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In a grassy green park located in Backlund's opulent Empress Borough, two women watched a fluffy golden retriever bound off.
"Miss Audrey's dog sure seems smart, doesn't she, Xio?"
Or well, one woman watched the golden retriever, while the other watched the first.
"Hmm?" Xio blinked and pulled her gaze up from Fors's che— ahem. She looked up and focused on Fors' face.
"Xio?"
"Yeah, she does seem more intelligent than most dogs," she said, as normally as she could.
She hoped her friend hadn't noticed where her gaze had strayed. Seriously, it wasn't Xio's fault that Fors was just tall enough for her eyes to focus on her chest before her face when standing close enough, nor was it Xio's fault that Backlund's current fashion trends included emphasising the chest and shoulders. It was perfectly natural for her to look at Fors's chest if her dress was tailored to draw attention to it.
"Well, lets go home. This matter is out of our hands now." Xio turned around without a backward glance, knowing that Fors would follow her.
Xio yawned as she put her key into the door of the apartment she shared with Fors. It had been a long day, Qilangos's death had caused quite an uproar which required her to break up more fights than usual. It was a good thing, in a way, because paranoia made people hasty, which meant they were more willing to offer money for their whatever tasks or bounties they wanted to commission, but it was a little tiring nevertheless.
She opened the door and walked towards the shared living area, where her gaze fell on Fors, sitting on the one-person sofa near the window. Her head rested against the back of the sofa in an awkward angle and she still had a sheaf of papers in her lap. An uncapped pen lay on the floor near her feet.
Xio sighed, picking up the pen and papers before placing them on the low centre table. You really need to fix your habits, dear friend of mine.
She grabbed a cushion from her room before carefully rearranging Fors's head to rest more comfortably. As she did so, her eyes travelled down from the smooth column of her friend's neck.
Fors liked making herself as comfortable as possible, whenever possible. Which meant that once it was late enough that nobody would come calling at their door, she was in the habit of wandering around the house in just her loose shift and a dressing gown.
The dressing gown had now fallen open in her sleep, and the shift exposed a her delicate cleavage. The warm light from the gas lamps illuminated skin that Xio knew must be warmer still, from casual touches between friends. Her gaze dropped down further, tracing the silhouette of a perfectly shaped chest — neither too large, nor too small, just perfect — that was barely visible through the layers of thin, loose fabric.
She dragged her eyes away from smooth skin and threw a blanket on Fors before she could start wondering how it would feel to cup those perfect boobs in her own two hands.
It was a rainy day, as it often was in Backlund, and Xio and Fors were both home. They were sitting at their dining table, the surface of which was barely visible under the scattered papers of Fors's drafts, who was searching for a particular snippet she had written but could not find. Xio was helping her, since she had also read that particular snippet and knew what exactly to look for.
Suddenly, Fors threw down the pages in her hands.
"Its hopeless! Maybe I only imagined the scene in my head and didn't actually write it."
Xio looked up from the small stack of loose paper that did not have what Fors was looking for. "That can't be possible, unless you think I somehow invaded your dream to read it."
"Ugh, but then where is it?" Her friend slumped forward, placing her elbows on the table and holding her head in her hands.
The change in position also happened to push her full chest onto the table, resting there so innocently, partially covered by a lock of brown hair that fell from where Fors had pushed it behind her ear.
Xio brought her gaze back up and cleared her throat. "Maybe you should have listened to me for once and cleaned up the mess you leave in every room you write in," she chided as she normally would, but it sounded softer than usual even to her own ears.
Fors's let out a long sigh as soon as Xio started speaking but then her brows furrowed.
"Xio, are you alright? You don't need to help me if you don't want to…" She leaned towards Xio and looked deep into her eyes as she said it, but Xio, out of the corner of her eyes, noticed how the action pushed her chest further onto the table.
Xio's gaze threatened to dip lower — it did dip lower, for barely a millisecond, and she memorised how supple her friend's boobs seemed — but she valiantly maintained eye contact with Fors as she answered.
"I'm completely fine, why do you ask? Anyway, you should think more about yourself and that snippet you've lost."
Fors looked at her for a moment before dropping her head onto the table with a thump.
"I'm never finding it again…"
Xio merely patted her head and tucked her hair behind her ear, equal parts glad and disappointed that Fors's chest was hidden from her view again.
"Xiooooooooo," Fors whined, collapsing onto the sofa next to Xio.
"What is it?" Xio asked, drawing Fors close to herself with one arm without looking up from the book she was reading. Her friend yelped at the sudden movement but went with it easily enough, used to being randomly manhandled by Xio.
"Did you really need to do that?" Fors grumbled, but put her arm around Xio anyway.
Xio finally put down her newspaper and turned her body towards her friend, settling her head against her shoulder. From this close, she could smell Fors's perfume, something floral with a hint of citrus that she couldn't identify beyond it being Fors.
"What is it?" She repeated, softer this time, looking up sideways at Fors's disgruntled face.
"Mr. Dorian Grey offered me the chance to be a beyonder."
Xio pulled away a little and looked straight at her.
"But you're already a beyonder?"
"Exactly! But I can't tell him that I ate his family member to become one, can I?"
"Don't phrase it so weirdly," Xio said mildly. She considered it, before inquiring, "Is it the same pathway at least? The one he is offering you?"
Fors nodded, her other arm coming around to rest on Xio's waist.
Xio thought for a moment before settling down against Fors again.
"If you want his mentorship, but think he won't provide it of you reveal your status to him, you can only take the risk of consuming two sequence nine potions."
She felt more than heard Fors sigh, her warm breath tickling Xio's forehead.
"I guess that's that, then."
Xio only hummed in response, making herself more comfortable. She shifted until her head rested under the fleshy part below Fors's collarbone, her right arm resting lightly on her stomach.
She loved moments like this, where Fors and her just existed side by side, the space between them filled with quiet breaths and reassuring touch.
And right now, she thought, the view is great too.
This day, Fors was wearing a dress with a sweetheart neckline, not too deep, but enough to give Xio an unrestricted view of pale, unblemished skin and the slightest shadow that hinted at her cleavage.
In this position, Xio could stare at her friend's chest for as long as she wanted, without it seeming odd.
The softness of the moment loosened her hold on her mind and her thoughts wandered to a topic that she had tried her best to avoid thinking about. She wondered how it would feel to touch Fors's boobs.
Would they be plump and pillowy, inviting her to massage them? Or would they instead be firm in her grasp, not losing their dainty shape at her soft touch? How would it feel to plant her face in Fors's chest and only leave its luscious embrace when she couldn't breathe any longer?
A gentle laugh broke her out of her (somewhat indecent) thoughts.
"You aren't subtle, you know?"
Xio blinked and looked up at Fors innocently, despite how she felt her face heat up.
"What do you mean?" She knew what Fors meant, but she didn't want to admit that she had been caught.
Her friend only put her hand over Xio's — she belatedly noticed that her hand had started drifting upwards from Fors's stomach — and gently moved it to her own chest.
Xio's breath caught in her throat.
"I mean this."
Fors's cheeks were pink but her eyes were intent as she looked at Xio.
"I'm a romance author, I have an eye for these matters," she whispered.
Her eyes dropped to Xio's lips.
Xio's hand pressed against Fors's chest.
Their lips met in a kiss that was both soft and not.
It was soft, because Fors's lips were soft under hers, pliant as Xio licked and sucked on them. It was soft, because Fors's chest was oh so soft under Xio's hand, more plush than she had imagined, as she finally, finally, got the chance to fondle it to her heart's content.
It was soft because it felt so natural, something entirely expected, something that just fit in this space that they had shared for long enough for both of them to forget how they had lived before each other. Something that felt like comfort, and warmth, and coming home.
And it was not soft in the way Fors gasped Xio's name against her lips when she pulled down her neckline further to reach at the skin beneath, almost tearing her dress in the process; in how Fors raked her fingers through Xio's hair, making a mess of it; in how Xio pressed her down into the couch and climbed on top of her, straddling her waist; in how Fors plunged her tongue into Xio's mouth and bit at her lips when Xio groped her chest too hard.
It felt like forever and an only an instant before they pulled away to catch their breaths — before Fors pulled away, Xio could go without air for longer than her. Fors panted lightly as she looked up at Xio through half lidded eyes, one of her hands on Xio's waist, the other carding through her short hair. A lazy smile crossed her face.
"Do you really like them that much?" She asked breathlessly, glancing at where Xio's hands were still on her chest, cupping one breast with her right hand as she caressed and gently squeezed the other with her left.
"And if I do?" Xio asked just as softly, moving one hand to cup Fors's face.
"Oh just that I might get jealous of my own boobs with how much attention you give them."
Xio groaned and planted her face in said boobs, avoiding looking at Fors's teasing grin. Being surrounded by Fors's sweet smell and warm skin was a feeling more amazing than she had imagined.
But I won't tell her that, she thought as her friend laughed lightly. After all, she just said she might get jealous.