Chapter Text
MAWIN PLACED a can of beans into his shopping cart, which was already filled to the brim. The girls had given him a last minute list of things they also needed after he told them that he was going shopping. Now his cart consisted of some beauty cosmetics, two cereal boxes, candy bars for the each of them, a carton of milk, laundry detergents, new plates and cups. The cart was now harder to push.
He passed through a few more aisles, looking through new items on the shelf. Mawin paused. A shiver spiked up. He turned around and made eye contact with a rather huge man. Mawin guessed they were the same age as they dressed in the more 'modern' fashion, though the man simply wore a black tank top, which made his chest look like it was about to pop out. Tattoos covered every inch of his body, the man had a crazed look about him Mawin didn’t like so much.
Or maybe it was just the way he was staring at him.
Staring at him as though he could see through his skin, watching him carefully as he shopped. Mawin gulped as the man sent him a terrifying smirk.
‘Shit! He caught me fuck!’ Mawin sped away, not turning back even once in his departure. ‘Brighton island citizens are creepy..’
Letting out a breath of relief, he walked to the checkout, giving the cashier a sweet smile as he placed all his items down.
“You go university kid?” The cashier asked, scanning through the items.
Mawin nodded, “yeah Uhm first year.”
The cashier simply hummed, scanning the last item as he asked ‘cash or card?’.
The Thai boy grabbed a handful of his shopping bags before he walked out the grocery store, he grunted as his body finally registered the heaviness of the items. Luckily, his car wasn’t so far which eased his worries about after sore hands.
He was unable to bring a car from Thailand to Brighton—only his bicycle was allowed—so when the girls asked for him to go shopping, Ava kindly threw him her keys with a soft smile Mawin ignored the small blush covering her cheeks as she did so.
Mawin didn’t mind Ava having a small crush on him. She knew he was gay and she never crossed boundaries, of course they would soon have to talk it out so then Mawin didn’t feel like he was leading her on. Though he had a feeling he was simply a tool in making a certain king jealous.
He opened the back trunk of the pink Mercedes, ignoring the looks he got from strangers. ‘Jeez everyone was so judgemental..’ he simply thought to himself, throwing a few glares at anyone brave enough to stare for too long. He placed down the shopping bags as neatly as possible.
*bzzz! Bzzz!*
Quickly closing the trunk, he took his phone out his pocket. ‘Cecily 📚’ he answered almost immediately.
“Hey! I’m almost finished, I’ll be back in a few.”
He heard Cecily giggle from the other side, “thank for letting us know but that’s not why i called you.”
“Oh. Okay, what’s up?”
“Tonight we’re going to that bar with the guys, just wanted to remind you..” Cecily trailed off, Mawin heard a certain blonde whispering harshly to her. “Oh..and Ava wants to know what colour you’re wearing tonight.”
Mawin paused. “Does she want to match..platonically?” He heard another whisper.
“Yes plantoically.”
“Alright, I’m wearing a yellow dress shirt with simple black pants with a silver chain belt.” Mawin chuckled softly as he heard a bunch of voices giggling to each other and talking quietly.
He raised his eyebrows
“”Okay..We got it. Come back soon, we’re getting ready and we’re waiting.” The two conversed for a few more minutes before Mawin ended the call, sighed to himself.
He wasn’t comfortable with the idea of hanging out with more people and by the looks of it they were probably apart of the ‘popular’ crowd. It was already enough to hang out in secret with the most energetic girls he had ever met, but now it was about to be combined with male hormones.
Great.
‘Let’s hope nothing werid happens..’
“AND THEN she totally came at me! Can you believe it? I was only trying to help her,” Ava complained to the rather large group of friends, the bar wasn’t empty, quite full in fact, but still her shrill voice could be heard over the crowd.
They sat in the corner of the bar, in a more secluded area. Drinks were already brought with more to come, some guy had paid for everything in advance. ‘Rich people behaviour’ was all Mawin had thought.
As Ava continued her vent she shifted closer to Mawin, her arm intertwining with his. The woman had worn a short yellow flowy dress, complimented with black stockings and white polished high heels. It went well with Mawin’s outfit.
Which was why Eli King was murdering Mawin with his really dark eyes. Despite the cheerful energy, Eli’s murderous aura could be felt by everyone especially Mawin, who had simply chose to ignore the older man.
“Mawin, right?” A soft voice asked, Mawin turned to his left, just in time to see the cute brunette plopping right next to him. Mawin gulped. The brunette was one of Glyndon’s older brothers—Brandon—not the one from earlier that day. Despite being twins with Landon, Mawin could easily spot the differences between the two. Brandon had a lovely aura with an even lovelier scent, his dark blue eyes were enchanting with a little spark right in the corner.
Mawin was absolutely captivated.
“Hello?” Mawin snapped out of his thoughts, Brandon was looking at him with confusion.
Mawin sat up straighter with hands inbetween his thighs. “Hi- sorry. Yeah that’s me..and you’re Brandon? Glyn’s brother?”
Brandon chuckled under his breath, nodding.
“Yeah that’s me.” Mawin could feel his thighs brushing against his, he swore he saw Brandon smirk before he spoke up, “so, How do you know my sister?”
“Oh Uhm..I was friends with Ava first and then I guess, I became acquainted with the others later.” It wasn’t a complete lie..who was he kidding? It was a total lie. One, he was pretty sure did not match the one the girls told the others.
Brandon hummed.
“Really? I figured you would’ve met Cecily first since you guys share the same major.”
‘Oh for fucks sake.’ Mawin could feel Ava’s glare. ‘How could I have forgotten that? And has she been listening in this entire time?’
“Haha! Win’s so funny isn’t he? I guess we became super close since he’s totally forgotten about Cecily!” Ava spoke up, pulling Mawin closer than he liked. Though he supposed he should be grateful since she saved him from total embarrassment.
The two boys glanced at each other. Mawin shyly smiled while Brandon chuckled once more. Guess she didn’t fully save him.
AS THE night went on, Mawin became more acquainted with the men of the group.
He found that liked Remington’s energy the most, which was a surprise as Win typically despised people like Remi. The energetic puppy was all over Mawin, bringing him in for side hugs and had even encouraged Mawin to dance with him.
Remington and Brandon seemed to be the only guys he liked.
Eli King had practically been glaring at him the entire night, whenever they spoke, Eli seemed to always have something snarky to say.
His brother, Creighton seemed to be the same though much more softer with his approach. The male was quiet in general (Annika’s words), only preferring the company of those closest to him. So Win had figured that Eli must’ve said something about him to his brother.
Landon..was weird. Mawin didn’t like him very much and Landon shared the same sentiment. The twin kept referring to his dorm and the girls. Mawin hated the fact that Landon seemed to know more than what he let on.
“So you truly met the girls through Cecily?” Landon’s tone was mocking, a stupidly attractive smirk on his face.
Win stopped himself from groaning. ‘No wonder Glyn gets sick of him.’
“Yes. I met them through Cecily.”
Landon hummed, amusement clear in his eyes. If the conversation wasn’t awkward before, it definitely was now.
“Lay off Lan.” Glyndon spoke up, annoyance lacing her tone. She seemed to notice the tense air, glancing between the two men. “Win is our friend, he’s a nice guy. Stop bothering him.”
That only got a scoff out of the man, he leaned into his seat, crossing his arms. “Sure.”
“Yeah Lan! He’s practically an angel compared to you bunch..well Bran too but still.” Ava leaned closer, her arm now around Win’s shoulder. She sent a look towards Eli—one Win couldn’t understand.
Her words only seemed to anger Eli, or perhaps it was her actions. Win was now definitely sure Ava was purely using him.
“Yeah right. An angel.” This was the first time Eli spoke the entire night and his tone terrified Win to the bone. He felt a chill go through him. Win could only let out a titter, sinking into his own seat.
Remington—the ever saving grace—caught everyone’s attention as he attempted to balance a shot of whiskey on his nose, trying to do some sort of trick shot. The group focused purely on him, to Win’s relief as he sighed. He watched as Remington tried to use his tongue to get the shot to his mouth, he failed utterly as the glass fell off and shattered on the floor.
The girls laughed at his failure, Ava had sneakily gotten a video of it, she had wasted no time to send it to everyone. Win’s phone buzzed as he received the message. Win tried to focus on the joyous atmosphere Remington had created but it was harder when a King was glaring at him constantly.
‘I only came to hang out with new friends but now I’m officially on a ‘WANTED’ list.’ Win groaned mentally, sipping shot after shot. ‘This can not get any worse.’
AND TO his (not) surprise, it did.
“Are you sure you don’t know anyone who could’ve done this to you?” Annika queried gently, her hands softly caressing Win’s arm. The pair were in the parking lot staring at a damaged bicycle.
Damaged was an understatement.
His bicycle was completely destroyed, only a few pieces left behind intact. The wheels were flat, huge holes cut through. The basket seemed to stomped on, so flattened it looked like it was done by a cartoon character and the rest of his bike pieces somehow spelt out the word ‘DIE’.
Win had to give credit to the talented person who had done this. They clearly have done it before.
He sighed dejectedly, “I dunno Annika..I really don’t.”
…
Who was he kidding?! Of course he knew who had done this. The answer was as clear as day. Eli King. It was the only logical explanation. Eli had made it clear two weeks ago that he had it out for Win. Something about his possessive nature around Ava.
The saddest ordeal about the entire thing was that Win could’ve easily solved this issue…by simply being assigned to a guys dormitory.
“Will you report it?”
“Will it fix my bike?”
“…fair enough.” Annika hummed, the two continued to stare at the pieces. She turned her attention back to Mawin, “are you sure you won’t take up my offer on buying you a car? All the girls have been offering..”
That was another issue. Ever since Mawin’s request for his car to be sent to Brighton was denied, the girls had been persistently asking (begging) him to let them buy him a new car.
Any broke person would’ve accepted the offer but Mawin couldn’t do that to the girls. He felt that it seemed like he was taking their money. Like he was some sugar baby (he is).
“No, it’s fine.” It wasn’t but Mawin was not one to easily give in (a lie), he instead chose to get on the concrete floor and pick up the remaining pieces of his bike.
It was embarrassing to say the least.
It seemed every student was out of class and staring at him, whispers growing louder.
Thankfully, Annika noticed. She sent a few people a sharp glare before following Mawin’s movements, picking up the flattened basket and wheels. The two worked in silence, they got along better in silence though that was disrupted once again.
“Are you two okay?” Mawin paused.
He turned to see Brandon King watching them with a tilt of his head, concern lingering in his eyes. He walked up to them, his eyes zeroing in on the bike remains in their arms.
Annika got up first, her hands full. Mawin got up after her, needing her support as he carried more of the heavy remains.
“We’re okay—“
“Someone destroyed Mawin’s bicycle and he won’t report it.”
“Annika!” Mawin scolded harshly, pink dusting his cheeks.
Annika only smiled at him.
‘What a brat!’ Mawin thought to himself.
Brandon glanced at Mawin, specifically his broken bicycle. “Who did it?” Brandon asked softly, though there was a indescribable look in his eyes. One Mawin didn’t quite understand.
“Don’t know. Don’t care.” The two men stared at each other. Mawin spoke up once again, “I have enough to fund a new one so it doesn’t matter anyways.”
“You being able to afford it doesn’t matter, Mawin. The person who did it should be in trouble, you should really report it.”
“Yeah. Not happening.”
Annika nervously looked between the two. Shifting her feet awkwardly, she wasn’t close with Brandon but it seemed strange that he was so concerned. The two only had a singular conversation since the bar night.
She leaned closer to Mawin, arms brushing up against each other. She felt Brandon’s eyes immediately move to her, his attention focusing on their proximity.
The silence was deafening.
“You guys just playing eye tag or what?” A teasing voice called out to the trio, they all turned to face Remington, who was accompanied by the others girls and Creighton—who was already staring at Annika.
Mawin moved his attention to them, he spoke up. Well, tried to speak up.
“I—“
“Someone destroyed his bicycle. He’s not reporting it.” Now Brandon was the one outing him.
A collective “WHAT?!” was repeated by the girls, who quickly rushed to Mawin, asking him questions and scolding him. He tried his best not to roll his eyes.
Glyndon took some of Win’s bicycle remains, hoping to remove some burden of Mawin’s shoulders. Cecily and Ava were scolding him harshly about his decision not to report it, probably repeating some Law advice they must’ve got from their fathers. Annika simply tried to defend the man, earning herself some points from Mawin.
As the girls worried about him, Remington and Creighton only turned to Brandon.
“So..” Remington dragged out the word, eyebrows wiggling.
Brandon sighed, “what?”
“Well what ruffled your feathers? You seem to care a lot.” Brandon gave Remington an unimpressed look, he crossed his arms.
“C’mon. Anyone would be worried about some guys bicycle being broken.”
Remington shurgged, a giggle just barely being masked. “You weren’t even suppose to be on campus today, you don’t have any classes. So why are you here?”
The brunette paused. Remington was smarter than others thought.
“Nothing.” Brandon quickly said, taking a step back. “I came to pick up some art supplies I left behind and then I bumped into the two in the parking lot.”
Creighton and Remington shared look but they said no more, only nodding and smiling (Remington was).
—-
A FEW HOURS had passed, the situation had dimmed.
Mawin only reassured the girls that he would eventually speak to someone about the damages, but he wouldn’t go to the police. He was too lazy. Something the girls didn’t quite agree with.
The only thing he had agreed on with the girls was that they would buy him a new bicycle. Though they were just disappointed they couldn’t spoil their friend but atleast they had something they could gift him.
Now, Mawin faced upwards on his bed, eyes wide awake.
‘I survived these past week..I can survive a whole year.’He thought to himself, despite his broken bicycle, Mawin could only calm himself thinking about the pro’s of this newfound friendship.
He would have study buddies.
Be invited to parties.
Celebrate his birthday.
And—
*SMASH*
Apparently have his window shattered.
Mawin jumped up, immediately grabbing his phone. He turned on his flash light and lit up his window. It was completely shattered, cold air now coming through.
But his attention zeroed in on the huge rock laying on the floor with a note taped on it, carefully Mawn stood up and approached it.
He knelt down, avoiding the remaining glass. Picking up the rock, the note now facing his side.
YOUR SECRET IS OUT. WATCH YOUR BACK.
“Oh fucking shit.”
Mawin Tancharoen was fucked.