Xenothon: Zap!
Apr. 8th, 2013 10:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lb_leeThis prompt was done for Meeresbande, who gave a sizeable donation a few days before Xenothon started. They requested consensual ace love with polyamory! Happy Xenothon, Meeresebande! This story takes place in the Infinity Smashed universe.
Zap!
It was obvious that M.D. was a junior healer. She treated sex like major surgery, only wading in when she was fully clothed, gloved in latex halfway to her elbows, and properly sanitized. Raige even suspected she forgot that the one lying down likely wouldn’t die at any given moment.
Not that Raige was complaining! He wanted to emphasize that. He’d gone into this relationship with the understanding that M.D. was asexual, and so these developments were gravy, far as he was concerned. Maybe she had no libido herself, but she could enjoy making someone she loved happy, and the intensity she’d brought to it had been a pleasant surprise.
And that was part of the problem.
“Are you sure there’s nothing I can do for you?” He asked.
“Nope.” She stripped off her gloves, humming cheerfully. “You just keep being yourself and we’ll call it even.”
Raige wiped sweat from his forehead and pushed himself up to a sitting position. “It’s just… it doesn’t seem fair, you know?”
“Life is fair? That’s a new development; I must’ve missed the newsletter…”
Raige gave her a look and she leaned over to tousle his hair.
“Relax. I like you, you big dork. I’m not going anywhere, so ditch the guilt. You’re in college now; you’re supposed to be debauched.”
“That’s not exactly what I meant, but…”
“Look, nothing against you, but some body parts are only open to me and my healers. Also, no offense, but I got linked to your mind during orgasm once and that was more than enough.”
He remembered. She’d toppled off the bed and twitched for a few minutes, and then needed a hot shower to, as she put it, “scrub the heebie-jeebies off.” Apparently feelings that intense weren’t fun for her, just unpleasant.
Raige let the subject drop, since he didn’t want her to feel pressured and he didn’t know what he could offer in exchange. Still. It just didn’t seem right for her to always be on the giving side.
He brought it up with Thomas, his other boyfriend, at their weekly pizza date, but he was unsympathetic.
“Man, it sounds like she’s being great,” he said. “Don’t look your gift—”
Raige raised a hand. “I systematically ban you from making that pun.”
Thomas feigned a look of wounded innocence, then continued on. “She says she’s fine? Believe her! You’re just torturing yourself second-guessing her, knock it off.”
Raige tugged at his bangs. “Look, it’s not even that, it’s just… I want to be able to do something special for her. It doesn’t have to be sexual, just something. And she won’t let me buy her anything, so I can’t do that.”
Thomas hmmmed and stirred his soda with his straw. “Have you asked her?”
“Y—”
“In a way that made it clear you didn’t mean sex? ‘Cause no offense, you’re getting better, but y’all got enough awkwardness to fill four books.”
Raige cringed. “Gee, thanks for the reminder.”
Thomas beamed and saluted him with the soda. “It’s why you date me. Do it when you’re stone cold, out doing something else. It’s easy. ‘Hey, what’s something unsexy and fun you’d like to do?’ There, I even gave you the line.”
It was a good idea, and when Thomas said it that way, he made it sound easy. But though self-assertion was getting easier, M.D. had a way of dominating a conversation. So Raige fidgeted with the cheese on his pizza, then smiled pathetically and asked, “Help me say that?”
Thomas sighed. “It’s a wonder y’all got together without my help.”
Being mutual friends, it wasn’t hard to rig. In the middle of watching Rock Lobsters from Outer Space, during a popcorn break, Raige managed to broach the subject. He even got the line out properly.
But M.D. just shrugged. “Sorry, milquetoast. I don’t want anything.”
“Oh, horseshit,” Thomas retorted. “There must be something that gives you a rush.”
“Raige isn’t into unarmed combat.”
“Besides punching someone,” Raige amended.
“There’s something better than punching someone? Seriously, guys, I really can’t think of anything. I really am perfectly—”
But then she froze for a moment, staring off into the distance as though trying to recall an old dream. Then she winced with her whole face, as though whatever she’d come up with wasn’t something she was proud of.
“Well. Uh. Maybe there’s one thing, but—”
“Oh no you don’t,” Thomas crowed.
“But nothing,” Raige said at the same time. “M.D., I love you, but I really would feel more comfortable knowing there was something fun I could do for you.”
She squeezed her hands between her knees and stared off somewhere at the ceiling. “Have you ever noticed how perpendicular the walls are?”
Assertiveness wasn’t Raige’s strong point, but he was motivated, plus he had Thomas with him, which helped. “Kid, I still can’t believe I managed to ask you half the things I have, never mind that you agreed to them. I solemnly swear I will not tease you or laugh about it.” And then, catching her look at Thomas, “Him either.”
Thomas looked wounded. “Hey, c’mon. I’ll throw you a party if it means you actually open up a bit. You know, as your co-date or whatever.”
She ignored him. “It doesn’t matter, it’s something you can’t physically fulfill.”
Thomas raised his eyebrows.
M.D. glared at him. “Not that, you deviant. Electricity, all right? I like getting electrocuted, and last I checked, Raige can’t channel current. Pretty sure that’s a safety violation right there.”
Huh. The way she was acting, he’d expected something more… unusual. But this wasn’t even really a surprise. In hindsight, he was annoyed at himself for not thinking of it earlier; he’d seen the dreamy, nostalgic look she got every time she mentioned getting hit by lightning.
He thought about it. “Let me get back to you.”
First was asking advice from the Internet. Once he got enough to find out that it was possible on humans, never mind rough-and-tumble electrical manipulators like M.D., he went to get some proper information from Bobcat.
Forget asking M.D.; that was awkward. Despite everything, Raige couldn’t shake the voice in the back of his head that said, “You’re asking kinky not-sex advice from a cat.” A super-intelligent telepathic cat who had dropped a dozen sexuality books on them when he first found out they were dating, but still. Cat.
It was worth the embarrassment, though. Bobcat took the news in stride (who knew, maybe this stuff was totally normal on his world) and after a lecture on M.D.’s physiology, handed over a few books’ worth of information on a CD-ROM. Some of the titles were familiar, (Happy Zappy Electrical Play), but the content meant more now that he was reading it specifically with research in mind.
Since Raige didn’t share M.D.’s ability to zap people, next step was getting his hands on a substitute. Even that had more options than he expected. There were a few ‘do-it-yourself’ ways, but he didn’t trust himself to do it right. Now that he was eighteen, he could go to one of the many shops lying around certain areas of Vaygo, but that brought on levels of social anxiety that Raige didn’t feel up to challenging yet. Once again, the Internet provided, and within a few days, he had a gadget that looked… surprisingly boring. It looked like something M.D. might use at work.
He spent the next couple of days figuring it out, plus testing it on himself, just to reassure himself. It felt like his skin was vibrating—weird, and not something he’d want to experience for long. But hey, M.D. apparently felt the same way about orgasm, so who was he to judge?
By the time M.D. next came to visit, it was apparent that she figured he’d given up on the whole thing.
“Am I glad to see you,” she said, squeezing his arm. “Work was murder this week, and I could kill for some B-movies and sushi.”
If it were Thomas, he probably could’ve used that to say something smooth. But Raige coughed and said, “Actually, I was thinking of maybe doing something different.”
And he held up the violet wand.
M.D. stared at it blankly. “What is that?”
He tossed her the instruction booklet. She caught it, gave him a perplexed look, and started reading. Then she froze.
“Oh my god.”
“Is that a ‘fantasmo’ oh my god, or a ‘you idiot’ oh my god?”
She was flipping through the booklet faster now. “Where did you get this? How much was it?”
“The Internet, and you don’t get to know.”
She groaned. “Oh god, that means it was expensive—”
Raige rolled his eyes. “I invested in a quality product, which coincidentally has a thirty-day returns policy. My dad owns a brewing company, you know; it’s not like I’m hurting for money. And I thought…” he shrugged, and for a moment worried she was upset because he’d misread her.
But when she spoke, her voice was small and she was staring at the wand like she wanted to eat it. “I didn’t think you’d actually take me seriously.”
Raige smiled. “I’ve been reading up. But you know, if you really want to watch Bela Lugosi Meets the Brooklyn Gorilla…”
He had never heard her laugh like that before. “No, no, I—yes. This sounds much more interesting than B-movies.”
It was, and he didn’t end up needing the returns policy after all.
Zap!
It was obvious that M.D. was a junior healer. She treated sex like major surgery, only wading in when she was fully clothed, gloved in latex halfway to her elbows, and properly sanitized. Raige even suspected she forgot that the one lying down likely wouldn’t die at any given moment.
Not that Raige was complaining! He wanted to emphasize that. He’d gone into this relationship with the understanding that M.D. was asexual, and so these developments were gravy, far as he was concerned. Maybe she had no libido herself, but she could enjoy making someone she loved happy, and the intensity she’d brought to it had been a pleasant surprise.
And that was part of the problem.
“Are you sure there’s nothing I can do for you?” He asked.
“Nope.” She stripped off her gloves, humming cheerfully. “You just keep being yourself and we’ll call it even.”
Raige wiped sweat from his forehead and pushed himself up to a sitting position. “It’s just… it doesn’t seem fair, you know?”
“Life is fair? That’s a new development; I must’ve missed the newsletter…”
Raige gave her a look and she leaned over to tousle his hair.
“Relax. I like you, you big dork. I’m not going anywhere, so ditch the guilt. You’re in college now; you’re supposed to be debauched.”
“That’s not exactly what I meant, but…”
“Look, nothing against you, but some body parts are only open to me and my healers. Also, no offense, but I got linked to your mind during orgasm once and that was more than enough.”
He remembered. She’d toppled off the bed and twitched for a few minutes, and then needed a hot shower to, as she put it, “scrub the heebie-jeebies off.” Apparently feelings that intense weren’t fun for her, just unpleasant.
Raige let the subject drop, since he didn’t want her to feel pressured and he didn’t know what he could offer in exchange. Still. It just didn’t seem right for her to always be on the giving side.
He brought it up with Thomas, his other boyfriend, at their weekly pizza date, but he was unsympathetic.
“Man, it sounds like she’s being great,” he said. “Don’t look your gift—”
Raige raised a hand. “I systematically ban you from making that pun.”
Thomas feigned a look of wounded innocence, then continued on. “She says she’s fine? Believe her! You’re just torturing yourself second-guessing her, knock it off.”
Raige tugged at his bangs. “Look, it’s not even that, it’s just… I want to be able to do something special for her. It doesn’t have to be sexual, just something. And she won’t let me buy her anything, so I can’t do that.”
Thomas hmmmed and stirred his soda with his straw. “Have you asked her?”
“Y—”
“In a way that made it clear you didn’t mean sex? ‘Cause no offense, you’re getting better, but y’all got enough awkwardness to fill four books.”
Raige cringed. “Gee, thanks for the reminder.”
Thomas beamed and saluted him with the soda. “It’s why you date me. Do it when you’re stone cold, out doing something else. It’s easy. ‘Hey, what’s something unsexy and fun you’d like to do?’ There, I even gave you the line.”
It was a good idea, and when Thomas said it that way, he made it sound easy. But though self-assertion was getting easier, M.D. had a way of dominating a conversation. So Raige fidgeted with the cheese on his pizza, then smiled pathetically and asked, “Help me say that?”
Thomas sighed. “It’s a wonder y’all got together without my help.”
Being mutual friends, it wasn’t hard to rig. In the middle of watching Rock Lobsters from Outer Space, during a popcorn break, Raige managed to broach the subject. He even got the line out properly.
But M.D. just shrugged. “Sorry, milquetoast. I don’t want anything.”
“Oh, horseshit,” Thomas retorted. “There must be something that gives you a rush.”
“Raige isn’t into unarmed combat.”
“Besides punching someone,” Raige amended.
“There’s something better than punching someone? Seriously, guys, I really can’t think of anything. I really am perfectly—”
But then she froze for a moment, staring off into the distance as though trying to recall an old dream. Then she winced with her whole face, as though whatever she’d come up with wasn’t something she was proud of.
“Well. Uh. Maybe there’s one thing, but—”
“Oh no you don’t,” Thomas crowed.
“But nothing,” Raige said at the same time. “M.D., I love you, but I really would feel more comfortable knowing there was something fun I could do for you.”
She squeezed her hands between her knees and stared off somewhere at the ceiling. “Have you ever noticed how perpendicular the walls are?”
Assertiveness wasn’t Raige’s strong point, but he was motivated, plus he had Thomas with him, which helped. “Kid, I still can’t believe I managed to ask you half the things I have, never mind that you agreed to them. I solemnly swear I will not tease you or laugh about it.” And then, catching her look at Thomas, “Him either.”
Thomas looked wounded. “Hey, c’mon. I’ll throw you a party if it means you actually open up a bit. You know, as your co-date or whatever.”
She ignored him. “It doesn’t matter, it’s something you can’t physically fulfill.”
Thomas raised his eyebrows.
M.D. glared at him. “Not that, you deviant. Electricity, all right? I like getting electrocuted, and last I checked, Raige can’t channel current. Pretty sure that’s a safety violation right there.”
Huh. The way she was acting, he’d expected something more… unusual. But this wasn’t even really a surprise. In hindsight, he was annoyed at himself for not thinking of it earlier; he’d seen the dreamy, nostalgic look she got every time she mentioned getting hit by lightning.
He thought about it. “Let me get back to you.”
First was asking advice from the Internet. Once he got enough to find out that it was possible on humans, never mind rough-and-tumble electrical manipulators like M.D., he went to get some proper information from Bobcat.
Forget asking M.D.; that was awkward. Despite everything, Raige couldn’t shake the voice in the back of his head that said, “You’re asking kinky not-sex advice from a cat.” A super-intelligent telepathic cat who had dropped a dozen sexuality books on them when he first found out they were dating, but still. Cat.
It was worth the embarrassment, though. Bobcat took the news in stride (who knew, maybe this stuff was totally normal on his world) and after a lecture on M.D.’s physiology, handed over a few books’ worth of information on a CD-ROM. Some of the titles were familiar, (Happy Zappy Electrical Play), but the content meant more now that he was reading it specifically with research in mind.
Since Raige didn’t share M.D.’s ability to zap people, next step was getting his hands on a substitute. Even that had more options than he expected. There were a few ‘do-it-yourself’ ways, but he didn’t trust himself to do it right. Now that he was eighteen, he could go to one of the many shops lying around certain areas of Vaygo, but that brought on levels of social anxiety that Raige didn’t feel up to challenging yet. Once again, the Internet provided, and within a few days, he had a gadget that looked… surprisingly boring. It looked like something M.D. might use at work.
He spent the next couple of days figuring it out, plus testing it on himself, just to reassure himself. It felt like his skin was vibrating—weird, and not something he’d want to experience for long. But hey, M.D. apparently felt the same way about orgasm, so who was he to judge?
By the time M.D. next came to visit, it was apparent that she figured he’d given up on the whole thing.
“Am I glad to see you,” she said, squeezing his arm. “Work was murder this week, and I could kill for some B-movies and sushi.”
If it were Thomas, he probably could’ve used that to say something smooth. But Raige coughed and said, “Actually, I was thinking of maybe doing something different.”
And he held up the violet wand.
M.D. stared at it blankly. “What is that?”
He tossed her the instruction booklet. She caught it, gave him a perplexed look, and started reading. Then she froze.
“Oh my god.”
“Is that a ‘fantasmo’ oh my god, or a ‘you idiot’ oh my god?”
She was flipping through the booklet faster now. “Where did you get this? How much was it?”
“The Internet, and you don’t get to know.”
She groaned. “Oh god, that means it was expensive—”
Raige rolled his eyes. “I invested in a quality product, which coincidentally has a thirty-day returns policy. My dad owns a brewing company, you know; it’s not like I’m hurting for money. And I thought…” he shrugged, and for a moment worried she was upset because he’d misread her.
But when she spoke, her voice was small and she was staring at the wand like she wanted to eat it. “I didn’t think you’d actually take me seriously.”
Raige smiled. “I’ve been reading up. But you know, if you really want to watch Bela Lugosi Meets the Brooklyn Gorilla…”
He had never heard her laugh like that before. “No, no, I—yes. This sounds much more interesting than B-movies.”
It was, and he didn’t end up needing the returns policy after all.
