title: Ping-Pong and Other Affairs

author: Sarah Li MacKiver

archive: yes, please. :)

fandom: Stargate SG1

pairing: Jack/Daniel

warnings: brief violence

category: first times, pwp

**********************
Ping-Pong and Other Affairs
by Sarah Li MacKiver
**********************

It was nine o'clock on a Saturday night. They sat drinking peacefully, beer in bottles, their conversation minimal. No touchy subject had been approached, and that included nearly everything. Nothing to do with their lives before or after the stargate project, with the air force, archeology, their families or past dead and/or missing lovers, with other worlds, aliens or wormholes. That left very little to discuss.

"So, seen any good movies lately?" Dr. Daniel Jackson asked uncomfortably, setting down his empty bottle.

"Movies? Me? No." Colonel Jack O’Neill shrugged. "I fall asleep."

"Yeah, me, too." Daniel sighed, and fell silent. It was no use.

An angry shout disturbed their awkward calm. Just in time, they ducked as a hurtling chair passed over their heads and crashed into the wall behind them. Jack, wide-eyed, glared in the direction of the offending chair-hurler and growled deep in his throat.

"Jack, calm down," Daniel warned. "We've been drinking, he's *really* drunk, and we're in a public place. If you get involved in a bar room brawl, one of us could get hurt, or even worse-you could get court martialed."

Jack counted to ten and expelled a long breath. "You're right. Let's get outta here."

The brawny drunk, who oddly resembled a certain nasty-but-famous pro-wrestler, had other ideas. He approached them threateningly, pool stick in hand. Daniel flung up his left hand to block and caught the first blow on the underside of the forearm. The attacker drew back for a second vicious swing and whacked Jack soundly on the right upper arm.

Daniel stood suddenly, shouting into his face. "What the hell is the matter with you, you idiot? We weren't bothering you!"

"I saw the way you were looking at me, and don't call me an idiot!" The stick swung again, striking Daniel's side. Daniel yelled in pain, made a grab for the stick, but missed. Jack lunged for him, but the drunk staggered to the side and whacked him on the back as he moved.

Daniel reached out again, finally caught the impromptu weapon as it made another wide arc and yanked hard, towed the man within arm's reach so he could clobber him. It looked good, but it cost him the skin from two knuckles. Cursing, he grabbed a handful of greasy hair and slammed the man's forehead into the tabletop. His hands were then joined by Jack's, and the two of them worked together to lift the inebriated trouble-maker into a somersault and heave him into the wall where he slid into a heap and stopped moving.

Jack hooted like Ric Flair as he gave Daniel a high-five. "Tag team action! Okay, *now* let's get out of here."

He had just eased his truck out onto the highway when the police arrived, sirens blaring.

"Whew, that was close." Daniel laughed, holding his aching side.

"Yeah, *too* close. Well, that does it for my favorite hangout. I guess we'll be looking for another place to do our drinking."

"I have an idea."

Jack waited.

"In fact, it's something we should've thought about a long time ago. How about your place? Or mine? Or maybe we could quit drinking altogether and take up something safer?"

"Like maybe crocheting?" Jack asked, thinking that his smartass character was becoming a key factor in Daniel’s profile, too. On Daniel, it wasn’t so good.

Daniel paused. "Well, there's a thought. Or we could buy a dart board...or a Ping-Pong table."

"Ping-Pong?" Jack almost seemed genuinely interested. "And could we tell anyone what we were doing with all our spare time if we were avid Ping-Pong players?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Daniel, it would probably be easier to tell them we were singing karaoke on Saturdays and line-dancing on Wednesdays. Or having an affair."

Daniel gazed at him through his lashes. "We could always do that, too."

Jack laughed. "Which one--the karaoke or the linedancing?"

The blue eyes darted from Jack’s face to his hands. "How about the affair?"

"Okay, we definitely had too much to drink tonight. Daniel, I'm absolutely not buying a Ping Pong table."

"Not buying a dart board, either?"

"No."

"Not going to karaoke?"

"*Hell*, no."

There was another pause, then Daniel mumbled. "What about the affair?"

"And I'm *not* having an affair with you!" Jack said irritably.

Daniel looked down and nodded.

"An affair is something that doesn't last. It's a diversion, a man cheating on his wife, a sleazy, loveless liaison where someone always ends up getting hurt. I'm not having one with *you*."

"Okay, Jack, I got your point."

"*Do* you?"

"You don't want an affair with me!"

"No, I don't." Jack turned a corner, wiping blood from the corner of his lip. He couldn't remember being hit in the mouth. Touching his cheek tenderly, he realized that in his stress, he had bitten through the inside of his jaw. "Aw, hell, Danny." He punched the steering wheel and jumped when the horn sounded. "Shit!"

********

Jack's couch seemed somehow too small. Daniel shifted uncomfortably as he finished his third cup of decaf. "You know, I think I'm gonna go home."

"Why?"

"Well, because I live there."

"Tomorrow’s Sunday--no work. Why don't you stay over?"

"I don't think that's a good idea tonight, Jack."

"Why not? Because I said I didn't want to take up Ping-Pong?"

Daniel sighed and leaned forward, his face in his hands.

"I meant what I said, you know."

"About what?" Daniel asked wearily.

"About not having an affair with you."

"Yeah, I got that, Jack." He looked glumly at the door. "I wasn’t trying to..."

"Dammit, Danny, why do you always have to be so difficult?"

"*I’m* difficult? Jack, look who’s talking!"

"For somebody so smart, you don’t catch on very..."

"Then make me understand! I wasn’t trying to..."

"If you would stop interrupting and let me explain..."

"I wish you *would* explain!"

"All right! Just listen to me!"

"I’m all ears!"

Jack took a deep, settling breath and plunged in. "I want the real thing with you, Danny. You mean too much to me to call it 'an affair'."

Daniel stared at him in disbelief. "You're saying..."

Jack scooted closer to him and the couch shrank some more. "I'm saying I love you a lot, Ping-Pong boy."

"You..." Daniel swallowed air. "You do?"

"Yeah, I do."

"I...I don't know what to say." Daniel's blue eyes scaled his face. "I...um...I love you, too."

"Then I have a perfect suggestion for our evenings."

Daniel smiled and shivered at the same time.

"And it won't cost us a cent."

"Okay." Daniel edged closer to him.

"We'll sing karaoke," Jack finished, grinning.

"Okay." Daniel found himself caught up in a bear hug. Wincing, he breathed, "God, Jack. My ribs hurt."

Easing up on the hug, Jack rubbed the ribs gently. "Sorry."

"We both got some bruises tonight." Daniel said.

"Let me take a look." The colonel backed away and cautiously lifted the shirt. "You could have a cracked rib."

"I don’t think so. I think it’s just a bruise." The archeologist held up his arm to allow him to inspect the dark area. When the colonel’s lips grazed the sore spot, he closed his eyes and moaned.

"We need to get out of these clothes and check each other out," Jack whispered in utter torment.

Breathless, Daniel agreed wholeheartedly. "Sounds good to me."

"You’re so bad."

"I’m *bad*?"

Jack laughed and raised up to softly kiss his lips. "No, actually, you’re pretty good."

There was a brief moment of appreciation. "That was nice."

"More than just *nice*."

Their eyes met and held as their lips inched together again. As they met, the world around him dissolved into silence. Nothing else mattered, nothing else compared. Kissing was the most important thing they had ever done, more important than any mission or milestone, and they never wanted it to end.


Daniel tilted his head, opened his mouth wider and shuddered with anticipation. So lost was he in the adoration of their gentle gestures that it took a minute for his mind to process that Jack had drawn back to gaze at him in concern. "You okay?"

"I'm good," Daniel answered serenely. "You don't have to stop. Ever."

Jack cupped his cheek, gazed serenely into his eyes. "You are so beautiful. We should continue this elsewhere."

"*I’m* beautiful? Jack, have you looked in a mirror lately?" Daniel could have drowned in those liquid brown eyes. "Where?"

"I make it a point to stay away from mirrors. In my bedroom?"

"That sounds like a plan."

"I'll let you undress me if you want to. You can take a look at my back."

"I'll take a look at everything. What else do I get?"

Jack rubbed noses with him and gently kissed his lips. "Anything you want."

With a profoundly deep sigh, Daniel settled in unhurriedly. "You're still a little tipsy and you're wading into uncharted territory here, Colonel. You sure this is what you want?"

After another long, loving kiss, Jack nodded. "Oh, yeah. I'm sure. Are *you* sure, Dr. Jackson?"

"I'm positive." Daniel breathed in and tasted his essence, savored it, basked in it. "I'm absolutely, positively, completely... sure."

Jack groaned at the teasing touches and inflicted more tender kisses on his full lips. The alcohol was wearing off and he was feeling the ill effects of their little altercation in the bar. "Although I don't think I'll be up to anything too active tonight."

"So you're not up for a game of Ping-Pong?"

Kissing him again, Jack answered with a sly wink. "Depends on the terminology, Danny."

And with another Ric Flair whoop, he propelled him into the bedroom and tackled him on the bed.

~end~