Danny sits down on the bench and fixes his stare to the ground. Besides him, Jackson is pulling his hands out of the lacrosse gloves. The locker room is empty, the drops of water hitting the floor of the showers echoing off the walls.
"I don't know how to approach you anymore," Danny starts because he has no idea how to say this, but he has to begin somewhere. "It used to come so easy but now..." he trails off with a frustrated sigh and still doesn't look at Jackson even though out of the corner of his eye, he can see that now Jackson has stilled. "You cut me off. I don't know why but, are you okay?" His hands close around his knees almost painfully. He's not sure if he's stopping himself from hitting Jackson or from just hug him and check that he's alright. "Because maybe I'm not your best friend anymore, but you're still mine."
Danny counts to ten and then to twenty and has almost reached fifty by the time Jackson clears his throat.
"I'm okay."
"Don't look like it." Danny looks over at him and finds Jackson staring.
"Just going through something."
"That you're not going to share," Danny finishes for him. He nods to himself as if he has come to a decision and then gets up from the bench and looks down into Jackson's aquamarine eyes. "Just... if you need anything, ask before you're one step from being dead."
Jackson grins but his heart is not into it.
TEENWOLF
Maybe he could say something like, "Hey, I'm a giant lizard" and Danny would laugh in his face and be okay with it. Or maybe he's better off without telling his best friend so at least one person will still look at him like he's somewhat normal. Jackson doesn't know what to think most of the time.
And perhaps, getting Danny to understand is not so important after all. The fact that he turns into a lethal creature should be much further up his list.
TEENWOLF
After he almost kills himself on the lacrosse field and miraculously doesn't end up dead, he can't stop thinking about warning Danny to stay away from him. He hasn't had a moment of lucidity in so long, and yet all it took was for Danny to call his name. He has heard talk about anchors and needing someone to pull you away from being a monster but he wasn't sure that would work for him too, but apparently, Danny can be that for him.
Now that he has almost died, Danny looks at him with so much concern but Jackson doesn't find it smothering, just comforting.
It seems like that period of barely talking is long behind them because now Danny comes over and hangs out with Jackson and doesn't ask anything, just sits with Jackson and gets him to laugh, lets Jackson slip him alcohol until they barely remember their names. It almost tastes as normality and Jackson can almost admit to himself that if he had known then what he knows now, he wouldn't have asked Derek for the bite, no matter how much he's always been obsessed with being the best.
TEENWOLF
By the end of the summer, Jackson has a new problem. He's not sure how to go from being Danny's best friend to being his something else.
With girls it's easy; he's good looking enough that he only has to play nice a while and they will fall at his feet, sometimes he doesn't even have to bother doing that. However, with Danny is different because Danny knows Jackson inside-out, has million reasons to say no.
"How long have we known each other?" Jackson asks one night, they're lying on the shore of the lake passing a half-full bottle of vodka between them.
Danny snorts. "It's easier to count how long we haven't known each other."
Jackson smirks up at the night sky, his eyes focused on the stars while his ears listen to the strong beating of Danny's heart. He doesn't say anything for a while and then turns his head and looks at Danny's profile. "Have you ever had a boyfriend that wasn't an asshole? Because I can't remember one."
Danny turns to look at him and smirks. "You tell me, you have been there for every break up."
"You have shitty tastes."
Danny laughs. "Why?"
"Your type seems to be The Jerk. So, why am I not your type?"
"Jacks, really, again?"
"I'm serious." He thinks he's being serious about it ever since Danny came out to him, doesn't really know how to say it though. He sits up bending his knees and leaning back on his palms. He looks at the moon shining upon the lake and thinks about kissing Danny and showing him that he can be his type, more than just that. Apparently, almost dying has made him more aware of what he needs and wants instead of just pleasing the others.
He glances down at Danny and finds him with his eyes closed and his brow furrowed. So he decides that this time he's going to do something no matter if Danny will get angry and push him away. If it doesn't end up like Jackson wishes, they will just go back at being their usual selves, at least he hopes so.
He turns his body towards Danny's, his knee sliding between Danny's legs, his arms on either side of his best friend's head.
Danny's eyes shot open and Jackson hovers over him for three seconds and then purposefully presses his lips against Danny's. It's more an affirmation than a kiss, just unmoving lips sealed together. Then Danny's hands come up and rest on Jackson's hips and Jackson closes his hands into fists, his nails digging in the dirt before he remembers that he doesn't have to hold back himself anymore.
He pulls back and angles himself better and then bends down again, this time his lips meeting Danny's for a real kiss. Their lips part and meet, drag against each other, then part again and are bitten and licked until Jackson's hands are in Danny's short hair sort of cradling his head while Danny's hands squeeze Jackson's hips and pull him closer.
They breath through their noses trying to kiss as long as they can without having to separate for air.
Danny's fingers slide under the hem of Jackson's t-shirt and his nails dig into the taught muscles and soft skin.
Jackson pulls back, his breath coming out in short gasps, his eyes almost black. He looks down at Danny who's panting just as heavily, his head thrown back against the grass.
There are a lot of things he'd like to say but he's afraid that words would ruin things so he keeps quite for once in his life and lets Danny decide.
He stays there staring down at Danny waiting for him to say anything. In the end, Danny doesn't use words, just opens his eyes, puts his hand behind Jackson's neck and pulls him down so they're kissing again.
Jackson isn't completely sure what this means, but as he kisses back and lets Danny roll them over, he thinks that he'd like to find out.
A/N: thank you so much to everyone who favorited and commented my other story. I hope you liked this one as well!