Verity raised an eyebrow and smirked, gesturing down their body with a wave of their hand. “I know, right?”
They quickly sobered, smile faltering, and Jack realized he must have touched on a sore subject.
“Are things still…” Jack asked without asking.
Verity let their guard fall, considering the question thoughtfully before answering uncharacteristically softly, “Aaron is a complicated person.”
“And you aren’t?” Jack countered.
“I like to think I’m relatively straightforward,” Verity responded with a loud exhale.
“Are you still just sleeping naked?”
Verity flicked their attention up to Jack and quickly returned it to the plate of bacon.
“Verity,” Jack proposed tentatively. “Can I ask you something?”
“Ask away, Daddy.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “When we were in New York, you told me Aaron was very much a dom, but he wanted to sub for you and you wouldn’t let him, right?”
They nodded, chewing grimly on a crispy slice of bacon.
“He knows you’re vers?”
Another nod.
“He knows you switch?”
One more nod.
Jack studied Verity and ran everything he knew about them and their history through his mind, trying to get to the bottom of whatever was keeping Verity out of Aaron’s pants. It was obvious that they were unhappy with the way things were, and Jack had already seen first-hand the teasing Aaron and Verity did to mask the hurt and confusion between them. It wasn’t healthy to carry this on.
“Oh, Verity,” Jack sympathized, finally putting the pieces together. “You won’t let him bottom or sub because you don’t think he’ll like it, do you? You think he’ll try it and then decide it’s not worth it.”
Verity ate another slice of bacon, folding the entire thing into their mouth in one go. Jack waited until they swallowed and stopped their hand when they reached for another.
“When I was younger, I used to think I was demisexual,” Verity shared, willingly pulling back their hand from the plate. “But I think my tendencies then were more of a defense mechanism. It wasn’t that I needed to know someone before I wanted to be physical with them, it’s more like I hoped if they knew me, they’d want to stay even after things…” they trailed off.
This was a glaring flash of insecurity that Jack hadn’t ever seen from his friend before and, although he was shocked, he steeled his features and did his best not to show it.
“Anyone who would ever leaveyouis an idiot,” Jack assured them.
“Maybe,” they conceded.
“Verity, do you like Gregory?” Jack asked.
They seemed surprised by the change in the line of questioning and took the opportunity to grab more bacon.
“He’s good for Landon.”
“Do you think Gregory would be friends with someone who was an asshole?”
“I see where you’re trying to go with this, and it’s not going to make me change my mind,” they warned.
Jack chuckled at Verity’s tenacity and tried another approach.
“Do you miss playing with Landon?”
