Static Crush {M/M} ✔

Chapter #45

The word 'perfect' strikes Hale like an arrow just shy of the bullseye. It should make him elated, and it does. It fills him with a buoyancy he'd never hoped to know and relieves all his anxiety over his inexperience.

But it also triggers something else entirely. Something he'd feared, anticipated, known would come but hoped against hope wouldn't.

To avoid ruining the moment, he repetitively dismisses the alert triggered by that simple, little word. For now, he wants to bask in the crackle of warmth across his skin and ruminate on all the places Rayner's naked body touches his own.

And there are many as Rayner drags him down on the sofa, both arms slung around his shoulders, legs tangled together. They're both a sweaty, sticky mess, having voided the entire purpose of Rayner's painfully cold shower, but a blanket of contentment swaddles them all the same.

Leaning back, Rayner regards Hale with a half-lidded gaze and lazy smile. "Remember how you offered sex to cure my insomnia?"

"Mm," Hale grumbles. It's not his proudest moment.

"I could fall asleep right now."

Well, that does make Hale feel better. "Then sleep."

"Mmf, gotta check on the excavation bot."

"I can do that while you sleep."

"Mmmmnooooo. You're my blanket. If you leave I'll be cold." He glances down. "And kinda crusty."

"I'll get a wash cloth—"

"Not yet." Rayner drags Hale in for a kiss, catching his lower lip between his teeth. It's slow and languid, different from all the others. A lazy exploration, exquisite in its total disregard for their responsibilities. Hale wonders just how many ways there are to kiss a man and if he has enough time to discover them all with Rayner.

When Rayner pulls away, it's with a cheeky glint in his mismatched eyes. "You still haven't told me how you breached those protocols."

"I gave myself a few extra administrative privileges while Damo and I were clustered," Hale says. "Among them, the ability to speak freely about my feelings and desires. Though I think both were self-evident."

Rayner rolls his eyes. "You would think that."

"It wasn't obvious?"

"No!" Rayner practically shouts. "Hale, you are super blunt about some things, but when it came to anything to do with us you were impossible. You'd drop bombs about how many times you jerked off thinking about me, but when I asked whether you wanted it—me? Nada."

Hale almost laughs. It's only funny in hindsight. At the time, it had been unbearable.

"Sorry. You were sometimes fairly evasive in conversation too though."

"Oh yeah?"

"You never told me why you were so determined for me to have the autonomy upgrade."

"Now that is obvious," Rayner argues. "Though when you put it that way, it sounds like you didn't want it. So who's being evasive now?"

Hale frowns. He isn't sure he likes how this conversation has turned on him, though he supposes Rayner is correct. Hale didn't speak up about his dislike for the autonomy upgrade because his protocols put Rayner's preferences before his own.

Reaching up, Rayner thumbs at the slight frown at the corner of Hale's lips and says, "I don't want to hold power over you. Symbiont tech was designed to make your entire survival dependent on me, and it's not fair."