I woke up first this time, and was immediately struck by how soft my pillow was. It took me a few seconds to realise that my pillows were in fact Laithe’s naked thighs. My face had found its way into the dip between them, and a little drool had escaped onto her pale skin. I shifted slightly, and found my tail had been appropriated by her for use as a pillow in return. She had buried her face in it as she leaned against the back of the couch.

As I was looking up, a shadow fell across me, blocking the light, and I looked up with a start. Caser was standing partially into the room, looking down at Laithe and I, their expression flickering between shock and happiness.

“Did you two actually like…?” they whispered incredulously.

“No! We just… stuff happened and… omg I’ll explain it later!” I whispered back.

Laithe took that moment to wake up, making an adorable little groaning sound that made my heart melt into a puddle. She looked down at me and gave be a huge sleepy grin, bringing an arm over to gently caress my cheek. Caser made a strangled squeak.

“You two are so cute! You’re really together?” they breathed excitedly.

“Uhhh,” I said.

“Something like that,” Laithe said, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of my head between my happily twitching ears.

I shimmied upright and glanced from Laithe to Caser and back, “Uh, yeah I guess we are together, I don’t know how that works. I guess we need to talk about it?”

Leaning forward, Laithe slipped a thumb under the bottom band of my bra and huskily replied, “Oh, I can teach you how it works my little vixen.”

Hers! I’m hers! Bubbly emotion rose up from my heart and shorted my brain out for a moment.

Caser giggled and jokingly warned, “Careful there Nightbinder, you might break her if you tease her too hard.”

“Oh, given the teasing she’s inflicted on me, I think this is more than justified,” Laithe replied with a smirk.

“Guuuuuuys,” I whined, “I’m right here!”

“I know you are, you’ve made my legs go numb! My neck feels sore as well! Damn I wish we’d slept in a more normal position,” she grumbled.

“Next time,” I said poking out my tongue.

“Ohhh next time huh?” Caser laughed.

Laithe hummed in happy reply and I swung my legs onto the floor and slapped lightly at her thigh, “I’ll go make coffee for us. How do you like yours?”

“Right now? Dark as you can get it,” she sighed, flopping back onto the couch.

“Alright!” I chirped, heading to the adjoining kitchen.

Caser came up to the breakfast counter and leaned on it, scanning over whatever was on their phone with their glowing icy blue eyes. The three of us were silent as I put the kettle on, and it was a comfortable silence. I loved the feeling of quiet companionship.

Looking over at Laithe, I saw she had her arm over her face, a small smile playing delicately on her full lips. Lips I’d gotten to kiss. I was struck again by just how crazy this was. I’d slept cuddled up in Nightbinder’s arms! She was meant to be my rival or something! At that moment she lifted her arm and caught me staring. She didn’t say anything, just sent me a confident wink and an air kiss, then lowered her arm again.

The peace was broken by a strangled gasp from Caser, who was gaping a their phone.

“No… you didn't!” they laughed, although it came out almost as a cackle.

“I didn't do what?” I asked with wide eyes.

“You posted a picture of Nightbinder in your Vulptrix hoodie on your twitter!” they said with an incredulous laugh.

“Oh… crap. I forgot about that…” I mumbled as I made the coffee.

Laithe giggled nervously and dove for her phone, and I watched her face carefully. She frantically navigated through it, then her eyes widened as she began to read.

I handed a mug to Caser, who was still leaned against the breakfast counter, then carefully lifted the other two and made my way back to the couch. Laithe was furiously scrolling, her cheeks becoming redder and redder by the second.

“What are they saying?” I teased lightly.

She looked up, accepting the coffee with a bite of her lip, “There’s a lot there. I actually got some direct messages from other heroes wondering if I’d caught you. Seraph seems to hate me now, but that’s no loss. On the flip side, fucking everyone on twitter seems to be talking about how hot I am!”

“You are pretty damn hot Laithe,” I grinned.

She gave me an embarrassed half smile and sipped her coffee cautiously. Content that she was happy with her coffee, I snagged my phone off the couch and opened twitter up. I was flooded with notifications. Oh dear. Let’s have a look at the replies then.

Asel @imafrognow
No way! It’s true! Nighttrix is real!!!!!

Haail @CassxCrowley
I love this so much! My queer brain is exploding! Does this mean Nightbinder is going villain?

Justice For Emerged Christians @HolyLover
Nooooo. But GoodOmens. Nightbinder was meant to be with Seraph!! Not that theiving bitch.

This next one caused me to let out an embarrassed squeak and I felt my own blush starting to take hold on my cheeks.

Redd @Reddvestigations
I'm glad the walking dominatrix finally found the bratty bottom that she deserves. May the Uhauling be swift and full of flannel.

The tweets continued, many were outraged over Nightbinder apparently fraternising with the enemy, while others speculated that I was going hero. It was pretty intense, but I felt… really good about just being open and showing my affection for her openly. Which gave me the idea for a tweet that might inflame things further, or might calm them down.

Vulptrix @littlevixentrickster
Hi all, so this blew up a bit hey? Yeah, I’m with Nightbinder right now, physically ;), and as a couple. I don’t know how this will work, but I’ll let you all know soon.

I hit the tweet button and sat back to sip my coffee and watch Laithe as she scrolled through her phone. She was so fucking cute having just woken up in my hoodie. I was like, really lucky.

“Now that you’re safe from my necklace, what are you going to do?” I asked her.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Like, are you going to go home or what?” I clarified.

“Yeah, but I’ll fly back with a proper change of clothes if that’s okay? We can go shopping to get you more clothes. You don’t have makeup either do you?” she asked tentatively.

“Oh uh, no I don’t have makeup… I didn’t really think about it much,” I said.

“Do you want to try?” she smiled.

“Yeah why not?” I grinned back.

“Alright, great! So going to the mall later? Not the Sherwood one though, let’s go to the Rotherham one, they’ll have nicer stuff, and… you can probably afford it,” she laughed.

“Yeah okay, sounds like a plan then!” I said, finishing my coffee.

****

When I heard a knock at the door, I rushed over to let her in. She stood on the other side of the door playing with the cuffs of her leather jacket nervously. I couldn’t help but run my eyes up her. She was wearing black boots with what looked like 2 inch heels, very tight jeans, a purple and black plaid shirt and a leather jacket. Several of the buttons on her shirt were down, revealing a cute lacy bra in a matching black and purple colour. Her face had the signature depreciating makeup on, little cracks spiderwebbed across her face. It didn’t really help in my opinion, she was still gorgeous as ever.

“Ready to go?” she asked with a smile that threatened to drag me into her arms by sheer magnetism.

“Y-yeah, gimme a sec,” I turned back to the house, “Caser! She’s here! We’re leaving!”

“Have fun on your date!” they replied.

Stepping out into the cold, I looked up at Laithe with a nervous grin. I really hoped this was going to go well. Sure we’d spend the night cuddling, teasing each other and teasing the internet, but we had a lot more to do to figure out if we were really compatible.

“You look pretty as all hell Kalia,” she said, somewhat breathlessly looking down at me.

I looked down at what I was wearing. I’d found a dress the last time I’d tried shopping that I’d liked. It was a bit on the short side, only just covering to my mid thigh, but it was perfect for letting my tail out into the air comfortably. The dress itself was black, with a blue and green wireframe forest scene on it, and yes, it included a little fox prowling between the trees.

“You uhm, you look great too,” I said lamely.

She laughed, “Alright let's go then.”

We made our way down the stairs and into the parking lot, and I automatically started heading for the sidewalk.

“Oi, where are you going?” called Laithe.

“Oh... uh, I was going to start walking?” I asked sheepishly.

“In that clothing? No way! We’re driving silly,” she giggled.

“Driving?” I asked dumbly.

“Yes, just because I have wings doesn’t mean I fly everywhere all the time!” she said fondly, wrapping an arm around me and leading me towards where she’d parked.

“Huh, I just kinda walk everywhere,” I said sheepishly.

“Yeah it’s probably hard to register a car if you don’t technically exist,” she nodded, “Okay this is it, she’s generic and boring, but she’s mine.”

The car we’d arrived at was… well yeah, generic and boring. It was a higher end japanese sedan of some kind that screamed middle class. The type of car my parents should have bought.

“Functional,” I deadpanned, before giggling, “No it’s cute.”

“Thanks, for a second there I thought you were dissing on old Candice here!” she said in mock seriousness.

“You named your car Candice?” I asked incredulously.

“Yeah? Why? It’s a good car name. You’re a good car aren’t you Candice,” she said, cooing to her car as she opened the door for me.

I stopped halfway in, leaning in to give her a peck on the cheek, whispering, “You’re adorable.”

She closed the door, blushing heavily as she made her way around and into the driver’s seat. Once she had the seatbelt on, she looked over at me with an embarrassed grin and stuck out her tongue.

“Cute,” I giggled.

“No you!” she replied.

“Drive us to the mall you birdbrain.”

“Rude.”

We both laughed and she started the engine.

****

When we arrived at the mall, it was pretty packed, and I looked up at Laithe as we walked through the sliding doors. Damn she was tall in those heels, it was so hot. Her eye twitched a little as she surveyed the multitude, and with a shrug she took my hand and led me in. She took my hand! Sparks flew around in my brain at the contact, and I felt my breathing hitch slightly.

I was honestly starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by this whole lesbian relationship thing. In the past I’d always been the guy, the one who was forced by the standards of society to make the moves, plan the dates, pay for the meals. Sure things had changed a bit since like forty years ago, but not that much.

Being on the other side of the coin was… incredible and refreshing. I wasn’t going to be a doll for Laithe to drag around though! I was going to try and take the reins a bit, but for now I was going to bask in the feeling of being cared for. Being the little spoon, both physically and metaphorically, resonated with me on a deep level. About as deep as I wanted Laithe inside me actually. Whoa, wait what? Bad brain! Thoughts like that are for later!

We wandered through the mall, aimlessly to my mind, but she must have had a plan, because we ended up in front of some lingerie store that was almost aggressively pastel.

“Uhhhh,” I said, wordlessly trying to convey my concerns.

“Yeah I know, it’s a bit intimidating the first time. Shit the first time I went in here was like, four months ago? Maybe? Anyway, I’m here to help and you need good bras. Have you grown at all since the emergence?” she asked soothingly.

“Grown?” I blinked.

“Yeah, like have your boobs grown at all?” she clarified.

“Nope, they’ve stayed the same size,” I said in confusion.

“Yeah it’s pretty much what I thought, the body you’ve got is probably already done with puberty, so that will make this a hell of a lot easier. You can buy nice bras and not have to worry about growing out of them,” she said sagely.

“I bow to the master,” I said with a laugh and a mock bow.

“You’re a nerd,” she said, her face heating.

“So are you!” I giggled.

Rolling her eyes, she dragged me into the store by the hand.

I was very glad I still had some of my senses left after the wooing she’d been giving me the last day or two, because when I saw the little red dot on her back I reacted without thinking. I jerked her arm backwards just as a beam of glittering white light punched through the space she’d been in moments before.

“What are you doing?” she asked in surprise, having not seen the laser where it passed inches in front of her chest.

Ignoring her question, I grabbed my identity concealing necklace and quickly clipped it onto my neck.

“Hero time Nightbinder,” I said grimly.

I saw her brow furrow in confusion, and then her eyes widened as she looked over my shoulder. Her change was fast, one moment Laithe was standing there looking confused, the next I was greeted with the sight of Nightbinder in all her glory. Six beautiful dark wings with accents of purple spread out behind her, her eyes lit up with a violet light and the dark smoke began to pour lazily from her eyes. She was gorgeous, amazing and hugely intimidating.

I looked up at her, and ignoring the obvious danger we were in, reached up on my tiptoes to kiss her hard. It was a brief kiss that I tried to use to convey my feelings right now, and when I parted from her, she gave me a huge feral grin.

“Let’s fuck them up,” she growled.

I saw another red dot appear on her body, and taking a more firm grip of her, I teleported us out of harm's way. We reappeared some fifteen meters away and both of us quickly took stock of the situation.

I found our foe standing a few meters away, and it was not what I expected. Instead of some super villain with laser eyes or whatever, I was looking at a robot. It was mostly a frame, and had no external plating or armour to protect its inner workings. It looked almost skeletal, apart from the deadly looking gun it held. The whole thing screamed prototype, much like its wielder, but it still had that deadly look of a weapon made to kill.

“There’s more than just that one Vulptrix!” Nightbinder told me urgently.

Following her gaze, I found more, they were appearing everywhere around us, bursting out of delivery boxes that were, in hindsight, rather suspiciously dotted around the place.

“Uhhh, plan?” I asked.

“Smash them,” she said, summoning her mace and flashing forward to the one that had been shooting at her.

It didn’t stand a chance, one second it was whole and preparing to shoot at her again, and the next… well the next second it was in two parts, Nightbinder’s mace having just exited its chest at blinding speed.

Wasting no time, I targeted another one, teleporting up next to it and yanking on some wire that looked important. It gave a squealing beep and one leg went limp, the whole thing sprawling onto the ground in a heap of flailing metal. I strode over to the dropped laser gun thing and picked it up, examining it curiously. It had a trigger and a hand grip, although it was uncomfortable in my flesh and blood hand.

Curious, why build the gun to be a seperate piece, and why make the robot into a humanoid at all? A wheeled platform with a gun turret would have been just as effective. Whoever built these things was definitely up to something different to the norm.

I lowered the barrel of the gun at the center of the flailing robot and pulled the trigger. The gun sparked briefly, but then did nothing. Frowning, I held the trigger down this time, and as I’d thought, the laser sight pinpointed my target. A short moment later, the charge that was building in the gun unleashed, burning a glowing hole in the important vitals of the robot.

Awesome! I turned around, looking for more targets.

Nightbinder was busy wailing away at more robots who were ineffectually trying to shoot at her. Every time she saw one charging its laser rifle, a chain would crackle into existence and wrap around the weapon, crushing it and unleashing the charge it had been building in a small blast. I felt my stomach and chest warm as I watched my girl smashing things. So damn hot.

I began covering her back, seeking out and blasting any robot that was taking aim at the gothic whirlwind of screeching metal and tearing cable. She drew a shitload of attention, and subsequently fire, from the rampaging robots, which allowed me to teleport around taking shots with the rifle I had stolen.

We quickly realised we were an island of relative safety amidst a sea of death and chaos. The average civilian was no match for the methodical fire the robots were raining down on them, and bodies littered the mall like the snow outside.

“Nightbinder! We need to make a safe room for the civvies! They’re getting gunned down!” I called to her.

“Use the lingerie shop! I’ll clear it out, you start teleporting people to safety!” she yelled back.

“Got it!” I called, and got to work while she carried out the cleansing of the shop.

I teleported up to the people in the most danger first, attempting to reassure them that i was on the good side this time, and I would take them to safety. The first few times took way too long, and eventually I got fed up dealing with the terrified civilians, and simply teleported them to safety whether they liked it or not. When I got back to the shop, I saw Nightbinder using a laser rifle in one hand and her mace in the other to defend the safe area we had set up.

“How many are still out there Vulptrix?” she asked as she blasted another killer robot as it lurched around a corner.

“Too many, there’s a lot of hurt people too,” I said, the pain of seeing people hurt colouring my voice.

“Sorry, little vixen, this isn’t how I saw our little shopping date going when I drove us here,” she said sadly.

“At least I get to watch you smash things,” I said, trying to cheer us both up, “It’s… fun to see.”

A small grin spread across on her face at my words, “Stop perving on me and go get more people you little minx.”

“Yes mistress,” I giggled, and teleported away.

****

Twenty minutes later, we’d gathered as many civilians as we could find into a few shops, and were working hard to defend them, when more heroes arrived. Unfortunately, the first one we saw was Seraph. She saw Nightbinder and I working together and an expression of fury blistered across her face. Flying through a broken skylight, she descended upon is in a feather ball of rage.

“Nightbinder! What the fuck are you doing? She’s a villain, and probably the cause of this mess!” she snapped.

“She definitely isn’t, I’ve been with her for like twenty four hours or so! She’s even been helping save these people!” Nightbinder snapped back.

Seraph turned her glare on me and spat, “She is a criminal who must be brought to justice! There is no latitude for mercy here, that is for the courts to decide!”

“This tired old shit again Seraph? Really?” Nightbinder said with a roll of her eyes.

“Seraph, maybe instead of arguing with Nightbinder you should be helping save people’s lives. I’m kinda showing you up right now,” I jeered.

“You disrespectful little slut!” she shouted, and I saw her eyes light up. Oh shit.

Not a moment too soon, I did a quick emergency teleport, and watched as the space I had been in less than a second before lit up with a searing beam of golden light. A second after that, and the beam pulsed, blasting a smoking hole in the polished concrete floor.

“Leave her alone!” screamed Nightbinder, and launched herself at Seraph.

It was a vicious swing that left no room for doubt that she was aiming to do real damage, and Seraph’s eyes widened in shock. She was only only just in time with her block, using her sword to halt the blow.

“You really dare?” she said in bewilderment.

“You attacked my girlfriend! Someone who is doing good while you float there in the air like a useless fucking pigeon and spew tired rhetoric about justice,” Nightbinder growled angrily.

“She is a criminal! She must be-” I cut her broken record off with a laser rifle shot past her face.

“Get lost! Go somewhere else and help or I’ll take a limb off!” I called up.

Glaring in pure hatred between myself and Nightbinder, Seraph cried out in frustration and flew back out the shattered skylight in a flash.

“What a fucking bitch. She’s going completely off the deep end I swear, with her false promises of order and justice,” my fallen angel said with a heavy tone, “all that soaring amongst the clouds and she’s lost sight of the life and reality below.”

“Yeah, she seems like she has no understand of what it means to be a proper hero, and I’m saying that as a villain,” I sighed. Seraph was exhausting to just be around.

Stepping forward, Nightbinder cupped my face in a graceful hand and said gently, “You’re not a villain Vulptrix, just a lost caring soul who needs a bit of love, and can do a lot of good.”

With those intense words in the air between us, she leaned down and planted a soft, tender kiss on my lips, melting me to her like the puddle of fox that I was. The robots must have been finished off, because we stood there in the middle of the broken mall and made out for a good while. As the feelings of happiness and lust surged through me in equal measure, I realised that maybe she was right. Maybe I could do real good for the downtrodden of Penrith. It would be using methods that would cause argument and division among the traditional heroes of the city, but fuck them. You don’t fix things by playing nice, not in a timescale that would help those alive today.