Berries and Greed

“It’s okay. I’ll be up.” Of course I was going to meet her.

“Thanks, Greid.” She kissed my chest before settling her head back down. “You know, you don’t have to wait outside when you come to meet me. You could come in for a drink. I’m sure Mani would give you one on the house, given how much I talk about you.”

My belly warmed with pleasure at hearing that, but I winced at the thought of sitting by myself in a rowdy bar while Beryl finished up her shift. “I don’t mind waiting outside.”

“Okay,” she said easily, smoothing her palm up and down my stomach under my onesie.

“Unless you want me to go in,” I blurted, a stab of anxiety tightening my insides.

Beryl shook her head without lifting it. “Whatever you prefer, Greid.”

And just like that, the anxiety melted away. Agma had hated it when I’d waited outside somewhere to meet her when she’d been out with friends or work associates. More than once, she’d come out to hiss that I was being antisocial and embarrassing her, telling me to just go and be friendly for once.

I knew I shouldn’t keep comparing them, but it was hard not to. Beryl was just so different from Agma. She didn’t try and push me to do things I didn’t want to. She just accepted me as I was—an introverted goblin who preferred staying in because I got tongue-tied and anxious and mentally exhausted when I was out in public for too long.

Beryl was a lot more sociable than me, and I’d already worried that I wasn’t offering to take her out into the city enough. Or doing more than just spending our evenings chilling out together and watching TV. Maybe she wished we went out to bars or restaurants for dinner. Or to see shows or something. Maybe she just didn’t bring it up because she knew I wouldn’t want to.

“Do you want to maybe go out somewhere soon?” I said, unable to stop myself from threading my fingers through her curly hair. “Like, out to dinner or just for a drink. We could go to a different bar than the one you work at.”

She lifted her head, and I saw her trying to tamp down the excitement in her eyes. “We don’t have to, Greid. I’m happy spending our evenings doing this.”

“Well maybe I could, I don’t know, take you on a date,” I said awkwardly, my ears fluttering. “Wherever you want.”

Her eyes softened. “I’ve never been on a date.”

I almost told her that they usually sucked—for me at least. I’d always found them awkward and uncomfortable as I frantically tried to think of things to say, at least when dating someone new. But we already knew each other, and I was so comfortable with Beryl. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

Besides, we’d done all this in a weird order. We were already living together, and now we were… progressing into a romantic phase in our relationship. While sleeping in separate rooms in the same house. I wanted to ask her to sleep with me in my room, but I didn’t want to freak her out by moving too fast.

Beryl deserved to experience everything—all the things she’d missed out on. I smoothed back her hair, cradling the back of her head as I gazed down at her, hoping I didn’t look too lovesick. “We’ll go on a proper date.”

She grinned with excitement, stretching up to kiss me. “That sounds wonderful, Greid.”

For her, I could withstand an evening out in the city. Because it was her, I wanted to.

After watching a few episodes of Gloom Falls, I realised Beryl had fallen asleep on top of me. Her breaths were deep and even, her lax body a slight, pleasant weight on my chest. I was still playing lazily with her hair, and I would’ve been happy to stay like that until she woke up in the morning, but I remembered her wince as she’d stretched after I’d fallen asleep on top of her earlier. She needed to sleep in a proper bed.

I wished it could be mine, but at least my sheets would still smell like her. I’d probably have to jerk off again when I got into bed, and I would definitely be thinking of Beryl while I did it, just as she’d whispered to me earlier.

“Beryl,” I murmured, giving her back a gentle rub. She stiffened slightly as she started waking up, head shifting on my chest. “You should go to bed.”

“Yeah.” Her voice was hoarse, green eyes tired as she propped herself up and rubbed them. “What did I miss in Gloom Falls? The last thing I remember is Huna arranging to meet up with a hitman to have Marish bumped off.”

“I’m not gonna spoil it. We’ll watch it from there tomorrow.” I turned off the TV and started pulling blankets off her.

She snorted, climbing over my legs to stand up. “I already know they manage to take out Marish.”

“Yeah, but you don’t know how,” I said slyly, then accidentally blurted, “And it’s not through a hitman.”

“Damn. Now I’m intrigued.” She held out a hand to help me up. “We need to find a show you haven’t watched yet so we can be surprised together and you’re not sitting there all smug because you know what’s going to happen.”