Acceptance

*At Exodus Technologies*

There was a mad scramble in the office as people continuously moved about from desk to desk. The usually quiet office was loudly abuzz with people trying to talk over one another. There was a look of worry from the office workers, who looked like they were amidst a crisis.

"Where did this quest come from!? Has anyone found information on this Lich yet?" A man shouted to the other employees.

"Jason! I found something!" Another man yells from across the room. Jason, the man who was shouting earlier, walked with a brisk pace to the desk of the other employee.

"What did you find?" Jason had asked. The other man had a nervous look on his face but eventually responded.

"Well…the records show that the quest was generated from Eri. That doesn't make sense, as those quests are out of her purview.

"Just what is going on with Eri? Should I bring this up with a higher-up? No, there has to be a way to fix the glitch with Eri. Management will tell me to fix it, and it will look bad for me." Jason thought to himself

"Keep looking for this, Lich. We don't need such a strong monster roaming near one of the starter areas this quickly into the game. Most players aren't even at decent strength yet." Jason commanded the others.

The other employees nodded, went back to their computers, and scoured over the data again. Jason sighed and returned to his desk to figure out what in the glitch happened to Eri.

------

My pod door slid open as I logged out of the game. I sit and turn sideways in the pod with my feet touching the floor. I think back to my experiences from today, and I feel as though an enormous weight has been lifted from me. I don't need to care about what others think of me. That is all small compared to what will be coming.

With my new euphoria, I shower and leave my bedroom while wearing my underwear. I decided to make some dinner for Yuki and me. I didn't go overboard with dinner, but I felt good today. My thoughts started to wander over the previous few days.

I started to think about my time in the game and the people I met. I thought about all the activities I have done, including some of the more raunchy ones. I am then reminded of Yuki's confession and finding Emiko's identity. It has been a couple of days since she left, and I wonder if she has decided yet.

The sound of Yuki walking down the stairs shakes me from my thoughts. She wears an oversized T-shirt that goes down to just above her knees. I would have thought she just woke up from a nap if I didn't know she was just in the game.

"What's for dinner? I'm starving." Yuki said while rubbing her belly.

I look over at Yuki with a million thoughts running through my mind. But eventually, one takes hold. I've been postponing it for a while, but I decided to act upon a deeper desire. One I have been bottling up for several years.

I walk over to Yuki, who looks at me with some confusion. I reach down to her hips and pull her closer to me, eliciting a small yelp from her. I then plant my lips on hers and give her a deep kiss. Several moments go by before I separate myself from her. I could almost see the smoke coming out of her ears from the confusion she was in.

Another minute goes by as Yuki starts to reboot and collects her jaw from the floor. "W-what? W-why…w-who? I-I. What just happened?!" Yuki yells after composing herself.

I chuckle to myself at her reaction before responding. "I have had an epiphany today, which led me to think and do some soul searching. I realized that I shouldn't care what people think about me. I had this thought ingrained in me for several years, starting around when things were falling apart with your father."

"But today, I finally realized that with how the world will change, I don't need to worry about other people. If someone doesn't like me for me, then fuck 'em. I don't need to worry about others except those closest to me. So with that, I have decided to accept your confession."

Yuki looks back at me with blank eyes as her brain tries to do another reboot. After another minute, the lights come back on, and she collapses to the floor, crying. I kneel down next to her and pull her in for a hug which she reciprocates. I hold her for a long while, stroking her head and patting her back.

She eventually calms down and can speak coherently. "I-I am so h-happy! I never thought you would accept. I was always preparing for unrequited love or, worse, that you would somehow hate me." Yuki half sobbed into my shoulder.

"I would never hate you. As for loving you…I didn't really know what I felt when you told me your feelings. But after developing my powers and thinking about the future and after… w-well, today's events in the game, I realized I don't know what will happen in the future. So I should live how I want and try to overcome my issues." I responded.

Yuki gave me a hug and another kiss and then asked me a question. "Is that why you are just in your underwear? Also, what event happened today that changed everything?"

I chuckled wryly while scratching my cheek but eventually answered. "Well, it was after I got that quest from Eri earlier today. We had stopped to make camp, and I noticed that Leena's carefree attitude about her various states of undress was embarrassing Eri. So, I may have joined Leena in getting undressed to get back at Eri, and the next thing I knew, we had sex. It was excellent, too, but that was when I had my eureka moment."

Yuki stared at me for a moment before bursting out in laughter. "Oh my god! I can't believe you seduced an NPC into your harem. That is gold! What did Eri do? Did she join in too?"

"Ah, no. Eri just sat there and watched. I told her she could leave if she was too uncomfortable. I only wanted to tease her a bit. But she decided to stay and watch the whole. I…I think she might have a fetish."

Yuki shrugged her shoulders while laughing a bit. "Well, just don't kink shame her. Unless she likes hand-holding, then kink shame the hell out of her."

"Hand holding? Why is that bad?" I asked

"Never mind. It's an old meme. I am surprised you hadn't seen it when you were in school." Yuki said.

I just shrugged at her comment. Afterward, we had dinner and watched some movies once again. I decided to splurge a bit and got ourselves a streaming service to watch more current stuff. Once the movies were over, we got up from our old couch and made our way to bed. Seeing as I was already dressed for bed, it saved me a few steps.

Yuki lay down next to me and wrapped her arms around me. "Goodnight, mom." She said while kissing me.

"Good night, honey," I replied. We both slowly drifted to sleep, ready for whatever new adventure awaited us.