"I can tell you're awake," Jack said, so close that Boone could feel his breath.
"I wasn't pretending I wasn't," Boone replied, still not opening his eyes, still not quite ready.
"Yes you were," Jack teased.
Boone opened one eye to assess the situation and saw Jack smiling broadly at him. Boone opened his other eye and gave him a smile back.
"How you feeling?" Jack asked him.
"Okay," Boone replied. "Sticky," he added.
Jack smiled at him again. "Yeah," he agreed. "Let me take a look at your chest," he instructed, shifting slightly away from him.
Boone rolled his eyes. "Jesus, can you say obsessive? I'm fine," he insisted.
Jack gave him admonishing look. "If I can take those stitches out you can get in the shower," he said. "As long as you're careful with your leg, you still need to keep that dry."
"Oh," Boone said. "Sorry."
"Yeah," Jack replied. "So can I take a look?"
"Okay," Boone allowed.
"Very kind of you," Jack said. He pulled away more fully to get a good look. He nodded a little. "Looks okay," he muttered. He checked it out a little more thoroughly and then looked up at Boone. "Okay, here's what I'm gonna do. I'll take the stitches out for you and you can take a shower. Then I'm gonna put some surgical tape on it and you're gonna have to keep it dry for a few more days, just to make sure everything stays together. Sound okay?"
Boone nodded. "Yeah, thanks."
"Okay," Jack said. "But you still have to keep those stitches on your leg dry, they're not ready to come out yet."
"Understood," Boone said.
"All right," Jack said. "Just let me get some stuff and I'll get started on them."
He grabbed his clothes and pulled on his jeans and T-shirt, standing up and heading for the door.
"Jack," Boone called.
Jack turned back to face him. "Yeah?"
"What if someone sees you?" Boone asked.
Jack looked at him. "Sees me what?"
"Leaving the room," Boone said.
"What do you suggest?" Jack asked. "I can't stay in here all day."
"Well, no," Boone admitted.
"I'll be right back, sit tight," Jack told him. He opened the door and exited it, closing it behind him.
Boone laid back and stared up at the ceiling. He listened carefully but he couldn't hear anyone talking outside. Maybe Jack had gotten away with it. But he still had to get back in there again. Not that it was such a big deal, Boone told himself. Jack didn't seem to think it was a big deal. And everyone knew they were a couple so they'd surely expect them to do coupley things. Shannon thought they were already having sex, Boone wondered if everyone thought like that. Then he wondered if they thought about it at all. He wondered if Ana-Lucia knew that they were a couple, that Jack was off the market. He wondered if Jack would tell her if she asked.
He sighed. He really needed to stop thinking about things so much. Maybe he should take a page out of Shannon's book. No, Shannon didn't think nearly enough. She went into the middle of the jungle following ghosts and wound up getting shot. There had to be a happy medium between the two. Some kind of relaxed pondering that he could do that wouldn't drive him to insanity like everything else in his life seemed to.
But Boone didn't really have any excuse to worry because Jack was really taking everything ridiculously well. But all that was actually managing to do was make Boone more suspicious. Surely Jack should have some issues with being with a man. Okay, so they were taking things slow, Boone would have had sex with anyone else weeks ago, but Jack didn't seem to care about people knowing which was kind of weird really and Jack fell pretty fully into the relationship the second they kissed in the jungle and Boone couldn't help but think that there really should have been a little more hesitation on his part.
Boone had never been with a virgin like this. Actually, Boone had never been with a virgin full stop, which he was actually kind of glad about because that must be a lot of pressure. Everyone remembers the first time they had sex and Boone didn't really want to be responsible for that memory not being great. But now he was with a virgin and not just a regular virgin. A proper grown-up who'd obviously had sex but not in this way, not with someone like Boone. And regardless of Boone's lack of experience in de-virginising he would expect Jack to be having more issues than he appeared to be having, especially considering that a month and a half ago he didn't even know he was attracted to men.
Boone sighed again and willed Jack to hurry back. He was probably getting interrogated by Shannon. God, Boone really hoped that wasn't true. Okay, so Shannon could be useful, and her advice had led to Boone getting a happy ending to his day. But she could also be a complete bitch if she wanted to be and she'd undoubtedly be able to wind Jack up right now if she felt so inclined.
The door opened and Boone looked up as Jack slipped into the room, medical supplies in hand. He closed the door behind and knelt down beside Boone.
"What took you so long?" Boone asked.
"I had to check on Shannon and Sawyer while I was out there," Jack explained, taking various items out of his medical kit.
"They okay?" Boone asked.
"Fine," Jack replied.
"Did Shannon ask you anything?" Boone asked.
Jack looked at him. "Like what?"
"I don't know," Boone replied. "Anything?"
"No," Jack replied. "No, I don't think so." He finished sorting out what he needed and turned to Boone. "Okay, I don't have exactly what I need so I'm gonna have to improvise a little but I don't think it's going to pose any huge problems."
"Way to inspire confidence, Jack," Boone replied.
"You'll be fine," Jack told him. He picked up a bottle of peroxide and put some on a cloth, running it over the stitches. He then put it to one side and picked up a pair of nail scissors. "Okay, you might feel a little tugging but it shouldn't hurt. If it does, stop me."
"Okay," Boone replied.
Jack gave him a little nod and then leant down, a look a concentration of his face. He made a few snips and then reached for a pair of tweezers and began pulling at the thread a little. He continued working with both the scissors and the tweezers until he had all the stitches out. He grabbed the peroxide rag and ran it over the area again. He then sat back and admired his work. Boone looked carefully at his face. Jack noticed him looking and gave him a smile.
"You're fine, Boone," Jack told him.
"My heart isn't gonna fall out or anything?" Boone asked.
"Well, considering the wound isn't even over your heart and your ribcage is in the way to boot..." Jack considered. Boone just stared at him. "Nothing's gonna fall out."
"So I can take a shower now?" Boone asked.
"Go ahead," Jack said. "You just have to keep that leg dry."
"Yeah, you keep saying that," Boone commented, sitting up.
"Well it's important," Jack insisted. "I really don't want to be knocking your recovery back. You're doing really well, just don't push your luck."
"The leg feels better," Boone offered.
"Yeah, better than it was," Jack agreed. "Not all better though."
"No, not all better," Boone conceded.
Jack grabbed Boone's clothes and handed them to him. "Here you go, stud," he said. "I don't think everyone else will appreciate you like that as much as I do."
Boone smiled at him, taking the clothes. "Thanks."
Jack nodded and glanced down at his chest one more time before standing up. Boone pulled on his clothes as Jack grabbed his crutches and passed them down to him. He helped Boone to his feet.
"Give me a shout when you're done with that shower, okay?" Jack said. "I'm feeling a little sticky myself."
Boone smiled at him. "Okay."
Jack gave him a smile in return and leaned in to give him a kiss. He then turned around and headed for the door. Boone watched him leave before following after him.