For JoAnn--Star Trek: Voyager

Harry's tears tasted like home -- familiar pain, hot and salty. Tom kissed the tears away, but it just made Harry cry more.

"What's wrong?"

"Why?" The question was a sob, the word almost too soft to be heard. Tom almost wished he hadn't heard, because Harry sounded so lost, so lonely, and it made Tom ache in sympathy.

"Shh." Tom cupped Harry's face, kissed him gently. "Don't think."

Harry opened his mouth, as if he were going to speak again, and Tom kissed him harder, tugged at the zipper on his uniform. The sound it made as he slid it down was startling loud. Tom peeled the uniform off of Harry; he felt Harry's heart beating beneath his hands.

It was surprisingly strong for something so broken.

Harry's sweat tasted different from his tears, but when he cried out in pleasure it was just a jagged as his sobs.

"Why?" he asked again, voice uneven.

"Because I'm your friend," Tom said. "And because I love you."