23.2. Frail But Not Weak - Part 2

Julia insists I rest for the rest of the day because I developed a headache after that. In addition, I was still quite dizzy so Erik had to carry me. But I don't like doing nothing when my friends are working. It makes me anxious. I hate my stupid body for being so weak.

"You're thinking something funny," Erik pokes me right between my frowning eyebrows. "You're not weak, just... frail."

"That's the same thing," I roll my eyes.

"There's a huge difference, love," he pulls his arms around my back and under my wings. "Magic-wise, you'll probably become miraculously strong. That's why the governments are so afraid of you already. It's just your body we must carefully watch out for. See, you're not weak."

"All Celestials have weaker bodies compared to other races but it seems as if I got that racial penalty three times worse," I mumble, discontent. "Whatever in my DNA made telepathy possible also messed some other things."

"You're you," he leans ever closer. "And I love you as you are. Besides, what a nice mess," he pinches my face gently. "You know I love your androgynous looks."

"That... I do know," I admit and finally smile.

"You don't have to hide yourself anymore, Ryuu," he kisses me on my cheek. "Be proud of who you are and how you look like. Don't pretend to be something you're not. Me and your friends accept you unconditionally. You don't need anyone else's approval."

"Erik," I whisper and kiss him back.

I push him on his back and climb onto him. My wings fall to the sides, trembling and excited. I start unbuttoning his shirt between feverish kisses while he tries to undo my robe. I heard some people are turned on by having sex in cosplays and it seems that might be Erik's new quirk. I can feel that he absolutely adores me in the Celestial attire.

"Too many layers," he laments a bit because undressing me is hard work.

When our bodies connect, I establish the deepest telepathic connection. And once again I'm not able to examine how it influences my boyfriend. I'm just not able to think reasonably when he's in me. Our mutual attachment is strong. Probably too strong. It might become a problem in future, I know that, but at the same time I'm not able to do anything about it.

"W-wings," I let out.

He moves his palms from my hips and touches me there. I immediately get goosebumps when he runs his fingers through my feathers. It's pleasant when my friends are petting me but only Erik's hands are miraculous and bring me the highest joy.

I don't care about anything else in moments like these. I even forget that bugging shadow of a feeling that I might be making him addicted to me even more when I envelop him into my wings and my mind.

*****

We went to sleep very early last night so we wake up early the next day. We cuddle for a few minutes and then spend another few minutes just lying in each other's embrace and feeling ourselves through my telepathy. I don't want to ruin the moment by examining our connection but I know I have to do it at some point. The sooner the better.

"Oh, I forgot to ask you," Erik scratches me gently on my left wing because he feels my itching. "Would you rather I call you Aefener?"

"Huh? Why?" I don't understand where it's coming from.

"Liana seemed to insists on that pretty intensely during our meeting with the officials," he explains. "And now that I'm thinking about it, I don't even know Fefnir's, Ingri's and Emi's real names."

"I actually like my human name," I say. "And I especially love hearing it from you. So keep using it because nobody else does anymore. Even Julia and Hana are slowly switching to my gaming name lately."

"Hmm, is it another change in Draconian mentality?" he ponders. "It's as if the transformed are gradually getting rid of everything that used to make them human. Names... clothes... manners..."

"We're not human anymore," I remind him and softly poke his face with my left wing to better demonstrate my point. "And I might not have been quite human from the beginning," I whisper the sentence.

"How many times do I have to repeat that it doesn't bother me?" he holds my chin and kisses me. His love washes over me like a wave. "If anything, it only makes you more special."

I smile faintly. Erik is so kind and non-judging. When I'm thinking 'freak', he thinks 'special.' When I'm thinking 'unnatural', he thinks 'fascinating'.

"Let's go for a proper breakfast," he suggests to distract me.

We get up and try to collect our clothes from yesterday that are all over the floor. We probably shouldn't have treated my robe as ordinary clothes, it's quite crumpled. And I doubt there's an iron in our apartment. And even if there was, I wouldn't know how to use it anyway.

"Leave it to the room service," Erik waves his hand. "There's a bin for laundry in our bathroom. I bet they'll wash our clothes if we leave them there."

I nod, take the robe to the bathroom and leave a note that asks for ironing. There's no reason to wash it just yet, Celestials don't really sweat much. We brush our teeth and return to our living room where our luggage should be, still unpacked.

"It's gone?" Erik raises his eyebrows because we don't find his suitcases, nor my backpacks.

I look around and find that our laptops and my Nintendo console are on the coffee table. A few of my books are displayed on the shelves. We go back to the bedroom and find our wardrobe is stuffed. So someone unpacked for us, huh?

"Is it normal for the rich that employees do everything for them?" I scratch my chin. "Don't they mind that someone else is touching their things?"

"Liana definitely doesn't have time for mundane things," Erik shrugs. "And it seems she doesn't want us to waste ours either."

"Ehm... where are my clothes?" I rummage the huge built-in wardrobe again and again but I fail to find the things I packed when we left the mansion. Instead, I find only more Celestial robes.

"My clothes are here," Erik says. "Oh, sweet, I got another set of suits. They must have get delivered when we had the meeting. Liana is so generous, they must have cost a fortune."

"Erik, my clothes are all gone!" I'm starting to panic.

"Well... they are," he bites his lip when looking at my side of the wardrobe.

"Did some of my luggage get lost during transport?"

"I don't think they've lost it," Erik says slowly. "See this jumper of mine? I couldn't squeeze it into my suitcase so I pushed it to your backpack with the rest of your clothes, remember? And the jumper is here while your clothes aren't. Your regular clothes I mean."

"She can't be serious!" I'm finally starting to understand what happened. "Did Liana order someone to take my clothes and plant these cosplays instead?"

"It would seem so," Erik nods carefully. "She must have suspected you'll never stop wearing your gaming clothes unless she confiscates them completely."

"Oh, no, she won't!" I suddenly get so furious that the furniture starts shaking. "She might be the Laura Richter and my Viceroy but she can't just..."

"Ryuu, calm down!" Erik is alarmed and has to hug me in an attempt to soothe me. "Your telekinesis is going berserk again!"

She can't do that! I switch to telepathy.

And I agree with you but you need to calm down, he caresses my wings. Your anger is understandable but you can't let your abilities go loose like that.

He forces me to recall yesterday's incident. The government officials were really scared of me at that time. That makes me finally calm down and the tremors stop.

You know, Erik tries to cheer me up. Others have to train in order to do magic. It seems you'll have to train in order not to do magic.

"Pchm, not helping," I say aloud, grab my phone and dial Liana. I let it ring for quite some time but she isn't picking up. I think she's ignoring me on purpose, expecting me to complain about my wardrobe situation.

"She's probably too busy again," Erik shrugs. "And we should help her. I feel bad sleeping in when she must be waking up awfully early. Let's go for breakfast and then find her office."

"I'm not going out in this," I oppose, pointing into the wardrobe full of Celestial robes.

"Well, it's not as if you have a choice and I can't exactly lend my clothes to a winged person," Erik chuckles and I feel he's actually glad about it. Did he seriously develop a quirk for cosplays?

I'm still mad but he's right. I sigh resignedly and take another Celestial attire. Liana's employees were kind enough to sort out my new clothes according to sets so all layers that belong together are on one hanger and already in the right order.

Erik helps me again and this time I try to levitate the fabric and pull my wings through the holes myself. Such delicate use of telekinesis is quite difficult but it seems a few more attempts and I should manage somehow myself.

"Are you wearing a suit again?" I'm surprised that he goes for another three-piece even though his casual clothes are very decent, unlike mine.

"Well, I don't want to look shabby next to you," he smiles and looks at himself in the mirror. I feel he likes what he sees. "I actually don't mind making this my new dress code. I loved wearing well-fitted suits before but the brand Liana chose is a totally different league. How do I look?"

I kiss him instead of answering so that he gets the full dosage of my admiration. He blushes and returns his feelings.

"Let's not be late again," he pulls away after a few kisses, showing his discipline. "Liana might not have given us any exact time when to show up but considering she's paying us now so... well, it'd be nice to answer to her at nine."

"Oh, right, we're technically her employees now," I slap my forehead.

I signed a job contract several days ago but everything was so hectic with Draconians asking for refuge that I didn't pay much attention to it. I took it as a formality since it seems I might be perfectly able to support myself through fan donations. We signed it mainly for her corporate protection.

"Okay, ready to go," Erik takes my hand and opens the door.