The Amadeus Effect

~~~~~
“No, no, Sir, I understand,” O’Neill said into the telephone. “Thanks for trying.” He reached across Daniel to hang up the phone.

“No luck?” Daniel asked redundantly.

Jack shrugged. “Apparently King Kwan’s doesn’t deliver this far.”

“How about pizza, then?” Daniel asked, nestling back against Jack’s bare chest. They’d found it impossible to sit at the table and still maintain the requisite amount of physical contact, so they’d had to move onto the bed. At first Daniel was reluctant to settle down on the bed with a nearly-naked Jack, but he’d had little choice in the matter. He’d had little choice in any of this, actually. But he also had to admit that he didn’t mind it so much, thanks to Jack’s relaxed attitude. This ordeal could have become a living nightmare if Jack hadn’t been so laid back about it all. And now Daniel was quite happy to cosy up to the colonel in bed. He’d never been much for cuddling before, but he was starting to understand the attraction.

Jack dialled out again and got Carter on the phone. A couple of minutes later their order was placed.

“Carter’s gonna try and smuggle in some Ben and Jerry’s for us,” Jack announced.

“Think we’ll actually get any of it?”

“Not if Teal’c gets a hold of it first,” Jack replied. “The man has a sweet tooth like you wouldn’t believe!”

Daniel smiled and stretched out cat-like across Jack’s outstretched legs. He told himself he was experimenting to find the most comfortable positions to be in and still maintain optimum body contact. Daniel quickly crossed off the current position from the list, deciding that lying face up across Jack’s lap was definitely not comfortable. He was about to shift around to return to his favourite spot next to Jack when Jack’s hands alighted on his exposed stomach. Jack’s eyes were focused on the T.V., apparently engrossed in an episode of Wheel of Fortune, but his hands had taken a distinct interest in Daniel’s abdomen.

Daniel stilled, not wanting to move and frighten Jack off. It felt rather nice having a pair of strong, confident hands smoothing over his skin. It felt damned nice, actually. As Jack’s fingers cascaded down his ribs, Daniel let out a soft sigh. He looked up to see Jack watching him, his eyes warm and a hint of a smile tugging his lips up at the corners. Daniel felt his body warming under Jack’s touch and he tried not to fight it. He kept reminding himself that it was Jack. He could trust Jack. The words filled his mind in a repetitive loop like a mantra or a prayer.

“Can I kiss you, Daniel?” Jack asked hesitantly, so uncharacteristically unsure of himself that Daniel felt a wave of protectiveness sweep over him, and he found himself nodding.

Jack bent over him at an awkward angle and softly brushed his lips over Daniel’s before sitting up again. Daniel, who’d kept his eyes close the whole time, opened them when Jack failed to continue.

“Is that the best you can do?” asked Daniel, deliberately baiting him. Jack’s eyes sparked at the challenge and the look in his eyes sent a shiver racing up Daniel’s spine. Daniel was surprised at this own boldness and even more surprised at how much he was enjoying himself with Jack. Even under intimate circumstances, being with Jack was easy.

This time they moved together, rolling over each other until they’d found a more comfortable position on the bed, and as Jack’s mouth found his, Daniel surprised them both with a heartfelt moan. Kissing led to touching and then on to stroking and rubbing, until Daniel couldn’t tell where he ended and Jack began.

As Daniel kissed a trail down Jack’s throat, Jack let out a deep grumbling groan and pried the other man off him.

Daniel looked down at him with lust-drunk eyes. “Jack?”

“Just making sure you’re okay with this,” he answered, his eyes straying to Daniel’s kiss-swollen lips.

“Oh, I’m good,” Daniel answered with a wide grin. “You?”

“Couldn’t be better,” Jack replied, his grin mirroring Daniel’s.

Daniel became serious, studying Jack’s face as if he’d never really looked at it before. And he never really had, had he, Daniel wondered. This was a Jack no one at the SGC ever got to see—tender, passionate…vulnerable. It was the easiest thing in the world to lose himself in a deep, soul-baring kiss with Jack.

Jack’s eyes rolled shut and his toes curled as Daniel’s tongue traced the shell of his ear and down to the soft skin behind his jaw. He was already rigidly erect, and his composure was starting to crack. If they kept this up he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from grinding into Daniel’s belly, and he was afraid of another freak-out session like they’d had in the shower.

As it turned out, he was saved by the bell—or at least by a knock at the door. The two of them jerked apart and stared at the door in unison.

“Colonel?” came Sam’s voice form the other side of the locked door. “Your pizza’s here.”

“Damn,” Jack muttered, and then called out, “Just a minute!” As Daniel rolled off of him, Jack was acutely aware that he wasn’t the only one sporting a king-size tent in his boxers. “Damn,” he muttered again.

“I’ll get it,” Daniel volunteered and rolled out of bed dragging along the top blanket to wrap himself up in. He had already unlocked the door and ushered Sam in before he even noticed Jack’s absence—which explained the edgy, relieved smile on Sam’s face.

“I see you’re…better?” she said, handing Daniel the stacked pizza boxes. She held on to the ice cream, however, just in case they were in a sharing mood.

“Daniel?” Jack asked anxiously from across the room. “Are you okay over there?”

“Yeah,” said a surprised Daniel. “I’m actually feeling fine.”

Sam finally noticed the compromising situation she’d walked in on and turned her burning face away from her C.O. on the bed. Instead, she focused on Daniel, who was at least covered up, and tried to think like a scientist. “Well that could be promising,” she said. “Maybe you were right—maybe the effects of the statue do wear off over time.”

“Maybe,” Daniel said doubtfully. He’d been fooled by this illness before, and he wasn’t about to fall for it again. “So…thanks for the pizza,” he said, filling the uncomfortable gap in conversation.

“We’d invite you to join us…” said Jack leadingly.

“Right,” Carter said with a renewed blush. “I’ll be off, then.” She set the tub of ice cream on top of the pizza boxes in Daniel’s arms, but no sooner had she let go than his armload tumbled to the floor, followed shortly by Daniel himself.

Carter was so shocked by Daniel’s sudden collapse that Jack made it to his side before she did.

“Carter! Help me get him to the bed!” Jack shouted over the noise of their friend’s screaming.

The soldier in her took over and she sprang into action, grabbing Daniel’s legs around the calves while Jack hoisted him up by the armpits. The blanket Daniel had been wrapped in fell away as they struggled to haul the writhing man over to the bed.

After setting him down, Carter stood transfixed as her C.O. climbed onto the bed and plastered himself over Daniel. With Daniel’s squirming and moaning and their near nakedness, she felt the same way she had when she was a little girl and she’d accidentally walked in on her parents. Only, this was worse, because these were her friends, and she really shouldn’t be watching…but she couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away.

“Carter—I really don’t think you should be here for this,” said Jack in trademark understatement.

Sam couldn’t find her voice to reply, and she knew he wasn’t expecting an answer, so she backed away, eyes still drawn to the two men on the bed. Only when she bumped into the table did she turn away and bolt for the door.

She slammed the door shut behind her, frozen to the spot by images of Daniel and the colonel looping endlessly in her mind. Even though nothing had really happened, she still felt like a peeping Tom. They weren’t actually doing anything, and yet it was possibly the most erotic thing she’d ever witnessed—a thought that truly disturbed her and left her feeling deeply guilty.

~~~~~

As soon as the door slammed shut, Jack latched his mouth to Daniel’s and kissed him until he started responding in kind. Soon the pained moans had turned into moans of a different nature, and Daniel’s writing took on a more productive quality, of which Jack wholeheartedly approved. And that was why he had to put a stop to it, before he got so carried away that he wouldn’t be able to uphold his promise to Daniel.

Jack regretfully unlatched himself from Daniel’s very responsive lips and looked down into his friend’s perplexed, lust-dilated eyes.

“Why’d you stop?” Daniel asked, his hands stilling against Jack’s back.

“You’re feeling better now, aren’t you?” Jack countered reasonably.

“Yeeeess…but I’d be feeling a whole lot better if you hadn’t stopped.

“It’s time for dinner. Pizza’s getting cold,” Jack said, stalling. The furrowing of Daniel’s brow indicated that the younger man wasn’t buying it. “Alright—you want the truth?” he asked, and Daniel answered with a sombre nod. “The truth is, if I hadn’t stopped when I did, I don’t think I could have stopped at all,” he said, a look of earnest apology softening his features.

Daniel thought about what Jack said and he nodded his understanding. Neither of them was ready to take the last step just yet…and he was hungry. Still, it was hard to will his body to calm down, especially with Jack so close, his body obviously as geared up for action as his own.

Jack had closed his eyes and dropped his head onto Daniel’s shoulder, doing his best to think of anything but the strong, slim body under him—anything but the lips he was already addicted to and the warm, musky scent that he couldn’t get enough of. They were both breathing too hard and Jack knew that it wouldn’t take much to nudge Daniel into blindly taking the plunge with him into a whole new level of intimacy.

Jack groaned and forced himself to roll off Daniel, his sense of responsibility overruling his body’s demands. Daniel groaned too, and they shared a shy, embarrassed smile before jointly clambering off the bed to retrieve the pizza.

~~~~~

It had been a long, emotionally charged day, and the pizza and half-melted Chunky Monkey ice cream served as a kind of narcotic, dulling their senses and making them drowsy. Daniel had fallen asleep the minute his head hit his pillow, despite the fact that the lights were still on and the T.V. was blaring.

Spooned up behind him, Jack couldn’t reach the light over on Daniel’s side of the bed to turn it off, but with a little manoeuvring, he was able to reach the remote control on the bedside table behind him and turn off the television. Daniel was so out of it he didn’t even flinch at the sudden cessation of noise. He was so dead to the world he probably wouldn’t have noticed a full-blown Goa’uld attack on base, Jack thought wryly.

Jack smiled, propping himself up on one elbow to watch Daniel sleep. Once again the younger man’s bangs had fallen into his eyes and Jack deftly brushed them aside so they no longer impeded his view. He absently wondered how many more nights he might have like this and was dismayed at the realisation that this night would likely be their last night together. The way things had been progressing, they couldn’t put off the inevitable for long. And when this was all over, chances were pretty good that he and Daniel would be ‘over’ too.

Jack felt himself slipping into the realm of dark thoughts and mentally put his foot down. He needed to stay positive—Daniel was too sensitive not to notice a sudden change in his mood, and he was relying on him to be the strong one. The thought occurred to him that perhaps Daniel was sensitive enough to have already clued in to Jack’s burgeoning feelings for him. After all, it was pretty clear that they both felt a physical attraction, and maybe, if he could make their first encounter a really good one, Daniel might overcome his fears enough to give him a fighting chance.

The basket sitting on the little round table drew Jack’s eye. He could see the book Janet had left them nestled between the Oreos and the crossword books. If he could just get to it…

He took a long, assessing look at the sleeping man curled up on his side in front of him and considered the risks. If he was fast enough, Daniel might not feel any pain—he might sleep through it none the wiser.

Jack uncoiled himself from the restraints of the blankets and carefully extricated his arm from under Daniel’s head. He then made a mad dash for the book on the table and dove back under the covers just as Daniel began whimpering and thrashing in his sleep. His friend and soon-to-be lover thrashed his way into Jack’s arms and immediately settled, which made Jack’s heart ache with a tenderness he hadn’t felt in years.

He waited until he was sure Daniel was fast asleep and then he opened the book for a little late night education into the joys of gay sex.