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astrangestormThey’d only been docked for two hours, but they were already working on a skeleton crew schedule. While the Suzaku was in dock, the Kits and Noris just needed daily checks, no need for round the clock checks. The ship’s engines were on passive power, only the systems needed for life support, gravity, and the basics of operation powered up while in dock.
All non-essential personnel had a week of shore leave, though most came back aboard to sleep each night. While many of the lower-ranking deck crew were free to leave the ship for the duration, Nino was considered essential and had to work a shift every day during a long dock unless he’d scheduled personal shore leave as well. But he didn’t much mind. A visit to Neptune One wasn’t cheap, with its bevy of fancy restaurants, entertainments, and hotel suites.
There was only one reason he needed to set foot off the Suzaku that week, and it was only a few hours away.
Okada had him and Ohno working their asses off today on docking day, if only so they could take it a bit easier during the long stretch at Neptune One. With no Kit patrols, no Nori shuttle runs, it was the perfect time to run checks on the flight deck’s massive dual airlocks, to inspect the Kits’ launch tubes for malfunctions. Nino had already walked the full length of five tubes that day, eyes open for any debris that might have fallen from a Kit, any gunk mucking up the tube that might cause a problem for a Kit launch down the line. He’d definitely earned his all you can eat shellfish and then some.
He emerged from his fifth tube, finding Ohno waiting for him, stretching from side to side. There may have been only six Kits aboard the Suzaku, but every bit of equipment had to stay functional. They each had two left to inspect for the day, other crew members handling the rest.
“Tired already, Ohno-san?” Nino asked.
Ohno sighed. He had plans that evening to visit an art exhibit being shown on Neptune One, works assembled from artists scattered across the JSA colonies on the outer planets and their moons, but he didn’t seem too excited to stay on his feet much longer.
“I always forget how long these tubes are,” he complained, scratching the back of his neck.
“Probably because it takes a Kit about two seconds to clear it.”
“Yeah, I know. Hey Nino, did you want to…”
The ship-wide klaxon started blaring. Without the usual activity on the flight deck, without the usual hum of the ship’s engines, it echoed noisily and made him and Ohno both jump. And then it was Aiba’s voice, calm but firm.
“Action stations, action stations. Set Condition Two throughout the ship. This is not a drill. Repeat. Action stations, action stations. Set Condition Two throughout the ship. This is a heads up. We’ve got a deadstick coming in, probable collision with Neptune One in less than 30 seconds. Shields are up, brace for impact.”
Nino had never been aboard a docked ship that jumped from Condition Five to Condition Two, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t trained for it. A “deadstick” ship meant that it had lost power and most often along with it, the ability to control where it was going. It seemed one was about to collide with the station. If they had more time, he and Ohno would be responsible for clearing the deck, rounding everyone up in the locker rooms.
But there was no time.
Even over the klaxon, Nino could hear Okada screaming from the opposite end of the flight deck. “Safe zones, now!”
“Safe zones, now!” Nino repeated, shouting it for anyone in the vicinity to hear in case they couldn’t hear Okada.
And then he and Ohno started to run, their nearest safe zone being the control box next to the launch tube Nino had just inspected. From a control box, a launch supervisor from the deck crew would open the tube’s airlock and activate the magnetic accelerator that propelled a Kit out of the tube. Nino had been inside just yesterday, watching Jun offer his usual thumbs up before he was launched out for patrol.
The control box would have to serve as their safe zone now. Ohno pulled open the door, and Nino followed him inside, shutting it. They both got down on their hands and knees beside the wall, away from the thick, airtight glass window separating the box from the launch tube, keeping their hands over their heads.
They heard Aiba speak again, his voice barely able to drown out the klaxon. “Deadstick collision with the station imminent. Shields are up. All hands brace for impact in five seconds.”
In his head, Nino counted down. He got to three before he remembered that Sho was already aboard Neptune One, visiting his friend. Half the fucking crew was on Neptune One right now.
They heard the collision before they felt anything. A loud boom that seemed far off in the distance. The impact had been on the opposite side of the station from where the Suzaku was docked. The shockwave of the impact hit the Suzaku a few seconds later. With the distance, with the Suzaku’s shields up and the shielding capabilities of Neptune One itself, there wasn’t much more than a rumble, him and Ohno merely knocking against each other momentarily.
They stayed there, eyes to the floor, and Nino desperately tried not to panic. Sho was on Neptune One. Sho was on Neptune One. Where had it hit?
The next voice they heard half a minute later wasn’t Aiba’s, but Captain Inohara’s.
“This is the captain. Although the threat has passed, we will maintain Condition Two until further notice. Shields are holding, and there will be no egress from the Suzaku. We are on emergency lockdown. Unless you or a crewmate with you requires immediate medical attention, all hands await further instructions.”
He was on his feet first, holding out a hand for Ohno. “Are you okay?” he asked, helping him to his feet.
Ohno nodded, just as shaken. Most of the flight deck crew was probably on Neptune One at that moment. And the captain had just ordered them to stay where they were. The Suzaku was locked down.
They couldn’t help any of their friends.
Nino’s heart was racing, his hand shaking when he pulled open the control box door. He and Ohno found Okada standing in the center of the flight deck, half a dozen members of the crew already gathered around him.
“Ninomiya, safe zone double check. Get them to the locker rooms, and I want a count,” Okada said without a second’s hesitation. “Ohno, you take starboard and I’m taking port. Visuals on all of our ships. Now.”
There was no time to argue. While Ohno and Okada went to ensure that none of the Noris or Kits had shifted or been damaged from the shockwave, Nino had been charged with accounting for the crew that remained. He walked swiftly, calling up and down the flight tubes, checking every control box.
“Report to your locker room,” he called out, waving any crew he found in that direction. Once he cleared the Kit area, he moved along the Nori berths, shouting as necessary. “Report to your locker room!”
Within twenty minutes he was checking each locker room and the pilots’ ready rooms doing headcounts. There were usually more than a hundred crew members on the deck each shift, but with the docking at the station, there’d only been a small crew of twenty-three during today’s first shift, along with one Kit pilot and three Nori pilots on emergency standby in the ready room. With Ohno and Okada still out on the deck, everyone was accounted for. And thankfully there were no injuries.
He ordered everyone to stay put and emerged from the last locker room, only staying calm because he had a job to do. He stood guard outside the locker rooms, keeping an eye on the deck while he watched Ohno and Okada far in the distance doing their inspections. Finally the two of them returned, and Nino informed the chief that all crew currently on duty were safe.
“All our ships stayed put,” Okada informed him. “Once we have the all clear from upstairs, I want a more thorough inspection. Every Nori, every Kit. Top to bottom. Second shift, I’ve only got fifteen today with the shore leave, so I need you two to stay on and help.”
“Understood, sir,” Ohno said without complaint, even though a top to bottom inspection would take hours. As senior members of the deck crew, they were the best at overseeing those inspections.
“Ninomiya,” Okada said sharply. “There a problem?”
Sho was on Neptune One. Sho was supposed to be waiting for him. 1800 hours, a reservation for two at the Star of the Sea King. Deck 3…where was deck 3 on Neptune One? Where was it?
“No, sir. Understood,” Nino said quickly, hoping Okada couldn’t see the way his hands were trembling.
—
It had been a friendly shuttlecraft from the Iberian Alliance, halfway to its destination at Alhambra Station, Neptune One’s closest neighbor in orbit around the planet. After suffering a catastrophic system failure, the shuttle had crashed into a habitat deck on the other side of the station.
Neptune One was strongly shielded, but the shuttle had been coming in fast. The decision had come down to one of the Neptune One Kits destroying it or letting it crash into the station. The habitat deck had been undergoing refurbishment, a new group of luxury units being built. The construction crew had been evacuated in time. Unfortunately for the fourteen souls aboard the shuttlecraft, they could not be.
Already ships from Alhambra had flown over, were in talks with Neptune One’s leadership about the incident. It would be weeks before things got back to normal - there’d be cleanup costs, a lengthy investigation from the Iberian Alliance about what had happened to the shuttle.
Neptune One had been able to lock down that section of the habitat deck after the station’s hull was breached, but there’d been a fire, incidents of smoke inhalation on the decks above and below the breach. The shockwave from the explosion had caused another round of injuries throughout the station, and the only people who’d been allowed to leave the Suzaku thus far had been Yonekura-sensei, Koike-sensei, and a medical team that Captain Inohara had sent to offer assistance to Neptune One’s team, and also to determine if any members of Suzaku’s crew had been hurt. Answers were unlikely to trickle down to the flight deck until after the all clear had been given.
It was nearly 2200 hours, and Nino had been stuck on the flight deck since that morning, inspecting Noris when all he wanted to do was know if Sho was safe. If anyone he knew had been hurt. He’d been able to take a short break, to press his hand to the computer panel outside the locker room and ask for Sakurai Sho’s current location. With the lockdown and with security at its highest alert aboard the station, all the computer could tell Nino was that “Lieutenant Sakurai Sho is aboard Neptune One.” It couldn’t tell him where, and it couldn’t tell him if Sho was safe.
With the limited crew, Okada had split him and Ohno up, giving them solo inspection duties while grouping the lower-ranked crew together. Nino had only had his own company for more than six hours, save for the occasional wave and concerned look across the deck to Ohno where he was working.
Nino was close to screaming. He was close to insubordination. He ached all the way to his bones from crawling around inside and under several Noris. From the hours he’d spent earlier that day inspecting launch tubes from one end to the other. His nerves were fraying, his head ached, and he was surprised he’d gotten this far without having a full-blown panic attack. Only his work, his checklists, kept him sane.
It was 22:18 when the ship-wide address system turned on again. It wasn’t Aiba any longer, but one of the ensigns on his tactical team. It had been a rough day for Aiba Masaki, and Nino didn’t envy him. But the shields had held, and he’d stayed calm under pressure, even though Nino knew that Aiba had to be freaking out about Sho just as much as he was.
“This is the bridge. Neptune One has dropped their security alert to Moderate, and Captain Inohara has canceled the Suzaku’s emergency lockdown. An announcement from Sickbay will be going out shortly regarding the situation. We ask that if you do decide to leave the Suzaku and board Neptune One that you exercise caution, and obey any commands given to you by Neptune One personnel. A curfew is now in place. The Suzaku will lock down at midnight, if you wish to come back aboard tonight. Thank you for your continued cooperation.”
Nino had three points left on his checklist for Nori 22, taking a deep breath and clearing them with as close to his full attention as he could muster. He closed the aft hatch and started to walk.
There were two more to do, but he couldn’t. He just couldn’t. With his tablet out, he walked straight to where Chief Okada was standing, overseeing the final checks on the Kitsunes.
“I can’t do 23 and 24 tonight,” he said, looking his superior straight in the eye.
Okada looked as exhausted as Nino felt. “Why?”
“I…someone I care about is on Neptune One.”
“Someone I care about is on Neptune One, too,” Okada told him plainly, raising an eyebrow. Nino felt selfish in that moment. Okada and Sho had been friends for years, just like Aiba and Sho were. And of course Okada had to be worried about the rest of the deck crew.
“I’m sorry,” Nino continued on anyway. “If I continue the inspections, I might miss something. Permission to finish the inspections during first shift tomorrow, sir? First thing?”
To Nino’s surprise, Okada took the tablet from his hand, then moved forward to put his arms around him, embracing him tightly. Nino shut his eyes, desperate to not break down. “You’ve worked hard today, Ninomiya. I’ll have third shift cover 23 and 24.”
He stepped back as Okada released him, feeling slightly ashamed of his weakness. “Thank you, sir. I’m very sorry, sir…I just…”
“When you find Sho-kun, send me a message.” Okada blinked, clearly concealing tears. “Just…just let me know when you find him. Please.”
“Yes, sir.”
Nino barely realized what he was doing, heading for the locker room, shoving his tool belt into his locker. He didn’t change, he didn’t wash up. He got in the lift and furiously tapped the button for deck 2, heading for the airlock there that connected the Suzaku to the space station.
There was already a queue of people heading out, another batch filing in. Nino saw Yamada coming back on board the Suzaku, and he tugged on his sleeve as he went by.
“Yama-chan, Yama-chan, you’re alright?”
Yamada’s eyes widened at the sight of him, leaning forward to hug him. Nino stepped out of the queue, holding on tight. “I’m fine, I wasn’t anywhere close,” Yamada said.
“Do you know? Do you know how many of our crew have been…”
“Nobody died,” Yamada said quickly. “Everyone’s going to be okay, that’s what I heard from Koike-sensei.”
“Injuries…has anyone been brought back to Sickbay?”
“Yeah, yeah they were allowed to be brought here hours ago. I think there were a few sprains, a few people fell during the shockwave. Nothing serious as far as I understand it.”
“Thanks,” Nino said, squeezing his arm before letting him go. “I’m glad you’re alright.”
“Thanks Ninomiya-san, stay safe.”
Nino watched the queue heading for the station, walking away to instead press his hand to the computer panel again. He shut his eyes.
“Good evening, Petty Officer First Class, Crewman Specialist Ninomiya Kazunari.”
“Please locate Lieutenant Sakurai Sho.”
“Lieutenant Sakurai Sho is aboard Neptune One.”
“Computer, can you clarify? Where on Neptune One?”
“Lieutenant Sakurai Sho is aboard Neptune One…” Before Nino could scream in frustration, the computer added some information. “…deck three.”
Nino hurried back into the queue, and a member of the security team was scanning their dog tags as they left to account for who was on and off ship. Once scanned, he hurried through the airlock, barely able to keep from breaking into a run.
He’d been aboard the space station before. It was usually a noisy place, with casinos and bars and packed restaurants and JSA crew stumbling around in their off-duty clothes, laughing on their shore leave.
Nino boarded a nearly empty internal shuttle, zipping from the outside docking ring to the main station hub in the center. It seemed like there was a curfew aboard the station as well, mostly security staff with stun pistols lining the corridors and only a few scattered people both civilian and not walking around. The usual station lights were bright, there were the smells from the marketplaces and restaurants, but the place was emptied out.
He found a station guide panel along one wall, finding that the internal shuttle had brought him to deck 6. He hurried to the bank of lifts that moved up and down the central tower of the station. He was the only one inside when the doors shut and he pressed the button for deck 3. The lift walls were glass, allowing guests to look out across the station levels. As the lift rose, Nino could only see people milling around quietly, shell-shocked. Fourteen people had died that day. They weren’t JSA, but they had been innocents. Neptune One was not going to be the same for a while.
The doors whooshed open at deck 3, and he nearly tripped as he hurried out, eyes scanning ahead for what he knew his destination was. It was easy enough to find it, since instead of solid walls it was surrounded by enormous fish tanks.
He wasn’t surprised when he got to the closed Star of the Sea King restaurant, finding Sho sitting outside on a bench in front of a tank of oblivious fish, a rainbow’s worth of colors carrying on with their swimming as though nothing was amiss. Aiba was sitting with him, the two of them sitting close and talking quietly.
It was Aiba who noticed him first, looking up and smiling even though his eyes were tired and red, his uniform jacket still buttoned up as though he’d come running as soon as he’d been able to leave the Suzaku. Sho looked up next. He was in his off-duty clothes, the blue khaki jacket unbuttoned, his dog tag on its silver chain lying against his gray shirt.
Sho smiled at him weakly. He looked tired but otherwise unharmed. “They canceled my reservation.”
“Because you take advantage of the all you can eat crab legs, you glutton. I’d shut my restaurant down if I saw you coming, too,” Aiba teased, rubbing Sho’s arm and getting to his feet.
“You don’t…you don’t have to go,” Nino said quietly, but Aiba shook his head.
“It’s gonna be a long day tomorrow,” Aiba said, and it was probably the truth. Decisions had to be made - if the Suzaku was going to stay, if they were going to head for a different station to refuel and restock. Senior officers would have to be present for it.
“Can you tell Chief Okada that Sho-san is okay?” Nino asked, and Aiba nodded.
“Sure, I’m happy to.”
And then Aiba was leaving, Aiba was gone. Sho was still sitting on the bench, the glow of the massive fish tank behind him. A few other Suzaku crew members headed for the lifts, walking around Nino and chatting quietly with each other.
Sho patted the bench where Aiba had been sitting, and Nino stepped forward, his whole body tense. He sat down, unable to look at Sho beside him, staring straight ahead and simply trying to breathe. When Sho reached over, taking hold of his hand and squeezing, Nino broke down, not much caring that he was still in a public-enough place. Hearing him crying quietly, Sho squeezed his hand harder.
They sat like that for several minutes, Nino crying and the fish swimming, Sho holding his hand with quiet, steady strength.
Sho spoke first. “I was with my friend, he was giving me a tour of where he works in engineering here. My academy friend, I mean, Tsubasa-kun.”
“He’s okay?”
“Yeah, we were both fine. When the station went into high alert, we got locked down there. There isn’t anything much more boring than staring at a bank of generators for four hours.”
Nino sniffed, wiping his eyes with his free hand. “I’m sure your brother, the engineering nerd, would disagree with you.”
Sho laughed quietly. “I’m sure he would.”
“I was stuck on the flight deck until about twenty minutes ago when they said we could come over here. I was doing inspections.”
“Thank you for your hard work today.”
Nino chuckled, shaking his head. “I had every intention of making that reservation, too. All you can eat…well, I’m not really an all you can eat sort of guy, but if you were gonna pay for it…”
“That had been the plan, yeah.”
“Then I would have worked very hard.” He let out a breath. “Did you get to eat? I ate a few protein bars from the cafeteria just off the deck. No comparison with fresh shrimp, you know.”
“Aiba-kun brought me some chicken from the cafeteria.” Sho pointed across the floor to a garbage bin. “The evidence is in there.”
“Suzaku curfew is midnight,” Nino said.
“I heard.”
“What about over here?”
“Midnight. Same thing.” Sho released his hand, leaning forward and resting his arms on his thighs. “Can I be honest with you a second?”
“Sure.”
“If you met me for dinner, I’m sure this would have come out more naturally over the course of it. If things had gone smoothly, that is…”
He waited for Sho to speak, hearing a little bit of embarrassment in his voice.
“There’s a hotel here on the station. It’s called the Blue View. The name is dumb, but the rooms are all planet-facing. I reserved one for the night.”
Nino swallowed, taking that in. He opted for his default response, a flippant comment. “Figured that with all you were planning to eat tonight that you wouldn’t make it back to the ship, huh?”
Sho jostled his shoulder roughly, and Nino grinned, blushing red.
“Now don’t feel obligated to come with me just because of what happened today…”
“What happened to taking it slow?” He took a breath. “What happened to senior officers needing to disclose their relationships?”
“Four hours staring at generators while a space station is on lockdown makes you think a bit harder about what’s really important. And what’s important is you, whatever I have to do to keep you in my life.”
He smiled, looking at his feet. “You’re really okay with that?”
“I just want you, Nino. If you’ll have a stubborn guy like me.”
“I’m stubborn, too,” Nino admitted. “I think that’s why we work.”
Sho got to his feet, a decisive motion.
“Let’s go prove you right.”
—
Neptune was a beautiful planet. The methane in its atmosphere absorbed red light from the sun, but reflected blue light back into space, giving the planet its signature color.
But Nino barely looked out the window, kicking off his boots and stripping immediately out of his still grimy jumpsuit and the rest of his clothes to get in the shower. Sho would clean up next, once he got back from the pharmacy a few doors down from the Blue View hotel.
He didn’t bother with a bathrobe, emerging from the bathroom naked and unashamed to find Sho still fully clothed, sitting in a chair and facing him.
Sho smiled, rolling his eyes. “I wanted to unzip your jumpsuit.”
“Well, I’m very sorry, Sho-san, but maybe next time.” He leaned against the doorframe. “I could undress you?”
“I guess you can help with that,” Sho said, getting to his feet and walking over.
There was power, almost possessiveness in the way Sho put a hand to the back of his neck, pulled him close. It was the sweetest reunion, feeling Sho’s mouth against his own again. Nino returned Sho’s kiss with equal fervor, trying to convey the depth of what this meant to him. He’d missed him, and if circumstances that day had been worse, he might have never been able to kiss him again. He didn’t care what he had to do. They’d argue, they’d compromise. They’d figure it out. The two of them together. Whatever happened further down the road, for now Sakurai Sho was who he wanted. Sakurai Sho was who he needed.
Sho’s hands were roaming all over his still-damp skin, fingers grazing and tickling along his back, along his sides. Nino got to work, fingers tugging at Sho’s jacket, pushing it off his shoulders to the hotel room floor. His arms were bared, the muscles Nino had sorely missed. He grabbed the silver chain around Sho’s neck, pulling him back for another kiss. He ran his hands up Sho’s arms, shivering a little when he squeezed Sho’s bicep and got a moan in response.
They stumbled backward into the bathroom Nino had just left, Sho whining when his socks got wet on the floor. Nino just laughed at him, moving his hands deftly to Sho’s middle, unbuttoning his pants and tugging the zipper down. With a bit of effort, they got Sho’s shirt and pants off, tugging off his now-damp socks.
He palmed Sho’s cock through his underwear, earning another moan. “This will be much better once we’re both naked. Now wash up, I won’t distract you.”
He left Sho to shower, heading back for the room. He found the pharmacy bag on the nightstand, pulling out the box of condoms and lubricant Sho had bought. Nino hadn’t expected Sho to be so bold, having assumed they’d just touch, that maybe Sho would let him suck him off. Then again, Sho was the ambitious type, wasn’t he?
While Sho showered, he tugged the sheets and blankets, settling them at the foot of the bed, giving them fewer obstacles to get in the way. By the time Sho returned, a towel around his waist, Nino was lying back, stroking his cock in anticipation.
Sho grinned at the sight of him, spying the bottle of lubricant already uncapped on the nightstand. “So I don’t even have to ask?”
“Oh, you still have to ask,” Nino said, eyes lingering at Sho’s abdomen, the dark trail of hair disappearing into that towel. “I definitely want to hear you ask.”
Sho approached the bed, dropping his towel. Nino liked what they both had to work with. Sho got onto the bed, the mattress dipping a little with his added weight. Nino stopped touching himself, letting Sho move over to him, spreading his legs to let Sho lie between them. When Sho’s hardening cock brushed against his own, he bit his lip, wondering how long either of them was going to last.
Sho pressed his lean, hard body all along his, Nino discovering just how well they fit together. Once Sho had braced himself on his elbows, Nino kissed him, swallowing Sho’s satisfied groan eagerly. It was so easy, lying there with Sho so close, inhaling the scent of soap, feeling Sho’s cock brush against his thigh.
Things grew heated fairly quickly, Sho adjusting a little, kissing his way down Nino’s chin, along his throat. Sho’s teeth nibbled his collarbone before his tongue dipped lower, circling around his nipple. He groaned, shutting his eyes, wanting more and more with each passing second. Sho alternated between licking and sucking, his lips proving themselves to be treacherous, dangerous. Nino slowly lost control, arching his hips up, pushing his hard, desperate cock up in search of whatever friction he could find.
After a few minutes of such teasing, Sho’s mouth was back closer, pressing hot, breathy kisses along his neck. “My god, when are you going to ask?” Nino complained.
He adored the arrogant laugh he received in return. “In a minute.”
Nino retaliated as best he could, dragging his fingertips up and down Sho’s sides, feeling him fidget as it tickled him.
“Alright, alright, fine,” Sho muttered, leaning back a little to look into his face. “If you stop tickling me, can I fuck you?”
Nino smiled despite himself. “So long as you don’t have to disclose that to your superiors.”
Sho moved off of him, laughing as he moved to the nightstand and the lubricant bottle. “No, they only need to know who I’m fucking. Not how I’m doing it.”
Sho was gentle and patient, as Nino had anticipated he would be, pressing soft kisses to Nino’s knee while he slowly slipped his finger in and out of him, giving Nino time to adjust to the feeling, one he hadn’t experienced in quite a while. He lay back, licking his lips and slowly getting accustomed to the feeling of one of Sho’s fingers, then two.
As Sho worked, Nino stroked himself, running his fingers along his own chest, his abdomen, the places where Sho’s mouth had been only minutes earlier, so hot and needy. Soon, he was pushing back, bucking his hips, taking Sho’s fingers deeper inside, wanting and wanting and wanting. “Please. Please, Sho.”
At the desperate sound of his name and only his name falling from Nino’s lips, Sho didn’t hesitate. Nino watched, half dazed, as Sho tore open the condom wrapper, rolled it onto his erection. He spread his legs apart wider, letting Sho position himself. It felt different, but the best kind of different when he felt the head of Sho’s cock first prod against him.
He nodded his readiness, his eagerness, groaning in relief when Sho started to move. He tilted his head back, fingers tightening in the sheets as Sho pushed inside him, slipped back, and pushed forward again. Once Sho had found a gentle, easy rhythm, Sho leaned forward, resting his forearms on the mattress to either side of Nino’s head. As Sho moved against him, he pressed lazy kisses against Nino’s neck, breathing hard.
Nino brought his hands up, holding onto Sho’s arms, needing to touch him. He’d probably be feeling it in the morning, in his thighs, his hips, especially after his exhausting day on the flight deck. But those thoughts fell away easily, Sho’s lips drifting from his neck to his mouth, Nino moaning when Sho started to move faster, filling him again and again with barely-contained desperation.
Things grew less polite before long, with Sho somehow finding the courage to start murmuring “Kazu” against his skin, his voice rough and deep, another “Kazu” teasing along his ear.
He gave in, wrapping his legs around Sho, moving with him, trying as best he could to time each upward movement of his hips with every quickening push of Sho’s cock inside him. Sho had given up on using his name by now, only releasing the most primal sounds of need, his breaths coming in hard gasps. “Sho, I need to get off,” Nino demanded, and Sho obeyed, shifting a little so Nino could get his hand between their bodies.
He bit his lip, groaning once he got a hand around himself, jerking sloppily. “Fuck me, fuck me,” he whispered again and again, stroking his cock as Sho did as he was told. He felt the wave of his own pleasure approaching, racing right up to the edge. He cried out, working through it. Sho didn’t stop, even when Nino clumsily came, his hot release hitting both of them. He kept his hand between them, in a haze of satisfaction as Sho edged closer himself.
Sho was a little quieter about it, exhaling an almost shocked “oh, Nino” before he shuddered a bit, his hips pushing against Nino with one final surge before he slowed, raining giddy little kisses across Nino’s cheeks and chin before resting his face in the hollow between Nino’s neck and collarbone.
He could definitely get used to this.
—
It was early morning when Nino woke, his body stubborn and complaining as he opened his eyes. Sho was standing by the window, a cup of instant hotel coffee in his hand as he looked at Neptune in the distance. He’d only pulled on his underwear, the fabric clinging perfectly to his ass. He could get used to waking up and seeing that.
“Morning.”
Sho took a sip, looking over. “Morning.”
Nino stirred, hearing his joints crack as he tossed the bedsheets off, getting up to use the toilet. He felt sixty-three, not thirty-three, but he couldn’t complain. When he returned, Sho hadn’t moved. It really was an amazing view, at least now he was getting his money’s worth.
Nino came up behind him, wrapping his arms around Sho’s middle. He heard Sho sigh in contentment when Nino pressed a kiss to his shoulder blade before turning his head, resting his cheek against Sho’s warm skin.
“What time do we have to go?”
“First shift starts in an hour.”
He tightened his grip on Sho, patting his abdomen greedily. “Don’t wanna.”
“Me neither,” Sho chuckled.
Nino moved a little, looking around Sho to the planet beyond. Most of his time in space, it was kind of easy to forget he was even there. He spent his hours on the flight deck, deep in the guts of a Nori. He spent his free time in his quarters, rarely looking out. And yet he was traveling thousands and thousands of miles every single day, distances that people who never left Earth couldn’t even fathom.
And in all of space, across all the distant worlds and colonies that JSA had settled, the entire universe, circumstance had placed him aboard the Suzaku and circumstance had brought Sakurai Sho into his life. Nino liked to tell himself he wasn’t the sentimental type, but he had to admit that he was lucky.
“With all the activity happening here on the station, it may be a few days until I can meet with the XO. He’s the one I have to report to, about…making any disclosures,” Sho said a few minutes later.
“A few days, huh?”
“Yeah, so if you don’t mind, Crewman Specialist, let’s keep this off the record until further notice.”
“Oh, that’s no problem, sir.”
Sho moved, going to set his coffee cup on the nightstand. When he returned, he gave Nino a surprise, lifting him up.
“Hey!”
He deposited Nino on the bed with little grace, joining him there. He ignored Sho’s coffee breath, receiving a long, hot kiss. “Off the record,” Sho said, grinning.
“Understood, sir.”
Nino gasped when Sho’s mouth started to explore, heading in a southerly direction that Nino quite liked. When Sho’s tongue was circling his navel, he paused only to say it again.
“That’s off the record too.”
“Understood, sir. Loud and clear, sir.”
Knowing Sho, he’d never be late for duty, so Nino looked forward to seeing how skilled Sho was in a time crunch. With one more teasing “off the record,” Sho’s mouth closed around his cock, a wake up call he wouldn’t soon forget.
—
The last of the passengers from the Saturn stations had boarded during Nino’s shift, and the Suzaku was now on its way to Mars. In the morning the ship would jump, bypassing Jupiter airspace and the asteroid belt.
The lifts were crowded as Nino left the flight deck behind, riding up with a few families who were in the middle of a “Battle Stations” tour, a new pilot program that Lieutenant Commander Matsushima had started as part of her civilian welfare initiatives. It meant more civilians wandering areas that had been off-limits, but in satisfying their curiosity about how the Suzaku worked, they might be less liable to sneak around later.
Either way, Nino was happy with any civilian welfare initiative that didn’t involve toting around a sack of rice.
A little boy tugged on Nino’s jumpsuit, looking up at him. “Hey, what do you do?”
The crewman who was leading the tour smiled warmly. “He’s just come from our flight deck. You arrived there, if you remember, Shota-kun.”
Shota-kun?! Nino stifled a laugh. What were the odds?
“All the shuttles are there!” the boy said, looking up at Nino. “Do you fly them?”
“Nope,” Nino said, “I fix them.”
“Is it fun?”
The lift doors opened, and Nino headed out, turning around to point at Shota-kun and offer what he hoped was his coolest expression. “It’s the most fun you can have, and don’t let anyone tell you different!”
The lift closed behind him, and he chuckled, wondering if he could get a special payout from the JSA Mechanic School on Mars if he started recruiting them young.
Sho was waiting for him when he approached, leaning against the wall beside the entrance to the astrometrics lab. Sho authorized Nino’s access to the lab, the doors opening to let them inside. Nino walked around the room, seeing the readouts from Mercutio, Tybalt, Capulet, and Sho’s other literary friends.
Sho started the simulator program, ready to run the various calculations that his team had come up with, more than two dozen alternative jumps for him to double check before the Suzaku’s jump come morning. Nino let Sho crunch his numbers for a while, listening to the noise from the computer.
In each telescope’s data screen, the view was a little dull. Nothing but distant stars, light that had left those systems years earlier, only reaching them now. Benvolio, at least, was pointed to Mars, giving Nino something familiar to look at. He watched the screen for a while, still a bit afraid to touch anything in the lab.
Eventually Sho looked up after running a few scenarios. “I could show you sometime, how we change what they’re looking at.”
Nino grinned, shrugging his shoulders. “Sounds boring.”
“And it’ll only get more boring from here,” Sho teased him, pressing a button on the panel to run another simulation. “When I have my own ship someday, I won’t even get to play around in here.”
“You’ll be unbearable then. You’ll be giving orders all day. You’ll turn into a real pain in the ass.”
Sho paused the simulation, beckoning Nino over to him with a “get over here” gesture. Here was an order Nino had no trouble obeying.
He came around, pressing himself against Sho. “Then again, Lieutenant, I’ve always liked that pain in the ass side of you.”
“Feeling’s mutual,” Sho said, looking down at him with a quirk to his lips.
When their lips met, it felt just as right as it had the very first time. Sho wrapped an arm around his back, pulling him closer.
Space was vast, dark, and still largely unknowable. The Japan Space Authority had scattered itself across the solar system, in colonies further out. Compared to the galaxy, the larger universe, JSA’s ships and colonies were nothing but individual grains of sand on the shoreline of a vast ocean.
And yet in that individual grain of sand that was JSA-409, the Suzaku, Nino had found someone who’d made him think twice, to reconsider what he wanted from his life. It was early days, when everything was still new and exciting, but with every passing moment, he had a suspicion that that new and exciting feeling wasn’t going to disappear any time soon. He was ready for the challenges ahead, eager to face them with Sho’s hand in his own.
For now, Nino stopped thinking about the future and focused on the here and now, the warmth of Sho before him, the way Sho’s kisses left him aching for another and another. He eventually gathered the strength to release him, giving Sho a pat on the ass before stepping back, satisfied.
“Run your simulations, Lieutenant.”
“Is that an order? You’re giving me an order?” Sho rasped, looking at him like nothing else out here among the stars mattered.
Nino only smiled.
