Voluntary Madness

by Amiroq
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Disclaimer: Character theft? Me? Never!

Notes: This is a prequel to 'O What a Hell!'. That makes it the first in the Hell series, even though it was the third one written. And, being about alcohol, this had so many different titles. Here are some I discarded: Candy is Dandy; Liquor is Quicker; E'en the Valiant; So Good as Drink.

Voluntary Madness (c) Amiroq. aka Gypzy, October 2001

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Tom had been awake, and had even managed to rid himself of his hangover, for some time before Harry stumbled sleepily out of the bedroom. Tom tossed him a hypo without looking directly at him, and he didn't catch it n time.

"Thanks," he said when it was empty. "God, we were fucked last night."

"Pretty much." He continued staring into his coffee. Fucked enough to continue drinking after getting kicked out of Sandrine's by Chakotay. Fucked enough to play drinking games. Fucked enough to kiss. And. . . fucked enough to not be able to think of anything else ever since. Well, no, maybe that was only him.

Harry got a coffee of his own from the replicator and sat down next to Tom on the couch. He could feel the warmth of his friend's thigh next to his, and wondered for the 35th time that morning how good a kisser he was when he was sober. "I can just imagine how awkward this would be if we weren't both straight," Harry said eventually, breaking into his fantasy.

Tom looked directly at him for the first time that morning. And kept looking. Harry didn't know he was bi? Ah, fuck, Harry didn't know. Why hadn't he told him? He tried to remember... Okay, no reason. He'd just never gotten around to mentioning it.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Nothing. Just. . . a stud like you, you never thought about kissing another guy?"

Harry shook his head. "Never. You?"

"Ah, a couple of times. When I was really drunk."

Harry laughed. "Oh, I've been there." He gulped down the remainder of his coffee and stood up. "You want to go grab some breakfast, see how many people stop talking when we go in?"

Tom forced himself to grin. "Sounds like fun," he said jauntily. Even for a fuckup like me, he added silently.

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End


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