As Sukuna in Invincible-Chapter 34: Joy

Morning light filtered through the half-drawn curtains of Eve's apartment, casting soft golden patterns across the rumpled sheets.

Eve lay on her side, watching Megumi's profile as he stared at the ceiling, his expression thoughtful in the aftermath of their night together.

Her body ached pleasantly, a physical reminder of the hours they'd spent exploring each other with an intensity that had surprised even her. For someone who claimed limited experience with emotional connections, Megumi had demonstrated remarkable... proficiency in other areas.

"What?" Megumi asked without turning his head, somehow sensing her scrutiny.

"Nothing," Eve replied, unable to keep a smile from her face. "Just enjoying the view."

This drew his attention, one eyebrow raising slightly as he turned to face her. "The view?"

"Mmm," she confirmed, tracing a finger along his bare shoulder. "It's a good one."

"You're staring," he pointed out, though there was amusement rather than criticism in his tone.

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Eve grinned unapologetically. "Can you blame me? Besides, you started it with that thing you did around midnight."

"Which thing specifically?" Megumi asked, the corner of his mouth twitching upward.

"You know exactly which thing," she replied, feeling her cheeks warm at the memory. "The one that made me knock over the lamp."

"Ah," he nodded sagely. "That thing."

"Don't look so smug," Eve chided, poking his chest. "I seem to recall you nearly falling off the bed when I did that twist with my-"

"I was repositioning for optimal leverage," he interrupted, though a slight darkening of his cheeks betrayed him. She was quite... unique compared to his previous women.

Eve laughed, the sound bright and unrestrained. "Is that what we're calling it now?"

"Would you prefer 'strategic realignment'?" he asked with mock seriousness.

"I'd prefer coffee," she replied, nestling closer against his side. "But that requires movement, and I'm way too comfortable right now."

Megumi's arm came around her, his hand tracing idle patterns along her spine. "Movement is inefficient when the current position is optimal?"

"Look at you, using my own logic against me," Eve said, delighted. "I'm rubbing off on you already."

"A concerning development," he deadpanned.

Eve smacked his chest lightly. "Rude. For that, you're definitely making the coffee."

"Am I?"

"Mmm-hmm. Consider it your punishment for sass."

Megumi's chest rumbled with a quiet laugh. "I thought you were the one who broke the lamp."

"That was your fault and you know it," she countered, propping herself up on one elbow to look at him properly. "You can't just do... that... and expect me to maintain control of all my faculties."

"Noted for future reference," he replied, his expression serious but his eyes betraying his amusement.

Eve sighed dramatically. "Fine. I suppose I can be magnanimous in victory and make the coffee myself." She sat up, stretching languidly, aware of his eyes on her. "Besides, you'd probably make it too strong anyway."

"Victory?" Megumi echoed, watching as she pulled on his discarded shirt.

"Mmm-hmm," she confirmed with a smug smile. "I got you into my bed, didn't I? After months of careful planning and execution."

"Careful planning," he repeated flatly.

"Oh please," Eve said, heading toward the kitchen. "Like you didn't notice me creating increasingly flimsy excuses to be alone with you? The 'emergency' lab consultations? The 'coincidental' patrol route overlaps?"

From the kitchen came the sounds of coffee preparation and what suspiciously sounded like humming – a behavior Megumi had never observed from Eve before.

"Your subtlety could use refinement," he called out, sitting up against the headboard.

"Says the man who spent three weeks avoiding being alone with me," Eve called back. "Real mature approach there."

"I was being cautious," Megumi defended.

"You were being ridiculous," Eve corrected, returning with two steaming mugs. "Here. Black, no sugar, just like your soul."

She handed him one mug and settled back beside him with her own, which was considerably lighter in color from added cream.

"How did you know my coffee preference?" Megumi asked, taking a sip. It was, annoyingly, perfect.

"I pay attention," Eve replied simply. "Unlike some people who pretend not to notice when a girl is practically throwing herself at them."

"I noticed," Megumi said quietly.

"And yet you kept bringing Tsukumo to every team gathering," Eve pointed out, though there was no real heat in her voice.

Megumi tensed slightly beside her, but she continued before he could respond.

"Speaking of Tsukumo," she said, keeping her tone deliberately casual. "She's not just a chef, and you two aren't romantically involved." It wasn't a question.

Megumi met her gaze steadily. "No, we're not romantically involved."

"But she's not just a chef," Eve pressed.

"No," he acknowledged after a moment. "She's not."

Eve nodded, having confirmed what she'd already deduced. "And there's a lot of context I'm missing – things about her, about you, that you're not telling me."

Megumi studied her face, as if weighing how much to reveal. "Yes," he said finally. "There is."

Eve considered this, then surprised him by settling back against his chest. "Okay."

"Okay?" he echoed, clearly having expected a different reaction.

"Mmm," she confirmed. "I've watched you two enough to know she's important to you, but not in a way that threatens this." She gestured between them. "There's no romantic spark there, no matter how much it drove me crazy seeing you two together."

She tilted her head to look up at him. "I needed to know everything about you to make you mine. But I trust that you won't cheat on me, so I'm okay with not knowing all your secrets. For now."

"For now," he repeated, his arm coming around her shoulders, his hand finding its way to her breast, fingers tracing idle patterns that made her breath catch.

"You're... surprisingly accepting," he observed, his touch becoming more deliberate, drawing a soft moan from her.

"I'm practical," Eve managed to reply, her body arching slightly into his touch. "And I've got what I wanted most. The rest can wait."

"And what was it you wanted most?" he asked, his voice dropping to that lower register that made her pulse quicken.

"You," she said simply. "Just you."

Megumi's lips curved into that rare, genuine smile that always made her heart skip a beat. "Practical indeed," he murmured, his fingers continuing their exploration. "And beautiful. And intelligent. And powerful."

His touch became even more, making coherent thought increasingly difficult. "I see no reason to seek other women for pleasure when you are of a higher quality than all of them."

The matter-of-fact compliment, delivered in his typical straightforward tone even as his hands were doing things that made her gasp, was so perfectly him that Eve couldn't help but laugh – a sound that quickly transformed into another moan.

"That's - ah! - quite the compliment," she managed to say between increasingly ragged breaths.

"It's an accurate assessment," he replied, his smile being in a way that sent shivers down her spine.

"Wait," she gasped, placing a hand on his chest. "Your coffee will get cold."

"I don't care about the coffee," Megumi murmured against her neck.

"I spent good money on those beans," Eve protested weakly, her resolve already crumbling as his touch became more insistent.

"I'll buy you more," he promised, his lips finding that spot behind her ear that made her forget all about coffee, morning schedules, or anything else beyond the sensation of his hands on her skin.

Further conversation was temporarily suspended.

"You're going to be late for training with Mark," Eve observed later, watching as Megumi gathered his scattered clothing from around her bedroom.

"Mark will survive," he replied, pulling on his shirt.

"He'll ask questions," she warned, stretching languidly across the bed.

"Mark always asks questions," Megumi countered. "Usually the wrong ones."

Eve laughed. "He's not as oblivious as you think. He's been making those annoying suggestive eyebrow wiggles whenever we're in the same room for weeks now."

"Mark's eyebrows are his own problem," Megumi stated, locating his second sock under the bed.

"What will you tell him?" Eve asked, genuinely curious.

Megumi straightened, fully dressed now, and regarded her with that penetrating gaze that had first captivated her attention. "The truth. That my personal relationships are none of his business."

"That'll only make him more curious," Eve pointed out.

"Mark's curiosity is also his own problem."

Eve sat up, pulling the sheet around her. "And what about the others? Rex will be insufferable once he figures it out."

"Rex is perpetually insufferable," Megumi observed dryly. "This changes nothing."

"Cecil will want to update his relationship matrices for the team."

"Cecil can update whatever he wants. It won't affect our work."

Eve tilted her head, studying him. "You're very calm about all this."

Megumi approached the bed, leaning down until his face was level with hers. "Should I not be?"

"Most people have more concerns about workplace relationships," she explained. "Team dynamics, professional boundaries, that sort of thing."

"Most people," Megumi replied, his voice dropping to that lower tone again that made her pulse quicken, again. "don't have what we have."

"And what's that?" Eve asked, her breath catching.

"A mutual understanding that anyone who interferes will face consequences," he stated simply, before kissing her with an intensity that left her momentarily breathless.

When he pulled back, Eve couldn't help but smile. "I've thought about what I'd do to anyone who tried to come between us," she admitted. "It's not very heroic."

"Of course you have," Megumi replied, the corner of his mouth twitching in what might have been amusement. "I would expect nothing less."

He straightened, heading for the door. "I'll see you at the facility later. Cecil wants to review the quantum destabilizer prototype."

"I'll be there," Eve promised. "Maybe we can sneak away early... for coffee."

"Coffee," Megumi repeated, his expression deadpan but his eyes holding a promise that sent a pleasant shiver down her spine.

"Well, among other things," she amended with a grin.

After the door closed behind him, Eve flopped back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling with an uncharacteristically giddy smile. She'd done it. She'd actually done it.

Samantha Eve Wilkins, known to the world as Atom Eve, had successfully captured the most fascinating, complex, powerful being she'd ever encountered.

A bubble of pure joy rose within her, completely at odds with her usual controlled demeanor. She bounced up from the bed, spinning in a circle in the middle of her bedroom, arms outstretched.

"He's mine," she whispered to the empty apartment, then louder: "He's MINE!"

She jumped onto her bed, bouncing like an excited child, all pretense of sophisticated composure abandoned in her private celebration.

The pillows went flying as she leaped from the bed to her dresser, performing an impromptu victory dance that would have shocked her teammates had they witnessed it.

"Mine, mine, mine!" she sang, twirling around her bedroom, pink energy swirling around her in response to her joy, lifting small objects into the air in a miniature celebration.

She caught sight of herself in the mirror – hair disheveled, wearing nothing but Megumi's discarded t-shirt, face flushed with happiness – and burst into delighted laughter.

"Look at you," she told her reflection, pointing accusingly. "The brilliant Atom Eve, dancing around like a teenager after her first kiss."

Her reflection offered no response beyond her own giddy smile.

"But he's worth it," she continued, hugging herself tightly. "He's absolutely worth it."

She flopped back onto her bed, staring up at the ceiling with a dreamy expression that would have been unrecognizable to her teammates. Gone was the analytical scientist, the tactical asset, the controlled hero – replaced by a woman simply, completely happy.

"He's mine," she whispered again, hugging a pillow to her chest and inhaling the lingering scent of him. "All mine."

She rolled over, burying her face in the pillow to muffle a squeal of delight that would have mortified her if anyone had heard it.

For all her powers, all her intelligence, all her careful planning, there was something wonderfully, perfectly human about this moment of pure joy.

Tomorrow, she would return to being the brilliant, controlled Atom Eve – the molecular manipulator, the tactical asset, the scientific mind.

She would help prepare Earth's defenses, would continue her research, would maintain her professional demeanor.

But today, just for now, she would celebrate her victory the way any woman might – with ridiculous dancing, private smiles, and the lingering sensation of belonging to someone who, more importantly than anything, belonged to her.

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(Author note: Hello everyone! I hope you all liked the Chapter!

I decided that a less serious Chapter was fitting, so do tell me how you found it.

I personally found how I wrote Eve this Chapter quite cute.

So yeah, that's all I had to say.

See you all later,

Bye!)