Work Text:
Locked Secrets
The ArchEng gang are being put to work in an old classroom. Why? You wonder. Well it all really stems from the fact that 3 students in each group seem to have a very large, childish rivalry between them. The main instigators being Wai in the architecture faculty and Korn in the engineering faculty. No one understands it, especially not the 2 boys trying to stop their friends from getting suspended, or worse expelled from university.
They’re all currently cleaning up an old, unused classroom. You could break the tension with a knife, or just an extremely sharp glare. Suddenly the crooning voices of Tilly Birds erupt.
เดอะแบก lyrics blast out loud, startling all 8 boys present.
A young 6 foot boy with shaggy black hair pulls his phone out of his jeans pockets, barely sparing a glance to the screen, he starts the call, walking to the side of the room. “Yes Mae?”
After a few minutes, he walks back looking worried, more specifically to his “rival” in Engineering: Pat. “She’s coming here. Mae wants to meet me here.”
Pat pales “Oh shit.”
“Yes shit. What are we going to do?”
The two boys frantically look around, as if hoping for something to come to them. Chang, Korn and Mo just look betrayed towards Pat - how dare he communicate with the enemy. Wai however just feels lost, and kinda wants to punch Pat for existing, thankfully Safe and Louis have some sort of self-restraint and manage to stop him before any blood is shed.
Louis pipes up “The building is pretty old, and any rooms are either locked or just hard to open.” The others look at him in disgust as he’s helping the enemy.
Pran is almost about to hyperventilate when Pat kneels next to him, ‘wait when did I get to the floor?’ Pran thought to himself.
“You just… fell onto the floor.” Pran hits the taller Engineering boy, “Shut up, I can’t hear my thoughts over you.”
Pat smiles, “Isn’t that a good thing then, that I’m on your mind.” He whines when he feels a fist against his bicep.
“Ok, focus, you need to hide in the next 10 minutes before my mum comes in and forces me to go to another uni across the country, or even in a different country. I can’t handle that this time.”
“Aww so you do love me, the great Pran Parakul Siridechawat loves me. I could shout it out to the world.”
The boys roughhouse and banter for a while, until they stop and finally get serious about what may happen.
“Focus Pran. You’re the smart one. I can’t leave the building, probably the room.”
Pran looks around, panic settling into his eyes, until he glimpses something to use. “At least you acknowledge I’m the superior genius,” he rolls his eyes, “the closet. Get in there.”
“Hold up. What’s going on?” two voices of Korn and Wai overlapped.
“Wai, just don’t ask questions we’ll explain later,” Pran responded to Wai.
“I promise you, I’ll tell you the whole, long story when we have time.” Pat consoles Korn.
“Just act like normal. You don’t know any guy called Pat. We volunteered together to clean the room. Mention nothing of him. At all.” he gestured to Wai and the other 2 boys in the faculty of engineering.
His phone buzzes again, Pran jerks his head towards Pat.
Pat flashes a thumbs up “Gotta go. See you soon.”
It almost seems like hours when Pran’s mum finally arrives, the seven boys, well more accurately 6 boys were shooting looks between each other, each a varying version of ‘Did you know this?’ ‘How do they know each other?’ ‘I still hate you. This changes nothing.’ - two guesses to whom that may belong to. ‘Is this why they keep making us try to talk?’ ‘What the hell is going on?’ ‘Is this a prank?’ ‘No, why would it be a prank - be for real dude.’ ‘This makes no sense. At all.’ Suffice to say, confusion reigns between the boys.
Pran’s mum - a very intimidating woman with sharp features and raven black hair walks in with poise and grace rarely ever seen in her son. “Pran? How are you? Who are they?”
Wai butts in, “Hello ma’am. Your food was absolutely delicious last week,” his face almost sours before he put it back to a more indifferent expression, “We ah have volunteered with these boys in the Engineering faculty to clean up the rooms and help plan here for the campaign that will be happening next month.” He shot a look towards Pran that definitely begs for an explanation. Dissaya hums to herself, she and Pran talk a bit more, the norm - how his studies are going, the next time he’s going to come home.
Chang, Mo and Korn are just standing there with a broom and mop in hand, trying to not look anywhere specific.
“At least they’re more disciplined than that boy next door, what’s his name again? Pat.” Pran’s jaw tightens, and so does Pat’s friends.
“Ahh, what a rowdy, undisciplined, bad-mannered boy. I’ve seen his father around here,” she spat, “You haven’t seen or talked to that boy have you?”
“No mae, I have not seen him. Why would I see him?” His mother sighs before informing her son that he apparently also studies in the same university as her son, further exclaiming how useless Pat is.
After a few minutes, she finally leaves, just after making Pran promise to visit home more often. Once she is out of his sight, he slumps against the door.
“Is it safe?” a voice yells out into the quiet.
“Yeah come out,” Pran yells back. Pran finally stretches his limbs after being cooped up for so long, “Ah but my dear Pran, I already came a few weeks ago”. Pran flushes from the double entendre, but makes no movement or action to oppose what was just said.
Their friends still are a pile of confused shock, not understanding since when 2 of them have had any kind of understanding or friendship.