[fic] Choppers | 5
Title: Choppers 5/?
Author: girl_starfish
Rating: Definitely PG-13, perhaps higher for suggestive goings on.
Notes: Huge thanks to onthecontrary for beta-duties, and mikkeneko for general encouragement and wonderfulness. You both rock!
Even with Bart taking any opportunity he could to show off for Kon, they still made good time through the Nebula quadrant to the asteroid field.
It was there things started to go belly up.
“Bart,” said Tim in his calm, ‘I am not panicking even slightly’ voice. “I thought we agreed to go around the asteroids?”
“I’m trying,” Bart said. “But they keep following me.”
“Following?”
“Bart, man, I’m no expert, but asteroids don’t normally do that,” Kon added.
“Tell the asteroids that,” Bart said shortly, hitting the button so that the console centre viewscreens showed the full field view. “Watch.” He eased the shuttle into an angled dive bypassing the field -- and several rocks edged after him.
“What the -- are they tracking us?” Tim tightened his fingers on the console. “Bart, evade!”
“What does it look like I’m doing?” Bart said peevishly, spinning the shuttle in a reverse loop. “You might want to hold on to your seats --” he said, hitting the thrusters again to charge up and through the edge of the asteroid field.
Tim shut his eyes. They were so dead --
The loud crash and the way the shuttle rocked on impact definitely seemed to back up his theory.
“Hey!” Kon said indignantly. “That asteroid blew up! They’re not allowed to do that!”
Tim opened his eyes again. “What?”
“There’s two more on our tail,” Bart said. “I’m going to try and outrun them --”
Bernard, looking as though he’d just fallen out of bed, threw the doors to the flight deck open. “What the hell is going on?” He demanded. “It felt like we were hit --”
“Someone’s seeded the asteroid field with mines,” Tim said shortly. “Bart, I think we’ve got another up ahead --”
“Two more,” Kon said. “There and there.”
Tim squinted. The two asteroids Kon indicated didn’t seem to be any different from the other asteroids but as Bart angled the shuttle away from them, they inched after them. “How did you -- later,” Tim decided. “Bart, take us into the asteroid field.”
Kon and Bernard looked at him.
“I didn’t expect him to crack from the stress this soon into the mission,” Bernard said.
“Another week at the least I thought,” Kon said. “Shit, Bart, watch what you’re doing --”
“Concentrate,” Tim told Bart. “Find the thickest part of the field.” He scanned the back viewscreen, noting that one of their identified mines had just entered the path of a heavy asteroid. “Brace for shock in two, one --”
The shuttle shuddered as it was caught in the rush of the resulting explosion. Bart barely managed to pull it out of the way of the next asteroid.
“Dude! Warn a guy --” Kon started, but Bernard waved him to be quiet.
“No, no -- he’s using the asteroids to break up the mines,” Bernard said. “Of course! They’re tracking us, but they can’t steer --”
“The middle of the field’s likely to be unseeded,” Tim said. “No mine layer could navigate a field this size.” He stood. “Kon, you can . . . see the mines?”
Kon nodded. “Uh, yeah, I guess you could say that --”
“Take over,” Tim said, waving him to the navigator’s chair. “You’re going to keep an eye out and warn Bart of any mines.” He patted Bart’s shoulder. “Keep doing exactly what you’re doing. Stay in the centre and listen to Kon.”
Bart nodded, not taking his eyes off the viewscreen in front of him.
“Good.” Tim thumped Kon on the back. “Bernard, you’re coming with me.”
“What are we doing?” Bernard said. “Are you sure about -- I mean, Bart gets distracted pretty easily and Kon’s --”
“Chances are the asteroid field’s seeded on the other side too,” Tim said shortly. “We’re not going to be able to leave it unless we’ve got someway of taking them out before we reach them.”
“Hate to break it to you, but the only thing in the hold is our cargo, and unless you snuck something in here while I wasn’t looking I --” Bernard stopped still, staring as Tim tugged at a long, canvas covered object. “No fucking way. How did you --”
“I told Bart it was spare parts for the engine,” Tim said. “And that you might take them away if you saw him bring them on board.” He hoisted the object. “Help me get this to the gun port --”
The ship shuddered twice as they carried the gun back up from the hold. Evidently, the mines were still on their trail. “Careful,” Tim told Bernard. “You really do not want to drop this.”
“I’m careful!” Bernard grunted, setting the gun down, as they reached the port so that Tim could strip away the covers. “We really,” he said as the ship tilted madly for a moment, “need to talk to Bart about passengers and stability and -- no way. No way. That’s not a -- Dude, I think I love you.”
Tim smirked. “Long range laser,” he said. “Up to 5 Ms damage.”
“Be still my beating heart. I --”
The ship tipped again, and Tim decided it was time to concentrate on the task at hand. “I connected the wiring before we left. We just need to lift --”
“Oof!” Bernard helped maneuver the gun into place. “Just how long were you planning this?”
“I try to be prepared for any eventuality,” Tim said shortly, keying the lock down code that would prime the gun and lock it to the ship’s exterior. “Although, I was hoping I wouldn’t need to use this --”
“How could you not wish to use something this magnificent?” Bernard wondered.
Tim hit the button that opened the radio link to the control deck. “Kon, how’s it going?”
“We’ve just got the one mine on our tail still,” Kon reported. “But we’re running out of asteroid belt. Bart’s slowed down a bit but --”
“Got it,” Tim carefully swung the gun around, sliding into the gun console. The lazer hummed as it powered up, and Tim aimed it at a rock behind them. “Brace yourselves for another explosion.” He fired.
The rock he aimed at was an asteroid, not a mine, but it shattered under fire, a bit breaking off to impact and detonate the actual mine. The force of the resulting explosion jolted Tim back in his seat.
“You all right?” Bernard had barely managed to keep his own balance.
Tim nodded. “We’re good,” he reported. “Tell Bart to take us to the edge.”
“Mines at 11 o’clock, 1:15 and 3 o’clock,” Kon reported. “The rest are clear.”
“Got it.” Tim said. “We’ll head left. As soon as I fire on the mine, I want Bart to take us down and out. Got that?”
“What if you miss?” Bernard said.
Tim gave him a ‘do I look like an amateur?’ stare. “I’m not going to miss.”
“We’re ready when you are,” Kon said, sounding determined on the other end.
“Then let’s do this,” Tim said, and fired.
Bart dived, avoiding the worst of the blast and pulling clear off the field in one clean move.
“The other two are still on our tail,” Kon reported.
“I see them.” It was much easier to aim now that he could be sure what he was aiming at. His next shot caught one mine on the full, and it’s explosion took out the second.
“All right!” Bernard cheered. “We made it --”
“Bart, light speed,” Tim ordered. “Take us to the ordered co-ordinates.” He was grinning as he unhooked himself from the console. Talk about your adrenaline rush --
“Tim, my man!” Bernard high-fived him, then because that wasn’t enough, pulled him into a rough hug. “You are my hero.”
Tim laughed. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
Bernard just grinned at him. “Tim,” he said and stopped.
He paused a moment too long, and the hug shifted into an invitation of something more -- Tim stepped back hurriedly.
“Damage,” he said hastily. “We were hit by debris at least once -- have to check --”
“Are you nuts? We just cheated death --”
“Mines --”
“Same thing!” Bernard clapped him on the back. “We got to celebrate!”
“Maybe later,” Tim said firmly. “Right now, I am checking our shields.”
“If you’re sure --”
“I am.”
“Well then, don’t have too much fun with the damage report.”
The radio link was still open and Tim could hear the elated crackle of voices as Bernard joined Kon and Bart in the hold. From the sounds of things, Bernard wasn’t the only one who felt a celebration was in order. When Bernard suggested opening one of the champagne bottles, Tim turned the radio link off.
He made his back to the flight deck only after he’d finished the damage estimate, and written up a repair plan. Bart was alone in the room, curled in the pilot’s chair.
Tim leaned over to see what he was doing. “Where’s Kon?” he asked, noting that they’d reached their intended co-ordinates, and the ship was locked.
“Celebrating.”
“Oh.” Tim let his hand rest on Bart’s shoulder. “You all right?” He sounded kind of -- Tim couldn’t quite place his tone.
Bart looked up at Tim, and his eyes glittered. “That was,” he said, his voice hoarse and kind of breathy, “wonderful. I want -- no, I need to do that again.”
Tim froze. He wasn’t equipped to deal with Bart in this kind of mood.
Bart took Tim’s non reaction as invitation to press up against him. “It was so beautiful,” he said, stroking Tim’s collarbone. “The rush, the falls, the field and then going to light speed afterwards --” He sighed and dropped his hand. “Such a strong feeling. Dizzying. You know?”
Tim sighed. “If this is what adrenalin does to you, so much makes sense.” Bart blinked at him, confused, and Tim managed a smile. “Take a shower and go to bed,” he told Bart. “You don’t need to take the rest of your shift -- I’ve set the shields and the auto-alerts.”
Bart shook his head. “I’m staying here,” he said, wrapping himself around the pilot’s chair.
Tim considered this. Usually he would have no qualms about leaving Bart in the flight deck. He was certainly happiest there, and without contest the best pilot on board. But his current mood, and freedom in interpreting orders did not reassure Tim any, and if he was going to be honest, Bart rather needed that shower. Apparently, the forgetfullness inspired by their vicinity to gaseous stars did not only extend to eating but other necessities as well.
And, the treacherous voice in the back of his mind that sounded suspiciously like Bernard whispered, since there’s all probability that at some point in this journey you are going to sleep with him he may as well be clean--
Tim hated himself, and patted Bart’s arm. “Come on,” he said. “Shower for you.”
Detatching Bart from the pilot’s chair and getting him into the shower was a mission and a half, but Tim was nothing if not determined. Which was fortunate, because post-asteroid bliss had set in, and Bart’s attention span was even shakier than usual. Tim had to keep prodding him to get undressed, until in the end, he gave up and turned the shower on Bart as he was.
Bart blinked at him reproachfully, but Tim was not impressed. “This is what happens if you don’t pay attention,” he told Bart. “Get your clothes off so we can wash you.”
Bart obediently peeled off his now wet t-shirt and Tim realised that he’d made a very serious miscalculation. Under his patched and ragged clothing, Bart was lean and even appealing in a way that Tim really did not need. He watched Bart struggle with wet jeans and wondered if it were too late to go hide in his cabin --
“What’s all this?”
Tim jumped. “Kon!” And he’d never been so happy to see Kon, at least until he caught his expression. “Shower,” he explained, hastily. “Bart. He was kind of --”
Kon nodded as if this made all the sense in the world. “I told you,” he informed Bart, ruffling his wet hair. “No one likes a stinky pilot.”
Bart retaliated indignantly. Tim swallowed. Kon was shirtless, and this wasn’t helping matters any. “I’ll just go --” he started.
“Tim, I’ll hold him still, you do his hair.” Kon suggested, tucking Bart firmly under one arm. “If you don’t like this, maybe you should remember to shower by yourself,” he told Bart.
“You’re not the boss of me! I --” Bart spluttered as Kon stuck him back under the showerhead.
“Tim?”
Tim stopped staring. “The shampoo. Right.”
Washing Bart’s hair gave Tim flashbacks to being three. It was surprisingly pleasant, and he was perhaps a bit more thorough that actually necessary. “There,” he said finally, stepping Bart.
Kon parked Bart under the showerhead. “You can rinse out yourself,” he said, undoing his own, now drenched, jeans and kicking them aside. “Tim? Where are you going?”
“Well it’s -- and you’re --”
Kon patted Tim’s arm. “There’s room enough,” he said. “And you’re that wet, you might as well.”
Tim hesitated.
“You’re not too good to shower with us ‘cause we’re not human?”
“Of course not,” Tim said indignantly. “I just, well --”
“So?”
Bart took dire revenge at that moment, turning the showerhead directly on Kon, and he had to go steal it back.
Tim hesitated, then slowly peeled off his wet shirt. This was no different from the common showers at the Officer’s Dorm, he told himself firmly. True, most of his fellow pilots were not as well built as Kon, or as interesting as Bart, but the principle was the same. And it wasn’t like anything would happen. Kon was there.
As he hesitantly stepped out of his trousers he promptly got a blast of water full in the face. Tim spluttered indignantly.
“Oops. Sorry, man.”
“You did that on purpose,” Tim accused and from then on, it was war.
---
By the time they’d finished, there was more water outside the shower than in it, but Kon had said he didn’t mind cleaning it up and Bart was nothing if not squeaky clean. Tim rinsed his own hair, trying to remember the last time he’d felt this comfortable with himself, this relaxed.
“Wash your back for you?” Kon asked, not waiting for a reply before plonking his soapy hands down on Tim’s shoulders. Tim made an appreciative noise. Maybe Kon wasn’t as skilled at that as Bernard, but his hands were warm and comfortable. Just as he was beginning to think that it might be worthwhile to invest in friends if this kind of non-sexual contact was the result, Kon’s hand reached his hip -- and stayed there.
Tim swallowed. “Kon,” he said. “What are you --”
“You were thinking this,” Kon said, voice low and seductive. “I could see it on your face.” His free arm stroked Tim’s chest in what was definitely a caress, pulling him back against Kon’s warm body.
Tim resisted the urge to lean into him. “Maybe I was,” he said. “Doesn’t mean I’m going to -- that I want to --” Damn, but it was hard to breathe.
Kon’s hand skirted lower, and Tim had to fight quite hard to form coherent thoughts. “Bart,” he said. “What about Bart?” His attention span was sketchy, but even he would notice two people going at it in the same room as him --
This might not have been the deterrent he was hoping for. Bart was watching them thoughtfully, and as Tim looked up, Bart let his towel drop to the floor to walk over to them.
“He has to learn sometime,” Kon said, and Tim gasped weakly as Bart slid up against him, so he was trapped either side by warm, wet skin and insistent hands.
“I still don’t think--”
“You think too much,” Bart said, wrapping his arms around Tim’s neck to kiss him.
Tim could still have resisted, but his body had decided to join the conspiracy against him and he somehow didn’t want to stop it.
---
Author: girl_starfish
Rating: Definitely PG-13, perhaps higher for suggestive goings on.
Notes: Huge thanks to onthecontrary for beta-duties, and mikkeneko for general encouragement and wonderfulness. You both rock!
Even with Bart taking any opportunity he could to show off for Kon, they still made good time through the Nebula quadrant to the asteroid field.
It was there things started to go belly up.
“Bart,” said Tim in his calm, ‘I am not panicking even slightly’ voice. “I thought we agreed to go around the asteroids?”
“I’m trying,” Bart said. “But they keep following me.”
“Following?”
“Bart, man, I’m no expert, but asteroids don’t normally do that,” Kon added.
“Tell the asteroids that,” Bart said shortly, hitting the button so that the console centre viewscreens showed the full field view. “Watch.” He eased the shuttle into an angled dive bypassing the field -- and several rocks edged after him.
“What the -- are they tracking us?” Tim tightened his fingers on the console. “Bart, evade!”
“What does it look like I’m doing?” Bart said peevishly, spinning the shuttle in a reverse loop. “You might want to hold on to your seats --” he said, hitting the thrusters again to charge up and through the edge of the asteroid field.
Tim shut his eyes. They were so dead --
The loud crash and the way the shuttle rocked on impact definitely seemed to back up his theory.
“Hey!” Kon said indignantly. “That asteroid blew up! They’re not allowed to do that!”
Tim opened his eyes again. “What?”
“There’s two more on our tail,” Bart said. “I’m going to try and outrun them --”
Bernard, looking as though he’d just fallen out of bed, threw the doors to the flight deck open. “What the hell is going on?” He demanded. “It felt like we were hit --”
“Someone’s seeded the asteroid field with mines,” Tim said shortly. “Bart, I think we’ve got another up ahead --”
“Two more,” Kon said. “There and there.”
Tim squinted. The two asteroids Kon indicated didn’t seem to be any different from the other asteroids but as Bart angled the shuttle away from them, they inched after them. “How did you -- later,” Tim decided. “Bart, take us into the asteroid field.”
Kon and Bernard looked at him.
“I didn’t expect him to crack from the stress this soon into the mission,” Bernard said.
“Another week at the least I thought,” Kon said. “Shit, Bart, watch what you’re doing --”
“Concentrate,” Tim told Bart. “Find the thickest part of the field.” He scanned the back viewscreen, noting that one of their identified mines had just entered the path of a heavy asteroid. “Brace for shock in two, one --”
The shuttle shuddered as it was caught in the rush of the resulting explosion. Bart barely managed to pull it out of the way of the next asteroid.
“Dude! Warn a guy --” Kon started, but Bernard waved him to be quiet.
“No, no -- he’s using the asteroids to break up the mines,” Bernard said. “Of course! They’re tracking us, but they can’t steer --”
“The middle of the field’s likely to be unseeded,” Tim said. “No mine layer could navigate a field this size.” He stood. “Kon, you can . . . see the mines?”
Kon nodded. “Uh, yeah, I guess you could say that --”
“Take over,” Tim said, waving him to the navigator’s chair. “You’re going to keep an eye out and warn Bart of any mines.” He patted Bart’s shoulder. “Keep doing exactly what you’re doing. Stay in the centre and listen to Kon.”
Bart nodded, not taking his eyes off the viewscreen in front of him.
“Good.” Tim thumped Kon on the back. “Bernard, you’re coming with me.”
“What are we doing?” Bernard said. “Are you sure about -- I mean, Bart gets distracted pretty easily and Kon’s --”
“Chances are the asteroid field’s seeded on the other side too,” Tim said shortly. “We’re not going to be able to leave it unless we’ve got someway of taking them out before we reach them.”
“Hate to break it to you, but the only thing in the hold is our cargo, and unless you snuck something in here while I wasn’t looking I --” Bernard stopped still, staring as Tim tugged at a long, canvas covered object. “No fucking way. How did you --”
“I told Bart it was spare parts for the engine,” Tim said. “And that you might take them away if you saw him bring them on board.” He hoisted the object. “Help me get this to the gun port --”
The ship shuddered twice as they carried the gun back up from the hold. Evidently, the mines were still on their trail. “Careful,” Tim told Bernard. “You really do not want to drop this.”
“I’m careful!” Bernard grunted, setting the gun down, as they reached the port so that Tim could strip away the covers. “We really,” he said as the ship tilted madly for a moment, “need to talk to Bart about passengers and stability and -- no way. No way. That’s not a -- Dude, I think I love you.”
Tim smirked. “Long range laser,” he said. “Up to 5 Ms damage.”
“Be still my beating heart. I --”
The ship tipped again, and Tim decided it was time to concentrate on the task at hand. “I connected the wiring before we left. We just need to lift --”
“Oof!” Bernard helped maneuver the gun into place. “Just how long were you planning this?”
“I try to be prepared for any eventuality,” Tim said shortly, keying the lock down code that would prime the gun and lock it to the ship’s exterior. “Although, I was hoping I wouldn’t need to use this --”
“How could you not wish to use something this magnificent?” Bernard wondered.
Tim hit the button that opened the radio link to the control deck. “Kon, how’s it going?”
“We’ve just got the one mine on our tail still,” Kon reported. “But we’re running out of asteroid belt. Bart’s slowed down a bit but --”
“Got it,” Tim carefully swung the gun around, sliding into the gun console. The lazer hummed as it powered up, and Tim aimed it at a rock behind them. “Brace yourselves for another explosion.” He fired.
The rock he aimed at was an asteroid, not a mine, but it shattered under fire, a bit breaking off to impact and detonate the actual mine. The force of the resulting explosion jolted Tim back in his seat.
“You all right?” Bernard had barely managed to keep his own balance.
Tim nodded. “We’re good,” he reported. “Tell Bart to take us to the edge.”
“Mines at 11 o’clock, 1:15 and 3 o’clock,” Kon reported. “The rest are clear.”
“Got it.” Tim said. “We’ll head left. As soon as I fire on the mine, I want Bart to take us down and out. Got that?”
“What if you miss?” Bernard said.
Tim gave him a ‘do I look like an amateur?’ stare. “I’m not going to miss.”
“We’re ready when you are,” Kon said, sounding determined on the other end.
“Then let’s do this,” Tim said, and fired.
Bart dived, avoiding the worst of the blast and pulling clear off the field in one clean move.
“The other two are still on our tail,” Kon reported.
“I see them.” It was much easier to aim now that he could be sure what he was aiming at. His next shot caught one mine on the full, and it’s explosion took out the second.
“All right!” Bernard cheered. “We made it --”
“Bart, light speed,” Tim ordered. “Take us to the ordered co-ordinates.” He was grinning as he unhooked himself from the console. Talk about your adrenaline rush --
“Tim, my man!” Bernard high-fived him, then because that wasn’t enough, pulled him into a rough hug. “You are my hero.”
Tim laughed. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
Bernard just grinned at him. “Tim,” he said and stopped.
He paused a moment too long, and the hug shifted into an invitation of something more -- Tim stepped back hurriedly.
“Damage,” he said hastily. “We were hit by debris at least once -- have to check --”
“Are you nuts? We just cheated death --”
“Mines --”
“Same thing!” Bernard clapped him on the back. “We got to celebrate!”
“Maybe later,” Tim said firmly. “Right now, I am checking our shields.”
“If you’re sure --”
“I am.”
“Well then, don’t have too much fun with the damage report.”
The radio link was still open and Tim could hear the elated crackle of voices as Bernard joined Kon and Bart in the hold. From the sounds of things, Bernard wasn’t the only one who felt a celebration was in order. When Bernard suggested opening one of the champagne bottles, Tim turned the radio link off.
He made his back to the flight deck only after he’d finished the damage estimate, and written up a repair plan. Bart was alone in the room, curled in the pilot’s chair.
Tim leaned over to see what he was doing. “Where’s Kon?” he asked, noting that they’d reached their intended co-ordinates, and the ship was locked.
“Celebrating.”
“Oh.” Tim let his hand rest on Bart’s shoulder. “You all right?” He sounded kind of -- Tim couldn’t quite place his tone.
Bart looked up at Tim, and his eyes glittered. “That was,” he said, his voice hoarse and kind of breathy, “wonderful. I want -- no, I need to do that again.”
Tim froze. He wasn’t equipped to deal with Bart in this kind of mood.
Bart took Tim’s non reaction as invitation to press up against him. “It was so beautiful,” he said, stroking Tim’s collarbone. “The rush, the falls, the field and then going to light speed afterwards --” He sighed and dropped his hand. “Such a strong feeling. Dizzying. You know?”
Tim sighed. “If this is what adrenalin does to you, so much makes sense.” Bart blinked at him, confused, and Tim managed a smile. “Take a shower and go to bed,” he told Bart. “You don’t need to take the rest of your shift -- I’ve set the shields and the auto-alerts.”
Bart shook his head. “I’m staying here,” he said, wrapping himself around the pilot’s chair.
Tim considered this. Usually he would have no qualms about leaving Bart in the flight deck. He was certainly happiest there, and without contest the best pilot on board. But his current mood, and freedom in interpreting orders did not reassure Tim any, and if he was going to be honest, Bart rather needed that shower. Apparently, the forgetfullness inspired by their vicinity to gaseous stars did not only extend to eating but other necessities as well.
And, the treacherous voice in the back of his mind that sounded suspiciously like Bernard whispered, since there’s all probability that at some point in this journey you are going to sleep with him he may as well be clean--
Tim hated himself, and patted Bart’s arm. “Come on,” he said. “Shower for you.”
Detatching Bart from the pilot’s chair and getting him into the shower was a mission and a half, but Tim was nothing if not determined. Which was fortunate, because post-asteroid bliss had set in, and Bart’s attention span was even shakier than usual. Tim had to keep prodding him to get undressed, until in the end, he gave up and turned the shower on Bart as he was.
Bart blinked at him reproachfully, but Tim was not impressed. “This is what happens if you don’t pay attention,” he told Bart. “Get your clothes off so we can wash you.”
Bart obediently peeled off his now wet t-shirt and Tim realised that he’d made a very serious miscalculation. Under his patched and ragged clothing, Bart was lean and even appealing in a way that Tim really did not need. He watched Bart struggle with wet jeans and wondered if it were too late to go hide in his cabin --
“What’s all this?”
Tim jumped. “Kon!” And he’d never been so happy to see Kon, at least until he caught his expression. “Shower,” he explained, hastily. “Bart. He was kind of --”
Kon nodded as if this made all the sense in the world. “I told you,” he informed Bart, ruffling his wet hair. “No one likes a stinky pilot.”
Bart retaliated indignantly. Tim swallowed. Kon was shirtless, and this wasn’t helping matters any. “I’ll just go --” he started.
“Tim, I’ll hold him still, you do his hair.” Kon suggested, tucking Bart firmly under one arm. “If you don’t like this, maybe you should remember to shower by yourself,” he told Bart.
“You’re not the boss of me! I --” Bart spluttered as Kon stuck him back under the showerhead.
“Tim?”
Tim stopped staring. “The shampoo. Right.”
Washing Bart’s hair gave Tim flashbacks to being three. It was surprisingly pleasant, and he was perhaps a bit more thorough that actually necessary. “There,” he said finally, stepping Bart.
Kon parked Bart under the showerhead. “You can rinse out yourself,” he said, undoing his own, now drenched, jeans and kicking them aside. “Tim? Where are you going?”
“Well it’s -- and you’re --”
Kon patted Tim’s arm. “There’s room enough,” he said. “And you’re that wet, you might as well.”
Tim hesitated.
“You’re not too good to shower with us ‘cause we’re not human?”
“Of course not,” Tim said indignantly. “I just, well --”
“So?”
Bart took dire revenge at that moment, turning the showerhead directly on Kon, and he had to go steal it back.
Tim hesitated, then slowly peeled off his wet shirt. This was no different from the common showers at the Officer’s Dorm, he told himself firmly. True, most of his fellow pilots were not as well built as Kon, or as interesting as Bart, but the principle was the same. And it wasn’t like anything would happen. Kon was there.
As he hesitantly stepped out of his trousers he promptly got a blast of water full in the face. Tim spluttered indignantly.
“Oops. Sorry, man.”
“You did that on purpose,” Tim accused and from then on, it was war.
---
By the time they’d finished, there was more water outside the shower than in it, but Kon had said he didn’t mind cleaning it up and Bart was nothing if not squeaky clean. Tim rinsed his own hair, trying to remember the last time he’d felt this comfortable with himself, this relaxed.
“Wash your back for you?” Kon asked, not waiting for a reply before plonking his soapy hands down on Tim’s shoulders. Tim made an appreciative noise. Maybe Kon wasn’t as skilled at that as Bernard, but his hands were warm and comfortable. Just as he was beginning to think that it might be worthwhile to invest in friends if this kind of non-sexual contact was the result, Kon’s hand reached his hip -- and stayed there.
Tim swallowed. “Kon,” he said. “What are you --”
“You were thinking this,” Kon said, voice low and seductive. “I could see it on your face.” His free arm stroked Tim’s chest in what was definitely a caress, pulling him back against Kon’s warm body.
Tim resisted the urge to lean into him. “Maybe I was,” he said. “Doesn’t mean I’m going to -- that I want to --” Damn, but it was hard to breathe.
Kon’s hand skirted lower, and Tim had to fight quite hard to form coherent thoughts. “Bart,” he said. “What about Bart?” His attention span was sketchy, but even he would notice two people going at it in the same room as him --
This might not have been the deterrent he was hoping for. Bart was watching them thoughtfully, and as Tim looked up, Bart let his towel drop to the floor to walk over to them.
“He has to learn sometime,” Kon said, and Tim gasped weakly as Bart slid up against him, so he was trapped either side by warm, wet skin and insistent hands.
“I still don’t think--”
“You think too much,” Bart said, wrapping his arms around Tim’s neck to kiss him.
Tim could still have resisted, but his body had decided to join the conspiracy against him and he somehow didn’t want to stop it.
---