Honestly, I can’t say that my long absence hasn’t been because I forgot about this site. Because I did. And I haven’t been drawing much lately, so I feel like kind of a letdown to some of my old fans, small in number as they are. Blood, Sweat, and Steel has been slow going too, which, boo, but yay because we don’t want to sacrifice quality for the sake of getting material out there. It’ll happen when it happens!
Here’s some more of this complete self-indulgent garbage story in the meantime.
I slept decently well that night, and showed up to my post looking about as brushy-tailed as I could manage. I spent my morning organizing rounds for the ensigns, and taking careful inventory of the weapons lockers on decks 4 through 12. I only got through about three-quarters of them when I broke for lunch, and with no word from my lieutenant commander, I went to break bread in the usual place.
The chicken Cesar salad wasn’t quite as good as it usually was, but there was a fresh lemon wedge this time at least.
“We missed you last night,” Marcus said, plopping his tray down next to mine. “You would have loved Redead’s ending. Ain’t that right, Rafferty?”
Puck fuckin’ Rafferty took the seat on my other side, a guy so charming that it was easy to forget that he was also an asshole. There was nothing on his tray except a pair of protein shakes. “Def. The part where the zombie prince fucking explodes during his big Thriller dance number? Amazing. Shame they just don’t make movies like that anymore.” He elbowed me then. “Yeah, so, everyone was asking where you went,” he grunted. “Y’hit the weight room?”
“Nope.”
The two guys looked at each other, grinning. “Found some wellness in the tubes again?”
“Zero-g meditation is pretty great, you should try it.” I wiped my mouth with the napkin. “Maybe beef up some of that brain along with those biceps.”
Macrus laughed, but Puck was all sour grapes. “Yeah? So where’d you go, anyway?”
“Believe it or not, I was in my bunk.”
“He lies!” Marcus cried dramatically.
“Ask Chang if you want,” I shrugged. “I was there all night after 2145. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have ammo to count.”
“Alright, well, we’re doing some indie movie tonight. You in or what?”
“Afra’s pick?”
“Yeah, it’s The Darkness Within or something. About a chick in a coma.”
“Sure, but I’m, uh, on call for the next few days. Might have to leave early.”
Puck and Marcus exchanged looks. “On call? I don’t remember the old chief doing anything like that. Thought that was an essential personnel thing?”
“Yeah, not sure what the… procedure’s gonna be if I do get called, but I’m booked for it, so.”
Marcus King grin slowly widened. “Who’s doin’ the calling?”
“I, ah, not sure,” I lied, heading over to the bus bins to deposit my plate. “Anyways, gotta get back to it. I’ll see you tonight!”
–
We paused halfway through the movie to let some folks use the head. It was a pretty hilarious sight, a bunch of grown adults crammed into a 80 square-foot bunk room stunk up with the smell of buttered popcorn, Cheetos, and smuggled beer.
“Holy shit,” Puck said, staring at the paused screen. “I never want to fall into a coma.”
Afra gave him a look. “You know it’s easier to get you out of one nowadays, right?”
“Still. Hey King!” Puck shouted at the head. Marcus shouted back through the closed door. “If I fall into a coma, I want you to pull the plug on me!”
“I’m not gonna pull the fuckin’ plug on you, dumbass!”
“Afra?”
The woman just rolled her eyes.
“Chang?”
River Chang just snorted and took another gulp of beer.
“Aw man, I don’t want my life in Bowie’s hands.”
Just then the pager at my waist started to vibrate. Report for duty, was all it said. I cleared my throat and immediately fought down the blush that threatened to invade my every inch of skin. Standing up, I straightened my civilian clothes, and stepped around the body sitting on the floor as I made to excuse myself. “Honestly, I don’t want anything of yours in my hands until it’s been doused with bleach, Rafferty. Everyone else, I’ll catch you later.”
“Where do you think you’re going?” Afra asked, cocking a brow at me.
“Oh, I know where I’m going.”
Marcus grabbed the remote and explained through a mouthful of Cheetos that I was “on-call”.
“Yes,” I deadpanned. “Being on-call means you might sometimes get, how do you say, called. This would be one of those times.”
“Orr’s found a new calling,” Chang chuckled.
Afra snorted. “Or maybe it’s a booty call?”
“Speculate all you want, but I gotta report. See ya tomorrow, crew.”
I was so gone.
–
I stopped by my quarters on the way to Hound’s suite to touch up my hair, brush the popcorn bits from my teeth, and wash up downstairs real quick.
Because tonight was the night, I could feel it.
Then I realized that if my alibi was going to hold, I need to put on my uniform.
“Goddammit,” I grumbled, racing to switch wardrobes.
–
Another page arrived just as I stepped into a tube and hauled myself up a few decks.
Giving you 90 seconds, lieutenant.
I groaned, hurrying, trying not to overshoot his deck. Which I didn’t, thankfully, but in my lust-filled haste I exited the tube upside down. Gravity promptly took hold of me and sent me careening to floor in a tangle of pain. I cursed loudly.
“You alright?” asked an ensign passing by.
I flashed a thumbs up. “Don’t mind me,” I wheezed, picking myself off the carpet. “As you were.”
–
I was panting by the time I reached Hound’s suite. I kicked the panel along the bottom of the human door with a sense of urgency – two different senses, actually: I was rushing as both an EDC officer and a hopelessly horny young guy. It slid open.
There he was, lounging on the couch again, studying his datapads. Big, big, big, I thought, biting my lip. I was a bit of a… connoisseur when it came to size differences between partners, but I never thought I’d get to do anything with anyone that different! I couldn’t explain it, but his solid frame somehow managed to flex, to shift with his movements, his expressions. I hungrily followed the green of his leg up to the swell of a –
“Jeez, Bowie, what happened to you? Your cheek’s all red.”
My other cheek turned red too. “Oh, I uh… got into a fight with the floor on my way out of the tube is all.”
Hound beckoned me closer. “Floors’ll usually win.” He smiled, leaning down with his upturned palm. “Now c’mon, let’s try this again, Bo.”
“Lieutenant,” I corrected with a cheeky smile, stepping up to get into his hand but hesitating briefly as I considered what I was about to do and realizing that I, a human, was about to embark on a ride in Lieutenant Commander Hound’s palm, which was a good 18” wide from thumb to heel with fingers just as long. I had spent so many waking hours thinking about what that hand could do to me, and now I was Doing The Thing. With heart pounding, I got into it, expecting for him to take me up to the couch.
Or, as it happened, his lap. I gave a squeak that I hoped he hadn’t heard.
“Right.” His thighs, already parted, were spread a little more and he adjusted his hips. Oh god, what a sight to be-fuckin’-hold. “Now, I hope that you don’t always take your time like that when being ordered to your station, lieutenant.”
“Sorry sir, I’ve just never been “on-call” before. Give me a few tries and I’ll be able to muster faster than you can say, uh…”
“Drills.”
“Drills?”
He assumed an air of authority that I think suited him well, but knew he could sustain for only a short while. “I think the only solution to your tardiness, officer, is for me to keep you on-call.”
I sat down cross-legged between his thighs and gazed up at the strong, massive trunk before me. I was almost too horny to even look the poor Autobot in the eye. “There are just some things that are better learned the hard way,” I said, biting my lip.
Hound paused for the briefest moment, as if caught by surprise. I saw his optics darken. “Well, uh, officer… I’ve got something you might like to learn about the hard way.”
I was human, but still I could see my vision fill with static around the edges. Part of me still couldn’t believe we were doing this!
“Part of me still can’t believe we’re doing this.”
I had blurted it out in confession, while letting my fingers play along his pale thigh. Not wanting to get too close to anything especially sensitive yet. When I looked up, I saw a warm if lustful expression, and I felt his fingers wrap around me to lift me to his face. “Honestly? Me neither. But I’ve been excited to meet you for weeks now, and hot slag we have some chemistry.”
I leaned in and he met me the rest of the way, holding me to his blocky chest with one hand and kneading the back of my skull with the fingers of his other as he kissed me full on the mouth.
“Bowie,” he rumbled as he stared at my mouth between kisses, “Can I ask you a personal question?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you like it gentle, or –“
I heard the comm beeping. I heard the fucking comm beeping,
“Hate to bug you, chief, but you’re needed in decon. Remember the Yrrelian merchants we brought on board? Well, they had a stowaway, and their stowaway… has a stowaway.”
I watched as Hound’s optics narrowed, shoulders slumped, and balls get even bluer. He shifted his hips around to relieve some of the tension, even as his robotic brain was trying to piece together what in the hell his clerk was saying. “What? You’re going to have to start from the beginning, corporal.” Then he looked back to me, frustration straining his handsome face. “Actually, belay that. I’m a bit busy right now. Can it wait?”
“I-I don’t think so, sir.” We could hear some faint commotion in the background. “The doc wants to get him hooked up to a blood filter ASAP but the stowaway – er, I mean, the stowaway’s stowaway’s host – is demanding legal counsel first and –”
He met my gaze, and I wanted to laugh. Hound looked like he wanted to duke it out with a punching bag.
“Is this a parasite we’re talking about, here?”
“A pile of sentient nanites, actually. And they have a criminal record.”
Hound rubbed at his face and sighed. “I’ll be there as soon as I can,” the mech muttered, cutting the channel.
“I guess I’ll have to take another rain-check, big guy,” I offered, tracing along a seam in his thigh.
Hound was busy shaking his head and groaning, then chuckling, then falling silent as my fingers found their way to the black of his hip plates and the permanent swell there.
“It’s hot to the touch,” I remarked with surprise, and above me he let out the most beautiful rumble of pleasure. The sound slid down my spine.
“Yeah,” he said with a strained chuckle. “Tell me about it.”
I winked up at him. “Too bad you didn’t get to warm my hands up too.”
“You are just going to need to warm them up good for me and tell me all about it later.”
There was a zing down into my already swollen junk and I wasn’t quite sure if I was ready to explode or give up entirely. I whined in my throat and jumped the five feet to the floor between his huge armored feet.
“Should I wait for you to come back?”
“Nah. I could be down there for a few hours.”
He stood up and strode past me with one swing of his giant legs, making a sound that bore an uncanny resemblance to clearing his throat. Hound surveyed his shoulder and the gold block appeared again. I sensed an air of defeat settle into the room, and it was contagious.
“You… alright?”
Hound grinned, chuckling. “Honestly, It’s takin’ everything I got not to push you to the floor and forget all about paying a visit to decon.”
Core explosion in 3, 2, 1…
“A-and it’s taking everything I got to, uh… uh…” I was officially not in witty-banter-land anymore. In fact, I suddenly found my visa revoked.
The smirk on the Autobot’s face right then was enough to bring me to my knees. Which, apparently, was exactly the effect he was going for.
“And you thought I was sugary and clueless.”
I laughed, almost dizzy from the blood draining from my brain.
“Alright, off you go, lieutenant. I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow.”
“Bright and early?”
“Better check that duty roster, officer!”
I was about to dash out, but paused just inside the door as I remembered something. “Oh, and lieutenant commander? I like it rough.”
I’ll never forget the way his optics turned a shade short of deep Prussian blue and how the chinks in his armor let my retort catch him by a most delicious surprise. Then I was gone.