Good With His Hands...

Posted on Wed Sep 16th, 2015 @ 8:43pm by Cadet Senior Grade Chance Conradi & Cadet Senior Grade Eli Ziyad

* Chance & Eli’s Quarters *

Eli drifted up from the depths of sleep but didn’t yet open his eyes. He knew the place was wrecked and the thought brought a smile. It certainly had been fun getting there. Beside him Chance stirred, lost in a dream. As a result of Chance’s pon farr, the mental bond between them had strengthened and it took no effort at all now to hear his thoughts or pass something along. He mentally nudged Chance, urging him to wake.

"You sure you wanna wake me up?" Chance grumbled, facedown in the pillow. "Especially when you're thinking about the fun we've had?" He moved, turning to eye Eli. "Unless you're ready for more fun?" He sounded hopeful.

“I could be convinced, but wasn’t it you who made dinner plans for tonight?” Eli smiled, letting his thoughts regarding Chance pass along the bond. “And I’ll need to cancel my date for tonight too,” he teased.

"Oh shit, I did! What dinner plans did you have? You aren't making me go to dinner without you?" Chance sat up, rubbing his face and yawning.

“Drinks with the blonde at Palaxia’s.” Eli was doing his best not to laugh. He was curious just how deep the bond ran and how long it would take Chance to pick up on the fact he was jerking his chain. Hopefully before Chance threatened to lock him in a closet.

"Hmmph...," Chance pushed Eli back into the pillows and said, "Maybe I should make sure you're good and worn out, then? Joker." He kissed him.

Eli kissed him back, then gave into his laughter. “As if I’d do that. She’s dating Rio at the Wormhole. I value my gorgeous body much too highly to risk having it all broken up.”

"I still might lock you in a closet," Chance joked. Patting Eli's chest, he rolled away and stood up. "Dinner. Oh, I said at the Nexus, didn't I? Or did I?" Things were fuzzy. At the time that he'd said they'd go to dinner, he'd been thinking more about Eli's ...well, more about Eli than about where to have dinner.

“Umm….I think so?” Eli sat up in the bed and brushed back his hair. “Maybe you should call your mom and ask her. Wait...are all three of them coming?” Eli felt a sudden rush of embarrassment, realizing he’d be sitting at dinner with adults who knew exactly what he’d been doing the last two days. “Is she going to ask how it went?”

“Oh gods! Don’t say that, you’ll somehow give her the idea!” Chance shuddered. “Bad enough they practically walked in on us. I think that was actually worse than having Iggy on the wall, watching.” He turned a stricken look on Eli. “Oh no... Iggy now has ten little mini-mes to hang out on the wall with her.”

“Oh hell no. I”ve already said something about that idea and it better not happen. I am not explaining this to ten little Iggys.” Eli shook his head and climbed from the bed. “Okay, I’ll call your mother. You get the shower started.” He hunted through the chaos for a shirt, found one of Chance’s and pulled it on.

* Nexus *

Nadia Conradi sat at an intimately-sized table for five with her husband and her one-time lover, waiting on her son and his lover. She held her husband’s hand and sipped a glass of red wine. “Here they come. Lerius, I’m thrilled that you’re here to meet Chance and can also meet his friend, Eli.” She waved at the boys as they made their way towards them.

Eli and Chance approached the table, both in formal wear and looking their best. Seeing three people at the table, a rush of nerves passed through Eli. Your father is here too. Oh dear..all three of them.

It’ll be okay. At least he won’t ask which position you like best, Chance thought at him and chuckled. As a result, he arrived at the table grinning. “Mom, Dad... and Ambassador Lerius, good evening.” He went behind his mom and leaned in to kiss her cheek; for his dad, he simply hugged him. “Gosh, I’ve missed you two!”

“Yeah? Glad that you’re finally out of your quarters and able to be in polite society, kid,” Zeferon said, sounding gruff. “Eli, you clean up nicely.” He reached out to shake the kid’s hand.

“Thank you sir,” Eli answered as he shook Zeferon’s hand. He could feel his face burning with embarrassment. A moment later, his expression shifted to neutral, a sign Chance would recognize as Eli hiding something. “Good evening, Ms. Conradi, Ambassador Lerius.” He took the empty seat beside Nadia.

“Zef’s right, Eli, you clean up nicely. Though I didn’t mind the look you were showing off yesterday,” Nadia laughed, inappropriately bringing up Eli’s near-nakedness. Chance winced and floated an apology to Eli.

“Ambassador, what brings you here? I hope that it isn’t because of my pon farr,” Chance said, taking a seat next to his dad.

“Your mother requested my presence. Given your age, I thought it logical that the time was near and that you and I might need to discuss a few things since you were not raised on Vulcan.” There was a faint note of disapproval in his voice. He looked Eli over and nodded. “It seems that you have figured things out for yourself.”

“Ah... yeah... teenage urges and desires aren’t that far behind me,” Chance said, blushing.

“I remember the first time Chance brought a girl home...,” Nadia started in on a story and didn’t stop till it was done, even though Chance looked like he was nearly dying from the embarrassment.

Before she could start another story about his childhood, or his teenaged years, Chance diverted the topic, “Did you visit Ignatius’ spiderlings? Did you hear that something like eighty of them hatched but there’s just ten left? Eli made contact with one, so we’re hoping they’re like Ignatius.”

Zeferon nodded, smiling; Nadia shuddered, “Oh, I don’t know how Oralia lives with those creepy things!”

“You get used to them after a while. I think arachnids are far less creepy when they can talk to you,” Eli answered. “It makes them a little more normal. Iggy can be extremely literal much of the time but she’s getting better.”

“I suspect that if any animal was the logical sort it would be an arachnid,” Lerius mused. “It would be agreeable to meet this Iggy.”

“She’s a handful,” Chance said without any trace of sarcasm.

Nadia scoffed, “She’s two handfuls!” She held up her hands to demonstrate.

“You should see her when she’s clinging to the wall over your bed.” Eli shot a wicked look at Chance.

Chance about choked on his bite of pasta. When his dad turned a curious look on him, he shook his head, “Don’t ask.”

“Okay... well, how did you and Chance meet, Eli?” Zeferon turned his attention to Eli.

It was Eli’s turn to choke on his water. “Umm...sorry. We met in a class actually. At the Academy branch that is here. It’s sort of a long and complicated story but that’s how it all started. He’s Chance, what’s not to like?” He shot Chance a ‘help me’ look.

Grinning, Chance winked at Eli. “Exactly, what’s not to like? Actually, Eli interrupted my chances with a girl in our class, so ...I made him go out with me.” He laughed.

“And the rest is history,” Eli quoted. “Or something like that. Which brings us to...here I guess.” He smiled over at Chance, the look all but scorching.

"You have a way with your hands, don't you Eli?" Nadia smiled at him. The question made Chance's brows raise and his cheeks color.

Hands? Eli had been so absorbed in looking at Chance that it took a few beats for her comment to filter in. Had he heard her right? “I’m sorry...what was that?” he stammered. Can we go home now? he passed to Chance. He wanted to crawl under the table. Or maybe the kitchen would catch on fire and they’d be evacuated. No such mercy occurred, however.

"Mom?" Chance's voice held some panicky nervousness. What the hell was she asking?

Nadia laughed, seeing their discomfort. "The drawing. That it's Chance is unmistakable. Do you do other art or only draw what inspires you?"

Eli blinked back at Nadia. The drawing. Oh. Okay, he could work with that. “I do now and again, when something catches my attention,” he replied. “It’s just that on that particular day, we were so happy to have made it through that survival exercise. I remember Chance dived into the lake and was just overcome with being in cool water. It’s like the rest of the world went away and….” he stopped, now thoroughly embarrassed as he realized four sets of eyes were locked on him. “Anyway...yeah. I was pleased with that one.”

Chance was starting to understand just why Oralia seemed to always find somewhere else to be when their mom came around. "Hey, is Jackson around? I know Oz went off with the Admiral, but where is he?" He glanced around Nexus, hoping to spot the man.

Zeferon answered, "He had to go do something, pick up a shipment somewhere. He took his bartender with him. Must be nice, being a restaurant owner married to the Chief of Security, no worries about getting robbed since the Chief has a vested interest."

Zeferon’s comment brought home the memory of Chance’s encounter with the Hazari here and Eli frowned, suddenly needing to get away for a minute or two. “It’s generally safe, yes. Would you all excuse me a moment?” He shot a glance to Chance, then rose and hurried off towards the main bar.

"Um... This is.... this is where I was killed, Dad. Oz couldn't prevent it." He looked down at his hands.

"Oh," Nadia frowned, also looking at her hands.

Zeferon made eye contact with Lerius before reaching over and gripping Chance's hands. "And everyone is glad with how that turned out."

The Ambassador nodded slightly. "Nadia told me about this. You have had guidance from a Vulcan Commander here, Sakkath."

Chance nodded. "Yeah, he's taught me to meditate and focus. Without him, I'd probably be in a psych ward."

“Are you still working with him?” Lerius asked.

"Occasionally," Chance nodded. "Probably not as much as I should, though."

“If he is willing, I think it an excellent idea if you did. There is still much to learn for you, though you seem to have weathered your most recent change quite well,” Lerius noted. He turned to look behind him, then back to Chance. “Perhaps you would like to look in on your mate?”

"My...?" Chance looked in the same direction. "Eli, yeah. Excuse me." He got up and went over to Eli's side.

Eli stood at the end of the bar, his arms propped on it. He sensed Chance’s approach before he arrived and turned, watching as he stepped through the crowd. “Sorry about that. Did they grill you after I left?”

"Nah. I stalled the conversation by pointing out this is where I was...." He looked away then back at Eli. "The Ambassador said I should keep up on the meditation with Sakkath."

“I think it can’t hurt.” Eli slipped his arm around Chance. “I should’ve stayed but it was just that what your dad said made me think of...yeah..that. He doesn’t much like me you know.”

"Sure he does," Chance laughed. "What makes you think that?"

“I read it in him,” Eli answered. “I don’t think he’s all that comfortable with Lerius either but that I can understand. At least he didn’t react like my parents did.”

"Oh." He touched Eli's hand then snickered. "I know why: he's not hugely fond of telepaths, like Oz. She's not quite as bad, probably because she deals with so many. But Dad? Not so much." He smiled and kissed Eli quickly. "So, yeah, at least he didn't react like your mom and dad."

“Should we get back? Get through this dinner? I reserved a holodeck for us for dessert.” Eli flashed Chance a sly smile. “Something to think about while you eat.”

"Let's. I'll make it up to you later," Chance held his hand, passing him a thought on just how he'd make it up later.

********************
Cadet JG Eli Ziyad
Ready For Dessert

Cadet JG Chance Conradi
Feeling the Pressure

Nadia Conradi
Zeferon Zeferino
Ambassador Lerius