Inconceivable Ch. 23 (Invincible AU) (Patreon)

(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: Wife aggro.

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Never before in Nolan’s entire existence has he found himself… juggling so many differing objectives. It has always been relatively straight forward before now. Even when he was first sent to Earth he never forgot his mission. Everything he’d done to set himself up and secure a life on this planet had been in service to the Viltrumite Empire.

… But now the Empire no longer existed. Viltrum was gone and Nolan hadn’t even been there to see it destroyed. More than that, he found himself pulled in a multitude of different directions. There was his work as Omni-Man, Maya’s training, the migration of his people… and of course, his wife.

It hasn’t come up yet in any of their conversations. He and Argan might have had a frank discussion about his daughter and the Grand Regent’s expectations of her eventual strength, but they had not discussed his wife… nor the need for Nolan to produce more children just like Maya.

Even still, Nolan knew it was only a matter of time before Argan began to question him on it. The problem was, neither he nor Debbie had ever discussed the prospect of more children before. And while he suspected her body was capable of producing at least one or two more children, eventually she’ll be past the point where she can give birth, as all human women arrive at. At which point… well, he knows what the Grand Regent will order him to do.

Nolan shouldn’t be torn up about it, but given he hasn’t fully explained everything to Maya and Debbie at this point, he knows full well that neither will be very happy with him when everything he’s holding back comes to light. When they learn that the ‘expedition’ is only here to reproduce as many times as possible, when they find out that his entire purpose on this planet was to see what a Viltrumite-Human Hybrid would be capable of… they would think less of him.

He shouldn’t have cared about that, of course. Debbie Grayson was a… decent woman for a human. But she was still a human. And Maya… Maya would understand that same mentality with time. When hundreds of years passed and her mother was long gone but he remained and so did she, Maya would come around to the Viltrumite way of thinking without any need for force or coercion.

So really, the only issue was that Nolan knew Argan would eventually wonder why he and his mate were not producing more children. Before, Nolan had always had the excuse of Maya being an experiment. He only wanted one child because if that child turned out to be a disappointment, then it wouldn’t be quite the waste of his resources and time.

But now that Maya had proven what Viltrumite-Human Hybrids were capable of… well, that changed everything, didn’t it?

Arriving at his home, Nolan runs a gloved hand down his face before moving faster than the speed of sound through his and Debbie’s bedroom, switching his Omni-Man costume for more normal human clothing. Then, he heads downstairs to make himself a quick snack.

That’s where he finds his wife waiting for him. Obviously, he’d known she was there… but he wasn’t quite expecting the way she put down the magazine she was reading and pinned him with a stare.

“Nolan, we need to talk.”

Damn it all. There’s the barest hitch in his step and Nolan is pretty sure he manages to hide it, even as he continues walking into the kitchen.

“Yeah? Sure honey, what about?”

Nonchalant and casual. That was the name of the game here. His wife could smell weakness, so he just wouldn’t let her detect a single thing was wrong. He opens the fridge and pulls out the ingredients for a sandwich, before moving over to the counter and starting to prepare it at normal, human speed.

As he’s squirting some mustard onto some bread, Nolan looks up… and pauses at the frown on Debbie’s face. Sitting at the table, his wife is staring at him like he’s a particularly difficult puzzle she’s trying to solve.

“… Something’s wrong.”

Oh for fuck’s sake. Forcing down his irritation and indignation, Nolan just laughs.

“Wrong? What are you talking about, Debbie?”

“Don’t play games with me Nolan. We’ve known each other for twenty years. I know when you have something on your mind.”

That’s the funny thing… no, she really didn’t. He was a very, very good liar… he’d had to be when he first came to this planet. Debbie didn’t know the real him at all. She knew the version of him that he’d wanted her to know, the alien from outer space who had come to Earth because he ‘wanted to help’. That was the Nolan she knew.

… Maybe that should have made this easier, but for some reason it made it harder. He… didn’t want to hurt her.

Still, it said a lot about just how beleaguered and conflicted he’d been lately if Debbie was seeing through the façade at this point. He’d done a terrible job of hiding his stress, Nolan supposed. Which meant it was time to pivot.

“Look, I won’t pretend everything is all sunshine and roses… because it’s not. But it’s nothing I can’t handle, Debbie.”

Rising from her chair, Debbie walks over to him even as Nolan takes a bite of his sandwich. She places a hand on his arm and he does everything he can not to flinch.

“I know you can handle it, Nolan. You can handle anything. But you don’t have to handle it alone. We’re a team, aren’t we?”

Taking the time to chew and swallow his bite, Nolan smiles blandly.

“Of course we are. But it’s fine, Debbie. Perfectly fine.”

She looks at him with concern for a moment longer and Nolan sighs before setting his sandwich down and opening up his arms. Without hesitation, his wife slides right in, pressing herself against his broad chest and wrapping her arms around his torso as she rests her head on him. Nolan wraps his own arms around her in turn, holding her for a bit. Until…

“You know… Maya isn’t going to be home until later. We have the house all to ourselves. I might not be able to help you with whatever is troubling you, but we can head upstairs and I can at least take your mind off of it~”

In almost any other time of the past twenty years, under any other circumstances, his wife’s teasing, suggestive lilt would have prompted either amusement or agreement from Nolan. Or both.

Just because neither of them had ever tried for a second child after Maya didn’t mean they didn’t have an active sex life after all. Humans had this rather self-destructive medicine they called ‘contraception’ that allowed for copious amounts of recreational sex with barely any risk of pregnancy.

Unfortunately… what Debbie was suggesting was precisely what was troubling him so much. So rather than the idea sounding like a lovely way of reducing his stress, it instead results in a full body flinch from Nolan that he can’t quite stop in time. Not without Debbie, who is literally molded to his front, feeling it.

Instantly, his wife pulls out of his arms and Nolan lets her go, knowing already that he’s fucked up.

“What sort of reaction was that, Nolan?!”

“Debbie, I-!”

“No! No more excuses! Don’t lie to me… what’s going on with you? You haven’t so much as touched me since Maya got her powers!”

… Truly? Had it really been that long? Nolan looks back and realizes Debbie was right. Maybe… maybe he hadn’t felt right taking her to bed because he knew that once he killed the Guardians everything would happen so fast and she would likely view him as nothing more than a monster. Of course, then the recall order had happened and he’d just been so busy…

“I want to know why it feels like there’s a wedge between us, Nolan. Why are you acting like… like I’m not good enough for you anymore?”

Nolan’s eyes widen.

“No, Debbie! That’s not true… you aren’t… I’m not…”

Unfortunately, it’s at least partially true. Not because that’s how Nolan feels per se, but rather because that’s what he suspects Argan will think once he realizes Debbie is rapidly approaching the point where human women stop reproducing.

Staring at his conflicted face, Debbie’s eyes narrow.

“… Does this have anything to do with the other Viltrumites? Does it have anything to do with that ‘expedition leader’ of yours?”

It’s a testament to how off his game Nolan is that he can’t completely control his reaction to those questions either. There should be no world in which Debbie’s weak human eyesight should be able to pick up on his microreactions. And yet… she does all the same.

“It is about that man, isn’t it? What was his name again? Argan? What has he said to you that has you like this, Nolan? Was it about me?”

Nolan groans, covering his face with his palm.

“Debbie, no… Argan hasn’t said anything to me about you.”

It even has the added benefit of being the truth. The problem is, Argan hasn’t had to say anything to Nolan directly… the implications are obvious. The insinuation is clear. Their entire species has abandoned their Empire, destroyed their home star system, and migrated to Earth because Nolan found a race of billions of beings who are all extremely genetically compatible with them.

Every male Viltrumite will be mating with dozens of human women in the coming days. Every female Viltrumite will soon be pregnant one way or another. If Nolan doesn’t join them, if he doesn’t do his part… is he even a true Viltrumite at all?

“Nolan… are you being bullied?”

What? Nolan is torn from his thoughts and looks up at Debbie’s concerned expression aghast.

“Bullied?! Debbie what are you talking about? No, I’m not being bullied!”

His wife throws her hands up in the air.

“Well what the hell else am I supposed to think?! You get called back to your home planet and return within the week with forty more of your people. All of the sudden you can barely even look at me and you’re constantly on the move and visibly stressed over something. The only thing that’s changed is that you’re no longer the highest ranking Viltrumite on planet anymore. So tell me that this Argan fellow isn’t harassing you about something! Go on, tell me!”

He already had! Still, Nolan takes a deep, centering breath and looks Debbie in the eye.

“Argan is not harassing me about anything, Debbie. I am merely… working hard to ensure the integration between our two peoples is going smoothly, while also maintaining my role as Omni-Man and protecting the planet. It’s nothing more than that.”

He thinks he does a pretty good job of selling it. Not a centimeter of his face is out of place, he doesn’t so much as twitch in a way that should give anything away.

And yet… and yet…

“I want to meet him.”

Nolan blinks as Debbie crosses her arms over her chest, her jaw setting and her face taking on a mien of determination that he doesn’t like one bit.

“Excuse me?”

“Argan. Your new superior. I want to meet him.”

“No. Absolutely not. Out of the question.”

But Debbie just narrows her eyes.

“I’m not asking, Nolan. You will invite him to dinner and we will all sit down together so I can get to know your new boss.”

Not for the first time, Nolan bemoans the fact that he married such a strong-willed human woman. There had surely been better, more submissive options out there…

“That’s just not possible, Debbie. Viltrumites don’t do dinner the way humans do for one… for two, Argan is even busier than I am. He’s managing around forty other Viltrumites and also answering to every call the GDA throws his way on top of that as part of the resettlement deal they made. Maybe in a year or two but-!”

“A year or two?! Are you even listening to yourself, Nolan? You think I’m going to let this issue fester for a year or two?!”

Nolan opens his mouth… and then closes it. Because no… no, Debbie definitely will not least things go on like this for a year, let alone two years. She would… she would divorce him before she let that happen. If he neglected her for much longer, if he didn’t do anything to make this right, she would most definitely want to separate.

… But then, maybe that was the best option? If they got a divorce, Nolan could help with the repopulation efforts guilt-free. He could find human women just like the rest of the male Viltrumites currently were and he could impregnate them without getting attached like he had with Debbie.

And meanwhile, Debbie could spend the rest of her life with a human man that could actually make her happy, maybe… even if the very thought of it filled Nolan with a possessive fiery rage.

“Alright, that’s it. I’m putting my foot down. Either you invite Argan to dinner… or I will, Nolan.”

Blinking as he’s once again pulled out of his thoughts, Nolan furrows his brow at his wife’s ultimatum.

“Debbie what are you talking about? How would you even get in contact with him? Please don’t suggest Maya, she needs to focus on her training and getting stronger, she doesn’t need this kind of distraction…”

Scoffing, Debbie shakes her head.

“No, if I’m going to have to go over your head I won’t use our daughter to do it. I’ll simply go all the way to the top. Or do you think Cecil won’t be more than happy to pass along my invitation to Argan if I give him a call?”

Nolan’s eyes widen, his mouth opening to deny it… before snapping shut. Because yes, Cecil would most definitely do that. And while Nolan could threaten the GDA Director not to, it would be incredibly petty for him to do so… not to mention he’s not sure Cecil would even buy that the threat was credible.

“Please don’t do that Debbie.”

Giving him a gimlet eye, Debbie just growls.

“Then man up and do it yourself, Nolan. Before you make me take matters into my own hands.”

… Fuck.

Shoulders slumping, Nolan nods.

“Alright. I’ll… invite him to dinner. Just don’t be surprised if he says no, okay?”

“You better convince him to come, Nolan. Because even if he says no, I’m still going to Cecil. We’ll make it a GDA-appointed mission if we fucking have to. A necessary cultural exchange or something.”

Oh god… Nolan hated that that would probably work too…

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A/N: Debbie putting her foot down!

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z1p3GPSgkBHQdRYsOH3CjDKmr4uYdmDY0xXnoy7Bfyc/edit?tab=t.0