Friend to Friend

Posted on Saturday, 22 August 2020 - 4:56pm by Lieutenant JG Adrianna Eberhardt & Lieutenant JG Maximus Mackenzie

Mission: Operation: Dreamweaver
Location: USS Standing Bear| Various
Timeline: 2393 MD 01

{ON:}

Adrianna was bandaging up her hands, ready to box. She had been reminiscing a lot about her family later and one of her favourite memories was of boxing with her brothers. The sad part was that Adrianna would often win due to the reluctance of her brothers. They never wanted to hit a girl, it had always been a mixed message about that standard in their house. She longed to get in the ring again, but instead, chose a safer option: the bag.

The woman had already warmed up with a bit of a jog and was already glistening in light perspiration. She was ready to knock this bag for the count. Her earphones in, blaring some high-intensity pop, with an even higher BPM. Her heart pounded at what felt like the same speed as she started to throw punches.

Mac entered the gym. He threw his workout bag to the side and warmed up. He had been hoping to hit the bag but saw Adrianna there. He stood off to the side observing. He envied her right hook. The woman was good. Smiling he wadded up a clean towel and tossed it her way.

Adrianna flinched at the incoming 'missile' but caught it instinctively with her left. She looked for its originator and smiled at Mac, taking off her headphones, letting them hang around her neck. "Good evening," she chirped, patting at her skin with the towel.

"You, lady, have the perfect right hook." He said walking up to her.

"Thank you," Adrianna, put the towel over her shoulder, "I haven't had opportunity to test it on anyone lately." Dark humour seemed to be ok with Mac, so she let it slip out.

"Well I did see some Klingons on the station. We're not leaving for a couple hours yet."

"I'm sorry, that sound alike a perfect date but I'm seeing someone," Adrianna snorted, "either way I'm not getting my ass thrown out of Starfleet for feeling trigger happy with a right hook."

Mac laughed. "Well worth a try. So....seeing someone?" He took the position to steady the bag while she punched. "Do tell."

Adrianna raised a brow, "you don't seem like someone who would be intrigued." She took her headphones completely off, popping them safely near the towel. She raised her hands and soon continued throwing punches, careful not to miss and hit Mac.

"I'm a TACT/SEC officer. I'm always intrigued." He smiled.

Adrianna chuckled, "I'm Intel, I don't snoop. Well... I do... But you know." Adrianna went to explain, "it's new, but he's sweet. He's a lot that I'm not as well as someone that understands that life isn't rainbows and unicorns."

"You make sure he treats you well. You deserve the best." He said putting resistance on the punching bag as her fist connected.

Adrianna stopped, "odd turn of phrase. I mean, you know me. He'd be out of an airlock or worse."

Mac smiled. "Good. Did you have a good shore leave?"

Adrianna started up punching again, "absolutely. We had a great break. Learnt a lot and got close. You?"

"Soral's wedding, it was great. A little work and caught up with an old friend." He said diplomatically.

"I love weddings," she replied, "you sound very rehearsed in saying that."

He raised an eyebrow that would have made Soral proud. "Saying what?"

"You're 'exciting' list of what you did whilst on shore leave."

He sighed. "He's an old roommate, a good friend to both me and Soral. I guess we're kind of like the three amigos."

"I can't imagine you dressed as a musketeer, but now I kind of want to. What was the wedding like?" she teased before asking.

He laughed, "Actually funny store about that. I have a picture of us all in costume. Halloween party at the Academy. Remind me to tell you the story later. The wedding itself was nice, not without its surprises but nice. They genuinely care for one another. I think that it's rare in the universe to find your fit but those two...well the fit."

"I need to see that picture," Adrianna stopped a little breathless and smiled," that's love for you. Everyone hopes for it and shouldn't accept anything less."

He laughed. "Look at you all romantic. I like the new you."

Adrianna punched the bag suddenly to make him jolt, "shut up, you."

He was still grinning. "Yeah well I can't lie."

Adrianna chuckled, "that mean you're bored of holding the bag and want me to hold it for you?"

Mac let the bag go. He leaned up against the wall. "God I don't feel like punching anything." He had a goofy grin on his face, one he couldn't seem to get rid of.

Adrianna looked him up and down before curiously yet playfully asking, "what is that face for?"

He shrugged. "Nothing. It was just a good shoreleave."

"You might be tact, but I'm Intel and hell, I know how to interrogate because of a past life. Explain the look," she playfully pressed.

He sighed. "How about we go for cake and coffee." For some reason he couldn't keep it to himself.

"You have me intrigued," she replied, "let's go."

Mac grabbed his bag and soon they were seated in the lounge with cake and coffee. Smiling he reached into his bag and pulled out a PaDD. He pulled up an image. It was himself, Soral, and Haru in tights, They even had the loopy wigs and fake mustaches drawn on. "Ready for a state secret?"

"Maybe..."

He handed her the PaDD.

"Secret up until you upset me and them I'm making this the background on every computer between here and the know universes," she teased chuckling, "wow. Just wow."

"Yeah...Soral made me swear to delete it I just couldn't." He pointed to the third man. "That's Haru, he was my roommate in the Academy. My best friend really my first friend actually. After my adoptive parents took me off Capella I wasn't fond of friends. I didn't know how to make them. Haru helped."

Adrianna looked the picture over some more," he sounds like a great person to know."

"Yeah. We both studied the same thing and there was an instant friendship. It was like we've always known one another and like we just fit in one another's lives. He was...is my best friend. I mean Soral is like a brother to me but Haru and I always had a complicated friendship."

" Is he the person you visited? " she asked.

"Well he came to the wedding. We got to reconnect and spend some time together," He said again. He flipped to another picture showing Haru, himself, Soral and Alex a the wedding. "This was from the wedding."

"Looking good," she commented, "at least you got to reconnect."

He smiled. "We did." He looked around. "How about more chocolate?"

"If you rmare going to eat how you ate when we first met, you will make me fat," she warned but then added, "bring me the damn cocoa forest!"

He smiled. He left the PaDD open on the table as he left. Accidentally hitting the forward button. The next picture that popped up was one of him and Haru at the cottage he rented. Both were holding one another looking off into the sunset. It had been just after their bonding.

Adrianna tried not to look, but she tilted her head curiously. It was a lovely picture and she was far from judgemental in that respect. She tore her eyes back to Mac and waited.

Mac was back with enough chocolate to feed and army. Smiling, something that seemed to come easier to him now, he sat down and closed the data PaDD without looking at it. "So chocolate!"

"So much chocolate," she beamed, "that looked like a really peaceful photo by the way."

"The wedding one? Yeah I guess it was."

"There was another on your screen when you walked off. I didn't mean to snoop, it was just there," Adrianna commented.

He reached for the data PaDD and pulled up the last image. He smiled a little, his face softening. "Ah...that. I told you that ours was a complicated relationship." He looked at the image and a rush of fondness came over him. "It's a long story."

"A story that requires chocolate, tissues or alcohol?" she asked.

He laughed. "All of the above I guess." He looked at her. "You'd be the first one to hear it."

"Then consider me ready for story time," she chuckled.

He sighed. "Alright, remember you asked for it." He laughed.

"Remember I told you I was from Capella?"

Adrianna nodded, "Si. We bonded over warrior mentality."

"Well I left when I was young about 13. I spent the rest of the time on Starships until it was time for me to go to the Academy." He paused. "So on my first day there I settled into my new room I was looking forward to a quiet year, I wasn't even certain how to make friends. I was still very wild I guess. Two days later I got a roommate." He smiled. "Who...picked up on my attitude. I remember him pulling in trunks of books. There was point where he had trouble bringing them in. I decided to help of course. It was here that I knew he was different. He talked incessantly and For two days more I avoided him. But he figured out my kryptonite."

" Which is? " she asked somewhat intrigued by the story.

"Pepperoni Pizza." He made it one day. I could smell it. It smelled amazing. When I opened the door there was a small table and a few slices. I took them in my room and ate. The next night. Pizza, again." He laughed. "What I hadn't figured out was that he was moving the table out a little more each time. Eventually I figured it out too late." He laughed harder.

Adrianna wasn't quite following, but simply said, "he fooled you to eat with him."

"He lure me out of my room. When I was out all the way he locked my room on me reused to open it until I sat and actually had dinner with him. So I had little choice. The fact of it is we ended up finding we had a lot in common. We flawlessly slipped into friendship I guess. We were at one another's events, we had the same classes for the most part a few differences. It was like that for the first half of the first year. The whole time I felt as if...I was hollow but when he was around I felt...complete."

Adrianna smiled in understanding, especially of late." Sounds like a love story, " she commented.

"Indeed. We became fast friends. We ate together, shopped together, we were at each other's events. It was funny we were friends, family all rolled into one. Many commented that we were...too close for friends but nonetheless we were friends. At least for the first half of year one of the Academy. Around mid terms is when things...took a turn." He sighed. "I was used to coming home and finding Haru studying. He'd hide chocolates and I'd go on a chocolate hunt and then we'd eat dinner and watch holo vids or study or read. This time...it was different. I came home and all the dishes were smashed and Haru sat in the middle of it crying. I was...stunned. It turned out that he'd failed one of his mid terms, which I later found out was the professor being vengeful, it was eventually overturned but he failed it at the time. He'd been sick prior to that a few days and I'd been tending to him. I was...concerned. I remember feeling helpless and worried and scared for the first time in my life. I'd never seen him cry and knowing that he'd been sick with strong fever a few days prior I... tried to keep from panicking."

"Gawd, that sounds horrible. What happened after?" she asked. Adrianna now was completely focused as if reading a novel.

"I managed to calm him down. He could barely eat though. I had to feed him. I called the medic who said he should just rest all weekend." I was just cleaning up when he came out of the room. I tried to get him to sit down, rest more, but well ... he kissed me. One thing led to another...and the next morning I woke up to his face knowing that there was such a rightness to it all. We spent all that day moving my stuff into his room and the rest of the weekend and post mid term brake converting my room into a study." He shrugged. "I cannot explain it but I knew in an instant that he was my other half." He snort laughed. "From that night we were inseparable for the rest of our Academy time there. It wasn't the physical aspect of things it was just the time we shared, eating breakfast, sharing coffee, waking up to his smile. Those were the moments I lived for."

"But," Adrianna asked.

He smiled, "No buts. The rest of our time at the Academy was a dream world. We graduated we went our separate ways, he dated, I dated, but it was the emotional connection that we always came back to. It was what gave us strength. We served together briefly with Soral years ago when we all kind of mutinied a little." He smiled. We talked when we could all the time but for the last year when I went to live on Vashti." He shrugged. "Then at Soral's wedding we connected again. Haru had been through hell and I wasn't there for him. He'd been starting a new relationship and she died on an away team he was leading, his grandmother was sick and died, his sister had been injured at the Academy and he had to take leave to take care of them all. When I saw him he...fell apart again. He said that it was because I was the only one he trusted to fall apart with." He smiled, "I took care of him and we realized that nothing had changed between us."

Adrianna smiled. That was sweet, but there was no clear end. Her inner romantic just needed the conclusion, "where does that leave you and Haru now?"

"Well, he's part Vulcan so we went though some ritual like a Katra joining...we're together I guess just on different ships."

Adrianna sighed, someone content with the story outcome, "together but lightyears a part. Heartbreaking but heartwarming quite the oxymoron."

He smiled. "We will talk daily. And there is the 500 messages he's recorded over the years and just given me."

"Marry that man," Adrianna sighed the words almost longingly, "someone like that is hard to find. You've done one hell of a job."

He smiled, "That in itself is complicated. I don't know that either of us wants to be married but it would be nice to have him here....although that brings up my never be involved with a fellow crewmate...I'm going to give myself a headache just thinking about it."

Adrianna chuckled," perhaps remove the stick from your nethers and give in. You told me that I deserve to be happy. So now I'm telling you to lead by example."

"Ouch! I knew my words would bite me in the behind sometime." He smiled. "Does that mean your engineering squeeze is the road to happy?"

"Cheeky change of topic--now you feel the pain of the words you said to me," Adrianna teased before offering a genuine, girly smile with just a hint of blush grazing her cheeky, "think it's definitely the right road. Even if it's not, the people on this ship have managed to get me back on track to that road anyway."

He smiled. "Good. Let yourself be happy Adrianna. I have a feeling it's something you seldom do."

Adrianna nodded thinking about it a moment, "I spoke to a contact who works for my brother when we docked. He gave me an update about my family, but also a message directly from my brother. I know I'm not supposed to contact them but I feel better knowing their ok and its not my fault my brother found out I was snooping. Anyway, the contact, after catching me up, reminded me of a few things. So, healing is well underway for myself."

That got him on the alert. "What happened?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, now worried she'd said too much and may get into trouble for speaking with family, albeit indirectly.

"What were you reminded of? He didn't threaten you did he?"

Adrianna shook her head, "my brother, Giovanni, he may have done it in a painful way, but he got me my position in Starfleet to protect me from family stuff. He merely said he missed me and reminded me that my family is still there. He's trying to make it safe for me to return home. I do miss my family. I'm one of 8, so I feel lost without the chaos."

"Ah, I understand now. I have many brothers too and a sister...although going home will never happened." He shrugged. "At least you know that Giovanni is thinking of you. You will find your peace, of that I have no doubt."

Adrianna smiled, "Apparently my mother is still hoping I marry a nice boy and make lots of Italian babies. So, you know, she still loves me."

"That is important. Who knows many your current romance will produce logs of babies." he waggled his eyebrows.

Adrianna rolled her eyes teasing, "keep on and I'll give you a live demonstration of that right hook you envy." She then turned a little serious, "please don't tell anyone I've been in contact with family. I don't want to lose this job."

"Adrianna whatever you say to me stays between you and me. That is something you can count on."

Adrianna relaxed, physically appearing relieved, "thank you. And vice versa. Unless you are secretly a double agent and trying to kill everyone. Then I have a duty of care."

He laughed. "Well I should go. I have a few things to do and I'm pulling brig duty even though there is nobody in the brig."

"Should arrest someone for giggles, I'm sure a cadet could use hashing somewhere," she stood up, "thank you for the fattening up."

"You have nothing to worry about. You if anything you are too skinny."

"Gawd you sound like my mother!"

{OFF:}