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Sand shifted as he felt himself waking up, turning his body he reached over to the other side of the bed, seeking Ray’s usual warmth, a groan leaving him as his hands connected with cold sheets. Ray had spent last night at the hostel with Namchueam and Mew, getting last minute preparations finished before the big opening that day. Ray had tried to get Sand to stay with him that night, the pair barely having spent a night apart since their relationship became official, Ray having had practically moved in, but Sand had stood his ground when Ray pouted at him about spending the night at the hostel. A few months ago Ray’s therapist requested to meet with people close to Ray, to discuss how they could help him in his recovery, she had quickly deduced that Sand naturally took on a caretaker role but was also a bit of a pushover when it came to Ray, she explained that boundaries are important for any healthy relationship, but people like Ray needed strict boundaries, so while Sand giving in sometimes was okay, they couldn’t make a habit of it, and so Sand had been trying hard to not give in to Ray, despite how tempted he was when Ray pulled out the puppy dog eyes and the pleases.
Sand stretched before climbing out of bed, taking his phone off charge and heading to the kitchen to make breakfast, after making an omelette and heating up some rice he sat down to eat, pulling his phone out to text Ray.
Sand:
Have you had breakfast?
Ray:
Having it right now dad
Ray sent a picture of him, Mew and Chueam around a table at a cafe, western breakfast food covering the table, Thai Iced Coffee in all of their hands as they smiled brightly.
Ray:
Have you eaten? How did you sleep?
Sand:
Having a decidedly less exciting
breakfast than you asshole. Slept okay,
the bed was cold without you
Ray:
Dick. You can just say you missed
me, you know?
Sand:
Where’s the fun in that?
Ray:
You’re lucky I love you Bastard
Sand:
That sounds gay
Ray:
Hate to break it to you Love
but we are
Sand:
Well technically I’m bi
Ray:
I hate you
Sand:
Liar
Sand grinned as he finished his breakfast and slipped his phone into his pocket, quickly washing up his things before heading to the bathroom for a shower. He took a longer shower than usual, taking advantage of the hot water cascading down his muscles, and the fact that he had nothing to do today except for going to the hostel opening, and he still had a few hours to waste, even with him heading there early to help set up. Climbing out the shower, Sand wrapped a fluffy towel around himself and headed back to his room. It was quiet without Ray, not that it was bad, but he missed his boyfriend’s presence in the apartment, the sounds of him getting ready in the morning, the songs he would hum by Sand’s favourite artists, the way he would pout as he watched Sand get ready for the day when Sand had to leave before him, the way he wouldn’t let Sand leave without a kiss, and a reminder to be careful on his bike. Sand was pulled from his thoughts as his phone pinged with another message.
Ray:
Remember the dress code, no
band shirts
Sand:
Really? I was going to wear
my Nirvana shirt
Ray:
Sand
Sand grinned to himself at his boyfriend’s message, imagining the pout and whiny tone he would have used if they were having this conversation in person. Teasing Ray was one of Sand’s favourite things, it was so easy to do, and Ray always had the most adorable reactions, compared to when others would tease him and he would usually just get grumpy.
Sand:
Don’t worry Khun Nu.
Namchueam took me shopping
Ray:
Bless our lesbian saviour
Sand:
Your lack of faith in me is astounding
Ray:
You literally wore a band shirt and ripped
jeans to a fancy restaurant last month
Sand:
You didn’t tell me where we were going.
Just text me an address and told me to meet
you there,failing to see how it was my fault
I wasn’t dressed for the occasion
Ray:
You have no proof. I have to go.
Be careful on your bike. I’ll see you later.
I love you
Sand:
I love you too
Sand smiled and threw his phone on the bed, crossing over to his wardrobe to take out the outfit Namchueam had selected for him. When Ray had told him the dress code was ‘smart casual’ Sand had no idea what he meant and immediately text Namchueam for help, the pair had become fast friends after he and Ray managed to sort their shit out, something Ray both loved and hated due to their habit of teaming up to tease him. Namchueam had explained that it basically meant he had to dress fairly smart, but it wasn’t an event that would require a suit, she had suggested that he wear black slim fit slacks and a black, fitted button down tucked in (with express instructions to only partially button the shirt) with his black leather chelsea boots that Ray had bought him. It meant that he could wear his leather jacket while he road his bike, Ray had seen an article about the amount of motorbike accidents in Bangkok and how a lot of the injuries could have been avoided if the riders were more protected with leather clothing, and had insisted that Sand wore his leather jacket whenever he rode his bike.
After drying and styling his hair so it was mainly slicked back with some strands of his bangs left out to create a slightly messy but structured look, again something Namchueam had suggested and took time in showing him how to achieve, Sand got dressed and sprayed some cologne that he knew Ray loved when he wore it, the evidence of that being the increased amount that Ray would bury his head in Sand’s neck when he used it. Sand put his wallet and phone in his pockets before grabbing his keys and helmet, he wasn’t supposed to be at the hostel for a few hours yet, but he figured there was no harm in arriving early and lending more of a helping hand, he had nothing to do, and didn’t want to start anything incase he got absorbed and was late.
Sand arrived at the hostel 20 minutes later and quickly smoothed down his hair, grateful that his helmet hadn’t messed it up too much. Sand headed inside, quickly seeing Mew stepping out and waved at him.
“Has Ray seen what you’re wearing?” Mew smirked, making Sand look down at his outfit.
“No. Is it bad? Chueam chose it.” Sand explained, anxiety rising in his chest, this was Ray’s world, and it was a world that Sand knew nothing about, and was clueless how to navigate.
“No. It’s good, really good. I’ll just be surprised if he’s able to keep his hands off you. This is a classy establishment Sand.” Mew teased, his eyes lighting up in a playful manner that still managed to surprise Sand. They had also managed to become fast friends, even with Mew and Ray technically being exes, and with Mew taking Top back, despite the animosity the musician had for the hotel heir.
“Hey, I know how to behave in public.” Sand grinned, both of them knowing it was a lie as far as Ray was concerned, the couple had been found in enough incriminating positions in public by their friends for Mew’s concerns to be valid.
“Sure you do. He’s inside with Chueam. Give me your jacket and helmet. I’ll put them in his room, I was about to go upstairs anyway.” Sand gratefully handed over his things before walking inside, he spotted Top and April in a conversation with the caterers they had hired and decided he could say hi to April later, and if he was lucky he would be able to avoid Top a bit longer. Things were better between the two of them, they were less hostile towards each other, although no one would call them friends, both Sand and Ray just made an effort to be civil to Top for Mew’s sake.
Walking further through the hostel Sand spotted Namchueam and Ray, who was dressed in slim fit light grey dress pants, a white button down and black dress shoes. Ray’s back was to Sand and he raised his finger to his lips in a shushing motion when Namchueam spotted him. She quickly played along and continued chatting to Ray as if she hadn’t noticed Sand and allowed the musician to sneak up on his boyfriend and wrap his arms around the smaller man from behind. Ray froze for a second as Sand’s arms wrapped around his waist, before he quickly realised whose arms he was in and relaxed back into the hold.
“You’re early.” Ray mentioned causing Sand to laugh and shake his head.
“Hello to you too Baby.” Sand hummed in his ear, knowing the effect it would have on his boyfriend.
“Sorry. Hi, I missed you.” Ray smiled as he extracted himself from Sand’s hold and turned to face him, eyes immediately widening as he took in his boyfriend.
“You…this isn’t fair. You can’t show up looking like that. How am I supposed to focus? Couldn’t you have buttoned the shirt more? I’m supposed to be a professional hostel owner today.” Ray whined as he trailed his eyes up and down Sand’s body. Sand grinned, knowing Ray’s reaction meant the smaller man thought he looked good, and was genuinely pouting about the fact it was his event and couldn’t drag Sand off somewhere secluded to have his wicked way with him.
“Blame her, she told me what to wear and how to wear it.” Sand shrugged, catching Namchueam’s eye over Ray’s shoulder, who winked at him, clearly pleased with herself.
“You are an evil, evil lesbian.” Ray groaned, turning back around to look at Namchueam who playfully blew him a kiss in response.
“No, you are just a weak gay who can’t handle seeing his boyfriend dressed up.” Chueam teased.
“Right, like you didn’t pounce on April when she showed up in her suit today.” Ray pointed out triumphantly, leaning back into Sand as the musician wrapped his arms around him once again, their friends all teased them for how clingy they were, but after all they had been through to get to this point they thought they deserved to be clingy, and honestly both of them found the physical touch reassuring.
“That’s different. You two saw each other yesterday, Pril has been in Chiang Mai for three weeks working on her film.” Namchueam pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. The trio teased each other for a bit longer before Namchueam was called over by April, leaving the two men alone for the first time since Sand’s arrival.
“Any word on if Boston is coming?” Sand asked as Ray turned in his arms to hug him properly. Boston was still technically a partial owner and part of the project, but after everything that happened he had little to no involvement in the hostel and no one knew if he would be coming to the opening or not.
“Nope. He’s an owner so technically he should be here, but none of us have seen or heard from him in months. He also never really cared about this place anyway, his involvement only went as far as Chueam practically forcing him to do things, or when his involvement meant he could spend time with Nick. God, I don’t even know what anyone would do if he did show up, I don’t even know what he would do. I honestly just want today to be over.” Ray sighed, burying his head in Sand’s neck and taking a deep breath, the scent of his boyfriend mixed with the cologne and the comfort of his embrace instantly calming Ray. Sand tightened his hold on Ray, knowing that opening the hostel was stressful, and that stress made him more likely to relapse, and in those moments all Sand could do was be there for him as a strong and comforting presence and hope for the best. Ray enjoyed his boyfriend’s embrace for a few moments more before pulling away from the embrace.
“Come on, I need your help setting up the sound system, Nick dropped it off yesterday and Top wanted to set it up but we all told him to wait for you.” Ray took Sand’s hand and led him to the corner where the sound equipment was left.
“Bet he loved that.” Sand smirked, after graduating Sand had managed to secure a job at a record company, he was basically a glorified intern but he didn’t mind especially with the impressive paycheck he took home every month, most of his work involved sound equipment, meaning that he was the most qualified to deal with the set up. Top was still grovelling to Mew, despite them being back together, and he was attempting to do everything when it came to setting up for the hostel opening, hating when he couldn’t do something, especially when the others insisted it was best to leave certain things to Sand.
“He may have sulked for a bit before Mew stepped in and reminded him you work with sound equipment for a living and it was best to leave it to a professional.” Ray grinned in response as he dropped Sand’s hand and let him get to work. Sand hummed in response and got to work connecting the necessary cables and flicking the switches to get the sound system sorted, aware of Ray’s gaze on him the whole time.
“Ray stop eye fucking your boyfriend and help me move this table.” April yelled across the room, startling both the men but causing Sand to let out a chuckle, having already grown used to the woman’s antics.
“I was not eye fucking him!” Ray crouched down next to sand and placed a soft kiss on his temple, “I’ll be right back.” He whispered before heading off to help April.
By the time Sand had finished setting up the sound system and checked that it was all working correctly, Ray was back by his side, holding out a bottle of water for him to take.
“All done?” Ray asked as Sand drank some of the water Ray had given him.
“All done.” Sand confirmed with a nod of his head, smiling softly at his boyfriend who stepped into his space and wrapped his arms around the musician's neck. Before Sand could question what Ray was doing, the shorter man had leaned up and captured his lips with his own in a soft kiss, Sand hummed into the kiss as he returned it, instantly wrapping his arms around Ray’s waist to haul him closer.
“What was that for?” Sand asked once the pair had pulled from the kiss, still very much wrapped in each other’s arms.
“To thank you for helping.” Ray told him, his fingers absentmindedly playing with the hair at the nape of Sand’s neck.
“Do you thank everyone like that?” Sand teased, a playful smirk gracing his face as Ray rolled his eyes at him.
“Only the cute ones, which reminds me, I need to thank the caterers.” Ray teased back, thrilling at the way Sand tightened his grip on his waist.
“Hmm, I don’t think they’d appreciate it, I think they’d much rather get paid for their efforts. Luckily for you, I am more than happy to be paid in kisses.” Sand pouted, mimicking Ray’s usual actions when when he wanted something, Ray laughed leaning up and kissing Sand again, smiling into the kiss, still unable to fully understand how he was living the life he was now. So much of his life had been a mess, a daze of alcohol and drug induced decisions and near death experiences, and yet somehow, even after everything that happened between Ray and Sand, they were happy and in love, Ray was six months sober and for the first time he could remember he was actually enjoying life.
“Alright lovebirds, that’s enough. You can kiss each other later when the event is done.” Mew teased as he passed the couple, grinning at them as they pulled away, a light blush evident on Sand’s cheeks and a smug expression on Ray’s face.
“I make no promises.” Ray smirked in response, eyes glued to his boyfriend.
“You’re both incorrigible. Just try not to give any of the guests a free show, that’s all I ask.” Mew replied, shaking his head slightly at his friends and heading off to finish final checks, a small smile on his lips at how happy Ray and Sand were, glad that they were able to make it work despite the odds.
“I love you, thank you for being here.” Ray whispered once they were alone again, a soft yet fragile smile on his face.
“I love you too, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be, and I am so proud of you. You’ve overcome so much, and you’ve worked so hard, I am so proud to be with you, to be by your side.” Sand whispered back, his voice firm and strong even as his eyes glistened with unshed tears.
“I will never know what I did to deserve you, but whatever god brought you to me I thank them everyday.” Ray rested his forehead against Sand’s closing his eyes to fight off his own tears that were threatening to fall. Sand cradled Ray’s head in his hands and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead, caressing his cheekbones.
“Okay, we should stop before we burst into tears in front of everyone.” Sand laughed softly, pulling from Ray’s embrace, who laughed in response, glancing around to check that no one had seen their intimate exchange.
“I’m going to go check in with Mew. Love you.” Ray smiled, squeezing Sand’s hand before turning on his heel to follow Mew, leaving Sand alone, a soft smile on his own face. Sand never could have imagined that he and Ray would have gotten to this point, all the drama far behind them, and both of them secure in their relationship and their feelings for one another.
As guests began to arrive Sand, Top and April slipped into their roles as supportive partners, sorting out issues as they arose so Ray, Mew and Namchueam could charm potential investors and guests, and when they weren’t solving problems they were by their partners side hyping them and the hostel up when necessary and just smiling as arm candy when needed.
“You’re doing amazing Baby.” Ray whispered to Sand as one of Ray’s dad’s business connections excused himself from their conversation to mingle with other guests. Ray knew that Sand was out of his comfort zone, put Sand on stage in front of a group of drunk university students and he would thrive, stick him in a room full of rich businessmen and he second guessed everything he said and did.
“You sure? I feel like I’m not saying the right things. Maybe I should keep an eye on things out back.” Sand rambled, his anxiety worsening at seeing how natural both Top and April were at navigating these kinds of social situations.
“Hey, look at me. I know this isn’t your scene, I know that you are so far out of your comfort zone right now, but trust me what I say you are doing so well right now, you’re charming, and intelligent and everyone in this room is wondering how I went from the kid with a drinking problem to a semi responsible sober hostel owner and they can all see it’s because you saved me.” Ray caressed Sand’s cheek as he spoke, Sand leant into the touch gratefully, gazing into Ray’s eyes.
“I didn’t save you Ray, you saved yourself. I just supported you, and I always will.” Sand smiled, he hated when people said he saved Ray, he may have shown Ray that he needed help, but Ray was the one who sought out help, he was the one who put in the work, he was the only one who deserved that credit.
“Just a few more hours, and then we can hide away either in our room here or at home. Just the two of us okay?” Ray promised, bringing their intertwined hands to his lips to kiss the back of Sand’s hand, holding eye contact the whole time.
“As long as we’re together, I don’t care where we are.” Sand turned his head to kiss Ray’s palm, a silent promise to always be there for one another and to always love each other passing between them. Both of them knew in that moment that it didn’t matter what else life threw at them, that together they could face anything. It had been a long road, but if their past had taught them anything, it’s that their love was stronger than their demons, and that as long as they trusted each other, that love would always win out.