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But what were Garin’s fantasies and types and preferred sexual outlets? Extenuating circumstances aside, Sazahk had succeeded spectacularly in sexually pleasuring Garin the day before. If Garin desired sexual contact again, why not approach Sazahk?
Sazahk curled his knees to his chest, trapping the scraps of his warmth around himself, and scowled. He knew why Garin wouldn’t approach him. Because there were differences between genital response, sexual desire, and pleasure. Desire and pleasure were complex concepts for sentient beings, and Sazahk manipulating Garin’s body effectively didn’t mean he appealed to the more cerebral aspects of Garin’s sexuality.
Still, Sazahk wished he knew where he was lacking. Garin shifted with a little sigh and Sazahk couldn’t take it anymore.
“Are you watching pornography?”
Garin whipped his head up so fast he slammed it against the metal disruptor rod. “Ow. Fuck.” He clutched the back of his skull with a wince and a groan, then peeled his eyes open to stare at Sazahk. “What?”
“Are you watching pornography?” Sazahk nodded at Garin’s tablet, his hands still wrapped in the blankets pulled up to his chin.
“No!” Garin turned the screen to Sazahk, showing him the silent video of two identical teenage boys in front of a two-tiered cake with flickering candles, laughing and shoving each other as other teenagers hollered. “I’m watching a recording of my little brothers’ eighteenth birthday party.”
“Oh.” Sazahk stared as the boys blew out the candles, and a young woman with the same nose as Garin sliced the top tier.
“Why would you think I was watching pornography?” Garin removed his earpiece and turned the screen back to himself.
“It seemed the most likely genre of entertainment video that one would download before subjecting themselves to extreme isolation.” Sazahk wondered what flavor the cake had been and if Garin had enjoyed it. Sazahk hadn’t seen Garin in the video, but he assumed he’d been the one filming it.
Garin gave him an exasperated look. “Nostalgic family home video didn’t occur to you?”
“No.” Sazahk didn’t have a single photograph or video of anyone in his family on his tablet, and even if he did, he certainly wouldn’t look at it for leisure. He assumed Serihk had a video or two of him somewhere, but for official purposes or in case they came in handy, not to reminisce when he had a spare moment.
The frank answer seemed to pull Garin up short and his face fell. He scanned Sazahk from head to toe, and after a moment, he frowned. “You’ve got black on your cheeks. Are you cold?”
The black had nothing to do with temperature and everything to do with the multi-faceted envy still upsetting Sazahk’s stomach. But Garin didn’t need that clarification, so Sazahk nodded. “Yes. The natural habitat of the original qesh was a tropical climate, and we never evolved an efficient method for generating body heat.”
Garin nodded sympathetically. “Would you like some of mine?”
Sazahk’s eyebrows rose. Garin had been so reluctant to share a sleeping bag originally that the offer surprised him. But he supposed it shouldn’t. He doubted Garin could resist an opportunity to smother someone with overbearing care. Sazahk hated to be smothered, but he thought of the wonderful heat of Garin’s body beside him the past few mornings and nodded. “Yes, please.”
“Alright.” Garin’s lips cocked into a half-smile and he pushed up from beside the disruptor rod. He walked over to Sazahk and slid into the blankets next to him, then tugged them over a little to lean back against a boulder. He lifted his arm, making a clear space against the side of his body. “Come here.”
Sazahk hesitated, caught between a vague apprehension of being pinned down and the knowledge of how deliciously warm Garin’s skin was.
“You don’t h—” Garin started to drop his arm, when Sazahk made his decision and slid under it. With a small hum, Garin wrapped his arm around Sazahk’s shoulder and tucked him against his side. “Better?”
“Yes.” Sazahk pushed his hands against Garin’s ribs and groaned as the cold seeped out of his fingertips. “Considering the original homo sapiens evolved in a near desert climate, it’s impressive that you retain such an ability to generate heat. It must have been quite a hindrance for your ancestors, but I suppose that’s why they dispensed with fur.”
Garin chuckled and hauled him closer. “I suppose so. I don’t think we stayed in the desert all that long, though. We got to all the continents, eventually.”
“I wonder if your species’ need to travel through dangerous and uninhabitable waters to traverse your planet is partially responsible for how quickly you developed space flight.” Sazahk wormed his toes between Garin’s calves.
“I wouldn’t know.” Garin opened his legs to make room for Sazahk’s cold feet, then closed them again and enveloped Sazahk’s freezing toes in warmth. “Jeez, tell me next time before you get so cold.”
“I was distracted by wondering what you were watching.”
“You mean jumping to conclusions?”
“I didn’t jump to a conclusion.” Sazahk settled against Garin’s side, content with his current temperature. With his cheek resting on Garin’s firm pectoral muscle, he couldn’t see the human’s face, but he heard his steady heartbeat. “I formed a hypothesis and tested it by asking you a question.”
“Mhm.” Garin stroked his thumb up and down Sazahk’s deltoid, quiet for a moment. “You said pornography was the most likely thing someone would download before this mission, right?”
“Yes.” Sazahk tilted his head when Garin’s heart rate increased.
“So, did…you download any pornography to bring with you?”
“No.” Sazahk dropped his still-cold hands to Garin’s waist and slipped them under the hem of his shirt to touch his burning bare skin. Garin inhaled sharply, but didn’t stop him. “But unlike the majority of human, qesh, and klah’eel individuals, I have little interest in sex.”
