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“Hallooo?” Isak calls out as he closes the front door behind him, toes out of his sneakers and sets his backpack down in the slightly messy corridor of the studio apartment he shares with Even. The clank of his laptop inside hitting the floor making him wince just a little bit.
“…Baby?” He tries again, but there’s no answer, which means Even isn’t home from his lectures —or from KB— yet.
He takes off his jacket, pulls his phone out and checks his messages but there’s nothing there, and he doesn’t really remember Even’s schedule for today; can’t remember anything from this morning other than a dream-blurry kiss before Even left early; Isak asleep again before the door even locked behind him.
Sometimes it’s like this, their schedules don’t match up, and while Even has fewer lectures and a lighter course load, he also works part-time at KB, whereas Isak, apart from football practice, mostly just studies. Lectures, labs, extra presentations. Study group with Petter and Eline. Late nights at the library or hunched over their desk at home. Because if he wants to complete his master’s in neuroscience and maybe have a shot at a ph.d in a few years, this is the way it goes, he goes. Hard.
So yeah, sometimes it’s like this; stretches of days, weeks even, where they hardly see each other. It’s okay. It has to be.
Shrugging out of his hoodie, he tosses it over the back of a chair and heads to the fridge; an apple and a tiny, overpriced cafeteria pasta-salad (plus a fuckton of coffee) isn't really cutting it these days. Before he gets to open the fridge door, he spots the little post-it there though - stuck on the fridge door, pink and with Even’s handwriting:
Høgskoleparken at 18:15. Main entrance <3
Despite being tired and hungry, he can’t help smiling at the post-it; of Even insisting on being all low-fi just for the romance of a hand-written note instead of an iMessage.
He quickly takes out his phone again, 17:44, then casts a glance out the window like he wasn’t just outside.
With under an hour to sundown it’s already starting to darken a bit, and a part of him just wants to stay inside and cuddle up on the couch instead of venturing out again in the circa 10 degrees, but he knows better than to sabotage Even’s plans with grumpy texts. So, grabbing a bowl from the overhead cabinet, he pours out a serving of oatmeal and wolfs it down, leaning over the kitchen counter and idly scrolls through Insta and Reddit on his phone until he’s reasonably full. Enough to tie him over for a couple of hours anyway.
Then he goes to their closet in the bedroom, takes out his favorite hoodie; Even’s technically, but they basically share all their clothes by now. It’s lined with soft fleece, warm, the sleeves just long enough to cover his knuckles, and a few minutes later, he’s bounding down the stairs to make the short way over to the campus-adjacent park, Høgskoleparken.
Rounding the corner of the park, he heads towards the main entrance and spots Even from a distance even in the dusk; nearly two meters tall boyfriend with a slight bounce in his feet, hands in his pockets and Isak’s burgundy colored scarf around his neck.
Isak picks up his pace a little bit, clocks when Even catches sight of him because that’s the moment his eyes crinkle with his smile.
“Hei,” Isak says when he finally reaches him, tilts up his chin for a soft kiss, that Even immediately grants him, along with a smiley “halla”, vowels dripping into the gentle smush of the kiss like warm honey.
They kiss for a while, probably longer than what is socially acceptable in the narrow entrance to the campus park, but Isak doesn’t care; it only now hits him how much he’s missed Even these past days, weeks, even. His mouth. The scent and taste of him. His slim but strong body. Gentle fingers threading through Isak’s hair which is getting a little too long.
Stupid fucking schedules.
When they finally pull off, Even’s quick to grab his hand, slotting their coldish fingers together as they make their way into the park, his thumb stroking over Isak’s knuckles in an idle caress.
“So…Where are we going?” Isak asks, studies Even’s side profile in the light from the scattered park lamp posts.
“You’ll see.”
“Okay,” Isak nods, then “can’t you just tell m-“
“Jeez.” Even lifts their clasped hands to his lips, smilingly kisses the back of Isak’s hand, “…you’re still the most demanding person I know.”
“I’m not demanding…”
Even levels him with a look and a quick flick of his eyebrows, pretty lips curving into a disbelieving smile like really?!
Isak just shrugs in reply, because okay, maybe he is. A little.
They continue strolling for a couple of minutes, just chatting casually about their day, and then they come up to a bright pink bench with red hearts, tucked away in a corner of the park that Isak doesn’t usually go to.
He arches an eyebrow while Even shrugs off his backpack and procures a blanket, shakes it out and lays it out on the bench.
“What-?”
“Sit.” Even smiles, gestures to the now blanket-covered bench with an outstretched arm, and Isak abides; sits down on the pink bench, happy for the blanket barrier between his ass and the cold metal.
Even plops down beside him, close enough for their shoulders to bump together. Thighs too, and Isak basks in the closeness, watches as Even draws up a joint from an inner pocket of his backpack.
“Oi!” Isak smiles as Even flicks his eyebrows up and then lights up the joint. “…Sweet. What’s the occasion?”
They hardly ever smoke anymore, save it for special occasions like reunions with the guys back in Oslo, or that one time last spring where they mutually decided to skip classes and spend a whole day getting faded and having mind blowing high sex.
Today must be special then, especially considering the way Even’s lips purse into the tiniest smile before he blows out the smoke and passes the blunt to Isak.
“You mean you don’t know?”
“Uh, nei?” Isak smiles, takes a drag of the joint while wracking his brain for something, anything he could’ve missed.
Even casts him another smiley glance, probably delights in the pensive frown between his brows; in knowing what Isak can’t seem to figure out.
“Today is 7 October.”
“Yeah?” Isak says back, swiping his tongue over his lip. “So?”
“So.” Even sucks his own lip in. “It's been five years since we first met each other.”
“Nei?” Isak’s eyes drop wide open, can’t believe he missed the date.
“Mhmm.” Even smiles again, bumps Isak’s knee with his own. “Five years. And I thought…” he splays a hand over Isak’s knee, accepts the joint back from him. “…Since I couldn’t give you the original bench, I’d give you this one. Hearts and all.”
Isak looks from Even’s lips pursed around the joint to the pink backrest of the bench, the red hearts, and it all clicks into place.
The bench outside Nissen, their first meeting, sharing a joint all those years ago.
There’s a visceral reaction to it all, a powerful tug at his belly, and then warmth spreading all through his body even though his nose is cold in the autumn night.
“Even, I-“ He shakes his head, but he’s still at lost for words, so he does the only thing he can think of and curls a hand around the back of Even’s neck drawing him in for a kiss; tries to let all the words he can’t find somehow find their way into the kiss.
“Happy anniversary.” Even breathes out between kisses, speaks for the both of them. “I love you baby.”
Another tug at Isak’s belly, even if they both tell each other all the time. I love you. This feels different though. The hoarse tremor in Even’s voice.
5 fucking years. A lifetime and a summer that went by way too quickly.
“I love you too, Even. So fucking much, I don’t think you kno-“
“…I know, baby.” Even trails his fingers down the side of his neck, fingertips cold against where Isak’s skin feels like it’s burning up. “I know.”
Isak nods dumbly, thinks about all the times he’s been on edge lately, all the times he’s fallen asleep at the desk or on the couch without Even.
He ducks his gaze to the gravel under their feet for a second, until Even bumps his knee again,
“Hey, Issy. Babe, look at me.”
He looks up, his eyes instantly locking onto Even’s.
“This is it for me.” Even strokes one of the stray curls at Isak temple behind his ear. “You’re it.”
“In infinite universes?” He says back, a reference to another night long ago. His voice is unsteady and raw, but Even’s is calm. Eyes huge and dark.
“Always. In infinite universes.”
Isak nods again, doesn’t trust himself with words, so he just watches as Even flicks the ashes off the half-smoked joint to put it out, and then he wraps both arms around Isak, warm cheek against Isak’s own.
“It’s always gonna be you.”
They stay like that — wrapped up in each other on the pink bench, exchanging slow sticky kisses until it starts raining and Isak’s stomach starts growling again.
Even’s smile is blinding, when he pulls back to press a kiss to Isak’s cheek bone,
“I booked a table at that new place in Baklandet, but-“
“Actually can we-“
“Home?”
Isak nods. “Home.”
“Pizza?” Even asks as he stands up from the bench, extending a hand to Isak.
“Pizza sounds good.” Isak agrees, slotting his fingers between Even’s, “…and then I say we smoke the last of the joint. In bed.”
“Deal.” Even smiles as he pulls him up from the bench and stuffs the blanket back in the backpack. “So, no studying tonight?”
The only thing Isak can think about for tonight is the two of them wrapped up in each other with nothing; no clothes, no air, no latex, no nothing between them.
He shakes his head once, leans in for another slow kiss and a promise.
“… Definitely no studying tonight.”