“Thanks for explaining it to me.” I squeezed his hand. “And I’m really sorry if me watching demiurgus porn and starting this conversation made you feel violated in any way. Like I’ve invaded your privacy. I only did it because I thought… maybe if I came to you knowing more, you wouldn’t worry so much.”

“I don’t feel violated.” He shook his head, leaning forward to stub out his joint. “I get it, and I’m actually glad you did. If it’d been left to me to bring up, I probably would’ve just blurted out, ‘I have a spiky dick’ when we were…”

I laughed, lifting our linked hands to kiss his knuckles. “And that would’ve been fine, but now you don’t have to worry—I know what to expect. And… I noticed that the barbs don’t seem to cover the whole dick, so… I can still touch you. If you want me to.”

He let out a croak as he stared at me, before his throat bobbed. “I want you to. If you want to. You don’t have to.”

“I told you I want to this morning, Greid.” My gaze drifted down to his lap, arousal clenching my insides, before I forced myself to look back up and smile at him. “We’ll figure it out. There’s still so much we can do together that’ll be fun. Really fun. And meaningful, like you said. Penetrative sex doesn’t define a relationship.”

“Y-yeah.” He swallowed thickly. “Well, I actually…”

When he trailed off, I squeezed his hand. “You actually…?”

“I, um…” His voice shook. He let go of my hand to drag a blanket over his head, covering himself until just the tip of his flat nose was visible. He mumbled something into the fabric.

I chuckled, poking him gently in the arm. “I can’t hear you, Greid.”

“Fuck.” He parted the fabric a little to mumble, “I actually, um, l-like penetration.”

I stared at him, my gut sinking in disappointment. Was he saying that what we could do together wouldn’t be enough? That he’d always be wanting something more? That a relationship between us actually couldn’t work? Even without my vaginismus or aversion to being penetrated, he’d made it clear that a human would not have an enjoyable experience with a demiurgus dick inside them.

“Oh.” I sat back, but in the ensuing silence, it finally clicked. What he actually meant. What he was telling me. “Oh.”

“I’m gonna go move into my workshop permanently now.” He moved to get up, still wearing the blanket like a cloak. “You can have the rest of the house. We’ll never speak again.”

My hand shot out to grip his thigh and stop him. “No, Greid. You have absolutely no reason to be embarrassed.”

My mind was still reeling. Lust heated my blood, made my scalp tingle. Greid liked getting fucked. That was possibly the hottest thing I’d ever heard in my life.

Something inside me responded to that newfound knowledge with an exhilarating sense of rightness. Like something I’d never really known about myself had just clicked into place and become crystal clear.

I wanted to fuck Greid.

Squeezing his thigh, I waited until he reluctantly looked at me, a pained grimace twisting his narrow features.

“We can do that,” I told him, my voice husky. “We can definitely do that.”

He let out a shuddering breath as he stared at me, his thigh bouncing under my hand. His voice broke when he stuttered, “R-really?”

“Fuck yes.” I was unable to stop myself from climbing onto his lap, straddling him as I grasped his face and gave him a tongue-thrusting kiss. “God, that is so hot. I want to fuck you, Greid.”

“Nngh.” His cock jerked beneath my ass as he wrapped his arms around me, staring at me with wide, dazed eyes. “Really?” he repeated.

“Yes.” I peppered kisses over his jaw and down his neck, worrying the skin with my teeth. He shuddered, clutching me tighter. “Have you been fucked before?”

“N-not—” He swallowed thickly. “—not by another person. B-but I have… um, you know. Stuff.”

My pussy throbbed at the thought of Greid fucking himself with a dildo. Lifting my head, I stroked his cheekbones with my thumb. “So you’ve never been with someone with a dick?”

He shook his head, then made a face. “Well, I jerked off my roommate in college once. It was pretty hot, but, um, I’m attracted to women. And I’ve never been with a woman with a dick, so…”

“There are other ways, though.” I’d read about strap-ons during my research, which had definitely piqued my interest. “Have you never told any of your former partners you want that?”

He cringed. “I only, um, I only ever had the courage to tell Agma, and she… wasn’t interested. At all.”

And she’d made him feel weird for it. Anger made me grip his face tighter, so I slid my hands back and threaded them through his hair.

“Well, I’m interested,” I purred, nuzzling his cheek and pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth, right over that smile line. “I’m very interested.”

His cock throbbed beneath me, fully hard. Ridiculously huge. God, I could probably fuck him and suck on the tip of it at the same time. None of the demiurgus in the videos had had barbs on the heads of their dicks. They’d all been smooth and bulbous, with slightly tapered tips. I wanted to suck Greid’s cockhead and feel him spilling into my mouth.

“N-now?” he said, voice cracking. I burst out laughing, lifting my head.

“Not now.” I nodded at his slightly bloodshot eyes. “You’re high.”

He went still, then shot an accusatory look over my shoulder at the ashtray on the coffee table, as if the shade had coerced him into smoking it. “I’m not that high.”

“Still high, though.” I climbed off his lap, gallantly ignoring the thick length straining down the leg of Greid’s pants. “And we can’t go into anything when it’s all brand new without completely clear heads. We still need to talk about your submissive nature as well,” I added brightly. “I did research on that too.”

“Oh god.” Greid slouched back on the couch. “I think I need to go lie down first.”

I chuckled, settling beside him and kissing his shoulder. I knew I’d already overwhelmed him by springing this conversation on him, and I didn’t want to push him too far, so I said, “Why don’t we table that discussion until tomorrow, then? Or whenever you’re ready. There’s no rush. And I’d rather talk to you about that when you’re definitely not high. It’s important.”

“It is?” He eyed me nervously.

“Yes, of course it is. We need to talk about what you’re interested in. What your limits are. You being submissive doesn’t mean I just get to boss you around and make you do whatever I want, Greid.”

His eyes went heavy-lidded, as if that was exactly what he wanted. Licking his lips, he asked, “S-so you want to… You don’t mind it?”

“I prefer being in control,” I told him meaningfully.

He gulped. “Wh-what about what you want, though?”

I leaned in with a wicked smile and kissed his cheek, then murmured, “I want to boss you around, Greid. But I want to make you lose your mind from it, so I need to know exactly what will make that happen.”

“I’m pretty sure—” he wheezed, awkwardly tugging at his pant leg. “I’m pretty sure I’ll lose my mind just from you talking about it.”

Laughing, I gave his cheek one more kiss before sitting back. “Then we’ll talk about it tomorrow so you can cool off first. Or maybe later, when you’re not high anymore. You probably have to get back to work, right?”

“Yeah,” he croaked, staring into space. “I only came down here to ask if you wanted a sandwich.”

I squeezed his arm. “Sorry for springing all that on you.”

“No, it’s okay.” He sat up straighter. “It’s good. I’m glad we… I’m glad. Thanks, Beryl,” he mumbled, hand creeping over to clutch mine.

“Of course.” I raised our linked hands to kiss his knuckles. “Now, sandwiches? You must be starving. It’s been, what, three hours since you last ate?”