so fucked up we didn’t get to see the three years between episodes 1 and 2 and everything that happened during to just make niallruben more and more Like That. like genuinely how weird must they have gotten if by the time niall leaves for college even lori was like uh yeah you guys need some time apart lmao. sidenote do you think they played house whenever maura and lori went out of town. teenage boys in a house alone and instead of throwing a party they get excited cause they get to roleplay being married :( niall cooking them dinner and then doing his homework while ruben watches tv with an arm stretched over the back of the couch just coincidentally touching niall’s shoulder. brushing their teeth next to each other at the same sink. just taking advantage of being able to Exist together without having to worry about how they look to other people. i really feel like not only did teen niallruben have the best chance at closing the vortex but they also were at their most comfortable pushing the boundaries of what shape society deemed they were suppose to fit into. like the pressures of masculinity and niall’s internalized homophobia were There but they hadn’t completely consumed their lives yet ya know. anyway ruben’s freak ass probably got off on the fact him and niall shared a room but had their own twin beds like they were a 1950s husband and wife. oooo ruben you wanted to push you and your brothers’ beds together So Bad didn’t you. at the end of the day niall and ruben literally just yearned to be that slightly problematic high school couple obsessed with each other who get married immediately after graduation and by the time the reunion rolls around they have like 5 kids with another one on the way :/

Niall: “So you’re ok with me being gay?”