Gathering Husbands with a System in a Game Like World [BL]
Chapter 38: Gorran on Budget

Chapter 38: Gorran on Budget

Morning light filtered into the rented room above the quiet side street. The auction was set for that evening. Three days of planning had narrowed into a single day of execution.

Kai stood in front of the mirror and checked his reflection one more time.The Dark hair, The Light freckles.

He finally saw himself as Ordinary enough to pass the lingering pool of eyes. The System confirmed the small alterations were stable.

[Temporary appearance modification: Active.]

[Identity overlay: Dave Crest.]

[Risk of visual recognition: Low.]

Across the room Dexter had finished the last of his own adjustments. The fox ears were gone. The tail was gone. What remained was a tall, sharp-featured human man with ordinary brown hair and a calm expression. He looked very plain.

Kai glanced at him.

"Wow. You did not even try." Kai teased.

Dexter raised an eyebrow.

"I did my best to come up with a real stealthy look" Dexter said smiling.

"You just removed your beast traits"

"And that is still a face change, no?"

"I guess..."

The short exchange almost felt normal. Then Kai remembered they had not been on speaking terms and the ease drained out of him. He turned back to the mirror and began checking the cuffs of his borrowed coat, deliberately closing the small opening that had appeared between them. Dexter watched the shift with a faint frown, ears that were no longer visible still somehow giving the impression of confusion.

Elias chose that moment to step out from behind his own self made changing screen.

He had somehow managed to take the general shape of Gorran. He had broader shoulders, slightly shorter neck, heavier stance.

The face, however, was still clearly Elias underneath a layer of imperfect disguise. The wrinkles were too shallow. The tightness around the mouth was wrong.

Dexter took one look and let out a deep laugh.

"How are you going to deal with your appearance? You look nothing like Gorran."

Kai’s expression flickered. He remembered the real merchant, the way the man had sobbed when the dagger came out of his foot, the broken voice when he finally talked. Gorran had not survived the night after the interrogation. The Guild had reported it as complications from his injuries. Kai still was not sure he believed that.

Elias shrugged, unbothered.

"I have a trick for it."

Kai folded his arms.

"So the someone you were referring to earlier was yourself?"

"Yeah. More or less."

Dexter looked between them.

"I told him to use my link but he said he had it under control."

Kai glanced at Dexter, then back at Elias.

"And you left it for him?"

"Well, what can a guy do. I do not have any authority anyway. I am just an extra."

The words landed heavier than Dexter seemed to intend. Kai felt them settle in his chest. Dexter had no real obligation to be here. He was not under Guild contract. He was not being paid for this risk. He had simply stayed.

"Yeah," Kai muttered. "You are right."

Elias clapped his hands once, breaking the moment.

"Trust me on this, guys. I got this."

He turned his head from side to side, showing off the incomplete Gorran face.

"More like Gorran on a budget," Dexter said.

"Exactly."

They went over the plan one final time. Elias would enter first as Gorran, a known if minor supplier. At the gate he would recommend two young aristocrats interested in rare artifacts: Dave Crest and his partner Fester. Couples drew less suspicion in these circles. Once inside, they would locate the seeded pieces, identify anyone connected to the Curator, and leave before the real buying began.

Everyone agreed.

Elias afterwards walked to the window, already shifting his weight onto the sill.

"I will be back. Need to check on one more thing."

He slipped out without waiting for a reply. The room suddenly felt much smaller.

Silence settled between the two who remained.

Dexter was the first to speak, voice careful.

"Uhmm... so how are you holding up?"

"Good. You?"

"Excited."

Kai’s mouth tightened.

"Of course."

Dexter frowned.

"What do you mean by that?"

Kai only shrugged. The small movement carried more weight than it should have. Dexter pushed off the wall and took one step closer, then stopped when Kai’s shoulders tensed.

"Hey. If you have something to say, just say it."

Kai kept his eyes on the table.

"There is nothing to say."

"That is not true. You have been avoiding me since that night. You will not look at me longer than a second. You change direction when I walk toward you. I am not stupid, Kai."

The System noted the spike in stress without comment.

[Emotional fluctuation detected.]

[Heart rate elevated.]

[Recommendation: Verbal resolution may reduce internal conflict.]

Kai let out a slow breath.

"I do not know how to act around you now."

Dexter’s voice stayed low.

"Because we slept together."

"Yes."

"And because of Elias."

Kai finally looked at him.

"It is not that simple."

"Then explain it to me. I can handle complicated."

Kai was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke again the words came out slower, as if each one had to be checked before it left his mouth.

"That night... I was not in a good place. The Heat, the things I heard through the wall, the way everything felt too loud. You were there. You did not push. You gave me a choice. I took it. And the next morning I did not know what that made us. I still do not know. Meanwhile Elias is... Elias. He knows. He will not let me forget that he knows. And I am trying to run an investigation that already got one person killed while my head is full of things that have nothing to do with the Curator or the artifacts."

Dexter listened without interrupting. When Kai finished, the fox-turned-human was silent for several seconds.

"I did not expect anything from you" he said at last. "I told you I had a good time. That was true. I also told you I do not trust easily. That is still true. But I stayed because the puzzle is not finished, and because leaving felt wrong. Not because I thought we had become something permanent."

Kai’s hands had curled into loose fists on the table.

"So what do you want?"

"Right now? I want you to stop treating me like a mistake you have to walk around. We can work together without pretending the night never happened. We can also work together without forcing it to mean more than it does yet. I am not asking for a decision. I am asking for you to look at me when we talk."

The honesty in the words left very little room to hide. Kai forced himself to meet Dexter’s eyes and hold the contact.

"I can try."

"That is enough for today."

A smaller silence followed, less sharp than the ones before. The System registered the change.

[Emotional spike decreasing.]

[Interpersonal tension: Partially resolved.]

[Note: Residual complexity remains.]

Dexter glanced toward the window Elias had used.

"He will be back soon. We should finish getting ready."

Kai nodded. The air between them was still not easy, but it was no longer actively hostile. That felt like progress.