Chapter Text
Prapai was a sneaky, underhanded jerk. With the face of a pretty boy, but the cunning of a fox. A true buffalo!
Rain felt very satisfied with this assessment. Because how dare he trick Sky into dating him! Only a man with terrible morals would do such a thing!
“What makes you think he tricked Sky?” asked Payu, ever the voice of reason.
“You don’t understand!” Rain complained. “Sky hates romance! It gives him the willies! He pulls a face if he even sees a couple holding hands on campus. Like this.”
Payu clearly didn’t know Sky well enough, considering how skeptical he looked at the face Rain made. It was a perfect impression of his best friend! Probably. Most likely.
“P’Payu!” he whined. “We have to do something!”
“We do?”
Rain nodded and perked up. “Let’s make them break up!”
Payu brushed Rain’s bangs back and traced his fingers down to gently grip Rain’s chin. “I don’t think your friend would like that very much.”
Rain pouted. Payu was right. Sky hated it when people meddled with his well-organized life. Their group only managed to have cram sessions at Sky’s place because Sig was brave enough to bully the way in for them. And if it didn’t involve food, Sky required at least 24 hours notice of any plans. And! And! Even when they first met and became friends, Sky stubbornly stayed a “reluctant friend” for the first month! How the hell did Prapai manage to worm his way in with no problems when Rain had to work so hard? He must be an evil, mind-controlling buffalo. It was the only explanation.
“You’re glaring again.”
“I’m not glaring, you’re glaring,” Rain shot back. “I don’t like P’Pai. Tell him not to be your friend anymore.”
Payu huffed out a laugh. “That’s really not how it works in the adult world.”
“Well, he’s not allowed to be my friend anymore,” Rain decided.
“Oh?”
“Mm!” Rain nodded decisively.
He was going to draw a line in the sand that Prapai definitely wouldn’t be allowed to cross. And it would be a line so deep it would be a trench. And then! He was going to build a wall in that trench. Hmph!
+++
“Normally, I would ignore you staring at your phone because you have a stupid look on your face and I know it’s for P’Payu,” Sky said, drawing Rain’s attention away from his phone. “But you’ve been ‘fufufu’-ing like an evil villain for the last ten minutes and it’s annoying. What are you looking at?”
“Nothing!” Rain straightened and tucked his phone away. “Hey! Let’s go to the arcade on Friday! And then dinner! And then a movie! My treat?”
The look Sky leveled him was decidedly unimpressed.
“Rain. Friday is the Late-Night Fight Against Procrastination event. We’re going to be here from sunset to sunrise. And if you skip it to spend time with your boyfriend, I’m going to cut you off for a week.”
“A week! No!” Rain reached out to grab Sky’s arm. “I wasn’t going to skip it! Don’t cut me off!”
Sky’s face went even flatter than before. “You were just talking about going to the arcade and movies on Friday night.”
Rain’s mouth hovered open, ready to argue as his brain caught up. He did just say that, didn’t he? “Well…that’s different.”
“Different how?”
Rain made it a point to think before he spoke. Different because he wasn’t planning on skipping with Payu? Different because – oh!
“Different because I was asking to skip it with you,” Rain said with a self-satisfied grin.
Sky rolled his eyes hard enough to move his whole head, shoulders, and gripped arm away from Rain.
Rain started to frown but was distracted by a ping from his phone.
“Oh, I love snacks!”
Stupid Pai. How dare he try to win Rain over with food. And then make fun of his choices.
Rain grinned. Yay! Free food!
+++
“P’Payu!”
Rain leapt into his arms knowing full well his boyfriend would catch him. The spin was a fantastic bonus that had Rain throwing his head back with laughter.
“Hell week is over!” The happy announcement wasn’t needed as Payu was obviously aware of the fact since he was here, on campus, picking Rain up after class.
“Yes, and my studious good boy can finally have some of the fun he deserves.”
Rain was so excited. They had plans! Plans that were supposed to involve dinner, but with the way Payu was looking at him, dinner probably wouldn’t be happening until much much later. Because they needed to go home. Right now.
“Hey Sky, I’ll see you—Sky?” Rain looked around as he realized his best friend hadn’t followed him to say goodbye. Worse still was that his best friend had even gone as far to walk in the opposite direction because a certain buffalo had decided to show up on a school campus where he didn’t belong at all.
With a huff, Rain pushed at Payu’s shoulders until he was put down so that he could stomp his way over to the sleek black car.
Because Payu had trained him well, Rain’s hands automatically came together in a wai even as his mouth said, “This is a loading zone only.”
All heads turned to the sign Prapai was parked under.
“Yes,” Prapai agreed. “My plan was to load Sky into my car. But what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t get out to meet him halfway after not seeing him for a week and offer to carry his bags?”
Aw, that was sweet. But Rain’s sappy grin clearly made Sky uncomfortable seeing as how he started taking some of the bags back.
“Sky can carry his own bags!” Rain argued, immediately leaping to the defense of his friend.
Unfortunately, Payu chose that moment to catch up while holding the bag Rain had left behind. Noticing the unimpressed looks he was now being subject to, Rain grabbed his bag back and swung it over his shoulder.
“We’re strong independent men!” Quick, time to change the subject. “What are you two planning on doing now?”
Rain didn’t like the way Sky deferred to Prapai for him to answer. “Sky. What are your plans?”
“We’re going on a date,” Prapai answered.
“I wasn’t asking you, I was asking Sky.”
“Sky can’t answer you.”
“Why the hell not??”
“Hey.” Payu’s warning tone brought Rain’s temper down a tad.
“Because,” Prapai took his time putting his arm around Sky’s shoulder, which caused Rain’s hackles to rise right back up. “He doesn’t know.”
“That’s impossible! Sky knows everything!”
Rain knew he said something right because his best friend was now fighting back a smile.
“He knows we’re going to eat somewhere because I would never let my baby go hungry.” Prapai sounded far too pleased with himself. Time to take him down a notch.
“Really? Us too! Let’s make it a double date!” Rain deliberately ignored the pointed stare Payu was suddenly aiming at him.
Prapai hesitated for all of a second before giving in. “Sure!”
Sky, unfortunately, had other ideas. “No.”
“Why not?” both Prapai and Rain chorused.
Sky leveled the two of them with a look that meant business. “Because you both will just embarrass me. This week has been hard and I deserve better than that.” He squeezed between them to open the car door and began loading in his belongings. “Rain, the reason I don’t know is because Prapai asked if he could make it a surprise.”
“Oh, a surprise!” Rain loved surprises! “What is it??”
“If I tell you, that would ruin the surprise for Sky,” Prapai pointed out.
Rain was bummed for all of two seconds. Fortunately, Payu chose that moment to wrap his arm around Rain’s waist, successfully garnering his attention.
“Do I get a surprise, too?” Rain asked.
“Absolutely,” Payu said, smirking at Rain’s delighted gasp. “But we need to leave right now if you really want it.”
Rain’s eyes strayed over to the other couple. “But–”
“Do you not want it?” Payu was already taking several steps back, slowly leading Rain back to his car.
“No, I do!”
“Do you really?” Payu leaned in, his lips brushing against Rain’s ear. “Because I can’t give it to you unless we’re home. Preferably in the bedroom…”
Eyes wide, Rain completely forgot about his previous vendetta as he followed after Payu.
+++
“Your friend is a strange one,” Prapai said as they got into the car. “I can’t tell if he hates me or approves of me.”
Sky let out a sigh. “Knowing Rain, he probably can’t decide either. Give him a few more weeks. He was like this when he first got to know P’Payu, too.”
“If he decides he hates me, will you break up with me?” Prapai jokingly asked.
“Yes.”
His double take was hard enough to give himself whiplash. “Wait, what?”
“Bros before hoes,” Sky singsonged, unable to hold back his teasing grin at the dawning horror on his boyfriend’s face. “Phi, I’m kidding.”
Despite his words, Prapai turned off the car engine and shifted in his seat so that he was better facing Sky. “Ok, but just in case, what is the best way to win Rain over?”
Sky let out a huff. “Just throw P’Payu his way if he becomes too much.”
“Huh…” Prapai leaned back. “Maybe a double date is a good idea after all…”
“What? No!”
But Prapai was barely listening, already straightening in his seat and restarting the car as he nodded to himself.
“Please no?” Sky pleaded.
TBC...