tbh i dont really think there are many parallels between ncej and gyubrik and when people say that i get a little confused. imo the ncej dynamic is really dependent on this like intense emotional restraint from euijoo and nicholas playing off of that energy while also being an impulsive and bold but also Guy Who Cares A Lot About His Best Friend and is unable to release himself from that. gyubrik don't really have any of that tension, which isn't a bad thing, but it just makes them a lot different. the beauty of gyubrik to me is finding this person that is your best friend and winding up in the luckiest situation where you can be with them forever, and slowly unfurling the layers of what that means for them/all it can be. gyubrik are both very soft, people like to characterize ricky as like a bad boy or whatever but he's such a goofy guy, and gyub is such a puppy dog. in gyubrik it's more of a ricky being shy/quieter about his affection vs gyuvin being very open with it. with ncej it's like euijoo wrestling with his own responsibility and his constant awareness of his idol persona, and nico being this big, bold personality and confident in himself-- they're two guys that shouldn't make sense but they ended up in this weird situation and fell into each other and now they're intertwined and they care about each other in ways they don't know how to deal w all the time. instead of a flower they're slowly unfurling together it's more of nico watering the fuck out of euijoo to get him to bloom and euijoo being surprised he'd spend the time to do that. maybe. but it's nothing like gyubrik. not at all. they're both beautiful and i love both ships so much but they're really not alike imo.

this was really rambly and i was just typing as i thought so its probably super repetitive, but that's my thoughts LMFONEFION