Near Miss
The summer heat beat down on Jack, David and Les as they made their way to the park square. It was almost evening, thank god; the evening breeze was finally cooling them off some, and soon the sun would sink below the skyline and leave things livable. But in the mean time, sweat was running down everyone's heads and backs, and it was still pretty unbearable.
"You guys wanna hang out for awhile?" Jack asked casually, far more casually than he felt. He felt his heart beat speed up a tiny bit, even though he was pretty sure he knew the answer.
"Can we, David, please? Please?" Les begged, tugging at David's sleeve. Jack reached down and ruffled his hair. He was a good kid, and always good at convincing David to stay another few minutes, and each few minutes stolen with Dave, even in public, where they couldn't do more than lean on each other a little… Well, every little bit of contact was nice. Until they were really alone, he'd settle for glancing into those pretty blue eyes and occasionally putting an arm around those perfect shoulders…
David frowned. "It's Friday night," he said, then glanced at Jack. The look on his face made it clear that he didn't want to go, either, but he was supposed to be responsible…
Les sulked, and Jack did too, inwardly. He kept it off his face, though; he was an expert actor. "Do we gotta go to temple?" Les whined.
"Yes, we have to," David answered. He glanced over at the sun, and Jack put a hand on his shoulder. He hesitated, then turned back to Jack and shrugged a little. "Well, we have a few minutes, I guess. If you can get dressed fast, Les."
"I can!" he said, and bounced off to find Boots and Snipeshooter to try and get in on whatever they were playing. That left just Jack and David, standing so close to each other, watching the rest of the guys in the square.
"You wanna sit?" Jack asked, motioning to the slight shade provided by the Horace Greeley statue.
"Sure." Jack, hand still on David's shoulder, guided them there. He watched as a few of their other friends appeared in the Square; Racetrack back from a day of losing at the tracks, Mush and Blink bickering as they walked. Jack waved at them, and missed the looks they shot each other. He wasn't used to anyone conspiring against him.
David sat tiredly, looking around to make sure Les wasn't in trouble, and leant back against the statue's base. Jack went to follow him, but his hat was in the way; he pulled it up and on to his head, titled forward a bit to shade his eyes and hid the blush on his face from sitting so close to David, and smiled happily.
The other guys approached, chattering; he wished they would go away. Even if they weren't saying anything, Jack liked just sitting with David, unwinding from the day, being together. He'd never had someone he felt so close to, or someone he wanted to be closer to so badly…
Maybe tomorrow we'll get some time alone, Jack mused to himself, and leant against David's shoulder, glancing at the feet approaching over the cobblestones, all he could see below his hat's brim. The others paused, and he wondered just what was going on; he felt David tense for a second, and–
The hat was snatched off his head, before he had a chance to react. He tore his eyes open to see Blink standing there, a smirk on his face and his green eye twinkling, and Jack knew the game at once. He wasn't in the mood to play, but didn't have much of a choice. It had been more than a year since they'd last done this to him; somehow his cowboy hat made an irresistible target, and as a matter of pride, he had to win it back.
"Ya mind?" Jack groaned. "Some a' us are tired, 'cause we actually worked taday…"
"Don't mind at all. Hey, Mush, why don't we make Jacky work for it, huh?"
"Sure thing." Mush grinned, and even as Jack jumped to his feet, Blink took off with the hat. Jack dashed after him, and when he was within moments of catching up with him, Blink ducked under his flailing arm, back the way he'd come, and tossed the hat to Mush. Jack started for Mush, who started running; they were gathering watchers now. David scrambled to his feet, laughing as Mush handed the hat off to Racetrack and Jack jerkily changed directions. Even as Race tossed the hat back to Blink, he began to call for bets on how long it would be until Jack won it back. David lost it at that, laughing uncontrollably and leaning back against the statue for support, so he missed when Blink tossed the hat back to Mush, who was running vaguely in his direction, and the next thing he knew, the hat was heading straight for him.
Jack slowed his pace a tiny bit, knowing that not only was David less athletic than the rest of his friends, he also had a fear of ruining their usual games somehow by tripping or getting struck out. But David still somehow reached out, caught the cowboy hat, and before he knew it he was running with Jack hot on his trail, speeding up again when he saw David was going to play as hard as he could.
Dave panicked and looked around for someone to pass the hat off to, but none of the other guys seemed close enough. Jack was gaining, and even with people cheering for the Mouth, it looked like the game was just about over.
Sure enough, Jack caught up so he was almost there and reached out for David; David tried to duck away from him, but his feet got caught under him and he tripped. Jack tripped over him and they landed on the ground, limbs tangled, Jack lying half on David's back. David muttered a cuss word, he'd managed to skin his knees and his elbows when he fell, and had taken most of Jack's weight when he landed… But somehow, the hat was still under him, a bit crushed but not back in Jack's possession…
Jack was breathing heavily, the air he exhaled tickling David's neck. He knew David would be turning red, blushing, even though he was still looking down at the cobblestones. Probably, the other guys would think he was just out of breath. He was the un-athletic one, after all.
"You okay?" Jack asked, his mouth so close that David could practically feel his lips moving.
"Yeah, I'm…" he struggled uncomfortably, rolling over, producing the hat. Jack rolled off him, reached for it, and just as his fingertips brushed it–
David sprang to his feet, grinning, and threw it frisbee-style over to Race, who howled, caught it and took off. "I'll get you for that, Jacobs!" Jack yelled as he took off after Racetrack. Race was in the process of handing the hat off when Jack finally broke in between him and Blink, grabbed it, and held it up triumphantly.
"I hate you all," he said, placing it back on his head and trying not to laugh. Race knocked him on the back and Blink punched his other shoulder, and he made his way back to the statue. David was standing now, wiping the dust of his fall off of his shirt, and Jack helped him clean some off the back.
"You hate us, Jack?" David asked, grinning.
"I'll get you," he said, but he was smiling.
"Yeah, how?"
"I know where you sleep, Davey." Jack's eyes twinkled, and he pushed the regret of not kissing David's neck out of his mind; he'd been so close to David, but... Too many other guys around. It was for the best. But still… "An' I know you'se ticklish," he added in a murmur. He laughed, slapped David's shoulder, and caught his eye. Jack's eyes twinkled and he smiled.
"Les…?" David called, not breaking the eye contact. "We'd better go."
"Aw, David…" Les whined, walking up, oblivious to the looks his brother and Jack were sharing as he walked over to stand next to David. "Do we hafta?"
"Yes, we do," he said firmly. "If we're late for temple again–"
"Yeah, yeah. Fine." Les pouted a little, David put a hand on his shoulder and maneuvered him to face towards the road home.
"See you tomorrow, Davey?" Jack asked.
"Sure thing." He smiled, finally pulling his eyes away from Jack's, glancing towards Les, the skyline, and home. "Carryin' the banner."
"Sure thing. See ya tomorrow morning."
Jack watched them walk away, smiling and content, despite the missed chance. After all, David was his best friend, and more than that… It was the same thing, ultimately; he loved David in both ways and knew it was shared. And he knew he'd see David tomorrow.