Coming Home
-Chapter 6: A Twist of Fate-
Summer had progressed quietly and uneventfully into Autumn. Corn and Tomatoes had made way for eggplants. A second sheep (Mitsubishi) and a new cow (Umeko) had joined Toyota in Jack's barn, and the chicken shed was nearing full capacity with its five inhabitants. The leaves on the trees in the mountain had burst forth with stunning autumn colors - red, orange and yellow. Mushrooms and wild grapes grew abundant in the mountain, and the grapes at the Vineyard were nearing peak ripeness. Chilly breezes blew down from the mountain into the village, carrying with them the scents of fall: Smoking fish and damp earth. The inhabitants of Flower Bud Village were happily preparing for the coming winter - for even though Autumn had just begun, the villagers knew that it wouldn't be around forever, and that Winter would seem much longer if they had failed to prepare themselves properly.
All told, life on the mountain was peaceful and happy.
Cliff was in a bit of a delimma.
It had been a rather stupid mistake on his part. He'd misjudged the distance from the top of the cliff behind the carpenter's cabin to the ground, and had jumped rather more carelessly than he should have.
"Owowowowowow..." he muttered to himself as he clutched his left leg, just above the ankle. He'd twisted it quite splendidly as he landed from the aforementioned leap from the ledge. He had been prowling around up the mountain in the wee hours of the morning, hoping to find some more wild grapes. There had been none, so he was returning to his more usual haunts by jumping down from the cliff. He'd done it innumerable times before since he'd been here, and not a single problem. Why he'd suddenly twisted his ankle now, he couldn't imagine.
A faint rustling somewhere above his head caught his attention, and he looked up. Cain had settled himself in a tree branch directly above Cliff, and was peering down at him with what could only be called a curious expression in his eyes.
"Cain!" Cliff gasped, smiling up at his bird despite the pain in his ankle. "Can you go get help?" Cain cocked his head to one side, then the other, and blinked once.
"Go get help?" Cliff repeated, blinking back at the bird. The carpenters wouldn't be awake for hours yet, and he didn't fancy sitting here in the cold, damp grass with a twisted ankle any longer than was absolutely necessary. Cain stared at him for a moment more, then turned himself around on his perch and took off, dipping close to the ground as he caught air beneath his wings, then soared into the sky. Cliff watched the bird's small form drift over towards the village. He grinned to himself and snorted, trying to shift into a more comfortable position. "What's that, Lassie? Little Timmy's fallen down the well again?" he mocked his situation in a squeaky falsetto, then chuckled hollowly at his predicament. He only hoped someone, somewhere, was awake.
(x)
Jack was awakened rather more abruptly than he was used to by the sound of Jiro barking loudly and frantically at the front door. As Jiro was not in the habit of barking, Jack quickly tumbled out of bed, pulled on his overalls, and made his bare-footed way over to the door to see what was going on.
Upon opening the door, he blinked at the dark shape perched on the top of Jiro's dog house. Jiro poked his head through the opening between Jack's legs and the doorframe to continue barking, though Jack noted with some amusement that the small dog showed no intention of actually making his way outside.
"Coward," he muttered affectionately, before returning his attention to the bird seated upon the dog house. Stepping out into the pre-dawn chill, Jack immediately wished he'd thought to put on his boots. A shirt of some sort might not have gone amiss either, truth to tell. Shrugging off the cold, he focused his attention on the bird, which he now recognized the dark-brown form of Cain, Cliff's hawk.
"What are you doing here?" Jack asked the bird curiously. He shuffled a few steps closer, thinking to shoo the hawk off, so that he could go back to sleep. Cain spread his wings and took off, but landed a few yards away on the fence that divided the farm from the crossroads. Jack blinked, then shrugged. Jiro, a little braver now that the intruder had placed some distance between them, edged out of the cabin and went to stand by his master. Jack, for his part, was scratching his head in puzzlement. After a moment, he shrugged and turned to go back inside.
Cain squawked loudly from his perch on the fence.
"Uh..." Jack remarked intelligently. Cain spread his wings and returned to his original perch atop the dog house, which caused Jiro to scamper back indoors. Safely inside, he resumed his barking. Ignoring the dog, Jack stared at Cliff's hawk. The hawk stared back, squawked a second time, then flew back to the fence.
"Do you want me to follow you?"
Cain simply stared.
Jack took a few steps towards the fence, and the bird remained where he was, golden eyes staring. As he neared the fence, Cain took off again, but only as far as a tree a few yards down the lane. Jack, curious, hurried to catch up. Thus it was in this manner that Cain lead Jack into the forest.
(x)
Cliff had eased his way over to a nearby tree and leaned his back against the trunk, injured leg stuck straight out in front of him. He was using his right leg as a make-shift pillow, hugging his knee close and resting his forehead on it. He looked up when he heard the rustle of feathers, and saw Cain settle onto the branch above his head. A moment later, he heard a voice call his name, and his heart skipped a beat when he caught sight of the caller. He'd been cold a moment before, but the sight of Jack, bare-footed and shirtless, brought heat to his face.
"Cliff! What happened?" Jack asked as he drew nearer.
"Twisted my ankle," he muttered, slightly embarassed at his predicament.
"Can you walk?" Came the inevitable question.
"Uhm...no."
"Huh." For a moment, Jack looked completely flummoxed. He scratched his head and stared down at Cliff with a positively delightful expression of puzzlement on his face. Despite the pain in his ankle, Cliff had to bite his lip to keep from grinning at Jack's expression.
"Well...guess I'll have to carry you, then." Jack had come to a decision, and almost before Cliff knew what was happening, he found himself being lifted into Jack's strong arms.
"Um, th-this really isn't n-necessary!" Cliff stuttered, blushing.
"What else do you propose? Put your arm around my neck, your shoulder's digging into my collarbone," Jack responded in a no-nonsense sort of voice. Cliff meekly did as he was told. Is this some sort of dream? he wondered as Jack began to make his way out of the forest with Cliff cradled carefully against his chest. Half a year of farm work had done wonders for Jack's city-dweller physique. Well-formed pecs were clearly visible beneath the bib of Jack's overalls, and his arms were well sculpted. Cliff had no doubt that the legs currently taking the pair of them down the mountain were finely toned as well. Cliff relaxed slightly, and allowed himself to enjoy the sensation of being held in Jack's arms.
Jack, for his part, was keenly aware of the man he carried. For all that he lived in the mountains and didn't have access to a bath, there was very little odor about him. Jack supposed that he must bathe in the river, and suddenly found the image of a naked, wet Cliff submerged to his waist in the icy-cold mountain water invading his imagination. Heat rushed to his face, and he blinked rapidly to dispel the image. It went, but it went reluctantly, and he had a feeling he'd be revisiting it before long. To distract himself, he initiated a conversation.
"Nice weather today, eh?"
Nice going, Jack. You, my friend, are a MORON, he told himself.
"What? Oh, yes, it is."
That...was really random, Cliff thought.
"Um...so how's life in the mountain?" Jack tried again.
"Pretty good. There's lots of wild plants to eat, and the hunting's not bad," Cliff responded, keeping his gaze firmly on Jack's collarbone, which was about an inch away from his face. If he'd looked up, he would have seen that Jack was blushing several shades of crimson. Jack kept his gaze firmly on the path in front of him, watching for stones and twigs that would not be friendly to his bare feet. Had he looked down, he would've seen that Cliff was also blushing several shades of crimson.
There was silence for a moment.
"How's the farm?" Cliff asked.
"Great! I've got another sheep, and a new cow now, and two more chickens, and..." Jack was perfectly content to rattle on about the goings-on of his farm. By the time they arrived at the farm, both men had managed to control their blushes, though Cliff's shortly re-emerged as he was carried into Jack's cabin and carefully settled onto Jack's bed.
I'm going to take off your shoes," Jack told him, and proceeded to do so. The right one came off easily enough, but the moment Jack touched the left, Cliff hissed involuntarily.
"Hurts, huh?" Jack grimaced in sympathy, but proceeded to remove the shoe anyway. Cliff had to admit that it was done gently enough, though he was surprised at the gentleness in Jacks calloused, tanned hands. After a moment of thought, though, he realized that he really oughtn't to be - This was the same man who handled his chickens daily, and who carefully nurtured the tiny, yellow chicks.
"Lie down," Jack ordered. Cliff did as he was told, while Jack rummaged under the bed. He came up with an extra quilt, and quickly rolled it into a short, thick cylinder. Very carefully, he slipped it under Cliff's injured leg, elevating the plainly swollen ankle.
"I'm going to go get some help. I'll be back in a little while," Jack said, once he was sure Cliff was comfortable. He quickly pulled on a shirt and his boots, then went out. Cliff watched him go, feeling a little dazed. He could hardly believe his situation - here he was, in Jack's bed. Sure, Jack wasn't here with him, and his ankle was swollen and hurting like crazy, but in a situation like this, one took what one could get.
(x)
He wasn't aware he'd fallen asleep until he woke up. Cliff opened his eyes to stare into the kindly face of the village midwife, who was examining him with concern while she spoke gruffly to Jack.
"Hmph! Can't say I'm pleased about being roused from my bed at this ungodly hour," she was muttering as she examined Cliff's ankle. "But I can see why you came to get me."
Jack was standing a few feet away, respectfully keeping his distance while he gently banged a large plastic sack full of ice against his leg.
"Twisted, not broken, thank the Goddess. Here, boy, give me that ice," she snapped. Jack surrendered the bag, and the old woman placed it carefully on Cliff's ankle. The pain of the contact was quickly washed away in the blessed coolness of the ice. Cliff watched warily as the midwife stepped back and fixed him with a stern eye.
"You're not to walk anywhere for the rest of the week, young man. Not unless you want to make this worse. And once you're better, I suggest you be more careful, arsing about in the mountain day in and day out as you are. Young people these days," she shook her head and seemed to be talking to herself. "Think they're all invincible, they do." Turning her attention to Jack, she continued at a regular volume, "I'll send my boy over with a cooler and more ice in a little while. Make sure you keep the ankle elevated and keep the ice on it." With those final instructions, she turned and sailed gracefully out the door, her full skirts swishing the floor gently as she walked. Once he was quite sure she was gone, Cliff tried to sit up.
"A week? I can't stay here for a week!"
"Don't be stupid, of course you can," Jack said, moving swiftly to the side of the bed and pushing him gently back against the pillows.
"But...but...I'm in your bed!"
"That's fine, I can sleep on the floor for a week," Jack said easily, hooking his thumbs in his pockets and grinning. "It'll be like a slumber party!"
"But..." For all he wanted to protest, Cliff could really think of no valid objection. It wasn't like he had anywhere else to go, after all.
"No buts. You should just relax and get better. I'll take care of you," Jack assured him with a smile.
Cliff found himself smiling back, if a little more nervously than Jack.
"Good, that's settled, then." Jack said, interpreting Cliff's smile as acceptance. "I've got to go take care of my farm, but I'll be back around noon with some food. In the mean time, here," as he spoke, he produced two rice balls, and held them out to Cliff.
"Oh, no, I really couldn't..." Cliff said, holding up a hand to protest. It was at that very moment, however, when his stomach chose to let out with a very audible gurgle, and Cliff blushed. Jack laughed, then grabbed him by the wrist and placed the two rice balls carefully in Cliff's hand. Cliff blushed harder and looked down as Jack held his wrist, and missed the vaguely uncomfortable look on Jack's face.
"I'll be back to check in on you in a little while," he was told, and Jack made a swift exit. Cliff stared after him for a moment, then turned his attention to the food in his hand.
(x)
True to his word, Jack checked in every hour, and dutifully replaced bags of melted ice with fresh bags, which he obtained from the cooler Zach had delivered shortly after the midwife's departure.
The two men conversed amiably if a little awkwardly through lunch, and Jack escaped after about thirty minutes to continue with his farm work. Cliff felt insanely awkward just laying in Jack's bed, but there was nothing he could do about it. He was incredibly uncomfortable with the whole situation. Every time before now, he'd been able to mutter an excuse and escape when he began to feel awkward around Jack, but now he could do no such thing. He felt like a trapped animal, whose only choice was to wait in terrified suspense for its fate to be announced. And he was terrified, even if he wouldn't fully admit it to himself. Unable to escape, he had to face his fears full-on, and that was not something he liked to do.
He and Jack shared a quiet dinner that night, and Jack got himself a quilt and a pillow from under the bed and made himself comfortable on the floor in front of the TV. His breathing evened out moments after he had settled down, and Cliff turned his head in astonishment to stare at the calmly sleeping form of his secret crush. He wished he could fall asleep that easily.
I'll never be able to sleep tonight, he thought to himself as he stared at the peacefully slumbering Jack.
(x)
"I'm sorry I didn't think of this yesterday," Jack said around a stack of books he had cradled in his arms.
"Where'd you get those?" Cliff asked, his eyes wide.
"Borrowed 'em from the library," was the reply. "I didn't know what you liked, so I got one of everything," he said, settling the rather large selection into a stack on the bedside table. Cliff's eyes moved over the titles printed on the spines of the books. Jack had indeed gotten one of everything - there was action, adventure, horror, mystery, fantasy, science-fiction, non-fiction, romance...
Romance? Cliff raised an eyebrow. Maybe he wouldn't read that one...
"Thanks so much!" he said, smiling up at Jack, who grinned back.
"No problem," he said easily. "Back to work for me, though. Enjoy!" With a little wave, Jack departed, and Cliff picked up the top book from the stack. He'd never been much of a reader, but he figured with little else to do all day in this cabin, this might be a good time to start.
Cliff discovered that he quite liked reading, and was pleased to learn that Jack also enjoyed the activity. Thus, lunch on the second day of Cliff's confinement to bed was passed much more comfortably than the day before, as he and Jack discussed the book he'd begun reading.
"It started out a little slow, but once it got going, I got really into it!" Cliff was saying.
"I know, that's how it was for me too. How far have you gotten?"
"I just finished the part where..."
"Oh, yeah, that's a good bit! You haven't gotten to my favorite scene in the book quite yet, though."
"Oh, yeah? Well, I'm looking forward to it, then!"
Both men were so into their conversation they didn't have time to feel uncomfortable. Once Jack returned to his work, Cliff happily picked up his book and continued to read.
(x)
"I've got a surprise!" Jack announced one evening - the evening of the fourth day of Cliff's confinement to bed.
"What is it?" Cliff asked curiously, looking up from his book.
Jack held up two large, wrapped packages. "Elli heard about your fall, and she baked you a get-well dinner!"
Cliff was surprised. He knew who Elli was, of course - she came to the mountains every Monday and spent the entire day fishing. She was a pretty good angler. He said hello to her when he saw her, of course, but other than that, he never interacted with her.
He wondered what to say for a moment, and quickly settled for, "wow, that's really nice of her!"
"I know, isn't it? And there's enough for two!" Jack said as he carefully settled his burdens down on the table. Cliff watched as Jack opened them, and his mouth began to water in anticipation when the smells of the food within began to emerge. Jack inhaled appreciatively, and began to divide the food into two portions.
There was smoked fish - to be expected from Elli, because that was one of her favorites - a good, rich stew full of vegetables, and a loaf of fresh baked bread. She had also included a whole berry pie for dessert, and both Cliff and Jack were reminded of the pie they had shared during the fireworks festival.
There was no dinner conversation that night, as both men were too busy consuming the delicious meal Elli had gifted them with.
As he ate, Jack carefully watched Cliff. The other man was eating animatedly, and he seemed to have finally relaxed, which made Jack happy. He wanted Cliff to be comfortable around him. He realized with a start that perhaps Cliff couldn't be comfortable around him, because he felt uncomfortable around Cliff. His gaze shifted from the handsome man sitting up in his bed to the soup in his bowl. How could he be truly comfortable around Cliff, when he was having all these strange thoughts running through his mind?
"Are you okay?" Cliff asked, interrupting his thoughts.
"Uh...yeah! Just thinking," he said hurriedly. He realized he'd stopped eating, and that was what had drawn Cliff's attention. He lifted a spoonful of stew to his mouth hurriedly, glancing up at Cliff to see him smile, nod, and return to his own meal.
He wondered suddenly what types of food Cliff ate normally - he figured, of course, that the other man ate a lot of wild foods which could be found in the mountain - grapes, mushrooms and herbs would be the norm for this season, he mused. Probably Cliff ate quite a bit of fish, too. Not much variety, though Jack probably couldn't talk - not with the amount of rice balls he consumed on a daily basis. Come to that, this meal that Elli had cooked for the two of them (well, primarily for Cliff, but also for Jack, by association) was a break from the norm for him as well.
Jack resolved to build a kitchen soon so that he could cook his own meals. He'd have Cliff over for dinner then. That thought made him both nervous and excited - kind of like a shy new wife cooking food for her husband...
What the hell? Where had that come from? Jack firmly shoved that thought out of his head - that was the sort of thing he needed the least right now.
As the food disappeared, the two men managed to begin a bit of conversation - but Jack, flustered and not a little alarmed by his earlier thought processes, excused himself as quickly as he could without being rude and returned outside to do his after dinner chores.
Cliff, for his part, wondered what it was that had caused Jack to flush so suddenly as he ate.
(x)
The rest of the week passed quickly, and Cliff was able to stand up and walk on his ankle as though he had never twisted it. He left Jack's place early in the afternoon, thanking him profusely all the while.
"Thank you so much for letting me stay,"
"It wasn't a problem at all. You're welcome any time, you know," Jack said, blushing a little.
"Well...thanks," Cliff had no idea what else to say. "I'll uh...I'll see you around, then." Suddenly shy for some reason he couldn't fathom, Cliff smiled and hurried quickly away - an escape a week overdue.
Jack stared after him, feeling both relieved and sad. Relieved because he would no longer have the object of his progressively more disturbing thoughts living under the same roof as him, and sad for that exact same reason.
"I can't believe this...I have a crush on a guy," he whispered to himself as Cliff disappeared from view.
-To Be Continued-
(x)x(x)x(x)
Authors Notes: First, I want to thank everyone for their kind reviews. Second, I want to apologize to those same people for making them wait so long. I have this tendency to begin projects, and sort of...forget about them, half-way through. I'll try to be better about this in the future, especially since so many people have expressed their enjoyment of this story.
So we've got Cliff, who has a crush on Jack...And we've got Jack, who's finally admitted to himself that he's got a crush on Cliff. Silly boy, it took him long enough. And it's going to take him even longer to do anything about it. See you all next chapter. Any and all constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, but other comments are also welcome.