Lex reawakens in an area much warmer than his first spawn point, starter trousers thankfully back on. Around a fountain with water spouting from the mouths of dolphins and merfolk, the people of the city bustle. Lex blinks and stares at them as they mill about.

  Just as he's coming to the conclusion that at least twenty percent of the people here are pyers, someone softly touches his arm.

  "Are you okay?"

  They are a gorgeous elf, hair down to their ass, wearing a robe that indicates absolutely nothing about their gender and olive skin that makes Lex look as pale as a ghost in comparison.

  "Yeah, fine," he mumbles, switching his stare to the ground.

  "Respawn?"

  His head jerks back up to look at them. His ears and cheeks burn. "How did you know?"

  They shrug. "Pretty common around here. Come on, let's get some food and get your HP back up."

  He doesn't have anything better to do, so he follows them.

  The tavern they take him to has a few other, quiet, patrons, and is generally much calmer than outside, which is a relief.

  Lex takes a deep breath, and exhales.

  The elf finds them a table tucked away to the side. They tell the person serving tables, "Two rejuvenation sets, please," then look expectantly at Lex.

  He clears his throat. "Uh, well. I'm Lex?" Good job. Confident about his own name. "He/him," he adds, and at least he sounds reasonably certain about that.

  They ugh. "You have no idea about my gender, do you?"

  Lex flushes, and shakes his head. "I figured that's what you're going for?"

  "Oh, it is." Their grin is shit-eating and radiant. Even with his st experience, if they wanted to take him to bed, he'd say yes. Even if they cut his head off after, it might be worth it. "Sage," they say. "I use whatever."

  "Of course you do," he says and chuckles.

  With introductions done, Lex can see that Sage is level twelve. Far less intimidating than Orion's thirty.

  "Yikes, they got you right away, huh?" Sage asks, no doubt eyeing his level.

  Lex flushes harder than before and avoids their eyes. "He bought me a drink first."

  "Sucks," they say. Their accent is light and American, the kind that he's heard on TV from a hundred mouths.

  "He was the only other pyer around, and said he'd been there without other pyers for months."

  That gets more of their attention. "Months? And you believed him?"

  "He was level thirty." Lex shrugs. "Seemed to add up."

  "Damn," they say. "Where was your spawn?"

  "No clue. Somewhere with lots of snow, an hour outside the vilge, which seemed to have an inn but not a whole lot else." He frowns. "He said the rest of the inn was booked out, but I don't know if that was true."

  They nod. "Sounds like somewhere up in Tyria. I've heard there's lots of good farming up there but it's ass to get to and easy to get stuck with tricky curses."

  "Like what?" Lex asks. He attempts to remain calm, but with [My darling's darling cock ring] prominently dispyed on his equipment list, he can't afford to let the opportunity to get more information pass him by.

  For the first time, Sage hesitates. "I've only heard rumours," they begin. "But, you know those trailers? The ones everyone thought were jokes?"

  "Slime pyers," Lex says, and Sage nods.

  "I heard that someone defeated a trap monster and got nded with an item she couldn't take off. All transformations take a bit of time to kick in, but she was so far away that by the time she got back to a city with other pyers, she was still humanoid, but only barely. She couldn't speak and didn't have fingers or even lips that could hold a pen. People only knew it was her because she'd introduced herself to a few of them and they could see her name and status.

  "Thing was, she didn't seem to be able to log off."

  "What?" Dread coils in his gut and he pulls up the system interface. His ears ring with a sound that he's sure doesn't exist but drowns out Sage as they ask him something, putting a concerned hand on his arm.

  They snap their fingers in front of his face.

  [Sign out (unavaible at this time)]

  *

  Sage drags the guy up to their room. He doesn't seem to be influenced by anything other than shock, so they slowly eat their rejuvenation meal as they wait for him to come around. They could leave him to it, but they feel at least a little responsible for his freak out. Maybe he could have kept pying for days without breaking his brain if they hadn't gone around spreading rumours.

  But his reaction… it makes them that much more inclined to believe those rumours.

  When they're eating the st mouthful of their meal, Lex finally stirs.

  "I can't log out," he mumbles.

  Sage tries to choose their words carefully. To help him, they need more information, but questions risk sending him back into unresponsiveness. "Do you know why?" They are not good at this.

  "I have a cursed item," he says. Sage presses a gss of water into his hands. Drinking water, as far as they can tell, has absolutely no effect in game, but drinking water is supposed to make you feel better. And Lex needs to feel better.

  "Show me," they say, and Lex brings up the screen, dispys it to Sage, taking small sips from the gss.

  "Well, fuck," they say, eloquently. That is one weird item. "Do you like your dick?" They're guessing he does, but there's an outside chance he's also someone who is not attached to the concept of gender.

  "Of course I like my dick!" Lex splutters.

  Sage holds up their hands. "Just checking. I couldn't wait to get rid of mine in here." They might get it back at some point, but for now they're extremely happy with their current equipment. "How fast is that thing working?"

  Lex curls in on himself. Great. He hasn't checked.

  "Pants down. The more information we have the better."

  Lex gres. Sage waits.

  As they knew he would, Lex blinks first. He undoes his trousers and drops them, inspecting his junk.

  "Unless you were seriously hung before, it doesn't seem like it's particurly fast acting," they say. It's pretty cute, for a dick, especially with the ring around the base.

  Tension leaves Lex's shoulders. Now he just looks extremely tired, rather than extremely tired and wound up like a spring.

  "Yeah." He moves his hand so he can measure the length of his dick against his fingers and palm. "Can't even see a difference yet."

  "Cool," they say. "Let's get it pierced."

  *

  Sage did (after ughing so hard they cried) expin further. In the town they're in, the easiest way to adjust the size of a pyer's endowment — or swap it for a different configuration — is via piercings. And Sage is pretty sure they can find him a piercing that will increase the size of his dick and balls at roughly the same rate as his cock ring is shrinking them.

  "And this will work?" Lex asks as they lead him to the pce they got their junk pierced.

  They look at him like he's stupid. Which, he supposes, he is.

  "The hell do I know? But it's worth a shot. Any idea what the conditions that were in the thing are?"

  They're scrutinising him again, so, though it's uncomfortable, he doesn't bother trying to lie. He thinks they're trying to help him. Why he doesn't know. But they're nice. Sort of. "I think having sex with someone is one of them. The guy who killed me… we had sex first. He killed me right after I got this item."

  Sage nods, like that makes perfect sense. "He probably worked out he could transfer it and killed you right after he did. What size was his dick?"

  Lex flushes despite himself. "He didn't have one. He had a vagina."

  "Right," they say, distracted. "After we shove some metal in your junk, we'll ask around about a void temple. I don't think there's one here—" They angle him into a narrow alleyway. "—But the goddess Nateria is Vuide's sister and there is a matter temple." Sage pushes open a door right at the end of the alley.

  They enter a rather modern looking piercing studio.

  "Whoa," Lex says, taking in the clean, orderly room.

  "Devs didn't want people worrying about infections or blood born diseases when they get piercings, so these pces are all a bit anachronistic," Lex expins.

  "Makes sense." Kind of. Given they make cursed items that keep you trapped in the game, he's somewhat dubious that making pyers uncomfortable was that high on their list of concerns.

  "Hi again," Sage says to a tall beast person— no, elf? Or maybe orc? Their traits are all over the pce, and like Sage they seem to be aiming for a mess of gender. Small tusks, tall with delicate ears, but thin, soft looking fur in tiger stripes covering their visible skin. "He wants something to make his dick and balls bigger."

  Lex's cheeks flush red.

  The shopkeeper appraises him.

  Lex's cheeks flush darker.

  "Come along then," the shopkeeper says in a deep rumble that contrasts with the curve of their chest. They're seriously hot.

  They take him to the back room. Lex follows them and Sage follows him.

  "You're staying?" he asks Sage in a squeak.

  They shrug. "Figured you'd want me to hold your hand. It still hurts."

  He wishes they hadn't told him that.

  "Let's see what I'm working with," the shopkeeper says with a meaningful look at his crotch.

  Lex checks the door to the shop entrance is shut before dropping his pants.

  "Huh," they say, inspecting him. "And what's this?" They point to the cock ring.

  Lex avoids their gaze and waves a hand to bring up the item description for [My darling's darling cock ring].

  "Huh," they say again.

  Lex wishes their voice wasn't so attractive, not when they're looking at his dick.

  "Is that a good 'huh'?"

  "It's a 'this could be tricky' 'huh,'" they crify and retrieve some metallic objects and surgical gloves from a drawer. "May I touch?" they ask as they pull the gloves on.

  Lex nods. That this NPC cares feels weird. He came in here to get metal shoved in his dick, and here this NPC is making full eye contact as they ask for permission to touch his junk with their anachronistic gloves. He wishes he found this less sexy. At this rate his dick is going to react and he'll have to bring his death count up to two out of mortification.

  The first thing they do after getting permission is attempt to slide the ring down the shaft of his dick. They start with a light touch, then slowly increase the pressure, softly mumbling, "Let me know if you experience any pain or discomfort," as they wrap their fingers around the band, with their fingertips pressing around the base.

  "No, uh—" Frick, they're so hot, "— no pain. But, uh—" How do you tell your piercer that if they keep touching your dick it's going to get hard? Maybe he can put it down to the effect of the ring. It does say it increases libido.

  They release him. He's ashamed that he's at least semi-hard from the touches which were as non-sexual as a doctor's.

  "I can't give you something that will directly grow your penis and scrotum," they say.

  Lex's heart sinks.

  "Sorry," they say, at the look on his face. "From what I can tell, that's what the 'unknown modifier' is. Any effect that directly impacts them will be reversed and would cause them to shrink faster."

  "Can you give him something that will shrink them then?" Sage asks.

  The shopkeeper smirks. "I knew I liked you," they say, standing up and sitting back on a chair. "That's exactly what we can do. Only thing is if we don't want it to stack with this —" they gesture to the cock ring, "— it needs an additional effect."

  Sage nods. "Makes sense. What options do you have?"

  They start counting on their fingers. "Stacking libido — I don't recommend that, you'd need a partner to reset it and that can cause problems at the worst times. Shorter height — don't recommend that either unless you can find a way to get this off quickly or you want to go for a gnome or dwarf look. Breast growth — definitely an option, but you should still prioritise clearing the curse conditions so you don't end up with melons." They tilt their head, considering. "Unless you want melons." Lex's dick twitches. "Higher pitch — if you only pn on talking to canine beastfolk, you'd be fine, maybe, but that's practically impossible. Hair growth — only if you want to hire someone to braid it as you walk, that's the primary effect and it's only meant for short term use. Or permanent feminised features."

  "Permanent?" Lex asks.

  They nod. "Nothing short of a gift from a goddess would be able to reverse it. That's mostly for folks with serious dysphoria so they can't be caught in a masculinizing curse. But the permanence means you run the risk of the main effect — shrinking your penis and scrotum — taking pce if you ever get rid of your little doodad, and that would be permanent, too."

  Lex balks.

  "He'll take the tits," Sage says.

  "Hey, hang on a—"

  They cut him off. "Do you want your cock to shrink to nothing?"

  "No, but—"

  "Do you want to sound so squeaky no one can hear you?"

  "They didn't say—"

  "Or how about being three feet tall?"

  "That wouldn't be ba—"

  Sage looks at him like he's stupid.

  "I'll take the breast one."

  Sage grins and pats him on the arm. "You can shrink them if you don't like them, after you've broken the curse."

  *

  Sage was right. Piercings still hurt.

  [New items acquired!

  [Normal Nipple Piercing]x 2

  Effects:

  Piercing accessory

  Take damage if forcibly removed

  Increased libido I

  Decreased phallus size (time modifier) Effect reversed!

  Decreased scrotum size (time modifier) Effect reversed!

  Increased breast size (time modifier)

  Decreased dysphoria

  Alignment: Life

  A basic item. Alters the body and decreases dysphoria.]

  "What does dysphoria mean?" Lex asks Sage.

  "Means you want to crawl out of your skin because it's shaped wrong."

  "Huh."

  "Why?"

  Should have seen that one coming. He shows Sage the item description. "So I guess I won't mind the tits?"

  "Or won't mind them as much," they say. "Until you take the piercing out, anyway."

  Lex drags his hands down his face. "Oh, goody."

  "How are you feeling?"

  "Fine," Lex says, before he can really think about it.

  "Because it's pretty obvious you've got a hard on."

  Lex grits his teeth. "I'm dealing with three stacks of increased libido. I'd like to see you keep it down." Besides, Sage and the owner of the piercing studio are ridiculously attract—

  Sage shoves him, and he stumbles back into an alley. They grip him through his trousers. Their eyes sparkle. "I can think of a way to keep it down."

  Lex splutters. "Here?" he squeaks. His chest is sore from the piercings which will take three in game days to heal, but Sage's hand squeezes him and he whimpers, his hips jerking at their touch.

  "We can't force anything on anyone here," they whisper into his ear, scraping their nails over the fabric and then slipping their hands inside his underwear. "And who wouldn't enjoy seeing you begging for it?"

  He whines in an attempt at forming words that was never going to succeed.

  They squeeze his shaft and begin pumping their hand up and down, stroking him and muttering what could be compliments or insults about him and his junk. Whatever the words are, Lex can't make sense of them when Sage has their hand on his dick.

  He kind of sees why people might want to have sex in this game.

  With one final tug, Lex comes, spurting into his clothes and Sage's hand. "God darn!" Lex says, shuddering and supporting himself against the wall of the alley. Now he knows the cock ring won't stop him from coming, so that's… something.

  Sage chuckles and pulls their hand out of his pants. Then, they wipe it on his shirt.

  Lex flushes, blinking at the smear of cum they've left.

  "You're so cute," they tell him.

  He nods mutely.

  "Come on, let's get you some equipment and make a pn. We can check the temple tomorrow."

  *

  Lex goes through their shopping trip in a daze. Sage seems to have adopted him, like he's a particurly horny puppy they're willing to indulge. It takes him until they're in the third store to ask if Sage would like him to return their favour from the alley. They snort and shove a new shirt into his hands for him to try on, telling him he needs it for when his breasts grow in.

  They pay for it, so he doesn't ask them not to talk about his breasts.

  With full packs and Sage's purse lighter, they return to the inn, where a pyer is yelling at the unimpressed fox-kin server. Sage shoves their purchases into Lex's arms and marches over with a forced smile.

  "You're not even real! Why the fuck should I have to pay?" The pyer is about to jab the server in the chest with a finger, when he finds it shoving into Sage's palm instead.

  "Bishop, lovely to see you again," they purr.

  The pyer — Bishop — flushes a deeper red at their interruption. "What do you want?" he snarls, whipping his hand back from Sage.

  "To stop you from being a fuck, obviously." Sage says it with a smile and saccharine tone. They take a step towards Bishop. Bishop takes a step back.

  "None of this is real and the food is crap, so I'm not paying."

  Sage's expression becomes one of pity. "That's not how games work, Bishop."

  Faster than Lex can follow, Bishop crashes to the ground and Sage has their knee on his stomach and a hand on his throat. Their other hand dips inside his shirt and pulls out a money pouch.

  Looking into the bag, Sage says, "Tch," in disgust. They pull out a small object that Lex doesn't see out of the pouch before dropping it back onto Bishop's chest. They transfer the small object that didn't seem to be a coin into the server's hand and close her fingers over it to keep it out of sight. "Terribly sorry for the inconvenience," they say, offering the server a smile. They stamp down on Bishop's ankle when he moves to stand up.

  Bishop yelps.

  Less than ten seconds pass from Sage telling Bishop 'that's not how games work' to Sage stepping away from the crumpled man.

  "Would you like me to remove him and banish him from this establishment?" Sage asks the server.

  The server gnces at her hand, still closed over whatever Sage pced in it, then to Bishop and back to Sage. "No. Thank you kindly. As long as this fellow behaves himself in future, we have no quarrel with him, and would be happy to provide him with another drink this evening."

  Bishop moves slowly, watching Sage the whole time as he rises. This time, Sage lets him, though Lex is sure they could have kept him on the floor forever. "I'll take a pint," he says, breaking his gaze away from Sage now he's upright.

  Sage nods, then gestures for Lex to follow them back to their room.

  "Uh," Lex says, eloquently, once the door is shut. He drops their purchases on the pin dresser, failing to do so without dropping them as he looks at Sage.

  "Little pissant didn't want anyone to know he only has sapphires to pay with," Sage expins. "He decided the way out was to object to paying NPCs at all."

  "Oh," Lex says. Then, considers, picking up one of the items that fell to the floor. "That's stupid."

  "No kidding." Sage sighs, sitting back on their bed. "Still, I haven't run into too many like him in this game. Most people are reasonable sorts."

  Lex takes a seat in the chair facing Sage. "How'd you know him?"

  Sage wrinkles their nose. Lex stifles the urge to get up and kiss it. "We partied up when I started. He seemed okay at first but then — when he found out how I wanted to change my character — he got all weird about it. Kept calling me 'he'."

  "I thought you use whatever?" Lex asks carefully.

  "Yeah but not like that," Sage flops back to look at the ceiling. "He did it to remind me what I look like irl."

  "I see…" He doesn't really, but he does see it bothers Sage, and he figures that's the important part.

  They bring a hand up to their chest. "I still haven't got the tits I want because of something he said."

  Lex blinks, stands up carefully, then sits down next to them on the bed. His heart twists when he realises they have tears on their cheeks. "You'd look hot with them," he says, in an offer of reassurance.

  They snort and wipe their eyes. "You are so cis."

  "I don't know what that means," he says.

  "It means you like your dick and ft chest." They roll over and catch him by the elbow, pulling him down next to them. They press their lips to his. "Sorry you're going to get tits," they say once their lips leave his.

  "'S okay," he says, trying not to be a horny weirdo who wants their hand on him again already. Three stacks of increased libido. That's all it is. Down boy. "Will you think it's hot?"

  They wriggle so their body is flush against his. His breath catches and he looks away from their face to a bare spot on the wall so he can focus on something other than how their thigh is now pressing against his dick. "I don't think I should answer that," they say, wryly.

  "Why not?" Just keep talking. Keep talking and you won't come off as a horny idiot.

  "Because Bishop said something stupid and now I don't want to give myself breasts." They brush his hair out of his eyes with a finger. "I don't want to fuck up a nice cis boy like you."

  A smile creeps over his face and he dares to look at them again. Their long hair rests spyed out behind them in a golden arc and for once it's them who can't meet his eyes. "You'll totally think it's hot."

  "I won't if you're dissociating from dysphoria."

  He shakes his head and shuffles so he can capture their lips again. "I'll be fine. But you'll be so turned on—"

  They shut him up with their tongue in his mouth. He lets them, well aware that they must be able to feel how hard he is with how they squirm against him, their thigh pressing his dick up against his body, just on the right side of painful compared to the ache in his newly pierced nipples.

  They draw out the kiss, but eventually they break away to catch their breath. Lex takes the moment to kiss their nose. Sage wrinkles it. Adorable.

  He figures it's the reduced dysphoria effect of his piercings, but he really doesn't mind the idea of having breasts. Breasts alone won't make him look like a woman. Sure, once they're big enough, people might be unsure about whether he's a guy or not, but they won't make him look like Sage, where one point in favour of 'man' is put up against another that clearly reads 'woman'. Besides, Sage is hot.

  He doesn't actually know where he was going with that thought, but he repeats it to himself, because it's true. Sage is so hot.

  "We didn't get any food," Lex points out, watching Sage (who is hot.)

  They gre at him, but it's more of a pout.

  "We should eat," he adds.

  They groan and leaver themself up and off him. "You don't want me to take care of that first?" they ask and point a finger at his dick.

  Somehow, it grows even harder. He clears his throat. "Thought it might be hot to keep it like this. Consent mechanics and everything." No one will notice unless they're okay noticing.

  "You won't be uncomfortable?" Sage's stare is penetrating.

  Lex tries not to whimper as he says, "That's kind of the point."

  They chew their bottom lip. "Okay." They nod and repeat themself. "Okay. But no one else gets to have you after we've eaten." They hesitate before adding: "You're mine."

  "Y-yeah," he says. Then, more firmly: "Yeah. I mean, yes."

  Sage appraises the bulge in his crotch, where the outline of his dick is distinct and obvious as it points up to his left hip. "If this goes well we'll buy you something tighter. In white," they say. "For now…" Their fingers unbutton the top buttons of his shirt, and his face flushes at the way his dick responds as he thinks about what he'll look like when he has cleavage to show, rather than a ft expanse of skin with a scattering of curling hair.

  *

  As they go down to the dining hall, it feels like Sage is leading him there by his dick. He'd suggested this without really thinking it through. What is he doing? This isn't him! He hadn't even intended to have sex in this game. But now he's got someone he just met telling him he's theirs? But, as the ridiculousness and absurdity and how not him this situation is turns over in his mind, it just makes him want Sage to fuck him all the more. To cim him, even.

  Other people in the dining hall might notice his raging boner, but the only one who gets to touch is Sage. His knees shake with every step.

  The fox-kin woman seats them at a table off to the side of the room, and Lex hastily scrapes the chair back and sits down. His face somehow grows even hotter as he catches the way her eyebrows rise as her eyes gnce at his crotch.

  "Actually…" Sage begins, smirking. "I think you should stand until our food comes."

  "What?" He can't have heard them right. "Why would I—" His eyes widen as he realises.

  "You wanted to come down here like this. I think you should live with the full consequences."

  Lex whimpers. His dick strains further against the fabric keeping it contained. "People will see," he protests.

  Concern passes over Sage's face. "Okay, you don't—"

  Shoot! He didn't mean— He scrambles to think of a way to let Sage know that people seeing is the whole point. "It's supposed to be for you," he tries.

  Their mouth forms an 'o' and it passes through a smile before becoming a smirk. "And I get to choose who sees it. Stand. Up."

  A shudder runs through his entire body as his poor, straining dick rubs against the fabric. By all rights he should be getting soft without anything but Sage's amusement and the idea of others seeing his erection keeping him aroused, but it's anything but. Three stacks of increased libido. He's not really a huge pervert.

  He drops a hand to casually cover his crotch from view. "Behind your back," Sage says a second ter. Lex doesn't think they even looked at him as they said it, instead paying attention to the rough menu the tavern provides.

  Lex obeys, linking his fingers together behind his back, pushing his chest out. He tries to think of un-sexy things. Dead animals. Pond slime. Family members. But even as he squeezes his eyes shut, he can feel the gazes of several diners bore into him, undoing his meager efforts. "'m so hard," he whimpers under his breath.

  "I know, pet," they say in a bored tone. "You can sit once you have it under control." They cross their legs under the table. Are they— no, that's just hopeful thinking. He's the pervert, unable to control his body in public. The pervert who wanted to go out like this.

  "I can't control it," he tries to say softly, but the needy tone that ces his words makes them carry. The server's fox ears twitch, and she weaves her way back to Lex and Sage's table.

  "Would you prefer a private room?" She looks pointedly at Lex's crotch this time.

  "Lex, answer her," Sage says in that bored tone.

  "Ah, um—" is all Lex can manage at first. The only part of his body that his mind can focus on is his dick, but even then it can't control it. Can't make it do anything as it throbs and strains. He gathers himself desperately. "W-we're fine here," he blurts in a rush, afraid control of his tongue will abandon him again if he doesn't get the words out as fast as possible.

  "The whole story, Lex." They can't mean— Lex whimpers.

  He does his best to find words again. "I—" he swallows. "I wanted to—" He swallows again. The words won't come out.

  "There you go," Sage says, soothing him as his words stick in his mouth, to his throat. "You can say it."

  His face burns even harder with shame at needing them to comfort him in this state, when he's the one who— "I asked to come down like this."

  "I see," the server says.

  "'m sorry," Lex mumbles, unable to keep his head up. He is so fucked up. What was he thinking?

  The server addresses Sage. "Other patrons may be… interested in your situation. Shall I allow them to come to your table?"

  "Lex?" Sage asks. Lex's eyes go wide.

  "No! You're the only—" He ducks his head. "I'm yours tonight."

  He catches them say, "There you have it," to the server as his head swims and his eyes prickle with tears of humiliation.

  What must be several minutes pass before he hears Sage calling his name and gently applying pressure to make him release his hand from where he was gripping his other wrist tight enough to bruise.

  "The food's here," they whisper and he nods, unable to look them in the eye even though they're only centimeters away from him. "Sit down."

  He feels disgusting. His dick aches painfully and he feels like spping it, or taking out his piercings so it will shrink away and take his humiliation with it.

  "Lex?" He's worrying them. He's so stupid.

  They pce his fork in his hand and close his fingers around it.

  "You can eat now, Lex."

  He nods and looks at the food properly for the first time. He sits. It smells really good. He spears a piece of what might be potato and pces it in his mouth. He chews. He swallows. "Yum," he says, quietly.

  Sage breathes out a sigh. Under the table they rub their foot gently against his leg until he starts responding to what they're saying again.

  *

  Back at Sage's room he practically falls through the doorway in order to pull Sage into a hug. He breathes them in.

  "You're shaking," they say, and rub his back. He's still hard. Maybe it really is the libido stacks.

  "I freaked out," he admits.

  They tug him gently until they're sitting up on the bed and he's curled against their chest like a child. They hold him.

  "It's okay. We… shouldn't have done it like that."

  "I just thought it would be hot. I'm so stupid."

  "I think something might have happened when I jerked you off," they say, slowly. "I've done kink before — irl I mean — and this wasn't. I know better. But when you suggested…" They press a kiss to the top of his head. "The only thing I could think of is how hot it would be to have everyone in the room know you were mine." They kiss his hair again. It helps. "I know better," they repeat.

  "I'm scared," he says, still trying to work out why he's so terrified. He's terrified like he was when he realised he couldn't log out. "You can't stay logged in forever, and I think…" he swallows. Yeah, that would be right. "I think I wanted you to cim me so I knew you'd come back for me. And then I realised that I don't even know you, and I shouldn't put this on you anyway, and—"

  "Jesus," they breath and squeeze him tighter. "Okay, first, the first thing I'm going to do when I log off is report to the devs what's going on with you. You're not putting anything on me. The game shouldn't be trapping people with cock rings. Hell, even if you were a shithead like Bishop I'd do that, if only because I'd rather not py a game where it could happen to me." Their fingers slip through his hair as they smooth it down.

  "Second, I like you. A lot. I usually py these things solo and only party up if solo isn't a viable option. What happened with Bishop just demonstrated why. But two minutes after I said 'hi' I was pnning what equipment to buy you so you wouldn't get PK'd again. My instincts tell me you're a good person and I try to listen to them.

  "Third," their fingers tilt his chin up until his eyes meet theirs, "you are mine, got it?"

  His mouth falls open and he sees the conflict as they can't decide whether to ugh at his face or try to be sexy or something else. They settle for chuckling and pressing his head back into their chest.

  He listens to their breathing and feels the tension leave his body as Sage's chest rises and falls.

  "This would be more comfortable if you had boobs," he mumbles against their skin.

  "Shut up," they reply.

  He does.