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Goiky, both north and south of the canal, was regarded well for being extremely consistent in weather patterns. Whether it be gratuitously hot in one area and bone-chilling cold in the next, the typical person could find solace in knowing the temperatures rarely shifted from their typical patterns.
The tundra was always cold, the desert was always hot, yada yada, what one would expect— and the Grasslands where Two’s competitions grounds resided was particularly well known for its ability to remain in a delicate balance between the two extremes; it was never too hot, nor was it ever too cold. At least, that was how it typically was.
The weather patterns had been acting up, startlingly so, recently.
Pen’s teammate, Tennis Ball, had told him and the others that it was likely because of the time rift that had cracked open in the sky a challenge or two ago. It caused all sorts of shenanigans, so it was a pretty safe bet that it could very well be responsible for the sudden temperature swings they were experiencing.
It wasn’t outrageously bad at first. A day hotter than normal there, one colder the next…
…But today was no day like the other.
Pen could barely take a step outside without feeling as if he would be cooked alive being in the sun for more than five minutes. Black Hole was the only one daring enough to be outside (what with the time rift, obviously) while the rest of the remaining contestants hunkered down inside.
From the moment the sun had risen it was excruciating.
All the A/C units in the hotel had been turned on, there were fans whirring at their maximum strength in every room, and even that struggled to quell the hot air wafting around. Pen couldn’t even focus on anything he had wanted to do that morning, because all he could land on was sitting in front of one of the A/Cs in the lobby, relishing in the cool air that blew onto his face (whilst trying to be shoved out of the way by someone who wanted the A/C more in the moment.)
“This sucks.”
Pen, who had given up the A/C to Pillow a minute or two prior and was now hovering nearby, was now suddenly accompanied by his teammate Liy— announcing her arrival with such blunt words. Pen couldn’t even argue. She was right.
“It sure does.”
The shorter girl clenched the water bottle she had in her grip fiercely, grumbling. “I wanted to go out and do stuff today, dude. Fuck this weather. Fuck this rift.” She finished her complaining with a resounding: “Fuck CloudYAY, dude.”— as she shot a curt glance over at Pillow.
Pen chuckled at her mannerisms, a fondness washing over him. Even when Liy was grumpy she found a way to be so, so cute to him.
“Hey, at least they’re suffering with us,” Pen blinked before gesturing a hand toward her water bottle, “Where’d you get that?”
“The fridge,” Liy remarked with a raised eyebrow, earning a playful scoff from him.
“I mean yeah Liy,” He nudged her in the side with his elbow, “is there anymore?”
With a gleeful shake of the bottle, she smirked at him. “This was the last one. Those other teams hogged ‘em all, sorry.”
Pen gave her the most authentic puppy-dog eyes he could muster as he tilted his head. “Can I have a sip from yours?” If they had been back on Death P.A.C.T., he wouldn’t have had the balls to ask such a question, but now that they had grown so close on BAGGED he had no issue requesting such a thing from the girl. After all, what was an indirect kiss via pressing lips onto the same water bottle rim between best friends?
He beamed as Liy handed it over to him, her gaze intensifying as she playfully commanded: “Just a sip. Take any more and I’m fuckin’ you up.”
“Yeesh! So violent,” Pen said as he swooped it from her hands, taking a swig.
Liy lunged forward and tore it from his hands, “Hey! I said a sip!!” The action caused a good deal of water to dribble out from both his mouth and the bottle. Her shout made him start to burst into laughter, then promptly nearly choke on the water in his mouth. He swallowed and hacked a few times before giggling.
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself!” His gaze traveled down to the water spill they’d caused, a trail of it even having gotten onto his hoodie. “Now look at what you did. You got water on the floor. None of us can drink it now, it’s all gone to waste.”
“It doesn’t have to,” Liy planted a hand on Pen and gave him a gentle shove forward, the force so minimal it only caused him to tilt, just for a moment, “get down and start licking.”
“What? Ew, no!” He laughed heartily, shoving her back. Their arm movements evolved into that of a teasing, playful catfight that only ended with Pen giving up and leaning backward with breathy exhales. He could feel sweat beads running down his face. “Eugh, don’t get me moving around like that, Liy. It’s hot enough as is, I don’t need you—“
“What? Heating you up with my presence?" Liy brought out an arm and flexed her (frankly nonexistent) muscles, “I just got that natural charisma, bay-bee.” Pen snorted in amusement, a tinge of red dusting his cheeks.
“Don’t go sucking your own dick now, Liy.”
“Bah!” She exclaimed, eyes glittering. “I think if I had a dick I could so literally do that. It would be big enough to the point I could do it with ease.”
Pen rolled his eyes, “Yeah, from that sentence alone I would’ve been able to tell you didn’t have a penis.”
Liy huffed. “Are you trying to insult me? I feel insulted, so I’m taking that as an insult.” Before Pen could respond, she had completely shifted to drive the topic away from talk about genitals. “And if you’re so hot, why haven’t you taken off your hoodie yet? You’d be a lot cooler in a tank or something.”
The thought of doing so made Pen feel a twinge of disgust he so desperately tried to shove down. It wasn’t Liy’s fault in the slightest, but having more of his body visible…
He shuddered.
“No other clothes are comfortable to me, thank you very much.” Pen opted to say. It was enough to easily divert suspicions.
“Okay, Pen. Well come evening I guess I’ll have to be prepared to see my teammate having completed his boiled human transformation.”
“You’re so silly,” He said, the smile never once falling off his face from the moment she’d come to his side. She just had that effect on him, like she could be there yapping at his side for weeks, months, years and he’d never, ever get bored of her.
“Can you guys take your flirting elsewhere?” Pillow turned to look at them with her typical light tone, “You’re gonna make me puke!”
Pen opened his mouth but couldn’t come up with a retort fast enough, Liy instead taking his thunder with an agitated grumble, “It’s not flirting, Pillow— it’s typical friendly banter. You would know if you actually had any of those.” The snarky tone in her remark caught Pen off guard.
He hadn’t expected her to snap back that hard. Maybe if it had been someone on Death P.A.C.T. Yet Again, but Pillow was not. He had begun to worry with Pillow’s violent tendencies that she’d trod right up to her and maim her, but the girl had stayed glued next to the A/C unit, seeming more flippant than anything.
“Can I stand in front of it for a little bit please?” Pen gained the courage to ask Pillow after she hadn’t made a move to respond toward Liy’s insult. His question was met with a swift, firm shutdown.
“Nope.”
“Come on, Pillow. I’m sweating up a storm over here!” Pen whined, his own words beginning to make him feel slightly subconscious over how he could possibly be smelling. He prayed not. “It’s too hot out to be messing around with people.”
Pillow shrugged. “Can’t you just go into your hotel room? Those got A/Cs.” She waved him away dismissively. Pen felt a twinge of anger flare up in his chest. Pillow wasn’t nearly as agitating on their old team as she was now. What was her deal?
“The A/C unit in my room is busted,” Pen said, a pinch of venom lacing his words.
“Just ask Two to fix it.”
She’s doing this on purpose. Even with that knowledge he still couldn’t help but be baited. “We haven’t seen Two in months, Pillow.” Four and X had outright refused to clue the contestants in on where Two had fled to after the time rift had opened up, but rumors had started to circulate. All the same, they were just rumors— nothing substantial.
“Well then that’s just not my problem.” She crossed her arms with a smug grin.
Liy firmly gripped Pen by the wrist and yanked him forward, away from Pillow and over to the elevator. “Forget about it,” She told him, “if she’s gonna be difficult we can just find you somewhere else to stay.”
Pillow gave a ‘friendly’ wave that the two promptly ignored.
They pushed into the elevator, Liy quick to shut the doors and press a button before turning to Pen, a rather frazzled look on her face.
“Yeesh. What happened after I got eliminated to make all those P.A.C.T.ers so damn annoying?” She spat hostily before lowering her tone. “Minus you and Bottle, obviously. You guys are awesome.” She gave Pen no time to respond before she leaned back against the wall of the elevator with a dramatic sigh. “I can’t get riled up. It’s too fucking hot for this.” She planted an arm over her sweating forehead as she ceased to rant to him.
As much as he liked her fiery attitude, a part of him grew worried for how she’d seem to misplace her anger. It made him think about the talk they’d had back at the waterfall during the hide and seek challenge, and how he so desperately wanted to reach out back to her, offer her a place to vent out her emotions, but he never knew how to bring it up organically. And on top of that, Liy didn’t seem to want to offer herself up in such a vulnerable way. One day, he told himself, whenever that is.
“Where are we going, then?” Pen asked in an attempt to change the topic.
Liy held up a finger in a ‘hold on’ moment as she gave a few laboured pants before breathing in: “My room’s got a working A/C. I can just let you in there so you aren’t traipsing around in the lobby.”
Pen lit up. “Oh! We could like, hang out and stuff.”
Liy shrugged. “Did you want to? I mean, I wasn’t actually planning on staying. I was just gonna let you crash there.” Pen blinked, rather confused. He appreciated the gesture, but still.
“I guess we don’t have to, but what else are you gonna be doing today? It’s too hot to do anything else,” He said.
The elevator halted and the door opened up to one of the intermediate floors. Liy stepped out and guided Pen down the hall, taking the lead.
“I’m just itching to do something. I want to go out and adventure! Even if it’s an inferno outside, I just can’t resist the urge to move around.”
Pen exhaled sullenly. “I don’t want you going out and getting heatstroke, Liy.”
“I knowww. And I don’t wanna get it either!” She groaned irritably. “So I’ve just been roaming the halls of the hotel finding stuff to look at. That’s the only reason I was down in the lobby in the first place. Rest assured if I was anyone else I’d be hiding away in my room.”
Pen cocked his head upward with a played up, offended scoff, “Well some of us aren’t fortunate enough to have a working one in their rooms.”
Liy shot out a hand to swat at Pen. “Well some of us aren’t stupid enough to break our A/Cs in the first place, silly,” She teased. Pen let out a meager whine, trying to bat her hand away with his own.
“I didn’t break it! It broke itself!” He laughed. “Stop accusing me!”
“If you insist,” She said amusedly before she grinded to a halt and motioned toward a hotel room door. With a smooth movement, she ripped the master key from out of her pocket and pushed it inside the door handle lock, opening it up and waltzing inside.
Pen was right behind her, expecting the relief of a chilly room the moment he took a step inside, but what he got was the exact opposite. The hallway had been ventilated, whereas Liy’s hotel room didn’t have a single A/C unit or fan working to cool the place down. The hot air that blew into his face made him nauseous for a few heartbeats, and a gentle backward reel from him got Liy’s attention, the girl looking back at him with a coy snicker.
“I think I forgot to turn on the A/C before I left.”
“Yeah you know what? I think you’re right.” Pen replied vaguely sarcastically.
Liy rushed over to the unit and flicked it on, the noise of the A/C working overtime filling the room instantaneously. Liy backed off and turned over to Pen once more. “It’s gonna be a while before it helps. But I got an idea.”
“What’s that?” Pen asked loopily, trying to fight the dizziness rising in his body.
Liy sauntered on past him and straight out the hotel room, gone as fast as she’d entered. “I think we should snatch some fans from the lobby! That way we can make the room extra chilly.”
Chilly is a stretch. But he couldn’t help cracking a smile. “Wouldn’t we get in trouble for that?”
“Why would we?” She was quick to counter.
Pen blinked. “Oh. Yeah. Why would we?” He trailed after her. “Fuck. We better do it fast because I think I’m about to pass out.”
“Are you okay?” Liy asked, beginning to look nervous.
“I’m really hot,” Pen proclaimed through heavy pants.
Liy’s mouth thinned. “Well don’t flatter yourself.”
“You’re lucky I don’t have the…” —He exhaled sharply— “…power to shout at you right now…!”
“Here,” Liy tossed over the water bottle which Pen only narrowly caught, “you need it more than I do. Drink the rest.” She lowered her voice as she commented, “There really isn’t much left, anyway.”
Pen was quick to take up her offer, twisting the cap off and downing the water in one go. The water was far from cold— at that point it was closer to above average room temperature— but it still provided a nice bit of relief. “Thank you,” he said breathlessly, scrunching the plastic bottle up before tossing it in the first garbage bin they passed.
“No problem. Do you need a minute?”
He sighed. “Maybe.”
“Okay. Let’s do this.” They had once again landed themselves in front of the elevator, but this time Liy gently pushed Pen away. “I’ll go down and grab a fan or two from the lobby. You can just stay here and wait until I’m back, alright?”
As clingy as it sounded, Pen really didn’t like the thought of leaving her side now that she was there. But he knew better than to make a scene out of it— that or he was just too lightheaded to.
“That’s fine. Good luck with your heist.”
Liy grinned toothily. “You know I was about to get mad at you for insinuating I’m causing trouble again but calling it a heist makes me sound super badass.” She took a big step into the elevator the moment the door opened up. “Catch ya in a few!”
“Don’t let any Algebraliens beat you up on the way back,” Pen said teasingly.
“You are so rude,” She stuck her tongue out.
The smile that graced his face didn’t falter, even as the door closed and took Liy out of his sight. He sat down leaned against the wall as thoughts of her swam in his head. His body was already hot to the touch as could be, so he didn’t mind indulging in his thoughts in the middle of the hallway— his eyes half-lidded as he found himself softly giggling to his lonesome.
Pen was indescribably glad Liy was able to join the same team as him. Her (and Bottle’s) company was the best thing that had happened to him since he had originally befriended his bros. He felt a little ashamed, as if he could even compare the two, with having known his bros for so long— and he truly did still love and miss them more than anything— but his new friends were different. It was a different type of companionship that made Pen’s chest grow tight and feel as if his heart was gonna burst from his chest.
So, so painful but so fantastic all at the same time.
He knew he could be himself around them, and it was a liberating feeling like no other. Sure, he could be himself around his bros as well, but… there was a different type of self-expression he felt he could unleash with his newer companions, one he hadn’t even begun to explore. One he didn’t even know where to begin.
Pen sat there thinking to himself until Liy reemerged from the elevator, hauling a small desk fan in one hand and a considerably larger pedestal fan in the other. She seemed to be struggling right out the gate, and as Pen got back up onto his feet with renewed energy she was quick to shift the desk fan into his arms before he could even offer his help.
“Here take that thank you-,” She quickly said with a few strenuous breaths. She maneuvered the pedestal fan once she had a freed up hand so she could carry it with increased ease, “Ugh. I need to get some muscle on my arms. That was way too hard to carry alone.”
“You’ve got more than me, at least,” Pen offered up in support, only to earn a snicker from the girl.
“Well that’s not exactly a competition, twig arms. “
“Okay. That’s the last time I try to hype you up,” Pen turned up his nose dramatically.
Liy whined next to him, “Noooo! I love it when you hype me up.”
He rolled his eyes. “Dork.”
“A dork that's gonna help you cool down— so I think some thank yous are in order!”
They made their way back into the hotel room. The unit was working hard to blast cool air into the room, but it wasn’t doing a particularly well job.
Liy shut the door behind them and set the pedestal fan down near the closest outlet, whilst Pen made his way over to the nightstand to plop his smaller fan atop it. It wasn’t long before both of them had their respective fans turned on, adding to the cacophony of whirring noises that filled the room.
Liy sat down in front of the A/C unit, her face nearly pressing against it with how close she was. Pen joined her and before they knew it they were passing the minutes by just relaxing in front of the A/C, the relief it brought so intense he couldn’t bring himself to pry himself away.
Though, after a while Liy seemed to grow antsy. She shifted away from the unit and stood back up, taking a quick few laps around her room as she grumbled to herself.
“I can’t wait for this rift to be fixed so it stops causing so many damn issues. If I wanted to live in an inferno I’d live in a fucking inferno.”
Pen chuckled.
“Are you still that restless?”
“What clued you in?” Liy shot back teasingly.
He shrugged his shoulders, and Liy turned away with an increased urgency in her pacing steps. “I don’t know what my problem is, but I just do not want to stand still. I’m sick of standing still!”
Pen started to feel bad. “You don’t have to stay in here with me if you don’t want to. I know you were planning on just heading out after you showed me in.” He forced a smile. “I’ll be fine in here by myself, I promise.”
Liy halted, gazing back at him. For a moment she seemed to contemplate it, the girl raising her hand slightly above her chin and humming softly into her knuckles. After a second, she firmly shook her head. “No. It’s fine. I can stay.”
Well if she insists. A part of him still wanted to press further, as he was worried she truly didn’t want to spend time here with him— but the other part of him embraced her willingness, as loneliness was his biggest fear. In the end he swallowed his anxieties and decided to trust her judgement.
“Alright. Is there anything you’d wanna do, then? To uhm… satiate your ‘restlessness’?”
Liy gave him a puzzled look, then shortly after her eyes lit up. And as much as he loved her, he knew that reaction was likely a recipe for some… interesting decisions.
“Remember when we used to wrestle on Death P.A.C.T.?” She inquired, her tone easily giving away how excited she was.
Pen’s eyes grew wider. “Oh god no, Liy. Not again.”
“Pleaaase?”
“You’re just gonna win like you always do!” Pen whined loudly, “And I just started to cool down.”
“No one likes a wussy, Pen!” She beamed, shifting her body into numerous low-effort stretches.
Pen groaned and hauled himself up onto his feet. “Fine… I’ll let you beat me up.”
“Oh come on, you’re stronger than you think!”
Pen sneered, “I admire that you have so much faith in me.”
“How about this?” She said, “We can have some sort of safeword to stop if you think I’m being too hard on you!”
Safeword? Pen was convinced she was trying to fluster him on purpose with how inherently suggestive the stuff she was proposing were. Talking about wrestling and safewords. He was relieved his face was already red as can be with how burned up his entire body felt; otherwise he’d be immensely embarrassed.
“You really wanna do this?” He asked.
Liy smirked at him.
Pen sighed. He knew there was no way for him to win against her, even if he tried his hardest, but it made her happy and he liked it when she was happy. “How about stop?” He lousily suggested.
“Well that’s boring, but sure.”
Pen stuck his tongue out. “You’re so mean to me!”
Liy’s voice lowered and her eyes betrayed a mischievous glint. “Well how about you put me in my place, then?” She challenged him.
He huffed. The way she was egging him on was definitely igniting the competitiveness inside him, and by that point he needed no more convincing.
“Okay. I’m ready. We can—“
The moment those words came out of his mouth Liy had lunged straight for him, giving him nil time to react before he was thrown onto the top of the bed. He squeaked as Liy hauled herself atop him with her hands firmly planting his arms down, and while that restricted his mobility it didn’t stop him from shifting his hips to jerk his legs in an upward motion, throwing Liy off to the side.
When she faceplanted on the bed he took her loosened grip as an opportunity to pry himself away, taking a moment to regain his breath before going on offense, reaching for her wrists the same way she did his— but instead he only met the palms of her hands. She got back up and unceremoniously slammed against him, all the while locking her fingers with his to easily push him further back. And of course she could, because she was way stronger than him.
Even without ‘letting out her anger,’ he had the height advantage, and that was nothing against the shorter girl’s brute strength.
“Owww! Cheater!!” He ripped his hands away from hers and tried to roll to the other side of the bed, which ended up working surprisingly well as he was able to avoid her pinning him a second time.
Liy pushed stray strands of hair out of her face, letting out quick but heavy breaths as she met his gaze with a sly smirk. “A wussy and a sore loser? Yowch, you’re the winning combo.”
He flushed. “You started before I was ready!!”
Pen could feel his body growing lightheaded again by the sheer heat of the room— and while he would have been fine if he’d remained relaxing, all the intense movements he was pulling off were not doing him any favors in that department.
He forced himself to shrug it off. I’ll be fine. A little sweat won’t hurt me.
“Well that’s not cheating. I’m using the opponent’s weak points to my advantage!”
Pen shoved his whole body weight into Liy right as she closed off her statement, earning a surprised yelp from the girl as they clashed together, the both of them falling down with Pen overtop her. Suddenly aware of how well off his position was, he quickly readjusted himself to fasten her in place, shifting his body weight to push down on whatever body part Liy tried to move in an attempt to throw him off. Her attempts petered off as her energy drained, up until all she had in her was merely a flurry of short, strained breaths.
He shifted his weight off of her, growing concerned with how laboured her breaths sounded. “Shoot, are you okay?”
And of course that was a big mistake.
The moment he had lifted himself off of her she whipped around with renewed energy and rammed against his chest with her back. He gasped out, back hitting the sheets— and before he could recover his composure, Liy had crawled back over him, smirking down at him with the smuggest look he’d ever seen her make.
“I win,” Liy proclaimed confidently.
Pen focused on regaining his breath, clasping a hand over his sweating forehead as he groaned out in agitation over the sheer heat his body was being accosted by. “That’s not how wrestling works.” He told her through gasps of breath. “You were definitely down for more than three seconds.”
“Nuh uh,” Liy didn’t seem capable of mustering out much words either, as her breaths seemed as intense as his did. Her position from holding Pen down fiercely had melted into one that was her just… merely laying on top of him, resting her head down between his neck and chest with a strenuous exhale.
“Was that enough, um, action for you?” Pen asked weakly, “I hope so because that took so much out of me.”
She took a moment to collect herself before rambling: “If it weren’t for the damn heat, I could do so much more! But whatever. I guess you got me thankful I can just kinda… lay here right now.”
That made him relax further. He rested his head down on the bed and felt his vision grow spotty. All he could push out in response was a woozy ‘eugh…’ —It was enough to nab Liy’s attention.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m… really dizzy,” Pen admitted, “I feel like I’m gonna pass out.”
“Oh god,” Liy got off of him immediately and crawled across the bed over to the nightstand, grabbing onto the desk fan and angling it toward Pen’s face. As she did so, she asked: “You should really take your hoodie off, Pen. It’ll help you a ton. Hell, I’m sweating my balls off in a t-shirt so I can’t even imagine how hot your body feels right now.”
The feeling of unease settled in again, but this time the heat had made him so woozy he couldn’t help blurting out words without properly thinking of how to deflect suspicions at first.
“I’m not… wearing a shirt underneath.”
“That really doesn’t bother me,” Liy insisted, “I mean… you are a man so it’s not like it’s super taboo for someone to see you shirtless.”
He’d heard things so similar over and over for years, and every time beforehand he’d had the power to ignore it or just brush it away— but instead of doing so just one more time, his mouth decided to go and ruin it all for him.
“But I’m not…”
He trailed off, either because he was too weak to finish his own sentence or he’d realized what he had done halfway. Regardless of which one it was, what had escaped his mouth had done its job in revealing… something.
“You’re not what?”
Pen averted his gaze, his breaths ragged.
“Pen? What do you mean?”
He couldn’t bring himself to respond to her. He instead let Liy sit there in silence for a good few heartbeats as the panic set into his soul. But instead of freaking out, Liy merely calmed her voice and carried on the moment she didn’t receive a response.
“Well I mean frankly I don’t really care if anyone’s shirtless. Equality and all that.” Liy’s voice fell into a softer, hushed tone. “I don’t want to force you to do something you don’t wanna, but I don’t want you to harm yourself in any way.” She sighed. “I’m s… ugh. I shouldn’t have pushed you into doing that wrestling stuff with me. I’m sorry I made it worse.”
“No, it’s fine…” Pen hoarsely assured her, “I wanted to do it. I just…”
He clutched the fabric of his hoodie, his heart pounding out of his chest. Before he knew it, tears were forming in his eyes. Why? Why was it happening to him?
He inhaled and exhaled slowly, trying to get ahold of his emotions before they took control.
“I don’t… really like my body,” He said flatly, “at all.”
Liy stared at him for a few seconds before pushing off the bed, making her way over to the pedestal fan to unplug it. She picked it up and hauled it closer to the bed, plugging it into a closer outlet. As she switched it back on and worked to angle it so it directly hit Pen, she said: “I’m sorry. I didn’t know…” She seemed to pause for a second before asking another question. “Did you wanna talk about it? Er— can I ask about it?”
“I don’t really know what I’d say,” Pen mumbled in response, “but… I don’t know. Maybe it could help me. We can try.” He wasn’t sure if the heat was making his judgement poor or if he was doing it himself.
“When you say you don’t like your body,” Liy sat herself back down on the bed, keeping her body out of the way of the fan, “do you just mean it like… you don’t like how it looks? Or you don’t like how it- uhm- is?” She blinked. “Does that make sense?”
He nodded slowly. “I think it’s both?”
“That sucks. I really wish you didn’t have to deal with that feeling, but I can understand what it’s like to have issues with yourself.”
He wanted to ask, but Liy continued to speak, unwilling to give a break in the conversation so he could.
“Do you think you’d be happier if your body was different?”
“…Yeah.” His eyes began to water again.
“Alright. And what would that look like?”
As soft and tender as Liy’s words were, all it did was prove to Pen he wasn’t nearly as subtle as he thought he was. She was going straight to the heart of it, and there was no fight in him to deny any of it. All he had in the moment was raw honesty.
“I wish I looked more like you, or like Bottle.” The words nearly got stuck in his throat. “I wish I looked more feminine… I wish I was…”
He couldn’t finish that thought before the tears broke free and began to run down his face.
“A-And I’ve felt this way for so long. I don’t even know what to do anymore. I was hoping it was a fluke or that it would go away and it just— it never did.”
Liy offered him a sympathetic look as he continued to ramble out his emotions.
“And it’s not like I mind being called he or bro or anything. I just… wish that when people looked at me they didn’t see me as a man!” He sniffled and covered his face with his hands, the sheer sweatiness of his palms causing a rather uncomfortable sticky feeling as he pried them back away from himself. “Is that stupid?”
“Not at all,” Liy replied instantaneously, “so if you don’t want to be perceived as a man, what do you want to be perceived as?” She tilted her head, her expression growing warm. “You know I’ll support you no matter what, no matter who you end up being.”
Pen smiled at her, wiping his tears. “I guess I don’t really know. All I know is what I don’t want to be, but I guess that doesn’t help much…”
“Do you want me to start referring to you in like- a gender-neutral way from now on?” Liy asked.
Pen shied away, growing nervous. “I don’t think I’m ready to take that step. It was hard enough admitting it to you, and you’re my best friend. I don’t really wanna come out right now.”
“No, sorry, that’s not what I meant,” Liy inhaled sharply, then rephrased her question, “between the two of us, what do you want me to call you?”
“Oh.” He murmured feebly before sitting up, color finally returning to his face as the dizziness lifted. “Uhm… if it’s okay… maybe more feminine stuff? Like she/her, if you don’t mind!!” Pen chuckled nervously. “Like I said, I don’t mind he or him, but I just wanna try it out only with you. Just to see what it’s like?”
“Got it,” Liy smiled earnestly at him, causing his heart to thunder.
The way she accepted him wholeheartedly made him wish he’d had the courage to be honest sooner. But that didn’t matter anymore— the cat was out of the bag, and hanging out with her just continuously proved to make his world so much lighter. He truly adored everything about her.
“I can take my hoodie off,” He hurriedly decided, quick to get it out while his mind was clear before he ruefully changed his mind. Liy looked at him, appearing mildly worried.
“Are you sure? You don’t have to if you don’t wanna.”
“No, no it’s fine! You’re right anyway I… probably should.”
Liy was still in a moment before bursting out into a snorting chuckle, “Would it help if I did it with you? Camaraderie?”
“Wh- like take your shirt off??” Pen sputtered, taken aback by the offer, “I- I mean, this is your room so I suppose if you- uhm- if you really want to—“
“I was joking!! Sorry!” Liy laughed louder. “That was not the right tone to get that across as a joke. My bad.”
Pen felt like he was about to collapse and die on the spot. “Why do you always do that?”
“Wh- do what? Offer to take off my shirt?” Liy bemusedly asked.
“No!!” Pen exclaimed, “Try to get a rise out of me!”
“Okay, well that time wasn’t intentional,” She said, “but it’s because you’re so cute when you get riled up, silly! I like it when your voice gets all high and pitchy like that.”
He grumbled, evidently unable to suppress how flustered that made him.
“Alright! I’ll go first then!!”
Despite the girl very explicitly stating her question as a joke, she was very quick to lift off her shirt the moment Pen had said it was alright for her to. He squeaked out a shrill noise in alarm, instinctively looking away as she did so. He saw her shirt fly off the side of the bed in his peripheral vision, shortly followed by a: “We’re best friends, you don’t gotta look away.” Then she cocked her head. “But if me not having a shirt on makes you uncomfy I can put it back on—“
“No! It’s fine!” Pen shot his head back up to stare at her, doing his darned hardest not to peer down. It was a losing battle though, as he couldn’t help immediately noticing the pattern of her bra had their team logo sprawled on the front of it. He couldn’t help but snicker at it. “…What is that?”
“What? My bra?” She too looked down at it. “Yeah. It’s ugly, I know. I had like no clothes when I escaped the Exit, and when I asked for Two they gave me an assortment of uhm… interesting team apparel. But you wouldn’t catch me dead wearing that ugly team logo shit, so I usually just take clothes our teammates don’t want anymore.”
“You’re very much alive and wearing that ‘team logo shit.’” Pen remarked.
“Well no one’s exactly looking at my damn bra, dipshit!” Liy nudged him playfully. “And none of the bras Bottle gave me fit. I’m so much flatter than her.”
“…I wouldn’t necessarily say you have a flat chest, Liy.” He looked away as he said that, immediately worried that it was too weird to say from the moment it escaped. Thankfully, Liy took it with an amused snort.
“I figured it was kinder to say that over ‘Bottle has a giant rack’ but whatever. Guess you wanna be a damn critic.” She spat out, her tone edged with the playfulness she’d retained that whole time.
“Sorry!!” Pen said exasperatedly. He let his gaze travel down to his own hoodie, pulling his arms out from the sleeves and preparing to lift it over his head, but part of him made him stop.
It’s not that big of a deal. This really shouldn’t bother me as much as it does. And yet it did, and his hesitance was noted by his companion.
“You don’t have to do this,” She reminded him.
“I want to.” I have to.
He pulled off his hoodie in one swift motion and chucked it off to the side similarly to how Liy had done with hers.
“I’ll be fine if I just… don’t look at myself.”
The instant relief (at least physically) of taking off such a heavy article of clothing hit him like a truck. He hadn’t quite realized how much heat he was storing inside his hoodie, but now that his skin was bare in the gradually cooling room, the disgust he felt with his body hadn’t stung so bad.
“Are you okay?” Liy immediately asked, which did quick work in setting him back. He hurriedly replied.
“I am! I am. I don’t want to think too much about it.”
Liy flashed him a look of sympathy then slowly leaned in closer to him. With a soft, tender brush of her hands, she guided him from a sitting position down to laying one, her following the motion with him. His head landed on the pillow, causing his body to instantly untense. Liy pressed herself against his body, lying beside him with a gentle, warm gaze.
She wrapped an arm around him, a loose grip so as not to make either of them sweat to death, but the proximity of it all made his body begin to heat up in a different way. If he had more of his brain working at its normal speed, he would have been much more flustered and contemplative if huddling up with his best friend while they were both shirtless was a normal thing to do.
But instead of sputtering or being a nervous wreck about it, he let himself melt into the embrace, exhaling softly and saying: “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” He felt the girl’s hand travel from the top of his back further down, closer to his ass but not quite there. He tensed up as she did so, a burst of excitement coursing through him that was quick to die down once she stopped short of it.
“Mmm. Me too,” Liy replied gently, cracking a smile at him.
He didn’t care if it was something that friends didn’t typically do together— they were doing it, and they didn’t owe anyone anything with how they chose to behave toward each other.
And since they had already breached the barriers of what was classified as a typical ‘platonic friendship’— he figured he might as well shoot his shot on taking it further, especially because there was something in particular he really wanted to ask of her.
“Liy…?” He tried to stifle his nerves. I have a weird request.”
“Shoot.”
His voice grew weaker as his confidence waned, but he managed to retain just enough of it to get what he wanted to ask out of his system.
“Can I, uhm… touch you?”
Liy’s eyes went wide for just a moment before her expression shifted into something more smug. “How so?”
He tittered coyly. “Ah- just like- in a normal best friend way. Obviously. Hah.” Okay yeah I’m blowing this.
Liy’s smile only grew further. Then, with a quick shift of the body she lifted her hand from Pen and pushed herself onto her back, spreading out her arms and legs in an overdramatic stretch before lowering her voice.
“Do whatever you want to me.”
That just made him blush even more. Liy really knew how to make things sound … a certain way, so to put it.
Regardless, he got the consent he needed and cautiously began to put his hand on her body, starting off in a relatively normal area— the shoulder— so as not to come across as overly- … something. He wasn’t even sure.
Pen traced his fingers along her collarbone as his eyes traveled further down her body. Without a shirt, her breasts were a lot more prominent, especially since she usually wore baggy clothes; all that did was make him feel strange.
He adored Liy’s body, in an affectionate way evidently, but also in an envious way.
And before Pen knew it his hand had found its way further down her body, hooking the strap of her bra between his fingers and playing with it gingerly.
“Your body just looks so perfect. I wish I could look like you,” The words escaped his mouth.
A darker red brushed Liy’s cheeks as she choked out a rather flustered chuckle.
“I’m sure there’s prettier women out there you could use as that type of inspiration.”
Pen leaned forward and rested his head on her stomach, eyes sparkling as he met her gaze.
“I think you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met.”
Liy fell silent after that. She didn’t hold the stare for long— as a matter of fact, the moment he finished his sentence she had broken eye contact, giving a little huff as she did so.
Pen pressed himself against her more firmly, his fingers daring to try and push themselves under Liy’s bra, an action that was met with zero defiance.
He continued.
“You’re so gorgeous… every part of you. I mean it, genuinely.”
His teammate remained silent for a few heartbeats longer before reeling her head up with a sharp inhale. Suddenly, a hand of hers landed itself atop Pen’s, and she was using it to push him further down, pressing with such a ferocity that it urged his grip to tighten, grasping one of her tits with more force than he had intended.
Pen didn’t care if all the fans were pointed toward him now. He felt just as heated and sweaty as he had all day, maybe even worse. He was certain his face had become more red than feasibly possible by that point.
“Do you like those in particular?” —Was the opener Liy went with when she finally spoke again.
Pen swallowed and nodded with a nervous giggle.
She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled his hand out from under her bra and away from her tits, earning a whiny complaint from him.
He lifted his head to look at her. “Heyyy… why did you—“
Before he could finish, her hand reached behind his head, giving a gentle tug on his hair before pushing him straight into her chest. It had initially startled him, but the moment his face was pressed between her cleavage he knew he was exactly where he wanted to be.
Liy lifted her hand, but it didn’t stop Pen from pressing his face in deeper, leaving small pecks on her boobs between giddy giggles.
“Ohhh, you’re so cute,” Even without seeing Liy’s face he could practically hear the wide grin stretched across her face merely from her tone. Her words caused him to smile wider as well.
He maneuvered his arms in a way where he could grab both ends of Liy’s breasts and press them into his face. It made it so much harder to breathe, but he cared little about that. His kisses grew sloppier— more ravenous, so much so to the point they had developed into suckles and bites.
The first time his teeth had clamped down on Liy’s breast, it dragged a loud squeak from her. It was such an adorable noise it immediately pushed him into biting more fiercely.
And suddenly the once confident girl had fallen into a flurry of whimpers and whines as her body twitched erratically. Her hand returned to the back of Pen’s head, and he half expected her to try and pry him away, but instead all she did was run her fingers through his hair. It was a feeling so soothing that his bites simmered down into gentle kisses and licks, a gentle apology to her for the harm he’d caused her.
He lifted his head just enough to get a breath of fresh air and ask, “Was that too harsh? I’m sorry, I probably should’ve asked first…”
“I told you to do whatever you want to me,” Liy remarked breathlessly, “I meant it. If I want you to stop, I’ll tell you.”
Pen nodded, flustered.
He took a moment to relish in the fan’s air blowing into his face, providing a temporary relief to the heat (especially since he had spent a good while with his face planted in Liy’s boobs) before he went back in.
“Just normal best friend things,” He remarked teasingly as he readjusted his position.
“Mmmhmm.” Liy sneered.
Pen went straight back into her cleavage, angling his head toward one to plant more kisses whilst using his hand to sneak under her bra and fondle the other breast. He brushed a finger over Liy’s nipple, causing her to tense up with a soft, stifled whimper.
“Fuck, I love that noise…” He whispered between kisses, “please don’t hold back. Be loud… I love it so much. I love you so much.”
“I have neighbors, Pen. I’d like to not traumatize them.” Liy coolly replied.
He took that for a challenge.
Pen fastened his teeth onto her skin once more and bit down much harder than he had before. Liy gasped out in shock, followed by a heaving squeal of pain. She kicked her legs up against him, panting and moaning as he continued to suck and bite her skin.
He released, running his tongue across her breast.
“Such a beautiful, perfect girl…” He said hoarsely, “and I’m getting to leave my marks on her…” He couldn’t suppress the giggles that bubbled up his throat once more. Thankfully, Liy seemed to find it charming, as it had but the smile straight back on her face after she’d lost it in the biting fiasco.
“Well, only super pretty girls are allowed to leave hickeys on other super pretty girls, you know?” Liy remarked warmly.
Pen’s heart thundered. Just hearing those words come out of her mouth, knowing she was referring to him, it was a euphoric feeling like no other.
“Fuck…” He sputtered out, so flustered that all he could do was go back to kissing Liy’s body all the while she cooed at him.
“Awwhhh, do you like that?”
I can fluster you too. Was all that went through his head. He bit down again.
She spat out more yelps and whines. She writhed against him and yanked on his hair, but he refused to stop. It wasn’t enough he wanted her to get louder. He wanted others to hear how frazzled he could make her. He had to.
He had to.
He lifted himself up just for a moment to position himself over top Liy, keeping her pinned down before going straight back into it. His goal was higher up now— instead of remaining on her chest he had moved up higher to her neck and began to suck and bite there.
She continued to tug strands of Pen’s hair back, sending shocks of pain through him. But he didn’t mind— if anything, he was enjoying it a lot more than he thought he would.
Hell, Liy sounded like she was really enjoying the biting. Her strangled noises of pain were just as equal pleasure, and he could even hear her chuckle between raspy wheezes whenever he took quick breaks to kiss the bruises he left behind.
When he raised his head, he could see a dark trail of bruises leading from her boob all the way up to her neck. Pen was elated to see just how high he’d gone, knowing it could easily be seen in Liy’s typical attire. He lowered himself back onto her chest with an accomplished exhale, murmuring. “Perfect… Now everyone will know the most gorgeous girl in the whole hotel is off limits.”
“Not true,” Liy rebuked, “I didn’t leave any marks on you, did I?”
The feeling of euphoria returned tenfold. He could feel himself practically beaming with joy. “You know I meant you, silly.”
She snickered. Her voice fell into a low, seductive one— a tone edged with something that beckoned him.
“Oh really, hm? Are you laying claim on me?”
“Well the marks say it all, don’t they?” Pen said with a cheeky smile.
Liy responded with a mere snort of amusement.
“But I guess if you don’t want a ‘pretty girl’ claiming you I can take myself elsewhere…” Pen lifted a hand to his cheek, dragging his fingers down his face so dramatically that she scoffed at him.
“It’s gonna take more than a few bites for me to let you own the satisfaction of owning me, princess.” Regardless of how snarky Liy had delivered it, Pen still thoroughly enjoyed being considered a princess.
“Okay… okay. Challenge accepted,” Pen declared.
He pressed himself against her skin, giving a few more kisses on her breasts before moving himself further down, slowly traveling from the stomach to her hips.
He could feel Liy stiffen as he neared the rim of her shorts, and once he did he stopped.
Pen knew she had already given him to go ahead to do whatever he wanted, but he still had to ask one more time.
“Is it okay if I do this?”
Liy nodded enthusiastically. “Please. Oh my god.”
The desperation sent a jolt of pleasure rushing straight to his crotch, but he remained focused. He pulled down her shorts and underwear together, leaving her genitals fully exposed to her best friend.
He inhaled shakily.
Do not mess this up, Pen. I swear.
I will never forgive myself.
He pushed his head between her legs, gripping onto them with one hand each to force them apart. Then he began to cautiously and gently slide his tongue across Liy’s clit.
The girl jolted immediately, a loud, whimpery moan tearing free from her throat. Her noises were addicting— intoxicating.
Even when she instinctively attempted to shut her legs, Pen forced them to stay wide open.
He continued to lap at her, the taste unlike anything he’d ever had in his mouth before, though the sweat from being in such a humid climate all day probably didn’t serve to make it taste as wholly good as it could’ve. It wasn’t bad by any means, just… interesting; it was so unique in a way he still felt like he couldn’t get enough. He licked her up and down thoroughly, relishing in the moans it dragged out of her.
Liy never made sounds like the ones he was causing. It was so mesmerizing he couldn’t help but intensify his grip on her.
“Fhhuccckk… Pen… holy shit…” She stammered out through whimpers.
Pen ran his tongue further down to her vaginal entrance, teasing the edge of it just to urge reactions out of her. It worked, evidently, as she was still twitching like mad.
Then he pushed his tongue inside.
Liy’s legs ripped from out of Pen’s grip and pushed themselves inward, locking him in place. He could barely move his head, if anything, Liy had found a surefire way to keep his face planted straight into her crotch.
While the saliva may have aided in the feeling, between Liy’s mannerisms and noises, there was no denying how wet she was between her legs. Pen loved it— he loved how he made her feel like that.
He swirled his tongue around inside her, pressing in as far as he could just to hear her moan more. He could feel her shift upward a bit before a hard pressure was applied on his head, forcefully shoving him against her genitals. His entire face was burning up and he could feel the sweat running down his face, and though he could barely breathe he continued to eat her out like a ravenous animal.
Liy kept him planted there, moaning softly and murmuring so quiet he could barely make her out over the whirring fans. “Fuck, Pen… that’s so nice. Keep going—…” He promptly complied, his ferocity growing with his hunger. Doing so managed to pull out another lustful hum from her. “Such a good girl… exactly where she wants to be.”
Her words melted into sharp gasps and whines— moans increasing in volume the longer Pen went at her. He wasn’t sure how long it typically took to make one orgasm, but Liy’s body approached it fast— intense enough he could tell immediately that she’d come.
Liy slowly lifted her hand away, allowing Pen the ability to lift his head freely.
He pulled out his tongue, now slick with Liy’s juices, and gave one last lap on her clitoris before shakily mumbling to her.
“If you react that way from just my tongue, maybe I should…”
His mind had traveled to the thought of penetrating her pussy with his cock, making her whimper and squeal out for him, pounding the shit out of her, cumming inside and claiming her—
Pen sharply exhaled, giving a curt shake of his head. He hadn’t realized how erect his penis had gotten, so much so to the point it was beginning to ache.
Bad idea. It would be such a bad idea.
But when he looked up at Liy, all frazzled and panting with her face sweaty and flushed, he couldn’t help wanting so desperately to commit to such a terrible idea.
But she’s so wet, and I’m really fucking hard—! I could…
I should…
“Are you alright, Pen?” Liy asked, seemingly taking notice of his silence.
Pen stiffened. His first thought was to play it off, but what ended up coming out of his mouth was: “I really want to put my cock inside you.” Straightforward. Not at all what he intended to come out of his mouth.
Though thankfully for him, Liy seemed shockingly receptive right out the gate, her eyes practically lighting up. “Ohhh… I see.”
She fell quiet for a moment before cocking her head to the side, a smirk gracing her face.
“Well… I suppose even though you bit the hell out of me and tried to get my neighbors to hear me moan, which was very rude,” The girl snickered lustfully, “you are very, very gorgeous. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this assertive before. I like it.”
Liy had to stretch her arm all the way out to reach Pen’s head with how low he was positioned on her body, and even then she could only meet with the front of his head. She ruffled what little hair she could nab in her hands as her eyes grew softer. More lovey-dovey.
“You know I’m a sucker for beautiful women, Pen.” She said, “If you want to penetrate me, you can. You know I’ll love every second of it.”
“Sssstopp…” He slurred as a shudder of arousal wracked his body. Once it passed, he rapidly blinked and straightened his posture. “Wait- no- I mean— I didn’t mean to stop. I uhm—“ He flushed awkwardly, “—yeah. Maybe we should’ve picked a better safeword.”
“We?” Liy retorted snidely.
Pen scoffed at her.
“Whatever. It’s fine. Let me just—“
He pulled Liy’s shorts and underwear down further, shifting himself to the side so he could rip them off her legs completely. After he’d done so, he moved his hands to the top of his pants, hesitating right as he began to pull them down. Suddenly, all the nerves crashed against him at once.
Just don’t look. Just don’t look. He inhaled raggedly. Everything will be fine. I want to do this.
In one swift motion he yanked his pants and boxers off and to the side, screwing his eyes shut for a moment to haul himself back over Liy. When he opened them again he saw her laying under him with wide eyes. She had no snarky remarks, no quips, anything. She was merely waiting in anticipation for him.
Pen slowly leaned forward, brushing his erection against her clit, doing his darned hardest to enter her without having to look down at his own body.
“You don’t want me to do anything to you? You’re just gonna—“
He located the entrance of her vagina and slowly pushed the tip of his penis inside her, swiftly cutting Liy’s question off.
That was his answer.
“Shit!! Pen-“
“Is something wrong?” He asked hurriedly, worried.
“No, no! It just caught me off guard…” Liy admitted through huffs.
“Too fast?” Pen tilted his head.
“Well it doesn’t matter now! You’re already in so—“ She bucked her hips toward him, causing him to push in deeper, “—commit!!”
He let out a squeak of alarm, taking a moment to recover then curtly nodded.
Pen held Liy down and began slow, methodical thrusts back and forth. He was careful in starting tender, no matter how much his brain told him to pound her into oblivion. Thankfully, Liy seemed to enjoy his pace, as her head reeled back with a soft, drawled out moan that mixed with a few small giggles. He cracked a fond smile.
Her noises were something for him to utterly fawn over. The way she would let out the cutest high-pitched whines and squeaks was something he knew he could never get over. Now that he knew he could get her so frazzled, there was no going back for him. He couldn’t let her go.
Pen thrusted in deeper.
She was so tight it drove him crazy.
“Liy… fffuhhh…” He trailed off into passionate moans. He began to move faster, push deeper. Liy was squirming and whimpering under him, swatting her hand out at Pen’s arm and scratching feverishly, leaving faint scratches with her nails.
And her nails hurt.
Pen pulled out slowly before slamming deep inside her.
Liy squealed out, a crude mix of pain and pleasure all at once.
“Fuck!! Pen!” She wailed out, “Keep going, keep going—“
“I’m trying!” He blurted out through pants. He wasn’t used to so much physical exertion on top of already being weakened from the heatwave.
The only thing that kept him going was both how much Liy seemed to be enjoying him, and how addicting it was to feel her pussy’s walls wrapped so tightly around his penis. He let out a violent shudder, giving way to pitiful whimpers.
His vision was growing spotty and his body dizzy, but he was so desperate for Liy he couldn’t bring himself to stop.
It didn’t take long at all for his thrusts to become sporadic and rough. Liy’s attempted squirming movements were quickly shut down as Pen fastened her in place with his arms, keeping her still as he pounded her. She wouldn’t stop shouting and whining, getting so loud that Pen just knew whoever happened to be next door was hearing all of it.
And instead of making him falter, it filled him with pride.
“I told you…” He sputtered out, panting heavily as he leaned in closer to her, “I told you you’re mine.” He chuckled loopily. “I can do whatever I- hff- want to you. You said it yourself…”
Liy trembled under him, face red as a beet as she dizzily laughed— only for it to fizzle back into whimpers.
He shuddered. He could feel himself getting close. He hurriedly lifted his head to stare at her.
“Can I… inside?” He could barely muster out any words, as he felt like he was on the verge of passing out. “Please? I want to fill you…”
“Why are you asking me?” She said teasingly, “You just said you own me, remember?”
That was all the confirmation he needed.
He gave a few more deep thrusts before his entire body trembled and he felt himself come, an overwhelming feeling of pleasure and ecstasy washing over him before his entire vision blacked— just for a moment, but it was long enough that by the time he came back to his senses he had completely collapsed atop Liy, his body a sweating, heaving mess.
He felt sickeningly nauseous, but in the moment he hardly cared. He was too busy riding the high of coming into Liy.
Liy though, she cared a lot more. Their movements were still limited as Pen hadn’t yet pulled out, but she went through the effort of shifting herself just enough so she could haul her upper body into a half-sitting position and cup Pen’s cheek with her hand, hot to the touch.
“Holy shit, Pen. Are you good?”
“That felt… so good.” Pen slurred woozily. “I want to come in you oovverr and over…” His words trailed off, his breaths growing weaker.
“I’m pretty sure you just fainted,” Liy remarked rather worriedly before Pen jerked upward and pulled his penis out of Liy, the movement so fast he nearly lost consciousness again.
“Waaiit… fuck. I just came inside you. Is that bad? Ohhh fuuckk…” As out of it as he was, he was able to come to his senses the moment lust had stopped clouding his judgement. “I’m sorry—, oh god… oh no— am I gonna get you pregnant!? Shit—“
“Okay. Calm down.” Liy pushed Pen back down onto her chest. “You’re very lightheaded. I don’t need you catastrophizing right now. Just settle down…”
His heart was pounding, but he let himself relax onto Liy’s chest.
“It’s fine. You asked and I let you. It’ll be fine.”
Pen sighed. “Okay… okay…”
She ran her fingers through his hair, “Poor girl… if you were so close to passing out you shouldn’t have kept going.”
“I really wanted to finish inside you,” Pen admitted weakly.
“Was it worth it, then?” Liy asked, a warm smile returning to her face.
Pen nodded immediately.
“God, you look exhausted. You need to stop exerting yourself.”
It wasn’t like he disagreed. He felt like shit— but that didn’t stop him from craving more.
“But I want mmmmorre of you…”
Liy leaned forward and gave Pen a peck on his heated forehead, causing his heart to instantly soar.
“Maybe when it’s cooler out, ‘kay? I’m worried you’re gonna get ill from all that.”
Pen hummed amusedly. “It would have been worth it.”
Liy turned up her nose with a snort, though it was evident in her glittering eyes that she adored him, plain as day.
“Just relax, Pen.”
He nodded dazedly and slowly shut his eyes, relishing in the decently cool air that was hitting his face. His heartbeat had fallen back to a normal rate, and he felt like he could finally relax.
As harsh as the sickening feeling toward his own body remained, amplified, even, since he was clothesless, it helped knowing the one who had looked at him— who had touched him— didn’t call him a man.
He didn’t think the pain of hating his own body would ever go away, but at least, for now and with Liy, he could finally begin to feel comfortable.