Roommates - Not in Bangkok anymore [completed]

Chapter 7

Can's POV

Can was running aimlessly through the vast school grounds, following paths on a whim.

It had taken him a while to get warmed up enough from the physical activity to ignore the cool breeze blowing in from the North Sea. He had already found a sandy beach along the way – he hadn't realized that the school was this close to the sea.

He didn't want to know how he would cope with winter, if a dry and cool September morning already left him freezing like that.

He had woken up before sunrise, probably still due to jetlag and had been surprised to find himself cradled against Tin's chest. Upon realizing this, he had understood why he had felt so warm during the night.

Now that he was running through the cold countryside of this foreign land, it was very obvious. He had been too busy to truly miss home, but he did... miss home. Before his parents had inherited his grandparents' house, they had all lived together in a two-room apartment, one bedroom for all four of them and another room that was kitchen and living room and everything else all in one.

For the first roughly ten years of his life, he had been used to sleeping close to his parents and his sister. Even after moving into his own room at home, he had stayed close to the rest of his family. And now they were suddenly far away, halfway across the world. No matter how cordially he had been welcomed by Jonathan and the rest of the football team, it wasn't the same as being with his family.

He really missed them.

And somehow, inebriated Tin mistakenly sleeping in his old bed next to Can had reminded him of home. He was sure that it had been an honest mistake on Tin's part and not on purpose, the guy who had put masking tape on the floor to separate their sides of the room would not voluntarily sleep in the same bed as him.

After he had realized that he was too awake to fall asleep again, Can had gotten up and unpacked his suitcases in the twilight of dawn. And when Tin still hadn't stirred after that, he had decided to go for a run before breakfast rather than hanging around waiting for his roommate to wake up.

He could imagine how embarrassed Tin would be upon realizing his mistake and Can preferred not to be there when it happened.

At first, he had contemplated writing the same kind of angry message on a sticky note as Tin had put on his front the night before – but it was just his luck that this cold hateful Ice Prince was the only one who might understand how it felt like to be a Thai boy in this place.

Maybe he was clinging to an illusion – he admonished himself as he started to find his way back towards the castle.

They had nothing in common at all, except for their nationality. Tin was a rich kid sent here by his parents, Can was a scholarship student. Tin had been here for years, Can had just arrived. Tin was pedantic, Can was messy. Tin attended the general education program, Can was in the sports branch. Tin kept everyone at arm's length at least, Can was ready to befriend everyone. Tin had had many girlfriends, Can never got noticed by girls.

If it had been an app to match them as roommates, it would be undeniable proof that the algorithm was fundamentally flawed.

But as much as he'd have liked to pretend that he could live with a roommate who showed him nothing but his cold shoulder – he couldn't, not without trying to establish some basic civility between them at least. It was probably delusional to think that his sincere thanks on the sticky note would help Tin feel less embarrassed.

With the kind of luck he had when it came to his roommate, Can reckoned that Tin would misunderstand everything... he suddenly remembered their weird conversations at the pub.