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Ashe stumbled into the room she and Markus were sharing this current adventure. It was incredibly late and she was so tired, and Markus was already in bed. She could see in the thin ray of light from the hall that he was breathing steadily beneath the blankets. His back was turned towards her and the space behind him just waiting for her to crawl in.
Ashe couldn’t help but smile a bit, though the reason exactly was something difficult to discern. She left her armor on the table beside the bed and crawled in next to the blonde tiefling.
“Are you awake, Markus?” The hushed question held itself in the air between them for a moment. No response. “Didn’t think so…. I wanted to talk to you. About us sleeping together. I mean, I don’t hate it, don’t get me wrong… but you want more than that…. I have to tell you, Markus, even if we do get things sorted out, I don’t think I want that. I mean, I think about it and it doesn’t really appeal to me. I like how it feels when you just hold me, or when we kiss, but I don’t really want to go that far….” A sigh drifted from her lips. “I should be saying this when you’re awake, what am I doing?”
“If you don’t want things to go that far, Aesling, they don’t have to. I do have a measure of self-control.”
The entire bed jolted as Ashe leaped in surprise and nearly wound up on the floor. “Markus! I thought you were asleep!”
“Awake enough to hear you talking to me. Why’re you so shy about it?”
“B… because I was worried how you’d react. There are plenty of other people who’d probably be perfectly willing to sleep with you like that…. I was afraid you’d leave me for someone else if I wasn’t normal.”
Markus laughed at this, though he quickly hushed himself when it came out louder than he’d intended. “Heh, Aesling, you are far from what I’d call normal. But you know what? That’s part of what I love about you. We don’t have to make love to be in love with each other, and I’m perfectly happy to respect whatever makes you comfortable or uncomfortable. As long as you’re happy, I’m happy, no matter how we shape our relationship.”
“Markus-”
“Shh. It’s late, we should sleep. Do you want me to hold you?”
Ashe nodded. She fell asleep smiling in Markus’ arms, a load of stress off her shoulders.