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chaptersinprogress · 4 years

Text

it ain’t a lie if it’s now true

Tew's mouth fell open. Wad stared at Kongpob as if he'd grown another head. Oak promptly fell off his chair while Aim knocked his drink onto his lap.

"What the fucking fuck?" said Wad incredulously.

Rating: T

Warnings: swearing

Pairings: Arthit/Kongpob

Prompt: ‘my new romance-obsessed friend asked me who my last date was with and i was too embarrassed to say i’ve never been on a date so i blurted your name and it turns out they know you’ au - by @mraculous

"Kong, when was the last time you've gone on a date?" asked Oak, after downing a shot.

Aim perked up, head lifting from the glass of alcohol he'd been staring into. Now this was something he wanted to know too. For all the confessions he'd seen his best friend receive since high school, he'd never heard anything about him going out with one of them. Well… from the person himself that was. Plenty of rumors of all the fantastic dates he'd taken girls out on made their way around the campus. As expected from the Campus Moon.

Kongpob, however, didn't seem all too happy about the turn the conversation had taken. "Why, Oak? Are you interested?" he deflected with a teasing smirk. "We just met less than half an hour ago, and you're already making moves."

Oak flushed from a combination of both embarrassment and alcohol. "Hell no! You're good-looking, but I don't swing your way. Come on, you're the Campus Moon. People are falling over themselves to go out with you. Give us the deets. We wanna know which lovely Star has caught the eye of the Moon."

"We have heard a lot about it," said Tew apologetically. "We're all curious, and it's a harmless question."

Kongpob sighed and raised an eyebrow. "And if I happened to swing both ways?" he asked challengingly.

Wad snorted, "So what?"

All the others nodded their heads. Why should the gender of the person Kongpob loved matter? It was his business who he decided to take to bed. They were only interested in finding out so that they knew who to tease the lone economics student about. Or help set him up with.

From the unwavering stares of the engineering students around him, it was clear that Kongpob wasn't going to be able to wiggle out of answering the question. But there was just one problem - he'd never actually gone out on a date with anyone. Those rumors were exactly that: rumors.

Except, if he told them the truth, they'd most likely keep attempting to set him up with someone. And that was the last thing he needed. He received enough propositions on his own already; he didn't need his new friends adding onto that.

Aim prodded him out of his thoughts. "So, who did you last go on a date with?"

Kongpob blanked. "Uh… erm…" How on Earth was he going to get out of this?! His eyes fell on the stack of papers beside him, and he immediately recalled the helpful senior in a crimson workshop jacket.

"P'Arthit!" he almost shouted.

All his friends stiffened immediately, Oak and Aim almost jumping out of their seats, as they hastily searched for the person whose name had been called. When their frantic head-turning failed to reveal him anywhere near them, the freshies let out sighs of relief.

"What the hell, Kong?!" Aim shouted, whacking Kongpob solidly in the side. "Are you trying to give us all heart-attacks?"

Kongpob winced and rubbed his bruised ribs. "What was that for?" he complained. "I just answered your question."

Tew's mouth fell open. Wad stared at Kongpob as if he'd grown another head. Oak promptly fell off his chair while Aim knocked his drink onto his lap.

"What the fucking fuck?" said Wad incredulously.

Kongpob stared at them in confusion. "Why are you guys acting as if the world is ending?"

Oak pointed a trembling finger at him. "That's because you just said that you went on a date with P'Arthit!"

"So?" he asked, still not getting it.

"Kong… Kong, P'Arthit is the head hazer I've been telling you about all this time," said Aim, finally finding his voice.

Kongpob's eyes widened. Shit. 'Abort! Abort!' his mind screamed at him.

"Uh… Y'know what, I gotta go," he stammered. Scrambling to collect his stuff, he threw a couple of bills on the table to cover his share of the tab and raced out of the bar like a bat out of hell. Leaving a couple of shell-shocked engineering freshmen behind him.

And while Kongpob might have nursed the fragile hope that everyone would dismiss his statement as a collective fever dream, he soon found himself sorely disappointed. Because by the next afternoon, the news had spread around the campus like wildfire.

On the bright side, he was no longer being stalked or confessed to. Because no one, absolutely no one, wanted to bring the wrath of the fearsome engineering head hazer on top of them for daring to proposition his supposed boyfriend, ex or otherwise.

On the down-side, Kongpob was now constantly watching his back and sleeping with one eye open. Waiting for the inevitable confrontation. Because while Kongpob's friends might be pretty accepting; from what he'd heard about the engineering hazing so far, the hazers were very, very cishet. And they didn't seem to be the type to take the insinuation that one of them, especially the head hazer, might be "gay" lying down.

All too soon, Karma seemed to catch-up with him. Kongpob stared at the text which remained unchanging on his screen.

A: Kong, found ur bk whr u left it in the lib. It's in my locker, pwd 0097. Ps, mae wants u 2 come 4 dinner nxt wknd.

He bit his lip. After all he'd done to avoid the engineering campus like the plague, he'd still have to walk into the lion's den?

K: U sure u can't just pass it 2 me?

A: Got a grp proj til l8. Can't pass it 2 u anytime soon.

He groaned. No way around it. It was either he enter the gladiator's pit to retrieve his textbook, or fail the quiz tomorrow. There was really only one option. He just hoped that he wouldn't get beaten up. Steeling himself, he strode determinedly into the Engineering campus to get his book.

He let out a sigh of relief when he managed to make his way to Aim's locker unmolested. Step 1 completed. Retrieving his book from inside, he slammed the door shut and locked it. Step 2 completed. If he could make it back without running into any of the seniors, he'd be home free. But he had taken no more than 3 steps down the corridor when his luck finally ran out.

"Hey, isn't that your faen Ai'Arthit?" came a loud voice from behind him. "Oi, Moon, wait up!"

A familiar voice responded. "Ai'Bright, shut the hell up!"

Shit. Kongpob froze for a second before continuing forward as if he had not heard the seniors. Maybe he could get away if he -

"Nong, we know you heard us so turn around and greet your seniors properly!" called a different harsh voice.

'Uh oh… busted…' sang a cheerful little part of his brain. Kongpob squashed it mercilessly and slowly turned around to meet his doom. He fixed a pained smile on his face and gave the approaching seniors a polite wai.

"Oooh, the Campus Moon is as gorgeous in person as he is in pictures! Ai'Arthit, if you hadn't snatched him away, I would've loved to have him for myself!" cooed one of them. "I'm Toota by the way. That annoying loud one there is Bright-"

"Oi!"

"The scary one is Prem and the muscly one is Knot," Toota carried on. "And of course, you know Arthit," he added with a smirk.

"Sawadee khrap P's. I'm Kongpob, Faculty of Economics," he greeted the seniors warily.

They didn't seem inclined to beat him up, certainly not after taking the trouble to identify themselves, so maybe he'd manage to get out of this relatively unscathed. Recalling Aim's complaints about the various punishments the freshman had undergone, he swiftly revised that opinion - at the very least, with his bones still intact.

Knot cocked his head as he studied the junior. "Ai'Toota's right, Ai’Arthit. At least you have good taste in men."

Kongpob choked on his own saliva. Arthit, on the other hand, let out a scream of frustration and threw a punch at Knot, who side-stepped it with a laugh.

"I'm going to kill all you fuckers!" the head hazer snarled. "You have 5 seconds to start running before I come after your heads. 5! 4! 3-"

His friends seemed to get that he'd already been pushed to his breaking point and took the out they'd been given, promptly sprinting down the corridor to save their lives.

"And you!" Arthit snapped, spinning back around to face Kongpob.

Kongpob flinched before smiling awkwardly. "Yes?"

The head hazer seemed ready to tear his throat out with his teeth. Oh god, he didn't want to die young! Where was the nice, caring senior who'd helped him collect all the assignments when the wind decided to snatch them off the table a couple of days ago? The one who blushed oh so prettily when Kongpob moved just a little too close into his personal space. How could the angry dragon in front of him be the same guy?!

Arthit sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I apologise for all the trouble my friends have caused, Nong. They've been teasing me the last few days due to the rumors and you being here was too good of an opportunity for them to miss."

"Um… it's alright, P'Arthit. No harm done," Kongpob replied, shifting his weight. 'Well, for now,' he mentally added.

Arthit's face darkened. "If I catch whoever it was who started those rumors I'm going to-" He paused. "What's with that expression?"

Kongpob stared back guiltily at him like a deer caught in the headlights. Confess or deny? As Arthit's frown deepened, a realisation struck Kongpob: with a bit of digging, the engineering freshies would cave, and his role in the mess would come to light.

If he admitted it now, he could possibly plead for mercy instead of having P'Arthit find out later and then disembowel him for lying. Shit. It was either speak now or forever hold his peace (six feet underground, that was).

He fiddled with his textbook cover. "Um… P'Arthit?"

"Yes?"

Kongpob stared at some point over Arthit's shoulder, not daring to meet his eyes. "I might have a tiny part to play in that."

"What? Speak up."

Kongpob gulped before speaking louder. "I said I might be part of the reason why those rumors exist."

And if Kongpob had thought Arthit looked angry earlier, well, now he had to be downright furious.

"You’re the one behind this mess? Do you think this is funny?" Arthit hissed. "Are you mocking me?!"

"What? No!" the words spilled out. "No, of course not! I… ugh… this had nothing to do with you in the first place!"

"Then explain what it is about!"

"My friends were asking me about the last date I'd gone on, but I've never gone on a date before so I just randomly blurted out the first name that came to mind which was yours 'cause I remembered you helping me earlier that afternoon!"

Arthit stared at him incredulously. "You've never been on a date?"

"That was what you got out of everything I said?!"

Arthit's shoulders began to shake. Kongpob eyed him warily. A chuckle escaped the senior, and then it was as if a dam had broken. Kongpob stared at the head hazer who was almost bent over in half, struggling to stop laughing.

Kongpob’s cheeks burned. Now this was precisely why he had lied to his friends in the first place. At the very least, his complexion helped disguise his shame. He pulled together the last shreds of his dignity.

"If you're done, I'll take my leave first," he said frostily.

"Wait, wait, I'm sorry," gasped Arthit, straightening up. "It's just… I didn't expect that at all."

Kongpob remained silent.

"Oh come on, the most popular guy on campus who gets confessed to left and right has never been on a date? Surely you'd find that fact just a little bit funny."

Kongpob's lips thinned at the continued mockery. Arthit walked over to him, grinning, and slung an arm around his shoulder.

"Ok, ok. I'm sorry na… stop looking like that Nong."

He turned his head stubbornly to the side, refusing to even glance at the senior.

"Tell you what, I'll treat you to dinner as an apology."

Kongpob side-eyed the hazer.

"2 meals?"

He narrowed his eyes.

"Fine! A whole day of whatever you want. Now will you stop sulking and forgive this senior?"

Taking the opportunity to turn the tables, Kongpob twisted in Arthit's hold and leaned in, their noses almost brushing. "Are you asking me out on a date, P'Arthit?" he murmured softly.

He bit down on the smirk that threatened to form as he watched the senior's eyes widen - at both the question and their proximity - as that lovely flush his thoughts always wandered away to appeared in reality. Arthit dropped his arm from Kongpob's shoulders as if he'd been burnt and took 2 giant steps away.

"Kongpob!" he shouted, almost shrilly.

"Don't worry P'Arthit, the whole campus already knows about us. There’s no need to be shy."

Arthit’s jaw dropped. Kongpob snickered and began to walk down the corridor back to his dorm. ‘Ah, revenge is certainly sweet,’ he thought. As the senior sputtered behind him, Kongpob threw a final parting shot.

"Pick me up on Saturday, 11am at the dorm entrance, don't be late!"

"KONGPOB!"

Laughing, Kongpob began running as Arthit spat curses after him. Looks like he’d get to go on that date after all.

#chaptersinprogress #sotus #sotus the series #kongpob x arthit #arthit x kongpob #kongarthit #kongpob #arthit #fanfic #fanfiction #fake exes au #it ain't a lie if it's now true #baby we're meant to be #slightly ooc but it's an au so fk it

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