More Soccer Dorks

Posted on Wed Sep 21st, 2016 @ 2:51am by Ensign Theodore Vega & Ensign Vex Krylore

Episode: Lost Property
Location: Crew Quarters
Timeline: 2100 MD05

Vex nervously kept fiddling with the PADD in his hand as he made his way towards Theo's quarters. August had encouraged him to reach out and make new friends and the two of them certainly had similar interests. But, if Vex as honest with himself he didn't want to reach out to Theo as a friend but as something more. Every since he had met the science officer he felt an attraction toward him. An attraction that he was pretty sure was not going to be reciprocated. Still, if he could get close to Theo and call him a friend... well that would be enough for him. At least he hoped it would be.

He stopped at the door to Theo's quarters and took a deep breath before touching the door chime.

Theo looked up from the data he was reviewing on his desktop terminal, then got up and walked to the door, wondering who was there. Most of his coworkers would have called ahead. "Oh, Vex. Hi."

"Hey Theo," Vex smiled. He held up the PADD. "I just got the latest recordings of the academy cup... and um since you are the only other one on the whole ship that might want to see it I thought we might watch it together."

"Sure, that sounds cool. Come on in," Theo said, stepping aside so the other officer could enter. "Sorry it's so cramped, but junior officer quarters aren't all that... why am I telling you that?"

Vex smiled. "I know what you mean. I'm not interrupting anything important am I?"

"No, just doing some studying," Theo said. "Congratulations on graduating the academy - here's what you need to study to make JG on time."

"I know what you mean," Vex said, stepping into Theo's quarters. "I should be doing the same thing but I wanted to see how the Beta Blue's held up this year, they had this wicked awesome freshmen the year that we graduated. I sort of wanted to see how things panned out for him."

Theo cleared some rumpled uniforms from the small couch squeezed between his desk and the wall separating the main room from the bathroom. Across from it was a wall-mounted screen showing an exterior view of the ship. He took Vex's PADD and sent the file from it to the screen.

"I have to admit, I'm not as confident about my successors. The junior lineup was... mediocre."

Vex took a seat on the couch and tried his best to look relaxed. "They weren't all bad, you had that forward right... what was his name. Scott McCall? He was petty good."

Theo rolled his eyes. "On the field, maybe. Off the field, sooo many issues. Trust me, you do not even want to know."

"Wait, you know him off the field?" Vex inquired, raising his eyebrows. "Oh do tell."

"Not well. Mostly as an annoyance due to disappearances, injuries, missed practices... I'm pretty sure he was involved when the locker room caught fire but that was never proven." Theo shrugged. "On the bright side, I suppose it made for good practice for managing people on a starship."

Vex chuckled. "I had not heard that."

"We couldn't exactly let everyone know that one of our top players was a bit of a flake. It's not very intimidating."

Vex glanced over at Theo's desk and took notice of the picture there. "Hey! I know that guy! He's the same one that I ran into earlier... clearly you know him. Either that or you just put your arms around someone."

"Yeah, that's Avery," Theo said, grinning. "He's a petty officer in engineering. We grew up together, got lucky on our ship assignments." For a moment he considered inviting him to watch the game, then decided that maybe this was better as just one-on-one time. Definitely better.

"You are lucky then," Vex smiled. "I don't recall him playing soccer."

Theo shook his head. "He did in secondary school, but he went enlisted instead officer so he wasn't at the Academy with us. On the other hand, he was in space while we were running around on grass, so there's a trade-off."

Vex smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I guess that would be a trade-off. He seems like a nice guy though."

"Oh, he is. I'll have to introduce you sometime."

"Alright, well maybe McCall wasn't the greatest but have you seen my replacement? That freshmen that I swear is some sort of genetically modified human with the reflexes of a Cheetah. Like a Were-Cheetah or something."

"Half Caitian," Theo said. "Well, 'were-caitian' if you want to call him that. Don't ask me how that worked."

"Really?" Vex, said with a raised eyebrow. "Actually on second thought, I really don't want to know. I guess we aren't nearly as bad as the Delta Diamonds. Also an awful name by the way."

"I'm told it sounds much better in Andorian," Theo replied, "although I'm pretty sure that's a lie."

As Theo finished talking the first match popped up. Vex had purposefully avoided watching it or gaining any information from it just so that he would get to watch it with Theo. Yes, he was well aware of how stalkerish that plan sounded. August had pointed it out the last time that they had talked. Vex replied that at least he was trying to get to know new people. August rolled his eyes and told him good luck. Vex probably needed it.

Theo started to sit, then paused. "You want something to eat? Drink? I've got a pretty good replicator pattern for popcorn."

"I love that stuff!" Vex grinned. "We don't have anything like it back home."

Theo replicated a large bowl, then settled down on the couch. Given that neither of them were exactly small men and the couch was scaled for a tiny room, it was a bit of a squeeze. "It's a lunar variety, slightly different breeds of corn and cow than you find on most of Earth. It took me forever to get a good batch and copy it correctly."

"I know what you mean," Vex nodded. "I tried to program a dish from my homeworld into the system at school and the result was less than stellar. I could never get it to turn out right. I used to think that the replicators could do anything, clearly, I was wrong."

"I had to get reasonably good at it," Theo said, taking a handful and setting the bowl across their legs as the game got started. "Not professional level or anything, but every animal in the labs has its own diet, and some get super pissy if they don't get the right meal. Or, y'know, die."

"Yeah, I guess I never thought about that. Oh come on, you let that guy go right past you!" Vex said, staring at the screen. He grabbed a handful as the player dribbled around another defensive screen. "Seriously what kind of defense is that?"

"A mediocre one," Theo muttered. "I told you. Only the goalie's any good from that year. Should have just dumped them all and let the next class be in charge."

"Surely, it's not that bad... what the hell kind of block was that!" Vex said, staring at the screen. "Come on, I coached kids that could do a better job... um, sorry I get into this sometimes."

"I'm going to have to call T'sal and... wait." Theo shook his head. "I'm going to turn into one of those sports parents, and I'm not even their dad."

"Something tells me that you'd make a great father," Vex smiled.

Theo groaned. "Let me get the hang of babysitting a bunch of lab techs before we talk about actual babies."

"At least the lab techs can feed themselves," Vex commented. He looked back at the screen and moaned. "They aren't even trying to play defense."

"I really hope that our predecessors didn't sit around saying the same thing," Theo said after a few moments.

"Doubtful, we were good this is just.... painful."

Theo grinned, with no small amount of pride. "Well, if you say so. You certainly were, I was... acceptable."

"No, good. Not acceptable and you looked damn hot while doing it... in the sexual sense I mean, not in the temperature sense."

Theo flushed and chuckled. "Well, if you can say that even given the colors of those damned uniforms, I must have made a pretty good impression."

"Indeed you did," Vex nodded slyly. "Let's watch the rest of the game and pray that it's not bad enough to actually force us to go down to sickbay."

Theo nodded and used the opportunity to shovel more popcorn into his mouth. He was starting to think that maybe he should have taken some time to research Vex's culture and figure out what sort of customs his people had. It wouldn't do to assume that he had anything like western Earth habits even if he had gone to the San Francisco Academy.

Vex glanced over at Theo, trying to measure things. He wanted to say something to the other young man but wasn't sure how to go about it. Finally he took a deep breath turned to Theo and blurted out.

"Want to go on a date sometime?"

"Oh thank god," Theo said. "Yes, that'd be cool. I was hoping you'd ask first before I stuck my foot in my mouth. Again."

"You're interested then?" Vex asked, trying to sound over eager. "I mean I wasn't sure..."

Theo nodded quickly. "Absolutely. Why wouldn't I be?"

Vex blushed. "Um, some guys aren't comfortable with my biological makeup."

"Riiiight." Theo had noted that and them mentally filed it away without really thinking about what the clinical terms in the Starfleet official species description meant in practice. Suddenly it seemed a lot more relevant. "That's not a reason to say no out of hand. I mean, some people have relationships with a lot bigger differences. Right?"

"Maybe," Vex said, chewing on his lip. "I guess we won't really know unless we try."

"Exactly. That's practically the Starfleet motto, and it's our duty to boldy go. So to speak."

"And how bold are you Theo?" Vex replied, his voice husky.

"Why don't we find out?" Theo said. He paused, the added, "Once the game is over, of course."

Vex just smiled.

OFF:

Ensign Vex Kyrlore
Security Officer

Ensign Theodore Vega
Biologist
PNPC Reynard