Crawler 001: Ellender Cartwright

He groans and makes his way over to the cat who’s talking to a very Normal Woman who is also talking animatedly with a….Marlboro in her hand. Unlit. The pack is clutched in her other hand as she chats with Donut. Donut is saying something to him, but he’s just stuck, staring intently at the woman who has now placed the cigarette to her lips and is leaning towards him, looking up through dark lashes. After a moment, she cuts her eyes back to Donut, “She said you’d have a light?” He blinks, eyes glazed, but not because he’s chatting with someone through his interface. As a human, his vice was tobacco and nicotine, but now, as a primal, this woman is the most intoxicating thing in the club. Christ, the way she’s looking at him is almost obscene. Her eyes, her mouth, that fucking cigarette. He recovers, snarking about Donut talking too much and whipping that goblin lighter out of his inventory and letting the woman light up. She closes her eyes, leaning back and pulling the ember damn near halfway down…shit. She blows it out in his direction, and the curls of smoke almost make his knees buckle. So much for that high constitution. She flicks the filter with her thumb and holds it out to him, “You can have one, man, just ask.” She gives a toothy grin as he rolls his eyes and takes it from her, lining his own mouth up with where hers had been. Tasting cherry and tobacco. He braces one hand on the table while the other keeps the cigarette pinched with thumb and forefinger to his lips as he finishes it off, pulling on it twice, until it’s just a smoldering filter. Then, leaning his height over the small booth table, he catches her eyes again as he snuffs out the butt in the small ashtray right in front of her. He lingers; he can’t help himself. Fuck me, what the hell am I doing?

His eyes rove over her face again, cataloging her. Sharp brows, soft eyes, pronounced cheekbones, he clears his throat roughly and quickly when her pink tongue darts out of her smirk to wet her lips. The look affects him, to say the least. He’s still hovering in her personal space, trapped there but not exactly itching to move. Well, something is eager to move, and he’s reminded of it as his groin presses closely to the edge of the table, friction just right. The woman is clearly enjoying his state at the moment, and it seems that great minds do think alike, as her gaze traces down the muscled arm with the still-planted hand in front of her, to the growing bulge in his printed boxers. She feels her face grow hot when she realizes he’s half hard from just a single smoke and that she’s staring. Donut is quick to innocently disrupt the building tension like any loyal pet would right before mommy and daddy wrestle in the bed without them. “Carl, I’d like you to meet Lila,” she said, holding out a paw to point at the woman. “She’s sooo cool, Carl! We simply must sit with her tonight!” She pauses and turns her sunglasses to him, “Carl? Are you alright? You look like you do when you’ve just turned on those noisy videos of women touching each other. Just sit down already, Carl, honestly!” She said with an exasperated tail flick. The woman raised an eyebrow and snickered into her drink as Carl sat down with a heavy sigh and what Lila thought was a muffled “Goddamnit Donut”. Donut was talking quickly again, tail happily swishing as she told some long-winded tale of her and Carl’s latest adventure, but the woman’s attention was admittedly elsewhere.

Carl was watching Donut, and the genuine care and love in his expression were evident, and, frankly, were serving to make her even more attracted to the tall man. And boy was he tall, had to be at least a head taller than her, not to mention built like a fridge. The thought of him looming over her with that same intensity as before made goosebumps appear on her arms.

She downed the rest of her drink to clear her mind, but it didn’t help; the alcohol just fueled the lewd flames. She chimed in on the conversation occasionally, but opted to stay quiet for the most part, choosing to instead indulge in her thoughts about the large man pressing his calloused palm between her shoulder blades as he roughly bent her over the table and kicked her feet apart, spreading her wide for him. The next round of drinks came, and her flush was beyond noticeable, the heated skin prickling every time they made eye contact, and he held it, almost sizing her up. Maybe he was having the same thoughts about her. No, there’s no way. He’s so focused; he doesn’t let distractions in.

Carl felt the muscle in his jaw tick as he clenched his teeth. This woman, Lila, was just looking at him like she was trying to figure him out. And whenever he met her eyes, she looked pointedly away from him, but always pressed her lips together before wetting them again with that pretty pink tongue. It was like a tick, a nervous habit, something she couldn’t help and something he couldn’t stop thinking about.

That tongue.

What it would look like hanging out of her wide-open mouth with the head of his cock pressing it flat. His jaw popped painfully with that image, and he had to stealthily adjust his erection into his waistband whilst sitting at the table. He leaned back with one arm on the back of the booth, and his knees spread in an effort to relax and stave off the perverted thoughts about this stranger.

She chokes on the sip of her new drink, which she had taken as he reclined back in the booth, arm out on the back of it, and adjusted himself in the seat with a tiny thrust forward. Which of course snaps her attention to the even more prominent part of him, straining the loose fabric of the boxers. The sleeveless jacket shows off those arms, the tight protective shirt clinging to obvious muscles along his torso and chest. She exhales hard and doesn’t avert her gaze this time when he catches her. When he huffs a laugh with half his mouth curling into a lopsided smile, she wrinkles her brows in brief confusion before registering Donut’s voice talking directly to her. “Hellooo! Lila! My word, you’re worse than Carl! I was saying that I’m taking Sledgy to the Penis Parade and you need to come too! You’d adore it in there; there are all kinds of sexy men in there, and they love us.” She nodded her head at the Cretin near the booth. “I don’t know, Donut, that’s not exactly..” “Oh, darling, not your type? Well, I’m sure we can make a detour to the bitches side!”

At that, Lila barked a laugh, a hand coming up to try and stifle it but failing. “No Donut,” she said with a full smile, “That’s not what I meant, I just mean I kind of need another cigarette, and I’m not sure I want that kind of attention right now, but thank you for the offer.” She emphasized the statement with a flourish of her drawing out another cigarette and popping the rest of the pack back into her inventory. She didn’t miss the way Carl’s eyes locked on the rolled item in her fingers. “Ugh, those disgusting things, seriously, Lila, they cling to fur and make everything smell so awful!” She shook her head and licked her paw, cleaning her face as if the offending thing had already been lit. “But I understand,” she turned and wiggled her butt before hopping onto The Sledge’s shoulder, speaking to Carl before they walked off. “Play nice, please, Carl, don’t run her off.” He chuckled and put his hands up in mock surrender at the cat’s words.

A few minutes later, Lila flagged down a waitress and ordered four shots of a sparkly purple liquor, which came with four yellow flower buds in a small dish.

Carl looked apprehensively at the shots and the flowers, “I don’t do shots, especially not ones with mysterious flowers.”

She rolled her eyes at him and set two shots and two flowers in front of both of them. “You’ll do them tonight if you want another cigarette, big boy.” She almost surprised herself with her own audacity when the words came out.

Damn, maybe shots weren’t a good idea; clearly, she was already not thinking straight. But to her relief, another half grin split his face as he huffed another laugh, shaking his head at her good-naturedly.

“Fine, I’ll do it if you do it, but I want more than a cigarette.” he paused as if choosing his words carefully and looking at her with that same gaze from earlier.

Havana, even in its reconstructed state, was beautiful. The architecture was bright and colorful, enhanced by the warm weather and clear blue sky. It was nothing like you had ever seen before. What you and the Posse had now started calling ‘memory ghosts’ floated up and down the sidewalks and streets. It was still hard to get used to them.

You and Carl walked down the sun-soaked streets of the city, looking for lesser mobs to farm experience. Flora and fauna dotted the sidewalks in splashes of vibrant color. Your head craned up at the sky. There wasn’t a single cloud in sight.

“You’ve never seen the sky before?” Carl quipped, a light smirk in his voice.

“No actually. Never. Not once in my life.” You retorted, trying not to laugh at his remark. Looking up, you could just barely make out his form in your periphery.

“You’re going to walk into something.” He shot out his arm in front of you as the road bent to stop you from hitting a tall bush. He had most of his equipment on, the cool metal of his gauntlet hitting you in the sternum.

“Maybe I wanted to run into this bush. It looks plenty soft…and inviting.” The bush was covered in spiky thorns. Carl nodded, completely unconvinced. He looked at you and started to laugh when a notification from Donut popped up.

Donut: GUYS. MORDECAI SAYS YOU SHOULD BE HERE TO HELP ME.

Carl: Donut. You will be fine. Y/N needs a bit more experience so she can use her spells with the deck. We’ll be back soon.

Donut: FINE. I DON’T THINK I SHOULD BE HELD RESPONSIBLE IF THINGS GO WRONG.

You both ignored that last one. You laughed at Carl’s frustrated groan over Donut’s love for the caps lock key.

So far, you had killed a small handful of lesser mobs, including this weird minotaur-like creature, but instead of the body of a bull, it had the body of an elephant. Despite its size, it went down quite easily.

Rounding another corner, you spotted something before Carl did. Or better yet, someone. Leaning against a bar table outside what looked like a Cafe was one of those memory ghosts. This one was different, though. It still had a transparent quality to it, but its form had color, like someone turned up the opacity. It was ‘speaking’ to another ghost sitting at the same table, but the second you entered its field of vision, its attention snapped to you.

Oh fuck. Oh no. No no no. Despite the distance, you examined its properties.

Andrew. Ghost of Y/N’s past.

Level 52 City mob.

This is a ghost recreation of Crawler Y/N’s ex-boyfriend from Earth. He’s really not happy with how you left things.

“Oh no, absolutely not,” you yelled up towards the sky, “what did I ever do to you?”

“What the fuck?” Carl asked. Andrew was already making his way over to you. It felt like a horror movie.

“We need to go, I don’t—I can’t, I—”

Combat Started!

This wasn’t a normal battle with cards on this floor, but rather a mini boss battle, where you still had access to your skills and inventory. You stood frozen in place as the uncanny recreation of your ex-boyfriend from Earth approached you.

“Baby, please! I’m sorry about everything, let me make it up to you.” The voice you remembered had a distorted quality to it. You couldn’t move as he got closer, in shock from the utter insanity the AI was laying on you.

“Fuck! Move, Y/N!” Carl yelled. You could see him loading his xistera to lob something at the ghost. Something about the tall, real man fighting to save you knocked you out of your stupor. You stepped back and readied Ice Punch, which would freeze an enemy in place for 15 seconds. Those two attacks combined, Andrew froze in place and began taking damage from Carl. Despite his state, his mouth could still unfortunately move.

“What? Is this your new boyfriend? Running around in his tighty-whities? He’s nothing. You know I could treat you so much better than him.” He had the kind of snark in his voice that made you cringe. Once upon a time you had found it attractive.

“Fuck you, you cheating asshole!” You screamed, sending a bolt of magic lightning into his head. He took more damage, but he wasn’t dead yet. He exploded out of the frozen cocoon you had wrapped him in. The explosion was so powerful, it knocked you and Carl off your feet, flying backwards through the air. You both landed in one of those prickly bushes from before. A puff of…pollen or something poofed up into the air around you, causing the both of you to sputter and cough. Fuck. A hot sensation flooded your body immediately upon inhalation. Before you even had time to figure out what the hell that was based on the notification that you waved away, you both scrambled out of the bush and readied more attacks on Andrew.

Carl lunged forward and attacked him with Powerful Strike, bringing his health down dangerously low.

“Damn,” Andrew started. “You pack a punch. Bet you can’t fuck her hard like that. She likes it rough!” He rubbed the side of his face, then hit Carl back.

“What the everloving fuck!” You screamed, sending another bolt of lightning at him. This was utter insanity. Your cheeks were red, not just from the exertion, but from that last comment the ghost had made. He tried to throw you two off your game, but Carl wasn’t having it. You could see his face had reddened too, but he kept throwing punches until he was down. Without hesitation, Carl smushed the ghost’s head in with his foot, not letting him get in a single word. It was short, but it was over. The experience went to Carl.

“Sorry.” You couldn’t even comprehend his apology. What the fuck just happened? Why was your whole body tingling, like a fire had started in your chest and was burning you from the inside out?

“We need to go. Back to the safe room. Now.” You said, in between pants. Besides the battle, something was really, really wrong. Your feet began to move before you could even process anything.

“Wait, who was that guy?” Carl asked, still reeling from combat. If he was feeling whatever this was too, he did a good job at hiding it. “Some sort of ghost recreation of my last ex from Earth. He was such a prick. I really shouldn’t be surprised at this point, with all the fucked up shit happening to us.” You pulled up your map on the HUD, looking for the nearest personal space access. You two had actually travelled far enough on your walk that a new one populated a mile or so north. You began to speedwalk in that direction, Carl following behind.

Fuck. That hot tingle running through your body was travelling south, pooling between your legs. It stopped there. Energy coursed through your torso, hot and electric.

“Hey.” Carl’s voice stopped you dead in your tracks. It sounded… different. Sexier. “Did you read your notifications?” You shook your head no. During the battle, you had been so worked up that you waved away any and all notifications. Carl’s face was still red. He looked at you so intensely, like he was hanging on for dear life to whatever you were about to say next. Pulling up the messages, you began to scroll through. One caught your eye, the message from when you both fell into the bush. The system AI read this one in an excited tone, similar to the one it used when it talked about Carl’s feet.

WARNING! You have been poisoned! …or have you?

You have come in contact with vernonia libidinis, otherwise known as the Fuck Bush! Imbued with the strongest natural aphrodisiac we could find, the bush you just fell in has covered you with the sexiest pollen known to man. You are now insatiably horny! The only way to relieve yourself of symptoms is to get. it. on!! Find someone, really anyone, and just start bumpin’ uglies. The effects might last a pretty long time, but at least you’ll have some fun! Hopefully.

Oh shit. You met each other’s gaze. You were so fucked.

The walk—more like run—to the personal space was silent. You couldn’t speak, couldn’t even glance at each other. The increasing arousal made it almost painful to move, but you were determined to get somewhere behind closed doors alone to take care of this issue. The AI had said you had to find someone to fuck, but there was no way it could be Carl. You could ruin any semblance of friendship you had. Getting yourself off just had to work.

Carl groaned in between pants. Fuck, you thought. The noises he was making were not helping you whatsoever. The warm Havana sun was exacerbating the heat coursing through your body. The personal space was close, just up ahead through the entrance of a place called Ale’s Taqueria. The streets here were significantly less crowded with memory ghosts, allowing a smooth path to entry. You two burst inside. You passed a ghost bartender, rounding the corner behind the bar to reach the entrance.

Donut had finished whatever training she was doing in the mock arena and was now pampering Mongo in the main communal space. She lit up at your entrance.

“Carl! Y/N! You guys..are… back.” Her sentence slowed to a stop when she could see how disheveled you both appeared. “What in the heavens happened out there?” You ignored the question.

“Not now, Donut. Where’s Mordecai?” Carl asked as you made a beeline for your room, which was sandwiched in-between Carl’s and Mordecai’s studio. You caught a glance of Carl's entire body as you ran away. He was sporting a full hard-on, straining evidently through his boxers. Woah. That added to your arousal immensely. “I—uh, in his studio. Just why do you have an erection, Carl? And why does Y/N look like she’s going to pass out?”

That was the end of that.

You shut the door behind you with a click, turning the lock into place. This was not the time for anyone to be walking in unannounced. You immediately went to work pulling off all your clothes in an attempt to cool the heat that was now burning you alive from the inside. The entire surface of your body was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, your hair sticking to your neck and forehead.

“God, fuck—” you whimpered. You stood completely still, contemplating what to do. This was the most aroused you had ever been in your life. You weren’t entirely sure one orgasm would fix this issue. In the next room, you could hear Carl and Mordecai whisper-yelling back and forth.

“Vernonia libidinis. What the hell is that?”

“God fucking damnit, Carl! You’re always getting into some shit. Whatever the AI said to you, that's what you need to do.”

“It told me to get laid. Over and over again. That’s the only way to satisfy it. How in the hell am I gonna fix this? Can’t you make a healing potion or something?” You could almost hear him pacing the room. His voice sounded desperate.

“No, Carl. It won’t work. I’ve seen it happen before. You just have to, err, do what it says.” “Who am I going to fuck, Mordecai?” His voice had raised in volume, but he quieted back down for that last part. “I feel like I’m going to explode.” The room fell silent. The whimpering in his voice was driving you insane. Without you even realizing, your hands ran over your damp skin, begging for contact.

“No. I can’t. It would ruin everything.” “She’s been affected too. She’s suffering like you. It’s the most economical choice.”

“Fuck economical, Mordecai! She’s my friend. She probably doesn’t even think of me like that.” Silence again. Your hands reached your breasts, nipples hard and pointed.

“You do, though. Don’t you?” What?

“Stop. If I even think about it, this is gonna get a whole lot worse. You can’t help me, so I’ll just go.” Did Carl just inadvertently admit feelings for you? What was happening?

All of a sudden, a switch flipped. Whatever control you had left had fallen off the edge. You wanted Carl. Your hands couldn’t fix this on their own. You suddenly felt very, very needy. Like you could just beg at his feet to get this over with. Your head pounded and legs throbbed with need. You heard him close the door to his own room, then move into the adjoined bathroom your rooms shared. Seeing as you two were the only people in the party who needed a conventional bathroom, the personal space placed it in between your rooms, serving as a connection without having to enter the main space. The shower turned on. Probably ice cold. You pushed the neediness away, bringing yourself to your bed to find your first release. The idea of him pulling his sweat-slick clothes off for a shower made your arms tingle.

Your hands quickly got to work. One palmed your breasts together while the other worked fast on your clit. While it felt good, it barely provided any relief to the hot energy coursing through you. Your breath quickened and your heart rate rose, like this was a true illness bringing you to the brink of death. The antidote only a few feet away.

“Fuck!” You screamed, part pleasure, part frustration. It almost hurt. To please yourself instead of succumbing to the wishes of the AI. “Fuck you,” You whispered to no one in particular, groaning and twisting in the sheets. It was starting to give you a headache. You felt sick. Carl must have been experiencing the same symptoms, if what Mordecai said to him was true. 

The crawler invaded your thoughts. At this point, it wasn’t worth the mental exertion to push them away. You worked again at your swollen nub thinking of the tall, rugged man. Thinking of the huge hard-on in his boxers earlier. Running your hands up and down each other. Thinking about how you wanted nothing more than to take him in your mouth and—

Click. Your door to the bathroom opened. Carl stood there, clad in nothing but a small towel around his waist. Fuck. You forgot to lock that one. You removed your hand from in between your legs, not bothering to try and cover up. 

It just had to come to this. There was no one else to fuck, no one else you even wanted to fuck. It was always him.

You were a hot and sweaty writhing mess on the bed. You probably looked disgusting.

To him, you were glowing.

There were no words to be said. You both knew what was about to happen. No doubt he tried to relieve himself in that shower. Despite it being ice cold, his body still radiated heat from the drug. His eyes raked you up and down, hungry. Between deep breaths, you nodded.

He moved quickly. His towel dropped at the end of the bed and you finally caught sight of it. He was a massive dude, of course his dick had to be huge. Your eyes widened. Fuck me, you thought.

“Just so we’re clear,” he began, his voice a deep rasp filled with lust, “we both need to get this drug out of our system. No strings.”

“No strings.” You agreed. In a swift movement, Carl reached over and grabbed your legs, pulling you to the edge of the bed. He wasted no time kneeling down in front of you, massaging your skin and kissing the inside of your legs.

This time, it was different. His touch was electric. It satisfied the burning under your skin, but it still left you needing more. One of his hands disappeared past the edge of the bed, and you could catch the repetitive jerking motion blocked by the mattress. It might just kill you to see it.

“Why don’t, fuck, why don’t you let—let me?” You groaned as he finally attached his mouth to your swollen pussy. He looked up at you with heated eyes and gave a subtle ‘no’ head shake. His mouth felt fantastic. His other hand moved down your thighs towards your entrance. He separated from you for a brief moment. 

“Can you take it for me, sweetheart?” His eyes met yours for consent. You nodded quickly. One finger first—then two. You were already soaked enough. He used his hands and mouth in conjunction for a few minutes to bring you to your first orgasm, which exploded out of you. Your head flew back, pushing deep into the mattress. Your vision went white.

“Carl!” you screamed, hands flying to his head to push him deeper into you. He’d must think you were a crazed animal being let out of their cage for the first time with how your body writhed. He obliged in lapping up your first climax, licking his fingers clean too.

He stood back, looking at you. Coming down from your first orgasm, your legs unclenched, revealing the first of many messes to be made on this bed. His eyes passed over you again, still just as hungry. His cock stood straining at attention. Despite being drained of most of your strength, you lifted your hand and made a beckoning motion. “I—I want,” you managed to squeak out. He smirked. He looked much more in control of himself than you were. Like the pollen barely touched him.

“Would that help now, baby? Getting on your knees in front of me and sucking me off while you play with yourself?”

“You want it.” You said, a wave of confidence taking over. You slithered off the edge of the bed. On your knees in front of the tall, hulking man, you smiled. “Take me. Take whatever you want.” It was like a sex demon-spirit-thing had possessed you fully.

“You can’t just say that to me, baby.”

“Try me.” 

Before you even had the chance to finally get a taste of him, Carl grabbed you and threw you onto the bed. He flipped you so you were on your hands and knees, Carl behind you. Before doing anything, he grabbed a fistful of your hair and brought his mouth to your ear.

“Is what that ghost prick said true? You like it rough?” Gods. His voice was driving you crazy. He thrust into you from behind with no warning, almost knocking you over. His cock stretched you wide, burning with pleasure. You had broken up with Andrew months before the collapse, so it had been a long time since any sexual encounter.

“God, fuck!” You screamed. Carl’s name spilled out over and over again like a prayer, equal to the pace of his thrusts. It was the most intense, and the most pleasurable sex you had ever had in your life. What had you said earlier, no strings?

The thought left as quick as it came.

Carl moaned your name back, reaching under your hips to use his hands on you again. For someone stuck in the dungeon for months, not having any free time for sex, he sure knew what the hell he was doing. He kept moving, in and out, hitting that perfect spot over and over.

“Fuck me,” he groaned, “you’re perfect. Such a good girl for me.” Nothing coming out of your mouth had any coherence anymore. He fucked you relentlessly, hard and fast. His arms were wrapped around your torso, one hand working your clit again, and the other tightly gripping one of your breasts. The slick sounds of your bodies filled the small room. Your face fell down into the mattress, unable to hold yourself up anymore.

Luckily, Carl had incomprehensible strength. He grabbed you again like you were nothing and spun you around. He held your body in the air and turned to pin you against the wall. His mouth attached to your neck, kissing and sucking as he rammed into you over and over.

“You’ve been driving me fucking insane, you know that?” He said in between kisses. “I think about you and this gorgeous fucking body every day. How badly I need you. Not the, fuck, not the pollen talking, baby. Pollen’s got nothing on the way I feel about you.”

What? What happened to no strings?

Your pleasure came to a head once again as, this time, Carl pushed through his orgasm. Cursing a string of expletives against your neck, his thrusts slowed. You were thoroughly wiped as a second orgasm coursed through you. The pollen made your highs so much higher. Another one might just send you into a coma. Your body crumpled, but Carl caught you in his arms. He murmured something under his breath you couldn’t quite catch.

“Ahh, fuck,”

Without you even noticing, you were suddenly down on the bed. Time slowed. Your vision faded. Carl was above you, then next to you, laying down alongside you. The heat had faded down to a small simmer. “It’s s-so warm in here..” A fan appeared near you, blowing cool air onto your naked body. His inventory had to be bottomless. When did he even get that?

Without another word, you fell asleep.

The last thing you remembered from last night was Carl’s sweet gaze as you fell asleep in your bed. Your head was throbbing as you blinked your eyes open. It felt like when you slept off a fever, drenched in cold sweat and fighting brain fog. Were you sick? What happened? There was a man sleeping next to you. Carl.

The memories came flooding back.

The battle with Andrew. The bush with the pollen. Carl back in the safe room. Your hands all over each other. Oh fuck. No no no. Carl’s confession. There was no way you could move without waking him, with his beefy arms holding you in place. Maybe this was a dream. Maybe you could close your eyes again and wake up somewhere else. Alone. It had to be a sick joke from the AI.

“How do you feel?” A low rasp came from beside you. Fuck. 

“I… I should probably shower.” The thin sheet thrown over the two of you was covering your still-naked body. There was no way out of this. Looking over at Carl, your heart fluttered. Last night, your body was aflame from his touch. Now, your brain couldn’t quite comprehend the emotions wracking your mind. It was an attraction you felt for the man lying next to you. He laughed.

“Me too.”

“Carl. You said something last night. I remember it.” He turned to face the ceiling, like he couldn’t bear to maintain eye contact for this next part. “You said it wasn’t the pollen talking.” He sighed.

“My constitution is relatively high. It didn’t affect me as bad as you.”

“Then why’d you do it? Come into my room?”

“You needed help. I couldn’t just pawn you off onto a stranger.” You laid there for a moment, pondering what he just said. That couldn’t have been the whole truth.

“Was what you said true, then? You know, at the end.” A beat of silence followed. When he turned to look at you, his face was red.

“I don’t think I could lie to you.” The confession sat heavy in the air.

But you decided not to think about it. 

In a quick movement, you leaned over and kissed him. Not surprising you in the slightest based on what he just said, he relaxed into you, his hands holding your face. Despite your naked state, there was no sexual intention. You kissed each other like that for a few minutes, slow and meaningful. You ran your hands past his neck down his arms, stopping at the Guild tattoo on his elbow.

“I hate all these tattoos. I feel so different from the man who entered the dungeon.” He laughed, in between kisses.

“Battle scars,” You replied. “Proof you’re still alive. Still human.” He held you tighter.

A message took over your vision, the first one you had paid any attention to since before the battle.