Chapter Text
Jack has wondered sometimes how things might have played out if he had met Stark without Allison there next to him, or if he had met Stark before Allison. Would they have had the same immediately antagonistic relationship if they hadn’t set those initial boundaries of fighting over Allison? Or what if Stark had moved to Eureka later – would Jack have continued to pursue Allison in the interim without that competition continuing to spur him on? Because he had come to realize that flirting with Allison was usually as much about annoying Stark as it was about “getting the girl.” He wondered if it was the same for Stark. When Stark came back to Eureka, he and Allison were separated and on the verge of divorce – would Stark have fought so hard to re-kindle their relationship without the incentive of a rival?
It all added up to curiosity over how things could be different, and the glimpses he’d seen when he and Stark had actually worked in harmony. Well, it made him wonder…
******
He was in Allison’s office going over some paperwork when Jack had the sudden realization. It had been almost an hour, and they joked and bantered a little but there had been zero actual flirting. While this did indicate she probably was not actually that into him, it also was a glaring hint that maybe he wasn’t actually that into her. He quickly cast his mind over the last week and recalled the flirting at Café Diem, in Stark’s office, in the G.D. lobby – all times when other people were around, most importantly Stark.
Jack resisted the urge to plant his head on the table in front of him and hurried to finish up the paperwork so he could marvel over this revelation in peace. Unfortunately, his brain had decided it was two-for-one day with shocking self-realizations. No sooner had he exited Allison’s office, then he encountered her ex-husband, his supposed romantic rival. Except as Jack let himself snap back banter on autopilot, he noticed that all the flirting that had been missing for the last hour had suddenly made a comeback. Wait, was he flirting with Stark? Pigtail-pulling style flirting, sure, but flirting all the same.
Extracting himself from that conversation as well, Jack hightailed it to his Jeep where he just sat for a moment, unable to resist bashing his forehead lightly against the steering wheel a few times. It was the voice of Stark in his head “Are you sure you need any more brain damage, Carter?” that got him to stop and instead sigh deeply. So not only had he primarily been chasing Allison in order to get under Stark’s skin, he apparently would also rather just be chasing Stark himself.
Maybe it shouldn’t be as much of a surprise as it was. He knew Stark – Nathan (Jack refused to have a crush on a man he couldn’t even call by his first name within the boundaries of his own head) – was attractive, and it wasn’t just the fine abs he showed off after his ghost attack. No, the pleased grin Nathan got when everything went his way was always unfairly attractive. And don’t get Jack started on Nathan in that tuxedo during the fake award ceremony, or Nathan in his gym clothes with a tantalizingly rare glimpse of those muscular calves, or… well, suffice it to say, Nathan Stark spent 95% of his time looking like he stepped off the cover of a magazine.
But Nathan’s attractiveness extended beyond his undeniable sexiness. There were also the hidden glimpses Jack had gotten behind the other man’s mask, when he worried about Kevin and when Callister was dying. Even the exasperated but proud fondness Nathan had for Fargo or other young scientists as they came into their own.
Jack sighed again and rubbed his face. He really had it bad didn’t he, and he hadn’t even realized it. He could only imagine the field day Abby would have in dissecting his romantic blinders and obliviousness. The real question though, was what to do now.