Time & Again
Chapter 8 - Mornings are a Delusion of the Planet Bound
Jun-Han crouched for a moment by the sleeping pile of youngster, watching Jack and Omi sleep.
Spicer
had been tired enough that he’d actually fallen asleep while eating his
dinner. Omi had pulled out his Orb of Tornami, but Guan had taken it
from him with a shake of his head while Jun-Han had shaken Spicer awake
enough to get him to finish chewing the mouthful he’d had. Once that
was done, Spicer had promptly fallen asleep again, and Jun-Han had
scooped the young man up into his arms and carried him a few feet away
to the pile of bedding by the small hearth. Upon being settled on the
bedding, Spicer had curled up and snuggled under the light blanket
Jun-Han had dropped over him.
Omi had joined Spicer soon enough
after helping to clean the dishes. He’d apologized for Spicer’s bad
manners, but Liu Chang had waved off the apology, stating that it was
obvious the strange white boy had been pushed past his limits.
Now,
Jun-Han looked at the two youths curled together in sleep. They had
started out separated by several inches of distance; currently, they
were snuggled close together in their blankets, sharing body warmth. It
was quite the cute image and Jun-Han was reluctant to disturb them, but
the sun was rising higher in the sky.
Finally, Jun-Han reached
out and lightly touched Omi’s shoulder. As expected, the little yellow
monk was instantly awake; his body subtly tensing though he did not
move overtly and his eyes remained closed.
“Good morning, little monk,” Jun-Han murmured. “The sun is up.”
Omi
relaxed enough to let out a yawn and he rolled away from Jack, sat up,
and stretched luxuriously. When he was done, he smiled sleepily up at
the older man and said, “Then it is time for us to be up as well.”
Jun-Han smiled and nodded.
Omi
glanced over at the still snoozing Jack and sighed. “I do not look
forward to waking Jack Spicer, however. He is most definitely not a
morning person.”
“Leave that to me, little one,” Jun-Han
offered. “Liu is making breakfast. I had thought the four of us could
get in some stretching before eating.”
Omi giggled. “Jack Spicer doesn’t stretch; he is a lazy-bones of the highest order!”
“Then perhaps it is time he learned how,” Jun-Han said affably. “Go; let me wake him up.”
Omi
sighed and nodded. He easily got up onto his feet, paused to neatly
fold his blanket, and then walked away, exiting the house to go find
Guan.
Jun-Han waited until the little monk was gone, then turned
his attention to Spicer. Reaching out, he gently slid his hand over the
youth’s wildly tousled hair, stroking the vibrantly colored strands
away from Spicer’s face. He continued doing this and a few moments
later, Jack hummed contentedly and shifted a bit.
“Spicer,”
Jun-Han said quietly, but firmly. When the youth gave no sign of having
heard him, he said Jack’s name again, and then again. Finally, he
resorted to shaking Jack by the shoulder while calling his name.
Jack
snorted as he came awake and pushed feebly at the hand on his shoulder.
“Mmmph… g’way,” he muttered hoarsely, his eyes still closed.
“Spicer, it is time to wake up,” Jun-Han informed him.
Jack
floated in a haze of calm; in that place between asleep and awake. When
the hand once again began to stroke his hair, he hummed happily again
as his entire body tingled with tactile pleasure.
“Spicer, you must wake up now,” Jun-Han said, still petting the youth’s hair.
“Why?” Jack mumbled sleepily, eyes still closed.
“Because it is morning; the sun has risen and so must you.”
Jack groaned. “Who the hell let the morning people run things?”
Jun-Han snickered. “The early bird gets the worm.”
“Yeah,
but he’s working for the guy that owns the worm farm and gets to sleep
late while still turning a profit,” Jack replied drowsily.
The older man blinked. “That… makes sense, strangely enough.”
Jack opened one eye and smirked up at Jun-Han.
“We
must be leaving soon. Get up and join Guan, Omi, and I for some
stretching exercises; then we can eat breakfast, clean up, and be off,”
Jun-Han said.
“Go where?”
“Wherever we need to be.”
“Don’t go all mystic-cynical on me; it’s too early and I haven’t had any coffee.”
“What is coffee?”
“A
miracle for those of us who don’t want to be awake this early.
Technically, it’s a hot beverage full of something we call caffeine
that gives people an energy surge.”
Jun-Han smiled. “Would tea be an adequate substitute?”
“If there’s enough sugar in it.”
The older man chuckled and shook his head. “You are determined to be stubborn, aren’t you?”
“It’s what I do,” Jack said with a smirk as he pushed himself upright, groaning softly as his body protested the movement.
He
stretched vigorously, his arms over his head and his body straining as
his head tipped back, wincing at the pull on aching muscles. When he
was finished, he slumped again and yawned, then noticed Jun-Han was
looking a few inches down. Curious, Jack looked down as well and saw
that the tunic he’d been loaned the night before had come undone
sometime during the night and was gaping open, showing off quite a bit
of his chest.
Blushing, he pulled the tunic closed and scowled at Jun-Han.
Jun-Han smirked and said, “You might as well get used to it; we will be stretching with our tunics off anyway.”
“What makes you think I’m going to exercise?” Jack snapped.
“You will if you want to get the stiffness out of your muscles, or you will be hurting worse later on as we journey.”
Jack sighed. “I cannot wait for you to turn evil – you’re entirely too perky.”
“Jack
Spicer!” Omi shouted as he came running into the room. “Stop lazing
about! There is much to do and less time to do it in!”
Jack gave
the little monk a peevish look and snarled, “I don’t know what your
problem is, short-sheet, but I bet it’s hard to pronounce.”
“There is nothing wrong with me!” Omi stated with a grin. “I am the pinnacle of Xiaolin training!”
“Does that include the super-sized ego?”
“I have more humility in my little finger than you have in your whole body!” Omi snapped, pointing a finger at him.
“So sayeth the humble Twinkie,” sneered Jack.
Omi hissed like an outraged cat and leaped for the other teenager.
Jun-Han
caught Omi in mid-flight and tucked him under his left arm, neatly
propping the agitated monk on his left hip. Then he grabbed a laughing
Jack around the youth’s waist and stood quickly, causing Jack to gasp
as he draped limply from his new perch on Jun-Han’s right hip.
“Oh, yeah – this is dignified,” Jack groused.
“My patience is not limitless,” Jun-Han informed them both. “You will join us, Spicer. And the both of you will stop baiting each other.”
“He started it,” both teenagers pouted, then glared and stuck their tongues out at each other.
Jun-Han sighed and carried the both of them outside.
*~*~*
Jack was pretty sure he’d been more embarrassed at some point in his life, but at the moment, he couldn’t recall when.
An
audience had gathered to watch as he was put through the paces of
various stretches and meditation poses. The more people that gathered,
the more flustered he became, which led to Jun-Han touching him to
correct the placement of his limbs and body, which led to him being
even more flustered.
Thankfully, Omi seemed to have developed a
sense of tact sometime in the last fifteen minutes and refrained from
making any comments to him whatsoever. Jack was fairly certain either
Guan or Jun-Han had taken a moment to order the little monk silent, but
he would take whatever respite he could get.
He was also forced
to admit that Jun-Han had been correct; his body was moving better
thanks to the stretches he was being put through. He felt less stiff
and inflexible, at any rate.
Just then, Jun-Han stepped up close
behind him to position his arms outward at shoulder-height, and Jack
felt the other man’s warm, bare skin pressed against the length of his
own back, and stumbled. When he heard the tittering laughter of the
onlookers, he felt his face flame in embarrassment. Without sparing a
glance for the onlookers, or the man who had unintentionally helped
feed their laughter, Jack wrenched his arms free of Jun-Han’s grip,
turned on his heel, and started to walk away.
He was caught
before he could get more than three steps, and he stiffened as
Jun-Han’s arms – wrapped around his waist – kept him in place against
the other man’s body. When he felt Jun-Han’s mouth at his right ear, he
shivered hard.
“Pay no attention to them,” Jun-Han murmured.
“They are not important. All that is important is your own body and
what it is telling you.”
“Right now, it’s telling me that you need to let go of me,” Jack replied through gritted teeth.
“Not
until I am certain you are not going to give into a childish pout. You
said you do not wish to be regarded as a boy; now is your chance to
prove that claim.”
Jack swallowed hard. “All right, fine! Anything – just let go of me!”
Frowning, Jun-Han did so. “Your fear of being touched concerns me greatly, Spicer.”
“It’s less the touching and more the fact that it’s you,” Jack growled, twitching as he turned, side-stepped around Jun-Han, and stalked back over to where Omi and Guan stood waiting.
Jun-Han
scowled as he felt the sting of the words. As if to prove the point, he
watched as Guan smiled at Spicer, causing the youth to blush; then Guan
reached out to ruffle Spicer’s hair and though Spicer ducked a bit, he
allowed the touch without complaint.
Jun-Han hissed softly under his breath, but he made no further comment as he rejoined the others.
Omi,
who had been watching silently, saw the quick flash of anger and
jealousy cross Jun-Han’s face, and worried that his mission was in
jeopardy. He knew he had to wait until he was more certain, however, or
he might cause the disastrous mess that was the future.
Guan
also noticed Jun-Han’s apparent displeasure and he offered a charming
smile to his friend and was confused when his efforts were met with
cool indifference. Confused, he returned to his own exercises and
determined to talk to Jun-Han later.
