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Anna really didn’t want to live in a sharehouse.
She scoured the internet for months before she moved to Florence, but any living situation that would grant her decent privacy was far out of her budget. So she found herself signing a lease that honestly, has a great location. She’s only blocks away from the supermarket she works at, and there’s a delicious cafe on her way to work, with a roster of very cute baristas. However, her living situation leaves a lot to be desired. Her lofted bedroom is spacious, but there’s a lot of downsides to the extra square footage. One of her roommates, Gino, is a nurse who works exclusively night shifts, so she’s constantly woken up to the loud sounds of the door creaking open at 3:00am, and the clang of pots and pans as he prepares his late dinner. Emme, a French businesswoman doing temporary work in Italy, rents the room next to hers. The thin walls means Anna can hear every word of Emme’s meetings, the nasally executives that like to call every issue “mission critical”.
Worst of all is her third roommate, Izumi.
Izumi, when he’s by himself, is a good roommate. He always cleans the dishes he uses, he’s quiet when he’s around the house, and best of all, he’s only in Italy about half the time. The other half of the time, he’s across the world in Japan, doing whatever he does there. Anna thinks he may be somewhat rich from the way he dresses, but Izumi’s never said much about what he does in Japan.
Izumi becomes a terrible roommate when his boyfriend comes over.
His boyfriend is someone named Leo, and for the first few months Izumi moved in, he was an occasional guest. Anna grew to associate the exact sound of his knock with the cacophony that would always follow— the door would always open with a boisterous laugh, and Izumi would then descend into some argument with him in Japanese. Leo would also choose the strangest times to show up at their apartment, making Gino’s late-night meals seem like a quiet mouse when Leo would burst through the door in the middle of the night.
And it only got worse when Leo moved in full-time. Leo doesn’t seem to have any semblance of a sleep schedule, so on the other side of Anna’s walls, she would hear the sounds of keyboard clacking and humming late into the night. Izumi sometimes stays up with him, and they talk (and argue) late into the evening, leading them to being extremely distracting when Anna is trying to sleep before an early shift the next day.
Basically, Anna is counting down the days until her lease is up and she can get out.
Izumi never formally introduced Leo as his boyfriend, but with them being from Japan, she understands why they’ve kept their relationship under wraps.
“June is coming up,” Gino says one evening, when Izumi and Leo are absent from their apartment. “Should we buy a rainbow flag or something?”
“Wouldn’t that come off as too performative?” Emme replies. “We don’t want to be obvious. It’s clear they’re not ready to come out to us.”
Anna rolls her eyes. “They should be less obvious then. I wanted to tell them about the broken washer a few weeks ago, and Leo opened the door in a sweater I saw Izumi wearing earlier that day.”
“Aww,” Emme coos. “They share clothes!”
“I’d care more about the broken washer,” Gino grumbles. “I had nothing to wear for a week.”
“You deserved it for trying to run the washer in the middle of the night,” Anna shoots.
“There’s no way I was letting my dirty scrubs sit there until the morning!”
“Then ma-”
“Enough!” Emme interrupts. “No to the rainbow flag, Gino.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t be trying so hard in the first place,” Gino says. “Imagine if they actually started acting all couple-y in our common spaces.”
“Living with them would be even more of a nightmare,” Anna agrees.
“This isn’t about them being terrible roommates,” Emme says. “We need to let them know that we’re safe for them to be themselves around! You know, I lead a DEI initiative at my company, and one thing we always say is-”
“I’m really not interested in your corporate campaign slogans,” Anna cuts off. “Izumi and Leo won’t care, either.”
“Then what do we do?” Gino asks.
“I mean,” Anna says, “the rainbow flag really isn’t such a bad idea…”
Anna walks out of her room one morning, her hair slightly damp from her shower. She’s fairly sure her cupboard in the kitchen is empty, so she’s planning on foregoing breakfast altogether, already making a plan to charm the barista at her regular cafe into treating her to an extra pastry.
Her eye twitches when she sees Izumi and Leo in the kitchen. Great start to the day.
Izumi is scrambling some eggs in a skillet, and he nods at Anna in greeting as she approaches. He says something to Leo, who turns and asks Anna in stilted Italian, “Do you want some eggs?”
“Er, sure,” Anna replies, taken aback. Izumi has never offered her any food. He’s usually so stingy about their shared space that he makes sure everything of his in their fridge is labeled with printed stickers that say “Property of Sena Izumi”.
“Sena made extra eggs,” Leo explains, smiling at her. “We shouldn’t let it go to waste!”
“Thanks,” Anna nods. No need to flirt with the barista this morning, it seems.
There’s an awkward silence between them, so Anna tries to break the ice. “So, how long have you two, um, known each other for?”
“Since high school,” Leo replies. He leans into Izumi with a smile, who nearly stumbles. He says something to Leo in Japanese, and Leo responds by sticking his tongue out.
“You’re cute together,” Anna says. Maybe she’s being a little direct, but she has a newly realized goal of getting the two of them to come out to her before she moves out of this apartment. She’s been thinking about starting a betting pool with Gino and Emme about who can get Izumi and Leo to admit to their relationship first. (It’s mostly to swindle some money out of Emme.)
“Um, thanks?” Leo replies quizzically. “People are usually annoyed by us, though.”
“It’s usually your fault,” Izumi says. His Italian is noticeably worse than Leo’s, his words coming out slowly and carefully.
“You’re the one always nagging me,” Leo grouses. “If anything, its your fault.”
“It would be appreciated if you both could be quieter around the house,” Anna says.
Izumi grimaces. “Sorry,” he says. “Again, it’s usually this guy’s fault. I don’t know why I let him move in.”
“Because you love me!” Leo responds with a grin. “Right, Sena?”
Izumi bats away Leo’s hand that was snaking towards his own, and says something in Japanese that has Leo scowling. Anna stands there awkwardly, watching the two of them tease each other in such a domestic manner she feels like she’s an intruder in her own home.
“Anyways,” Anna says loudly, interrupting their conversation, “what do you do in Japan? I’ve noticed you both travel back frequently.”
“We’re both idols!” Leo replies. “We’re in a group called Knights.”
Anna blinks. “You two are famous?”
Izumi nods. There’s a glimmer of pride in his eyes, and Anna isn’t as annoyed by it as she thought she’d be. “Not as many people know us here in Italy, but we’re a well-known group in Japan.”
“Izumi’s trying to break into the modeling industry here, though,” Leo says. “I’m here for some clients who I write music for.”
Anna is thrown for a loop. This adds a whole new layer to their reluctance to come out. If they want to be in the public eye, it makes it a lot harder for the two of them to openly be in a relationship.
Izumi sprinkles some salt and pepper into the eggs. “I don’t know how you like your eggs, but Leo has a bad spice tolerance, so I’m not adding too much pepper in here.”
“That’s fine,” Anna says, at the same time Leo protests, “That’s not true! I loved the food in India!”
“Your stomach didn’t,” Izumi replies, serving the eggs onto three plates. (Anna notes that Izumi pulled out one of her plates to serve her eggs. Of course.)
“Wait, Sena, you have something in your hair,” Leo says suddenly. He reaches forward to brush off what looked like a piece of lint, letting his fingers card through Izumi’s hair. Izumi’s eyelids flutter, and it’s as though all the usual irritation on his face has just drained away, leaving behind a small, content smile.
Anna is left standing there, watching this display of intimacy.
“Okay, I’ll bet 20 euros,” Gino says, pulling out his wallet.
“Should we really be doing this?” Emme asks. “Based on what you said, they might actually get in trouble if people find out about them.”
“Well, are you going to out them?” Anna asks sharply.
“Of course not!” Emme replies, affronted.
“Then there’s no problem,” Anna decides. “They didn’t seem to care about the pride flag, at least.”
“Izumi did stare at it for really a long time,” Gino offers.
“Probably because the flag you bought was almost two meters wide,” Emme says. “We almost couldn’t put it up!”
“I accidentally ordered the wrong dimensions, okay,” Gino says. “I already apologized for that!”
“Well, at least they really know we’re allies,” Anna replies. “Now, how much are you going to bet, Emme?”
“Probably 20 euros,” Emme replies.
“Aw, don’t you want to contribute a little bit more? You have all that money from your fancy businesswoman salary.” Anna grins at her.
“Definitely not, now that you say it like that,” Emme pulls out a crisp 20€ bill from her wallet and sets in on the kitchen counter, next to Gino’s crumpled bills.
“Fine, my turn,” Anna says. She sets out a collection of bills on the counter, but the door then creaks open behind her.
“What’s going on here?” Leo asks upon walking in, seeing the three of them standing in a group in the kitchen.
“Nothing!” Emme says, standing in front of the money. “Nothing at all!”
“Doesn’t look like nothing,” Izumi says. He walks around Emme to see the collection of bills on the counter. “Is this some kind of illegal black market deal?”
“What?” Anna replies. “What kind of impression do you have of Italians?”
Izumi flushes. “I didn’t mean it like that! You all just look so suspicious standing around a pile of money like this.”
“In fact,” Leo says, “You’ve all been acting weird for a while now. I noticed that giant flag you put up a few weeks ago.”
“Can- can we not celebrate Pride month?” Emme stammers.
“None of you are gay, though,” Leo says.
“But that doesn’t mean everyone in this household is straight!” Gino says. “We’re trying to be accepting of everyone that comes through these doors.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Izumi asks, quizzical.
“Well, we just- we wanted you and Leo to feel free to be yourselves around us,” Anna says. It looks like she’s going to let the cat out of the bag. “We didn’t want you to feel like you had to hide your- your relationship when at home.”
“Our relationship?” Izumi and Leo exclaim in sync. They look at each other, and their eyes quickly dart away, their faces turning red.
“Wait, you think we’re- we’re dating?” Leo says. “Of course we aren’t! What made you think that?”
Anna’s jaw drops. “You’re not together?” Emme and Gino are in similar states of shock.
Izumi looks between them. “No way. You all thought we were dating?”
“Of course!” Gino says. “We were trying to make you both feel comfortable enough to come out to us!”
Anna wants to laugh at how red Izumi’s and Leo’s faces are, but she’s in too much shock to even comment on it. “So this entire time, you’ve just been friends?”
“Yes!” Izumi and Leo say in unison.
“What did we even do to give you the impression that we’re dating?” Izumi’s words come out jumbled, likely from how flustered he looks, and it takes a second for Anna to parse his meaning.
“Literally a few days ago, you were flirting while making eggs in the kitchen,” Anna says. “I felt like I was third-wheeling the whole time.”
“Or a few weeks ago, when I saw you washing Leo’s hair,” Emme adds. “You both looked so intimate!”
“I could have sworn I saw you both cuddling in your room last month,” Gino says.
“You’re all seeing these things out of context,” Izumi protests. “Right, Leo?”
“Right,” Leo says distantly. He has the expression of a man who has just experienced a revelation. “I’m gonna head inside.”
Anna watches as Leo walks into their room (where Izumi and Leo apparently don’t sleep together???).
“I’ll join him,” Izumi says. “I’m glad we cleared this up.” His face is still flushed red, all the way to his ears.
Once the door closes behind Izumi, Anna turns to the other two, newly resolved. “I think we can use this money for something better.”
Gino sets a fist on the countertop. “We’ve got to get the two of them together now.”
Emme sighs. “You two are terrible.”