Chapter Text
Waking up was a true struggle for Pran the next morning, as he began to wake his face and arm ached fiercely as the afternoon light streamed in brightly through his curtains. Since Florence had ordered him, and Lucy probably wouldn’t even think about allowing him to work that night once she heard what happened, Pran took advantage of the situation and allowed himself to sleep in very late, a rare occurrence. Not that Pran usually woke up early in the morning anymore like he had for the majority of his life. Before running away Pran had a pretty strict wake up time, first from his mom, then also at boarding school, but working at a karaoke bar where he usually got home anywhere from three to five am didn’t work too well with getting up at seven am. His usual wake up time these days was one pm, sometimes later if he stayed up with Wai to have breakfast.
The ache in his face and arm intensified as Pran forced himself to sit up and stretch as the sleepiness began to fade away as he woke up and his bladder became demanding. What really woke him up completely was the nice dark bruise that he got a good look at in his bathroom mirror. It had finished developing a deep purple shade overnight, and it looked ugly along with the swelling that accompanied it.
“Shia,” Pran whispered to himself as he touched his cheek with a wet hand, poking lighty at the bruise that covered the majority of his left cheek. As he looked at it he knew that he would definitely be needing the foundation and concealer he bought, and even wondered if he would have enough to cover the bruise well enough. With a deep sigh Pran turned away from the mirror and made his way into his small kitchen and pulled out some bread to make toast.
He leaned against the counter as the toast cooked, mentally counting up how much money he had left until the end of the week when they would be paid. With the tips he had made the night before last he decided he would be fine as long as he didn't buy anything besides a little food, but it would be close, and without tips from last night and no chance to get any from tonight he would have to be careful this week with his money so he wouldn’t have to dip into his precious savings.
As the toast popped up Pran grabbed the plastic bag from the table and started to pick through it until he found the new bottle of sweetened condensed milk and drizzled it on his toast. As he chewed and tried to ignore the ache in his face Pran thought back to the night before and how he let Pat get under his skin so quickly when they bumped into each other. Maybe if his night hadn’t ended so badly he might have been able to hold off his temper and not have snapped at Pat who had just genuinely been concerned for him “Nutty”. And had Nutty been anyone else Pran wouldn’t have doubted that Pat had been anything but sincere, especially since he already had a girlfriend. But the night hadn’t gone well, and even if he was just “Nutty” to Pat, he was still Pran inside, and fifteen years of conditioning to fight and argue with the boy next door didn’t disappear overnight just cus they hadn’t seen each other in six years. Still that didn’t stop Pran from getting frustrated that now Pat had more knowledge of Nutty and from what he knew of Pat, even though he did back off last night, Pat would still be back at least to check in with Nutty now that he knew she had gotten hurt at work.
Pran groaned into his hands then winced when he touched his tender bruises. Swallowing the last bite of toast Pran took the makeup he bought into the bathroom with him and began to test out what kind of coverage he would need even if he didn’t have to work that day. Knowing that he should at least take the time to see if he could cover it up decently with what he already had, hoping that tomorrow Florence would let him work if he could cover it up well so she didn’t see how bad it really looked.
To say it took a while for Pran to blend out the foundation and concealer on his bruises was an understatement considering how tender his face felt and the sharp pain that went through his face with every stroke of his makeup brush. And even then he had to continue to add more concealer as the first layer only slightly hid the bruises underneath. Pran had covered up bruises from work in the past but this was probably the worst, at least on his face, that he had had in years. When he was a kid and a teenager he and Pat would give each other nasty bruises all the time, but everyone knew what was going on and they were kids, even when they weren’t fighting they always came home with bruises from one thing or another.
With a final spritz of setting spray Pran looked over his face, giving it a close inspection, before declaring it good enough to run out and pick up some more concealer, a color corrector, and a late lunch.
After a small internal debate Pran decided to go out as Nutty, rather than risk going out as Pran, just in case Pat ran into him again, now that he knew Pat didn’t live very far from him, if they're late night run in was a good indicator. Once he was dressed in a simple flowy dress with a floral pattern, his favorite everyday wig that was a simple shoulder length black color with bangs, and a pair of simple sandals. Pran made his way to his favorite food stand and ordered noodle soup with three wantons. While eating Pran felt the old sensation of being paranoid flow across him like he was a teenager again, always on the lookout so he wasn’t caught hanging around Pat, his parents and fellow students always around to watch his every move.
As he finished his food, Pran had to admit to himself that it wasn’t just Pat he was being paranoid about. It was everyone, especially other men, especially when he was dressed very feminine today, which might have been a choice he was regretting. You’d think after many years and an unfortunate amount of minor and major instances at work, to him and to the other women he worked with that Nutty would be able to handle being out alone, but the feeling of not being safe didn’t go away easily. Sure Pran had taken much harder hits from Pat on a good day, but it was different knowing that he and Pat were on equal playing fields. The realization of being trapped and attacked by someone you don’t know, and don’t know how far they are willing to go to get what they want from you still made Pran’s heart stop in fear. The ability to fight back didn’t play into the rush of fear that came before the logic that followed, it only came back after the cause of fear was gone, which despite not wanting it to show was definitely there and hard to ignore.
This uncomfortable feeling didn’t help with Pran’s decision to go to a different, slightly further away, pharmacy than his usual one. While he didn’t think he would run into Pat there again, since they had only ran into each other the night before, Pran didn’t feel like taking the chance and went to a different store instead.
PATPRAN ):)
It had taken three days of non-stop begging for Florence and Lucy to allow him to come back to work, and even then they didn’t allow him to work without one of the bouncers to shadow him for the first night back.
‘Just in case’ they said, worried that the night would prove to be too much, or in case the guy had come back.
Pran couldn’t fault them and the other girls, who also said they would be looking out for him too, since it was the usual routine after any incident, and he had done the very same for the others over the years. It just felt odd to accept help, and to be the one being looked after, Pran knew how to look out for himself. But it did feel good, deep down to know that he had people around him who cared about him, and would watch over him, even when it wasn’t a necessity.
Thankfully that first night back went off without a hitch, no sign of the horrible guy who hit him, or Pat looking at him with sincere and concerned eyes. Palm had also been watching over him like a hawk, never more than 10 feet away, just in case he was needed, close enough to help without being overbearing with his obvious presence.
Nutty didn’t see many regulars that night so she didn’t get as big of tips as usual, but that didn’t mean tips were necessarily bad. A few drunk men here and there usually gave decent tips, it was the regulars though that went beyond, paying to keep each hostess at their side, usually to fluff their own egos or impress friends.
Half way through the night Pran took a break, desperately interested in refreshing his make up, if only to keep everyone from worrying about him.
“Hey Ai Nutty, how many tips have you gotten so far?” Noona asked when he got to the back dressing room from her seat, refreshing her lipstick.
“Almost ฿600, it's been a slow night, I haven’t seen many of my regulars,” said Nutty as she made her way over to her station, already seeing how much her makeup needed touching up from across the room.
“Me either, then again week days are always a gamble… How are you feeling? Your cheek still looks pretty tender,” Noona observed as Nutty lightly brushed more concealer on her cheek. “It must have been a really hard hit if it still looks so purple.”
“Yeah. Unfortunately he got a good hit when I was trying to get away from him,” said Nutty as they blended the concealer into the existing makeup without having to redo the whole face.
“Thankfully the guys got to him before he could hurt you more. I'm so happy we have them, it makes me feel safe, even when accidents can still happen,” Noona said, getting a sad look in her eyes. “My Phi works at a cabaret, they don’t have as good of security as we do… a few years ago they were attacked backstage. It was pretty bad and she got sent to the hospital. Thankfully they got better security after that, but… I just wish my sister didn’t have to get hurt for it to happen.”
“You never told me that before,” Nutty said as she turned around to fully face Noona who was trying not to tear up, still filled with fear for her older sister despite how long ago the incident was.
“I mean, it's not exactly fun to bring up… Thankfully the guy who owned the cabaret got bought out and someone else owns it who treats the workers better and got them good security, but I still worry about her,” Noona said.
“It's good to worry about her, but please don’t be sad about me, we know the risks of our work, and we have such amazing bouncers. Accidents will happen, unfortunately it's part of the risk of working, but the guys get to us as quickly as possible without following us like shadows,” Nutty said with a dry laugh, not trying to dismiss the seriousness of the bouncers' jobs.
“I know, I just wish none of us got hurt, or even had to worry about getting hurt,” Noona said with a sigh as she stood up and walked over to Nutty’s station and watched her add more setting spray to her makeup before they both walked back out into the club.