Lounging Around, Part II

Posted on Sat Nov 29th, 2025 @ 3:13am by Lieutenant Jean-Baptiste Dorsainvil & Ensign Wrenleigh Reed

1,306 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Peril at the Unification Accords
Location: Wrenleigh Reed's Quarters, Deck 13
Timeline: MD 10, 0845 Hours

Jean-Baptiste kissed the place just beneath her shoulder--the soft skin beneath his uniform undershirt now warm from her body heat. He felt a delicious shiver from her that nearly made him forget the existence of time.

But biology, cruel and very insistent, tapped him on the shoulder.

He sighed into her hair. "Ma chérie... as much as I'd prefer to stay right here and make questionable decisions with you all morning, I need about thirty seconds to be a human being."

She loved the way the French just rolled off the tongue so nicely, it made her feel like it was for her and only her, no one else. "Go on then," Wren leaned right back into him before she moved to put her feet back on the ground and stand up carefully so the coffee didn't spill. "Shower sounds good too, maybe?" She gave him a wink.

The morning had indeed been full of questionable decisions, but it was definitely one she wasn't going to regret any time soon.

"I can take a hint," JB replied, kissing her one last time on the neck before rolling out of the bed and coming to his feet. Still completely nude, he strode through the nearby bathroom door and disappeared, leaving Wren to her mochaccino.

It was a habit for Wren to blush at the sight of a nude person, and watching JB walk away was no exception, so she covered it by taking a sip of the mochaccino. She thought she was lucky to be with someone so kind, so loving, so attentive as him and knew she definitely wouldn't trade anything about what they had going on for the world.

She pulled his shirt down a little bit further to make sure it covered her ass sufficiently as she began the walk over to the little sofa in the corner to go take a seat.

It was only thirty seconds of quiet contemplation before the silence was broken by an incoming call. It was Wren's day off, so who on earth would be calling her? Definitely not Keel, that's for sure.

Looking at her watch to check the time, she called out to the computer, "Computer, on screen please" and took another sip of the coffee, watching as the screen came to life with the smiling face of her brother Evan appeared.

Evan had similar features to his older sister in the way of the same pattern of freckles, same kind blue-grey eyes that were more blue than grey and a smile that was more a grin, but his hair was darker and his cheekbones were slightly higher. He was also taller than her in person too.

Wren almost choked on her coffee as she looked between the screen and the bathroom and back again, "Evan! Hey! What are you doing calling me at this hour?"

"Can't a little brother check on his big sister from time to time?" Evan replied as he kept the grin on his face. "I hope I haven't caught you at a bad time?" His brow quirked at the question. He knew full well he'd caught her at a bad time from the look of alarm she'd given him just before.

"Um, yes. I mean, no!" Wren replied quickly. Her thoughts had jumbled and she'd clearly said the wrong thing. Taking a steadying breath, she sat back on the sofa and made sure to cover herself as much as she could. "What can I do for you?"

"Right." He said, the grin on his face had turned smug. "And I know that's not your shirt either. Like I said, I just wanted to check in, say hi, see what was going on and if you've heard from Tanner lately."

The blush on her cheeks had crept right up and was making her feel flushed at the embarrassment. "Um, last time I checked in with him was a couple of weeks ago. Why's that, is something wrong?"

She was about to continue on that line of thinking and concern when she heard the bathroom door sliding open.

"...Angelique-O allé calle manman ou..."

JB emerged with all the confidence of a young man who was convinced the universe existed only to applaud him. A towel was slung over his left shoulder--not worn, just carried, as if modesty were an optional custom he had politely declined to adopt. He was already dry, his dark skin catching the ambient light of Wren's bedroom like polished bronze.

And he was singing.

Not quietly--full-voiced, hips loose, shoulders rolling to a rhythm older than the Federation Charter.

“Angélique-O allé calle manman ou… Angélique-O allé calle manman ou…”

Creole poured out of him like warm water. He threw in a little two-step as he crossed the threshold--a cross between a strut and a dance--utterly, blissfully unaware that Wren’s family had just been exposed to an unscheduled broadcast of... everything.

"Um, Wren?" Evan's pointed to somewhere over Wren's shoulder as his mouth dropped open, and his eyes widened slightly at the sight of the man who'd just walked out, recognizing the dark skin and Creole accent instantly.

Wren had heard the singing and, as much as she usually loved it, she wanted to die from the embarrassment of getting snapped with JB by her brother.

"Oh my god, JB!" She said incredulously, whirling around to where he was-- stark naked, nonetheless. Normally, there would've been no complaints from her end. She looked back to Evan, "I promise I can explain this..."

Jean-Baptiste froze mid-step. Not dramatically but just a full-bodied freeze-frame. The last note of Angelique-O died on his lips while his eyes moved from Wren, to Evan, then back to Wren.

Evan simply looked between his sister and JB, trying for a couple of moments to figure out what to say, his mouth opening and closing before he shook his head. "How do you know Jean?" was all that came out, albeit slowly.

"We met on shoreleave not long ago," Wren started quietly but faltered as she picked up the coffee again and sipped it because she didn't know what to say.

JB blinked a couple of times while wrapping the towel around his midsection and taking three strides toward the screen. "Evan...?"

"Actually, you've known each other longer than that." Evan eventually corrected her before looking over to JB, recovering himself from shock by giving him a grin and a laugh of disbelief, "I'm so confused right now. You do realise this is the sister I've talked about, right?"

He looked at Wren again, his eyes searching her face for a good five seconds. His gaze lowered to study her nose, then her freckled cheeks. He was taking in her copper hair when a memory flickered to life--the girl with the straight red hair in the blue and gold dress outside of Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. But the girl had copper hair now, and the freckles he knew by heart, and lips he’d kissed senseless an hour ago.

A smile crept across his face as he gazed affectionately at her. He'd almost forgotten Evan's face on the screen during this deeply serendipitous moment.

Looking between JB and Evan, Wren finally had questions to ask. "How do you... Why are you looking at me like that?" She directed the question to JB who'd finally (thankfully) wrapped the towel around himself.

At the mention of knowing each other longer than just shoreleave, Wren still couldn't figure out when her and JB had met. Surely she would know if she'd met someone as handsome, charismatic, as loving and caring as him before, right? Right? But then again, people do grow up and change along the way.

Nope. Still not a clue.


~To Be Continued~

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