Chapter Text
Euijoo never saw himself as someone oblivious. He always prided himself in reading people, reading Nicholas, especially. So when his coworker casually told him to bring his husband to the office get-together, it took him exactly two seconds to laugh—and three hours to stop thinking about it.
“He called you my husband,” Euijoo says, plopping down onto their couch that night like gravity suddenly got stronger. Nicholas doesn’t even flinch—he’s halfway through brushing their cat with one hand and sipping tea with the other. “My husband, can you believe that?”
Nicholas hums. “Weird.”
“Right?! That’s what I said.”
“But like… not that weird.”
Euijoo freezes. “Excuse me?”
Nicholas doesn’t look up at first. He fiddles with the cat’s paw before saying, cautiously, “I mean. We’ve lived together for… what, twelve years? We share bills. Passwords. Groceries. We spend holidays together. We… I dunno. Function like a unit.”
Euijoo blinks at him. “But we’re not a couple.”
“I didn’t say we were,” Nicholas says quickly. “I’m just saying, from the outside, I get how someone might assume.”
A pause. The silence stretches.
“We share a bed,” Euijoo says, like it’s the first time it’s ever occurred to him.
Nicholas nods slowly. “You made me a bracelet. With like… a heart bead on it.”
“You put it on your keychain after it broke.”
“I wear your hoodie to bed when you’re away.”
Euijoo's eyes are wide and unfocused. “That’s... just normal... right?”
Nicholas raises a brow. “We have a cat, Euijoo. We named it together. She has your last name.”
Euijoo's brain blue-screens. The cat meows.
Euijoo opens his mouth, closes it. Then, quietly, “Nicholas. Are we… dating?”
Nicholas looks at him like he’s scared to answer. “I… I don’t think so?”
“Then why does this feel like a breakup?” Euijoo blurts, clutching a pillow to his chest. “Why do I suddenly feel like I forgot our anniversary or something?!”
Nicholas stares at him, mouth opening but no words coming out. “Euijoo, I—”
Euijoo did the most Euijoo thing possible.
He fled.
“I’m going to get some air!” he said, halfway into his jacket.
“Want me to come?” Nicholas called from the couch, looking back at him with a worried frown.
“No!” Euijoo yelped. “I mean—it’s fine! I’ll be right back! Don’t wait up! Feed Berry!”
And with that, he speed-walked six blocks to Fuma and Kei’s apartment. They were two of his and Nicholas’s oldest friends, fellow nerds from college and long-time co-op board game victims.
It’s dark outside, and his mind is darker. He replays every little thing—shared toothpaste, matching mugs with each other’s initials. Who the hell lives like that with their friend?
We’re not together, he tells himself. We're just weird. Emotionally codependent, maybe. A little eccentric. That doesn’t mean anything.
But then: Why am I scared that Nicholas might not want to do all that anymore? Why do I feel like I’m losing something that was never supposed to be mine in the first place?
His feet carry him faster.
And why the hell does it feel like I’ve been in love with him for years and just didn’t notice?
Kei opens the door wearing a robe and a look of what now.
“I need answers,” Euijoo says, barely inside before he’s pacing in their living room. “I think I might be in a relationship with Nicholas. Like—accidentally.”
Fuma raises a brow. “You’re just now figuring that out?”
Euijoo whirls. “Wait, what do you mean?!”
“You two are basically married,” Kei says, pouring tea like this is a normal Tuesday. “I mean, you do couple stuff all the time.”
“We don’t! We just—live together!”
“Euijoo, you literally kissed his forehead in public last week,” Fuma reminds him.
“He had a fever!”
“You spoon on the couch.”
“It’s comfortable!”
“You have a shared calendar titled ‘our life’.”
“No, no. We’re just—he’s my best friend!”
Fuma gestures dramatically, still listing stuff with an exasperated tone. “You guys wear matching pajamas. You share a Spotify account. Nicholas has you listed as his emergency contact—and beneficiary. You had that weird talk about having babies together once!”
“We were drunk! It doesn't count… does it?” Euijoo's voice loses its strength as his friend's eyes stay fixed on him with a pitiful look. Damn.
Euijoo collapsed into their armchair like a dying Victorian man. “Okay, fine, maybe I’ve been a little blind.”
Fuma snorted. “A little?”
“But like—isn’t it weird?” Euijoo asked, panicking anew. “We’re two… guys. And like—I don’t know! Isn’t that gonna be weird for people? Isn't it weird for you?”
There was a pause.
Fuma and Kei exchanged a look.
Then they looked back at Euijoo.
Then back at each other.
Then back at Euijoo again.
“…Euijoo,” Kei said, sitting up. “You do realize we’re together, right?”
Euijoo blinked. “No you’re not. You’re just… roommates.”
Fuma sighs, “We share a one-bedroom.”
“So? It 's cheaper!”
Kei rolls his eyes “We kiss. On the mouth. In public.”
“I thought it was a friendly thing!”
“We had a wedding. You were in it. You wore lavender!”
“I thought it was a themed birthday party??”
Fuma stood up and gently grabbed Euijoo by the shoulders.
“Euijoo,” he said, voice soft and filled with the patience of a thousand saints, “you are surrounded by queer people. You and Nicholas have been playing emotional househusbands for a decade. The only people who didn’t realize you were a couple were you two.”
Euijoo sat back, stunned.
“…So it’s not weird?”
Kei snorted. “No, honey. It’s gay. There’s a difference.”
Euijoo buries his face in a pillow. “Oh my god, I’m the dumbest person alive.”
“Second dumbest,” Fuma says. “Nicholas’s still at home probably thinking you’re not in love with him.”
Euijoo leaves more confused than when he arrived, but his heart feels like it’s been set on fire. All the little things flash behind his eyes—Nicholas waiting up for him every night, how his tea is always made just the way he likes it, how they know each other’s passwords, how Nicholas always gets two of everything, never just one.
It’s raining when he gets back. Of course it is. He opens the door and there’s Nicholas on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, watching one of their favorite shows without sound.
Euijoo stood there, wide-eyed, breathless, and glowing.
“I’m sorry I left,” he said. “I had to—process. But I’m good now. Totally in love with you. Very ready to be gay. Also, apparently Fuma and Kei are married? Did you know that?!”
Nicholas just opened his arms, smiling like he’d been waiting for Euijoo his whole life.
“Welcome back, husband.”
Euijoo throws himself onto Nicholas, Berry yelps and jumps away, they giggle. Everything's fine.