Work Text:
‘Rain!’ Phayu called as he finally got home from work.
It had only supposed to be a half day, but the client had been a little more awkward than expected. It never failed to surprise him how some clients completely trusted his expertise and judgment when it came to designing their dream house. Yet for others all his studying, his high grades, the fact he graduated in the top 5% of his year, and all the experience working in the field since then, meant absolutely nothing…..because they seemed to think that money could apparently make him break the fundamental laws of physics when designing their house!
Some people really were not worth the hassle, but yet he still had to be professional and smile, even when he secretly imagining running the morons over with his bike!
Placing both his helmet and work bag down on the couch in the living room, he looked around, trying to figure out what was wrong with the picture. It took him a few seconds to realise that it was Rain……or rather the absence of his bouncy, chirpy, speaks-before-he-thinks, boyfriend. It was extremely unusual for Phayu to come home and Rain not be appearing out some door like the flash or bouncing down the stairs like a rabbit on a sugar rush! However, Phayu had been working longer than planned and hadn’t texted or called that he was finally returning home, so it was perfectly possible that Rain had either gone out to the shops or was taking a shower. It was Saturday, so he knew Rain wouldn’t be at university, and Pai has whisked Sky away somewhere for the weekend. He had wanted to take Rain away as well but unfortunately Rain wasn’t as organised as Sky, even after years of practice, and was still scrambling to finish his year end project.
1 more year and Rain would graduate……how time flew by……Phayu had already spoken to P’Mok about Rain joining them when he finished his studies and had been overjoyed when his boss said he would be pleased to have him on board. Provided of course neither Phayu or Rain bought their relationship into the workplace. Phayu was certain he could behave as long as no one else was touching Rain or even looking at him overly nicely......if that happened, all bets were off!
He'd picked up his phone to text Rain that he was home, when he heard a crash coming from down the hall in the direction of his office. He whipped his head around at the sound, hand dropping to his side. If Rain hadn’t responded when he called out then he had assumed that meant he wasn’t in the house…….but with that sound! Another option crashed through him like steamroller. What if someone had broken in and incapacitated Rain somehow. What if that someone had tied Rain up and was going through his office looking for money or things to sell as he stood here.
Would that person take it out on Rain when they found nothing?
Yes, Phayu had plenty of money, and a few items which were almost priceless that were left by his parents, but he wasn’t stupid enough to leave either in his office. Not wanting to call the police until he knew if Rain was alright, Phayu kicked off his boots and inched his way slowly and silently down the hallway towards his home office.
Another thump came from inside and Phayu willed his heartbeat back to some semblance of normality, determined the person inside would be able to hear it through the wall it was so loud. As silently as possible he eased open the door and manoeuvred himself to be able to glance inside. He could just about see Rain, his boys back to him, but before he could look around more something hard connected sharply with the bridge of his nose. Gritting his teeth and slamming his hand over the object, Phayu shifted as quietly and quickly as he could, so he was out of view of anyone looking through the office door. His heartbeat once again skyrocketing as he pressed his back against the wall. Rain was in that room, and he had seemed to be talking to someone! That someone who had……
Phayu looked down at the object in his hand, the one which had hit him almost squarely in the eyes and nose………..and frowned!
It was a rubber duck!
A normal, cheap, yellow……. rubber duck!........
What kind of weird ass person invaded someone’s house and threw kids bath toys at them?
Of all the things he had expected to see when he opened his had to look at the object…..THIS, had not been anywhere on the list!
Dropping the duck on the floor, he once again moved to position himself at the office door, hoping that whoever had Rain cornered inside hadn’t spotted him the first time. Rain was still sat there, on the floor, surrounded by what must be his end of year project, and speaking softly to someone. Phayu’s heart hurt, between what had happened to Rain with Stop, and seeing seeing Sky hurt by Gun…….it had taken his boy a long time, and lots of help, to get back to his bubbly, happy, self. And Phayu himself still needed to wake him up some nights from nightmares which made the boy sob. They had been getting better, rarer, but if Rain was somehow caught by someone again, Phayu would strangle whoever was in there if they made his boy regress back to that scared child he had been last time.
Seeing nobody, and hearing nothing but Rain mumbling away. Phayu pushed the door open a little more to get a better view of the office. He could see no one! Had the person seen him and tried to hide? Should he call out to Rain and try to get him out of the room, or would that put Rain in more trouble? He was so deep in thought that he hardly noticed the flick of Rain’s wrist and another object flying towards him. This one he was able to dodge…….this one flew straight through the door and hit the opposite wall in the hallway.
Phayu stared at Rain for a moment before reaching down to retrieve the offending item.
Another rubber duck!
What the hell!
Phayu paused, the duck still in his hands.
Rain mumbling to someone he couldn’t see………
The noises coming from the office…….
Rain sat surrounded by his project…….
The damn stupid childish projectiles…….
There was no one who had broken into his house and taken Rain captive………..
Rain had been throwing the fucking things all along!
Not knowing if his deep breath was through relief or from the spike of annoyance which suddenly welled up in his chest….Phayu opened the door fully, now there was no need to hide from a none existent intruder, and stared at both Rain and the office. Rain still had his back to him, and the office certainly looked like someone had ransacked it, but when you looked carefully a pattern emerged. Everywhere there was something knocked over, knocked off, or generally not where it should be in the normally tidy office, there was a colourful little rubber duck nearby smiling playfully up at him!
Phayu didn’t know if he should laugh or cry at the chaos.
His boyfriend was sat, in the middle of a room which looked like a tornado had gone through it, dropping a rainbow’s worth of rubber ducks, and he was still working as if nothing odd was going on!
But where has Rain got the fucking things in the first place………..it’s not like Phayu was the kind of person to have an army of rubber ducks lying around!
Stepping fully into the office, Phayu stayed quiet, interested in what the hell had made his boyfriend seemingly go crazy. Rain was still focused on his work and hadn’t noticed Phayu’s arrival, so it was easy enough to listen in. Rain was mumbling about how the walls wouldn’t be strong enough to hold the second story up if he added any more windows, but if he didn’t add more windows then their wouldn’t enough light in the hallways and kitchen and he would need to add lights, and if he added too many lights then the whole idea of the house would change and it would no longer fit into the brief they were given for the assessment. Phayu himself had gone through problems like this, where sometimes one single problem made him change an entire design, however he was still stumped as to how changing an assessment design and throwing bath toys came together.
Rain stopped talking, and picked up another duck, obviously ready to toss that one god knows where.
‘NO!’ Phayu instructed where he stood by the door.
Rain’s head whipped around so fast Phayu nearly winced in sympathy, as Rain’s arm lowered, automatically following the order.
‘Phi!’ Came the happy voice, Phayu normally associated with his boy. ‘When did you get home?’
‘Just in time for you to give me a heart attack!’ Phayu grumbled quietly.
‘Huh? I didn’t hear you?’ Rain asked…..that open and honest look on his face.
‘Nothing’ Phayu responded…..this time unable to hide the chuckle as he walked towards his still seated boy.
Once he got closer he realised why Rain hadn’t stood up……..he was literally buried underneath papers, plans, carboard, cutting instruments and his half finished project. By the side of him though was a small crate, half filled with rubber ducks! Letting out a laugh he hadn’t know he had been holding in, he crouched down, messing up Rains hair playfully before purposefully glancing down at the crate.
‘OK……..I have to ask………why? And where the hell did you get those?’
Rain looked like he didn’t understand the question for a moment, until Phayu pointedly nodded at the crate again. Then he blushed and looked at the floor. Phayu however could be patient because he had the idea that whatever the story would be behind this…….it would be worth hearing.
‘I……errr……I’ve been struggling with some parts of my assignment and you’ve been busy, Sky has been with P’Pai a lot lately, and the professors don’t help us as much as they did at the beginning…..so……I…….someone told me that if you spoke to objects it could sometimes help you figure out what you were stuck on! So I tried it…..’
Well, that explained the muttering to himself, Phayu mused, as well as why Rain hadn’t answered when he had first called, Rain’s mind did wander off when he was trying to concentrate.
‘That doesn’t answer why you have been using my office as a rubber duck bomb site……. where you got them from in the first place……….or even………even………..Rain where in the world did you even get the idea of using rubber ducks from in the first place, for christ sakes??’
Phayu thought he was keeping his temper quite well, but between the relief of Rain not being in trouble and the frankly ludicrous reality of what WAS happening in the office……he wasn’t sure. Rain was still staring at the floor as he spoke up again, this time a little louder.
‘Because they are cute……if I can talk to something cute then I can relax and work things out…….if some kind of stuffed monster that will hardly help me relax will it? As for the office………..’ Rain glanced around and his mouth formed that O shape Phayu knew all to well, before he started fidgeting. ‘………I didn’t realise I had made so much mess……..sorry Phi…….I didn’t…….I really didn’t……I thought I was throwing them at the wall….not at……’
‘It’s OK baby! I know you didn’t do it on purpose.’ Phayu soothed, as Rain was rapidly sliding down into that kind of panic which happened when he thought Phayu was angry with him for doing something wrong. To be fair, destroying the office would normally count…..however unknowingly destroying the office with rubber ducks was just too comical to get mad at. He kept running his fingers through Rain’s hair gently until the rising panic had gone from his boy and smile was firmly back on Rain’s lips.
‘Look at this one Phi…….’ Rain held up a duck from next to him……..this one was different to the others, slightly off white. ‘…….isn’t it cute Phi……it reminds me of you…….I couldn’t throw this one away!’
Phayu choked on thin air while glancing down at the duck…….apart from being a different colour, the facial markings where also different to the other ones he had seen so far. The ducks eyebrows where quirked upwards as if asking a question and the smile on the beak was lopsided as in a smug smirk.
For about the hundredth time since he got home, Phayu didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or cry at the idea that Rain kept this thing close to his side because it reminded him of HIM! Moving it around idly in his hands for a second Phayu noticed a small mark on the side…
…..and his heart stopped.
Please……in all that was holy……..please don’t let Rain have bought the damn rubber ducks from that shop……..he would never hear the end of it!
‘Rain!......’ Phayu half choked out, somehow past the pesky oxygen he had been able to breathe fine up until a few seconds ago. ‘………..where did you buy these baby?’
‘That shop you took me to a few weeks ago ……..I noticed they had some for sale…….so when I needed some I just went in and asked, the shop owner was very nice!’
This time Phayu was sure he was going to laugh……..and not just normal laughter either……no, this would be hysterical…..’what the fuck is happening in my life’ kind of laugher. He was sure the shop owner had been VERY nice to Rain, as the man was aware Rain was with Phayu and knew exactly how possessive Phayu was with his partners. He could also picture the shop owners face when Rain had walked and asked to buy 30 rubber ducks and nothing else……..the man would have thought Rain was a freak…..and that man had met his fair share of freaks! Rain was right, the shop did sell rubber ducks, but they weren’t exactly used for what Rain had in mind. Phayu had been going to the shop for years to get his supplies and the two men knew each other well by now…….and Phayu knew the shop owner would not let him live this down for a long…..long…..long time.
Phayu stared at the mark and tried not to let the hysterical laughter out. He was so glad he loved Rain with all his heart, because it was times like this he questioned his sanity in doing so.
Rain had really bought 30 rubber ducks from an adult sex shop to toss at his office walls because he couldn’t work out his university assessment!!
You couldn't make that shit up if you tried!
That was so…….so…..so……Rain!
Fighting back the urge to laugh, Phayu just looked at Rain’s concerned face. Obviously he wasn’t holding the hysterics back quite as well as he thought he was. Taking a deep breath to balance himself, he moved the crate of the offending ducks out of the way, resisting the urge to toss the damn things at the wall himself. Positioning himself in the newly made gap, trying to disturb as little of Rain’s organised mess as possible as he did so. Rain still looked at him concerned.
‘Are you alright Phi?’ Rain asked quietly.
As long as you don’t throw rubber ducks, which you bought from sex shops, in my face anymore…….Phayu thought to himself, but he simply nodded.
‘I’m fine baby!’ He said ‘But next time you feel stressed about an assignment let me know OK and I will help you….no more rubber ducks, and no more throwing things at the walls alright.’
Rain paused but then nodded happily.
‘OK Phi!’
Good……..hopefully less heart attacks for me…….Phayu thought to himself while he looked over the mess of work in front of him.
Rain looked up again, honest concern flashing across his face, but before Phayu could ask what was wrong Rain's fingers were brushing gently against his cheek and running up alongside his nose.
'It looks like you might have a bruise Phi......but it doesn't look bad....please be more careful....I love you and I don't want to see you get hurt!'
Rain had spoken with so much sincerity that Phayu almost felt bad when the rumbles of laugher rose up in his throat once again...........OK he was definitely going to be a mess of hysterical laugher in about 30 seconds if he didn't refocus himself on something else!
Work.......Work would do it.....
Patting Rain gently on the head he looked back at the mess on the floor and gave his best smile, hopefully distracting his boy from, ducks, his nose, and onto the work at hand. Gladly it worked.
‘OK where do we start?’ He asked gently.
Rain giggled and snuggled closer to Phayu’s side as the two spent the next few hours working through the problems on Rain’s project between them…….blissfully both intruder and projectile free.