#n&j

James was getting used to living with Noah at the apartment. In fact, he was already feeling at home amongst the roommates. It helped, he supposed, that he’d already spent many days with Noah at the loft. He was getting used to sharing a space, and chores, and food. He didn’t have to get used to sharing a bed, that seemed to come naturally to them. But one thing he never thought he’d get used to was Noah’s late nights. 

“Noah,” James called out to him with a whine. His boyfriend was typing away at a lab report due in the next few days, the screen of his computer glowing blue in the dark room. It wasn’t that his late nights were annoying. James had a magical ability that let him fall asleep anywhere at anytime; Noah was the one with sleep issues. No, his problem with the boy’s late nights was the empty side of the bed he’d gotten used to being filled over the summer. 

“Noah,” he tried again. “Come to bed. It’s one in the morning.” 

But Noah chose to ignore him. 

Laying with his fingers laced over his chest, James tried a different tactic. 

“Anthony.”

At that the younger boy turned his head over his shoulder with a raise brow. 

“What did you just call me?” 

“Come to bed, Anthony.”

“It’s such an ugly name,” Noah clicked his tongue, returning back to his typing. “Even you can’t make it sound nice.”

“What’s so bad about it?”

“It mediocre at best.”

Sighing, James rolled his eyes at his boyfriend’s inability to set a proper sleep schedule for himself. 

“Noah Anthony Olsen,” James said sounding out each syllable. “It suits you.” 

“Flattery will get you nowhere, Ji-hun.”

James went to say something but shut his mouth. Noah had never called him by his Korean name before. It caught him off guard, and he had no witty response for him.

“Come again?” 

Noah kept his eyes on his work as he repeated, “Ji-hun,” with a sweet tone, tasting the way it sounded. It made James’ cheeks blush although the other boy couldn’t see him. His mother was really the only person who called him that, and it was usually in serious moments as she tended to stick with Jamie for everything else. But hearing it come from Noah made his heart skip a little.

Instead of speaking again, James found himself smiling as he turned onto his side. He’d let Noah win this round, but he must’ve only had his eyes closed for a minute before the light from Noah’s laptop was shut off. The room plunged into darkness save for the sliver of light coming in from cracks in the closed curtains. Soon enough, the comforter shifted and Noah was slipping in under the covers. He exhaled as his head hit the pillow.

Sometimes James wondered why Noah worked so hard. Why he’d stay up into the early morning— two, three, even four sometimes. But even though they lived together, James still didn’t know everything about his boyfriend. Their one year anniversary was coming up soon in a month and James still didn’t know the whole story behind Noah’s mother and father. Maybe he’d learn soon, or maybe he’d just figure it out. Noah didn’t do well with vocalizing his feelings. Give James a couple of months, maybe a year, and he was positive he could change that. Sometimes people just needed to right words to say and the right people to listen. 

He reached across the small space between them and laid his arm across Noah’s stomach. The younger boy sighed softly as James nuzzled his face into his neck. His fingers ran though James’ hair soothingly. 

“Night, baby.”