Valentine's '25: Sue Everything

Summary: With valentines approaching , a young man struggles to think of a gift or gesture that could possibly impress his polymorphic beloved. Yet despite his Mundanity , She had long since received the greatest gift she could ever want, someone who would stand by her even at her lowest, like he did so many years ago for her out of unconditional love.

This was a prompt nominated by my patrons and selected for a prompt. If you want to see more stories like this, participate in polls, and suggest your only prompts, consider joining my Patreon at the 5$ tier; there's a 7 day free trial!

---

Josh worked as a towel launderer. Well, that wasn't fully right. The company he worked for did a whole lot of laundry for various local businesses, mainly hotels, but he didn't do any of the cleaning. He just moved towels around, dirty or clean. He drove a big truck around and...

Okay, he was a truck driver. If anyone asked, he'd usually talk more about what the company did, rather than anything he did specifically. There was a bit of a stigma towards truck drivers, and it's not like he got to immerse himself in the usual staples of being a trucker that showed up so often in every television show. He just drove end to end around the city a lot, hauling chemicals and products. 

It wasn't all bad. He'd get to run into his girlfriend, Sue. On multiple occasions. Per day, even. Josh was hauling a tub of freshly laundered towels over to the recreation complex, cutting through the pool area, where he spotted Sue doing her thing. Seems like there was a swimming class for elementary school kids. 

Out of sight, he paused to admire her from a distance. Her body was wrapped fully in a one-piece bathing suit that adhered to her ample curves. But while her lovely, soft, blemishless, perfect body was nice, her absolutely radiant smile was what he truly fell in love with. A smile that lived in the moment and relished every moment of life. 

"Okay! I think you guys are getting used to floating, and your technique's coming along." Sue nodded, running a hand through her long scarlet hair. "Let's try crossing the pool! I'll go first, so you can see what I do! Look carefully now~" 

Sue kicked her legs against the side, moving through the water with rapid speed. As her body crested the water's surface, the kids gasped as Sue's legs twisted together, melding into a single eel-like limb. 

"Teacherrrr!" A young girl exclaimed. "We can't do that with our legs!"

"Are you part fish??" A young boy asked. 

"She's a mermaid!!" Another young girl squealed. 

Josh's expression shifted as Sue seemed to be surging directly for him. Reflexively, he slid the tub of fresh towels well away from the water and over to safety, before...

SPLASH! Like a dolphin at a show, Sue splashed up from the pool, sliding along her belly and bowling into Josh. He tumbled over as Sue crawled onto his chest.

"Hehe, gotchuuu~" Sue cackled. "Figured you'd be here sooner or later."

"H-hey, Sue." Josh stammered. "Yeah, I saw you at the-"

"The rock climbing wall!" Sue beamed. "And the gym at the downtown Marriott. And the Plastered Ferret!" 

"Y-yeah, the bar too." Josh rubbed his neck. His eyes were lost in her eyes that were almost glowing, and her cute freckles that, strangely, seemed to move along her smiling cheeks independently. Her eel-like tail morphed into a mermaid's fin, splashing excitedly behind her. 

"Ooh, this is your work uniform, huh? My bad." Sue wrapped her arms around Josh's body. "Lemme dry you off."

She closed her eyes and concentrated, her whole body giving out a powerful orange glow. It ebbed deep into Josh's body. Steam and mist wafted around them as water escaped from his heavy cloth uniform and billowed into the air around them. In a matter of moments, he was all dried out.

"Whoa-ho...!" Josh straightened up, looking over himself. "Neat trick there, Sue."

"Mmhm! Are we still on for tonight? I've been looking forward to our little get-together aaaaall dayyy...~" Sue fluttered her eyelashes; Josh noticed how each lash grew half a length, as if she just put on makeup. 

"Uh, yup. Valentine's Day." Josh chuckled nervously. "I remembered."

"Okay! Um, I'll talk to you later!" Sue bounced back to her feet as they reformed underneath her. "I still gotta watch these kids, so, uh, yeah, getting back to it!"

Josh glanced past Sue at the half dozen or so kids sitting at the side of the pool, all in their floaties and goggles. "Oh, neat. Y-yeah, I won't keep you. Have fun!"

"Always doooo!~" Sue hurried over, walking on top of the water before sinking back inside. Josh stuck around for a few moments longer, watching Sue guide a couple of the kids into the water, forming her arm into a lifesaver for one particularly nervous kid. 

Josh remembered he still had work to do. He checked the towels, made sure they were still alright, and deposited them over at the proper station. He'd done this sort of thing a billion times, so it was pretty much second nature. 

Josh only had a couple more trips to run that day, but they went by in a breeze. At least he didn't have any more encounters with Sue. It was wild. Ever since that incident with the meteor, she had been an entirely different person... quite literally at that, given her limitless shapeshifting potential. Sue called herself a "polymorph", which sounded like some Star Trek thing that went over his head. 

As Josh clocked out for the day, he continued to think of Sue. He supposed it was appropriate that she got all her powers from the stars. She was radiant like a star too, almost blindingly so. She had such a manic fervour about her. Moreso now that she discovered she could split her body into copies, and take on all sorts of part-time jobs... and ambush Josh when he was least suspecting. 

Such an incredible woman made Josh feel just the teensiest bit inadequate. Just handling the one job took him out of it, and with so much mandatory overtime lately, he hadn't thought much of what to get her for Valentine's Day, or what he'd even do for her. Such a day was usually reserved for big, audacious proclamations of love; a proposal at a big game, an expensive dinner on the promenade, a cruise along the river.

Sue could be larger than life. It felt a little inadequate to settle on some no-name chocolates and a movie night. But it'd have to do this time...

---

A couple hours later, Josh would make his way to Sue's apartment with chocolate and a single rose in hand. He rapped the door with his knuckles and waited anxiously to be let in. 

Sue opened the door, dressed in a cozy miniskirt and blouse combo. Josh got a better look at her as she approached the door; when he saw her, she was on the other side of the room, stretching her arm to open the door. But as she peeked over, she flipped over the sofa and hurried over, her arm's length retracting as she approached.

"Omigosh, Josh, hiiii!~" She leaned over for a hug, joistling the things he was holding. "Happy Valentine's Day!~"

"Happy Valentine's," he reciprocated. "I uh, got you these. The flower store didn't have a lot of roses left, and I had to get these nearby-"

"Oh, it's perfect!" Sue beamed, taking the flower and admiring the gentle blossoms. "Gotta find a vase for it.

As she admired it, two more arms sprouted from her shoulder blades, jutting towards the kitchen area. They rose to the cabinets and searched for a small glass vase. In a matter of moments, the rose was arranged into tabletop decor, with a little water. 

"Neat trick." Josh blinked.

"I got eyes in the back of my head!" Sue cackled, without elaborating further. "C'mon, the movie's almost on!"

Sue pulled Josh over to the sofa to watch a televised showing of Snakequake, a natural disaster romantic comedy about earthquakes caused by super-sized primordial snakes. It was supremely trashy, and Sue loved this sort of thing. She was always exposing Josh to this sort of thing, and the mind-blowing insanity every other moment was enough to distract from the strange ennui Josh experienced. 

At least until the broadcast was interrupted by some reptile-headed supervillain. Proclaiming himself Reptill, threatening to turn everyone in the city into dinosaurs with his genetic serum in but a matter of moments. 

"Ugh, this guy. And on Valentine's Day?" Sue leaned over and gave Josh a peck. "Imma be right back, okay?"

"Uh, sure. Knock 'em dead." Josh shrugged. Sue hurdled over the sofa and zipped through the narrow window opening. Josh stayed behind to watch the broadcast on TV, with the villain interrupted in short order by Sue herself. She didn't bother changing into a superhero outfit, or even wearing a mask; she just fashioned her arms into bludgeons and slammed him into a nearby building. Then wrapped him around in her arm and bashed him left to right. And then she made herself into a slingshot and launched him into the stratosphere...

It happened pretty fast. Josh checked a couple news outlets, which were quickly reporting on the latest heroics of Sue Everything, the city's latest superhero. Along with some pundits about how she doesn't have the superhero look.

Creak. Sue was back in short order, and Josh quickly changed it back to the monster movie. Sue oozed through the open window, rapidly reforming into a humanoid shape. She fussed with her long hair, before flopping back on the sofa.

"Okay! What'd I miss?" Sue wondered, wrapping her arms around Josh.

"Uh, Detroit just got leveled." Josh glanced over. "In uh, the movie, not for real."

"Not Detroit!"  She mock-gasped, before reaching for a chocolate. 

The movie went on, and Sue's lighthearted cackling filled the room. Josh was oddly silent, and Sue was the one to pick up on it. 

"What's wrong, hun?" Sue tilted her head. "You've been looking down the whole time."

"Eh? ...Is it that obvious?" Josh grimaced. "I just... feel bad."

"What? Why??" Sue turned towards him. 

"Well... I wanted to surprise you with something big this year, but..." Josh rubbed his neck. "Money's been tight, and my work's been running me ragged. You deserve better, though..."

"Awww, Joooosh..." Sue wrapped her arms around him in ropey loops. "Y'know I'm happy just being with you. I'm actually happy doing something more low-key~"

"It's just..." Josh averted his eyes. "You're so incredible. And you're so many things to so many people. I just wish I could do more..."

"You do plenty!" Sue insisted. "You've always been there beside me! Remember when I got hit by that meteor??"

"I... yeah." Josh grimaced. "The physical therapy."

"Yeah! And the pressure! Like, coming up with a whole secret identity double life, I hated that." Sue lowered her eyes. "And I ended up cooping myself inside all the time. I was a mess... until you invited me to that scifi convention."

"Yeah, that... you really went all out with your cosplays."

In a matter of moments Sue's body morphed into the alien ensign from Josh's favourite show. Her comfy clothes shifted to a one-piece uniform that hugged her more accentuated curves. Her skin darkened to a rich shade of evergreen, along with her lips.

"You made me realize I could be anything I wanted to be, anywhere I wanted." Sue spoke, her cheery tone deepening to a throaty huskiness. "And it's because of you that I can go out and be my true, authentic self wherever I want."

"That... that part's been inside you all along though." Josh, despite his self-doubts, couldn't avert his gaze, not as Sue's alien, four-digited hand grabbed his chin and directed him to look into her eyes. 

"And you coaxed it out." Sue smiled warmly. "So I don't wanna hear another word of you not being good enough for me, okay?"

As she spoke, her body rippled again, her alien costume giving way to her true form, her warm, girl-next-door smile melting any defences Josh had.

"...You're... radiant, Sue." Josh swooned.

"C'mere." Sue commanded, pulling him closer for a kiss.

They cuddled and kissed each other all over, the movie playing in the background. Even the dins of extras screaming didn't distract them from one another. 

At some point, Sue glanced up, only to be greeted by the sight of the credits rolling, and a commercial cut-in for their next feature.

"Oh shit, the movie's over?" Sue frowned. "I didn't catch an iota of it..."

"We can rent it." Josh shrugged. "I got work tomorrow, so I oughta head out."

"On a weekend? Yeesh." She pouted. "You come right back here when you're done! I want a redo on movie night with a happier Josh!"

"Y-yeah! Definitely." He nodded. They exchanged one more kiss, before Josh went for the door. 

...Only for the door to seemingly tip over, jutting out from the door frame. The door wobbled, Sue's excited expression moulding from the material.

"SUE-PRISE!!~" Door Sue tipped over onto Josh, rapidly forming into a clone of herself to pin Josh to the floor.

"W-what the-" Josh grimaced. "You took out your DOOR??"

"You're so easy to ambush!!" Sue cackled, two voices ringing in chorus. "You should be good at spotting me by now!"

Josh exhaled in exasperation. Sue was really tricky with her polymorphing powers...