Chapter Text
Run
Run leaned against Mawin and rested his head against his shoulder while he did his vocal warmups. They were on the sofa in their dressing room getting ready for the final Second Chance fan meet. It was a familiar pose for them. During the filming of Second Chance, they had often held each other up, both literally and figuratively.
They had become friends during the filming of TharnType, but it wasn’t until they had been cast in Second Chance that they had started to become close. In TharnType, they had been minor characters, but they were leads in this new series and had to step up their skinship.
It was Run who had suggested that he and Mawin do as much skinship during workshops and filming as MewGulf had done during TharnType. Well, almost as much, anyway. Nobody would ever match MewGulf levels of skinship without actually wearing each other’s skin.
Behind-the-scenes footage of Run and Mawin cuddling would help sell the series, and natural skinship during promotions would help the show and, hopefully, their careers.
And it had worked. Second Chance had been a smash success, and the hashtags had trended almost as well as they had for TharnType. Even after the fan meets were over, Run and Mawin would have plenty of couple work for the foreseeable future.
They had done their best to make their relationship look as real as MewGulf’s and had reaped the rewards. As a result, they still spent a lot of time behind the scenes hugging and leaning on each other because it felt so natural.
These days, MaRun was almost as famous as MewGulf, but there was one big difference between the two shipped pairs - Mawin had a girlfriend, and he and Run would never be a real couple.
Most days, Run convinced himself he was okay just being friends with Mawin. It was better this way. Simpler. Relationships could get messy, after all, and they would be working together for the foreseeable future.
Besides, Run wasn’t sure if he actually had romantic feelings for Mawin or if he was just lonely. He had been single for a really long time. He was a bit of a workaholic, and he was constantly busy singing, acting, writing, promoting Second Chance, or teaching his online Thai workshops.
He didn’t have time to date and wouldn’t know where to find somebody who wasn’t a fan, friend, or coworker, anyway. For now, he needed to focus on his career. After all, he was getting too old for BL roles and had yet to break out of that industry in any significant way.
Most of the time, he was OK with being single and focusing on his career, but he always felt a little sad after hanging out with Mew and Gulf. He ached to have the kind of deep love they had.
All of Run’s worries disappeared when he was on stage singing during the Second Chance fan meets. Singing was Run’s favorite thing, and he hoped that his newfound fame would help him forge a singing career. If Mew could add “Gold Record Recording Artist” to his resume, then why couldn’t he?
There was a heaviness in Run’s heart backstage after the show. He hated that after tonight, most of his singing would be at shopping malls rather than big stages for a while. He would miss performing, and he could only hope he would get more chances soon.
As he was wiping off his makeup and chatting with Tong, he noticed a beautiful woman with long, wavy hair and full lips walking up to them.
She was incredibly tall, well over six feet, and she was wearing a short dress covered in silver sequins with a slit in one side all the way up to the hip that revealed legs that seemed to go on forever.
Why would security let a woman into the men’s dressing room?
As she approached Run and Tong, she removed her dark sunglasses, winked, and smiled. Tong and Run started laughing so hard that they had to hold each other up.
Mawin came over and slung his arm around Run’s shoulders. “What’s so funny? And who are you?”
Run started laughing again and just pointed at the woman, who said, “Hey Mawin. You were great tonight. You all were!”
It was Mawin’s turn to laugh.
“Why are you dressed like that?” Run choked out between laughs. “And what does Mew think?”
Gulf chuckled. “He was at work when I left the condo. I’m going to surprise him tonight. I think he’ll like this look...what do you guys think?” He spun around in a circle and Run couldn’t help but notice how smooth Gulf’s legs were. He wondered if it was the first time Gulf had waxed or shaved them.
“Seriously, though,” Gulf continued, “I really wanted to come see your fan meet, but I didn’t want to be mobbed. Today is about you guys, and I didn’t want to risk taking away from that. I really hate that Mew and I have to miss out on so many things like this. I wish we could support you guys better.”
“I didn’t even recognize you,” Tong said. “So I guess no fans did, either?”
With a grin, Gulf said, “Nobody even looked twice at me! Or, if they did, all they did was look at me like I was a beautiful woman, and not like I was a celebrity. It was amazing!” His smile started to fade as he added, “It’s been so long since I’ve been able to be in public without being mobbed by fans. I miss being able to just go out and do stuff like this.”
Run hugged Gulf, who was so tall in his heels that Run’s head wound up between his fake breasts. They felt like silicone.
“I don’t think Mew would mind you dressing up like this from time to time so you can still get out and live life. Although...He might want to assign you a security detail anyway, because you’re a beautiful woman! Mew won’t want any guys getting near you,” Run said with a chuckle.
Gulf threw his head back and laughed. “You’re probably right about that!” Looking at his watch, Gulf said, “Speaking of Mew, he should be done working pretty soon. I’m going to head back to the condo and...Get ready to welcome him home.” With a wink and a grin, Gulf turned on his stilettos and sashayed out of the dressing room.
Tong, Mawin, and Run stared as he left, then finished getting out of their costumes and makeup so they could head home.
A week later, as Run approached Mew and Gulf’s condo, he wondered why he was there. He was happy to have a chance to spend time with his friends, of course, but they had never invited only him over to hang out before. As far as Run knew, Mild was the only one of their friends who came over for anything but parties.
Gulf answered the door wearing a tee-shirt and baggy shorts.
“Come on in! It’s good to see you.”
“Same,” Run said as he took off his shoes. “How did Mew like that dress?”
Gulf laughed and whispered, “Between you and me, I spent an hour online dress shopping the next day.” He winked before leading Run to the kitchen.
Mew was stirring something on the stove, but he turned around and smiled at Run when he heard them come in. “I’m so glad you could come! It’s been far too long since we’ve had a chance to hang out.”
“Yeah. I’m so happy we could find a time that worked with all of our schedules.” Run still couldn’t help but wonder if there was a secret agenda for the night. After all, it had taken several days of schedule tweaking to find a time when all three of them could be free.
Gulf walked up behind Mew and rested a hand on his shoulder while taking the spoon from him. “I’ll dish up dinner,” Gulf said. “Why don’t you get settled at the table with Run?”
Mew kissed Gulf’s cheek, poured three glasses of water, then led Run to the dining room, where the table was already set.
After sitting across the table from Mew, Run wiped his sweaty palms on his pants. “So...What’s going on?”
“Gulf showed me the video he took of you performing at the Second Chance fan meet. Obviously, I know you can sing. I’ve heard you before. But I’ve been busy growing MSS over the last year or so.” Mew paused and fiddled with one of his earrings. “Here’s the thing…”
Run’s heart raced as he tried to guess where Mew was taking this conversation.
“MSS is finally big and stable enough to start bringing in more talent. I want to sign you as a singer so you can record an album.”
Run felt his jaw drop. “Wow, Mew, I...Wow. Really? Thank you so much! I’ve been dying to pursue a music career, but I just haven’t had that many opportunities.”
Just then, Gulf came in and set plates of food in front of Run and Mew before going back to the kitchen.
Mew said, “You’re a solid investment, Run. You have an amazing voice, and now you have a big fan base behind you thanks to Second Chance. Honestly, I’m surprised nobody else has signed you already now that your fan meets are done.”
While Run searched for words, Gulf came back in and sat down next to Mew with his own plate of food. When Gulf noticed that Mew was watching Run instead of eating, he loaded up a spoon, placed a hand on Mew’s shoulder, and lifted the spoon to Mew’s lips when he turned his head.
Run wasn’t sure he would ever get used to the fact that Gulf was the more affectionate partner when they were in private. If there was a single fan, reporter, or stranger around, Gulf automatically defaulted to his shy setting and let Mew take the lead on everything, including skinship.
As soon as they were among trusted friends and family, though, Gulf became the nurturer and Mew happily let Gulf take care of his every need.
“So?” Mew said after swallowing his bite of food. “What do you say?”
“Say?” Run asked as he watched Gulf bring another spoon of food to Mew’s lips.
“Will you sign with MSS?” Gulf said while Mew chewed.
Run laughed. “Oh, yes, of course! I didn’t realize I actually forgot to say yes. Thank you, Mew. Thank you so much.”
As Gulf finally ate a spoonful of food himself, Mew grinned. “No problem. I already had the contracts drawn up. Tomorrow I’ll have one of the Nong Stus get in touch with your manager so we can get the ball rolling on this. Hopefully, we can get you into the recording studio within a week.”
While Gulf brought another spoonful of food to Mew’s lips, Run finally loaded up his own spoon while he smiled. He didn’t ask whether Mew would let him record some of his own songs or if he would insist that he record songs that had been written by somebody else. Those details could be worked out later. Tonight, he was just going to be happy that he was finally going to record an album.