Archive of Our Own ^beta

Between the premiere of his new series and the dating rumours that had been flying around Ayan barely had any time to himself. His new series hadn't been on screen longer than a few hours when netizens started posting about his secret relationship. What baffled the actor was that he wasn't being paired with the female lead of the series but one of his colleagues who he'd been competing restlessly with since their pre-debut days in high school.

Akk and Ayan had been best friends until they weren't. Akk suddenly stopped talking to him after the summer break before their senior year and things turned sour between them. Ayan tried to understand why Akk was suddenly acting up but even he couldn't figure it out. Neither could their friends Kan, Namo and Wat. They all thought it was just a fever until it caused a literal rift in the group and Aye ended up alone. It hadn't bothered him when they were at school but it became a problem after they both made their debut under the same company.

Akk refused to do any promo work with Aye saying nonsense like it didn't fit his image or that Aye looked a little too rough and gangsta compared to his look. It set him back a few years but he eventually made it to the same level as Akk and even surpassed him. He didn't really bother Akk much though. They didn't get along either. When he was asked about his beef with Akk during interviews he'd always just say, "There's no bad blood. I just feel like things between us are as they are because we're in different places and it isn't time for us to actually work together." He was deemed the company's sweetheart after that. He had a way with words that either gave you goosebumps or made you squeal.

Unlike Aye, Akk refused to answer any questions about Ayan which made him look like a villain or the bad guy in Aye's story, especially with stories of their early days having resurfaced before the airing of Aye's new series. That was just it though. Akk was the villain in Aye's story so how in the world did he become the secret lover?

The story was that they went to the same school and were nothing but friends until they graduated from high school. Akk made his debut before Aye which made it literally impossible for them to find the chance to get together. Akk refused to work with Ayan because he was scared people would find out about his feelings. When they were finally getting offers for the same projects and could attend events and such together Akk saw the perfect cover and confessed his love. They've been together since and they keep up their beef as a guise. All of this was concluded from an old picture from high school that Akk posted on his Instagram with the caption "take me back". Everyone concluded that the two were fighting because of the new series.

Ayan had to stop himself from jumping Akk or spamming his comment section with the fact that he was the reason their friendship ended. His manager had sent him home after they found out about the rumours literally an hour after the first episode of the series ended. Between his social media being spammed with pictures where Akk was staring at him and the endless calls he was getting from PR Aye was over the whole rumour and his series.

He switched his phone off and went to wash up. He spent about thirty minutes in the shower only to find his manager looking more stressed than he did a little over an hour before. Nong stood upright from his hunched form when Aye walked out of his room, "Aye what the hell is going on between you and Akk?" he asked trying to keep himself from shouting.

"What do you mean what's going on between me and Akk? Nothing, you know that," Aye replied opening the fridge to get himself a beer.

When he turned around there was a picture of Akk making heart eyes at Aye during a reading captioned "I never hated you" on someone's IG story. Aye looked closer and saw that it was posted on Wat's story so it was probably taken during the reading for their next project.

Aye switched his phone back on giving it a second to stop vibrating from all the notifications he missed while it was off. He was about to call Wat and make him explain what was going on when his phone began to ring and a name he never thought would show up on his phone flashed on the screen. He looked at up his manager who was just staring at the phone trying to see who was calling. Ayan drew a breath before answering.

The call connected but the line was quiet. Ayan didn't know what to say to someone he hadn't spoken to in over five years and Akk...Akk was stunned that the call actually went through. He drew a harsh breath and counted to three, "I like you," the words hung onto the line while Akk began to hiccup.

Aye echoed him after a while. "Meet me at that noodle stall by the beach in an hour," he said before disconnecting the call. He turned to his manager before smiling sheepishly, "You're gonna have some serious damage control to do tomorrow."