Good for the Soul

Ya boy's an idiot. I meant to upload this like 2 weeks ago but was so focused on the next two chapters, I must have forgot- Anyways, here's the chapter.

Chateau Mason was, by any realistic measurement, a bit of a dump. Clothes scattered the floor, discarded and uncared for while various pieces of detritus littered common surfaces. Cups of ramen, soda cans, water bottles, plates, bowls, the general clutter of living that might be cleaned up by someone with less time spent bed rotting. Imara, thankfully to Mark's mind, didn't much seem to care. She avoided clothes deftly as Mark scrambled to clean his studio apartment after setting down their takeout on the counter."I'm surprised you have your own apartment. Guess your job pays pretty well." She was looking around the place, hands in her jacket's pockets.

Mark did his best to gather up the clothes and put them into the hamper. He'd been planning to clean tomorrow but no plan survives contact with the enemy. "My parents knew the guy who owns the building, he gave me a good rate on rent so I don't need a roommate, thankfully. Sorry for the mess."

Imara just quirked an eyebrow and looked at him. "You think something like a dirty place bothers me? I was homeless for a little while, you're fine." She settled herself on the small couch after taking off her small pack of clothes they'd grabbed from her house, letting off a long sigh. "Good couch... Comfy..."

Mark simply smiled a little as he continued his clean up efforts. When he felt things were at least not entirely disastrous, he allowed himself to relax a bit. "The bathroom is just through that door, by the fridge. Shower gets nice and hot but the pressure isn't the best."

She nodded along, seemingly melting into the couch. "Could we put on a movie or something after I have a shower, maybe? Always helped me get comfortable and relax. Also gives my hair time to dry a little bit before I pass out."

"Oh, sure. Works for me. I like having something on while I try to sleep anyways." Mark opened the fridge, double checking what he had before turning to Imara. "Anything to drink? I've got water, some sweet tea, and a few kinds of coke."

Imara shrugs. "Surprise me. Oh, and while I trust you enough to think you won't, I gotta make it clear. That doesn't mean 'surprise me by trying to peep on me in the shower'. You already got flashed, lover boy." She had that same playful, teasing smirk on her face as she looked back at him. She was rewarded with the sound of words catching in Mark's throat and making him ****.

After coughing a few times and cleaning his throat, Mark gave her a stern look. "I swear you get off on that... I wasn't going to be a perv, I'm smart enough to not piss off the girl helping me."

"Sometimes I wonder about that. The smart bit, not your manners." She got off the couch and grabbed her little pack, heading into the bathroom. The water came on a moment later and he officially classified the bathroom as off limits for the time being.

To distract himself and pass some time, he decided to get a movie going. It wasn't anything too crazy, deciding on an old comedy movie. He got past the intro credits and paused the film, deciding to, finally, allocate his stat points from his level up yesterday. 'Alright, better late than never with this. It's probably not a bad idea to up my Charisma... after that, maybe a point in Agility, Endurance, and Strength? Brings everything up to at least ten if I throw two points in Charisma. Let's start there. Even things out slightly.'

With his stats allocated, a secondary confirmation window appeared, asking if he wished to finalize his choices, which he confirmed. The immediate feeling was that of a minor pulse through his body, as if one beat of his heart was noticeably stronger than those that came before and after. A barely perceptible tingle ran through his veins with the pulse before everything returned to normal. He didn't feel any stronger, faster, or any of the more abstract feelings but perhaps the changes were incremental. He had, at minimum, another ten levels to go and that girl from yesterday didn't seem nearly as strong as mister Wrasse had. Likely, it was much more than ten.

Figuring he had more time before Imara came back from her shower, Mark decided to check over his skills, just to see where he was at XP wise. Things had leveled up slightly from his efforts, remembering to fire off Observe uses was going to take time for form a habit of but he had managed to bring it up to level three, with Elemental Tap joining it and Running at four. Good progress but just a start.

Pondering safe ways to train his Projectile Guidance skill, Mark was suddenly beset with weight on his shoulders, Imara pressing down on him from behind. "I leave you alone and you get to thinking and brooding." Mark looked back to find her in black booty shorts with white trim, along with a slightly over-sized shirt. On the shirt was the quote from the door to the Mines of Moria, written in both Elvish and English. "If I'm not careful, I'll come back to you having plotted some wild scheme."

"Plotting and scheming, that's me." He chuckled a little bit as she let go of his shoulders and rounded the couch, popping down beside him. "Also... 'Speak friend and enter'? I don't know what door it's going to open but I feel it's a euphemism with you."

"Might be, might not be. Maybe it's both at the same time, depending on my mood and who asks."

"Do I even want to know what it would be if I asked?"

She looked at him for a moment before pouting a bit. "You anti'd my joke before I could even do it. I was setting you up to ask and you hit the punchline instead."

"Oh, uh... Sorry? I think? I'm curious but I figure you'd just tell me if you wanted me to know."

"Well, you're right about that at least. What movie did you pick, anyways?" She leaned back on the couch, relaxing as she looked at the screen.

"Well, I figure we needed something lighthearted. Went looking through and found a classic." As he hit the play button, the opening shot of The Princess Bride began to roll and Imara looked at it curiously.

"A classic, huh? Guess I need to watch it then." When Mark gave her a baffled look, she continued. "I didn't get to watch a ton of movies or shows growing up. I've spent some time catching up but it'll take a while."

Mark was satisfied by that explanation and the two relaxed on the couch with their takeout they'd brought home. As they sat, eating and watching the movie, a question came to Mark's mind and some part of him pushed for an answer. "You said you didn't want to be alone tonight... why ask me then? Was it just because I was there?"

"In part, yea, but if I'm gonna be honest, I don't exactly have a lot of friends. Una is friendly and all but he's also my boss in a way. Hate to put it like that when you're so nice but I'm not about to lie about it." She sighed, slumping a bit. "People can be mean sometimes."

"You're serious? The charismatic flirt master with an open appreciation for one of the better shows of our generation is lacking friends? That's a crime. Someone like me, sure, I'm kinda awkward and stuff but even I found people I can call friends." He stopped for a moment, remembering something he'd heard several times but never seen an example of. "Oh my god, it does happen. Extroverts and introverts do just adopt each other."

"Adopt? Listen, just because I followed you home like a cat doesn't mean you can put a collar on me, mister. We only just had our second date." Her tone had that same teasing quality, trying to get him blushing and daring him to say something about it. Mark's face tinted red quickly, giving her what she was after.

"I'd prefer it if our dates were more than dinner and a show."

"Wow, calling my birthday gift a simple 'show' now?" She grinned as Mark's face continued to grow closer to resembling a ripe tomato. "One of these days, you'll have to stop making it so damn easy."

"I've gotta find a way to shut you up sometimes..." Mark hid his cherry red face in his hands.

"If you manage that, you'd likely discover the key to world peace at the same time. I'm clearly an unstoppable **** of nature, made for teasing introverted virgin boys so stopping me means you've become all powerful."

"All powerful and still flustered by girls..."

"Cute girls with green hair," Imara corrected. "You got a blanket or something? A little cold in here..."

Mark nodded and got up, walking to his mild mess of a bed and grabbing one of the blankets. His blankets were always oversized for his twin bed, being big enough for a queen. As he handed it to her and sat back down, she put the blanket over both of them and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I needed a pillow. Do me a favor and be a comfortable one, yea?"

Mark, unsure what to do, froze up and went red, as he'd done several times in the last twenty four hours. Sure, she'd flirted with him a lot but this felt a lot more intimate and real. His mind raced as she adjusted and got comfortable. When he eventually got his mouth working again, tongue and throat feeling dry, he asked, "you aren't just flirting for the sake of flirting... are you?"

She didn't look away from the movie but Mark could sense her growing smile. "Might have been at first. You are pretty fun to tease, after all. Now be a gentleman and put your arm around me. Everyone likes to cuddle." Mark carefully did as she suggested, cautious of her either biting him randomly or touching somewhere he shouldn't by accident. When no bites came as his hand rested on her side, he couldn't help but enjoy the moment. Imara then immediately set him on edge again by saying, "just don't try to cop a feel before I give you the go ahead, 'k big guy?"

The pair watched the movie, Imara seeming enthralled whole Mark did his best to not think about how a girl he found extremely attractive was flirting with him for more reason than to make him flustered. He did eventually settle in, getting more and more comfortable with the arrangement. She was warm to the touch, a blessing on a cold night like this when his apartment ended up cool in the winter. Her hair gently tickled at his neck and one of her hands rested just above his knee under the blanket. It was a quiet, simple moment but profoundly meaningful, seemingly to them both.

As the end of the movie came around and credits began to roll, Mark spoke up again. "Hey Imara, can I ask you something?"

In typical fashion at this point, her reply was borderline evil in it's seeming perfect execution to make him blush. "As long as it's not for a handjob, shoot."

While his reddened face came back in ****, an idea for some kind of clap back came to his mind. Some might consider it intrusive but something in his head pushed for the response. "So does that mean a blowjob is on the table?"

The effect was immediate, her tanned skin going rosy as she gently slapped at his leg and as a snorting chuckle. "Didn't think you could fire back like that, I feel I should be impressed. Unless you eat a lot of fruit though, the answer is no. What was your question?"

"I was just wondering why you seem to trust me so much. I'm just some guy..."

"Well, putting aside the fact you saved my life earlier, you're honest and sweet. You care about other people, that much is as clear as it is rare. The saving my life thing does help your case though."

"I... never thought anyone would find that admirable or as a mark of being trustworthy."

"Well, it is to me. We should get to bed but yours doesn't look big enough for two."

"I'll take the couch, you can have the bed. It's only polite."

"You and your manners... Here I was about to make another joke."

"I'm not about to sleep with you if I can't even touch your boobs." Only after the words came out of his mouth did he realize just how they sounded, a laugh coming from Imara as Mark sighed. "Dammit, that sounded gross..."

"Cheer up big guy, you'll get better." She looked up at him, eyes almost sparkling as the two were only a few inches away. "Pr-" Imara was cut off by Mark, leaning in seemingly out of nowhere. He planted a kiss on her lips at an unintentionally perfect timing. The pair of them looked at each other for a moment, blush growing stronger on both of their faces quite quickly. Mark was just about to apologize when Imara grabbed two fistfuls of his shirt and pulled him in for another kiss, this one lasting longer than that little peck. Where his kiss was a spark, hers was a firework on a moonless night, lighting things up in a way he'd never expected.

When Imara let him go a few seconds later, still looking up at him with a bashful smile, she sighed contentedly. "I was hoping you'd do that."

Mark looked away, trying not to smile like a fool. "We, uhh, we should get to bed. It's starting to get late and all."

Thankfully, she got up without more teasing, leaving the blanket for Mark and even bringing him one of the pillows before she got herself into bed. Once Mark was sure all of his things were accounted for and would be ready for tomorrow, he got as comfortable as he could on the couch and let himself fall asleep.

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