Ralph, lying at Bill's side, holding his older partner's hand, knew the scene that was coming up next in the "movie." And knew he had to wake Bill up before it could get that far. It was bad enough watching Bill go down on Pam, let alone thinking of him going down on...

"Oh, God!" Ralph exclaimed, louder than he'd intended, as his body reacted instinctively to the thought, the image that came into his head.

Bill started in his sleep, moaning, and turned his head the other way. His arm didn't move, and Ralph retained the light hold on his partner's hand.

Ralph held his breath, not wanting to wake Bill just yet. The image of Bill, moving down, down to... STOP IT! Ralph screamed at himself in his mind.

That did it.

"What? Ralph!" Bill called out, pushing himself up in bed on his knees and hand, looking wildly around for any trouble threatening his young friend.

When Bill moved his left arm, Ralph's grasp held him in place.

"What the...? Ralph? What the hell are you doing here? Are you all right? I heard you scream 'STOP IT!' What's going on? What's wrong?"

Ralph fell back, still holding Bill's hand, and chuckled, looking up at his older partner and best friend, looming over him in the big bed in his boxers and green sleeveless undershirt. The pale light of the full moon beamed in, unsullied by any street lamps, giving Bill an almost-angelic glow.

Bill was silent, looking down at Ralph. He shook his head as if to clear it, not entirely sure if he was awake or dreaming. It had been so vivid, so real, and Ralph was lying here next to him, in the red jammies, holding his hand. Had he been holographing in on him? Were they linked up and thus sharing a dream at the same time, as they often shared holographs and precognitive visions?

"What, uh... what're you doing, Ralph? You been holographing on me?" Bill asked quietly, pointedly looking at Ralph holding his hand.

Ralph didn't answer for a few seconds, then smirked at Bill. "I was sleeping and I heard you call out to me, Bill. I was worried, I thought you'd used your key to come into my place, looking for me. When I realized you weren't there, I picked up distress or... something... off of you."

Bill gave a short sharp laugh. "Something, yeah. It's been something all right, since you and Pam brought me to that damned movie."

Ah, he called her Pam, Ralph thought. Maybe he's in a more open mood than I thought he was, not calling her the Counselor.

"Oh, you mean 'Janet'?"

"God, Ralph, not you too!" He looked again at the clasped hands.

Ralph wondered why Bill hadn't already pulled indignantly away from him, wondered why Bill allowed him to continue holding his hand.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Ralph asked quietly. Perhaps here, in the privacy of night, the room in shadowy blue of the Moon, would be the perfect place. Dark, secretive, something they could both pretend hadn't happened the next day.

Bill shuddered, and Ralph could tell he'd closed his eyes. He remained perched on his knees, his right arm hanging limp at his side.

"Bill," Ralph whispered. "It's me, your partner, your best friend. Talk to me. What's been going on? When I caught that feeling off you and holographed in on you, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I couldn't tell if you were dreaming it or watching it, that's why I came over."

"'Don't dream it, be it.'"

"Yes."

"Ralph, I... how much did you see?"

"Most of it, pard."

Bill was motionless, his usually expressive face blank. "And?"

"And this," Ralph said, gently pulling Bill down on top of him. He wrapped his arms around the older man's back, twining his shorter legs into Bill's longer ones.

"Ralph!" Bill said, his head falling to the pillow Ralph was leaning against. He moved his mouth against Ralph's ear.

"Oh, God, Ralph..." he whispered.

He couldn't continue. The full-body contact had re-connected the two, fully awake and aware of one another, not dreaming, only being. Being with one another.

Be it, Bill. Don't think, feel.

Did he think that? Or did Ralph? At this point, it didn't matter. All Bill knew was that he wanted to drown in that feeling of such gentle strength enfolding him. He was always the strong one, the leader, with "the kid" doing the dirty work. Now he could submit to that power, fully realizing what it was like, how it felt, to Ralph to have such an ability.

Bill moved his arms under Ralph's, pulling him closer yet, burying his face against the younger man's neck, pressing his mouth against it.

"Bill," Ralph whispered, twining his hand in Bill's thick hair.

"Just don't... gawd, I can't believe I'm saying this, Ralph. Just don't hurt me."

He both felt and heard his partner's delighted laughter, in his mind and under his heart, and their minds took that final plunge into one another as they discovered whole new aspects of their partnership and friendship they'd never considered before.

(A/N: I'll leave what happened from there to the reader's imagination.)