The F5 (Fraternal Five)

Hereafter

Meanwhile, all the way to Tay-New's dorm room, New and Gun are having a sudden heart-to-heart session.

"It's funny when you look back, huh?"

"To be completely honest with you, P'New, I'm still unsure."

"About what?"

"About trying again. Papii has the tendency to be really controlling."

"Was that why you're trying to break up with him?"

"I just really want to remember him as the sweet and caring boyfriend that he is. Before everything gets too deep."

"That's romantic but won't get you anywhere." New smiles, studying Gun. "Y'know, for one particular Gun Atthaphan, I thought you'd have more fuck-this attitude than this."

Instead of feeling offended, Gun bursts into laughter. "Maybe I don't want to 'get anywhere'? Maybe I just love him too much to lose him. Not love love, but y'know." He shrugs chuckling, turning up his phone. "Kit is taking too long."

There's a knock on the door even before he closes his mouth.

"Yeah, Kit, come in." New calls out.

Krist opens the door with Mix in tow. "Hey, found this stray on the way here so decided to adopt him."

"Hi." Mix takes in the people around him and says, "Are we starting a cult or something?"

"Welcome to 'Counter F5'." Gun grins.

"Sounds like the name of a borderline aggressive online game."

"Where's our food supply?" New turns to Krist.

"You guys are the big eaters and I'm the one running errands! How unfair!" Krist protests, handing over the big bag from the new Korean restaurant near campus anyway.

"Yeah, well, a year too soon to make the rules, kiddo." Gun snickers.

"You bully!"

"You lost. Handle it like a man." New helps Gun out.

"Whoa, what? It's just a game!"

"Seriously, what's this about?" Mix asks as he grabs a gimbap, quickly gets comfortable leaning on Tay's messy desk.

"Nah me and Kit just dying to try this new restaurant, but it's so hyped, the fans would be everywhere—so we decided to ask P'New to host us instead."

"...Oh." Mix exhales. "I thought for sure it was something serious. Earth said you've been keeping a secret from us. You haven't, have you?"

"Err ...."

Mix gasps. "Have you??"

Krist smirks, gesturing around the room. "Like. Do you see P'Tay anywhere?"

"Wha ...?"

"Now that you've heard of it, you must protect it with your life." Gun plays along.

"OMG."

"Welcome to the cult, initiate." And finally, New.

"Hey! I never agreed to join!"

The three burst into laughter.

"It's Win, isn't it? What did Bai do behind my back??"

"At this point, it's more like what Bai didn't do to Nong Win."

"I'm gonna throw—" New and Krist scramble to hold Mix back.

"Papii said the L word." Gun blurts out abruptly.

Mix looks between the three before starts laughing. "Ha! Hahaha! OK, that's a good one."

"Uh ...."

Mix turns to New, eyes searching, as New nods calmly. "It's true. It's probably the secret Earth talked to you about."

"OMG. Really, love? Don't tell me you just believed it straight away." Mix says, tone skeptic.

Krist knits his eyebrows. "Uh, nong—he never needed to lure girls in with the L word."

"But this is P'Off we're talking about. Off field player Jumpol! No offense but sure it's not just a ploy to get into your pants?" Mix asks Gun, genuinely concerned. Krist is about to explode when Mix holds up his hand to stop him. "I know that you look up to him the most and as a brother, he's perfect, but let's be realistic here. We all know his history; can people really change so much?"

The atmosphere turns tense in mere seconds but Gun's the first to break into laughter.

"You know at first I didn't really like you because you seemed like a spoiled kid who knew nothing about life and just enjoyed being spoiled, but your bluntness just won me. Most people would just avoid the hard truth and risking getting into my bad book."

"IDK if I should feel happy or offended. But I still enjoy being spoiled though."

Gun chuckles. "Now, I know it does look sus and you have a solid point there, but I promise you, Papii's not like that." He reaches out to squeeze Mix's hand. "Thank you, though, yeah?"

"If you say so, Phi. And anyone knows what's Bai's deal?"

"He's hitting on your friend, what's yours?"

Mix smirks at Gun as he feels them vibing. "Well. Sure looks like he's harassing Win to me. He's straight, FFS. Bai should just stop."

"It's not for us to decide, no?" New shrugs. He's supposed to be one, too, but there's sometimes more to things than meets the eye.

"I gotta go." Gun says out of blue, nervously looking up from his phone but still manages to take one piece of fried chicken on his way out. "Nice talk. Let's do it again. Bye!" He closes the door from outside before anyone could say anything.

"Hoi, what's that about?" Krist looks between New's bed where Gun sat just seconds ago and the closed door, trying to comprehend what's just happened.

"Don't tell me ...." New checks his phone, right on time when the door's opened once more, revealing a very talkative Tay and Off with his eyes on his phone, nodding occasionally. "That stubborn kid." He huffs under his breath.

The seniors take in the state of the room and frown—for two different reasons.

"Wow, um—unusual bunch you've got here." Tay remarks. "And why are we not invited??" He protests loudly.

Off looks between his phone and said bunch. "Isn't Teacup supposed to be here with you?"

Tay whips his head toward Off. "You knew of this secret get-together behind our backs?"

"Yeah, Teacup told me. Where's he?" Off presses the rest for an answer.

"He just left." New answers for the group.

"Aw, Peng, then why didn't you say anything?"

"I gotta go." Off turns around and leaves, not bothering to respond to his pengyou.

"Wow, rude." Tay turns to New, face turned tense and a bit pissed. "Hin, a word, please?"

They take the conversation outside, leaving Krist and Mix glancing at each other awkwardly.

"Did you feel ... the sexual tens—"

"Yes." Krist winces, cutting the rest of Mix's sentence. "Did you see ... the panic—"

"Yes. OMG, I was so wrong."

"Yeah. Yeah, you were." Krist nods. "They almost broke up on the spot."

Mix sighs. "Well seems like he's not out of the woods yet."

Krist nods, getting up to gather his things. "Anyway, let's get going. Any minute now, they'll need to, uh, occupy the room."

"Bet." Mix snickers, hands already getting to work.