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The new kid is quiet. Wai’s not sure he’s spoken at all since he came here. He just sort of mopes around, with that sad, woe-is-me expression on his face that annoys Wai to no end for some unexplainable reason. He’s a good roommate though. Quiet. Tidy. Invisible. Which suits Wai just fine. They stay out of each other’s way and the other is often gone by the time Wai drags himself out of bed, the only evidence of his existence being the neatly folded pyjamas on the bed.
Except one day, a few weeks into the new kid’s stay, that all changes.
He’s cornered by a bunch of seniors looking for unsuspecting juniors to bully. It’s just their luck that Wai’s a stubborn idiot that has never backed down from a fight. It’s only when he’s pinned against the wall by two burly seniors with a third one insistently pressing his forearm against his throat that he realises he’s well and truly fucked.
They’re behind an abandoned shack a little ways away from the football field, even if he yelled for help, it would be useless.
“You think you’re the shit?” The leader snarls as he lands a hard punch straight to Wai’s gut that has him doubling over with a groan, “I’ll teach you to respect your elders you little fucker!” He raises his hand once more and Wai braces for the impact, closing his eyes.
Yet instead of another punch, all he hears is a loud thunk followed by a pained shout. He opens his eyes as the pressure on his throat releases and finds the senior clutching at his previously raised hand, blood freely flowing from between the digits.
The new kid stands a few feet away, eyes blazing and shoulders tense, holding a large rock in his hand.
“The next one will be at your head if you don’t let him go,” he says, holding up the rock threateningly. One of the seniors holding him down lets go of his wrist and advances towards the new kid, only for the younger to launch the rock with alarming accuracy to hit his knee, sending him tumbling down with a howl of pain. The distraction is enough for Wai to wrench himself away from the other senior’s grip, sending a well-placed kick to his stomach before half-limping, half-running away.
The new kid grabs his arm and slings it over his shoulder, speeding up their getaway.
In the safety of their room, Wai watches as the new kid breaks open their (Wai’s) first aid kit and pulls out a bruise ointment for Wai’s stomach, which is well on its way to turning a brilliant purple shade.
“How’d you know where I’d be?” he asks as the new kid holds out the ointment to him, gingerly shrugging his shirt off.
“You’re always ten minutes late to Maths class because you go to the field to fuck around, I knew something was wrong when you didn’t show up for class. So I asked the teacher to excuse me to the washroom and came just in time to see the seniors corner you,” he pauses, eyeing Wai up and down critically before continuing, “You looked like you were handling them just fine but then they pinned you down and I decided to step in,”
Wai swallows, “Thanks,” he says, doing his best to sound sincere. He hates asking for help from others but he knows that he would’ve been beaten to a pulp if his roommate hadn’t shown up, “Um… I don’t know how to say this but what was your name again?”
The new kid looks at him in amusement, “My name is Pran.”
“I’m Wai,”
“I know,”
And just like that, Wai found his best friend.
***
It’s of no surprise to Wai when the call from his parents comes through, telling him that they’re too busy with work to come for Parent’s Day and we promise we’ll come next year Wai, don’t complain so much.
So he sits aside for the festivities, with two empty seats next to him in the audience while the rest of his classmates sits alongside their parents, laughing and chattering among themselves.
He sneaks away to his dorm once lunch is served, not wishing to stand among all those happy families while he sits alone at his table, even if it means he misses lunch.
He tries to while away the time by doing some homework for once, giving up when it’s clear he won’t understand any of it without Pran next to him to help him out. Then he scribbles out a couple of sketches of the abandoned buildings they’d seen on their school trip last week. But an hour and a half later, he gives up and flops onto his bed, hand cramping.
The door creaks open and he lifts his head to see Pran walking in with a plate of food in his hands.
“Shouldn’t you be with the rest of them?” he asks, eyeing the plate of food, the hunger pangs that he’d managed to ignore are back in full force.
“You’re more important,” Pran replies shortly and holds out the plate of food to him, “Now eat,”
Wai takes the plate from him but makes no move to eat.
“You should go,” he says, “Your mom and dad must be waiting for you,”
“They’re about to leave,” Pran replies, “They have a birthday party to attend in the evening so they’re leaving early,”
Wai doesn’t know if he’s lying or not. He takes a bite of the food, doing his best to eat it at a normal pace rather than gobbling it down like he wants to. Pran clears the plates away once he’s done and takes a seat on the bed across from Wai’s.
“My parents didn’t come,” Wai says.
Pran hums, “Yeah. Did they say why?”
“They had to work,” Wai replies, doing his best to keep his voice from wobbling, “They always have to work,” He’s not doing a great job of it as the traitorous tears that had been biding their time finally break free and flow down his cheeks. In an instant, Pran is crossing the distance between them, pulling Wai into a hug and they’re both a heap of limbs on the floor with Wai fully sobbing into his arms, “I just w-want them to show up on-once,” he stutters out between sobs.
Pran rocks them back and forth, rubbing soothing circles between Wai’s shoulder blades, “I know, I know,” he says soothingly, “They don’t deserve you, Wai. You’re too good, too good for them,” Wai only sobs harder, clutching at Pran’s shirt, distantly aware that he’s probably gotten his tears and snot all over it.
“Why won’t they come?” Wai sniffles, “It’s just for a few hours,”
“Because they’re stupid,” Pran replies, arms tightening around Wai and the ferocity of his tone catches Wai off guard and warms his heart all at once, “You deserve much more than them,”
Wai nods and pulls away a little, cringing at the sight of Pran’s shirt, “Sorry, I can clean that,” he says, gesturing towards the ruined shirt. His head hurts from crying so much and his eyes are swollen and red from where he’d rubbed at them. “All good,” Pran says, waving his offer away and handing him a bottle of water, “You should get some rest, you look exhausted,” He helps Wai up and under the covers before taking a seat down on the floor next to his bed.
“Don’t even try,” he warns when Wai goes to protest, “I’m going to sit here and you’re going to sleep,”
He glares Wai into submission, settling down only when Wai snuggles back in.
“You’re a good person Pran. I’m glad you’re my best friend,” he murmurs and Pran hums in acknowledgement.
“I’m glad you’re my best friend too Wai,” he hears Pran reply before sleep pulls him under.
***
A few years later
He shows up at Pran’s apartment in the middle of the night, eyes brimming with tears of rage and clenched fists. Pran takes one look at him and shoves him towards the bathroom, “Take a shower,” he says, “It’ll help you calm down,”
When Wai emerges from the cold shower he endured for the sake of “calming down”, Pran’s waiting for him, beer and noodles in hand. They curl on the couch and Pran listens to Wai as he recounts the shit that asshole Pat and his friends pulled while Wai was working and unable to do anything.
“They deliberately dropped the stuff I served them and then took videos of it,” He said and Pran’s eyes darkened with rage.
“Did they do anything else? Hit you?” he asks, hands fisting the cushion in his lap.
“No,” Wai says miserably, “Just treated me like a slave all night like it was their birthright,” he fiddles with his hands, “They knew I couldn’t do shit without risking my job,,”
“Assholes,” Pran says fiercely, “No matter how intense the rivalry is between our gangs, it shouldn’t come up outside of college, especially not where you work and can’t fight back. It’s not a question of rivalry anymore, that’s just unspoken moral code.”
Wai shrugs, “Can’t do much about it now,” he says, “But the next time we get in a fight, I’m knocking those ridiculous eyebrows off that bastard,”
Pran shakes his head, “I’m not going to stop you. Still, there’s no way I’m letting this pass without getting a proper apology from Pat and the rest. You deserve that much,”
“How do you expect to make them apologise?”
Pran’s eyes glint as he smirks, “I don’t plan on making them do anything, they’re going to come and do it on their own if they know what’s good for them,”
Wai raises an eyebrow but says nothing and downs the rest of his beer.
The next morning, videos of him on his knees, cleaning up ice and mopping up spilt beer are being circulated online for the whole college to laugh and jeer at and he sees the way it hardens Pran’s resolve to make the assholes behind it pay.
Sure enough, a few days later as he’s waiting for the bus, a very apologetic Pat and gang approach him, guilty and shamefaced.
He first tenses in anticipation for another fight to break out, it wouldn’t be the first time they cornered him. But then Pat wais and bows lowly, “We wanted to apologise for how we treated you that night. It was disrespectful of us to harass you at your workplace and further humiliate you by posting those videos online. It was foolish and rude on our part and we hope you’ll accept our apology,” The others mirror his action though it seems to pain that asshole Korn to do something like this which satisfies Wai immensely.
“Apology not accepted,” he replies curtly, relishing in the way their eyes snap up in surprise, they’d been expecting him to let it go once they apologized. As if on cue, his bus rolls up and Wai squares his shoulders and smirks, “Now if you don’t mind, I have a bus to catch,”
Clambering on, he has to quietly laugh at the dumbfounded looks on their faces as the bus drives away. Pran’s waiting for him at the library and grins when he sees the expression on Wai’s face, “You accepted their apology?”
“Over my dead body,”
“That’s more like it,”
***
“What was so important that you had to drag me away from my weekly me-night?” Wai grumbles, “I demand payment in the form of ice cream,”
Pran shoves a tub of cookies and cream and a spoon into his hand distractedly and Wai makes a noise of delight, “Oh yum!”
“What’s up?” he asks around a mouthful of ice cream, “Did you want some?”
“No,” Pran says, looking uncharacteristically nervous as he sits down on the coffee table in front of Wai, “I have some news and I don’t know how you’ll take it,”
“What’s it about?”
“...”
“Pran?”
“It’s about someone I like,”
“Just rip the bandage off dude,” Wai reassures, “I’m a big boy, I can take it,”
“I like Pat,” Pran rushes out.
Wai scowls, “Put it back on,”
“And I kissed him last week. On the rooftop,”
“ Please. I’m begging you,”
Pran smacks him over the head, “Be serious! I have an actual crisis,”
“Sure. But Pat? Really? What’s so great about him?”
Pran’s expression turns into one of hurt and longing and Wai straightens up in attention. It’s the first time he’s seen such an expression on his best friend, which worries him. He sets the ice cream aside and leans forward to place a hand on Pran’s knee, “Pran? Are you okay?”
The contact seems to snap Pran out of his daze, “We uh,” he starts, “We have a history,”
And then the whole story spills out. The rivalry between the parents that had been passed down to the children. The tentative friendship they’d built during the school concert and Pran’s crush on Pat. Auntie Dissaya sending him away to limit his contact with Pat. Everything that had happened since they met each other at college once again.
By the end of it, Pran’s curled up under Wai’s arm, somehow having migrated over onto the couch sometime during the story.
“So yeah,” Pran finishes, gaze hesitant as he glances over at Wai. And Wai…
Wai has never hated someone as much as he hates Pran’s parents right now. He gives Pran a once-over, noting the hunched shoulders, the trembling hands and the unsure expression on his face and makes a decision.
“Ok,” Wai breathes out, “You know what? If he makes you happy then I’m not going to do shit,”
“But Mae,” Pran starts and Wai’s quick to cut him off, “No. Absolutely not. Fuck what your parents will do or say. What do you want to do?”
“I…” Pran trails off, “I want to date him. I still like him but then again our parents—”
“We’ll figure something out with the parents. You said Pa most probably knows about you two right? We’ll think of something with her,”
“You’re awfully sure that Pat likes me back,” Pran grumbles, “You’re giving me hope,”
“As I should,” Wai says, standing up to put the now-melted tub of ice cream back into the freezer, “You said he initiated the kiss and honestly, a lot of his actions make sense now that I know he likes you. He wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of convincing Korn of all people to apologize to me if he didn’t like you,”
“Whatever,” Pran mumbles and Wai sighs, knowing this is something he’ll have to press on another day. He changes the subject to something that he knows will distract Pran, “Anyway I have some news as well,”
“What’s that?”
“I kinda want to fuck Korn,”
“What?!”
It’s not entirely untrue, but Wai decides to exaggerate a bit anyway, “Well you know,” he shrugs, “You have to admit, the engineering batch is a pretty good-looking batch,”
Pran stares at him, dumbfounded.
Wai throws his hands up in defeat, “I don’t like like him but he is pretty hot so maybe like a quick fuck?”
“God only you will want to fuck the person you love to beat up on sight,”
“I’m special like that,” Wai replies cheekily.
“Whatever,” Pran rolls his eyes and vaults off the sofa, “Are you staying for dinner?”
“The day I say no to that question is the day pigs fly,”
They ended up spending the night poking fun at low-budget horror films and cleaning out the leftovers in Pran’s fridge. As they get ready to sleep, Wai sits up so he’s at eye-level with Pran who’s already lying down on his bed, facing Wai.
“Look,” he begins, “I can’t say I’m entirely happy with the love of your life being Pat. And I can’t guarantee that I’ll get along with him but I will try . As long as he does too,”
“You don’t even know if he’ll say yes to liking me back,” Pran points out.
“I’m not going to dignify that with a response. You’re a fucking catch, Pran. And if he says no then it just proves to me that engineers are dumb as fuck,”
“I’m really glad you’re my friend Wai,” Pran replies, eyes suspiciously shiny.
“Damn right, you should be,” Wai replies, because when has he ever maturely responded to emotional sentiments? And settles down in his sleeping bag as Pran huffs in response and switches off the lamp.
A few seconds later and then, “I’m glad you’re my friend too, Pran,”
***
The sight of Pat clambering onto a bus filled with architecture students (who hate his guts) fully seals the fact that he’s head over heels for Pran. And that he’s an idiot. A brave and lovesick idiot, but an idiot nonetheless.
Regardless of the confirmation, he still bullies the guy out of the seat he took next to Pran to keep the others from getting too suspicious and to wipe the uncomfortable expression off Pran’s face.
He sends a non-verbal “You good?” over to Pran and frowns when he receives a shaky nod in response but leaves the matter alone. Across the aisle, Pat not-so-subtly sends glances their way.
***
It proves to be a difficult task, keeping Pat at bay from Pran and stopping Safe and Louis from beating the shit out of the engineering student at the same time and Wai wonders how Pran managed it for months.
Of course, as fate would have it, Pran ends up being teamed up with Pat for the games and it seems the boy is just as stupid as Wai thought he was, following Pran around like a lost puppy even when the latter makes it clear he wants nothing to do with him.
Things come to a head when Pat joins their drinking session that night. Thankfully Louis and Safe are far too wasted to do much but glare at Pat and shout something incoherent at him. He himself is also slightly drunk but he’s still sober enough to catch the way Pran throws his beer over his shoulder and pretends to wince. Pran leaves halfway through and is quickly followed by Pat, leaving Wai to drag the other two upto their room and into bed. He flops onto his bed in his and Pran’s shared room and tries his best to stay awake until Pran comes back, but his determination to stay awake is soon overtaken by the alcohol leftover in his system and he drifts off.
He wakes up sometime later to Pran wiggling under the covers next to him.
“ You ‘ood?” he asks groggily.
“Mh-hm,” Pran hums, snuggling into Wai’s back and even through his sleepy haze, Wai can detect the unmistakably happy note in his voice and it’s enough to settle him down.
(He does however bust a lung laughing when Pran whispers the new bet between him and Pat, much to his best friend’s displeasure.)
***
Several years later
“The first time Wai gave me a hint of liking Korn was when I told him I liked Pat,”
Wai groans, burying his face into Korn’s shoulder as laughter echoes around them.
He should’ve seen this coming when he asked Pran to be his best man at his wedding.
Pran shoots him a shit-eating grin, “He also got delightfully wasted once and spent ten minutes waxing poetry on Korn’s ‘adorable ponytail’” More laughter and Wai flips Pran off without moving his face away.
“Don’t worry Korn, I have the video saved for this specific event,”
“I hate you,” Wai calls out.
“No you don’t,” Comes the swift reply, “Anyways, it’s safe to say those two dumb, hot-headed kids would never have seen this coming,”
They most definitely wouldn't have, Wai thinks, bringing up his and Korn’s joined hands to press a kiss to his husband’s (!!) knuckles.
“But somewhere along the road, egging each other into fist fights turned into movie nights where they forgot the rest of us existed,” Pran continues, eyes soft and smile warm as he looks at Wai and Korn, “Together, these two have shown us all what true love looks like. It's not always sunshine and rainbows, sometimes it's arguing over whose turn it is to do the dishes or giving each other the cold shoulder over something petty. But it's also holding each other up when life gets tough and knowing that no matter what, you've got someone in your corner,”
He picks up his glass of champagne and tilts it towards them, “So Korn and Wai, may you always find comfort in each other and may your life be filled with endless love, laughter and Lego,”
Everyone joins in with their glass and Wai jumps out of his chair to engulf Pran in a bear hug. “I hope you know I’m going to embarrass the shit out of you at your wedding,” Wai laughs wetly, still choked up with emotions.
Pran glances down at his hand where his own engagement ring glints back at him and then over at Pat, who currently has both Safe and Louis in a headlock for some reason, “I’m counting on it,” he chuckles.
“Those engineering boys, am I right?”
“I’d say you are,”
***