Where the Night Takes Us - Part II

Posted on Sun Oct 27th, 2024 @ 9:44pm by Lieutenant JG Zai

949 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Stars Around the Well
Location: Starbase 2

ON:

“Are you alright?” Sabastian asked.

Zai smiled. “I am… I feel.”

“What?”

“Safe, happy, and…”

“And?”

“I don’t know I just…I honestly don’t know. I don’t wish to stop dancing.”

“Then we won’t.” Sabastian tightened his hold on Zai. “Can I confess something?”

“Yes.”

“I want to kiss you Zai.”

Zai considered this for a moment. “I won’t be good at it. I mean I have kissed Fang but that was at the Academy on a dare and we were both drunk so it was more a peck not a kiss.” He thought a moment. “Will you teach me? How to kiss I mean.”

Sabastian felt dizzy and his heart hammered threatening to pound out of his chest. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Zai tilted his head to the side. “Why are you trembling?”

“I’ve dreamed of this moment a long time. I … I want you to be sure Zai. Maybe you’re just feeling lost and with all that happened with Fang … I don’t want you to regret anything. You love Fang.”

Zai curled his hand on Sabastian’s shirt. “I do love him and I feel like things are difficult because as of late I have been questioning the world love. We are friends in the end, only friends. I am single and I realize that a kiss is… intimate but I wish to know for certain if what I feel now, in this moment is real and what it means.”

“What do you feel?”

Zai thought a moment. “I feel like there are wings in my stomach. Like my heart is pounding out of my chest. I wish to be closer to you but I don’t understand it all I just … I want to get closer.”

Sabastian closed his eyes trying to steady himself. “Okay. Just a kiss then.”

But that wasn’t just a kiss. The moment that his lips met Zai’s he was lost. It had been something he’d wished for, something that had occupied his mind for years. He’d seen it in his mind a thousand times but nothing, nothing, prepared him for the lightening that coursed through his body as his lips touched Zai’s. He felt hot and cold at the same time. His whole awareness centered on the softness of Zai’s lips. Feather light caresses then Zai’s lower lip between his lips, the scrape of his teeth over Sabastian’s lip the feel of Zai’s breath mixing with his own. The kiss seemed to deepen. Zai figuring out things along the way.

Sabastian pulled back a little. He was breathing hard and they had long ago stopped dancing. He rested his forehead against Zai’s.

“Are you okay?” Zai asked.

He gave a nod. “I…I’m fine.” But was he? Sabastian was ready for a kiss but this…this was more then he’d hoped for. It was everything. He closed his eyes feeling a tear slip out. He quickly stepped away and turned away from Zai.

Confused by the sudden loss of Sabastian Zai, trembling slightly, placed a hand on Sabastian’s shoulder. “Are you alright?”

Sab gave a nod but didn’t speak.

“You feel…sad.”

Sabastian took a moment before he turned to face Zai his grey eyes filled with tears. “Yea. I’ve dreamed of this for years and now that we kissed I… it was everything but you don’t love me do you?”

An echo of the words he’d said to Fang not long ago. This fact was not lost on Zai. He took a deep breath “I…I don’t know how I feel. This kiss confused me more then I thought it would. Sabastian I feel something I just don’t know what. I know that I didn’t want to stop kissing you that my body felt …. Hot and cold, I felt like I was drinking water after along thirst.”

“Then let’s take some time to figure all this out. I think we should … try and get some sleep.”

Zai gave a nod. “Yeah. I think that’s a good idea.” Then he thought better of it and said something that surprised himself. “Or we could…”

“What?” Sabastian asked still drunk on the kiss that seemed to shatter him and then rebuild him.

“We could see where the night takes us.”

Sabastian closed his eyes. “Goddess of Betazed I want to but I don’t think either of us is ready to find out.”

Zai gave a nod. “I get it. But…then let’s take things slow, see if we could build.”

Sabastian gave a nod. “Let’s make a pact. No kissing until we are both sure that the feelings are mutual.”

Zai very reluctantly agreed knowing that it was the only fair thing to do. So they retired to their own rooms, each feeling more then they cared to admit, each confused by those feelings and a little afraid of what exploring them meant.

Zai was caught off-guard by the fact that he didn’t feel guilt when he thought of Fang. In fact his mind went more to Sabastian then to Fang. What was going on? Perhaps he really needed to speak with Counselor Alexander. Could she help him sort all this out? Was he really in love with Fang or had his heart been too hurt and why did Sabastian’s kiss make Zai feel dizzy and drunk and wanting more?

He collapsed on the bed and flung his arm over his eyes. “I have to figure all this out. I can’t go on like this.”

OFF:

 

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