Frenley sat down with his usual lunch in his hands. But even that won't normally cause him to smile too much. Today is the day he and Mia have been promised for an expedition. Frenley enjoyed training with the tall beauty, but he was itching to explore the wider world of his dreams. Level up some more and get some better loot while at it.
Frenley opened the food container, grabbed his fork, and placed his phone on the table. He opened the notebook app and started typing with one hand while eating. The man was working on the weekend session he would run. Seeing as no one had come forward with any new system to try, much to the girls' disappointment. Frenley wrote key details, puzzles, and the main creature they would be running from. Story beats and the like.
“Excuse me.”
The feminine voice took Frenley out of his trance; he looked up, placing his fork down as he finished swallowing his food. What stared down at him was a Latina woman. Taller than him, with flowing long brown hair that reached her lower back. Soft brown eyes and a friendly, relaxed expression on her tan skin.
“How can I help you?”
“I am sorry, but do I know you? You look oddly familiar.”
Frenley turned his head to the side and frowned a bit. He couldn't lie that she did look familiar, but he could never forget knowing a pretty girl like her. Shaking his head, Frenley turned off his phone, not wanting people to see his notes.
“Sorry, I don't really recognize you. Maybe you have the wrong person.”
“Yeah, maybe you are. Sorry for that. Enjoy your meal.”
“It's all good, enjoy your lunch too.”
As the woman started to walk away, Will showed himself. The man looked at the tan woman with curiosity, then turned to Frenley. Will sat down, looking at the woman as she went to join her similarly confused friends. Will looked at Frenley with a sly smile.
“What was that dude?”
“Hell, I don't know. She said I looked familiar, told her I didn't recognize her, and then left after apologizing.”
“Huh... my dude, she was flirting with you.”
“You are mentally insane if you believe that was flirting.”
“What other reason would a random girl come up to you and ask if you are familiar, if not to make conversation to get to know you better. Believe I know.”
Frenley looked at his friend with furrowed brows.
“Just shut up and eat.”
Will said nothing as he ate with a soft smile on his face.
“Don't you dare.”
Frenley said, not even looking up from his phone as he ate.
“I was not gonna do anything.”
“I know your fucking ass. Don't you dare.”
“Fine…”
Will said with defeat in his tone as the two friends enjoyed their lunch together. Will was the first one to finish and said his goodbyes, wishing Frenley good luck on his conquest of the Latina woman. That earned the man a kick to his leg from the still sitting Frenley. Frenley finished his lunch a couple of minutes later and started walking to the elevator, throwing the trash and getting a water bottle along the way.
He drank from his bottle as he called for the elevator. It didn't take the elevator long to open, and as he walked inside, he noticed a group of three women walking towards it. One of them was the woman who interrupted his lunch with a soft grunt of the awkwardness that would ensue. He held the door for the group.
“Ah, thank you, love!”
“You are-”
Frenley stopped as he looked at the tall woman, ignoring her two friends' thank-yous. Images started to overlap. A tall woman with tan skin, brown hair tied up in a bun, and brown eyes full of friendliness and warmth. His voice came out as a small whisper, scared to get it wrong.
“- welcome, dear.”
The tall woman's eyes went wide as well, a similar process happening in her mind; he could see the slow realization behind her brown eyes. Both opened their mouths at the same time, and as their voices melted together, the girl friends jumped in surprise.
“Mia!?”
“Frenley!?”
“Haha, holy fucking shit! I knew I recognized you!”
The tan woman said as she reached over and hugged Frenley tightly; the man gladly returned the favor, trying to keep his face away from her chest. Thankfully, the hug was not as bone-crushing as it was in the dream. The hug soon ended after a few seconds; Mia smiled widely, hand on her hip as she looked at Frenley.
“Man, the world really is a small place!”
“Haha, tell me about it.”
Soon, a small cough came from behind Mia, forcing the duo to look at the other two women.
“Care to introduce us, Mia?”
“Ah, yes, yes! Frenley, these are my friends. Emy and Ivy! Girls, this is Frenley.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Frenley.”
Emy said, a petite, pale woman with short blond hair and green eyes. She extended her hand, and he happily took it.
“Hope Mia hasn't tired you out too much.”
Said the other woman, Ivy, who had green-dyed hair. Brown eyes and a modest figure. When she extended her hand, Frenley happily took it.
“... Wait, aren't you the guy from last week?”
“Ah shit, you are right, Emy. But Mia, you didn't recognize him then, and you are usually good with faces.”
Mia's face freezes for a second, then returns to normal. Thankfully, she was the one who spoke, for Frenley would be too nervous to answer.
“That is because I didn't know him then! We met at the gym on the weekend. We were training together during the evening.”
“Yes! What she said.”
“I just didn't recognize him in his suit and tie. Way different look when he is in workout clothes.”
Frenley nodded his head, but soon the noise of their arrival on his floor sounded off.
“Well, I must go off now; it was a pleasure to meet you all and to know Mia is close by.”
“Wait, love.”
“Um?”
Frenley turned to look at Mia, who had taken out her phone and showed it to him.
“Give me your phone number.”
“Ah- sure, sure!”
Frenley said as he grabbed the phone with shaking hands and started entering his number. He placed his foot on the door of the elevator to stop it from closing. After typing his number and sending himself a message. He gave it back to Mia. Who took it with a bright smile.
“Thank you! See you later today!”
“Yes!”
Frenley said as he walked out of the elevator with a skip to his steps. His heart was beating too fast for him to hear the gossip the girls were talking about, probably about Frenley if the man had to take a guess. Frenley took out his phone and saved Mia's number in a heartbeat. He tried to fight the silly smile that was crawling up his face as he stared at his phone. Soon, another message came, a small winky face emoji.
‘Holy shit! I got her phone number without even asking! Let's calm down... she is just a friend! Slowly but steadily.’
The man thought to himself as he made his way to his computer: he would send Mia a message. ‘With a bang,’ which earned him a laughing emoji from the tall woman. Frenley sat on his computer and fought the urge to text Mia.
‘Fuck, night couldn't come sooner!’
The rest of the day passed in the blink of an eye. Thankfully for Frenley, he didn't have to fight his urge to text Mia, for the girl started texting him during work. The texting even continued as Frenley walked home, a smile on his face as he saw Mia send him a meme. Frenley shook his head and heartened the message. The messages died down once he got home. Frenley worked on preparing food for today and tomorrow. By the time Frenley was done, he did things to keep himself alive. He then went straight to his bed and fell asleep.
It didn't take long for the familiar process of waking up in the dream to occur. Frenley looked around, his eyes scanning for the figure he was hoping to see. It didn't take long for him to notice a tall, tan woman sitting in her ass, shaking her head as she slowly woke up. Frenley walked up to her with fast steps, reaching her before Mia had to stand up.
“Let me help you out.”
“Ah, thank you, love.”
Mia said as she grabbed Frenley's hand and stood up. The tall woman stretched herself, and Frenley tried his best not to stare at her figure as she did.
“Man, what are the odds we worked at the same building?”
“Haha, tell me about it, love. When I saw you eating lunch, I was like, ‘He would look better with long hair.’ Then I noticed you look similar and I couldn't hold myself from asking.”
Frenley tries his best not to focus on her comment. His feet naturally started to move as he tried to fight his growing blush at the compliment.
‘Maybe I should let my hair grow out a bit more.’
“Anyway, ready to start our first expedition?”
“Sure thing! Let me see how to add you to the party.”
Frenley went through his mind and soon found the answer; he sent out a mental invitation to Mia, who happily accepted. The moment she did, he could feel her presence, both physically and spiritually. A small reminder at the back of his mind of how healthy she was.
“Huh, interesting.”
“What a nice thing; this will let me know if I am doing my job as a tank correctly.”
“Tank?”
“Of course, that is my build. You seem to be going for some hybrid build, correct?”
“Yes, always love playing as a magic swordsman in games.”
“Haha, so you will be DPS; I will take all the hits so you can kill the enemy.”
“Sounds great to me, dear. Let's get going.”
“Um”
Mia stopped as she looked at someone. Fren followed her eyes, and they landed on a short, silver-haired woman. Fox ears on top of her head and tails swinging side to side behind her. The woman held onto a staff, her body dressed in soft, flowing robes. She looked like a wizard, the way the brown and blue robes clung to her body. Mia started walking towards the lost-looking woman, Frenley following behind, confused about what was going on.
“Hey there, cutie! You good?”
The kitsune turned to look at the source of the voice, looking a bit surprised and relieved.
“I am all good, just trying to gather the courage to enter the expedition again.”
“Um?”
A confused sound came from behind Mia, causing the silver-haired woman to look at Frenley with some recognition.
“Ah, you're the girl from the other day! Sorry for hitting you with my tails; they sometimes have a mind of their own.”
“He is a man.”
“Huh?”
“Yep, I know how he looks. But he is a man with a dick and balls. Thought I hadn't seen them yet, so maybe it's all a lie.”
“I do have them, and can we please not talk about questioning my manhood.”
“Haha, sorry, love, won't do.”
‘If I looked like a real man, this wouldn't happen! How does that make sense that my deepest desire is to look like a freaking femboy!?’
‘Don't know... that is a question you must ask yourself. Maybe knowing yourself will help answer that and more questions.’
‘Ailice, I didn't know you were a philosopher.’
“Sorry for misgendering you, it was not my intention!”
The fox girl said as she bowed down, which made Frenley focus on the conversation again.
“Hey, don't worry! It happens. It's not your fault, I know how I look.”
“Still, I am very sorry..”
“It's all good, cutie, so why are you gathering courage to tackle the expeditions?”
“Well, I tried them out this weekend and just kept dying. It is quite hard fighting them with only magic. Fucking tutorial boss took me a whole day to kill it.”
“Shit... that is no good; I am sorry to hear that.”
Frenley said, looking at the fox girl.
“It's okay, my fault for choosing a magic-based class.”
“Well, if it ain't too much of a bother, you can join us. Frenley and I can take the hits for you, and you can focus on blasting them away.”
“Really?”
The fox girl said, looking at them, stars in her eyes. Frenley smiled softly, and the tall woman next to him chuckled with delight. Frenley sent the silver fox girl an invitation, and she accepted it in a heartbeat.
“Welcome to the party-”
“Risa, that is my name.”
“-Risa, we promise to protect you.”
As Mia shook the silver fox's hand, Frenley did the same. But he could not help but think where he had heard that name before.
‘There is no way she is the same Risa from the gym, is she? What are the odds of that?’