The first few days after the ‘date’ had Johnathan’s heart fluttering as badly as it had when he’d just begun training with Grace. Every time her firm hands moved over him to help improve his form he felt his cheeks grow flush. 

Nothing came of it, however. Grace was a professional. At least he had hope now, though. All he had to do was keep working out, so that he could be worthy of the woman of his dreams. Which was probably good news, since how many men got to meet the woman they were sure they would marry at the age of 19?

Especially if they had high standards, like Johnathan did. 

Towards the end of the week, though, he decided to branch out and try asking about a new element to their workouts.

“Could we try adding in some fighting skills now?” he asked, as they were running through a warm up.

“Self defense and all that? Probably,” Grace said with a few small nods. “You’re in good enough shape now that we can probably get to some basic sparring.”

His heart fluttering once more, now from the knowledge he was going to get to see Grace displaying her, well, grace as a professional MMA practitioner, Johnathan felt strong enthusiasm for getting to see her in action. 

Learning how to defend himself would also surely make the security crew far less paranoid, which was a plus. It would be a chance to, simply, be cooler. Especially if they branched out into training with weapons, like he’d always dreamed of mastering as a child.

“Will we be doing any sword fighting?” he asked.

Grace blinked, staring at him. “Pardon?”

“Like, kendo or fencing or... uh, HEMA type stuff?” he replied, though he felt rather self conscious about the look Grace was giving him.

“Uhh... if you want to learn that you’ll need to get a separate tutor. I’m not trained in any of those... the most I’ve done with martial weapons is a little training with a staff or tonfa, but I wouldn’t say I’m good enough to train anyone with those,” Grace said, looking a shy about the fact. “Like I said, I can do self defense, and swords aren’t exactly self defence.”

“Understood,” he replied with a nod. “Whatever you teach me will definitely be very cool... I just watched to much Star Saga as a kid.”

“That is fair. Laserblades are a pretty cool,” Grace said with a grin. “Let’s start with some basic stances and drills, though. Maybe we’ll have time to do some falls, which are more important than they’ll probably seem.”

---

It was Pete’s birthday, and Johnathan had no good reason not to go. They were supposedly best friends, after all. Andy and Steve were also going, and seeing his friends in person was probably a healthy thing to do. Right?

Especially since it had really just been him and his mother in the house the last two weeks, only seeing Grace and his art tutor for any proper conversations. Sure, the household staff were also around, but they generally shied away from really talking to the Preston family most of the time. 

So, to diversify his socialization, Johnathan was now standing outside the (mildly tacky) Verner family mansion. He had a small and professionally wrapped box in his hands, with an overpriced brand name watch inside it. That seemed like a present that Pete might think about possibly using at some point, which was the best you could do for someone in their household net worth bracket if the goal was to buy something the person didn’t already own. 

The door opened, Pete answering it, but blinking when he saw Johnathan.

“I--haven’t you been working out? You’re somehow looking girlier than usual, Johnny.”

“Yeah, yeah. I probably need a haircut,” Johnathan muttered, rolling his eyes.

“Probably the lighting,” Pete muttered, before stepping back to let him in. “So, are you still not banging that personal trainer of yours?”

“How is that any of your business?” Johnathan asked, regretting that he was following Pete deeper into the house.

“I just want to check because you always seemed like the sort of cheesy romantic who’d be all loyal to a girl, and so I was trying to figure out how to divide the girls I invited for the party,” Pete said.

“You invited girls? And they actually said yes?” Johnathan replied, honestly a little shocked. Mostly by the latter part, though Pete working up the courage to talk to girls was also a development.

“I may have flashed my platinum credit cards around while making the invitations, but it worked to get them to say yes. Might as well see if any of us meet our first wives tonight,” Pete said.

Of course that was how Pete had done it. Letting out a sigh, he handed the present over to get out of hearing any more about it for a few minutes.

At least, once he’d sat down in the lounge with Andy and Steve, it turned out that neither of them were super thrilled with the idea either. Steve thought it was a loser move while Andy seemed to simply be uninterested in the prospect of having girls over. Still, there was no stopping Pete when he had an idea, especially on his birthday. 

As such, Johnathan poured himself a tequila heavy ranch-water cocktail and decided to try to get drunk as quickly as possible. It would make dealing with Pete’s demands mildly more tolerable. Hopefully. At the very least it would mean he was getting his money’s worth out of the trip, since Pete always bought the best. Or, well, the most expensive, which wasn’t always the best but was usually at least good.

The first of the girls arrived slightly before the alcohol had kicked in, but Johnathan had expected that. He reacted to the sound of the new arrivals at the front door by slipping over to the rock-climbing room that the Verner family had for unclear reasons. None of them actually did rock-climbing. That was part of what made it always a good room to hide out in when Johnathan needed to escape. Walking near the wall, the lower handholds were clear of dust, no doubt cleaned by maids fairly often. Curiosity got the better of him, however, and Johnathan climbed up a bit to see that the dusting had stopped at about the height one of the maids could reach with a duster. 

The process of climbing a little proved easier than the last time hubris had taken hold, and so Johnathan decided to climb a bit higher. A few moments later, he found himself sitting at the top of the climbing wall. Looking down, it was a bit higher than it had seemed from the ground, even with the padded floor...

Oh! From up here he could see there was a door to the second floor, if one kept pressed to the wall. The ledge seemed a bit narrower than it needed to be, but Johnathan was still sober enough to walk in a mostly straight line. Relieved all the same, he opened the door as soon as he could and stumbled into a room he didn’t recognise.

Looking around, it seemed like it was designed to serve as a mancave. Only, it was severely dusty, to the point that Johnathan had to sneeze from the amount he’d kicked up just by entering. The next important step was finding another exit, which proved tricky. The room was only lit by a skylight that wasn’t doing a great job and, well the entrance Johnathan had used was a hidden door from this side, which meant the other one probably was as well. Letting out a sigh, Johnathan decided there was nothing for it but to feel around to try to find the other door.

After a couple of embarrassing minutes the door finally revealed itself, turning out to be the back of a fake bookshelf in Pete’s dad’s office. Curious, Johnathan fussed with the bookshelf for a bit to figure out how to open the secret door from the other side. It only took a few tries to find the book that served as the switch to activate the secret door. Proving that Pete’s father was about as well read as Pete was. 

Unfortunately, Johnathan had probably wasted about as much time as was possible avoiding the party. It was time to head downstairs and get a little more to drink, maybe. Something to take the edge off however terrible Pete’s flirting was going. 

Finding the stairs took a bit, though. Jonathan didn’t go to this part of the house much and the tequila was not helping with figuring out directions. Still, even the absurd Verner home was only so big. A stairwell eventually made itself visible and Johnathan took it carefully. They did seem a bit steeper than was polite, in Johnathan’s humble and only slightly drunk opinion.

The stairs also led to the kitchen, which was inconveniently distant from the theatre and lounge rooms where the party was happening. To Johnathan’s surprise, however, a few of the women were in the main living room, leaned against the wall and looking like they were making an effort to hide. In stark contrast to their outfits, which seemed designed to hide as little as possible and left Johnathan feeling more than a little flustered. Sure, they were a bit thin and short compared to Grace, but they were still attractive. And Johnathan was a bit shy around girls to begin with.

“They’re all kind of... losers,” the one was saying.

“Yeah... I know I just wanted to be spoiled by a rich guy’s money, but I was hoping for a rich guy who was at least funny,” the other muttered.

“They’re dumb enough you could probably marry them and then divorce them for half their money before they realise what’s happening,” Johnathan said while walking past, the alcohol leading to slightly loose lips.

The trio of young women turned to stare at Johnathan, surprise and confusion in their eyes.

“Where were you hiding?”

“Oh, um... upstairs. I didn’t want to see Pete’s terrible flirting attempts,” Johnathan replied with slightly shy body language. It was a bit embarrassing to admit.

“And... you’re friends with those three?” one of the girls asked, audibly surprised.

“Er, well, yeah... we were at the bottom of the pecking order in high school, so it seemed like safety in numbers,” Johnathan explained.

Worried about saying anything else embarrassing, Johnathan started heading off again, hoping to get some more alcohol. The three of them followed, however, a curiosity in their eyes that was slightly intimidating. Had they decided on a target for their gold digging?

Weighing their expressions, Johnathan was reasonably certain that lacked the predatory edge of a woman on the hunt for a husband. Sure, a nineteen year old might have limited experience on that front, but growing up in circles as wealthy as the ones the Prestons moved in the look of someone on the hunt was something one saw reasonably often. 

The worst ones were usually the straight men who were hungering for power as much as wealth and luxury. For some reason they could rarely accept just being trophy husbands

Those girls, however, looked more like nervous puppies ready to follow someone who had given them food. Not sure what to make of that, Johnathan headed into the den and grabbed another cocktail with some kick to it (bourbon this time). Looking at the rest of the room, Pete had one of the women he’d invited cornered and seemed to be trying to bore her to death while he was bragging. Meanwhile, Andy had booted up the tv anyway and was playing a racing game while working through some Mexican beers. A girl was sitting beside him on the couch, looking bored, though she kept glancing at the poor woman Pete had cornered and seemed to be glad that wasn’t her.

Lastly... Steve was just straight up missing. Though, taking a moment to listen, Johnathan could just barely hear some moaning and banging noises coming from the theatre room. That was hopefully just the sounds of him making out with one of the other women. 

Glad that everyone was easy to ignore, Johnathan downed a bit more of the cocktail than was maybe advisable, and weighed the options. Watching Andy’s gaming seemed not terrible as something to do for a bit. It was still too early to call for a ride home after all. That would probably need another hour at least...

Oh, the trio were still over there, watching hopefully. Curious and growing more drunk, Johnathan wandered over to talk with them a little more.

“Everything alright with you ladies?”

“We’re just... we’re just surprised that those three were able to be normal enough around a girl long enough to be friends with her,” the one said.

“Is it because you’re a lesbian?” another added.

The words took a few moments to get past both the alcohol and the surprise that was filling Johnathan’s thoughts. Apparently it wasn’t just the lab technician who was being fooled by some longish hair and a little estrogen.

Correcting the girls felt rude, however. And, well, it also felt painful, like it always did, informing someone Johnathan wasn’t really a girl. Somehow, also denying being a lesbian felt even worse. Plus the night was already enough of a struggle with dealing with Pete’s nonsense, so Johnathan decided to just nod and get into character. It was all perfectly innocent, after all.

“Haha, yeah. They’re still a bit weird sometimes, but our high school was not a great place to be a nerdy lesbian so I couldn’t be picky with friends,” she declared, finding the lie weirdly comfortable.

“You look darn good for being a nerd, though... way more beefy than any of those guys,” the one woman said, and... there was now a hunger in her eyes that left Johnathan a little nervous.

“I, um, I have a personally trainer I’ve been training with,” Johnathan explained. “Er. Personal... dang, that drink had more kick than I realised.”

“Well, why don’t we go find somewhere else to hang out? Just us girls?” another one of them said.

“S-sure... there’s--well, there’s a few rooms. This house is a bit of a mess design-wise,” she replied, heart racing at the idea of getting to be ‘one of the girls’ for once in her life.

It had always seemed a forbidden dream.

---

Somehow heading towards the downstairs bar had ended in a few more drinks before one of the girls looked Johnathan in the eyes and announced that she’d never realised girls could be so attractive. Followed by kissing her, which utterly overwhelmed Johnathan’s brain, already turning useless between the alcohol and the gender experience.

To make matters worse a second girl protested that the first had known she was already out as bi and it was rude to steal the butch from her. She’d then made her stake clear by going in for a kiss as well, this one having tongue added with a sort of assertiveness that Johnathan’s brief forays into dating and kissing had never encountered before. She had to wonder if this was what being kissed as a girl was like...

And then she had to panic because things were going too far. It was not the innocent ‘getting to join girls’ night’ that Johnathan had expected. Panicking, all she could think to say was:

“I’m actually seeing someone.”

It was, of course, said rather too late to make much of a difference about the kisses received, but she felt that the way the girls had ambushed her and the alcohol was a passable excuse.

“Oh, come on...” the third woman muttered. “You’re the best catch here and I’m straight.”

“That doesn’t sound very straight,” the second girl countered.

“Kiss the cute butch and test it. It’s very fun...” the first said, before turning to Johnathan. “C’mon, it doesn’t count as cheating if you’re just letting a girl test her sexuality.”

“Uhh... that...” Johnathan mumbled, reasonably certain that wasn’t true but also only able to resist so much due to the fact that she wasn’t actually seeing anyone.

It proved enough of a moment of vulnerability to get her kissed a third time.

“Huh... girl lips really are so much softer... maybe I am bi,” the third girl mumbled.

“I... I need to get going,” Johnathan squeaked, extracting herself and scrambling upstairs and towards the climbing room once again.

Fumbling through her pockets, it took a few attempts to phone her driver, asking to be taken home. Thankfully the man arrived only a few minutes later, even if the honk for his arrival felt painfully loud.

She stumbled from her hiding place out to the foyer and then into the car. The gentle rumbling of the car then lulled her to sleep.

---

Waking up the next morning with a splitting headache, Johnathan wondered why he felt so weirdly giddy. The night before was a blur and he was pretty sure he hadn’t gotten enough sleep, but it couldn’t overpower the weird warmth in his heart. Yet the source of it evaded him.