Chương 149: Chapter 148 [The Morning After]

Leo woke up before Shai did. He lay still, waiting for his brain to start doing what it always did, reaching back through everything that needed worrying about. It didn't. There was just the weight of her against his chest, her breathing slow and even, her tail moving against his leg without her knowing it. He stared at the ceiling. No frantic thoughts. No immediate panic. Just this. The white streak in her hair had come loose in the night and spread across his arm. He didn't move it.

She started to shift maybe ten minutes later, small tensions moving through her as she came back to herself. Her tail stilled. Her fingers spread once against his stomach and relaxed again. She didn't lift her head.

"Morning," he said.

"Mmm," she said, and stayed exactly where she was. A few minutes passed. Outside, the village was already awake. Leo could hear people talking as they passed the house. With the festival officially over, he knew people would be returning to work and their normal, everyday lives.

"Did you sleep all right?" he asked.

"Yeah." She settled her weight against him.

"You?"

"Best I have in a while," he said. She was quiet for another minute, her tail slowing, then she looked up at Leo with a serious expression.

"There's something I want to tell you," she said. She pushed herself up, not pulling away, just enough to look at him properly.

"For cat beast-kin," she said, "letting someone touch your tail isn't a small thing. It's intimate. Something you'd only allow if you trusted someone completely. Beyond that, it's something couples do when they want to have sex." Leo looked at her.

"I let you," she said.

"Before we were anything. I knew what it meant." Her tail stilled against his leg.

"It should have felt wrong."

"But it didn't," he said.

"No." He sat with that for a moment.

"Rika noticed," Shai continued.

"The morning before we came here. She saw I'd fallen asleep with your hand on my tail and pulled me aside after. She wanted to know if I'd let it happen." The corner of her mouth moved.

"When I told her I had, she gave me an earful. When I told her why, she stopped."

"Got excited instead, I'm guessing," Leo said.

"Which was honestly worse." He laughed and she smiled at him.

"I half regret not telling you sooner," she said.

"So I'm telling you now."

"If you'd told me back then," he said, "I'd have probably backed off, convincing myself I was going to mess this up. Probably never would've got the courage."

"I know," she said.

"That's why I didn't."

"Good. I'd hate to have missed out on all of this." He gestured vaguely between them, then leaned down and kissed her on the ear. It flicked him and he grinned. They lay there a while longer.

"What do you reckon everyone's going to be like this morning?" Leo said.

"Depends on how their nights went."

"That's what I mean, though. Nobody's going to be in a rush to start on us when they've all got their own thing to answer for." You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Assuming they've got something to answer for."

"Phil's definitely going to be cagey about it."

"Why?"

"Okay, I'm going to try and explain something to you first, it's important for context." She nodded.

"So we have shows and things where sometimes the characters are more animalistic than say cat girls. Let's say you are similar to the traditional cat girl in anime." Leo smirked.

"Well there are people like that but entirely covered in fur. People refer to these as furries. Someone who's into these characters gets called a furry, and it's meant as a silly jab more often than not. So Phil, is like deathly against being called a furry. No one actually cares but it's funny to say we won't judge if that's the case."

"So you think he's going to dodge bringing last night up in case you and the others claim he's one of these furries even though there's an obvious difference?"

"Pretty much, yeah. I mean he knows I'm with you, so me taking the piss and being serious about it makes no sense. He'll still be defensive though." Shai shook her head.

"You're all idiots. It's a good thing I can see the fun in it and I'm not the sort of person to jump to being offended."

"Oh believe me. It's a breath of fresh air. I'll tell you some stuff about my ex some time but let's say she was the sort of person who made arguing look like a sport, and she refused to lose."

"She doesn't sound like a very nice person."

"That, is the understatement of the century, babe." She smiled at the pet name.

"Sasha seemed quite taken with him."

"Yeah. Honestly he looked like he was happy about it but knew what that could mean with him getting ribbed for it. I bet he's currently laid in bed trying to think of how to avoid talking about it."

"I can see that. What about Luka? He disappeared around midnight as well."

"Luka will show up looking like he won something. He won't brag about it but he won't shy away either. I know he likes to make out like he's some paragon of integrity but he's really not."

"Yeah, I never had any illusions about that. You're all as bad as each other. Okay, what about Sam?" Leo grinned.

"Sam will look even more happy with himself. I'll let you in on a little secret. Sam fucking loves elves. He has this ideal woman in his head. A big-boobed elf woman who loves wearing black."

"Why do you even know that?"

"There's a bit of a running joke about him wanting a big titty, elf goth girlfriend."

"Of course there is..." She settled back against him.

"Rika was still dancing with Brandon when we left. I wonder how they got on?"

"No idea. Honestly I can't tell if those two like each other as friends or something more. I've not asked."

"Yeah, same actually. We should try and find out. Give her a taste of her own medicine." Shai smirked deviously and Leo laughed.

"Been waiting for something like this?"

"Oh, you have no idea." They laid back down and cuddled into each other for a few more minutes. Leo started stroking her hair. The fact they had to get up soon was starting to become an issue they couldn't put off for much longer, though.

"What happens when we get back?" he said.

"We said the idea of going back to sleeping alone sucked. Last night made that thought even worse." She looked at him, hands still in her hair.

"It does. Do you want to speak to Mike about it? Maybe talk with the lads?"

"Yeah, I think so. We can sort that out later. Does that sound like something you'd like, though? It's a pretty big step." She smiled.

"Yeah. Last night was a big step. I enjoyed it, though." He nodded and went back to her hair. A few minutes later they decided they needed to get up, they weren't going to get back to Monkhaven at all at this rate.

"I'll message the lads," he said. [Leo] Morning. You guys up? [Phil] Aye. Been up for a while. [Sam] Same. [Leo] luka [Leo] brandon [Luka] im up im up [Leo] Everyone have a good night? [Sam] Damn right;) [Luka] I'm fucking knackered man... [Leo] Not sleep well? xD [Luka] I think I got an hour, tops... [Sam] How about you Phil? you looked like you were having fun. It's nice you finally found the courage. I'm proud of you [Phil] Fuck off [Luka] Don't be like that man. We've got your back.

Don't let the potential furry allegations worry you. [Phil] Seriously? Why doesn't Leo get this shit. [Sam] Cos Leo knows what he is and owns it. [Leo] xD [Phil] I'm not a furry dude. There's a difference. [Leo] Well well well [Sam] How the turns table [Luka] Man, you are never going to hear about this. You can never make a weeb joke ever again. [Brandon] Yo, morning. [Phil] how was YOUR night brandon [Brandon] Dude wtf? Fine why?

[Phil] He's trying to act like nothing happened to cover for something happening isnt he? [Brandon] What are you on about? [Leo] He's trying to shift the focus from what he got upto last night dude. [Luka] He is. Still though. You and Rika get home ok?;) [Brandon] Don't bother [Sam] What about you Leo? Good night? [Leo] Amazing: D [Phil] Well that more or less answers my next question [Leo] yeah [Phil] Okay. Nice. grats dude. We meeting up soon? [Leo] yeah man. You trying to sneak out or something?

[Phil] Why would I? [Luka] I bet he's already left. [Sam] He's probably wandering round waiting for us to meet up while avoiding bumping into his date last night [Phil] Piss off. we had breakfast, I'm still sat in her house. [Leo] Fair enough. How does 20 minutes at the square sound? [Sam] Works for me. [Phil] cool. [Leo] I'll message Mike. Sam, message Diane please. [Sam] You're taking the piss. [Leo] Yup, see you all in a bit.