The Compatability Study

Chapter 3

Shi wasn’t sure when she had drifted off to sleep. They had talked for a long while before slipping into silence again. At some point, their lights in their rooms had dimmed, mimicking the darkness of night. By now, however, the day held a mornings’ glow to it. Moving just her eyes, she looked around the room for Sunny. He wasn’t sitting against the wall where he had been the evening before. She had fallen asleep on her side facing him.

It was then that she heard a soft panting from another corner in the room. She slowly looked behind her, fearful that her partner might have been replaced by one who wasn’t such a gentleman. There, standing with his back to her, stood Sunny by the toilet. His smooth muscles were drawn tight, and he seemed to be moving somehow, despite the way he was using one hand to lean on the wall. His other hand was…

Oh. Shi blushed as she realized what he was doing. There was no noise of peeing. Just the soft sounds of his panting. She found herself fascinated, watching him as though she were unable to look away. Heat pooled into her core once again and she rubbed her thighs together subconsciously. Sunny suddenly through his head back, biting his lip, his body going rigid as his release hit the water in the toilet in spurts. He seemed to let out a long breath, as if he had been holding it.

When he moved to clean himself up, he looked over at her. Their eyes met and the silence in the room suddenly felt louder.

“Well… this is awkward.” He stated, red staining his cheeks as he began cleaning up anyways.

Shi frowned a bit, a thought coming to her, “What if… it doesn’t have to be?”

He tilted his head a bit and walked slowly back over to plop down in his previous spot beside the bed. “What do you mean?”

She spoke slowly, still trying to work it out for herself. “What if… we… desensitize ourselves… from each other? I-I mean…” she picked up speed, a blush coloring her cheeks as she tried to explain her thinking. “What if we open up to each other about things of a s****l nature? Talk it out, share experiences, in order to curb the affect this experiment of their has on us?”

“Share experiences?” Sunny shot her a glance, “I’m not going to take you while they are forcing us into this mess.” His statement sounded final.

Shi shook her head, “I’m not talking about the full act. I don’t want to give them what they want without a fight.” She smirked and a dangerous look passed through her eyes, “Oh, no. I’m not letting them win. But we don’t even have to touch each other to take the edge off.”

Sunny frowned, “I’m beginning to see where you might be headed with this… clever ides, for sure…” His frown deepened, causing a crease to appear in his forehead. “But isn’t that testing our own strength of will?”

Shi frowned. “It might be. But what do we have to lose? And… We can start by just talking. Like… about our past… or our interests…” She shrugged losing steam, “I-I don’t know. It’s just a thought.”

Sunny smiled a bit, “It’s not a bad one. I just wonder if it’s going to bite us in the end. So, what should we start on?”

Shi blinked then blushed. She hadn’t really expected him to jump in that quickly. While she was not unexperienced, her experiences were limited. “Oh… uhm…”

He chuckled. “Maybe with interests? Do you watch anything to help you?” She blushed darker and shook her head.

“I’m more of a reader. I like a believable story and romance with it. Dark fantasy twists...” she dragged her finger around the bed, drawing invisible patterns.

“There are some believable videos out there.” He teased, watching her blush darker.

“None that I’ve seen.” She grumbled, crossing her arms. He just raised an eyebrow and she sighed. “I don’t… help myself, so to speak. Not much. I just end up frustrated.” At the questioning look on his face, she continued, “I’ll, uh, explode… multiple times, but… just get more frustrated.”

“Ah.” He seemed genuinely interested. “Do you just read for fun then?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

He hummed, “Are you a virgin?”

“No. I mean, I can count the number of ex-partners on one hand. So, I haven’t had many experiences to share, but I am not a virgin.” She shrugged as though it weren’t important then grinned, “Course with that lil girl of yours, we know you’re certainly not a virgin.”

He smiled and nodded, “Her momma was the last person I was with. I haven’t tried counting… probably less than ten though if I had to guess.”

“All relationships, or did you have anything casual?” Shi was curious. He was very handsome. With his looks and his sunny personality, he could’ve probably had any lioness he’s wanted to back home.

He shrugged, “Relationships, mostly. My high school sweetheart was the first. We split up due to a conflict in interests as she went away for college. Anything casual for you?”

“Only one. But it was only casual because we both went through some hell and weren’t ready to try for more…” she smiled sadly, “I would’ve walked through fire for than one. I guess it wasn’t meant to be though.”

“I’m sorry.” Sunny reached up and took her hand.

“It’s ok. He’s still one of my best friends.” She squeezed his hand. “My first was technically a one off too. Someone I trusted, so I have no regrets. But he completely disappeared afterwards.”

“You deserve better.” Sunny commented. Shi blushed.

Before more could be said, another food tray was pushed into the door. It was laden with scrambled eggs with cheese, sausage, bacon, and blueberry pancakes.

“Are they trying to make us fat?” She snorted.

“No, they want us to work each other out.” Sunny deadpanned as he walked over to get the food. Shi’s mouth fell open and she gapped after him. He looked back and smirked at her, “Might wanna close your mouth or you’ll let the flies in.”

Her mouth snapped shut with an audible click. She then stood us as well. He gave her a look, “I was going to bring it to you…”

“That’s great, but that doesn’t stop me from having to pee. Excuse me.” She mimed going into a separate room, shutting a door behind her. He laughed a little and took the tray to the bed. A couple of moments later she joined him again. They ate silently at first, savoring the food.

“We’re their captives… why are they feeding us so well…” Shi mused as she scooped some more eggs onto her plate.

“They want us healthy,” Sunny stated, picking at a piece of toast. “Healthy parents, healthy baby.” He frowned, “I wonder what they do after conception, though. Obviously, the moms will have to be cared for during the pregnancy, but what of the dads?”

Shi poked her eggs with a fork, overcome with a sudden loss of appetite. “The study is paid… do you think they just let them go?”

“Not all of them would be willing to go quietly over any amount of money.”

After a few more minutes of silently picking over their food, they put the tray back by the door. Soon, it was taken away.

“We have to escape.” Shi told him quietly. He nodded his agreement slowly. He sat by the bed again, leaning on it this time. Shi tilted her head, “May I… play with your hair?”

He chuckled and shook his mane out around his shoulders, “Have fun.”

She smiled and brushed though his hair with her fingers, detangling it gently. The gentle waves hadn’t tangled much, despite not having been brushed in at least two days. He sighed gently under her fingers as she worked.

“You weren’t supposed to wake up, you know. I was being quiet… both to let you sleep and… I’m just not like that… I wouldn’t push myself on you. Or make you watch.” His shoulders slumped in shame, and his voice dropped to a low whisper as well.

To Shi’s credit, she barely paused in her work. “It’s a totally natural occurrence without them interfering. Did you wake up… compromised?”

He chuckled a bit, “Your censoring is cute. And yes, it is, and I did. That doesn’t make it right.”

She hummed and started twisting his hair into braids. “These aren’t your usual circumstances, Leon. I think common courtesies are just going to have to have some exceptions.” She paused, thankful he couldn’t see the blush rising to her cheeks, “Besides that… one of my interests is watching that sort of thing.”

She could hear the smirk as he replied before he even turned his head to look at her, “I could tell.” He tapped his nose. She blushed darker and playfully smacked him on the arm as he faced away from her again. His laughter boomed throughout the room, joined by her soft laughed a moment later.