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Sid’s sure they’re going to run out of coastline in the next few miles.
The tree cover is so thick on the back roads they’ve been driving down it’s impossible for him to get his bearings. He lost cell service about forty five minutes into the drive and and he’s completely given up on getting it back.
All he knows is that the Atlantic is to his left and the Gulf is to his right. He’d be worried but Geno is in the driver’s seat humming along with the radio with one hand on the wheel while his other arm rests on the open window. The warm breeze blows his hair and with the moonlight shining down on him Sid finds that he can’t look away.
Geno stops humming and glances over. Sid doesn’t look away. Instead, he squares his shoulders against the door and looks at him full on.
“You know, for a guy who’s only been in the states for a few months you sure do know your way around.”
Geno looks back out the windshield with a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Who say I know my way around?”
Sid rolls his eyes and shakes his head but he can’t stop the grin from working its way across his lips.
In the four months since Geno stepped off the plane at the Air Force base on the Cape Sid’s entire life has been tilted on its axis.
Geno is everything and nothing like Sid expected him to be. In the weeks leading up to his arrival Sid had read and re-read Evgeni Malkin’s file until he had memorized every word. He graduated top of his class and was a celebrated and decorated pilot in the Russian Air Force before he was recruited into Roscosmos.
Sid was expecting someone brilliant and competent and focused on his work and that’s exactly what he got. What he didn’t expect was someone so warm and eager to learn everything about the people working with and around him. He didn’t expect Geno to remember everyone’s names right down to the janitors that swept up after everyone else had gone home and it was only him and Geno hunched over their laptops running another simulation and tying up the loose ends before the mission.
He didn’t expect to learn that Geno has a penchant for truly terrible dad jokes and that the more he’s told how terrible they are, the more likely he is to tell them. He didn’t expect to learn so much about his mother and father and brother and so little about the pretty girlfriend who didn’t make the trip with him. He talks of her very little and even then, only when directly asked but Sid never expected the sharp, cold feeling in the pit of his stomach when he does.
Mostly, he never expected to be herded out of a bar and into Geno’s rental car without any explanation but with Geno’s hand at the small of his back.
“Where are we going,” Sid had asked but Geno had wordlessly slid his hand up to the back of Sid’s neck then to the top of Sid’s head and eased him into the car like a police officer with a suspect.
“Going to for drive,” he said as he shut the door. “Good to help relax.”
“I thought that’s what going to the bar was for,” Sid shot back and Geno shrugged as he passed along the front of the car to the drivers side.Sid had been having fun. He was relaxing. He was sipping on his second beer and talking to a cute guy when Geno elbowed his way into the conversation and tugged him away.
“You know,” Sids says as he grips the armrest as Geno takes a corner just a hair too quick, “I know Florida has some pretty lenient laws but kidnapping is still illegal down here.”
“Not kidnapping,” Geno says as he puts his left hand on the wheel so he can pat at Sid’s knee with his right. “And almost there.”
“Almost where?”
Geno pulls his hand away and puts it back on the wheel.
It’s another twenty minutes before Geno pulls the car off the side of the road and cuts the engine.
There’s nothing but a low wooden fence with a sign that says Private Property Keep Out posted on it but Geno climbs out of the car anyways.
“Come,” he says as he taps the hood and Sid unclicks the seatbelt and slides out.
There’s a bag in the backseat with a blanket and a six pack. Geno’s still digging through it when Sid leans against the car and crosses his arms.
“You planned this?”
“Of course,” Geno says. “Without plan nothing works. Close eyes.”
“What?”
Geno pulls a can out of the bag and covers Sid’s mouth with his palm. “Close,” he says again and Sid closes his eyes. “Good,” Geno says softly before Sid hears a whoosh and is hit with a citronella scented mist. “Mosquitoes size of birds out here,” Geno says as he sprays Sid’s face then moves to his neck and arms and legs, getting each spot of exposed skin thoroughly before he moves on. “Carry you away.” He turns Sid around to get the back of his neck then presses the can into his palm. “You get me.”
Sid sprays him down then tosses the can back into the trunk.
“Now will you tell me where we’re going?”
Geno picks up the blanket and the six pack and closes the trunk. “We go here.”
“There’s nothing here except for private property.”
Geno raises his eyebrows and Sid digs his heels in.
“No. We’re going to get in trouble. You’re going to be grounded and I’m going to get fired.”
“Won’t get fired. Worry too much.”
“I worry the right amount. It’s my job to worry about things—you specifically. That’s mission controls whole deal. We worry about things and fix them before launch so they’re not things that you need to worry about.”
“And you do best job,” Geno says as he walks towards the fence. He drops the blanket and sets the beer down on the opposite side of the fence and climbs over. “Now I tell you not to worry.” He folds his arms over the top rail and tips his head to the side. “Trust.”
Sid sighs and gestures for him to get out of the way so he can climb over.
Before his feet are even on the ground Geno is taking off down a path and Sid has to hurry to catch up.
He follows a half step behind Geno trying to keep a watchful eye on the ground for snakes or raised roots that he could trip over. It’s hard to see anything in the watery moonlight filtering through the leaves on the trees but Geno walks confidently like it’s a path he takes everyday.
Sid hears the water before he sees it. The waves lap gently at the shore as Geno leads them into a clearing and Sid looks up and gasps.
The night sky is blue and purple and dotted with stars and there are two palm trees sticking out of the sand reaching up. Beside them there’s an old boat pulled up onto the shore, abandoned and rundown.
“Come on,” Geno says as he knocks their elbows together.
“How’d you find this place,” Sid asks and Geno shrugs.
“Just know.” He approaches the ship and sets the blanket and the beer on the deck then finds a good place to grip and pulls himself on board. Once he’s up he holds his hand out to Sid. “Careful. Very old.”
“And dangerous,” Sid says as he takes Geno’s hand lets himself be helped up. “Are you sure it’s okay we’re here?”
“Didn’t ask for permission but…” He trails off and spreads out the blanket so he can sit down. He pats the empty space next to him and as Sid lowers himself onto the blanket Geno frees two of the cans from the pack.
Sid takes the offered can and settles down beside him. The blanket is warm and a little itchy against the bare skin of his arms and neck but as Geno moves around to get comfortable their arms brush and that becomes the only thing Sid can feel.
Geno takes a sip of his beer, smacks his lips then points to the sky. He begins to map out the constellations; Ursa Major and Minor—“bears,” he says, “but can’t swim. Very sad. Perseus killed Medusa, Hydra,” he says as he trials the tip of his finger across the sky. “Biggest one.”
Sid knows all this—every good space nerd does but he’s content to listen to Geno speak. He likes the melody of his voice, the thick accent and the way his mouth forms foreign English words.
“Cassiopeia,” Geno continues. “Bragged she was more beautiful than the goddesses. Now she spends half of night upside down in her throne like she’s going to fall out.” Geno takes another sip. “Maybe she deserves. Don’t mess with gods.”
“I wish I had her confidence.”
Geno gives him a sidelong look and sets his beer down. “Could say you prettier than god’s. Wouldn’t be a lie.”
Sid laughs and looks over. Geno’s still watching him.
“Does that line honestly work?”
“You tell me.”
Sid’s laughter dies off as Geno inches closer.
“Geno.” Sid says his name like a warning and Geno pushes himself up and leans over him.
Sid moves away at the last second and sits up. Geno’s hand is curled around his elbow.
“You have a girlfriend,” he says and Geno’s hand falls away. “I’m not going to be a stand in or whatever. Just because she’s not here and you’re lonely or however you’re trying to justify this.”
“Don’t have girlfriend,” Geno says softly and Sid shakes his head.
“Bullshit. I’ve seen her.”
“How? You look her up?”
“I…”
Because the answer is an embarrassing yes. When Sid is feeling sad and lonely, that's what he does. He wants to look at the person he’ll never be.
Geno pushes himself up to sit beside him. “Not girlfriend. Is more like…arrangement. Is the safest thing for both of us.”
“Arrangement?”
“I don’t have girlfriend but she does. I don’t have boyfriend but…” He trails off and leans his shoulder against Sid’s. Sid finally turns to look at him.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. Can’t tell at least about her. Don’t care what you say about me. In America now. Soon I’ll be in space. What can they do to me there?”
“Geno—.”
“Like you, Sid. Probably bad idea.”
Sid laughs. “It’s a very bad idea.”
“You came out here with me.”
“I know. Just because I like you back doesn’t mean it’s not still a bad idea.”
Geno grins. “You like me back?”
“This is serious. We can’t…people can’t know. They’ll take me off the team.”
“Won’t let them.”
“You’re one astronaut out of a crew of six. You’re important but you’re not the only one going up. If they think I’m more partial to you than anyone else they’ll remove me. I worked really hard to get here.”
“Won’t ruin that for you,” Geno says softly. “I get.” He puts some space between them and takes a deep breath.
Sid looks up and thinks of Perseus and Andromeda. Altair and Vega. Star-crossed lovers in life, together forever in the stars.
Then he looks over at Geno in the light of the moon and the stars and thinks fuck it.
Sid swings one leg over Geno’s thighs and sits astride his lap.
When they kiss for the first time Geno tastes like cheap beer and stardust.