Chapter Text
It had been a few days since Henry arrived at the dorms, and yet his roommate still hadn't made an appearance. Sure, Henry had nothing to complain about, and if his roommate didn't arrive at all, he could maybe have a bit of privacy, which was a rarity in the university student life, but he still felt kind of odd that his roommate hadn't arrived yet. If he had to live with some guy who always comes late to things, he knew he was going to suffer. The school year was officially starting just the day after, and Henry was stressed. Sure, he was smart, at least people told him that, but right now he felt stupid. He sighed and let the book he was holding drop on his face. It was just a paperback, thankfully, he could barely afford hardcovers these days.
He looked at the clock, and it was already like... far too late for his roommate to come. He sighed and told himself that maybe there was a family emergency and he'd just arrive a few days later. Because there was no way in his luck he'd have a room to himself.
He turned the light off and went to sleep. Tomorrow was a big day. And he should keep a healthy sleep schedule for as long as he can. Because, from what he heard, at some point his life would grow even more dependent on caffeine than in grammar school.
Henry was still peacefully asleep when it hit 1 AM. However, when it hit 1:01 on the clock, he was awakened by the sound of the door slamming open and someone hauling a suitcase inside. In an act of pure self-defence, he woke up, picked the first thing by him (a rather pleasant book on molecular biology) and threw it right in the intruder's face.
"OUCH. OW. OW."
Henry picked up another book.
"SO THIS IS THE WELCOME I GET?"
"Oh, it's you." The book was placed back onto his bedside table.
"Yes??" The guy sighed. Only now did Henry get a proper look at him. He was completely sopping wet. His jacket, which had previously probably been a yellow colour, was now a shade of khaki.
"You should shower."
"Oh? I should shower? Wow! I couldn't have figured that out myself. Thank you..." It was clearly an open-ended question.
"Henry." Despite the guy's obnoxious behaviour, Henry had no desire to fight just now as he didn't have the energy for it.
"Hans."
Hans started putting away his stuff. He seemed disorganised, but to be fair, Henry was too at first. He just had more time to contemplate while stuck in his room with basically no friends, whether he should sort his books by colour or the author's middle name. The second option was practically unusable, considering not everyone has one, so he went with colour.
Henry was sitting up, watching Hans, with his palms in his lap. He knew he wasn't going to fall asleep a) with the light on, b) with a man who was making too much sound (although he wouldn't complain about that in bed) and c) stressed out of his mind.
"You must be wondering why I'm late."
Wow. Not even a sorry. But admittedly, he really did want to know how he ended up covered head to toe in water when it hadn't rained all across the Czech Republic in basically days. In fact, it had been pleasantly warm. "Why?"
"Fucking. Kolín."
"Kolín?" What the hell could that Czech town have caused?
"Kolín nad Rýnem." Ah. The German Kolín.
"I HATE Cologne. And I also HATE Rhine." Hans threw his hands up in the air while putting his way-too-expensive-looking underwear into the dresser.
Henry twiddled his thumbs, looking for what to say. He looked at the wet jacket that had now been thrown over the radiator. "Did you fall in the river?"
"Yes, I fell in the river."
Henry couldn't help but giggle.
"It's not funny."
"Sorry." Henry was still grinning. While this guy seemed like a bit of a major dickhead he also seemed majorly interesting in the way looking at his homegrown bacteria was interesting. "Why were you even in Cologne?"
Hans sighed and slammed a drawer shut with a bit too much force. "I accidentally ordered the wrong tickets. I thought I was going to the CZECH Kolín and then Prague, but NO! I accidentally ordered tickets to the GERMAN Kolín and then I had to figure out how to get back before the start of the school year."
"What? Was it your first time going by train?" Henry was grinning.
"Yes."
That didn't register as a possible option in the brain of Henry, who had to commute to high school for around an hour each day. "Oh." But still, he couldn't wrap his head around how someone could even manage to get over to another country without realising something was wrong. "Listen, as much as I'd love to listen to you talk about how you managed to fall into the river and somehow get so wet your clothes didn't even manage to dry in the meantime, I'm afraid my brain is far too asleep to listen to you properly."
"What an eloquent way to put that you're sick of me talking." Hans did a sort of mocking bow.
Henry rolled his eyes. "Go shower. You don't want to stink up your bed."
"Wow! I'll have you know I smell perfectly nice, thank you very much!"
"With all the piss filled water covering you head to toe?"
Hans spoke through gritted teeth: "I'll have you know the Rhine supplies over 30 million people with clean drinking water."
Henry yawned and covered his mouth. He lay back down. "Did you Google that?"
Hans sighed and admitted. "Yes, I did Google that."
Henry giggled to himself. He turned his back to Hans, his face facing the wall and closed his eyes. "Goodnight."
Hans sighed and replied, "Goodnight. I'll. I'll... turn off the light and try to be quick with the shower."
"Thank you."
"Mhm."
What an odd man. Henry didn't know what pulled him toward him, but deep in his heart, he knew he wanted to figure out more about him. Because what kind of fucking idiot ACCIDENTALLY goes to Germany without noticing the price or oddly long time of traveling? Well. He supposed he'd get all the time he wanted to figure the mystery of Hans Who-knows-what-surname, considering he'd be stuck with him until the end of the school year. Jesus. And to think he wasn't sure whether his roommate would even arrive earlier that night... And now he had his own little mystery to solve. Yet another thing on his plate, albeit to be fair, this one was much more funny than whatever the school would want of him.