2gether: The Series
2gether
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
A fake-boyfriend scheme at university; the pandemic-era BL hit that reached Japanese TV.
Tine Teepakorn is a first-year law student and cheerleader who calls himself chic and has never lasted long with a girlfriend. Green, a student in the university's music club, falls for him and follows him everywhere. When a pretend girlfriend fails to put Green off, Tine's friends suggest a pretend boyfriend: Sarawat Guntithanon, a political science student, footballer and guitarist, the most admired and least talkative boy on campus. Sarawat refuses. Tine joins the music club to get near him, learning the guitar in a week to pass its audition, and keeps asking until Sarawat agrees.
The act grows hard to read. Sarawat declares himself in front of the whole club, then tells Tine to stop pursuing anyone else, even Pear, the girl Tine likes. Then Tine learns the truth: a year earlier, at a concert by Scrubb, the band Tine loves, Sarawat saw him and fell for him. Green makes up with his former boyfriend Dim and lets Tine go, which should end the pretending. It does not. Sarawat's friend Man announces online that Tine will confess if Sarawat's team wins its football match; they lose, and Tine goes back to comfort him anyway. Soon afterwards Tine accepts Sarawat's love. They wear matching bracelets and move in together.
Around them others pair off. Tine's strict older brother Type comes to stay and keep an eye on him, and Man courts him doggedly; Type holds out until Man suddenly vanishes and he realises what he feels. Sarawat's younger brother Phukong has a crush on Mil, an architecture student who wants Tine for himself.
Last comes Pam, Sarawat's closest friend from school and his first love, who wants his help with the guitar to get into the music faculty. Sarawat tells Tine that what he felt for Pam was different, but then Tine sees her clinging to him and collapses. He refuses Sarawat's explanations, leaves his bracelet behind and moves out. At the place where the Scrubb concert was held, Pam hands him a memory stick; on it, Sarawat says he can make music only for Tine. At the contest Sarawat sings a song called Tine and asks him to trust him, and Tine smiles and does. The band wins, Scrubb take the stage, and in the crowd the couples stand together: Sarawat and Tine, Man and Type, Green and Dim, and Phukong beside Mil.
Starring
Metawin Opas-iamkajornas Tine Teepakorn
A first-year law student and cheerleader who insists he likes only girls and asks the campus heart-throb to pose as his boyfriend.
Tine Teepakorn’s story
Tine arrives at university meaning to find a pretty girlfriend and finds Green pursuing him instead. To shake him off he begs Sarawat, the aloof campus star, to pose as his boyfriend; refused, he learns the guitar from scratch to pass the music club's audition and wins a yes. The act keeps sliding into something else: Sarawat's jealousy over Pear, a kiss Sarawat blames on drink, the discovery that Sarawat has loved him since a Scrubb concert a year ago. After a lost match Tine goes back to comfort him, and when an injured Sarawat asks him before everyone to be his boyfriend, he says yes. They move in together. Seeing Pam cling to Sarawat, Tine collapses and moves out. At the contest Sarawat sings a song called Tine and asks for his trust, and Tine smiles and gives it.
Vachirawit Chivaareeas Sarawat Guntithanon
A quiet political science student, footballer and guitarist who agrees to play Tine's boyfriend and has secretly liked him for a year.
Sarawat Guntithanon’s story
Sarawat plays football and guitar and says little. A year before the story begins he saw Tine at a Scrubb concert and has loved him since, confiding in Man and the club president, Dim. So when Tine begs him to pose as his boyfriend he refuses, then agrees once Tine passes the club's audition. He plays the part coolly, then too well: he declares himself before the club, grows jealous of Pear and kisses Tine, and at last tells him the truth. Injured before a club concert, he asks Tine in front of everyone to be his boyfriend, and they move in together. When Pam, his first love, clings to him, Tine leaves, until Pam gives Tine a recording of Sarawat saying he can make music only for him. At the contest Sarawat sings a song called Tine and wins.
Korawit Boonsrias Green
A music-club student whose relentless pursuit of Tine sets the pretence in motion, until he makes up with Dim.
Chinnarat Siriphongchawalitas Man
Sarawat's close friend, who stakes Tine's confession on a football match and doggedly courts Tine's older brother.
Jirakit Kuariyakulas Type
Tine's strict older brother, who moves in to keep watch over him and is slowly won over by Man.
Sattabut Laedekeas Mil
An architecture student who wants Tine for himself, and the object of Phukong's crush.
Why it matters
2gether is one of the many boys' love series Thai television makes, and it shows both the pull and the limits of the form. Giving a boy who insists he likes only girls a pretend relationship as cover lets desire between two young men arrive first as a joke and only later as a feeling; the tender part is watching Tine notice that the joke has stopped being one. It began in February 2020, as the pandemic started to keep people at home, passed a hundred million views on LINE TV within two months and carried Thai BL abroad. Japanese magazines wrote of its stay-home surge, and the series was dubbed into Japanese and shown on Japanese television, first by satellite and in 2021 on terrestrial channels. Some of its own viewers named its limit: once the pretending ends and the two are really together, the show grows shy of showing them as lovers.