Chapter Text
there were a lot of things people knew about por.
he laughed too loudly at his own jokes.
he couldn’t decide what to eat without asking three different people for their opinions.
he bought things just because they reminded him of someone.
and…
he was hopelessly attached to tee.
everyone knew it.
north knew it because por somehow managed to bring tee into every conversation.
wave knew it because por sent screenshots of his chats with tee into the group chat whenever he thought tee had said something cute.
even the café auntie outside campus knew it.
“where’s your boyfriend today?” she’d ask whenever por showed up alone.
por would just smile.
“he has class.”
“ah,” she’d nod knowingly. “tell him i said hello.”
it had gotten to the point where nobody questioned it anymore.
if por disappeared for five minutes, there was a good chance he was replying to tee.
if he smiled at his phone, everyone already knew who had texted.
if he suddenly laughed in the middle of class…
tee had probably sent him another terrible meme.
por wasn’t embarrassed by any of it.
if anything…
he liked that people knew.
because loving tee had never been something he wanted to hide.
their relationship wasn’t exciting in the way movies made relationships look.
there were no dramatic confessions in the rain.
no grand gestures every other week.
no constant surprises.
instead…
their love existed in tiny routines.
tee texting him whenever he got home.
por reminding tee to eat lunch.
falling asleep on call because neither of them wanted to hang up first.
buying drinks for each other without asking what the other wanted because they’d memorised each other’s orders months ago.
none of it was particularly special.
until someone looked closely.
then they’d realise those little things had quietly become the foundation of everything.
every morning started exactly the same.
before por even got out of bed…
he reached for his phone.
their chat was already open from the night before.
he smiled to himself before typing.
por: good morning !!
por: i woke up before my alarm today
por: i think i’m finally becoming responsible
less than a minute later, his phone buzzed.
tee: congratulationss
tee: your reward is getting out of bed.
por: wow.
por: i was expecting praise.
tee: good job.
tee: now go brush your teeth.
por: yes sir 🫡
tee: breakfast too.
por: yes sir 🫡
tee: and don’t forget your water bottle.
por: …i forgot it once
tee: three times.
por: we’re not counting.
por smiled to himself as he finally climbed out of bed.
it wasn’t an exciting conversation.
they’d probably had the exact same exchange dozens of times before, changing a word here and there but always ending the same way. somehow, neither of them ever got tired of it.
there was something comforting about knowing the first thing he’d see every morning was tee’s name lighting up his screen.
“you’re smiling.”
por looked up from his phone just as north dropped into the seat across from him in the lecture hall.
“…good morning to you too.”
“don’t ‘good morning’ me.” north pointed at the phone still in por’s hand. “was it tee?”
por blinked innocently.
“what do you mean was it tee?”
“por.”
“…yes.”
wave walked in a second later, coffee in one hand and a sandwich in the other.
“what happened?”
“tee texted him.”
wave looked at por.
“it’s eight in the morning.”
“exactly.”
“…you’ve been awake for, what, twenty minutes?”
“twenty-three.”
north sighed.
“you have a problem.”
por looked genuinely confused.
“i have a boyfriend.”
“same thing.”
by lunchtime, por had already sent tee four pictures.
one of a cloud that looked vaguely like a dinosaur.
one of north asleep with his pen still in his hand.
one of a drink he’d found in the vending machine because “this looks like something you’d buy.”
and one of the tiniest white dog wearing a yellow raincoat outside the café.
por: LOOK 😭
image attached
tee: that’s literally a dog.
por: no.
por: that’s u.
tee: explain
por: golden retriever.
tee: i’ll accept that.
por: i knew u would
tee: don’t miss your next class because of the dog
por: no promises.
he did almost miss his class.
not because of the dog.
because he spent another five minutes trying to get a better picture to send to tee.
when lectures finally ended, por found tee waiting outside the station with two iced coffees already in his hands.
their eyes met almost immediately.
tee smiled first.
por smiled back without even realising he was doing it.
“you’ve been waiting long?” por asked as he took the drink.
“five minutes.”
“you could’ve texted me.”
“i did.”
por paused.
he quickly pulled out his phone.
“…oh.”
“…i forgot to check.”
tee laughed.
“that’s a first.”
they walked without any particular destination in mind.
sometimes they ended up at the shopping mall.
sometimes they’d sit by the river until it got dark.
today, they found themselves at the small playground near tee’s apartment, coffees resting on the bench between them while children chased each other across the slides.
they didn’t need to do anything exciting.
being together had always been enough.
“north called me obsessed with you today.”
tee took another sip of his coffee.
“only today?”
por stared at him.
“you’re supposed to defend me.”
“why?”
“because i’m your boyfriend.”
“exactly.”
“…”
“…i like that you’re obsessed with me.”
por rolled his eyes.
“you’re unbelievable.”
“and yet…”
tee gently bumped their shoulders together.
“…you’re still here.”
por looked down, trying to hide the smile that had already given him away.
“…yeah.”
that night, after another phone call that somehow lasted almost an hour, por lay in bed staring at the ceiling.
they hadn’t talked about anything important.
tee had complained about a professor.
por had complained about north.
they’d somehow ended up debating whether cereal counted as soup before saying goodnight for the fourth time.
it was ordinary.
comfortably ordinary.
before sleeping, por opened twitter.
he stared at the empty post box for a moment before typing.
@por
———
i don’t think tee realises he’s become part of my daily routine.
mornings don’t feel like mornings until i’ve annoyed him at least once.
♡ 6,241 likes
💬 @north: free him.
💬 @wave: blink twice if you need help, tee.
💬 @tee: unfortunately i like being annoyed.
💬 @por: SEE.
por laughed quietly before locking his phone.
tomorrow would probably be exactly the same.
another good morning text.
another coffee after class.
another phone call before bed.
he couldn’t imagine wanting anything different.
he had no way of knowing…
that the next morning…
his message would sit unanswered.
for the first time in almost a year.