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Room and Board	By : sillyneko345 Category: +G through L > Jak & Daxter Views: 25355 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 7
Disclaimer: I do not own the game this story is based on (Jak & Daxter) nor do I make any money from writing it.

Chapter List
- 1-Ch. 1
- 2-Ch. 2
- 3-Ch. 3
- 4-Ch. 4
- 5-Ch. 5
- 6-Ch. 6
- 7-Ch. 7
- 8-Ch. 8
- 9-Ch. 9
- 10-Ch. 10
- 11-Ch. 11
- 12-Ch. 12
- 13-Ch. 13
- 14-Ch. 14
- 15-Ch. 15
- 16-Ch. 16
- 17-Ch. 17
- 18-Ch. 18
- 19-Ch. 19
- 20-Ch. 20
- 21-Ch. 21
- 22-Ch. 22
- 23-Ch. 23
- 24-Ch. 24
- 25-Ch. 25
- 26-Ch. 26
- 27-Ch. 27
- 28-Ch. 28
- 29-Ch. 29
- 30-Ch. 30
- 31-Ch. 31
- 32-Ch. 32
- 33-Ch. 33
- 34-Ch. 34
- 35-Ch. 35
- 36-ch. 36
- 37-ch. 37
- 36
- 37
AN: Last chapter! Thank you all so much for reading this (literal) novel.
Nanoboy: New chapters are always a nice surprise. Thank you for reading all the way to the end! I’m sad that it’s over too, but I’m glad that it happened, and that folks were able to enjoy it.
LadyDarkstreak: That makes me super happy that this fic cheers you up! That’s always been the goal. Thank you for reading for so long!
MeekoMar: Erol will definitely have some regrets when all is said and done. Something says Jinx was just waiting for an opportunity to put this plan in motion… Thanks so much for always reading and commenting, meeko!
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The next two weeks went by in a mindless blur that was broken, finally, the day before final exams, by the football team’s last official meeting of the semester. Jak welcomed the distraction with open arms—another hour in front of a text book or computer and he was going to lose his jockly mind.
The meeting had been held on the bleachers, taking advantage of the warm sun that came with the first week of May.
Sig tucked his clipboard under his arm. “That about wraps it up. Seniors, I’ll see you at commencement Saturday. Everybody else, see you in August.”
One of the graduating players held up a hand somewhat sheepishly. “Uh, Coach? Could we, maybe, like—just throw the ball around for a few minutes? For old times sake?”
Slowly, Sig laid the clipboard on the bench and picked up a ball. “First senior who can take this away from me gets to come back at next year’s homecoming game and give all the freshmen wedgies.”
Three minutes later, tackling Phoenix face first into the mud, Jak felt slightly more at peace with life in general.
- // - // - // - // -
In the locker room an hour later, Jak toweled himself off while Phoenix looked exaggeratedly into a mirror.
“God, do I have turf in my teeth? Remind me never to play against you unless there are flags involved.”
“You’ve had worse.”
“Not from friendly fire!”
“Just a risk you take, man,” Jak grinned, wadding up his towel and throwing it at his running back. “Gotta live dangerously.”
Phoenix grabbed it smoothly out of the air and threw it at the towel bin in turn. “Speaking of which…” He leaned closer, wary of their teammates’ hoots and laughter ringing through the locker bays. “Make sure you’re freed up to come back to town next weekend.”
“What’s up?” Jak asked, instantly on high alert at the prospect of an excuse to return to Haven so soon into summer break.
Haven, where Daxter would be.
“Consider this your formal invitation to a very exclusive race. Razer asks you beg his pardon; he’s been too busy studying for exams to personally monogram you a ticket.”
“I’ll be there.”
If there was even a slim chance that Erol would be there starting more shit, Jak wanted back in line to hit him, even if Razer’s teammates got there first. Barring that, they would at least get to see Razer race, something that had been picking curiously at the back of his mind since the secret had come out. Win-win.
“Fantastic,” Phoenix grinned. “I’ll pass on your RSVP.”
“So do they have, like, popcorn vendors and fountain drinks and stuff at these events?”
“… it’s not a football game, mate.”
Jak was pulling on his sneakers when one of the graduating seniors, part of the defensive line, approached them.
He cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly, shifting his backpack strap on his shoulder. “Okay, so, don’t take this the wrong way or anything, but I gotta ask before I leave—are you guys together? Not that it’s a big deal or anything, but we’ve just kind of been wondering, and… yeah.”
Quarterback and running back glanced at each other in surprise.
Almost in tandem, they burst out laughing.
“So, I’m guessing that’s a no, then.”
Jak tightened his laces and stood up from the locker room bench, still chuckling. “Well, I am dating a guy. It’s just not this one.”
Phoenix did a double take, then grinned as he thumbed in Jak’s direction. “And I’m also dating a guy, but not that one.”
“Damn it. Okay. I owe somebody twenty bucks.”
“Pay up, Stevens!” came a gleeful crow from several locker bays away.
“Fuck you,” Stevens yelled back automatically. “But yeah,” he continued pleasantly, turning back to Jak and Phoenix, “you should bring them to a party or something next fall. Don’t feel like you can’t include them or anything. It’s cool, no one cares.”
Jak smiled. He was going to miss Stevens. “Thanks, man. That means a lot.”
“It really does, mate. We appreciate it.” Per the norm for Phoenix, the running back then had to completely ruin the moment. “What gave us away, though? Was it that we wouldn’t date the cheerleaders? It was the cheerleaders, wasn’t it.”
“Yeah, it was kind of the cheerleaders.”
“I knew it!”
Jak hit him with his backpack.
// - // - // - // -
The football players parted ways. Phoenix left the stadium by the east entrance for a last ditch study session at the library. Jak left through the south entrance with no real plans but to wander back to the dorm, find something to eat, and maybe force himself to read over one more study guide.
Daxter was loitering under a crabapple tree near the doors.
Jak couldn’t stop his ears from popping up in pleasure. “Dax! You came to meet me?”
Daxter turned as the green-blonde trotted up. He was covered in the tiny white petals the tree was shedding and didn’t seem to be aware of it. “Hey, Jakkie-boy. Fancy meetin’ you here.”
“You totally came to meet me.”
“Yeah, I did,” the redhead grinned. “Just turned in my last paper. How’d the team meeting go?”
“Really well. Sig handed out freshmen wedgie privileges and I tackled Phoenix on his face.” He reached out to brush the clinging petals off his boyfriend as they began to walk. “Kind of warm to still be wearing that jacket, isn’t it?”
Daxter stuffed his hands defiantly into the pockets of the high school letter jacket Jak had given him. “May be warm, but it makes me feel oh so cool.”
Jak elbowed him affectionately. “Pff. Nerd.”
“Fake jock.”
They walked through campus in companionable silence. Bikers, skateboarders, and dog walkers were out en masse. A round of disc golf was in progress on the quad. Every available pair of trees sported a hammock slung between them.
“Easy ta tell who’s already made peace with finals,” Daxter grinned as they passed a group of bikini-clad girls who had spread beach towels to sunbathe on the lawn of Praxis Hall.
“If you don’t know it by now you won’t know it tomorrow,” Jak recited philosophically, what had become their mantra over the duration of the year. “Have you had lunch? Want to hit the cafeteria?”
“Sounds great, but can we swing by the room real quick? There’s something I need ta take care of.”
They ascended the stairs to 3W, where it was clear that the summer exodus was looming. The communal vacuum cleaner hummed from one room, while Torn stood in the doorway of another with one fist on his hip and the other waving a roll of trash bags. From the sound of it he was deep into a lecture about cleanliness and the residents’ current gnat population.
Wisely, Jak and Daxter slipped by unnoticed.
Their room was a welcome oasis from the clamor outside. The window was cracked as they had left it that morning, letting in a warm breeze that carried the scent of cut grass and fresh mulch. Killer lay snoozing in his hammock, only his tail and one foot hanging over the edge.
“So, what is it you have to do?” Jak asked as the door swung safely shut behind them.
“Oh, nothin’ much.” Daxter casually dropped his jacket over the back of his desk chair. “Just you.”
The quarterback blinked stupidly. “Uh… me?”
“See, Jak, it’s like this. Starting tomorrow, we’re both gonna be crazy busy.” As he talked, Daxter dropped down on the edge of the bunk and began to take off his shoes. “I got work. You got work. We both got finals. At some point in the middle of all that we gotta pack up this room an’ have it clean by Friday night.” He glanced around with a critical eye at their accumulated possessions, then seemed to shrug it off. “So this afternoon I started thinkin’. If I’m gonna get any sugar whatsoever before my cold, celibate summer couch surfin’ with a stoner, prompt action must be taken.”
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, really. Between how sore Daxter had been while he healed from his run in with Erol to how busy the end of the semester had already been keeping them, the most they’d accomplished in the past few weeks was a very careful, somewhat sleepy set of hand jobs. And with their imminent separation looming…
“So you want to have goodbye sex,” Jak clarified.
The redhead grinned, bouncing up from the bed to hook his fingers in Jak’s belt loops. “Haven’t I always said you’re smarter than the average jock?”
Jak laughed helplessly, because Daxter could always make him laugh, even when there was nothing really funny about a situation. “How am I supposed to get it up when just thinking about leaving you this summer makes me sick?”
His boyfriend leaned back to look up at him, grin falling to a concerned frown. “Sick? Like, literally?”
“Literally. Like every time the thought reoccurs to me I get that nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach.”
Daxter’s ears fell. “Ah, jeez. Sorry, big guy. I don’t like it either, but what can ya do?” Freckled arms moved around Jak’s waist in a hug that was much less flirty and much more comforting. “We don’t hafta have sex. Wanna just get lunch an’ hang out together? Lay around an’ cuddle?”
Jak returned the hug, pulling him close and nuzzling his face into that sunset hair. “Sorry, Dax. I just…”
They stood that way for a long moment in the tiny dorm room that had become the epicenter of their lives. The breeze shifted the curtains, the sound of the mowers drifting up from the lawn outside. Muted voices echoed down the hall.
“Come home with me.”
Daxter stiffened in surprise. “Eh?”
“Come home with me for the summer.” Once he started talking, Jak found he couldn’t stop. “I’ll call Uncle. He won’t care. We’ll go camping. I’ll take you fishing. You can come on vacation with us when Dad comes home and we’ll hang out with Keira every day. You won’t need any money so you won’t have to work. It’ll be fine. Just…”
He trailed off, still holding Daxter tightly. Waiting for the redhead to soothe him but patiently explain why it wouldn’t work out; that three months wasn’t all that long; that three hours wasn’t that far to drive so maybe Jak could come back to visit a weekend or two a month if he really couldn’t handle a long distance relationship.
“You gotta tell Taryn I’m leavin’, then.”
Jak’s head shot up. “What?”
“I’m not crazy enough ta tell Taryn she’s losin’ me all summer when she already made out the schedule an’ thought she wouldn’t need ta hire another part-timer. You do it. You’re bigger than her.”
“Wait, is that a yes?” Almost afraid to hope, he held Daxter at arm’s length. “You’ll really come home with me?”
“Well, sure. I mean…” It was rare for Daxter to be embarrassed about much anymore, but suddenly he looked almost shy. “Christmas break was really great, so I guess I was kinda hopin’ you’d ask if I wanted ta come stay the summer, too. But I didn’t wanna say anything because, y’know, I do actually have some tact, contrary ta popular belief, and it’s hella rude ta impose on a family for the whole summer—”
His socks left the rug as Jak hauled him back into his arms.
“One, you’re part of this family, so you will never, ever be imposing. Two, I’m an idiot sandwich for not asking you weeks ago and I love you, I love you, I love you—”
“Okay, okay, I get it!” Daxter laughed as his face was showered with kisses. “Watch it, you’re messin’ up my makeup.”
Jak paused to lick his lips in surprise. They were slightly chalky. “You’re still wearing that foundation? The bruises are almost gone.”
“Yeah, but it blends out all the damn freckles.”
The kissing barrage resumed. “I like your freckles.”
A short scuffle ensued wherein Daxter did not actually attempt to get away. “So, you happy now?” he finally grinned, squishing the quarterback’s face.
“Happier than I’ve been since spring break.” Jak leaned into the touch, not even trying to hide his smile. “I’m actually looking forward to summer now. We’re going to have so much fun.”
A dreamy look crossed the redhead’s face. “No alarms… no papers… no annoying customers… a bed we can share without elbowin’ each other in the face…”
Jak was struck by the thought of what else they could do in a normally sized bed, and suddenly Daxter’s earlier wish for a roll in the proverbial hay sounded a lot more appealing.
Before he could say as much, his stomach growled. Loudly.
Daxter stepped out his arms with a snort of amused understanding. “Okay, that’s our cue. Lunchtime, before you start gnawin’ on the woodwork. And then I guess we better start tellin’ some people about the change of plans. Like yer uncle. And my boss.”
“Yeah.” Jak leaned in to kiss him one more time, absently noticing a stray crabapple petal that he had missed clinging in his boyfriend’s hair. “I’ll take care of everything.”
He didn’t brush the petal off.
- // - // - // - // -
The lunch stampede was going full throttle when they reached the cafeteria downstairs. Daxter had the advantage over the quarterback for once with his smaller size and slipped nimbly through the crowd to the chef station with the customized stir fry.
“Man, it’s packed out here,” he whined when they had finally made it past the cashiers and out to the patio dining area with cardboard cartons in hand. He didn’t whine too loudly, though. After learning that Jak loved him enough to invite him home for the whole summer, nothing was going to get him down.
Everyone in the dining hall seemed to have moved outdoors, because, really, who would be crazy enough to eat inside on a day like today? Definitely not them. Daxter was on the verge of suggesting that they go find a tree somewhere to sit under when Jak pointed to a table at the edge of the patio.
“Hey, there’s Razer. Let’s sit with him.”
The transfer student had secured a round table with an umbrella all to himself, so Daxter readily agreed. When they approached the table and Razer glanced up at them, however, the redhead balked.
“Dear god, what’s wrong with your face?”
An ebony brow quirked up. “Am I not allowed to smile?”
“Not like that! Jak, it’s creepy, make him stop!”
“That is a really big smile for you,” Jak confirmed, sitting down anyway and popping open his noodle container. “Did something good happen?”
Razer’s mouth twitched like he was trying to stop grinning and wasn’t quite successful. The effect was somewhat unsettling. “No, I’m afraid that something terrible has happened. One of my teammates just called to inform me that Erol, regrettably, will not be able to make it to the final race next weekend. It seems he’s had a rather bad accident.”
Daxter stopped with a fork halfway to his mouth. “… is he dead?”
“Not to my knowledge. But the way Shiv spoke, he is in no condition to show up at the track, let alone challenge me on it.”
Jak scowled around his lo mein. “I wanted to hit him again.”
“So did Phoenix. He’ll be very upset.”
Daxter aimed his fork pointedly at the racer, heedless of the grain of fried rice stuck to the corner of his mouth. “Tell yer buddies thanks for takin’ this out’a jockly hands. I don’t feel like bailin’ anybody out’a jail just so we can enjoy summer break.”
“Oh, I agree. Though I do hope you’ll both still consider coming along next weekend. I will do my best to put on a good show, despite the drop in serious competition.”
As they talked and ate, a trio on the sidewalk nearby caught Daxter’s attention. He waved, and Ashelin, with the hand not hooked into Torn’s belt loop, waved back. Jinx spotted them next, and took the arm he had draped around the tattooed RA’s shoulders off to aim double pistols and a wink at Razer.
Razer, astoundingly, offered a small smile and a single pistol back.
“Mafia,” Daxter declared firmly, and tipped his takeout box up to polish off the last of the rice.
- // - // - // - // -
“I can’t believe you tried to buy me from my boss with a frappuccino.”
“She took it, didn’t she?”
“Well, duh. It was a venti double mocha.”
“Don’t think of it as a transaction—think of it as me being nice enough to soften the blow while I told her how it was going to be and claimed what’s rightfully mine.”
Daxter cackled, throwing a wad of crumpled paper that might once have been a Spanish workbook page at his boyfriend. “You’re so full’a crap.”
They were stationed on the rug in the middle of the floor, surrounded by bags and boxes in various states of fullness and piles of items that had yet to be packed. The wardrobe doors and all the drawers stood open, disgorging their contents as they were haphazardly gone through.
Jak grabbed the paper ball off the floor before Killer could make off with it and stuffed it into the bag of recyclables. Both their desk trashcans had been filled and dumped down the chute in the utility closet; now all that remained of the disposables was two semesters worth of paper to sort through.
The quarterback had a neat pile of binders and folders beside him, all the notes and past assignments from classes related to his major that might come in handy for future courses.
Daxter indiscriminately tossed anything that wasn’t his creative writing notebooks.
The windows were open, as they’d been for most of the week, coaxing in a cool nighttime breeze. Directly after the last cold snap of the spring a heat wave had taken its place, and the dorm was warm enough as to be almost uncomfortable.
“Have I mentioned how much I’m lookin’ forward to spending the summer somewhere with AC?” Daxter sighed, tugging at the collar of the thin undershirt he wore.
Jak, who had already discarded his own shirt, chuckled. “Only about a dozen times.” Done with his part of the sorting, he put the stack of binders into a box with the textbooks he hadn’t sold back. “I just can’t wait to get home. But I am going to miss this room, in a weird way.”
“Yeah, we had some good times this year.” Daxter grinned as he dumped the last of his workbooks into the bag, rug finally clear of paper. “Remember that night we all got drunk after homecoming? Phoenix an’ Razer got locked out of their room an’ had to sleep in here on the floor.”
Jak snorted and began to pull clothes out of his wardrobe. “Yeah, and you won the dorm relay for us that morning.” He shook out a ball of tattered grey fabric, brightening when it unfolded. “Hey, my Halloween costume! I forgot I had this. Now that was a party.”
Killer was trying to burrow into the recycling. Daxter fished him out, tied it off, and quickly set the bag in the hall for collection before shutting the door once more. “Man, I’ll treasure the memories of that party forever. The first time I met Jinx. My first jello shot. My first time runnin’ from the cops.”
“The first time you kissed me,” Jak teased, dropping the white, horned wig that went with the costume into the box.
The redhead flushed. “Yeah, while drunk an’ hidin’ under a bush. Very lame.”
“It was adorable.”
“Like you were when you broke into the pool for me on Valentine’s?” Daxter countered, still blushing. “Sap.”
Jak grinned and didn’t deny it. “Remember how proud you were of the first pizza you brought home for me?”
“Remember how you kept tryin’ ta feed me all the time when we first met?”
“Remember when you used to wear your robe into the showers? God, that was so cute.”
“Remember that I’m more than capable of punchin’ you if you keep callin’ me cute, fake jock.” Daxter waved a fist in mock threat as he turned his attention to his own wardrobe, but his insides fluttered at the fond look in the quarterback’s eyes.
Yeah, he remembered a lot of things from the past nine months. Like how Jak had been determined to befriend him from the start, undeterred by the redhead’s initial prejudice and bad attitude. And how Jak had gotten into a bathroom brawl with Erol in Daxter’s defense. And how Jak had weathered a thunderstorm by his side and proven himself to be the most comforting, supportive presence Daxter had ever encountered.
He was actually getting a little choked up when Jak let out a hum of amusement behind him.
“Remember when we found out about your hat fetish?”
Daxter turned with a start, a loud denial at the ready. It died an immediate death on the tip of his tongue.
Jak was leaning against the side of the half empty wardrobe, the cowboy hat pulled down over one eye at a jaunty angle. Two fingers hooked casually in the waist of his worn out jeans showed the tempting jut of a hipbone. At the redhead’s expression, he smirked knowingly.
“You tryin’ ta start somethin’ there, big shot?” Daxter challenged, unable to take his eyes off all that wonderfully shirtless skin. “If not, you got a lot’a nerve standin’ there like a pinup.”
“Maybe I am.”
“This isn’t cleaning or packing, Jak,” Daxter pointed out, but the green-blonde was already advancing with a faux-innocent little smile that had Daxter biting his lip, already forgetting about the boxes and piles all around them. “What gives, distractin’ me now? You didn’t wanna get frisky last time.”
“Well, that was before my cute roommate made me really, really happy. Maybe I could return the favor…?”
He giggled helplessly, tangling his fingers in Jak’s hair as the quarterback finally got close enough to pull him into his arms. “Jak, this has been, without any doubt or exaggeration, the best year of my life. You’ve been doin’ that every day.”
Jak’s eyes widened.
Daxter gave a short shriek of laughter as he was toppled into the bottom bunk, Jak’s hat falling off to lie unnoticed on the (clean, thank you very much) rug as the tangling of tongues and limbs took precedence over all else.
No further packing was accomplished for a long while.
- // - // - // - // -
As a sort of peace offering to Taryn, Daxter had agreed to work the day of graduation. As it turned out, he was both glad and regretful that he had. From the moment the doors opened that morning until well past ten that night, the staff of Pizza Haven stayed frantically busy.
When the redhead finally flipped the sign to ‘closed’ it was with a sigh of relief.
“Duuude,” Ximon groaned, dropping his face into his arms at a freshly wiped table. The majority of the day’s business had been students and their families in town to help them move out for the summer, so he had been drafted from delivery boy to dining room duty and looked worse for wear.
Taryn, seasoned veteran that she was, stood tall as she patted her cousin on the back consolingly. “There, there. We made it. It’s over now.”
The bells over the door jangled.
Despite his exhaustion, Daxter grinned as Torn, Jinx, and Ashelin trooped in. “Well, maybe not completely over.”
“Hey, Red!” Jinx hoisted a case of beer. “Thanks for the invite! Never pass up a party.”
“Least I could do for the newly christened graduates. Make yourselves at home an’ I’ll go throw our pizzas in.”
It had been a spur of the moment idea that hit Daxter suddenly that morning. The chemist had copied him on a group text with a selfie of the three of them in their caps and gowns just before commencement, hammering home that this was really happening. To Daxter’s infinite shock, Taryn had been cool with him summoning his friends to one last get together before everyone went their separate ways.
“Congratulations, dudes!” Ximon perked up enough to offer. “So we got one baby grad gal and two Masters grad bros, huh? Awesome.”
“Next stop, PhD,” Jinx declared happily as he dropped the beer on the table next to Ximon.
Torn looked ill. “Can you just let me have this one day to pretend like I’ve accomplished something? Is that really too much to ask?”
Further conversation was luckily derailed as Phoenix and Razer walked in.
The running back had a large box of cookies from the bakery down the block and a big grin on his face. “Evening, everyone! Congratulations on the successful completion of another term.”
Behind the counter, Daxter checked the progress of the pizzas as greetings were exchanged and the beer and cookies were passed around. He couldn’t help but look out with fondness on the weirdos in the dining room that had slowly but surely become his best friends.
Still, the one he was most eagerly awaiting had yet to show.
He had pulled the pizzas from the oven and was carrying them to the tables when the front door banged one more time.
“You have impeccable timing, fake jock.”
“Sorry I’m late.” Jak looked tired but triumphant. Killer was balanced on one shoulder. “You wouldn’t believe how long I had to wait for an open space in front of the dorm to load the car up. And then everybody else was using all the dollies and pushcarts.”
“Oh, trust me, we believe,” Razer muttered around a cookie, having experienced the same joy that morning.
Jak saw Taryn and motioned up to Killer. “I can bring him in here if he doesn’t touch anything, right? I didn’t want to leave him in the car.”
She offered a small smile. “What ferret?”
“So you’re the cutie Torn didn’t find for two whole semesters,” Ashelin cooed, lifting Killer down at a consenting nod from Jak. “Look at you, so big and plump and obvious, yes you are.”
Killer chattered happily.
Torn gave them both the stink eye.
“Shall we begin?” Razer suggested. “Jak and Daxter have a drive ahead of them. I’m sure they want to be on their way before midnight.”
“Good point.” Daxter grabbed a slice of pepperoni without further ado. “Okay, guys. Cheers!”
They ate and talked for more than an hour, working through the food and beer and conversation. The graduates were moving into a nice rental off campus; Phoenix and Razer were officially in possession of their own apartment; Phoenix had lined up an interview for a summer job; Taryn and Ximon were still mad at Jak for stealing Daxter but Daxter was so happy about it they forgave him.
Finally, Taryn glanced at her watch. “Daxter, as much as we’re going to miss you, it’s going to be morning before you get there if you two don’t leave.”
Jak, apparently taking that as a challenge, took a deep swig of the energy drink he’d been sipping on in place of a beer. “Don’t worry, I can handle it.”
“I’m cuttin’ you off for the greater good, big guy.” More than a little skeptical, Daxter leaned over and clapped a hand over the mouth of the can. “Lemme go change an’ we’ll get out’a here.” Reasonably convinced that his boyfriend wasn’t going to drink himself into cardiac arrest, he collected his backpack from behind the counter and ducked into the bathroom to change out of his work clothes.
By the time he returned to the dining room, Phoenix and Jinx were arm wrestling over the last cookie. Killer had migrated to Taryn’s lap. Ashelin and Ximon were having an in-depth discussion on the merits of skateboarding for transportation and recreation.
Jak looked up at his return. “Ready to go?”
“Let’s hit the road, Jak!”
Blue eyes rolled as the quarterback lifted his ferret out of Taryn’s hands and back onto his shoulder. “Har har.”
Taryn stood and pulled Daxter into a last hug. “Have a wonderful summer, alright?”
“Don’t worry, babe, I fully plan on it.”
Ximon reeled him in next for a hug that was immediately followed by a noogie. “And if you get totally bored out on the farm, come on back for a visit. You’re welcome to crash at my place any time, dudes.”
“Take care, mate.” Phoenix clapped Jak on his non-ferret shoulder. “I’ll text you later this week to hash out plans.”
And then, suddenly, they reached the point where there were no more goodbyes to be said. With a last wave, Jak stepped out onto the sidewalk. Daxter paused in the doorway, backpack over his shoulder, and looked back.
“Come on, Dax. Let’s get home.”
The redhead’s ears drifted up. Saluting his friends, his workplace, and the sprawling twinkle of Haven U’s campus beyond, he grinned. “See ya next fall.”
The door shut with a jingle as he turned and followed Jak into the warm spring night.
- - - -
The End.
- - - - -
Jak: (walks into Pizza Haven) Hey, Taryn, long time no see! Listen, I was hoping to talk to you about Daxter’s summer plans.
Taryn: … I knew this day would come. Bring it, football boy. You’ll take my best employee over my dead body! (slowly raises pizza cutter)
Jak: Oh yeah? Well how about—this? (brandishes frapuccino)
Taryn: Oh. Oh, that’s low.
Dax: (watches from the window) He’s so brave! Be still, my heart~
- - - - -
Dax: So you guys are renting, huh? What’s the place like?
Torn: Well, it’s a few miles from campus so the rent is really reasonable. Three bedrooms, two baths, fairly well maintained.
Ashelin: There’s a nice porch and a yard, too. I’d like to adopt a cat.
Jinx: And it has a nice big basement. I’m thinkin’ of setting up a little lab space down—
Torn & Ashelin: NO.
Jinx: *pouts* Killjoys.
- - - - -
Keira: I’m so happy we’re all going to spend the summer together! You guys want to go camping next weekend?
Jak: Sorry, Keira, next weekend is booked.
Dax: Yeah, we’re going back to Haven to watch our friend compete in a highly dangerous, highly illegal street race!
Keira: … Haven. Race. Cars. Engines. Dangerous.
Dax: Exactly. So maybe camping the week after—
Keira: So what time should we leave, Jak? I want to get there at least three hours early to get a good look at your friend’s ride. Oh, put in a good word for me so I don’t get shot, okay? I’ll bring all my gear in case he’d be cool with letting me do a last minute tune up!
Dax: Jak, what just happened?
Jak: I’m afraid she’s been lost to us. She’s Razer’s best friend now.
Dax: They might get along pretty well, actually.
Phoenix: Nooo, I don’t want to share my bloke’s attention~!
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