Chapter Text
“Remind me again why we’re here?”
Dean sighed like he had many times since he’d accepted the order. “We’re here because Director Wanichakarnjonkul wants us to pick up a new teammate.”
Win snorts. “It hasn’t even been a full month since we got the ABC gang. It wouldn’t make sense for my fa- for the Director to add more people to our team.”
“Maybe the new person’s application was delayed,” Pharm chirped. The elf took Dean’s hand in his before throwing a question over his shoulder. “That’s a valid reason for delay, right, P’Pruk?”
Win watched in badly-concealed amusement as Pharm’s touch literally softened his best friend’s face. Pharm was in the same Academy year as the ABC gang, but he and Dean had discovered their past life-possession-psychic connection thing before Pharm had graduated, so Dean had pulled some strings to add him to the team as soon as legally possible.
One glance at the aforementioned half-siren though, confirmed that they wouldn’t be hearing from him anytime soon. Pruk was buried halfway into his device again, probably texting his girlfriend, judging by the look on his face. “Manaow was my best friend in the Academy,” Pharm said, “so don’t hurt her, okay, P’Pruk?” Pruk nodded so vigorously that Win had almost mistaken him for a weredog. Looking back at Dean, Win could almost see the dragon gear up for another sigh.
They’d just walked up some stairs, though, so their attention was immediately stolen by the spectacle of Bee tripping on a step, followed by A tripping over him and Sea losing his balance as he laughed at the both of them.
Dean let out a proper sigh, then, and Win shared a commiserating clap on the back with him. Our circus, our monkeys. Our circus, our monkeys.
Outside the executive offices, an older lady (who Win knew quite well, from his hours spent in his father’s offices as a child) took one glance at them and immediately looked apologetic.
“I’m sorry,” she began, “Director Wanichakarnjonkul would prefer for Team Leader Chatpokin to enter alone.”
Dean raised his eyebrows. “I’d prefer to bring my Second with me.” Win stepped up beside him, daring the woman to refuse.
“I’m sure that will be fine, Team Leader Chatpokin.” She didn’t miss a beat, continuing in the clipped voice Win had come to associate with his father’s locked office door. “However, I would ask the rest of your team to wait outside.” Dean nodded in assent, turning away from the woman to address the rest of the team.
The sight that met them was… rather normal, for their team. Pharm was waiting for them, Pruk was still sucked into the light-up vortex which was his device, and the ABC gang were scuffling over… something.
“Pruk,” Dean tried, “You’re in charge?”
“Pruk?”
Win stifled a laugh. Dean just gave up.
“Pharm, you’re in charge.”
“Yes, P’Dean!” Pharm beamed. Dean looked like he wanted to say more, but consciously stopped himself. With Pharm’s assent, Win and Dean turned towards the woman once more, mentally preparing to meet Director Wanichakarnjonkul and hopefully, their new teammate.
Director Wanichakarnjonkul was an imposing man.
He had a stern face, accented by the stress lines in his forehead, and his mouth was perpetually bowed down. He wasn’t always like that, though. Win has vague memories of his frenzy as a child, when his father smiled more and often took Win and his siblings on swim trips through the reef. All of it stopped once he was elected into the Board of Directors, and the three siblings were quickly enrolled in the academy, some willingly, and some not so willingly.
His shoulders had tightened up considerably when he noticed Win coming in behind Dean. Normally, that would be enough for Win to turn on his heel and leave, not wanting to make anything worse. Today, though, his straight-backed figure was partially offset by the smaller person standing a ways off from the desk.
The new person looked rather young, all soft shapes and a slight chubbiness to his cheeks. They were dressed down in a comfortable-looking sweater and clutched at their bag strap, fidgeting. They blinked, drawing attention to their all-black eyes, and Win realised he was staring. From the elbow he received to his side, Dean had noticed as well.
“Director Wanichakarnjonkul.” A simple greeting and a wai, short and sweet. It had clearly been the right choice, because the Director nodded with little hesitation. He pushed a crisp folder towards Dean, and gestured for the stranger to come forward.
“This is Teerayu Siriyothin. There were some issues with his documents, so his certification was delayed. After discussion with the executive team, we’ve chosen for him to be posted to your team.” The Director paused, surveying Dean and Win before continuing, “You are to follow the usual protocol for the induction process.”
Dean nodded shallowly, taking the folder in hand. Win shifted, attention back on the boy’s hands, partially hidden by the sweater sleeves. I wonder how old he is. If his graduation was delayed, he should be the same age as Pharm, right?
“You’ll be given an extension before your first team mission, so use your time wisely.” While Win was zoned out, the Director had finished giving his instructions, and now Dean was also looking at him, frozen in a half bow. Ah. Win ducked his head as well, and then the three were sent out the door.
“Your name is Teerayu, right?”
Dean was talking again, but Win was barely listening. He was far too busy staring at the back of the newbie’s head. Pruk was somewhere behind him, judging eyes boring holes into his skull, but Win could honestly care less. Maybe it was his eyes. Win has never seen eyes that dark before.
“Actually… please call me Team.”
Team. Something in Win stirred at the knowledge of the boy’s name. Pruk was definitely frowning now.
“Right, so… Team.” Dean made another note on the clipboard he had retrieved from Pharm’s hands once they’d reunited with the rest of the group. He looked up again, noting the direction of the dorms, before turning to address Team proper.
“Our group has a couple of 2-people dorms, so you’ll be sharing with Win.” Win blinks back into reality at the mention of his name, just as Pharm takes over.
“P’Win, P’Pruk and Bee don’t live with anyone, but P’Pruk has a partner, and Bee has nesting tendencies, so P’Win’s your best choice for a normal roommate,” Pharm explained, “You’re welcome to ask for a switch once you get more comfortable, though.”
Team nodded slightly, opening up to Pharm’s easygoing nature. In the meantime, Dean looped back to poke at Win.
“Don’t be weird to him.”
“Me? Weird?” Win huffed, tearing his eyes away from Team and doing his best impression of an offended brat. Dean rolled his eyes. “All you have to do is help him settle in. His belongings are probably already there in boxes, then we can have a proper group meeting.”
“Relax,” Win waved away a hand, “I’ll be good.”
Dean squinted like he didn’t believe him, but then they reached the dorms, and there was nothing more to be said.
“Wow,” said Win. “You really don’t have a lot of stuff.”
He and Team were currently sorting through the single box left outside the dorm. Team shrugged, one hand reaching for a small ziploc bag while the other reached up this fidget at his necklace.
“I’m not- I don’t keep much, Vice Leader,” Team began, before swallowing down whatever he was about to say next. Win was starting to enjoy Team’s voice greatly. On the surface, it was pretty regular, but if you listened a bit closer, one could hear an almost melodic accent, rising and falling as Team spoke.
Win shrugged, mirroring Team’s earlier movements. “It’s fine. It’ll probably be easier for you once we start travelling. For now, we can just put all of this away and worry about what you might need later.” He picked up a small stack of manga, setting it on Team’s desk.
“Oh. Ok. That’s fine, Vice Leader.”
Win frowned minutely. Team was far too tense for his liking. Time to start over.
“Alright, introductions. I’m Win, I’m a siren.” Win offered his hand.
Team shook his hand hesitantly. Win continued, “You don’t have to call me vice leader. We’ll be living together for the foreseeable future, so you can call me Phi, or even Hia.”
“... Hia Win.” Team gave an awkward smile. “Um, if Hia Win is a siren and Team Leader Dean is a river dragon, does this team do a lot of aquatic missions?”
“We’re supposed to,” Win answered, unsure of where the conversation was going. Team shut his mouth with an audible click. “We’re still in the induction phase, though, so we won’t be going on missions anytime soon.”
“Ah.”
Win tilted his head. “Why, is there something wrong?”
Team grimaced. “Well. Not exactly? But also-”
“Just say it.”
“Ah, well… I can’t swim, Hia.”
“...
What
?”