Silly Boy

Rating: PG
Pairings: Jak/Daxter
Set: Before the Precursor Legacy
Word Count: 1,000
Author's Note: This is for Demyrie, the second part of "Silly Girl".

Napping was good… always good. Good and nice and cozy and comfy and just really, really great. There'd been discussions of these facts between the two of them on many occasions. So Daxter could not figure out why it was that Jak was currently dragging him out of his beloved bed into the unforgiving glare of the sun.

The younger boy stumbled out the door, dragged by the arm by his so-called 'bestest' pal. The bright sunlight burned his eyes causing him to close them in retaliation and muttered obscenities under his breath. But nonetheless he continued walking along after his friend.

He could feel the wooden planks of his front porch under his feet. He could hear the worn grass of the path crinkle, the sand of the beach swish and crunch between his toes. He knew where they were going. There was no point in asking. But he had already decided to be as much of an annoyance to Jak as he'd been to him.

"Jaaaaak! Where are you dragging me off ta?" He grumbled. "You ruined one of the bestest dreams I've had in a while, y'know."

Jak stopped suddenly, the movement or lack there of completely taking Daxter by surprise and causing them to crash into one another.

"Fer cryin' out, Jak! Next time warn a guy before ya go and do that!"

He opened weary blue orbs trying to adjust to the sun. Once he'd gotten them wide enough to make out the other boy's face his frown was on in full force.

The green haired boy was grinning at him of course. It was that small, tentative one. The one where there was only the barest hint of teeth. It was Jak's apologetic grin. The shorter of the two growled in frustration.

They were on Sentinel Beach now. The place Samos had always warned them not to go. As if there were other places for them go. The beach was off limits because of the Lurkers, the jungle was off limits because of the man-eating snakes and stinger fish… killer plants and sharp pointy, nasty things.

Okay so maybe the old man was right about the jungle… but the beach?

It was a frickin' beach for crying out loud. You don't tell little kids not to go to the beach.

So there were these sand worm things that just popped out in random spots that would as soon as eat you as look at you. Or those frickin' crabs with the pinchers and stabby feet…

Come to think of it Daxter was not feeling up to avoiding death, or to be more realistic a few bite wounds, today. In fact he wasn't feeling up to doing much of anything today but hiding in his room underneath the covers. Anything really to make this horribly disappointing day pass quicker. Jak on the other hand seemed all for enjoying the day for some reason. So Daxter did what it was he did best when Jak wanted to drag him off into certain doom for no good reason.

He whined. Expertly too I might add.

"I wanna go back ta bed Jak." He pouted, cubby little face twisted in what seemed to be some imagined agony. Bucked front teeth pressing against his wrinkled bottom lip. "I don't feel too good. I… I just wanna go back inside."

Jak tilted his little green head to the side and stared at his best friend. Rolling his eyes and sighing he pulled out his own secret weapon. Those abnormally large baby blues of his. He made sure to make them shimmer with the barest hint of tears as well. He had to make it look convincing after all.

Daxter's pout immediately fell. The frown was back, more pronounced than ever.

"Of fer Sage's sake!" Daxter moaned wrenching his arm free from the other boy. "Fine! Let's go. But if you get me killed I'm gonna haunt you fer the rest of yer life!"

Jak grinned triumphantly and grabbed Daxter's hand entwined it with his own and began skipping merrily in the direction of the beach. This forced Daxter into some bastardization of the same act just to keep up.

"Ja-ah-ak c-c-cut it out!"

Jak just turned around, smiled at him, and lead them seamlessly through the unmarked path that would keep them safe from worm monsters and crabby crabs.

The older boy couldn't figure out why his friend was so grumpy today. From the way Keira had been behaving, he had figured today was a very special day. Like any other holiday that involved gifts Daxter should have been the first one out of bed and raiding the village for anything they were willing to give. But instead his beloved pal was pouting, frowning and just being downright surly.

Jak stopped again suddenly, but this time Daxter was able to catch himself before plowing into him.

Maybe Daxter didn't want to spend "Love's Day" with him. Maybe Keira had been right. Maybe she hadn't just told him that he couldn't give his card to Daxter because she'd wanted it for herself.

Maybe he was being silly.

"Jak?"

His head snapped up at the sound of his name. And he stared at the younger boy with wide eyes and feeling very foolish.

"C'mon Jak." Daxter said worriedly. "Ya look like ya jus' seen a ghost or sumthin'. Don't cha got sumthin' to show me?"

Jak just continued staring back, all the reasons why this had been a stupid idea flying through his head. His eight-year-old imagination making them a thousand times worse then they should have been. But among all the bad things there was still the hope of that one good thing.

"Jak?"

Jak reached inside his pocket and pulled out a now slightly wrinkled piece of paper and with a shaking hand presented it to his dearest friend.

And he waited.

The blush had been gratifying, the smile hopefully expected, but the hug, that had been a pleasant surprise.