For what felt like the hundredth time that night, Daniel rolled over, fluffed the pillow and tried to go to sleep. He relaxed every muscle, cleared his mind and waited.
Yet again, sleep didn't come and Daniel shifted restlessly as he tried to find a comfortable position. His neck and back were beginning to cramp up despite his best attempts to relax them, and there didn't seem to be a comfortable position on the whole bed. When he moved yet again, he heard an annoyed snort from the other side of the bed and then Jack rolled over and propped his head up on his hand.
"Can't sleep?" Jack asked.
Daniel rolled onto his back irritably. "No."
"What's bugging you?"
"Nothing's bugging me."
"Really?" Jack asked sceptically.
Daniel turned his head and glared at his partner. "Really. There's nothing urgent waiting for me at work, we had a nice stroll through a harmless planet and you're here . . . there is nothing that could possibly be bugging me."
"And yet . . ."
"Sometimes people can't sleep for absolutely no reason, Jack. There doesn't have to be a deep psychological problem. It just happens."
The moonlight streaming in through the open window showed Jack's grin. "And it's happening to you."
"Yes."
"And you're keeping me awake."
Daniel sighed. "Sorry. I can go through to the guestroom if you're tired."
Jack shook his head. "Nah, I have a solution."
"Oh?"
"Sex."
Daniel couldn't help grinning. "Are you aware that in the three months we've been together, your solution to everything including the death of your freezer has been sex?"
Jack shrugged. "The ice-cream needed eating. Is it my fault that you offered to help and it led to . . ."
"Sex," Daniel finished helpfully.
"Yeah. It's a universal cure to practically anything."
"I'm not sure Janet would agree."
Jack shuddered. "Do not mention that woman's name when we're having sex. Do you want me to lose the mood completely?"
Daniel didn't bother to correct Jack's assumption that the sex was a done deal. There really wasn't any point at this stage. He was already starting to feel the familiar warmth coursing through his body at the thought of Jack's hands on him.
He mimed zipping his lips and rolled onto his side. "Nothing too energetic. I'm trying to get to sleep here."
Jack shook his head emphatically. "Daniel, the hotter the sex, the better you'll sleep. Trust me on this - we're going to give you an orgasm so good you won't be able to move for a month."
Daniel swallowed hard at the mental images that idea produced. Then Jack's lips were on his and he lost track of everything apart from the incredible heat of Jack's mouth. When they came up for air, Jack was sprawled half on top of him and he had a hand on Jack's ass, massaging and restlessly trying to pull him closer. He felt Jack's chuckle against his chest and pointedly removed his hand.
"I like your enthusiasm," Jack said, brushing his lips against Daniel's.
"You like knowing that you can make me . . ."
"Horny and desperate in ten seconds flat?"
Daniel glared at him rebelliously. "I'm starting to reconsider your cure."
"You know, pissy and horny is a good look for you," Jack said, apparently oblivious to the increasingly frosty looks Daniel was giving him.
"The odds of you getting any kind of sex are going down," Daniel threatened.
"Hey, we're doing it for you," Jack protested.
"I can go to the guestroom if you really need to sleep."
Jack sighed and subsided. Daniel waited a moment and, when he showed no more signs of being aggravating, rested his hands on Jack's shoulders and stretched his neck up to nuzzle at Jack's lips.
"If we want to get any sleep tonight," Daniel said after a couple of minutes, "we should get on with this."
Jack bent to lap delicately at Daniel's throat. "I guess so."
"If you're just doing this to . . . uh . . ." Daniel trailed off uncertainly, suddenly afraid that he was being selfish. "I mean you shouldn't feel that you have to-"
Warm lips on his cut him off. Daniel closed his eyes and allowed Jack to convince him that this was something were both enjoying. When they parted again, they were both breathing hard, and Daniel had one leg wrapped around Jack's, trying to pull him closer.
"It's a huge personal sacrifice, sure, but I think I can make it," Jack mumbled against his lips. "Now, are we getting this show on the road or do you need to discuss it further?"
Daniel grinned at him before rolling them both over so that he could look down into Jack's surprised face. "I'm ready if you are."
Snatching a quick kiss, Jack made no attempt to change their positions again and asked, "How are our supplies?"
Daniel stretched across the bed to check out the drawer of the bedside table, well aware that it put him in a vulnerable position. Sure enough, as he slid the drawer open he felt Jack trying to pull his sweat pants down. He arched up to assist him and scanned the contents of the drawer. It held a couple of half-used tubes of lube, an open jar of chocolate paint - although he thought it was a little late to be getting that sticky - a packet of chocolate chip cookies and some printouts from the Internet because Jack was too chicken to visit a gay bookshop. Maybe other couples had more interesting bedside drawers, but so far he and Jack had found that the basics were exciting enough and anything too creative tended to leave strained muscles. He could feel Jack kissing his hip as the sweat pants were pulled off his legs so he grabbed one of the tubes and held it up triumphantly.
"We might need to visit the drug store soon," he said, as he turned back to his partner.
"It's your turn," Jack replied, grabbing the hem of Daniel's T-shirt.
Daniel put the tube down, knelt up and raised his arms so that Jack could pull off the T-shirt. Then he dived back for another kiss, gasping slightly at the feel of jersey material against his naked flesh. Jack became enthusiastically interested in his skin and Daniel had to tug hard at his T-shirt before Jack remembered that he was wearing too many clothes.
"Jeez, hold your horses," Jack complained as he obediently backed off and shucked his clothes as fast as possible.
Daniel sat back and raised an eyebrow. "You were the one who-"
"I know I was the one who," Jack said, balling his shorts up and throwing them into a darkened corner. "Happy now?"
Grinning, Daniel swept his eyes over the man sitting in front of him. The greying hair glittered in the moonlight and the silvery light showed the muscles and ridges in stark relief. He ran one fingertip down Jack's chest from throat to navel and heard the strangled gasp from the other man's lips.
"Oh, yeah," Daniel breathed.
He saw Jack's cheeks darken and he couldn't help the burst of affection as he watched Jack struggle with the compliment. Neither of them dealt well with compliments but Daniel always felt unaccountably pleased that Jack let him see the occasional uncertainty he felt. Sometimes Jack looked almost . . . shy. It was not a word that he usually associated with his lover, although he was well aware that it was a word that fitted him well on occasions, but that small vulnerability perversely made Daniel more confident in himself.
"Daniel," Jack said quietly. "Come over here."
Daniel moved into Jack's arms and they tumbled to the bed, kissing hungrily. He was lost in warm skin, callused hands and moist heat. Jack was trying to climb into his skin and Daniel wanted to touch every inch of the other man's body. When they both had to breathe, they broke the kiss and Daniel began mapping Jack's body with his mouth, leaving nips and licks in his wake before latching onto a hardened nipple and sucking and teasing it until Jack was bucking restlessly beneath him.
"Christ, Daniel," Jack moaned, "if you keep that up I'll be done before we've even started."
Daniel backed away with one last lick to the swollen nub and then Jack was on him, returning everything he had received with interest. In a couple of minutes Daniel was the one rocking and bucking restlessly, trying to find anything to rub his aching erection against.
Jack raised his head from where he was nuzzling Daniel's stomach, his eyes glittering, and asked, "Do you want to . . . or . . ."
It took Daniel a moment to grasp what he was asking and then he felt his face flush. Yeah, shy could sometimes be levelled at him. "I don't . . . um . . . whatever . . ."
Jack grinned. "Well, in the interests of giving you a mind-blowing orgasm, I'm willing to make the sacrifice and let you receive."
Daniel couldn't reply because Jack immediately began licking and kissing across his belly from hip to hip before ducking lower to plant a loving kiss on the tip of his penis. He groaned as he swelled and hardened further, canting his hips up to let Jack know that he firmly supported this idea. Jack chuckled and started kissing his way back up Daniel's chest until he could latch onto his lips. Daniel wrapped his arms around him and returned the kiss. After a little while Jack pulled away and began cursing softly.
"Jack?"
Jack rolled off him and began patting the bed. "Where the hell did you put the lube?"
Daniel could vaguely remember dropping it somewhere on the bed earlier so he joined Jack in the search until his questing fingers felt the plastic tube halfway down the bed and he pulled it out triumphantly. He slapped the tube into Jack's hand, lay down and glared at Jack pointedly.
"If we want to get any sleep tonight you'd better get moving," Daniel said.
Jack twisted the lid off the tube and glared back. "Try not to sound so enthusiastic."
"Naked and ready here. You're the one who keeps holding things up," Daniel told him.
That earned him a hard kiss and some cold lube that made him hiss. Jack apologised immediately and made sure that the next slathering was warmer. Daniel was barely aware of the careful preparation and stretching, more interested in trying to hurry his lover along to the main event, and he helped Jack to coat his cock with lube eagerly.
Jack paused before entering him. "Are you absolutely sure that - mmph."
Daniel kissed him fiercely, too turned on to speak, and rocked his hips up in an obvious signal for Jack to get on with it. Jack got the message and slowly pushed in, groaning at the sensations. Daniel arched into it and bore down until the stinging eased and then all he could feel was incredible fullness. He wrapped his legs around Jack's hips, clutched his shoulders and sighed. Jack obligingly pulled out and pushed in slowly. It was somewhere between amazing and torture. Daniel wanted to tell him to pick up the pace but he held his tongue, knowing that Jack was still afraid that he'd accidentally hurt him somehow, but that eventually lust and need would overcome his caution. The slow pace was soothing and allowed Daniel to pull back from the edge slightly so that he could take in all the details of their lovemaking. The flex of muscles under his fingertips caught his attention for a moment until he looked up into Jack's face. Burning brown eyes met blue and Daniel was caught in their grip and the raw emotions that Jack allowed him to see and no one else. He reached up and traced a scarred eyebrow with shaking fingers, resting his palm against Jack's jaw until he turned and planted a soft kiss on it, his eyes never leaving Daniel's.
Then he changed his angle to hit that spot that always made lights flash in Daniel's head and any thoughts of slow and gentle flew away. Daniel tightened his legs around Jack's waist and Jack picked up the pace, rocking and thrusting to hit that amazing spot over and over. Daniel could feel the heat coursing through him, Jack's skin against his and Jack's feral gaze only made the arousal burn hotter until there was nothing left in the world but sensation and love. He cried out Jack's name as his orgasm erupted from him.
Aftershocks shivered through him and he was vaguely aware that Jack had climaxed with a low moan. It was only when Jack carefully pulled out and rolled off him that the rest of the world began to intrude on Daniel's post-orgasmic haze. He allowed Jack to wipe them both down and then tug him until he was arranged to Jack's satisfaction, his head on Jack's shoulder and one arm slung across his waist.
"Feeling better now?" Jack asked.
"M-hhm."
He felt Jack ruffled his hair but he was too contentedly drowsy to protest the gesture. "Think you can sleep now?"
"M-hhm."
"Wasn't I right? Mind-blowing orgasm equals sleep."
"Uh-hhm."
There was a minute of quiet and Daniel was on the verge of dropping off when Jack said softly, "Love you."
Daniel managed to grunt something that he hoped sounded like 'me too' before sleep claimed him completely.
*finis*