we're not on the same side anymore....

From the beginning of my "In Company of Ice and Profit" thing:

Ensign Lucas Wolenczak sat on the edge of the moonpool and let his fingers trail in the water. Darwin swam up under his hand and Lucas took the hint, stroking the dolphin's back.

Seeing Ben had opened something inside him Lucas hadn't even known had been closed. He hadn't realized until that moment, standing in the cold, staring at the man who had once been his best friend, how much the world really had changed. And how much he had left behind.

He'd be twenty-nine this December.

He'd missed his twenty-first birthday. He'd missed Julianna's baby being born. He'd missed the Star Wars prequel special editions. Little things that made up something more.

He'd missed growing up.

He was stuck now in this teenage limbo. Legally and technically he was almost thirty. Physically and for all intents and purposes, he was still eighteen.

...

Lucas had assumed that just by going there, by talking to Ben, things would go back to the way they had been. He foolishly had himself convinced that turning back the clock would be quick and easy. He and Ben could be best friends again, and then maybe he wouldn't feel so alone.

He should have known better.

Still needs working on, but it's something. :)