a/n: Book tag: "Starship: Pirate" by Mike Resnick. Includes: slash Luthor Chadwick/Esteban Morales

~After Luthor Chadwick returns from the hospital to the Teddy R with his artificial eardrums, he wants to clear the air with the young Esteban Morales—but ends up doing a little more than that~

Making Amends

When Luthor Chadwick returned to the Teddy R after his short stretch spent in the hospital as a result of his injuries acquired in his brief position on the boarding party to Achilles, he had a brief—but straight to the point—conversation with Captain Wilson Cole at his station on the bridge, his first shift back.

He had been surprised when Cole brought up Esteban Morales, the only surviving member from the pirated yacht ship, the Achilles. He answered Cole's questions truthfully, of course, but didn't allow the subject much thought while he was off shift—he didn't want to make a mistake. But when his shift was over, and he went to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat before he went to his quarters to get some much wanted rest (he may have been left at the hospital for three uninterrupted days, but he found it hard to actually rest there). As he absent minded ate his Soya imitations product, he thought back on the subject of Esteban Morales.

He was truthful when he told Cole that he held not animosity towards Esteban Morales for the very possible chance that the kid was responsible for the screecher pulse hit that cost him his ear drums. There had been a lot of bodies cramped in that small bridge, a lot of fire power in adrenaline ridden hands. Sometimes it was hard to remember the details in the heat of the chaos, and even afterward. There was no way to prove whether it was actually Esteban or not, and Luthor wasn't really sure that it really mattered.

It was already done and there was no taking it back. Why should he was time and energy on it when he was never going to get an answer; when both of those things could be spent for more useful things?

He finished his sandwich and went to the closest airlift, stepping off on the crew quarters level.

He walked down the corridor, passing a few crewman in vests coming onto shift and bumping shoulder with another in civilian clothes, head down. He got a mumbled apology for the contact. Luthor stopped and turned. As the officer under Colonel Sharon Blacksmith, Security Chief, he knew all the personnel aboard the Teddy R, and he wasn't so quite familiar with this young man.

He was six feet tall, wiry, with narrow, hunched shoulders, walking quickly with his eyes cast down.

"Hey!" Luthor called.

The kid froze and slowly turned around. "Yes, sir?"

Luthor furrowed his dark blond brows for a moment as he stared at him, and then it suddenly dawned. "You're that kid from the Achilles, right?"

Esteban slowly nodded his head, hesitant.

"Esteban Morales?"

Esteban nodded again.

"Lieutenant Luthor Chadwick," Luthor introduced himself. He watched as the kid's eyes widened slightly as he recognized him.

"Am I in trouble, sir?" Esteban asked nervously.

Luthor shook his head. "No,"

The answer didn't seem to make the kid feel any better.

Luthor opened his mouth, ready to tell the kid that he could go before he wet himself, but then realized something: did Esteban feel the same way he did, or did he carry feelings about the situation between the two of them that he himself didn't? "Follow me," he said suddenly.

"Sir—"

"You're not in trouble!" Luthor told him quickly; he was just sure that this was a conversation that was better had in private. "I just want to talk to you,"

Esteban swallowed and glanced round—it was just the two of them—before he looked back, wound like a spring. He nodded finally, lips pressed tight, and followed Luthor to his quarters.

When the door irised shut behind them. Luthor turned to see that Esteban had stepped no further into the small room than he had to, pressed back against the sealed door. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, he was going to get nowhere if the kid thought that he was going beat his ass.

He said, "I'm not going to attack you, if that was what you think I asked you here for."

"I didn't think that, sir." Esteban lied, and they both knew it. He forced himself from the door, and to straighten his shoulders and back. "What is you wanted to speak about, sir?" he asked, his jaw tight.

Luthor looked at him with some amusement. "I wanted to talk about our confrontation aboard the Achilles," if Esteban wasn't on high-alert before, he was now; the Lieutenant continued, "I have no hard feelings about the whole thing, and if you do, I want to hash it out before it becomes something more that it really needs to be."

Esteban looked at the man who couldn't be more than just a few more years older than himself, with an opened mouth. "I—I—sir..." he bit his lip and looked away. "I was only defending myself in a situation where I thought that you were slave traders," he said quietly, quickly, at last. "I'd never really been in a fire fight before, and I wasn't even sure that I hit anything. And if I did—if it was me, sir…" he looked straight back at Luthor "…then I'm sorry, sir."

"Apology accepted,"

When Luthor stepped to him, his hand extended, Esteban forced himself not to flinch. He clasped the other man's hand and shook.

"I didn't mean to scare you," Luthor said, still holding his hand.

"You didn't," Esteban returned through a clenched jaw.

They looked at each other for a long moment.

Before any man really knew what was happening, they were kissing, hands scrabbling at each others clothing as they stumbled towards Luthor's bed.

The Navy officer knew that a physical workout was called for to remove any lingering resentment towards each other, but as their exposed skin rubbed together, he was sure that this wasn't what his friend Bull, would have taken it to mean.

F

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