Toxic [2gether]

Part 27

Shit. Sarawat panicked, jerking away. He released his arms around Tine and faltered backwards from the force of the hefty movement, falling entirely off the bench they were sitting on. Tine turned around, giggling. His sharp cheeks were flushed as he reached a lithe hand to help Sarawat up from the dusty floor.

"What's got you so spooked?" He asked coyly, eyes being downcast, peering shyly at their entwined hands. Their own ying and yang. Sarawat blinked dazedly. What. Was Tine flirting with him or was Sarawat just reading into things? Tine had asked Sarawat to help him learn how play this one song for a girl he was currently crushing on, wanting to serenade her. But now he was acting all coy with Sarawat instead. What an annoying brat! Did he even realize what this did to Sarawat's insides?

Sarawat smirked quickly, lopsidedly and tugged at Tine's hand, making him lurch over the bench and almost tumble down over the other boy sprawled on the floor. Sarawat's eyes glittered teasingly.

"H-hey!" Tine yelped, bracing his other hand on the seat to stop the fall. The flush on his face spread further down his neck and lapped at the tips of his ears. Cute. Sarawat's smirk grew more twisted as he gazed darkly from under his lashes at the other boy. Was it really that unimaginable for Tine to fall in love with Sarawat? Then he would take what he could get. Some innocent flirting would not hurt anyone, especially since Tine seemed none the wiser, acting as clueless as always.

"Sorry," Sarawat droned, lips crooked and released Tine's warm hand, letting the other boy turn around to regain his bearings. He stared at Tine' strong back, enjoying the outline of his traps under the white cotton of the shirt, eyes trailing the slope of his strong shoulders that were slightly hunched as Tine went back to strumming a nonsensical melody on their guitar. Would Sarawat ever be on the receiving end of Tine's efforts?

***

"Sarawat, is it true that you're gay?" His manager asked suddenly, peering at him through the rearview mirror while swiftly steering the wheel. Sarawat just nodded without looking up from his phone, preoccupied with the instagram post that Tine had tagged him in. The tires suddenly screeched and Sarawat was lurched forward from the force of the brake. "What?" The manger asked gravely, turning around in his seat to stare at the younger man with outrage. "You can't be gay."

Sarawat furrowed his brows, staring back with a sour expression at the older man. What. He glanced out the window, blinking bewilderedly. At least the man had parked haphazardly into a pocket on the road, getting them out of harm's way.

"Why?" Sarawat dawdled, regaining his composure and raising his chin hauntingly, peering darkly at the older man through his lashes. What kind of fucked up situation was this?

"The agency strongly forbids any scandals, there's a clause for fines written into the agreement and something like this will certainly become a scandal. Shit, I thought that my niece was just making things up."

"Your niece?" Sarawat asked confusedly, his thoughts all jumbled. He would be fined for something like this? This was madness. He had seen the clause mentioning scandals but it had never occurred to him that being gay would be considered as such, when it was a part of his very being and not just a drunken mistake or whatever other celebrities managed to get themselves into.

"Yes, she goes to the same university and kept yapping about a gay couple on campus. Imagine my surprise when she showed me a picture of you with some other guy." The man locked hard eyes on Sarawat. "You better break up with that boy or you will be slaughtered in this industry. You both will be outed in the worst possible way."

Sarawat's lips twisted downward, dark eyes narrowing. Was this dude for real? This was not the 18th century, really. His grip on the phone tightened. Sarawat did not like this at all. Why would they even drag Tine into this?