The Morning Breakfast Run

John found himself waking up far too early for his liking. The borrowed room was small and he wondered if it would have been more comfortable staying in the library. With the amount of people hiding out in what amounted to a university laboratory, space was limited. The only positive was that there wasn’t anything that prevented all of them from sleeping in the same room.

Which meant John had to brush Beth’s hair out of his face as awareness came to him. The bed would have been large for a gnome, but was unbelievably cramped for three humans, an avenfae and a very busty spirit. Still, the closeness was nice and at least there weren’t any popups floating above his face.

‘Guess it hasn’t been eight hours,’ he mused, recalling that by the time they had gone to sleep, he’d been in Overlay for around two hours. While it was comfortable being sandwiched between Senka and Beth, and the sight of Aeolia and Vivian cuddling up together brought a smile to his face, John’s biological needs started to make themselves known.

‘Okay, how do I get up without waking anybody?’ John thought as he reflected on his options. ‘Is that even possible?’

He knew he could reach out to Senka and have her move, but that would defeat the purpose of trying to do this maneuver without disturbing anyone. He experimentally wiggled to see if his bedmates would react to the movement. When none of the girls reacted, John began to slowly shimmy his way out.

It took a few minutes, but eventually John was able to worm his way free. A bitter freedom, he noted, as the space he left open let Beth turn towards the missing warmth and right into Senka's bosom, which she nuzzled into.

Pulling himself away from the tempting sights, John crept out of the room. The dim hallway and the overall lack of familiarity made John move down it slowly. He wasn't keen on opening the wrong door.

'Okay, if I recall correctly, the restroom is three doors down after taking the right hand turn at the end of the hallway,' John remembered. 'Maybe after this I should see if I could whip up some breakfast. Martius said we could use the kitchen within reason. I wonder if they have chicken eggs here?'

John's musings trailed off as he neared what he hoped was the restroom. He noted a brighter light coming from the gap under the door. He turned on Arcane Sense to see who was inside. He felt the rhythmic, breath-like sensation of Barbara’s aura beyond the door, but something was different about it. There was a weightiness to it, like the breath of some large creature, that wasn’t there before, even when the silver haired woman was employing her magic.

Then it suddenly was back to what he’d sensed before, though there was a slight increase to its tempo and the door opened.

Barbara, dressed as she had been yesterday but with her hair down, leveled an unhappy glare at John, one that caused him to take a step back.

“Um, good morning?” John lamely said.

Barbara practically growled and narrowed her eyes, staring daggers into him. Then she brushed past him, deliberately shoulder checking him.

‘That was colder than yesterday,’ John thought as he watched her round the corner before going into the restroom. It wasn't anything too out of the ordinary, though everything was slightly smaller than he was used to.

Minor Wind Spirit Rank Up: Rank 2 reached

'Nice to see I'll get notifications for spirits ranking up,' he thought as he washed his hands. Once done, John ventured back through the halls, headed for the small kitchen the facility had.

As he turned into the corridor it was found on, John paused when Piper emerged from the very place he was heading for and the green haired P.I. grinned.

"Great, was hoping to run into one of you before everyone started moving around today," she cheerfully announced.

"You were, huh?" John muttered, wondering just what her angle was.

"Jeez, no need to be so tense," Piper said.

'I think I have every right to be tense given who hired you,' John sarcastically remarked in his head, keeping what he learned from Observe in his back pocket.

"So, what's up?" he asked, unable to keep a tinge of suspicion out of his tone.

Piper’s peppy expression dimmed a bit and she said, “There’s something I have to tell you. I didn’t just happen to stumble on you guys and poked my head in just because.”

John blinked, not expecting her to just lay all her cards out.

Taking his silence as permission to just continue, Piper did just that, “I am, or was, I guess, a P.I. And I was hired by one of your classmates to dig up dirt on Beth. Didn’t have a clue she or you were Abyssal. And as far as I know, my client isn’t in the know.”

‘Ok, play it cool, Newman,’ John thought as he processed what was happening. ‘She didn’t give up who hired her, so let’s see if I can get that info. That’ll go a long way to seeing if she’s being honest in dropping the job.’

“Beth and I aren’t exactly the most sociable in school,” John said. “Any chance you could tell me who hired you?”

“You planning to take some ****?” Piper asked, her eyes intently focused on him. “Because you might think I'm scum for taking the job, but I’m not just going to sell them out anymore than I have. You don’t break a contract that easily, even if it's with some prissy bitch.”

John was about to press her to give up Vanessa’s name, not ready to trust her to not give something to her, when he caught what she had said.

‘That was a clue,’ he thought. His expression must have shown his realization as Piper winked at him before beginning to walk away.

“Whatever you do, I’d say go about it carefully,” Piper said as she went past John. “If they’ve got enough to pay me, they’ll probably have enough to pay someone else.”

John watched Piper until she turned the corner, a frown on his face.

‘I don’t get it,’ he thought, trying to work out Piper’s motivation. ‘She doesn’t want to come out and say it was Vanessa, but drops enough clues for me to work it out. Why not just tell? It sounds like she’s going all in with working for Aria so why keep a code when it’s only us who know? Was she looking for me to figure it out for some reason?’

There were too many questions and trains of thought for John to tackle on his own so he decided to put things off until everyone woke up and had a bite to eat. He entered the kitchen, a somewhat sterile looking room, full of stainless steel counters and appliances.

‘Wonder if this is some kind of prefab thing?’ John mused as he began to scour the cramped room for food. ‘The rest of this place feels more lived in. Certainly doesn’t fit with the rest of the aesthetic.’

John managed to find a number of large eggs, which Observe identified as gallten eggs, the readout assuring him they were comparable to chicken eggs. Alongside of a few fruits, vetted by Observe, John assembled a simple but hopefully filling and tasty meal.

“I’d be careful with taking too many of those,” Lynn’s voice suddenly said as John picked up a mango-like fruit, causing him to jolt and spin around. “Martius is partial to those.”

John looked at the fruit in his hand and put it down with the rest.

“Right. Um, good morning,” John said. “I was just, um, making some breakfast.”

“I can see that,” Lynn remarked, leaning up against the counter opposite John. “Sleep well?”

“Well enough,” John answered hesitantly, feeling like the pleasantries were a prelude to interrogation. He had expected Lynn to **** Beth to sleep close to her. That she hadn’t even seen them since helping Kiera was something that had settled in the back of his mind around the time they had gone to bed and he had ignored it due to the late hour.

“I suppose it’s good that I caught you before you got into cooking,” Lynn said, her voice maintaining a certain niceness to it. But John felt a great fear grip him, like at any moment she would strike like a viper. “There’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”

“What’s up?” John asked, failing to keep his nerves from causing his voice to come out scratchy. “Everything good with Harker and Kiera?”

Lynn was an obstacle he was ill equipped to deal with. He still lacked the people skills to feel comfortable talking to those he didn’t have a good connection to and Lynn was someone he had to make a good impression on.

Although, perhaps a day after actually meeting and escaping a slime filled sewer was a bit late in trying for that good first impression.

Lynn let out a sigh, and John noticed she looked like she hadn’t gotten enough sleep. “They’re on the mend. Now, let's not insult each other’s intelligence or waste time, ok? What exactly is your relationship with Beth? And I mean you and the rest of your group. I’m not blind.”

John’s mouth was dry, not at all ready for this line of questioning. He had been under the impression that they had kept things platonic enough to not arouse her suspicion. Not to deceive her, but to not distract from the more important things that needed their focus. And he didn’t want to lie to Lynn. Getting on the bad side, or worse side he admitted given where he likely started, of one of his girlfriends’ family wasn’t a good thing.

‘And I don’t think I could lie convincingly to get away with things,’ he admitted to himself.

Steeling himself and going over whatever arguments he could quickly think of, John answered, nervously fiddling with his fingers, “That’s a bit of a complicated thing. Um, the best way to put it is we’re all together.”

“All of you,” Lynn repeated, suspicious eyes boring into John.

“Y-yeah,” John stuttered out. “Beth and the others are all my girlfriends and they’re each other’s.”

Lynn’s eyes narrowed as she studied John. For a moment, it looked like she was about to tear into him for dragging her sister into some kind of harem situation, her eyes gleaming with barely contained anger. Then, she closed them for a few moments, some of the longest John had ever experienced.

When she looked at him again, that heat had dimmed, and somehow seemed to be more inwardly focused.

“You know, I didn’t expect this would be how I’d have to deal with my little sister getting into the dating world,” Lynn revealed before letting off a little laugh. “With the way she acts, I figured it’d be some punk, not some kid thrown into the deep end, who’s dragging her in.”

John felt a slight spark of indignation and he straightened his posture.

“Beth knows what we were up against,” he retorted, doing his best to keep his voice steady. “We told her everything right off the bat and didn’t hold back anything.”

“Doesn’t mean that makes the fact she’s running off into danger any easier to swallow,” Lynn shot back. “Nor does knowing it's with people she’s probably sleeping with.”

John held back revealing it was only the one time with Beth, not wanting to throw fuel on the fire.

“But,” Lynn continued, “as Beth so graciously reminded me, I can’t keep her safe without making her life miserable. And as you kindly informed me yesterday, I’m doing her a disservice by trying to lock her away from the world.

"What I'm getting at is, as much as I don't like it, I'm not going to try and break you guys up," Lynn concluded. Before John could say anything, she added, "But if you do anything to hurt her, I will melt you. Slowly."

John shuddered at the intensity of her voice. He fully believed she would carry out that threat. Clearing his throat and trying to settle his nerves, he said, "None of us are going to do that. This isn't some kind of fling."

It was the first time John had voiced his belief and hope that everything with the girls was a permanent thing. Even back when he only had his fantasies and porn, he'd always wanted something more than just sex. The circumstances of how he achieved it wasn’t how he’d dreamt it would go, not even in his wildest dreams, but he wouldn’t trade any of it for anything.

Lynn let out a small chuckle. “If you had said that before everything that happened yesterday, I'd have thought it was only hot air. But I can’t say what you did to help Harker and Kiera wasn’t impressive. Both in power and in the effort you put in. I might not like it, but at least I know you’re not going to chicken out if things go south.”

John felt his cheeks warm at the somewhat roundabout compliment and he coughed slightly.
“I, um, I do my best,” he said.

“Then for Beth’s sake, keep doing your best,” Lynn declared as she stepped closer to John. “And go beyond it. Got it?”

John nodded, then she reached past him and grabbed a bit of fruit before quickly backing away and marching out of the kitchen.

“Well, at least we’re on her good side, for now,” John muttered as he turned his attention back to the food. “And we don’t have to dance around acting like we’re only just friends. Should have asked if she was going to talk to Beth.”

Getting his mind back on the cooking track, John began to prepare the eggs. There was a little fiddling he had to do to get the magically powered stove to work, along with getting used to the gnome sized nature of it, but before long he was on his way to cooking the scrambled eggs.

“Smells about right,” he muttered as the eggs neared completion, a smile on his face. “Maybe we should see if we can take some of this food back for Mason and Cammie. They can have a special Detreye night. Would galltan taste like chicken?”

“It’s a bit more like turkey, I think,” Kiera’s timid voice answered. John twisted around to see the bluenette peeking in from the door Lynn had used.

“Kiera!” John exclaimed, his attention quickly shifting from the food to her. “How are you feeling?”

“Um, better?” she replied, though her tone made it clear she was still questioning that point. She slowly made her way into the kitchen. “I mean, I’m fully awake, but, um, I- most of my memories are gone. And the rest are really hazy. And I‘m sorry about everything.”

She practically shouted that last part at high speeds, her face flushed red and a few tears dripping down her cheeks.

“Hey, hey,” John said, quickly taking the eggs off the heat before moving towards her. “You don’t have to beat yourself up.”

“Sorry,” Kiera apologized again, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. “I just… Even without remembering the details, I know I let bad things happen. And it just hurts.”

“I think that you feeling like that is a good thing,” John carefully said, doing his best to not further upset her. “It means you care. I don’t think the rest of Phantom Reach feels the same. What matters is that you do and are ready to make things right.”

Kiera nodded, still working at drying her tears. Then she leapt at him and wrapped her arms around him tightly. John was taken aback by the sudden display but he had enough Charisma now to know he should gently return the hug, a hand carefully patting her upper back in what he hoped was a soothing manner.

The embrace lasted for a long moment, long enough for John to worry about the eggs growing cold.

‘Is that really what I should be worried about right now?’ he immediately chided himself. Then Kiera hastily jumped back, easily breaking away from him.

“S-sorry,” she squeaked out, her face nearly glowing. “T-that was too forward. And I’ve probably messed up whatever you’re cooking. And, and…”

“Hey, it’s ok,” John said. “It’s just some food, and I don’t think it’s even ruined. Remembered to take it off the heat. Not keen to repeat that disaster.”

That coaxed a slight giggle from Kiera, and John looked to the food and back to Kiera, an idea forming. He smiled at Kiera and offered, “You can join us for breakfast if you want.”

Thanks again for reading this little story. If you liked the chapter, please hit that thumbs up, and if you want to support my writing, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ScrapCrow. Get access to my chapters before they’re published here and join my private Discord.