Paolo hated coming back to Colossus. Even though Earth was the source of all the lawmaking and controlled the general political climate, the major colonies in central SOI space always seemed worse. There were stories from the crew who were born on Earth or Mars about how they could fight the decisions of being stamped in court for months and even years while continuing their unstamped life. Not a single story like this from Colossus. You had to know people in power to avoid it. And having been stamped meant you didn’t know such people. Thoresson didn’t, Gil didn’t, Oddi didn’t, Alparov didn’t, and Paolo didn’t.

However, Paolo never skipped the opportunity for shore leave. Just out of spite. Colossus didn’t want him, so he would walk all over the station, drink at every bar he was allowed to enter, and curse at every security person who tried to kick him out. As always, he ended the day at the doctor’s office on Hopestar, plugged to the dripper, rinsed out from inside from any effects of intoxication. He didn’t have time to sober up on his own.

As he sat on the cold couch in the corner, waiting for the world to stop spinning and the dripper to disengage, part of his brain wondered if, perhaps, Hoffman had a point. Paolo was a liability. When was the last time he was not hungover during a take-off? Well, back when he didn’t have shore leave during space dock upgrades. Why would anyone expect him to be the next captain if he was utterly unavailable in the most crucial time?

But, a few minutes later, he managed to push these thoughts away. They only made him want to get drunk again. And he was very responsible about not being drunk during his shift.

Being rinsed out left Paolo in a numb state so he didn’t have the energy to be angry about the cockpit crew during the take off. Second shift, as usual, had a nice time during their leave. Thoresson was almost buzzing with energy, and Paolo could see him constantly talking on local comm or to Richard, which made Richard smile each time. How could the Second Pilot have fun at a place that kicked him out, Paolo had no idea. What a weird, ridiculous, pathetic man.

As they were back in subspace, Paolo was the first one to leave. He had three hours till his shift, and he needed to sleep. But a few steps away from his cabin, he was called from behind. He turned to see Petra approaching, a smile hiding obvious worry on her face.

“Hey. I’ve been meaning to check on you in the past week but there didn’t seem to be a good opportunity…”

Paolo looked at her and only felt annoyed. Yeah, she was amazing in bed, and logically it was nice to have her on his side. But whatever she was doing now, was very much not what he wanted from her. He didn’t need a mom.

“I have nothing to report.” Paolo grumbled. Then he sighed and added. “This is not the best moment.”

“Will there ever be?” The worry on Petra’s face changed into polite neutrality. She was annoyed now too. “We need to discuss what happened between you and Robert.”

“I am sure he told you everything in great detail.”

“Paolo.” She pursed her lips. “I am trying to be on your side in this. It doesn’t matter who is right or wrong, physical violence is not an answer.”

He smirked. “Hoffman couldn’t have done anything to me. You’re forgetting who I am.” This reply didn’t seem to impress her, so Paolo sighed. “Listen, I am tired and sick and I need sleep. I don’t want to talk about this because it’s not an issue. I don’t intend to file a complaint against Hoffman or whatever else petty shit I could do. I am more than willing to forget it happened.”

Paolo opened his door, stepped through, and shut it behind him. If Petra was angry, he could deal with it some other time.

This was the longest game of txint they’ve ever had. It’s been what, a couple of weeks? But Richard was already a better opponent than anyone Paolo played against in years. No, he was still hopeless about noticing cheating in the process, but he made it hard to set up things in advance; he checked the deck before their game and between each round, he watched Paolo’s hands intently when he tried to make small talk, and he insisted to shuffle the cards himself. However, Paolo could still lean ever so slightly to the left and see the faces of the cards Richard was pulling from the pile in the reflection of the table; he could recognise scratches and folds on cards and guess their faces; and occasionally, he could pull out two cards instead of one from the pile.

Paolo did just that and covered his hand with eight fingers, while moving through the cards with one thumb. Fucking finally, the Officer of Engines, now he had a solid three. His first one came from the original discard card, because at the time he had two other Stars cards; the second Officer was discarded by Richard a few turns back. Now, he just needed to get rid of the high scoring junk and the extra card before Richard folded and found him out. And maybe he would luck out on the fourth Officer. Paolo discarded the 9 of Stars and leaned back in his chair.

Richard stared at the discarded card intently, clearly coming to some kind of conclusion in his head. Whatever it was, he was very invested in it. Paolo knew the Third Pilot was building something in Rifles; he glimpsed a 4 during his pull and could see a bent 5 in his hand. He wasn’t folding, so he either didn’t have a solid 3-cards-run or needed to discard something with a high score. 

Finally, Richard reached to take a card from the pile and immediately discarded it – 4 of Engines. Huh, so he probably was confident in building the Rifles run that he didn’t even try to consider a couple of 4s. Paolo looked up and met his intent glare; Richard was trying very hard to read any hint of reaction. He was suspecting something, though Paolo had no idea what it could be. Whatever, a 4 was better than any junk he had in his hand currently, so he took the card from the discard and, without breaking eye contact, carefully hid a 7 of Stars behind an Ace of Rifles and discarded them as one card. 

Paolo risked discarding the Ace like this because there was a low chance of Richard needing it. If he had a 4 and a 5, he couldn’t build a run going all the way to the Ace. And, if he already had a satisfying run, he wouldn’t want an Ace for the extra points. His adrenaline spiked as Richard looked down. A moment, two. No, he didn’t notice the extra card. 

“Having no luck with getting a good set?” Richard suddenly broke the silence. He once again was looking into the First Pilot’s eyes, searching for something.

A pleasant shiver ran down Paolo’s spine. The intensity of this glare was irresistibly sexy, and he found himself wishing for more than just sitting on the opposite ends of the table. He could move his leg and touch their shins together. No, not yet. There wasn’t anything from Richard’s side that showed even a hint of reciprocity. Well, maybe he needed a bit of a push.

Paolo ran his teeth over his lower lip and smirked. “Oh? Worried about my unbreakable winning streak?”

A shadow of embarrassment mixed into Richard’s intensity but he didn’t look away. “You keep discarding cards that could have been a run with what I know you have. So you obviously are not making a run. Which means it’s a set. But not a full one yet, because you would’ve folded already.”

A smirk grew on Paolo’s lips. “Now, that’s some nice attention you are paying to me. I’m humbled.”

“That’s the point of the game, isn’t it?”

Richard reached for the pile and immediately discarded a Captain of Rifles. Paolo licked his lips and took a card of his own. A 6 of Rifles. Well, fuck. He couldn’t discard this one because it was obviously something Richard could benefit from. But it was higher than a 5 and a 4 he already had. Trying not to frown, he discarded a 5 of Stars.

“You are just trying to get a lower score. And looking for your final card in the set.” Richard put down his cards, not revealing yet. But he looked relieved. Elated, even. 

“What an interesting unsubstantiated guess.” Paolo murmured with a smirk. “You are the one who is clearly looking for something.” Like a final card to your run, he thought.

“Yeah, I wanted to get rid of extra points and fold. Until you took the Officer of Stars I discarded. Which means you have at least two of them which I saw. And you don’t care about making them a run, because you discarded a 9 and didn’t care for a Captain. Meaning, you have three Officers.” Finally, Richard smiled. “So I am folding.”

He carefully revealed a set of 2-3-4-5 of Rifles and the Officer of Shuttles, the only one Paolo didn’t have. “Ten points.”

Paolo stared at the offending cards for several seconds then started laughing. Richard’s smile turned into a familiar pout and he glared angrily. “If you don’t have three Officers, it means you’ve cheated.” He grumbled, going on the offensive right away.

Still laughing, Paolo dropped his hand, three Officers, a 4 and a 6 scattering in front of him. “Ten points, Mr Richard.” And then he leaned forward in a fast motion, their faces just a few centimetres apart. “And you are unbearably adorable when you feel confident.”

Richard pushed back so hard, he hit the wall with the back of his chair. His eyes were wide, his face flushed. No more playing around, Paolo thought. If this wasn’t clear enough for him, Paolo would have to say it out loud.

But it was enough. Richard looked away first, frantically looking around to see if the stewards on shift paid them any attention. (They never did. They knew Paolo was more trouble than was worth engaging with.) Swallowed, looked back at the First Pilot. He clearly wanted to retort, perhaps even state he wasn’t interested. A rejection like this Paolo would have to drown in more alcohol than he knew how to get on Hopestar.

But then he didn’t. Richard opened his mouth, closed it, fought a losing battle with his own facial expression, and finally muttered: “I’m done for tonight.” With this, he fled the casino.

Paolo leaned back slowly, gathered all the cards on the table, and started shuffling through them slowly, his gaze glued to the now empty chair opposite of him.

Richard didn’t say no. He didn’t show disgust at the idea. He ran away to have his moment of gay panic in solitude. Which meant Paolo could continue. And be more direct about his desires.

And it would be so much fun. And much better than anything else going on in his life at the moment.