AN: When I first watched RWBY, the Faunus struck a chord with me. Specifically the portrayal of the three we knew at the end of season 1. Blake had passing privilege. She could, if she wanted, pass as a human and choose when she told others that she was a Faunus. Then we have Sun. Sun could probably pretend with a baggy pair of pants, but has the self-confidence and force of personality to pull off a monkey tail. He delights in pretending to live down to people's expectations (he was there for the tournament. If he was actually a stowaway on that ship I will eat my hat). He could laugh off any cruel remarks and turn it around on the bully.
Then there's Velvet. She can't pass - her ears are a foot long - and she's quiet, meek and a favorite target of bullies. She never could hide and she doesn't have the self-esteem or force of personality that Sun does to pull it off. She gets by, tucked away into the shadows, shy and not saying much.
Enter Fox. It took my roommate pointing it out for me to realize he's blind. (I liked CFVY but they were background characters to me for the longest time. I wasn't deep into FNDM at this time).
Likely for the first time in her life, Velvet gets to choose when someone finds out she's a Faunus. She can control when they find out and choose to tell them on her own terms. She gets to make that choice that's been denied to her for so long. She's been bullied, abused, mocked, fetishized and looked down upon her peers, but now she gets to let someone get to know her - the real Velvet - before they ever have the chance to say an unkind word about her being a Faunus.
I've told myself this story a thousand times a hundred different ways. But in the end that's what it boils down to: Velvet choosing when Fox finds out she's a Faunus.
Velvet hadn't even been here for twenty-four hours and she already wanted to go home. She hadn't expected the whispers to stop completely when she got to Beacon, but she had somehow expected better of huntsmen in training.
But the whispers were only louder with the bold and brave future huntsmen. Snide remarks about her ears, questions of a tail, if she and Yatsu fucked like rabbits. The last word was always spat out like it was unclean.
She curled up next to him in the ballroom that night trembling. She was trying to be as bold and brave as her classmates, but it felt futile. She couldn't even get up to use the restroom.
"I'll walk you over there," he promised, running his broad hand over her back.
She shook her head violently, not having the energy to smile when she felt her ears brush his chin. "I can do this."
He let her pull out of his arms. She surveyed the room, darkened for sleep. There were a few people moving around to settle in for bed, but most of her classmates were already laying down. Perfect.
Movement to her right caught her eye - someone standing up and moving closer.
"Hey, do you know where the bathroom is?" the stranger asked. She was taller than Velvet, with short hair (but with one long lock of a different shade).
Velvet's eyes darted around the room, assessing the threat. She could hear Yatsuhashi shift behind her, not getting up but prepared to jump up if needed. "Yeah."
"Can you show me? I've had to piss for an hour and I couldn't find it."
"Y-yeah." Velvet barely held back the cringe, forcing herself to smile just a little. "This way."
"Thank you," she said as they picked their way over their sleeping classmates.
The bathroom's lights were harsh. There was someone at the sinks brushing their teeth when they walked in. She looked up at the two of them and snorted. "God, they should have separate facilities for you freaks. I don't want to get fleas," she said, smirking at Velvet's companion for confirmation.
Velvet flinched back, groping for the door, but the woman she had shown to the bathrooms stalked forward, an icy glare freezing the bigot in their tracks.
She said something too soft for Velvet to hear, but the one woman grew progressively paler before rushing out of the room, the bag of toiletries left behind.
Velvet murmured a thank you before ducking into a stall to do her business.
She wasn't expecting her companion to still be standing there, leaning against the sinks when she emerged.
"I don't think I introduced myself; my name's Coco."
"Velvet," she responded, washing her hands. "You didn't have to use the restroom, did you?"
Coco shrugged. "No. But it looked like you could use a friend."
Velvet eyed her classmate warily. People weren't kind to her unless they wanted something typically. "Thank you."
Coco moved as if to touch her, but she jerked , she instead just said, "Anytime. I'll keep an eye out for you during initiation tomorrow. I'd be honored to be on a team with you."
"Coco Adel and Fox Alistair, you're being paired with Velvet Scarlatina and Yatsuhashi Daichi," Glynda said, taking the playing card they'd grabbed from the temple. "As you are the first two pairs back, you'll have some time to rest and get to know one another before the naming ceremony later today. Team leaders will be announced then. You can head back to the school to eat and unpack now."
"Velvet!" Coco said, moving away from where she stood at Fox's side to approach their new teammates. "I'm really glad we're on a team together."
Fox smiled and joined them. "It's nice to meet you both," he said, extending his hand. He couldn't differentiate between their two auras, but he figured somewhere in the middle would be right.
"It's nice to meet you as well. I'm Yatsuhashi." A broad, calloused hand met his briefly. His voice was deep yet maintained a note of warmth.
"Velvet." The voice was softer, more lyrical. "I don't… I don't like touch?" she added when he had kept his hand extended to shake hers.
He pulled his hand back. "Okay."
"Vel," Yatsuhashi said with a small laugh. "We've been friends for years. 'No touch' works a little differently for me."
"Makes sense," Coco said.
Fox tilted his head. "I feel like I missed something." He knew he had, but better to get the "Oh you're blind?" revelation out of the way now rather than later.
"Velvet grabbed Yatsuhashi's hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulders," Coco explained.
"Gotcha." He tapped the corner of one eye. "I'm completely blind. I can use my aura to sense a general shape, some movement, whether you have an aura or not, but details like that get lost." He gestured to the two of them. "You're kind of one large aura, tall, but that's about it. I only know there are two of you because you told me."
He'd said it in a rush, almost flippantly. He'd already had this talk with Coco in the forest - but it was always difficult to bring attention to it.
Coco put her hand on his shoulder and her voice was as hard as steel when she asked, "That isn't a problem, is it?"
"Not in the least," Yatsuhashi said with Velvet chiming in a quiet echo of the sentiment.
She was curled up next to Yatsuhashi on his bed, her head on his shoulder. "What am I going to do?" It was the first moment they'd had alone together since initiation. She took no issue with Fox being blind, but it also meant he (probably) didn't know she was a Faunus.
He chuckled softly and stroked her hair. "You could just tell him."
"You know how people react. Even people who don't openly hate Faunus react differently around me." She pulled away, sitting up and clutching her knees to her chest. "You did too," she reminded her oldest friend. "It'd be nice to just let him get to know me."
Yatsuhashi had gone out of his way to compliment her every time she'd done something difficult when they first met, having seen how their teacher and classmates overlooked her. Even though he'd been trying to be kind, he'd come off as patronizing.
She'd finally snapped one day; he'd apologized and they'd been friends ever since.
"It's been two days. You also don't know for certain he doesn't know."
She really didn't want to know if Faunus' auras were different enough from a human's to be able to tell.
"And what if he doesn't and he hates me for not telling him?" Velvet asked her knees. "Don't want him to hate me, he's too cute for that." She wiped tears away before they could fall.
The door slammed open, letting in their team leader and causing Velvet to jump all but off the bed. "Why is it so hard to make things accessible?" she griped, throwing her non-weaponized handbag onto her bed. She started to follow then looked at Velvet and Yatsuhashi. "Oh. Um. Do you need me to come back?"
"Is Fox coming?" Velvet asked. Coco might be able to provide some insight.
Coco sat down on Fox's bed facing Velvet. "Not for a while yet. Is everything okay?"
"Does he know?" she asked, gesturing to her ears. "That I'm a Faunus?"
Coco started to respond then stopped, leaning back and taking off her sunglasses. "You know, I don't know. Do you want me to ask him?"
"I don't know... I've never had to tell anyone before, and it's kind of nice. It feels like he's getting to know me rather than Velvet the Faunus."
"I'm not sure I understand," Coco said. "But I won't tell him if that's what you want."
Velvet wasn't entirely sure it made sense, but it made a difference to her. "Please don't."
The conversation came to an abrupt end when Fox came in, declaring victory in finding an audiobook version of one of their texts.
"So I'm curious, if you don't mind indulging me for a moment," Coco asked him out of the blue one day. It was only the two of them - Velvet and Yatsuhashi had headed to town to check out a new Dust market.
"Sure," Fox said, pocketing his earbuds and turning towards her.
"Can you sense a difference between humans and Faunus?"
He went completely still at the question. "Several people have asked me that before," he started, carefully choosing each word as he spoke. He trusted that his partner was asking for good reasons. But he needed to make sure. "The first time I must have been... four? Five? and this neighbor of ours approached me when I was playing outside. He knew that I could 'feel' where people were. He kept asking me over and over if some 'people' felt different than others, or if sometimes I felt someone who was wrong or different.
"I didn't understand what he meant. I just told him over and over that everyone felt different, it depended on a lot of things." The words came easier now. He'd told this story so many times before to other curiosity seekers. "What I didn't tell him was that the more agitated he got and the more anger his voice held, the uglier he felt - that he was the one who felt wrong.
"My parents had to explain that people could hate one another over something so petty as looks. I knew what a Faunus was, but I didn't understand the hate the man held for them - and I still don't."
He started to bounce one leg, unable to hold still any longer. "When I started school, I made a lot of friends, but I'll never forget this one. Whenever one of the other children would see us together, they'd later get me alone and ask me if I could 'tell' he was a Faunus. I'd simply reply that I knew because he'd told me, but they were never quite happy with that answer - or the fact that we remained friends. He stopped coming by my place as often after that, but we still keep in touch. Last I heard from him, he'd taken to trimming his antlers every spring and pretending to be human.
"The last time I was asked that question, it was a Faunus woman. She let me feel her ears as proof because I'd stopped answering humans when they'd asked. She cried when I told her." He went still again, tilting his head. "So, Coco, my human partner, please know I want to know why you want to know before I answer." He put the slightest emphasis on the word human. She had told him a day or so prior out of the blue, possibly trying to gauge whether he knew. He wasn't unwilling to tell her, just cautious.
"We have a few Faunus classmates. One of them approached me after your explanation in class the other day and asked. If you don't want to share, that's fine." She walked over, kneeling down next to him. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't think it was important."
"Why didn't they ask me?"
"Personal reasons I don't fully understand but I'll respect."
He sighed and buried his face in his hands. "No. There's no discernible difference for the most part. Sometimes if it's a particularly prominent feature, like a tail, I can tell if you're using it like a fifth limb. Please only tell them if it will comfort them. I've stopped answering the question because even the Faunus woman had been so convinced she was somehow different - better or worse or just different - it distressed her greatly."
"I know it will comfort them," Coco said, standing and ruffling his hair. "Want to go get lunch or spar? This is too heavy of a discussion for a Saturday."
He managed a small smile. "Sure."
She had let herself get distracted - she usually met up with Fox here to head to Dr. Oobleck's class, and hadn't noticed her classmates waiting outside the door for her.
"Freak!" the taunt was accompanied by a hard shove from behind, tripping Velvet and causing her to drop her books and papers. "You're just a deadweight riding on your team's coattails. Ozpin and Goodwitch only let you in to make Beacon look good."
She scrambled to try and pick up her books and papers, but her tormentor kicked them, scattering them across the hallway. "Please stop," she begged, grabbing one of her books. Three of her classmates walked past - ignoring the scene but still taking care to not step on any of the papers.
"Do you think she has a tail?" Her tormentors were partners from the year above hers - half of a known team of bigots.
"Why don't we take a look?" One of them grabbed for her skirt, but she jumped to her feet and backed away quickly.
"I'm already going to be late to class," Velvet reasoned, looking around at the disaster that had been her carefully organized notebooks, cringing when they stepped on some of the loose papers. "Please, just go."
"No, I don't think so. I think we're going to show you where your kind belong."
"I think you were asked to leave." Velvet had missed Fox coming up behind her. "You can either leave now, or I will make you leave."
"C'mon, it's not worth it," the smaller one said, eyes wide and tugging on his companion's sleeve. They'd seen Fox fight. It was terrifying even when he was deliberately holding back and not kill his target.
"No fun fighting a cripple," he said, spitting at Fox before taking off, taking the most destructive path through her notes possible.
She crumpled against the wall and started to cry. "Fox... Why?"
He'd been reaching out to help her up, but withdrew his hand at the sound of her voice. "Velvet?" he asked, clearly not having expected her. "Are you okay?" He crouched down near her, but stayed just out of reach.
She sniffled. "No. What...what did you hear?" He was being so nice. She didn't want Fox to have found out like that.
"Not much." He started to feel around on the floor, gathering papers and books as he found them. "I just caught the last couple of things. I'll message Coco, let her know we're not going to Oobleck's class."
"No!" Velvet protested, shoving herself to her feet. "No, I can make it, just let me get things together. Can't let them win," she muttered, mostly to herself.
"Okay, I'll let her know we'll be late then," he said pulling out his scroll and dictating a quick message to Coco as Velvet collected the rest of her books and papers. He held out what he'd collected to her with both hands. "Do you want to tell someone? They shouldn't get away with what they did."
She laid her hand over Fox's right one, squeezing gently. "Thank you." He jumped just a little at the contact. "It won't help though." She managed a smile, taking one last look around for stray papers. "I think that's everything. Let's go to Oobleck's class."
Tucking her books under one arm, she linked her other with Fox's. He stumbled over his next step, but didn't say anything as they made their way to class.
The forest of Forever Fall was equally beautiful and dangerous, and despite Glynda's best efforts, they had been led into a veritable war zone of a territorial dispute between two large Beowolf packs.
"Everyone, please remain calm," Glynda urged them. There were a dozen first year students along for the sap collection, but despite being huntsmen in training, they were in no way prepared to take on that many Beowolves.
Fox heard two people break into a run back towards Beacon and winced. It only took a moment before their panic drew the attention of the two large masses of growling Beowolves right towards the group.
"How many?" He asked Coco, ensuring his weapon was at the ready and taking comfort in the now-familiar sound of her minigun coming out.
"Too many. You and Velvet move right, try to flank them. We'll move left."
He could feel Velvet's aura crackling as they did what Coco asked.
It was a mistake though. They'd been treating the mass of Beowolves like a single pack that would more or less act as a cohesive unit. Instead, one pack stayed with the main group and the other pursued Fox and Velvet. Even with the frightening mess of battle disorienting him, Fox knew he was retreating deeper into the forest, driven back by the advancing Grimm.
"We're getting separated from the group." Velvet's voice was tight. She'd stayed close, occasionally touching his shoulder or calling out a warning to let him know where she was.
"It's either that or be dinner," Fox said, slashing at another Beowolf. "Do you have a better idea?"
"I do - jump back on one," she said, the air charging around him with electricity, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up. "Three. Two. One."
He leapt back with as much strength as he could; the heat of her attack still raced after him with the force slamming him back into a tree, knocking his breath out.
"Velvet?" he called, but no one responded. "Shit shit shit," he muttered, trying to focus on his aura and pinpoint her - she was there. He could feel her aura, faint and as small as he'd ever felt it. Despite wanting to rush to her side, he steadied himself and listened and felt, ensuring the danger had passed.
He knelt next to where she lay. "I'm sorry," he whispered, reaching out to find her shoulder and flinching when he found her cheek instead. She was a lot shorter than he had expected. Even though she'd begun to initiate touch every now and again, he didn't feel right doing this. "I'm so sorry." He kept apologizing as he checked that she was breathing and clumsily found her pulse - weak but steady. She felt a lot more fragile under his hands than when she was up and about - a seemingly endless font of energy. He carefully maneuvered her into the recovery position on her side, careful not to touch her more than strictly necessary - though cringing every time his fingers so much as brushed her clothes.
"Fox? Velvet!" Goodwitch called. "Where are you?"
"Here!" Fox called.
"Are you okay? What happened to Velvet?" she asked as she came closer, footsteps crunching through the leaves on the ground.
"She passed out during the fight, I think she overextended herself." Fox stood up, brushing leaves off his pants and putting himself between Velvet and Goodwitch.
She stopped walking forward. "Can you carry her? We need to get back to Beacon."
"Is she in immediate danger?"
"No, but two of your classmates took off towards Beacon and I need to track them down. I can't leave you here. So if you would, please…" the gesture she made was just barely visible to him.
Fox stood up a little straighter. "No. I'll wait here until she wakes up or we can get Yatsuhashi. He'll know what to do."
"Excuse me?"
"She doesn't like to be touched. Yatsuhashi would be able to carry her out, I'm sure."
"And I'm supposed to believe she collapsed into the recovery position?" Goodwitch snapped.
"No, but I wanted to make sure my teammate wasn't dead and I really hope she is okay with that!"
"What happened?" Fox had been so focused on his professor he hadn't heard Coco's approach. He hoped Yatsuhashi wasn't far behind.
"Velvet did something to take out the Beowolves and passed out." Fox gestured back towards where she lay prone. "I made sure she wasn't in immediate danger, had a pulse, breathing, put her in the recovery position..." he winced as he realized how much he'd had to touch her to do all that.
"Yatsuhashi." Goodwitch sounded beyond exasperated. "Will you carry your partner back? Fox, I want to have a word with you in my office when we're back at Beacon."
Yatsuhashi clasped his shoulder briefly. "You did the right thing. I will carry her back."
Coco slapped his ass. "Good job. Though I think Goodwitch is pissed at you."
Velvet came to with a splitting headache and a dry mouth. She could hear her teammates talking quietly somewhere in the distance, though it no doubt sounded a lot further away than it actually was.
She sat up slowly, taking stock. She remembered the fight, Fox being thrown back and then nothing. "Fox?" She couldn't quite focus on the room.
"He's being yelled at by Goodwitch," Yatsuhashi said, coming into her field of vision, carrying a glass of water. "He's fine."
"What happened?" Her hands trembled slightly as she took the glass. Her partner sat down beside her, one hand on her back.
"You took out the pack of Beowolves intent on chewing of your face, then passed out. Fox made sure you weren't dead or dying - he apologizes profusely for touching you, by the way, I'm sure he'll apologize more when he sees you're awake, and then yelled at Goodwitch when she wanted to move you without Yatsuhashi there." Coco offered her a small bowl of almonds. Their fingers brushed briefly and Velvet managed not to flinch.
"Thank you," she muttered.
"I carried you back to Beacon. You just were suffering from exhaustion and aura drain," Yatsuhashi added.
Velvet ate an almond before responding. "Did he find out?"
Her teammates looked at one another. "He hasn't mentioned it," Yatsuhashi said.
"You know he's not going to mind, right?" Coco asked, settling down on Fox's bed across from Velvet.
"I know. I just feel like he knows me without a chance to ever think of me as a Faunus first and Velvet second. He just knows Velvet." She leaned against Yatsuhashi. "Even you treated me differently," she reminded them. "Not necessarily in a bad way, just. Different. Fox treats me like he treats everyone else."
Coco started to say something, but the door opened, letting in a fuming yet silent Fox.
Velvet watched in fascination as he quietly shut the door behind him then walked over to his desk, unclenched his fists and put his hands down on it, taking several deep breaths.
Yatsuhashi gave her a tiny nudge.
"Hey, Fox," she managed with a smile.
He spun around towards her, face lighting up with a big smile. "Velvet. You're awake." His face quickly closed off though and he looked down at the floor. "I, um."
"Come over here, not up for standing up," she said, patting the bed on the side not occupied by Yatsuhashi. "Coco and Yatsuhashi told me what you did." He came over and stood by her bedside, hands clasped in front of him. "Sit," she said, patting the bed next to her. She could feel her heart racing. She hoped he didn't know, but she didn't know she really minded anymore. "They said you saved my life and stopped Goodwitch from doing something I wouldn't have liked."
He sat on the very edge of her bed, twisted so he was facing her. "Yes, but…"
She put her hand on his shoulder and leaned in to kiss his cheek. "Thank you."
His teammates had been acting really strange ever since the incident in the forest. He was trying not to read too much into it, but he had overheard more than one whispered conversation that had abruptly stopped when he walked in.
He couldn't take it anymore. Something was wrong. "You're hiding something," he accused his partner. "One of you is hiding something from me and the other two of you are helping."
He wasn't sure what he was expecting. A denial, a confession, a calm explanation... but a simple "yes" wasn't quite it.
"What?" he asked, recoiling slightly.
"We are hiding something from you. Not going to lie about that."
"But... why?" he asked, slumping back onto his bed.
He heard Coco pace the length of the room and back before she stopped in front of him. "If you had the chance to let someone get to know you, Fox, first. Let them get to know who you really are, and then - and only then - let them know you were blind - would you?"
He swallowed the 'of course not!' he wanted to snap back at her in frustration and thought about it. Would he? He'd never had that option before. "I... I don't know."
Coco put a hand on his shoulder. "Their answer was yes. It's not a matter of trust. We all trust you with our lives."
Yatsuhashi's voice from the doorway made them both jump. "Velvet will come to you when she's ready."
"I was trying not to let on who it was," Coco admonished. "Is she not with you?"
"Doctor Oobleck wanted to talk to her about something. Fox, she's warmed up to you faster than anyone else I've ever seen. She's happy. She's a little distressed you figured it out before she had a chance to tell you, though."
Fox shook his head. "No, at least, not as far as I know."
"Then you haven't." Yatsuhashi said with confidence.
"She's never willingly touched me," Coco chimed in. "She doesn't flinch anymore, but she's never willingly done it."
"She hasn't?" Fox asked in wonder, hand going up to where she'd kissed his cheek just a few days prior.
"This is good for her," Yatsuhashi reiterated. "She didn't even warm up to me that quickly."
Velvet walked into their dorm room and dropped her bag, flopping face down onto her bed without bothering to pull back the covers.
"You all right there, Velvet?" Coco asked from across the room.
She looked up and checked they were alone. "Fox. At this point I don't even know how to tell him."
"I mean, you could just tell him. He's not going to be upset."
"I know, I just... don't want to screw it up." She stared up at the ceiling. "Honestly I just want to crawl in his lap and say, 'Look ears! Kiss me now.'"
"I'm sorry, say that again?" Velvet could hear the barely suppressed laughter in her teammate's voice.
Velvet sat up briefly and groaned, dropping back onto the bed. "I have the worst crush on him and I am apparently so out of it I forgot I was talking to you and not Yatsuhashi."
"You're both ridiculous." Coco stood and walked into the bathroom, emerging with Velvet's comb and a hair tie, walking over to put it on her bedside table. "He offered to braid my hair once, apparently he used to keep his long. Just ask. I'll go, he should be back soon."
Velvet sat up and grabbed Coco's hand as she turned to go. "Thank you."
Coco's eyes widened in surprise, but she smiled and gently squeezed Velvet's hand. "You're welcome."
Today was going to be a good day. Coco had sent a message about being out all day for some quality time at her favorite clothing store so he was going back to the dorm room to study in relative quiet.
"Fox?"
He tugged his earbuds out and wrapped them around his scroll, tilting his head at the slight tremble in Velvet's voice. "Yeah, Velvet?"
"Coco said." She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Coco said you'd offered to braid her hair once. Mine keeps. Mine keeps getting in my face. During sparring class." The words came out clipped like she kept trying to stop herself. "Could you. Help?"
Velvet will come to you when she's ready. Yatsuhashi's words came to mind. "Of course." He dropped his books on his desk. "How do you want to do this?"
She chuckled. "What's easiest for you?"
"I need to be situated behind you, preferably slightly above, like with you sitting in a chair and me standing. I'll need your brush and a hair tie as well."
"I'll sit on the floor next to your bed," Velvet said, padding over and picking up his hand to press a tie into it, then settling down between their beds. "I have my comb for when you need it."
Fox sat down on his unmade bed, legs crossed beneath him. "Okay. I'm going to touch you now."
"Gently," she said with a shaky breath.
Remembering from the forest she's shorter than he expected, he reached out and laid his hand on the back of her head, carefully gathering her hair in his hand. There was a lot of it, though super fine and extremely soft.
She laughed - short and pained. "Do you need me to stop?" he asked, not moving.
"No, just… further up?"
He hummed in agreement, letting her hair fall from his fingers and tried again, this time starting closer to the top of her head. He was beginning to suspect he'd find a pair of antlers or a second pair of ears and smiled slightly when his hand brushed fur. Carefully he found her other ear as well, mapping out where they were on her head with both hands.
"Are they going to be a problem?" she asked.
He let her pretend she meant for the braid.
"Nope." He carefully ran his fingers through the hair around them, gathering it all into one hand. "Can I have that comb of yours? I'll be gentle."
She leaned back against the bed, head bumping against his shins. "I hate having my hair back. But this is nice. Don't stop, please."
He let her hair fall into his lap, abandoning it to massage her scalp. "I won't do anything you don't want - including stop." As his confidence grew, he applied more pressure, eliciting a small moan from her.
"You'll be there for a while, then," she warned, tilting her head back so her head was fully in his lap. "Unless…"
"Unless?" he asked after a moment of silence.
"I could join you up there?"
His heart skipped a beat. Yes. "Anything you want," he said, extracting his hands from her hair so she could move without hurting herself.
She didn't need to hear that twice, climbing up onto the bed next to him, tucking herself under his arm with her head on his shoulder, only belatedly asking "Is this okay?"
"More than," He assured her, tightening his grip around her slightly and going back to stroking her hair.
She twisted slightly in his embrace, propping herself up. "And if I wanted to kiss you. Would that be okay?"
He tilted his head up with a smile. "More than."
And so she did.