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“Come on, Type. Focus,” Arthit insisted, making him realize that he’d zoned out again. The two of them were at a gym that was about equally close to each of their campuses that allowed them to continue practicing together as they had been since high school. It was no longer mandatory for Arthit to take the classes that were supposed to quell his anger issues - Type still thought it was ridiculous. Arthit wasn’t some crazy violent person or anything. He was loyal and would defend those he cared about. It was as simple as that. “You’re tense. Shake it off or use it.”
“I’m not sure you want me to do that,” replied Type with a short, bitter laugh. It made Arthit lift his brows at him and Type exhaled sharply through his nose. He gave Arthit a small smirk in response before he lifted his hands in order to block his face as if Arthit was fighting back instead of holding the pads that Type was intending to hit. Type rolled his shoulders and readied his stance again before he started to throw punches at the mats. Though Arthit had expected it, he was still almost caught off guard by the strength behind it. Type was really upset about something.
Whatever it was, he hadn’t said a word but he spent the next several minutes taking it out on Arthit and the mats until Arthit stumbled back and said, “Okay, okay. That’s enough.” Arthit gave a small disbelieving laugh as he shook his arm out and set down the mats before reaching up to rub at his shoulder. “Let’s shower and get out of here.”
“Don’t you w-?”
“No. Let’s go.”
Arthit watched Type for a few seconds before he nodded in agreement and they made their way to the locker rooms so that they could get ready to go. Neither one said anything the entire time, but Arthit continued to glance over at Type every so often in order to try to get a read on what he was thinking or feeling. It was never an easy thing to do. Type was very closed off with his emotions. He’d gotten better, sure, but still. Arthit couldn’t even really blame him, it wasn’t like he was much better. Type could be aggressive and abrasive and rash, but there was something extra sharp in his typical bitterness. Arthit didn’t like that he didn’t know what it was. He was sure he could probably call Techno and would be told whatever was going on; but, Arthit would much rather hear it from Type in the first place.
Once they were both ready, they each carried their own bags they’d brought with a change of clothes and what they’d need to shower after so they didn’t smell of sweat and nasty gym lockers. “Food?” Arthit asked. If he hadn’t looked over at Type, he wouldn’t have even known that Type had answered since all he received in response was a nod of his head.
The two of them walked to the restaurant they always went to after a session at the gym. It wasn't too far away, and was actually closer to the bus stop that Arthit needed in order to get back to his campus. Type complained because it was farther for him - or he did until he'd started using Tharn’s car. He hadn't used it that day, which Arthit almost asked him about yet somehow managed to not until they'd taken their seats and ordered their food and it had been brought to them. “I broke up with Tharn,” was Type’s answer. His tone of voice almost seemed bored but the way he refused to look at Arthit, focusing on his food instead, said something else entirely.
“I'm sorry, what?” Arthit set down his silverware and pushed his plate away enough to cross his arms on top of the table leaning forward slightly. “Run that by me again. Because it sounded like you said you broke up with the only person dumb enough to put up with you.” Type rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders, though his indifferent facade seemed to crack more as Arthit stared him down. “Why did you break up with him?”
“It's… complicated. And a very long story.”
Arthit nodded his head and grabbed his cup to take a drink out of it. “I've got nowhere that I need to be.”
Type sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair a few times while glancing around the two of them at their surroundings. “Not here. Let's eat, then we can go to your place and talk.”
“Mn. No changing your mind,” replied Arthit with a nod before he resumed eating.
He stole glances at Type every so often, frowning a little as he took in the dark circles under his friend's eyes that seemed much more prominent than they had inside the gym. Neither one of them said anything else as they ate. After they were finished, they paid and left the shop, heading toward the bus stop. They made small talk throughout the trip back to Arthit’s campus, but as soon as they were in his dorm, Arthit directed Type to sit down. “So what the hell, Type?” he asked as he placed his bag in the wardrobe. He needed to remember to wash the clothes later. “I thought things were going good with Tharn.”
“Like I said,” Type replied as he placed his own bag aside and sat down on Arthit’s bed, “it's a long story.”
“Start at the beginning.”
Arthit sat down on the bed as well, facing Type as he took a deep breath before starting to explain things to Arthit. Type told him everything - about Tharn’s ex, about Lhong, about Tar. Arthit almost interrupted Type several times, but each time a sharp look from Type kept him quiet so that Type could finish telling the story of what was going on. “And I can't just… tell Tharn. He wouldn't believe me. He needs to hear it from Lhong,” Type insisted.
“And how do you plan on arranging that?” Arthit asked once he found his voice, trying to finish taking in everything that Type had told him. “Type you should just tell him.”
“And have him believe that little shit over me? No. This is… it's got to be this way.” Arthit’s brow furrowed. He wasn't sure he agreed with Type’s conclusion, and Type could tell just from the look on his face. It made Type sigh heavily. “Look, Lhong has been his best friend for years, someone he trusts blindly. If it were different, and someone you were dating said a whole bunch of crap about me or Techno - and we of course denied it and called them a liar - who would you believe? Us or the person you're dating?”
Arthit hated that Type kind of had a point. He couldn't see himself believing someone he was dating (especially only the short amount of time Tharn and Type had been together in the first place) over his best friends. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. But I still don't see why you had to break up with Tharn.”
“Because. Now Lhong thinks that he's won, and he's not going to keep trying to break us up.”
“Doesn't this technically mean that he has won?”
Type shook his head a couple of times. “No. Because when I'm finished, Tharn is going to know exactly what Lhong has done and I'm sure he'll want to fix things with his last ex after what Lhong did.”
“You mean you.”
“Huh?”
“You're his last ex, Type.”
“Oh. No.” Type shook his head again and crossed his arms over his middle. “No, I… I'm sure it's over for us. He can be happy with Tar, they can fix what Lhong broke. If he hadn't… I'm sure they'd still be together now.”
Arthit scowled as he listened to Type talking and shook his head at the end of his friend’s words. “You don't know that. Maybe they would have broken up and he would have ended up with you, anyway.”
Type scoffed out a laugh at that. “Yeah. Sure. Because anyone would choose me over this nice, kind person who is better for Tharn anyway.”
“I don't know Tharn very well, but I'm pretty sure that his feelings for you are genuine - I'm not sure why because you're an asshole, but they are.” Type shrugged one of his shoulders and picked at a loose string on the cuff of his shirt. “I get where you're coming from about needing to make Tharn hear from this Lhong guy, but I really think breaking up with Tharn was a mistake.”
“Good thing I'm not asking for your opinion, then.” Type gave Arthit a very tight, sarcastic smile after he spoke, making Arthit just sigh and shake his head. “Who are you to give advice, anyway? You're still pining after what's-her-face from high school. You need to get out there, meet somebody.”
“We're not here to talk about me.” Arthit shook his head with a soft laugh. “Stop trying to divert the conversation.”
“There’s nothing else to say. What’s done is done.” Type shrugged his shoulders as he reached up with one hand to rub the back of his neck. “Tharn and I are over. I’m still figuring out what I’m supposed to do next.”
*** *** ***
“Hey, Type,” said Techno, making Type look over at him and away from Tharn, who he had been talking quietly with since they’d sat down at the table a while ago. He locked his phone screen and set it aside, gently pushing it away a few centimeters. “So, uhm. Don’t get mad at me.”
“About what?” replied Type, narrowing his eyes slightly as he watched Techno for his response.
“Look - I didn’t realize that you hadn’t told P’Arthit, P’Bright, and P’Knot about what happened with Lhong.”
Type sighed as he tilted his head back to look up at the sky before looking back to Techno again. “You told them? Of course I didn’t tell them. They’re only going to freak out and show up here.” Techno hummed in agreement with a nod of his head at the question directed toward him, making Type wince - which he regretted immediately. It made his face hurt. “They’re on their way here, aren’t they?”
Techno nodded his head again, that time with a sheepish smile. “That’s what they said, anyway. Well, not P’Knot. He’s got something going on, but the other two...”
“Great. I’m just going to…” Type gestured over his shoulder as he started to stand up, but then Tharn pressed on his shoulder to get him to sit back down. “What? I can just go home. They don’t know where the condo is. It’ll be fine.”
“Hiding from your friends doesn’t sound like a good idea,” replied Tharn, sending Type a rather pointed look.
“Type doesn’t always make those,” said Techno, only to hold up his hands in surrender when Type glared at him in response. “For that matter, neither do you since you took him back a- ouch! Ai’Type!” Techno reached down and rubbed his shin where Type had kicked him underneath the table. “Anyway, Tharn is right.” Techno sat up straight again. “If you hide from them, it’ll only make it worse when they do find you.”
“How bad can it really be?” asked Tharn as he looked between the two of them. After all, the two boys in question were Type’s friends. Surely the situation couldn’t be as bad as the two of them were making it seem.
It wasn’t too much later that there were suddenly two people joining them at the table. One sat down next to Techno, the other sat on the empty spot on Type’s other side. “What the hell happened to your face?” asked the young man sitting next to Techno - Tharn assumed it was who Techno called P’Bright, since he hadn’t met Bright yet. He knew Arthit, had met him a couple of times during the time he and Type had been dating, which was how he knew it was Arthit sitting on Type’s other side.
“You let some kid bust up your face like that?” asked Arthit with a scoff as he crossed his arms on top of the table, giving Type a once over. “There’s no way that scrawny little shit got one over on you this badly unless you let him.” Tharn frowned as he listened to Type’s friend talk - but he wasn’t sure which part he was frowning about, the description of Lhong or the idea that the only reason Type was hurt was because he’d let himself get punched in the face.
“How do you know what he looks like?” Type countered instead of answering the question that Arthit had directed at him.
Arthit paused and glanced over at Bright before looking back to Type. “Nevermind that. What was the point in letting him do this?” He gestured to Type’s face, who shrugged and mumbled something about how it let Lhong think he had an upper hand and kept him talking. “You are… a dumbass. What if he’d seriously hurt you because you decided to not fight back?”
“He almost did seriously hurt him,” Techno input, ignoring the way that Type glared at him for saying as much.
“Wait, wait. What does that mean?” asked Bright as he pointed between Type and Techno. “What haven’t you told us?”
“ Nothing , it’s nothing,” Type insisted with a heavy sigh. “Ai’No is making something out of nothing. Nothing happened.”
Techno nodded his head as he rested his elbow on top of the table and then put his chin in his hand. “Yeah, because Tharn showed up and stepped in.”
“He wouldn’t have-”
“He could have -”
“Could have what?” interrupted Arthit, making both Techno and Type look at him instead of bickering back and forth between one another.
“Okay. Look. I guess there was this big rock on the ground and the guy grabbed it, bu-”
“Why the hell would you put yourself in that situation in the first place?” Bright demanded with a scoff and a roll of his eyes. “You know better than that.”
“This is getting nowhere fast.” Type sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Does it really matter now? It’s over and done with. Lhong’s left the area. He’s not going to hurt anyone again. So, just… I don’t know. Drop it and tell me congratulations for managing to convince Tharn to take me back?”
Bright scoffed at that. “Why? He’s a dumbass. You’re a handful. You’ve made a poor choice in this one, N’Tharn.”
Despite his words, Bright had a smile on his face, which only somewhat eased the scowl that had formed on Tharn’s. He wrapped his arm around Type’s waist, holding him close. It was only because he knew the guy was Type’s friend and he could tell that Type wasn’t taking his words to heart that Tharn didn’t speak up. He didn’t know enough about their friendship or how they talked to one another to determine whether or not it was normal teasing or something meaner. He knew Type, though, and he knew that Type wouldn’t put up with it if Bright was just being mean. “Who says I gave him a choice?” questioned Type, ignoring Techno pointing out that Type technically just had with his previous question. Type gently nudged Arthit with his elbow, then, glancing over at him without fully looking in his direction. “You’re quiet.”
Arthit hummed his agreement with a slight nod of his head. He seemed to silently debate his words for several more seconds before he said, “If you put yourself in harm’s way like that again, I’ll be the one to kick your ass. I don’t care what your intentions were, idiot. Don’t do it. And you should have called one of us before you confronted this guy.”
“Techno and Champ were there.”
Bright draped his arm over Techno’s shoulders, hugging his friend close to his side as he said, “Forgive us if that doesn’t instill much confidence in us, but, uh, what was Techno going to do? Kick a football at his face?”
“Huh? Me? No,” Techno insisted with a shake of his head. “I was just there to re- oh, wait. I get your point now.” Techno sighed heavily when Bright reached up to pinch one of his cheeks while mumbling how adorable he was.
The two of them continued to bicker in a friendly manner, but Type’s focus was more on Arthit than the two of them. “Are you mad?” he asked quietly, not capturing the attention of the other two or Tharn, who was watching the two of them as his expression changed from the scowl that had been there to an amused smirk.
“No,” replied Arthit, keeping his voice as just quiet. “Maybe a bit disappointed. You put yourself in harm’s way, let yourself get hurt. For what end? Surely there was a better way.”
“I didn’t plan on getting hurt or anything. It just happened. It… didn’t go as planned, but things worked out in the end, anyway.” Type shrugged his shoulders, which did catch Tharn’s attention, making his boyfriend focus on him again. Type gave Tharn a small smile but then looked back at Arthit. “You can yell at me later, if you want. But for now can we just… This is nice.” After all the chaos and drama that had been going on, just getting to sit around with some of the people who mattered most to him was exactly what Type needed to feel better.
“Mn.” Arthit didn’t see the point in yelling at Type, honestly. He was sure Type had been yelled at enough. He clearly knew he’d made dumb decisions, but he was relatively okay - better than what he’d pictured when Techno had first inadvertently told them about what had happened. “So, Tharn,” Arthit said as he leaned back, which Tharn did the same in order to look at him behind Type’s back. “Do you have plans for the evening or are you going to join the four of us grabbing dinner?”
“Oh, I-” Techno started to say but Bright covered his mouth with a hand, dramatically shushing him and telling him that he was going to spend time with them and put off his other plans. Techno sighed heavily but nodded in agreement, which led to Bright ruffling his hair.
Tharn looked to Type, who shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t care if Tharn joined them or not. He might actually prefer it. “If that’s cool,” Tharn replied. He smiled when Arthit nodded his head and insisted that it would be fine. “You’re Type’s friends from home, right? Does that me-?”
“Asshole Tharn, don’t you dare go fishing for stories of me as a kid,” Type insisted as he stood up, shoving Arthit so that he would get up from the bench they were sitting on.
“Isn’t it adorable that he knows me well enough to know what I was going to ask?” Tharn was all smiles, even as Type huffed and glared at him before turning his gaze over to Bright who had cackled out a laugh and insisted there were many stories to tell.
“I can tell just as many about you P’Bright.”
“Go ahead, kiddo,” replied Bright as he smiled and stood up, leading Techno to stand up as well. “I have absolutely no shame.” Type could not hold back his groan as he once again lifted his gaze to the heavens - he hated that Bright was right.
As the group of them walked away from the table, Bright had an arm around Techno’s shoulders and his other around Tharn’s as he yammered on about something that Type stopped listening to. Arthit and Type trailed behind the two of them, walking a little slower. Type was rather surprised that he didn’t jump when Arthit draped his arm over his shoulders, but a few seconds later he was relaxing and almost leaning against Arthit’s side as they walked. Neither one of them said anything, but Type found himself feeling more at ease than he had in days. He felt comforted and understood and like for a moment his world hadn’t been turned upside down and thrown together haphazardly again. Arthit was once again there to provide the comfort that Type didn’t know how to ask for and hadn’t known he’d needed - it would never get talked about, but was the whole reason Arthit had shown up in the first place.
Type really didn’t feel like he deserved his friends.