Chapter Text
"Tell me when the sex scene is over." I pulled up the data analysis I'd been doing earlier and backburnered the show we were watching.
"This isn't a sex scene."
"It's about to be."
"No, it's not."
.
.
I looked questioningly at Gurathin. We were together in bed, although this time he'd stayed awake through the show. It was about mid-point at the moment.
"It's not," he reiterated.
"How do you know?" I was honestly asking. Had I been skipping parts of shows I shouldn't have?
"Just look at them." He marked the show in my feed for prioritization, as he was unable to simply take it off my backburner and make me look at it.
But that was okay. I looked at it. I rewound the scene about fifteen seconds to the point when he'd judged it 'not a sex scene'. The two characters were in bed, already having been established as lovers so admittedly yet another sex scene at this point was superfluous but it's not like that had stopped it from happening in the past. They'd also been established as wearing full sleeping garments, something I'd assumed would be shed swiftly. They were lying together, one in the arms of the other, but without groins touching. One was lying on their side, cuddled up to the other.
It still looked like it was about to be a sex scene. I asked, "What do you see there?"
"Two people who love each other, or at least care about each other, with one comforting the other after everything that just happened." He paused. I didn't say anything. He resumed. "Jan is being protective and comforting to Ripor. Shows don't usually segue to a sex scene while something like this is going on."
That was true – 'comfort after bad things' was not a common trope for media intended for sexual stimulation. I studied the pair's positioning. I'd been thinking proximity in bed reliably indicated pending sex. But here was Gurathin, and me, in bed together and I knew he had no interest in sex with me. Or at least I didn't think he did, and he'd told me he didn't at various points in ways that made me think he was telling the truth. That and, you know, here we were. Not doing sex.
I understood being protective and providing comfort. I enjoyed doing that. But there were two characters on screen. I'd never had a chance to ask … and so I did. Hesitantly. "How does Ripor feel about this?"
Gurathin waited a long beat, as though studying the paused picture as well. Then he said, "Safe."
I lifted my arm tentatively, then said more decisively, "Come here."
He knew what I meant. He closed the distance between us. I gathered him under one arm and upped my body temperature. It was similar to my standard protocol for shock except he wasn't in shock. But it made sense the same thing would be comforting even in a non-stress situation. "Is this good?"
He nodded. His breathing shifted a little. He sniffed.
"Do you need …" Asking if he needed emotional support was dumb because I was pretty sure that was what I was already providing. What else was I supposed to do?
This is wonderful, he sent through the feed, and resumed the show so we'd both have something to pay attention to instead of our feelings.