Catch me (when I fall)

SarawaTine Chronicles Part: 5

Previously: Tine doesn't understand at first but then the realisation strikes him with an almost corporeal impact. When he casts a mollified glance at Wat, he's leveled with a stare.

Tine sighs. This is going to be a long, long day. 

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.

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5. They wait out the rest of the unhelpful shower in a booming silence that forces Tine to slink back upstairs to pathetically extract Fong's car key. About one stare-down and a stern lecture to "fix things up for Scrubb's sake" Tine and Sarawat are speeding back to their dorms. It's a bit risky, sure, because the road is still wet but Tine could not care less. Apart from the dull beat of the windshield wipers and the steady drum of raindrops on the car roof, there is only the sound of silence. 

Wat dosen't even make a move towards the radio dial and in the marked lack of a music, the awkwardness of the ride reaches unprecedented levels. It rivals the level of Tine's anxiety, almost. 

When they reach back, Tine immediately heads towards the side of the cupboard where the softest towels have been hoarded. He knows where this afternoon is headed but there's no way he's facing it with the look of a drenched cat. Wat, on the other hand, does not share his views; when Tine gingerly heads back down into their kitchen it's to a sopping wet boyfriend hunched over the little island. 

"Wat," he admonishes. 

"Tine," he quips back. 

There is a space then- a moment stilted as they read each others eyes and acknowledge the impending storms that have been raging within them for some time. Tine closes his eyes for a minute, breathes in the monsoon- cooled air and then exhales the irritation, the tension, the fear. He decides then and there, that he doesn't want to fight. Wat doesn't seem like he wants to either but Tine can't be sure because there's a gaze so heavy on him he can feel it. 

Then he crosses the threshold and throws the ruffled towel in his hands over Sarawat's head and proceeds to vigorously- but not unkindly-  rub the damp locks of hair. Wat doesn't resist it, even tilts in a little- maybe unconsciously- but it's enough. Tine knows now that they're going to talk it out like they probably should have in the first place and there's some relief in this knowledge. 

"So," he starts after he's given Wat an impressive fluff- head and they've settled down on the couch upstairs. 

"What happened yesterday," Sarawat answers, "was, I guess, mostly my fault. The club-"

"No," Tine cuts through- because for once in the case of their relationship, he's not the oblivious one. He continues, hoping that Wat will get it, "No that's not it."

"Then- then- was it the clothes-"

It seems that Sarawat is the oblivious one this time round. Tine can't help but bite down on a small smile. 

"No Wat," he reiterates, "its not about dressing up and going out. It never was."

For this response, Tine is awarded with a completely befuddled Wat and he realises that he's going have to express his bare emotions which is unavoidable- no matter how distasteful it may seem.

He places a hand on Wat's knee, a point of contact that comforts him or Wat or maybe both of them. Then he lets the words bleed from his heart through his lips - "Saraleo, I wanted- no- needed to spend some time with you. It was all for you- for us. We haven't looked at each other properly for the last one, two weeks now so I thought..."

There is a second of silence as his boyfriend visibly chews on the words, swallows them down so they can settle within. 

"You could have just talked to me Tine," Wat says.

"I know."

"You left, Nuisance, and you have no idea how worried I was."

"Trust me I know."

"You promised you'll stop running. I was scared." 

"Wat, I kno- wait- you were scared?"

He gets a meek nod in response and Tine feels like an absolute jerk.  

He quickly shuffles closer so that his knees overlap Wat's . Instantly a calloused palm is tangling fingers with his and his hand has been placed in Wat's lap. After their emotional outbursts, it's as if the floodgates have opened. 

Wat grouches about how exhausting his crammed schedule and Tine admits to having skipped his daily vitamins. Tine relays the absolute terror their professor has become and Wat recounts how he'd missed two important deadlines. With every passionate rant- filled with enthusiastic gestures in Tine's part- the weight upon his chest grows lighter. He sees the hunch of Sarawat's shoulders straighten out and the stress lines around his eyes lighten and thinks maybe, hopefully this talk is helping Wat too. 

Then Wat gives a full-bodied shiver and Tine becomes distinctly aware of the wet spot growing on the couch, underneath the actual Saraleo. He's up in an instant so that he can drag Wat into the bathroom. If there are squawks of protest, Tine is totally deaf to them. Once he has herded the child into the shower with two more towels, he flutters about the room, adjusting the thermostat and placing Wat's shoulder bag against the far wall before he turns to face the bed. 

He's a little blindsided because there's not a wrinkle in sight and their pillows are still aligned which shouldn't be humanly possible unless...

'He didn't sleep last night did he,' Tine thinks and there's a pang of regret and a sharp sort of sympathetic pain in his very core. He resolves to make it up to Sarawat and it's with this aim that he digs out his pink-and-white-striped sweater. 

Tine has progressed to picking the imaginary lint out of their shared comforter by the time Wat steps out, predictably wearing a tank top and shorts despite the chill that leaves obvious goosebumps on his skin. It's a struggle not to roll his eyes but he succeeds, somehow; instead, Tine exasperatedly saunters towards his boyfriend. 

Naturally, Wat turns around with a question on his lips but its muffled by the sweater that's pulled down his head. He gets on board with the program though, because he obediently slides his arms into the sleeves and allows Tine to pull the hem all the way down. 

Tine can confidently pinpoint the exact moment when Sarawat realises just whose sweater he's wearing; his eyes light up and he ducks his head, seemingly on reflex, to take a drawn-out sniff of the collar. Tine feels his lips tug upwards and is powerless to stop them from doing so. He steps backwards, vaguely towards the direction of the bed. It catches Wat's attention. 

"You remember when you said that me dressed in your jersey was your source of strength?"

Sarawat gives a wordless nod.

"Same goes for me. You look good and I- I like you in my clothes," Tine shyly admits. 

Tine has a second to blink before he's tackled by an overjoyed Sarawat, sweater and all, onto their bed. They land in a mess of limbs but it's Tine doesn't mind. 

He doesn't mind because they are in love, together.