Author's note: Hi! I aimed to make this story a little different. The plot will possible require quite a bit of suspension of disbelief, if you go in expecting two typical (or rather, neurotypical) people.
Note that in line with the personalities of the characters I have opted for more scientific or nerdy terminology in some of the descriptions. While 'adenosine triphosphate' is hardly among the most erotic terms in English language, I hope the reader will regardless find the text entertaining. So go, embrace your inner Spock or Spockette, may you have as much fun reading as I had writing!
*****
"And finally, we have Harry and Mei!" the young woman announced. There was a mild cheer from the audience.
Harry and Mei were the two best debaters in the club, and their debates were the highlights of the meetings. They were neck to neck in the annual ranking, with the championship decided that very day, the last meeting of the semester. Eternal glory and gloating rights for the winner. It was a big deal.
She was Asian-American, loved her t-shirts and tight jeans almost as much as her black-rimmed glasses. Her jet black hair reached her shoulders, and she usually kept it tied in a tight ponytail. She was skinny and was deficient in the curvature department, but she had a sweet face and an equally sweet personality to compensate for the lack of raw feminity. She often brought cupcakes to the meeting, and they were sorely needed, since most times they exceeded the planned time and went on for hours and hours. Especially if the finale of the night was her and Harry.
He was Caucasian, and nerdy as hell. He'd picked computer science as a major mainly to finally be able to use strict, unambiguous communication protocols without being labeled as a weirdo. He never backed from a battle of logic, and that made him a fearsome opponent. Whereas he lacked Mei's superior planning, knowledge, and people-reading skills, nobody questioned the fact that in raw logical processing power, he was slightly ahead of her. He wasn't very popular with ladies, and he hoped that the championship trophy would give him the boost to finally ask someone out. Chicks dig champions, he had read from an online self-help guide.
"As usual, we will let you guys decide your topic. That has proven very entertaining so far. I'll toss the coin. Mei, heads or tails?" the announcer continued.
"Heads."
The announcer tossed the coin.
"Tails it is! Harry, you pick the topic. Mei chooses her side on it."
Shit. Harry was always better at choosing the side. Topic was hard because of a virtually unlimited number of options, branches, argument chains to forward-simulate. Analysis paralysis. Still, he would have to win this. But Mei was really smart. He needed a curveball. And he needed to out-trap her.
"Harry?" the announcer asked after two minutes of absolute silence, him rubbing his chin frantically.
"Ok, ok. I have a topic. My topic is, 'Mei should fuck Harry'."
"Mei?" there was no shock in the announcer's voice. Controversial, personal, and sensitive topics weren't new with these two. At least this one wasn't about genocides or the optimum way to murder a person.
"I choose 'no' side." Her face was stone. She was already planning her moves, calculating her angles, setting her traps for Harry.
"Great," the announcer replied. "Harry, your opening statement." She went on to sit in the audience.
"Mei, you should fuck me for several reasons. First, sex relieves stress, and I can see you are stressed. This would have a positive impact on your grades, and thus further your career." He started with an obvious, easy one, to get the discussion going.
"No, I should not fuck you. Sex outside of an established relationship carries more risks than perks, especially for women. First, there is pregnancy. Second, there are diseases. Both of these can have life-long impacts, and while having a baby is not automatically negative, we, in our current situations, would not be able to give them a good childhood." Her arguments were easy to counter, as planned. Better get him overconfident.
"These issues are trivial. With the vast majority of birth control methods today, unwanted pregnancies are very rare with two smart, sober adults. I have a condom with me," he said, taking one from his wallet, and putting it on the table. "Although I also know you are a proponent of hormonal birth control from our previous discussions, and thus likely are on the pill."
She gave a nod.
"Second, diseases would not be a problem, at least for you. I am a virgin, as all of you know, and thus I have not had any opportunities to contract a disease. Ergo, no risk of transmission to you."
There were several agreeing murmurs in the audience.
"Perhaps I could not bear the idea of transmitting something to you? It would scar me for life, and thus also have a life-long impact," she replied.
"Have you had unprotected sex?"
"No."
"Have you had any sex?"
"Yes."
"With a human partner, Mei."
"No."
"See. No risk, then. If you have no other counters..." he said, straightening his back in an attempt to seem taller.
"Of course I do, Harry. Sex comes with indirect, societal impacts as well. First among them are the dynamics in the social group. In a college setting such as ours, whom one has sex with is important for one's standing. Having sex with you might hurt my status."
"I don't disagree. Having sex with an athlete, or an older professor, would likely net you more admiration from your friends, and make you popular."
"Is that all your full counter?"
"No. What I said is only relevant in the short term. Remember, your final objective in life is not to be popular in college. You want to get a good job, get a smart husband, and make smart babies that will survive in the natural selection of the modern society. Correct?"
"Correct."
"And having sex with a virgin nerd would undoubtedly make you shunned by your friends, who would not want to associate themselves with such a loser. This, in turn, would leave you with more time to study and do extra projects, thus increasing your likelihood of landing a perfect job."
"In theory, yes. However, that would have a positive effect only if other people knew about it."
"Agreed. This is why having sex in public would be optimal, ensuring maximum positive impact on your grades."
He wasn't actually wrong. Still, she still had her trump card. And another card after that, if necessary. She'd make him fight for it.
"Fine. However, sex has one more effect. It can make people fall in love. This is not good for people like us who will likely move away to pursue optimal careers. It would lead to a long-distance relationship, which would lead to unhappiness, which would lead to a decreased job performance."
"Having sex does not necessarily make people fall in love."
"Not necessarily, but for two inexperienced people such as you and I, it is extremely likely. Both of us, but me in particular, would secrete plenty of oxytocin, and it would be unavoidable for me to fall in love with you. It would be even worse if you did not reciprocate, since then I would be hung up on you, unable to focus on anything else."
"There are ways to mitigate the effect. First, we would not have sex in a bed, and not cuddle afterward. Say, a table such as this is a much less romantic platform," he said, tapping his desk. "Second, I could ejaculate outside of your vagina to lessen the effect. For example, on your belly, where it would be easy to wipe off. This minimal amount of oxytocin would not lead to anything more than a passing crush, which would be minor in its negative impact compared to all the benefits from being a social outcast."
"Ha! You fail to realize that I am a very sensitive woman, in several meanings of the word. While I haven't had a male partner, my orgasms are triggered easily by either clitoral or vaginal stimulation. Having a live penis with all of its warmth, wetness and life inside me would without doubt cause me to achieve several strong orgasms, which would saturate my brain in love hormones."
Harry hesitated in his reply, so she continued.