Title: A Declaration
Author: Qzeebrella
Archive: Warp Five Complex
Word Count: 2099
Summary:Jon explains how his feelings for Shran have developed and changed over the years.
Beta: mike and cait
Series: I may try to write out a companion fic where Jon and some of the people from Enterprise challenge Shran and his clan to the Andorian game briefly described within. It depends on whether my muses cooperate or not.
Disclaimer: The show and its characters belong to Paramount. No profit is being made from this story and no infringement is intended.
Written for:bjewelled, hope you like it. The story 2 request: Archer/Shran slash. Because that was the evilest challenge I could think of.
You captivated me from the moment we met and I know that may seem odd. After all you did take me prisoner, tied me up and threatened me several times, and yet, in spite of all that, I liked you. Perhaps it was because you successfully put the Vulcans in their place and I still resented them at the time. Maybe it was due to my natural attraction toward alien cultures and people which attracted me to you. Maybe it was just something about you, but whatever it was, I liked you even then.
After we met, I found myself thinking about you every now and then. I even began to look through our database for all the information we had on Andoria. Trip thought I was a bit obsessed, but I was just naturally curious about your people. Or so I thought at the time. I thought I wanted to know all about your species and culture because we were likely to bump into you and other Andorians from time to time. I thought I was just preparing for the next time we met, so I could talk to you, captain to captain, from a more informed position. It was only much later that I admitted the truth to myself, that being that I looked up all of that information because I was interested in you personally.
The next time we met, I knew a bit more about your people. I knew the basic structure behind your clan system and how those clan allegiances helped bring about the cohesion your people needed. I learned that an Andorian would sometimes act in the best interest of their clan, even if that action harmed the state or their ship or whatever. There was even a bit in there on how males in your culture establish dominance and determine their standing with one another. Once I read through that bit, I realized that your actions toward me so far were intended to “feel me out” as it were and determine whether I was truly your equal or not.
One of the things I found most interesting though, was the information on your antennae movement. That it is part instinct, part a way of expressing emotions and part an attempt to gather more sensory input. You move them around, partly, for the same reasons we turn our head or move our eyes around to see more. However, I was fascinated to learn that your antennae sense heat, scent and vibration, which you process and react to automatically.
But even with all of that, I still barely knew you and I found that I really wanted to change that. Unfortunately there never really seemed to be a good time to do this. Every time we met there was a crisis to deal with and I had to be satisfied with stolen moments. Moments we stole in the middle of firefights, where you or your people were usually shooting towards me and I was shooting towards you and purposely missing. Or so I will always claim to Malcolm. If we weren’t in a firefight, I was trying to act as a mediator for another one of your disputes with the Vulcans and you’d be yelling in my face as I yelled in yours. I was always tempted to just grab you when we yelled at each other and I wonder now what I would have done if I had caved into the temptation. Would I have shaked you or kissed you?
Then there were the other stolen moments, moments where I could see how you reacted to certain situations and thus learned a little bit more about the man who called me “pink skin.” Moments where I could push you, just a little, test your boundaries and do other things to hopefully prove that I was dominant enough to be your equal. Moments where I could watch you move and enjoy the forceful grace that seemed to be a part of you. Moments in which I tried to earn your respect and demonstrate that you had managed to win mine.
I think I would have been stuck with only stolen moments if it hadn’t been for that fight we had when we met up with the Tellarites. I didn’t know it then, but that physical confrontation was just what was needed for me to demonstrate that I was your personal equal and not just your equal in rank. Now I don’t know why the database had no mention of the ritualistic fights Andorian males have to establish dominance, forge alliances, determine clan ranking, and other things, but it didn’t. Maybe the Vulcans didn’t think it was important. Or maybe they didn’t know about it. Or maybe, most likely, they thought it was barbaric and thus not worth noting. I suppose it doesn’t really matter though, seeing as I finally earned your personal respect.
Because of that fight our relationship turned a corner. With that we became more than acquaintances and my interest in you became based on the man you truly were and not just the fantasy alien I may have obsessed over for a while.
We parted company, but you contacted me by subspace a week later and we talked for awhile. That first time just on what our jobs were like. We commiserated with each other on the enormous responsibility and shared with each other our thoughts on how it was a huge honour too. About once a week after that, either you’d contact me or I would contact you and we’d talk. Those early conversations were mostly about our jobs as captains, but other topics slowly crept in too. We began to speak of other things that interested us. I tried to explain water polo to you and you told me all about the sport Kre’nath - which seems to be ringette and golf mixed together, played on icy hillsides, under any and all weather conditions, with the added excitement of hockey fights and fan brawls thrown in. I told you about how interested I am in zoology, especially in the antilopane subfamily, which included all gazelles. You told me about all the different kinds of snow and ice art on Andoria and sent me pictures of some of your attempts at ice etching, which made me see that you have the soul of an artist.
Right about then we began contacting each other every second day or so. Right about then was when I told you how important my father was in my life, how he had shaped my dreams and helped me to become the man I was. I told you of how Trip was like a brother to me and how I longed for a larger family, even though that meant trying to turn other friends into family too. You explained to me what your status was in your clan and then talked to me about the clan members who’ve influenced you the most. It was at this time that our conversations became mostly about us and the things most important to us, with just a mention or two about our work thrown in. One day, a few months after our fight, I realized we had become friends and though I was thrilled by this, I had also begun to want more.
I had begun to wish I could hold you in my arms and keep you close. I longed to be held by you. I wished it was possible to see you, in person, every day. Basically I wanted a relationship with you but the reality was that anything more than friendship would be highly impractical, seeing as we lived too far away from each other. I thought I would have to settle for friendship since I was adverse to starting a long distance relationship, but then I was promoted to admiral. That changed everything.
I was sent to earth and became a desk jockey and, somehow shortly after that, you managed to finagle your way into being appointed the Andorian ambassador to Earth. Which meant we now lived a short distance apart, seeing as your embassy was in San Francisco, as was my office. Which meant we were finally able to see each other, face to face, fairly often and this led to our friendship changing, evolving, deepening into something more. We met for lunch or supper nearly every day and we’d flirt with each other as we ate, with you still teasing me by calling me “pink skin”. I took you to a water polo match and I was in the crowd when you fought in that Andorian wrestling match for the honour of your clan. We sometimes talked for hours and sometimes had to be satisfied with just a few brief moments. But one night, as we ate you reached out and touched my hand.
“Let’s stop sliding around the target, pink skin. We need to toss the ring.” You said, antennae pointed at me in the way that indicated strong, romantic interest.
It was only because you sometimes went on and on about your favourite Andorian sport that I realized you meant we should stop pretending what we had was just friendship and make the final step to turn what we had into a relationship. Which is why I kissed you in the middle of that fancy restaurant, forgetting the dozens of paparazzi that had nothing better to do than follow me around. But it was worth it, for you kissed me back and held me in place as you deepened the kiss. My heart skipped a beat when I finally felt your antennae brush my hair and I gasped.
I think I paid the bill before pulling you out of there and I think I fed Porthos before taking you to my bed, but I’m still not sure if I did either. I do remember how amazing that first time was. I remember the thrill I got, and still get, from exploring your vastly different anatomy. I remember laughing as you exclaimed, “You’re pink all over! Especially here.” As you grabbed my cock. I remember how cherished I felt as we made love and how perfect it felt to hold you after. I even remember how your antennae flopped down to lay flat against your head, one to each side, just over your ears and how they sort of twitched a bit as you drifted off into sleep. I felt incredibly lucky then. I still do.
Each and every day with you is special. Each and every moment I spend with you only deepens the love I feel for you. I feel incredibly privileged to have found you and to have earned your love. I am so incredibly honoured that you have invited me to join your clan by becoming your bondmate. Thank you for asking. I accept and I promise to try to keep all references to gazelles to a minimum at the joining party on Andoria. I’ll have to insist on wearing white to it though, as that is a human tradition. I hope this is okay, but seeing as white symbolizes hope to your people, it should be.
As for the written declaration of how my feelings for you came to be, the one I need to send to you and your clan, I hope the above will suffice. It’s the best I can come up with to explain how special you are to me, though it doesn’t really say everything. There’s just so much about you and how you make me feel loved that I just can’t put into words. You became part of my heart and soul the moment we met and you became entrenched in them with every moment we spent together after and I just can’t explain how that happened, other than to say that it’s because you are you and I am me. Everything you are to me is because of who you are, a wonderfully unique, vibrant, charismatic man who just happens to love me for who I am and I hope your clan can accept that, can accept me as part of it, and will accept this written declaration as it stands. I will do all I can to bring honour and glory to the clan, to show your clan that it has become family to me, something I cherish and will defend with everything I am. I hope this is enough. If it is, I’ll be joining you on Andoria soon and I’ll be wearing white.
Love, your pink skin,
Jon.