Stopping and Starting

Nico Caito walked into the house feeling pretty good about things.  Beryl was coming along nicely.  His house designs were mostly finished and sent in for approval.  Now he only had to wait for the bureaucrats to decide which, of any, of his designs to choose.  Knowing how bureaucrats worked, he already had three more designs waiting in the wings.  Just in case. All in all, things were going so well, he could easily go home and fix himself a lunch instead of grabbing one of The Cafe’s bento boxes to eat on the site.

He came in and fixed himself a quick sandwich, poured himself some berry juice and moved to the dining room table with a small grin on his face.  Arroz had been, more or less successfully, training him to eat at the table as opposed to over the sink.  Taking off his hard hat, he dropped it on the table … not all of his young roommates efforts had been easy.

As he sat he noticed a PADD sitting squarely in the middle of the table.  Had to be Arroz’s, as of the two of them only Arroz was that compulsively neat.  They were a study in contrasts.

Seeing his name on the screen, Nico picked up the PADD and began to read … and as he did, his day went from good to worse.  It was a report … about the insurance dweeb that had tried to bribe him …..

Arroz stepped out of the shower, dried himself and slowly dressed in the clothes he had chosen to wear. It was certainly nice to be out of uniform. More comfortable. He tidied the room after himself, glancing out the window. Nothing to do. He smiled. No reports to write, no one to answer to but himself… and the absent parents.  He’d slept hours. He heard a noise from downstairs, probably Nico coming home for lunch, and he was just getting up.  He smiled…. then frowned slightly, reminding himself that if he left Starfleet he would have to be working just as hard if he wanted a successful business. He’d been sketching out some ideas for interior design for the houses he’d seen in various stages of construction on the site of the Beryl Village fire. He grabbed his sketchbook off the art table and ran lightly down the stairs.  Nico was standing there, reading Arroz’s PADD. “Hey,” he said, grimacing slightly at the sight of a dirty hardhat on the dining table. “How was your morning?”

Nico glanced up from the report as he heard a sound.  Most likely Arroz tidying up something.  Then he turned his attention back to the report and read it again.  When Arroz came  happily down the stairs, he looked at him.  “It was fine until I came home to find this.”  he grumbled, dropping the pad on the table.  “You don’t actually plan on FILING this, do you?”  he demanded to know.  “It was nothing, Arroz.  Nothing!”  the last word was punctuated by a flat handed slap on the dining table, causing a bit of the dried mud on the hard hat to flake off on the table.

His happy mood shattered, Arroz grinds to a halt. Breathing slightly faster due to his run down the stairs, he pauses. His mind takes a snapshot of the scene. Nico, dressed in what some might call work clothes, but appear like old gardening clothes to the younger man. Worn in the knees, rips unmended, Nico’s face is dark with anger, the sound of the hand hitting the table still reverberates around them. Behind his roommate, windows open to the sun, the ocean breeze moving the drapery he’d hung there, the floor he’d washed yesterday gleaming in the light. Through the window the sound of children playing on the beach, and even the smell of food from the small kiosk in the sand down the hill from the grand Caitian Embassy. Mixed with that, the faint order of sweat and mud from the man before him. He grinds his teeth slightly, replying, “I wouldn’t file anything without talking to you first.  If I’d known you’d react like this I wouldn’t have taken the time. BUT if you want to actually LISTEN instead of jumping to conclusions, I can tell you that woman is trouble in more ways than one.” He moves over to the table, picking up the hardhat, “DON’T put your muddy CRAP on the furniture. Look at this!” He points to the mud that is on the surface now, then stomps away to the front door, where he tosses the hardhat with a hard bang, on a crate that sits outside the entrance. He turns back, his broad shoulders cutting out at least three quarters of the light.

Nico pauses at the first words out of his roommates mouth.  The kid had a point … Nico knew him better than that now.  He takes in a deep breath and is about to apologize when Arroz snaps at him about the hardhat.  Pinching the bridge of his nose, he inwardly chides himself for his thoughts and his unneat habits, then follows Arroz to the front door, where he is momentarily taken by the silhouette.  “I’m … sorry…”  he ventures.  “For the mud, and for thinking even for a second you’d do something like that.”  he blows out a breath.  He moves forward and past Arroz, the fit a bit tight.  Arroz was shorter but larger, but Nico was taller and thin, but had decently broad shoulders.  He picks up the hardhat and half turns back to Arroz.  Then he realizes he may die if he tries to clean the thing off in the kitchen sink.  “So tell me more about this witch.”  he asks, casually, moving down the front stairs and to the water spigot that is placed for external use like watering the grass … or rinsing off muddy clothes.  “And do you really think anyone will do anything about some bureaucrat trying to bribe me?”  he emphasises me.  “I’m Starfleet.  Might be a tiny bit more … bad ….”  he begins to wash off his hardhat.

Arroz is surprised at how angry he feels with Nico. It’s irritating that there’s mud on the table and that he’s accused of interfering. He struggles to calm himself.. He watches Nico go down the stairs to the tap at the side of the house to wash off his hardhat.  The slim figure bending over the running water holds his gaze.  “Opal has a reputation. She’s a lot like that girl Latte. A maneater. She didn’t just try to bribe you. She offered you sexual favours in return for information. She has half the men in the province wrapped around her little finger. If YOU don’t report it, she might. She might accuse YOU.” He pauses, feeling his emotions morph from anger to worry for his... friend. “She’s trouble. And I don’t think, given my junior position and current status, that I could do anything to help you. Except file an official report about a disturbance on your job site to my Chief of Security so that there is some record of what happened from your point of view, BEFORE anything is received from HER.”  He goes in the house, grabs the PADD, and comes back down, moving down the stairs. Earnestly, his voice low, “If she says it first, anything you say will be suspect. Please let me send it right now, Nico.” His finger hovers over the PADD, ready to press ‘submit’. He’s tempted to do it anyway, he’s so sure he’s right, but he waits for an answer.

Nico washes the hardhat blindly.  His eyes are on Arroz.  When he mentions the sexual favors, he sighs deeply.  “Yea ….”  he whispers.  that had crossed his mind, but he’d ignored it for many reasons.  “And when I didn’t respond to her sexually, she offered me money ….”  he shakes the water off of the hardhat.  It’s a thousand times cleaner than it WAS, but it’s hardly in brand new condition.  He straightens and moves back up the stairs, drying the hardhat on his dirty shirt without thinking. He pauses and leans into Arroz.  “Send it.  I need to find a towel ….”  and he moves back into the house, towards the kitchen and one of the kitchen dishtowels to finish drying off his hardhat.

Arroz presses the screen, watching as the message flashes away and a confirmation of receipt is recorded. Then he goes back in the house, putting the PADD on the table by the door before crossing to the kitchen, where Nico is drying his hardhat with one of his newly hung kitchen towels. “Oh man,” he mutters, “you just are going to drive me crazy, aren’t you?” His voice is a low growl. He could say a lot of things but he just walks up to Nico and puts his hand out. He will take the hardhat, and the towel, if permitted.  He’ll put them down on the counter - a sign that his mind is well on something else. He looks at Nico’s face, then away, his jaw working. “My life was as sterile as I could make it before you arrived in it. Now look at me. Mud on the table, dirt on the floor, lord knows how much bacteria you track in here every time you walk in the door. You use a brand new kitchen towel to wipe off your fucking dirty hat, you leave crumbs everywhere, your clothes are filthy, if you took them off I bet you’d be filthy too;” the litany of complaints is said in a throaty bass and… at the end he smiles wryly to Nico.

Nico allows the towel and hardhat to be taken from him.  With each complaint, he grins a little wider, although he does try and suppress it.  “Arroz.”  he tries to keep the humor out of his voice.  “I am working to rebuild a village.  And I am a ‘hands on’ kinda site supervisor.  So my hands get in the dirt, my knees get in the dirt.  It’s a dirty job.”  he shrugs.  “I’m not as filthy as you make me sound.  Hell ….  you make me sound like Mary Malone, who was a filthy cow who wound up infecting a bunch of people on Earth a million years ago.”  he tries to look insulted.  “Yes, I drop my clothes in a pile before I get in the shower and sometimes … ok .. rarely … pick them up when I dry off.  Then I drop my towel at the foot of my bed before I pick up and change into clean clothes.  And I have seen you stare …..  I have a system.  Clean clothes on top, dirty clothes on the floor.”  he says this as if that should be obvious.  “But …”  he takes a step closer and leans in a bit.  “If you want to make a bet, I’ll strip right now and you will see that the filth ends at collar and cuffs.  My mother’s biggest complaint….”  he is close enough to kiss Arroz, probably and probably would … if a knock didn’t sound at the front door …

Arroz swallows as Nico comes closer. The mingled scent of sweat, mud, and something else entirely manly hits him like a punch in the stomach. The muscles in his legs flex as he takes a step closer, his instincts telling him what Nico wanted. He reaches a muscled arm to touch Nico’s shoulder, unsure if it would be allowed, but wanting to touch. His Adam’s Apple bobs as he links his lips. The space between them is negligible. One small step further and he’d have Nico against the counter, hard. In that brief moment of time, when everything stands still while he decides, a sound is heard. Almost as though woken from a sleep, he blinks, and turns towards it, his arm falling away, moving to the door. A messenger is there, wearing the traditional Astra uniform of a page. From the Council?  He speaks briefly to the boy and takes the missive, a piece of parchment made from fine Astra rice. Turning, he strides back to the kitchen counter, tearing off the ribbon that holds the cylinder together. Glancing at it, he realizes he is mistaken. “It’s for you,” he says to Nico, still reading.

=====ORDER=====
Beryl Station Officer IFR: Bues Yretta
Chief Superintendant APF: Tamor Seirots
Group Captain ADF: Sitruk Nevat
Head, Astra Civilian Authority: Mr Lazuli Pookara
LTjg Nico Caito, Civilian Engineer
Beryl Supervisor Girpoz Stleew
Colony Commander Poison Toocool

BERYL  VILLAGE

Effective immediately all work on the site of Beryl Village shall cease by order of Magistrate Kcods Guma, Arbitrator of Iherzolite Province North. Nothing is to be removed from the area, including building materials and machinery. Additional security will be provided by APF in coordination with Starfleet Security. No one without proper authorization from this office is to enter the area until investigations by police, fire and insurance are concluded.  So ordered this day 00h00m00.0000 Astra.

Signed:
Kcods Guma,
Provincial Magistrate
Iherzolite
=====END=====

Arroz looks up after reading the message text aloud in disbelief.  Only a few minutes after he’d sent that note to his Chief, too.. “Fuck me,” he says.

Nico was all ready for this … he wanted this … he NEEDED this ….  and then the knock comes and it is like a bucket of water, separating them …..  Arroz reads it aloud and his whole body goes cold.  He moves to Arroz and takes the missive and reads it with his own eyes.  “That ……”  he begins and growls low in his throat.  “Fuck!”  he screams and, lucky for he and Arroz, throws he only thing he is holding …. the missive … which flutters to the ground at a whole quarter of a meter away from him.   He trods over it, marching away and then back, and then away again.  “I’m out of work!”  he growls, more to himself than to Arroz.  He marches around the couch and paces there before he turns towards the fireplace, growls at it and places his hands on the mantel, his head bowed in defeat, slowly moving back and forth.

Nico’s shout rings through the room and Arroz leans on the kitchen counter, bowled over by his emotions. The past few minutes have been a blur. He’d suspected Opal would get up to mischief, just because she could. He is also intrigued by the idea that someone is trying to hide evidence at the site of the fire.  He looks at Nico’s back. He’s known the man since Nico’s friend Slate Talc was found dead. It’s not Nico, he was just doing what he was told.  A host of names come through his mind.  He wants to talk to Nico, find out who ordered him to work in the village, who said what and when.  He moves towards him, but instead of asking him anything, he reaches out a hand. He wants to turn Nico to face him. He wants to hold him, and tell him it will be okay. His fingers will land gently on Nico, if allowed. After that… his mind goes blank. Half strong and secure, offering support. Half trembling on the edge of something new.

Arroz’s hand on him is felt .. gentle and tentative … Have I scared him?  he wonders.  At first he doesn’t move, just keeps shaking his head.  “I’m sorry, Arroz.”  his voice is gruff.  “I know this sounds stupid, but .. I’ve been hiding in this job for a couple weeks now.  Hiding .. trying to heal from my friends death and my blindness at not being able to know it was going to happen …”  a rational part of him understands there was nothing he could have done, but another part … a more powerful part …  had him feeling as guilty as if he’d poisoned the boy himself.  “I LIKE being busy.  LOVE working with my hands … so when the Counselor suggested I do this job I jumped at it.  No matter what I tell anyone else but YOU.”  he takes in a deep breath and takes one hand off the mantel. to put it on his shoulder over Arroz’s, if allowed.  Taking it off his shoulder he turns now to face his roommate.  Moving the hand from his shoulder to his own waist, he places it there and moves his own hand, as if to caress the younger mans face.  “You’re saving my life, you know….”  he whispers but stops short, not touching him.  His hands are much cleaner after washing the hardhat, but .. with Arroz it was better to be safe than sorry ….  but he leans in again, as he had before the missive that knocked him on his ass.  This time, if he is allowed he will ‘complete the circuit’ and kiss the younger man.

Arroz starts as Nico’s hand lands on top of his. An electric shock runs through him as the man turns to face him. Nico reaches his fingers to touch Arroz’ cheek… the electric pulses are coursing now… nervous, jangling. His heart is beating loud. Despite his pentient for cleanliness and his dislike of germs (blame the required Science classes at Academy), he is also proud. He will take the first step. He leans into Nico, brushing the man’s lips with his own. He steps over the brink, but he is not falling. Someone is there to hold him.

=^=

Untidy Lunch

Arroz Arum: delves deep into the box, looking for more books. The shelves are empty, but since his parents failed to label the crates, he has no idea where the library might be. Frustrated: "Hope I don't have to spend my whole damn leave trying to sort out their mess," he grumbles, squinting into the blackness of the crate. Nothing in it but dust, it appears. He gets back up off his knees and kicks the box into the corner.

NicoP.Caito marches in, expecting the place to be empty. He turns left, but hears the crate being kicked. He spins around and sees his new roomie. "What'd it do to you?" he asks, still frowning a bit.

Arroz Arum: turns as he hears Nico come in. Sticks his hands in his pockets with a sigh. Shrugs: "Fed up with unpacking my disorganized parents junk," he says, with a wry grin, "what's up with you?"

NicoP.Caito chuckles. So far he's been able to keep his own untidiness in check. "They don't label anything, do they?" he guesses. "Oh, I figured I could use a homemade lunch. A bureaucrat in a skirt visited the site today .... " he shakes his head. "Offered me a bribe no less." he actually chuckles. "Money, not sex."

Arroz Arum: raises an eyebrow, "Guess there's lots of officials worried about their jobs now a whole village burned to the ground. One came by here earlier, I had to inform him my parents are already housing you, and that there's no room for anyone else. Otherwise they might have hoisted a family of five on us. I showed him the ONE bedroom and pointed out I was already sleeping on the couch." Shakes his head, "If they want to put tents in the yard it's fine with me, but," he looks to Nico, "Starfleet has a HUGE spacestation and an Academy building with empty floors, so surely they could do SOMETHING." Looks towards the kitchen, suddenly hungry, "Plus I don't want Starfleet around here. I came to stay to get away from all that." Starts to move towards the cooler, "I suppose it's selfish."

 NicoP.Caito arches his brows, suddenly feeling a bit more pressure to get the village rebuild. "Oh? On THESE floors?" he motions to the living space before going into the fridge. "Well, you could put a good thirty people here on the floor. Another fifteen upstairs. You could bunk with me." he manages to sound light. "Well, remember .... Starfleet often won't step in unless it's really crucial. And this might not qualify." he begins to prepare sandwiches. "I'm Starfleet ... well ... yea ... they haven't busted me down to civilian ... yet." he snorts.

Arroz Arum: roots around, "How about a bottle of wine, there's some cheese, apples, fresh veggies, and a loaf of that bread from The Cafe." Turns his head from the fridge, "Forty five people??? No F'n way," he grabs some of the things he's listed and brings them over to the counter. "Use the embassies, they're all empty, I haven't seen a Caitian yet, and can't remember the last time I saw an Equiner." He takes a knife and starts to chop up veggies. "I'm beginning to hate Starfleet," he confesses.

Nico nods.  "Well, I was raised on the moon."  he reminds.  "So dome housing.  Me and my parents lived in a space the size of this kitchen and my father always felt bad because my mother refused to have any more kids."  he watches him chop the veggies while he takes the loaf of bread.  "Well ...  I am making some good contacts on this job."  he says.  "Once my housing design gets built it can be replicated and put in place."  he pauses.  "I can pay you back then.. you come live with me and we BOTH resign our commissions and become civilians."  he suggests casually.  "You don't even have to sleep with me."  he concentrates as he slices the loaf in half, making SURE not to make eye contact.

Arroz stops what he’s doing and leans on the counter, watching Nico as he cuts the bread. Silence falls for a minute, then he says, “I didn’t know I could resign. My recruiter told me I had to finish Academy and do at least two more years after that. Unless I can get a medical release.” He looks around, “A new house designed by you… much better than this old place. Or my quarters…. the parents, they drive me crazy although I suppose they are ‘good people’. I can’t really fathom how they think. I thought maybe I’d learn something out there, in space,” he points his knife, “but I didn’t get much of a chance. Probably should have gone into science, but, I didn’t think I had the brain for it. Security is easy. I have brawn,” he grins slightly, banging one fist on his chest. Silence again. He looks back at Nico’s profile, “You’re kidding, right?” he swallows nervously.

Slicing the bread loaf evenly, Nico opens it and concentrates on placing sliced meat and cheese in place.  “Of course you can quit Starfleet.  Recruiters have to tell you that.  It’s part of the job.  I told it to Slade, too.”  he examines the work, still not completely satisfied, and not wanting to look up in any event.  “Thats what I do.  Design houses, office buildings, bridges, you name it.  And parents are *supposed* to love you and drive you crazy while they do it.  I’m sure your parents love you.”  he says the words almost dismissively, keeping his own emotions .. jealousy .. out of it.  “You.  In science ..with the alien diseases and strange substances?  You wouldn’t last ten minutes.”  he catches the chest bang out of the corner of his eye and swallows hard.  Feeling the younger mans eyes on him, he doesn’t speak for a few minutes.  He glances at him and then away.  For a moment he considers not answering at all, but that could go very bad very quickly.  So he shrugs.  “I’ve lived in close quarters all my life.”  he replies.  “When my aunt and her husband died, my cousin Adam came to live with us.”  he tells Arroz.  “He and I slept in the same bed from the time I was ten until I was eighteen and joined Starfleet.”  the story isn’t a lie, but that is not what he was talking about at all.  “So sleeping with you doesn’t mean *sleeping* with you.”  he over emphasises the second ‘sleeping’.  He gives a laugh that he hopes doesn’t sound as forced as it actually is.  Straightening, he looks at Arroz.  “But ya never know until you try, kid.”  he quips, and turns his back, heading for the cooler and opening the door, kneeling in front of it before his legs collapse and peering inside.  The statement could have meant anything.  Silently he cursed the incredibly strong attraction to this young man who failed in relationships with women as much as he had.  Of course in his case ninety percent of the women he failed with didn’t exist, and the other ten percent … he’d never really tried to make it work.  Looking at the bottles in the cooler, he tried to qash his attraction, and not for the first time.  He hated not knowing if the kid was failing with women because he was simply young and stupid, or because Arroz was like him ….

Arroz looks at Nico’s back as the guy leans into the fridge, talking to the vegetables. Silently he takes what they have prepared to the table, then pauses on his way back, thrusting his hands into his pockets, hesitant. “Hey Nico,” he says, “chill out okay.” He moves to lean on the counter again, “I.. hear the words you’re saying but the way you look and the way you move says something different. Just be honest.” His security training assists him to read between the lines. “Ever heard of IDIC?” he says, “It means Starfleet accepts people as they are, without prejudice or discrimination. I’ve seen all kinds, Romulans, Caitians, Klingons, former Borg, species without gender and species with three genders, androids too… as well as gays and lesbians, Christians, Buddhists and Bajoran priests. The lot, and then some. We are given all kinds of classes and we meet all kinds of humanoids in our studies and at Academy, as well as on our assignments. You don’t have to pretend with me.” He sighs, picking up the plate of bread and taking it to the table. “Just be who you are… and let me be who I am too,” he carefully arranges the items on the table, geometrically aligned.

Nico turns to look at him sharply as he speaks, asks for honesty and quotes Starfleet policy at him.  As he moves to the table, he watches him arrange it.  Nico takes a bottle of local wine out of the cooler, then pauses and puts it back and reaches for a bottle of harder stuff.  Moving back to the table, he pours himself a glass of the hard stuff and, after a moment, sets the bottle between their two glasses.  He picks up his glass and murmurs.  “Be honest?”  he then downs his drink and reaches for the bottle to pour another.  “Alright …..”  he drinks half the glass.  “I’m a Greko-Italian born on the moon.  My parents had high hopes for me.  Especially my father.”  he looks into the glass of liquid.  “Who never heard of IDIC.”  he licks his lips, looks up at the younger man and downs the other half of the drink, feeling the alcohol relax him.  He pours a third.  “Remember when I told you my father loses good money because I haven’t been drummed out of the service?  Well, he’s more hoping that I will get killed in action or something.  Being an Engineer to him is a pansy ass job for his pansy ass son.”  he sips from this drink.  “So there’s your honesty.”  he leans back and then glances up at Arroz.  “Oh …. and since I got over the initial shock of Slade’s death, I got to take a better look at you and like what I see.”  he takes another sip and leans back in his seat, studying the liquid in the glass.  He almost says one more thing, but keeps that little bit of honesty to himself.

Raises his eyebrows, “Of course I went to Academy here on Astra and Fleet Captain Toocool is a stickler for IDIC… Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, so we were all forced to take classes in history and culture along with everything else. We have a melting pot with the Astraionian Council being, it seems, the central point for an alliance of sorts with sentient beings from a variety of planets in the explored sectors,” he pours himself a glass of wine and takes a sip, carefully wiping a spill from the table with his napkin. “I take it you don’t like your father much, he doesn’t sound like an adherant of IDIC,” he chuckles, “but you’re light years away from him now, so… why let it bother you?  Your life is yours. You don’t need to prove anything to anyone. In fact,” he says gently, “I hear you are pretty well respected for your talents, but your choice of clothing could use some assistance. I can provide that,” he takes another sip, “I have excellent taste in clothes. And,” he says, fingering the place settings again, “What about the possibility that you design the houses, and I design the interiors?” He lifts a hand, pointing around them at the decorating he’s done, “I do pretty good, if I say so myself.” Then he turns to look at Nico, “I like you Nico. I’m not sure yet how much, but…” he looks away out the window, swallowing, “I’d like to find out.”

Nico sighs and snorts.  “Arroz, from what little I know about our beloved Fleet Captain, she is the well trained sanctimonious, starry eyed, optimistic regulations quoter, who may have a boyfriend, but still acts like she desperately needs to get laid.”  And who would now wonder why he spent so much time in front of various disciplinary committees charged with insubordination.  He sighs again and rubs at his temple.  “No, my father isn’t a great believer in IDIC.  If Terra Prime was still in existence, my father would be one of its dues paying members.  They were this group of xenophobic terrorist extremists back in the moon’s history.  Wanted all humans off of Earth and out of the whole damn Sol system.”  he shrugs.  “But my father would delve even deeper into history … hating and fearing homosexuals … especially any from his own loins.”  he shakes his head.  “It …. it’s hard to explain.  But he is my father and … if nothing else I want to prove to him that I am some good to someone.  But even if I did … I would still be gay.”  Nico’s eyebrows raise as his tastes in clothes is criticized a bit and chuckles slightly at the idea that Arroz could … and would … help him there.  He then listens to the proposal and nods, slowly.  He has thought the same himself.  But then he hears the words that confirm what he’s hoped he would hear.  Watching the young Astraios man’s profile, he licks his lips softly.  Allowing the silence a chance to build, he finally breaks it.  “Let’s find out together …”  he relaxes and reaches for one of the sandwiches.  Taking a bite, he chews and, with his mouth full comments.  “We make one hell of a sandwich together.  So who knows what else we do well together.”  and he finally swallows.

=^=