Toxic [2gether]

Part 8

Sarawat scrolled through Tine's instagram like he owned it, on the prowl after some sweet pictures.

His polished thumb paused on the recent picture that the other man had posted, some type of work game activities with his colleagues. Tine was smiling brightly, his eyes alight and cheeks dimpling, holding a silly prize that he had won during a game. The musician squinted his eyes at the person standing next to the fair skinned male. The dude had a buzz cut and seemed somehow familiar. Where had he seen him? And why did his hand hover over Tine's shoulder! Sarawat felt mocked. He was the only one allowed to touch Tine in any way, be it friendly or intimately. He only had to resolve the little misunderstanding of them being just friends.

Frustrated he lifted his black hooded head, sweeping his puffy gaze over the airport lounge, pocketing his phone in the front pocket of the hoodie. His team was on their way back to Bangkok after doing some promotions in China. Sarawat felt exhausted and tiresomely elbowed Boss in the ribs to shut him up, as the manager's snoring had reached an obnoxious level. The other man chortled but did not wake up. What an annoying fuck.

Sarawat slouched in his seat. All he wanted right now was to see Tine and maybe cuddle him to sleep. He frowned. That is, if Tine would let him. Should he use the friends with benefits card?

Sarawat had made sure to religiously keep in touch with the other man everyday, irrationally worried that Tine would slip through his fingers if he forcefully did not make some room for himself in Tine's life. So far it seemed to work, the other one had been replying to his nonsensical jabs with mirth. If Tine was happy, then Sarawat was too. Besides, Tine seemed happy with the resolution to their one-night stand.

Fuck. Just thinking back on that strange conversation made his head pound. He massaged his temple.

Sarawat had to admit that he had royally fucked that one up, letting his emotions control him. His brain had frozen up at the mere notion of Tine running off again, deluding himself with some kind of ridiculous explanation as always. He could not rationalize Tine's annoying behavior and ended up projecting his frustration onto the other. Poor bunny. The musician sighed, tilting his head back, his fingers twitching as if strumming notes on a guitar. Forming the familiar shape of chord C.

Sarawat should have definitely handled it differently. He should have sensibly explained to Tine that he had a big, fat crush on him. A love that was bigger than Sarawat himself.

His fingers trembled faintly just at the mere thought of it, the C chord getting wobbly in his air guitar.

***

The promo pictures for Sarawat's new single were everywhere, on billboards, in stores and even as ads in apps. The musician's intense gaze seemed to follow Tine wherever he went and so did the beautiful model draped all over Sarawat. Fuck, he did not know what Green had been on about when he bemoaned this atrocity.

Tine grimaced, his brows scrunching up funnily. It was such a childish thing to be annoyed at and he felt really silly. They were, uh, friends and he should probably not feel jealous.

Oh, but he certainly was.

Fed up with himself, Tine rummaged through his closet, looking for something decent to wear to Sarawat's fan sign. The other man had more or less ordered him to come and as much as Tine was acting annoyed at this, he was actually low key excited.

He saw a familiar cloth flutter out of the corner of his eye and ripped the striped silk shirt off the hanger. Clutching it in his big hands and inspecting it in frustration. Why had he grabbed this shirt out of all the clothes on Sarawat's floor? Stupid.

Unfortunately, it was the same shirt as Sarawat wore in the promo pictures and also the same shirt worn by the musician when they hooked up. Annoyed, he threw it in a hissy fit to the bottom of the closet. Maybe he should try auctioning it off. Looking at it now only made his blood boil.