I tidied up my mess and slipped into the bathroom to get another chewable teeth-cleaning tablet, before I went back to the bedroom, where Keleon was sitting upright on the bed with his eyes closed. I couldn't even see him breathing, he was such a perfect statue.

"Am I interrupting?" I asked.

His eyes opened and looked at me, otherwise unmoving.

"Meditating," he said.

"Oh, I'll leave you to it," I said, wishing I hadn't said anything.

"I was finishing anyway," he said, his dimple appearing as a smile filled his features.

"So, you meditate a lot?" I asked, genuinely interested.

"As much as I can," he responded. "My family believe that we're guided by a higher purpose, and meditation helps us to find our path."

"Wow," I breathed, genuinely taken aback. "I didn't realise you were so spiritual."

He laughed his gentle laugh, swelling my heart.

"There are no spirits involved, Damon. Our guidance comes from within. We just need to make sure we're listening."

"To yourself?" I asked.

That seemed a bit deep.

"I guess you would probably call it something like, 'following your instincts,'" he clarified. "And I'm trying to ensure my 'instincts' are finely tuned."

"You're pretty amazing," I gushed.

I was finding him more attractive with every passing minute. He was weird as fuck, but somehow that made him even more intriguing.

"Thanks," he said, barely acknowledging the emotion in my voice. "Do you have any interest in me showing you a bit more about flying the ship?"

"Seriously?" I asked, jolting back to reality. I was excited at the idea of understanding more about flying, but also about who would be teaching me. "Yeah, I'd love that. Did your instincts tell you that?"

He laughed, which was adorable, and shrugged.

"I don't know."

I followed him to the cockpit where we took our usual seats.

"So, I'll run you through what everything does, and then we'll take it off autopilot and you can try?"

"Great, yeah."

"Right. But no thrusters, seriously, we can't have anyone following us."

"Understood, captain," I grinned at him.

He set about explaining the basics about what things did and how they worked. I listened intently to my favourite guy talking about my favourite subject. It didn't get much better than this.

Every now and again, when Keleon pointed to one of the displays, or when he explained how a lever worked, our hands would brush against each other. I'd feel the sensation travel through my whole body, but mainly as a tightening in my chest or a shiver up my spine. The feeling of him touching my hand would stay with me, even after his hand had moved on to other things. I didn't want to wash my hands ever again.

God, the way I felt about him was so crazy.

After a couple of hours, he let me loose flying. I couldn't do much because he didn't want to arouse suspicion, but I didn't know too much more than the basics anyway. It was nice to feel in control of the vehicle though. After I'd had my fill, I handed the controls back to Keleon.

"That was awesome," I told him sincerely.

"I'm glad you liked it," he grinned.

He talked me through the settings, as he reset the course and went to put the autopilot back on, pointing to one of the larger control devices as he did so.

"I've learned that this one's a bit stiff, so it needs a bit more push than it normally should," he said, pushing the device extra hard. "I suspect it's because one of the components under the panel needs lubricating, but there's no point looking until we're docked."

I tried to take remove my mind from the gutter, but it was hopeless when Keleon was looking so damn sexy all the time.

"Something somewhere definitely needs lubricating. Especially if you're going to talk to me about things that are stiff, and any pushing related to them." 

I raised an eyebrow playfully.

But, as usual, he just looked at me blankly. Like he was confused.

"I really enjoyed playing chess with you before. If you're still not hungry, do you fancy another game?"

"Sure," I blinked, nodding.

How could someone who was so in touch with his inner spirit, or whatever it was, be so oblivious to my intentions?

Soon we were sitting on the bed, with enough room between us for a chess board. I watched him set up the game, and I suggested that I should be black this time, so that he would 'make the first move.'

He still didn't see the irony.

I don't know whether Keleon beat me because I was somewhat distracted by my self-imposed mission for the afternoon, or whether he was genuinely improving. All I know is that as he was setting up the next game, I felt braver and more determined than I'd felt since we boarded this craft together. My pulse started racing as I realised there would be no better time to make a move than right now.

My heart was hammering in my chest as I shifted forwards, reaching across the chess board and putting one of my hands on each of Keleon's cheeks. He immediately looked up into my eyes, and his confusion was evident. I moved even closer, studying every inch of his beautiful face, not caring that the chess pieces were being knocked over and I was half-sitting on the chess board.

"What are you doing?" Keleon whispered, but he didn't try to resist.

"Following my instincts," I replied.

I moved my head forwards and gently pressed my lips against his. He tasted sweet, like cherries, and his mouth was soft and warm, and felt much better than I ever imagined it could. Keleon was motionless, not rejecting my advances. I moved my mouth slightly against his, and the sensation travelled all the way through my body. He appeared to be letting me do this, so I continued to plant soft kisses on his lips for the next minute or so, until, to my delight, he started to move his mouth in sync with mine.

The sensations left throughout my body by the kisses were getting stronger, and the hammering of my heart hadn't slowed down. Kissing Keleon was incredible. I didn't want to stop, but I figured we now had stuff we should probably work out. And if talking didn't go in my favour, at least I had this sensational memory to treasure.

Reluctantly, I pulled back and took my hands away from his face, trembling slightly with nerves, but smiling.

"So, does this mean you're into guys?" I asked him.

Keleon smiled back at me.

"Into guys? I don't understand."

Did I really have to spell this out?

"It means I'm gay and I'm trying to figure out your sexuality, so I know whether pursuing you is a good idea."

That was about as blunt as I could be. There was nothing ambiguous there, and yet I was met with silence from Keleon.

Awkward.

"So, you know, do you like men?" I prompted again.

"Gender doesn't make any difference to me," he replied softly, gazing into my eyes in a very distracting way.

"You're pansexual?" I tried to clarify if that's what he was getting at.

"If that means I don't distinguish between genders, then I guess so?" he offered.

"You don't know your sexuality?" I asked.

He looked blank.

OK, so maybe he didn't. I ran my fingers through my hair. Maybe I needed a different approach.

"OK. So ... it seemed like you liked me kissing you. At least, you didn't seem to object?"

He reached out and touched my lips with his fingers. It did all sorts of things to my body that made me want to get even more physical him, but I kept still while he explored my bottom lip.

"You mean when we touched lips?"

I nodded, trying to focus on the conversation rather than my urge to jump him.

"You've not been kissed before?"

"No, but I liked it. Why did you do it? Was there some reason?" he asked, and I couldn't help but feel this was all getting really fucking weird.

"It means that I like you." That was an understatement, so I rephrased. "It means I like you a lot."

"I like you too Damon," he confirmed, and my heart did a little jump for joy. "I didn't know affection could feel this ... nice."

Apparently, he liked me kissing him, and I thought I would burst with excitement.

"Nice enough to do it again?"

I was aware that I was staring at his lips and moving my face closer to his.

Keleon nodded his consent.

I kissed him with the same small kisses on his mouth that I had previously, savouring every second. Between kisses, I shuffled the rest of my body forward, so I was sitting partly on his side of the chess board and almost in his lap, my legs resting on top of his. Only then did I sneak my tongue across his mouth, and he hummed his approval. His hum went straight to my groin and I inadvertently let out a small noise of my own.

After that, my tongue crept across his mouth again and again, until he took the hint and parted his lips, letting me explore deeper. My hands pushed through his hair and I fisted the back of his head as the sensations got more intense. I groaned with pleasure and pushed him backwards, so that he was lying on the bed with me on top. His tongue ventured into my mouth for the first time, and, oh God, it made my body feel like it was soaring. As he kissed me back, I went higher and higher, well on my way to heaven.

Fuck, this was amazing.

Then Keleon broke the kiss unexpectedly.

"Um, Damon?" he asked, his tone suddenly serious.

"Yeah?" I breathed, trying to gain some control, but still feeling like I was floating.

Keleon's eyes darted around the room, which prompted mine to do the same. All around us, objects were floating in the air, including the green towel I'd used earlier, and the box of chewable teeth-cleaning tablets. A white bishop from the chess board caught my eye as it drifted past. I looked at Keleon, and behind him I saw the pillow and blanket from the bed floating under him. Which meant we were...

Falling. Everything that had been floating landed with a thud at the same time, including us.

"What the hell was that about?" I exclaimed as I rolled off Keleon and sat up.

"I have absolutely no idea," was his response. "I'm going to check the artificial gravity settings."

He swung his legs off the bed and disappeared, leaving me alone on the bed with my lips still tingling. As I lay there, eyes closed and touching my lips with my fingers, I tried to recapture every moment of what just happened so I could keep it in my memory forever. Grinning to myself, I pulled the pillow into an embrace, and concluded that kissing Keleon was the best idea I'd had in a long time.