You're The Reason My Heart Beats Faster

Safe

Rain had been to a few races with P'Phayu, enough to see his share of assholes, so when the guy threw his helmet and accused P'Pai of cheating Rain just rolled his eyes. Obviously just another spoiled rich kid.

The night had been pretty normal up until then. The only unusual thing had been when P'Pai had asked about Sky. Rain sighed and told him that Sky was out of town visiting his father. P'Pai tried to talk Rain into giving him Sky's phone number, as if Rain would ever do that without Sky's permission. He did promise to talk to Sky on P'Pai's behalf but that was all.

Rain had watched a few races and spent time watching P'Phayu work which to be honest he enjoyed more if P'Pai wasn't racing. It was relatively quiet around the garage's tent and Rain just simply enjoyed watching P'Phayu. It also didn't hurt that P'Phayu looked hot in his mechanic overalls, with the top part tied around his waist, and his black t shirt. It's a sight Rain never got tired of.

Saifah had brought the guy over, apparently a new race attendee, because he had overheard him bragging that he was close with Khun Pakin and that he could easily beat these amateurs. Anyone actually close to the race owner would know he preferred to be called P'Pakin, even by his subordinates.

P'Pai easily left him in the dust as all the regular attendees knew he would. The betting hadn't even been that heavy, only a few naive people would dare bet against P'Pai in the favor of a new comer.

It's not the first time someone had pitched a tantrum over the results of a race, but usually when the race is close, this wasn't even a contest. It is the first time Rain has seen someone accuse P'Phayu of cheating by giving him a bad bike. Rain holds his breath. He's not worried that the guy will hurt P'Phayu but rather he is worried that P'Phayu will lose his temper. Especially when the asshole dares to spit on the bike that P'Phayu has put so much hard work into. These bikes are his pride, he would never present a substandard bike at the race.

If this guy provokes P'Phayu enough to lose his temper and break the rules of the race, even his status as favorite mechanic may not protect him. P'Pakin and by extension P'Chai does not tolerate violence at these events. Rain breathes a sigh of relief when P'Chai intervenes and the asshole is kicked out. They find out from the guards at the gate that his name was Stop and his father is an associate of P'Pakin. That won't prevent the guy from being banned from future events.

Rain goes to where P'Phayu is supervising the bikes being loaded to take back to the garage and puts his arms around his boyfriend.

"You look mad." Rain says. He knows P'Phayu is mad, but he wants to give him a chance to talk about it.

"I almost hit that bastard," P'Phayu says.

"You did a great job of enduring it, isn't my boyfriend so cool." Rain hugged P'Phayu tighter and put his head on his chest. He could feel P'Phayu relaxing and he was relieved.

The next week an outbreak of flu hit the employees of the garage, leaving them short staffed. Rain volunteers to help out for the week since he is on school break. He can't work in the garage itself of course but he is pretty good with a computer so he does paperwork freeing up P'Saifah to work in the garage.

Seeing P'Phayu happy that he is helping out, and a few kisses, are all the wages he requires.

On Friday P'Phayu picks him up for a date, it's a nice night and they decide to walk to a local roadside stand that they both love. The food is delicious and the two aunties that run in are very nice.

They are walking back when they encounter the group near the garage, Stop and his friends. P'Phayu does his best to draw their attention by attacking first while he tells Rain to run. Two of the guys take after him but Rain is nothing if not fast, he makes it back to the garage and finds P'Saifah still in the office to his relief. Even better P'Pai is also there picking up his bike that was in for maintenance. They tell Rain to stay there but Rain follows them anyway, he needs to know that P'Phayu is safe. First though he calls the number that P'Saifah tells him to, P'Chai.

He breaths a sigh of relief when he sees P'Phayu holding his own with P'Saifah's and P'Pai's help. Rain knows he will just be in the way so he stands back waiting for P'Chai to come. Luckily it takes him less than 10 minutes.

Rain runs to P'Phayu checking him over for injuries. He has several scrapes and bruises, a split lip but all in all it could have been much worse.

"Are you alright?" P'Phayu asks him and Rain finds that funny for some reason. He is probably a little giddy from adrenaline and relief.

"That should be my question. Are you alright?" Rain says.

"I've had worse." P'Phayu says, trying to sound cool. Rain rolls his eyes.

"What will happen to those guys?" Rain asks.

It's P'Chai that answers, "You don't have to worry about them again. Besides the fact that I hate underhanded methods, only a coward would attack a person ten on one, but this one has been openly badmouthing the race to anyone who would listen, even posting about it on social media. We've actually been looking for him." He indicates Stop who is sitting on the ground with his men.

Rain whistles at that, even he knows the golden rule of not mentioning the race in public. P'Pakin cannot be happy about that.

"Come let's go home," P'Phayu tells him.

"One minute," Rain says. Everyone is surprised when he goes and whispers something to P'Chai, who he has always been terrified of. P'Chai nods with a smile and Rain goes up to top and gives him a sound kick in the ribs. "That's for daring to touch my husband."

Even P'Chai seems to find that funny and P'Phayu is grinning at him, apparently liking his choice of words and actions. "Isn't my wifey so cool." He say, earning him a slap on his arm from Rain.

P'Phayu is concerned Rain will have increased anxiety after the incident, but Rain is surprisingly calm about the whole situation. Rain discusses it with his therapist, P'Lai but she doesn't seem surprised. "Phayu makes you feel safe." She says simply.

It's true too, and not just physically safe, P'Phayu is the one person that Rain feels he can be completely himself around. He has never felt that the senior was annoyed because Rain sometimes infodumps, or upset because Rain suddenly gets sensory overload and has to find a quiet place no matter where they are, or upset because Rain has a panic attack. The senior just is there offering his hand whenever Rain needed it. Rain feels mentally and emotionally safe around P'Phayu. Not even Rain's parents, although they love him, have ever made him feel completely that way.

It's not that things are always perfect with P'Phayu either. They have had arguments. Times when Rain thought the senior was being unreasonable and times when P'Phayu felt that Rain was being too much of a brat, and sometimes just random misunderstandings. Even when arguing though, P'Phayu has never made Rain feel uncared for or unloved.

P'Phayu picked Rain up after therapy. They were having dinner with Rain's parents. Every once in a while Rain had to go home to remind them they had a son. Rain's mom fussed over P'Phayu's fading bruises, they had told Rain's parents he had been mugged by a group of thugs coming home from work.

Rain's dad admonished P'Phayu to be more careful. "Would hate to lose my favorite son-in-law." He said with a wink to Rain.

"Dad!" Rain said blushing.

It was always like this when P'Phayu and his parents were together, almost like they made a game out of who could embarrass Rain more. Rain didn't really mind, it was nice that P'Phayu and his parents got along so well, that was worth the occasional nights of being teased mercilessly.

They stay the night in Rain's bedroom, and Rain tries to behave himself, he really does. His parents are just down the hall. There is just something about having P'Phayu invade this small space that feels incredibly, deliciously sexy to Rain. He just hopes his parents won't notice the mark on his neck in the morning.