Free LifeOverLimb by Stephani Hecht

may have only been lovers for a while, Ricky found that he didn’t want to make it through the day without hearing Tanner’s voice, or to feel the man’s strong arms around him.
    Ricky knew then that first thing in the morning, he’d call Tanner and try to find a way to fix this damn mess. Because hurt feelings or not, Ricky simply wasn’t ready to give up on the other man.
    Tossing his cup into the trash, Ricky went over to Ben. Tapping him on the shoulder, Ricky said, “I don’t feel so well, so I’m going home.”
    “You can’t go home. Not without seeing The Doctor, ” Ben replied putting really heavy emphasis on the last word.
    “All I have is a headache. It’s not serious enough to bug Patrick over.”
    “No, I meant that Doctor. ”
    Ben pointed to the front of the room and Ricky looked, his breath catching in his chest when he saw Tanner standing there, dressed as Doctor Who. Or more specifically, the Eleventh Doctor Who.
    “Oh, my God,” Ricky breathed, his heart melting just a little bit.
    Tanner glanced down at the getup. “Do you like it?”
    “Of course I do. You have the tweed jacket, the suspenders and you even wore the little bow tie. It’s perfect.”
    “You look nice, too,” Tanner said, nodding to Ricky’s Army costume.
    “What can I say? They asked, I told and they still took me. Gotta love that repeal,” Ricky teased in an effort to hide his nerves.
    Tanner cocked a brow. “So, do all uniform pants in the military have Velcro running up the sides?”
    “Damn it, you saw through my ruse. Okay, it’s actually a costume I borrowed from a friend of Matt. Since he’s a wannabe stripper, it needs to be easy on, easy off.”
    “That was nice of that guy to lend you his work outfit.”
    “Yeah, I guess. Too bad the man was a bit sleazy. I’m kind of afraid to go under a black light. I’m pretty certain this thing is just full of body fluid stains.”
    Tanner nodded. “You’d probably glow brighter than a Christmas tree.”
    “Which would not be nearly as fun as it sounds.” Ricky gave Tanner another once over. “You really do look amazing.”
    Ricky still couldn’t believe that Tanner had shown up and dressed as Ricky’s favorite TV character. It made all the anger and hurt that had been lingering over the past few days evaporate.
    “Thanks, Ben. Carla and Matt helped me.”
    “Wait! Matt got you something as awesome as that, but he stuck me with this?” Turning back to the crowd, Ricky yelled, “Matt, you suck!”
    “Thank you,” was Matt’s far away sounding response.
    “I still think that Captain Jack Harkness would have been better,” Lucas shouted.
    “Ah, babe even I know that he’s from the wrong show.”
    “Don’t be a jerk, Torchwood was a spinoff from Doctor Who , so they’re close. They both had characters that crossed over.”
    Tanner laughed. “Don’t mind them, they’ve been having this argument all day long.”
    “It was worth listening to them for that kickass costume.” Ricky smiled.
    “I’m glad you like it, because I wore it for you,” Tanner told Ricky.
    “You did? I mean, I kind of suspected that was the reason.” A warm feeling pooled in Ricky’s belly.
    “I figured that if I was dressed like this you would finally talk to me.”
    “Well, the puppy dog eyes you’re shooting me are helping your case, too.”
    Tanner took a few hesitant steps forward. “I was a complete asshole the other night. I didn’t mean any of these things I said about you.”
    “It really hurt me,” Ricky confessed around the lump in his throat.
    “I know and now I’m terrified.”
    “Of what?”
    “That I’m going to lose you. As soon as you walked away from me that night, I realized something.”
    “Really, what?” Ricky asked, feeling a bit like a parrot.
    “That if I keep letting the past drag me down, I’m going to lose the most important thing to me now.”
    “What’s that?”
    “You. Look, I know we’re just starting this