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"So, have you guys, like, done it yet?"
Dess scoffs. "Done it? Are we 12?"
"Just answer the question, Holiday."
"We haven't." She admits, and Bratty raises an eyebrow. "What?" She grumbles, not a fan of the way Bratty is looking at her.
"Aren't you scared he's gonna get bored?" Bratty asks, and while Dess would like to believe her and Asriel's relationship is stable enough that nobody can touch it, she feels herself crumble a little.
"What do you mean?"
"Men have, like, needs, you know." Bratty says as if it's obvious. "I swear all they think about is sex. Aren't you worried he's gonna get fed up if you don't give him what he wants?"
Bratty knows nothing about their relationship, as far as she knows, its a stereotypical romance, but Dess can feel herself getting defensive anyway. "Azzy isn't like that."
Bratty rolls her eyes. "Babe, all guys are like that." She leans in, putting a hand on Dess's in a way that is probably supposed to be comforting, but makes her skin crawl. "Just don't let him, like, open up the relationship, yeah?"
"Whatever." Dess pulls her hand away, grabbing her bag as she gets to her feet. "I don't need your advice."
-★-
Dess tries her hardest not to think about it.
She doesn't think about it when Asriel puts his arm around her shoulders when they walk to school the next day.
She doesn't think about it when she sneaks into the boys bathroom to steal a kiss from him away from Toriel's not-quite all-seeing gaze.
She doesn't think about it when he slips his hand into hers as he walks her to her front door, ever the gentleman.
She doesn't even think about it when they lay on her bed, legs tangled, and she can hear his steadily thumping soul from where she rests her head on his chest.
That's what she tells herself. She's not thinking about it.
-★-
When Asriel asks if they can talk, all Dess hears is Bratty's voice in her head. Goddamn Bratty.
"Being with you is great." He starts, and that's not the worst way he could start. It does little to quiet her racing thoughts, though. "But I think we should clarify some things? We were pretty vague on how this would work."
It feels like her mouth is full of honey, and she swallows thickly before she responds. "Okay, like what?"
"Well, for one, we never established if this was like, exclusive."
Panic shoots through Dess like a bullet, and she's speaking before she even knows what she's going to say, tripping over her words. "We can have sex!"
Asriel pauses, staring at her with an unreadable expression, and Dess wishes for death.
"Alright." He says slowly. To his credit, his face isn't even that red. "If you want to. I'm- uh, I'm not sure how that's relevant, though?"
"You want to fuck another girl because I won't." Dess says, and she doesn't mean for it to sound like an accusation, but it does, and this has to be it, he's going to break up with her because she's being weird, and clingy, and he has needs, and she won't - can't meet them.
Asriel blinks at her for another couple of seconds before the corner of his mouth twitches up, like he thinks this is funny or something. "Um, no, I don't?"
"Yes, you do!" Okay, this time she is accusing him. "Guy have like, needs and stuff!"
"Who told you that?"
Dess hides her face in her hands. "Nobody." She mumbles.
"Dess."
"Bratty." She concedes, peeking at Asriel between her fingers, and he has the nerve to laugh. "Hey, it's not funny!" She swats at him, and when he doesn't stop, she grabs a pillow to whack him with.
He holds his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Why were you taking anything Bratty said seriously?"
"Well, I wasn't until you told me you want to bang other chicks!"
"I didn't say that."
"Yeah! You did!"
"No, I didn't! I just asked if we were exclusive, which, for the record, is what I wanted!"
That gives Dess pause, and when she examines Asriel's face, she can only find sincerity. "Actually?"
He takes the pillow from her, placing it between them and leaning forward on it. "Yes. I just wanted to make sure it's what you wanted, too." He looks a little sheepish. "I didn't want to, like, hold you back or anything."
"Oh." Dess says, a little dumbstruck. She feels foolish for ever worrying. It's Azzy , the boy who she's pretty sure would jump off a cliff for her if she asked him to. Guilt pangs in her chest, who is she to accuse him of anything when he'd done nothing but give? His patience, his time, his love, she'd taken it all and what had she given in return? Accusations and doubt? "I'm sorry." She whispers, it's not a pair of words she says very often, and so she hopes they're enough.
"It's okay, just…" He breathes a deep breath. "If you're worried, or feeling insecure, or whatever, just talk to me, yeah?" He doesn't seem mad, he's never mad at her, which she thinks is maybe more than she deserves.
"Okay." She agrees quietly. "I love you."
The intensity of the grin that spreads across his face, ear to ear, after she says that - it makes her head spin a little, and a reassuring warmth spreads from her chest all the way out to her extremities. She's still not sure how he manages to have this effect on her, the way he can quiet her thoughts with just a smile.
"I love you too!" He declares, like it's obvious, and coming from him, it is.
Dess can't stop herself from lunging at him, and he laughs as she bowls him over, wrapping herself around him. She peppers kisses along his soft jaw, and feels him envelop her in his arms. They lay like that for a couple of minutes, his chest rumbling comfortingly with low chuckles. Her head rests against his shoulder.
Eventually, Asriel speaks. "If I had known that would be your reaction, I would have told you I love you hundreds of times over by now."
Dess smiles into the crook of his neck. She's not sure what to say, so she just repeats the truth.
"I love you."