The Naked, Shot and Tossed in a Hall Club

Posted on 25 Feb 2018 @ 7:28pm by Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant & Lieutenant JG Gideon Nicols PhD

3,458 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: USS Hathaway - Arboretum
Timeline: MD 92 - 1210 hours

Previously on "Families Who Play Together..."

On Earth, a few weeks ago...

"Go to your room and don't speak back to your elder!" Lirha quipped back at Nesh in their native Yrevish tongue. "If mother saw this..." she admonished as she pulled her phaser free and pointed it between the two unclothed intruders. "I will not tell you again. Get. Out."

Sticking with Federation Standard, Lake stammered out, "Nesh, I, uh, I, I don't know about this." --As much as he directed his statement to Nesh, his eyes remained on Lirha's phaser, studying the way she gripped it, the body language of her outstretched arm, the way she held her shoulders, her postures; really, he was looking for any indication she was about to hit the trigger-- "I never consented to electro-play," Lake said. He put down his glass.

"Damn it Lirha!, put that down." Nesh shouted at her sister. How dare she show up and ruin everything when she refused to take part with Nesh's life.

The mention of electrical fetish play was enough to send the older Orion over the edge, and there was no way she'd allow Nesh to partake in such an aberration. Her other hand quickly reached out and pressed a button combination on the phaser to set it to wide-beam stun. And then she fired, sending a wash of orange phased energy particles through both of the two naked men.

Much like Gideon, Lake never even had time to dodge or even react to the event. Even for all his watchfulness over Lirha's behaviour, it wasn't as if he could move faster than a nadion particle beam. As soon as the orange light washed over him, Lake's legs gave way beneath him and he crumpled to the floor. Inadvertently, Lake took the bottle of Romulan Ale crashing with him, leaving a jagged and soggy mess on the hardwood.

And now, another tale on another day...


[ON]

Sat on the floor with legs crossed, Lake ir-Llantrisant was holding still. His boots were off and his uniform jacket was open down the front. The Romulan's eyes were closed, while the heels of his palms were pressed deep against his temples. When he closed his eyes, he could imagine the face of his dead ex-husband, and then when he opened his eyes, he could still see the same thing in his mind's eye. Quiet, quiet, the lack of cadets in this compartment meant quiet for Lake. If only the noise in his head would silence by something as prosaic as changing the four walls that surrounded him.

The arboretum aboard the Constellation-class Hathaway wasn't the fully immersive parkland to be found aboard modern starships. The deck was unadorned, grey deck-plating, the flora was housed in large designated planters, and said flora provided a beautifully diverse array of colours and textures and scents throughout the compartment. If anything, the blandly industrial architecture of the arboretum enhanced the visage of the flora, and now the fauna, to be found within.

There were two things that Gideon Nicols missed most, first was starship life. Second, and this was the more important one, was the labs. He spent a lot of time outside of a lab and had jumped at the chance to go to Ryn. It had been nice to be back in his element, and here on the Hathaway he got to be back in the labs and be an instructor to cadets. This was why he was heading into the arboretum. He not only wanted to see what the Hathaway had in the way of flora and fauna, but he also wanted to take in the beauty.

He didn't expect much as he walked in, there were pops of color all around him which was a contrast to the gray deck and bulkheads that ensconced the compartment. Gideon walked about, admiring and touching the flowers and plants, a smile slowly spreading on his lips. He then spotted a man sitting on the deck, and honestly was a bit surprised to see Lake on board. His cheeks grew hot at seeing the Romulan male again and there was a part of him that felt embarrassed.

Gideon approached slowly. "Lake?" he said, his voice soft so as to not startle the other man.

Drawing a deep breath in, Lake's chest visibly rose. When he breathed out, he made a soft, "Hmm," sound. With his eyes still closed, Lake tilted his head back. "Mister Gideon," Lake said languidly, and just saying the word brought a satisfied smile to his lips. He opened his eyes to take in the sight of the broad man towering over him. "Master of geophysics, here to educate our impressionable cadets."

Gideon took in the other man, seeing Lake like this seemed like a whole new experience. Maybe because the nude Lake is burned into your memory to pull up when needed, he mused to himself. "That's my hope, anyway," he replied. He felt a bit awkward, mostly because he was standing over the other man, he towered over him. He also felt like he was intruding on the man's private time, yet it was the arboretum, a public place. It was also surreal to see Lake all these weeks later. Once they had parted ways after the 'incident', they hadn't seen each other. Not that he expected too, in hindsight he wasn't sure what to expect.

Given the stresses Lake had been internalizing because of all the changes in his life, he was lacking in his usual capacity to speak in florid flourishes and purple prose. He was inclined to stay aloud what both he and Gideon were thinking. Lake reached a hand out to Gideon, silently asking for a hand-up, when what he said instead was, "It's been too long since we woke up naked and sexually frustrated in a hallway together, and now I find you here of all places. ...Was it something I said?"

Taking a hold of Lake's hand within his own, Gideon helped the other man to his feet. He often thought back to that night, the good and bad of it. It was totally uncharacteristic of him to do what he did, yet once he got nude with Lake, he had relaxed. Where the embarrassment came was the fact he got shot, while naked, and tossed into a hallway. "No, no..." Gideon began, he shook his head. "Nothing like that."

Leaning in close to Gideon's chest, Lake whispered a, "Thank you," for the hand up, and then he took a small step back. He looked to Gideon expectantly, thinking he might have more to say, but the pause between them conceived asexually and became pregnant with unspoken thoughts. Snickering to himself a little wickedly, Lake said, "I'd suggest a reunion, but I heard Admiral Saalm has been sentenced to prison." --He didn't say anything for a heartbeat, and then-- "Couldn't have happened to a nicer lady, huh?"

"Yeah..." Gideon rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Super nice, so nice in fact that I'm still sore from where the particle beam hit." He allowed a moment to pass as he collected his thoughts. "I did want to contact you, I should have... getting naked, getting shot, and being tossed in a hall kind of bonds people ya know." He added a small smile, it was a smile that was genuine and not forced. "I guess I just didn't know how to say hello."

Even as he did so, Lake supposed it might appear facile, but that didn't stop himself from raising the palm of one hand and waving at Gideon. He waved broadly enough, as if Gideon was on another deck, even though they were standing closely enough that Lake could catch the natural scent of Gideon's skin. "Hello," Lake said blithely, hoping it would appear more cute than facile. He followed up with, "Would you like to share a sandwich with me?"

Gideon smiled at the question. The hello thing had reminded him of a movie that he once saw during a movie night when he served on the Archer-A. He had certainly gotten the point, in that he could have called and said hello at any time. However, Gideon knew he wasn't very good at these things. He recalled his disastrous date with Naz and how he took a leap of faith and faltered, though this was different, he and Lake had a history, albeit a short one. "Sure, I'd like that," he replied.

Appreciatively, Lake nodded at Gideon, while he said something archaic in Romulan than the UT spat out as, "Ginchy." Bending down, Lake scooped up the small metal box he had left on the area of the floor where he had been sitting. The lip of the thick circular planter in the middle of the room looked thick enough to be intended as casual seating. Lake sat himself down on the stone edge and placed his lunchbox down beside him. He patted the free space on his other side, indicating that Gideon should should join him.

"What is it for you? What fuels you to put on that uniform every day?" Lake asked, as he opened the lunchbox. "The duty or the adventure?"

Ginchy? Gideon couldn't even begin to know what that could have meant, so he just brushed it off and smiled. He followed Lake and when it was indicated where he should sit, he obliged. "Both I suppose," Gideon answered, after he gave the question a few moments of thought. "I've known I've wanted to be in Starfleet since I was ten years old. As a ten year old wannabe scientist, I saw my Starfleet mom go out on adventures and I figured I could do the same. Plus, I loved mucking around in the dirt, I figured it would be fun to muck around in the dirt of an alien planet." It wasn't often he shared much about himself, he wasn't one to let his guard down...but when you have been naked with someone, walls tend to come down. "What about yourself?" he asked.

While his thoughts spiraled into the comedy of errors that was his education, Lake said, "Ohhhh." He elongated the vowel in a musical progression that spiraled down similarly to his thought process. "It's the duty that dresses me in this uniform every day. The guilt," Lake said. Hanging his head down, he sounded resigned by his admission; it wasn't the sort of sexy answer one might expect from a Security or Command officer. It wasn't even all that common among the medicos. Lake handed Gideon half of his sandwich --featuring a Vulcanoid form of domesticated fowl on a potato focaccia-- as he shared, "I owe Starfleet for believing in me, for educating me in the ways of medicine. The organization, what it believes in, has earned my servitude."

Gideon took the half of sandwich that was handed to him. He gave it a quick glance before taking an experimental bite. It tasted like... chicken perhaps? There were a couple of things that stuck out for Gideon as he listened to the explanation. First, the guilt, and second was that Lake felt like he owed Starfleet. He thought about his own experience with Starfleet, he never felt like he owed the organization. Maybe it was because he always felt like he wanted to be apart of Starfleet, due in part because his mother was. It certainly made him think. "Why guilt?" he asked once he chewed and swallowed.

"I wasn't raised to revere Starfleet," Lake explained, after a though-soaked pause. He looked Gideon in the eyes when he said it, but he found he couldn't sustain the intimacy of the visual exchange for long. He looked away for the sake of looking away, and then he looked at his sandwich to try to be less obvious about it. "I was taught to consider Starfleet through a lens of contempt and pity and unspoken fear," Lake admitted. Trust had always been a wild horse in Lake's stable; he trusted no one by nature, but once that first crack of trust was let in, the entire floodgates were open. "And I still came to Starfleet on my knees, as a refugee, and I begged it to teach me everything it knows."

Lake tilted his head to one side, looking to Gideon again. "That's no healthy way to start a relationship," Lake said.

Gideon listened to each word carefully, even forgoing another bite of his sandwich so he could listen. "Oh, I don't know about that," Gideon began. "You were a refugee and you needed help and Starfleet was there to pick you up and help you. I think vulnerability opens us up to possibilities we wouldn't normally pursue or remotely consider." He offered a small smile, a smile that was sympathetic and understanding.

Accepting that look from Gideon, but also accepting that opening, Lake asked, "And what possibilities are you blocking your own self from considering?" He took another bite of his sandwich, giving Gideon time to chew on the question while Lake chewed on the sandwich. "We find ourselves on a temporary posting," Lake said, "That puts us in a transitory state in our careers and relationships."

Now that's a tough one. Or is it? Gideon didn't say anything right away, despite opening his mouth to speak, nothing came out. Lake certainly had a way with making him think. At first he was going to say nothing, that nothing was really blocking him from anything, yet... there were probably about a hundred things or more doing so. "I've never been on a temporary posting before, all of my assignments have been long-term. There is something that was comforting and stable about that. A temporary assignment just seems a bit unsettling to me. There is no chance to really settle into a job, no chance to really get to know anyone..." Gideon looked off, his blue/gray eyes focused on a plant that was climbing the bulkhead. The flowers on it were purple tipped, but an angry red in the center. He recognized the blooming plant right away as coming from the Falker system. The flower, when plucked at the height of the season was good for helping those with minor burns.

"I don't uh, I don't really know," Gideon finally said. "I suppose I've always been my own worst enemy in a lot of regards. I try very hard not to be vulnerable in front of others, and maybe that is because people have made assumptions about me from the moment I shot up to a six foot five inch broad shouldered man." He shrugged lightly and shook his head. Some assumed he was some brute security officer, some assumed he didn't have a thought in his head, and some were surprised how educated he was and the field of study that he was in. It had been tough to overcome those stereotypes. Then there were the tattoos and the muscles which just added to the stereotype. "Someone once told me that I just screamed 'reserved' and that I wasn't an approachable type. That has stuck with me I suppose and has dug a deep trench in my psyche that has yet to loosen."

Frowning softly with his eyes on the down, Lake said, "That can be deeply frustrating --not to mention restraining-- when the perceptions of others shape our perceptions of ourselves." He pursed his lips, as he further considered what Gideon had shared with him. Then he licked his lower lip, and he said, "It can hurt to truly know what others think of us, and it can hurt to recognize our self-perceptions can be so malleable." Lake shook his head, looking off to the side.

Raising his chin, Lake looked at Gideon --looked right at him-- and raised a pair of fingers to poke Gideon's firm chest. "Prove it," Lake said. The way he said it was a challenge, but it was also a tongue-in-cheek taunt. "Prove to me you're not reserved. Right now. Right here."

Gideon's dark brown eyebrows lifted at the challenge. A million thoughts went through his head, and a million more ideas came to mind to 'prove it'. But only one stuck out. He figured nothing would come of it, but he was going to prove to Lake he wasn't reserved. Oh, what the hell, he thought to himself and without any type of warning, leaned in and captured Lake's full lips with his own.

Lake's whole body softened against Gideon; he leaned into the large-framed man like a puppet cut free from his strings. To Lake, it nearly felt like all of the nerve endings in his body turned off, except for the ones in his lips. He kissed Gideon back and all of the force of his senses were focused on just his lips, and Gideon's lips. Really, Lake wasn't going to miss out on this opportunity and he reached out to hold onto Gideon by the side of the neck, so he could kiss him harder without the scientist escaping.

Gideon didn't expect the kiss in return, in fact he had fully expected to be pushed away and possibly even punched. He certainly didn't expect Lake to lean into him, and he certainly didn't expect the hands on the side of his neck to keep him from pulling away. The kiss deepened with passion and Gideon managed to place his sandwich down--which he couldn't believe he was still holding--and wrapped his arms around the other man.

The Romulan's grip melted down the side of Gideon's neck and found its way to the boulders that were Gideon's shoulders. Lake gave them a good squeeze and allowed his curious hands to make their way down Gideon's chest. However, Lake was still mindful of their surroundings, and the possibility of being walked-in-on by students. He stopped his hands from venturing further down than Gideon's abdomen. Pulling away from the kiss, Lake still kept his body close. "Hm," he vocalized with surprise, and he licked his own lower lip. "Nailed it. Not reserved at all."

One corner of Gideon's lips drew up into a slight smirk. "Sometimes it's nice to throw caution to the wind and just forget the old adage of looking before leaping," he replied. His arms were still around Lake's waist and he had no intention of letting go, at least not yet. Feeling this close to someone was quite nice. "I wouldn't mind doing that again, but maybe..." his gaze wandered before falling back onto Lake, "some place a bit more private."

While kissing presented a definitively sexual image to any passerby, Lake was able to rationalize to himself that his physical closeness to Gideon was collegial. It was team development, perhaps, or crew bonding. Pressing his body against Gideon --practically sitting in his lap-- Lake could feel his skin revolting against the thick fabric of their uniforms creating barriers between them.

"I wouldn't have minded doing that since I met you at the art gallery," Lake said, his head tilted back slightly to consider Gideon's eyes. "Right now," Lake said, nodding twice, "I needed it."

If Gideon was going to be honest with himself, he knew he needed it as well. There was something about Lake, he could feel it the very first time their eyes met. He knew now that it was something, but he recalled how the moment his gaze met with Lake's, his heart beat ramped up just a few extra beats. He knew he wanted to know more, and they ended up in the situation they had ended up in. Now, he had an opportunity to maybe explore what any of this meant, if anything. Instead of responding in words, he held Lake closer and once again pressed his lips to Lake's.

Lake's need didn't mirror Gideon's need. That hunger wasn't exactly the same as what Gideon was feeling. Not exactly. Lake's need was a little more desperate, coming from a darker place that was somewhere outside Lake's consciousness. It was a place steeped in loss, and hatred, but it wasn't clear if that hatred was for other or for self. Lake embraced Gideon's kiss with his entire body --clutched him close-- and lost himself in the singularity of that kiss.


[OFF]

To be continued...?


Lieutenant JG Lake ir-Llantrisant
Chief Counselor
USS Hathaway

Lieutenant JG Gideon Nicols
Chief Research Officer
USS Hathaway

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