Chapter Text
UPDATE 1: I AM NOT A CRAZY FAN
"Tommy Sittichok back in Thailand!" exclaimed Minnie, setting her hip against the counter. Her voice grew bubbly as she read the article. "After an almost five weeks tour in East Asia, the author of the worldwide hit, 'Tell Now', returns to his homeland. Along with his bandmates, he will land in Bangkok this Wednesday at 2 PM, expecting a wild crowd of fans awaiting him—but how many can we really expect? Hundreds, thousands or—?"
Jimmy rolled his eyes, smirking under his breath. "One soy latte for Boat!" He handed the coffee to its owner and looked back at his friend. "Why are you reading this to me, again?"
"I'm reading it out loud, not to you." The girl made a face, her eyes boring into him. "You know I'm a die-hard fan of Tommy, I read everything there is about him."
"Uh-uh, then why are you doing it out loud ?"
Minnie shrugged, keeping her expression as deadpan as she could while sliding the phone into her back pocket and refilling the limited sprinkles containers—a task far from necessary at the moment, yet, the one that she chose to do. As she was Jimmy's senior, he couldn't say a thing about that, though. Minnie did what she wanted. Always.
"I just thought you might be interested," she said, her voice saccharine. "But I bet you have a newsletter alert anyway."
He gasped, his hand on his heart. "I do not!" Quickly, he plastered ‘smile #4’ on his face—the one reserved for work—as he turned towards a newly-came customer, ignoring his co-worker's scoffing. "What can I get you?"
With an order for a Caramel Macchiato, Jimmy turned around and met with Minnie's sharply arched eyebrow right above her big eyes. She did not buy his words in the slightest.
Of course, she didn't.
"I am not some crazy-ass fan," he hissed, turning on the milk frother. Hopefully, the noise of the machine drowned out their conversation—clients learning he was a fan of one of the biggest stars in Thailand was the last thing he ever wanted.
Not that his worn-out T-shirt from Tommy's live wasn't a big enough clue. Or that keychain he had attached to his bottle opener; that one was quite obvious too.
"Of course, you're not." Minnie patted him on the shoulder, not even trying to hide her growing smile. "You're just a person who happens to adore him."
And at that, Jimmy could only show the full row of his teeth. There really was no point in denying it, was there?
The coffee was handed out, and the shop became gradually calmer, so both of them leaned against the counter next to the coffee machine.
"So, Lover Boy." The girl scrutinized him, her fingers tapping on the phone screen yet again. "Are you going to the airport today? I can cover for you."
He shook his head. "Come on, I have a shift. Plus, I really don't need to attend each of the fan meetings. I told you, I'm not some crazy-ass fan. This time, I'll pass."
***
"Your passport, sir."
Tommy went through security without any problems, and now, all he needed was to wait for their luggage to come. He plopped on the seat and took off his beanie; after the flight, his hair was a mess, and Heavens only knew how grateful he was for that hat to be his signature accessory. At least it could hide the bird nest on his head from his fans, and he didn't need to be a genius to know there were a whole lot of them squashed in the arrival hall.
Heck, he could even hear their uproar from here, behind the doors.
Part of him was excited about that. Fans always made him feel at ease, recharging his batteries with their kind words and admiration. But some other part of him was tired just thinking about the flood of people ready to swallow him whole; he was a bit overwhelmed with the upcoming touches and gifts that he wasn't sure where to store. He truly loved everything his fans gave him, especially those that were handmade or were quite obviously well-thought-out. The problem was, he was already renting two storage spaces to keep them all, and that was even after gifting some plushies and toys to charities.
For real, would Aof agree to rent another one for him?
"You happy to be back?" asked Park, his drummer, standing next to him with his muscular arms folded on his chest.
"You know I am." Tommy smiled. "East, West, home the best."
"You're so booooring," moaned Nat, shooting a smiley selfie and posting it on Instagram. The boy, despite being only nineteen, had played the keyboard in his band for one-and-a-half years now, and he was one of the best. "Japan was way more fun."
"Only because you spent all your free time in Arcades." Park craned his neck, looking at the luggage belt. "Alright, it's ours. Mark and I are gonna check the instruments, you two go ahead and meet our fans. We’ll join you in a moment. I bet it'll take another hour before you get through them."
Tommy heaved a sigh and got up from his seat. "Good luck with that."
"Good luck to you ." The drummer jutted his chin towards the automatic door that revealed a colourful crowd full of posters, lightsticks and neons with his name.
Park was right; it was not going to be a quick meet-and-greet.
Tommy took his silver pen out of his backpack and left the rest to be handled by the boys. Nat did the same, the whole time typing on his phone with one hand and putting it down only before passing the gates.
The crowd was just as they had expected—filling the hall to the brim with people chanting his name, mostly girls in his branded bucket hats, and paparazzi blinding them with flashes. It was so dense that neither Tommy nor Nat were sure how to get through it, and if it wasn't for their bodyguards opening the sea of the bodies, they would get stuck in it, bound by the piercing scream of love confessions.
"Your boy's here," said Nat, and Tommy followed his eyes automatically.
Nat was right; that beanpole of a boy was there too, holding a small neon-green board with Tommy's name, which made Tommy smile. He wasn't surprised to see him, not even a bit. With almost two meters height, the fanboy was easily noticeable in the crowd, be it at a fan meeting, concert, or simply on the street, and he was at each event Tommy was in, too.
In some way that lanky boy became famous as Tommy's fanboy—for sure his fan account on Instagram had many followers, and Nat and the rest of the band always joked about his presence, often unaware about how Tommy felt about his sight.
And he had to admit; his eyes were always glued to that fanboy, holding onto him like a lifeboat, whenever Tommy's nervousness took over.
This time, however, he had to be aware of all of his fans, not only that one, but he felt the fanboy’s gaze on him the whole time, too.
With the speed of a turtle, Nat and Tommy stumbled through the crowd, signing and greeting and laughing and posing. All of that for his greatest fans, whom he hadn't seen for over a month. Park was not joking, though—with that speed, they would end up leaving the airport no sooner than in two hours, which was way too slow. He could even notice Nat impatiently shuffling his feet as another fan stopped him to take a selfie—something that the boy never allowed himself to show at a normal fan meeting.
Finally, after what felt like forever, they got to the middle of the hall, Park and Mark now somewhere in the crowd behind them as well. Tommy's wrist was dying from all the signed autographs on his way, but as he raised his face, he met the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen.
The eyes of his fanboy.
With a delicate smile playing on his lips, he asked, "Who should I sign it for?"
And when he heard the answer, his heart started to melt.