Earth let out a soft sigh, massaging the brim of his nose while trying to focus on what exactly the professor was saying again but... he wasn't really successful again in pointing out what the topic was right now. Somewhere at the beginning of the architecture history lecture he had lost it and no matter how hard he tried focusing on the words... his brain was just not having it.
"Man why do you look like a panda?"
He raised his head a little to look over to his friend, letting out a soft yawn that his hand quickly covered up.
"hm?"
"You don't smell like alcohol, so you didn't drink but... damn you look really horrible , " his seating neighbour chuckled, looking for something in his backpack before handing over an energy drink, that Earth only could stare at.
"Are you having some issues? It's the second day that you look like this."
Earth only let out a soft sigh, glancing over to the professor before trying to open the drink as quietly as possible. Once he was successful, it didn't even take two minutes for him to finish the disgustingly sweet substance, his face grimacing due to the amount of sugar and chemicals. But well... maybe it would help.
"I broke up with Pan yesterday... , " Earth just mumbled and almost slapped himself the moment that he remembered who exactly was sitting next to him....
"YOU ... WHAT?"
The other spurted out suddenly and jumped on his legs... completely forgetting where exactly they currently were and the appropriate behaviour in those kinds of places.
"It's nice that you enjoy letting everyone know how shocked you are ... " A slightly angry voice let out, climbing the stairs in the lecture hall until she was standing right next to the two men and stared at Warut in anger... "If I catch you two having conversations again in my lecture... I will make you hold the lecture only with the printout and grade you on this."
Earth gulped, quickly putting his hands together and bowing to the professor for forgiveness, while the other one slowly sat down again and hung his head low in embarrassment. He kept his head that way until the woman had disappeared from their side again and continued the lecture, before glancing over to Earth slightly.
"You two broke up ? " He asked again, but this time whispering and made sure that the professor didn't catch him again this time.
"Yea... but if you ever jump up in a lecture again, I won't tell you anything."
Earth let out a soft sigh, staring down at the printout and then tried to follow the lecture a bit, at least for the last ten minutes of the lecture... but the moment the professor ended the lecture, his friend was sitting on hot stones again and ready to indulge Earth in a conversation again... for the better or the worst.
"But I'm glad... you know I always wanted to ask you why you picked someone who is not your type."
"My type ?" He slowly raised an eyebrow at the other, packing his things into the backpack and once they were done, both Warut and him slowly started heading out of the room. "Since when do I have a type?"
"Oh come on... even if it is just one thing they all have in common, it exists."
Earth couldn't help but stop when they walked out of the faculty building, turning to his side and crossing his arms. No matter how hard he tried thinking back to his exes, nothing in particular came to his mind that they shared. They had different genders, were different ages... not even their characteristics were the same. So what exactly was his type?
"You like people that fit in your arms."
"That what?"
"You know... someone that has a different body stature then you. All of the people you dated so far were smaller than you, not only by a few centimeters. Even the two guys from before... what were their names again?"
"You mean P'Noi and Nong Pete?"
"Yea right. Even though they were more like... they were half a head smaller than you and a little more filigran built. Nong Pan is the first one that basically is built like you, tall and muscular..."
Earth just shrugged his shoulders, leaving his friend standing there while continuing to walk to the basketball hall. If he was really honest, comparing the handful of people he had dated before Nong Pan... Warut did have a point. Even Mix fits into that category... him being a whole head shorter than himself and the frail body of the other... one of the reasons he kind of felt the need to protect the other. Of course, it was mostly because he wanted to keep his friend safe, but somewhere inside Earth, Mix just called his protectiveness out... not that he could help or control it though. It was like a natural given.
"Oh there you are"
He could feel an arm being placed around his shoulder before getting walked in the basketball hall... and without even looking over it was obvious who it was this time.
"You... umm...."
"I know I look awful... someone already told me that I resemble a panda, " Earth sighed and glanced over to Vee, who looked a little more concerned and worried than normal, his eyes scanning him from head to toe until he let out a soft sigh. "Maybe you should get some sleep then instead of..."
"No, I need some sport or I'll go crazy."
Once they had reached the locker room, Earth quickly started changing in his basketball trikot and placed his backpack in his locker. But once he turned around, he faced his best friend, who was not only looking concerned anymore but also... what was it this time?
"Vee?"
"You couldn't sleep last night because..."
"Because Mix somehow ended up at my place after Pan and I broke up and stayed the night and... god it's hard secretly having a crush on one of your friends... , "Earth whined a little and sank one of the benches. But as soon as he covered his eyes with his arm, pictures of last night came back to him: The way Mix was smiling so prettily at him, the small hand that kept caressing his head....
"Oh man and here I was, thinking something had happened with the breakup... when it's just you fanboying over him..."
"I am not..."
"Mix is antisocial..."
"No he is not , " Earth quickly butted in, raising his head and throwing glares at his best friend who just lifted his arms up in defense. "He just has a hard time with people... but once he opens up to them he is the best ..."
"He keeps bottling up his emotions."
"But that's... just look at how Nong Ming treated him the whole time and you know why... It's not his fault. "
Vee couldn't contain his laugh before slowly raising his finger and pointing at Earth's face. "Why are you smiling like an idiot and looking like that?"
"I am no..."
Earth slowly took out his phone and turned on the camera... his cheeks heating up once he saw that his friend really had spoken the truth...
"See... you get all protective when someone talks bad about him, you throw glares and seem ready to fight everyone who hurts him... and..."
"Alright, I really have a huge crush on him... so let's try to forget about it and play basketball... "
A little defeated the younger headed outside, starting to warm himself up until Vee was ready and they did some more warm ups and stretching together. Getting himself moving really helped a little taking off everything from his mind, since he only really had time to focus on the other's movements and the ball... They played a couple of rounds against one another, nothing too serious but both burning with the desire to win against each other, with mixed results. In the five duels they played, Vee had won three times against Earth's two, the older smiling in achievement at his friend, when both of them were laying on the floor afterwards. Panting and completely exhausted from their games, but also happy about all the fun they had had during it.
"Soo... you're gonna hang out with Mix again in a couple of minutes right?"
Earth could only let out a small sigh, thinking about seeing the other's face again and just hoping his mind would stay quiet this time. He had definitely tried to exhaust himself as much as humanly possible... so maybe, just maybe - he could get some quiet time from his brain.
"Then let's take a shower and head out then. It's already ten minutes after his lecture ended."
His eyes widened in surprise at that information, Earth quickly sitting up and looking at the huge digital clock in the basketball hall... and surely Vee hadn't exaggerated. It was already two minutes after the end of lectures and even if he hurried up with the shower and headed over there instantly... he would probably be at least 20 minutes late.
"Just write him a text message and let him know that you'll be late."
Earth slowly nodded, the two of them getting up and heading back into the locker room where he grabbed his phone and unlocked it with his thumb. But right when he started typing a message to Mix, a new notification popped up with a text from the other. It wasn't much, just a couple of lines but that gave him all the information he needed and made him sigh in relief before replying and placing his phone done again.
In the meantime, Vee had already disappeared in the shower and Earth quickly undressed himself before grabbing his towel and heading into one of the shower booths himself. But instead of rushing through his routine, he took his time washing his body and hair before starting to dry himself off.
"Weren't you in a rush?" Vee asked with a raised eyebrow and leaned against the wall, waiting for his friend to completely finish while standing there naked. The only thing that covered his lean but toned body was the while towel around his hip, a couple of water drops running down his body from his hair.
"Yea but Mix sent me a message that he had to take care of something and if I could meet him in the auditorium... "
"The auditorium? Isn't that where the theater club practises? Why would he be there?"
"Hm... he said that Nong Ming asked if he could help put in his stead today, just for half an hour. They were seemingly short on staff ..." Earth shrugged, following Vee back in the locker room and started putting on his clothes again: first a fresh pair of black boxershorts, his black pants with the belt and then the dress shirt until he was presentable again.
"Let me accompany you to meet him... I don't have a good feeling about this... , " Vee mumbled and seemed more caught up in his thoughts than normally, getting dressed too before they left the hall together. "Nong Ming isn't even a regular helper there...I only remember him helping with the background design a single time but that was it... "
"I don't think it's related but... um... there is something you should know... " Earth took a deep breath, the two of them turning left to the department of fine arts while continuing their talk. "The breakup went bad yesterday... Pan suddenly asked if I cheated on him or if I liked sex with Mix so much that I wanted to break up with him. I told him the real reasons but he didn't believe it... and said he would pay me back for playing with his feelings..."
Vee stopped in his movements for a moment, chewing on his lip a little before hurrying to catch up with Earth again who had almost reached the auditorium and shortly after opened the door for the older. Once the two of them were inside, they slowly walked down the stairs, looking around if they could see Mix and to observe the situation.
Everyone was busy, people carrying costumes or supplies, students who were adjusting the lighting slightly and a handful of people on the stage that seemed to be practising something. It all seemed quite chaotic on the first glance with so much going on at the same time, but when looking closer every little group in the room was taking care of something that would result in the perfect puzzle when put together.
"Do you see him?"
Earth shook his head slightly, following Vee down until they were only three or four meters away from the stage and at around the same height of it. The closer they had gotten though, the more clearly were they able to observe the stage and what exactly was being rehearsed there.
"Alright be careful that you get the right position with it... and don't be too startled. We did it a couple times already, but for the pictures today we are trying it the real way..."
One of the older students checked something on a girls back before patting her shoulder and walking over to the side. A handful of boys and girls followed, one carrying something like a script while others held onto...
"They must be rehearsing a scene for the new theater piece they are making , " Vee whispered silently while leaning over and looked around. "I heard today is like the first time that they rehearse with props so..."
Earth slowly nodded, diverting his attention from Vee back to the people on the stage. There were only two people left, a girl who was wearing a long white dress and her open black hair flowing until her waist... while a masked taller man was around two meters away from her, dresses in all black and looking a little...creepy.
"I ... I can explain it... I... I can he..help... help you , " the girl stuttered, taking a step back slowly while raising her hands to the man. "I promise... so please..."
"People like me don't do stuff like that , " the man laughed, taking out a gun from his pocket and starting to play with it.
"I...pl...please "
The girl sank on her knees, her hands pressed together above her head, as if she was pleading for her life... y body was shaken by sobs and her voice breaking as she continued to beg for her life.
"We have to find Mix... Earth... we have to find him..."
Vee grabbed onto Earth's arm hard, a strength the other was completely oblivious to suddenly rushing through the older's body. Both of them started moving again, scanning the room - but they still couldn't find Mix.
"Sleep well ... "
A sound of a pistol could be heard, before the girl fell down on the ground and blood started flowing from below her body... her dress starting to get dyed in red and her face looking lifeless...
And that was the moment when both Earth and Vee found the person they had been looking for: He was coming from backstage carrying some kind of carton in his hand, but came to an abrupt stop as soon as he saw the girl laying on the stage...in a poddle of red.
Mix' face lost all its colour, his skin as white as the snow on a winter's day...
Before the package fell from his trembling hands...