Beginners

Brain slugs are naturally hermaphroditic, and gametes analogous to sperm and ovum in Earth life, although the actual cell structures are different: the "traveler cells" have four flagella, hair-like appendages that provide movement, while the "receptor cells" aggressively absorb and consume nearby cells until compatible genetic material joins in the nucleus. In the wild, brain slugs are believed to mate by dissolving part of their foot membrane and leaving relevant cells in a suitable environment, like a shallow pond, although this behavior has never been observed on Earth. When joined with a host, the traveler and receptor cells are released within the host's body, and can be transmitted through the host's body fluids. For this reason, brain slug hosts normally avoid direct fluid contact with one another, to avoid inadvertent fertilization, although mouth-to-mouth contact is generally safe due to enzymes in human saliva that are able to break down cell walls in both brain slug gametes.

Humans who have sexual contact with multiple brain slug hosts can, however, transmit cells from one host to another, or even serve as hosts to fertilized brain slug embryos within their own bodies—the infamous and often-misunderstood "slug flu."
—Slug Sutra, Chapter 3

Rachel had a night class. They swung by the Co-op on the way home. An old Black woman, full-figured and grandmotherly with white, close-cropped hair, smiled as she saw them come in, still holding hands. He had seen her before, on previous trips to the Co-op.

"Sale on ramen," she said, voice a hoarse rasp. "Aisle six."

Mel blinked, surprised.

"Thanks," he said, and meant it.

After buying the textbook, Mel was particularly keen of his bank balance. There was more to life than ramen. Mel knew that intellectually. But he was also aware of how little cushion he had if an emergency came up. So it was ramen, hot dogs, and green onions again, at least until next deposit. Next week, maybe, he would buy some macaroni. Or potatoes. How hard could it be to cook a potato?

At the checkout, Jordan handed him something else: a bottle of zinc supplement pills.

"Why?" he said. Then felt embarrassed because, of course, there was no way for her to answer here. Or so he thought. Her hand came up between his legs. Mel immediately froze, looked around to see if anyone was watching. Worse, the contact, even through his pants, produced an immediate reaction. Jordan's hand moved up, slid over his fly, to where the tip of him was struggling to come into view.

"Okay, I'll take your word for it," Mel said, cheeks burning.

The old woman—the name tag said Dawn—smiled at them as they left, arms full of reusable grocery bags they had to buy because Mel had forgotten to bring his.

Soong was on the couch as Jordan and Mel entered, the Slug Sutra in her lap, reading quietly. She looked up as they entered, and Jordan let go of Mel's hand to begin stripping down, then headed for the bathroom. Soong turned her gaze to Mel, who suddenly felt struck by the fact that he hardly interacted with Soong outside quiet moments of intimacy.

Maybe he should fix that.

"Hey. The store hasn't burned down yet. Ha-Yoon saw Jordan hand a condom to Tomie, and thought it was ****, so I had to tell her—"

Soong didn't answer. Didn't try to sign or ask questions by assembling the magnetic letters on the fridge. Everything he told her was probably stuff she'd learn from Jordan once the two brain slug hosts held hands. Yet it felt good to engage with her, and Soong listened, faced him, watched his face, and when his stomach rumbled, she followed him into the kitchen.

As the water simmered into a broth, as dry noodles softened and expanded, and onions floated in hot currents, Mel stopped talking for a moment, and it was just the three of them together in the kitchen, preparing a meal together. A small smile graced his mouth, and he didn't fuss when Jordan laid a zinc pill and a plastic cup of tap water on the sink next to him. He swallowed the vitamin without a fuss, washed it down.

Work at the Cosmic Fill-Up wasn't very stressful. Busy, at times, and Mel was glad he didn't have to deal with any teenagers trying to shoplift or naked brain slug hosts or women giving birth today. Yet Mel could feel the tiredness in his legs from hours of walking and standing, the tension in his shoulders from using the swifter, and the general mental fatigue of a long day and an ongoing sleep deficit. Looking forward to a nice, educational documentary on this strange, wonderful planet he was on, sitting next to two naked roommates.

Normal, for whatever passed for normal.

Then Soong put on the porn. It was stored in a small thumb drive, plugged directly into the screen. The title flashed on the screen, and Mel nearly dropped his soup in his lap.

ORAL SEX FOR BEGINNERS

Mel glanced at Jordan and Soong. Their dinner consisted of celery and what looked like raw tofu sandwiches. Rachel had provided four plates, since she and Anastasia were apparently using Antonio's plates in their own apartment, and these sat on the naked women's laps.

He tried to put a name to how he felt as the title screen faded and came in on a smiling older woman in lingerie and latex gloves, the red half-cups framing a pair of breasts that had seen more than one surgeon. Beside her was another woman, skin tanned with clear bikini lines, seated in a hospital chair and feet up in stirrups. The older porn actress smiled and spoke in clear, clinical language about the anatomy of the female genitalia, using her gloved hands to spread the labia and indicate various points of interest.

Is this them trying to be helpful? I did practice on them just yesterday. Or is this a subtle sign that they weren't really happy with how I've been performing?

The brain slug hosts, for their part, simply watched and ate, no different than if they were watching a documentary on scorpions or giant salamanders. After a moment, Mel decided to do the same. He dug his spoon into the ramen and shoveled it into his mouth.

The instructional video was surprisingly interesting. There were definite decisions that had a pornographic slant—the way the camera lingered on faces, the way the moans sounded a little ****, the long wordless stretches where the instructor had her face buried in a transparent sex toy to demonstrate a technique—and a certain lack of polish that Mel usually associated with documentaries. There were no computer graphics, no cutaways to experts talking. Just two people, one using the other as a living demonstration doll.

It was both somewhat erotic and somewhat educational. Mel found himself paying attention, thinking about what he had done, about what he should do. Learned about why sucking on a clit too hard was painful, about how most of the clitoris was buried in the pudenda, with only the tip observed. Oral sex wasn't about penetration as much as it was about stimulating the erogenous zones.

The erection didn't come immediately. Mel hadn't taken his pants off yet, but during one of the long stretches where the instructor was demonstrating long, slow licks that seemed to start at the very base of the vagina and extended up and over the darkened labia, he felt the familiar stir, the sudden cramped sensation as it strained against the fabric. His tongue played in his mouth, mimicking those motions.

Maybe I'll have pussy for dessert, Mel thought, and then blushed at the sudden lewdness of the thought.

About halfway through, they'd finished their meal. Soong paused the video so that they could brush their teeth; Mel washed the dishes while they were in the bathroom, then took his own turn. He was surprised when he emerged to find Jordan and Soong both on the couch again. They looked at him, and Mel felt that expectation that he should join them. So he did.

The video unpaused. The tan woman with the bikini lines raised herself out of the chair. A tan man with speedo lines sat down and put his feet in the stirrups.

Mel glanced at his roommates again, as the instructor, who had replaced gloves (for hygiene reasons, he now knew, having absorbed the lesson on proper oral-genital hygiene), began explaining the finer points of male genitalia in the exact same way she had done for the woman earlier.

He sat there, hands on knees, still straining inside his pants as he watched the other man swell and stiffen. Mel felt a different kind of anxiety now. His sexuality wasn't something he'd really thought much about. Liking girls had been the default, the assumption. Jordan, Soong, and Rachel had been his only sexual experiences. The few questions 'stasia and Ha-Yoon had asked hadn't been uncomfortable, exactly, but he also hadn't dwelt on them.

Now he was sitting next to two women watching a woman explain how to properly fellate a man, and Mel didn't know how to feel. He was hard, but he wasn't sure if he was hard because the man on the screen was hard or because a pretty, big-breasted woman was sucking him off with professional, almost clinical precision.

Maybe, Mel reflected as the woman demonstrated on screen how to properly suck a testicle, it isn't all about me. Maybe they wanted to watch it because they want to improve their own oral sex skills, and I finally showed that I share an interest in that?

It was a thought Mel hadn't considered before. That his roommates had been accommodating him in their choice of programming. Showing consideration. Of course, it could be more complicated than that. It was the sort of thing that Mel knew he should ask them about, instead of just keeping as unanswered questions in his own head.

On screen, the man erupted onto an outspread tongue, his testicles rising and falling in controlled squeezes. Something Mel had never consciously attempted, though he'd instinctively done that at times. Sitting on the couch, he practiced, flexing muscles he wasn't used to, feeling things shift in his body.

Jordan, at the edge of the couch, turned her head towards him. Soong tapped his thigh. When Mel turned to look, he saw Jordan had scooched down and spread her legs, so that her bare slit was exposed. Expectant. Waiting.

Dessert was served.

"Okay. Let's see if I've learned anything," he said as he got onto his knees before her. He noticed the clean smell and realized she hadn't just brushed her teeth, but must have wiped herself down while in the bathroom too—cleaning the work area, so to speak. Mel resolved to pay more attention to his own hygiene in the future, since this was an ongoing thing with his roommates and Rachel. Gently spreading her labia apart with his fingers. Letting his hot breath blow over her pink, glistening insides.

Long, slow licks to start with. Just as the instructor had shown.

Mel wasn't sure he got it right. Jordan's slit still had that slightly fishy taste, and she didn't moan as the woman in the chair had moaned. Soong sat next to her, and they held hands, fingers entwined.

There was a soft click at the door as Rachel entered.

"Oh wow," she said, her accent thicker than normal, which showed how tired she was. "Can I get, like, twenty minutes of that?"

Soong stood up, letting go of Jordan. Mel concentrated on the hot cleft in front of him, as Jordan hooked one leg over his left shoulder and let her hands play with his hair. A few moments later, Rachel was seated on the couch next to her sister, no pants on. Soong knelt down in the same position as Mel.

She was more vocal than her sister. Mel felt the head on his face spread down his neck as his glans pushed up past the waistband. Yet he was in no hurry to switch positions. Jordan had begun to twitch and tense. The pressure of her heel against his shoulder blade spoke more of how she was feeling than the little squirrel noises that Rachel made as Soong's tongue tried to replicate the same techniques.

Homework, Mel decided. Can be fun.