"I am maybe not the best focus group, my use case and the general use case were not super similar, but it worked for the thing I was using it for." 

"I think one of the important things about Yenta is the customizability. It's something that evangelical Christians can use to find the person they're going to marry and it's something people can use to find anonymous sex. The whole point of the algorithm is figuring out what people want and matching them with people who can give them the thing that they want. Aaaand I think I'm turning into a Yenta advertisement."

"You kind of are but I still think that the guy who literally did not care about compatibility and just wanted to find someone who would let him stay the night is not going to be your best focus group." 

"--No, actually, that's a really interesting case, because you're not going to tell us that you're looking for a bed, so the algorithm would have to figure out that that's what you're looking for from your behavior and your answers to questions. And it's not an expected use case, it's definitely not something that we programmed in, so the question is whether the algorithm is smart enough to figure it out anyway and match you with, I don't know, people who are particularly easy to get into bed and can host. Did you notice it was easier to find someone over time?"

"I did, but it was hard to tell if the difference was the algorithm or if I was getting better at it with practice and distance from my backstory." 

"I bet it was the algorithm, 'fucks anyone who asks' and 'can host' are both traits people want fairly often, it wouldn't know if you're homeless or just slutty and from a homophobic family but I bet it could figure out what you wanted." Pause. "This is a secret feature that I probably shouldn't be telling you about without making you sign an NDA, but-- my guess is that you got safer partners off Yenta than off other sites. We ask questions where some answers are associated with being a rapist and people who are likely to be rapists get way way fewer matches that are not themselves rapists."

Words are not adequate. 

"I didn't get nearly as hurt you'd expect someone would, doing what I was doing. I love you isn't good enough but those are the words I have." 

"I'm glad I could protect you before I even met you." Pause. "But, seriously, don't tell anyone. Right now all the rapist questions are like 'have you ever forced someone into sex against their will?' and 'do you think it is okay to force people into sex against their will?' If people knew we were dinging them for that, then we'd have to switch to questions like 'do you think men and women should split the check?' which are just way less predictive."

"I won't. And not just because there's really only one person I talk to and you already know." 

"I realize I'm a hypocrite here but we should seriously get you some more friends."

"If I decide I need more friends I'll, I don't know, join a D&D group or something. Maybe try getting a tumblr again. Who knows. For now I'm fine." 

"All right. I just don't want you to be lonely all day while I'm theoretically working, now that I'm doing that. --Uh. You don't have to if you don't want to, but you said I should try to, like, want things?"

He kisses Lev's cheek. "If in three days I notice that I'm lonely all day while you're working, I'll decide I need more friends." 

"Okay. I actually meant to ask about something different though. --I really wish I had someone to talk to about work things and try to figure out what I think. It's hard to think by myself. I don't think you could realistically do that for Yenta, at this point I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who actually understands the whole algorithm, but. It would be. Nice. If sometimes I got to talk to you about what we should do with the Aarons Foundation."

"I don't know how helpful I'll be but I promise I won't campaign for decrim." 

"I mean, I didn't know anything about it when I got started. You're definitely smart enough to be helpful, it's mostly about-- thinking things through and asking why people believe why they believe and noticing, like, if everyone says their cause is the most important they can't all be right. And also about not getting bored reading about the treatment of neglected tropical diseases. Like, if you don't want to, that's totally fair, I think they're interesting but objectively neglected tropical diseases are extremely boring."

"Almost everything is interesting if you're really looking at it. Or at least it is to me, maybe there are some people who don't do that but I'm sure I'll be interested in neglected tropical diseases once I do some reading on them." 

"I love you! And I look forward to cuddling with you and telling you all about schistosomiasis, a word that after significant practice I can consistently pronounce."

"I look forward to hearing about it!" 

Lev kisses him and, very tentatively, pulls his hair.

He kisses Lev back, deeper, and then moves so he's kneeling over Lev's thighs. "Love you." 

"Mmm. I liked having sex with you."

"So did I." Kiss. "I'd forgotten how good it can be, with someone you care about." 

Kiss. "I want to find out how good it can be!" 

He bites Lev's lip and rolls his hips against Lev's and starts working on getting Lev's clothes off.