Chapter 13: The Benefits of Friendship

“You’re a dangerous woman,” the detective said, his steely eyes watching the assassin as she crossed the smoke-filled room. She was wearing a red Mandarin gown that clung to her figure, its floral patterns catching the dim light from the ceiling fan above as it slowly turned. “What would your employers say if they knew you were here?”

“Ex-employers,” she replied with a smile. She reached behind her head, pulling out the pair of long pins that held up her bun, letting a waterfall of dark hair spill down over her shoulders. “I don’t work for the Triad anymore. You saw to that when you spaced Zhou. You should know that you’ve created a power vacuum that his lieutenants are scrambling to fill. Perhaps I should be thanking you,” she added, sitting on the edge of his desk. She let her gown ride up her thigh, exposing more of her milky skin. “Zhou was a brute, and the dome is better off without him.”

“Just doing my job,” the detective replied gruffly, exhaling a puff from his cigar.

The assassin reached out to pluck it from his lips with a swiftness that took him off guard, bringing it to her mouth and taking a long, slow draw. She blew a neat smoke ring, sending it floating up towards the ceiling, where it was broken apart by the fan.

“You know that these things are prohibited in the habs,” she said, tapping it to send a little shower of ash falling to the floor. “They play merry hell with the air filters.”

“They can bill me.”

She leaned a little closer, ensuring that he got a good view of her cleavage, the curtain of shining hair framing her pale face as she smiled at him.

“You don’t seem like the kind of man who’s afraid to face danger head-on,” she purred, blowing a wisp of smoke into his face. “You strike me as a man who takes it by the reins – commands it.”

With the grace and flexibility of a cat, she crawled across the desk and lowered herself down into his lap, straddling him in his chair. She draped her arms over his shoulders, bringing her red lips to within an inch of his own, the camera zooming in on their faces.

“How about I show you just how dangerous I can be?” she whispered.

“Is this how Earth’nay court!?” Tilli exclaimed, her eyes glued to the holographic display.

“No, it’s just a dumb show,” Steven protested as he reached for the phone that was sitting on the coffee table. He had to brush aside a few empty wrappers and half-eaten snacks, but Ezi was quicker, snatching it before he could reach. “Hey – give that back!”

“Why are you so embarrassed?” Ezi giggled as she hopped up onto the back of the couch, perching there like a parrot. He swiped for it again, but she danced out of his reach.

“I’m not.”

“Yes you are – your face goes all red.”

“I want to see how the Earth’nay court,” Tilli insisted, keeping her gaze locked to the scene as the two characters began to make out. “What are they doing with their mouths?”

“We can just skip this scene!” Steven insisted, Ezi leaping out of his reach again. “You won’t miss any plot!”

“We’re all adults here,” Ipal cooed, glancing between Steven and the screen with a flutter of pink. “Let’s see what the Earth’nay idea of romance looks like.”

“If you base that on this show, you’re going to be sorely disappointed,” he grumbled as he crossed his arms and settled back into the couch. “This isn’t how we court – it’s just trashy programming. It’s intended to titillate.”

“They’re getting heated,” Mima added, watching the two characters start to disrobe. They were showing as much skin as they could get away with while avoiding any actual nudity, the detective tossing his partner onto the table and stripping open her gown. “It’s very aggressive.”

“Earth’nay are very large,” Ipal added. “Perhaps their lovemaking is quite violent?”

“Tilli is right,” Paza added, seeming more confused than her flockmates. “Why are they licking each other’s mouths like that?”

“It’s called kissing,” Steven explained, his cheeks burning as he resigned himself to watching the scene through to its end. “I don’t really know why we do it – it’s a show of romantic affection.”

“Seems rather unsanitary,” Paza grumbled. “No offense.”

“Surely your shows have nudity, too?” he asked.

“Provocative dancing, certainly,” Ipal replied.

“You can watch live feeds of lounge dancers,” Ezi snickered.

“Not the kind of thing that one watches in polite company,” Mima chided. “Traditional dancing is all about a show of skill and control – how many moves the dancer can memorize and execute in rapid succession. It blends a mastery of one’s body and mind, showing poise, grace, and discipline.”

“It’s also how males signal their interest, based on what I’ve been told,” Steven added.

“Also true,” Mima conceded.

“Do you dance, Steven?” Ezi asked as she perched by his shoulder.

“Not in any way you’d recognize,” he scoffed. “The lack of coordination on display in the average Memphis nightclub would probably turn your feathers white.”

That got a laugh out of them, but Ezi pressed the issue, sinking back down into her seat beside him and returning his phone. The scene was all but over now, so it hardly mattered anymore.

“You wouldn’t have to dance to get our attention, you know,” she began. She gave her flockmates a flutter of rapid feather signals, wordlessly communicating something, and Steven felt them press in around him like a pack of wolves on the prowl. “We’re plenty interested in you already.”

She shuffled a little closer on the couch, and when Steven drew back, he found Mima waiting for him to his right. Ipal and Tilli were peering at him from their respective seats, while Paza seemed a little less enthused, watching the encounter play out with her usual aloofness.

“We’ve been friends for a while now, haven’t we?” Mima asked in a soothing tone.

“A few days,” he muttered.

“Long enough to get to know each other rather well,” she continued.

“We know that you’re attracted to us,” Ezi added, her grinning face framed by an explosion of pink that reminded him of the Teth’rak hunting its quarry. Ipal had to push her flockmate’s feathers aside, poking her snout through the headdress to get a word in.

“We’re attracted to you, too, if that hasn’t been made obvious enough.”

“We figured you might make some kind of move, being an Earth’nay,” Mima said as she reached down to run her clawed fingers down his wrist. Just as she had in the kitchen that day, she lay her hand in his, comparing their size. “We spoke of not letting opportunities pass us by – do you remember? Of not letting a ripe fruit ready to be picked wither on the branch.”

“We guessed you might be shy, or maybe it was because of cultural differences,” Ipal added. “To put it so bluntly that even an alien can understand it, we like you, Steven.”

“You’re cute, and you make us laugh,” Mima purred in his ear as she drew closer.

“The whole hard-to-get thing has kind of been driving us a little crazy,” Ezi admitted with a flash of red and pink. She drew a little closer, Steven’s pulse thudding in his ears as her scaly lips rose up towards him, her intense gaze framed by her flushed feathers. “Come on – what do you say? We could try that kissing thing if you wanted...”

She was wound up like a coiled spring. All he had to say was yes, and she would pounce on him. The tension in the air was as thick as soup, his heart thudding in his chest, an all too familiar haze of arousal falling over him that threatened to cloud his judgment.

“Whoa, hold the phone,” he mumbled as Ezi drew closer. “No, not literally,” he added as Tilli reached over to pick up the device, tilting her head in confusion.

Ezi sat back on the cushions, shades of purple overpowering her pink.

“W-what’s wrong?” she stammered, looking to her flockmates as if seeking support. They all seemed as perplexed as she was. “You don’t like us? Is it me?”

“No, I do like you,” he replied apologetically. “All of you.”

“Then ... then why won’t you...”

“I don’t think he wants to,” Tilli whispered. “Maybe we shouldn’t...”

“Is it an Earth’nay thing?” Ipal asked. “Are we doing courtship wrong?”

“We didn’t mean to offend you,” Mima added hurriedly.

“Let’s just take a step back for a minute,” he sighed. “Not literally,” he repeated, gesturing for Tilli to stay seated. “Listen – I really like you guys, and you’re right, I am attracted to you.”

“Then, what do we have to do?” Ezi pressed. She seemed agitated now, her feathers a blend of confused yellow and worried purple. “We’ve been on dates together, we’ve flirted, we’ve made our intentions clear. Tell us what we’re supposed to do, and we’ll do it.”

“That’s not how this works,” he explained. “You guys are a lot of fun, but this is moving way too quickly, and not in a direction I think you’re going to like.”

“What do you mean?” Mima asked.

“Right now, I feel like you guys only see me as a conquest,” he replied. “We’ve barely known each other for a week, and I’m the new office boy everyone is talking about. I’m the alien – a novelty. Yeah, we could all go to bed tonight. I’m sure you cleared your schedule expecting that outcome.”

“I suppose we might have,” Ipal admitted, giving him a flash of sorry blue.

“What does that make us tomorrow, though?” he continued. “Do you want to be friends who fuck every now and then? We can be that, but is it really what you want? I get the impression that you guys haven’t been in a real relationship before, and I know that’s not just a Valbara’nay thing after meeting other flocks.”

“We’ve been in relationships!” Ezi protested, seeming embarrassed by the accusation. “We’ve been with boys before.”

“Those were more like flings,” Paza added, aloof as ever.

“They were dancers,” Ipal conceded. “We got lucky at the lounge a couple of times and took them home.”

“Still counts,” Ezi grumbled, her plumage a patchwork of embarrassment.

“This approach might work to get you laid sometimes, but it won’t work if you want an actual long-term relationship,” Steven explained. “I get it – you’re young, you’re still learning how to approach guys, but you need to take things a little slower. People like me and Yemi don’t want to be flings. We want something more serious – we want to feel like you value us as more than just a one-night stand or something to brag about to your coworkers.”

“That’s not how we see you,” Mima insisted.

“Maybe not, but that’s what it feels like. It’s not all bad,” he added, sensing the dismay that was passing through the flock. “I’ve really enjoyed spending time with you guys – the restaurants were lovely, the boat tour was wonderful, and just hanging out eating junk food and watching shows has been great. You made me cookies, you took me on picnics. I’d be all alone in Kalahar if it wasn’t for you guys making an effort to include me. I want that to continue, though. I don’t want to go to bed with you and have things be different when we wake up tomorrow.”

“It wouldn’t have to be that way,” Ezi insisted, giving him another flash of purple. “Not if we don’t want it to be!”

“I’ve heard I’ll still respect you in the morning before,” he chuckled. He neglected to add that it was something he had said to other women. Having the shoe on the other foot was a strange sensation. “This isn’t a rejection,” he added, trying to assuage their obvious concerns. “It’s a not right now. We need to be closer friends before we can be lovers. If you just want a friends-with-benefits thing where you come over and bang a couple of times a week, we can do that, but I think you’re mature enough to want something more serious.”

“Excuse us,” Ipal said after a moment of hesitation. With a feather signal, the flock leapt off the couch, huddling together on the carpet as they began to discuss these new developments. While Steven couldn’t speak their language of chirps and trills, he could recognize many of their feather displays and the emotions that they conveyed. The girls were certainly trying to form a new consensus concerning what to do with him, and he wondered whether they’d just give in to their impulses and choose the booty call option. No red-blooded male could turn down sharing a bed with five women, and some non-committal sex with good friends was far from the worst thing in the world, but it wasn’t what the flock needed. It would mean that he’d failed them.

The yellows, reds, and purples gradually turned to greens as the women began to see eye-to-eye on the issue. One notable dissenter was Ezi, who seemed to be arguing more ardently, her plumage a defiant crimson. It was a democratic process, however, and her feathers soon folded back down in submission when she was overruled. They made all of their decisions together, even ones concerning matters of the heart.

“We want to do it your way,” Ipal finally declared. “We like you enough to stick it out.”

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Steven replied with a smile. “Then, in Earth’nay terms, we’re going steady – we’re dating. It’s a proper relationship now.”

“But we want you to be exclusive,” Mima added. “That means you can’t go running off with Qimi’s flock.”

“Qimi’s flock was never part of the picture,” he chuckled, the flock giving him a flash of relieved feathers. “Last time I went out with them, we actually talked about you and they gave me some advice for making this relationship work. I wasn’t lying when I told you that I liked you.”

“What happens now?” Tilli asked. “Do we have to do anything differently?”

“Now, we go on more dates, and we get to know one another better,” Steven replied. “Just ... tone it down at work, will you? If you want to get romantic, we can do that on our own time.”

“You don’t mind the flirting, then?” Ezi asked hesitantly. “You want us to be romantic?”

“Outside of work hours, I’m fair game. In fact,” he added, considering for a moment. “We’re kind of overdue. C’mere – it’s time for me to stop giving you mixed signals.”

“Me?” she asked, looking to her companions for reassurance.

He held out his hand in invitation, and she took it, Steven guiding her up onto the couch beside him. Sensing that something about his demeanor had changed, her feathers flushed with pink hues, as flustered as she was enamored by being singled out.

Slowly, he reached up to cup her cheek, feeling her fine scales beneath his hand – so smooth that they were practically indistinguishable from skin. She was cool to the touch and slightly moist, likely due to the high humidity that the Valbarans liked to maintain. In his mind, scales should always be rough and hard, but that just wasn’t the case. For all her bluster, she was the one blinking now, her scaly lids fluttering like the wings of a butterfly as she struggled to maintain his gaze. Those violet eyes were so vibrant, made even moreso by her dark sclera, her signature tan coloration shining in the dim light of the holographic display behind her. He could even see some of its glow bleeding through the vanes of her feathers.

“What are we doing?” she murmured, so unsure of herself now.

“Traditionally, it’s considered appropriate to do this after a couple of dates,” he replied as he drew her in. He pressed his lips against hers, finding their texture far softer and more plush than he had been anticipating, Ezi’s entire body tensing as they embraced. However much or little experience she might have, this was something wholly new to her. After a moment of uncertainty, she leaned into him, pressing closer in a wordless request for him to continue.

He let the tip of his tongue slide into her mouth, feeling her shiver appreciatively as it glanced her fleshy palate, her narrow jaws not giving him much room to maneuver. Something thin and tapered greeted him, the feeling of her warm, damp flesh gliding against his own making his heart miss a beat. Ezi was already figuring things out, delighting in the unfamiliar sensations, almost seeming to flinch each time their wandering tongues brushed together. It was clumsy, exploratory – everything that a first kiss should be. They weren’t designed to fit together, but they made it work, Steven stroking her face with his thumb as they remained joined for a few moments longer.

When they broke away, her eyes were half-lidded, and her feathers were going haywire. Ripples of color spread through her headdress and down her arms, flickering with nonsensical patterns.

“You good?” he asked, prompting her to open her eyes.

“Mhmm,” she murmured, reigning in her patterns to give him a flush of pink and green. The rest of the flock was just watching, their own plumage full of yellow tinged with pink, Ipal and Mima whispering excitedly as Tilli looked on with wide eyes.

“Like from the show!” Tilli hissed.

“Unsanitary,” Paza muttered with a disapproving flutter.

Steven eased Ezi away, and she sat there beside him for a moment, still holding his hand as residual flickers of color disturbed her contented plumage. Perhaps it meant that she was excited or a little overwhelmed by the sudden encounter.

“How was it?” Ipal pressed, the flock finally seeing fit to crowd around the couch.

“What did it taste like?” Tilli demanded.

“It was ... nice,” Ezi replied, sparing Steven a flustered glance before quickly averting her eyes to stare intently at the carpet.

“Oh, this is so romantic,” Mima sighed with a delighted trill. “I’ve never seen you like this before, Ezi. You’re flickering.”

“Yeah,” Ipal giggled. “After all that big talk about how you were gonna-”

“It just took me off guard, is all!” Ezi insisted, quickly cutting her flockmate off. She slid off the couch, still a little unsteady, giving Steven one last flutter of pink before brushing off her tunic and willing her feathers back into their sheaths. “None of you could have guessed he’d do... that.”

“You did kind of ask for it,” Ipal replied.

“Do we all get a turn?” Mima asked hopefully.

“Don’t push your luck,” Steven chided.

They settled back onto the couch together, resuming their show, but the very atmosphere in the room had changed. There was electricity in the air, a kind of low-level excitement and anticipation permeating the flock. Ezi was still dazed and flustered by his impromptu show of affection, her feathers as easy to read as the pages of a book, but the rest of the girls were just as enamored. He found himself sandwiched between Mima and Ipal, the two women daring to get a little closer now that they were officially a couple – or whatever the Valbaran equivalent was – Mima leaning her head on his shoulder.

Steven was still a little dazed by his own audacity. In true Earth’nay fashion, he hadn’t really planned the kiss – it was just something spontaneous that had felt right in the moment. Maybe that was one of the reasons his guests were so surprised.

When the episode was over, and all of the snacks were gone, the flock got up to leave. They were filled with nervous energy, chattering to each other in their native tongue, likely deciding what they should say to him. They paused as he saw them off at the door, Ipal speaking up, Ezi still too embarrassed to look him in the eyes for very long.

“So ... we’ll see you tomorrow,” she began with a ripple of pink. “Now that you’re officially our boyfriend, I suppose we should start talking about going on more dates.”

“We’ll involve you,” Mima added. “You’re kind of a member of our flock now – at least in a probationary sense – and we’ll need to reach consensus together.”

“I get a vote?” he asked. “Sweet.”

“We’re glad that everything is out in the open now,” Ipal continued. “We have consensus about where we stand, and we have a plan going forward. It puts us more at ease than you might realize.”

“You do like your schedules,” he conceded. “I meant what I said, by the way. You guys are a lot of fun, I really enjoy hanging out with you, and I want our relationship to develop into something more.”

“It’s nice to have our eyes set on a clear goal,” Ipal said with a smile. “We’ll see you at work, Steven.”

The flock chimed their goodbyes, filing out through his door and closing it behind them. Steven allowed himself to deflate, and he flopped back down onto his couch, replaying the evening’s events in his mind. Things had gone about as well as he could have hoped. It was certainly the first time he’d ever felt good about not getting laid.

The flock seemed earnest in their desire to make things work, and his hopes were high. All that remained now was to see what approach they’d take.

“Ipal’s flock seemed especially lively today,” Yemi said as Steven stopped by the front desk to greet him. “Did something happen between you?”

“Well, you remember how I said I was interested in them?” Steven began. “Who am I kidding – you remember everything. I finally made a move last night, and things actually went really well.”

“You spent the night together?” Yemi asked with a flutter of pink and yellow.

“No, no,” Steven replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I laid things out straight for them. I told them that I wanted to go steady and what I expected of them in return. They chose to take things slow.”

“I’m honestly surprised,” Yemi added. “The way they behaved around you – and around me – always led me to believe that they were very ... proactive.”

“That’s a very diplomatic way of putting it,” Steven chuckled. “It took a little convincing, but I think they’ve started to see things my way. Speaking of which, how have you been faring? I’ve noticed that you’re being more direct with your coworkers since our chat with Joseph.”

“It seems to be working,” he said with a flutter of green plumage. “I’ve been doing my best to implement the advice that you and Joseph gave me, and the results have been positive. Sometimes, a flock starts being more professional almost immediately, as though they can sense that something is different about me.”

“It’ll probably take some time before it really sticks, but stay persistent,” Steven replied. “Right, I’d better get to work. Catch you later.”

He headed inside, making his way through the office to his cubicle.

The flock’s greeting today was more subdued than usual, yet paradoxically, they had never seemed more excited to see him. They were fighting to appear polite and professional, but their feathers told another story – filled with happy greens and amorous pinks that betrayed their true feelings. It was adorable, in a way. Ezi especially wasn’t acting like her usual self – all of that bubbly, flirtatious energy replaced with an endearing nervousness. She could barely look at him without batting her eyes, signaling her newfound shyness. For all her posturing, his kiss the night before had melted her heart. Could it be the first time that anyone had shown her that kind of affection?

They glanced up from their work, sneaking peeks at him every so often, clearly as interested in him as they were in their tasks. They were making an effort, though, and that was what mattered. Paza was the exception, always too engrossed in her programming to pay him much mind, but she showed a different kind of interest. Every so often, she would rise from her seat to look over his shoulder, supervising his work and sharing her thoughts. While she seemed indifferent to the prospect of bedding him, making him wonder whether she might have dissented from dating him altogether, she was impressed with his progress.

“Very good,” she muttered to herself, her eyes scanning his script. “Very good indeed. The meeting with the clients is in a few days, but it seems as though you’ve almost finished the preparations.”

He wanted to tell her that work went by more quickly when they weren’t playing grab-ass, but thought better of it.

“Yeah, I’m almost done here,” he replied as he leaned back in his seat. “I should have the final draft ready for you to review by tomorrow.”

“You’ll be glad to know that since you joined the team, our efficiency has improved notably,” she continued. “Between redesigning the messaging system, securing more server cycles, and obtaining code from other teams, our progress has been accelerated by a significant degree. We’re actually on track to finalize a working version of the software before the projected deadline.”

“That’s good to hear!” he said with a smile. “And, you think that’s all my doing?”

“You have offloaded some of the more menial tasks from our programmers,” she replied, giving him a sideways glance. “Subsequently, we’re able to focus on more important work. Your... charms have also been useful in securing resources, and I must admit that your initiative has been surprisingly helpful.”

“You didn’t expect that to be the case?” he asked.

“Making hasty decisions without consensus is not our way,” she explained, but the disdain in her voice had all but melted away. “I expected you to be reckless, and while I may find your lack of planning alarming at times, I find myself forced to admit that there is often merit to your flexibility and improvisational skills. I didn’t see the logic in it at first, but I think hiring Earth’nay was a wise decision for the company.”

“Well, I appreciate that,” Steven replied. “You’re gonna make me blush over here.”

“It remains to be seen how you perform during the presentation,” she added.

“I’ll try not to let you down.”

They took their lunch in one of the pillow-filled bowls, the flock pouncing on the opportunity to involve him in their plans for the evening. They had probably been thinking about it all day, but had waited until their break to discuss it.

“We came up with three plans,” Ipal declared proudly. “We didn’t want to bother you with the details, so we thought you might like to make the final decision.”

“Doesn’t that introduce an uncomfortable level of uncertainty for you?” he teased as she handed him her phone.

“We made sure that all three proposed outings would take a comparable amount of time,” Paza explained.

“One of them is a restaurant,” Mima explained, pointing excitedly to one of the images on the device. “It’s famous for being the highest establishment in the city, situated on the upper floors of one of the tallest skyscrapers. It’s said to have an incredible view of Kalahar.”

“This one was my suggestion,” Ipal added, sinking into the cushions beside him. “You expressed some interest in dancing, and there’s a theater near here that puts on regular shows.”

“What kinds of shows?” he asked suspiciously. “It’s not a lounge, is it?”

“No, of course not,” she scoffed. “This is classical theater – skilled dancers and musicians putting on performances. It’s a celebration of our cultural heritage.”

“Tilli suggested the third option,” Mima continued as she gestured to her flockmate, who was perched on the rim of the bowl.

“You could come to our house,” Tilli said with a shrug of her feathers. “We went to yours.”

“You know what – why don’t we do all of them?” Steven suggested. “We have the time, right? Let’s do Tilli’s one today,” he added, and she gave him a flutter of pleased green. “I’m interested to see how you guys live when you’re not at work.”

“All of the dwellings in the residential band are built to very similar specifications,” Ipal said. “You might be disappointed if you’re expecting something very different.”

“We’ll see,” he replied, biting into a seaweed square.

“We could have gone to the tallest restaurant in the city, you know,” Mima said as the train raced along its curving track above the treetops.

“I want to see how you guys live when you’re not trying to impress me,” Steven replied, watching the rounded domes of the homes reflect the fading sunlight in the distance. Everything looked so similar that it was sometimes a little disorientating. Without his GPS, Steven might have no idea that he was clear on the other side of the city.

They stopped at the next station, making their way down a winding dirt path that eventually led them to a house. It was very similar to Steven’s little patch of land, yet also different in subtle ways. While the garden seemed to be about the same size, it was arranged differently, the trees and landscaping distinct. The pond was in a different location, and it was fed by a babbling brook rather than a small waterfall, the outhouse nestled in some bushes behind the structure. The building was configured with the same three domes, though they were positioned a little differently. It was a little uncanny, like a half-remembered version of his home from a dream.

They entered through a front door that was shielded by a tunnel-like awning, emerging into the domed living room. It was similar to his own, the circular floor covered over with a furry carpet, the walls lined with couches and chairs that hugged its contours. There were a couple of low tables strewn with little potted plants and household items like cups and tablet computers, one of them sporting a decorative wooden carving of what looked like a long-necked dinosaur.