reddwarfslash | Wow, look, it's fic.

And I thought I'd never finish any. But somehow after having completed

1sentence whole sentences spring into my mind, rather than just ideas. I still find it easier to write episode tags - this one's a Better than Life one - and it's nothing terribly long yet, but let's work our way there in little steps, mmkay?

Pairing Rimmer/Lister, Rating G

This really hasn't gone well, has it? Even in a place where he can technically get everything he wants, Rimmer still keeps on ending up with what others want him to get. Of course that's almost invariably bad things, especially considering the fact that "others" seems to include his own subconscious. And since on some level he can't help but believe that someone who gets as many things wrong as him doesn't deserve anything nice...

He refuses to accept that, of course. And he can almost make himself believe he wanted the game to take the course it did, that things are just dandy the way they are, that he hasn't screwed up yet again. But then Lister's incredulous question forces him to face just what he's gotten himself into. It's like a dam inside his mind breaks, letting every negative thought he's ever had about himself out, and he whimpers "Help!", grabbing hold of the other man's jacket, like that's somehow going to keep him from being washed away by the flood.

Lister looks at him with a curiously intense expression, and a moment later he unexpectedly feels lips brush against his own, linger for a bit, then pull away. Hmm, that's strange. Is this his subconscious' idea of being nasty to him? If so, it's not a very good one because if he's totally honest with himself, he has to admit it was nice. Even just the way Lister went about it, confident and somehow reassuring.

"Listy, what..."

"Don't say anything," Lister cuts him off. Ah, here it comes, Rimmer thinks cynically before realising he's smiling. "Don't want to ruin that for yourself too, eh?" He pats Rimmer on the back before turning to walk away.

Of course Rimmer's ever self-loathing mind starts mulling about why Lister did this straight away. Whether maybe it "only" happened because he wanted it to. Either way, the feeling that just for once something went right gives him the strength to get that damn tax collector off him and drive him away using his own hammer.

When they've left the game, Lister's still smiling.