Sooooo, I'm actually updating this pretty soon again :D I've already started the 4th chapter and I have enough ideas to let there be at least 10 chapters (I hope!), meaning I'm not stopping for now~

Noya looked at him the same was Daichi had. He expected an explanation for why he was called over to Asahi's house first thing in the morning. He deserved one too and Asahi was too afraid to give one.

"Asahi-san." Noya disrupted his thoughts. "How long have you known me?"

"Two years." Asahi replied immediately.

"Right, and in those two years, have I ever laughed at you?"

Asahi frowned. "Countless times."

Noya shook his head. "No, that was laughing with you, not at you. There's a difference."

"But you still laughed."

"Alright, I'll rephrase what I said. Have I ever laughed at anything you were very serious about?"

Asahi had to think about that. "No…" He hesitated.

"Then I won't laugh now either, so please spill your beans so I don't have to leave your house tonight being none the wiser."

Asahi swallowed his worries, assuring himself that he could definitely trust Noya with this and his mental image of Daichi helped with that. And he told him. He told Noya everything he told Daichi (with Noya confirming he indeed had a photo of Asahi in a maid dress), about not feeling like himself, that he always had thought it was because of his height and that that apparently wasn't it.

Noya kept quiet the whole time (which was a first) while Asahi reluctantly told him of his conversation with Daichi. While telling, Asahi relived nearly every moment he had spent wearing that dress and therefore didn't add anything to what he'd told the captain.

Noya stared at him, deep in thoughts, his eyes unfocused. "So…" He started. "Are you a girl?" He looked confused.

Asahi was sure he was wearing almost the same expression. "No. I don't know. Can I? I mean, sometimes?"

"I dunno, man, I've never had a problem like this." Noya shrugged. "You said sometimes, right? Does that mean it's not always like that?"

Asahi nodded. "Sometimes I'm very conflicted about it and sometimes it feels like there's nothing wrong with me. Usually it's a combination of both." He looked away. "Sorry for bothering you with this."

Noya frowned, offended by those words. "Like you could ever bother me with something like this!"

Asahi flinched slightly because of the volume of Noya's words. "I didn't know what to say or what to do, so how could I tell people?"

"You told Daichi-san and now me and as far as I can see, you're still alive. I see no problems."

Asahi wanted to say something, but he searched for words he couldn't find. Instead, he asked something. "So now what?"

Noya didn't have to think about that. "We're gonna google to find out more about it. Maybe it has a name, or is it more common then we think." The last thing Noya said sounded a bit like a miracle: "What if you're not the only one who has this problem?"

The thought of being so hated by the heavens that it made him confused about something on his own without any recourses to find out more about it terrified Asahi. Noya's words seemed to have an impact on him.

Without asking for permission, Noya grabbed Asahi's laptop and turned it on. Asahi didn't have any problems with it anyway, so he let Noya do his thing.

He got the laptop handed over by Noya after the start-up.

"You type it in. What you told me, only much, much shorter." Noya commanded.

Asahi did as he was told, maybe even happy to do so. Apart from the scary part, this was also kind of exciting. Quietly, he typed a few keywords of his story in the search bar and hit enter.

Noya sat down next to him to look along at the results.

"I don't know which link to click though."

"Me neither, so we'll look at all of them." Noya's hand pushed Asahi's away and his index finger rushed over the touch pas to open the first link. Noya stopped when he saw it wasn't related to their search at all, so he quickly skipped it and went for the first result that would probably be related to what they were searching for. It looked decent enough to be of any help.

Asahi read the short paragraph, that was explaining a definition. . He read it a second time and only after the fourth one, Asahi started to process what exactly he was reading.

"Wow." He whispered under his breath, unconsciously and barely audible.

"Is that a good 'wow'?" Noya's eyes switched frantically between Asahi and the laptop screen.

Asahi nodded. "Somehow it's precisely what I was trying to say."

"That's great then, isn't it?" Noya cheered. Only then he read what was on the screen. "Genderfluid, huh… Never heard of it." He looked at Asahi. "Do you wanna look at some other pages to see if there are more things that you could use?"

Instead of his initial search, Asahi now looked up more information about the word 'genderfluid'. The word was new to him, but its meaning was already strangely familiar. This time he got more links he could use.

"Asahi-san." Noya interrupted his thoughts the same way for the second time that day. "Can you open this link for me? It looks interesting."

Asahi opened the page and revealed the story of an Irish news reporter who had come out as genderfluid only a few days earlier.

Noya read the article with him, curious about what it said. "That's awesome." He breathed when he was finished. "It's so cool he did that!" He said happily just before his smile disappeared.

Asahi noticed. "What's wrong?" He asked, worried and not sure he wanted to know the answer to that question.

"If that guy isn't always a guy, is it alright to say 'he'?"

Noya had a good point, Asahi realized, and he didn't know how to answer. "I'm not sure…" He looked at his screen thoughtfully. "Maybe it'd be a good idea to google that too. While we're at it."

Noya agreed with him and Asahi opened a new tab to start a new search, this time for 'pronoun rules'.

"This site says pronouns vary per person. They decide for themselves what they want to be used for them." Asahi summarized the page.

"Then what do you want?" Noya's stare looked right through Asahi, as if he could see the answer already.

"What, me? I thought we were still talking about that news reporter."

"We were, yes. Good use of past tense there. Now I'm asking what you want."

Asahi failed to meet Noya's gaze.

It was as if Noya could read Asahi's mind for a moment. He looked away and shrugged. "It's not like you have to decide right now anyway. No one's pushing you to do anything."

"Maybe that's the problem." Asahi muttered softly.

Apparently so soft, Noya didn't hear it. Or he ignored it and went on. "And what about your name? You feel like changing it?"

All those sudden decisions overwhelmed Asahi. "I don't know! Probably not though…"

"Even when…" Noya searched for the appropriate words. "Even when you're more a girl than a guy?" Asahi didn't answer, so Noya continued.

"I could change pronouns for you if you want, you'd only have to say which one or which ones you want me to use, so I can do that."

"What would you do?" Asahi asked in return.

Noya shrugged. "Dunno. I'd do whatever felt right and maybe also ask people to do the same." He looked at Asahi. "You really don't know, do you?"

In response, Asahi shook his head.

They both stayed silent a few moments, Noya thinking about a possible solution and Asahi thinking about what exactly he wanted.

He opened his mouth to say something to Noya, but hesitated.

Noya waited patiently, knowing Asahi well enough to know he would talk eventually, even without a push from someone else. Sometimes he needed to take his time and Noya could give him that.

"Can we… Can we try it out?" Asahi suggested carefully. "The pronoun thing?"

"Sure. What's your plan?" Noya nodded.

"To try everything out, step by step, I think." Asahi sounded uncertain.

Noya nodded again. "You need to set a few rules for me though."

Asahi frowned. "Like what?"

Noya crossed his arms over his chest. "Which pronouns do you want me to use? When? Only when we're together or can I use them to other people too? Do you want other people involved? How do I know what to use if you wanna try multiple pronouns?"

Asahi, completely overwhelmed by all those questions, panicked. "I… uhm… I –"

Noya sighed, cutting Asahi off. "Think about that, and let me know when you know or something like that. Like I said, it isn't something you can decide just like that." Noya scratched the back of his head. "Or haven't I said that yet? I don't quite remember…"

Wiping his face with one hand, Asahi leaned back, so his back could rest against the wall. "I think you did? Who knows." He smiled and not before long, Asahi was laughing.

Noya gave him a confused look before breaking a smile himself. "Why are you laughing?" He asked.

"Have you ever had a problem for a while that you can't solve no matter what and suddenly you're presented with a solution? And then you feel so relieved and feel and it feels like you could take over the world if you wanted? Because that's exactly what I'm feeling right now. Damn, I feel like I'm gonna cry."

Asahi looked at Noya's now very concerned face. "It's a positive thing, I swear!" He tried to reassure him.

Noya let out a breath. "That's good." He stood up from his position on the ground to sit next to Asahi. "So now that we got that sorted out for the time being, what are your plans for today?" He asked. Noya leaned into Asahi's shoulder, making himself comfortable.

Asahi put his arm around Noya, pulling him even closer. "I think mom wants to watch a movie with me that's on TV tonight, but aside from that, I don't think so."

Noya didn't bother to look up and instead grabbed the arm that was lying over his chest and closed his eyes. "Then is it okay if we stay like this for a while? My parents were out last night, but my sister was sick, so I barely slept."

Asahi wanted to comment on Noya's dedication to coming here, until he saw the bags under Noya's eyes. They were more obvious from above and Asahi felt guilty for not noticing it earlier.

"Stay as long as you like, I'm not going anywhere." Asahi assured him and he, too, closed his eyes.

Noya didn't have to know, but Asahi might also have had a long night, though because of different reasons. Tired, relaxed and comfy, it didn't take long for the two to fall asleep in each other's arms.

Are y'all still with me? :o Damn, I'm so excited for this fic that I'm actually really scared that I'm fucking it up massively OTL Well, even if I am, I'd like to know, so when you've finished reading, I'd love to hear your thoughts about this fic/chapter and please let me know!

And if you're curious about the links, the first one is the Urban Dictionary and the second one is about a story that really happened! I stumbled upon it by accident and it made me really happy :D Google it for more info ;)

PS Writing at uni goes so much faster than at home it's unbelievable! D: But don't worry, I'll make sure my homework is finished ;)

Thank you for reading :3