Chapter Text
Anna knocked on Jake's door. She had a question for him, but she wasn't sure how to ask it considering she didn't fully understand the concept either. Jake opened the door and smiled at his girlfriend,
"Hey Anna, what's up?”
“Hey Jake, um, can I come in?” Anna asked nervously.
“Sure,” Jake replied, gesturing her into the room. Anna walked in and glanced around uncertainly,
“Um, can I?...” Anna trailed off looking at the couch.
“Yes Anna, you can sit down.” Jake said, hiding a chuckle at Anna's nervousness. Anna sat down on the couch and Jake sat next to her. She spent a few extra seconds wondering how to phrase it before jumping in,
“So, I was talking to Astra and, um, she asked me something, about our relationship, and I didn't know the answer, so I thought I'd ask you,” Anna explained through word vomit.
“Sure, but I'm worried about what kind of question her twisted mind would come up with.”Jake grimaced.
“Oh, it's nothing bad!” Anna promised,
“I was just wondering, because I asked her about her relationship, or maybe it's relationships? I'm not sure, but I asked her about it and she explained poly- am- or… um, anyway she said that she, Torreli, and Vasilia had something she called an ‘open relationship’ and-”
“Wait, her and Vasilia are dating?” Jake asked, looking offended.
“Yeah Jake, they've been dating for a while. Haven't you noticed them flirting with each other, and cuddling, and I'm pretty sure you were there when they kissed once.” Anna offered, very confused as to how he didn't know.
“Well yeah, but I thought they flirted and cuddled with everyone.” Jake rationalized.
“But they don't kiss everyone,” Anna gently pointed out.
“I just thought that was ‘cause no one else wanted to, and they were good friends.” Jake said, completely serious. Anna internally scoffed at this,
“No Jake, they're definitely dating.” She softly insisted.
“Well I know that now.” Jake grumbled. Anna internally sighed, she needed to get him back on track. This was a question she really wanted answered.
“Um, anyway, Astra told me about their relationship and how they're allowed to date other people if they ask first, I think, I'm not explaining this very well, but anyway it was different than any other relationship I'd heard of so I asked about that, and she said that most relationships I've probably seen are ‘exclusive’ so they can only date each other, I think, um, and the then she asked me if we were exclusive and I said I didn't know because we've never actually talked about it, so are we exclusive?”
Anna let the question hang in the air for a while. She couldn't read Jake’s facial expression. She'd already been worried about this conversation, because Astra could explain the concept way better than Anna could ever hope to. That, and Jake already said that he didn't really know what he was doing either, so he didn't really like answering questions about their relationship since a lot of times he didn't know the answer.
“You don't know whether or not we're exclusive?” Jake asked in a flat tone. That scared Anna even more, but she pressed on,
“No, like I said we never talked about it, and from what Astra said it sounds like there are a lot of options.” Jake thought about that for a while longer before saying,
“Are you cheating on me?” Anna's heart dropped,
“No! Of course not! I would never!”
“Do you want to?”
“No! Why would I-”
“Is there someone else? Is that why you're asking about this!?” Jake accused.
“No! I just didn't know-”
“Of course we're exclusive! I don't want you dating anyone else! I don't want to date anyone else. Am I not enough for you!?” Jake was shouting now, and Anna was in tears.
“Of course you're enough for me! I was only asking because Astra said-”
“She said what? Did she tell you all about the joys of cheating on your partner?!”
“What? No, she doesn't-”
“Really?! Because I wouldn't put it above her!”
“No! That's not what it is! She wouldn't cheat on them!” Anna was getting angry now too.
“Oh, are you two all buddy buddy now? Is that why you've decided I'm not enough?! Because Astra hates me, now you do too?!”
“What? I don't hate you Jake!”
“Then why do you suddenly need someone else!?!”
“I don't!”
“Then why did you ask!?!”
“Because I wanted to know! God Jake, I'm sorry for ever being curious!!!” Anna screamed, tears running down her face. Before Jake could yell back at her, she phased through the floor and floated back to her tiny home. As soon as she could breathe again, she collapsed on her bed and cried harder. What the hell was wrong with him!? Even through her tears, rational thought reached her. Jake knew where she lived. He could come find her. Anna really couldn't deal with that right now. She grabbed her MJWWT and set it to go to the Sharp Tank, but stopped herself. Jake could find her there too, and Sterling would call him to find out his side of the story and then he'd know exactly where she was. Anna needed somewhere she could go that he wouldn't know if the top of his head. Instead of dimension hopping, she called someone.
“Hey kid, what's- what happened?” Astra demanded as soon as she picked up. Anna smiled at Astra's energy before sniffling,
“So, you know how after you explained your relationship you a-asked me abo-ut mine?” She somehow managed to get out at least semi coherently.
“Yeah sweetie, I remember,” Astra replied sadly, already seeming to know where this was going.
“Well, I asked Jake, and…” Anna couldn't finish that sentence.
“He didn't take it well,” Astra finished for her. Anna nodded, before thinking a bit and shaking her head.
“It's okay kid, I get it.” Astra assured her. Anna composed herself enough to ask,
“Can I come and stay at Torreli’s house please?” Astra smiled reassuringly,
“Of course sweetie,” Anna sighed in relief. She wiped her eyes as she heard what was happening on the other side of the watch.
“Baby, can you warn V?”
“Of course sweetheart,”
“Thanks love,” Astra turned back toward Anna,
“I'll open a portal to the Nexus point, so you can come straight here once you dimension hop.” Anna sniffled again,
“Thanks Astra, I'll be there soon.”