After (Love in the Air)

Deep End (6)

They stayed huddled together on the bed until Rain heard the rumbling of a car pulling into their driveway. The crunching of gravel pulled Rain away from his now sleeping boyfriend and down to greet their friends. When he opened the door Sky worried glance and sharp intake of breath reminded him how shit he must look. He was running on next to no sleep, he'd spent ages crying (with Phayu and by himself) and he was still wearing his school clothes from yesterday. Without speaking, Sky quickly stepped through the door and tackled Rain into a tight hug.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here" he whispered softly in Rain's ear and Rain lost it. A sob ripped from his chest as he all but collapsed onto Sky. Carefully Sky lowered the pair to the ground, holding Rain tight in his arms, softly whispering "I got you Rain" and sending a knowing look to Papai. Rain felt the shuffle of fabric as Papai slipped past him and Sky, a hand gently resting on his back for a moment, before disappearing with the spell of Papai's cologne deeper into the house.

-

Papai slowly made his way through the house. He wasn't going to say the house was a mess but it definitely wasn't as clean as normal. Bags layed abandoned at the door, dishes were chucked in the sink, crumbs littered the bench and the couch cushions were spread across the lounge room floor. Again, for his and Sky's apartment this was probably normal but Phayu was strict. Mess was not a concept Phayu had a grasp on. Everything was clean. Everything was ordered. When Papai stayed with them he was almost thrown out. So basically, it was unsettling. Papai stepped over Phayu's racing jacket to climb the stairs. The door to Phayu's bedroom was already open. Papai finally saw his friend, curled on his enormous white bed. His face was flushed red, dark circles staining his face. He was only asleep but only just. As Papai sat on the side of his bed, the moment was enough to wake Phayu up. The man blinked, eyes darting around until they met Papai.

"Hey Yu, how are you feeling?"

"Pai, you're here?"

"Yeah mate"

Phayu slowly pushed himself into a seated position.

"I'm sorry Pai"

"Why didn't you call you idiot" Papai scolded, pulling Phayu into his arms, "I was worried"

"I thought I was fine" Phayu muttered into Papai's shoulder

"Idiot"

-

At some point Papai managed to coax Phayu down to the kitchen where they found Rain and Sky. Rain was just leaning into Sky's arms as the other boy gently ran his hand in small circles on Rain's back. They were having a hushed conversation that ceased the moment Papai helped Phayu to the kitchen bench.

"Phi, are you feeling better?" Rain yelled, quickly jumping away from Sky and hurrying over to his boyfriend.

"Much better, thank you baby" he said, ruffling Rain's hair gently and planting a kiss on the top of his head.

"We need to talk properly," Papai interrupted, not unkindly from where he stood with Sky in his arms, "Phayu."

"When I was 18 I was diagnosed with anorexia. It was pretty bad, just after my parents left Fah and I the business. Papai was the first to notice and with my recovery he stayed over and helped a lot" Phayu explained.

"So I know exactly how much of a self-sacrificing asshole you can be. I am going to call your therapist and make another appointment... ah" Papai said, holding up a finger to silence Phayu who had opened his mouth ready to argue, " I can do it so I will. Nong Rain, if you ever need me you call me no matter what time of day. Phayu never does because he thinks he is going to disturb me but he is an idiot"

"Oi, rude" Phayu grumbled but Papai ignored him

"We can bring back the rules list we had last time. Basically it just included some basics like he has to eat at least three meals a day. If he didn't follow them there would be punishments." Now he turned to Rain. "Nong Rain, I can teach you what I did but if you are not comfortable I can punish him. It was and will never be sexual, yeah"

"Thank You P'Papai" Rain said softly

"No worries now let me go make that call" Papai announced, untangling himself from Rain and exiting the kitchen.

"See what did I tell you" Rain said turning so he was facing Phayu, "everything will be okay"

And this time Phayu realised he may be in the deep end again but an army was ready to pull him out.

A/N

Shit sorry guys, I completely forgot to post this last part. This is going to be the end (for now). I want to come back and work on some recovery stuff in the future but I don't think I will be able to get around to it for a bit. I kinda want to fix up the formatting of this stiry first. Anywho, lmk what u think

xx