Bottled Up 「 Sarawat x Tine 」

「 chapter one - cigarette smoke」

"Tine, are you sure you want to go alone?" Phuak asked, a hand on his friend's shoulder. Tine looked at the classroom's door, gulping and looking back at his friends who had a fearful look in their eyes. Tine knew that if he went in with them, the guys inside would think it was a challenge to a fight and beat them up within seconds. Tine nodded slowly, "Yeah, I got this." He muttered.

Tine's friends nodded and bid him farewell, as if he was going to war. They started walking away, but not without a second glance. The three held each other tightly, nervous of what could happen to their dear friend. As they walked away, Fong looked at the two beside him, "You guys really think he'd be okay?" Ohm shook his head, "Definitely not." Phuak had a pained look in his face, the other two imagined what would happen to Tine in that classroom and whispered amongst themselves what they would say at their brave friend's funeral.

-

Tine slowly slid the door open, peeking his head in. The scent of cigarette smoke filled his nostrils first as he focused his vision of what hid behind the smoke. There stood Sarawat, looking out the window as he held a cigarette between his index and middle finger. On his right side was Man, and to his left was Boss. Upon hearing the door open, they all turned to look at him. And out of nowhere a strike of fear shot up through Tine's body. He felt something drop to the pit of his stomach, causing him to abruptly close the door. "Shit!" He hissed, his heart beating faster than a horse on a racetrack.

The anxious boy slowly tried to pry the door open once again, but this time he felt his heart jump right out of his chest when he saw that Man was already standing there with a scary and devilish grin. "Hi." Man's voice drawled out, causing Tine to feel his legs go numb. Mouth agape, feeling himself unable to speak, Man and Boss laughed. Tine felt like he walked right into a pack of wolves' territory.

The two stopped laughing when they all heard a loud bang. Sarawat had hit the wooden desk with his left fist, the noise was loud enough to startle everyone in the room. "Shut up." His voice was powerful, authoritative, demanding, and scary. Tine gulped, he felt like disappearing off the face of the earth.

"Eh, we were just playing. Poor guy looks terrified!" Boss whined, dragging Man along with him back to their original spots. "Yeah, it's like he's about to shit his pants." The two laughed a little and immediately cut it short when Sarawat gave them both a stern look. Sarawat crossed his arms, looking directly at Tine. "You. Get in. Close the door."

Tine pointed at himself, "Me?" He stuttered, and when he was shot with a look that looked like he did something stupid, he immediately did as he was told. He entered the room and quietly shut the door, slowly walking closer. 'Be a man!' He reassured himself, his legs feeling like jelly at every step he took.

When he made it to just about a meter of space between him and Sarawat, he locked eyes with the other. 'He seems... shorter than I am? Well, not a lot, just a bit-' He was dragged out of his thoughts when the other boy suddenly spoke, "Keep staring at me like that, and I'll kiss you until you collapse."

Heat instantly rose up to Tine's face, a blush emanating from his cheeks. His mouth was agape and he suddenly felt too embarrassed to speak. Sarawat saw this reaction and tried to stop himself from grinning. Was this what people warned him about? Was this the power of the mighty virgin-killer Sarawat? Tine shook his head to focus.

"Uhm, ah, I-" As Tine stuttered and stammered, tripping over his words, Sarawat raised a brow and he swore he could see a grin forming on the smoker's perfectly shaped lips. "I need your help." Tine finally managed to speak, his heart still beating so fast that he felt like it was going to burst. For about thirty seconds, the room was dead silent. That was until Sarawat dropped the cigarette to the floor, stepping on it and telling Man and Boss to leave the room.

The two looked at eachother, a little confused until they realised what he meant. They both slowly began to leave, shutting and locking the door behind them. When Tine heard the click, his anxiety grew worse. 'Oh, God, this is truly my last day on Earth. I'm sorry for my sins.'

Sarawat drew closer to Tine, and Tine clenched his eyes shut, preparing himself for a fist to his handsome face. Instead of a fist, he felt calloused fingers gently position themselves on his chin. 'Huh?' He opened his eyes to see that this bastard was way too close to his face. "H-hey, what do you think you're doing?" Tine asked, trying to move his head further from the other's face. "Helping you." And out of nowhere, Sarawat's perfect lips connected to his own, much fuller ones.

Adrenaline rushed through Tine's body, activating his fight or flight instinct. He pushed Sarawat away with all the strength he could muster, yelling out a shaky, yet still loud, "SARALEO!" Sarawat looked at him in surprise, not having had anyone do that to him before. "That was my first kiss, Ai'Sarawat! You bastard! Shit!" Tine frustratedly yelled, and slowly but surely, he realised what he'd done.

One, he was in wolves' territory. Two, he was all alone. Three, Man and Boss were probably just outside. Four, Sarawat. "Uh- I- I mean that wasn't the kind of help I was looking for!" Tine knew he was royally screwed. At this exact moment, his death was finalised. As he expected the other man to get pissed off, he was surprised to see Sarawat with a small grin on his face instead. "Really? Then what kind of help were you looking for?"

The room was once again silent and Tine knew that Sarawat was growing impatient.

"Be my boyfriend!"

Sarawat's eyes widened, but he immediately and coolly regained composure. He hadn't reacted too wildly, to Tine's surprise. Tine pursed his lips and spoke once again, "Not as a real boyfriend, I mean. I just need you to help me because there's this guy who just keeps bothering me about falling in love with him when I tried to tell him that I wasn't interested a million times before-"

"So you want me to be your shield?" The slightly taller of the two nodded, a bit offended at having his rant cut short. "Why? Is he not your type?" Sarawat appeared to look curious, but at the same time bored and somehow ominous. "Well... it's not that it's just that I like girls!" Sarawat looked scarier this time, like Tine had killed his family.

"And you're asking me? A guy?" Tine nodded sheepishly. Sarawat looked up at the ceiling as he leaned against the back of a chair and a desk. He sighed, looking down as if he had a headache and pulled out his pack of cigarettes. He picked one out and lit it with a white lighter. He inhaled once, blowing smoke out with the cigarette still snug against his perfectly shaped lips. He pulled it out, "What's in it for me?"

Tine looked back up from the ground, surprised that the other was somehow willing to help. "Uh... I-" "Don't say it. I know exactly what I want." Sarawat grinned at him, like a Cheshire Cat. But still as cool as ever. For some reason, Tine thought he looked really hot. 'What the hell am I thinking!?'

"In exchange for being your pretend boyfriend, you'll have to do what I say from now on." Sarawat had this mischievous smirk on his lips.

Tine knew that this was going to be an interesting experience, and fearing for his dignity and secretly his virginity, he looked down, hissing a very regretful and very frustrated, "Shit."