Part XVI : Malcolm
He was a fucking dead man.
My gaze swung from he-who-has-REALLY-BAD-TIMING to Hoshi. Wonderfully mussed, incredibly sexy...I had to fight down the urge to grab her and haul her off to some other deserted part of the ship.
Like my quarters.
Trip couldn't come into my quarters.
I have a lock on my door.
Locks are good.
Locking Trip up would be very good.
I looked at Trip, the possibilities of tying him up and locking him in a dark storage room--no, an airlock!--running through my mind. I could jettison him and his damn radar out into space and no one would be able to find him.
Because in space no one could hear you scream.
Nah, we'd make a recording of his screaming for posterity.
Some of these thoughts must have made it to my face because Trip turned this wonderful shade of white and gulped. "I uh, heh...I'm gonna go now, guys. Um...Carry on." And the man with incredibly bad timing did a 360 and scooted away as fast as possible.
This left sexy, rumpled Hoshi and I alone in the sweet spot. Don't jump her. Don't jump her. Her breaths were coming in these sexy little pants--stop thinking about it! Your hormones do not rule you!
Nope, because she rules them and all she would have to do is crook one of those slender fingers at you and you'd go running, wouldn't you, Malcolm? I ran a hand over my face in a pathetic attempt to regain control. Then I looked at her again.
So much for control.
She needed to get out of here before I jumped her again. I looked at her. "Hoshi?" Doing fine so far.
"Yeah?" She looked at me, a hickey peeking out from under her waterfall of black hair. My resolve started to crack.
"There are probably engineers crawling all over the place." Breathe. God, where did the air go?
"Yeah." Don't focus on her lips. Look somewhere else. Shit! Not her chest, stupid! Her eyes. Her eyes are good.
Her eyes are gorgeous.
I was sooo screwed. "Hoshi?" I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
"Yes?"
"You have to go." My control was unraveling faster and faster.
"Excuse me?"
My eyes flew open and she looked shocked for a moment before understanding flooded her face.
"You have to go now or neither of us will be leaving any time soon."
"How do I--"
I closed my eyes again and pointed to the ladder below us.
"I'll...see you later, Malcolm." I heard her scramble down the ladder.
"See ya later, Hoshi." Lots and lots of cold showers later.
*****
There is not enough cold water on this damn ship. The only thing stopping me from myself was bridge duty in the morning and a desperate need for sleep.
Yeah, maybe sleep would help. I crawled into bed, turned off the light, and closed my eyes...
Only to have visions of Hoshi dancing in my head.
"Oh no. No, come on!" I looked up at the ceiling begging for divine intervention. "I've been a good boy haven't I? I mean there's no one in bed with me. Please just let me get some sleep." I closed my eyes and turned over onto my stomach.
There she was again, smiling and hula dancing, of all things. She can really shake her hips.
"IT'S NOT FAIR!!" I got up and put some sweatpants and a shirt on. If I wasn't going to be able to get any sleep I might as well get some work done. Grabbing a padd full of armory schematics I trudged down to the mess hall and heat up the coffee dispenser.
I was deep into my second pot, my mind in a nice, numbed state, because of my padds when I heard his voice.
"I guess after making out in zero-g nothing else can compare, huh?"
I surreptitiously looked around.
No Hoshi in sight.
Trip's radar must have gone screwy. And why the hell was he so damn cheerful at 3 a.m.?! was being denied Hoshi and he was cheerful!
Something was horribly wrong with the universe.
And why the hell was he slinking into my corner of it?
I sighed. "Trip?" I glared at him, the cup of coffee trembling in my hand.
"Yeah, Malcolm?" He said, grinning like a loon with a plate full of pie.
"Run."
"Run?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because if you don't, they won't find your body."
See Trip. See Trip go pale. See Trip run out of the mess hall.
See Malcolm. See Malcolm smile malevolently. See Malcolm take images of a dead Trip back to his quarters. See Malcolm actually get some sleep.
Sleep is good.
*****
Four hours of sleep, quite frankly, just wasn't enough. Add the two pots of coffee and I was yawning my way to the Bridge at 8 a.m. I managed to stagger into the turbolift and leaned against the wall closing my eyes. I felt the lift jerk slightly and move.
It took me a moment to realize the turbolift had moved in the wrong direction. The doors opened and someone stepped on as I hid a yawn behind my hand.
The doors closed, but instead of a smooth glide up or down, the tube dropped several feet before stopping abruptly, the lights cutting out and throwing the other occupant into me.
As soon as I smelled her perfume I knew I was in trouble.
"Morning, Hoshi," I said wrapping my arms around familiar curves and hunkering down the floor in case the lift went crazy again.
It just couldn't be easy, could it?
He was a fucking dead man.
My gaze swung from he-who-has-REALLY-BAD-TIMING to Hoshi. Wonderfully mussed, incredibly sexy...I had to fight down the urge to grab her and haul her off to some other deserted part of the ship.
Like my quarters.
Trip couldn't come into my quarters.
I have a lock on my door.
Locks are good.
Locking Trip up would be very good.
I looked at Trip, the possibilities of tying him up and locking him in a dark storage room--no, an airlock!--running through my mind. I could jettison him and his damn radar out into space and no one would be able to find him.
Because in space no one could hear you scream.
Nah, we'd make a recording of his screaming for posterity.
Some of these thoughts must have made it to my face because Trip turned this wonderful shade of white and gulped. "I uh, heh...I'm gonna go now, guys. Um...Carry on." And the man with incredibly bad timing did a 360 and scooted away as fast as possible.
This left sexy, rumpled Hoshi and I alone in the sweet spot. Don't jump her. Don't jump her. Her breaths were coming in these sexy little pants--stop thinking about it! Your hormones do not rule you!
Nope, because she rules them and all she would have to do is crook one of those slender fingers at you and you'd go running, wouldn't you, Malcolm? I ran a hand over my face in a pathetic attempt to regain control. Then I looked at her again.
So much for control.
She needed to get out of here before I jumped her again. I looked at her. "Hoshi?" Doing fine so far.
"Yeah?" She looked at me, a hickey peeking out from under her waterfall of black hair. My resolve started to crack.
"There are probably engineers crawling all over the place." Breathe. God, where did the air go?
"Yeah." Don't focus on her lips. Look somewhere else. Shit! Not her chest, stupid! Her eyes. Her eyes are good.
Her eyes are gorgeous.
I was sooo screwed. "Hoshi?" I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
"Yes?"
"You have to go." My control was unraveling faster and faster.
"Excuse me?"
My eyes flew open and she looked shocked for a moment before understanding flooded her face.
"You have to go now or neither of us will be leaving any time soon."
"How do I--"
I closed my eyes again and pointed to the ladder below us.
"I'll...see you later, Malcolm." I heard her scramble down the ladder.
"See ya later, Hoshi." Lots and lots of cold showers later.
*****
There is not enough cold water on this damn ship. The only thing stopping me from myself was bridge duty in the morning and a desperate need for sleep.
Yeah, maybe sleep would help. I crawled into bed, turned off the light, and closed my eyes...
Only to have visions of Hoshi dancing in my head.
"Oh no. No, come on!" I looked up at the ceiling begging for divine intervention. "I've been a good boy haven't I? I mean there's no one in bed with me. Please just let me get some sleep." I closed my eyes and turned over onto my stomach.
There she was again, smiling and hula dancing, of all things. She can really shake her hips.
"IT'S NOT FAIR!!" I got up and put some sweatpants and a shirt on. If I wasn't going to be able to get any sleep I might as well get some work done. Grabbing a padd full of armory schematics I trudged down to the mess hall and heat up the coffee dispenser.
I was deep into my second pot, my mind in a nice, numbed state, because of my padds when I heard his voice.
"I guess after making out in zero-g nothing else can compare, huh?"
I surreptitiously looked around.
No Hoshi in sight.
Trip's radar must have gone screwy. And why the hell was he so damn cheerful at 3 a.m.?! was being denied Hoshi and he was cheerful!
Something was horribly wrong with the universe.
And why the hell was he slinking into my corner of it?
I sighed. "Trip?" I glared at him, the cup of coffee trembling in my hand.
"Yeah, Malcolm?" He said, grinning like a loon with a plate full of pie.
"Run."
"Run?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because if you don't, they won't find your body."
See Trip. See Trip go pale. See Trip run out of the mess hall.
See Malcolm. See Malcolm smile malevolently. See Malcolm take images of a dead Trip back to his quarters. See Malcolm actually get some sleep.
Sleep is good.
*****
Four hours of sleep, quite frankly, just wasn't enough. Add the two pots of coffee and I was yawning my way to the Bridge at 8 a.m. I managed to stagger into the turbolift and leaned against the wall closing my eyes. I felt the lift jerk slightly and move.
It took me a moment to realize the turbolift had moved in the wrong direction. The doors opened and someone stepped on as I hid a yawn behind my hand.
The doors closed, but instead of a smooth glide up or down, the tube dropped several feet before stopping abruptly, the lights cutting out and throwing the other occupant into me.
As soon as I smelled her perfume I knew I was in trouble.
"Morning, Hoshi," I said wrapping my arms around familiar curves and hunkering down the floor in case the lift went crazy again.
It just couldn't be easy, could it?