Star Trek: Eventide 777 - ┊torre′vnau-estate-reman-complex

Arriving midday, Renakir was still dressed in his uniform. He had already received his welcome stares from every Romulan he had passed getting here as they tried to make sense of the strange grey-skinned boy with floppy ears and forehead ridges. At least no one was saying anything and that's what mattered. He approached his estate with caution, as always looking around. The estate had 4 houses, two for the Remans and two for the Romulans. The designs of each building were more or less the same, although the Reman side often felt more spacious with less people, specifically there were only 3 people occupying the space; his father, Onusuk, and Meruvix. His estate was a similar model to that of a Chinese siheyuan with each complex one side of a square. In the middle of the four buildings was a garden and a fountain. The garden was Tiravurik's idea and Renakir saw all the wonderful flowers his uncle had carefully placed. The Romulans of course did nothing to help, but they rarely did anything. He headed to the building on the left where his room was and took a seat on the bench beside the door. Once the door was closed he could take his sunglasses and shoes off. He had a pair of very cute Epohh-shaped house slippers because of course he did. It was cool and dark, the perfect environment and he didn't have to hide anything. He was home.

"Solait? You're here! Hello, I've missed you," Cerrub heard the sound of shuffling near the entryway and scurried out. He was wearing matching epohh slippers, of course and long blue robes. One would not think him and Renakir were related if it wasn't for their eyes and hair colour. Everything else about Renakir was Reman, except those two features. "Meruvix is making chilly and we have ale, do you need anything in the meantime?" Cerrub asked as he began to tidy up the entryway, putting Renakir's shoes nicely on the rack and picking up his sunglasses from the bench.

Renakir immediately snatched his sunglasses out of his father's hands when the older man took them and tucked them away into his pocket. "I'm fine," He replied, turning his head away. "Di'ranov (father), sorry, I mean I don't need anything. I'd rather just be alone for a bit, I'll come to dinner though," He said as he stood up and walked right past his father and to his room. He was not really in the mood to chat. The spacism he experience on his way was clearly putting him in a bad mood.

Cerrub sighed as he watched his son walk down the hallway, the little antennae of his epohh slippers wiggling with each step he took. He sometimes wondered if he made the right decision taking them to Mol'Rihan. It was certainly better than Rator III, but it was clear there was still very much a divide between Romulans and Remans and as much as Cerrub didn't want to believe it, it affected Renakir a lot. He also wished Renakir would have at least given him a proper greeting. He wanted to compliment his son on his new hair! But no, Renakir was already going to his room, but perhaps they could chat over some ale and chilly at dinner.

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3

Finally back in his room, the room that did not feel like a room. Despite the beautiful decorations, Renakir felt like a stranger here. The paintings on the walls the subtle marble textured ceiling. To anyone else this would look like luxury. Rugs woven from only the finest linens on Mol'Rihan and blankets as soft as clouds. Tiravurik and Onusuk had worked endlessly to make their wonderful son's room feel like he was living in a palace. Not that the Torre'vnau estate wasn't already its own type of palace, but this felt like a Reman palace. Geodes covered his shelves, the gemstones sparkling against the dim lighting of the room. The king size bed had a marble-patterned duvet cover and on to of it was a small bag of snacks. It was as if he were in a cave of diamonds, reflective stones glistening as the orange lighting from below refracted around the room. Home. This was home. It felt weird to say the word in his mind. He plopped down on the end of his bed as his silver eyes scanned the room. And then his mind drifted back to Akuvek and the conversation Eshen had with his father. The fact that his father seemed to respect his friend more than him left a bitter taste in his mouth. It was because he was Reman, because his father thought somehow his race blinded himself from logic and reason. And yet this same man is the one who greeted him at the door that day. Wearing matching epohh slippers, inviting him to chilly and ale. Cerrub was a man of mysteries, a murderer one day, but a loving father the other. What was the truth? Something was unsettling about all of this, maybe they weren't as close as he thought. 777_divider

03:25

So he wasn't going to stick around and find out. He couldn't be in the same house as a murderer-- a two-faced man. He pulled his sunglasses out of his pocket and put them on. If he was going to leave, he'd have to leave his uniform behind too so he quickly changed out of it and into more Romulan style clothes. A stupid disco-ball patterned blazer with a white button down shirt. Tight fit green trousers because why not. He pulled out some shiny oxford shoes from under his bed and headed towards his window to leave. Dropping his little epohh slippers by his bed, he dove straight out the window. It was a good thing his house was a siheyuan style, one floor, and also he can climb walls. It took him no time to clear the gardens and even the wall surrounding the complex, thanks Starfleet physical training. And in less than 30 min this boy was already walking far away from the Torre'vnau home.

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When it was time to dinner, Cerrub head to Renakir's room to tell him. Him and Meruvix were excited to chat with their son again! The little antennae of his epohh slippers wiggled with each step as he walked down the long corridor. It was nice to have such a large house, but it also made getting around very time consuming. Suddenly he couldn't blame the Romulan side of the Torre'vnau household for not visiting the Reman side as often-- it took nearly 20 min to walk from one complex to another. As he walked down the hall he heard some rustling from inside Renakir's room. Perhaps he already knew it was dinner time? Once he got to Renakir's room he knocked on the door. "Solait, dinner time. Ale and Chilly," He called, waiting for a response. After a minute of no response he knocked again, repeating his call. *Was Renakir mad at him? Maybe he shouldn't have tried to talk to him when he arrived, he must have come off too strong. After a few minutes of silence Cerrub pressed the switch to open the doors (which were not locked, surprisingly) to find Renakir was not there at all. Only his epohh slippers lay by the bed. It took Cerrub a few seconds to process what was going on before he darted back down the long corridor. * "Meruvix, e'lev, Renakir is missing." (edited)

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They headed gto the Reman side of the estate next. As soon as they entered, Renakir took his sunglasses off and put them in his pocket. This time they could go into every room and explore every corridor. The walls were decorated with handmade pictures and dazzling rock patterns. The floors were made of marble. Despite the vast difference in lighting, the Reman complex was anything but dull. The last stop on their tour was Renakir's bedroom. Beautifully decorated with geodes filling the shelves. As described before, it looked like the inside of a cave. It was dark, of course, but there was some light coming from the edges of the room that refracted off of the rocks. It was truly a genius use of light. "This is my room. It's... Supposed to look like the caves on Remus," Renakir told his friend, a bit of shyness in his voice. Saren knew he was Reman, but he wondered what the other would think actually seeing how Reman Renakir really was. "Tiravurik and Onusuk are the ones who decorated-- and Meruvix. My umm.. Aunt," He said as he folded his hands in front of him and looked down so the other wouldn't see how his stupid silver eyes glowed in the dark. It made him look like a cave gremlin and he hated it.

After getting used to the much dimmer side of the estate, Saren quietly followed after Renakir, green eyes taking in the decorations and the patterns of the stones. Oh, Talai would have a grand time here, even though the man himself, even if skilled in work with many different materials, preferred wood and glass and painstakingly intricate ornaments, a rather... un-Romulan like things. He stopped in the middle of Renakir's room, a quiet amazement on his features. "It's beautiful..." he said, genuinely awestruck, but then sharply turned towards the man: "Wait, am I allowed to say that? I don't want to sound, uh..." The nagging thought of "you really shouldn't be here, Morvar" was taking room in his mind like a blood-sucking parasite, out of reach for Saren to pull out. He was glad that they didn't meet anyone else during their tour - not because he didn't want to see Renakir's family, no. It was because he didn't want them to see him. His urge to not be perceived rivaled that of his dinam's. "But, like, I mean it. And your family did an amazing job decorating it," he, too, looked down, as if trying to see what it was that Renakir was looking at.

"Of course, you're welcome, all my friends are," He said as he turned around, still very shy about letting others see his eyes-- even his Dinam. He gestured over to the sofa he had beside his bed so Saren could sit down. Along the shelves were photos of Renakir with his family, mostly his Reman family. He only had two pictures with his Romulan family, one with Cerrub outside his house and one with an unnamed boy with long black hair, the two had the same eyes, but other than that they looked more like they could be friends than relatives.

Right when Renakir was just about to sit down, Cerrub came shuffling into the room with a box in his hands. "Solait and Saren, oh both your names start with S, what a coincidence. I have a gift for you, Saren," Cerrub said as he held up the box.* "It's not murder, if that's what you're wondering," He joked, Renakir visibly face palmed at this. 'Why Romulans', is what he thought literally every day he had to interact with his father. He offered the box to Saren and inside it were.... Matching Epohh slippers. Much like the ones Cerrub and Renakir wore. Renakir's slippers were green ,Cerrrub's were purple and he got Saren blue epohh slippers. Wiggly antennae and silly faces.

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Saren understood the gesture and sat down on the sofa, legs slightly crossed and shoulders relaxed; the gentle reflections off the geodes' cracked surfaces caught his eye, and as Saren's wandering gaze traveled across the shelves, it found the photographs. He looked closer, and couldn't help but wonder about the stranger on the photos, but as soon as Renakir's guest opened his mouth to inquire, Cerrub appeared: "Gift?" Saren echoed, eyes going wide in bewilderment. "Sir, you didn't have to-- I, uh, I don't have anything to gift back--" Oh dear. A social situation Saren wasn't really good at - he got genuinely flustered when offered a gift, something the poor Romulan couldn't really control. He gently took the box, taking a peek inside of it and... trying really, really hard to keep a straight face, because... "Oh, they look almost just like Amelie... " he looked up at the older man, and bowed his head in gratitude, "Thank you so much, sir."

Renakir wasn't exactly sure what his father was going to give to Saren but he had a strange feeling it was going to be, "Epohh slippers. Yeah they do look like Amelie. Father you---" As if his father hadn't embarrassed him enough, before he could finish his sentence Cerrub interrupted.

"They are trendy nowadays. But these are handmade, Onusuk made them," Cerrub said proudly. He pointed to the eyes on the slippers. "And the eyes are soft too, perfect for snuggling. They shiny bits are shiny fabric with small stones woven into it. It creates a shine but still soft to the touch,"He explained, very proud of Onusuk's work. Cerrub had many Reman lovers and he was going to hype each one up whenever he could. "You can match us," Cerrub said as he wiggled his feet to show Saren he had a pair of purple epohhs and pointed to Renakir's green slippers sitting at the end of his bed. "Thank you for being Solaits friend and thank you for visiting."

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Onusuk? Ah, one of Renakir's Reman relatives. So it wasn't just a gift, but a carefully hand-crafted one, and oh dear, Saren's socially inept ass didn't know how to correctly process this... he was touched, and really appreciated this gift, bur did that really show through to Cerrub? The young man hoped so. "Do tell Onusuk that I'm grateful and that it's an amazing work..." Damn it, Cerrub was too nice to him. Saren humored himself with a thought that him and his dad would get along well. But then Saren also would be embarassed, among with Renakir, because two Romulan dads in close proximity are a deadly combination... "I am glad to call Renakir my friend," replied Saren, as a... bittersweet sort of feeling quickly settled in his chest. "And thank you for having me."

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"You are a good boy and I hope your father appreciates you too," Cerrub said with a bright smile. If he had sharp teeth like Renakir, their smiles would be identical. But Renakir rarely smiled, even amongst family. "You are free to continue exploring. Oh we built a little underground cave in our backyard. It's in its infancy but I am sure Solait would love to show you it's cooling effects. He calls it 'hole time', very silly," Cerrub laughed and walked over to Renakir who instinctually stepped away and sighed.

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"Yeah I can show him, it's on the way out," Renakir moved closer to Saren and gave him a nod to follow. That was enough awkward father time.

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Allan had probably told Renakir he was coming via a PADD message. He planned on going in the pool eventually so was wearing a sort of early 20th-century inspired swimsuit, but over it he was wearing the fancy shirt he'd worn earlier to ~~fight~~ meet Lun in because he didn't know if he would be inside at first for a decent amount of time or meet Renakir's dad or anything like that, and he wanted to look nice! When he got there, he looked up and around at the complex, absolutely amazed by all the architecture and especially the shrubbery and plants and such as he made his way to the complex Renakir had instructed him to go to, and he approached the door, rocking on his feet in his black converse shoes. This was the first time he'd been anywhere in Mol'Rihan other than like, the grocery store to run an errand for Chadrix or Brokuk, or somewhere on the -way- to meet Chadrix or Brokuk, alone. So he was a little nervous! But Renakir, this man he'd met three times now and was totally his friend, was here and said he was safe. So he was safe!

Just as Cerrub said, Renakir was enjoying 'hole time' when Allan arrived. He was dressed in a paid of Romulan Gucci slides (ironically the same ones Kianarix wore) and some tight black booty shorts with stripes down the sides and.. No shirt. He wanted to feel the rocks against his skin. He was sprawled out on his back in starfish position, enjoying what cool breeze made its way down into the hole.

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The Reman complex did not have servants so it was Onusuk who saw the ensign approach the building. Onusuk was tall and lanky, very different from his husband Tiravurik. Grey skin, shiny bald head, all typical Reman traits. He shuffled over to the human who had approached their building and greeted them with a very shiny pointy toothed grin. "Welcome! One of Rennie's friends issit?" He asked in quite a strange Havrannsu accent as he spoke Standard. Unlike the rest of his family, Onusuk was not very gifted with languages. Also, just like Tiravurik, he was illiterate.

Allan smiled at the other man, waving his hand hello. "Yes! I'm Allan," he said in pretty good Havrannsu pronunciation. He knew how to introduce himself at least! A necessary skill to have in most languages if you planned on being friends and more than friends with people from every planet. "And you are?"

"Oh Allan! Hello," Onusuk greeted, very enthusiastically. He had a similar demeanour to Tiravurik but he looked a lot less intimidating and he wasn't as timid as his husband. "Onusuk of the house of Torre'vnau," He introduced himself. A human who spoke Havrannsu? How interesting! He didn't think their humble language was very useful for aliens, which was why he was so surprised by the human's skills. He readjusted his lil Reman glasses on his face. They looked very similar to Renakir's but since Onusuk was skinnier his glasses were fitted for his face. "Let's go to Rennie," Onusuk said as he clasped his hands together and skipped over to where Renakir was laying down in the hole. It was behind a couple of rocks in what could only be described as a Reman Zen garden. It was a little clearing beyond the bushes with sand and rocks. As soon as they got to the hole, Onusuk walked over to the edge and kicked in some sand. "Rennie!" He said, his tone immediately changing as he spoke a rather harsher Havrannsu. "Wake up wake up, no time lay in hole lah, faster faster come on, you turn to stone or what?"

Renakir was out here just vibing in the hole when he suddenly heard a loud voice above him and a waterfall of sand wash over him. Quickly he scrambled to his feet and began coughing-- it was Onusuk? The hole wasn't even that deep, it only reached his hips when he stood up. "Coming lah-- oh Allan, it's you," Renakir was surprised to see his friend was actually there. He brushed some sand from his hair and crawled out of the hole. Onusuk smiled at Renakir and it seemed the two had some sort of nonverbal communication because both of them laughed. After the brief exchange Onusuk shuffled away to continue his gardening duties.

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"Nice to meet you, Onusuk," Allan said with a smile, thinking this man's glasses were very cute for a second before following him to go see Renakir, past the garden, before they came to... a big hole? The fuck? "Why..." Allan said as he tried to find the words in Havrannsu in his head, "why is he in the hole?" Don't ask him how he knows the word for hole. "Yes, I said I was coming," Don't ask him about that phrase either. "How are you?"

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"Sorry I didn't realise you were gonna be here now," Renakir replied, but he was speaking his typical Standard with the French accent. Despite being a native Havrannsu speaker, he actually was not very comfortable speaking it. He spoke to his family here and there, but he much preferred Rihannsu or one of the terran languages he knew. "I was meditating. It helps calm my thoughts," Renakir said as he dusted off his shorts and upper body. He was also wearing his sunglasses as always. "I am fine. I made it home alright as you can see and things are going well. And you?"

"I mean, usually when I say I'm on my way, I'm on my way," he laughed, talking in typical Standard again as well after he noticed Renakir was doing the same. "You meditate when you're in the hole? Huh," he looked over the hole curiously, it looked... interesting. "Might have to try that sometime. Glad you're safe, though! And that you like the shorts, of course." He gave the other a warm and charming smile, he really was very glad for both of those things. "I'm doing pretty okay, met this guy named Kianarix who is involved in a whole bunch of political bullshit with some asshole but that's not really my problem anymore," for now, at least. He'd be keeping an eye on any messages from Kianarix for sure in the next few days. "So everything's okay here now?"

"There are so many cultures that say 'on my way' when they are just starting to get ready. I had no way of know! Unless you're a shaolin monk, I always assume people are as punctual as the French," Was that a stab at the French? Definitely. Although Renakir considered himself to be French and as such he was also, fashionably late all the time. "It's hotter than the sun, I am dressed comfortably. Also yes everything is alright for now,"Renakir put his hands on his hips to strike a pose, unusually confident that day. The shorts also had the added bonus of showing off his lean legs and muscular thighs. He could probably crack heads with his thighs, honestly. "Woah woah Kianarix? Is this a new friend? Not Brokuk or Chadrix? Kianarix is another Reman?" Seriously, Allan had so many Reman friends! This dude totally earned the Reman title and it made Renakir smile a little. He loved it when his people interacted with other races, in fact he wanted more Remans to explore and make friends of other races. Reman freedom!

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"Okay, okay, yeah," He laughed, following Renakir to ... wherever they were headed. His dad? The pool? Both? Only time would tell. "You have a point." "Yeah, it's a lot hotter here, but I think that's just you? I dunno," he shrugged, smiling as Renakir struck a pose. "Yeah, I think that's just you!" He laughed again, he was so so glad Renakir seemed to be doing a lot better, especially when the other smiled a little. "Yeah! Met him at the beach, he's a really sweet guy, half Romulan half Reman, but he's like, stuck in a relationship with this asshole who insults him and ughhh it's such a political mess, I hate it," he rolled his eyes. "Like, I get it, but it's still a jerk move."

Renakir let out a soft chuckle as he led his friend over to where their pool was. It was not that big, but it was incredibly deep, perfect for diving. It was mostly the Remans that used the pool, the Romulans were stuck up and pretty anti-fun. Except Rai, he was fun but not around much. The pool was filled with cool water with rocks on the side. It looked more like a beach oasis than an artificially made pool. It had a wooden deck that allowed a person to walk along the outside and behind it was a stone path leading up to a higher rock that overlooked the pool. It was their diving board-- or rock. "Wait, you met another Half-Romulan Half-Reman?" And in a bad relationship? Interesting. "What house his he from? And that's too bad about the relationship," Although Renakir was still not a fan of arranged marriages, he felt a sense of duty to his own family.

"Yeah, it is. He's like, in Valleka's family somehow? Adopted into it for like, political clout. It makes me so upset, actually, like somehow she's managed to be the most 'totally not spacist' but extremely spacist family I've ever met." Allan sighed, but then stared at the pool in awe. It looked so cozy, like a little cove! Like where mermaids would hang out or something. "Whoa, that's - is that a diving rock?" Allan asked, looking back at Renakir with excitement in his eyes. "No way."

"RYLOV?!" Renakir exclaimed, his mouth hanging open so now Allan could see all his pointy teeth. Very shiny and very white in fact. It created a nice contrast to his grey skin. "I am going to ask my father but it would be nice to have another arranged marriage with someone from the Rylov family. He could join the Torre'vnau house and-- I'm sure my parents would love him," Renakir said, thinking one more Reman would be just what his family needed. Also it sounded like this Kianarix was unhappy so more Free Remans! "And yes that is a diving rock," Renakir said as he ran up the stone path. He looked like a kid at a waterpark, he was genuinely having a good time. It was because here he didn't have to hide being Reman, he could just be himself. He had never smiled quite like this on the station.

"Ugh, yeah, that name. Yeah, the guy he's dating is named Lun, and I literally went to meet him and he insulted him like. In front of me. And then tried to manipulate him... also in front of me. It's so bad," he said, seeing Renakir running up the stone path and smiling also again when he saw how happy the other was. "What!? Okay, bet," he said, taking off his fancy shirt and his shoes so he was just in his bathingsuit now, running after Renakir to be able to dive next from the rock because how cool is that!! He couldn't wait to tell Eshen about this.

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"I'll ask my father about it, more Remans would be nice," Renakir said before he jumped off of the rock and into the pool below. He had excellent form, barely even made a splash. The water felt nice on his skin, it was super hot that day after all. Maybe not too hot for humans, but he was Reman and anything above freezing was hot to him.

Allan dove off the rock soon after, he just kinda jumped in because he didn't really know how to dive dive. The water was so... different compared to the ocean, it was nice though, in a different way. "Yeah! I mean, not to be weird or anything, but yeah, more Remans is always nice." Throwback memory to when Chadrix and Brokuk had HUGE parties at their beach house back in the Academy days and like 5000 Remans would show up.

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Renakir swam in the water, doggy paddling away so Allan had some space to swim too. "I wish you could have seen Remus. It was nice, "Renakir said as he turned over onto his back and just let himself float. "I miss it everyday. It was pretty, there were rocks everywhere. I mean... I suppose the circumstance was bad, but the community was nice," He spoke softly and calmly as he allowed the breeze to tickle his skin. He was glad he finally made it home, but also regretted being away for so long. "And I'm sorry for worrying you, Allan. Actually... I still haven't spoken to my father about it," Renakir admitted with a soft sigh. "I don't really know how..."

Allan also swam around. He knew how to swim of course, to surf you basically had to know, but sometimes doggy paddling was just more fun. "Yeah... Brokuk and Chadrix have told me about it a lot, it sounds nice," he sighed and smiled as he waved his hands through the water, making small waves. "Here's pretty nice, though. I like the duality, almost." It really did remind him of where he grew up. "It's okay, I just like - I've had a lot of people come to me needing safe places to stay, in a lot of different situations, so I was just concerned about you was all -" he looked at the other with a curious look. "Talk to him about... what, exactly?"

"Mol'Rihan would be nicer if Remans still weren't second class citizens," Renakir exhaled and stopped floating, now just treading water. "Our biological needs are different from that of Romulans and that is how the Romulans justify cutting our budget and services. Most Remans don't even have access to running water in their homes. The Romulans say it is because building wells or water pipes is impossible in the cold climates, but Remus was covered in aquaducts," He took a deep breath before he let himself get any angrier. He was a privileged boy, but he knew he had privilege and would always fight for those who didn't. "A-Anyway... About my father. I don't know how to explain to him why I ran away. Onusuk has been hovering over me ever since, no doubt it's because my father told him to watch me. Oh and Onusuk is Tiravurik's husband, he's another one of my dads," Renakir explained as he let himself sink into the water. Now only his fluffy black hair and eyes stuck out above the water. He could barely see with his fogged up sunglasses, but the sun was too bright to take them off.

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"Who builds the aqueducts?" He asked, looking at Renakir but then shaking his head. "I mean, of course it's only... one thing out of many, but if you got a good team together... I dunno," he shrugged, also going lower in the water as he sort of mirrored Renakir. "I might be able to help a bit better if I also knew why you ran away, yeah?"

"Remans, of course. We built Romulus and Remus," He said matter of factly. He wasn't trying to sound bitter but his voice had a bit of a growl to it when he spoke of the mistreatment. Of course it was #NotAllRomulans, but as a society the Romulans had never and still weren't giving the Remans equal treatment. "I ran away because.... I don't like being ignored. Back to the Romulans... I don't know, I feel like my father tried to raise me with Romulan standards and when I do anything that doesn't match those standards, he dismisses me and invalidates my feelings. I... So something came up and I complained to my father. He didn't listen to me and called me too emotional. But then when I asked Dion to help me out my father listened to him without question. The thing is Dion and I both said the same things-- well he was more eloquent but... It's so frustrating."

Allan had to remind himself to actually go back above the water so he could hear Renakir. Because he couldn't really hear with his ears under the water. Darn human hearing and all that. "So your father ignored your feelings?" He sighed, another case of people being ignored for no good reason, huh. "I could try talking to him, if you want. Later, probably, if that's okay, because I like this pool."

"No no, don't tell him anything, he'll just... Tell me I'm being too umm.. Reman," Renakir lifted his head above the water and swam to one of the shallower ends where he could touch the bottom. "Allan... Do your Reman friends umm.. Like me? I felt like I didn't really get along with them, something seemed off... Maybe I'm too Romulan," He walked slowly to the shallowed end of the pool and sat on one of the wooden steps that led into the pool. There were a couple of pool toys there as well, a few noodles and an inner tube with a cup holder. Behind Renakir on the little wooden platform was also a cooler filled with glasses of Romulan ale. "Too Romulan to make friends, but too awkward to be Reman. I saw how they talked to you, you guys got along so well even if you're different races. I feel like I'm... Like in an uncanny valley, not different enough to be cool but not similar enough to be a brother."

"So he's spacist???" Allan was so done with spacists at this point he was probably going to lose his mind if he met another one. "Nah, they liked you! A little concerned about you like I was about like, if you would be safe, but yeah, they liked you a lot. Especially Brokuk, actually." He swam to the other end and looked at the Romulan ale. Tempting!! But he picked up a pool noodle instead. "We got along so well because we've known eachother for eight years," Allan laughed, "You're cool, I promise. Do you want to do a pool noodle fight?" Yes. A pool noodle fight.

"No no, he's not spacist. I mean, I'm his son and his actions have been far from spacist," Renakir waved his hands and shook his head. He had a lot of feelings about his father, but accusing him of spacism was not it. Unironically Cerrub was the least spacist person he knew. Well, aside from himself... But even Renakir acknowledged that he had a lot of internalised spacism. In fact, every Romulan was inherently spacist because they all benefitted from the systematic oppression of Remans, but that was a conversation for another day. "I... Eight years... I don't think I talk to anyone I knew from eight years ago besides my family," Somehow hearing that only reminded him of his own inability to make friends. He was trying his best to be friendly, he thought he was friendly! But at the heart of it, Renakir was chronically introverted and struggled to even introduce himself. He sighed and picked up one of the noodles. "Yeah, we can have a noodle fight," Maybe it would get his mind off of things, he thought.

"Ah, okay," Allan responded simply. I mean, if Renakir said he wasn't spacist, he'd trust that, but it still sounded just a bit spacist. But! He'd trust Renakir because he was his friend. "Well, I met them at the Academy my second year, yeah? So I've known them for eight years, this is the eighth," he smiled, picking up the pool noodle and holding it up in the air like a fucking fencing sword or some shit. "Man, I wish ESHEN was here, he'd probably have fun with this too." In a hopeless attempt to summon him, most likely...

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And Eshen was here! He approached still in full leather getup, silver jewellery, purple-ended hair - see the Mol'Rihan National Enquirer for more details. He'd arrived not long after his time with Lun and Kianarix (who he left brushed and pampered and looking like a fancy little lad) to come tell Renakir the news now that he was finally back home. He had a shoulderbag full of macarons, and stood beside the water cooler, looking down at them. "Speak of a deity and he will come; it's Dion today!"

2

Maybe Romulans weren’t telepathic but man, did humans possess some secret telepathy he was unaware of? Right on cue, Eshen appeared in what seemed to be a wild outfit. Leather boots, freshly dyed hair, silk top? Renakir hoped that his father didn’t see because he would most certainly ask Eshen where he shopped and buy everything and give it to Renakir to wear. He pushed his little sunglasses up on his face so he could get a better look at his friend’s incredible fit. “Wow… You look ummm…. Like you are here for a different party,” He chuckled ever so slightly, covering his mouth as he did so. It was just habit and a bit of a hint of the revival of his discomfort being Reman. “You are invited, here, you can have my noodle,” Renakir pulled himself out of the water so he could hand Eshen his pool noodle. It was green, of course. “I…. I think I should talk to my father, actually,” He didn’t want to but he knew he wouldn’t be able to have a good time with his friends until he sorted things with Cerrub.

Unfortunately, Dion could not read Renakir's mind, and had no idea what his motivations were for leaving, only that he'd done it literally as soon as he arrived. He was trying desperately not to assume things, especially since Renakir's tone and body language didn't seem unfriendly (in fact he seemed a lot better than before), so he took the pool noodle with a smile as though his paranoia was not compounding with each lie he was told and each lie he had to tell someone else even as he tried to Surak it all away. "Of course! Tell him I said jolan tru," he said, but as soon as Renakir left he dropped the pool noodle and the smile, just watching the direction Renakir had walked. "What did I do...?"

Allan was absolutely amazed that that had -worked- and Dion actually showed up. What the fuck? Though, he clicked his tongue and shook his head as Renakir got up out of the pool. "Avoiding a fair fight, I see, I see," he laughed, though, waving his hand dismissively. "Just come back! We can have a rematch," he said before turning to Dion. "Oh! We were talking about talking to his dad like, right before you got here. I think he just wants to deal with it sooner than later because, like, I dunno about you, but I prefer to do the same usually or else it's gonna be on my mind literally all day," he shrugged. "Where'd you just come from, though? That is a -really- great outfit for the pool."

They were talking about talking to his dad? Yes, that made more logical sense than Renakir leaving because he couldn't stand Dion's rancid vibes or something. He could read body language, he didn't get that impression, and it was unfair to Renakir to just assume he was so petty he'd just ignore him if he had a problem with him. Logically, Renakir did not hate him. He kept telling that illogical part of his mind that over and over and hopefully it would believe it was true. Dion sighed and put his smile back on. "Oh, legal business and illicit behaviour," Dion said, sitting down next to the pool and digging out three boxes of macarons from his shoulderbag, painted with watercolour depictions of the beach house and with all their of their names carefully calligraphied. "With two people, but that doesn't beat what I did with you, Chadrix and Brokuk. I've had quite the... eventful holiday." He'd done all that, succeeded on the Akuvek case, and yet his brain was still telling him this whole thing was a mistake because friend told him one (1) lie and wasn't around much? Ugh. Vulcans were right. Emotions were illogical.

Allan raised an eyebrow, smiling. "Oh? Legal business and illicit behavior? Where in the world did you find that combination?" He laughed, but he was genuinely curious to know, since usually legal business and illicit behavior were, well, two separate things that people didn't usually want mixing. Except Dion and Allan both were some of the freaks who wanted those two things to mix, it seemed. He then looked at the macarons, which he probably couldn't see too well through the boxes but it was obvious that they were painted in some form of other. "Wait, you also made macarons??" He looked extremely excited about that prospect, macarons were very quickly becoming a favorite snack over the course of a few days, really. And where would Dion even have made them? "It is crazy, and it's almost over. Went by faster than I thought, somehow."

"I made all three of you macarons! There's a fourth box for Renakir when he comes back, too. I'll be leaving for Bajor soon, so I suppose it's a going away present." Dion started taking his boots and socks off so he could at least dangle his feet in the pool. He would have to change into swimwear soon, though. Or could he just swim in his underwear? Would Renakir mind? It's not like it would show any more skin than most swim trunks did. Then again, he was definitely wearing something lacy. Sa-lace-ious. "It's been kind of a... Long week for me, to be honest. I came here to do a favour for Renakir and it took longer than I thought. But! I flirted with a Vulcan! And more. Which I know probably sounds like not much of an achievement, but I've actually never done that."

"You're kidding," Allan said in disbelief as he looked at them. "What the fuck, they're beautiful too? I mean, I guess art takes after the artist but fuck, dude," he sort of hoisted himself up out of the pool some to sit on the edge with Dion, maybe splashing him just a bit in the process but not on purpose! He really tried to avoid it, at least. "Never?" It was somehow extremely surprising to him that Dion, especially being half-Vulcan himself, had never flirted with a Vulcan. "No, that's awesome, though, wow. Who's the extremely lucky Vulcan?"

Dion didn't mind. The seat of his pants was probably already wet from sitting on the side of the pool anyway. Second time he got his butt wet near water with Allan. Not innuendo. "Someone you're better off not knowing." He didn't want Allan involved with that whole thing. Besides, work life balance. Even though it had been a personal favour for Renakir, the way he'd gone about it felt like work. "But he was the first one who's ever been openly interested, and he's tall and handsome, and that's enough for me."

2

Allan laughed. "Are there people out there I'm actually better off not knowing?" He asked, to the both of them, really. "The way I see it, the more people I know the better, especially if they're the type to... well." He shrugged, looking back at Dion with a smile. "If that's how you want it," he sort of moved the pool noodle throughout the pool water below them, just sort of making shapes. "That sounds like a pretty good deal to me."

Dion nodded. "It was." He didn't like how much information he'd had to give about Alizati, but at least it wasn't like he was telling some random person. Lun was literally his grandfather. Sort of. Dion dangled his feet in the pool for a while, then stood up. "I've got to go change quickly. You want to come with? You can see my fancy guest room. It's..." Big. Empty. Lonely. "...Actually, do you want to stay over or do you have plans at the beach house? I don't think Cerrub would mind."

"Sure!" Allan stood up as well, taking a towel that he had totally brought with him and wrapping it around himself to dry off just a bit before they'd head indoors. "I'm fine with staying over, don't really have any plans at the beach house tonight, we did so much yesterday anyways - did I tell you about the surfboard they got me?" In fact, if he played his cards right, he could maybe even set up Brokuk and Chadrix on an actual real date while he was gone.

2

Dion smiled in relief at the thought that Allan would be with him tonight. He hated sleeping alone. He worried sometimes that he might bother Nalas by crawling into his bed at night too often. "You didn't tell me, no, but that sounds to cool! I'd love to see you surf. Not one of my many talents, I'm afraid, so I won't be joining you for fear of making a fool of myself. Oh, but I don't know if I'll have time," Dion said, walking along the stone path to inside the building and along the lacquered floors.

"Oh, my God! Let me show you, hold on," he followed Dion as he brought up a picture on his PADD of the surfboard, and then another picture of him and Chadrix and Brokuk together with their surfboards, some of him surfing... he sort of just walked alongside Dion as he showed him the pictures. "Yeah, here, the waves were like, really huge that day? There's like, a video in here somewhere," he said, scrolling past more photos and perhaps a photo of him and Kianarix taking a bath with a bunch of bubble soap covering everything important before finally finding the video. "Here it is!" For what it was worth, it was a pretty good surf video!

Huh? Was that Kianarix? How did Allan know Kianarix? But the picture was gone as quickly as it came. Kind of funny that they both saw that bedraggled boy and felt the urge to clean him up a bit. He wasn't sure whether or not he should ask what Allan's connection with Kianarix was, so he didn't mention it just yet. "You look very cool! You must have a lot of thigh and core strength. Why am I saying must? I'm already very familiar with it." Soon, they entered the guest room. It was certainly big, and fancy, but being a guest room, it was designed to be as generic as possible, and it felt like staying in a hotel. Dion knelt down, got a pair of tight swimming leggings out of his suitcase that were black with a blue-green-purple iridescence to them, then just got changed in front of Allan. It wasn't anything he hadn't seen before, after all. (edited)

"I was about to say," Allan laughed. Yes, he definitely had that kind of strength, he just didn't know how to utilize it well in... well, other situations. "It was really sweet, they said it was an early birthday present, kinda, cause my birthday's after shore leave in like... a week? Ish? Still dunno what I'll be doing for that." He felt like it would probably be a mix of the wild parties he would throw during his Academy years and the more... tame parties at his last posting that was pretty much mostly older people and Vulcans. Or old Vulcans. The actual crazy people were the clients in the shipyard, really. "Are those iridides... okay, I forgot the word but - The color. It's cool."

Dion stood up and posed, legs apart, hands on hips, wearing only the leggings - not even gloves! Bare clawed hands, bare scarred chest, though he had scars on his wrists and neck, too. He had one well-healed slash up the side of his face, from when he'd fought A'Ruk, but it was covered by (waterproof, luckily) makeup. "Iridescent! Yes, they are. Really draw attention to the thighs. I've got strength of my own, you know. Well, you're already very familiar with that, too." Then he slapped his own thigh like the hind of a horse. "My birthday's not long after yours, you know. What if we throw a joint party? You know we'd make it a hell of a time."

"Irideshen?" Allan repeated, definitely not getting the pronunciation of the word right at all. "It does, though," he concluded, regardless of whatever the color word was. He didn't need to know it! "You're kidding, right?" He smiled, but upon looking at Dion and figuring that he wasn't, he put a hand on Dion's side - well, his thigh, really, because he didn't want to touch hands with Dion's hands on his hips or anything like that because #nsfw #scandalous, and gave him a kiss. "That sounds really cool, actually. When's yours?"

Why the fuck was Allan pronouncing words wrong so hot? And... Warm? It was like every time he did it he was struck with a sudden bout of affection. Dion put his hands on Allan's shoulders and gave him a kiss in return. "The 28th. Iridescent." Then he started walking out the room, because if Allan mispronounced that word while they were in there he would not be responsible for what happened next. "You can be the ideas guy, I can be the event organiser. We work pretty well as a team already, right?"

2

Allan followed him out of the room, back towards the pool they went. "Irideshen..t. Iridescent, is there... iridescence?" He asked, wondering how the word actually worked. Words were weird sometimes. "The 28th!? No way, mine is literally just 3 days before. We could totally just block off that whole end of the week. Wednesday to Sunday of straight birthday." Well, anything but straight, but. You know. "Yeah! We can both do a bit of both, really, what if we -" No, that was a crazy idea. Too soon, even, maybe. "Yeah, we should. Talk about it soon, 'cause yeah, only. Only a week or so from now, really."

Dion looked at his friend of many benefits warmly and said, with much affection, "Allan... iridescent, adjective. Iridescence, noun. You know what -" Dion pinned Allan to the wall and made out with him for a minute or five before parting and continuing on his way like usual. "Sorry, just had to get that out of my system. Right, what did you mean 'what if we?'"

3

"Ohhh, okay, so-" So yeah, they made out as was normal for the two of them during conversation, but to be fair he didn't expect it during this word education lesson. Maybe he should ask about words more often? "No, no, you're absolutely fine, I-" He chuckled, following Dion back to the pool, looking at the stones once again and absolutely ready to be in the water again for sure. "I guess I had an idea, totally don't have to though since I wouldn't want, obviously, to rush something out between now and then, but..."

"The suspense is killing me, Allan." Dion, just to show off, dove in the water with the grace of a swan and resurfaced on the other side of the pool and yelled, "Get over here and come out with it! The idea, I mean, we both know we're our own flavours of queer." Although his flavour was quite complex. He was bisexual, but it was also more complicated than that, but he was rarely asked to elaborate past whatever was simple enough for other people to understand.

"Well," he watched as the other dived in and just got in at the other end of the pool, because that seemed like the more logical thing to do, swimming over next to him, "I was thinking, maybe, if you wanted, we could - and I wouldn't suggest doing it live unless you really wanted to, which I don't think you would, but." He dunked himself under the water real quick to get acclimated to it, brushing his hair out of his face when he came back up. "Maybe we could do a song recording? Premiere it?"

Dion hesitated, not in anxiety but in thought, leaning on the edge of the pool. "Hmmm... You're right that a concert would be too much, but a recording... It's possible, yes. Because I would perform to you, and then I'd just have to let the recording play later... It'd be doable." Dion reached forward and brushed a strand of hair Allan had missed out of his face, muttering something about a haircut. "We'd need to pick a band name by then, though."

Allan smiled, excited that they might actually be able to do a recording sometime soon of the song they'd been working on. "Fuck," Allan said, leaning back against the pool wall and leaning his head back. "Ummm... shit, yeah, we would need a band name. Also, I would need a haircut, yeah. I asked Chadrix and Brokuk if they knew anyone the other day and, well. You can probably guess how that went."

Dion had to cover his mouth with his hand to stop an undignified snort of laughter as the same warm feeling as when Allan mispronounced a word hit him again. "Ahaha - sorry, my dear, but you asked two Remans that? That's... God, you're adorable." Dion wrapped an arm around Allan and sort of... Gently bonked the side of his head with his ridges. A Klingon sign of affection, but it was much like a cat head bump. "I'm glad I met you every single time we meet, you know that?" And it was true! He was. He wasn't even thinking about his earlier paranoia. Allan was just so easy to relax around. "I can give you a haircut, though. I gave Renakir his current one, actually, so he's my resume."

4

Allan was already slightly embarrassed from admitting that happened anyways, so he was doing his typical smile and blush combo as Dion called him adorable certainly didn't help the matter, and then... he gave him a little head bump!! "Ha, yeah?" He asked, playfully giving Dion a head bump right back. "Me too." Allan gave the other a warm smile, before moving his hair away from his face yet again. "Oh? That'd be really great, actually. Especially since you did so great with Renakir's. Man is fucking hotter somehow after that cut."

1

Shit, that same feeling, a third time, when Allan smiled and blushed like he did sometimes when Dion managed to fluster him. It was like... The same feeling as when Aella wore a hideous combination of patterns, or when Nalas overestimated how far he could push himself and his one lung and ended up wheezing, and when Aella called cows 'fat earth bovines', and when Nalas drank his bubble tea really loudly - things that shouldn't be attractive in isolation, at least maybe not to other people, but they were to him, because they were just so... them. When Allan said a big Engineering word Dion didn't know because he was very smart, that was him, and when Allan mispronounced a word because he wasn't a fucking thesaurus like Dion was, that was him. And it was the same feeling he got when he saw a stuffed toy or watched a Klingon Opera or did anything that reminded him of Nalas and Aella, but with Allan it was when he saw literally anyone wearing a pair of shorts, obviously, but also when he saw someone play guitar, or drank very strong coffee, or dropped a glass and broke it. But why? Why was it the same feeling?

02:31

...No. No, it couldn't be. Because he'd been in situations like this before, where he'd thought maybe he'd developed feelings for someone in this kind of ambiguous relationship, and it turned out he'd been wrong and he'd broken someone's heart, and he couldn't bear the possibility of doing that to Allan - he cared about him far too much. Besides, their dynamic was perfect right now. There was no need to change anything. It wouldn't be worth the risk. "Yeah, he... He is," Said Dion after staring at Allan for half a minute, suddenly seeming a little absent-minded and confused. "Sorry, I just, um... Headache, suddenly." Technically not a lie. There were so many thoughts in his head right now it was kind of painful. Dion moved so he was facing Allan, pushed Allan's wet hair out of his face again, but then just left his (bare!) hand there tangled in it. He made no moves for a moment until he pulled Allan forward and pressed his ridged forehead against Allan's, then kissed him deeply. What did this gesture mean? He had absolutely no idea. He was acting entirely on instinct. What did Allan call it? Living in the moment and enjoying what he was doing? Yeah, something like that.

4

1

Allan had just finished talking about how Renakir was hot, and Dion was just… staring at him for a moment? A few seconds passed, and that was usually the amount of time that would pass before it was obvious if Dion would either say something or kiss him — it was usually one of the two if he was looking at him like that. But… the more he looked into this guy’s eyes, the more obvious it became that Dion was still staring at him and that the look in his eyes was … different, somehow. He knew this look, he knew it -well- even. It was a look he had gotten from many other people over the course of his life, including from T’alea a dozen or so times before the accident, and a look he’d been able to sus out as a way to tell what someone felt when they -didn’t- give him that look (which was a skill he had now, but would have been great to have when he was with Luke). But he wasn’t going to make any assumptions. Why would he? For a moment, though, he wondered if he ever had given that look back at Dion, and the truth was that he probably had. Allan tilted his head to the side, and couldn’t help but just smile more, just taking a moment to admire this man in this Moment he seemed to be having. However, half a minute passed in that weird way that time passed slowly yet faster than you thought, and when Dion said he had a headache Allan was about to ask Dion if he was okay, if he needed to get out of the water, if he wanted him to get him some medicine or some food or some drinking water when Dion pushed his hair away again, leaving his hand there, and … stayed there like that, before kissing him. 777_divider

23:05

Was this Dion’s way of curing his headaches? Was this Dion’s way of telling him something else? Allan resisted the temptation to put his hand over Dion’s like Dion had in the holosimulation, because then was different because they both had gloves on and he sure as hell didn’t want to mess up this moment, even if he did so badly want to hold Dion’s hand and swim out across the pool with him and laugh and kiss some more on the way there. So he put his hand up in Dion’s hair as he kissed him back, and yeah. They were living in the moment and enjoying what they were doing. Or ‘something like that.’

3

Dion kissed Allan for what felt like an eternity, then pulled away, but the look on his face, which was very readable from this close a distance, wasn't his usual confidence or satisfaction, but a confused vulnerability. He was still doubting himself - what if he was wrong? What if he was right? Wasn't he the one who said this wasn't going to be romantic, or at least casual? Dion didn't have the answers and chances are he wasn't going to figure them out by the time Renakir and Cerrub came back. It took him months to figure out how he felt about Nalas and Aella, after all, and even longer to figure out his feelings were to such an intensity that he could call them love. Would he really just string Allan along for that long? He already felt bad about Nalas and Aella, as patient as they'd been, and all his other relationships that had ended because he couldn't will himself to feel the way he wanted to feel so badly. He'd spent so much of his life wanting desperately to fall in love sometimes he'd just accepted anything that even remotely felt like it.

02:02

Sometimes it was from people who fell in love quicker than he did and got tired of waiting for him to catch up, and other times it was from people who saw he wanted something resembling love and were happy to give him a facsimile of it in return for whatever they wanted; sex, worship, entertainment, etcetera. Sometimes, though, it was exactly like this, where you put two people who loved the world and the people in it and it was very hard to discern whether they loved one another as individuals or as a part of that world. Not to mention, how the hell was someone supposed to love him individually when he used two names half the time? Allan may accept him, but he wasn't sure he really understood how fractured he really was psychologically. He couldn't blame him; Dion barely understood it himself. Actually, he wasn't sure Nalas or Aella really did either, as close as they got. Who was he to ask anyone to love him when there was barely a him to begin with? Shit, this wasn't what he was trying to do. Live in the moment, not get caught up in his inner monologue. God, he didn't want to think about any of this, he just wanted to kiss Allan again. So he did, pushing him against the edge of the pool, one hand still in Allan's hair and the other grabbing his wrist tantalisingly close to the hand, and kissing him desperately in the hopes that it would make his stupid brain shut the hell up for once.

5

Cerrub and Renakir walked into the pool area right as the two were kissing. Cerrub was dressed in loose fitting swim trunks with a rash guard and-- somehow this man also had Epohh flip flops. They were bright blue with little antennae, a waterproof version of his slippers. He was very surprised to see the two boys smooching in the pool and immediately grabbed Renakir's arm to pull him back out of view from Allan and Dion. They were clearly walking in on something and he wanted to inquire with his son first. "Solait, so this is what your friends do?" He whispered as he put a hand on Renakir's shoulder. He was very interested to know what was going on.

Renakir was actually having a good time now, he had spoken with his father, got a hug, it was great. However what he did not plan on was seeing his two friends smooching in his pool. Not that he minded, but that was very scandalous and his face turned bright green when he noticed. Thankfully his father pulled him aside in a very swift motion. When his father asked him what was going on. Renakir replied with face in hand. Oh Tenakruvek, how was he going to explain this? This was so incredibly awkward, he had no words. "Umm..... They're... close," Was the only reply he could give. Renakir was still dressed in his shorts that Allan had made him and now had matching Epohh flip flops with his father. His chest was bare of course, making the blush even more obvious against his pale grey skin.

4

"I can leave you alone and you can join them?" Cerrub gave his son a warm smile. If this is what Renakir's friends did together did that mean Renakir joined them too? He had no obvjections, after all he was in a polycule with Renakir's whole Reman family.

4

"On Shinzon's grave!" Renakir said a little too loudly , there was a very strong growl in his voice as he spoke. "I mean... No, I do not wish to join them, I have only hugged Dion, anything more is," Renakir shook his head and waved his arms. Cerrub sighed and gave his son a nice pat on the back. One could only dream, but at the same time he knew Renakir was not the type to seek any sort of casual arrangement. His son was always very serious with the people he chose to associate with and he did not give his trust easily.

And Allan was more than happy to kiss Dion for all of eternity, most likely. He was, after all, suprisingly patient. If it took an eternity, then he'd be there for that. However, he did notice the other's look of confused vulnerability and he almost stepped away, almost moved his hands to Dion's shoulders and asked, 'are you okay? Does your head still hurt? Do you need anything?' But before he could ask, the moment had gone as quickly as it came, and Dion was kissing him again, against the edge of the pool so he so graciously wouldn't have to tread water anymore, and - oh, God, he was holding his wrist. Come to think of it, he hadn't held hands with someone for so long that at times like these it felt like he was so touch-starved in this extremely specific department and that Dion was really doing the maximum of teasing the hell out of him by grabbing his wrist like this, but - he kissed him back nonetheless, hand still in the other's hair as he pulled him closer against him. At some point he heard footsteps approaching and briefly opened his eyes to see Cerrub and Renakir approach, and then disappear behind a rock. Interesting. He kept kissing Dion for a while, but after a moment he gently pulled away, holding the man still close to him and kissed his forehead before he actually spoke. "Is your head feeling better?" He smiled warmly, he really wanted to make sure Dion was okay before anything else. "And, uh-" Allan looked in the direction of the rock again, before back at Dion as he laughed a little. "I think we have... spectators, now?"

It took Dion a moment to respond, breathing heavily and blinking rapidly, like he'd just come up from under the water. "A little. But you helped." He still had many thoughts swirling around his head. The rest of him hurt, too, but that was just the usual. Chronic pain was a bitch like that. He was also a little tired after the whole crisis he felt like he'd just had for three days in his head, so just hugged Allan and rested his head on his chest for a moment. "I know, I heard them. Those risqué Romulans better come out of hiding unless they want to watch the whole show, though." Not that they would actually go that far in a semi-public pool, probably.

"Looks like your friends saw us," Cerrub chuckled as he stepped out into the pool area. A soft squishing noise could be heard as he little epohh sandals hit the wooden platform above the pool. "There's nothing to be ashamed of, you know that's how Reman partners bond too," Cerrub looked at the two boys in the pool and then gave his son a nice pat on the back. Renakir was totally not that type of dude, but it was clear Cerrub was certainly behind him in support if he wanted to be that type of dude.

3

Renakir was right behind him with his matching slides, looking incredibly green. Oh why did his friends have to do this-- in front of his father no less. Renakir gave his friend a nervous smile as he he crossed his arms over his chest, now suddenly self conscious about being shirtless.

"Okay, but let me know if you need anything," Allan whispered softly, giving him another head kiss before realizing that Dion was hugging him and resting his head on his chest... wait. They were in water!!! Allan hugged Dion back, but then when he saw Renakir and his dad appear, he laughed and sort of put his arm around Dion's side and attempted to carry him bridal-style, if he'd so allow, of course - because if he did, it was actually quite easy to carry someone many times your weight, even, in the water. Science! "Hey there!" He called over, giving Dion a kiss on the cheek. "I gotta say, love the epohh sandals. Really great look around here, it seems."

Oh, obviously Dion would allow Allan the rare opportunity to be the one carrying him! He leaned on Allan's chest again as he was carried, quite pleased that this position allowed him to be close to Allan and talked to Renakir and Cerrub at the same time. "Mhm, they're quite cute. We aren't partners, though." Funny thing to say when Allan was carrying him like this, but okay.

"Thank you so much! We love epohhs here, they're very cute. Sadly I am allergic so we can't keep them as pets," Cerrub replied to Allan with a grin. He walked besides Renakir towards the water where Allan and Dion were. Cerrub was happy to see his son's friends were enjoying the pool and hoped that his son could have just as much fun. Maybe not smooching, but Renakir needed friends who would hug him and encourage him to be his best self. "Excuse my mistake, well you two seem close. Maybe you can teach Solait a thing or two about being open with others," Cerrub chuckled, looking at Dion.

Renakir stood at the edge of the wooden platform and looked down into the water. Liquid sunshine filled the rock pool, it was almost blinding even with his sunglasses. "You two seem to be having fun," He plopped his little grey butt on the platform and gently splashed the water with his feet. "You can.... do whatever, Umm... I'll stay here," Renakir felt very awkward still but it was too late to turn around and leave. Cerrub was already opening up a little pool umbrella so clearly Renakir could not just escape.

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'We aren't partners, though.' Allan hadn't heard the first comment from Cerrub earlier, so he had no idea what Dion was referring to or -why- Dion felt the need to clarify they weren't partners in this specific moment. Thoughts started swirling around his mind in a way that was rather unusual for him. Did Dion think what they had just done constituted things that partners did? Should he avoid that kind of behavior in the future? Or was he just clarifying to Renakir's dad that they weren't partners because he thought that Cerrub would assume they were partners because of what they were doing? He honestly had no idea, and he couldn't be dwelling on this now - it would be illogical to do so, but he still continued to carry Dion, of course, because when would he get an opportunity like this again? "Yes, but, you can have fun with us, you know." Allan gently splashed some water back at Renakir with his hand, smiling. "You ever play a chicken fight in a pool before?"

"What's a chicken fight?" Dion asked. "Actually, hold on, I have something to give you, Rena-dear." He removed himself from Allan, gave him a kiss and reassurance that he could carry him again in a minute, and then swam to the side of the pool where he'd left his bag and took out the box of macarons. There wasn't as much room for a painting on the box because he'd had to calligraphise Renakir's whole entire name, but he'd drawn several of Renakir's favourite things around his name - baguettes, Romulan Ale, swords, a cute chibi chinese lion, and also a little sun for solait and a moon for the Reman home planet. He swam over to to Renakir and held it up for him. "Oh, and I sorted out the Akuvek case, so..." If he even cares, came a thought in the back of his head, and suddenly Dion remembered the Renakir dilemma he'd been having before it got replaced by the Allan dilemma. God, he was so sick and tired of having fucking dilemmas. But it still remained, because even though Cerrub and Saren had received an explanation for what Renakir did, Dion was still in the dark. "...You know, if I'm being totally honest, even though it was for the greater good and such, I did all that mostly for you. And I came here because you're one of my closest friends and I wanted to spend time with you. But..." Dion looked away for a second as he Surak'd away an urge to fucking cry. This was ridiculous. He did not cry. "...I didn't see you at all, Renakir. I was just alone in your big bougie house. If you were having some kind of problem, I don't understand why we couldn't have talked about it like we usually do, unless... Did I... do something wrong?"

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"Rena-dear, I like that," Cerrub said in a low whisper that only Vulcanoids could hear. He turned so he could watch the nice Klingon-Vulcan man give his son the mystery box. What could be in it? Oh this was great, Renakir was getting a gift! Another step in opening up to people, Cerrub watched as a proud parent.

The nickname sparked a look of confusion on the Romulan-Reman's face before he remmebered it was the term of endearment bestowed upon him by his fellow mixed friend. Long grey limbs reached out to take the box from his friend's hands, gripping the sides firmly so he didn't drop it. His beady little silver eyes peered at the front of the box, and then the sides before his brain processed what all of this was. "T-Thank you, for the gift and sorting the case," He thanked Eshen with sincerity, eyes meeting Eshen's although his expression was half hidden behind his dark sunglasses. Sometimes he wished he didn't have such sensitive eyes, how he wished to connect on a deeper level with his friends in a way that only eye contact could. Renakir was a boy who said every word he meant and meant every word he said, which was especially important when his eyes were typically obscured to others. His black nails clicked against the box as he shifted and turned it so he could view each of the drawings as well as inspect the wonderful calligraphy.

Renakir Solait ir-Biscae Tr'Torre'vnau

Now that was quite a handful of a name to write. Simply 'Renakir' or 'Renakir Solait' would be sufficed, but the fact that Eshen took time to write every single part spoke volumes. And then Eshen spoke again, but this time it was an unexpected question; his disappearance. It then dawned on him that he never did give his fellow hybrid friend an explanation. "I... I know. I was just.. Very frustrated with myself. I regretted it right after I left the beach house, actually," Renakir sighed as he slowly opened the box to see the macarons; the same ones he had shoveled into his sleeves when he ran away. 777_divider

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"Initially I ran away because I felt like no one understood me, I was struggling with my father, but then after I left the beach house I realised my actions were selfish. I put you and Allan in a tough position. I hated myself for being selfish, but I also convinced myself that because I was selfish, no one would possibly take me back. It was a dangerous cycle and I'm glad I was able to find a way out. I'm sorry, Eshen, it's nothing you did," Renakir's sunglasses began to fog up as he spoke, was he crying again? He sniffled and closed the box of macarons so he could lay it to the side. "I also wanted to thank you for talking with my father. As Romulans, it's easy to forget that we are just like any other beings in the galaxy; we do need validation and support from the people around us. It's something I had never really known until recently," Renakir looked towards Eshen and then Allan. "Because of both of you. I am grateful to have you both in my life and I appreciate all that support you have given me. Thank you."

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Allan watched this entire wholesome exchange, because that was right, huh, Renakir hadn't told Dion why he went away, but hey, it was all coming together now! Including that it seemed him and his dad had worked everything out, which was honesty pretty great too considering Allan thought he was going to have to fight another spacist. He was glad he wouldn't. Maybe he would make gifts too, he knew Brokuk already had and he still had to pick those up, and would probably give them to the men on the station. But then Allan had thought this was just a wholesome moment between Dion and Renakir when Renakir looked at him and said it was because of both of them and he was grateful to have them in their life and - what? Was Allan crying? No. Allan wasn't crying. Except, he was, smiling and crying, but to excuse the fact that he was crying he just put his head under the water for a second and that obviously made it seem like he wasn't crying. Clearly! "You're welcome, really, but also thank you? Like, you're really cool to be around and your personality is just so, um?" He tried so hard to think of the word. The word he was looking for was something like shimmering or coruscating or maybe he didn't even mean that at all, but the word that came out of his mouth was just, "Iridescence? I think that's the word?" Fuck. No it wasn't. But it was too late. "I mean like, you really do light up a room. And I love that." He smiled, and would probably explain what a chicken fight was after Dion had responded to Renakir's wholesome words as well.

Well, now he wanted to cry for a different reason, but he still wasn't quite that expressive. Besides, Allan had already taken care of it for him. Considering his paranoia's tendency over the last few days to interpret ambiguity as negatively as possible it was nice to hear words that were so clear and unambiguous as a thank you for his efforts with Lun, an apology, and then a declaration of gratitude. Dion - who had been feeling more Eshen for a while now - laughed slightly. "I agree, he's iridescent." In an oddly bashful fashion, he twiddle his fingers as he was unable to fiddle with his absent gloves, and continued, "Um, thank you, daelhen. For being clear. It helps. Can I come up there and hug you?" And should Renakir consent, he did indeed climb up to the wooden platform and give him a sopping wet but soft, warm hug. Being a large lad of muscle and a healthy amount of fat, Eshen was good at hugs. "Next time you feel that way, just... Talk to me, okay? I don't want you to suffer if I can help, hybrid to hybrid. Okay, Allan - what's chicken and does it involve pool noodles?" [D] And so they played a game which he discovered was when a people sit on another person's shoulders and try to knock other people off, with him holding Allan up and Cerrub holding Renakir, Earthlings vs Romulans, a war for the ages! Who knows who won? (Probably Cerrub and Renakir, they were way taller collectively.)

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