It was halfway through the documentary, Erin and Xavier were surprisingly more immersed in it than Rhys and Seth were.
"I can get behind Erin enjoying an animal documentary, but it's surprising how much you enjoy it." Rhys said, looking at Xavier.
Slightly upset by the comment, Erin clicked his tongue, "Just because I wear take school seriously doesn't mean I'm a damn nerd."
The boys laughed, continuing to watch. "I just think the animals are really cool!" Xavier said, digging into his endless pile of snacks he brought from his room.
The room once filled with laughter instantly changed to silence and horror, as the lynx the documentary was about, got into a fight, heavily injured.
Seth and Xavier were both shedding tears for it, Xavier on the right of Rhys clutching onto his hard, and Erin on the left, grasping his hand.
"They are aware this is a documentary right? Why are they crying?" Rhys thought to himself, unbothered as he intertwined both his hands with theirs, trying to calm them down a bit.
"It's a documentary, don't worry. It's showing us the life of a lynx, after all. Just cling onto me as long as you need." He said with a smile.
Erin's affection rose by two, putting him at forty two, now above Xavier as Xavier's affection points remained the same.
The documentary continued on for another hour, with Rhys trying to console the targets whenever something that upset them happened.
"Remind me to never pick an animal documentary again. Next time I'll just pick a plant." Rhys said in his head to Kane.
"I'm pretty sure they'd still get emotional over a plant." Kane said, snickering a little bit. Rhys agreed, feeling as though no matter what movie they watched, someone would be scared or sad by the end of it.
As the documentary ended, the boys started playing games together, where Rhys heard a system mission.
"OPTIONAL SYSTEM MISSION." The voice rang, making him groan internally. All he wanted to do was tire them out and finish the other damn mission.
"Xavier Meiyer had won last gaming session and still has a favour host owes him. Remind Xavier Meiyer of it, and convince him to have everyone cuddle together. There is no reward or punishment upon completion." It read.
"Damn it! I still owe Xavier a favour. I thought we all forgot about it, since he didn't use it this weekend." Rhys hissed, not wanting to do it at all.
"There may be no reward, but it helps you with the other mission, right? It'd be less embarrassing in the morning. Besides, this will be pretty easy to do, all you need to do is ask, I'm sure he'll accept." Kane said, while Rhys felt like his sanity was leaving him.
"I hope this system burns in hell." He responded as he turned to Xavier, a smile on his face, forgetting about the game.
"We still have that favour we owe you, right? I'm curious, when are you going to ask us for something?" Rhys asked, causing Erin to glare a hole into the back of Rhys head.
Rhys could almost hear what Erin was shouting in his head, "Why the hell would you mention that, you idiot?"
"I was going to make Reece's take us somewhere in his town this weekend, but we didn't have a chance, so I'll just use it now." Xavier said, causing Rhys to slightly sigh in relief.
"I'm so glad I didn't have to take them to town." He thought, not even sure what was in the town. Now all he had to do was try and convince him to cuddle, the only way he knew how to.
"Hmm what exactly are you going to ask us? I can't imagine you asking for anything other than cuddles or food." Rhys joked, sticking his tongue out at Xavier.
The little boy pouted slightly, "I do more than wish for hugs and eat, like.." he began, but soon trailed off, unsure what he exactly did to contribute.
"Since you owe me a favour why don't you go ahead and make us some midnight snacks! None of you are allowed to fall asleep until one and you all have to listen to me!" Xavier declared, not what Rhys was expecting.
"You should of just asked him if cuddling was okay, instead of insulting him." Kane laughed a little, before realising that if Rhys failed the mission, it would affect him too.
"You've got to make him say cuddle me at some point since he said you all have to listen to him!" Kane shouted at Rhys, now serious.
"When did you act like you care? It's optional anyways, I'll pass." Rhys said, causing Kane to repeatedly kick him in the back of the head as he got up to make some snacks.
"You! Must! Do! It! For! The! Sake! Of! Your! Own! Future! Don't! Be! A! Spoiled! Beat!" Kane yelled between kicks to Rhys' head, panting a little bit.
"Ouch, stop it! It's starting to hurt now. I'll do it, just stop." Rhys hissed in pain, rubbing the back of his head a little.
As he returned with the snacks, Xavier was being a tyrant and demanding everyone's supplies, making himself the best player in the valley. "Ah, Reece's you're back! You're on mining duty." He said with a smile.
Rhys eye twitched every so slightly, knowing he was bad at combat, and would need to keep an eye on his energy and health. "I regret this." He thought.
Erin continued to glare at Rhys every once in a while, and through the night, they successfully manage to complete half of the community centre bundles. "I think I'm doing great." Xavier said.
The boys, Seth included, wanted to kick him off the server if he weren't the host. "You're turning a happy farmers game into a dictatorship!" Erin hissed as Xavier took all the wood from his chest.
"Relax! I'm an expert, I'm just helping you since you don't know what you're doing." He responded with a cheeky grin on his face.
This continued throughout their entire gaming session, until two am soon came. All the laughter and playing had tired the boys out, and they were relieved when Xavier finally said they could sleep.
"I'm never going to forgive you." Erin muttered to Rhys as an affection point for Erin and Seth increased by one, with Xavier increasing by two. Erin at forty three, Seth at forty, and Xavier at forty two.
"Hours spent, listening to a dictator and making snacks every half hours, and all I get was two affection points?" Rhys thought to himself as he wanted to cry.
"Cheer up! Now you can at least try to get him to cuddle now that you're sleeping, right? Just say you're cold a bit loudly and hint to something, you know?" Kane said, patting Rhys on the back.
Too tired to think of anything himself, he decided to just have trust in Kane. "I'm kind of cold now. Could you hand me a blanket?" Rhys asked Seth, as he stretched a little.
Hearing this, Xavier perked up, like Kane had predicted. "I'll take my cuddles now!" Xavier declared as he pulled Rhys to him, along with Erin, as Seth obliged.
"Are his lungs okay? He just pulled us on top of him, he's the size of an elementary school kid." Rhys thought to Kane as a "MISSION SUCCESS." voice rang.
Rhys ignore it as Kane just said "I guess? He used to be a fighter so he can take a hit." Though Rhys couldn't exactly hear it, as his sleepiness had took over.
Watching the four boys sleep, a small smile formed on Kane's lips. He was glad his host was starting to understand what friendship was, even if he didn't accept it.
"All of you probably forgot to set timers so I'll do it for you. I don't know what Rhys would do without me." Kane sighed to himself, setting a nine am timer on Rhys' phone.
Finishing, he cheered quietly to himself, in order to not wake Rhys up. "I'm saved! All he needs to do is get about sixty more each and finish every mission." He thought.
"We're nearly at 500 hosts, too. So maybe you'll be able to meet the other hosts sooner than expected, you've got to have a good record, host." Kane thought to himself, remember the different kinds of host there were.
All of the hosts the system had were spectacular, of course, and it worried Kane a little, due to the few hundred number of hosts available, it wouldn't be surprised if he showed up causing a commotion, maybe accidentally revealing the origins of the hosts too. The system would probably have to detain him again, he thought.
Brushing aside his worries, Kane nuzzled against Rhys and went to sleep, awaiting for the aquarium date in the afternoon.
The seven hours soon passed, and the boys were an absolute mess, hugging, their legs everywhere, hair disheveled, and clothes ever so slightly rising.
As the timer rang, Kane sprang up and pounded on Rhys' chest with his tiny arms. "Wake up!" He shouted repeatedly.
Rhys groaned, slapping Kane away as he made his way out of the absolute cuddle mess. "I swear your beautiful voice goes to waste with your terrible personality." Rhys thought as he shut the alarm on his phone off.
"This is why I purposely put the phone away from you! You're planning to go back to sleep, right?!" Kane said as Rhys made his way back, just wanting to sleep on the soft blankets.
"Ah shit, what am I doing!" Rhys said, snapping out of it as a "MISSION SUCCESS" voice rang, showing him the rewards screen.
"I actually did that, why?" He thought to himself, remembering how he almost subconsciously went to cuddle again.
Kane laughed and mocked Rhys while reading the screen. "Rewards upon completing cuddle buddies mission, one and two bonus attribute points." Presumably from cuddling all three instead of one.
"I only did it because I sought out warmth! I wasn't thinking." Rhys aggressively said to Kane while the world froze. The two bickered a little so early in the morning, as Rhys spent them.
One towards stamina, one towards defence, and one towards physical health. Immediately, Rhys felt so much better as the physical health improvement kicked in.
"What they do this time?" Rhys asked, putting their argument on pause to learn about his attributes.
"You're stamina has improved, you could probably run a mile and a half. You could also take a bit of a hit now, basketballs shouldn't make your nose bleed." Kane teased, causing Rhys to snarl at him as he continued.
"Finally, you'll feel a little less tired, not by too much, just a tiny little bit less, you'll be able to wake up a little easier, essentially." Kane said, while the safe space ended.
As he floated to the kitchen to help him make breakfast, Rhys spoke. "Oh come on, who the hell left the kitchen light on! That's expensive!"
"I regret you spending that attribute point on physical health." Kane thought, as Rhys' whining had already started so soon after waking up.
"If I recall, you did when you made midnight snacks. Also, when were you concerned about money?" Kane asked, causing Rhys to let out an oh right, he probably wouldn't have to pay rent this month.
"What happens when I leave, do they still stay here?" Rhys asked, pulling out a pan, and some bacon as well.
"Oh you die." Kane said as he put butter in the pan, turning the stove on. Rhys stubbed his toe as Kane laughed.
"What?" Rhys nearly screamed out loud, not sure if that meant anything significant in the grand scheme, really.
"I'm joking, Rhys! If you have vacation time you can stay here for as long as you have it for, but if you choose to leave immediately, the targets will not fall in love with the corrupted female lead and live successful lives of their own, while the system finds a way to back up your disappearance." He began.
"Since your parents are alive and well, when you're finished it'll likely be you got a huge offer from your dad's friend at his birthday party to perform for him elsewhere, and started your career path. Just one of those. You can check in on the world any time you want, you just can't enter yet once you leave." Kane finished.
Rhys rolled his eyes at the long explanation, already uninterested in where it was going. As he started the pancakes, he went over his agenda in his head.
"I'll go and shower as soon as I'm done eating and waking them up. It's already nine fifteen am, I've taken too long. We've got to go by twelve." Rhys said to Kane, who nodded.
"I missed your old selection of clothes at home." Kane thought to himself as he went upstairs to pick an outfit for Rhys suited for an aquarium.
As he finished making breakfast, Rhys put it all on separate plates and filled up their glasses with juice, and waking them up.
Erin and Seth were easy, but Xavier kissed Rhys and pulled him on top, cuddling onto him. "Help me." Rhys said as he tried to pry from Xavier's right grasp.
"I swear this child has a grip tighter than a professional." Rhys thought to himself as both Erin and Seth helped pull him up, with Xavier still clinging like a Koala to him.
As they made their way to the table, Xavier finally let go after smelling food, and Rhys could swear he felt nail marks at the back of his neck.
Ignoring it, he let out a small sigh before smiling, the day had just begun after all. "I hope you all enjoy breakfast, after this let's get ready, we've got two hours." He said.
Overall, it wasn't a bad night in Rhys' opinion. Would he cuddle someone to sleep again? No, definitely not. But did he hate the warmth of people? Not as much as he had expected.
Shaking off his thoughts, he munched away at his food, prioritising the system mission of the day, the one he had been waiting for the entire night.