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“How did you know, with Rain?”
Phayu half turns from his cutting board to throw a glance Pai’s way. He frowns when he sees the serious looks on his face.
“I’m not sure, to be honest,” he answers as he gets back to his chopping. “I just… knew?”
He doesn’t ask where the question is coming from, probably because he already knows.
Pai sights dramatically. “You’re not helping, Yu.”
Phayu hums pensively for a minute, collecting his thoughts while he slices onions with the hypnotic precision Pai has learned to expect from him.
“I thought he was really cute I guess. Both in how he looked and how he behaved. And I thought he would look even better in my arms. And,” he turns to wink playfully at Pai, “in my bed.”
A pout escapes Prapai. He knows Phayu is genuinely trying to help, but he still isn’t making much sens.
“But it’s easy for you,” he whines, “you don’t separate sexual and romantic attraction.”
“That I don’t.” Phayu agrees as he lights up the fire and gets the wok out. He’s always been the type to think better when his hands are busy, a trait Pai is shamefully exploiting to avoid having this conversation face to face. “I’m not sure what to tell you Pai. Why do you think Sky is different?”
Here comes the trick question. Why is Sky different? He feels exactly like his usual hook-ups but dialled to eleven; and yet completely differently. He’s completely eclipsed Pai’s previous one-night-stands, which is absurd because he was a good lay but not that good of a lay.
Pai sprawls over the counter with a defeated sight. He wouldn’t be here if he knew, now, would he?
“Well I just— I can’t stop thinking about him, you know?” he mumbles against the plywood.
“Yes,” Phayu answers immediately, his tone more teasing than annoyed. “Yes I know. I am very aware of that fact.”
“Oh, fuck you!” Prapai laughs as he sits up to playfully flick a napkin at Phayu’s back.
So maybe he hasn’t stopped talking about Sky since their night at the race. But it’s not like Phayu is better with Rain!
Phayu turns to look at him while the pan is heating up and he’s sporting a smirk that says he got exactly the reaction he wanted out of Pai.
“Okay,” he leans sideways against the counter, “so you can’t stop thinking about him, and that has never happened to you with someone else.”
“Pretty much.” It sounds almost insignificant, put like that, and yet the newness of it makes Pai feels like he’s on the edge of a cliff. “Is that— Is that what a crush feels like?”
The perspective of it is as terrifying as it is exciting, and it’s once again Phayu’s steadiness that anchors him before he can get lost in the whirl of feelings.
“Haven’t we had the what-does-romantic-attraction-feel-like talk already?”
“It was years ago!” Pai shoots back without missing a beat. “And the situation was different!”
Phayu hums in agreement as he turns back to check on his wok. “Answer me this, then: have you imagined taking him on dates? Kissing him goodnight? Getting him gifts? Making him smile just for you?”
Isn’t that an idea. How would Sky look, actually smiling at him? He barely smiled the night they met, and it was unmistakably cold. Pai can only imagine how an actual smile that reaches the eyes would look on Sky, but it sounds wonderful. And that smile being about him? For him?
Warmth pours into his stomach at the idea, and he can’t keep the smile off his face.
“Oh.” Phayu’s quiet exclamation takes him back to the conversation at hand, only to be faced with his best friend’s teasing smile. “Looks like I struck a cord, huh?”
The knowing look on his face makes Prapai hides behind his hands.
“Are the fucking butterflies real? Have they been real all this time!?!”
Phayu bursts out laughing.