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This was going to be longer but suddenly it was over. Hmm.
Well, I had fun, which is the only thing that matters in the end ;-)
Thanks to all who indulged me in my crossover madness :;smooches:;
Previous parts are here.
Carpe Diem
Part Four
Time travel, Ethan decided, as he stepped out into a golden afternoon a decade earlier than the one he'd woken up in, was best done impromptu. He was certain that given time to think even he might have succumbed to a list of things to pack or started to fiddle around with complex plans to buy shares in this that or the other, and make a killing on his return to the present.
Or in his case, change his mind about the killing.
He found himself muttering, "'If 'twere done, ''twas best done quickly'" and shook himself.
"It's getting to you, isn't it?" Jack said, with less gloat to his grin than Ethan would have expected. "Doubts creeping in, about to freeze with uncertainty --" His attention was caught by a blonde in a miniskirt that barely skimmed her knickers, and he eyed her with interest as she crossed the road and headed towards where they stood, outside the run-down house Ethan had shared with Rupert and three other friends. "And she's lucky it's a sunny day, or I know where she'd be feeling the chill." Jack grinned and rubbed his hands together briskly, the metal of the cuff he wore clanking against his watch.
"Oh, for God's sake!" Ethan snapped. "She's a tart who'd give you more than you paid for, but don't let that stop you if you're that desperate for a shag. I daresay your nanny gadget could fix the clap before the itching started."
Jack grimaced and stepped aside to let the girl pass. Mary? Maisie? Ethan couldn't remember, just that she'd be dead in three months from a drug overdose. That recollection made giving her the friendly smile she clearly expected surprisingly hard. The puzzled, wary look he got in return left him frowning until she'd passed out of sight when realisation dawned.
"I'm ten years too old," he said wonderingly, his hand going up to his face and tracing his features.
"Yeah, and did I mention that any interaction with the younger you is off-limits?" Jack said. He rounded on Ethan, jabbing his finger at him. "I mean it. If you think the other you is inside that house, we're not going in. I'll take a chance and start running; you can chase me, but you'll be wondering with every step if I'm going to get just far enough ahead for you to end up crispy and well-done, won't you?"
"No," Ethan said. "I'll be staring down at you writhing in pain on the pavement." He lied with the ease of much practice. "Oh, sorry; did I not mention that with each infringement, the penalty increases?" He held up his hand and shook the cuff, his mouth twisting in a sneer. "You're wearing restraints, too, Jack. You just can't see them. And no, I'm not inside. I'm getting in supplies for later and I don't get back until dark because the dealer was remarkably elusive." Ethan smiled. "Of course, had I known he was a vampire, I wouldn't have been quite so surprised at his unavailability during daylight hours."
Jack gestured dramatically at himself. "See this? It's me ignoring that last comment, and thinking that from now on when I fall for a strange man in a bar because I like the way he smiles, I'm going to take a moment to chant, 'Remember Ethan and walk away' about twenty times or so, until the madness passes."
"Do you think it'll work?" Ethan asked, momentarily distracted.
Jack gave him a rueful and totally charming look. "I really doubt it, but I promise I'll try." He sighed. "Can we just go? This is stupid. You don't need me to tell you that, but I am anyway."
Ethan shook his head, his gaze going to the front door of the house. Had the paint always been that tatty, the scrap of garden at the front that devoid of life? It wasn't as if, between them, they couldn't have afforded something better... They'd been making a point, he supposed. He just wished he could remember what it was.
"You liked my smile?" he said, walking up to the door and fumbling in his pocket for his key ring. The worn, dark-brown Yale key lost amongst a dozen others -- he never threw away a key; you never knew when you might be faced with a lock -- felt familiar in his hand and slid into place as easily as it ever had.
He pushed open the door and turned to Jack, who was following him reluctantly but, as Ethan couldn't help but notice, making sure that they stayed close. With a small part of his mind, Ethan began to piece together the clues that would tell him how long his leash was.
"Well, you're about to meet a young man who'd agree with you." Ethan sighed, remembering. "And if he thought that you liked it a little too much, he'd kick your teeth in." Ethan pursed his lips, trying to look disapproving, and failing rather badly. "He was a little impetuous, and more than a little possessive. First love does that to you, don't you find? Or can't you remember in amongst the myriad of later encounters?"
"There's a lot I don't remember," Jack said coolly. "Like giving you the right to ask personal questions." He glanced inside the house, wrinkling his nose against the pervasive smell of damp, take-out food and joss-sticks that floated out to greet them. "You lived here?" he asked incredulously. "On purpose?"
Ethan shrugged and stepped over the threshold. "It served as a roof over our heads."
"What are you going to tell him?" Jack said. "This Rupert guy. He'll never believe the truth."
From upstairs a voice called out, clear in the silence. "Ethan? Is that you? You're back early. Couldn't you find him?" There was a chuckle, affectionate and mischievous. "Or did you just miss me?"
Ethan felt his throat tighten. "Oh God," he managed.
Jack's hand slipped around his neck and he stared into blue eyes, intent and serious. "It's not too late," Jack whispered, his thumb stroking Ethan's skin gently. "I'll answer, we'll go, and I'll take you somewhere good; show you the sights." He leaned closer, kissing Ethan with a flicker of his tongue that promised a lot more than Ethan had expected, given their current impasse. "Come on; we could have fun."
Ethan stepped back, his mind made up. "I'm not here for fun," he spat out. "I'm here for --"
"Ethan?"
They turned as one and Ethan stared up into the indignant, hurt face of his lover who must have witnessed the kiss. "You bastard, Ethan!" Rupert, naked from the waist up, barefoot, and in a threadbare pair of jeans fastened with a bootlace that, as Ethan recalled, had a frustrating tendency to tie itself in knots at the most inopportune moments, hurtled down the stairs, all legs and wide, wounded eyes and stood between them, breathing heavily.
"Love, it's not --" Ethan stopped, the reassurance and endearment bitter on his tongue. No. He couldn't let himself forget why he was here and what this boy would do to him soon, how he'd betray Ethan in a way that went beyond a stolen kiss or two.
"Ethan?" Some of the anger faded from Rupert's face and he swallowed quickly, his gaze going between Ethan and Jack. "Who the hell is this?" he asked belligerently.
"A friend, no more," Ethan said soothingly, unable to resist running his hand over the bare skin of Rupert's arm, refreshing memories he'd worn out through over-use, conjuring them up until they were dim and thin. "His name's Jack. And I'm not the one half-naked, now am I? What have you been up to?" He pulled Rupert to him and kissed him hard, his hands trembling slightly. God, the taste of him!
"It's so bloody hot up there," Rupert said. He grinned, leaning into Ethan's shoulder and scratching absently at his bare ribs. "You're lucky I heard voices and pulled my jeans on or I'd have been more than half-naked."
Ethan saw Jack's gaze travel over Rupert approvingly and bit down on indignation of his own.
"I've seen all you've got," he said dryly, "and Jack's not interested --"
"Yes, I am," Jack said. He'd changed into jeans and a tight blue T-shirt before they'd left the ship, and as he leaned against the hallway wall, studying them both carefully, Ethan had to admit that he looked good. "I'm interested in any friend of Ethan's." He held out his hand to Rupert, his smile genuine. "Jack Harkness. Pleased to meet you --?"
"Rupert Giles," Rupert said, taking the proffered hand automatically, his voice slipping into his normal way of speaking, all silver spoon with a plum balanced on top. "So how do you know Ethan then?" He blinked. "You look a bit old to be a student."
"I look old?" Jack said. He jerked his head at Ethan. "Not him?"
Ethan smiled slightly. "To Rupert, I don't think I'll ever look old," he murmured meaningfully, catching Jack's eye. The glamour he'd cast after seeing the look on the girl's face wasn't a strong one, but it didn't need to be. People, even people in love -- or especially people in love -- saw what they wanted to see, saw what they expected.
And Rupert didn't expect his lover to have aged a decade in the space of an hour or two, now did he?
"Oh, come on!" Jack exploded. "That's just too much to expect me to swallow."
Ethan smiled, giddy and filled with a sudden exhilaration. "That's what you said once, love, wasn't it?" he murmured wickedly, nuzzling into the hollow of Rupert's throat and letting his tongue dart out to taste the warm beat of blood captured there. "But you managed very nicely, as I recall."
Three months ago, Rupert might have blushed. Now he got hard between one breath and the next, it seemed, arching against Ethan and pulling him in for a long, hungry kiss, Jack forgotten.
So tempting. So very, very tempting. Could he be divine, and forgive a sin this Rupert hadn't committed yet? Exact delicious penances on willing flesh until he could forget the revulsion in Rupert's eyes when he'd muttered goodbye and flinched away from Ethan's hand, stretched out pleadingly?
Let Randall die, let this golden boy live to break his heart?
It hung, perfectly balanced, perfectly poised.
"Ethan. It's time to go."
Jack's voice was low but he didn't need to shout. Not when he was walking out of the door. Ethan wrenched himself free of Rupert's arms and stared into puzzled, green eyes. "Ripper. Listen. I have to go. Jack's going to take me to someone with the good stuff. You know. I'll be back soon, I promise."
Rupert rolled his eyes. "You'd better be," he said. He lowered his voice. "We can't do it without you, you know that."
Jack had paused once Ethan had said he was going. He watched as Ethan smiled, his hand caressing Rupert's face one last time. "There's a lot you can do without me, love. Except, perhaps, have fun, but there's a price to pay for everything."
"You've been drinking, haven't you?" Rupert said resignedly. He gave Jack a grin. "He always gets gnomic after the fifth pint or so."
"I wouldn't know," Jack said with an answering grin, "But I'll be sure to stop him having more than four if he's ever drinking with me. Nice to meet you, Rupert Giles." His eyes held pity and a little regret. "Ethan? Time's ticking away."
"So it is." Ethan kissed Rupert lightly. "Back soon, love."
Leaving without looking back left Ethan feeling hollowed-out and numb. The pain that followed as regret and loss ripped through him was an improvement.
Jack let him rail against fate, the gods, and his own stupid sentimentality for long enough that even Ethan was getting bored, and then changed the subject by the simple, but effective, method of stripping them both naked over Ethan's increasingly weak protests.
"Shut up," Jack said finally, his fingers brushing away the last of Ethan's tears and then going elsewhere. "You might be sentimental, but you're not a fool. And if he loves you that much, you know you'll get him back one day."
"I suppose," Ethan said grudgingly, leaning back and gasping as Jack's hands moved over his body, followed by the warm press of his lips. "Although the last time we met, he told me that if our paths crossed again he'd break every bone in my body. Unoriginal, I know, but that's the sort of person he is, these days."
Jack's head lifted slightly, which was a pity. "To do that, he's going have to touch you, right?"
"One would assume so, yes," Ethan said, reaching down to stroke Jack's dark hair, the cuff glinting silver on his wrist.
Jack grinned. "I saw you two. Don't tell me that if he gets that close you can't have him kissing you again."
He went back to what he'd been doing and Ethan sighed, closing his eyes so that he could pretend, the way he always did. "Oh, that's the easy bit," he said absently. "It's getting him to stay as long as the bruises do that's tricky."
"But that's what you're good at," Jack said, stopping again. He propped himself up on one elbow and ran his finger over Ethan's cock. "I'm used to threesomes, but usually the third person's in the bed, if you know what I mean. Do you want to go and get him? Within this time, I mean; you can't go back again."
Ethan was about to thank him, even say 'yes', when a thought occurred to him. "You fancied him, didn't you?" he said accusingly.
Jack caught his lip between his teeth and grinned. "Sure. Is that a problem?"
"Yes," Ethan hissed, flipping Jack to his back and straddling him. "It bloody well is. You'll have to make do with me, I'm afraid."
Jack shrugged, his eyes dancing. "Then you'd better be good."
"That I can't rise to," Ethan said. "But I can make you forget the six before me, and make the six who follow seem inadequate."
"Promises, promises," Jack murmured, squirming a little as Ethan's hands closed around his wrists and pinned them to the bed. "And will you keep on wishing I was him?"
Ethan smiled down at him a little sadly. "I'll try not to," he said. "Just this once. Will that do?"
"Ask me that tomorrow," Jack said. "You'll like the answer better when I can lie."
End
Well, I had fun, which is the only thing that matters in the end ;-)
Thanks to all who indulged me in my crossover madness :;smooches:;
Previous parts are here.
Carpe Diem
Part Four
Time travel, Ethan decided, as he stepped out into a golden afternoon a decade earlier than the one he'd woken up in, was best done impromptu. He was certain that given time to think even he might have succumbed to a list of things to pack or started to fiddle around with complex plans to buy shares in this that or the other, and make a killing on his return to the present.
Or in his case, change his mind about the killing.
He found himself muttering, "'If 'twere done, ''twas best done quickly'" and shook himself.
"It's getting to you, isn't it?" Jack said, with less gloat to his grin than Ethan would have expected. "Doubts creeping in, about to freeze with uncertainty --" His attention was caught by a blonde in a miniskirt that barely skimmed her knickers, and he eyed her with interest as she crossed the road and headed towards where they stood, outside the run-down house Ethan had shared with Rupert and three other friends. "And she's lucky it's a sunny day, or I know where she'd be feeling the chill." Jack grinned and rubbed his hands together briskly, the metal of the cuff he wore clanking against his watch.
"Oh, for God's sake!" Ethan snapped. "She's a tart who'd give you more than you paid for, but don't let that stop you if you're that desperate for a shag. I daresay your nanny gadget could fix the clap before the itching started."
Jack grimaced and stepped aside to let the girl pass. Mary? Maisie? Ethan couldn't remember, just that she'd be dead in three months from a drug overdose. That recollection made giving her the friendly smile she clearly expected surprisingly hard. The puzzled, wary look he got in return left him frowning until she'd passed out of sight when realisation dawned.
"I'm ten years too old," he said wonderingly, his hand going up to his face and tracing his features.
"Yeah, and did I mention that any interaction with the younger you is off-limits?" Jack said. He rounded on Ethan, jabbing his finger at him. "I mean it. If you think the other you is inside that house, we're not going in. I'll take a chance and start running; you can chase me, but you'll be wondering with every step if I'm going to get just far enough ahead for you to end up crispy and well-done, won't you?"
"No," Ethan said. "I'll be staring down at you writhing in pain on the pavement." He lied with the ease of much practice. "Oh, sorry; did I not mention that with each infringement, the penalty increases?" He held up his hand and shook the cuff, his mouth twisting in a sneer. "You're wearing restraints, too, Jack. You just can't see them. And no, I'm not inside. I'm getting in supplies for later and I don't get back until dark because the dealer was remarkably elusive." Ethan smiled. "Of course, had I known he was a vampire, I wouldn't have been quite so surprised at his unavailability during daylight hours."
Jack gestured dramatically at himself. "See this? It's me ignoring that last comment, and thinking that from now on when I fall for a strange man in a bar because I like the way he smiles, I'm going to take a moment to chant, 'Remember Ethan and walk away' about twenty times or so, until the madness passes."
"Do you think it'll work?" Ethan asked, momentarily distracted.
Jack gave him a rueful and totally charming look. "I really doubt it, but I promise I'll try." He sighed. "Can we just go? This is stupid. You don't need me to tell you that, but I am anyway."
Ethan shook his head, his gaze going to the front door of the house. Had the paint always been that tatty, the scrap of garden at the front that devoid of life? It wasn't as if, between them, they couldn't have afforded something better... They'd been making a point, he supposed. He just wished he could remember what it was.
"You liked my smile?" he said, walking up to the door and fumbling in his pocket for his key ring. The worn, dark-brown Yale key lost amongst a dozen others -- he never threw away a key; you never knew when you might be faced with a lock -- felt familiar in his hand and slid into place as easily as it ever had.
He pushed open the door and turned to Jack, who was following him reluctantly but, as Ethan couldn't help but notice, making sure that they stayed close. With a small part of his mind, Ethan began to piece together the clues that would tell him how long his leash was.
"Well, you're about to meet a young man who'd agree with you." Ethan sighed, remembering. "And if he thought that you liked it a little too much, he'd kick your teeth in." Ethan pursed his lips, trying to look disapproving, and failing rather badly. "He was a little impetuous, and more than a little possessive. First love does that to you, don't you find? Or can't you remember in amongst the myriad of later encounters?"
"There's a lot I don't remember," Jack said coolly. "Like giving you the right to ask personal questions." He glanced inside the house, wrinkling his nose against the pervasive smell of damp, take-out food and joss-sticks that floated out to greet them. "You lived here?" he asked incredulously. "On purpose?"
Ethan shrugged and stepped over the threshold. "It served as a roof over our heads."
"What are you going to tell him?" Jack said. "This Rupert guy. He'll never believe the truth."
From upstairs a voice called out, clear in the silence. "Ethan? Is that you? You're back early. Couldn't you find him?" There was a chuckle, affectionate and mischievous. "Or did you just miss me?"
Ethan felt his throat tighten. "Oh God," he managed.
Jack's hand slipped around his neck and he stared into blue eyes, intent and serious. "It's not too late," Jack whispered, his thumb stroking Ethan's skin gently. "I'll answer, we'll go, and I'll take you somewhere good; show you the sights." He leaned closer, kissing Ethan with a flicker of his tongue that promised a lot more than Ethan had expected, given their current impasse. "Come on; we could have fun."
Ethan stepped back, his mind made up. "I'm not here for fun," he spat out. "I'm here for --"
"Ethan?"
They turned as one and Ethan stared up into the indignant, hurt face of his lover who must have witnessed the kiss. "You bastard, Ethan!" Rupert, naked from the waist up, barefoot, and in a threadbare pair of jeans fastened with a bootlace that, as Ethan recalled, had a frustrating tendency to tie itself in knots at the most inopportune moments, hurtled down the stairs, all legs and wide, wounded eyes and stood between them, breathing heavily.
"Love, it's not --" Ethan stopped, the reassurance and endearment bitter on his tongue. No. He couldn't let himself forget why he was here and what this boy would do to him soon, how he'd betray Ethan in a way that went beyond a stolen kiss or two.
"Ethan?" Some of the anger faded from Rupert's face and he swallowed quickly, his gaze going between Ethan and Jack. "Who the hell is this?" he asked belligerently.
"A friend, no more," Ethan said soothingly, unable to resist running his hand over the bare skin of Rupert's arm, refreshing memories he'd worn out through over-use, conjuring them up until they were dim and thin. "His name's Jack. And I'm not the one half-naked, now am I? What have you been up to?" He pulled Rupert to him and kissed him hard, his hands trembling slightly. God, the taste of him!
"It's so bloody hot up there," Rupert said. He grinned, leaning into Ethan's shoulder and scratching absently at his bare ribs. "You're lucky I heard voices and pulled my jeans on or I'd have been more than half-naked."
Ethan saw Jack's gaze travel over Rupert approvingly and bit down on indignation of his own.
"I've seen all you've got," he said dryly, "and Jack's not interested --"
"Yes, I am," Jack said. He'd changed into jeans and a tight blue T-shirt before they'd left the ship, and as he leaned against the hallway wall, studying them both carefully, Ethan had to admit that he looked good. "I'm interested in any friend of Ethan's." He held out his hand to Rupert, his smile genuine. "Jack Harkness. Pleased to meet you --?"
"Rupert Giles," Rupert said, taking the proffered hand automatically, his voice slipping into his normal way of speaking, all silver spoon with a plum balanced on top. "So how do you know Ethan then?" He blinked. "You look a bit old to be a student."
"I look old?" Jack said. He jerked his head at Ethan. "Not him?"
Ethan smiled slightly. "To Rupert, I don't think I'll ever look old," he murmured meaningfully, catching Jack's eye. The glamour he'd cast after seeing the look on the girl's face wasn't a strong one, but it didn't need to be. People, even people in love -- or especially people in love -- saw what they wanted to see, saw what they expected.
And Rupert didn't expect his lover to have aged a decade in the space of an hour or two, now did he?
"Oh, come on!" Jack exploded. "That's just too much to expect me to swallow."
Ethan smiled, giddy and filled with a sudden exhilaration. "That's what you said once, love, wasn't it?" he murmured wickedly, nuzzling into the hollow of Rupert's throat and letting his tongue dart out to taste the warm beat of blood captured there. "But you managed very nicely, as I recall."
Three months ago, Rupert might have blushed. Now he got hard between one breath and the next, it seemed, arching against Ethan and pulling him in for a long, hungry kiss, Jack forgotten.
So tempting. So very, very tempting. Could he be divine, and forgive a sin this Rupert hadn't committed yet? Exact delicious penances on willing flesh until he could forget the revulsion in Rupert's eyes when he'd muttered goodbye and flinched away from Ethan's hand, stretched out pleadingly?
Let Randall die, let this golden boy live to break his heart?
It hung, perfectly balanced, perfectly poised.
"Ethan. It's time to go."
Jack's voice was low but he didn't need to shout. Not when he was walking out of the door. Ethan wrenched himself free of Rupert's arms and stared into puzzled, green eyes. "Ripper. Listen. I have to go. Jack's going to take me to someone with the good stuff. You know. I'll be back soon, I promise."
Rupert rolled his eyes. "You'd better be," he said. He lowered his voice. "We can't do it without you, you know that."
Jack had paused once Ethan had said he was going. He watched as Ethan smiled, his hand caressing Rupert's face one last time. "There's a lot you can do without me, love. Except, perhaps, have fun, but there's a price to pay for everything."
"You've been drinking, haven't you?" Rupert said resignedly. He gave Jack a grin. "He always gets gnomic after the fifth pint or so."
"I wouldn't know," Jack said with an answering grin, "But I'll be sure to stop him having more than four if he's ever drinking with me. Nice to meet you, Rupert Giles." His eyes held pity and a little regret. "Ethan? Time's ticking away."
"So it is." Ethan kissed Rupert lightly. "Back soon, love."
Leaving without looking back left Ethan feeling hollowed-out and numb. The pain that followed as regret and loss ripped through him was an improvement.
Jack let him rail against fate, the gods, and his own stupid sentimentality for long enough that even Ethan was getting bored, and then changed the subject by the simple, but effective, method of stripping them both naked over Ethan's increasingly weak protests.
"Shut up," Jack said finally, his fingers brushing away the last of Ethan's tears and then going elsewhere. "You might be sentimental, but you're not a fool. And if he loves you that much, you know you'll get him back one day."
"I suppose," Ethan said grudgingly, leaning back and gasping as Jack's hands moved over his body, followed by the warm press of his lips. "Although the last time we met, he told me that if our paths crossed again he'd break every bone in my body. Unoriginal, I know, but that's the sort of person he is, these days."
Jack's head lifted slightly, which was a pity. "To do that, he's going have to touch you, right?"
"One would assume so, yes," Ethan said, reaching down to stroke Jack's dark hair, the cuff glinting silver on his wrist.
Jack grinned. "I saw you two. Don't tell me that if he gets that close you can't have him kissing you again."
He went back to what he'd been doing and Ethan sighed, closing his eyes so that he could pretend, the way he always did. "Oh, that's the easy bit," he said absently. "It's getting him to stay as long as the bruises do that's tricky."
"But that's what you're good at," Jack said, stopping again. He propped himself up on one elbow and ran his finger over Ethan's cock. "I'm used to threesomes, but usually the third person's in the bed, if you know what I mean. Do you want to go and get him? Within this time, I mean; you can't go back again."
Ethan was about to thank him, even say 'yes', when a thought occurred to him. "You fancied him, didn't you?" he said accusingly.
Jack caught his lip between his teeth and grinned. "Sure. Is that a problem?"
"Yes," Ethan hissed, flipping Jack to his back and straddling him. "It bloody well is. You'll have to make do with me, I'm afraid."
Jack shrugged, his eyes dancing. "Then you'd better be good."
"That I can't rise to," Ethan said. "But I can make you forget the six before me, and make the six who follow seem inadequate."
"Promises, promises," Jack murmured, squirming a little as Ethan's hands closed around his wrists and pinned them to the bed. "And will you keep on wishing I was him?"
Ethan smiled down at him a little sadly. "I'll try not to," he said. "Just this once. Will that do?"
"Ask me that tomorrow," Jack said. "You'll like the answer better when I can lie."
End
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