Song Listened To :Sparks by Hilary Duff

*Chapter 156*

Through a soft though sudden inhale, Tessa hoisted herself out of the billowy couch, she had sunken into, and swiftly moved across the cushions. Zed remained frozen, much to her liking. Before she could convince herself that she wasn't confident enough to follow through with being the dominant gamer, she lightly pounced on Zed and straddled his lap. Her knees dug into the couch underneath the two, though he jolted and curiously peered up to her, as if he was certain she wouldn't follow through with such bravery. He heaved a chuckle of disbelief and, as if this was his first go-around, he daintily and nervously rested his wounded, wrapped hands on Tessa's hips. She beamed down at him and pushed her larger hands into his broad chest.

"We still have to decide our emergency word," Tessa snipped with a girly smile of bright enthusiasm. She shrugged her shoulders a little and assessed Zed's surprised smirk.

"How about 'stop'?" Zed wondered as he innocently peered up to his love, his face turned beet red as she got comfortable, straddled over his lap, "Th-that can't really get confused with anything else. We don't ever use that word, amidst... Y'know..."

"That works, straight forward enough," Tessa chuckled sarcastically as she shook her head, "We'll be fine, this'll be easy..."

"Y'wanna know what I'm excited for, most, out of all this mess?" Zed asked her quietly, the boyish charm in his eyes looked innocent enough to avoid any sort of sarcastic retort on Tessa's end. She caught onto his demeanor and gave him a look of question; he kindly continued on as he lovingly lifted the bottom of Tessa's shirt, "I can't wait to find out if the baby will be a boy, or a girl."

"What're you hoping for?" Tessa wondered, she finally hooked her hand to the back of Zed's head and, as lovingly as she could, she planted a warm kiss on his forehead. He closed his eyes, just barely, and let his thumb stroke her precarious paused bar.

"In all honesty, just a healthy baby..." Zed trailed off and side eyed the room in growing cheek, "If I had it my way, I'd want a boy."

"A boy?" Tessa beamed, she pulled her upper body away from him and shifted her positioning on him, though in doing so, she felt her face immediately get hot with the realization of just what she could feel underneath her. She stammered to carry on through her giddiness, "D-Don't you think there are too many boys bombarding Lickity and I, so far?"

"Ah, either gender, I'll be floored," Zed assured quietly with a kind smile as he relaxed, though he just barely grimaced as he held Tessa's hips a little more firmly and adjusted his sitting position, as if to prepare himself for anything Tessa had in store for him.

"We can fight about names, later," Tessa said through a sigh as she eagerly scanned his handsome chest, her fingers dribbled down his skin in growing want.

"One thing at a time," Zed whispered, though he cocked an eyebrow and gave her a look of patient wait that was surely going to dwindle soon, "Now that we're back in the arcade, I'm... I'm certainly curious to how different this will be."

"Y'think it'll be different?" Tessa wondered nervously, though she smiled and felt her heart race as his eager, though bandaged hands, made their way into her shirt and slid up her bare sides.

"I know it will be," Zed uttered, though as if to hope he wasn't the only one slightly worried, "I-I... I've only ever known the routines to love-making while we were humans. You realize now you're throwing circuits, glitching, and a whole slew of coding and powers into this mix, right?"

"I... I guess I must've glossed over those details," Tessa fingered her lip as she furrowed her eyebrows and scanned the couch next to Zed's head. She could see him cock an eyebrow and give her a nervous smile in her peripheral as she continued on, "I-I'll try not to glitch too much... Not sure if that'll cause issue, do you think?"

"Methinks we should just find out," Zed's deep voice pressed quietly and patiently, though his near trembling hands slid back down her bare hips and finally found the rough denim of the rim of her dark jeans.

Tessa smiled, though she could sense that, even through their dire circumstance, she could feel the tension hit the blowing point. She inhaled a shaky breath and, though she wished for things to potentially go slow, to succumb to the feeling of fearing the end of the ride, she relished in the dive head-first off of this plank into nothingness. She attempted to steady her near-dizzy self as Zed's strong fingers navigated their way to the button and zipper of Tessa's jeans. She bit her lip nervously and knew she had far more clothing to remove than he, and with that notion she gently let her eyes scan down to his lower body. His dark grey cotton sweats did a very lousy job to hide the blatantly obvious. She felt her heart jolt at the sight, though with a fast, nervous drag up his body and straight into his eyes, her face turned beet red at the sheer fact that she had been caught ogling. Zed quietly laughed.

"It won't bite you," Zed joked with a toothy, kind smile. Tessa finally dropped her nervous, tight-lipped act and slumped her shoulders, though she couldn't help but notice Zed continued on with undoing her pants. He quietly and slowly unzipped the zipper to reveal her dark underwear.

"It could still do damage," Tessa hissed quietly, she easily leaned into him with stirring, writhing warmth, and with this, he was glad to come within reach of the skin on her collar. He beamed a closed-mouth grin and began to push firm, warm kisses to her upper chest.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Zed uttered quietly on her skin, through his long kisses, him implication had her nervous hands groping for his upper arms, as if to somehow attempt to steady herself.

"Zed, we..." She trailed off nervously and shut her eyes tight, in a delirious sort of way. She wobbled a little as Zed's strong, though wounded hands, fumbled and delicately yanked at the front of her opened jeans, to give a little wiggle room. He eased his motion, however, and continued to push loving kisses into her throat. He smiled wider, on her skin, as she pushed her body deeper into his. Through a shaky inhale, she continued on, "We should probably keep some form of clothing on... Just in case Lickity... Y'know."

"I hear yah," Zed quietly assured as he tucked his face deeper into the side of her neck; she beamed a gentle, bashful smile near his ear and finally removed her hands from his upper arms. She slowly moved them to the tops of his hips as he continued on, "Pretty sure Lickity would hear us, from a mile away, and know not to enter, however."

"Let's just avoid confusion," Tessa exhaled, her messy hair fell over her right shoulder and draped Zed's upper chest a little.

"Yes ma'am," Zed politely whispered just underneath her ear, though with a small jostle to re-position himself, Tessa inhaled a silent gasp as he pushed up into her.

Zed cocked an eyebrow, grabbed her hips a little harder, and pulled her down into him. The two lightly stirred, as if to be uncertain of just how to go about this, though they both knew, without a doubt, they'd quickly find a way. Zed eagerly buried his face into Tessa's neck and kissed her hot skin, his smoldering breath coated her goosebump-plagued self. She uttered his name in quiet question, though they both knew it was a simple way to make it known that he was onto something. His strong hands slid down her sides and, as if to be wholly consumed with dwindling patience, he clumsily slipped one hand from her body and fumbled for the tie on his pants. Once undone, he stretched the front of his cotton sweats down a little and subtly revealed himself. With a shaky hand, he attempted to steady himself, so to make this process a little easier for her.

Through her foggy peripheral, she felt her coding nearly raise straight out of her skin at the sight below her. She softly shut her eyes and hung her head near the side of Zed's, though her forehead hovered just above his shoulder. She planted her hands on the backrest of the couch, between his arms and beside his rib cage, for support. She raised her eyebrows in surprise as he softly yanked her a little closer, as if to encourage her to keep up the dominant act she was fumbling to follow through with. With a stomach in knots and a heart about to explode, she shut her eyes tight and dared to push the skin of her forehead to Zed's shoulder; though she didn't want to insinuate growing defeat, she knew she came across as a lost cause. She tried to focus her line of sight on Zed's neck, she prayed he somehow skimmed over the speed-bump she had viciously gone over, ultimately to halt their progress. He tilted his head just barely and, as if to convey patience in a small kiss on her jaw, his eyes nervously caught with hers, as if to kindly beg to get this mess over with. She knew they were on pause, and they literally had all the time in the world, though she understood his silent standpoint. Disposition that held solid with the chore at hand, a stoic display of stumbling into exactly what they knew they were destined for.

With this, she allowed herself to fall victim to the situation at hand. With the change in body language Zed had easily picked up on, he found more purpose in his actions, as opposed to wondering if he should slow down for her sake. Hard goosebumps plagued his skin as he lightly yanked on the front of her pants, once more; she uttered a silent gasp in response and finally steadied her hands to his broad chest and shoulders. She arched her back in a slow, writhing draw, his hands and fingers nervously fumbled to set everything right. Through a grimace, he finally gripped her lower hips as he solidified their wavering connection. As if he had suddenly caught onto the dread that hung on her figure, his chest tightened as her warm figure slowly caved in on him, ultimately putting him in the one situation he looked forward to, and dreaded, the most.

As his spine tensed with their slow plunge of a connection, a toss off the highest cliff, his shaking hands tightly gripped the bare skin of her hips. She finally put her weight in his lap, and through fluttering eyes and a gape that showed every emotion, Zed felt the room get darker with a cloak of realization. He finally released a long, shaky sigh and lulled his head back to the couch, Tessa remained still on him, for the sake of attempting to wrap their minds around the dreaded inevitable, the glorious reach for cheating the system. He grimaced as she wiggled a small amount, to continue to seek the most comfortable spot on his body, though with the nervous rise and fall of his chest, he was aware he was showing more worry than he probably cared to verbally admit; he knew Tessa could see right through him. Zed peeked his delirious sights to her and lulled his head to the side, to get a better view of her hovering over him.

"Y-Y'think... Maybe you should try glitching before we, uh... Get started?" Zed uttered through a grimace as he continued to keep her planted to him, as if to warn her not to move for the sake of their suddenly raw, bared souls; coding that flood their mainstream with an overload of heat-seeking missiles.

"Now?" Tessa gawked quietly, a draw of a delightful stupor. She was aware she likely looked as if she didn't know what planet she was on, anymore.

"I-I don't know, I guess I didn't realize how nervous I was," Zed squeaked as she went against his orders and repositioned herself, only lightly; he still grit his teeth, inhaled a nervous breath and tried to reposition his spine alongside her movements. He carried on through a draw of a sigh as she finally settled, "I figured maybe that'd warm us up for, uh... The final act. So it's not a surprise down the road, and we accidentally blow it."

"Nice pun," Tessa muttered as she cocked an eyebrow, expanded her lungs to full capacity, and let it back out through a show of exhaustion that already had overcome her coding, "Well... I-I guess better sooner than later. Have you lost your glitching abilities?"

"Yeah," Zed stated through a huff of a nervous sigh as he raised his eyebrows and tried to brace himself, "Wh-when I deleted Radex from my coding, his abilities went with. He was a glitch. That was the only reason I harbored said ability."

"So, this is all my responsibility," Tessa scoffed, "Great."

"It'll be fine," Zed urged quietly as he jostled his position a little, so to sit a little less slumped on the couch. He brought her with him, though not without a sharp inhale from her tired figure as he accidentally deepened their connection. He finally settled and held onto her hips a little tighter, as if to latch onto a sky-diving partner, "Just... Don't glitch too much at once. Just, ease us into it, maybe."

"A-Alright," Tessa muttered as she glanced into his eyes.

With a deep inhale, she tried her hardest to switch gears. As her mind finally focused on the task at hand, she let the circuits rise onto her skin with the faintest glitch and coding lines of hot purple. Within split seconds, the coding swirled down her back and ultimately plagued their raw connection. With the shock of it all, she gasped a loud noise, jolted her positioning and accidentally let loose every last ounce of her glitching ability, unto Zed, that she had to harbor. The two largely stirred with the suddenly, near painful chaos, though as soon as she gained control of her coding and dropped the magic act, every single light bulb, in Zed's home, suddenly gained their brightest intensity before popping with the deafening hum of electric overload to the grid. As glass bulbs shattered across the span of his loft, and the atmosphere settled once more, Tessa panted and remained frozen, her entire body was thrust onto Zed's with her arms tightly grappled around his neck; his strong arms held fastened around her waist, as if they could somehow protect each other from one another.

"L-Let me just say this, if I can, uh..." Zed shakily scoffed with a bashful smile, "OW."

"I-I'm so sorry, I just... I got scared, I lost control," Tessa panted as she finally, albeit slowly, sat up. She peered down to Zed and opened her mouth to continue on, though past the dim, morning sunshine on the horizon, a massive shadow suddenly zipped by the window. With a hard thud, and a flap of familiar wings, Tessa looked up to the ceiling and slumped her shoulders, "We're alive, Lickity, take... Take a few more laps or something!"

The two froze and stared up at the ceiling, though after a few moments, Lickity huffed a small chuff, shuffled her feet a little, and took off once more. Her figure could be seen finally leaving the vicinity of Zed's loft. Tessa could feel her pupils shrink as her line of sight lightly fell into the daze of the early morning sun that hung just near the dip of the jungle tree-ridden mountains far in the distance. She slumped her shoulders and as she heaved a shaky sigh, she finally gave Zed her nervous gaze. He peered up at her, his dewy, naively innocent blue stare pierced hers with the utmost swallow of bashful concern. He finally pushed a small smile through, though he flinched once Tessa stiffened her spine and shifted as if she was prepared to dismount him.

"I-I can't do this, I'm going to end up hurting you, or you're gunna delete me, o-or... What if all my glitching just messes with your coding before we even swap-!"

"Hey, hey!" Zed eased through a knowing laugh, though he gripped her hips and firmly, though lovingly, kept her glued to him. He expanded his chest as he felt his heart jump a bit, their connection nearly tingled from the aftermath of code-overload she had given him. He grimaced a kind laugh and gave her a reassuring smile, "Just relax... We just need to take it slowly."

"I-I just TRIED," Tessa urged defensively, though she couldn't help but soften with his lovingly warm stare. She rested her shaking hands on his lower chest and finally allowed herself to relax atop him.

"You were doing well for a second, there," Zed reassured, his gentle fingers continued to lightly dig into the skin on her hips, as if to somehow persuade her to stay put, "You just got nervous... Just ease into it. Let it slowly overcome you. This isn't a race."

"There's either going to be two winners or two losers, here," Tessa worried, Zed could tell she was having a hard time unwinding.

"I think we need to get our exterior codes to cooperate first," Zed stated softly with a gentle nod, "Once our exterior coding is shared, and silver... I'm thinking achieving a successful swap won't be so difficult."

"Y-You think?" Tessa wondered hesitantly, Zed shrugged softly, though the two nervously grimaced as Zed lightly shifted his weight, ultimately adjusting her body and their connection.

"I know," Zed uttered as he finally settled. He slumped his strong shoulders, tilted his head and gave her a kind look of nervous delight, "Try again?"

"You sure?" Tessa meeped, Zed let his eyes lull closed with a slow nod.

"Yes, just ease into it," Zed's honey-warm voice was dangerously inviting.

Tessa cocked an eyebrow and, with a soft once over his masculine, strong chest, she relaxed a little, closed her eyes and honed every last speck of her attention onto her own anxious, bubbling coding. She clenched her teeth tight, and just as she nearly convinced herself to not follow through with said act, her hot purple coding easily swarmed to life all over her spine. She squeezed her eyes tighter shut and, with every ounce of her control, she allowed her coding to worm the circuits nearly out of her goose-bumped skin. Rolls of shivers spilled her body with a gorgeous light display of her own coding that reached to her arms and even snaked to her fingers. Just as she was about to ask Zed if he was potentially feeling anything yet, she could feel her coding suddenly spark his skin, inside their deep connection. She jolted with a hard, nervous gasp, though just as her eyes flew open, she caught with Zed's elated stare. He largely gripped her hips, as if to brace himself and steady her worries all in one action.

Tessa panted softly and, with a few buzzes of nervous electricity from Zed's cozy loft home, she finally felt her soul softly melt into his. She flinched as Zed's lower stomach and chest easily sprawled with their gorgeous, iridescent silver coding. As the two heaved a few nervous breaths onto each other's faces, they both finally beamed smiles of accomplishment to each other. Tessa giggled in disbelief and eagerly assessed the circuitry on his body. It flickered with the beat of his pulse, something she now had full access to hearing inside her own ears. She fluidly dragged her fingers down his chest and coding, though she let her eyes flutter closed. She knew sharing exterior coding with Zed had become something they had gotten the hang of, though in the act of something so detrimental and raw, Tessa was certain she was finally just one baby step away from getting a good dose of his soul, subconscious and being as an entire whole. She finally pierced her determined stare into his and wondered just how this would go down; she knew the two wouldn't be able to resist this coded craving, the desire to finally be one overrode anything coherent that could come to mind.