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It was all Fourth's fault, really. It had been his idea to take the pole dancing classes. He said it'd be fun and just for a laugh. Maybe one day if any of the Lonely Gang actually got boyfriends it'd be useful. And it was exercise.
Satang and Phuwin had raised their eyebrows at each other but neither of them had had it in them to turn down the younger boy and, after all, it would be kind of funny.
So they went along to the first class, not really expecting to take is seriously.
But it had been fun. And exciting. And challenging. It had taken him the whole first class to be able to do a basic spin around the pole somewhat smoothly, but he got there. The feeling of swinging around the pole made him feel powerful and magnetic.
So they went again. Made their basic spins smoother and then practiced some sits and climbs, but they weren't all that good since it was only their second class.
The third class was incredibly fun. They'd learned all the beginner moves, the basic spins, sits, and climbs and were just practicing making them look good. All three agreed they left the third class feeling happy with their progress, though they obviously had a long way to go.
The night after the third class, they decided to go to a nearby bar. Again, it was Fourth's idea. Phuwin should have learned by now that Fourth's ideas always got him into trouble. And yet when Fourth suggested they do shots to celebrate Satang's recent promotion at work, he agreed. And the second round to celebrate Fourth getting a cute boy's number, he drank without questioning. The third round to celebrate Phuwin not unblocking his ex for over 6 months. The fourth round to celebrate the good weather lately. And then the fifth round of shots, celebrating their successful pole dancing class.
It was the fifth shot that got him. Phuwin wasn't that strong with alcohol in the first place and here they were drinking shot after shot in quick succession. And there was a pole in the middle of the bar. It wasn't a pole dancing pole. It probably had some purpose that Phuwin was too drunk to comprehend right now. But he'd had five shots, and he was pretty sure that he was fucking great at pole dancing even though he'd only learned the basic beginner steps and hadn't even learned how to invert yet.
Phuwin also had horrible friends who, instead of telling him not to, when he told them he was going to pole dance in the middle of this crowded bar, cheered and started telling everyone around them to gather.
The second his hand touched the pole, his confidence skyrocketed, without any logical reason. But the crowd around cheered as he swung himself onto the pole. More people turned to watch and even the bartenders turned their attention from serving drinks to watch the spectacle.
He did a basic climb followed by a spin, which got a few cheers. He did a basic sit which got polite applause. But the thing is, when people think pole dancing, they expect inverts, and more complex moves that Phuwin hadn't learned yet.
Being too drunk to think about this, Phuwin just kept repeating the same three basic beginner level moves that he had learned, and it didn't help that any time he did anything, Fourth and Satang, along with the other intoxicated people in the crowd, cheered at the top of their lungs making him think he was doing a fantastic job.
The more sober people laughed and faded back to their seats and conversations pretty quickly, but the drunk crowd cheered Phuwin on as he did his little spins and sits. His arms got tired pretty quickly, so he slid down, and the crowd made a disappointed noise until a loud voice came from a group of girls clearly at a Bachelorette party called,
"We'll shout you your drinks during your break, but then we want an encore!"
And a cheer went up.
Phuwin threw his head back and laughed before agreeing quickly. So that's how shot 6 and 7 ended up in front of him. And his traitorous friends, once again, did not stop him and just chanted for him to drink, so he drank.
The guy who'd been leaning in the doorway to the office, Phuwin assumed he was some kind of manager or the owner or something like that, placed a glass of water and some food in front of him.
"You're not allowed back on the pole unless you finish this."
The low husky voice took Phuwin by surprise, his slightly blurry vision not showing the man's face clearly but suspecting that he was ridiculously good-looking.
He finished it obediently, rather quickly, because the Bachelorette party were cheering for him to go back. They placed shot number 8 in front of him just as he was about to head back, and he downed it immediately noticing the man trying to reach out to stop him. He just giggled and skipped back over to the pole, swinging dramatically.
It was Fourth's fault. He was spinning around the pole and heard Fourth call to spin faster, so he laughed and complied, but then he felt dizzy. Halfway through a spin, his head began to spin and there was a black spot in his vision. He clutched at the pole, almost slipping. Realistically, he wasn't that high up, but his drunk self was terrified of falling.
He instantly had the feeling that he was going to throw up and needed to get off this pole immediately. He slid down, but the Bachelorette party were all heckling him. He felt afraid for just a second before that gorgeous voice from before called the girls over for a round of free drinks.
Phuwin stumbled to the bathroom and just barely made it to the toilet basin in time. He retched a few more times before he felt a cool hand rubbing his back. Someone pulled him back and wiped his mouth. He felt himself be picked up and led back through the bar to a quiet room when, on the edge of his consciousness, he heard someone asking someone else their address. His eyes went over, and it looked a lot like one of the staff asking a swaying Satang for an address to give a taxi.
Someone said something to him as well but he already felt his consciousness slipping, so he just clung to the person holding him up.
It was Fourth's fault. It was his place that they were supposed to crash at, but he had been the first to pass out. And Phuwin and Satang were far too drunk to remember their own addresses, let alone Fourth's.
So when Phuwin startled awake the next morning and looked around blearily, for a moment he had no idea where they were. His head was killing him, he felt awful, exhausted and nauseous. He could see Satang passed out on a couch on the other side of the room and Fourth curled up on a pile of jackets on the ground in the corner. Phuwin was on a foldout mattress next to an office desk and there was a bucket right next to him, which he was exceptionally grateful for when he needed it about 10 seconds later.
Someone walked in, probably at the sound of someone vomiting. And the feeling of someone rubbing his back brought a sense of deja-vu even though he didn't really remember much from last night at this moment.
He glanced up at the person who was pushing a bottle of water into his hand and felt 6000 times worse. Because the most handsome man in the world had just seen him vomit and was looking at him while he felt (and probably looked) like shit.
"I know you might not hold it down, but you need to try and drink some water. You went a little overboard last night."
Phuwin took a shallow breath, wiping his mouth on the damp towel given to him in the other hand.
"... Where are we?"
"Still at the bar. We tried to get an address but all three of you were goners and we couldn't figure out how to get into any of your phones."
"... What happened?"
The man chuckled. "And how much do you remember, little dancer?"
Phuwin felt his stomach drop at the word 'dancer', a feeling of horror settling over him.
"... No. I didn't. I wouldn't. I've only taken three classes."
"That explains a lot."
The man hesitated before pulling out his phone and navigating to his gallery before playing a video and turning it for Phuwin to see. It took all of three seconds before Phuwin grabbed the phone, hiding it in his lap and groaned, putting his head in his hands. He was never going to be able to show his face in this bar again.
"How many people were here?" he asked, horrified.
"Not gonna lie, it was a busy night. If it makes you feel better, most of the sober people stopped paying attention after the first minute."
Phuwin groaned again. "I'm moving. To a different town. Starting a new life, under a new identity. Fuck."
"Well, I thought it was cute. Maybe take a few more lessons before doing it in public again though." The man winked at him and Phuwin felt a swoop in his stomach.
"Noted. Sorry... I don't remember who you are..."
"Oh, right. You can just call me Pond. I'm the owner of this place. This is my office that you and your friends commandeered."
"Sorry, I... don't usually go that far, I swear."
Pond laughed. "I know, I've seen you guys in here before. You were on another level last night though."
"It was Fourth's fault." Phuwin said, sending a glare to the pathetic-looking shape in the corner.
"That and those Bachelorette party goers. I actually think without the last shot they snuck you, you might have been okay enough to not throw up right then."
Phuwin pulled a face. "Yeah, that last shot was a terrible idea. Why did no one stop me?"
Pond gave him a look of amusement. "I tried, I gave you water and food and would have blocked if I'd been close enough. Mostly because we're not supposed to serve drunk patrons, but also because I was concerned about one of my favorite locals."
Phuwin couldn't help give a soft smile at that. He glanced at both his friends.
"Do you want me to wake them, and we'll get out of your hair?"
"Nah, I think you've got another couple of vomits left anyway. Better to do it here than have to pay a cleaning fee for a taxi. Let them sleep it off a bit longer. I have to run out for a bit so just," Pond reached into his desk and pulled out some painkillers. "Take a couple of these and see if you can hold down some water because you're probably very dehydrated right now and try to sleep a bit longer."
"Thank you," Phuwin said, meeting Pond's gaze and flushing, wondering why he wasn't moving for a moment before Pond glanced down at his lap and he remembered. "Oh right. Your phone." He handed it back. "... How much would I have to pay to delete the video?"
Pond grinned. "Sorry buddy. This video is priceless. I'm going to watch it anytime I have a bad day for the next year." He headed before the door before glancing back. "But if you really want me to, I will."
Phuwin felt a warm feeling in his chest and he didn't know what came over him when he shrugged and said, "Nah, keep it. I like the thought that I'll be the one making you smile."
Pond raised an eyebrow and gave a quick wave before heading out, closing the door softly behind him.
When Phuwin woke the second time, he still felt kind of like garbage. But much less garbage than he had the first time. The painkillers and the two more times he vomited before managing to hold down some water had clearly helped.
He noted a bucket had appeared next to Fourth so he had obviously also woken to vomit at some point. "Ha! Karma," he said out loud, even though the younger man was passed out.
He glanced over at Satang who had rolled over but looked to be mostly in the same position. He stretched, reaching for his phone and checking the time. It was just after midday which explained why, even with a little leftover nausea ruminating through him, he was starting to feel hungry. He noticed a plastic bag on the desk next to a few more bottles of water and inside were three toothbrushes, a tube of toothpaste, mouthwash, and a face wash. He grabbed what he needed to and headed for the door.
He slipped out the door and glanced around. The bar was closed and dark, there was no one around. He headed for the bathroom. Seeing his reflection was an embarrassing feeling. He looked messy, exactly like someone who had had too much to drink and passed out and was hungover.
Brushing his teeth after all his throwing up felt like heaven. As did washing his face, he couldn't wait to get home and have a proper shower, but for now he rinsed out his mouth with the mouth wash before dropping the toiletries back in the room for his friends to use once they rose from the dead.
Phuwin wandered out into the bar when he saw feet. More specifically, he saw feet hanging out over the edge of one of the booths, he headed over and lost his breath for a second at the sight of Pond sleeping on the seat of the booth. How could someone look that good while sleeping? That was unfair when Phuwin looked like a hungover mess.
His legs were so long that his feet hung over the edge, and it didn't look all the comfortable and Phuwin wondered why he would sleep here for a moment before realizing they had stolen his sleeping space.
"Fuck, good-looking and sweet. That's cheating." He murmured, pulling out his phone to snap a few pictures of Pond's sleeping form. "This is revenge for the video." Pond didn't even stir at his whispers or the camera sounds.
Phuwin heard the door to the office opening and quickly stowed his phone and headed over to see Satang stumble out.
"Hey Tang, how do you feel?"
"Death. I'm dead. Fuck Fourth. This is all his fault. I'm never listening to him ever again."
"I'm pretty sure we both said that after your birthday, but here we are," Phuwin said dryly.
"Shut up. Oh god. Everything hurts." Satang grabbed Phuwin's arm, dragging him to the bathroom. "Why didn't we go home?" He asked, starting to brush his teeth.
"Bro, we were so gone, we couldn't tell them an address, so they didn't know where to send us. How much do you remember?"
"Well, I remember you pole dancing."
"What the fuck? Why didn't you stop me??" He punched his friend's arm, lightly.
Satang laughed. "Drunk me thought it would be funny and, to be fair, it was. I'm pretty sure I have a video."
Phuwin groaned. "Not you too. I shudder to think how many videos are out there of my sad, pathetic pole dancing attempt. I wouldn't even be annoyed if they were videos of me killing it."
"It'll be a great video for your 60th birthday."
"Don't you dare. I have incriminating videos of you too, you know." Phuwin mock threatened.
Satang finished cleaning his face and smirked. "Not nearly as many as we both have of Fourth."
"Oh, he'll deserve every second of the karma he gets."
They both laughed and headed back out into the bar. Pond was sitting up, rubbing his eyes.
"I would say you can have your mattress or couch back, but the office probably still smells like vomit," Phuwin offered.
Pond glanced over and grinned. "Oh, two of the three musketeers are alive. You guys feeling okay?"
"No." Satang said.
Phuwin laughed. "Well, I'm feeling better. I can hold down water and I might even be ready to try food."
"Good, we could order something? I need to eat lunch before the opening staff come in any way." Pond pulled out his phone, opening a delivery app and looking through the options. "What do we feel like?"
"Something greasy to soak up the alcohol," Satang moaned.
"I'm pretty sure that's not true, but I won't say no to greasy. How about burgers?" Phuwin added.
Pond nodded. "Burgers it is. Hamburger, cheeseburger, chicken burger? And thoughts on fries and soda?"
"I'll have a cheeseburger, no fries, but a coke zero. Satang usually gets a chicken burger with fries and a fanta, right buddy?"
Satang just nodded.
Pond glanced up. "Should we order something for spiky hair?"
Phuwin and Satang both burst out laughing. "Yeah, maybe grab just a cheeseburger for Fourth, just in case." Phuwin slid into the booth on the opposite side to Pond with Satang right behind him.
The conversation flowed easily as they waited for their food. Phuwin drank every word that came out of Pond's mouth with keen interest. He'd embarrassed himself for sure, but he figured he could make up for it, by dressing his best when he came in next time.
Plus, Pond had noticed him coming in before and wanted to keep a video of Phuwin, so he figured surely there was some kind of interest there.
Once they'd eaten and Fourth finally woke up, they all thanked Pond and finally, made their way home.
Three days later, it was Fourths idea to go back to the bar. Fourth didn't usually have that many good ideas but Phuwin conceded this one was pretty legit.
After how messy he'd looked last time, Phuwin made sure to dress well, spend almost an hour choosing his outfit, styling his hair, even putting on a little makeup to make sure he looked perfect.
As they walked in, he turned to his friends. "If you let me have more than two drinks tonight, I'm never speaking to you again."
"We get it, you're on a man-hunting mission," Fourth teased.
Phuwin glowered at him before scanning the bar and deflating. "Wait, I don't think he's here."
"He's the owner, of course he's here. He's probably in the office." Fourth scoffed, walking up to the bar and asking the bartender. "Is Pond here?"
The bartender looked up. "Uh yeah, but is there anything I can help you with?"
"Can you tell him Phuwin's here to flirt with him?"
"Fourth, what the fuck? Shut up," Phuwin hissed.
The bartender broke into a grin, laughing before responding. "Wait, the 6 months of yearning actually worked? Wait here."
"... Six months?" Phuwin glanced at his friends, a blush spreading over his cheeks. Pond had said he knew they were regulars, but this was new information.
"I knew we got free drinks too often!" Satang exclaimed, waving as Pond followed the bartender out of the office, a red tinge on the tops of his ears as he was clearly being teased by his staff member.
Phuwin regained all the confidence he'd lost on his pole dance disaster immediately.
"Oh there's no way I'm not getting that man to make me his tonight."
His friends both laughed. Pond approached from behind the bar and leaned on it.
"Well, if it isn't our three troublemakers. Do I need to write down an address in advance tonight?" he teased.
"No, we're booking the hotel room over there." Satang gestured towards Pond's office.
Pond snorted, turning his attention to Phuwin. "So we don't get an encore of your spectacular performance then?"
Phuwin flushed just a little. "No, I've retired from public pole dancing. I can offer a private concert - in 6 months' time." He winked at Pond.
"Is that a promise?"
"Absolutely. In the meantime, we can talk about how long you've been gone on me."
Pond chuckled, "Only since the first time you walked in."
"And yet, we only talked this week?"
"To be fair, the first time you guys came in, I wondered if you had some kind of throuple thing going on."
Phuwin felt a laugh burst out of him. "What the fuck? I have standards, you know." He replied with a smirk, ignoring his friend's protests.
"Noted. Can we go more into detail on these standards?" Pond leaned a little further over the bar, leaning his chin on his hand, fully focused on Phuwin.
"Oh they're really high, like not be unemployed, not be a criminal, and the eliminating factor for these two, not be a jerk." Pond laughed, the sound setting off fireworks in Phuwins mind.
His eyes stayed on Pond's mouth for a second too long, wondering how it tasted. And when he saw Pond's eyes darken slightly, he knew he'd been caught.
"Oh, there's one more standard," he added.
"Yeah, what's that?"
"Has to be a phenomenal kisser," Phuwins eyes flicked back down to Ponds lips.
"Hmm, sounds like that one might need some testing." Pond replied with a smirk.
"Indeed. If only you had an office where that was possible."
Ponds' eyebrow raised for a moment before he pulled himself back off the bar. "Yeah? Let's go test this impossible standard then." He walked towards the office door, glancing back, Phuwin was following along the other side of the bar, not letting Pond out of his sight for a second.
He walked into the office and, while Pond closed the door, walked over and made himself comfortable on the couch. As soon as Pond sat next to him, Phuwin launched himself. His leg swung over and he straddled Pond, arms wrapping around his neck as their lips crashed together. Pond's hands found their way to Phuwins waist and in that moment, Phuwin knew this was his last first kiss. He never wanted his lips on anyone else's ever again.
So it was no surprise when, two years later, Fourth, the best man, stood to make his speech, and he began, at the beginning,
"And it was all thanks to me, of course."