Team Formerly Known As Bunch O'doods
Chapter I
Contains: M / M, Trans / Cis, Size difference, Gnome x Half-Orc, Public sex, Implied M / F (bugbear x human), wow holy shit this is kinda romantic too wtf
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Our group was exhausted, to say the least. All six of us barely managed to climb out of that cave. Leeto, our dwarven healer, carried the rescued prince with him. Fatin and Ilo guarded our rear as Vasil and I had the front. Melesina has already reached our carriage. The large drakes strapped onto it looked almost happy to see her.
The dark sky above us was almost welcoming compared to what we'd seen inside the cave. The cool night air felt good against my aching body.
Melesina was a good leader, her skills as a ranger had come in handy way too many times to count. Especially back in the cave. I gave the Abysmal Gale cave one last look in fear. The hidden entrance didn't look like much now, but the memories of that place might haunt me for the rest of my life. Had I known what that place held within, I might not been so keen to take this job.
The prince had fainted and no wonder, I can't judge him. The things those monsters did to him down there must left a pretty deep scar on his soul. Just the thought of it all made me shudder. As I spared my last thoughts to the man who had betrayed us, his horrified screams began to echo inside my head, I realized how not even he deserved what he got in the end.
I looked at the half-orc barbarian next to me. Vasil's open wounds had healed nicely, almost making his pine-colored skin look like new, well, as new as someone his age could hope for. Life had certainly left its marks on him, but the look in his eyes showed his true nature; Rugged, but vigorous warrior, who had kept me and the others safe multiple times. Pale white tattoos covering his whole body told a story I had not yet been let in on.
I had only been part of this group a little over a year and now they felt like a second family to me. Sure, at first we were all a little suspicious of each other, but what can you do when you need gold and the only ones willing to work with you are complete strangers. Well, not complete strangers, Fatin and Leeto had once been married, but now they were just friends. "A bugbear and a dwarf", I thought to myself, "How did that even work?"
"You better catch up, little man," Vasil joshed as he looked at me. He had dashed ahead, ".. Or are your itty bitty feetsies already tired?"
I wished I could wipe that annoying smirk from his face with my fists.
"The others are well behind me! It's on you if you get ambushed again!" I yelled back. In all honesty, I kinda liked our little banters. The big man had grown on me. He slowed down his pace and jogged next to me. His wide grin exposed his sharp canine teeth.
"We escaped," the half-orc's tone had changed suddenly, he sounded almost surprised.
"Yeah, barely!" I replied back, "All it took was Fatin almost dying and me actually dying to get out of there!"
"I know..." Vasil's posture dropped as he answered. "You know, I..." he added before dropping whatever he was going to say. Part of me wished his worry had been born from something deeper than our friendship, but I quickly brushed that thought from my mind as we hurried to get as far as we could from that cave.
"Hey, I might be small, but I have mass!" I laughed as I jiggled my bare belly. The things down there had gutted me, leaving me exposed, but thanks to Leeto, the only thing that was left of the massive wound was a faint scar. The armor I had worn had been expensive and losing it stung a little.
My jiggling had made the half-orc let out a small laugh.
"Whatever you say, shrimp," Vasil smirked as we arrived at the carriage. Melesina had already managed to get our drakes ready for travel and rushed for us to get inside. My short gnomish stature made it extra tough to climb inside, but I managed to pull myself in.
The wooden coach-style carriage had two benches inside, both facing the front. The front bench used to have another one facing it, but we had to dismantle it a long time ago to make more room for loot.
Quickly I realized there were too many of us.
"Uh, how are we gonna fit?" I asked and glanced at Vasil. On a good day, there was enough room for six of us, but now we had another person with us and he was unconscious.
"Come here, stumpy," Vasil said and pulled me with him to the back row. As he sat down he grabbed me by the waist and lifted me onto his lap.
"Now this is awkward," I said flustered. A warm feeling began to spread around my cheeks and nose as I blushed.
"We can always switch," Vasil laughed back, his hands firmly placed on my hips.
"No thank you, the thought of you on top of me is not something I'd care to experience."
Vasil's smirk got even wider, "Oh, is that so?" he snickered and I only answered with a loud huff.
The others managed to squeeze themselves inside too. The unconscious prince was lying on the first bench with Leeto sitting next to him, taking care of his wounds and Ilo sat next to us. Fatin kept guard on the roof keeping Melesina company as she steered our reptilian steeds. There was hardly any room inside the cart, the left side of my body pressed against the gnoll's coarse fur, while my back felt Vasil's pounding chest.
Just as we began to move, horrendous howls could be heard from the cave's entrance. The sound of it felt like ice in my veins. Melesina urged the drakes to run and they didn't seem to have any objections about that.
"Did you see what those things did to Lee'Roi?" Ilo next to me and Vasil asked with a whisper. The gnoll's eyes were wide as plates and he looked like part of him was still in that cave. Leeto hushed him and prepared a brew of relaxing herbs for him. Ilo's hands were trembling too much for him to take a sip, so I helped him to drink it.
We traveled in complete silence after that. I zoned out a couple of times and every time I woke up, the world around us was still dark. It must have been hours since we left the cave, but Vasil's hands were still around my plump hips. I could feel the tension radiating from his arms. I'm sure he hadn't slept at all, unlike the gnoll next to us. Leeto's herbs had worked as always and it looked like he was also taking a small nap after getting the prince stable.
