Page 30 of Stars
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The tour continued,from the Neutral Buoyancy Lab to the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility to Mission Control. In the NBL, the techs had rigged up half of an extravehicular activity suit for the husbands and wives to crawl into and experience. Everyone got to slip on a Snoopy cap and radio headset, lock a helmet into place, and pose for a picture with their partner. Sergey snapped a selfie inside the space suit’s upper half, grinning wildly as Sasha flushed.
Mikhail watched silently, shaking his head. He and Sasha remembered to speak to each other every now and then, trying to keep up the illusion they were related.
Sergey threaded their hands together as Sasha guided him through the full-size replica of the ISS and the Lunar Gateway inside the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility. Sergey wanted to know everything about the Russian modules and stood in theZvezdaandZaryamockups for almost an hour, going panel by panel with Sasha as Sasha relayed stories about bringing the oldest ISS modules back online and finding surprises left by the old cosmonauts.
He shared the anecdotes passed through NASA’s long years: a badminton game between the Americans and the Russians played from one end of the station’s stack to the other. Black-market space food trading, the different countries’ astronauts bartering their meals for variety. American for Russian, Japanese for Italian, German for British. The infamous floating sausage prank. One week, the toilets malfunctioned and everyone had to break out the zip bags. When the trash overflowed, the crew had to tape their waste bags to the walls. Upon the crew’s return to Earth and their debrief walk-through, the techs had decorated the walls of the mockup modules with bags filled with chocolate bars.
Sasha shoved his paranoia away as the bigwigs moved on to the rest of the families and visitors. He wanted to be well under the radar ceiling, as if he and Sergey were just another couple, nothing special at all. Obsessively, he watched the others. Were they looking their way? Staring at Sergey a little too closely?
No one was.
Mark appeared at their side off and on, always with another story of Sasha’s training to amuse Sergey and Mikhail. Sasha tried to talk over him a few times, then lapsed into silence when Mark wouldn’t be quieted. His cheeks burned as Sergey laughed and laughed, but Sergey’s soft kisses on his cheeks and temples made everything better.
Exultation sang through him as he walked with Sergey into Mission Control, hand in hand behind the group.This is what life could be like.Dan and his partner flashed through his mind. What would it be like if Sergey could stay with him like this, always?
His fantasy crashed as soon as it began. Sergey couldn’t stay. He was a far more important man than Sasha was, and even this short trip was taking him away from where he was needed.
Sergey stroked his thumb over the back of Sasha’s hand as Mark led them through the ISS Mission Control room and the Orion/SLS Mission Control room. Each tech spoke about their role and about the other thirty people backing up each flight control station around the clock in technical bays around JSC and around the world, the constant sentinel watch over astronaut operations. “We know it’s their lives in our hands,” one of the techs who manned the propulsion station said. “We’ll bring your loved ones home. We promise.”
They broke apart in the early afternoon, families separating after each astronaut showed off their favorite corner of JSC. Mark corralled Sasha and Sergey in Sasha’s office, telling more stories about Sasha’s exemplary performance during training, his assistance in bringing the Russian modules back online and helping to restart the Roscosmos reintegration with NASA. Sasha stayed quiet, leaning against his desk as Mark spoke, while Sergey seemed ready to burst with pride.
Mikhail snored in Sasha’s desk chair.
Later, Sasha guided Sergey to his apartment, a short walk across the street from JSC. Mikhail and Yuri were subletting one of the apartments on a short-term corporate rate, close enough to satisfy Ilya but not right on top of them. Sasha suffered through Mikhail and Yuri examining every room of his apartment, checking the ingress and egress points and double- and triple-checking that the windows were locked and the shades were drawn before they left.
And then it was just them.
“I’ve wanted to be here for two years,” Sergey breathed, spinning in a slow circle, taking in Sasha’s bachelor pad minimalist chic. “I dreamed of this, of visiting NASA with you.”
“Did your dreams go like today?” Sasha couldn’t keep his hands off Sergey. He stroked up Sergey’s arms, over his shoulders, down his chest. Unbuttoned his shirt and peeled it off. “Was it what you imagined?”
“It was so much better,” Sergey said softly, leaning in for a kiss.
Their lips locked and never parted. Clothes came off: Sergey’s undershirt and trousers, his socks and shoes. He peeled Sasha’s flight suit down his arms and over his hips. Sasha pushed Sergey into his bedroom, guiding him backward until Sergey hit the bed.
He grasped the backs of Sergey’s thighs, heaving him onto the mattress and flat on his back. Laughing, Sergey spread his legs, stroking down his skinny belly to his crotch.
“I brought you something from Moscow.”
Sasha hovered over him, licking his lips. “What is it?”
“A rocket.” Sergey’s eyebrows wagged.
“I don’t think it’s a rocket,” Sasha said, nuzzling Sergey’s chest.
“No?”
“Nyet. How could I suck a rocket?” Sasha looked up, meeting Sergey’s gaze in time to see Sergey shiver from his head to his toes.
Sasha felt his entire body quiver in response. He grinned.
“Oh, that’s right,” Sergey gasped as Sasha slithered down his body, his lips sucking the skin over his hips and kissing his inner thighs. “Silly me. You have the rocket. And you blast off. Inside me.”
Sasha groaned, his mouth full. Sergey’s hands gripped Sasha’s skull, his fingers sliding through his hair. “Make love to me,zvezda moya,” he moaned. “Take me to the stars.”
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