Chapter Text
Between the Headlines
Chapter One
5 July 2026
Three months earlier.
“If this... is becoming something more, then I need a moment where it's just the two of us, Ohm.”
There is never enough time on a film set for a difficult conversation. Someone is always calling for the next take, adjusting a microphone, or waiting behind a camera.
So Jimmy sits beside him during a break, his heart pounding against his ribs, carrying the unmistakable feeling that he has already lost something before saying a single word.
Ohm looks at him, confused.
Jimmy takes a slow breath.
“I can't keep being careful about everything anymore. About what I say, how I say it, the way I look at you, the way I react whenever you do something for me.
I constantly feel as though, whatever I do, it'll never be enough.”
Ohm says nothing.
Jimmy lowers his eyes.
“Just tell me honestly.”
His fingers tremble almost imperceptibly.
“Am I enough for you? Is who I am enough? Or do you need someone who moves at your pace... someone who shares your ambitions, your relentless need to keep reaching further and further?”
The silence that follows weighs heavier than any answer ever could.
Jimmy forces a weary smile.
“I think we've gone too far. And I... I don't want to cross that line if we're not both willing to accept what this could become. I am willing.
I'm willing to risk everything. But I can't do it on my own.”
He swallows hard.
“So... perhaps this is where we should stop.”
Ohm's eyes widen.
His entire life, he had believed his career would always come first. More opportunities. More time under the spotlight.
Growing, proving he deserved every chance he had been given. He had never imagined that those very ambitions would one day force him to make a choice like this.
“What... what are you talking about?”
But Jimmy has already made his decision.
Ninety-two days have passed.
Jimmy stopped counting after the first month.
The notifications never stop.
Videos. Edits. Screenshots. Endless analyses of every glance they had shared over the years. Every gesture becomes fresh proof that he still misses Ohm.
He ignores almost all of it.
He no longer feels the need to prove anything to anyone.
Some time ago, he made the decision to start taking care of the wound that, whenever someone managed to get truly close to him, convinced him he should be the one to step back, even when every part of him wanted to take a thousand steps forward instead.
He keeps reminding himself it was the right decision.
For Ohm.
And for himself.
Ohm, on the other hand, has never known how to live with silence.
He fills it however he can.
Photographs of the sky.
Songs that seem to speak in his place.
Captions vague enough for fans to find every possible meaning hidden between the lines.
Jimmy sees every single one of those posts.
Always.
But he never looks at them long enough to let himself believe they mean anything.
He never leaves a like.
He never comments.
He never replies.
“I want them as the leads.”
Ohm reads every single comment.
He smiles whenever he comes across people imagining a new pairing.
But every time someone criticises Jimmy...
he cannot bring himself to say a word.
The same courage he failed to find when it truly mattered.
And the guilt keeps growing.
He isn't ready for a new acting partner.
But time waits for no one.
The role has to be cast.
Perhaps meeting someone new will hurt less than continuing to wait for someone he can no longer have.
So, when he starts working with Phupha, he makes a genuine effort to get to know him.
They talk.
They film a few TikToks.
They laugh together behind the scenes.
Phupha is spontaneous, bright, and blessed with the kind of effortless charm that makes flirting seem as natural as breathing.
For the fans, that's more than enough.
The narrative has already begun.
On 14 July, Jimmy and Phupha attend their first Prada event together.
And that is where something happens that no one could have predicted.
Phupha meets Jimmy.
And without even realising it...
he finds himself looking for him.
“P' Jimmy.”
He calls him once.
Then again.
Jimmy answers with the quiet kindness he offers anyone who needs to feel welcome.
Absent-mindedly, he smooths a crease from Phupha's jacket.
His fingertips brush against his arm as he guides him towards the set.
Just before the group photograph, he casually drapes an arm across his shoulders for the briefest of moments.
Tiny gestures.
To Jimmy, they mean nothing.
To Phupha...
they are enough to make him want to see that smile again.
The internet loses its mind.
"Jimmy is so soft with Phupha."
"Look how he smiles at him."
"New chemistry?"
"At this point, just pair everyone with Jimmy."
"Why do all Ohm's potential partners end up falling for Jimmy?"
Jimmy smiles when one of the notifications appears.
He shakes his head.
Then closes the app.
He has no idea that, on the other side of the city, Ohm has already watched that very same clip more than fifteen times.
Eight seconds.
Just eight seconds.
But they are enough.
Because Ohm knows that smile better than anyone.
It is the smile Jimmy saves for the people who make him feel safe.
At first, he even laughs.
“The internet's gone mad.”
He says it during a livestream.
He jokes about it.
Pretends he doesn't care.
But that same night, he opens X again.
More videos.
More edits.
More comments.
"Phupha looks at Jimmy like he's already gone."
The phone almost slips from his hands.
For the first time in three months...
he is afraid.
Not that Jimmy hates him.
Not that he has stopped loving him.
He is afraid of something far worse.
That someone else might succeed in making Jimmy genuinely happy.
And that Jimmy...
this time...
might allow himself to be.