When I woke up, Bastion still had his arms around me. I blinked blearily and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, only realizing he was watching me attentively as I was mid-yawn.

“How long was I out?” I asked.

“Twelve hours,” Bastion answered. “You missed dinner.”

“No wonder I’m starving,” I said, even as my stomach growled. “Did that mean you missed dinner as well? You could have left me while I was asleep.”

“Never,” Bastion said, nuzzling his face into my neck to kiss me. “I’ve missed plenty of meals in my life, but there’s no way I would miss this.”

I smiled at him, finding his lips with my own. “You’re sweet.”

“I’m glad, considering you have such a sweet tooth,” he mumbled through his returning kiss.

“Mmngh,” I pulled away. “Where did everyone sleep? I was going to sort out mattresses.”

Bastion pulled back and gave me a curious look. “You worry too much.”

“Maybe,” I blushed. “I just want to make sure everyone is looked after.”

“They can look after themselves. We’re used to sleeping in caves and forests. You don’t have to look after everyone.”

“Yeah, but still…”

“Emma. You don’t have to look after us. Let us look after you.”

His words hit me straight in the gut with the force of a bullet train. Had anyone ever offered me that before? To look after me? Not even my parents had done that for me.

My eyes welled up with tears as he addressed a deep and unspoken pain that I hadn’t even realized I’d been carrying. I had no words. Nothing to tell him what his words had meant to me.

I kissed him instead, running my hands through his short, shaggy hair as he rolled me over, pushing me down against the mattress. I gasped into his mouth, overwhelmed with the intensity of emotion I felt towards him.

“Bastion,” I gasped as he released my mouth. “Bastion, I need you.”

“You have me,” he growled, nipping a trail of kisses down my neck.

I arched into him, pulling at our clothes like they were strangling us until they littered the floor of my bedroom, and his naked body molded itself around me.

In the fantasy world, I’d often wondered if my succubus body had been built different, if it had somehow just been more ready for sex, more receptive to touches, more sensitive to stimulation, but in this moment with Bastion, I instantly knew it to be false.

There had been something that had changed within me, and I felt as though my whole body was alive and awake, screaming out with a desire filled electricity that ran hot through my veins.

I knew what was different. Sex with James had been performative, an obligation or an expectation I felt I had to fulfil. He’d been a close friend, and I’d cared about him deeply, but I’d never actually loved him. I’d never been able to completely trust him either. I’d never been with anyone I trusted before my life had been disrupted, and it had taken me until now to even realize the difference.

It had been so much easier to be confident in a borrowed body that I’d felt was so much more attractive than my own, and so easy to make love without feeling self-conscious when I could see so clearly how much my boyfriends had desired me. But now, with Bastion, and in my own body, I felt all my nervous thoughts about my imperfections fall away.

No matter what skin I was wearing, or what cosmetic differences there were between my forms, I was sure of his love for me and even more than that… For the first time in my life, I was sure of myself.

I swung my leg over Bastion, flipping him onto his back and devoured him, delighting in the lust filled noises he made. I trailed my tongue and teeth over his skin, tasting him and nipping at his throat.

“Ungh, Emma,” he moaned.

I pulled back and hovered over him, looking deep into his eyes. The shape of them was so subtly different, just so slightly rounder, but his irises were the same deep sea-foam green.

He gave me such an open smile, and I felt my heart melt a little further. He was so different from the miserable alcoholic I’d found getting into bar fights. It was like with that status ailment gone, his true self was exposed, and he could bask in the sunshine with nothing else holding him back.

“I love you, Bastion,” I said, watching him glow with delight at my words, then capturing him with another kiss before he could return them.

He moaned into my mouth, and my tongue wrestled with his as he jerked erratically with desire beneath me.

I felt like my life here in this world was hell, and if I had to go back to work in a couple of hours, I was going to take in as much of this slice of heaven as I could.

Bastion took in several shaking gasps and let out what sounded like a muffled sob of relief against my neck. I clutched him to me, catching my breath as I felt the aftershocks of pleasure fade into a pleasant hum.

“I love you, too,” Bastion whispered to me. “More than life itself.”

“More than your hair?” I asked cheekily, smiling against his cheek. I couldn’t help but tease him.

“For you, my darling, I would shave my head bald if you wished it of me.”

I snorted with laughter and felt him twitch inside me. “Don’t. I like you how you are. As an elf with long hair or a human with short. Now get off me. I need to get ready for work in another hour or so.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“You’ve got to go back to that place?” Bastion said, pulling back to look at me seriously, his voice losing its levity.

“I’ve got to pay for stuff somehow,” I grimaced. “I was putting James through university; he only earns peanuts from his part time tutoring.”

Bastion’s expression twisted with confusion. “They pay people in peanuts in this world? The economy is strange here.”

“It’s an expression,” I laughed. “Peanuts just means ‘not much’. James doesn’t bring in much money, just enough to cover his half of the rent and utilities if he doesn’t make any dumb purchases. I usually cover food and everything else. If I don’t go to work, we’ve got nothing.”

Bastion sighed. “I don’t like how you seem to feel about it. I wish one of us could go do it for you.”

I shrugged. “It’s got to be done, and as I’m the only one with a job, it’s got to be done by me. Now get off me.”

He rolled aside and watched as I sat up and retrieved my clothes. I pulled my top over my head and ran my fingers through my long hair.

“This kind of feels foreign to me now,” I said thoughtfully. “I’d never really thought of cutting my hair short, but I got so used to it in your world.”

“Our world,” Bastion corrected me. “It’s as much yours as mine. We belong together, Emma.”

I smiled at him. When he looked like that, naked and tangled in my bedsheets, I found it difficult to disagree.

“You could cut your hair if you want it back to normal,” Bastion suggested.

“It costs money to get a haircut. I should save that for food to feed you guys.”

“I’m sure everyone would agree. If it makes you feel better, you should do it. We won’t mind skipping a few meals if you need the money to make yourself feel good.”

The offer made my eyes water. Usually, I was always the one trying to put my needs last, trying to squeeze myself smaller to survive. Trying to get by on as little as possible, to be resilient enough to make it through each new wave that came at me. My mess of a family coming to me to borrow money to cover the latest disaster, or James’ overspending and needing me to cover his costs, or Mrs. Greaves putting our rent up.

Even the décor in the bedroom showed how much of my life I’d allowed to be annexed. James’ posters covered the walls, James’ anime collectables littered the shelves, while my own possessions remained limited and minimalistic. I had my one little box of ‘self-care’ I’d been investing in over the past year as my depression had been growing, but beyond that, I just didn’t spend money on myself.

My hair had fallen into the same category. Why spend money on styling it when I could just tie it up? Why put money into making myself feel good about my appearance when that could go towards my savings?

But I wanted it. I hadn’t realized it until my awesome new haircut had been taken away, but I wanted to feel good about the way I looked. And I hadn’t realized I was waiting for permission until Bastion had pointed out that I did not, in fact, need it at all.

“Maybe I will,” I nodded. “Just because I’m back in this world doesn’t mean I have to go back to how everything was. There’s a place a couple of shops over from where my office is. I could go in during lunch.”

The idea made me feel buoyant. I liked who I’d become over the past few weeks during my adventures. And so what if I couldn’t shoot a shark out of my hands if my boss annoyed me too much? I could still feel good about myself.

I planted another kiss on Bastion’s lips and grabbed my phone from its charging station, intent on hunting down some breakfast to fill the chasm in my stomach before I had a shower.

Jackal met me with a smile as I opened the door, clearly having stood guard all night long. The fold out couch had been pulled out, with Bruiser and Brick sleeping back-to-back, Nightfall on Bruiser’s other side on a sliver of mattress that looked far too slim for him to be comfortable, and Bonaparte curled up by Bruiser’s feet. James lay atop his cat-girl body pillow against the far wall, drooling onto the floor in his sleep.

“Why don’t you have a rest yourself, Jackal?” I said, squeezing his arm. “You can use my bed once Bastion’s up and about. Thank you for looking out for me.”

He brushed my cheek with his thumb, giving me a warm look.

“You look happier,” he said with satisfaction.

Bastion appeared in the doorframe in his rumpled shirt and pants.

I reached up and touched Jackal’s fingers. “I am, thank you. Now, go get some sleep.”

He nodded and disappeared into my room.

“He’s smitten with you too, you know?” Bastion commented as we stepped around the sleeping bodies and headed into the kitchen.

It was sparkling clean, not a single sign of the chaos that had been present yesterday. Not even a lingering smell of chemicals. I pulled the cereal and milk out, as well as two bowls.

“He likes me, but I don’t know if it’s the same as with the rest of you,” I shrugged. “He was trying to flirt with basically everything that moved when I met him.”

“But the difference between them and you is that you’ve continued to show him the time of day in the morning,” Bastion explained, poking curiously at the cereal I poured for him with a spoon. “You take the time to talk to him like he matters. Not like a… like a half-breed. There’s a reason he doesn’t advertise it, and the fact that you know what he is and that you still are so kind to him is a pretty big deal. He’s not just attracted to you, he’s loyal to you.”

“It’s true,” Nightfall said from behind me. I greeted him and invited him to take a seat. He picked up the box and glanced at the nutritional content. “Jackal has had few people in his life who have remained with him for very long. He belongs in our band of misfits and has built trust with us over the course of many quests, but his relationship with you is something new for him.”

I furrowed my brow. “Are you implying I should date him as well?”

“Nothing of the sort,” Nightfall snorted. “You should do as you please, regardless of his feelings. But it is good to know what they are, if you wish to act or avoid them. Now, we have some more important things to discuss. The fabric of our world, to begin with.”

I sighed and ate a spoonful of cereal. Bastion followed suit, wincing as he ate.

“You don’t like it?” I asked.

“It’s very… wet,” Bastion grimaced, taking another mouthful. “Not terrible. But strange.”

“We’ve got oats if you want to make porridge.” I shrugged. “Maybe I’ll teach you how to use the stove when I’m done. It’ll prevent more fires, at least.”

Nightfall cleared his throat, and I gave him an apologetic look.

“Sorry. I’ve got to leave for work in less than an hour. James said you’d been reading his fanfics.”

“I’ve set up a new document and have categorized a lot of information. He has a lot of varied source information. One of the greatest difficulties I have encountered is his descriptions of the landscape and the environment and the inclusion of several contradictory maps,” Nightfall began. “Unfortunately, I am only familiar with what is, and not with what it should be. I can see where the generation tool has varied from the source material, but I do not know what should be altered. I would value your input.”

I chewed on my lip. “Unfortunately, I’ve really got to go to work. If you get James to help you email what you’ve got to me, I can look it over in my lunch break, but I won’t have another day off until Saturday, so we’ll have to use lunchbreaks and evenings.”

Nightfall’s forehead creased in concern. “We need you to be able to put your time into this. It is as James said. We need your expertise.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Nightfall. I wish I didn’t have to go, but I do. No job, no money, no apartment, no computer. If I want to pay to keep a roof over our heads and the power on, I’ve got to go get money.”

“As you said yesterday,” Nightfall hummed thoughtfully. “While you are at work, I will see what I can do. Do not worry yourself.”

I smiled at him. “Thanks for being so understanding, even when your world is dangling by a thread.”

“I am happy to be on this side of the equation, working with the source material,” Nightfall said. “It is much more fruitful than using the limited and flawed resources of the Citadel.”

“I’m glad,” I said, finishing my breakfast. “Now, Bastion, let’s get you started on the porridge. Then I’ve got to go have a shower.”

I showed him how to operate the stovetop and turn it off when he was done, and we got a large pot with enough for everyone bubbling away before I slipped out to have my shower.

Bruiser had done a very thorough job of cleaning up in the bathroom as well, not a puddle or wet towel to be seen.

I sighed with satisfaction as I stepped under the hot jets of water. This was the way to start a day.