“What do you mean ‘you’re not coming?’”

Mason glared at RJ standing in front of his desk like he had two heads.

“Exactly what I said.”

RJ folded his arms over his chest and glared right back at Mason. Most people would have been terrified of the big captain’s forbidding look, but he wasn’t most people… as Mason appeared to have finally worked out now. Which, he wasn’t sure to be impressed with himself about, or insulted that Mason hadn’t see through the act before now.

But, and this was the part that RJ couldn’t quite figure out… he seemed to be more pissed about that than the fact that RJ wasn’t quite the airheaded tart he led most people to believe.

“I’m not coming with you. I’m heading over to the Hugin in a few minutes.”

“You can’t,” Mason growled, surging to his feet. “You’re assigned to the Resolute as an observer, so you need to observe, for fuck’s sake!”

“Why?” RJ barked a laugh. “Usually observers are assigned to new co’s… ones that don’t know what the hell they’re doing. And we both know that’s really not you, now is it?”

The only reply he got was that damn glare again. Like Mason was attempting to cut steel with his eyes alone.

“So, I’ll ask again…why? I’d have thought you’d be glad to see the back of me anyway.”

Mason’s expression shifted. Not much. Just a tiny amount, but RJ had been watching him for months, trying to figure the laconic llanarian out… so he spotted it. Saw the verbal attack a heartbeat before it was launched.

“You fucking lied to me,” Mason growled, and if that wasn’t typical Mason, RJ had no idea what was. But it was exactly the wrong thing for the big guy to say, and the frustration that had been simmering in RJ’s veins since that day on the Canterbury boiled over in the space of a heartbeat.

“Lied? Talk about the fucking pot calling the kettle black!”

“What?” Mason frowned, those gorgeous eyes of his narrowing dangerously. “Lied? What are you on about?”

“You. Being married.” RJ dropped the accusation out there into the silence.

“That’s what this is about?” Mason snorted. “You knew I was married. It’s not a secret.”

Oh for… RJ bit back his snarl. “I knew you were married to a woman. Not a guy as well. Not at the same time!”

Mason blinked. Then stalked around his desk. For a moment RJ thought he was going to walk right past him, and right out of the room, but instead he snatched photo-frame from the shelf unit behind RJ.

“Here,” Mason growled and shoved it into his hand.

RJ looked down at it. There were two men in the image. A younger Mason, with his arm looped over the shoulders of a handsome dark-haired man. They were both wearing what he assumed was llanarian dress uniform. They were both smiling widely.

He frowned. He’d seen the photo a hundred times. Never looked at it properly. It looked like some victory parade or something. “Yeah… that’s Thane, right? Your cousin?”

He looked up in confusion. Why was Mason showing him this?

“Cousin?” Mason looked surprised for a moment, then barked a hard laugh. “No, Thais is not my cousin. He’s my husband. Thats our wedding day.”

“What?” Shit. Mason was married to Thais? RJ looked down at the photo again, his heart sinking. Thais was drop-dead gorgeous, there was no way he could compete. Not with that.

“So you’re pissed to find out I’m married to a guy? Is that it?” Mason demanded, and his laser focused gaze would have made even RJ squirm at any other time. But not now. Now tensions were riding way too high.

“No! Yes!” he spat. “For Christ’s sake I’ve spend months trying to find out if you’re even interested in men, and now I find out you’ve been married all along! What the fu—“

He broke away, shoving a hand through his hair. It shook and that made him even madder.

A big hand on his shoulder turned him around, and he found Mason right in front of him. Gently, the big guy took the frame from his nerveless fingers and put it down on the desk.

“Yes.” Mason’s voice was low and rough, rougher than RJ had ever heard it, sending a shiver down his spine. “I’m interested in men. And women. It doesn’t make a difference to me what gender someone is if I like that person.”

RJ managed a little snort, trying to muster his previous anger. “It makes no difference now, does it? You’re married.”

Mason’s lips quirked at the corner. “You thought I was still married to Ilona when you kissed me in sickbay,” he pointed out.

“That was different. You were getting divorced. And—“

Mason cut his words off by the simple act of leaning down and kissing him. RJ’s brain instantly cut off, his eyes widening for all of a half heartbeat before they shut. The kiss was not what he expected. Soft, gentle and…

Mason lifted his head, and smiled. RJ’s remaining brain cells went into meltdown.

“If you’re not coming,” Mason said. “Then we are going to continue this conversation when we get back, when all this shit is over. You and me. A dinner date and we are going to talk.”

RJ nodded, then caught himself. “But what—“ He cut himself off, and grabbed the front of Mason’s uniform to drag him closer for a quick, hard kiss. Then he let go, just as quickly and headed for the door.

“Don’t you dare get yourself killed,” he ordered, looking back over his shoulder.

“Yes, sir,” Mason winked and grinned. “Bigger men than these assholes have tried, and failed. I’ll be back, don’t you worry.”

“Make sure you do,” RJ said. “Or I’ll find you, bring you back from the dead just so I can kick your ass myself.”

And with that, he walked away before he couldn’t.