[John POV]
Six months. It had been half a year since the world was nearly conquered.
You'd think after defeating Conquest, turning the 'invincible' Omni-Man into a magically bound servant, and founding the most powerful corporation on Earth, I would have my life completely put together.
News flash, I didn't.
Because right now, my palms were sweating through my pockets, and my heart was hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.
Not having a third date with my girlfriend out of fear that it would be ruined like the first two was… well, how would Sebas say it? A bit cowardly.
I wasn't about to let the chaos of my new life keep me from taking out the girl who had been by my side through all of it.
After making sure absolutely everything was ready, I finally raised my fist and knocked on Nakime's bedroom door.
KNOCK. KNO—
She opened it before my knuckles could knock a second time.
And she completely took my breath away.
She had traded her usual traditional robes for a striking gothic outfit that completely caught me off guard. She wore a sheer black lace top with long sleeves, tightly cinched at the waist by a wide, laced black leather corset. A layered silver ankh and bat necklace rested against her chest, perfectly matching the silver chain belt slung loosely over her black flared trousers.
Her long, dark hair fell freely around her shoulders, framing her face and allowing her single, stunning eye to take in my reaction. With her black nail polish, silver rings, and a studded black leather handbag slung over her shoulder, she looked absolutely breathtaking.
[Image Here]
"John, do I look good?" she asked, her cheeks dusting with a faint pink blush as she nervously smoothed down the fabric of her top. "I… I thought it would be good to try these kinds of clothes tonight."
"I… I…" I stuttered gibberish for a moment with my hand in the air like it also didn't know what to do with itself. Eventually, I managed to pull the words out of my dry throat. "It's perfect. You are perfect, Nakime."
I mean, I liked seeing her in racy dresses, but this… this had a mesmerizing quality to it.
"Shall we?" I smiled, extending my hand toward her.
She took it with a radiant smile, her fingers intertwining with mine, and gently strummed her biwa with her free hand.
TWANG.
And we instantly found ourselves stepping onto the neon-lit sidewalks of Mid-Night City. The perfect date spot for a blood demon with an allergy to the sun.
I had shifted into my 'Jonathan' disguise just to avoid drawing any unnecessary attention. Ever since the invasion, the public had practically revered me as a beloved hero.
"It's still so weird," I mused out loud, walking hand-in-hand with Nakime under the glowing streetlights. "I fought off Conquest, made Nolan a weapon under Earth's control, and literally regrew the destroyed city of Chicago from the ground up… yet I'm still somehow only Number Two in the hero popularity rankings."
Nakime smiled, wrapping both of her arms tightly around my bicep and leaning her head against my shoulder.
"Well, I think Number One is well deserved for Pepsi-san," she teased, her eye crinkling with amusement, which I could see despite her heavy bangs. "You did all of those things out of necessity, and let's not forget you haven't done any public heroics since the invasion. While you stay in the castle, Pepsi-san has been tireless; He's worked 24/7 for these entire six months."
She was right. My silent familiar had become the ultimate rescue hero. He had worked with so much dedication that some people didn't even yell 'Help!' anymore when they were in trouble. They literally just screamed 'Pepsi!'
"Still, I—"
I was interrupted by the sound of frantic sobbing. A small child came running down the sidewalk, tears streaming down his face.
"Mama!! Mama! Where is my Mama!"
Nakime tensed, her maternal instincts kicking in. She stepped forward to calm the child, but before she could reach him, a brilliant blur of blue and red dropped out of nowhere.
The blur skidded to a flawless halt directly between us and the child. Pepsi-Man knelt down, his featureless silver face somehow exuding warmth, and offered the crying boy a perfectly chilled can of Pepsi.
The child, influenced by Pepsi-Man's global fame and his Mythical Nice Guy ability, instantly stopped crying and jumped happily into the silver hero's embrace.
Pepsi-Man secured the child safely in his arms, stood up, gave me a subtle nod, and blurred away to find the boy's mother.
Nakime was startled and looked up at me. "What was that, John?"
And I just scratched my chin, feigning ignorance. "Ah, you know Pepsi-Man. Must be patrolling nearby. All work and no fun, that guy."
Internally, however, I was already dialling into our telepathic network.
'Guys, what the hell was that?' I demanded through my mental connection to all my familiars except Nakime. 'I thought your preparations were solid!'
Neel's stressed voice echoed back. 'I am so sorry, Mr. Chairman. I had personally sponsored a massive parade on the far side of the city to draw the crowds and minimize any distractions and I tried to seal your side of the city, but it seems a few stragglers slipped through the blockade.'
'You guys need to take this very seriously,' I mentally scolded them, letting the gravity sink in. 'I absolutely cannot have my third date in a row get interrupted.'
'Yes, Sir!' Neel replied.
'Of course, Master,' Sebas echoed smoothly.
'Pepsi!'
'Ship!'
'Moo.'
They all reported in, but the mental meeting was cut short as I felt Nakime's grip on my hand tighten painfully.
"Pay attention to me, Mister," she said, puffing out her cheeks in an adorable pout.
My heart simply melted at the sight of it. I gently cupped her cheek, my thumb brushing against her soft skin.
"I am so sorry, honey," I whispered softly in her ears and kissed her cool cheeks. "You look too beautiful tonight to ignore. All my attention is on you. I promise."
She blushed happily, her pout softening into a mischievous smile as we resumed walking.
"Besides, Pepsi-Man's life is not nearly as monotonous as you think," she hummed, swaying her hips slightly as she walked slightly ahead of me.
"Huh?" I asked, now genuinely curious. Out of all my familiars, Pepsi-Man was undoubtedly the most closed off, mostly due to his inability to say anything other than his brand name and he is always on the move to help as many people as he can.
"Someone has a massive crush on our resident hero..." she said in a sing-song voice.
"Who? Come on, you have to spill," I laughed, the urge to know the office gossip taking over.
"It's the new rookie, Super-Mom," Nakime whispered, dramatically putting a finger over her lips to signify a massive secret.
"No way? But doesn't she copy his entire schtick? She literally hands out Coca-Cola when she rescues people!"
"And who do you think she learned it from?" Nakime laughed, lifting her elegant eyebrow. "I got bored and used some of my eyeball familiars to monitor your city. Turns out, they've been going on secret dates! Can you believe it? A Pepsi-Cola romance! I'm so happy for him...but also, how scandalous!"
Shocked, I reached out through the mental link again. 'Pepsi-Man. Is this true?!'
All I got back was a very shy, 'Pep…si…'
'How the hell is Pepsi-Man getting more action than me?' I thought, shaking my head in disbelief.
I walked up beside Nakime, wrapping my arm securely around her waist and pulling her against my side.
"Enough about other people's love lives," I smiled down at her, the neon lights lighting up her face. "Shall we continue our date?"
The only way to describe the rest of night is with the word: perfect. .
Mid-Night City's night markets were alive with energy, and the air was thick with the smell of roasted meats and sweet pastries. Nakime was practically glowing. She pulled me from stall to stall with her wide with wonder.
"Try this one, John!" she laughed. She held up a warm BBQ Rib right to my mouth.
We sat on the curb eating our pre-packed meals, and just existed together without the weight of the world on our shoulders. Whenever a problem even remotely threatened to ruin the mood, my familiars acted like a black ops team in the shadows.
It started at the arcade. Nakime had locked onto a giant white tiger plushie trapped inside a brightly lit claw machine.
"You want that one?" I asked while bumping my shoulder against hers.
"I mean... it is cute," she murmured, looking away shyly. "But those machines are just designed to steal your money."
"Watch and learn," I grinned. I cracked my knuckles and fed a token into the slot. "I didn't bitch slap Omni-Man just to lose to a claw machine."
I lined it up perfectly and hit the button. The claw dropped, grabbed the tiger, and then immediately went limp, dropping the prize right back into the pile.
I stared at the glass with my eye twitching. "Okay, one more try."
Three tries later, I was ready to put my fist through the glass.
Nakime had stepped close to tell me it was okay to give up, when a small puddle of green liquid metal dripped from the ceiling vent directly above the machine.
'Ship?'
The little Mechamorph silently slid down the glass and slipped right into the motherboard. The machine's lights suddenly flashed a vibrant green.
"Huh?" Nakime blinked and leaned closer to the glass.
I hit the button again. This time, the claw clamped down with the grip strength of a hydraulic press. But Ship didn't stop there; the mechamorph went overboard. The machine's alarms chimed wildly, the prize door swung wide open, and Ship caused the internal belt to spit out every single plushie inside.
A tidal wave of stuffed animals flooded the floor, completely burying Nakime up to her waist.
"John!" she gasped before bursting into bright laughter that echoed over the arcade. She grabbed two plushies and hugged them tight. "I think you broke it!"
"I totally meant to do that," I lied smoothly, mentally sending Ship a thumbs up.
Later, I was carrying a comically large bag stuffed with at least twenty plushies as we walked past a narrow, unlit alleyway.
"You know I didn't need all these, right?" Nakime teased while walking slightly ahead of me.
"One Plushie isn't enough to match how adorable you are," I joked back.
But then my senses spiked.
I felt two very familiar, hostile presences dropping from the rooftops into the shadows of the alley.
Darkwing I and Darkwing II.
Their facial recognition systems must have pinged my disguise, recognizing me from back when Nakime and I made quick work of DarkWing II and War Woman II.
I could hear Darkwing II whispering in the dark. He was hot headed and clearly still salty about his humiliating defeat and completely ignoring the fact that I had literally healed his mentor's wounds from near death.
"That is him," I heard Darkwing II hiss. "I am going to wipe that smile off his face."
He didn't even make it to the street.
"Oh, look at those lanterns," I said loudly. I pointed Nakime toward a brightly lit stall across the street to distract her.
While her back was turned, Sebas materialized out of thin air inside the alley.
I didn't turn my head, keeping my smile perfectly fixed on Nakime, but I heard the entire exchange.
With a silent chop to the neck, Sebas knocked Darkwing II unconscious, having caught the boy completely off guard.
I heard the soft thud of Darkwing I catching his falling protégé.
"I would strongly advise against that," Sebas whispered. His voice was dripping with polite malice.
The veteran vigilante looked up, taking one look at the terrifying butler blocking the alley exit. Darkwing I was a smart man. He instantly recognized Sebas as the legendary Dragon Man.
Without a single word, the original Darkwing wisely fired his grappling hook in the opposite direction and got the hell out of there, dragging his unconscious sidekick into the night.
"John?" Nakime called out and looked back at me. "Are you coming?"
"Right behind you," I smiled, adjusting the massive bag of plushies on my shoulder as if nothing had happened.
After a full day of having uninterrupted fun, I couldn't even tell how much time had passed. But I suppose when you're in a city plunged into eternal night, time doesn't really matter anyway.
As we eventually settled down on a quiet park bench, sitting under the light of a full moon in a star-filled sky, the mood was just too perfect to waste.
My heart started hammering against my ribs all over again. I looked at Nakime, her skin glowing beautifully under the moonlight.
"Nakime, look," I said softly, pointing up at the sky.
She followed my gaze, her eye widening at the beautiful lunar view.
I took a deep breath. "Tsuki ga kirei desu ne."
(The moon is beautiful, isn't it?)
I said it in my broken Japanese, but she understood. Her eye widened as the true meaning behind the declaration hit her. Her pale face instantly flooded with a brilliant red.
"Master… are… you… " she stuttered, losing her usual elegant composure as she looked back at me.
"Yes, Nakime," I said softly, reaching out and gently tilting her chin up so she was looking directly into my eyes.
"I'm sorry it took me so long to finally say it. But, I love you."
A heavy silence took over the park as I waited for her to say something… anything.
But she didn't need words. I watched her eye flutter shut as she moved in, leaning her weight against me. Her soft lips closed over mine in a sweet kiss.
She pulled back just an inch, breathless. "Mast… John, I lov—"
BOOOOOOM!
Suddenly, a blinding flash of green light flooded our vision.
A roaring blur of blue and yellow came out of the green light and tore straight through the park, violently crashing into the giant oak tree directly behind our bench. The impact showered us in leaves and splintered wood.
'Are you kidding me? Again?! Our date was interrupted again?!' I screamed internally, my hands clenching into fists.
But my internal rage was immediately dwarfed.
The temperature in the park plummeted to freezing.
I looked at Nakime, and the beautiful, blushing girl from a second ago was completely gone.
Her single eye was glowing with a blood-red. All of her noble demeanor instantly evaporated, replaced by the unadulterated rage of a woman who just had her perfect romantic confession ruined.
She glared at the groaning blue and yellow superhero tangled in the tree branches and screamed at the top of her lungs.
"MOTHERFUCKER!!!"
[A/N]:
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