rested a tentacle on his lower stomach. “Internally, Max is random and unpredictable.”
Max narrowed his eyes. “Are you saying you find my intestines attractive?” Of all the pickup lines. Max had gotten in his life, and he had gotten a lot, that was the oddest.
“Yes.”
“You’re the weird one.”
Rick shimmied. “Max is unpredictable with actions. He is warrior who will surrogate. He is father who will claim genetic otherness as his own.” Rick stretched, and his tentacle brushed over Max's half hard cock. Immediately, Rick froze, his tentacle still pressing Max's genitals, and alien pants were not nearly thick enough to hide what was going on. “Query. Would you tangle tentacles?”
Max was bordering on desperate to have sex, and his cock was getting harder by the second. However, he knew better than to crap where he ate. At least he did now. As a teen and even a young man in his early twenties, he had slept with too many people he worked with or had class with. It had made for some awkward morning-afters. “Tangling tentacles can make it difficult for me to leave. You said your people never stay, that you swim away.”
“Children must leave a parent. To stay with a parent is to remain in stagnant water.”
“Well, humans like water which does not move,” Max said. “If we tangle tentacles, I’ll want the waters to not move, so it’s best if we don’t get tangled.” Max rolled away from Rick.
Most of Rick’s tentacles slid away as Max sat up on the edge of the bed, but Rick curled one tentacle around Max’s wrist. “Children swim away from parents. Young ones swim away from the city of birth. The people explore.”
Max sighed and pushed Rick’s last tentacle off. “Yeah. I get it. And that's why we shouldn't tangle tentacles.”
“You do not understand.” Rick caught Max’s wrist again before Max could flee this awkward conversation. “Adults do not flee from every attachment. When the people have explored enough, as elders we seek to bond in a stagnant pairing.”
Max scooted around so he could look at Rick. “Are you saying you are old enough to pair bond?” This conversation was spinning out of control even faster than yesterday's.
“I am not,” Rick said, and Max’s chest tightened. He needed to stop emotionally relying on Rick. “But I am willing to remain in stagnant waters, which are interesting.”
That sounded like an alien version of a pity fuck, or maybe a pity relationship. Max wasn’t exactly following the conversation well enough to tell, but pity was involved, and Max didn’t do pity. “I don't want to be the stagnant waters you endure.
“Query. Clarification. To endure is negative.”
“Yes,” Max blurted. “And I don't want you to accept a negative because you think...” Max struggled for the words.
“I endure nothing.” Rick pulled Max back onto the bed. “Stagnant water is pleasant to one who has traveled fast streams.”
Max closed his eyes. This was painful because it came so close to what Max wanted, and yet it was a world apart from real commitment or desire.
“I sought offspring because I hoped for slower waters. I could not hope to find a pair bond. Query. Would you pair bond?”
Max’s brain had a full meltdown. “What?”
“To pair bond is to share stagnant waters and enjoy the condition of boring with an individual you find pleasing enough to seek repetitious experiences.”
Max blinked and tried to restart his brain. “That is the strangest definition of marriage I have ever heard,” he said in a weak voice. He cleared his throat. “Query. Are you asking me to marry you? Oh, wait. Better question. Query. How long does pair bonding last?”
“Many years. Until one seeks faster water.”
“Oh. So it’s a marriage with a built-in divorce. Great.” Max needed to avoid emotional entanglements.
Rick pushed himself to the edge of the bed and let half his tentacles spill over the edge. “Query. Markers for unhappiness.”
“Most humans would hope their marriage would last forever.” Max rubbed his face. “Divorce is when a pair bonding ends with the partners wanting to leave the bond before death. The pair goes to elders to request resources can be fairly divided so each can swim in other waters.” That was a big of a simplification since plenty of married people Max knew swam in plenty of other, faster waters without getting a divorce first, but hopefully Rick would see the problem. Max was built for the whole death-do-part routine. He’d grown up in a small town where people still whispered