Chapter Text
Freak flag:
A characteristic, mannerism, or appearance of a person, either subtle or overt, which implies unique, eccentric, creative, adventurous or unconventional thinking.
June 27th
Chay was running down the street, trying not to be late. It had been entirely his fault for oversleeping. Damn Macau and his stupid suitcase! The younger would never understand how his roommate could forget the most essential part of travelling. Packing his belongings for a month-long trip to Chicago had apparently been one of the things the older had pushed so far back that he had panicked last night and started causing havoc in their small dorm.
“Really, Cau? I’m trying to study!” A sheepish, boyish grin had been sent his way. “Sorry, I forgot that I have to bring my study case and I need to leave some clothes behind to fit it all in.” Chay had rolled his eyes and closed his book on elemental zoology. It was a stupid course anyway and he would ace the exam the next day even without a last-minute study session. So he had simply gotten up from his chair and helped his roommate fit his entire closet (“Why do you need three pairs of shoes?” “Because!”) into the giant suitcase that probably would fit an entire person.
But no matter how sure Chay had been that he’d manage the exam, he had sat down after helping Macau one more time to study some taxonomic terms. Maybe he had been especially nervous because it wasn’t a written, but an oral exam. So now, running on five hours of sleep and a large cup of tea, Chay was sprinting down the hallway to get to the room in time. When he came to a halt in front of the office door, he leaned his hands on his knees to take a few deep breaths of air from the exercising. If his brother found out about this, he would coddle Chay and drag him towards the nearest doctor to make sure he was alright.
Even now, almost a year and a half after his bone marrow transplant, Porsche was behaving like a concerned mother-hen when it came to Chay’s health. He even tried to discourage him from doing some self-defense with Big, but Kinn had calmed the older Kittisawasd down, promising that the bodyguard would take good care of Chay. So the younger would just have to make sure that his hia would never find out about this morning sprint to university.
“Mr. Kittisawasd?” A woman’s head peeked out of the office and the addressee cleared his throat. “Yes,” he croaked and blushed, which made the secretary smile encouragingly. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll do fine. It’ll be over in thirty minutes.” With that, she beckoned the young man into the office where he was greeted by his zoology professor and a second woman who was ready to take notes. “Hello professors,” Chay waied at the people and was greeted back. “Good morning Chay, take a seat.” He was given a glass of water and his professor continued: “Before we start this exam I have to ask you if you are feeling healthy enough to take part?” Chay nodded and assured that he was feeling good. “Are you sure? You look like you are quite panicking, and I don’t know you like that.”
Chay really liked his zoology professor, no matter how little he understood the need to take the course when he was not studying veterinary medicine. Prof. Clu was a very nice man in his seventies who seemed to get along very well with Dr. Uhm. Chay smiled embarrassed. “No professor, I’m fine, I just overslept and had to hurry to get here in time. I promise it won’t happen again.” The man smiled in understanding. “I understand. Well in that case, should we start?”
Half an hour later, Chay left the building with a grin on his face. Not only had he passed the exam, he had gotten a perfect score, even earning the respect of the strict lady taking notes. The phone in his pocket vibrated and he smiled even more when he saw who was calling him. “Hello P’Kim!” He was quick to answer, and the rumbled “Good morning angel, why aren’t you putting me on video call?” made him blush and hide his face in his sweater paws. “P’Kim, I’m still walking down the street, it would look awkward to do a video call in public.” The older let him have his way and asked: “You sound like you’re smiling. Are you just happy to talk to me or did your exam go well?”
“Both! I got a perfect score! Prof. Clu was really happy with me and said it’s a pity that I’m not focusing on veterinary medicine.” Kim sounded pleased at that and congratulated him. “I’m so proud of you, angel,” he said, and although his voice didn’t carry the same loud enthusiasm as Chay’s, the younger knew that his boyfriend was looking into the air enamored and happy. “Are you on your way home?” “No, not yet, Dr. Uhm promised to help me with my genetics exam.” His lips curled up in disgust and he pouted. He hated genetics. Well, he actually liked it a lot and found it very interesting, but for some reason he couldn’t get behind all the terms and procedures.
Kim was quick to encourage him. “Hey, don’t worry, I know you’ll do great next week. You’ve aced all your other exams, this one will be just like them. It’s even multiple choice!” Chay whined while walking down the street towards the bus stop that would take him to the main family’s tower. “But the questions will be so much harder, and I need to get at least 70% to pass. 70%, P’Kim!” “You still have a week left to study, and Dr. Uhm will help you, don’t worry too much. And with your stupid roommate away, you can put all your energy into studying.”
Chay grumbled before saying cheekily: “I think Macau isn’t the only one distracting me from studying. I should me much gladder that you’re gone, P’Kim.” His comment earned him an offended gasp. “Excuse me?! Who called his boyfriend two days ago just to tell them they missed their smile, huh?” Chay threw his head back and laughed. “That was you, P’Kim! You called me!” Deep down, he knew that his boyfriend was doing this on purpose to distract him from his fear of next week. And so the silly “Uhhhh, no?” worked wonders and made Chay giggle like light bells at Christmas time.
Kim indulged him for another few minutes until Chay said: “The bus is coming, I got to go.” “Okay angel, call me whenever you take a break from studying. And if I don’t answer immediately, I’ll call you back as soon as I can.” “P’Kim! You should not take your job lightly! Your managers will be so mad at me!” Kim hummed in thought. “I don’t care. I’ll even have my phone on loud while I’m on stage, so just give me a call.” Before Chay could protest, he had made a kissing noise and hung up on the younger, who looked at his phone in shock before he smiled, shook his head and got on the bus, sending his boyfriend a yellow heart before plugging his earphones in and started his playlist.
Looking out the window, he thought about his boyfriend. Kim was currently in Tokyo for some recording business and a few concerts, and had been there for the past two weeks, the exact timeframe of Chay’s exams. They would have to endure another two weeks of long-distance before they could finally hug each other again. These four weeks would be the longest they had spent apart ever since Chay had run away from Bangkok in November almost two years ago. A lot had changed since then, starting with him calling his boyfriend phi again. The first time the honorific had slipped out of Chay had been a day after their final return from Norway, when Kim had been tickling Chay on his bed.
“HAHAHA, STOP, PLEASE, I’M SORRY KIM; IHEEEEEEQQQQQU,” he squealed, tossing and turning on the mattress. “Never!” Kim answered and doubled his efforts at making Chay laugh. “You dared call me a kitten, I will not let this disrespect slide!” Chay had in fact referred to his boyfriend as a cat when he had seen the older lounging on the mattress, smelling the freshly made bed and Chay’s scent after having just come out of a relaxing shower. “HAHAHA, STO- STOP PL-EASE; P’KIM I-” Kim instantly stopped his attack and looked down at the panting, red-faced man. His loose hair fell like a curtain around the couple, sheltering them from the outside, and he furrowed his brows, almost as if he were in pain.
Chay, not understanding what was going on, tilted his head to the side and asked what was going on. “You… you called me phi.” Oh. Instead of shying away and denying the truth, Chay embraced the situation and slung his arms around Kim’s shoulders. “Well, you’re my boyfriend, and you’re older than me, right? I should call you phi then.” The younger would have never guessed how much the little word meant to Kim, but the bruising kiss that followed made things very clear.
They were truly happy. And after that small word re-entered Chay’s vocabulary, many other changes had followed suit. Fifteen months and eleven days had passed since they had all sat together in the small cabin near the town of Voss. In that time, Chay had moved back into his parents’ house with Kinn and Porsche, and Kim was allowed to stay with them two nights per week. The young couple had rolled their eyes at Porsche’s hilarious request but hadn’t protested. In fact, Chay had been secretly happy for this guideline. He had found out that he was a true romantic at heart and wanted to take things slow to the point of almost getting bored with the pace.
He had feared that Kim would secretly be displeased with this, but the older had looked just as happy as his younger boyfriend when their brothers had unconsciously helped their relationship. Chay and Kim didn’t want to move in together. At least not for now. They didn’t want the monotonous trot of a relationship, and bathed in the feeling of dating and figuring stuff out. It felt almost illegal to hold hands in public, and Chay’s heart always skipped a beat whenever Kim would climb into his room through the window like they were in a forbidden love story. The older would always sneak out before their brothers woke up, and all nights were spend cuddling with clothes on and good-night-kisses.
That doesn’t mean that they weren’t passionate. Oh no. Although the young couple still hadn’t taken things very far in terms of physical contact, their make-out-sessions had turned wilder and more passionate over the months. They had let their hands wander and gently started figuring out each other’s bodies. Chay blushed when a particular thought crossed his mind. He might be ready for more by now.
After a few months of recovery in their house, Chay had eventually gotten accepted at university along with Macau. They were studying different programs – Chay being in medicine and Macau in computer science and programming – but they had begged their brothers to let them live together nonetheless. Even though most people would have preferred to live with their boyfriend, Chay wanted to get this typical university lifestyle that he had thought he would never get. First because they had been too poor, and now they were so rich that it had seemed ridiculous to dorm with a friend if he could have a driver at his disposal at all times. Once again, Chay’s internal fear of disappointing Kim had been completely irrational. Of course the older had curled his lips and said: “Live with Macau? Really?”, but he had only continued with: “He lives like a total slob and doesn’t know what a dishwasher is!”
And while some of Kim’s complaints had been totally hyperbolic and over-the-top, it was true that Macau was a bit of a messy person. Chay loved it. Loved living with his best friend, loved having a supportive family, loved that he could commute between houses whenever he felt like spending time with his brother, loved that he had managed to convince them that he didn’t need a bodyguard at university, and loved that Kim supported him in his desire of living a normal student life. Romantic relationships were important, but friendship was, too. And while Chay wouldn’t want to live with Macau for the entire duration of his studies, he thoroughly enjoyed the simple nights of eating popcorn on their beds and ranting about Vegas’ silk shirts that were practically useless in terms of fulfilling their basic purpose of providing decency, Kinn’s no-nonsense expression when he tried to control his chaotic family, Kim’s obsession with leather jackets and Porsche’s incapability of being a formal businessman.
They also always had fun talking about their little trickery/lying spiel with Ida and Kjeld. Even now, fifteen months and eleven days after their final return, they were keeping up the game of switching Arm and Pol with Vegas and Macau. When the couple had visited Thailand last November, Chay, Kim, Tankhun and Porsche had the time of their lives watching Kinn frantically try to keep things in order. “Right,” he had pulled all of them into the big meeting room the day before their arrival, “let’s go over the plan once more. Arm and Pete, you are Vegas and Pete, and you are totally in love with each other, got it? Vegas, please, I don’t have time for your frowning and disagreement, from now on, you will be Pol for the next two weeks! No, Pol, you are Macau! Whenever someone calls for Pol, Vegas will have to go… yes Vegas, that means that you are a friend of Tankhun’s! Stop yelling at me, you do what I say! Macau! You are Arm, and you love watching series with my brother. Remember, you are allergic to peanuts… I DON’T CARE THAT THEY DON’T KNOW ABOUT HIS ALLERGY, WE ARE DOING IT ALL THE WAY!”
By the time the couple had departed two weeks later to continue their tour around Southeast Asia, Kinn had had a migraine and needed to lay down in a sensory-isolation chamber for an hour to calm down again.
But other than this small incident, everybody around Chay, including himself, were having the time of their lives, and sitting in the bus towards the main family’s tower, the young man would have never thought that in a few days, he would fall down a pit of horror once again, maybe even worse than last time.