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Georgia had been living with Pip, Jason, Rooney, and Sunil in the Victorian house for five months, and she loved it.
Sleeping next door to her two childhood best friends was everything she had dreamed of when she had learned all of them would be attending the same university. And of course there were Rooney and Sunil; it was hard to believe they had been strangers less than a year ago, considering how big a part of her life they were now.
The only thing she missed about their first year, like she'd expected, was sharing a room with Rooney. Sleeping without another bed always pushed next to hers was a bit lonely, sometimes.
But... not as much as she thought. Rooney wasn't constantly there, but nearly every day there was been at least one knock on the door by someone inviting her to join them in the living room or Rooney's room (she had won the argument with Pip over getting the bigger room in the end, and despite the fact that they all had a common area now, Rooney still invited them over to her room just as often as she and Georgia had before) or the kitchen to share a meal.
It wasn't quiet, either. Sunil upheld their promise not to practice the cello late at night, but he did often practice during the day, so there was quite often quiet string music drifting through the house. The walls here were thinner than the dorms, so Georgia could also often hear her friends walking through the hallways as they made their way to and from class, or doors being closed, or clanging from the kitchen whenever somebody decided to make a meal instead of ordering out or relying on the school cafeteria.
And... as it turned out, she didn't even have to sleep alone, either. It had only been the third night in the house, everyone barely in the early stages of unpacking, when there was a quiet knock on Georgia's door.
"Come in," Georgia called. It was too early in the term for homework, so she had just been relaxing on her bed, reading a quick fanfic before going to bed.
The door creaked open, and Rooney's head popped into the room. "Hey!" she said, stepping the rest of the way in and carefully shutting the door behind her. "So, I wanted to ask you something."
"Go for it," Georgia said. She had absolutely no idea what this was about, but Rooney didn't look particularly upset or anything, so it was probably nothing big. Maybe something about Pip?
"Do you want to sleep together tonight?"
Georgia blinked.
"Not... you know, obviously," she said, and it really had been obvious there was absolutely no sexual connotations to the offer. "I just miss sharing a room with you, you know? And the beds here are a lot bigger than they were in our old room, so we don't even have to try and find a way to push two together."
Georgia looked down at the bed she was sitting in right now. Rooney was right; this would fit the two of them, easily. So would any of the other beds in the house.
"...Yeah," Georgia said. She opened her mouth to say more, but the words escaped her right now.
"Great!" Rooney grinned back at her. "I'll be back after I change then, okay?"
Georgia nodded silently. Rooney, true to her word, slipped back out of the room.
Georgia could have gone back to her fanfic until Rooney returned, but everything she had been doing before the knock on the door was now long forgotten.
She'd thought... despite everything Rooney had promised by the riverside the day of the play, part of Georgia had still simply accepted that her and Rooney's relationship as it had been when they were sharing a room was over. She believed what Rooney had said about them staying friends forever, about her never being abandoned; but in the hypotheticals Rooney had stated, they'd been neighbours, visiting each other but still somewhat disconnected. Not... not sharing a bed together, still, even though they were no longer sharing a room.
When Rooney was back, snuggled in under the covers beside Georgia, she looked over and smiled. "Just let me know whenever you want me to come stay over, okay? Or we can stay over in my room too. Even if I was going to stay the night with Pip," she continued seriously. "I meant it, Georgia, what I said during my... well, attempt at a grand gesture. I'm not abandoning you, okay? No matter what. It doesn't matter how much any other person on earth matters to me, even if I care about them as much as I care about you, they will never matter to me more than you do. So... just tell me, and we can figure things out."
Georgia hadn't been able to speak during the last confession, too caught up in her shock and worry and relief in that moment. This time was only slightly better; she felt kind of speechless again, helpless in the face of such upfront sincerity. But Georgia managed to get out a choked "okay", and took Rooney's hand under the covers and squeezed, and thought that accepting these things was another thing that was only going to get easier with time.
She felt bad that she had yet to verbally return Rooney's heartfelt words. But she knew the other girl understood; and someday, she would be able to put her own thoughts into words and verbally reciprocate all of the unprecedented love that she had received.
Grinning to herself, Georgia pushed her laptop shut with a satisfying sense of finality.
Sunil, the only other person in the house right now, blinked up at her, their bow pausing where it had been slowly dragging across the strings only a moment ago. They were both in the living room, partially to keep each other company and partially because Georgia needed to get this essay finished tonight and had hoped that a change of scenery from her bedroom would help.
"Done?" Sunil asked, although his smile made it very clear he knew the answer to that.
"Done," Georgia agreed anyway. She didn't get up yet though, even though it had been multiple hours and she probably should take a quick walk before everyone else got from their classes. But... "I think..." she trailed off, unsure how to continue from there.
Sunil was done setting their cello down in the stand (than now had its home in the living room along with Roderick - who was, with five people to look after him, now thriving), and sensing a more serious topic of conversation, he sat down on the couch next to Georgia, turning towards her attentively. "Yes?"
"...Um, well, there's going to be another Freshers' Fair soon, right?"
"That's right," Sunil agreed encouragingly. It was the only freshers' week event that was open to all students at Durham, and all of them were planning to go just to see if there was anything else they wanted to check out. They were also going to support Rooney and Pip, who would be staffing the small Shakespeare Soc stall next to the Durham Student Theatre one.
...In other words, Georgia may have been stalling a bit, because she definitely hadn't needed to ask Sunil about that.
"...Well, I guess that means the Pride Soc is going to start up again, and I know I didn't really attend any of the events last year, but... I... want to be part of the group you mentioned."
Sunil's eyes lit up. "You mean the aromantic and asexual students society?"
"Yeah." She flashed a small smile his way. "I mean, I still don't know that much about it all, but you'll still be there, right?"
"Of course," Sunil agreed immediately. "Actually, even though I've stepped down from helping run Pride Soc as a whole, I'm going to be running the aromantic and asexual students society for now. Just so someone with a little bit of experience can help set it up." Their gaze got a little bit distant. "It's too bad Jess is graduated, she would have loved to be a part of this."
Jess still came to visit very regularly. Sunil also went to visit her where she was living pretty often to, or just for the two of them to go out together, sometimes with their other friends. But it was clear that Sunil still missed her sometimes, no matter how much they kept in contact.
"I do love living here," Sunil added, "but I am also looking forward to living with her again after I graduate."
"Oh." Georgia blinked at the information. "You are?" She had known they were roommates for the last couple of years, like her and Rooney had been, but them living together once Sunil graduated was news to her.
"We are," Sunil agreed, smiling. "We're queerplatonic partners, and for us, that means sharing our lives as much as we can."
Georgia squinted. That sounded like a term she'd heard before, but only vaguely.
"I figured you probably wouldn't have heard about that," Sunil laughed softly, correctly discerning her expression. "It's not very well known yet, even within the aromantic and asexual community. Actually, explaining queerplatonic relationships is one of the things I'll be doing at one of the society meetings."
"Oh." Georgia was rather glad she had agreed to attend the meetings, now; there was apparently still so much she was missing.
"For now... well, they're different for everyone. But the main gist of it is that they're somewhere in between or outside of a friendship and a romantic partnership. They don't involve romantic love, but they do have the commitment and structure of a more traditional relationship. Many of them, to some people, might look like they're romantic from the outside."
"Like you and Jess living together?" Georgia asked. That was something that, as a long-term situation, she had always associated with couples and families.
"Exactly. And others may seem like friendships. Other than those base parts - the commitment, the structure - every one is different, depending on what the people in it want and are comfortable with."
"Wow." Georgia sat back on the couch, her mind kind of reeling from all of this new information. It was less of a shock to her than the whole aroace realization, but this was still a lot. Because... "...Is that what Rooney and I have?"
Sunil's eyes widened slightly; they hadn't heard about the confession by the river, so any commitment was news to him. But, true to his nature, he took it in stride. "If both of you want to use the label," they said, "then yes, it could be."
Georgia blinked a few more times, then abruptly stood up. "Sorry, I have to go-"
"It's alright," Sunil said, smiling up at her. "I know I just dumped a lot more information on you."
She nodded, because he was right. "Thank you," she added, though, because she really was thankful. Rooney's offer to be Georgia's special person already meant so much to her - the promise that she would never be abandoned - but potentially having even more words to explain her new world...
Georgia decided to make a grand gesture of her own on Valentine's day.
Everyone in the house had decided to forgo doing anything stereotypical on the day of in favour of a big group movie night together. Rooney declared it another screw you to societal norms, but Georgia knew they all had also done it partially because of her. She wasn't expecting them to do the same every year, but on her first Valentine's day after accepting her identity as aroace, she was incredibly touched that she got to spend the most romantic day of the year after a leadup of having romantic ideals shoved down her throat with her friends.
After the movie (well, movies plural), everyone slowly made their way out of Rooney's room. Pip's friend Lizzie had visited too, and Jess, so Pip and Sunil left to say goodbye to their guests; and Jason, after catching Georgia's eye, quickly vacated the room too.
This left Georgia alone with Rooney, who was tidying up the haphazard pile of pillows blankets that had been left on her floor by all of her guests.
It took Rooney a good thirty seconds to realize Georgia was waiting for her, and she straightened up, her head cocked to the side questioningly as she draped one of the blankets over one arm. "What's up, Georgia? Want to sleep here tonight?"
"No, I- well, yes, actually. But- I have something for you once you're done."
Rooney blinked. "I can be done now, if you want. We all know Pip's room is a hundred times messier than this on any given day, and she doesn't even host all of our movie nights."
Georgia couldn't help but cracking a small smile at that; it was always funny that the two of them had never really given up their constant bickering even after now literally living together for almost half a year.
"Okay, just... wait here."
She slipped out of the room.
Calling it a grand gesture probably wasn't really accurate. It didn't compare to her apology to Jason or Pip, or even to the college proposal Rooney had gotten from that acquaintance back when she and Georgia had barely known each other.
"Happy Valentine's day," Georgia said as she came back into the room half a minute later. In one hand was a huge bouquet, and in the other was a box of chocolates.
Rooney's eyes widened. "You got me something?" She clearly didn't even think to ask if it was supposed to be romantic - they were now far, far past any assumptions like that. But she gingerly took the bouquet and the chocolates and then looked back up, a smile growing on her face.
"You got me flowers once," Georgia said, "and I never got you any in return. And, um, even though we're not romantically together, giving Valentine's day gifts is one of those things I always imagined doing. I know they're really stereotypical, but..."
"I love them," Rooney said sincerely.
"And," Georgia said, "I have something to ask you."
Rooney raised her eyebrows at Georgia's somewhat nervous tone, but she took it in stride, temporarily setting her gifts down on her study desk and walking over to her bed. She then sat down, patting the area beside her.
Georgia gladly took the cue. "...I was talking to Sunil the other day," she started after the pause, "and they told me about another term I'd never heard of."
Rooney made a sound of acknowledgement, but didn't interrupt, letting Georgia get her words in order.
"It's called a queerplatonic relationship. It's a label people can use if they want to when they're not together romantically, but they are still committed to each other and sometimes do stuff that most people assume only couples do. So-"
"Yes," Rooney said, not waiting for the question. She practically tackled Georgia. "Yes, of course. I will say as many times as I need to that I was dead serious about everything I said about me never leaving you, and yes, I would love to be... whatever the term you used was. Queerplatonic?"
Georgia just nodded into Rooney's shoulder, overwhelmed with emotions. Only good ones, this time.
It still took her a some time to be able to get words out again, but when she finally could, there was only one other thing to say. "Thank you. ...I love you."
Rooney pulled her even closer. "I love you too, Georgia Warr."
Sometimes, Georgia still felt herself craving sex and romance. Or, not sex and romance themselves; but the idea of them, the idea of a boyfriend or girlfriend or someone who would fulfil all of those fantasies of marriage and kids and a white picket fence she'd thought up for herself throughout her entire life. The fantasies that had been assumed. But those feelings were fleeting, now. They no longer weighed her down and made her alternatingly angry and envious at the happy couples around her.
Because she had Pip, and she had Jason, and she had Sunil, and most of all she had Rooney, the one person who had promised she was always going to be with her, no matter what.
And to Georgia, finally, that was all she needed.