Jack O'Neill stopped just inside the door. Habit made him scan the room though he didn't expect any familiar faces. Of course, it wasn't a familiar face he saw but a very familiar back. Wide shoulders, almost disguised by the slouch; short, brown hair. Even from the back he looked diffident. So much for a nice, anonymous evening. He almost turned around there and then, found another bar. He saw enough of Daniel as it was. Hell, by the end of a week even Carter wasn't easy on the eyes on anymore. And he hadn't been invited . . .
But this was his favorite bar, dark and noisy with a funky mix on the stereo behind the bar. And they had the best draught beer. And now that he thought about it, it might be nice to have company. So Jack walked up behind the archaeologist and gestured to the bartender. "Give me one of what he's having."
Daniel paused, glass halfway to his lips and looked at the man who'd just stepped up to the bar next to him. "Jack? Are you sure you want to do that?"
Jack eyed him a moment. "Whyyyy? It's just beer isn't it?"
Daniel's face contorted for an instant, and Jack was sure he saw a smirk before Daniel wiped it off his face. The answer was polite - in tone, at least. "It's imported, European, and the name has six syllables."
"You mean it's beer you have to cut with a knife?" Jack scowled as a glass of opaque liquid was placed in front of him. "Daniel, why can't you drink normal, regular American beer like everybody else?"
"Because it tastes like carbonated weasel urine?"
"And how do you know what carbonated weasel urine tastes like, huh smarty pants?"
This time Daniel didn't try to keep the smirk off his face, though he did have the good grace to hide it behind his glass. Jack watched the production, familiar with this show from many nights wrangling over the character, definition and quality that defined a good beer. First was the expression of utter bliss, the closed eyes and the sublime joy as the black muck was sipped. Then the catlike behavior as he ostentatiously licked the foam from his lip, though this time he did refrain from making yummy noises. "MMM. Real beer. Beer that tastes like it comes from something that grew. Drinking beer like this is a professional obligation. A rite. Many tribal peoples include consumption of ritual substances as an element of various rites. There are peoples for whom the consumption of one's own blood is a component of a rite of passage. Weasel urine . . ." Daniel shot shot him a sly glance and let the sentence hang.
"Which still doesn't TELL me anything about carbonated weasel urine since I might buy you selling me a line about drinking uncarbonated weasel urine, but carbonating it?"
"Hey, Pepsi and Coke both trademark their recipes as trade secrets -"
"Oh, OH!" Jack shook his head in mock disdain. "Are you really sinking to hinting that soft drinks contain -"
"I'm merely -"
"Full of shit" both of them intoned. Daniel grinned and settled back, leaning into the wall at the corner of the bar and watching the scene with sleepy-lidded eyes. Jack had propped his elbows on the bar and was studying the television, rapt as hockey players skidded into each other, walls, across the ice . . . From the corner of his eye he saw Daniel settle further and sip at his beer, content to just watch the room.
It was Friday. For once they were actually on Earth on a Friday, out by five, as Daniel had gloated (seventeen hundred, as Jack had signed them out from the Mountain), with no injuries and no hurt feelings. Unless you counted being bored (whining, snarked the little Daniel voice in his head) standing around while Daniel talked and Sam repaired a cantankerous pump for a village well. Jack thought about the village for a moment, the headman and his shaman playing power games, their wives just trying to get the work done. He thought about how Daniel had seen it, - uncomplicated on the surface, swirling with politics and intrigue when you dug deeper. Jack knew he'd relished the non-verbal communication of their hosts, the triumph of the village elders as their predictions had come true and their visitors had proved able to help. He'd seen Daniel shine drawing them out.
Daniel was sitting quietly now, eyes distant but a slight smile on his face. Probably thinking about the young men competing to catch Sam's eye. He'd glossed over that bit in his report. Jack grinned, thinking that he'd also glossed over the local-women-looking-for-husbands bit.
"At least this time you didn't wake up all married and not remembering how you got there," Jack teased gently. Daniel focused back on him startled out of his reverie and his lips turned up in a rueful grin.
Jack took a long draught of the beer and shuddered at the bitter taste. How Daniel drank the stuff he didn't know, acquired taste his ass. Beer was supposed to be - friendly. Unchallenging. A pleasantly innocuous drink with just enough kick to remind you it was alcohol, sort of like playing football with buddies - just enough muscle to remind you a guy was just playing, not doing it for real. Who needed the NFL linebacker of brewskies on a Friday night after a long week, though admittedly a much milder week than SG-1 usually had.
But hell, Daniel never really stopped working. He was working now, slouched in a corner being inconspicuous, and Jack would have sworn on a stack of regulatory manuals that Dr. Daniel Jackson was studying the bar. He narrowed his eyes, looked back at his colleague. "So. Those two. He gonna get lucky tonight?"
Daniel lifted his head just the slightest bit to see over the glasses stacked on the bar. Jack watched his eyes track. "The ones sitting by the conspicuously arty fern that looks like a refugee from a wine bar?"
"Since when do you know what they've got in wine bars?"
Daniel smiled. Actually, it was more of a smirk. "A) I'm a student of human behavior in all settings. B) I've been catching up on '80's series television."
"That many late nights?" Jack watched his face and caught the tiny flicker of muscles at the corners of Daniel's eyes. "And here, I thought you sat up reading obscure archaeology journals all night."
The beer left what looked like a chocolate milk mustache on Daniel's upper lip until a pink tongue flicked out and cleaned it off. Jack had just seen a blonde sitting mid-bar try that same move on the guy next to her only to be blown off for a brunette with big hooters on the other side. He smirked himself and raised his glass. "Practicing your flirting, Danny-boy? Aren't there prettier faces than mine?"
The utterly blank look that met his would have cracked him up except he'd have sprayed beer across the bar and that would be too crass for a colonel. Daniel blinked, blinked again, then followed Jack's gesture to the little drama and turned bright red and wrinkled his nose. Then snickered just a little. "Jack, I don't think I ever knew how to flirt, and if I ever did, then I'm so far out of practice that I wouldn't know if I were doing it now. I think your virtue's safe for time being."
"Yeah?" Jack took a sip and decided that the guy sitting on the stool at the corner wasn't going to get lucky after all. He slumped a little. He'd sort of been rooting for the poor schmo.
"He blew it from the opening sentence, Jack."
Daniel had his chin on his hand, watching the same couple. Jack reeled the conversation back a couple sentences and caught up with the skip in references. "Yeah? I didn't know you were watching."
"Nope. He was late and he screwed up." Daniel raised his glass, ordering another dark beer. "You must have missed when she kissed him. She went stiff as a board. I think he probably smells like somebody he shouldn't."
Jack ran his tongue over his teeth and shook his head. "Pretty impressive, Daniel. Just like Columbo."
"That's you, Colonel C." Daniel smiled and sipped at the new drink. His pupils were dilated now, and his expression had softened as he studied the other people in the bar. He leaned a little closer so he wouldn't have to raise his voice in the noisy chatter of alcohol-fueled conversations. "The guy you were watching before's probably going to get laid but he'll regret it. The brunette looks bored, like picking up guys is a regular job. The blonde will go home alone. The four guys talking in the corner are laughing too hard and the one watching the time is already drunk. I sort of wonder if he's having trouble with his wife. He's got a wedding ring but he flirts too hard with the waitress."
Yeah, Jack could see the one he was talking about. Tense and laughing too hard. "Maybe he lost his job?"
"Nah, his buddies don't look guilty enough. I'll put five that he's bitching about his wife."
Jack hesitated, then nodded. "I have to hit the little aviator's room anyway, dump some payload."
Daniel snickered. "The little physicists room for some fluid gravitics? The little litigator's room and serve some papers?"
Jack got into the spirit of the game as he finished his beer. "The little colonel's room and flash my bird. Order me another and I'll be back in a minute."
He chuckled softly as he heard Daniel order the beer and wove through the increasingly crowded bar. Yeah, the guy at the table of four was bitching and moaning about "the ball and chain." Damn, he owed Danny five. He should know better than to gamble on human behavior with Daniel.
The fresh beer was waiting when he got back. He smiled to see transparent gold in the glass. "Real American beer? Daniel, you remembered!"
"A nice, watery Pilsner for you, Jack."
"A nice, normal beer." Daniel's mouth was still curved in a sardonic smile as he settled back further into the shadows at their corner of the bar. Jack thought he saw the hint of a frown between his friend's brows and suddenly regretted the loss of something he hadn't even known was there.
He slouched over the bar himself, looking around. The sense of being in place, of belonging, evaporated in an instant. Jack tightened his grip on his glass and took a sip, but it tasted flat and dull. "You know, I miss that."
Daniel sighed audibly. "Yeah, me too."
Jack felt his lips curl up in a small smile almost before he knew it. He looked back over to Daniel. "Are you missing what I'm missing?"
The blue eyes suddenly sparkled, meeting his, "I don't know, Brain? Does it involve Jell-O and that little lieutenant from the Gateroom?"
"Jesus! You are one sick man!" Jack chuckled and wiped a little spilled beer from the corner of his mouth. "I didn't know you KNEW that kind of language, Dr. Jackson!"
"Blame Cassie." Daniel licked again at a Guinness moustache. "She sends me home with copies of 'Pinky and the Brain.'"
"You are seriously warped, Daniel. And I say that in the kindest possible way." Jack settled back on his bar stool and smiled. The bar's noise rattled and clattered and chattered but their little corner was quieter, tucked away in the dark.
"So what were you missing, Jack? Though if it involves tapioca pudding you can keep it to yourself."
Jack chuckled again. "You're safe on that score, Daniel. I was just missing being normal. Jeez, it sounds dumb when I say it out loud."
Daniel shook his head, expression wistful. "Doesn't sound dumb to me. I think I was missing the same thing."
"Ya think?" Jack raised an eyebrow in his best imitation of Teal'c and turned to look at his friend.
"Though I'm not even sure what normal ought to be." Daniel was slouched so far into his barstool he looked like he didn't have any bones. He dragged a finger up through the condensation on his glass. "I miss Egypt. I miss Abydos. I miss merchants shouting in the streets and people laughing and just being part of life."
Jack nodded. "Sounds pretty normal to me. In a weird, alien, totally-not-from-around-here kind of way."
A snort of laughter and Daniel sat up, suddenly full of bones, all angles and straight lines. "I used to think it was strange that people knew only English. That they smelled so clean and that there weren't any flies."
"That was normal, Danny." Jack studied his friend, hearing the bitter edge to the humor.
"Yeah?" Oh, it was more than an edge. The self-deprecating smile didn't soften it a bit. "So what is normal, Jack?"
"Good question." The Colonel looked around, suddenly seeing the bar through his friend's eyes. Seeing strangers talking to strangers, people who were pale and garishly dressed, loud and brash and needy. And that was normal too. Jack felt his lips tighten and turned back to Daniel. "It's normal to want someone to trust. To want someone to care. It's normal to want someone there, with you."
"So who do you trust, Jack?" Daniel tilted his head and now the acid softened into a gentle, questioning tone. "Who do you want?"
"Carter. I trust Carter."
"Sam?" Daniel nodded. "Who wouldn't. So why are you sitting here with me?"
It took a second for him to process that and then he snorted a bit of laughter himself, shaking his head. "I trust Carter with my life, Daniel, but I could never trust her like that."
"Trust her like . . . what?"
He'd heard Daniel Jackson angle for information before and heard the obvious hook. And decided to answer it even so. "Like her and my . . . I mean, the other guy named O'Neill. I mean," he struggled for a second, flustered, then figured it out. "If I made a pass at Sam or she made a pass at me . . ."
"You'd do it?" Daniel was watching with genuine curiosity, open, just being himself. Wanting to know.
Jack looked back and found it suddenly easy to talk. "Yeah. I would, at least. I'm sure. I mean, who wouldn't?"
"She's gorgeous, smart, funny. She's great, Jack." Danny had that look, the one your best friend got when he found you the best blind date of your life. "So what's stopping you, fool?"
"I'm not a fool. That's what makes me stop." Jack sighed and drained his glass and decided that another one wasn't such a bad idea. Hell, that's why God made taxis. "I'm not a fool, Daniel. We'd have great sex. We'd be hot and it'd feel great. And sooner or later I'd start to wonder if she did something in the field, or didn't do something in the field, because she was sleeping with me. Or she'd get promoted and sent someplace else. You know the rumor mill around here. Sooner or later some bastard would ask if she got her rank for sleeping with the boss."
That frown was back between Daniel's brows. Along with a look like there was a nasty taste in his mouth. "That's stupid. Sam's brilliant!"
"Yeah and it scares a lot of ignorant, backwards assholes stiff." Jack sighed. "And sometimes I'm a stupid, ignorant bastard myself. I trust Carter with my life and I trust her with my team but if I slept with her I don't know if I'd trust her to tell me the truth and that's what I need from her most."
"Umm. You lost me there." Daniel was making circles with his glass, drawing it through the puddled water and beer on the bar. "Tell you the truth about what?"
"When I'm an asshole, of course." Jack smiled gently. "Out in the field she's got to be my 2IC before anything else. She's got to back me up and when I'm an ass, she's got to kick me in the behind. And she does it damn well. But could she if we were lovers? Maybe. Maybe not. It's not a risk I can take."
"Sooo. It's not just that stuff about regs?"
He met Daniel's sympathetic eyes and shook his head. "That just gives us an easy out so we never have to make the choice. Remember Dr. Carter?"
Daniel gave a little shudder. "Like Sam said when she met her, 'there but for the grace of God!'"
Jack laughed, a deep, rich belly laugh. "Trust Sam to figure it out before I ever could! Yeah, I remember the look in her eyes. For an instant I could see her think about it. It may even have sounded like a good idea. But like she told me, it'd be the dumbest thing we could ever do."
"She told you?" Daniel's curiosity deepened. "When?"
Jack just shook his head, turning his glass in his hands. "It's not important, Danny. Really it's not. So who'd you trust?"
"Sam. Teal'c. You."
"Why Dr. Jackson. Did you just make a pass?" Jack gave him a delighted grin, pleased to catch him in a slip.
Daniel spluttered beer, shaking his head in quick denial and waving his hands back and forth. "No! No, Jaaack! You bastard!"
"You're too easy, Daniel." Jack picked up his new beer and toasted the other man. "So I'm that ugly?"
This time Daniel had frostily proper manners in place. "I refuse to dignify that with an answer, Colonel O'Neill."
Jack studied him long and hard, thinking. "And you. I trust you."
This time the beer went down completely the wrong way and Daniel coughed and choked until Jack slapped him on the back. Daniel leaned in close and lowered his voice even more. "Either I've drunk waaaay more than I thought, or you just made a pass at me?"
Jack let a slow smile crinkle his eyes. "I prefer to think of it as, I don't know, an offer for peaceful exploration?"
Daniel stared at him from a few inches away, blinked and blinked again. "You . . . you really didn't answer my question."
"Didn't I?" Jack swallowed against the feeling that his stomach was trying to climb straight up his gullet and get as far away from the rest of him as it could. Sins of commission, he reminded himself. And he was contemplating a pretty damn big one right now.
Daniel had that little line between his brows that he got whenever he was puzzling at conflicting interpretations. "Nooo," he drawled, "I really don't think you did. Would you clarify that point for me?"
He took a long pull of beer that he didn't even taste, and wondered if he could convince Daniel he'd been pulling his leg. Or if he should. Or . . . damn. Jack looked away from the intent, blue eyes and pictured walking out alone, right then and there, just drop it right then and there. "Do you have a problem with this?"
"I didn't say that."
The pink tip of Daniel's tongue flickered out and ran across his lips. The oblivious look on his face made it nerves and not flirtation but Jack felt that weird contradiction of nerves and arousal again. "You asked me once what I'd do if there were no consequences. What would you do?"
Daniel wasn't blinking now. As far as Jack could tell he wasn't even breathing, attention totally fixed on Jack. He finally twitched, a little shiver Jack could see run down his frame. "But I . . . there are consequences, Jack. To everything."
Jack was breathing hard, like he'd been running. The adrenaline buzzed in his ears. "Daniel, they're just words."
Daniel shut his eyes, turned his head away for an instant. When he looked back his gaze was too open, scared. "Words have the most consequences of all, Jack. Don't you know that?"
"What if I said that sometimes I think I want to be with you?"
Daniel's mouth was open just a little bit. His eyes flicked back and forth, like he was reading except that they never left Jack's face. He suddenly snapped his mouth shut, lips firming into a taut line. When he spoke his voice was low, nervous. "I think . . . I think this is not the venue for this discussion."
"I think you're right. Your place or mine?"
The blue eyes did that thing again, back and forth, reading his face, then Daniel gave a tiny nod. "Mine's a few blocks away." He slid down from his stool, tossing a couple tens on the bar. "I don't know about you but I need the walk."
"Sure." Jack added a twenty and followed him out.
Daniel was quiet for the first block. It was starting to make Jack nervous. He stole a glance over at the other man to see a studious frown. "Danny? You okay?"
"I'm not sure." Daniel shoved his hands deep in the pockets of his coat. "Did I make a mistake? You really did . . ."
"Make a pass?" Jack nodded and rubbed his fingers across his sweaty palms, tucked in his pockets too. "I didn't think it'd tick you off."
"It's not that." Daniel waved a hand in the air between them. "I mean, I don't have a problem with . . . I . . . "
Jack listened to Daniel splutter and struggle and smiled just a bit. "If I'd known I could shut you up that easy I'd have done this ages ago."
"I do not talk that much!" There, the indignation was back in place.
"I get worried when you shut up!" Jack grinned. "The babble is one index for how you are."
"You're so full of shit." Daniel was grinning now too.
"So what's bugging you." Jack shot him a curious look. "Normally you'd just spit it out. What hit a nerve. You gonna tell me you're straight?"
Daniel smiled more softly. "Not exactly. Well, yes, but in college . . ."
"You tried it. No prob."
"What about you?"
"A few circle jerks. But I figure, when you get right down to it, being with a guy can't be that different. Not after I've been propositioned by a snake."
"Oh. So I look good relative to a snake," Daniel bitched. "Besides which, I thought you said the snake had a thing for me."
"You gonna get hung up over a snake?" Jack smiled.
"You won't put the moves on Sam because of her rank. Because she's got too much to lose." Daniel glanced at him, glasses suddenly reflecting the streetlights, oddly opaque. "You figure I've got nothing to lose?"
Jack hesitated, thinking carefully about what to say. "I didn't say that."
Daniel's laugh was humorless. "You might be right. When you get right down to it it's not like you could wreck my career. Yours maybe, but -"
The dark between the streetlights was so deep, Jack wished he could see Daniel's face. He reached over and grabbed his friend's hand and squeezed. "That's not it. You know that's not it."
He could hear a word start, stop, hear Daniel clear his throat. "Do I?"
"Daniel, I love Sam but if I slept with her I could never trust her to tell me the truth again. Even if she never lied once, I'd always have to wonder."
"And you don't think I'd lie?" The question was so soft he couldn't read the tone. Jack strained to see Daniel's face in the dark, but found nothing he could work with there.
"I don't know, Daniel. I really don't know. I haven't even said I want to sleep with you."
"Yet."
Jack stopped. Turned to face his friend, who suddenly didn't seem so familiar after all. "I made a pass. That's true."
"Why?"
It was a good question. Jack took a deep breath and thought long and hard, shivering in the late fall chill. He could hear Daniel sniffle. Wood smoke drifted past them and Daniel sneezed, then went quiet again. Jack finally looked into Daniel's eyes, dark and solemn in the shadows. "Because I hate being alone. Because I trust you. You're my friend."
Even in the dark he could see Daniel's lips quirk. "What? No hearts and flowers?"
Jack aimed a cuff at his head. "We're guys. I'm asking to get laid, not to get romantic shit involved."
"How do you know I don't like the romance shit?" Daniel had turned and started walking again, his voice suddenly light, not loaded.
"I've seen your place. I see what you wear. There's not a bit of pink or hearts and flowers anywhere in the batch. Plaid, maybe, but no pink."
"Or purple or mauve or even, God help me, teal." Daniel was laughing now, teeth white as they moved through another circle of light. Jack could hear the jangle as he fished out his keys.
The ride up in the elevator was quiet. Jack found himself moving to one side, while Daniel sidled to the other. When the doors opened neither man moved for a moment, then both stepped through, shoulders brushing, and moved away from each other to walk awkwardly, each a foot from opposite walls of the hall.
The apartment door was a different kind of game, both of them flinching as they both moved forward, then Jack stepping back to gesture Daniel through. When the door closed behind them the silence thickened even more. Daniel moved silently, finding a bottle of scotch in the kitchen and pouring them each a small glass.
"Good stuff." Jack broke the hush first, rolling the whisky on his tongue and nodding. "Very good."
"Only the best . . ." Daniel held up his glass in a toast.
"Dan -" "Jac -"
They both stopped. Staring at each other, standing in the living room, both took a sip. Jack grimaced. "If I'd known it'd get like this I'd have just shut up!"
Daniel tilted his head forward, looked up through his lashes. "This is a huge risk. And what do you get out of it? Another circle jerk? A quick lay?"
Jack swished the alcohol in his glass, studying the archaeologist, considering the words. Hurtful words, quietly delivered in that flat, neutral tone. There was no real emotion behind them. Jack latched onto that fact, tested what he thought he heard. "Is that what you'd get, Daniel? Why would you say yes?"
"I don't recall saying yes." The other man turned, walked over to the picture window and looked out past the balcony railing. His voice was very low, very soft. "Sometimes I remember how it felt to have someone I cared about lying next to me. How warm and safe it could be. I didn't even love her at first, I was so overwhelmed. Hell, I'm not sure I even believe in love at first sight. I fell into love with her later, but even that first time, it felt so good and so right to just BE."
"Oh, yeah. Remember how it smells, warm skin in the morning? And how smooth it feels?"
"I remember. And that little sigh when she woke up. It's not just the skin. Skin on skin can be anything."
"I remember." Jack joined him. "Sometimes I remember that warmth, too. Just having someone who wants me there. Listening to the sound she makes as she comes. Feeling her hands on my skin. You asked what was normal? Right now, that's normal to me."
Daniel shot a sardonic look his way. "I know it's been a long time for us both, Jack, and obviously there are some things you've forgotten. For example, did you know that I'm male?"
"You pointed that out before." Jack smirked. Then let the expression drop and turned very seriously to Daniel. "I know you were married, and that Sha're was . . ."
"If you say she was my first I'll hit you. Hard." Daniel rocked back and forth, heel to toe. "For pity's sake, Jack, I was thirty-one when you met me! I was NOT a virgin."
"I figured that out. I mean, with Sara and all." Jack matched his exasperated tone. "You said there'd been a guy -"
"I went to UCLA!" Daniel turned an incredulous stare on him. "I started college in 1981, Jack! If you didn't at least give it a shot then no one believed you KNEW what you were!"
"And what were you, Danny?"
Daniel snorted. "Horny! And desperate. More to the point what are you, Jack? At least I've got the credentials to show I tried it."
"Asshole."
"In your dreams." Daniel grinned a little, taking a small sip of his liquor. "But I'm not kidding."
"I'm a guy who's been in a lot of down and dirty places and had a lot of times when I just wanted to forget where I was, no matter who I was with." Jack sighed.
"So is that what this is?" Daniel turned to look him full in the face. "Because I was desperate at UCLA, but desperate feels like crap when you wake up the next day."
"No. That's not what this is." Jack looked back at him. "I'm not just using you to jack off, Daniel. I want company tonight. Somebody I trust. Somebody I care about."
Daniel's mouth was turned up in a smile but his eyes were intense. "I am not looking for somebody to buy triangle rings and pick china patterns with."
"Tacky, tacky, tacky." Jack smiled. "Neither am I. I guess I'm looking for a fuck buddy."
"So you pick me?" Daniel arched an eyebrow.
"I'm thinking about it." Jack took another taste of scotch. "There's always Teal'c."
"Yeah. You trust Teal'c."
"I trust Teal'c. I don't trust Junior."
Daniel wrinkled his nose. "There is that."
"Of course, Teal'c does have a lot of positive qualities," mused Jack. "Big, strong."
Daniel assumed an utterly innocent expression. "And he certainly handles his staff weapon well."
Jack snorted again. It was getting to be a habit. "You're disgusting."
"That's why you love me." Daniel smiled.
"No china patterns," Jack warned.
"No rings or florid declarations," Daniel rejoined.
"No plans for secret trysts off-world, Dr. Jackson!"
"God, you're overbearing and I haven't even fucked you yet! Is this really worth it?"
Jack reached over, cupped the back of his head and pulled him forward very gently. Daniel's lips were warm and smooth and firm. Jack felt the roughness of a barely visible five o'clock shadow against his palm, smelled soap and scotch and beer and the cigarette smoke from the bar. No after-shave, not after a week off-world. Just liquor and smoke and Danny. It was more than enough.
He deepened the kiss, pushing with the tip of his tongue and feeling the mouth under his open, suddenly glad of the few inches he had on Daniel that made this an easier fit. Strong arms came around his body, first around his shoulders but that didn't feel quite right to Jack, and must not to Daniel either as they dropped to fold around his waist beneath his leather jacket. The glass felt hard and smooth through his shirt.
Daniel breathed a soft moan into his mouth and pressed the front of his body against Jack's, chest to chest, hips to hips. The length of a growing erection met his own, strange and a little scary, but also hot, very hot. Jack frowned with concentration, shifting to press against Daniel more firmly, pull him more tightly into his arms. A strong, deceptively soft tongue pushed back at Jack's, and into his mouth.
"MMfff! 'ack!"
Jack loosened his grip and Daniel suddenly pulled away. "Jack! If we're going to do this we're not doing it backlit in front of my balcony window!"
Special Ops training suddenly came to the fore and Jack blushed. "Crap! Umm. That was -"
"A pop quiz?" Daniel shook his head. "I'm beginning to believe what women say about us and our dicks."
Jack chuckled and put down his glass, pulling his jacket off. "Women are way smarter than us."
"Speak for yourself." Daniel had also shucked his coat and was moving now, turning off lights. Leading the way into the bedroom where curtains hid the window. He paused, hand hovering over the light.
"Turn it on. I already know you're a guy." Jack smiled as the light flicked on. "And it's not like you're ugly, you know."
"Thank you so much!" Daniel's sardonic tone matched the expression with which he eyed Jack up and down. "Maybe I should turn it back off."
Jack paused in the middle of pulling his shirt off over his head. "If this is an attempt to make me feel insecure, I'm already there. If you want me to go just tell me."
Daniel's expression softened, uncertainty and arousal and longing all mixed. "No. I don't want you to go. I don't think."
"It's okay." Jack dropped his shirt and sat down next to him on the bed. "I'm not certain about this either. All I know is that I'll feel lousy if I walk out the door."
Daniel studied him, and Jack almost laughed at the expression he read, and at the smudges his nose had left on Daniel's glasses. He reached up gently to take them off of his friend's face. "Look, what's bugging you most."
"The same thing that bugs you about Sam." Daniel's answer came without hesitation. "Or the reverse of it, really. Either you think this makes no difference or you don't care if it does."
Jack gave that, too, serious consideration. He put his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together, but didn't stop looking at Daniel. "That's a loaded question. No matter what, we don't stop being friends, Daniel. That's strong."
Daniel winced and both of them let that comment sit for a moment. "Does it matter to you if things change?"
Picking up his jacket suddenly looked like a good idea as Jack thought about what this might mean to Daniel, why he was asking. But then, picking his jacket up would also be a rejection, no doubt about it. "It matters. I think it matters to me that we try this, because you're the most important friendship I've got."
He could see the words hit Daniel hard, see the younger man swallow and shift away just a little. He understood that. For Daniel, words were as real as a touch, intimate and private. No one touched Daniel. Except Jack. "No one really talks to you, do they Danny?"
The eyes that met his were startled now. "What do you mean?"
"We don't talk to YOU." Jack made sure he stressed the pronoun. "We talk to what you are. To the linguist or the translator or the magician who gets us out of the shit. We talk to the friend or the Egyptologist. We don't just talk to you." He reached out and touched Daniel's jaw, let his fingers drift down to touch Daniel's throat. "We don't touch you with our hands or our words."
Daniel's hand closed over his and for a moment it felt like he couldn't decide whether to hold it or push it away. Jack waited for him to decide and relaxed as the hand pressed his fingers to Daniel's skin. He could feel the pulse racing beneath warm, soft skin. And he leaned in again, and pressed his lips to the pulse. Let his tongue find the beat, taste the salt.
"Ahhh," he could feel Daniel's sigh. And lifted his other hand to unfasten a button. And another, letting nervous-icy fingertips rest on warm skin. Daniel shivered and Jack pulled back.
"I care when things change. But things always change, Daniel. That's the nature of life. Friendships change. I want this one to change, I just don't want it to end. Am I making a mistake?"
Daniel stared back at him, eyes flickering back and forth. Jack's palms felt cold and his stomach felt like a knot in his belly, tense with nerves. "Are you asking me if it's a mistake to sleep with me?"
"No." Jack shook his head. "I'm asking if it's a mistake to think you want to."
Daniel gave a shaky laugh. "Right now I'm not really sure what I want. I'm scared out of my wits but I don't want you to stop."
Jack nodded and unfastened another button. "Do you remember when I said I trusted you?"
Daniel nodded back.
"I'm trusting you now." Jack undid the rest as he spoke, letting his fingertips graze the skin exposed. "I'm trusting you with our friendship. I'm trusting that you will TELL me if you want me to stop. If I cross a line and you don't want what happens, then tell me, Danny. For God's sake, do."
Daniel was blinking very fast, that little line between his brows. "And if I tell you to stop?"
"Then I will."
"And then?"
"Then we talk. And get really embarrassed. And keep talking. But we are still friends."
"How can you promise me that?"
Jack pulled back to look at him, letting his words touch instead of his hands. "Because I love you. Not like hearts and flowers or ribbons and lace. None of that crap. I love the guy who sits on my couch and gives me shit about hockey. Who tells me about pyramids even when my eyes glaze. I put up with crap from you that I'd never take off anyone else, Daniel and I still want that to happen. I still need you to talk to me and tell me off and give me shit and be my friend. And I will no matter what. I'm here because I need somebody to touch who knows me and who I know, but I don't trust Carter to be able to tell me the truth. I do trust you. If you tell me to stop it won't make our relationship change. It'll be the part of our relationship that DOESN'T change. The part where you will always tell me the truth."
Daniel gave him a small, shivery smile. "I don't do that now."
"You do. You just don't always know that you do." Jack smiled back but he was comfortable with his grin. Comfortable with his words. "Do you want me to stop?"
Daniel paused, then nodded. Jack shut his eyes against quick disappointment, then felt the hand on his face. "I want you to let go of control for a while, Jack. I want you to stop and let me."
He opened his eyes fast, seeing an intent expression, a dreamy expression in Daniel's eyes. Let go. He could do that. He nodded, slow and sure and let his hands fall into his lap. Daniel smiled and leaned in to kiss him and this time Jack let him control the kiss, let him tilt Jack's head back, kneeling up to press down on Jack's lips.
It lasted a long time, and it was very sweet. Daniel's hands roamed up and down his chest, up and down his spine, tracing over ribs and finding each separate bone of his spine. They slid down his chest again, nails combing through the gray hair growing there, fingertips finding his nipples and pinching them tight. Jack twitched and groaned and pulled back. "Danny!"
"You want me to stop?" The disappointment in Daniel's eyes was unmistakable and his hands jerked back off Jack's chest.
"No! NO!" Jack almost snarled. "Stop and I'll kill you and believe me I know how! I just want to get my pants off before I come!"
Daniel grinned and reached for his belt, tugging him further onto the bed. "You wouldn't. I mean, that's so high school."
"It. Has. Been. A. Long. Time." Jack ground out. "And it's not funny."
"No. Of course not." Daniel's cheeks dimpled when he tried not to smile. Jack rolled his eyes and sprawled on his back.
Daniel was fumbling with his belt. Jack growled again. "Do you need help with that?"
"It's a little different from this angle but I can get it."
"Damn well better hurry up!"
"Merde, but you're pushy."
"And you're slow." Jack breathed a sigh of relief as the belt finally opened and he was released from his pants. "Thank you, thank you!"
Daniel scooted down and Jack lifted his butt to let him pull off the chinos and boxers. And socks and boots too, as it turned out. Jack hissed as his leg hair got pulled but it was worth it when Daniel moved back up to straddle his hips and leaned down for another long kiss.
Jesus but he'd forgotten how this felt! Having someone he trusted on top of his body, cloth rubbing his bare skin, hands touching his flesh. Forgot how the taste of another person could be like wine, rushing in his blood and going to his head.
Daniel was heavy. He didn't know why he always thought of Danny as small - he wasn't. The weight of him was strange and exciting, and the feel of him, hard muscle under cloth, over bones that were bigger, heavier than a woman's. Beard prickled just a little over his throat and Daniel kissed from his lips and down across his cheek to his jaw, down further to his collarbone. He giggled as it tickled his chest then gasped as soft lips kissed a nipple, as hard teeth grasped that nipple and bit down very gently.
God, but he'd never thought about soft, worn cotton rubbing his balls and dick. Rubbing the insides of his thighs when he wrapped them around Daniel's chest and held the man tight, ran his fingers through Daniel's hair and held him to that nipple to nurse. Jack moaned and arched into the touch and worked like a bastard not to come right there on them both. Thought about jet fighter specs and tax returns and Harry-fucking-Maybourne's bad teeth just so he wouldn't come right then and there.
Daniel was whispering foreign words. They tickled the hair on Jack's chest. He almost understood them too - Abydonian. The language of Daniel's home if he wanted to be honest. Danny didn't come from the US and he didn't come from anywhere Jack understood, really. He came from Egypt, a cool, northern breeze blowing from the desert, smelling of sand and time and, oddly, cold Dutch seas. What a strange mix. He breathed deep and smelled it now on his skin as Daniel moved further down, kissing and nipping along his belly.
Oh Jesus oh God but his mouth was warm and his tongue was soft. Hesitant too, not sure anymore. "What do you like?"
Jack heard the whisper and it took a moment to realize it was English now. "God, I like it all! You stop and I'll kill you for sure!"
Daniel chuckled and Jack felt it in his legs, where he wrapped himself tight around the man's frame, still clothed and so warm, so fine. "Danny, you're wearing too much."
"If I stop you'll kill me." The laughter in his voice made Jack smile.
"I'll give you dispensation for taking off the shirt, you little bastard. Strip!"
The shirt came off fast, unbuttoned as it was. Daniel stripped it off and tossed it on the floor and Jack knew this was hot because he didn't even want to pick it up. "Blue jeans, too, Danny-boy."
"Now?" The faintest hint of a whine and Jack raised his head to see the sardonic look that he couldn't hear.
"Now. Get 'em off. You're on top. That's enough."
Daniel's grin narrowed his eyes to slivers of pleasure. "Live with it."
"Oooh," Jack's protest was swallowed up as Jack was swallowed up.
Daniel was licking down the length of his cock and that warm mouth sucked in his balls. Jack moaned again as Daniel took his balls in and rolled them against the roof of his mouth. Hard teeth and soft tongue, hard palate and soft lips. Jack arched his back and sobbed with heat and wet. Cool air kissed his skin as hot lips kissed his dick and it felt oh, incredible, oh all over and hard to believe.
"More!"
"Hmm?" Daniel lifted his head and the wet skin of his balls and cock was suddenly chilled. It almost sent him through the ceiling and he gasped again, "MORE!"
"'kay."
Luscious word, luscious feeling and he was holding on by a thread, didn't want it to end. Didn't want to come yet but he was gonna, gonna, Danny's finger circled his balls and drew a wet line down between his cheeks, circled the tight muscle of his anus and probed as his tongue probed the tip of Jack's cock and that did it. Lightning bolt up his spine, balls drawing up and the white noise in his head as he came and came, releasing all that need and want in pleasure, in a rush so hard it almost hurt, burning white from the top of his head down the line of his spine seized his balls and slammed its way out his cock and into the wet warmth of Daniel's mouth.
He melted. Just melted into the smooth surface of Daniel's sheets as the man himself knelt up, coughing a little. Jack smiled a bit, remembering how his wife had coughed too. Knew his own taste from her lips and it was too salty, too bitter at first. Knew it now from Daniel's lips, as his friend stretched out on top of him and kissed him hard. Salty and bitter, just a tang was nice but a mouthful was almost too much. He swallowed and pushed his tongue back into Daniel's mouth. There, softer now. Just a hint, mingled with the taste of the other man. He broke the kiss and lay there, panting, winded and tingling and wanting to laugh with the joy of feeling so good.
Daniel rolled off him, snuggled warm to one side and nuzzling. Jack smelled his own scent on Daniel's skin and wrapped himself around the guy, stroking his fingers down Danny's back, playing with the cleft at the base of his spine. "That felt . . ."
"Good? Excellent? Merveilleuse? Superlative?" Daniel arched an eyebrow, wearing a smug grin.
For once, Jack felt like letting him keep that grin. "All that. I thought you said you hadn't done this in a while."
"Talented amateur."
"I'll say." Jack snuggled up against him, yawning, peaceful and calm.
This was what he'd wanted. That calm sense that you were cherished, wanted, desired. Not forever but just for a bit. He buried his face in the curve between Daniel's shoulder and neck and breathed in his scent, licking smooth skin over the collarbone, pressing his cheek to the pulse in the throat.
"Mmm." Daniel's moan shivered along his cheekbone and Jack smiled and blew a raspberry that made him laugh. "That tickles!"
"Good. Then I'm doing it right."
He rolled on top and looked down into Daniel's eyes, wide and dark in the soft light of the bedside lamp. "What do you like?"
Daniel gave him a sleepy smile. "It's okay."
Jack stared at him, then rolled back and took a look, reaching down to feel Daniel's cock.
"Jack, what are you doing?" Daniel curled up to rest on his elbows, watching this.
"Just checking to be sure you're a guy." Jack gave him a look of disbelief. "I mean, yeah, once we get off we're happy but until then . . ."
"Don't be an ass." Daniel gave him a superior sneer. "And I'm fine."
Jack stared at him, then leaned forward and kissed him long and hard, tasting him. Feeling him. Thinking again, now that the first urge to sleep was breaking up. Daniel let himself be kissed, opening his mouth, but the hands on Jack's shoulders felt calm, not needy. Jack kissed back down his throat and looked up to see that same, soft smile and it piqued his interest.
Little bit of a challenge. Jack knew that wasn't what Daniel intended, but also knew that's what he felt. Competitive. Male. He slid his hand slowly down Daniel's belly, looking for the same response it would have brought from him and felt Daniel arch up into the touch, like a cat being stroked. Unbuttoned Daniel's jeans, pushing his fingers under the worn denim and felt the first interest, the first swelling of his cock. And if he hadn't been watching Daniel's eyes the whole time he'd have missed when they shut, the faint line between his brows and the quick grimace, like grief. Not like grief. That's exactly what he saw, he knew it.
Jack stilled with his hand cupping Daniel's balls and waited. The hips rose and fell, pressing into his hand, but guys didn't fake it well. He wrapped his hand around Daniel's cock and squeezed, almost hard, and got a gasp of surprise and those eyes flew open, met his. Jack squeezed again and Daniel's hand grabbed his wrist. Jack leaned close and whispered, "The guy in college."
Puzzlement replaced grief and Jack almost grinned, feeling the twitch under his hand again. Maybe Daniel wasn't the only one who never stopped working. He slung one leg over Daniel's and held him down, moving in to press Daniel into the bed. "You blew him, didn't you?"
"What's that got to do -"
Jack pressed a finger to Daniel's lips. "Did you let him do you?"
The tip of Daniel's tongue was wet against his finger. Jack thought about how Daniel kept to the edge of a group unless he was someone else's voice. Someone else's words. Thought about how Sha're just took him by storm, taking what she wanted. And he'd loved it. Overwhelmed, he'd said it himself. How he'd give but not take.
Overwhelmed. But not by sex and not by love.
Jack moved to rest his whole weight on Daniel's body and thought about what he was going to do next. It made him squirm, sort of hot and sort of not and all at the same time.
Daniel's hair was soft under his fingers. The skin of his throat was warm, his shoulders smooth. Down his arms, over biceps built up from working digs over the years, then built more by working with SG-1. Down the tickly, fine hair of his forearms to wrap around his wrists and Jack yanked his wrists up over his head and pushed them back into the pillows. Daniel liked to give, but hated to take.
Jack waited to see what would happen next, feeling the sudden speeding heartbeat in the chest under his. Daniel's lips were parted, cheeks flushed. Jack leaned down and pressed a kiss to them hard, probing with his tongue. Under his hands the tendons flexed but Daniel didn't really fight, just tested his grip.
He'd give but not take. And no one took from him except the ones who never should. Jack lifted his head and looked again, seeing lips full from being kissed and blowing him and being kissed again. Daniel's eyes were closed again but the frown wasn't there this time. And Daniel's cock between them was suddenly getting very hard.
Oooh yeah. Special Ops was more than knowing how to sneak and hide and kill. It was knowing the other guy, how play him and how to make him jump, what he'd do and why. Really knowing him.
Jack wondered how long it had been since anyone had really known Daniel. Knowing the other guy just to screw him blind usually made him feel sick. But that wasn't what this was about. Well, in a way yes it was but maybe it wasn't screwing him blind that this was about as much as . . .
He was thinking too much. Jack leaned in and nipped at Daniel's ear, hard enough to feel, not hard enough to hurt. And ground down on the increasingly urgent erection trapped between the two men. "Is that what you like?"
"Please -"
"Four words, Danny." Jack lifted his head and looked at his friend and gambled like a son of a bitch. "Ouch. Yes. No. And please. You get those four words."
Daniel was watching him, waiting. Jack licked his lips and took the big chance. "Say yes or please and I keep going. Ouch speaks for itself. Say no and I stop."
"Stop?"
"Yep. Right away, no harm, no foul, and we do that talk again."
"What about other languages?"
Jack had to laugh. "I'm trying to be a big, tough dom guy here and you're undermining my authority. This isn't easy you know!"
"Yes, no and please is so limited!"
"And 'ouch'?"
"Vulgar."
Daniel's eyes were sparkling as he argued and his body squirmed under Jack's. Oh, yeah. He'd read it right. "Four words, Daniel. And they are?"
"Ouch. Yes. No. Please."
"And you know what they mean?"
Daniel licked his lips. "Yes means go ahead. Please means faster, faster you fool, you fool -" He and Jack grinned at each other at that. "And no means what it says."
"And no penalty, Daniel. Remember that. No blame. If I find out that you let me do something you didn't want . . ."
He let the sentence trail, looking into his friend's face to be sure he was understood. Daniel licked his lips again, suddenly solemn, and nodded. "I'll tell you, Jack. I will."
Jack nodded back. "Okay."
Daniel's lips quirked. "Please?"
The signal worked. Jack hesitated, thinking about it. And lowered his lips to a nipple, biting down until he heard a gasp. Just a little more and, "ouch!"
Okay. He gentled, licking lightly until he felt Daniel relax, felt a soft shiver that he was sure wasn't from cold.
Any further down and he'd have to let go of his partner's wrists. Jack raised himself just a bit, putting his training to work again. Ah hah. He got Daniel's wrists in one hand and leaned down to grab the archaeologist's discarded shirt. Tying one sleeve firmly around Daniel's wrists he looped the rest over the headboard. Daniel squirmed but didn't say a word. His face was flushed and Jack couldn't miss his excitement.
"Tug on your hands." Daniel did, pulling hard but the jury-rigged bondage held. Jack tested and it hadn't pulled too tight or loosened up. Just right. He smiled to himself and lifted his upper body, letting his hips press Daniel down again. He was getting more interested himself now, recovering from Daniel's attentions.
"Too tight?" Daniel opened his mouth, then closed it and shook his head. Jack smiled. "Good."
He leaned in close and started to nibble a line down Daniel's ribs, biting then kissing each spot as he moved down until he was kissing the point of Daniel's hip. Oh, but salty skin tasted good. And it was fun to peel the blue jeans off, another memory rediscovered in the act. Daniel felt different under his hands, but the feel of skin stretched silken over bone, that was the same. Jack bit a little harder, listening for that gasp again and then licked and soothed. A red spot marked the white skin, sharply defined against ghostly pale. He ran his hands over both hips. He remembered how he'd loved the arch of Sarah's hips. Daniel's hips were narrower, not the full, rounded curve but a graceful concave belly stretching up over bone. He'd never thought about a how a man's body looked but he thought about it now, tracing a slow, contemplative finger down from Daniel's lowest rib to the subtle curve below his waist.
Daniel's belly was so pale. Jack studied the trail of hair that thickened into a nest of dark curls at the base of a firm, eager shaft. He looked up, taking in the rapid motion of belly and chest as Daniel breathed, the tension of his throat, his jaw. Eyes tightly shut and waiting. "Please."
One word, softly spoken and so needy. Jack smiled and wrapped his fingers around foreskin, remembering Daniel was born abroad. He'd been looking at his own dick all his life, and at other guys' dicks since he was old enough to estimate size and care. He'd yanked other guys' dicks with pleasure as they'd yanked his. Felt good. Harmless fun. The sight wasn't new, wasn't always good or bad, just was. Except now. Daniel was beautiful, arched back with need, cleanly drawn desire from the tremor of closed eyes, past the raised chin, nipples pebbled and hard on his chest and down past ribs and belly, shadowed and flexing with need. Down to the cock Jack held in his hand. His mouth watered. "Please," Daniel murmured again, and Jack let the tip of his tongue trace a narrow line up the tendon that ran the length of Daniel's cock. Right up to the pearl of fluid at the tip. Flick of the tongue and he tasted salt and bitter and the faintest hint of sweet.
He traced his tongue around the head of Daniel's cock, just the tip of his tongue, barely touching. In the silent apartment Daniel's whispered refrain was loud enough, "pleasepleaseplease yesyesyes . . ."
Jack let the flat of his tongue ease Daniel into sensation, thinking about what he liked, what had felt good to him from Daniel, what Daniel might want. And paused. Then licked his finger and pushed at the tiny opening just as Daniel had. And Daniel yelped and his hips came up off the bed, then pushed back and down, cock into mouth, ass onto finger and then back up again to meet Jack's tongue. Jack jerked back in surprise then relaxed as he heard "pleasepleaseplease" again, more needy and wanting than ever, saw the tension in the muscles along Daniel's arms and smiled.
He'd experimented. Probably more than Daniel, truth be told. He slid his finger free and paused, then reached over for the bedside table. Danny might be a genius and might be discreet but he was still a guy and yeah, just like any other guy, there were condoms and lube. Jack wasn't gonna ask how long they'd been there, even if he'd told Daniel to say anything but yes, no and ouch. Oh yeah, and "pleeease."
That little whimper did it. Jack was hard as a rock. He'd never thought a guy could make him that hard but Daniel did. The need and pleasure and trust, yeah, that made him hard. Jack squeezed out some lube and eased it into the shadowed cleft, winced as Daniel hissed at the cold, then moaned. He kept his eyes on Danny's face and pushed his finger back in, wiggled and pushed it deeper, all the way in to warm, tight flesh.
Not so different. Didn't smell like a girl or sound like a girl but a guy's ass and a girl's ass felt the same. Jack relaxed, on more familiar ground. He pushed a second finger in slow and deep. Easy, wait and then add the third. It had been so long and the thought made his cock jump. "Daniel, do you know what I want to do?"
Daniel opened his eyes, lifted his head. His teeth were locked on his lower lip and his hips moved as Jack twisted his fingers deep inside. Jack repeated his question and Daniel said "Yes."
"Do you want it?"
Daniel blinked and his eyes went distant for a bit. Jack pushed his fingers in, letting his knuckles strain the flesh, letting him know what he might get. Daniel shut his eyes again, arched his back and snapped, "Yes!"
Fair enough. Jack pulled his hand free and wiped it on the sheets. Thought he'd go nuts getting the foil wrapper torn. What sadist made them so tough? Daniel had a leg wrapped around his waist now, heel sliding up and down his back and Jack shuddered with desire as the other man's leg tracked up and down his body. Flashbacks to high school and fumbling in the dark as he rolled the latex over his own hard flesh. Daniel's lips were moving and it looked like a string of please, pleas, Jack would have smiled at the play on words but he wanted this too much himself, now. Felt like he'd die if he didn't get his cock into safe, warm flesh, couldn't feel the smooth silk of somebody else's body, not a stranger but a friend.
He reached down past the not-truly-familiar-not-truly-strange balls and cock on his lover and spread apart the almost familiar buttocks. Knew this. Knew how to make love like this. He grabbed his own dick and pushed it down, settled his tip in the ring. Looked back up to Daniel's face. "Are you sure?" One last chance.
"YES! And I will kill you if you stop again!"
"I'll give you that one," Jack grinned and pushed and suddenly couldn't grin, couldn't breathe, could only hold onto his control by a thread as he got the head of his dick into someplace tighter and hotter than he could remember, felt so good, felt hot and safe and snug and goooood. Like little electric shocks through his body, so good it almost hurt. It took all he had to inch deeper instead of just pounding away and thank God for that blow-job first.
Daniel moaned and Jack felt it on his skin, felt the vibration though his dick, felt the tension of muscles being stretched maybe for the first time and if not, who cared. He cared about now. He cared about here, with his friend, making love to his friend. Moving in slower now, watching Danny and pacing to Danny's need, not his own. Jack tilted his hips and Daniel gave a muffled scream, shock but no pain in wide eyes, and lips urging "YESYES PLEASE!"
He shifted and moved in, sliding home and his balls pushed up against Daniel's warm butt, and he couldn't believe how it felt. It had been so long and you never really remembered how sex felt, it was too good and too primal, a thing of skin and scent and need, not words and the mind. Jack pulled back and pushed in again and Daniel arched and hissed and squeezed his eyes shut. "Do you want more?"
"YES! OH YES!" Not that he'd needed to say. His legs were wrapped around Jack and pulling him in. Jack grabbed Daniel's hips and pulled him into his lap, onto his thighs, tilted his hips and thrust and got that wonderful scream again. Found the spot over and over and Daniel was tossing his head, needy and flushed, sweating and gasping now, thrusts coming too fast for the screams as Jack took him and claimed him by pleasure and want.
It felt impossibly fine, slick, smooth inside after the tight grip of his entrance around Jack's cock. Jack leaned into each thrust, pushing deep but not slamming, letting Daniel feel his full length and feel his control. Giving, not taking from the man who he fucked. This pleasure was to share, not force or seize. Jack slid his hands up Daniel's chest, finding his nipples and pinching them hard. Daniel twisted under his touch, ass tensing each time he pinched and it felt like a rocket going off, sparks flying, he couldn't hold it long and he reached down to grab his partner's cock.
Squeezing, stroking in time to his thrusts, in and out, in and out and Daniel was slamming himself up and down now, fucking himself on Jack's cock, gasping and so far past words that even yes or please weren't said anymore. Jack timed it, slamming in now, at last, too far gone to stop and loving the slap of flesh on flesh, wet with sweat and smelling sweetly of need. Daniel's gasps met his grunts, and then the rhythm was lost, gone in twisting and sobs, ecstatic screams as Daniel went wild. Legs locked around his waist and pulled him in hard, Danny pumping up and down, into his hand, onto his dick, screaming out loud as he came and came, white spurts that splashed onto his belly, onto Jack's hand. Heat inside as Jack came again, crying out and spending into that impossibly tight little hole.
Jack gasped and slumped down, bent over Daniel, still joined. He smoothed his hands over damp, feverish skin and through come. Daniel was panting, head turned to the side, eyes closed tight. He was beautiful, wanton, spent.
Jack smiled, slid free and carefully pulled the condom loose. Bathroom, oh yeah. Rinse his face and clear his head, wash his groin and get a warm, wet cloth for his lover.
Danny still lay there, sprawled loose-limbed across the bed, wrists over his head. Jack washed him, gentle touches, enjoying the little whimpers and sighs that satisfied people make. Enjoying that he'd given those sighs, first time in so long that he'd heard a sound like that. Not just the sound of someone after sex - he'd heard that a time or two. But the sound of someone to whom he'd made love. Jack knew the difference. And knew he heard it now.
Daniel looked up at him sleepy-eyed. Jack smiled. "Be back in a second. Any chance the four word rule will still hold?"
"Not a hope in hell." Daniel grinned.
Jack shivered when he stepped on the tiled bathroom floor, dropped the cloth in the sink and walked back out. Daniel held up his bound hands and Jack couldn't decide if he wanted to smile or wince. He pulled loose the knots and freed the other man. Silently.
Daniel rubbed at his wrists, or started to. Jack took them away, thumbs playing gently over chafed skin. "Christ, I'm sorry. Did I tie them too tight?"
"Nope. I just pulled too hard." Daniel rolled over and pushed his feet under the covers they'd pushed to the foot of the bed. He looked . . . peaceful. At ease.
Jack studied his face, suddenly fearing what he'd done. Worrying like he hadn't worried before. Hating that he'd let his need speak louder than caution.
"You're thinking too loud." Daniel smiled up, tugging him down. "Stop."
"Isn't that my line?" Jack smiled tentatively back.
"You didn't hurt me." Daniel frowned, but not a bad frown. He hesitated and then spoke softly, almost too soft to hear. "And you didn't take anything away. Not from me."
Jack rolled onto his stomach, resting his head on his arms. "Umm. What you said before."
Daniel's eyes were alert, fixed on his face with complete attention now. "Which thing?"
"You didn't tell me your wrists hurt." Jack stared at him, suddenly cold and not willing to cover up, soak up Daniel's warmth.
"That's because they didn't." Daniel smiled. "It . . .do we have to talk about sex? I mean, our sex. I know I like to talk but . . ."
Jack listened and for the life him, couldn't find a hidden meaning there. "I guess not."
"Good. Cause you scare me when you act all fluffy like that. That's my schtick, not yours."
Jack suddenly heard the subtext, knew what Daniel's words meant. And sneered. "You and your rocks. If you tell me if we understand all we'll forgive all I'll scream."
"I won't go quite that far." Daniel's grin was delighted. "Not with a lunkhead like you."
Jack leaned over and whispered in his ear "plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose!"
And revelled in peals of laughter. He'd brought all of himself to this, the good and the bad. And he'd needed it to meet Daniel halfway. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same, oh yeah.
### The End ###