We spent most of the day like this, just all comfily cuddled together, although Ria and Shima did fall asleep somewhere around noon. So I spent the rest of the day watching the television by myself, not wanting to wake them because they looked so bloody cute. What did wake them in the end was the doorbell. Ria sat upright, making it easier for me to get out of the sofa and walk over to the door. Every step towards it became heavier and heavier as my anxiety rose, I wasn’t looking forward to the talk that was encroaching on me. I’d been able to suppress my stress up until now, but now it was definitely getting a bit hard to carry.

“Hey Em.” I opened the door after having taken a big breath.

“Hey Auro. I see you got your door fixed?” She swung her bag in front of her and opened it up, taking out a smallish brown bag.

“Yeah, got some new sofas too. What’s that?”

“I brought Ria some underwear that she accidentally left behind at my house once… I figured it could be useful.”

“Why does that not surprise me…” I sighed with a smile on my face.

Emma started to giggle as well. “Well, you know her, don’t you? How is she doing, by the way?”

“She’s doing fine, she’s on the sofa.” Emma took off her shoes while I closed the door behind her. “Want something to drink?”

“Sure, anything is fine.” Em smiled as she walked over to the living room.

“Emma!” Ria exclaimed excitedly once she saw her.

“Hey Ria, how are you doing?” The two of them gave each other a big hug and caught up, so that I could get Emma something to drink in the meantime. When I came back, Ria was holding the brown bag in her arms with an enormous blush on her face. “Here you go, it’s grape juice.”

“Thanks.” Emma sniffed the glass to be sure and then took a sip. “It’s pretty good.”

I sat down on the sofa next to them.

“Do you mind if I go and change?” Ria asked while looking at the floor, still blushing quite furiously.

“No no, go ahead.”

Without any further ado, Ria went to the bathroom to change.

Leaving me and Emma giggling a little before we fell quiet again.

“How was school?”

“Nothing special.” Emma shrugged. “Miss Garcia was a bit miffed you weren’t present, but because of what happened yesterday she didn’t doubt you were sick at all. As for notes, I’ll copy mine for you and Corelia.”

“Thanks for all your help, Em.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She rubbed my back but awkwardly pulled back after a couple of seconds. “There’s something we need to talk about as well, don’t we…” She must’ve felt my nervousness.

“Mhmm.” I nodded and waited for Ria to come back to continue.

Once Ria was seated next to me, I started. “So… I wanted to give you an answer as soon as possible and after what happened yesterday, and after having talked with Ria about it this morning we’d like to propose something…”

Emma nodded.

“Uh… well...” My mind tried to come up with a way to formulate what I wanted to say, but came up completely blank. -Why now, brain?-

Luckily Ria bailed me out. “In short, she can’t choose between the two of us.” It was quite blunt though.

However, Ria’s bluntness did make Emma laugh. “I figured that would happen…” She smiled sadly. “So what do you want to do?”

I looked at Ria and then back at Em. “Ria proposed to have a polyamorous relationship… I think?”

Ria nodded. “Yes, it’s when-”

Emma gently cut her off. “I know what it means.” She looked at us both, but I couldn’t really tell from the look on her face what she was thinking.

“Em?”

“Just give me a second to think about it.”

“Take as long as you want.”

Ria squeezed my hand while Emma appeared to be lost in thoughts, trying to reassure me that everything would be fine. Shima also came back. After having been startled by the doorbell, she nestled herself on Emma’s lap to comfort her.

After fifteen stressful minutes Em broke her silence. “Okay. Sorry for the wait...”

“Don’t worry… these are things you need to think thoroughly about… So... Wh-what do you think?”

“Even though I knew you wouldn’t be able to pick, I didn’t expect it to go like this...”

She looked down at Shima, gave her a couple of pets and then looked back at us. “That being said, I’m not really against the idea. Any other option would be hurtful to the others, and I don’t think any of us would want that. I don’t want to see Ria hurt, I don’t want to see you hurt… and since Ria proposed this, I take it she feels the same about me…”

Ria enthusiastically nodded. “Of course I wouldn’t want to see you hurt!”

Emma smiled. “And who knows… maybe one day…” Without finishing her thoughts, she started a new sentence. “It’ll be a challenge though. I don’t really know how the mechanics of these relationships work, but if it’s with you two… I don’t mind trying...”

“This is new to me too, but I think we can make it work together.” Ria got off the sofa, headed to Emma and gave her a hug.

“Same goes for me.” I did the same, being very mindful of the kitten in Emma’s lap.

Being hugged by the two of us I heard Emma start to sniffle, it didn’t take long before she was crying in our arms.

“Are you okay Em?”

“Mhmm.” She hummed in between her sniffles. “I was prepared for so much worse… It's just such a big relief...”

Ria stopped hugging Emma and left the two of us alone for a bit.

“I love you Auro.”

“I love you too, Em.”

I distanced myself a little from her and wiped away her tears.

“C-can I kiss you?”

“You don’t even need to ask.” And with a kiss the contract was sealed, just in time for Ria to rejoin the cuddle puddle.

“Me too!”

Soon they had both pushed me with my back into the sofa, Shima long since having retreated to safer places. I was getting squished by not one, but two girlfriends.

-I guess there are worse ways to die.-