Title: Romantic
By: nancy
Pairing: Tucker/Reed
Fandom: Star Trek Enterprise
Rating: R
Summary: Trip digs himself into trouble by insisting that he is too romantic...Malcolm's less than convinced.***
"You? You haven't got a romantic bone in your body!" Malcolm scoffed.
Jonathan grinned to himself and settled back to enjoy his favorite spectator sport: Trip and Malcolm arguing. Which was different from Trip and Malcolm fighting. The fighting wasn't fun for anyone and often spilled over into general Enterprise life, given the lead positions that both men held. The arguing though, was akin to watching a tennis match, insults lobbed back and forth with game parameters firmly in place. His gaze shifted to Trip, waiting for the other man's response.
"Ah c'mon, Malcolm. That's not fair!"
Wincing mentally at the answer, Jonathan waited for the explosion. It seemed, from Trip's expression, that the doomed man knew that he'd said the exact wrong thing, too. And that was how things invariably slipped from an argument, to a fight.
"Not fair!?" Malcolm exclaimed. "Not fair? What did you get me for our last anniversary?"
"I still don't know why you're upset about it," Trip evaded.
Malcolm's lips pursed, always a bad sign in Jonathan's opinion.
"You got me a bloody gift certificate! After being married for eight years, and together for ten, you got me. A Gift. Certificate."
"To your favorite damn bookstore!"
Jonathan almost went with the sudden "duck and cover" impulse when Malcolm's face lost expression. He glanced at Trip in time to see a flinch. Oh yeah. Trip was definitely sleeping on the couch tonight.
"If you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I have duties to attend," Malcolm said stiffly, getting to his feet and stalking out.
Trip thumped his head on the mess table a few times, then groaned. Peering up at Jonathan, he accused, "This is all your fault!"
Surprised, Jonathan exclaimed, "My fault? How do you figure?"
"You're the one who brought up the subject in the first place!"
"You should've kept your mouth shut. You know how sensitive Malcolm is, especially after your last gift."
"I still don't get why it was such a bad gift,"Trip complained. "Lots of guys forget their anniversary altogether!"
Dry, Jonathan recommended, "I don't think you should try that argument with Malcolm."
"No, really?"
Jonathan laughed as he stood. "Don't worry about it, Trip. He's not going to leave you because you're lousy at gift picking."
Trip was gloomy as he answered, "Gee, thanks Cap'n."
"You're welcome. See you later."
Trip waved him off and Jonathan headed for the bridge, thinking, One of the reasons that I never got married.
Still, as the lift doors closed, Jonathan couldn't help the brief wistfulness that passed through him. No matter what Trip did, or didn't do, Malcolm would never leave the other man. It would be nice to have that, just to see what it was like.
* * * *
The rest of the day passed in a depressed blur for Malcolm. Thankfully, there were no emergencies that needed his attention, because his thoughts were firmly centered around Trip and their current rut.
Or, lack of rut, to be crude about it.
He couldn't remember the last time they'd had any impromptu sex, or even any sex that had been more than routine. Not that it wasn't wonderful, even after all this time, because it was. It just felt...by route. It worked out to Tuesdays and Fridays, assuming there were no emergencies, and the rest of the time it was just go home, have supper, vent about what went wrong in their day, and go to bed.
More weary in soul than body, Malcolm made his way to their quarters. Few people did more than smile at him, his mood easy enough to gauge. After their first few years together, an unspoken safety rule had developed on Enterprise: don't get in Malcolm's way when he and Trip fought. His passive aggressive tendencies always jumped up and latched onto the nearest victim without mercy.
Reaching their quarters, Malcolm sighed and palmed open the door. It was completely dark and he froze, instincts blazing through his lethargy at a setup. "Lights."
The lights came on and Malcolm's breath caught. The entire room was covered in wildflowers; specifically, those native to where he'd grown up. The homesick conversation he'd had with Trip weeks ago sprang to mind, though he'd have sworn that Trip hadn't been paying any attention at the time, engrossed as he'd been in an engineering report.
"Now then. What were you saying about me not having a romantic bone in my body?" Trip drawled.
Malcolm turned towards his husband and tried to speak, but couldn't.
A broad smile plastered itself onto Trip's face and he nodded in satisfaction, coming to a stop directly in front of Malcolm. Cupping Malcolm's chin, Trip informed him, "I can occasionally be a dense son of a bitch, but I do respond to the battering of a two by four over my head. I love you, Malcolm, and I'm sorry I haven't said that to you in way too long. I love your heart, your loyalty, and your spirit. I definitely love your body, and though your mind can be a scary place at times, I love that, too."
"I...Trip, this is..." Malcolm's voice trailed off, the heartfelt words choking him up far more than the flowers.
"Damn expensive? Yeah, I know," Trip finished for him, winking.
Malcolm snorted, regaining his composure with the wink, as Trip had no doubt intended. Smiling fondly, he observed, "You're impossible."
Tugging Malcolm into his arms, Trip countered, "No I'm not. I'm easy, you should know that by now."
Malcolm was still smiling when Trip kissed him. Love and laughter blended together as they inevitably did, reminding him why they were still together, even after all this time.
***