Katie awoke in the same position she had fallen asleep, with Nathan spooning her. His boner pressed against her, but as long as she didn't think about it too much, she was fine. She did, however, need to use the restroom, but an attempt as escaping Nathan's hold proved futile, causing her to sigh.

That sigh alerted Keith that she was stuck and trying to get up, and the psychic gave her an amused look from where he was already working for the day.

"Five days in a row," he told her. "You've woken up stuck in his grip."

"Yeah," she sighed, closing her eyes. "And I really need to use the restroom right now."

Keith held out a hand, and she opened her eyes and watched as Nathan's arm shifted, then lifted up. Katie quickly moved off the bed, but carefully enough not to wake Nathan. She learned from his grumpiness three days ago that wasn't the best of ideas. The psychic had not been joking when he said Nathan wasn't a morning person nor someone who appreciated being woken.

"How do you even manage that?" She asked as Nathan's arm dropped back down.

"To do that without waking him?" Keith asked as he approached, Katie dressing.

"Yeah," she answered. "I would expect something like that to wake him easily."

"Nah," Keith said. "You can get away with some movement, you just have to be careful. Nathan's body isn't as tense as you realize, and it's easy to move his limbs when he's sleeping. You have the strength for it, you just don't have the willpower to use it because you're scared of waking him."

"When I try," she told him. "His arms are stiff, his grip tight."

"Trust me," Keith said. "If you actually start moving them, then loosen up. It's definitely his sleeping body allowing you to escape."

"I've tried that," she told him. "It's definitely something to do with you."

"No," Keith said. "Samantha's managed it on her own, so definitely not. Come on, I'll escort you to the restrooms."

"Aren't the familiars taking care of the monsters?"

"We have to pass by several portal locations," Keith said. "There's the possibility one might spawn out, and your skills are… less than impressive. I'm amazed you actually managed to get the kills required to pass."

"Yeah," Katie said.

The pair of them left the cafeteria, and Nathan sat up, glaring in their direction, before laying back down and covering himself with the blanket once more. When the pair returned, Keith indicated the kitchen.

"If you're hungry, you can fix yourself something," he told her. "I did mix up some pancake mix, the supplies came in about an hour ago. They generally arrive at eight. I put all of the food away already"

"Alright," Katie went into the kitchen, and Keith returned to work.

Then he looked at the crate which remained in the cafeteria, the others already broken down and moved into another room. Then he looked at Katie, then she shrugged. Either she didn't notice it, or she didn't wonder what it was. He knew she probably didn't realize it was supplies other than food, though, since she was pretty naive about the whole thing.

"I know you're awake," he projected to Nathan as he worked on a card.

"No thanks to you," came the demigod's annoyed response.

"You did respond when I poked your mind."

Katie hadn't been looking at Keith when he did, so she didn't notice his eyes turned violet for the brief telepathic communication.

"I woke up because of your poke."

"Liar," Keith responded. "My poke won't wake you, it's to see if you're awake or asleep. How long had you been awake?"

"Katie got horny," Nathan said. "I could feel it and that woke me up."

Keith snorted.

"That's why you were gripping her tightly."

"I didn't realize she had to pee, and she started squirming a little."

Keith rolled his eyes.

"Are you going to just lay there and be grumpy?"

"Would you like me to get up and be grumpy?"

"Considering Katie's cooking is worse than what you said Samantha's was like, years ago?"

Nathan grumbled and got up, changed his underwear, then went into the kitchen, shooing Katie out of it as he pulled on his apron to make pancakes, bacon, and eggs. After they ate and dealt with the dishes, Nathan began his martial arts training, walking Katie through a few things while Keith did some practice. Following that was magic training, where Keith had Katie meditate as he trained several of his spells.

During that, Nathan trained as well, though his training consisted of creating three orbs of light the sizes of tennis balls and spinning them in a circle over his right hand. That confused Katie a little, as they were supposed to be training in combat, but she had decided not to ask Nathan about that, even though he had done it the last four days as well.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Keith, on the other hand, decided to ask.

"Nathan," he said. "Why are you doing that? You already got down a few tricks for Cyrus, and all you're really doing is adjusting your magical familiarity with that so it costs less Mana."

Nathan thought for a few moments, then inhaled deeply, and as he did, the orbs shrank and darkened. When he exhaled, the orbs expanded, spreading apart as they grew even brighter. He inhaled again, and they dimmed while remaining the same size. When he exhaled that time, the orbs shifted, turning from yellow to green. Another breath, and the orbs turned blue, and another turned them purple.

The psychic frowned at the orbs. One of them disappeared during that pattern, and the two remaining ones where lined up. After a few moments, he shook in his head.

"You're a nut, Nathan."

"You want my nuts," Nathan said. "I'm just thinking about the orbs and how else I can adjust them for Cyrus."

Keith rolled his eyes as Nathan converted the orbs back to how they had been and resummoned the third, circling them once more. Katie looked between the two men with a slight frown on her lips.

"I don't get it," she said. "What was weird about that?"

"Other than it being Nathan?" Keith asked. "He turned the orbs of light to the same shade of purple my eyes glow when I use my psychic powers and paired them together as if they were eyes. It probably would've been more obvious if he could've made dark spots in the centers."

"So he's not even working on combat spells?"

"He could," Keith told her. "But he'd rather focus on martial arts combat. He does actually have a couple of combat spells, though, but they go with his martial arts. He can also generate barriers, he spent a lot of time on that before. We can spar later so you can see them."

"Won't that ping you guys for attacking other players?" Katie asked, brows furrowed in confusion.

"No," Keith answered. "Because it'll count as sparring. The System checks for hostile intent. Otherwise, accidentally stepping on a foot could count as attacking a player, especially if you're wearing work or combat boots and they're barefoot."

"Oh," she said. "So it's safe to spar with others?"

"Yeah," Nathan said. "And I'm not sparring with you, Keith."

"A demonstration spar," Keith rolled his eyes. "Not an actual combat spar, Nathan. Just to show her your force punches and your barrier."

Nathan shot one of his orbs at Keith, the spell fading after hitting the psychic. He did that over and over again, creating new orbs each time.

"Okay," Keith snorted as he looked at Katie once more. "We'll do the spar later."

"I can demonstrate without the sparring," Nathan said.

"Why don't you want to spar with him?" Katie asked.

"Because he'll win," Nathan answered.

"I thought you were the best from your batch?"

"I'm the most dangerous," Nathan corrected. "Keith's magic can stop me before I can reach him, and it will take him three to four minutes to punch through my barriers. I can use Warp Step to reach him, but he has magical shields up at all times during combat, even if he doesn't look like he does. He worked on creating invisible ones in our last run."

"Your force punches punch through those easily," Keith pointed out.

"I still barely even hurt you," Nathan said. "And you always react quickly. We're both at the Speed Cap. And your attacks hurt."

"So do yours."

"Your spells are able to hold me back," Nathan said. "Unless I constantly use Warp Step, which is annoying to use repeatedly. I'm not sparring with you."

"Then demonstrate them on your own later," Keith said. "So that she can see them."

Nathan shrugged, then canceled his light orbs and stood, stretching.

"It's been an hour and a half," he said. "I'm taking a shower, then making lunch. Are you going to join me, Katie? Or take Keith as your escort to the showers?"

They discovered quickly that it was best if Katie showered alone, and that she didn't have a fear of being raped if the gay guy there was the one who was outside the showers rather than the straight one. That didn't mean Nathan didn't try, though. After they talked more, they learned that the rape had occurred in the showers, which caused a few problems with taking a shower with guys.

Nathan still hoped, though, so he asked every time.

"Not today," Katie smiled at him sadly. "Sorry, Nathan."

"Are you sure?" Nathan asked, and the other two could see the hope clear in his eyes.

"She said 'no', Nathan," Keith said. "We talked about this."

"I'm not trying to rape her," Nathan looked at Keith. "I'm giving her a second chance to decide before I go."

"You're just horny," Keith said. "Now get going, before I summon Breezy to cool you off."

"I'm cool," Nathan muttered. "I'll be gone for probably an hour. Or more."

Nathan made his way down to the showers and stripped before entering, turning on the hot water. As he lathered himself up with soap, preparing to jack off to thoughts of Samantha, he heard two pairs of footsteps entering the changing room.

"I thought you weren't coming?" He raised his voice to ensure he was heard.

"She wanted to give it a try," Keith responded, his voice normal, as the rustle of their clothes reached Nathan's ears. "Said that she'd prefer it if I were here, too, though."

Nathan could understand that. If she were trying to overcome her phobia of taking showers with me, having a man around she knew had no interest in women would help her. The part he didn't understand was why she would take the shower with him while she still had that phobia and was only then starting to work on it.

He watched as they both entered the showers, Katie pausing a little in the doorway before entering. Her gaze was fixed on him, and he wasn't sure how to react to that.

"Can I wash you?" He decided, then glared at Keith, who had choked back a snort.

"Um," Katie hesitated, and Nathan noticed the fear in her eyes.

"I don't like sex with audiences," he pointed at Keith. "And he would count as an audience. I do want to wash you, though."

As he watched her try to decide, another thought came to him.

"And it might help you overcome that faster."

"Nathan-" Keith began.

"No," Katie took a deep breath. "He's right. And if I can't take a shower with another guy, or with one washing me, then how can I hope to deal with some of the more horrifying things that are bound to happen with the game itself?"

Katie walked over to Nathan, who promptly began washing her hair from behind. He had to resist standing too close to her, however, because he knew he'd poke her if he did. After making sure her hair was nice and clean, Nathan began scrubbing at her body, and it took every ounce of his willpower to not play with her sensitive spots like he would Samantha or the others he had hooked up with.

By the time he finished washing her, Nathan was breathing heavily from the stimulation, wondering how she was feeling at the same time. He could tell she was horny, but could also tell she was still scared.

"Rinse off," he told her, and she began to turn her head. "Don't look that way, Keith's a bit stimulated right now, even if he's trying to be quiet about it."

Katie looked over, then quickly looked back.

"I'm going to notice stuff like that once I'm awakened, aren't I?" She asked as she stepped back under the shower to rinse off the soap.

"Probably," Nathan told her. "I can have Breezy escort you back if you want some alone time, to… deal with this."

Nathan wasn't sure why he offered that, just that it felt like she might want to be alone for a bit after having a guy touch her so much in the showers.

"Yeah, thanks," she finished rinsing off, then left.

Nathan called his familiar and told it to escort her back, then waited until she was gone, then began stroking himself, leaning against the shower with one arm, his eyes closed. He hadn't actually expected her to let him wash her, not on the first time in the shower with her. He had definitely enjoyed it, though.