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Venus found herself spending more and more time with Larissa outside of their sparring. While they still made a regular habit of dueling (and Venus had actually won a few!), they would often spend time afterwards hanging out at Larissa’s. Venus enjoyed the quietness of the apartment, as it provided a break from a lot of the noise of her life. Larissa seemed to enjoy having Venus over as well; on one of her visits she noticed that Larissa had gotten a bookcase and filled it with books she thought Venus would enjoy.
As Venus got to know Larissa better she realized that her opinion of her was changing. She didn’t see her as someone to look up to anymore, she saw her as an equal, a friend. If she were being honest, she knew that her feelings towards Larissa were developing beyond just friendship. What had originally been adoration had been replaced with infatuation, and her crush was apparent to all of her partners. They were supportive, but Venus was still hesitant to bring the subject up with Larissa. The last thing she wanted to do was mess up their newfound friendship.
It was one of those days where Venus was chilling at Larissa’s apartment when Larissa decided to ask Venus a question.
“Hey Venus, have you ever thought about being in a relationship?”
Venus froze, her hearts beating faster and her face flushing. Was Larissa asking her out?
Before Venus could find words Larissa continued. “It just seems like it’d be fun, being with someone you can talk to whenever, about whatever. Everyone I know is either work friends or friends of work friends, which I’ve heard can make things weird, but I’m sure you’ve probably got someone out there who you’d want to date, right?”
As quickly as her hopes rose they were stricken down. Larissa was speaking in general, not about the two of them. Funnily enough, she didn’t seem to realize Venus was already in multiple relationships.
Venus tried to get over her minor heart attack and respond. “W-well, I’m already in a few relationships already, but yeah! It’s… really nice to have someone like that!”
Larissa leaned over and gave Venus an inquisitive look. “Oh really? With who?”
“Uh… the rest of our team. And Everest, but that happened kind of recently.”
A while ago Shelby had decided to leave the team, claiming that it was boring now that Venus was being nice to the others. Not particularly mourning her loss, Venus quickly invited her partner Ginevra onto the team. Ginevra was a fairly well known social media influencer who Venus had met by happenstance, and the two of them had quickly fallen for each other. She used an Inkbrush, and although she occasionally made a few… silly misplays, she was still a valuable member of the team (and Venus loved them too much to get on their case anyway).
Venus’s relationship with her roommate Everest was a much slower development. The two of them met when Venus was looking for teammates for her Anarchy team. Everest was squatting in the service closet next to Venus’s apartment, and Venus didn’t have the luxury to be choosy about her teammates. Though Everest was initially paranoid about Venus’s intentions, she agreed to join her, and ended up hiring Shelby and an Inkling who had left the team before Sam joined. Over time Everest encroached more into Venus’s personal life and personal space, breaking into her apartment and hanging out there when Venus was gone. Eventually Venus stopped trying to keep her out, and the two of them moved in together. Venus and Everest grew closer and more intertwined in each others’ lives, and eventually they ended up in a relationship together.
Larissa had a sparkle in her eyes, seeming extremely interested in Venus’s relationships all of a sudden. “Oh wow, really? I had no idea! What kind of dates do you all go on?”
“Well, Ginevra takes me on all kinds of dates, a lot of times he takes pictures or videos to go on his social media, but… they’re still really nice. Sam knows the best spots both in and out of town, and so every date with them ends up being an adventure and a surprise. They also showed me a few hidden places to watch inksports matches up close. With Everest… we don’t really do all that many dates; she doesn’t like to leave the apartment much so I try not to force her out.”
Larissa nodded, looking as if she was mentally taking notes. “I see. Those all sound fun, but are you really in a relationship if you don’t go on dates?"
Venus paused for a second to think. “I mean… I think so? We still do other relationship-y things, and we have a… bond I guess? We had already checked a lot of the ‘relationship’ boxes by the time we started saying we were dating, but I think all you really need for a relationship is for both of you to just… agree that you’re in one.”
Larissa closed her eyes and nodded again. “Huh. I never thought of it like that. What do you mean by ‘relationship boxes,’ and what kinds of things do you two do?”
“Well I mean, we live together, spend a lot of our time together, and, um, sleep together, stuff like that. But also… she trusts me in a way that I don’t think she really trusts anyone else. It’s… nice to have someone think about you that way. And I feel a similar way towards her.”
“I see. That does sound really nice…” Larissa trailed off, looking lost in thought.
Larissa was asking… a lot of questions about Venus’s relationships. Was it possible… that she was considering asking Venus out? The thought gave her butterflies in her stomach. Still, she could be wrong. What if Larissa was just curious? She decided to probe for more information, her face turning a bright pink from blushing.
“S-so, uh, was there any reason you asked? Were you maybe… th-thinking about someone?” Venus’s hearts were pounding out of her chest, and she was shaking. She may have had a few partners already, but the process of asking someone out was always terrifying.
Larissa was still lost in thought as she answered. “Someone…?” She shook her head, coming back to the conversation. “Oh, no, I was just thinking about it. It seems nice.”
Venus felt her hearts sink. It seemed like she was just curious about her relationships.
“Oh…” Venus realized how disappointed she sounded and quickly added, “I-I mean, that’s fair! It is… really nice. I… hope you find out what it’s like some day.”
Larissa just shrugged at her. “Maybe… it does seem nice, but for now I think I’ll just stick to romance novels and… casual stuff.”
The way Larissa worded that last part intrigued Venus. Did she just mean platonic relationships, or was she implying something along the lines of casual sex?
“...Casual stuff?” Venus probed, trying to clarify.
“Yeah, casual stuff.” Larissa nodded, giving zero new information.
“...Gotcha,” Venus said, deciding to just drop the topic for now.
Their conversation moved to that of romance stories and their tropes. All the while, Venus debated asking again. Even if she wasn’t interested romantically, maybe she would still be interested in other things? Worst case scenario Venus could just tell Larissa how she misinterpreted what she meant. Eventually she worked up the nerve to say something.
“...Hey, Larissa?”
Larissa’s eyes turned to Venus, her face still buried in a book she was reading at the time. “Hm? Yes?”
Okay. Here goes nothing. Venus took a breath and prepared herself.
“Would you be interested in uh… doing some ‘casual stuff’ sometime?” Venus’s face was once again bright pink and she stared at a point on the ground, too flustered to look Larissa in the eye.
Larissa took a moment to respond, looking over Venus before tilting her head to the side in confusion. “Hm? Aren’t we doing casual stuff right now, Venus?”
Swing and a miss. Venus stammered, trying to backpedal and explain herself, and Larissa burst out laughing. She looked up to see Larissa smiling at her wryly.
“Relax, I’m just fucking with you. Sure, we can fool around. Just as long as this isn’t like, residual hero worship.”
Venus covered her face, embarrassed both from Larissa trick and her reference to how Venus used to look up to her. “Give me a break! You know it’s not like that anymore…”
Larissa continued to laugh. “I know, I just gotta cover my bases.” She stood up, taking Venus’s hand. “You wanna take this into the bedroom, then?”
Venus felt like she was going to faint; she could barely believe this was happening. “Y-yeah! L-let’s go!”