The Beach Episode

       When they tired of that, the sun was starting to get lower, so Neung suggested a bonfire, glancing at Tone as he voiced his idea. Tone nodded and the rest of the group thought it was a good idea, so they started looking for driftwood to use as kindling.

      “Okay, who knows how to build the fire?” Kin asked as he gathered wood with Tone and Akk. 

      “I do” Akk said confidently.

       “Hey Kin, I need you!” Pong said as he came up and started dragging Kin away. “Tone, we started a pile, yeah? You’ll see it. But I need Kin to help me get this big piece and Valen is helping Nook and Neung and Kay have mysteriously vanished, even though it was Neung’s idea”

      “Neung and Kay vanished?” Akk asked, sounding concerned.

      “Yeah they’re probably making out” Pong said while rolling his eyes, although he winked at Tone when Akk wasn’t looking. “So I need Kin”

       Kin allowed himself to be dragged away, slightly confused as Pong started running, not towards their spot, but towards the cars. 

      “C’mon Kin, who knows how much time we have!” Pong said sharply.

       When they got to the car, Kin remembered what had been planned and couldn’t stop a squeal from coming out of his mouth. Pong rolled his eyes and got out their blue jackets from the internship, which had been hidden in a bag under some supplies Akk kept in the back of the truck. Valen, who was there as well, wearing his jacket as well, was getting something out of the front seat of Toey and Min’s.

      “Is everyone else at the spot?” Pong asked, slightly out of breath as he put on the jacket, almost buttoning it before deciding that was pointless. They were all wearing beach wear as bottoms, after all. 

      “Yeah, but do you know where Tone’s jacket is? He wanted to wear his as well” Valen answered, looking excited.

      “Kin, check where we hid ours and see if you see Tone’s” Pong relayed.

       Kin looked a little harder and found a bag that held Tone’s jacket. The three of them saw what was hidden in a pocket and grinned at each other. 

      “Okay, we better get there. Neung said he knew how to get a bonfire started as well, so hopefully it is, but it doesn’t really matter, we need to get this” —here Valen held up the bundle in his arms—“over to the spot NOW” he said authoritatively.

      Kin saluted him and grabbed Pong’s hand before he started running. Valen walked as fast as he could, as he didn’t want to drop the bundle in the sand. Pong made sure to keep a tight hold on Tone’s jacket, which he had taken from Kin, as he also didn’t want that to fall in the sand either. 

     When they got to the spot, Pong realized Neung had indeed managed to get the fire started, a huge grin on his face.

     “Where’s Valen?” Kay asked, his jacket almost getting too close to the fire before Neung caught it and made sure Kay was safely out of the way.

     “I see him!” Ying said, her jacket looking clean and pristine compared to the boys’ more wrinkled jackets. She ran to help him, earning a slightly miffed look from Nook. However, even being annoyed at Ying, she couldn’t keep a smile off her face. 

     “What’s it look like? I want to see!” Ying could be heard as she started taking it from Valen.

     “There’s your reason, Nook: she’s just nosy” Neung joked. 

     “She’s a lesbian, Neung, she doesn’t want Valen at all” Sompai said with a smile. Despite not ever being an intern, she was also wearing a blue jacket over her pink two piece. Tone had asked if she could match with the other interns and she loved the idea, so she easily said yes.

     “This lighting is going to be perfect, they better get here soon” Nook said as they started arranging themselves.

     “Yeah, I’d say so” Min said as he fiddled with an expensive looking camera. Let me get you nine holding the sign real quick”

     “Very quick, then Toey, since you’re the last one of the sign, you go get Tone. Make sure to send Akk first though and give Tone his jacket” Valen said.

     “Should I be wearing my jacket?” Toey asked worryingly.

     “If Akk notices at all, just say you grabbed this jacket by accident this morning. He’ll accept that no problem” Kay supplied. “Akk is not what you call “observant to things that don’t apply directly to him’”

     “Oh, that’s true” Toey said reflectively.

     “Okay you ready for the pic?” Min asked. “One, two, three!”

      The nine of them smiled for the camera, holding up the sign.

      “Toey, go!” Valen said. The rest cheered as he ran towards where Akk and Tone were still collecting firewood—uselessly, although everyone knew it was to keep Akk distracted.

      “Hey Akk, Kay said he wasn’t sure if you had any food that would be good for the bonfire” Toey lied as he sauntered up to Tone and Akk. “I said I’d ask for him, but he asked me to come get you, since you had the keys to the car. Why he asked me instead of going himself, I’m not sure. Probably since it would mean leaving Neung for three seconds” Toey snorted. 

      “Mmm...I think so. I’ll go check out the car, then meet you at the spot, okay Tone?” Akk pecked his boyfriend on the cheek before walking away.

     “Sounds good. Toey, can you help me with this wood then? Tone replied, sounding slightly distracted.

     “Sure thing, Tone” Toey said, accepting the driftwood that Tone gave him. The two watched Akk leave, then dropped the wood they were holding. Toey gave Tone his jacket, which he had worn over his to avoid having anything in his hands, and the two ran to the spot. 

     Once they got there, Toey went back to the sign and helped hold the end, which Valen had been doing in his place. Valen switched spots with Nook and the eleven of them waited impatiently. Min was waiting for his signal from Neung, which was the peace sign when Akk was in view. It seemed like an eternity, but only three minutes later Neung gave the sign and Min turned to film Akk. The nine former interns and Sompai had been restlessly moving, but once they saw Akk, they all stilled.

     Akk was slightly confused. What were his friends doing? They seemed to be wearing their old jackets and holding a sign…

     He looked at their faces, which were turning slightly impatient, then read the sign. At the end, there was Tone, in his hotel jacket, down on one knee. 

     Akk dropped the bag of food he was holding.

     Everyone held their breath as Akk got closer and closer.

     He stopped in front of Tone in a daze.

     “Akk, you’ve been nothing but a godsend since I’ve met you. You were willing to help me out after knowing me a little more than a month, and then helped me out more after our internship ended. Since we are going to be expanding soon, I thought this would be a good time to ask you...so, Akk Akarat Daengprasert, will you make me very happy and become my husband?” Tone asked in a surprisingly clear and steady voice.

     Akk couldn’t speak, but the tears in his eyes and the smile on his face spoke volumes as he finally managed to nod. The sun caught on the ring as he put it on, and as Nook had predicted, the lighting was just gorgeous. Everyone clapped and cheered as Tone and Akk kissed, as well as when Akk showed them his hand with the simple silver band on it. Min did his best to film everything, as Kin wrapped the two in the sheets all the interns and Sompai had worked on. Akk seemed to be in a bit of a daze as everyone congratulated him and Tone.

     “When did you manage to do this?” Akk asked when he managed to get undone from the sheets, wiping tears from his eyes.

     “Tone asked us to think of ways to help him ask you” Neung answered. 

     “It was my idea to use the old hotel blankets on sheets for the sign” Nook said proudly. “Everyone got two letters to sew onto the sheet, so we passed it around”

     “See if you can guess whose is whose” Kay suggested.

     “When we get home” Akk promised. “For now, let’s eat these sausages and marshmallows with this fire, yeah?”

     “You just say that cause it’s dark” Kin fake-pouted, but he perked up when Pong gave him some marshmallows on a stick, already roasted the way Kin liked them.

     “You guys look good with the fancy jackets and the beach wear” Min joked, having saved all the footage and turned off his camera. None of them had remembered to take them off, but they decided to keep them on, as it was getting chilly. 

     “Of course we do, some of us are models” Neung said, ducking when Kay threw a marshmallow at him.

     “It really adds to the originality, good idea Ying” Valen nodded at her.

     “You all helped a lot” Tone said sincerely. “Akk had no idea”

     “You got that right” Akk murmured, admiring the ring on his left finger. 

      The beach outing ended once the bonfire went out, and they got into the trucks, all of them happy and content. They split once they got to the homestay, everyone making sure to hug Tone and Akk before they left and offer their last congratulations. When the last of them had left, Akk turned to Tone and kissed him deeply. 

     “Thank you” he murmured once he broke the kiss.

     “I should be thanking you, Akk. You’ve made me so happy, you have no idea” Tone whispered back.

      The two of them kissed one last time before heading to their homestay, immensely happy in the knowledge that they were now fiancés.