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“Move in with me,” Skimbleshanks blurted suddenly. Asparagus looked up at him in surprise. Everything went horribly quiet. Well, that was not how he meant to ask that – like it wasn’t something he had been mulling over in the months they had been together, like it was just a random and inconsequential thought! He sat bolt upright. It was a lovely sunny day in the Junkyard, and he and his partner had been lounging in a quiet patch of shade in peace. Peace he had just shattered.
“Pardon?” Asparagus said after a tense moment. Skimble swallowed around the large lump that had risen in his throat.
“I…” Oh well. In for a penny, in for a pound. “I just thought that now Tumble is old enough to be looking for his own den, and we’re together, you might want to? My den is easier to access, after all, with your leg.”
Asparagus studied him for a moment, his expression giving nothing away.
“Is this something you actually want,” he said after a nasty pause, “or is it something you think you need to offer?”
Skimble frowned. Something he thought he had to offer? He didn’t follow the logic.
“No…?” he tried.
Asparagus raised an eyebrow.
“No,” he said more assuredly.
Asparagus snorted in laughter. Was that good? He was so lost right now.
“That thought never even occurred to you, did it?”
Skimble hastily replayed the conversation in his mind, looking for where he went wrong. Wait. No, surely not?
“Hold on, do you think I’m only asking because I think I’m supposed to?” he squawked.
“It’s never something we’ve spoken about,” Asparagus shrugged. Unless Skimble was mistaken, he detected a note of insecurity in his partner.
“Well, no, but I do want to!” he said firmly. “I didn’t ask when we first got together because I didn’t want to upset Tumble, or make him move!”
“You just… didn’t seem certain when you asked.”
“I just never wanted you to feel like you had to! And I didn’t want to seem patronising, I just know your den is harder to get to with your bad leg than mine is, I just… Everlasting, I’m too old to be getting flustered like this!” Skimble shook out his fur, and turned to look his partner straight in the eye. “Asparagus, I want to share a den with you. Yours, mine, a new one, it doesn’t matter. If you want to, I want us to live together.”
Asparagus laughed. “Skimbleshanks, if I thought you were being patronising, you would know about it,” he said brightly, sitting up straight. “Yes, if that’s the case, once Tumble is settled, I would love to move in with you.”
Thank the Everlasting! The weight of a train lifted from Skimble’s chest, and he moved closer to nuzzle his partner.
“Should I be mildly insulted you would think for even a second that wasn’t the case?”
Asparagus smiled and leaned into his touch.
“I apologise for ever doubting you. You’re right, we’re too old for this.”
Skimble hummed in content as Asparagus tucked his head under his chin. They were too old for this. Skimble had wasted enough time never telling Asparagus that he loved him. Now, it was time to make up for it.