Uncertainty

Posted on Wed Jan 11th, 2017 @ 4:23am by Petty Officer 3rd Class Avery Stiles & Ensign Theodore Vega

Episode: Lost Property
Location: Theo's Quarters

Avery tapped the door chime and waited to be let in. He knew Theo was around but had made a promise to his friend to stop hacking the systems and actually respect what little privacy he had. It was a hard habit to get into considering how they grew up.

Theo sighed, checked the time, and set aside the book he had been reading. "Come on in."

"Hey, man," Avery said, as he entered the junior officer's quarters. "You missed a great work out this morning. Vex showed me several martial arts moves after our run.... shirtless."

"That sounds very... painful?" Theo said, a bit quizzical. "I think I'll avoid any hitting that isn't required by Starfleet training mandates. Anyways, what brings you here?"

"Um, actually I need to talk to about that date like thing I went on the other night."

"Did it not go well?" Theo asked. "Well, there's still a hundred and forty-nine or so other people on the ship."

Avery had to stop and think about how to answer his friend's question. "Um, I guess I don't really know. I mean I never really thought that I would... like it. Wait, that sounds bad. What I meant was that I went into it with an open mind, just like I told him but something... was different."

"That's simultaneously very understandable," Theo said, "and also extremely vague and unspecific."

"Yeah, I realize that," Avery said, flopping down onto the small couch. "You know that I've always considered myself as a pretty open person, hell look at some of the stuff that we have done together. I thought that I would go on this date have some fun and that would be it... but the entire date something kept poking at the back of my mind."

"Oooooookay," Theo said slowly, wondering where this was going.

"Like I wanted to kiss him at the end of the date," Avery said, with a heavy sigh. "I've never felt that way before... I mean I know what guys are attractive... I sound very confusing right now, don't I?"

"You sound like you're thirteen," Theo said. "You know, I'm pretty sure the ship's computers has books and articles on this sort of thing. In fact, I've got a PADD right here, let me just look some up for you."

"I need your help Theo. You're my best friend, you've been through this before I haven't. I don't want some damn computer talking to me, I want to talk to my friend."

"I really haven't been..." Theo started to say. He stopped, because as much as he would like to avoid what was almost certainly going to be a hideously embarrassing talk about feeling and emotions, he was sure he'd put Avery in the same spot at least once in his life. Perhaps twice. Maybe he should have decided to be best friends with a Vulcan instead. "Okay, fine, let's work the problem. What's causing this to be different than any other date you've had before?"

Avery fidgeted with the hem of his shirt before looking back at his best friend. "I wish I knew what was different... I want to say nothing but I think part of it is the fact that it's a guy. Which shouldn't matter one bit this day and age."

That was a nicely circular answer, Theo thought. "You've dated aliens before. Clearly just being a bit unusual or outside your normal experience isn't the issue, right?"

"I think it's more than that," Avery said, with a huff. "I've had relationships before Theo but this... this feels different."

"So, to rephrase what you seem to be talking around," Theo said, "you're worried because this is not one of your usual flings and you feel like it might actually lead to a more serious relationship."

"Yes... I mean no... wait..." Avery stammered he fell back in the couch and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. "Yes! Okay! Fine you might be slightly correct. I've never had someone that made me feel this... intense about them. You've had relationships like this before, right? I mean you've been in love before, right?"

"Avery, calm down," Theo said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "You've spent an hour with this person. You're not required to pledge your undying love and ask for his hand in marriage before you've even had a second date."

"You're right," Avery said, sitting up a little straighter. "You're totally right. A second date, I should just focus on a second date. And then see how things go. What the hell do I do for a second date?"

"It's like a first date, only a second time. Come on, man, you've done this before, I shouldn't need- wait." Theo started thinking back and counting up Avery's various romantic encounters, or at least the ones he'd been around for, using his fingers to keep track. "You have to have been on at least one actual second date-date. Sometime after you joined Starfleet maybe..."

Avery felt himself blush. When they were in high school he was one of those guys that got along great with pretty much everyone. The downside to that being that he often got the 'I just want to be friends' line from pretty much every girl that he talked too. Theo had always been the one to have people throwing themselves at him and although, yes Avery had been on dates none of them really transpired to anything. And none of them certainly made him feel the way that Dorian did.

"Um, well not really," Avery replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

Theo threw up his hands in dramatically exagerrated disbelief. "You are like the walking stereotype of a spacer with a lady on every planet, moon, and station."

"That is not fair!" Avery retorted. "It's not every planet, moon, and station... just a few. And I'm sorry until now I've never really felt anything like this before! Why do you think that I am talking to you about it."

"Sorry, you're right, that was mean," Theo said, before muttering under his breath, "and accurate." Louder, "Look, it's really not that hard. You just do something else and see if you like spending time with them."

"And by something else I am going to guess that you don't mean anything... um intimate," Avery said. He caught the flash of annoyance in Theo's eyes and wisely held up his hands to ward off another verbal jab. "Of course you don't mean that... right I'm sure that I can think of something."

"I meant dinner and some form of entertainment, as is the custom of our people," Theo replied, shaking his head. "The nature and degree of any 'intimacy' -" he made air quotes "- is up to you."

"I can do that," Avery said, sitting up a little straighter in his chair. "I can totally do that."

"Of course you can. You're a crewman aboard a starship, exploring deep space. Starfleet has decided that it trusts you with authority over, like, at least four or five people. I think you can manage something people have been doing since people started living around non-relatives at the dawn of civilization."

"Wow, you're such a romantic," Avery said, rolling his eyes, as he stood up. "Thanks Theo, I'll let you know how it goes. Maybe we can go on a double date sometime."

"I'll pencil that into my schedule," Theo said, "after you've managed a singleton or two."

"Hey, who knows I may just turn into a master that no one can turn down," Avery said, with a wide grin.

"That seems more like a reason not to double-date," Theo replied, rolling his eyes. "Bit of a security risk."

Avery gave his friend a gesture that was considered rude in most human cultures on his way towards the door. "I'll let you know how it goes. Talk to you later Theo."

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