Prompt: Could you do one where Jude and Staz talk about having sex and Jude letting Staz know that he can say no
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"What are you watching?" Staz asked.
I'd turned on the TV while he was working on art. He tended to get absorbed in his art, but he liked to have company.
"Game Of Thrones," I said. "I don't really care for it, but my dad wants to watch it together so I'm catching up to him."
Staz sat next to me on his bed, rubbing his cheek and smudging chalk there. I sighed and turned to face him.
"Your hands," I reminded.
He looked down at them in surprise. "I forgot! I'll go wash them!"
He got up and left his bedroom. It was a minute before he returned, his hands and arms cleaned off but chalk still on his cheek.
I kissed his cheek, just under the smudge. "You're cute."
He blushed a little. "So are you."
"I'm sexy," I said.
Staz's eyes slid past me to the TV and widened. "Jude! This show is a bad show!"
"What?" I looked over at the TV. "Oh, that. It has a lot of sex scenes."
I picked up the remote and turned the show off. Staz still looked horrified that something that graphic could be shown on TV.
"Staz, it was just a show," I said.
Staz fidgeting with his hands a little. "You and Gideon did that, didn't you?"
I nodded. "Yes, I had sex with Gideon."
Staz had that flustered pout on his face. "A lot?"
"Yes," I said, trying not to think too hard about it. We'd lost our virginities to each other. He was the only person I'd ever had sex with. It was strange to go from such a physical relationship to one with such little contact, but I never wanted to make Staz uncomfortable.
"Are we ever going to..." He struggled for words and gestured to the TV.
"Have sex?" I said in surprise. "I don't know. Only if you wanted to."
"It's what couples do, right?" Staz said.
"Not all couples." I faced him, giving him my full attention. "Staz, we don't have to have sex. Sex is incredibly physical. It's a lot of intimate touching. If you want to, then someday we can. But don't think about it too much right now. Let's just take this relationship at our own pace."
"Do you want to do...it?" he said, not meeting my eyes.
"I like sex," I said. "But I also like you being comfortable. And right now, I just don't think you'd be comfortable having sex. I'm happy with the way our relationship is. We don't need to force a physical part of it."
"I...Someday...We..." He struggled again, looking infinitely frustrated.
I held my hand out to him. He hesitated before taking it, our fingers sliding together in a way that was familiar to both of us by now.
"I like this," I promised. "Someday, we can have sex. If you want to. But we're not in a hurry. We can take it slow."
"I like your hands," he said. "I want to cuddle tonight."
"Then we can do that," I said. "If we ever do anything you're not comfortable with, you can say no. I'll stop right away if you say no. I promise."
"I trust you," he said, dropping his gaze again. "You're my boyfriend. You're good to me. I like being your boyfriend, Jude."
"I like being yours." I leaned forward slowly, and he met me halfway, our lips pressing together in a gentle way.
We didn't have a passionate relationship. We had a slow building one that eased both of our boundaries into new territory.
Of course Staz was curious about sex, but he needed to understand that it wasn't as important as TV and movies made it out to be. We could have a healthy relationship with or without sex.
"Let's just see what each day brings," I said.
"Okay," he said. "Can I hug you?"
"Of course."
He put his arms around me and I hugged him back, keeping my arms loose. He smiled a little when we pulled away.
"Let's watch a movie," he said.
A movie with no sex. "Sure. We can even cuddle now, if you want."
"I want to," he said, lying down. I laid down next to him, and we curled up together, loose enough that Staz didn't feel trapped.
This was our relationship and we were both happy with it. Maybe someday we'd have sex together, but for now, this was just fine for both of us.
