“Ya doing alright there, tiger?” his girlfriend wanted to know, bowed over him. Her decently sized breasts hovered above him. Winterly pale skin and pretty pink crowns atop the mounds that were pulled down by the ever-present influence of gravity. It gave them a particular shape that John, like all other forms of the female chest, especially those of his loves, greatly appreciated. Yet, at the moment, their sight failed to produce the usual mix of satisfaction and desire.

Well, failed to produce it in the usual intensity.

“I mean, I’m not bad,” the Gamer answered. “Would feel better if you laid on top of me though.”

“I can do that… whaddaya want in your face, butt, boobs or hair?”

“I’ll take the hair,” John said and Rave hopped over the back of the couch. That choice was actually the go-to, as fantastic as the other two options were. Once the feline Lightbearer had put herself on top of him, he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed. She let out a long, pleased hum, like she often did in those moments. He rolled on his side, pulling her along. He kissed her wild hair, right at the base of one of her cat ears. The embrace ended, his arm became her pillow, and they wiggled around like couples regularly had to, in order to find a position that was comfortable and still allowed blood to flow up the offered limb. Her hair tickled his face in the process. An issue resolved when they finally got to a still position.

Big spoon and little spoon, they lay on their side and stared at a pad that stood on the table. “Are ya watching stupid philosophy videos again?” Rave asked.

“They aren’t stupid. If you aren’t interested in them, maybe you’re stupid,” John responded.

“Two things can be true at once, tiger.”

“That’s true enough. What then does the lady of my heart want to watch?”

“Hmm… lemme think…”

“Who said I was asking you?” he asked in an amused tone. Predictably, he got a weak elbow jab in the stomach for that. “Alright, alright, I am asking you.”

“Since we’re having a talk right now, just put on some music,” Rave decided, wiggling around in front of him. It wasn’t clear what goal she was pursuing there. Getting any closer to him was impossible. Perhaps she just wanted to rub her butt against him. The smooth surface of her nubile body felt especially fantastic spanning over that squishy round derriere of hers. “It’s ‘cause ya make me sticky,” Rave answered his question, without him asking it.

“Can’t do anything against that, I’m afraid,” John said, now noticing the bit of leakage he had going on downstairs. “Natural reaction to such a gorgeous woman nuzzling against me.”

“I don’t mind,” Rave purred. As if to prove that, she reached behind and grabbed one of his arms. She placed his hand firmly on her tit, inviting him to play around. As a simple man, John’s hands were acting before he could even think about it. His index finger circled her areola and her nipple hardened in response. She giggled. Apparently, such a treatment tickled sometimes. “Don’t get too distracted by my boobs.”

“It’s very easy though,” John hummed.

“Doesn’t cure your current mind-virus though, does it?” his girlfriend asked. “Knowing ya, you’ll be lying in bed awake unless ya get it out of your system now. So, talk to me, tiger. What’s your issue? Ya still hung up on your reaction to the victory?”

“Well, yes and no.” John chuckled at his own answer. “Nothing is ever easy with me, is it?”

“I dunno. It’s easy to be with you,” Rave responded softly. “Sacred simplicity. As long as I am with you, there’s no place I’d rather be.”

“Did you just quote lyrics at me as a compliment?”

“No place I’d rather be,” Rave responded singingly. The Gamer didn’t even have to see her face to know that she was smirking. Suddenly, the pad opened their music library, typed in the name of the song, and played it. “That’s nifty, were ya still in there?” Rave commented on his use of Interface.

“Yeah, still need to touch things to connect,” John answered.

From another corner of the room, Scarlett chimed in, “Sucks to be you.” The words came between a sip of whiskey and the refilling of her glass.

“Anyway,” the Gamer kept going, “I’m not exactly dwelling on my reaction anymore. Yeah, it was inappropriate and I feel bad about it, but I also know what kind of person I am, so I’m over that part of it. I’m just asking myself how I would even go about changing that about me?” He took a deep breath, smelling the sweet, minty fragrance of his girlfriend. “It’s not like I can attend some ‘proper reaction’ training to reorder the arrangement of my priorities. If it was that easy, everyone would be a good person. This isn’t who I want to be, this is just… who I am, I guess.”

“You aren’t so bad,” Rave assured him. It meant a lot from her. It meant just about the most it could out of anyone’s mouth, to him.

“I could be better though,” John told her.

“That’s true,” she agreed in a heartbeat. Their relationship wasn’t founded on empty flattery. “Ya always delivered on becoming better so far though.”

“How would I go about this though?” John rephrased his current predicament. “Do I put on a belt that zaps me each time I react with pride first and respect second? How far do I even want to push that?”

“Not too far,” Rave had an answer for that at least, “I like ya being assertive. I think ya liking accomplishments a bit too much is connected to that.”

“So, you’re the source of this, hm?” John asked, once more squeezing his girlfriend in her entirety. “Always insisting I be more headstrong when I was a nice, meek young man. Now I’m a one-man world power with a harem and more wealth than any mundane could imagine. How dare you shove me down that path?”

“It was all so I could lap your cum out of other women’s cunts,” Rave responded cheekily. “That became the idea after ya got the delicious seed Perk anyway.” She rubbed her butt against him again. “Joking aside, I think ya just need to stay aware that ya shouldn’t put your victorious glee first all the time. If ya know you’re doing something wrong, ya can work against it, yeah?”

“So, I should just fake it until I make it?” John wondered.

“Eh, no, don’t fake it. Just show people that you’re making an effort not to be the vain dick that lives inside ya.” Rave’s cat tail flopped around on John’s hips. “Think that’s about as much as ya can demand of someone anyway. Like, if I talk to my mother, I don’t expect her to actually hold what I do in high regard. If she tries to be nice, I notice that.”

“Hm, I can see that.” John nodded. That wasn’t the resolution he hoped for, but he could at least operate under those instructions. “My brilliance is rubbing off on you.”

“A, ya being a self-congratulating dick when ya say that.”

“That’s the joke.”

“Second, the only thing of ya that’s rubbing off on me right now is…” Rave didn’t get to finish that sentence, as she doubtlessly felt the exact same and sudden development in the area she had been about to address as John did. “Three, did anyone ever tell ya that ya have the most obvious stress tells? Two seconds into resolving an issue and BAM, there’s your erection.”

“Funnily enough, regular people don’t comment on the state of my dick when I’m stressed, no,” John responded drily. “Now, are you feeling subby or dommy right now, Jane?”

“That’s a hard question… I feel kinda lazy right now, to be honest.”

“So, no sex?”

“I never said that!” Rave swiftly denied. “Whaddaya take me for? A girl with a regular sex drive?” She raised her left leg and ‘hooked’ her foot behind John, keeping her thighs parted while she reached down. There was quite a bit of shifting necessary but eventually his dick was aligned with her entrance. For once, he was the wetter out of the two of them and she teased her entrance with his dribbling cock for quite a bit, before easing herself down his respectable manhood. “Ohhh yeah… this never gets any less… fantastic…”

“It really doesn’t,” John gasped in support, while her tight folds enveloped him. Once fully inside, Rave placed her hands in front of her. She had said she was in a lazy mood and so it was on her boyfriend to do all the work. The ‘dead fish’ behaviour was usually frowned upon. Just lying there and letting the man do all the work did not make for an enjoyable experience for either party. The man did not get any reactions they craved and the woman was left wondering why their partner couldn’t figure out how to pleasure them beyond in and out.

None of this was an issue for the couple. John owed all of his women many hours of one-sided care, given all of the hours they spent serving him under the table while he did essentially nothing but cum and play with remote vibrator settings. ‘Which reminds me,’ the Gamer thought and used Interface to pull a program out of the background on the tablet. He cranked up a slider and a certain gamer girl moaned out loud when the vibrator in her pussy buzzed with newfound intensity.

Lee had taken a liking to wearing at least an egg-vibrator at all times for John to play with. What had started as a suggestion had blossomed into a definitive fetish. To put it into her words, it “spiced up the boring university hours.”

While that went on, John started fucking his girlfriend. Not with any particular intensity, neither position nor her stated mood allowed for that, but he certainly had her moaning. That was another thing that elevated her far beyond the ‘dead fish’ status. Even while she was not participating actively, she at least reacted to what he did to her, letting him know what worked and what didn’t. Even after over a year together, that was helpful. He had her sensitive areas generally figured out, but people didn’t want the same things every single day.

Today, lazy fucking sufficed though. At a slow rhythm, he thrust in and out of her, while his hands were busy with her breasts and clit. The result was her climaxing a couple of times. Gentle orgasms, compared to what a real engagement between them looked like. Sometimes that was preferred to the wild and ecstatic release at the end of a hard pounding.

John’s orgasm was similarly relaxed. With a soft grunt, he stopped his movements and simply came. The pleasure was a relief, like always, but he stayed in complete control of his motor functions. No white lightning, no tensing, and no heavy breathing, just straightforward release.

They lay there for a little bit. The Gamer played with his girlfriend’s hair. The wild, bright pink mane was fantastically soft and the fragrance filled him to the core with happy memories. His dick was still hard inside her. He was content to leave it like that for the time being and chase another orgasm in a bit. “What do you think about my issues, Scarlett?” John asked the woman across the table.

“I think I’m the last person you should ask that question,” the technomancer responded, inspecting her whisky. “I barely even understand what your problem is. I don’t think it’s inappropriate to react intensely to a victory.”

“The problem is that I reacted intensely to my victory,” John said, emphasizing the ‘my’. “It’s vainglory.”

“He’s your soldier, competing in your ‘war’, you are not stealing any valour – unless you claim he did nothing.” Scarlett shrugged. “You know I have the empathy of a dead houseplant. I understand that it would have looked bad if you claimed you did all of the work, but you’re getting uppity just about having felt satisfied about victory before you felt respect for the guy. I don’t see any issue with that order. You felt both and you admire him for a job well done. I’d do the same if one of my engineers brought back something more than I paid them for. They’d get a raise and I’d get something to sell. That’s the transaction.”

John smiled at her. “I appreciate the different perspective.”

“I know you do.” Scarlett tilted her head and smirked back at him. “That’s why I love you. You can accept that I’m cold without looking at me like an actual dead houseplant. The rest of humanity, I can’t bring myself to care about. Feels like a waste of time.” She put her feet on the table. “That’s why you’re a nation builder and I’m a businesswoman. I trust your intuition to get better at what you do.”

“I’ll run with that, then,” John decided and repositioned Rave for round two. She laid on her stomach and John got to see her perfect ass jiggle while he pounded it. He was more forceful this time around, and halfway through, a very needy Lee attached herself to his back. The constant buzzing made her yearn for something more. That he had sealed her ability to orgasm definitely had something to do with it.

The evening continued as expected. In a short break, John found himself lying on the floor, Rave and Salamander lying in his arms. He stared at the ceiling. Wondering what the final battle would bring. Interesting as the first two had been, they had revealed practically nothing. Tomorrow would show if they could end this in one burst of controlled violence or if there had to be more blood spilled for the prophecy to come true – if it did so at all.

“Hey, tiger,” Rave whispered in his ear. The tone clued him in that it was something serious.

“What?”

“You’d let me get away with some stupid stuff, right?”

“Against my reasonable judgement,” John nodded.

“Great.” Rave smirked and ended the topic by kissing her way down to his crotch and filling her mouth with something other than words.

The Gamer had a pretty good idea what she was suggesting. He didn’t know for certain. He didn’t need to either. Trusting her was what he did. She was his rock in the world. He did wonder, but he didn’t ask.