“But HR,” she bemoaned.
“Quinnie, it’s my time of need,” Toni cried, drawing her into the embrace carefully, so as not to bump her belly.
With a long-suffering sigh, she relented. “Alright, fine.”
And as the three—er, four?—of them embraced, Toni’s sorrow eased the tiniest bit, and Dex breathed in sweet relief. His tail didn’t stop wagging for a long time.
Chapter twenty-seven
Love So Hard
Cya
AsJulyturnedtoAugust, Cya found themself happier than they’d been in… well, maybe ever? The upcoming semester didn’t feel as looming or oppressive as previous ones had, and their everyday life felt fuller and more real.
They spent their afternoons honing their HSL with Jasmyn; building practical skills with Hemersyn, like cooking, laundry, and cleaning; or in their studio, crafting unique works of art that filled them with more pride than any school grade or social accolade ever had. Their evenings were filled with family dinners, dance parties in the kitchen while they all cleaned up the dishes, and movies or games where Dex would usually win and proceed to gloat infuriatingly.
Night brought intimate laughter shared under cotton sheets and touches that made their body sing with pleasure and heat that had nothing to do with the summer season.
If they had their way, Cya would have spent most of their time coiled between Dex’s parted thighs, gagging on his cock until they cried, and heprobably would have let them. He tended to give them what they wanted when they begged hard enough, but they did their best not to take advantage. They wanted to respect his boundaries in the same way he consistently honored theirs.
After his second offer to go down on them was rejected, Dex didn’t bring it up again. He accepted it with an easy, “Okay. If you ever change your mind, let me know.”
He never tried to touch them himself, but Cya no longer covered themself when they got themself off with their hands or rattle. He’d pinch their nipples, watching over their shoulder as he told them how beautiful they sounded when they came. Or when they were above him, his knees hitched around their hips as they ground down on his knot just right, he’d tug on the chain clinking between their breasts and whisper dirty words of praise. He even spit in their mouth once—at their request, of course—right as their orgasm peaked, and they’d nearly blacked out from delirious pleasure.
It wasn’t always so carnal, of course. Dex loved taking his time to cover them in sweet kisses, tasting every inch of skin and scale as he slowly brought them to gentle orgasm. They’d cradle his head as he moaned into their neck, their hand stroking his shaft just the way he taught them until he sighed his pleasure. Then they’d snuggle close and whisper secrets in the shadows.
“I don’t think my parents love me,” Cya said, forehead pressed to Dex’s as they hid under the blankets. “Or if they do, it’s only the idea of me, not the real me. They don’t even know the real me enough to love me.”
His eyes glinted in the dark, reflective and eerie. “That’s because they’re selfish and blind, not because you’re not worth loving.”
They nodded, even if they were still learning to believe it. “I’m finally starting to love myself. Maybe that can be enough.”
“My dad didn’t love us either,” he said as he traced the shape of their lips with a fingertip. “Or if he did, he always loved himself more. I tried so hard to make him stay, to be enough. He was never a great parent, but I loved him, ’cause he was my dad, you know?”
“You were always enough, Dex. Always,” they insisted, cupping his face and kissing him softly. “Hewas the one who failed to see it.”
“You think so?” he asked, and he sounded so small and scared, like maybe there was a piece of that little boy inside him, still waiting for his father to come home.
“I don’t think so; I know so, and I have never been more certain of anything in my life.”
The way he kissed them was sharp and painful, but they accepted every cut and sting. Then the kisses softened, a cooling balm soothing every bruise. Burrowing into their arms, he fit his head under their chin and sighed into their chest.
“We can love each other enough to make up for all of them,” he said matter-of-factly, like it was the simplest, easiest thing.
Smiling into his scalp, they nodded. “Okay, darling. We can do that.”
Halfway through August, school resumed, and Cya would sit in the bleachers and watch Dex practice before class. After he showered, they’d walk through campus together with his friends, hands twined between their bodies or with one of his arms hooked around their shoulders. They’d kiss goodbye when they parted for classes, then kiss hello when they reunited.
It was cringe and embarrassing and amazing.
Outside of Dex and his family, Cya invested in other friendships. They had sleepovers with Yve where they’d gossip about boys while they ate ice cream right out of the carton and painted each other’s nails. They joinedtheir coworkers “party” in a human game called Dungeons and Dragons, where they had to roleplay a magical character and complete complicated quests.
Dex had an absolute field day with the whole thing. Cya… did not. They were rather relieved when their character drowned in a swamp halfway through, and they could join Zef as the Mantodea taught them how to use a sewing machine to create art out of fabric instead of metal.
Since their parents had decided to prolong their Paris trip by a few weeks, Cya and Dex had the house mostly to themselves. Which meant they could continue to enthusiastically fuck in any room they wanted, as loudly as they wanted, without fear of getting found out.
Well, they waited until Hemersyn left for the day, of course, before engaging in noisy, messy sex. Cya did have manners, after all.
