It is now the seventh day we have been chilling here, near this lake. I woke up with Eris next to me. She yawned and stretched, “It is strange to see me next to me.”

I yawned, “I am getting used to it.” I looked over the pillow wall, “Today we have the BBQ!”

“Yeah, first we chill some more, then we eat!”

Eris climbed out of the tent. I closed my eyes for a moment, we have been doing basically nothing, a bit of sparring, swimming a lot. Rose has been spending time with us. For some reason, she felt right at home with us. We played a lot of board games. We tried to let Rose fire some guns, she missed every possible shot, it almost seemed on purpose.

Then we tried to let her fight with swords. She could barely hold a sword, that also seemed to be on purpose. Slowly I climbed out of the tent. Most of the people were sleeping. Khione lay on a bed of snow, Rose lay next to her. Thanos walked over, “Do we have enough meat for tonight?”

I nodded, “I think we do. Do you have a marker?” Thanos shrugged and gave me one.

I walked over to Khione and Rose, I gave Rose a silly looking glasses, and a mustache. Khione got some stars, and a lightning bolt on her head. Eris walked over while giggling. I looked at her and put my finger against my lip. She nodded and looked at me, making more drawings. I smiled, “That is better, where is Captain?”

She pointed at a tent, he had put a fucking cabin next to his tent, where he shaves his beard. Of course, I put shaving cream in his tube of toothpaste. When I walked over to Angel, he opened one eye, “You are not getting me again, Steve.”

“Damn, I liked it when I drew funny things on your wings.”

He smiled, “It took me hours to scrub it off.”

Agent and Thanos were awake already, and J, I never knew where he went off to but, he slipped away to go to sleep somewhere, and he came back after he woke up. Then I sat down, and waited for the chaos to begin.

Khione woke up and looked at Rose, “Steve!?”

Rose shot up, “What!?”

She looked at Khione, “Goddammit Steve, did you get me too!?”

They came over to me, I crossed my arms, “You guys are looking great today.”

Eris rolled over from laughing. Then we heard captain, “Goddammit Steve, did you put shaving cream in my toothpaste again, it tastes disgusting!?” He ran outside, naked. “Wow, Captain is streaking!”

Rose looked at him, “Damn, he has a lot of muscles.”

Khione looked at him, “His mouth is extra foamy, though.”

Captain pointed at her, “You are seeing stars.”

J walked over, “Oh, are we playing this game again? Captain, put on some underpants, then we have Captain Underpants.”

Thanos sighed, “I heard that!”

Agent looked over, “Is anyone up for a card game during breakfast.”

Captain screamed, “No, I need to wash my mouth, and find my toothpaste.”

J smiled, “It is probably in your can of shaving cream.”

Rose walked over to the lake, and Khione followed her. Eris laughed, “Oh my god, that was a good prank, Steve.”

Angel walked towards me, “I am just glad, it was not me this time.”

Captain sighed, “One day Steve, one day we are getting you back!”

I laughed, “I am usually up one of the earliest.”

Thanos shouted, “No, I am up, way earlier, and I think J never sleeps. I bet he just strolls through the forest at night.”

Agent nodded, “I went to take a leak the other night and bumped into him.”

Angel started making sandwiches for everyone. J smiled and grabbed a massive blanket, “I am going to picnic the shit out of those sandwiches.”

Eris got up, “Oh, do you have some morning wine J!?”

He spawned a bottle of wine, “Aye for you, I have some wine malady.”

Thanos grunted, “Stop copying me!”

“I will do that, if you stop picking your nose.”

He pointed at Eris, “That is her fault.”

Agent laughed, “Come on, guys, I want to beat someone at poker.”

Captain came out of his cabin, in his underwear, “Count me in.”

Angel nodded, “Me too, once the sandwiches are done.”

After a while, things had calmed down, Khione and Rose just lay in the cold water, enjoying the warm sun in this clearing. Eris and J are eating sandwiches on the picnic blanket. Agent, Angel, Thanos, and Captain are playing poker.

I just stood there, happy. Then I crashed down next to Eris, “Hello miss tentacle.”

She smiled, “Are you enjoying yourself?”

“Yes, but, I actually had expected Lorraine or Haley to show up already.”

Eris nodded, “I know, but I am sure she will come here when she has cooled off.”

I nodded, “We should enjoy the day, again. Do you have some wine for me?”

Eris poured some wine in a glass. We clinked them together. The rest of the day was, relaxing. When dinnertime came, J started preparing the BBQ. I had put on a bikini, I am a woman, after all. And I started swimming with Rose in the water. “I have thought about it, Steve.”

“You have?”

“Yes, I want to be part of this gang, forever.”

“Are you sure, Rose? There is no going back.”

“Yes, I know, but, I am a lonely woman, and the last week has been heaven for me.”

“Heaven?”

“Am I that fun to hang around with?”

Rose giggled, “No, all of you. You are all different, even if you share some traits.”

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“Why don’t we eat something?”

“You need to be sure about your decision.”

“Alright Steve.”

After a while, I heard J calling out, “The sausages are grilled, Rose, Khione, Steve and Eris, you’re up first.”

I swam to the shore and I climbed out. Rose stretched her hand, I pulled her up and water dripped off her. The four of us grabbed a plate with a sausage. “Does anyone have ketchup for me!?”

Angel threw the ketchup bottle towards me, I caught it and put it on the sausage. “Thanks mate.”

After we had dinner, moonlight started shining on the clearing. “Alright, a woman event is starting, Rose, Eris, Khione, please come with me.”

I sat down and Khione sat down next to me. She leaned on me, “I am glad someone can enjoy my fun side. You learned me how, in a short time, letting go of grudges and bitter feelings is better.”

Eris sat down next to me, “You learned to me how a temper tantrum can help you get what you want.”

Rose laughed as she sat down across from me. “Steve?”

“Yes?”

“I enjoyed the tour that Eris gave me. I don’t have a special power to gift you, but my body can be yours, that way Eris can shine some more. Your command center, and other rooms, need someone to clean it and keep things in order. I can be your Alfred.”

I chuckled, “What, how do you know that?”

Rose whispered, “I am not from this reality either. I have one condition, though.”

I nodded, “Only if you are sure, Rose, I don’t want to take away your life.”

She looked around, “I want to be part of this group, forever. I have not been this happy in easily ten years, soon, I will be 35. If you absorb me, can you do it gently? I hope to savor the feeling, sorry, I am probably oversharing.”

She took my hand, “It would mean the world to me.”

Eris spoke up, “I think that can be arranged.”

Khione giggled, “When he ate me, it all went so fast, but I think we can arrange something.”

Rose smiled and got up, “I am ready.”

She looked at the others, enjoying the BBQ. I also got up and looked at Eris and Khione, “The others are okay with this, right?” They both nodded. I looked at the men, they all gave me a thumbs up. We had talked about this for a while. “Rose, undress yourself.”

She shrugged and did so. I walked over to her and gave her a kiss on her cheek, her skin felt different, she is a human, right? I hugged her. My flesh started to gently crawl over her. That is when I heard people coming out the bushes, I looked at Lory, Haley, Funk and Melin.

Rose turned her head to me, “Focus on me, Steve.”

I nodded and continued letting my flesh crawl over Rose. She slowly got covered in my flesh. I could see her smile and heard her whisper, “Thank you, Steve.”

After a few minutes, Rose melded completely into me. After she was complete absorbed, she stepped out of me and smiled, “I feel a bit different, but I guess it alright.”

Khione walked over to Rose and rubbed her hand through her hair! “One of us!”

Eris walked over to Rose, “Yep, one of us! One of us!”

Rose sighed and hugged them, “You idiots!”

“Come, let’s give Steve over here some time with his friends, I think the hamburgers are almost done.” While hanging on each other, they walked over to J.

I walked over to the others. “Hello everyone, it took a while for you guys to find me.”

Lory pointed at Rose, “What the fuck just happened?”

“She was lonely and sad, she joined our cult.”

Haley ran over and hugged me, “Sorry for interrupting you. I could not hold mom back.”

“It is alright, Munchkin. I have missed you a lot.”

“Did you not follow the track I left for you?”

She looked at me, “What track?”

I scratched the back of my head, “I left a track.”

Haley shook her head, “We have been looking for you for over a week.”

I looked at the others, “Did any of you guys do something to the track?” They all shook their head.

Funk looked at me, “I need to apologize for meddling in your affairs.”

“It is alright, buddy.”

Melin pointed at the BBQ. “Do you mind if I join?”

“No, go ahead, mingle and have fun.” Melin bowed and walked away.

Haley pointed at the lake, “I am going to tell you a lot, dad, but do you mind if I take a swim first?”

“No, go ahead, Munchkin.” She ran over to the water and jumped in.

Funk looked around, “I'll score a hamburger.”

Lory walked over, “Is there a private place where we can talk?”

I nodded, “Follow me,” we went into the bushes, away from all prying eyes.

Lory looked down, “I need to apologize to you, I was mean to you, I said some very nasty words. Then I also chased Haley away, she came back. You are not a monster, Steve, you are the hero. Even if you have a lot of, real people in your brain. Apparently, you added one more. I saw how you absorbed her, have you been spending the whole week with her?”

“Yes, she came here to be alone, and she found friends.”

Lory smiled, “I hope you can forgive me.”

“Of course, I forgive you, I have missed you so much.”

“I just hope, you can accept me, for being me.”

Lory nodded, “of course I can, it might take me a bit of time. I saw it with my own two eyes. This last week has been lonely without you.”

“I love you, Lorraine Rockwell.”

“I love you too, Steve Rockwell. You are looking a bit womanly, though.”

She kissed me and gently pushed me down, “Wait, do you want me to change into another form?”

Lory shook her head, “No, I am going to make it up with you, and you are you, no matter how you look.”

“But.”

“No, shut up, Steve.”