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Pat really likes spending time with the Captain. It's just the two of them on the spaceship, and they spend pretty much every minute of every day together. They spend the days patching up old pipework and maintaining the gravitational systems, updating the ship's log and sending the data back to the space station, and then they spend the evenings watching old films and sitting in front of the holographic fireplace, talking. Talking through strategy, sometimes, but more often talking about their lives, volunteering information about themselves, learning more about each other.
They're here for a mission, but that doesn't mean they can't have a nice time, does it?
The mission they're on, the goal they're aiming for, is just to get as far away from the space station as they can, take as many interesting readings as they can, and then make their way back. They're a month or so into the trip, and around a quarter of the way through their fuel reserve, so probably about halfway to... wherever they're going.
Pat doesn't really mind where they're going. Ever since he was assigned to the engineering section of the space station, ever since he started working with the Captain, all he's really wanted to do is spend more time with him. So when Alison had said the Captain would be going on this mission, and that they needed a volunteer to join him, it had been an easy decision to make. Pat isn't really needed for keeping the ship running - the Captain is more than capable of handling things by himself, actually - so instead Pat just tries to spend his time learning things from him. The Captain shows him how to repair electrical cables, and how to optimise the water filtration system, making sure they won't end up running too low on water over the months they're away.
And sometimes, Pat teaches the Captain things as well.
They've just finished watching a film one evening, when the Captain turns towards Pat, his wheels squeaking slightly as he moves, and he says, "What is sex?"
Well. Pat's not quite sure where to start with that one, actually.
Because the thing about the Captain is, he's not one of the newer varieties of robot. Modern batches are given the 'human culture' upload before they're first booted up, so that they can integrate with humans. And what with that and their humanoid shape and plastic coating, they're firmly into 'uncanny valley' territory. Obviously not human, but trying so hard to seem human that it loops right back round to creepy.
Pat doesn't know how long ago the Captain was made. He's old enough that when Pat moved to the engineering section, everybody was calling him 'Captain' instead of his serial number, because he was basically running the whole base from behind the scenes. He'd been working mostly by himself, absorbing information about the space station from the dusty manuals he'd found at the back of an old maintenance room, using them to make improvements. And Pat had met him, got talking to him, and thought... wow. He was just so competent, and so knowledgeable, and so interesting to talk to. Pat's never really spent much time around robots before - because of the uncanny valley thing, mostly - but the Captain had quickly become his favourite person to spend time with. He just sees the world in a really different way, and Pat has had a lot of great conversations where the Captain has explained things Pat has never thought about before. Things about how the base works, stuff like that, but also things about how limiting it is, to be a robot. To be tethered to a power supply for eight hours every night, and if the Captain pushes himself for too long before getting himself plugged in then there's a risk he'll just power down where he stands, and he won't power on again until someone sorts him out. Or things like the way his frame has a central lubricating system, a reservoir of oil within his casing and a system of pipes to transport the oil to any parts of him that move. All so that he'll never find himself grinding to a halt, unable to even move enough to relubricate his joints.
He'd been by himself a lot, basically. But he's got Pat here with him now, and let's be honest, Pat's main role on this mission is really just keeping the Captain operational. Keeping him company, getting to know him - that wasn't in the mission brief. That one is all Pat.
The Captain seems to enjoy spending time with him, anyway, and that's all that matters. It's an odd friendship, Pat thinks, what with the Captain being a robot who was never really meant to communicate with humans. Not beyond discussing engineering problems, at least. And he's so clearly not even trying to seem human - his voice is robotic, and his appearance is basically that of a large tin can, with a domed top. He's covered in metal plates, with a camera in his domed head being all he has in the way of facial features. The only thing that makes him look vaguely humanoid is his arms, which are bendy and extendable and stick slightly out of the front of him. One is a sort of grabber, two slightly curved pieces of metal which come together in a pinching motion, for whenever he needs to move things. And the other is more of a probe shape, and seems to function as whatever he needs it to - a welding device, or something which produces electricity, making a spark which he sometimes uses to restart their electrical appliances when they're on the blink.
Pat's stopped seeing him as a collection of parts, when he looks at him. He doesn't see the worn down wheels, or the scuffed metal plates. He just sees his friend, and if the Captain was human he would've asked him out by now, probably. But the Captain isn't human. He doesn't understand human culture, or customs, not beyond what he's experienced. And what he's experienced has pretty much just been a few months of friendship with Pat, and a handful of old, terrible movies.
Case in point. Tonight's film had featured a play on the word 'sex', and the characters had laughed about it and moved on, and now the Captain is wondering what that is.
"Well," begins Pat, and then he pauses. He'd been planning to say something like the old, tired, 'when a man and a woman love each other very much' explanation, or give some cop-out answer about it being the way humans reproduce, but that's not the context the film had been using it in. And the Captain deserves better than that, actually. He's probably heard people talking about sex before, at least in passing, without being given any proper information about it. And if he's interested, he deserves to know.
"I s'pose," says Pat slowly, "it's - it's a thing humans do, for fun. Because it feels good."
He should probably have anticipated the thing that happens next. Which is that the Captain's head turns slightly, his camera looking directly into Pat's eyes. And he says, "Can we do that?"
——
Given that Pat's initial internal reaction had been a fairly even mixture of 'Hang on, what?!' and 'Oh god, yes please,' he thinks he's done a very good job of calmly attempting to talk the Captain out of it. He's explained that it's something that's not to be entered into lightly, that it's something they both have to really want to do. And he's explained that it's a very physical act, and that as the Captain barely has anything in the way of external sensors, he almost certainly wouldn't get anything out of it. He can see and hear, and beyond that, he can sense pressure - he can tell when he's bumped into something, or judge how tightly he's gripping a delicate wire - but there's nothing in the way of pleasure sensors in his code. Touch wouldn't feel... nice, for him. Not the way it would for Pat.
So Pat's had a good go at explaining all that. He's done the best he can, actually, to talk the Captain out of it.
Well. He's done everything short of saying that he doesn't want to. Because that would just be a lie, wouldn't it?
"I would like to try it," says the Captain. "If you want to." He's staring unblinkingly at Pat, the green 'on' light shining out from beside his camera.
"Why do you want to?" asks Pat. Because if the Captain says something like 'because it should be my job to serve you', or some other nonsense about robot-human relationships that he's picked up from somewhere, then Pat will put a stop to the whole thing right now.
But he doesn't say that. He turns his head, looking at the fake fireplace, and takes a moment to think. And then he says, "I like doing things you enjoy." He looks back at Pat, and it's as if he can see right inside him, all the way to all the things Pat desperately wants but would never, ever ask for. "I like making you happy, Pat."
Pat could swear the temperature's just gone up a few degrees. Either the heating system's on the blink again, or - only marginally more likely, actually - it's that Pat really quite likes that, the idea of the Captain wanting so badly to make him happy.
"Okay," he hears himself saying. "We can... we can give it a go, if you want to. But if you're not enjoying it, we can stop at any time, y'know."
"I know," says the Captain calmly, his voice somehow managing to sound totally trusting. He's looking back up at Pat now, and Pat thinks he should really do a proper consent talk, only he's not sure there's any need. The Captain is always very careful about people's boundaries. He always asks before he touches Pat, always makes sure Pat is comfortable, which is going to be a definite plus, during sex.
During sex. Sex, with the Captain, that Pat is about to have, in his actual real life. Wow.
"What do we do first?" asks the Captain, pulling Pat back to the present moment.
Oh yeah, that's right. The Captain still doesn't know what sex is.
That's probably going to make this pretty interesting, actually.
——
Pat leads the Captain to his bedroom. It's not much - a single bed, with a little set of drawers beside it, and a narrow strip of floor space, along the side of the bed. Just enough space for the Captain to get in and to have a little bit of room to manoeuvre. It was designed like that, of course - in case the Captain needs to get in to repair the lighting, or do some work on the wall sockets. It wasn't designed with this specific activity in mind, but it'll actually be pretty much perfect.
Pat takes off all his clothes and lies down on the bed, because that seems as good a place to start as any. The Captain has positioned himself beside the bed, and his arms are out in front of him, hovering over the edge of the bed but not quite extended far enough to reach Pat. And the Captain is just... looking. Pat can hear his camera lens adjusting slightly as he slowly looks Pat up and down, his gaze running over Pat's whole body, and Pat shivers under the attention.
The Captain finishes his scrutiny, and his camera focuses back up on Pat's face. The mechanisms in his arms whirr, just for a moment, and the arm nearest Pat's face - the one that ends in the grabby claw - twitches slightly, and Pat isn't hard yet but god, he's getting there.
"What next?" asks the Captain, and Pat takes a deep breath. He reaches out and takes hold of the Captain's arm, guiding the claw down until the edges of it are just touching Pat's chest.
"You can touch me," he says. "It's best to start with... not between my legs, not just yet." He realises he isn't necessarily being clear, so he gestures down to his genitals, and the Captain's camera follows the movement, taking it all in. Pat's cock is beginning to fill out now, under the Captain's gaze, and he reckons he just has to keep it together for long enough to finish what he was saying, and then he can relax. Can just let the Captain take care of him however he wants to.
Fuck. What was it that Pat was saying?
"Uh, yeah. You can touch me anywhere else you like, though, however you like. Go for it."
The Captain moves his claw tentatively, tracing it gently across Pat's chest, and back again. Pat is breathing like he's running a race, and god, they haven't even really started yet. The Captain works his way up, brushes his claw against Pat's collarbone, across the curve of his shoulder, and then seems to get bolder as he reaches the top of Pat's arm. He's pressing down more firmly now, his claw opening and splaying out against Pat's bicep, and then he reduces the pressure slightly and slides his claw down and over the inside of Pat's elbow, making Pat gasp.
The Captain's other arm begins to extend out and away from his body, the tip of the probe making contact with the outside of Pat's knee, and the Captain is still just looking, his camera watching, cataloguing every twitch of Pat's body. He runs the probe down the outside of Pat's calf, traces it across the top of Pat's foot, and then begins to run it back up the inside of Pat's leg. He gets to Pat's knee, and keeps going. The cool metal is smooth against Pat's inner thigh, and Pat is trying to keep still but it's impossible, actually. He's writhing against the bed as the Captain's probe gets closer and closer to Pat's crotch, just inches away, now, and the Captain's claw closes gently around Pat's fingers, as if they're holding hands, at the same time as he takes the probe away again.
Pat is shaking now, biting down on his lip to stop himself from crying out, to stop himself from begging. He's fully hard now, and the Captain must surely have noticed, with the way he's looking so closely at Pat's body. But he doesn't remark upon it. Instead, as he releases Pat's hand and begins his journey down Pat's other arm, he says, "Is this sex?"
"Yeah," says Pat, breathing hard, "yeah, this is sex."
"And" - the Captain pauses, with his probe hovering over Pat's legs - "am I doing it right?"
"Yes," says Pat immediately. "Yes, you're doing it right. You're doing a great job, Cap, this feels so good."
The Captain makes what sounds like a pleased whirring noise. He closes his claw around Pat's elbow, and Pat moans, his hips twitching, his groin trying to make contact with the probe. But the Captain just presses the length of it down against the top of Pat's other thigh. Pat rubs his leg against it, panting, as the Captain runs it down towards Pat's knee and then back up to his hip, making Pat squirm. He looks at the Captain's camera, and the Captain focuses his camera on Pat's face, and Pat wonders what the Captain is seeing, when he looks at him. Wonders what the Captain is thinking about all of this.
The Captain releases his elbow and splays his claw out flat against Pat's stomach, just below his belly button, and Pat moans again, his whole torso jerking at the sensation. And he realises that he could probably just ask the Captain what he's thinking, if he wanted to.
"Are you enjoying it?" he asks breathlessly, and the Captain pauses his movements again, focusing his camera back on Pat's face.
"Yes," he says simply, and Pat thinks that he'd like a bit more detail than that, actually.
So he says, "What's it like for you? What do you like about it?" and then he immediately regrets asking two questions at once because nothing at all happens for a few long moments. The Captain is just looking at him, processing all of that. His claw is still flat against Pat's stomach and Pat resists the urge to press up against it, to hurry him along. He watches the Captain's camera and just breathes through it, through all the wanting. Because he knows that when the Captain's answer comes, it will be worth it.
"I just like it," the Captain says eventually. "I like watching your reactions. And I like pleasing you."
"You are," says Pat, "you are pleasing me, Cap, you're doing such a good job." The Captain's claw twitches against Pat's stomach, and god, Pat doesn't know what it is he wants but he knows he desperately wants something. He could ask the Captain to touch his cock right now, relieve some of the tension, but then it'd all be over almost immediately, and that's the opposite of what he wants.
So instead he says, "Is there anything else you'd like to be doing? Anything you'd like to try?"
The Captain looks him up and down, thinking carefully. And then he says, "I can do different things. If you like. More than just touching."
"What sort of things?" asks Pat, and then thinks that he probably didn't need to bother clarifying. Because whatever the Captain suggests, Pat's pretty sure his answer is going to be yes.
"I don't know..." trails off the Captain, and he's not meeting Pat's eye, now. "It might be weird."
"Weird sounds good." Pat reaches out and squeezes the Captain's arm in a way he hopes is reassuring. "What else can you do?"
"Well." The Captain pauses again, then seems to steel himself, raising his camera to look at Pat's face. "I can release lubricant. And my arms can vibrate."
"Yes," says Pat immediately, "yes, yes please."
The Captain presses his claw to Pat's stomach, opening it out flat against a spot just below his ribcage. And then he's releasing oil, just a little trickle, running down Pat's side and onto the bed, and that's going to be a nightmare to clean but Pat can't bring himself to care, actually. Especially not now the Captain's claw is vibrating, dear god, making Pat's whole torso vibrate slightly, and it's right on the verge of being ticklish, absolutely perfect.
The Captain takes his claw away carefully, puts it down again onto Pat's chest, just above his nipple, and Pat says, "Y'know, sometimes a little bit of pain feels nice, too." He's angling for something like the Captain taking his nipple in between the edges of his claw, pinching it firmly, but instead what happens is there's a prickling sensation along the side of his leg, like he's just been given a static shock.
He looks down and sees the Captain's probe, hovering beside his leg. As he watches, a spark appears, stretching from the end of the probe across to Pat's skin, and there's more of that prickling feeling.
"Oh," says Pat, gulping. He's feeling a lot of things at once and he's not sure what to do with any of them, actually.
The Captain takes his arms away. "Not good?"
"I - I don't -" Pat takes a deep breath, tries to straighten out his thoughts. "Is it safe?"
"Of course," says the Captain, in faintly offended voice, and Pat immediately regrets asking. Although he'd feel a bit silly if he didn't ask and the Captain ended up electrocuting him, he supposes. "I've turned the current down to less than one thousandth of an ampere. It's completely safe."
"Okay," breathes Pat, thinking. He trusts the Captain to know these things, and if the Captain says it's safe then it almost certainly is. And Pat wants to see what it feels like, when he's actually prepared for it. "Yeah, okay. Keep going."
The Captain manoeuvres his probe until it's pointing at Pat's inner ankle, just leaving a small gap for the spark to jump across. And then he turns it on again, dragging it torturously slowly up Pat's leg as the sparks fly. It's a lovely sensation, actually, like a whole string of static shocks, one after the other. Just a nice, gentle, slightly sharp fizzing sensation.
The probe has just reached Pat's knee when the Captain presses his claw to the middle of Pat's chest, releasing oil which runs down through Pat's chest hair, reaching the top of his belly and then rolling down his side, and Pat can't take it any more, actually.
"Please," he gasps, "please, please," and the Captain pauses everything.
"What would you like?" he asks calmly, and Pat has to fight the urge to close his legs around the probe, to push his chest up against the Captain's claw. Instead he takes some deep breaths and tries to work out what it is he'd like.
Well, he can think of one thing. He takes hold of the Captain's claw, and gently manoeuvres it across until it's just lightly touching his nipple. "Here," he breathes, "it feels good here, if you pinch slightly."
The Captain makes an interested sort of whirring noise, then gently closes his claw around Pat's nipple, stopping just at the point before it becomes painful.
"Yeah," says Pat, "yeah, like that, you can go a bit further than that," and then the Captain pinches more tightly, releases a thin stream of lubricant over Pat's nipple as he does so, and Pat can tell he's making embarrassing noises now but he can't find it in himself to care. The Captain releases him after a few moments, moves across to his other nipple, and closes his claw around it. He turns the probe back on, shooting sparks up Pat's other leg now, and it's just so much sensation. Pat wants more, wants all of it, and he'd love to be able to - to suck the Captain off, or to get inside him, to make him come, but he can't do that, so he just has to do this.
It's okay, because he likes this, and the Captain likes this. He remembers how the Captain had reacted to the praise, earlier, and as the Captain makes Pat's other nipple wet, as he works his way across Pat's thighs with the electricity, Pat says, "This is so good, Cap, this feels so good. You're being so perfect for me."
The Captain pauses. And then he says, "Pat," in a broken sort of voice, the way he might utter a prayer, and his camera is fixed on Pat's face, now, and Pat thinks that if he can't make the Captain come, then letting the Captain make him come might be the next best thing for both of them.
"I want you inside me," says Pat breathlessly, and the Captain trails his camera down his body and then back up again.
"How do I get inside you?" he asks, and Pat resists the urge to say 'however you like'.
"Here," he says instead, guiding the Captain's probe between his legs, down to his entrance. "You'll need some lubricant."
The Captain trains his camera on the area between Pat's legs, and Pat thinks he would feel self-conscious about that if there was room for anything else in his brain right now. Then the Captain moves his claw down Pat's body, until it's hovering just above Pat's balls. "Can I touch you here?" he asks, and Pat nods.
"You can touch me anywhere you like, now. Just - just be gentle."
The Captain nudges his balls gently out of the way, pours oil down behind them, until it's dripping down between Pat's cheeks, and Pat thinks he wouldn't hate it if the Captain wasn't gentle, actually. Wouldn't hate having his balls pressed lightly in the grip of the Captain's claw, or having the Captain's probe, sparking electricity across them.
Something for next time, perhaps. Not something Pat needs to be thinking about right now. Because right now, the Captain is pressing his probe inside Pat, pausing when it's just slightly inside Pat's rim. He's moving it in what feels like little circular motions, not in and out but around and around, and as he does so he traces his claw across Pat's balls, up his cock, and Pat's so close, just from that.
"If you - if you touch me there," he manages, "I'll - I'll climax. It'll feel really good for me."
The Captain trains his camera on Pat's cock, and he opens his claw, carefully taking his cock into his grip. "Yes," the Captain says simply. "I want that. I want it to feel really good for you."
"It does, god, god," says Pat, panting, and the Captain's probe is pressing slightly deeper now, still gyrating inside him. He's holding Pat's cock in a loose grip, not moving his claw, and Pat finds he doesn't want to give the Captain any more direction. He just wants to see what happens, to see how the Captain makes him come. Because at this point, it's very much a 'when', not an 'if'. Pat could come just from this, he reckons, in another few minutes or so.
But he doesn't last another few minutes, in the end. The Captain releases a spurt of lubricant over Pat's cock, and Pat is nearly there just from the visuals of that, actually. And then the Captain's claw starts to vibrate, and it's all over.
Pat's shoulders lift off the bed as his body tries to fold in on itself. He grabs hold of the Captain's arm, and he thinks he might actually be screaming, his vision whiting out as he comes. The Captain cuts the vibrations, presumably slightly concerned by all this, and Pat just about has the presence of mind to gasp out, "Please, keep going, please, please."
The Captain starts the vibrations again, pressing his probe a little bit deeper inside Pat as he does so, and it feels like a whole second orgasm, the way it hits him. It tears its way through his body, and when it's over it leaves him panting for breath, clinging onto the Captain for dear life, as the vibrations continue to pulse through him.
"That's enough, now," he says, his voice strained. "I'm done, Cap," and the Captain shuts off the vibrations and carefully extricates his claw from around Pat's cock, pulling the probe out of him at the same time. He picks up something from the floor - Pat's t-shirt, by the looks of things - and proceeds to clean Pat's stomach with it, moving it gently across him.
"Let me," says Pat, taking it from him. He wipes up the worst of the mess off himself, then turns his attention to the Captain, doing the best job he can of cleaning first the tip of the probe, and then the hinge of the Captain's claw.
"Tomorrow I can go through the disinfectant bath," the Captain offers, and Pat nods. "I need to recharge now."
Pat looks at the clock. It's getting late, much later than he'd realised. Definitely time for bed.
The Captain makes a move towards the door, and Pat says, "No!" before he's even had time to think. The Captain pauses, looking back at him, and Pat tries again. "It's - it'd be nice if you could stay. Humans... we tend to spend time together, after sex. Cuddling, or sleeping in the same bed, or something."
There's another pause, and then the Captain says, "I can stay." He manoeuvres to the head of the bed, next to the charging port, and plugs himself in. Then he says, "What would you like to do?"
Well, cuddling is out, for one thing. Pat thinks about it as he gets under the sheets, moving them round until the oily wet spot is as far away from him as he can get it. He turns the lights right down, and then says, "We could hold hands for a bit, maybe?"
The Captain's camera pans down until it's looking at Pat's hand, where he's holding it out. Then he looks at his own claw. "Yes," he says, and he extends his arm, positions the two plates of his claw on either side of Pat's palm.
Pat closes his fingers around it, and lets his eyes fall shut. He's really starting to get very sleepy now. And there are lots of things he'd like to say to the Captain - he'd like to thank him, maybe, or to ask him how it was for him, or to tell him he did a good job. Or to say something about how much it all meant to Pat. Something about how it was the best sex he's ever had, in spite of being the most unorthodox. Or because of it, perhaps.
But there will be time for all of that in the morning. They've got another three months together in this spaceship, after all.
Plenty more time for experimenting.