"...yes," because he does like being kissed and he does like Marlo but there's something very wrong with the way Marlo is smiling, right now. 

Marlo is good at kissing; he's had plenty of practice. 

It's about ten seconds before Sasha pushes him away. 

"You don't want to be doing this." It isn't an accusation; it isn't a warning. 

"Yes, I do, I don't care about whatever you think would make me not want you —" 

"I'm not insecure, I am capable of reading body language. You weren't kissing me because you wanted to be." 

The smile crumples like an aluminum can. "I do want to kiss you, it's just —" 

He cuts himself off. 

He pauses, and then leans against Marlo. (...he's missed physical contact. He hadn't realized he missed it so much but he did.) 

"It's just what?" 

He pulls Sasha closer, half-unconscious of it. 

"The anima works better if you have sex with more people." 

"...how many people have you slept with who you didn't actually want to be sleeping with." 

"I don't know." 

Fuck. 

Sasha is so not qualified for this. 

"You're not going to do that anymore," he says, very firmly, and waits for Marlo to nod. "No sleeping with anyone unless you're doing it because you want to be sleeping with them, no kissing anyone unless you're doing it because you want to be kissing them." He waits, again, for Marlo to nod. "And you're going to hug me." 

Marlo doesn't pause before he hugs him. 

(The hug is tight and warm and solid and more than a little bit desperate.) 

Okay. That's — that's okay. 

(Sasha isn't sure when he started thinking of Marlo's well-being as his responsibility but he's pretty sure it was some time in the last two minutes.) 

He doesn't let go until the lunch bell rings, and then they walk into the dining hall together. 

Loki waves; Chris is talking to a handful of other pilots and anchors.

Alright. He is going to sit near Loki and he is going to have a normal meal and everything is going to be fine. 

Marlo's unusually quiet; every few minutes he glances at the group of anchors and then back at Sasha. 

Loki has never seen Ender's Game and she's really excited that they're going to wind up seeing it on movie night tonight!

Someone else, who has seen it, is complaining that it is a terrible movie and a complete waste of a movie night.

Sasha, who has read Ender's Game but not seen it, is happy to talk about the movie and not think about whatever Marlo is thinking about right now! 

After lunch Marlo thanks Sasha (he doesn't make it clear what Sasha is being thanked for) and then vanishes. 

Alright. Sasha gets to work and considers what he knows about what being an anchor involves (he doesn't know much, but the anchors that he's seen seem — more stressed than is usual) and curls up in bed that night and wishes he had someone there with him. 

When the next scavenger trip comes home, one of the scavengers brings him a sewing kit-- needles, scissors, buttons, a thimble, a tape measure, a seam ripper, and 24 colors of thread-- and a bolt of very soft purple cloth.

...yeah actually he's pretty sure that he cannot leave this alone. 

He doesn't want to use paper for this so he finds a piece of tree bark and writes Can we talk? — Sasha on it and slips it under Lev's door. 

The door opens up!

"— Hi," because he was not expecting it to be that fast, and he steps into Lev's office and closes the door. "Um. I am definitely not complaining but I know I didn't requisition any of the things you've been giving me and I'm pretty sure this isn't normal for new people, what's up?" 

"Uh."