Chapter Text
We've got these broken winged birds in our mouths
Broken winged words to let out
And tender hearts inside our chests
That sing from rooftops, trees, and nests - "Broken Things" Sweet Talk Radio
The humid heat of midday Bangkok made Phuwin's skin itch. The ceiling fans above his head whirred in a futile attempt to circulate air that simply didn't want to move. The bustling crowd of university students crammed on the long cafeteria benches didn't help matters whatsoever.
Phuwin sat at the end of a corner table, having buried himself in his own little fortress of laptop chargers, requisition forms, and brightly color-coded budget spreadsheets for the upcoming Inter-Faculty Sports Day that he'd somehow been voluntold to manage on behalf of the Science faculty. He still owed Gemini a smack on the back of the head for that particular stunt.
He tapped his pen against the table, eyes flicking between his laptop screen and his watch. 1:12 the stupid thing read. The meeting was supposed to start at 1:00, which meant the Engineering student rep was late. Typical.
He flipped open one of his many (many) binders and sighed, checking over the latest form he'd managed to wrangle out of his advisor. All he needed were the last two, one of which he'd get out of the other student rep… if he'd show up to the damn meeting.
"You look like you're trying to burn a hole in the table."
Phuwin froze, his eyes sliding up from the spreadsheet in front of him to look at the newcomer. Pond was already sliding onto the bench directly across from him, casually setting his clear plastic cup of iced Thai tea on the table next to Phuwin's carefully organized printouts. Phuwin pulled the papers away from the cup with a sharp hiss of frustration before the condensation pooled onto them and ruined his hard work.
Pond raised an eyebrow, his mouth twitching slightly at the corners. He was wearing his dark blue workshop jacket loose over his university uniform shirt. The sleeves were rolled up to reveal tanned skin and more than a few muscles from so much work with heavy materials. The gear emblem of the faculty of engineering sat proudly over his chest.
"I'm just saying," Pond said with a shrug before leaning onto the table with his elbows. "If you had mutant powers, your eyes would have been spitting lasers with how focused you were."
Phuwin frowned as he rearranged his space to avoid the water. "We only have twenty minutes before my next lecture," he snapped, suddenly more irritated than before. "Did you bring the equipment requisition forms for the power generators or not?"
"Always straight to business," Pond half-said, half-sighed dramatically, though the smirk never left his face. He pulled himself off the table to reach into the canvas bag at his feet. "We have the heavy-duty generators," he said as he produced a slightly crumpled blue folder and tossed it onto the table. "But the Engineering student board wants a written guarantee from Science that you won't repeat last year's freshy week."
Phuwin's eyes narrowed. "That was an issue with the Student Union's breaker panel," he replied darkly, opening the folder to pull out the papers within. "And might I remind you that your third-year electrical team neglected to inspect the setup beforehand. Our code was clean."
Pond nodded, leaning forward to rest his chin on his hand. The faint scent of menthol wafted into Phuwin's space. He must have just come from the workshop. "Look, Phuwin, I'm just trying to make sure our equipment doesn't fry." He pulled his chin from his hand and resettled so he was sitting up straight, a new seriousness settling into his face. "Sign the liability clause on page two, and the generators will be yours. You should find everything else to your satisfaction."
"Page two," Phuwin said, grabbing a pen from next to his notebook. He uncapped it with a sharp snap. "Fine. But if Engineering tries to hoard the wireless mics like you did last year, I'll lock your department out of the campus Wi-Fi for a week." Phuwin couldn't actually do such a thing, not with the little time he had. Pond didn't need to know that - or that Phuwin would sic Gemini or Fourth on the project. Gem did owe him one for sticking Phuwin with this stupid sports day.
Pond's grin was both disarming and somewhat infectious, not that Phuwin would admit it. There was even a dimple showing… since when did Pond have a dimple? Phuwin wondered. And since when did I care?
"Threatening network security over a couple of mics?" Pond asked, leaning back on his bench and crossing his arms over his chest. "That's pretty ruthless, even for you."
"I don't make idle threats," Phuwin murmured. He scrawled his signature across the bottom of the requested page and put it back into the folder. "Signed. Now take your tea and go back to your side of campus." He slid the folder back across the table, put the requisition form he needed into his binder, and slipped the binder into his bag.
Pond picked up the folder, tapping it against his palm, but he didn't immediately stand up the way Phuwin had expected him to. His eyes instead searched Phuwin's face for just a moment, stopping only when they met Phuwin's sharp gaze.
"You look exhausted," he said. He tilted his head and frowned. "Don't stay up all night working on this. The sports day isn't until next Friday."
Phuwin blinked, caught off guard by the sudden change in subject. For a split second, he wasn't quite sure what to do with his hands. He cleared his throat, pulling his laptop closer. "Just make sure the generators arrive on time for setup," he said, not bothering to explain that he'd be up all night for entirely different reasons. Pond wouldn't care. No one really did.
Pond stood up, grabbing his bag from beneath the table to replace the folder. "4:00pm, next Thursday," he confirmed. He turned on his heel, raising his hand over his shoulder to send Phuwin a lazy wave. "See you around, Phuwin," he called.
Phuwin watched his retreating back, the Engineering rep's bag thumping lightly against his hip as he walked. Someone called out to him near the cafeteria entrance, and Phuwin couldn't help but let out a long, weary breath.
That was one thing done. Now he just needed-
He paused when he heard the quiet rustle of ice resettling. His eyes trailed down to the cup of tea Pond had left behind, his annoyance flaring brightly once more at the realization that the idiot had left his tea behind. He opened his mouth to call Pond back, but Pond was already gone, lost in the throng of overly tired Science students.
Phuwin shook his head and reached for the cup, intending to throw it away… until the condensation hit his palm and reminded him how hot the cafeteria really was. He hesitated, glancing toward the crowded exit one last time, then popped the straw between his lips. The tea seemed to be largely untouched anyway.
He took a long sip, savoring the taste of the extra condensed milk that Pond had ordered. He hadn't expected an Engineering guy like Pond to have a sweet tooth, but he'd happily reap the benefits.
Sometime during the evening, the sweltering heat had cooled into a nice, if humid, night. At 11:45 pm, the Student Union building was empty and quiet enough that Phuwin could hear the cicadas chirping in the frangipani trees outside through the concrete walls and large glass windows of the third floor.
Phuwin swiped his keycard against the reader outside the campus radio station's soundproof door, pushing it open when he heard the click of the lock. The chill of the air-conditioned studio hit him instantly, and Phuwin let out a long breath as he dropped his backpack onto the cracked leather couch in the corner of the room. For the first time all day, the tension eased from his shoulders.
Inside the booth, the midnight DJ, Joong, looked up from the main mixing console, flashing Phuwin a bright grin and a thumbs up as he collapsed onto the cushions. The couch was dirty and old, and it had stains Phuwin had no intention of investigating, but it had been a comfort for him from the moment he'd first entered the university. Many a night had been spent compiling code while his seniors held their own late-night shows.
Joong said something into the mic - likely his sign off for the night - and then set his final few tracks to play. The soft crooning of a power ballad filtered through the monitor speakers as Joong gently set the headset on the table, stood up, and stretched. The music major stepped out of the room once he was done.
"She's all set for you," Joong said, grinning broadly as he scooped his backpack up from where he'd left it next to the booth's door. "Hope you're ready, DJ Win."
Phuwin nodded. "Nice work tonight," he replied quietly. He'd been listening as he finished the last of his code for tomorrow's project. He approached the entrance to the booth, his hands already itching to reset the board, but Joong's small cough stopped him in his tracks.
"You think you're going to get your caller again?" Joong asked. Phuwin glanced at him, his eyes narrowing slightly as he caught the glint of something - amusement, maybe? - in Joong's eyes.
Phuwin shrugged, his hand coming up to rest on the door handle. He's careful to keep his face blank as he says, "Maybe."
Joong chuckled, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "Right. Well, the lines are clear." He opened the door to the hallway. "Have a good show, Win."
"Goodnight, Joong," Phuwin said, waiting until the music major had disappeared into the hallway before he entered the booth.
As he stepped into the glass walls, he flipped the overhead lights off, letting the amber glow of the console desk and the baseboard lamps supply all the light he'd need for the evening. He sat in the worn swivel chair and adjusted the boom mic, taking a deep breath before he settled the heavy studio headphones over his ears. The soft crooning of smooth jazz hummed in his ears as the world and Phuwin Tangsakyuen, Computer Science student, fell away.
The red ON AIR sign above the glass pane flickered to life. Phuwin slid the main fader up, letting Joong's final song fade out into his favorite soft acoustic instrumental.
"Good morning, early risers - or late sleepers, we don't judge on the Midnight Circuit," he murmured as DJ Win took over. "It's midnight on a Wednesday morning, and you're here with DJ Win on 98.5 Union FM. If you're out there cramming for midterms, working on that last-minute project, or just trying to sleep… you're not alone tonight."
He let the track play for another twenty seconds, carefully adjusting the audio levels on the mixer. His eyes drifted to the line panel on the top right of the board - there were already two lights blinking, waiting for him.
"Before we get started with the tracks, let's check in with some listeners, hmm?" He hit the call button. "Hello there, friend. Welcome to the Circuit. How can we help?"
Over the next thirty minutes, he took two routine calls. One, a stressed pharmacy student asking for study recommendations ("Heavy metal," Phuwin had said almost immediately. "Sounds counter-productive, but something about the screaming just works.") and the other a tired security guard requesting a 90s T-Pop track.
It was only around 12:45 that the board began flashing once more. Phuwin's chest tightened a fraction as he glanced at the clock, then at the board again. It was the right time… He pressed the button just as the 90s track began to fade out.
"Hello there, friend. Welcome to the Midnight Circuit," Phuwin said, careful not to forgo the usual greeting, despite how much he wanted to. "How can we help?"
A low, gentle exhale of breath came through the line, followed by the faint rustle of bed sheets. In the background of the call, a desk fan hummed quietly.
"Hey, DJ Win," a familiar, slightly raspy, exhausted voice came through the headphones. "It's Night Owl."
A subtle warmth spread beneath Phuwin's skin. He released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in relief as he leaned back in his chair, carefully pulling the boom mic to follow him. "Late night again, Night Owl?" Phuwin asked with a small smile. "Or did your study session run over?"
It wouldn't have been the first time that happened. Night Owl tended to work until late into the night, hence the nickname, which Phuwin had given him the third night he'd called in a row.
"A bit of both," Night Owl replied. A soft chuckle filtered through the receiver, sending a light shiver down Phuwin's spine. "Had to finish some work - I tried to get it done this afternoon, but I had a meeting with this stubborn guy. We spent most of it arguing."
Phuwin laughed lightly into the mic. "Sounds exhausting. Did you win?"
"In a way," Night Owl murmured. He paused, and then the rustle of bed sheets filled Phuwin's ears once more. "He gave me what I needed, but honestly… I think I just liked watching him get flustered. His eyebrows wrinkle when he's trying to look tough, but it's more cute than scary."
A pang of jealousy burst just behind Phuwin's ribs. "Sounds like someone has a crush," he said, doing his best to keep his voice level. He wasn't sure why he was getting stuck on this. It wasn't like he would ever get the chance to meet Night Owl. He just… sometimes liked pretending, in the lonely nights when the station was dark, and he wasn't ready to go home just yet, that maybe Night Owl called for him.
"Maybe," Night Owl said after a beat. He lets out a quiet sigh. "But he works too hard to notice much outside of his projects. If I didn't tease him, he'd probably forget I existed."
Good, a small, bitter voice in the back of Phuwin's mind whispered.
Phuwin quickly quashed the voice, shoving that thought to the darkest corners and slamming the door closed. As much as he hated the thought of Night Owl with anyone else, he shouldn't wish him unhappiness.
"Well," Phuwin said, clearing his throat to keep his voice silky and warm for the sake of the broadcast, "I hope your stubborn friend gets some rest tonight."
"Me too," Night Owl murmured, his voice already beginning to fade. "Can you play that indie acoustic track from last week? The one with the soft bass intro?"
"Coming right up," Phuwin replied, queuing the track on his screen. "Take care out there, Night Owl."
"Goodnight, Win. Drink something sweet before you leave."
The line went quiet with a soft click. Phuwin let a small smile cross his face, his cheeks heating at the familiar sign-off. He'd let it slip a few months ago that he liked sweet drinks before bed - well, sweet drinks all the time, really - and his late-night caller had made sure to mention it every time he called.
His heart did a little swoop at the thought that Night Owl had remembered. He might not be the one in his caller's eyes, but he cared, and for now… Phuwin sank into the chair as Night Owl's request began to play. The gentle bass washed over him, and his eyes slowly drooped closed as his heart began to sync with the steady pulse.
For now… it was enough.
Across campus, in a darkened third-floor room of the Engineering faculty dorms, Pond lay flat on his back. His twin bed was hard beneath his back, but he'd long gotten used to it as he stared up at the shadows dancing across his ceiling. White wired earbuds snaked down from his ears to his phone, which rested warm and heavy in the center of his chest.
Through the line, the low bassline of the indie track began to swell, and Pond closed his eyes, letting out a long breath. A slow, soft smile pulled at the corners of his lips.
Take care out there, Night Owl.
"You too, Phuwin," he whispered to the darkness, letting the words curl through the air and settle into the quiet as Phuwin's voice carried him to sleep.