How....do you interact with that. 

Sasha pauses, then goes soft and almost-perfectly relaxed against Asher's chest. (He's doing that deliberately, but the message it's conveying is a true one.) 

Asher pets his hair.

"...White people and black people aren't allowed to drink from the same water fountains in Louisiana."

He curls into Asher a little bit more. 

"When I was ten I almost died because someone poisoned the food they were throwing away." 

"A friend of my dad's got lynched for trying to vote.

"I don't... I can't understand what it's like to live in the Isle, but I can understand a little what it's like to be surrounded by people who hate you. I'm glad you're not dead."

"I'm glad you're here." 

Then, quieter, into Asher's shoulder, "I've got you." 

"I've got you. I love you. --Do you miss it?"

"....not most of it but there are parts. I miss knowing what was going on. I miss not having to hide," he curls into Asher, "this."

Pause.

"I should learn French." 

"Then how can I get away with saying things to you I don't want you to understand?"

"You could always try telling me things if you want me to hear them and not doing that if you don't, like everybody else." 

"...It's hard not to tell you I love you."

"I'm.....not going to be able to say it back. Not for a while, maybe not ever. But I'm getting used to hearing it." 

Asher entwines his fingers with Sasha's. 

"I don't care if you say it back."

He squeezes Asher's hand. "You've got me," he says, very soft. 

"You've got me."

"Yeah." He keeps trying to cuddle up even closer. "I've got you." 

They can cuddle until Chen gets home!

They can cuddle even once Chen gets home, he's not going to stop them. 

"Hi Chen! Your boyfriend's great."

"That's true, they are great." He flops next to Kaleva. 

Kaleva wraps an arm around him without looking up. "Your mom's in this book."

"Oh, cool, is it actually talking about what she's done as a military leader? Everyone likes to leave out that she's a general, I can't imagine why." 

"Sooort of? Mostly it's about the effects on Hun society that an entire generation of men either died or went to the Isle."

"Huh. Can I read it when you're done?" 

(He isn't deliberately not-interacting with Asher and Sasha, they just seem wrapped up in one another at the moment.)

"Sure!"

Asher is in love! And now he gets to hold the person he's in love with! This has never happened before! It's great!