Chapter Text
< puen - friend | ai’ (prefix before a name) - affectionate or insulting depending on situation/tone | na - cute/endearing way to complete a sentence can be used with the female/male formal end kha/khrub (it does not mean please) > (I almost wanna put chai (sha-ee) instead of yes)
(i appologise for some of the sound quality <3)
(Podfic ver currently not completely up to date with edits but still completely useable in terms of the story as a whole)
The rain was thick and heavy; it was loud against the car windscreen, and the wipers squeaked as they tried their hardest to keep the glass clear of water. The climate outside was still a bit too warm to be comfortable, inside, however, the air conditioning created an amiable temperature.
First and Khaotung were driving home together from the set of the new series they got cast in. It was an intense series with some over-the-top comedic action scenes that were enjoyable to act in. Luckily, the rain didn't start while they were filming. After they got into the car to go home, however, they were not so lucky; they had to deal with late-night traffic and the wet roads.
They were not being very talkative, just basking in the silence of mutual tiredness. Both of them were exhausted; they had more than one emotional scene to film that day. Some were for their characters individually, which was more draining than when they got to create emotional scenes together. At one point, Khaotung was not even allowed on the set where First was doing his scene.
Usually, they could help pull each other out of their characters or comfort each other after a scene was filmed well enough. But today, they needed to do a few scenes in a row in slightly different settings. The director had decided he wanted the emotions to carry across without interruption. Fortunately, everything was set up for the continuation scene prior, ensuring that First didn't wait in an emotional state for too long. Eventually, Khaotung had been let in and allowed to hug and comfort him. Joong and Dunk had also been around for some of the scenes and had amused First and Khaotung with their flirtatious antics. Their overall vibe was quite fun; Khaotung appreciated their lighthearted goofiness contributing to a lighter mood overall on the set.
"Ai’puen, you should probably just stay over tonight, driving home in this weather isn't very safe, better not to risk it," First said, breaking the silence between them that had been around almost since they had left the set. It was a silence between two people who knew each other very well and knew not to try and force a conversation when they were both not up to talking.
Khao tilted his head consideringly, and his stomach twisted with nerves, it was always fun to be with First, but sometimes he got too comfortable. He forgot that he had to hide something from him.
First is allowed into his most intimate personal time and space; no one else holds the same or a similar position. Khao had even relented and put First in his favourite contacts on his phone. Being favourited let First get past his constant use of the 'do not disturb' function. When First had found out, he had been way too excited for such a simple thing even if it was a rare privilege. Khao had felt like he was glowing just from seeing First's reaction. He's still not sure if that was the best decision for his heart – to have First so easily able to reach him whenever he felt like it. Then again, it made him happy that First wanted to be around him as much as he wanted to be around First. It was a lot to think about.
The thing that Khao has to hide from First is that he loves him, in more than just a platonic best friend way. And Khao, well, he always felt too secure with him and had often acted past friendship boundaries when not being very careful, not that First had ever noticed. First always seemed a bit oblivious to the way Khao looked at him. Even though it had been caught on camera multiple times; his adoration was very blatant. Whenever one of those videos surfaced on his feed he always felt a little scared and somewhat surprised that First hadn’t seen what he did when watching the videos.
Khao finds it hard to be careful of what he does when both his body and brain are exhausted, like tonight. Staying over would be risky; he could accidentally reveal his feelings if he wasn't careful. Khaotung was glad he was driving the car or he would probably not be able to snap out of thinking so deeply. In this case, he knew he needed to concentrate on driving to avoid having an accident. He was able to extricate himself from his thoughts without getting too lost.
Belatedly, he realised he had not yet answered First’s question; he hummed his agreement quickly. The car fell silent again, except for the low sound of the song that was playing through the radio and the constant tap, tap, tap of rain hitting the car.
The radio wasn't playing a song Khaotung recognised, but the man singing sounded excessively cheerful, and it felt out of place in the gloomy, grey rain. It contrasted heavily with the present and the past emotions that Khaotung had throughout the day. As it continued to play, Khao felt a weird pressure in the atmosphere, though he was sure he was the only one feeling it.
They pulled up to First's apartment, and Khao took the umbrella from the backseat before First could. First whined a bit at being beaten in the little game but waited patiently as Khaotung brought the umbrella around to the passenger side of the car. He held it over the car door to protect First from the rain as he stepped out. Then, since First is the taller of the two of them, he allowed him to take the umbrella from him to hold over the both of them. Khao's fingers burned from where their hands had touched briefly; he flexed them in an attempt to remove the unwanted feeling and calm his overexcited heart. Then they hurried to the door and slipped inside to escape the rain. First was careful to stay by Khao's side and not leave him behind with his longer strides.
Inside, the front room was dark. They were both blinded when First turned on the light. Khao shut the door behind them, closed the umbrella carefully and tried to not get the floor wet. He stored it by the door before he followed First in removing his shoes and slipping on his pair of indoor slippers. It'd been a great day when they’d gone out to buy each other indoor shoes for each of their respective homes. It still made Khao a little dreamy to think about.
“What do you want for dinner, puen?” First asked as they got further into his home.
“Do you still have the leftovers from the takeout the other night?” Khao asked. He had stayed over only a few days ago, and they’d ordered way too much food by accident. Then again, maybe First had done it purposefully since he knew it was Khao's favourite.
“We do have some, would you like me to heat it up for you?” First’s use of we made Khao almost forget to reply. Sometimes they were disgustingly domestic, clearly, they should just live together, not that Khaotung thought he'd be able to handle hiding his feelings if they were literally spending all of their time together.
“Yes please,” Khao smiled at First, his eyes twinkling. Before First could look back at him in acknowledgement, Khao schooled his expression into something less sweet and adoring but still grateful.
Link to google document - where i am writing this fic, is publicly accessible and you can comment if you want <3
