Almost two weeks pass. Sadde still has work, even if school's out, but they and Theo hang out a bit more. No new cards appear, and Kero seems to not think that strange, so Sadde themself doesn't care. And one day Theo gets a text in the morning: Happy birthday!
They probably should.
Theo finishes showering, then gets out, dries himself off, and puts on a pair of trousers.
Sadde dries himself off and proceeds to do no such thing. He left his clothes in Theo's room.
Theo is so disappointed by this fact. You can just see his visible disappointment.
"So," he starts, sitting on the bed beside Theo, naked as on his name day. "Um. Can you qualify the 'like' part?"
"Um. You're hot and I like you?"
He seems really confused by the question.
"Well yes but I was already hot and you already liked me before I almost kissed you, so there are probably qualifications to this feeling now."
"Well yeah, you were, but I wasn't thinking that way. Don't ask me how the hell not. There are qualifications, but they're basically just that I like you, rather than that I'm friends with you."
"I don't know what else to say! I liked you as a friend, you made me think you liked me as more than a friend, and that made me think and then you were more than a friend!"
"Well—am I? More than a friend? That's sort of what I'm getting at. How strong are those feelings, what are they, do they have labels, what are the expectations, what do you want to happen, et cetera."
"I mean, I haven't thought about it, but if we're fucking, I'd think we're more than friends? Unless you don't want to be?"
"Such a bad mouth," he comments lightly. "In my experience, having sex and being more than friends don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. And I'd really like you to think about it!"
Theo doesn't really know what to say – that didn't seem particularly reassuring.
"I'm not saying I don't want to be more than friends, I'm just saying. It's not a given, in my experience, and I don't know what you want, if you want something specific, or if you just wanna go with the flow, or what."
"Um..." – wow, this is really complicated. Since when was Sadde the complicated one? – "I don't know? Just... go with the flow?"
Sigh. "Alright, we'll go with the flow. Is there something—like, do you expect, exclusivity? Should I start calling you my boyfriend or something?"
"I mean, exclusivity would be nice? It's not totally necessary, though...? And I don't know about the 'boyfriend' thing. Maybe?"
He hasn't really thought about this much. He hasn't really had much time to. He had a sudden change of emotions, got rejected, had a few days of moping, and then was going to try to ignore everything and carry on regardless, but this happened.
Well he never really did get rejected, but.
"Not totally necessary is nice. I like making out with people." Pause. "And I kinda like the idea of calling you boyfriend, too."
Felt rejected, then.
He smiles at the 'boyfriend' comment. Maybe he has stronger feelings on the topic than he thought.
"Yeah, that sounds good. Do I just call you 'my genderfriend' all the time, or do I switch?"