can i kiss you?

     Biana laughed as ae watched Fitz awkwardly squish himself onto Keefe's lap as a dare from Stina. Ae could tell they both secretly enjoyed it, even if they'd never admit it. Keefe's face was flushed bright red and Fitz was touching the middle of his palms, something Biana noticed he only did when he got nervous.

"Fitz, your turn to do a truth or dare," Stina told him. Unfortunately, he wasn't paying attention, as he was too busy admiring Keefe.

"Fitz!" ae called. He turned toward aer. "Stop staring at Keefe, dude, it's your turn to go!"

"In my defence, I wasn't staring," he said, trying (and failing) to regain his composure. "Anyways, uh, Marella! Truth or dare?"

Biana quickly looked at Marella, immediately regretting it after Sophie gave aer a suggestive eyebrow raise. Ae rolled aer eyes in an attempt to hide aer fear of Marella finding out.

Although, aer inner voice began, it might not be the worst thing to happen. They could like you back! Or they might not, and that's okay. It would suck, but at least you don't have to keep this secret anymore.

Ae shook the thought away. Ae wouldn't dare tell them, even though there was an 80% chance they already knew. Anyways.

"Hmm, that's hard." Marella sighed, before eventually making their choice. "Dare."

Fitz's mouth stretched into a grin that made Biana want to curl up into a ball. He was almost definitely thinking about how he could humiliate aer as much as possible. Ae started to regret telling him about aer personal life.

"I dare you," he began, "to propose to someone in this room—like the humans do—completely seriously."

Ae sighed with relief. No uncontrollable blushing for aer, right?

Wrong.

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They didn't have to go over to Biana. They could've just gone with someone like Keefe or Tam, just for the joke. But to be honest, it felt good to make aer flushed.

Marella walked over to Biana and smirked. Ae rubbed aer hands down aer face, but Marella could see that ae was smiling underneath.

"Hold on, gimme a sec. I need tears," they said. They proceeded to try and fake-cry by widening their eyes and staring at the ceiling, but after about fifteen seconds they gave up.

They knelt down in front of aer and straightened their imaginary bowtie. "Biana Amberly Ae/aer-fuck-the-gender-binary Vacker, will you make me the happiest person in the Lost Cities and marry me?"

"Oh my god," cried Biana, through tears of aer own—probably from laughter; everyone else was laughing and Marella was barely keeping it together. "Yes, yes, a million times yes! Oh, I can't even say that with a straight face. I'm too gay for this." That's what it took for them both to explode into laughter, leaning on each other for support.

They made eye contact, and suddenly everything else faded into the background. The world was made of just them, and for that brief period, everything seemed perfect. Marella wouldn't have changed a thing.

"I don't want to break up you lovebirds, but it's your turn, Marella," said Linh, trying to cover up vir giggles.

"Oh. Shit, okay. Biana." They turned towards aer, trying to put on a suggestive smirk to cover up how flustered they were. "Truth or dare?"

"Fuck you, darling," ae said.

"Shouldn't we wait a bit for that? I mean, we just got engaged. Our friends are all here." Marella grinned smugly as Biana rolled aer eyes.

"I pick dare," Biana decided.

"I dare you to spend ten minutes in a closet with me."

"Sure."

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Ae almost cried when they said that. All of it. It seemed surprisingly genuine—almost rehearsed.

Marella sat down next to Biana. "So. Hi," they said quietly, in stark contrast to their normal loud, energetic voice.

"Hi," ae replied.

"You're probably wondering what the fuck that was."

"Very much so."

"Basically, uh, I. I like you. A lot." They paused, awaited aer reaction. Biana has no idea what ae looked like in that moment, but it probably wasn't the calm smile ae was going for. Could they actually be telling the truth? Probably not. It was most likely just a stupid prank.

Marella continued, oblivious to Biana's deprecating thoughts. "Some would even call it love, should they know how intense it is. I love you more than you'll ever know. Since Level Four, when we both had these new, queer feelings and didn't know who to talk to so we turned to each other. I felt like you understood me better than anyone else in the world. I still do. No offense to Keefe."

"None taken. Continue your love confession," he replied through the door.

"Thank you. Wait." They looked back at the door before resuming their rant. "Actually, I don't care. As I was saying, seeing you smile alone can make my week. Everything about you just feels so perfect and I don't understand how you don't think so. I was so dedicated to you, to our friendship, and I felt my heart ripped in two when we drifted apart. Our relationship is something that I cherish so, so much and I don't want to lose that—I never have—but then I did. And, after months of therapy and coming to terms with myself and my identity, I came to the rather huge realization that I love you, Biana. I really, really do. And you don't have to do anything about this now, or at all. I just want you to know."

Biana tried to suppress aer grin, still plagued with the worry that it could be fake. Ae felt aer face burn brighter than ae thought possible. "Really?"

"Yeah, duh," they teased, but there was no real teasing behind it. "I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it."

They sat in silence for a few moments, sharing a glance or a smile every now and then. Biana didn't mind. Ae could have stayed like that forever and still be content.

"Can I kiss you?" ae blurted out suddenly. "Sorry. That was random. Can I, though?"

"...Yeah. Please do."

Ae leaned forward, nervous and unprepared. Ae closed aer eyes—that's what you're supposed to do, right? Ae had no idea—and pressed aer lips against Marella's.

It wasn't perfect. Obviously. But it still meant something. It felt... different. New, exciting, good. Ae wanted to do it again. And again. And again.

"Can we..." Marella looked shy, something ae still wasn't used to. "Can we do that one more time?"

Biana nodded so quickly it hurt.

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