“It’s fine” Aura said, after taking a breath to compose herself. “We’re practically adults. You even were one, legally. And we both had sex-ed, right? So, we can both explain this like adults, right?”

“I actually mostly had tutors” Adan corrected, though quietly.

“But you had plenty of hands on experience in Hollywood, didn’t you though?” she shot back.

“Aura...”

“So, we can explain this to him, easily enough, I’m sure” she repeated.

“Why do we need to explain it at all, again?” Adan asked with a furrowed brow.

“Would you rather just have him constantly walking in on us during increasingly awkward moments, then asking us about them after?”

Adan just let out a resigned sigh. “Fine, explain away.”

She took another deep breath as Ilian just looked between the two of them warily. “OK, so, the kissing and touching, we ‘seem to enjoy?’ That often leads to even more kissing and touching.”

“This is going well” Adan mumbled.

“You wanna take over?” she bit back.

“Nope, your show, doll” he passed.

“And, when a male is kissed and... touched, enough, it causes his sperm, or seed” she shook her head, “to leave his body.”

Adan couldn’t help stifling a small chuckle.

“You wanna take over now?” she repeated loudly.

“Nope. I’m actually interested in hearing the rest of this myself now” he smirked again.

“Shut up” she shook her head again, “anyway, if he positions himself in a certain way, or location?” Adan tried to stifle another chuckle. She just glared at him. “If he places part of his body inside a part of a female’s body, this causes an intense pleasure that in turn causes that sperm to be released from his body and enter hers. And this could lead to it fertilizing her egg cells, and then a child is created” she raced through the rest of her sentence as quickly as she could.

“And there you have it” Adan smirked again.

“Shut up” she repeated.

“He places part of his body inside part of hers?” Ilian asked as he looked between the two of them.

“Fuck. You take over” Aura finally gave up, and grabbed her food and took it with her to go and eat in the living room, just as Adan had wanted to do earlier.

“Thanks hon” he called after her with a shake of his head.

“That sounds very confusing” Ilian added. “And...”

“Inefficient?” Adan offered as he took a long sip of his drink.

“A bit” Ilian agreed.

“Welcome to human reproduction 101” Adan mumbled as he took another drink.

“She said that it causes intense pleasure though?” Ilian continued.

“That’s one word for it” Adan shook his head again, though still couldn’t look directly at Ilian, for many different reasons right then.

“So, it gives the female pleasure too?” Ilian asked, nearly causing Adan to choke on his drink.

“Ideally” he managed.

“So, even though neither of you want to produce a child, you risk the possibility anyway. Because of that pleasure?”

Adan just sighed shakily. “Hence my earlier raid on the medical supplies” he admitted quietly.

“That sounds... stressful” Ilian attempted.

“True enough” Adan admitted.

“The pleasure must be very intense” Ilian stated thoughtfully.

“And there you have the story of how there ended up being 7.5 billion of us on the planet. You know, before your people found it” he had to add.

“I am sorry for what’s happened to yours” Ilian stated softly.

“Yeah, me too” Adan replied a little shortly.

Adan then also gave into his overwhelming urge to flee from trying to justify their indeed, very stressful love life. He then gathered his food and headed out of the room after Aura.

“Well, that was incredibly awkward” Adan greeted Aura when he found her finishing her meal on the sofa a moment later. “Thank you for that” he added, though as he complained, he sat next to her and leaned over to give her a quick kiss to prove he wasn’t angry as much as just uncomfortable, understandably.

“Hey, I explained. I didn’t offer to answer any follow up questions” she defended weakly.

“I think it may have been less awkward if we had just invited him to watch us... mate” he smirked.

“Oh eww” she said as she gently smacked his arm, “must we keep using that word?”

“So your disgust is due to the term, not the idea?” Adan teased.

“You can’t really...” she looked at him, as he pretended to be keeping his attention on his meal rather than the conversation. “Adan.”

“What?” he laughed. “He may have already watched us for all we know. He was kinda stalker-y during our first couple nights.”

“Well, I guess you would be more comfortable than me doing a love scene in a room full of people, wouldn’t you?” she scoffed.

Adan just laughed. “Love scenes are not remotely romantic. Common misconception.”

“Whatever you say oh wise one” she retorted with a roll of her eyes.

“Just playin. Though it would definitely spice up the apocalypse, wouldn’t it?”

“I think it’s plenty spicy already, Adan” she faked a glare.

He was quiet for a while as they each finished their food. Once their plates were set aside on the coffee table though, he spoke again. “But if the three of us really are gonna be all stuck in here together for years, I mean... Assuming he doesn’t actually murder us and stuff. What’s our lives, all three of us, here together, what’s that look like? What’s that script?” he asked her, seeming sincere in his curiosity about what she thought on the matter.

“You think it’s going to involve intergalactic threesomes?” she raised a brow.

“I mean, you’ve seen him. And he’s obviously pretty fucking curious.”

“And he looks like your brother” she reminded.

“Not fair. You were the one saying that it’s not that freaky, since he’s not really my brother, weren’t you?”

“Are you being serious right now?” She shook her head. “The two of us have only had sex together twice, fully. I’ve only ever had sex twice, period. And now you’re thinking about throwing a male alien into the mix?”

“Technically you are more experienced than him, honestly” Adan reminded.

“Adan!”

He just allowed a small chuckle. “Of course I don’t mean tonight, or any time soon even. But if we are gonna be here for years together... and we’re both attracted to him... and he wants to understand us... I mean, who knows what might happen in a year or so? You can’t say it hasn’t crossed your mind too.”

“I’m going to try really hard not to let myself think that this means that you’re already bored with me, sexually.”

“What?” he exclaimed. “Not even close. I guarantee it.” He gave her knee a reassuring squeeze, “I’m just trying to write that script in my head like you asked me to. Trying to imagine what it really will be like for the three of us here, years from now. I mean, you’re attracted to him too. You can’t honestly say that you haven’t thought about it.”

“I’m mostly spending my time actively trying not to think about it” she admitted.

“So, not that crazy of an idea after all, is it?”

“Shut up” she mumbled, causing him to just smile and give her another soft kiss. It seemed they did understand each other just as well as they thought they did, even if she didn’t want to admit it, out loud just yet.

The three of them had their dinner in the living room. At least then the sound of the TV could offset the awkward silence. Though, as usual, Aura’s ingrained anxiety pushed her to need more and more answers. It was all she could do to help herself feel even slightly in control of anything at all anymore.

“So, tell us about your abilities, Ilian” she asked suddenly once the meal had finished.

“Abilities?” he asked as he looked over at where she sat in the center of the couch, though quite a bit closer to where Adan was seated on her opposite side.

“Yeah, stuff you can do that... we can’t” she clarified, as Adan looked on warily but made no move to interrupt the conversation just yet.

“Not sure where to begin, since I’m not completely sure of all the things your people can or cannot do” he stated hesitantly.

“Well, you talked about using your abilities to hide this place. How do you do that?” Aura started with the least terrifying of his abilities that they were aware of as of yet.

“It’s a sort of mental camouflaging technique that extends to a certain radius around me. Including whatever building or structure I happen to be inside. Since they don’t expect any of their own kind to be hiding here, on your planet. They won’t look for any signs of it” he explained quietly.

“So you make them see nothing, instead of what’s really there?” Adan finally joined the conversation.

“Something like that” Ilian agreed, as they inadvertently touched on exactly how he was able to remain unknown to them, and unseen by them on those first few nights.

The two teens took deep breaths as Aura thought about all the things she wanted to ask him, trying to decide which, if any, she was brave enough to actually ask. “And you can also change your appearance?” she dared, Adan tensing next to her at that particular point.

“Like I said, that’s a lot harder to do, especially to this extent. Making others see something differently than it is? That’s much easier than actually becoming something different than you are. Once you do that, it’s next to impossible to undo.”

“And you got this appearance from my head?” Adan couldn’t stop himself from fixating on the thing he found most disturbing personally. “How exactly do you do that? Do you read minds or something?”

“When you’re asleep, it’s easier to see what’s going on inside your mind. That’s when I saw your memories, and adjusted this appearance accordingly. And I’ve already given my reasons for why I chose it.”

“So, you can sneak around while we sleep reading our minds?” Adan asked a bit more loudly. “That oughtta really help us relax every night” he added sarcastically.

“I only did that at first, to try and figure out a way to make you trust me” Ilian assured.

“Having someone steal thoughts from your head while you sleep?” Aura interjected, “not great for building trust, Ilian.”

“I didn’t steal them. I only witnessed them. And it only works on memories that are stored there. Not current thoughts.”

“But you did steal our memories too, didn’t you? And make Aura pass out? You did that too, right?” Adan pressed.

“I only took them to hide my presence from you for a bit longer. And I gave them back” Ilian reminded. “And I made her pass out so I could end our conversation in a way that wouldn’t do any real damage. I know none of these things probably help you to trust me. But I have never actually harmed you. Either of you. I am protecting you” he insisted again.

“But you’re mainly protecting yourself, right?” Adan retorted.

Ilian sighed heavily. “I understand that you’re afraid of me because of the things I can do. But isn’t what I’m not doing a better way to judge my true intentions? Honestly?”