Title : The Temptation of the Rainbow

Author: peaceful_sands

Fandom: The Losers

Rating: PG-13

Characters: Pooch/Jolene, Jensen, Clay and Cougar

Prompt: The Temptation of the Rainbow

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

The Temptation of the Rainbow

Pooch's birthday, Clay mused, fortunately only came round once a year. His eyes met Cougar's across the table as the antics of Jensen and Jolene became increasingly raucous as they tried to outdo each other in their tales of stupid things they'd got Pooch to do. Pooch, for fairness' sake, looked more like he wanted to curl up and die of shame but had pretty much given up all hope of getting either of them to stop. Also in his favor would be the fact that the vast majority of said tales included the liberal application of alcohol prior to any idiocy.

"My round!" Jensen suddenly shouted, slamming a fist down on the table, before pushing his chair backwards and winding his way through the bustling crowd to the bar.

"Ladies room," Jolene leaped up from her seat and set off after Jensen.

"Man, can't one of you stop him?" Pooch looked across at Cougar and Clay. "I mean Jolene is bad enough normally without Jensen trying to outdo her! And you know guys, it's my birthday. On an occasion like that, a man could expect his friends to have his back, not just to sit there smirking at his discomfort!"

Cougar shrugged, a half smile pulling at his lips. Clay leaned forward, "You're old enough to look after yourself and anyway. . ." He settled back again, "as your commanding officer, I can say that you have fairly and squarely brought this on yourself and at this point, nothing either of them have said has been untrue. I believe the saying is Just Desserts."

Pooch glared and huffed out a breath, but said no more.

The first clue that things at the bar had not gone as they might have been expected to go was the sudden widening of Cougar's eyes as he saw Jolene forcing her way through the crowd as Jensen carried a tray behind her. "Boss," he said, nudging Clay's arm and tilting his head in the direction of the approaching duo. Clay groaned and Pooch turned round to see what the problem was just as they arrived at the table.

As Jolene pushed the empty glasses to one side, Jensen balanced the tray at the edge of the table and began to unload the fresh drinks. Clay and Cougar noticeably relaxed when fresh beers were placed before them, but Pooch just looked aghast at the two wildly colored cocktails put in front of him, seeing a matching pair also on the table. As Jolene and Jensen took their seats, each reached for one of the cocktails.

Pooch dreaded to think what was in either of them. "What the hell is that?" he asked pointing at the striped glass that stood in front of him and matched the one before Jolene.

"Rainbow," she answered simply. A moment or two passed as he held it up to the light, counted the different layers and tried to work out what any one of them might have been.

"So . . ." Jensen began as Pooch set the glass back down without tasting it, the look of horror not having diminished at all. "Jolene suggested that we both buy you a drink and offer you a gift and see which one of us you're going to take up on the offer. You only get the gift if you finish the drink and once you start you can't change your mind. I said that to be entirely fair we would have to agree to drink the same thing as we were expecting you to drink."

Pooch nodded slowly, not looking convinced at all. Jensen reached for his wallet, flicked through it and slapped two fifty dollar bills on the table, next to the larger of the two glasses. Pooch looked surprised and turned to look at Jolene, wondering what her reaction was going to be.

The first thing she did was stick out her tongue at Jensen before lifting her hand up to run it through her hair and shake it out, pouting seductively before reaching for the top button of her blouse.

"Oh no you don't, missy!" Jensen snapped, and fished another fifty from his wallet slapping it on the table on top of the other two.

Pooch jerked in surprise, gaze torn back from his wife to the pile of fifties on the table. His hand, which had been reaching for the small glass that Jolene had said was a rainbow, faltered and he eyed the cash, before looking back at his wife. Jensen slapped another fifty on top with a "Well?" His eyes gleamed in challenge as he pulled a face back at Jolene.

Jolene wrinkled her nose at him, reached her hand out and ran it up her husband's leg. As Pooch's eyes widened, Jensen flung another fifty down – this time in tens. "She's playing dirty!" Jolene smirked and reached for the striped drink lifting it to her lips. Pooch reached out for the drink, lifted it towards his mouth then wavered unsure. His eyes were settled on his wife as she licked her lips and then dipped her tongue into the drink. Pooch sniffed the drink, winced, then, to everyone's surprise, slammed it back with a grimace before reaching out for his wife's hand and standing up, staggering slightly as he did so.

Jensen cheered and gave a fist pump of delight to almost everyone's surprise. Jolene's expression was one of surprise as her eyes met a gloating Jensen. "Told ya! Don't forget your drink, Jolene . . ."

"Forget it!" Pooch slurred, "Foul! We're going. See you guys around." He started to pull Jolene away through the crowd toward the door.

Jensen shifted round and flung his feet up on Pooch's now vacated chair, retrieved the bills from the table and stuffed them back into his wallet and began to sip at his own cocktail. He licked his lips and sighed.

"Jensen?" Cougar nudged his shoulder. "What did you really bet?"

"That she could seduce him in public without him getting too embarrassed to acknowledge what she was doing." Jensen finished the last of his drink and reached for its abandoned matching partner.

Cougar put a hand out to stop him. "Not wise, my friend."

Jensen gave him a cheeky grin, slurped some through the straw and added, "Want some?"

"Jensen!" Clay 's voice held a low warning that had Jensen grinning even wider.

"'s okay, guys. It's a lava flow mocktail - no alcohol at all! So I can be all bright and breezy in the morning when we go for that briefing that Pooch has forgotten about . . ."

"You're a sadistic bastard, Jake Jensen," Clay said, shaking his head and reaching for his beer.

Jolene pulled up the car by the curb to let Pooch out alongside Jensen and Cougar where they waited. Jensen's grin was bright and no one was under any illusions about what awaited her husband. Unsteadily, Pooch opened the car door and started to shift to get out, before turning back and leaning across to kiss Jolene soundly.

Pushing his sunglasses firmly back onto his face and straightening his shirt as he drew back from her, he murmured, "Love you." Then taking a deep breath, he hauled himself out of the car, steadied himself between the door and the roof and then took a step away, pushing the door closed as quietly as he could.

He was certain Jolene was smiling when Jensen suddenly almost squealed his name, "Pooch! It's been so long! I've missed you, man!" The little fucker was going to pay for that later, Pooch promised himself.

"Cougs," he greeted, completely ignoring Jensen and walking unsteadily forwards. "Where's Clay?"

A tilt of the head was all it took for Pooch to ascertain that the Colonel had gone ahead onto Post, so along with his team mates, he fished his ID from his pocket and held it up for the guards to check. Once they were cleared and began to walk forward, Pooch shifted his position to the far side of Cougar, as far away from Jensen who seemed to be speaking even louder and more gratingly than he usually did.

All he had to do was get through this briefing and then he could recover from the hangover from hell that he was currently experiencing in surround sound. Once that was done and dusted then Jensen was going to pay. Big Time.

It wasn't far to go and within five minutes, they were in a cool, shady, air-conditioned office to Pooch's great relief; although he did still have his sunglasses on and was pondering the advisability of screwing up bits of paper and sticking them in his ears to try and block out some of Jensen's chatter. He glanced across at Jensen who was still grinning and showing not even the slightest sign of last night's drinking. "You didn't drink that monstrosity you had in front of you last night, did you?" he grumbled.

"I did," Jensen nodded definitely to back up his words. "Cougs can verify that not only did I drink the 'monstrosity' but I drank yours as well."

"How are you even standing?" Pooch tilted his glasses up for a moment just to check that it really was Jensen and not some sort of clone. It certainly looked real enough. He pushed himself forward, grabbed Jensen's wrist and pulled his teammate forward before pinching the soft flesh of his upper arm.

"Ow!" Jensen laughed. "What the fuck was that for?"

"Just checking you're real. Maybe you're an alien or something."

Cougar sniggered. "He's real."

"Why is he so bouncy? He should be dying in a ditch somewhere this morning. He DESERVES to be dying in a ditch somewhere this morning."

"Aw, poor Mr Grumpy Pants. Have you got a headache by any chance?"

Pooch hadn't let go of Jensen's wrist and instead gave it a sharp tug, forcing Jensen forward so he lost his balance and sprawled forward over the table. "You are a little shit and I am going to get you back for this and whatever you did to my wife!"

"Whoa! I did nothing to your wife! Nothing whatsoever, anything she did was all of her own volition!" Jensen tried to pry open Pooch's fingers to release his wrist, but Pooch was having none of it. "Pooch, honestly, it was all Jolene's idea, I swear!"

"Jolene wanted me drunk . . . You expect me to believe that my sweet little wife, my . . . you expect me to believe that it was all down to Jolene."

Jensen looked like he was thinking and let go of Pooch's fingers as if he was giving up on his attempt to escape. Pooch relaxed a fraction and Jensen yanked his hand back, leaving Pooch sprawled. Jensen shifted his chair back and sat out of reach. "Not exactly ALL down to Jolene but . . . she said there was no way she could get you hot and bothered enough to want to leave a boys' night out. I told her she just had to put her mind to it. She said we had more influence over you than she did. I said I bet if we both got you drinks, you'd drink hers first, no matter what it was. She said I was wrong, so we bet fifty dollars on it. If she got you to drink her drink or go home with her, then she owed me the fifty and if I got you to drink mine then I owed her the fifty."

"So you bet against my wife, that she could get me to drink some obnoxious toxic waste and go home with her, while she bet that you could get me to drink some other equally toxic concoction in exchange for money?" He looked at Cougar, "Does that even make sense that they were betting against themselves? I thought I was the one who was hungover."

Cougar shrugged, then added, "It's Jensen, I'm surprised either of them bet that he could do it."

"You have a point. So you won?"

"I won. Jolene owes me fifty dollars or failing that a month's supply of cookies."

"Right . . ." Pooch seemed ready to let the matter drop and shifted in his seat to wait for Clay to appear.

"Pooch?" Jensen broke the silence. Pooch cracked one eye, lifted his glasses and glared at his team mate.

"You're not forgiven."

"I guessed. Just while we're on the subject of last night . . . did you and Jolene actually . . .?" He never got to finish the sentence before Pooch threw the file that was front of him straight across the table to hit Jensen squarely in the chest.

"Shut up, Jensen!" But neither of them had missed the upward tilt to Pooch's mouth.