Sky practically pushes P'Pai out of the house on Tuesday morning, ordering him to go to school.
"Wow," P'Pai says, giving his best sad puppy dog impression, "I take care of you while you are sick and now that you don't need me any more you are pushing me away without even a thank you."
Sky frowns, "I didn't ask you to."
"I wanted to," P'Pai says. "I just want you to realize I really do care about you."
Sky almost asks why he should, Sky is nobody but stops himself. "Go, if you are late for school, I won't let you buy me dinner tonight, and I want rice and basil pork."
Pai grins at this, and Sky knows it's because he's accepted the fact that P'Pai will bring him food regardless.
"Wait," Sky says as P'Pai turns to leave. He isn't sure why he does it. Maybe he is still a little sick. He leans in and gives P'Pai a kiss on the cheek. "There I thanked you. Now go."
P'Pai looks stunned for a second, then gives Sky a sunny smile. Sky scowls at him and pushes him out the door, slamming and locking it behind him.
No one sees Sky slide down to the ground and bury his red face in his hands.
Ple hadn't meant to tell anyone what she suspected, but P'Som had just made her so mad that it had slipped out. Her brother could be so infuriating sometimes.
She understands that P'Som likes P'Phayu. He had talked constantly about him since he had started university last year. It is pretty obvious where her brother's heart lay. Ple even has a small crush on him, herself. P'Phayu is so handsome and nice that it's hard not to.
Rain is Ple's friend, though, and Ple will always support her friend. Besides, it's obvious to Ple and anyone else who looks that P'Phayu only has eyes for Rain.
So when P'Som, in a fit of jealousy, decided to bad mouth Rain, Ple saw red. For months, she had put up with her brother's little snide comments and jealous remarks. She kept reminding herself that she needed to be respectful because he was her brother and her senior, but she couldn't take it anymore.
It started at lunchtime. She and P'Som had been in line when Rain and P'Phayu passed them, having already gotten their food.
"Rain," Ple called him over because she was worried about Sky.
"HI, Ple, P'Som," Rain gave a respectful wai.
"Is Sky feeling any better? Have you talked to him?" Ple asks.
"I talked to him this morning," Rain says, "He is feeling much better and will be back in school Monday."
"That's wonderful news." Ple says and means it.
"Excuse us." P'Phayu says, he has both his and Rain's trays, "we'll go find a table. Join us when you have your food if you like."
"We will," Ple says, giving him a smile.
"Ugh, I can't stand the way P'Phayu babies him, carrying his food and everything." P'Som says.
Ple sighs and bites her tongue. She will not start an argument with her brother in the middle of the cafeteria.
"I even heard that P'Phayu isn't riding his bike to school anymore. Maybe Rain is too scared of it." P'Som says.
It's such a ridiculous accusation. Ple has seen Rain happily clinging to P'Phayu on his bike many times. They are so cute together on it that Ple has often wanted to take a picture.
It slips out before she thinks. "It's probably because of the baby."
As soon as she sees P'Som's eyes widen in shock and understanding, she realizes her mistake.
"You can't tell anyone," She whispers to him, "I mean it P'Som if you tell anyone, I will never forgive you." They have always been close siblings, and this threat carries some wait with her brother. He nods, still in shock over the news.
Neither of them noticed the girl behind them, a classmate of P'Phayu's named Nim. She had only been half listening to their conversation until P'Phayu's name had been brought up. Nim loves gossip, and P'Phayu is always a hot topic.
Rain stops frown in confusion at the group of people gathered outside his classroom. They are all whispering and giggling.
As he pushes past them, someone stage whispers, "I guess we know what P'Phayu likes about him now."
Rain freezes, feeling his blood going cold. Surely he hadn't heard the person right.
As the day goes on, he can no longer deny it. The nasty whispers follow him everywhere. <i>easy, alpha chaser, will drop out of school now that he has what he wants, not good enough, knot greedy omega</i> and much worse.
Some of these people he thought were his friends. How can they be so vicious? Only Sig, Por, and Ple are silent. Ple looks pale and miserable.
By the time lunch time rolls around, Rain is almost in tears. He tells P'Phayu he isn't feeling well and wants to go home. They were taking tomorrow off anyway, and Friday is a holiday. They are visiting P'Phayu's parents. While Rain had been nervous before now, he is almost sick with the thought. What if they think the same as his classmates?
His mama takes one look at Rain and says, "What's wrong, Raindrop." She looks suspiciously at P'Phayu, "Did you two fight?"
Rain sighs, "No, Mama."
"Something is wrong, though," P'Phayu says, "You look almost ready to cry. Tell me what's wrong, please." He scrunches his nose and makes the cute face that Rain can never resist. Rain wonders how the alpha always manages to make him feel better.
"I guess they found out about the baby somehow at the university and they.." now Rain does cry remembering the vicious comments.
"They said awful things," Mama says, hugging him. "I am sorry, Raindrop. I guess not much has changed in twenty years. People will always talk, it can't be helped." That's right, mama would have gone through the same things, Rain thinks sadly.
"I will just pass on the wise words your grandfather told me." Mama pauses dramatically and say, "Fuck them."
"Mama!" Rain says, shocked. Even P'Phayu lets out a snort.
"I am not even kidding, fuck them. They aren't your friends with that attitude and they don't deserve to be." Mama strokes his hair back from his face. "Oh, Raindrop, I promise you it's just one bad day. There might be more like it, but there will be good days as well. Don't let others kill your happiness."
She turns to P'Phayu and says, "Why don't you take Rain up to have a nap, he will take comfort from your scent. I will make us all dinner. Don't forget you have a long trip tomorrow."
Rain has made his bed into a nest to give himself comfort for those few days he has to sleep at home without his alpha. He and P'Phayu crawl in now and the alpha holds him tight letting his scent wash over Rain. It is comforting.
"Will your parents really like me?" Rain asks. He has asked before, but after today he needs to be reassured.
"Sweet boy, they will love you." P'Phayu says.
"They won't be mad about the baby?" Rain asks.
"If I know my parents, and I do, they will be thrilled." P'Phayu says.
"They won't think I went to the university just to trap an alpha into marriage?" Of all the things people had said, that hurt the most. Rain hadn't even known P'Phayu was their senior until the first day.
P'Phayu stiffens at this, "did someone say that?" His voice has taken on an icy tone. Rain nods. "Sweet boy, if anything they will wonder how I managed to catch such a wonderful and beautiful omega. Now sleep, you will feel better after you rest and I will be here when you wake up."
Phayu lays with Rain sleeping in his arms. Outwardly he looks calm but fury is boiling through his veins.
Logically he knows he can't march into school and rip every single person that dared upset his omega to pieces but that doesn't mean part of him doesn't want to.
Ple shifts from one foot to the other nervously while she waits fir the door to be opened.
"Ple?" Sky asks in confusion when he opens the door.
"Sky, I came to see Rain, he wasn't at school today, but when I tried his house no one was home. Do you know where he is?" Ple says.
"He and P'Phayu went to see P'Phayu's parents in Korat for the weekend." Ple breathes a small sigh of relief, "Is something wrong?"
"Can I come in?" Ple asks.
"Of course," Sky steps aside to let her in and makes her a cup of tea. She takes it gratefully.
"What's happened?" Sky asks.
Ple tells him about the awful things they were saying at the faculty and how it was even worse today with Rain not on class.
"It's my fault." Ple says miserably.
"What do you mean?" Sky asks.
"I saw P'Phayu and Rain together. That along with P'Phayu saying it was too dangerous for Rain to be around you while you were sick and I guessed. I never planned to tell anyone, it wasn't my secret to tell. But then I got so mad at P'Som that I let it slip and I think someone overheard me." Ple says everything in a rush as if making a confession. She guesses that's exactly what it is.
She waits to see if Sky will grow angry or order her out of his house. She knows Rain and Sky are like brothers and she wouldn't blame him if he did.
Instead Sky just sits in thoughtful silence for a few minutes.
"It's not ideal but then Rain wouldn't exactly be able to hide it for much longer." Sky says. "Stop blaming yourself and help me figure out what to do about these ass holes at school."
"What to do about them?" Ple asks.
"Of course, they can't get away with talking about our friend like that. Who would help?" He asks.
She thinks about this and says, "Almost all the members of the student council really look up to P'Phayu's. Plus Sig and Por are close to Rain. I think P'Som as well if I ask him."
"Call them, we'll have a student council meeting right here this weekend." Sky says.
Sky is surprised at the turnout of the Rain support group, as it's been dubbed. It seems like the bullies must be a loud minority.
Several of them say, "I wanted to stop them but I didn't know how."
Even P'Som, who has been openly jealous of Rain and P'Phayu, seems to feel bad about the things people have been saying about the omega.
"We have two goals." Sky tells the group, "support Rain to let him know we are there for him and shut down these bullies."
"They think they are being clever," P'Som says, "but they are just jealous." Sky thinks he would know.
"Sig is always quick with a joke, he could easily shut them down with humor." Por suggest.
"There are some advantages to being the class clown." Sig agrees.
"What about throwing Rain and P'Phayu a faculty sponsored baby shower?" Ple suggests. "that will show we support them."
"Is Rain going to have to take a semester off?" A senior that Sky is pretty sure is named Khet, asks.
"Next Fall." Sky confirms, "He hopes to be back by the spring semester.
"I and several of the other seniors would be happy to help him catch up on his work." He suggests. "I was raised in a single omega house myself before my dad met my Pa and was married. Although Rain has P'Phayu I still recognize the struggle they will have with a young pup and will be happy to help." Several of their seniors nod at this.
"You know Rain isn't the only student with a pup." A girl named Prea says. "It's a shame the university doesn't offer some sort of daycare."
"Actually that would be nice even for the teachers with young children. We should look into that," Ple suggests.
By the end of the meeting they have a plan in place.
"I called Rain," Sky tells Ple as he walks her out.
"Is he mad?" Ple asks nervously.
Sky shakes his head. "He said the people talking about him aren't worth his time and won't kill his happiness."
"What about at me?." Ple asks
Sky says, "He just said the same thing I did, people were going to find out soon. Then he went into a rant about his favorite jeans not fitting anymore."
Ple giggles, "That sounds like Rain."