Because I like you. (Kluay and Achi) (Oneshot)
It had started to rain suddenly while Achi waited at the bus stop next to the faculty to return home. He must have guessed it during the last class, when he saw through the window that the radiant sun of midday was overshadowed by dark clouds in a matter of a few minutes. He cursed himself for not having brought an umbrella with him that morning when he left home, even if the sky was apparently clear.
Anyway, when the cold wind accompanying the rain began to penetrate his bones, he decided it was time to find a better place to take shelter, at least until it stopped raining, but just when he turned around, he ran into Kluay tending his umbrella towards him.
"Do you want to catch pneumonia?" He said, with an unusual calm.
"It's not like I have another option. The bus doesn't arrive and my mother can't pick me up." Achi replied, hugging himself to fight the cold.
"My apartment is five minutes from here. You can wait there in the meantime." Kluay suggested as if nothing.
"But…"
"No excuses. Do you want to stay here and contemplate your life while you become a snowman?"
Achi frowned.
"We're in Thailand, P', it doesn't snow here. It's not even that cold." He added, unable to avoid a chill.
"It was a way of speaking. Anyway, I'm not going to leave you out in the open in monsoon rains, either."
"But we're not in the monsoon rainy season, P'." Achi corrected him innocently, looking at him strangely.
Kluay looked away with annoyance, before catching the younger boy and wrap his arm around his shoulders.
"I'm afraid excuses aren't going to help you. Come on, my apartment is nearby." Kluay squeezed the young man even more, as he leaded him to his residence.
"It's you who keeps saying weird things." Achi reproached him, trying to escape uselessly from his grip.
When they arrived at the apartment, the silence of the place seemed strange to Achi. He expected to find Kluay's roommates playing some videogame on their respective laptops, but, on the contrary, their chairs were empty. Although, what seemed even stranger to him was the general order in the whole room.
"Where are P'Puth and P'Sang?" He asked, also noticing the lack of some personal objects of his roommates.
"They went to Puth's house for the weekend, the two of them alone." Kluay mockingly emphasized the latter sentence. "Since I didn't give them a clear answer, I guess they left without me. Sometimes I think those two have something…" He said this last almost in a whisper.
"What?" Achi snorted at that sudden statement.
"Forget it." Realizing that he had been thinking out loud, Kluay changed the subject quickly. "I think you'd better change your clothes if you're going to stay here."
"No need, P'. I'll go home when it stops raining."
"At least you should let your clothes dry before going home, don't you think?"
"It would be a waste of time P'. It's more likely to stop raining earlier. Also, I don't have…" Achi was suddenly interrupted when a change of clean clothes that Kluay launched him ended up landing on his face.
"Change your clothes before you cause a flood. Or worse, before you try my patience." With this statement, Achi looked at his feet, checking that a small puddle of water had formed under his flip-flops. From his feet, he slowly followed with his gaze the trail of water he had left on the floor when entering the senior's apartment, and wrinkled his nose realizing that he was completely soaked. He hadn't even been out for so long to have ended up like this, he thought, when he felt Kluay's presence a few inches away from him. "If you keep soaking the floor within five seconds, I'll be the one to start taking off your clothes, is that okay with you?"
Kluay remained impassive at this statement, causing astonishment in Achi, who looked at him with a frown.
"…I can take care of that, P'." Achi reacted at that kind of threat and went quickly to the bathroom, not before taking one last inquisitive look at the older guy, closing the door behind him.
What the fuck is wrong with me? Kluay thought with annoyance, and went to the kitchen in search of something to clean the scattered water on the floor.
When Achi left the bathroom two minutes later, he didn't find Kluay in the main room, so he took the opportunity to hang his wet clothes on the terrace. However, when opening the window he confirmed with resignation it was still raining buckets, so he had no choice but leave his clothes on the heater placed aside of the room.
Kluay appeared soon after, with a bag of snacks in his hands, and observed Achi from his position; the boy was facing away from him, sitting on the edge of the closest bed to the terrace, that is, his bed, and playing with some game on his smartphone. He realized that his hair was completely soaked, and let out a sigh, leaving the bag of snacks aside and going to the bathroom in search of a towel.
"P', don't you think it would've been better to borrow P'Puth's clothes? Your clothes are huge; at least he has similar build to mine…" Achi pointed absently, while still focused on the game.
Kluay sat down next to him and entertained himself for a few seconds watching him play.
"I don't think Ai'Puth would've liked that idea too much; believe me, he's very special with his personal belongings. And for your information, my clothes aren't that huge, maybe you're the one with a build problem."
Achi turned around, looking at him with annoyance, just when Kluay put the towel on the boy's head and began to dry his hair absentmindedly.
"What good is it wearing dry clothes if your hair's still wet?" Kluay asked with an unusual sweetness. He remained in a trance looking at some point in Achi's face while gently rubbing the towel on his wet hair. This gesture baffled the freshman even more, who felt an intense heat rising suddenly to his cheeks.
"P'!" Achi grabbed the older boy's arm and gently removed the towel from his hands, setting it aside. "I can also take care of this…"
The younger could distinguish certain disappointment in Kluay's face when he recovered from his trance and saw that moment had finished, although he thought it was his imagination when the other boy recovered his usual teasing tone.
"Seems like the 'ghost daddy' that possessed me that day doesn't want to leave me easily." He joked, putting his arm around Achi's shoulders.
"If that's the case, then help me finish my homework." Achi answered on the same line, effectively getting rid of his arm and standing up. He picked up his backpack from the floor and sat on one of the desk chairs in the room, taking out a notebook and a case.
"Are you going to do that now? I thought you were kidding a few seconds ago." Kluay sneered, watching him from his position.
"I have to turn it in on Monday, and I wouldn't want to leave it for the weekend." Achi answered. "I thought about finishing it calmly and concentrated in my house, but someone dragged me here. I just hope that if that certain someone isn't going to help me, don't interrupt me at least." He added wryly.
Taking the hint, Kluay got up heavily from the bed and went towards the other, sitting quietly in the chair adjacent to his. After carefully observing Achi's actions, he approached suddenly, invading his personal space.
"First year Calculus?" He asked, looking at the notebook.
"Yes." The junior responded with bewilderment, separating a few centimeters, since his legs were touching.
"With Professor Chantaphasouk?"
"Yeah…"
Kluay smiled with satisfaction.
"That was my Calculus teacher two years ago. His classes were terribly boring… And easy."
"Are you kidding?" Achi looked at him with half-closed eyes, unable to believe it. "I can't even understand half of it."
"Then leave it to me." The senior suddenly snatched the notebook from him without encountering resistance, and with a brief explanation, Achi was able to tie up some loose ends, managing to understand much more than he had achieved with the professor himself in the few months he had been in University.
"P', since when are you good at Calculus?"
"Since I entered the university and I studied it for the first time, why?"
"You don't look like the kind of person who is good at Calculus. I thought you were only good at swimming." Achi joked, preparing to be bothered by Kluay again, but, once again, he was surprised by the other boy's quiet and strange response.
"At first glance, you don't look like a malevolent and sarcastic person, either, but look at yourself." Kluay answered calmly, looking up from the notebook and pointing him with his eyes. "How can someone with such a cute and innocent looking have such a bitter nature?"
Both looked at each other for a few seconds, and progressively their expressions changed; Kluay's one to regret, slowly turning his gaze back to the boy's notebook, and Achi's to bewilderment, while he felt certain heat settle on his cheeks again. Kluay cleared his throat and continued before the situation became even more uncomfortable.
"…I'd better explain you some more things if you don't want to fail this subject, don't you think?"
Achi nodded shyly and tried focusing again on the older boy's explanations, not giving too much importance to what he had just said. In a few hours he was able to understand issues that seemed impossible to him until that very afternoon, and he felt a great weight fall from his shoulders. It seemed incredible to him how despite being an apparently carefree and joker person and being always bothering him, Kluay seemed so serious and patient explaining such a complicated subject, at least for him.
After a long while, at some point in the explanation, he realized how late it was, and that he hadn't even warned at home of his sudden absence. Kluay seemed so focused making notes in his notebook that he didn't want to interrupt him, so he got up from his chair furtively and went back to the closest bed to the terrace. When he sent a message to his mother through Line informing her of where he was, he felt too lazy to go back to the explanations, so he simply settled down in the bed and started playing again in his smartphone with the rpg he had left a few hours ago, while casually opened the bag of snacks previously abandoned by Kluay on the bed and began eating.
The sudden crunchy sound over the silence brought Kluay slowly from the task in which he was immersed. He was surprised when he looked up and didn't see Achi sitting next to him, and when he turned around in his chair he found that the other boy had fled from his responsibilities to focus on something undoubtedly much more entertaining. Kluay let out a sigh, looking at him in an inanimate way.
"Weren't you in such a hurry to finish your tasks before the weekend?"
"I'm tired P'. I'll return to them in a while, I promise." Achi answered, without looking away from the screen of his cell phone.
Kluay shook his head with resignation and got up from his chair. Meanwhile, Achi was so absorbed in the game that he didn't notice when the older one sat next to him on the bed.
"Oi, where's the snacks bag I left here?"
"I finished it." Achi answered, showing him the empty bag with his left hand and then throwing it rightly into a nearby bin, all this while not taking his eyes off the game.
"Really?" The senior asked with remarkable annoyance. "It was for you, but I expected you to invite me, you know?"
Achi nodded absentmindedly, not paying the slightest attention, and suddenly, Kluay invaded his personal space again, observing what was keeping him so busy.
"Is that rpg new?" He asked with boredom, casually resting his chin on Achi's shoulder as he watched him play. "It looks fun. Let me play too." He demanded after a few seconds.
"Right away." Was the only thing he got for an answer.
Kluay frowned slightly, though a malevolent smile soon appeared in his expression.
"Fine. Then, if you don't let me play… I'll tickle you. I know from experience that you can't stand tickling." He proposed, unable to hide a smile of satisfaction.
Achi opened his mouth to protest, but before he could say anything, Kluay went ahead and began to pinch his sides, startling the other boy and making him shudder.
"Damn, P', let me go, I'm in the middle of a game!" The freshman exclaimed, trying to get rid uselessly from Kluay's hands. The older boy, on the other hand, seemed to be having a great time with his new entertainment.
"Will you let me play or not?" He stopped for a few seconds to ask the younger boy, without taking his hands off his sides.
"No!" Was the other's resounding response, who wasn't going to let his senior get away with it so easily, even though he knew he would regret the consequences.
"Suit yourself." Kluay answered with a broad smile, and immediately resumed his task of pinching Achi, this time also trying to snatch the device from his hands.
"P', don't be childish, I'll lend it to you when I finish the game!" The younger boy complained, extending his arm to the opposite side so that the other couldn't reach the mobile.
"That's too long, and I want to play now." Kluay decided without giving up, since he seemed to have found the perfect pastime at that precise moment.
The more he extended his arm to reach Achi's smartphone, the more he leaned over the boy's body, which in a moment in the middle of the struggle ended up collapsing and fell on the bed, dragging Kluay, who fell on top of him. When they realized the situation they were in, they both remained paralyzed for a few seconds, not knowing what to do. Kluay had fallen with his left palm resting on the other boy's one, and decided to get up and support his right hand on the bed instead of using his elbow so as not to crush Achi too much under him. Then he carefully observed the freshman's face, which at that moment showed a confused expression that seemed absolutely adorable to him, just like that night in which, although he didn't have the opportunity to accompany him home, he got something that undoubtedly was much more worthwhile.
With that memory in his mind and in that moment of confusion, he found himself slowly approaching his face to Achi's almost unconsciously, his heart beating hard inside his chest, not knowing that the other boy under him felt exactly the same. Both closed their eyes instinctively, and when Kluay reached to touch his lips with Achi's, he felt him shudder under him, but, contrary to what he imagined, the freshman did nothing to push him away, and even half opened his lips almost imperceptibly, inviting him to continue. The older accepted the invitation and pressed his lips against Achi's, moving them slowly and making the younger follow the rhythm awkwardly, denoting his lack of experience. At one point, he dropped his cell phone on the bed, and, as if in a trance, brought his hand to Kluay's broad, muscular back, grabbing his shirt and for the first time letting himself be carried away by the senior's actions. Although, just when the other wanted to play a bit more nibbling on Achi's lower lip, he couldn't handle the tickling and pulled the older boy away, giving him a gentle push in the chest.
With some annoyance, Kluay dropped by his side on the bed, looking tenderly at Achi while he regained his composure.
"This time you can't say that my breath stinks because I took care of washing my teeth thoroughly a few hours ago. And apparently I've been a true visionary, don't you think?" Kluay commented with a wink in his voice, perfectly happy with what he had just said.
Achi rolled his eyes trying to look annoyed by this comment, but the strong blush on his face made him look more vulnerable than anything else.
"And by the way…" The other added, bringing his face close to the freshman's. "Thanks for inviting me to try those snacks. I knew that I would like that new flavor, although the way I tried them tasted much better, without doubt."
"P', stop saying embarrassing things!" Achi exclaimed, hitting Kluay's forehead with the side of his hand.
"Ouch…" The older boy complained, massaging the area. "Are you being too shy or is this the first time…?" Kluay stopped when he realized the evidence, watching a completely blushing Achi, trying to look anywhere but at the senior. "…In your case, I think both options are correct." He concluded, with a smile.
"…I… I have to go finish my homework, it will be late." Achi got up abruptly from the bed, totally overwhelmed, but before he could escape, the other guy grabbed him gently by the shirt.
"At half past ten at night? Wouldn't it be better that you went to sleep?"
"It's still too soon, P', I can advance a few more hours; you know I have to finish it before…"
"Before the weekend, I know." Kluay got up of bed and stood in front of him to face him. "Even so, today we have advanced a lot. Tomorrow I'll wake you up early and I'll help you finish the rest in the morning, before returning to your home, is that okay?"
Truth be told, the older boy's proposal seemed more reasonable to him. He had insisted on finishing it all before the weekend, but deep down he knew that it would be completely impossible having so many difficulties with that subject, so he nodded timidly at that proposal, while observing a smile of satisfaction spreading across Kluay's face. He hadn't even planned to stay in the other's apartment, but with the rain still splashing on the terrace railing and being so late, it would be impossible to return home.
"I'm glad you've come to your senses." Kluay commented, pinching his cheek enthusiastically as he watched with amusement how Achi massaged the area with annoyance. "Anyway, I doubt you could've concentrated at this moment. You seem very shaken by what has just happened." "He teased, as he made his way to the bed in the middle.
"P', enough is enough!" Achi exclaimed, throwing a cushion that the other could catch on the flight.
"If you want to start a pillow fight, believe me you'll lose." Kluay warned with confidence.
"As if I wanted to do that now, anyway." The younger answered, collapsing again on the bed he seemed to have taken over.
Kluay decided to take pity on him and let him be, while pulling out his own cell phone and entertaining himself for a while.
"By the way, you didn't tell me what's the game that kept you so entertained…" Kluay commented shortly after, looking up from his smartphone and noticing then that the other boy had fallen asleep. He checked looking through the window that was still raining, and that, although the younger had wanted, he wouldn't have been able to go home. He supposed that the resignation, together with the exhaustion he already felt, had made him fall asleep. Kluay, on the other hand, got comfortable in bed and watched Achi sleep peacefully for a while, as a kind of remedy to fall himself into a deep sleep. Achi seemed to him an adorable boy himself, but while sleeping he was absolutely magical and he found himself completely lost watching his sleeping face. Almost without realizing it, he himself fell asleep short afterwards.
In the middle of the night, Kluay woke up with a feeling of emptiness in his stomach, remembering that the last time he had eaten had been that afternoon. He smiled unconsciously when he remembered that sentence related to the snacks bag he had said Achi, and when he turned around he saw that the other boy had wrapped himself up, although the bundle of sheets seemed to move slightly. He sat on the bed, and when he stretched a little more and focused his sight, he realized that Achi was trembling. Hunger seemed to disappear suddenly at this vision, and, without thinking twice, left the bed where he was and laid next to the other boy, crawling under the sheets and surrounding him in a warm embrace.
Achi trembled so much under the sheets that he didn't even notice when Kluay lay down next to him, and was startled at feeling his strong arms surrounding him and pressing him to his chest, although he felt at the same time so incredibly comforted and warm with that contact that he stopped trembling almost instantly, and didn't even have the strength to protest or push him away.
"See what happens by staying out in the open in monsoon rains?" Kluay joked with a soft tone, while gently rubbing the back of the younger to get him warm. When he didn't get an answer, he continued. "I don't want to imagine what would have happened if I had come later to rescue you with my umbrella."
When still without answer, Kluay began to think that Achi had fallen asleep again, but seconds later he separated slightly from the senior's chest and poked his head, leaving their faces a few centimeters away.
"Following your logic, maybe I would've become a snowman." He answered, making the other boy smile slightly. They both watched each other for a few seconds, and, unconsciously, Kluay reached out to remove a few tufts of hair that had fallen covering slightly Achi's eyes at being lying down.
"P'… Why… Why are you doing all this…?" Achi asked almost in a whisper.
"Do what?" Kluay asked with bewilderment, totally absorbed while trying to withdraw the younger boy's hair.
"…Being so kind to me suddenly, as if a ghost had possessed you."
Achi said this last with a humorous tone, but Kluay stopped his task and went blank for a moment, not knowing very well what to answer. At any other time in the past he would have cowed and end up inventing any excuse to keep joking with the other boy and get rid of the situation, but in that intimate and comfortable moment between them, he felt strong enough to be honest for the first time with him.
"…Because I like you." He said without further ado.
Achi frowned in bewilderment, though even in the darkness, his blush was evident.
"Because you like me being your servant…?" He tried to complete the sentence, remembering that this was Kluay's response to his friend Pan when she asked him something similar, and he guessed that would be the best answer.
"…Because I like that you are my 'servant'; I like that you are the one I make angry; I like it to be you who I spend time with. Because I like you, nothing more." The older boy corrected. "Because I haven't stopped thinking about you for months and I can't concentrate on class or swimming practice and because I wanted to tell you, and expressing my feelings isn't exactly my strong point. I'm sorry for being a coward all this time."
When saying the last, Kluay couldn't avoid remembering especially that scene of a few months ago in the pool, when he betrayed Achi's trust precisely because of his cowardice, and suddenly he felt terribly guilty.
Achi on the other hand didn't know what to say or how to react. Deep down he was certain that the older boy had feelings for him, but his way of acting was so ambiguous and disconcerting that it wasn't entirely clear to him. While trying to process the information, he watched Kluay look at him intensely, with an unusual seriousness for him, and had to admit that at that moment, with the dim nightlight coming through the window, he thought he was an incredibly attractive boy. In fact, he had always seemed so to him, but that sincerity made him look much better in his eyes.
"P'… I already forgave you for that long time ago, you don't have to worry." Achi said, smiling timidly and provoking an involuntary smile in Kluay, which seemed to him the prettiest he had seen until now.
Although he was terribly overwhelmed, embarrassed and blushed by the situation, Achi couldn't take his eyes off the older boy's, and they both remained in that trance for a while longer, even when Kluay reached out his hand again and began to caress his cheek gently with his thumb.
"Thanks… For telling me." Achi commented timidly shortly after.
Kluay made an assent sound in response, and wrapped him in a warm hug again. They were silent for a while longer, and just when the older one thought that the other boy had fallen asleep again, he was surprised by one last nocturnal declaration.
"…I like you too, P'." Achi whispered against his chest, with a smile that the other couldn't see, and slowly passed his arms under the older's, returning the hug and falling asleep by exhaustion soon after. Kluay, however, felt his heart suddenly quicken and the heat emanating from his chest rose quickly to his face.
Maybe it was because he had finally been able to tell Achi what he felt, or because he didn't expect Achi to reciprocate his feelings, or both at the same time, but at that moment, precisely at one o'clock in the morning, he felt incredibly happy. He wished that the younger boy hadn't fallen asleep to kiss him again, but was content with just squeeze him into his embrace and tenderly kiss his forehead. He supposed it would be hard for him to sleep the rest of the night, but he didn't care at all, even if the next morning he had to be totally fresh to help Achi finish his homework, which, on the other hand, he doubted it was the other boy's primal thought when he woke up in a few hours. Undoubtedly, things would be very different from now on.