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At half-past eight, his communicator beeped with a written message. ‘Where do you want to meet?’
‘I’ll come to you.’
He found her in the shuttle bay talking to a man that could be considered handsome. Perusing their files well before his initial transport to the Callistar, he recognized Morgan, their resident pilot.
Morgan grinned, not unlike Kira did when she meant to be mischievous. “Nice to meet you.” He extended a hand to Quinn, not bothering to give his name. “I heard you’re to thank for the new speed.”
Kira elbowed Morgan in the arm. He ignored it, his grin only widening.
Looking at Morgan’s outstretched hand, then to Kira, then back to Morgan, Quinn shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t take his hands out of his pockets. “Yes,” he said, not sure why Morgan had phrased it that way, as though he needed Quinn to confirm it. He’d done the retrofit.
Morgan lowered his hand, tucking his thumbs into the front loops on his pants. He still had that same smile. “Can’t wait to give it a go.”
“You’ll get a chance in the morning.” Kira stepped away from him towards Quinn. “I’ll see you at 0800.”
“0800, Captain.” He offered a sloppy salute with two fingers.
Kira rolled her eyes.
Quinn’s shifting from foot to foot betrayed that as always he was clearly uncomfortable around the pilot, but at least he wasn’t making eyes at Kira. For whatever reason, her statement that she would have slept with Morgan came back to him in that instant. He didn’t like remembering that.
Brushing their palms together, he curled his fingers around Kira’s, his intention for them to fit together. It just seemed like the thing to do. He wanted to do it to show to Morgan that he could. Hell, he wished Watson were around so the sardonic A.I. could see that Quinn could just touch Kira as well. Even if doing it where someone could see made him feel nauseous.
The inquisitive glance from Kira, the way Morgan turned about messing with something on the shuttle, they noticed.
He struggled to not let go, gripping tighter. His ears grew red, a gentle tug in the right direction, and they were in the hall.
Kira gave him exactly ten seconds before asking, “What was that about?”
“What was what about?”
“You’re a lot of things, Quinn, but stupid isn’t one of them.”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay.”
Kira went first at the ladder. Leading the way meant he had a view upward of her legs and hips and bottom as she took the rungs. Her shirt only hid things when you were looking at her from a level angle. This way, it hung loosely over her bottom. He could see under it. Knowing that idealism was a sliding scale didn’t help him. Kira’s pet bottom, her shapely legs, the thighs muscular and calves well formed, all of it glaring obviously. Conventionally, the woman was attractive. To him, he just discovered that meant something.
Taking a single look upward, his cheeks colored, and he forced his eyes to look at the ladder. Then, he looked up again despite himself. Forcing his eyes straight ahead to focus on the climb, he tried not to think about what he would see if he just looked up again.
In the Astrium, he chose the projection for the night, one of The Pillars, a giant creation of bronze and gold mixed among the stars. Laying close, his hand inched out but remained in the middle.
Kira moved hers in return, hovering over his own, before asking, “Is this alright? I want you to be okay with touch. Though it means something different to others, to me it’s just normal.”
“It’s alright.” He closed the gap. “I didn’t like it at first, but it’s nice.”
“Quinn, when you did this in front of Morgan earlier, it could be perceived as something different from just being friendly or leading me.”
“Okay.” He knew that already. He’d been informed by his developing algorithm for social cues that him taking her hand could be considered a romantic gesture. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that thought, but he didn’t regret doing it.
“Okay.” They watched for a while before she commented, “It really is gorgeous.”
Quinn did not reply. He’d fallen asleep in the silence, soothed by the warmth of another so near. He jerked upward when her weight was gone. “Mmm?”
“I have to be up early,” she said. “They can’t get a hold of me here except on the emergency line if I don’t set it up otherwise.”
“Oh.” He knew the necessity of it, but he didn’t rise. He just hoped she’d return. From his angle, he could see her set an alarm. Then she was back, with a large blanket, laying down, skin on skin contact between them again, fingers intertwined. A light touch, nothing magnificent, but he could see her in the dim light. The way her eyelashes rested on her cheek, the ease in which she settled in, her curved lips and the shadow beneath them with the overhead projection, he had to calm his racing heart, his mind, he’d turned everything else off the instant they’d been alone yet it felt still so full, so busy.
