Work Text:
Maude enjoys working at the Cinnabunny at the airport. The pastries are great, and she isn't too likely to have regulars she would have to deal with. Because she knows she's adorable, and a bit weird (you have to make your own fun in retail, sometimes, even if it is saying goodbye to coins), and sometimes that attracts attention she doesn't want.
Because Maude is asexual, and kinda aromantic. She hasn't really told anyone in her life yet. She wears a white aro ring, a nice little pride thing for herself. She knows she should at least tell her Mom, to get her off her back about dating, but she's just not quite ready. She's working on it.
But sometimes, her Mom and society and everything gets to her, so when she met an interesting guy, she went out on a date with him. She did end up liking him, but it soon became clear that they want different things. He wants sex, she doesn't.
She wishes it was as easy as just telling potential partners that she's ace, and sex repulsed but it isn't. People don't understand yet and she very much wasn't interested in giving a presentation on orientations and difference types of attraction at her work place. So, she just goes along with 'the Jesus thing'. She hates that she has to do that. But she's also not really willing to get dumped for her aceness.
She's not sure why she clarifies her situation to the Lonely Horse Guy. Maybe because he has become kinda a regular, and he looks vaguely familiar. Paternal, almost, especially with the grey hair. But she does. Whatever she expected his reaction to be, it wasn't what she got.
"It's not a Jesus thing."
"I figured. Look, I don't want to presume anything, but there's an app you might be interested in."
"An app?"
She's interested in what he presumed about her. It takes a few minutes, but finally this guy finds the app he's looking for: All About that Ace. The logo is in ace colors, and Maude wants to cry a little bit.
"A dating app?" She says almost to herself.
"Yeah, for particular type of people. Again, not trying to presume anything."
"Well, thank you, and come again to Cinnabunny!" Maude turns back into a cashier but unlike most of the time, her smile is genuine, and the horse guy smiles back.
For the rest of her shift, Maude's thoughts go to the app. A dating app for asexuals. It sounds great. But should she? Does she want to date? Is she ready? What if the only thing she has in common with the people there is that they're ace?
She thinks about those questions, over and over again. She thinks about it for a few days before she decides to go for it. She's at home when she takes a selfie after selfie, trying to get a good profile picture, but eventually just settles on one where she's waving. How much does a profile pic even matter on an ace dating app? She fills out her profile and after a little more hesitation, she hits publish.
Almost immediately, she hears a ding. She has a match!