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Rain spends about two days doing basically nothing but crying. He didn’t break up with Phayu, he keeps reminding himself of that, but it doesn’t do much to soothe him. He hates fighting like this, or being apart from Phayu, or— whatever this even is. He hates knowing that he’s contemplating breaking up with Phayu. And he can’t get the image of Phayu’s heartbroken expression out of his head.
He had been wanting to see Phayu by the end of his night with Sky, but when facing him, everything had hit all at once. Phayu was so ready to do anything, to try and fix everything, and— it was too much. Rain didn’t want Phayu to have to fix… his family, his life. And he didn’t know how to fix it either. And he had been struck with the thought, quite suddenly, that he might have to live without Phayu. That it might be best for both of them. So, he ran, like a coward.
He knows that everyone is worried about him. Sky only calls him with increasing frequency as Rain ignores him, and he gets quite a few messages from Prapai that he refuses to even look at. Phayu leaves him voice messages, too, that Rain does listen to because he’s a selfish coward who is willing to hurt Phayu but still take his own comfort. Phayu leaves short messages like any texts he might send throughout the day, updating Rain about what is happening, asking him about assignments… reminding Rain that he loves him no matter what, and he just hopes that he is okay. It doesn’t help Rain’s crying.
His mom is worrying, too. Ironically enough, given what he said to Sky— what feels like years ago— he is well aware that he hasn’t shut himself off from his mom like this since his dad left. But it isn’t like he can just explain it all to her, and right now he doesn’t feel like lying to her.
One day he is free, but the next day he skips classes. He knows that he can’t keep doing that, and that if he’s going to resolve anything he needs to not just sit here wallowing in self pity. He needs to live his life, work through his shit. So, miserably, he drags himself out of bed and out of his room, and then even as far as out of his house.
He drives his own car to campus, trying to perfect an act of not looking too haggard because the last thing he wants is more attention. He would prefer it if most of his friends didn’t notice that he is in a terrible place right now.
And, though he doesn’t think about it often, he knows he is sometimes the subject of rumors around campus, considering the fact that his boyfriend— can he still call Phayu that?— more or less has a fan club at this school. Most of them aren’t that bad to be honest, considering that Phayu isn’t a celebrity there is less weird parasocial gatekeeping. Those who didn’t have a full crush on Phayu, just admired him and knew he was hot, were fine with Rain, and most of those who did still aren’t assholes the way a couple of people were. Like Ple, she had a passing crush on Phayu but when Rain started dating him, she moved on from it. Still, Rain can end up being the subject of some rumors, given his boyfriend is a campus celebrity.
He tries to keep himself wearing an air of ‘just tired’, still his happy-go-lucky self otherwise. It’s easier that way. He slings his bag over his shoulder and walks the long way around the building, lurking for as long as possible just to avoid Sky. Rain knows his friend will only want to help, but he doesn’t want to face Sky right now. Maybe this is easier for Sky, maybe the circumstances of his relationship made it easier to accept… but Phayu lied to him, and might be dangerous, and logically Rain maybe shouldn’t trust him. So at the last possible second, as he spots the professor entering the building, Rain follows, slipping into his seat after the man has already begun talking.
Sky’s eyes are on him, and he is doing just about everything sans talking over the professor to get Rain’s attention, with no luck. Rain glues his eyes to the front of the lecture hall and does not waver. It might be the most focused in on a lecture that Rain has ever been, he basically records the whole thing word for word.
“Rain,” Sky snaps the second the class ends. Rain is already shooting out of his seat, lurching toward the door. “Rain!” Sky shouts, unconcerned about drawing attention. Unfortunately, in trying to avoid Sky, Rain has now gained the attention of his friends. Por sits pretty close to the door, he is always one of the first out of the room, and he sneak attacks Rain, grabbing him by the wrist and trapping him against the wall.
”What the hell?” Por asks, somewhere between amused and confused.
“Dude, let me go—” Rain rushes, but it isn’t fast enough. “Shit.” Sky emerges from the classroom and rounds on the pair of them.
”For fuck’s sake, Rain!” Sky starts, not nearly as angry as he is trying to be. His voice is thick with emotion as he closes in on the pair of men. “You’ve been— you haven’t even—”
”Woah,” Ple cuts in, coming up behind him. She puts a hand on his shoulder, “Take a breath. What’s going on?”
”Nothing,” Rain snaps, glaring at Sky weakly. “Or— nothing important, okay?”
Sky frowns, leaning in, “It’s not nothing, you would’ve responded to me at some point—”
”Wait, you two have been fighting?” Por asks, glancing between them. “I didn’t know that was possible.”
Rain shakes his head, “No— no…”
Ple steps forwards “Is this about what you had to do with P’Phayu?”
”No,” Rain repeats once more, trying desperately to hide the truth. He doesn’t know why but he doesn’t want to reveal relationship troubles. He doesn’t want other people to misunderstand, and there’s no real way to explain what’s going on between them. “Look, I just have some stuff going on. And Sky, I just need some time to deal with it.”
Sky furrows his brows, “Are you kidding me—”
”Just let me deal with my own shit.” Rain ducks around Por, breaking away as quickly as possible. He doesn’t want to talk to Sky about this, he doesn’t want Sky to say anything about this around the others, he doesn’t want any of this. He doesn’t really want friendly comfort when he’s debating the future of his relationship with Phayu.
Maybe a part of him resents Sky, considering the difference in their situation. But more than that, Rain just knows that Sky is going to try and make him feel better. And there is no feeling better here. He doesn’t want to have to justify himself to Sky, and he certainly doesn’t want to try and explain the different arguments battling in his head. He just wants to be left alone.
He has one more class today, in a couple of hours, and usually it would be easy to fill that time. But he just walked away from all his friends, and is currently hiding from them, so… it’s not the time. Except then something pops up on his phone, which is just decent as a momentary distraction until he reads it. “This could not have happened at a better time, sir,” Rain mutters to the ‘lecture canceled’ message.
He happily takes the chance to escape, pulling out of the campus lot at unsafe speeds. Wrapping himself in blankets and hiding in his room for hours and hours once more sounds wonderful. It’s the closest he’s come to feeling relief since everything fell apart.
Then he turns the corner to his street and has to adapt to a sleek, expensive car already there. Not Phayu’s, that’s for sure, it’s a shiny red sports car with dark, tinted windows. It fills Rain with a strange dread. Despite spending a lot of the past few days avoiding confrontation of any kind, he knows he can’t ignore something like this. He rushes to the door and throws it open, barely processing the sound of voices.
His mom is sitting inside on the couch, happily chatting away. Sitting opposite from her is Phayu’s dad, smiling politely and nodding along. Both look up as Rain enters; his mom startling while Vegas doesn’t look surprised, maintaining his smile as he makes eye contact with Rain. “Uh, what is going on?” Rain asks dumbly. He almost drops his bag, fumbling to place it on the floor gently.
His mother frowns at him, “Rain, we have a guest.”
”Yeah, no— P’Phayu’s father,” Rain feels like he is doused in freezing cold water, remembering exactly who this man is. “I— we met last weekend. Khun Vegas, it’s nice to see you, again, sir.” He tries for a smile, but he knows it can only look so real.
Vegas nods to him, standing from his seat. He strolls over to stand near Rain, body language entirely unassuming. But Rain knows better. “Please, forgive me. I know I showed up out of the blue, there’s no need to be polite. You’ve been very gracious, ma’am.” He smiles to Rain’s mother once more, “I believe I’ve caused some strife, you see, it’s why I wanted to stop by.”
She smiles at Rain reassuringly, “I know something happened, I was worried—”
”Mom,” Rain interrupts gently, still, unbelievably tense with Vegas, a mafia leader and head of who knows what violent businesses, in his house. He steps away from Vegas. As his mom rises from her seat, he gives her a quick hug. “Sorry, I was caught off guard by everything.” He grimaces, “Do you mind if I talk to P’Phayu’s father for a minute? Things have… gotten complicated.”
She rolls her eyes affectionately, “I know, sweetheart. I was just about to head out anyway.” She kisses him on the forehead and bids a quick farewell to Vegas, which takes another three or four minutes because his mother is more of an extrovert than he is. But when he gets her out the door, handing off the car keys, he takes a deep breath.
He turns slowly, trying to put on an air of ease but knowing that he is failing. The tension is palpable, at least to him. “Khun Vegas, you— what are you doing here?” Rain doesn’t know what he should do here. Be polite and play it off, pretend not to know— to an extent— who this man is? …Pray he hasn’t pissed him off by fighting with Phayu or— knowing too much?
Vegas watches him carefully and sighs. He returns to his seat and looks up at Rain, holding up open palms. “I can see that I’ve scared you, I— probably should’ve thought of that. I was worried about other things, it didn’t occur to me that, with the startling new information you’ve received, you might be afraid of me. Please, don’t be, I don’t mean any harm.”
Rain looks around, trying to take stock of everything in the room, trying to see if anything else is out of place. “I—,” He thinks of Phayu, at least genuine in what he had allowed their relationship to be thus far. He thinks of that night with Vegas making fun of Phayu and joking that Rain should find someone better. “I’m laying down some ground rules!” He bursts out.
Vegas’ lips quirk up at the corners, “Okay, go for it.”
Rain sucks in a breath, settling tentatively on the other couch, as far as he can get from Vegas. “First of all… is there anyone else around or— or in the house?”
Vegas shakes his head immediately, “There’s no one else in the house, I swear. There are two men sitting in a black, four door sedan across the street waiting for me, but I promise you that, unless someone busts through the door trying to hurt you or me, they are staying right there.”
”And— are they armed?” He can’t help stuttering over the question as the thought occurs quite suddenly.
”Yes, they are,” Vegas replies calmly. Right, okay.
“Are… you?” This, too, is sudden. Rain feels like his head can’t keep up with this, but that’s the issue. Things just keep popping into his head, things that might be possible or might be crazy. His only reference for the mafia is television! He’s out of his depth!
Vegas shakes his head this time, “Believe me, it isn’t common, but I realized how much that might upset you. I left my weapon with my bodyguards.” That floods Rain with warmth; to some extent, Vegas and Pete were… honest when they met before. And they liked Rain, Phayu had said that; despite everything, Rain doesn’t think he was lying. Phayu wouldn’t lie about something that wasn’t as important as what he did lie about.
”So why are you here?” Rain finally asks.
Vegas shifts in his seat, pulling up his posture and squaring his shoulders. “I don’t have all the information, we found this out rather suddenly. But I understand you’re upset.”
Rain scoffs. He doesn’t really mean to, he’s trying to keep his emotions in, but he can’t help it. “Upset? I’m— a lot of things, I don’t even know how to describe it. I get that you’re here for P’Phayu’s sake, or something, but I told him that I want some time.”
”I haven’t spoken to Phayu,” Vegas corrects, leaning forward. “He hasn’t been in a particularly forthcoming mood. Rather, Rain, I wanted to come here because… my son loves you. It’s painfully clear how much he loves you just in the way he’s acting right now.” The way he is hurting, that’s what Vegas means. The way Rain has hurt him.
”Khun Vegas,” his voice is thick, emotion already overwhelming him. He can’t look directly at the man, too afraid of tears that might spill over. “I don’t want to be disrespectful, but please just tell me what I can do for you.”
“Don’t worry about being disrespectful, Rain, I— You don’t have to worry about coming to any sort of harm from me. I can tell you’re genuine, and believe me, that means a lot.” Rain looks at him at last, broad shouldered and well muscled and wearing confidence laughably easily. Do they really hold such similar values?
“Am I wrong to be cautious of you? I wonder, how many people are afraid of you?” He doesn’t recognize the resignation in his own voice.
Vegas pauses, “Well, no.” He addresses the first question, “But you will not face any threat from me.” He narrows his eyes, “It’s one of the most unlikely things in the world, but if anyone in connection with our family ever threatens you or anything of the sort, you come straight to me. That sort of thing doesn’t fly.” He sighs again, pushing himself to his feet and starting to wander the room. “Family means everything to us. If Phayu chose you, and he did, then that extends to you, too. We don’t do the sort of infighting bullshit that you see in movies, even if that can be all too real for some people.”
”But that’s not all,” Rain continues. “P’Phayu was afraid because of what happened before, as in, it could reasonably happen again.” He realizes that Vegas might not know what he is talking about, but that thought is silenced by the dark shift in Vegas’s expression. “…I shouldn’t have to decide which I value more: my love for Phayu or my personal safety.”
Vegas’s face screws up, “You’re right, of course. Shit, I should’ve gotten Pete to do this, he’d be better at it than I am.” He turns back to Rain only after that, almost as though he was talking to himself. “But think about ‘Yu, and his safety. He never had a choice. I would never put my son in danger, no matter what the cost, but I couldn’t stop him from being born into this family. But I can do whatever it takes to protect him now.” He wanders over to a picture of Rain and his mom. It’s the most cliche damn thing in the house, because it’s a photo his mom loved but it wasn’t just of the two of them, so his dad was literally ripped out of the photo before it was framed. “You can choose to leave, Rain. I won’t hold that against you, no one will. But I think you know that it will kill both of you.
”You didn’t choose to love him, and he didn’t choose to love you. Neither of you could have stopped it, just like ‘Yu couldn’t have known that someone would target you before. But just like back then, he can and will choose to fight with everything he’s got— which is a lot, far more than you know— to protect you. And if you stay, that’s what you’ll get.”
”Protection?” Rain asks quietly. “A bullet proof vest while I’m thrown into the line of fire?” But that’s just unfair, too. He recalls what Sky said about spending his life defending the family he became a part of, defending his family with Prapai.
“It’s more than that,” Vegas looks over his shoulder. “You settle into that place as Phayu’s partner, you earn a very exclusive spot on a very short list. You may be out of your depth in some ways, especially at the beginning.” He turns fully, approaching Rain once more. “You won’t be one of the most dangerous people in Thailand, but you’ll be one of the most protected. At the point that we’re at, with me and my husband? Depending on the circumstances, Pete getting injured could spark a war that rips this country in two, just because I love him.”
Rain pictures that. Holding that much power, just because someone that incredible loves you that much. Because it isn’t hard to think of Phayu as that incredible. He can imagine the sort of rage that Phayu might feel for his sake, he has seen what his love would do for him, even in small doses. With what he knows now, he can only guess what Phayu might have done back then, with Stop, if he hadn’t been trying to save Rain and shield him from his other life all at once.
Rain just doesn’t know what to do in this situation. Whatever he’s meant to do, how is he supposed to know what choice is the right one? Although, the man in front of him is an expert in the world that Rain is hopelessly naive to.
“What do you think of me?” Rain asks. “What do you think I should do?”
Vegas tilts his head, taking him in with a new consideration. He returns to his seat, propping one arm up behind him on the back of the couch, “Why would you want to know that? I don’t think it matters.”
”No, I want to know. Not that it matters, per se, but rather… I’m going in circles, I’m not getting anywhere. I know what my heart wants; I love P’Phayu more than anyone, I’ve never felt this strongly about anything before. But then I tell myself to use my head and think about the potential danger, the illegal activities, and the consequences. But then again, I don’t know much about that, I don’t have any experience with it, and I don’t know how to envision it properly. So I’m stuck.” He pauses to take a breath, rubbing his hands over his face. “It would be irresponsible to blindly follow my heart, but I literally don’t have a way to think it through.”
“Can you ever? In my experience, seeing the future is pretty difficult.” The man absentmindedly folds up the cuffs of his sleeves, which shouldn’t be intimidating except he’s built exactly like someone who fights on the daily. “You can’t know what’s going to happen.”
”But I do have it on good authority that I need better risk assessment,” Rain fires back lightly.
Vegas’s face twists up into a slight grin, “There’s no risk assessment needed: it’s dangerous. I think it is about following your heart, because it isn’t quite a sane choice. I just don’t think that it’s too big of a problem; you already put up with my son, your relationship isn’t exactly conventional.”
Rain can’t resist a slight smile. It’s that very sentiment that has been echoing in the back of Rain’s mind since the beginning, the sort of thing he’s been trying to put aside. He pushes himself up from the couch with a spike of conviction and steps toward Vegas, but suddenly his head is swimming.
He stumbles, heat flaring up in his skull and his vision going blurry. He isn’t sure what exactly is happening, his balance is thrown off and he knows he is falling. But firm hands grab him by the shoulders, stopping his rapid descent. As his eyes focus once more, he realizes it’s Vegas crouched over him.
“Shit, kid,” he mutters. He easily moves Rain around, manhandling him into a proper sitting position on the floor and looking over him carefully.
“I’m fine,” Rain mutters out, taking stock of his body. “Please, stop worrying,” he grabs Vegas’s wrist loosely, probably only stopping the movement because Vegas allows him to. “This is embarrassing.”
Vegas raises an eyebrow, “Embarrassed that you’re sick?”
Rain groans, dropping his head back against the seat of the couch, “It’s not anything, okay? I’ve not really been sleeping, eating… drinking much water. I haven’t been feeling great, it’s just because of that.” Vegas gives him a pointed, unimpressed look. He helps Rain stand and settle back onto the couch.
“Like I needed any more confirmation that you’re on the same unbelievable level as my son is.” He mostly mutters the words to himself, disappearing into the kitchen and reappearing with a cup of water. He fixes Rain with a harsh look until he relents and gulps down the lot of it. “I think you do know what you want, Rain. At least for the time being. You should also know that you’re allowed to change your mind. I want your relationship to succeed, I see how happy you make my son, but he would never trap you in this and we would never let him.”
“Why did you come here?” Rain asks again quietly, trying to figure out what exactly Vegas’s original goal was. To help Rain, just to feel him out, to see where he was planning on going with this?
“It’s hard to explain,” Vegas admits, looking as unperturbed as he sounds. “After thinking about it, I figured you’d be stuck. And I wasn’t wrong.” He smirks a bit, “I wanted to know where your brain was at. And I have a responsibility to look after my family, and to look out for my son. I was covering a lot of bases by coming here.”
Rain can’t figure out this man, and his brain is already fried anyway. “Thank you for helping me. Figure out my thoughts and with the, ah— collapsing thing.”
“I’m happy to help; I like you, Rain.” He carefully takes the empty glass from Rain’s hand and puts it on the coffee table. “I’m going to suggest it, and you can disagree, but perhaps you should call Phayu.” He winks, “I’ll take my leave, now. I’ve bothered you enough, I’ll see myself out. Please sit down for a few minutes.”
As much as his mother’s teachings go against it, Rain does allow that, because he probably will end up dizzy if he stands up again. He sits only for a couple of minutes, thinking. His conversation with Vegas feels like a fever dream, he can’t quite make sense of what it was they talked about, but it helped. Somehow, it helped.
He pulls out his phone after a minute and just… texts Phayu, asking him if he’d be willing to come over. He doesn’t actually look at the response, because a thought occurs to him: maybe he won’t come. Why would he meet Rain’s demands after everything that Rain has put him through?
His head is starting to pound and he curls in on himself, chewing on his bottom lip. He very well could have ruined everything already with his actions over the past few days. He knows that Phayu had known there was a chance that he wouldn’t take it well, but between the secrets and the nature of them and just how massive of a revelation it was— Rain freaked out. He left.
He hurt and hurt and hurt Phayu, had broken down and made it everyone’s problem. Rain has been spiraling for the past few days and has torn through everything in his path… Phayu must be angry with him in some way, especially for throwing this whole tantrum only to settle on being alright. Not to mention—
“Rain?” Phayu’s voice is the strike of a bell, the crack of a whip. But there is clear concern, too, calling out into the space. “Why was the door open, Rain—?” In the time it takes him to say all of this, he crosses the entryway and the hall and gets close enough to see Rain’s crumpled form beside the couch. “Baby, are you okay, what’s wrong—”
He moves forward as he speaks, pulling Rain close to him without hesitation, but not for the first time in the past few days, Rain halts the movement with barely there resistance. “P’Phayu,” he looks up at the other man, who looks uncharacteristically uncertain. Rain wonders what a wreck he himself looks like; Pale, close to tears, and sleep-deprived, probably the picture of a mess. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t—”
Phayu shushes him quickly, “Don’t apologize, my love, don’t say that you shouldn’t have done anything that you did. This was a terrible situation; you did what you could, for yourself, and that’s all I could ever ask you to do.” As he speaks, he takes careful stock of Rain. He brushes loose strands of hair back, presses the back of his hand to Rain’s forehead, and frowns. “You haven’t been taking care of yourself.”
”Neither have you,” Rain shoots back immediately, even as his voice wavers. “You have bags under your eyes. You haven’t been sleeping, have you?”
”And you’ve gotten yourself sick,” Phayu retorts. “Because we both can’t handle this.” Rain dives forward, finally burying himself in Phayu’s chest the way he’s been craving for days. The warmth of his skin, the relaxing, steady beating of his heart, Rain swears that he’s been dreaming of it during the bouts of sleep he has managed to snatch.
“This is a lot,” Rain croaks, his voice muffled because he refuses to pull away, “But I want to be with you. I have to.” He has so much he needs to say but he’s shivering and breathing heavily and tired.
“It’s okay, love,” Phayu comforts and, yes, that deep, soothing honey is the missing piece that makes any other comfort so ineffective. “Just take your time, it’s going to be okay. We’re going to figure everything out.” Rain takes another breath and straightens up, wiping tears out of his eyes to meet his lover’s eyes. ”Okay,” Phayu says slowly, “My dad… did mention you were weirdly put together about some stuff.”
Rain nods, once, “We need to clear up some things.” Phayu’s face grows more serious, but there’s an unmistakable affection in the way he watches Rain. Rain taps his fingers against the palm of his opposite hand, trying to think despite the current uselessness of his own goddamn brain. Other than all the sadness and fear and grief and anxiety, there’s also been a lot of frustration with this whole situation. “Okay, first. I need to know that you’ll listen to me. I know I don’t know a lot about all of this, you’re way more experienced than me. But when I have an opinion about something, I need to know you’ll consider it.”
Phayu reaches out and takes his fidgeting hand, enveloping it in his own, “Of course I will. We’re partners, and I will always listen to the way you feel about something. Especially in cases like this.” Warmth sparks in Rain’s chest, the beginnings of a soothing calm.
“Thank you,” Rain’s shoulders slump a bit in relief. “Next, I don’t want you to keep things from me any more. I know it will take some time, and I don’t mean you need to tell me every single thing that’s ever happened to you, but— if there’s something you’re worried about me knowing, then I have to know it.”
Phayu winces, like the words were a blow to his chest, “I will, I swear. This is… the last secret I ever plan on even considering keeping from you. I want you in my life, Rain; I don’t plan on doing anything to keep you out of it.”
Rain takes another breath, steadying himself to put that conviction to the test. “Alright, good. Now… I need to know what you’re like, outside of me and your family and the people you care about. I keep coming back to how P’Pai acted that day— not that I disapprove, far from it, but back then it was certainly surprising. I need to know what you’re like under real pressure.”
Phayu pauses, not nervous but just considering, “In that situation, I would have done the exact same thing. I have been in fights before, I was raised learning how to take care of myself. But I wouldn’t be violent with someone unprompted, or for no reason. I have strong feelings about staying as professional as possible; I don’t like people who use their power unfairly. I defend my family, and I’m content with just that.”
Rain can believe that; he is used to trusting Phayu, but it’s also that he knows Phayu. Despite all the times he’s questioned that in the past few days, he’s always come to the conclusion that he does. “Okay… okay.”
Phayu smiles a little, desperate hope in his eyes, “Okay?”
Rain bursts out in a smile, tears pricking the corners of his eyes once more, “Okay.” He jumps forward again, throwing himself at his boyfriend. He tackles Phayu into the couch, burying his face in his lover’s chest. Phayu’s arms encircle his waist immediately, pulling him even closer somehow. One hand threads through Rain’s hair while Phayu presses a gentle kiss to the crown of Rain’s head.
“Don’t cry, baby,” Phayu murmurs, “Everything’s okay, love, we’re okay now.” He himself is clearly emotional, Rain can tell without even seeing him. It does funny things to Rain’s heart, the mix of pure joy and immense grief.
They lay there for a while, Phay never once halting the movements and muttering and touching, and Rain resolutely refusing to move. The pressure of being held like this is everything Rain has missed; he never wants to move.
He does, eventually, just shifting because he has been laying for so long, but Phayu takes it as prompting. He hauls Rain up into a decent sitting position and looks him over again. He sighs slightly, “When was the last time you ate?” Rain ducks his head to avoid answering, but that is an answer in and of itself.
“I’m fine,” Rain mutters, “I don’t have much of an appetite.” Phayu raises a brow and Rain shoves his shoulder. “There isn’t much food in the house anyway, I’m fine—”
”Then we’ll go back to my house,” Phayu grins, and Rain realizes he has walked into a trap. He does very much want to go back to Phayu’s house, he wants to be back there and let himself know that everything is okay.
Phayu takes his time to herd Rain out the door because of Rain’s current state and refusal to fully detach himself from Phayu. Well, that part is reciprocated, Phayu always has a hand on Rain somewhere. But he does eventually get Rain out to his car and he immediately turns on the radio. He keeps it low and quiet, but he likes having something going on. He hums along with the tune, fidgeting in his seat but smiling relentlessly. He reaches out and takes Phayu’s hand, lacing their fingers together. “I’m sorry that it had to go down this way.”
”I know you are,” Phayu replies easily. “Rain, we both are. But—”
”It’s going to be okay,” Rain finishes, squeezing Phayu’s hand. “We’re going to be okay.”