Alex’s tongue swelled up to what felt like double its size. He couldn’t talk properly, a fact which Tracht found endlessly amusing, and chewing really was almost impossible. Tracht gave him disgusting protein shakes to drink and then made him rinse with that weird mouthwash on a regular basis. And he threatened Alex with a ring gag if he didn’t stop clacking the barbell against his teeth.
It took three days for Alex to feel ready to brave the gym and the probable hostility from the crew. He knew he’d hate himself in their position too, knowing that a friend or whatever was getting kicked off because of him.
Served them fucking right though.
Just in case, Alex made sure Tracht knew exactly where he was going.
So a workout, and when Parsons didn’t show up, Alex went to the lounge to sit around for a bit. Tracht didn’t usually care what Alex did in these early afternoon hours, between the end of their usual work day and dinner. Normally Alex just napped or watched vids (it turned out that Tracht did, in fact, own vids that weren’t porn), but he wasn’t feeling it.
Plus he still had to get Parsons to agree to a blow job.
Somebody in the lounge had turned the large screen on and was watching a familiar action movie. He and Nick had snuck in to a theater to watch it when they’d still lived with their mom. It had felt like a great success, watching an age-restricted movie for free.
Man, he actually did miss Nick. If Alex ever ran across him again, he’d punch him, but demand some answers too.
“Oh, hey! I didn’t expect to see you!” Parsons slid into the seat next to Alex. “You weren’t here yesterday, and my schedule got changed what with… everything so it’s harder to come and check.”
Alex shrugged and didn’t respond.
Parsons peered at him. “Are you all right? You didn’t… you didn’t get in trouble over that mess, did you? Because it really was Carpenter who started everything.”
That depended on what counted as trouble. Alex rolled his eyes and shrugged again. Then, for good measure, he opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue.
Parsons’ horrified expression was actually kind of funny. Alex pulled his tongue back in and smirked at him.
“The captain did that? Is he even allowed?”
Given that Alex really didn’t know anything about laws, and he hadn’t understood his contract, for all he knew Tracht was bending the rules. Not that there was anything Alex could do to change it now. So he shrugged again.
For some reason that got Parsons angry. “No. It’s bad enough that he treats you like… like he does, but if he’s actually going against the contract—”
As he ranted, his voice got louder, and some of the others in the lounge were turning to stare. Alex growled a messy, “Shut up!” and shook Parson’s shoulder.
Talking made saliva dribble out. Alex wiped it away and glared at Parsons. “Don’t make it worse.”
Parsons noticed the others and ducked his head. “Sorry. You’re right. I can’t do anything to help.”
Alex didn’t know what kind of help Parsons thought Alex needed, but whatever. “S’fine.”
They sat watching the movie for a little while. It wasn’t too bad—might as well have been Nick sitting next to him. Except if Tracht was right about Parsons, then Parsons wasn’t secretly plotting to sell Alex out.
He looked at Parsons suspiciously. Nick always seemed nice too.
“Hey,” Parsons said a few minutes later. “China is a country on Earth.”
“Huh?”
Parsons got his tablet out of his gym bag and set it on his lap. He fiddled with it a bit until a map was displayed. “Here,” he said, pointing to one of the larger outlined shapes. “That’s China.”
Alex had a vague idea about Earth—the planet that humans originally came from—but he’d never been close to it. At school he’d learned about the local planets, with only a passing mention of Earth.
“So, Xiaoyu—she was my wife—her family was originally from China. Her grandparents moved to Zhuanxu station, and that’s where she was born. One of my tours with my old job took me to Zhuanxu, and I met her there.” He smiled. “She was one of the managers at the docks, and I was pretty lost so I asked her for directions. She was nice enough to walk me to my ship directly, and we got to talking, and talking, and talking… and then I asked her on a date, because I really didn’t want to stop talking with her.”
Was that the kind of seduction Parsons wanted? They were talking now, but Alex wasn’t sure what would count as a date on the ship. He really didn’t think maintenance-shaft blowjobs would somehow be equivalent to whatever the hell Parsons had with his wife.
“Anyway. So that’s China. I grew up on Khoina—that’s a planet in the next solar system over. Supposedly my family is descended from South Africans,” Parsons pointed to the tip of one of the continents on the map, “but we’ve been on Khoina so long, it’s hard to tell. I got my spacer’s license and started moving around on various ships. Met Xiaoyu. She got a job on Cadmus, and we decided to make that our main hub.”
Alex had grown up on one of the stations orbiting Khoina. It wasn’t too far from Cadmus, in relative terms—you could easily hop from station to station and get there within two years. Not that he and Nick had taken the direct route.
“Once we’ve got comm access again, I’ll show you some vids from Zhuanxu and China.”
Parsons went on with his little geography lesson. Cadmus was dominated with people originally from Germany or Greece. Atalanta used to be owned by the Greek government until they sold it to the same company that ran Cadmus. Somehow every station in this solar system had ties to what Parsons called “Europe,” while Khoina was in a predominantly “North American” zone.
“The old Earth countries don’t really matter that much anymore,” Parsons added. “A few people cling to them, but after so many generations, we really barely count as the same people. So it’s understandable for somebody not to know ancient Earth’s political boundaries.”
Alex looked back down at the map and nodded. Right. Who cared about China or Germany or whatever.
It was kind of nice that Parsons had shown him anyway.
===
Alex woke to a pop song blaring loudly. The tune was unfamiliar, garish, and completely deafening to his tired body. He was still sore from everything Tracht had put him through the previous evening, and he hated that his precious sleep had been interrupted like this.
Tracht didn’t seem to enjoy the alarm much either. He made a disgusted noise and fumbled around in the dark.
“I hate comm space,” Tracht muttered. The sound kept going.
Finally Tracht turned on the soft bedside light—still much too bright for Alex—and grabbed his tablet from the night stand. He hit a few buttons and said shortly, “Do you know what time it is?”
A woman’s voice responded with, “Of course not. The time difference is never the same.”
Alex sat up a bit so he could look at the screen. A woman with pale skin and long, wavy black hair stared back at them. Her makeup was impeccable, and the jewelry on her ears and around her neck spoke of considerable wealth. She looked of a similar age to Tracht, and something about how she smiled reminded him of Tracht.
“I can’t see you. Is your camera on? Or is it lag?”
Tracht sighed. “Unless you want an eyeful, give me a moment.”
He pulled a thin t-shirt out of the nightstand drawer, put it on, and pulled the sheets high enough to cover himself up to the waist. After maneuvering a pillow to act as a cushion against the bed frame, he picked up the tablet again and leaned back. A few more taps, and he said, “There. You caught me asleep, Anna.”
Anna. Alex swallowed his shock at hearing Tracht call somebody by their first name. Everybody on the ship was addressed by their title and family name, with “Alex” being the single given name Tracht ever uttered.
“Better than catching you at work; you’d never take my call then.” She smiled. “Vasilis got word that your ship was approaching Atalanta, so I thought I’d give you a call. How was the trip?”
“The usual. Though I’m down two sailors.”
“Really? What happened?”
“Inter-personal drama that resulted in the dismissal of one sailor and a protest quitting from another.” Tracht shook his head. “I really don’t understand why people can’t remain professional.”
Anna laughed. “Not everybody is a robot like you, Johannes.”
Alex choked on his next breath. Bad enough that Tracht had called her by her first name, but now she was returning the favor? What the hell. Alex had to make a conscious effort to remain still. He didn’t want Tracht deciding to muffle Alex’s ears.
But wow, Johannes was such a normal name. It was probably in the contract somewhere, but Alex hadn’t asked about Tracht’s first name, and he never really considered that Tracht would have one. If he’d bothered to imagine a possible first name, ‘Johannes’ wouldn’t even have made his list. Maybe something more demonic sounding, like Damien or Vlad.
“If you don’t want people starting drama on your ship, you could consider following the satellite zones. Studies show that access to outside news and contact with friends and family curtails the effects of cabin fever.”
“Yes, and have the trip take twice as long,” Tracht reached out with one hand and squeezed Alex’s shoulder. “I doubt a longer trip will make people behave themselves. But forget about the ship. Tell me how you’re doing.”
It was so weird listening to Tracht be an ordinary person. Anna told him about some stuff with her job, and some trip she’d gone on with ‘Vasilis’ and news from Cadmus station. Tracht acted interested in all of it, offering a few comments here and there.
“How are the kids?” Tracht asked, and Alex’s eyes widened in horror. Was Anna Tracht’s wife? But that didn’t make sense—Tracht said he wasn’t interested in women.
“Oh, being themselves. Chrissy has sworn off boys and is now going after girls, though she’s discovering it’s just as complicated. Markus is sulking because Vasilis is making him get a job during the school break. And Johan...” Anna sighed. “He’s finding it hard making friends. I don’t know. I’ve got him signed up for so many different activities, hoping he’ll like and fit in with one of them, but nothing is sticking.”
“If you wanted a social son, you shouldn’t have named him after me,” Tracht commented. “I still don’t know what you were thinking with that.”
“I was hoping that naming him after you would make you interested in being an uncle.” There was a slight pause on her end. “Is there any chance you could speak to him? He does seem to like you a lot.”
“No.”
“Johannes...”
“Anna, I am highly doubtful you would want Johan to take any advice from me. If you think there’s an actual problem, get him a therapist. Otherwise, just let him be.”
Alex listened with a strange fascination. So Anna was Tracht’s sister? That explained the weird resemblance, and maybe even how nice Tracht was being to her. Though honestly, Alex would have expected Tracht to cut all family ties because they caused too much ‘drama.’
After another pause, Anna said, “I heard you got a new bondservant.”
“Hmm. Yes.” Tracht held the tablet up and angled it towards Alex, which shocked Alex even more. He held very, very still and hoped Anna couldn’t tell he was awake.
“Aww, he’s not as hot as the last one. But maybe it’s the bad lighting.”
Tracht set the tablet back on his lap, then used his free hand to pet Alex’s hair. “He suits me,” he declared. “The last one was a terrible fit.”
“You know,” Anna said with a slight tone of disapproval, “you could have given him more of a chance. Three months is hardly enough time. It took me a whole year to break Genevieve in. And the kids love her now.”
“The only reason you kept her around is because she could have been Sasha’s sister. You’ve always wanted paired servants, don’t even deny it.”
Hell, Anna was exactly like her brother. Alex’s mouth opened a bit in horror, listening to Tracht and Anna talk about Anna’s bondservants like they were less than people.
That couldn’t be how Tracht thought of him. Alex scooted away and wished he were actually asleep and not aware of any of this conversation.
“You’ve upset Alex,” Tracht remarked. He followed it up by hooking his fingers in Alex’s mouth and pushing down on the piercing.
It didn’t hurt as much as it used to, the swelling having gone down, but it was still an unpleasant twinge. Alex knew better than to evade the fingers though, so he lay passively while Tracht multi-tasked torturing him and chatting with his sister.
“Oh, honey, no! We value your services deeply. You’re a good boy.”
It took Alex a moment to realize that she was addressing him. If his mouth weren’t full, he would have said something rude. From Tracht’s expression, he knew it too.
“Anyway. You’ve robbed me of enough sleep. Good night, Anna. I’ll call you once I’m on the station.”
“Of course. Thank you for the asteroid video, by the way, the kids loved it. And Vasilis will probably be in touch too.”
The call ended and the tablet screen dimmed down. Tracht set it aside and slid down so he was face to face with Alex, his fingers still in Alex’s mouth.
“Anything to say?”
Alex swallowed and shook his head.
He could hear Tracht chuckle, could feel an exhale of breath against his cheek. The fingers slowly retracted, replaced with Tracht’s lips against his, Tracht’s tongue lovingly tracing every inch of his mouth.
When Tracht pulled away, he took his shirt off and threw it on the floor somewhere. Then he stretched an arm out and said, “Come here.”
Alex shouldn’t have gone so easily. He should be upset. But he settled his head against Tracht’s chest and allowed himself to be held. He even put an arm around Tracht’s waist and took comfort in his warmth.
After a few moments of silence, Alex found himself calmer. “So… Johannes?”
He received a pinch to his ear for that. “If you ever call me by my given name, you’ll regret it.”
Naturally.