Chapter 395: Courageous Roka

"Argh..."

Roka groaned in her sleep as her pager started buzzing.

Because her arm was around Cero, he could feel the buzzing much more strongly, and his eyes opened

The multitude of Skills that he had acquired along the way would have warned him if there was any immediate danger, so he woke up relaxed despite the disturbance.

’Hm...?’

It took him a moment to notice the hand that lay on his chest as well as the arm around him. It took him a moment more to realize to whom they belonged.

Cero couldn’t help but let out a chuckle as he saw the way Roka was sleeping while holding onto him for dear life. Not only was her right arm around him, holding him tight, but her right thigh was also raised to rest on and around him.

’Why am I small spoon?’ He asked himself with another chuckle.

It certainly felt nice though, and Cero felt he had slept better than the last couple of nights.

Being away from Lith, Liz, Rea, and Raya had taken its toll. It was the first time he was separated from them for so long, and it had been less than a week.

The pager’s buzzing did not stop until it eventually woke Roka up.

Still half asleep, she pulled the arm on Cero off to quiet down the pager and rubbed her eyes with a yawn.

By the time that Roka opened her eyes, Cero had turned around to lie on his side. He stared at her with an amused, teasing smirk.

"Good morning." He said, expecting her to squirm and cower, expecting her to have forgotten that she had left her bed to slide into his own.

Roka’s gaze slowly moved to land on his face. Remaining silent, she reached for his face.

Her hand caressed his cheek tenderly, before making its way down to his shoulder and arm.

"Good morning," Roka responded while looking in his eye. "Cero."

Feeling her hand stroking his bare skin, he almost expected things to escalate further(Or hoped they would). Roka’s touch was... Different. Charged with something it usually lacked.

Her eyes, too. Her gaze lacked the typical embarrassment Cero had become accustomed to, the usual fearfulness that often made her look away.

"Did I..." She whispered, her warm hand still resting against the skin of his bare arm. "Wake you up?"

"The page did," Cero answered. "But I’m happy to wake up like this."

"Yeah?" Roka smiled and rolled to lie on her back. "What about it makes you happy?"

"Having you next to me, close to me."

Roka’s gaze momentarily moved to the ceiling before going back to him.

Cero wasn’t the only one to notice a change. Roka felt there was one too. Cero’s words seemed more truthful than usual, lacking the playfulness they usually held that often made her fear his words might be sarcastic or said in jest.

"You’re being awfully honest. How come?"

"You’re being awfully honest too, coming to my bed."

"Hm..."

Roka’s lips parted to respond, but the pager buzzed again, and it couldn’t be ignored.

The two stared at one another, and Roka pursed her lips while Cero sighed with a shrug.

"Guess we should go see what’s up," Cero said.

"Yeah..."

Neither moved... Until the pager buzzed again.

"I wonder what it’s about," She sighed, pushing herself out of the bed.

Cero couldn’t help but stare at her figure, tightly contained within the confines of the stretched skin-tight catsuit.

’No wonder the morning wood is even stronger today,’ He thought to himself, unable to look away.

Roka glanced at him.

"Getting up anytime soon?" She asked while opening a drawer.

"Yeah, soon." Cero didn’t want to get up and risk missing such a view.

Roka could feel his gaze lingering on her body. She didn’t mind. In fact, she felt quite good about it and didn’t shy away from picking out her uniform and putting it on slower than she normally would.

"So," Roka said, pulling on her shirt, "what do you think Nolan wants?"

"I don’t know."

"Since he’s paging us so early, it could be a problem with the ship."

"You think so?"

Tina and Gina could be heard through the walls and doors. They weren’t as relaxed and calm as Cero and Roka.

"It’ll be alright," Roka said, shrugging. "We spent months and months on that ship, and it got us all the way back to Wor. Nothing to worry about."

"Did I sound worried?"

"Yes..." She turned around, now fully clothed. "Or maybe you sounded uncomfortable for some reason?"

"What would make me uncomfortable?" Cero asked with a frown. "You’re not thinking that I’m uncomfortable with you in my bed, are you?"

"No, not uncomfortable about that." Roka scratched her head while standing at the center of the room. "You’re still in bed. What’s up with that?"

Watching her get dressed hadn’t helped calm down the morning wood one bit.

Regardless, Cero hopped off the bed. They were past... Those kinds of thoughts, which only held them back, he told himself.

Wearing nothing but a pair of XXL boxers which were stretched to the point of tearing, Cero was curious to see how she would react to... It being displayed so shamelessly.

Was she going to frown? Raise an eyebrow? Blush? Run out of the room? Break the tension with a joke and then do all of those in that very same order?

He hadn’t expected her to walk closer.

"I’ll head out first and let you get dressed." He hadn’t expected her to whisper that.

More than those two, he hadn’t expected her to kiss him.

It was a quick kiss, no more than a peck, and it left his lips yearning for more.

Roka kissed him, turned towards the door, and walked out of the room.

Left alone, Cero remained frozen for a moment.

She hadn’t reacted to it at all. She hadn’t even noticed it. She had kissed him.

"Hm..." Cero scratched his head. "What was that?" He was blushing a bit. "Giving me a quick kiss and leaving... It’s almost like we’re a married couple heading to work." Cero chuckled and started putting his clothes on.

Meanwhile, Roka had taken a detour to the bathroom.

’I kissed him! I did it!’ She clapped, pumped her fists, and all but cheered for herself. ’Yay! Alright!’

Things might be moving along after all.