What's good, y'all.
Back with another installment.
Enjoy!
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Marcus didn't bother setting an alarm and just snuggled with Lucy as she held him.
He fell asleep soon after.
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Waking up, he slowly opened his eyes and realized he wasn't in his apartment.
Feeling a warmth on his left, he saw Lucy cuddling him as her breath tickled his chest.
He slowly untangled himself before sitting up admiring her naked form and cybernetic fashion pieces. Leaning down, he kissed her cheek before getting up.
Marcus stashed his guitar back into the bag and just sat at the windowsill smoking a cigarette.
They had truly done it like animals and he felt a deep sense of satisfaction.
He had a lot to do today. First, he was going to the gym, then he'd be meeting Misty at 1 and then his aunt and cousin. He also had more training to do, so he had lots to do.
Seeing that she was still sleeping, he went back to bed and played with her hair and laid there in peace. About five minutes later, she was waking up.
She opened her eyes and saw his face and she smiled.
"Morning."
"Morning." He leaned over to kiss her lips and she reciprocated.
"Been up long?" She asked.
"Nah, about ten minutes." He admitted before they both sat up and she leaned her head against him.
"Do you have to go?" She sensed it and she pouted a little.
"Gotta get to the gym and meet some people today." He stroked her back.
She sighed.
"What people?" She was interested.
"My aunt and cousin." He said and she went wide-eyed.
"Are they related to him too?" She asked and he knew what she meant.
"Nah, I say aunt, but she's my dad's cousin." He clarified for her.
She nodded.
"Your parents still around?" She inquired.
"Nah, both dead." Marcus moved to play with her hair.
She looked down at that.
"Sorry." Lucy looked apologetic.
"Don't be. I don't even remember them or what they look like." He sadly smiled.
"Me too." She related to that.
They sat there in silence for a bit.
"You want to shower?" Marcus asked.
She nodded as they got up and went to the bathroom.
The hot water turned on as they drenched in it and Lucy couldn't keep her hands to herself as she ran her fingers down his chest to his abs.
He quickly pinned her to the wall and kissed her with passion cupping one of her breasts and she leaped into his embrace as he held her up.
There wasn't a whole lot of cleaning going on.
After thirty minutes of 'showering', they got dressed again
He slung his guitar bag over his shoulder and he gave her a hug and a kiss.
She looked down with a bit of reluctance.
"You mind if I come over later?" She asked and he didn't have the heart to say no.
"Luce, you can come over whenever you want." He smiled while giving her another kiss but she deepened it as they went on for a few minutes.
"Okay, send me the address?" She asked and he nodded.
"I will." He was about to exit as she grabbed his hand and he turned. She kissed him again. "You trying to keep me here?" He laughed.
"Maybe...okay fine, I'll see you later, Marcus." She smiled.
"Later." He smacked her rear and left.
He vaguely heard her mutter 'gonk', as the door finally shut.
Marcus went down the stairs and into the daylight of Japantown.
He truly felt unstoppable, but he knew it was mostly pride.
Now it was time to go back.
His walk home was ordinary luckily and he stepped into his apartment to drop off his bag before heading out again.
Riding the metro, Vik said that he'd be at the gym today and tomorrow and that he'd only be coaching for 3 days a week which was fine with him.
Making his way to the door and knocking, the slide opened and as he saw him, the slide shut and he was let in.
He checked in at the desk with his hand on the screen and got to his workout.
Vik was about to be here any minute as he usually gets to the gym around 8:15am.
Waiting for a bit he saw Vik come in.
The day went on as usual, he did his boxing training with Vik with pad work, cardio, and weight training. Marcus even got to spar with another guy. He was a bit bigger than the last guy he fought but the outcome was the same.
Getting a bunch of notifications, their 3 hours came to an end and Vik made it a tradition to drive him back while listening to awesome music.
It was about 11:30 when he got back to his apartment feeling great.
He pulled up his stats.
Body 10(4850/5000)XP
- Brawling 7(1900/2000xp)
- Athletics 8(700/2250xp)
- Shotguns 6(1100/1750xp)
- Heavy Machine Guns 6(0/1750xp)
- Blunt Weapons 6(0/1750xp)
'Almost already level 11.' He laughed at the absurdity of his leveling speed and it's all thanks to Vik's guidance that he can gain so much. His Athletics already leveled up and experienced the tingly sensation in the locker room.
He knew he needed to get it up higher since it was great for recovery.
Now it was time to get back to the training shard.
Marcus was interrupted by a text.
David Martinez:
Is it preem if we come by at 4?
John Wick:
Yeah, no problem.
Now it was time to get to reflexes as he had a total of 10 hours left on his shard.
Next, he trained his SMGs.
An hour later he pulled up his panel.
Reflexes 5(2000/2000)XP
- Driving 4(600/1250xp)
- Pistols 5(600/1250xp)
- Submachine Guns 5(500/1500xp)
- Assault Rifles 5(800/1250xp)
- Blades 4(850/1250xp)
- Rockerboy 4(1000/1250xp)
He leveled up his Reflexes and the familiar pain of his nerves and his entire body felt false sensations being fired and even a loss of feeling before he covered.
His Rockerboy stat also gained some XP playing for Lucy while he had already leveled up SMGs in training.
Exiting the shard, it was around 12:30, but he had a little time.
Putting in his clothes for a quick wash and dry, he headed to his stash room while carrying his duffle bag inside.
His Technical Ability was maxed so he decided to finally level it up.
He was then assaulted by various different designs, schematics, and knowledge of various technical fields that even included cyberware. He knew basic ways to create grenades, guns, tech and smart weapons, and general craftsmanship.
Marcus decided to test this by taking out his Unity and he knew how to disassemble it to either clean it or repair the thing, but he didn't have such tools.
He settled for just disassembling it and as he finished, he got a notification.
Gunsmithing +100
Nice. He reassembled it and gained another notification.
He finally got around to emptying his bag and stashing the ammo into different boxes as he put his guns into the various foam pieces.
Eating quickly, he dressed himself as his clothes were now clean and grabbed a few volumes for her and himself before leaving.
Making his way down and walking to her shop, he made it and stepped through the door.
Marcus saw her leaning on the counter but saw that unlike her usual attire, she had on a black dress the accentuated her form.
"Hey, Misty." He walked up to the counter and rested his elbows on it.
"Hey, yourself." Misty was taking in his new look and he felt brighter than before. She also noticed that he bulked up quite a bit but she didn't say anything about it. Blushing a little she continued, "I like the new look."
He grinned.
"Thanks, how do you manage to look more beautiful, what's your secret?" He teased.
She giggled, "Oh, stop it. You wanna come upstairs?"
"Let's do it." Marcus got up and she walked to the back.
He noticed now that she also wore fishnet stockings up to her thighs. Her dress went down halfway down her thighs so he didn't know if they went up higher.
She ascended a staircase across from the back exit and he followed as he couldn't take his eyes off her form.
He shook his head of his thoughts.
'No, this is exactly what happened before. Chill.' Taking a deep breath he turned his gaze to his surroundings wondering what kind of place she had.
His previous life was riddled with bad relationships because they were built on physical attraction and lust, but never worked out long term since his previous partners were flat as was he in a personality kind of way. This life is much more exciting and dangerous so they typically speedrun this type of stuff which is what happened with Rebecca and Lucy, but he knew Misty wasn't like that. At least that's the vibe he got.
They got up to the door and she unlocked it and was greeted with a sitting area, an actual kitchen, and two doors. Probably a bathroom and bedroom if he had to guess.
"Make yourself at home." Misty smiled as she headed into the kitchen. "Coffee?"
"Sure, thanks." He nodded and set his duffle bag down on the floor in front of the couch and sat down. There was a coffee table and another sofa across from him.
He took his jacket off and laid it on the arm of the couch and unzipped his bag.
Misty sat down next to him.
"So I heard that Vik is coaching you, how's that going?" She looked at him with interest.
"Pretty good, won both spars and he has me training for 3 hours. He's coaching me three days a week with tomorrow being the last one. It's not easy, but it's fun." He smiled as he took out the books.
He grabbed the first three volumes for her while he got a few for himself.
"That's good. It seems the results are speaking for themselves." She took another once over of his transformed physique drastically different from what she saw before.
"Yeah, the last few days have been crazy but good. Heard you had a talk with Rebecca?" He grinned looking over at her as he leaned back on the couch.
She blushed a bit before smiling.
"Yes, I knew from the beginning you had a magnetic presence about you, so I don't mind it. Just don't forget about me and we're good." Misty warned before tapping him on the shoulder.
"How would that be possible?" He smiled before looking at her dress, "You've also went to lengths so I wouldn't forget too."
Her face went a little hot.
"Can't be pretty for my hot date?" Misty questioned lightheartedly.
"You could be wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants and still be pretty, I love it." He motioned to the outfit.
She had a radiant smile at that.
"Thank you, Marcus. So this is it?" She turned to the table with an expectant expression.
"Yep. One Piece Volumes 1 through 3 for you. It's a manga." He explained.
She looked a bit surprised.
"A manga? Japanese, right? Didn't think they still made them these days, especially not in English." She was knowledgeable on the subject.
"Yeah, it's the best." He laughed before handing her the first one as he grabbed one for himself.
She was shocked when she saw the number.
"109? There's a 109 volumes?" Misty looked at him with astonishment.
"It's a long and wild ride." Marcus smiled as he recalled the story. This was the volume with the end of Kuma's backstory. Still fucks him up reading it.
They started reading as Misty pointed out funny things and observations about the story so far.
She seemed to like it.
This went on for a few hours as they read and she finished the first few volumes while he read his own.
Eventually, her head rested against his shoulder as she finished the third volume.
"How was it?" Marcus smiled putting his manga down.
"It was good. Can't believe there are over 100 to go through, but it's a fun read. Some serious themes here and there which makes it better. I can see why you like it." Misty gave her honest thoughts.
That was to be expected. One Piece's biggest issue is pacing especially the anime. It was horrendously bad, especially Dressrosa. That was a pain to get through as he wanted to catch up to Wano in his previous life. Gear 4 was epic though.
"Yeah, don't wanna get into spoilers, but it gets deep and the worldbuilding is unmatched," Marcus commented.
He looked at the time and noticed it was about 3:15.
"Shoot, gotta meet my cousin and aunt in less than an hour." Marcus packed away the books.
She raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, did something happen?" Misty looked concerned.
"David, my cousin, came over when my aunt suddenly told him not to talk to me so I told him. Now he told his mom he wants to run the edge like me, and she agreed but wants to meet up." He explained the whole ordeal.
Misty smiled.
"I can feel that it'll be a good talk and rebuilding bridges. I'm happy for you." She hugged him and he reciprocated.
"Thanks, Misty." He got up and slung the duffle bag over his back and they descended the stairs.
They went back to the storefront and she stood next to him.
"Later, Misty. It was fun." He smiled.
"Bye, Marcus." She surprised him by pulling on his shirt and kissing him. Their lips locked for several seconds before they stopped.
He smiled and waved walking out the door.
Marcus made his way back to his apartment with no fuss.
Now he just had to wait for David and Gloria to show up.
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Another chapter down!
Until next time.
Later!