"Ngh..."
Feeling his nose press against sothing solid, Blake instinctively snuggled closer, only shifting slightly to the side.
Strangely enough, his upper body stayed where it was, comfortably leaning against whatever he’d ended up using as a pillow.
Still half-asleep, he rubbed at his eyes before dragging a hand down his face with a tired sigh.
"Awake?"
"Huh, yeah... ah?!"
Only then did Blake realize he was practically leaning against Myles’ chest.
Myles was sitting up against the headboard, casually scrolling through his phone as if there wasn’t a whole person draped over him.
’What the hell? How did I even end up like this?! And why would he just let it happen?!’
Imdiately pulling away, Blake’s eyes dropped to Myles’ shirt.
’Seriously, thank goodness I didn’t drool on him...!’
[Ding!]
It wasn’t like he was excited to hear that sound.
At the sa ti...
After an entire week of radio silence, the sudden notification felt weirdly reassuring.
Unfortunately, there was absolutely no way he was checking the system screen while sitting this close to Myles.
"I’ll go to the bathroom!"
Without waiting for a response, Blake practically escaped.
The mont he stepped inside, he shut the door behind him and locked it.
Blake stared at the ceiling.
Then he let out a long, exhausted sigh.
’What now?’
As if answering him, the familiar blue screen imdiately appeared.
[ Mission: Make Myles Cortez Jealous ]
[ Ti Limit: 3 Days ]
[ Current Favorability: ??? ]
[ Penalty: 3 Hours of Stats Cooldown for 1 Month ]
[ Reward: 100 Coins ]
"..."
Blake slowly raised a hand, then facepald.
’Spoon, you’re nuts!’
Of course this thing had sohow managed to beco even more unreasonable.
’What kind of mission even is that?!’
Blake groaned, ruffling his hair in frustration.
Honestly, at this point, knew the system was far more interested in pushing him into questionable seduction tactics than actually caring about the weird side plots.
The biggest problem, although there were many in this mission, was arguably the penalty.
Three hours of stat cooldown for an entire month.
Blake stared at the screen with an even more annoyed expression.
’Son of a bitch, that is basically a death sentence...’
The defense buff alone had saved his life multiple tis already.
The strength buff was also useful to avoid getting hit more.
The only reason he’d walked away from so situations with bruises instead of bullet holes was because of those stats.
If they disappeared for three hours every day, he’d get shot once... and then spend the next few minutes desperately trying to dodge actual bullets while throwing punches that felt about as threatening as mildly aggressive taps.
’No way in absolute hell.’
He wasn’t risking that, which left in his mind the other problem... how exactly was he supposed to make Myles jealous?
Blake frowned.
Did the system an jealous of a possession?
Maybe sothing Blake owned?
Sothing Myles wanted?
That was, of course, so unlikely it made him cry.
The system of course ant jealousy for another person, specifically near Blake.
Soone he had to compete with for Blake’s attention.
’Oh, I’m dood.’
Because if it was the second one, there was absolutely no chance this mission was succeeding.
He’d need sobody to flirt with.
Sobody willing to play along.
Or better yet, sobody who already liked him... unfortunately, there wasn’t anyone like that, at all.
And even if there was... he only had three days.
The more he thought about it, the less sense it made.
’We aren’t even dating.’
How was Myles supposed to get jealous when they didn’t belong to each other in the first place?
’Wouldn’t jealousy require—’
Blake imdiately cut off that train of thought, feeling his heartbeat flick.
’Nope, not going there...’
After another minute of ntally arguing with the system, he finally splashed so water on his face before leaving the bathroom.
The sll of food imdiately greeted him.
Blinking, he looked toward the kitchen.
Myles was standing by the counter, preparing sandwiches.
The kind that sohow managed to contain enough vegetables to qualify as a small garden.
Blake dragged himself toward the table.
He sat down heavily before resting his chin in his hand.
He was already tired.
And the mission had only existed for about ten minutes. He could only imagine how horrible the next three days were going to be.
A hand suddenly landed on top of his head, stroking.
"Mh?"
Myles casually ruffled his hair before returning to the counter as if nothing had happened.
"..."
Blake slowly raised an eyebrow.
That felt weirdly intimate.
Not that they never touched each other.
At this point, physical contact wasn’t exactly uncommon.
Still, sothing definitely felt different.
Maybe because he’d literally woken up sprawled all over Myles.
Maybe because Myles had apparently allowed it.
’Ah, whatever, he’s always like this, changing without an apparent reason.’
Thinking about it seed unhealthy.
A few minutes later, the sandwiches were finished.
Thankfully, despite looking healthy enough to be recomnded by every nutritionist on Earth, they actually tasted pretty good.
Blake finished his food surprisingly quickly.
It was sunday, so no school or classes.
"We’ve got the whole day free," Blake said. "What should we do?"
Myles glanced up from his coffee.
"You decide."
Blake imdiately regretted asking, since he had absolutely no ideas.
’We have tried many things during our outings... and my hobbies mostly involve surviving. That’s not exactly a recreational activity.’
Myles looked completely unbothered.
After breakfast, both of them stood up to clear the table.
Blake grabbed a few plates while Myles picked up the rest.
The simple dosticity of it felt strangely natural.
Once everything had been cleaned up, Blake wandered into the bathroom to wash his hands.
Stretching his arms above his head, he let out a yawn.
Then suddenly, a hand lightly poked his waist.
Blake nearly jumped.
"What the!"
He imdiately flinched away, mostly because he was ticklish.
The reaction happened so fast he almost smacked the sink.
Then his brain finally caught up.
’Woah, wait a damn second... I’ve got a bruise there!’
Blake’s entire body went rigid.
Had Myles seen it?
’Crap.’
Had he noticed?
How much had he noticed?
Trying to act normal, Blake turned around.
"What was that for?"
For a mont, Myles simply looked at him, then he stepped closer.
Blake instinctively held his breath as he reached up... only to simply brush his fingers through Blake’s hair.
A few strands were moved out of his face, then Myles turned around and walked away, just like that.
"..."
Blake remained frozen in front of the sink.
"...What?"
That was it? That was the reason? To play around or whatever he was doing?
The bathroom door closed behind Myles.
Blake stared at his own reflection.
The day had started weird, and sohow it was only getting weirder.
A few minutes later, he flopped down onto the couch and pulled out his phone.
’The mission, right... shouldn’t forget about it.’
He still needed a plan.
Unfortunately, every plan he’d thought of so far had been terrible.
Blake scrolled aimlessly through his contacts.
The original owner wasn’t much of a playboy, either...
Then suddenly, his eyes widened.
"...Wait."
A certain person ca to mind.
Soone Myles had never particularly liked around him.
Blake slowly sat upright.
It wasn’t a good plan.
Actually, it was probably a horrible plan, but it was the only thing he had in this short amount of ti.
Standing up, he walked toward the bedroom.
Myles was busy fixing the blankets.
"Myles."
"Hm?"
"Do you have Zlatan’s number?"
The room imdiately beca quiet.
Myles looked directly at him.
"Why?"
Blake scratched his cheek.
"I’m interested in getting to know him."
For a few seconds, they simply stared at each other.
Finally, without saying anything, Myles picked up his phone and held it out.
’Huh. That easy?’
Blake blinked.
Part of him had expected at least so resistance.
Maybe an interrogation or suspicion...even just a single raised eyebrow!
Instead, Myles simply handed over the phone, which honestly made sense, because why would he refuse?
Sure, they were closer lately, but that didn’t automatically an anything.
At least, not enough for sothing as simple as exchanging contact information.
Feeling slightly foolish, Blake accepted the phone.
A few taps later, he found the contact.
Zlatan Skorobogatov.
’There he is.’
After saving the number into his own phone, Blake handed the device back.
"Thanks."
Myles nodded before returning to making the bed.
anwhile, Blake looked down at the newly saved contact.
The screen suddenly felt very intimidating.
Because now ca the hard part.
How exactly was he supposed to start this conversation?
Hi, rember ?
Too awkward.
Want to be friends?
He kind of sounded like a weirdo.
’Not that he’s normal but... he is Myles’ subordinate or whatever he could possibly be.’
Please help complete a suspicious jealousy mission assigned by a manipulative system?
Probably not.
Blake groaned and dropped backward onto the couch.
Looking at the contact one last ti, he sighed heavily.
"...Yeah."
He was completely screwed.
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