My Ultimate Sign-in System Made Me Invincible

Chapter 738: Casual Conversations

"It’s really nice to have you back, man," Alex said, clapping a hand against Liam’s shoulder.

"It’s nice to be back too," Liam replied, and he meant it more than the simple words could carry. "I still have quite a few things left to do, but I decided to get some rest first, before I dive back into work."

"You really need to take a vacation. It’s long overdue," Matt said, shaking his head. "You spent months out there, man. Months. A week or two to yourself won’t kill you. If anything, it might be the most normal thing you’ve done all year."

Liam nodded, conceding the point without argument. "I already plan on two weeks," he said. "After that, I’ll probably have to make a trip to the cultivation universe and the magic universe as well — there are things there I’ve left unattended for too long. But they can wait a little while longer. Everything can wait for two weeks."

"Good." Elise beamed a smile at him. "So spend it with us."

"Of course." He smiled back at her, then let his gaze sweep across the whole group — all of them still watching him with that particular look, half wonder and half disbelief, the look of people who kept forgetting and then remembering all over again what their friend actually was.

He sighed, amused. "And please, all of you, stop staring at me like that. This isn’t the first time you’ve seen me standing in open space without any protection. You’d think you’d be used to it by now."

"It isn’t the first time," Alex admitted, "but that doesn’t make it any less surprising. Or shocking. Or completely surreal." He gestured at Liam, at the vacuum, at the enormous curve of Jupiter hanging in the black sky above them. "You’re just... standing here. On a moon. In a vac suit we’re all wearing because we’d die in about four seconds without it, and you’re out here in your normal clothes like you’re waiting for a bus."

He laughed, the excitement bubbling up in him. "Can you even imagine how the world would react if they found out about this? Forget the second-richest man alive. Forget the company. They’d call you a god. An actual, literal god."

"Let’s not go there," Liam said mildly. "At least not yet."

"Please, let’s really not go there," Kristopher cut in, laughing but shaking his head. "We still haven’t gotten used to the last few bombshells. He revealed his family has superpowers on a global livestream. Flaunted Lucy in front of the entire planet. Showed off what Nova Technologies can actually do. We are still recovering from that. If he goes and reveals that he can survive in the vacuum of space with no protection whatsoever, our lives will officially become unlivable. We’ll never have a quiet moment again as long as we breathe."

"Come on, it wouldn’t be that bad," Alex protested. "And even if it were, why should we care what people say? This is exactly the point I was making when I first pitched the livestream idea." He turned to Liam, spreading his hands in appeal. "Help me out here, man. Tell them they’re being way too reserved. Tell them to live a little."

Liam considered them both for a moment, the two poles of the argument, and when he spoke it was without hesitation. "You both have valid points," he said. "For my part — I don’t care what they say or think. That’s something I’d like all of you to take on board too, eventually. As long as we aren’t committing any crime, as long as we’re not hurting anyone, we can show off as much as we want. What’s the point of having something if you can’t ever use it, or enjoy it, or let it be seen?"

He paused, then tilted his head toward Kristopher. "But I’ll also agree with Kris, at least a little. Your lives will become unlivable if the world learns everything at once." A small, knowing smile touched his mouth. "But only if you let it. Only if you entertain them. The circus only has power over you if you agree to be watched."

The group fell quiet for a beat, none of them quite sure how to respond. They had spent so long worrying — quietly, and sometimes loudly — about how the world saw them, about being the ordinary people orbiting something extraordinary, that hearing Liam simply tell them they could do whatever they pleased left them briefly without footing.

Liam saw the hesitation and chuckled, breaking the silence.

"Come on," he said. "You are all friends with the second-richest person in the world — who also happens to be the most powerful and most influential person in the world, and who owns one hundred percent of the most powerful and influential company in the solar system. And you don’t want to enjoy any of that? You don’t want to stand a little taller for it?" He shook his head, grinning. "That’s pretty lame, if you ask me. Honestly, a little disappointing."

"...You’ve changed," Stacy muttered, staring at him.

"I’m not sure he changed, exactly," Lana said slowly, studying his face. "But he’s... different."

Liam didn’t confirm or deny it, but there was truth in what she said. A man who had just spent an unmeasured age holding the survival of the universe in his own two hands, and set it down at last, came home carrying a little less than he had before.

"There are times to be modest and humble," he said, "and there are times not to be. And more than that —" his tone gentled, turning genuine "— you all need to start standing out. On your own. Or you’ll be lost in my shadow, and I don’t want that. I never wanted that. I intend for every one of you to be more than just my friends. More than footnotes to my name. You were people before any of this, and you’ll be people worth knowing regardless of me. Start acting like it."

For a moment the group was quiet again, but it was a different kind of quiet this time. It carried warmth.

"I love you, man," Alex said, breaking it, his grin splitting his face wide. "I swear, I could kiss you right now."

"I don’t swing that way, Alex," Liam laughed.

"Says the guy who still doesn’t have a girlfriend," Matt shot back, smirking. "Come on. There are, what, tens of thousands of girls in your DMs at any given moment? The most eligible bachelor in the solar system, and you’re out here alone. Give at least one of them a chance."

"I wish it were that simple for me," Liam said, a small, rueful smile on his lips.

"It’s not that complicated, is it?" Kristopher pressed, genuinely puzzled. "You find someone you like. You tell her how you feel. And if she feels the same way — which, let’s be honest, is basically guaranteed, given, you know, everything — then the two of you get together. That’s the whole thing. That’s all it is."

Liam decided to say nothing, because he had nothing to offer in his own defense. Romance simply wasn’t something he’d ever had the time to explore. And there was the other thing, the quieter thing he didn’t quite say aloud: that he didn’t want to jump from person to person, testing the waters, treating it lightly.

He wanted the right one. He wanted his first to be his forever. And a man who could feel the shape of trillions of galaxies could not, it seemed, feel his own way through a single human heart with any confidence at all. So he let the silence answer for him, and the others, seeing the faint discomfort, mercifully let it drop.

"Moving away from that," Liam said, seizing the change of subject with obvious relief, "I’m planning to go watch the F1 final in Abu Dhabi. Are you all coming with me?"

"Is that even a question?" Alex said instantly. "I’m one hundred percent in. It’s not like I’ve got anything better to do at home."

"Me too," the rest of them chorused, a scatter of grins and nods running around the group.

"Nice." Liam’s smile turned faintly mischievous. "Then let’s make it a livestream. You lot can decide amongst yourselves who’s going to host it." He held up a hand before anyone could volunteer him. "I’m not doing it."

The group looked at one another in surprise, then back at Liam, studying his expression as if trying to work out exactly what he was thinking.