A Shoulder To Lean on

Posted on 05 Mar 2014 @ 7:39pm by Senior Chief Petty Officer Keval zh'Erinov & Lieutenant Asahi Kita

1,963 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 05 - Solstice
Location: Grandma Kita's Abode, San Francisco, California, Earth
Timeline: MD 19 :: 1930 Hrs

ON

After his run in with the Betazoid, Keval was still feeling, well he couldn't quite describe how he felt. There were equal amounts of anger, guilt, remorse, fear, and regret.

Talking with the Counselor really hadn't done much good or change how he was feeling. Not sure exactly what he should do he had gone out for a 10 K run, then come back and showered.

It was almost 2100 when he left his home, his white hair still damp and a bit more spiky than usual. His damaged antennae was growing and was almost halfway back to normal. He wasn't dressed fancy, just navy sweat pants and a navy and gold rugby shirt .

He needed to talk with someone, someone who might understand. Asahi had mentioned he was going to be staying with his grandmother in San Francisco and the Andorian had been able to find her address. It hadn't been that hard

He'd considered walking, but it was just a little far after his earlier run. So he had taken a hoover-cab to her home. By the time he found himself at Asahi's doorstep his hair was fully dry, or close enough, but was still spiky. He ran a hand through his hair trying to control it, not sure if he had been successful or just made it worse. He then rang bell and hoped that other man was there.

As soon as Keval rang the bell, a bang echoed through the innards of the home. "Was that the doorbell!?" Smoke could have easily been seen through the door's window, followed by the clear-shape of Asahi waving his arms in a frantic attempt to remove the offending smog. "Oh goddamnit it was! Grandma, I said there was something in the doorbell!" The expletives that followed were not in Federation Standard, but instead in Denobulan, and continued as Asahi swung open the door and waved his hand to fend off any offending smoke. His mussed hair and clothes seemed to indicate that he had been working on some sort of project, and if that didn't give it away, the large, black mark across his forehead did.

He beamed at the sight of Keval, as if absolutely nothing was wrong. "Hey, lookit who came to visit. Just in time for uhm... I dunno what. Come on in!"

A small genuine smile played at Keval's lips as he slowly shook his head. He had been wondering how to greet the other man. They really weren't quite familiar enough for a kiss and a hand shake would have been far to formal and cold.

But as soon as he saw Asahi's forehead he knew what to do. He put four fingers in his mouth, ran his blue tongue across them, then stepped a little closer pulled them out of his mouth and began trying to wipe the smudge away.

They were now only about a foot a part. when he did so and he was surprised as he realized that part of him wanted to close the distance and go in for a kiss. But he just couldn't bring himself to do it, not after what had happened with Ellsworth. He pulled back then to see if he'd been successful in removing the unwanted spot.

"You okay?" Keval asked.

The offending spot had merely been smeared further across Asahi's face, something the engineer didn't seem to mind. The blush on his cheeks told a slightly different story, but he didn't elaborate. "Yeah, I'm cool. Don't mind the mess. Grandmother's got an odd power hook up, and I'm trying to figure out why it's not powering the central heating like it's supposed to." He gave a gruff snort, glancing back as another bang sounded through the house.

"I'm pretty sure the whole place runs on tribble feed, the way it's been breaking down." Shaking his head, he gestured for Keval to follow him inside. "Come on in, seriously. I hope you don't mind me working while we're talking. I'm afraid this place'll blow sky high if I leave something unattended too long."

"No, I don't mind," Keval replied scratching the top of his head. "I've just done something incredibly stupid and thought you'd understand. Wait a minute that didn't come out the way I intended it to.

"I've done something that seemed so right at the time and kind of blew up in my face and I don't know how to fix it. I was hoping you could help."

As he led the Andorian inside, Asahi smiled. "I'll see what I can do, though if the warp core exploded, I may not be so understanding." He chuckled. "But I'll be as understanding as I can be? What's up?"


"It has nothing to do with the ship. It's personal. I went out the other night to Midnight Sun, just to have a drink and watch some jazz. Then this Betazoid walked in.

We started chatting, then we danced and then we went back to a booth in the back... He wound up coming back to my place. I mean its been more than a year since I've hooked up with anybody.

To make a long story short we wound up fucking each other. He wound up leaving in the middle of the night.

I don't even know how that happened, or why I let it happen. I'm Mr. Romance, Mr. Relationship, Mr. Right. Not Mr. Right Now." his voice trailed off.

Despite Asahi's attentiveness, at the use of the swear, he immediately whipped around to look for any prying ears. "... Let's get downstairs, before grandma overhears and has a fit." He ushered the upset Andorian down into the basement, where pieces of a blown up furnace had been strewn about here and there. He sat Keval down at the bottom stair, before turning to begin his work again.

"... So what you're saying is you got into a one-night stand and he's just wandered off like it was nothing?"

"Exactly, I mean I guess I should have known better. Meeting a guy in a bar and taking him back to your place isn't exactly the set up for a long term relationship. But still I don't know... I expected something more.

It did mean something to me. As crazy as that sounds. I mean I'm not really into casual sex and I almost never bottom. I just did it because he told me some story about the a rent-boy on Risa and how he was always taken advantage of. I did it because I felt sorry for him.

And he just left. Just left. Like you said, like it was nothing."

Asahi's brow rose at the story. "... You know... and don't take this the wrong way when I say it, but it sounds like he played you for a fool." Hands on his hips, the engineer furrowed his brow. "This is why I never deal with Betazoids... they understand emotions way too well. Tch..."

"Yeah, I know that is exactly how I feel, I was played for a fool. I feel like the one that was used I..." he paused then looked into Asahi's eyes as a thought came to him. "Uhh, not to change the subject but something just popped into this brain of mine. A few minutes ago, when we were upstairs and I tried to wipe away the smudge on your face, you blushed. Care to tell me why?"


Asahi immediately turned his attention to the work again, breaking the eye contact Keval attempted to get out of him. "... Reasons." He cleared his throat. "Touching mostly. I'm not really a tactile guy unless uhm... certain things are happening."

"And you know what else pisses me off. Nothing to do with the Betazoid really. It's my own damn fault I didn't even know him and slept with him and I like you and we haven't even kissed."

At this, the engineer found himself at a loss of words. That was... quite a bit to take in all at once. "... Uhm..." He paused, blinking a few times. ".... What?"


Keval was pretty certain what Asahi had meant about certain things but he wasn't going to ask. "I mean we've become friends over the past weeks and that's great, but I'm thinking that I'm starting to like you in a different way. Maybe, uh, you know romantically?"

Asahi was taken aback by this, uncertain how to answer. He let the words sink in, blinking rapidly, before he finally opened his mouth. "....... What?"

"You're a nice guy, and cute too. Like I said, the whole thing with Ellsworth was a fluke. I really am a relationship oriented kind of guy. I mean when I'm around you I feel like I don't know, I like I was 14 and don't know what I'm doing.

If you don't feel the same, I understand and i'm okay with it. But what I'm saying is.... well what I'm saying is can we uh, you know, date?"

"I ahm..." Asahi had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, as if something extremely awkward were about to happen. As if it wasn't awkward enough already... "I'm... This is pretty sudden, Keval." He leaned up against the wall, fighting back the urge to blush four shades darker than he already was. "... I mean, I can't say I'm feeling that same interest, not yet anyways. We've only gone out once." Giving the thought a pause, he smiled weakly.

"I'm not really saying no either though. I'm just... slower than a lot of people, I think."

"Yeah, I understand Asahi, sometimes I come on too strong too quickly. Let's just turn it back a notch. Hang out, be friends, go out some. We can always talk about this later.

Just the next time. you bring it up. Until you do I settle for just being friends."

Asahi smiled tentatively, placing a reassuring hand on the Andorian's shoulder. "Of course. I'd like that. We'll see what happens. So long as we don't end up in a weird time vortex, we've got time for it."

"Umm, this is the Galileo we just ran into the Borg and a race that can say resistance is futile my ass. Be careful what you wish for."

The engineer paused for a long second, before he shook his head. "You bring up a good point." He laughed. "But if there's a time vortex involved, I call dibs on the toga."

"Well you would look good in a toga." Keval commented, "Thanks for letting me rant. Next time I'll bring some beer to cry in."

"... Now I'll have to try it out on the holodeck." Asahi mulled it over in his head. "... Maybe there's some big battle scene I could run in the middle of. Who knows... And you better bring some to share." The engineer nodded adamantly.

"I'd like that. But an Andorian in a Toga? I don't know about that, but hey I'm willing to try anything once."

"Greco-Roman themed simulations aren't that difficult to concoct. Just depends on how dramatic we want our scene." Asahi already had the program specs running in his head, as if he had already done this sort of thing many times before. "But... we're not gonna get any of that sort of thing done here. That'd be too much for the poor house to handle on it's alternative bio-matter or whatever it is Grandma insists to have this place on..." He shook his head, shrugging. "We should get you out of here before she asks weird questions."

"Yeah good night," Asahi, I will see you tomorrow or whenever we get a chance to run that simulation."

OFF

Lieutenant Asahi Kita
Asst. Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

&
CPO Keval Grayson
Ops
USS Galileo

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