WHO: Alphonse Elric and Sara Lance WHAT: Talking about sex ed WHEN: Recently WHY?: Because he is curious WARNINGS: some talk about sex but nothing naughty STATUS: Closed and Completed Doc
Alphonse enjoyed school, even if he thought a good three-quarters of it was completely idiotic. Half the time the subjects seemed completely unrelated to anything that would ever be needed.
But he still enjoyed learning.
These last few weeks, a lot of kids had been talking about sex in whispers and laughter and blushes. Apparently, something called sex education was being taught that had half of them embarrassed all the time. Despite Al’s best Google searches, this made little sense, so he decided to ask Sara about it.
He found her at work and waited for her took not be busy, climbing up to a barstool and waiting politely. When she saw him and smiled and came close, he asked.
“Sara, why are all the older kids so embarrassed and clueless about a class called sex education?”
***
Thanks to Sam having teenage wards, Sara was aware that the high school students were having sex ed classes recently. She figured she lucked out since Al was too young for that and she wouldn’t be stuck answering any awkward questions. So much for that.
“Well, sex is a difficult topic for a lot of people to talk about,” she said. “And it’s very personal, so that means it can be embarrassing. Personally, I think if you can’t talk about it, you shouldn’t be doing it.”
***
Al made a face. Teenagers were weird. “I don't get it. Why would it be embarrassing? Why would it be hard till talk about? How is something personal in a way that embarrasses someone so they are afraid to talk about it?”
The questions just sort of tumbled out of him. And one more. “What is sex, anyway, other than something that looks and sounds weird and is the center of porn?”
***
Sara bit her lip to keep from laughing at his question. Part of her was glad that he had such an innocent view of sex, but it was obvious this was going to turn into a long and potentially awkward conversation. Thank goodness the club wasn’t busy. She poured a soda for Al and considered grabbing something harder.
“Well, let’s start with what you know about it already,” she said. Even though it didn’t sound like he knew much, she wanted to get an idea of where they were starting and any misconceptions he might have.
***
Al sipped the soda she poured, watching her. He saw her biting her lips and wondered what he had said that was funny, but bet it had something to do with the way he thought of things. Darn it.
“That sex happens when two people get all weird and suddenly want to kiss and take each others’ clothing off and the man sticks his penis in various places on the woman and the woman and man move around and make lots of noises, sounding both in plain and like they are having fun, or just having cramps, or possible a seizure, and then they fall over looking silly.” What? He saw things, okay?
***
Okay, that was… actually a reasonable description for someone who had never actually experienced sex. People definitely made weird noises and looked silly. Sara was sure she looked kind of silly right now with the way her face was contorting to keep from laughing though.
“First of all, sex doesn’t have to involve a man and a woman,” she said. “It can involve two women or two men.” Or multiple variations of people, but that was a more advanced lesson that could wait for later. “But, yes, it is a way that adults express an attraction for each other. Some people believe that you should be in love to have sex. I believe it’s a natural and healthy thing that can happen between two consenting adults for any reason.”
Yes, she was hammering home the ‘adults’ part because she certainly didn’t want Al to get any ideas about trying anything.
***
Al nodded, eagerly listening, cocking his head to the side the way he did when he was committing something to memory. He smiled at her words and liked how she put it.
“I guess that sounds cool. Why do they do it that way, then? And, what level of adults? There seem to be many. 18, 21, 25? I see kids trying stuff like that all the time.” He noticed things, okay? “And what makes an adult an adult? Or that they are ready? And what exactly is consent?”
He had lots of questions.
***
“Slow down,” Sara said, finally allowing herself to chuckle at his eagerness. It was the same way he got about everything he learned and that would actually make this a little easier for her to deal with. “We’ll get to all those questions.”
She really didn’t want to the answer the adult question, so she was going to put that one aside for the moment and hope that maybe they wouldn’t need to circle back to it. “Consent is the most important thing about sex,” she said. “It means that both people are doing what they’re doing willingly. A lot of times you’ll hear people say that ‘no means no’ and that’s true, but a lack of a no is not necessarily a yes and that’s an important distinction.”
If she was going to have any sort of influence over how Al treated women, she wanted to drive that point home.
“When we’re training, I always ask you before I show you something new, right,” she said. It might be a little easier to explain if she could draw a parallel to something he understood. “I would never throw a punch at you without making sure it was okay. It’s the same way with sex. You never touch someone without their permission.”
***
Al nodded, and sighed, sipping his soda as he learned and forced himself to slow down and commit everything she said to memory. He trusted her more than anyone he knew here, and in fact, more than most people he knew back home. She was amazing!
“So… consent isn’t just not saying no. It means saying yes?” he wanted to make sure he got that right, because it seemed to be very important to her. He wanted to get this right. She and others seemed to think sex was important! Which confused him still, but okay.
Al nodded and listened. “Yeah, you do.” He smiled at her, and nodded, getting it. “So… sex is really nothing like porn, at all?” Because that seemed to involve a lot of touching without talking.
***
Sara shook her head. “No, porn is very unrealistic and not a good way to learn about sex. It’s supposed to be entertainment, that’s all.” She decided not to ask if he’d been watching it a lot or where he was getting it. If he wanted to explore and figure things out, she didn’t want to dissuade him, but she wanted to make sure he understood that real life sex was nothing like that.
And most of it was pretty bad entertainment since it was largely designed to get people off. “And sex is only enjoyable if all parties involved are enthusiastically participating.”
***
Al nodded more, eyes focused on her, watching her, as he listened and committed it all to memory. He would go over it more later and have more questions, probably, but he wanted to get it all in his head. She was a good teacher, with a good voice. “Okay, I get it.” he nodded.
“So not just consent, but enthusiastic consent? Okay.” he nodded, grinning. That sounded more like fun.
“Why are people so enthusiastic about sex?” He chuckled, and looked at her confused. “It looks… uncomfortable.”
***
“If you do it right, it can feel really good,” Sara said. “That’s something you’ll figure out when you’re a little bit older.” At least she thought it would take a few years before he started getting those kind of feelings. She’d have to ask Dean and Sam about that. It wasn’t like she had any experience with prepubescent boys.
The mechanics weren’t as important at the moment as understanding when sex was and wasn’t appropriate though. At least as far as she was concerned. “So, consent is the most important thing,” she repeated. “The second most important thing is protection. Sex isn’t just all about fun. When a man and a woman have intercourse, they can potentially make a baby. And any time you touch someone intimately, there is a risk of transmitting diseases.”
***
Al listened, and at that, his eyes went wide. “Really? Okay.” He was a little dubious about her statement, but he trusted her, so he would take it on advisement. That looked uncomfortable! How was that now awkward? Humans were weird. “When older? And older in my body or in my experience?”
He nodded, listening to her. He wasn’t sure what it meant, when he was older. He was ten-slash-fifteen, if you counted all the years he had lived so far, and he would turn eleven-slash-sixteen in April. He had worked it out, converting from Amestris dates to Madison dates.
His life had been odd even before he came to Madison, okay?
“That’s where babies come from? And diseases? Whoah!” he was a little scared by that, and looked it. “How? And how do you protect against it?”
***
The body vs experience question was a good one and Sara wasn’t entirely sure what the right answer was, but she could take a guess based on her limited knowledge of biology. “Probably when your body is a few years older,” she said. “I think you’ll start figuring that out when you’re maybe twelve or thirteen.” That was definitely a better question for Sam or Dean.
“Well, not all diseases come from sex, but there are some that do,” she said. “And the best way to protect yourself is by using condoms. They can prevent pregnancy and disease transmission.”
***
Alphonse squinted, then nodded, listening to her. “Okay.” He had no idea if she was right, but he trusted her, so, he nodded. He smiled at her, hoping he would understand by then. He still had so many questions!
“A condom? What’s that? And how do they prevent it?” Sorry, Sara, but no one was talking about those. Silly teenagers.
***
Sara debated for a moment if she should go and get one so she could do the ‘condom on the banana’ demonstration. She decided against it for now. Al was too young to need to know all the mechanics.
“It’s something that a man can put over his penis. It creates a barrier that prevents fluids from passing between people and those fluids are what can cause pregnancy or transmit a disease.”
***
Al was curious what went through her head as she hesitated, but put it aside when she started talking again. “Ah, so, contact is needed for those. Both pregnancy and disease? Okay.” he nodded, listening hard.
“There’s so much I wish I knew, and so many people are so excited about this.”
He shook his head. “Now I know why pairs of people keep going into rooms and making noises. Makes sense now.”
*** “Well, yeah,” Sara said. She figured the contact part was obvious.
She inwardly groaned a little when he made the comment about pairs of people going into rooms. Hopefully, she and Sam weren’t too loud when they stayed here. The last thing she wanted to do was scar the poor kid.
“It’s not really something you need to worry about right now,” she said. “There’s plenty of time for you to learn.”
***
“Okay.” Sorry, Sara, but his homeworld had few diseases, and different rules for them. And school… was not helpful.
“Okay. School is odd, but I suppose it always is.” he grinned at her and hugged her. “Thanks, Sara!” he smiled warmly.
“You are the best!”
***
Sara was used to Al’s hugs by now and she was even more grateful for this one because it seemed to signal the end of the conversation. She was hardly a prude and believed in being open and honest, but it was still awkward to talk about these things with a kid.
“There are a lot of things in life that are odd,” she said. “You get used to it.”