now that vegas is wifed up, macau needs to inherit the mantle of theerapanyakul cousins romantic rival.
we need macau to skateboard into porchayâs life and knock him off his feet (literally) and be the charismatic antithesis of kim in every way. heâll help chay up and brush off his uniform and immediately succumb to the minor theerapanyakul weakness for cute boys who are taller than them and canât-keep-my-hands-to-myself disease. heâd introduce himself with his full name, no masks no mystery, and look chay up and down with the corner of his lip caught between his teeth.
and he wouldnât treat chay like a baby to be hidden away or protected behind his back; he grew up in a mafia family thereâs no way he doesnât know his way around a gun or a punch, and he wouldnât hide any of that from chay when inevitably shit goes down when macau invites himself along on on chayâs after school bubble tea run.
whether theyâre vegas or porscheâs enemies, they donât know, but cornered in that alley, when macau manages to get the gun off one goon before breaking his nose, he passes it to chay, as if he has any idea what to do with a gun, and chay panics and jams the butt of it into the other guyâs temple and watches him fold. heâs shaking with adrenaline a little after, but macau grins wildly with his round cheeks and steps over the unconscious guy at his feet to fist bump chay as if they just won a round in overwatch.
âshould we,â chay starts. âuh, should we call someone?â
âwhat, for two guys?â macau laughs. âthis is nothing.â he passes chayâs bookbag back to him from where he dropped it. âbut youâd think your brother would have bodyguards on you everywhere, though. my brother would.â
chay shoulders his bag and snaps without thinking. âso why donât you?â
macauâs eyes darken for a solid second it takes chay to realize it was a dumb thing to say, but itâs there and gone, smothered by bigger smile. âbecause we donât have bodyguards anymore.â chay tamps down the reflex to blurt out sorry, itâs not like itâs his fault, and then macauâs throwing his arm around his shoulders and saying âso what are you getting? youâre buying, by the way.â
when he walks chay home after, he insists on carrying the bubble tea take out bag, slung on his wrist just above his bloody knuckles, and escorts him all the way to the doors. theyâre still doing patch up work to fix the bullet holes vegas put there, and macau kisses his cheek in front of all the bodyguards on duty.
chay can still feel the heat on his cheeks when he staunchly ignores kimâs eyes following him all the way away across the lobby. and you know what (he jams the elevator button and waits) he likes it.
macau would bring porchay into the mafia world for real, because while everyone else is trying to keep him separate and safe, macau has never known anything else, it isnât a separate world to him, itâs just The World. and chay did all the chasing the last time around. he deserves to be chased. especially by a boy who doesnât lie to him and isnât shy about putting his hands where he wants them.
we have to keep the chaotic and thematic romantic tension alive in the next generation and 1. give barcode the opportunity to go absolutely wild heâs chomping at the bit for it 2. [drumming fists on table] more ta more ta MORE TA 3. jeff is at his best when enacting sociopathic violence
