“I fucking can’t,” Tennal said. “You’re closed up like an airlock. Maybe it’s all that meditation—no, I just have eyes, Lieutenant. I can see when someone’s interested.”

The stain hadn’t left Surit’s cheeks. “As a rule, I try and make my decisions with my brain.”

“And what objection is your brain putting up?” Tennal said. His lips were dry for some reason. The fucking obstinacy. “You want this. I want this. We’re two adults in a private room. Have you ever slept with a reader?”

“Does that have anything to do with it?” Surit said, which was a no.

Tennal recognized the bite that had crept into his own voice and made an effort to tone it down. He knew the steps that worked in this dance—Surit’s case was harder because they were both too sober and Surit was obviously not used to getting what he wanted—but Tennal was usually good at this. “If you put your walls down and let me read you, we don’t even need to talk.”

If Surit had been wavering, his expression hardened when Tennal took that tack. “You’ve been conscripted,” he said, “and that’s not right.”

“Guidance Lights,” Tennal said. “That doesn’t have anything to do with it. If I walked into a party and saw you, I’d be trying to get you into a hotel room by midnight. You own a mirror—I mean, I assume you own a mirror, you might consider that an unmilitary luxury—but take it from me, that’s not the issue here.”

“You’re in my chain of command,” Surit said.

Tennal recognized the stony look in his eyes that meant Surit was about to dig in his heels until they took root. Tennal had to cut that off fast. “Not relevant. We’re not in work hours.”

“Tennal,” Surit said, with a sudden gentleness that made Tennal’s breath hitch. “That doesn’t make a difference.”

“Explain,” Tennal said, shoving the storage chest out of his way with one foot. His control of the exchange had already broken, and he wasn’t going to get it back, but it spilled out of his mouth anyway.

Surit just sat there, looking down, his presence as dense as a gravity field. He folded one of his hands into a fist and wrapped the other hand around it. “The fraternization rules are there for a reason,” he said. “What if it gets messy?” He didn’t pause long enough for Tennal to dismiss that. “What if you end up wanting to get away from me? They won’t let you apply for a transfer. And you need me to lie about the sync.”