Beastmen Love

In the other world, they would be like two nerds.

Claud had brought more gifts for Astri and also for the cubs.

For Astri, he brought more clothes, papers and all of his books. And he brought toys for the cubs.

Astri brings Claud to a bedroom she prepared for him, he looks at it and it feels very comfortable and comforting. There’s a table, a closet, a big bed.

"I didn’t know how your bedroom was, so I just tried to create a cozy place for you to feel comfortable and at home." She says, carrying a cover sheet.

"It’s perfect. I didn’t have many things. Just a bed and bookshelves. This is way better than my old bedroom. Thank you." He answers, smiling and looking around.

He looks at her again and she comes inside, making his heart come to his lips.

"I have a gift for you too. Hope you like it." She says and pulls a book from between the sheets. She gives it to him.

He sees the front of the book and it says: Medicine Manual - By Claud Yue.

"You... wrote everything I taught you?" He asks, amazed.

"Yep. And it was very hard to hide this from you." She answers.

He smiles and looks at her completely in love.

"Do you have a pen or a feather and ink?"

She nods and goes to take what he asked. He sits and writes on the front page.

She reads: By Claud Yue and Astri White.

"You wrote what you learned and also had your ideas for what to use and what we talked about. This is not only my knowledge. It’s ours." He says.

She smiles. She can’t stop looking at him. Finally, she met the voice that kept her head in place all this time.

The one who soothed her thoughts and every day she waited to talk more.

She had never seen his face, but she became very attached to his voice. And finally, seeing that is actually real makes her happy.

"I’m happy I could finally meet you. Deep inside, I feared that the voice who was always there for me wasn’t real." She says.

"I wanted to come earlier, but I feared many things.. Now I’m happy I overcame these fears. I’m sorry I took so long."

"Don’t have to apologize. You are someone too important to risk yourself. I understand why you feared."

"I didn’t fear because of me.. You’re way more important than I am. In many ways."

"Either way. Thank you for coming. Thanks for always being there for me." She says, then hugs him.

His heart is jumping, like his rib cage wants to break and his heart wants to jump out. He hugs her back, and lets this feeling he never had be part of him.

"Thank you for always being there for me, too. And for treating like a normal male."

"You’re a normal male. Don’t forget that anymore."

He smiles and looks at her. They hear Yuki crying.

"Hunger cry. Good night, Claudy. Rest well." She says.

"You too. Good night." He speaks.

She leaves and closes the door, he sighs with a smile on his face.

He changes his clothes and then lays down on the bed, it’s very comfortable. Way more than his previous beds.

He pulls the book she gave him and starts to read it. She added many details. As he was passing the pages, he noticed that there were some folded papers inside.

It looks like a letter. So he opens it and reads it:

"To the dearest voice in my head.

I know you have already visited many things in my memories. Don’t worry, I’m not mad. I’m grateful, because I don’t know how to talk about many things that happened to me. I imagine that you were the one who brought me back to this world, and I’m also grateful because you made me finally have a meaning to live. Now I have a family, love. I was raised thinking that I wasn’t special, that no one would ever love me, that I would just wait to grow old and die alone. I was lost. And you found me. You held me and showed me the way. You taught me many things, we laughed together, and we fought together. But everything was in my mind. You protected and healed my mind to learn about myself and actually start to love myself.

You were the first one whom I trusted entirely, even though I was capable of seeing and touching you. Every time I trusted someone, I would lose something. Losing all the time is tiring and painful. You feel like you don’t deserve anything. I know it was your duty to save me, more than your own wish, but I just wanted you to know that you saved more than you think. And I’m very grateful. In the past, I always thought that everything shall pass because there wasn’t a point of worrying if I knew it wouldn’t make a difference. Things wouldn’t get better either way. Now, I wait knowing that everything is going to be alright. I need you, but I don’t want you only in my mind anymore. I want you here, because I know you’re just like me. We want love. And I’m here to love you forever.

Thank you for everything, and especially for being real.

Astri"

He smiles, thrilled at the letter, feeling that she’s the most perfect thing that has ever happened in his life.

She wrote a letter instead so she wouldn’t keep thinking about it and risk him seeing in her mind.

He has an idea of how he can answer her letter, he hopes he can show her soon.

He’s not sure if she loves him the way he loves her, but he wants to try more than anything.

Long ago Astri feels that Claud is more than a friend for her. He’s part of her family even if most of the time he was concealed and only she knew about.

"Do you like Claud?" Wayde asks Astri as he rubs her head on the bed, laid on his chest.

"Yes."

"We could notice that you two are very alike. But do you like him like a spouse?" Lee says.

"It’s hard not liking him this way. He’s being with me for so long and he helped me to love myself. If it wasn’t for him I would never have trusted Wayde, I would never decided to change my life. If I’m here today, with all of you, being happy and being capable to love you guys so much, it’s because of him." She answers.

They think carefully, and now they understand that they actually need to be thankful for Claud. Or else they would never have met her and found happiness too.

"Don’t worry. I’m not looking to have dozens of spouses. Really. You five is already more than enough. Also, we don’t know how he feels. It’s his duty protecting me, the same way of his guards." She says.

"I’m sure he likes you. I actually never imagined the Higher Priest would ever think about this kind of thing, but after meeting him and watching him with you, I’m sure he likes you." Lee speaks.

At the end Lee was right and Claud was using his abilities to try to be closer to her, but Astri doesn’t have favorites and loves all of them. Now Lee is more confident of himself.

"Please, no more males after him.." Zin softly says.

They laugh out loud.

"All right. I agree. I want happiness for all of us." She speaks.

"You can have more males if you want. Your protection is what I wish and I don’t mind if you have more." Cyprian says.

"I trust that you are enough for my protection. Otherwise, you also have the power to have others to protect us. You all know I don’t become mates with anyone just to have protection." She speaks.

"Astri is not Ana. Everytime I see that stinky female she has a new male." Zin says.

They laugh again, making Yuki stir in her sleep, making them quiet down.