Page 19 of No Going Back

He fumbles for his boxers, discarded on the floor, and pulls them on, struggling a little. I raise my brows, feeling smug as hell watching him try to pull himself together.

I head out to the living room, throw myself onto the couch, wrap a blanket around my shoulders, and flick the TV on. Load up our favourite couch co-op game, we’ve sunk hundreds of hours into.

Remy appears. “Night.”

I pop the p on purpose. “Yep.”

I know damn well he’s not going to sleep.

The theme tune starts playing, loud and familiar, and Remy’s head snaps up from the hall. “You’re playing that without me?”

“Obviously not, idiot.” I wave one of the controllers at him. “Come here.”

He breaks into a small smile and walks over. Sitting a respectable meter away on the other end of the sectional.

I laugh, shaking my head. “So, what, you used me and now you won’t even sit with me?”

Remy looks at me warily. “Do you want me to?”

I nod. He blushes, actually blushes, and scoots closer. I don’t hesitate. I open the blanket, wrap it around his shoulders too, pulling him in until our sides are pressed together. Then I lean over and plant a soft kiss on his temple. He looks down at his controller, biting his lip like he’s suddenly shy. Which is hilarious considering what he just did to me.

We spend hours like this… controllers in hand, blanket draped over both our shoulders, the living room lit only by the TV glow and the occasional flicker from the game loading screens. This game is perfect for nights like this: endless open world, PvP zones that can turn into chaos in seconds, NPCs that either help or try to murder you, and random real players who either team up or betray you without warning.

Tonight feels like those old nights, but better, easier. Like the air between us finally settled after everything exploded.

We’re both a stupid level now, so the early quests are laughable. We roam together, looting abandoned bunkers, clearing out scorched hordes, and occasionally jumping into public events just to flex on new players. Remy’s character, a heavily modded power-armour tank, charges ahead like always, drawing aggro while I snipe from ridges with my silenced rifle. Same dynamic we’ve had for years: he takes the hits; I clean up the kills. We don’t even have to communicate half the time; I know when he’s about to stim, he knows when I’m low on ammo.

“Yo, incoming yao guai,” I mutter, spotting the bear-like mutant charging from the trees.

“Got it.” Remy’s already sprinting forward, power armour clanking, swinging his super sledge. “Cover me, princess.”

I snort. “Call me princess again and I’m dumping all your junk in a vendor bot.”

He laughs, real and easy, the sound I’ve missed for days. “You’d miss me too much.”

We drop the yao guai in seconds. High-five over the controllers like idiots.

A little while later we stumble into a nuke zone, someone else launched it earlier, and decide to farm legendary enemies. That’s when the funny shit starts.

We’re looting a glowing one when a random level 50-something female character runs up… pink power armour, heart emotes spamming… and drops a stack of weapons at my feet. Then she starts typing in proximity chat:

“OMG your build is insane, can I add you? I need a carry for scorched earth lol”

Remy’s character freezes mid-loot animation.

I laugh under my breath. “She’s thirsty.”

Remy doesn’t say anything, but his controller grip tightens. His character turns slightly, like he’s staring at her screen avatar. Then he “accidentally” shoulder-checks her character into a nearby wall. She emotes a question mark.

I’m dying trying not to laugh out loud. “Dude, chill.”

He grunts. “She’s stealing my loot.”

“She dropped loot for me, dumbass.”

His character punches the air once, petulant. I can feel the jealousy radiating off him even though he’s not saying a word about it.

I lean over, still grinning, and kiss him quick on the mouth. Not deep, not heated, just casual, like it’s the most natural thing for us. “You’re ridiculous.”