Small Tents
Feb. 14th, 2008 10:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brainofckI am not happy with this. It was supposed to be light, funny and fluffy. But Jack started it off wrong, then Shau'ri got involved, and it all went to Hell. Oh, well. I might try revisiting it for fun and laughs another time.
Which would mean there would be FOUR cuddling stories, instead of the current three.
They are not a series. Each one will be unrelated to the others. And yet, there will eventually be three, which I will link because of their thematic similarity. The theme being snuggling.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Title: Small Tents (Standalone, but 1 of 3 cuddling stories in the works)
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: R
Summary: Jack establishes the sleeping arrangements.
Words: 2,814
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
"So here's the deal," said Jack brusquely.
Daniel looked up from where he was rolling out his sleeping bag, blinking owlishly. Every time Jack said "here's the deal" Daniel got another civilian's introduction to military procedure.
Jack was sitting on his bag already, watching him.
"I asked you to bed down with me for a reason," he continued. He looked uneasy.
"I hate these stupid tents," he muttered.
They were small for two people, Daniel thought. His bag was practically touching Jack's. But they had to pack the tents in and out, so he supposed it was practical for them to be small.
Jack was quiet long enough that Daniel started to get annoyed.
"And the reason is?" he prompted.
"I'm a snuggler," Jack blurted. He looked a little white around the eyes.
The only response Daniel could manage to that was another long blink.
"So therefore you want to sleep with me?" Daniel asked, his brain racing ahead to think of reasons.
"Yeah. Can't wake up cuddling the good Captain," Jack said.
"And Teal'c's out, clearly," Daniel said sympathetically. Jack nodded glumly.
"Stupid tents," he grumbled.
"Okay," Daniel said. He shrugged and climbed into his bag.
It took Jack a long time to fall asleep, but it took Daniel even longer. He listened to Jack's slow breathing deepen. Jack shifted and settled facing away from him. A gentle rain pattered on the outside of the tent and finally lulled Daniel to sleep.
It seemed like just minutes had passed when Teal'c called him for his watch and he groggily climbed out again. Two hours later, he came back dripping and prodded Jack.
"I'm awake, I'm awake," he grumbled.
"Move, I want the warm bag," Daniel groused back. "It's miserable out there."
Jack's reply was unintelligible, which Daniel figured was probably just as well. But Jack gave up his warm nest readily enough.
"Don't get it wet," Jack warned, shrugging into his rain poncho and crawling past him on the way out.
Daniel shed wet clothes, collapsed into Jack's warm bed, and was asleep before Jack finished zipping the tent flap closed.
He woke up the next morning pleasantly warm and surprisingly well-rested. Cocooned in Jack's sleeping bag, he could feel Jack spooned behind him, breathing warm and slow on the back of his neck.
It felt good. Really good. Clearly Jack was still deeply asleep. Daniel indulged the fantasy that the warm body pressed against him was not Jack, but Shau'ri. He remembered how long it took him to get used to sleeping with his new wife. She was a cuddler, too. She wrapped herself around him, then she slept like a log. Daniel would lie tense and still, too hot, often too horny. At the beginning it would literally take him hours to fall asleep, but ne never complained. Because despite the fact that it was uncomfortable, it was one of the sweetest experiences of his life. It was love and loyalty and devotion and safety. Once he finally fell asleep, he always woke up happy.
Daniel held the memory close and was happy again, until Jack woke with a start, grunted and rolled away abruptly. Reality crashed back down on him in a wave of surprisingly bitter grief.
He sat up and reached for his glasses, swallowing against rising tears.
We'll find her he repeated to himself. His mantra. He shoved down the thought that it was a fantasy. That even if they found her, they would never be able to save her.
Jack was shrugging into his jacket. He paused before pulling on his first boot.
"I warned you," he said. Daniel refocused on his friend. His apparently very embarrassed friend. Jack's cheeks were pink. It was cute, Daniel thought. Jack never blushed.
"It's okay," Daniel replied, pulling on his own shirt, then his coat. It was a cold morning.
"Okay," Jack replied. "I really appreciate it," he plowed on. "I barely slept at all when I tried to share with Carter. No sleep makes Jack a cranky boy."
Daniel tried to smile reassuringly, through the tactile feeling of Shau'ri's loss.
"Happy to help out," he said, hoping it didn't sound too forced.
"Okay," Jack repeated again, sounding uncertain. He pushed out of the tent into the cold morning to stir up the fire.
As morning followed morning and embrace followed embrace, Daniel often wondered if Jack ever missed Sarah as much as he missed Shau'ri.
Piss erection, Daniel thought. Even though Jack couldn't possibly know he had thought it, it seemed important that Daniel provide the excuse for the very prominent bulge between them, easy to recognize even through two sleeping bags. Even though it was much more likely that it was more of a let's-have-sex erection, considering how Jack had managed to get an arm out and around him, pulling them tightly together, and Jack's nose was pressed against Daniel's chin.
It probably would have been better to let Jack be the first to wake up and extricate himself from the awkward position without getting caught.
Too bad Daniel was staring wide-eyed in the dim light just as Jack's eyes snapped open.
"Good morning," Daniel said with a weak smile.
"Shit," Jack choked out in reply.
They were rolling up the bags and packing in the tent.
"It's really kind of a compliment," Daniel mused to himself.
"What is?"
"This whole tent thing."
"It's not a compliment, Daniel," Jack said, clearly annoyed. "It's the best of a set of bad choices."
"No," Daniel disagreed. "You said you couldn't sleep when you were in the tent with Sam. But you sleep like a log with me. It's a trust thing. You can sleep with me, even though you know you're going to cuddle up. You trust me."
Jack just scowled at him, crammed the rest of his stuff into his pack and stalked over to the coffee pot. He was so snappy and mean the rest of the day that Teal'c and Sam both kept shooting them worried glances. Ridiculously pleased with his realization, Daniel just smiled to himself and ignored the fact that his satisfied calm just made Jack more irritable.
Daniel always woke up first. He would lie there in Jack's arms and try not to notice that every time it happened, the more he knew it was Jack and not Shau'ri as soon as he woke. He tried to ignore that every time he woke in Jack's arms, rather than Shau'ri's, he liked it a little bit more.
Jack didn't just snuggle.
He also dreamed. He dreamed really horrible, awful dreams. He would twitch and move and sometimes make little sounds.
Daniel lay listening to him in the dark, muttering and whispering and breathing unevenly.
Daniel figured that was what came of a life of doing his country's dirty work. Mostly, Daniel suspected that if he really knew what Jack had been up to all those years, he would think Jack deserved his nightmares.
On the other hand, the paths Jack had chosen in life were the ones that had led him to the Stargate program, and the more they worked together, the more Daniel was sure that nothing would be the same without Jack.
Jack whimpered pathetically in his sleep. A quiet, heartbreaking whine.
Daniel shifted closer, knowing his nearness would draw Jack to him. Jack slipped back into quiet sleep with his face pressed into Daniel's chest.
It was too hot too sleep in this tropical paradise. Daniel stripped down to his t-shirt and boxers and flopped down on top of his sleeping bag after his watch. Jack was already sleeping restlessly on top of his own.
As Daniel lay there, thinking of cold, dry desert nights and trying to will himself to sleep, Jack snuffled and rolled over, flinging his arm out across Daniel's chest. Daniel considered shoving him off, but felt that would be too cruel. If Jack was sleeping after today's slog, Daniel shouldn't wake him up.
He waited for the inevitable next move.
Sure enough, Jack tightened his arm over Daniel's chest and soon they were lying close together, Daniel on his back and Jack wrapped around him. Their legs tangled heavily together. Jack was breathing hot against Daniel's ear and neck.
Daniel smiled to himself.
This was the reason Jack had wanted to share the tent with Daniel rather than Teal'c or Sam. When they were safely tucked into sleeping bags, they might end up squashed together, but that could just be mutual heat-seeking in the night, or the very close proximity created by the tent. Of course, with Jack, it happened almost every night, but Daniel had shared enough tents in his day, and he had woken up on more than one occasion smashed back to back with a colleague he barely knew. It wasn't particularly personal.
This, though, was completely different. This was hot, sweaty intimacy, complete with nuzzling and friction. When Teal'c rattled the tent for Jack's watch, he woke up slowly.
"Ugh," he muttered, peeling their sticky bodies apart. "Why didn’t you shove me off?" he hissed. "This is disgusting!"
Daniel pretended to sleep through Jack's departure and didn't answer his question.
It was winter in Colorado. At home in his apartment the next night, Daniel turned the heat down to 65, piled on the blankets, and tried not to think about the weight and damp heat of exhausted, unwashed Air Force colonels.
Daniel always woke up first. But he always lay still and let Jack sleep.
Which was why he noticed that more and more, Jack, when he did wake up, also lay still. Letting Daniel sleep, Daniel supposed.
Though more and more often, there seemed to be an erection involved. Well, two erections, to be fair.
So maybe Jack was letting Daniel sleep. But maybe Jack was just giving little Jack some extra time shoved up against Daniel's butt.
Hard to know.
And to be fair, Daniel couldn’t really pretend he didn't have personal, ulterior motives for letting Jack sleep.
Eventually, Jack would sit up and bump Daniel awake.
This morning, before moving, Jack murmured in a sleepy burr, "0600 Dannyboy. Time to get movin'," warm and moist against Daniel's ear.
Daniel shuddered. The sound of that purring wake-up call kept him warm and happy through many a boring watch over the next few weeks.
Jack must be having a really good dream Daniel thought, trying not to squirm as Jack rubbed against him, breathing heavily in his ear. Jack's erection was hot and hard against his flank. Daniel's own cock was twitching optimistically.
Daniel knew he couldn't let this go too far. They had been waking up spooned together for the better part of a year, complete with morning wood, and it wasn't too awkward anymore. But the humiliation of waking up to sticky, cum-filled underwear might be a strain these sleeping arrangements couldn't bear.
"Jack. Time to wake up. Come on. Wakey, wakey!"
That was all it took. He woke with a start and rolled away from Daniel with a curse.
"Sorry," he muttered as he realized the state he was in. Hopefully, he wouldn't remember the rest of it.
Daniel was never sure, later, what had come over him. One minute he was being rational and responsible and waking Jack up to prevent possibly friendship-destroying nocturnal emissions. The next he was deliberately creating possibly friendship-ruining scenarios all of his own.
So when Jack apologized, Daniel just rolled over on his back and smirked at him.
"No need to apologize."
Jack flushed, but didn't back down.
"Yes, I think I should apologize for humping your leg."
"Surely you've seen my background check," Daniel insisted.
Jack just glared at him.
"Of course, I have. And even if you are queer as a three dollar bill, it doesn't mean you want to be sexually assaulted at 0500 by your CO."
Daniel wasn't military, but there was something about the "CO" part of Jack's rant that made his dick twitch again.
Daniel let his smirk turn into, well, a bigger smirk.
"Shitshitshit," Jack muttered under his breath, slipping out through the tent flap and stomping very loudly out towards where they had dug the latrine.
Urgo suggested things. Very loudly. About experiences he wanted to have. Daniel ignored him, as best one could ignore Urgo.
But he suspected Urgo had said those exact same things to Jack, because Jack couldn't look him in the eye for weeks after that, and seriously, sleeping under the open sky was pretty obvious even to Teal'c and Sam.
But it wasn't until Laira started being all friendly that Daniel realized exactly what trouble he had gotten himself into. The jealousy and visceral hatred was a shocking as it was instantaneous.
It was one thing to be in a small amount of lust with a hot guy who regularly cuddled up to you. A guy who under other circumstances you might think of as a huge cock tease but you don't because you know it's just the circumstances and the best of a set of bad options and yet he did know full well, apparently, that Daniel was gay before he suggested the sleeping arrangements. Anyway, it was one thing to think a few lustful thoughts occasionally about your best friend. It was another thing entirely to be in love. Apparently.
It caught Daniel off stride.
"What's stopping you?" Urgo had asked him. Well, it wasn't like Daniel was closeted, or anything. He had been out before he accidentally married Shau'ri. Now he was just tactically discreet, being as he was in a military setting where appearances could create problems for people he cared about. But he went out sometimes. Even had a little fling now and then. He did not pine over straight guys who weren't interested.
Then Jack was gone, and it was just as bad as losing Shau'ri.
And when they found Jack again, watching him with Laira was like a knife through his heart.
There was not going to be any more tent-sharing. They could pack in their own tents, if Jack wasn't willing to share with Teal'c. Daniel wasn't doing this to himself anymore.
Maybe they didn't do a straw poll. Maybe Daniel had gone to Jack because he couldn’t stand the idea of working at the SGC without him. Watching Jack retire off world had made Daniel wonder if he could possibly do the same. Maybe go back to Abydos, or some other place, resume his research in some quiet backwater with beautiful, willing boys who looked nothing like bastard, old, Air Force colonels.
Maybe they didn't do a straw poll, but there was no reason for Jack to know that.
"Can I come in?" he asked in a flat, defeated voice, standing tiredly outside Daniel's door.
So he sat on Daniel's couch while Daniel went back to reading Archaeology. Jack fell asleep, slumped over against Daniel's shoulder.
"Hey, wake up," Daniel said softly. "Let me call you a cab."
"No," Jack said in a voice like gravel. "Let me stay here."
It was a plea for sanctuary. For forgiveness. Daniel should forgive. Intellectually, he knew Jack was forced to do the things he did. That he didn't really go back to Edora to be with Laira.
"I'll get you blankets," Daniel said grudgingly.
"Only if you need extras," Jack said, and went through to the bedroom.
Daniel's bedroom.
They slept together under the covers, in boxers and t-shirts, Jack's head on Daniel's chest, Daniel's arms wrapped tightly around him, their legs meshed together.
Jack had fallen asleep almost as soon as they had finally found a comfortable solution for legs and arms, but Daniel, arms full of six feet four inches of temptation, lay awake for hours before finally drifting off into a restless sleep. They had done the whole going-to-bed thing quite easily, like they did every time they shared a tent, though Jack never just cuddled up at the beginning. He always waited to do it naturally in his sleep.
Going to bed had gone so smoothly that Daniel wondered if Jack understood exactly what he was doing. This wasn't something friends did, after all. Accidental heat seeking in your sleep was one thing.
This was what lovers did.
Waking up lovers would be something new.
And for once, Jack woke up first. Daniel's first awareness of the world was soft, moist, minty pressure on his lips. Warm and cool at once. Soft, tentative licks that he gave in to instinctively even as he wished he had already brushed his teeth, too, then he didn't care anymore, because clearly Jack wasn't the slightest bit discouraged.
He sighed into Jack's toothpaste sweet smile and floated away under Jack's familiar weight.
If you're interested, all my stories, in order, from one page. Also, my fiction recommendations.
Which would mean there would be FOUR cuddling stories, instead of the current three.
They are not a series. Each one will be unrelated to the others. And yet, there will eventually be three, which I will link because of their thematic similarity. The theme being snuggling.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Title: Small Tents (Standalone, but 1 of 3 cuddling stories in the works)
Author:
muck_a_luck, posting in brainofckPairing: Daniel Jackson/Jack O'Neill
Rating: R
Summary: Jack establishes the sleeping arrangements.
Words: 2,814
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"So here's the deal," said Jack brusquely.
Daniel looked up from where he was rolling out his sleeping bag, blinking owlishly. Every time Jack said "here's the deal" Daniel got another civilian's introduction to military procedure.
Jack was sitting on his bag already, watching him.
"I asked you to bed down with me for a reason," he continued. He looked uneasy.
"I hate these stupid tents," he muttered.
They were small for two people, Daniel thought. His bag was practically touching Jack's. But they had to pack the tents in and out, so he supposed it was practical for them to be small.
Jack was quiet long enough that Daniel started to get annoyed.
"And the reason is?" he prompted.
"I'm a snuggler," Jack blurted. He looked a little white around the eyes.
The only response Daniel could manage to that was another long blink.
"So therefore you want to sleep with me?" Daniel asked, his brain racing ahead to think of reasons.
"Yeah. Can't wake up cuddling the good Captain," Jack said.
"And Teal'c's out, clearly," Daniel said sympathetically. Jack nodded glumly.
"Stupid tents," he grumbled.
"Okay," Daniel said. He shrugged and climbed into his bag.
It took Jack a long time to fall asleep, but it took Daniel even longer. He listened to Jack's slow breathing deepen. Jack shifted and settled facing away from him. A gentle rain pattered on the outside of the tent and finally lulled Daniel to sleep.
It seemed like just minutes had passed when Teal'c called him for his watch and he groggily climbed out again. Two hours later, he came back dripping and prodded Jack.
"I'm awake, I'm awake," he grumbled.
"Move, I want the warm bag," Daniel groused back. "It's miserable out there."
Jack's reply was unintelligible, which Daniel figured was probably just as well. But Jack gave up his warm nest readily enough.
"Don't get it wet," Jack warned, shrugging into his rain poncho and crawling past him on the way out.
Daniel shed wet clothes, collapsed into Jack's warm bed, and was asleep before Jack finished zipping the tent flap closed.
He woke up the next morning pleasantly warm and surprisingly well-rested. Cocooned in Jack's sleeping bag, he could feel Jack spooned behind him, breathing warm and slow on the back of his neck.
It felt good. Really good. Clearly Jack was still deeply asleep. Daniel indulged the fantasy that the warm body pressed against him was not Jack, but Shau'ri. He remembered how long it took him to get used to sleeping with his new wife. She was a cuddler, too. She wrapped herself around him, then she slept like a log. Daniel would lie tense and still, too hot, often too horny. At the beginning it would literally take him hours to fall asleep, but ne never complained. Because despite the fact that it was uncomfortable, it was one of the sweetest experiences of his life. It was love and loyalty and devotion and safety. Once he finally fell asleep, he always woke up happy.
Daniel held the memory close and was happy again, until Jack woke with a start, grunted and rolled away abruptly. Reality crashed back down on him in a wave of surprisingly bitter grief.
He sat up and reached for his glasses, swallowing against rising tears.
We'll find her he repeated to himself. His mantra. He shoved down the thought that it was a fantasy. That even if they found her, they would never be able to save her.
Jack was shrugging into his jacket. He paused before pulling on his first boot.
"I warned you," he said. Daniel refocused on his friend. His apparently very embarrassed friend. Jack's cheeks were pink. It was cute, Daniel thought. Jack never blushed.
"It's okay," Daniel replied, pulling on his own shirt, then his coat. It was a cold morning.
"Okay," Jack replied. "I really appreciate it," he plowed on. "I barely slept at all when I tried to share with Carter. No sleep makes Jack a cranky boy."
Daniel tried to smile reassuringly, through the tactile feeling of Shau'ri's loss.
"Happy to help out," he said, hoping it didn't sound too forced.
"Okay," Jack repeated again, sounding uncertain. He pushed out of the tent into the cold morning to stir up the fire.
As morning followed morning and embrace followed embrace, Daniel often wondered if Jack ever missed Sarah as much as he missed Shau'ri.
Piss erection, Daniel thought. Even though Jack couldn't possibly know he had thought it, it seemed important that Daniel provide the excuse for the very prominent bulge between them, easy to recognize even through two sleeping bags. Even though it was much more likely that it was more of a let's-have-sex erection, considering how Jack had managed to get an arm out and around him, pulling them tightly together, and Jack's nose was pressed against Daniel's chin.
It probably would have been better to let Jack be the first to wake up and extricate himself from the awkward position without getting caught.
Too bad Daniel was staring wide-eyed in the dim light just as Jack's eyes snapped open.
"Good morning," Daniel said with a weak smile.
"Shit," Jack choked out in reply.
They were rolling up the bags and packing in the tent.
"It's really kind of a compliment," Daniel mused to himself.
"What is?"
"This whole tent thing."
"It's not a compliment, Daniel," Jack said, clearly annoyed. "It's the best of a set of bad choices."
"No," Daniel disagreed. "You said you couldn't sleep when you were in the tent with Sam. But you sleep like a log with me. It's a trust thing. You can sleep with me, even though you know you're going to cuddle up. You trust me."
Jack just scowled at him, crammed the rest of his stuff into his pack and stalked over to the coffee pot. He was so snappy and mean the rest of the day that Teal'c and Sam both kept shooting them worried glances. Ridiculously pleased with his realization, Daniel just smiled to himself and ignored the fact that his satisfied calm just made Jack more irritable.
Daniel always woke up first. He would lie there in Jack's arms and try not to notice that every time it happened, the more he knew it was Jack and not Shau'ri as soon as he woke. He tried to ignore that every time he woke in Jack's arms, rather than Shau'ri's, he liked it a little bit more.
Jack didn't just snuggle.
He also dreamed. He dreamed really horrible, awful dreams. He would twitch and move and sometimes make little sounds.
Daniel lay listening to him in the dark, muttering and whispering and breathing unevenly.
Daniel figured that was what came of a life of doing his country's dirty work. Mostly, Daniel suspected that if he really knew what Jack had been up to all those years, he would think Jack deserved his nightmares.
On the other hand, the paths Jack had chosen in life were the ones that had led him to the Stargate program, and the more they worked together, the more Daniel was sure that nothing would be the same without Jack.
Jack whimpered pathetically in his sleep. A quiet, heartbreaking whine.
Daniel shifted closer, knowing his nearness would draw Jack to him. Jack slipped back into quiet sleep with his face pressed into Daniel's chest.
It was too hot too sleep in this tropical paradise. Daniel stripped down to his t-shirt and boxers and flopped down on top of his sleeping bag after his watch. Jack was already sleeping restlessly on top of his own.
As Daniel lay there, thinking of cold, dry desert nights and trying to will himself to sleep, Jack snuffled and rolled over, flinging his arm out across Daniel's chest. Daniel considered shoving him off, but felt that would be too cruel. If Jack was sleeping after today's slog, Daniel shouldn't wake him up.
He waited for the inevitable next move.
Sure enough, Jack tightened his arm over Daniel's chest and soon they were lying close together, Daniel on his back and Jack wrapped around him. Their legs tangled heavily together. Jack was breathing hot against Daniel's ear and neck.
Daniel smiled to himself.
This was the reason Jack had wanted to share the tent with Daniel rather than Teal'c or Sam. When they were safely tucked into sleeping bags, they might end up squashed together, but that could just be mutual heat-seeking in the night, or the very close proximity created by the tent. Of course, with Jack, it happened almost every night, but Daniel had shared enough tents in his day, and he had woken up on more than one occasion smashed back to back with a colleague he barely knew. It wasn't particularly personal.
This, though, was completely different. This was hot, sweaty intimacy, complete with nuzzling and friction. When Teal'c rattled the tent for Jack's watch, he woke up slowly.
"Ugh," he muttered, peeling their sticky bodies apart. "Why didn’t you shove me off?" he hissed. "This is disgusting!"
Daniel pretended to sleep through Jack's departure and didn't answer his question.
It was winter in Colorado. At home in his apartment the next night, Daniel turned the heat down to 65, piled on the blankets, and tried not to think about the weight and damp heat of exhausted, unwashed Air Force colonels.
Daniel always woke up first. But he always lay still and let Jack sleep.
Which was why he noticed that more and more, Jack, when he did wake up, also lay still. Letting Daniel sleep, Daniel supposed.
Though more and more often, there seemed to be an erection involved. Well, two erections, to be fair.
So maybe Jack was letting Daniel sleep. But maybe Jack was just giving little Jack some extra time shoved up against Daniel's butt.
Hard to know.
And to be fair, Daniel couldn’t really pretend he didn't have personal, ulterior motives for letting Jack sleep.
Eventually, Jack would sit up and bump Daniel awake.
This morning, before moving, Jack murmured in a sleepy burr, "0600 Dannyboy. Time to get movin'," warm and moist against Daniel's ear.
Daniel shuddered. The sound of that purring wake-up call kept him warm and happy through many a boring watch over the next few weeks.
Jack must be having a really good dream Daniel thought, trying not to squirm as Jack rubbed against him, breathing heavily in his ear. Jack's erection was hot and hard against his flank. Daniel's own cock was twitching optimistically.
Daniel knew he couldn't let this go too far. They had been waking up spooned together for the better part of a year, complete with morning wood, and it wasn't too awkward anymore. But the humiliation of waking up to sticky, cum-filled underwear might be a strain these sleeping arrangements couldn't bear.
"Jack. Time to wake up. Come on. Wakey, wakey!"
That was all it took. He woke with a start and rolled away from Daniel with a curse.
"Sorry," he muttered as he realized the state he was in. Hopefully, he wouldn't remember the rest of it.
Daniel was never sure, later, what had come over him. One minute he was being rational and responsible and waking Jack up to prevent possibly friendship-destroying nocturnal emissions. The next he was deliberately creating possibly friendship-ruining scenarios all of his own.
So when Jack apologized, Daniel just rolled over on his back and smirked at him.
"No need to apologize."
Jack flushed, but didn't back down.
"Yes, I think I should apologize for humping your leg."
"Surely you've seen my background check," Daniel insisted.
Jack just glared at him.
"Of course, I have. And even if you are queer as a three dollar bill, it doesn't mean you want to be sexually assaulted at 0500 by your CO."
Daniel wasn't military, but there was something about the "CO" part of Jack's rant that made his dick twitch again.
Daniel let his smirk turn into, well, a bigger smirk.
"Shitshitshit," Jack muttered under his breath, slipping out through the tent flap and stomping very loudly out towards where they had dug the latrine.
Urgo suggested things. Very loudly. About experiences he wanted to have. Daniel ignored him, as best one could ignore Urgo.
But he suspected Urgo had said those exact same things to Jack, because Jack couldn't look him in the eye for weeks after that, and seriously, sleeping under the open sky was pretty obvious even to Teal'c and Sam.
But it wasn't until Laira started being all friendly that Daniel realized exactly what trouble he had gotten himself into. The jealousy and visceral hatred was a shocking as it was instantaneous.
It was one thing to be in a small amount of lust with a hot guy who regularly cuddled up to you. A guy who under other circumstances you might think of as a huge cock tease but you don't because you know it's just the circumstances and the best of a set of bad options and yet he did know full well, apparently, that Daniel was gay before he suggested the sleeping arrangements. Anyway, it was one thing to think a few lustful thoughts occasionally about your best friend. It was another thing entirely to be in love. Apparently.
It caught Daniel off stride.
"What's stopping you?" Urgo had asked him. Well, it wasn't like Daniel was closeted, or anything. He had been out before he accidentally married Shau'ri. Now he was just tactically discreet, being as he was in a military setting where appearances could create problems for people he cared about. But he went out sometimes. Even had a little fling now and then. He did not pine over straight guys who weren't interested.
Then Jack was gone, and it was just as bad as losing Shau'ri.
And when they found Jack again, watching him with Laira was like a knife through his heart.
There was not going to be any more tent-sharing. They could pack in their own tents, if Jack wasn't willing to share with Teal'c. Daniel wasn't doing this to himself anymore.
Maybe they didn't do a straw poll. Maybe Daniel had gone to Jack because he couldn’t stand the idea of working at the SGC without him. Watching Jack retire off world had made Daniel wonder if he could possibly do the same. Maybe go back to Abydos, or some other place, resume his research in some quiet backwater with beautiful, willing boys who looked nothing like bastard, old, Air Force colonels.
Maybe they didn't do a straw poll, but there was no reason for Jack to know that.
"Can I come in?" he asked in a flat, defeated voice, standing tiredly outside Daniel's door.
So he sat on Daniel's couch while Daniel went back to reading Archaeology. Jack fell asleep, slumped over against Daniel's shoulder.
"Hey, wake up," Daniel said softly. "Let me call you a cab."
"No," Jack said in a voice like gravel. "Let me stay here."
It was a plea for sanctuary. For forgiveness. Daniel should forgive. Intellectually, he knew Jack was forced to do the things he did. That he didn't really go back to Edora to be with Laira.
"I'll get you blankets," Daniel said grudgingly.
"Only if you need extras," Jack said, and went through to the bedroom.
Daniel's bedroom.
They slept together under the covers, in boxers and t-shirts, Jack's head on Daniel's chest, Daniel's arms wrapped tightly around him, their legs meshed together.
Jack had fallen asleep almost as soon as they had finally found a comfortable solution for legs and arms, but Daniel, arms full of six feet four inches of temptation, lay awake for hours before finally drifting off into a restless sleep. They had done the whole going-to-bed thing quite easily, like they did every time they shared a tent, though Jack never just cuddled up at the beginning. He always waited to do it naturally in his sleep.
Going to bed had gone so smoothly that Daniel wondered if Jack understood exactly what he was doing. This wasn't something friends did, after all. Accidental heat seeking in your sleep was one thing.
This was what lovers did.
Waking up lovers would be something new.
And for once, Jack woke up first. Daniel's first awareness of the world was soft, moist, minty pressure on his lips. Warm and cool at once. Soft, tentative licks that he gave in to instinctively even as he wished he had already brushed his teeth, too, then he didn't care anymore, because clearly Jack wasn't the slightest bit discouraged.
He sighed into Jack's toothpaste sweet smile and floated away under Jack's familiar weight.
If you're interested, all my stories, in order, from one page. Also, my fiction recommendations.
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Date: 2008-02-16 05:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-16 12:22 pm (UTC)