Work Text:
As Ulrich was busy working out the latest kinks of the Artificial Storm project, Enigma watched on from a seat next to him quietly. It was a rare moment of peace between the two, without the usual banter or arguments. Enigma was fiddling with a pen as he studied the way Ulrich’s ferrofluid tensed in his helmet as he concentrated. His eyes gradually traveled lower, checking out Ulrich’s broad build, his metal musculature, each and every detail of his body, committing it all to his memory. The ferrofluid twitched, sensing the other researcher’s gaze travel over him. “Done staring?” Ulrich asked dryly, not lifting his gaze from the work he was busy with.
“Hmph,” huffed Enigma. “Is one not allowed to admire the mechanical wonder in front of him?” He asked sarcastically, his accented voice betraying his genuine curiosity. Bracing his elbow against the desk, he rested his head in his palm, his gaze unexplainably soft.
Ulrich gave him a long sideways look, before sighing in surrender. “Just… ask whatever it is you want to ask already.”
Enigma shrugs and leans forward. “Alright. Can you have sex?”
Ulrich makes a choked, cut-off noise, and his ferrofluid spikes in embarrassment. “…What?”
“Like, hypothetically. Can you have sex?”
“I mean, I suppose so?” His ferrofluid shapes in a new way that Enigma hadn’t seen before, seeming suspiciously close to a blush. “I… I don’t know, I mean, I haven’t tried before or anything, how am I supposed to know-“ Enigma leans back in his chair slowly, tuning out of Ulrich’s wild gesticulations and frantic words, and filing away this new piece of information. Huh. So Ulrich was a virgin.
He supposed it made sense, with the way most Awakened were asexual anyway, having neither the desire nor the required organs for such human activities. But Ulrich was the most emotional, humanoid Awakened that he knew, so he wondered. Just out of curiosity, really. What else was a scientist to do?
“Do you get aroused, then?” continuing his questioning, Enigma interrupted whatever Ulrich was still babbling about, something about “preserving his dignity” and the “professional situation they were currently in”. That new question shut him up quickly.
Ulrich turned around on his chair, an indescribable expression as he stared at Enigma. He covered his head with his hands in a facepalm, so obviously embarrassed now he didn’t even have to alter his ferrofluid’s position to show it. “Why…” he swallowed. “Why are you even asking this? We’re at work, Adler.”
Maintaining his air of nonchalantness, Enigma shrugged again. “Really, I’m just curious. There hasn’t been much research into the sexuality of Awakened. Now that Madam Lucy’s gone, there isn’t really anyone else to ask, y’know?” Not that he would ever dare to ask Lucy something like that, far too embarrassing for himself, while messing with Ulrich was always easy. Being with Ulrich, whether it was their usual fighting or serious research-y conversations, was always so easy.
Ulrich’s ferrofluid quivered, then narrowed, suspicious of Enigma’s true intentions, but deciding to humour him either way. “Well, as you know, most Awakened are asexual by nature. I’m… a special case, I suppose. I have the… organs… required to have sex, and I do occasionally experience desire. Does-“ swallowing nervously, he ended, “does that answer your question?”
Enigma gave him a shit-eating grin and leaned forward again. “Oh, it sure does.” Putting a finger up to his stubbly chin like a philosopher would, he continues: “So you have a dick? How big? Is it metal? Did you choose to have one? Can I see i-“
Ulrich slams his hand over Enigma’s mouth, his ferrofluid forming into an X shape to express his disapproval. “Don’t say anything that either of us will regret, Adler,” he whispered, before gathering his documents and walking off, just like that.
—
In bed, Enigma breathed heavily as he flopped down next to Ulrich, completely spent. After a few minutes of quiet bliss, he turned to look at his partner. Partners. That’s what they were now. Together. His hand scrambled under the sheets to find Ulrich’s bigger, colder one. Ulrich shifted his head, doing the best he could to return his gaze, forming a heart with his ferrofluid to quietly show his love. “Adler?”
“Hm?”
“Do you remember when you asked me if I could have sex out of ‘curiosity’?”
Enigma let out a chuckle, remembering the encounter, with a younger Adler and a younger Enigma, and turned his head back to look at the ceiling. “Yeah?”
“Now you know.”
“All too well. I guess I was trying to get you into bed even back then.”
“And look how well you’ve succeeded.”
— end