The Thirsty Girl's Guide To Summoning (Fate/Isekai)

Chapter 45: Close Your Eyes

Ren once again woke up to Hyde staring at her expectantly. He crouched at the edge of the blanket nest, arms resting on his knees, his crimson eyes a little too wide and his mouth twisted wryly. His hands were clenched into fists. As she met his gaze, a tendon in his neck relaxed and his hands unfolded.

"Finally! I thought you'd never wake up." He scooted closer and sat properly on the blankets, pulling her into his arms. "Really wanted to start poking you."

"Did you get that deer?" asked Ren, still trying to bring herself abreast of events. She'd fallen asleep in the kitchen... Had Merlin moved her here? She'd had a dream, yet she could no longer remember it, and she wondered distractedly if Merlin had stolen it from her.

Then she brushed her fingers over Hyde's reddened lips and he caught her hand, holding it there. "Of course. Some other stuff too. The rabbits'll taste good and I bet somebody can do something with the bear's skin." He began to nibble on her fingers as his hand slipped under her top.

From the portal room door, Astolfo said, "Not yet, Eddie!" The Rider was sitting down, leaning against the door frame, legs stretched out and hands behind his head.

Hyde released Ren's fingers from his mouth to say, "Shut it, Moonshine." But Astolfo's interruption was enough to break the spell Hyde's intensity wove over Ren in unexpected moments. She pushed against his face and sat up.

"What's going on? What time is it? How long was I asleep?"

"Middle of the afternoon," said Hyde. "You were asleep forever."

Ren absorbed this. "Has Cú come back?" She could reach out to him herself, but she felt... shy of that right now.

"Nope," said Hyde, regarding her with the gaze of a calm wild animal. "You really juiced him up properly, didn't you? I can still smell him on you."

Ren's eyes narrowed and she wondered how Hyde could be so jealous of Merlin but not of Cú. Now was probably not the time to ask, though.

"Did Merlin speak with you? He... he told me he would help you get Jekyll back. He said he wanted that too."

Hyde's laugh was unpleasant. "Of course he does. And yeah. Just waiting for you to wake up."

Ren finally realized she didn't actually know what Hyde's plan was, or why he needed Merlin's help. She'd vaguely assumed it was like what he'd done for Ritsu. Now she furrowed her brow. "So what's your plan?"

Hyde bared his teeth in a fierce grin and moved his hand under her top, curving around her hip. "Remember the first time I kissed you?"

She'd been talking to Jekyll, who wanted to avoid her. She'd gotten too close in his opinion. Hyde had surfaced, lunged for her, kissed her hard, started touching her as he did now. And then a single-use Mystic Code Merlin had made for Jekyll had invoked, bringing Jekyll back to the surface.

"Oh." Ren put her hand over Hyde's fingers. "How... how does that work, exactly?"

"I gotta do something Jekyll would really hate, while wearing the thing. And 'cause he's really deep in his stupid dream, it may take a while."

The malicious delight in Hyde's grin now made sense. "Oh," Ren repeated, and then pushed at Hyde again. "Let me stand up."

He obediently opened his arms and she pushed herself to her feet and stretched. He remained seated, looking up at her with those calm wild-animal eyes.

She'd said she'd help him. When she thought about it, she didn't hate the idea of letting Hyde's wandering hands wander a little farther, especially in a situation like this. And yet she knew that Hyde's self-control was precarious. Trusting that this would work as planned required trusting Jekyll, not Hyde, and... she didn't. She didn't know him well enough. He refused to let her get to know him. She couldn't be sure he didn't despise her for the situation he'd ended up in. Why would he wake up from a dream just to stop Hyde from having his way with her?