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The piano bar is the main form of night life entertainment on Andromada’s space station. Davy loves visiting Andromada because not only does John make the best drinks this side of Jupiter 2, but he also gets to see Paul.
They were on the same relocation ship from Earth 1, years back, except Davy was part of the Space Navy crew.
Paul had been wide-eyed and scared, like many others. He’d had a backpack—also like many others—but was uniquely holding a plant, which was perhaps why he’d caught Davy’s attention.
It felt sweet, that this had been part of his meager belongings he felt he couldn’t leave behind.
“What’s its name?” Davy had asked, nodding towards it.
“Cher.”
Davy had laughed, touching some of Cher’s leaves. “She’s got her locks.”
“Pothos N’ Joy. Couldn’t… part with her.”
“Never was too big on plants or gardening myself. Never really had the time.”
Paul had looked him up and down, realizing then just who Davy was. “What’s it like? Up there?”
Davy had paused. “Different. Quieter.”
“I think I might like that.”
Once they’d gotten to talking, they never stopped.
Paul was a freelance real estate broker, which paid the bills, and an amateur novelist which did not.
Naturally, he was placed as part of the relocation efforts team, and helped find housing for people on Andromeda. Pretty soon he was back to his real estate job, as Andromeda’s key outer space broker.
He still wrote in his spare time and would slide the pages over to Davy across the bar sometimes when they’d meet up.
Davy loved reading Paul’s words and would take them with him on trips, writing notes in the margins and returning them with his feedback.
They kept him company on long trips away, as did telamessages with Paul himself. They had a good thing going.
Of course, there was that little issue of Davy having had a massive crush for ages.
And that minor factor of them finally sleeping together last week.
Davy doesn’t know how it began. One too many drinks from John at the bar, a few too many dances. Davy could move his hips with the best of them, and Paul could let loose once you got enough gin in him.
A fumbling stumble to the outerdecks. Laughing under the stars. Tumbling together onto one of the moon loungers.
Someone leaned in first. Maybe it was Davy. Alcohol tinged lips and breath, giggling against each other’s mouth, making out in one another’s arms.
Maneuvering their way back to Paul’s place; a frenzied movement of hands to remove clothing.
Finding the bed and not leaving it for hours on end.
Not until Davy had to report to Starfleet. And then everything turned awkward.
Dressing was clumsy, meeting each others eyes felt strange, the embrace goodbye was an awkward hug, and misaligned clash of lips.
Davy couldn’t leave fast enough. There were no telamessages from Paul that were waiting for him when he arrived at Starfleet and he felt weird sending one of his own.
Instead, he retreated to his quarters and closed his eyes, replaying the night — the feel of Paul’s mouth around him, the touch of his hands, the press of his body — and tried to figure out how it all went sideways.
This was Paul, the man he’d wanted for ages. The man he —
Well.
A message dinged on the panel to his left while his eyes were still closed.
He opened them, looked over.
It was from Paul.
He clicked retrieve with slight tripidation as Paul’s hologram appeared before him.
“Hi. Uh. Look, I probably shouldn’t be doing this this way, but I couldn’t wait.”
Davy swallowed, hard. He sat up against the wall, and folded his legs beneath him.
“Thing is, last night was amazing. At least for me. I don’t know what this morning was. Nerves, maybe? I, uh, I’ve wanted to do that for a long time…”
Davy laughed, shakily.
“Hopefully you did too, or I’m gonna feel pretty damn silly later. Uh. Get back when you can. Love you.”
That last part is said in such a rush Davy can barely hear it much less process it. He rewinds the message to just the end and — yep, that’s what Paul said.
“Holy shit.” He was smiling so wide it made his face hurt.
He quickly recorded his own message to send back, all the while grinning like a fool.
“I think I fell for you the second you told me your plant was named Cher. No, it was the moment I saw you holding that plant. The way you felt so different from every guy in that line. Like I could read them all like the English alphabet but you were Greek to me. I thought the jig would be up the second I walked into your new place with a plant of my own and told you I’d named it Sonny and wanted your help caring for it. Figured you had to know I was flirting with you by then. But if you did, you hid it well. I don’t know why we’ve done this dance for this long, but my feet hurt, Pauly. I love you, too.”
Time could feel infinite in space sometimes. That’s how long this trip had felt. But when Davy finally returned, he practically ran out of the hangar and to the space station. It was Saturday night and he made a beeline for Paul’s place, having gotten a key a long time ago, but it was empty.
There was a note on the kitchen table.
Meet me at our bar
Davy was really hoping for a more private reunion, but he headed back the way he came.
Sure enough, Paul was at the bar.
He was dressed up in a suit jacket and tie; Davy looked down at his cargo pants and sweater as he crossed to him.
Paul shook his head and held out his hand, standing. “You’re fine. Come dance with me.”
They headed to the center of the room. It was actually a decent crowd for a Saturday. Bill at the piano must be pleased.
As if Paul read his thoughts he looked over at the man and nodded.
On cue, Bill began playing I Got You Babe, before soon joining in to sing along.
Davy wrapped his arms around Paul’s waist, laughing. “You set this whole thing up, huh?”
“Never too late for some cheesy romance,” Paul replied, before resting his cheek against Davy’s. “I missed you.”
“Missed you, too.”
They turned their heads at the same time, kissing softly, then deeper.
Davy heard a faint whistle, which he was pretty sure belonged to John at the bar.
He laughed into the kiss and pulled Paul even closer, as they swayed to what he had a feeling was about to become their song.
He was more than okay with that.
It had a good melody.
End