#thing. god.

HELLOOOOOO MY LOVE!!!

Okay I’ve had this ask sitting in my inbox for a couple of days, because, I really wanna commit myself 100% to when I answer this, and answer it as … fully as I can, because, yes, you’re right. Their eskimo kisses make me all fuzzy. They’re probably my most favourite thing about them. This may get long? But urm … yeah, I need to explain.

Eskimo kissing, honestly, is normally, majority of the times, passed off as “just another trivial act of affection and love”, in most cases. It’s given a moment of appreciation where people go “AWW!! That’s cute!!”, and then … that’s it. You move on. It’s never really dwelled upon that much. In short, what I mean to say is, eskimo kissing is super underrated. 

But Even and Isak make it … much, MUCH more than that. They have it be this constant running theme between them, one that never drops midway through the season once they become more sexually/physically close. It remains. It stays. It sticks. Even until the very, very last scene of the season, it stays. 

Now, I don’t know if … it was scripted? Or if Henrik and Tarjei simply improvised it, but … once they had their very first, proper, eskimo kiss in episode 5, where Even and Isak spend the whole weekend in bed, after their first kiss, it’s been an ongoing Thing. Never edited out. Always being there, incorporated. 

What Even and Isak bring into their eskimo kisses is intimacy. Intimacy on a whole other level.  And it’s amazing, just how they showed that level of intimacy right from episode 5, when they’re both lying in bed that weekend, and they become, for the first time, physically close to one another. It instantly becomes so much more intimate, when Isak rubs his nose against Even’s, and Even waits to see what Isak is doing, whilst Isak is simply allowing him to bask in that feeling of being in the arms of a boy. In the arms of THAT boy that he’s felt so MUCH for. In the arms of Even. And Even smiles. He SMILES when he realises what Isak is doing, because … he’s already head over heels for Isak, but here is this boy, who just wants the smallest of touches, the simple feeling of pleasure you get when you are this close to someone you’ve been crushing on for so long, that you can finally lie in bed and brush noses, and the outside world doesn’t matter. And Even reciprocates it back. That, yeah, I feel that too, Isak. I feel that too. 

Yes, it’s cute. Yes, it’s adorable. But I find it also being EXTREMELY intimate. In fact, even more intimate than their actual kisses. Why? Because their eskimo kisses aren’t just used “when they kiss”, they don’t just eskimo kiss then. They eskimo kiss in other times too: in times where they want to comfort each other, or start a conversation with each other. It’s their direct, first point of contact. 

Case in point: In episode 5, before Even asks Isak “So, what do you think your parents would say if we began dating?”, there’s a small, private, intimate moment between them 2, where Even brushes his nose against Isak’s, then bites his bottom lip and looks down, in apprehension for what he’s about to ask Isak (because he KNOWS how big of a deal this is to Isak and him). Isak senses that Even’s … nervous … and Isak then brushes his nose against Even’s. And that’s when Even works up the courage and takes a breath in, and asks Isak the question. 

And again, in episode 8, when Isak says “Only you can feel what you feel”, Even instantly brushes his nose against Isak, again, comforting him, making it a point of contact, before he tells Isak, “And I haven’t felt anything, quite like this, ever.” It’s SO … private. JUST for them. 

Again, in O Helga Natt, what’s the FIRST thing they do? Isak walks up to Even, and he brushes his nose against Even’s, and then traces his nose against Even’s cheek. It’s SO fucking intimate. It’s SUCH a private moment. It’s literally … their first point of contact and communication. No words, just a way of them telling each other, “Hey, we don’t have to speak, but I’m here, ready to listen, when you’re ready to talk. In the meantime, let’s do something we’re both familiar with.”, and they brush their noses against one another.

In episode 10, during Minutt for Minutt, that last bit, where Isak brushes his nose against Even’s. It’s a sign of Comfort. Warmth. Safety. Intimacy. It’s so much more than just being “another physical symbol of love”, it speaks it’s own language. And Even’s deep long breaths that you can hear him take during that bit show him wanting to feel safe, and feeling safe, feeling somewhat content that he has Isak there, and that he’s taking in all this familiarity, this warmth, that Isak’s giving him. 

Even in the last scene of the season, before Sana walks in on them, AGAIN, there is this CONSCIOUS moment, where they both eskimo kiss. But here, it’s Even now providing Isak with some courage, with some calm, because even though Isak said to Even that he doesn’t find it awkward meeting Even’s Mum, so as long as Even’s smiling, and wearing clothes, that things will be chill then, Even still knows just how frightened Isak was that night when Even had his episode. Even can still feel the after effects, hear it in the way Isak’s voice became so serious, even if he was saying it light heartedly. And it’s Even that says, “I promise I’ll wear clothes”, but it’s so much more than that? That’s Even saying to Isak that, I know somedays it’s won’t be easy, and I’m sorry that I scared you as much as I did, but know that … I do love you. Know that, I’m still me. Know that, when you get scared, I can feel it. Know that, I want to soothe your worries and comfort you too, just like how you do with me. We can be that for each other. And then Even goes ahead and brushes his nose against Isak’s, for good measure, a visual, physical measure, to once again show that their eskimo kisses are a sign of comfort. It’s intimate. So intimate, that Sana walks in on them doing THAT, instead of having her walk in on them kissing. They could have EASILY shown Sana walk in on them kissing, but she didn’t. Why? Because their eskimo kisses ARE that much more intimate, and she walked in on THAT, and her fond laughter shows that she too realised she walked in on a very private moment between them 2.