LSTRM Epilogue

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Rumble… pitter-patter pitter-patter

A mass of dense, dark clouds had blanketed the sky of Bangkok since late afternoon, finally releasing a drizzling, soaking rain by evening. It was the kind of rain that would surely make working people groan in unison over the traffic, which would be more congested than usual. But for the two men under a warm roof, the sound of the rain was no different from beautiful music, soothing and pleasant to the heart.

"It's raining, Phîi Payu."

"It looks like it'll rain all night like this."

Payu looked away from the television screen, which was showing a famous movie, to the window and found the rain falling heavier and heavier.

"You know, Rain used to not like the rainy season at all, even though my own name means rain."

Rain, who was leaning against the other's chest, spoke up, smiling widely as he remembered old times.

"Before, my school was far from home. I had to wake up at five in the morning. Whenever it rained, I was almost late, got scolded by the teacher. Plus, it was hard to go anywhere. To be honest, I didn't like it one bit. But now I've changed my mind." The youth looked up at the person beside him, then laughed happily.

"Why?"

"Because every time it rains, I get to see Payu, don't I? It's funny when I think about it. What kind of guy! Shows up when a storm comes. The wind blew against the shop window with a crash." Rain said amusingly, thinking about the time Phîi Payu took him out for a meal and couldn't help but laugh. He really showed up with a storm, true to his name. No wonder the seniors enjoyed teasing him so much.

"Phîi didn't really like rain either. Because when it rains, I can't ride my big bike through it," Payu added.

"But Phîi has changed my mind now."

"Hah, copying," Rain quickly intercepted, because he knew exactly what the bigger man was going to do. But he said it first.

"Who said... because the rain made a certain someone come and hold an umbrella for me when I changed a tire."

Thud!

Suddenly, the one who had been teasing so cheerfully froze, his eyes wide and stunned, then turned to excitement. The smaller frame spun around, two hands grabbing onto the arm, then shaking it vigorously.

"Phîi Payu remembered!"

"And who said Phîi didn't remember?" Payu leaned his head back against the sofa cushion, but reached out a hand to play with Rain's hair.

"But on the day you took me out for a meal, Phîi Payu asked me who I was," Rain argued unyieldingly. He remembered vividly hearing his own voice crack.

"Well, Phîi didn't know Rain's real name then."

"But Phîi Payu should have told me you remembered. I thought I was the only one who remembered."

"And if Phîi had said I remembered, would our story have been different from this?" Payu asked, until the excited person stopped shaking his arm, pausing to think along with what Payu said. Then he realized that even if Phîi Payu had said he remembered, but if he had still said Rain was flirting and almost pinned him down at the garage, Rain would probably still have hated his guts and wanted to defeat him.

"No."

"Then it's not different, is it? In the end, Rain still became Phîi's beloved."

Even though he wanted to argue that it was different, because he would have felt better, in reality, the outcome made Rain stop thinking about this. Then he leaned his head back on the shoulder as before.

"I won't argue, but Phîi Payu, the second time we met, you said I was flirting with you. So heartless."

"That's called seeking attention," Payu said with a straight face, the kind that made Rain hit his leg twice in annoyance.

"My car really broke down on its own, not even a little bit because of me. Hah! Who would have thought it would coincidentally break down on the exact day Phîi was right there? And you're good with cars, you should have known it was really broken, not that I broke it. You kept insisting," thinking back to half a year ago, he couldn't help but feel resentful towards the bigger man.

"Phîi knew."

"But you said back then that I broke it."

"Phîi had to know that Rain didn't break it."

Wait a minute, why repeat it so many times?

This Rain guy turned to look at the sly person's face and found Phîi Payu smirking, until he began to feel suspicious. Then his round eyes widened more and more.

"Don't tell me..."

"Mmm, Phîi broke it myself."

"Hah!" This Rain guy's mouth hung open, looking at the other's face in disbelief, until Payu confessed to the crime from before.

"Well, Phîi couldn't forget the cute kid who couldn't change a tire himself, could I? I was already thinking he was cute. I was already smitten when he came down to hold an umbrella for me. But when he came and babbled that I was handsome, my bullying instinct just started throbbing. And on that day, I was late, right? Then I happened to see a familiar-looking car. When I looked at the wheel, it was a perfect match. I thought he must be in the shop for sure, so I tried my luck a little." Rain stared at his face as if to say, if you don't finish the story, there will be trouble.

"So Phîi took a screwdriver under the car, aimed a little and tapped it. If my luck was good, it would probably go according to plan. So I went into the shop soaking wet, even though I drove there, right?"

This Rain guy was stunned, not knowing how to react.

"The part about the radiator leaking was a lie. But the part about the starter was true; it already had a problem. Really, just tapping it a little was enough to make it start so Rain could drive the car home. But why did Phîi have to do all that? I just pretended to tinker around, just for show, and then said, 'this is broken,' 'that's faulty.' Just that, and Rain was already stuck with Phîi."

What kind of person confesses with such a straight face?!

"Phîi Payu! If I had driven it and the car stalled, what would you have done?!" He had to protest a little. He never thought the other party would play so rough.

Payu gathered the stubborn youth into a hug, but this time Rain squirmed restlessly, unwilling, unlike every other time. So he agreed to explain further.

"If it hadn't stalled for real, Phîi intended to follow and take you home anyway. Phîi isn't so evil as to do that and then let Rain break down in the middle of the road. But I have to thank the rain for making Rain too scared to call any garage, and then everything locked into place according to Phîi's plan." Payu smiled widely, looked at the pouting youth, and couldn't resist pressing a kiss to his puffy cheek.

Because when he makes a cute face like this, I really can't help it.

"And if my car hadn't stalled, what would you have done?" Rain asked, still curious.

Even though most of what happened was Phîi Payu's plan, the key point was that no one knew his car would actually stall. And if it had been like that, what would Phîi Payu have done?

This question made Payu smile widely, looking completely unfazed.

"Well, since I already knew he was the junior I was interested in, finding a reason to lie in wait to meet him would be a piece of cake. I guarantee it would be smoother than when Rain was secretly watching Phîi in the shop." The bigger man said confidently, until the less-smooth person started to blush.

"Who was watching?"

"Whether you were watching or not, you were giving your friend a dirty look when he rubbed the milk against Phîi, weren't you?"

How did he know?!

Rain could swear at that time he wasn't thinking anything of Phîi Payu; he was just admiring the person who came to help, so he just felt annoyed at his friend... or maybe not!

The more he looked at Phîi Payu's face, this Rain guy became uncertain.

"Is it possible?"

"What's possible?"

"Nothing!" Rain shook his head vigorously, because he had just realized... he might have been smitten with Phîi Payu since the first time they met.

There was no way he would admit this, otherwise the conceited person would be over the moon.

"It's possible that I liked you since the first time too."

"Hey!"

Don't read my mind!

This Rain guy made a startled face, looking at Payu with wide eyes. The taller man raised an eyebrow slightly, then changed from playing with his hair to ruffling his head gently.

"Hey what? Don't you believe Phîi that Phîi probably liked Rain since the first time we met?"

Strangely, Phîi Payu hadn't read his mind, but Rain's smile grew wider and wider. Perhaps because... our hearts are the same.

While Phîi Payu liked him from the first time, he himself had probably been drawn to this man from the beginning too.

"I guess I can believe it," Rain said, tilting his nose up like someone holding the better cards for once, even though he knew full well that if anyone had lost, it was both of them, having lost to each other. But he couldn't help asking the question he had been curious about all along.

"And couldn't you have courted me properly? Every time you approached me, it was just annoying." The second time they almost wrestled, and then he ambushed him at the university, kissed him until he was overwhelmed, and then had the nerve to say he didn't choose him, making him hold a grudge. Payu's answer made him laugh out loud.

"Still don't know?"

Rain shook his head. He couldn't read minds like Phîi Payu.

"Did Rain ever lift the skirt of a girl you liked when you were a kid?"

"No... I'm not really sure." The youth thought for a very long time, then shook his head. Had he ever lifted a girl's skirt? Well, yes, he had. But whether he did it because he liked her or not, he wasn't sure. And he still didn't understand what it had to do with him.

Rain's puzzled expression made Payu continue.

"Phîi is that kind of person. But Phîi didn't lift it because I wanted to get her to pay attention to me. Phîi liked the expression on the face of the person I teased."

"Psycho!"

"Well, I won't deny it." Payu said, amused. He didn't add that he didn't just tease by lifting skirts; there were all sorts of things. He only quit this habit when he got to high school, thinking he had buried this kind of behavior, until he met the puffy-cheeked youth who, every time he was teased, would look at him like that, but always charge right back.

"So, does Rain know now why Phîi teased you?"

He asked in return, making the one who had teased him shift back to think it over, his cheeks turning even redder.

"Because... you like me."

"Right. Because Phîi likes Rain. So Phîi courted Rain by teasing you until you cried."

This Rain guy wanted to call him a psycho again, but he found he couldn't say it. On the contrary, he dropped his head onto the other's shoulder, feeling happy instead.

"Whatever. Anyway, I love this psycho already, right? But, Phîi Payu, if you meet someone more fun to tease than me, you are absolutely forbidden to tease them, okay? Remember what I did to that Top guy? If you tease someone else..." the youth pointed a threatening finger, saying clearly that if Phîi Payu did it, he would make sure he couldn't use it again.

Rain's adorable expression made Phîi Payu pull him onto his lap.

"Phîi already told Rain. Rain will never be disappointed in Phîi because of this. So, Phîi will only tease you, just you."

The listener knew full well that whenever he was teased, he would surely turn to jelly. But what could he do? If it was Phîi Payu, no matter how much he turned to jelly, he wouldn't retreat, would he?

The thoughts of the one who happily hugged the tall frame back.

While the sky outside was turbulent, the rain falling whoosh, the thunder rumbling rumble, and the lightning striking with a crack, Rain found he loved those sounds. Perhaps because he had a warm embrace that might be teasing, a bit turbulent, but it was an embrace that made his heart tremble so much that he had already crossed the boundary of gender.

Rain didn't care that Phîi Payu was a man, because this man was the one he loved.

He had been so overwhelmed by this man that he no longer thought of turning back.

"I love Payu so much," Rain murmured.

"Which Payu?" The owner of the name Payu bent down to ask, making the young man smile widely, showing all his teeth.

Then Rain moved to press a soft kiss onto Payu's mouth, speaking close to his lips.

"Whichever Payu, I love him."

While Payu replied in a soft voice,

"Phîi has also fallen in love with a little raindrop."

Amidst the sound of the raging storm outside, inside the living room only the sound of happy laughter resonated in harmony. Amidst the sweet atmosphere of love that filled the air, it delivered warmth through the tight, close embrace which they had no intention of letting go.

Rain looked out the window, then turned to look at the man who was holding him in an embrace, who had taught him so many things, especially... about the heart.

Rain smiled, the widest smile he could possibly manage.

Yes, he was defeated by this storm. A storm of love that overwhelmed him until his small heart was filled with happiness.

Now, Rain loved 'Payu' with all his heart.

The End