Alison is back at her parents’ place and that’s fine, four years into her transition they’re not screwing up her name or pronouns anymore. Still, even though she’s back in the house she grew up in, she finds herself feeling homesick for the apartment she shares with Olivia. They saw each other almost every day during last year’s winter break, but this winter they’re drifting further apart.

She notices she’s been looking at Olivia differently, now that being with her is back on the table. She can’t deny the feelings she tried to bury years ago, especially when the reasons she tried to bury them no longer apply.

Alison knows that if Olivia had always been bi, then they’d still be together, and she knows that relationship would have been good. Now Olivia is bi, and Alison could have that relationship if she wants it, so what’s stopping her? Scared of messing up their friendship? No, that didn’t stop her the first time. Scared that Olivia will hurt her? No, Alison trusts her completely. The problem is that she spent the last four years reminding herself that it can’t happen, and now it can happen, all because of her supervillain power.

The power differential between them is irreparably fucked, so she can’t blame Olivia for seeming nervous about the situation. If Alison didn’t care about ethics or consent, she could take Olivia with just her voice, and even force her to be grateful for it. She hates herself for even imagining it for a moment. How could they possibly have a healthy relationship given that?

Alison figures Olivia probably wants to avoid the subject as much as she does. When they do hang out, they don’t talk about their relationship at all. Instead, they mostly talk about her power, Olivia being distractingly excited by the prospect of understanding how Alison’s power works and what it can do. Sadly, their attempts at making her power work at longer distances don’t work. They try higher-quality microphones and speakers, an old analog tape recorder, and even a tin-can “phone”, but none of it has any effect when they’re not in the same room. Olivia speculates that there might not be anything paranatural about the sound vibrations themselves; maybe Alison’s power is telepathic, and the spoken words are just a way of focusing her mind on her subject.

Olivia looks so happy when she’s theorizing and doing science, but she starts to act differently after their experiments, after Alison asks her what it feels like to be controlled. That’s when Olivia starts acting anxious, and maybe embarrassed, which confirms Alison’s fears. Olivia isn’t comfortable being the subject of her powers, and why should she be? If it were the other way around, Alison would be terrified, no matter how much she trusts Olivia. Still, as difficult as this situation is, she knows they can’t put off talking about things forever. For the sake of their friendship, if nothing else, Alison promises herself that she’ll talk it out with Olivia when they get back to school.