A sliver of sadness embedded itself in the anger, cracking it open to reveal even more sorrow at the core. Jun had lost all chance of artifice, shrugging helplessly as he could tell nothing but the truth, worn down to bare honesty. “I didn’t think you would come with me.”
Without further warning or, apparently, an ounce of good sense, Theo wrapped soft hands around Jun’s biceps. Jun froze, barely breathing, tense and quiet in the gentle grip. Theo squeezed lightly as he tipped his sweet face up in sincerity, hammering that sliver of weakness all the way through like a wedge splitting Jun open. “I would have, if I had known. I would have offered my assistance willingly, Captain Park. If matters are indeed dire, then I suggest you tell me everything right now.”
The fire Jun had tried to stamp out spread unchecked, warming parts of him that had long gone cold in the merciless depths of space. He drew in a ragged breath and stepped back so quickly he bumped his shoulder against the metal rim of the doorjamb, wrenching himself from Theo’s grip.
It was unimaginable that a Core-born academic with no knowledge of the harsh realities surrounding his comfortable life would willingly place himself in danger to save those considered beneath the notice of the Quorum.
Not once had it crossed Jun’s mind to ask for his cooperation. It was as absurd a notion as, well, everything else about Dr. Campbell, really.
He blinked brightly up at Jun, completely unaware of the danger ahead of them, the danger Jun had dragged him into because he wasn’t smart enough to think of a better solution.
Jun fitted his frown back into place and straightened into his command posture. “No. The less you know, the better. I don’t want you to get involved any more than you have to.”
There was a chance Jun could keep him out of the spotlight, out of harm’s way and far removed from the target Jun was painting on his own back. He just had to keep his distance, create narrow boundaries and uphold them. Keep Theo confined to his one necessary task and otherwise uninvolved in Jun’s reckless mission to dismantle the unjust machinations of powers greater than either of them could conceive.
It was a slim chance, but Jun had survived on slimmer. He retreated farther into the doorway as Theo advanced with eyes narrowed in consideration, raking over Jun from head to toe as if answers might be spelled out in the shuffle of his boots. “But you are saying that I need to be involved, somehow? Me, specifically?”
Jun stopped retreating the moment he realized he was doing it, heat creeping across the back of his neck once more. He crossed his arms, face and body slamming shut on Theo’s curiosity. “Yes.”
They entered a staring contest in which neither was willing to admit defeat, Theo’s eyes wide with interest and Jun’s carefully blank.
Theo stepped back with a thoughtful hum. “Intriguing. Now I require you to turn around, please.” He waved his hands in a graceful circular motion.
Jun blinked, losing the staring contest along with the last shreds of his dignity in his confusion. “What?”
Theo repeated the motion expectantly. “I have no intentions of offering a free show, Captain. If you are half the gentleman you claim to be, you will turn around at once so that I may adjust my stockings before my feet turn into elegantly sculpted icicles.”
Stockings.
Jun’s overtaxed mind shorted out for a brief moment as he considered the image of such an intimate garment sliding up Theo’s long legs.
He knew that Core clothing involved many layers, with rigid rules pertaining to each one. His own mother had never embraced Outlier fashion and had stubbornly insisted upon dressing as if she were to attend a meeting of the Quorum each day. As though they might welcome her back with open arms, if only she dressed refined enough.
There, that was a bucket of ice water on his incredibly unwelcome interest in Theo’s clothing.
Next, he would have to think about the time he’d taken his Crew to the beach, and his pilot had worn something that could only be described as a neon windsock, and nothing else.
Yup. Interest gone.
Without waiting for Jun to leave, Theo bent forward and began to work on the fastenings of his trousers, silky hair swinging across his face.
Jun spun around so rapidly he banged the other side of the same shoulder against the door jamb. With a hiss, he stood stock-still as he stared into the hallway.
The soft rustling sounds of Theo donning his layers hit Jun like a sledgehammer, raising his heart rate as he desperately tried to recall the horrors of the windsock instead.
“All clear, Captain. I am decent once more, everything in its place and accounted for.”
After a deep, steadying breath, Jun turned around. He did his best to avoid staring at Theo’s thighs, wondering what color his garters might be. Much the same as many of Jun’s best efforts to be a better man, he failed abysmally.
Theo stood and stretched with a wide yawn, leaving Jun to suppress a yawn of his own as his sleep deprivation pressed insistently at the back of his mind.
Green eyes blinked up at him, and Jun couldn’t resist. He swayed closer, met that gaze with a smirk. “You do, by the way.”
Theo lifted inquisitive brows as he pulled his waistcoat back down into place after his stretch. “What is it that I do, precisely?”
It was impossible to look away. Theo was a spatial anomaly, and Jun was caught in his pull. His voice rasped low as if they’d actually made it to that wall he kept thinking about. “Talk. In your sleep.”
Theo blushed furiously, as pink as a sunset over Britannia, and Jun was in a galaxy of trouble.
Chapter Five
The crunch of Theo’s slightly stale
