An Unexpected Attraction - Part 1
Title: An
Unexpected Attraction
Author: Reedfem
Author's
e-mail: [email protected]
Date:
Posted to EntSTSlash and TuckerReed on 18-20 Aug 2003, sent to MEGA on 20 Aug
2003.
Archive:
Permission to archive granted to EntSTCommunity.
Fandom:
Star Trek: Enterprise
Category:
Slash
Rating:
NC-17
Status:
Complete
Pairing:
Tucker/Reed
Summary:
Sometimes the love you find isn't exactly what you anticipated.
Warnings:
None
Beta:
Regina Bellatrix, Sue C & shakespearespot - my eternal
gratitude for your awesome superpowers of beta-tude, and for not having me
taken out and shot for crimes against grammar. Not to mention being willing to
tackle this monster. And Brian, what would I do without you? Also thank you,
Marlys for making me realize certain medical realities (although I weaseled my
way out of them in the end!)
Feedback:
Constructive criticism always welcome.
Spoilers:
Minefield, Dead Stop
Disclaimer:
These characters are copyrighted by Paramount, no copyright infringement is
intended and no money was made. The poor boys just keep following me home and
begging to stay. Quite nicely, too!
Author's
notes: Any similarities between the beginning of this story and Siubhan's
marvelous fic "Hands On" are completely coincidental and not intended
to infringe on her wonderful intellectual property in any way. This story
switches points of view throughout, and I have made every effort to keep confusion
to a minimum. This is my first attempt at a longer story, it's been "in
progress" since May. I hope you'll think it was worth the
investment.
*Travis*
"Travis,
you up for another?"
"Well...I
dunno...okay, sure." I've probably had enough already, but I have the day
off tomorrow. Actually, none of us are scheduled for duty. It's a rare occurrence,
we don't get to kick back together like this too often.
We're in
Commander Tucker's quarters, they're bigger than the rest of ours. Rank has its
privileges, it's not a cliché for nothing. Plus, he offered. Tonight was
movie night, and we'd actually all enjoyed it, for once. The movie was
"Lord of the Rings". Malcolm told us it was a poor substitute for
reading the novel, but I liked it. Lots of action and sorcery and swordplay. It
was as we were leaving that the commander said he felt like having a beer or
something, and would anyone else care to join in. Malcolm, Hoshi and I looked
at each other, shrugged our agreement, and started off toward his quarters.
Hoshi
stopped off at her own quarters first and showed up with a bottle of wine.
"I can't stand beer. Tastes like something resequenced," she
explained, twisting her lips in disgust. Made me take a second look at the
bottle in my hand, but then I figured, what the hell.
"To
each his, or her, own, m'dear," Trip said kindly, draining his bottle
before setting it down with a thump. "Damn, but I could use another shore
leave," he sighed, rubbing his neck and twisting his head until we heard a
loud crack. "Oh yeah, that's better."
"Be
careful what you wish for, Commander," Hoshi said with a laugh.
"Remember what happened last time."
"Oh,
God, don't remind me."
"What
a bloody fiasco 'that' was!" Both Trip and Malcolm burst out at the same
time. They exchanged a dark look and both took big gulps of their drinks.
Sometimes I
wonder how the two of them get along so well. Well, without killing each
other. They seem like such complete opposites. Lt. Reed is almost stiff
sometimes, all protocol and regulations. At first he was like that all the
time, even off-duty, but he's unbending more and more the longer we're out
here. Maybe the commander is rubbing off on him, softening some of those too
sharp edges. I can't imagine him doing this a year ago, drinking off-duty with
us. Inappropriate fraternization, he'd have called it.
But
Commander Tucker is more just a regular guy, for a senior officer. He doesn't
get all in-your-face with the superior-subordinate snooty stuff, in fact, he
goes out of his way to be charming to everyone, regardless of position. Of
course, he'd be kind of lonely on Enterprise if he did, seeing as he outranks everyone but the captain and T'Pol.
I've had enough liquor to laugh out loud at that point. The others look at me
expectantly.
"I was
just thinking that the commander outranks everyone on the ship except the
captain and T'Pol, when it hit me." They aren't getting it. "My
sister used to listen to old 20th century music, and there was this duo called
the 'Captain and Tennille'. Awful sappy, really sugary romantic stuff,"
I trailed off as Hoshi exploded into laughter.
"Oh my
God, I think I've heard of them. Oh, Travis, that's priceless. The Captain
and T'Pol, I can almost picture it." She collapsed back into the chair
she was sitting in, tears streaming down her face as she laughed helplessly.
Trip and Malcolm still didn't get it, I could tell, but they were laughing at
Hoshi and me having hysterics.
"Oh,
there just *has* to be some way to use this," Hoshi was still chuckling,
but in a devious fashion now.
"Looks
like you've created a monster, Travis," Trip shook his head, and Hoshi
struggled somewhat unsuccessfully to compose herself.
***
*Trip*
The evening
went downhill from there. We all drank a lot more than we should have, and at
some point Hoshi decided she'd had enough and escaped back to her quarters. Probably
downloading information on 20th century singing duos.
We had long
since finished my beer and moved on to the bottle of scotch Malcolm contributed
to the party. My own half-empty bottle of Mr. Daniel's finest also sat open on
the table. I could tell that Malcolm was feeling no pain, and Travis, well,
he's hard to read sometimes, but I knew he wasn't drinking as much as Malcolm
and I were. Once Hoshi left, the mood in the room changed a little and the
testosterone started taking over.
"Say,
Travis, who was that lovely lady you were having lunch with the other
day?" I asked. "I couldn't place her."
Malcolm
rolled his eyes. "Oh right, we know where you'd like to 'place' her,
Trip," he said with mock disgust.
Travis
laughed and told me her name, Susan something, and that she worked in the
quartermaster's. I sighed and took another sip of my bourbon. "Ain't
that always the way. I'm gonna have to talk to the captain about his crew
selection process." I paused for another sip and looked at the two other
guys. "I mean, damn, all the lookers on board are so.... junior. Or
attached. And the ones with enough rank that I'd feel comfortable approaching
are... " I trailed off, making a face.
"Dogs?"
Malcolm finished for me, flashing me that damned smirk of his.
"Now,
that's just rude!" I was ticked off that he'd spoken my mind for me.
"I was gonna say...well, never mind. Anyway, I go much longer without
getting any and Porthos is gonna start looking good!" We all laughed at
that.
We drank
some more, talking idly about past relationships, embarrassing stories, all the
things men talk about when they are alone and well on their way to drunk. Then
somehow we ended up back on the subject of having sex on the ship, or more to
the point, the lack of it. I'd long ago given up on my chair and had instead
sprawled myself out across my bed with my back against the bulkhead.
Malcolm
was teasing Travis about something he'd heard on the ship's grapevine. I used
to be surprised that Malcolm paid any attention to gossip, figured it was
beneath his notice, but he'd told me something once about loose lips sinking
ships and how it was a tactical advantage not to be wasted. Whatever.
I couldn't
help but notice how much more animated Malcolm was when he was talking with
Travis. Sure, he'd warmed up to me a hell of a lot since we started our
mission. Being stuck in the Shuttlepod and thinking we were going to die had a
big hand in that. But I still felt sometimes that our relationship went
against his better judgment; that he was almost grudging in his friendship.
Watching them bantering together reminded me of being back home with my
neighborhood pals, just hanging out, kind of like we were now. Except now, we
were light years from Earth.
One memory
in particular surfaced and I found myself looking at Malcolm and Travis with a
mischievous expression on my face. When they finally noticed, the two of them
stopped talking and exchanged wide-eyed glances.
"He
looks like Porthos after he's snatched some cheese," Travis said
suspiciously. Malcolm nodded his agreement.
"I was
just remembering something we used to do when I was a kid." I told them,
smiling a little wider.
"That
sounds harmless enough," Malcolm said, "but please don't grin like
that. You remind me of Phlox." Travis made a face.
"You
guys know what a circle jerk is?" That decided it. I'd definitely had
more than enough to drink, because the part of my brain that usually ran
interference on my mouth was apparently out of commission. Travis and Malcolm
were staring at me, bug-eyed. It was a good look for them. Malcolm recovered
first.
"That's
an interesting idea, Trip." I found I didn't care much for the thoughtful
expression on his face, and just when I was starting to feel like an insect
under a microscope, Malcolm shifted his disturbing gaze to Travis. "What
do you think, Travis?"
Travis
looked for all the world like he was on the verge of getting up and running out
of the room. Or vomiting. Probably both, considering the amount of liquor
we'd consumed. "I think this is proof that we've all had way too much to
drink."
"Or
not enough." I felt kinda bad now, making Travis get so freaked out. I
*was* a senior officer, after all. Conduct unbecoming and all that. But
before I could say anything more, Malcolm started in again.
"I
think we should." Malcolm was already reaching for his fly. So much for
his reserved British stiff upper lip. Well, it certainly wasn't his lip that
was stiff right now.
"Sounds
like a challenge to me, Travis," I teased, reaching down and fumbling with
my own zipper.
Travis
still seemed a little shell-shocked. I suppose it's not every day that two of
your commanding officers wave their erect dicks in your face. But boomers are
nothing if not adaptable.
After a
momentary hesitation and a swift sideways glance at Malcolm, Travis chuckled,
shook his head, and slid his hand down to his own fly. I had to fight with my
own clothing briefly, and by the time I dealt with it and looked up, Malcolm
and Travis had both already whipped out their penises and were eyeing each
other's developing erections appraisingly. I got my own eyeful and grinned my
Phlox-like smile at them again when they both finally looked my way.
"Holy
shit, Commander! That's the biggest dick I've ever seen!" Travis blurted
out. Malcolm's mouth fell open for a moment as he stared.
"Damn
Trip, now I know why you run around in your underwear so often," he joked
weakly. "Where on earth do you hide *that* bloody stonker? And you
complain about a lack of sex? Bollocks! You could have the entire female
complement of the ship lined up outside your door." He lowered his
voice. "And the men as well."
"What
can I say, I'm a grow-er, not a show-er," I told him glibly. "And
I'm not quite *that* shallow. Despite rumors to the contrary." I arched
my eyebrow at him in what I hoped was a fair imitation of T'Pol. "We
don't have to do this, ya know."
"What's
that saying, Malcolm? In for a penny, in for a pound?" Travis teased.
"After all, some cultures consider this a traditional rite of
passage."
"Oh,
thanks so much, Travis. Perhaps I'll mention it to the captain, so he can add
it to our first contact procedures." Malcolm's tone was verging on
snarky. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.
Travis
laughed until he nearly cried. "Only if I get to witness it. Let's do
this before I'm up on insubordination charges." I gave Malcolm another
look, shrugged, and decided to just go with it.
"Youth
before beauty, Travis," I told him with a wink. "You first."
"Okay.
Well, since she sorta started all this, Susan." All three of us started
stroking.
"Liz
Cutler."
"Hoshi."
Someone
groaned and hands stroked faster.
"Ruby."
"Hess."
"T'Pol
and her luscious bum." I'm not such a bad mimic myself.
Malcolm
moaned and trembled slightly. "Damn you, Trip."
"Captain
Archer."
"Holy
shit." Our hands were all going even faster. Malcolm looked over at
Travis, who nodded.
"Trip,"
they said in unison.
"What?"
I yelled, as they both groaned loudly and reached their peak, semen flying
everywhere. It was too much for me.
"Malcolm!"
I moaned in protest, as I climaxed so hard, I swear to God cum hit the wall
behind my back. We sat there panting for a moment, looking at each other. I
finally got my voice back. "Damn it, what the hell was that about?"
The two of
them grinned at me unrepentantly.
"Sorry,
Trip."
"Nothing
personal, sir." It didn't sound sincere.
"Damn.
I need to quit drinking." A horrifying thought occurred to me. "You
two better not say anything about this. To anyone." I wiped my hand off
and did up my pants. Travis and Malcolm were doing the same. The party was
over with a bang, so to speak, I thought ruefully. Travis stood up, made sure
he was decent, and headed for the door.
"See
you later, sirs."
"Later,
Travis."
Malcolm
wasn't in any hurry to leave; in fact, he refilled his glass and took his seat
again. He seemed to be studying me. I topped off my own glass and saw he was
still looking intently at me.
"What?"
"There's
really no one on board that you'd want a relationship with?"
"You
still on that? Nah, I can't see it working out. Besides, most of the crew
below-decks have already paired up, and like you said, Malcolm, the remaining
ladies aren't exactly my type," I paused. "What about you?"
"I
have pretty high standards for the people I get involved with."
"Oh?
So what kind of woman would you want?"
"Well,
they'd have to be someone...really special." Malcolm's voice had gotten
husky. He reached out and caught my hand in his, his fingers caressing the
back of it. "And not necessarily...female." He looked up at me
almost challengingly.
"Malcolm?"
I heard the disbelief in my voice. "Are you talkin' about...me?"
"No,
Trip, I was talking about Porthos," he snapped, "You think the
Captain would let us share him?" He looked at me darkly for a second, then
shook his head slightly, a smile curving his lips.
"I
apologize. I just thought...it seemed like a perfect time to find out if you
would be interested in that type of a relationship."
The evening
had taken a freakish turn.
"Relationship?"
I croaked.
"You
and me. We're both alone, under a lot of stress, and very far from home. You
know as well as I do that tomorrow we could all be killed. Never see home
again. Why should we deny ourselves a little pleasure? Is that so
terrible?" He tilted his head and smiled at me.
"I'm
not suggesting that we get married, Trip. It needn't be anything serious, or
even exclusive, if you like. Just a bit of fun. I can be a *lot* of fun,
Trip." He gave me a deliberately sexy look. I think I blushed. I
couldn't meet his eyes.
"Well,
I'd have to think about it." Ohmigod, did I actually say that?
"So,
you might be interested?"
"Let's
say, intrigued," I paused. "It's not something I've ever considered
before. Not my thing, you know?"
"I
understand. That'll do. For now. In the meantime, care to offer me another
drink?"