One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer

Posted on Sat Feb 27th, 2021 @ 11:31pm by Staff Warrant Officer Conchobar Breathnacht & Lieutenant Sr'asi

2,014 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Mission 0: Everybody Has A Story
Location: Fiddler's Green, Discoteca Purgatorio
Timeline: Between S1E4 and S1E5

Tapping to the booming bass of the newest, and seediest watering hole, former Starfleet SWO Breathnacht slammed back his second shot of strong whiskey as he looked across the club and contemplated his life choices. Taking up with the copper-head had turned out, in retrospect to not have been the best of ideas. Sure, he'd gotten a good shag out of the doctor before the other had been blown to iddy-biddy kingdom come, and the Caitian, Sr'asi was a pleasant enough bloke when said tomcat wasn't raising his fur or freaking out over the slightest bit of attention, but ending up on Dedeker's shit list was totally not worth either of those things. Sure, he was less than thrilled that the Dominion had effectively been using an enslaved cosmozoan, but a job was a job out here and they were lucky Dedeker had taken the schematic and given half payment. For all her bluster, it seemed Onaga didna quite have it in her cybernetically addled head to be a full mercenary. Then again, once upon a time, maybe his own morals might have been strong enough, but three years in the Delta Quadrant, the Consortium, and time on Fiddler's had grown him out of it.

Still, he was alive, and he had coin of his own since his services were never in low supply on a station like this. He tipped his head to the bartender as the, looked Orion, man slid a passable imitation of decent beer across the bar to him as he turned back to look at the dance floor. He'd invited the tomcat to join him. He hoped Sr'asi would. The man...cat...boy thing needed serious lessons in fitting in with being part of the scuzzy slime of the universe. He smiled when he saw the feline in question come through the doors, still entirely too thin and on the short side, but being a cat person pretty well made him stand out anyway.

"Why did you ask me to come here?" Sr'asi said as he walked up to Conchobar, looking around the room in disgust. "It's filthy, like they haven't cleaned this place in years."

The Orion behind the bar grunted at the Caitian, clearly offended by what he said.

Con laughed at the cat-man. "I asked you here," he said leaning conspiratorily into the other man's personal space, "because you very, very, badly need to have a good time, half-pint." He paused for a minute and pushed the beer into the Caitian's hand before paying the bartender to just leave the bottle of whiskey. "As for filthy, I hadn't noticed. One usually comes here to be rather filthy anyway, and you, my dear tomcat, need a bit of filth in your life. So we are here to dance, be merry, pull a bloke or lady to shag, or get pulled by one to get shagged, or whatever it is you prefer. Either way, intoxication, dancing, and generally being un-Starfleet like is the plan." The Irishman took another swig of whiskey out of the bottle and mimed Sr'asi drinking the beer.

Sr'asi grimaced as he took a drink of the yellow liquid. "This tastes horrible," he said, placing the glass down on the bar. "And looking around this room, I hardly see anyone worth my time," he said, his eyes gazing over the crowd of people before turning back to his friend. "Well, maybe a couple..."

The Irishman just short of giggled at the response to beer and offered the cat the bottle of harder liquor. "Progress," he declared. "I'd ask what your type is, but, umm, the entire clientele here is bigger and more muscle-ly than you, even the ladies, so, gimme something to go on cat man? Or should we just go out on the floor and see what happens? That Kzinti over there looks like...umm, I think that's a he... knows how to move."

"No, thanks," Sr'asi said, shaking his head at the idea of dancing. "I'd be happy to sit here and watch while you show me by example."

"Aww, come on now pretty kitty," drawled the Irishman. "You don't see anyone who sets you purring at the idea of gettin' close and moving with 'em? We are in a club," he continued giving the Caitian an amused glance. Con glanced around the floor, picking out a rather impressive looking group of Wadi who were readily mingling with most comers. He ducked his head as he caught the eye of one and smiled. "So, you really gonna sit here an' watch or are ye commin' with me?"

Sr'asi sighed, rolling his eyes, as he stood from the chair. He hated social interactions such as these, and the music was way too loud. "Fine, but only for a little bit," he said, walking up to Babar, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Which one are you looking at?"

With an amused laugh, the taller sapient set the alcohol down as he slid onto the edges of the dance floor. The low sound of the base was steady in the music giving a good base to begin moving to. Using the cat's grip on his shoulder, the human pulled him in closer, sliding his hands towards the other's waist. With an internal sigh, he kept enough distance between them to be friendly as opposed to obscene but definitely close enough to force movement. The human started simple, hoping that the natural dexterity of his reticent dance partner would kick in. He chuckled at the question. "That isn't how it works, mate," he joked. He let his eyes catch for a moment before turning his gaze slightly to the side and picked up their pace a little more. "See if you can figure it out, and I'll see if I can figure out who you think might, slightly, be worthy of replacing your arse stick with themself."

"There's no need to be obscene," Sr'asi said, in response to Con's recent comment. While he struggled slightly, he soon found the man's rhythm and was able to follow his steps pretty well for someone who wasn't the best dancer by a longshot. Sr'asi smiled as the two moved over the dancefloor. "Umm..." the Caitian looked over the dancefloor, trying to find a gentleman that caught his eye. But he already knew there was only one person that matched his standards. Unfortunately, he didn't believe the man to be interested.

The Irishman grinned. "If that is your cutoff for obscene," he snickered. Moving with the other, he noticed all the small movements. "Stop thinking so hard and feel." The human's movements picked up as he slowly led them into the throng. "People might touch you, or me, or both of us, but word got out about the captain's neural truncheon fetish and that torture chamber I rigged, so no one is going to be dumb enough to not take no for an answer," he added. As if to prove the point, a Gorn, ludicrously tall, but well more lithe than one might expect brushed behind the human but moved along quickly when he didn't take his eyes or attention off the Caitian.

Sr'asi blushed as he realized Con was looking directly at him, his gaze unwavering as his hold on the Caitian's waist was strong. He eased into the embrace, allowing his body to move along with the rhythm. With his hand, he gently caressed the side of Con's face and his jaw. "You know, normally the fraternization between an officer and an enlisted would be highly inappropriate," Sr'asi stated. "But, in our current circumstances, maybe..." He swallowed hard as he looked into Conchobar's eyes. "Maybe it'll be worth it?" Sr'asi leaned in and gently kissed Con on the lips.

Con smiled as the Caitian relaxed some, though he was surprised at the paw on his jaw and face. That is, he was until he snorted. "They can tack it on, but I think the mutiny, theft, and terrorism charges," he started to snark before he was cut off by the unexpected kiss. He froze for a moment, like the proverbial antelope in the lion's path. His confusion lasted for just a moment too long perhaps, but he pulled back in for a second, better kiss before he could shoot himself in the foot too badly and then pulled back. "Sr'asi," he started, his tone having lost most of the playfulness he had been using all night, and switching to the other's actual name instead of the myriad of nicknames, "We need to talk about this or?" he trailed off. For, without quite meaning to, he actually DID care about the damn kitten and didn't want to fuck things up by not being in the same reference space when it came to, well whatever, that just was, because he had been pretty sure he lived in the friend/big brother zone and not the "shaggable" zone.

"I'm sorry," Sr'asi said, his face trying, and failing, to hide the hurt he felt. "I think I misunderstood something and I..." His voice trailed off as he realized what he'd done. He turned and walked towards the door of the bar.

The Irishman blinked for a minute, and realized his attempt at being serious had probably come off badly, again. It was a flaw that people usually found endearing. Apparently not so much in this case. Fortunately, being rather taller than the cat, it was not very difficult to catch him up before he could leave the bar. He threw an arm out to stop the cat. "S'rasi," he said, emphasizing the name again. Twice in one night was a record. "How about instead of running we try talking like...I would say adults but you and I both know that feat is beyond me, but I think I am as confused and possibly done just as much misinterpreting here, and ain't nothing going to fix it until we say it, and we are going to say it before you spend the night in my bunk."

Sr’asi swallowed hard. Conchobar was right, he needed to be upfront about his feelings. It was now or never. “I’m into you, Babar,” he said, using the nickname that Conch hated but for some reason allowed Sr’asi to say. “I’ve been into you since the moment we met. I won’t call it love, but I do have feelings for you. Feelings I haven’t felt in a long time. And there’s no man in this room that could ever compare and when you ask me to look for one, there’s only one that I want.”

Con stared at the cat, having not expected quite that blunt or extreme an admission. Talking about his feelings was definitely not his strong suit. Having feelings, truthfully, wasn't really his strongest characteristic either. Before he could think too hard he did the best thing he could think of, namely grabbing the short alien and kissing him for all he was worth.

After a few moments he pulled back, though he kept an arm around the other. "Yeah, let's avoid that L word for now. Hell, you've known me long enough to know that I'm not even sure that exists. But I do like you. Of course, you know me. I'm a massive slut who drinks way too much. I'll probably fuck this up beyond belief. I thought that time before, before Sayuri Onaga's clusterfuck of an operation you were telling me not to even bother trying. But I'd like to, even knowing you'll end up beating me with your arse stick. You want to get out of here and find someplace we can converse like the domesticated animal and alcoholic man-child that we are without causing half the room to stare at us?"

Rolling his eyes, Sr'asi smiled at the man. "I'm not sure how you're so charming, because when you open your mouth, it's just so embarrassing." He chuckled as he leaned in and kissed the man again. "Alright, let's go."

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