"Plugged In"

By Viridian5

1/6/02

RATING: NC-17; Dylan/Harper. If m/m interaction bothers you, pass this story by.

SPOILERS: None.

SUMMARY: Dylan connects with Harper.

ARCHIVAL/DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere, as long as you ask me first.

FEEDBACK: can be sent to Viridian5@aol.com

DISCLAIMERS: All things _Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda_ belong to Gene Roddenberry's estate, Tribune Entertainment
Company, and Fireworks. None of them are mine at all, and I'm putting them back when I'm done with them, though I can't
promise that they won't be disturbed in the process. No infringement intended.

NOTES: Sequel to "Aware" in the On the Wire series. This is definitely a first season story.

Thanks to Kass for the title.

When I stalled, I had Harper tapping his fingers at me. "*C'mon*! Him, me, a tube of lube in my toolbelt... what's so hard? Aside from me and him."

As alarms blared, Dylan sat nearby on the catwalk and watched over Harper's motionless body. Flashing red lights exposed a fine sheen of sweat on Harper's skin and gleamed off the cord and data port that plugged him into the matrix. He tensed suddenly.

"Harper, what's going on in there?" Dylan asked.

"I think I might have found the virus," Harper said over the comm from inside. His body remained silent and motionless, very
unHarperlike, slumped against the control column. "Looks like it was hidden and lying dormant in a maintenance file until we ran the maintenance function. I'm about to attack it."

"Beka, Rommie, be ready for anything," Dylan said over the comm.

When Harper's body started to spasm, Dylan quickly grabbed him and pulled him close to restrain him, being careful not to disturb the cord plugged into the data port on his neck. He thrashed, knocking his head into Dylan's shoulder a few times, then stilled, and the alarms and flashing lights stilled with him.

Before Dylan could *really* worry, Harper's eyelids fluttered as he mumbled, "Nasty piece of work. Defanged it, though."

Dylan hadn't even realized how wrong the ship's workings had sounded and felt while under the influence of the virus until
Harper had vanquished it. "What happened to you?"

"Virus attacked back." Harper unplugged, then snuggled into Dylan's lap a bit, but his shoulder still felt stiff and hard, tense,
under Dylan's hand. "It was hidden in one of the boards we bought at Glitter Dust. It didn't taste Machenite, the way the
rest of the board did, so somebody put it in later. Wonder if our salesman knew about it?"

"I wonder. How are you?"

"Feeling kind of hungover."

Harper smelled sharp, like sweat and electricity. He'd been in the matrix for an hour looking for the culprit. "You're going to
med-bay."

"Once I catch my breath, I have to go back in and root the remnants out. They're dormant now, and I've isolated their codes, but I don't want that shit lying around inside our systems."

"If they're dormant, they can wait until you get a clean bill of health."

"Dylan, I've been knocked around worse than this while linked up without going to med-bay afterward." Harper opened his eyes and gave Dylan a rueful smile. "I shouldn't have said that, right?"

Dylan had been the recipient of a wealth of Harper smiles in the past few days, some teasing, some sweet, and even some a bit shy, a word Dylan never thought he'd be able to apply to anything of Harper's. A few days ago, Harper had propositioned him and he'd refused, uncertain if the offer had been from genuine interest or inspired by a link-induced endorphin high. Rather than be offended, Harper had told him that the offer remained open. Dylan had blamed that on the endorphins too.

By now he wasn't so sure.

Dylan stood and pulled Harper up with him. "You're going to med-bay, while I set a course back to Glitter Dust to have a talk
with our supplier."

Harper swayed and leaned against him for a moment, then stood on his own. "Yes, bwana. Kick him a few times for me, will you?"

*******

His business settled, the hell having been scared out of one Glitter Dust merchant, Dylan crawled into the access tunnel and sat across from Harper, who looked immeasurably better now while plugged in again. After some sleep and what must have been a shower and a change of clothing, his eyes gently closed, his body a loose sprawl, his mouth curved into a sweet smile, he looked fresh and relaxed. But vulnerable too, as he always looked when his mind wandered deep in the matrix.

Having been given permission days ago, Dylan carefully pulled Harper, warm and pliant, into his lap and set his head against his shoulder. Dylan just held him for a while, occasionally stroking the crazy spikes of his blond hair, and waited.

Aside from the visceral satisfaction that came from making a decision and a tingle of anticipation, Dylan felt protective and
tender as he watched the pale head resting against his dark uniform. This felt right.

Life returned to Harper's body in a wash of languid motion, and when his eyes opened and focused on Dylan, his smile looked both sweet and saucy at once. He didn't move his head off of Dylan's shoulder. "Any other emergencies?"

"Nope."

"Tests?"

Dylan smiled back. "Depends on how you define 'test.'"

"You want me for something?"

"Yes."

"Oh, good."

When Harper kissed him, he tasted something both sweet and tart on Harper's tongue. "You feel okay?" Dylan murmured between kisses.

Already hard, Harper rubbed sensuously against him. "How do I feel to you?"

"You feel wonderful."

"So you answered your own question. I'm buzzed. Play with me?" Harper laughed. "Sorry, I just crack me up sometimes
without meaning to."

"Smooth."

"Like *you're* not lumpy in all the right places."

"I've never heard anyone put it that way before." Dylan stroked up the line of Harper's neck and stopped at the still-humming
cord still inserted in the data port. "Do I have to worry about you disappearing?"

Harper vibrated under his fingers almost as much as the cord did. "Got distracted. You're very distracting." He winced, as usual, when he unplugged himself, the plug sliding out of the port looking as vaguely obscene as it always did. "Better?"

"I didn't mind it much before. I just wanted to make sure you
stayed with me."

"Yeah? Well, I want you to fuck me," Harper said in a dark, husky voice, his eyes heavy-lidded with want.

Dylan had to swallow. "In the access tunnel?"

"Isn't that the usual way?"

It took Dylan a moment to think through the lust to understand Harper's joke. He swatted the back of his suddenly chortling
engineer's head. "You know what I mean."

"A captain needs to know his ship. All of his ship." Harper licked his lips. "Besides, the dimness is very flattering and you can't beat the vibration against your skin." He smirked as he started to unfasten Dylan's uniform. "Unless, you know, you think you're too old for that kind of activity."

Amused and incredulous, Dylan let his hands roam Harper's body and started pulling at his clothes. "Are you daring me?"

"Uh-huh."

"What, you think I'm 12 years old?"

"With a package like this," Harper stroked the area mentioned, "you'd be pretty precocious for a 12-year-old, so no. Nah, I'm striking at that High Guard pride and accusing you of being too old...."

Dylan put his hand at the back of Harper's neck and kissed him very thoroughly into what would probably be a temporary silence. To his surprise, much of his uniform was already hanging open. "You're fast."

"This surprises you? I'm hurt." Harper placed a gentle, black-nailed finger on Dylan's bottom lip. Dylan wondered when and how he'd bruised it.

"You want to go right here. In the access tunnel."

"Beds are so ordinary, and I want you now. Besides," Harper spread out his arms to encompass their surroundings, "mi casa."

Deciding that he really didn't mind that he was making out with his engineer in an access tunnel and might as well go all the way, Dylan said, "I guess I can't argue with that." He found something appealingly loopy in the idea.

"Good."

Then Harper dove in on him like a localized whirlwind of mouth, nimble hands, and enthusiasm, and he let himself be swept along, both of them shedding clothing, belts, and boots along the way. He luxuriated in the feel of fine-grained skin and Harper's laughter and purrs of enjoyment. And he *could* feel the ship working around him, running along his nerves and bones, vibrating and humming. He'd never seen so much of Harper's skin before either; at most he got a head and hands, with perhaps a brief flash of pale belly or the small of his back. The pleasure of anticipation, of having something to look forward to, did wonders for him as well.

As they rubbed and ground against one another in the nest of clothing Harper had bunched together, Harper panted, "This is
great, I could come like this really easily, but if you want a shot at my ass, you better shift strategies."

Even Dylan couldn't believe how deep and husky his voice sounded, but he also couldn't believe how good it felt to be running his cock across Harper's sweat-slicked skin, so.... "Who said you couldn't come first before I--"

And Harper did, hot and sudden, with a shout and three strong thrusts against his stomach. "Damned washboard--" Harper
sighed, then shivered. "I'm just sensitized."

"And blushing."

Harper blushed harder. "Am not."

Dylan kissed his cheek. "I like it."

"Mmmm. You can still do anything you'd like with me now, you know."

Dylan raised an eyebrow. "Anything?"

"Well, I'm not telling you to set me on fire or anything. I'm just aware that you haven't gotten off yet, and I wanted you to know that I have a tube of slick in my toolbelt. I believe in having the right tool for every job."

"Your altruism amazes me."

"Yeah, it's one of the most amazing things about me."

When Harper stretched to grab his belt, Dylan enjoyed the movement. "You'll have to get it out for me, Harper. I don't
know where it is."

"Oh sure. Make the post-orgasmic, limp noodle guy do all the heavy lifting." But he changed his tune and rummaged faster as
Dylan nibbled his ear and fondled him. "Searching, searching, c'mon.... Yeah! Hey, I'm surprised you aren't impatient."

"Who says I'm not?" He grabbed the tube as soon as Harper pulled it free.

"Go, Dylan!"

It amazed him how relaxed and pliant Harper's body was; it easily accepted his slicked fingers, with Harper emphasizing the welcome by pushing down onto them and saying, "You don't have to futz around. I'm ready for you."

Just to be sure, after Dylan slicked up he thrust in as slowly and smoothly as he could, not the easiest thing when everything in him wanted to move *now*. Finally he was in all the way. Trembling beneath him, Harper sighed in what sounded like pleasure and frustration, then clamped his muscles tightly around Dylan's cock, and said, "C'mon, let go." It would take more self-control than Dylan currently possessed to refuse that offer, so he set a hard, fast rhythm that Harper seemed to enjoy thoroughly from the way he rode every thrust, murmured, kissed, and clutched at him, working with him. The expression on his face, etched in shadows and hints of dim colored lights, looked blissed out.

Lost in the movement and heat, Dylan felt orgasm start in his spine and whip all the way through him before it finished. Harper threw back his head, shouted, and came for a second time.

Once he started thinking again, Dylan thought that the access tube really was very cozy, inspiring a feeling of being protected. "Who knew?" he gasped as he curled around Harper and petted his hair.

Smirking, looking very satisfied, Harper weakly raised his hand. "I did."

**********************THE END***********************

More Viridian5 stories can be found in
The Green Room version 2.0 at http://www.mrks.org/~viridian/

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http://www.mrks.org/~viridian/Viridian_side.htm