Its been two weeks since I first arrived at Azur lane.
But in all honestly, it didn't feel like it. As my old, repressed, cold and twitchy personality melted away, I could feel a happier, more relaxed version of myself emerging from within. The fear and anxiety was still present, but to a much lesser degree than when I first came here. Enterprise and myself are officially dating, but since she wasn't fully comfortable with sex yet, she suggested I keep this relationship open to keep up my 'therapy', until she felt ready, I of course agreed.
I was looking in my bathroom mirror after a shower, I almost didn't recognize myself. My skin wasn't as rough, my muscles were less tense, and my movements were less guarded. I was subconsciously letting my guard down a little around the kansen, my body was starting to follow my mind in recovering. This therapy was working well, that's for sure.
As I exited the shower in a towel, Dido was sorting out my clothing for the day. She looked over at me and smiled, completely ignoring my state of undress; not that it mattered since she'd seen what's under this towel.
"I hope this is to your liking Sir, your mission outfit is ready." Dido announced to me, bowing a little as she spoke.
"Thank you Dido, is breakfast ready?" I asked as I looked over the freshly cleaned outfit.
"Yes Sir, Belfast and Edinburgh are preparing it now." She smiles at me as I get changed, not bothering to get behind the changing screen, after all she's seen me naked plenty now. I catch her ogling me as I'm pulling up my pants, she blushes and looks away embarrassed, but I smile at her.
"You can look." I tell her teasingly, she giggles but keeps her face turned away. I shrug and finish pulling up my pants. With my outfit now on, I follow Dido to the dining hall. On the way I see Nelson leaving her room, when she meets my gaze, she smirks at me.
"Well hello there lover boy~" She lightly jests, lightly punching me in the arm as she walks alongside me. "Not only are you man enough to ask someone out, but you asked Enterprise?! The mighty Grey ghost herself, and she says 'yes'?! When I told you to 'man up' I didn't mean THAT much." She laughs to me. I felt a little embarrassed since she's once again blaring this for all to hear, especially with Dido listening to us too.
"Hey I took my shot and it worked, you got an issue with that blondie? A hint of jealousy maybe?" I retorted with a chuckle. The battleship girl looks back at me with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.
"You wish! Just don't screw it up or you'll really be in trouble, and not from me, from Belfast." She shudders a little, in what looked to be...fear? Is Belfast really that scary?
"Why Belfast?" I ask her.
"Belfast is Enterprise's best friend, they've been through a lot together and...well they're almost like sister ships now." Nelson explained. She looks ahead as she kept speaking. "I thought they'd gotten together at one point, so I was really surprised Enterprise got with you, don't get me wrong; I'm genuinely happy for you both, just...be careful with her, OK?" She sounded honest as she talked, I even caught a gleam of concern in her crimson eyes for a second, before it returned to her normal resting bitch face.
"Of course I will, I don't want to screw it up with her." I replied.
"Well if your dating skill is anything like your bedroom skill, you'll have no issues." Nelson joked with another smirk, making me and Dido freeze for a moment, our cheeks flushed red in embarrassment.
"Uh...yeah...ok..." I eventually managed to say, sharing a nervous chuckle with Dido before we set off again. We made it to the dining hall, and I was NOT ready for what I saw in there.
Max...along with two other agents being tended to by Belfast and the other maids. She seem annoyed, but didn't let it detract from her work. Sirius came over to guide me to my seat, looking upset.
"You alright?" I asked her quietly. When Sirius spoke, it was barely above a whisper.
"One of those men keeps staring at me, I'm worried he'll try something if I get too close." I looked over her shoulder, and the sight made my blood boil.
Agent Parker. A real asshole among my MI9 colleagues. He was leering at Sirius's ass, obviously thinking perverted things about her. He caught me glaring at her, but instead of having the decency to be embarrassed, he just rolled his eyes and said something to his fellow agent, like he wasn't ogling some innocent girl just now.
I asked Sirius to stick with me for a minute and I found Nelson again, seeing me come up to her as she was eating seemed to confuse and annoy her. She looked like she was about to say something mean, but seeing the concerned look on Sirius's face, she thought better of it and softened her expression.
"What happened?" She asked me calmly.
"Nothing...yet." I replied, nodding to the other agents. "Would you mind keeping an eye on the guy on the right? He's a known trouble maker and Sirius says she doesn't feel safe around him, I need to talk to Max, and if he leaves the table I won't be able to focus on him." Nelson looked between the two of us and Sirius nodded as I said that.
"Dido is worried too." She added. "Please Nelson?"
The battleship sighed and waved her hand at me. "Alright fine, just don't take too long." She replied.
"Thanks, I'll try not to, and uh..." I held my hand behind my head awkwardly, a little embarrassed with the implications of I'm about to say. "I'll make it up to you later." Nelson suddenly seemed much happier and smirked up at me.
"I KNOW you will~" She teased, poor Sirius had caught on and was blushing deeply.
"Hey Silver! Lets catch up already mate!" Max called out to me. I sighed as I realised I couldn't put this off any longer, I excused myself from Nelson and Sirius, and walked over to Max's table.
"Hello Max, Virgil and...Parker." I trailed off with a glare as I met Parker's gaze. He was sneering back at me as I sat down. "Out of the infirmary I see, hows your jaw?" I commented smugly. He seemed to glare harder for a moment before replying, rubbing his chin.
"Yeah its better, I spent two months eating through a tube thanks to you asshole. You really hit me that hard over a JOKE?!" He retorted.
"Being raped is never a joke shit-stain." I shot back, glaring at him. He just scoffed like I was not making sense.
"I'm not the one who's scared of having a good time, seriously that girl was LOADED, you should hav-"
"Finish that sentence and you're eating through a tube again dickhead." I told with a low tone. He finally backed off, but not before flipping me the bird and folding his arms.
"Anyway..." Max started, trying to calm the mood. "How is it going? I wanted to check in on you since its been a while, has it been helpful being here?" He asked.
I leaned back as Belfast came over with a cup of tea for me, out the corner of my eye I saw her glaring at Parker, who for once seemed to wise up and leave her alone. Maybe he thought she was too scary to try anything on? I thanked her, and she looked back at me with a smile before bowing and walking away.
"Its been...fine. The women here are really nice and welcoming." I say carefully, knowing what they wanted me to REALLY say.
"And? Did you get any action?" Virgil asked eagerly, he and Max both leaned in to hear me answer. I thought about lying to keep up my facade, but Max might not let me back if I do that. I sighed before replying.
"Yes." I blankly state.
"Oh nice!" Max cheered, a little too loud for my taste. "Who was your first? No wait let me guess!" He then suddenly said, he then pointed at me with finger guns. "Roon right? Has to be her, you wouldn't have turned her down right?"
"That psycho who beat Akagi and Kaga in a 2v1 fist-fight? Hell no, I stayed FAR away from her." I told him. Max waved his hand dismissively.
"They probably just ticked her off, she's really nice the rest of the time, I'll introduce you at some point, you'll love her trust me." He told me with an eye-brow waggle.
"Don't bother, I...I'm seeing someone already." I then admitted.
"You? Mr 'please don't fuck me, I'm too scared to have any fun' is dating someone? And a kansen at that?" Parker inquired in disbelief.
"Wow...I'm actually impressed, good on you!" Virgil cheered, lightly punching me in the shoulder.
"You mentioned Akagi and Kaga before, is it one of them? You a fan of fluffy tails?" Max joked to the other two, making them all chuckle for a moment.
"No its neither of those two, although they are good friends." I tell them.
"No? What about...Atago?" Virgil asked.
"Who?"
"You haven't met Atago yet? Damn you've missed out." He replied.
"Taihou?" Max suggested.
"What? No! Shes crazy!" I retorted, shuddering remembering my incident with her.
"Hmmm...maybe its...Belfast?" Max then asked one more time, nodding to the maid girl in question some way away.
"No not her either, if I tell you who it is, will you stop bringing this up? Please?" I begged to them.
"Fine, spoilsport." Virgil jested. "So who is it then?"
"...Enterprise."
I guess none of them have expected that answer, as all three of them went wide eyed and as white as a sheet. "You're joking right?" Max asked, sounding a little concerned.
"No, I genuinely like her and she likes me, why is that a problem?" I asked.
"Shes the toughest woman on this entire base, and you, someone trying to get over a fear of women, just walked up to her and asked her out? Yeah I'm not buying that." Parker scoffed to me.
"I don't care if you buy it or not, you wanted to know who I'm dating, and its Enterprise." I argued, kind of regretting it since I should have realised this wouldn't have worked anyway. Max seemed to recover from whatever trance my statement put him in and replied.
"It...is kind of far fetched Silver, Enterprise is...well..."
I shot to my feet and slammed the table, interrupting him. "What exactly? Not slutty enough? Busty enough? Too smart for you? There's more to these women than their bodies and sex lives you know!" I snapped. I was seeing red now, wanting to take on all three of these misogynistic assholes. Max held up his hands in in surrender.
"Whoa calm down! I was just going to say that she didn't seem that interested in dating, she's a workaholic." He quickly replied.
"And she's a little scary, I'm surprised she didn't throw a plane at you." Parker added, I raised my eyebrow at him.
"Yeah because unlike you I talk to women like human beings, not like their whole purpose is to sate the lusts of men." I retorted.
"Fuck you man, I'm bored of this conversation." Parker stood up and almost instantly set his eyes on Sirius and Dido, who were having a conversation across the room. "I got better things to do~" He chuckled darkly as he swaggered over to the two maids. I looked over at Nelson, hoping she'd seen him. Fortunately she had, and smirked.
After giving me a wink to confirm she saw him, she stood up and headed over to the group to keep the maids safe. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I could tell both Dido and Sirius were uncomfortable with Parker so close to them. Despite their incredible strength, they both looked like rabbits in headlights as Parker looked them both up and down.
Once Nelson arrived, she shoved Parker away from the two maids, pointing at him accusingly while the man just stared at her stunned. I still couldn't hear what she was saying, but she looked pissed. After about a minute of Nelson laying into him, Parker started to argue back, before trying to barge past her to get to the maids. Nelson wasn't having it and shoved him again, hard enough to knock him to the floor this time.
He yelled something indistinct before getting up and trying to swing for her. Nelson barely flinched as she blocked the punch, before literally slapping him away. I expected her to be furious, but her face looked oddly calm, but dark in her expression, it actually freaked me out more than her angry face.
Parker finally backed off for good holding his cheek from the slap, before leaving the dining hall, presumably to go to his room. I got up and went over to Nelson to check on her, she looked at me with a tired smirk. "You weren't kidding about that guy, thanks for warning me." She stated.
"No, thank you for watching out for him, who knows what he would have tried had you not seen him." I told her.
"Why does MI9 keep him employed if he's such a creep?" Sirius asked.
"The higher ups are all men, they don't see how serious of an issue it is, not that they would really care since they see using sex as a weapon as a normal part of our jobs." I answered, irritation in my voice. "Part of the reason Max there..." I pointed over my shoulder with my thumb. "...even wanted me here is to 'fix' me."
Nelson looked over at the two men still swapping stories at my table and scowled at them. "Perverts...why I outghta..."
"Don't...Parker was obviously trouble, but if you go around attacking MI9 members unprovoked, the Admiralty and my higher ups will take issue with that." I told her. "Please don't get into trouble Nelson."
She looked at me for a moment, before sighing. "You're right, its not worth it, but you better make it up to me good later tonight~" She teased before pulling me into a make out session, obviously not caring who sees. I could feel Max and Virgil both starting into my back before I saw them, I even yelped a little as Nelson smacked my arse before releasing me. She, and the now blushing maid girls, walked off and I headed back to my table.
"Silver...you...just made out...with Nelson?!" Virgil asked me, dumbfounded.
"Yes? Max told me to get exposure therapy, she was one of the ones who agreed to help me." I replied.
"Yeah and she's hot and all but...Nelson? She's a megabitch, how did you get her to do that with you?" Max asked me eagerly.
"Well...I listened to her, and she gradually opened up to me that she liked me." I told him. Both men looked at me like I'd told them the cure to cancer or something. Virgil leaned back in his seat, awestruck.
"Wow...Silver...I hope you get over your phobia soon, you need to teach us your ways." He joked before laughing a little. I couldn't help but smile at that. This was actually quite fun, I never realised being admired like this would be so...liberating.
"Excuse master Silver." I looked over to see Belfast watching me. "May I speak to you privately? Its important." She told me ominously.
"Of course, lead the way." I told her. I left Max and Virgil, and followed Belfast to a bedroom. She shut the door and turned to me.
"Agent Silver, what are you intentions with Enterprise?" She bluntly asked me. I noticed there was a tinge of darkness to her gaze, and her normally relaxed posture had tension in her limbs and jaw, god I thought I was in danger for a moment.
"B-Belfast I...I'm not like those guys, you believe me right?" I quickly told her, but she kept up that same stare, she cocked her head without blinking.
"Please just answer the question." She told me in an oddly calm voice. OK she's scaring me now, I back away a little and she stepped closer to maintain the original distance.
"Alright alright! I want a genuine relationship with her, she's not just another girl in my therapy, I swear." I honestly replied. Belfast looked at me for a moment, probably trying to gauge my emotions before she responded.
"You promise you won't do anything to hurt her? Emotionally or physically?" She asked me seriously.
"Of course I won't hurt her, I promise...you're not going to hurt me are you?" I asked her, getting worried with how she was acting, I knew Belfast was friends with Enterprise, but I never realised she was THIS protective of her. She seemed to think about that for a moment, but then her old smile returned and the dark mood finally lifted from her face.
"Of course not agent, I believe you when you want to be Enterprise's boyfriend, I simply wanted to see for myself if you were truthful." Belfast explained, she then smiled wider before lifting up her skirt, revealing white garter-belts on her legs. "Now that the heavy subject is dealt with, onto my second topic: could you assist me with a sexual matter?" She asked far too casually.
"Uh...excuse me?" I asked.
"Many ship-girls have told me their experiences with you agent, I've become curious about you and I wish to see for myself before you eventually do it to Enterprise, so agent...do you want me~?" Belfast asked more sultrily.
I hadn't had sex for a while since I started dating Enterprise, so my sex drive was through the roof. God I was horny as fuck now. "I...I do..." I replied.
"Good, since you were going to do this with Nelson later, give me a moment to invite her too." She then left for a moment, leaving me to laugh nervously at the impending threesome...