FIC: "Midnight Chorus"  1/1

Title: Midnight Chorus 

Author: Kipli 

Rating: PG 

Fandom: Star Trek Enterprise

Pairing: Archer/Tucker 

Summary: Tucker can't sleep. 

Archive: Yes to EntSTSlash, Archers_Enterprise, WWOMB, and ASC*, 
otherwise ask first pretty please. 

Feedback: Yes at Kipli16@yahoo.com. 

Disclaimer: Paramount owns the universe. I just live there. 

Status: Complete 

Series: No 

Spoilers: None 

Comments: This fanfic includes m/m romantic and physical situations. 
No beta. Lil plotbunny bit me and I couldn't say no. 


The musical cadence of the warp core's gentle thumping vibrated 
lightly throughout the ship. It was soothing. For a moment, Trip 
slowly relaxed under the covers, his ears filled with the white 
noise. If he could just dose off and suddenly find it was morning-- 

A loud, snarled intake of breath sounded the return of Jon's snoring. 
He whistled as he breathed out, then snorted as he took another deep, 
even breath. 

These couldn't be the sounds of a healthy man, Trip mentally groused. 
Only, he had dragged Jon to see Phlox, but there was nothing 
medically wrong with him. There was no reason for any medical 
procedures. But what about Trip's sanity? 

Jon sucked in one long snore, ending with a grunt as if the air had 
just become stuck in his throat. 

Trip squirmed on the bed, fussing with the covers around him and 
tossing himself from his stomach onto his back. He shot Jon a dirty 
look in the dark. 'Stay with me, Trip,' he thought sarcastically as 
he recalled Jon's whisperings earlier that night. 'I can't be that 
bad.' And then those damn puppy dog, "don't you love me" eyes he 
gets, Trip thought. It always did Trip in. 

What was this? The third night he'd been kept up until past 0200? 
True, Jon had been quite awake and... active until 2400. That Trip 
wasn't complaining about. But Jon just hated it whenever Trip snuck 
off afterwards to his own quarters. 

A snort and Jon rolled closer to Trip. His hand reached out for Trip 
as he continued into another full-blown snore. 

Damn it, Trip's grandfather didn't snore this bad. And the man was a 
legend in his family. One had to get to bed before granddad did or 
you'd never get to sleep. Trip inched out of Jon's grasp, none too 
gently rolling Jon back the other direction. 

The movement quieted Jon for the moment, but Trip knew the snoring 
would resume momentarily. Was he going to have to learn to sleep with 
earplugs? High-end earplugs? 

In the relative silence, Trip suddenly heard another snoring body. 
Oh, no... It couldn't be. Now did they ever make a pair? He sat up 
indignantly in bed to look down at the floor by their feet. 

Porthos whimpered, feet kicking lightly against his pillow as he 
dreamed, before he resumed his quiet snoring and heavy breathing. 

Unbelievable! 

Just then, Jon's snoring returned with a vengeance. Trip could have 
sworn the walls shook, and he suddenly wondered if the Bridge could 
detect the disturbance with internal sensors. 

"That's it!" Trip tossed his half of the blankets up over Jon's head 
as he scrambled to his feet. He needed some sleep. Now. He searched 
around in the dark for something--anything--to wear. 

Jon coughed as he half woke in the middle of a snore. "Trip?" he 
mumbled, turning toward Trip's side of the bed again. 

"I can't sleep. I'm gonna go to my quarters. Go on back to yer 
snorin'." Trip gave up and pressed on the desk lamp. He grabbed his 
boxers and yanked them on. 

"W-What?" Jon seemed to suddenly realize his head was covered in 
blankets and he tossed them off, squinting at the light. "You can't 
sleep?" 

"No, I can't sleep," Trip mimicked. He got a tad testy when he didn't 
get enough solid sleep. Finding his jeans, he pulled them on. Where 
the hell was his shirt? He looked around, annoyed. 

"I'm sorry," Jon yawned, rubbing one of his eyes with the palm of his 
hand. "Maybe I should persuade Phlox to take another look at me." 

"Be a good idea if you ever want me to sleep here again." The comment 
came out a little too bitter, but he didn't notice. Instead, he 
finally found his shirt underneath the desk. He didn't remember their 
lovemaking being *that* frantic. How'd it get there? He stood up and 
tossed an agitated glance at Jon as he worked to get his shirt on. 

Trip stopped with one arm in. Jon looked crestfallen, staring down at 
the sheets and picking at the fabric absently. God, all he wanted to 
do was sleep. It didn't have a thing to do with how he felt about 
Jon. He sighed and tugged his shirt completely on. 

"Jon?" Trip flicked off the lamp and moved to sit on the edge of the 
bed. "I just need to get some sleep, all right?" 

"All right," Jon answered automatically, reshuffling the 
blankets. "Go get some sleep then." 

"Jon, it's got nothin' to do with you, okay? Not with how I feel 
about you. You know I love you. I just gotta get some sleep. You and 
Porthos always team up on me, ya know." He reached out to pat Jon 
with his last comment. 

Jon chuckled lightly. "Porthos snores?" 

"You never noticed? He's got a pretty good snort, but he's just an 
amateur compared to the pro here." 

Jon finally took Trip's hand, squeezing it. "Okay. You go sleep 
then." 

"Ya sure?" 

"Yeah, Porthos and I will get back to our chorus." 

Trip could almost see Jon's smile in the dark. "All right. Night." 
Trip stood and padded barefoot for the door. "Let's just hope I can't 
hear you two from my quarters." He flashed Jon a sleepy grin as he 
stepped out the door. 

END

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