Back at the shack that afternoon, Jared was just returning with another batch of plants to add to his medicinal collection. Once he stepped inside the shack, he found Lili looking distraught as ever as she attempted to feed Hope. She was leaning upon the wall, one hand awkwardly trying to pull her t-shirt away from her chest, while using the other to try and support the fussing child.

“You’re back? Finally!” she greeted him as she continued to struggle with what seemed to her like not enough hands.

“I was only gone a few hours” Jared attempted an awkward smile as he moved toward her, setting that day’s batch of plants aside.

“Well Ian’s gone too, and I just can’t...”

“Lili” Jared interrupted with the slightest scolding tone as he moved closer, gently moved a strand of disheveled hair from her face, and kissed her cheek, “you’re doing fine” he attempted to assure her, “but there is probably a better way to do that” he allowed himself to add.

“What?” Lili asked with a bit of panic easily entering her tone.

“Maybe not better” Jared corrected himself, “but easier.”

“Please share” she told him, the same constant upset always permeating her tone as it had been for longer than either could remember at that point.

“Well, the simplest would be to just take off your shirt, then it would leave both...” though Jared stopped himself when he saw the way her eyes snapped up to him. “Or,” he changed gears as he moved closer, “can I show you?” he asked before making any further move toward her.

“Yes, please” Lili answered desperately.

Jared took a breath, trying to steel himself into doctor-only mode, as he moved nearer and, as slowly as he could, reached his hand inside Lili’s shirt, trying to ignore the way she tensed at the motion. He swallowed hard as he cupped her over-full breast in his hand and gently lifted it out of the shirt and placed her nipple against Hope’s eager mouth as she began to suckle.

Jared slowly moved his hand from her bare, pale skin, mentally cursing himself for the immediate reaction his body was having after so long without her touch, but forced himself to speak nonetheless, “see, now you have both hands free to hold her. Much easier, right?”

Finally catching her own breath after feeling Jared’s touch after so long, Lili eventually found words, “I’m hopeless. I can’t even feed her right” she stated, her voice breaking as she spoke.

“You’re fine Lili. All that’s important here is that you feed her at all, even if you might need some help from time to time. That’s still ok. You’re still doing your job, You’re still keeping her alive” he finished as he couldn’t hold back the urge to gently kiss her lips to comfort her more than his words could, despite the tension he felt in her when he did so.

When Jared ended the kiss, Lili scrambled for any words she could find to break the awkward silence that immediately followed their kiss, “what are all those plants for?” she asked as she glanced toward them, hoping that Jared’s eyes would follow hers rather than staying focused upon the still exposed breast that Hope continued to eagerly suck upon.

Pulling his eyes away, Jared cleared his throat to respond, “medicine of course.”

“What kind?” Lili pressed, doing all she could to alleviate the awkwardness they were both feeling right then.

“All kinds really” Jared offered, sure that she was desperately trying to distract them both, but also sure that him spewing a bunch of definitions of various herbs wouldn’t be likely to help provide much of a distraction anyway.

“That’s specific” Lili scoffed as she kept her eyes glued to the pile of plants rather than on Hope or Jared. Though, before Jared could respond, she continued, “will any of them keep this from happening again?”

Jared was a bit caught, but decided he had better get clarification before responding, “keep what from happening again, exactly?” he added.

“This” she glanced down at her daughter, “a baby.”

Jared was caught again by her words. He had spent so much time worrying about how to even brooch the subject with Lili and here she was bringing it up herself. He took a breath before responding, “um, yeah, I think there’s a few that might help, in that regard. Maybe. They’re still untested and all, but...” his voice trailed off.

Lili took her own deep breath upon hearing his answer, the tension in her seeming even more tangible, “well, I guess that’s good. I’m sure all three of you are really eager to get me on my back or my knees again, right?” she said with a slight trace of bitterness.

Jared was once again stunned by her words for a moment, “Lili, you can’t think that...”

“Think what? That you all can’t wait to start fucking me on a nightly basis again? Come on, you’re guys” she scoffed.

Then it was Jared’s turn to scoff, “Really, Lili?” he asked with a touch of disbelief, “we know that this baby nearly killed you, less than two weeks ago. Give us a little more credit than that, please.”

Another scoff from Lili, “but you collected those plants for that reason, right?”

“Lili, that’s not....”

“And it was pretty obvious that you wanted to be inside me again, just now, when you touched me. Your pants don’t hide that much, Jared” she added with a shake of her head, her eyes downwards.

“Lili, you can’t really be mad at me for planning for the distant future by gathering these plants. It doesn’t mean I expect us to need them any time soon, at all. And honestly, wouldn’t you be more upset if you thought I never wanted to touch you again? I’m nineteen, I can’t hide the fact that you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, even before we were stuck here; not to mention, that you’re the only woman I’ve ever even been with like that, the only person I’ve ever been with even. You can’t be mad at me for having feelings for you, can you?” a slight pause, “just because I’ve always wanted you, and always will...you can’t actually think that I would ever expect anything from you before you’re ready. Even if that’s years from now. Give me at least that much credit, Lili” he finished pleadingly.

Lili was silent a while, sniffling a bit before she found her voice again, “fine maybe you can be patient, maybe...but what about the others? Ian already is angry at me for how horrible a mother I am. Kyle is already angry at me for being a mother at all...how long will they really be willing to wait for me to fulfill the only other use I have?”

Jared was floored once again by the depths of her self-hatred. It was unfathomable to him that she could think so little of herself when he thought so much of her, even before they had spent nearly a year as lovers. He could feel the tears welling up easily once he saw hers, and it was clear to him, exactly how deep her pain still ran. He searched his brain for anything at all he could say to make her feel any better at all, though soon realized that he suffered all of that self-hatred himself, back when his father first rejected him, on the day he came into the world at the cost of his own mother’s life; and it only grew with every year that the only family he knew continued to push him away. And it continued right up until the point when he finally opened up to the woman now standing before him, begging him for assurance that she would not be rejected by any of the people she cared about, no matter how truly damaged she was as well.

Ian made himself look away as Will stood only a few feet off, dropping the last bit of his clothing to the sand beneath him. Ian took a deep breath as he moved to free himself of his jeans and boxers, still not looking back toward the younger man, despite hearing his footsteps approaching behind him.

“Ready” Will stated, now having moved to barely a foot from where Ian had just pulled himself free of his last bit of clothing.

“Good for you” Ian mumbled as he moved to set his clothes neatly in a pile on the sand, still not looking back Will’s way.

“So, what did ‘androgynous’ mean?” Will asked as he waited for Ian to finish busying himself folding the clothing.

Ian just scoffed as he stood upright again, “it means when a guy looks more like a girl, and a girl looks more like a...guy” he answered as he finally turned back to where the young man stood facing him, shamelessly, just curiously waiting for the answer.

Ian’s voice caught in his throat once he turned to face the young man as he couldn’t stop his ocean-colored eyes from traveling down over Will’s tall, lean, tanned frame as he stood before him, awaiting what he seemed to only consider a playful swim in the ocean.

“See, not a girl” Will smiled as he gestured to his own genitals, where Ian’s eyes had also inadvertently stopped as well.

“Definitely not” Ian breathed the words more than spoke them, making some attempt to pull his eyes from the young man’s body.

“Yours is changing, growing” Will smiled as he glanced down at Ian’s own quickly reacting body.

Ian’s breath was still ragged as he glanced down at himself, then back at Will, “yours too” he nodded as the young man also seemed to be having the same reaction upon seeing it in Ian.

That’s when Ian took a step closer upon seeing that their arousal did indeed seem to be mutual. He allowed himself to reach up and gently touch Will’s cheek below the long unkempt black locks & deep brown eyes, “so, you’re what, twenty, twenty-one years old now?” Ian asked in the same breathless tone.

“Think so” Will responded, his own breath seeming shorter upon Ian’s touch, though he made no move to pull back from it.

“And you’ve been here alone, all this time, no one else around at all, ever?” Ian whispered as he moved so that there were now mere inches separating them.

“No other...humans” Will answered in the same whisper.

“So, you really don’t know anything at all about...touching other people, and such?” Ian asked gently.

“Only what I saw your people do, sometimes” Will admitted as he looked down into Ian’s eyes, as he stood nearly as tall as Jared, nearly. Though still, he did not make any move to break off their contact.

“Let’s not talk about the stalking right now” Ian smirked as he dared to move closer still, “but if you saw us touching each other, then you must have an idea why we’d do it, right?”

“I saw you, and the others, touching the girl, Lili. It seemed like it felt good, for all of you” Will admitted as he let his eyes also move over Ian, noting that the mutual arousal was complete in both men now.

“Good is an understatement” Ian breathed as he allowed his lips to just barely trail over Will’s cheek, “want me to show you why we touched each other?” he dared.

Will swallowed a bit as he looked into Ian’s eyes once more, “good seems...good” he agreed in a whisper.

Ian smiled at the innocence of the answer before speaking again, “just promise not to teleport me away in the middle of our...goodness, ok?” he allowed a slight chuckle.

“No going away. Want to be right here” Will breathed his agreement to Ian’s simple terms.

“Good to know” Ian smiled, though didn’t want to waste any more time talking right then as he reached down between where the two of them stood against each other on that beach, the discomfort of the hot sun all but forgotten right then.

Ian moved to encircle Will’s hardness in his hand and ever so gently began moving up and down the length, reveling in the sound of Will’s breaths shortening with each caress. The tide slowly came in around them as Ian continued his task, the water nearly reaching their waists as he skillfully brought the other man closer and closer to his climax.

Once the water reached high enough to wash over Ian’s hand, was when Will’s body immediately gave into that orgasm as he spilled his seed, collapsing against Ian breathlessly as his body went limp.

As they stood there in the tide, the water now waist-high, Ian continued to hold Will against him as the young man attempted to catch his breath once more. “I guess now you know why we touched each other” Ian couldn’t help replying with a smirk.

After another moment, Will finally seemed able to breathe normally again, as he moved back from Ian only enough to look into his face before speaking. “But when I saw you, and the others, it was different.”

“Well, it did involve a girl then” Ian couldn’t help another slight chuckle.

“But I saw you, putting yourselves inside her. That’s what made...” he looked down at himself briefly, “this happen.”

“Well there are a few different ways to make that happen, and they don’t all involve a girl, obviously” Ian smiled again.

Will seemed to think on his words for a moment before speaking again, “but you, yours is still...” he gestured to just below the water’s surface, where Ian’s arousal still throbbed for release.

Ian almost blushed at the observation, almost, before coming up with a response, “well, being with Lili, and only Lili, for this last year, I’ve kind of gotten used to always making sure my partner comes first, before I let myself...finish. You kind of have to with girls. They’re a bit more complicated” he chuckled again.

“Finish?” Will repeated.

“You know, when that happens” Ian stated as he gestured below the water again.

“You want to finish too though, right?” Will asked with the same innocence in light of the subject matter.

Another chuckle from Ian, “well yes, but you’re a virgin and I’m a top, and I don’t know how you’d handle that, honestly” he said warily.

“Virgin? Top?” Will repeated, “not understanding.”

Ian looked up at the afternoon sky as he bit his lip, trying to come up with some way of explaining such a strange activity to someone this innocent. “It basically means that you’ve never been with anyone, touched anyone, like this, and I’m not sure how easy it would be for you to understand the ways to make me...finish” he attempted.

“Then show me” was Will’s simple response, which Ian couldn’t help smiling back at.

“Are you sure?” he had to ask.

“I want you to feel good, to finish, too” Will insisted.

Ian had to take another long moment to take in his eagerness to learn, to learn literally anything, before he decided on how to begin such a lesson. “Well, you could do to me what I just did to you, or, there’s a couple other, quicker, more efficient ways, I suppose” he chuckled again.

“Like putting it inside me, like you did with Lili?”

Ian swallowed again, the thought itself making him that much harder, “well, some ‘adjustments’ would need to be made” he smiled up at him, “but it would definitely be the most thorough way to make anyone finish, that’s for sure” he added more quietly.

“Then show me” Will said simply as he pulled Ian to the water’s edge, and then down to the wet sand with him.