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Ryland Grace never considered himself to be the best guy to ask about gender. Sure, he lived in San Francisco, and he was the cool teacher, always priding himself in being understanding and making his class safe space for all of his students, including the queer kids who needed it. He’s better versed on the topic than the average cisgender man, probably, but he’s not claiming to be an expert.
Even so, he was hoping that’d translate into being more knowledgeable about it than an alien with no concept of gender sixteen light years away from Earth was, but there were a lot of things Adrian one-upped him on.
He’s getting ahead of himself. To explain how he got here, waiting for the show to start, he has to go back a bit.
. . .
The first year or so on Erid came with a lot of urgent tasks. Getting the Tauoemba to Threeworld, synthesizing edible food for Grace, everything involved with the Blip-A’s crew, setting up the biodome, and a million other smaller issues that could become big problems if not addressed.
As that list dwindled, there was a lot more interest in culture exchanges. However, Grace was only one guy with so much time, and it’d be awhile before both sides had the language to understand what part of their cultures they were trying to explain properly.
All of Erid could wait. Adrian, however… Adrian was directly involved in everything with Grace and Rocky, more than Grace was even planning for. They were first priority when it came to the nuances of the strange, leaky alien who’d inadvertently joined their relationship. As much as they were grateful to him for bringing Rocky home, Grace still owed them a lot of respect.
There’d been a lot of conversations that had been tough to parse through, but Adrian was patient. They had to be, waiting for Rocky seventy years from their perspective. Gender, however, was one of the most personable parts of humans, and Grace was terrified of how they’d feel about the attributes he’d assigned to themself and Rocky.
He’d given Rocky a very basic explanation of sex and gender in their first months together, but that was during one of their many biological deep dives they’d been doing, before Grace had any idea he’d be going home to Erid. He didn’t think much of what he’d done then would have permanent effects.
Like assigning Rocky as male.
Okay, not male. He knows Rocky isn’t male or female. He understands Eridians have one sex, and no concept of gender. There is no reason for Grace to believe Rocky understands this.
But, subconsciously, Grace still thinks of him as such.
He was one of the guys, Grace’s buddy! He’s inviting Rocky out for a beer and watching the game with him. They do things that dudes who are friends do with each other.
Like risk their lives for each other, or frequently masturbate together. Okay, maybe not typical guy things, but Grace just… thought of Rocky as a dude.
When Grace had apologetically explained how he’d come to think of him, Rocky insisted he didn’t mind. But that was Rocky, who’d already adjusted to Grace’s weirdness. When he concluded Grace thought of Rocky as like him in terms of gender, he’d been delighted, and hadn’t questioned much else.
Adrian is a different story. He’s telling Adrian about this with a much better grasp of Eridian language and culture, able to parse what their words mean, as well as how what he’s saying comes across. It makes it that much more terrifying.
He’s hoping the explanation for using gender neutral pronouns for them goes over well.
Right. Pronouns. They had similar indicators in the Eridian language to first and second person pronouns, though they favored the repetitive use of names, shown as a way to honor their own individuality and others. Third person pronouns were kind of a thing, though there were many, many, kinds. When a third person pronoun was used for an Eridian, it often related to their place of residence, job title, or the types of thrums they participated in, rather than personality or physical characteristics. That was what names were for.
Say you had an Eridian from a particular city, working in a particular field. In any everyday conversation, you’d typically only use their name to talk about them. However, if the conversation was about their job, you might use a pronoun relating to said job in the conversation. But, if the conversation was about where they were from, that pronoun would be used. What pronoun would you use if the conversation was about both of these things? Grace hadn’t figured that part out yet.
Not to mention, these things could change throughout their life many times. One Eridian could have dozens of pronouns used to refer to them in different contexts. Look, when your species developed with five voiceboxes, there were a lot of layers to language.
Naming each Eridian that didn’t have a translatable name was one thing, but coming up with a translation for all the pronouns they were using was a whole other fiasco.
The English analog Grace had started using was neopronouns. He’d only encountered them a few times in his time on earth, but now, he was scrolling through Stratt’s database of all human knowledge every other day, either to find ones to use his fellow humans had already come up with, or for inspiration to make new ones.
In some ways, it was fun, picking and choosing which ones went to the biodome maintenance team, and which ones to use when talking about the Eridians in charge of his food supply. Well, fun in the moment. A bit exhausting when he had to later remember which ones he used when writing stuff down.
That being said, explaining, hey, my language only really has a few of these, and actually these two can encompass our entire species because we have two sexes, even though that’s dumb and not even entirely accurate, but like, how much of my explanation is even making sense in the first place?! I’m a science teacher for goodness sake!
Yeah, that? That was extremely stressful. He’d never regretted not taking more gender studies electives in college. Maybe he should’ve majored in them.
Still, he does his best. He started with an explanation of different sexes, gender identity and sexuality, and how the language he used for Adrian and Rocky reflected these things, and how it really only matters to him and how he’s been raised. If they want him to switch up how he talks about them he’ll do so easily.
Adrian listens with calm attention, only interrupting once or twice to define words Grace doesn’t give enough of an explanation for in the moment. They don’t take notes, having perfect memory and all, but he can see when they tilt their carapace or shift their stance that they’re considering things. Rocky is there occasionally to pop in to remind Grace of things he’d forgotten to mention, but otherwise he’s listening to Adrian’s reactions, too.
Once Grace has done the best he can, he leaves the floor open to their thoughts.
“I believe I… approve of the pronouns you decided for me.” They say, thoughtfully, and Grace can’t stop the physical sigh of relief he lets out. “However, I’d like to do my own research with the Human-Thinking-Machine Rocky has, to see how I feel about the rest.”
“Of course! Please do, yeah, Wikipedia definitely does a better job explaining a lot of that. Just, um, look, I really tried, but I’m still biased given my background, so if you noticed anything I explained really badly, sorry in advance.” He forces a grin, giving them a thumbs up.
They give a thumbs down back, and that’s the end of it.
Until, a few days later, they visit his place again, Rocky in tow.
“Wanted to talk to Grace about something.”
Okay, yep, cool. Rocky’s mate is Can we talk-ing him, just after the whole gender talk. Maybe he’d committed a huge offense against Eridian culture Rocky had been too nice to tell him about. Nothing worrying about that at all. Grace claps his hands together. “Shoot.”
“You are incorrect.”
Anxiety pulses on his shoulders. Adrian could come off cool, when it was really just how they talked, rather than inflicting their actual feelings. He forces the worry away. “...You’re gonna have to elaborate on that, pal.”
“Rocky is not traditionally masculine human language pronoun.”
Grace blanks. Nope, he definitely heard that right, he’s just processing what those words mean in that order. “He’s…What? You’re saying his—, um, Rocky’s, pronouns shouldn’t be he/him?"
“Correct.”
“You don’t… Okay, I know in Eridian you might decide which pronoun to refer to someone in a conversation, but that’s not really how it works for me.” He bites his lip, thinking, “Or, well, in English. People are assigned a gender at birth based on their sex, and a lot of society expects them to keep that gender and the pronouns that traditionally go with it, but that’s not a set in stone thing. Someone else doesn’t decide that for you.”
“You assigned Rocky a gender and pronouns.”
Oof. Grace cringes. “Right.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “And I… apologized for that. Patriarchal standards of language and individual biases, remember? Rocky can let me know what pronoun I should start using, or if I shouldn’t at all, and we’re golden.”
This is where he’d expect Rocky to answer, but he’s met with Adrian speaking, again.
“Rocky woman.” The default collectiveness of their tone is replaced with something fond. Grace’s mouth falls open as they continue. “Small and delicate compared to Adrian, precious, want to do things for.”
“Okay, ooookay.” Teacher mode on. “Listen. Woman, or, uh, so not all women use she/her pronouns, but that’s the default assigned to the female sex… They’re… aren’t like how you described. I mean, some of them could be, and that’s fine, but male humans can be that too. Any kind of human with any kind of identity.” Seriously, Grace himself is one heck of a coward, which wasn’t exactly peak masculinity.
“You are being dumb.” They say bluntly. One thing Rocky and them had in common was not being afraid to say it like it is. “Adrian remembers Grace’s lesson, understood stereotyping and prejudice. Sexism is… confusing, but Eridians have similar concepts of bigotry unrelated to sex.”
“Right, okay, I’m glad you get that.”
“Rocky is Eridian equivalent of feminine to Adrian. Want to refer to Rocky with fitting pronouns. Smart engineer, strong for saving Grace and planets.” They pause. “But they are also fragile, soft and loved. Want Rocky to be this to me.”
Grace tries to push away the feeling of dizziness that brings him. It’s extremely strange, the imagery Adrian is conjuring up of their mate, compared to how Grace has seen him for the past five years. There’s a dissonance forming that’s making him warm.
It’s as he’s considering this that he’s realized Rocky’s been dead silent during this exchange. Abnormal, for how hyperactive he could be.
Adrian, one step ahead, brings attention. “Listen.” They gesture with a limb. “She likes it.”
The actual use of she from Adrian trips Grace up for a moment, but curiosity overwhelms any protest on his tongue. He turns his focus to Rocky.
With how often the two of them experimented, Grace was well in tune with Rocky’s signs of arousal, just as Rocky was with his. He, of all people, can spot the thinnest streak of silvery liquid slipping down the inside of one of his legs, like a raindrop on a car window.
Holy smokes.
Rocky must clock Grace noticing at the same time Grace processes it, because he’s immediately protesting. “Do not like! Adrian is lying, making fun of Rocky.” He shuffles over to Grace in the xenonite suit, ducking behind him. “Rocky matches with Grace, both male.”
“No.” Adrian tilts forward, carapace peaking over at Rocky like a cat spotting a mouse darting away. “Rocky is mate Adrian’s girl. Pretty, dainty, thing.” Two limbs lift up, claws braced open. Then, their tone lowered, “Will prove to her.”
Rocky squawks, and then he’s skittering away as Adrian tries to pounce, Grace jumping out of the way just in time to avoid getting bowled over by a five hundred pound rock.
“Rocky is not a girl!” He’s trilling as he stumbles out of Grace’s house.
“Will prove to Grace, too.” Adrian adds, before following after him.
. . .
So that’s how Grace finds himself at one of the private inclaves of the biodome, where the clear xenonite is thinnest, Adrian and Rocky gathered on the Erid side, thick, cavernous walls surrounding them keeping the area soundproof to prying Eridians.
Rocky hadn’t made any physical attempt to get away from Adrian’s plans, just a lot of dramatic whining. Grace sits on a raised part of the floor, lazily laying back on his palms.
“Grace watch now.” Adrian is saying, and then without warning, one of their hands is grasping the side of Rocky’s carapace and effortlessly shoving and tipping it, halfway turning him vent side down. With the sudden, forceful motion, Rocky lets out an involuntary shrill set of broken notes.
“See? They say, carefully keeping him at that angle. “Rocky shrieks just like girl when Adrian pins her down.”
“Do not!” Rocky insists, trying to bat Adrian off, but with their size and strength, they’re able to lean away from any of his claws grabbing at them.
Adrian is then tipping him over the rest of the way, simply letting their grip loosen when the angle is right. Rocky thunks on the ground, five limbs sprawled out like a turtle flipped shell side down. It’s no gentle fall, but Eridian bodies were much more resistant to outside force. That doesn’t mean Grace doesn’t flinch.
Rocky’s legs kick out, trying to twist them in a way to leverage his claws against the ground and roll back over, making little chirps in the process.
“Helpless.” Adrian coddles, stopping Rocky’s efforts with a single claw pressing down, keeping him pinned.
Grace feels a warmth creep onto his cheeks and flush down his chest, and not from the 200 degree atmosphere just on the other side of the glass. His mind screams at him that this is wrong, watching this. That’s Rocky, his bro, just a roommate he’d have in college to Grace, and he’s watching him getting thrown around and played with like a doll.
But he can’t look away.
At some point he’d changed his lax position, and his fingers are digging into his clothed thighs, trying to wield off waves of arousal.
“How long does Rocky's seam usually take to open, Grace?” Adrian asks, octave going deeper on Grace’s name to emphasize that they’re asking him. Rocky huffs, steam rising from his vents where they press into the ground.
“Um, that… depends.” He’s pretty sure he’s going to rip through the fabric of his pants with how hard he’s gripping the material. “...A few minutes, maybe?”
“Hmm, very strange for Eridians. Should take long time to coax open when not eating, hours to open wide enough for mating.” They maneuver Rocky’s form with two sets of claws closer to the wall, tilting his seam towards the glass. “Rocky’s split very easily, see? Alone with just Grace for a long time, she turns into a ♬♪ without me.”
The top of Grace’s mouth is dry from how it’s been open through that whole explanation. He swallows. “What… what, um, what’s that last term?”
He immediately hears Rocky try to chime in. “Is—!”
Adrian vents flutter out a soft, quick note that Grace has come to recognize as shushing for Eridians. “Rocky does not need to explain, Adrian can do that for her.” One of their limbs that’s actually on the ground taps in thought. “Hmm… vulgar, sexual connotation, word for Eridian whose ventral seam opens quicker from frequent use… used as insult, but some Eridians…” They pointedly pause. “May enjoy being called.”
“Slut.” Grace breathes.
“Yes, that.” Adrian’s claw plays at the edges of Rocky’s hole, and they’re close enough to the barrier that Grace can see that thin silvery liquid beginning to gather. “Strange space alien turned my mate into a slut.” They chide, and one of their back limbs currently holding them steady shivers playfully. “Good thing I like this alien.”
Grace whimpers.
“Adrian mean mean mean, very mean to Rocky.” Rocky is warbling, and he can’t seem to decide whether he’s trying to get away from Adrian’s grip or push into it.
“Not mean.” They chide. “Adrian is giving exactly what you need. Rocky seam very stretched from ♯♫♪ around with Grace. Human limb more flexible, but not wide enough for what she needs.”
Casual enough to have Grace shuddering, they close their claws at a point and slip the hand inside Rocky’s seam, sea blue stone easily disappearing into the opening. And then it just… keeps going. No resistance, no pumping in and out to loosen it more like Grace had to. Even with the limb widening at Adrian’s first joint, Rocky takes it all in one swoop.
Rocky squeals, there’s no other word for it. An earsplitting and spontaneous set of layered notes of pure pleasure. Even at that frequency, it’s pitched in a way that’s soft and soprano.
You shouldn’t be going along with this, the logical part of his brain tries to say. You’re giving cosexual aliens the concept of gender and this is what they’re doing with it. Reexamine your biases, stop what they’re doing before it’s too late.
Despite his attempts, the messy, hormonal part of his brain is unapologetically aroused. He can’t stop the thought that’s already solidified. Rocky sounds feminine.
Oh, screw it.
Grace’s hand, previously, ghosting the imprint of his cock straining against his pants, slips underneath and past his underwear to palm himself properly. It’s not like this is a demonstration for Erid’s next cultural exchange based thrum. Trying to bring up anything but the scene in front of him is almost painful, his universe right now might as well just be the three of them.
He briefly takes his hand out to spit on it, though the precum leaking from is cock is already doing a lot of work. His head swims, he feels warm enough to pass out. He’s jerking off to his best friend being called a girly slut. It’s the hottest thing he’s ever seen.
“See? I am very nice to you.” Adrian’s voice snaps him out of it, oblivious to the miniature crisis he just went through. “Rocky worked too hard alone for so so long, Adrian sad they were not there to make things easier.” The joint of their enclosed arm shifts, and Grace can imagine the way they're exploring the deepest insides of Rocky’s orifice. “Make up for now, give you everything you want, take care of my ♮♩♪.”
Grace’s hand stills, the confusion breaking him out of his rhythm. “I, um, don’t know that word either.”
“Not Eridian word. Borrowed from your language.” Adrian explains with the straightforwardness of a dictionary, like they’re not currently fisting their mate. “Feminine presenting… emotional support to Adrian providing, keeping safe, doing everything for.”
Grace wracks his brain. Despite not being an anthropologist, this stuff was interesting to him, and he wanted to understand correctly. His first thought is girly, but he can figure out what that’d be in Eridian, already using the notes for girl and adding to it. Pillow princess, maybe? He tries not to think about why he knows what that term means, but scratches it off the list too. Adrian had used some tones deriving from what Rocky decided female would be all those years ago during Grace’s initial explanation, but it's not the exact same notes either.
“Uh…” He’s stumped, and too horny to keep thinking about it. “I’ll… look that up later.”
“Can be many other things, but Adrian likes Rocky being fragile and close for safe keeping. It’s what she needs, after being away for so long.” Their voice goes softer, a gentle quality underneath. “Grace did so much already, but Adrian can help both of you now, too.”
Their words have him spasming for a second. He’s never wanted anything more.
One of Rocky’s arms rub against Adrian’s, soft scraping echoing around the cavern. “Hmm?” They prompt.
“Not fair.” He squeaks out, strained from the fullness Adrian is pushing on him. “Grace Rocky are supposed to match.”
Adrian hums. “You can’t match with Grace if you want to be my pretty girl.”
“Want both.” Rocky warbles in a tone that’s demanding, in a way that would get Grace called needy by him if he talked back like that.
“Greedy thing—” Adrian starts to quip, but cuts themself off. “Oh!”
Despite no actual movement occurring, no tilt of their carapace as a visual cue, Grace has gotten very good at reading Eridians. He’s been around them long enough now to sense when one of them homes in on their echolocation to hear him better.
A shiver runs up his spine as gets the distinct feeling Adrian is staring him down.
“Ooooh, I understand.” They lean in a little closer to Rocky, clinking their carapaces together, and then, in a whistling tone, “You want Grace to be a girl too? You think she’d like that?”
“Oh my god.” Grace groans, shame and arousal blending dangerously as his cock twitches at the words. The wires in his brain haven’t just been crossed, Adrian has reached inside and tied them in knots with their nimble claws.
“Is that a yes?”
One of the wires pulled tightest snaps, and Grace is tumbling forward to press herself to the xenonite, palm slamming flat against the glass. “Yes, please, please.” She begs, thumbing the tip of her cock where she can’t stop leaking.
Adrian chitters in bright laughter. “Are you listening, sweethearts?” Their limb twists inside Rocky’s opening, another free set of claws stroking up her carapace. “Hear how easy it was for Grace? Rocky could learn a thing or two.”
One of Rocky’s flailing arms manages to tap frantically on the ground, to get a better picture of Grace. She freezes, seizes up for a second, and then all five of her limbs are reaching up and pulling at Adrian’s bigger one inside her, hopelessly thrusting up, trying to get them to go deeper.
“Have learned,” She croons, in sharp, fast notes that Grace’s brain supplies as moans. “Will be Adrian’s girl, want to be taken care of, want, want.”
Adrian leans all of their weight over her, pushing their arm in as far into her opening as it will go, making Rocky shriek. Their vents heave. “Good girl.”
“Adrian.” Grace rasps, arousal and jealousy pooling deep down in her gut. She wants to be good too, wants Adrian’s hands all over her, giving her anything she wants. With them, she wouldn’t have to even think about what entails, because Adrian would know what to give. She smacks her hand to the window again, she’s being restless, desperate, bratty, but if Rocky could get away with it, she could, too.
Adrian reaches out a hand to press against their side of the glass, and Grace can feel the heat through the material, chasing it down.
“I’ve got you.” They sing, the vibration traveling down their form to rattle to Grace’s hand, up her arm, settling deep in her chest. “Good girl.” They repeat to her this time.
That’s what it takes, and she’s gripping the base of her cock as she comes, release trailing down the glass as she watches through tearful eyes as Adrian continues to push in and out of Rocky, fucking her senseless.