What You Want and What You Need

Posted on 23 Aug 2013 @ 6:54am by Commander Andreus Kohl & Petty Officer 1st Class Victarion Jaqen

1,768 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 04 - Exodus
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 2, LT Kohl's Quarters
Timeline: MD -01 - 2211 hours

[ON]

Victarion smiled gently as he rang the chime, waiting for the man to answer. Rather than wearing his uniform, he wore dark trousers with a dark top. He wanted to look good. It was vanity, he knew it. And sometimes, being vain was good. He was excited about seeing Kohl again, to catch up...to talk, properly. He wanted to feel the warmth of the man and the memories of their childhoods.

On the other side of the bulkheads, Andreus said, "Come," to trigger the doors.

Bare feet carried Andreus Kohl in his languid stroll towards the doors. His long legs were clad in medical teal boxer-briefs that hugged his thighs. Since his uniform jacket was abandoned across the coffee table behind him, Andreus was only wearing his uniform's high-collared tunic, and it was open down the front. Once Andreus reached the doorway, he raised both hands over his head to grip the top of the doorframe. Noticing Victarion's shy smile, Andreus was inspired to grin brilliantly and say, "Hello you."

Victarion arched an eyebrow, watching him openly. "Hello back," he said as he couldn't help but glance over his body. One of those things. He wasn't ashamed of it. "You look good," he said softly, with awe.

Tilting his head to the left, Andreus twisted his lips in a show of consideration and confusion. "We, all of us, look good," Andreus said with quiet conviction. Holding the overhead doorframe tighter, Andreus leaned forward and shared a wicked grin with Victarion. "What you meant to say," Andreus said, "Is that I look desirable. To you."

"Yes," he said and arched an eyebrow at Kohl. "But you also know that you are a desirable man to many. So do not be surprised and let me come in?"

Andreus met Victarion's eyes with his own sapphire blues. In a lyrical manner, Andreus replied, "My home is your home." He pushed off from the doorframe and he stepped back. He swept his arm across the threshold to invite the younger man in.

He smiled as he walked in, looking around briefly before meeting his eyes, smiling to Kohl. "You have done well...a good position, respect..."

"I can't explain it," Andreus remarked, as if he were embarrassed by the attributes. He smiled sheepishly as he spoke, and he rubbed the back of his neck. "You wouldn't have thought so well of me if you'd met me a year ago. I was still learning my trade, struggling through the beginning of my second career. Old for an ensign."

"Well, age does not matter that much," Victarion said firmly, reaching to touch his arm. "You have done well. I am proud of you...not that my opinion should matter to you."

"Your opinions have always reached me favourably," Andreus replied, and now it was his turn to speak in a diffident timbre. "You know that," Andreus said. He stared at Victarion --stared right at him-- there was truth and lies behind his eyes. The sentiment was true enough, but their opinions had often been at odds in their youth. Andreus tilted his head and then he backed towards the sofa. He draped himself over one side of it, laying one arm across the sofa back. "I never understood how we were able to think so alike at times," Andreus remarked. "You weren't raised in the Federations ways, like I was."

Victarion smiled as he moved to look around, touching things with warmth before getting himself a drink. "No, I was raised in the temples..." he said and shook his head, grinning. "And I suppose we always did have something in common...we were always dreamers. You are a dreamer...I like it..." he moved to grab some cushions and placed them on the floor, draping himself back over them with warmth. "I like your things. It is so nice to see where you have been...you collect things from it. Like memories you can hold."

"You're sitting on a little piece of Bactricia," Andreus said. He swept out a hand to indicate Victarion atop the cushions. "You'll find their silks have a texture unlike any you've known."

He smiled as he nodded, reaching to caress it. "It is beautiful...everything in here is beautiful, you know..." he met his eyes with meaning, blushing as he let out a soft breath. Like when he had been younger, Kohl made him blush just by watching him.

Were Victarion any other man, Andreus would have said something direct to accept the compliment. Instead, this handsome reminder of his past was transforming Andreus into a sixteen-year-old all over again. "I don't remember you being so boastful," Andreus said tauntingly. He grinned at Victarion wickedly, and then he said, "Why are you sitting all the way over there?"

He smiled as he moved over to him, easily, stretching his body out as he ended up practically resting his head against him. "Good question...I prefer being closer, you know..."

Moving gently, as if the younger man were made of delicate crystal, Andreus brought his arm down around his shoulders. When Victarion's head came to rest of Andreus' shoulder, Andreus came to hold Victarion more firmly. "You haven't come this close since that last solstice gala," Kohl said fondly. Once could hear the smile in his words. "Did you ask me to dance, or was it vice versa?"

"I asked you," he said and met his eyes, touching his leg as he smiled. "I stuttered. I was so nervous..." he said as he met his eyes, arching an eyebrow. "Strange, really. I...was far more fragile back then."

"I guess I gave you strength. Or confidence. You borrowed some of mine," Andreus said. It came out as a stream-of-consciousness, and he didn't slow down to consider if any of it made much sense. He studied the young man even more closely. "Tell me then, what pulled you into the claws of Starfleet?"

He smiled as he shook his head, nodding as he closed his eyes. "Curiosity," he said softly. "I wanted to prove them all wrong. I can organise. Yes, I...I am a pacifist. But Starfleet is exploration, not war."

Andreus closed his eyes too, leaning his head back against the upholstery of the sofa. With one arm curled around the younger man's shoulders, he reached over with his other hand to stroke the side of Victarion's face. As he did so, Andreus asked, "Who did you want to prove wrong?"

Victarion chuckled as he leant into the touch, smiling at it. "Everyone. They say we cannot be organised. And I was told I belonged to the priesthood, to the gods. As if I will ever be chained down by the wishes of the men and women there."

Andreus was quiet for a heartbeat and then he opened his eyes. He didn't let go of Victarion, though, when he asked, "You wouldn't go back? If they needed you?" There was stark surprise in his voice, but it was quiet.

Victarion frowned, his hand idly stroking over Kohl's thigh as he considered his answer carefully. "If they truly needed me...I would do what was best for my people. Any man would."

There had been a tension throughout Andreus' body that must have communicated through his touch. But when Andreus heard that answer, his muscles slackened, he melted against the other man again. "I think I would too," Kohl whispered. And then he said, "Do you still talk to anyone back home?"

"Not really," he said as he met his eyes, searching them for a long moment as he smiled. "Do you?" he asked, feeling the way he had relaxed. A good answer then.

"No, I don't either," Andreus said and he shook his head. He gave Victarion a squeeze and planet a small kiss on the side of his head. "I did run into Efren when Galileo crashed on Vega Colony. He was on 'vacation' from home," Andreus said. At that last part, his tone grew mocking; he could never understand why hedonists on a pleasure planet would need vacation. The very notion had been imported by the Federation.

Victarion was the one to tense at the name of Efren, a slight frown coming to him. He remembered Efren well. And he hadn't liked the way Kohl had been when he had been with him. It had all been about what Efren liked. And any conversation had been twisted towards him, so that even when you spoke to Kohl alone it felt like the shadow of another man was standing behind you. "I am sure your reunion was quite rewarding," he said, his voice almost distant.

"I wouldn't call it a reunion, exactly," Andreus said. He could feel the change in Victarion's body more than he noticed any shift in his tone of voice. Andreus didn't let go of him. "It was a vague hello on a beach. He still has the body of a seventeen year old, but he's lost the light behind his eyes."

"Well, at least he will always be beautiful..." Victarion breathed, frowning. He had never liked Efren. He had thought his spirit was ugly, regardless of how beautiful the man had been. So what did it make him? To feel such jealousy? He did not own Kohl, he had never been with him. He shifted, awkwardly, the frown deepening further.

Feeling the shifting against his side, Andreus did nothing but kiss the side of Victarion's head again. He still didn't let go. "He's not here with me," Kohl whispered into Victarion's wavy hair.

He nodded gently, his hand going to slide over his chest. He tilted his head up, watching Kohl's eyes. "Good," he whispered, before leaning to gently kiss him on the lips.

Andreus welcomed the kiss, returning it in kind. He brought his hand to the side of Victarion's face and held him there to kiss him more forcefully, but only for a few heartbeats. Andreus lead back, only a little, to get a good look at Victarion. "You remembered," Andreus said.

Victarion met his eyes, smiling at that. "I have a good memory," he said before taking a deeper breath. "Can I stay here tonight? We don't have to do anything, I just...I just want to hold you, Andreus. I missed you."

"Yes," Andreus said slowly, but definitively. He held onto Victarion and he said, "Yes, you need to stay."


OFF:

Petty Officer 2nd Class Victarion Jaqen~
Yeoman
USS Galileo
(NPCed by Amynta Markos)

&

Lieutenant Andreus Kohl
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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