Chapter 82: Love and Space War
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"Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!"
- Ollie, (Sons of the Desert)
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<(Atem POV)>
'Wow, that was a lot of fun. I think I should do this more often.' I thought to myself with a fond smile on my face as I chugged down what was supposed to be my 17th cup of whiskey. "I wonder why I am drinking this shitty drink in the first place when I won't even be getting tipsy no matter how much I drink." I mentally whined about my godly resistance.
The five of us (me and the Fantastic Four) had just spent our entire night karaoking in the penthouse of the Baxter building, drinking, singling, and even dancing as we celebrated Ben's normal appearance. Empty glasses and crumpled napkins lay scattered about the room as evidence of how much we were all enjoying it.
Exhaustion had set in for everyone after a night of constant partying. Ben, having danced to 80s hits all night, was now sound asleep, cuddled up with Johnny on the couch who by the way, was mumbling in his sleep about being the world's greatest YouTube star. Meanwhile, Reed was also fast asleep, snoring while leaning against the bar with a straw comically placed in one of his nostrils—one of Johnny's pranks that he played on the scientist after he got drunk.
After noticing everyone fast asleep, I slowly set my own glass down, preparing to leave quietly, not wanting to disturb them in their sleep. However, the moment I turned, I was met with a soft, and determined voice that stopped me from opening a hush tube and leaving.
"Atem, wait." The one and only Susan Storm quickly appeared in front of me and caught my wrist before I could leave.
"Susan! I thought you'd be asleep by now," I could not help but exclaim in surprise in a low voice to avoid waking any of the other three up. "Also, didn't you go to sleep early?" I asked with a confused face.
"I couldn't sleep," she replied with a tired exhale, taking another step until her face was just a foot away from mine. "I needed to talk to you about something important."
"Yeah sure, whatever you need. What do you want to talk about?" I asked with a curious expression on my face. "Wait, is this about your funding? If it is, you will be glad to hear that I just approved a hundred-billion-dollar interest-free credit line for your research yesterday. With a credit line as large as that, you won't be having any more money troubles even if your revenue growth stops." I informed her with a smile.
"Wait, really? Wow, thanks. No, I mean that wasn't what I wanted to talk about." She said before taking a deep breath and locking her eyes with mine. "I-I wanted to talk about... us. I am tired of having to hide our relationship from other people even though there is nothing to hide. I want to make it official." She admitted.
"... By the way, why were we hiding it in the first place?" I asked with a straight face after listening to her words.
"I'm not sure, I suppose I was worried about hurting Reed. After all, there was a time when I used to have a silly crush on him, which left me with a soft spot for him... but obviously, those feelings are long gone now." She quickly added the last part after noticing the blank expression on my face.
"It's okay, Susan. I am not at all insecure when it comes to Reed Richards." I chuckled. "Just tell me, what you have in mind for our relationship because I am serious about it, and I don't plan to leave you any time soon. If you want to change your relationship status online or something, I don't have any objection to it. Hell, we can even get married if that is what you truly want. Just keep in mind what I told you before. I have a... few other women in my life besides just you." I casually stated, knowing that Susan already knew that Emma and Selene were my lovers from the start.
Initially, she didn't care about the other women in my life since she thought that she wasn't going to be romantically involved with me and therefore just treated the dates as a way to have some fun and get extra perks from her boss but over time, we grew closer than she would have ever imagined. Hell, even I couldn't exactly remember how our relationship evolved from being "just friends" to what we are now.
However, the question was whether she had truly accepted me having multiple partners. Could she actually agree to spend the rest of her life with me knowing that she won't be my only lover?
After being reminded of how cruel reality was, Susan had suddenly gone quiet for a few moments, a torrent of emotions visible in her eyes. But she quickly recovered from her thoughts with a quick shake of her head as she looked at me with a serious look on her face.
"You are the one I love, Atem. The last few months we spent together have already told me what I needed to know, and I am not going to change my decision. You are it for me... Also, I heard polygamy is now legal for metahumans in a lot of European and Asian countries including Neo Genosha. Even the United States is now considering legalizing it due to metahumans being a minority, so maybe it won't be too bad. Furthermore, it isn't exactly a crime when multiple maidens devote their bodies to their god, is it? But of course, I want to meet with your... other lovers first before we undertake a commitment as big as marriage, not that they can discourage me from it or anything." She declared with a slightly awkward smile.
"I will introduce you to them whenever you want sweetheart... But maybe we should start by letting those three know about our relationship first." I answered before pulling her in a hug and pointing in the direction of the other three people sleeping inside the room.
"Yeah, I should do that, shouldn't I? Particularly with Reed—I need to tell him about us as soon as possible especially since he has been asking me out on a date for the past few days. I have been avoiding him like a plague so that I don't have to reject him to his face, but now, I at least have a valid excuse." She giggled as she snuggled her head tighter into my chest.
She kept hugging me like that for a few seconds more as she seemed to lose herself to her thoughts. "... You know what, I never really thought that I would fall in love with a god one day. When I first had a crush on Reed, I thought he was the one. Even when he ignored me and gave his research more attention, I always blamed myself for not being good enough but now I see that it was never my fault. He was the jerk, not me... Well, I guess destiny had someone else in store for me after all, someone much better than a stupid stuck-up scientist fifteen years older than me." Susan snorted as she looked up at my face to see my reaction after her honest confession.
Encouraged by the loving look on my face, she grew even bolder as she brought her lips closer to mine, "But now, I can finally be with a real man who cares about me and finds me attractive, someone who will be able to fulfill all my needs and desires." She stated in an exaggerated husky voice.
"Wow, you are on fire today, Miss Storm." I praised before pulling her in for a deep kiss, my tongue quickly slipping into hers for some exploration. "You know what, you need to let out some steam... I think we should do something together..., something wild... and I have the perfect idea what." I suggested with a grin after pulling away from the kiss, much to Susan's disappointment.
"Wild? What do you have in mind for that? Am I going to commit a taboo with my god before marriage?" She seductively whispered in my ears as her hands roamed all over my body, trying to trace my muscles.
"Oh, most definitely we are, but not now, I have something much wilder for us to do, something that can help us spend more time together with each other while also having some much-needed fun," I responded with a nod as a plan began to take shape in my mind.
"Okay, you have my undivided attention. Now, tell me, what do you have in mind." Susan demanded to know in a playful voice.
"I think it would be better if I show you rather than tell you... Also, we should leave a note to make sure that these three are not worried after they wake up, especially your brother. He cares a lot for you, and I am pretty sure that he would go supernova due to stress if you were to suddenly disappear for a few days." I advised.
"... Yep, I should probably leave a note."
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*BOOM* *Boom* *BOOOOOM* Explosions of various sizes and intensities shook the space as massive spaceships shot at each other from opposite directions near a seemingly lifeless planet with various types of lasers, missiles, torpedoes, and other dangerous and advanced weaponry.
Interestingly, the number of spaceships was much larger and more heavily armed on one side while the opposite side primarily constituted humanoid-shaped insect-like drones with a massive pyramid-shaped spaceship in the center that acted as the command center for the drones.
"This was what you meant by wild? You want us to fight in a goddamn space battle?" Susan almost screamed in panic as she gulped while looking at the scary yet spectacular scene in front of her.
"What? Of course not. Are you crazy?... I want you to fight in an intergalactic space WAR. There's a difference."
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