Bottled Up 「 Sarawat x Tine 」

「chapter two - cute」

The four friends were sat on Tine's bed. The pink sheets creasing under their shared weight. The room was cool and well-lit from the ceiling lights. Ohm was looking at something on his phone, while Phuak was eating some chips from a bag and watching Ohm search through his social media.

"So? What did he say?" Fong asked, noticing the brooding look on Tine's face. "Well, he agreed." Tine responded, the space between his eyebrows creasing from his expression. Fong nodded knowingly, thinking about how suspicious it was that Sarawat would agree. Phuak tore his eyes from Ohm's phone and mischievously grinned at his friend, "How did you even get him to agree? Did you give him some kind of special service?" The three laughed, causing Tine to blush from frustration. "Of course not! What kind of guy do you three take me for? You're so gross."

Tine shook his head momentarily before speaking up once again, "As if I'd know what goes through that guy's head. He just agreed out of nowhere but now I have to do whatever he says. What if he makes me do something embarrassing?! Mr.Chic's reputation is ruined!" His friends looked at him for a moment, "But... did he ask you to do something? Did he hurt you or anything like that?" Phuak asked, observing Tine's body, looking for any signs of bruises or scratches. "It's kind of weird that he'd let you off pretty quickly, Tine." Ohm added, looking up from his phone. "Anyway, look at this, it's a photo from a Sarawat's Wives fanpage on IG."

The other three huddled up behind Ohm, looking at his phone. It was a photo of Sarawat in the classroom yesterday, holding back a smile with while his friends were pushing him. Apparently, it was pretty rare for the school's devil boy to be smiling or showing any positive emotion. Tine thought that it looked pretty nice- despite the rumours about him, he was just like any other person. The caption was as written,

sarawats.wives: OMG HE'S SO HOT WHEN SMILING RARE PICTURE!!!

When Ohm tried to open the rest of the comments, the screen suddenly showed an error. "Ah, let me just reload the app." Ohm then closed the app and removed it from the recent apps and after a few seconds reopened IG, but for some reason the post disappeared. "Looks like it got deleted." Fong pointed out. "No shit, Sarawat hates smiling in general. I don't think that guy even wants to have friends who aren't Man and Boss." Phuak replied, continuing to eat his bag of chips.

What Phuak mentioned caused Tine to think. 'Sarawat doesn't like smiling? Then why did he smile at me?' Tine then shook the thought out of his head, "Well, anyway, forget it. We'll see whatever happens tomorrow. Maybe then Green will finally leave me be." The three nodded. "You guys should go home, we still have classes tomorrow."

The three nodded and agreed. They all stood up from Tine's bed and fixed their clothes, "Get home safe." Tine waved at the three. "Thanks." "Yeah." "See you tomorrow." After his friends left, Tine lied down on the bed with his hands behind his head. He was now staring up at the ceiling wondering why Sarawat agreed to help him. To Sarawat and his friends, Tine was probably a nobody, just another face in the school. Maybe Sarawat just wanted a new lackey? A new toy perhaps? Whatever it was, Tine just hoped he didn't have to do anything that'll ruin his reputation as the handsome Mr.Chic of their university.

-

When Tine woke up the next day, he tried to shake off the gloomy feeling of having to be Sarawat's new toy. Carrying on with his usual routine of taking a shower, brushing his teeth, eating breakfast and walking to school, Tine felt like something was off. As if he was forgetting something. He shrugged it off, feeling like it was just him overthinking.

Tine arrived at the entrance nearest the law faculty, deciding to head straight for the classrooms. He had arrived later than usual and he knew that his friends were no longer sitting out on the picnic tables chatting about. As he walked he was surprised to find that Sarawat was standing by a pillar. Didn't this guy have classes elsewhere? His department was way too far from law's! But did he even really care?

"Tine," Sarawat called out, a shit-eating grin on his face.

Tine nodded his head up in response, "What?"

"Let me walk you to class."

Did he hear that right? Sarawat wanted to walk him to class? For what? "What for? Don't tell me you want to pick girls up from our faculty. Because they're not that easy-" "I just want to walk you there, stop talking so much. Did I make you blush too hard?"

Before the slightly taller of the pair could respond, an arm was already slung around his shoulders and they were moving. Tine tried not to let it get to him, thinking he'd get beaten into a pulp if he did.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Sarawat looked at him knowingly, "Of course, why wouldn't I know where my boyfriend's classroom is?" Tine froze up, his pale cheeks tinting into a pretty pink shade. Sarawat noticed this and immediately tried to conceal a smile, "Hurry up. Don't want to be late now do you, Mr.Chic chic?" The two paused for a moment and Tine, in a fit of frustration, shrugged Sarawat's arm off. "Stop messing around." Tine quietly hissed under his breath, picking up his pace in attempt to conceal his embarrassment.

They reached the upper floor, walking straight to Tine's classroom. Fortunately for them, there were still students outside which indicated that he wasn't late just yet. Tine could feel people staring at him. Either at him or at Sarawat. Maybe at both of them. Whichever it was, Tine didn't like it. Not one bit. He looked around and he could hear annoying mumbling, just knowing that it was about how they were even together.

"Wh- Why the hell did you even decide to walk me to class? Green is all the way over at the other department!" Tine whined, his hand clenching up at his bag's strap. Sarawat looked at him for a moment before responding, "Because my boyfriend's really cute. I don't want anyone else taking him from me while I'm gone."

Tine was caught like a deer in the headlights, feeling like the words that he wanted to express got all jumbled up. Sarawat had this smug grin on his face again and every little atom in Tine's body just wanted to wipe it right off by throwing him over the railings. He was especially pissed because now his face was as pink as the flowers that grew on the trees near his faculty and everyone could see it.

Before Tine could even utter a word, Sarawat ruffled the latter's hair with a smile that was less mischievous and seemed... happy?

"Was it too much for you, Tine? You should hurry to class, you'll be late."

Tine slapped the other's hand from his head, his eyebrows knitting together. "Saraleo! You should be the one worrying about that- you're all the way here when Political Science is all the way there!" Sarawat just ruffled his hair again, mouthing some words that the flustered boy couldn't quite catch. Either way, Tine didn't care anymore and just rushed towards the classroom before anyone else approaches him about Sarawat.

Entering the classroom, his friends were huddled together in their seats, looking quite suspicious.

"Hey, what's wrong with you guys-" "Nothing's wrong, Tine!"

The tall boy stared at his three friends, especially at Fong who opened his mouth first.

They regained the composure, clearing their throats. Fong uncomfortably shuffled in his seat, Ohm was just staring at the window, avoiding eye contact. Phuak cleared his throat once more, adjusting himself on his seat.

"What Fong was trying to say is that..."

Before Phuak could continue his sentence, their professor entered the classroom causing everyone to get to their seats.

"Ah, I'll tell you later, then." Phuak nodded his head and nervously smiled causing Tine to worry. What were these guys trying to hide that they couldn't tell their own friend? Was it about Sarawat? Oh he had a lot of explaining to do and that was no exaggeration.