Chapter Text
“Jonas, just because you know one other gay guy in Oslo doesn’t mean you need to set me up with him,” Isak said into his phone as he got in line at Kaffebrenneriet.
“Pansexual. And I know more than two queer guys.” “Pansexual, whatever, still doesn’t mean I need to date him. You know I don’t do that.”
“I didn’t say anything about dating him, I just thought you could meet him. Plus, Isak,” Jonas sounded exasperated now, “maybe dating someone wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. You can’t just hook up with random guys at parties forever.”
“Don’t call me a whore, Vasquez.” At that, the guy at the table next to Isak laughed looking up at Isak. He thought he had been talking quietly enough, but apparently not.
“I’m not calling you a whore, Valtersen.” But Isak didn’t hear the rest of what Jonas was saying, too busy making direct eye contact with the guy. He was smiling now, raising one eyebrow as if to make fun of Isak.
“Hey, you listening?” Isak could feel himself blushing now and he quickly stared down at his feet.
“Sorry, they started playing that Gabrielle song I hate, I got distracted. What did you say?” Jonas snorted but didn’t say anything about Isak’s obvious lie.
“Are you coming with us on Friday?”
“I don’t know, I have a quiz in biochem that I should study for.”
“You’re always fucking studying, come on, Eva misses you.”
Isak was instantly filled with guilt. It was true, he hadn’t gone out with the boys in a couple weeks and he hadn’t seen any of his either friends much either. But he hadn’t been sleeping, so he hadn’t had the energy to put on a happy face and answer questions about how he's doing. And he really did have a quiz he should study for. But he gave in as he usually does for Jonas.
“Sure you’re not the one missing me Jonas? Fine, I’ll be there, but you better be bringing weed.”
“Yeah bro, of course, it’s not a party without weed anyway. See you on Friday!” Isak sighed as Jonas hung up.
“Isak! I’m so glad you made it!” Eva was the first to greet Isak when he walked through the door.
He gave her a quick hug, but she was obviously already very drunk so he didn’t stick around to talk more. The base was making his head throb and he wanted to leave, but he pushed through the crowd in hopes of finding Jonas and his promised weed. If he couldn’t be at home in bed, at least he could get high. He finally found Jonas in the back corner of the living room leaning against the wall.
“Hey.” Jonas didn’t answer, just handed him the joint he was smoking. They stood in silence for a few minutes, passing the joint back and forth.
Finally Isak let out a long breath. “Where’s Magnus and Mahdi?”
Jonas silently tipped his head toward the other side of the living room, where Isak had missed Magnus trying, unsuccessfully by the look of it, to hit on a girl Isak recognized from one of his classes.
“Mahdi disappeared a while ago, think he’s finally hooking up with that first year girl he won’t stop talking about.” At that, Isak laughed quietly. “And, uh, that guy I was telling you about, Even, he came with us.” Jonas looked a bit unsure, as if he wasn’t sure how Isak would react. But Isak just stared at him blankly.
“The guy from my Gender and Film class. The pansexual one…” The guy Jonas was trying to set him up with, great. “He’s here somewhere, I could introduce you.” It was more a question than a statement.
Before Isak could say no, he didn’t really want to be forced to make conversation with Even with Jonas hovering around, the guy from KB appeared on the other side of Jonas. He smirked at Isak and he knew that the guy recognized him too. This night was going downhill fast.
“Even,” Jonas said in lieu of a greeting. “I was just talking about you! This is my best friend, Isak.”
Fuck. So this was Even. The pleasant high he’d been starting to feel just a minute ago was gone now.
“Hey Isak, nice to meet you.” Even’s eyes seemed to sparkle, but Isak chalked it up to the strobing party lights. Isak didn’t say anything, just nodded.
After a few minutes of Jonas and Even having a conversation Isak did not pay attention to Jonas pushed himself off the wall to go get a beer.
“So,” Even said sliding into the spot Jonas had just vacated, “what do you have against Gabrielle?”
“Her music is too…” After struggling for a second too long, Isak finally settled on: “happy.”
“So you only listen to sad music?”
“Something like that.”
“Sounds depressing.”
Isak just shrugged. He could feel Even staring into the side of his head, but he kept his gaze steadily focused on the grinding bodies on the dance floor in front of them. He didn’t know what Jonas had told Even, but he hoped Even wasn’t expecting anything from him. Hoped Even had heard the part of his conversation when he told Jonas that he didn’t date. Hoped Even hadn't realized the conversation was about him. Hoped he wouldn't be seeing Even around.
Isak had tried dating his first semester at UiO. He had been fresh out of the closet and Eskild had insisted that he download Tinder. But he had quickly realized that dating just wasn’t for him. Every guy had seemed more into him than he was into them, talking about a future together Isak was never convinced he wanted. Jonas made fun of him for leaving a trail of broken hearts, but Isak insisted he was just saving everyone from more heartache. And then in his second semester school had picked up and he didn’t really have time to date anyway.
So Isak didn’t date anymore. And he couldn’t just pull Even into one of the bedrooms for a quick fuck like he normally would because he was Jonas’ friend. And Jonas would be disappointed. Isak hated when Jonas was disappointed. So he didn’t keep the conversation going, afraid Even would get the wrong idea.
Eventually the rest of the boys showed up and Even shifted away from Isak. The tightness in Isak’s chest that he didn’t want to understand finally loosened as he turned his attention to the story Magnus was telling.