Work Text:
After coming home from drinking, she thought a little of her life. Being, whatever that was, with Brian was nice but it’s clearly gonna be different now that they are not doing that thing they were doing. God, it is all so confusing. This was exactly the reason she avoided this stuff with her ‘back the hell off’ vibes. Maybe she should try those message boards Brian mentioned. For a long time, knowing the term ‘asexual’ has been enough. She has no interest in parades or sex or relationships other than friendship, so looking into any of this more closely has felt superfluous. But now things are confusing. She is still buzzed so what the hell, let’s check this out. Maybe relationships without anyone having to worry about the sex part might work. And maybe it would be nice to talk with people who actually get it. She’s used to all the sex talk at the station but it might be nice to find people who aren’t obsessed with it. Brian was really sweet by trying, but he just doesn’t get it.
She looks up some places that seem useful. She makes her username (VooXXX) and starts exploring. There is some interesting stuff, and seeing other people who feel the way she does is nicer than she expected. Soon enough she gets contacted by another Chicagoan. His name is Doug, and it soon turns out they have other stuff in common. They like Nic Cage and gory movies, and when Doug explains to her that he’s sex repulsed, it feels surprisingly nice to learn that there is a term for how she feels. They talk for about an hour that first night and continue to find the time to take about everything and nothing. Doug loves her gory works stories and soon they decide to go see the latest Nic Cage movie together. It’s their first real life date and it goes pretty well.
After Brian learns about Doug, things get slightly more uncomfortable between them. But Brian assures her he just needs to go through the break up period and he will be fine and that he is happy for her, and Doug, of course. He tells her he needs 12 days, and she can’t help but smile. His love of romantic comedies was always weird to her, but she likes weird.
She talks about work with Doug so much that he wants to meet them. She thinks it’s a good idea, but she sets it so Brian has worked out his shit by then. Things with Doug are nice, although they seem to click somewhat better online than on their ‘dates’, but maybe they just need to get used to that, at least she does. Brian disappears right after they arrive and Valentina is bothered by it. She doesn’t want to hurt Brian but she knows they have no real future and Doug is nice, and according to both Theresa and Stats, hot. Later she hears that Brian got himself hurt at a magic show (such a Brian thing to do) and hooked up with Gabby. Gabby’s nice, so she’s happy for them. She hopes they can make it work.
After the group hangout, she’s starting to feel like things won’t work out with Doug. They get along and they understand certain things about each other but their discussions flow a lot more smoothly online than they do on line and it starts to become clear to Valentina that they might be better off as friends. It’s another confusing thing she has trouble figuring out but after talking with Doug (online), they both feel it’s the best solution. They can still talk and sometimes hang out but they don’t have what it takes to have a relationship the way society expects them to.
Breaking up with Doug doesn’t really clarify things for her any. She’s not sure whether she even wants a relationship but her failure with Doug makes it seem even more likely that she can’t have one and she doesn’t know how to react to that. She doesn’t tell Brian or anyone else about the break up for a few days. Better not mix things up before they need to be mixed up. Seeing Brian with Gabby at the barbecue just makes her more confused. She can’t give Brian what he wants and needs and she doesn’t want to compromise herself, so she knows that Brian is better off with someone like Gabby. And again, she doesn’t know if a relationship is something she wants or if it’s just her conforming to society’s expectations of her. So she gets wasted and jumps on a bed and hopes she and Brian can make their friendship work despite these issues. She hopes so.