Judgement – Once Smitten Twice Shy
by (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek & Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin

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Title   Once Smitten Twice Shy
Mission   Judgement
Author(s)   (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek & Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin
Posted   Mon Aug 15, 2011 @ 3:40pm
Location   The Vulcan Tea Rooms, Promenade
Timeline   SD38 - 13:00 Backpost
::ON::

Kaelin wasn't sure why he had spent the last fifteen leaning against the wall next to the arch that led into the holodeck, but he was perfectly comfortable with it. The time flew by with all his thoughts occupied with ideas of how exactly he was going to approach Lash when they confronted one another soon. He just hoped he wouldn't embarrass himself somehow, but knew that may be just wishful thinking. After all, for all his natural grace, Kaelin was a bit awkward and knew it showed in situations like this.

He didn't notice when the doors slid open and kids began to leave, escorted by their guardians. A steady stream of children and parents, and then counsellors and nurses walekd past him. Finally, the doors to the holodeck opened one last time, and Lash emerged, tricorder holstered on one hip, tool bag slung loosely in one hand.

Seeing Kaelin threw him for a moment and then he said, "Uh, hi."

The sound of Lash's voice, higher than usual, startled Kaelin out of his small thoughtful trance and he pushed himself off the wall, nearly hitting one of the parents leading their child away. He muttered a quick apology to them, then turned his attention back to Lash, meeting his eyes. "Hi," he said, feeling a little breathless. "I...um, well." He paused to clear his throat nervously. "I wanted to see if you had time to maybe have a coffee with-"

"Yes!"

"-me on the promenade?" he finished.

"How about the Vulcan Tea Room? They do an amazing gingerbread latte. Cake in a cup!"

"Okay!" Kaelin agreed, Lash's enthusiasm rubbing off on him. Plus, he was more than thrilled that his offer was accepted and a he felt the familiar trembliing in his stomach that he'd felt the night of their date. He let Lash lead them to the proper place and Kaelin was ashamed to say he'd passed that same cozy place several times, letting the "Vulcan" part repel him. "Wow, this place looks much better on the inside," he observed, impressed.

The young half breed laughed. “Yeah, people tend to think we’re all cold green-blooded hob-goblins. But we like things warm and intimate.” Then he blushed, and shoved at his floppy fringe. “Uh, forget I said that”

Kaelin smiled fondly at him, blushing a little as well.

Walking in, Lash gave the Vulcan salute to a woman who was watching several small urns and cauldrons set over small flame burners, and gabbled a stream of Vulcan. The woman remained impassive, and replied politely, but whatever she said made Lash reply in a bouncy enthusiastic tone. If it hadn’t been deeply unVulcan, Kaelin suspected she would have rolled her eyes.

Lash dropped down onto a deep piled rug at the back of the shop, and pulled a small, low table into place so Kaelin could sit next to him, and patted the rug.

The Deltan lowered himself down gracefully onto the rug, settling himself a little by wiggling accommodatingly to make himself comfortable. He looked over at Lash, noticing that they were sitting close together, their thighs occasionally brushing against one another.

The half-vulcan grinned back at him, "See? Nice and comfy."

"Yes. Very," Kaelin replying lamely, looking at him with a smile. He looked down for a moment before meeting his eyes again. "I'm really sorry. For the other night," he admitted shyly, looking down again once he got the words out.

"Its okay." Lash was looking down again. "I got carried away. Just wanted to show there was no hard feelings." He had gone red. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize. It's alright. I was having a bad day, and I overreacted," Kaelin replied, feeling a little better now that he heard Lash was sorry as well.

The Vulcan woman came over with a tray and put two huge mugs of steaming liquid in front of them, and a plate of small cakes shaped like gingerbread men, but filled with cream. "Enjoy your drinks, Lash, Doctor." And she moved away.

"Mmmm, whoopie pie men!" Lash practically pounced on one of the small cakes. "Bite their heads off, suck their guts out!" And he proceeded to demonstrate, tearing the small sponge ball from the shoulders of the first victim and munching happily

Laughing at the childish behavior, Kaelin watched Lash eat the cookie for a while, looking incredibly adorable. When the half-Vulcan finished his first cake, a couple of stray crumbs on the side of his mouth caught Kaelin's eye. He licked his lips absentmindedly before smiling at him. "You've got a little..." He didn't finish, instead reaching over and gently caressing away the stray crumbs, the Deltan's skin spreading warmth through the gentle contact.

It was like the sun coming up. Lash's face showed a happiness so pure and open, it was like watching a baby laugh. "That was nice," he said a last, shifting an inch or so closer against him.

Kaelin lowered his hand after realising he'd probably let it linger again Lash's cheek for a bit too long. Seeing his smile like that, Kaelin felt as happy as Lash looked, so he didn't mind his shifting a bit closer and didn't make any attempt to stop him. Biting his lip, he finally took his eyes off Lash and took up a cake for himself. He hadn't eaten all day, so figured it wouldn't kill him. Biting into it for the first time, his eyes widened. Looking over at Lash again, he licked his lips and said, "This is amazing!" he told him, as if he'd just discovered something life-altering.

"They're good." Lash nodded. "My mum used to make something similar, using risian rum and terran ginger. I was so far over the moon when I found t'Valla made them I was practically in parabolic orbit. They're not on the menu though, she keeps them specially for kids."

"And you," Kaelin added, finishing his cake much faster than he would've anticipated. They were that good. "My father is a doctor, so he always took proper diets very seriously," he revealed. "And my mother's always been a bit of a starving artist type, so I guess I take after both of them in the sense that I eat healthy only when I really need to eat." When the words left Kaelin, he found himself slightly shocked at the comfort he obviously felt to reveal something like that about himself.

Lash laughed. It was obvious from Kaelin's tone that he thought Lash wasn't that to far from the category of kid, and it was one of the first times anyone had made it sound like a good thing. "Even though mom got dad all unbuttoned, expressions of emotion never came easy to him. He never said 'son, I love you' but he always knows when to get mom to bake her whoopie pies, or when to take me to the theatre."

"I understand that," Kaelin smiled. "I'm guessing you're an only child?"

"Sort of. I have a half-sister, T'Vel, but she's professor of," he took a deep breath, "cosmology and m-dimensional relatavisitic mathmatics," he let the rest of the breath go, "at the Vulcan Academy of sciences. And she's seventy years older than mom."

"Wow..." Kaelin nodded. "Didn't think Vulcans married twice or had sex with more than one person."

"Trust me," Lash said through a mouthful of cake, "I don't think any-one is more surprised than Dad, even after thirty years. All my aunts mutter things like he can't have done his meld properly, or he had brain damage or something, especially as he got more laid back on the teachings of Surak."

On any other occasion, Kaelin probably would've thought Lash talking with his mouth so fun was disgusting, but somehow he barely noticed. "I can imagine," he nodded. "I won't be an only child long. My mother is pregnant, she's due in a couple of weeks actually."

"Oh wow!" Lash swallowed the remains of his cake. "Congratulations. I'd love to have a little brother or sister. Children are so cool!"

"Yeah," Kaelin laughed. "I've never quite heard children described as 'cool', but I do love kids. I don't know if it'll be a boy or a girl yet, but I'm definitely looking forward to being a big brother."

"You'd be really good at it," Lash enthused, "Been all over the galaxy, lots of experience in paediatrics."

Kaelin was about to agree when he suddenly realised something. "How do you know that?" he asked, curiously. "Have you been asking around about me?" His tone didn't sound accusing, merely curious and interested, though slightly put off that Lash would be asking people about him.

"No!" Lash's reply was a bit quick. "Well, yes, sort of. After the EMH thing yesterday I bumped into Nurse McBain. He said you were good, I just sort of guessed the rest." he pulled his bottom lip between his teeth. "I wasn't checking up on you. Well, not deliberately. You just sort of came up."

"Don't worry, Lash," Kaelin said, resting a hand on the other man's shoulder. "I'm not upset, just curious," he assured him. "And you shouldn't do that so much," he told him then, lightly caressing his chin to release his bottom lip. "It'll leave marks."

Again the touch infused the younger man with a glow of warm affection, "See, you'll be a fantastic brother."

Kaelin laughed. "Well, I'd like to think I'm not twisted enough to feel for my sibling what I feel for you," he told him, looking down.

Lashed beam at Kaelin's admission, and obviously fought the urge to throw his arms around Kaelin, and respect his space. "I meant the looking after, not the other stuff. That would be weird. And wrong. For them. Not for us. For me, feelings are good. I like feelings." He blushed. "Um, I'll shut up now."

Kaelin grinned, looking at him fondly. "Don't. It's cute," he said, taking a leap and covering Lash's hand on his thigh with his own, gently caressing the back of his fingers with his thumb.

Lash's fingers twined into his. "Oh it's cute now. But when you need to hospitalise me for lack of oxygen to the brain, and I've got a big mask on, or I'm intubated, and my hairs all floppy and in my face." he shoved it back. "I'll just look pathetic and you'll go all big brother on me and tell me to breathe in once in a while."

Kaelin's smile didn't fade as he watched Lash. He stayed silent for a while before speaking again. "Well, you're hair is always in your face isn't it?" he asked, watching the bangs fall back onto his face in protest at being pushed away.

Lash tried to put them behind his ears. It didn't work. "I'd cut them, but I look terrible with a buzz cut." He hadn't let go of Kaelin's hand.

"No, don't cut it. I like your hair," Kaelin told him, knowing he'd resisted the urge to run his hair through it plenty of times since they'd met.

"Good. I like yours." Lash seemed to realise the ridiculousness of that statement, "I mean," he began again squeezing Kaelin's fingers. "Hardly anyone can pull off bald. Their heads are all funny shapes. But yours," he leaned forward slightly, indicating with a wave of his free hand at Kaelin's hariless dome, "Its a pretty perfect head."

At that Kaelin couldn't the burst of laughter that escaped him and carried on laughing for a bit longer, the sound sounding a bit odd and gaining them a few looks from the surrounding Vulcans. When he finally calmed down, he reached up the wipe the couple of tears that had accumulated at the corners of his eyes from the laughter. "Thank you very much. That is the....oddest complement I've ever gotten from an alien, but nonetheless incredibly sweet."

Lash looked both relieved and overjoyed. He lifted his mug of gingerbread latte in Salute. "To a perfect head."

Giggling, Kaelin raised his own mug before the two drank them down. They spent the next hour in the tea room, chatting easily and trying to ignore the swooping feelings that erupted deep inside them when their skin brushed against each other. But soon, they finished up and, after paying, they walked outside.

Looking around the Promenade, Kaelin finally returned his attention to the shorter man next to him. "Do you want to take a walk?"

"I'm told that if you go down to the Bajorran gardens about now you can hear the prayer song while they dim the stations lights for evening. Not quite proper sunset, but its the closest we can get here without jumping in a holosuite."

Taking a few steps forward to begin their light stroll through the base, Kaelin licked his lips and said: "Can I hold you hand?" His voice was soft, hesitant.

Lash reached out to him, and snaked his fingers into the Deltan's. "Always."

Kaelin smiled, happy Lash didn't shy away from anything physical like most people did for fear of getting their feelings out of control. They walked with no read direction, but somehow they seemed to gravitate towards the Arboretum, neither of them talking much. But the silences were oddly comfortable. "I'm really glad you aren't mad at me for freaking out."

Lash rested his head on Kaelin's shoulder for a moment, then straightened up again. "I know it must be hard. I was just trying to help. Sometimes it's hard. I see it with the kids I help out all the time."

Caressing Lash's hand with his thumb, Kaelin sighed contently. "Yeah. It is hard, knowing you like someone you shouldn't," he said softly. "I really admire what you do with the kids, by the way. It's very selfless of you."

Lash shrugged. "Not really. I enjoy it, I get to mess around in a holodeck, have a bit of fun. And watching the kids get better makes my ego so big it probably attains gravitational mass." He was obviously uncomfortable talking about it, possilby even embarrased at being caught out so far from his 'shallow and vain', freewheeling persona.

Feeling Lash's discomfort, Kaelin gave his hand a squeeze. Leaning over, he kissed Lash's cheek tenderly. "Well, I'm glad you found a productive, nice way to boost your ego," he told him, his breath warm against his ear.

"Well, not all of us get perfect heads."

Kaelin laughed. "Well, at the risk of sounding utterly cliche, you're ego's gravitational pull is definitely pulling something towards you," he said, feeling a bit ridiculous.

Lash beamed all the way to the arborteum.

::OFF::


A Jp between

Ensign Kaelin Niers
Clinical Pathologist
Temporary Head of Pediatrics
NPC by Maja

&

Crewman Lash
Holotech Specialist
DS5
NPC by Notty