Realizations (Eugene x Ned)

Where It All Came Out

A couple days after the shoot, Eugene got a text in the group chat asking everyone to meet at the house to come up with ideas for new videos. He didn't really think anything of it, seemed normal enough. He did think it was a little odd that when he got there, Ned's car was the only one parked out front. Regardless, he shrugged it off and went inside anyway.

Walking inside, he dropped his bag at the door. He raised an eyebrow, scanning the house around him. "Hello?"

A voice came from the living room. "In here!" Eugene followed the voice, finding Ned sitting on the couch. "Hey, Gene. Can we talk?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Eugene took a seat next to him. "Where are the other guys?"

"I, uh, told them not to come. I needed to talk to you. Alone."

Eugene shifted his weight nervously. "Oh. Yeah. Okay. Why?"

"It's about the kiss. On the last shoot. I just-"

The Asian man was quick to cut him off, forcing a laugh. "That? That was a joke, Ned. Come on. You know that wasn't serious, right?"

Ned nodded, but he wasn't agreeing. "Yeah, I thought that was what you'd say. But I know the truth, Eugene. I felt it. The way you kissed me...that wasn't just a joke. I could tell it wasn't a joke to you."

Eugene looked up at Ned, knowing that he had caught him. "Alright. You got me. So what? Everyone's had a little crush on their coworkers, big deal! I spend basically all day with you three idiots and you expect me not to be attracted to at least one of you? It's fine. It's really nothing, dude, don't be weird about it." Eugene had tried to be as calm as possible in his explanation, but he never talked that much unless he was really nervous.

"I know, I know. I'm not blaming you." Ned looked at his feet. "But I...also...felt something. And it's probably just a weird fluke thing but I wanted to get it out there and tell you so we didn't have to be awkward about it."

Eugene just sat there, his face turning red. "Oh. Okay. Yeah."

"But...yeah. So that's all. And obviously I'm with Ariel so...nothing can really come out of this. Just thought we'd be honest with each other, right?"

"Yeah of course. You do tell everyone how much you love you wife every second of the day." Eugene laughed, but there was pain in it.

Ned imitated his forced laughter. "Yeah. I do." He looked back up at his friend. "So...were good then, right? Back to normal?"

Eugene plastered a half hearted smile on his face, looking back at his friend. "Yup. Back to normal."

But it couldn't be father from it.