The transfer to the next station took a little longer than usual, though not by much. Since Hedonism-36 was an exclusive adults-only tour that filled the air with a potent aphrodisiac, once you transferred to a station on another kind of circuit (the family friendly kind), the air had to be completely cycled out so there wouldn’t be any remnants left over to infect any passengers on the new station. As the air cycled through our room, I could feel my head beginning to clear, and when I could finally process what all we’d done under the influence of the aphrodisiac I was horrified.

  Eve found it all hilarious of course, giggling as she watched my eyes slowly bug out more and more as reality set in, “Darling you seem surprised.”

  I shook my head slowly, burying my face in my hands, “Holy shit I can’t believe we did all that.” I suddenly looked up at Eve, “We had sex in front of our friends—in front of coworkers!”

  Eve trilled a little in her amusement, pulling me closer to snuggle with her in bed, “I know, wasn’t it thrilling? I can’t believe how bold you were.” She purred.

  I still couldn’t come to terms with how different I’d been, “How the fuck is that all legal? Like wouldn’t that break normal consent laws or something? I know we did some stuff back there I wouldn’t normally do.”

  Eve shrugged, “We consented to being on the station; perhaps normally passengers of the Indulgence tours know what all they’re getting into.”

  I glared at her, “We didn’t consent, our stupid fake company consented for us!”

  Eve waved it off, “All the same, we’re the ones who signed the wavers.”

  I pointed at Eve and opened my mouth like I was going to argue further when another point crossed my mind, “And you! Aphrodisiacs and toxins don’t even affect you, that means all that wild shit on the station, that was all just you back there.” I accused.

  I could see the amusement dancing in Eve’s eyes, but it relented momentarily as concern took over her expression. She wrapped her arms around me, laying her chest on top of mine, her expression sweet and sincere and oh-so innocent, “Darling, are you really upset? I thought we had a lot of fun.” She inquired in that adorable voice that made me melt.

  I felt like she was working me, but I didn’t have the willpower to resist. Instead, I let out a very weary sigh, “No, I’m not upset, just…surprised what all I was capable of under the influence of the aphrodisiac I guess.” I gave her a small smile, “And yeah, we did have fun.” I admitted, and that made Eve smile brightly, but then my smile fell away, “Still, it’s going to be awkward as fuck at the next mission briefing.”

  Eve trilled in excitement as though it was all just some great fun, “Maybe for you lot with all your silly mortal hangups. I for one am greatly looking forward to the hilariously awkward reunion.”

  ***

  Our new station, Bliss-42, was moving away from HHK-33’s orbit and rocketing towards DGK-22 and would start orbiting the second gas giant of the tour within the next couple days. Eve and I made our way towards the new paradise-core, wearing clothes again for the first time in 10 days (simple Earth wear as usual) on our way to the mission briefing. As I noticed earlier, stations in a series sharing the same name were similar without being exactly the same; the Bliss stations always seemed like tropical resorts with beaches and lakes, but they were usually modeled after different paradise planets. Bliss-42 seemed like a cooler tropical planet, with purple palm trees and green water, with blue sand beaches that took up a much larger portion of the core. The buildings were always different in each station as well, with some specialized or ‘local’ cuisine based on the planet the station was modeled after, as well as shops or entertainment venues that would be home to that system. It was like every station was a snapshot into part of the Empire, and even though it was all one big vacation, I felt like I was learning a lot.

  I stopped before the diner everyone was meeting at and let out a big sigh—which just made Eve giggle as she hugged me excitedly, “Come on darling, no stopping the inevitable now.”

  I quirked up an eyebrow as I looked over at her, “You’re really not embarrassed at how we behaved in front of our coworkers—what all they saw from us?”

  Eve shook her head, eyes dancing with amusement, “Of course not, I don’t have any of those silly mortal hangups, remember.” She leaned up to kiss me on my cheek, “Besides, you’re the only person whose opinion I care about.”

  “Does that mean you can get embarrassed around me?”

  Eve looked off to the side as a little pink flush rose to her cheeks, “Yes, you know full well you have that affect on me.” She admitted shyly.

  I smiled devilishly, “Like when it was our first time—big bad Predazoan scared to lose her virginity.”

  Eve glared at me with a cute pout, “Alright, alright, no need to bully me over it.”

  I rolled my eyes, “Cause you aren’t bullying me now that I’m all embarrassed over our time on Hedonism-36.”

  Eve stuck her tongue out at me, “Tit for tat, is that it? How about we call a truce and team up and deal with all our embarrassment together? Hold off on the bullying for now.”

  I chuckled and shook my head, “You’re just saying that because I’m a better bully than you.”

  Eve planted her hands on her hips, pouting again, “Hardly.”

  I was about to continue our banter when I saw Kianna and Densdor step off the moving walkway and freeze when they saw us. Both of them were standing a good 10 feet apart—clearly dealing with their own awkwardness amongst themselves.

  “Uh, hey?” I waved rigidly.

  Immediately, Kianna flushed completely scarlet, “Hi.” She nearly squeaked.

  I sighed and hooked a thumb towards the restaurant, “Ready to get this over with?”

  Kianna nodded once, holding her head up high as though trying to put on a proud front despite her face being as red as a tomato. Densdor wasn’t much better looking down at his feet as he shuffled on forward. We all went into the restaurant together in awkward silence—save Eve who was holding onto my arm and barely containing a fit of giggles. Inside the diner we found our group in the far corner, though everyone seated so far seemed to be doing better than us—no sign of Zyno or Yun yet. Roote and Uinda were fine, no surprise there since they were unaffected by the aphrodisiac. Gorgam and Sorra appeared normal, so perhaps they’d resisted without much issue. Vinnago and Lobae seemed quite close in the booth, which made me think they decided to continue whatever started on Hedonism-36.

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  Agent Roote waved us over, and once we sat down the awkwardness increased significantly.

  Lobae smiled apologetically, “So that was an interesting cycle.” She looked at Eve and myself, then over to Kianna, “I hope I didn’t make any of you uncomfortable.”

  Kianna shook her head quickly, “No of course not, if anything I should be apologizing.” She turned to me and Eve, “I feel like I followed you two around like some lovesick puppy or something; I must’ve seemed like such a…deviant.”

  Eve laughed at waved it off, “Not at all, we had a lot of fun.”

  I sighed, “Eve wasn’t affected by the aphrodisiac in case anyone was wondering, so not only was she in control of all her actions, but she also remembers everything perfectly.” I threw her a glare, and she gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, then I just rolled my eyes and turned back to Kianna, “But as for myself, yeah I was pretty out of control.” I waved my hands out in a halting gesture, “It was fun, it was wild, it was outrageous, it will never happen again, let’s just leave it at that.”

  “Never say never.” Eve whispered in my ear before giving it a quick nibble.

  Anyone who thought I could handle Eve must’ve had rocks for brains.

  Everyone kind of nodded along in awkward agreement, and then Lobae smiled, “It was fun though, right? Like yeah, we did things we would never normally do, but honestly, I don’t regret anything that happened.” She said in her cute squeaky voice, turning to Vinnago, “Right?”

  Vinnago smiled and placed his hand on Lobae’s on the table, “No regrets here.”

  Roote cleared his throat, “As nice as that all is, remember why we’re here.”

  I glared at the agent, “Yeah, and what all did command have to say about our time on Hedonism-36?”

  Roote shrugged, “While it might’ve been awkward it was still a necessary stop for the investigation.” He looked around the group, “Momentary lapses in professional decorum will also be overlooked considering the circumstances.”

  Before anyone could rip into Roote for how stupid that response was, the door to the diner opened and Zyno and Yun walked through, refusing to look at each other—refusing to look at any of us for that matter. Zyno sat down in the booth beside me while Yun took the other end, both just looking down at their hands.

  “Can we just start the briefing now?” Yun asked in a flat, detached tone.

  The briefing was pretty much the same as always (short with no mission progress) except with a ridiculous amount of added awkward tension. I don’t know what the hell happened with Zyno and Yun—well, I knew a little about what happened with Yun since she was so crazy when watching us, masturbating like it would save her life, then running off and screaming how badly she needed dick. Maybe they got up into some real trouble after all.

  We dismissed from there and everyone pretty much agreed we’d all want some time apart to make up for how intimate we’d been last cycle. Before Eve and I could fully get lost, Zyno sent me a message saying he needed to meet up with me ASAP. Same as before all those cycles ago, Eve and I met up with Zyno as he sat alone on some park bench looking over the water.

  Before I could even say anything, he spoke up, “Yun and I hooked up.”

  I smiled brightly, “Hey that’s—” I stopped when I saw his expression; he wasn’t bragging or excited, it was like he was telling me some bad news.

  Eve shook her head, “I don’t understand; you’ve wanted to mate with her for a long time now, why should that be a bad thing?”

  Zyno sighed and placed a hand over his eyes, “Because now everything is a thousand times more awkward.”

  I sat down on the bench beside him and Eve sat next to me, draping her legs over my lap, “You wanna tell the story?”

  Zyno shook his head, “Not really.” He looked up at me, “I holed up in the room for a couple days and she just straight-up didn’t come back—must’ve been out with who even knows what all that time. I actually felt good about it, figured I could get through the week without incident.” He rolled his eyes, “Obviously the universe was never going to be so kind. She came back one night like she was out of her mind high and horny saying all sorts of crazy shit, and then she just looks at me and…” He shrugged and let it drop.

  “And did you guys hook up all cycle from there or what?” I inquired.

  He nodded, “Yeah, we were really compatible—it was great. We were hooking up every day, then at some point it wasn’t enough for Yun so she ordered some pleasure-bots to come join us, then even that wasn’t enough so she took me out to get involved in some orgy shit.” He looked at me, “Then the second—I mean the second the aphrodisiac cleared her system she starts screaming at me, saying I took advantage of her since her race is weak against aphrodisiacs. I yell back and tell her I was all fucked up too and she was the aggressor every time. Then she starts crying and saying she ruined her career and her life, and she could never show her face again on The Radiance.” He sighed, “So then I felt bad and I comforted her, and then…” He waved his hands out vaguely.

  My eyebrows shot up, “You hooked up again—minds clear and everything?”

  He nodded, “Yeah, and it was still good—had all that chemistry and everything. But it was different for her I think; celicapoz have low sex drives normally, so without the aphrodisiac I think it soured the whole thing for Yun.” He sighed again, “So now she wants maximum distance between us, putting up privacy screens in the room and everything. Plus, she’s writing up her resignation letter for the Predazoan research team, though I don’t know if they’ll even let her resign.”

  “No shit?”

  Zyno shrugged, “I have no idea what to do at this point; if I thought it was awkward before, this is on another level.”

  “Do you like her—do you want to pursue something with her?” I asked.

  Zyno threw his hands up, “I don’t really know, she can be such a royal pain in the ass. But she’s really smart and really beautiful, and the cycle we shared was amazing, it wasn’t all just wild orgies and shit; there was a point where we were exhausted in bed together and we just started talking about our theses and it was probably one of the most meaningful discussions I’ve ever had.” He sighed, “But was that us or the aphrodisiac?”

  I could tell my friend was really struggling with it now, but this wasn’t a problem he could attack head-on, “Honestly? This is the time when you both just need space. Yeah it’s going to suck if she’s getting on your case back at the room, but maybe the privacy dividers will actually help prevent too many confrontations. Same as before, you just need to get out and have fun on these vacation stations.”

  “You think?”

  I shrugged, “What other options are there?”

  Zyno was quiet for a time as he let his thoughts wander, his black eyes looking out across the water—looking like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

  “You wanna pal around with us today? We could explore the new station together, find some trouble to get up to ourselves.” I offered.

  He chuckled and shook his head, “Thanks, but I think I’d rather be alone for the time being.” He turned to me and smiled, “No offense, but I think I need space from pretty much everyone for now.”

  “Was it Adam’s huge cock? Is that what has you feeling so awkward?” Eve asked mildly.

  “Holy shit Evie…”

  Zyno quickly got up from the bench, “I’ll just say I never thought I’d get that kind of exposure to our friendship.” He turned back to me with an awkward smile, “Thanks for listening to my complaints, I’ll be sure to keep you in the loop.”

  I waved him off as he made a rather hasty retreat, then turned a glare towards Eve, “Do you always have to misbehave like that?”

  She chuckled low in her throat and leaned her head on my shoulder, “You love it.”

  I sighed and shook my head, “Don’t know why I do, but yeah, you’re hilarious.”

  Eve laughed again then let out a content sigh of her own, “So, what do you want to do today? Sounds like everyone is looking for space, so that should give us plenty of alone time.”

  I pushed her legs off my lap and stood up, “I dunno, I think we should take some time to have some space between us too.” I said mildly as I stretched out my back.

  “What?” Eve nearly squealed.

  I turned back to her with an evil smile as I put a foot up on the bench and leaned my face down to hers, “Not so fun when it’s turned around on you, is it?”

  Eve crossed her arms in an angry huff, “You are so mean, Adam!”

  “You love it.” I stated, then kissed her forehead.

  Eve rolled her eyes, then turned to me with a smile, “Don’t know why, but yeah I do.” She stood up and grabbed my hand and interlocked our fingers, “Now quit the bullying for now and let’s have a nice day together.”

  “Sure sure, the bullying can come later.”