Diell Breaker (LGBT- Sci-Fi - Romance)

Chapter 12

Chapter 12 

Shehu forced himself to stand still, peering into the mirror as if he was checking that his moustache was trimmed correctly. His heart was still pounding.  

One of the crewmen from the Voyager entered the room, acknowledged Shehu with a brief nod and went into one of the cubicles. He didn't know whether to bless or curse the interruption, he supposed he should be grateful they had been disturbed before things went any further. Although he could honestly say his pass at Alexei had not been planned, it had been totally spontaneous, really he should have known better, a public bathroom was hardly the ideal place for a seduction. Frankly, at his age, it was tacky. 

All he wanted now, was to get Alexei alone again as fast as he could. Talk about what had happened, apologise if he had to ... Who was he kidding? He was achingly ready to make another pass, this time somewhere secluded, where they were not likely to be interrupted. 

Petrov came out of his cubicle, fully dressed. He went straight outside without looking at Shehu. 

The First Lieutenant swallowed, his heart plummeting. He went back into his own cubicle and dressed slowly, trying to decide whether he should follow Petrov immediately or give him some space. 

Petrov strode off, feeling as if he had been dragged through a wormhole backwards. Everything was upside down and back to front. Lieutenant Shehu had just made a pass at him. Shehu was straight. Well no, it was now rather obvious that he wasn't. What was with the Diell's officers? First the Captain, now Shehu. Was Eriksen going to make a pass at him next, he wondered rather hysterically, the little family on Capella merely a front?  

And great, just what he needed, there was Rhys, coming towards him, obviously intent on seeking him out. What he really wanted was an hour or so alone until he calmed down, but he wasn't going to get it. 

"What do you want Rhys?" he demanded rather abruptly. 

Rhys raised an eyebrow. "Somebody got out of bed the wrong side this morning!" 

Petrov frowned impatiently and Rhys hurriedly continued, "I just wanted to ask you if you knew when Jake would be coming back down?" 

"Jake?" for a moment Petrov honestly did not know who he was talking about. 

"Farrell, Jake Farrell." Rhys looked guardedly at him. 

"No I don't. Why?" Petrov asked suspiciously. 

"We were going to have a drink together," Rhys improvised, unaware that Petrov already knew about their connection. "I just wanted to check when." 

"Why not call him and ask?" Just how far had this gone? 

Rhys gave a small deprecating laugh. "He must have given me the wrong wristcom code because it's not working." He looked hopefully at Petrov. "I don't suppose you would have-?" 

"No, I wouldn't!" Petrov interrupted. And wasn't that just perfect? Rhys wanted his last lover to help him set up a date with his new one. 

"Why are you being so unkind to me Alexei?" Rhys asked, apparently in all seriousness. "You said you don't want me anymore. I think I've got a chance of something ... something serious here, it wouldn't cost you anything to help me out." 

Like he hadn't been serious, just some light relief, a bit of fluff on the side. Petrov bit his lip and counted to three. He was almost sure knocking Rhys to the ground would only make things worse. "I'm sorry Rhys," he lied. "I couldn't possibly give you that information without the Captain's permission, not for a personal matter." That part was true. 

Rhys stared at him, suspicion dawning in his eyes. "You're not helping me because you want him for yourself, don't you?" he challenged. 

Petrov had had enough, he didn't have to listen to this, and started to walk away. He spoke over his shoulder, "I don't know what on Earth you are talking about Rhys. Everyone knows the Captain is straight." 

Shehu was still trying to decide what to do when he left the building and saw Alexei, about a hundred metres away, talking to a stranger in civilian clothes, his blond hair glinting in the sun. Well that solved that then. There was no way he could talk to Alexei in front of a stranger. Then he saw him turn and walk away and he hurried to catch up. 

He fell into step beside him. "Alexei? Can I talk to you? Please?" He tried to get eye contact but the other man was looking at the ground as if he needed to carefully check every step before he took it. 

Petrov was silent for a long while before he answered. "I don't know. I just feel very confused." Not the words he had wanted to hear. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that to happen, any of it," Shehu tried to clarify. "I think we really need to talk about this. If you don't want to do that now, will you meet me later for a coffee, or lunch maybe?" 

Petrov sighed. "Might as well do it now, get it over with, round off an absolutely perfect morning!" 

Shehu felt as if he had been kicked in the stomach. He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry! I didn't realise I'd upset you that much." And he'd been conceited enough to think Petrov was actually enjoying his caresses, until they were interrupted. What an idiot. 

Petrov was still fuming over Rhys. The last thing he wanted was for Shehu to tell him it had all been a mistake, that he was 'really straight' or even blame him for the whole episode as the Captain had done. He was starting to feel quite angry the more he thought about it. He, the openly admitted om amongst them had done nothing, absolutely nothing wrong! It had been the supposedly straight man in each case who had touched him first.