Those dark eyes were so deep and warm, one could easily drown in them. Juri sighed, trying to say something but his vocal chords simply refused to cooperate. He couldn't get a sound out of his mouth, and then it already was otherwise occupied as Orwel leaned forward across the table and covered his lips with his own. He tasted slightly spicy, Juri realized that it had to be the soft drink they'd had a while ago, sweet and yet somehow bitter. Delicious.

"Juri..."

Orwel's chest pressed against him and Juri shivered as a cool breeze blew through the rooftop restaurant they were sitting in. The hand on his shoulder was warm. He looked down and was mildly astonished to realize that his chest was bare, looking very pale next to Orwel's dark skin.

"Juri?"

Juri's eyes opened wide. For a moment he stared dazedly into Orwel's face looming above and a shiver passed through him.

"Are you feeling all right?"

Orwel's hand was still on his shoulder where it'd given him a slight shake. It felt inordinately warm. Juri groaned and rubbed his face, grateful to have at least that excuse for the reddening he could feel on his cheeks. He glanced around, just to make sure. Yes, this was the living room of the apartment that Base Commander Dahomey shared with his adopted children. He himself was currently huddled into a rather unseemly heap in a far too comfortable armchair.

He remembered sitting down, just for a moment to give his aching legs a rest, while Orwel had gone to make sure that none of the kids fell asleep before reaching their beds. Juri even vaguely remembered closing his eyes for a second and breathing in, deep, to relax. Apparently that relaxation had been all he'd needed to fall instantly asleep. How humiliating.

"Sorry," he managed weakly. "I must be even more tired than usually."

"Shouldn't fall asleep there," Orwel pointed out as Juri sat up and turned his head from side to side in an effort to make the little crick disappear from his neck. "It's a nice one, but not the best place to sleep in."

Yeah, I'm sure there are other, far more comfortable places for that purpose. Juri stood up somewhat stiffly, mentally kicking himself. Having a crazy dream was one thing, having one in the presence of the main character featuring in it was another. Damn, he needed to wake up quickly, at least enough to make a graceful exit. Only a few steps to the door, then he'd be safely in the cool impersonality of the corridor, and well on his way to the safety of his own bed...

"Would you care for a cup of hot chocolate?"

"Sounds great."

Exactly where did that come from? Juri sighed and let his gaze linger on Orwel's tall, broad-shouldered figure that headed with a nod towards the kitchen. When it disappeared, he forced his aching legs to carry his weight to the same direction and then leaned against the doorframe, one hand rubbing absently his upper arm. Orwel, busying himself with a cooker and mugs, smothered a yawn and glanced at him with a smile.

"Cold?"

"Just tired," Juri said. Not to mention the fact that I can't seem to wake up from this goddamn dream at all. "It wasn't exactly cold today."

"I know how you feel. Sit down, man." Orwel grinned, stirring the drinks with a spoon. "How do you like it?"

Moderately rough. "Uh... disgustingly sweet, I'm afraid."

"Hah, somebody else with a sweet tooth!"

Big dark hands added enough sweetener to make even Juri's mouth water in pleasant anticipation, then a sizable dollop of whipped cream was dropped on top of the thick, steaming drink where it immediately began to melt into lovely stripes. The large mug was transferred in front of Juri with a graceful flick of a wrist. "There you go. Now you're privy to my secret vice, Mr. Lombard."

Juri smiled to him gratefully over the drink and smelled it appreciatively. "Thank you, chef! Ooh, you even serve it with spices... just the way I like it best."

Orwel sipped his chocolate, the cream leaving a white stripe on his upper lip. He licked if off with the tip of his tongue, a move that made Juri's mug falter momentarily, but he recovered quickly enough and sampled the thick brew. It tasted heavenly, sweet enough to make his eyes glaze, with a hint of cinnamon and something a little more stingy that made the inside of his mouth tingle even after he rolled it on his tongue and swallowed the first gulp. Orwel was looking at him, dark eyes smiling, face slack with fatigue.

"I never guessed it would be so much fun," the tall man said softly. "Not to mention strenuous. I hope the kids weren't more trouble than usually?"

"Oh, they weren't," Juri assured, gaze dropping to the hot drink when Orwel's tongue made another swipe, this time to catch some of the still solid cream floating in the mug. "But they sure were lively! By now they know a little too well what to expect, so they have this darn long list of places to go."

Orwel laughed under his breath. "And you do your best not to disappoint anybody," he said.

"I cater to please!" Juri shrugged with a grin. "No, seriously, I know they are so looking forward to getting there that I don't have the heart to deny them anything that's even remotely possible. They get to town so rarely and there's such a long wait until the next time, even if I leave out the TCs every now and then."

"I wish I could put Dean in charge of some groups, too." Orwel looked genuinely regretful. "But with the stepped-up security, I need him here. I've been thinking, though, that I might just tell Lancer to go, and leave him no option to refuse."

"He doesn't feel like leaving the Base." Juri took another swig. "It'd be just an unwanted chore for him."

"I'm sure you're right," Orwel admitted. "I just can't help thinking that it'd do him good."

Juri nodded, and they both fell silent. Orwel was slowly sipping the chocolate, seemingly lost in thought, and Juri was soon drifting back into reverie as well. He didn't have to look specifically at the man sitting opposite, when he could see the shape well enough in his peripheral vision, with his excellent memory helpfully filling in the gaps.

He felt lost; an unspeakably unpleasant feeling he wasn't at all used to. Juri Lombard, spy extraordinaire, a man capable of slipping with enviable effortlessness into a multitude of roles and capable of thinking himself in and out of many different situations as each mission demanded, was not used to feeling lost. All right, the fix he'd got himself into on TerraFour had been a healthy reminder of the fact that not even he could predict and be prepared for everything – that his brain might not always pinpoint every alternative and every outcome of each action in advance. It had reminded him that even the Chameleon could be surprised, caught unawares, reduced to just waiting and hoping for the best. But he'd learned from that mistake and wasn't going to let himself get again in a situation where sheer miraculous luck was the only way out.

Well, of course this wasn't one of those situations, and it didn't seem likely that he'd need to put his abilities to test very soon. Juri firmly shoved the memories of the latest mission aside. It'd been touch and go but he'd emerged victorious, if only by the skin of his teeth. He knew he was as good as dead if he left the Jainah-Jehan system, and he also knew that no one of his rebel employers wanted to risk his capture or murder. This was where he'd be stuck for an indeterminable time, like it or not.

Such a good thing that he happened to like the idea very much. In fact a little too much, not least because of the person sitting opposite to him – no, in fact right now standing up to grab the cooker and refill their mugs. Juri smiled up to Orwel and closed his eyes for a moment.

Everything would've been so easy without Orwel Dahomey. For one thing, why exactly him, when Dean Blaine's sandy-blond charm was far more in keeping with Juri's tastes, as evidenced by a row of faces he could easily dredge from his memory. He didn't have to reminisce long to think of at least three past male lovers who bore more than a passing resemblance to Dean... no, make that four, although Tsao isn't nearly that tall.

And yet he'd more or less immediately started having funny ideas whenever he caught the smallest glimpse of Blaine's constant companion. Orwel, who was pleasant company, clever, and definitely good-looking in that comfortably masculine way. He was also calm and controlled, businesslike, cool. In a way very unlike his older brother, in many ways so much like Arria, and he intrigued Juri. He'd made friends with Orwel and by now was ready to make the scary admission that he was in love. Acknowledging that Orwel appealed to him sexually was only part of the truth. No, Juri wanted to know the man, and the better he knew him the more he wanted.

He'd been in love before, more than once, and knew well enough what it felt like. This was serious, just like it'd been serious at least twice earlier, and back then it hadn't been anybody's fault that things had fallen through. Being a spy, traveling around, never knowing what'd come up next and where, all that tended to get between people, no matter how determined they were. Besides, if a person didn't understand that a good spy did not shrink away from anything, even seducing his way to what his mission data had specified as his target, such a person shouldn't even try to be the said spy's companion for life.

But what if the spy was forced – or got the chance – to stay in one place? Could things be different then?

Juri heaved a sigh that made the cream shiver as it floated on the surface of his chocolate. Of course things were now radically different. For one thing, he was comfortably stranded on Jainah. For another, he wasn't very used to being honest and trying to tell somebody he was in love. Both times before the feelings had been mutual, and in fact it'd been the other party who'd started making advances. All he'd needed to do was go along, admit that yes, he was definitely interested. Calculated seduction was something done on missions. But now, he didn't even know which way Orwel swung!

"Penny for your thoughts."

Juri gulped from his mug to cover up his surprise.

"Remembering things, I guess," he said meekly. "My brain's fried by today, thoughts running in circles."

Orwel chuckled. "Funny. I'm so tired I feel like a zombie, and yet I don't feel like going to bed."

"Yeah, me neither." Depending, of course, on what one would do there. "I guess the kids were asleep before they got their heads on the pillow?"

"They sure were. Good that Adrien was there to take Dima." Orwel shook his head. "I told Mick he could stay over, they're sleeping cheek to cheek with Scharm now."

"Cute, I'm sure!" Juri smiled. "Those two sure struck up a friendship today."

"They really did. It's good for Scharm, he's a bit on the shy side." Orwel stirred lazily his drink. "I'm always astonished to realize how different they can be, even though they share the same genes and their lives have been so identical."

"Even more so than normal siblings," Juri nodded. "Although I've sometimes wondered how people who've grown up in the same family can be so vastly different as they are."

"Like me and Osip?" Orwel's eyebrow arched up. Juri pursed his mouth in thought.

"Not really. I mean, of course you're different, but not so enormously. There's much the same in you, too. No, I was thinking about some people I've known... a man who was a University professor and his sister, a totally cold-blooded killer. Things like that."

"All right, we're not quite that different!" Orwel grinned to him. "Although if you'd asked me back when I was still in the Academy and Osip had just deserted to join the rebels..."

"You hated him?"

"Yes." It came without a blink of hesitation. "I hated him, truly and profoundly. My big brother, whom I'd always idolized as a kid, such a turncoat. Not to mention how it affected the general attitudes towards me afterwards."

"I can imagine," Juri said thoughtfully. "I guess you were moderately close before that? You're not that much apart in age, you must've studied there at the same time."

"We entered at the same time," Orwel corrected. "Osip waited for me, he'd been accepted already but he applied for postponement... and even though he did keep company that I wasn't too enthusiastic about, we got along well enough. I'd no idea he was planning something so outrageous, but of course nobody really believed me. I was questioned and suspected, I could feel all the people watching me and waiting for me to slip up. Everyone was waiting to catch the first signs of my 'corruption'. They were expecting me to try something similar and be caught."

His hand clenched into a fist. "They'd tightened the surveillance of the students, wanted to make sure it wouldn't happen again, and I'd make such a bloody nice example case!"

"Must've been hard," Juri said. Such an ambitious, conscientious guy as you... a living hell, I imagine.

"Hard enough. And it didn't end when I graduated with top marks from the Academy!" Orwel snorted. "It was there, in my records, even though I hadn't done anything. 'Older brother, deserter. Joined the rebellion. Must be watched carefully.' It took me years of work to wipe it into as much oblivion as it was ever going to be..."

He emptied his mug with a decisive gulp and his mouth melted into a fetching smile. "Well, that's all in the past. I wasn't happy when I was made prisoner by the madcap fellows here, but I realized soon enough that our goals could be made to fit together. And by now I am convinced that the Union's principles and objectives are flawed seriously enough to merit fighting."

"Well, I'm hardly one to start a deep philosophical discussion on what each persons motives are for being in the rebellion!" Juri said. "After all, I initially joined in mostly out of desire for adventure. Not a very lofty motive."

"I wouldn't be surprised to hear it was Osip's initial motive, too." Orwel smiled again. "At least those two fellows who disappeared at the same time with him were rascals, if anything."

"Were they part of the company you weren't too keen on?" Juri asked, curious, and Orwel looked slightly ashamed.

"Sure were. Always willing to pull the craziest stunts, whether it was trying out what the training fighters were capable of or arranging a booze party after curfew in the middle of the week. Crazy guys, and gay to boot."

"Was that an indication of their craziness?" Juri inquired in some amusement.

"Depends on how you look at it." Orwel glanced at him quickly. "Don't get me wrong. Nothing wrong with being gay, and I always knew Osip is. But in the Academy, good behavior was expected of everybody. Military behavior. They weren't too secretive about it, and that made it unacceptable. It wasn't exactly according to regulations to be found nude in a fellow student's bed in the morning."

"I see," Juri managed to say over his laughter. "Well, I can imagine that something like that might be frowned upon in a military training establishment."

"I was mortified!" Orwel shook his head with a grimace. "And I sure kept hearing about it – what my brother had been up to, over and again. I tried to talk to him a few times, before I gave him up as a lost cause. He just grinned in that totally infuriating way and told me that I needed to get laid, and he could recommend me a few guys who'd be happy to take care of it."

Juri swallowed thickly, momentarily happy for the fact that there was still some of the chocolate left in his mug to be swallowed thickly.

"Did you take him up on the offer?" he asked and was immediately ready to bite off his tongue. Oh god... I'm clearly way too tired to be talking to anybody right now, if this is the kind of things that slip out. Orwel started and looked at him with an expression that showed he would've blushed heavily if such a thing had been at all possible with his skin color. "Sorry. Shouldn't try to be funny when I'm this exhausted."

"It's all right," Orwel said weakly. "And no, I didn't, because I wasn't gay... I mean, am. Not gay, that is."

He hung his head, one hand raking through his short hair. "Shit. I guess we're both too tired to talk, if we can't even think straight."

Juri burst into a helpless giggle, unable to do anything but sit there and cradle the empty mug in both hands, shaking with laughter. Orwel raised his eyes and looked at him nonplussed. "What's the matter?"

"Orwel..." Juri shook his head leaning his elbows on the table. "Oh boy... you're absolutely right. At least I'm not... thinking at all straight at the moment. Sorry."

He sniffed and wiped his eyes, but Orwel had belatedly caught up with the joke and it was his turn to dissolve into a laughing fit. It took them several minutes to recover, and at last they were both just sitting in their chairs, trying to control the last spasms of laughter and staring bleary-eyed at each other over the empty mugs. Juri shook his head and stood shakily up.

"It's definitely time for me to bugger off," he grunted, then froze when a long-fingered hand curled around his forearm.

"I'd like you... to stay a while. If you're not too tired, that is."

Orwel's brown eyes were pleading, he sounded hopeful and yet somehow uncertain. Juri peered at him, feeling how warmth was seeping up his arm from that clasping hand, and cleared his throat.

"Orwel. I'd like to ask you something. And please, blame this on my being out of my mind with fatigue if you like."

"Okay," Orwel nodded. "What is it?"

"Are you quite sure that you're not gay?"

Orwel swallowed a few times before answering, but his gaze didn't waver. "I used to be sure."

"Right." Juri tried to straighten himself, but the hand didn't let go of his arm.

"Wait. I said I used to be sure, back in the Academy, and even afterwards." Orwel was groping for the right words, frowning to himself. "I always dated girls. Only girls. I – just wouldn't think about any guys in that way. Because, you see, I was not like Osip. Osip was gay, I was straight. He was the rebel, I was the trustworthy one. He was the – well, not exactly delinquent. I was the good and proper guy."

Juri nodded and waited with abated breath. Orwel's fingers tightened a little.

"But I don't think I need to prove anything anymore. Not to anybody. Not even myself. So maybe I can now say that I'm not at all sure of it."

"You're not sure." Juri looked intently at Orwel, brain fuzzily sorting through different options, and the tall man slowly shook his head. "Right. Now, remember that I'm still not too clear-headed and therefore not fully responsible for my actions."

"I'll try bear that in mind," Orwel promised huskily and Juri took another deep breath. He wasn't sure at which point they'd entered the realm of the surreal, but he wasn't going to waste such an opportunity. A shrill voice somewhere in the back of his head was trying to tell him that he was about to commit a gigantic error, and was promptly shoved back to where it'd come from.

"How about I try to help you decide?" he asked slowly.

Speaking, Juri realized, was getting difficult for some reason. The same symptom was apparently attacking Orwel, too, he noticed when he bowed closer, so close that he could feel the man's breath on his face. Their lips touched together. At first it was just a gentle brush, but when Orwel opened his mouth and Juri tasted the sweetness of the cocoa and cream, his brain shut down with a nearly audible click.

When he regained enough of his senses, he was startled to notice that he'd certainly been true to his word – how could a person be held responsible for his actions, if he didn't remember any of them? Thus he was much surprised to observe that their positions had changed considerably since he'd last checked. All right, Orwel was still sitting in his chair, but it'd been pushed backwards, further away from the table. This change was necessitated by the fact that Juri, who'd earlier been standing next to the table and leaning on it, was now straddling Orwel, held there by two very tight arms around his waist. Not that he was in any immediate danger of falling down, as his own arms were equally tightly around Orwel's shoulders, the fingers of one hand tangled securely in black hair.

Juri tried ineffectually to get his breathing back under control but it was very difficult, seeing how Orwel was looking at him and panting equally hard, lips swollen and glistening. And smiling a little.

"How's it going?" Juri croaked.

"I think I might be reaching a conclusion," Orwel breathed. "Bisexual is beginning to sound about right."

Judging by the hardness Juri could feel underneath himself, that conclusion appeared justified enough. But –

"I want you to be absolutely sure," he said. "Just so that you won't make mistakes."

"Sounds like a plan," Orwel agreed readily. "But I'm a total beginner here. I think you need to help me out."

"Don't worry, I will," Juri promised and managed to get his legs underneath him, enough to stand up. "First lesson. Kitchen is not a good place if there are other people in the apartment."

Damn, his legs were shaky... but at least they obeyed him as far as the bedroom. At the door Orwel suddenly stopped, smirked to Juri and pressed a button.

"Lesson two," he whispered. "Unlocked bedroom's not a good place, either, if the other people around are nosy kids."

"Isn't it a good thing that at least someone around here is still able to think," Juri sighed, slumping to sit on the bed. Orwel's smirk broadened into a full-fledged grin.

"Think, yeah. But not straight." He fell more serious and stepped closer, an adorably uncertain frown on his face. "What next?"

"Let's see..."

Juri's hands slipped under the hem of Orwel's jacket and pushed it upwards to reveal a generous glimpse of well-defined abs above the trouser waistband. It was at exactly the correct height, and Juri didn't hesitate to start nibbling the garment open with his front teeth. He was rewarded by a hiss of breath and a shiver in said abs, and took a good hold of Orwel's hips before nuzzling the unmistakable bulge constrained by the fabric. Big hands descended on his shoulders and squeezed, Juri mouthed the cloth harder and somehow managed to pull the zipper open, and after that is was an easy task to ease the close-fitting trousers and briefs down.

Orwel was big, Juri observed licking his lips, big enough to be a most satisfying lover, but not too enormous. He breathed gently on the erection in front of his face. Fingers dug into his shoulders, muscles tightened under his palms, and when he licked it for the first time the man's knees nearly gave in. Juri smiled up to him, more than a little mischievously, and decided to have mercy.

"Come on, Orwel. Lose those clothes and let's lie down."

Orwel was an excellent student, Juri decided: observant and eager. He followed the command far too busily to even pause and fold the discarded clothes neatly away, as Juri guessed he'd otherwise have done. Both of their clothes ended up in one crumpled heap on the floor shortly before he was met with the breathtaking sight of a completely nude Orwel crawling on all fours to kiss him senseless. But despite his smaller stature, Juri still had a few tricks up his by now non-existent sleeve, and Orwel didn't quite realize what'd happened before the spy-cum-acrobat had toppled him on his back and was slithering between his legs, grinning ferociously. The moist heat that engulfed his cock a split second later rendered him unable to do anything but writhe in ecstasy, and Juri took full advantage of the situation, licking, nibbling and sucking him to completion.

"Good god..." Orwel panted finally, the first intelligible words for quite some time. Hands were still massaging rhythmically his spread thighs, then the slim body shifted and he slitted his eyes to look at the man hovering above him. Juri smiled with the expression of a self-satisfied cat and kissed him.

"No, just Juri," he purred. "But thanks for the compliment."

Orwel chuckled, hand rising to touch the smaller man's hard erection, and Juri let out a slow sigh when long fingers curled around it and pulled gently.

"I want to do it to you," he whispered. "I want to taste you."

Juri watched him in fascination, the tall dark man who grabbed him and pushed him slowly on his back against the headboard. Orwel's expression was rapt, eyes half closed, as he bent down and experimentally kissed the swollen head of Juri's cock. The shuddering moan that he got by way of response made him smile gleefully, and then it was Juri's turn to try and be quiet. Sinking teeth into a wrist helped muffle the groans, that he knew, oh sweet fuck it's been so goddamn long and I've wanted you for so long... aren't you clever, using all my own tricks a moment ago... For a first-timer Orwel sure gave wonderful head, and if Juri had been in a more experienced lover's bed, he would've been ashamed at how soon he slipped over the edge and came all over both of them.

The bed dipped next to him and a big hand closed around his forearm.

"Silly," Orwel frowned at the teeth marks on the skin and Juri sighed, free hand rising to play with the man's hair.

"I'm afraid I tend to get loud otherwise," he murmured. "No sense in waking the kids."

"Hmm." Orwel kissed him slowly. "They'll get used to it."

Juri's slanted eyes opened wider. "Does that mean you've made up your mind?"

"I have. Dean was right, damn him. I guess I am bisexual after all." Another languorous kiss. "At least enough to want to do this again. With you."

What's Dean got to do with this? Juri opened his mouth to ask. What came out, though, were not words but a huge yawn. Okay, that can wait.

"How about leaving further lessons till later? Because, honestly, you ain't seen nothin' yet..."

"Spare me." Orwel yawned, too. "I'm not a good student when I'm this sleepy."

"I've got no complaints about your performance so far," Juri assured him, using a sheet to take care of the biggest mess before snuggling closer.

A heavy arm snaked around his waist and squeezed a little, and from Orwel's breathing Juri could hear that he was smiling.