Archive of Our Own

Adler didn’t know how they had gotten themselves into this situation.

They were in a conference room at Laplace in the early afternoon. Earlier that day, Adler had invited a group of team leaders to present their current projects. Standard procedure. It helped him understand what was happening outside of his office, where the money was going, whether to pool more resources into a team or not. But while organizing the meeting he had faced a dilemma: he didn’t want to spend more time than necessary with Ulrich at work. It was taxing to overthink his every action around him when other people were involved. It was already difficult enough to feel everyone’s eyes on him since his promotion as director. Now, with his relationship to Ulrich a badly kept secret, he had poured oil into the fire that was Laplace’s rumour mill. And from a more practical standpoint, he knew Ulrich's project details inside out, whether he wanted to or not. Ulrich kept him constantly updated, over breakfast or text or in bed. But excluding him from the meeting would cause gossip too. He had invited every department’s lead from the theoretical division, one Ulrich’s team fell under too. In the end, he decided it would be easiest to let him join the meeting. But when it was Ulrich’s turn to present his project, Adler couldn’t help but ask a stupid question that he knew would throw him for a loop. It was worth seeing the ferrofluid’s struggle to stay calm, the way his composure dropped when he realised where Adler's words were going.

Now, the room was empty. After all was said and done, a gruelling three hours later, everyone had left. Except for Ulrich.

One thing had led to another. Ulrich yelled at him for putting him on the spot with that unreasonable question, especially after he had told him in trust that it was the one thing he had no answer for. Adler apologized, but laughed, and even Ulrich could tell he didn’t mean it. I had to, otherwise they’ll say I'm playing favourites again, was Adler’s excuse. I sometimes wish you would, was Ulrich’s reply. And now here he was, giving Ulrich preferential treatment.

He was wrapped around Ulrich’s back, pressed tight against him. Ulrich’s tail, a one-metre-long charging cable, had snaked itself around Adler’s thigh, keeping him tethered to him. Despite the oval conference table and the twenty-something office chairs they had decided to use the wall as support. Ulrich’s elbows were planted against the grey walls, the paintjob chipping under the pressure. There were no renovation plans for their ivory tower; the building maintenance costs had to be kept at a minimum. It was expensive enough to rebuild labs after explosions and acid spills.

Ulrich’s uniform had been yanked down, exposing his torso. His chest with his glowing star shaped heart, his metal rib cage, the translucent shell that housed his ferrofluid, it was all there for Adler to touch. But just like Lucy had pieces of her body that resembled pristine Arcanist skin and the rest was plain metal, so was Ulrich’s body not all beautiful see through. Like the maintenance panel that hid on his abdomen, covered by clothes even in his revealing outfits. While obviously not as sleek as the rest of his body, it didn’t stand out, as it laid snug against the hull of the body. It was square, sporting the same silver colour as his rib cage, about as wide as Adler’s palm. The panel was the entryway to the robot body underneath the transparent shell, which powered his movement, synthesized information and transformed electricity. It was simple. The tech was hidden within the robot body, translucent liquid flowed around it, letting the ferrofluid move freely in the open spaces. It took Adler a long time to wrap his head around it. How there was seemingly a smaller body within his shell. How his ferrofluid trickled through some parts but not others. How his hands clearly showed joints and golden tendons but the rest of his body had nothing mimicking muscles and flesh.

But what mattered now was that the maintenance panel was open, Adler’s fingers sunken within. It was shallow, but Adler forced his fingers further inside, searching for crevices that weren’t there underneath the web of cables. He fingered at the sides of the panel, trying to reach underneath his skin. The metal groaned, as did Ulrich, who was uncharacteristically wordless. His earlier instructions on which cables needed to be tightened and which sensors he should avoid lost in a sea of gasps and moans when Adler disregarded his orders. The cables were loose around his fingers; he was searching for the port where one of the thicker sensory lines sprung out of. He remembered how receptive Ulrich had been last time he took it in his mouth. With each curious dig he inadvertently pulled on a string of wires that were wrapped around his fingers, with each attempt to push further he strained Ulrich's body. His insides were warm, the heat generated from a thousand electronic impulses soft on his fingers.

Adler was hard from this, and he couldn’t tell why. Except from where his dick pressed against Ulrich’s behind, he was not getting any stimulation. Even the end of Ulrich’s tail had stopped trying to play with Adler when his ministrations got too intense, just keeping a grip on him that tightened with each pull on his wires. While his fingers curiously rubbed strands that seemed too thin for electric cables, wondering whether they transferred data or were simple ligaments that kept his interior in shape, his fingers brushed against a loose connector. Did Adler rip it out while playing around? Did it accidentally disconnect and Ulrich never noticed? Or was it unplugged on purpose?

“What’s this?” he asked, while pinching the head of the round connector between his fingers. A cautious finger dipped inside, beneath the metal rim. Every type of connector could be easily understood just by touching it. If he knew what it felt like, he’d able to find the port it corresponded to and fix the problem.

The crackle of Ulrich’s speakers told him he had sent his body the signal to speak, but couldn’t. Adler circled his finger around the metal rim while he waited.

“Don’t.” Was the word that made it out. A demand, despite Ulrich’s shaking voice. “It’s broken.”

He couldn’t tell what was broken about it. He couldn’t see it, obviously. But it felt fine from the outside. The metal case wasn’t cracked, the cable wasn’t bend, nothing gave him an idea where the fault might lie. He pressed his finger inside the connector, feeling the pins. Five thin pins stood straight, ready to be inserted into their counterpart. An uneven number of pins wasn’t unheard of, but rare. He dug his finger in a little deeper, where he found the sixth pin, slightly askew. That must be the defect. These types of connectors were sensitive to manhandling, the pins bending easily when plugged in wrong. It couldn’t hurt to fix it the same way it broke and tilt the pin back to its original position. He brushed against the thin metal rod and felt Ulrich’s tail squeezing his thigh. Ulrich pushed his body away to escape Adler’s hand, but by doing that only pressed his ass harder against his crotch. Adler gasped at the added contact, his body desperate to grind against Ulrich. But when he had his hands inside of him, he couldn’t handle the distraction.

“I told you, it’s—” Ulrich couldn’t finish his sentence. Adler straightened the pin with the tip of his finger. Instantly, sharp, hot pain shot through him. From his finger to the soles of his feet, up to the tip of his ears; it ran through his entire body. Like pins and needles, surging through him, ceaselessly, but gone as fast as it came. He was breathing hard, his knees shaking, the finger pressed onto the connector still stuck there, a tingling sensation all that the pain left behind. Another feeling emerged when the literal shock dissipated.

“Flux, Adler, that feeling…” Ulrich forced his shaking ferrofluid to obey, to concentrate on looking at Adler behind him. “That was intense. Are you okay?”

Adler nodded. He couldn’t believe the wetness in his pants.

“Did you come from that?” Ulrich’s voice couldn’t hide the accusation.

Adler took his fingers out of Ulrich’s mess of wires.

“Wait, I didn’t say I was done.” Ulrich grabbed Adler’s hand and put it back in. “We can't always stop just because you're done.”

Adler face got hot, embarrassment engulfing him whole. So Ulrich had noticed.

It hadn’t been the first time he had finished this fast. To be more precise, there had never been a time he didn’t come at an inappropriate moment. His body didn’t read the mood, it didn’t care what either of them had planned, all it needed was the slightest touch and it was over.

A striking example of that took place a month ago; Ulrich had offered him a hand job. Kneeling between his legs, his erection in his gloved hand, Adler almost came just at the sight of it. So it wasn’t a surprise that he only lasted a few pumps. He couldn’t even warn Ulrich. The image of the cum splattered glass dome followed his dreams for weeks, making sure he woke up hard. And when he did, and he was lucky enough to find Ulrich in bed, they ended up fooling around. But a nudge of Ulrich's knee between his legs was enough to finish him. Ulrich had never said anything. How would he know the difference between this and normal sex?

20 minutes later, after Ulrich’s maintenance was done and the electronic malfunction that each orgasm inevitably caused had been taken care of, he felt Ulrich’s thoughtful gaze on him. Adler had helped him zip up his uniform and was buttoning up his own coat, the only thing he could do to hide the state of his pants before he rushed home.

“Adler, I’ve been thinking.” Ulrich moved his robot body in a strangely human way, his hand cupping his “chin” in a thoughtful pose. Adler had a feeling he wouldn’t like where the conversation would head next. It could only be a delicate topic if Ulrich tried so hard to empathize with him through body language. He tried deflecting with a joke.

“Using your head for something other than blocking people's view?” That came out harsher than intended, but Ulrich ignored it.

“It might not have registered as a problem for you, so I can’t ascertain if you're interested in a solution. Or if there even is one...It must be one of those things that is normal to humans and only causes an issue with people like me.”

“That’s incredibly self-aware of you.” He put his hands in his coat pockets, trying to embody the image of indifference.

“That your kind causes issues to everyone around them and sees no need to change it?” The magnetic fluid shaped into a question mark. He must be mocking him with the genuine expression of inquiry.

“Forget I tried saying something nice. What are you talking about?”

“You come too fast.” The ferrofluid pooled onto the bottom of the dome, like he was also sorry to say it.

“Excuse me?” Adler had no right to act offended, he knew it was the truth. But he hadn’t expected to hear it so soon.

“At least for my taste. At first, I was elated I could produce results so quickly. And I’m sure you enjoy it too. But there’s more I want to do that can't be done if you finish in under two minutes.” He was back at talking in the cadence he had used during his project’s presentation. Like this was a sales pitch.

“You always seem happy that you can go back to work so quickly. I never got the feeling that it bothered you so much.” That at least was true. Adler would have never initiated sex again had he suspected Ulrich was unhappy about their sex life.

“The more we have sex, the more I understand myself better. And the more I’d like to spend more time doing it with you.” The affectionate words left Adler cold. It came across like pity.

“It’s okay if you’re unhappy. We can just do something else. We can just not have sex.” Adler didn’t want to continue this conversation. He didn’t want to hear the conclusion of a science paper about his ability to perform in the bedroom.

“I didn’t say that! I’d like to have longer sex, not less sex.” Now Ulrich was getting angry, his soft fluid distorting into angry spikes.

“I’m sorry I can’t do that! I don’t know what you want me to do about it!” His hands had left his pockets, he was gesturing wildly.

“No need to get so agitated. You can’t help a condition that’s normal for humans.”

“No it’s me, I’m sure you’re trying your hardest to be nice, but spare yourself the politeness, I know it’s killing you. It’s not normal. It’s me. I come too fast, it’s an issue, I just hoped you wouldn’t notice because you’re a…a ferrofluid on top of a tin can. But even you have noticed. Natürlich. Why wouldn’t you. It’s pathetic.” Adler didn’t want to look at Ulrich anymore. He had managed to insult him too in his slurry of self-hatred.

“It’s just you?” He transformed into an exclamation mark. He had clearly ignored Adler’s insulting remark, too excited about whatever he had on his mind.

“Yes, keep hammering it in.” That was the final nail in the coffin. Adler picked up his badge from the table, stuffing it into his pocket. He just wanted to go home.

“That means we can train your endurance.”

“What?” That forced him to look back at Ulrich.

“That means there’s plenty of experiments we can do. That’s great news. Why didn’t you tell me immediately?”

“I don’t need to be cured, especially not by you! You don’t have to “fix” me!”

“If you dislike coming so fast, then there’s no reason not to try.”

“That’s just a small part of sex and I’d rather ignore it then go through all of that.” Adler ran his hand through his hair. He couldn’t believe this had been on Ulrich’s mind all this time. “You’ve never enjoyed sex with me because of that?” He didn’t want to say it out loud, but the thought gnawed at him.

“Are you stupid? Of course I have. I’ve just been thinking of strategies to optimize it. Let’s meet tomorrow evening. I have an idea.”

When Ulrich got like this, it was impossible to stop him. Better let the moment pass and let reality hit him later. Adler wasn’t in the position to fight for his pride either way. The shame Ulrich's unfiltered words had instilled in him made it difficult to think. He just shook his head.

“Sure, tomorrow evening, totally. I’ll make some time in my busy schedule for your strategies.”

“I know very well you have no appointments tomorrow. Do you think I plan these dates without consideration for your work schedule?”

Wasn’t Adler the luckiest guy to have such an attentive and considerate boyfriend. If only the electrocution had knocked him out, then he could have saved himself this entire ordeal. “Just let me go home.”

***

Tomorrow evening came faster than Ulrich had expected. He had been so busy with an after-work meeting that he didn’t have time to discuss further details with Adler. He hoped that Adler had prepared properly. Ulrich had told him – over text message – to be ready for something new. When Adler responded with “is this your way of introducing the coffee machine to the bedroom, what do you mean when you say new” Ulrich simply replied with “anal”. He didn’t have any further questions.

For this date, Ulrich had invited himself over to Adler’s room. He had his own, but it lacked a bed since he had gotten rid of it when he first moved in. The default rooms weren’t created with Awakened in mind, so it wasn’t the only piece of furniture he removed. Now he had a reason to own a bed, but the space was already occupied by an assortment of discarded equipment that he fixed up in his free time. The manual work was a welcome respite from the mental strain the one or other cryptographic puzzle put him under. And he was always happy to turn a dusty, forgotten tellurometer or gyroscope into a functioning machine that beeped and blinked when it came alive. He fondly remembered how he and Adler had unlocked the secrets of the oscilloscope together. It was one of the reasons why he had taken up this new hobby when he returned from Plesetsk.

Adler’s room was big enough to house the two of them whenever he wanted to come over, so Ulrich didn’t need to change his home just to entertain guests. Though he wished Adler kept his abode tidier. It had only taken weeks to turn the barely lived in employee flat into the pigsty it was now, when Adler realised he couldn’t keep living inside his office when he became the director.

Ulrich stood in front of Adler’s door, a small bag in hand. He was about to let himself in when he stopped in his tracks. It was a better idea to knock. What a waste of time and energy. He was here at the agreed upon time and knew the door code, what was the point in announcing his arrival? He did it anyways. Their last face to face conversation had ended poorly, he needed to tread lightly now. It wasn’t his fault Adler was so sensitive to clear and concise communication, but if Ulrich wanted this evening to go well, he had to try to meet him half way.

He waited for a few minutes with no reward in sight for his extraordinary patience. He raised his hand and knocked again, more forceful this time. Suddenly, the door swung open.

“What? Forgot how to open the door?” Adler stood there, wearing a grey, worn out bathrobe, a towel in hand. His hair was wet; he must have just emerged from a shower. Ulrich immediately took a step back before the rise in air humidity could reach his head and dampen his sight.

“I just wanted to be polite.” Patience, Ulrich. Let him be emotional about your goodwill, he’ll calm down.

“No reason to start doing that now. Come on in.” Adler turned around, rubbing his hair with the towel. Ulrich waited for a second, hoping the open door would facilitate an air exchange quickly enough to drop the humidity. “Close the door, the cold air is getting in.” Fine. Laplace’s ventilation system should do the rest.

Ulrich stepped in, locking the door behind him. Adler was back in the bathroom, busy with one thing or another. So much for being ready at the agreed upon time. Ulrich crossed through the narrow hallway and stepped into the living room, the only room of the apartment. It consisted of a bed, a wardrobe and a desk with chair, though Adler didn’t use it for work. There was enough space between the furniture to walk around, but not much more than that. It was Adler’s choice of bed that dwarfed the already small room, though he had argued his height warranted it. The room itself wasn’t the messiest it had ever been, but the chaos was big enough to spur Ulrich into action. He just couldn’t look at the pile of clothes loaded upon an innocent chair and do nothing. When he heard the sound of a hairdryer coming from the bathroom, he put his bag on the ground and started folding up as much laundry as he could. The files scattered around, the old newspapers peeking out from under the bed, the water bottles decorating the room from up on the desk to down on the ground— all that would have to wait until later. At least Adler had possessed the foresight to make his bed.

Ulrich was so busy putting away the last shirt into the wardrobe he didn’t notice Adler walking up behind him.

“How often do I have to tell you to stop tidying up the moment you step in here? It’s like talking to a wall.” He grabbed the neatly folded shirt out of Ulrich’s hands and it unfurled promptly.

“I wouldn’t have to do it if you could clean up after yourself.” He put his forcefully emptied hands on his hips to show Adler he was sick of this argument as well.

“Instead of always complaining about the state of my room, why don’t we ever go to yours? You could get rid of the junk and buy a bed instead. Or a couch, I’m not picky.”

“What you call junk are priceless technological advancements that are getting rarer with each storm. What you are protecting is dirty underwear and last week’s newspaper with the crossword page already filled out.”

“Just let me get dressed before I kick you out. Where did you put my clothes?” Adler inspected the shirt in his hands before he threw it into his wardrobe carelessly.

“You don’t have to get dressed.”

Adler stopped looking through his wardrobe. He turned his face to Ulrich, his demeanour serious.

“Ulrich, listen. I want to repeat what I said last time. I’m fine. You don’t have to try and fix me. Just spare us both the embarrassment.”

“Why embarrassment? You’re afraid it won’t work?” Why was Adler always so afraid of failure? If it didn’t work, they had the data to try something else. The fear of failure was the death of scientific advancement. 

“What is “it” and what do you mean by “work”? You can't train my endurance like a skill, it’s a physical thing that I can't control.”

“Exactly, you can't control it, but you haven’t let me try.” Ulrich didn’t have to fake the confidence in his voice. He knew he could do it. If Adler just lasted 15 seconds longer it would count as a success. Progress in science happened in small increments, and each step into the right direction deserved to be lauded as such.

“You want to control…? Are you listening to yourself? I'm not a machine. These things happen automatically.” The more enraged Adler got, the less he could keep himself from insulting machines. It was a moral failing he couldn’t shake. But Ulrich could accept that, knowing it was a sign Adler was losing his footing in logic. He must realise he had no more rational arguments left to defeat him.

“And because you think of it that way you’ll never change. You’re a prejudiced egocentric who thinks he’s special from everyone else, and on top of that you’re a pessimist.”

Adler didn’t even twitch at the accusations. It wasn’t the first time he had heard them. His only reaction was an angry huff, like the fight had left him. “Fine, since you're so convinced you know it all, let's try having sex your way.” He slammed the wardrobe door shut and threw his hands up in exasperation. “You’ll be surprised to find out whatever’s wrong with me can't be fixed with your sheer awe-inspiring intelligence! God damn it, are you stubborn.” He tightened the knot of his bathrobe before he sat down on the edge of the bed, his arms crossed. “Wonderful way of setting the mood, by the way.”

“Great, I’m happy you're giving it a try.” Ulrich’s ferrofluid circle was genuine. The fluidity of his self also expressed itself in the way he could quickly adapt his mood. Flying off the handle one minute, and working hand in hand on an experiment in the next.

“What did you bring with you, anyways?” Adler nodded towards the bag Ulrich had abandoned when he was busy tidying up. “Tools from the lab for your experiment with me?”

“No, of course not. Just lube, latex gloves, the like.”

“Gloves?” Adler’s eyebrows shot up.

“I thought my bare hands might be strange for you.”

“Since when?”

“We’ve never done anal.” Ulrich jumped to the conclusion, thinking it unnecessary to elaborate how one thought led to the next. Adler would figure out he wouldn’t put lube on his normal gloves and finger him. And while he saw his naked hands from time to time, he might not want them so deep inside of him without protection.

“Oh. So you were serious.”

“You weren’t?” Not that he couldn’t adjust his plans, but he didn’t know what gave Adler the idea he was joking when he texted him.

“No, no forget it. Your hands are fine. Forget the gloves.”

“Then let’s start. Let me get undressed, too.”

“Do you want my help?” Finally, Adler sounded like he was done sulking.

“I don’t know. Will it excite you?”

“Not if you ask like that.” There was the frown again.

“Then you can.”

Ulrich took off his boots first, he didn’t need help for that. Except when he steadied himself on Adler's shoulder when one of the boots wouldn’t come off. Next, he removed his accessories, from his badge to the belt and lastly, his gloves. Adler waited patiently, watching from the edge of the bed how he untied the laces of his gloves and slowly slipped out of them. Ulrich turned around, letting him open the hidden zipper on his back. While Adler fumbled with that, he opened the clasp on his chest that kept his sleeves together and took them off. Adler pulled down his uniform to his waist, exposing his translucent skin and the machinery working within. He also freed his charging cable that originated from his lower back. Under normal circumstances he kept it curled under his clothes, only taking it out to charge himself. Only his more revealing outfits had the cable peeking out, when there was not enough fabric to hide it.

There were two metal bracelets on his thighs that needed to be removed before he could take off his pants. That was the part he always forgot, even though they counted as accessory. He turned back around to Adler, asking for his help. Each of them unlocked the magnetic mechanism that kept them connected, Adler’s hands staying longer on his thigh than necessary after he opened it.

“I can do the rest, let go.” Adler slowly dropped his hands and planted them at his sides on the bed, like he didn’t know where to put them. Ulrich had to step out of the uniform and there was nothing elegant about it. When he had chosen this outfit, he hadn’t been aware the director would have an interest in seeing him naked. Next time, he’d pick something easier to take off.

When he was done, he couldn’t help but put his clothes away in an orderly fashion. The chair designated for clothes was empty now, so he could fold his uniform and prepare his accessories in the order he had to put them on. He could tell Adler was staring at him, even without turning around. He wasn’t shy about being naked. He wouldn’t leave the room like this, since he was aware of the connotation of someone who was dressed from head to toe every day walking around with nothing on his body. But he wasn’t sure how to use his nudity to his advantage. Was he supposed to be shy, like Adler, hiding under a bathrobe? Was he supposed to be sultry, keeping eye contact while undressing? It all seemed like such a bother.

When he was done he ushered Adler to get up on the bed.

“Come on, make space for me.”

Adler moved up on the bed, facing Ulrich. He laid down on his back, propped up by pillows so he wasn’t flat on the bed. He was still wearing the bathrobe, the knot holding on tight. Ulrich crawled between his legs, forcing them to open, the bathrobe parting with them. Ulrich noticed how the fabric tented at his crotch.

“You got excited after all, huh?”

“I’m supposed not to when I see you naked?” Adler’s tone was defensive.

Ulrich didn’t respond. So doing anything special while naked was unnecessary to get Adler's attention. He filed the information somewhere in his mind. Ulrich reached out to undo the knot keeping the bathrobe together and pulled it away, revealing Adler underneath. He was half hard already; Ulrich had reacted just in time. If the fabric of the coarse bathrobe had stroked across his dick any longer, if Ulrich had accidentally brushed against his crotch with his knee when he climbed onto the bed, if Adler had sneaked his hand between his legs while Ulrich was busy undressing— endless possibilities, and his experiment would have gotten cut short.

Adler, too, was quiet. Ulrich looked up from his body up to his face and saw it turned away. There was no reason to avert his gaze but out of embarrassment. It was true, they had never seen each other naked like this. Sex kept happening accidentally, at work, in the office, in the lab, in bed when they wanted to sleep (when Ulrich kept Adler company while sleeping). And when it happened, it went by fast, no time to undress. No time to observe the other, analyse their body, take them in.

“So, before we go on, there’s something I brought with me.” He leant across the bed to retrieve his bag, putting it next to him. He took a few items out of the bag, leaving the condoms and latex gloves inside. The lube and tissues on the bed, it was the scarf in Ulrich's hand that caught Adler's attention.

Adler propped himself up on his elbow to look over at Ulrich’s collection of items.

“What’s that for? You want to gag me?” He laughed, but Ulrich had no interest in figuring out what type of laughter it was this time. Was he embarrassed, making an ironic joke to act high and mighty or was he making fun of Ulrich? Didn’t matter now. He was wrong either way.

“No, I want to tie you up.” Ulrich stated plainly.

“What?!”

“Your hands. The moment you touch yourself it’s over. I can't keep your wrists pinned above your head the whole time; it would be most efficient to handcuff you with this.” Ulrich presented the scarf to Adler, tugging on it, showing him how soft and flexible it was.

“Hold on, you didn’t say anything about that before.” It sounded like anxiety was taking hold of him, but that made no sense to Ulrich.

“I'm saying it now, how much earlier do you need to be informed?” He got closer to Adler, the broad band of fabric in his hand. “Think about it rationally and you’ll know I’m right. Why do you think I got us both undressed before this? You don’t need your hands anymore past this point. And I won’t allow you to touch yourself. Easy as that. You come from the slightest touch, I need to be in control of that.”

At those words Adler tried closing his legs, but Ulrich sat in his way. He just ended up pressing his thighs against Ulrich’s body before he dropped them on the bed again. Adler sighed and looked up at the ceiling, his hands gripping the bedsheets. Ulrich hadn’t bound him, yet Adler was already listening and kept his hands still. Ulrich could be gracious enough and give him a few seconds to ponder his proposition.

“What about you? I can't touch you like that.” Adler looked back at him. It didn’t sound like he wanted to argue for the sake of fighting. With the way his eyebrows furrowed, it sounded more like actual concern.

“Don’t worry about that. I can still touch myself.”

“It’s strange, though.”

“Touching myself to the sight of you?”

“Don’t say that.” Ulrich already had a mental list of 284 sentences and actions that made Adler blush red. This was number 285. He liked finding more.

“I've thought about that, too. Since you’ve got a nervous predisposition.”  

“Don’t say that either!”

“I have another scarf, smaller in size. If it’s too much for you, I can blindfold you. I think you’d profit from concentrating on yourself instead of getting lost in everything around you.”

Ulrich could find a way to disable each sensory input line from his robot body. He couldn’t stop seeing the world, but he could stop feeling it. He could turn off his hearing, making it so he could only hear the muffled sounds through his tank’s glass and the liquid inside. The olfactory sensors, well he turned them off quite frequently. But Adler, as a human, had no such means. He was a victim of every sensation the world threw at him. Sounds, sights, feelings, unfiltered. Ulrich himself had to admit that it would be too much for him if he couldn’t turn the world off whenever he wanted to. Adler didn’t even listen to brown noise to calm down. He did nothing to protect his weary body and mind. And then there was the fact that he was so much more emotional than an Awakened.

“I don’t want that.” Adler was resolute.

“That’s fine. But keeping your hands away is a key part of this.” He gave him a warning wag with his finger, the ferrofluid an alarming exclamation mark.

“If you say so. Then do it.” He slipped out of the bathrobe to free his arms, not giving Ulrich much chance to study his expression.

“Excellent. The fabric is very soft and the width of it is broader than your wrists, so even when I tie it together, the knot shouldn’t cut into your skin.”

“Just do it.”

Ulrich leant over, Adler obediently putting his hands over his head, laying his wrists on top of each other like they had practised it. Ulrich hadn’t done this type of knot before and he knew it wasn’t very strong. Adler could pull it apart if he just applied enough strength. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that Adler went along with it. Ulrich wouldn’t be able to tie him up each time they had sex, so he had to listen to him even when he couldn’t physically keep him from disobeying.

That word was stronger than he meant to imply. Adler wasn’t disobeying him; he was doing whatever he wanted. Even when Ulrich knew better.

“So, how do you feel?” Ulrich finished his work and settled back between Adler’s legs, one hand on each thigh.

“It’s…weird.” An untypically ineloquent way of describing it, but genuine reactions were important for Ulrich’s analysis.

“In a bad way?” He couldn’t imagine being tied up. It would remind him too much of being without a body, only his head left intact. An experience he could deal with whenever the time arose, as a consequence from a failed experiment or made as an active decision when his life was in peril, but nothing he wanted to repeat in his free time. He wouldn’t fault Adler for experiencing this for the first time and deciding it was too much; giving up control not in line with his idea of pleasure.

Adler closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Ulrich noted how his body hair stood up in goose bumps; he must be getting cold. “No.”

“Good. I’m glad you agreed with me.”

Adler opened his eyes again and smiled at him. But it was the type of smile that let Ulrich know he was being made fun of. “You’ll feel real stupid once you realise this won’t make a difference.”

“If we always aborted experiments the moment you expressed your doubts, we would have missed out on life-saving inventions.” He stopped himself from naming the Equilibrium Umbrella.

“Can we not talk about work right now?” He rolled his eyes. “Please.” And then his eyebrows furrowed, his eyes darting away from Ulrich. A word that he had said out of irritation came across differently when said from the position he was in. “Okay fuck, forget that “please”.”

“You're making no sense. Just relax.” Ulrich should have taken Adler’s earlier suggestion seriously and gagged him. It was so difficult being nice to someone who wouldn’t accept it.

“Actually, I've changed my mind. Give me that blindfold. We’ll do it your way, you can't fault me for any pessimism or doubts, and I don’t have to see how you're treating me like a guinea pig.”

“Wonderful!” He couldn’t hide his excitement. This was going so much better than he had anticipated. With a partner as volatile as Adler, he had to make contingency plans for every step, endangering his experiment by going off track. The closer they stayed to Ulrich's initial blueprint the less he had to worry about missing the mark. He produced a smaller scarf from the bag, the fabric a simple black. As he leant forward to blindfold Adler, the man stayed remarkably quiet.

“So, now we can begin.” Ulrich’s anticipation was evident in his voice. His ferrofluid formed into a check mark, signalling everything was ready.

“We’ll be done in two minutes, so don’t get too excited.” Adler frowned.

“You're saying that to me, or to yourself?” Ulrich couldn’t help himself. He was amused by his own joke, the black magnetic fluid swirling into a circle. Adler couldn’t see his expression, but he must have heard the smile in his voice.

“Oh, shut up. You're not funny.” Adler’s refusal to react genuinely to his jokes was hindering his long term progress in the field of humour. But he had a few decades left to try getting Adler to see the wits in his words.

Now he had time to explore Adler’s body. Adler was always very affectionate in his actions. Putting his hand on Ulrich’s shoulder to get his attention, putting his hand on his waist and pulling him close when it was getting crowded in an elevator, tugging on his arm or placing his hand on his back to guide him in the direction he wanted to show him something. But once Ulrich touched him back, he turned shy. Like he wasn’t aware of his own actions, he condemned Ulrich’s as out of place PDA. Even when they were alone he was a paradox. He couldn’t get enough of Ulrich and at the same time it was too much.

Ever since getting so close to Adler, even before they had become a couple, he had been trying to distinguish between human habits and those that were specific for Adler. Sure, Ulrich had been learning facial expressions, body language, gestures; idioms, irony and the irregularities that came with hormonal imbalances. But mostly he found humans to behave the same. Adler was the first human he got to know on such an intimate, personal level. Was he different, because he was special, or did he seem different, because Ulrich was closer to him than anyone else? Whatever the reason was, he would find out. He could analyse and compare Adler for as long as he wanted. He wouldn’t run out of things to obsess about.

Just like his body.

His hands were still on Adler’s thighs. It felt too close to his erection, whether he was fully hard or not. Instead he moved his hands down, feeling the lean muscles, memorizing the placement of moles, taking note how his dark body hair covered his skin. He reached over his knees, surprised how bony they were, not like the well-rounded joints he possessed. His hands travelled over to his shins, the tibia palpable under his skin, just like the scars that marred his lower leg from his bygone fracture. He felt the structure of his ankles, confused how complicated they seemed.

“What are you doing?” Adler raised his head despite his inability to see.

“Trying to figure out how you work.” Ulrich didn’t look up to, keeping his attention on Adler’s long legs.

“I thought we were going to have sex.”

“Just be patient. It’s not every day I get to touch you how I want. I want to learn about you.”

“You tied me up to learn something you can get from an anatomy book?”

“I want to know about you, though. Not anyone else.”

Adler groaned and let his head fall back. He shifted in his position. Maybe he was hoping to get some friction, but it was impossible.

Ulrich let his hands travel back up, avoiding his crotch. Despite his claims of boredom, Adler hadn’t gone soft. Next, Ulrich’s hands wandered across his belly. His body hair left a trail of dark, curly hair from his belly button down to his dick. Ulrich’s finger followed it curiously. His other hand stayed on his abdomen, moving with the sharp intake of air and the tension in Adler the closer Ulrich’s finger got to his pubic bone. His hand dropped with the rest of Adler’s body when Ulrich pulled away from his crotch and Adler deflated. It was cute how transparent his movements were, how his physical reactions mirrored his emotions. Ulrich's hands moved further across his lower abdomen, feeling the chubby gut he had despite his otherwise lanky build. He found a faded scar on his skin, as long as his finger, running diagonally above his hip bone.

“What’s that from?” Ulrich asked as his finger rubbed across it. Adler couldn’t see, so he had to make him feel.

“Appendectomy. Almost 15 years ago.”

“I see.” He had already learnt something new. It was interesting to communicate with Adler like this. He wished there were more bits and pieces of his body that he could prod and press and have Adler explain them to him. But maybe it was a good thing he couldn’t spot any more scars from where he sat.

Moving on, he spread his hands across his rib cage over to his chest. Adler’s nipples were a faint pink. He might be cold from laying there exposed while Ulrich indulged in his exploration, his hair still damp. It would explain how his nipples perked up when Ulrich stroked his palms across Adler’s pecs.

“Let me warm you up.” Something he had forgotten to do before, even when he had spotted his goose bumps. He hoped it wouldn’t drain his batteries to warm up his entire body as opposed to just his hands as he usually did when he got physical with Adler. With his hands comfortable 38 degrees, he rubbed them across Adler’s upper body, spreading his palms in circular motion across his torso and chest. Adler twitched. Ulrich could feel his heartbeat when his hand crossed his chest, his palm firm on his skin. Just like he felt his abdominal aorta beat with every pulse when he pressed his hands against his abdomen. So fragile. Ulrich got to touch it all.

With his hands focused on his upper body, he let his long charging cable trail across Adler’s legs. The cylindrical tip ran back and forth on his inner thigh, teasing him. Adler jumped at that.

“Oh god, I forgot about your tail.” A surprised gasp preceded his words.

“It’s not a tail. It’s a charging cable.” He couldn’t say it often enough.

Ulrich’s hands moved to his arms, stroking across his pits without the intent to tickle him. Adler’s upper arms had the most muscle, but Ulrich couldn’t explain what work out had caused them. He never did sports. Ulrich wasn’t tall enough to reach further across Adler while sitting down, so he got up, kneeling now. He moved his hands to Adler’s wrists, his fingers rubbing across the fabric that kept him bound. He was practically on top of him now, but his robot body had no issue keeping their torsos from touching. Ulrich wouldn’t make the mistake of touching Adler’s erection with any part of his own. Yet this position forced him to shift part of his weight onto his hands, pinning Adler further against the bed. With his knees between his thighs, his tail playing across his lower body, he had all of Adler at his disposal. He could test every theory he had. He could finally touch him however he pleased. No embarrassed Adler taking a step back when Ulrich reached out to him. No red faced Adler yanking his sleeves down when Ulrich curiously pulled them up to trace the words written on his skin. No desperate Adler rubbing against him, enveloping him with his need, just to lose all urgency a minute later without Ulrich being able to tease more sounds and whimpers out of him.

Adler must have felt the way Ulrich stared at him, his body inert, just his charging cable dragging its tip across Adler's skin.

“Why are you so quiet?” Adler asked after licking his lips, like his mouth had been too dry to utter the words.

“Just looking at you.”

“What’s there to see?” The question sounded dishonest. Rhetorical. Like the answer was supposed to be “nothing”. Or maybe just, “Adler”. A man in his late 20s, his body marked from years of isolation and depression. He was pale, weak and tired. The stress showed in the dark circles under his eyes, now that he had traded his previous life for a promotion. And yet, despite his innate human frailness, he kept going. For Ulrich, moving on from distress was no question. He had never known any other life. For Adler, it was the opposite. He had to fight, even when his human spirit pulled him back. Not just that; Adler was the smartest person he knew. He viewed problems from angles that Ulrich missed and together they could crack any puzzle. His drive to prove Ulrich wrong was the peer review he needed when his ambition blinded him. He was the factor Ulrich couldn’t replicate. No electric impulse in his ferrofluid, no shift in his arcane skills could come close to what Adler uncovered when he confronted him. When he started a discussion out of nothing. When he was the minority who disagreed, when he stood in his way when no one else dared to speak up. The fail safe Ulrich ignored, the infallible safety net Ulrich barrelled through when his scientific curiosity was a force he couldn’t stop.

He was also the human who could get him to go against his own nature. Who could get him to lay in bed when he had no need to rest. When his batteries were fully recharged, and yet he stayed curled up in Adler’s arms. Adler, who had chosen loneliness for nearly all of his adult life. Adler, who, in these vulnerable moments, when his mind and body powered down, wanted no one but Ulrich close to him. And Ulrich let him. Because spending time with someone like him kept him alive, too. Someone who pushed him. Who surprised him. Who was so different from him, he wouldn’t rest until he had figured him out. Until he knew how he liked his eggs in the mornings, as non-awakened liked to say.

“You're beautiful.” Ulrich always said what he thought, no filter to inhibit him. But he was about to blurt out another few choice words, “for a human.”, when he realised how his answer had nothing to do with Adler’s question. How he should have replied with a joke to Adler’s disingenuous question. He was embarrassed, his ferrofluid jumping in disarray while his mind raced.

But he wasn’t the only one. Adler’s head moved to the side, like he could escape Ulrich’s prying gaze. Maybe he wanted to hide, but there was nowhere to go. Not even pressing the side of his face into the pillow would help.

“You’re funny. That’s one of your better jokes.”

“You never compliment my jokes. You only do that when I'm saying the truth.” Usually a humiliating experience for Ulrich, but now the tables had turned.

“I…whatever. Forget I asked.” There was no venom in his voice. Maybe he really wanted Ulrich to forget. But Ulrich had already catalogued this as moment 286, it would forever stay in his mind.

He should keep going, use the time he had. Keep giving his body the attention he had wanted to give him all this time. He let go off Adler’s wrists, giving him a moment to collect himself before he put his hands on his body again.

***

Despite the amount of time that had passed, Adler was doing surprisingly well. His erection stood at full attention even though Ulrich had touched anything but it all evening.

There was Adler, face flushed, the same red colour spreading across his chest. His wrists tied up, the muscles flexing in his arms. His chest was heaving with his breaths, some short, some stuttered, some long and drawn out, ending in a soft sigh. Ulrich revelled in the way he was in control of it. Each touch elicited a different response. A surprised gasp when his hands moved to his sides, trying to hold his waist like Adler often grabbed his, when he pressed his fingers into his skin. Desperate whines, with his lower lip between his teeth, when his thumbs circled around his nipples, when he flicked them sharply. Deep, needy moans when he pinched them between two fingers. Ulrich softly brushed across his collarbones, his hands moving to his throat. Ghosting with his thumbs across his Adam’s apple, his fingers traced along the beat of his carotid arteries on each side. How he felt the vibrations of Adler's moans through his skin, how his larynx vibrated with each sound, how he wanted to get closer to that feeling. Both hands on Adler's throat, not putting any weight on them, just pressing against the skin to let the vibrations pass into him. Adler moaned louder as he did that, arching his back, his hands grasping at nothing.

“Ulri—...oh god…” He couldn’t even say his name.

“Too much?”

Adler shook his head. Then nodded.

Ulrich moved his hands away from his throat, yet keeping skin contact. The added warmth from his hands seemed unnecessary now, Adler was heating up by himself. He was sweating, his bangs clinging to his forehead. Ulrich missed seeing his eyes. They were helpful for completing the puzzle that were his expressions. Though he didn’t need them now to understand how desperate Adler felt.

“Please let me come.” It was above a whisper, but not more than that.

“I will, but not now. I haven't even started yet.” Considering Adler usually came a mere minute after he got hard, this experiment was already a success. “You're doing good.” It was a fact.

Adler didn’t reply, he just squirmed. Only his hands were tied up but with Ulrich sitting between his legs he couldn’t move the way he wanted. He raised one leg and Ulrich pushed it back down.

“Patience, Adler.”

Adler whined. This must be a torture for someone who came at the slightest touch once he was sufficiently hard.

Ulrich took his hands from Adler’s body to prepare for the next step. He spread some lube on his hand, it warming up instantly on his fingers. He thought about where to put his charging cable next. He so badly wanted to wrap it around Adler's dick but then it would be over.

“What are you doing?” Adler noticed immediately when Ulrich became inattentive to him, when his hands left his body and no words made up for the lack of touch.

“Hmm?”

“I can't see what’s going on. Tell me. Please.” He was completely at Ulrich’s mercy. Nothing else mattered to him now but Ulrich’s next move. His voice was dripping with need.

“Oh, I'm preparing to fuck you.” Ulrich’s words carried no emotion, he was just keeping him informed.

“I can't.” He shook his head.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s too much. Just touch my dick, please.”

“I told you I will. Trust me.”

“I do, I just—”

Ulrich touched his entrance with one wet finger. He slowly pushed in. Adler groaned, pressing his entire body into the mattress. Ulrich was cautiously waiting for a reaction he could read. Was that good? Bad? Surely he would let him know. He stayed in position.

“Oh god Ulrich, more, don’t just do nothing.” Adler tried pushing down on him, his voice angry. Ulrich hadn’t expected him to be able to do anything but beg after all this time.

But this wasn’t like something he had done before. This wasn’t like putting his gloved hand into Adler’s mouth, watching him choke on his own moans. The space was tight and it didn’t help that Adler clenched down on him.

“Relax, and I’ll give you another finger. Breathe.” Ulrich tried to sound reassuring, but it might have come out harsher than intended. It was difficult to cover his true intentions with a coat of comfort.

Ulrich added another finger, and when Adler relaxed around them both, slowly moved them in and out. Curling them inward, like he was beckoning to himself. Scissoring them when he felt like Adler was pliable enough. Adler begged, precum on his tip. But Ulrich was unsure if two fingers were enough. He added lube to the end of his cable, the cylindrical plug beginning thin and then getting thicker. It was about as long as his finger and not thicker than two of them. He removed his fingers and decided to be brave. He put his plug at Adler’s entrance, teasing it by rubbing against it. To him, it felt like a tickle. Then he pushed it in slowly, watching the tip disappear within Adler. It was colder than the rest of his body, safety reasons not letting it run hotter unless it was charging. The metal was hard and unyielding, dripping with lube.

“Is that your—?” Adler asked, surprise evident in his voice.

“Yes.” Ulrich wasn’t sure how he’d take this information. He was ready to pull out and continue with his fingers, even if this was what he wanted, deep down.

“Oh fuck yes. Oh god. Fuck me.” He pushed his head down onto the pillow, gasping as the charger entered him further.

Ulrich was taken aback by his enthusiasm. Despite Adler not seeing his expression, the ferrofluid swirled into a question mark, merging into an exclamation mark the next moment. It was a cartoonish expression, but genuine. As Ulrich processed that development, his ferrofluid started shaking. He lost his form, the clear line from before jittering and tearing. The feeling in the cable, of being enveloped by Adler, his vibrations, surged through Ulrich and threw his ferrofluid in disarray. He had been ignoring his own needs for far too long. He wanted Adler to touch him too, it was true. He couldn’t be as self-sacrificial and detached as he wanted to be. He meant to lean forward, just to be closer to him, but lost his balance and tumbled on top of Adler. His hard body pressed against him. Feeling all of him, his warmth, the sheen of sweat covering his skin, the pounding of his heart. His tail kept pushing into Adler, he was taking the plug whole. The only sounds were Adler’s laboured breaths and the wet thrusts of the metal that entered him over and over again.

Ulrich wanted Adler's hands on him, he wanted his fingers stroking the indents in his skin, finding spots he didn’t know were sensitive, his prying fingers peeling at his maintenance panel. He wanted him to pull on his wires, to rub his inner sensory lines, to lick them, to have his tongue and teeth on his body. He missed his sweet and desperate kisses that Ulrich couldn’t reciprocate, how he whined with his metal between his lips. But at this moment, Ulrich was useless. He couldn’t do anything but press against Adler underneath him, grind against him, letting his tail pleasure him. His body trembled, Ulrich feeling every twitch and shake. Adler moaned, the words he meant to say dying in his throat. Ulrich could pretend he heard his name between the string of garbled fucks that Adler uttered, but he knew Adler was too far gone to say actual words. With one last moan, his body suddenly fell lax and a wetness pooled between them. Adler had lasted a tremendously long time after Ulrich touched him. Ulrich stopped fucking him, the sudden stillness of his tail instilling him with a sense of urgency. Like pent up energy that had nowhere to go. He thought about how Adler's cum was stuck between them, how it must be on his abdomen where his maintenance panel began. Would it drip between the crevices, underneath the metal panel, leak inside his core and mingle with his cables? Would he ever get it out again?

Logically, he knew it was impossible. Yet he pressed tighter against Adler's body.

He felt Adler moving, like he was wiggling his arms. Ulrich didn’t need to move his body to see what he was doing. He just moved his ferrofluid accordingly. He was tugging at the makeshift handcuffs, undoing a knot with his fingers and then tearing the fabric apart with force. He freed himself and then removed the blindfold. He blinked multiple times, his human eyes needing time to adjust. Everything about a human was so inefficient. When his eyes adapted, he looked down to the ferrofluid. He must have noticed him staring.

“Sorry, did I have to ask?”

“Just touch me.”

Adler must feel lazy now. Happy and spent; Ulrich's desperation must be a joke to him. He had none of the work ethic Ulrich put forward. How embarrassing it was to be caught like this. That was another reason Ulrich wished so badly Adler could last longer. So he wasn’t always the last one still begging for an orgasm.

Adler put his hands on Ulrich's shoulders, gently pushing him away.

“Can you sit up?”

Ulrich didn’t want to listen, but he pulled himself up. His ferrofluid showed his lack of coherence, shaking and falling apart. It took longer than usual to adjust to the change of position, gravity stronger than his sense of self. His robot body was composed; it was built for that. Not so his arcane skill. The electromagnetic signals he always sent out accidentally when he came were already escaping, charging the air with static. As he sat up, his legs straddled Adler's sides, the cable trapped underneath him, the tail end laying still. He didn’t know how to instruct his own body to move anymore. Adler’s hands reached out to his chest, tracing the shining star. His fingers were trembling. Ulrich had no time for these sentimentalities.

“You’re—” Adler's voice broke. He had to cough. “Oh fuck, Ulrich, you're…” He looked up at Ulrich which such amazement, such wonder in his eyes. He was still reeling from the high of his orgasm. Ulrich wasn’t as lucky. He started grinding against Adler, hoping to get some friction against his seams.

“Oh, ouch, wait.” Adler grimaced. Always some issue or another. Humans were so soft with all their vital organs in their abdomen. He couldn’t push against him with all his weight because he wanted to get stimulated. “Sorry, sorry, I’ll take care of you. But get off my stomach first.”

Ulrich grumbled as he moved his body. The lack of attention to his sensitive parts was driving him insane. Fucking Adler had felt so good but it had only lasted seconds. At least laying down on top of him had given him something to concentrate on, now Ulrich had nothing. He scooted down to Adler’s legs, his tail moving out of the way too. All this frustration, he didn’t know where to channel it. Before he knew it, his charging cable was hitting the bed in rhythm. Like it was wagging, impatiently. He wouldn't dream of doing that while in the right state of mind. He meant to grab his cable to force it to stay still when Adler reached it before him. There was no point in playing with it now, its main purpose was moot.

“Ignore it.” Ulrich’s voice was clear despite the chaos in his tank.

“I'm done listening to you.” Adler had that self-serving grin on his face that he sported whenever he believed to have the upper hand. At least his cable listened to him, falling limp in Adler’s grasp.

Ulrich couldn’t follow the intent of Adler’s actions when he pulled the cable up between Ulrich's legs, like he was keeping him on a leash. Did he mean to trap Ulrich? He couldn’t get up with the cable leading from behind to his front in Adler’s hand. But Ulrich had no intention to leave before Adler made him come.

A sudden pull. Adler had grabbed the cable, curling the excess length around his knuckles and tugged on it. He angled it upward so the cable pressed exactly into his crotch’s seam, and Ulrich lost it. His hands dug into Adler’s skin, his body giving in against his hard fingertips. Always bending and shaping to his whims and needs. As Adler pulled on the cable, Ulrich’s hips bucked to meet his rhythm. He felt the fabric insulation on the cable, a stylish golden colour he had picked, rubbing and grinding against his skin. The insulation was coarse, just the slightest bit forgiving, but the merciless metal of the cable was just millimetres underneath. The sensation was so harsh, so severe, after all this time of not being touched, that Ulrich couldn’t help but be overstimulated. Adler’s other hand was on his waist, pushing and pulling him, guiding him when he lost track of what direction he was meant to thrust. Suddenly, the sensation became colder. The woven structure of the fabric was gone. Instead, there were patterns, an unevenness, bumps that scrubbed against his sensitive seam. Something would have to give. It wouldn’t be his body. When he came, his hands shot to his speakers, muffling the yell that made it out nonetheless. That was his punishment for picking so many hidden speakers.

The light flickered before returning to normal. They could figure out what was actually broken later.

***

Adler was under the bed covers, pleasantly warmed up by an Ulrich who had been too useless to do anything but lay in his arms. At least none of them were self-conscious about cuddling after sex.

“You didn’t last much longer than I did.” Adler smiled, but it was no cute smile. He didn’t have those.

“This was about you, not me. My ejaculation is different from yours.” It wasn’t fair that Ulrich didn’t have the energy to move. He needed to conserve his batteries, the full body heating was draining them faster than he liked.

“Exactly, maybe you should start working on that so you don’t fry the electronics of every room we have sex in.”

“We don’t even know if something broke this time. But, wait!” Ulrich remembered he had reason enough to be mad at Adler. He wiggled out of his grasp. Adler immediately let him go before he knocked him out with his head when he turned around. “You broke my cable! Look at what you did with your manhandling!” Ulrich ripped the covers away to show the spot on his cable. It was too high up, so he rolled on his stomach and let his tail stand up. “See? Completely torn.”

Adler yelped and pulled the covers up to his chin, more sensitive to the cold than a grown adult had any right to be. Then his focus shifted to Ulrich. It took him a moment to look away from his body to examine the split insulation on his tail.

“That’s not broken. That’s just the coat that broke off in a minimal area.”

“That’s not a coat. That’s a hand woven insulation. I can't just fix this part; I’d have to the get the insulation replaced from top to bottom! It might be faster to just get a new tail!”

“I thought it’s your 4.2 kW 95-centimetre-long charging cable.” Adler mocked him. He possessed a special made cable made by top scientists at Laplace, transferring energy at higher speed and voltage than any other cable on earth, and he wanted to make fun of him?

“For flux sake, Adler, it is what it is. Now enjoy the last five minutes with your man shaped heating pad before I go back to optimal operating temperature.” He yanked the blanket out of Adler’s grasp to cover himself, forcing Adler to come closer. With Ulrich in his arms, sleeping came so easily. Adler was long asleep before he could tell Ulrich the five minutes were long over.