Fic: Obsession

[sunny-bexster.livejournal.com]

Fic: Obsession
Rating: PG
Pairing: Rimmer/Lister kinda
Spoilers: Parallel Universe and Backwards...I guess
Warnings: Mpreg
Notes: Written for the Mind The Gap fic challenge. I found this a real challenge to write, but I wanted to do a fic which explores some of Rimmer’s repressed feelings towards Lister. Enjoy.

Rimmer’s mother taught him it was impolite to stare. She’d also taught him it was impolite to interrupt her and a gentleman caller over something as trivial as a major cut to the head resulting in heavy blood loss when his brothers’ latest games gone awry. So perhaps his mother had a fairly skewed definition of what was and was not impolite.

Regardless of the few life lessons his manic mother had taught him, Rimmer did not usually stare. He didn’t like people enough to watch them that fastidiously. Oh true, he’d notice things. Toddhunter stopping by bunkroom 246 on F Deck every lunch time? Duly noted. Lister opening a tin of ‘Captain Burgonbonts Vending Machine Varnish’ with the wrong type of screwdriver again? Already recorded in his weekly report to Hollister.

But no. He never stared.

Well...he never used to. Trust Lister to make Rimmer break one of his most treasured habits.

Of late Rimmer had developed what he considered to be an unhealthy obsession with Lister. More specifically, Lister’s stomach.

Currently 5 months pregnant, Lister’s bump had become commonplace. It was now as much of a part of him as were his dreads and the signature stained t-shirts. But still, Rimmer found it unsettlingly compelling.

Truth was, and Rimmer was loathe to admit it, Lister suited being pregnant...once he’d moved past the ‘denial and vomiting’ stage of his pregnancy. Rimmer had found himself wondering what would happen if he ever told Lister how much he suited his current predicament. No doubt the little smegger would take it for the compliment it was.

Rimmer had never held any attraction towards pregnant women before...or even non-pregnant women. So why was a pregnant Lister so...intriguing. A tiny voice in Rimmer’s brain often piped up that Rimmer might just find Lister attractive, pregnant or not - that voice was frequently ignored.

In an attempt to shove the blame as far away from himself as possible, Rimmer held Lister responsible for this budding obsession.  Rimmer would not be nearly so engrossed with Lister’s bump if Lister was not nearly so obsessed with it himself.

It seemed that from the moment Lister started showing, he became captivated by his developing bump. Mind you, Lister had been fairly...enthralled with his body even before he’d fallen pregnant.

Rimmer liked to believe he had complete and undeniable control over his body. His hands in particular. He always knew where his hands were and what they were doing. They’d be carefully folded behind his back, or crossed across his chest or slapped flat to his thighs. If the situation warranted, they would be in the Rimmer salute. Point was they were in control at all times.

Lister’s hands, however, were all over the place. They wandered across his hips, his chest and his legs. They flapped around in the air in wild and unfettered gesticulations before twirling themselves around his locks. Sometimes they’d even invaded Rimmer’s space, in the days when he was still alive and a not a hologram.

Since being visibly pregnant, Lister’s hands were constantly on his stomach and Rimmer was finding it hard to ignore and even harder not to get caught staring. Perhaps it was the curve of it. Lister’s stomach had a perfectly rounded trajectory making it look neat, almost perfect. It looked like Rimmer could sweep his fingers across the mound in one calming, fluid motion.

The problem remained that Lister’s bump and his fawning over it were a source of constant distraction for Rimmer. There he was, trying and failing to read ‘Carry on Crimean: The Lighter Side of The Russian War’ with Lister not 5 feet away, tracing the curve of his stomach with faded nicotine-stained fingertips. Rimmer watched as the human’s hands flattened so the palms pressing against the fabric of his t-shirt, his fingers splayed across his stomach in what looked like a soothing manner.

From Lister’s occasionally and seemingly begrudging ‘updates’ Rimmer was aware the twins were moving around a lot. Kicking was apparently a very regular occurrence too. Perhaps that was what Lister was feeling against his hands.

At that moment, Rimmer really hated being a hologram. He’d been mourning the loss of sensation since the day Holly brought him back online, but now he was feeling the deprivation more than ever.

Why? Was he really so enamoured with Lister and his stomach that Rimmer wanted to touch and to feel more than ever.

In his contemplative state, Rimmer forgot to pretend he was looking anywhere else than Lister and his bump. He’d been perfecting the art of looking at Lister without directly looking at his bunkmate. It was an impressive skill, if Rimmer did say so himself. It involved judicious use of mirrors, peripheral vision and partially lowered books.

But today, he’d been caught.

Lister looked up from his comic and caught Rimmer staring (he never used to stare) and frowned.

Oh smeg. Rimmer had noticed Lister frowned more of late, whereas before his pregnancy he’d have raised his eyebrows, as if to ask ‘what’s up?’. Lister’s eyebrows seemed to go down more often than up nowadays.

“What?” demanded Lister in a tone that made Rimmer discard any feeling of goodwill the hologram might have been keeping for him that day.

Rimmer smirked “Getting quite big now, aren’t we Listy?” – his tone was light and mocking, but inwardly, he cringed.

Lister’s hand left his bump and his fingers folded away till only the middle one remained. It was aimed directly at Rimmer, it’s message was crystal clear.

Rimmer let the matter drop and made a mental note to not stare again. Or at least, to not get caught.

Comments

[day221b.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed this very much. Well done!

[kms726.livejournal.com]

You know how I much I love this fic--perfection! Still loving Lister's 'salute' to Rimmer ;D

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

Very nice. I'm not particularly into mpreg, but it certainly doesn't repel me as it apparently does some. And I love that it's CANON in this show. :)

[kms726.livejournal.com]

So do I ^_^

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

What a tangled web ... Good fic!

[bayliss.livejournal.com]

Excellent job with this. I love it. <3

[felineranger.livejournal.com]

Awww...it may sound odd but I think Listy is one of the few men in existence who could 'suit' being pregnant. You can just picture him all glowing and radiant :-)
Love your icon btw!

[pebblerocker]

I loved it :o)

[smiitstas.livejournal.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6M_6qOz-yw

[vejgeta9.livejournal.com]

Me too! LOVED IT!!!

[kronette.livejournal.com]

I apparently missed a whole bunch of stuff near the end of June, so I just now saw this. Very nicely done. I'd forgotten that Rimmer was still a soft light hologram when Lister was pregnant; it certainly makes things harder for Rimmer, doesn't it? Very nice character voices, and poor Rimmer.