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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
- 8
- 9
- 10
Characters: Belong to Naughty Dog, Inc.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
For the first time in a long time, Jak woke up holding someone. His arms were full of warm, his face full of shampoo-fragrant softness. Thoughtlessly he hugged his companion tighter, smiling against that sweet-clean hair. As he raised a hand to pet through it his fingers brushed the tips of long ears, which he paused to rub lightly. The action caused a soft squeak, a hot breath puffed out against his neck, and Jak sighed deeply.
This was nice. This was so, so nice.
The arm draped across his ribs, so light he had barely felt it, shifted just so. Fingers curled in the back of his shirt. A leg slid against his as the tangle of limbs under the blankets just got worse. Nobody was objecting.
Slowly Jak trailed his hand down a supple spine. There was an arch and a curl, a squirm to get closer as he reached a firm behind and helped out with the process. The lips against his neck twitched in a murmur and Jak shivered. Blue eyes opened blearily even as his hand performed a sly maneuver under the hem of a shirt—and froze.
He was looking down on red hair, not blue-green.
Adrenaline flowed through Jak in a wave, a split instant ahead of the return of rational thought. The warm, shadowy nest of blankets and pillows under the top bunk solidified his memory: who was in his bed and what had happened last night to get them there. The green-blonde lay perfectly still, trying to keep his breathing under control even as his heartbeat sped at an uncomfortable pace.
So he and Daxter were wadded up together. Okay. Okay. No big deal. It was a small bed. Not a lot of space. Curling together was a natural response to such close quarters. No need to get bent out of shape about it. He could still back out, slip out of bed without waking his roommate. Daxter still needed to sleep, after all—
The redhead in question exhaled against Jak’s neck. And all thought of moving fled his mind.
Daxter needed to sleep. He needed a lot of things, after a night like last night. Gingerly Jak let his fingers curl against a smooth lower back, an awkward attempt at small, unobtrusive contact without waking. If it felt good to him to be all warm and snug, how much nicer would Dax feel to be so secure? And really…
Jak didn’t want to let him go.
It’s just a hug, he told himself almost desperately. Hugs are fine. You can hug your best friends. He clenched his eyes shut again as he tightened the one-armed embrace. It was a feeble excuse. For, as much as he genuinely wanted to hug Daxter for comfort’s sake, there was also an ulterior motive. Damn it, who the hell am I kidding. I need to get out of here. If he wakes up and I’m awake and I’m hard and he’s hard he’s going to blow every intact gasket he’s got. No matter how good it felt to have the redhead’s thigh unconsciously provoking his morning wood.
Mind made up, Jak took a breath and gathered his resolve. Before he could commence gentle extraction of his person from the pliant jumble of Daxter’s limbs, though, the universe pulled a fast one on him.
Beep beep beep beep beep beep—
“Fuck!” Jak swore as quietly as he could around the heart that had leapt up his throat. He let go of Daxter and rolled blindly. The move landed him on the floor with a nasty thud and another curse at the freezing tile. He scrambled to his feet and dove at his desk, slamming a palm down on the alarm’s snooze button. Silence returned like a blanket had been dropped over the room, and he held his breath.
Had Dax woken up?
Fortunately for Jak, his roommate barely twitched. There was a minute movement as Daxter shifted slightly, almost oozing over into the warm spot Jak had left behind. He burrowed his nose under the edge of the blanket and then… nothing. Only a wild mop of red hair sticking up peacefully over the pillow.
Jak let out an unsteady breath of relief.
Then he berated himself a second later. He should have known better. Daxter regularly slept through both sets of alarms. Many mornings it took Jak shaking him awake to get him moving, and nothing short of a fire alarm shrilling out a middle-of-the-night drill could wake him before then. Or a surprise thunderstorm, apparently…
As quietly as he could, Jak got dressed and collected his backpack. Normally he had a pretty set morning routine—start the coffee maker, feed Killer, wander to the bathroom with his toothbrush—but right now he just needed to get out of the room as fast as possible. Forget his finally undeniable attraction to his roommate as fast as possible.
Just what the hell was he supposed to do now?
- // - // - // - // -
Rattle.
Rattle rattle rattle.
Bang BANG rattle.
The noise went on for almost a full minute before it garnered a response.
“Grrrr—shaddup, ya little asshole!” Daxter yelled, pulling the pillow over his head. “S’too damn early fer this! Jak, will ya fill up yer weasel’s bottle alrea—” Then he froze.
Oh.
Oh, shit. Daxter’s head jerked up, flipping the pillow off the bed and onto the floor. One panicked glance at the color of the blanket draped over him and his worst suspicions were confirmed. This wasn’t his bunk. He hadn’t gotten up last night and gotten back in his own bed. He had fallen a-freaking-sleep right there in his roommate’s space, sprawled all over the quarterback like the clingiest of limpets.
Life was officially over.
The redhead moaned. He reached blindly over the side of the mattress, pulled the pillow back topside, and buried his face in it in the not altogether vain hope of suffocation.
How could I do that? he thought in disbelief. Literally how could I let myself do that?! Fallin’ asleep in another guy’s bed while you an’ him an’ all yer friends are drunk is one thing, but after a clusterfuck like last night? I am never gonna live this down. Ever. Whatever cool points ya had with Jak before last night? Forget it, Daxxie—straight in the damn wood chipper.
It didn’t bear thinking about, so he tried not to. But, as was usually the case, he did anyway.
What time was it? It had to be at least eight by now if Jak was gone. For whatever reason, that meant that the green-blonde had decided not to kick the interloper out of his bed and gone silently on his way to class. There he went, being all sickeningly nice again. Daxter’s ears twitched back rigidly as he cringed.
To add mortification to more mortification, he was pretty sure he’d been having some kind of weird wet dream. Or close to it, anyway, if imagining his ears being played with and his back being petted even counted in the realm of sexual. Sure had turned him on, though. At the very least Jak couldn’t have been there to see anything he might have done to give away the nature of such a dream, if the big guy was already in class.
A deep sigh into the pillow pressed against his face did nothing but signify that he was, in fact, still alive and un-suffocated. And also that he had Jak’s pillow instead of his own. And that whatever shampoo Jak was using smelled really kick-ass good.
…well. He wasn’t going to get any more humiliated. As long as Jak already knew that he’d slept there, no harm in staying where he was for a bit longer.
Killer made ferret-noises of annoyance from his cage, but Daxter burrowed back under the blankets. It wasn’t his job to tend to Jak’s pet. Or… maybe it could be? The promise he had made to himself the night before came back to prick him guiltily. If Jak was dead set on putting his all into this friendship business, Dax could certainly afford to invest a little more effort into being a better friend as well. Surely that involved doing random nice things for his roommate, up to and including occasional ferret duty.
The ferret bottle began to rattle again, sloshing the scant inch of water in the bottom.
“Yeah, yeah. Hold yer horses, rodent. I’ll be with ya in a minute.”
He really meant it, too. He meant it right up until the moment when he fell back to sleep, cheek comfortably nestled in Jak’s pillow and arms curled around his own.
- // - // - // - // -
When Jak arrived at the lecture hall it was 7:34 AM. Class wouldn’t start for another half hour. Even the door was still locked, undisturbed since the final class of the night before. The green-blonde sighed deeply and sat down in the empty hall to wait.
Just don’t think about it. That was all he had to do. Just don’t think about it.
Jak tried to concentrate on the chill of the tile floor and how cold the walk across campus in the frosty morning air had left his glove-less hands. He tried to be annoyed that he had missed his morning coffee, irritated that there wasn’t a coffee machine in that building, aggravated that even if there was a coffee machine in that building he couldn’t have any coffee from it anyway because he didn’t have any spare change or small bills on him and he wasn’t stupid enough to feed the thing a ten and trust it to give back the rest.
Instead all he could think about was whether or not Daxter was still warm without him under the covers.
The remembrance of shared body heat, of holding his friend so close and content, sent a bright spiral of warmth through Jak’s midsection like he’d gotten that hot coffee after all. He pulled his knees to his chest, crossed his arms over them, and dropped his face in his arms helplessly. Oh, this was not good. Not good at all.
In his pocket, his phone rattled against his keys as it buzzed.
He took his face out of his arms, curiosity momentarily overcoming his distress. Who would be texting him so early? There was next to no way Daxter would be awake already and Keira didn’t have any morning classes. Betting on a message from Phoenix, Jak grabbed his phone.
//Heya blondie//
The green-blonde groaned. Great. Just what he didn’t need right now. //What is it Jinx?//
He still wasn’t sure just how the grad student that instructed freshmen chem lab had managed to get his number. Probably had something to do with Mog, one of the duller members of the Haven Warriors defensive line who just so happened to be pals with Jinx.
//Just sayin hi to my little pal jakkieboy.//No crime in that is there?//
Jak sighed deeply. Come to think of it, he still couldn’t figure out a lot of things about Jinx. Like how the ponytailed dirty-blonde was smart enough to actually make it into the graduate program in the first place. And how someone had decided he was a good candidate for instructing twenty freshmen in a room full of volatile chemicals. And whether or not the chemistry department’s insurance premiums had skyrocketed since the self-proclaimed “boom boy” had been hired on. But just then, Jak sort of had more important things to think about.
//No Jinx. I dont want to know about the party you crashed last night//Or that hot girl you met//Or the latest lab equipment you destroyed in your latest bombed experiment//Pun NOT intended by the way//
//Awww blondie youre breakin my heart here. Somebodys grouchy this morning.//
Jinx might have been that guy that texted when he was drunk or bored and ate up the text limit on Jak’s phone plan. But he was an okay guy deep down. So Jak kept answering. //Sorry. Kind of tired. Stayed up really late.//
//Partying hard huh blondiebabe? Teacher is so proud!//
Jak’s ears fell flat. //I really, REALLY wish you wouldnt call me babe, or blondie either. And you arent a teacher you are a lab instructor. And i was not partying.//
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Somehow Jinx could even make the vibrate function sound annoying. //Same thing. Its ok, jak. You can tell teacher these things, i understand perfectly. YOLO and all that.//
//YOLO??// That was a new one on Jak. Since when was someone years older than him throwing around slang like he was a cool kid?
//You Only Live Once jakkieboy//
It brought the quarterback up short. He stared at the message. You only live once…
//Gotta enjoy yourself while ya can.//Live it up now blondie, cause im tellin you college is the best place in the universe to let it all hang out//Be yourself and try new shit and be a rebel//The real world sucks, why do you think i came back here? lol jk//
//Wow, you are just the most responsible “teacher” ever Jinx.// Jak’s fingers were texting, but his brain was a thousand miles away. Try new things. Be a rebel. Enjoy yourself while you can…
//I am, aint I?//Anyway jakkiebabe i need a teensy little favor from my favorite and best pupil. Mog lost his damn phone that idiot//Me and grim been tryin to get holda him for days//Could you tell the dunce to call me or come find me or send off a carrier pigeon or fucking SOMETHING when ya see him at practice?//So we know the rats in his apartment havent eaten him alive yet//
//Yeah sure whatever. Will do.//
//Thanks kid youre a champ//A champ whos getting some major extra cred on the next lab practical. See ya in class blondie.//
Jak didn’t bother to reply. He was off the floor, phone tucked back in pocket, backpack hoisted as he strode quickly away from the lecture hall just ahead of the earliest arriving students. Some things—not many, but some things—were just important enough to miss a day of sociology lecture for. This was one of those things. He had a wild idea and a pounding heart, and he needed a second opinion from the only upperclassman he knew who even began to fill the position of mentor.
- - - - -
“Hey, Torn? You got a minute?” Jak asked through the small crack he had dared to open in the RA’s door.
Torn glanced up with thinly-veiled impatience. He sat at his desk, half surrounded by piles of books, binders, and papers. A half eaten Hot Pocket lay abandoned on a paper plate beside him. “How long is this minute going to take, exactly? My thesis isn’t going to write itself, as much as I wish it would sometimes.”
“Right.” Jak stepped inside awkwardly. “I just had a question, I guess. For someone who’s been in college a while and has, uh, a little bit more experience.”
Torn looked at him for a moment, then sighed. “This is going to be a long minute, isn’t it?” He pushed away from the desk and spun in his chair to face the green-blonde. “I can see this is going to morph into some kind of warm, fuzzy talk with one of the dear boys that live in our happy, happy hall. Alright. What kind of question are we talking about here?”
Something in the condescending tone made Jak buck his awkwardness right out the door and answer with a straight up poker face. “Have you ever done anything gay while you’ve been in college? And tell me the truth. Bullshit doesn’t help any.”
Torn’s expression didn’t change.
Neither did Jak’s.
Slowly, slowly, Torn swiveled his chair back to the desk and dropped his face onto his keyboard. “Fuuuuuuck.”
“Oh, come on. Come on, big-shot RA, quit being a dick for once and mentor me. This is the kind of shit you get paid for, right?”
“Correction! No one could ever pay me enough to put up with this particular type of shit.”
“So is that a yes or a no?” Jak prodded, arms crossed over his chest as he tried to decide whether to be more frustrated or amused.
“You know what? I’m not going to answer that.”
“Answer it or I’ll go down the hall and tell Ashelin that you won’t answer it!”
Torn’s chair squealed with how fast he spun back around. Horror and fury warred on his tattooed face. “… I’d call you a liar, but unfortunately I know better.”
Jak allowed himself a small, satisfied smirk as he sank down on the edge of the older man’s bed. “Thought so. Now, about that warm, fuzzy talk we were going to have. Spill.”
“Getting curious already, huh?” Torn growled, taking a vicious bite out of his Hot Pocket, now gone cold. “That certainly didn’t take long. You’re not even through with your first semester and you’re already wobbling on the fence.”
Jak scowled. “Get to the point.”
“My point is that everyone gets curious at some point, kid. If they tell you they don’t then they’re lying, insecure as all hell, or both. It’s as simple as that. College is just a convenient place to try it out without consequences.”
“All the stereotypes are true, huh?”
“If you want to experiment with it—drugs, drinks, sex, liberal arts majors—college is the place. It doesn’t count until after college,” Torn said flatly. “End of story.”
Jak pretended to be very surprised. “Oh, I get it—so that’s why you can still show your face on frat row! So, are the videos still up on youtube? How long did it take for all your body hair to grow back?”
“Get. Out. Of my fucking room.”
Feeling as though he had won the minor skirmish, Jak went gladly. He had a redhead to find, after all. He pulled Torn’s door shut behind him and headed down the hall for the room he and Daxter shared.
He passed one door. Okay. So I’m a little bi-curious. Okay.
Two doors. I’m bi-curious and that’s not weird. That’s normal. In college it’s normal to fool around and experiment.
Three doors. I want to experiment with Dax.
Four. Maybe… maybe Dax would want to fool around too. Like… with me.
Then he was standing in front of his own door in the empty hall, failing to calm a sudden case of jitters. He had to relax. He had to breathe. He couldn’t be a dope and mess this all up. Even though he and Dax would actually be awesome experimental fooling around partners because they got along—damn, so well!—and Daxter was pretty laid back—really cool!—and the redhead wasn’t already occupied with seeing someone—must be meant to be!—and he was really, really cute and—
Calm. Your. Shit. Jak took a deep breath and stuck his key in the door with a minimum of jittery jingles. Okay. You may proceed. And don’t wake him up, idiot.
Heeding his own order, the quarterback stepped into the room very quietly. His eyes immediately shifted to the bottom bunk. Yep, Daxter was still there, right where he had been left less than an hour before. Still asleep. Good.
Jak smiled. He kicked off his shoes, dropped his backpack in his desk chair, hung his jacket on the back of it. Then he noticed Killer.
If a ferret could stare accusingly, this one was.
“Damn! I’m sorry, little guy,” Jak whispered. He had been so busy freaking out when he woke up that he had completely forgotten to feed and water Killer! “Hang on, I got it.” Very guiltily he took the empty water bottle over to the mini-fridge and topped it off from the plastic pitcher he kept there for the purpose. A generous helping of ferret chow came next, with some treats added on top of the bowl for apology’s sake.
Okay. Ferret hating me crisis averted.
Now. What was he going to do until Daxter woke up? It was strange not being in class when he knew that he should be. With Killer taken care of and breakfast on the back burner until Dax was awake to join him, Jak wasn’t sure what to do with himself.
Unbidden, his eyes slid back to the guest in his bed.
Dax looked, as he had earlier that morning, warm and comfortable. He was curled on the far side of the bunk, almost up against the wall. The comforter was pulled up snuggly around his shoulders as he hugged a pillow to his chest. Jak caught himself smiling at the sight before the obvious occurred to him.
Why not get back in bed? He blinked at the simplicity of the idea.
The mattress was small, sure, but they had managed to deal with it the night before. He was sure he could fit comfortably. Especially if he just draped an arm over the redhead. So Jak sat down easily on the edge of the mattress. Daxter didn’t twitch at the small squeak and dip. Encouraged, the quarterback slid back under the covers as gently as he could.
Oh, hell yes. It was warm enough under the blanket to make Jak shiver at the contrast. Even with the power and “heat” back on, the dorm was chilly. Damn, if the beds were bigger this might have to become the new permanent sleeping arrangement. We’d never be cold again.
… he would probably never sleep again, either. Jak swallowed harder than usual. He was close enough to smell Daxter’s hair again. Feel the heat radiating off the other guy. Slowly, hyperaware of what he was doing in the face of a morning’s worth of soul-searching revelation, he put his arm over the redhead’s waist and moved close enough that his chest was pressed to Daxter’s back. The spark of excitement was immediate.
Oh, yeah. Waking up that morning standing at attention hadn’t been a fluke. He wasn’t just aroused by someone in his bed. This time he knew very well who he was pressed against, and the flare of impending arousal was more than obvious. Jak smiled at the somehow liberating thought.
Totally normal and legit bi-curious experimentation phase: officially a go.
Under his arm, Daxter shifted with a little murmur. He curled and uncurled languidly, then froze. A sharp gasp confirmed his state of sudden wakefulness. The wide-eyed look he shot Jak over his shoulder a split second later was utterly priceless.
Jak grinned. “Morning, cupcake.”
- // - // - // - // -
“Aaaaarghh!!” At that point, the freak-out was instinctive. Daxter scrambled madly and bolted—straight into the concrete blocks of the wall with a flurry of flying blankets. The muffled thump that resulted had his ears ringing and his hands clasped tightly over his suddenly aching head. “Oww, fuck!”
Behind him Jak laughed uproariously.
Daxter’s ringing ears (and the rest of his face) turned immediately red. Shit-fuck-damn. “Oh, shut the hell up! What’re you laughin’ at, jerk-wad?”
“Your face!” Jak howled helplessly. “You should have seen the look on your face!”
It was officially time to make a less-than-graceful exit. He scrambled awkwardly over Jak and tripped out of the bed, not stopping until he hit the mini-fridge. “Well excuse me fer bein’ a teensy bit surprised! What the hell was that about, anyway?”
The green-blonde sprawled on his back on his rumpled bunk, arms crossed behind his head, smirking. “What was what about?”
“That!”
“You mean me getting back in my own bed? Where you just kind of happened to be at the time?”
Oh. Yeah. He had kind of forgotten that tiny little detail. The blush Dax had managed to control after abruptly waking up as the little spoon came back with a vengeance. He had fallen asleep in Jak’s bed. Again. Apparently he just didn’t learn, did he? Inwardly cursing his idiot self with every form of slander he knew, he glanced up from a studious examination of the rug to look his roommate in the eye. “Uh…” Wow, that was smooth.
Jak quirked a perfectly shaped green brow. “Did you sleep alright, at least?”
This was going to be painful. Daxter raked his hands through his hair and took a deep breath. “… yeah, I slept really great.” Okay, good start! Keep going! No snark, no snark, no snark. “Thanks, Jak. Fer last night, I mean. I… really owe ya one.”
“You don’t owe me anything,” Jak argued, shaking his head. “I’m just glad I could help a little.”
“No, seriously. I kept ya up half the night with a psych ward worthy flip out—”
“Come on, it wasn’t that bad.”
Daxter threw up his hands in frustration. “Will you hush up an’ just accept my damn apology fer actin’ like an ass an’ treatin’ you like crap when you were just tryin’ ta help me?! Sheesh, what’s a guy gotta do ta say he’s sorry around here?”
“It’s okay, Dax, really. You were upset. I didn’t take any of it personally. Forget it. That’s what friends are for, right?”
“Like I’d know,” was out of his traitorous mouth before he could even register that he’d rolled his eyes. Damn it, no snark!
Jak’s ears went down and back—kicked puppy to the max. He looked up from the bunk with those big, blue, sad eyes and Daxter wanted to facepalm.
“Okay, okay, sheesh, yes! That’s totally what friends are for, and you are an excellent friend, Jak. And I swear on all that’s holy, what happened last night was a one-time thing that I will never, ever pull on you ever again, even if I gotta lock myself in the utility closet next time it storms. Now we’re cool and we can put last night firmly behind us, right?”
“Right. Unless you need one more hug?” Jak asked, the playful tone coming back at long last.
Teasing was definitely more within his element. Thank goodness. Dax narrowed his eyes in pretended indignation. “I don’t need yer football cooties! Save ‘em fer the weasel, thanks. What I need now is breakfast! What time is it, anyway?”
“Uh…” Jak craned his neck, trying to see the clock on his desk from his upside-down position on the bunk. “Eight-thirty.”
“Well, hey, that ain’t bad. It’s not as late as I—” Daxter did a double take. “Hey, why are you even here? Don’t ya have class?”
Jak smiled almost sheepishly. “I, uh. Got part of the way there and decided not to go. No big deal.”
The redhead stared. Then he hid in the far corner, making the sign of the cross from where he had wedged himself between the wall and chest of drawers. “You… skipped class? Oh my God, who are you and what did you do ta my fake jock?!”
A flying pillow caught him in the face a moment later.
Yep, everything was back to normal.
- - - - -
The cafeteria downstairs was less crowded than usual for that time of morning. That could probably be attributed to the theory that everyone was actually in class on the final day of midterm exams. Whatever the reason, it turned out to be an especially serendipitous morning for Daxter: not only did he and Jak get to grab breakfast together on a weekday, but there were also plenty of tater tots left.
Jak stared at him as they found a table and he prepared his plate. “I’m not sure who failed to tell you this when you were a child, Dax, but pancake syrup goes on pancakes. And waffles. Maybe sausage links. Not hash-browns.”
Daxter responded with a prompt, if sticky, one finger salute. “Lay off my nutritional choices, blondie. I need sugar fer energy if I’m gonna pass this test later.”
“Speaking of midterms!”
The entirely too-cheerful voice directly behind his ear made Dax jump and squeal for the second time in an hour. Syrupy tater tots bounced as he glared over his shoulder at the intruder. “Damn it, Phoenix, would it kill ya ta say ‘good morning’ like a normal person?!”
“Sorry, Daxter.” The grin on the running back’s face said otherwise. “You’re just the gentlemen I wanted to see!”
“Hey, Phoenix. What about midterms, now?” Jak prompted, blowing casually at the steam coming off his coffee.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that everyone has been working entirely too hard getting ready for the bloody things. My ever-charming roommate, in particular. And, since today marks the end of them, I thought we could all use a little relaxation. Therefore, I hereby invite you two to movie night! This evening, our room, be there or be forever uncool and banished from the Sacred Circle of Mateship.”
“Relaxin’ movie night, huh?” Daxter rescued one of his tots from where it had rolled next to the salt shaker. “What’s the movie?”
“It’s a surprise!”
Jak laughed. “Enthusiastic much? Okay, I’m in. How about you, Dax?”
The redhead sucked syrup off his knuckles and nodded. “Yeah, sure, why not. Somebody’s gotta be yer date. Besides, can’t have Phoenix an’ Smokey knockin’ me down the totem pole of yer friendship, can I?”
“Excellent.” Phoenix clapped them both on the shoulder. “I’ll see you this evening, then. Just come on over after dinner whenever you’d like. Now then, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to find and invite Razer to our little get-together.”
“Have fun with that,” Dax muttered as Phoenix took his leave. “Razer’s just the sweetest dewy flower in the morning, after all. An’ in the afternoon. An’ all day, really. By that I totally mean he’s an asshole of the finest caliber.”
“Shut up and eat your tater tots, movie date,” Jak chuckled, finishing his coffee.
Daxter blushed rather hotly as he did. Memo to himself—he really needed to watch the stupid things he said. He didn’t want Jak to get the wrong idea or anything, after all.
- // - // - // - // -
Chilly morning ripened into chillier afternoon. With Halloween less than two weeks away Jak really shouldn’t have been surprised at the cold snap, but he had always been a warm weather kind of guy. With Daxter off to his Spanish midterm, though, the green-blonde was free to lounge and ponder in their marginally warmer room.
Killer dozing in his lap, Jak stared listlessly out the window at what remained of the colorful leaves after the storm from the night before. He had a lot to think about after the past twenty-four hours.
First and foremost on the list: figuring out a way to ask Daxter if he might be up for a little innocent hands-on fun between pals without scaring the redhead senseless in the process.
Earlier that morning he had obviously been flying high on Brand New Concept Airways and gotten too brave too fast because of it. He had managed to forget one very important factor in all of this—Daxter did not like to be touched. He was downright scared of people bigger than himself, though he hid it well. Probably the quickest way Jak could make sure his idea didn’t get an inch beyond the idea stage was to try to push physicality on his friend too soon.
So he would wait. That was fine. Jak was a patient guy. He could drop hints in little ways, unobtrusive ways, and when he thought Dax might be warm to the idea he would bring up the notion of—
Jak tried very hard not to think about the details. He wanted to try sex with his male roommate, sure. He did not want to get weird around said roommate and best friend because he couldn’t keep his mind off the thought of said hypothetical sex. Just the relatively innocent contact from that morning had him dwelling on eventual possibilities and making it supremely hard to concentrate on anything else.
He drew a hand down Killer’s stomach, the ferret sound asleep in an upside-down “U” shape in his lap. Trusting thing. Now, if he could just get Dax to relax enough for a petting like that…
Jak sighed deeply. “You know, little guy, I wish all strays could be as trusting as you.”
A sudden knock on the door made the quarterback jump guiltily. He grabbed for Killer before the limp jumble of fur and vertebrae could slide off his lap and cleared his throat hastily. “Y-yeah?”
“Hey there, Jak. Can I come in?”
“Sure, Phoenix. What’s up?” He got to his feet, snoozing ferret tucked in the crook of his arm, as his teammate stepped in.
Phoenix looked slightly ruffled. “Sorry to butt in, Jak, but I need to know something. Would it be alright if we swapped movie night out for tomorrow?”
“Why? Did something happen?”
“Not exactly. Something came up that needs my attention, is all. Will that be a problem?”
Jak considered. “I don’t think so. I mean, tomorrow’s Saturday, so no class. Practice is in the morning and you wanted it to be a movie night, so that’s no big deal. Dax gets away from Pizza Haven by nine, so I bet he could even bring us some pizza if we wait for him.”
“Perfect.” Phoenix grinned calculatingly. “And that brings me to my second question. Would you and Daxter be up for a little prank tonight instead?”
“Prank? Huh? What? Who’s gettin’ pranked? What’re we doin’? What’d I miss?” The redhead almost tripped over his own feet as he struggled to get into the room as quickly as possible, eyes wide and ears perked so straight in his intense interest that he looked like a cat going for a laser pointer.
Jak shook his head helplessly as Phoenix took the verbal pouncing in stride, dropping an arm around Daxter’s shoulders and laying out a cleverly crafted plot conspiratorially. Whatever else might be going on in his personal life, Jak could honestly say that things at Haven U were never, ever boring.
- // - // - // - // -
To be continued.
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- 8
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