Day 3 of @aroaceingtheline! Today I went with the prompt of Relationship.
I headcanon Barnes as demisexual, and that he likes whichever body Cel happens to be in because it’s Cel’s, so this is a conversation around that, set sometime after the campaign is over
Discussions of sex, transitioning, and moderate dysphoria
Cel rolled over to face where Barnes lay beside them in bed.  They hadn’t said anything yet, but he could already tell there was something on their mind.
“What’s going on?”  He asked, and rolled to face them in return.
“You know, sometimes I get bored with the body that I have,” they explained, “so I change it up.  This is a pretty androgynous look I’ve got going on right now, but sometimes I like to lean into what are considered more masculine or feminine features, and I switch up my appearance every five years or so? Just because?  Anyway… I’ve been thinking about making some changes – I don’t know for sure what changes yet, but something – and I just wanted to check that it would be okay with you before I started mixing up some potions and beginning the process.”
“Why would you need to check with me?  It’s your body,” he replied, confused, and Cel sighed.
“Yeah, and thank you for that, seriously, but… if you don’t think you would like me in a somewhat different body, then that plays into whether or not I change.”
“Cel…  I would love you in any body.  Whatever body you have, I’m always going to like it because it’s yours.  And I appreciate you talking to me ahead of time, but your comfort is always more important than anything else.”
He could see them smile in the dim moonlight that trickled in through the window, but he continued, hoping to waylay any concerns they might still have.
“If you’re worried about me not being attracted to you anymore – physically, I mean – then you don’t need to worry about that.  You’re attractive to me because you’re you.  Don’t get me wrong, you are very, very…”  His voice trailed off and Cel chuckled, shifting a little closer to him under the covers, both for comfort and to tease him in his already flustered state.  It wasn’t as if he and Cel hadn’t been living together for months at this point, as if they hadn’t been intimate on several occasions, but they still managed to make him tongue-tied.
“As long as you’re sure,” Cel said, filling in the silence when Barnes trailed off.  “It’s not like I have this sudden, necessary need to change things up, more just kind of a repeated passing fancy, so if you think it would be an issue, it’s okay.”
Barnes shook his head against the pillow.  “I have never felt any sort of sexual feelings toward anyone randomly.  Only people that I’ve grown close to emotionally first, and when that happens… I do not mean to diminish how absolutely stunning your body is, but the main reason that it is so fantastic is because it’s yours.”
They smiled again, then moved forward to embrace Barnes sideways and rest their head against his chest like they so often did when they fell asleep together.
He pressed a quick kiss to the top of their head.  “I love you.”
“I love you too,” they replied.  “You know, most of my potions don’t work for anyone else, just for me, but I could make some adjustments if there was anything you wanted to change about your appearance.  Not saying you need to make any changes, but if you wanted to…”
Barnes chuckled.  “I think I’m good.  I made the changes I wanted years ago, and I’ve got the scars to show for it.”  He gestured briefly to his top surgery scars, and then wrapped his arm back around Cel.
“Makes sense.  Just know it’s always an option.”
“Thanks.”  He paused.  “You’re not going to, like… I’m not going to wake up one morning and you’re going to look completely different, right?”
Now it was Cel’s turn to laugh.  “No, it’s a more gradual transition than that, and I’ll still look like me.”
“Okay, that’s what I figured, but I just wanted to make sure.”
“If you wake up and find some random person in our house, that’s probably a burglar.  Be concerned about that.”
Barnes grinned.  “Fair enough.”
