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"Anatomy of a Date"
Author: Pennyforum
Title: Soliloquy
Rating: General
Category: Humour
Summary: Trip realises that when he meets up with Malcolm there's more to it
than meets the eye.
Disclaimer: Paramount owns everything. I own nothing, and I'm not getting paid
for this.
Comment: This is just a little bit of fluff that came to me in the middle of the
night. Well, that's when I get most of my ideas for stories.
Beta-ed by Kathy - but she didn't have very much work to do on this one!
"Tucker to Reed."
"Hi, Trip. What's up?"
"You eaten yet?"
"No, why?"
"Wanna have dinner with me?"
"OK."
"Great. Pick you up in five minutes. Tucker out."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"I've got this new computer game, Trip. It's quite complicated but worth the
effort. It's all right to play on your own, but would be much better with two. I
thought you might like to have a go at it with me. What do you think?"
"Yeah, sure thing, Mal. Love to."
"Come to my quarters?"
"Yup. I'll be there in about half an hour when I've had a chance to shower and
change."
"I'll be waiting."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Hey, Mal, are you coming to movie night with me?"
"Yes, OK. What's on?"
"The original 'King Kong'."
"Oh, good. I like that one."
"I know. That's why I asked them to show it."
"You did?? For me??"
"Sure. Pick you up at ten to. See ya!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Scene: The mess hall. Trip and Malcolm having dinner together.
Trip breaks the silence.
"Mal?"
"Mmm?"
"I've been thinking..."
"Hey, be careful. That can be danger..."
"Cut it out, Mal. I'm trying to be serious here."
"Sorry. Go on."
"What was I saying?"
"You've been thinking."
"Oh, yeah. Umm. We've been seeing quite a lot of each other for a while now,
haven't we?"
"Yes."
"I mean, we go to movie nights together, and have lunch together. We had shore
leave on Jupiter Station together, and spend evenings together watching vids and
drinking beer."
"Yes, we do all that."
"Well, I've been thinking lately that there's something funny about it all."
"What's so funny? It's perfectly normal for two friends to spend time together
like this."
"It's not the fact that we get together, it's the way we get together."
"What are you trying to say, Trip?"
"Do you remember when you asked me to go to movie night last week?"
"Ye-es"
"Do you remember the exact way the conversation went?"
"Not really. I think I might have said, 'Trip, would you like to come to movie
night with me?' And you probably said, 'I'd like that, Mal.' Then I said 'Great.
I'll call for you.' Or something like that."
"It was exactly like that. Now, supposing I'd been a girl. Say, Hoshi. What
would that conversation have sounded like?"
"Hoshi, would you like to come to movie night with me? I'd like that, Malcolm.
Great. I'll call for you."
"Well? So what does it sound like?"
"It sounds like - I was - asking her -..."
"Go on."
"- for a - date."
"D'yer see what I'm getting at, Mal?"
"You're saying that - I asked you – out on a - date?"
"Yep!"
"Ouch."
"Now think about some of the other times we've been someplace together. It's
never been a joint decision. It's always been one of us has asked the other to
go with him."
"Well, yes. I suppose..."
"We've been dating, Mal. For weeks!"
"Umm. I don't think this is the best place to have this discussion. Let's go
somewhere quieter."
"OK. Your place or mine?"
Scene shift. Trip's quarters.
The boys are sitting side by side on the floor, backs against Trip's bunk,
drinking beer.
"It's a scary thought, Trip."
"What is?"
"That we've been dating for weeks but didn't realise."
"So what's scary? That we've been dating, or that we didn't realise it?"
"Umm, well, both, actually. I'm not gay, Trip. At least, I don't think I am."
"Same here. So why are we dating, then? We must be attracted to each other."
"Well, I like you. You're fun to be with, and you make me forget about work for
a while. But that doesn't mean I'm attracted to you, does it?"
"Dunno. I like you too. You're clever and witty, you have a great smile, and you
tend to keep me out of trouble."
Silence for a while...
"You know, Mal, if you were a girl, I'd have got round to kissing you several
dates ago."
"Hey! You can knock that idea on the head right away!"
"Why? If we're dating, kissing comes natural."
"But not between two het guys!"
"It would be one way of making sense of all this."
"You're serious, aren't you?"
"Guess I am."
"Sorry, Trip. Much as I like you, I really don't think I wanaaarrh..."
~
"Don't know about you, Mal, but I rather enjoyed that."
~
"Er... do you think we could try it again?"
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