The Yggdrasil's engines churned steadily in the night, a deep, rythmic rumble. Marien found it soothing, closing his eyes and leaning back against Ymir's foot.

Peaceful. Quiet. Cyril obviously off spying on Kandi or something. Yawning, the pilot grinned in spite of himself.

Memories drifted through the white noise, the stars sprinkled across the Aveh sky like droplets of precious water on the black sand of night. On the roof of the palace, two boys watching the stars, and dreaming.

"I'm going to be the king someday..." Josua was looking up, his scarlet hair ruffling in the warm night breeze. "..but I want t'go see the stars..." Mari rolled over on his side, looking at Josua curiously, pushing his too-long silvery hair out of his face. "That's impossible. Nobody can go to the stars.. they're too far away."

"That's what you think. But you'll see. You're gonna come with me!! Up there!!" He pointed to a bright, flickering light, and turned to the smaller boy. "You're gonna be my knight.. you have to come with me." It was somewhere between a royal order and a pleading request.

Mari blushed, and the Prince grinned, tugging at a silver-green strand to pull his young friend's face a little closer. "You'll be my.. knight.." He said again, softly, and the silver-haired boy closed his eyes, lips parting in anticipation of a kiss..

But Josua never smelled of engine grease, and Marien opened his eyes again, wondering what the smell was, and found himself looking into pale eyes, not Fatima blue.

He screamed, sitting up abruptly, and whonking his head on an overhanging heat sink on Ymir's foot with a loud and painful clang. "YAAAAAA..."

WHONG!

".........ow."

"What're you doing?" Demitrius, didn't look particularly amused. He didn't have much expression on his narrow face at all, actually, but a strange look hid in his pale, pale eyes.

Marien felt his face heat up, and he wondered, as he attempted nonchalance, how much the ship's chief engineer had seen. "uhm. just.. catchin' a few winks." He sat up and pulled the cloak around him as Dem's eyes narrowed. "Sleep in a bunk. Rest of the crew does."

Marien looked at him quizzically. "I .. don't really have one." It was strange, but true.. he hadn't felt comfortable asking, and it apparently hadn't occured to Rivian.

"Figures." he rolled his eyes and offered a grubby, calloused hand out. "Come on."

The pilot's hand closed on Dem's as the engineer hauled Marien to his feet. "You two are a mess." He muttered as Marien stood, his hand, the faint, white ridged scars of his implants itching faintly, his hand remaining in the engineer's a moment too long.

"Two?" the left side of Mari's face pulled into a quizzical look, twisted by the scar on the other side into a grimace.

"Nevermind, c'mon." Marien followed, puzzled.. but .. relieved? comforted? He wasn't sure, but if nothing else, he felt at ease in Demitrius' presence. They'd worked together on Ymir.. a comfortable silence born from shared technical experience. Other than Riv.. (and Marien still wasn't exactly sure he could count Rivian)... Dem was the only other person on the Ygg he felt comfortable with.

Demitrius's quarters weren't far off the engine room, spartan but comfortable, the walls continually trembling from the turbines. "Got a futon." Dem gestured offhandedly, peeling out of his stained work uniform. "..all yours."

Marien realized he was watching with more interest than he'd meant to. His mouth felt dry and he sat down heavily. How long had it been.. since...? (Oh, yeah.) He remembered now, queasy. The Aquavy Islands.. a salvage ship.. Marien shivered.

It was best not to think about that particular episode in his life.

He shook his head and looked back, the engineer's whipcord muscles shifting under pale skin. He rubbed his eyes, and sighed, trying to focus instead on the prospect of sleeping on a soft surface for once.

Making an effort to NOT look back at Dem, he pulled off his cloak and started to unzip his quilted jacket. He was slipping it off when his eye was caught by the intricate gear models on the shelves, securely behind plexi doors to keep them from flying every time the ship rocked. ".... you make models.." he said softly, getting up to peer at them closer.

"Yeah. Good therapy."

It almost sounded like Dem was making a joke, as Marien heard him walk over. "Yeah.. it is.. .. I make models too.. they're not this detailed.. this good though.."

The engineer actually laughed, then, a short, rough bark. "show me sometime".

Marien straightened and turned to find Demitrius standing behind him. The room's faint light softened the hard angles of his wiry body, blurring the discinction between narrow hips and loose pants.

His face felt like it was on fire, and Marien hoped that Dem couldn't tell. "You were starin' before." He said simply. (So much for that)

".. I'm sorry.." Embarrassed, Marien started to cover, one hand reaching up to absently worry at one of the twisted scars on the right side of his face.

A bony, calloused hand caught Marien's wrist, pale fingers braceleting the darker skin beneath. "Don't." With a gentle, inexorable pressure, he pushed Mari against the trembling wall, the vibration shivering through them both.

"Dem.. I.." Marien's words were cut off as thin lips pressed against his, warm and tasting faintly of smoke. The sandpapery gilt of Dem's stubble rasped against his cheek as Mari's mouth yielded to the exploration.

The engineer's other hand tangled in Marien's hair, raking through the silver-green strands. "Soft.." he murmured against Mari's jaw. "like a woman's." He pressed closer, Marien sandwiched between the steady vibration of the wall and Demitrius' wiry body.

There was a soft little moan, and it took Ymir's pilot a long, hazy moment to realize it was him making the sound. "Dem..."

"Quiet." came the quiet, raspy response, Dem's hand releasing Mari's wrist to slide the jacket the rest of the way down sleek dark arms. "Been watching you too.." The heavy, faded-greyish fabric dropped to the floor with a thud, and the calloused fingers played along Mari's sides. "...since you came aboard.."

The words died off as their mouths met again and the engineer's hands slid down to Marien's hips. The flush on Mari's face burned a little higher as he realized he'd been pressing back, catlike, against Dem's greyhound body. The rumble from the engines were a delicious shiver between them.

Abruptly, Demitrius backed away from him, and Marien leaned back, his breath coming in gasps. "What..?" A flicker of amusement seemed to dance in the pale eyes. "Take it off."

"Take.. what ..off?" Mari answered dumbly. He felt a little drunk, or as if maybe he was still asleep and this was just a bizarre turn in his dream.

"All of it." the engineer said simply.

Marien peeled off the t-shirt that he wore, the same dirty-greyish-violet as the rest of his clothes, exposing sleek dark skin below. A glint of silver winked as Marien pulled the shirt up over his head, and let it fall to the floor.

In Dem's expressionless face, his pale eyes danced. "Go on."

Mari felt his blush unaccountably deepen as he bent to pull off the tall, padded boots and discard them. Violet-blue eyes flicked up to meet pale grey as he finished off the remainder of his clothes. It was impersonal and arousing all at once and he couldn't remember the last time he felt his heart beating like a teenager groping in a darkened gear dock in Jugend. Dem watched, silently, as the last of faded fabric slipped down the long line of Marien's legs, and the pilot leaned back against the wall, feeling like he had just run some sort of a race.

"Well made." Dem observed, hands traveling down the plane of Mari's stomach as he returned to him. Rough-gentle fingers brushed down against sensitive skin and Marien gasped.

"Been a while.." he covered, embarrassed..too close, too soon. The engineer only faintly grinned, hand closing around Marien as his lips found the dusky hollow of Mari's throat.

"Uhnnn.." Dark fingers tightened on Dem's shoulders and Mari's breathing quickened. ".. Dem.. no.. I.." The rythym of Dem's hand, in counterpoint to the trembling of the wall, paused.

"Quiet." he said, gently, again. Marien swallowed, his mouth so terribly dry, and nodded.

A calloused thumb caressed his scarred cheek and Marien found himself leaning into it, panting as Dem's other hand worked his erection. Dark, scarred hands tightened on Demitrius' bony shoulders as Mari's panting breaths turned into rising, strangled half-sobs.

"Open your eyes." The engineer's soft, gruff voice caused Marien to blink his eyes open, fixed by Dem's pale gaze even as the need spiked and erupted from him in a single, shuddering burst.

Mari's knees weakened and he sagged against the engineer. "ahh.. haa..."

"Don't close your eyes." Dem ordered, even as Mari's legs refused to hold him up, the two of them sinking down to the futon on the floor. Marien nodded, knowing the other steps to this particular dance.

The engineer's calloused fingers dug into the softer dark skin of Mari's hips as he took the Gear pilot without any other preamble. Their union was silent, except for soft, animal sounds above the rumble of the turbines.

The entire time, Demitrius's pale eyes never left Marien's deep blue ones. Mari forced himself to keep focused on Dem's face, a faint flush blooming across the engineer's pale, narrow face. Sweat sheened them both, gleaming on pallid ivory and bronze.

Marien arched like a cat, suddenly, throwing his head back with a sharp cry as Demitrius buried himself one final time. The engineer grunted, teeth biting sharp into his own lower lip, bright red beading there.

~~~~~~~~~~~
The pilot's breathing was soft against Demitrius' chest as the engines hummed along behind the walls. Tarnished silver lashes were closed now, and the ruined side of Marien's face was hidden, pillowed against Dem's chest.

The tilt of those brilliant eyes, the elegant line of his jaw, even the little upturn at the end of his nose.. all things that Rivian would grow into, Dem mused. He was more certain of that than ever, now.

Rivian. His beautiful, blue-eyed captain.