Chapter Text
Ever since they were teenagers, Luca always found himself in strange situations where he had to fight off people being weirdly into his best friend.
Please let him explain. He calls it weird because they'll be doing completely innocuous activities and strangers will make a sudden beeline at Shu, who is usually minding his own business, and then posture at him like they're possessed. Listen, you have to see it to understand—it's completely not just normal flirting. He's not making this up. Shut up Ike, he's not doing this out of self interest.
He knows what it sounds like! He's not saying that it's uncanny for someone like Shu to attract so many people; that's not the point. Luca thinks he's pretty too, okay. When they met through a mutual friend’s DnD campaign the summer before college, Luca, too, got some heat flashes and heart palpitations when he first heard Shu speak. You didn't hear that from him though.
It’s just that sometimes you really sit back and wonder after fending off the second rando of the day with the spoons to actually approach someone at GameStop, in the middle of the mall, really doing their darnedest best to get the attention of his completely normal roommate dressed in baggy clothes and crocs with a hood over his head.
To Shu's credit, he usually doesn't even notice them.
So why are you trying so hard, says Luca's inner voice which sounds suspiciously Swedish.
I don't know! Luca replies indignantly. No one even appreciates this! No one else seems to realize how weird these encounters are and Shu doesn't even ever register it as an event. Oh Luca, you're so outgoing, you just talk to everyone, huh!
Hell NO. He's just trying to protect his best friend's honor, or something. Luca is positive that Shu would completely entertain these people if left to his own devices because he's just a nice and helpful person like that. For instance, they once got separated at a German Christmas festival and by the time Luca finally found Shu again, he was helping someone jumpstart their broken down car four blocks away from the celebration.
How did he even get so far and what possessed him to actually follow a total stranger to their car on a quiet street? The other person really did turn out to just be an extremely thankful person in need, but hell if Luca knows how Shu keeps getting into these types of situations.
He tried to confront Shu about it then, just in case. Like, do you know people are trying to pursue you every time we go out? What's your educational history with regards to stranger danger? Are you aware this happens and that's why you stay home in front of your computer six days out of seven?
Shu only laughed benignly in response, in the way that usually makes Luca's heart soar but at that moment only made him want to scream.
Haha, you're so funny Luca, is all he said. I totally go outside more than once a week.
No he doesn't.
It's not like they spend every waking hour together, but Luca has a fairly good idea about what Shu's schedule is like considering their living arrangements. He's pretty sure he just games in his room when Luca is off at work, or does that remote part-time job he doesn't talk about too much. It's okay, Luca won't pry (he’s positive it isn’t anything shady—this is Shu, after all).
So when Shu occasionally tells him he's going out to touch grass, he doesn't think about it too much until he starts doing it at like, 11 PM on weekdays. Luca's usually already asleep by then, but he sometimes hears his roommate leaving in the middle of the night. He always comes back a few hours later, takes a shower, and goes to sleep. Whenever Luca asks him about it in the morning, Shu only says he was craving midnight Taco Bell.
Which, valid. They're not college kids anymore but the stomach wants what it wants. But Taco Bell every week??? Well… whatever. It's not his business and he can't tell his roommate how to live his own life.
It's not until one of Luca's days off that he begins to wonder if something's up.
Shu leaves to go to the library at noon, and comes home at 3:30 with his hair undone and a mess, T-shirt inside out and backwards.
"Are you okay—” Luca begins to ask, slightly alarmed when he sees him come in through the door because, despite his lazy tendencies, Shu usually takes care to be neat.
"Taco Bell, am I right," is what he gets in reply as Shu breezes swiftly past him and goes right to the shower.
Okay, this guy's not even trying at this point. "You can't just say Taco Bell every time! You can't possibly be eating that much Taco Bell!" Luca yells at the door of the bathroom, but he doesn't get a response.
And Luca feels a little bad for raising his voice because, again, it's really not his business and Shu didn't seem upset or bothered at all when he walked into the house. In fact, he's been in a good mood the last few weeks, always cheerful and almost bouncy whenever they spend time together. Luca's almost been considering confessing his feelings, because Shu's been in such high spirits.
It doesn't stop him from being concerned though, because what if the weirdos who always approach Shu are getting handsy? They never did have that stranger danger talk.
He debates the pros and cons of continuing to push about it, up until he hears Shu finishing his shower. In the end, he decides to respect his roommate’s privacy and rewire his brain to accept that weekly Taco Bell runs are a normal thing people with normal stomachs do and shouldn't be questioned.
Shu is perfectly cheerful when he comes back to the living room, hair damp and lounging in his pajamas. He smells like the shampoo and conditioner they both use when he sits down on the couch right next to Luca, leaning into him so he can look at his laptop screen.
“Whatcha playing?” he asks, making himself comfortable in the way that suggests he’s not planning on moving.
It’s kind of like having a cat in your lap. “It’s that webgame you recommended me last week,” Luca replies while turning the screen so that Shu can watch.
“Is it pog?” Shu grins while looking at Luca’s current progress on the game.
He can’t see the hopelessly gone expression Luca has on his face as he gazes at Shu’s face against his shoulder. His left side feels like it’s on fire. “Yeah… pretty pog.”
***
Ultimately, it ends up like this:
Luca has more things to worry about than his best friend/roommate's schedule and habits, namely. Well.
Yeah, he really likes his best friend.
He thinks he's cute and it would be really neat to hold hands sometimes. Maybe even go on dates and kiss, and then spend the rest of their lives together and wake up in the same bed every morning except Shu would never agree to getting up at the same time Luca does so it would just be Luca waking up. And seeing his face. And it would be great and they'd live happily ever after and, maybe he's getting ahead of himself because damn, he has to confess first.
Shu has to reciprocate first.
But it would be cool!!! You know, if it happened.
Ohhh god, now he has to find the perfect time and way to have this conversation.
In classic Luca fashion, it doesn't happen in any grand or planned way that he had envisioned in his head, because he's not that smooth and never got too far with real plans without talking himself in circles and out of it. But he catches Shu one morning, when they're both in the kitchen. Shu might be about to leave the house, but Luca's not really thinking straight.
"Shu," he levels a serious look at him, "I have to tell you something."
Shu's eyes are a little glassy when he turns back to him, but Luca chalks it up to him being a late riser. He nods kindly at Luca to continue, and it makes him feel all warm and fuzzy inside and emboldened.
"I...!!!" he starts, then stops. "I l—”
Shu sits down now, and waits patiently as he always does. Oh no, why is this so hard. There's a million ways he practiced this in his head and he can't pick which one to use now that he's in the moment.
"I really like you," is what Luca ends up squeaking out.
"I like you too," Shu replies quietly.
"I want to be boyfriends," Luca clarifies.
Yes. Success. There's no way he can be misinterpreted and no way for Shu to respond with some incomprehensible fast food restaurant mention.
All thoughts leave Luca's head when a warm hand wraps around his own, and Shu looks back at him even happier than he has in the last few weeks.
"Yeah," he responds with a grin, "I’ve been waiting for you to say that.”
Luca’s mind goes blank. He has nothing prepared for getting past this point.
“And… I have… to come clean about something with you, too. If we're going to do this."
Shu stands up a little nervously, but Luca doesn't really register it because he's still trying to reconcile with the fact that he thinks? This worked? Is he finally going to be able to kiss Shu???
***
Hours later, sweaty and exhausted with a sleeping but very content and satisfied roommate dozing off in his own bed, Luca finds out he's dating a succubus.