Watari—and he rather liked Yuma’s suggestion of Yutako, it was cute—was charmed by how courtly Tatsumi was suddenly being. He held her hand to balance her while she slid off her shoes—honestly, something would have to be arranged about that, surely they didn’t have to be so uncomfortable—and slipped the lab coat off her shoulders and hung it up for her. If they hadn’t translocated directly in, he’d probably have held the door for her, too.

But she did hope he’d get on with things; it wasn’t inconceivable that Enma would send someone to fetch and quarantine him early.

She relaxed a bit when Tatsumi took her hand and led her to the bedroom, pointing out a chair-back she could hang her clothes over. She wriggled out of the snug, linen suit Wakaba had found for her—definitely needed to take Saya and Yuma up on the offer to shop for underthings—taking the opportunity to grin over her victory. Her well proportioned victory, at that.

A soft snort made her look up to see Tatsumi smiling faintly. “You and your experiments,” he said. “You’re like Tsuzuki with a whole box of pastry all to himself.”

Watari shrugged. Since he couldn’t stop grinning, he couldn’t really deny it.

Tatsumi set his hands lightly on her waist and drew her close and kissed her; it was soft and a bit hesitant, and very nice. The way her nipples felt, brushing against the skin of his chest was even nicer—warm and tingly. “Mmmmm.” Watari snuggled closer and laughed when Tatsumi started. “No need to be shy, you know.”

“I see,” Tatsumi murmured. He led her over to the bed and settled them both on it, leaning a little over her. Watari thought the concentration on his face was endearing, as he stroked a gentle hand down her body. The softness of her new curves felt good, when touched. Voluptuous—he tasted the word in his head; yes, that was it. Tatsumi’s hand brushed lightly over her thighs and she spread them apart, nearly wriggling with anticipation. Insurance and research all in one, what could possibly beat it?

“Hm.” Tatsumi gave her a thoughtful look, and she was going to ask why, but he bent his head and left a path of soft kisses between her breasts and down her stomach and that was rather distracting.

“Mm. Ooo, that’s nice.” It got a lot moreso when his fingers brushed gently between her legs, parting soft folds of skin.

She was busy cataloguing the way that touch made shivery feelings swirl low in her stomach, and almost missed what it meant that she could feel the heat of his breath against her down there.

Her eyes widened and her breath caught and for a moment she couldn’t even sort out what the sensation was that was rolling over her like a tide. A quick gasp, hands catching at the sheets, and she remembered that these feelings were “wet” and “soft” and “hot” and “sliding”, only those parts added up to a whole that was something else entirely.

Pleasure.

Pleasure, surging out from that one point, out to her toes and fingertips. Pleasure making her feel that her whole body must be glowing with it. Pleasure drawing little sounds out of her throat, making her body move, leaving her with no thoughts but “hot” and “wet” and “sliding” and “soft”.

And “more”.

Heat condensed down to something molten and surged out again, long, wild ripples of it that left Watari blinking at the ceiling, rather dazed.

Tatsumi was stroking his body again, holding him close. “Now will you relax a little? However your body is arranged, you aren’t going to enjoy this if you don’t relax, and I have objections to hurting my partner.”

“I’m plenty relaxed,” Watari pointed out, and added, “The difference may not actually be quantifiable. How curious.”

It took him a moment to figure out why Tatsumi had buried his head in the pillow.

“No, no, really I am relaxed!” She waved her hands. “It’s just…” She laughed. “I’m still me, Tatsumi.”

Tatsumi lifted his head again and looked down at her, mouth curling. “Yes. You certainly are.”

“And I don’t actually think I’m a virgin,” she added, helpfully. “The equations indicate there has to have been some conservation of age and time’s effects on the body.”

Tatsumi cleared his throat, and she was fascinated to see actual color rising in his face. That deserved a data point all to itself—making Tatsumi blush.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

She figured he probably started stroking her again to distract her, but that was okay; it certainly felt good. He wriggled a bit , pressing into Tatsumi’s hands, and wound her arms around his neck to pull him down to a kiss. “Mmmm, more.”

“You’re normally more patient when it comes to your experiments,” Tatsumi noted, dourly, and Watari grinned; he liked it when Tatsumi loosened up enough to tease him.

“I am; but timing is everything, you know.”

Tatsumi snorted, but he did kiss her back, and his fingers slid down between her legs again. Watari’s eyes unfocused as those fingers eased into her and she tried to mark the sensations spilling past. “Mmm. Ooo, shivers. Mm, oh that’s nice—kind of tingly…”

The slight vibration against her arm, she catalogued as Tatsumi trying to stifle a chuckle.

And actually maybe it was a good thing he was going slowly, because while Watari was sure she wasn’t a virgin, she was turning out to be very tight. An equation describing the interference function of experiential conservation in muscles that had been configured differently danced across her mind and dropped into the Examine Later memory-box. “Ahh, a little deeper… yes, there…” Watari’s hips tilted, back arching, as the sharp stretch eased into glowing heat. “Mmmm, Tatsumi, now.”

Tatsumi was wearing a faint smile as he settled between her legs, and Watari smiled back. When Tatsumi had asked why him, it had really been a silly question. Who else was this kind? Besides, Tatsumi was confident enough to help her without repercussions to himself, and he… he…

He felt smooth and thick inside her, and the slide as he moved was so slick and wet it took her breath right away, and she could feel the bones of his shoulders under her hands as they closed tight, and he was all the way in and it made her moan.

Her hips pressed up to meet him as he thrust again, and Watari sighed with pleasure. “Yeah.” She slid her hands down the length of Tatsumi’s back and pulled him in tighter, moaning as their hips ground together and a bolt of heat zinged up her spine.

The rhythm was familiar. The sound of her partner gasping wasn’t any different. The pleasure itself was deliciously familiar. But the pattern of the hot sensations was so different—did distribution have anything to do with quality?—and it felt so good she couldn’t concentrate, only wind her legs around Tatsumi’s and rock up into him hard and fast.

Clearly they’d have to experiment a lot more…

That shivery drawing-down feeling welled up in her again, and she gasped as pleasure tightened and the world crystallized. And then it surged out like something exploding and she gasped wildly for breath, riding the fierce sensation until it ebbed back and she could pick out individual parts and realize that Tatsumi was moaning, hips jerking against her.

She stroked his chest, smiling as he slowly relaxed too. “Mmm. That was nice.”

Tatsumi laughed, husky, rolling over to lie beside her. “It was.” He picked up her hand and dropped a light kiss on her fingers. “Thank you.”

“No, no, thank you!” Watari couldn’t quite manage a laugh, though, as she remembered all of why she was doing this. She hoped it would be enough.

It had to be enough.

When Tatsumi slid an arm around her and held her against his shoulder, she let him, and even cuddled closer.

TBC