Work Text:
1.
For the first few seconds, Phuwin tried to ignore the insistent buzzing at his side from where Pond’s thigh was pressed to his, and apparently, so was Pond’s phone.
He tried to focus on Gemini’s interesting story about motorboats and fantasy in the corporate world—the premise seemed rather promising—but his patience wavered each time Pond ignored the buzzing until it died, only for it to start all over again.
Finally, on the fifth ring, Phuwin dropped a hand down to Pond’s thigh, searched around for the outline of something hard and thin, then hiked his hand higher until Pond stilled beside him; until Phuwin knew he had Pond’s attention. Pond shifted a moment, but his leg remained pinned under Phuwin’s touch.
“Pick up the call,” Phuwin said, low, barely glancing in his direction. He angled himself slightly away from the open crook of Pond’s left arm, patted his hand over the clear impression of a phone in Pond’s pocket.
There was a sudden silence between them, but it passed quickly, and Pond dutifully took the call. Phuwin settled back into his side, sighing in relief as he took a sip of his drink and Pond’s arm lifted to accommodate him more comfortably, fingers coming to rest on Phuwin’s right shoulder.
2.
Pond’s hair was a mess, his wardrobe was overflowing with AC blankets, and his phone was nowhere to be found.
Phuwin stood in the middle of the poor apartment that resembled a war base, and put his hands on his hips as he watched Pond search for at least three different things at once and his phone. “I could call your phone, you know.”
“It’s on silent,” Pond grumbled from behind the sofa, the top of his head bobbing up then down before he finally resurfaced, a distinct line of irritation on his mouth.
Phuwin watched with some amusement, and finally huffed, crossing and uncrossing his arms as he said, “Go pack your bags. I’ll handle this, you have a flight in the evening.”
Pond mumbled in ill humor but obeyed, slumbering towards his bedroom in his fluffy house-slippers and his Permpoon sweatpants. Five minutes later, when Phuwin handed him his phone, he looked at it as if his brain had short-circuited. “You … found it?”
Phuwin answered with a light shrug, “Told you I’d handle it.”
Pond watched him, eyes dark with wonder, and Phuwin pressed the phone to his chest, Pond’s fingers flying up to catch his phone, their fingers tangling for a stupid second.
Phuwin turned away with a fond, embarrassed smile.
3.
“If we do this,” Phuwin was saying, but really, there was no ‘we’, there was only his own hand mapping out the curve of Pond’s shoulder as it met his neck, his leg hitched up on the blanket pooling at Pond’s hips that he could use as leverage to straddle him, “and I,” he tilted his nose closer to Pond’s, and watched his eyelashes flutter, then Pond’s eyes drifted away from him and he didn’t quite like that, so he stroked a firm line down Pond’s hard chest, “climb up his—”
“There’s a camera there,” Phuwin froze, and jumped off Pond with a nervous laugh as Pond stayed reclined against the headboard, pointing with a finger. “They’re filming- Ah, they just caught that on tape.”
If Phuwin were not so dedicated to his job as an actor, he might’ve been offended that the BTS crew was trying to catch him with his hand down Pond’s pants or something. He relented, grumbling loudly, half-laughing, about how he was going to be teased about this forever. Pond was supposed to save him from these situations, what kind of partner was he?
“I did,” Pond defended himself, much later, on a different filming location, as they both sat on an empty bench, finishing up Phum and Peem’s ice-creams. “I alerted you as soon as I noticed!”
Phuwin gave him a narrow, playful look of consideration. “You’re usually so quick at spotting a camera. How come that one slipped past you, huh?”
“I- I spotted it quickly, whatever. You were—teasing me. I wasn’t paying attention.”
That word: teasing, it slotted into Phuwin’s brain like a free pass, and it seemed as if he’d just gotten permission for something that hadn’t been forbidden in the first place. It gleamed like an opportunity. Phuwin didn’t think much about it; just assimilated it into his vocabulary with a new meaning.
“You’re easy to tease,” he said, and Pond accepted it with a defeated smile.
4.
The wardrobe was still not done fixing Pond’s microphone band across his waist when Phuwin stepped up behind him with ease.
Phuwin shot them all reassuring looks to communicate that they should continue what they were doing. He’d just be a quick second anyway. Then, carefully, he rolled down that one upturned part of Pond’s jacket-collar, pressing the edge between his thumb and forefinger and sealing it like a Ziplock bag, so that it stayed in place. His fingers brushed the vulnerable skin of Pond’s nape, right below the shaved outline of his undercut. The skin was warm and soft.
He knew someone was giving him a look, and someone else was trying not to stare, but most people were too busy finishing them up for their next performance to spend precious time squealing over them. Which was why this was a great time for Phuwin to do whatever he wanted.
Then, quite suddenly, Pond turned, and they came face to face, wide eyes to wide eyes. “I-I didn’t—” Pond raised his hands, and then dropped them, visibly losing track of his words, “P’Aom turned me. Look—look, she’s laughing.”
Their makeup artist, P’Aom was indeed laughing. When Pond blew her cover, she laughed harder, tilting her head to meet Phuwin’s eyes. Phuwin didn’t see what was so funny but it was probably because he and Pond were now standing close enough to balance a coin between their mouths. Phuwin just shook his head, smiling as he stepped away.
He’d been closer to Pond than that. Multiple times.
5.
When P’X finally gave them the go, Phuwin got to his feet, breaking away from P’Beer’s makeup brush with a thankful nod.
Across from him, Pond was already on his mark, Khun Thee flickering to life on his stern face. He glanced at Phuwin, and then the scene started to be set up for filming, the cameras about to go off from standby. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Phuwin saw Pond’s hand slip out of his pocket, and Phuwin was speaking before he’d even realized it.
“Wait, stop, please!” The set paused, all eyes on Phuwin. “Pond, where’s your ring? You’re not wearing your ring.”
Pond blinked at him, and raised his right hand, showing off the gleaming wedding band that snugly rested there. “But I am wearing my ring.”
“The—” Phuwin didn’t know why he faltered, but a few people around them had already caught on and were starting to smile knowingly, and his neck and face felt a little warm, all of a sudden. “The Versace ring.”
P’X audibly snorted, and then called out, “Okay, hold! Please get Pond his ring, I think it slipped out during the last scene.”
“I got it,” someone shouted back, thrusting a victorious hand in the air which held the missing ring securely between two fingers. Apparently, it’d fallen to the floor.
Phuwin straightened himself, tugging slightly at his necklace as he stared into space, face set in a neutral, meditative expression. He was trying to get back into his character. He didn’t look at Pond again until Pond’d been replaced by Khun Thee.
+1
Phuwin grinned brightly at his fans and then at Pond, who was curling in on himself with laughter. God, teasing Pond never got old.
“Oh, no, they’re actually red,” P’Godji said, much to the enthusiasm of everyone in the crowd who cheered even louder. Phuwin caught bits and pieces of what they were trying to chant, and turned to P’Godji with a questioning look.
“Hm? What’s red?” He turned to look at his partner, who was giving him a helpless smile, the one that meant he was enjoying himself but against his better judgement, “What’s red?”
Pond’s gaze darted away from him; he laughed again, a burst of nervous energy. Phuwin started to get almost concerned before he saw Pond’s finger come up weakly to point at his own ear, and as he met Phuwin’s eyes, he said, “My ears.”
Phuwin’s world started buzzing, faint as if a swarm was starting to wake up from slumber. The fans were still hollering with joy, more teasing, more laughter. To Phuwin, it all blurred into meaningless noise. His eyes settled on the bright red curve of Pond’s ear, “Wait, really?”, and then he stepped closer, tilting his head to confirm what he was seeing, and realized that red ears were now Pond’s thing. Covered by Pond’s long hair for so long, they were now exposed to everyone’s eyes.
Phuwin had never really thought of red ears as such a big deal. He wondered what this meant.