"Facets of a Many-Sided Whole"
Title: Facets of a Many-Sided Whole
Fandom: Eureka.
Rating: 12
Notes: Written in response to the music meme that’s been going around - put mp3/iPod on Shuffle, and write a drabble/ficlet in response to whatever track comes on, but you’ve only got the duration of the song to do so. I know you're only supposed to do ten, but I was on a roll: fifteen here, for your reading pleasure. Oh, and all Jack/Nathan, slash, pre-slash, friendshippy, whatever.
1. Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Green Day)
Jack hates on call nights, because they inevitably end up with him averting some minor explosion/implosion/marital breakdown at two in the morning and then him just wandering the streets of Eureka. On call nights leave him needing to clear his head from the fuzz of sleep-deprivation, so he wanders, hands deep in pockets and gun heavy on his hip.
This on call night, the chill bites at his cheeks.
In Copernicus Park, he pauses next to Nathan Stark, who’s slumped on a weather-worn bench. “Scientist,” Jack greets quietly.
Nathan offers him a wan smile. “Sheriff.”
Jack moves on. Nathan didn’t call him a wife-stealing bastard this time, so he supposes that’s an improvement.
2. Cigarettes and Alcohol (Oasis)
Jack drops Zoë off at Abby’s at two in the afternoon, kissing her goodbye with her smiles twisting in his gut like a knife, and immediately heads to the nearest and seediest bar he can find. He orders a whisky, because he’s not going to see his daughter again for the whole summer, and that’s-
Whisky arrives, and promptly burns his throat.
The bar stool next to him creaks, and Nathan sits. He doesn’t say anything, just finishes off Jack’s drink and grips his hand beneath the level of the counter. The warmth of their intertwined fingers is scant comfort, but it’s comfort nonetheless.
3. Turn It Again (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
GD calls and Jack comes a-running.
In the middle of everything-Fargo, Henry, and a big ol’ explosion-Jack somehow finds himself walking behind Nathan Stark, tightass would-be dictator of the known world, up a flight of stairs. He gets an eyeful.
It’s a nice eyeful. He takes another look.
Allison notices him looking. Stark doesn’t.
Allison rolls her eyes, and then smirks. Stark just Starks.
4. But Thanks Be To God (Handel’s Messiah)
Nathan doesn’t believe in god, or God for that matter, because he thinks that-capital or no capital-it’s just wish-fulfilment and a fear of the unknown. He’s happy with science, thank you very much, but when he sees Jack take a bullet in the chest in Nathan’s own stead and crash to the ground in a broken heap, he finds himself praying harder than he ever dreamed he could.
5. This Is How I Disappear (My Chemical Romance)
Having every molecule of your existence ripped apart at a snail’s pace, Nathan Stark discovers, isn’t fun.
Wandering around your old stomping grounds until you lose track of time because you are, for all intents and purposes, a ghost, also falls into the above category.
Watching Thorne persuade your ex-wife-fiancée to move on-and Allie taking that advice!-just takes the absolute cake.
And finding out that you feel nothing but numbness-instead of the crushing grief and betrayal you should be feeling-at the previous transgression is something that makes you doubt that you’re even human anymore.
So when Jack Carter steps into GD’s atrium with red-rimmed eyes, comes up short, and exclaims, “Nathan!” in a voice that suggests he’s about to have a heart-attack, Nathan could just about kiss him.
6. I’m Gonna Be/500 Miles (The Proclaimers)
To begin with, the prospect of Jack in a wheelchair was terrifying - but then Henry reassured Nathan that in a month or so he’d be fine, and Jack reassured Nathan that there was nothing wrong with him that couldn’t be fixed, and, anyway, that there was nothing really wrong with certain parts of him-which was a reassurance Nathan wouldn’t mind having reiterated-and so Nathan figured it wasn’t so bad.
After a week of a wheelchair-bound Sheriff, Jo was getting trigger-happy (repeatedly), Taggart was getting naked (repeatedly), and Nathan was just cranky.
When Jack finally got to ditch the wheelchair, Taggart rediscovered his clothes, Jo rediscovered her restraint, and Nathan was so happy that he refused to let Jack out of bed for a whole weekend.
7. Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)
“Nate, you stink.”
“One: don’t call me Nate. Two: not my fault.”
A disbelieving snort. “You were the one who had to go and get yourself doused in Vince’s week-old leftovers.”
“Because who surprised me next to the waste unit?”
“It’s Christmas. You should’ve known I’d get you with the mistletoe eventually.”
“Next to the bins?”
“Hey - hi-tech nuclear-fuelled disposal system. Get it right.”
“Whatever.”
A pause. “Hey, Nate?”
“Don’t call me that.” Another pause. A sigh. “What, Jack?”
A Cheshire Cat grin. “Wanna take a shower?”
8. Wake Me Up When September Ends (Green Day)
Jack refuses to work on the thirtieth of September. It doesn’t matter what day of the week that date happens to fall on - unless GD is on the verge of exploding again, which-to be honest-is probably quite likely, Jack doesn’t leave the bunker.
But the day after-October first-he’s high as a kite.
When asked why, he just shrugs and says, “Reasons.”
Allison Blake, however, thinks it might have something to do with the fact that one year, the thirtieth of September saw Jack Carter kiss a Nathan Stark who was too shocked-and turned on-to do anything except gape like a fish, sending Jack reeling back to the bunker - and that the same year, Nathan came and found Jack in that same bunker the next day-thankfully on a day where Zoë was both at school and working late, because otherwise she’d’ve been scarred for life-and forced him to listen, and to smile, and then kissed all the breath out of his body.
9. London Beckoned Songs About Money Written By Machines (Panic! At the Disco)
“That’s what I want - now, can you help me?”
“Of course, Doctor Stark. Payment will be taken in full, I expect?”
“Naturally.”
“What’s your budget, sir?”
A tight eyeroll. “Money’s not an issue.”
“Okay.” The clink of a keychain. “Now, Doctor Stark, this is our latest model, which I think you’ll agree shows a great-”
“No. I want it simple. Something plainer.”
“Of course, sir. What about this?”
A pause. “Yes.”
“Excellent.”
Nathan eyes the small box as he hands over his credit card, and wonders what the smooth platinum band will look like against Jack’s tanned skin.
10. Chiquitita (ABBA)
Jack’s fingers are screwed tight in the bed sheets, and he lies wide awake at three in the morning. The comforting weight of Nathan’s arm rests across his chest, but that comfort does nothing to stop the tears that he can’t stop falling.
Trying not to jostle the sleeping man beside him, Jack wipes the wetness away. He sniffs, and it’s loud in the quiet.
The arm haphazardly draped across his chest curls around him, and Jack meets Nathan’s steady gaze as he’s drawn into his lover’s embrace. The pad of Nathan’s thumb wipes away the last of the tears, and he hugs Jack close. “She’ll be back soon,” he reassures. “It’s only six weeks.” His voice is nothing but a whisper in Jack’s ear, but somehow that whisper seems to make everything that’s still to come that bit more hopeful.
11. Sabre Dance (James Galway)
Jack refuses to leave Nathan alone, chirping brightly into his ear about S.A.R.A.H. and town gossip and oh-she-looks-hot all day. By two p.m., Nathan is irritated. By four, annoyed. By five-thirty, pissed.
By seven, he’s naked on the couch in his office, pinning an equally-naked Jack down with all the blessings of gravity and stopping that jabbering tongue with a brutal, half-vicious kiss that has the other man speechless.
Which is much better.
12. Money, Money, Money (ABBA)
Silk tie - about two hundred bucks, Jack reckons. Armani suit, easily in the thousands. Gucci shirt, another few hundred. Polished leather shoes, with intricate needlework around the eyelets, maybe two hundred and fifty. No underwear, which is a surprise, but that means it’s probably free.
The money’s worth it, though, he supposes, because Nathan Stark in a suit is a sight for sore eyes.
Of course, Jack reflects, as that same thousand-dollar Armani suit goes crumpling to the floor of his bedroom and Nathan gives him a smirk that’s oh-so-very wicked, Nathan Stark out of a suit isn’t exactly unattractive, either.
13. Hump de Bump (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
After Henry and Fargo manage to fix the malfunctioning VR test and Jack, Zane, Nathan and Jo are released, a clueless Jack turns to Nathan with a frown and asks, “If we were in your fantasy, controlled by you, and Jo was there, how come I was Rapunzel?”
And Nathan just smirks.
14. Overture for Wind Instruments (Mendelssohn)
Jack Carter doesn’t mope. Never has, never will do. So by hanging around the station looking like a kicked puppy all day (greatly annoying Jo, who has to go shoot something at the end of her shift to release that pent-up irritation), he’s not moping. Just gathering his thoughts.
When she’s gone, Jack sits silently at his desk - not moping, thinking about doing paperwork.” He never gets round to doing said paperwork, because Jo collars Nathan in Café Diem and marches him over to the station, which then results in Jo beating a hasty retreat and Jack’s desk being subjected to a load it was never really designed to bear.
It holds, though, and by the time Nathan smiles that sleepy-sated smile that only comes out in the aftermath of crazy sex, Jack is most definitely not moping anymore.
Nathan just chuckles at that. “If this is what happens when you mope,” he observes, “you should mope more often.”
15. Come to Me/Fantine’s Death (Les Misérables)
When Tesla puts on Les Misérables-with Zoë as a spectacularly nervous Fantine-it’s the first public event Jack and Nathan go to as a couple, and they’re pleasantly surprised to receive nothing more than a few smothered smiles and an unprecedented number of congratulatory handshakes. Eureka may be Eureka, but there are always going to be a few who have a problem - but they evidently have no place at school.
At Fantine’s death, when Zoe sighs once and sings no more, Jack goes deathly still, even though the action and the audience moves on and he knows that it’s just an act. Nathan notices, and intertwines his fingers with Jack’s, because he knows that that cut just a little too close to the bone. Jack’s knuckles whiten, and Nathan can feel his gratitude - and it’s just them, for a moment, and it’s like it was supposed to be.
Fandom: Eureka.
Rating: 12
Notes: Written in response to the music meme that’s been going around - put mp3/iPod on Shuffle, and write a drabble/ficlet in response to whatever track comes on, but you’ve only got the duration of the song to do so. I know you're only supposed to do ten, but I was on a roll: fifteen here, for your reading pleasure. Oh, and all Jack/Nathan, slash, pre-slash, friendshippy, whatever.
1. Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Green Day)
Jack hates on call nights, because they inevitably end up with him averting some minor explosion/implosion/marital breakdown at two in the morning and then him just wandering the streets of Eureka. On call nights leave him needing to clear his head from the fuzz of sleep-deprivation, so he wanders, hands deep in pockets and gun heavy on his hip.
This on call night, the chill bites at his cheeks.
In Copernicus Park, he pauses next to Nathan Stark, who’s slumped on a weather-worn bench. “Scientist,” Jack greets quietly.
Nathan offers him a wan smile. “Sheriff.”
Jack moves on. Nathan didn’t call him a wife-stealing bastard this time, so he supposes that’s an improvement.
2. Cigarettes and Alcohol (Oasis)
Jack drops Zoë off at Abby’s at two in the afternoon, kissing her goodbye with her smiles twisting in his gut like a knife, and immediately heads to the nearest and seediest bar he can find. He orders a whisky, because he’s not going to see his daughter again for the whole summer, and that’s-
Whisky arrives, and promptly burns his throat.
The bar stool next to him creaks, and Nathan sits. He doesn’t say anything, just finishes off Jack’s drink and grips his hand beneath the level of the counter. The warmth of their intertwined fingers is scant comfort, but it’s comfort nonetheless.
3. Turn It Again (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
GD calls and Jack comes a-running.
In the middle of everything-Fargo, Henry, and a big ol’ explosion-Jack somehow finds himself walking behind Nathan Stark, tightass would-be dictator of the known world, up a flight of stairs. He gets an eyeful.
It’s a nice eyeful. He takes another look.
Allison notices him looking. Stark doesn’t.
Allison rolls her eyes, and then smirks. Stark just Starks.
4. But Thanks Be To God (Handel’s Messiah)
Nathan doesn’t believe in god, or God for that matter, because he thinks that-capital or no capital-it’s just wish-fulfilment and a fear of the unknown. He’s happy with science, thank you very much, but when he sees Jack take a bullet in the chest in Nathan’s own stead and crash to the ground in a broken heap, he finds himself praying harder than he ever dreamed he could.
5. This Is How I Disappear (My Chemical Romance)
Having every molecule of your existence ripped apart at a snail’s pace, Nathan Stark discovers, isn’t fun.
Wandering around your old stomping grounds until you lose track of time because you are, for all intents and purposes, a ghost, also falls into the above category.
Watching Thorne persuade your ex-wife-fiancée to move on-and Allie taking that advice!-just takes the absolute cake.
And finding out that you feel nothing but numbness-instead of the crushing grief and betrayal you should be feeling-at the previous transgression is something that makes you doubt that you’re even human anymore.
So when Jack Carter steps into GD’s atrium with red-rimmed eyes, comes up short, and exclaims, “Nathan!” in a voice that suggests he’s about to have a heart-attack, Nathan could just about kiss him.
6. I’m Gonna Be/500 Miles (The Proclaimers)
To begin with, the prospect of Jack in a wheelchair was terrifying - but then Henry reassured Nathan that in a month or so he’d be fine, and Jack reassured Nathan that there was nothing wrong with him that couldn’t be fixed, and, anyway, that there was nothing really wrong with certain parts of him-which was a reassurance Nathan wouldn’t mind having reiterated-and so Nathan figured it wasn’t so bad.
After a week of a wheelchair-bound Sheriff, Jo was getting trigger-happy (repeatedly), Taggart was getting naked (repeatedly), and Nathan was just cranky.
When Jack finally got to ditch the wheelchair, Taggart rediscovered his clothes, Jo rediscovered her restraint, and Nathan was so happy that he refused to let Jack out of bed for a whole weekend.
7. Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)
“Nate, you stink.”
“One: don’t call me Nate. Two: not my fault.”
A disbelieving snort. “You were the one who had to go and get yourself doused in Vince’s week-old leftovers.”
“Because who surprised me next to the waste unit?”
“It’s Christmas. You should’ve known I’d get you with the mistletoe eventually.”
“Next to the bins?”
“Hey - hi-tech nuclear-fuelled disposal system. Get it right.”
“Whatever.”
A pause. “Hey, Nate?”
“Don’t call me that.” Another pause. A sigh. “What, Jack?”
A Cheshire Cat grin. “Wanna take a shower?”
8. Wake Me Up When September Ends (Green Day)
Jack refuses to work on the thirtieth of September. It doesn’t matter what day of the week that date happens to fall on - unless GD is on the verge of exploding again, which-to be honest-is probably quite likely, Jack doesn’t leave the bunker.
But the day after-October first-he’s high as a kite.
When asked why, he just shrugs and says, “Reasons.”
Allison Blake, however, thinks it might have something to do with the fact that one year, the thirtieth of September saw Jack Carter kiss a Nathan Stark who was too shocked-and turned on-to do anything except gape like a fish, sending Jack reeling back to the bunker - and that the same year, Nathan came and found Jack in that same bunker the next day-thankfully on a day where Zoë was both at school and working late, because otherwise she’d’ve been scarred for life-and forced him to listen, and to smile, and then kissed all the breath out of his body.
9. London Beckoned Songs About Money Written By Machines (Panic! At the Disco)
“That’s what I want - now, can you help me?”
“Of course, Doctor Stark. Payment will be taken in full, I expect?”
“Naturally.”
“What’s your budget, sir?”
A tight eyeroll. “Money’s not an issue.”
“Okay.” The clink of a keychain. “Now, Doctor Stark, this is our latest model, which I think you’ll agree shows a great-”
“No. I want it simple. Something plainer.”
“Of course, sir. What about this?”
A pause. “Yes.”
“Excellent.”
Nathan eyes the small box as he hands over his credit card, and wonders what the smooth platinum band will look like against Jack’s tanned skin.
10. Chiquitita (ABBA)
Jack’s fingers are screwed tight in the bed sheets, and he lies wide awake at three in the morning. The comforting weight of Nathan’s arm rests across his chest, but that comfort does nothing to stop the tears that he can’t stop falling.
Trying not to jostle the sleeping man beside him, Jack wipes the wetness away. He sniffs, and it’s loud in the quiet.
The arm haphazardly draped across his chest curls around him, and Jack meets Nathan’s steady gaze as he’s drawn into his lover’s embrace. The pad of Nathan’s thumb wipes away the last of the tears, and he hugs Jack close. “She’ll be back soon,” he reassures. “It’s only six weeks.” His voice is nothing but a whisper in Jack’s ear, but somehow that whisper seems to make everything that’s still to come that bit more hopeful.
11. Sabre Dance (James Galway)
Jack refuses to leave Nathan alone, chirping brightly into his ear about S.A.R.A.H. and town gossip and oh-she-looks-hot all day. By two p.m., Nathan is irritated. By four, annoyed. By five-thirty, pissed.
By seven, he’s naked on the couch in his office, pinning an equally-naked Jack down with all the blessings of gravity and stopping that jabbering tongue with a brutal, half-vicious kiss that has the other man speechless.
Which is much better.
12. Money, Money, Money (ABBA)
Silk tie - about two hundred bucks, Jack reckons. Armani suit, easily in the thousands. Gucci shirt, another few hundred. Polished leather shoes, with intricate needlework around the eyelets, maybe two hundred and fifty. No underwear, which is a surprise, but that means it’s probably free.
The money’s worth it, though, he supposes, because Nathan Stark in a suit is a sight for sore eyes.
Of course, Jack reflects, as that same thousand-dollar Armani suit goes crumpling to the floor of his bedroom and Nathan gives him a smirk that’s oh-so-very wicked, Nathan Stark out of a suit isn’t exactly unattractive, either.
13. Hump de Bump (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
After Henry and Fargo manage to fix the malfunctioning VR test and Jack, Zane, Nathan and Jo are released, a clueless Jack turns to Nathan with a frown and asks, “If we were in your fantasy, controlled by you, and Jo was there, how come I was Rapunzel?”
And Nathan just smirks.
14. Overture for Wind Instruments (Mendelssohn)
Jack Carter doesn’t mope. Never has, never will do. So by hanging around the station looking like a kicked puppy all day (greatly annoying Jo, who has to go shoot something at the end of her shift to release that pent-up irritation), he’s not moping. Just gathering his thoughts.
When she’s gone, Jack sits silently at his desk - not moping, thinking about doing paperwork.” He never gets round to doing said paperwork, because Jo collars Nathan in Café Diem and marches him over to the station, which then results in Jo beating a hasty retreat and Jack’s desk being subjected to a load it was never really designed to bear.
It holds, though, and by the time Nathan smiles that sleepy-sated smile that only comes out in the aftermath of crazy sex, Jack is most definitely not moping anymore.
Nathan just chuckles at that. “If this is what happens when you mope,” he observes, “you should mope more often.”
15. Come to Me/Fantine’s Death (Les Misérables)
When Tesla puts on Les Misérables-with Zoë as a spectacularly nervous Fantine-it’s the first public event Jack and Nathan go to as a couple, and they’re pleasantly surprised to receive nothing more than a few smothered smiles and an unprecedented number of congratulatory handshakes. Eureka may be Eureka, but there are always going to be a few who have a problem - but they evidently have no place at school.
At Fantine’s death, when Zoe sighs once and sings no more, Jack goes deathly still, even though the action and the audience moves on and he knows that it’s just an act. Nathan notices, and intertwines his fingers with Jack’s, because he knows that that cut just a little too close to the bone. Jack’s knuckles whiten, and Nathan can feel his gratitude - and it’s just them, for a moment, and it’s like it was supposed to be.