Time & Again
Chapter 7 - I've Had Fun Before - This Isn't It
Jack groaned as he slumped his way down to the nearby river.
After
helping to restore the village back to livable decency – and he’d been
lying his butt off when he’d claimed he didn’t have the knack for
carpentry – Jack was fairly certain that he was going to fail in his
mission, because he’d never again be able to move on his own power,
which would make following Jun-Han around a bit difficult.
He’d
worked diligently to get homes restored; salvaging whatever he was able
to and re-using it, and trashing whatever couldn’t be saved. He’d been
followed around by a group of children who’d been fascinated by his
coloring, yet were too shy to actually approach him. He’d given them
quite a few irritated looks, but they hadn’t taken the hint and
continued to follow him around until their mothers had finally
collected them because it was time for dinner and bed.
Night had
fallen and the moon was full overhead when the last of the repairs were
completed. He’d stood for a moment, looking around in tired confusion,
wondering where Liu Chang’s home was. It was then that Guan had
appeared out of nowhere to hand him a rough towel, a pile of clothing,
and a bar of soap and ordered him to go to the river to bathe and wash
his own clothes.
Too tired to argue, Jack had accepted the items and followed orders, trudging away tiredly.
Once
at the river, he looked around and saw that the villagers had created a
shallow wading area for swimming and bathing. Sighing and stretching,
Jack dropped the items he’d been given and stripped off his crusty
clothing – all of it, because even his boxers were icky – and tossed
them down beside the water’s edge for cleaning later.
Naked,
he then grabbed up the soap and waded into the shallow pool, wincing at
the coolness of the water. Nevertheless, shivering, he squatted down
and splashed water up over his head and let it sluice down his body.
Once he was wet enough, he scrubbed the soap into his hair, getting as
much lather as he could; there was nothing he hated more than dirty
hair. He washed his hair three times before he decided it was clean and
then turned his attention to the rest of his body.
Finally, with
most of the soap bar lathered away, Jack decided he was finally clean,
and so he tossed the soap onto the nearby grass and then cupped his
hands, scooping up water to pour it over his skin to rinse himself
clean. When he was done, stood up straight and looked up at the moon
for a bit, enjoying the clear, beautiful glow of the moonlight.
This was how Jun-Han found him when the older man arrived at the river to see what was taking so long.
~*~*~*~
Liu Chang sniffed deeply and grinned with satisfaction. “Ah, I do believe supper is ready.”
“I cannot wait – it smells delicious!” Omi said happily from his seat by the table.
“Young Omi is correct,” said Guan. “Apparently, your cooking skills have improved, Liu.”
Liu
turned and shook the wooden spoon he held at Guan. “Hah! You weren’t
complaining the last few times you made yourself fat on my food!”
Guan said nothing; merely grinned a huge smile that was mostly teeth.
Jun-Han
stood from where he’d been polishing his armor and stretched; his black
silk clothing rustling softly with his movements. “Spicer is still down
by the river, isn’t he?”
Guan nodded. “Presumably that is where he is. It’s the direction he was going after I spoke to him.”
“Perhaps you’d best go check on him,” Liu suggested. “After what nearly happened earlier…”
Jun-Han’s
face darkened with a frown. “Yes… I think perhaps you are correct, my
friend.” With that, he swiftly exited the house.
The moonlight
lit the way clearly. As he passed through the outskirts of the village,
a few people were outside and they watched him pass. Jun-Han ignored
them when they did not call out to him; he wanted to make certain
Spicer was all right and had not been abducted as he nearly was earlier.
Following
the well-worn path out of the village and down the gently sloping hill
towards the river, Jun-Han kept his senses open for trouble, but sensed
nothing.
Finally, he arrived at the bathing area and came to a halt, staring wide-eyed at the being before him.
Jack
Spicer was standing knee deep in the water, his head tipped slightly
back, and completely naked; covered only in the fresh night air and the
light of the full moon overhead.
Abruptly, the youth turned, and
Jun-Han realized belatedly that he’d made some small sound in his
throat that had apparently startled Spicer by alerting him to his
presence.
“Hey!” Spicer yelped, and quickly covered himself with his hands even as he blushed fiercely. “Do you mind?”
“No,” Jun-Han said softly, and walked forward a few steps, until he stood right at the water’s edge. “I don’t mind at all.”
~*~*~*~
Jack scowled at the older man and kept his hands protectively cupped over his genitals.
“Right,
there’s this thing called ‘personal space’,” he said tightly. “When you
start invading my privacy, you’re violating my personal space.”
Jun-Han
blinked, startled. “I am sorry; I had no idea I was hurting you. I
simply… By all the hundred little gods, Spicer, you are beautiful.”
Jack felt his blush intensify and his skin ripple with goose-chills. Gritting his teeth, he growled, “You’re not hurting me – I just don’t see the need for you to be looking at me while I’m naked.”
The older man smiled. “Perhaps there is no need, but I find it pleasurable.”
“I don’t. I’m wet, I’m cold, and I still have to wash my clothes.”
“No one is stopping you,” Jun-Han invited.
“Yes, you are.”
Jun-Han frowned. “I will not touch you, Spicer. I will not hurt you.”
“I’m sure you believe that. Look… why are you here, anyway?” Jack asked plaintively.
“Supper is ready. I came to find you to make sure you hadn’t been abducted, as you nearly were earlier today.”
Jack blinked. “He was trying to kidnap me?”
“I do not know this ‘kidnap’. He was trying to escape with you.”
“That’d be the same thing. But why?”
“Why?” Jun-Han was incredulous. “Are you – do you not realize what he intended to do to you?”
Jack wasn’t stupid. In the space of a heartbeat, he understood what the older man meant, and his blush faded rapidly as his eyes went wide.
“He… he was going to… but why?” Jack asked, his voice cracking.
Jun-Han
sighed and shook his head. “You are not aware of your attractiveness,
are you? No, don’t bother answering; the answer is clear enough.
Suffice it to say, your uniqueness makes you exceedingly desirable.”
Jack groaned. “Terrific – yet another reason to wish I weren’t a freak.”
“What does ‘freak’ mean?”
“Abnormal. Not standard. Weird. Ugly. Unattractive.”
Jun-Han frowned. “But you are not a freak.”
Jack sighed. “Can we just agree to disagree?”
“For now.”
“Turn around so I can get out of here.”
Jun-Han
turned and walked a few steps away. He halted there, crossing his arms
over his chest, alert to every tiny sound. He could hear the water
sloshing as Jack made his way up onto the ground, but he didn’t move.
Moving
quickly, Jack dried off as best he could and got dressed. Taking up
what was left of the soap, he then did his best at washing his clothes
and wishing he’d thought to bring extras with him. True, he had the
Sands of Time with him, and could presumably go home to get fresh
clothes of his own, but he had to stay close to Jun-Han until Hannibal Roy Bean arrived.
Rinsing
away the last of the soap, Jack pulled his clothes from the river and
wrung the excess water out, and then he gathered the towel and his
boots, and said, “I’m done; let’s go.”
Jun-Han turned to look at him and then gestured for Jack to precede him.
With a shivery feeling, Jack did so.
The two of them walked up the path together. After a moment, Jack glanced over and said, “So… that’s why you looked so angry?”
Jun-Han gave him a questioning look.
“When you were beating that guy up,” Jack clarified. “You looked angry.”
“I was angry,” said Jun-Han simply.
Jack didn’t know what to say to that and so said nothing at all.
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