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.
=^=
