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"Pai, stop," Payu said, catching up to his friend and grabbing his arm forcefully, "you're not going on your bike, that won't end well, you're under too much emotion. We're going to take Rain's car and I'll drive. We'll get to your condo in under 5 minutes, and alive."
"Payu-"
"No, I know you want to get there as fast as possible but Rain and I are coming with you and we're going by car. Together," Payu pushed Prapai in the direction of Rain's car as Rain quietly followed after them.
"Phi- P'Payu what's going on? Is Sky okay?" He asked hesitantly after Payu started the car.
"I don't know what's happening Rain. Gun and Petch, we know them briefly from the racetrack and parties, have been coming to the races more often lately, but they don't race nor bet and every time they have their eyes only on Pai, either whispering to each other or starting up conversations with him."
"Payu if you don't go any faster with this car I'm going to kick you out and drive myself."
Payu rolled his eyes at Pai's meaningless threat but stepped on the gas nonetheless. "Today Petch was a pain in the ass practically begging Prapai to let him take a girl to Pai's condo. And now someone told you to take Sky there. Maybe it was just a coincidence or a misunderstanding though."
"You know it as well as I do Yu that they are up to something. If they lay a single hand on my Sky I swear I'm going to kill them both."
Payu thought about comforting Prapai that Sky would be fine but unfortunately he had a bad feeling about this and he didn't want to lie to his friend. "If they do in fact do anything we'll call P'Chai and let Pakin deal with them."
"P'Pai I'm so sorry... Sky was feeling unwell and I wanted to drive him to his dorm but then a guard told me to take him to your condo and I saw the guard at the races before so I believed him."
"It's fine Rain, I don't blame you but Payu hurry the fuck up."
"We're here." Before Payu could even fully stop the car, Prapai was already out and going into the apartment complex, shortly followed by Rain and Payu.
***
Rain could hear Prapai and Sky talking in the bedroom but he paid no mind to it. He knew his best friend was safe with P'Pai. All he could focus on was the beaten up man laying on the ground, his P'Payu keeping an intense stare on the man's friend so he wouldn't go to help him in any way, or try to get away himself.
The man laying on the ground was who hurt Sky. His best friend.
Rain never had many friends growing up, everyone thought he was loud and annoying and although Sky tells him that too, Rain can see that he doesn't mean it like others did. Because Sky doesn't mind it when Rain rants about anything and everything whenever they hang out. And Sky cares about him, Sky listens to him and helps him when he needs it. Sky is the one who helped him with P'Payu.
And it pains Rain to see his friend so hurt, laying practically lifeless in Prapai's bed. What hurts him even more is the fact that he doesn't think this is the first time this man - Gun, as he heard the others call him - hurt Sky.
Is that why Sky was reluctant to let P'Prapai love him? Why he's so quiet and closed off? He remembers briefly the one time he mentioned Sky's ex, Sky's reaction to it. It must've been about Gun.
Rain looks at the man again and walks up to him, shaking his arm away from Payu who didn’t put up much of a fight to hold Rain away.
"People like you should be forced to suffer through the same shit you put others through," Rain said before landing a kick on the man, the same way he did to Stop after P'Chai rescued him and P'Payu.
"P'Payu what is going to happen with them?" Rain asked, turning to his boyfriend.
"I've already contacted P'Chai. He'll be here in a minute, I'll let Pai talk to P'Pakin later,” Payu answered, crossing his arms. “Petch sit back down on that couch unless you want to end up like Gun, or worse." Payu said, not even looking in the direction of the other guy, who did in fact try to stand up, without success.
"Don't leave me P'Pai! Don't give me to anyone else. Love- love me, please love me P'Pai!"
Rains heart ached as he listened to Sky's plea’s in the bedroom, Payu's eyes turning momentarily soft, looking at the open door where their friends were.
Rain wished he didn't leave Sky alone, that he didn't listen to that stupid guard and just drove Sky to his dorm, or that he went up to Pai's condo with him, not letting Sky go to the lion's den by himself. Rain wishes he could've prevented this somehow, he wishes he could've been a better friend to Sky. He wishes he could've been the friend that Sky deserved, because Sky is such an amazing friend to him. And Rain? What did Rain do in turn for Sky? He drove him straight to his worst nightmare.
***
Prapai isn't sure how long they stayed like this, embracing each other. Sky's arms wrapped around him holding on as if his life depended on it. And maybe in some way it did.
Prapai was rubbing soothing circles on Sky's naked skin as the younger boy calmed down. "How about we get you back in some clothes hm? We could then go somewhere else, away from here?" He asked gently. Sky sniffled again, nodding his head against Prapai’s shoulder.
Pai helped Sky sit up, fetching his clothes that were laying at the end of the bed and helping Sky into them. He could hear some noise in the main room, distinctly recognizing P'Chai's voice but he ignored it all. All his focus was solely on his Sky.
"C'mon honey," he said, petting Sky's head before wrapping an arm around Sky's waist, leading him out of the bedroom. He's gonna sell the condo as soon as he gets his love out of here, none of them will be stepping foot here again.
Sky was a little wobbly on his legs, clearly feeling off-balanced, only being held up by Prapai as they walked out to where Payu stood with Rain.
They both turned to the couple, Skys head down not looking at anyone. "I'll drive you," Payu said shortly, Prapai nodding thankfully.
***
The car ride was quiet, Payu and Rain sitting in the front with Prapai and Sky in the back. Payu decides to drive the couple to Prapai's family house instead of Sky's dorm.
Rain spent the whole ride looking between the rear view mirror at his friend or out the window, Sky had his head laid against the window, looking outside with his hand clasped in Prapai’s.
Prapai has never hated himself more than he did now, watching his boyfriend hurt so much. He hates himself for practically letting Gun back into Sky's life. He hates himself for talking about Sky with Gun. He hates himself for not trying to coast out more information from Sky about his clearly shit ex. And most importantly he despises himself for being so stupid and letting Petch go to his condo, for basically inviting him to fuck with his boyfriend. He despises himself because he knew Petch and Gun were up to no good. Payu told him not to trust them and yet he did. Because he was stupid enough to believe that what they were planning was something he could easily catch them on. He despises himself for not noticing their sudden interest with Sky. For not preventing this from happening. For breaking Sky's trust, having Gun convince Sky that Prapai didn't want him, shared him, gave him away.
He also hates himself for the way he acted towards Sky at the very beginning, for the way Sky only slept with him because he thought it was the only way out. He hates himself for how pushy he was, stalkerish, for how much he must've triggered Sky, for not finding a better way to pursue the boy. Because he doesn’t need to know the whole story to know that Gun is the fucked up ex from Sky’s past. The reason Sky’s trust is so fragile.
Prapai will make sure that Gun and Petch never touch anyone again. He wants them to suffer the way they made his Sky suffer, and he will do anything for Pakin to make sure they never hurt anyone. He will do everything to make up to Sky for every wrongdoing he did to him in the past. He'll do everything in his power to be the boyfriend that Sky deserves, because his Sky deserves only the best.
Payu wordlessly parked the car in front of the big house and watched Prapai carefully lead a still shaken up Sky inside.
"P'Payu," Rain started, watching the door close behind their friends, "do you think Sky will be okay?" He asked, unsure.
Payu sighed, turning to look at his boyfriend, "I may not know Sky like you or Pai, but he looks like a strong person to me. It might not be easy for him at first but with his best friend and boyfriend by his side I think he will eventually be okay."
"I don't really feel like a good friend right now..." Rain answered, looking down at his lap. "I should've noticed that something wasn't okay. Sky had done so much for me and how did I repay him? By... by being stupid enough to drive him straight to the hands of those assholes."
"Rain," Payu shifted in his car seat and brought the younger boy's head towards his chest, hugging him, "you are not a bad friend,” he whispered, stroking over Rain’s hair, “there was no way for you to know anything about Gun or his relationship with Sky. A guard told you to drive Sky to the condo and you had every right to believe him, especially since you said it was a guard who’s attended the races beforehand, not someone you saw for the first time.. There was no way you could've prevented this and I don't want you feeling guilty over it."
Rain sniffled, hugging his boyfriend and nodding his head, "okay."
"How about I text Pai later or in the morning, ask him if Sky will be up for some visitors, we could go see them hm? Maybe it'll do you some good to see that Sky is okay now, that he will be okay because he has us to love and support him?"
Rain nods again, repeating his previous answer, "okay."
***
Sky flinches in Prapai's embrace as someone knocks on the bedroom door. "Is that your sister? Will she be wondering why you brought me here?"
"I don't know, one second honey I'll go check who it is and what they want," he kisses Sky's temple before standing up to walk to the door. On the floor laid a tray with two cups of tea and a note.
"Mom and dad are out of town but Plerng and I would love to meet Sky for breakfast if you two will be up for it :)
- your favourite sibling <3"
"Yeah, it was her," Pai smiled reading the note before taking the teacups and giving one of them to Sky. "How about we drink this and afterwards I'll give you a change of clothes?"
Sky took a small sip, "Can I take a shower too? I just want to get rid of their hands."
Prapai's eyes softened and he watched his boyfriend, "Of course baby, anything you want."
Sky looked down at the drink in his hands before asking quietly, "And can you come with me?"
"Are you sure?" Prapai asked gently, tilting his head to the side.
He looked like a puppy.
He made Sky feel safe in a way he had never felt before with anyone.
Sky nodded, "I don't want to be alone right now."
"Never, with me by your side, you will never be alone again."
***
Prapai pets Sky's hair, holding him closely as they look out the balcony of his family home. The weather was nice today, the sun shining without it being too hot. He was so happy to see his Sky in a brighter mood today.
"Oh I forgot to tell you yesterday, my parents are away but my siblings would love to meet you. Payu and Rain were also wondering if we'd want to meet for dinner . Only if you're up to it though, if you don't want to, I can just bring us something up here and we can stay alone."
After a moment of silence Sky answers, "I think I'd like to meet them," he said, turning his head to Prapai, "you're close to them aren't you? P'Payu and Rain should come too, they were there yesterday after all, they deserve an explanation same as you sister."
"Sky you don't owe anyone anything, my siblings have been bugging me about meeting you ever since I first started persuading you and I think Rain just wants to see with his own eyes that you're okay."
Sky sighs, nodding his head. He knows Prapai is close with his family, especially his siblings. He's talked about Plerng and Phan several times over the course of the last 2 months. He also knows that he's talked to them about Sky, something that Sky was nervous upon learning about at first. But now he wants to meet them too, he wants to meet the people who Prapai loves so much.
"I know, P'Pai I really do want to meet your sister and brother, and you can tell P'Payu that we can have dinner together with him and Rain. Could they maybe come here though? I don't really want to leave to anywhere."
Prapai smiled, leaning up to kiss his temple, "Of course honey."
***
They stay in the room for another hour, Prapai giving Sky some more clothes to change into. Sky texted Rain earlier asking if he could stop by his dorm to get some of his things, he left his keys at Rain's car yesterday anyway.
Prapai led Sky down the staircase and into the hallway where they could hear laughter coming from where Sky suspected the kitchen was.
After coming here yesterday he was too shaken, but now, with his head more clear, Prapai's hand in his, Sky has more of a mind to look around and appreciate the architecture and decor.
The house was huge, various different doors leading into a labyrinth of rooms. The walls were filled with photos; photos of who Sky assumed were Prapai's parents, wedding pictures, Prapai's mother pregnant, them holding a baby - Prapai, Prapai as a toddler, his parents with another baby, then another one, Pai with his siblings, holiday photos, school events, graduations.
Sky stopped at one photo - it showed a younger Prapai; presumably around Sky's age, maybe younger. The photo was taken in England, the Big Ben making itself present in the background but the main focus was taken by Pai tightly hugging his siblings, squeezing them closely to his sides. All three of them smiling widely.
"This was during my first year in the UK." Prapai said, stopped by Sky who's hand he was still holding. He came up behind him, laying his chin on Sky's shoulder and linking his arms around the younger boy's waist, "Phan said that I looked lonely when we talked on the phone and a week after that she and Plerng surprised me by coming to visit with our uncle."
A sudden voice from the kitchen breaks their little bubble, making the couple turn their head towards it.
"I'm telling you Plerng! That was definitely Sky and ohhhh he's so pretty! No wonder he's the first person to ever catch P'Pai's interest."
Sky blushed looking at Prapai as his boyfriend grinned, tugging his hand to the kitchen.
Plerng and Phan were sitting at the table, various foods laying in front of them. Phan stopped her rambling as soon as she saw Prapai in the entryway. "P'Pai! Good morning!" Plerng smiled, his eyes automatically looking at Sky.
"Phan, Plerng, I'd like you to meet Sky, my boyfriend." Prapai pulled Sky in closer to his side as Sky wai'd to the two siblings.
"Oh my god," Plerng exclaimed, hitting his sister's arm with wide eyes, "you were right, he is so pretty." He said, standing up and walking to the couple. "N'Sky, hi, I'm Plerng, P'Pai's much better, younger version."
Pai rolled his eyes, ignoring his brother and leading Sky to the table. "You haven't eaten anything since dinner yesterday love, here you can take anything, I texted one of the cooks earlier to let her know to make food for more people."
"Oh? Why are you making Sky starve? See, I could take better care of you. Did P'Pai do something yesterday? Is that why you two came here so shaken?"
"Plerng!" Phan said hitting her brother lightly, "shut up! P'Pai wouldn't hurt a fly and I already told you this is not our business! I don't even know why I told you about that," she said angrily before turning to Sky, "P'Sky, don't listen to him, he doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut," her eyes turn soft, so similar to the look Prapai gives Sky sometimes before she continues more calmly, "we've been really excited to meet you, you know when P'Pai first told us that he's pursuing someone we didn't believe him and when he wouldn't stop talking about you we thought for a moment that he made you up. So we're both so happy to get to meet the famous Sky now. I just know mom and dad are gonna be so upset that we met you first," she giggled.
The breakfast was spent with the three siblings practically battling over Sky's attention, Prapai fighting off his brother's doe eyes directed at his boyfriend and Phan's 50 different questions asked at once about Sky's life and their relationship.
Even with Prapai acting all whiny and annoyed, Sky could clearly tell that his boyfriend was fond of seeing his siblings getting along so well with Sky. And Sky, having grown up alone, loved seeing the friendly fighting between Prapai and his younger siblings.
They spend nearly 2,5h like that, laughing and talking, Plerng and Phan questioning Sky as Sky in turn found out more about his boyfriends childhood. Being here, surrounded by people who truly care about him, he felt so safe and it was so easy to forget about yesterday, it could have been so easy. But unfortunately it wasn't, there were moments during the conversations when Sky spaced out but it was okay, because every time that happened Prapai knew. He knew and he was there, sticking himself to Sky's side, laying a comforting hand on his, drawing little patterns on exposed skin or playing with his hair.
Sky is pretty sure that Phan and Plerng noticed the little moments but thankfully they didn't say anything. Later, Phan excused herself to go help a classmate whilst Plerng leaves to hang out with some of his friends.
***
Hours later, Prapai and Sky lay together in Pai's bed, a movie playing on the laptop that neither of them were particularly paying any attention to as a knock sounds at the bedroom door.
"Sky!" Rain bursts in, immediately hugging his best friend who barely managed to stand up in time. "Sky," he whines out, "I'm so sorry Sky!"
Payu closed the door behind them, placing takeout boxes down on the nightstand and sitting on the edge of the bed with Prapai, Rain and Sky joining them on the bed too.
"What are you apologising for?" Sky asked, genuinely confused, watching his best friend who was close to tears at this point.
"It's my fault you got attacked yesterday! I'm the one that drove you right into that fuckers hands and left you alone!"
"Rain, language," Payu scolded quietly, fully aware that his boyfriend was not listening to him.
"Rain, do you blame P'Pai for giving Petch the key card to his condo?" Sky asked, momentarily driving a nearly crying Rain into confusion as Prapai snapped his head up to look at Sky.
"What? Of course not! How could P’Pai- oh- oh..."
"Exactly. P'Pai," Sky said turning to his boyfriend "I know you do blame yourself, and I understand why you think it's your fault, Rain but it's not. The truth is, is that I should've told you or P'Pai about P'Gun earlier. I- I don't," Sky starts, fiddling with his fingers until Prapai sits besides him, taking his hands as Sky sighs, "Rain, I used to date P'Gun when I was in highschool, he was my first love and I was stupid enough to believe his bullshit that he meant no harm whilst he abused me in every way. I ran away eventually and now he saw that I'm dating P'Pai and decided that he wanted to play with me again. Rain, P'Pai if they didn't get to me yesterday they would've gotten to me another time, and that could've ended so much more worse than yesterday did. So please stop blaming yourselves for something that is certainly not your fault."
"I saw that you weren’t okay though, I should've gone up with you Sky." Rain continued, leaning on Payu.
Sky shook his head, "no Rain, it's good that you didn't, there were multiple of P'Guns friends there, you would've just gotten hurt too, I don't want that for you. And also didn't P'Pai notice that something was wrong when you came back?"
Rain nodded, it was true. Even with the late hours the races are held at, the Bangkok traffic would not allow Rain to make the over half an hour trip to and from Sky's dorm in less than 15 minutes.
"If you stayed with me, P'Pai and P'Payu would think you were taking me to my dorm and things would've gone so so bad. But you coming back informed P'Pai that something was wrong."
Rain nodded again this time disentangling himself from his boyfriend and hugging Sky tightly. "You’re right Sky, I love you, you are my best friend forever and I'm so glad that you're okay now," he said fighting back tears as he looked at Prapai, "P'Pai please take care of Sky, he's stubborn but he loves you and although he won't admit it he does need a little taking care of sometimes."
"Of course Raindrop, I'm gonna take care of him for as long as Sky allows me to." Pai answered with a smile quickly turning to a frown as he heard Payu snicker. "As if that's stopped you before."
"P'Pai I know you're also blaming yourself for what happened yesterday but you really shouldn't, the same way you don't blame me for believing Gun and staying with him for so long."
"Sky-"
"No, it's not different Phi." Pai drops his head down, finally nodding in defeat. "Okay baby, I guess you're right."
"Well then," Payu smiled, giving Rain a kiss on his forehead, "now that that's out of the way and you two can stop punishing yourself internally, how about we eat that dinner before it gets cold? Rain, stay with Sky, Pai c'mon we'll go fetch some utensils." Payu said, nodding his head pointedly to the door for Prapai to follow.
"So what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Prapai wonders after they find themselves in the kitchen. He knows Payu, knows that the only reason they were here alone right now was because his friend wanted to talk about something outside of their boyfriends earshot.
"Did Pakin call you?"
Pai hums in answer, nodding his head. "P'Chai did. They took care of them, I didn't tell him exactly what Sky went through," he shakes his head, "I wouldn't do that to Sky, but they know enough to make sure their last moments weren't happy ones. If it was up to me I would torture the fuckers more but at least they will never lay a hand on anyone again. I will do everything to make sure Sky never experiences that kind of pain ever. Or any kind of mental or physical hurt."
Payu nods, understanding the feeling like no one else. He too would do anything to keep Rain safe and to make sure he never goes through what he did with Stop again. But he is also aware, just as much as Prapai is, that Rain and Sky aren't little kids. They can't watch over them 24/7 acting like their parents. But that's okay, because just being there for them is enough. Being there, caring for them and loving them is enough.
The two of them make their way back to Prapai's bedroom where they find their boyfriends giggling about something.
Sky would be okay, Prapai realises then. Surrounded by love from his best friends, his boyfriend, Prapai’s family, Sky will eventually be okay.
There will be bad days, he is aware of that, but Prapai will be there to support him on those days. He will always be there to support Sky, on good days and on bad ones. His Sky will never have to be alone again.