Harry Kim lay in bed. A quick look at the chronometer confirmed the time. In a few minutes his lover of two years, Tom Paris would be exiting the bathroom to join him. It was 21:55 on Tuesday evening. They always went to bed early to make love on Tuesday.

Harry sighed, not that it wasn't good. It was always good, but tonight he was worried. What if Tom got bored with him? They had settled into a comfortable routine in the months they had been together. Harry feared it was a rut, and that his lover would soon realize it. Would Tom start looking for someone more exciting?

Already, Harry had seen certain signs, or what could be signs. Not that he minded Tom looking. Hell, he looked too, but more than once Harry had to fight down feelings of jealousy. He didn't like being that way. It made him look silly and possessive.

Tom came out of the bathroom. He walked over and slid under the covers with Harry. Just as he was reaching over to pull Harry into his arms, BRONNNKKK the blanket actually fluttered from the force of the expelled gas.

"Phew! God, Tom!" Harry drew back violently from the horrible smell.

Tom had the grace to look embarrassed as he apologized, "Sorry, I had some of Neelix's Texas chili for dinner. I guess it doesn't agree with me."

The honeymoon was definitely over. Tom's digestive problems killed any ardor Harry might have been feeling. The same could be said for Tom too. Once the smell died, they just went on to sleep.

The next morning Harry woke as he usually did, a few minutes before their wake-up call. He used the time to look at Tom and contemplate their future. In sleep, the cares and worries were gone from his face leaving a much younger looking man. Harry knew he'd never recover, if he lost his lover to something as easy to fix as monotony.

As Harry lay there, he came up with a plan. In his mind, he called it Operation Romance. The computer called them to start the day, and Harry started it by kissing Tom breathless before allowing him to get out of bed.

Tom was still breathing heavily as he sat up and pushed the blankets back. Harry tried pouncing on him again, but Tom fended him off. "Harry, let me up! What's with you this morning?"

"What?" Harry answered back innocently. "Something wrong with me wanting to kiss you? I love you, remember?"

"Sorry, babe. You just aren't usually this randy in the morning. Somebody miss their nookie last night?"

Now, Harry was getting irritated. Leave it to Tom to reduce their lovemaking to the lowest denominator. He forced himself to take a deep breath and let it go. The plan wouldn't work if he let every little set back get to him. Harry answered Tom with a sunny smile, "Yeah, that must be it. Come on, we'd better get a move on."

Harry started small. He pressed his thigh to Tom's while sitting next to each other in the mess hall. Tom smiled into his coffee cup and pressed back. He gave Tom those special looks that managed to convey love and heat in equal portions. They played footsie under the briefing room table.

After a couple of days, Harry upped the ante a bit. At the end of their bridge shift, he managed to snag a turbolift in which he and Tom were the only occupants. Once the doors had closed on the bridge, Harry moved behind Tom and put his arms around him. He kissed Tom's neck and slid his tongue along, going for that special spot just behind his ear.

Tom moaned and wiggled back against Harry. Bingo! It works every time, Harry thought. He backed off from the sensitive spot, didn't want to get too carried away in the lift. Tom turned as Harry loosened his grip and nailed him against the back wall. Talk about getting carried away! Tom was all over Harry; kissing him, pulling at his uniform. Thank goodness, the lift stopped on their deck, and there was no one waiting for it.

Tom pulled Harry to their quarters and immediately started kissing and undressing him. Between the kisses Tom was whispering, "Been teasing me for days. Guess I have to show you what teasing gets you, lover boy."

"Yes, Tom. Show me," Harry gave back. His hands were busy divesting his lover of his clothes. This was exactly what Harry had been hoping for. The spontaneity that had been missing. What he had been missing. Harry let rational thought go for a while and went with instinct. Besides, who needed rationality when Tom Paris was sucking your cock?

How they got to the bed, Harry never remembered, but the fucking Tom gave him was momentous. Harry wasn't satisfied with just one break in their routine. About a week later, not on a Tuesday night or Sunday afternoon, Tom came home to find the message light flashing on his terminal.

The message was from Harry, telling him to come to Holodeck One and with the distinct instructions to change into civvies first. Tom complied happily. He didn't know what had gotten into Harry, other than himself, lately, but he liked it. He liked it a lot.

Tom got a pleasant surprise when he entered the Holodeck. The program running was not one he was familiar with. Tom wondered who had written it. There was a winding path through a deeply wooded area. In the center was a hot spring fed pool with steam rising from its surface. As he stepped forward to examine the pool more closely, arms wrapped around his waist from behind. Harry!

Softly, he asked, "What do you think? Did I do all right?"

"You wrote this program?" Tom asked, as if in total disbelief, deciding to tease his lover a bit. "Hmmmm... I don't know." Tom turned in his lover's arms and saw the disappointed look on his face. He immediately regretted the decision. "Oh, Harry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. This is wonderful."

Harry's face lit up. "You think so?"

"Yeah, let's go check out the water."

Harry stopped to pick up the bag he'd brought along and joined Tom in shedding their clothes. He let Tom ease himself into the water first, wanting to see his face when he realized that the natural looking ledge along the edge of the pool was anything but. It was set at a too perfect height. Where two grown human men could sit and be covered to mid-torso.

Tom's reaction was priceless as he sat down on what looked to be rock, and it yielded to his weight. Harry emptied the bag of bath paraphernalia at pool side and joined Tom in the water. Water that was just short of being too hot, but great for easing the tired, tense muscles of a Starfleet officer.

Tom turned and looked into his lover's eyes. If one weren't careful, he could lose himself in the depths of Harry Kim's eyes. People, old lovers particularly, could rhapsodize for what seemed like hours about his own blue eyes, but Tom thought Harry's eyes were the most beautiful he had ever seen. The dark brown color, the almond shape, everything about them was flawless. They were a true mirror to his soul, and Tom saw only love radiating from Harry's eyes this day. Those eyes drew him closer, inviting him to bestow the first kiss of many.

When their lips parted, Tom got an idea. "You bring any shampoo, in that bag of yours?" Harry's hair ran a close second as his best feature in Tom's opinion. He adored running his fingers through the inky mass, so different from his own thinning hair. What better way to indulge himself than under the guise of washing it?

Harry was no fool either. He loved the feel of Tom's fingers through his hair and on his scalp. Of course, he had brought shampoo. Harry got in a little teasing of his own as he acted reluctant to find it. "Shampoo? Shampoo? I don't know if have any here. Let me see," Harry teased as he rummaged through the things.

Tom laughed and smacked Harry's upper arm. "You'd better find it fast, before I change my mind." He knew full well that Harry wouldn't pass up an opportunity like this. He loved getting a shampoo as much as Tom loved giving them.

Of course, Harry came up with the bottle immediately. The two men moved sideways on the ledge, so that Harry could sit in front of Tom. Tom had Harry lean forward as he wet his hair with double handfuls of water.

Harry handed the shampoo to his lover. Tom opened the bottle and pour some of the thick liquid into his hand. It had a subtle herbal fragrance. One that he had smelled before, as part of the odors he associated with Harry but never thought to wonder at the source. It just smelled like Harry. That thought made him smile and jolted him back to the task at hand. Tom got busy applying the shampoo to Harry's hair.

Harry sighed, lost in the ecstasy of fingers massaging luxurious lather through his hair. He closed his eyes and let a small moan escape his lips. Tom was using his fingertips on his scalp. It felt so good! So good, in fact that Harry was starting to get an erection.

Tom knew exactly what that moan meant. It had been a while, but he remembered that Harry never failed to get excited from having his hair washed. Tom turned and pulled Harry back over his lap to rinse the lather away. He slipped a hand down his lover's body to find the hard column of flesh.

Harry still had his eyes closed and jumped as Tom's hand caressed him. He could only manage an incoherent groan when Tom teasingly asked him, "You have some other hair that needs washing?"

Tom ran his fingers through both sets of hair, marveling at the differences. The hair on Harry's head was thick and lush, but his pubic region only had a sparse growth of hair. Not that that made him any less manly. The size of his erect member belied any thoughts of that nature. Besides, it just made it easier to play with, not having to worry about pulling pubic hair.

So Tom sat with his lover's upper body draped over his lap. He reached back and nabbed the bottle of oil that Harry had so cleverly separated from the rest of the things. Even that quick detour caused a whimper of protest from Harry. Tom soothed him by finger combing his hair and unsnarling any tangles.

Tom managed to flip the top open on the oil and drench his fingers before Harry noticed. Harry certainly noticed when Tom called for the computer to lower the water level in the pool and expertly flipped him over. The erection that was poking him in the belly was hard to ignore also. Harry only wiggled against it as Tom parted his ass cheeks and began preparing him with the oil.

The preparation was so familiar to Tom. Harry lying passively accepting whatever Tom gave him; it was a total surprise when Harry moved like lightening and pinned him to the ledge. The look in Harry's eyes was not the sweet love that Tom was used to seeing. His lover's gaze was like fire, hot enough to sear anything in its path.

Tom was almost frightened when Harry moved over him without releasing the hold he had on Tom's shoulders. Deep down he knew that Harry would never hurt him, but the situation was so out of the norm for them, Tom didn't know what to expect.

First, Harry kissed him. Unlike his usual kisses, this one was demanding and possessive. His tongue invaded Tom's mouth like a Borg bent on assimilation. In this case, resistance was not only futile, it was totally unwanted. Tom didn't fight the possession or try to take the kiss over.

Harry finally pulled back from his mouth plundering. Before Tom could properly catch his breath, Harry lifted himself up. He shifted his weight and impaled himself on Tom's dick. Tom yelped in surprise. The yelp took the last of his breath. Tom lay panting for a few seconds until he felt Harry begin to move.

He opened his eyes to the most erotic sight he had ever seen. Harry with his head thrown back, fucking himself on Tom's cock. His lips were moving, and it took a few seconds for Tom to realize what Harry was saying. "So good. Fuck me. Fuck me. Don't ever stop."

Tom answered that plea with the a buck of his hips and "Never, Harry. Never stop. Oh!" The last exclamation forced out by a particularly hard down thrust from Harry. He reached for Harry's dick only to have his hand knocked away. The mere thought of what that might mean brought Tom to climax. He moaned and shook while emptying himself into Harry's tight channel.

Tom's post-orgasmic stupor came to an abrupt end when he felt Harry move from on top of his body to between his legs. His lover pushing his compliant legs apart made Tom forget all about resting. He cracked his eyes open in time to see Harry go for the lube. Yes! It had been so long since Harry had taken him this way. It seemed here lately that Tom always ended up on top. Harry had never been the aggressive type and somehow they had gotten stuck in a rut.

Thoughts of ruts and rutting gave Tom a shiver of anticipation. He got a bigger one as Harry pushed Tom's legs back and slid the first of his fingers inside. Tom willfully relaxed his muscles and soon the preparation was done. He gasped as Harry entered him, and Tom got a glimpse of the wild look in his lover's eyes. Harry smiled at him and thrust in hard. This was not going to be a gentle lovemaking. Harry was going to fuck him, and fuck him hard. Tom smiled back, he couldn't have been happier.

Tom gave encouragement as he could by meeting Harry's every thrust and shouting his approval. "Yes! Harder! Fuck me, Harry. Do it!"

If Harry hadn't been very vocal before, he made up for it now. He was almost growling, "Mine, mine," with every thrust. Tom's body was enjoying it thoroughly as evidenced by the reawakening of his erection. Harry paused in his fucking only long enough to grab Tom's hand and order him to pleasure himself. "Jack it for me, Tom. I want to see you come."

Way too soon for either of them, they were on the brink of orgasm. Tom couldn't help but be amazed that he was ready to shoot again so quickly. He couldn't help it, though. Harry's growls and the way he kept punching his dick against Tom's prostrate were just too much. One last shout of "Yes!" and an especially hard stroke from Harry had Tom pumping semen everywhere.

Harry was almost comatose when he pulled his softened dick from Tom's body and rolled to the side. After a few minutes of nothing but panting from Tom, he had presence of mind enough to ask, "You okay? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"I'm okay. A little sore maybe, but it's worth it. Now can you tell me what's going on inside that gorgeous head of yours, Harry?"

Harry didn't answer, but when Tom looked over at him, he was blushing. "What?"

"You're going to think it's silly, but I started getting scared that maybe you'd get bored with me. So, I thought if I..."

"Oh Harry!" Tom interrupted. "Don't get me wrong, I love it when you get aggressive, but you don't have anything to worry about. I'm not leaving, not ever if I can help it."

They shared a long kiss, then Tom called for the computer to raise the water level in the pool again. A sigh of relief from Tom as the warm water covered them had Harry looking over at him smiling with indulgence, until he caught sight of the bubbles rising around his lover's body. "Tom!"

The End