Chapter Text
“Is this yours?” Even perched over the laundry, holding a rolled shirt in his palm. It was white, like that was an indicator of anything.
“Uh.”
His face folded in a squinting smirk, crumpling the shirt in his fingers again as he threw it in the basket. “Does it matter?” Isak asked, only slightly debating if he wanted the answer or not. His fingers only loosened around his phone when Even shrugged a shoulder.
“I dunno,” his English making the other boy’s fingers tighten again. “I guess not.”
“Are you… doing laundry?” He asked carefully, squint matching Even’s from a moment ago.
“Because you don’t,” He winked, her perched the basket under his elbow, backing toward the door. Isak balked, his mouth gaping in mock defense. “What! You don’t!”
“I do my own laundry! Jesus, who do you think I am?” He started to roll his knees off the bed when a scoff jerked his head back towards Even.
“The fuck you do!” His smile was turning Isak’s elbows to jelly. “Isak, I’ve been doing our laundry--”
“Our laundry?”
“Our laundry, almost the entire time I’ve been here.” He leaned his side against the door, twisting the knob under his fingers.
“And what’s that been?” Isak stood this time, hands on his hips. He leaned forward a tad, like he looking at his boyfriend over a pair of glasses that didn’t exist. Even’s eyebrows picked up, that dumbass fucking blinding smile making the other boy’s stomach hurt.
“I’ve been here for, like, a month, mom. Jesus. I don’t want Linn to worm her way into the washer before--”
“Like you know Linn’s laundry habits!” He raised his own eyebrows, making Even giving him skeptical look.
“Do you?” He fired back, eyebrows lifting again when Isak pursed his lips. “Mhm. What’s your problem, man? It’s just laundry,” it was meant to be teasing, but Isak’s ears were a little more rosé than he probably cared for. So, Even pretended not to notice. “Is it because you didn’t know if that shirt was mine or yours?”
The other boy’s shoulders dropped a little, his arms crossing over his chest. Even let out a little amused sigh, taking the two steps toward Isak and planting a kiss on his nose. A little noise escaped Isak’s throat. From what, though, Even let slide in favor of an answer.
“C’mon, pouty.”
“Shut,” Isak palmed Even’s face, hand sort of placed lamely over the bottom half of his face. Even’s eyes crinkled in a smile. “Shut up. It’s just weird, I guess. Domestic.” Even raised his eyebrows from behind Isak’s hand, smile never fading. Isak poked his front tooth with a pinky.
"Quit fucking doing that with your eyebrows," Isak said, a huff of laughter giving him away. Even snorted.
"Then stop doing that your mouth!" He fired back, trying to toe the door shut behind him following an indignant "What!" from the other boy.
"What--" He stared at the door, eyebrows scrunched and mouth peeling back in a smile. "Quit deflecting me! Why are you doing laundry at my house!" He was flushing, Even could hear it in his voice.
“I like it here!” He yelled back, listening to his boyfriend fall back on the bed without a word.
#####
That was the first time. The second time came a few days later, in the middle of the night.
It wasn’t like it was a good day, if either of them were honest. Even was teetering, Isak was exhausted (his relationship with sleep was complicated, Even learned quickly) enough to doze off at 4:30 in the afternoon. He made Even promise to wake him up to keep his sleep schedule from getting fucked, but Even… couldn’t. Isak was adorable with hair sort of sticking at weird angles after taking off his hat, his lips parted, face smushed against the comforter (he didn’t even make it to the pillow, poor kid). On top of that, he needed the nap.
Even could have gotten a lot done during that time if he wasn’t busy listening to the little noises his boyfriend made, if he wasn’t busy curling and uncurling all the locks of Isak’s hair between his fingers. Isak wasn’t even mad when he woke up, significantly more interested in hugging the other boy to his chest as he lulled in an out for almost a half hour.
He wasn’t wide awake now, or anything. His head kind of hurt from scrolling through his phone at one in the morning, only twisting around to watch Even shift around in his own slumber.
He’d had a lazy day. Isak let him, was completely understanding of why Even wasn’t interested in even eating. He wasn’t going to make him. He wasn’t about to wake him from the relief sleep brought him, either.
Still, sure enough, Even’s eyes peeled open around 2:45, a dead arm wrapping loosely around Isak’s chest. He turned to lie flat on his back, neck twisting to the right to see the other’s washed expression.
“You okay?” He murmured, not expecting Even to answer. He got a shrug. Good enough. “Need anything?” Even swallowed, arm bending to let a finger trace his boyfriend’s jaw line.
“Water?” He asked quietly, barely enough for Isak to catch it. Once he moved to go get it, though, Even made a whining noise and tugged him back down. “Nevermind. Don’t leave.”
“Okay.” he whispered, shifting down and lying to face Even properly. He ran his thumb over his cheekbone, watching the older boy’s vacant eyes travel over his face.
“Can we stay like this?” Isak almost missed it, having to watch Even’s lips move to even know he’d spoken. It made his chest tighten, reminded him a little of October. October? November?
He caught himself nodding. Even nodded back, tugging him a little closer. “Yeah,” Isak breathed, answer almost lost in the silence of his room as he bumped their noses together. “Yeah, you’re not going anywhere.”
In the morning, they’d still been exactly like that. Even woke to kisses peppered across his cheek, to whispers of “If you’re up for going to school, we need to get up,” in his ear. He swallowed, tugging the younger boy against him. He knit his fingers in Isak’s hair as lips connected with his pulse.
He felt the other boy shiver against him. Isak tugged backward, meeting his eyes.
“Are you making me leave?” It was a joke. Even was joking. Isak was not.
“The fuck?” he asked, eyes almost… hurt? “No? I told you you’re not going anywhere?”
“No,” Even’s eyebrows scrunched together. “No, I meant the bed?” He smiled. “You want me to stay in here with you?”
“Always,” Isak answered before he thought about it, his ears reddening almost immediately. He opened his mouth too quickly to retract it, but Even beat him there with a kiss.
Long and slow enough to make Isak almost forget what’d even happened, Even was bumping their noses together in some sort of agreement. “Okay, I can stay.”
#####
The third time was enough to make it stick, Isak had found.
It was quick and he wasn’t thinking -- which he was a goddamn pro at, apparently.
Even had sent him a link to a song during biology. It was crossing weird borders, the guy more talking into a microphone with some… interesting… synth sounds following him around. Talking about lips that tasted like June, about legs putting him in a tomb. It made his stomach flutter. Would he ever admit to it? Fuck no.
It took him a lot longer to process than he would’ve liked, so he knew that when Even caught him at his locker and asked him what he thought, he was going to say something stupid enough to make Even smile hard enough to make his knees give out. He knew it.
So when Even had approached him a little later in the afternoon, right as he was listening to Magnus and Jonas go off about how somebody was apparently getting sucked off in the bathroom during Norwegian, the hand on the small of his back wasn’t unwelcome. But he also knew it was time to flee.
“Oh, I actually need to go,” He started, looking at his wrist that definitely didn’t have a watch on it. “I’ll-- I’ll see you guys after class, cool? You too, Even.” He smiled, doing a dumb little salute that still made Even’s eyes crinkle. Cool, he acknowledged to himself. Not doing that anymore.
“Wait, babe,” Even called after him. He heard the other boy jog to catch up to him, and this was it, he’d never live this moment down. He turned on his heel, still making an effort to walk backwards.
“Hm?”
“I’m headed out,” He said, pointing back over his own shoulder. “I’m going home. Cool? See you soon?”
“Oh,” He let out a breathe, feeling relieved as he pulled his keys from a pocket to toss to the other boy. “Okay, cool. See you.” Even caught them in his fist, completely frozen for a moment.
“What?” Isak asked, a huff of laughter getting out as Even thawed. “Did I-- did you want a kiss?” He moved back, catching Even’s bottom lip. He thumbed his nose as he started to move away again.
“I-- home,” Even swallowed, collecting himself as quickly as he could. He had a demeanor in public, damnit, he wasn’t gonna let Isak ruin it that easily. “I meant… back to my house,” He laughed. He held out the keys. Isak paused, something panging in his stomach.
Oh, shit. He barely moved to grip the keys again before Even was shaking his head, stuffing them back in his pocket. “Actually,”
“I didn’t mean to say,” Isak sputtered, and Even was reminded of his scrambling in the bathroom. I mean, if that makes you sad-- then-- then-- “I didn’t-- I wasn’t trying to say that my home is your home, I just figured,”
“It is home, Isak,” He cut him off, mouth lifting into that dumb smile Isak had been avoiding all day, goddamnit, “Yeah, I’ll… I’ll see you at home, then.” He kissed him chastely, and Isak had to grip his shoulder to keep from falling under his buckling knees.
“Home, then.” He breathed back, giving him another kiss as he moved away again, mind already racing before Even was catching him again with an “Oh, wait, Isak--”
The other boy turned. “Did you listen to that song?”