Work Text:
Johan wasn’t sure exactly when it happened. It hadn’t been a moment seared into his memory like the first time he’d really listened to North speak from across the table. It wasn’t branded like the few times he’d faced rejection. It wasn’t even as memorable as the day he’d met the other med students, and they’d bonded over orientation — though Hill refused to acknowledge it had happened so early.
No, Johan couldn’t place exactly when Arthit had accidentally become his — loosely his, just like he was loosely Hill’s and loosely Tonfah’s — omega. It probably happened before Johan was even aware Arthit was an omega if he really thought about it. However, it had been one of those natural things. Like how water runs downhill or how the sun always sets and always rises. The four of them just fell into their assigned slots — loosely assigned anyway. Their friendship was tightly bound, but their connection was loose regarding their second gender.
Their partners didn’t care in the slightest. North loved the idea of Arthit as a second wife or even the mistress. The two omegas joked more about those titles than they gamed. Constant banter between them, filled with the novel familiarities that siblings must have.
East was much the same, though not as close with Arthit as North. They still held a balanced understanding, and East giggled louder than the rest whenever Arthit leaned into his friendship with Hill, trying to gain a lunch or a pre-done assignment.
Typhoon was perhaps the most understanding of the three. Knowledgeable. He saw the relationship between Tonfah and Arthit as necessary and recognized its importance. He often reached out to Arthit like a brother might and equally pushed Tonfah to do the same whenever the need arose.
And though Johan knew Daotok the least, he was just as certain that the unusually quiet firecracker that Daotok most certainly was, would be just as understanding, if not more so, about Arthit’s relationship with the other doctors.
After all, it had never been a romantic pairing. No sexual attraction existed between the med students — though Johan and Arthit had made out once while wasted, with a Tonfah nearby filming the whole encounter for ‘prosperity.’ Though Johan knew it was more for blackmail, just in case.
The dynamic the four of them held with each other wasn’t discussed. Rarely acknowledged. It simply was.
There were times, of course, when it came up. Like when a drunken woman tried to come on to Tonfah, clinging to him and trying to run her hands up and down his body. Arthit had effortlessly shut it down — between his size, strength, and the declaration that Tonfah was his alpha. Even in her drunken stupor, she’d understood. She’d stumbled out the door, and Arthit and Johan had burst into laughter moments later. Hill had managed to hold his laughter back, but his face gave away just how entertaining he’d found the whole interaction.
There had also been their teaching assistant in one of their introductory courses who had the annoying habit of trying to be everyone’s friend. He’d called out the four in the middle of lab once, attempting to rial them up Johan assumed, “One omega and three alphas? That must make it entertaining.” He’d changed pitch dramatically on the last word as though he caught them in some questionable act.
“Our little omega.” Tonfah was the only person who referred to Arthit like that; it was an inside joke that even Johan hadn’t been in on. “He’s more than enough for us.”
Johan watched Arthit nearly choke on his drink, attempting to keep himself from laughing.
“Some packs are different. You understand that, don’t you?” Hill added quietly, not even looking up from his notes. The threat was crystal clear even without his direct attention.
Arthit and Johan had only managed to hold their laughter in for another thirty seconds, long enough for their TA to sputter about muscle groups, before they both started giggling like children.
Neither Hill nor Tonfah had told them to quiet down that time.
While Johan couldn’t pinpoint when exactly it happened, he was very aware that Arthit was more than just a friend. He was a brother, a partner in crime, a drinking buddy, even the other woman still. Assuming Daotok didn’t mind.
Johan was vaguely certain he wouldn’t, though he had overheard a conversation between North and Daotok last week about jealousy — North had joyfully joked that the other med students should be careful considering Daotok held a black belt.
“He really loves ‘Thit.” North leaned over so close Johan could feel his breath tickling his ear as he spoke, “He’s still a bit worried about the future, I think, after his ex, but he really loves ‘Thit.”
Arthit had just left, amped up about the race and more specifically Daotok’s answer following it, and Johan could tell just from watching Daotok’s movements that North was very correct. “Arthit is like a loyal dog. He won’t betray Daotok.”
“Oh, I know!” North’s volume bounced up to its normal register, but Daotok and Direk had already started talking, clearly missing the outburst. “I think Daotok will be good for ‘Thit too. You know, ‘Thit hides less around Dao — Dao said when they’re alone, ‘Thit doesn’t hold in his pheromones or anything. Typhoon said that’s a good first step — he thinks it’s really dangerous for ‘Thit to suppress them all the time, but it doesn’t seem to bother ‘Thit any.”
Johan hummed quietly. He and Tonfah had discussed that new revelation a couple of times. First, it was just Tonfah’s blind hope that Arthit would fully open up to Dao, and later it became a desperate desire for their friend’s wellbeing.
“The race is about to start!” North jumped to his feet and dashed the few paces to where Daotok stood, already bouncing in excitement. “He’s going to win for you!”
Johan didn’t move from his spot. Instead, he watched how North and Daotok observed the race. Watched the way they leaned in and focused, the anxious energy that radiated from Daotok and the sheer excitement that practically vibrated off North.
When North first mentioned Daotok, he’d been almost worried about admitting to befriending another alpha. Johan would be lying if the idea didn’t trigger some kind of unpleasant jealousy at first, but after meeting Daotok, it all made sense.
Daotok was an alpha in the same way that Arthit was an omega — in a factual sense, but far more complex than any of their friends. Daotok could, and did on a handful of occasions, make his second gender known. Most notably in the last several months whenever Arthit was brought up in his presence, but even before that it was an obvious thing. Daotok held himself like an alpha, confident and generally self-assured. He didn’t appear to need anything from anyone. Like a lone wolf from the outside, though Johan had learned at least some of that behavior stemmed from his prior relationship.
“He’s going to win!” Jo, ‘Thit’s out in front! He looks so cool!! Don’t tell him I said that…” North quickly added, still hopping endlessly, tugging Daotok with each bounce.
Johan could smell the faintest hint of excitement and adoration flowing from Daotok as he allowed himself to be pushed and pulled by North. The scent was new. Before Arthit, it had always been rather docile and quiet. It blended into the background and was easily overshadowed by everyone around him, but — it appeared — Arthit must have unlocked something in Dao as well.
“Here he comes!!! Dao, he's gonna win! He’s winning for you!”
“He won.”
“Of course he did!” North jumped again, dragging Daotok with him. “He wouldn’t allow himself to lose this race! Jo, Arthit won!”
“Yes.”
“He practically destroyed the other guy!”
“Let’s not go too far.” Direk watched the cars pull out of sight. “His opponent tried to push him off the track…”
“Yeah! That bastard! No one messes with —“
“North.” Johan could barely hold back his smile.
“Go sit.” Direk read the room quickly. “It should only take a few minutes for him to get out of the car and up here.”
“Don’t be nervous, Dao.”
“I’m not…”
“You are gonna still say ‘yes,’ right?” North sat down beside Johan and leaned forward.
“Tonfah is in the wings if you say ‘no,’” Johan added lightly, not wanting to put too much pressure on Daotok. “He’s ready to play sober friend if ‘Thit and I get wasted tonight.”
“Of course I’m still saying ‘yes.’” Daotok looked mildly offended, though still slightly anxious.
“Good. I don’t think Tonfah would be able to handle it alone. He’d have to call Hill, and then we’d really hear it.”
“Hill would scold you both, huh?” North playfully elbowed, “You’d be in big trouble. Not to mention ‘Phoon.”
“‘Phoon?”
“Tonfah’s boyfriend.” Johan answered Direk’s question, “He’s,” he paused briefly, “— invested in Arthit. Sees similarities, I think.”
“He’s set Tonfah after him a couple of times,” North smiled brightly. “’Phoon’s like the pack mom.”
“Don’t let him hear you say that.” Daotok hissed quietly.
“Similarities with ‘Thit?” Direk chuckled softly, shaking his head. “I’d have thought Tonfah would have run away by now. Not found someone similar.”
“Similar in a different way.” Johan clarified without too much detail, “Tonfah won’t run away though — as I said, he’s on call.”
There was a brief pause of silence. Calmness washed over them as they waited for Arthit to return.
Johan half expected his brazen friend to burst through the doors, race suit three-quarters unzipped, and practically scream to the room the question he’d been asking Daotok near daily for a month.
He assumed Daotok was likely pondering a similar situation. The younger alpha still seemed nervous, but Johan could tell it was mostly anxious energy more than anything else.
A loud pop interrupted Johan’s musing. A second nearly sent North’s knee into the small table in front of them.
“What?”
“Could be a car backfiring…”
Johan instinctively spread his arm in front of North. The short silence that followed the sound was tense and painful. He knew that sound. It wasn’t a car. It was a gun. And the implications of that had already started to unravel Johan’s previous calmness.
One of Direk’s men hurried into the room. “Sir, we have a situation.”
“Arthit?” Direk rushed out after his guard, with Johan just behind and North and Daotok only a step behind that.
Johan felt the exact moment blinding rage took over his mind. He’d seen the steel pipe swing down, connecting with the back of Arthit’s head, then nothing but fury. Instincts flooded his body in a way that had never occurred before. Absolute and unyielding. Before he was aware of his actions, Johan had already ripped the gun out of another man’s grasp, cocked it, and aimed.
Distantly he could hear North’s pleas, though they sounded muffled, like someone shouting through glass.
He wanted the man in front of him dead.
“Johan! Don’t — please don’t.”
Johan wanted nothing more than for the man in front of him and the one he’d seen strike Arthit dead. Bleeding out the last of their lives on the hot asphalt beneath his feet.
North’s words started to clear, begging. Hands desperately clasping at Johan’s shoulders.
But it wasn’t his fiancée’s frantic words that pulled him back from the brink. It wasn’t Direk’s shouts for an ambulance or him calling out to Arthit.
It was an unfamiliar scent. A scent that Johan had never experienced and yet knew exactly where it was coming from. It was pained and confused. Held notes of lingering excitement and scattered points of anger.
Arthit’s pheromones, out, open, practically bleeding into the air like his blood was bleeding onto the ground.
After taking a deep breath, Johan gave the gun to one of Direk’s men and grabbed one of the others’ black blazers. Anger still bubbling hot just beneath his skin, but there was something almost calming about finally smelling Arthit for the first time. It felt right – needed. If the situation had been different, Johan might have allowed himself to process why that was or allowed himself to feel the magnitude of the event more fully. Except there wasn’t time for that, “Dao? Daotok!” Once Daotok finally looked up at Johan, distressed and lost, Johan pushed the black fabric into his hand. “Here, wrap that around his arm and tie it tight. It will help with the bleeding.” He didn’t wait to watch Daotok move; instead, he pulled his eyes away from the traces of blood that had seeped into the cracks in Daotok’s hands already and knelt near Arthit’s upper body. “’Thit?” Johan gently shook his shoulder. Each second that Arthit remained unconscious made Johan want to turn around and attack the man behind him again. “Arthit, can you hear me?” he tapped Arthit’s cheek with the back of his hand carefully, and felt a wash of mild relief when the muscles around his friend’s face reacted.
“He’ll be okay…right, Jo? He’s fine, right?”
Johan hated the fear in North’s voice just as much as he hated the pain and confusion still soaking into his soul from Arthit. “Yeah…”
Carefully, Johan slid his hands underneath Arthit’s head. The rough asphalt felt uncomfortable against his fingers, and the way Arthit’s hair clumped together in thick, squishy blobs where the blood had started to coagulate almost made him ill.
“The ambulance should be here soon…”
“Good. That’s good.” Johan muttered to himself as he gently stabilized Arthit’s head. He didn’t think there would be neck trauma, but then again that pipe had come down hard, hitting far too close to the base of the skull. Just thinking about it made Johan’s anger flare up again. The last time he’d felt so enraged was when North had been cornered at the bar. Still, he did his best to put on a calm front for North and Arthit alike.
Once Arthit’s neck was stable, Johan glanced up at the others and felt a prick hit his heart at how devastated Daotok appeared.
If North had been the person attacked, lying unconscious, bleeding…
“He’ll be alright.” He tried to lock eyes with Daotok as he spoke, but the other boy refused to look away from Arthit, “‘Thit’s got a strong head and a loyal heart, alright? He’ll be fine.” Johan paused again and glanced further up at North, who, despite his obvious distress, was doing an admirable job appearing calm. “North? When the ambulance gets here, take Dao to the car. I’ll drive us to the hospital.”
The next few minutes ticked by sluggishly. Arthit’s silence was almost as troubling as the faint pheromones that still coated the area.
Johan had never thought he’d be in a situation like this, never truly believed that he was in a makeshift pack with his friends, that Arthit — his mistress — was actually his omega in some unusual alternative sense of the word. Johan might have laughed at the fact, if someone had brought it up in earnest even days ago. Except that moment of potential levity had been beaten down when the bullet rang out.
“Sir?”
Coming back into the present, Johan realized that the ambulance had arrived and pulled up all the way onto the track. “He was shot in the arm, I think. Took a blow to the back of the head by a steel pipe.” Johan addressed the emergency personnel quickly, rattling off information as calmly as he could. “He’s been largely unresponsive since we called, but he was vaguely conscious after the blow. His head doesn’t seem to be bleeding anymore.” He carefully moved his hands out of the way of the medical brace that the second technician slid around Arthit’s neck. “I saw the hit; it didn’t look like his neck was affected —“
“It’s always good to be cautious.”
“His pulse and breathing have been regular. Elevated perhaps, but steady.”
“His name is Arthit, correct?”
“Yes, that or Dylan,” Direk answered as he offered Johan a hand up. “he’s gone by both his whole life.”
The man nodded and knelt where Johan had just been. “Arthit? Can you hear me? My name is Tee. My colleague and I…”
Arthit remained unresponsive. His face lax and body limp, flat against the ground. Blood had seeped through the jacket Daotok had been using. Johan could almost smell it. Rusty red splotches spattered the ground and stood out vibrantly against Daotok’s pale skin.
Johan tore his eyes away. This was not how anyone should see Arthit. This was not how Johan was supposed to be introduced to Arthit’s pheromones. That was supposed to come freely, after Daotok helped heal all of the unseen wounds. None of this was supposed to happen. “You go with them, Direk, I’ll get the others.”
“Take care of my future in-law, huh?” Direk offered a pained but genuine smile. “I can’t imagine how upsetting this must be for him…”
“Of course, I’ll make sure Daotok gets there. We might even beat the ambulance, Direk. North?”
“Uh…right. Dao, come on.”
Johan moved as quickly as his mind would allow. Leaving Arthit felt wrong, and he could only imagine how much worse it was for Daotok. He watched North coax Daotok towards the car for a moment, then pulled his phone out. He ignored the messages from Tonfah and Hill, and dialed someone else entirely, barely waiting for the line to connect. “Arthit’s opponent. Who were they? Who works for them? And who do they work for?”
The man on the other end faltered, stuttering slightly, “The – I thought… Who did Direk say they were? Do you remember, sir?”
“I don’t fucking know who they are,” Johan hissed through his teeth. “If I did, I wouldn’t be asking. But I want names. All of them.”
“Jo?”
“Yes…Yes, sir. I’ll get those to you as soon as possible…”
He forced another wave of calm to coat the area, hopefully easing any of North’s worries. “Don’t worry about it, North. Just get in the car.”
The lingering traces of Arthit’s pained and confused scent disappeared the moment Johan shut the door. The strange and welcome familiarity of it seemed to die on his tongue, and his unease over the whole situation fought to break through to the surface. But Johan didn’t have the time to contemplate anything.
“Hey, Dao. He’ll be alright. Just wait and see.” North reassured softly from the back seat.
“He will be.” He managed to catch Daotok’s gaze in the rear-view mirror. He looked almost ill. Face taut with anguish. Devastated. Confused. Horrified. Everything all wrapped into one person desperately trying to be outwardly calm, while Johan could practically feel the shell breaking beyond that. “Arthit has spent the last few months chasing after you like a damned puppy. He’s not missing his chance.”
Johan waited until North had pulled Daotok into the bathroom before allowing his mind to wander again. Arthit would be fine. He’d be fine, and as soon as he woke up, he’d ask Daotok to be his boyfriend. And then, everyone Johan cared about would have a support system outside of their unconventional group — pack, his mind supplied absently.
Pack.
Their partners weren’t in it. It was just the four med students somehow. Just the four random men — three alphas and an omega. An omega who could take them out if he wanted. Briefly, Johan wondered if he was the first to have this revelation.
“Our little omega.”
“Of course, not… the last to know...” he muttered quietly, glancing towards the bathroom once more. It would take North a while to help Daotok wash the blood away. Something Johan should be doing too. He could feel the coarse, dry flecks of iron fall off every time he flexed his fingers.
His phone buzzed twice against his leg, and he allowed it to pull him back from whatever introspection he’d been falling into. Rather than look at the message, he saw Tonfah’s name and simply clicked ‘call.’
“Jo? I didn’t expect you to call.” Tonfah’s tone was light and full of mirth. He’d probably been the most excited about Arthit’s budding relationship. Often teasing but also offering genuine support at the same time, “Should I worry? You calling now must mean you’ve got good news? Did you and North go out to eat with the new couple?”
Johan hesitated for a moment, catching sight of North returning from the bathroom, still leading Daotok around like a lost child.
“Did Daotok refuse? ‘Phoon said there was no way that he’d say ‘no.’ Were there too many people? How drunk is Arthit, Jo?” Tonfah’s teasing disappeared, shifting into more genuine dismay.
“He hasn’t asked.”
“What?”
“The guy got angry ‘Thit won.” His anger flared again upon seeing Daotok’s blank stare. “He attacked him.”
“Attacked him how?” Tonfah’s tone shifted again, and in the background, Typhoon could be heard questioning.
Johan walked over to the vending machine and away from North and Daotok before he answered, clipped but calm, “Shot in the arm and hit in the back of the head.”
“…” Tonfah’s silence spoke more loudly than any words might have.
“He lost consciousness on the track.” He almost mentioned the pheromones and the revelation of their misshapen pack, but something internal – his alpha, though Johan wasn’t one to refer to it as such – told him it wasn’t the time.
“And Dao?”
Glancing back over, Johan watched as North continued to flutter around Daotok. “In shock, I think. I…” he sighed in utter frustration. “That asshole is gonna pay.”
“Jo —“
“What? That bastard —“
“Don’t lose your temper.”
“They attacked —“
“Yes. But no one needs you flying off the handle, Johan.” Tonfah’s breath crackled through the speaker. “What’s the doctor say? Are you at my family’s hospital?”
“Where else would we be. As for ‘Thit, we beat the ambulance here, but they should be here any second.”
“Try to keep levelheaded. For Daotok’s sake, if nothing else.”
“If it was North…”
“Exactly. I’ll let Hill know. Are you going to need any help dealing with —“
“Direk didn’t sound like he wanted me involved,” Johan cut Tonfah off before the question could frustrate him more. “Frankly, he probably doesn’t need my help, but I plan on offering it.”
“Jo?” North called out from a few steps away, seemingly unwilling to move too far from Daotok, who still looked completely lost.
“‘Fah? I have to go.”
“Keep us updated.”
“Jo?” North called out again, a bit quieter, “I think they arrived. Can you ask for an update?”
The waiting room was busy. Plenty of people sat in various states of agitation waiting to be seen, and others in various states of concern. North and Daotok fit in almost too well. Neither seemed to have spoken much, Daotok slouched and North tried to offer comfort.
Sighing, Johan nodded and walked the short distance to the receptionist.
Arthit would be in a single private room. Someone of his clout, even if he was seen as a frivolous heir, would be whisked away the moment Direk’s name, or even Tonfah’s family, was mentioned in connection with him. That offered Johan comfort somehow, knowing that Arthit wouldn’t be surrounded by unknown people. Especially in his abnormally fragile state.
“Not fragile.” He muttered his correction as he approached the older woman. She seemed tired, but turned her eyes expectantly upon his arrival. “My friend Arthit just arrived via ambulance. Do you have any updates on his condition?”
She paused, evaluating him for a moment, then turned towards her computer and typed something in. “He arrived with his father and is being evaluated. Unless something serious is noted, visitors will likely be allowed in within the next hour. You —“
“If he doesn’t already have a private room.”
She shot him an exasperated look. “He’s already been placed in private accommodations. Go wait in the waiting area.” She cut him off again before he could even get a word out. “It’s already been noted in his charts that he’s a person of importance.” Her eyes didn’t roll, but the slightest annoyance still bore out of them. “Go and sit. Someone will call you once he’s been cleared.”
“Johan?”
Before Johan had time to lose his temper, Direk called out to him from the hallway, “Where’s — oh, he doesn’t look like he’s taking this well…”
Johan followed Direk’s gaze to where Daotok sat, curled inward slightly but stiff as a stone. “I don’t think he realized how much he cares for Arthit.”
Direk sighed quietly, “He almost regained consciousness in the ambulance. He’ll be alright…”
“Of course he will.” Johan tried to reassure them both. “He’s stubborn.”
Direk scoffed gently, “he’s solid on the outside. Stubborn and strong-willed, but Arthit’s also a lot more caring than he lets on. He hides it well; that’s his mother’s and my fault, I think – maybe just my own, but he’s not invincible.”
Johan found he couldn’t respond to that. He knew that, of course. He’d known Arthit for years, and the four of them all had their own ways of caring for one another. They could all read each other. They all understood each other.
“I’m going to discuss everything with the nurse. As soon as Arthit’s settled, I’ll come grab everyone.”
“Where is he now?” He ignored his unease as best he could, glancing towards North briefly.
“X-Ray and then a CT of his head and neck. They might do an MRI later if he doesn’t wake up soon…”
Johan nodded, mentally calculating ways to make the man responsible pay for everything once again, and walked the short distance back to his fiancé.
Much of the next half hour passed by with dreadful slowness. The silent pain emanating from Daotok and Direk’s constant phone calls set Johan’s nerves on edge. His focus was so broken – torn into multiple threads that Johan found himself standing in Arthit’s room before his mind had caught up.
The image of the steel pipe reflecting the waning light like a beacon, smashing fiercely against the back of Arthit’s head, replayed again as the doctor began to speak.
Bullet fragments.
Concussion.
No bleeding on the brain. Miracle, Johan almost muttered.
The doctor paused, waiting for Direk’s approval, and Johan tried to refocus.
“— his pheromones were present, confusion, pain, etc. And they were similarly present when he briefly regained consciousness during triage. However, since then they dissipated quite rapidly. Which is very unusual. There doesn’t appear to have been any damage to his glands, nor to his brain so –”
“Not unusual for ‘Thit,” Johan couldn’t keep the words at bay. It felt like something that had been bubbling in his chest since the track – since he’d experienced them for the first time. “Today is the first time I’d ever smelt them at all. And I’ve known ‘Thit for years. He keeps them in check all the time.” Saying it aloud to a relative stranger felt strange. Like a failure. Had he failed Arthit? Had they all failed Arthit?
Tonfah frequently attempted to guess what Arthit needed. He’d take wide swings whenever their friend seemed remotely off-kilter. It didn’t always work, but neither Arthit nor Tonfah ever complained or discussed it — at least never in Johan’s presence.
Earlier on the racetrack, was the first time Johan had ever attempted something like that.
He and Arthit had a balanced friendship; trying to use his pheromones for any reason felt counterintuitive at best.
Maybe he should have pushed harder.
In all the years they’d been friends, discussion about Arthit’s habit of suppressing everything had, more or less, been a taboo topic for the two of them. Johan was certain that Arthit knew where he stood – knew that uncomfortable though it might be, Johan was more than willing to listen if he needed to open up.
Or maybe he didn’t know that…
“Unhealthy how exactly?”
Daotok’s steady voice, which seemed detached from his clearly fear-filled body, startled Johan. Brought him back into the conversation he had been missing.
“Well, for one thing, it can damage his glands — they can become blocked or infected. Which can be life-threatening if the infection occurs on the clavicle gland. There’re also potential issues with hormone regulation. Particularly during heats — when there’s an excess. That’s partially why omegas in heat tend to have a much stronger scent. The excess needs a place to exit.”
“He blocks all that too.” Johan sounded more aggravated than he was, his unease needed an outlet. “Fool, even comes to class.”
“His fever was high,” Daotok muttered, drawing everyone’s attention back to him. “Really high… even medication barely brought it down.”
“You were with him?” The doctor pushed gently
“He said it was normal.”
He had let Daotok in – Arthit had let Daotok in that much?
Johan felt something settle deep in his gut, a kind of directionless jealousy and simultaneously a knot being finally undone.
“He doesn’t suppress them around me,” Daotok responded to a question Johan missed.
Arthit is open around Daotok.
Arthit found something in Daotok.
Something Johan, Hill, or Tonfah couldn’t give.
“Direk? Can we speak outside?” Johan asked as soon as the doctor left with assurance that Arthit would recover. Being in the room, seeing Arthit unusually still, he needed to move.
“Johan, I know you are angry and worried about Arthit,” Direk glanced back through the small slit window just after the door shut and into the hospital room before moving further away, “But let me and my men take care of it – he will pay for what he did, make no mistake.”
Even with the assurance, Johan felt a wave of fury rush through him. “Direk –”
“I know Arthit means a lot to you and the others. I’m not blind to that. If anything, I’m grateful that you four found each other and are there to support one another. But trust me.” Outside of the room was somehow quieter. “It’s remarkable,” Direk muttered after a moment of silence.
“What is?” Johan frowned, taken aback.
“Daotok and Arthit.”
So, he’d seen it too.
“Never in a hundred years did I think I’d see Arthit open up. I’d hoped, of course. Never really thought it would happen.”
Johan nodded silently along. “Tonfah and Hill will likely stop by soon. Tonfah has a lot more patience than Hill with something like this.”
Direk hummed softly, “I’d expect nothing less.”
Johan was tempted to say more. To add something else, maybe mention their pack – ask if Direk had known, if he’d thought it weird.
But he didn’t. Instead, he and Direk waited outside Arthit’s room for a few more minutes in silence.