You Might Not Want a Relationship With Me

Writers: AL, Ames
Date Posted: 29th June 2013

Characters: Meledei, T'nom
Description: The aftermath of Elleth's Flight leads to a rather interesting discussion
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 1, day 12 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: R'enh, Zku

T'nom

He was still in the daze of the mating Flight. His arms wrapped around
the very feminine body. T'nom felt satisfaction course through him
from head to toe as he lay there, catching his breath and trying to
regain use of his senses. It took quite a few moments before memories
and reality began to return to him.

The Flight. The chase. The Win. The Gold! Gold? T'nom jerked up on the
bed realizing he and Taldeth had just won a gold flight, but not just
_any_ gold flight. It had been Meledei and Elleth! His eyes darted to
the figure lying beside him.

Meledei! How long he'd imagined this. How long he'd wanted to share
such intimacy with her. He blinked. She was beautiful. Just as he knew
she was. He'd seen her before, not completely nude, but almost.

He reached out to Taldeth to share the joy and found the bronze
dragon's mind resting, but coursing with pleasure as well. T'nom
grinned.

His eyes looked to her again. In all his dreams he'd never imagined
their first time together as part of one of her Flights. What would
this do to their friendship now? He reached his hand and lightly
traced it down her arm, unable to resist touching her. His body was
hungry for more, but he wouldn't dare venture there until he knew her
own feelings.

"Meledei?" He asked softly, still gazing down at her, his head resting
on his hand.

Meledei wriggled a little closer to the warm body next to her, then
twisted her neck to blink up at the face that hovered over hers. "Hey
there." She breathed, a smile stretching over her lips. Now that the
frantic dizziness of the flight was over, she was fully cognizant, no
longer so wrapped up with the mind of her dragon. The first thing
that came to her mind was that she was so very glad it wasn't R'enh.
That would have been too awkward and this was a much more pleasant
outcome. "Don't move. I am far too comfortable."

"Hey," he grinned, pleased with himself and Taldeth. Then, following
her command, he settled back down onto the bed, wrapping his arms
around her. For now he was content just to_be_ with her, and hold
her.

"That's nice." Meledei murmured and snuggled a little closer. It was
very nice to be with someone she cared about during a flight. "Tell
Taldeth congratulations for me. I knew he had it in him."

He let out a faint chuckle, "I'll do that, Dei. He's pretty smug as it
is at the moment," **and so am I,** He thought to himself. He wanted
to savor the moment. He wished he remembered more of the act between
them, but with such strong Flightlust, his memories were rather
jumbled. His hands brushed her breast and he felt his own body react
again. T'nom didn't want to ruin the moment, so he stayed very still,
not sure how she would react now that the _actual_ Flight was over.

"Somebody's awake." Meledei purred. The main part of the flight lust
was over, but that didn't mean that all desire had fled, and his
touch, however fleeting, certainly had an effect.

"Aye," her murmured into her hair. "It was a good Flight." He shifted
slightly so he could look at her more easily. His hand ran over her
breast again. "Do you want me to stop?" He needed to know her thoughts
before he pushed things too far with her.

Meledei sighed softly. "Yes and no." She pulled away from him. "You
have _no_ idea how tempting you are." She gave a half smile as her
gaze strayed a little lower. "I guess I don't need to ask if you're
tempted."

He wasn't sure if she was giving him permission or telling him to
stop. His hand stilled where it had been just moments before. She
confused him. His body was still heightened with desire, but he would
never go forward even in this situation without her permission.

"I've been tempted by you for quite some time," he replied quietly,
finally revealing the depth of some of his feelings for her.

Meledei wondered where their pants had gone. One of the problems with
flights was that they were so frantic, clothes got thrown everywhere.
She had gotten down on her knees to look beneath the bed, but T'nom's
statement and something in his voice made her look up and she peered
over the edge at him. She pulled up so that she was on her knees then
eased back. "What do you mean?"

The moment she'd moved to search for their clothes, he knew the
encounter was over. He shouldn't have expected anything more. Meledei
had never shown signs that she was interested in anything further with
him.

"It really doesn't matter," he replied, shifting to sit up and turning
to dangle his feet over the side of the bed away from her. "It was a
good flight, Meledei." He didn't know what else to say to her.

"It does matter." Meledei moved back to the bed and crawled over to
sit beside him, her legs dangling, though not as far. "Talk to me. I
don't like it when people don't talk to me." That had been the
problem with certain others, but she wasn't going to think about that
right now.

He looked over to her, sitting there beside him. He sighed, "We've
always been friends, right? I mean since we were candidates together.
We've stayed friends through all that." Was he really going to tell
her? He paused for a moment thinking about the consequences and
decided that he was tired of holding onto the feelings without any
type of resolution one way or the other. "And after this, we'll still
stay friends. I don't want this to change things." He knew he was
beating around the topic, but he found it was harder to let it out
than he'd thought.

Heaving a sigh, he finally blurted, "I like you Meledei, and not just
in the way I like my friends. I have for quite some time. I don't
think you see me that way, and I've come to terms with that, but
well," he shrugged, "there it is. That's what I meant."

"Oh." Well that did change things didn't it. Meledei didn't want to
lose their friendship, but to be honest, she felt good relationships
started with friendships. Well, most of the time. F'gol had made
stupid choices because of his lack of confidence which had not only
ruined their relationship, but also their friendship. But T'nom
didn't have that issue.

She took a deep breath. They had been friends since he'd come to the
Weyr. They hung out a lot. She looked for him when she went places.
And yeah, she liked him too.

The thought made her wince internally as Z'ku also came to mind. She
liked him too, but with T'nom...she felt there was a possibility
there. She felt like there could be more. Could there be more with
Z'ku? Possibly. He had said something to her once and at that point,
she hadn't been ready. It had been a while since then, though, and
Z'ku hadn't said anything to her since - and she wouldn't be surprised
if he ahd moved on. With T'nom, here he was, saying something to her
right then and there that he wanted more - and maybe she wanted more
too. "So...are you asking to court me?"

"I...well, I..." T'nom ran a hand through his hair, "I don't really
know Meledei what I'm asking." He knew this wasn't going the way he'd
expected. "I mean courting and all isn't really the way of the Weyr.
It was life in the Holds, but things are so different here." **For
instance I just _slept_ with you, which we'd never have done in a
Hold,** he added silently. Things had been changing for T'nom after he
Impressed. It had taken some time, but he was beginning to see just
how different Hold life and Weyr life were. The women here practically
threw themselves at him because of Taldeth. It wasn't what he'd
wanted, but he had to admit it really boosted his pride.

He looked at her, searching her face, "I just don't know Meledei.
Where do we go from here?"

"Maybe we should get dressed and talk." Meledei suggested and pointed
out the pants that were crumpled on the other side of the room. There
was no point in asking how they had gotten all the way over there,
neither would probably remember.

He followed her lead. He'd felt intense desire when he'd first come
back to his own senses, but the conversation had quickly diminished
quite a bit of that. A little embarrassment was all it took to make
certain things return to normal. He waited for her to do the same.
He'd already said his piece. He still had no idea what her _real_
reaction to his revelation was. T'nom let the silence hang, wondering
what she would say.

"Let's order something from the kitchens and go to my weyr so we can
talk." It was definitely not a conversation that Meledei wanted to
fall upon ears that weren't meant to hear. She wriggled into her
clothing and then offered a smile. "If you're amenable, of course."

"Sure," T'nom replied, not really sure still what to expect. He waited
for her to be ready and then walked with her back to her weyr. He
wanted to celebrate. Shout out with wild abandon that he and Taldeth
had won Elleth and Meledei's gold flight, but right now he was feeling
more disjointed and confused than anything. He hadn't expected to
reveal his feelings for her, wasn't even sure exactly where those
feelings stood anymore. He'd almost accepted the fact that she had her
interests set elsewhere. **She still might you big dolt, she hadn't
really _said_ anything about her own feelings,** That thought
continued to keep T'nom silent. It was actually grateful when they
reached her weyr.

Meledei closed the door after T'nom entered and then motioned for him
to sit down. She herself took her armchair and curled up in it.
"So...we should talk." Yeah. And it was going to be awkward if the
silence they had endured on their way over said anything. "I'd be
interested in pursuing more than friendship."

He didn't mean to look shocked, but he did. "You would?" _That_ was
not what he'd expected to hear. He felt some of his nervousness melt
away. "I've never said anything because I didn't want to lose you as a
friend." He knew he should say more, but this was a rather awkward
conversation for him and he was finding it hard to figure out what to
say.

"Well I can guarantee you _that_ wouldn't lose my friendship. I'm
still friends with Z'ku." Meledei bit her lower lip.
"But...I...well, I'm not like most Weyrbred...and maybe we should talk
about expectations and stuff. I don't know if you'll really want to
be in a relationship with me."

Well, her first words gave him some peace, but her second words left
him feeling rather confused. "Alright, let's talk expectations and
things. Why wouldn't I want to be in a relationship with you?"

"Well, like I said, I'm not most Weyrbred. I look at things in a
different light." Meledei shifted a bit so she sat up straighter. "I
have no problem with people sleeping with other people if they want,
that's fine. But that's not me. I don't generally just go to bed
with people. Sex means something to me. It's more than just a romp.
If I'm in a relationship, I want it to be exclusive - barring flights
of course. Most Weyrfolk don't like that idea."

T'nom wasn't Weyrbred either, but he'd come to appreciate some of the
differences between that upbringing and life in the Weyr. He mulled
her words over for a few minutes.

"I have to agree with you on many things there, Meledei. I'm not a fan
of people just sleeping around every night with whomever strikes their
fancy. I believe there _should_ be more to the act than that. There
needs to be a connection between people, for things to work. But on
the other hand, its _very_ hard to be exclusive here in the Weyr.
Things change so rapidly and the way of life here _is_ so very
different from where we came from." He paused for a moment, knowing he
was rambling. He plucked at a string on his trousers while he thought
about what he wanted to say next. "I've liked you for a long time
Meledei. You were the first person here that I even felt connected to,
but some of that has changed now. Girls throw themselves at me as a
bronzerider. It's hard to resist, and well, I've met some other people
whom I like now also. I like them, I like you. I don't know what to
do, to be honest."

"If you don't feel like you can be exclusive, then perhaps we should
just remain friends." Meledei managed not to wince and she couldn't
help but note the pang that came at his words. She honestly wouldn't
have expected it to sting quite that much. "Because unlike most
people here, I'm not going to accept anything else."

He was feeling utterly bewildered by her words. He knew she hardly
ever was with anyone, and now he had a better idea of why.

T'nom frowned as he looked at her. "So are you saying you're not
willing to give things a try unless I commit to being exclusive from
the start?" He wasn't sure he was understanding everything. "I've
always seen me more with one person, long-term that is. I don't know.
Things changed some. It's hard to figure out your place here at the
Weyr sometimes." He let out his breath and gave her a quizzical looks,
"Are you willing to, I don't know, spend time together to see if we're
suited for something more long-term, first? Then if we are, you know,"
he shrugged, "then we could be exclusive." **Kind of like a trial
run,** he thought to himself, though he didn't voice that aloud.

Meledei smiled a little. "I always enjoy spending time with you,
you're one of my best friends." She curled her legs and let them
dangle over the edge of the armchair. "I don't know, T'nom. What
exactly would it mean? I mean, we spend time together now. Would
this mean more time? How do we look at each other? And what about
other people? Does that mean we're allowed to be with other people?"

He rubbed a hand through his hair. "I don't know, Meledei." He was
confused by his own feelings. "I _do_ want to be with you, but how do
I ignore the fact that while I didn't think we'd get the chance, I
connected with some other people. Nothing long-term, but the
connection is there? And what about you and Z'ku? And you and R'enh? I
mean, you're _always_ talking about them. I know so little of your own
feelings." He heaved a sigh. He felt like he'd made a mess out of the
whole thing. The _one_ thing he'd always wanted was there, in front of
him, and he'd all but told her he wasn't sure he was ready. Was he
ready? His head felt like someone had taken a strong wind and just
swooshed everything around, leaving a mess in its wake.

"Maybe..." he paused, "maybe what we need is some time to think about
it. I mean, after the Flight and all, everything just seems a jumbled
mess, and I'm not sure I'm thinking clearly." It _had_ been a pretty
intense Flight, especially for him. His body was still feeling quite a
few of the effects from it.

"That sounds like a wise decision. We should talk more when we're not
as high on flight aftermath." Even though things had calmed down,
there were still thoughts and feelings running through her that had
more to do with the flight than anything else and she was sure T'nom
felt the same. "We can come back around and discuss things tomorrow,
maybe?"

He nodded. He had a lot to think about before tomorrow.

Last updated on the July 1st 2013

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You Might Not Want a Relationship With Me