by Bingley
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Archiving: PKSP, PK Elite, ASCEML. Elsewhere, please ask me first. I'm unlikely to say no.

Feedback: gimme, gimme.

Disclaimer: Paramount owns Voyager and all who sail in her. This is just for fun, not to infringe their copyright or make a profit.

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Tom Paris lay on the bed, his eyes closed, concentrating on his physical sensations. His fists clenched and the veins in his neck stood out as he thrust upward into the pumping hand of the green- skinned pleasure boy.

"Yessss," he thought, "I'm hard. Now if only I can get there before it goes away again. Nearly. Nearly. It's coming. One - more - thrust."

He wasn't really sure whether his groan as a trickle of semen leaked out of his cock was one of pain or pleasure. As his thumping heart slowed down, he became aware again of the windowless dingy cubicle with peeling paint on its inadequately sound-proofed walls. The boy, who had been sitting cross-legged, gracefully slipped round to lie next to him and kissed him gently. "Alcharin?"

Tom felt his face flush. "You know?"

The boy raised himself on one elbow to look down at Tom's face. "Honoured guest, my brother and I may be stuck on this godforsaken space station where our art does not receive the appreciation it deserves, but we are fully qualified. It is a matter of professional honour that we know all there is to know of the sexual physiology and psychology of all the species who may become our guests."

Tom reached up to stroke his cheek. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disparage your abilities."

The boy bobbed his head in acknowledgement of the apology. "When did you get out of prison?"

"A week ago."

"And how long were you inside for?"

"A year."

The boy's eyes widened. "Honoured guest, you must be strong indeed. Normally it takes ten days for every year he was in prison for a man to become potent again after the weekly alcharin injections, and the alcharin in the food. When you have fully recovered you must come and see me again and we shall make such joy together."

The boy got off the bed and as he started to wipe Tom down with warm water from a damp cloth the partition separating them from the next-door cubicle started to shake. Tom could hear the panting from next door getting faster and faster and increasing in volume until it became a full-throated roar which lasted several minutes before suddenly cutting off. It was followed by whooping gasps as whoever it was fought for breath and then laughed.

"My brother's guest is enjoying the encounter," said Tom's boy. "We are twins. Come back when you have recovered your strength and enjoy us both."

Tom felt something stir as he contemplated that idea. Perhaps he would come back if he had the chance after this trip to the Badlands was over. As the boy washed Tom's face, Tom rolled on to his side and licked and nuzzled the boy's cock which was hanging at just the right height. The boy stroked his hair as Tom pulled the cock into his mouth, sucked a couple of times and then let it go. He stood up, pulled the boy towards him for a long kiss, and then got dressed in the Starfleet uniform.

As he left he saw the guest from the neighbouring cubicle leaving. Remembering the sounds of the man's moans and the gleeful laugh, Tom felt curious and decided to follow him. After all he had nothing better to do until it was time to report to Voyager. It was easy enough to keep the Starfleet yellow and black in sight. At first the man had a furtive swagger to his walk. Even from the back he looked young. Perhaps his first visit to a pleasure boy and he did not know whether to be ashamed or proud? He resumed a more natural gait as he walked on, looking around at the sights as he went.

When the man went into a bar, Tom followed, able at last to get a good look at his face. It was an attractive, open, one. The body that went with it was neatly packaged with an interesting-looking bulge at the crotch. Tom felt that if he wasn't off on this wild goose chase to the Badlands in an hour or so and if he was in prime condition, he wouldn't have minded getting to know the young man rather better. But he was off on a wild goose chase and he wasn't in prime condition, so he'd just enjoy the view. It was then that Tom caught snatches of the young man's conversation with the Ferengi barman over the general hubbub. Without stopping to think, Tom leapt into action to rescue him from the hole he was digging deeper and deeper for himself.

---

"And that, Harry, was how I fell in love with you," Tom said, cuddling up in the young man's bed eighteen months later.

"In lust, maybe", Harry replied, "but I think love came later, Tom."

"What makes you say that?"

"Every so often I'd look at you to find you looking at me with a strange expression. At first you were like a kid looking in a sweet shop window, wondering if you'd got enough credits to buy everything, but then right after I died, your expression in off guard moments changed subtly, reminding me of something, but I could never work out what it was. Then I remembered, it was the expression Sam Wildman gets when she talks about her husband."

Tom grinned, and said "Caught redhanded." He lifted his head up off Harry's shoulder to kiss him.

"So, the real reason you're here is because of the noise I make in bed?" Harry said, one hand poised for unmerciful tickling if he got the wrong answer.

"Uh-huh. I'm surprised your neighbours haven't been breaking the door down to get their share."

"And how do you know they haven't?"

Tom's eyes narrowed. "Who?"

Harry grinned. "Are you the jealous type?"

"Becoming so, very quickly."

"Well, you've got nothing to worry about Tom. I'm a one-man man. So you're stuck with me."

Tom shifted his weight slightly so he could look Harry in the eye more comfortably. "You know, that's something that I've wondered about from time to time. You visiting a pleasure boy. It seems such an unHarrylike thing to do."

---

Mrs. Kim called up the stairs, "Harry, come on, you'll be late. And Libby's on her way over." Harry Kim came downstairs and joined his parents in the sitting room.

"Mum, the Fleet transport ship to DS9 doesn't leave for another six hours. There's plenty of time."

His father shot him one of his "Don't argue with your mother even if you are an adult now" looks as Libby sparkled into existence from her cross-town transport.

Harry gave her a quick hug and turned to his mother. He noticed the moist brightness in her eyes and enveloped her in a big hug of her own. "Come on mum, I'll only be gone a month. I was away at the Academy for a lot longer than that."

"That's different. At least we were on the same planet. And this is your first mission." Mrs. Kim gulped but did not cry as Harry feared she might, just stepped back and looked proudly at him in his uniform.

"Have you got everything, son?" his father said.

"Yes, I think so."

"Then we'll say goodbye here," his father said firmly. Mrs. Kim nodded. Much as she wanted to come with her son as far as possible, she was a sensible woman and knew it would do his reputation in the Fleet no good to have his mother trailing after him.

Harry shook hands with his father, and then swept his mother into another big hug. "I love you, mum," he said as he gave her a peck on each cheek. Then with one arm round Libby's waist and his bag at his feet, he waved goodbye as they beamed up to the Fleet space station.

When he came to check his bag in, the ensign on duty, a human female, said, "You're far too early, so I'm putting you on the earlier transport. It leaves in twenty minutes."

Harry looked ruefully at Libby. "Well that takes care of our long goodbyes, I guess."

"Go on, Harry. Be good," she said, quickly turning away.

Harry found a seat in the observation lounge of the transport vessel and looked out of the window, eager to watch their departure from Earth. A talkative male Bajoran sat next to him, but Harry's attention was more on the view of the stars than on what his travelling companion was saying. He made cursory replies to the man's questions, but it didn't really register how often the man touched him on the knee or on the arm as he talked. Then he heard the man saying "If you've got some time to spare on DS9, I wouldn't like to think of you wandering about the station by yourself. There are some very unsavoury characters. I'm sure I could accommodate you."

The man's hand was creeping up his thigh and Harry suddenly realised he was being propositioned. He could feel his cheeks reddening in a blush as he said "I'm sure I'll manage, thank you," and brushed imaginary crumbs, and incidentally the man's hand, off his lap.

The Bajoran left soon afterwards, but the incident remained fresh in Harry's mind as he pondered what would have happened if he had taken him up on his offer. He thought about it. He had half a day to kill on DS9, half a day where he didn't have to be Harry Kim, perfect son, perfect boyfriend, perfect new ensign. His old life was behind him, his new life hadn't started yet. He could do anything he wanted without any repercussions. Looking for a girl would be cheating on Libby, but a boy. . . that would also be cheating on Libby his conscience insisted. For once he told his conscience to shut up, and moved over to the computer terminal guide to look at a guide to DS9.

---

Harry's face had that dreamy, far-away look that meant he was thinking of home. Tom took the opportunity to gaze at his face, those kissable lips surmounted by the deep philtrum, the snub nose, and the dark eyes. "You still miss them, don't you?"

"I think of my parents every day. Of course I miss home. But Voyager is my home now."

"Sounds like you're settling for second-best." Unable to stop himself, Tom stroked Harry's cheek with one finger. "Is that what this is? Second-best?"

Harry's eyes flew wide open. He sat up in shock. "NO! Never, never think that, Tom." He grabbed Tom's hand and squeezed it. "Wherever we can be together, that's home for me now, Tom, and everywhere else is second- best."

Tom smiled. "So, what brought this on? When did you fall in love with me?"

Harry frowned in concentration. He pulled up his knees against his chest and crossed his arms over them, then rested his chin on top. "I don't really know. I realised pretty early on that you fancied me. But I wasn't really interested in reciprocating. It would have made life too complicated. It would have had too many repercussions to be worth it. Just being good friends, no, best friends, was enough. Then, when I first realised you were actually in love with me, I was flattered. I mean, you could have anybody on the ship, male or female. I remembered that pleasure boy, and wondered sometimes what it would be like with you.

I started dreaming of him, and one night I dreamt of him and he had your face. How my feelings changed from a mixture of friendship and sexual curiosity to love I don't really know. It was such a slow and gradual thing. I just woke up one morning and knew that without you my life would not be worth living."

Tom's mouth hung open.

"What?" said Harry crossly.

"Harry, that was beautiful."

"It was also true. Now can I go to sleep, Tom?" Harry lay down on his side with his back to Tom and curled up into a ball.

"Computer, lights to five per cent," said Tom. He fitted himself round Harry, and said "Sweet dreams my love."

"G'night, Tom. I love you," came the drowsy reply.

"I love you too, Harry."

---

End