Alan sat down at the creamery with the couple, who were properly dressed and immensely nervous. He'd paid for their ice cream, which made Tom all the more uncomfortable, since the aftercare factor had been deprived from him. Alan sipped from his milkshake and grinned.
"So, this is the mystery boyfriend. Never expected you to date someone so... well, anyone really, you've never been much of a socialite." She turned away from her brother.
"Oh c'mon, didn't you miss your big brother?"
"What are you even doing here, Alan?" she growled.
"Transferred here a couple weeks ago, 'round the time they were looking for an R.A. Apparently the last one was a real sadist." said Alan.
"And a racist, and a junkie, and a mean drunk." Tom added.
"Damn. Quite the asshole. But I'm more interested in what you think of my sister, especially given our mom."
"Sydney's never mentioned her mom. And even if she did, what would it matter to me?"
"Well, you're a... whaddya call it, Marxist right?"
"I'm an anarchist, actually."
"Oh, even better! But I must say, Mr. Anarchist, I'm surprised you didn't know. I mean, you know our last name, yeah?"
"Yeah, Brednar. What about it? It's a last name."
"You can't be serious. Brednar? As in Senator Brednar? You're dating a member of the... oh what's the word... burger-oh-see?"
"Bourgeoisie, you affluent Gerard Way wannabe."
"Hey, careful talking to the R.A. that way, buddy."
"Unconditional respect is bullshit, buddy."
The two continued to argue until finally Sydney shouted "ENOUGH!".
The men went silent.
"Alan, you leave Tom alone. You talk to him only as your position as R.A. demands it, otherwise you answer to me! And don't think I don't remember all the times I made you cry like a baby! Hell, need I even bring up the dinner party?"
Alan shook his head frantically and whimpered, "Please don't. Please please don't."
She then turned to Tom. "We're leaving. I'll talk to you more about this when we're back at your place."
She was entirely silent on the car ride back. When they got to the apartment, she turned around, seemingly furious. Then she broke down in tears and hugged him, hiding her face in his shirt. He wasn't sure what to say. In all the time they'd been together, the only time he'd seen her cry was during a sad movie. All of this was new to him. He patted her head.
"Puh-please don't break up with me-he-he-he" she sobbed.
"Break up with you?" he asked.
"Cuh-cuz you're all radical I... sniff I thought if you knew who my mom was you... you'd lee-hee-heeve meee..." He held her tight.
"Baby, I wouldn't leave you over that. So your mom's a member of the bourgeoisie, so what? Kropotkin was a damn prince and look how he turned out."
She sniffled again. "I... sniff I don't know who that is".
"Read the goddamn bread book" he thought.
"Look, it'll be alright. I promise this won't make me leave you".
She smiled, and looked into his eyes. There was a solid few minutes of peace and silence. They kissed lightly, and then just laid there, comfy in Tom's bed. Usually they'd only snuggle after sex, but this was incredibly nice.
"Maybe Cliff's right," he thought "Sydney and I ought to do more stuff besides watch movies and fuck." They laid there in comfort and warmth for a solid few hours, both basking in the embrace. She got up from the bed and gave Tom a kiss on the forehead.
"Well, with that bridge crossed, there's something I've been wanting to try for a while. But it's gonna be a surprise, OK? Wait for me to call you tonight."
While he waited, it did occur to him: Why didn't he pick up on that? Her house was particularly nice, and it's not like she dressed particularly working class. Not to mention she was a liberal, they did tend to move in the higher end tax brackets.
"Whatever," he thought "Sydney makes me happy and I make her happy. Besides, it's not like there's some requirement to radicalize your girlfriend. Not that I'd be against it."
Around a half-hour later, he got a text:
"Come over. And be prepared for something different."
He drove out to her house.
"Big fucking thing," he thought to himself "Seriously, how did I not pick up on that?".
She was waiting for him at the door, with a wide grin on her face. She grabbed him by the wrist and hauled him upstairs.
"Geez, no hello?" he said. She spun around and kissed him deeply.
"I'm so happy you didn't dump me after all that. And now with that said, I wanted to try something different."
"Yeah, you've said that a few times now. So what's so different?"
Sydney reached into a chest by the side of her bed.
"Well, it'll be the first time I'll be doing this with another person - not that I haven't done it before - but..."
She pulled out a small container of lubricant. Tom's eyebrows went north and he started to stammer.
"Have you ever done this before?" she asked. He shook his head.
"Would you like to?" she asked. He nodded rapidly. She giggled. God, she loved it when she could make such a principled and strapping man nervous like this. And he wasn't even going to be the one on the receiving end. Not that she minded, either. She'd fantasized about having an actual person do this rather than a toy for the longest.