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It was Saturday afternoon when Paul went outside. Having finished the little homework left behind in the morning while having breakfast, he moved out to have a date with Chris. Or, well, he called it that, although Chris disliked admitting it was a date and would say it was just “hanging out with a friend” instead.

“Hahh… Why do they even give me homework when I'm in college? Seriously, this damn thing never ends, huh?”

Paul considered his future as he walked across the streets and then took a bus towards a new mall that had opened near the central area of the city. Chris had told him there were a bunch of new shops and places he wanted to check out.

“From high school, never ending work, then college, never ending work, then my job, never ending work again…” sighed Paul. “What would I give in exchange for throwing away all of this and just playing FSO…”

There was the possibility of earning money through the game, but the market was still developing, and opportunities weren’t completely there yet. Although the streaming service was a new chance, he didn’t have the time nor the energy to stream all he wanted.

“Though, if the market develops enough, can’t I make money selling potions and other things like that?”

But even then, the expectations of his hard-working mother were there; she would never accept him earning money in a game. She would deem it “unstable” and “unreliable” rather than just finding a job.

And to be honest, he couldn’t help but agree with her anyway. She wasn’t wrong, and despite how much he hated things, he had to do them, like everyone else in this society.

…Well, except Chris!

Coming from a rich family, he was also a successful web novel author and online artist, already making thousands a month with just his hobbies.

“He’s very amazing and talented… I can’t help but be a bit jealous of him, hahah…”

To think he would be jealous of the person he likes… He thought of himself as a really pathetic person.

“I should just wish for his best and help him if he needs my help…” he smiled faintly. “I have to stop thinking dumb things…”

After the love and warmth that Chris had given to Paul, he simply felt guilty for ever thinking that way, so he quickly decided to forget about it and just be happy that he was so successful instead of wishing he could have what he had.

“Oh, there he is… He looks cute as always…”

Paul skipped a beat as he stepped out of the bus, seeing Chris waiting for him outside the mall, looking at his phone with an absent-minded expression. His cuteness was overflowing as usual, his short yet fluffy hair, which seemed as if it were his bed hair, yet at the same time, it looked quite tidied up, his big blue eyes, his pale skin like snow, his nails that were painted black, and even the clothes he was wearing.

A cute black shirt that showed his belly button, a jean jacket, black jean shorts, and white sneakers, all decorated with a black earring he was wearing on his left ear.

The combination of femininity and the cute masculinity of a boy was incredible; Paul had never been so… for a lack of a better word, obsessed with someone.

“What the hell did I do to deserve such a cute person to like me?” he began wondering. “I guess after lifting, I became kind of hot, but that… wouldn’t be enough, right?”

He began feeling slightly embarrassed as he made his way towards him. While not talking with his usual bratty personality, Chris had this whole unapproachable vibe to him, like he was just living in a completely different world from him.

But he just couldn’t act like a wimp after what happened yesterday, right? He had to gain some more self-confidence!

“Hey, Chris!”

So he tried his best.

“Hm? Oh, there you are! Why are you so late? Did you play that game until six in the morning or something? Seriously…”

Immediately, Chris attacked him with his bratty remarks!

But honestly, Paul kind of liked that side of him too.

It made him more approachable as well, someone who didn’t hold back his words and didn’t really act all high and mighty; he just spoke bluntly to anybody anyway.

“Hahah! Maybe?” laughed Paul. “But here I am, so don’t get so angry with me... Come on, I’ll buy you anything you want to eat to make up for it.”

“Hmmm~? Fine- Hey, why are you…?” Chris blushed as Paul hugged him and then approached his lips towards him.

“I have to be confident!” Paul thought, kissing Chris gently.

Although the kiss lasted for a second, Chris soft lips quickly made all the worries he had in the world fade away.

Kissing him was just that magical to him.

Although…

“Paul…!” Chris blushed a bit as he gently pushed him back. “D-Don’t do that in public…”

“Huh? But it was nice; why not?” Paul wondered, feeling slightly sad.

“I-I mean… won’t people find it weird?” Chris sighed. “Two guys kissing...”

“What’s wrong with that?” wondered Paul, raising an eyebrow. “Wait, are you afraid of being discriminated or something? If someone steps in and says they have a problem with us, they’ll have to get past me. So don’t worry.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“O-Oh, no…! I-I didn’t mean it like that, idiot! I-I… fine, whatever!” Chris crossed his arms and looked somewhere else.

Despite how carefree Chris seemed to be, Paul quickly found out he had quite a lot of insecurities, some even related to his sexuality and the discrimination he might suffer in society.

Yes, although the world and society have advanced a lot and homosexuality is much more accepted than before, almost worldwide, there’s never a lack of nutjobs who think otherwise.

“Calm down.” Paul gently patted his shoulders. “I’m here with you, so don’t worry about anything, Chris.”

“W-Why do you think I’m worried?! I-I’m perfectly fine…” Chris continued being a cute brat. “I don’t need anybody’s protection or something!”

“Hahah, okay, my bad, sorry,” Paul giggled. “Let’s go inside then! I also wanted to check what was there now.”

“Yeah, let’s!” Chris quickly walked forward, leaving Paul behind.

“H-Hey! Chris! Don’t leave me behind…” Paul complained. “Hah, is he still angry?”

As they explored the mall together, Chris didn’t stop being a grumpy little gremlin until Paul bought him some snacks, in the form of cookies they were selling, and then some cotton candy, and then some ice cream, and lastly, waffles.

Paul was shocked by the bottomless pit that Chris's stomach was as he ate all these snacks. He ate some too, but couldn’t really eat as much as he did… He did ogle his thighs and buttocks from time to time, realizing that all that sugar probably goes there.

“Hmm, he does have a good metabolism; all of that goes to the right places…” he rubbed his chin as if he were researching and finding one of the greatest truths of the world.

“Want some? You didn’t get ice cream for yourself?” wondered Chris, offering him his half-licked pistachio ice cream.

“Can I? Sure…” He took a few licks; it was slightly warm on the surface because Chris had been licking it for a while, but that only made it better for Paul, honestly.

“Heh, I knew you wouldn’t hesitate, you perv~” Chris smiled at him, perhaps giving him the cheekiest smile possible.

“Geh?!” Paul felt shocked to hear Chris words. “I-I mean, what’s wrong? We’ve kissed and even done other things; I don’t find it weird…”

“Nah, I bet you think my saliva gives it an extra taste, you freak~! Haha!” Chris mocked him even more.

Yet Paul couldn’t help but agree with him, deep down.

“T-That’s not it! I mean… Well, if you’re getting like this, maybe I’ll eat all the ice cream,” Paul gave it a big bite, even taking a bit of the cone.

“W-Wait! Don’t eat it all, heeey! It’s mine!” Chris started complaining as if he had regressed to being six years old.

Paul giggled at that cuteness of his, giving him back his ice cream.

“Save some space; we should go eat lunch now,” he said. “Come on, you choose.”

“Really? Aren’t you pampering me too much?” Chris wondered. “You’re going to make me feel all spoiled~!”

“It’s fine; I did make you mad before; it’s my way to apologize,” Paul smiled.

“Do you even have that much money, though?” sighed Chris. "Okay, I’ll choose the place, but I’ll pay too.”

“You’ll pay?!” Paul wondered.

“W-Why are you shocked?! I’m not poor or something; in fact, I guess I should invite you to things instead of you doing them. I guess I’ve been stingy for no reason,” Chris sighed. “Come on, let’s go!”

Chris grabbed his arm and led him to the restaurant he had picked.

Paul felt like he skipped several beats right there.

“He’s actually pretty nice when he means it, huh?”

Chris ended up choosing a Japanese food restaurant—one that didn’t just sell sushi, but many other interesting meals. He had noticed Paul was quite interested before, so he decided to come here, pretending it was his idea.

“Ooh, so this is an authentic Katsu don?” wondered Paul. “I can finally try it…!”

“Heh~ Are you that big of a weeb you’ve been dreaming about eating Katsu all this time?” laughed Chris. “Hahaha!”

“W-What’s wrong with that? I did want to try it someday…” Paul said. “Well, you bought Ramen too, and you were going all crazy over the little fish cakes.”

“Those are two completely different things, dude, not the same!” said Chris, feeling terribly embarrassed. “Anyways, what did you do last time that you slept at six in the morning?”

“Ah, I was finishing off a few things, mostly my armor and the weapon,” said Paul. “Today it should be possible to upgrade your equipment if you want me to.”

“Free of charge, right~?” Chris smiled cockily.

“Hmm, I guess I should, for now,” nodded Paul. “The food you bought is enough payment for now.”

“Nice, thank you~!” Chris felt relieved for some reason. “So what do we do anyway, like, what’s left to do?”

“We already talked about it, but we should finish our equipment upgrades and then go look for some thugs,” said Paul. “I was planning on first investigating by finding them small criminals and then interrogating them, slowly going deeper into their groups and connections. What do you think?”

“Sounds fine, I guess…” said Chris. “Though, I also kind of want to explore the Dungeons again and get some more Life Energy if possible.”

“Nah, we’re not getting any from those anymore; our Tiers are too high,” said Paul. “The amount of essence you can extract from monsters below your Tier decreases by fifty percent with each Tier, monsters with one tier below will already give very little; two tiers, and they’re barely giving any.”

“What?! Really? Wow, that’s so lameeee!” Chris complained. “And I thought the game was balanced?”

“Balanced? Isn’t that a way to balance it, though? You’ll need to progressively fight stronger monsters, Chris,” sighed Paul. “You’re probably confusing balance with just being an easier game…”

“Can those thugs give us any Essence?” wondered Chris. “At the very least, I want to earn something out of them…”

“They should if they’re strong enough…” Paul explained. “Don’t worry, it’s not like it’s going to take forever for us to find them and catch them—a week at most. Have patience.”

“Hmm, fine… Though I wish I could just go off into the wilderness or something…” said Chris.

“I mean… Well, nothing is really forcing you to stay by my side; if you really want to leave, I guess... you could leave and play alone,” said Paul, who didn’t want to force Chris.

“What? Hah, as if you would let me do that~ I bet you would beg me to return anyways~!” The cheeky incubus smiled cockily.

“…Yeah, I would miss the cute incubus at my side, I have to admit it,” Paul played along with him, which only made Chris more flustered.

“J-Just let’s get over with this already…” Chris sighed.

After their meal, the two walked out of the mall and decided to return home. It was indeed a rather nice and carefree date, and although Paul wished he could have given him another kiss, he understood that Chris didn’t want to do it in public and respected his wishes.

“Then see you in FSO?” wondered Paul.

“Yep, I’ll be logging-in right away, so wait for me, alright~?” Chris said that as he entered the Uber, he called. “Byeee!”

“And there he goes… Oh well, it was a pretty nice day anyways.”

After taking a bus and getting back home, Paul took a quick bath to refresh and then logged in, quickly appearing inside his workshop.

“Sup!”

And Chris appeared right above his head; he was waiting for him to surprise him.

“Y-You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“Hahahah! You looked paler than ever before, LOL!”

As Chris laughed while flying with his cute wings, Paul had enough, grabbing him by the tail and dragging him down.

“Hyeek! Hey, don’t- Ahh~?!”

The vampire prince quickly grabbed his incubus with his arms, embracing him in a passionate kiss. Alitheus didn’t fight back, accepting his passion and kissing him back even more. Not only did their lips lock in a couple of minutes, but their tongues met every time, licking each other and sucking on each other’s lips as if they were a delicacy.

“Hey, idiot… Aren’t you too obsessed with me~?” Chris teased him even when he had been sucking on his tongue while they kissed.

“Maybe… Maybe I am, a bit,” Vlad caressed his face as they started kissing again. He quickly started grabbing Alitheus’ buttocks, tightly and strongly.

Creaak…

However, the door of the workshop opened, to reveal Camilla and her mother.

“Vlad? Ah…”

“Ooh, they’re kissing again, mama!”

The vampire prince and his succubus panicked, quickly separating from one another.

“M-Mother, please knock on the door before entering!”

“T-This isn’t what it looks like, missy!”

Teressa was looking at them while squinting her eyes, crossing her arms, and tapping her elbows with her fingers.

“Is that so?”

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