Ep. 30 – Fitting In (II) - [BL] The System Runs on Magic

"Basics," I said. "Hoodies, jeans. Underwear. Socks."

I grabbed a few things from the nearest display and headed toward the fitting rooms. Llewellyn followed, which I should have expected by now. He leaned against the wall outside the fitting room while I tried on a pair of dark jeans and a hoodie that was a bit… um.

The jeans fit well enough. I stepped out to check the mirror.

Llewellyn looked me over, then reached out and tugged the hood up over my head.

Hey!

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"There," Llewellyn said. "You look like you're about to terrorize old ladies on your skateboard."

I snorted. He wasn't wrong.

"Been playing that skateboard game with spears too?"

Llewellyn huffed a laugh.

"…"

It took superhuman strength not to yank him inside the fitting room and pin him against the wall.

I shoved him lightly and went back into the fitting room to try the next set.

The second set was closer to what I usually wore—plain, easy to move in, and the hoodie was great. I kept those and made a mental note to grab a couple of color variations of the same model before we went to pay.

"Done?" Llewellyn asked. "Then try this one."

He threw something at me and I grabbed it just in time.

"What is—" I snorted. "Do you have a cashmere detector? This doesn't seem like the shop for this kind of stuff."

"Just try it on," he said.

I sighed and did. It was a simple gray sweater, not particularly fancy looking, but… it was very soft.

"Alright," I said. "I'll get this too."

Llewellyn looked smug. He was leaning against the wall outside the fitting room again with his arms crossed.

He looked…

"…"

I yanked him inside the fitting room, pinned him against the wall, and kissed him.

Llewellyn grinned and flipped us over, kissing me back.

"Better take these clothes off," he said, kissing down my throat—then lifting the hem of the cashmere sweater I was wearing, and taking it off. "Wouldn't want to ruin them before buying them."

A second later he went for my jeans too.

Fuck.

This was highly inappropriate, but—

I'd meant to just put my own clothes back on and get out of here, but Llewellyn slid a hand inside my underwear and I lost it.

I let out a noise and went for his trousers too.

As I did so, I watched Llewellyn equip something.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Misdirection artifact," he said against my throat. "Will keep customers and staff away from this area for a bit."

I kissed him hard and dropped down on my knees.

Llewellyn let out a noise of surprise. I could feel his reaction through the bond, so… I leaned in and took him in my mouth.

Llewellyn cursed. His fingers closed around my head. A few minutes later he tugged me up, pressed me back against the wall, and kissed me hard.

"Not enough time for both of us—" he said, kissing me and taking us both in hand. "It's faster this way."

It would have been great if we had the time to take out the vials and—

"What was that?" Llewellyn asked, biting down on my lower lip.

Fuck. I pulled him into another kiss.

Llewellyn grinned. "You're avoiding the question."

"I'm not. Just— something we don't have the time for right now."

Even just kissing was great, so both things combined right now were just—

Llewellyn trapped my wrists above my head and picked up the pace.

A few moments later I was already shuddering. Llewellyn followed right after, still holding me in place.

"Wish I could have taken you properly against this wall," he mumbled against my skin, sucking a new mark a bit lower. "Next time."

"…"

Suddenly, I wanted so much to go down on my knees and lick him clean that I was almost blinded by it.

I wasn't going to do it.

I definitely wasn't going to.

Then Llewellyn made eye contact, and asked, "What was that just now? Through the bond?"

And… yeah, there it went.

I tugged my wrists free, pulled him into a rough kiss, and went down on my knees.

Llewellyn looked startled for a split second, then turned on again.

Llewellyn's grip on my head was gentler this time, his chest rising and falling.

When I finally stood up, he pulled me into a kiss before smoothing himself out and leaning back against the wall, openly ogling.

I collected the hoodie, sweater and jeans I intended to buy and threw them at him.

"Can you grab all these in three different colors or something?" I asked. "I'll join you in a moment."

Llewellyn seemed amused.

"Fine," he said. "It's better that I get out of here before I jump you again."

My stomach jolted in complete agreement with the plan, and Llewellyn looked smug.

Damn it.

I watched him leave the fitting room as I changed back into my clothes.

My heartbeat was still very fast.

I put my trench coat on and left the fitting room too, grabbing some socks and underwear on the way as I headed to the checkout, where Llewellyn was already waiting and paid before I could even pull out my card.

"Hey," I said as we left the shop. "You didn't have to do that."

"Does it matter who pays?" Llewellyn asked, raising an eyebrow. "It all comes from the System anyway."

…Okay, he had a point.

I looked into the bag. "Wait, I'd said only one per color!"

***

By the time we were done, I was carrying four bags and Llewellyn three more.

"I've never bought this many clothes at once before," I said.

"Your flat has never been blown up before—that makes it a necessity," Llewellyn said.

Ugh. He was right.

We stopped at a café on the ground floor, and Llewellyn ordered us both coffee and some kind of savory pastry.

I sat across from him, sipping my coffee.

"This is nice," Llewellyn said happily.

It was.

However...

"Not to ruin the mood," I said with a sigh. "But we really need to think about what to do from now on. Should we investigate? But what? Should we focus on how to get to the bottom of the Knots? The Alliance? I don't mean just because of my flat, I just mean… We can't keep jumping into fights when the System summons us and nothing else, or one day we really might encounter a Distorted Realm that's too insane—and then what? We should try to get to the root of it if we can."

"I have tried to figure out how to stop the Knots from forming before," Llewellyn said. "Multiple times over the years. It's not much different from trying to stop an earthquake from occurring. I don't think we currently have the means to do it, magical or otherwise."

…He had a point.

"What about the Alliance?"

Llewellyn nodded. "We can start looking into them, but I don't want any unnecessary interactions with them. They're dangerous, and frankly I don't want to deal with whatever they're up to. That said, we both had attempts on our lives—not to mention your Gran, assuming this was all them. And they were definitely interested in both Gilded and Penguin. If they keep targeting us it will be a problem."

To say the least.

I knew neither of us wanted to, but—

"We should both start doing some research," I said, "and then share what we find."

Llewellyn hummed. "Fine. Let's go pick up Penguin first."

***

When we got back to Yeonvale Residences, Penguin and Gran had about two hundred cookies ready or something.

"He's very fast," Gran said, patting Penguin happily. "No need to use the oven at all, he just bakes them himself."

Penguin chirped.

Well!

"But what are you going to do with all those?" I said, gawking. "Planning to open a bakery?"

"These are yours," Gran said, dumping two huge bags into our arms. "These other ones I'm going to share with some of the other residents."

We were getting ready to leave when—