Team Building with Jack Landors (SPD, A Squad, #21, T)
characters: SPD’s A Squad (Sky/Jack)
prompt #21: water
word count: 850
rating: T
summary: Jack comes home.
Team Building with Jack Landors (water)
by *Andrea
It was six twenty-nine on Saturday morning when Sky rolled over and found Jack sitting on the bed next to him. One hand hovering over the alarm and an unrepentant grin on his face, he wore an eye-searing tropical shirt that could have lit up the room all by itself. “Morning,” he said cheerfully, voice just quiet enough that it didn’t quite sound like him.
“Jack?” He sat up abruptly, reaching out to touch, to reassure himself that it wasn’t a dream. “What are you--when did you get back?”
Jack flipped the alarm off half a second before the display clicked over to six thirty. He leaned in for a kiss that woke Sky up the rest of the way, and he smelled like... how was it even possible for someone to smell like the outdoors? Like sunshine and fresh air and damned if he wouldn’t buy anything Jack was selling right now.
“‘Bout half an hour ago,” Jack was saying, oblivious to his reaction. “Had to make sure Cruger didn’t kill Kat first--geez, does that guy ever sleep? And I wanted to catch Syd before she got up at oh dark hundred to do her makeup, since B Squad gets today off and what good is it if you don’t get to sleep in?”
Sky reached up to rub his eyes, making sure they were really open in the process, and yes, Jack was still there. “We’re not off today,” he said. “C Squad is off after night duty last night.”
“That part is still true,” Jack agreed, smiling at him. “The first part isn’t. Everyone’s off today except for D Squad.”
“They’re dispatch for us,” Sky said. Long experience with Jack’s way of doing things told him that if he didn’t argue, he might actually get the day off, but longer experience with the system said not to let it go.
“They were,” Jack corrected. “They’ve been sick all week. C Squad swapped dispatch duty with them twice, and those poor kids pulled a double shift and and two on-calls in a row because of it. D Squad can patrol today. Kat and I will do dispatch for them, and the rest of you just... take a day.”
“You and Kat, huh?” Sky eyed him skeptically as his brain started to move past the schedule disruption and into something resembling observation mode. “You’re awfully awake for six-thirty in the morning.”
Jack grinned at him. “It’s almost lunchtime on Fernando de Noronha. I’m taking you there someday, just so you know. My Portuguese is lousy, but believe me, you don’t have to do a lot of talking to appreciate beaches like that.”
Portuguese. Sky stared at him. “I thought you were in Mexico.”
“We started in Mexico,” Jack agreed. “But it turns out Brazil is nicer this time of year.”
“You--” He broke off, because he really hated it when Jack made him repeat everything he’d just said. If only the man wasn’t so... Jack. “Did you at least do what you went to do?” he asked at last.
“See dolphins?” Jack said. “Sure did. Did you know Kat can swim? Because I didn’t know that. She’s a cat; why does she like water?”
“I hate you,” Sky told him.
Jack flashed another ridiculous grin, and when he looked like that, Sky couldn’t honestly wish for him to be any different. “I know,” Jack said. “I missed you, too.”
There was really only one answer to that, and he didn’t have to go far to press another kiss to Jack’s mouth. Jack was eager and way more energetic than he usually was this time of day. He swung around, letting Sky pull away while he shifted the rest of the way onto the bed, then chased his kiss back onto the pillows. Jack grinned down at him, braids framing his face, and asked, “What, no ‘shut up’?”
“Since when do you need an invitation?” Sky countered, sliding his hand around behind Jack’s neck. He ran his thumb over the spot beneath Jack’s ear and brought him close enough to kiss if he lifted his head. He did, tongue following breath as he kissed his way across skin made dark and salty by sun.
Salty. He let his head fall back, still surrounded by the smell of the beach as he gazed up into Jack’s dark eyes. “You’re--”
“Went in the water this morning,” Jack murmured, searching his expression. “Didn’t shower. I wasn’t sure...”
Sky had to smile. He’d fallen for Jack’s cocky certainty, but the occasional doubt and deeply hidden desire to please made it somehow more charming. Jack was, at the end of the day, just another guy. Trying to do right by the people he loved.
Jack must have seen some of that in his eyes, because he brightened. “You like?”
“Yeah,” Sky said softly. Tightening his fingers, he tugged Jack down again and rolled them over so he could attack that sea salted skin with his mouth and his hands. He was off today, and they had an hour and a half before Jack had to be in Command. “I like it a lot.”
prompt #21: water
word count: 850
rating: T
summary: Jack comes home.
Team Building with Jack Landors (water)
by *Andrea
It was six twenty-nine on Saturday morning when Sky rolled over and found Jack sitting on the bed next to him. One hand hovering over the alarm and an unrepentant grin on his face, he wore an eye-searing tropical shirt that could have lit up the room all by itself. “Morning,” he said cheerfully, voice just quiet enough that it didn’t quite sound like him.
“Jack?” He sat up abruptly, reaching out to touch, to reassure himself that it wasn’t a dream. “What are you--when did you get back?”
Jack flipped the alarm off half a second before the display clicked over to six thirty. He leaned in for a kiss that woke Sky up the rest of the way, and he smelled like... how was it even possible for someone to smell like the outdoors? Like sunshine and fresh air and damned if he wouldn’t buy anything Jack was selling right now.
“‘Bout half an hour ago,” Jack was saying, oblivious to his reaction. “Had to make sure Cruger didn’t kill Kat first--geez, does that guy ever sleep? And I wanted to catch Syd before she got up at oh dark hundred to do her makeup, since B Squad gets today off and what good is it if you don’t get to sleep in?”
Sky reached up to rub his eyes, making sure they were really open in the process, and yes, Jack was still there. “We’re not off today,” he said. “C Squad is off after night duty last night.”
“That part is still true,” Jack agreed, smiling at him. “The first part isn’t. Everyone’s off today except for D Squad.”
“They’re dispatch for us,” Sky said. Long experience with Jack’s way of doing things told him that if he didn’t argue, he might actually get the day off, but longer experience with the system said not to let it go.
“They were,” Jack corrected. “They’ve been sick all week. C Squad swapped dispatch duty with them twice, and those poor kids pulled a double shift and and two on-calls in a row because of it. D Squad can patrol today. Kat and I will do dispatch for them, and the rest of you just... take a day.”
“You and Kat, huh?” Sky eyed him skeptically as his brain started to move past the schedule disruption and into something resembling observation mode. “You’re awfully awake for six-thirty in the morning.”
Jack grinned at him. “It’s almost lunchtime on Fernando de Noronha. I’m taking you there someday, just so you know. My Portuguese is lousy, but believe me, you don’t have to do a lot of talking to appreciate beaches like that.”
Portuguese. Sky stared at him. “I thought you were in Mexico.”
“We started in Mexico,” Jack agreed. “But it turns out Brazil is nicer this time of year.”
“You--” He broke off, because he really hated it when Jack made him repeat everything he’d just said. If only the man wasn’t so... Jack. “Did you at least do what you went to do?” he asked at last.
“See dolphins?” Jack said. “Sure did. Did you know Kat can swim? Because I didn’t know that. She’s a cat; why does she like water?”
“I hate you,” Sky told him.
Jack flashed another ridiculous grin, and when he looked like that, Sky couldn’t honestly wish for him to be any different. “I know,” Jack said. “I missed you, too.”
There was really only one answer to that, and he didn’t have to go far to press another kiss to Jack’s mouth. Jack was eager and way more energetic than he usually was this time of day. He swung around, letting Sky pull away while he shifted the rest of the way onto the bed, then chased his kiss back onto the pillows. Jack grinned down at him, braids framing his face, and asked, “What, no ‘shut up’?”
“Since when do you need an invitation?” Sky countered, sliding his hand around behind Jack’s neck. He ran his thumb over the spot beneath Jack’s ear and brought him close enough to kiss if he lifted his head. He did, tongue following breath as he kissed his way across skin made dark and salty by sun.
Salty. He let his head fall back, still surrounded by the smell of the beach as he gazed up into Jack’s dark eyes. “You’re--”
“Went in the water this morning,” Jack murmured, searching his expression. “Didn’t shower. I wasn’t sure...”
Sky had to smile. He’d fallen for Jack’s cocky certainty, but the occasional doubt and deeply hidden desire to please made it somehow more charming. Jack was, at the end of the day, just another guy. Trying to do right by the people he loved.
Jack must have seen some of that in his eyes, because he brightened. “You like?”
“Yeah,” Sky said softly. Tightening his fingers, he tugged Jack down again and rolled them over so he could attack that sea salted skin with his mouth and his hands. He was off today, and they had an hour and a half before Jack had to be in Command. “I like it a lot.”