Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandom:
Relationship:
Language:
English
Collections:
Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
Stats:
Published:
2020-11-04
Words:
4,493
Chapters:
1/1
Kudos:
9
Hits:
930

Hair Again Gone As Soon As Possible

Summary:

That hairstyle in the ‘Citizen Joe’ flashback just had to be explained.

Work Text:

Title: Hair Today, Gone As Soon As Possible
Author: Sistine
Feedback to: sistinemay@yahoo.co.uk
Pairing: J/D
Rating: PG
Season: Very early Two
Spoilers: Serpent's Lair
Date: 14th April, 2005
Synopsis: That hairstyle in the 'Citizen Joe' flashback just had to be explained.
Notes: This was going to be a simple story, not even J/D slash, and then I had a look at QuinGem's artwork. One picture in particular - 'Be My Teddy Bear' - caught my eye and
I realised that I just had to use it in a fic somehow, so it became the inspiration for the final scene.
The address for the picture, if anyone wants to view it, is:
http://quingem.popullus.net/teddybear.html
No sex, sorry guys - but with all the other stories I've got on the go, I was running out of ideas :)
Feedback - Yes please please please!!!
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine, and the artwork isn't mine either - I'm just using them to create a nice little story.
------------
"How about a little bet, Dannyboy?" Jack said as they sat morosely on the couch at his house.

"A bet?" Daniel peered suspiciously at his friend. They'd already had 2.5 beers each - well, Jack had downed that many, Daniel had only had one but it felt like 2.5 beers - and Daniel had the feeling Jack was about to take advantage of that.

"Yeah. On the mission tomorrow." Jack took another swig of beer. "If we do
actually have to save the world tomorrow, and you get injured doing it, then I get to take
you to a hairdresser and do something about your mop of hair." He wanted to see what
Daniel looked like when he wasn't so geeky.

"That's not fair!" Daniel protested, waving his beer about. "I always get injured!"

Jack grinned. "That's what makes it such a good bet." He was quite looking forward
to this - provided they all got home alive, of course.

Daniel thought that over for a minute. "Okay," he agreed. "Then since you don't
believe me, if we *do* have to save Earth, you'll have to do something I pick."

"Like what?" Jack queried.

"I'll think of it when I'm sober," Daniel replied before finishing off his beer. "That's
enough for me. I'll see you in the morning, Jack." He got up and carefully negotiated his
way out of the living room.

"Goodnight, Daniel," Jack called after him. He slowly finished off his beer and then
headed to bed, his thoughts on the upcoming mission.
***************
"No way!" Daniel shook his head, adamantly refusing Jack's order.

"Oh yes," Jack countered. "We made a bet. If you got injured, then I'd get to choose
a new hairstyle for you. And that's what I'm going to do."

"Jack, I was drunk," Daniel protested. "You can't hold me to a bet I made in that
state." Since he could actually remember the bet, he knew that he hadn't been too drunk
though.

"You weren't that drunk," Jack said, echoing Daniel's thoughts.

"Well, in that case, I get to choose something that you have to do since we both lost
the bet." Daniel grinned briefly. "If I remember correctly, you didn't think we were
going to save the world."

Jack hid a groan; he had hoped Daniel wouldn't remember that part. "Fine. Anything
particular in mind?"

"Actually, yes," Daniel replied. He grinned at the thought.

"Well?" Jack prompted when Daniel didn't say anything more.

"I'm not sure I should tell you right now. You might try to get out of it."

"A bet is a bet, Daniel," Jack said with mock-hurt. He put his hand over his heart. "I
promise I won't try to get out of it."

Daniel's grin widened. "In that case - General Hammond has approved a mission to
P3R-233 to retrieve all the artifacts from there. They will all need sorting out and
cataloguing, and as I currently don't have anyone on staff, I need some help with it.
Since you lost your part of the bet, you'll have to help me." It might be bad for his
nerves but the entertainment value should make up for it.

Jack groaned; what had he let himself in for?
***************
The mission went without a hitch, and Daniel found himself in Jack's car heading to
the hairdresser's that afternoon. Despite the fact that he wanted to get a good start on the
artifacts, Jack had somehow talked General Hammond into ordering Daniel off the base.
Daniel didn't really want to know what excuse Jack had used; he was just content to be
spending time with his friend, even if it was to get some sort of weird haircut. So he tried
to resist the call of the artifacts and focused on Jack. His friend - best friend, Daniel
thought with pleasure - had a big smile on his face and was currently singing along with
the tune on the radio. That meant that Jack was in a good mood, and after the events of
the past week, that was good to see. Daniel felt his own mood rise to match Jack's
despite the fact he didn't like their destination. He always felt good when spending time
with Jack, which was part of the reason why he had recruited Jack's help with the
cataloguing.

At the hairdresser's, Jack perused a few magazines before deciding on a particular
style and colour. He pointed it out to the female hairdresser, who nodded and
immediately got to work.

"This better not be weird," Daniel commented as the woman started on his hair. "If it
is, then I won't be coming into work until it grows out and you'll have to explain why to
the General."

"It's not going to be weird," Jack promised. He was hoping that it was going to look
good but he knew Daniel was going to be hard to convince.

The two of them bantered back and forth, Daniel trying to keep his mind off what was
happening to his hair. It had been thinned out, dyed a darker brown colour, and cut
shorter so that his fringe was out of his face. When it was done, he reluctantly looked in
the mirror and faced his altered reflection. His initial reaction was that he didn't like it.
A stranger was looking back at him. Daniel turned his eyes away from the mirror; he
didn't know what to say.

Jack had second thoughts about the hairstyle now that he saw it on Daniel but he
didn't say that; it was his idea, he had to love it. But already he missed the innocence
and youthfulness that the lighter, fluffier hair had given Daniel. He plastered a grin on
his face and teased, "Wow, Dannyboy. You'll be fighting the women off with a stick."

"Just what I want," Daniel muttered, trying to discern what Jack really thought. His
friend didn't seem overly enthusiastic about the end result but he knew Jack well enough
to know that the older man would never say so. He stole another look in the mirror;
nope, he still didn't like it but for a few days, he could put up with it if Jack really liked
it. "Do you like it?"

"It looks great," Jack stated, refraining from ruffling Daniel's hair. The new look
would grow on him. But he would never again suggest changing it.
***************
They had been cataloguing for days - or at least, that's how long it seemed to Jack.
The mission the previous day to P3R-233 had yielded what seemed like hundreds of
artifacts. Now Daniel was painstakingly going through each one, writing down
descriptions before giving each a number and putting them either somewhere in his
office for further study, or into one of several packing crates that would be put into
storage for study when the archaeological/anthropological department received more
staff.

"How about some lunch?" Jack tried to distract his linguist from the task. He was
doing all the careful taking out of artifacts to hand to Daniel, then putting them back into
the crates if necessary. Also, his job included fetching pens, extra paper, finding various
books if Daniel needed a reference, and making coffee. Jack glanced at his watch - it
was past 1300, and they'd been at this since 0800 that morning, so it was definitely time
for a break.

"I'm fine," Daniel said absently, scribbling down some notes on what looked to be an
artifact from Babylon. As he wrote, the fingers on his left hand lightly moved up and
down the almost-cylindrical object.

Jack watched the movement with fascination. He knew Daniel was very tactile with
his artifacts but this seemed to be almost a loving caress. Given the shape of the object
too - cylindrical with a rounded top and large base - Jack had to smile at the image.
"Would you two like to be alone?"

"What? Oh!" Daniel suddenly realised what he was doing and what it must look like
to Jack. He quickly snatched his hand away, embarrassed. "Sorry."

"No problem," Jack replied, still grinning. Then he had a mental image of those long
fingers caressing the real thing and he started to get hard. Startled, he turned away and
tried to think of something else. Where had that image come from? "So," he said,
clearing his throat, "lunch?"

Daniel shook his head; he didn't want to go to the cafeteria and get stared at by
everyone. It was bad enough when he had arrived that morning so he really didn't want
to subject himself to more of that now. "Just bring me back something."

"Okay." Jack quickly left the room and went to his office for a few minutes until his
erection had subsided. He didn't know where that image had come from, and he realised
that he was jealous of anyone that Daniel might have caressed so intimately. Not that he
thought Daniel was gay or anything, or was assuming that he was because the younger
man was a geek. And he didn't want Daniel to do that to him. Although, judging by his
body's reaction to that idea, parts of him did. But it was never going to happen so his
body would just have to accept that and move on to more normal pastures... so to speak.

Confident he had his body under control, Jack headed out again to get some lunch.
***************
When he arrived back at Daniel's lab, the linguist was leaning over his desk, his
backside the first thing Jack saw as he entered the room. Immediately, he felt a certain
part of him jump to attention and he inwardly cursed. He quickly went to the other side
of the desk so that Daniel didn't notice and then put the food on the table. "Here, eat
up."

Daniel glanced over at the food. The sandwiches didn't really appeal to him. "I'll
just have some coffee." He picked up the styrofoam cup from where Jack had put it on
the table and took a sip, being careful because he knew the coffee would be hot.

"You have to eat, Daniel," Jack scolded him.

"I'm well aware of that," Daniel replied in a patient tone. "And I will, as soon as the
commissary supplies food that is edible."

Jack glanced down at the sandwich in his hand. Even years of eating military food
hadn't made him used to the stuff that they could dish out. "Yeah, well..."

"You know, as second in command of the base, you could do something about that,"
Daniel continued, sipping his coffee and glancing over the next artifact on his desk.

"Yeah, maybe." Jack started eating; it was something to consider. "Well, if you're
not going to eat lunch, how about dinner tonight, my place? I'll cook," he added as
incentive. By then, he would have got his strange reactions to Daniel under control.

"Deal," the linguist agreed. That would mean he would have to leave work early
enough so he could go to his apartment, wash his hair several times to get as much dye
out as possible, and then have it dry in time to go to Jack's house. He glanced at the
clock; it would be a sacrifice but he could do it because he wanted his old hair back as
soon as possible.
***************
It took four washes for Daniel to be satisfied that the majority of the hair dye was
gone. He rushed out of the bathroom and glanced at the clock. Darn, he only had 20
minutes to get over to Jack's house! Deciding there wasn't enough time to blow-dry his
hair, he quickly rubbed it to get as much moisture out as possible, then he hurriedly got
dressed. For some reason, he didn't want to be late tonight.
***************
Dinner was delicious, as was the wine that went with it. The two men then retired
into the living room. Daniel took his glass of wine, Jack brought a bottle of beer. They
sat together on the couch, comfortably close but not enough to feel the heat of their
bodies.

Jack looked sideways at his companion. Daniel's hair was almost back to the normal
brown-blonde shade, although it was still thinned out. It looked much better now.
Without thinking about it, he raised one hand and touched a stray strand.

Daniel automatically shied away from the unexpected touch. "Jack?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I did that." Jack immediately snatched his hand back
and took a swig of his beer to cover his embarrassment.

"That's okay. I've noticed you've got a thing for my hair," Daniel joked,
remembering the hug that Jack had given him only days ago after surviving their 'save
the world' mission. One of Jack's hands had slid into his hair then and Daniel had liked
the way it had made him feel. Of course, the full body hug had helped too. He had
realised that Jack truly cared for him, and after a lifetime of looking after himself, it had
been really good to know that someone would have really missed him if he had died.

"Not just for your hair," Jack said without thinking. Then when his brain caught up
with what he had said, and he saw the stunned look on Daniel's face, he swore under his
breath. He hadn't meant to say that when he was only just beginning to work out his own
feelings.

"What do you mean?" Daniel's mind supplied a possible reason but he wasn't going
to accept it until he heard say Jack it.

Jack rubbed his hand over his face; he was so screwed. "It's nothing. Forget I said
anything."

"No, I want to know," Daniel persisted. He turned so that his body was facing Jack's
and he brought one leg up so that it rested on the couch against Jack's thigh. "What did
you mean?"

Wrapping both hands around his beer, Jack stared down at them as he replied, "I've
been having some... feelings lately."

Daniel could see where this was going. "As in 'don't-ask-don't-tell' feelings?"

"Yeah," Jack admitted. "Shocked?" He couldn't look up at his best friend to see
what expression might be on his face, not when the feel of Daniel's leg next to his was
causing a few of those feelings to stir again.

"Kind of. I take it you're not gay." Daniel thought Jack would have been either a lot
more straightforward or a lot more careful if he had been.

"Nope." He'd never had those kind of feelings towards any guy before. Then again,
he had never let any guy in like he had let Daniel. Jack took another swig of his beer.
"Probably just relief seeing you alive again," he said as casually as he could.

"Maybe." Daniel felt disappointed and ducked his head. He had kind of liked the
idea of Jack being attracted to him. "Pity," he murmured.

That caused Jack to look up. "What?" Had he just heard what he'd thought he had
heard?

"If you were a-attracted to me, I'd be flattered," Daniel stated. "It's not a situation I
often find myself in." He knew he was reasonably good-looking but his geeky clothing
generally put people off getting to know him.

"You're kidding me," Jack said disbelievingly. He had it on good authority that the
entire female contingent in the SGC - including Carter - thought Daniel was hot.

"No, really." Daniel managed to lift his eyes to look at Jack, his cheeks reddening in
embarrassment. "People take one look at me and say 'geek', which makes it difficult to
date. Or they like me at the start but then somehow, I seem to drive them away.
Whereas you know me better than anyone else and you're still here, a-apparently
attracted to me in some way. Although I can understand if you've changed your mind."

Jack felt sorry that Daniel had been treated so badly and had been made to feel that
any relationship break-ups were his fault. He lifted one hand to slide through Daniel's
hair, the silky strands drifting over his fingers. "I'm not going anywhere. And I haven't
changed my mind. I *am* attracted to you, Daniel, but I haven't quite sorted it out yet."
He gave the linguist a smile. "Kind of knocked me for six, you know."

Daniel's breath caught as a frission of something went through him at the touch. Was
it... yes, it was. Arousal. Something he had last felt just over a year ago before Sha're
was taken from him. And something he had never expected to feel for his best friend.
"I-I know what you mean."

Jack's eyes widened. "You're..."

"Attracted to you. I think so." Daniel licked his lips nervously. "So are we going
to...?"

"Going to what?" Jack asked, his eyes locking onto Daniel's full lips. He really
wanted to taste them...

"See whether this is really attraction or not,"
Daniel stated, interrupting Jack's
thoughts. Then he noticed where Jack was looking. "Jack, stop staring."

"Sorry." Jack forced himself to look away. Then he shifted uncomfortably as his
erection hardened.

"Okay, I think we've pretty much determined your attraction," Daniel said dryly;
being a guy, he knew what that shift meant.

"And you're not freaked?" Jack had to clarify that point.

"Jack, if I was freaked, I wouldn't still be sitting here discussing this." Daniel
absently ran his fingers through his hair, not finding it as comforting as usual since it
wasn't as thick. "So, maybe we should just... you know. Kiss."

"Wait a second, Daniel." Jack didn't want to do anything they couldn't go back from.
Well, not yet anyway. "You want to kiss?"

"Well, it would, um, certainly produce a reaction if, you know..." Daniel trailed off;
he hated talking about this kind of stuff. So, not giving Jack - or himself - any more time
to think, he leaned forward, drew Jack to him, and kissed him hard.

Definitely attraction, Jack thought as arousal slammed into his groin. One hand
automatically went into Daniel's hair to hold him in place, sliding through the silky
strands. Boy, could Daniel kiss! Jack had been guilty of thinking that Daniel hadn't had
much experience with such things but he found himself rapidly revising his opinion.

Definitely attraction, Daniel thought as he quickly grew hard. How had he never
noticed this before? He supposed he'd had other things on his mind during the past year.
Still, he should have noticed something. He was definitely noticing now. Boy, could
Jack kiss! Daniel knew that Jack had most likely had many partners, many more than
him, and his experience was definitely showing. Rather like evidence of their mutual
attraction, Daniel thought as he pulled back, gasping for air and looking down. Slowly
bringing his eyes back up to Jack's, he said, "I guess that answers that question."

Jack chuckled. "Oh yeah." He shifted around on the couch, put his other hand in
Daniel's hair, and then slowly brought the younger man close again. "But I think we
need to get more evidence, don't you? Just in case it was a fluke," he suggested.

"Okay." Daniel closed his eyes as Jack leaned in. This time, the touch was
featherlight to begin with, then the pressure increased as desire started to consume them
both. It felt so good to be kissing Jack, to be kissed by Jack, and Daniel wanted more.
He let his lips part and Jack took advantage, turning the kiss into an open-mouthed one.

Heavy breathing and loud heartbeats were all that could be heard during the next few
minutes. Daniel leaned towards Jack, forcing him backwards, eager for more. As Jack
broke away to start planting kisses on Daniel's neck, the younger man said, "Jack?"

"What?"

"Bedroom?"

Jack stopped for a moment and looked Daniel in the eye. "Are you sure? There'll be
no going back."

"I know." He and Jack were so close that this was the next logical step, the only step
they could take now. "Do you want to?"

Jack's raised eyebrow spoke volumes.

Daniel grinned. "Then let's do it."
***************
It wasn't the usual post-sex position but Daniel liked it anyway. Jack was sitting up
against the headboard - well, slouched against would probably be the better phrase - with
his knees bent. Daniel lay at right angles to him, resting back against the older man. One
arm was wrapped around Jack's right leg and the other rested on his own stomach.
Jack's left arm supported his neck, his hand resting on Daniel's shoulder; the other arm
lay over the one on his stomach. It wasn't the most intimate of embraces but for two men
who had only just become lovers, it was enough.

"You know, I like your hair better like this," Jack mused, lazily reaching up with his
left hand to stroke Daniel's damp hair.

"What, all mussed up and sweaty?" Daniel teased. He leaned his head back to see
Jack better and smiled up at him.

Jack ignored the comment and smiled back. "I can't believe you managed to have
sex with your glasses on," he stated with amusement.

"I wanted to see you," Daniel replied simply. He had wanted to see their first time
clearly so that the memories would hopefully remain that way. "So, you didn't like the
other hairstyle?" he asked, changing the subject back again.

"Okay, I'll admit that it wasn't one of my better ideas." He had ended up hating the
fact that the dark hair had made Daniel look so much older and less innocent. Although
he knew that it was probably a bad idea, he wanted to keep Daniel looking young and
innocent for as long as possible - he didn't want Daniel to get old too quickly. "But at
least we know never to do that again."

"Agreed." Daniel absently stroked his hand up and down Jack's leg, feeling the
rough hair against his soft skin. He wanted to savour every sensation, every look, every
second of their first time.

Jack noticed the wistful smile on Daniel's face. "I hope you don't regret this," he
commented. He knew that Daniel's character would make him faithful to his lovers and
he wasn't sure if Daniel would feel guilty about this when Sha're was still out there
somewhere.

"Not for a second." Looking up at Jack, Daniel interpreted the expression with the
ease of knowing someone inside out. "Sha're is lost to me, Jack. Even if we get her
back, she won't be the same. She might not even love me anymore. And she would be
better off living on Abydos with Kasuf than with me anyway."

Jack didn't know how anyone could stop loving Daniel. The fingers on his right hand
closed over Daniel's and he squeezed them as he gently moved their joined hands over
the younger man's stomach. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, Danny."

The corner of Daniel's twitched. He liked that Jack was the only one who called him
that. Coming from Jack, it didn't sound demeaning or derogatory - most of the time,
depending on what mood the older man was in. Now he knew it signified affection and
love. "Who would have thought that it was my hair that triggered this?" he commented
with amusement.

"Who would have thought?" Jack agreed. It was amazing that such a simple thing
had changed his life. But unlike Daniel's brief change of hairstyle, he knew this was
permanent. Or at least, he would do his best to make sure it was.