Terms of endearment

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

In the first RD book, it's noted at one point that Lister has myriad pet names for Kochanski - "babe" "ange" "Krissie" "K.K." and many others. This isn't too uncommon between men and women, obviously.

For me, one of the most difficult things about writing m/m slash is figuring out what the characters might call each other. This is especially difficult in this fandom, at least for me. I really have a hard time envisioning many "sweethearts" "babys" "darlings" or "cuddlebugs" flying among the Dwarfers.

So far all I've really been able to come up with is the very occasional "babe" or "darlin'" out of Lister that I can justify to myself. I tend to have them stick with what they already use, but in an affectionate fashion - "smeghead" and "Listy" and "goit." Have any of you had a problem with terms of endearment for one character toward another, when writing (or reading)? Do you have your own mental list of acceptable, in-character pet names?

(I'm not limiting this to just Lister and Rimmer, since there are several male characters in the series, but that's clearly the two I'M thinking of at least. I suppose this could apply for f/f slash, too, but for some reason I don't have nearly as hard a time seeing, say, Kochanski and Nirvanah calling each other "honey" or whatever. Maybe it's a sexist double standard; I don't know.)