Ouch, my back!
It hurts like hell, I haven't had this kind of pain in a long time.
Jayden, still asleep, felt a throbbing pain in his back, as if something pierced him again and again.
His eyes were closed, but he focused on his hearing, sensing his cells in constant regeneration. Still, he realized the process was slower than usual.
This is very odd, he thought.
Unlike other Kryptonians, he didn't just rely on a simple accelerated healing factor.
At his peak, injuries wouldn't leave scars; he could potentially regenerate lost limbs or even entire organs.
That's how his body was supposed to work.
Yet, right now, it wasn't.
His cells were still regenerating at their usual rate, but it felt different, more taxing.
The energy his body poured into healing was depleting his reserves faster than normal.
I feel like my reserves have decreased, no,...they indeed decreased
The lesser they're the slower I heal, it is what it is.
Jayden felt something soft and plum as he attempted to moved his hand, he slowly opened his eyes and saw two light lavender mountain peaks.
Huh?, who's bosom is this...ah shit!
Scenes of what happened between him and Raven began to flood his mind, the clarity on his mind allowed him to comprehend what happened.
Everything has been moving so fast, now this? What a mess.
His gaze shifted from her chest to her torso, and his hand instinctively rested on her stomach. He gave a light, absent-minded rub, more out of curiosity than intention.
"Are you done having fun?"
He froze, then slowly turned his head to look at her.
Despite her hair being messy, two small red horns protruded from her head. Her head was tilted, one eyebrow raised, and her lips twitched with amusement.
Jayden's gaze flicked to her horns, and a frown creased his face, He was confused.
During their time of intimacy, when things had escalated between them, she had shifted into a demon, but eventually returned to her human form.
So why are the horns still there?
He swallowed, then asked cautiously, "Raven… why do you still have the horns?"
Raven's lips curved into a soft, gentle smile, one that carried an unspoken calm and ease.
"I liked when you held them," she said quietly, nodding toward her horns. "When… everything happened, the way you held me, it felt right.
So I decided to keep them as they are."
Jayden couldn't help but blink, a flicker of confusion crossing his features.
He couldn't tell if it was because of what had happened between them, or if it was something else entirely.
Her eye, they carried more light than usual, a subtle warmth that made him feel inexplicably closer to her.
"Hmmm?" Raven reached out and pulled him closer, resting him gently against her chest.
With a calm, soft voice, she whispered into his ear, "What are you thinking about?"
"I don't know? Everything about us feels rushed and underdeveloped. " he murmured, his voice muffled against her skin.
"We slept together yet there was no panic, everything feels natural but not right...Am I making sense?"
Raven listened, tilting her head slightly as she studied him, She understood what he meant, the confusion behind his words.
They hadn't gone on a proper date, hadn't built the usual bridges between two people, yet somehow, they had crossed lines most would consider sacred early on.
Most would have panicked, doubted, or felt awkward but not her.
She felt the connection between them, subtle and undeniable, a tether stronger
than any rushed step or skipped ritual.
The foundation between them was fragile, and yes, it was incomplete.
But it was real.
He liked her, she liked him, and that alone carried weight far beyond reason.
That silent understanding, the acknowledgment of desire, trust, and familiarity without needing words, had a gravity that eclipsed everything else.
She saw the hesitation in his gaze, the internal debate over what they had done, yet she felt no fear, no regret only clarity.
"You're making sense," she said, her fingers brushing gently against his hair, tracing the line of his jaw. "Things might be fast… but that doesn't make them wrong.
Sometimes what feels sudden is just life catching up to what the heart already knows."
Jayden nodded slowly, letting her words sink in.
He understood what she meant, the clarity in her calmness cutting through his own tangled thoughts.
After a brief pause, he shifted slightly against her chest, gathering the courage to speak.
"Okay… I need to ask you something," he murmured, a hint of awkwardness in his voice. "Is it true… that my game is trash? That my… flirting skills are trash and I have zero game?"
His words hung in the air, tentative but earnest, a mix of self-deprecation and genuine curiosity, waiting for her response.
"Yes"
Raven chuckled softly, a low, amused sound that made the room feel lighter.
"Yes," she said, a small, amused smile tugging at her lips. "Absolutely. Your… flirting skills are almost nonexistent, but you compensate in other ways, ways that matter far more.
What drew me to you wasn't your game, It was you. Simple as that."
Jayden blinked, unsure whether to feel relieved or insulted. "So I really have zero game."
"Zero," she confirmed without hesitation.
He stared at her for a second.
"…Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"Yes," she said simply and somehow, it did.
Raven's teasing faded, and the silence between them settled naturally.
Jayden shifted a little. "When all of this is over… why don't we go on a date?"
Raven blinked once, surprised but not opposed. "A real one?"
She then let out a small laugh. "Honestly? I wouldn't mind that."
A small smile tugged at his lips. "Alright. So… where would you want to go?"
Raven thought for a moment, her fingers lightly resting against his shoulder.
"…The Victorian era," she said, then shook her head slightly. "Not just the era. There are things I actually want to see."
Jayden looked up. "Like what?"
"The rise of gothic literature," she said softly. "When writers were first shaping the mood… the tone.
I want to see bookstores when those stories were new, not classics."
She paused, her voice steady.
"And the architecture. The early gothic revival those tall, narrow windows, the sharp angles, the way buildings seemed to stretch toward the sky.
I always wondered what it was like to walk through a street where everything looked like a cathedral."
Jayden listened quietly.
Raven's eyes lowered slightly. "And the atmosphere… the fog, the lamps, the way people dressed. The world felt heavier back then, Slower. A different kind of silence."
Jayden nodded, absorbing her words.
"That suits you," he said simply.
Raven's gaze lingered on him for a moment before she asked, almost in a murmur, "What about you?"
Jayden didn't answer immediately.
He stared ahead, his thoughts drifting, sinking deeper.
His eyes went slightly unfocused, as if searching through memories or places he'd never been.
The room fell quiet, the kind of silence that didn't demand a response but waited for one.
Several seconds passed.
Finally, he drew in a slow breath.
"…The moon," he said. "I've always wanted to go there."
....
Thanks for reading 🙏 😊