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Things have been.. Great. Domestic, almost for them.
She and Derlord live in their own little private world, and have for about forty days, Avery thinks. It's nice. She's always known- or rather, she's known since she met Derlord, that she was interested in her. Not never a fully in a romantic way, no, more in a, oh my gosh she's so cool and smart and pretty and intimidating, and I want to be her friend so much that. Well, Avery was willing to kill all of Earth for her within the first day of knowing her, so she thinks that's enough to show just how much she finds this guy.. Neat?
Regardless, it's been almost a hundred days since the whole thing went down, and don't get her wrong, they hung out a whole bunch during the beginning days. Avery would go over to Derlord's house. She would be grappling with having a deity in her head and struggling to survive; she would give her food, and Avery would sit and listen while Derlord said a whole bunch of stuff she didn't understand. That was mostly on the bad days, when Der didn't message Avery good morning or just left her on read for too long. (If the amount it took to be 'too long' dramatically shortened over time, that's her business.)
So! Things are great! They live in a little wooden cabin they made together. Their beds are next to each other (there is an invisible line that they seem to have drawn, but she's ok with that). Derlord goes mining while Avery deals with tasks she gave her. They eat food together at the end of the day. It's been like this for a good while, and she's happy with things like this! The book and quill Derlord gives her in the mornings help her stay on track, and she likes how straightforward Der is. Something makes her think that even before The King, she was different from others, and thinks that if she didn't think Avery would think it's weird, she would have given her paperwork about basically any personal matter 'to ensure proper and comfortable co-habitation of their shared home' as Derlord had said in the past.
So when Der started acting weird, she was a little bit worried, to make a small thing of it. They didn't talk constantly; making a homestead is hard, but when Derlord stopped talking to her in the mornings? When Avery gave her rabbit stew, her favorite for her on-the-job meals that day, she said nothing. No absent-minded seeming but really intentional touches in the day, complements over the yard.. It's dumb, but she didn't even sleep next to Avery last night or the night before. It makes her feel.. In a way, she struggles to articulate. Hopeless? Scared? She's worried about Der, of course she is, but did she do something? Has Der realized how annoying she is and wants to leave her? She didn't even tell Avery to shut up in that warm, affectionate, but tired voice when she made a 67 joke!
So, needless to say, Avery's worried.
Needless to say, she's even more so when she wakes up, and Derlord is simply.. Missing.
She rises from her bed, rubbing her eyes and yawning for a moment before getting up and wandering to the kitchen. She absentmindedly looks out for Derlord as she walks through, not hearing any noises.
A sandwich is hastily made with random ingredients she takes from Der's hyper-organized system, and she checks the perimeter. (It was a small thing; she sometimes had trouble getting up, but when Der phrased it as 'You could check the perimeter? Looking around the place to make sure hostile mobs don't spawn and make sure to note down broken things?’ It made her feel like it was something important, and she loves doing important things for Der. It makes her feel happy, she gets to take something off of the woman's back.) A few knocked-over books, the desk in the library is dirty, there's no mobs. There's also no Der. Normally, she leaves a note. Well, she would if she ever left early. They always wake up together.
It's fine. Everything's fine. Der's very strong. She handled having her mind torn apart by a God, not well at first, but nowadays she's great.
His missions. If she gets her missions done, it'll be fine! Derlord will come back home, Avery will apologize for whatever she did to piss her off, and it'll be ok! Make her something good.
She picks up her pack with her book and quill and looks at what her tasks are as she walks out of the house. There's a forest next to their house, full of tall trees. Derek's been planning expansions, and she needs some wood. Simple. Easy.
There's no way she can mess this up!
She walks out, looking at the small farms she's started as she wanders into the forest. They don't go to the forest often, there not being much light, but she knows that she's strong enough for any mobs that are creeping in there. Oh! Maybe she can shoot herself a squirrel and make something yummy for Der!
The trees feel almost intimately tall when she looks at them, towering over her as she gets closer. The mix of tree types is good for biodiversity, and Der also wants to have at least a sapling for all types of trees in the storage system she's planning on building (he loves talking about her redstone plans, but Avery understands nothing. She smiles and nods.), but she also wants to make a few tree farms later. Avery thinks she wanted some of the white trees, and she doesn't remember the others because Der told her about a leaf shape. Do you think Avery can remember a leaf shape? For more than ten minutes?
She whistles a songless tune as she walks into the forest, loosely pondering whether she could 1v1 a bear without tools.
When she walks in, she pulls out her iron axe, bouncing it lightly as she looks around for good trees. After a few moments of her feet carrying her further into the forest, she pauses her walking.
She likes humming to the birds' chirping. She always does that during her woods missions; it makes her feel better, because yeah, it's creepy, but birds chirping means it's safe. Why can't she hear them? The bustling of the branches in the wind is absent, the only sound as she walks being the sounds she makes.
It's fine! She could definitely 1v1 that bear.
He walks through, looking at some of them, trying desperately to remember which leaf shape Der wanted, before deciding that she doesn't have the brain space for that, and sets her sights on one of a kind she recognizes, swinging her axe with strong arms, the blade wedging itself into the trunk well. She's glad that slimes are so shock-absorbent; the force of it just causes her to jiggle a little.
Once the tree comes down, she opens her bag, beginning to unlatch a section of leather, along with some straps that essentially make an additional pocket for her to put logs in. Once she picks all of them up and deposits them in her bag, she's off again, looking around the bright, lush leaves.
Maybe this trip wasn't as creepy as she thought! She's been doing great, just because some birds aren't singing doesn't mean anything! Probably just.. Migration season. Something like thAT-.
Her thoughts are interrupted by a weight on her chest; she's shoved to the ground, a breath being forced from her and a black flash in her sights. Once her vision returns, which only takes a few moments, she does what any normal person would do,
It's as if her body is moving without permission. Her legs push up, the being on top of her being relatively light, at least in her current state of panic, and she shoves the thing off of her, slamming it against a tree.
It cries out, a screech that hurts her ears. She looks at it, tattered clothes, dark skin, feathers, wings-
And eyes. Golden as they flare open at her, beautiful, and hers.
It revs back up for another attack, and Avery was just going to either kill it or maim it so that it wouldn't be a danger anymore, but-
The woman pushes its feet- whoa, she doesn't think she's seen Derek's feet before- against the tree trunk, using the force to attempt to tackle Avery, black claws out. Avery wonders if they're larger than normal, the hard black material glinting slightly, but she thinks this might just be a trick of the mind now that they're attempting to claw into her skin.
A slash catches her arm, which causes her to hiss before a sharp intake of breath, snatching Derlord's wrist in a moment's notice, eyes searching over her quickly, not frantically, before using her other hand to take her other wrist, all the while Derlord writhes in her grasp. She moves both of Der's hands into one of hers, holding them above her head slightly as Der attempts to lunge and bite her.
"Thank goodness for skywars training, right, Der?" she asks as she stands up, Der now trying to curl inwards on herself, but unwinding as Avery lifts her into the air.
Looking over Der, she ruffles her brows. "You look rough! Like. Dude, what happened?"
His clothes, for one, look absolutely horrible. Normally dressed in a turtleneck and dress pants when she forgoes the armor, it looks like she rolled through barbed wire, then decided to take a dirt bath.
Avery's hand traces over her side, looking over the slashes in the black cloth and the gold surrounding all of the cuts that have been leaking down her side for goodness knows how long. She touches one of them carefully, or rather attempts to, because Der moves in her grasp, aggressively swinging her body and, almost, kicking Avery in the face, and fails to win her escape.
"Whoa, buddy! Calm yourself down, you're gonna dislocate your arm.." she quirks an eyebrow, "arms? I don't know"
She looks around, the lush grass moving slightly in the wind, and she can hardly see the house from here.
"So. What do we do-" she looks back, then feels her move again and feels before she sees teeth, sharp and rough against her neck. She yelps and throws Derlord on instinct. "Ow! F-frick I'm bleeding- wh-wait I'm so sorry-"
Goop covers the hand she raised to her neck for a second before she starts walking towards Derlord again, who's on her butt and actively scrambling backwards.
"I'm so sorry, I- oh my gosh, I just threw you, you're already injured!" she shouts at herself, and Derlord frightens. "What wa- no, no, Der, come here"
He scoots back enough to have a grasp on a tree and flips herself over.
Avery grabs her shirt and drags her back out, "Sorry, sorry," she apologizes as she regains her grasp on her, trying to be gentle as she gets her.
She tries to get her wrists again, but it reaches and scratches at her face, and Avery collapses, Der underneath her.
"Jokes on you, I weigh too much for you to escape, but I can't hurt you because I'm squishy," she says, a smile clear in her tone.
Derlord pulls her knees to her chest and kicks Avery off of her. Avery yelps in response, Derlord attempting to escape again.
"Bro! Get back here, you little wooooooorm!"
She grabs her bag, then grabs the back of Derlord's shirt. She takes some rope out of the bag, meant to make extra carrying containers for wood; however, today, it's being used for something new.
Avery is bad at most things. However, she was a Boy Scout, so she sits on top of Derlord, binding her hands together, then backing up and holding down her chest with her hand while she ties her feet together.
"Bro, there is no way chest bindings are a good idea when you're hopping around. I may be dumb, but I read that one book, and I remembered that one part," she picks up Derlord, briefly wondering how to carry her, before tossing her over her shoulder and starting to stand. "Mostly, because I wanted something to bully you about."
She places her hand on Derlord's back, of whom is screeching and still fighting.
The walk back to the house takes time, but honestly, with Derek writhing on her back, it makes things interesting; therefore feel better doing.
"Uh," Avery starts, intelligent as ever, as she sets Derlord down, gently onto their bed.
"What do I do now?" she asks the room.
The room does not answer.
She looks around, looking for clues like she's in some point-and-click game. When she turns around, she hears a yelp and then feels a weight fall against her. She jumps in place and looks down, seeing Derlord's failed attempt at escape. She rolled off the bed, then onto Avery.
“Ookaay! So, we’re not making this easy for me, huh?” She picks Derlord up by the rope at her wrists and puts her back on the bed. Looking at her with a concerned expression, she starts talking again, “Uhh, I don't know how to tell you this, Der, but if you don't start like, cooperating with me- I know you would normally congratulate me for using a big word there, I know- then I'm gonna get canceled.” Derlord grumbles as she sits up, hissing at Avery.
Avery did not know she could hiss.
She ties the rope to the edge of the bed, looking over it before taking a piece of extra rope and attaching one of Derlord's pant loops to the mass of knots. It wouldn't hurt her, but make it harder for her to throw herself.
“I know, I know.” She puts her hand on Derlord's face, cradling it slightly, to which Derlord moves away, or rather attempts to.
“You’re like a shelter kitty,” she says with a tone of.. Awe? “You would beat me up for that if you were here.”
A smile forms on her face, and she takes a breath.
“Not that you’re not here,” she says as she backs away, turning around again, then looking through their drawers, “Like, I know it's you, but it's not li-” she looks down at her hand, thick swirls of red and gold, dark and sparkling are prominent.
“Yo k- wait, I don't think that nickname's good anymore. Uh. yo. That one guy I live with. Homie?” She shakes her head. “We don't kiss the homies goodnight in this house- NO, Avery needs to lock in- what am I doing?” She looks around. “Blood, right!” She finally finds the drawer; a load of medical things bought off-server lie in there, things made for all different species. Derlord wanted to be stocked up; she doesn't know if The King will throw a random human or hybrid-child at them, and wants to be prepared. “Some of this is yours, and some of this isn't. If I- if you come back, and I find out you ate raw meat, I am never letting you live it down.”
She picks up one of the packages, placing it on the nightstand and grimacing at the bedsheets.
“Babe. Your clothes are- help, there's a word for this. Satur-atued? Soaked. That thing.”
She takes a moment to raffle though their clothes, before grabbing a loose white shirt she owns (better to see if she randomly starts bleeding out like that) and a pair of shorts. Normally, Derlord hates casual attire. Currently, Avery does not care. Her friend is bleeding, and she needs to fix it immediately.
She walks out to the kitchen, taking out a barrel and filling it with water (making a quick stop to wash her hands) before heading to the bathroom and picking up some towels and rags. Once she makes it to her room again, Derlord’s are lying down, perched like a cat in a warm sun ray, and Avery turns on some of her music. Quick beats and happy dialogue start flowing from the speaker, and she makes a note of the smaller cuts as she cuts the clothes away. Derlord surprisingly cooperates.
“Okay! I thought you were gonna claw my face off for a second there,” she says as she throws the soiled clothes into the corner, quickly getting her redressed.
“Okie-Dokily, I’ll admit I’m not as good at this stuff as you are; you know, I’m more the causer of injury than the mender of them.” She flexes her arm and makes a dumb expression. “Because I'm a Skywars champ! Wait, that goes hard, Der, bro, the mender of wounds, lowkey why don’t they call doctors that instead of- Blood! Oh, my gosh, I need to focus. Babes, this is the second time this has happened. How the freaky-de-deakity do you handle me.”
He picks up the medical kit, a decently sized wooden box, and opens it, taking out some rags and hydrogen peroxide. Saturating the fabric with the hydrogen peroxide, she starts working over the wounds, the gold-red swirled blood coming off and staining the fabric, making the boy frown.
“I’m wondering just exactly what it was you got. More importantly,” she glances up at the knight's eyes and softens, “what got you.”
He shakes her head and finishes rubbing over the wounds, the rag turning warm and turning orange and pink, then running her hands along the dark, warm skin for a moment. She drags the shirt up before picking up a bottle of antiseptic and dabbing some onto her finger, then carefully rubbing it along the abrasions on her ribs, making sure to pay special attention to a particularly gory cut on the woman's stomach, before attending to the smaller ones on the woman's arms and legs. Taking the woman's face in her hand, she notices that her breathing has increased, but she gently puts her face further into Avery’s hand, and she can feel her soft breaths. Avery feels something change in her, a smile flickering on her face as she puts some of it onto the cuts on her face.
“Really got banged up, huh?”
“Mrrpt.”
Avery’s eyebrows raise, an amused chuckle leaving her. Der had a vast catalogue of noises he could make, but Avery hardly ever heard them, only when she was really tired, or they were having one of the late-night moments of intimacy. Der wasn’t fond of physical things; she had issues with things that normal people considered easy. She talked to Avery one late night about how even a hand on her back or a hug can make a weird part of her brain try to shut down. Avery isn't going to try and force anything from her, that's the last thing she would want to do, because she isn’t with Der for anything physical, she's here because she loves listening to her happy or focused rants when she figures out a puzzle she's been working on, she loves the look that she gives her when she says something dumb, the begrudging love. She almost cried when Derlord let her touch her wings, but that isn’t important.
She next takes out a package of various-sized bandages and works on covering up all of the wounds, throwing the paper and plastic wrapping into a garbage bin nearby.
“Bruh, for once your overprepping does more than make us look like hoarders or extremists.” Derlord growls, but moves her head closer to her as Avery finishes the last bandage.
“I did it.” She smiles as she backs up and looks at Der, probably about twenty bandages of various sizes all over her body. “You’re gonna be so mad when you wake up.”
She hums and looks over to her.
“Okay, you’re fed, you’re clothed- what else do I need to do?” A pause and then she smiles, “I’m feeling a bit peckish myself, so imma get us some food and then you can sleep.” She's a little sad that she isn't gonna be able to nap with her, buuuut she cares more about Der being comfortable than that.
He makes sure that Der’s binds are tight enough that she can’t escape, then wanders over into the kitchen, picking up a few bowls of leftover stuffed pumpkin she could bring to Der, and she picks up a fork, then goes back into the room. Derlord lies on the bed, on her back, looking at the ceiling with no particular emotion on her face.
“I have realized you can’t eat this yourself; I either have to,” she chuckles to herself as she puts her bowls on the table and sits down, “feed you, orrrr you actually stop trying to escape and reopen your wounds, and we get to eat just normally.” She stares at Der and picks up the bowl, a stupid smile on her face, picking up a piece of tomato with her fork and making dramatic airplane noises at Der.
Der makes a questioning noise before Avery sighs, “Open your mouth, bro.” And she complies.
He complied. Oh my gosh, Avery is kicking her feet and giggling mentally. She's never gotten to feed her before, and she is never going to forget how cute she looks right now.
“Hungry thing,” Avery muses, voice soft and face warm. Derlord *purrs*.
They spend a few minutes going back and forth with Derlord eating and Avery taking a bite from her own bowl before Derlord ends up not letting Avery feed her anymore and turns over to lie on her stomach.
Avery coos at the sight. Normally, Der is terrifying, but she's been making such cute noises, and Avery is learning so much (she scratched behind Derlord's ear, and she made a noise so adorable that she thinks she could die happy.) But she stands with a sigh, picking up the bowl and putting a blanket over Der, watching how her eyes flutter shut for a moment before taking her leave.
She ends up in the living room, curled up on the couch and looking over the empty chair where Derlord would normally sit, and she falls asleep quickly. The whole wrangling your best friend and trying to make sure she doesn't claw your face off takes a lot longer than she thought.
She wakes with a yawn, stretching her hand over her head and making a sound as one moves down to rub her eyes, and as she reopens her eyes from her stretch, she sees Derlord, sitting straight up, dressed properly once again, on her chair.
“Hi? I’m really sorry for yesterday, I had no idea what was-”
“Avery.”
Avery looks over to her and mhms, asking her to continue.
“I attempted to injure you; I have seen your skill in battle and am grateful that you did not do anything bad.”
“I might've not killed you or anything, but I was still questionable about some of that, and I'm sorry.”
He pauses, letting the warmth and the silence of the room sit for a moment. “Do you wanna talk about what happened?”
Derlord sighs. “I wanted to have it so that you were off-world when this time came around; it certainly doesn't paint me in the best light.” She crosses her legs and looks over at her, “You- allow me to give an analogy.”
“Of course,” Avery nods, and Derlord takes a breath.
“You are aware of how the offworld computers work, yes? Well, my mind is like a computer, one of the older models, and The King uploads more and more until ultimately she tries to get Boulder's Gate 3 on a twenty-year-old laptop, it crashes, and it factory resets. Normally, I'm able to be back quickly, my base files not taking that much space, but certain events can trigger it, or can make it so that the process goes by faster. Basically, in laywoman terms, if I think too much for too long, my brain drains like a strainer. And I get like how you saw me.” She bows her head, to others simply a gesture, but Aver can tell she's embarrassed. “I get stupid. Essentially in a kill or be killed mode, and.. At some point in that, my brain recognized you as a friend, rather than a foe.”
“Before you remembered how to speak English-”
“I remembered you, yes, don’t flatter yourself, slime,” she says quickly, looking away, and Avery can’t help but think about how pretty she looks.
She hums, a warm smile on her face.
“Of course not.”
The room is quiet for a moment, Derek probably mourning the loss of her cool guy facade as she remembers that she purred and nuzzled Avery (making a quick pitstop in thought to think about killing the woman) and Avery questioning some things.
“Do you want me to be off-world next time?” She realizes her voice sounds solemn, and she's quick to clarify, “-I don’t mind if you do; I want you to be comfortable, and if you want me to be gone, that’s ok; I definitely crossed some boundaries with this.”
“Avery, normally it would be me coming back and having to deal with infections and having not eaten properly for days.” Derlord's hand flickers, almost going to touch her, and then places her hand on the couch, an attempt at comfortable assistance. “It didn’t take me as long to come back with you here. I think the more important question is, do you want to have to deal.. With.. that?”
Avery’s head moves back, flinching in shock.
“Deal with? As if that wasn’t one of the most adorable things I’ve ever experienced. And, Derlord, I never have to deal with you. I want what you want to give me, because I care.”
A low hum that Avery’s learned means she's flustered, regardless of her stone-cold expression.
“Well, know that if you ever don’t, I can and have handled it on my own in the past.”
“Color?” Avery asks, in a quieter tone, and Derlord nods her head, a slight eyeroll with her small smile.
“Green,” She states, and without a beat Avery is back to her loud boisterous tone,
“Yeah, well, frick you, the magic of friendship.”
Derlord sighs.
“So, what's the protocol? What do you want me to do in the future with it?” Avery starts,
Recrossing her legs, Derlord glances away, taking a breath. “I can normally tell a few days before. The headaches get worse; my mind fog gets worse.” She pauses for a moment. “Currently, I don’t know what the best course of action will be.. Providing a calm, stable environment with the things required for the first night would probably be a good place to start.”
Der stands from her chair and sits next to Avery, the movements stiff, robotic.
“Due to The King, I am very familiar with not feeling human. Typically, she allows the side of her leg to hardly be against Avery’s. “It’s more in the knowledge of gods and the omnipotent side. However, placing indicators of who you are, and things that..”
“Are you about to ask me for things that smell like me.” Avery says before she can stop herself.
Derlord sighs and puts a hand on her face before nodding.
“Your presence made this process last significantly less time than normal, and I do not wish for you to be injured while I cannot remember you.”
“Bro-” Avery starts a rant about how, because of her PvP skills, Derlord can’t really hurt her, but she stops herself. “Okay.”
The room turns silent again. Avery smiles, an expression that is then shocked when she feels warmth on her side.
Derlord leans against her, pulling her legs to her chest. She stays silent and looks forward, not wanting to make Derlord feel pressured, but when she spares a glance, she notices her eyes are closed.
“Thank you.” She breaks the silence, allowing her weight to be on Avery.
“For what?”
Derlord pauses, opens her eyes, and looks over at her.
“Not making me feel stupid about this whole thing.?-”
“I think it's very clear who the dumb one is he-”
A hand goes over her mouth to stop her from talking. She feels a glare on her.
“You are not stupid. Our expertise is in different things, yes; however, in a social situation where I may flounder, you would flourish. Before The King we would’ve been equals in mental capacities; currently, we are equals in physical capabilities. You-”
Avery licks her hand, and Derlord looks down at her with a flabbergasted expression.
“I was trying to be nice.”
“I know,” Avery laughs, looking at Derlord in the warm light of the room around them.
Rolling her eyes, Derlord backs up slightly, leaning on the arm of the couch, and Avery knows it’s just her wanting to get a better look at her.
“Then why did you stop me?”
“Being nice isn't a good look on you, you know, aren't you supposed to be talking a-”
“Avery.”
“What?”
“Shut up.”
Avery takes a breath out and sighs, looking over at her before nodding at her to continue.
“You’re kind, skilled, much better than I am at PvP, much more emotionally intelligent than I am, as well as overall smart. You are not perfect, but no human is; it’s what makes you so interesting.”
Avery grumbles and turns her head away, leaning it back onto the couch. She feels a hand on her arm.
“Yes, Derlord?”
“You better start listening to me; otherwise, I’m pulling out my secret weapon.”
Avery feels her heart increase and turns to look at her so fast she's a little lightheaded.
“Nononon please, please, I promise I won’t ever talk back again, Der, Der, baby, please, I can do good, I can be good.”
On Derlord’s normally emotionless face, a small smirk quirks.
“Avery, please list five things you like about yourself.”
“Nooooooooo!”
Avery shouts so loud she's pretty sure the animals outside ran away from their hiding spots.
She's met with silence, which is Der’s second greatest weapon against her.
“I like..” Der looks at her expectantly, “That I can make you laugh-” She feels a sharp pain in her knee and yelps.
“Wrong answer. That's something you like doing for me; other options are that you like how funny you are, or you like your sense of humor.” Derlord shakes her hand, slightly tingly from slapping her.
Avery groans.
“I like how I smell; I like my weird music taste-!” Derlord nods as she continues, not particularly caring for her music tastes, “I like my collection of weird shirts, I like how I cook, and I think I’m good at my game-”
“Ah,”
Derlord’s head tilts and Avery sighs.
“I know I’m good at my game.” She leans back once she's done.
Although dejected, she looks over at Derlord for approval, eyes slightly widened. “Very good. Was that so hard?” she muses as she puts a hand on Avery’s shoulder, giving soothing touches down. One of the few times Derlord actually gave more touch was when attempting to condition Avery into loving herself. A month ago, it would've taken ten minutes of fighting before Avery gave in. (They had had a conversation; they use a simple system for all talks. Regardless of what they hold, reds stop, yellow is we need to pause/ talk this out in more detail, and green is for when Avery is worried Derlord is doing something she doesn’t want to, or the reverse.)
With another sound of defeat, Avery slouches slightly in place, then moves to make herself more comfortable.
“Yes, it was, you evil cretin.”
Derlord sighs contentedly and lies back, a decent distance between them physically, but not in reality. They sit in silence for a while, simply staring off into the void in front of the couch, and Derlord sighs.
“I’m glad you’re my friend, Avery.”
Avery feels a grin grow on her face, and she looks over, locking eyes with her. “There’s no one else I would rather be roommates with, even if you have a petty creature in your head most of the time.”
A chuckle comes from the woman beside her.
“He's been pretty quiet,”
Avery’s smile softens. “Yeah?”
A slight movement makes Derlord a comfortable weight against her, her warmth seeping into her skin.
“Yeah.”