Llewellyn's fingers were still clenched around his sword.
Penguin chirped from my pocket and I looked down at him.
"You think he's not dangerous?" I asked.
Penguin chittered.
Yeah. I mean, he seemed powerful, but also too lazy to be any kind of intentional threat, let alone an evil mastermind. Though I supposed he might accidentally flatten us all if he messed up his modding, so there was that.
"Do you think he was telling the truth about the cruise thing?" I asked Llewellyn.
"Who knows," Llewellyn said. "But I think we should at least inform Tiernan. If nothing else, TAPESTRY should know there's someone out there who can mod Dungeons. We don't know if whatever he's doing can result in more Destabilized Artifacts. Besides, if we give them his phone number, they might be able to dig up something."
That definitely made sense.
"What do you make of that System contract ramble?"
"I believe him," Llewellyn said with a sigh. "The System confirmed. He's not wrong either. His magic level is insane and he seems well off. What could the System even offer that he doesn't already have?"
A cruise vacation, maybe?
Llewellyn looked at me.
When I looked back, questioningly, his eyes went to my lips for a second and he exhaled.
Then he stepped closer and kissed me.
...Uh.
It was a chaste kiss, lingering but with no tongue. Still…
We'd done much, much more than this, but I'd suddenly gone hot all over.
"We haven't reactivated concealment," I mumbled when he pulled back a bit, still hovering close. "If anyone is around, they might see."
"Does that bother you?" Llewellyn asked, leaning closer again.
I mean…
"I don't mind it in your Core Partition. Even with NPCs present, I might— I mean, we can do that. But actual people are a bit outside my comfort—"
"No," Llewellyn said. His ears had gone red all of a sudden. "Not that. I just meant— Do you mind if people know that we might be more than just—"
Oh.
Obviously not.
I tugged him closer and kissed him, tongue and all.
Llewellyn let out a small sound and my face grew even hotter.
"Sometimes you seem to forget you're the hero here," I said, pulling back.
Llewellyn stopped me from putting more distance between us with a hand on my lower back.
"You're avoiding the question," he said.
"I'm not," I said. "It doesn't bother me. Since you asked, I'm assuming that it doesn't bother you either?"
"It doesn't bother me either," Llewellyn confirmed. "Quite the opposite."
And he backed me against a tree.
Uh. Um.
Well.
…It's not like I minded when we made out though, so.
His tongue found mine before I could get another thought in, and yeah, this was definitely better than thinking.
The bark pressed rough through my clothes as he crowded me against the trunk, one hand still firm on my lower back, but I didn't care.
I grabbed at his coat, pulling him closer. He made a pleased sound, deepening the kiss, and my brain melted. I tilted my head for a better angle.
"We should probably—" I started, but Llewellyn kissed me again, pressing me flush against the tree and cutting off whatever responsible thing I'd been about to say.
When we finally broke apart, we were both breathing hard.
"Right," I said, my few surviving neurons sizzling.
Llewellyn's lips quirked up. "Right."
Penguin chirped and poked his head out of my pocket, looking up at us.
"Sorry," I told him, patting his head, though he didn't sound bothered.
Llewellyn stepped back. His hand lingered on my waist.
"Were you about to go home?" he asked. "When you texted me? Or heading off somewhere?"
"Penguin and I had just popped out to grab lunch," I said. "I was heading back home to get some sleep before my shift."
Llewellyn nodded.
Then he said, "Does it have to be at your place?"
"…"
Was he inviting me over?! But I was there only this morning, after a whole night of—
Damn it. I really wanted to go.
"That's… where my laptop with the work stuff is," I said instead, trying to be reasonable and not kiss him again.
Llewellyn nodded. "You could go back right before your shift, though, right?"
"Technically… Yes."
I could definitely do that.
Llewellyn pressed closer again.
"Come to mine, then," he said, voice a bit rough. "We don't have to— You can just sleep, have dinner with me, and teleport home later. If you want."
…That sounded really, really good.
Though… Wait a moment.
"Is this because I have Gilded's phone number now?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.
Llewellyn clenched his jaw slightly, looking away. "I would've asked you regardless."
"Really? So you're not being territorial?"
Llewellyn looked back at me. "Do you mind if I am?"
"…"
Um. What do I even reply to that?!
"No," I said, pulling him into a kiss. "As long as you don't overdo it."
I meant it. As long as he didn't make things difficult for me, that was—
"Just teleport us back," I said into the kiss.
Llewellyn's arm circled my waist and we teleported to his place.
***
"Where would you prefer to sleep?" Llewellyn asked, once we landed in the hallway, but I just yanked him back into another kiss, walking him back toward his bedroom and pushing him in.
Penguin had jumped out of my pocket as soon as we'd materialized, thankfully, running toward the living room, likely looking for Lumos.
I closed the door behind us. We were still kissing, hands everywhere.
I was still feeling very, very hot.
"I thought you wanted to sleep?" Llewellyn said.
"There's time for that," I said as we both fell on the bed.
Llewellyn braced on top of me, staring down, and I pulled him down into a kiss, attacking his clothes immediately.
His coat was already off—when had that happened?—but he was wearing a button-down shirt today with way too many buttons and I fumbled with them while we kissed. Llewellyn's hand slid under my hoodie, and I arched into the touch.
"Wait," he said against my mouth, then sat back to pull his shirt off properly.
I yanked my hoodie over my head, tossing it somewhere behind me.
When I looked back, Llewellyn was watching me with a look he usually reserved for battle assessment.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing," he said, leaning back down. "Just looking."
His mouth found my neck and… I moaned.
This was so great.
My hands tangled in his hair as he worked his way down to my collarbone, teeth grazing skin, making me grip tighter.
"You're going to leave marks again," I said, not really complaining.
"Good," Llewellyn said against my throat.
…Well. Okay then.
I tugged his hair to bring his mouth back to mine, and his hand tightened on my waist.
The room spun slightly.
I managed to unbutton his trousers before Llewellyn caught my wrists and trapped them above my head.