Heart moved over to the window now, looking out to the front of the house. He noted the fairy perking up now so he set him on the window seal there, tucking the curtains back so that they wouldn’t close on him. “There, that should do.” He was a bit surprised by how well this house protected against outside elements. “Do you want to come out now?”

The fairy looked thoughtful again before shaking his head, sending a little kiss up to his cheek before becoming cozy now. Staring out the window happily now. He could see little hearts floating up from the Fairy before they were gone. He supposed he had really made him happy.

Heart blinked a little before turning away now, letting the fairy be as he went to hang Ash’s staff above the fireplace. It looked nice there and he honestly felt a bit pleased with himself. Heading into the library now he pulled up the house menu and selected to add a bedroom, a timer appearing now showing one hour until finished. When he stepped out of the library he saw a rope had appeared over the staircase, closing it off from him and that the gold had disappeared from him. An hour huh.. He headed back outside and to the empty field, pulling out his sword to begin training with it now to pass the time. It was heavier than a stick and so long as he took it to blacksmiths and kept it sharp wouldn’t break on him, he just had to become use to using a real weapon now. He was so focused on training that he didn’t even see Ash right away until he spotted the other waving at him.

Putting his sword away he saw the house was finished now, a bit taller though he couldn’t see the new room just yet. “Sorry, didn’t see you there.” He said with a smile at the other. “Trying to get use to the feeling of the sword. It’s a lot different than a stick..”

Ash grinned and nodded. “Oh I’m sure. It’s heavier, isn’t it?” he smiled, seeing he had built up a bit of sweat. Some of his stamina worn down, though they both needed rest. “You’ll probably have to deal with armor weight and stuff at some point too.” he hummed thoughtfully as they walked back to the house. “Oh I got a surprise. My mom was so impressed we leveled up, she gave me two health potions. Usually they’re expensive.” he grinned as he pulled one out now to offer it to him. “You can use them in battle to heal right away.”

“Ehh? We shouldn’t wastes those then.” He said as he took them, heading inside now for the first time to let Ash see - while he went over to tuck them away safely in his trunk. When he looked over at the staircase it was no longer blocked off. “Oh look, your room should be finished by now.” He said with a smile. “Let’s go check it out.” They headed up and he found that his room was no longer openly connected to the stairs but they now had a small hallway, one door leading to his room and the other leading into Ash’s. Opening it they found there was lots of space and Ash’s bed was mirrored to his, resting up against the stone of the fireplace so that it would keep warm. Though after a moment Heart figured something out. “Hey, I think this room is inside the tree itself..” He said in surprise.

“Really? That’s cool.” Ash said eagerly. Happy for the room despite the fact that it was barebones. Part of the fun of a home was decorating it after all. “This is perfect. I brought all my stuff too, so it won’t be so plain for long.” he smiled.

Heart went over to the window and from here he could see the still empty barn he hadn’t figured out what was to be used for. “Hey Ash, are there like.. Horses and stuff like that around?” He asked, pointing out the window to the barn as the other was setting down a rug. “This barn has been here for a while now and I can’t figure out what it is used for.”

Ash raised an eyebrow and said “Well yeah, but that’s a special type of barn. Pets can be raised there.” he said, though as if knowing he didn’t know what the heck those were, he added “Pets are monsters you can tame to fight for you. You raise them up from eggs.”

“I haven’t seen anything like that.” Heart said with a frown. “We’ve been traveling in and out of the forest pretty often. Though.. Something like Howlers or Lullabuds wouldn’t come from eggs would they?”

“Howlers, yes. Lullabuds, no. They have to be monsters that can level up with you, you see.” he hummed. “Though I don't know much about them. I never had the coin for a barn. There's also the fact I wouldn't even know where to get the eggs, I just know they exist.” he shrugged. “...We can definitely visit the library for more information on that later though.”

“I think we should. After today I feel like we could use a break.” Heart said as he leaned against the wall. “It was a real eye opener what happened and it tells me something, if there is a boss around here then they’re going to be crazy strong. Just buying new weapons and armor isn’t going to be enough, we have to level up like crazy too.”

Ash hummed softly and nodded. “Well...there’s always Lullabuds around.” he joked but sighing. “I think our best bet would be to find more howlers, and grind them now to level up faster. And when they become easy, we go deeper in to find the next strongest.” he hummed. He felt that there had to be another monster class before the actual boss after all. Though there was no record of any of that either. They were literally exploring the world together.

“We should be careful though. We could end up making a mistake and encounting the boss. If we get to the point we can kill howlers in under five attacks or less, then we move on.” He told him with a nod. “And we save our money for armor. I have enough left to unlock a farm, so the seeds and meat we collect can go to our food. I say.. Level fifteen. At the least. And then we’ll try to find out about the boss. Yeah?”

Ash looked thoughtful before nodding. Level fifteen seemed miles away really, considering they had only recently leveled up, but he knew it was better to go to a boss and wipe it out than to risk their lives. This was not a game, or at least it wasn't for Ash. Death meant death, game over permanently. “Yeah. I think that's a good idea. Maybe we could find an egg too. Having a pet to go into battle would be nice.. though that circles back around to any requirements that might have.” he yawned now though. “We can decide that stuff tomorrow though. For tonight, let's get some dinner and some rest in us.”he grinned. “I really think we should buy some pots at one point too.” he said as they made their way back down to the first floor. “More delicious food sounds amazing.”

Heart grinned and nodded. “It does. We should save up for that too, for when we finally do leave.” He said with a smile. “Ah, the pantry is on the other side of the fireplace. I’ve just been getting by with basic meals right now so nothing fancy. Oh and this door is the bathroom, and that one over there is my own library. But it is empty right now pretty much. It has a map of everything we’ve explored so far though.”

“Oh that's cool. I'll look at the map and library later.”he nodded. Heart knew the Male loved to read after all, always after knowledge, even if he didn't always have an answer for things. “Good thing I brought my mom's dinner then.”he grinned. “I'll put all the stuff I brought into the pantry. I brought some spices and meat and whatnot for meals. We just need to figure out recipes themselves, or look some up in the library. I copied some of my moms too, but not to many of them I had to rush over here.”he said. Heart could see him moving stuff from his inventory into the pantry now. The pantry seemed more full, though it was more of a picture of full than actually being able to reach out for said items. “Wanna have a serving of my mama's cooking?” he grinned now.

“Sure, but I gotta warn you - my library has like.. Four books, and one of them is empty. There’s plenty of room for others but that was just what I had.” He said as he rubbed his head a little as the meal was set out before them. “I forgot to ask the blacksmith about the fairy lamp though, let me see if I can find it in ‘items’.” He stood as Ash was getting dinner ready and went into the library, taking the armor, weapon and items book and returning with it. “Ah, it does.” He said in surprise. “Fairy lamps are known to be the homes of fairies, often having been born when the lamp has been forged using holy objects. They are able to cast light in the darkest of places and spells of darkness cannot break their light. When placed in a home fairy lamp’s will offer light protection against dark based monsters and in cases of children and adults alike are known to protect against nightmares. Stacking several fairy lamps can even protect against theft and assassins, however having several fairy lamp’s can result in a couple being formed, in which case their lamps will merge together. How this is possible has yet to be discovered.”

“Wow, they're really useful.” he blinked now. Looking over at the fairy who was asleep now in his lamp. “And here I thought he was just a pretty trinket. “ he smirked, though moved now to eat. “I wonder if there's other cool items like that.. or hm. Finding more would be best. We could visit the market too. Sometimes they have rare items there.”he pushed around his food. “Well once we have coin to spare for that.”

“I wouldn’t mind finding another one then, he’ll be here alone while we’re gone.” Heart grinned as he looked down at his food now, placing the book aside. “A house of fairies. My dream becomes better all the time it seems.” He laughed now, cheeks a bit flushed.

“Hey it's whatever you like.” he grinned. Pointing the fork at him. “The world is our oyster Heart. We can decide what we wanna do.” he smirked coyly.

“Ha! Right now the world is a single town and a forest.” He said with a grin. “But later, when we leave, then it shall be our oyster! And we’ll set out to find its pearl. Together.”

Ash laughed. “Details, details.”he waved away the thought before smirking. “Definitely. Be legendary adventurers. Have our names go down in books. Swim in loot banks.”he laughed out now in amusement. Their time filled with merry dreams of silly ideas as they ate. Soon enough though it was time for bed as they parted separate ways, and as Heart settled down, feeling warmed by a good meal and his two new roommates- the house didn't seem so empty anymore.

It was a little bit into the night that Heart jerked away, feeling something a bit off and eyes on him - though those eyes turned out to be Ash with his pillow and looking very unsure. It didn’t seem that he had spotted he was awake just yet either until Heart rolled onto his side. “Baby..” He muttered. “Just for tonight and tomorrow you gotta get use to it.” Heart said still half asleep as he felt Ash slip into the bed with him now, maybe not having been use to the space of his room or the lack of sound without his brothers, sisters and parents. “You could have said something at dinner..” He spoke softly.

Ash pouted, though with their backs to each other, Heart couldn't see it. “..I didn't want to ask. I mean… it's embarrassing. I've never slept alone before though. I always had to share a room..” he mumbled hugging his pillow close. Who knew he'd be so home sick. “I'm a baby adventurer..” he mumbled into it. How could he get so lonely when he was literally still in the same town as his family?

“Not really.. It’s just something really new to you.” Heart told him softly, his eyes still closed. “When we get to traveling though there are likely going to be times you get home sick, or we have to sleep back to back. I’m not going to tell you that you’ll become use to it however, maybe you will and maybe you won't. But if you don’t then at least say so, then we won’t have to pay for double beds in a hotel somewhere.” He teased with a light nudge from his elbow.

Ash blushed now, though he couldn't see that either. “...Alright. I'll try my hardest to get used to it.. if not, I'll let you know.”he hummed softly. The silence falling between them before finally saying “...I'm glad I met you Heart. You're like the bestest friend I've ever had.” he smiled faintly.

Heart opened his eyes a little now but didn’t say anything right away, letting a few moments of silence pass between them. “Ash, why did you talk to me that day?” He asked him softly. “When you saw me coming out of the guild for the first time?”

Ash hummed softly. Another pause between them before he said “...You were cute. And the more I stared, the more I realized you looked lost and confused. So.. I wanted to help you.” He hummed softly. “Sorry if that sounds weird..”but he was an elf after all. Sexuality was fluid for him as much as water was.

“I wouldn’t really call me cute. Juvenile delinquency would be a better word for me.” Heart said with a slight smile. “I look like the kind of person that gets in trouble a lot and doesn’t show respect. But maybe you’re attracted to be bad boy Ash.”

Ash blushed and said now. “...I dunno. Maybe.”he hummed softly. As Heart glanced over his shoulder, he could see something different now. ‘+1 <3’ with a heart next to it. Though the relationship bar still said friendship. Heart got the feeling now that this was as far as the conversation would go for the night. “Goodnight Heart.”Ash said softly.

“Goodnight Ash.” He told him softly, though he didn’t close his eyes just yet as his mind wondered. What was he doing? Forming a relationship with Ash? The lines were becoming so blurred now, which world was real anymore? He couldn’t tell Ash the truth about his dreams, not be choice either - when he tired his mouth just stalled and it felt like he was choking. And when he stopped only then could he breathe again. But so far the laws of this world didn’t care if he called them both dreams. He wasn’t sure Ash believed him on them or not anyway. Should he fully lose himself to this world? Should he allow himself to believe that it was real and the other wasn’t? More than anything, he questioned why it was difficult to remember the other world. Pieces of it were so clear, but his family and friends were blank faces to him. “Ash, I think I’m losing my mind..” He whispered softly, but there was no answer now. If it wasn’t for the weight on his back he might have believed he wasn’t there. Yet feeling it and the warmth of Ash’s body calmed him, comforted him and soon made his eyes close once more. Ash was here, this moment was real. So he’d hold that tightly and not let it slip away from him.

End.