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Kira wrapped herself completely, overlapping the ends. Her cheeks felt incredibly warm. “It’s not a medical condition, it’s a perfectly normal response that you’ve just never experienced before. You are male, Quinn.”
Decidedly male and even if he’d been trying to hide things, and she’d looked away, it wasn’t as if she’d not looked at first because of a knee jerk reaction.
“What are you…” He trailed off. Then he took off towards the changing room.
“Quinn! It’s perfectly normal!”
The slick floor, wet feet, his awkward gait. It called for disaster. When he tried to launch into a full-blown run at her yelling, he went forward, face first, into the floor.
“Quinn!” Catching up much more cautiously, she asked, “Are you okay?”
“No,” Quinn wheezed, pushing himself up to his knees.
“Do you want me to get a medical drone?”
“I’m fine. I’m sorry. I am going to go. Don’t worry. I am just going to go.”
She gaped, uncertain, and wished she could just be tossed in so she could go under. Imagining how he felt, she knew his pride had to be wounded, but there were other concerns, ones that came out with fear. “Please don’t shut me out again.”
He closed his eyes. “I don’t know.” His breathing changed in pace, becoming rapid and he flopped back before raising up to breath.
“Brax,” she cursed. How in the world she’d landed in this position twice in one week, she wasn’t sure. She couldn’t touch him, couldn’t give him medication to calm him down, she couldn’t do much more than just try to wait it out.
QUINN
“Mrrrrrrrrrrr.”
Quinn stirred, pushing himself up and rubbing at his face. Blinking his eyes open, he looked around the room, confused for several moments on where he was before he spotted her. Then, his face turned beet red.
“GAH!”
The man bolted upright, panicked. He remembered the attack, then he’d passed out and... She must have carried him back to the ship, and these were her quarters and there were pants. He hadn’t been wearing pants when he passed out.
“GAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
“Hey. Hey. It’s okay. The drone changed you. Your door was locked. You’re fine.” Kira hopped up, her book falling to the floor.
“I! You! Gah!” He threw up his hands in bewilderment, not sure how to handle any of this or what to say. As if either of them had any idea how to handle what had just happened, though for two different reasons.
“Are you alright? You took a pretty hard fall.” She kept some distance between them and her hushed tones were like how one would speak to a crisis survivor.
“I- You- I’m fine.” High-strung, then grumbling, her demeanor made him feel ridiculous, which he wasn’t thrilled about.
“Okay.” Going back for her book, she scooped it up. “What happened earlier is a normal reaction. You’ve just never been exposed to that sort of stimulus before, I’m sure.”
“Not really. At least, not that I paid attention to.” He’d lived in Toke’s hideout for a few months before he’d met her. He’d certainly seen a few scantily clad women, but none of those had any effect on him. They’d just been people. It had been different with her, and he did not know why.
“Well, it’s still normal. I should have just explained it better.” She settled the book sideways on top of the stack by her table.
A quick observation revealed that her room looked like an absolute tornado had gone through it. When he’d done upgrades, it’d been the same way. Charts thrown over the main table. Oversized clothes hung over a chair. Random writing utensils had fallen off the table and rolled away. A small cart held physical books with worn spines from use. The room was made downright cozy with clutter, with every wall covered in shelves and star charts. The bed, which he was on, might usually have been neglected except for the fact that he had been in it and had flung the covers off when he woke up.
He’d assigned a cleaning drone when the rest of the ship was stripped of stains and scrubbed into a pristine condition. It looked like it had missed her room, but he knew better.
“Well, it felt inappropriate. Like it was something you...” Quinn mumbled, the rest of the words under his breath as he said he thought it was something that might offend her.
“Like it was something what?” Perching on the edge of a massive armchair, one could practically lay in it. The distance was her version of walking on eggshells, something he couldn’t read but felt, “Quinn, I know you don’t have much experience in personal matters like that. I do not expect you to know everything. It’s perfectly normal to be attracted to people, even if your feelings don’t always align with that attraction. It doesn’t have to mean anything.”
Silence. That wasn’t helpful, mostly because he wasn’t even sure what she was saying. He didn’t even know how he really felt about her. Emotional attachments were so very foreign to him and he couldn’t find any solid definition short of examining his own brain chemistry... Which was a thought that terrified him.
