An Important Query

Starfleet Academy, San Francisco, 2288.251, 1338 hours. "Hey Selas, wait up!" He paused, PADDs in hand, and awaited Paul's approach as his friend jogged the last few meters between them. "Here, let me help you with that."

Selas held firm. "Thank you but I am able to manage on my own. How are you? We have not had much time to speak with one another so far this semester despite sharing the same quarters."

Paul chuckled. "I know. It's weird, right? But I'm good, really good. Been really busy with classes and stuff. You?"

"I am also well and engaged in numerous academic pursuits." He lifted the PADDs as evidence of this statement.

"Yeah. They're really ramping up the stakes this year."

Selas nodded. "No one said that the Command Track would be an easy one."

"True. Still, we should try and hang out more."

"Agreed."

They continued along in companionable silence until they reached their room. "Listen, there's something important I've been meaning to ask you."

He set his PADDs down on his desk and turned around intrigued. "By all means."

"Well you know how I got back early from Meritani, right? Well the campus was pretty quiet but Becca was here taking classes and so we got to hang out a lot more than usual. I was wondering…" he trailed off, his voice tinged with uncertainty.

"Yes?"

"Is it alright with you if I ask her out?"

The question surprised him greatly yet Selas forced himself to keep his expression neutral as he sat down on his bed. "While I will not withhold my permission I do not understand why you believe you need my approval to begin courting Rebecca."

"So you're ok with us possibly dating?"

"Of course."

"Phew." The springs creaked as Paul took a heavy seat on his own bed. "I was really worried you were gonna say no."

His friend's relief still failed to answer his original question. "Paul, I cannot fathom how your romantic life is any of my concern."

He heard Paul shift about as he yanked off his boots and laid down atop the mattress. "It's just that you guys are so close and have been for so long I thought that maybe…"

Selas' brow wrinkled in confusion. "You thought what?"

"I thought maybe you had deeper feelings for each other than you let on."

Oh. Or, as Mama would say, 'that was a horse of a different color'. "It is true that I hold Rebecca in the highest regard, however, we have been friends since our infancy and as such I think of her in much the same vein as I do my own sister." The last thing he expected to hear from Paul was the loud derisive snort. "What?"

"Come on, you mean you really don't see it?"

"See what?"

"You might think of each other as step-siblings or whatever but that's not how it looks to everyone else. You have similar mannerisms for one…"

"A consequence of having been raised in the same environment during our formative years, I theorize," he interjected.

"And two, you have this uncanny ability to finish each other's sentences—even the crazy weird ones—that it's like you're practically reading each other's thoughts. That's why I wanted to talk to you before I talked to Becca; to make sure there was nothing going on and that you and I were cool. And before you ask, Missy, Markus and Jamas all thought there might be something between you guys too so it's not like I made this up."

Now Selas was all astonishment. "Truly?"

"Yep."

The pair lapsed into silence again as he digested this latest revelation. "I do not know how to respond to this."

"Hey, if you say there's nothing going on then I believe you."

Quietly he toed off his own boots and lay back, staring up unseeingly at the ceiling. While he had no doubt that Paul would behave as a gentleman toward Rebecca a small knot of anxiety began to coil in his stomach. "When do you plan to ask her out?"

"The next time I see her," he instantly replied. "I thought maybe we'd have dinner and see a movie—you know, keep it casual, but just the two of us." Paul began rhythmically tapping his foot along the wall. "You sure you're ok with this?"

Selas considered the request a moment before answering. "Would half hourly confirmations cure you of this repetitive need for substantiation or would hourly confirmations suffice?" He had a split second to react to the pillow being thrown his way and it still managed to hit him full in the face as Paul cackled from his bed.

"Wise ass!"

A/N: Short, sweet, and to the point...but fear not! A longer update awaits you next week.