Chay slumped onto the bed while Macau carried the two new guitars Chay had randomly decided he needed during lunch. The boy didn't need two new guitars but he needed to get away from his brother so he'd gotten Macau to help him choose which two instruments to pointlessly spend money on. Macau put the guitars down and looked over at the boy who was unblinkingly staring at the ceiling.
Chay was acting like nothing had happened and Macau didn't know how he felt about it. As much as he didn't want his and Chay's dynamic to be weird because of his feelings, he didn't want to act like he didn't feel anything. He shook his head trying to push down the memory from the night before as he made his way to the bed. Chay moved over to make space for Macau without thinking much of it until the boy was actually laying next to him.
His breath caught in his throat and he blinked a couple of times trying to ground himself. No need to be weird about this Chay, yall have been doing this for months. The boys stared at the ceiling in silence for a while until Macau rolled over to look at Chay, "What?" the boy asked.
"Do you really like Vegas?" Macau narrowed his eyes.
"Macau!" Chay whined.
"What? Your brother thinks you do."
"I don't know what hia's on but I definitely don't like Vegas. He gives me the creeps," the boy shuddered as he added the afterthought, "Besides, I like someone else."
"Who?" Macau beamed.
He didn't really want to know in case it wasn't him, "Nobody you should worry yourself about," Chay flicked Macau's forehead, "Now get out, I need to do my midyear project."
*~*~*~*~*~
Chay was lying on the floor surrounded by crumbled paper well on the verge of a meltdown. He had been struggling to write a song for his midyear evaluation and he was actually terrified of failing. He had asked a few of his seniors for tips but none of them gave him anything useful. It was always 'write about something you feel very deeply about' or 'write a song for someone important to you' or 'just let out whatever is on your mind at the moment'. None of that would help anyone he thought to himself rolling onto his stomach. That was when he saw Macau's blue hoodie in the wardrobe.
He had stolen it the last time he visited the boy last which was now over a week ago. Chay stared at the hoodie for a moment before grabbing the notepad which had the misfortune of being his companion for the midyear project. He knocked on Macau's door with the fluffy blue garment folded neatly in his arms. The door opened to reveal a shirtless Macau rubbing at his eyes. Chay stood wide-eyed staring at his friend's exposed chest and arms. He trailed his eyes over the tattoos on Macau's arms and was about to continue his expedition on the boy's body when he was dragged out of his head, "Are you just going to stand there, or are you coming in?" Macau raised a brow at the dazed boy.
Chay cleared his throat and walked past Macau into the apartment, "I'm here to return your hoodie," he said as Macau closed the door.
"I've been looking everywhere for that," Macau stuck his hand out and Chay handed him the hoodie, "Why do you have it though?"
"You probably left it in my room, I don't know." Chay said walking over to the couch where Macau's laptop was open to a folder with a bunch of video footage, "What were you doing?"
"Sleeping," he said pulling the top over his head, "You hungry?"
"A little, but I don't feel like going out."
"What do you want to eat? I'll get it for you."
Chay looked over at the boy leaning over the kitchen table. He looked tired. Almost like he hadn't been sleeping properly for days. His eyes were puffy and looked a little glazed like he was in the room but not really, "Instant noodles," he said.
"Instant noodles?" Macau asked a little confused by the mundane request.
The boy nodded at Macau and smiled, "Coming right up," he smiled back.
"Can I look through the videos?" Chay asked as Macau busied himself with their noodles.
The boy hummed his response and Chay went about trying to find the most interesting-looking videos to watch. They were mostly shots of the busy streets or a market and an occasional landscape shot. Chay never cared to watch anything unless it was anime or funny cartoons like Tom and Jerry and on occasion k-dramas with Tankhun but there he was mesmerised by Macau's works. The boy was almost always alone and he seemed to be brooding when he wasn't being rude to everyone but Chay and Pete but the way he saw the world was breathtaking.
Chay scrolled through a couple of videos until he was looking at a photograph of their high school. And then it was a picture of their classroom, and then the board on the day the whole class got the same grade for an English exam, and then a picture of their empty homeroom and then there was a picture of Chay. He was looking at something across the basketball court with his eyebrows furrowed. If anything he looked angry but he was the one thing that stood out in the picture, the people around him were slightly blurred. It looked like he was the only relevant thing.
He was still looking at his picture trying to figure out when it was taken when Macau closed the laptop and placed two bowls of noodles on the table, "Eat first," he said settling next to Chay on the floor.
After lunch, Chay helped Macau wash the dishes and the boys found their way back to the sitting area when they were done. Chay lay on the couch and Macau sat on the floor in front of the laptop. Chay's picture was still on the screen and Macau stared at it a moment before scrolling back to the videos. Chay watched Macau work for a while completely forgetting that he had to complete his own project. An hour had passed when Macau decided he had done enough for the day and shut down his laptop. He looked back to find Chay looking awestruck, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I don't know. I think watching you work is my new favourite thing to do," Chay shrugged turning to look at the ceiling.
Macau just stared at the boy not knowing what to say to that, "Are you done with your song?"
Chay nearly snapped his neck turning to glare at Macau, "I think I'll just bomb my midyear and redo the semester," he pouted.
"Is it that difficult?" Macau asked turning fully to face Chay.
"It is. I don't know what I want to write about. Everyone always says that you should write about whatever you really want to get off your chest but it's not that easy."
"Maybe take a step away from yourself and just write whatever your brain tells you to write without really thinking much of it?" Macau suggested.
Chay knew what he wanted to write about. He just didn't know how to do it so he just lay there staring at Macau while Macau stared back. Chay hadn't realised how close they were to each other until he realised he could feel Macau's breath on him. The boy was so close that Chay could see himself reflected in his eyes, "Maybe I should just write about what's right in front of me," the boy breathed.
"Maybe," Macau echoed.
Macau's phone began to vibrate on the table breaking whatever spell had fallen onto the boys, "P'Pete is coming over to bring me groceries," Macau said looking back from his phone, "Would you like to stay and say hi?" he smirked at Chay.
The small boy simply smacked his arm, "I'm leaving!"
He got up from the couch and put on his shoes before walking out of the door and almost bumping into Pete outside the door, "Where are you running off to?" Pete laughed looking down at the boy.
"I have to work on my project. Goodbye," Chay scurried off and disappeared into his apartment.
Pete opened the door trying to force down a smile, "What were you kids up to?" he chirped walking in to find Macau smiling to himself.
"Work," Macau replied shaking his head.
*~*~*~*~*~
Chay had just about given up on his project when he realised it would be near impossible to turn in a good song within three days so there he was, lying in bed rewatching the Horsey Twinkle Toes episode of Peppa Pig. If he was going to flunk the class he may as well enjoy the remaining days of peace before Porsche found out about it and one way to do that was by watching a ridiculous children's show. Macau refused to hang out because he was busy preparing for his last exam so Chay was going to be slacking off solo until further notice.
A little after midnight a knock came on the door to Chay's room before it creaked open. A head of fluffy locks peeped through the open door along with the rest of a smiling Macau, "Hi."
"Hi," Chay whispered.
Macau walked over to the bed and slid in next to Chay like he had done it a million times before, "What are you still doing up?" Macau asked running a hand through Chay's hair.
"I couldn't sleep," Chay replied leaning into the hand on his head.
"Because of the midyear?" Macau asked, his hand snaking its way around the other boy's neck.
Chay hummed in response looking into Macau's dark eyes. The boy's eyes were filled with a kind of predatory playfulness which caused Chay's mouth to dry up. Macau cupped Chay's cheek in his other hand while still rubbing at the boy's nape, "What's so difficult? Maybe I could help."
Chay blinked a couple of times swallowing dryly as Macau's eyes burnt into him, "What's the song about?" Macau asked leaning dangerously close to Chay, "Let me help you," he added trailing his nose along Chay's neck.
Chay closed his eyes feeling Macau's warmth seep onto him. "You," he whispered, "The song is about you."
He pulled away from Macau's touch to get a better look at the boy. Macau was smirking at Chay with eyes that looked no different to molten, "I know," he leaned in as he spoke his lip merely centimetres from Chay's. Porchay had just closed his eyes when he sat up gasping. What the frig?
He sat in his bed still reeling from the dream he had just had. Not only was the damned midyear haunting his waking nightmares but his dreams too? The dream did help him a little though. He had a melody echoing in his head and he had an idea of what the song should sound like but he needed a piano. The boy hopped out of bed and got changed before calling one of his designated bodyguards to fetch him.