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“What are we?” Yamcha asked, tilting his head back to look up at Tien, whose leg he was using as a pillow.
“...Human?” Tien provided, confused by the seemingly random question. He never understood why Yamcha started such strange conversations after sparring, or why he insisted on physical contact like this. Not that Tien particularly minded the latter.
“Well no shit.” Yamcha rolled his eyes before motioning vaguely between them, “I mean us. What are we?”
“Oh.” Tien blinked. And blinked again. He found himself kind of dumbfounded on this one- he hadn’t had need to think of what his and Yamcha’s relationship was at this point. Training partners, naturally. (Yamcha was no match for Tien in raw power, but he was cunning, kept Tien on his toes.) Friends, for sure. (The best of, in fact.) And, recently, cuddle buddies. (To use Yamcha’s term for it since Tien hadn’t even known that was a thing until he used it.) He sighed, noting Yamcha watching him. “I don’t know.”
Yamcha stayed quiet for a long moment, chewing his bottom lip. Finally, he spoke up, his face turning redder by the second. “Are we… Can we be boyfriends? I know you don’t… don’t really do the romance thing- and I’m okay with that! I just want to know if it’s okay to say we’re a couple-”
Tien smiled softly, silencing the yammering bandit by reaching to place his hand over Yamcha’s and squeezing it lightly. It wasn’t a gesture he usually did, but Yamcha made him want to… he didn’t know exactly. He had never felt romantically attracted to anyone before; it was foreign and terrifying and exhilarating all at the same time. “You can call me your boyfriend, yes.”
Yamcha beamed up at him; Tien felt his heart beat harder. He didn’t know exactly how a relationship between them would work but… Well, he’d faced worse things before. They both had. They’d figure this out as well.