Sue Accepts Nairobi's Invitation To Dinner

"Going somewhere, darling?" Reed Richards asked, as he popped his head into the master bedroom. The rest of his body was in the lab, his neck stretched down the hall.

Sue Storm felt her heart thunder suddenly in her chest as she finished fixing her earrings. It was a very modest black tube dress, one that gave just the barest hint of cleavage and ended just above the knee. Combined with her black heels it emphasized her trim profile, the gentle swell of thighs and ass, without being so tight that she couldn't sneeze without flashing everyone her nipples.

"I'm going out for dinner," Sue said. "With a girlfriend."

"Oh," he said, his head under the bed, looking for something. "Anyone I know?"

"No," Sue said. Then added, carefully: "Nairobi, my masseuse."

"Have fun!" Reed's muffled voice came from deep beneath the bed. "I love you!"

"I love you too," Sue said, as she stepped over his neck, and walked to the elevator.

Wakawaka's was a Wakandan restaurant. Expensive, but discreet, and the food was actually good. The only place in New York to get barbecued gazelle ribs. Although they had a number of vegetarian options as well. Nairobi stared at the menu. She wore a suit, with a little bow tie, black with white polka dots, that made her look very butch. Though Sue admired the soft swell of her breasts through the dress shirt, the wider shoulders the jacket offered.

"There are no prices on any of this," Nairobi said.

"I'm paying," Sue said. "Order what you want."

The waiter appeared. Orders were made. A bottle of palm wine appeared on the table. They clinked glasses.

"Does your husband know you're here?" Nairobi asked, after a sip.

"I told him I was going to dinner with a girlfriend," Sue said, and that nervous, excited sensation hit her chest again. The palm wine was dry, and a bit spicy. It left her thirsty.

"And is he cool with his wife..." Nairobi didn't finish the sentence. She didn't need to.

"He doesn't know," Sue admitted.

"Oooh, so I'm on the down-low," Nairobi said with a smile. She leaned onto the table, planted her elbows there so that she could rest her chin on her hands and stare at Sue Storm. "Have you done this before?"

"No," Sue said.

"Have you wanted to do this before?" Nairobi asked. "Go out with another woman, I mean."

"No," Sue repeated. "I...I've been seeing a therapist lately. She says I've been carrying a lot of stress. That is has to do with repressed sexual desires. My husband and I, after the children..."

Nairobi nodded. As if it made sense.

"I've always known," Nairobi said softly. "That I was different. That I liked boys and girls. I got in trouble, once, the first time I kissed a girl. My momma didn't punish me, but other people didn't understand. It took some time for me to find my confidence again after that."

"Is that why you work as a masseuse?" Sue said.

Nairobi's smile flashed. "To get pussy? No. I mean, it's good work, it helps people, and yeah, the occasional happy ending is fun. But I don't normally date customers. Only people I'm interested in for...different reasons."

"What kind of reasons?" the Invisible Woman asked.

"I want," Nairobi said, as the food arrived. "Someone to share an adventure with. To do something I've never done before. Someone willing to take risks, because it makes life more exciting."

They ate, mostly in silence. Sue Storm caught Nairobi smiling at her. There was something there, an expectation, a hope, that was ridiculously attractive.