Jack headed for the bedroom where Boone was probably hiding and sulking. He opened the door and Boone looked up at him. And smiled. Well, that was nice.
"Hey," Boone said, putting down his book.
"Look, I'm really sorry about lunch, there was nothing I could do about it," Jack began.
"Don't worry about it, it's your job, it's not a problem," Boone replied.
"Yeah," Jack said, a little unsure. What happened to his crazy, uptight, sulk of a boyfriend?
"Tough day then, huh?" Boone asked.
"Yeah, you could say that," Jack conceded.
"So, shower or bath?" Boone asked.
Jack looked at him. "What?"
"You need to unwind. Shower or bath?" Boone repeated.
Okay, this was new. Not that Jack was complaining, he could get used to having Boone run around after him, but he wondered what he'd done to deserve it.
"Bath," he replied. "I do not want to stand up for a second longer than I have to."
"Okay," Boone said, leaping to his feet. He moved over to Jack and gave him a kiss on the cheek before heading into the en suite.
Jack went over to the bed and sat down, taking off his shoes. He heard water start running in the next room and then Boone reappeared. He came over and sat next to Jack on the bed.
"You beat?" he asked.
"I guess," Jack replied. "I've had worse days." He noticed Boone was looking at him. He turned to face him. "What?" he asked.
Boone shook his head a little and looked away. "Nothing," he replied.
Okay, Jack thought. Boone wasn't mad at him, that much was clear, but there was definitely something going on that he wasn't privy to.
"So what did you do today?" Jack asked him, hoping to shed a little light on Boone's behaviour.
"Oh, nothing really," Boone replied. "The hospital visit was pretty much the most exciting part of my day."
"Yeah, visit with Maria, right?" Jack said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Boone looked at him a little too sharply. "What?" Boone asked, apparently a little nervous.
"Maria said she had lunch with you today," Jack replied.
"She told you that?" Boone asked, looking a little worried.
"Yeah," Jack replied, trying to stifle a yawn. "Why? What's up?"
"Did she say anything about me?" Boone asked.
"Why, you want me to set you up with her?" Jack joked.
"I don't even like girls," Boone replied.
"What, you don't like girls now? What did she do to you at lunch?" Jack asked. It wasn't like Boone to claim he was gay. Bi, sure, but he always made sure to bring up an ex-girlfriend every once in a while. Jack wasn't sure if it was conscious or not but he thought it was cute as hell.
"Can we talk about something else, please?" Boone requested.
Sometimes teasing Boone could be fun but he was too tired to keep up with it right now. "Sure," he replied. "What do you want to talk about?"
"I don't know. Anything. What have you been up to today?" Boone asked him, his good mood picking up again. "Spinal surgery aside," he added.
"Spinal surgery aside, not a whole lot," Jack replied. "And how come you're so chipper today, anyway?"
"I'm just in a good mood," Boone replied.
"Apparently so," Jack agreed.
"It's just that, it turns out I'm an idiot. I know, big shock, right? And I always tell myself that I'm idiot but I think I really am," Boone replied, though he looked like he was talking more to himself then to Jack.
"I don't think you're an idiot, Boone," he replied. Boone could do idiotic things but Boone wasn't an idiot. There was a difference. It was subtle but it was there.
"Okay, first of all, if you don't know I'm an idiot then you're an idiot too and second of all you have to let me finish," Boone explained.
Jack waved his hand. "Go ahead," he responded.
"So, I'm an idiot, right?" Boone began. He then shot a look at Jack. "Rhetorical question, don't answer." Jack nodded his understanding and looked to him to continue. "But the thing is, now I know I'm an idiot. That's a big step forward. See, now I can do something about it."
"Boone, I don't really know what you're going on about," Jack admitted, leaning in a little.
Boone rolled his eyes. "I'm self-centred. I think the world revolves around me and I don't even notice I'm doing it. I sit here and overanalyse everything until I'm convinced that the whole world's against me. And I put you through hell, I was horrible to you. I didn't mean to do all that," he explained.
"You're not self-centred," Jack said. "You always try and help. You try harder than anyone I know."
"But I fail at everything," Boone said, almost slipping into his old whine.
Jack shook his head. "Not everything," he said and he hoped Boone could see how much he meant it. Judging by the smile he got he guessed he could tell a little.
"Well, anyway, I'm turning over a new leaf. I'm gonna start acting like a grownup," Boone insisted. "I'd like to point out that I wasn't always this way," he added. "You think I represented myself like this when I ran a company?"
Jack smiled a little. "I hope not," he said.
"There are certain situations where I can actually behaviour like a proper human being," Boone carried on.
"Wow, can't wait to see one of those," Jack joked.
Boone smiled at him which was nice to see. Boone didn't smile nearly as much as he should in Jack's opinion. And he wasn't exactly sure where Boone had got all these crazy ideas from but he had to say that he loved this new attitude. It was refreshing and, Jack had to admit, pretty sexy.
"You just gotta do me one favour, okay?" Boone asked, a little more serious.
"Okay," Jack replied, looking Boone in the eye. "What?"
"You gotta not be my knight in shining armour," Boone said. "You gotta stop being so nice to me all the time cos it's not helping anyone."
Jack was confused. "Okay, you lost me again there," Jack admitted.
"You always want to look after people and save people. You want to fix everyone. Which is great. But I think I maybe need to fix myself," Boone explained. "Don't make allowances for me cos I have these issues. All your doing is making it okay for me to hide stuff from you."
"I understand if you don't want to tell me everything, Boone. It's not like you know every detail of my life either," Jack said.
"Well maybe there's some stuff you need to know. Some stuff I want you to know. Cos I only ever had one real, strong, solid relationship before and it didn't end well," Boone explained.
Jack nodded. Sapphire. Boone had mentioned various stories about her and referred to her as the love of his life once upon a time.
"That's where I get a lot of my issues from," Boone admitted. "And it's not really her fault, in her situation I think I would have done the same thing."
"What did she do?" Jack asked, instantly regretting it. Boone was finally starting to open up to him and he had to push his luck.
Boone stood up. "I have to turn that bath off," he said, heading towards the en suite. He heard the water turn off and then he heard Boone's voice again. "I'll tell you about Sapphire while I do your back."
Jack smiled. Now that sounded like a plan. He forced himself to his feet and headed to the bathroom.