Rising Shards

I worried I'd gone too far, breaking the kiss and putting my palms down on each side of Zeta as I hovered over, making sure she was alright. With both of us nude, I accidentally fulfilled another one of my fantasies, but I was more concerned with checking in.

"Was that too much?" I asked.

Zeta's smile as her eyes darted from my own to my chest answered before she said anything. "No, um, that's...really great."

I think both of us realized that if we kept going we might be in trouble, or at the very least we were both in need of slowing down and breathing and realizing what we just did together, getting one last bit in of ogling the other's naked body before putting blankets back over us.

Zeta sensed that a contemplative mood was washing over me. "You don't feel any of that Tesata shame right now, do you? I mean, it's OK if you do."

I stretched. "I'm good! Great, really. That was...just a big step for us."

"Huge." Zeta said. "But amazing, if you ask me."

"So. So amazing," I said.

"A very satisfactory session," Zeta said, trying to somehow make that sound cool but her words coming out a bit flustered. She reached over to hug me. I put an arm around her as well, feeling very close with her, and like I'd grown up a bunch. I pictured myself in my own house, Zeta under my arm like this.

"Very satisfactory," My voice also sounded like I had failed to sound cool.

But that didn't matter, we could both just blush through it. I stroked Zeta's hair, kissing the top of her head.

"I really freaking needed that," Zeta said. "That went from a really crappy day to one of the best days ever. Thanks, love."

I gasped. "Since when are you calling me love? That caught me off guard!"

"Is it bad?" Zeta asked.

"No, just...it's unexpected!" I said.

"I feel like I've called you love before," Zeta said.

"Well. I don't remember." I squeezed her close.

"Well. You're still my love." Zeta hugged me tighter.

"And you're still my starlight boo."

"And you're still my sun kissed gem!"

"And you're still my..." I said.

"My...uh..." Zeta said.

"We started with the big ones! Our main ones used too quick!" I said.

"Then let's just go back to love."

"And you're still my love!"

We laughed that we just said the same lines, something about that really tickled us. As the beams of sunset cast into the room (Lillia kept the shades drawn about half the time, for some reason sunlight made her study time harder), I felt so much warmth between us.

"You know, that could kinda count as sex," Zeta said.

"But we didn't even touch each other!" I said. "Well, barely touched each other. Sexting, not sex. In my opinion."

"OK, probably not even sexting," Zeta said. "We put our phones down while we were at the, uh, the peak of that."

"Oh yeah," I said.

"So when we have sex, do you think it'll be like the date date thing?" Zeta asked.

Back when we were early on as a couple, I was really picky about determining what was our true first date, the 'date date' that was better than the random hangouts and such.

"Nah, I think we'll both know when we really do it," I said. "Like we'll be ready. And it'll involve actual touching of each other." I booped Zeta's nose. "And I think. It's sooner rather than farther away."

"I think you may be right," Zeta said.

"For today, I'd say that..." I said. "Maybe...just like. Sexuality has been initiated?"

"Or furthered." Zeta said.

"Indeed, indeed," I said.

We were still ginormous dweebs about this, which was for the best. Even doing something totally new wouldn't change us that much. But things did feel different now.

"Did it, um...feel good?" Zeta asked. She buried her face in the blanket before adding, "Still. Working out saying this out loud."

My body was still singing from that. "It was one of the best it's ever felt. How about you?"

"So, so, so good," Zeta said.

"Sorry if I was a bit much at the end. Was that 'mine, mine, mine' thing too much?" I asked.

"Huh?" Zeta said. "No way, that was part of it being amazing! You taking charge like that is..." She shivered. "Most excellent. I dunno if you could hear me but I was whispering 'I'm yours' back each time. I maybe was just thinking it but I at least attempted to say it out loud."

"I think my hearing was really fuzzy there," I said. "It's still kinda buzzing."

"That just means it was really good then," Zeta said. "I like when you say I'm yours."

"You're mine," I said.

"I'm all yours," Zeta said.

"All mine," I said. "It's selfish, but I don't want anyone else to have you. I want you all to myself. Is that bad?"

"Naw," Zeta said. "The more I think about it, the more I think I'm the same way. Maybe it's like that Cani mate thing."

"Pfft, that's so goofy," I said, not wanting to think of a trashy romance show I saw that had Cani all declare their true love was their mate. "This is going to sound really stupid..."

Zeta snorted.

"I didn't even say it yet!" I said.

"I know, just your tone made me laugh!" Zeta said. "Continue, continue."

"All that's in my head right now is like. If this was Teensly Street, and I was all 'mine, mine, mine,' then you'd be like 'Actually, I've been having an affair with the bus driver this whole time!'" I said.

"Oh my god, I didn't want to say it because of your history with Teensly Street, but I was so thinking that too," Zeta said. "Not that specific scenario, just like. How much better our lives are than that stupid show. And you're not watching it again, right?"

I got a tickle in my stomach at Zeta remembering I had issues with Teensly Street. "Nope, but still reading the reviews and stuff on that website you sent me."

"We're both still reading the synopses on TV Jam and Jelly to make fun of it, yes!" Zeta said.

"Yep!"

"The Teensly Street versions of us would be like...I'd be having an affair with the bus driver, and then you'd be like 'actually, I've been dead the whole time,'" Zeta said.

"Something about cheating on a ghost makes it sadder, somehow," I said. "Then it'd turn out you were just a clone or something."

"Clone cheating on her ghost girlfriend," Zeta said, shaking her head. "That'd be...such a bummer."

"Sure would be a bummer," I laughed. "A bummer. That sounds like a Thadley thing."

"Sorry! It was the first word my brain thought of to describe soul crushing heartbreak," Zeta said.

"Thankfully I don't have to think of that, and neither do you," I said. It said something about how good we were feeling in the moment, and how much we'd grown that we could joke about a hypothetical scenario without getting too sad about it.

"Not with you I don't, frick," Zeta said. She sighed, a precious and cute sigh as she relaxed a bit more.

"You know," I said, thinking out loud. "Sometimes when I daydreamed about us doing stuff I thought I'd be really bad at it. Thinking like, 'What if it sucks? What if I suck at it? What if I suck at it so bad you don't want to be with me anymore?' Or you'd see that I'm way into it and think that I'm too much of a pervert and not want to, like engage with me at all."

"Well. I don't think you have to worry about any of that," Zeta said. She surprised me by draping a leg over mine, still covered by the blanket. I could barely process that as Zeta whispered in my ear. "I'm kind of obsessed with you. To put it mildly. And you were really amazing today, and I wanna do this again. And again, and again, and again. And do lots and lots of other stuff, too."

"Please," I said. "I'm obsessed with you too, Zeta."

"I'm so glad we could talk today," Zeta said. "And obviously, the uh, the masturbating was cool too."

"Yeah, so cool," I snickered.

"Oh shush, that's big for me to say out loud, OK?" Zeta laughed too.

"I'm just teasing," I said.

After a while like that, cuddling against each other, a bit of tension in the air that we'd lift our blankets again and feel our skin close together, we both begrudgingly accepted that we had to get dressed. It felt kind of sad to clean up and get our clothes on again, but we'd somehow avoided our usual curse of someone bursting in, but we didn't need to risk it any further.

"Next time we're each alone in our room, I think we should try the next part," Zeta said, holding up her phone again.

"I think I might be having a day at home this week..." I said.

"And I have my usual Friday nights at the apartment..." Zeta said.

We made some tentative plans there, both of us still in a joyful state after all the fun. That fun also made us very hungry, though, so while we were tempted to sneak in a bit more cuddle time at least, dinner had beckoned us. What started as a stressful day for both of us had ended up with us going farther than we ever had before. As I walked hand in hand with Zeta to the cafeteria, I felt a strange sense of pride. Relationships were kinda like farming, or what I'd imagine farming to be like. You have to take care of the crops, water them, that kind of thing. It felt like seeds we'd planted together long ago were now blossoming brilliantly, and I couldn't wait to see what grew next.

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