Work Text:
The time spent together in close quarters in the Hail Mary forced Ryland and Rocky to learn a lot about each other, the human had witnessed Rocky eating, an apparently very “personal” thing to witness for eridians. Ryland should have known that at some point something similar would happen to him as well.
When Ryland woke up Rocky was tinkering beside him as always, he shifted under the sheets and stopped, a moan on his lips. He was hard, his cock pressed against the mattress, his unconscious humping of the mattress had woken him up. It had been too long since he had... erm... “taken care” of himself.
Rocky turns to him.
“You’re awake. You moved and made unusual sounds in your sleep.”
He says, the notes make Ryland’s head fuzzy at first and it takes a moment for him to fully translate.
“Uh- ah. Yes, I’m awake. And uh, it’s a human biological thing.”
Rocky’s carapace tilts towards him in curiosity.
“ Human biological thing ?” He asks. “ What kind of biological thing ?”
Ryland takes a second to compose an answer that he would not regret uttering.
God, he has to explain masturbation and sexual arousal to aliens.
“It’s a biological impulse to... mate. It encourages the act of mating by making us release endorphins when we perform and complete it. Humans have learnt to get some of those endorphins and control the urge to mate by... releasing the tension by themselves.”
He really wishes he had simpler terms. Birds and bees. He used to teach sexual education to the kids, it was always just as awkward as it was a responsibility. To teach kids in terms appropriate for their age the fundamentals of reproduction, consent and arousal. The hardest part was probably teaching not to be ashamed when he himself has trouble separating the act and the social implications it has from the scientific function of the process.
He feels weirdly unprofessional and deeply human.
“ So... humans evolved to encourage mating trough a physical need like hunger ?” Rocky asks and the conversation gets even more complicated.
“It’s not like hunger, if you don’t eat you die, if you don’t... relieve sexual need you just get tense. Nervous.” God, he feels creepy.
“ So how does the sexual need work? Is it male and female as a couple or a nest with multiples ?”
I frown. He’s asking tough questions.
“We might need some new words, if you’re confused tell me.”
He moves closer to the divider wall, his trinkets forgotten with the tools on his workbench.
“So, uh- most human matings are between a female and a male. The concept of female and male might be complicated for you.”
“ Yes, Eridani doesn’t have any physical distinction within the same species. And it surely doesn’t impact breeding, any two individuals can breed .”
Ryland nods, these are hard concepts, but they would have to talk about them at some point.
“Sex and... gender. New word, the cultural expression of sex.” He says, hoping it’s not an absolutely garbage definition.
“Fertile mating can generally only be naturally performed between two individuals of opposite, functional genitalia.”
“That seems counterproductive, makes mating harder. ” Rocky notes.
“Not all sexual matings are productive. But because of the endorphin release we tend to have a lot of sex.” He explains. “It’s complicated and I’m not the right person to explain this, I’m sorry.”
By the end of that his erection had died and possibly gone to hell. He felt bleary and FRUSTRATED and definitely in a foul mood.
“ Can you show me ?”
Ryland, strangely, hadn’t been expecting it, and the thought makes something shift in him.
“It’s- uh... very private. Personal.” He explains, he already knows he will show him, like Rocky had shown him himself eating, but it still felt surreal, the low, pooling heat in his gut. God, humans were horny.
“I’ll show you, but... can I turn the lights off?” He asks. It would be easier, and it’s strangely more exciting, knowing he won’t be seeing Rocky but Rocky would be hearing him, every sound and moan and slick slap of skin.
“ Alright, you turn off lights, I observe.” He says, crouching down at the foot of the bed.
“... computer, lights off.”
The room plunges into darkness, Ryland takes a deep breath, cold recycled air on his chapped lips.
He undressed, slowly, folding his clothes, still trying to maintain a semblance of... what? Pride? Professionalism? He doesn’t know, but he hopes it proves something.
He lounges on the bed and takes the Vaseline from the bedside, just a tiny jar he had found in a cabinet. He runs his fingers in the waxy cream, taking it and bringing it down to his cock, starting to stroke it.
“ You touch your penis to alleviate sexual need, question? Simulate female vagina with your hand. ”
Hearing the music notes, almost whispered in that low tone Rocky uses when Ryland is focused on a task and he needs his attention. He loves that sound.
“Y-yes.”
It’s all he can say with any amount of normalcy. His cock is straining in his hand, and it won’t take much longer. God, he misses women, he misses their soft lips and nice butts.
Those thoughts bring him over the edge, his cock leaks more and more semen, finally finding that moment of complete pleasure. The security of your species continuation, of a mating in which you had done the best you could.
He takes a few deep breaths, basking in the afterglow.
“ You leak fluid, is that the end goal of the need, question ?”
Grace quietly laughs, incredulous at what just happened. Leave it to humans to turn fist contact into porn.
“Yeah. Sure is buddy.”
“ Good, that was interesting to witness. ” Rocky said, fiddling with one of his machines. “I will now record data about this for science eridians back home.”