The night in with the posse went some way to healing the rift that had been growing between Rimmer and Lister. Although Rimmer still obviously harboured a deep dislike – or perhaps more accurately, distrust – of Alex, and made no secret of showing it, his behaviour towards Lister marginally improved. It was a relief all round and some of the tension that had been building up within the group was dispelled. Kochanski and the Cat even started to join Lister and Alex for drinks on occasion, now that they didn't feel so much that they were taking sides.

Which was all good. Of course it was.

It just meant that on these occasions, Lister and Alex had to be a little more discreet about...the other side of their friendship.

Out in public, or when spending time together in the company of their other friends, they behaved as if they were just two normal guys who liked each other and were good friends. When they were alone, they couldn't keep their hands off each other.

It made things slightly difficult, because now, of course, they wanted to spend even more time together than they usually did; which was hard to do without making people suspicious. There were only so many times Lister could claim to have got drunk and passed out in Alex's room and it was getting trickier and trickier to think of convincing reasons why he had stayed over instead of making the ten minute journey back to his own bed. More often than not, they had to accept the fact that they couldn't spend the whole night together and had to make the most of the few hours they had.

But however annoying and inconvenient the need for secrecy was, it was also quite thrilling. The possibility of discovery was like a sprinkling of chilli powder in an already spicy concoction. It just added the final touch of heat to something that was already liable to blow-up at any second.

Sometimes it was the simple fear of somebody walking in on them, or perhaps seeing past their facade of a 'normal' friendship, in the way they looked at each other and interacted. And sometimes it was the fact that, now and then, they just couldn't help playing risky little games with each other.

One night, while playing poker with a group of Alex's mates, Lister had begun to feel a gentle stroking on his thigh beneath the table. Silently, he let his eyes flick to Alex; who was sitting beside him with an expression of angelic innocence, studying his cards. By that time, the group had had enough beer and were concentrating hard enough on the game not to notice anything, but that wouldn't necessarily last. "You want to watch that hand, Al," Lister remarked sweetly, nodding to the cards he held loosely in front of him, "Someone'll see."

"They haven't seen yet," he replied cheerfully, moving his cards closer to himself and letting his hand move higher onto Lister's thigh, his fingers caressing him gently. It wasn't long before Lister was trapped at the table; any attempt to get up would have revealed he had an achingly huge hard-on.

By the time the game was over and the others had left, they had both been steaming and the sex had been just about the best they'd ever had.

On this particular day, they were meant to be meeting at the ship's cinema to see a movie, but Alex had decided to stop by Lister's quarters instead so they could walk up together. Lister was fairly surprised. Alex very rarely came to his, mainly because of the hostility that had steadily grown up between him and Rimmer; who had made it very clear on the few occasions he had been round that he didn't want him there. Luckily, on this occasion, Rimmer had gone out for a run.

"You're brave," Lister remarked, "I thought you wouldn't come in here without a bullet-proof vest anymore."

"I thought I'd take a chance on it. After all, you're nearly ready, aren't you?"

"Yeah, just about." He turned to get his jacket, and as he did so he felt Alex's arms slip around his waist. "Easy, tiger," he said with a smile. Alex nuzzled the back of his neck, "Mmmm...You smell of coconut milk."

"I just had a shower. Come on, Rimmer will be back any minute."

"Really?" Alex purred, one hand sliding down towards Lister's crotch.

"I'm not kidding, man! He's due back any second. Trust me on this. I know how Rimmer times his running. I've lived with it for six years."

"How are you not clinically insane?" Alex kissed his ear.

"I've often asked myself the same thing. Now, cut it out, we'll miss the trailers."

"Y'know, we've never done it in your quarters before," Alex murmured, and now his fingers had found what they were looking for and were stroking softly, persuasively. "We don't have time! If Rimmer finds us..."

"What if he does? What do you think he'd do?"

"I think he'd probably drop dead of shock."

"Sounds good to me."

"Hey, I spent too long listening to Rimmer whinge about it being all my fault the last time he died. I don't want to go through it again!"

"Come on, just quickly..."

"Alex..."

But it was useless arguing. He was already rock hard and once Alex had unzipped him and eased him free of his boxers there was no going back. "Ah, smeg..." he murmured, "Just be quick, okay?"

"I'll do my best," Alex whispered, his other hand taking Lister's and guiding it back to his own erection.

They watched themselves in the mirror as they stroked and pumped each other; the sight doubling their pleasure. Lister could feel his heart thumping crazily, could feel Alex's doing the same. Rimmer could walk in any second and see this. There's no way to hide what you're doing. If he comes in now it's all over. You should stop now while you still have time...

But of course, it was too late to stop. For a moment, Lister pictured in his head the image of Rimmer frozen in shock in the doorway, staring at them in disbelief. If he did come in, there would be no point stopping, would there? He would have already seen what they were doing, so they may as well finish. Maybe he wouldn't be so shocked. Maybe he'd watch. Maybe he'd join in...

He felt the familiar tingling starting in his balls, moving slowly up. He whimpered. "Alex...I'm gonna come...I can feel it..."

"I'm almost there..." Alex panted,

"Christ, Alex, hurry...! He's going to catch us! He'll be here any second!"

"I know! I know! Just don't stop!"

"I'm...I'm...!" Lister gave up trying to form the sentence and just let out an ecstatic cry as he came. Seconds later, Alex tensed and groaned heavily and Lister felt something hot and wet splashing against his buttocks.

"Urgh..." Lister shook himself, "We have to clean this up. Hurry."

"Not one to prolong the moment, are you?" Alex smiled a contented post-coital smile.

"Now!"

Quickly, they grabbed wads of toilet roll and wiped themselves clean. Alex was just zipping up his jeans and Lister was dumping the cum-sodden paper in the bin, when the door whooshed open and Rimmer walked in. God, talk about in the nick of time, Lister thought. He and Alex looked at each other, breathed a sigh of relief and burst out laughing. Rimmer stopped and glared at them. "What's so funny?" Lister wiped his eyes,

"Sorry, Rimmer. It's just been one of those days," he said apologetically.

Rimmer and Alex regarded each other coldly. "Hello, there," Rimmer said sharply. "Hello," Alex replied coolly.

"How are you?"

"Well. Thank you. And you?"

"Tickety-boo," Rimmer replied frostily.

"We were just on our way out."

"Well, don't let me stop you."

Lister shook his head, "Come on, Al. We're going to the cinema, Rimmer, if you want to come."

"No, thank you. I have some revision to do." Rimmer's tone remained a little chilly, but not as glacial as it had been when he was addressing Alex. He was obviously a little miffed about the laughter. "I'll see you later."

"Okay."

Lister and Alex were halfway down the corridor before they trusted themselves to speak again. "Close one, huh?" Alex raised an eyebrow. Lister thumped him on the arm, "I ought to strangle you! I can't believe we got away with that!"

They got away with it again half an hour later in the back row of the cinema.