Welcome Company

As John walked, his phone suddenly lit up from notification after notification. He pulled out his phone, and opened it to see over thirty missed calls. The last one happened only five minutes prior and all were from Ellie.

“Shit, I should call her and tell her I’m alright, but I should check these messages first,” John muttered to himself, as he opened the text chain from Ellie.

< E: Hey, we got disconnected. Did you go into an area with a bad signal, it went right to voicemail when I tried calling >

The next one was roughly twenty minutes later.

< E: I’ve tried calling a few more times, if you’re still on a date with that little cutie don’t worry about calling back we can talk about it some other time, just make sure to shoot me a text to make sure you’re alright xx >

Another twenty minutes later on the dot was the next.

< E: Me again, I tried calling a bunch more times but still straight to voicemail, did your phone die or something? Let me know as soon as you get this message xx >

John could tell she must have been getting worried as the next few messages became much more frequent.

< E: Don’t forget to message me xx >

< E: Hey, let me know you are okay please x >

< E: John, are you alright? x >

< E: I still can’t get through to you, can you call me and let me know you’re safe? >

< E: I don’t have any other way to contact you or anyone else, I need to know you’re alright >

As he read through the messages, his phone vibrated and his text tone rang out. He opened the newest message.

< E: I really need to know you aren’t hurt or in danger, I’ve been trying to find some way to contact you but I just don’t have anything. Please call me >

Not wanting to make her worry anymore, he called her back, and she answered before he even heard the first dial tone.

“John? Are you alright? Where were you? What happened?” Ellie asked, anguish clear in her voice.

“Ellie, Ellie, calm down, I’m fine… We got pulled into a barrier, there might have been some dragons in there, but most weren’t harmful or anything. The fletch tails were, but they ran away as soon as I used my powers. I did get into a fight with someone but she ran away too… This isn’t gonna sound good, but then I got into another fight and thought I was going to die… and my powers almost killed the girl by taking over, long story. I’ll explain when I see you. Anyway, I got questioned by a group from the Abyss and now I’m out of the barrier and I’m fine so there’s no need to worry. I’m on my way to Ancient Wisdom now,” John explained calmly.

“How do I calm down or not worry about anything you just said? I just... where are you? I’ve been running around the streets by that store for almost an hour now trying to find you. I’ll meet you and we’ll head there together, then we can spend time together at my place,” Ellie said. John then took notice of Ellie’s slightly out of breath voice.

John looked around. “Uh, I’m just coming up to a store called ‘Bake my Day’. How about I wait for you there?”

Ellie sighed. “Yeah, I’ll get it up on my phone and head there now. See you soon.”

“Can’t wait. I love you,” John said walking towards the store.

“Love you too,” Ellie said, ending the call.

The smell was the first thing to hit him, bread, cake and a very subtle hint of coffee. John decided to go in while he waited for Ellie. The interior was so small that the counter cut the shop in half, and the customer side wasn’t big enough for any seating or tables. John estimated you might fit eight people at best, if everyone stood elbow to elbow.

The interesting part of the shop was the other side of the counter. John could see ovens that were currently baking one thing or another, a coffee machine and then display cases that showed off the myriad of baked goods on offer.

“How may I help you, young man?” the voice of a slim man asked. The guy had to be in his mid-forties and had large round glasses. John almost laughed when he immediately thought of Milo Thatch from the Atlantis movie.

Despite wanting to laugh at the resemblance, he decided not to bring it up; instead, he smiled and took a look at the large selection of cakes before his eyes caught something. “How much is that?” John asked, pointing towards the largest cupcake he’d ever seen, that wasn’t just a cake in the shape of a cupcake that is. The thing was maybe thirteen centimetres in diameter and just as tall, the bottom was a chocolate fudge topped with a swirling pink buttercream with star sprinkles on top.

“Oh, that’s a nice one, triple chocolate fudge cupcake with raspberry buttercream, that would be twelve dollars, it was freshly baked just under an hour ago too.” The man smiled.

“You know what, I’ll take it,” John said, reaching into his pocket and willing out the money.

The baker pulled the giant cupcake out and placed it onto some brightly coloured baking paper. “Would you like it open or would you like a box?”

John thought for a moment. He could just store it in his inventory, but even if he was going to do that, it’d probably look nicer when he gave it to Ellie if he had a box. “Box please,” he hummed.

“That’ll be an extra two dollars if that’s still alright?” the guy asked. John nodded, pulling the extra cash out. The cupcake was placed into a fancy box with a lid and slid on the counter.

John handed over the money and took the gift before saying goodbye and heading outside to wait for Ellie, at which point he stored the baked gift in his inventory. John moved to the side of the store and leaned against the wall, pulling his phone out. ’Damn, should I have used Observe on Kaen, Kim and Moira? Though if I did, they might have known and things might have gone in a bad direction… Well, less so for Moira, she seemed really eager for me to join her group… Too late now, maybe I could do it when I see them next? I should probably decide what I’m going to spend my stat points on too,’ John thought, looking at his character sheet.

“John!” Ellie’s voice rang out seconds before she impacted his chest. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I just thought you’d lost signal but then I just kept getting more and more worried and then I started to think about if you’d gotten attacked or pulled into another barrier and gotten hurt and I wouldn’t have any way to find out or anyone I could contact.”

“I’m fine, Alison is fine, I promise. But hey, glad you were so worried about me, shows just how much you care,” John laughed, hugging his girlfriend tighter.

Ellie pulled back with tears welling up in her eyes before she swung at him and punched him in the arm with a good amount of ****.

-4HP

“Ow, what’s that for?” John complained, rubbing his now dead arm.

Rather than answering, Ellie wrapped her arms around his neck and forcefully kissed him. John decided to shrug off the slowly vanishing pain and gave in to the moment, holding her tighter and enjoying the feeling of her pressed up against him.

The two separated blushing lightly after a passer-by yelled, “Get a room!”

John took Ellie’s hand and led her in the direction of Ancient Wisdom. “Man, I have such an amazing girlfriend,” he sighed as Ellie rested her head on his shoulder.

“Don’t you mean wife,” she giggled, looking up at him and sticking her tongue out.

John laughed and rubbed the back of his head nervously. “Does that really count though? I mean, it’s just part of my powers and neither of us got a say in it.”

“Dunno, honestly. But it feels right, everything that happens with you feels right. Probably just one more reason that I haven’t really felt like questioning everything or worrying about it…” Ellie smiled at him. “This might make me sound dorky just like you, but you’re the best thing that’s happened to me in a really long time and I haven’t regretted coming back here even a little bit because of it.”

Even if he tried, John couldn’t get rid of the giant goofy grin on his face or the intense warmness he felt. He untangled his fingers from Ellie’s before draping his arm over her shoulder and pulling her even tighter towards him. “Damn, I love you so much,” he exhaled.

The two walked in silence for a while through the busy streets. “So, wanna tell me more about what happened?” Ellie questioned.

“Uh, well, we’re kind of in public right now. I think it’d be best to wait until we’re alone, don’t you?” John replied, looking at Ellie.

“I mean, it’s not like anyone’s gonna be paying attention though, right? And even if they were, they’d probably just think we’re talking about games or that we’re just crazy,” Ellie laughed.

John rubbed Ellie’s shoulder. “Well, maybe, but what if someone overheard and they knew what we were talking about? It could be bad,” John reasoned.

Ellie sighed, nuzzling her head further into John’s shoulder. “I guess you might be right.” She pulled back and looked him in the eyes with a smile. “Look at you thinking about something for a change.”

“What? What is that supposed to mean?” John asked, overplaying the offence he took to the statement.

“Oh, don’t ‘what?’ me, mister. You’ve had more than a few times since I’ve known you when you acted before thinking,” Ellie stated.

“What, no? Name one time!” John demanded with a smile on his face.

Ellie rolled her eyes and sighed. “What about the time you made a deal with Lani, resulting in her getting pregnant and marrying you. There’s also that time when you stormed the kobold den to save me even though I didn’t need saving. Oh, and there’s the time where you put your little cheerleader into an impossible position without really thinking about it.”

“Hey, all those things turned out well, or mostly well. Lani is really nice and I got not only another draconic mutation and element but you also got some books so that you aren’t as defenceless when we go out. Going into the kobold mountain, I freed some fairy girl, the lava girl and liberated the kobolds from some tyrant leader, and finally, yeah, maybe I might have pushed it a little far with Vanessa but it doesn’t matter because she essentially did the same thing to me today, so everything worked out,” John defended himself.

Again Ellie rolled her eyes, but this time in an even more exaggerated manner. “I guess, but what about this loan then? It doesn’t sound like you really took note of everything it entails and then you missed a deadline for it.”

John laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, I guess that one counts. Listen, I’ve had a lot on my mind recently, so I’m sure I can be excused for not thinking everything through and stuff.”

Ellie hugged him again. “Aww, wanna talk about it? I’ll happily be an ear if you need one.”

John smiled before leaning down and kissing her. “Thanks, I might need to take you up on that sometime soon.”

“Well, you know my door is always open for you, I am a dutiful wife after all,” Ellie said, sticking her tongue out.

John groaned, “How long are you going to keep that joke up? And will you put your tongue away?”

“Forever and ever, my wonderful husband, and what are you going to do if I don’t? Divorce me?” Ellie giggled, sticking her tongue further out.

John quickly leaned down and sucked on the tip of her tongue before pressing against her for a passionate kiss. The two used their tongues for a playful dance before they separated again.

The two continued to walk; the store they were going to had been in their sights for a little while, but being closer, John could see the sign on the door. “Oh, nonononono,” he cried.

John untangled himself from Ellie before almost sprinting for the shop front, Ellie managed to grab his hand and kept pace with him until the two came to a sad and slow stop.

Right in the middle of the window was a sign that read, “Ancient Wisdom, sorry we are closed right now.”

John quickly pulled his phone out and checked the time. “Half seven… What the fuck, I should have another half an hour before the store closes!” he yelled at the dark interior of the store.

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