Commission: A Harem His Own - Preview 2

It's been busy busy busy trying to get everything I need done in the new apartment (money's also extremely tight... =_=") so forgive it was a while between previews. The story is progressing nicely, so enjoy yourself an exerpt from the most recent check in with the client!

"Just because he had a plan didn’t mean it didn’t still hurt. The look on her face, the complete disinterest, would haunt Ryan as he waited for the diva to arrive for his tutoring. Once more the magical powder was itching to be used, sitting at the edge of his desk, weighing on him morally.

Should he really do this? Confidently he kept telling himself “yes”, that with her as his own he'd make her the happiest woman alive. Deep down though, he wondered if he was right in that assumption. If it was right at all to change her to win her.

Such reveries were brought to a close when the sound of echoed knocking reached his ears. He heard his mother answer the door with, “He’s just upstairs,” signaling his fantasy had arrived, and the moment to decide was drawing near. Each creak of the steps caused his heart to quicken, until he felt it hammering heavy in his throat, in perfect rhythm with the light rapping of his dream girl's delicate hand on his door.

“Come in,” the boy croaked nervously.

The handle turned, and on her shapely legs in stepped Julianne. “Ready to go over what you were daydreaming through today Ry?” she teased him, closing the door behind herself to ensure them privacy to study.

In this moment, she seemed all the more radiant than the rest of the day combined. Maybe it was the change of clothes, to a simple modest-cut tank top and skirt, or maybe it was just knowing she was so close to being his. “Yeah,” the redheaded boy replied meekly, cheeks flush. If only she knew what he'd been dreaming about.

Gliding over on long steps she plopped her bag down and pulled up a seat, quickly fishing out her textbook and laying it open on the desk. She was organized to a fault, the points from today marked with little red sticky tabs, with their three pages of homework tabbed in yellow. “Alright, so what all did you actually catch?” she asked with a warm smile, not holding any judgement for his drifting off; or what had happened at the swim meet.

He explained what little he recalled, and she filled in the gaps, pointing out each of their connections to make sure he understood. He was only half paying attention, his thoughts drifting between the bag, only inches away from him, and what had been revealed to her earlier today. She hadn’t brought it up at all, which bothered him more than it happening in the first place. Before he could do anything, Ryan needed to know how she felt.

“Hey, about what happened at the pool today,” he let slip out while they were in the middle of solving one if the homework problems.

The smile on the angel's face dimmed, and she let out a heavy sigh. “Look Ryan, it isn’t you,” she started.

Without thinking the trim boy's hand went for the powder, fingers pressing through the fastening to grab a small handful. He could already hear the rejection in his mind, breaking his heart in twain, and wasn’t sure he could bear it even with his trump card.

“It’s just-“ she was cut off, her blue eyes widening in startled surprise as he blew a cloud of purple in her face. She breathed it deep, and there was a moment of nothing before she let out the cutest little sneeze that disturbed the few particles that had fallen upon her chest, and the desk.

Ryan was rightfully terrified, frozen in his seat, mind racing between different panicked thoughts. Maybe it didn’t work? It was just a dud and the witch had tricked him. Julianne would rise up and storm off, cussing him for what he'd done and never speak to him again. None of that happened though.

The beauty simply looked at him, a strange light in her eyes as she drank in the sight of him. “Wh-where were we?” she asked, as if nothing had happened over the past minute.

It wasn’t the worst-case scenario, but his heart sank. He watched as she brushed what was left of the magic substance from her chest, guiltily enjoying the quick peek he got of her cleavage when her finger caught in the neck of her top, then answered her simply. “We were working through problem four.”

“Right,” she was quick to reply, jumping back into it.

At least she hadn’t rejected him. They worked through the end of the lesson, finishing up their homework and closing their books for the night. “Same time next week?” the trim boy asked, finding at least a spark of his joy back with the normalcy.

“Yup,” the graceful dream replied, rising to her feet and catching the look he was giving when her bust reached eye level. “Hey Ry?”

Her address snapped him to attention, afraid he was about to get chewed out for staring. “Y-yeah?” he stammered, trying not to look too guilty.

She didn’t seem to mind, shyly scratching at her chin with one of her lithe fingers. “About the grad thing,” once more his nerves were overtaking him. “I think I'd like that, to go with you, but… maybe after a date first?” she suggested with a hopeful flutter of her eyes.

Ryan sat there stunned, his brain firing all synapses to process what he'd just heard. A date? “Of course!” the grin that spread across his face betrayed all the excitement of the horny teenager he was, no matter how hard he tried to hide in and maintain an air of cool.

The radiant beauty replied with a grin of her own. “Great, is tomorrow too early?”

It wasn’t early enough in the boy's mind. “No, it's fine,” he readily answered.

“Cool,” she bounced on her toes, slinging her bag up over her shoulder. “I’ll come by here before noon and we can head out together for lunch. We can go to my favorite place.”

“Sounds good,” he honestly didn’t care where they were going at that moment. It was with her, Julianne, on a weekend. They could be just going back to the school and it would be a dream come true.

“Awesome, I'll see you then,” she finished, ready to leave when she stopped. The golden blonde hopped back to him, dipping down and laying a quick kiss on the corner of his mouth before skipping off with a smile.

The trim boy was left stunned, once more struggling to come to terms with exactly what had just happened. She kissed him! A date tomorrow, and he'd even scored a first kiss. Once he was sure she was out of earshot he let out all the pent-up euphoria that had built in him with a victorious “Yes!”

He turned to the open bag, empty save for scraps. A part of him still couldn’t believe it, but it had worked; she was his. Or starting to be at least, magic or not he had to nail this date. How else would he live up to making her the happiest woman he could?" - A Harem His Own by Madam Materia