Chapter Text
Rain was heading back from Sky’s apartment after finally finishing the assignment they had spent the better part of the week on. The streets, which were packed when Rain first went to Sky’s dorm, were empty as he made his way to his car. Rain lamented the fact that he parked so far away. He pulled his jacket tighter around himself, shivering in the cold wind of the night.
Maybe next time I’ll get Phayu to pick me up , Rain thought to himself. Phayu’s going to be so mad at me for being out alone at night! He heard a sharp bang, pulling him out of his thoughts, followed by scurrying coming from a nearby alley.
“We lost him!” He heard a man yelling. As they got further away, the voices became less intelligible.
Rain let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding as the sounds got more and more distant. Phayu would definitely be mad if he got involved with any shady stuff. And not even the type of ‘mad’ that Rain actually likes. He would pull that whole I’m not mad, just concerned spiel that made Rain actually feel bad. He did not want to—
Rain’s breath caught. He felt something grasp around his ankle and looked down to see blood—a lot of blood—and a person latched onto his ankle. Rain was already queasy around blood, but he never expected the smell would be so vile. He was going to throw up.
Rain forced the vomit down as he properly took in the state the person was in. He was sure that this person would die if he didn’t help them. They had multiple bullet wounds, and based off of the grip on his ankle, not much strength left. At that moment, Rain made up his mind; he was going to help.
He crouched down to support the man’s weight, hoisting him upright. The man groaned from the added pain.
“It’s okay,” Rain assured, mostly to himself, “I’m taking you to the hospital.”
“No.. no hospital.”
Rain ignored him and continued making his way to the car, each step harder than the next. After what felt like an eternity, he was standing outside his car. He opened the door, struggling, before unceremoniously shoving the injured man into the backseat. Rain cringed thinking of the cleaning costs before moving to enter the driver's seat.
They drove in silence for a few minutes before Rain remembered something he had read online about having to keep an injured person awake.
“What’s your name, Phi?”
The man mumbled something in return that Rain was barely able to make out as ‘Vegas.’ He let out a sigh, relieved that Vegas was still awake.
“Cool, I’m Rain! So, uhm, what’s your favourite colour?”
“Why,” Vegas paused, struggling to get the words out, “are you talking to me?”
“Well, I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to let an injured person fall asleep. And if I stop talking, you’re going to fall asleep and die, and then I would have gotten my car dirty for nothing! P’Phayu’s going to be so mad at me!” Rain whined, mostly to himself. Vegas blinked at the rant, vaguely registering the familiar name.
“Phayu?”
“My boyfriend! He let me borrow his car while he’s fixing mine. Did I mention he’s a mechanic? And an architect too! He’s so talented.” Rain let out a dreamy sigh.
Vegas laid his head back down on the car seat, the description sounding all too familiar. Just then, Rain glanced at his mirror, eyes widening in panic.
“Hey! Don’t fall asleep now; I just explained why that was a bad idea!” His voice was a bit more frantic as he sped up the car, hands gripping the steering wheel.
Vegas just sighed, already done with the overwhelming force that was Rain. “I’m fine, not asleep.” Rain relaxed just slightly before they pulled into a parking lot, finally reaching the hospital. It was a miracle that Vegas hadn’t passed out from blood loss yet.
Upon seeing Vegas’s weakened state, a nurse immediately rushed up to them as they entered the emergency room. He was quickly whisked away and taken into emergency surgery, leaving Rain alone in the waiting room. It wasn’t long before a nurse walked up to him, holding a slightly beat-up phone in her hand.
“Were you the one who brought that man in?” she asked, Rain nodding in response. “He has several bullet wounds and experienced severe blood loss. He is currently undergoing surgery to remove the bullets, but it will be several hours before the surgery concludes and he wakes up.” She then narrowed her eyes at him. “How did he get into such a state?”
Rain fidgeted with his sleeves, shy under her accusatory glare. “I don’t know, miss. I was walking to my car when he grabbed my leg, and I couldn’t just leave him there!” His voice became increasingly more panicked, exhaustion catching up to him.
Her gaze softened. “Don’t worry, the doctors are going to fix him right up. Did he, by any chance, give you any personal information? Like his name or what he was doing there?” Her voice was softer now, gradually bringing Rain down from his near panic attack.
“He said his name was Vegas. Didn’t talk much, though. I didn’t get a last name.”
“Thank you, dear. Do you have someone coming to pick you up?”
He shook his head. “I’m going to stay until he wakes up. I can’t just leave him here.”
The nurse frowned, not voicing her disapproval of his choice, before she held out the phone she was holding. “We found this on his person. Could you please hand it over to the receptionist, dear?” Rain nodded, taking the device out of her hand. As the nurse walked away, he glanced down at the phone given to him. It was cracked, but not broken. There was dried-up blood embedded within the crevices that he doubted could ever be cleaned. Rain dismissed the thought, setting out to do the task the nurse asked of him. Just as Rain was walking over to the receptionist, the phone lit up with a call. He didn’t hesitate before answering it, barely catching a glimpse of a contact named “Pete.”
Rain didn’t manage to get a word in before a voice started talking, clearly distressed. “Vegas! Where are you? What happened on the mission? We’ve been trying to reach you for hours.”
“Excuse me, Phi—”
The voice cut him off, his tone switching from anxious to harsh. “You’re not Vegas. Who are you? How did you get this phone? Where is he?”
“I found P’Vegas in an alley injured. We’re at the emergency room in Bangkok Hospital.”
“What!? What happened to him? Is he okay?”
“The doctors said he had several bullet wounds, but that he will be okay. They just took him in for surgery.” The person, Pete, on the other end of the phone hung up as soon as he finished his sentence, but based on the panicked tone in his voice, Rain would see him soon.
Rain sat back down in the waiting room, forgetting about the phone in his tired state. He set out to wait until either the nurses came back or the stranger arrived, but when he finally relaxed, his exhaustion caught up to him. His head hit the back of the chair with a thud , the busy noise of the hospital fading into a blurry, dreamlike haze as he lost consciousness.
“...you’re lucky he found you.”
A man’s voice, dripping in thinly veiled relief and panic.
The fluorescent lights buzzed faintly overhead. Doors slid open and shut frantically. Something squeaked—possibly a wheelchair. Rain’s neck ached. His hand twitched around the stiff plastic armrest.
Another voice, raspier. “I know, I’m sorry.”
Rain’s eyelids fluttered open as he slowly came back to his senses. He didn’t remember falling asleep. His limbs felt heavy, like they were being weighed down by rocks. He took in his surroundings: blurred ceiling tiles, the faint smell of antiseptic, hurried footsteps, and two men having a hushed conversation in front of him.
Despite his groggy state, he recognized the taller man to be Vegas. He looked much healthier and stronger, but still worn out. Their conversation ended when they turned in Rain’s direction; they finally seemed to notice that he was awake.
“P’Vegas! You seem to be doing better now. Did the doctors say you could go home?” Rain’s energy was suddenly back despite his previously drowsy state.
Both men blinked at Rain’s enthusiasm before the shorter of the two answered, “Vegas is doing much better now, the doctors cleared him to leave.” He then stepped in front of Rain in a deep wai, “Thank you for saving my husband from his stupidity. Not many people would do what you did today.” A suited man Rain hadn’t noticed appeared and handed Rain a check, not saying anything. “Please accept this payment as a token of our gratitude.”
Rain stared down at the check, unsure of what to do with it. “Oh,” he mumbled, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. “Thanks. I mean, you really don’t have to… I can’t accept this.”
The shorter man smiled. “Please, Vegas is only alive because of you.”
Vegas interjected, “Just take it.”
Rain looked down at his lap, bloodied hands gripping the check. He was still processing the events that occurred today, the word alive repeating inside his head like a mantra.
After a beat, the shorter man tilted his head. “Do you have a way home?”
Rain blinked. “I mean, I have my car, but...” he makes a face. “It’s covered in blood.”
That earned a wince from both men.
“Well,” Vegas said delicately, “do you have anyone you could call?”
Rain’s first thought was Phayu. His name was already rising to the top of Rain’s throat. But Rain paused, phone in hand. He could imagine the look on his face, the tight frown between his eyebrows, and the way his voice would harden with worry concealed as anger. He didn’t want to worry Phayu right now—to deal with the feeling that he somehow disappointed Phayu again.
“Yeah,” he said, dialing Sky’s number. “I’ll call someone.”
Sky reached the hospital 10 minutes later, shooting Rain a text when he pulled into the parking lot. Rain bid the 2 men goodbye, who were kind enough to wait with him despite Vegas’s state.
“Bye P’Vegas, and,” He paused, realizing he did not, in fact, know the second man's name. “P’Pete?” He questioned, remembering the phone call from earlier and the familiar voice. Pete smiled, humming in the affirmative. They bid each other goodbye once more before Rain left the building.
Sky’s eyes narrowed the moment he saw Rain. “What the hell happened?”
Rain climbed in and slumped into the passenger seat, shutting the door with a tired sigh. “Thanks for coming.”
“Of course I came.” Sky said, glancing at Rain. “You called me at 3AM asking me to pick you up from the hospital with no explanation other than ‘I’m okay!,’ and then, when I came to pick you up, I saw you covered in blood!” he let out an exasperated sigh.
“The blood's not mine!” Rain said hurriedly.
“That doesn’t help.”
Rain slumped further down in his seat, looking out the window as he begrudgingly explained the events to Sky. When he finished, Sky looked at him for a long moment before reaching over and smacking Rain on the head, reprimanding him for his actions.
“Ow—hey!”
“What were you even thinking?” Sky questioned, shaking his head.
Rain didn’t answer—he didn’t have one.
Sky sighed, then added quietly. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
Rain smiled at his best friend, then nodded. “Yeah. Me too.”
They didn’t talk much after that, both too exhausted. Before they knew it, they had reached Sky’s dorm building, Rain taking up the silent offer to stay the night. They walked in a comfortable silence towards Sky’s room, Sky pulling out his keycard as they neared the door. Sky passed out on his bed while Rain took a quick shower, eager to get the blood off of him. After he was done, he changed into a pair of Sky’s pajama's before passing out in the bed next to his best friend.