Adjustments, Part 5
Feb. 22nd, 2006 10:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brainofckTitle: Adjustments, Part 5
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
muck_a_luck, posting in brainofck
Pairing: Daniel Jackson/Jack O'Neill
Rating: PG-13
Summary: This story is a close cousin of Metamorphosis, except in this story, Daniel really has changed into a woman.
Content/warnings: Het content.
Disclaimer: If anybody is planning a script like this for SG-1, I'm certainly not going to claim any rights to it. However, I'd be delighted to work in a co-writing/consulting/first-reader/advisory-type capacity, with my fee to be negotiated at that time. :D
Archive rights: Absolutely none. My journals only.muck_a_luck and brainofck
For my loyal![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
rugbytacklers, I have done a Stargate crash course located here.
Adjustments, Part 1
Adjustments, Part 2
Adjustments, Part 3
Adjustments, Part 4
They sat comfortably in opposite corners of the couch, each with a beer in hand. Jack did say that their goal would be to get drunk enough to cry and hug, but Daniel had thought it was a joke. Now he wasn't so sure. And he had definitely had enough beer to get him hugging things. But Jack hadn't, so they had sat down to watch something. The remote still lay in the middle of the coffee table. Neither of them had reached for it.
Daniel took a tiny sip of his beer, hoping at least not to embarrass himself by vomiting in Jack's front hall bathroom. The evening had gone much more easily than he had expected. Getting out of the privacy of his own home, or possibly the fact that he had already had four orgasms since 9:00 or so the evening before, seemed to have dampened down his out-of-control hormones.
And the afternoon with Jack had been like other afternoons from before. Easy. They laughed. They bickered. They ate steak Jack made and potato salad Daniel brought. Daniel couldn't believe what a relief it was to see Jack smiling again, if not completely at ease.
Daniel wondered exactly why that was? Why Jack still seemed so unsettled? He tried not to let his own thoughts from the morning's shower color his judgment about what might be going on in Jack's head.
But they had been so close for so long. What if Jack was having the same experience Daniel was having, but just from the other side? What if Jack was getting himself off at night imagining Daniel in his arms?
And what if Jack had been fighting it for a long time? Maybe from the very beginning?
Daniel watched Jack twirling his bottle between his fingers, and he wondered if that was the reason Jack wouldn't look at him anymore.
"Had any more trouble with SG-5?" Jack asked, his attempt to make the question sound casual when it really wasn't was painfully obvious.
Daniel snorted.
"I never had any problem with SG-5, Jack. You did."
Jack sat quietly. He looked thoughtful and far away. Daniel felt a terrible urge to touch that pensive face, draw those dark eyes back to himself.
Yes. He definitely wanted that. He shifted around so that his back was to the arm of the sofa and put his socked feet in Jack's lap. Oh, too much alcohol, Daniel thought, but if he put the beer bottle down his hands would be free, and that just seemed unacceptable.
Jack looked down at Daniel's feet, startled. Then Jack shifted and adjusted and slumped until he found a new, comfortable position, letting his right forearm settle down over Daniel's ankles.
"Your feet don't stink as much as I would have expected," Jack commented easily. Daniel thought maybe he sounded a little breathless. But now he was not looking at Daniel again. Suddenly, instead of bothering him, the not looking was starting to turn Daniel on. For the first time since he had arrived, he was starting to feel the buildup of this morning's desires. He tried not to let it distract him.
"They don't stink at all, that's why!" Daniel spluttered in mock outrage.
Jack wrinkled his nose, looking at his beer, not Daniel. Not even Daniel's feet.
"Fine, I'll move them, then," Daniel said in a huff. Because it was what he ought to say, though he was feeling giddy from the not looking and disappointed to have to stop touching Jack so soon. But suddenly the fingers of Jack's empty hand were wrapped tight around Daniel's right ankle. Long, strong, elegant fingers. Daniel shivered. Masturbation material for weeks, right there.
"It's alright," Jack said. "I told you it wasn't as bad as I expected."
Joking smile. Eyes off somewhere toward the fireplace.
"Why won't you look me in the eye anymore?" Daniel asked suddenly, immediately regretting it, but resisting the urge to clamp his hand over his own mouth.
Jack turned his head and looked at him. He shrugged.
"I want to think of you as Daniel. When I look at you, you're not. Teal'c's right. I haven't been able to get past that, not on a lot of levels." He shrugged again.
The comment hurt less that Daniel would have thought it would. Strangely, the idea that Jack couldn't connect the old Daniel with the new Daniel seemed to hold a certain promise of something. He glared at his beer.
"Jack, I think it's pretty clear that I am Daniel. The Daniel we're stuck with, probably forever."
Jack shrugged. "If you were really Daniel your feet would stink."
"Ha! I knew my feet didn't stink."
"More," Jack amended, with a small grin. "Your feet would stink more."
Daniel laughed.
They drank their beer quietly. Jack's fingers remained loosely curved around his ankle.
After a while, Jack asked, "Were you really serious, about that thing you said? The dating thing?"
Daniel was confused, wondering what on earth he had let slip earlier in the evening. "What did I say about dating?"
"When you yelled at me and Teal'c after the thing with SG-5. You said that maybe you might want a love life. Or maybe you have one now..."
"Not really. I'm pretty much a blushing virgin, who only recently figured out how to get herself off."
Daniel thought Jack blushed. For once, Daniel didn't. He smirked behind his beer bottle. Jack took a hasty gulp of his bottle too, finishing it off and leaning forward over Daniel's feet to set it on the coffee table.
"So, what? I mean, what do you mean by that?"
Daniel decided to pass on the junior high school jokes and answer the real question.
"I'm also a thirty-something widower who hasn't gotten laid in..." he pretended to count, "well, years now."
Jack smiled to himself, a little ruefully. With both hands free now, he had absently begun kneading Daniel's foot. Daniel sighed in pleasure and let his head rest on the back of the sofa.
"It does get to be a long time, doesn't it?" Jack said.
Daniel nodded.
"I've more or less accepted that this is who I am now," Daniel said quietly. "And I'm tired of waking up alone."
"So dating it is, then," said Jack, though he sounded uncertain. His thumb dug in a little hard and Daniel flinched. "You got anybody in mind? And if you say 'SG-5' I'm washing your mouth out with soap."
Daniel snorted.
"I still don't get what made that such an issue," he said quietly. "Sam didn't react the way you and Teal'c did."
"That is what made them a threat," Jack said. "The fact that you couldn't see it. Four guys propositioned you and you didn't see the risk. Do we have to do this?" he asked, wearily scrubbing at his face with both hands, then stopping to wince and sniff his palms. Daniel rolled his eyes, and Jack's hands fell back to the other foot.
"Not really," said Daniel. "I'm past that, and I wasn't really interested in any of them, anyway."
Daniel swore he saw just the barest flicker of a smile in Jack's profile.
"I admit I was wrong for what I did at the time," Jack continued. "Teal'c and I were wrong. We should have kept out of it and let you handle it. Backed you up if you needed it. That's what we would have done for Carter, and that's what she was doing for you."
"But the fact that you don't even understand..." Jack shrugged. "While I'll admit I was wrong, I'm not sorry I did what I did. After what we did – well, more after what T did – you aren't a target anymore and you won't be again. Not at the SGC."
Daniel watched Jack closely, as he asked his next question.
"So why did you do it then, if you knew at the time it wasn't right?"
They were quiet for a while, Jack's hands still on his foot. Jack ignored the question.
"Teal'c wishes you hadn't given the dress back," said Jack.
"What?" Daniel replied.
"He agrees with them. Thinks you should dress up. Show a little leg, maybe a little shoulder."
Daniel snorted.
"Though you have an adorable, I-stole-this-sweater-from-my-brother look going tonight."
Daniel groaned for show, and felt a jolting guilty thrill go straight to his crotch from the word "adorable."
"Look, it's winter. I like my old clothes. I'm not going to go shopping specially to come to your place and get drunk."
"No, no! It's a good look. It'll make guys want to wrap you up and take care of you. Very waif-like."
Daniel hid behind his beer bottle.
"You volunteering?"
Jack definitely blushed. He turned to look at Daniel, really look at him, his own expression confused.
"Actually, I just realized that I was assuming you would be planning to date guys. You and Frasier and Carter have been spending a lot of quality time together..."
Daniel couldn't help but laugh at that.
Jack grinned. "Well, you can't blame a guy for hoping. If you did get together with them, you would fix me up in the closet or something, so I could watch, right?"
Daniel drained his bottle.
"Maybe we'd gang up on you, drag you out, and tie you down naked to the bed before we got started," Daniel said, trying for a warm, sultry delivery. That wiped the grin off Jack's face.
He was shocked for a moment before he sputtered, "You are such a bastard!"
Daniel laughed.
"But no," Daniel said, putting on a mournful face. "We tried that. We all snuggled up together, but it wasn't sexy at all. We just fell asleep in a big heap."
Jack was staring at him now. His eyes narrowed.
"You're doing that on purpose," he accused.
Daniel grinned and folded his hands on his belly.
"I wonder if you're ticklish?" Jack mused, "That definitely deserved some kind of punishment."
"You wouldn't," Daniel said uncertainly, but he yanked his feet away and used getting up for more beer as an excuse to get out of tickle range. "Want another beer?" He watched Jack out of the corner of his eye, and saw Jack watching him cross the room.
"Maybe you shouldn't have anymore," said Jack, getting up and following him. "Your tolerance was never that great, and it can't have improved."
Daniel put his head in the fridge, bending over a little more than necessary. Let Jack have a good look.
He fished out two bottles and handed one to Jack, bumping the door closed.
He took he opener from Jack and popped the lid, leaning against the counter and taking a long pull on the bottle, trying to make a decision.
All he wanted to do right now was see if he could prove his theory about Jack not looking.
He knew that was an idiotic thing to do. Nothing was right about it. It was a disaster waiting to happen.
And he just didn't care. If he'd been sober, he was sure that he would have interpreted the not caring as the final danger sign that he had to stop. But tonight, he was tired of trying to be what he was before. Tired of trying to be Jack's friend when he knew he wanted to be more. Tired of being sensible when what he really wanted to be was naked with Jack between his legs. The very fact that the thought of Jack's dick plundering him wasn't making him blush should have been enough to tell him it was a bad idea.
But he just couldn't make himself care anymore.
"At the risk of getting my mouth washed out," Daniel began, stepping away from the sink, and eyeing the soap with distrust, just for dramatic effect, "thinking about being naked in a tent and SG-5 with their dicks out gets me wet. I mean, I'd never consider it for real, but there's something about the fantasy I can't shake."
As he spoke his eyes had fallen to focus on Jack's middle. Daniel suddenly realized he was staring at his friend's crotch and raised his eyes to look at Jack's face. Jack wasn't joking and friendly anymore. His expression was an odd combination of confusion and worry and something else. Maybe. Daniel wasn't sure. He did notice that Jack's hand holding his beer was trembling.
"You know what I think?" he slurred, feeling lightheaded.
"Noooo," said Jack warily. "But I think you've had too much. I'm going to have to drive you home."
"I think," said Daniel, "that you would rather I stayed here. I think that the reason you jumped all over Harper was because you were jealous."
Jack paled. He was suddenly very still.
"I think you want to volunteer to protect the little waif," Daniel continued. "I think the reason you don't look at me is because you are fighting every urge in your body..."
"Enough," Jack hissed. "It's time for you to go." He caught Daniel by the wrist that held his beer and yanked it from his fingers. Then he tugged him through the door to the living room and all but shoved him toward the couch.
"Why did you have to ruin this?" Jack snarled. Maybe he was tired of pretending, too. Tired of hiding his anger at what had happened behind a veneer of professionalism. Tired of pretending they could go back to being what they had been before, when clearly they couldn't.
"It was so nice to have you back. And then you do this." His voice was strained. "I'm going to call you a cab." Daniel put on his shoes. For the first time in years, Jack's anger was frightening him, though it was also a thrill. Daniel was sure he was right, or Jack wouldn't be so abrupt. He would have argued, instead of throwing Daniel out.
He was ready to leave when Jack came back after the brief phone call.
"It's a warm night," Jack said matter-of-factly, his features schooled and cold now. "You can wait on the porch. The cab will be here in fifteen minutes. I'll be pissed if you drive yourself home."
Daniel searched Jack's face for the slightest hint of a real emotion, and couldn't find one. Daniel found that as frightening as the anger, though not as thrilling. Daniel suddenly wanted Jack to understand exactly what he was feeling. That he wasn't just accusing Jack of wanting him. Jack had to know that Daniel was willing to admit it went both ways.
"You should know, Jack. I got myself off last night, after months of not being able to do it. You should know that it was SG-5 that got me wet, but it was thinking about you that made me cum. You're not in this alone, Jack."
"Get out of my house," Jack replied, very calmly.
Daniel shrugged and left.
Sam slammed her tray down across from him and dropped into the chair.
"What the hell happened this weekend?" she demanded. She was clearly pissed. "I thought you and the colonel spent Saturday afternoon bonding over beer and sports? He's not even talking to me anymore." She waved an admonishing finger at him. "And watch out for Teal'c, he's very, very unhappy about this."
Teal'c, whom Daniel was watching cross the room, with a scowl on his face unlike anything Daniel had seen since Teal'c had first come to the SGC to be interrogated and treated as a prisoner.
"DanielJackson, I understood that you and O'Neill were going to spend Saturday mending your relationship. Today, he is worse than he was last week. It is completely intolerable."
"Look," said Daniel, blushing a little, but irritated, too. "Alcohol was consumed. It's been a long six months. Things were said, many of which I would take back if I could, but I can't. The afternoon didn't end well. I don't think we're going to resolve this anytime soon."
"What 'things' were said?" Sam hissed. "What could the two of you possibly have said to make the situation worse?!"
"It's really not any of your business, Sam," Daniel snapped defensively.
She stared at him hard. He could almost see her genius brain spinning and twisting behind her eyes, seeking an answer to her own question.
"Oh, God," she said finally in a long, low groan. "You accused him of avoiding you because he wants to have sex with you!" She was staring at him in horror. "You did, didn't you?! You said the whole thing with SG-5 went down because he was jealous, and you rubbed his face in it! Daniel, how could you be such an idiot?" Her voice had risen an octave, and the last word came out as an outraged yelp, that turned heads across the room.
Teal'c turned his disapproving glare from Daniel to her.
"Major Carter, I suggest you keep your voice lowered."
"How could you be such an idiot?" she repeated, in a menacing whisper.
Daniel glowered back at her, taking a defiant bite of his mystery meat and chewing in determined, angry silence.
"Whether or not DanielJackson made that rash statement," Teal'c began thoughtfully, "it was not the cause of the current escalation of tensions."
They both redirected angry gazes to Teal'c. But Teal'c himself wasn't angry anymore. He looked sad. And his expression when he looked into Daniel's eyes was more pity than accusation.
"O'Neill would have denied it with great plausibility, possibly making one of his more juvenile jokes, they would have argued to an acceptable middle ground, and the issue would have been resolved."
Teal'c paused, still thinking. Daniel had the terrible feeling that whatever Teal'c was about to say, Daniel was going to lose it right there in the mess, break down and sob and make a scene. He looked up from their table, trying to take a deep calming breath, only to meet Jack's eyes across the room. He had slipped in unnoticed, and was making his way out again with his lunch, and Daniel had caught Jack's gaze resting on their group. Then he was gone. Out the door, and it was like a punch to Daniel's gut.
"OK. So what then?" Sam practically snarled, drawing Daniel's attention back to their table. He was going to cry. He knew it. Sometimes he really, really hated his new body and its stupid hormones and obviously defective tear ducts.
"DanielJackson confessed his own desire for O'Neill," Teal'c said gently. The shock on Sam's face showed that she thought he was right. Daniel couldn't do this conversation anymore.
He shoved his chair back abruptly.
"Look," he growled low, so only the two of them could possibly hear in the noisy room. "I'm tired of the entire mountain thinking that my private life is their concern. Sam, as much as I appreciate your advice on all things womanly these last few months, I think we're done with that."
He turned to Teal'c.
"Jack and I have never had the easiest friendship. Recent developments seem to have brought us to an impasse. The important thing is that SG-1 does what it needs to do. Jack and I don't have to be best friends for that to happen. In fact, I'd argue that the team works better because we've never had an easy friendship. So I'd appreciate it if both of you could respect our privacy and keep your opinions to yourselves. I'll do my job. Jack will do his. You'll both do yours. The rest of it really doesn't matter that much, in the grand scheme of things, does it?"
He didn't wait for a response. Just turned on his heel and left. Left the mess, took the elevator, and left the entire mountain. Started his car and sat letting the heater run.
Not crying.
Adjustments, Part 6
If you're interested, all my stories, in order, from one page. Also, my fiction recommendations.
Author:
muck_a_luck, posting in brainofckPairing: Daniel Jackson/Jack O'Neill
Rating: PG-13
Summary: This story is a close cousin of Metamorphosis, except in this story, Daniel really has changed into a woman.
Content/warnings: Het content.
Disclaimer: If anybody is planning a script like this for SG-1, I'm certainly not going to claim any rights to it. However, I'd be delighted to work in a co-writing/consulting/first-reader/advisory-type capacity, with my fee to be negotiated at that time. :D
Archive rights: Absolutely none. My journals only.
muck_a_luck and brainofckFor my loyal
rugbytacklers, I have done a Stargate crash course located here.Adjustments, Part 1
Adjustments, Part 2
Adjustments, Part 3
Adjustments, Part 4
They sat comfortably in opposite corners of the couch, each with a beer in hand. Jack did say that their goal would be to get drunk enough to cry and hug, but Daniel had thought it was a joke. Now he wasn't so sure. And he had definitely had enough beer to get him hugging things. But Jack hadn't, so they had sat down to watch something. The remote still lay in the middle of the coffee table. Neither of them had reached for it.
Daniel took a tiny sip of his beer, hoping at least not to embarrass himself by vomiting in Jack's front hall bathroom. The evening had gone much more easily than he had expected. Getting out of the privacy of his own home, or possibly the fact that he had already had four orgasms since 9:00 or so the evening before, seemed to have dampened down his out-of-control hormones.
And the afternoon with Jack had been like other afternoons from before. Easy. They laughed. They bickered. They ate steak Jack made and potato salad Daniel brought. Daniel couldn't believe what a relief it was to see Jack smiling again, if not completely at ease.
Daniel wondered exactly why that was? Why Jack still seemed so unsettled? He tried not to let his own thoughts from the morning's shower color his judgment about what might be going on in Jack's head.
But they had been so close for so long. What if Jack was having the same experience Daniel was having, but just from the other side? What if Jack was getting himself off at night imagining Daniel in his arms?
And what if Jack had been fighting it for a long time? Maybe from the very beginning?
Daniel watched Jack twirling his bottle between his fingers, and he wondered if that was the reason Jack wouldn't look at him anymore.
"Had any more trouble with SG-5?" Jack asked, his attempt to make the question sound casual when it really wasn't was painfully obvious.
Daniel snorted.
"I never had any problem with SG-5, Jack. You did."
Jack sat quietly. He looked thoughtful and far away. Daniel felt a terrible urge to touch that pensive face, draw those dark eyes back to himself.
Yes. He definitely wanted that. He shifted around so that his back was to the arm of the sofa and put his socked feet in Jack's lap. Oh, too much alcohol, Daniel thought, but if he put the beer bottle down his hands would be free, and that just seemed unacceptable.
Jack looked down at Daniel's feet, startled. Then Jack shifted and adjusted and slumped until he found a new, comfortable position, letting his right forearm settle down over Daniel's ankles.
"Your feet don't stink as much as I would have expected," Jack commented easily. Daniel thought maybe he sounded a little breathless. But now he was not looking at Daniel again. Suddenly, instead of bothering him, the not looking was starting to turn Daniel on. For the first time since he had arrived, he was starting to feel the buildup of this morning's desires. He tried not to let it distract him.
"They don't stink at all, that's why!" Daniel spluttered in mock outrage.
Jack wrinkled his nose, looking at his beer, not Daniel. Not even Daniel's feet.
"Fine, I'll move them, then," Daniel said in a huff. Because it was what he ought to say, though he was feeling giddy from the not looking and disappointed to have to stop touching Jack so soon. But suddenly the fingers of Jack's empty hand were wrapped tight around Daniel's right ankle. Long, strong, elegant fingers. Daniel shivered. Masturbation material for weeks, right there.
"It's alright," Jack said. "I told you it wasn't as bad as I expected."
Joking smile. Eyes off somewhere toward the fireplace.
"Why won't you look me in the eye anymore?" Daniel asked suddenly, immediately regretting it, but resisting the urge to clamp his hand over his own mouth.
Jack turned his head and looked at him. He shrugged.
"I want to think of you as Daniel. When I look at you, you're not. Teal'c's right. I haven't been able to get past that, not on a lot of levels." He shrugged again.
The comment hurt less that Daniel would have thought it would. Strangely, the idea that Jack couldn't connect the old Daniel with the new Daniel seemed to hold a certain promise of something. He glared at his beer.
"Jack, I think it's pretty clear that I am Daniel. The Daniel we're stuck with, probably forever."
Jack shrugged. "If you were really Daniel your feet would stink."
"Ha! I knew my feet didn't stink."
"More," Jack amended, with a small grin. "Your feet would stink more."
Daniel laughed.
They drank their beer quietly. Jack's fingers remained loosely curved around his ankle.
After a while, Jack asked, "Were you really serious, about that thing you said? The dating thing?"
Daniel was confused, wondering what on earth he had let slip earlier in the evening. "What did I say about dating?"
"When you yelled at me and Teal'c after the thing with SG-5. You said that maybe you might want a love life. Or maybe you have one now..."
"Not really. I'm pretty much a blushing virgin, who only recently figured out how to get herself off."
Daniel thought Jack blushed. For once, Daniel didn't. He smirked behind his beer bottle. Jack took a hasty gulp of his bottle too, finishing it off and leaning forward over Daniel's feet to set it on the coffee table.
"So, what? I mean, what do you mean by that?"
Daniel decided to pass on the junior high school jokes and answer the real question.
"I'm also a thirty-something widower who hasn't gotten laid in..." he pretended to count, "well, years now."
Jack smiled to himself, a little ruefully. With both hands free now, he had absently begun kneading Daniel's foot. Daniel sighed in pleasure and let his head rest on the back of the sofa.
"It does get to be a long time, doesn't it?" Jack said.
Daniel nodded.
"I've more or less accepted that this is who I am now," Daniel said quietly. "And I'm tired of waking up alone."
"So dating it is, then," said Jack, though he sounded uncertain. His thumb dug in a little hard and Daniel flinched. "You got anybody in mind? And if you say 'SG-5' I'm washing your mouth out with soap."
Daniel snorted.
"I still don't get what made that such an issue," he said quietly. "Sam didn't react the way you and Teal'c did."
"That is what made them a threat," Jack said. "The fact that you couldn't see it. Four guys propositioned you and you didn't see the risk. Do we have to do this?" he asked, wearily scrubbing at his face with both hands, then stopping to wince and sniff his palms. Daniel rolled his eyes, and Jack's hands fell back to the other foot.
"Not really," said Daniel. "I'm past that, and I wasn't really interested in any of them, anyway."
Daniel swore he saw just the barest flicker of a smile in Jack's profile.
"I admit I was wrong for what I did at the time," Jack continued. "Teal'c and I were wrong. We should have kept out of it and let you handle it. Backed you up if you needed it. That's what we would have done for Carter, and that's what she was doing for you."
"But the fact that you don't even understand..." Jack shrugged. "While I'll admit I was wrong, I'm not sorry I did what I did. After what we did – well, more after what T did – you aren't a target anymore and you won't be again. Not at the SGC."
Daniel watched Jack closely, as he asked his next question.
"So why did you do it then, if you knew at the time it wasn't right?"
They were quiet for a while, Jack's hands still on his foot. Jack ignored the question.
"Teal'c wishes you hadn't given the dress back," said Jack.
"What?" Daniel replied.
"He agrees with them. Thinks you should dress up. Show a little leg, maybe a little shoulder."
Daniel snorted.
"Though you have an adorable, I-stole-this-sweater-from-my-brother look going tonight."
Daniel groaned for show, and felt a jolting guilty thrill go straight to his crotch from the word "adorable."
"Look, it's winter. I like my old clothes. I'm not going to go shopping specially to come to your place and get drunk."
"No, no! It's a good look. It'll make guys want to wrap you up and take care of you. Very waif-like."
Daniel hid behind his beer bottle.
"You volunteering?"
Jack definitely blushed. He turned to look at Daniel, really look at him, his own expression confused.
"Actually, I just realized that I was assuming you would be planning to date guys. You and Frasier and Carter have been spending a lot of quality time together..."
Daniel couldn't help but laugh at that.
Jack grinned. "Well, you can't blame a guy for hoping. If you did get together with them, you would fix me up in the closet or something, so I could watch, right?"
Daniel drained his bottle.
"Maybe we'd gang up on you, drag you out, and tie you down naked to the bed before we got started," Daniel said, trying for a warm, sultry delivery. That wiped the grin off Jack's face.
He was shocked for a moment before he sputtered, "You are such a bastard!"
Daniel laughed.
"But no," Daniel said, putting on a mournful face. "We tried that. We all snuggled up together, but it wasn't sexy at all. We just fell asleep in a big heap."
Jack was staring at him now. His eyes narrowed.
"You're doing that on purpose," he accused.
Daniel grinned and folded his hands on his belly.
"I wonder if you're ticklish?" Jack mused, "That definitely deserved some kind of punishment."
"You wouldn't," Daniel said uncertainly, but he yanked his feet away and used getting up for more beer as an excuse to get out of tickle range. "Want another beer?" He watched Jack out of the corner of his eye, and saw Jack watching him cross the room.
"Maybe you shouldn't have anymore," said Jack, getting up and following him. "Your tolerance was never that great, and it can't have improved."
Daniel put his head in the fridge, bending over a little more than necessary. Let Jack have a good look.
He fished out two bottles and handed one to Jack, bumping the door closed.
He took he opener from Jack and popped the lid, leaning against the counter and taking a long pull on the bottle, trying to make a decision.
All he wanted to do right now was see if he could prove his theory about Jack not looking.
He knew that was an idiotic thing to do. Nothing was right about it. It was a disaster waiting to happen.
And he just didn't care. If he'd been sober, he was sure that he would have interpreted the not caring as the final danger sign that he had to stop. But tonight, he was tired of trying to be what he was before. Tired of trying to be Jack's friend when he knew he wanted to be more. Tired of being sensible when what he really wanted to be was naked with Jack between his legs. The very fact that the thought of Jack's dick plundering him wasn't making him blush should have been enough to tell him it was a bad idea.
But he just couldn't make himself care anymore.
"At the risk of getting my mouth washed out," Daniel began, stepping away from the sink, and eyeing the soap with distrust, just for dramatic effect, "thinking about being naked in a tent and SG-5 with their dicks out gets me wet. I mean, I'd never consider it for real, but there's something about the fantasy I can't shake."
As he spoke his eyes had fallen to focus on Jack's middle. Daniel suddenly realized he was staring at his friend's crotch and raised his eyes to look at Jack's face. Jack wasn't joking and friendly anymore. His expression was an odd combination of confusion and worry and something else. Maybe. Daniel wasn't sure. He did notice that Jack's hand holding his beer was trembling.
"You know what I think?" he slurred, feeling lightheaded.
"Noooo," said Jack warily. "But I think you've had too much. I'm going to have to drive you home."
"I think," said Daniel, "that you would rather I stayed here. I think that the reason you jumped all over Harper was because you were jealous."
Jack paled. He was suddenly very still.
"I think you want to volunteer to protect the little waif," Daniel continued. "I think the reason you don't look at me is because you are fighting every urge in your body..."
"Enough," Jack hissed. "It's time for you to go." He caught Daniel by the wrist that held his beer and yanked it from his fingers. Then he tugged him through the door to the living room and all but shoved him toward the couch.
"Why did you have to ruin this?" Jack snarled. Maybe he was tired of pretending, too. Tired of hiding his anger at what had happened behind a veneer of professionalism. Tired of pretending they could go back to being what they had been before, when clearly they couldn't.
"It was so nice to have you back. And then you do this." His voice was strained. "I'm going to call you a cab." Daniel put on his shoes. For the first time in years, Jack's anger was frightening him, though it was also a thrill. Daniel was sure he was right, or Jack wouldn't be so abrupt. He would have argued, instead of throwing Daniel out.
He was ready to leave when Jack came back after the brief phone call.
"It's a warm night," Jack said matter-of-factly, his features schooled and cold now. "You can wait on the porch. The cab will be here in fifteen minutes. I'll be pissed if you drive yourself home."
Daniel searched Jack's face for the slightest hint of a real emotion, and couldn't find one. Daniel found that as frightening as the anger, though not as thrilling. Daniel suddenly wanted Jack to understand exactly what he was feeling. That he wasn't just accusing Jack of wanting him. Jack had to know that Daniel was willing to admit it went both ways.
"You should know, Jack. I got myself off last night, after months of not being able to do it. You should know that it was SG-5 that got me wet, but it was thinking about you that made me cum. You're not in this alone, Jack."
"Get out of my house," Jack replied, very calmly.
Daniel shrugged and left.
Sam slammed her tray down across from him and dropped into the chair.
"What the hell happened this weekend?" she demanded. She was clearly pissed. "I thought you and the colonel spent Saturday afternoon bonding over beer and sports? He's not even talking to me anymore." She waved an admonishing finger at him. "And watch out for Teal'c, he's very, very unhappy about this."
Teal'c, whom Daniel was watching cross the room, with a scowl on his face unlike anything Daniel had seen since Teal'c had first come to the SGC to be interrogated and treated as a prisoner.
"DanielJackson, I understood that you and O'Neill were going to spend Saturday mending your relationship. Today, he is worse than he was last week. It is completely intolerable."
"Look," said Daniel, blushing a little, but irritated, too. "Alcohol was consumed. It's been a long six months. Things were said, many of which I would take back if I could, but I can't. The afternoon didn't end well. I don't think we're going to resolve this anytime soon."
"What 'things' were said?" Sam hissed. "What could the two of you possibly have said to make the situation worse?!"
"It's really not any of your business, Sam," Daniel snapped defensively.
She stared at him hard. He could almost see her genius brain spinning and twisting behind her eyes, seeking an answer to her own question.
"Oh, God," she said finally in a long, low groan. "You accused him of avoiding you because he wants to have sex with you!" She was staring at him in horror. "You did, didn't you?! You said the whole thing with SG-5 went down because he was jealous, and you rubbed his face in it! Daniel, how could you be such an idiot?" Her voice had risen an octave, and the last word came out as an outraged yelp, that turned heads across the room.
Teal'c turned his disapproving glare from Daniel to her.
"Major Carter, I suggest you keep your voice lowered."
"How could you be such an idiot?" she repeated, in a menacing whisper.
Daniel glowered back at her, taking a defiant bite of his mystery meat and chewing in determined, angry silence.
"Whether or not DanielJackson made that rash statement," Teal'c began thoughtfully, "it was not the cause of the current escalation of tensions."
They both redirected angry gazes to Teal'c. But Teal'c himself wasn't angry anymore. He looked sad. And his expression when he looked into Daniel's eyes was more pity than accusation.
"O'Neill would have denied it with great plausibility, possibly making one of his more juvenile jokes, they would have argued to an acceptable middle ground, and the issue would have been resolved."
Teal'c paused, still thinking. Daniel had the terrible feeling that whatever Teal'c was about to say, Daniel was going to lose it right there in the mess, break down and sob and make a scene. He looked up from their table, trying to take a deep calming breath, only to meet Jack's eyes across the room. He had slipped in unnoticed, and was making his way out again with his lunch, and Daniel had caught Jack's gaze resting on their group. Then he was gone. Out the door, and it was like a punch to Daniel's gut.
"OK. So what then?" Sam practically snarled, drawing Daniel's attention back to their table. He was going to cry. He knew it. Sometimes he really, really hated his new body and its stupid hormones and obviously defective tear ducts.
"DanielJackson confessed his own desire for O'Neill," Teal'c said gently. The shock on Sam's face showed that she thought he was right. Daniel couldn't do this conversation anymore.
He shoved his chair back abruptly.
"Look," he growled low, so only the two of them could possibly hear in the noisy room. "I'm tired of the entire mountain thinking that my private life is their concern. Sam, as much as I appreciate your advice on all things womanly these last few months, I think we're done with that."
He turned to Teal'c.
"Jack and I have never had the easiest friendship. Recent developments seem to have brought us to an impasse. The important thing is that SG-1 does what it needs to do. Jack and I don't have to be best friends for that to happen. In fact, I'd argue that the team works better because we've never had an easy friendship. So I'd appreciate it if both of you could respect our privacy and keep your opinions to yourselves. I'll do my job. Jack will do his. You'll both do yours. The rest of it really doesn't matter that much, in the grand scheme of things, does it?"
He didn't wait for a response. Just turned on his heel and left. Left the mess, took the elevator, and left the entire mountain. Started his car and sat letting the heater run.
Not crying.
Adjustments, Part 6
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