#saratine ffic

[emisfritish]

The beat of your own drum

Pairing : Sarawat / Tine (2gether the series)

Summary : In which P’Air should be consulted for any decision made. Always. For the sake of their own good.

Or- Tine and P’Air have a heart to heart and he finally figures a few things out.  Notes : Seeing as this last episode made it clear none of the boys is currently in possession of the lone brain cell they share between them, I thought it was high time someone valid spoke some sense into them.

----------- 

1 hour left to go. 

Tine is sitting in the music room, a guitar sitting on his lap and trying to focus on learning the latest chords that they are supposed to have mastered when they come back to the club after their exams, but he can’t seem to focus. 

Sarawat’s football game against the Architecture team is in one hour, and the more time passes, the more anxious he feels. If Sarawat’s team loses the game, it’ll mean the end for him and Sarawat. And although Tine still isn’t sure about what he wants out of their relationship exactly, he knows that he at least wants the chance to be able to find out. He doesn’t want it to be over yet. 

Tine had decided to come to the music room to practice earlier when the anxiety was getting the best of him, but he doesn’t seem to be able to get out of his head either way. 

His mind whirling with different thoughts, he strums the guitar on the F#M chord. 

“That sounds wrong,” he hears a voice call over from the door, and he lifts his head to find P’Air standing there, her hands on her hips and lifting a judging eyebrow towards him.

“I’m trying to do an F#M, but I can’t manage to get it right,” he says with a self-deprecating smile and Air makes her way closer to him to look at where his fingers are.

“Move over, I’ll show you,” she says, nudging him gently and Tine moves to the side of the bench so P’Air can sit next to him. She takes the guitar from his hands, placing it on her own lap and begins to explain how to play the chord. 

“You see, your fingers should be on the second fret, and you…” she starts to explain, before stopping mid-sentence.

Tine, who is checking the clock again, only to see that just a few minutes have passed since the last time he checked, turns back towards her when he notices the silence and smiles.

“Sorry,” he apologizes.

“You seem distracted,” she states, putting the guitar on the floor besides her and turning towards him. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you waste your time. It’s just… Sarawat’s game is starting in about an hour, and I’m a little stressed I guess,” says Tine, shrugging his shoulders a bit. 

“Ah, you’re anxious you’re going to lose track of time and miss the game ?” she asks curiously.

“No, it’s not really that. It’s just that there is a lot riding on this game.”

P’Air lifts her eyebrows, clearly waiting for him to elaborate and Tine feels his cheeks warm up a little. He can’t believe he’s going to explain all of this to his P’.

“Well you see, Sarawat and I we’re… well. I don’t know what we are, really. But we’re something. And Sarawat is… well, he’s been flirting with me. Only our friends made a bet to help us figure out this whole situation once and for all. If Sarawat’s team wins the game, then I have to confess my feelings for him. But if Sarawat’s team loses the game, then we can’t see each other anymore and he has to stop flirting with me,” he explains, only to lift his head up and find P’Air watching him as if she didn’t understand any of the words that came out of his mouth. 

“And what do you want, exactly ?” she asks incredulously. 

“Well, I don’t really know P’. I don’t know that I’m ready to confess my love or anything yet, but I also know that I don’t want to lose Sarawat and I… I want us to be something. And I want us to have the time to find out what works for us. So you can see why there is a lot riding on this game.”

P’Air is looking at him as if he was speaking a foreign language, and Tine frowns at her reaction. Had he not been clear in his explanation ?

“Wait, so let me get this straight,” she says, pulling one leg over the bench so she is straddling it and able to face Tine better. “You know that you want to pursue something with Sarawat and that you have… some sort of feelings for him. And yet, you won’t go and admit that to him because your friends told you not to ?”

“Well… Yeah, basically,” he says, thinking about how her sentence did sum up what he was feeling pretty well. “My friends think maybe I’m just confused because of his good looks,” he explains further, and P’Air just sighs in answer. 

“This is why I don’t do boys,” she says, shaking her head in disappointment before looking back at him and fixing him with a stare. 

“So what made you think that taking advice from your friends, who I assume have never been in any sort of long term relationship before, was a good idea ?” she asks, lifting one of her eyebrows in judgement again.

At that sentence, Tine starts to feel a little confused about the whole thing. She does sort of have a point. 

“You know what might actually help Sarawat win the game today ? If you went there and told him that he doesn’t actually have to win, that you’ll be there for him and with him no matter the outcome,” she explains patiently, although Tine can see from her face that she is not impressed with him right now. 

“But what if my friends are right and I’m just confused right now ?” he asks in a small voice. He doesn’t want to drag Sarawat along for nothing after all.

“First off, no more taking advice from the peanut gallery. Second, you think a bet is going to help you figure this out ? You know what will actually help-- Going to Sarawat and being with Sarawat. The only way you’ll figure out your feelings is if you actually spend time with him and talk it all out, maybe take it slow at first,” she explains, as if talking to a five year old. 

At her words, Tine feels a smile make his way on his face and he can’t seem to do anything to contain it. Because she’s right. The game today doesn’t have to mean so much, and him and Sarawat can just decide to be whatever they choose to be.

“March to the beat of your own drum, Nong Tine. Don’t let anyone else decide your future for you,” she says wisely. 

Tine nods in answer, before getting up, the need to go find Sarawat and tell him about his newfound wisdom too strong to hold onto any longer. 

He bends down to press a quick kiss to her cheek, before looking at her with a huge smile when he lifts himself back up. 

“Men,” he hears her whisper disapprovingly, but he ignores the comment.

“Thank you,” he says excitedly. “This is why you’re the one who makes all of the important decisions for our club, you’re obviously a lot smarter than all of us put together.”

“Well, that’s a given,,” P’Air answers with a cocky smile, and Tine laughs at her response. 

He makes his way towards the door, and stops in his tracks when he hears P’Air call him once again. 

“Nong Tine... So this means you definitely won’t be pursuing anything with Pear, right ?” she asks when he turns towards her, and he simply shakes his head in answer. 

“Good,” she says with a small smile. “Do you think Pear would mind if you gave me her line ID then ?”

Tine stays silent, trying to understand what his P’ is asking before the meaning of her words finally becomes clear. Oh. A huge smile breaks on his face. 

“You know, I actually think that she’d like that, but I can ask her just in case before I send it to you,” he says in answer, and he sees a soft smile cross P’Air’s face. “She’s a med student and she’s really into learning all of the classic Rock ballads right now. Maybe you could teach her. I actually think you two could be pretty bad ass together,” he ends up saying.

“Well again, that’s a given,” she says, but the soft smile still gracing her face contradicts the cocky words. “Well, off you go then !”

He smiles at her one last time and turns back towards the door. 

“I’ll ask her later today and send you her line,” he shouts above his shoulder, before he rushes towards the football field. 

When he gets there, many people are already sitting in the stands or standing all around the football field. Tine can see some of the players from both teams already warming up on the field, but he can’t find Sarawat anywhere.

He makes his way towards the locker room and pauses to open up his jacket before entering, Sarawat’s jersey on full display, just like for the last game. He isn’t wearing football shorts but well… This will have to do.

He enters and he finds Sarawat sitting alone on the bench in front of his locker, all of the other players probably in the bathroom or on the field already.

“How do you feel ?” he asks sitting next to him, and Sarawat whips his head towards him in surprise, before shrugging his shoulders. Tine places one of his hands on Sarawat’s knee, the one that got hurt during the fight after the last game, and squeezes gently. 

“Does it still hurt ? Should you even be playing right now ?” he asks softly, and Sarawat looks at him intently. 

“I want to play. And more than that, I have to play,” he says, and Tine can see the hurt shining in his eyes at the idea that Tine doesn’t care if he wins anymore. 

“Actually, you don’t have to. But okay, if you want to play, maybe you should just come find me after the game so we can put some ice on your knee then,” he says with a soft smile, causing Sarawat to frown in answer. 

“You mean I should come and find you if we win,” he says in a small voice. 

“No, I mean you should come and find me either way. I’m tired of letting what my friends, or your friends, or anyone else thinks decide what we want. And I want us. Or at least, I want to see if there could be an us. So if you’ll still have me…” he trails off, hoping Sarawat is understanding what he’s saying. 

The unadulterated hope that Tine can read on Sarawat’s face causes his heart to start beating double time again. 

Yeah, that can’t just be normal.

Before thinking too much about it, he pushes forward on the bench and drops a small kiss on Sarawat’s lips, before getting up and facing him. 

Seeing the look of shock on Sarawat’s face slowly morph into a look of pure joy makes his heart clench in his chest, and Tine knows that this was the right move.

“I’ll let you be, but good luck out there… boyfriend,” he says with a cheeky smile, before leaving the locker room and going to stand on the side of the field, Sarawat’s jersey still proudly on display on his back.

Thank god for P’Air, really.