John's existence was a mysterious one.
There were many rumors about him. Some claimed him to be one of the most ruthless men of the century while others claimed him to be just as kind. Some even went as far as to say, John was a genius in strategy and military acts. Perhaps they were true, perhaps they were not.
He was twenty-four this year and he'd already worked in two thousand and seventeen fields, proved his worth, and quit the very next moment. In some cases he was fired, in other cases, he quit on his own: and in some special cases, he did time behind bars. He never did any job more than three days at a time, no matter what it was, and that included being behind bars.
The rumors of him were all over the place and perhaps the whole nation- no, planet, knew of his genius, and yet, everybody tried their best to avoid him.
One particular rumor had spread like wildfire and everyone knew it: the story of John the backstabber. It wasn't clear whom or how he was backstabbing but- the rumors did circulate pretty widely. He allegedly injured three hundred and eighty men and killed half of them: rumor went that three hundred and seventy-four were his friends and family.
No one knew if the story was true or not but everyone kept their distance from him. The 'everyone' being boys. Girls however never stopped flocking around John. After all, he was probably the most handsome guy in town: he was also rather well built, not too bulky but not too thin either. He also had this rather weird habit and he was never satisfied with one girl at a time.
Though almost everyone who knew John, knew that one rumor about him was explicitly true. That being, he could satisfy women like no other man alive, at least not on planet Aura. And he could satisfy more than three on the very same night.
His high school life and college life might have been lonely without friends, but he had girls. Loads and loads, and to distract his mind, he often slept with more than just three.
In Uni he met Theo. On the very first day, Theo was getting bullied and John was just walking by. Seeing John, the bullies ran away and a misunderstanding occurred: the misunderstanding being, John saving Theo.
And though at first John wanted to get rid of this overly clingy normie, in the end, he decided against it and just chatted every now and then. It wasn't like he was lonely or anything, okay?
At the time he never even considered that they'd eventually become best friends.
***
John snorted as he moved through the corridor of the Ainmester. 'Time does fly, huh? Wait, shouldn't I actually have visited him?' With a shrug, he just kept on going. He knew Theo as this guy who could bounce back from anything. After all, Theo tried so hard and a little setback was nothing for him- at least according to John. And so, Theo could bounce back from this minor setback on his own too.
John's norm was different and so was his drive. There was a reason why he could come out of the captain's quarters, still on his feet: there was a reason why he could carry out the covert assassination missions and there was a reason why he always preferred to be alone. And that's why he needed to do this alone too. He couldn't just drag Theo into his business. 'Maybe I shouldn't have come.' He could almost chuckle at his own actions but he just settled for a smile instead.
"John!" A voice rang through the corridor.
John looked back. A girl with fiery red hair and a hawk nose was looking at his way.
"Yes?"
"Your answer. I need one." The girl was shaking- albeit very slightly. She had a nice physique and even by modified standards, she looked good. Perhaps not the most beautiful but she was confident in her figure at the very least.
Ordinary people couldn't tell. But to John's carefully trained eyes, it was obvious, the girl in front of him- Voli, was nervous.
John sighed and faced Voli. "What do you love about me?" He knew it was blunt but- he didn't have the time nor the patience.
"Everything."
"Really? And what are you willing to give me?"
"Everything." The answer was instantaneous.
But John wasn't satisfied. He'd heard this line thousands of times, from thousands of girls. But none of the girls ever lasted more than one week- some not even a day. Everyone broke. Everyone ran away from him.
That's why he never slept with just one partner.
Captain Barslain was a different matter though.
"You're not fit for me. I'm sorry." John was about to leave but-
Voli run up to him and grabbed his hand- his large rugged hand. "But I love you, and it won't change. So, I'm willing to do whatever you want." She knew what she said, and she meant every word.
Was this really love or just exaggerated infatuation? She didn't know. And she didn't care..
"Really? Really? My basic requirement for having a partner is 12 times every day. Can you handle that?" John wasn't joking- or so his tone implied.
"Huh?" Voli's face gradually heated up. "Twe-twelve!" Three or four was fine, but twelve! Wasn't that insane?
'Twelve- twelve…twelve...' The word kept on circulating through Voli's mind as her face heated up more and more. NO matter how she thought about it, the number was really insane.
Would her organs even survive?
John grinned. "See, we're not a fit."
Voli took a deep breath. "Then I'll take you on. Even if I can't keep up, even if I can't last that long, even if-" She paused. "I can't take it but," She whispered. "I'll love you!"
John sighed. He was still about to turn her down.
Love was irrelevant if they were incompatible in the first place. Besides wasn't love just a bunch of hormones running through your brain, tricking you into feeling things that were just complicated biochemistry in disguise?
"That actually sounds very disturbing you know-" But a third voice rang through the corridors.
"Th-Theo!" Voli almost jumped but she didn't. This was embarrassing.
"Hi." Theo greeted them both and looked at John. "Shouldn't you have this kind of conversation indoors or something?"
John walked closer to Theo. He checked him out. "What kind of supplements were you taking and when did you even get released?" He kept on thinking and poking Theo's biceps. "You seem to be in a bit better shape than before." He proceeded to give him a sniff.
"What the hell dude!" Theo jumped three steps back.
"Nothing." John chuckled. "You kind of smell funny. You should shower."
Voli watched all this with glassy eyes. "John, you're not gay, are you? And what are you talking about, he smells great."
Both Theo and John froze.
But it was John who thought out loud. "Never been with a guy, so don't know. Always did wonder how it'd feel though." And he was being awfully honest if nothing else.
"But seriously dude, twelve times? Didn't you say, you eight- the last-" Theo whispered very vigorously.
"That was five years ago, you moron!" John whispered back, also very vigorously. "And she doesn't need to know that!"
Voli released a sigh of relief but one thing was for certain- she had to do something right now or things could get out of her hands fast. "Let's go to your room, now!"
John gave Theo a look and saw his friend was just grinning devilishly.
So, in the end, he gave up. "Alright." He looked at Theo. "Later."
"Yeah." Theo watched his friends go.
'Good luck.'
But then he felt slightly lonely.
Sigh.