“I think Khun Medthanan, you will find this apartment to be a very good choice!” the realtor said. “It has an excellent commute time to downtown where you said your office is and where Khun Can’s gym is.” She then pointed to the large windows in a south-facing wall. “As you can see, there is a lot of natural light, as Khun Can requested. The walls are also already soundproofed for all the rooms. You will not need to have any extra renovations done.”
“Can, go test it.” Tin waved Can off behind a closed door.
The realtor blinked. “I- what?”
Muffled screaming came out of the room Can had walked into. Tin nodded. “You have certainly done your research Khun.”
The realtor smiled. “O-Of course! It is my pleasure to help, Khun Medthanan.”
Tin smiled. “I noticed you didn’t tell us about the pet policy.”
“W-Well…”
“So no pets then?”
“I did discuss it with the landlord and owner, Khun Medthanan!” The realtor looked like she was about to cry. “But Khun, even if they don’t allow pets, surely you and Khun Can can see that this is the ideal place-”
“Pass.” Tin knocked on the door Can had gone behind. “Oi Can, they don’t allow pets.”
“What!” Can opened the door and pouted. “Terrible. This place would have been perfect otherwise. Did you see the yard space we’d be allowed to have? Gucci would love it.”
The realtor finally started crying. “Khun Can! Khun Medthanan! Please see sense! For the price limit you’ve requested, these apartments don’t usually allow pets!”
Tin sighed. “How about I talk to the landlord then.” Can shot Tin a look. “I literally mean talking, Cantaloupe. I’m not going to bribe him.”
“Khun Medthanan…”
“Arrange a meeting. In the mean time, what else did you have on the list for today?” The realtor sobbed but pulled out her tablet and looked up the next location on her list. —– “That couch looks hideous.” Tin tried to pull Can off the offending piece of furniture. “I don’t care where we end up living. I’m not buying that.”
“But Tin! It’s leather!”
“Gucci would scratch it up and it’s going to stink.”
“Gucci would never!”
“He’d do it when trying to jump up and down from the couch.”
“Oh… yeah he would, wouldn’t he?”
Can finally got up and Tin huffed a sigh of relief. Gucci scratching up that couch would have been an improvement in Tin’s eyes.
“Should we get one with a fold out bed if we have guests?” Can asked as he looked at the next couch. The upholstery was a sturdy, but soft cotton cloth. The cushions were comfortable but firm. Plus it was wide enough to lay on comfortably. Can sighed as he laid out on it. “I like this one too.”
“You like anything you can sleep on without effort.”
“I can sleep with you without any effort.” Tin raised an eyebrow. “Yeah okay, that sounded better in my head.” Can reached out a hand. “Come try it with me.”
Tin rolled his eyes but allowed himself to be pulled down onto the couch, practically laying on top of Can in the middle of the furniture store. At least one of the salesmen were looking at them funny.
“I suppose it is comfortable.”
“And it folds out into a bed.”
Tin smirked. “So if I agree with you and buy this one, will you put out?”
Can shoved Tin onto the floor. —– “Do we have to buy fancy dishes? It’s not like we’re inviting your parents to dinner!”
Tin ignored Can’s complaints as he looked at another set of fine china. The design was a little different than the ones he’d seen before. It might be nice.
“Sometimes, it’s nice to have fancy things on the off chance that you need to be fancy.”
“Is that rich person logic?”
“How about if I get to buy a china set, you get to buy a stand mixer for all your baking.”
“DEAL!” Can ran towards the appliance section. “I’M GOING TO BUY THE BIGGEST ONE.” —– After meeting with the landlord and the owner, Tin came to an agreement with them. It would increase the monthly payments a bit (not that Can needed to know that), but they’d be allowed to keep Gucci in the apartment with them.
The realtor was thrilled that she made the sale, and Can was happy that Gucci would be able to come with them.
Everyone won.
Packing was a different story.
Tin’s space was usually spartan looking but it was only because his room was so large. Tin some how managed to possess more clothing than Can ever realized, more books than Can thought a person could own, and more baubles than he’d ever seen in Tin’s room.
Can’s space by comparison looked like a mess, but was packed up in less than five boxes and two large suitcases.
For moving day, Tin wanted to hire movers. Can said they should just call their friends. They battled it out by flipping a coin except Can snatched the coin out of the air, kissed Tin on the lips and said, “Ae and Pete already offered to help. All we have to do is buy them dinner afterwards.”
Tin pouted but Can gave him another kiss. —– On moving day, Ae looked perpetually grumpy to be taking orders from Tin as to where to put boxes. Pete helped unpack. Ae didn’t even want Pete near the scissors for cutting boxes open, but Pete pleaded until Ae caved in.
By evening, everything had been mostly settled. The furniture Tin and Can had agreed upon had been brought in the day before and so after some rearranging, everyone sat in the kitchen for a dinner of take-out.
Even though Can and Pete did most of the chatting, the atmosphere was lively and Tin could only stare at Can. —– “Finally, our own space,” Can said as he fell back against the freshly arranged bed sheets. “And we get to pick up Gucci from Ma tomorrow!”
Tin smiled before climbing over Can and caging him in. “But tonight… We make this place ours for sure… Hmm?”
Can raised an eyebrow. “Why Tin, are you propositioning me?”
To put it bluntly: Most travel food shows are about white male discovery. And most home cooking shows are about white female domesticity. Nosrat gently rejects all of that.
i was a little apprehensive to watch this because it’s four minutes long and i have a short attention span, but within the first 30 seconds i was hooked.
Can had always been loud. With alcohol, he was louder.
But Can + dating Tin + alcohol?
That was a brand new form of entertainment for the entire soccer team. Well for the team minus Ae.
“P’Noooooo, he’s just sooooo cute sometimes.” Can leaned against Techno, arms around his neck, rubbing his cheek against Techno’s shoulder. “Like when he wakes up and is all disoriented. And and like when he comes back from the gym. And also that one time-”
“Is it the time he got caught in the rain?” Techno asked.
“No, but that was also a very good example too. Did I tell you about the time he got caught in the rain?”
Type held up his phone and motioned for Techno to play along. Techno put on a long suffering face. “No, you didn’t. Tell me about it, N’Can.”
Champ giggled after he took another swig of his drink. Can had already lost the thread of the original story and started talking about how Tin looked when he came home from the gym.
“It’s not faiiiiirrrr P’!” Can whined. “He looks like he should have been in Sports Science! He’s got more muscles than P’Champ!” Champ sputtered on his next sip of his drink.
“He does not!”
“He does too, P’Champ! I counted! He has eight abs! You only have four!”
Type laughed in earnest at Champ’s stricken expression. “Look at you, you act like you’re hot shit but you’re beaten by an IC kid.”
“Shut up! I just haven’t been focusing on my core lately.”
Techno watched all three of them banter back and forth before watching Good slip his phone out of his pocket to start typing something. “N’Good, what are you doing?”
Good typed for another minute before he replied. “Ai Tin… Told me… To text him… When Ai Can… Gets this… Drunk again…” Good snapped a photo of Can leaning against Techno with Champ and Type bickering in the background before sending it to Tin. “Said he… Worries about… Can when… He drinks… This much.”
Techno blinked. “Oh shit.”
Minutes later Tin walked into the bar, still dressed in his neat uniform. He took one look at Can, who was now expounding on how great Tin’s legs were to Good who simply kept nodding along. Type was now trying to get Champ to prove his legs were better than the description of Tin’s. Techno had also gotten involved some how by trying to make a tape measure out of napkins and a pencil.
Tin sighed and waved the bartender over. “I’ll pay for their drinks and clear them out for you.”
The bartender offered a grateful wai and took Tin’s credit card before Tin walked over to the rowdy gang.
“Ok Sports Science, break it up. Cantaloupe, it’s time to go home.”
Can’s red face immediately brightened at Tin’s voice. “Ai Tin! You’re here! Now I can prove to P’Champ that you have an eight pack! And calves that are firmer than his! And-”
Tin pressed a finger to Can’s lips, immediately silencing him. “Have you been telling stories about me again?”
“Mmmmph.”
Tin sighed and rolled his eyes before he looked at Good. “Thank you for texting me. I paid the bill. Make sure your seniors get home safe, Ai Good.”
Good nodded. “Thank you… Ai Tin…” Good got up and started to push the drunk seniors towards the door. He had mild success while Champ was attempting to count his abs without lifting his shirt in front of everyone.
Tin removed his finger and Can fell into Tin’s chest with a drunk smile. “Mmm hi.”
Tin smiled back despite his better judgement. “Cantaloupe, how many drinks did you have this time?”
“Like this many?” He held up four fingers. “And then plus this many.” He held up another finger on his other hand.
“Five?”
“No Ai Tin. Like six.”
“Can, four plus one is five.”
“No… Wait…”
Tin sighed before dragging Can towards the door. He took back his credit card before stepping out into the late night air. Hopefully Can would remember how to do math in the morning if he could talk about the number of abs Tin had.
Don’t give me one-sided unrequited love, give me two-sided unwanted love. Both sides are deeply in love with the other and both sides are like ‘fuck, really?? them??? really?’
People always said that love was blind. Tin knew that it had to be. If it had been any other way, he would have never fallen for Can.
And what a pain it was to be in love with someone like Can.
Too loud when he should be quiet, Louder when he should just be loud.
Can wasn’t a picky eater, but he was just voracious. If Tin didn’t have the financial means he had, he was sure Can would eat him out of house and home before long.
Can also had no manners, no idea of how polite society worked. Tin’s ears itched with every informal word Can used.
But despite all the flaws, Tin could feel his heart opening up to the Thai Program Sports Science boy. For once in his life, Tin questioned his sanity. Maybe there had been one betrayal too many from Tul.
—–
Can’s phone pinged again and he fought the urge to throw it against the wall. He didn’t want to owe Tin any more than he had to.
Tin was ridiculously needy. For a busy IC Program student, Tin had a stupid amount of time to send him text after text after text. And none of it made sense.
Strings of emojis. GIFs of Kpop stars making cute kissy faces. Lines of poetry in English. Songs Can couldn’t understand, but with slow beats that lulled him to sleep.
It was like Tin didn’t understand who he was actually talking to and was trying to be as cliche as possible.
The memory that Tin probably didn’t know enough about Can failed to float to the surface as Can contemplated this Tin-shaped burden on his heart.
Why did his heart have to feel funny whenever he thought about Tin? Couldn’t it think of someone else? Someone who actually knew how to communicate outside of pictures and strange foreign references?
—–
They were both reluctant. So caught up in each other’s flaws, the never noticed how much closer they kept getting.
Tin never noticed the moment when Can’s strange manners became charming instead of bizarre. He did, however, notice the moment he thought Can’s outdated hair style was cute instead of childish.
Can started to understand Tin’s texts slowly. And some of the English songs were pretty good. They even helped him do better on his last test.
And when at last they did realize what had happened, still wondering why they had fallen in love with someone so intolerable, they found more than just tolerance. They found each other as they were, accepted entirely and not in part.
Because @thewickling sent me a very timely reminder about writing, have a follow-up drabble to overture.
“What are you doing?” is the first thing that leaves Zhan Yao’s lips when Bai Yutong unceremoniously tucks himself into Zhan Yao’s bed.
“Sleeping,” Yutong says simply, turning on his side to face Zhan Yao, and then rolling his eyes at the look of affront on Zhan Yao’s face. “Relax. I’m clean. I just showered, remember?”
Zhan Yao swats at Yutong’s arm. “You’re not sleeping on my bed.”
On this day in music history: November 10, 1973 – “Ship Ahoy”, the eighth album by The O’Jays is released. Produced by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, it is recorded at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, PA from August – September 1973. Following the success of “Back Stabbers”, Gamble and Huff continue their prolific creative streak, with The O’Jays becoming their chief messengers. “Ship Ahoy” continues the theme of combining socially conscious songs, with ones that explore relationships and romantic love. The title track “Ship Ahoy” had originally been earmarked for the film “Shaft In Africa”, but the producers end up keeping it. It is initially intended to be part of a theme album about slavery in its various forms, and its affect on Africans brought to the new world. The epic track paints a visceral aural picture, complete with the sounds of crashing ocean waves and cracking bull whips. This imagery also extends to the cover artwork, illustrated by artist James Barkley. The inner gatefold features a now iconic photo of group, taken by CBS staff photographer Don Hunstein. The album is led by the up tempo first single “Put Your Hands Together” (#2 R&B, #10 Pop) whose message of coming together in the spirit of cooperation and brotherhood, starts the set off with an optimistic tone. However, it is the follow up “For The Love Of Money” (#3 R&B, #9 Pop), that has the longest lasting impact. Written as commentary on the negative affects of materialism and greed, its point is driven home with unerring precision by Walter Williams and Eddie Levert’s twin lead vocals. The instrumental track featuring members of Philly International’s house band MFSB, provides an ultra funky and arresting back drop. Recording engineer Joe Tarsia adds memorable touches to the mix, by adding phasing effects to drummer Earl Young’s cymbals, and echo to Anthony Jackson’s bass during the songs’ intro. Another key track is “Now That We Found Love”, which is later covered by the reggae band Third World, turning the ballad into a simmering dance floor classic. Other stand outs include “You Got Your Hooks In Me” and “Don’t Call Me Brother”. “Ship Ahoy” is another major success, and like its predecessor is regarded as a classic album. It is also remixed and released as a quadraphonic stereo album in 1974. Reissued on CD numerous times, it is released as a hybrid SACD in 2001. It features the original stereo mix, and a new 5.1 surround remix by Al Quagileri. Out of print on vinyl for many years, it is reissued by Sony Music in 2006, and is remastered and reissued again by Music On Vinyl in 2015 as a 180 gram LP. A third LP reissue is released by Sony Legacy in 2018, on standard weight vinyl, and coming with an mp3 download card of the full album. “Ship Ahoy” spends three weeks at number one (non-consecutive) on the Billboard R&B album chart, peaking at number eleven on the Top 200, and is certified Platinum in the US by the RIAA.
The Last Good Bar 
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