Chapter Text
In rested his head on the cafeteria table in an attempt to soothe the worsening headache. He knew it had been a bad idea to go to school with a fever but the only person who could make him feel better was in school.
“In, are you well enough to sit up?” P’Korn asked as In felt his gentle touches on his hair.
“Mhm,” In replied, pushing himself up.
From the corner of his eye, In saw Krit looking at them with a smile. In was feeling guilty for leaving his friends alone while they were preparing the props for the upcoming freshman orientation camp.
Krit held up the water and medicine he was holding, to ask if In needed them.
“Take this medicine,” P’Korn told him. He took the pill from his boyfriend and looked towards his best friend. In shook his head towards Krit slightly and smiled as if to say ‘don’t worry, P’Korn will take care of me’ .
“Thank you,” he told P’Korn and proceeded to swallow the pill.
P’Korn placed his hand gently on In’s forehead to check if the fever had subsided since the morning.
“I hope that you will always be happy,” Krit said softly as he watched his friend smiling despite his fever. Unfortunately, In did not have the chance to hear his friend’s blessings.
~
Pharm woke up earlier than usual today because he was determined to take the public transport to school instead of asking someone to pick him up.
He was exhausted.
6AM doesn’t even sound like a real time.
He walked towards his balcony, hoping that a little natural sunlight would help to wake him up. As he stepped out, Pharm noticed a familiar figure standing in the middle of the parking lot. Pharm leaned on the railings to get a closer look and confirmed his suspicions.
It was P’Dean standing next to his car.
What is he doing here? Pharm wondered but his thoughts were quickly interrupted as he noticed P’Dean giving him a small wave.
In a panic, Pharm rushed back into his apartment and closed his balcony doors. Fuck, he saw me.
Pharm wondered for a moment if he could simply pretend not to have seen P’Dean, but knew that his moment of panic had probably exposed him. Moreover, he would have to pass by P’Dean to exit the apartment complex so there was no avoiding it.
He had to go greet the senior and hope that P’Dean was here to meet someone else, however unlikely that may be.
Pharm looked at himself in the mirror to make sure he looked somewhat presentable before rushing down to the parking lot.
“P’Dean,” he called out to the senior as he walked towards the parking lot. “Why are you here so early?”
“I’m here to pick you up.” P’Dean said and then explained, “you didn’t tell me what time to come over so I came earlier just in case.”
Pharm looked at him puzzled, “but I didn’t ask you to come at all.”
“Oh,” the senior said, disappointed. “Is someone else coming to pick you up?”
“No,” Pharm replied hesitantly. “I was going to take the bus.”
P’Dean’s face perked up at this, “well then, I might as well drive you to school since I’m already here.”
Pharm sighed, unable to turn the senior down without seeming rude.
“Fine, but it’s still early. Do you want to wait in my room while I get ready?”
P’Dean flashed a wide smile at Pharm at the suggestion.
“I mean,” Pharm continued, feeling a little flustered at P’Dean’s reaction. “It’s better than waiting out here in the hot sun.”
“Of course,” P’Dean replied as he started walking towards the entrance. “No need to hurry. I can wait.”
~
The ride to school wasn’t as bad as Pharm thought it might be. He was starting to feel a little more comfortable around P’Dean. It helped that he was more aware of any potential panic attacks when the senior was around. The hyper awareness made him feel a little more in control of the situation and he hoped his mind would learn that there was nothing about P’Dean worth panicking about.
However, not having a panic attack doesn’t mean he was happy about being alone in an enclosed space with the senior. Somehow, it made him sad. In a way that he had only experienced in his memories nightmares.
Pharm stayed late in the cooking club after school, some part of him hoping to avoid seeing P’Dean around and being ambushed to accept a ride home.
He knew Team was practicing swimming late as well as part of his punishment for something he had done wrong - Pharm didn’t know what Team did wrong but he always seemed to be getting punished by the swim club Vice-President - and Pharm promised to bring him a late night snack after his punishment.
It was almost 9PM when Pharm finally headed to the swim club to look for Team. He was easy to spot as he was the only one sitting at the edge of the pool.
Pharm walked towards Team and dangled the bag of food in front of him.
“You’re finally here!” Team exclaimed, “I’m so hungry.”
“Why are you sitting here alone?” Pharm asked.
“All because of Hia Win,” Team sighed. “All the other seniors went home like 2 hours ago but he made me stay back for more laps.”
“Really?” Pharm asked, secretly delighted at the implication that P’Dean had gone home much earlier.
“Yeah.” Team confirmed. “By the way, it’s so late now. How will you be going home? Your car is still in the workshop isn’t it?”
“Don’t worry,” Pharm said. “My car will probably be ready the day after tomorrow. For now I can just take the bus home, but I need to go soon since it is quite unsafe at night.”
“Okay, let me know when you reach home. I’m sorry for making you go home so late.”
“It’s okay, don’t think too much.”
“Thank you.” Team said holding his sandwich up.
“I hope you enjoy it,” Pharm said as he walked away.
“Bye bye!”
Pharm walked towards the school exit exhausted. As he approached the gates, a figure walked over and blocked his path.
He looked up at the person in front of him.
“P’Dean?” He was surprised to see the senior, but more surprised to realise that he felt a sense of relief seeing P’Dean. “You haven’t gone back yet?”
“Not yet. You’re going back now, right?” The senior asked. “Let’s go then. I’ll send you home.”
“I don’t want to bother you.”
“You’re not bothering me,” P’Dean said tenderly. “If you’re going back home late, you can call me. I can drop you off.”
“My car will be repaired soon.”
“But it’s not repaired yet,” the senior said simply and gestured for Pharm to get into the car.
Pharm sighed and entered the car.
As the car pulled up to his apartment, Pharm turned to P’Dean and broke the silence.
“You don’t have to pick me up tomorrow,” he said.
The disappointment on P’Dean’s face was evident, “but I want to make sure you get to school safely.”
“I can go to school by myself,” Pharm said firmly as he grabbed his bag and opened the door. Just before exiting the car, he sighed and said,”you don’t have to take care of me.”
He closed the door behind him just before he heard P’Dean reply, “but I do.”
Pharm turned around to ask what P’Dean meant by that but the car door had been closed shut and Pharm simply watched as the senior drove away.