in the hands of fate (a love by chance, tincan, story)

chapter 7: running through my head secretly

Somewhere amidst all the chaos and his misguided attempts to break up Pete and Ae, Tin and Pete had formed a closer friendship. He could blame Pete for that because he had let Tin back in even when he had been attempting the worst. Pete was the only person other than Can that ever looked at him with a hint of genuine affection.

That affection ran alongside amusement as Pete tried to reign in his smile when Tin told him about his father's attempt to matchmake him with the daughter of Prem Noppachorn, one of his rich cronies. The daughter in question, Nat, was known to both Tin and Pete since childhood, a nice girl with an overbearing father. As soon as she and Tin had been left alone together by their conniving fathers she had confessed that she had been dating the son of one of their household staff for over a year but couldn't tell her parents because the staff member parent's job would be at risk.

"Tell me you didn't agree to fake date her or something?" Pete's expression was suspicious.

"Why would I do that? It would still be doing what my father, or more probably Tul, wants me to do. It's for their gain, not mine." Tin rubbed he back of his neck and circled his head feeling a headache brewing, a result of lack of sleep and too much caffeine. Still, it was good to see Pete back from Europe.

When they arrived at the football field Tin saw Can down by the edge of the field, Ren in his arms, talking to his senior—what had Can said his name was? No? Whatever his name was, Tin did not like him. He was always touching Can, ruffling his hair, wrestling, always buying him food. Can always seemed completely at ease in his company in way he never had with Tin and he hated that.

"Who are you glaring at now?" Pete asked as they sat down, waving at Ae who stopped his warm-up when he saw his boyfriend and began to jog over.

Tin glanced sideways at Pete but did not answer. He obviously wasn't going to admit that he wished that No would spontaneously burst into flames for daring to be near Can. Pete's attention was soon captured by Ae anyway, leaving Tin to watch Can talking animatedly at No while the older watched him with affection. He saw as No glanced over in his direction and immediately alerted Can to his presence. Can turned and waved at him, said something to No and headed over.

Once upon a time Tin had had zero interest in football. Had thought it a pointless game aimed at people with no intelligence. Now he seemed to spend half of his free time alongside a football pitch and he gave no fucks because the moment Can smiled at him Tin knew he would sit through a hundred thousand football matches to be guaranteed that smile would always be aimed at him.

Can greeted him with, "Tin, look, Ren has her first tooth!"

Automatically Tin held out his arms for Ren. Sure enough a couple of millimetres of one of her lower middle teeth had appeared, the gum around it was red and sore looking. "Aw, Ren, is it painful?" he asked, looking at Can for the answer and seeing that Can's eyes were rimmed red with fatigue. "She been keeping you up?"

Can shrugged but Tin could see there was a weight behind it that wouldn't normally be there. "It's fine. I've just bought some medicine I can give her if she needs it." He rubbed the back of his head and looked between Tin and Pete. "Are you both sticking around?"

Pete and Tin both said, "Yes" simultaneously.

"See you after then," Can said, signalling to Ae who nodded and the two of them headed back down to the pitch.

Tin sat down and settled Ren back against his stomach. She had become more mobile in the past week or so but still settled happily in his arms. He felt, rather than saw, Pete watching him. "What?"

Pete's expression was all false innocence and smiles. "Nothing." He continued to look at Tin. His smile widened. "You and Can seem to be getting on well."