Gravity (Male x Male)

Chapter 3 - The First Move

My body jerked awake as I nearly rolled off the bed. Evidently, I was used to my sleeping area being slightly larger. It felt like I'd slept for hours, and given that the time that had just elapsed would have been a full night on Selenia, it was now probably what would usually be my morning.

The room wasn't much bigger than the bed, so I stood up and poked a couple of the buttons on the wall. One of them released water through a small alcove, large enough for me to put my hand in it.

A dark green folded piece of material lay close by on a raised shelf. I assumed that was what passed as a towel in here. I used the water to wash as much of myself as I could, and the towel to dry off. There was no hairbrush, so I did what I could with the water and my fingers. No mirror either, so I just had to hope I looked reasonable.

I found a box of chewable tablets for cleaning teeth and assumed it would be OK to pinch one. Maybe part of me was being overly optimistic about getting that close to Keleon, but it didn't hurt to be prepared.

I inhaled deeply with anticipation and opened the door that led to the cockpit.

Keleon looked more breathtaking than ever. His ankles were crossed and resting up on the dashboard as he was looking out at the stars, his dark hair resting against his forehead in the sexiest way possible.

"Morning, gorgeous," I offered, leaning against the frame of the entrance to the cockpit.

It was still very forward, but apparently, he needed forward.

"Hi Damon," he greeted as he turned to face me, still seemingly oblivious to my advances. "You must be hungry. There's food in here."

He got up and opened the door opposite the room I'd been sleeping in. I followed.

"There are various different types of ration packs in this room." He gestured to various boxes of ration packs and some bottled water. I knew none of them would be anywhere near as tasty as a burger, but the freedom was worth it.

"Don't you need to eat?" I asked, reaching for one of the packets, and tearing off the foil.

He shook his head.

"No, just take whatever you like."

He must have eaten while I'd been asleep. I took my pack and bottle of water and followed him out into the cockpit to eat.

"How long until we get to Epsilon 4?" I asked between mouthfuls of something stringy that tasted like it was supposed to be meat and failing.

His blue eyes met mine. So unbelievably beautiful.

"Another thirty hours or so. It would normally be faster, but we can't use more than minimum thrust in case they're trying to follow us and detect the ion trail."

"Shame," I replied. "I quite like the idea of experiencing a bit of thrust with you."

As I spoke, I made a point of making sure he could see my eyes roaming over his toned arms, across his covered chest and back up to meet his again. I even threw in a wink at the end of the sentence before disengaging eye contact and taking another bite of my food. Surely, he was receiving the message now. He'd seen the wink; I was sure of it.

His smile widened.

"Do you like chess?" he asked.

Well that was random and unexpected.

"Uh, yeah, I played a few times against the doctors on Selenia," I answered.

"I found a chess set tucked into one of the boxes under the food," he explained. "The previous occupant of this ship must have liked playing. When you've finished eating, would you like a game with me?"

I blinked in astonishment. According to Keleon's observations last night, I was 'perplexing' and 'didn't make much sense.' Yet from my perspective, it was the other way around. He surely must have recognised I was hitting on him, and yet he gave no indication whether I should continue or stop.

I was aware I only had around thirty hours to find out whether my efforts were in vain. I finished my mouthful and asked a random question back, since we seemed to be in that mode.

"Where did you get this ship, anyway? You didn't know the previous occupant?" The last mouthful of whatever I'd been eating went into my mouth, followed by a few large gulps of water from one of the bottles I'd grabbed.

"I borrowed it," he replied, and I raised an eyebrow in response. "With permission," he clarified, apparently being able to decipher what a raised eyebrow in this context meant.

"Right," I drawled. "You want to be black or white?"

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"Chess. Would you rather be black or white?"

"Black," he replied after thinking for a second. "I think I want you to make the first move."

"I've been trying," I smirked playfully, but he just looked confused and went to get the chess set, which he then set up in the bed I'd slept in, while I gazed wistfully at him.

Keleon knew the rules of chess, but hadn't had much practice, so I beat him for the first four games. We mainly talked about chess and tactics, as well as other games we'd played. I flirted a couple of times, but as always, he didn't react. He won the fifth game, and I wasn't sure whether he was getting better or whether my concentration was waning. At any rate, I needed more food.

"That was fun, but I'm going to take a snack break," I told him, standing up.

"Worried I'll beat you now that I'm winning?" he teased, as he started to pack the pieces away.

I snorted.

"You've won one game out of five, it's hardly a winning streak. I'm just hungry."

He laughed softly, and it was so endearing, my heart nearly exploded. My feelings for this guy were only growing, and I desperately wanted to know how he felt about me. I couldn't remember a time I'd ever had a crush on someone this badly.

I dragged myself away from him to get a food pack and peeled the foil off. This one smelled like it might be imitating dried fruit of some kind. It turned out to be slightly chewy and kind of sweet, which confirmed my suspicions. I got through three packs of different food types, which didn't exactly go together. But since there was nothing to tell me what was in each one, I didn't get a lot of choice. I downed a whole bottle of water alongside my snacks.

While I was eating, I decided that I needed to try to kiss Keleon. Today. He was impassive to my unsubtle hints, and I had no way of interpreting what that meant, other than I wasn't being rejected.

There was now about twenty-four hours until we reached Epsilon 4, and I might never see him again after that. Actions spoke louder than words, and there would be no way he could ignore me kissing him. Even if it meant awkward silences for the rest of our trip, I had to know one way or the other because this state of limbo was worse.