Work Text:
Kongpob heard the storm warning as soon as he stepped inside of Arthit's building. The building supervisor shooed him in before going outside to unhook the storm doors from the wall. Students were flooding in from the streets and Kongpob went upstairs quietly, avoiding the lift for the moment.
No one knew when the thunderstorms had started or why the freak weather incidents were different around the globe - forest fires for one country, while the neighbouring one would have snowstorms. Some people said it was Mother Nature's way of getting back at them, while others said it was global warming. But neither accounted for the strange behaviour of people during the storm, or the behaviour of the people caught out in it. People adapted.
Kongpob didn't get an answer to his knock on Arthit's door, unsurprising since the noise of the thunder and rain could even be heard on the inside corridor of the building, so he opened it, only to find Arthit battling with closing his balcony door.
"P'Arthit!" He dropped the food and pink milk on the desk before hurrying over to help Arthit close the door. The wind and rain battered them, already at nearly full power despite only starting five minutes ago.
"Kongpob," Arthit said, "what are you doing here?"
"I've brought your congee and pink milk. P'Prem had to go somewhere." Kongpob looked at Arthit, at how he was already wet through and how he was balanced awkwardly on his legs. "You hurt your leg, P'Arthit. You must sit down." He helped Arthit over to the bed, despite his senior's protests and sat him down. Arthit coughed.
"Kongpob, I don't need help," Arthit said and Kongpob didn't say anything despite this statement being so untrue it was almost laughable.
"You should change your clothes. Being wet won't do your cough any good." Kongpob looked around. The storm shutters had gone over the windows and the emergency lighting gave everything a dim glow. "Do you want to move into the bathroom to change or are you fine to do it here? I can turn my back." He would be close enough to help if needed but he didn't say this to Arthit.
"Bathroom definitely," Arthit replied. Kongpob wasn't surprised but he was a little concerned Arthit would fall and not tell Kongpob because he didn't want his help.
"Okay." Kongpob went to help him again, ignoring Arthit trying to fend him off. "I'm not letting you fall because you don't want me to help," Kongpob said, remaining calm. Arthit looked like he was debating something in his head for a moment before nodding.
"Fine. Help me to the bathroom. I need to take a leak anyway."
Kongpob bit his tongue on the retort he wanted to make since he didn't want Arthit rejecting his help and making his ankle worse by walking on it. They got him to the bathroom without incident and Kongpob went back to retrieve another T-shirt and shorts.
"It doesn't take that long to find another change of clothes," Arthit called from the bathroom. Kongpob laughed to himself. Okay, he might have gotten a little too interested in what Arthit wore outside of the university uniform but he had only found the shorts on the very last drawer.
"It is if you hide your shorts," Kongpob said as he came back into the bathroom and handed Arthit his clothes. "Let me know if you need any help."
Arthit made a face but didn't say anything as Kongpob left. He closed the door behind him, hoping Arthit wouldn't lock it if it was already closed. He set to work picking up the clothes Arthit had brought in from his balcony and placed them on the rack to dry. Then he put the congee in a bowl and set it on a little table on the bed.
When he turned around, Arthit was standing beside the bathroom door, watching him. "P'Arthit, be careful of your ankle."
"Everything hurts so my ankle's no different," Arthit said grumpily. Kongpob felt his heart ache for his senior. He wished he could have run some of the laps for him, if only to lessen the pain he was feeling now. "I suppose you have to stay now." The storm bashed against the window shutters as if backing up this statement.
"If P'Arthit doesn't mind," Kongpob said. There was a fine line between making Arthit see how good the two of them would be and pushing him into something he wasn't ready for. "I can stay down in the lobby instead." He really didn't want to. Kongpob liked people but the crowds of a public space while waiting for a storm to finish were nearly always too crowded, too noisy and too tense. Behaviour changes were different with every storm and some people became unable to be around other people, leading to arguments and fights quite frequently. Kongpob had once got a black eye from one of these fights when he and his mother had gotten trapped in a cafe during a storm.
"I'm not going to make you do that," Arthit said, proving his kindness outweighed his discomfort of having someone in his space. "Do you know how long the storm is going to last?"
"No. I didn't know there was going to be one." Though he probably would have still brought food for Arthit. The thought of him struggling to do anything on his own would have been unbearable. "I can try my phone later." The internet was unreliable during a storm, sometimes working much better than it had before and sometimes stopping altogether, but at the start of the storm it never worked.
"It's fine." Arthit waved a hand and let Kongpob help him back over to the bed. "My storm pack is in the place above the wardrobe. You can have something from there if you're hungry."
"Maybe later." Kongpob didn't tell Arthit that his storm pack was in the same place, because he lived in a near identical buillding opposite. Storm packs contained food, blankets, bottles of water and a small med kit, perfect for unexpected visitors or people stuck in one place for a while. He watched Arthit eat for a few seconds, pleased with having provided a hot meal for Arthit, before starting to look around the room.
They passed the time while Arthit finished his congee and pink milk by talking about robots. Kongpob had managed to get Arthit to promise to make him a little robot and he was smiling as he settled down to iron the no longer damp clothes that had been on the balcony. Arthit protested but it hadn't been a true protest. Kongpob was learning to tell the difference, though he still got it wrong some of the time. He had thought Arthit's protest about Kongpob running beside him had not been a true one, at least until Arthit had gotten properly upset and asked Knot to take him away.
Kongpob did the ironing and cleaned up the bowl and spoon Arthit used, trying to ignore his thoughts about the previous night. Afterwards he straightened up everything in Arthit's room, make sure Arthit took some more painkillers and then settled down to read one of Arthit's comic books.
He could barely concentrate on the words, his mind darting from yesterday, to the work he had to do today and couldn't, to what Em had been sad about at the library yesterday. He realised his foot was jiggling and, after a glare from Arthit, he put it firmly on the floor. The room was peaceful and quiet but Kongpob's thoughts couldn't stay still and neither could his body. Arthit eventually fell asleep and Kongpob was glad for it, not just for the rest he could get but also for the fact he could pace now without annoying him.
He found a cloth in Arthit's cupboard and dusted everything he could get to before reorganising Arthit's crockery shelf and refolding all the clothes in the drawers (Arthit seemed to fold them and then squash them in so the folding was useless). He got out the storm pack and put one of the blankets on Arthit and then checked the storm shutters were sturdy enough.
He cleaned the bathroom after using the toilet, only he had to keep coming out and checking Arthit was okay and still breathing every five minutes which slowed things down. He hated how storm magic affected him, it turned everything up until rational thought was left behind. Kongpob was used to being a tidy person, who liked taking care of people, especially people he liked like Arthit, but the storm had made him obsessive about all these things. He had to resist the urge to move all of Arthit's stuff outside to make things tidier. It was only by telling himself that wasn't taking care of Arthit properly that he managed to restrain the impulse.
Kongpob touched Arthit's shoulder and then froze. How many times had he reached out unconsciously and touched Arthit like this since the storm started? It was only reassuring him of his presence and his temperature being normal, but Arthit wouldn't like it. He had to stop.
"It's fine," Kongpob muttered as he snatched his hand away. "You can see him, that's all you need." He let out a breath and looked up at the ceiling in the hopes it would stop the desire to go and touch Arthit again. There was a crack in it. He couldn't do anything about that crack. It was fine, the ceiling wasn't going to collapse. Arthit was fine, he could see him. He was sleeping, as he should be, and his breathing was fine. Even his temperature was fine - no, he was touching Arthit's arm now.
Kongpob pulled his hand away and started to pace the room again, making sure each step was deliberate. He counted each one and reached four thousand and twenty one when Arthit woke up.
"Kongpob," Arthit said, a little groggily.
"Yes, P'Arthit?" Kongpob asked, getting to the side of Arthit's bed in record time. He put his hands behind his back to reduce the chance of him reaching out to Arthit.
"What have you done to my bookshelf?" Arthit sounded calm when he asked this question.
Kongpob looked. "Oh, I rearranged it." He must have done that when he was pacing the room. The worrying thing was that he didn't remember doing it at all. "I did it by genre, then by author and then the author's books by title."
"Why did you do that?" Arthit sounded baffled. "You could just read them, I wouldn't have minded."
"I couldn't concentrate because of the storm," Kongpob replied. "P'Arthit, there's a crack in your ceiling."
"Really? Where?" Kongpob pointed it out and Arthit craned his head to look. "That's tiny. It's probably been there since I moved in."
So it could give way at any time, Kongpob thought. "P'Arthit, would you move to the other side of the bed?"
"What? No." Arthit now looked at him. "Why?"
"I want to lie down," Kongpob said. "I'm tired and I don't want to lie on the floor." Arthit huffed in a put-upon way but moved himself over to the other side of the bed. The ceiling was all free of cracks on that side.
"There? Are you happy?"
Kongpob lay down and told his mind that he could better make sure Arthit was okay from this position. Arthit glanced at him and then sat up. His neck had gone red.
"I actually need to go to the bathroom," he said. Kongpob immediately got up to help him over to the room. As soon as the door shut, he pulled out the brush he had seen in one of the cupboards and swept the floor as fast as he could. Then he went back over to the bathroom door to help Arthit back out. "I don't need your help everywhere, Kongpob," Arthit snapped. "I'm only going to my desk."
"Not the bed?" Kongpob asked. Arthit looked away and Kongpob realised. The spike of hurt was there but it was amplified ten fold by the storm and Kongpob turned to look at the bed, begging himself not to cry. This was Arthit's room, of course he wasn't okay sharing his bed with an annoying junior who got himself stuck. "P'Arthit, does storm magic affect you?"
"No, never. I've heard stories about it affecting people badly but never really seen it myself." Arthit shifted and Kongpob realised he was still standing up.
"If you lie down on the bed, P'Arthit, I'll sit at the desk," Kongpob said.
"I thought you wanted to lie down," Arthit said.
"I know, I know. But you're injured, I can't kick you off your own bed. If you lie down on the bed, then I'll rest in the chair." Kongpob held his breath until Arthit moved over to the bed, grumbling all the way. He got onto the end of the bed and started to crawl up.
"No!" Kongpob swallowed. That had been far louder than he intended. Arthit had jumped and looked at him like he had just declared a sudden intent to go and hang out on the balcony.
"What the fuck, Kongpob? You wanted me to lie down on the bed, so I'm lying down on the bed. Why are you shouting?"
"Please can you lie down on that side?" Kongpob gestured to the side nearest the door and the bathroom.
"If you're not lying down, what does it even matter?" Arthit sounded frustrated and tired and Kongpob wanted to cry. He hadn't wanted to stress Arthit out more, he just wanted him to be safe.
"I'm sorry, P'Arthit." He bowed in a wai. "Please lay on that side. I can explain but I can't concentrate if you're lying on that side." Then he looked up at the ceiling and Arthit followed his gaze.
"Is this to do with the crack?" His tone was a mixture of disbelief and irritation. And not the kind where Kongpob had just said something good that surprised Arthit. No, this was an Arthit that was about to get very angry.
"Please, P'Arthit." Kongpob felt like he was about to fly apart. He had tensed at the side of the bed, ready to throw himself across Arthit if the ceiling collapsed. He knew it was ridiculous but that didn't stop him from doing it. Arthit slowly crawled over to the far side of the bed and sat down. Kongpob almost collapsed in relief. "Thank you, P'Arthit." He scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed. "Storm magic affects me very badly," he said, far more calmly than he had the rest of the conversation. "I can get obsessive and paranoid about some things."
Arthit blinked. "Is that why you cleaned the bathroom and reorganised the bathroom cabinet?"
"Yes. I also reorganised your crockery and refolded all your clothes in your drawers. And swept your floor." Kongpob also ironed some of the clothes and rewashed some of the crockery that he felt wasn't clean enough but he wasn't going to tell Arthit that.
"Kongpob!" Arthit had gone red now and Kongpob almost relaxed. It was good to be back on familiar ground.
"Yes, P'Arthit?" Kongpob smiled at his senior and felt the most normal he had since this storm had started. Then the wind roared and something crashed against the shutters. The emergency lighting dimmed and flickered and Kongpob reached forward and grabbed onto Arthit's arm.
The lights went out and it was as if Kongpob's imaginings were about to come true. He had the sudden thought that he was holding onto Arthit's arm but what if the rest of him wasn't there? "P'Arthit, are you alright?" His voice was not shaking, he made sure of that.
"I'm fine, it's only dark," Arthit replied shortly. Kongpob reached out with his free hand, holding tightly onto Arthit's arm, and found Arthit's head. He had to clamber onto the bed to do it and he would never normally touch someone else's head like this but he really had to make sure Arthit was still in one piece. "Kongpob, what are you doing?" He sounded angry again.
"Sorry, P'Arthit. I can't see you." Arthit pushed Kongpob's hands away and now it was like he was suspended in space. His eyes were starting to adjust so he could see a dark shadow against the lighter shadow of the wall. "P'Arthit, are you okay?"
"Kongpob," Arthit sounded worried and Kongpob wondered what had gotten him so worked up. Did he know something Kongpob didn't? "I'm fine." There was a hand on his arm and Kongpob startled before he realised it was Arthit. Arthit's hand went down the length of his arm before taking his hand and placing it on a clothed area. Kongpob felt around and realised Arthit had put his hand on his shoulder. "See, I'm here."
The lightning flickered and came back on. Kongpob's whole body sagged in relief when he could look at Arthit properly.
"P'Arthit," Kongpob said. "Please stay there. Don't move." He didn't wait for Arthit's agreement, but instead clambered off the bed to go and check the windows, the shutters and the door. He did this as quickly as possible so he could be back on the bed just in case the lights went out again.
"You weren't kidding about the storm magic," Arthit muttered. Kongpob would probably feel embarrassed at any time but right then, he was too relieved Arthit hadn't moved since the lights came back on.
"Yes, it's always got to me the worst of our family." Kongpob remembered being so worked up one time that he herded his family into the basement and became so distressed if any of them tried to leave that they were effectively stuck there. "I'm sorry, P'Arthit. I know I'm one of the worst people to get caught in a storm with." Maybe he should have refused Prem, got the senior to bring up the food himself.
"Kongpob, what happens when you're caught in a storm alone and there's nothing for you to clean or organise?" Arthit asked.
"It happened once," Kongpob replied. He sat on the other side of the bed to Arthit, careful not to lie down in case it made Arthit want to get up and move to the desk again. "I got caught in the summer house I used to play in with my sisters when I was younger. After I tidied everything in there, I ended up leaving the house to try and find someone."
"In the middle of a storm?!"
"Hmm," Kongpob replied. "I managed to get to the house without any injuries but being out in the storm made the magic worse." He had cleaned until his hands bled and that was after he had kept his family in the basement. "Thank you for listening to me, P'Arthit. I wouldn't have liked to cry in front of you." He had never gotten violent with everyone, in his obsessive need to make sure everyone was safe, but he felt like he was being shaken apart if someone didn't do what he wanted them to do.
Everything was starting to feel a lot calmer now and Kongpob assumed that the first part, the worst of the storm was over. He sat carefully on the bed.
"Kongpob, lie down," Arthit said.
Kongpob shook his head. "You need the rest," he said. Arthit getting the rest was far more important than Kongpob lying down.
"I'm not the one swaying," Arthit replied tartly. "Lie down, Kongpob, before I make it an order." Kongpob didn't do it. "I won't leave the bed. Okay?"
Now Kongpob moved. "You can rest even if I lie down?" he asked and Arthit nodded. Kongpob finally lay down, actually feeling like he could relax, unlike last time, and put a hand on Arthit's shoulder. "Sorry, have to make sure you're here," he muttered. His eyes were wanting to close, the tension and stress of the past few hours coming to a head.
"It's fine, Kongpob," Arthit replied and Kongpob drifted off to sleep.