Chapter Text
Yok is preparing his briefcase with his sniper. He prepared in advance from where he was going to shoot Tawi in the head. An old abandoned building that caught fire a while ago, it was high enough to be hided and for no one to get in his way the moment he needed to pull the trigger. As he makes sure everything is here and in order, Gumpa walks toward him and sit down with him at the table. He pats the younger’s shoulder.
“Are you ready?”
“Of course I am hia!”
“Remember you can’t talk about it. White would go feral, Gram wouldn’t agree with killing him and even though Sean doesn’t care, he would say everything if he’s drunk.”
“I know, I’m not that much ok with killing someone either, but this is our only chance, and for everything he did to my mother, I’m willing to kill him without looking back.” He closes the briefcase.
“That’s right, it’s our last way of making sure he’s out of business for real. I trust you Yok. I’ll give you money once you do it, since it’s not an easy job” He gives him a small tap on the back to encourage him. Yok hums in response and get up, he opens the garage door wide enough so he can make his bike go through. Once it’s outside, Yok gets on it and drive off, Gumpa watching him with a bit of fear in his eyes.
_
Longtae is peacefully enjoying the water running on his feet and ankles. He is at the waterwall close to his village and needed a little break from people to go relax himself alone. He’s sitting down on a rock, enjoying the cold morning breeze pushing his hair to the side of his face and tickling gently his head. He sighs and smiles to the breath of fresh air that this place gives him but soon, his peace and quiet comes to an end as he hears someone coming toward him. He turns his head to see who just came by. It’s his father, who’s now waving at him, calling his name. Longtae leaves his rock and walks in the water towards the chief of the village and then he’s back on the dirt.
“Do you need anything?” He asks.
“Yes! You are really talented in photography and Tawi is coming in Town! Can you get some pictures of him for me?” His father gently takes his arm.
“I can do that for you but, isn’t Tawi known to be a bad person dad? Why do you need pictures of him?”
“Pff! You don’t know anything! He’s innocent, he was victim of people who are jealous of what he built!”
“If you say so. When is he coming? I need to know when do I need to go down in the city.” His father releases him and look at the sun.
“When the sun goes down after being in the middle.” Longtae follows with his eyes the hand of his father point where the sun will be at two PM.
“Alright, I should get everything ready then! I’ll eat in town, ok?”
“Alright! Get me a good shot!”
“Sure.”
They get back to the village together and go home. Longtae get his bag ready. Of course, he puts his camera in it, Tian is the one who gave him that as a gift for his birthday, he was so happy to have a more professional camera that allowed him to take even better shots, now, he almost takes pictures everyday and print the most beautiful ones. The school walls are full of them. Then he takes his wallet, to make sure he has money to get food. A water bottle, his ID card and his phone. Now that everything is ready, he walks to the ranger’s camp, entering it and knocking on the door before coming in. Phupha, Rang and Yod are playing cards. They all turns their heads toward the small boy and greet him.
“Hi Longtae, do you need anything?” Asks Phupha.
“Yes, do you think you could give me a ride? I need to do something for my dad in town.”
“Well, Yod can get you there, he lost the game anyway.” The chief laughs and Longtae let out small giggles.
“No fair! I prefer to be with Longtae anyway, he doesn’t tease me!” The ranger gets up and leads the village chief’s son to the car. “Let’s go Longtae, I don’t want to be in the same room as them anymore!”
Longtae laughs and nods, following Yod to the car. They get in and drive to the village. The smaller gets out of the car and thank Yod.
“I’ll call you when I need you to pick me up!”
The ranger nods and leave. Longtae is now alone, he takes his phone out and looks at the time. It’s half past eleven in the morning and he’s a bit hungry, so he decides to go to a café, he sits down at a table.
_
Yok just arrived in the era where everything will happen. He could really eat something so he parks his bike and look around to see where can he eat. He finds himself in front of a beautiful café and the food they’re proposing seems good! Sadly, when he enters the place, it’s full and he can’t sit anywhere. He looks a bit everywhere and find a guy alone on a table who hasn’t ordered anything yet so he walks up to him.
“Hi, excuse me? I saw that you haven’t ordered yet but every table are taken, can I sit with you so I can order food with you?” The boy lifts his head up to look at him and Yok’s heart skip a beat, that boy is gorgeous.
“You’re going to pay for your own food, right?” He asks.
“Yes! Yeah of course.” Yok answers instantly. The smaller smiles at him.
“Then yeah, you can sit down with me!” Yok smiles back.
“Thanks cutie!” Longtae’s cheeks redden a bit and Yok sits down. “What’s your name?”
“Uh, Longtae, what about you?”
“I’m Yok!”
Soon after they’re settled, a waitress comes to give them the menu and take their orders. After thinking a bit, Longtae finally decides he’s gonna take stir fry pork belly noodles without chili pepper, a strawberry sirup and for the desert he’s going to choose later. Yok takes spicy Thai noodles and a cola drink. The waitress comes back really fast with their orders and they start eating.
“So, why are you in town Longtae.”
Longtae raises his head. “I’m here to shoot Tawi.”
Yok’s eyes widen, how could he say this without fear of someone hearing them? “Oh really?” Yok whispers. “Me too.”
Longtae forms a ‘O’ shape with his mouth. “Really? Small world uh!” He giggles.
“Still, I guess the way this year as gone, there are going to be loads of people there with the same plan.”
They confer for a minute and agree that yes, there would be many. It was going to be big news and they both want to be the one to get that perfect shot. The taller man clearly expects more money. The other decides to look at his work later to check out his work. They discuss their plans.
“And why are you doing that? You clearly have a reason to, right?” Yok asks.
“I’m doing that for my father, he begged me to shoot him. You?”
“Really? Me I’m doing that because a friend asked me to, so he’ll give me money to shoot him, but I’m also do it for my mother, he deserves to be shot for all he did for her.” Yok frowns.
“I see, I see.”
“Yeah, I have a great vantage point picked out on a building nearby.” The taller one confides. He is insistent that being higher up and further away was a batter vantage point. “I can shoot from there and nobody gets in my way, you see? Clear line of sight right at the guy. If you are down on the ground there are too many people about to get in the way. Plus, it’s easier to get away afterwards.”
“Sure. But I like being closer. It’s more personal. When I take that shot, I want to be able to look him in the eyes. Catch that perfect moment. The crowds don’t bother me so much as long as I can take care of my equipment.”
They both nod in agreement at the other’s perspective. After all both ideas clearly had their own merit. What neither realized was they were not both in the same line of work. They finish their dish and fells full enough so they didn’t order a desert. They pay their part of the meal and part ways to get to their spots, exchange numbers to talk after the shoot and share it. They part ways.
The taller man heading towards the building he had indicated, and the shorter man began pushing his way through the crowd. He slings his bag over his shoulder. As the tall man ascends the stairs, his briefcase with him. He thought about how much easier it would’ve been if he took the same way as Longtae. Up close and without all those stairs. As the other push through the crowd, he could hear almost nothing against the background of cheers and boos. He needed to be right at the front, and this was no time for being nice to others. He’s quite small next to the others but still manage to get over them, elbowing people and shoving his way, apologizing every time, leaving a trail of annoyed people behind him. A mask covers the lower half of his face. Of course, most of the people here where wearing masks, which was a relief. The last thing Longtae wanted was to get sick from this. Yok claims the last stair and he begins to open up and unpack his equipment. An array of adapters and optics, clip on attachments, etc. A small bipod which he much preferred to most other supports. He finds a broken window so he can get a nice clear shot. Pulls a table up to it and place a plastic sheet over it before laying down on the table and setting up, pointing out the window. Wind whistles through the hole and he’s tankful for the leather gloves he was wearing. He checked out this building before and there are no regular security patrols. It has been closed for some time after the building burned down. Longtae is at the front of the crowd. Tawi was on stage, ready to give his speech. His press credentials allow him to be closer than most people, in a small dedicate area. He isn’t as jostle here. He is holding his nice DSLR camera with a huge lens balance only in his hands. The others, with all sorts of tripods laugh at him. He pulls his mask upper, only his eyes poking over. From up this high the politician looks small but with such powerful zoom it would be easy. He just has to wait for the perfect moment. Maybe a heckler or protest. Something is bound to happen that would take everybody’s attention, cause a scene, make some noise. Slowly as he aims up at Tawi, he takes the lens cover off.
Both men have the politician in their sights. Both men are ready to take their shoot. Yok pulls the trigger and his bullet goes off, going right into Tawi’s head, killing him instantly.
Everyone starts running away and Longtae is in shock, he actually received blood on him. He starts to panic and put everything in his bag. He takes his phone out and see that Yok sent him a text. ‘Where are you?’ Longtae respond while running. ‘I’m running right now. Where are you? Are you ok?’ His phone buzz, indicating Yok responded. ‘Let’s meet at the café we ate at!’ Longtae send him ‘Ok.’ And he runs as fast as he can to the café. Yok is already here when he arrives.
“Have you seen that?!”
“Yeah I did!” answers Yok.
“I was right next to him, he got shot and then he fell down…and then- there was blood!” Longtae looks at Yok, who is smiling, weirdly.
“Why are you smiling...?”
“What do you mean why? We shot him!”
“No? Did you manage to get a shot before…? I couldn’t take any pictures, it happened too fast!”
“What do you mean pictures…” Longtae froze at the other man’s sentence.
“…” Longtae takes a step back. “You wanted to kill him from the start?!” Yok made a weird face, understanding what is happening.
“Hear me out! Wait!” The taller takes Longtae by the arms and push him into a small allay. There was no other human because of what happened so he could talk freely.
“I can’t believe this; we had such a big misunderstanding!”
“Damn right I can see that! I thought you were a photographer too!”
“I’m sorry. But you need to understand why I did this. Tawi is a bad person, we’ve done everything to stop him, we exposed the truth to everyone, we almost managed to put him in prison, but here was he, still giving speeches freely after all he has done!”
Longtae’s eyes widen. “What do you mean? I don’t understand.” Yok sighs.
“Listen, I’m part of a gang, called ROL. Basically, we fight for everyone’s equality. And our mission is to take everyone who treat badly people down. We tried the kind way with Tawi, we went to get proof, we gave them to the police, we made a protest. Supposedly, he was under arrest but he got released and all of our hard work died at this moment. I’m not ok with killing people that much, but I have the skills and this was the only way to make sure he wasn’t hurting anyone ever again.” Longtae stands there, shocked, not knowing what to do or what to say, he did know Tawi did bad things, but not what he actually did and then his father told him it was false.
“Ok, I see. Well I. Oh my where do I start.” He clears his throat. "I don’t agree with killing people, that’s common sense but…I do get your point of view of equality and all. I’m with you on that. I’m not going to tell the police, but I can’t trust you yet, I hope you understand.” Yok smiles, he hugs Longtae.
“Thanks cutie.” He releases the small boy. “If you want, I can show you everything me and my gang did!”
Was Longtae really going to follow this man right after he said he wasn’t going to trust him one bit? Absolutely. Longtae was following Yok to his bike. They finally arrive at the parking lot. Yok pulls out of the bike’s trunk two helmet. He gives one to Longtae who puts it one and hops on the bike, telling to the younger to do the same and to hold his waist after which he does. They drive off to the ROL’s garage. Yok parks his bike outside and help Longtae to take off the helmet. They enter the place. On the couch were Sean, Gram and the twins White and Black with Gumpa standing next to them. When Gumpa sees Yok, he scolds him.
“You took so long! I thought something happened to you! And who’s that?” He says, pointing at Longtae.
“It’s a new friend, I just wanted to show him something on the laptop.” Gumpa hums.
“Ok, it’s in Sean’s room.”
“Alright thanks! Let’s go cutie.” Longtae blushes at the nickname.
“Ye-yeah.”
As they climb the stairs, the gang members look at them and once they can’t see them anymore, they look at each other. Sean breaks the silence with a laugh.
“Cutie? Is that Yok’s new boytoy?” He receives a slap on the thigh by his boyfriend, White.
“Don’t say that! You can’t speak like that of people you don’t even know, that’s rude.”
“Sorry! I can’t help but to think that.”
Yok and Longtae enters Sean’s room. The laptop is on the desk, the taller takes it and make Longtae sit down on the bed, he sits next to him.
“Sorry in advance, you might be sitting on either Sean or White’s babies.” The smaller looks at him confused.
“What do you mean by that?”
Now it’s Yok’s turn to stare at him. He scoffs with a smile and switch on the computer. “Of course you’re innocent with that face.”
Longtae is now even more confused.“What does this have to do with my face?”
“Nothing, you just have an angel’s face, that’s why I’m not that much surprised you didn’t understand my joke.”
“Does that mean it’s a sexual joke? I’m sorry I don’t get those joke, I’m not a pro.”
“I bet. Anyway, look, those are all the proof we have on Tawi.” Yok proceeds to show the small boy a bunch of horrible things Tawi has done and said. Longtae is horrified, he puts his hand on his mouth, he is in pure shock.
“This is horrible…”
“Yeah, it is.”
“I don’t regret you killing him.” Yok laughs at that. “But you shouldn’t have killed him anyway, now you’re in danger, the police always find out.”
“No, not always, could be a lucky guy.” Longtae hits him.
“Don’t joke! It’s serious. You could get arrested at any moment.”
“Then, I shouldn’t waste time. Do you want to go to a date with me? You could take pictures, and I could draw, I’m an artist actually.” The younger freeze, his head getting redder and redder every second that pass.
“What…” “What?” He closes his eyes a bit but Yok gets him out of his thoughts.
“So, yes, or no?”
“Uh…I don’t know, yes I guess…” Yok smiles and hug him from the side, giving him a little kiss on the cheek which makes him malfunction.
“Cool, let’s do that tomorrow, I’ll message you!” Longtae nods.
“Let’s go, I’ll take you back to your home.”
Longtae gets up and he shakes his head to say no. He takes out his phone and call Yod.
“Hey Yod I’m done, can you pick me up now? Thanks! I’ll see you where you left me earlier.” He hangs up. “I don’t want to bother you.”
Yok smiles. “Then, where is he supposed to get you? I can drive you there, keep you company until he gets you. And who is he by the way?”
Longtae clears his throat and refuses to look Yok in the eyes. “That would be nice thank you, and he’s a ranger at the small village I live, he protects us with the other rangers. But I need him to drive me in town once and a while.”
“Ok, I see. You can go back to the bike directly; I just need to do something. You can find your way right?”
“Yes!”
Longtae almost runs to the bike which makes Yok laughs. He searches in Sean’s drawer to find his perfume; his friend’s perfume smells better than his. He applies it on his neck and wrists and put it back. He gets down but as he’s walking to the door, his friends call him over so he walks to them.
“So, who’s really that cute boy?” asks Gram
“Someone I meet today.”
“And you let him inside the garage?”
“Yes?”
“Is that my perfume Yok?” Now it’s Sean who talks.
“Yok, you’re free tomorrow so I put you in task of the day by the way.”
“Sorry Hia, you’ll have to find someone else, I can’t tomorrow?”
“Why not, what’s the sudden change of event?”
“I have a date tomorrow.” His friends mouth all drop. Longtae who was waiting outside walks back in, just shoving his head by the door.
“Yok?” The called turns around.
“I’m coming Tae.”
Longtae goes back outside with a little “Ok.”
“Well, see you later.”
Yok turns around and finally step outside to get Longtae home. Of course, the gang all look at each other again, understanding it all and laughing. Yok finally gets him where Yod will be waiting for him. They didn’t talk much since Longtae was quite shy now and Yok didn’t want to push it too much. The ranger finally arrived and Longtae left to his village after hugging Yok, which made the other happy because now, he knew Longtae wasn’t uncomfortable.
“So, how was it?” Yod asks
“Uh, today was so tiring I don’t have enough energy left.”
“Summarise it quickly then!”
“Uh, I meet someone in a café, Tawi got shot and he’s probably dead, I was scared as hell as I ran away from the crime scene but I meet again the guy from the café, I came at his place to see something in his laptop and I have a date with him tomorrow…”
The car went silent for a bit of time before the military guy shouts “What?!”
“I told you it was something. Please don’t ask too much question.”
“Can I ask one?”
“Sure.”
“Do I have to drop you to your date tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I would like that!”
The rest of the drive was silent, as Yod understood it wasn’t the right time to talk. When Longtae got home, actually half of the village learned what had happened and they were all worried for his safety. Huge sighs of relief were heard as Longtae got out of the car. Tian went straight to hug him, asking him about it. He just said he saw everything but someone helped him out of that mess so it was ok. Tian offered him to spend the night at his place to eat and sleep to get his mind off of that and he agreed to. Once everything was cooked and, on the table, ready to eat. As Tian was about to put the fried rice in his mouth, Longtae told him he had a date tomorrow, which made Tian cough. Longtae continued to eat, as if he didn’t say anything. The teacher told his friend that he would help him to prepare for the date and Longtae answered that he was grateful he could help him, knowing damn well that he has never had been in a relationship, never been hitting on, never anything romantic. If he didn’t have been told by his classmate from university, he wouldn’t even know a thing about sexual things. He felt a bit lame for that, most people his age already knew everything about that kind of things, and it’s not that he didn’t want to know, he was just in a tiny village were talking about those things isn’t common at all. Unless you’re getting married, you’re not taught about sex or anything like that. The two friends actually went to sleep quickly after getting everything cleaned up, they agreed they’ll talk about it the next day. They said goodnight to each other and Tian went to sleep pretty fast. Longtae had trouble sleeping, he was kinda in shock, after all this was the first time, he got asked on a date, by a man, a man who he just meet the day he was asked out, a man who killed another man in front of him. He managed to find sleep. When Longtae wakes up, the sun is high in the sky and Tian is already awake, which is weird since in general he’s more to be the one to oversleep.
“Finally awake? It’s still the morning but we need to get ready fast!” Longtae rubs his eyes and nods.
“Yeah…just one sec.” He gets up and greets his friend with a warm hug.
“I’ll make sure you understand a bit what can happen ok?”
“Sure.”
“So, since it’s a date, he’ll probably be flirty, you need to flirt back, if you want of course.”
“But I don’t know anything about flirting.”
“It’s natural, you will understand when you feel it coming.”
“If you say so.”
“I’ll help you dress up too, you have to look a little bit nice, not that you’re not nice of course, but you need to put an extra effort for dates!"
“Ok, well it’s nice you’re here to help me.”
“Of course.”
Since Longtae doesn’t have much clothes and that they aren’t really fancy, they went with something basic. A white t-shirt with cute cartoon cats and comfy light black pants. They cut his hair a bit, so the bangs wouldn’t fall too much on his eyes. Tian ‘teaches’ him more things he should do and not do while the date is going on. As they talk, Longtae gets a notification, he looks at his phone and see that it’s Yok! The text says: ‘I have an idea, tell me what you think. I go to pick you up at your place, maybe you can make me visit it, we go in town to grab some snack and then we go to a place to have some peace and quiet where you can take pictures and I can draw.’ Longtae shows Tian the text.
“Say yes! Immediately! Give him our location.”
“But it’s really hard to know where the village is.”
“it’s ok, you can guide him.”
“I guess I can.”
‘I think it’s good! Here’s my location. If you struggle, contact me.’ While waiting for Yok, Longtae just chat with Tian while walking around the village. That’s when they kids come to block their way.
“What’s up kids?” Asks their teacher.
The kids giggle before one of them asks. “Is true that Longtae as a date!” The called eyes widen, how could he know?
Tian laughs. “Where did you heard that? Mh?”
“Yod told us!”
“Yod?”
“Oh no! I told Yod when I was in the car.”
“Is it really a problem.”
“I don’t mind them knowing, it’s just that everyone’s gonna be on our back during the date! What if that makes Yok run away?” Longtae anxiously bite his lips.
Tian puts a comforting hand on his back. “Come on, he asked you on a date the first day you guys meet, do you think he would fear some noisy villagers?”
“I don’t know!”
“Just relax.”
While they were talking, loud noises start building up, getting more and more loud. Like a whole crowd talking. The kids run to the noise while Tian and Longtae stare at each other confused and they walk fast towards it too. Even if they are close the crowd of villagers in front of the entrance of the village, Longtae is confused, then he realises what’s going on when he hears a villager say: “Since when do you know Longtae?” It’s Yok! He runs and make his way to him, shouting his name. When he sees him, his heart skips a beat. Yok is wearing a khaki tank top, exposing his arm tattoo out, ripped jeans and black boots. He’s just so handsome. Yok seems to have the same reaction he as because he can see the other’s eyes widen and he smiles. His bike is parked close. Longtae comes back to his senses fast, he grabs Yok’s hand and runs with him.
“Whoa, what’s the hurry?” asks the taller.
“I don’t want the others to annoy us!”
“So you want us to be alone mh?”
“Yeah, of course!”
“Kinky.”
“What?”
Yok laughs, he almost forgot his boy didn’t knew a lot of things. Longtae makes them stop running and they enter the forest.
“Follow my lead, I know a beautiful place here!”
“Ok, I trust your judgment, you have good taste.”
“How so?” He giggles.
“You like me, I’m hot so you have good taste.” The smaller gives a small slap on the other’s arm.
“Now what? Did I say that?”
“No, but I can see it, I make you laugh and blush.”
“You’re really confident uh.”
“I am indeed.”
Longtae just shake his head and smiles. When they finally arrive at Longtae’s safe place, Yok is amazed by the beauty of it. It’s a small waterfall with a tiny lake and large rocks. They stop walking as they’re in front of the lake. Yok’s mouth forms a ‘O’.
“Whoa, that’s beautiful, I wanna draw this!”
“I’m glad you like it!” He smiles. Longtae takes of his shoes so he can climb the rocks. Yok follows his actions and put his bag down but not for the same reason. The younger claims on of the rocks and Yok follows him.
“Look, we have a better view like that!”
“You should take off your shirt, and your pants.”
“What-?” Longtae turns to the other, his cheeks red. “Why?”
“I think you would rather take them off.”
“Well, why?”
“Are you going to take them off yes, or no?”
“No.” Longtae raises an eyebrow, not understanding where this is going.
“Too bad they’re going to be wet.” Yok grabs Longtae’s legs and carry him in his arms.
“What are you doing!”
“Are you ready to do a little splash?”
“Yok no!”
Before he could protest more, Yok throw him off the rock, into the deep cold water. When he finally gets himself out of the lake, he screams.
“Yok!” The latter laughs uncontrollably. He runs to get Longtae but trip and fall into the water too. Longtae gaps and goes into the water to see if he’s ok.
“Yok?” He gets his head out of the water while screaming, scaring the smaller man who hit him. “Come on that’s not funny!”
“Hoho, yes, it is, sooo funny!”
Longtae sighs and gets out of the water once again. He thinks about how much efforts he had put in his outfit and he feels a bit sad. Tian told him how much outfits mattered and now he’s scared he’s not attractive enough for the date. He sighs and close his eyes after sitting down on a clean enough rock to dry. Yok notices that something is wrong so he leaves the water and sits next to Longtae, putting his arm around his shoulders.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing, it’s ok!”
“I can see it’s not, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have throwed you in the water.”
“No, it’s ok, it was fun, it’s just…I should’ve listened to you and take off my clothes.”
“Are you sulking because of the clothes?” He shakes a bit Longtae, a smile on his face.
“I’m not sulking, it’s just not appropriate for a date.” Yok stops moving and make Longtae look at him.
“What the hell do you mean?”
“Doesn’t an outfit are an important part of dates?”
“Well, I mean, you could dress up nice for your date but I don’t think it matters at all. If I actually cared about the way you look, I wouldn’t have thrown you into the water. Plus look at me, I’m a mess too!” Longtae finally smiles back at him and he puts his head in Yok’s neck. Is that what Tian meant when he said that flirting would come naturally? Well from what Yok told him, Tian might be a good teacher for kids but not for love. Yok rests his head on Longtae’s.
“And by the way, I would rather be naked than dressed up.” Longtae violently gets off Yok, his face red.
“Pervert!” Yok laughs at his reaction. And the smaller calm down, he even goes more serious.
“By the way Yok, can we talk about this ‘sex’ thing?” Yok looks at him, curious.
“Yeah, no problems!”
“I’ve seen you make a lot of jokes about it; I mean I guess that’s what it is. So that means you’ve had sex in the past.”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“I just wanted to tell you that, if you’re with me, you can’t have sex until we’re going to get married, I’m sorry. I want to warn you in case you want us, as a relationship to go further, to not disappoint you.” Longtae plays nervously with his hands, scared of the other’s response. The awkward silence makes it even harder for Longtae.
“It’s ok. Love isn’t always about sex; I respect your wish. If my jokes bother you, I can stop by the way!” Longtae relax instantly, he smiles.
“Your jokes don’t bother me at all, I don’t even understand half of them!” They laugh together.
“So, can I ask why not before marriage though?”
“Yes, let me explain to you. I just want to follow my village’s culture. In general, it’s only for heterosexual couples because it’s just a tradition for fertility, basically, it’s said that if you have your first time the night before the wedding, you have more chances to have a baby in the future. We can’t have a baby since we’re both men but I still want to make it that way.”
“I see, I see. That’s nice actually. Even though it’s not really my culture or anything, but I’m willing to not have sex until we get married.” Longtae hugs him, happy that he’s so understanding.
“So, when are we getting married?” The younger hit him.
“You’re an idiot Yok.” He laughs.
“But you like it.”
“Mh.” Longtae gets up and offers his hand to Yok. “Let’s go get new clothes.”
“Don’t you want to dry? We could put them on the rock and still play in the water, draw, take pictures and all.”
“Well ok, but I don’t want to go back in the water!”
“That’s totally fine.”
Yok takes the other’s hand and gets up. He takes of his shirt and put it on the rock, exposed to the sun and he does the same to his pants. Longtae does the same, a bit more embarrassed, he isn’t used to show his body to other, plus his underwear is embarrassing! The pattern is a load of donuts. Oh, how he wishes he bought new underwear and not keep the ones his mother bought for him. When Yok sees them, he forces himself not to laugh.
“Stop it! I know you want to laugh, leave them alone.”
“No, no! it’s cute I-” He can’t continue and laughs. He goes to hug Longtae. “Don’t sulk, it’s very cute haha.”
“Pff, you can laugh, I hate them, but I didn’t know I would have to show it to you!”
The date is going pretty smoothly, Yok decides to draw a bit, while Longtae takes some pictures, once every ten pictures, he goes to show the pictures to Yok, who always compliments him. What he doesn’t know is that Yok is drawing him, but it’s very hard for him to do so since the smaller is always moving, finding every little thing interesting to take a picture of. Yok find it very amusing that even though Longtae knows this place by heart, he stills manages to find something that he doesn’t know about it, like a pretty flower, an interesting shaped rock, some fishes. After quite some time, he finally manages to finish his drawing. And he sees himself falling for Longtae, why so fast? He knows this boy since a day, but still likes him so much, he knows everything and nothing about him. They sit down next to each other to show their art. Longtae shows him the pictures he took of him, and Yok is surprised by how pretty Longtae makes him look on the pictures. And the Yok shows the other, the drawing he made.
“It’s not that good, I did it fast and without the best equipment.”
“I love it, can I keep it?”
“Yes, of course!”
“I’ve never seen something so well made! I love it so much thank you.” Yok is flattered.
They end up not doing into town to the rest of the date, they spent time in the village, Longtae showing him around, with always some villagers whispering, following them or spying on them in some kind of way. Yok even asked about it, Longtae simply explained that he never dated someone before, the villagers are really noisy and since he’s the son’s chief, people are even more noisy than usual. Tian asked them to go to the school to do some art activities with the kids, something with flowers. They made paint his it, did some cute painting, bracelet and necklace with flowers, a kid made a crown of flowers and put it on Longtae’s head, and Yok made a tiny drawing sketch out of it.
And finally, Longtae made Yok climb the Pha Pun Dao cliff would could allow them to see the beautiful stars in the sky as there was no could. Yok was exhausted but as he saw the sun go off and the stars started showing, he didn’t regret to follow Longtae on the mountain. They take pictures together in front of the stars illuminating their faces. They didn’t talk much, they enjoy the calm of the night but then, Yok turns to Longtae, putting his hand on one of his cheeks. Longtae looks to him. Their faces really close to each other.
“Can I?” Yok says, getting his face even closer to Longtae’s.
“Are you ok with this?” Longtae smiles shyly.
“Yes, am I allowed too?” Yok chuckles.
“Yes, of course you are.”
Their lips finally touch, it’s slow and intimate, for now, no tongues because Yok doesn’t want rush the thing for the other man. Instead, he puts his other hand on his face for a better angle. The taller can feel Longtae’s hands gripping on his shirt. He separates them, his face as red as a tomato. Suddenly, a scream startles the both of them, they turn around to see Tian who just jumped from behind a rock next to them, a flash light in his hand. “My bestie finally had his first kiss, ooh so cute!” Longtae eyes widen. Tian is pulled to the ground by another pair of arms, who are probably Phupha’s. The young man sighs and apologize to his date who just laugh but is still a bit pissed off, he wanted to have a little bit more privacy, but he has to get used to it since that will probably happen a lot if they date for a long time.