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He does hesitate - but only for a few seconds - and he catches up fairly quickly. He doesn't say anything (the speechlessness still mostly applying), as his mind raced ahead of him. He hadn't totally thought this part through - every time he thought about it, they were just already at it - and now he was suddenly trying to come up with a game plan to get there in the first place.

So he was uncharacteristically silent, hitting the panel to open the door, letting Holden go in first, and then heading in after him. If he gave a quick check for Amos, it was understandable. Last thing he wanted right now was for the other man to make him more nervous about this than he already was.

Alex's room was sparse - there wasn't even a photo of Melas. That, he kept in his pocket, despite the fact that his mother was on it, too. The marriage was over, and she probably hated him, but she was still the reason he had Melas at all. So he couldn't bring himself to feel completely untethered from her. But she'd never been here - never been on the Roci. So her ghost, though it always followed him, was far dimmer than Naomi's may have been.

Right now, though, his mind was no where near Mars. It was entirely focused on Holden, and how exactly to get his clothes off. Were there rules, to this? Was there supposed to be banter or did they just go for it? He clearly didn't know what to do with his hands, reaching out towards Holden's zipper before halting, hovering in the air, shooting a glance at Holden, as if he expected Holden to give him orders on this.

There's only a cursory glance around the room before his attention is back on Alex, who's oddly quiet still. It didn't take long to figure out that he hadn't thought about getting this far. This is so different from what Holden's been used to, for well a while. There's no established rhythm, there's no heat of the moment action that spurs it to start.

It had been Alex's idea but Holden had agreed to it so now it's their idea. But the whole situation is one that's still a bit hard to grasp. He doesn't know what the rules are for this, what Alex has thought about. A blowjob had been put on the table but it felt too weird to jump straight to that. So, instead of telling Alex to get on with it, or reaching to pull his hands forward, he says quickly, "I'm going to kiss you."

Holden doesn't give much more than a chance for Alex to say 'no' before he leans in to do just that, his hand resting on the side of Alex's neck. The kiss intended to be experimental, exploratory really.

"Yeah, okay that's pro--" He had been about to say 'probably a good place to start', but Holden hadn't actually given him enough time to get the words out before he's doing exactly what he said he would, and the rest of the word gets smothered beneath Holden's lips.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting, really. Awkwardness, at this point - half expecting just not to feel anything at all, and then feel stupid and embarrassed. But instead his heart restarts after skipping a beat he didn't even notice, a strange tingle of energy running down his spine.

He tasted like coffee.

There was a sound like half a chuckle at the back of his throat, and then he closed his eyes pressing into the kiss, hand finally falling to Holden's chest, fingers curling in the fabric though they did nothing else. Just finding a grip to anchor himself with.

[ I wrote this in spurts on my phone so hmu if something doesn't make sense ]

Holden can easily fill in the blanks of how that sentence was going to end so he doesn't feel too bad about interrupting. The situation is a strange one and in Holden's opinion the easiest way to get past that is to just stop talking about it. It's easier for him not to think about it too much that way too.

Kissing Alex is definitely something different, the facial hair and lips not quite as soft as Naomi's and the fact that kissing Alex had never crossed Holden's mind. It's not that Alex isn't attractive but from Ade to Naomi and then well... He didn't have much of a mind for romance or sex. Besides that, fraternizing within the crew has never been the wisest of decisions (and yet he keeps falling into the habit).

But now that they are kissing, it's not bad. He tries not to think past that, thinking doesn't exactly lend to relaxing and he wouldn't be able to avoid the fact that this is probably a terrible idea. Somehow even that niggling thought in the back of his head doesn't cause him any pause and his free hand moving to Alex's side, pulling their bodies closer and then walking Alex back toward the bed, attempting anyway -- hopefully no one trips over their own feet. Even as they move he doesn't move to break from the kiss, slowly deepening it as if every step he's making sure Alex is with him.

Unfortunately - or maybe fortunately? - kissing Holden actually had crossed Alex's mind. Too many times, at increasing frequency. Sure, usually those thoughts skipped a lot lower a lot faster, but now he was actually here and Holden was a lot better at setting the pace than he was.

See, there was a reason he was the captain.

It wasn't the easiest, stumbling backward, but he managed to somehow not make a total tangled knot out of his feet. He reached ouch, free hand finding the edge of where the wall turned inward into the bunk, his other hand still gripped into the fabric of Holden's jumpsuit. The kiss really wasn't bad at all - though he had to break it, in order to get a breath. He didn't speak, though, instead leaning in to press his lips to Holden's jaw, and then again to his ear, beard brushing over Holden's stubble. He let out a slightly shakey breath - a little more overwhelmed than he thought he'd be, before he dragged Holden's earlobe into his mouth, between his teeth.

Once the kiss broke, Holden inhaled deeply, the other's lips moving over his skin and then that breath against his ear sending a wave of heat through him, leaving skin tingling. His hand dropped away from Alex's neck, down to start working off the other's clothes slowly. If Alex thought that Holden was going to be the only one taking his clothes off he'd be mistaken.

The teeth against his earlobe drew a low sound from him, a grin tugging at his lips afterwards. His lips find the other's neck, kissing a line along it, tongue brushing out against his skin before he does pull back, just enough to remove the shirt the other had been wearing to bed before he'd gotten up (or whatever he's wearing okay) and then to nudge at the other down toward the bunk.

Holden doesn't say anything either but now that they've started this he's sure that like Alex, it'll be on his mind too.

The sound was good. The lips were better, and the awkwardness was ebbing away from him, replaced by a low curling heat and a deep bone-set relief that he hadn't just messed everything up beyond all recognition. He sat down on the edge of the bed, hands spurred into action as his shirt got discarded, immediately going to pull open Holden's jumpsuit, dragging the zipper down low, before tugging the hem of his shirt free and pulling it up over the other man's head.

He sat down on the edge of the bed, but that kiss really needed to be followed up, so he pulled Holden down to him with a hand on th back of the man's neck, and when he took a kiss this time it was worlds more confident. He deepened the kiss, free hand moving to grip Holden's hip and try to pull him down into his lap.

Holden helps make it easy to get his shirt off, a brief smile when it's discarded and Alex pull him in for a kiss this time. There's less of a pause, less second-guessing the second time around and it's easy to see that Alex has relaxed more, which Holden is relieved about. It silenced some of the nagging worry about doing this at all.

As the kiss deepens, the taste of Alex on his lips and tongue he does move to straddle Alex's lap without thinking it through. His hands go to the now bared sides thumbs brushing out over the edges of his abdomen.

Alex is, of course, only human. Which means that when Holden slides into his lap, his body responds - had already been responding - and the fact that he's getting into this might be a little obvious. Especially given the way that jumpsuit hanging half-undone at his waist was now pulling very tight across his hips. He can't help the slight groan that rumbles at the back of his throat as Holden presses against him. It had been a long damn time. A long damn time.

Damn. This might have been a better idea than he'd thought.

Unfortunately, getting over his nerves also meant that the speechlessness he'd been shaken into was no longer in affect, so he grinned into the kiss, hands resting on Holden's hips and pulling him a little closer, and murmured: "Yeah, alright, I think this'll go just fine."

At least Alex isn't alone in how his body is responding. Holden too is clearly enjoying himself as their bodies fit closer. Holden does roll his eyes at Alex's comment, though it might not have been visible as he ducked his head once the pilot started talking. His lips brushing over his jaw and down lower along the curve of his neck, tasting skin.

Holden exhales slowly against his shoulder. Not that he ever, in general, tried to encourage Alex to talk more he asks, "about as fine as you've been imagining?"

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Looks good to me!

<3

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