Chapter Text
“A QPR?” Sausage asked with endearing confusion. Graecie was unsure if he could ever appear otherwise to her or Zam, who spoke up, “I think I’ve heard of those before, I’m not exactly sure what it means though.”
“Legs was telling me about it today while we were in the library.” Graecie dutifully opened her journal to her most recent entry.
They had only been at the academy for around 2 months now, and her journal was getting close to full with all she's learnt. Graecie had learnt so many wonderful things since being at this academy, most things she can attribute to her two best friends in her room right now.
It was the whole reason why they were in her room right now. Graecie had been feeling conflicted about her relationship with the two and decided to seek a close friend to help her out. “A QPR is short for a queer-platonic relationship,” Graecie said shakily, she wasn’t sure why she was feeling so anxious all of a sudden.
These were her best friends and in the time she’d spent at the academy they had become inseparable. “It can be defined as a close relationship that’s not strictly romantic or platonic, it’s like a more committed bond.”
“Isn’t that just dating?” Sausage asked from where he sat on her bed. There wasn’t much else they could do in her room to be fair, her room was almost as empty as when she arrived, minus some chests and a painting AJ had given her. She felt no need to decorate the space much considering how often she was outside of her room either on an adventure or sleeping over in Sausage’s or Zam's dorm, the three occasionally staying together in a space.
“Not necessarily. It’s kind of deeper than a friendship but there aren’t any romantic feelings necessarily.” Graecie was fiddling with her bells linked by a red ribbon around her wrist, unable to make eye contact with either of them.
Zam hasn’t said anything in a while, what if I freaked her out?And Sausage? He keeps asking questions about it, maybe he hates the idea…
“I’m really not trying to force either of you into anything, really, if you don’t want this then we can forget this happened and just stay friends” Graecie had her eyes shut, tight, she doesn’t remember when that happened. She felt her throat start to become hot.
Why do I feel like crying? I can’t start crying now, not in front of them.
Then, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes to see Zam looking at her, her hand on Graecie’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t mind trying it,” she spoke softly,“I can’t say…I've been thinking about maybe having something more exclusive with you two,” she added, “I don’t want to stop you guys from talking to other people or anything but…I know I enjoy spending most of my time with both of you.”
The two, almost synchronised, turned to Sausage, looking at him expectantly. He hadn't said anything for a while, they worried that he shutdown mid-conversation. Graecie said “we don’t want to pressure you into doing anything you don’t want to, Sausage. We can keep everything the same if it makes you happy.”
Sausage looked between the two of them, then he chuckled. “How could I ever say no to either of you”, he jumped up off the bed, a trail of sunlight following his movement toward the ceiling, before floating down and embracing the two. “You both get to have your own exclusive slice of Sausage”, he held his hands beneath his chin batting his eyelashes at them both.
Zam giggled again at the man. The sick feeling in Graecie’s throat settled, feeling more calm now, remembering the important next steps Legs told her about.“If we’re going to try building a QPR, Legs said it’s very important we clarify our boundaries,” Graecie put on a steady voice, no longer as anxious with the affirmation of her friends, her partners?
“Communication is going be a lot more important in this type of relationship."
“Like kissing and stuff?” Zam inquired,“I mean in my last relationship, we didn't do much but…I think I want to try new things with you both” she said in a quiet voice.
“That’s a good first step, thank you for sharing that Zam”, Graecie encouraged, “That’s one thing but there's a lot more than just kissing, so, maybe we just talk about anything we know we want and don’t want.If we don’t want to talk about it too much we could write it down and then share, Legs gave me a list of things we might need to clarify”
“I think I’d be comfortable doing anything with you guys.” Sausage flopped back down onto the cushiony bed, looking up at the high ceiling now, seeming to try conclude the conversation.
“That’s great Sausage but something we also might have to consider is what we do while we aren’t all together, what are we comfortable doing when it’s on only two of us or maybe none of us” Graecie got in his line of sight before leaning against her headboard.
“I hadn’t thought about that” Zam and Sausage said in unison, Zam was now sitting on the side of the bed, with incredibly straight posture.
“This going to take work but I’m really willing to try with both of you,” Gracie said lying beside Sausage now, she pulled Zam down with her. “If you two still want to do this of course, you can back out if you want to, I know this is probably overwhelming and-”
“Of course we’d love to” Sausage interrupted, looking to the two girls “You two are my best friends here and I’d love to work to become the bestest of partners too” he beamed.
Graecie and Zam smiled feeling Sausage's solar energy warm the room.
The three held hands, staring st the high ceiling, curious about where this relationship take them.