Ch 49. Boyz Night II

They had only a few moments to grab weapons. John grabbed the trident he’d been eyeing, Eric a sword and shield, and Rene a spear, and Ben a massive axe.

“Fight!” yelled Hargreeve from the edge of the arena, his proclamation met by roars from the phantom crowd as the enemy gladiators began to move toward them.

Rene surprised John by being the first to rush in, stabbing through one of the figments with his spear.

Eric followed him, blocking a blow on his shield before cutting another of the phantoms down with his sword.

John decided to follow suit and ran forward with his trident slamming its prongs into the chests of one of the training summons with enough force that he pushed him back into one of the pillars in the arena. He was surprised at how real it felt. He expected the vaguely immaterial training figures to just kind of vanish when he hit them, but instead he felt the flesh give was as the trident pierced it. He was so distracted by the sensation that he didn’t even notice another of the figments approaching from behind.

He felt a sudden sharp pinch in his back and yelped a bit as he leapt toward the pillar in front of him. He had been run through by a phantom sword. He squared up, managing to block a follow up swing from the figment and slamming the shaft of the trident into its face. It was… satisfying. He had a stomach full of beer and meat and he could see his friends fighting their own figment opponents with savage joy. He smiled as he ran forward to run through another fake gladiator. Had it been real flesh and blood, he would’ve been queasy, but this he could enjoy.

The rest of the time was a blur. At some point Hargreeve had put up a scoreboard to show how everyone was doing, which made them all more competitive almost immediately. Ben had the advantage of his massive size, but Rene reminded them all that he was a veteran of a world war, pilot or not, and wound up with the highest score. John had the lowest, but he was having fun so didn’t mind too much. John had vague recollections of them all demanding that the difficulty get cranked up and they all soundly got their asses kicked, but that was to be expected.

Sometime in the middle of their session Hargreeve brought out some of his favorite wine for everyone before they charged back into the fray. The rest of the fighting lasted ten glasses of wine before they needed to clear out. It was nearing early morning and the arena needed to be prepared for a real fight later in the day.

Hargreeve escorted them back out of the arena when their time was up.

“You all fought worse than the rawest of recruits. You’ve got the spirit though!”

“Thanks Hargreeve,” replied John. “I had a lot of fun.”

He nodded. “You all need me to throw you into your carriage or will you be able to make it up a step?”

“I think I can make it,” he lied. Between all the exertion and the booze he wasn’t exactly feeling steady on his feet, but he didn’t like the idea of feeling like a toddler when the gladiator picked him up.

The carriage arrived with its customary trail of fire and they all, somehow, managed to stumble their way in.

“Well, that was all I had boyz,” said Ben with a smile as he leaned back so far in his seat he may as well have been laying down.

“You did great,” said John with a smile, noticing a small wine stain on his pants even through his blurry vision.

“Yeah,” said Eric, his voice somehow unslurred. In fact, he seemed barely buzzed. “Good job.”

“Je me suis éclaté,” said Rene, his eyes barely open as he leaned against the window of the carriage.

The carriage moved and they all sat in quiet exhaustion and inebriation. Eric’s house was first, then Rene’s apartment he shared with Esme, and then John got out, waving a last goodbye to Ben as he shielded his eyes from the light of the sun. He opened the door to his apartment tree and climbed up the stairs very carefully, glad that no one was there to see him in his current state. He made it to the apartment itself and when he was about to place the key in the lock, it opened from the inside to reveal Andressa smiling wearing a comfortable black robe.

He smiled, too tired and drunk to feel self conscious about the state he was in and just happy to see her.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you this morning,” he said, leaning in for a kiss which she returned with a nibble on his lower lip with her sharp teeth.

“You smell like a brewery that brews beer using sweat,” she said as he made his way inside.

“That’s not a surprise,” he said, peeling off his jacket, then his Boyz Night t-shirt. “After drinking and eating Ben had us all at the arena for drinking and fighting. Not many gaps in the drinking.”

“You fought?” asked the demoness with a smile as she went to pour him a glass. “I’m surprised you managed to make it back under your own power.”

“I fought a pretty light show of people. It wasn’t made to be difficult, just fun.”

“Where did you drink?”

“A place called Elitiri’s. Very good food.”

“Oh,” said Andressa, smiling as she handed him the glass of water. “That wouldn’t have happened to be Elitiri’s Jugs would it?”

He coughed a bit, but managed to keep the water down and swallow it. “You know of it?”

“Most succubi have a standing job offer there, though obviously I’m not the type they usually hire,” she leaned forward a bit as she spoke and John found himself peering down her robe.

“Could’ve fooled me.”

She smiled at him.

“Was that out loud?” he asked, a bit of blush touching his cheeks.

She went a shade of red darker. “Drink your water and let's get you in the shower. I don’t want you to have to spring for a cleansing spell when you sweat a gallon of alcohol into your new bed.”

“Fair point,” he replied, leaning in for another kiss.

She returned it, but frowned. “Definitely have a rinse of that teeth cleaning potion too.”

He finished stripping off his clothes and made his way to his shower, nearly falling over when he stepped into the water without activating the heating enchantment. He spent far too long in it, with his head leaned against a wall, but managed to wash. Once he was done he dried off and cleaned his teeth.

He was starting to sober up and his inebriation was giving way to a bone-deep weariness. He made his way back to the kitchen and made himself drink one more glass of water before he made his way back to his bedroom.

Andressa was lounging in it, and she placed her book down as he entered.

“So, did you have a good time?”

“I did actually,” he said as he laid down, wrapping his arms around her waist and laying his head on her chest. She used her tail to fix the blanket as he settled on her. “I usually feel a bit of a barrier with them, which I should because they’re my patients, but it was nice for us all to just see each other as friends for a change.

She began running her fingers through his hair.

“And do you feel good and manly?” she asked wryly.

“I slayed scores of enemies in honorable gladiatorial combat. Of course I do,” he yawned heavily and let his full weight rest on her. She was smaller than him so sometimes he forgot she could probably lift and throw him across a field if she wanted to.

“And do you still feel manly now that you smell like lavender and are laying in a soft bed?” she asked with a smile.

“I absolutely do,” he replied, closing his eyes.

She laughed softly and kept running her fingers through his hair. He very quickly began to drift off, the warmth of her, the comfort, the exhaustion, all pushing away the last of the adrenaline of a fun night out until darkness began to creep into the edges of his vision.

As he was dozing, nearly asleep, Andressa spoke one last time.

“Now it’s my turn to tell you I love you when I think you're asleep,” she said, taking her hands out of his hair to instead squeeze him tightly.

He fell asleep in her arms.