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Sariya has grown up knowing but not really knowing about the races her Papa is involved with. Well, her Papa and her uncles.
She’s been told she has been to one once, but she’d been too little to understand what was going on. She thinks she remembers lots of noise and lights and being cooed at a lot, but that’s rather standard for her upbringing. She’s the first child in her parents friend-group so she was shown off left-and-right. Not to mention that her Dad’s a loud person, bright and happy, so his friends are loud too (Uncle Sky and perhaps Aunt Ple being the notable exception). Her Papa is loud in intensity, not volume, and his friends balance him out by being louder (Uncle Pai the prime example). So just because she remembers something noisy and being adored doesn’t necessarily mean she remembers a race.
She does know it’s all very underground, very hush-hush to the general public, and she knows her Papa and Uncle Fah are key figures in making the races happen. She’s rather confident the garage supplies bikes and services them on the scene, but she doesn’t know anything. She’s been around Uncle Pai enough to know he features a lot in the races too, though apparently less than before because Uncle Sky doesn’t like it very much, and she’s smart enough to understand that he must be a racer. A good one.
Over the years she’s tried to learn more about the races but her Papa’s been stubbornly tight-lipped about it. Her Dad too, strangely, and none of her uncles have told her anything either. The standard reply is usually a variation of “Talk to your Papa when you’re older”. It has irked her that she can’t get a proper answer to this one question but she does understand that it’s her family being protective of her in their own way.
It's taken a lot of careful prodding and begging for her Papa to agree to let her come to a race. Well, it's taken her Dad a lot of careful prodding and begging, after Sariya pleaded for him to. Even though she’s her Papa’s daughter, or maybe because she is, the races have been off limits. So Sariya used her ultimate weapon: her Dad. Nothing could get her Papa to agree faster like her Dad. She loves that her Dad holds so much power over her Papa, even after so many years together.
The agreement came with some conditions, however.
Sariya needed to be over eighteen, have finished her first year of university and she would not be left unsupervised at any time. Preferably under her Papa’s watchful eye, but he had agreed that Uncle Sky was a good substitute if he needed to work. (Sariya had giggled at her Dad’s offended pout at the last condition and laughed even harder when Uncle Sky showed her a picture of Uncle Pai’s gaping face when he’d heard the same news.)
Time has come, though, for her Papa to honor the agreement. Sariya is over eighteen and she finished her first year at university last week.
“Remember, pup, you stay with me or Uncle Sky the whole time.”
Sariya nods at Phayu’s serious tone. “Yes, Papa, I promise.” She glances at her Dad and smiles. “Dada will take care of me too.” His smile is like the sun and Sariya’s alpha heart swells.
“Uncle Sky will take care of you,” Phayu says dryly, tugging on Rain’s arm until he’s firmly pressed against his side. “Your Dada will get you in trouble just as easily as he will keep you out of it.”
“Hey!”
Sariya giggles at her parents’ bickering. It’s cute. Even though she’s not looking for a relationship now, focusing on school, she knows she will want what her parents have when she’s older. That comfort, that love, that silliness. They've set the bar really high.
“Do I need to remind you of your first race?”
Sariya smirks at her Dad’s wide eyes. While she’s never been allowed at a race before tonight, she has heard the stories of how her parents met. Perhaps in greater detail than a daughter should, because her Dad is an oversharer, but Sariya doesn’t mind. She likes that her parents don’t shy away from talking about the uglier side of their relationship. It makes them more real.
“I promise I will be good,” she assures.
Honestly, she mainly wants to go to a race to see what it’s about. She’ll be happy to hang around her Papa and Uncle Fah at the mechanic’s tent, where she’s been told they spend most of their time. Maybe tinker with a bike or two if her Papa lets her. She’s confident her Dad and Uncle Sky will take her on a tour too, where her Dad will introduce her to people he likes and Uncle Sky will give her the scoop on what foods to eat.
She’s not nervous as they head out to the race, but there’s an importance to the event that sits in her bones.
She knows her parents, her alpha especially, are worried. As a way of soothing his nerves, she'd asked her Papa to braid her hair for the evening. Her parents and Uncle Fah don’t do her hair for her like they did when she was younger, but she knows it calms all of them down when she lets them. It’s a familiar routine, sitting down to let her Papa braid her hair, and she had bumped her forehead against his when he was done. Her Papa's shoulders had been less tense.
“Don’t grow up too fast, pup,” her Papa had whispered.
“I’ll always be your puppy,” she had whispered back.
She’s dressed like her Papa, in overalls and a plain t-shirt, though her Dad had asked if she didn’t want to dress up for it. While it's not necessary, the overalls are an added layer of protection as far as Sariya understands. If she looks like she’s part of the crew, she’s automatically untouchable to the masses. Or so Uncle Fah tells her. Uncle Pai says her face is enough, being so alike her Papa, but Sariya can see the pride in her alpha’s eyes when he looks at her in her overalls, so it’s not a difficult choice.
It’s honestly a little anti-climactic getting to the race.
Sariya doesn’t know what she expected, but she knows she expected more than a bunch of trucks and temporary blocks cordoning off the space. There’s a fair amount of people milling around, but not many.
“We’re early,” Rain tells her as they get out of the car. “P’Phayu is chronically early to these things so he can help set up.”
Sariya nods. That sounds like her Papa, alright.
Being early, however, means she gets to watch the race come to life in front of her eyes and it’s more fascinating than she thought it would be. It doesn’t take very long for the stretch of road to be turned into a makeshift race track and as soon as the sun goes down and the people come, Sariya can understand the appeal of the race. There’s a buzz of energy in the air, an excitement and tension, that’s hard to ignore.
She doesn’t leave the tent more than to get some food with Uncle Sky and her Dad once there’s a bigger crowd, but she doesn’t mind. There’s plenty to look at without stepping away from her Papa’s protected space.
A flash of glitter in the corner of her eye makes Sariya look towards the bike displays a bit across from the mechanic’s tent. Her Dad had called the pretty, scantily clad girls surrounding the bikes ‘pit bunnies’ when they first showed up and then proceeded to tell Sariya their names and ages as if they were his best friends. Uncle Sky had rolled his behind Rain’s back and Sariya had fought to keep her face neutral. He hadn’t introduced the one with the glittery skirt and black boots, however, and Sariya feels a pull she’s never felt before. She needs to know the girl’s name.
“Dada?” she calls over her shoulder, not taking her eyes off the girl.
“Yes, puppy?”
“Who’s that?”
“Who’s who?”
Sariya grabs her Dad by the shoulders and turns him in the right direction. “Her.”
“Oh, that’s probably Nong Manee,” Rain muses. “She’s new. Nong Maew said there were some new girls coming in.” He turns and looks at Sariya. “We should go say hi.”
Sariya smiles. “Yes, Dada, we should.”
They must look a sight: Rain is practically bouncing ahead in his excitement, while Sariya has her intense energy she gets from her Papa, and Uncle Sky trails after them with a resigned look on his face. It’s lucky her Dad is a social butterfly and looks as threatening as a kitten because otherwise Sariya thinks they would have scared the poor girl.
“Hi! I’m Rain, you must be Nong Manee, Nong Maew told me you were coming. I’m not an official pit bunny but I think of myself as an honorary one, so I thought I should come and introduce myself.”
Sariya puts her hand on her Dad’s shoulder to stop the barrage of words. She tries to soften her face as she looks at Manee, heart thudding in her chest. “I’m sorry for him, he’s excited,” she says gently. Her stomach swoops when the girl’s smile widens and she wais politely. She’s so pretty.
“That’s okay, I heard from P’Maew that Khun Rain takes care of all of us.”
Sariya’s heart melts. Not only is Manee’s voice beautiful, clear and feminine, but she seems genuinely happy for her Dad’s attention.
“Please call me P’Rain,” her Dad insists, holding out a hand for Manee to take.
When she takes it, he tugs her away from the bikes. He waves at the other girls to show he’s stealing the new face for a bit. Sariya finds it utterly fascinating to watch her Dad interact with people sometimes. He's so much more compelling than he gives himself credit for.
“This is my best friend Sky,” Rain introduces once they're a bit away from the general noise. Sariya smirks when her Uncle Sky only nods politely, his eyes drifting towards the races where she knows Uncle Pai’s getting ready to race. “And this,” he says, tugging on Sariya’s overall sleeves she has tied around her waist, “is my daughter, Sariya.”
“Nice to meet you, Khun Manee,” Sariya greets.
Manee blinks, eyes wide. “D-daughter?” she stammers.
Sariya rolls her eyes when her Dad lights up like a Christmas tree. “Great, now he’s going to live off that comment and rub it in Papa’s face for months,” she teases, knocking her shoulder into her Dad’s. “But yes, I’m his daughter.”
“How old-” Manee cuts herself off and ducks her head. “I’m sorry, that’s a rude question. I apologize, Khun Rain.”
“P’Rain,” Rain reminds her gently and smiles. “And no apology necessary. I had this little puppy when I was pretty young,” he says with a fond smile.
“Dad,” Sariya says, tone a little sharp. She doesn’t mind the cutesy nicknames, she really doesn’t, but perhaps not in front of cute girls they meet for the first time.
“Oh shush,” Rain waves her protest away.
“May I ask how old you are, Khun Sariya?”
Sariya smiles at Manee’s careful question. “Eighteen.”
“Oh.” Manee lights up in another smile that makes Sariya’s stomach swoop. “Nong Sariya,” she declares. “I’m twenty. Two years your senior.”
“P’Manee,” Sariya acknowledges with a cheeky half-wai.
She finds that she does not mind that Manee is older than her, not even a little. It probably also helps that she doesn’t get any alpha signals from the other girl. She has a soft presence about her. Not like her Dad, but more like Uncle Saifah's wife Aunt Heam, so Manee is probably a beta. It makes the alpha in her irrationally satisfied.
“We won’t take up more of your time, Nong Manee,” her Dad says and Sariya wants to protest. She wants to take up all of Manee’s time. “Feel free to come to any of us at any time if you want. We’re all hanging out by the mechanic’s tent tonight since it’s Sariya’s first race.”
Manee’s eyes find hers and Sariya ducks her head, feeling a little shy.
“Are you a mechanic then, Nong Sariya?”
Sariya nods. “Yes. Though not officially,” she admits. “But if I can get Papa to agree then I will be.” She pointedly doesn’t look at her Dad, certain she’ll find him looking smug. She’s going to have to answer a lot of questions when they get back to the tent if Uncle Sky doesn’t take pity on her and distracts her Dad.
“I hope you can convince him,” Manee says softly. Sariya's heart flutters.
“We’ll work on him,” Rain cuts in.
Sariya barely has enough time to say a polite goodbye before her Dad is pulling her away. Uncle Sky’s amused expression doesn’t help the feeling that she just revealed a whole lot more than she would have liked to. She isn’t as mysterious as everyone claims her Papa to be, no matter how much she sometimes wishes she could be. She's much more open, like her Dad, and that doesn't normally bother her.
“Oh look, Uncle Fah’s waving at me, better go see what he wants,” she lies as they get closer to the mechanic’s tent. She shakes off her Dad’s loose grip on her hand and quickly crosses the space, sliding up next to Uncle Saifah. “Save me,” she stage-whispers.
“From what, pup-pup?”
“Dada’s smelled blood,” she offers.
“Yours?”
“Unfortunately.”
Her uncle sucks in a breath in sympathy and pats her on the shoulder. “You know he’s just going to have more questions if you wait, right?”
Sariya nods, leaning in closer. Her uncle always projects such a calming aura. “I know, but if I put Papa in his way later then maybe I can get away with it?”
Saifah laughs. “Maybe,” he agrees. “While you’re here, why don’t you take a look at this,” he says, tone shifting from amused to more business-like. “What would you recommend as fine-tuning details for this?”
Sariya’s brain immediately shifts into problem solving mode. Her uncle knows her so well.
She looks up briefly after a while, catches sight of Manee smiling politely at some people next to the bikes. She almost unconsciously smiles too. She’ll probably have to throw herself in her Dad’s path sooner rather than later so he can help her convince her Papa that she’s the perfect addition to the mechanic’s team for the races. She needs an ally if she’s going to get closer to Manee. Which she has to. Her Phi is too pretty to leave alone.