Trigger warnings- None

I'm not sure what I even want to say, but there's no way I'm going to let these two upset Imogen like that. Her stepbrother seems to be the only one who respects her and he seems ok with me. I guess that means I passed his test?

I open my mouth and start to speak. "Look, I know that your daughter or stepdaughter coming out to you as Asexual came as a bit of a shock. And yeah, you're right, unfortunately there are some people who will take advantage of her anyway. I promise you, I would never do that. I love Imogen more than anyone else in the world, and if she ever wanted me to stop doing something, I would stop immediately. I know she doesn't want to have sex, and that's ok. The type of relationship Imogen wants is someone she can spend the rest of her life with as a close friend. A companion if you prefer. And I am more than happy to be that companion."

I pause to take a breath. I expect one of them to interrupt me, but they don't, so I continue, "no matter how hard you try and fight with her about her relationship with me, I will stay by her side. I'm sure she didn't tell you this, but she and I broke up for a little while. I explained to her that I would wait a thousand lifetimes to spend even one of them with her, and I meant every word of that. If you don't accept Imogen being Asexual, that's fine, but please don't assume that there aren't people who will accept that, and that there isn't anyone who will give her the love and respect she deserves, because there are. And I would like to be one of them."

I stop again, expecting them to now take advantage of the moment of silence, but still, there's nothing. "I'm sorry if I've come across as rude or disrespectful, and I assure you that wasn't my intention, but I wasn't going to sit here and let you think I have no respect for Imogen's boundaries. Now, I guess we'll take our leave."

I'm about to turn around when a hand grabs my wrist. I turn around, sure that I'm about to get punched in the face, but I don't. Instead I'm face to face with Imogen's stepdad.

"I'm sorry kid, I think we started off on the wrong foot," he says. "You seem like you really care about her."

"It's not that we don't accept Imogen being Asexual," her mum adds, "but when we were young, terms like that didn't exist. We barely understood what it meant. But seeing how much you care about my daughter, makes me think that you're seriously in love with her. We want to know about her sexuality, and we want to understand so we can be here for her."

I turn to look at Imogen as Lewis lets go of my wrist. "If you want to talk to them alone or with Edward, I understand, but I'll always be here if you need me."

Imogen looks between me and her stepbrother. If she chooses him I understand, he seems like he'll be there for her no matter what anyway. Any step brother who gives their step sister's boyfriend a quiz like he gave me deserves to be just as happy as we are.

Imogen comes over to me, "can you stay with me?"

"Sure love, I'm right here if you need me," I reply, giving her a small kiss on the cheek so I don't embarrass her.

She still blushes anyway and nods to Edward, who's still standing by the door.

Edward nods and says, "text me if you need me, Imogen, I'll be here as quick as I can if you need me to be."

"Thanks Ed," she replies, and we watch as Edward leaves.

Imogen moves her chair next to mine so we can sit facing her parents. I offer her my hand as she takes a seat, but she chooses to play with the promise ring I bought her after our six month anniversary instead.

I sit and watch her as she fiddles with the ring, sliding it on and off her finger. I know this is terrifying but I can't help but want her to speak so we can end the really long and awkward silence we're in right now.

"Ok, I think I'm ready," she says after a couple of minutes. I give her a smile and she smiles back at me weakly before she starts to speak again. "So, I am Asexual, in short it means that I don't feel sexual attraction. For every person who's Asexual it can mean different things. Some people still have sex anyway, some don't, and some people find it repulsive or aren't comfortable with it. I fall into the third description. I am capable of falling in love with someone and having romantic feelings for someone. I am very much in love with Liam and he knows that I'm Asexual and he fully supports me and accepts that sex isn't something I want from our relationship."

"So, does that mean you'll never take things to the next level?" Her mum asks.

"If you mean, will I ever have sex, I don't know. Maybe one day I'll feel ready to and I'll want to try it, but that might never happen. It doesn't mean that I can't have children either, there's lots of options for this kind of thing these days. I completely understand if you don't get what I mean by all this, it's ok. Things were different back when you were our age. But, things change, and I don't want you to see our relationship as a bad one just because I'm Asexual."

I decide that I should probably say something, after all, why else am I here? But in all honesty, I'm not sure what to say. Eventually I add, "I love Imogen so much and I accept her for who she is. I don't mind not being able to take things to the next level if she doesn't want to or if she isn't comfortable doing that, but I still want to spend the rest of my life with her. And I'll always be by her side to support her."

Lewis and her mum look at each other. Then Lewis looks back at us and replies, "we understand a little better now." He takes Imogen's hand, "I'm sorry if I made you think we hated you or we didn't accept you, it just takes a little time to adjust to something like this. We don't want you to feel ashamed of who you are, and it seems even if we didn't accept you, you've found someone who loves you and who accepts you for who you are. But regardless, I'm sorry for anything we've said which has upset you or made you feel unvalidated, that was never our intention."

"Thanks....and I'm sorry I didn't take the time to explain it better," Imogen mutters.

"No, don't apologise. You've done nothing wrong." Lewis pulls her into a hug, which Imogen reciprocates.

Her mum meanwhile looks at me, and I'm surprised to see she has tears in her eyes. "I think we've started off quite badly. I'm sorry we haven't been very hospitable. We'd love the chance to get to know you better."

"It's ok Mrs Parker, I sort of expected a reaction like that. I just wanted to try and help Imogen repair her relationship with both of you." I explain.

She smiles at me. "You seem like a very sweet person Liam," she replies, calling me by my name for the first time. "But please, call me Jennifer."

"Ok, I will. Thank you for giving me a second chance."

"You're welcome."

I see that Imogen and Lewis have finished whatever conversation they were having and she's pulled out of the hug. Imogen turns to me. "Do you want to head back to school or hang out here for a while?"

"I don't mind, we can do whatever you want, my love," I reply. Both her parents smile at my nickname for her.

"Let's go back. I've got some homework to finish."

"Ok, sure, whenever you're ready."

"I'm ready now. Let's go."

"Please, come back and visit again soon," Jennifer says.

"We will, mum, don't worry," Imogen replies, grabbing my hand.

When we get to the door, we see that it's raining so I give her my jacket. I don't mind getting wet if it means she stays dry. As we walk, hand in hand, she's much quieter than usual. Normally she's telling me about something Chloe said or something one of her teachers said about her classwork, but there's nothing.

"Are you ok?" I ask after a while.

"I'm fine," she replies, much too quickly.

"You're not fine at all. You're way too quiet. Whatever it is, you can tell me as soon as you're ready. Or not at all if you don't want to, but I'm here if you want to stop and cuddle for a few minutes."

She smiles and lets out a small chuckle. "Liam, you're already getting soaked since you gave me your jacket. You'd really stop and cuddle me in the rain."

"If it makes you happy, sure."

"Well, I guess I should tell you."

"Don't tell me if you're not ready."

"No, it's ok, really. It's just, I can't believe I'm dating someone like you."

"What? Incredibly funny, charming and handsome?" I joke. She laughs, and I wish I could bottle the sound and live off it.

"No! Well, yeah, you are all of those things, but I can't believe you did all that for me. The way you spoke to my parents, with such confidence. I can't believe you did that for me."

I laugh, but I'm not sure why. "If I'm being honest, I thought your stepdad was going to punch me after I said all that."

She laughs too and we stop for a moment as she hugs me and we kiss in the middle of the street, rain pouring down around us, and neither of us cares a bit. 'Cause as long as we have each other. We can do anything.