Title: The Love Between Men
Rating: PG-13? I don’t know.
Fandom: Life on Mars
Word Count: 445 words.
Notes: It’s a bit difficult to describe this. I woke up with commentary in my head. No sooner had I opened my eyes than I had two voices talking without any interference from me. Since this has never happened to me before, I’m quite shocked. The title should give away what this revolves around. It’s not exactly slash, though.



“Are you sure they’re not…” Sam tilted his hand. He shrugged and said it. “Gay?”

“Of course I’m bloody sure. It might surprise you to know, Tyler, but there’s such a thing as friendship.”

“I know, but–”

“No buts about it.”

“It’s just, they’re never apart.”

“So?”

“They’re always together.”

“And?”

“And they almost died the other day, trying to save each other's lives.”

“Your point?”

“So, how do you know that they don’t share something more than... friendship? I mean, where’s your unequivocal proof?”

Gene’s expression was one akin to disgust.

“Look, not everything has to be tainted by sex. It’s perfectly possible for two men to enjoy spending time together without it relating to in, out, in, out, shake it all about.”

“There should be another ‘in’ there somewhere,” Sam said with a smug little grin. He rolled his head around and pushed his lips forward for a second. “And is that possible for a man and a woman too?”

“Sometimes, in set circumstances, yeah. If you’re both married-like, to other people. Or to each other.”

Sam snorted. He shook his head.

“I’m not sure you’re right.”

“Haven’t you ever had a friend? Is that it? Are you the only kind of your species or something?”

Sam looked hurt. He gazed out of the window and expelled a deep breath.

“I’ve had friends. I’ve had lots of friends.”

“And did you shag all of them?”

“No.”

“So what are you blathering on about, then?”

“I never stepped in front of a bullet for any of them, either.”

There was silence. The kind in which the cliché would say you could hear a pin drop. But where the pin would drop from and why would be another matter.

“Sometimes, that kind of thing is about more than friendship. It’s about loyalty. And trust.”

“Yeah. What I’m saying, though, is that loyalty and trust often feed into the physical.”

“That may be so, but they don’t have to.”

“No, but they do. We’re only human. Our primal instincts are all about connection with others. In, out, in, out, as you so delicately put it.”

“They do connect with others – female others. They’re both married, remember?”

“I remember.” Sam waited a moment. “Are you sure you’re not insisting on this just because you’re bigotted?”

“I don’t give a damn in hell what people do in the privacy of their own homes as long as I don’t have to hear about it. You’re the one thinking of it with a mind which is simple-set.”

“Yes, but-”

“I don’t wanna hear it, Tyler. Shut your cram-hole.”

“Fine.”

“Or I’ll shut it for you.”

“Got it.”

“Fairy.”

“Homophobe.”