask how he knew, when his own dampened bangs shifted, wetting his forehead. A sheepish look spread across his face.

“Yeah, I didn’t think I had time to dry it. I actually woke up because I was getting a bunch of messages from my brother saying they were gonna be here soon and I didn’t know how long I had.”

Pond pursed his lips slightly, nodding at the information.

“Your little brother is coming?”

“Mm. Him and Perth were going to spend a few-”

As if on cue, the two heard a voice call out.

“P’Chai!”

They turned to look to the other side of the patio and saw a small vehicle pulling up with two people sat in the backseat, bags stacked at their feet.

“Ta, you made it!” Phuwin began to walk over to the tuk tuk and Pond watched as one of the men climbed out from the seat and rushed to hug him while the other man, whom Pond recognized, began to pull the bags off of the vehicle.

He busied himself behind the counter, trying to act as if he wasn’t watching the interaction, while Phuwin and the man Pond had decided was Santa, exchanged greetings.

Then, a second vehicle comes into view. This time, a single motorcycle taxi carrying a strong shouldered man with a camera around his neck.

After coming to a halt, the man hopped off the bike, pulling out a few bills to pay, and waved off the taxi driver before turning to Phuwin, wide grin on his face.

Kicking a foot out, he pops a hip and yell’s out a “Surprise!”

Phuwin stares in shock and jogs over to the man pulling him into a hug.

“You didn’t tell me you were coming yet?”

The man chuckled, hugging Phuwin back tightly. “Wanted to surprise you.” He then turned his mouth towards him and whispered something to Phuwin that Pond couldn’t catch from his spot behind the bar.

Whatever he said though, had clearly shocked Phuwin who pulled back with a look of playful bewilderment. This caused the man to laugh harder and say he was just joking as he pulled Phuwin back into a hug.

Watching the two, Pond thought to himself “Ah, this must be the Est guy Phuwin has been talking about.”

Then, Pond watched the man pull Phuwin’s face back and promptly landed a long kiss on his cheek. He was struck by another thought.

“Oh. Wow, I must have really misunderstood somethings.”

In the past two days, Pond had heard Est’s name many times, but at no point had Phuwin implied he was his lover. Though as Pond thought about it, he had never clarified that he was just a friend either.

Phuwin laughed, pushing Est off of him and saying “What are you doing?!” to which Est replied quickly, faux surprise on his face “What? A man can’t show a little public display of affection?”

“Why are you acting like this?” Phuwin was laughing loudly now.

“Like what?” Est smirked at him.

“Just be quiet and go put your stuff in our room.”

Oh. Pond felt like he had just been punched in the gut.

Sure, he had only known Phuwin for like less than fourth-eight hours, but he had spent a good thirty of them tied at the hip with him.

He was so sure the two were sharing some sort of flirty banter the whole time, but evidently he was wrong, cause here was Phuwin’s boyfriend, strolling in to shove their PDA in everyone’s faces and come stay with him.

In the same room. In the same bed.

Pond let out a deep sigh and walked out from behind the countertop, but before he could walk towards the storage on the other side of the building, Perth, who was paying the driver, yelled out to him.

“Pond! Hey!”

All eyes turned to him as he turned around, smiling shyly and bowing to greet them.

Perth walked over to him, smile suspiciously wide as he approached.

“How have you been? We haven’t talked in forever.”

Pond couldn’t help but snort. “Forever? It’s been like maybe a month.”

“Hey, no need to get all technical.”

The two hadn’t seen each other in person in years, but they kept in touch through text nowadays, though they had briefly lost contact for a while after graduating high school together.

Life had gotten on the way for both of them, Perth had stayed in the city to attend university and Pond had moved away to help his mother run the place. But thanks to a lucky suggested post on social media, Perth had been reminded of his old friend and reached out, and the two had stayed connected since.

“Let me introduce you.” He claps a hand over Pond’s shoulder and guides him toward the three other men. He debates excusing himself to try and avoid the interaction for a bit longer, but gives in when he sees Phuwin turn and smile at him.

Phuwin is the one to speak up.

“Pond, these are the people you’ve been hearing about non stop. Santa and Est.” Est bumps Phuwin’s shoulder with his own.

“Nice to meet you both, my name is Pond, I’m the owner of this place.” He bows slightly, entering his customer service mode.

As he does, he notices the camera around Est’s neck and something clicks. The call from yesterday. It had been him, and he was talking about staying with Phuwin. That’s why the name had seemed familiar.

He mentally sighs, he should have realized then and he wouldn’t have been so shocked by the news today, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

The smallest man of the bunch steps forward, sticking his hand out to shake hands and smiling brightly at Pond.

“Hi, I’m Santa! Phuwin’s brother and Perth’s boyfriend! No wait, fiancé! I’ve heard about you from Perth before!”

Pond smiles a bit awkwardly as he reaches out to shake his hand.

“All good things I hope.”

He hears Perth let out a snort behind him as Santa laughs cheerfully. “Oh of course, only good things. Promise.”

Then the other man steps forwards, bring his hands up in a wai. “I’m Est. I’ve heard about you from Phuwin.”

Now it’s Phuwin who lets out an annoyed hum and slaps Est’s shoulder. Est turns toward him and laughs, holding his shoulder in mock hurt.

Pond on the other hand is honestly a bit shocked. He didn’t expect Phuwin to have talked about him, let alone to his boyfriend. He wasn’t sure what kind of things may have been shared about him, wasn’t sure if Phuwin had caught onto his attraction, and wasn’t sure if he was now deemed an enemy in Est’s eyes.

To say the situation was making him anxious would be an understatement, but he wasn’t sure how to leave the situation, so he just politely greeted Est and tried to keep a calm look.

Then, Pond heard it.

“P’Pond! Come here!”

A light voice called out, a blessing call from the forces above, or rather, from the small child climbing the trees on the edge of the courtyard.

Pond sighed exasperatedly and quickly excused himself, calling out to the small boy as he went.

“Mok, I told you to stop climbing that one, you always get stuck..”

The four men watched as Pond walked away, laughing at his exasperated tone.

A few moments pass before Perth pauses abruptly causing the other three to look over at him.

“We still need to book a room…”

Phuwin responds without further thought, “Oh, I can do it,” walking behind the counter like it was already second nature.

Est and Santa turn to look at each other in scandalized shock as Perth follows over and props himself up on the counter, smirking at Phuwin who was grabbing the necessary paperwork and info sheets.

The other two join them at the bar, wearing matching smirks. Phuwin looks up from his task and levels them with a look of judgment and confusion.

“What is up with you three?”

Est leans forward, getting in Phuwin’s face. “Someone here has blended right into the local life, huh?”

Santa leans forward as well, grinning obnoxiously, “No wonder it seemed like you were in your own little world when we pulled up.” He turns to Est, “You should have seen it, I thought he was going to give him a little smooch they were so close.”

Phuwin reaches out to flick his brother’s forehead.

“Shut up, it was not that close, don’t exaggerate.”

Perth just smiles as he pulls his boyfriend under his arm and rubs his forehead, which now had a small red mark on it.

“Okay, enough teasing the future lovebirds,” he ducks to avoid a flick to his own head, “we need a room, preferably one we don’t need to share with other people.”

Phuwin huffs. “Okay, so I can put you in the room next to mine and Pond’s with a bathroom or…”

-

It’s almost sunset by the time the group is able to catch Pond with a moment of free time. Most of the day was spent at the beach, enjoying the breeze and waves, playing around, and talking about whatever came up.

A few times, they would make their way back up to the hostel, Phuwin and Perth looking to pull Pond away for at least a little while, but every time, they were met with a busied Pond. He would be talking to a guest, making a drink, cleaning up, or running off to do errands for himself and his neighbors. The few times they had been able to talk to him, they had barely been able to get a solid minute before he’d come up with an excuse of some kind.

Phuwin was a bit surprised by it. Sure they had kept themselves busy with guests yesterday, but it was nothing like this. It was just his luck that the day he had people there to introduce, he could barely snag a second of his time.

A couple attempts to catch Pond’s attention and drag him away had been enough to deter Est and Santa, who opted to stay on the beach by the fourth try, but Perth, wanting to catch up with his friend, continued to make the trek with Phuwin back up to the bar each time.

“Damn, I don’t remember this place being so busy when I came here back in high school. Pond’s mom was always hanging around and taking us to see places.” Perth whispered as he watched Pond shuffle through files in the back of the bar area, seemingly reorganizing various documents in the small filling cabinet.

Phuwin sighed, turning away and beginning to head towards the stairs. “That’s cause it isn’t usually. We were free all day yesterday.”

Perth smirks and bumps his shoulder with Phuwin as they begin to ascend the stairs.

“So you spent the whole day with him, huh? Pretty cool guy, what did I say? I knew he’d be your type.”

Phuwin roll his eyes and shoved back. “Stop that, you both are probably the reason Pond’s avoiding me; it’s all your comments every time we come up here.”

He turns around when realizes he doesn’t hear the second set of footsteps anymore, Perth is looking up at him from a few steps back, lips pursed.

“Avoiding you? Are you sure?”

Phuwin deadpans, continuing to his room as he speaks. “Yes, I’m sure. He’s sat there organizing paperwork that’s already organized. Trust me, I know, I was the one filing them away yesterday. Clearly he just doesn’t want to hang around with us, and that’s fine, but I don’t know why. I thought we were chill, but maybe I hit a nerve.”

He sighs, pulling out the small keyring from his pocket to unlock his room. “I mean I’ve spent like every second with this guy and we were getting along great, just like you said we would, and then this morning I was late to come down even though I told him I-”

Perth stops him by his shoulders.

“Okay shit. I didn’t realize this was bothering you so much, it’s just how things always were between us back in high school, I guess it just felt like old times and I forgot we aren’t a bunch of kids anymore. I’m sorry, I’ll tone it down.”

The photographer exhales, tipping his head back.

“No, it’s fine. I’m being dramatic. I don’t even know why I’m getting so heated about this.”

Perth snorts, “The answer I want to give you is probably not gonna make you very happy.”

“Owh! You asshole.” A sharp flick to his forehead sends him tumbling back and away from Phuwin who is looking at him with playful distain.

“How did I end up with another annoying little sibling. Wasn’t the two I was assigned to enough?” Phuwin exhales as he grabs the spare camera battery from his bag and walks back out of his room with a satisfied Perth following.

Making their may pack to the bar, Phuwin stops, causing Perth to crash into him.

“Hey! What did you-”

He’s stopped by a hand covering his mouth. His eyebrows squish together for a moment before he follows the gaze of the man silencing him.

There is Pond, head propped up and eyes closed, not preoccupied for what seemed like the first time that day. Perth removed the hand from his mouth and pointed to himself, then to Pond. Then he pointed to Phuwin and the beach. Phuwin just tilted his head and scrunched up his eyebrows, mouthing a “What?”

Perth sighs, whispering to him instead.

“You go down first, if he’s really avoiding you, let me try alone.”

He’s met with a reluctant look, so he takes matters into his own hand and pushes him away, before bee-lining over to Pond.

He waits, until Phuwin finally disappears from his sight before he gets up and close to the resting man.

“Hey, what’s up?”

Pond’s eyes shoot open and he jumps up, heart racing as he takes in the laughing man in front of him.

“Sorry sorry,” He brings his hands up in an apologetic gesture, “What are you doing right now?”

Pond scrambles for a moment, stumbling out an incoherent “Oh uh, I’m- Well I’m-”

His ears redden, embarrassed by his own stumbling.

“What’s up with you man, why are you so shocked?”

“I thought you guys went back to the beach.”

“Oh ho?” He leans forward, causing Pond to shuffle back in a jerky motion.

His voice comes out a bit tense as he defends, “Not that I was watching or anything! I just thought I heard your voice and then it went away so I…”

“You what? You stopped pretending to be busy?”

Perth had meant it as a joke, but Pond’s blood chilled at being called out. Instead of formulating a solid answer, he tenses and looks at Perth with wide eyes.

Perth, catching the man’s tense nature, steps back and smiles kindly, dropping the teasing tone and act.

“Just joking.”

Pond nods, licking his dry lips and swallowing harshly.

“Yeah, uh, yeah it’s been a busy day today.” Pond turns around, beginning to sort through more of the documents and office supplies on the back table. Perth watches curiously, noting that he wasn’t actually doing anything in particular. Phuwin’s earlier comments resurface in his mind as Pond continues to shuffle around.

“Right, yeah. We noticed. Will you be free later tonight to hang out for a little while?”

Pond turns around, looking particularly sheepish as he scratches at the back of his neck.

“Tonight? Ah, I’ve got a lot to do, you know, it’s a Friday, so obviously the bar will be busy. I’ll be stuck with that, and I can’t really step aw-”

Not for the first time this week, Pond’s aunt comes running over, but this time she shows up, not with a request, but a comment that had Pond mentally banging his head against the wall.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize it was this late, I was playing around with a new recipe, but I’m here now to run your bar! You can run off and do whatever you said you wanted to do tonight.”

She turns to Perth, whom she hadn’t even realized was there at first in her haste. “Hi, who are you?”

Her blunt nature punches a sharp laugh out of Perth as Pond scrambles to hush her.

“I’m Perth, Pond’s classmate from high school and the one he has plans with tonight! Thank you for covering for him!” He turns to Pond with a mischievous smile, grabs his wrist, and leads him out of the bar and whisks him away.

The sun is actively set by the time the two of them make it to the group’s spot on the beach. Pond spots Phuwin and Est, who are sharing a bench just on the other side of a fire ring nestled in the sand, and Santa has settled himself just next to them on a towel in the sand.

The three of them seem to be deep into a heated debate about something Pond isn’t sure of, but the conversation is paused when their attention is caught by Perth pulling him over and shoving him down onto the log just to the side of the bench.

“Success!”

Perth smiles at his boyfriend’s cheer and gives him a thumbs up, clapping a hand onto Pond’s back, then making his way over to Santa’s side as the group dives back another conversation after greeting Pond.

Pond wishes the sand would swallow him and the log whole. He was doing so good avoiding this exact thing all day and then his aunt just had to come and ruin it. Granted, it was his fault for not updating her on the situation.

Earlier in the morning, before Phuwin had even woken up, he had asked her to run the bar after she closed her restaurant. He was hoping to take Phuwin out and about to other spots on the island, maybe go get a meal that wasn’t made by himself or his aunt, he hadn’t thought that far ahead.

Of course, he didn’t ever get the chance to think any further about it because the second he had a chance to ask if Phuwin would want to join him, he was met with an introduction to his partner. Not what he was expecting in the least.

He was so in his head about it all day, trying his best to avoid fifth wheeling and thinking of all the awkward interactions now that he realized Phuwin was not in fact flirting with him, and was in fact just a nice guy. It had completely slipped his mind that he needed to update his aunt on the plans.

It’s this unfortunate slip of the mind that led him to now, where he has ended up sitting on the beach with two strangers, nursing the same beer for an hour, and trying to avoid bringing attention to himself.

He had managed to stay as just a listening ear for that first hour, sitting slightly away from the four others and only making remarks when needed, but when Phuwin, Est, and Santa moved toward the waves to take some photos, it left Pond alone with Perth once again.

He knew that his luck had run dry.

Shuffling over to sit on the log Pond was sat on, Perth tilted his head up, looking at the moon and taking a deep breath.

“It really is nice out here, I can see why you chose this.”

Pond chuckles, “Mm. It’s definitely nice.”

Perth turns to look at him, “I kept meaning to come down and visit, but a lot has happened in the last few years, I hardly had time to update you over text.”

“Considering the person you’re here with now is not the same guy you were with in high school, I can tell.”

A loud cackle breaks the peaceful atmosphere, Perth suddenly struck by the realization that even that bit of info was something he forgot to update Pond on.

“I have done a really bad job updating you, huh?”

Pond levels him with an annoyed stare, as if to say “You think?”

Perth shoves him lightly before he starts to explain.

“Yeah, me and that guy from back then had a sort of rough break up. I’m sure you can guess based on how we were even in high school. I kind of disappeared off the face of the earth for a while. Only talked to my siblings, but then I met Santa and he just slipped into my life so seamlessly that I almost felt like he’d always been there. Probably why I didn’t realize I never told you. Then after a while I met his family, and then we got engaged recently like I told you.”

Pond smiles at him. “I’m glad things are going well for you, I probably could have also asked to hear more about your engagement or anything like that, I guess we both fell short on keeping each other updated.”

“Mm. Speaking of updated, what’s going on with you? If you don’t know what’s going on with me, I definitely don’t know about you. You never talk about anything, you’d think nothing has happened these past few years.”

“Probably cause nothing has happened. I got nothing happening in my life, same as it’s always been.”

He’s met with silence. Perth looks a little unsure of what to say, not quite sure of Pond’s emotion behind the statement, but he lands on a teasing “No lovers? No breakups? Nothing?”

Pond chuckles at him, just shaking his head as a response as he brings his beer up to his lips.

“You interested in anyone?”

Pond chokes on the sip he was taking, and Perth tries to pat his back, but he can’t resist the laughter that bubbles up. He watches as Pond recovers and notices that he tries to sneakily glance in Phuwin’s direction, only to look away to the sand below his feet when he spotted Phuwin and Est hugging for the picture Santa was taking of them.

Perth seemed to realize then what was going through Pond’s mind. He was gonna have fun with this.

“I won’t pry.” He stands, putting a hand in front of Pond to help him stand as well. “Anyways, now that you’ve spit out the last of your beer, lets go get some more.”

Pond just nods and begins to follow him back up the bar.

“So how are you getting along with Phuwin? I always thought you two were kind of similar.”

Pond just quietly nods and hums a reply.

“You know, me and his brother have been trying to get him to make more friends. All he ever does is do his photography or hang out with his siblings or Est.”

Pond just nods along, not replying verbally. Perth, who was walking in front of Pond so the man couldn’t see his face, presses his lips together to hide his smile.

“Yeah, you might have heard from Phuwin, but those two are always together. They’ve been inseparable for years now, they met on set for a shoot like four years ago and just clicked. If soulmates are real, they’re definitely that.”

Pond nodded along, trying to not act too interested or upset when Perth turns to face him. “Yeah, they seem like it. I’ve heard him talk about Est a lot.”

Perth just nods, trailing the conversation towards his own relationship as they get drinks for the group and head back to the beach.

By the time they return, the three others are back around the small fire, talking about plans for the weekend.

Perth pops down next to Santa, handing him a new drink, and dramatically snuggles into his shoulder. He waits for a pause in the conversation before he interjects, somewhat abruptly.

“Y’know while you guys were taking pics, I was catching up with Pond about life and how we got engaged recently. Show him the ring!”

Santa beams at the chance, leaning forward with his hand out to show off his band. As he sits back down, Phuwin pats his brother’s head, smiling at him fondly.

“He’s all excited about it because Perth got him the exact ring he had been looking at.”

Pond chuckles at the Perth’s exaggerated smug reaction. “I’m surprised he’s such a lover boy. I would not have expected it considering how prickly he could be in high school.”

Santa laughs, patting his partner’s head as he buries his face into the crook of his neck.

“Actually when we met, Perth was quite mean to me. He definitely wasn’t like this at first. Luckily, me and his little brother clicked instantly. We’re like two peas in a pod. It forced Perth to eventually accept me into his life as well.”

Perth, throws his head back, eyes shut tight at the memories, before he slings his arms around Santa and squeezes him tight, nuzzling into him in a way that makes the other three people cringe slightly.

The corner of Perth’s lip quirked up subtly, glad that his lover had unknowingly helped his little scheme, as he says “The way you walked in and improved our lives is why I think soulmates are definitely real, both romantic and platonic, right Phi?” He turns toward Phuwin and smiles widely.

Phuwin is clearly confused about the topic change and sudden turn towards him but he nods anyway.

The conversation trails off again, and the five of them talk like this for a while, poking fun and reminiscing amongst themselves. Pond actually involves himself this time. He thought to himself that it would only make it more awkward if he was acting off now with Est here, so he decided to just shelve his thoughts and try to act normal.

Phuwin and him were talking about some of the guest stories the two had heard yesterday when Phuwin had a realization.

“Wait a minute. Pond, was Est the guy you were talking about yesterday, on the phone?”

Pond just nodded and hummed a confirmation. Est looks at Phuwin in confusion.

“You two talked about me?”

“Of course we talked about you, you called, right? Plus, you act like I can talk about myself without talking about you. When don’t you come up in my conversations.”

Pond could practically feel the squeeze to his throat. How he hadn’t caught on to the domesticity in Phuwin’s voice before when he spoke about Est was beyond him, every second around the two of them just made him feel more embarrassed. Of course Phuwin would have a partner, he should have assumed that from the jump. He dipped his head, closing his eyes for a second before he stood up, needing to step away for a breather.

“I’m gonna go get another drink. Anyone want anything?”

He felt his stomach tighten as Est stood up as well.

“Yeah, let me come with! I actually wanted to ask you about booking another room.”

“Uh... Another room?”

“Yeah, I’m staying in Phuwin’s tonight but I need a separate room for the next two nights.”

Pond failed to contain the confused expression on his face, which Est caught and began to clarify.

“It’s only enough to sleep two, right?”

Pond nods and Phuwin stands, interrupting Est and slinging an arm around.

“Est here has a very special guest of his that’ll be joining us tomorrow.”

Est’s already alcohol flushed cheeks turn even redder, shoving Phuwin off of him.

“Stop! He’s just a friend!” Phuwin leans in and pinches his cheeks. “Sure… A friend you just kiss sometimes and practically live with.”

Phuwin turns to Perth, expecting the man to jump in on his teasing, but Perth is looking elsewhere, watching Pond, who has gone still with his mouth ajar.

He stands up, looking at Est as he walks over to Pond.

“Just book the room tomorrow. Pond is off the clock right now, don’t make him think about work right now. We’ll go get drinks,” and then Pond is dragged away.

Perth is grabbing two more beers from the fridge behind the counter when he turns and sees Pond still standing at the entrance of the bar counter, leaning against the wall. His furrowed brows were barely illuminated by the string lights draped across the busy bar behind him.

“You gonna grab some drinks too or just stand there?”

“You told me those two were together.”

Perth couldn’t resist the smile that crept on his face. He walks over and places his free hand on Pond’s shoulder. “Well I actually said they were soulmates. And I did also say platonic soulmates were real.”

Then it clicked for Pond, that’s why Perth brought that up out of nowhere. He knew he was interested in Phuwin and that’s why he was acting weird the whole time.

“You did that on purpose!?” Perth just smiles and pushes past him, walking back down the path to the beach and disappearing from Pond’s sight.

Not sure how I feel about this chapter if I’m being honest. Let me know what y’all think! - narawinagain (4/20/26 - 4/27/26)

Duang was seriously going to lose his mind. It’s been a week since he first saw the pretty omega and he has yet to approach him and not by lack of trying.

After Duang first pointed the man out after the scent patch mishap, Jamie and Pae got it immediately. Pae had turned to Duang with a look of shock, and Jamie just pulled both of them right back into the bathroom.

“Duang, you’re crazy.”

Duang glares at Jamie and lunges, only to be held back by Pae who pats his arm in an attempt to soothe him while he also glares at Jamie. Then he turns to Duang to speak.

“Jamie is right. You’re insane.”

Jamie bursts out in laughter while Duang rips his arm away from Pae and pouts at him.

“What happened to being my supports? Why are you both so fake. I need new friends.”

“Hey! Don’t say that!” The taller alpha steps forward and drops his hands onto Duang’s shoulders.

“It’s got nothing to do with your secret and your status or your ‘alpha’-ness Duang. We just know that you must be insane to try to approach that guy.”

The faux beta is confused. “You guys are acting weird. Is something wrong? Why are you so insistent I can’t pursue this guy?”

Pae steps over and holds his arms, looking up at him with a sympathetic expression.

Duang mentally prepares himself to learn about the guy already having a mate or some other solid reason.

Instead, Jamie opens up and says, “It’s nothing. He’s just very pretty and you’re kind of a loser.”

Pae’s face puffs up with laughter as he nods along with him.

“You assholes! I’m leaving.”

Duang stomps out, listening to the two of them laughing loudly behind him.

For the next week, Duang catches glimpses of the omega, but that’s about it.

It wasn’t surprising considering he had only just seen him for the first time several weeks into the semester, but it didn’t make it any less disappointing.

Which is why it felt like a blessing from the deity’s above when he was scrolling on instagram and saw a post on the school’s page with various music students’ rehearsals.

He shot up from where he was lounging on his couch, yelling out a “Shit!” and turning to look at his two friends that were sat on the outside patio. He ran over to the open door and held his phone out, pointing at it ecstatically.

“I found him! I found the guy!”

The two don’t even lift their heads to look at him, instead they stayed glued to the game they’re playing, letting out passive hums of acknowledgment.

Duang huffs and stomps over to sit in one of the open chairs at the table.

While he sits and waits for the two to pay attention. He zooms in on the photo. There, on the first slide of the post, is three people in the middle of a large practice room.

One is to the left of the screen, behind a large drum set, the other on the opposite side of the room is wiping at a saxophone, and right in the middle, is the beautiful man he had been trying to identify for a week.

He was looking intently at the tuning pegs of a bright red electric guitar, his lips pouting cutely as he appeared to be actively tuning the instrument.

Duang squeals excitedly, physically shaking with joy. He taps on the photo to see the tags, and practically screams when he sees a username hover above the pretty man.

“qinch_”

He drops the phone and begins to run laps around the table.

Pae, to Jamie’s displeasure, gives into his curiosity and puts his own phone down, taking the opportunity to look at the photo on Duang’s device.

The photo was clearly taken from the other side of the door, snapped through the small window into the room.

Pae zoomed in, trying to get a good look at all three of them. He briefly remembers seeing the drummer with the omega when Duang first pointed him out, and sends himself the post.

Then he turns toward Jamie, holding Duang’s phone up in one hand and pushing Jamie’s down with the other.

Jamie protests for a second, before he finally takes a look at the photo. He huffs and snags the device from Pae to zoom in.

“What do you want me to look at? I can hardly see them. They aren’t even looking at the camera, what kind of post is this?”

-

Qin was annoyed. He had specifically chosen the practice room in the awkward corner of the building so they could avoid this.

But now here he was, standing in his kitchen, zooming in on a photo of himself posted on the school’s instagram.

“What are you burning a hole into over there?”

Qin looks up at the beta sat on the floor with his daughter. The two were playing and burning energy before her bedtime.

The small girl was running back and forth between two makeshift blanket and pillow crash pads, while the man looked at Qin with his eyebrows quirked, waiting for an answer.

“I’m gonna report the school page this time Tong. I’m gonna do it.”

The beta laughs as he picks the small girl up and brings here over to her father.

“Yes yes, I know. Here, have a hug from my sweet niece. It will calm you down.”

Tong passes the small girl to Qin’s arms and grabs his phone from him.

“You say that like Dara’s not my daughter.” He squeezes the toddler in a tight hug.

Tong ignores him, tapping on the screen and removing the tag from the post.

“Feel free to report the post, I just removed the tag so at least people don’t find your account. Now give her back.”

He puts the phone down and holds out his arms, ready to accept the small child.

Qin glares at him and turns away. “No, you can’t have her now.”

The toddler giggles at the two of them as they begin to mockingly argue about who gets to hold her when her small ears catch the sound of a knocking pattern on the front door, a pattern she was familiar with.

She wiggles her way out of her father’s arms until he puts her down,. Ignoring the two of them still bickering, she runs over to open the front door.

Kim steps in and is immediately greeted with a hug from the small girl. He picks her up with his free arm and looks over at his two friends.

The alpha sighs, not unfamiliar with the sight. He turns to the small girl, lifting the bag he had on his forearm.

“I leave for ten minutes to get the ice cream they requested and this is what I come back to. Will these two ever tire of bickering Dara? I’m not sure…”

-

“Okay, so what’s the game plan now? How are you going to approach him?”

Duang, Pae, and Jamie had reconvened in Duang’s living room after the initial excitement subsided. The two friends sat on his couch, watching him, devices ready.

“Well, my friends.” He lifts his unlocked phone up, showing the post still on his screen. “First step is to find out what he likes from his instagram.”

Jamie stands, smiling and clapping obnoxiously, “”Genius work my friend, you’re so smart, why didn’t I think of that!”

“Owh, I haven’t even gotten to the plan.”

“Oh.”

Jamie plops back down onto the couch.

“Okay, so first things first, do I follow him already? Or do I wait?”

Pae looks at him with a look of judgement. “Obviously just follow him? Why would you not?”

Duang pouts at him before turning the phone back to himself.

“I was just asking, but if you say so-” Duang’s jaw drops, looking at the screen again. He tapped it a few more times, making sure he wasn’t mistaken.

“Guys…” He looks up at his friends with his eyes drooping sadly.

Jamie laughs out loud and asks “Who let their kicked puppy in here?”

Pae laughs along with him, but they sit up straight when Duang turns the phone around and they see what killed his mood.

Now, where there was three tags, there is only two.

Pae hurries to grab his own phone from the coffee table, and opens his dm’s from Duang. Clicking on the post he sent to his account, he taps to check for himself.

Sure enough, there are only two tags: “kim_sosaxy” and “tongttongtong”

Pae panics on Duang’s behalf for only a second before he snaps back into it.

“Wait, I have an idea.”

Duang runs over to his side and squeezes himself next to him, watching as Pae taps to show the tags again, and hovers for a second before clicking on the tag above the drummer. He scrolls through the few rows on the profile before he spots a picture of the same three people.

Duang yells out in excitement, grabbing the phone to check for the tags again but he slumps back down when nothing shows up for the omega.

All three of them sigh, losing hope of getting anywhere today. Duang tilts and rests his head on Pae’s shoulder and Pae softly pats his head. Jamie thinks for a moment before he slowly reaches over and takes the phone from Duang, who doesn’t resist.

A minute later, Jamie stands up and shoves the device in his friends’ faces.

“No need to thank me.” He says smugly.

Duang sits up and snatches the device again, him and Pae stare in disbelief at the account on their screens again.

“qinch_”

Duang smiles impressively wide and says “It’s Qin… His name is Qin…”

Neither of his friends can stop him from going out to the patio and screaming in excitement.

Jamie smiled down at Pae.

“50 baht says the neighbors knock and tell him to shut up.”

“75 says they leave a note. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Duang runs back into the apartment after a few more minutes of hootin’ and hollerin’ and plops down onto the floor with a notepad and pen he seemingly summoned from thin air.

“Okay, I’m chill. Now help me figure out how to approach him.”

-

Qin had a small pair of children’s sunglasses on his face when he turns to looks at the beta standing in his bedroom doorway.

“Qin, can I borrow some sweatpants? These uniform pants are starting to get annoying.”

Qin smiles at his daughter as she fake feeds him a toy banana.

“Mm, borrow whatever you need— Om nom nom! Thank you baby.”

The small girl giggles at her father’s play, before running over to the alpha in the room who quickly does the same.

The girl giggles even louder at Kim’s noises. She had always gravitated towards him, part of Qin had wondered if it had to do with the exposure to his faint alpha pheromones that she was likely missing out on compared to other children.

He shook the thought. He didn’t need to be thinking about that. It’s not like every child needs to be raised by an alpha and omega, that was a long abandoned ideology, one Qin was not ever going to fall victim to if he had a say. Plus, she already had an alpha figure in her life.

She had her own little mini-pack. With him, Kim, and Tong, that was plenty, for both of them.

The little girl’s head snapped back up when she heard the door to her father’s room swing back open.

Qin watched as the beta walked out of the room in a matching pair of his shirt and sweatpants, his eyes glued to his phone.

“Fit okay Tong?”

Not looking away from his phone, he tosses up an “okay” sign and walks over to take a seat next to Qin as he types quickly.

It’s not long before he’s forced to lock and put away the device, the little girl yanking the glasses off of her father’s face and giving them to Tong to wear.

Qin takes the opportunity to stand and take away the trash and utensils from their take-out.

He quietly tidies up in the kitchen and dining area as he watches Dara crash into and tackle her two uncles. The three of them were taking turns wearing the too-small glasses and tossing the plush fruit toys at one another.

Qin was just enjoying the view of his child having fun. Blissfully ignoring the buzz of notifications on his phone.

-

Duang scrambles back to his phone, pulling up the instagram account again.

He quickly presses “Follow” on the profile, realizing he had forgotten to in the haze of the potentially lost account.

He sighs out loud in relief before focusing back to what was in front of him, tapping the pen on the table as he focuses.

A few minutes later, Duang’s voice cuts through the silence as he lets out an “Okay!”

He turns away from the notepad he was actively jotting down ideas in. So far, he had yet to come up with anything good, so the notepad was more scratch marks than words.

He looked at Jamie, who was sat next to him on the floor with Duang’s laptop propped on the coffee table.

“Any luck Jamie?”

Jamie looks over at him with his lips pulled in a straight line, shaking his head.

Sighing, he turned around to check out Pae behind him. The omega was glued to his phone, smiling brightly at the screen.

“What about you Pae? You find anything good?”

No response.

Duang watches as Pae types away on his device, before he tries again.

“Pae.”

Jamie turns around, tilting towards the omega’s lounging figure.

“Pae!”

The omega jumps and glares at Jamie as he reaches down to pick up his fallen phone.

Duang laughs for a few seconds before composing himself and repeating his question.

“Find anything good?”

“On what?”

“What? Uh… My plan to pursue Qin?” Duang looks between Jamie and Pae confused, unsure what Pae was asking about.

“Oh! Right. Right. Sorry, yeah. Well, nothing yet. Seems like he only hangs out with the same people and only occasionally, and he posts very little about himself. I think the best bet is to get to know his friends. That might be our in.”

“Hmm, good idea. Can you two help me out with that part?”

The two of them nod dramatically at Duang and throw him “okay” signals.

Pae shimmies in his spot on the couch before continuing to scroll through his phone. Jamie returns his attention to the laptop and Duang goes back to brainstorming.

A long time passes like this, with the two of them completing their own tasks as Duang continues to come up with and immediately abandon idea after idea.

Duang scribbles down another: Scare him.

That could be a good one. Maybe he would turn to him for help and it would be the perfect cliche.

Except Duang thinks two things to himself:

One, If he’s doing the scaring, wouldn’t he run away from over to someone else… And two, what omega would want a stranger to come up and scare them. As an alpha, it already wouldn’t be pleasant, but Duang can only assume the added factors of omega-hood would make it even more unpleasant.

Duang crosses the idea out, it was stupid anyway.

He turns to look at his friends. Jamie is still sitting in front of his open laptop, now with an obnoxiously bright article titled “Top 10 Best Ways to Make Someone Fall For You!” which he seems to be intently reading.

Duang bites his lip to contain his laughter and rolls his eyes, why he was asking Jamie of all people to help him approach someone seriously was beyond him. Desperate times come to desperate measures, truly, but at least he had Pae to help him. He was their best hope when it comes to figuring out how an omega would want to be approached!

He turned to look at who he hoped would be his savior and spotted him still lounging on the couch. Laying down and completely passed out.

Evidently, pursuing his omega may have to wait another day.

-

Tong was passed out on the pile of blankets and pillows on the floor of Qin’s condo, small girl laying on top of him with her head on his chest, eyes closed, mouth letting out quiet snores, and a small pink teddy bear clutched between her arms.

Qin walked over from the kitchen and set two steaming mugs on the coffee table before taking a seat next to the alpha on the couch.

“It’s decaf. I assume you two will just stay here tonight?”

The alpha laughs.

“You think Dara would let us leave at this point?”

Qin looks down at his daughter and best friend and smiles softly. It was nice to see the two of them resting peacefully like that.

“Yeah true. If she wasn’t trapping him, I would at least be able to usher him out of here, but she’s chosen him tonight for some reason.”

Kim bumps his shoulder and smiles at him with a suspicious glint. “Don’t act like you don’t love how they get along. You two can do your play argument as much as you want, but we all know you love each other.”

Qin dramatically fake gags, careful not to be two loud and wake the two sleeping figures.

“Yeah yeah, don’t get sappy. He’s a pain, but I’ve told him enough that I’m grateful you two stick by me and Dara’s side. Let me be annoyed with him now.”

Kim laughs and nods as he settles back into the couch with his tea.

He glances down at the sleeping figures, and ponders for a moment.

“So what do we do with them?”

Qin shrugs, “I doubt either of them will wake up before morning, I’ll just shut the blinds.”

He stands and turns to look down at the alpha, “Can you grab the spare blanket and pillow from my closet?”

Kim nods and leaves the living room. As Qin closes all of the blinds, Kim carefully lifts Tong’s head and places the pillow beneath it before draping the blanket over the both of them.

The alpha and omega stand above them, smiling at the peaceful scene. Qin turns to Kim, grabbing him by the elbow and the two walk into the bedroom.

As Qin settles into the bed, Kim hovers for a moment and asks “You sure you don’t want me to take the couch? I don’t want to scent up your bed on accident while I sleep.”

Qin rolls his eyes, flips the covers back and motions for him to get in.

“You act like there’s anyone for your scent to offend.”

Kim chuckles, insisting to Qin “You never know!” but gets into the bed regardless.

He flicks off the lamp and the two drift into sleep in the quiet apartment.

-

“Ah ha! I figured it out!” Duang was standing at the edge of the couch, looking down at his two friends that had been startled awake with his exclamation.

Jamie, who had passed out right in front of the laptop, lifts his head from where it had fell back onto the couch and checks the time on the laptop. It flashes back a bright 1:48 A.M. and Pae, who turned his head to see the time, sits up reluctantly, rubbing his eyes and looking up at his friend.

“You’re still planning?” Pae asks, sleep clouding his mind.

Duang pulls his fisted hands up to his hips in a confident stance, “Well not anymore, cause I know what to do now!”

Jamie slowly stands and helps Pae up off the couch before looking over to Duang and asking “And what did you decide?”

“To tell him I’m going to pursue him!”

Pae and Jamie just stare at him.

For one second. Two seconds. Five seconds. Then the omega breaks the silence.

“You stayed up until two in the morning and all you came up with was to just tell him?”

Duang at least has the wherewithal to look embarrassed.

“Well I just realized that it’s better to be straightforward. Especially if I can’t be straightforward about my alpha status…”

Jamie nods, understanding his intentions.

“And when did you decide to do it?”

Duang perks up, smiling brightly as he says “I looked through his instagram and noticed he’s tagged in posts at the same place every year for Loy Krathong, so I’ll do it at that festival!”

Pae deadpans, looking between Duang and the calendar on his fridge. “You mean the festival tomorrow? Actually, sorry. The festival today?”

Duang nods exaggeratedly, and both Jamie and Pae sigh.

“Okay, then you need to go to sleep now. No more thinking for you.”

The two move in unison, hooking their arms through Duang’s and hauling him to his bedroom, his legs dragging behind them as he looks up at his ceiling. He doesn’t resist their manhandling for once, fully aware he needed to sleep.

Instead, he accepts his fate as the two toss him up onto the bed, pulling the covers out from underneath him before getting underneath themselves. It’s a tight squeeze but it’s nothing they aren’t used to.

The omega reaches over and flicks off the light, plunging the room into darkness.

“Night Pae, night Jamie.”

The two snort, endeared by Duang’s tired words. “Night Duang.”

And the three drifted off, exhaustion winning them over.

i’m trying to make a schedule for myself so the updates aren’t so far apart, but it’ll be a slow start. there will be a change in the future though, pinky promise! anyways, let me know what y’all think so far! i swr they will actually meet soon…

The first thing Phuwin heard when he woke up was the sound of a running shower in another room. His eyes slowly blinked open and a big yawn escaped.

Lifting his head to look around, he noticed how bright it was. He tried to gauge the time as he pushed himself to sit and grabbed his phone.

He was surprised to see the dimmed screen read back “10:19 AM” which was much later than he typically awoke, and yet he still could feel the sleep wanting to take him.

Forcing himself out of bed, he shuffled over to his bag, pulled out some clothes and headed to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for the day. Half an hour later, he headed downstairs.

Phuwin made it halfway down the steps when the bar came into view. There, Phuwin saw Pond talking to a tiny older woman with a backpack and small suitcase. He watched as Pond enthusiastically spoke to her and thought to himself that Pond looked much more relaxed speaking to her than he did to him yesterday. Maybe it was because she seemed to be a leaving guest and Pond had already gotten to speak to her while she stayed, unlike Phuwin, whom he was meeting for the first time.

He watched for a little, intrigued by a talkative Pond. The two had talked extensively yesterday but it was clear that Pond was a quieter guy. Their conversation had flowed, but there was plenty of peaceful silence scattered throughout. Phuwin wouldn’t complain though. He wasn’t a big talker himself, so hanging around Pond had been very comfortable.

Phuwin thought to himself that he wouldn’t mind spending more of his stay by Pond’s side but his thought was interrupted by a raspy voice behind him.

“Excuse me, I just need to slip past you.”

He turned and saw a small older gentleman standing at the top of the stairs. The man was wearing a large backpack while carrying a packed beach bag on one shoulder and a tote bag on the other, and Phuwin noticed two suitcases behind him.

Looking up at the man’s face, the man smiled back kindly.

“Are you taking those down?” Phuwin lifted his hand to point at the items behind the man. He turned his head to follow Phuwin’s gesture and nodded as he spoke, “Ah! Yes, I have to take these down.”

Phuwin walked back up the steps, toward the man. “If you don’t mind, I can take them down for you? You already seem to be carrying a lot.”

The small man looks surprised and brings his hands up in gratitude.

“I would appreciate that very much, I wasn’t sure how my old body was going to get these down there.” He chuckled as he stepped out of the way for Phuwin.

Phuwin grabbed the handle’s of both items and nodded his head. “I’m happy to help, please lead the way.”

The two begin their descent, moving slowly since the older man had taken the lead.

Not that Phuwin was complaining. The luggage he was carrying was extremely heavy, so he likely would have moved slow anyways. They were only halfway down the stairs and he was thinking to himself that he had bitten off more than he could chew. The sixteen steps from upstairs to the bar patio seemed so much longer than they did the day before, Phuwin could already feel the burn in his arms.

He was about to set the bags down, deciding to take them down in separate trips when he heard another voice approaching.

“Ah Mr. Arthit, Phuwin, let me help you.”

Before either of them could protest, Pond grabbed the bags from the older man’s shoulders and a suitcase from Phuwin before quickly making his way down the rest of the stairs.

Phuwin paused where he was, dropping the other suitcase onto the step beside him. Surely he imagined that, but even after blinking to clear his vision, he still saw Pond at the bottom of the stairs, still holding the luggage with ease.

To say Phuwin was impressed was an understatement, he wasn’t a weak man himself, he worked out often and took it quite seriously. Growing up, he always felt obligated to protect his siblings, so naturally he worked on his strength and it had just become habit at this point in his life.

Seeing Pond grab the luggage he struggled to carry intrigued him, to say the least. He didn’t want to get into specifics, but he knew at least one thing, Pond was strong (and maybe kind of hot for that, but Phuwin wasn’t thinking about that right now).

What he was thinking about? How he needed to convince him to help with some shots he had been thinking about the day before. Phuwin remembered seeing a tree yesterday that would have had an incredible vantage point of the rocky beach they visited. At the time, he had thought it was a real shame he couldn’t get up onto it, just a bit too high to jump and grab, and too wide to easily climb, but now he had an idea.

If he could just convince Pond to hoist him up there, he could definitely get the photo. Unfortunately, Phuwin wasn’t sure how to bring it up, let alone convince him. He shook himself from his thoughts and started to descend the stairs, still moving slowly due to the heavy luggage he held.

At the bottom, Pond took the suitcase from him and began walking toward a tuk tuk parked to the side of the patio.

Phuwin watched as Pond loaded the items onto the vehicle, then helped the small lady in from before. He turned to the man, asking if he had any other luggage before helping the man into the tuk tuk.

Phuwin heard him talk to Pond as he began to walk over.

“Thank you for your help, and tell your staff thank you as well for helping with my luggage just now. We had a wonderful time staying here, we’ll be back for sure.”

Pond smiled and nodded, and Phuwin bowed slightly as he approached and stood next to Pond.

“I’m glad you guys had a good time, we hope to see you and Mrs. Pim again soon. Have a safe trip home.”

Pond doesn’t deny Phuwin being his staff, which Phuwin is sure was just out of curtesy for the man’s time.

However, as he watches the tuk tuk drive off, a new idea comes to mind. If he helps Pond with his work, maybe he can convince him to help him out with his.

He turns to Pond suddenly and smiles, the man looks a little confused but he smiles back.

“I’m here to help for the day!”

Ponds tilts his head dramatically at the statement, lip quirking up and confusion painted across his features.

“Help?”

“Mhm, help. I’ll be your staff for the day.”

Phuwin watches Pond bring a hand up to scratch awkwardly at the back of his neck.

“You don’t want to go explore the island more? Or meet other tourists?”

Shaking his head, he motions at the tourists sat at the tables in the area.

“This is plenty. Remember the exhibit I said I’m working on? The one about human connection.”

Pond nods as Phuwin turns to face toward the courtyard between the bar and the beach.

“Well, the final piece is supposed to be about belonging, but specifically about unexpected belonging.”

He turns his head to look at Pond and laughs slightly when he sees his expression, clearly showing that he didn’t quite understand.

“It’s a bit complicated, but the subject of the exhibition is supposed to be unique human connection. I’ve done some shooting in places like nursing homes, day cares, office buildings, all places where people with very different stories or different stages of life can come together and bond in a way that’s unique from the usual relationships in your life.”

Pond nods again, now beginning to understand the concept.

“So, then how does being around here help you do your photography.”

Phuwin smiles, always happy to explain his photography.

“Well the best way I felt I would capture that feeling would be a place like this, where guests from around the world come to stay and blend right in with the locals. There’s not really any sense of awkwardness or distance around here.”

Pond smiles, ears reddening with the praise. Phuwin smiles even harder, finding the taller man’s embarrassment endearing.

“Okay, then thank you in advance for your help today. I’ll show you how to do some of the customer facing tasks, maybe that way you can talk to some of them and get more ideas. I don’t know what you need, but that seems like maybe what you’d need. Tell me if it’s not though, or if you want to-”

Phuwin puts a hand on Pond’s shoulder, stopping his rambling.

“Whatever you think is fine, it’s only partially about the project. I also just want to help and hang with you some more.”

Pond looks at his eyes, flicking between them and taking in the soft expression on Phuwin’s face, head slightly tilted upward to maintain eye contact with Pond. Pond can only nod dumbly, slightly embarrassed by his ramble and very flustered about how honest Phuwin could be. But he had to maintain his cool, so he just smiled.

“Okay, well if you insist. It’s a full twelve hour day from now though, so if you want to escape at any point, I won’t take it personally.”

Phuwin just nods and salutes dramatically.

The day passes quickly after that.

The first hour, Pond shows Phuwin how to do forms and payment for current guests, tells him the basic info tourists ask, explains hourly upkeep he does, and shows him the layout of the hostel.

The second hour, they switch with Phuwin running the counter and Pond observing. The hostel was relatively unbusy, and most of the time the two were just talking and hanging out. A few times, new guests would come to ask about staying, which Pond would step forward to cover. Phuwin would just watch him, satisfied with seeing the man in his element.

The third hour, Phuwin was practically a full on staff since Pond had showed him everything he needed to know. They laughed about it, joking that Pond could leave and take a day off if he wanted.

The fourth hour, Pond had to run an errand.

Pond  was talking about the daily routine, explaining that most days went by just like this. Not too much going on, usually just about keeping up with guests and travelers, when his aunt had run over from her nearby restaurant saying she had run out of oil. Since the bar used to be a barbeque place, Pond was hopeful that he had some, but when he checked and saw he didn’t, he looked back at Phuwin.

“I guess this is what I get for saying nothing ever comes up around here,” Phuwin smiles at him, Pond really jinxed himself.

“Do you think you can handle this for twenty minutes or so Mr. Staff member?”

Phuwin throws him a thumbs up.

“You bet. I’ll run it so good, people will come up and tell you how great I am when you get back.”

Pond laughs, bowing in gratitude before going around to get his bike. He promises he’ll be back soon and heads off.

By the fifth hour, Pond’s aunt’s restaurant was back in full swing, oil crisis averted, and the two of them were back to chatting and hanging out.

The sixth hour was full of tourists coming up, asking questions and telling stories. Phuwin was fascinated by it. He had never heard so many people’s stories like this before. At times, the two of them would be standing side by side, listening intently to a guest’s stories, and other times, they’d be immersed in separate conversations, sneaking glances at one another to see what the other may be talking about.

During the seventh hour, Pond picks up his phone for the first time in a while and sees it’s already 5:25, it was time for him to start getting ready to open the bar.

Phuwin was in the middle of a story about a friend’s project with a former idol, and he debates with himself for a moment whether to interrupt Phuwin, but decides against it.

Instead, he stands and grabs the supplies he needs, but continues looking toward Phuwin, nodding occasionally to make sure he knew he was still paying attention. He starts bar prep, leaving Phuwin to man the counter himself.

Pond rearranges the tables, pulling them across the patio with practiced precision. He swept and wiped down the tables, moving in silence, following his usual routine like it was second nature.

Phuwin was sat on a stool behind the bar counter, still telling his story and watching Pond. Pond would throw out the occasional comment or question, but mostly left the story telling to Phuwin.

Phuwin couldn’t help but internally laugh to himself about it, he didn’t know anyone else on Earth that made him seem like a talker, but it was so easy to talk with Pond that he just found himself going on and on.

He was just about to jump into another story about his own project when he heard the sharp ring of a phone behind him. Pond runs over to grab the call, Phuwin is about to go to stand next to him and listen in on the call when a new guest comes up. Phuwin explains the hostel’s process to the guest before asking them what they were in the area for, just like Pond taught him to.

By the time Pond finishes the phone call and turns back to the counter, he finds Phuwin listening to a story from the guest. The excitement was visible on his face as he listened to the visitor talk about his trip, and Pond decided to leave him be, instead finishing his bar prep and opening it up.

The eighth, ninth, tenth, hours were fun, but uneventful. The bar opening made the place much more lively. If Phuwin thought he was hearing crazy stories before, hearing the stories from the drunk patrons was even better.

At some point, Pond had encouraged him to go out and mingle, insisting he knew how to run his own bar as one man. Phuwin was reluctant at first.

“I told you I’d be your staff for the whole day though. It’s only 9 o’clock, you know that’s a full three hours of work I’ll have to make up some other day.”

Pond laughs and grabs Phuwin’s shoulders, turning him around and guiding him out from behind the bar.

“I’m positive. What kind of host would I be if I let you work the whole time for your first full day here. Go mingle, you want to learn more about the area and the people visiting? Now's a better time than any.”

Phuwin huffs dramatically.

“You just want to get rid of me, I get it.”

Pond laughs, starting to understand Phuwin’s sense of humor and sarcasm after spending the whole day with him.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night. Now go!”

Phuwin turns back, glaring jokingly, before he disappears into the small crowd.

For the rest of the night, Phuwin hung out with all the other guests. He even went to get his camera and started taking some photos out in the courtyard. He joked and laughed with them as he explained his exhibit, some of the things he had been capturing for the project so far.

He’d occasionally run back over to the bar, where Pond would be making drinks and talking to customers sitting at the counter.

Phuwin never ordered himself a drink, not wanting to get drunk, but he’d go just to talk to Pond and hang out with him before he’d retreat back into the crowd.

Photo after photo of the tourists, the locals, the scenery, and Pond behind the bar flooded his camera. He honestly already had enough material just from the two days. If he wanted to leave, he could, but with this place and the company it came, he’d be staying and he knew it.

At 12 o’clock, the bar patio was already empty. Visitors had started to clear out and those staying at the hostel began to retreat to their rooms in the last half hour. Phuwin had watched in fascination as the place cleared out without anyone being told to go. The place was almost self-sufficient, locals and tourists alike cleaned up after themselves and bid farewell without problem.

Phuwin didn’t go out often, but he knew from the times he did that it was a unique situation. It only made him want to make this place the center of his exhibition even more as he began wiping down the few tables.

He spotted Pond from the corner of his eye. The tall man was behind the bar counter, counting money in the till and sorting the paperwork.

Phuwin watched him for a moment, observing how his brows furrowed as he counted and organized the bills. He watched as his strong hands flipped through with precision and sorted through the paperwork, stacking, stapling and filing away.

Completing his clerical work, Pond stepped out from behind the bar with a broom and began stacking the chairs onto the table tops.

Phuwin watched the muscles in his arms flex as he lifted the heavy stools up and reached to sweep under each table. He was completely drawn in, watching the man go through the motions with ease.

When he finally looked down and away from Pond, he realized he had been re-wiping the same spot on the table, the top completely dry except for where his hand lay. He cleared his throat and got back to work.

The two moved in silence as they cleaned tables and stacked chairs, the only other sounds being that of the distant crashing waves and hostel visitors in their rooms.

A cool breeze blew through the patio as Phuwin finished wiping down the last table. He stood up straight, stretching his arms out to the side and tipping his head backwards, taking in the softly blowing wind.

The mostly unbuttoned shirt he wore began to flap slightly in the wind, raising with his stretching, and his hair blew across his face, tickling his cheekbones.

He left his head tilted back, enjoying the cool air, when he felt a weird sensation travel down his spine. Lifting his head, he made direct eye contact with Pond, who quickly looked away.

Phuwin chuckled to himself and began walking towards the man.

Pond brings his hand up to try and cover his reddening ear as he speaks, “Were you listening to the waves?”

He walks toward the bar counter, beginning to pull down the gates to lock up the place.

“Mm. I didn’t really notice them during the day, but it sounds loud now that the place is quiet.”

Pond turns to look at him as he finishes attaching the last padlock.

“Do you want to go to the beach?”

Phuwin purses his lips for a second, looking at his watch. He needed to review today’s photos, and his brother was supposed to be here tomorrow, or rather today, but it would be fine if he stayed up a bit longer.

He looks back up at Pond and smiles softly, nodding his head. Pond smiles back and begins walking down the path to the side of the courtyard, Phuwin follows in silence.

On the beach, the two walk for a while, trailing up and down, trying to find a nice spot to hang out.

As they do, the two talk about some of the stories they had been told, the people they had met, the interesting aspects of their day.

When they get on the topic of questions asked by patrons, Pond turns to Phuwin, beginning to walk backward as he spoke.

“I actually got that call earlier, I don’t fully remember what about, something about staying in the single rooms with someone who had already booked,” Pond waves a hand as if to swat away the unimportant parts of his story, “that’s beside the point, sorry. But they said they were actually going to be staying here for a photography project.”

Phuwin’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. It’s not like he heard about this place from fellow photographers, so he’s surprised to hear another photographer would be here, for a project no less.

“Ah wow, I’m surprised actually. I thought I found a rare gem, but I guess it’s not so rare after all.”

The two laugh and Pond shrugs as he begins, “What can I say, people love my hostel.”

Pond smiles as he watches Phuwin’s reaction to his joke.

It takes him a second to compose himself before he crosses his arms and jokes, “You gonna take them to the beach from yesterday? Or was that a special offer for an old friend’s, partner’s brother?”

Pond smiles widely. “Unfortunately for them, it’s a special for all of my friend’s brother-in-laws, you know, since I have so many of those. Unless of course he’s a friend of a friend’s brother-in-law, or a brother-in-law of a friend’s friend. I’m not too picky.”

Phuwin closes his eyes and shakes his head, bringing his hands up in front of him to snap in a “Cut!” motion.

“Okay enough, any more friends of a brother’s friend-in-law and I may pass away.”

He opens his eyes back up when he hears Pond laugh loudly. When Pond sees Phuwin is now looking at him, he folds his lips into a thin line to hide his laughter.

Phuwin looks at him with faux annoyance for a moment when he remembers what they had been talking about.

Curious, he asked, “So what was his name?”

Pond looks confused.

“Who’s name?”

Phuwin laughs and replies, “The photographer.”

Recognition flashes across Pond’s face as he remembers the previous topic.

“Oh, um. Hold on, I remember it… I swear it was something I’ve heard recently.. Oh! It wa-”

The heel of Pond’s sandal catches on a small rock, and he begins to fall backward. Phuwin, in a quick act of reflexes reaches forward to grab the man’s arm and pulls him back up to steady him.

However, the momentum didn’t work in his favor.

Instead, Phuwin is jolted forward in Pond’s direction and the two of them collide roughly, then Pond continues falling backward, this time taking Phuwin with him.

Phuwin internally curses himself for not being just a bit stronger, but just before he hits the ground, he releases Pond’s arm and puts his arms out to catch himself.

Pond hits the ground roughly, but he stops his own impact. Their legs collide, but luckily he was able to catch his upper body.

Phuwin lets out a sigh of relief.

When he goes to push himself up, he looks down at the man below him. Pond’s eyes are closed tightly, hands clenched where they lay on either side of his head, and lips pulled into a tight line, clearly bracing himself for impact. Phuwin can’t stop the laugh that bubbles up.

When Pond hears it, he opens his eyes and finds the man hovering above him and the air gets trapped in his lungs. Phuwin was laughing, eyes shut, and the soft breeze was blowing the collar of his shirt and his hair around. The necklace he wore was dangling slightly, not long enough to actually reach Pond, but it sure felt like it might.

The sight was one that made Pond think to himself that he kind of understood wanting to be a photographer. It was only a brief moment, but Phuwin’s smile was bright and carefree and with the bright moon behind him, it was a sight that was so easy on the eyes.

But it was not easy on Pond’s heart. Picturesque moments be damned. He was so close and not to mention on top of him. Pond’s heart beat was beating like crazy. He needed to get out from under Phuwin right now, before he did something crazy like ask to kiss the man he’s only known for a day.

“Uh.”

Phuwin opens his eyes, hearing Pond’s voice.

“OH! Sorry, let me get up.”

Pond mourns the loss a bit as Phuwin pushes himself up, but instead of standing, he plops down in the sand, right next to Pond.

The two lay there for a while in complete silence, watching the clouds float by.

“I had a lot of fun today Pond. Thank you for indulging my whim.”

Pond turned to look at him, head laying on the cooling sand.

“If anything, I should be thanking you. It’s not often I have a helping hand around here.”

Phuwin turns to make eye contact and they stare at each other for a while.

“You know, I feel weirdly at peace with you around. I don’t know if it’s because I already know Perth likes you, or if it’s just the way you are.”

Pond gulps, ears reddening. He was glad it was dark outside so the other man couldn’t see. He turned his face back up towards the sky before replying.

“I agree. Maybe we’re just similar, or maybe it’s cause you’re a brother’s friend’s partner’s dog’s neighbor’s friend’s brother-in-law but-”

Phuwin laughs loudly, shoving Pond so he rolls away. He stops a couple feet away before he continues.

“Sorry sorry, I had to. But I get what you mean. I meet a lot of people doing this work, but I just feel so chill with you. Who’d have thought I met you yesterday.”

“Today has felt so long, in a good way though, it almost doesn’t feel like it’s only been a day since I got here.”

Pond pushes himself to sit.

“Time does feel like it passes differently around here, I thought that when I first moved here too.”

Phuwin pushes himself up as well and scoots a bit toward Pond.

“You know, I actually talked to a guest that said that at the bar earlier. I was asking to take pictures and was trying to figure out if she was a local or not. She told me she’s a tourist that visits so often she may as well be a local.”

Pond’s head snaps toward him, “Wait are you talking about-”

And like that the two are back into their steadily flowing conversation about the day.

By the time they leave, they knew hours must have passed, but neither bothered to check how long.

Instead, they walked back to the hostel and up to their rooms, appreciating the quiet of the beach at night.

Stopping at the entrance of Phuwin’s booked room, the two of them smiled at one another. The cool breeze blew Phuwin’s soft hair into his face as he asked, “What time do you start in the morning?”

Pond laughed softly, looking up at the sky visible just past the hallway’s roofing. “I’m usually setting everything up by seven.”

Phuwin curls his pursed lips up and pulls his phone out of his pocket to check the time. The screen was bright, not adjusted to the darkness since the last time he had taken it out it was still mostly light outside. A big “4:17 A.M.” glared back at him from the top of his screen.

“Then I guess I'll see you in three hours.” Phuwin says, pulling an unexpected laugh out of Pond, who turns his gaze back to Phuwin and quickly pulls a hand up to cover his mouth and hide his laughing face.

Phuwin smiles brightly and Pond momentarily thinks that his smile reminds him an awful lot of the stars they were just watching together, twinkling and easy to fall into a trance over.

“You really don’t have to stay and help me around here. You should go out and enjoy your stay in other places too.” Pond says the words softly, but really he didn’t mean it.

He wanted Phuwin to stay by his side. Even after only two days, he had realized how much he enjoyed his comforting presence. It made him feel grounded, like he wasn’t just a passing memory or a fleeting thought to a tourist who would barely remember his face.

For the first time in a long time, he felt like someone other than his neighbors saw him as a real person with an identity. Someone had shared stories from the heart with him and he had done the same. He felt bonded to Phuwin, as crazy as it seemed, and he wanted to keep that feeling going for as long as possible.

But he had no right to expect that. He was well aware of it. Phuwin was a traveler at the end of the day, a tourist. He couldn’t be expected to stay and fit into Pond’s daily life. So Pond pulled a real smile on his face and continued.

“I won’t blame you if you want to go meet some other people besides me.” He laughs to portray an air of nonchalance to the words. But Phuwin doesn’t laugh back. Instead, he furrows his brows and frowns a little, lower lip jutting out slightly.

“If this is your way of saying you don’t want me to stick around, I won’t take it personally. I just had a fun time today so I thought we could keep it up. But I am a grown up. I can handle a little rejection.”

Phuwin’s face had relaxed by the end of his replay, and he had even had a little bit of a laughing smirk on his face. Not in a cocky or demeaning way, just a signal that he was truly okay with it.

Pond’s heartbeat picked up and his mouth fell open just a little bit, shocked by the response. After a few seconds, his brain finally caught up with his heart and he replied firmly.

“That’s not what I meant at all. I’d love for you to stick around, I just don’t want you to feel like you had to just because I said it was nice to have a helping hand today.”

“Well then, I will see you in three hours Khun Pond Naravit, have a good few hours of sleep,” and with that he turned, and walked through the door, shutting it without waiting for a reply.

Pond stood in front of the door for a few moments longer before he broke into a smile and called back, “Goodnight Phuwin!” He heard a small chuckle on the other side of the door as he turned and walked to his own door, only a few meters away, where he swiftly unlocked his room, entered and locked it behind himself. Surely this week would kill him.

sorry, kind of an anti climatic chapter, but lemme know what yall think! - narawinagain (3/1/26 - 4/16/26)

The first time Duang saw him, he was rushing to his 5 o’clock.

His last class had dragged on, making him late to get food, then Jamie had called to tell him he had accidentally left some of his supplies in Duang’s car, which Duang agreed to get for him, which made him late to get back onto the main campus, and now he was here.

Point being, he was behind schedule. He had a good five minutes left before he’d get to the classroom and according to his watch, it was already 4:57.

Of course, being on a university campus, Duang was hardly the only student racing to their classes.

Which was why someone caught his attention as he crossed the street. The man looked equally stressed and in a rush, his brows taut and bangs aggressively swishing back and forth as he speed-walked across the street.

At first the man had caught his attention for one simple reason: He was absolutely breathtaking.

His bangs framed his soft features perfectly, his plush lips were bright pink from the way he was actively chewing on them, and his hips swayed in a way that drew in Duang immediately.

But then he realized the other reason why he stood out so much, that being that he was walking the opposite direction.

While every other hurried student was headed towards the class buildings, he was clearly going away from them. Duang was curious. If he himself wasn't late, he may have been curious enough to stop him and ask.

As they passed on the crosswalk, Duang caught a faint whiff of the man’s pheromones. A fresh mochi like scent radiated from him, distinctly omega, and Duang was hooked.

He turned around to walk backwards as they passed each other, trying to prolong the scent while watching him as he continued to speed away toward the nearby parking lot.

Duang was totally awestruck. If love at first sight was real, he just experienced it, he was sure.

He smiled widely as the man disappeared from his sight, already dreaming up a future in which they were acquainted, or perhaps, more than that. He pulls his hands up to his chest, clutching his shirt dramatically. As he drops his head, acting as though he had died from his own heart’s erratic beating, he catches sight of something.

His watch, which now showed it was 5:00.

Right. He was already late, and now he’s gonna be even later.

Pulling his phone out of pocket, he sends a message to Pae and Jamie asking them to cover attendance for him and takes off toward the nearby art buildings.

-

Qin was freaking out. He had specifically chosen this professor for his 3:30 class because people said he was always very structured and never kept the class past an hour, even when he should have.

But now, here he is, stuck at the back of the classroom, professor still droning on about an artist Qin has honestly never heard of, and staring at his watch that clearly showed it was already 4:49.

Just then, the professor scanned the classroom.

Most students looked annoyed or bored, but then he noticed the one that looked like he was about to freak out. Qin’s leg was bouncing aggressively under the desk and he was checking his watch repetitively.

Seeing the clearly stressed student, the professor glanced at his own watch and gasped, realizing what time it was.

“Oh my word, sorry class. I must have lost track of time. Class dismissed.”

With that, Qin shot up, threw his things in his bag, and was out of the class before anyone even had a chance to stand.

He checked his watch for the millionth time and saw that it was now 4:55. He was still a good three minutes away from his car, and his destination was another seven minutes away. There was no way he’d get there before his pick up time.

He sped up, practically jogging through the campus building and courtyards. As he reached the streets, he paid no mind to the other students rushing in the opposite direction, he had something more important to focus on. He had never been late before, he wasn’t sure what the consequences would be, and frankly he wasn’t ready to face them.

If they charged him, he would be put out on his usual budget, and if he was the last one? He doesn’t even want to imagine it, he already knows it would break his heart.

Finally reaching his car, he throws his stuff in, starts up the vehicle and darts off without further delay.

-

Duang finally made it to the classroom and found his two best friends sat at the back of the classroom. Duang tried to quietly navigate to the spot between them, crouched as he snuck back, when the professor called on him.

“Duang.”

He shot up, standing stick straight before turning towards the professor military style. He tilted his head dramatically and overexaggerated a smile.

“Yes sir?”

“Why are you late?”

Duang gasps dramatically, pulling his hands up to his chest to dramatize it.

“Sir, I’m not late, I was here! But my friend,” he dramatically motions to Jamie, “needed some of his supplies so we could whole heartedly participate in your class, so I graciously went and got them for him.” He brought his fisted hands to rest on his hips, looking like a proud child.

The professor just sighed.

“Okay Duang, you weren’t late,” Duang pumped his fist in victory, “but next time, just walk in like normal. Sneaking around like that does nothing. You may as well be an alpha with the way you draw attention.”

Duang’s eyes went wide and he nervously spat out a quick “Okay krap!” before speeding over to his seat.

His two friends laughed at him as the professor began his lesson and assignment explanation again.

-

Qin parked his car and rushed over to the buildings entrance as fast as possible. There, he spotted a daycare teacher squatting on the patio with a pouting child.

“He’s not, but I’m sure he’s almost here Dara.”

Qin’s heart hurt seeing the little girl looking so sad, so he approached slowly, greeting the teacher when she spots him, and squatted down to match the child’s height.

“Dara.”

The little girl looks up and her expression changes immediately, pout changed to a bright smile as she runs over to him.

“Daddy!” She jumps into his outstretched arms.

“Hi baby, sorry I was late.” He peppers the toddler’s face in kisses, and she giggles before getting fed up with it and pushing him away.

She brough one of her small fingers up, shaking it in his face.

“Daddy bad.”

Qin felt terrible, the little girl was clearly joking with him if her smile was anything to go by, but the knowledge that she knew he was late and did something “bad” was deeply unsettling for him.

“Yeah baby, daddy was bad. I’m sorry.”

He stands, putting her small figure on his popped hip.

“I’m so sorry for being late, the professor let class out late and then-”

The teacher laughs, stopping Qin in his tracks. He searches the teacher’s chuckling form, trying to figure out what was funny.

After a few moments, she collects herself and shakes her hand in front of her.

“I would hardly call this late, it’s only been five minutes, there’s still plenty of kids here.”

Qin was confused.

“But. It’s only the two of you out here?”

“Well that would be because this little one,” she reaches out to poke the toddler’s arm, who laughs and hides in the crook of Qin’s neck, “was insistent that you were here cause she’s always gone out with the first round of kids. She thought I was lying when I said you weren’t here, so I had to bring her out to show it was true.”

Qin’s expression stays flat, but he brings a hand up to Ploy’s head and begins stroking her hair. “So I wasn’t overly late?”

“Definitely not. We appreciate all the parents that get here on the dot, but we know life happens. About half of the class gets picked up closer to fifteen minutes after. Your few minutes was hardly anything, really don’t worry about it.”

Qin lets out a quiet sigh of relief.

“Okay, thank you.”

The teacher bows, hands pressed together in front of her and Qin bows in response, then they exchange brief goodbyes and head out.

-

Duang’s class was about halfway through and the three of them were working intently on the paintings in front of them. They were laser focused on the task at hand, paying no mind to anything but the brush on the canvas.

Duang tilted his head and lifted his shoulder to rub at an itch on his neck without breaking his flow. The action seemed inconsequential, a habit that was second nature, but it’s effect was immediate.

To his right, Pae’s back shot up straight, the omega reacting instinctively. He whipped his head to look over at Duang, and noticed what had forced a reaction out of him.

Barely visible above his high collar, the small transparent patch on the crook of his neck was rolled back, only half applied now.

Trying not to draw too much attention, he kicks a leg out toward Duang. When he doesn’t react, Pae picks up his spare paintbrush from his cup of water and chucks it at him.

This time, Duang jumps, not expecting the flying object, and looks up.

“Oii! What-”

Pae’s eyes went wide and he brought a finger up to his mouth to hush him.

Luckily, the three of them being noisy was nothing new, so no one in the classroom paid it any mind.

Unluckily, the unfamiliar scent of a deep roasted cocoa was beginning to cause a few students to look around.

Panicking, Pae shot up from his seat, cheeks slightly flushed, and said “Professor, Duang feels sick.”

Duang looks at him confused, but he steps behind him and pushes his head down while. Then, before grabbing Duang’s arm and pulling his hand up to his face, he looks over to Jamie with wide eyes and points at his neck, mouthing a quick “Scent patch!”

Luckily, their years of friendship seems to have turned into telepathy, as he seems to understand immediately.

Grabbing his bag and joining Pae behind Duang, he also places his hand on the back of Duang’s head to keep it down while simultaneously covering the rolled up patch.

To an outsider, it appeared like the two friends were comforting their sick friend as he was hunched over and covering his mouth.

“Pae and I are going to take him to the bathroom so he doesn’t throw up in here, we’ll be back!”

Grabbing a confused Duang’s shoulder, he pulls him up to stand and begins walking out the door.

Pae grabs Duang’s bag and his own from where they’re hooked on the easels, and follows quickly.

-

Qin and Dara are standing in the elevator and riding up to the fourth floor in silence.

While Qin encouraged his daughter to be outgoing and make friends, it was only natural that she took after her father in many ways, and her quietness was one of them.

Qin smiled down at the small girl holding his hand, her head barely reached his hip and her small arm was pulled upwards slightly in order to reach his.

“How was your day?”

She tilted her head up to look at him, bringing a small finger up to her chin as she thought. “Good!”

“Did you do anything fun?”

“Yes!”

“Like what?”

The toddler just shrugged before switching her attention to the bag Qin had slung over his shoulder.

Qin just laughed, this was usually how the conversation went, but he continued to ask everyday just to see how her answers change over time.

If there’s anything he had realized the past few years, it was how quickly everything changes, and he would be damned if he was caught up by that again.

When the elevator door opened, they stepped out and were met by a small older lady, their next door neighbor.

Qin and Dara both bring their hands up to greet her, “Hi Auntie Nat.”

“Well hello darlings, I saw you two while I was on my balcony, so I came to wait for you.”

Qin smiled at the woman, bowing again to show his gratitude.

“Thank you Auntie, I appreciate you always watching her when I still have classes.”

“Oh don’t worry about it darling. Dara is such a sweet little girl, I’m more than happy to watch her for a couple hours!”

Qin chest blooms with pride for his baby. He squats down to her height and holds his arms out.

“Give me a hug before you go hang out with grandma Nat.”

She steps forward and squeezes her father tightly before pulling back and kissing him on the cheek. Qin returns the kiss on her cheek and then she steps back and runs over to the older woman.

“I’ll be back in a couple hours baby, be good.”

The child just smiles widely at him and waves with her whole body swinging side to side.

Both of the adults chuckle at the little girl’s antics before Qin steps back into the elevator, and begins his trip back to the campus.

-

Jamie and Pae shove Duang into the bathroom and lock the door behind them after confirming it was empty.

“What the hell are you two-”

Duang yelps as Jamie rips something from his neck without any preface.

“Hey! What was that for?”

Duang watches as Pae digs through his bag, pulling out a small box that gave him an immediate understanding of the situation.

“Oh shit! Did my scent dampener come off?”

“Glad you finally realized.” Pae rolled his eyes as he took one of the patches out of the container and unwrapped it.

“You’re lucky we’re in that class or the whole class would know you’re a fake beta by now.”

Jamie’s already holding up his phone with the camera open when Pae hands the patch to Duang to apply, which Duang does swiftly.

When the patch is flat on his skin, him and Jamie let out soft sighs of relief, but Pae lets out a deep exhale. The two look over and notice how flushed he looks, the alpha’s suddenly released pheromones clearly having taken a toll on him.

“Shit, sorry man.” Duang reaches into Pae’s bag and pulls out the mini portable fan, flicking it on and pointing it at the omega.

Pae relaxes under the cool air. After a few minutes, when he finally feels like he’s back to normal, he throws a fake annoyed glare at his two friends.

“Why did I think it was a good idea to be friends with two unmated alphas?”

Jamie throws up his hands and smiles obnoxiously.

“Don’t blame me! You’re fine with my pheromones, you just can’t adapt to his.”

Pae mocks his words, repeating them in a high pitched voice. Jamie reaches over to mess up his hair in retaliation but the alpha stumbles forward as Pae ducks out of the way.

Duang laughs at the two’s bickering.

Jamie smirks before he continues, “Plus, you technically signed up to be friends with an alpha and a beta,” he drops his arm over Duang’s shoulder, “But our poor late bloomer friend was wrong on his guess.”

“Ha. Ha. Ha. Laugh all you want Jettana.” Duang tosses his arm off his shoulder and crosses his arms, indignant pout appearing as he spoke.

“It’s not my fault everyone always told me I was a total beta. What was I supposed to think? Am I to blame for not being alpha enough?”

He lowers his head, looking at the floor below him.

Jamie and Pae look at each other wearing matching worried glances. They briefly communicate through micro expressions and quick flicks of their heads, trying to gauge what’s going on.

Pae steps forward and both of them grab Duang’s arms as Jamie begins to speak.

“Duang. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to actually upset you.”

Duang lets out a hum of acknowledgment and a quiet “I know.”

The omega begins to pat his friends head and asks, “Are you okay Duang? You seem upset about something, usually this doesn’t bother you that much.”

When Duang looks up, his lips are pressed tightly and his eyes are slightly watery. Usually he would try to hide his sad look, never one to bring the mood down if he had a choice, but he knew his best friends would never judge him, so he opens up on his thoughts.

“It’s stupid, but I met this really beautiful omega on the way to class.”

He glances between the two and sees them nodding intently as he speaks.

“And I was just thinking about how it’s a real missed opportunity because I could never actually approach him like this.”

The omega in the room looks confused. Duang was a perfectly fine guy, in fact, he was a secret rare as far as his friends were concerned, so it didn’t make sense to them what he was saying.

“I mean like, what omega would want an alpha that lies and says they’re a beta? And even if they were okay with the lying, what omega wants an alpha that doesn’t know how to be an alpha?”

This wasn’t the first time Duang had voiced these concerns, but it was the first time in a while.

He was really concerned by things like this when he first had his surprise alpha presentation. No one around him expected it, and neither did he, so he was really distraught about living up to his alpha status.

That was when the idea had come up. Why not continue to live publicly as a beta until you build the confidence to wear your alpha status with pride?

But the years had come and gone, and the confidence never came.

Pae pulled him into a hug and Jamie wrapped his arms around the both of them as the omega spoke.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s 2026, no one cares about those stupid stereotypes anymore. People will love you for who you are, not what your gender is, no one sticks with the tradition anymore. If that was the case, all my exes would be alphas and all of Jamie’s would be omegas.”

His friend had a point, it’s not like any of them were very stereotypical anyways.

“Also, who the hell is saying you’re not alpha enough? I’ve never thought that about you once and I’d like to know who does.”

Jamie was nodding along to Pae’s mini speech before taking his turn to cheer up their friend.

“I’m sure whoever that omega was that has you all reminiscent would be overjoyed to have someone like you pursuing them, whether it’s as a beta or an alpha, hell even as an omega! You’re a great guy, screw all the expectations and stereotypes!”

Duang looks up at the taller alpha. “You really think so?”

They nod aggressively, “Really,” they say in unison.

“I swear that Pae and I will help you pursue this pretty omega and prove we’re right. We’re your certified wingmen!”

Pae nods and puts his hand up like he’s taking an oath. “I’ll do everything in my power!”

A single tear rolls down Duang’s cheek and he pouts dramatically. He’s really so grateful for his best friends and he can’t resist pulling them into another hug. The two feign resistance, acting disgusted at his affection, but they hardly fight it.

Pae tilts his head back and asks, “Who is the omega anyways?”

Duang stares blankly between the two of them and they stare back for several long seconds.

“I don’t know.”

“HUH?”

Duang throws his hand over both of their mouths to quiet them.

“Shhh!” He releases them, “I just saw him while I was walking to class, we were both clearly in a hurry so I didn’t talk to him.”

The two look unamused. “And how are we supposed to help you pursue someone none of us know?”

The alpha’s tone was lighthearted but judgmental.

Duang brings a hand up to scratch at the back of his tilted head and smiles widely. “We find him?”

They groan out loud, but nod, knowing they’d held him anyways.

The faux beta brings his hands up in a “Thank you” that the two dramatically accept before they step out of the bathroom.

Then Duang catches it. The faint scent of fresh mochi.

He whips his head to look in it’s direction and spots him, the beautiful omega, walking toward one of the lecture rooms with a guitar on his back and two friends next to him.

He quickly taps at both of his friends and points as subtly as possible.

“Guitar guy. That’s him. That’s the beautiful one I saw.”

First chapter, let me know what y’all think! Hope it was enjoyable because I’m really excited to write this.

Slowing to a stop just in front of a thick treeline, Pond turned his head to look at Phuwin over his shoulder.

“It’s just on the other side of these trees, there’s a small break just over there,” he points up ahead, “and that’s how we get onto the beach.”

Phuwin released his clasped hands from Pond’s abdomen and responded with a small “Ahh, okay” as he pulled his leg over the bike and stepped onto the ground below them. Pond dropped the stand and turned off the motor on the bike before following suit.

The two now stood in the same position as before, standing next to the motorbike just looking at one another.

Pond smiled at Phuwin before he brought a hand up to point at his head, referring to the helmet he wore, letting out a small “Hmp?” with a raised brow as if to ask if he needed help removing it.

Phuwin smiled back at him before nodding and lifting his chin out and up towards the taller man.

Pond chuckled before stepping forward and beginning to undo the straps of the helmet.

Pulling the straps apart, he lifts the helmet from Phuwin’s head, who quickly shakes out his hair, eyes closed and head still tilted upward. Pond watched, a small subtle smile sneaking onto his face.

When the other’s eyes opened, they both stilled, the lack of distance evident.

They held eye contact, faces only inches apart, toe to toe with one another. Pond swallowed quietly, trying not to break the moment, and looked between both of Phuwin’s eyes. His eyes trailed down the bridge of his nose to the peak of his lips and settled there.

Phuwin’s eyes softened as he watched the other’s eyes flit back and forth. The soft hair framing the taller man’s face moved with a soft breeze, strands now sat in front of his dark brown eyes. He looked between the slightly obscured eyes and let the tip of his tongue come out to wet his lips, watching Pond follow the movement in silence.

“Quack! Quack!”

A sharp sound breaks the silence, startling the two away from one another. Pond’s head flits around in confusion, searching for the source of the quacking and Phuwin shuts his eyes tightly while letting out a deep exhale, laughter starting to bubble up.

Pond’s eyes flicked back to Phuwin and he watched the man bring one hand up to his face while the other reached into his tote bag.

He pulls his hand back out of the bag, now holding his phone that rang out a final “Quack!”

Shaking his phone, he looked at Pond, slightly embarrassed.

“Sorry, that would be my brother, he complained I never answered his messages so he changed his ringtone to this.”

Pond, now understanding what occurred, bites his lip, trying to contain the laughter but ultimately failing.

He started laughing quietly at first, more puffs of air than laughter itself, but when he saw Phuwin trying not to let out his own laughs, he broke and Phuwin followed.

It continued until the two of them were completely doubled over, tears in their eyes and stomachs hurting.

At that point, it wasn’t even the interrupting quack itself that had them in a fit, but they were stuck in a loop reacting to one another’s shocking movements or noises. By the time they stopped laughing, they were unsure how many minutes had passed.

Still trying to catch their breath and clutching their abs, they looked at each other and Pond thought to himself briefly how odd it was that he felt so naturally close to this man he had met a mere hour or two ago.

Meanwhile Phuwin caught sight of something moving just over his shoulder and noticed two cats perched on adjacent tree branches, looking up at the tree cover above them.

Never one to deny a scenic animal photo, he quickly dropped his phone back into the tote bag and lifted his camera up, zooming in to snap a picture focusing on them.

Pond whipped his head around to see what he was capturing and smiled widely when he saw the two felines.

“Ah, you’ll see a lot of those two if you come out to this beach. They’re a bonded pair, whenever you see one, you’ll see the other, been that way since the day they met. Some of us refer to them as Phum and Peem, but we haven’t clarified which is which.”

He turned back to look at Phuwin, who was now looking at the small camera screen and smiling.

“Well if you’re satisfied with the photos, shall we head to the beach?”

Phuwin looked up, smiling softly, and said “Very satisfied, lead the way.”

As the two walked and the rock beach came into view, Phuwin’s breath was taken away. He completely understood why the locals loved to keep the place a secret.

The dark jagged rocks that sat above the water, the small sand beach it dipped down into on one side, the thick treeline behind it, it all cumulated to make a beautiful view.

He couldn’t resist pulling his camera up to take a photo before jogging toward the edge of one of the small rock cliffs, snapping a few more.

Pond stood back for a bit, watching Phuwin take in the scenery.

“Wow, this place really is beautiful. You really weren’t exaggerating.” He looks over his shoulder, expecting Pond to be close, but chuckles and waves him over when he notices the tall man still stood near the trees.

As Pond approached, Phuwin turned back and brought his camera up to snap more photos.

Time passes quickly like this. Phuwin discovering beautiful scenes, capturing the various natural formations and native creatures, while Pond would follow him along the beach, pointing out things he thought Phuwin would be interested in seeing.

As they walked back and forth, they talked about various things. They discussed the things they saw, drawing comparisons to the things they saw on a normal day, which evolved into casual talk about their day-to-day lives.

By the time the sun was set and the sky was dark, they had shared many stories. The two had spent hours talking about everything, nothing, and anything in between.

They were sat on a flat rock on the sandy beach, Pond talking about a wild customer interaction he had the week before, when Phuwin spotted a white squirrel skittering towards the edge of the nearby rock overhang.

Bringing a single finger up to his sealed lips, he pointed behind Pond, signaling to him that he was trying not to scare off the small animal.

Slowly standing, Phuwin walked slowly towards the squirrel and Pond followed. For each careful step Phuwin took, Pond would quietly copy, trying his best to not ruin the scene for the photographer.

The two were only about 20 feet away, now on the same rock overhang, and they had yet to be noticed by the creature.

Phuwin took another quite step forward, but then a small rock he stepped on gave way beneath his foot, sliding out from where it was lodged and taking Phuwin with it.

Pond was quick to react, grabbing his flailing arm and pulling it towards him. The air seemed to still as Phuwin was brought face to face with Pond, noses only a centimeter apart. They locked eyes, breath intermingling due to the lack of distance, and Phuwin watched as Pond once again searched across his face and landed squarely on his lips.

Phuwin, once again, brought the tip of his tongue out to wet his dry lips that Pond was locked on. He was about to open his mouth to say something when a loud “Ping!” rang through the air.

The sound was sharp and out of place, causing the two to startle, and pull apart from each other.

Pond brought a hand up to his ear, tugging at it to try and conceal it’s rapid change in color, as Phuwin smiled and chuckled quietly before remembering the mission and turning, only to see the squirrel was long gone.

Letting out a sad sigh, he turned back to Pond and noticed the man’s awkward smile.

He chuckled and said “Crazy, we missed him.” Pond to let out a surprised laugh at the joke.

“Yes, we missed him. Definitely what happened.”

“Exactly, I’m glad that we can agree.”

Pond laughed again before lightly grabbing Phuwin by the elbow and guiding him to the edge of the overlook and sitting down, legs swinging over the edge. Phuwin quickly joined him, and the two picked back up on their previous conversation.

Somewhere along the lines, the two of them began to discuss their thoughts on the sky and stars.

Phuwin talked about how incredible it was to capture a good photo of the stars or the moon, about how, although it was a photo most people had taken at one one point in their lives, it was almost guaranteed that none of the photos would ever look the exact same. He talked about the symbolism behind it, and how important meaning was in photography, how one photo could be interpreted in so many ways.

This had prompted Pond to talk about how, in high school, when he would get lonely, he’d comfort himself by looking at the stars at night and imagining all the other people that must be looking at them with him. On days that were particularly hard, when he couldn’t stand to wait until night time, he’d pull photos of them up on his phone and seek comfort in those instead.

Phuwin pondered on the idea for a bit, intrigued to hear someone’s story from the other side of the gallery. He turned to look at Pond, who was leaned back on his palms, looking up at the stars. The man looked ethereal, his sharp jawline and nose bridge created a beautiful profile, and if Phuwin wasn’t sitting right next to the man, he’d pull up his camera and snap a photo of him.

Instead, he decided to turn back and look in front of him, eyes searching for the distant line where the water met the stars before his eyes trailed upward, towards the stars high in the sky.

He leaned back, bringing his hand back to prop himself up, but instead of feeling hard rock, he felt warm skin.

He whipped his head back to look at his hand, catching Pond doing the same thing out of his peripheral.

His hand laid delicately on top of Pond’s, and the two looked up, searching each other’s gazes. Several beats pass like this, eyes locked and dead silent, but when Pond was about to start speaking, “Ping!”

The sound startled Phuwin, but instead of pulling his hand away, he accidentally leaned further, pushing Pond’s hand further into the rock below.

Pond let out a quiet whimper in pain, causing Phuwin to panic and pull away.

“Oh my god, are you okay? I’m so sorry!”

Pond just laughs, lifting his hand and turning it to show he was all good.

“I’m fine, the pressure just hurt a bit,” he laughs, “a bit of counter pressure will do the trick.”

He places the hurt hand in the other and squeezes tightly and nods his head towards Phuwin’s bag to signal him to check his phone.

Phuwin looks unconvinced for a moment but follows Pond’s silent instruction and takes out his phone.

Pressing the lock button, the screen lights up and he sees a new message from Est.

“Oh it was just Est, let me see what-” before he could finish his sentence or open the message, the phone powers off, battery drained.

Phuwin turns to look at Pond, who looks back at him, and in sync, the two burst into laughter.

For the second time that day, they get stuck in a cycle of constant laughter that lasts long, dragging minutes.

After several minutes, a laughing Pond, still clutching his hand, brings the hurt hand up to wipe a tear from his eye, before reaching into his pocket to grab and check his own phone.

“Oh wow. We should probably head back now.” He turned his phone toward Phuwin, a large “11:57 PM” glaring at him.

“Oh shit, yeah.”

Without any further words, Pond stood up, dusting the dirt of the seat of his pants before turning to help Phuwin up.

The two walked in silence, crossing the beach, going through the tree break, and back to the motorbike.

This time, Phuwin didn’t even have to wait before Pond was helping him put the helmet on and hopping on the bike, waiting for Phuwin to join.

Once Phuwin was seated, the kick stand was brought up, and the two headed back to the hostel in silence. But the silence wasn’t awkward, it was somehow comforting. Familiar.

Even when they made it to the hostel and quietly made their way to their rooms, so as to not disturb any sleeping guests, the split was not awkward. They parted ways, with quiet a quiet “Good night” and escaped to their separate rooms.

Phuwin dropped his bag onto the bed and turned to sit. Sitting on the edge of the bed, legs exhausted, he pulls the camera’s strap off of his neck and begins to scroll through all the photos he had taken.

Beautiful shots of the waves, the sunset, the rocky beach, even the many crabs along the shoreline. He went through each one, deleting the blurry shots and flagging the ones he wants to edit.

Just as he’s about to finish up, reaching the photos he recognizes as the first ones he had taken from the break in the trees, he scrolls one further and sees another photo.

Up in a tree branch, the vague image of two cats sat looking up into the leaves, and in the forefront of the image, taking up most of the screen, was a smiling Pond, face turned away and looking fondly at them.

Phuwin smiled to himself, already having forgotten he had secretly taken the photo. Pond had seemed so enamored by the felines despite seeing them often, and he couldn’t resist snapping a photo of the man as he explained their history.

He thought to himself that it really was easy to listen to and watch Pond. He seemed so calming and like he knew exactly what type of things Phuwin was interested in hearing or seeing.

Pond still on his mind, he glanced to his side at the towels he had been brought earlier.

Putting the camera down on the dresser, Phuwin grabbed the stack of towels, walked into the connected bathroom to place them down, and over to the shower. He pulled back the curtain to see what he’d need to grab and spotted all of the necessities.

Mentally letting out a little cheer at not needing to dig through his bag yet, he stripped his clothes and hopped into the shower to begin washing up.

But it wasn’t before long, he had just finished washing the shampoo from his hair, when he heard a string of thuds in the walls and the faint sound of Pond’s voice from the other side of the wall, “Phi, you forgot your phone.”

Phuwin opens the shower curtain, wrapping the prepared towel around his waist, and heads out of the bathroom towards the door.

Swinging it open with little thought to his actions, he smiles at Pond and holds his hand out, before turning his head back to his room to find where he plugged his charger. Pond freezes.

A drop of water dripped from the hair that stuck to Phuwin’s forehead and Pond followed its movement with his eyes. Starting at his cheekbone, the droplet trailed down the side of his face to his jawbone, leaving a wet trail in its wake. It slid down his throat before landing in the angled dip of his collar bone. There, it pooled momentarily before following the natural angle of the bone to the center of his sternum.

Pond swallowed harshly.

The droplet continued to make its way down, running between his defined chest muscles before it reached his abdomen. With every ridge of his abs that it caught on, the ringing sound in Pond’s ears gets a little louder and his heart rate picks up. Phuwin’s twisting motions as he tried to spot his plug didn’t help, pulling the abdominal muscles taut.

The drop runs just past his belly button before it reaches the rolled towel that sat low on Phuwin’s hips, where it’s promptly absorbed into the fabric.

“Finally.” Pond thinks.

Phuwin, who finally spots a sliver of the white charger on the further nightstand, turns back to look at Pond. Then, he notices him looking at him intently. Not at his face, but lower, and it’s then that Phuwin realizes what he was currently doing, or rather what he looked like.

“Shit!” He grabs the towel on his hips tightly and turns to run back over to the bathroom.

Pulling the door shut and dropping his back against it, he leans his head back onto the door and exhales loudly, scrunching his eyes closed and pursing his lips while letting out a deep exhale. He turns his head to the side and calls through the door, “Can you just plug it into the charger? It’s on the nightstand. Thanks.”

Pond, who was snapped out of his droplet induced trance, feels his heart drop to his stomach, fully aware he was caught staring. Surely Phuwin would be creeped out by his probing eyes.

He begrudgingly walked over to the nightstand, plugged in the phone, and moved towards the bathroom door, thinking of what to say.

His brain drew a blank.

The only thing he could think to say was a quick confirmation of the plugged in phone and then a good night as he left the room and retreated to his own.

After hearing the door close, Phuwin sighed again and looked in front of him at his reflection in the mirror. He noticed just how low the towel was on his waist, and how the water on his hair had dripped down onto his chest and stomach, creating an image even he knew was a sight to behold.

Not for the first time today, he felt his heartbeat pick up as he thought about Pond, specifically his eyes locking on his lower stomach, but he’d have to unpack that later. For now, he hopped back into the shower, and finished his routine before drying off and going back into the bedroom.

Pulling out a large white t-shirt and striped boxer shorts along with a small skincare bag from his still unpacked luggage, he headed back to the bathroom to change, brush his teeth, and complete his routine.

Staring in the mirror as he patted his moisturizer into his screen, he catches himself thinking about Pond’s wandering eyes again.

He watches as his reflection starts to show a pink hue on his cheeks, so he pulls both hands back and lands a sharp smack on both cheeks before turning around and leaving the bathroom.

He threw himself down onto the bed, exhausted from the long day, when he remembered the notifications he felt and saw earlier. Rolling over to the phone that Pond had put down on his nightstand.

When he unlocked it for the first time in hours, he swiped over to the messaging app and saw the three unread messages. One from his little brother asking “phi, did you find the place perth talked about?” He smiled at his brother’s concern and sent back a quick “yeah, sorry, busy day but i made it.”

Next he goes to Perth’s chat which reads “i’ll tell ta that you found it lol, we’ll be on our way day after tmr”

He stares at the phone slightly confused of how he knew before typing out two messages. One simple “what?” and another that said “i’ll see you guys then, drive safely.”

He swipes over to the last unread message, a reply from Est that says “why’d you say it like that lmao now i have to know…”

Phuwin smiles, knowing how he’d get pestered by the man next time they talk. So he sends one last message to him before he locks his phone, turns off the lamp and finally goes to sleep.

“maybe i found something more than the perfect spot, maybe not. wouldnt you like to know.” Sent.

took a month to write this but only because i took a 3 week break. just know, i decided to finish writing this chapter to cope with mark leaving nct and jimmyohm splitting on the same day.

The loud bass of some 5SOS song played throughout the condo, lights dimmed and dozens of people packed into the main living room. The room was hot and there was barely any room to breathe but Top still felt it was too empty.

He sat on his small couch in the corner, nursing the same drink he had been for the past hour. He had seen a few of his old friends in one of the bedrooms but after confirming who all was there, or rather who wasn’t, he retreated back to his spot.

The feeling should have been familiar to him at this point, that distinct lack of comfort he got to feel for a short time. The feeling that someone else in the place cared about whether he was too drunk, whether people were destroying his place, whether he was okay.

But its absence still stung him. He still caught himself glancing up every time someone walked into the room, still searched every time he heard a voice that sounded familiar, still looked every time someone called out a name that was similar to the one he wanted to hear most.

The actions were engrained in him at this point. He knew better than anyone it was useless, but it was like his heart couldn’t help but hold out hope.

His friends would always try to give him advice, telling him to either find a way to move on or stop throwing parties and making himself suffer through another fruitless search, but he couldn’t help it.

Mew’s party phase had died out long ago, coming to an end shortly after he finally drew the line in the sand. Mew wasn’t gonna show up at his condo, wasn’t gonna be at any parties he or his friends threw, wasn’t gonna show himself in this scene and Top knew that. Of course he did. How wouldn’t he?

Mew had looked him dead in the eyes and made it clear to him. 

It had been over a year ago, but the wound was still fresh, Top never knew words could sting like that.

Him and Mew had been sat in Mew’s apartment after he had invited himself in. He was expecting it to be like any other day, he’d find a way to get into Mew’s view, do anything he could to make the man’s life a little easier, to show him his sincerity. 

He wanted his lover’s forgiveness more than anything in the world. He was so full of regret that most days he woke up feeling sick to his stomach. But he felt like he could feel that the ice walls Mew had put up were slowly thawing, the look of disgust that was directed at him had slowly started to appear less and less.

Top could feel that Mew was seeing him changing for the better. It was obvious, the fact that he was sitting in his apartment without being pushed out was sign enough.

He spread out, arms splayed across the back of the yellow couch, head leaned back and eyes closed while Mew got himself a glass of water in the kitchen.

“Top.”

Top lifted his head, eyes still closed. “Mm?”

“We should talk.”

Top pursed his lips, trying to contain his excitement. Maybe today wouldn’t be so ordinary, maybe today was the end of his waiting. 

He opened his eyes, turning to look at Mew, but instead of the smile he was expecting to see on his face, he saw a different expression. Not the look of disgust he had almost gotten used to and not one of anger. One of pure indifference.

He pushed himself to stand quickly, walking over to the kitchen to stand across the island from his lover.

“What’s up? Hm?”

Mew looked at him, expression blanker than he had ever seen before. But he said nothing. He just looked at him, and that scared Top.

“What’s going on baby, what do you want to talk about? Hm?” His voice had a slight tremor, nerves starting to bite at his vocal chords.

“You know..” Top inhales sharply as Mew begins to speak. “I’ve been thinking a lot after your friend’s birthday party.”

Top just nods minutely, hands coming up to the edge of the countertop to stabilize himself.

“I think… I think I’m tired of this limbo we’re in.”

Top feels scared to even breathe, the statement vague enough he had no clue which way it would spin, but the lack of affection on Mew’s face gave him little hope.

“I think I’ve been over it, over us, for a while now.” A beat of silence stretches and Top searches desperately for any positive inflection in Mew’s voice. “I see the effort you’re putting in, but I realized it won’t erase the past.”

A chill runs up his arms as an icy sting blooms in his chest. 

“I don’t want to discourage you from improving yourself, I’m really glad that you’re changing, but I’m tired of this. At first, I was just sick of going to your parties and acting like I wasn’t thinking about who you might hook up with this time.”

Top shakes his head, frowning deeply, and he can feel the pressure behind his eyes as he fights off the tears.

“No, Mew, please.”

“No Top, this needs to be said, for both of our sakes.” Top says nothing but continues to shake his head, lips pulled in a tight line as he listens to him speak. “It scared me to death for a while, you know? For the longest time, I was so stuck on that night. That recording.”

Top’s lip trembled, caught on Mew’s past tense wording and his flat affect.

“I felt sick to my stomach every time you walked out of sight. I realized that being in love with you was hurting me. As much as I wanted to forget it, it always came back to me, but at some point it stopped hurting and it stopped being at the forefront of my mind and I realized-”

“I don’t wanna hear it. I don’t wanna hear anymore, please Mew.” Top was shaking his head profusely now, tears fully welled and blurring his vision.

“I realized I didn’t care anymore.”

Top felt like his lungs were being squeezed, every breath felt like a task. He let go of the counter and walked around to the side Mew stood on.

“Don’t please. I can keep going, I’ll keep proving it to you. I can do whatever you want. You can tell me to do whatever, I’ll do it, I will.”

He looked down and reached to grab Mew’s hands in his, but instead of accepting the gesture, he watched as Mew pulled his hands away. And Top could feel that it was not in disdain, not in hurt, not because he was scared to let him, but because it was unfamiliar, he was being treated as a stranger. 

When Top’s gaze snapped up to Mew’s, his face scared him. Still completely indifferent, as if he wasn’t delivering fatal wounds with his words.

“Top. I know you can keep going, but if I don’t say this now, I’m scared you always will. It’s useless, I’m not in anymore. I’ve already moved past this, past us, and it’s time you did too.”

He felt like he was gonna be sick. He didn’t know what to do or say, he didn’t want to keep this conversation going, but if this was his last shot, he had no choice.

“Mew please. Think about what we have, think about what we could be, we have so much to fight for.”

But those words, said as a desperate plea to quell the hurt in his own heart didn’t work to stop Mew, if anything, they worked against him.

His arms, which were casually hanging by his sides, were quickly pulled up to cross in front of his chest. He scoffed and shook his head, disbelief flashing across his face.

“What we have? We have something to fight for? Where was that consideration when you fucked my bestfriend Top. You don’t get to pick and choose when things are worth fighting for when you can’t even be consistent with your own convictions.” 

Top panics, trying to reach for him again only to be met with another silent rejection. “No. Wait. That's not what I meant, I was-”

“I brought this up like this because I wanted this to end on a peaceful note. But if you can’t even accept what I want, then why should I spare your feelings? You wanna know the truth Top? You wanna know why I’m throwing in the towel?”

Top dropped to his knees, head bowed and ready to beg Mew to hear him out and to not keep his verbal assault. “I know I was wrong, I know I can never make up for it, but please…”

“I fell out of love with you a long time ago.”

Tops head snaps up to look at the man towering over him, ears practically ringing with the declaration. 

He expects to find something, anything to signal he feels remorse or regret, but instead he finds him looking down at him with an annoyed look on his face. It was like he was looking down at a dirt stain on the floor and not a man begging for forgiveness.

“I was over you long ago. You spent everyday trying to earn back my forgiveness. It’s been months of this, and you never gave up. I applaud you for that really, but not once did I truly consider taking you back.”

He’s staring at Top’s face, taking in how every word affects him, and it’s like he’s looking at an experiment. His look was almost analytical, taking in the hurt in his face, but instead of trying to fix it, he’s taking mental notes of it. Figuring out what makes him react, what he can test further.

For Top, it felt like he couldn’t breathe. He had been so full of hope, so sure his words were reaching the man’s heart and that his actions were showing he meant them. This was truly unexpected for him, it felt like Mew pulled the rug from under him, but instead of landing on solid ground, he was falling into an icy lake with no way out while Mew stood on the dock above him, just watching.

“I’ll say it again, Top. I’m over it, all of it. I’m over your friends. I’m over your stupid parties. I’m over you. I hope you take this relationship and learn from it the way I did. I hope you realize that time is not the healer of all wounds. I hope we don’t see each other again.”

Then, he walked to the front door and pulled it open. Top was on his hands and knees, sobs racking through him, leaving him gasping for air, but Mew just stood there, watching him from behind, waiting for Top to collect his things and go.

Completely indifferent.

But now it was Top who was indifferent, not to the words that were said to him. No. To everything else around him.

Sitting in the packed room, those words continued to ring in his ears. Nothing else mattered, no matter how many times his friends tried to pull him away, make him join them in their escapades, all he thought about was Mew saying he was tired of it.

The look on his face when he told him he wouldn’t be seeing each other anymore, it stuck with him. They should have been enough to squash his hopes to see him again, but it wasn’t and his heart still yearned for him.

Even when he ran into Namchueam and April at a party months after he last saw Mew, he had asked them if Mew would be coming and they had reluctantly told him that he didn’t go to parties anymore. 

Top knew. It wasn’t like Mew didn’t party before they met. Sure he wasn’t crazy at the parties, but he still went. It’s not that he wasn’t going because it was outside of his character, he didn’t go because he didn’t want to see Top.

Despite knowing that, hearing it from someone close to him, he couldn’t help but want to search for him in the crowded house. 

Continuing to sip away at his drink, he watched the crowd in front of him sway and jump with the music, and for every new person that walked in and wasn’t Mew, Top would take another sip.

When he finally finished his glass, he stood up to get another, but while walking to the kitchen, he spotted one of his friends. He tried to ignore him, knowing that they would be able to tell he was stuck reminiscing like he is every time the house is full like this, but it was futile. 

He was pulled in and given a shot, and then another, and another, until he lost count. As the alcohol coursed through his veins and he started to lose his senses, he was dragged to the room with the rest of his friends.

All of his friends were high or drunk somewhere in between, but instead of looking at them and feeling the desire to join in like he once would, he saw their actions and thought of how disappointed Mew would have been if he saw him joining them. 

He spotted the ash trays and small baggies strewn across the table and instead of thinking of how he used to do the same things, he could only think about Mew asking him to quit. Asking him to throw away the substances he had on him.

He thought about it over and over until every thought was filled with Mew. Him smiling, laughing, crying, even him kissing Ray in front of him. It was everywhere. The memories of them in the very room he stood in. He felt like he couldn’t breathe.

Stumbling out of the room, he tried to find somewhere that wouldn’t flood his mind with Mew, but he was everywhere. He had built so much of his life around Mew that he became everything he knew, even in his own home. And now? Now that was coming back to bite him.

With every room he’d walk past, he would find a new memory of the two of them. But instead of shaking them, instead of trying to ignore them, it was like it was fuel for him to search harder for Mew. 

He was now drunk enough that the little self preservation skill he had telling him to stop looking for Mew in a place he’d never find him, was gone.

People moved out of his way as he would drag through every room, it felt like everyone he had ever known was there. Except the one he had hoped for.

For everyone that would stop him, he couldn’t help but let the words spill out about who he was looking for, how he needed to apologize, the memories they had in whatever room he was standing in. But it was fruitless, like it always was.

His head was spinning, both from the alcohol and the distress, and his home had never felt so large before. He wasn’t even sure what rooms he had already gone to, but he wouldn’t want to risk missing Mew, so he would force himself to search again.

By the time he made it back to the living room, he had no clue what time it was, he wasn’t sure he wanted to. All he knew was that Mew wasn’t here. And he wasn’t gonna be here in the future either. Top was truly never going to see him again. He had to live with that.

He threw himself onto the couch, clinging to it like a lifeline, hoping it would make the room stop spinning. But it didn’t, and the night would end like every other night had, with him fighting his own thoughts, desperately hoping for something that would never happen, and completely, utterly alone.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

Notes:

The bed is much softer than Phuwin was expecting, and after a full day of travel, the need for sleep lingered in his system. The sounds of the distant waves, chatter among the bar goers downstairs, and gulls squawking in the distance soothed his eyes shut, the sounds slowly fading with his consciousness.

Then, a loud rattling shakes him from his sleep, making him lift his head to look around to find the source of the sound. When he finds nothing, he sits up and turns toward the door, realizing it’s still propped open by the suitcase brought up for him. 

Moving toward it, he notices the faint sound of a singular annoyed voice.

Stepping out and turning toward the sound, he spots Pond with a large stack of towels, struggling with a door down the hall. He watched for a few moments as Pond attempted to lock the door with the ring of keys in one hand, and supported the towels that blocked his view with the other.

Phuwin laughs a bit and begins to walk over to him. “Need any help?”

Not expecting the voice, Pond’s gaze snaps to Phuwin and in surprise, he loses grip of the key ring all together, dropping it on the floor. 

Phuwin closes the distance and squats to pick up the keys, still smiling and laughing slightly. “Which key?”

“The one with the red rubber on top.” 

Phuwin shuffles the keys, locks the door, and stands back up. Holding the key out to Pond, which he notices is a similar color to the man’s ears. 

“What do you want me to do with these? Your hands are a bit full.”

Pond smiles slightly and begins walking towards room 1c, Phuwin’s eyes following him. 

“These towels are for your room, I only have enough in there for the first two nights. Let me just set these down and then I can take the keys back.” Phuwin was watching Pond walk into the room when the scene to his left catches his attention. 

Visible from the overlook he stood on, the courtyard was filled with a diverse group of people enjoying drinks and chatting. Just past it was a small tree line that stood as a separation between the courtyard and the shore where he could see vendor stalls and beach goers enjoying the sun and waves.

He smiled, excitement causing chills. This is it, it was what he was looking for. A place filled with people from around the world, all coming together to enjoy the authentic atmosphere of the small Thai island town. 

It perfectly encapsulated the idea he wanted to capture. A visual sense of belonging in places you’d never expect to find it.

He scanned the area thoroughly, already considering the best angles and shots, before he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Scrolling to his messaging app, he sends a text to his most recent chat, Est.

“I think i found my spot for the final piece of the exhibit. beautiful place, be here for the next week. let me know if you’ll get a chance to stay” Sent.

Resting his hands on the railing, he looked out at the scenery, letting the soft warm breeze brush through his hair. After a few moments thought, he felt a prickling sensation on the back of his neck, a new set of chills running down his spine despite the warm weather. 

He frowned and scanned briefly in front of him trying to identify the cause before turning to look to his sides. Instead, he catches sight of Pond standing in his room doorway, turned awkwardly to look at the end of the hallway. Even from across the hall, Phuwin could spot the redness on his ears come back in full force, something Phuwin was beginning to realize must happen a lot. 

Stepping back from the rail and towards his room, he spoke as he approached the taller man. “Thank you for bringing the towels, here’s your key ring,” he dropped the keys into the now outstretched hand between them. 

“While I have you, do you know of any good spots for photography? I’m here working on an exhibit,” he points toward the camera that lay on the mattress just inside the room, “and it would be great if I could capture the places the locals suggest.”

Pond looked upwards as he pondered the question. “I know a beautiful rocky beach that most people don’t know about. It’s usually empty save for a few locals that go there for a date or some peace and quiet. We like to keep it as a bit of a local secret”

Phuwin chuckles and Pond is confused. The traveler leaned against his room’s door frame, ankles crossed and arms folding, while shaking his head.

“Sorry, I should have clarified. The exhibit is about different types of human connections, so I’d actually prefer a well known spot over a local secret. But I’d like it if you still showed me that beach. Just as a personal request, not a work one.” Phuwin smiled, tilting his head slightly as he looked up at Pond through his lashes.

Pond’s mouth went dry for a few seconds, blinking harshly before he shook his head and stuttered out a response.

“Uh yeah, you can- I mean, I can do that for you. Did you want to go today or…” he trails off, waiting for a confirmation, which he gets in the form of another soft smile and nod from Phuwin. 

“Yeah, of course. Definitely, I can do that… Let me ask my aunt if they can handle the place while I step away, then I’ll be right back up to change.” 

Phuwin’s brows furrow again and he asks, “Change?” Pond points to the doorway just behind the pretty man and clarifies. “The room I stay in is the second one here, that one right behind you, 1b. I’ll come back up and change there.”

A laugh sneaks out of Phuwin, one he wasn’t expecting as he pulls a hand up to his mouth to cover it. “Sorry, that’s good to know. I meant like why do you need to change clothes. That looks like normal beach attire to me? Do I need to change?”

Pond blinks hard and looks embarrassed as he motions to his outfit. “The spot is a bit away so we’d have to take my bike to get there, and this shirt’s buttons aren’t very strong.” He says with reddening ears once again. “Your clothes are fine as long as you think they’ll stay put on a motorbike.” 

Phuwin’s gaze and hands move to his own shirt buttons. “I should probably button this up higher then so it doesn’t slide right off.” He laughs slightly before looking up at Pond and catching him staring down where his hands were actively buttoning.

“Right…” Pond’s gaze drags back up to Phuwin’s before he continues, “probably for the best. I’ll go downstairs and be back up soon. I can knock on your door and get you once I’ve changed if you want to begin unpacking.” 

Then Pond strides past him towards the stairs, hand coming up to drag down his face and rub over his eyes.

Phuwin watches as he descends the stairs, then looks out over the balcony to see him immediately get swallowed into the crowd of locals and tourists alike, all trying to pull him to join their conversations while he apologizes and pushes through. 

Quickly stepping back to the bed where his camera lay, Phuwin picked it up and returned to the balcony to capture the scene. Turning around, he smiles at the image on the small camera screen before walking into his room, glancing at the doorway just next to his on the way.

On the bed, he sees a neat stack of white towels and colorful beach towels and just next to them lays a bottle of tea and a small bag of dried squid.

Pulling out his phone a second time, he sends another message to Est, reading “i think the company here is gonna make this trip a lot more fun than i thought,” before tossing the phone and rolling his baggage further in. 

He had only gotten through unpacking his backpack when he heard noise on the other side of the wall. Assuming it was Pond, he rushed to finish putting his things away before standing up and walking to the mirror near the foot of his bed.

He watched his reflection, straightening out his clothes and leaning forward to run his fingers through his hair, letting out a deep sigh as it refused to cooperate.

A sharp knock on the wood of the doorway breaks him out of his self-contemplative stare. He whips his head toward the sound, seeing Pond standing in the doorway, holding up a different key ring now.

“You ready to go?”

Phuwin sends him a small nod, and grabs his tote bag and camera, and walks to the taller man. 

“Lead the way.”

He follows Pond down the hall and stairs, and through the bar until they reach a small makeshift garage on the back side of the building, butting against the street. Pond reaches down and pulls the garage door up, securing it and then stepping towards the red Honda motorbike.

Stepping directly next to the bike, Pond places his hands on both bar handles and kicks up the stand, leaning forward to push the bike out of the garage. 

Phuwin watches intently as the man pushes the bike towards him, spotting the tensing muscles in his shoulders, white tank top doing little to cover him. 

His eyes drag from his shoulders down to the jean shorts he wore, which had bunched up higher on his thighs with the effort. Phuwin let his gaze wander the man’s straining figure, holding him in the center of his view until the bike was parked on the shoulder of the small road.

Pond straightens back out after dropping the bike’s stand and Phuwin moves swiftly to stand directly next to the bike.

It isn’t until then that Pond realizes he had overlooked a big part of taking Phuwin to the beach on his bike: having Phuwin on his bike. With him. Together.

Now the two of them stood in front of each other next to the motorbike, just looking at one another. Pond stared at Phuwin’s face, then glanced at the bike, then back to Phuwin. Phuwin just looked back at him, confusion evident on his face. 

“Is something wrong?” 

Pond shook his head slightly, stepping to grab the helmet off the bike and extending it out towards Phuwin. “Here put this on.” Phuwin looks down at the helmet, then back up to Pond, eyebrows upturned before he grabs the helmet and lets his face relax.

After watching Phuwin pull the helmet onto his head, Pond throws his leg over the vehicle, taking his seat and shaking out his shoulders in an attempt to ease the tensed muscles. 

He sits staring forward for a few moments, waiting for Phuwin to get on, but when he doesn’t after several seconds, Pond turns around toward him.

He watches as Phuwin struggles with the helmet strap, head tilted to the right and hands fidgeting with the connection.

“Sorry, I forget it’s a weird one. Let me help you.” Pond steps back off and turns toward the traveler. Without second thought, he reaches and tilts the man’s head up with a curled finger under his chin, eyes locked on the straps, and begins to secure it. 

He focuses on fastening the helmet, threading the left strap through both sides of the metal buckle on the other strap, fingers brushing against Phuwin’s throat. As he finishes tucking the excess back into the buckle, he notices the movement of the photographer’s Adam's apple.

Pond looks up, eyes locking with Phuwin’s, only inches away from his face. The distinct sound of his heartbeat starts to sound like a bass drum in his ears, which are quickly reddening for the millionth time that day. Gaze flickering back and forth between the other man’s eyes, he feels his throat dry.

He steps back quickly, clearing his throat, and pulls his hands down to his sides, subtly wiping his sweaty palms on the sides of shorts he wore. He gestures for Phuwin to get on the bike before he throws his own leg back over the seat and waits for the man to join him.

Phuwin seems to realize his own awkward predicament once he settles onto the back of the motorbike. He’s totally unsure where to put his hands. Despite being smaller than Pond was, with both of them on the bike, his legs took up the entire secondary seat, leaving nowhere for him to hold onto.

“Do I..?” He trails, hand inching and lightly grasping the side of the shirt in front of him. Pond smiles shyly and nods, reaching back and grabbing Phuwin’s hands and pulling them around his waist. 

“Better safe than sorry, just hold tightly.” Pond could hear the smile in Phuwin’s voice when he responded. “Mm. I’m trusting you.” 

Pond’s uncovered ears burned as he kicked up the stand and took off.

i wrote this instead of doing my job all week, then reviewed it a few weeks later, avoiding new work.