Work Text:
"No. I'm not doing this. It's humiliating," Owen protests, slapping Jack's hands away whenever he tries to get a grip on him. "Don't you dare!"
"Should have thought about that before you took a dive out of a third story window," Jack says. He makes another grab at Owen and nearly gets him before Owen wriggles so much that Jack has to let go. Owen's the one who pays the price as he ends up jarring the leg he injured. (Broken? Probably not, unless Owen's stubborn enough to bitch his way through it. Jack can't tell, and they don't have time to argue about this, let alone for Owen to examine himself.)
"I was following you," Owen snaps.
"You trust me enough to jump after me, but not enough to let me carry you to safety?" Owen exhales loudly. There's a slight tremor in his jaw. Jack's been on the receiving end of just about any kind of pain imaginable. He knows what it looks like when you don't want to admit how bad it hurts. "You're not getting out of here on your own two feet."
"And you're not carrying me off like I'm your wife!"
"God, no. You'd be a terrible wife." Very briefly, Owen looks like he's about to argue that point, too. Jack almost wants to hear what he'd come up with. Unfortunately, Owen catches himself too quickly and goes back to grimacing. "Alright, fine. We'll do it this way." Jack turns his back on Owen. He hears Owen let out a sharp breath, as though he thinks Jack is about to leave him behind. Jack puts a hand out behind him, and too quickly, Owen grabs hold of it. "No, up around my neck. Grab on."
Owen hesitates. "You're serious?"
"Get on, Owen. Now." Owen shifts behind him, doing his best not to move his leg wrong. Jack feels him grabbing his shoulders. "Don't waste time feeling me up." That gets him a snort as Owen's arms wrap around his neck and lock as tight as they can. Jack grasps behind him to get ahold of Owen. He's not half as heavy as Jack was expecting. Enough still to make him stumble up to his feet, but Jack has him. Owen grunts, his head dipping to press his mouth against Jack's shoulder to muffle himself futilely. "Got you," Jack says, more gentle than he means it to be, than Owen would usually allow without something snarky in reply. Owen sucks in a breath. "Got you now. Bringing you home," Jack continues as he carries him.
He gets Owen back to the car. Toshiko, who was with them and was also not foolish enough to jump out a window, is already there. Owen tries to bat her away the same way he did Jack when she helps him settle into a seat, but Tosh slaps his hands right back and stares him down in the backseat while Jack drives until Owen, grumbling, lets himself be helped.
