Roman awoke to the blazing Vacuan sun filtering in through the partially closed dark red curtains beside the unfamiliar bed. His head hurt and his pelvis ached, as did the smattering of bite and indentation marks scattered around his neck, chest, and arms. While the specific order of events that had occurred the night before had melded into a blur of debauchery on account of the substances he had consumed, the feelings were all still very clear. The dampness of the sheets beneath him only served to heighten the notion that he had indeed enjoyed himself more the night before than he had in ages, and that the only strings attached were the ropes used to bind his wrists for part of the affair.
After taking a few heady breaths filled with the lingering scent of sex, Roman's first move was to locate his pants. He slipped out from beneath the top sheet only to find that he was still completely naked and feeling somewhat raw. Roman sucked in a tense breath as he got to his feet and rubbed at his eyes to chase away the blurriness and morning sand clinging to his lids. His fallen burgundy bellbottoms were tangled among the similarly colored curtains in a heap, and he was quick to walk across the wooden floor and retrieve them. Without hesitation, he thrust his hand down into the pockets and began to search. He expected nothing, especially given Cerise's apparent disappearance, but instead found his wallet and scroll right where they belonged.
"Huh…" Roman muttered to himself. "Well alright then. Already an improvement on yesterday…"
Roman dropped his pants once again, feeling no pressure at all to put them back on as he began to look around the room. Though he did know that Cerise lived alone in a tiny apartment, none of his surroundings looked familiar to him at all. Somehow, he had been too preoccupied with the organic sights, tastes, and feelings all around him throughout the night rather than the décor.
The bedroom was a cozy, simple little place, if a bit haphazardly decorated. Part of that was Roman's fault- amid the haze of the long, intimate session with Cerise, he distinctly remembered backing into the bedside lamp that was still laying broken upon the floor. The various trinkets and photos upon the dresser had all been shoved to one side to make room for Cerise to sit as Roman had dipped down to thrust his head between her thighs while her back was pressed up against the cold mirror, leaving a smudge. Somewhat miraculously, everything else, save for the bed sheets, seemed to be in relative order.
"…Cerise?" Roman called, loud enough to be heard down the hall.
"Kitchen," came the response. "Don't get dressed. I'm not done with you yet."
Something about the tone of Cerise's voice made Roman nervous rather than excited, especially given how much he ached. Though he quite clearly thought of himself as an absolute stud, the fiery woman who had taken him home had quite literally tied him down and beaten him with experience. Roman was incredibly far out of his league, and while the idea was exciting, the less marks he had to explain away to his friends and Team BASS, the better. Roman knew that he would be getting an interrogation about his absence during the group's stressful situation regardless, and he wasn't exactly looking forward to it.
Despite his urge to continue avoiding his problems and digging himself a deeper hole, there was a nagging sensation in the back of Roman's mind. He knew that he had to get back, and he also didn't particularly want Cerise to continue working him over despite the tantalizing possibilities. Roman huffed lightly to himself before moving to stand in front of the clear part of the mirror. He briefly inspected his bite marks and bruises and found himself getting more and more intrigued by what Cerise might have planned. That intrigue was still met with a healthy dose of fear, though, and it was one that Roman couldn't force himself to ignore.
"Come on, man, don't be a pussy…"
Somehow hearing the statement aloud in his own voice recontextualized the thought in Roman's mind. Perhaps 'being a pussy' didn't mean backing out of another round with Cerise. Perhaps there was something else he was 'pussying out on' that he didn't quite want to admit.
Perhaps part of his body aches weren't because of the physical abuse he'd subjected himself to, but instead, because of the absence of another, more familiar body.
"…what the hell am I doing?" Roman asked himself quietly before leaning forward and pressing his forehead to the frigid surface of the mirror. "And why do I feel so shitty now?"
He looked down to see a half-opened packet of pills with two of them missing upon the dresser, as well as a crumpled pair of panties he had somehow missed before. In a desperate bid to chase the previous night's high, Roman lifted the silk garment and pressed it to his nose before taking a long inhale. All he felt was an emptiness chased by guilt, and an immediate disgust with himself.
"Looks like you're not quite done with me, either," a husky voice said from behind Roman.
Looking up into the mirror confirmed Roman's worst fear. There Cerise stood in the doorway to the bedroom, her naked body partially obscured by shadows. In the darkness, she reminded him of someone else. Her modest but perfect breasts, curvy hips, and closely cropped hair- a feature that Roman could have sworn he remembered differently- echoed the other young woman in his mind. All that was missing was the second pair of ears peeking up from within her locks.
"…I feel kinda sick," Roman said immediately, unable to think of anything else to keep her away from him. Technically, the statement wasn't even a lie. "Don't get too close."
"Seriously?" Cerise asked, sounding annoyed as she entered the room and skirted around the wall to pull the curtain on the opposite side of the bed fully closed. "Don't even tell me you exposed me to something. I've got work again today."
"No, no, not like that," Roman said quickly as he set down the pair of panties and remained facing the mirror. Suddenly, he didn't feel quite so comfortable letting Cerise get a full view of his front side. "I just… maybe I drank too much. Or took too much…"
Roman didn't see Cerise roll her eyes as she climbed onto the bed, but he felt it all the same.
"I took care of you. You'll be fine," Cerise reassured as she lowered herself onto the sheets, her hair growing suddenly to fan out beneath her as she sprawled out for Roman. "Get some water before we get back to it. You're probably dehydrated."
Roman took several deep breaths before finally pushing away from the dresser and daring to face Cerise. He swallowed hard as he looked her over properly for the first time that morning- her proportions had changed, if only subtly. Despite the allure of her constant adjustments and rearranging of her features, he knew it was all a lie. He only had to run his hand through her 'hair' once and feel nothing to know that he was no longer sure what Cerise really looked like underneath it all, no matter how realistically the strands reacted to his movements. It was unsettling and off-putting, but at the same time carried with it a certain thrill.
"Cerise, I don't think I can…" Roman began, trying to determine how best to word things. "…as much fun as we had last night, I think I just want to get back to my friends."
"The little friend you've got on you right now seems to think differently," Cerise teased as she reached out a finger toward Roman's hips. "Come on, what's the hurry? Did something happen this morning?"
As much as his mind was screaming for him to leave, Roman couldn't force himself to step out of the way of Cerise's touch as a single dainty finger landed upon the tip of his dissenting organ and began to slowly trace along its head. His slow, calming breaths turned to ragged ones as he watched her caress down his length, and he shivered in anticipation as a gentle pulse in his lower body caused his phallus to twitch involuntarily. With a tense, quiet groan, Roman bit down on his lower lip and gently slid his hand into Cerise's, guiding it away from himself as he intertwined her fingers with his.
"…please don't."
Cerise raised a brow and sat up in bed, her playful smirk turning into an expression of concern as she let her hand go limp in Roman's.
"…alright, now you've got me a little worried. Are you okay? Seriously. What's going on?"
"I…" Roman began to answer, his eyes locked to hers. "…I don't know. And before you ask- nah, you didn't do anything wrong, last night or this morning. I'm just… I don't know what the hell is wrong with me right now. I just know we shouldn't do this right now."
"Did you do something wrong?"
Roman's eyes immediately flicked down to the floorboards as he let go of Cerise's hand. He trailed his own downward and used it to cover as much of his erection as he could, feeling somewhat ashamed by his arousal. The answer came to him immediately, but the details as to why he felt the way he did and how it had all happened so suddenly continued to elude him.
"…yeah. A couple things," Roman admitted as he kept his eyes on the ground. "I fucked up bad."
"Did you, though?" Cerise asked as she leaned on one arm pressed down into the mattress. "You know, sex can be a form of therapy. Sometimes a young guy like you just has to get it all out of their system to clear their head…"
"I told you, we're not d-"
"I meant last night," Cerise interrupted as Roman finally met her eyes once again. "We're not fucking this morning, and I'm not pushing for that. No means no, and I get it. But did last night help you feel better at all?"
"…yeah," Roman admitted as he shifted uncomfortably. "Last night was… incredible. Best I've ever had."
"Then was it really so wrong?" Cerise asked. "You needed it. I had fun. The two of us got to know each other better… and if it stops there, then it stops there. I'm not trying to steal you away from anyone or anything, Roman. I like you- all of you- and we had a little fling. That's all."
"That's…all?" Roman asked lamely. "I thought you'd be more insistent that I stay."
"Do you want me to be, or not?" Cerise asked, sounding annoyed. "What, you thought I'd just treat you like a plaything because I'm common Vacuan street trash, so I must be a total whore? Is that it?"
"What? No!" Roman replied, finding himself starting to get confused. "I don't really… it's not like that, I just don't know what you want out of any of this."
Cerise let out a sigh as she slipped off the mattress and into a stretch.
"It's not that complicated. Do you remember anything of what we talked about yesterday?"
Roman wracked his brain, trying to pick out any specific details that weren't lost in his addled haze.
"…you told me all that matters is chasing wants and needs…"
"I meant after we got back here," Cerise clarified. "Though that bit of advice is relevant, too."
Try as he might, Roman came up with nothing at all. He simply shook his head in disappointment with himself instead.
"…honestly? Good. That makes it easier," Cerise said cryptically. "I wanted to make things up to you given how stressed you were about what I stole, and seemingly some other things, as well. I was also desperately in need of a lay… and you seemed plenty willing. That's all I really needed out of this, and I was under the impression that last night served us both well. If it didn't… honestly, I don't know what to tell you, Roman. I was doing what I thought was right for both of us in the moment. I'm not about to apologize for that."
Roman pulled a face, thinking the words over. Honesty had guided him down a smoother road than he had anticipated, and so, he opted to stick to it.
"And you shouldn't have to. I had a lot of fun… and I hope you did, too. But I don't know if it'll happen again."
"I'd be disappointed if it didn't, but I understand," Cerise said with a wave of her hand as she made her way back to the doorway and knocked on a nearby wall. "Bathroom's this way. Get yourself clean and do what you want. I'll get over it."
"Get over what?" Roman thought to himself as he watched Cerise go.
"…thanks," Roman said lamely as he stepped out toward the bathroom. "For, uh… everything."
"Sure," Cerise offered as she paused halfway down the hall. "Will I at least get to see you again? Not necessarily for sex, just… to check in? I'm not totally heartless, even if none of this really matters in the end."
The words struck Roman like a blow to the gut, though he wasn't quite sure why he took them so personally.
"Well… I do need a festival guide…" he offered, the words coming out before he even realized he was saying them.
"Yeah you do," Cerise agreed. "Swing by the bar sometime, too. Maybe with your friends. I'd love to see who else puts up with your shit."
Roman watched Cerise disappear into what he assumed to be the kitchen, his heart sinking along with his eyes as they gravitated straight down to her ass. There was a perfect little jiggle in the cheeks as she walked, and it was enough to get Roman to consider calling after her and change his mind about a second round. With great effort, he forced himself to turn and enter the bathroom before locking the door behind himself and closing his eyes. He couldn't tell if she was doing it intentionally, or if the alluring sight was just a byproduct of her natural proportions. He couldn't tell if anything she was doing to him was intentional, for that matter.
All he knew was that the idea of some sort of festival was just about the last thing he felt like dealing with in that moment, no matter how much fun it could otherwise be.
Author's Note:
Who's at fault, if anyone, and what are they even at fault for to begin with? That's a question that will take a long time to answer…
-RD