Chapter One
Miles sat at a table absentmindedly twirling a wrench. He stared morosely at the wall, thinking about the scene he'd witnessed, from inside Julian's closet the other day. Never mind the reason he was in the closet in the first place. He was just happy he hadn't thrown up the bagel he'd eaten an hour before, gosh it was disgusting seeing how Julian just stood there letting that woman run her hand over his finely toned pectorals and abdomen, and slide her tongue into that perfectly shaped mouth against which her lips were pressed. Which was the reason, at 10:30 A.M that he was sipping a rum and coke and twirling a wrench.
He stared at the grey wall. He wished life could go back to the way it was before Ensign Ebony Carlisle turned up on the station. Back when it had just been him and Julian, playing darts and drinking late at night and singing old songs badly. But now Julian was cheating on him for Ebony. Couldn't trust the British. Damn them. Ebony had stolen Julian's heart with the strange beauty of her half-Klingon, half-Vulcan body.
Gosh the damn woman couldn't even feel… She couldn't feel sad, happy, she didn't even have a grasp of the word aroused, Vulcan's felt NOTHING! His morose thoughts were interrupted by that lovely melodic voice he came to know. "Miiiiiles." Two hands plopped onto his shoulders long fingers gently massaging his shoulders in exactly the right spot. He leaned in, the smell of cologne wafting up his nose. "You know, when you avoid me it feels as if my heart is going to break into a million tiny shards, and only seeing you will bring me back to a whole person."
Remembering why he was drunk and alone, Miles stood up, knocking Julian's hands away. "Don't try to apologize! I know what you do when I'm not around! You can't even stop looking at Ebony even when I'm around!" Julian sighed, not denying it. "She is beautiful, Miles, but you will forever hold my heart, you know that."
"DO I?" Miles thundered. He turned on his heal storming out of the bar. As he made his passionate way through the promenade he began to feel ichy, as if his skin were dry. It wouldn't be surprising if he shriveled up and fell over. If he could see inside himself he was sure his heart was trembling, shaking in a small corner of his chest cavity.
He wished there were someone he could talk to, could pour his heart out to like gushing blood. His only real friend on the station was Julian, now that Keiko had left him. He wanted tea and sympathy. The only person who could have understood was the tailor Garak, but Garak didn't seem to mind that the closest he was ever going to get to Julian was their regular lunch dates. Plus Miles didn't like Garak. He also didn't really like tea. He went back to his room and found an old bottle of Scotch.
Sadly, the Scotch wasn't as easily attainable as he'd hoped. Sitting on his bed, undressed was, the reason for his slow fall into decomposition. Julian was reclined against the pillows, one arm gesturing toward the cielding in a supplicating manner. The other arm held the Scotch close to his chest. His watery eyes, for he had been crying, gazed at Miles. "Miles," he said, "she's nophing. I swear she manip….ulated my mind." He hiccupped the hand holding the glass shaking as he raised it to his lips, which despite having been touched by Ebony, were soft and desirable. Miles shook his head keeping his glare firmly in place.