Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You are walking down a staircase. It is impossible to tell where you are going with the darkness at the end, rather, it would be if you hadn't been here before. At first it is the stairs from your own hive, spiraling down into the pit where a giant spider lurks. You don't want to go any further, but you don't have a choice. Well, you do have a choice, but only between constant misery and death.

Suddenly you jump. You fall and hear a sickening crack of bone. The pain is only a dull throbbing now, but you know it will get worse. You aren't walking anymore, but you are still moving. There is no ground beneath you. Your hive is gone, and a hive you've never seen before takes it's place. You are still falling, only now you are falling faster. Everything spins around you when you look down at your legs, but the only thing you can see is more stairs. The only thing you can feel is pain, now sharp and tearing through you like knives. Bone pierces your skin, and you can feel bruises forming from your body being thrown against every step of the never-ending staircase. There is a shadow above you stretching long and dark from the top of the stairs. Despite how fast you are falling, the shadow is only moving closer. When you finally hit the floor, the shadow looms over you, and

You wake up.

……..What the fuck?

You take a few moments to orient yourself and calm down from. Whatever that was.

You are in your respiteblock on a supremely shitty meteor, hurtling through space, and your hive (along with your entire planet) has been exploded and nonexistent for a few perigrees now.

Your name is VRISKA SERKET. Looking around the block, you can see many of your INTERESTS scattered about. You engage in VARIOUS FORMS OF ROLEPLAY, though you are now banned from FATAL LIVE-ACTION ROLEPLAYING because there are only, like, eight living people left anyways. And also killing is bad, probably. Stacked (relatively) neatly next to your VARIOUS JOURNALS and ARTIFACTS OF HISTORY, are textbooks documenting the various applications of OLD ALTERNIAN LAW. These books belong to your hatefriend/blockmate/moirail(?)/partner/scourge sister TEREZI PYROPE, who is laying next to you doing NOTHING IN PARTICULAR.

She turns to face you when you pull yourself out of your shared recuperacoon, and wow she looks like she has not slept since… Before your planet exploded.

Terezi vaguely gestures at you from under her layer of slime, “If you're leaving the block, get me some of that bean water the humans drink.”

“Sure, but don't complain when it stinks up the whole block.”

She grumbles, “I'm hoping the stench will fry my pan long enough for me to stay unconscious for more than three hours. Since the herbal leaf water didn't work.”

You sigh. That leaf water was pretty gross. But still, not as bad as the bean water. Desperate times call for disgusting bean water. You are certain that is a saying that real people say. “Yeah, sure. I'll be back soon.”

You stumble into the common area, where Rose and Kanaya are doing something you don't care about. They are adjacent to the bean water machine though, so you greet them in a way that you hope comes off as casual and not one minor inconvenience away from a violent outburst.

One minor inconvenience later, you are sitting next to Kanaya at a table while Rose goes to dispose of the sorry remains of the bean water machine. You're pretty sure there is still bean water on your clothes, though. Terezi is probably going to laugh at you. Hopefully, anyways. She's so miserable these nights!

“I take it you have not been sleeping well?”, Kanaya asks. As if the darkness under your eyes and violent outbursts were not indicative of the answer. Wait– never mind. You always have eye bags and violent outbursts. And you never sleep well. Only now you have barely been sleeping at all.

You bang your head on the table. “Fucking shitty dream bubbles. Can't catch a break.”

“Every time you sleep you encounter unpleasant dream bubbles?”

“Well, no, but if I don't then it's some fucked up dream or other. And if I don't have a bad dream or a shitty dream bubble, then ‘Rezi has one of the two and I can't sleep hearing her, uh, be upset. It's gotten to the point where she's pretty much just refusing to sleep. Not that I blame her”, you laugh.

Kanaya looks away for a moment and pauses. “You and Terezi are now moirails, yes?”

Fuck if you know. “Uhhh, yeah. Why d'ya ask?”

She nods thoughtfully and says, “I personally find that physical contact of a conciliatory nature can be beneficial in achieving a healthy state of unconsciousness. Ideally one should be relaxed when sleeping, and anticipating unpleasant events makes them more likely to occur.”

“So like, think happy thoughts?”

“Essentially. Dreams are ultimately determined by the state of the brain, or the ‘pan’, at the time of entering the sleep cycle. Humans receive boosts of endorphins when engaging in pleasant physical contact, and my research leads me to conclude the same is true of trolls. So literally sleeping with someone could be an effective strategy for you to sleep better. In theory of course, as no research is complete without some… trial and error.” Rose is back, and the look she gives Kanaya at her last statement makes you gag.

Neither of them notice, so you gag louder to get their attention. “Can you explain your ‘research’ to me in a way that makes sense, maybe? Ideally in under an hour? I've got a sleep deprived moirail that I need to…. Uh…. not be sleep deprived.”

Rose sits down opposite to Kanaya. “In layman's terms, it would likely be beneficial for you to relax and cuddle with your moirail as you prepare to sleep.”

That is the stupidest thing you have ever heard. “That's stupid. How is touching Terezi for an extended period of time going to help me relax? If I touch her for too long I get a fever ‘cuz her blood is warmer than mine. It makes my face itch. And then she makes weird noises and some lame excuse to leave the block, and pretends nothing happened when she comes back. She hasn't said anything about it, so I just kind of stopped touching her in general. Look at me, respecting other people's boundaries! So do you have any better advice? Or another bean water machine? Terezi wants bean water.” There has to be another bean water machine somewhere. You could probably alchemize a new one, but you don't know anything about bean water machines. You might have to settle for leaf water.

“Have you actually had a conversation about boundaries pertaining to physical touch?”, asks Kanaya.

“Well, no, but I still don't think touching her more will be helpful.”

“I would recommend having an open conversation with Terezi about physical contact. From what you described it sounds as though she may not be uncomfortable with physical contact, but is rather uncomfortable with her body's response to it. Not unlike your own situation, actually. And my own situation, not very long ago. As Rose has helped me to discover, the best remedy for this is gradual exposure and open communication.” Kanaya beams and glances at Rose, who offers a shaky smile in return.

You sigh. “Yeah, I'll talk to her. Seriously though, it would be a lot more helpful if one of you could alchemize a new bean water machine.”

“I cannot overstate how beneficial to my health it has been to participate in Rose's research. Perhaps you could benefit as well?”

“I don't mean to offend, but typically the activities Kanaya and I have been engaged in are, ah… primarily associated with intimacy and are only to be performed with those one deeply cares for. Usually with a romantic connotation. In human culture, at least.” Rose interjects, her face comically flushed. So Rose is angling for moirallegiance with Kanaya? You thought they were matesprits, but maybe you hadn't been spying. You mean checking on them often enough.

Kanaya nods in agreement with Rose. “Human culture is truly fascinating. Their lack of fangs and claws has led them to develop wonderful bonding techniques. Personally I find ‘eating out’ to be incredibly enjoyable and relaxing.”

“Huh. Okay, now we're getting somewhere. What should we eat?” You hope it isn't chalk. You love Terezi and would do many things for her, but eating chalk is not one of them.

“It is not literally eating, though it does involve the mouth. Not unlike kissing, actually. Generally you should use your hands first to caress the thighs and work your way towards the nook, before actually using your mouth to provide pleasure. It's easier for humans with their dull teeth and nails, but it's not impossible for trolls. It does require a bit of extra effort though. If you do decide to try eating out, you should file down your claws.” Kanaya holds up her own frond for reference. She turns to Rose. “Did I explain all of that correctly?”

It takes her a few moments to respond. “Well, you didn't say anything that was incorrect”, She sighs.

“Uh, isn't that basically pailing though?” You had read something similar between Redglare and Mindfang in your ancestor's journal, only with much less caution about claws and heavy pitch overtures. Though by Mindfang’s account it was very enjoyable, so maybe Kanaya is on to something.

She laughs, “Of course not, it isn't pailing unless there is reproductive intent, and obviously pails, involved.” This makes a lot of sense actually.

Rose stands up abruptly. “While this has been a very pleasant discussion, I just remembered that I gave the alchemzation code for the bean water, I mean coffee, machine to Dave. And I need to find it, right now. Best of luck to you all on your completely non-sexual adventures into the wonderful world of cunnillingus.”

As she leaves, you ask, “What's cunnillingus?”

Rose runs out of the room.

You turn to Kanaya. “What's ‘non-sexual’ mean?”

“It’s a human thing, I think. Kind of like the quadrant system.”

“Huh. Humans sure are weird!”

Chapter Text

You return to your block feeling rather accomplished, and also exhausted. You open the door as quietly as possible, just in case Terezi managed to fall asleep while you were out. Unsurprisingly, she did not. She turns her head in your general direction when she hears (smells? You aren't too sure how that works) you enter.

She's laying on the floor with one of your replicas of Mindfang’s journal (the original is locked in your sylladex, it makes you nauseous to look at nowanights) under her head, and buried under a pile of scalemates, the majority of which have residue from the sopor slime stuck to them. 

“Did you somehow fail at the incredibly simple task of procuring the bean water I requested, or am I going nose-blind?”

Terezi rubs at her nose before sniffing again, and then wrinkles her nose in playful disgust. “When I said I wanted bean water, I meant I wanted to drink it out of a cup”

“Well, that's just too bad! You get the Serket special delivery service!” , you flop down onto her pile and she screeches when you land on top of her. She throws a slimy scalemate at you in retaliation, and you sputter while she grabs your arm and pulls you closer, until you can feel her shoulder touching yours. You feel the beginnings of a fever as a shudder runs through you when you feel her skin pressed against yours.

She makes an exaggerated face and pulls away when she feels the dampness of the residual bean water on you. “Ew, can you go change into something that isn't covered in bean juice?”

“Obviously not! I have graciously delivered the bean water you requested and now you mock me? I’m staying right here until you apologize!” You push closer against her and rub yourself against her, dripping bean water all over the pile.

Terezi narrows her eyes at you and grins mischievously. “If you insist!”

“Ha! I knew—”

Terezi tackles you and hovers her mouth over your neck, licking the residual bean water and covering your skin in her slobber. This is objectively pretty gross, but you only find this mildly annoying and oddly endearing. And a secret third emotion that you decide to unpack later. 

You are frozen as her teeth graze your neck. Terezi nibbles at your ear and whispers, “Take off your shirt.” 

You nearly elbow her in the face when you throw your shirt across the block. You are pretty sure you heard a ripping sound when you, well, ripped off your shirt, but you don’t care right now. Terezi shifts behind you, her hand in your hair, and your face is itching and burning again, but you don't dare move your hands.

You are unreasonably disappointed when she moves away from you and retrieves the shirt so she can lick it. 

“This doesn’t taste too bad, actually.” And with that, she stuffs the entire shirt in her mouth. You don’t think you’re going to be getting that back any time soon. You feel uncomfortably warm without your shirt, your chest exposed to the cold air. It’s nothing she hasn’t seen before, a lot of aggressive FLARPers aim for the neck and chest. Can’t really stitch up those wounds without getting the clothes out of the way.  Obviously you both have grown since then, but you’re still a bit self conscious around her despite your shared past. She’s probably the person you’re most self conscious around, even though she can’t even see you. Shit, maybe she thinks you’re still flat-chested. Your boobs are on the smaller side, but they’re there! You don’t know much about how her sense of smell works, so maybe she can smell them? That’s…. Hm. Something to think about later.

You awkwardly maneuver yourself back into a sitting position while trying to keep yourself composed enough to speak coherently. “Well, I should hope so, given how much I went through to get it for you.”

Terezi snorts at that. “Really? Did you get into another ‘debate’ with Dave about the quality of Nic Cage’s cinematography?”

“Worse, actually. I had to witness Rose and Kanaya talk about quadrants and cannibalism.” Terezi brings your shirt back to the pile, but she keeps chewing on it like some sort of barkbeast toy, even as she speaks. You wonder if she can taste you in it.

“So, you came across Rose and Kanaya having their usual conversation? I imagine that was very difficult for you!”

“Kind of? They were talking about ‘eating out’, which is like, licking each other’s nooks, or something. Not rainbow-drinker cannibalism, but definitely kinda weird, haha. Humans do it a lot apparently but Kanaya also seems into it I guess? Maybe ‘cause she’s a rainbow drinker.”

Terezi hums and says, “I’m not a rainbow drinker obviously, but I do see the appeal.” You giggle and Terezi shoots you a look (rather, pouts in your general direction) before continuing. “Taste is really just an extension of smell, but like, more intense? More enjoyable. Like, most people would prefer to eat food than to just smell it. I’d rather lick than sniff something if it’s good.” 

“Is that why you’re always trying to lick me?” 

You meant it as a playful tease, but it comes out as more of an accusation.

Terezi snarls, takes your shirt out of her mouth and throws it at you. “No, I find you repulsive and I only lick you so often as a means to test my mental capacity to ensure I can withstand any level of torture I might be faced with in either the battlefield or whatever horrors my pan decides I should deal with whenever I try to sleep, which I think I am going to go do now, in a different block, after I wash out your taste from my tongue!” Her tone is deceptively calm, but even with your abysmal social skills, you can tell you’ve pissed her off.

It isn’t the cold and calculated anger you’re used to seeing from her though. She’s slower than usual from sleep deprivation, and you can see how unusually flushed her face is as she turns to leave before she trips over a scalemate and falls flat on the floor. Before you can think better of it, you scramble over to where she is and pin her down before she can leave you again. You only have moments before she overpowers you, so you press yourself against her. 

“You haven’t licked me enough for you to go to sleep, then.” 

“What the fuck?” She hisses beneath you. You are sure she can feel the way your bloodpusher is hammering out of your chest, if she hasn’t already picked up on how strained your voice is.

“You can’t leave me alone like this. It’s horrible out there. You know what it’s like out there, you fucking bitch, how could you leave me again when you fucking know how shitty it is out there in the dream bubbles!”

Terezi twists beneath you to spit, “Yeah, it’s shitty, and putting up with your bullshit makes it exponentially shittier!” There are tears on her face and you aren’t sure how long she’s been crying but the sight sends a sharp pain through your chest.

“You can’t… mean that. You don’t mean that. Right?”

She quickly pushes herself up into a sitting position, moving to embrace you. “No, I don’t.” She clumsily runs her hand against your face until she positions her thumb under your eyelid and wipes away your tears. Her face is tired but her eyes are dry, and it is then you realize that you are the one who has been crying.

You hold her hand against your face and move to hide your face back in her shoulder. You end up just kind of headbutting her, but she snorts and uses her free hand to hold the other side of your face before she kisses you. It isn’t the quick brush of lips you have come to expect from a pale kiss, Terezi’s mouth is open and her tongue is wet against your own. When you realize what’s happening you start trying to kiss her back until your vision blacks out and you choke on your own spit.

You come to when Terezi pushes you away with a long-suffering sigh. “You’re supposed to keep breathing, idiot.”

“I knew that!” 

“Mhm. Were you trying to bite me too or did you just get a little too… excited?” You can hear the smirk in her voice and it’s infuriating for someone who’s blood is in your mouth. Wait, fuck, you didn’t mean to bite her. You mumble a noncommittal apology and she just laughs and says “Yeah, your mouth isn’t going anywhere near my nook.”

She looks almost as surprised as you feel when you whimper in disappointment at her words. “I didn’t think you’d actually be interested in– Um. That sort of thing.” Her face is adorably flushed when she says that. 

“Well, I mean, you seem to like it a lot, so. I’m kind of curious I guess.”

“What do you wanna know?”

“Did kissing me feel good?” You try really hard to not sound as desperate as you feel. You do not succeed.

Her eyes widen briefly before her face flushes even deeper as she responds. “........Um. Yeah.”

“Can we do it again?”

“........I don’t see why not.”

Normally you would laugh at a blind joke, but now you lunge for her open mouth with your own. She is taken aback at first, but she quickly reciprocates. This time, you remember to breathe and she hums into your mouth, almost like praise. You startle when you feel the floor against the back of your head, so absorbed in Terezi you hadn’t realized she was pushing you down. She’s still pushing against you, but there isn’t anywhere else for you to go except closer to her. You reach out your hands to hold her, but she pulls away at your touch.

“Sorry, that was.…wow. I got a little carried away there.” She’s drooling a bit, and her hands are shaking, but maybe that’s because your head is spinning.

“Why’d you stop?”

“Dn’t wanna hurt you.”

“You can hurt me if you want.”

“Just said I don’t wanna do that.”

“What do you want, then?” Please say you want me. Please want me the way I want you.

“Whatever you want is fine.”

“That’s– I want to know what you want!”

“I just told you!”

“Yeah, so you should want to tell me the truth then!”

“I did! I want whatever makes you happiest.”

“Oh, so if I wanted to, I don’t know, eat your nook, you’d just let me?”

“Mhm.”

“You– wait. seriously?”

She raises a brow in challenge, and starts taking off her pants. Holy shit .

“Uh, I was just joking, you don’t have to!”

“Your bulge is literally unsheathing itself as we speak”

“That’s! Unrelated!!!!!!!!” Her pants are gone, and her underwear quickly follows. Holy shit you are so–  normal. You wipe the drool from your mouth and ignore the pressure between your legs.

She spreads her legs and flashes her nook at you, one hand carefully positioning her emerging bulge so you can get a good look at the plump, dripping opening and thick forest of hair surrounding it. Your own bulge, fully unsheathed, is starting to stain the front of your too-tight pants.

“Nngh! Put your pants back on!”

“What, so I can soil them like you are?”

“If you put pants on, I won’t be as horny and I won’t mess up my pants! Obviously!”

“Oh, you’re horny? I hadn’t noticed!”

“Fuck you!”

“That’s the idea, idiot.”

Of course. This is what Terezi wants, she was just too embarrassed to admit it! It’s really convenient that you’re here. She must really be pent up! You’re gonna eat her so good, and then never think about your feelings on the matter.

You quickly fumble out of your own pants, and groan in relief when you feel your bulge allowed to fill out fully as you quickly discard your own underwear.

“Aw, are you excited to see me?”, Terezi teases.

“Yeah, whatever, are you gonna let me blow your mind or what?”

“Oh please, blow my mind.” She’s doing that thing that Dave called “fuck me eyes” (in reference to Rose and Kanaya’s obvious tension, you had thought they looked stupid), and she looks so sexy you feel stupid for not doing this sooner. You want to fuck her soooooooo bad it makes you look stupid. 

You carefully move to position your head between her legs, trying to avoid poking her with your horns. She simply grips you by the horns (you might moan a bit at that) and pushes you until you are eye level with her nook. From this close, you can see how flushed and slick it is, see the veins in her bulge pulsing. And the smell! It isn’t distinctly pleasant or unpleasant, but it’s definitely intense and somehow making you more aroused than you already are. 

You stick out your tongue and start licking her, but you aren’t used to using the muscles in your tongue and end up just kind of dragging your face against her. Tastes kinda salty and slimy. It’s weird but definitely exciting. You think you’re getting the hang of it when Terezi pulls you back up.

“Vriska. What are you doing.”

“M’ eating you. Doing a good job, right?”

Terezi makes a face that you know means you were, in fact, not doing a good job, but she’s trying to spare your feelings.

You deflate a bit. “Oh. Sorry.”

“Well, it wasn’t bad! Um, it just wasn’t good? That’s to be expected since you haven’t done stuff like this before though.”

“Tounge feels sore”

“Well yeah, but like. You don’t just go right for it, y’know? What do you normally do when you masturbate?”

Your brain stops working for a second. 

“M-masturbate! I don’t do dirty things like that!”

Terezi briefly seems surprised before pausing. “That actually makes a lot of sense for you.”

“Hey! What does that mean?!”

“Oh, um. Don’t worry about it. Well, I guess I can just tell you what I do-”

“You masturbate?!”

“....Yeah?”

Filthy visions appear in your mind. Terezi naked in the shower with her hands between her legs. Terezi lying next to you while you sleep, rubbing herself. Terezi in front of you right now, completely naked and laughing.

“Holy shit, your face right now smells hilarious! Did you really think you’d ‘blow my mind’ when you’ve never even blown a load? This is priceless!”

“Well! I’ve had stuff happen at night! Like, dreaming and stuff!”

That just makes her laugh harder. Your bulge is still squirming around, which is kind of annoying, but you are determined to do a good job. Somehow.

“Okay, so, you can just tell me what to do, and I’ll do a really good job!” You try to get back to business, but she’s still giggling a bit.

“Oh, Vriska. You’re so cute. How about I give you a demonstration?”

Yes, this is the logical course of action. You watch her masturbate (!!!!!!!!) and then apply the same principles to your performance. Maybe you should be taking notes. But then you would miss important information! Probably best to just watch carefully.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Oh, I’ve wanted to do this for so long.”

You’re a bit confused by what she means, since she’s already masturbated before, but it’s probably oh god her hands are on you and she’s mouthing at your neck again, her knee pressed up against your crotch. You can feel her bulge squirming against your stomach, marking you with her fluids smeared on your skin.

“A-ah!” You yelp and shudder, unsure how to respond to this sudden turn.

“So cute, so pretty, gog, you’re so sexy” Terezi is mumbling against you as she grazes her teeth against your collarbone and you aren’t sure if she’s talking to you or to herself or if you’re even hearing her right. You aren’t any of those things, but it feels true when she says it like that.

One hand holds your face while the other fondles one of your breasts, and you can’t think to do anything but push yourself into her and moan while she touches you. Her hands travel lower, to your other breast, to your ribs, to the flesh just above your crotch while her mouth moves to suck on your breasts.

You yelp when she presses her hand firmly into your abdomen, you startle and push your boob into her mouth where she gives the nipple a playful nip before kissing it gently in apology.

“Sorry”, Terezi whispers more to your boobs than to you, but you forgive her anyways.

Her head is finally between your legs, and your bulge twists enthusiastically, but she doesn’t touch it yet. Instead, her hands slowly glide down your thighs where she traces the tendons with the pads of her fingers to where your legs meet your nook. Your hips buck a bit, but she holds them down and you whine.

“Not yet babe, gotta be patient.” You preen at the pet name, and wiggle your hips more. 

“Been so patient! Please!”

“It has been roughly three minutes since I started touching you”, she quips

“Been waiting since I got back from the common room”, you whine. That has to have been like. An hour or something.

“Ah, but I’ve been waiting since our eighth FLARP campaign, so I think you can wait a few minutes longer”

You struggle to remember the exact events of that campaign, but even you know that it was years ago by now. It was after you had found Mindfang’s journal, but before you had realized how explicit the content was. You used to read it together with Terezi, she had probably realized the nature of Mindfang’s exploits long before you had, she was smart like that. But tactful enough not to say anything when it was something so important to you. Besides, she liked it too, you had gotten the exact descriptions of Redglare’s outfit from the journal, and– Oh. You had been reading smut of the characters the two of you were roleplaying as, and gushing about how smart Mindfang must have been to know so much about troll anatomy. Like an idiot.

“Oh, ‘rezi. I never realized.”

“I almost wish I could make you wait like you did to me, bet you’d get all pouty and start begging or something”

“I can do that! Please! Please please please please please please-” You almost sound as pathetic and desperate as you feel.

“Oh my gog shut up!” 

“Then make me!”

She presses her hands into the flesh of your thighs and locks eyes with you as she pries them apart. Your legs are trembling, but her grip steadies them as she leaves kisses on the inside of your thighs. Your bulge flops against her face, but she ignores it in favor of mouthing around the rim of your nook. She flicks her tongue against the inside, coaxing out more of your fluids, and she moans excitedly at the scent. Or maybe the taste? Probably the taste based on the way her tongue picks up the pace.

One of her hands disappears from your legs and you crack open your eyes (huh, when did you close them?) to watch her start stroking her own dripping bulge. Her tongue flicks against the base of your bulge and your legs snap closed as a moan rips out of your throat and your vision blacks out once again. You try to open them again when you register the points of her horns digging into your skin, but Terezi has started to flick her tongue between your bulge and taking deeper licks into your nook, and you can’t control the muscles in your legs, or anywhere in your body really. You press your body further into Terezi’s mouth, it’s too much and not enough, you’re babbling nonsense somewhere between begging and goading, and you finally feel release when she starts fucking wiggling her tounge around inside you like some kind of freak.

“Oh, tez…fuck!” You feel a bit like the sweet bone goop made from hoofbeasts. She looks very proud of herself as she licks her face clean of your genetic material.

She scoops up your bone-goopy body and carries you to the scalemate pile to lay down. “Guess I kinda did the opposite of shutting you up, hm?”

Your throat feels like you’ve been screaming. Your voice is raspy when you reply, “Maybe you’ll have to try harder next time.”

She yawns, then winces before making herself more comfortable in the pile. “Guess so. Gotta build up my jaw strength though.”

“That was crazy good though. Wanna do that for you.” Maybe later though. Right now you just want to sleep.

“Oh, I enjoyed it too”, She lethargically waves around a teal-stained hand before licking it clean.

“Ew, gross!”

“You love it”, She smiles and you grin back at her, “Yeah, I do.”

You both sleep well, after that.