rebound, feeling like a re-run { a r i }

Ari blinked at Freya's newfound interest, mid-giggle at Freya's method of dealing with the eggy intruder. "Erm, yeah," she said. It had been a while since he'd told her - it was weird to put herself back in the mindset of just having found it out. "I mean..." she scrunched her nose a little and bit her lip. "I mean, I haven't thought about it for a while. I used to think about it sometimes and yeah, I'd wonder if it's something he wants, or if he'll want it eventually. He's never asked me if we could do it or anything." She tried to imagine it actually happening, but the thought of him going home with someone else in the future tense gave her a queasy sort of feeling in her stomach in a way that just thinking about his exes didn't. "And I don't know if it's because he knows I'm not the type, or he's not looking for that right now. It's not exactly something I'm keen to ask him if it's not a problem right now, you know?" She munched on a potato cube. "Is that a bad way to handle it...?"

Ari grinned. "Technically so had he, isn't that what you told me when you found out?" It was definitely a way that Prosper had thought about it, fitting their story into a narrative arc. The thing about that was the implication of a destination that it was arcing toward. She was very happy with Prosper, and she thought they were a fairly stable couple, and she could imagine what they had turning day by day into something that lasted a long time, but at the same time she coudn't quite visualize the shape of what that would look like. Where would they live? Who would they hang out with when they didn't both just have a loose gaggle of young adult friends? Could they...parent?? It felt so far away but also looming from that distance. Maybe she would ask Cordy how she went about thinking about it, but Cordelia and Michael weren't as...yin-yang or whatever. It sort of sucked that none of her other friends really had long-term relationships, but they were all young. And that, too, was part of it - Ginny-and-Harry-about-to-get-married aside, it made Ari feel weirdly anxious that maybe she wasn't supposed to be so deep in something at twenty that she had to start thinking about it.

She shook it off. It wasn't worth it right now, it wasn't like she was going to resolve any of that while talking to a nervy and now flippant Freya on a Sunday brunch. Ari rolled her eyes at her friend, although she was laughing and she was also pretty sure that Freya would chew on it and (probably) come up with something better than that. "So basically, ignore everything I said in the last twenty minutes, huh? I can tell you really value my input on this," she teased.

She nodded when Ari said that she’d wondered if he’d eventually probe her interest for some similar kind of arrangement. Why hadn’t Ari shared this juicy goss with her before now? Freya listened with interest as she leaned back in her chair. It was fascinating. Ari had told her Prosper was bisexual before, too – didn’t that, or at least the combination of those things – make her nervous? Not that Freya thought he was going to go off and cheat or anything, Prosper seemed like a lovely guy, but that maybe he’d end up wanting more? Freya felt a bit defensive on Ari’s behalf just thinking about it, her protective side flaring up at the imagined scenario. If it were her though… Well, maybe she was just a far more insecure person than her friend.

“Hmmm…” Freya said, thinking about Ari’s question. For someone who’d never been in a serious adult relationship, she sure liked giving out relationship advice. “I mean, you guys are good, right?” she asked, tilting her head to the side slightly. “I dunno why you’d bring something like that up if it’s all smooth sailing.” She shrugged. Maybe that was bad advice; some Witch Weekly columns said that communication should always be number one. But then, would Freya always want to share her insecurities with a partner? Even the stupid ones? She didn’t think so.

The blonde took a sip of her drink, wrinkling her nose when she swallowed the bit of egg she’d forgotten was in there. “Hmm,” was all she had to say about Prosper’s groundwork-laying abilities or whatever. Ari was right, as usual.

She played with her ponytail absentmindedly. “Yeaaahhh,” she said, the word intentionally drawn out to be dismissive, or whatever. She shrugged; she was feeling a lot less needy now, and more flippant about that whole thing. She’d go back to being anxious about Danny when the mimosas wore off and she was by herself. For now, though, it was more fun to focus on Ari.

“Soooo,” she said, leaning in again. “If Prosper wanted to have like, a threesome, would you consider it?”