sid | 'More Than a Little Awkward', J/D, rated PG-13

Summary: It's the morning after the night before, and things aren't going well at all.

Thank you to

tejasfor the quick beta!

This was the second favorite choice in the poll I conducted a while back. I'll be doing another poll soon since new bunnies have hopped onto the scene in the interim. :-)

J/D, 1420 words, rated PG-13 (unless one usage of the f-word makes it an R?)

MORE THAN A LITTLE AWKWARD

Daniel opened his eyes at the sound of a clearing throat. “Morning.” A fully dressed Jack. And instantaneous memories of the night before. He felt himself begin to flush.

“Good morning.”

“Coffee in the kitchen. No rush.” Daniel couldn’t quite make out Jack’s eyes without his glasses on, but the set of his mouth seemed to indicate disapproval. And then he was gone before Daniel could pull together his scattered thoughts.

He wants me out of here. Daniel felt a sick, hot tide of emotion. He got out of the bed and picked up his clothes, which were piled neatly on a chair. Jack. His lips tightened. They certainly hadn’t been neatly piled last night, or even all in one room. No use thinking about that now. He went into the bathroom and, after a second’s hesitation, locked the door.

He wanted to just walk out the front door and not have to face Jack, but that was just being childish. And as it turned out, Jack was leaning against the kitchen counter, facing the hallway. “Hey, I think I’m just going to get going,” Daniel said, fingering his car keys.

Jack’s lips slowly pursed. “You should have some coffee before you drive.” He crossed to the coffee-maker and began to fill a mug. Daniel opened his mouth and then let it close again. Jack handed him the mug, his face expressionless until the corner of his mouth quirked as he said, “I know you. You’re not even half awake yet.”

Well, that was certainly true, and the comment seemed so normal that Daniel found himself relaxing a bit. He slid his keys into his pocket. “Don’t want to be a danger on the road,” he said, before taking his first sip. Good, hot, strong.

He thought Jack was about to say something, but instead he crossed the room to stare out into his yard, back turned to Daniel. The kitchen was quiet except for the slurping sounds they made drinking, and the occasional bird call or passing car. Daniel alternately frowned into his cup or at the floor, and tried to block the flashes of last night that kept coming to the foreground in his mind.

Jack’s hands, fumbling at Daniel’s zipper; Jack kneeling over him, grinning; Jack trembling and sweating and saying his name over and over…

Jack standing silent in his kitchen, waiting for him to leave. The coffee was too bitter. Daniel set it down, still half-full. “I should be going.”

“Sure,” Jack said, and he put his own cup down and pushed past Daniel, and was at the front door with his hand turning the knob by the time Daniel got there. He pulled the door wide, and then shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. “Hope you don’t feel like I’m trying to rush you out of here.”

Daniel blinked. “No, of course not,” he said, moving past Jack onto the porch. He turned and forced a smile. “You offered me coffee.”

Jack leaned against the doorway, and jerked his head in the direction of the kitchen. “I was looking before to see what I had in the way of food to offer you. Basically, I can make pancakes.” He grimaced. “But the box of mix has been in the cupboard for who knows how long.”

“Um, that’s…”

“Yeah, doesn’t sound too appetizing, does it? Tell you what.” And Jack was straightening up and pulling his hands, and keys, out of his pockets. “You go back inside and have some more coffee, and I’ll run out and pick us up something.” His face was still expressionless.

“You don’t have to…” Daniel frowned in confusion.

“Come on,” Jack urged. Was that a plea in his eyes?

“Sure,” Daniel heard himself say. Jack looked away as he stepped backwards to let Daniel back into the house. What the hell?

Eyes on his keys, Jack said, “Well, I’ll just go…”

Daniel reached out and grasped his wrist. “No. Don’t go anywhere.” Jack looked up then, and Daniel, who had thought he knew him so well, should know him even better after last night, had no clue as to what he was thinking. “Let’s talk instead.” Okay, that wasn’t hard to read. Jack made no effort to hide the look of almost queasy reluctance that settled over his features. “Yeah, I know just how you feel. Two minutes?” Daniel waggled two fingers.

Jack shrugged. “I suppose.” He led the way down into the living room, stopping in the middle of the floor and planting himself there, hands in pockets, staring at Daniel almost belligerently. Which made no sense that Daniel could think of, but seemed to go along with the rest of the morning pretty well. “So.”

“Right. So. So, you, ah, want me to stay.”

“I just invited you to, didn’t I?” Jack said, narrowing one eye.

“Yes. Yes, you did. So, you want me to…”

“Daniel. You’re welcome to stay.”

“Ah.” That had gotten him precisely nowhere.

Jack grimaced. “Is it two minutes yet?” And there was something in his eyes that gave Daniel just a little bit of hope, and the courage to press on.

“Did you want to talk about last night?”

Jack…twitched. All over. “Was there something in particular that you wanted to say?”

And here they went again. “I think we’re having enough trouble talking about this morning,” Daniel said ruefully. “Maybe we should stick to that?”

“What about this morning?” Jack was completely still. Daniel knew that posture. Jack was ready to leap in whatever direction required. Wary, defensive. Anticipating trouble.

Daniel hesitated, choosing his words carefully. “I apologize if I seemed eager to leave just now. I just was worried that I might have outstayed my welcome.”

Jack blinked and shifted his weight. “I just told you that you’re welcome to stay.”

“Yeah. See, that wasn’t the impression I was getting.”

“What impression? When?” Honest confusion?

“When you woke me up.”

“When I woke you up?”

“Yes.”

“When I woke you up.”

“Jack.”

Jack threw his arms wide. “What did I say? I said good morning! Good morning, and something about coffee.”

“Jack…”

“And what did you hear? ‘Get the hell out of my house’?”

“You looked like you didn’t want me there.”

“Daniel, for crying out loud!”

“You weren’t smiling! You weren’t happy. You looked like a man who was regretting a mistake that he’d made after a few too many drinks.”

Jack’s face, so mobile seconds before, was back to being expressionless. “Is that how you see last night?”

“Let’s stick to this morning, all right?” Daniel said angrily. “I thought you wanted me up and gone, because I never saw anything that would contradict that. Until,” he waved his hand in a broad arc, “all of a sudden, pancakes.”

“I’ve been up for three hours,” Jack shouted. “Hell, yeah, I wanted you up! Not gone. Up! Half the fucking morning’s gone, and you’re still playing at Sleeping Beauty!” He threw an arm out in the direction of the bedroom with a look of pure disgust.

“While you’re out here, all alone,” Daniel stared, “going a little bit nuts, maybe?”

“Maybe!” Jack stared back, wild-eyed.

“You wanted me out of the bed, not out of the house.”

“Yes! Finally he gets it!”

Daniel cautiously attempted a smile. “I guess I didn’t exactly look all that happy to see you either, did I?”

Jack looked down. “Well, no, frankly, you didn’t.”

“Mornings after are notoriously awkward.”

“Astute observation,” Jack snarled, and then immediately looked apologetic. “I was just a little…”

“Mm-hm. Yeah, me too. But you should know, I don’t have any regrets about last night.”

Jack’s cheeks flushed and his eyes changed expression. “Thank you for saying that.”

“You mean,” Daniel took a couple of steps closer, “I hope you mean, ‘thank you for saying that first'?”

“Yes,” Jack said simply, reaching out and pulling Daniel towards him.

Daniel draped one arm over Jack’s shoulder and cupped his hand around the warm, bare skin of Jack’s neck, sighing and leaning closer. Their mouths were within an inch of touching when Jack pulled back slightly. “What?” Daniel whispered.

“How drunk were you last night?” Jack asked, sounding more curious than cautious.

Daniel smiled and licked his lips, knowing that he’d draw Jack’s gaze to them, enjoying the new power he was just beginning to understand. “I remember every second,” he promised.

“Good.” Jack smiled, tilted his head, leaned in. “That’s good.”

Daniel’s arms tightened. It was very good.

Current Mood: cheerful

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

From:

fiareynne.livejournal.com

Oh, boys. How they torture themselves unnecessarily! I love that no matter how crap they are at verbal communication, their nonverbal skills help get them there in the end.

From:

sid

And shouting helps, too. LOL.

All so unnecessary, but now they can relax and go out and get some breakfast.

Or not. ;-)

From:

janedavitt.livejournal.com

Oh, the poor, silly babies :;pets them::

This was wonderfully realistic and I'm glad it ended happilt.

From:

sid

Happily Ever After until the next time Jack freaks out and closes up. But maybe Daniel'll be quicker to catch on next time. :-)

From:

wraith816.livejournal.com

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

From:

sid

Yeahhhhhh. :-)

From:

green-grrl.livejournal.com

Oh, I was getting ready for the angst train. WHEW!!!! Yes, a little hard to get hte conversational ball rolling, there. ;-)

From:

sid

All it took was a few non-verbal cues from Jack and some peaceful explorer/ anthropologist skills from Daniel...

:-D

From:

paian

Aw, yay! Such in-character awkwardness and such a gratifying sorting-itself-out. Love the “Thank you for saying that” / “You mean,” Daniel took a couple of steps closer, “I hope you mean, ‘thank you for saying that first'?” exchange. Yeah, Daniel said it first, but it's sweet how relieved Jack was, and his near-formality in thanking Daniel, and the way Daniel called him on it is perfect. Whole ending is wonderful, and all the hyper-interpreted/missed signals throughout.

From:

sid

Thank you!

It's true, if Jack had said something like "Glad you feel that way" or "Me, too", it wouldn't have nearly the same impact. He's so grateful that Daniel knew what he needed to hear and had the courage to say it, and that that's out of the way now. LOL

From:

tejas.livejournal.com

See, this makes so much sense to me. I really do get tired of the ones where they each so horribly misunderstand the other that they both go off the deep end emotionally for months or years or whatever. Yeah, some good fics use that, but most of them are just annoying. This, this was good. This is them, being human, feeling awkward in this new expression of their relationship (which felt oh, so right the night before ;-). Neither of these guys is stupid, neither one is inexperience or immature (Jack's just going through his second adolescence - like ME! :-). No way would they let it go on any longer than they had to even if it meant, *GULP*, 'talking'. ;-)

From:

sid

It's kind of like they're picking their way through a minefield. Neither of them wants to get hurt (who does?) and they'd like to avoid an explosion - but neither one is going to just retreat back the way he came.

I like the way the painfully polite conversation devolved into a short-but-sweet shouting match that solved everything! :-D

just ignore the clutter

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