Chapter Text
Rain rested his head on his hand and stared out the window at the storm. God he was bored, so bored. Nothing interesting was ever going to happen to him, just a boring little life in this boring little boarding school his parents insisted he attend.
He felt a sharp pain in his leg and realized that Sky had kicked him, the teacher was looking at him expectantly. “Young master Rain, is the weather more interesting than my lesson?”
Yes, Rain thought, a hundred times more so. “No, teacher,” he said.
“Then I suggest you pay attention, I don’t think you can afford another failing grade in my class.” It was true, anything that required creativity Rain was top in the class but these lecture classes he just couldn’t seem to focus on. Oh well, maybe Sky would let him borrow his notes after class. He glanced over at Sky who had taken at least three pages of perfectly legible notes and wondered how his friend managed to follow along with this brain numbing lecture.
He felt his gaze being drawn to the window once more when the teacher turned to write on the board in front of the class.
Rain picked up his food tray and looked around the crowded canteen for Sky. Despite being full, the canteen where they had dinner was surprisingly quiet and well behaved. The teachers and prefects roamed among the tables to make sure no students were being unruly. The worst of the latter were Rain’s nemesis, the brothers Stop and Gun. They were bullies in prefect’s clothing and seemed to have a particular grudge against Rain and Sky. Rain admitted it was probably his fault for calling Stop a cowardly dog, but he had been pushing around one of the younger kids that was half his size at the time.
Speak of the devil, “Well if it isn’t the damp cloud.” Stop said coming up behind Rain and pushing him causing his food tray to go flying. Rain looked in regret at the now inedible dinner littering the floor.
“Clumsy,” Gun said from the other side. “You should get a mop and clean that up.”
Rain looks around but as usual the teachers all seem to be turning a blind eye.
Rain sighs and kneels down to pick up tray and food containers. Mr. Aon the nice old janitor is already heading this way with a mop thankfully. Maybe Rain will still be able to nibble something off Sky’s tray. Rain is surprised by a hand reaching down to help him back up, except for Sky most of the students avoid Rain when Stop and Gun are around to keep from becoming targets themselves.
Rain looks up at the most beautiful person he has ever seen. Everything about the other student is just simply gorgeous. Rain feels his mouth drop open in surprise. “So handsome.” Rain murmurs. He sees the other boy’s lips twitch in amusement and realizes he said that out loud. Rain takes the offered hand, which is surprisingly cold, and stands up. “Thank you,” he says with a smile.
“Does this sort of thing happen often?” The other asks him.
Rain draws a blank for a minute, does he often call people handsome? No, that's never happened before. Before he can embarrass himself further he realizes that the other had seen his interaction with Stop and Gun and meant that.
“Sometimes,” Rain sighs.
“The teachers don’t do anything?” He looks over at the teacher table and the ones moving among the students.
“They are prefects, they could practically murder someone in the middle of a class and the teachers would turn a blind eye. Besides, their father pretty much owns the school.” Rain says. “I’m Rain by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Rain. I’m Phayu.” He says.
“I haven’t seen you before, are you new here?” Rain asks.
“My brother Prapai and I just enrolled.” Phayu confirms.
Rain moves out of the way so Mr. Aon can mop.” Sorry for the mess, sir.”
“No bother, no bother.” Mr. Aon says with a grin at the two of them. “Are you doing okay Rain? Not letting them,” he jerks his head towards Stop and Gun, “get you down?”
“I’m okay, sir.” Rain says.
“Good, good, go eat, I will take care of this.” Mr. Aon says.
Rain looks around and finally finds Sky at a table in the back corner, “Excuse me, Phayu, I see my friend, Sky.” He says.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” Phayu asks in surprise.
Rain looks regretfully at his dinner that Mr. Aon is mopping up. “I guess not.”
“Wait here for a moment.” Phayu goes to the food service staff and picks up his tray then comes back to Rain. “Where is your friend?”
Rain leads him over to the table Sky is at, and is surprised when Phayu pushes the tray of food in front of him. “Oh aren’t you going to eat?”
For some reason this question seems to amuse Phayu, “No I’m not hungry go ahead or it will go to waste.”
Phayu watches Rain eat with a thoughtful expression. He had been attracted by Rain’s cute looks almost from the first minute he had seen him across the canteen. His eyes followed him from the time he had entered the canteen so he didn’t miss it when the other one had come up behind Rain and pushed him. Watching the boy being bullied had awakened his protective instincts. It had taken every ounce of his self control not to literally rip the bullies apart, which he could have done easily.
Phayu reminds himself to be careful, anything he does will put not only him but Prapai and his Father in danger of being exposed. Blending in with the humans was crucial to their survival. That didn’t mean he couldn’t find other ways to help this cutie.
Rain’s friend is staring at Phayu and he realizes Rain never introduced them. “Sky is it? I am Phayu.” Sky nods and takes one more look between Phayu and Rain before shrugging and digging into his own dinner. Phayu smiled at this, it seems like Rain and his friend are complete opposites. Sky keeps his thoughts to himself while Rain holds nothing back.
Phayu sees Prapai looking at him from across the room with an obvious smirk. Prapai knows him better than anyone. They aren’t really brothers just as their father Pakin isn’t actually their father. They have been together for a long time though and their bond is as close as any family could be. Phayu motions Pai over to the table and introduces him. Sky barely raises his head in acknowledgment but Rain’s greeting is enthusiastic enough for the both of them.
Phayu doesn’t miss the slightly dazed look Pai gives Rain’s friend Sky and now it’s Phayu’s turn to smirk.
“Another failing grade.” Rain says miserably, “my mom is going to kill me. Teacher isn’t there some way I can make it up?”
Teacher Nui was more kind hearted than many of the teachers, so Rain gave her his best begging sad eyes. He didn’t usually use such tricks but he was desperate.
She sighed, “Rain you have to put forth more effort or I can’t help you.”
“I’ll try harder, I promise, just tell me what I need to do to pull up my grades. Please.” He said.
“Have you considered a tutor? I think I might know someone, he is a new student but he had top marks in all his classes at his previous school. It’s not just my class you are in danger of failing at least half your classes, but if you could pull up your grades for the remaining last half of the semester it should be enough for a pass.” She says. “Honestly, Rain, I know you can do it, you aren’t incapable of learning.”
Rain’s heart sped up at the words “new student” but surely he couldn’t be that lucky. Luck tended to avoid Rain.
“I’ll work hard, teacher, I promise,” he said.
“See that you do, I will contact him and see if he’s interested, I will give him your contact information if he is interested.” She said.
“Thank you, teacher.” Rain picked up his book bag and left.
“I told you so,” Sky says when Rain tells him about the conversation with Teacher Nui.
“Sky,” Rain whines, “Will you help me?”
“Don’t I always, but you have to try harder, Rain.” Those words again. Rain swears he does try but he just can’t make his brain focus on one thing at a time.
Rain is about to answer when his phone dings with an incoming message. The number is unknown so Rain assumes it’s from the tutor that Teacher Nui was going to get for him.
Unknown: “Meet me in the library this afternoon at 4” this was followed by a cute tornado icon.
Rain sent back “Okay.”
“Looks like I might have a tutor at least,” he told Sky.
Rain found a small table by himself at the front of the library so he would be easily visible to anyone walking in. At four in the afternoon the library was pretty crowded with students doing homework and studying. Rain pulled out his books and attempted to concentrate on copying down the notes that Sky had given him. He can’t help but look up every time the door opens so he sees Phayu come in. Maybe his luck is changing for the better.
Rain grins at Phayu as he sits across from him but Phayu only frowns back, “So you are having trouble concentrating in class?”
Rain nods, “I really try but my mind wanders.”
Phayu’s frown deepens, “Rain, I can help you but you have to promise me you won’t waste my time with you.”
“I know, I need to try harder, everyone tells me so.” Rain sighs.
“Trying harder can sometimes cause you to hit a brick wall, I don’t want you to try harder, I just want you to promise me you’ll listen and do exactly what I tell you. Can you do that?” Phayu says. “If you do, I will teach you how to focus, but some of my methods may seem unconventional.”
“I’ll try anything,” Rain says.
Phayu nods, “Rain have you ever heard of body doubling?”
“Like cloning?” Rain asks in confusion.
Phayu laughs, “No, body doubling is a technique where you do a task with someone there not necessarily saying anything, just keeping you on track with your task. It’s often used with people who have ADHD.”
Rain frowns, “You can tell? The teachers know, and some are nice like teacher Nui, but my parents don’t like me to talk about it. So how does it work?”
“Basically we’ll just start by doing our homework and studying together every afternoon. I’ll be there to keep you on task and to help you concentrate, and you can ask me questions if you need to. Second part I want you to use a recorder for notes in class, or your phone. Do you think your teachers would be ok with that?” Phayu asks.
“I think so, I see other people using them, it just never occurred to me that it could be useful.” Rain says.
“It’s not a license to not pay attention in class though, it’s just to help you fill in the gaps when your mind begins to wander. Third, I want you to text me between classes, how the class went, if you were able to take notes, what distractions you had, that sort of thing. Now let’s work on your notes and homework that needs to be done today, okay?” Phayu reaches across the table to tousle Rain’s hair, making the boy giggle.
That night Phayu sits on the balcony overlooking the sleeping campus, he doesn’t look up when Pai joins him.
“So vampire and part time tutor?” Pai asks with an amused grin. “You must really like Rain, I have never seen you make an effort to get to know anyone.”
Phayu sighs, he can’t hide it from Pai anyway, “I think I really do and what about you? I’ve never seen you go this long without making an effort to get to know someone. No one in your sights?”
“Maybe there is,” Pai says thoughtfully, thinking of a quiet boy with cute black hair and a cold expression.