Ryker's Guide (Spicy)

Lonliness

Meriwa

Meri sighed as she watched the frozen meat and rice dish spinning around in the microwave. Sure she could have ordered out, but now that she was all alone, she hadn't felt motivated to do much of anything today. With a huff of frustration, she laid her head on the marble countertop as she listened to the electric hum coming from the device.

Why had fate decided to make all her lovers leave home at the same time, leaving her alone when she really needed them? Sure, she could visit them each individually by using her powers, but that did little to assuage her urge to have them all together because she loved all of them so much. What good was having three lovers if she couldn't have them all together with her watching movies and eating snacks and cuddling all the time?

And the whole situation got worse, too. Now, Daryl was obviously pissed at her, probably because she'd forgot to send him his texts this morning. Then, by the time she'd remembered to message him, he wouldn't even read her texts. When the goddess had tried to locate him around lunch time so that she could teleport to him to confront him about his absence, she couldn't find him. She'd never not been able to find Daryl, so the only conclusion Meri could come to was that Daryl now hated her and didn't love her anymore and he was hiding himself from her... somehow. He was fine. She could sense with her powers that he was there... somewhere. But she couldn't pinpoint where exactly.

The dinging of the microwave had her sighing again and standing to grab her dish. As soon as she opened the microwave door, however, she heard the sound of a key in the lock of the apartment front door. Her initial reaction was to bristle as Tiamat gathered her power to attack some sort of intruder. Then, the rational part of Meri's mind realized that, apart from her, only four people had the key to the apartment and access to the secured floor. One of those four was Timothy, and the other three were Meri's lovers.

Terrible dinner now forgotten, she ran to the entryway to find Ryke walking in and cradling a large pizza box in his arms. He barely had time to set the thing down on the hall table before Meri squealed and launched herself into his embrace. Part of her registered Ryke's bewildered expression as he caught her and held her for a moment.

She hadn't realized just how lonely she'd been until she was no longer alone, and tears pricked her eyes as she hugged him tightly. "I thought you left today!"

Ryke kissed the top of her head and turned to close the front door all while Meri clung to him. Once the door was locked behind him, he explained. "Timmy delayed the flight until tomorrow. Apparently he needed more time to work out the kinks in our diplomatic expedition to the wilds of the Caribbean resort towns, so I thought I'd bring my favorite princess a pizza. Are you crying?"

"No." Meri lied, wiping her eyes on his shirt as he slipped one arm around her waist and grabbed the pizza with his free hand.

She felt him shrug as they started heading to the living room, and soon, he was placing the pizza on the coffee table and releasing her so that he could turn towards the kitchen. Why was he leaving already? With a hiss, Mer asked. "Where are you going?!"

Ryke paused mid-stride and looked over his shoulder, again offering her a perplexed look as he said, "Napkins and drinks. I'll be right back, Princess. What do you want?"

"Oh," Mer's cheeks burned. She had no idea why she was so needy right now, but it was obvious that Ryke wasn't going to leave her. So why had she freaked out? "Coke, I guess?"

"Alright." Ryke said before heading into the kitchen. She watched his ass until he disappeared around the corner, and after a few moments he spoke as he prepared their drinks. "Wanna watch that horror movie? The one you liked the trailer for on Netflix?"

Mer frowned as she turned her attention from the kitchen to the pizza box before opening it to reveal an astoundingly delicious-looking pineapple pizza with ham and peppers. "Okay, but you'll have to cuddle me."

As she spoke, she reached in and grabbed a slice, promptly devouring it by the time Ryke made it back. While he set the drinks down on the table, he snorted as he watched her throw her uneaten crust back into the box.

"Couldn't wait for me, could you?"

Meri grinned as she pulled him to sit with her on the couch. "No. I can't ever wait to see you, asshole."

"Someone is cheesy today." Even as he said it, though, he was smirking and leaning into her touch as she spread a blanket over both of them. Pizza had been a nice surprise, but Ryke was the best surprise ever.