AnimeCon Harem 9: 9 pt 5 (Patreon)

Should probably pace myself, or something, Brian reminded himself. May FEEL like I’m in great form today, but realistically, that’s probably just… I dunno, all of these crazy circumstances. How could I NOT feel outstanding right now?

It was almost an entire hour later in the day than yesterday’s morning run had been, and the downtown area was likewise that much busier. Brian weaved around group after scattered group of pedestrians as he led Stephanie on a light jog across the broad city sidewalks. He’d intended on taking it a bit slower today in consideration of his new running partner and her smaller stride—but, if anything, he’d swear he was moving at an even faster clip than his ordinary speed. For the hundredth, possibly thousandth time since setting out, he turned to make sure Stephanie was still right there behind him.

She was—and she couldn’t possibly be any more enticing. Fluffy pink hair bobbed with the motion of her gait, Stephanie was slightly flushed with exertion, and those tiny little huffing breaths she let out as she jogged were somehow intensely sexual—they always immediately filled his mind with all kinds of untoward notions. Eagerly following after him just a short space away, Stephanie flashed him that lovestruck smile that made him feel light and a little dizzy.

Regarding her in normal circumstances she was already extraordinary, but seeing her when she was physically active brought on an entire new dynamic that was more arousing than he could have imagined. Against all expectations, Stephanie could really run. She wasn’t in average shape—she was in fairly athletic shape. It was a pleasant surprise, and when he discovered she could just about keep up with him he found within himself several new nuances of respect joining the fiery whirl of affection and adoration he already possessed for her.

Brian reluctantly turned his attention forward to prevent from crashing into anyone.

Crossing the morning walkways, avenues, and thoroughfares side-by-side wasn’t feasible now with all of the foot traffic of commuters and occasional clusters of AnimeCon attendees out and about in the area, but somehow to Brian that made this even better. Running together like a couple held that certain appeal, but with this positioning, their run felt like a game, it felt like a chase, it filled him with energetic excitement and seemed to spur him on to push towards new limits. After that long, frosty relationship with Chloe, it felt incredible to have someone expressing interest in him, and it was amazing beyond any ability to express that Stephanie was not only just receptive of him and interested in him, but actually—even literally—pursuing him.

He snuck another glance back.

Stephanie positively beamed a pleased smile at him as if in response to his very thoughts, almost making him lose his footing and stagger. They seemed to be on a certain shared wavelength, and as impossible as it sounded to him, it was like she knew exactly how he felt—like she was intent on affirming his thoughts. The encroaching heat of Stephanie’s good mood intensified and became overwhelming if he looked back for too long, so Brian quickly turned his attention forward again to continue making his escape.

Hah ha, this is, yeah, this is WAY more fun than it should be, Brian thought, unable to suppress a lopsided grin. She really is my Sunshine. I haven’t felt like this in… ever. Feels like I could jump over all these goddamn buildings right now.

Hardly even breathing heavily at all, Brian dashed on ahead, each long stride filled with thrumming power as he skirted around slow-moving walkers and then made a turn at the intersection. In previous years, he’d discovered that keeping up his typical morning routine in the locale of a city was an entirely different beast, one that relied on timing and a bit of luck with the crosswalk signals. This late in the morning, there were too many cars rushing by to simply jaywalk across wherever he pleased like yesterday, and he felt a little sheepish being forced to choose a route that seemed to circle around certain city blocks several times.

Unable to resist, Brian twisted slightly to look behind him again.

Stephanie continued to bound after him with that blinding smile of hers. The smile was incredible, overpowering, even. Her bright expression was so full of sheer, unfettered happiness that simply making eye contact with her seemed to form an arcing current of giddy affectionate cheer through the air between them to always land a smile on his face in response. It wasn’t quite like the look he and Emily would sometimes share, a meaningful one where they both knew exactly what inside-joke had sprung to the other’s mind, this with Stephanie was a much more simple, almost primal transmission of emotions.

We’ve really got it bad, huh?

The pair passed by cosplayers heading towards the convention and unimpressed office workers dressed for business, they gave a wide berth around a woman who was walking a leashed pair of golden retrievers—who regarded the two runners with wagging tails and open-mouthed, panting smiles—and finally Brian began to plod to a stop at a small gathering of people waiting at a crosswalk. He turned, and opened his arms.

Stephanie jumped upon him, her sneakers entirely leaving the ground as she engulfing him in a hug right there amid everyone on the sidewalk. He gently spun her free of the momentum of their collision like he was sweeping a fairy tale princess off her feet, careful to ensure they didn’t lose their balance. She was radiating heated energy and raw sexual attraction right into him, she poured on that overloading smile all over at him at point blank, and he could practically feel the love rising up off of her like an open flame. They were both a little damp with perspiration, and somehow as the soft parts of her figure insistently pressed against him, them being in slighty sweaty contact together turned him on even more.

“Hey there, you,” Brian said, ignoring the looks from the people around them. “Too fast?”

“No, no,” Stephanie panted in his arms, giving him a squeeze. “That was—ohmigod, that was the best!”

“Yeah?” Brian asked.

He was interested in hearing her response, but his body instinctively moved in to kiss her before she had any chance to speak. Stephanie reciprocated immediately, and the people around them, the passing cars, and the towering city high-rises alike all seemed to drop away from his awareness as every iota of his attention was siphoned away into the sensation of her lips and eager tongue.

Holy shit.

There wasn’t an orchestral rock ballad of rising instrumentals surging up, but it sure felt like there was, and Brian once again forgot their surroundings entirely and embarked on a journey through time and space to explore the hungry kiss of his beautiful new girlfriend. On her part, it was as if their chase never ended, and she seemed determined to prove her own enthusiasm and passion in return.

They almost missed the crosswalk signal.

“Y-yeah,” Stephanie giggled as they scurried hand-in-hand after the already departed pedestrians they’d been standing with. “I—yeah! We can keep running longer, if you want.”

“Today, with you? I feel like we could just keep going on forever and ever,” Brian said. “I’ve gotta ask—do you run a lot?”

“No, never!” Stephanie smiled. “I used to bicycle a lot, though. Just about all summer I was biking around trying to get in shape.”

Yeah, that DEFINITELY explains some things, Brian realized, struggling not to lean back and give her behind an appreciative look. Jesus! Just imagining it, imagining Steph on a bicycle, standing those amazing legs of hers up to pump the pedals, those shapely thighs leading up to the perfect curvature of that ass sticking up in the air…

“Brian?” Stephanie blushed, lowering her voice to a soft purr. “...Where to, next?”

“Well, um,” Brian cleared his throat. “Right. Uh, it’s quite a bit after my normal time for this, so we've gotta get to that diner before the convention folk swamp in and there’s a wait.”

“Okay!” Stephanie agreed, giving his hand an encouraging squeeze. “I love you.”

“I love you,” he replied without a second thought.

It probably should have been strange professing their feelings after only knowing each other for a few days at the convention, but the words came out effortlessly and unbidden. Stephanie admitted the words without thought, blurted them out without ever having to pause for consideration. The tacit honesty of the girl wielding the phrase against him had him replying in kind before he’d even realized how quickly their relationship had jumped to this stage of trust.

“It’s not—uh, it’s not too soon for us to be saying that, right?” Brian asked, unable to help but worry a little bit. “It’s not weird?”

“I have no idea!” Stephanie admitted with a bashful shrug. “I’m just saying how I feel, I—I don’t know that there is any too soon, with you. I feel, um, the way I feel. There’s only, uh, there’s only not enough and please please please give me more and I wish this could last forever!”

“Whew,” Brian chuckled, unable to contain his grin. “I’m definitely in trouble. And here I thought Kelly was the one I had to watch out for.”

“She is!” Stephanie’s cute cheeks quirked into a mischievous smile this time. “She really is, she’s just the worst! You have no idea! I bet you anything that the moment we get back to the room, we’ll walk in on her making out with Emily.”

“Hah, yeah right,” Brian snorted, shaking his head. “I don’t think Emmie swings that way, and good luck budging her at all right now without coffee or energy drinks.”

“Without her Emily-gizer?” Stephanie giggled.

“Yeah, that,” Brian nodded.

He paused for a moment, feeling his smile slip away.

“Actually… about Emily, I’m a little worried.”

“Worried?” Stephanie blinked up at him.

“I mean… it was her first time, last night,” Brian pointed out. “And I wasn’t, uh, I wasn’t goin’ easy on her at all. None of us were. We were all too worked up, things got a little…”

“Amazing?” Stephanie supplied.

“I was gonna say rough,” Brian said. “Physically intense? Too much? Kinda fretting over it after the fact, like. How is it going to make her feel, will she regret it, is she gonna be hurting and sore, are things between us—”

“She loved it,” Stephanie interrupted, bouncing up on the balls of her feet to peck a kiss onto Brian’s cheek. “She loves you. You gave her everything she ever wanted, and then showed her that there was even more. So much more.”

“Maybe,” Brian shrugged. “I hope so, yeah. Still…”

“Emily’s just fine,” Stephanie promised, giving his hand another squeeze. “Besides, I think you’re probably the real Emily energizer. You’re... already my energizer.”

“No, you!” Brian retorted.

“No, you!” Stephanie played along.

“Oh, wow, geez,” Brian laughed. “Here I thought only Emily and I were childish enough to get that going back and forth. We get into the ‘no, you’ all the time.”

“Happy to fill in for her in her absence!” Stephanie replied in a cheerful voice. “Anytime. Someone’s got to, if she’s this bad with mornings, hah ha.”

The two held hands and walked on in contentment for the rest of the block. Brian and Stephanie were in a strange, slightly surreal sweet spot where they both felt perfectly at ease conversing and joking around as though they had years of familiarity with each other. When they lapsed into silence afterwards, neither even found it awkward. An intimate bond continued to connect them, and they kept drawing comfort from the simple pleasure of each other’s company, without feeling any compulsion to grasp for new topics or force small talk.

This is… so amazing. Nothing with Chloe was EVER like this, not even in the beginning, when things were good between us.

They finally arrived together at the entrance of the nearby diner where Brian had ordered breakfast platters for them the morning before, and Brian suddenly went stiff, jerking to a stop.

“...Holy fuck,” Brian mumbled. “Wow. Steph, are you seeing this?”

“Seeing what?” Stephanie asked, glancing around them in alarm.

“Look,” Brian opened the first set of double-doors for her, gesturing Stephanie inside the small alcove of the diner entrance. “Right there, right in here.”

The squat shape of a cylindrical waste bin with an ashtray compartment on top sat there, along with a coin-fed newspaper stand and the bulky shape of an enormous claw game machine, its glass-encased display packed full of a menagerie of brightly-colored stuffed animals.

“What is it?” Stephanie giggled. “What am I looking at?”

“You don’t recognize her?” Brian teased, tapping the boxy metal shape of the newspaper stand with his running shoe. “Seems like a suspiciously... familiar-looking girl made front page of the Sunday Morning Gazette.”

“Familiar-looking? Sunday Morning Gaz—oh my God!”

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/// RE:TT post tomorrow, hopefully getting in the next Gamer Girls rewrite section in the day after that. If you're a Fan or Attendee patron curious about the AHE project posts that are locked behind VIP status, don't worry about them. There's not too much to see with that... yet.