Chapter 84-Out of the frying pan

Chapter 84: 84-Out of the frying pan

"Let’s take this one step at a time, okay?"

His fingers tightened around hers. "You make that sound simple. It isn’t."

A faint, humorless smile touched her mouth. "I’m just good at giving orders."

That drew a breath of laughter from him, shaky but real. The sound eased something in her chest. She lifted her free hand, paused beside his cheek, and waited. Nathaniel gave the smallest nod.

Her palm settled against his face. "I’ve thought about kissing you before," she admitted. "More than once. Then I told myself it was a bad idea, or bad timing, or that I was imagining things because we were trapped together."

Her thumb brushed his cheek. "I don’t know what happens after this. But I know I don’t want fear... or the system... to make the decision for me or you."

Nathaniel’s eyes held hers. "I would have kissed you without the mission." He hesitated. "Eventually. Probably after several months of making a complete fool of myself."

Despite everything, Aymara smiled. "We sure would’ve taken turns to make each other embarrassed," she joked.

"I was trying to be subtle."

"You failed, old friend."

"I suspected as much."

The ship groaned around them. Aymara’s smile faded, but she didn’t look away. "Then kiss me because you want to. And if all you can manage is a brief one, that’s enough."

Nathaniel drew a careful breath. His hand rose to her waist, stopping just short of touching her. "May I?"

He didn’t forget to ask for her consent. And Aymara couldn’t deny but every time he asked for her permission she found him more and more charming.

"Yes."

He pulled her close, not with the sudden urgency of the mission, but with a hesitation that gave her time to change her mind.

Their foreheads touched and for a moment, they simply stood there, breathing through the alarms.

Aymara closed the distance. Their lips met softly. Nathaniel froze for half a heartbeat, then returned the kiss with cautious warmth.

It was awkward at first. It was not because either of them was unwilling, but because they were both paying too much attention to every movement.

Aymara felt the nervous tremor in his hand. Nathaniel felt the way she almost pulled back, then chose to stay.

She shifted closer. His arm tightened around her waist. The second kiss was steadier. The third carried less uncertainty.

Nothing about it erased the danger outside. The alarms still screamed. The ship still shook but the kiss stopped feeling like an order they were fulfilling. It became a conversation neither of them had known how to begin: tentative, interrupted, and honest in the places where words failed.

When Aymara finally drew back, their foreheads remained together. Nathaniel’s breath was uneven.

"Was that enough?" he asked.

She glanced at the mission notification, then at him. "It was enough for me."

His eyes searched hers. "And for the system?"

"We’ll find out."

DING!

[Mission completed!]

[Congratulations, Host!]

[Reward acquired.]

[Cruise Ship Emergency Upgrade ×1.]

[Nuclear Beast-Slaying Blaster ×1.]

[Additional reward: Defensive Barrier fully restored.]

Aymara’s eyes snapped open. She immediately pulled away, though her fingers lingered around his for one extra second before she let go.

Nathaniel remained frozen. His lips were slightly parted. His cheeks were bright red. Even the tips of his ears had turned scarlet.

The mission was complete but the moment between them had not become simple just because the system had accepted it.

Nathaniel looked down at their joined hands. "Mara."

"Nate?"

"I meant what I said," he swallowed. "Not just that I would have kissed you. I mean... I don’t want this to become something we only talk about when we’re in danger."

Aymara studied him. The captain in her wanted to promise certainty, to turn the feeling into another objective she could complete. However, she answered carefully. "Then don’t ask me to define it right now. We can take our time."

His shoulders tensed. "I wasn’t going to."

"I know." She squeezed his hand once. "But when we get out of this, we talk. Somewhere quiet with no alarms or missions and without pretending we can postpone it forever."

Nathaniel’s expression steadied. "And if we decide we want this?"

"Then we learn how to do it when we’re not about to die." A small smile returned to her face. "Gradually. After all, we have all the time in the world for that."

He nodded. "Gradually sounds good."

Another violent impact shook the ship. Nathaniel’s expression changed instantly. Aymara turned toward the monitor.

The system was already updating the ship. [Emergency upgrade commencing.]

[Hull integrity restored: 100%.]

[Defensive barrier restored: 100%.]

[Weapon systems upgraded.]

[Nuclear Beast-Slaying Blaster activated.]

Aymara’s eyes lit up. "Perfect. Now I can give that octopus a piece of mind!"

The control room transformed around them. Panels split open beneath the ship with a grinding roar. A massive weapon system emerged from the hull, far larger than the previous underwater cannon.

Its armored barrel unfolded segment by segment, revealing a core of white-hot energy.

The air filled with the sharp tang of ozone. Energy surged through the weapon, making every console tremble. The monitor locked onto the mutant octopus.

[Target acquired.]

Aymara’s entire demeanor changed. The softness vanished and the embarrassment disappeared. The woman who had just been kissing Nathaniel was gone. In her place stood the ruthless captain who had survived the apocalypse once and refused to die a second time appeared.

She grabbed the control panel. "System, are you ready?"

[Awaiting command, host.]

Aymara stared at the enormous creature regenerating beneath the waves. "Let’s finish this."

Behind her, Nathaniel was still standing there with a face that could rival a ripe tomato. He touched his lips unconsciously, then caught himself and lowered his hand.

His heart was still racing. He had just kissed Aymara. Aymara! Not in a dream! Not in his imagination! He, the childhood friend with unrequited love actually kissed her!

And somehow, despite being older than her, he felt like the shyest person alive. But beneath the embarrassment, something had changed.

The change was not the promise that everything between them was settled, and not certainty about what came next. Just the knowledge that the door was open and that, once they survived, they could choose whether to walk through it together.

Aymara glanced back. "Are you coming?"

Nathaniel immediately straightened. "Of course." His voice was steady. His face was not.

Aymara turned back to the controls, hiding her smile. "Good. Let’s get this done and sit down for a hot meal."

She pressed the firing command, the nuclear blaster began charging and the entire ship vibrated.

Bolts rattled in their housings. Deep beneath the deck, something massive began to howl. Outside, the ocean pulled away from the weapon in a widening ring.

The mutant octopus emerged once more, its regenerated body towering over the vessel. Water cascaded from its tentacles in silver sheets. Its monstrous eyes locked onto them.

Aymara’s lips curved into a cold smile. "You should have stayed in the deep."

[POWER OUTPUT: 100%.]

The blaster reached maximum charge. The creature raised its tentacles and the sea rose with it.

Aymara’s eyes sharpened. "Fire!" Her voice ran loud almost bringing down the roof.

The night exploded as white light swallowed the ocean. For one blinding instant, the world became heat, thunder, and shattered water and then the monitor went black.

A single red warning appeared.

[TARGET STATUS: DEAD.]

[WARNING HOST: UNKNOWN CREATURE DETECTED]

[PURPOSE ANALYSED: EATING THE CARCASS OF THE OCTOPUS]

[WARNING! NEW CREATURE DANGER LEVELS ARE EXTREME!]

Something struck the underside of the ship. Once, twice and then a colossal shape moved beneath them, blotting out the stars.

Aymara’s hand tightened around the console. From the darkness below, a new eye opened and looked directly into her cameras.

"Just got out of a frying pan and right into the fire."