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Malcolm watched Hoshi approaching their table, tray in hand and sheer exhaustion evident in every muscle. He stood and pulled out her chair for her, motioning her into it with a gentle smile, and ignoring Travis' smirk as he sat down again.
Hoshi gave him a tired smile of thanks and settled in the chair kitty-corner from him, leaning her head on one hand. “Thank you, Malcolm,” she said belatedly. “I’m sorry, I’m not thinking straight. My brain is fried from figuring out this translation.” Blinking blearily, she lifted her head from her hand and started poking at her pasta dish listlessly, putting a piece into her mouth and chewing it slowly before putting down her fork and rubbing at her eyes with both hands.
Malcolm and Travis regarded her worriedly before exchanging a glance of concern.
“Hoshi, are you sure you’re okay?” asked Malcolm, his voice low and soft, as though trying not to startle a skittish animal. “You look like my sister does when she has a migraine coming on.”
She looked up at him from under her hands, which were now laced across her forehead. “To be honest, I’m not entirely sure,” she said. Her voice had started to slur - most unlike the usually bouncy communications officer. “On the one hand, I’m exhausted, on the other, my brain won’t shut up so I can’t sleep. Phlox has given me some medication but all it’s done is made me feel half-drunk and unable to actually concentrate or think clearly.” She stopped talking, and the men watched in alarm as her eyes started closing and her head started drooping like a wilting flower.
Malcolm and Travis looked at each other again and then both reached out and laid their hands on hers, startling her awake.
“I think we’d better get you to bed, Hoshi,” said Malcolm. “You’re going to fall asleep in your food, and frankly I don’t think you can even walk back to your room by yourself.”
Travis nodded. “Malcolm’s right,” he agreed. “I’ll bring along your food so there’s something to eat when you wake up. Meet you at the door.” He carefully manoeuvred the tray out from under her arms and took it to the counter to get a cover for her plate, waiting for them at the doorway as Malcolm eased Hoshi out of her chair with a firm hand under her elbow.
She made no protest as he walked her to the mess hall doors, as careful and solicitous as if she were an invalid, glaring at anyone who had the temerity to stare. As they got to the door, she stumbled slightly, and he quickly slid his arm around her waist to keep her upright, his other hand remaining under her elbow.
“Perhaps we should take you to Sickbay, have Phlox take a look at you,” he suggested, after exchanging another worried glance with Travis. Hoshi shook her head.
“No point,” she sighed, “I’ve just come from there. That’s where I got the meds. I just need to lie down, that’s all.”
Travis transferred the tray to his left hand and slid his right arm around Hoshi’s waist from the other side, assisting Malcolm in holding her upright. “Then let’s get you to bed, Hoshi,” he said, his usually loud tones pitched lower, a note of worry in his voice.
Hoshi nodded, then stumbled again and started going down. In one swift move, Malcolm bent and swept his arm under her knees, lifting her before she hit the ground. Travis was fast enough to whip his arm out of the way and stop the tray from falling at the same time.
Malcolm drew Hoshi closer; her eyes were half-closed again, but she wasn’t asleep yet. “Let’s go to my quarters,” he said to Travis, over her head. “They’re closer. I think we need to get her to bed as quickly as possible.” Travis nodded, and they turned towards the lieutenant’s quarters.
Travis followed Malcolm into his quarters, placing the tray on the nearby desk. He turned to watch Malcolm bend down to place Hoshi on the bed, when she suddenly opened her eyes and clutched at the armoury officer. “No, don’t let go,” she slurred, her arm sliding around his neck.
“Hoshi, I’m just putting you down on my bed, luv,” he said reassuringly. “You can get some rest that way.”
“No,” she said fretfully. “Hold me. Don’t let go.”
He exchanged a startled glance with Travis, then tried again. “We’ll stay and keep you company if you like, Hoshi, but you need to sleep.”
She shook her head adamantly, her eyes glazed but rosebud mouth determined. “No. Hold me. My grandmother used to hold me and sing and rock me to sleep. Will you rock me?” Her other hand had come up to fist itself into his uniform, and he could tell that he wouldn’t be able to let her go.
With a sigh, he lifted her again and turned to sit down on the bed, his back against the wall, Hoshi on his lap. “I’ll hold you, but I can’t really rock in this position, so you’ll have to settle for silence, or me humming,” he grumbled.
“Okay,” she mumbled, her voice more cheerful. Travis tried unsuccessfully to swallow a snort at the situation, and Malcolm glared daggers at the younger man. Hoshi opened her eyes. “Oh! Travis is here, too? Travis, you hold Malcolm and he can hold me and we can sleep together.”
Both men blanched. “What? No, Travis doesn’t have to hold me! I can hold you just fine, Hoshi,” said Malcolm, horrified.
“Yeah, Hoshi, Malcolm’s right - besides, there's no room for me on that bed,” Travis got out.
“Silly. Malcolm can sit on your lap and I can sit on his and we can cuddle,” Hoshi giggled.
“No,” Malcolm said firmly. “I will not be sitting on Travis’s lap, and that’s final.” To the two men’s abject horror, Hoshi immediately burst into sobs.
“Look what you’ve done!” Travis scolded Malcolm, frantically petting Hoshi’s shoulder to get her to calm down.
“Me? All I did was say I wouldn’t sit on your lap!” Malcolm growled. “You’d think you’d be grateful!”
“I just want us to be friends and cu-cuddle!” Hoshi sobbed.
Once again, panicked glances were exchanged between the two officers, and Travis patted her head awkwardly.
“But I can’t sit on Travis’s lap, Hoshi, I'm his senior officer, it wouldn't look very good, would it?" She sobbed louder at Malcolm's explanation, and he rushed on headlong. "And-and it's not a good idea anyway, especially if I’m holding you,” he said hurriedly. “I’m very heavy, even if you aren't, and together we’d crush his legs.” Hoshi hiccupped and her sobs started slowing. “And we can’t very well have a helmsman with crushed legs because of lap-sitting, you know. It’s not at all the thing,” he continued, a ray of hope rising in his chest as her sobs continued to lessen and she lifted her head, her eyes seeking his. “We’d be the laughing stock of Starfleet, and we can’t let that happen to Enterprise, can we?” Malcolm concluded, smiling desperately as his eye rolled wildly at Travis to back him up.
“Oh yeah, Hoshi,” Travis agreed hastily. “I quite like my legs, and I’ll need them to keep being helmsman, you know. Although back on the Horizon, we knew a guy who'd lost his legs and he did just... fine..." His voice trailed off as his eyes met the full weight of Malcolm's glare, and he gulped. "Never mind."
A giggle fell from Hoshi’s lips and the two men breathed silent sighs of relief.
“No crushed legs for Travis,” Hoshi agreed. She reached out a hand and snagged Travis’s sleeve, trying to tug him onto the bed. “But we can still cuddle. Make a cuddle pile.” She pulled hard enough to jerk Travis off-balance, and he fell on top of her and Malcolm, just managing to catch himself on his hands before he completely crushed them with his weight.
The breath was knocked out of Malcolm’s lungs with a woosh as Travis falling pushed Hoshi back into his chest and crushed him against the wall. Instinctively he pulled the communications officer closer to his body, shielding her with his arms and raised knees, one of which whacked into Travis’s ribs as the bigger man came down like a sack of potatoes, if slightly more agile.
The helmsman ended up partly sprawled across the armoury officer’s shins, a bony English knee in his ribs and his hand clutching bits of Hoshi he dared not contemplate and frantically tried to avoid. Hoshi, on the other hand, was giggling again, her hand still holding tight to his sleeve, her other arm still curled around Malcolm’s neck.
“You’re my boys,” she said affectionately, releasing Travis’s sleeve and gently petting his head. Sighing, she turned her face into Malcolm’s neck and rubbed her nose along his jaw, sending goosebumps rippling across his flesh. “I love you guys. You know you’re my favourites, don’t you?” She was mumbling now, her eyes closing again, and once more the men found themselves staring at each other in bewilderment and concern. When they didn’t speak, Hoshi’s eyes flew open and she repeated, “Don’t you?” in a louder tone.
“Yes, of course, Hoshi,” Malcolm blurted, as Travis hastily said, “We love you too, Hoshi, of course we do.”
She subsided, smiling. “And you love each other, right?”
Two sets of eyes stared wildly at each other, and they both jumped as she opened her eyes again, glaring fiercely. She opened her mouth to speak and they tumbled over themselves in a bid to keep her happy.
“We love each other, too, Hoshi,” they chorused, like dutiful schoolboys. Hoshi settled back, satisfied, and they each breathed a silent sigh of relief. It was short-lived.
“Come on,” she said, wriggling her way out of Malcolm’s lap and pushing Travis aside; he was still partially sprawled across them and the bed, catching his breath. He rolled, almost falling off the bed, and she grabbed him and pulled him back. She crawled up the centre of the bed and tugged Travis up on one side of her and Malcolm down to lie on her other side. It was a tight squeeze on the small bed, which was barely made for two, let alone three, one the size of Travis.
Malcolm rolled onto his side, squeezed up against the bulkhead, and tucked his arm under his head. He’d given up trying to make sense of what was happening, so he simply grinned at Hoshi as he made himself as comfortable as he could on the little corner he had available on his own bed. “What are you doing, Hoshi?” he said teasingly. “What’s your evil plan?”
For a moment her eyes cleared, and she smiled back at him. “I just want to cuddle with my boys, Malcolm,” she admitted. “I’m so very tired, and I’m… well, I’m scared to be alone. I don’t know why. So who better to keep me safe than my two favourite big, strong men?” She snuggled up against him, tugging Travis behind her. Sighing, Travis rolled onto his side and spooned her, one big arm over her waist, his hand falling easily over Malcolm’s waist. Malcolm rolled his eyes and put his arm around Hoshi’s shoulders, tucking his hand in under Travis’s arm so he didn’t have to bend it uncomfortably.
Hoshi was pressed up against his front, her head resting on the bend of his elbow, one arm tucked up against his chest, the other resting lightly on his waist alongside Travis’s. She’d slid her knee between his, and snuggled her face into his neck, sighing happily, then letting out a big yawn, her warm breath ghosting over his skin, making him shut his eyes as more gooseflesh trailed down his chest.
Mumbling unintelligibly, her breathing slowed, and within moments she was asleep, her fingers clutching at Malcolm’s uniform. His eyes met Travis’s over her head, and the two shared a silent communication with their eyebrows. Then, sighing, Malcolm shook his head, and with one final frown at Travis, tucked Hoshi’s head under his chin, closed his eyes, and pointedly slowed his breathing and went to sleep.
Grumbling quietly and trying to not fall off the bed, Travis spooned closer to Hoshi, tucked his arm under his head, and went to sleep, too, using his bigger body to keep his two smaller friends safe and warm.