[for Daniel]

[more_flexible]

--Friday, July 4th||Serena and Blair's beach party--

It was a party. Jack loved parties and he'd been asked to help by the prettiest underage-off-limits-don't-even-say-hello girl named Serena. Okay, so maybe he'd flirted a little. It didn't really matter in the end, since he'd spent the day with Owen and gotten him here, gotten him a drink, and then another, then told him he'd be right back. It wasn't a party if he didn't talk to a few people. Jack had kept up with Owen fairly well in the shots department and was feeling loose and warm and good. Let Owen get trashed, he was just nicely tipsy. Jack had left the tux behind in favor of a pair of shorts and a wifebeater, which seemed to be the uniform of most of the people here. Jack looked around, smiled and flirted and said hello to more than one person before he looked over...

And there was Daniel.

Jack dropped everything and headed straight for him.

Comments

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't know. I've never been hello'ed by you, Jack. I almost feel left out." His lips curled into a soft grin. "I said planned." He eyed the bottle. "Which means don't lose track of that.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I'm pretty sure I've told you hello more than once," he whispered as he ghosted his lips across his cheek. "But if you need to get drunk and hear it again, I could do that. So...you gonna hate me in the morning if I let you keep drinking and change those grand plans of yours?" he asked softly against Daniel's neck.

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"I don't know how much longer I can do this," Daniel whispered, leaning against Jack and shifting his head back just a little. It wasn't an answer that most people would have understood, but he was pretty sure Jack would. He wanted to make things work, but he was unhappy. He just didn't know why.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"You'll do it until you can't, Daniel. You're not alone, you know that much," Jack answered, the slightest shift in his intention changing the hold from seductive to pure strength. He'd leaned on Daniel when he hadn't wanted to, but needed to.

"And when you can't? It ends and you keep going, because if there's one truth in the universe, it's this." He pulled back so he could look Daniel in the eyes and said evenly, "There isn't a promise made that can't be broken. You just need to decide if it's worth it."

Fuck the rest of the world, fuck understanding and agreements, fuck it all. Jack held Daniel, held him up and held him close, and he smiled.

"Whatever you need, you let me know. You're...Mine."

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"And you're Mine. Which is why you're safe." He pulled back and looked at Jack. "Because if we fight and one of us leaves, we'll always come back. Because we could be fighting one minute and, if either of us really needed the other, we'd be there." He shook his head. "I never should have worried. Doubted. I already knew way back when."

Ianto had been furious when Daniel had called Jack and not him safe, but it turned out that Daniel had been right. Jack had come back. Ianto hadn't.

He leaned in and kissed Jack softly, whispering, "I just need you," before kissing him again.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"You've got me." Simple as that. Right now, this moment, Daniel had him and the rest of the world simply fell away for Jack. Every fiber of his being, every ounce of his attention, everything was focused on Daniel right then.

Sure, in the larger scheme of things, he had him. Friends and Team and Mine and all the other labels that struggled to cement whatever this was flew around wildly. None of them really worked. Maybe because Jack refused to really stick with any label for long...although he knew what it meant when he referred to someone as Mine. He knew, and that was really all that mattered in the end.

Jack kissed him back slowly, lingering and lost in the act. Daniel tasted like alcohol. Like need. Like...Daniel.

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

He had no plans, really. No plans beyond the moment. Beyond Jack's lips on his and the rush of awareness that wouldn't have happened three months ago. Then he would have gotten the center he needed and stepped back, perfectly content to leave it at the kiss.

Now he stepped closer, wrapping his arms around Jack's neck and burying a hand in his hair.

He wasn't sure what he was thinking, but he knew there'd never be a regret with Jack.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack tightened his grip on the bottle as he tightened his arms around Daniel, tilting his head to kiss him more deeply. Eyes closed, purely focused, the noise of the crowd and the din of music and the roar of the waves became white noise that couldn't compare to the rush of his heartbeat in his ears.

Daniel didn't stop like he normally did. He kept pushing, seeking...the insistant need growing hotter and harder until Jack had the niggling sensation that maybe, just maybe, the middle of a party wasn't the best place for this.

He gently eased away, breaking the kiss slowly. "Daniel, if you need me so much, we should get out of here for a while," he suggested softly.

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"Time for our walk, I suppose," Daniel said, looking past Jack and out into the water. He knew where this was going. He'd be a fool not to, especially because of Jack. Jack could say 'no', but now wasn't one of those times. On the other hand, if Daniel said no, Jack would back down.

"I do need you," he finally said. "I'm just not entirely sure how, yet."

Finally, he turned back to Jack. "But I think the walk will decide me. Come on. And bring the bottle."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack looked through the crowd once more to check on Owen and found him pretty much in the same spot he'd been. At the worst, Jack would wind up carrying him home over his shoulder. Wouldn't be the first time he'd done that to someone.

Just that one look, then he returned his full attention to Daniel. "Let's go. You, me, and a bottle...what more do we need?" he grinned.

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"You, me, guns, danger, and excitement?" Daniel returned innocently. "Don't think I didn't see the look on your face on the way over to the boat. I don't think you planned on babysitting duty." He smirked a little. "Or on the tapir."

Already he was in a better mood. He pressed his lips to Jack's shoulder and then wrapped an arm around his waist. "Lead on Crocodile Dundee."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

The amusement morphed to confusion as Jack looked along the line of his shoulder at Daniel. Just how drunk was he, anyhow?

"Crocodile what?" he asked as the sand became grass and detritus beneath their feet.

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"That's another one of those references you don't get. Think of Rob with a big knife, a hat, and your penchant for getting into trouble. Especially with wild animals." He subdued a little the further away from civilization they got.

He had a decision to make. He just wasn't sure what it was going to be.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"You know, you people take advantage of me and the fact that there are only a few movies I've seen that were made after nineteen forty-eight," he pointed out. Just because he was from the future didn't mean...hell, especially because he was from the future didn't mean he'd seen everything the twentieth and twenty-first century film industry had produced.

Except for the blatant abuse of the Vortex Manipulators when they were still rookies at the agency and had gone to all three installments of the Star Wars trilogy in a row. 1977, 1980, 1983...that had been a hell of a trip. Well worth the demerits.

As he lost himself in memory for a second, he unconsciously reached for Daniel's hand. It wasn't just a walk, and although he wasn't sure what more it was, Jack was ready for anything. And 'anything' generally required contact.

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"And again, you sound like Vala," Daniel said, twining his fingers with Jack's. "She always used to complain when we referenced things she didn't understand. Then she got my credit card, television, and the internet. It was a steep learning curve."

He was quiet for a few minutes, just walking.

Then, "I'm not happy. I should be. He won't sleep with Dani and Alcuin. I won't sleep with you. There was that spark of attraction. And his mind, god. But..."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"But you're not happy." Jack squeezed gently then started swinging his arm a little. "Hmm, limits on who you can see and what you can do with them and being miserable because of it...that sounds so familiar. I wonder who I might know who could relate to that. Oh, wait. That would be me."

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"Jack? The limits were me. If I were really happy, I wouldn't want to sleep with someone else. Like when things were good with me and Ianto. I could resist your charms. But then he saw us watching Torchwood and he got...jealous. His solution was it was okay if I slept with you if I needed to pull you back from the edge, because he'd do the same with Dani."

Daniel shook his head. "He doesn't get you. Or me."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Apparently not," he snorted. "You can fuck me if I desperately need it, huh? That's so...I don't even know the word for what that is. Of all the things I might need from you if I was on the edge of whatever, hate to tell you, Daniel, but it's not in your pants."

That wasn't to say he wouldn't go looking for it there. But, if anyone knew him at all, sex wasn't a fix. It was, if anything, a patch. He could lose himself for as long as it lasted and then he returned to wherever he was before. As soon as he walked out the door, that perfect moment was done. Jack collected them, remembered them, smiled at the memories, but only once had he ever confused fucking for fixing.

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"See, I already knew that. But apparently, between our last time and kissing you on the forehead, he decided that I'd sleep with you, given the choice. That we would just wind up together. He says he doesn't believe that anymore, but..."

Daniel moved a little closer and put his head on Jack's shoulder.

"He says all the right things. Except they don't feel right. Not like he's lying, just...not right."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack cradled the back of Daniel's head and worked his fingers into his hair as he rested on his shoulder.

"I don't know what to tell you, Daniel. If it doesn't feel right, then it's wrong. A lot of things aren't that black and white, but when it comes to people? Go with your gut."

Read them in the first three minutes.
Play to their insecurities.
Believe your lies and they will too.

Jack pressed a kiss against Daniel's temple, then left his lips there as he smiled and said, "The last thing I'd wish on you would be winding up with me as your boyfriend. First of all, that's stupid. Second, I don't want to be your rebound, Daniel. And third? It'd ruin what we've got...and I like what we've got."

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"I'm pretty sure there'd have to be two people in that decision, Jack, so you'd have to agree to it, too. Although, really, I don't think you're putting enough faith in us. If we've survived with what we have intact, I'm not sure there's anything that can rip it apart for long." He wasn't saying ever. Just for keeps.

The other thing made him pause, though.

"You were never my...he can't be. Ianto and I broke up...a while before that."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

The fingers in his hair tightened and pulled a little to get him to look up as Jack leaned back.

"A while. Daniel..." He sighed and shook his head. "How can you be so smart and so stupid at the same time? Time is relative. Emotions are...delicate. And you and Ianto? He might have been done, but you weren't. Most drawn out break-up I've seen in a long time."

Another shake of his head and he leaned in to kiss him lightly. "Going to bed with someone once doesn't count as a rebound. Or twice. Or...nevermind. Just answer this--what's your gut instinct? Don't think, just answer. Do you love him?"

They'd been standing in the snow the last time he'd heard that question, but that time it had come from Daniel and Jack had been on the spot.

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

Daniel's heart felt like it had stopped beating. Do you love him?

"I..." He swallowed and closed his eyes, pressing his forehead to Jack's. "Love takes time, Jack." It was an excuse. He knew it and he knew Jack knew it. But a part of him felt like he was giving up.

"Mohinder and I connected right away, and then he slept with Alcuin and I'd slept with you and he got jealous and I got jealous and...I really didn't know him much before we started dating."

All of a sudden, his heart started beating and he could breath again. Because they didn't know each other. They'd clung to each other and hoped that would solve everything.

"No," he finally whispered. "Sometimes I really hate you, Jack. And for the record, you'd never be a rebound."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

It was what he'd figured, but not really what he'd hoped he'd hear. Jack's only reply at first was a sigh before he lifted the bottle to his lips and took a swallow, then offered it to Daniel.

"Sometimes I hate me, too," he replied after a moment. "Not gonna tell you what to do, gorgeous. I just want you to do it with your eyes wide open. And for the record, I've been a rebound before."

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

Daniel took a long slug, more sober, now, than he'd like to be. "I'm not gorgeous," he said, as if the comment were habit. "But not mine. I'd have to regret it, first, and I just...don't. You mean too much to me. And you get me."

He pressed his lips to Jack's. "Sometimes you hate me, so I'd say we're even."