Zeta and I were off to the races, sitting in my room side by side, relaxing music playing (from one of my favorites, the classic "Oka's Chill and Relaxing Study Playlist 7") as we texted each other things we hadn't worked up the nerve to talk much about out loud yet. I was terrified that I'd scare her off of wanting to talk about this, potentially ruining her own idea to go over it via text after I sent a very, very long message fretting about my overwhelming attractions, but Zeta still wanted to keep going in spite of my massive dork levels. With shaky hands, I began to pry open my metaphorical doors.

"Alright, if we're getting this ball rolling, there's a question that's been on my mind for a while that might set the tone," I texted. "Of course if it's too much just say so! Because I tend to leap right in sometimes and..." The message went for an embarrassingly long stretch after that, which Zeta gently talked me through.

"We will set the tone with that then! Whenever you're ready,"

We looked at each other, nervous grins on our face. This shouldn't be that tough after everything we'd done so far. I had to just get on with it or this whole session would be spent sending long paragraphs with little notable content to Zeta.

"Do you ever touch yourself?" I almost threw my phone down after sending. Was that too much to ask? It was something that had been on my mind for a bit, one of the key pillars of my worry that Zeta would find me too lustful, too deep in my various desires. I braced for Zeta to jolt and tell me we were done already, leaving the room immediately. But she remained still. When I dared to glance at her, she hid her phone from me as she typed, winking. Her tail flicked around excitedly.

"I do, yeah," Zeta said. "Just gonna say, this is DEFINITELY something easier for me to talk about over text right now. Hopefully not forever between us, but right now it's easier to type than speak. About the touching part."

"Wow," I sent back.

"It's not that impressive, is it?" Zeta asked.

"No, just," I said. "I was ready for you to get mad at that one."

"REally??? naaah that wouldnt be fair," I think the energy changed with that question out in the open, as Zeta's texting began to revert to her normal way of typing that was a bit less concerned with proper grammar. "got any follow up questinos to that missy?" She immediately added "Questinos..."

"Uhhhh follow up questinos number one," I sent. "Do you ever do that thinking about me?"

Zeta giggled, fidgeting as she leaned her head against my shoulder for a second. "Obviously! It's usually about you, sometimes a fic I'm reading if it's really good, raina starlight of course, sometimes just like filling time, so to speak. heh, ive never told ANYONE that."

"I'm honored," I said, making Zeta snicker more. "I mean it! For you telling only me and that I rank above Raina Starlight in your fantasies?" I suddenly remembered Zeta's incident with the "Raina Starlight's thighs" fan page, which batted back my worries that Zeta was on a different page about this whole field than I was.

"You absolutely do!"

That was an incredible trophy to wield too for how much Zeta loved her favorite actor/author/singer Raina. "OK, sorry to be intrusive but I am still curious. When did it start?"

"Like me doing it in general, or doing it thinking about you?" Zeta asked.

"Um...both, if you don't mind?" I asked.

"In general it's kind of a recent thing, last few years I'd say? There isn't a big story to it or anything, I was just, er...messing around and accidentally figured some things out, heh. It took me a bit to go from thing I do sometimes then feel bad about to a regular habit, I guess," Zeta said.

"OMG ME TOO. It took me forever to not hate myself for it," I said. "Sorry if that's heavy."

"You're fine Oka, don't worry," Zeta said. "You had all that Tesata teaching on you too that probably made that worse."

"Most definitely," I said. "And, um, about the other part?"

"Right! About you...erm..." I felt her tail land gently on mine, curling around it just a bit. "You were a pretty regular attraction in my fantasies when I just knew you as that masked girl at the dance."

The first time Zeta and I met, I was fresh out of my hellish boarding school Tesata, just starting to come to terms with...it wasn't exactly freedom to be out of there, I still couldn't just do whatever I wanted, but when one is trapped in a prison for so long and finally escapes, it's hard to understand what to do next. So I ended up going to a dance, running into this very very cute girl, dancing a bit with her, and never forgetting. It took me a bit after meeting again months later to realize one of my roommates was that very same girl. I would have never even considered that night inspiring anything in Zeta like that.

"That's...so amazing," Was all I could think to send.

"If it wasnt clear too i did wait until jeans and i were done to start really fantasizing about you XD"

"I wouldn't be at all mad if you did while you were "together," as we've said with the way she treated you..."

"We barely counted as a couple, even just saying 'we' about me and her when we were a thing doesnt feel right anymore."

I didn't want to ruin the mood with Jeans talk, but I wasn't sure how to pivot back. Luckily Zeta picked up the slack for me, and her body language hadn't changed too much, she still looked to be in high spirits.

"but youre a lot more fun to fantasize about than she ever was. And then after we met for real...it didn't take me too long after figuring out my crush to um, bump you up to number one fantasy," Zeta said.

Mood rescued! The only sounds we were making now were more giggles and little surprised yelps as our tails wrapped around each other.