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“Would you be my boyfriend?”
The question hung in the air awkwardly as Nani blinked back at Ohm for a few moments before finally opening his mouth, “What?”
Ohm sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. This was not how this was supposed to happen; in fact this wasn’t supposed to happen at all, but he had been unable to control his mouth once again.
Before he could embarrass himself any further, Nani saved him from having to repeat himself when he spoke again, “I thought you were in love with Nanon or something.” So maybe Ohm would have preferred it if his friend had said nothing at all.
And therein lay the problem. Ohm was in fact in love with Nanon, but as he had always expected, Nanon did not love him the same way. This fact had been confirmed for Ohm the previous day when he had accidentally overheard Nanon talking to Chimon in the music room about how he needed to figure out a way to turn Ohm down without hurting him. How exactly Nanon knew about his feelings was a mystery to him. He had always been so careful, or so he thought, around Nanon so that he’d never find out. Sure, their closest friends knew, and apparently Nani, but he knew for a fact that their friends would never tell Nanon.
Ohm sighed again, wishing that the floor would open up and swallow him so he wouldn’t have to have this conversation. Of course he only had himself to blame for getting himself into this situation in the first place, “Be my fake boyfriend then.”
Nani narrowed his eyes at him, once again taking far longer to respond than Ohm would have liked, “I’m gonna need a lot more context.”
As far as Ohm was concerned this was worse than those dreams where you showed up to school naked, “Can we just pretend that I never said anything?”
Fate wasn’t that kind to him though and instead of letting it go Nani shook his head, “There’s obviously something up otherwise you wouldn’t have said anything. So spill.”
Ohm wasn’t sure if he should be grateful or annoyed that his friend was so persistent, but he knew they wouldn’t get any studying done until he explained what had caused him to ask Nani to be his boyfriend.
Truthfully, asking Nani to be his boyfriend was the last thing Ohm had intended to do during their study session, but he had been reeling ever since he’d heard Nanon say he was going to turn him down and had simply blurted out the question upon Nani asking him a question related to the subject they were supposed to be studying.
Ohm also hadn’t intended to fall in love with Nanon, but it had happened and he’d been dealing with it for years now. By this point he wasn’t even sure exactly when it had happened. They had started out as academic rivals in high school and at some point it had become less about beating Nanon when it came to grades and more so with getting his attention. Even then Ohm hadn’t really known Nanon any better than any other classmate and It hadn’t been until their first year of university that they had actually become friends when Ohm’s best friend Perth moved back to Thailand from the US and had started dating Nanon’s best friend Chimon. Actually being around Nanon on a more regular basis had just made his feelings stronger and up until now he’d thought the only people who knew were Perth and Chimon.
While he was still curious exactly how Nani knew about his feelings for Nanon, he wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible, “You’re right. I’m in love with Nanon, but he doesn’t feel the same way about me.”
“Did he tell you that?” Nani asked, elbows on his open text book as he leaned forward after Ohm had lowered his voice slightly.
Ohm chewed at his bottom lip as he shook his head, not really in the mood to relive what he had overheard, “I overheard him telling Chimon yesterday that he was going to talk to me and turn me down.” He sighed, gaze dropping down to his hands on the table, “I’ve known that he doesn’t feel the same way, but hearing it…I know I have to get over him, but I don’t think I can handle hearing him say it to my face.” Ohm was sure that Nani probably thought he was extremely pathetic, which was why he was surprised when his friend spoke again.
“So, you want a pretend boyfriend so Nanon will think you’re over him? I guess it makes sense.” Nani cocked his head to the side as if he were contemplating something, Ohm’s eyes wide as he stared back at him. “I guess I could do that for a little while.”
Ohm’s eyes were so wide that he was sure they were going to fall out of his head; the last thing he’d expected was for Nani to agree, “What? Are you serious? I don’t…you don’t really have to do this. I asked by accident. I don’t want to inconvenience you.”
To Ohm’s continued surprise, Nani reached across the table and covered one of his hands with his own, “Ohm, it’s not an inconvenience. You’re my friend. I want to help you out.”
To say that Ohm was surprised was an understatement, but he couldn’t deny that he was grateful that Nani would agree to help him, “Thanks, Nani. I promise you won’t have to pretend to be my boyfriend for long.” At least he hoped it wouldn’t be long.
Nani shook his head as he pulled out his phone and opened up the notepad app, “It’s fine. Now, what’s your favorite drink?”
Ohm’s brow furrowed at the question, “What? Why do you want to know my favorite drink?” It felt like such an abrupt change of topic and his brain wasn’t quite making sense of it.
Now it was Nani’s turn to sigh as he leaned forward, “Well, if I’m going to flirt with you, I need to know some of your favorite things. Now won’t I?”
Right. Ohm had been so focused on the fake dating part that he hadn’t actually thought about the actual details of the whole thing. “Oh yeah. Okay.” Somewhere in the back of his mind, Ohm couldn’t help but wonder if he was going to regret this, but that was a potential problem for future Ohm.
***
As it turned out, Ohm didn’t have to wait long for Nani to start fake flirting with him. Not knowing exactly when Nanon was planning on trying to talk to Ohm about his feelings, they had decided that starting sooner rather than later was probably a good idea. However, Ohm was still a little surprised when he walked into the class he shared with Perth, Nanon and Nani to find the latter lounging in one of the seats in the area Ohm and his friends usually sat at.
“Hey Nani, what’s up?” Perth asked from behind Ohm as he and Nanon slid past him to get to their seats as Ohm had stopped in the middle of the aisle upon seeing Nani.
Getting to his feet, Nani smirked as he pulled a bottle of green tea from his bag, “I just wanted to give this to Ohm,” Still smirking, he approached Ohm, stopping just a little closer than would be necessary under normal circumstances. “I bought an extra one this morning and remembered you’d mentioned that you like this flavor.” He held the bottle out towards Ohm.
“Oh, um…thanks.” Reaching out for the bottle, Ohm’s fingers brushed Nani’s where the other held it near the middle, his gaze flicking quickly towards Nanon who quickly busied himself with taking his things out of his bag. Had Nanon been watching them? His gaze flicked back to Nani and he smiled, “Yeah, I do like this one.”
Nani nodded as he let go of the bottle and shouldered his bag, “We’re still meeting up to study later, right?”
“Yeah. Same time as yesterday.” Seemingly satisfied with that response, Nani nodded and after saying goodbye to Perth and Nanon he headed down towards the seat he usually occupied, leaving both of Ohm’s friends staring, quizzically at him as he took his own seat between Perth and Nanon.
“What was that about?” Nanon wasted no time in asking, his eyes moving between Nani who was now talking to someone else and Ohm who was taking his own things out of his bag.
“What was that about?” Maybe it was wishful thinking, but Ohm could have sworn that Nanon sounded jealous. That was ridiculous though because Nanon didn’t like him like that so there was no reason for him to be jealous.
Luckily before Nanon could question him further, their professor came in and started class. By the time class was dismissed it appeared that his friends had forgotten about what had happened earlier or so he thought. Nanon had a different class than Ohm and Perth next and it was only after Nanon had left that Perth spoke.
“Something going on between you and Nani?” Ohm had known his friends were going to ask. That was part of the point actually, but he had felt awkward being questioned by Nanon; Perth on the other hand was his best friend and he hadn’t planned on keeping this plan from him, but now that he was being questioned he found it hard to come out and tell him the truth. “Cause last I knew, you were in love with N…you know who.”
“Yeah, well, you know who doesn’t like me like that so I figure I should probably try and move on.” Ohm said bitterly, eyes trained on the ground as they walked, briefly reminded of the odd tone in Nanon’s voice as he’d tried to question him about Nani at the start of class.
Perth’s brows rose in surprise, “Why the change of heart all of a sudden? I was beginning to think you’d pine after him forever.” It was obvious that Perth was teasing him and it wasn’t like it was the first time Perth had teased Ohm about his feelings for Nanon, but it felt different now.
Stopping mid step, Ohm grabbed Perth’s arm, “It’s because he knows and I heard him telling Chimon that he doesn’t feel the same way. How does he know, Perth?” He didn’t want his friend to think he was accusing him of telling Nanon, but obviously someone had.
Perth sighed, concern clear on his face as Ohm watched him, waiting, “You really don’t realize that whenever you look at him you have full on heart eyes, do you? No one had to tell him. He figured it out on his own.”
Ohm was taken aback slightly. He had tried to be so careful in the way he interacted with Nanon that he hadn’t thought about the way he looked at him. He’d thought he looked at him the same way he looked at anyone else, but apparently that wasn’t true and he could only imagine how many other people suspected his feelings for Nanon, “Why didn’t anyone tell me!” He exclaimed, a slight whine in his voice.
“Mon and I thought you realized.” Perth brought his hand up to pat Ohm on the shoulder, “It’s not that big a deal though, is it? I mean, you’ve got something going on with Nani, right?”
Here it was, time to tell his friend the truth. Not wanting to be overheard by any passersby, Ohm pulled Perth towards a more secluded area, “Here’s the thing…the thing with Nani is pretend. He’s helping me cause I don’t know how I’ll cope with Nanon actually telling me to my face that he doesn’t like me. He agreed to be my pretend boyfriend while I get over my feelings.”
“You really think that’s gonna work?” Ohm knew that Perth was just concerned about him and he had to be honest with himself, he didn’t know how long it would take to get over Nanon, but he knew that it needed to happen and he had to do it without Nanon outright rejecting him.
“I know this all sounds crazy, but it’s gonna be fine.” Ohm noticed that they were now the only people left on the walkway which meant that they were definitely late for class, but that was the last thing he was worried about right now, “And I promise, if anything goes wrong with this plan I’ll come to you for help.”
Perth sighed, shaking his head slightly, “Alright. I have to let Chimon in on this though so he knows what’s up.”
“Of course. I was gonna fill him in anyway.” It only made sense that both Perth and Chimon should know if they were going to in any way assist Ohm in this plan. “Now we should probably get to class.” Wrapping his arm around Perth’s shoulders, Ohm began steering them in the direction of their class.
Over the next couple of days Nani had begun appearing more often among Ohm and his friends. Both Perth and Chimon knew the full extent of what was going on and had begun playing along, occasionally teasing Ohm about Nani’s flirting to which Ohm, oddly enough found himself blushing over every now and then. Nanon on the other hand didn’t say much during these occasions and to Ohm’s surprise almost appeared to be sulking whenever Nani was around.
It had started when Nani brought Ohm a snack at lunch the day after the green tea incident then he’d shown up in the bleachers during football practice a day after that with water then joined them when they went to a nearby cafe afterwards. By the end of the week he had joined them for lunch, claiming the seat beside Ohm and flirted openly. A seat that Nanon usually occupied.
On this particular day Nanon had been the last to arrive at the table and after catching him out of the corner of his eye, Ohm watched as he slid into the seat next to Chimon on the other side of the table, silently not even interrupting the current conversation to greet anyone.
“So we’ll meet at the cinema at twelve?” Perth said, glancing between Ohm and Nani as he reached for his drink.
That appeared to catch Nanon’s attention as he lifted his gaze away from his food, “You’re going to the movies?” He looked from Perth and Chimon then to Ohm expectantly.
Nani spoke up first, despite the fact that the question hadn’t really been directed at him, “Yeah. I guess you could say we’re going on a double date.” Truthfully, it hadn’t originally been planned as a double date, but Ohm understood why Nani had presented it as such now that Nanon was there.
“Oh. Right.” Ohm frowned slightly, instantly feeling bad for causing Nanon to look so upset. Considering how half-assed this idea had been from the start, Ohm hadn’t actually thought about the possibility that any of this might upset Nanon. He’d only assumed that seeing Ohm supposedly dating someone else would cause him to feel relieved that he didn’t have to reject him. Ohm decided he would have to talk to Nanon soon just to make sure he was alright. The last thing he wanted was for this whole thing to ruin their actual friendship.
“You should come with us. It doesn’t have to be a double date.” Chimon said, breaking the awkward silence that had begun to settle over the table. Ohm could have kissed him; not that he actually would of course what with him being his best friend’s boyfriend and all and he was supposed to be pretending that he was dating Nani. Either way, he was incredibly grateful to his friend.
Nanon shook his head, “No, it’s okay. I’m busy tomorrow anyway. You guys have a good time.” His attention fell back to his lunch and stayed there for the remainder of their lunch period, only occasionally interjecting himself into any other conversations.
For the rest of the day all Ohm had been able to think about was the look on Nanon’s face when Nani had uttered the phrase double date. He was still dwelling on the exchange at lunch the next afternoon as he sat in the backseat of Perth’s car on the way to the mall where they were meeting Nani. He’d sat in silence ever since Perth and Chimon had picked him up, thinking over the last couple of days while he vaguely listened to whatever conversation his friends were having in the front seat.
“Do you think something is up with Nanon?” Ohm hadn’t even realized he’d said anything until Perth and Chimon fell silent as Perth steered the car towards the mall’s parking structure.
“What do you mean?” Chimon asked, turning slightly in his seat to look back at Ohm.
Ohm was silent for a moment or two as he tried to decide how exactly to word what he’d wanted to say, “I just mean…has he seemed weird to either of you ever since this whole Nani thing started?”
Chimon exchanged a look with Perth, which Ohm didn’t miss, before turning back to him, “Maybe a little. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. He’s probably just surprised that you’re dating someone.” Chimon made quotation marks with his fingers as he said the word dating to which Ohm glared slightly in return.
“Yeah, I’m sure you’re thinking too much about it. Like I said before, he knows how you feel about him so suddenly seeing you with someone else is probably a little confusing.” Perth said as he pulled into a parking spot. Ohm couldn’t help but wonder if Nanon had said anything to either of their friends since Nani had started fake flirting with Ohm. That was a conversation for another time though because Nani was likely waiting for them.
After sending Nani a quick text to let him know they had arrived, Ohm followed his friends out of the parking garage and into the mall. It didn’t take long to find the escalators that took them up the cinema level and took even less time once they arrived to spot Nani who was leaning against a pillar in the lobby.
“Hope you weren’t waiting for us for long.” Ohm said before gesturing towards the ticket kiosks, “Let's grab our tickets then get some snacks.”
Nani reached into his pocket, pulling out two tickets, “I actually already got yours.”
Ohm’s eyes widened slightly, not having expected that at all. After all, this wasn’t really a double date and they weren’t even actually dating. “Oh. Thanks. I’ll spring for the popcorn then.” Ohm was so distracted by this random turn of events that he missed the look Perth and Chimon exchanged before they snuck off to the kiosks to get their own tickets without even checking to find out exactly where Ohm and Nani’s seats were.
“That’s okay, you don’t have to do that. I just thought this would be quicker.” Nani smiled at him and Ohm couldn’t deny the way his pulse sped up just a little bit. He couldn’t deny the fact that Nani had a cute smile; it wasn’t the same as Nanon’s smile, which was always accompanied by the deepest dimples Ohm had ever seen, but it was cute nonetheless.
Pushing thoughts of both smiles from his mind, Ohm glanced towards his friends who were still at the ticket kiosk then back to Nani, “Either way, popcorn is on me.” He gestured towards the concession stand, trying not to think too much about Nani buying his ticket for him as he placed their order. As they waited for Perth and Chimon to get their own snacks afterwards, they talked about the next football match that was coming up the following weekend as well as the party Perth was planning to throw after the game.
Soon enough, the quartet made their way into the theater and up to the back row, which in Ohm’s opinion was the best because it was high enough to see the entire screen and they didn’t have to worry about potentially blocking anyone’s view behind them. Ohm briefly wondered how Perth and Chimon had known exactly what seats to get for them all to sit together, but that was something to ask them about later on because no sooner had they sat down then the lights dimmed and the previews started.
Ohm was doing a pretty decent job of keeping his focus on the movie, if he did say so himself, until almost forty minutes in when he suddenly felt a swooping feeling in his stomach as Nani’s hand, tentatively covered his own where it laid on one of his armrests. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling, but if the whole ticket thing had been confusing this was even more so. Not only was there no one around that they had to convince that they were dating, but aside from the light from the screen, they were sitting in the dark. So even if they were trying to convince anyone no one could see what Nani was doing.
He briefly wondered if he should pull his hand away, but he didn’t want to potentially hurt Nani’s feelings when he couldn’t talk to him right away and honestly, he found that he didn’t really mind it. He was definitely going to have to talk to Nani soon about this, but for now he was going to just enjoy the comforting weight of Nani’s hand on his. There was plenty of time to figure things out later.
***
Nanon felt like a stalker. He still didn’t know what had compelled him to come to the mall and basically hang around the cinema level at the same time Ohm, Nani, Perth and Chimon were on their double date - his brow furrowed slightly at the thought. He hadn’t even set out that afternoon to go to the mall, not really, but before he realized it he was in the parking garage and despite intending to go in a different direction, his feet had taken him up to the cinema without thinking.
Truthfully, he didn’t even know what time their movie was at and it was entirely possible that he had missed them completely and this was a wasted trip. All he knew for certain was that they had said afternoon and it was now well past what was considered afternoon. He’d briefly entertained the idea of texting one of them to see how long it would take to respond, but he quickly vetoed that idea because it made him seem like even more of a stalker or a jealous ex. Okay, so the jealous part wasn’t far off from the truth and he wished he could say he didn’t know why he was so jealous, but he did know. It was because despite everything he said to the contrary, he did in fact like Ohm. He did like Ohm as more than a friend, but ever since they had actually become friends - after they had gotten past their semi-rivals phase - Nanon hadn’t wanted to do anything to potentially ruin their friendship and dating was the quickest way to ruin things if it didn’t work out. He knew that pretending he didn’t return Ohm’s feelings was a shitty thing to do, but he didn’t know any other way around it. Call him a coward or selfish or whatever else you wanted, but he didn’t want to lose Ohm.
So yes, Nanon was incredibly jealous that Ohm was suddenly dating Nani. It had only been about a week or so, but Nanon already missed the extra attention Ohm would show to him as well as the heart eyes that he knew Ohm didn’t realize he directed at him. Ohm could be so oblivious sometimes, which was one of the things that Nanon found so endearing about him. He really needed to talk to Ohm soon, but the problem was, he didn’t know what he would say to him exactly. To say that Nanon regretted keeping his feelings to himself all this time was an understatement.
He had been so caught up in his thoughts about the current situation that he almost missed when Ohm and the others appeared in the lobby. He was far enough away from them that he couldn’t hear what they were saying, but judging from the animated way Ohm threw his arms around as he talked, he was likely recalling some part of the movie that he’d enjoyed. He’d always thought it was cute the way Ohm got so excited about certain things and now wasn’t any different. However, the smile that had begun to spread across his lips quickly turned to a frown as he watched Nani drape his arm around Ohm’s shoulders and lean in to say something to him. That should have been him.
“I thought you were busy today.” Nanon jumped at the sound of Chimon’s voice beside him, his pulse skyrocketing as he whipped around to face his best friend who, at some point, had detached himself from the group. How had he missed that?
“I…I was.” It was a lame answer and Nanon knew it, but honestly he’d had absolutely no idea what he was going to say if any of his friends had actually noticed him. He glanced away from Chimon just in time to see Perth, Ohm and Nani heading towards the escalators.
Chimon raised a brow as he watched Nanon, arms crossed over his chest, “If you got done with whatever you were busy with, why didn’t you text one of us?” It was quite obvious that Chimon didn’t believe Nanon for a second, “Ya know, instead of being all stalkery. So, what’s going on?”
Nanon turned back to his best friend, “Nothing is going on. I just figured that if you were still in the movie then you wouldn’t be able to answer a text.” He brought a hand up and rubbed at the back of his neck, “And I’m not a stalker.” He knew he wasn’t doing a very good job of making his case.
Sighing, Chimon shook his head, “You have to stop doing this to him.”
“I…” Nanon’s mouth hung open as he tried to contemplate exactly what Chimon was saying, “What? What am I doing?”
“You think I didn’t see the look on your face when Nani put his arm around Ohm’s shoulders? I thought you’d be happy if Ohm started dating someone cause then you wouldn’t have to turn him down.” Yes, Nanon had told Chimon not too long ago that he was going to talk to Ohm to turn him down and boy did he regret that conversation now, “I don’t know if you just don’t like the idea of Ohm showing someone else as much attention as he used to show you, but I can assure you he’s noticed that you’ve been acting weird ever since he started dating Nani and it’s upsetting him.”
Nanon couldn’t help but gawk at Chimon. Upsetting Ohm was the last thing he ever wanted to do and the thought caused an uncomfortable feeling to settle in his chest, “That’s not what I wanted to do.”
“Then what do you want? Don’t make him choose between you and moving on cause we both know what he’ll eventually choose if he thinks he might lose you.” Nanon knew that Chimon had some very good points and since no one else knew about his real feelings, he didn’t blame him for being a little harsh with him.
Nanon sighed, rubbing a hand over his eyes, “I’m such an idiot. I don’t want to make him choose, especially when I know I’m too late.”
“Wait, what?” Now it was Chimon’s turn to be confused, “What do you mean exactly?”
Nanon knew that he had to tell someone otherwise this was going to eat him up inside. “I like Ohm. I have for a while. I just didn’t want to mess up our friendship if things didn’t work out and now I’m too late.”
Chimon stared at him for what seemed like an awfully long time before he smacked Nanon in the back of the head, “You are an idiot! Are you serious or are you messing with me?” Nanon really had done an awfully good job at keeping his feelings for Ohm to himself.
“I’m being serious and also…ow!” Nanon rubbed at the back of his head. “I know it was stupid, but yeah, I’m incredibly jealous. Happy now?”
“Oh my god. I can’t believe this.” Chimon wasn’t so much as speaking to Nanon, but speaking out loud as he appeared to be trying to come to terms with what Nanon had just told him, “Look…you should talk to him. I know what I just said about making him choose, but he should have all the facts.”
Nanon’s brow furrowed at him, “Yeah, I’m not sure about that.” He was pretty sure Ohm would just be upset at the fact that Nanon felt the same way about him this whole time, but had kept it a secret and pretended he didn’t. He really had fucked up.
“I mean, it’s up to you what you want to do, but you might be surprised by what could happen if you’re honest about your feelings.” Chimon pulled his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the screen, “I have to go.” He glanced back up at Nanon, “But think about it.”
Nanon nodded, “Yeah, I will.” He didn’t know what his friend meant when he said he might be surprised what could happen, but he knew he was right. “Oh and don’t tell Perth about this.” Nanon knew that if he didn’t tell him to keep this between them for now, Perth would know before the end of the night.
Chimon nodded, “Alright. I promise not to tell anyone else.” Waving to Nanon, Chimon headed towards the escalators, no doubt going to join Perth, Ohm and Nani. Coming to the mall had been a really bad idea, because now that Chimon knew about his feelings for Ohm he was going to keep tabs on whether or not he talked to Ohm. He knew that his friend meant well, but Nanon wasn’t sure that this particular situation would end in his favor.
As it turned out, talking to Ohm was easier said than done. Over the next week every time Nanon had tried to ask Ohm if they could talk he’d made up an excuse on why he didn’t have the time. Even when Nanon had texted him he’d left him on read, which Ohm had never done before. He only ever seemed to respond to him in the group text with Perth and Chimon and Nanon wasn’t about to put Ohm on the spot in front of their friends there.
Was Ohm really that upset at him for the way he’d acted around Nani that he refused to talk to him privately? Nanon hated the thought that he’d unintentionally caused a rift between them when that had been what he’d been trying to avoid by hiding his feelings in the first place.
During school and football practices they more or less interacted like normal with the exception of when Nani was around and despite Nanon’s attempts at acting friendlier to Ohm’s boyfriend there had still been a feeling of awkwardness in the air as Nanon tried to hide his jealousy. If he could just talk to Ohm he could try and fix things, but it was impossible.
By the weekend Nanon was ready to pull his hair out or try to confront Ohm in the locker room before the match, but he knew neither of those things would actually fix anything. Nanon was already stressed enough as it was and he knew that any added stress would be detrimental to his job as goalie during the match; he’d just have to try and talk to Ohm at the party afterwards.
Despite everything Nanon had stopped more than half of the balls that had been kicked towards him and in the end Perth had made the winning goal, which meant he was going to be insufferable during the party as he regaled everyone with the play by play of said goal. Not that Nanon could blame him.
In the locker room afterwards, Nanon had just finished getting dressed when he spotted Ohm talking to Perth and Chimon before he shouldered his bag and headed out. Grabbing his own bag, Nanon ran past his friends, attempting to catch up to Ohm.
“Hey! Ohm!” He was close enough that he could have reached out and grabbed his shoulder to make him stop, but Nanon wasn’t sure if that would make things worse, “I need to talk to you.”
Ohm stopped in his tracks, but didn’t turn around, “I’m kind of in a hurry.”
Nanon wasn’t about to let Ohm run off and moved to get in front of him, blocking the exit path, “Please. I really need to talk to you about something. It’s important.” Nanon watched as a number of different emotions passed over Ohm’s face and he could tell that he was only moments from relenting.
“Hey, you ready to go?” Nanon whipped around at the sound of Nani’s voice behind him. Where had he come from? Nani’s gaze seemed to slide from Ohm to Nanon then back as they both waited for Ohm’s answer. Unfortunately for Nanon it wasn’t the answer he’d been expecting.
“Yeah, lets go.” As he turned back to face Ohm their eyes met briefly before Ohm moved past Nanon towards Nani and to his dismay he watched as Ohm reached out to take Nani’s hand.
“Can we talk tonight at the party?” Nanon called, not wanting to give up his chance just yet. It was a last ditch effort.
Ohm must have seen something in Nanon’s expression that he hadn’t expected - maybe desperation - because he nodded, “Yeah, we can talk tonight.” Without another word he and Nani headed down the hall, Nanon watching until they turned a corner. He had no idea what he was expecting from their conversation tonight, but he was just glad that Ohm had finally agreed to talk to him even if it wasn’t in the most ideal place.
The party at Perth’s wasn’t supposed to be a huge thing, mostly their teammates and a few other friends from school, but add in significant others of any of those invited and there ended up being a good number of people already at the party when Nanon arrived a few hours later. After greeting a few people, Nanon made his way through the house in search of Ohm, Perth or Chimon. Perth and Chimon, as it turned out, were in the kitchen with a few other people and Nanon caught the tail end of the story of his winning goal as he reached for a beer.
“How many times has he told this story so far?” He asked Chimon as he popped the top of his beer; if he was going to talk to Ohm he needed a little liquid courage first.
Chimon tipped his head to the side slightly, pretending to think, “About a dozen.” He smirked at Nanon just as Perth swooped in and grabbed his boyfriend’s face, giving him a loud kiss on the cheek.
“I won the match! I’m allowed to tell the story as much as I want.” Grinning, happily and draping himself over Chimon, Perth glanced over at Nanon, “Where have you been? I was beginning to think you’d decided not to come.”
Nanon pursed his lips, chin dimple appearing slightly below his lips as he quirked a brow at Perth, “When have I ever not come to one of your parties?” He took a sip of his beer.
“Okay. Okay. You’re right. You even came that time you had the flu and got us all sick too!” Perth cackled as if that particular memory was the funniest thing in the world. Nanon remembered it quite a bit differently as all four of them had spent the next day stuffed up and feverish in Perth’s dorm room.
Nanon took another sip of his beer and shook his head, “Hey, is Ohm here yet?”
Chimon scratched the back of his head as Perth nodded beside him, “Yeah, he’s here somewhere. He probably even already knows you’re here. He’s got Nanon rada…ow!” Nanon frowned as Perth grabbed his side where Chimon had apparently elbowed him.
“Right. I’ll go find him.” Not waiting for a response from either of his friends, Nanon turned and headed back into the living room. He saw no sign of Ohm there so he headed out to the backyard, but didn’t find him there either. The bedrooms upstairs were off limits during parties, but not to any of the four of them so it was possible that Ohm was up in Perth’s room. As Nanon climbed the stairs the music and mingled voices downstairs lessened and he became aware of the fact that his heart was pounding in his chest. To say he was nervous was an understatement, but he knew that whatever happened after they talked would be the right thing.
Perth’s bedroom door was closed and Nanon curled his free hand around the doorknob, the pounding of his heart from a moment ago seemed to jolt to a stop as his eyes fell upon Ohm and Nani sitting on the side of Perth’s bed, kissing. Neither of them seemed to be aware that they had an audience and while everything in him was yelling at him to turn and leave, Nanon’s feet were rooted to the floor and all he could do was watch helplessly.
It felt like ages that he stood there, but realistically it was only a moment or so before pulled back from Nani, his eyes opening as he looked at the other boy, “I…”
That one word caused Nanon to jump, not wanting to hear what he was so sure Ohm was about to say to Nani, but in his haste to try and leave he smacked his hip into the doorframe which alerted Ohm and Nani to his presence.
“I…sorry.” Not looking at either of them, Nanon turned and all but ran down the hall in an attempt to escape. While he’d been witness to Ohm and Nani flirting for two weeks now they had never actually kissed in front of them and Nanon could have gone the rest of his life without having to witness it. Reaching the main floor, he realized he was still gripping his half full beer can, which now sported a good dent from how hard he was holding it. Putting the can down on a nearby table, Nanon headed towards the front door, eyes stinging and chest constricted tightly as the scene upstairs replayed in his head. He needed to get out of there now.
***
Ohm had known for awhile that he needed to talk to Nanon and he’d fully planned to do it, but then Nanon had kept asking him if they could talk and of course the only thing he could possibly think that Nanon wanted to talk about was rejecting him despite the fact that as far as Nanon knew he was dating Nani. He knew that he was being an asshole for pretty much ignoring Nanon whenever he tried to reach out, but despite everything, he was still scared about how he’d react to Nanon telling him to his face that he didn’t like him like that. After all, what else could Nanon want to talk to him about so badly?
He also knew that he needed to talk to Nani about what had happened at the movies, but he didn’t want to make things awkward nor did he know how he’d react if Nani told him he actually did like him. Ohm wished that he could go back in time and never ask Nani to pretend to be his boyfriend because now he was pretty sure he risked messing up two friendships.
Ohm hadn’t planned to agree to talk to Nanon at the party, but he had never seen such a look of desperation on his friend’s face before and it had caused a funny feeling to settle in his chest and he needed to know what this was all about. However, before he could talk to Nanon, he knew he needed to finally talk to Nani and while he would have liked to have done it before the party, they had both had to go home and change after the game and then Nani had gotten stuck in traffic on the way back to pick up Ohm and talking in the car on the way to Perth’s just hadn’t seemed like a great idea either.
When they had arrived at the party Nanon wasn’t there yet and Ohm knew he couldn’t put it off any longer. The only place he knew for sure they’d have some privacy was Perth’s bedroom because the upstairs was off limits to others during parties so after they’d found Perth and Chimon to let them know they’d arrived, Ohm had gathered all the courage he had and told Nani they needed to talk upstairs.
Ohm closed the door behind them as they entered the room, the closed door all by muting the sounds from downstairs so that Ohm was able to think a little clearer. He kind of wished he’d had a drink before this. “Um, so I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something.” Ohm didn’t give himself a chance to back down from this. “Do you like me?”
Nani didn’t answer right away and after a few moments of silence he sighed, “Would it freak you out if I said I might be developing feelings for you?”
Ohm had been expecting that, but he still hadn’t really been prepared for the actual answer. Running a hand through his dark hair, he sank down to sit on the side of Perth’s bed, “I don’t know.” Yes, he still had feelings for Nanon, but he couldn’t deny that he’d enjoyed the way Nani’s hand had felt on his at the movies, but did that mean that he had feelings for Nani?
“Look, Ohm, there’s no pressure here. You don’t have to make yourself like me if you don’t.” Nani said as he sat down beside him on bed, leaving some distance between them, “I don’t even know if it’s real or just bleedover from pretending.”
Ohm chewed his bottom lip as his brain worked to process everything from the last two weeks. While nothing had ever happened between him and Nanon he knew without a doubt that he had feelings for him, but what he felt for Nani was a little more complicated because deep down he felt like he was just using Nani as a substitute for Nanon. There really was only one way to figure out if he actually felt something for his friend or not, “Kiss me.”
Nani’s eyes widened slightly, obviously not having expected that to be the next thing to come out of Ohm’s mouth, “Are you sure?”
Ohm took a deep breath and nodded, “Yeah. What better way to figure out if we feel anything for each other?” Truthfully it probably wasn’t the only way to figure things out, but right now it seemed like the best way.
“Alright.” Nani scooted a little closer to him, “But promise that whatever happens we stay friends.”
Ohm nodded, “I promise.” Again, not wanting to give himself time to talk himself out of this, he leaned in and pressed his lips to Nani’s. It started out slow, just their lips moving against each other a few times before Ohm took Nani’s bottom lip between his own, his tongue just barely coming out to brush against the edge of Nani’s lips. It wasn’t a long kiss and Ohm became aware very quickly that he didn’t feel anything significant. Not that he didn’t feel anything at all, but compared to the one other boy he’d kissed in high school, there was no thrill. Not like when he thought about kissing Nanon.
Pulling back slowly, he opened his eyes, staring into Nani’s eyes and seeing the same feeling mirrored back at him. Relief. Relief that they had figured out how they really felt, “I…” Ohm never finished what he was going to say as he heard a noise behind him and turned to see Nanon’s standing in the doorway.
“I…sorry.” Ohm’s heart sank at the look on Nanon’s face. The only word that came to mind was distraught, but before Ohm could say anything Nanon had turned and fled.
“Go.” Nani shoved Ohm’s shoulder lightly, but with purpose.
“What?” He asked, turning back towards Nani. He was so confused that what Nani was suggesting wasn’t making sense.
Nani stared at him for a second before shoving him again, “Go after him, stupid.”
Ohm nodded as he got to his feet. Reaching the door, he turned back to Nani again, “I’m sorry…”
“It doesn’t matter. Just go after him.” Once again Ohm was extremely grateful to have a friend like Nani because he didn’t think most guys would be so encouraging and understanding.
Ohm left Perth’s room and ran down the hall, unsure of exactly how far ahead of him Nanon was. Had he taken too long to go after him? Had he already left? Ohm had just reached the bottom of the stairs when he saw the front door close behind Nanon. It was possible that he wasn’t too late.
“Nanon!” Ohm almost collided with him as he rushed out the door, not having expected that Nanon would simply be standing just outside the door.
Nanon’s back went rigid for a moment at the sound of Ohm’s voice and he was silent for a moment or two, but it felt like an eternity to Ohm, “What?”
Ohm was taken aback by the wet sound of Nanon’s voice and his brow furrowed, “Are…are you alright?” He reached out and wrapped his fingers around Nanon’s forearm, but at the mere brush of Ohm’s fingers against his skin, Nanon roughly pulled his arm out of his reach and started walking towards the driveway and his car.
“I’m fine. Go back to your boyfriend,” The quiver in Nanon’s voice and bitter tone confused Ohm even more. He’d never seen Nanon act like this before and it just didn’t make any sense. He wasn’t about to let him leave though; Nanon had wanted to talk so he was going to talk or Ohm would talk and Nanon could listen.
“What you saw in there, it’s not what you think.” Ohm knew it was time to come clean about the whole fake dating thing.
Nanon spun around at the end of the walk and Ohm was shocked to see tears in his eyes. He’d had a feeling Nanon was crying, but having it confirmed made his heart hurt. Ohm had seen Nanon cry before, but he’d never been the cause of it, “So you weren’t about to tell Nani that you love him?” Nanon sounded so upset at the mere idea of it.
“What? No…” Ohm stared at Nanon for a moment, “It wasn’t real, Non. We’ve been pretending.” He needed that look of despair to leave Nanon’s face, “I’m sorry.”
That seemed to shock Nanon more than witnessing them kissing had and his mouth opened and closed a few times as he appeared to search for what to say, “So…so I’m not too late.”
It seemed like they were taking turns being shocked because that was the last thing Ohm had expected Nanon to say, “Wait, I’m confused. I thought you didn’t like me like that.” Was it possible that he was dreaming right now?
Nanon’s eyes were still wet with unshed tears, but he stepped closer to Ohm and now he was the one to reach for Ohm’s hand, “I was pretending. I…I was worried that we’d mess up our friendship if it didn’t work out. I know now that I was being stupid and selfish.”
Ohm’s mouth hung open as he stared down at Nanon, “Are you serious?” He honestly couldn’t believe what he was hearing and he had so many other questions like how long Nanon had liked him back, but there would be time for a longer conversation later.
Nanon nodded, “I am. I’m not too late, am I?”
“No.” The word was barely past Ohm’s lips before Nanon surged forward and kissed him. From the moment their lips met Ohm felt the sparks that were missing when he had kissed Nani. Nanon’s mouth was soft and warm against his own as their lips slotted together perfectly, noses brushing, but not in an awkward way. Ohm could taste Nanon’s tears on his lips as he nipped at his bottom one before running his tongue over it lightly, a low rumbling moan sounding in Nanon’s throat. Ohm wasn’t sure how long the kiss lasted, but by the time they pulled apart, Ohm’s hands had found their way to Nanon’s face, thumbs brushing his cheeks lightly and Nanon’s hands gripped at the front of Ohm’s shirt.
They stared at each other for a few moments before Ohm leaned in and rested his forehead against Nanon’s, “We’re both idiots.”
“You are, but at least you’re idiots who have finally figured your shit out.” They both turned quickly to see Perth and Chimon standing in the open doorway of Perth’s house. No one else inside appeared to be paying them any attention.
“Normally I’d tell him to shut up, but he’s right.” Chimon nodded, but he was also smirking, clearly happy for them, “You might want to find somewhere else to make out though. Unless you want everyone else to see you.”
Shaking his head, Nanon reached for Ohm’s hand and laced their fingers together, “We’re gonna get going actually. We have a lot to talk about.” Ohm couldn’t stop smiling as he waved goodbye to his friends with his free hand before Nanon led him towards his car. Once inside the car, Nanon turned to Ohm, “So, what do you say we both stop pretending from now on.”
“I think that sounds like a good idea.” Smiling, Ohm leaned in and pressed a kiss to Nanon’s lips, almost unable to believe that he could apparently do that now. Sitting back, he pulled on his seatbelt, “Why don’t we go get some noodles and talk.” Like Nanon said to Perth, they had a lot to talk about and for once Ohm wasn’t scared of it.