The soft glow of the lights in the Chrighton’s dining room cast long shadows across the polished mahogany of the dining table. Outside, the last vestiges of daylight slowly bled from the sky, leaving a multi-colored twilight in its wake. The air in the room was warm, filled with the low hum of relaxed conversation and the comforting clink of silverware against porcelain. During the teens' time away, their parents had met up often to talk, and in the case of the Holmes, get to know one another better.

  The Travers and the Chrightons still weren’t the best of friends, but the recent time they had spent together had done a lot to bury the proverbial hatchet.

  The difference from when they had left was unnerving and would require some getting used to. But it was the need to play nice and not disrupt the meal that was proving excruciating for the three.

  They sat clustered together, each a little ball of coiled tension.

  Nate picked at a loose thread on the tablecloth, his mind a whirlwind of counterarguments and worst-case scenarios. Lindsay, for her part, was unnaturally still, her usual vibrant energy banked down to a nervous simmer. Mika, sensing her unease, was a quiet weight on her lap, her tiny nose twitching. Angie, who had volunteered to be their spokesperson, maintained an outward composure that was betrayed only by the way she kept rearranging her fork and knife on her plate, aligning them with obsessive precision.

  “It really is wonderful to have you home, dear, all of you,” Trissa said, her smile genuine as she looked from her daughter to Nate and Lindsay. “The house felt… empty and incomplete without you.”

  Aden Chrighton nodded, setting down his glass. “Agreed. The reports you sent about your activities and the routes you were establishing were thorough, but nothing compares to having you here with us again. Though I do admit that hearing about your adventures in person does make me want to go out and do my own trips again. I haven’t done one since you were younger. Your mother and I are incredibly proud of how you handled yourselves, Angelica.”

  Lindsay’s parents, James and Lisa, echoed the sentiment. “We were worried, of course,” Lisa said, her hand briefly covering her daughter’s. “But you’ve all clearly grown. This trip… it was more than we expected. It brought some things into focus… for all of us.”

  The kids shared a look, not liking where this conversation was headed.

  They needed to stop those thoughts before everything went awry.

  Nate caught Angie’s eye, giving her the barest of nods. She took a deep, almost imperceptible breath, her hands folding neatly in her lap. The small movement was enough to draw the attention of the adults at the table.

  “Actually,” Angie began, her voice clear and steady, a stark contrast to the nervous flutter in her stomach. “There’s something we need to discuss with all of you. Something important to our future.”

  The casual chatter around the table died down. Niall and Nina exchanged a curious glance. George leaned forward slightly, his expression one of gentle inquiry, while Claire offered a soft, encouraging smile.

  “We’ve prepared a proposal,” Angie continued, her confidence growing. She slid a thin folder she had placed beside her chair onto the table. “We’ve given this a great deal of thought, and we believe it’s the most logical and necessary next step for us.”

  James Travers raised an eyebrow, a hint of amusement in his tone. “A proposal? This sounds serious.”

  “It is,” Lindsay affirmed, her voice finding its usual strength. She looked at her parents, then at the others. “As you all know, we’ll be starting some classes at the local college soon. And our training as a party needs to continue to be consistent and structured if we’re going to continue taking on expeditions.”

  Nate took the folder and opened it, turning it so all the parents could see the first page. “We’ve outlined the practicalities,” He explained, his voice even. “All of our homes are on opposite sides of the city from the college. The commute alone takes a significant amount of time, and that is assuming we head there in the morning together like we did for high school. The odds of our schedules all matching up perfectly are rather small, though we’ll do our best when the time comes. More than that, our effectiveness as a party depends on daily training, not just scheduled sessions but actual combat. What we learned on the road was that constant proximity is what allowed us to truly learn to fight as a unit.”

  He flipped the page, revealing Angie’s meticulously crafted budget and a list of potential properties. “We’re proposing that the three of us get a shared residence. An apartment, or a small, secure house near the campus. We have the funds for a deposit and several months’ rent from the expeditions we’ve undertaken. This isn’t about leaving home. It’s about establishing a base of operations. A place for us to study, train, and function as the party we need to be to survive out there.”

  The silence that followed was profound. The parents looked at the proposal, then at their children, their expressions a complex mixture of surprise, pride, and a deep, instinctual parental concern.

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  It was Nina who spoke first, her gaze soft but direct as she looked at Nate. “You’ve certainly thought this through,” She said, her tone a careful blend of approval and caution. “It’s a very mature plan.”

  “Too mature, perhaps,” Aden added, his eyes narrowed in thought. He looked at his daughter, his merchant’s mind analyzing every angle. “This is a significant step. You’re talking about complete independence.”

  “We’ve been independent for the last month, Dad,” Angie countered gently. “We managed our own supplies, our own safety, and our own finances. This is just… formalizing it.”

  “There is one point,” Lisa Travers said, her voice laced with a concern that every parent at the table shared, even if they hadn’t voiced it. She looked at Nate, then at her daughter, and then at Angie. “A point that your very thorough proposal seems to have conveniently overlooked.”

  Nate felt a cold knot form in his stomach. He knew what was coming.

  “You are a young man, and they are two young women,” Lisa stated plainly, her gaze unwavering. “Living together, unchaperoned… We trust you, all of you. But we also aren’t na?ve. Before we could even consider something like this, we would need to understand the nature of your relationship. All of it.” She put a hand to her head. “We… we were somewhat willing to look past our misgivings, for the trip. However, you three living together is another matter entirely.”

  The question and the proceeding announcement landed with the force of a physical blow. The air crackled with a new kind of tension. It was raw, personal, and utterly unavoidable. Nate felt his cheeks flush. Lindsay suddenly found the pattern on her plate intensely fascinating. Angie’s carefully constructed composure wavered, a blush creeping up her neck. They had skirted this topic, even among themselves. Their bond was deep, forged in shared danger and quiet moments, but they had never tried to put a name to it.

  “We’re… a party,” Lindsay finally mumbled, the words feeling inadequate even as she said them.

  “We know you’re a party,” Niall said gently, his expression understanding. “But are you just a party? Are you just friends? We see the way you look at each other. The way you rely on each other. It’s more than just teamwork. We’re your parents; it’s our job to see these things. We just need to know what it is we’re agreeing to.”

  They were trapped. Any answer they gave felt like a confession or a lie. They didn’t have a simple label for the tangled, powerful emotions that bound them. None of them had ever dared to voice their thoughts or intentions. It was a friendship that had deepened into something more profound, a partnership that had long since bled into affection. The trust they had in the others was absolute. But to say that out loud, right then… to try and define it under the scrutinizing gazes of their parents, was far too embarrassing and felt like a betrayal of its unspoken sanctity.

  Nate looked at Angie, then at Lindsay. He saw the same turmoil mirrored in their eyes that he undoubtedly had in his. Moreover, he saw the trust they had in him, the unspoken plea for him to find the right words. And in that moment, he realized that their carefully constructed proposal, with all its logic and reason, wasn't enough. It couldn’t be, and probably never would have been, because it was based on a half-truth. To make them truly understand, to make them see why this was not a whim but a vital necessity, he had to give them the whole truth. All of it.

  That was fine; this was something he had prepared himself to do since earlier on. He hadn’t anticipated them questioning their relationship, but he had thought they would push back against the need to live together. So, he had been prepared to reveal the truth to them.

  The secret he had carried for so long, and had defined his new life. But sharing it with people always left him feeling terrified. He looked at his parents, at the unconditional love in their eyes. He looked at George, whose steady gaze seemed to say, I already know there’s more. Finally, his gaze shifted to the girls, the two dearest friends he had made since waking up in this body over a year earlier. They had brought about needless troubles in the beginning, but they had also welcomed him into their circle. Most importantly, they had stood by him without question and had accepted the impossible when he revealed the truth of the dungeons to them.

  He had to trust these adults.

  Nate didn’t know how to answer their questions about their actual relationship and feelings, since that was something they had never discussed among themselves. And that is exactly what he told them.

  “We’ve never discussed our relationship before or where it may or may not be headed,” Nate began softly, his voice gaining strength as he spoke, pulling the focus of the entire room onto him. “Nothing has happened between us, so you can take some assurance in that. It is a subject that we have avoided discussing before now, but I guess it is time that we address amongst ourselves, in private first.”

  The girls nodded, blushes creeping up their necks.

  He swallowed. “The real reason,” Nate hesitated. “The real reason we need to do this is more complicated than college or training.”

  Aura and Lindsay snapped their attention to him. This wasn’t part of the plan.

  He took a breath, the point of no return. “I’m sure you have all figured it out by now that I have a connection of sorts to the dungeons.” His parents drew in a sharp breath as they discreetly looked at the others. “A connection that I’ve never really explained, and I thank you for not pressing me on that issue.”

  He had brought them to the community right after it had formed; if they hadn’t had questions and suspicions, then they would have been the odd ones.

  “The truth is, I’m the one who has been creating the dungeons.”

  The statement hung in the air, heavy and unbelievable. Both sets of parents, along with the others, stared at him, their faces a canvas of disbelief.

  He looked at Angie and Lindsay, and they gave him a subtle, unified nod. They were with him.

  “So, last year, when I was attacked while trying to form my core that first time, something happened. I lost a bunch of my memories, as I’m sure you know. But what you don’t know is that I woke up with a budding connection to the dimensional zones. It took months to fully form, likely because of my damaged meridians. However, once it did, I was able to create the first dungeon, which is actually where I met Aura. I can enter the dungeons at night in an avatar of sorts, think of it like astral projection.”

  George and Anna were slowly nodding; however, Aden and James were frowning and slightly angry.

  “This isn’t funny, Nate,” Aden growled. “We were having a serious discussion, and then you started talking about something like this. I never took you for the type to make up a story in this manner.”

  Angie smacked the table and glared at her father. “That’s enough, dad. He’s telling the truth.”

  Thank you to all the people who have taken the time to rate the story and to my latest Patrons! I have other stories up on my Patreon, including my current WIPs. Which are now Created G.H.O.S.T. System(My Cyberpunk story), WetWorks2, plus The Restaurateur and His Daughter and DungeonFall. :)

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