Off Base (Out of Uniform 1)

“His modeling is so innovative, and to apply it to a cross-section of video game users was just brilliant. The inferences he’s able to make...well, I don’t have to tell you how impressive your friend is.”

“Really.” Zack blinked, head cocking to the side, as if he was just now noticing that Pike had a brain. Meanwhile, Pike was pretty sure he might die of blushing. He seriously wasn’t used to praise like this, and he couldn’t help but feel like Professor Hu would rescind every one of her kind words if she knew how much he was struggling in the classroom.

“Ask him to show you the presentation on his dissertation sometime,” Professor Hu urged.

“Our Pike’s pretty darn amazing.” Oh man, the look Zack gave him. Affection and respect and a little bit of pride. Melted. Goo. Pike was a pile of gush for this man, and he just had to hope he didn’t get squashed.

* * *

Zack was careful to stand apart from Pike as they waited for Professor Hu to open the door to her mission-style home in a subdivision near the campus.

“I hope you guys are hungry,” Professor Hu greeted them. “Joanna’s been cooking all day.”

She accepted the bottle of wine Pike had brought and introduced them to a tall smiling woman in her forties or fifties with dyed red hair and a big smile. That they were a couple was evident from the tender way the two looked at each other, but if Zack’d had any doubt, what appeared to be about twenty years of photos scattered everywhere in the open living/dining room put any doubts to rest.

There they were climbing some mountain together. On a sunny island beach. Riding a roller coaster at Disney. A lifetime of shared memories on display for everyone to see, and for the first time Zack didn’t feel a bit uncomfortable with the fact that this was another same-sex couple.

Who are you and what have you done with Zack?

Zack Nelson, private citizen, was so different from Zack Nelson, SEAL, that Zack hardly recognized himself. He’d expected to feel really weird at the gallery and party, but instead, he found himself enjoying talking art with Pike’s colleagues, seeing this different side of Pike and making small talk that had no real impact beyond a few pleasant moments. He liked Cynthia and Joanna and their warm, welcoming home that smelled amazing—bread and cinnamon and some spicy meat dish.

Not that Zack didn’t love being a SEAL—he loved the adrenaline, the high stakes, but the communication could be very tense, the outcome always far from assured, and he could never ever relax and let his guard down. That way ended up dead at the worst and at Cobb’s mercy at the best. It was just...nice to get to spend some time in his guy’s world.

Wait. Not his guy. His friend. Roomie. Hell, even here, Zack’s thoughts were all messed up. He probably needed food. That would help. He grabbed a plate from the start of the buffet line.

Pike had ducked off to use the restroom, but Zack figured he could catch up when he got back. Still, though, he couldn’t help his eyes from darting down the hallway Pike had disappeared down.

“You guys are so cute.” A woman around the same age as Cynthia and Joanna broke into his thoughts as he finished fixing his plate. “How long have you two been together?”

“About two months,” Zack said without thinking.

“Ah. Still in the stupid love phase.” She gave him a knowing wink. “Michelson in computer science asked me the other day if Reynolds was single and I told him I’d heard not. Guess I was right. That’s him over there next to my wife.” She gestured at a handsome man with glasses across the room who had turned to greet Pike as he came back into the room.

Fuck. Zack did not like this, not one bit. The guy probably had five or so years on Pike, maybe ten even, but he was suave and sophisticated, and Zack was not letting him home in on his guy.

“Cynthia’s always so great about bringing the LGBT faculty together,” the woman at Zack’s elbow continued.

Zack needed to deny that he and Pike were a couple, but he was still seething over Professor Hot Stuff over there talking to Pike. And if almost everyone here was LGBT...did it really matter? Pike was right that no one he’d met had any connection to the base. What if he simply didn’t correct her? Some little part of Zack wanted her to spread it around that Pike was taken, keep the other sharks from circling Zack’s catch.

Cynthia had made it clear that Pike was freaking brilliant, going on about his research. And he looked so good in his pale green dress shirt. Who the hell wouldn’t want a piece of that?