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“Did you enjoy yourself, love?” Elias brushed a lock of sweat-drenched hair behind Jon’s ear. Both of them were out of breath, each enjoying the after effects of powerful orgasm as they laid side by side in Elias’ bed.
“Yes,” Jon laughed. “Very much so.” He took Elias’ hand and pressed it to his lips. “I love you, Elias. You know that, right?”
Elias would have blushed a bright red at his confession if he weren’t already flushed from their recent romp. “Yes, well.” He avoided looking directly at Jon, though he could feel the man’s eyes on him. He was well aware of how much Jon loved him, but this was the first time he had put it in so many words. “I… have to tell you something. About that.”
This would have been so much easier to say if he weren’t still so dizzy and fuck-drunk. “You know I feel very strongly about you. And I find you,” his eyes flicked down across his boyfriend’s body, “very attractive. But…” Elias sighed and closed his eyes, trying to figure out the least offensive way to say this. “I can’t honestly say I feel the same way you do about me.”
Jon furrowed his brows in confusion. “What do you mean?”
Elias didn’t want to hurt Jon, but the truth had to be said. “I’m aromantic, Jon. I don’t experience love the same way you do.” It was embarrassing, saying it out loud like this. For centuries, he had known he was aromantic, and little had changed in the world’s perception of it since he had first admitted it to himself. People still didn’t understand, people still generally thought it meant he couldn’t feel any kind of love. This wasn’t true, of course, and he hoped that Jon would understand, but he couldn’t help but feel ashamed.
“I don’t understand,” Jon said, turning to face him. “You just treated me to a romantic dinner and fucked me into the mattress. Are you saying none of that was real?”
“No! No, I…” How to say this? “It was real. I just… Ugh, I understand if you want to break this off.” Elias rubbed his eyes, falling back onto his back on the bed. “It’s hard to explain. I feel something for you, it’s just not… romantic? I enjoy going through the motions of romance; I like making you feel loved and appreciated and everything, it just doesn’t do anything for me on the other end. Does that make sense? Like how you said you like having sex with me but you don’t feel sexually attracted to me? It’s the same thing, I think. I’m not romantically attracted to you but I like doing the whole romance thing with you.”
Jon was silent for a long moment. “I don’t want to break anything off,” he said finally. “I love you, Elias. Being with you makes me happy. And I want you to be happy too, whatever that looks like. It doesn’t matter to me if you love me in the traditional sense. As long as you care about me and are happy being with me, that’s what matters.”
Tears started to collect in the corners of Elias’ eyes. Never before had someone shown him that kind of unconditional love. “Thank you.”