Chapter 68: Calm before the storm

Felix Sythias’ POV:

Our gear felt heavy on my back, but it was definitely something I could easily manage. That was good, since taking it all off again would be a pain in the tail. Neither of us wanted our stuff to fall to the ground, so we’d strapped it down tight. Especially the food. We didn’t want that to get dirty. In hindsight, it might have been better to put in one of my saddlebags. Too late to change it up now, though.

Alex also had a heavy load on his back. We’d filled the backpack to the brim, but with his newly improved Attributes, it should be a breeze for him to carry it all. I looked over at him as we walked. It was still a bit dark out since it was so early, but between the soft light from the street lamps, the barely rising sun, and my above average night vision, I saw him clearly.

His brownish black scales shone nicely, despite neither of us having had the time to shower or polish our scales. And while I couldn’t see it, I knew he had a lighter color of scales running down his chest and the inside of his legs. They weren’t quite white, but not gray either. They were more dark cream coloured. It made for a pretty contrast. And on the other side, on his back, he had a set of ridges running down his spine, going all the way to the tip of his tail. They were adorable and one of my favorite parts about him. Too bad they were pretty much always hidden by all his clothes. On the other talon, it meant I was the only one who saw them regularly, which was neat. At least they were visible on his tail.

He’d chosen to wear his armor. It was light armor made from some kind of tough leather. Just like his other combat gear, with exception of the sword, the Academy had provided it, so it was likely made of sturdy monster leather and would protect him well. It made him look tough and dangerous, too, like a hunter, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. Kind of the opposite of the sweet and cuddly person I knew he was. The armor looked good on him.

He noticed me staring at him and smirked. “Notice something you like?” he asked.

My first instinct was to come up with an excuse for why I’d been staring, until my brain caught up with me and I remembered I didn’t have to anymore. “Yeah, I did. You,” I said with a wink. “You look great in that armor, Alex. It makes you look tough and strong.”

He playfully punched my shoulder and smiled. “Thanks. I like it, too. The Academy really knows how to make armor.”

I nodded. “That they certainly do,” I said, and we talked about the various items of gear the Academy had provided to him and their quality. Like his under-armor clothes that kept clean with minimal maintenance, despite not being enchanted. Or his backpack that was comfortable, even with his ridges. While we talked I remembered something I’d asked earlier, so I switched tracks. “You know, you never answered my question earlier. Are you excited?”

Alex blinked, a little thrown off by my change of topic. “For the excursion, you mean?” he asked, and I nodded. “A bit? I’m excited to spend time with you and Tiki, even to level my Skills. But I’m not looking forward to fighting the monsters. What if there’s something I can’t fight?”

I stopped walking and Alex paused, too. After a quick check for other people, I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him into a quick and reassuring hug. “You know I’ll keep watch and step in when things go bad, right?”

I let go, and he smiled. “I know. I feel a lot safer with you around. And the potion helps a lot too. There shouldn’t be anything down there that can hurt me, but I keep thinking something will go wrong, anyway.”

“The teachers will be there with us the entire time, too. Even if something did go wrong beyond our ability to handle, they’d step in. Aside from that, I think you just need to fight a few monsters. You haven’t fought anyone or anything since you drank the potion, so you’re probably unconsciously still thinking like you have the Attributes of level seven lizardkin, when you don’t anymore. You still need to internalize that new strength.”

Alex nodded. “I hadn’t thought of that. You’re probably right, I’ll just need to fight a few monsters. I think I can manage that.”

“I may only be a big stupid lizard, but I do have my moments,” I said, grinning.

He chuckled. “You’re not going to let that one go, are you?”

I shook my head. “Nope,” I said.

“Yeah, alright,” he said, sighing. “Thank you, by the way. For making me feel better. I appreciate it.”

I shrugged. “That’s what boyfriends are for, right?”

He smiled sweetly when I called myself his boyfriend and I considered giving him a quick kiss, but the way he also looked around, seeing if anyone heard me call myself that, stopped me. I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable. We’d need to talk about it later, though. I needed to know what his limits were. For now, I would just assume he’d want us to behave like normal friends in public.

We continued walking down the path, making our way to the field. We’d arrive early, about thirty minutes before we actually needed to be there. While we would’ve been fine arriving later, when it was actually planned, neither of us wanted to risk being late because we forgot something. Now, if we needed to go back to grab something, we still could. Especially with Alex’s improved Attributes. He could just cast off his pack and run back to grab it in minutes.

Not that he’d need to. We’d checked everything over three times, and we were over-packed, anyway.

When we got to the field, it quickly became clear the rest of the students didn’t share our mindset. There were a few other groups here, but only a couple and no one I recognized. Not even the teachers were here yet.

Alex sat down on the grass, and I sat down beside him—but not too close. We sadly couldn’t get to our books right now since they were one of the first things we’d packed. A mistake if there ever was one. So we just talked. It was a little awkward at first as both of us tried to find topics that didn’t have to do with us dating in some way. A remarkably difficult task, considering it was one of the biggest things on my mind right now. In the end we settled on discussing the possible furniture we’d want to go shopping for when we got back. I had already convinced him before that it was fine and that dad would pay for it, so he gladly didn’t hold back.

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Some things we both wanted, like a new bookcase with doors on it—an oversight with the original room design, honestly—and large bean-bag chairs so we didn’t have to sit on the carpet when we read together or cuddled. Other things were a display board I wanted for Alex’s drawings, while Alex himself wanted to get one of those chairs made specifically for lizardkin.

It was a little strange to discuss how we wanted to decorate our shared room while we had only just started dating. That was usually a thing that only happened months, if not more than a year, into a relationship. But we were already rooming together anyway, and would be for quite some time if everything went well, so it was only right for Alex to also give his input when it came to the furniture. He’d have to live there too, after all.

We would need to be careful with the situation, though. There was a reason most couples only moved in together after a while. Everything was going great now and had been going great so far. There had been some minor conflict in the beginning, when Alex had just moved in. Like how I sometimes didn’t clean up too well, but we’d talked it out. And we’d keep talking it out.

In the meantime, we’d just have to be careful about each of us having our own space. The curtain underneath the loft helped a bunch in that regard—even if Alex hardly used it, the option was there and put both our minds at ease—and so did the loft itself. In many ways, the loft made it so our room was actually just two rooms sharing a large permanently open door. It was great that my room was so large. If it had been smaller, we would probably have stepped on each other’s claws a bunch more.

It was also one of the reasons we decided to sleep separately for now. Oh, we’d still sleep together from time to time, but we both thought it would be best if we took it a little slow.

As the clock ticked down to when we were actually supposed to get here, Alex started looking around every so often while we talked. I thought he was searching for Tiki, so I started looking around every few minutes, too. I soon discovered it wasn’t Tiki he was looking for, however, as I saw Viggi walking down the path towards us.

“Viggi?” I said and Alex turned around and smiled.

“You came!” Alex said once he was here.

“Of course I did. I promised I would, didn’t I?” Viggi said.

“Why are you here?” I asked. “Not that I mind. Not at all, actually, but I didn’t expect to see you again before we returned.”

“That’s exactly why I asked,” Alex said, then explained why he invited Viggi.

I nodded. “Well, I’m glad you came,” I said to Viggi. “How’s your week been?”

He held up his hands. “No, no, I want to know how your weekend’s been first. Can you fly again? How did your picnic go?”

“Yeah, I can,” I said. “It’s bizarre how much I missed it. Felt like… well, it felt like flying again for the first time after a month of having to walk everywhere.”

He chuckled. “I bet it did.”

“And our date went great, too,” Alex said.

I was confused for a second before I realized he was talking about Sunday’s picnic. It was true, I suppose. It had been a date, even if we’d only realized that afterwards.

Viggi smiled, but it was a sad smile. I felt sorry for him, but also a bit proud. We had both liked Alex, but in the end Alex had chosen me. I wouldn’t have blamed him if Viggi had just cut contact, or stayed away from us for some time at the very least. And yet, here he was, waving us off and being happy for us. He even gave both of us advice on how to deal with asking each other out. I wasn’t sure I could’ve done the same.

“So, you guys are finally dating, now?”

“Yeah,” I said, rubbing the scales behind my ears. It was a bit embarrassing how long it had taken. We’d basically been acting like a couple for several weeks already, with the intimate conversations and all the cuddling. But on the other talon, it had gone as fast as it could have, and as it needed to. “It’s been great. Do you want me to tell you how it went?”

Viggi thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. “Maybe in a few weeks or months, when we can look back at this and laugh at how silly we were all being. When seeing you two together like this doesn’t make me sad,” he said, then looked at Alex, who had cringed a little at his words. “You don’t need to feel guilty Alex. I’ll be fine. In fact, it’s probably a good thing you’re gone for a week. I think I’ll refrain from seeing you until the next support group meeting, though. Sorry.”

Alex shook his head. “That’s fine, Viggi. I can hardly blame you for that,” he said, then switched the topic. “Now, then, why don’t you tell us how your week was.”

Viggi nodded. “It hasn't been that exciting, honestly. I hooked up with a friend, but you knew that already. Aside from that, not much else interesting happened.”

I raised an eye-ridge—as a dragon, I didn’t have eyebrows. “Hooked up, huh? I’m glad you found someone else so soon.”

Viggi shook his head. “No, it’s not like that. Jasper’s aromantic. He’s just a… really intimate friend. He helped me get a better, healthier understanding of the whole mess. I might not have gotten what I wanted, but I still made two great friends.”

“Oh,” I said, then smiled. “Still, that’s good. I’m glad you have someone else you can talk to, and who can help you deal with… unpleasant situations like this. He sounds like a great friend.”

Viggi smiled again. “Yeah, it helps, and he is. Good fuck, too.”

I wondered for a moment why Viggi felt the need to say that last bit until I looked at Alex and noticed he was ever so slightly less tense. Had he said it to make it clear he was moving past Alex? Clever, if that was the case.

We talked about various things for a while more until professor Scott finally arrived, together with a few professors I didn’t know too well and a bunch of assistants. He was calling everyone to gather around him since we were leaving soon. We took this moment to say goodbye to Viggi, who needed to get going anyway.

After he left, Alex and I made our way to the gathering group of students. While we had been talking, most, if not all, of the other students had arrived. We stood on the edge of the circle and couldn’t really see professor Scott. That was fine, though, as we didn’t need to see him to hear him. He was explaining the journey we were going to be making and things to watch out for. It wasn’t something I didn’t already know, but I paid attention anyway. After my last excursion out of the Academy, I was being diligent. I hadn’t forgotten to bring an emergency beacon, either. In fact, I’d brought six. One and a spare for each of us.

A few minutes, and several explanations later, Alex and I went searching for Tiki. We wouldn’t be leaving for another twenty minutes, anyway, and we wanted to find our teammate before we left.

Alex was the one who spotted her, but before he started walking her way, I stopped him. He turned around and looked up at me inquisitively.

“Do we tell her?” I asked. I didn’t need to clarify what I was talking about, as there was only really one thing she didn’t already know. “She already knows I was planning on asking. I think she’ll want to know.”

Alex considered for a moment, then nodded. “She already knows I’m gay,” he said, whispering the last word. “Besides that, she’s our friend, and I don’t want to hide this from her. Can I tell her, though?”

I nodded. “Alright then, sounds good.”

With that settled and out of the way, we continued towards her. As we got closer, I noticed she looked angry. Like, really angry.

“Perhaps we should wait a little,” I whispered to Alex, and he nodded in agreement.

“Hi Tiki,” I said once we got close enough. “Um, what happened?”

“Somebody fucking raided my lab,” she spat out through gritted teeth.