Chapter Text
2367
Dooku woke up to the sound of a wake-up alarm chiming, with his head throbbing, pounding. He groaned in pain and ground out, "Computer, lights."
The lights went on, and as Dooku sat up, he realized he wasn't in his own bed, and he was naked.
It came back to him - he'd had a lot of Saurian brandy last night, and ended up having sex with Severin. Heat flooded his cheeks, and then his whole body, as he remembered the way he and Severin kissed, the way they'd sucked each other, come in each other's mouths, how good Severin had tasted to him... and the sweetness of being held, afterward, feeling safe and content enough to fall asleep in Severin's arms.
He was disappointed that Severin wasn't in bed with him, though he wasn't feeling up to a second round with his hangover being this bad. As Dooku got up and went to the bathroom, he noticed Severin had already left for his shift in sickbay. He knew Severin let him sleep instead of waking him up to say goodbye, and simply set the alarm to wake him up in time for his shift, which he was grateful for with the hangover. Dooku groggily pulled his uniform back on, just to go back to his quarters, wash up, and put on a fresh uniform.
The sonic shower didn't help, and neither did coffee. An hour into his shift, Dooku took a detour to sickbay. He saw through the window of the ICU doors that Severin was making his rounds, reviewing cases and taking notes. Their eyes met, and Dooku waited. After he'd been waiting a few minutes, Nurse Rita Velasquez smiled and said, "Can I help you, Commander?"
"I need to talk to Doctor Yusanis about something," he said.
"All right." She nodded and walked off.
After a few more minutes of waiting, Severin came out of the ICU. He saw Dooku waiting at his desk. "Hi," Severin said.
"Hello." Dooku shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"You need something for the hangover, right?'
Dooku chuckled ruefully and nodded.
Severin replicated a prescription for headache medicine, which Dooku took in front of him with a glass of water. "I had to take this as soon as I got in," Severin said. "It will kick in very quickly."
"Good." Then Dooku involuntarily sighed with relief, blinking as the medicine started working. "Thank you."
"No problem." Severin nodded. He sat down at his desk and pulled up a second PADD, transferring information from one PADD to another, while he also reviewed images on a screen.
"I see you're busy, so I shan't keep you."
Severin put up his index finger, indicating Dooku should wait, and after he typed something into his PADD, he looked up at Dooku. "I have a minute."
"I, uh." Dooku rubbed his hand through his hair, feeling a bit sheepish. "Er."
"Er, indeed." Severin pursed his lips. "You remember what we did last night."
Dooku nodded. "I do."
Severin raised an eyebrow. "Do you regret it?"
Dooku answered truthfully. "No. But we should talk."
"I agree we should talk," Severin said, "and I think due to the circumstances of us working together, we should probably talk about it sooner rather than later, so... at 1900, meet me at my quarters? We can have dinner there and talk."
"That works for me." Dooku nodded.
Severin smiled. "Good." A pause, and Severin said, "Looking forward to it."
Dooku found himself smiling back, and noticed a little spring in his step as he left sickbay.
But as the hours passed, Dooku grew more tense and anxious. He knew without being told that Severin was now considering a relationship with him. And while he could no longer deny his feelings for Severin, and the power of his attraction, this was new and scary territory for him.
When he showed up at Severin's quarters at 1900, two hours after his shift ended, and an hour after Severin's shift ended, he saw that Severin was wearing a silk robe, and had showered recently - his hair was still damp, and Dooku detected a faint whiff of the Starfleet-issue body wash, which somehow managed to smell sexual on Severin. "Come in," Severin said.
Dooku walked in, and saw Severin's quarters were lit by battery-powered lanterns - open flame was prohibited on starships. Lanterns on the mantle, lanterns on the eating table. It created a soft, ambient golden glow, and whatever Severin had made for dinner smelled delicious. When Dooku got to the table he saw a Betazoid casserole dish, seafood with roasted root vegetables and greens, something that had been his favorite in his younger years - someone had been poking his psychological profile, and the chief medical officer would in fact have access to that. Dooku raised an eyebrow, and then both of them when he saw the chocolate cherries, his favorite dessert; Severin had definitely been looking for ways to impress him.
"Wine?" Severin gestured to a bottle of a very expensive white wine. "From France, when I was there last year."
"Just one glass." Dooku nodded.
"That's fair." Severin nodded, and poured them each a glass.
They ate in companionable silence, savoring the meal. Dooku finally observed as they started on dessert, "This is too good to be replicator food."
"It's not." Severin smirked. "I bribed the cantina cooks to have this ready for me."
"You went to a lot of trouble," Dooku said. "Did some research, I see."
"I did." Severin sipped his wine.
"It's appreciated."
"Good." Severin's smirk became a smile, and Dooku's breath caught a little - he was even more arresting in the glow of the lanterns.
When they finished their dessert, Dooku sat with Severin on the couch, and Severin said, "Computer, play 'Quiet Storm'."
"Caught Up in the Rapture" by Anita Baker started playing. Dooku's face flushed, and he looked down for a minute before meeting Severin's eyes.
"Where do we go from here?" Severin asked.
"Well." Dooku leaned back. "I would be lying if I said I didn't want you, and haven't wanted you for some time."
"But." Severin knew there was a "but".
Dooku took a deep breath. "Up until now, I've always had the opinion that relationships between crewmates is unprofessional. As you know, such things are not prohibited by Starfleet, but just because they're not forbidden doesn't mean that they should be done, either."
"Why?"
"Have you ever taken the Bridge Officer's test?"
Severin nodded. "Back in my day it was the Kobayashi Maru. They still do that at the Academy?"
"No. They have something worse now, where your sim makes you order an officer to an assignment that will result in their death, or the death of many others, and based on your personnel profile that officer will be someone close to you - a classmate, a teacher, one of your parents, anyone that will elicit an emotional response. Even if you come into the sim knowing it's a holosimulation it always upsets the one taking it. That test helped form the basis of my opinion. All of the death I saw at Wolf 359 just reinforced that opinion - I didn't even like the crew I served with, who made fun of me, and I still mourned their deaths. I am going to be a starship captain someday. I do not want my attachment to get in the way of doing my duty - if I needed to order you to a mission where I know you would die, but it would save the crew, it would hurt me, deeply. And if my feelings clouded my judgment enough that I made a decision to protect you, but one that put others at risk, or even at harm, or death..." Dooku pinched the bridge of his nose.
"That's valid, Yan. But... well... I didn't tell you how Sarenya died, did I?"
"The Borg destroyed your homeworld."
"It's more complicated than that." Severin folded his arms.
Dooku made the gesture for him to go on. Severin continued, "When the Borg attacked El-Auria, there was a planet-wide alarm, and a warning issued from our government that we needed to evacuate. The kind of weapons they were using... population centers reduced to canyons and ash, supplies and resources gone, fallout raining everywhere, temperature dropping by the minute, and the bombs triggered seismic activity off the charts. Even if the Borg had stopped the attack, we wouldn't have been able to survive on what was left of the planet. Sarenya and I had one vehicle between us; she saw me to the nearest spaceport, and then she took off for the base, because she had the launch codes to our planet's biggest weapons array. The ships had coordinates to warp to and rendezvous, and she said she'd get on a vessel at the base and see me soon. But she didn't. Because staying on the planet to launch the cannons bought us some time - it broke a tractor beam they had on the ship I was on, in fact - but it also meant she sacrificed herself, she didn't get out of there quickly enough. She knew, when she took off, that was a risk she was taking, and she still took it. And every. Fucking. Day. I blame myself for that. I revisit that scenario in my head, would things be different if I'd physically stopped her, made her come with me on that ship, would she still be alive, or would the lack of the cannon mean me and her and all of my people were dead. I still, over a hundred years later, don't have answers for this. And the other part of my daily inquisition - she was one of the highest-ranked officers on the planet, had to be to have those launch codes. She took her duty very damn seriously. If I'd physically stopped her from that duty, and dragged her on board the ship with me... if we were both still alive, would she have forgiven me, especially if it meant we got out of there but perhaps others didn't? I don't have the answer for that, either."
Dooku sighed. So did Severin.
"What I'm trying to say, Yan," Severin said, running a hand through his damp curls, "is that I get it. And one of the things I respect about you - one of the things I love about you, in fact, is that you have the same kind of commitment to your duty, your people, to doing the right thing, that she had. So I understand if that means what happened last night won't happen again."
Dooku frowned; he wasn't expecting that response, and he found himself disappointed by that - he would have liked at least a little more fight from Severin about it. He felt a tingle of relief when Severin said, "But."
"But."
"Are you going to spend the rest of your life alone? Because that's what you're setting yourself up for. If you get involved with a civilian, you're not necessarily going to have fewer problems - you might still be in a position where you're responsible for their death, or you have to make the tough decision between saving them and other people dying, or triggering a war, or something. And with a civilian, they're not going to understand the way that someone in Starfleet will understand. If you ordered me on a medical mission where I was probably not going to come back alive... when I put on this uniform I understood I will probably die in this uniform."
Dooku cringed at that; the thought of Severin dead bothered him, a lot.
Severin wasn't done. "But if we cut ourselves off to the support and companionship that we need, the comfort that we need, the passion that we need to make life worth living... we're already dead. And then, what the hell are we fighting for? What are we exploring for?"
Dooku opened his mouth to speak, and Severin held up a finger. "I've been mentally rehearsing this speech all day, Yan."
Dooku couldn't help but laugh at that, and let Severin go on.
"Wolf 359, there were a number of non-humans in that fleet, you and myself included - we went out to defend people of Earth not simply because Earth is strategically important but because we were defending people's partners, children, parents, siblings, friends - everybody is family to someone somewhere, and it's the loss of those bonds that creates the kind of wounds in the galaxy that create instability and chaos and brings even more suffering. It's universal. Even the fucking Romulans were willing to put their hostilities aside for a hot minute to help, because they understand that. When you stop being able to relate to that need to protect what you love, to help people protect what they love, and everything is just the idea of doing the right thing rather than the reality of why it's the right thing, that's when you become more cut off to suffering, and less likely to act appropriately when actions need to be taken. When you're not living, when you're already dead inside, you don't know how to respond to the needs of people who are still alive. There's just as many bad decisions made in the pain of loneliness and lack of connection, as there are from the pain of attachment and trying to protect the people you love."
Severin had some points; Dooku hated that he was right. He hated that the wisdom from this old soul was making him love Severin even more.
Severin took Dooku's hands in his. "I've spent over a century alone. It wasn't just that I couldn't get over Sarre, but I couldn't let myself take the risk of loving and losing again. Even when I found meaning and purpose to my life again, to help others, after losing her, it was still so cold. And last night..." Severin closed his eyes, and when he opened them, Dooku saw they were shining with unshed tears. "I finally let you in. There was finally warmth, like the sun coming back after years of winter."
Dooku found himself stroking Severin's hands.
"I don't know what the future holds, Yan. I don't know that someday, you won't have to make a decision between saving me and saving others. I don't know that someday, I as a chief medical officer won't have to make that same decision for you, if you're in my triage during wartime and we have not enough staff to go around. We just don't know. It may happen - and it may never happen. All I know is that until and unless that day comes, we have to live, and if we have to die, I don't want to regret never tasting you again. What we shared, last night, was beautiful, and we both badly needed it. And I'd like to share more with you. I'd like to share my life with you, if you'd let me."
Dooku sat for a moment, letting the weight of Severin's words sink in - letting the emotion of those words sink in. Then, with tears in his own eyes, he said simply, "Yes."
Severin giggled happily and threw his arms around Dooku, squeezing him tight. Dooku pulled Severin close, nuzzling his beard, inhaling the scent of his damp curls. Then, the "Quiet Storm" playlist started playing "Night and Day" by Al B. Sure. After the first drumbeat, Severin spoke along with the opening lines. "Ah, can you feel it baby? I can. Excuse me, do you think that I might be able to... touch you?"
Then Severin wiggled his eyebrows.
Dooku rolled his eyes and laughed - the six-hundred-year-old man holding him could go from the wisest person he'd ever met, to the silliest, in a matter of seconds, and he loved him for it. He kissed Severin deeply, still laughing between kisses.
Severin knew why he was laughing, and played it up some more. "What?" He pretended to look offended. "I am suave as fuck." He licked his thumb and index finger, and smoothed both his eyebrows before wiggling them some more.
"You are ridiculous as fuck, and I'm not even sure that as fuck is proper English."
"To hell with being proper." Severin kissed him hard. "I had to stop myself from throwing you down on my desk when you visited sickbay this morning."
The delicious mental image of what that would have entailed blazed through Dooku's mind and he found himself pulling Severin up from the couch with him, and then he picked Severin up off the floor and carried him to the bedroom. When he stopped in the bedroom door, it was then he noticed there were lanterns lit in the bedroom also, and a trail of rose petals leading from the bedroom door to the bed, sprinkled over the bed with the sheets turned down.
Dooku gave Severin an amused look. "You assumed I was so easy to seduce?"
"More like hoping."
They kissed again, and then Dooku lowered Severin onto the bed. He began to take off his uniform, and Severin slipped off the robe, revealing nothing underneath. Dooku climbed on the bed, over Severin, and Severin wrapped his arms and legs around him, kissing him passionately.
When they pulled apart, they looked into each other's eyes for a minute, and Severin reached to stroke his face, pet his beard. "I need you inside me," he husked.
Dooku's cock throbbed at that; he'd had less intercourse than other activities - he'd given anal sex exactly twice in his lifetime, but his body remembered what it felt like, and the thought of feeling it with Severin... he shivered. Then he kissed Severin back, and trailed little kisses over his beard, along his jaw. "I will. But I need all of you." He started kissing Severin's neck. "You're so beautiful."
They spent a long time just kissing, their hard cocks rubbing together, cock dripping on cock - an erotic sight. When Severin stuck his precum-slick fingers in Dooku's mouth, he groaned, and began kissing Severin's neck again. He groaned again at the sight of Severin rubbing precum onto his own nipple, an invitation to feast. Dooku took that invitation, suckling Severin's nipple hard, making Severin gasp and shudder, his nails digging into Dooku's lower back. "Yan," he panted.
"Mmmmmm." Dooku took a few licks, rubbing his tongue fast and hard, smiling as the nipple pebbled. He licked more slowly, and brushed his tongue around the aerole, teasing, before drawing the nipple back into his mouth. Feeling how sensitive Severin was there, Dooku savored the response and continued to lick and suck the nipple, alternating between fast and slow strokes of his tongue, watching it grow more swollen, until he couldn't resist nibbling on it. Severin cried out, and again when Dooku soothed it with his tongue. Severin moaned and clutched his head when Dooku sucked on it again.
Dooku kissed and licked across Severin's chest, nuzzling the smooth, silky skin - he liked that Severin didn't have chest hair - and he turned his attention to the other nipple, licking fast and slow, sucking hard, nibbling, blowing on it and licking some more. His fingers strayed to the nipple he'd been working on previously, rubbing it in lazy circles, pinching and rolling and plucking it, making Severin whine and whimper. When Dooku came back to that nipple, his hand working on the other one, the sounds Severin produced made his cock throb, aching for relief.
But he meant what he said - he needed to make love to Severin, to explore him, worship him. He kissed and licked down to Severin's stomach, tracing the muscle definition in his abs with fingers and tongue. He nibbled and licked Severin's navel, then down to Severin's right thigh, kissing, licking, giving little love bites, cock continuing to twinge at Severin panting and moaning, feeling the pleasure Severin felt. He kissed Severin behind the knee, and kissed and licked his calves, even his foot. He kissed his way back up the calf, and thigh, to the hip, groaning as Severin howled, especially sensitive there. He kissed back across Severin's washboard stomach to the other side, teasing his thigh and leg and foot, down and back up. When he came close to Severin's cock, he spent a moment just nuzzling the bush, breathing in the way Severin's musk combined with the clean scent of his shower gel, intoxicating. His eyes locked with Severin's as he took Severin's cock into his mouth, slowly, inch by inch, and then sucked slowly, deliberately, smiling a little around the cock in his mouth as he watched Severin writhe and moan and gasp and pant and whimper. When Severin began to buck his hips, thrusting into Dooku's mouth, Dooku pulled Severin's cock out of his mouth and just started licking it, teasing him even more mercilessly than before, especially when his tongue swirled around the head.
At last Severin screamed with frustration, and gave Dooku a look that was almost angry. "Yan..."
"Yes?" Dooku took a few laps at the slit in the head of his cock, savoring the precum.
"If you're not gonna fuck me just yet, let me touch you. I've been dying to get my hands on that gorgeous body of yours all day."
Dooku relented, coming up to kiss Severin, who rolled him onto his back a bit roughly. Dooku grinned at Severin and nipped his lower lip, before Severin kissed him harder, deeper. Then Severin gave him the same treatment, kissing and licking him all over, paying special attention to his nipples - Dooku's nipples were a direct line to his cock, almost coming from the way Severin licked and sucked and nibbled them. Severin licked Dooku's chest hair with his tongue, grooming it as if he were an animal, and ran his fingers through it. "You're so fucking sexy," Severin growled.
Dooku had always been a bit self-conscious about how hairy he was, but Severin loved it, and he appreciated that. Severin went as far as to lick the hair on his arms and legs, even groomed his armpits and pubic bush with his tongue. Severin seemed to know everywhere Dooku was sensitive, without being told - stomach, thighs, and especially his neck. When Severin came up to kiss him, he spent a long time just kissing and licking Dooku's neck, continuing to run his hands over the rest of Dooku's body, his hands trembling at the feel of his muscles, his body hair, his skin. Dooku was now getting a taste of how he'd driven Severin right to that edge, bucking, panting, feverish with need. They could be in a war and he wouldn't want Severin to stop.
But then he did, kissing his way back down to Dooku's cock, before taking it in his mouth. Unlike Dooku's slow sucking, Severin sucked hard and fast, massaging the balls as he sucked. Dooku grabbed Severin's curls and groaned, almost ready to come in his mouth. Before he could, Severin let the cock slip out and licked it, even more slowly and deliberately than Dooku had licked his cock. Dooku laughed softly. "Tease," he said.
"You deserve it." Severin then started licking his balls.
The handful of times Dooku had ever had sex, he'd never had his balls licked and sucked, and he was almost embarrassed by how loudly he was moaning now, as Severin worked on him, licking slow and fast, sucking hungrily. He cried out when Severin's tongue brushed the between his balls and ass - he'd never been touched there, either, didn't now how good that could feel. Severin kissed there, before licking and sucking his balls some more, and then licking and licking and licking his cock, from the head down the shaft to the root and back up, kissing the head, sucking just the head, teasing the slit with his tongue. Dooku had never leaked more precum in his life, and Severin smiled at it, before making a show of collecting it with his tongue, enjoying the flavor.
"About being inside you," Dooku rasped.
"Yes?" Severin raised an eyebrow, with a smug, self-satisfied smirk.
"Now, please."
Severin grinned, and came up to kiss him, hard. As they kissed, Severin reached across him and Dooku felt Severin fumbling around in his bedtable drawer. Severin put a jar of lubricant in his hand.
Noticing Dooku's surprise to why he'd have lube if he'd been celibate since his wife's death, Severin said, "I haven't been with anybody, no, that doesn't mean I haven't, uh, taken care of myself with toys."
The thought of Severin fucking himself with a dildo made Dooku want to come right then and there. He groaned as Severin opened the lid of the jar of lube, and then again when Severin got to work rubbing copious amounts of lube over his cock, making it glisten. "Fuck, that looks so hot," Severin husked.
Severin then poured some lube onto Dooku's hand, crawling up so that his hips were near Dooku's shoulders. Dooku knew the drill, and stuck a finger inside Severin. He found the prostate right away, making Severin throw his head back and cry out, arching to him. One finger became two, then three, fucking slowly, then faster. When Severin was riding his fingers, fucking them back, panting, Dooku knew Severin was ready... and he was more than ready, his cock aching for Severin to ride it the way he was riding his fingers.
Severin scooted back to straddle Dooku's hips, and Dooku watched as Severin sank down on his cock, taking it in a little at a time. Through his empathy, Dooku could feel there was a little discomfort - even though he'd toyed himself, Severin hadn't taken a real cock in a long time, and Dooku could feel how tight Severin was. Severin pushed out as Dooku pushed in, and at last, Dooku was buried in him to the hilt. They rested like that for a moment, Dooku gasping at the wonderful feel of silken heat wrapped around him - the feel of the man he'd grown to love.
Severin put his hands on Dooku's shoulders and started riding him slowly. Dooku groaned at the sensation of Severin's inner muscles rippling one way on the way up, and another on the way back down, gripping him just right. He could feel Severin's pleasure as the curve of his cock hit his prostate - there was no pain now, only passion. Dooku gripped Severin's hips and matched his rhythm; every time he hit Severin's prostate, they moaned together, loving it. Just as much as the feel of Severin's insides, he loved the feeling of intimacy, connection, made one flesh. And he loved watching Severin ride him, hips rolling, the fluidity and grace of Severin's beautiful body, the look of ecstasy on Severin's face. His hands roamed from Severin's hips over his thighs, up his stomach and chest, and back down. One hand took Severin's cock, stroking it in time with the thrusts, as the other continued to caress Severin's body, expressing his admiration for how elegantly sculpted he was with each brush of his fingers and palm.
Soon Severin was running his hands over Dooku as well, and Dooku relished Severin's touch, and all the love he felt behind it. The haze of sensuality they floated in as they touched and teased and played, Dooku never wanted to end, lost in Severin's beauty, lost in pleasure, lost in love. The slow, gentle lovemaking was like coming home, and there was nothing sweeter than that feeling of belonging.
Caught up in emotion, Severin and Dooku took each other's hands, and their eyes met. Severin's hand pulled away from Dooku's to stroke his face; the look of love in Severin's eyes took his breath away. Severin leaned down to kiss him, and whispered, "I love you," before kissing him again.
That set Dooku off, his hands reaching to grip Severin's ass, and he drove into him with abandon. Severin cried out and grabbed Dooku's shoulders. "Yes, yes, yesyesyes," Severin gasped, riding harder.
Dooku's hands rubbed Severin's firm, shapely ass, kneading, enjoying the feel. Severin leaned back and rode as hard as he could, grabbing onto Dooku for dear life, white-knuckled, his moans louder and louder. Soon his moans were punctuated by Dooku's balls slapping his ass, and the wet suctioning of their fuck - the lewd, filthy sound of it made it that much hotter, Dooku groaning, losing himself even more deeply in the primal heat. They were both working up a sweat now, and the sight of Severin's body glistening threatened to drive him over the edge, but Dooku held back, gritting his teeth as he pounded into Severin, wanting him as badly as he'd ever wanted anything. His hand sped up on Severin's cock until it was a blur.
"Oh shit..." Severin shuddered. "Yan, I'm gonna..."
Before he could finish the sentence, Severin climaxed, shooting cum all over Dooku's chest and stomach. The sight and feel of Severin marking him with cum, the sound of Severin moaning, the sensation of Severin clenching and pulsing around him, sent Dooku over the edge, two thrusts and he came too. "Sev. Oh, fuck." He closed his eyes, feeling like he was falling, then flying. He felt Severin collapse on top of him, and holding Severin against him just intensified the joy, the contentment, the bliss. Dooku sighed deeply, and opened his eyes. Their eyes met, and Severin pulled him into a soft, gentle kiss.
"That," Severin said between kisses, "was fucking. Awesome."
Dooku rested inside Severin and stroked his face, his curls. He kissed Severin's hand and pressed it to his heart. "Thank you," he said, "for sharing this with me." He claimed Severin's mouth again, kissing him harder, wanting Severin to feel all of his passion, even with his cock spent. "For sharing yourself with me. For being you."
"You've got me." Severin kissed his forehead. "As long as you want me, I'm yours."
"I will want you for the rest of my life." Dooku meant that - he'd gone from hesitation about involvement with a crewman, to feeling even more sure of this than he was sure of wanting to be a starship captain. They belonged together.
They kissed again, and again, and Dooku's cock stirred inside him. Severin grinned and made a purring sound at the feel of it, giggling when Dooku rolled him onto his back. "Love me," Severin whispered. Dooku began to thrust slowly, his eyes riveted on Severin's, their hands clasped together once again, fingers linked.