Blessed by Night

Chapter 342 Need

342  Need

Celeste didn't ask Malachi where they were going.

Rather, she enjoyed the ride in the car and watched the city go by through the tinted windows.

"I gotta admit, I'm pretty surprised."

"Hm..?"

Celeste met Malachi's eyes again and was immediately reminded why she had decided to stare out the window in the first place. From the very moment she caught sight of Malachi, she felt her breath get caught in her throat. The memories of everything she had confessed over dinner were already coming back to haunt her. "I thought you would have been asking a lot more questions. 'How did you know where I was' for one." Mal said. Celeste smiled as she dipped her gaze. That indeed should have been something she asked him, but the thought kind of slipped her mind back at the restaurant.

"I was just eager to get out of there... but now that you mention it, how did you know where I was, Cat-Boy? Is peeping through the shadows at older women apart of how your mother envisioned using the powers she gave you?"

Malachi almost said 'Probably. Have you met her?' However, there was a more pressing issue here.

"Cat-Boy?" He raised a brow.

"You know what I'm talking about." Celeste chuckled as she pulled off her heels.

Malachi would've blushed if he were just a couple shades lighter. "That was one time and you haven't let it go since."

Celeste adjusted herself in her seat and stared at Malachi again. The drunken look in her eye was getting harder to overlook.

"Do the thing."

"Celeste." Mal rolled his eyes.

"For me..?" Celeste made her eyes unnecessarily big. Malachi sighed. He had a hard time saying no when women looked at him like this.

Celeste watched in glee as two dark, furry cat ears showed up on top of Malachi's head.

*Incoherent squealing* "So adorableeee..!!"

"Yea, yea.."

Malachi had to put up with Celeste's drunken fondling as he drove- which was admittedly a lot harder than it looked.

Celeste took her time rubbing his ears until they rolled to a stoplight. She gently placed her hand on his cheek and stared at him with a look that was far more unique than any she had given him before.

"Aww, don't look so glum, young man. I'll make your sacrifice worth your wile."

For the first time ever, Celeste kissed Malachi first.

It was an act that undoubtedly surprised him, but he didnt let his shock translate through his lips. He was very active in kissing her back, and savoring the sweet taste of white wine on her lips. She practically came undone within his grasp. They spent so long there that the background melted out of view and the two were only aware of the fact that they were in a dangerously cramped space with too many clothes on. *Honk!!*

The reality that they were in the middle of traffic came crashing back into them. They pulled apart with a jolt. Celeste breathed somewhat heavily as she realized the gravity of what she'd just done. Maybe that wine she'd had at dinner had a bigger impact on her mental capacity than she thought.

"I, um... Think that I need to get some air somewhere.. Do you mind?." Celeste said breathlessly.

Malachi nodded absentmindedly as he started driving again. The cat ears on top of his head were no longer the only bodily protrusions he was painfully aware of.

"N-Nah, of course not. I know just the place."

-

Walking through Central Park at night was way more exciting than Celeste thought it would be. But then again, that was probably because of who she was with. The lamp posts lighting the concrete walkways were being blotted of their light to make a much more magical scene. Glowing purple animals made from shadow scampered across the park in various directions.

They took the shape of squirrels, large bullfrogs, cats, raccoons, birds, and generally every other small animal one might commonly see in North America. Celeste was rightly amazed. "How are you doing this..? You've brought them to life..."

Malachi kind of just shrugged. He maintained a steady hold on Celeste as he carried her on his back- her shoes still left behind in the car.

"I always liked the zoo as a kid. Guess that makes it easier? The shadows, they're just mimicking the behaviors of the animals I have in my memory. They're not actually alive."

Celeste could tell that Mal was intentionally trying to make the things he was doing seem less impressive, but it definitely wasn't working as well as he thought.

"So... Are you like a god now?" Celeste asked honestly.

Malachi honestly wanted to cackle. He had seen many gods now. Felt real, true power. Calling himself a god in light of all that he knew kind of felt overindulgent in a way that he just wasn't comfortable with.

"Nah... still just a demigod if anything. I wouldn't say someone could put me toe-to-toe with Zeus or his brothers yet." Malachi chuckled.

He could probably fuck up a minor god though if he really put his mind to it. But at the end of the day, gods still had access to powers that he didn't have. Such as the utilization of faith, prayer, and some other things.

"I see..." Celeste said thoughtfully.

Malachi looked over his shoulder at her. "You sound a bit disappointed. Would you like me more if I was a god?"

Celeste hid a smirk as she stared into the lake. "I guess we'll never know now, will we?"

The pair basked in silence. They enjoyed the feeling of the night air and each other's warmth and scent in this moment. This was easily the most comfortable Celeste had been all night. And once she realized that, she remembered how problematic this whole thing was.

Mal didn't even look phased. "Oh, yea? How come?"

"I don't like you."

"Could've fooled me with everything you said back at the restaurant."

Celeste felt a vein push against her forehead. "I don't like men who spy on me."

"Noted. I'll remember that for later." Malachi kept walking.

Celeste resisted the urge to strangle him with his own dreads. "There, you see! That right there! I hate how you're so cocky sometimes and you act like I need you. I don't."

"Of course you don't. Nobody necessarily needs anybody. But I know you like the idea of me at least."

Celeste's anger petered out. She rested her head on Malachi's shoulder as he continued their walk through the park. She then became mad at him all over again for being right.

"...So what if I do? Every adult over thirty-five has drams of playing around with a hot 22-year old. But it's just a thought. A fantasy without any substance… And you already have too much going on for us to work."

"Because..?"

"Because you're in a polyamorous relationship, you brat..." She pinched his neck. "Honestly, it seems overstimulating and I'm not sure how you even do it." Celeste admitted.

Malachi hummed slightly to a tune in his mind that only he knew. "You've got more to say, I know it. Keep going."

Celeste bit her lip unconsciously. "...I don't want to feel like some conquest. Like some nice watch you wear to make other men envious or put out some kind of status symbol. I don't want my relationship to be a spectacle."

Malachi nodded as he watched two squirrels fall out of a tree near them. "And?"

"... And I think I am afraid to take a chance with you. I don't have time for games, I'm too old for heartbreaks and jealousy, and I don't want to be with anyone who doesn't make me feel like the most important person in their life." Celeste exhaled deeply. It was done. She had said it all. This would surely finalize things between them.

"Got it all out?" Malachi asked. Celeste nodded.

The duo arrived at a park bench together. Malachi helped her sit down and slid into the spot beside her.

Despite everything that she had said, she still ended up worming her war underneath his arm.

Malachi thought for a long time about what to say. But at a certain point he decided to just turn his mind off and speak honestly.

"I honestly never pictured my life like this.

My parents are ghosts. I got an extra mom who just happens to be one of the most powerful goddesses of all time. I have super powers. I work what's basically a government job. I never finished- Holy shit, I never finished college." Malachi realized. "Mal."

"Right, right, sorry." he shook his head. "Anyway... Out of everything I have, none of it has ever made me feel luckier than my relationship. Maybe it was wrong of me. Maybe I was greedy.

But I found myself being around these wonderful women in a time where my life was changing so fast everyday, and they kept me grounded.

They helped block out all the noise and kept me from going insane or becoming someone I'd hate.

And yea, as the number of bodies in my bed increased, I was lucky enough to watch the women I loved fall in love with each other while still retaining their love for me.

I don't really expect you to get that right now because it's the kind of thing you have to feel to understand.

But my fiancés and I.. we all have a daughter together now.

This family that we built together is unconventional, and hectic, and beautiful, and loud, and passionate, and trying, but I wouldn't change anything about it because it is the best thing I have ever done.

But I have never compromised on anything that the girls have needed from me. I wouldn't ask you to compromise on what you need either."

Malachi took Celeste's face in hi hands and now the dropping temperature felt like a figure of her imagination.

"I am not pursuing you out of vanity. I am not pursuing you because I think you're something to be conquered.

I'm doing it because the first time we spoke you pulled me out of my own head in a way that only you could. And I haven't been able to get you out of my mind since."

Celeste looked more embarrassed the closer Mal got.

He didn't know why, but he rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes.

"If there is any small part of you that is willing to take a chance on me- on my ability to make you happy and give you everything you want- then I want to make you an offer…"

I’ve been having a real inferiority complex about my writing lately so shout out to my fairy god brother for helping me not kill myself from shame AnathaShesha

Creator's Thought