Cerulean
by Tronella
Notes: Every home should have one: a story inspired by Blue. Also, I'm spelling Kochanski's name Chrissie rather than Krissie, because I just watched Confidence and Paranoia and her hologramm projection box says 'Kochanski, C.Z.' so that spelling is most in my head at the moment. Italics are thoughts. Slash warning, they don't belong to me, etc. etc. Oh, this is a repost because the last version wasn't working for everyone.
Cerulean
by Tronella
He was having the dream again. He'd had it almost every night since the first time, although it had developed from a single kiss into fullblown, X-rated sex. Obviously he hadn't told Kryten after the first time, and he definitely wouldn't be telling him (or anyone else for that matter) any time soon. He'd tried to make himself believe what they'd told him, tried to make himself hate him, but lying to himself just wasn't working. He really missed him, and now he was starting to want him more and more. He barely even thought about Chrissie any more, and he found it more than a little disturbig that it was no longer her that was the object of his lust, but a certain flaired-nostrilled, obnoxious smeghead of a man. But you know that isn't fair. He changed so much - maybe you did hate him once, but that hasn't been the case for a long time and you know it. It was just so unfair, that he hadn't realised it until there was no longer anything that he could do about it. And it was hardly likely that he'd come back after the way they'd treated him - besides, he'd seen the last Ace die, there was no guarantee that it would still be his Rimmer. No. Rimmer couldn't be dead.
...his Rimmer? He couldn't remember when he'd started thinking of Rimmer as his. Lister shock his head, too tired for further introspection, and let himself sink into the dream.
----
It always started off the same. Rimmer, returned from his life as Ace, back to see him. Still with his usual jokes and taunts, but they were no longer annoying. They were... appealing.
The random chat that he could never remember once he was awake always led eventually to their admissions that they'd missed each other.
And then they were moving closer and closer together... He could make this moment last forever, going over and over the same few moments in his head until it was perfect. Their faces so close he could see himself reflected in his eyes, could hear his slightly quickened breathing, could almost count his eyelashes. He could have stayed like this forever, had he not known that he just got better, and inevitably they ended up kissing. And here already was the opportunity for endless, equally delicious variations - the moment of their lips, their tongues, Rimmer's hands urgently tearing at his clothes and his own aching to do the same. The distance between their soon-exposed bodies quickly evaporated, as they started almost to devour each other, so strong was their need.
A tiny part of his mind was amazed that he could imagine these scenes with such graphic detail, was wandering where he had learned how Rimmer would look and sound during... this...
He woke up, and froze. Had he shouted out Rimmer's name? Afterwards he was always like this, scared that the others would find out - he knew he'd never be able to find a convincing excuse if they did hear him talking in his sleep. He realised with relief that he hadn't been heard, but then realised that he wasn't as completely satisfied as his dream self had been.
Damn. Gonna have to take care of that before Kryten starts with the breakfast.
----
Flying through space, saving the day and being admired by everyone he met wasn't quite the joyful experience Rimmer had thought it would be. It was fine at first, but now he came to actually do it, there was an awful lot of sitting around waiting for things to happen. It was during these empty hours that he realised just how much he miseed being on Starbug, with Kryten, the Cat... and Lister. He'd thought that never having to see Lister again would be a good thing: no more guitar playing, no more curry, no more of his constant arguing or his Kochanski obsession. But he'd been wrong. He missed every one of those annoying habits. And now he was beginning to feel like he'd betrayed him. The whole reason that he was here in the first place was that he was supposed to be keeping him sane. How was gallivanting off and saving the world from evil tyrants accomplishing that? He dreamt about them the other night. An unusually vivid dream for him - it was rare that he remembered them, unless they involved Yvonne McGruder (although she had been strangely absent from his subconscious for a while). He'd been on his way between saving the day in different dimensions when he'd realised that Starbug and the guys were nearby. He'd figured that it would only be polite to drop in - see if he could fool Kryten and the Cat into thinking he was the 'real' Ace, and to see Lister again. He'd arrived at ship's night to find everyone asleep except for Lister.
"Hello Listy." He smirked as Lister jumped a mile, his facial expression moving quickly from fear to surprise.
"Rimmer! What are you doing here?"
"Just passing through. How's things?"
"Nothing's changed - Kryten's still obsessed with laundry. Cat's still obsessed with himself..."
They talked for ages - he couldn't remember many real-life conversations that hadn't ended in an argument or at the very least a few insults. Then, suddenly, in the middle of some story about flying through a meteor storm, he'd been interrupting by Lister hugging him fiercely.
"I've really missed you man. Don't say you're going to leave us again?" How could he refuse those plaintive eyes?
"I'm not," he said, and then Lister gave him that smile that he missed so much, and he lost control.
He'd dreamed about kissing Dave Lister.
The first thing he'd felt on waking up was horror, but he'd been forced to forget about it during a particularly perilous mission and the next time he came to think about it, he was surprised to find that he actually enjoyed the thought.
"Ace?" The voice of the ship's computer broke into his thoughts. "There's a few of your old friends not far from here, would you like to visit them while you've got a spare moment?" Oh, and now my dreams start coming true.
----
The dreams had been getting more graphic and more realistic every time. He could have sworn he'd felt Rimmer's heart beating, felt the warmth of his skin against his own. It was becoming dangerously real - he didn't know how long it would be before he could no longer hide it from the others.
----
He looks so cute when he's asleep. Alarmed, Rimmer tried to stop this line of thought before it got him into trouble. This was a mistake. He started to leave, but then another thought struck him. Remembering his ex-roommates dining habits, he reasoned that he'd better wait till morning - surely seeing Lister eating his typical curyy-and-lager breakfast would be enough to put anyone off him. He turned back, to see Lister not only asleep but undoubtably in the midst of a particularly interesting dream. No doubt it involved Christine Kochanski.
He climbed into the spare bunk, trying not to listen to Lister's laboured breathing and equally refusing to speculate further on what he could be dreaming about. Hoping that tonight wouldn't bring another of the dreams that had been occupying his thought recently, he tried to get some sleep - tomorrow was likely to be a long day, after all. Unfortunately, just as he was dozing off, Lister started talking in his sleep. At first it was just incoherent gibberish, but then - Rimmer practically did a sit-up as he heard Lister sigh his name. Unconsciously holding his breath, Rimmer's mind raced. He couldn't... I must be imagining it, he can't be dreaming about me.. But then Lister said it again, definitely his name this time, and there was no longer any question of ignoring it. If he goes crazy I can always leave, there's nothing stopping me from never coming back. This thought did little to comfort him, but Rimmer got out of his bunk and looked down at Lister.
Hesitantly, he moved closer towards him, only to be stopped in his tracks as Lister's breathing hitched, his dream obviously coming to an end. Rimmer panicked, and fled from the room to the safety of his ship.
----
It was about a month later, and Lister was almost sure that he was going mad. Almost every waking moment was spent wishing that Rimmer would come back, and most sleeping moments as well. Not even playing his guitar could cheer him up. Even the normally self-obsessed Cat had noticed a change. Now, however, was not the time to be worrying about such things - there was a blue-alert situation and Lister was needed in the cockpit. The usual emptiness of space was occupied by what could only be described as a swirly thing.
Unfortunately, this particular swirly thing was a rather large collection of lethal-looking asteroids, that unless Lister could manage some rather tricky manoeuvres were likely to reduce them to an explosion of awesome spectacularity.
Today, it seemed, Lister's luck had run out. The crew of Starbug found themselves heading for a particularly fearsome lump of space rock, and there was no way they'd ever be able to get out of its way in time. Unless, of course, it was suddenly blown into harmless fragments by a familiar-looking ship. Lister somehow managed to snap himself out of his shock and steer around the remaining asteroids into safety. A slightly shaken Kryten looked up from his monitors. "Incoming message, sirs."
"I think you guys owe me a kipper."
----
While others fawned over 'Ace', Lister sat in silence, not trusting his self-control at the moment. Finally, exhausted, everyone retired to their respective sleeping quarters leaving Lister and Rimmer alone together.
"You've been a bit quiet, Listy. Something wrong?" Rimmer forced himself to sound jovial. Lister shook his head.
"Just didn't want to give you away. They still think you're dead." Rimmer nodded, and the two of them sat there in uncomfortable silence.
Finally Lister got up. "I'm exhausted. Are ya coming, roomie?" Rimmer smiled and followed him down the corridor. He stepped into the room, looking around nostalgically, then was almost knocked off his feet as Lister practically threw himself at him, his arms around him the only thing that kept him from falling over.
"Oh God, Rimmer, I missed you so much," Lister started, but Rimmer interrupted, not being able to keep it in any longer.
"Lister, I-I came back to see you, a few weeks bac, but everyone was asleep. You were... ah... talking. In your sleep." Lister released him, and backed away, clearly beginning to panic.
Knowing that he'd never find out unless he used some of the confidence being Ace had given him, he walked towards him until Lister had backed into a wall, then trapped him with an arm on either side. "You were dreaming about me." Lister looked at his feet, then back up at Rimmer, not really believing that this was happening. He nodded, slowly. "Good."
Before Lister could say anything else, and before Rimmer could change his mind, Rimmer pressed his lips to Listers. Lister made a sound of amazement before bringing his arms up around Rimmer's neck and kissing him back, hard. They broke apart, trying to control their breathing, then Lister smiled. "How about making some of my dreams come true?"
----
Morning found the two of them lying in each others' arms, fast asleep. "Rise and shine, Mr Lister, sir, I've - ah." Kryten walked back out of the room, muttering to himself. "That's $£10 I owe Miss Kochanski..."
END