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Hafu is a lot of things, but unobservant isn’t one of them. When she had invited 5up to stay in Vegas for a day or two, she’d only meant to catch up — truly. It isn’t her fault that she notices things. It’s in her nature.
5up is distracted at dinner. His phone is hidden under the table, but Hafu sees it all the same in the blueish glow illuminating the underside of his jaw. Periodically, he sets down his cutlery with an offhand comment about letting his food go down; his gaze focuses on his lap, and if Hafu watches closely, she can see the slight movements of his arms as he types.
He smiles a lot. It’s unconscious, she thinks, and Hafu can’t recall a time she’s ever seen him look so infatuated. Maybe he’s finally met someone.
“Who are you texting?”
Caught, 5up startles. His eyes fly up to meet hers. He appears to weigh up his options in rapid deliberation, before relenting. She can tell he’s telling the truth when he says the very last name she’d been expecting.
“Steve.”
If Hafu could see her own eyebrows, she’s sure they would be somewhere around her hairline. “Steve?” she echoes slowly. The name hangs in the air.
“Yeah? What’s wrong with that?” 5up’s voice is cautious. Hafu feels a flare of excitement that she has to tamp down, afraid of putting 5up off from sharing the details she desperately needs.
5up and Steve. Who would’ve thought?
David, actually. Hafu remembers the night after the original Vegas meet-up, when everyone had gone home and she and David had curled up in bed together. They had been talking idly about their friends and clubs and casinos and that damn shopping trip. A gentle smile had graced David’s lips. “Steve and 5up? Now that’s a pair waiting to happen, mark my words,” he had said. The shirt that 5up chose for him — which Steve hadn’t taken off since they got back to Hafu’s — was his supporting evidence. Hafu had laughed, patted his arm, and said, No way. Keep dreaming, David.
Damn, does she regret it now.
Feigning nonchalance, she says, “Oh, really? I haven’t heard from him in a while. What’s he saying?”
5up visibly relaxes. He rolls his eyes. “He’s harassing me about using up all the shit in the fridge, as if he was gonna eat any of it. He wasn’t, just so you know. He’ll have to order food in like he does every single fucking day— apart from this one, apparently.”
Hafu blinks. She chews her steak. Blinks again. Swallows. Nope, still not making sense.
“Holy shit,” she says softly. “You and Steve..?”
5up’s knife clatters against his plate. “What? Hafu?!”
Her mouth hangs open, even though she isn’t completely surprised. It makes sense after all. They would be the kind of guys to move in together after a mere few months of talking seriously, or however long this has been going on for. She’s always found it stupid that most of the LA crowd live separately — though, she’d be lying if she said that this is what she had in mind as an alternative. It’s unfamiliar, but not shocking.
“Hafu?” 5up repeats, sounding more concerned. “Me and Steve what?”
Gesturing wildly with her hands, Hafu throws down her cutlery. “I don’t fucking know! You don’t—?” She pauses to breathe, seeing him in a new, unfamiliar light. “Tell me everything. When? How long? What happened?”
With a suspicious glance, 5up picks his knife back up and continues hacking away at his steak. “I seriously don’t know what you’re talking about,” he mumbles. “Nothing happened. It’s fine.”
“David!” Hafu calls loudly. She fixes 5up with her most imperious stare. “You have about twenty seconds to tell me everything. David!”
5up shrugs. “Fine by me. There’s nothing to tell.”
He shovels steak into his mouth while Hafu sits in agitated silence, studying him intently. He looks the same as before, but also different. The bags under his eyes are less pronounced. His hair is styled differently. His gaze keeps straying to his phone, which now rests face-down on the table. A smile flickers onto his lips as he checks it briefly, before his expression shutters when he realises Hafu’s watching.
She’s still not sure what happened; if it’s just a casual thing or if they’re actually living together. Either way, she’s itching to get the confession out of him.
Footsteps approach from outside the door. “Time’s up,” she smiles sweetly as David shoulders his way into the room.
“The kitchen smells great. And in here — wow,” he compliments, and Hafu’s smile instantly becomes genuine. The steak does smell good. Hafu had helped 5up cook it — okay, helped is a lenient description, but she had tried and that’s what counts at the end of the day.
“Try some?” she offers, holding up a chunk speared onto her fork. David leans down to pull it off with his teeth.
He hums appreciatively as he chews. Hafu tucks her hair behind her ear in bashful pride, and David pats her shoulder. “He’ll make a chef out of you yet,” he laughs, winking at 5up when he grins.
“Trust me, I’m trying! She’s getting there. Slowly.”
“Yeah, yeah, enough of that,” Hafu says, petulantly sticking her tongue out at him. She shifts her attention back to David. “Tell me I’m not going crazy,” she requests, waving a vague hand at 5up, who turns away. “He is living with Steve. Steve. Am I crazy for saying there’s something going on between them?”
David gapes at 5up, then a vindicated smile settles on his face. His eyes meet Hafu’s and his expression says; I told you so. I’ll be collecting this debt later, sucker.
With badly concealed glee, David sits down next to her at the table. 5up, on the opposite side, recoils under their shared attention.
“What is this? Some kind of interrogation? I told you there’s nothing going on!”
“And we don’t believe you,” Hafu says smoothly as David huffs a laugh beside her.
“There isn’t!”
“You and Steve? I had this on my bingo card for the year.”
“There is no me and Steve!” 5up bursts out, at the same time that Hafu swats David’s shoulder and cries, “You have a bingo card? Why didn’t I know this?!”
“I’ll show you later,” David assures her, loudly to drown out 5up’s angry tirade of dismissals in the background. A painful smile aches in Hafu’s cheeks as she tries to keep her face carefully passive.
“You’d better,” she says. 5up makes a vague, choked noise.
“Can anyone in this fucking house hear me?”
Hafu cracks, breaking down into laughter at his anguish. It only makes 5up scowl, which in turn makes her laugh harder. David’s shoulders shake against hers; she doesn’t dare look at him, or she really might forget how to breathe.
“Glad you two are having fun,” sniffs 5up. He wrinkles his nose and pushes his plate away, choosing instead to cross his arms over his chest. It’s hardly intimidating.
“Lighten up, 5up! We’re only teasing!”
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
“What?” Hafu wiggles her eyebrows. “Is that Steve’s job now?”
Jaw dropping, 5up’s eyes dart wildly between the two of them. “Excuse me? No!”
“Where’s the engagement ring?” David asks cheekily. 5up splutters.
“The engagement— What? There is no— We aren’t— Steven and I are not like that.” He raises his chin defiantly, looking down his nose at David. Or he tries to, at least. The slight height disparity works to his disadvantage.
David is unfazed. “You’re living at his place. You moved in with him,” he reminds 5up, not unkindly. Hafu snickers at the outrage on his face. “You’re together.”
“We are not!”
“You are,” she sings lightly. “5up has a boooyfriend—!”
“He’s not my boyfriend!”
“Fiancé, then,” David interjects as Hafu laughs delightedly and 5up takes a vicious stab at the air between them with his fork.
“You would know if he were,” he says darkly, sounding almost threatening if it weren’t for the deep blush staining his cheeks. “I wouldn’t be sitting here if he were. Yet here I am — suffering — so clearly there’s nothing going on!”
A sympathetic sigh gusts out of David. “Their honeymoon stage is already over,” he tells Hafu, sounding almost wistful.
“Honeymoon—?!”
“Sounds like it barely even began,” Hafu agrees pointedly. 5up throws his hands up in her peripheral vision.
“Look!” he cries, shoving them — palms down — towards them. “No ring, wow, shocking! It’s almost like we— I don’t know… aren’t engaged!”
Hafu looks him up and down. She coos. “Aww, David, they’re taking it slow. It’s the smart thing to do, good for you, 5up!”
“We’re not, because we aren’t—”
His voice is raised to the point of hysteria. Hafu’s amusement wanes a little in concern, and she bumps David nervously under the table.
A deafening silence falls over them as 5up’s mouth snaps shut and his eyes close. His shoulders rise excessively in what looks like a breathing exercise to calm himself down, and Hafu finds herself breathing along with him, feeling the excitement of their discovery leaving her. She begins to regret teaming up on him and refusing to let him explain.
It could’ve been good for him, that’s all. Her elation had been on his behalf, hoping that he had finally realised he’d found his person.
It’s not like she hadn’t considered it. After David’s words, over two years ago now, she had thought about it. However briefly it may have been. Every so often, she’s reminded of what he said; like when she notices 5up devoting his entire attention to Steve and Steve alone, and when Steve chases after him harder than he pursues anyone else. They’d work, she thinks, in that strange way of theirs.
5up doesn’t seem to agree. His mouth is set in a sour frown, his eyes downcast. Hafu wonders if he’s aware that his gaze is trained on his phone, or if he’s merely zoned out. She aches to comfort him, but speaking now would shatter the fragile tension, so she holds her tongue.
After a long moment, he blinks forcefully. Somehow, he appears older and more tired than Hafu has ever seen him.
“We aren’t— ugh.” He makes a sound of frustration at the back of his throat. “He hasn’t— you know. Said anything.”
Hafu’s eyes widen. “Oh,” she gasps. The last traces of her good mood die in her chest. “Oh, 5up, I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have assumed. It just seemed so…”
Out of character for Steve. She doesn’t say it, afraid it will make 5up feel worse.
He waves her off. “It’s fine, it’s whatever. If he was going to, he’d have done it by now. So I guess…” He trails off, frowning. Hafu reaches across the table to hold his hand in hers.
Guilt weighs heavily in her chest. She wishes she could take back all of the teasing from before, knowing now that 5up does have feelings, and that Steve doesn’t reciprocate. 5up doesn’t have to say as much in words; she understands. It’s written all across his face.
To read him so easily is a curse, sometimes. Sure, it has its uses on occasion, but now all she feels is a crushing despair and the sense that she’s failed him. How, she doesn’t know. It’s just how she feels. As though picking up on this, David trails his fingers comfortingly along her hip. His touch grounds her.
Taking a deep breath, she tries again.
“I’m really sorry, 5up. I didn’t know.”
5up shakes his head. “It’s fine, seriously. There’s always more fish in the sea, right?” He attempts a smile; it’s a shaky, wavering thing that stabs a thousand pins into Hafu’s heart.
David, who had been silently watching their exchange, leans forward. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but— Why are you living together if you aren’t… together? I didn’t know either of you wanted a roommate.”
“We don’t. I’ve just been staying at his place,” 5up explains uncomfortably. “It’s only temporary until my neighbours finish with their loud ass construction, but it’s been…” He grimaces. “About as good as you could expect.”
Murmuring in sympathy, Hafu squeezes his hand. 5up seems to gain strength from this, and he takes a deep breath. “He’s been sleeping on the couch. Something about common courtesy, he said, but it just leaves me in his fucking bed so I’d almost rather he leave the couch for me instead.”
The expression on David’s face is deeply contemplative. Hafu nudges him as discreetly as possible in warning.
“And he offered to let you stay there?” David asks with a gentle, reassuring squeeze to Hafu’s thigh.
Warily, 5up nods. “I wouldn’t just invite myself in. I’m not insane, you know.”
“I know!” assures David, raising his other hand in surrender. “I’m just making sure.”
Hafu sighs. She understands perfectly where he’s heading with this. “What David means to say is… Steve must have a reason for making you take the bed. I mean, it’s Steve. Come on. He’s great and all, but I really don’t picture him giving up his bed for an indefinite amount of time, not when he’s who he is and you’re… no offence, but you’re short enough to properly fit on his couch, at least. He isn’t.”
5up’s hand twitches in hers. “No, Hafu. You said it best. He’s Steve,” he reminds stubbornly. “He acts like he’s above it all, but he’d jump off a cliff for any of us in a heartbeat and you know it. I don’t see how the bed is a big deal. He said he likes the change of scenery anyway.”
“Change of scenery? His living room?” Hafu repeats, unable to keep the incredulity out of her tone. 5up scowls and shrugs, as if to say, He said it, not me.
Sensing defeat, Hafu tries a new tactic.
“David, when has Steve ever let any of us stay over at his place?” she asks, turning to her husband. David frowns and mulls it over.
“Never? He’s only ever recommended good hotels to me.”
Triumphant, Hafu raises one eyebrow at 5up. He scoffs and averts his eyes to stare at their joined hands. “It’s different. You know those aren’t comparable.”
“I’m just saying you should talk to him. You might be surprised.”
“I won’t be.” He frowns and squares his shoulders. “Anyway, the food is getting cold. Don’t let your hard work in the kitchen go to waste.”
Hafu lets him take the out, sensing his building frustration. She doesn’t want to actually upset him, despite her growing theory that Steve’s a little obsessed with him, no matter what 5up might say.
5up stays in the guest bedroom overnight. The next morning, they don’t mention Steve, or the way 5up’s phone is constantly pinging with messages from him. It’s just a nice day spent in Vegas. That evening, 5up flies back to LA — back to Steve — and Hafu and David erupt into gossip like schoolgirls the second his back disappears into the airport.
“Oh, there’s no way—”
“If Steve doesn’t get himself together, I’ll catch a flight over there myself—”
When, a month or so later, 5up asks to visit again, Hafu doesn’t think much of it. She accepts happily and tells him she’ll set up the spare room. It’s only when she’s running through a list of potential activities for them to do that 5up asks if it’s okay for Steve to come along too.
YES, is Hafu’s immediate answer, followed by WHAT and a long series of question marks.
As it turns out — 5up tells her over the phone — Steve had been gearing up to ask him out. For a while.
“What a fucking dumbass,” he scorns, though she can hear his smile. “He was convinced he was delusional. He said that me being in his house was making him psychotic, whatever that means— I was too distracted to ask. No, it’s not what you’re thinking…”
“I’m glad you’re happy,” Hafu beams, dragging David over to the couch with one hand and sitting him down. She puts her phone on speaker and sets it down on the coffee table. “You two deserve it. Dumbasses.”
“Well, he took his time. I’ve told him he has to make it up to me.”
“And has he?” asks David with dawning joy, catching up on the conversation. He grins excitedly at Hafu and she gives an enthusiastic thumbs up in return. He was trying to date him, she mouths, and David’s eyes widen.
5up, unaware of their silent conversation, scoffs. “It’s Steve. He hasn’t left my side since. It’s quite annoying actually—” There’s a distant Hey! in Steve’s voice, which 5up hushes loudly. “—But we’re getting there. He’s death-staring me right now, by the way. And now he’s grimacing. Quit that, Steven.”
Privately, Hafu thinks that he must know a very different side to Steve than the one he shows her. That Steve would quite happily buy her a few drinks, maybe some Twitch subs, and call it a day. Apology done and dusted.
A violent scuffling sound blasts through the phone, making Hafu flinch away. “Hi Hafu! Hi David!” Steve says suddenly and loudly, leaving 5up to squawk in the background. “Don’t listen to 5up. He’s suuuper emotional and doesn’t know what he’s saying.”
“Give that back, you fucking bitch—!”
“Whoops, gotta go. Bye bye, babies! See you next week!”
The phone beeps before Hafu can say goodbye. She exchanges a bemused look with David.
“I can’t tell if this is gonna be really good, or really bad,” he says. Hafu just shrugs and dazedly picks her phone back up.
A week later, the doorbell rings. More accurately, the doorbell starts ringing; it doesn’t stop after one. Hafu groans as she hurries to answer it, at which point knocking — in addition to the still-ringing doorbell — has begun in earnest. She catches the sound of 5up’s raised voice through the door.
“Steven! Stop it— I can’t take you anywhere, oh my god. Leave it!”
Flinging the door open, Hafu snickers at the sight of Steve, fist swinging through empty air as a sharp retort dies on his tongue. His eyes widen with faux innocence.
“Hafu!” he beams, resting his raised forearm against the doorframe and leaning his weight into it. The result is an almost-casual pose that has 5up rolling his eyes.
They greet each other and Hafu watches them like a hawk the whole time, observing the way Steve’s hand hovers around the small of 5up’s back and the soft, fond happiness written all over 5up’s face. She can tell he’s aware of her analysis, but for once, he doesn’t seem to mind.
While David and Steve catch up, Hafu pulls 5up aside.
“So? How is it?”
5up’s smile is blinding. “Good, we’re— Really good. Better than I thought we would be, actually.”
Hafu beams so widely her cheeks ache. She makes 5up promise to tell her the whole story later, with or without Steve’s assistance. Then the four of them head into the kitchen for coffee (or, in 5up’s case, tea).
They all end up sitting around the table, nursing their drinks. 5up tucks himself into Steve’s side and Hafu, sitting opposite him and beside David, sends him a knowing look. He pointedly ignores her.
The mundane conversation about the weather lasts all of a minute before 5up sighs and takes mercy on the two of them. “What do you want to know? I can tell you’re dying to ask.”
Finally.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” blurts out Hafu, without meaning to. The thought has been nagging her ever since 5up’s phone call confession. Why wait?
5up has the decency to duck his head. “I actually wanted to tell you in person,” he says, while Steve chuckles quietly into his cup. “A huge oversight on my part. I forgot I’d have to actually warn you to prepare the house for two guests, not just one. So… yeah.”
Hafu nods, satisfied, and encourages David to ask his own question. He takes her hand under the table. “How did you two figure it out?”
“We slept together,” Steve says immediately. 5up slaps his shoulder.
“You have to stop telling people that. We didn’t,” he directs at Hafu and David. Over his head, Steve mouths, We did. “We slept in the same bed and things… spiralled from there, I guess. Why did you ask me out, Steve?”
“Dunno. You were there.”
“Romantic,” 5up says dryly. Hafu tries very hard to fight a laugh and ultimately fails; the look 5up shoots her is half-betrayed, half-amused. “Be serious,” he chides Steve gently.
Steve groans. “Ugh, fine. I fell in love with you, or whatever. And you fell in love with me too, because how could you not? Look at me.” He gestures to his hair, which is in what Hafu hopes is the rough stage of his new haircut. Steve pouts at the expression on her face and turns to David, who isn’t faring much better. “Come on. It’s not that bad.”
“It is that bad,” 5up says, giving Steve’s forearm an affectionate pat. “Let me choose where you go next time. I don’t know why you didn’t listen to me when I said that place looked like shit.”
“I wanted to trust my instincts.”
“Your instincts are shit. Evidently.”
“You don’t have to rub it in,” Steve says sullenly. “I’ve learned from my mistakes. I’m a changed man.”
Hafu feels like she’s providing very little to the conversation, but sue her. Watching them interact is just so interesting. She feels like she’s seeing them for the first time, in a way. Even without glancing over, she can tell David is watching in satisfaction, knowing that his vision became reality. She’ll have to encourage him to get into matchmaking.
5up is saying something about Steve’s cleaning habits when she tunes back in.
“I’ve never known a man with so many socks. I’m serious— they’re everywhere! He doesn’t even wear them half the time, I don’t understand it! It’s like he's leaving them around on purpose to piss me off. That or they just won’t stay on his feet. I don’t know which is better, honestly.”
“Sometimes they stop feeling nice,” Steve whines, “so I take them off. Sor-ree for being comfortable in my own home. Jesus Christ, you’re like an in-house landlord.”
“Can you at least take them off in a less inconvenient place, then? The other day, I almost slipped on one in the kitchen and brained myself on the counter. Not an experience I wish to repeat.”
Steve splutters out some kind of rebuke, but Hafu doesn’t hear him. She’s overcome by a weird sense of awe, watching the two of them converse in a context so different from what she’s used to. It feels surreal. They’re only arguing, after all, but they’re arguing about their shared life together and Hafu needs a moment to wrap her head around it. It makes sense, she realises. She sees it even more now that it’s right in front of her.
Turning to David, she waves her hand at them. They both fall silent. “Do you see this? They’re already arguing like a married couple. We’ve got competition.”
“Have you got that engagement ring yet?” David jokes. Hafu laughs, expecting 5up to hold out a bare hand and complain about how Steve doesn’t want to rush things — she predicts that Steve will apologise over-dramatically and promise to buy him one as soon as possible, a bald-faced lie that none of them will believe, but they’ll laugh and 5up will smile anyway. But none of that happens.
5up’s face flushes bright red. Steve closes his eyes, biting down on his bottom lip in a badly suppressed smirk.
“No,” Hafu gasps.
“Listen— He can be very persuasive,” says 5up in a very strained voice.
Steve locks eyes with David and mouths something Hafu will pretend she never saw. She wishes that were the case. Unfortunately, some things can never be unseen.
Like the ring on 5up’s finger, for example. She has no idea how she hadn’t noticed it before. Not so observant, after all, David’s voice teases in her head.
It’s not exactly inconspicuous. By that, she means it’s glaringly obvious, garish, and she’s honestly surprised that 5up allowed Steve to put it anywhere near his person, let alone on; even Hafu wouldn’t wear it, if that’s what David had presented her with when they got engaged. And Hafu loves David very much.
How Steve managed to find a ring bearing an entire miniature sculpted rotisserie chicken in place of a gemstone is beyond her. It’s complete with a plate, vegetables, condiments, sauces and all. How he managed to convince 5up to wear it is another beastly mystery in itself.
“Where the fuck did you get this?” Hafu asks in horrified awe. She can’t tear her eyes away, no matter how hard she tries. It truly is awful.
Steve swells in something like pride. “My babies? They’re heirlooms, dude. Been in the Suptic family for generations. Passed down from my father, by his father before him and so on until the beginning of time. I challenge you to find another artefact of this calibre.”
Reaching up, 5up rests a hand on his shoulder. “Sure, Steve,” he says. To Hafu and David, he shakes his head with a faint smile. “Some guy on the street gave them to him in exchange for half an empanada. It was a steal to be honest — for the guy.”
Babies, Steve had said. Them, 5up had said. Plural. Hafu rips her gaze away from 5up’s left hand.
Sure enough, there’s a matching one on Steve’s ring finger. Of course there is.
His is a miniature burger, also sculpted and painted, resting atop a simple silver band. The craftsmanship is questionable. The practicality is downright nonexistent. Hafu feels a little faint.
Oblivious to Hafu’s growing horror, 5up smiles softly down at his ring. “About five minutes later, he proposed. In the middle of a very public street. What was I supposed to do — Say no?”
Yes, Hafu thinks despairingly.
“Yeah, I thought he would too,” Steve says helpfully, immune to 5up’s glare. “There were lots of witnesses. I thought I’d get free shit as compensation for my boyfriend leaving me at my most vulnerable moment.” He huffs bodily, making 5up roll his eyes. “Alas, he said yes.”
“I’m sure you’re very disappointed in yourself.”
“Quite the contrary, 5up. I have a beautiful fiancé and a beautiful ring… and you have?”
“A gross fiancé and a grosser ring. Please stop cutting your hair, it hurts me.”
The alarm gradually building up inside Hafu reaches its apex. Her voice finally finds its way out of her throat. “You’re allowing this, 5up?”
He shrugs helplessly. “I guess?”
None of this is actually registering in Hafu’s brain. She shares a bewildered look with David, who is silent and looks just as lost as she feels. There’s no way, right? There’s no way they got fucking engaged, after dating for what— a few weeks? A month, at best. Right?
Her gaze is drawn unwillingly back to their obnoxious rings. Surely 5up would never agree to this. They must be pranking her, it’s the only feasible explanation.
“Wait ‘til you see the wedding rings,” Steve pipes up, noticing where she’s staring. “I have big plans and a limitless budget.”
“He actually has a very small budget,” sighs 5up.
Steve grins and plants an audibly wet kiss onto 5up’s temple. 5up, rather than struggling away, leans into it. “We’ll manage, honey. I think I can save up for a whole empanada this time, if I play my cards right.”
“That’s all I ask of you,” 5up says, only sounding half sarcastic. “You pay the bills, I’ll cook the meals.”
“My nuclear wife,” croons Steve affectionately. 5up actually fucking blushes.
Hafu has to get out of here. She needs to escape before she has to subject herself to something traumatic, like watching them kiss, or even just hearing them flirt some more. Luckily, David — ever in tune with Hafu’s emotions — stands up suddenly. He tightens his grip on Hafu’s hand.
“I just heard Jubbs throw up. C’mon, Maymay, let’s go clean up and make sure she’s okay. You two… can just stay here, okay?”
They tear out of the room without hearing a response. Hafu wasn’t expecting one anyway; the two of them looked so wrapped up in each other that she wouldn’t be surprised if they hadn’t even noticed her and David leave. As long as they don’t come searching for them, she thinks they’ll survive.
They take refuge in their bedroom. David squeezes her hand. Hafu kisses him, quickly and normally. “I love you,” she tells him, like a regular person, and he smiles brightly.
“I love you too.” He pauses briefly, then closes the door like some kind of safety precaution. “Are they actually getting married?”
“The worst part is I can’t even tell. Steve’s Steve and 5up… well, I expected better from him but he’s easily influenced. By Steve, at least. How did they get themselves into this mess? Like, how is that possible?”
David hums. His eyebrows are furrowed and Hafu waits patiently for him to think, playing with his wedding band; it’s plain silver and blessedly normal. Everything about David is perfectly, beautifully normal. Hafu loves him so much.
It takes him a moment to formulate his sentence. When he speaks, it comes out slowly, like he’s deliberating the words even as they leave his mouth. “Do you think they’re always gonna be… like that?”
Hafu sighs, then shrugs. “It’s Steve and 5up,” she states, and David nods like this is explanation enough. She supposes it is, in a way. As long as they’re happy, she thinks, and winces at the very sentiment.
As long as they’re happy.
Hafu is not looking forward to this wedding.
Somewhere downstairs, 5up breaks away from Steve’s lips and finally notices Hafu and David’s deserted chairs. “Steve,” he says.
“Shu’up. ‘M busy,” Steve mumbles, his voice muffled in 5up’s neck.
“Steve. They’re gone.”
Pulling away just long enough to glance over, Steve huffs. “Fuckin’ finally! Took ‘em long enough.”
“You’re such a bastard,” 5up laughs, tangling his fingers into Steve’s hair to pull him into another kiss. Steve’s smile is warm against his lips. “Have some respect. They’re the only reason we’re together.”
“Engaged,” Steve corrects, and 5up scoffs. “And no they aren’t. That was all me, baby!”
“God, you’re actually delusional.”
“Hey, I asked you out, didn’t I?”
“Only because I invited you to share the bed with me!”
“It’s my bed, man!”
“Well, you weren’t sleeping in it. I was!”
“Still my bed. And I don’t see how Hafu has anything to do with that.”
“Who do you think suggested I ask you to share, dumbass?”
There’s a long beat of silence.
“Oh, fuck. This is all Hafu’s fault?!”
“What?! Two seconds ago, you said—!”