#also did anyone catch the fma ref?

[chaptersinprogress]

romeo this ain’t a tragedy, it’s a goddamn romance

The front door slammed open with a bang and a man in the Royal Thai Police uniform strode out.

“Stop right there boy!" he shouted, voice carrying clearly across the space.

Kongpob froze with his hand poised to throw the 10th egg. Fuckity fucking fuck.

Rating: M

Warnings: swearing, mentions of blackmail, violence, murder

Pairings: Arthit/Kongpob, brief Prae/Ting

Prompt: ‘im egging your house for a dare but your parent is a cop and they’re yelling at me so i told them that you were my ex and you wronged me and now you’re coming outside and please go along with this i don’t want to go to jail’ au - by @mraculous

an au of demolition lovers

Rage flooded Kongpob's veins as a laughing John and his friends displayed the damning photos in high-definition. Aim and Tew were frozen beside him, shocked and horrified by what they were seeing and the implications.

Photo after photo flickered by in a mocking slideshow - pictures of himself, Aim, Tew and Wad in varying states of undress in the university locker rooms, and some looking like they were picking fights with other people.

If the photos had been of Kongpob alone, he wouldn't have worried too much. There was nothing in there that could truly damage him irreparably even if they had been released.

Yes, his reputation would take a hit, but that could be easily cleared up. Besides, money talked, and he was fortunate enough to come from a family both financially and politically powerful. The whole situation could've been hushed up and action taken against the perpetrators.

But it wasn't just him involved.

Worst of all were the pictures of Prae and Ting. Plenty of candid photographs and selfies made it obvious that their relationship went far deeper than friendship. And some of them were very clearly meant to be private.

Case in point: the final picture - a sultry photo of Prae on a bed in the nude, sheets artfully draped over her curves.

If those pictures were leaked, the impact on Prae, her girlfriend, and their families would be devastating. Not only would Prae stand to lose her title as Campus Star, but the media would pounce on the scandal surrounding the heiress of one of the most prominent engineering firms in Thailand. That wasn't even considering the risk the company's position and the livelihood of their employees would face.

However, that wasn't what troubled him the most. The more pending concern was just how P'John and his goons had gotten their grubby paws on those last few photos. Because Prae and Ting were anything but careless. And since the probability that they could've gotten them from Ting was almost nil, that meant that they had a mole among their cohort.

Kongpob's lips curled over his teeth in a barely concealed snarl.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Tew shift slightly, subtly pulling out his phone and texting someone with one-hand, carefully concealing it behind his back. Some of the tension that had pulled his shoulders tight bled out.

Tew must've updated Ting on the situation. And if Ting knew, Ram would soon find out, and so would Duen. Savage satisfaction warmed his chest. Those poor idiots had no idea what they had gotten themselves into. He idly wondered if their bodies would ever turn up.

When the fools started talking again, he forced himself to pay a modicum of attention to them. He just needed to play along until the Chao Pho dealt with the photographs.

Except, the situation soon escalated far beyond his control.

Kongpob gritted his teeth as his hands shook, from anger or fear he wasn't too sure himself. The knife John's friend was digging into Aim's throat caused blood to drip slowly down the boy's neck, staining the collar of his shirt dark pink. Tew was pinned to the floor, John's other buddy kneeling on his back, twisting his arms at a painful angle behind him.

Their phones had been taken and smashed to pieces. In the dark of the alleyway they were all standing in, shadowed by the evening sky, they were very unlikely to get help from any passersby.

"What the fuck do you want, Ai'John?" Kongpob spat.

"I would suggest you think carefully about how you address me, Ai'Kong. I'm the one with the photos after all," said John with a smirk, shaking his own phone mockingly. He tapped his chin in mock consideration, "But you know what? I'm a nice guy."

He continued, "I just need you to do a very simple thing. You see that house there? All you have to do is egg it with these dozen eggs, one by one. But they must break open on the house itself; no dumping them on the lawn."

Kongpob narrowed his eyes. "And why would I do that?"

"I didn't take you to be a coward, Kongpob. Heard that you were such as hero standing up to your hazers, but you can't do this simple thing." John laughed. 

"Well if you do it, I promise to delete all these photos and we'll never talk about this again. If you're too scared, I can always just post them on the campus page. I have a lovely draft already set up and just need to press the button."

"Your problem is with me, John," Kongpob snarled. "Leave my friends out of it."

Shrugging, John replied, "I am. All you have to do is do as I say, and they'll be out of it."

Aim spoke up, "No, Kong! Don't -". He cut himself off as the knife was pointedly pressed deeper into his neck.

Helplessly, Kongpob took in the horrible situation they were in. Even if Ting and Ram had left the moment they got the texts, it would still take them at least another half an hour to reach their school, traffic violations included. And then they'd still have to track them here.

There had to be more to what John wanted. Egging a house in exchange for deleting the blackmail? It certainly wasn't an equivalent exchange, so there had to be a catch in the request somewhere. But there was no choice to be made really.

If it were between Kongpob alone getting into trouble or dragging his friends down with him, he'd always choose to be the only one in the line of fire.

He just hoped that Tew had managed to activate the signal blocker before their phones had been destroyed - just in case John decided to go back on his word and post those pictures anyway.

"Fine!" sneered Kongpob. "Hand the eggs over."

With a smug smile, John shoved the carton of eggs into his hand and waved him out of the alleyway. And like a condemned man walking to the gallows, Kongpob dragged his feet to the house and stood outside the massive gate. He scanned the area subtly, before sighing. There were security cameras covering the entire front of the house - which meant that his actions would be captured on tape.

Which was the point, he supposed. This way, John and his friends were safe since they were not directly involved in Kongpob's actions, should there be an investigation. And Kongpob, Aim or Tew couldn't breath a word about it without revealing the type of blackmail material John had, which was what they were trying to avoid in the first place.

Which meant this was yet another loose end for Duen's people to take care of.

The saving grace of this whole situation was that at least he wasn't in uniform. Or anything else too easily identifiable. He ducked down beside the wall, out of the sightlines of the cameras. Pulling out his sunglasses and a handkerchief from his pocket, he slipped on the shades before tying the cloth to cover the lower half of his face to further obscure his features. Then tucking the carton of eggs securely under his armpit, he boosted himself over the iron-wrought gate.

Dropping onto the grass below in a crouch, he froze - waiting for any sign that the people inside had noticed his presence. When nothing happened, he let out a harsh breath in relief, and crept forward till he was at the halfway point - a close enough distance to throw properly, but far enough to make a quick getaway.

(Hopefully)

"Ok Kong, in and out… easy peasy… just do it and run… yeah, ok," he tried to psych himself up.

Taking an egg out of the carton, he weighed it in his hand for a second before drawing his arm back and launching it. With a wet smash, it exploded all over the door. Immediately, he picked up more eggs and kept pelting them one by one. They crashed into the walls, the pillars, and the porch.

2, 3, 4, 5

As Kong let the 6th egg fly at one of the windows, a figure appeared behind it right before the runny liquid coated the glass. A high scream rang out.

"Oh shit," Kongpob cursed under his breath.

He hastily attempted to finish his task.

7, 8, 9

The front door slammed open with a bang and a man in the Royal Thai Police uniform strode out.

"Stop right there boy!" he shouted, voice carrying clearly across the space.

Kongpob froze with his hand poised to throw the 10th egg. Fuckity fucking fuck. He dropped the egg and the carton, spinning on his heel to sprint away.

"If you take one step from there, I'll bring you straight to the station kid! Don't test me!"

Kongpob's shoulders slumped. He hesitantly turned back around to face the furious officer striding towards him. The man came to a halt an arm's length in front of him and glared.

"Take those things off your face," he ordered.

Kongpob briefly considered protesting, but common-sense won and he took off the sunglasses and handkerchief without argument. The man's eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

"Aren't you Kerkkrai's son?"

Kongpob's blood ran cold. How did this man know him? He glanced between the name on the uniform and the man's face a few times before it clicked - the Commissioner! He'd briefly met the elder at a fundraiser while accompanying his father. The two adults had bonded over the fact that both their sons were both in engineering and lived in dorms, though the Commissioner's son was a third year.

And that meant that he was now doubly fucked.

"You don't seem to be the kind of kid who runs around egging people's houses," the Commissioner commented with a raised eyebrow, concern clear in his voice. "Are you in some sort of trouble?"

Think, think, think!

Kongpob flushed, "Erm, sorry Khun, I didn't know this was your house. I thought… I thought it was my faen's… well ex-faen's."

The man seemed stunned. "Oh?"

"I guess I'm at the wrong place," said Kongpob, rubbing his neck sheepishly. He crossed his fingers behind his back. Please let him believe it…

"What happened?" the Commission asked.

Fuck! What excuse could he give for being there?

Kongpob shifted his weight from side to side. "I… well, my faen is my head hazer. We've been keeping our relationship down low for his reputation's sake, but… there was a limit to how much I could take. And when I pushed the issue, he broke it off."

The man rested a consoling hand on Kongpob's shoulder. "He doesn't deserve you then. Do you want to share?"

Well he was already in this deep with his fictional relationship, it wouldn't hurt to embellish it with the truth.

Kongpob looked at his feet. "The hazing did get to me a bit. And it didn't help that I might have been pushing his buttons in return. So he was a bit of a… mean person. He had me stand on a table in the canteen and announce that I liked men, then ask 10 guys out. And at one point, ordered me to run 54 laps for talking back and also kinda flirting with him - though I didn't finish more than 7."

And now back to the lies.

"But it was him denying any closeness with me that was the limit. I guess he didn't plan on coming out anytime soon, and… I didn't want to be his dirty little secret forever."

He finally dared to glance at the man, trying to judge his reaction to the concocted sob story. A heavy frown decorated the Commissioner's face, though it didn't seem like he was angry at Kongpob.

"I think," the man finally spoke. "You might be at the right place after all."

Kongpob stared at him in confusion. What could he mean by that?

"Oon! Come out!"

Panicking, Kongpob shook his head frantically while trying to dislodge the hold the Commissioner had on his shoulder. "Khun, it's ok, you don't have to do this."

Who ‘Oon’ was and what at exactly 'this' was, Kongpob himself didn't have a clue, but he sure as hell wasn't planning on sticking around to find out.

The Commissioner merely tightened his grip, forcing Kongpob to stay in place. "OON!"

A boy dressed in an oversized T-shirt and basketball shorts, with a bird's nest for hair, stumbled out of the door. He took in the pungent smell of raw eggs, puddles of it dripping down the house, and finally the teenager firmly held in the grasp of his father.

"0062?" he gaped.

Kongpob's face visibly drained of all colour. "P'Arthit?" he whispered faintly, his entire life flashing before his eyes.

The harsh voice of his head hazer dragged him back to the present. "Did you do this?"

"Oon, come here!" the Commissioner snapped.

Arthit came to a stop in front of the two and wai-ed. "Por, I'm so sorry about this junior, I'll take care of this -"

"Did you make him stand on a table in the canteen and announce that he liked men, then ask 10 guys out?"

Arthit drew back, stunned. "What? What has he been telling -"

"I asked you a question, Oon."

Nodding stiffly, Arthit answered, "Yes Por."

"He's the one you ordered to run 54 laps."

"Yes Por."

"DOWN 50!" the Commissioner roared, causing Kongpob to almost jump out of his skin in shock.

Arthit scrambled into push-up position and began the punishment, counting the reps loudly.

"1! 2! 3! 4!"

"How dare you force your junior to say such things?! Do you know how dangerous that was?!" the man yelled over his son. “Did you think it funny?! I didn't raise a homophobic brat!"

"12! 13! I'm sorry Por! 14! 15!"

"What are you even sorry for?! Were you trying to humiliate him?! How do you think N'Toota would've felt - watching you mock his sexuality as if it was something to be ashamed of!"

"24! 25! 26!"

Kongpob stood as still as a statue as the Commissioner continued giving the head hazer a vicious tongue-lashing, the heavy weight of guilt lying in his stomach like a rock. He hadn't meant to get P'Arthit into trouble, deserved as it may be. His head began to pound, and he stifled a groan.

This whole day had been nothing but one mess after another.

"Get up!" the officer ordered harshly.

Arthit scrambled back up, his posture a perfect imitation of that of a military recruit.

"I expect you to make up with your faen, and once you're done, for both of you to come to dinner."

Arthit's jaw dropped. "Faen?"

His father gave him a sharp glare. "N'Kong has already told me everything. Don't try to fool me."

"But Por-"

"Enough Oon! I had expected better of you."

Arthit hung his head.

Kongpob winced as the man's glare shifted to him. "And you. Don't think that I've forgotten about what you've done here. Both you and Oon are going to clean up this mess."

Wai-ing, Kongpob replied remorsefully. "Yes Khun. I apologise for my actions. I know I was wrong and have inconvenienced you terribly. I wasn't thinking clearly, but it won't ever happen again."

"See that it doesn't. This is no way to resolve spats." The Commissioner's expression softened and he squeezed Kongpob's shoulder gently. "You will always be welcome here. Does Kerkkrai know?"

Kongpob shook his head. "No... we hadn't exactly talked about telling our families." 'Because there wasn't anything to tell,' he continued wryly in his head.

"Then we'll keep this between us for now," said the man, releasing his hold. "Make sure there's nothing left of this mess before you both come for dinner," he warned, before making his way inside the house.

When the door securely shut behind his father, Arthit turned to Kongpob, eyes boring holes into the other’s skull.

"What. Did. You. Do." he growled.

Kongpob began to slowly back away, arms lifted in surrender. "P'Arthit, I can explain!"

"KONGPOB!"