Science and Engineering

Posted on 13 Jul 2014 @ 8:20pm by Lieutenant Oren Idris Ph.D. & Lieutenant JG Grayson Jones
Edited on on 13 Jul 2014 @ 8:22pm

2,421 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 2, Mess Hall
Timeline: MD 06 - 0830hrs

[ON]

As an Anthropologist, Oren absolutely adored eating in the Mess Hall and made it a habit to eat all of his meals there. There was something in the air in the Mess that energized him; the sense of community that, even though he didn't usually sit with anyone, made him feel like he was a part of something. Ordering his usual vegetarian sandwich with tomato soup for lunch from the replicator, the El Aurian allowed himself his weekly indulgence in the form of an ice cream sundae covered in cherries and whipped cream. Liking his ice cream to be a little melted before digging in, he ordered it all together before sitting down in a corner that allowed him full view of everyone in the room.

The mess hall was a lot smaller than what the new Assistant Chief Engineer had thought. Sure he had gone over every inch of the schematics, but jeeze it was a lot smaller than he imagined. Mix in the fact he was tired from the long and rather dull trip to the ship, he as of yet had no quarters and still had his bag, left for one mildly irritated Grayson. The tribbles around got him wondering what was going on. Dropping his bag at a vacant table (now vacant as the tribbles that resided there were now on the floor) on one less than far corner of the room, he went to get himself a drink, smiling at crew as he passed (hopelessly trying not to show he wanted a nap).

Because of the aforementioned small size of the Mess, noticing the new arrival wasn't difficult for Oren. His green eyes locked onto him almost immediately (yellow uniforms did that to him for some reason) and followed him as he moved with the line. Seeing him go over to the drinks, Oren suddenly remembered his own empty glass and called out.

"Hey Ensign! You mind getting me a drink while you're there, please? Whatever you're having is fine." He cringed slightly as he felt his voice crack a little at the first exclamation. When was that going to go away? It's been years!

The voice startled Grayson a little, he thought he was a relative ghost in the mess. "S-Sure." He stuttered catching eyes with whom he assumed to be a cadet, or a child of the crew. Dang he was young, he was what, twelve? "Water do you? Or something else?" Grayson called out. He might have been young, but he was hot (Grayson resisted the temptation to hit himself in the back of the head for that thought, court marshals are handed out that way...and prison sentences).

"Water is fine," Oren called back, not caring about the small niggling voice of his grandmother in his mind telling him yelling across a room was impolite.

Grayson walked over with the water, placing it down on the table and in his best, yet forced, cheerful voice responded with, "Here you go."

Taking the water gratefully, Oren motioned to the chair next to him. "Would you like to join me?" he asked, staring up at the uniformed officer.

His gaze made Grayson feel a little flushed for some reason...he blamed the long day. "Sure." He said as he went off to fetch his bag. Returning to the chair, he placed his bag down and offered a hand before he sat down, "Ensign Grayson Jones, newly assigned Assistant Chief Engineer."

"Oren Idris," the other man replied, taking the hand giving it a small shake. "It's a pleasure," he added, finally pulling his sundae in front of himself. "Would you like some?" he asked out of politeness.

"Thanks, but it still is a little early for me. Maybe next time!" Grayson was sure that was an attempt at flirting, he was too tired to hedge his bets and act on it for now. He'd need something more blunt... like what his ex used to do with the cherry...another thing he mentally noted to bring up in a future therapy session. "Are ice cream sundays a usual item on the menu here?" Grayson's handsome counterparts answer would detail his future visits to the gym.

Oren shook his head, "Not really. This is replicated, so it's not exactly as amazing as usual, but I like to indulge once a week. The gymnasium and I are still using the formal You around each other, so I need to watch what I eat," he explained before taking a big spoonful of ice cream and letting out a low moan of pleasure. The first bite was always the best.

Grayson laughed, "I was just thinking I would have to go to the gym more if it was a regular menu item. Sugary things and I agree with each other too much and I like how I am just now to let sugar and I go steady as it were."

Oren chuckled a bit around the spoon before pulling it out. "So, where are you from?" he asked, though noted the slight spotting at Grayson's temples.

"A little bit of here there and everywhere really. Born Earth and travelled a good bit with my father... Federation Ambassador Extraordinaire. Yourself?"

"I was born on Bajor. Spent most of my childhood there," Oren explained briefly. He didn't particularly like discussing much of his history, mostly because there was too much of it to go over and he never knew how much to leave out or which parts to mention.

Sensing the tension, Grayson quickly changed the subject. "How long have you been on the ship?" He didn't bother asking what he did, expcting answers to do with schooling or academy work.

"Only a few days, actually," Oren replied, now poking at his sundae. He observed Grayson for a moment under his eyelashes before speaking. "So, why Engineering?"

"A need to understand how things work." He replied candidly. "If it is mechanical, I have a deep need to know how it works and how to fix it when it goes wrong...and how to stop it going wrong the next time. I like getting my hands dirty." Grayson could feel his flirty, mischievous side rising. He forced it back down out of respect for his seemingly twelve year old guest and his career.

Oren immediately picked up the subtle flirtation and, for some reason that would keep him up the following night, he decided to play with it. Grayson seemed nice, which made him feel almost guilty. Almost. "I've never been good with things like that," Oren admitted with a small shrug. "I'm much better with people. That can get kind of dirty too." He didn't take his eyes off Grayson, but allowed a small, almost coy, smile to grace his features.

He tried not to spit his water out at the shock of the comment and thinks he did so gracefully. "That they can." He stuttered. Being uncharacteristically shy, he wasn't sure what to say next, so just started his usual word drivel, "I know the engineering overalls I have are always getting recycled because of the dirt." He paused and just asked. "What do you do here?" Expecting a schooling based reply.

"I work in Science" Oren replied, his flirty smile still on his face. "Are you okay?" he asked playfully, making sure Grayson knew that Oren had a good idea of what he was feeling at the moment.

"Yeah, just a little tired I guess." Grayson sighed. 'If he didn't seem so young.' he thought. "So are you studying science, or what?"

Oren's eyebrows shot up in surprise momentarily before he managed to school his expression into something more neutral. Suddenly, the hesitation in Grayson's behavior made complete sense. He thought Oren was a teenager!

It wasn't the first time something like this had happened to him and Oren cherished each and every moment like a gift from the fates. It was a golden opportunity and he grasped it with both hands.

"Yeah," he nodded, finishing up his dessert before taking a sip of water. He licked his lips gently before playing with the glass by running a fingertip around the rim. "But this ship can get so boring, there's really no place for fun," he complained, making sure he sounded as much a sullen teenager as possible.

Grayson caught the look of surprise. He cursed in his head, he has said something wrong. The blush on his face was beginning to show his embarrassment, mix this with the fact his eyebrows had now shot up into his hair line, you wouldn't need to have empathic abilities to tell how he was feeling. He couldn't take his eyes away from the blatant flirting going on in front of him, and, was quite frankly making him feel a little hot under the collar.

Deciding this wasn't his usual self though, Grayson decided to waken himself up, get back to his usual self...he knew where to stop...just. His usual confident but slightly arrogant smile came across his face in a forced attempt to awaken his usual personality. "It is a shame there isn't any fun. I usual like a bit of that...may need to be the cause of it here." He awaited to see if Oren would take the bait, and how far.

"Mmm...." Oren mused, finding Grayson's blush to be absolutely adorable. There was something about making someone so flustered so easily that made him feel incredibly good about himself. Not taking the necessary time to wonder what psychological implications that feeling had, Oren decided to play into it.

"I may just need to get in on that fun, then."

' Was that too blatantly sexual?' crossed Oren's mind briefly but he pushed it aside. It was too late now.

Grayson certainly wasn't expecting that. He nearly chocked on his water as he shakily took a sip. For a few seconds he thought he wasn't breathing. It took him by surprise, Grayson half expected Oren to back down at that. Deciding to bite the bullet, he asked, "O.K before things go further, different species, incredibly good skin regime, or actually twelve?" He breathed. "Skin regime would be fine and damned impressive, being twelve I can forgive, but being older and stringing me along would just be cruel." He gave a suggestive and still somewhat flirty eyebrow raise.

Oren deflated when he realised the ruse was over. Sticking his bottom lip out, he slumped back in his seat. "Yes, yes and no," Oren admitted. "And I don't look twelve. By human standards, I'll have you know I look a solid seventeen."

Grayson was relieved a potential court marshal wasn't on the cards if he took things further. "Well, you're a cute human looking seventeen year old when you pout. Even if you sulk a little like one... it's adorable." He smiled. "Let's try this then... tell me about you. What do you do here? If you say your the Captain, XO, Doctor or Counselor...there is now a good chance I will run back to my shuttle and request a transfer." He laughed.

"Well then hand me the PADD and I'll clear it," Oren said jokingly, grinning.

Grayson laughed nervously, knowing or rather... hoping he was kidding.

"I'm kidding," Oren quickly said, holding his hands up. "I'm in science, like I said before. I'm the Anthropologist and Archaeologist."

"Wow, pretty interesting work." Grayson said leaning in. "I guess you are kept pretty busy on the ship then?"

Oren shrugged, leaning back almost instinctively not that his little play was over. "Not particularly. At least not yet. But I guess I should enjoy the time off now because I imagine it won't last long." He smiled. "Right now I'm just doing some independent research. Preparing to, anyway."

His game was over and Grayson could sense the walls going up. He thought it best not to push for now, he was only just on the ship and this was the first person he had spoken to. Wanting things to go well, he also leaned back slightly, knowing this was no longer the time to try. At this moment, he wanted to leave, but couldn't figure out how to do so without looking desperate to leave or running out the room. He wanted to say sorry for spoiling Oren's fun, even if it was at his expense for now. "Well, I hope to read about it one day." He smiled. Shuffling his bag at this feet, he was now getting restless. It was his first day and already he felt like he was messing up.

Oren could sense Grayson's distress and felt guilty for stringing him along. "I'll remember you said when I hand the hundred or so painfully boring chapters over to you." He smiled good-naturedly.

"Well, I could always use a good book before bed." Grayson rather uncomfortably joked.

Noticing how restless the other man was becoming, Oren made a convincing act of checking the time. "Well, my breakfast is over and I need to go get ready for my shift." He couldn't blame Grayson for wanting to run away after the display of childishness he'd put on earlier. "I guess I'll see you around, Grayson. I think you'll fit in." He gave him a reassuring smile, patting his arm gently before standing up to leave.

He wanted to pat his arm back but resisted for now. "It was nice to meet you. I hope I do get to see you around here. At least I have one friendly face around here now." Gaining a little confidence and cockyness back, he smiled a half smile and winked.

Oren returned his smile. "Yeah. If you need anything, feel free to drop by the labs on Deck 4 or call me on the comm," he offered. He was about to finally leave before reconsidering. "Hey. I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to embarrass you," he said, hoping Grayson would be able to tell he was being sincere.

"It is going to make for an interesting story one day." Grayson laughed it off, practically forgetting about it as he said the words.

"I'll remember your said that," Oren said, slipping his hands into his pockets. "And don't forget," he added. "Deck 4. I promise I'll be a totally boring adult next time we meet." He winked.

[OFF]

Oren Idris, Ph.D.
Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Galileo

&

Ensign Grayson Jones
Assistant Chief of Engineering
USS Galileo

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