#sorry if the last one is unnecessarily convoluted and long. they have history of failing to be friends. to me

[lautity]

1, 4, 5, 11, 15, 16, 17, 23 with lautity/holyphone for the otp ask game :3 (no pressure to do all of these btw, i'm just really curious to hear other people's opinions on them since i dont see to many lautity shippers in the wild </3)

Ask game

HEHE its totally okay you could have sent me the whole book.....im so obsessed with them rn its not even funny. i <3 my niche ship nobody else thinks about. and im so sorry for how long this is...stuck it under a cut for safety

also note many of these answers are in the context of my silly fic/AU  but u do not have to read it to understand i included context where necessary. mostly i think abt them in terms of my AU but i think most of these are canon applicable as well

1. Who most initiates PDA?

Funny question for these two. Steph is by far more comfortable with PDA and treats it very casually, but she would probably have to slow down and match Grace's pace while she's still adjusting to being visibly in a queer relationship (especially in Hatchetfield/where she risks bumping into family or people from her congregation).

I think Grace is extremely affectionate though and once she's more comfortable (or just living somewhere she's less well known) she would probably initiate at least as much as Steph, if not more. I think she would get into the habit of hand-holding every time they're outside at some point and it would just be muscle memory to grab Steph's hand when they're walking side by side.

4. How did they first meet?

In Slow they met in middle school! Grace joined in 7th grade after attending a religious primary school, Steph failed 7th grade (too many skipped classes) and was taking it for the second time when Grace got there. They don't really interact significantly until a year or two later, but they're in the same homeroom pretty much every year in school, so they're always aware of each other in passing.

5. What is their love language?

I think for Grace the thing that makes her feel most comforted is probably physical touch, but the 'above and beyond' thing for her (and what she holds as a sign of the utmost commitment, at least on her part) is quality time. She's really punctual because she feels it's the best way to show that she cares and wants to be there + she's pedantic about attending her friend's events to show her support. She's also clingy in a 'following Steph around the house' way, she just loves to have company and another person around. Especially if that person is her girlfriend (someone who wants her around. She has not experienced much of this </3)

Steph probably appreciates words of affirmation quite a lot, especially if they're well thought-out. Also enjoys quality time (though she does need Some alone time) and is usually cool without fancy going-out stuff. Prefers casual, appreciates when people make time for her and enjoys the attention of being alone with someone. I think physical touch and being touchy is like breathing to her, just second nature with her friends and especially her partner. Throwing herself across laps and using people as pillows, always bumping shoulders. Stuff like that. it's very casual to her and it's a language for her in that it's how she says 'I feel safe and comfortable around you".

11. Which member is more physically affectionate?

I sort of already talked about this LOL but I think Grace is more intentionally affectionate and is more likely to initiate cuddling or kissing (once they get over the Afraid To Initiate bit of very newly-out Grace). But obviously Steph is always just touching her anyways, often unconsciously (initially this makes Grace's head explode. but she figures it out eventually) so while everything Grace does is thought out Steph is just always being touchy without realizing it because of how relaxed/comfortable she is. I think they're pretty equally matched on like volume but Grace does initiate more Big acts of affection

15. Who is more likely to make an impulsive decision and who is the voice of reason?

Steph has ADHD (to me.) and bad impulse control so she tends to be very spontaneous. I think a lot of the time she'll do things on a whim, even if they're risky, and say whatever comes to her mind. Grace is good at talking her into more safe activities and derailing her when she's feeling righteous and wants to pick a fight with someone twice her size over an insult to one of her friends.

Grace tends to be really unpredictable and impulsive when she's emotional at all and Steph gradually gets better at handling this and calming her down as they're together for longer. Not so much a voice of reason as a source of comfort for her.

Steph is the one online shopping and showing Grace her phone every 5 minutes just for her to go "no, we don't need another one" LOL

16. Who stays up way too late and who tries to drag them to bed?

Steph and her fuckass sleep schedule from parties and arguing online vs Grace, who has never stayed up past midnight, wakes up at 6:30 AM on weekends, makes her bed every morning, never snoozes an alarm... I think even when Grace drags Steph to bed "on time" (still an hour later than she'd like) Steph is just not a morning person and loves getting to sleep in and wake up slowly. Grace eventually learns to appreciate being cozy in bed for a little bit longer, but she never really stops waking up earlier than Steph and getting tons of things done before she even stirs.

17. Who fell in love first?

Hehe. Grace fell first, Steph fell harder/faster. Grace had like... this steadily building crush she didn't know was a crush. I think it probably started when they were in a group project together and Steph kept bumping their knees together under the table. She called them friends once and Grace pretty much did the entire project to please her. And even once Steph started ignoring her in class again she remained unusually fixated on her salvation and helping her. Around Abstinence Camp (summer before sophomore year/10th grade) Steph catches on to the fact that Grace genuinely wants to help her and tries to be nicer. They get more hostile again when Steph is outed as bisexual and Grace discovers what gay people are and that she isn't supposed to like them (but she can save them!). At the point where NPMD begins (around the beginning of their senior year) Steph has not had a non-religious interaction with Grace in over a year, and she is extremely sick of it.

(Slow is an everyone lives AU that has Max sleep with Grace before most of the events of NPMD, and the Waylon prank is both revenge and blackmail so she can force him to 'admit' to lying about it, hopefully preserving her reputations + preventing it from getting back to her parents. Everyone else is in on it for the same reasons as canon, and only Steph knows that Grace slept with Max at the point of the prank)

After finding out about Grace and Max, Steph just starts kind of pitying her because she knows how vicious gossip of this nature is and how cruel people are. So she's like okay, this girl really needs a friend, I can do that for now + being friends with Steph Lauter does give you some level of social standing which she figures she can lend to Grace for awhile. And Grace is still sort of annoying at first. But seeing her passionate + happy during the prank, orchestrating everything, awakens some really long-buried feelings about the weird girl in her homeroom who always tried too hard to relate every book to God, and who had come over to her house and described every research note to Steph while she assembled their poster by herself; Steph had SpongeBob reruns playing (which Grace was apparently not allowed to watch, so she sat with her back to the television) and was mostly tuning her out. They got 100% on their poster, and Steph stopped talking to Grace when her friends started to comment on it.

She feels bad for treating Grace that way + she is genuinely letting herself know this person for the first time and finding that she likes her. Like. Genuinely finds her smart and funny and interesting. She's sort of insane under duress, but it's endearing. But Steph does not pursue people, people come to her, so she sort of brushes it into the back of her mind, because there is no world in which Grace Chasity realizes her obvious queerness before she's 30.

Once she knows Grace likes her shes giggling and kicking her feet and extremely extremely excited about everything but she is trying So Hard to be normal and not rush her. She's sort of flattered about being Grace's first girl(friend?) and really really wants to give her a good experience and treat her well (the way she wishes her first partner had treated her). She is very happy and the only thing she really wishes is that Grace would apologize less and trust her a little more.