Setting the record straight

(sawyer/jack)

pg – 2005-10-17 – written in 10

He found him down the sandy shores, throwing little rocks against the water surface, a bit away from the rest of the beach population. He marched right up to him, wasting no time, or else he'd stop to think about it and as a result reconsider and lastly recoil. He couldn't recoil. He had to be brave. And he really needed to talk to Sawyer, fright or no.

Sawyer heard him approach, soft scratching of feet against dry sand, and turned to greet him with one of his trademark smiles, dimples and all, but before he had time to make his lips as much as twitch, the doctor spoke.

"I'm not gay" he blurted. The ghost of the smile washed off Sawyer's face and was immediately replaced by a scowl.

"So what" he drawled, "You think I am?"

Jack came to a halt in front of him. He was wearing his determined face, and yet his eyes were alight with confusion.

"I don't know. Are you?"

"No!" Sawyer said, flinching away, a look of mildly outraged disgust on his face, his body cringing but his chin stubbornly stuck in the air, "I like women!" he said defiantly, "…too" he muttered almost as an afterthought, and he refused to meet the doctor's eye for a moment.

Jack studied him curiously for a while, fascinated by the other man's blunt display of emotion, or his blunt disguise of them, and he had to bite down on his lower lip to prevent himself from grinning at the sight.

"Whata'bout you?" Sawyer muttered after a lengthy silence had past, "You bi-sexual, Doc?"

"No" Jack murmured without missing a beat, and yet he still seemed to be contemplating when Sawyer's gaze flashed up to his face. Jack was still studying the other man's face, and the scrutiny was making Sawyer uncomfortable, especially considering the turn of events during their brief conversation, but he refused to let his unsettlement show, instead he frowned and stared back at the doctor in vague disbelief.

"No?" he repeated quietly, "You goin' denial' on me, Doc?"

Jack snorted and allowed the smile to finally erupt, "Hardly…" he murmured, "I don't think there's any way I could possibly deny what happened between us last night, Sawyer…"

Sawyer's frown was still in place, but rather than a scowl of fury, it was a look of suspicious contemplation, as he tried to process what the other man was trying to tell him, something akin to curiosity was flaring inside of him, while another, tiny part of him was relit with a weak flicker of hope.

"So, what" he drawled, "You woke up one morn' n' decided' be nice with a bit'o experimentin' or some'?"

Jack outright laughed at this. Well, chuckled. And briefly. But still. It was Jack after all, and he barely ever smirked. Sawyer's paranoid nature was getting the better of him, and the hope was pushed aside as the suspicion grew in quantity.

"I think I'm past that stage of my life, Sawyer" he countered gently, still grinning and staring into the other man with oddly sparkling eyes, which caused as dangerous fuel to Sawyer's paranoia, but then Sawyer was too frustrated by the doctor's cryptic game of twenty questions to really pay attention to it.

"Then what!" he exclaimed in exasperation and Jack almost expected him to throw his hand up in the air, but he didn't. Jack chuckled again though, and took a step closer. He could tell at once that Sawyer's entire body tensed up, even though they were still half a meter apart, but he chose to ignore it and kept smiling reassuringly at the other man, not breaking the eye contact.

"I don't know really…" he said at length, giving his shoulder a faint shrug, the goofy grin on his face widening slightly and he inched himself a further bit closer, pretending not to notice the hitch in the other man's breath, "I guess… I'm"

He closed the final space between them, and before Sawyer had a chance of stepping away or cringing again, Jack grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed their bodies together, "Sawyer-sexual…" Jack said around his own face-splitting grin, before searing their mouths together, stealing the other man's opportunity at a witty comeback, or perhaps swallowing it on its way out. Sawyer didn't seem to mind much though.

(end)