"Fetching my name tag," Elijah replied smoothly, eyes wide with just the right touch of innocence. "What, on your knees?" Dom muttered, ignoring Elijah's kicked-puppy-dog look. "What're you --?" "Who was it?" Dom asked, not wanting to hear Elijah's excuses, his lies. He'd heard enough of them to last a lifetime. Sean glared at the both of them, but Dom didn't move his eyes from Elijah's. "Who was it?" he repeated. "Ididn'taskforhisname." "Christ, fuck..." Dom stopped, stared at Elijah's bent head. Fuck. Well, he had a pretty good idea about who it was, anyway. "Where?" was all he asked. "Maintenance bay 3," Elijah mumbled, folding his arms around his waist. He looked as if he were trying to crawl inside himself. Dom couldn't muster any sympathy. "I'll be back in a bit," he said quietly, ignoring the curious stares from the crewmen and the captain. "Where're you going?" Sean asked, putting his arms around Elijah's shaking form. "Damage control." * * * Eugene worked in silence for a few minutes, tried to concentrate on the heavy hum in his satisfied body from a great fuck, the sounds Elijah had made when he'd been buried balls deep inside him -- tried to ignore the still-bitter aftertaste. Wasn't like he hadn't known what he wanted. Wasn't like he hadn't gotten exactly that, either. Didn't stop the hot flush of shame. At least whores got paid. He turned his head sharply when the heavy door opened, and his eyes narrowed in annoyance when he saw one of Elijah's friends -- small, built like Elijah, spiky hair, pretty eyes. He wondered if the friend had come for seconds, and the thought of being passed around made him furious. "Yes?" he asked curtly, not looking up from his wrench. Nervous clearing of a throat behind him, and he saw the kid running his hands across the front of his jeans. "Look, I'm, um, fuck..." "Sorry, kid, I've already given away my free one for the day." Don't look up, don't acknowledge, keep working. "Sorry to disappoint you." "Jesus, he did a number on you, didn't he?" Huh? Eugene glanced up into serious grey eyes and felt something shift, unbidden, inside him. "I'm sorry, I --" "Look, don't, just...what's your name, anyway?" "Eugene," he answered, still trying to figure out what the fuck this kid was up to. And why he was so nervous. "Eugene, right, okay. I'm Dominic." He stuck out his hand and waited. Politeness had Eugene reaching out with his own hand, and he pulled back the second his fingers brushed against Dominic's. The fuck...? "Look, I just wanted to apologize, alright?" "You...uh...you did?" "Yeah, see, um, the thing is, Elijah is like, well...he's addicted." Addicted, right. "To?" Eugene asked, when it was apparent that nothing further would be forthcoming. "Um..." Dom glanced up quickly, then went back to shuffling his feet. "Bigguys." "What?" "Like, y'know," Dom gestured helplessly at Eugene. "Guys like you. Big. Powerful. Muscular, break-you-in-half types." Someone had definitely put crack in Eugene's Wheaties this morning, because this conversation was not making any sense. "So, right, lemme see if I've got this. Elijah, right?" Dom nodded. "You came all the way down here to apologize to me because he likes bruiser types?" "He used you," Dom rushed out, leaning against a bulkhead. "It's his thing. Anonymous sex with big guys." "Right. Well, thanks." Cause, yeah, now Eugene felt better. "Um, how many times?" "Huh?" "Has this happened?" And why the fuck was he so morbidly curious, anyway? "Um...a lot." Eugene had to strain his ears to hear the softly spoken words. "We try to keep an eye on him...well, I do," Dom amended, still keeping his eyes firmly fixed to the floor. "Sean doesn't know." "Right." Whoever the fuck Sean was. "He'd be mortified," Dom continued, glancing up quickly. "Okay," Eugene replied, when Dom didn't say anything else. "I'm still not sure why you'd care how I feel." "Dunno." Dom finally looked Eugene fully in the eyes, and Eugene was struck at how pure, how open Dom's eyes were. Not at all like the artifice, the calculation in Elijah's. "You seem like a nice guy. Thought you deserved better." Nice? This kid didn't know the first thing about him and had already pegged him as nice. Did he have it tattooed on his forehead or something? "What makes you think I'm nice?" he asked, stepping forward. He loomed over Dom, eyes narrowed, voice dropping to a deadly rumble. "Well?" He had the satisfaction of seeing Dom's eyes widen, but the kid didn't try to move away, didn't flinch. And his voice was surprisingly steady when he replied. "Your eyes." "My what?" "Your eyes." Dom reached up, traced Eugene's eyebrow with soft fingers. "They're not cold." As far as compliments went, it was the oddest one Eugene'd ever heard. Didn't, however, stop his gaze from softening. "Tell me why you really came." "Cause I'd noticed you earlier," Dom admitted in a low voice. "And I thought you seemed like a nice guy who deserves better. I know what it's like to be used and discarded by Elijah." Oh. OH. Well, that was, um. Fuck. For the second time in less that fifteen minutes, Eugene felt a hot flush of shame for what he'd been doing. And it pissed him off all over again. But, this time, it was directed inwards. What he got for thinking with his dick. "Look, this is --" Dom stepped neatly to the side, gazed everywhere except at Eugene. "I'm sorry. He was wrong. I should go." "Coffee?" "What?" Dom turned back around, gave Eugene an incredulous look. "I have shore leave tomorrow," Eugene said. Still couldn't figure out why he was doing this. Just going by instinct. And it felt right. "Can I buy you a cup of coffee?" Dom's smile, when it finally came, was better than a burst of sunlight through a rain cloud. "Only if I can buy you dinner." Eugene's answering grin was just as wide. "Sounds like a plan." "Right." Dom glanced around, chewed his lower lip. "Um, shit, I don't have a pen or --" "Just tell it to me. I have a photographic memory." "Really?" "Yeah." Eugene shrugged, the gesture careless. "Wow. That's, like -- wow." Dom grinned again, showing crooked white teeth, and rattled off his cell number. Eugene repeated it back twice, and that was that. Stuck in his brain like glue. "So, I'll call you tomorrow." "Yeah, alright." Dom took a shy step forward and brushed his lips across Eugene's cheek. "Later, Eugene." "Later, Dominic." Eugene traded small glances with Dom until the door shut behind him--and he listened for the echo of fading footsteps before turning back to his job. Tomorrow. Date with Dom. First, however, he had a debt to repay.
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