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“Pip—” Tee let out a long whine, his eyes getting bigger the longer he stared up at the other. Por seemed unbothered by it. His lips were pulled into an amused grin, while he held Tee’s gaze.
Unflinching. Unfazed.
Tee felt the heat rise into his cheeks and had to look away first.
“Meanie…” he mumbled and fumbled with the edges of the script that he was holding in his left hand. The right was playing with the seam of his trousers’ leg. And Por? Por just snickered from his position up on the bed, laying comfortable on his stomach as he looked at Tee who was seated on the floor.
The fabric began to fray. Tee blanched and stopped the picking. He quite liked that pair of trousers, but it was hard to keep his nervous habits in check.
“Tee~”
Shit. Tee’s body shivered as the elder’s sweet voice wrapped around him like a warm blanket. That… was not fair.
And the worst part?
Por knew it.
Tee swallowed and looked up – there was no way he couldn’t. No way, no world where he wouldn’t. He had always been like a sailor at sea, listening to the siren’s call.
“Mh?”
Por was looking down at him with his big deer eyes again. Fatal. Tee would do anything the other boy asked. He knew it.
Por knew it.
“Please, just one more time?”
“You said that the last time already,” Tee protested, but they both already knew that Tee had given in. He had already straightened his back, opening the script again at the same page.
Like he didn’t know the lines by heart already.
Not like he didn’t hate every single word on that page – for that one scene. He would rather rip out his own tongue than say them again.
“Please let me hear you say it~” Por drawled, pushing himself closer with his elbows. His fringe fell into his eyes and Tee was torn between reaching out to push it away or simply combust on the spot. He decided for the secret third option: Focusing on the script.
Reading the lines again.
The lines that Jai would come to regret. The lines Tee already regretted in his stead.
“I want to retch just reading them,” he murmured and this time Por’s voice was not amused when he spoke.
“I know,” he said, humming, “It’s practice. Come on.”
Tee glanced up through his own bangs and though there was no grin on Por’s face anymore, the younger knew that this wasn’t the only reason why Por wanted him to repeat this.
“Why do you like this scene so much?” he complained, but had already accepted his fate.
Por’s lips twitched.
“Mh… there are two reasons, I guess,” he admitted and tilted his head.
Shit. Tee exhaled loudly through his nose. Jai. Jai. He was trying to be Jai now. In a moment, at least.
“And these are?” he couldn’t help but prod. He had a feeling that he knew, but he was actually surprised to hear there was more than one reason.
Por opened his own copy. On the pages, he had lined all his parts in blue, and added countless scribbles on the side. Notes on tone. Notes for his facial expressions. Por was meticulous, a perfectionist when it came to his performances.
Tee admired that from the bottom of his heart. He couldn’t let him down. Couldn’t let this project down.
“For one… I like that VAVA will side with me against you.”
Tee groaned at that.
“For a while!” he retorted with narrowed brows. Good gods, this was going to kill him.
“for long enough,” Por countered with the amusement back in his eyes and voice.
Tee rolled his eyes.
“You’re gonna be insufferable about this, won’t you?”
Por leaned in, bringing their faces closer. Almost too close. Tee could smell the other’s cologne and could hardly stop himself from inhaling deeply. His eyes darted from brown orbs to rosy lips and back up.
“Absolutely,” Por mouthed and then pulled back to give Tee enough space.
How very nice. A true gentleman.
“Bastard,” Tee muttered, “what about the second reason?”
Por shrugged his shoulders, “I’ll tell you after you did the scene for me again.”
Great.
Okay.
“Fine.”
Tee exhaled deeply. Then inhaled deeply through his nose.
Let Jai come to the surface – pushing Tee to the back of his mind. The Jai he had created himself. The Jai who didn’t know how to deal with his best friend. Who didn’t know what he was doing to him, how he was causing that little fragile heart to break.
Tee opened his eyes. His brows were slightly furrowed as he brought his gaze on Por. On Pik. Jai was currently annoyed at his best friend. And confused. So very, very confused.
A huff left him, the bewilderment of Jai settling in his own bones. His frustration rose in his own system, ready to burst. Fed-up with it all.
“You know you’re being irrational?” Jai spoke, voice void of the usual warmth he weaved in when speaking to Pik.
He – Jai – just didn’t know what to think about his best friend’s behaviour anymore.
“You’re getting immature.”
“Yeah,” Por’s reply came immediately. Tee could tell it was Por, not Pik. He wasn’t immersed right now, and he didn’t need to be. Por peeked at his notes for a heartbeat as if he, too, hadn’t memorised the whole page already by heart.
“I’m immature,” Por’s eyes flicked up to his, “and I’m irrational too. That’s why I skipped practice for you.”
Tee let Jai’s confusion slip into his gaze. His eyes searched Por’s for a moment, before he let the scene continue.
“I didn’t think… you would worry about me this much.”
Por, who was suddenly so much closer again, who had used his arms to pull himself closer to the edge of the bed, looked him straight in the eye.
And there was Pik.
Hurt. Bewildered. At a loss.
Tee nearly let out a sob. Jai kept staring however.
Even though the proximity made it harder now, Tee let Jai look at his best friend, as if he could somehow find the answers to all that was going wrong between them.
“You never know a god damn thing,” Pik whispers, and Tee nearly breaks. Again. Every time they reached this bit, he felt his stomach drop, and the queasiness settled in.
“Pik—”
It’s not in the script, but he feels like Jai would try to stop him. Try to stop his best friend from leaving because that was his driving force. His fear of losing his best friend. His fear of being alone. Of being left behind and—
He didn’t realise he had been trembling until Por’s steady hands cradled his face. Thumbs brush over his cheekbones, and suddenly he is being pulled back into reality.
“Hey,” Por’s voice is close, so close that he can feel his warm breath against his skin. Tee’s eyes finally focus again and he swallows, trying to get a grip.
“Back again?” his partner asks and Tee finds genuine worry in those brown orbs. In Por’s eyes. Not Pik.
He let out a shaky exhale and nodded carefully, not wanting to lose the grounding presence of the elder’s hands on his face.
“Yeah. Sorry,” he mumbled, feeling slightly embarrassed. Why did this always happen to him? When his empathy just… got the better of him.
“Don’t be,” Por said and let his fingers run over Tee’s eyes as if he was making sure that there were no tears.
Tee pouted slightly at that.
“I’m not crying Pi’por…”
The fingers retreated, and gave him a view of a captivating smile. “Just making sure.”
“You’re terrible,” Tee mumbled with his pout still in place and when Por leaned down to place a lingering kiss on his puckered lips he nearly let out a squeak.
He caught himself just in time, thanks for asking. That would have been… more than a little embarrassing.
“You like it,” Por offered, his eyes gleaming with mirth, and a hint of satisfaction, “when I am terrible.”
Tee huffed and leaned in closer, his heart feeling lighter and lighter thanks to the way Por had steered the conversation to cheer him up and lift the mood.
“False,” he simply said and rubbed their noses together, “I like you. Always.”
It was Por’s turn to blush- and Tee’s turn to grin, even when Por pulled his hands away now from where they had rested on his cheeks: Warm and perfect.
“Happy now?”
Por grumbled, but didn’t move away. Only averted his eyes as he spoke.
“Yeah. You did great.”
Tee shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m not sure I’ll be able to do it well enough when we actually film this.”
“You will,” Por answered immediately and looked at him again. “I know you hate this part. You’re not Jai. Let him be a little stupid, mh?”
“A little?” Tee rolled his eyes, “More like a lot.”
Por snickered and leaned in closer again, his eyes doing that thing where they seemed to darken just a little bit and pull Tee in like a spell has been cast.
Fuck his life. He was so, so lucky.
“I heard he makes it up to Pik though,” Por drawled, voice a little husky now. Tee’s brain was this close to short-circuiting at that. He opened his mouth, and for a moment, not a single word came out, as he was trying not to stare.
Not to lean in and just kiss the other again.
“Eventually,” he managed, also eventually.
“I’m looking forward to that,” Por said, as if they both didn’t know what that would entail. What kind of scenes he meant, that they would get to film eventually. Perhaps even sooner than later. They would need to see. Tee tried not to think of that now.
He had the real thing right in front him now anyway. With a lazy kind of smile on his face, as he was enjoying riling him up, apparently.
Which reminded him of something that had nearly slipped his mind. Tee blinked, and managed to focus his thoughts away from upcoming kissing and bed scenes.
Yep. Jai would have to wait a while for that. First he is going to go through all the stages of painful suffering. Hopefully, he will suffer.
Anyway.
“What about the second reason now? You said you’ll tell me, Pip~ No take backs!”
Por looked at him. Just looked at him, his eyes … doing the triangle method on him?
Okay? Where was this going? Just as he opened his mouth to ask, did the other move. He got up from the bed, and Tee absolutely didn’t stare at the flash of skin that was revealed when his boyfriend moved. Por didn’t pay the bunched-up shirt any mind as he kept his gaze firmly locked on Tee, who was still sitting on the floor cross-legged.
A moment later, his lap was suddenly full of boyfriend, and Tee’s hands came up to hold him by his waist automatically.
His heart was hammering at a dangerous pace now. No matter how long they’ve been this – together – his heart never seemed to slow down when Por was close.
The fuzzy feeling in his stomach never seemed to die down either, and instead, every time it seemed to get worse.
It was exhilarating.
Tee was so in love.
Arms came around his neck, and Tee let out a soft noise of pleasure when Por slid along his lap, leaning in closer and closer.
“Well,” he began, and Tee could feel said fuzzy feeling of anticipation settle in his stomach. It was thrilling to have Por this close. It always left him breathless. Always a little overwhelmed, but in the good way. Tee just didn’t know where to look first. Where to touch first.
Because Por was perfection to him. In every way.
“Y-Yeah?”
Their lips were so close now. And Por’s eyes had drifted down, looking at Tee’s mouth. He was trying to distract him. Tee wouldn’t have it. He stayed strong and didn’t bridge the gap even though every fibre of his being was screaming at him.
Por admitted defeat with a small sigh.
“You look hot,” he started and Tee let out an unceremonious, “huh?” at that. Por just shrugged his shoulders as if he hadn’t just dropped such a bomb on his boyfriend, and pulled back slightly.
He averted his eyes, seemingly not able to look at him when he continued. “You look hot. When you’re all focused and in the zone.” He glanced over at him now, but didn’t turn back to face him.
Cute, Tee’s brain supplied helpfully.
“You ask me to act out that horrid scene because you think I’m hot when I do it,” Tee summarised, the disbelief clearly reflected in his tone of voice.
“Maybe,” Por offered, “and to help you practice. Now drop it,” he continued and grabbed Tee’s collar now.
He pulled.
“Or are you not going to kiss me now?”
Tee decided then and there that if that was the outcome of every instance of going through this scene, it might be worth it.
Their mouths met, hot and hungry. Por kissed him like he had been starving for days.
And well, Tee decided to amend his statement. It was absolutely worth it.
He’d read through this scene for as many times as Por wanted.
He got his happy end in the end after all.
Fin.