Love Addict's RPG Vol. 2 Ch 71 (Patreon)

Ugh, I shouldn't have forced myself to edit this tonight. Feel like junk after pushing through it. I do think my overall condition is improving but doing stuff at night is just still not happening very well yet. Looking forward to the next chapter since it's a lewd one and those are always easier for me, but we'll see how it goes.

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Since no one was hungry for anything in particular, they picked something at random and ended up with Chinese food. Farming continued as Oliver and the girls awaited its arrival, ate when it got there, and then went back to farming as soon as they were done. The ceaseless grind of planting and watering crops went on for another two hours.

Mia escaped the addicting influence of Moondrop Mountain before anyone else, pausing the game right after it was saved. She stretched out with a yawn and said, "Mn, okay. Think I'm good."

"Wait, really? But the potatoes'll be ready for harvest in another day or two!" Oliver protested.

"And I gotta catch another ten carps before I can finish Jeremy's bulletin board quest!" Zoe whined.

"You know how this game works, perezosa. We won't stop at all if we don't stop now."

"So? It's not like you gotta work tomorrow. Come onnnn! I thought you wanted to hang out with me!"

"I do," Mia threw off her blanket and undid the recliner. "But there's other stuff I wanna do tonight, too."

Zoe raised a brow. "Sex stuff?"

"Drawing stuff, but we might go down that road while we're at it, sí. Depends."

"Ugh. Come on, Olive. Back me up here."

"Sorry," Oliver offered Zoe a pity smile. "Girlfriend said we might be going down the sex stuff road, and I just don't have the strength of will to say no to that."

Zoe crossed her arms, looking away and pouting. "Fine. Be that way, you fuckin' normies. I'll just go back to my room and play games by myself all night."

[Zoe has lost -1 Affection!]

Oliver almost did a double take, unable to believe Zoe had lost affection over this. It usually upset him whenever he saw number go down, but this time, it came across as more cute than anything else. Zoe's pettiness called to him, begging him to tease.

"Man, are you really gonna be that lonely without us?"

"Lonely?" Zoe scoffed. "Pft. Right. I'm not fuckin' lonely. That's stupid! It's just that I'm having a lot of fun with you guys and... I dunno. I think it'd suck to call it quits so early in the night. That's all."

"Sure, sure," Oliver nodded, then nudged Mia in a way Zoe couldn't see.

She turned her head to look at him, reading his encouraging expression. He wanted her to say something, Mia realized. The pressure was suddenly on. She struggled to get something out but ultimately did her best.

"You know we can play together literally whenever you want, right?" Mia asked quietly. "You just have to take a break once in a while and maybe find some more games that my... that I can handle. Doesn't gotta be all the time, maybe just a day or two here and there? If you let us know ahead of time, then it's not like we can't plan around it, sí?"

Zoe frowned as she looked at Mia and her big, bright, sleepy eyes. You'd have to be willfully ignorant to not notice they shimmered with hope, and Zoe wasn't that far gone. Maybe Olive was onto something with the whole 'kitten' thing.

Mia's pleading expression was the kind of look that made sinners out of saints.

A tiny crack formed as Zoe weighed how much fun she had tonight playing games with real people who liked and enjoyed her company against performing for the adoration of her fans. The answer wasn't clear-cut. One felt like a warm hug, the other felt like a drug.

Zoe lowered her head.

"I'll think about it..." was the best the addict could do.

Mia frowned, but Oliver rubbed her shoulder and smiled reassuringly. This was okay for now. It wasn't a battle they could win on day two, yet Zoe had already gone from dismissive to seemingly conflicted. All they had to do was keep chipping away.

She'd come around.

"Thank you, Zoe," Mia finally smiled and stood from Oliver's lap. "See you in the morning?"

Zoe sighed, pulled herself together, and returned to her trademark smirk. "Given that I live here? Yeah, you probably will. Better take good care of my simp in the meantime, though. Poor guy's been staring at my tits all night, so he's probably gonna pop as soon as you touch him."

Oliver felt the urge to defend himself but suppressed it and tried something more daring. Naturally, his compulsivity got in the way, and what was meant to be a simple flirtatious retort ended up about a thousand times more suggestive than intended.

"Well, it's never too late to join us for that pile-up if you're really that worried about me. Right, Mia?"

Mia and Zoe stared at him in dead silence as Oliver replayed the sentence in his mind, hearing it for the first time. The temptation to shrivel up and die was massive as the quiet stretched on, but he suffered through it and was rewarded for not cracking under pressure.

[Mia has gained +1 Affection! +1 Smooth Talker]

[Zoe has gained +1 Affection! +1 Smooth Talker]

"R-Right," Mia blushed. "It was an open offer..."

"I'm sure it fuckin' was," Zoe laughed and shook her head. "Sorry. Gonna be a hard pass on any potential threesome shit for now, but I liked the attempt."

"For now?" He asked, showing much more restraint than Mia, whose eyes were so wide with bisexual hype that she looked like an owl.

"Oh, don't get your hopes up. Either of you. It was a slip of the tongue, I didn't... ugh, just fuck off, why don't you?" The gamer grumbled before burying her flushed face in her phone.

Oliver found the attempt to ignore them pretty adorable, but he also knew when to leave well enough alone. Mia's disappointment was wiped away when he took her hand and led her to her bedroom, replaced by a soft, satisfied smile.

Along with a BGM shift to Mia's theme, a notification awaited him the moment he closed the door- a big one.

[Mia's third Heart Event is now underway!]

His heart stopped, then raced excitedly once it properly processed the memo. It was finally here, taking place during the modeling session just like he'd assumed. Oliver could only imagine where this was heading and forced himself to chill so things could play out naturally.

Mia walked over to her work desk proudly displaying her new tablet. Then, she opened a large, vertical drawer on its side. She lingered, not taking anything out yet. "Just realized I didn't really ask. Are you still up for helping me with my art block tonight, mi amor? Cause we can always do this another time if you'd rather-"

"No, no, it's cool. The sooner, the better, right?"

"Mn, yeah. I'm raring to go, just... making sure you are..."

"You seem a little anxious. Have you ever done this kind of study before?"

"Only anxious 'cause it's you," she admitted. "I've done some work with live models in the past."

"Oh? Did you rope Zoe or Rebecca into posing for you, or what?"

"Becca's way too shy for this, and as much as I'd like to draw her, do you really think Zoe could stay still long enough for me to get a halfway decent sketch in?"

"...No, probably not,"

"Exactly," Mia started removing art supplies from the drawer, stacking them up. “Vista Venus University occasionally offers some figure drawing classes to the general public, and Zoe paid for a few weeks' worths for my birthday last year.”

“Oh, wow. That was really nice of her.”

“Sí. She's been spoiling me ever since her career took off. Hardly a week goes by without at least a box or two of unexpected anime merch showing up with my name on it..."

Oliver looked around the room, taking in all of Mia's posters, manga, figurines, and plushies. "And here I thought you were just an avid collector. Is that why you're so weird about it whenever I get you presents?"

"Might have something to do with it," she hung her head. "I like being useful and doing nice things for the people I care about. Never really sits right with me when I'm on the receiving end. Makes me feel self-conscious. Like I gotta pay things back somehow."

"I think paying back Zoe for all the presents she's gotten you after everything you've done for her should be the last thing on your mind,"

"Oh, it is," Mia expressed a mild laugh, then gestured at all the nice things in their surroundings. "Even my self-conscious ass knows I deserve all this shit, and I enjoy having it. Would just prefer Zoe to show her appreciation by spending her time on me and not her money."

"We're getting there. I feel like we made some major progress tonight."

"Think we did," Mia gently smiled as she finished preparing her tools. "But we've dwelled on Zoe enough for one night. Rather we got down to business."

"Can do. One last thing while we're still on the topic, though?"

"Mn?"

"Don't stress out about paying me back for the collar. You already did," he smirked. "In spades."

"Silencio," Mia blushed. "Now is work time. Horny time is later."

"Does that mean I won't be nude modeling?"

The fierceness of her blush instantly tripled. "Ah, um. Were you, ah... were you expecting to?"

"I don't know," Oliver joined her in her awkwardness, his confidence slipping as he worked hard to maintain his smile. "You never specified how we'd do this, so I was ready for anything."

"Mn, okay... wouldn't be against working up to it so long as you're comfortable, then. We'll stick to your underwear in the meantime."

"Working up to it sounds good,"

"You sure? Don't think I can't tell you're nervous about this, mi amor."

"I'm nervous about everything, Mia," Oliver laughed. "But I can't stand idly by while you struggle with your passion. Not when there's something I could be doing about it."

[Mia has gained +1 Affection! +1 Smooth Talker]

"Thank you," Mia smiled gently despite feeling overwhelmed beyond words. "Now go ahead and strip for me while I set up."

"Yes, kitten," he teased while slipping out of his work clothes and tossing them in a hamper stationed in the corner.

Mia looked him up and down before setting about her task, approving of what she saw. It was subtle, but Oliver didn't look like a twig anymore. More like a twig and a half. It made her excited to see where all his newfound forward momentum would take him, even if she worried about him becoming too handsome for her.

Mia cast these useless and harmful thoughts off and knelt down. She pulled something out from under her bed- a big, rustling box of anime pins- before setting it aside and yanking a folded easel hidden behind it. A few seconds later, she'd erected it in front of her chair, splaying open a brand new sketchbook on its rack.

Oliver couldn't help noticing her anxiety seemed to melt away the closer she got to drawing him. She was now back in her chair, a broad, placid smile on her calm face.

"Almost ready?"

"Sí," Mia chimed. "Just need to get everything where I want it and sharpen some pencils."

He watched her take a footstool from under her desk that she then transferred all her art supplies onto followed by a small trash bin for pencil shavings. Oliver cringed as she took up her hobby knife and dragged it against a pencil, shaving off a sliver like she'd taught him.

"Careful," he warned.

"Been doing this all my life, mi amor," she scoffed. "Happens to runs in the family, in case you- mierda!"

Oliver closed his eyes as Mia sucked on her freshly cut pointer finger. She glared at him to ensure he knew to keep his mouth shut. He did, keeping quiet as Mia applied a bandage to her wound. It only just occurred to him that an entire box of bandaids was mixed in among her assorted art supplies. 

"Okay, there," Mia grumbled after finishing her setup procedures and making herself comfortable. She'd only cut herself the one time as she focused harder to prevent a second embarrassment. "You good, mi amor? Not too cold? Would prefer you didn't, but you can always throw on a shirt if you absolutely need to."

"And deprive you of my stiff, chilly nipples?"

"Mn. Would be a crying shame, wouldn't it?"

"I'm good," he laughed. "Just tell me how you want me to pose."

Mia told him to start things off with something casual, so Oliver did his best and struck a pose. He went with one meant to look like he was walking along, noticed someone, and raised his hand to greet them. It came to him unconsciously, his body acting on the inherited knowledge of Vogueing Lv. 2 to pull this off.

She stared at him blankly for several moments, making him worry this wasn't what she was looking for. Then he noticed the stars in her eyes. Mia was perfectly content with his pose, getting right to work after opening a music player on her desktop to play a J-rock playlist.

Oliver's mind music melted away, replaced by catchy, incomprehensible vocals and the furious scritching of Mia's pencil.

As she worked through her first sketch, Oliver slowly realized this was much more difficult than expected. It wasn't that he was embarrassed or that maintaining the same pose was difficult. The problem was how distracting he suddenly found Mia while witnessing a brand new side to her he'd yet to encounter.

She currently stood in stark contrast to the chill, low-energy girl he'd come to know and love, as well as the fiery, sexed-up version of herself she devolved into whenever they had their fun. This Mia was focused, serious, and determined. Her sleepy eyes narrowed in concentration, exuding scholarly curiosity.

She was a girl on a mission of artistic improvement, and simply put, it was the cutest shit.

Oliver wanted nothing more than to tease her over how adorable she was, but despite his persistent urge, he knew better. Mia was taking this seriously, and far be it from him to disrespect her like that. He kept quiet, changed poses when asked, and let Mia work while admiring her from afar.

Staying silent became increasingly difficult once Mia's wrist problems reared their ugly head, however.

It was subtle at first.

Mia stopped drawing here and there, saying she needed to sit up and stretch. She tried hiding that she was rubbing her wrists during these breaks, but it was hard not to notice since Oliver was already on the lookout. Mia had no problems playing a low-intensity game like Moondrop Mountain, but he knew her issues would crop up sooner or later tonight. The breaks became more frequent, and she stopped hiding what she was doing after about an hour.

Oliver didn't just stand there doing nothing. He asked multiple times if she was all right but was continually dismissed. He even tried pulling 'kitten' on her and taking a forceful tone, but all that did was annoy her.

It sucked, but he knew he had to rein it in until she reached a tipping point where she'd have no choice but to open up. Thankfully, it only took her another half hour to get there. Any longer, and Oliver would've stopped her- consequences be damned. 

"Chingada madre...!" Mia hissed. She dropped her pencil as her left hand grasped her opposite wrist.

"Jesus, Mia," Oliver set aside the cheap katana she gave him to pose with a while ago and rushed to her side. "Are you okay?”

“I… yeah, I’ll be fine in a minute or two…”

“Come on. I’m not that stupid.”

“Didn’t say you were…” she looked away. “Just pushed myself a little too hard. It’s nothing to worry about, mi amor.”

“Mia…”

“Oliver,”

“Mia,” he repeated with conviction.

She shrank a little, her eyes finding the floor.

“Look,” Oliver sighed and sat down on Mia’s bed. He rubbed his forehead, thinking of how best to speak his mind. Everything spilled out of him in one big burst.

“I didn’t wanna push you into discussing this until you were ready. Really, I didn’t. I dropped it yesterday when you asked me to, and I didn’t bring it up all day today until a bit ago, and even then, I still backed off. That said, I can’t just sit here when that happens in front of me and not ask what the fuck is going on. I’ve been nothing but respectful, so I’d like it if you recognized that, sat down with me, and we talked this out the way you’re always advocating for- like adults.”

Oliver patted the spot next to him, awaiting her answer.

Mia was quiet for a long time until she made an eerily similar expression to the ones her brothers had made when he was beating them up. Equal parts pained, angry, and annoyed, she heaved her shoulders and sighed, joining him on the bed after turning off her J-rock music. Silence was superseded by an emotional remix of Mia's BGM, the acoustic guitars tugging his heartstrings.

Oliver put his arm around her hip once Mia was at his side. She didn't resist.

"...Not much to talk about, really. Got a couple of pinched nerves." Mia said.

"Is that as bad as it sounds?"

"Well, it's not good. My elbow's fucked, and I've got carpal tunnel in my wrist."

"Christ. How do you even deal with that?"

"It's not too bad most of the time," she frowned, rubbing the wrist in question. "Just feels like dead weight whenever I'm not using it, and it only drags me down after extended use."

"Have you tried physical therapy?"

"Six months straight. Didn't help."

"Shit. Did you look into surgery after that, or what?"

"Sí. Had some tests done a few years back, but after multiple second opinions, the consensus was that things are so thoroughly fucked in such a weird, specific way that I'd need a ridiculously expensive specialist to even have a chance of success. Kicker's that they think there's a chance of making it worse even if I had the money to go through with it."

"How expensive are we talking about here?"

"More than you could win from clearing out every arcade in the state," she gave him her best approximation of a playful smile. "Wouldn't wanna risk it at this point, anyway. I've more or less learned to live with it."

"I'm sorry, Mia. I-"

"Please, don't even start. Can't stand it when people apologize for stuff that's got nothing to do with them."

"Makes sense," Oliver frowned. "I'd probably get sick and tired of that, too."

"You would," Mia agreed.

"How did it get this bad in the first place? Too much drawing?"

There was a long silence eventually broken by three simple words.

"...Among other things,"

"Oh," Oliver noticed the sudden red on Mia's cheeks mixing with her ashamed expression. "Oh, no."

Mia looked like she'd jump at the chance to curl into a cocoon if that was an option. Her silence resumed.

"Fuck. Sorry, I didn't mean to react like that. It's just that, I..." Oliver started sweating. Mia felt worse the longer he lingered on this, so he knew he had to pivot and try to cheer her up. The question became; how?

He got a random idea and threw the dice as soon as they were in his hands.

"Would it make you feel any better if I told you something embarrassing about myself? Something I've never really told anyone about before?"

Her reaction was several seconds late, but Mia subtly perked up. It was only a bit, but it was noticeable enough to Oliver to give him some hope.

"Wouldn't hurt," she said.

Oliver had her- he could tell that Mia was trying to sound less interested than she actually was. Now came the hard part. Steeling his nerves by sucking in a lungful of air, he got the hell on with it and pushed ahead.

"I've been addicted to dating sims since I was thirteen years old," Oliver confessed. "I got into them thinking they would teach me how to talk to girls, and I've probably played hundreds of them by now."

Mia slowly turned to face him. Her face was blanker than usual, looking like an unreadable marble statue. It conveyed no implications regarding her thoughts toward his abrupt revelation, leading Oliver to draw his own inevitable conclusion.

Naturally, he thought he fucked it up and was now mentally kicking himself over his stupidity.

Shit. Not good, not good, not good- fuck, fuck, fu-

The marble statue snorted as it cracked a smile.

"Mi amor?" She asked, sounding vaguely amused.

"...Yes?"

"Did you seriously just try and-" Mia paused to crack up again, then continued, "Try and comfort me by letting me in on your porn game addiction?"

"I was trying to cheer you up by telling a secret I'm embarrassed about," he insisted, blushing.

"Sorry, sorry," Mia continued to laugh, unable to help herself until taking a deep breath. "I'm not laughing at you, just at whatever train of thought made you think now was the best time to dump that on me."

"Was it not? Cause the mood seems a lot lighter now than it was a second ago."

"Oh, no. It totally worked." Mia admitted. "Also happen to be laughing at myself over this, don't get me wrong."

[Mia has gained +3 Affection! +2 Smooth Talker]

Oliver felt better after seeing the notification, but he definitely didn't feel like a smooth talker. He felt like he'd failed upwards. Not the worst thing in the world, he reasoned. If it worked, it worked.

"Please don't tell me the whole reason you came to work with a weed hangover last Thursday was because that new release of yours was a hentai game you were up late edging yourself to,"

"...Okay," he said, stone-faced. "I won't tell you that."

"Dios mio, I can't believe you," Mia shook her head. Thankfully, the tone of her voice suggested she meant it fondly. That, or maybe he was coping. "Why are you ashamed, mi amor? We're both weebs. That shit's normal to me, and I’ve happened to play a few myself over the years.”

“I’m not ashamed of admitting it to you, it’s just… not something I’d want getting out, you know? I was emotionally dependent on shitty porn games for a long, long time, and I took the wrong message from some really nasty ones when I was at my lowest.”

Sensing the sudden seriousness in his tone, Mia scooted closer and leaned her head on her boyfriend’s shoulder. “Sounds like we’ll have to unpack that last part sometime.”

“…Yeah, we will,”

“Can a girl get a TL;DR?”

“Nah. You’ll eventually get an unabridged, rambling, half-hour-long lecture on my troubled past, and that’s that.”

“Damn. Sounds like a whole lot of ‘sad white boy’ ground to for me to cover.”

“Oh, I’ve got an entire continent’s worth of ‘sad white boy’ ground for you to cover,” Oliver laughed.

“As if that wasn’t firmly established, estupido,” she nuzzled his shoulder, smiling.

The two sat together in silence for a few moments. Mia felt better thanks to Oliver putting himself on the spot, and now she wanted to even the score. It sucked, but she spat it out after a quick sigh.

“You’re partially right,”

“About?”

“The reason you assume my arm is fucked up,”

“Ah, so…”

“Sí. It’s just… it’s not wholly from chronic masturbation, okay?”

“No, of course not,” Oliver nodded, averting his eyes.

“There’s a trifecta- two other pieces to the puzzle,” Mia pouted. “I used to play a lot more kinds of video games than life sims and JRPGs. I’d touch anything Zoe wanted me to, more or less. Shooters, fighting games, kart racers, whatever. Point is that if I wasn’t playing games, then I was working on my art…”

“And if you weren’t working on your art…?”

“Then I was masturbating,” Mia admitted with a sigh so deep that Oliver felt her pain and embarrassment in his very soul. “There was never a time when my right arm wasn’t in use, essentially. Didn’t know what I was doing to myself, but it caught up with me all the same…”

“Christ… and there’s no chance it’ll heal on its own if you let it rest, I’m guessing?”

“Mn, yeah. It’s way too late for that. Pretty sure the only thing that could give me another shot is an honest-to-god miracle, but… ah… Ollie?”

“Huh?” Oliver shook his head. “What?”

“The second I said the word ‘miracle’, your face tensed up and got all determined. Like you took it as a challenge.”

“…Am I really that transparent?”

“Sí. About as much as one of those fucked up deep-sea fishes with the see-through skin and shit.”

“Fuck, that’s bad…” Oliver mumbled, cursing himself. “I mean- don’t worry about it so much, it’s just a guy thing. When you tell me there’s no hope, it makes me want to work even harder to try and make your life better regardless of whether it’s possible.”

“Guess I can understand that. Would be nice, but I’m not holding my breath. Imagine you’d have to flirt with a lot of other girls to power up enough to pull that one off, mn?”

“More or less,” Oliver laughed, mainly to hide how much it sucked not being able to tell her his determination wasn't as unfounded as it might've seemed. Rather than looking toward the future, however, he wanted to see if he could help Mia in the here and now. "Does it actually help when you rub your wrist, or is that just a habit?"

"Huh? Oh, uh... a little of both," Mia looked down at her wrist and lazily rubbed it a few times. "Takes some of the pressure off if I do it hard enough, but it also became a habit somewhere along the way. Why?"

"Can I see it?"

Mia held her right hand closer to her chest. "Not too sure that's a good idea, mi amor..."

Oliver expected her resistance, but the knowledge imparted by Massage Lv. 2 should've been more than enough to provide minor relief. He had to convince her to let him try.

"I didn't bring it up until now, but I never really stopped thinking about your wrist after you brushed me off. I was so worried about it that I ended up watching some massage tutorials last night before I got sucked into Zoe's stream."

"...You did?"

No, my psychically-created henchman convinced me to spend points that I got from doing kinky shit with you and your best friend to download a massage therapy license into my brain, he thought to himself before committing to his white lie.

"Yeah. I'm not claiming to be an expert, but I think you might be surprised if you gave me a chance." Oliver punctuated his persuasion attempt with the gentlest smile that Smiling Lv. 1 could muster, a flourish that proved devastatingly effective.

Mia's defenses softened. She turned to face him on the bed and extended her right arm toward him, her face mired with trepidation and the color red. "Well... Zoe has bought me a couple of professional massage sessions before, and they do help, so..." she said softly. "Suppose we can give it a shot."

And I'm in, Oliver celebrated his little victory by taking Mia's arm and getting to work. He activated Weakness Exploit - Pain to see all the black crosshairs, giving him a good roadmap when coupled with his new massage expertise.

"Just tell me if you need me to stop," he said with all his confidence.

"Trust me, you'll be the first to know mi am-AHHHH!!" Mia yelped the second he tenderly ran his thumb along the biggest of her weak points. He'd only brushed against it, and things were already this bad.

"Is that the pinched nerve?"

"S-Sí... the main one, anyway... gotta be careful with it..."

"I will. I promise."

Oliver poured all his concentration into relieving Mia's pain as best he could. His hands ran on autopilot, knowing precisely what to do. While lacking the advanced knowledge the skill's third level bestowed, level two was more than enough to make an impact.

Mia howled, shivered, and shook at his touch, though she never told him to stop. The longer he worked on her, the more her palm started to sweat. A good sign. Her circulation was improving, and a couple of the big, black crosshairs subtly shrank in size.

While Oliver knew fully erasing Mia's weak points was beyond even the greatest masseuse's capabilities, this was still a massive victory in his eyes. He'd have to thank Bradley for the suggestion, somehow. It turned out to be one of his best ideas yet.  

After twenty minutes of vigorous massaging, Mia gasped, "Ah... hah... hah... o-okay, mi amor... I... mn, can't... t-take much more than that..."

"You got it," Oliver took back his hands, eager to hear her thoughts while trying not to look too closely at Mia's face. Her mouth gaped, her cheeks were flushed, her eyes hazy, and she was sweating up a storm. Now was not the time for an erection, but damn it, if this hadn't accidentally maxed out her sexiness.

"How does it feel?"

"Honestly?" She clenched her fist a couple times. "Almost as good as a professional..."

[Mia has gained +5 Affection!]

"Yeah?" Oliver's heart soared. "That's great! I'll work on it a little more and see if I can't get to the point where you can't even tell the difference."

"Cocky. I like it. Those must be some tutorials, mi amor."

"Um. Y-Yeah, they were pretty in-depth, I guess..."

"First gambling, then boxing, and now massage therapy... any ideas on what miraculous talent you'll next be adding to your repertoire, or are we still playing dumb?"

"Playing dumb," Oliver spat out instantly and looked away so fast that Mia actually laughed.

"Gonna let that slide for now solely because of how funny it was that you up and admitted to it," she said. "That, and I'm more focused on what a great job you did. Gonna have to pay you back for this, you know."

"Come on, Mia. You know I don't want you to feel like you owe me anything."

"And you know I'm gonna feel that way regardless, so you might as well enjoy what's coming to you,"

Oliver found it hard to argue with that, so he relented with a sigh. "And what might that be?"

"You'll find out soon enough. First things first, though," Mia looked away, anticipating the reception to what she was about to ask. "I'd like it if we picked things up again for another round." 

His response was exactly as expected.

"What? No way, you're done sketching for tonight. I didn't do all that work just for you to go and make things worse again."

"Ollie-"

"Mia-"

"No, Ollie," Mia declared with authority surpassing his own, glaring at him stubbornly. "Don't fight me on this. I know my arm better than you do; if I say I can handle it, I can. You got that?"

He respected Mia enough to drop the cutesy kitten stuff and not try to control her, but she was asking a lot from him. "I get that you're unreasonably stubborn, yeah. Can't we just try this again tomorrow after you've had some rest?"

"I'm close to getting over my art block, mi amor. Just a little bit longer. Please?"

Oliver could've turned her down if he really wanted to, even if it cost him some affection. The problem was that he hadn't gotten a notification telling him the Heart Event was over. His hands were tied since he didn't want to discover what would happen if he opted out halfway through.

He could still play hard to get, though.

"Why are you in such a rush, Mia? You know I'll model for you whenever you want, right?"

"I'm in a rush because I've watched too many shitty anime shows with ten-year-old kids shouting bullshit about never giving up on their dreams," she continued to grump at him. "Don't want to work at a shitty grocery store my entire life, and the same goes for letting Zoe be my eternal sugar mommy. Need you to respect me over this, mi amor. You know I don't ask for much."

Okay, maybe Oliver was a little too weak to play hard to get in the face of such conviction. He cracked like an egg, convincing himself it was acceptable if Mia wanted to be stupid just this once.

I'm gonna heal the damn thing, anyway...

"Fine. But you've got a half hour, tops."

"An hour,"

"Really?" Oliver scoffed. "You're seriously gonna try and haggle with me?"

She blinked innocently, awaiting his reply.

"...Forty minutes, and that's final. Set a timer on your phone."

"I'll take it," Mia smirked.

Sighing, Oliver got up to walk over to his designated modeling spot. Something stopped him from getting further than a single step. A finger hooked his underwear's elastic band. He looked over his shoulder to be met with a still smirking little kitten with adorably red cheeks and a glimmer of mischief in her bright blue eyes.

"Think I'll be taking these, too, while I'm at it..."

***

Stat Changes

Mia Rosas | Status: Girlfriend | 114/100 | ❤❤♡♡♡

Zoe Myers | Status: Friend | 49/100 | ♡♡♡♡♡