now my soul beats (a sound loud enough to quiet the thunder)

i. you smile in purple, blue, and gold

i.

The first thing he remembers is the sound of the drums.  It's so loud that it makes his ears ring, throws off the rhythms of his body, and makes his heart palpitate offbeat and out of order. 

It's Econ night, their school's festival, and the university is bustling with life.  Nights like these are Singto's favorites.  He loves walking around seeing all the students having a good time together.  Seeing everyone get along makes him remember why he loves his university and being on the junior hazing team so much. 

Mindlessly wandering around the festival is what leads Singto to find himself at the front of a performance, close enough that he can feel the vibrations of each drum beat in his body. 

He's usually not the type to be affected by loud noises.

Curiosity wins.  The sounds of the drums are so demanding his eyes stray from the guitarist and the singer to where the drummer sits.  Singto finds himself watching the drummer play.  The drummer rocks back and forth to the beat, hair flying as he moves.  His hands dance through the air so fast that Singto's eyes can barely keep up.

And then he's smiling, like he knows that he's good.  The purple, blue, and yellow lights flash across the stage painting his hair and the smile that spreads across his face as he plays.

Singto decides he doesn't like drums.  They're loud and obnoxious, just like the drummer. 

Singto sees the drummer heading back to the dorms when the festival ends.  The drummer's name tag is swinging around his wrist.  N'Krist, it reads. He wonders if such a nice name fits a show-off like him.

-------

With how terrible his memory is, he's surprised he still recognizes Krist after their first encounter.  Singto is walking down the hallway when sees him standing with a group of freshmen.  Krist is clutching his side as he laughs and Singto's so busy wondering how someone could possible smile that brightly, he almost misses the mess that is Krist's outfit.

Krist's tie is lose around his neck, the top buttons of his shirt are undone and creases cut across the threads of his shirt, a sure sign it has not been ironed.  It irritates him, but Singto figures it's not the worst he has seen.  He still won't let it go though.  It breaks the university rules and it's his job to discipline the freshmen.

Singto is planning what to say in his head as he approaches Krist.  Nong, please fix your uniform.

"Nong Krist, what's going on with your uniform?" 

And then he's the one wincing with unease when Krist turns around, which is ironic because Krist is the one who is getting scolded.  They had never met before and yet here Singto is, blurting out Krist's name without explanation as to how he actually knows it, like some kind of stalker.  He hopes Krist won't question it.

Krist doesn't.  "I'm sorry, P'Singto," Krist says, "I'll change right away."

"Good," he blurts out before walking away to hide his slight embarrassment.

When Singto walks back down the hallway later, he forces himself to look straight forward to avoid interacting with Krist again.  He's still feeling self-conscious, because when he thinks about it, Krist had paused for a second before responding and he had probably been silently questioning if Singto stalked him.  He's thankful that Krist had not made a big deal out of it; maybe Krist isn't so bad after all.

It takes him three seconds to change his mind.  A dangling dark green tie catches his eye and when he looks at it again, he realizes it's Krist's.  His tie is still loosened around his neck and his shirt is still unbuttoned.

His embarrassment bleeds into irritation.  He'd thought that Krist might've been an okay guy, a little show-offish, but still someone who would respect him and listen to what he had to say.  Yet in the end, Krist had shown that he held no respect for the university's rules or the hazing team.

"Nong Krist," he yells and he realizes his voice is elevated, harsher than he usually sounds when he scolds freshmen, "why have you still not fixed your outfit?"

Krist blinks again before looking down at his uniform again as if he had somehow forgotten that he had put it on messily in the first place.  Singto scoffs, it's unbelievable how disrespectful someone can be.

"I'll fix it, P'."

He stays put, watching Krist.  "Fix it right now."  Singto watches the other quickly rush to button the top buttons of his shirt and straighten out his tie.  There is absolutely no sense of embarrassment now.  When he thinks about it, he doesn't know why he had felt embarrassed in the first place.  Why should he care about what someone so insolent thinks of him?

Krist's outfit is fixed.  Singto glares before briskly turning away.

-------

He's come to recognize Krist's voice.  It's a bit nasally, stands out in a crowd, and he is already prepared to see Krist's face when he hears a voice coming from the classroom at the end of the hall.

He's right.  Krist is sitting in a desk by the open windows with two other people, his friends perhaps.  The pitch black darkness of two in the morning is faded into a brownish haze from the lights of the classroom and the chirps of crickets cut through the cool night air.

Singto clears his throat.  "Freshmen, what are you doing here?"

They leap to their feet to greet him.  "We were just talking, P'."  Singto turns to see a shorter freshman talking to him.  He's surprised it's not Krist answering him and trying to challenge him in some way.

"It's two in the morning.  You know you're not supposed to be here," Singto scolds.  "Go back to the dorms immediately."

The freshmen scramble to collect their belongings before quickly exiting the room.  It takes Krist a while though.  He's rushing to shove his laptop into his bag and Singto taps his hand against the door knob of the room impatiently.

"Nong Krist, please hurry up."  He's a little proud of the icy disdain that leaks through his voice.

"Yes, P'."  Krist zips his bag, half-jogging to get out.  Singto is staring at the other side of the room, waiting for Krist to leave so he can shut the door, but  out of the corner of his eye, he can see Krist stop a couple steps away from him.

Singto looks up.  Krist is staring at him and it's now that he realizes how big Krist's eyes are.  "What are you staring at?"

"P'Singto, you wear glasses?"

He quickly raises his hands to the metal frames.  He always wore contacts in public, but it had been so late that his eyes had tired.  He had switched into his glasses thinking that he would only run into the hazing team at their night time practice.  Stupid.  He can feel his tongue twisting up into knots with the embarrassment of being seen when he was not in his usual hazing attire.  Singto's face feels warm and all he can be thankful for is the fact that he doesn't turn red when he gets flustered.

He twists the door knob, unnerved.  "Nong, please go back to your dorms."

"Okay, P'," Krist says.  For a second, Singto thinks Krist's voice has a softer tone than it normally does.  He doesn't sound half as loud as usual and Singto thinks that if Krist spoke in this voice all the time, Singto would like his voice a lot. 

Krist takes a couple more steps before he turns around and smiles.  "I just wanted to say that you look good with them."

The air is knocked out of his chest.

He's not used to people he has just scolded throwing compliments at him and by the time he has regained his composure, Krist has already sprinted away, chasing after the rest of his friends.

this draft's a little rough but i hope it'll pick up when they actually become friends!  i'm always open to critique and ways to improve if you have suggestions !  also thank you so much to Zwinnalla for offering me edits 💛