Upon Ilian cautiously opening the glass vial filled with innocent looking black seeds, there wasn’t any immediate consequence, aside from all three of them holding their breaths. Ilian waited a few more moments as if bracing for the inevitable tragedy to occur, whatever that truly would be. He looked back at his companions a moment before letting out a deep breath and turning his eyes back to the vial.

Adan and Aura remained standing nearby, frozen with worry and anticipation. Still having no apparent adverse effects, Ilian took another breath. He then moved to gingerly pick up a pair of tiny tongs that looked more like tweezers, and even more carefully leaned down in preparation to remove one of the seeds from the vial.

Though just as leaned toward the vial, his breaths became shorter and more ragged. His hands began shaking so badly that he dropped the tongs and quickly moved to grip the desk, as if to make some attempt to regain his balance even as his breaths became more rapid and his vision clouded over.

“Ilian?” Aura asked with panic, she and Adan then moving quickly toward him.

At this point, Ilian was quickly losing consciousness as he continued in vain to try to grip the desk, only to have the wood beneath his fingers break apart like Styrofoam as he stumbled backwards, the room swirling around him.

Operating out of pure fear, Aura quickly lunged for the cap and fumbled to get the vial of deadly seeds safely closed again. In the same moment, Adan was rushing to try and soften the fall as Ilian blacked out, collapsing to the floor unconscious.

Hours later, all three of them were now in Ilian’s bedroom. It wasn’t easy for them to get his tall, lean, muscular body back to his room in his unconscious state, but they had managed. It was nearly dawn now, and Adan was now in an overstuffed chair pulled up close to the bed. Sometime late into the night, he had slouched over onto the mattress, his head on his arms as he fell into a restless slumber waiting for Ilian to hopefully wake up again.

What else could they do? After all, it’s not like either of them were anything close to experts on how to provide any kind of real medical help to their fellow humans, let alone an alien poisoned by an equally alien strain of plant life.

Aura was there too, of course. Only she had chosen to take a place sitting against the headboard next to Ilian. As his breaths remained too shallow for him to find his way back to consciousness, assuming he ever even would; she had just sat there, tearfully stroking his hair and hoping he would even be able to return to them at all.

Eventually Aura had given into an even more fitful sleep, curling down into the pillow next to where Ilian had remained still all through the night. Just as the sun was starting to rise somewhere out there, high above their new home, Ilian finally stirred at last.

The pain in his head was intense. His lungs felt like they were full of shards of glass. His mouth felt as though there wasn’t an ounce of moisture left in it. But he was still alive, against all odds. Thanks to his two human lovers, he had managed to beat that inevitable, painful death. Though small, it was still some kind of victory. Or at least a glimmer of hope that there could be one. He just had to figure out how to attain it.

Forcing his sore and dry eyes open, he slowly became aware that he was back in the bedroom he had slept in since making his presence known to them. He was now in the same bed where Aura had come to him and first given him that life-saving DNA, along with much, much more. His dark bloodshot eyes moved around the room, noting his two companions sleeping there on either side of him. And he couldn’t help a smile, despite the terrible ache in his skull.

He remained silent, in thought, in pain, but he had to figure this out. He had gotten closer than he honestly thought he even could. And if it was possible for him to survive at least a brief exposure to the dark strain, then there was the chance that he could find a way to make that resistance even stronger. There was a chance that he could make it last longer, and ideally, cause a lot less pain and loss of consciousness.

After several long moments of thought, he came to a conclusion: Their DNA was obviously the thing that had saved him. And perhaps, just perhaps, all he needed to do was adjust his dosage, so to speak.

On that thought, he swallowed, and looked between his sleeping companions once again. He took another deep breath, painful as it still was to breathe right then. He then moved his eyes over both of them and rolled to his side, despite the painful headache that was still lingering. His body was now right next to Aura’s. His front pressed against her back as he gently reached up to brush her long black locks away from her neck.

It was true that he was a long way from experienced when it came to human lovemaking, having only done it three times ever. And that was just that one week. Nonetheless, there was one thing he was an expert at, and that was reading all of their nonverbal cues. And all of those cues screamed even louder when their bodies touched his. He could easily tell exactly what they wanted him to do to them and how. And the pleasure that came afterwards, for he and them both, made him an apt pupil when it came to learning all about their brand of affection.

Perhaps that was the side effect he got from mixing their DNA with his. He needed to be intimate with them for the sake of the future of their entire race, as well as his own life. But also, he began realizing that he didn’t just need that closeness, now he found himself wanting it as much as all those crazy humans had seemed to want it too.

He moved and began placing gentle kisses upon her neck, the way he knew she enjoyed, without her even having to tell him so. As his kisses continued, his hand moved around in front of her, finding its way under her shirt as she stirred and pressed closer back against him. Her behind pressed tightly to his hips, and his body reacted just the way it was supposed to, causing him to smile through the continued kisses.

When he moved his hand up to cup her breast, and began caressing it, she easily, eagerly, returned to consciousness at his touch. “Adan?” she murmured through a sleepy smile.

Ilian’s kisses at the back of her neck faltered a moment, as did the way he was caressing her already hardened nipple beneath his fingers. Feeling his affections stop, Aura groggily rolled to her back to look up at him. Her blue eyes widened as she realized that it wasn’t Adan at all who had woken her with such sweet touches.

“Ilian?” she asked in a breathless whisper.

“Morning” he managed a smile, hesitant though it was.

Aura swallowed hard, continuing to stare back at him, keenly aware that his hand was still on her breast, and his erection was still pressed against her thigh. “You’re alive and....well... well” she managed.

Ilian gave another nervous smile and just as awkwardly moved his hand from her breast to her stomach, though allowed it to remain there against her heated flesh under the material of her black t-shirt. “I don’t know about well. I kind of feel... not great” he attempted, “but I’m alive. I’m still alive” he repeated with a relieved grin.

“Very” she said as she couldn’t help an awkward glance downward before pushing herself up onto her elbows.

As Ilian also sat up, more than a bit awkwardly, Aura’s eyes moved around the room to find Adan asleep, hunched over the mattress still. Her lips curled into a tiny smile then, as they always did when she found herself waking up near him for yet another day she couldn’t yet believe was even real; even after a month as lovers.

Still waiting for his current state to fully dissipate, Ilian managed another nervous smile. “You both stayed with me all night?”

Aura pulled her eyes back to him then, trying her damnedest not to look back down at his pants again, and managed a smile of her own before speaking. “Of course we did. We were terrified you weren’t gonna wake up at all.”

Ilian swallowed again, “I think I know what might make it work better. My resistance I mean. It’s a theory anyway” he offered, Adan finally beginning to stir, though refusing to fully awaken just yet.

Aura gave him an equally nervous look, though she couldn’t help having a guess at that theory, considering the very way he had woken her up just minutes ago. “More of our DNA?” she offered in a tiny voice.

Ilian looked down then, “like I said, it’s just a theory. And if you don’t want to...”

Aura just shook her head as Adan finally yawned and lifted his. As his eyes opened, he looked a bit startled as well. “You’re alive?” he exclaimed.

“Apparently” Ilian managed another smile.

“He’s fuckin alive” Adan repeated as he looked over at Aura then.

“I see that” she replied with an awkward smile.

“Fuck man! Do not scare us like that!” Adan told him as he moved to the bed. He then took Ilian’s face in his hands and placed a long kiss over his lips, causing a shocked look to pass over Ilian’s and Aura’s faces too then. “What?” Adan laughed as he moved back to take a seat on the bed. “He almost died” he stated pointedly.

“I’m aware” Aura replied, looking down with a slightly guilty smile.

“So, when’d you wake up? What I miss?” Adan asked as he brushed some hair from his face, eagerly awaiting their answers.

Another awkward look passed over both of their faces before Ilian answered. “I have some resistance now. Just, not enough. Not yet, anyway” he added more quietly, not looking up at either of them just yet.

Adan couldn’t help a smirk, “need more of our DNA do you?” he asked with a grin.

Ilian gave him a slightly hopeful smile, as Aura looked away with a biting of her lip. Noting the obvious differences in their reactions to that news, Ilian took another breath before continuing, “I was just about to tell Aura that I understand if she didn’t want to... help with that, anymore” he decided on.

Adan gave her a worried, questioning look as she paled. Struggling to find her voice, she spoke, “I never said that. I was just... startled.”

“Startled?” Adan gave her a more questioning look.

“I just meant, the way he woke me up, startled me” she forced her voice not to falter as she spoke.

“Huh?” Adan asked, looking even more confused then,

“Long story” she mumbled. She then looked back at both their faces, and tried to find more words. “The way he woke me up, I didn’t expect it. I thought it was you, Adan” she managed to get that last bit out, though barely above a whisper.

“How’d he wake you up?” Adan asked with a curious grin.

With a blush, she managed, “the way a human guy would’ve woke me up.”

Adan narrowed his eyes, “care to be more specific?” he asked with a chuckle.

Obviously flustered, Aura looked back at Ilian pleadingly. He simply looked down at the bed. With a grumble, she grasped for words, “a week ago, he didn’t even know what sex was, and now...”

“Now?” Adan pressed, some combination of curiosity and amusement on his face.

“I wasn’t human enough, and now I’m... too human?” Ilian asked her softly.

“No, I don’t mean...” she shook her head. “And no,” she changed gears, “before either of you go there, this doesn’t mean I don’t like having sex with you... both of you” she added. “Just, I never thought that Ilian would be the one, you know, initiating it” she settled on with another bright blush.

“Is that... wrong?” Ilian asked worriedly as he looked between them for his answer.

“No, it’s not wrong. Adan does that all the time...”

“I think ‘all the time’ might be a bit of an overstatement, considering...” Adan had to interject.

“I just, with Ilian, I was always the one...”

“Always?” Adan raised a brow.

“Fuck” she whispered as Adan continued to center a questioning look on her. “We did it twice, OK?” she confessed at last.

Ilian kept his eyes glued to the bed while Adan seemed to be struggling with anything at all to say right then. Aura just looked terrified. Finally, Adan took a deep breath. “Well, I guess we need to even the score or something then, right?”

“Even the score?” she asked, Ilian looking up then too.

“You mind giving me and Ilian a... bit of time then, Aura?” Adan said as he moved his dark eyes to Ilian with an unmistakable look of desire on his face.

“Wait...” she stammered. “Are you mad or not mad?”

Adan just smirked back at her. “Just to avoid any further, imbalance here, how about after this, we just all three crawl into one bed together from now on? Deal?” he asked with a grin.