Chapter Text
Talay was someone who hated to be late, and Puen did not care much about being late. So because of that, as soon as the email was sent, they had been chosen, and thankfully Puen had submitted the application with his email and not his own because Puen never checks his.
He immediately went to inform the other and dragged him away to go pack his bag. "Talayyy, why do I need to pack already?” Puen whined while being dragged to their room. “Because a certain someone hates packing unless he gets excited, and I will not be forgetting anything because you didn’t want to pack when I told you so.”
“You’re mean; that has never happened before.” Talay had stopped dragging him and paused to stare at him with his eyebrow raised. "Okay, so it happened like one time. Why would I be excited to go on a trip when it's a work trip and you weren't going with me?"
“You’re so clingy; stop complaining; you wanted to sign up for this, remember.” They had made it to their room now. "Mmm, I don’t remember that exactly, you know.” Talay blinked at the other, “You're full of shit. Go pack, you idiot. We have one week plus we need to find something that represents us.”
“We already have something that represents us, Lay.” Puen turned to their bookshelf and pointed. Talay’s eyes widened. "Oh, we do. Let's pack it up. Actually, I’ll pack it; who knows if you'll forget it."
Puen clicked his tongue in faux annoyance “I wouldn’t forget something that important, you know.” Talay giggled and patted his back before exiting their room.
—
As the emails were released, everyone had been present in TinnGuns apartment, and Win was so ready to see if they all got it. "Guys, did you get the email already?” He asked.
“I did. What about you, Tinn?” Por asked. “I did, so do we open it now?” There was a nod from everyone in the room. As they opened it, there were only two cheers. Win looked at Por and at Tinn, noticing Por was the only one to cheer.
“Tinn, did you not get selected?”
“We didn't.” He said. The others' faces dropped. They really wanted to do this together. “So do we cancel then?" Por asked. Tinn shook his head. “No, don't. You guys go and enjoy it." Gun nodded in agreement. “But you have to call us, update us on everything that happens, and introduce us!”
Everyone stared in between each other before laughter broke out in between them all. Win was the first one to stop laughing. “So will you help us pack then? Oh, and it says we have to take something that represents us, but I don’t know what would.”
“Honestly WinWin I think an umbrella suits us, don’t you think?” Sound came behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist. "Um, yeah, definitely.” The two other couples let out giggles at them. Win was always so shy with Sound.
Tiw and Por only nodded, knowing they had the perfect thing to bring along. Tiw had bought it just because it reminded him of Por and himself. The group got up and split up to help SoundWin and TiwPor; it was very chaotic.
Sound had argued that he wanted to bring their cats because he needed them to live peacefully, but Win argued it would get them kicked out. The two broke out into an argument. Sound and Win had to be split into separate rooms until Sound gave in and said he wouldn't take them. Sound wanted Win to apologize for antagonizing him, and Win didn’t think he needed to. So they stayed separated.
Tiw and Por had been calmly packing, only talking when asking each other if they needed this shirt or anything else.
—
Nuengdiao had taken his weekly trip back to Bangkok when he saw the email that they had been selected. He could have called Palm to let him know ahead of time but he thought it would be better to tell him in person.
There were two days left, and they needed to pack beforehand, but seeing Palm stressed made him giggle, so he waited. As he walked into their home, he saw Palm was taking a nap and decided he would pack for the other. Fine, I’ll be nice, Nueng thought.
It wasn’t hard to pack for both of them. They were used to taking trips, and Palm despised packing, so Nuengdiao usually did it regardless. He likes that he can take his time and choose what they get to wear. Having the choice lets him pick outfits that are cohesive but not matching. The cohesive outfits made them look perfect together.
As he was finishing up, he felt the presence of someone behind him, but he paid no mind to it as he felt arms snake around him and drag him backwards. "Palm, I see you have woken up.” There was no reply, only Palm laying his head on his shoulder and pressing a kiss to his neck. "Palm, if you’re still sleepy, go back to sleep.” There was a mumble. “Take your head out of my neck, and then I'll be able to understand you.”
Palm whined, pulling back from his comfort. “What are you packing for?” He asked. “For that thing you wanted to sign up for.”
“Wait, how do you know if we got accepted?” He paused his folding of the blue button shirt. “I got the email when I was in Bangkok but wanted to wait to tell you when I got here, but I noticed you were asleep, so I packed for us instead.”
Nueng heard a low coo come from the other. “You’re cute now; stop packing and let’s take a nap together.” Palm tried dragging Nueng to their bed, but he wouldn’t budge.
"Palm, let me finish here first, okay?" He turned to face Palm and kissed him softly before turning back around. There was another back hug and a kiss on his neck before Palm nodded and went back to the living room sofa.
—
Tian had been visiting his mother again at the same time emails were released; he was lucky that he was somewhere with service every second. He had already canceled his cosmetology class beforehand.
He knew he should have visited the chief, but he also only had one week, and between trying to catch up with people here and going back, he would run out of time.
He immediately wrote a letter for the other stating that he had entered and a heartfelt see you soon, along with the flier, so he knew exactly what the house looked like and where to find it.
As he packed all his clothes, there was a sense of sadness. Everyone would have somebody, but he wouldn’t. He didn’t blame Phupha; he knew the other had a job to do. This was something he had signed up for when he fell in love.
He still took something to represent them in case he showed up. He still had some hope for him.
He would always hold hope for him and Phupha.
—
Ayan had been taking his nap when Akk had come home from a shopping trip. He placed the bags on the floor in their room when he spotted Aye’s phone face down, unplugged.
He picked it up, and the screen turned on. It was a photo they had taken while on vacation, and in the back, you could see Yok playfully pushing Black into the water. Looking at his notifications, he saw an email, and it wasn’t rare for Aye to get emails, but they were never marked as urgent.
Akk trusted Ayan immensely but he still needed to check in case it had to do with his college or health. He unlocked the phone and opened the email. As he was reading, Ayan slowly started to shift before he ultimately woke up.
He watched as Aye rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked at him as he continued to read the email. “What does it say?” Ayan asked. The other boy didn’t question why Akk had his phone. That was trust in a relationship.
“That thing we signed up for we got in, so just the things we’ll need when we go to the house, and we need to buy or bring something that represents us, but we can’t tell anyone it’s ours.”
“Sounds easy enough. Did Sean and White get picked as well?” He nodded in conformation. "Okay, well, we can take our jackets; do you think they’ll know it’s ours?”
"Probably, but I’m pretty sure they won’t tell on us, plus we can just bug them until they tell us what they’re taking, then it’s even.” Ayan let out giggles as he raised himself upward. Turning swiftly, he kissed Akk’s forehead. “I love the way you think. Now let’s go pay them a visit. It’s Friday anyway, so I don’t have to show up to class.”
Once they had arrived at the garage, they noticed that everyone’s bikes were missing. Recently, Gumpa has suggested making another area for them, as they were always over.
They had shuffled everything around in the garage and had been placed next to a place where they kept spare parts.
It was different, yes, but they didn’t care; they loved their small family. So instead of waiting up on their sofa, they chose to take another nap, knowing White would wake them up because he had a habit of laughing while running into the garage.
They got comfy and fell asleep after a while. An hour later, the rest of them had fully returned; everyone had been cautious about how they entered, but White never was.
Instead of his usual laughter, he had decided to throw a blanket on them and jump, effectively smothering them. It did wake them up, and as Black passed by, White dragged him into the pile, so they all laid there enjoying each other's presence before Sean came to find his lover.
"White, stop bothering them; get out of there.” He ignored Sean and buried himself in Black’s arms. Sean only let out a huff before dragging him upwards. “We need to pack; come on.” Black had let out a scoff "Wow, I never thought I would hear Sean say something like that and actually be responsible.”
"Well, if you got your head out of your ass and saw that not everyone has time to deal with you, then you would see that I am responsible; I just don’t like you.” Black rolled his eyes at the taller boy before getting out of the puppy pile and pushing him with his shoulder before leaving to find Yok.
“Just ignore him, babe. You know how Black gets; you shouldn’t have pushed at his buttons.”
“I was just joking; I didn't mean to actually hurt his feelings.” White nodded in understanding before wrapping his arm around him.
Akk and Ayan had witnessed this happen often, so it didn’t phase them. “So because we basically live together, we wanted to ask what you were going to take for the item that represents you.”
“Either our bracelets or a pride flag.”
“I would say bracelets because we’re literally all a walking pride flag, but I also know you guys don’t like to take them off, and it could honestly be a funny joke.” Ayan always knew how to brighten their mood. They had agreed that the two would take their jackets and bracelets as their own things and represent themselves as something else.
They didn’t have to pack just yet, so instead they hung out and went to buy food and have a small party.