Under Your Wings

Chapter 9

A/N:
Do you hate me for the angst? Guess what, I'll give you more *evil laughs*

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Jaa drove his motorbike slowly as he got a half drunk man behind him. One of his hand kept the steer to balance out, while his another hand was keeping Gulf's hands interlocked on his stomach. The wind of the night sobered Gulf a little, making his pain becoming more adamant, eating his heart out.

He had known that Mew liked to play around, changing girls after girls, so why it bothered him so much right now. Gulf regretted his foolishness for letting Mew in his life once again, thinking that he could keep his feelings locked somewhere safe in his heart, but no, he only tortured himself for being Mew's friend again. Because Gulf had never seen Mew as his friend. If he was, Gulf wouldn't get this hurt just by seeing Mew flirting with other girls. Hell, Mew had a girlfriend so why it mattered now.

Gulf couldn't help that his eyes were welling up with the tears he had been holding since he left the pub. His tears were the great evidence of his heartache. Gulf subcosciously nuzzled his face to Jaa's back, wetting the other guy's shirt.

The taller guy froze for a second when he felt the warmness spread on his back. It came along with his shirt that got wettened. He realized that the younger boy behind him was crying. Jaa tried to soothe Gulf by rubbing Gulf's hands in his stomach gently. Maybe it wasn't much, but having Jaa's broad back against his face and knowing that he was hugging someone right now—his employer to be exact— made Gulf felt both awkward yet calm.

The silence were rolling in for the rest of their ride to the Jongcheveevat's household. It was nice to listen to the buzzing street once in a while. Gulf let the wind dried up his tears.

It took about 30 minutes until they both reached the big entrance of the Jongcheveevat. The younger guy hopped off and slowly took off his helmet. His eyelashes were wet even though the wind was pretty strong, that only meant that Gulf kept crying the whole way home, and only stopped just a while ago.

Jaa quietly watched his employee who kept his head low. His hand reached Gulf's head and gently stroke him as he asked, "Are you okay?" He didn't expect Gulf to say that he wasn't okay either.

The melanin skinned boy peeked at his boss as he threw his thin smile. It didn't reach his eyes. Gulf didn't answer Jaa's question, instead he thanked his boss for taking him home, "Thank you for the lift, Jaa." Gulf smiled wider, even though it still didn't reach his eyes.

Jaa smiled back, his eyes were giving warmness to Gulf, "I hope you had fun..." He said, trying to avoid the fact that Gulf was wetting his shirt with his tears. "If you didn't we can hang out again some other time. And it will be just the two of us." Jaa was regretting his decision for letting Mew coming in.

He didn't like it when the guy in front of him was crying because of Mew. Jaa could guess what Gulf was feeling towards that fool. It was apparently not something anyone would call brotherly love. It was more than that, but he chose to keep it for himself. He didn't want Gulf to be outed by him. He didn't even know if Gulf had come out of the closet or not. So he would rest the case to Gulf himself.

"...It was fun..." Gulf told a white lie. Jaa wasn't buying it, but he chose to not being nosy towards Gulf.

What Gulf needed right now was an escape from his sadness, so Jaa suddenly popped out an idea, "Wanna go for a ride?"

Gulf blinked slowly as he thought. "Where are we going?" It was almost midnight, the shops were closed, and Gulf didn't feel like going for another dinner for tonight.

"To have some air. The place is a little bit out of town. Are you in for it?" Jaa asked, inviting Gulf once again.

Gulf blinked again slowly. If he went home reeked of alcohol and the staggering walk he kept performing, his father would be seeing red. It wasn't going to be different if he spent the night out either, right. Be it going home in drunken state or not going home at all, he would still be getting beating from his old man.