Of Rabbit Holes, Ben/Jack
Title: Of Rabbit Holes
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Ben/Jack
Word Count: 2751
Spoilers: Set after the S5 finale.
Summary: Jack's back from the 70s, and Ben's been chased from his people. What happens to the ex-leaders on their own?
Author’s Notes: A million years late for gottalovev at lostsquee's Luau. You said you didn't mind reading Jack even though you don't like him. There are several 'firsts' for Jack and Ben in here, virgin!Ben the most obvious. Added here for archive.
Jack was sore, dizzy, and completely fed up with waking up alone in the jungle. As his head cleared, he noticed the faint sound of voices arguing in the distance. Jack slowly made his way to his feet using a nearby tree to steady himself.
“...told you that you had to do anything I asked.”
“I've done more than enough, especially considering the fact that you're not really John Locke.”
Jack felt cold. It was John's voice, but John was dead. His legs decided before his brain did-Jack ran towards the voices just as a deep rumbling began in the distance.
He reached a small clearing, empty except for Benjamin Linus, who looked as terrified as Jack had ever seen him. He may have been completely clueless as to what was happening, but Jack knew that sound meant run.
Jack grabbed Ben's arm hard, and roughly drug the man behind him until they were both running as fast as they could go. Branches broke, trees turned over, but neither paused to look back at the gathering black smoke-it was too close. Up ahead there was water, and Jack saw their only chance. He had been here before, only hours earlier to him, but now thirty years in the past.
“Take a deep breath and jump!”
The water was murkier than he remembered, but Jack swam though it faster than the last time with Ben following close behind him. Muscles aching, they surfaced in the blackness of the underground temple.
After pulling himself out of the water, Jack sat down heavily, panting and trying to catch his breath. On his right he could barely make out the shape of torches waiting to be lit, propped up against the stone walls.
Ben crawled up onto the floor and lay flat on his back, making his own effort to catch his breath. Ben watched Jack pick up a torch in the dim glow the pool of water filtered in from outside.
“There should be flint there, somewhere...” Ben's voice echoed off the walls.
Jack picked up two stones after a brief search near his feet and struck them together. Sparks caught on the torch and it blazed to light. Jack used his torch to light another, passing it to Ben who reluctantly sat up to take it.
“Jack. Richard told us you were dead,” Ben searched Jack's face, not sure what he was looking for.
“Who's us?”
“Sun, Lapidus, my... the Others,” Ben pronounced the last wryly, “and John Locke... well something that looked like him anyway.”
“Ah,” Jack shivered and it had nothing to do with the temperature. “I thought I heard you talking to John--what was he? The monster?”
“Probably. I know you won't believe me Jack, but I really don't know, ” Ben said tiredly.
Jack bit his lip and sighed, did it matter whether it was true or not?
“In any case I suppose I should thank you for saving me--it would have torn me apart.” Had promised to in the guise of his daughter, in fact.
Jack stood up and shifted guiltily on his feet, pacing a bit before he spoke, “I suppose I owed you one, so you really shouldn't thank me.”
“I know when you were Jack, but not what you were doing,” Ben narrowed his eyes at Jack, eyeing his bloody Dharma jumpsuit.
“What I didn't do, actually,” Jack edged further inside the temple and Ben rose to follow him.
They walked a while in the quiet, but it wasn't long before Jack broke the silence, “Richard told them you wouldn't remember what happened to you...” Sayid, Faraday, Eloise, the bomb, and everything else that happened came tumbling out of his mouth.
“J-Juliet...maybe she...” Ben managed in an unsteady voice.
“Even if she survived the fall, without anyone to help her she'd be dead by now,” Jack turned back to look at Ben. He had stopped walking and was staring blankly at the ground.
Jack walked behind Ben and put his hand on his arm, “Ben?”
Ben tilted his head slightly but his gaze was still empty, “I'm not who I used to be, Jack. Maybe you should have left me to the monster after all.”
Jack took Ben's free hand in his, “I can slap you to see if you snap out of it-though it doesn't seem to have done any good for anyone else who's tried it.”
That got a scowl in Jack's direction.
“We should keep going, it's not much farther,” Jack gently tugged Ben forward.
“I know Jack, I used to live there,” he mumbled petulantly.
Ben was sharply aware of the hand on him. Jack had loosened his grip and was pulling him forward by the wrist. He felt the steady rhythm of Jack's heartbeat pulsing through his skin. It was comforting, warm, real.
“What happened while we were gone? Why was...John,” Jack grimaced, “going to kill you?”
“He asked me to do something, and I couldn't refuse. Alex...it looked like her and she told me I had to do whatever John said. ” Ben shook his head, and took a deep breath, “I did something bad Jack, and I knew things would never, could never, go back to the way they had been. I tried to leave before anyone realized just what had happened, but it seems I was followed. And...well you were there for the rest.”
Jack knew that wasn't the half of it, but there was something in Ben's eyes that wouldn't let him press for details. Intentionally setting off a hydrogen bomb had to put Jack himself pretty high on the list as far as bad went.
“There's a place we can douse the torches up ahead. When we get inside you can do whatever you need to do, and I'll go out and reset the sonic fence,” Ben said as the entrance to his house came in to view.
“I don't think anyone else will try to get in this way, but if they do we'll at least be able to hear them coming,” Jack watched Ben nod, though his thoughts seemed to be elsewhere.
They extinguished and discarded the torches, then Ben paused in front of the entryway, “You're still...um...holding my hand.”
“Sorry,” Jack let go, embarrassed.
Ben led them inside, carefully sealing the entrance behind them. The house was in the same general disarray Ben remembered when he'd been here with Frank, Sun, and (not) John.
“Do you think that everything still works? I could really use a shower, and maybe we could cook something later,” Jack flipped a switch on the wall and the light bulb lit up on cue.
“You should run the shower for a few minutes before you use it, it tends to smell of sulfur when it hasn't been used in a while. Jack, if you get bored enough you might clean the house up a little, it needs it,” Ben looked around, noting the dust and cobwebs.
“Might as well,” Jack didn't relish the idea of being a janitor again, but it would keep his mind off of other things.
“I'm bringing some tools with me just in case, but I don't think anything will be damaged too badly,” Ben opened a closet, extracted a satchel, and slung it over one arm. He opened the top flap, pulled out and put on a spare set of glasses.
“I guess I'll see you later then,” Jack felt uncomfortable suddenly, and wondered whether he should offer to go with him.
Ben hesitated briefly at the front door, “I won't be gone for long, Jack,” then stepped out, shutting the door behind him.
Ignoring a vague sense of worry, Jack decided it was ridiculous to bathe just to end up covered in dust again, so he cleaned the house before taking his shower. Afterwards, he took a shirt and pair of pants from Ben's room, but they didn't come close to fitting.
Unwilling to be stuck in his Dharma jumpsuit, Jack searched some of the abandoned homes to find something closer to his size. The house he finally found something in was starkly plain, as if whoever lived there couldn't be bothered to decorate. Jack suspected that maybe it was Richard's, since the stash of clothing he'd found fit him nicely.
Returning to Ben's house, Jack paced the living room wondering if he was wearing a groove into the newly clean floor. Shouldn't Ben have been back by now? What if that thing had been out there by the pylons waiting for him? How long should he wait? What if he was hurt? Or dead...
Jack ran out of the house towards the sonic fence, wildly searching for any sign Ben had walked this way. “Of course the bastard didn't leave any trail!” he thought furiously.
Ben wandered towards the sound of Jack's frantic foot falls in the grass, just in time to be knocked flat to the ground.
Ben's glasses were askew, highlighting startled blue eyes, “Jack, what--”
Jack hauled Ben up from the ground by the collar of his shirt, “You said you wouldn't be gone long, you ass!”
Ben would have tried to make some sort of response, but their eyes met for a moment then everything stopped, and lips were covering his. Eventually, they pulled apart to catch their breaths, and Ben tried to piece together whatever fragment of thought he had left.
“E-eggs...” Ben began, still dazed and off-balance.
Jack wrapped an arm around Ben to keep him from falling, “What?”
“...from wild birds. They're good when you soft poach them--put them over greens. The yolk makes it's own dressing,” he rambled. Ben carefully opened his satchel, and pulled out two oblong, speckled eggs, pausing to check for cracks, “I found one right away, but the bird's nests are in tall grass and it took longer than I thought it would to find the second. You mentioned cooking earlier,” his eyes nervously darted up to Jack then back down at his eggs.
Jack watched Ben cautiously return the eggs to the bag, “I thought something happened to you.”
Ben felt a surge of indignation--since when did Jack care? He made the mistake of looking into Jack's eyes for a second time and found himself stuck again--emotions had always been his undoing.
Jack grabbed Ben's lopsided glasses off his nose by the bridge, and put them in his pocket. He cupped Ben's face in one hand, tracing his lips with a thumb. Ben was shaking terribly. He knew what to do with pain, but pleasure was outside his experience. Lips pressed together again, mouths more insistent, for a deeper kiss.
Ben felt like he had drowned, “I-I don't... I haven't... What is this, Jack?”
Jack leaned in close to his ear and whispered, “What do you want it to be?”
Ben couldn't answer him, not without blood in his brain at any rate, “W-We should get back, it will be dark soon.”
They walked back in silence, the sun setting in the distance. The only thing said when they got inside was when Ben asked Jack to pick some lettuce from one of the overgrown gardens while he took a (cold) shower.
Jack wasn't much of a cook, but he could at least get everything ready for Ben. He picked and washed the lettuce, then set a pot of water to boil on the stove.
“Need me to do anything else?” Jack could feel Ben's eyes watching him, though he had yet to step into the kitchen.
“Grab the pepper and garlic salt. Fresh garlic would be better of course, but I can make do,” Ben directed. He was happy to finally have something he could take charge of.
Jack tried to get a look at the contents of the eggs as they were cracked into the bubbling water, but he was banished to the dinner table after retrieving the spices. Ben eventually brought out his dish, and Jack was oddly disappointed that the eggs looked like they'd come from some oversized chicken.
He couldn't complain about the taste, however. Jack used a finger to recover the last bit of yolk from the bottom of the plate, and he felt the weight Ben's eyes on him again as he touched it to his tongue.
Jack looked up at Ben, who blinked hard then said, “If you're finished I'll take that plate.”
Jack slid the plate over. Ben grabbed it and got up, practically sprinting to take them to the sink. The volume of the clanking sounds from the kitchen was somewhat ominous given the low amount of dishes. Jack followed the noise and put a hand on Ben's shoulder, causing him to nearly drop a pot.
“Damn you,” Ben whispered. He sat the pot down and turned off the faucet, pausing to wipe the bubbles off his hands. Then he spun around without warning and pushed Jack hard against the wall, catching his lips in a furious kiss.
They fumbled their way into the bedroom in a rush of discarded clothes, frenzied hands and mouthes.
“I've never...” Ben managed, gasping as he was pushed on to the bed.
“I'll just have to show you then,” Jack panted as he wondered whether Ben meant with a man, or with anyone. “Do you have anything I can use to...?”
“Sock drawer,” Ben tried to pull himself together a little as Jack stopped to dig out the bottle. He'd always been a fast learner, and he needed concentrate so he could remember all this for future use.
Jack coated two fingers in clear gel, and pressed them inside Ben with practiced ease.
“What are they teaching in med school these days?” Ben murmured. He blinked as Jack smirked at him, “That was out loud wasn't it?”
Jack leaned in for a kiss then slicked himself, pressing his cock to Ben's entrance, “Ready?”
“Do it,” Ben's voice was breathy, his eyes fixed on Jack's.
Jack pushed in, thrusting shallowly, “OK?”
He got a groan in response and took it as encouragement, thrusting harder and faster, putting a hand between them to stroke Ben's hardness. Jack knew it wouldn't last long for either of them, he was surprised Ben hadn't already come. It couldn't take much more. Quaking tightness stretched around Jack, Ben's cock was weeping steadily, his eyes glazed, and lips an obscene shade of red. Jack felt him tense and then he was coming, painting them both with thick drabs of white.
Jack felt himself being drawn deeper by Ben's spasms, and he pounded into him madly until he finally came deep inside. Ben trembled, he'd been wrung dry already but the heat of Jack's come was driving him crazy.
When they could both breathe again, Jack got up briefly to grab a damp cloth to clean them up a bit. They settled into the bed together, Ben grumbling about ruined sheets.
Jack just shook his head, “Are you sore?”
“Not really, but--” Ben yawned, ”--I do have an abnormally high pain threshold.”
“You can sleep you know, it's been a long day,” Jack lay his head down on a pillow.
Ben toyed with his bed sheet, looking pensive, “You haven't talked about your friends in a while. I assume you'll want to leave and find them.”
“I just remembered something I forgot to tell you,” Jack saw fear flash though Ben's eyes and reached over to squeeze his hand.
“I don't know if you remember Rose and Bernard--they went back with Sawyer's group. No matter how hard anybody looked, no one could find them. Turned out they spent three years hiding out from everyone in the jungle. Had a house and a dog, just wanted to be left alone to live their lives together. I have to admit, I don't think I really understood why when I heard about it,” Jack looked relaxed as he traced circles over Ben's knuckles with his thumb.
Ben's mind blanked for a moment. House? Dog? Oh...
“Jack, how do you feel about rabbits?”