Work Text:
Henley and Merritt had already gone to bed, leaving Daniel in the living room going over the plans again and Jack puttering around aimlessly as he tried to decide if he was really going to ask Daniel for something this… bold. They knew the FBI were getting closer to figuring out where they were holed up, so any day now he would be on his way to his own "death." He was a little excited and a lot nervous.
On his third circuit through the living room, straightening files and papers as he went, Daniel had finally had enough and snapped, "Jack, I swear to God, if you don't sit still for two seconds while I focus on this I will lock you in a closet for the night."
Jack coughed. "Speaking of closets—" Daniel narrowed his eyes at him. "Uh—no, that's weird, never mind."
"What?"
"Um." Jack had to consciously keep himself still so he wouldn't run from the room.
"I don't think I've ever actually seen you this nervous before. It's actually pretty out of character for you. What's going on? Wait, have they found us? Is there… Jack, if you found an agent in the closet and you—"
"No! God, no, sorry, it's not anything like that."
Daniel relaxed some and said, "Then either spit it out or go away, you're distracting me."
Not for the first time Jack wondered if it wouldn't be a better idea to go to Merritt instead. Merritt, at least, probably wouldn't react too poorly if his request wasn't taken well, whereas he couldn't be too sure how Daniel would react despite the man's reputation of being fairly indiscriminate in who he took to bed, man or woman. Asking Merritt would be more like asking an uncle, though, and the thought made him uncomfortable, so he took a deep breath and figured it was now or never.
"Okay. Okay, so… The chase is going to come up soon, and I've been thinking about my death, and I'm just—I guess I'm kinda nervous. And so—"
"You've had plenty of practice, it's not like you'll be unprepared. It's going to be fine."
"I know. Mostly, I know, I just can't help thinking what if? You know? What if it all goes to shit and I die for real? And then I think what kind of loser dies at almost twenty without having ever—"
"Nineteen, Jack. You're nineteen," Daniel said with a smirk.
"Not the point! Kind of the point. Listen, I just…" He heaved a frustrated sigh and mumbled quickly, "I don't want to die and have never kissed somebody, alright?"
Daniel blinked and watched Jack turn an interesting shade of red.
"You've never—"
"No."
"Not even—"
"No."
"But—"
"Look, not many people were lined up to make out with the street kid that just stole their wallet!"
"Guess not."
"Thanks," Jack said sarcastically. "This has been great, I'm going to bed."
"Wait. Were you going to ask me to—"
"Nope!" Jack kept walking and wished he could go back in time to smack himself for ever thinking this wouldn't be the most humiliating experience of his short life.
Daniel followed him into his room and caught the door before it shut in his face.
"I wasn't trying to make fun of you," Daniel said. Jack turned towards him but couldn't make himself look Daniel in the eye. "It's nothing to be ashamed of."
"Can we just drop it? Please?"
Daniel gave him a calculating look and let the door shut as he took a step forward, making Jack step back.
"Daniel?"
He advanced another couple of steps until Jack was backed against his dresser and their toes were nearly touching.
Jack swallowed, hoping he wasn't about to regret everything even more and repeated, "Daniel?"
Daniel shrugged. "I have been told I am an excellent kisser, so really, asking for my help was a smart move."
"You're such an ass."
"Yeah, I've been told that a lot too," Daniel said, amused, as he took the last step forward and put his hands on Jack's hips and pulled him closer.
"Hey—you really don't have to—" Jack's hand automatically went to Daniel's shoulder to avoid losing his balance and he looked at Daniel's approaching face and panicked a little, not having gotten this far in his hypothetical "Daniel said yes" scenario, and his other hand shot up to cover Daniel's mouth right before their lips could touch.
"Jack." Daniel's voice was muffled against Jack's hand. "Maybe I'm getting the wrong idea here."
"Ah, no, you had the right idea; I just didn't really think this through." He took his hand off Daniel's mouth and let it settle on his arm. "Suddenly I think I'd rather die without ever kissing anyone than die knowing you kissed me out of pity."
"Oh. Is that all? You own a mirror, you know you're gorgeous. Why wouldn't I want to kiss you?"
Jack wasn't sure he could be more mortified. "You've never seemed interested before."
Daniel rolled his eyes. "By the time you got over your little hero-crush on me—"
"Hey!"
"Hush. By the time you were a peer instead of a puppy, we kind of had other things to do. Plus, you went from puppy to peer to friend, and I don't have so many of those that I'm willing to mess things up with the ones I have by having flings with them," he said wryly.
Jack couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What if—" Oh, God, shoot me now. "What if it wasn't a fling?" Jack winced a little, ready to be shot down. Daniel was quiet for a moment before leaning forward and gently, briefly pressing their mouths together, giving Jack ample time to stop him again.
"Let's have that conversation once this is all over with. For now, though, this is definitely not pity."
Daniel closed the distance between their mouths again and this time Jack had the presence of mind to kiss back.
There wasn't much talking for the rest of the night.