Title: In Admiration - Part 10

Fandom: Lost

Characters: Jack Shephard, Boone Carlyle

Prompt: #92 Dream

Author's Notes: Written for the LiveJournal community slash100 (underscore between "slash" and "100" – for some reason FFN deletes it)

…………

Jack was getting sick of staring at the ceiling of his cave. He felt like he'd been staring at it for hours, which, if he could read his watch, he just might have been. Since the crash, Jack hadn't been getting a lot of sleep, but the times he did get to rest for several hours, he had no trouble passing out on whatever rock or piece of beach he happened to lie down on. He sighed heavily, giving into the fact that tonight just wasn't going to be a night he got any sleep. Jack got up, putting on a shirt and a pair of pants before exiting the cave. As much as Jack wouldn't have minded walking around in the cooler, nighttime air in his boxers, he was sure there were some other survivors that wouldn't appreciate it.

Jack briefly surveyed the area. He saw that Shannon had moved to just inside one of the caves, and that Boone was no longer sitting beside her. Jack looked around more and saw Boone sitting by one of the few fires that had been left burning, eating a large piece of fruit that had been halved.

"Hey," Boone greeted Jack softly when he got closer. Sounds tended to carry in the caves, and Jack figured he was practically whispering to be polite to those sleeping. "Want some papaya?"

Jack nodded. "Thanks," he replied, taking the other half and biting into the fleshy insides of the fruit. It was ripe and juicy and just perfect. "How's Shannon doing?"

Boone gave a half-hearted shrug. "Her breathing has seemed fine, and she hasn't woken up at all. I think she'll be okay."

"That's good, then." Jack noticed that Boone had changed. The shirt he was wearing no longer had blood on it. "Does your face feel all right?"

"Certain facial expressions hurt, feel like the skin is getting stretched tight, and maybe like it's bruised, but I don't think my nose is about to fall off or anything," Jack had to chuckle at the sarcastic grin Boone threw his way. "I've been hit before; I'll survive."

"It's not you I'm worried about so much as the bacteria that could be in the air or water here that'll make things worse that'll make me have to worry about you." Jack hoped he wasn't coming across as paranoid, but for all he knew, there could be malaria or worse. "Let me just clean it up once more and I won't bother you about it again."

Boone agreed, begrudgingly commenting about how Jack should save the peroxide for something more serious than a couple scratches. He cleaned up Boone's face in relative silence, the running water throughout the caves being the only sound. Jack noticed that Boone was right, he didn't really need to get the scratches looked at. The one on his forehead was scabbed a little, and his left nostril and the area around it looked a little raw, but that was it.

Jack put down the piece of gauze he had soaked with peroxide, holding Boone's head with his right hand, angling him to see better in the brief flicker of firelight and the few shards of moonlight that made it through the jungle canopy. He suddenly found himself aware of proximity, and how Boone was biting his bottom lip, but whether he was nervous about something or in pain from the peroxide, Jack couldn't tell.

His brain registered sensations before he figured out what was going on. Softness came first, then warm, moving air, before Jack realized that he was kissing Boone. He pulled away quickly as if burned, ashamed at his sudden loss of control. He looked up carefully but was unable to gauge Boone's reaction - his eyes were hidden in the shadows. Before Jack could mumble an apology, Boone reached forward, grabbed fistfuls of Jack's T-shirt, and pulled Jack to him, faces mere centimeters apart.

"Don't you dare say you're sorry," Boone's voice was almost a hiss, and yet Jack could feel him shaking. "I've been dreaming about this almost since we crashed here, and I'm not going to let you apologize this away."

Jack wanted to tell Boone that he had it wrong, that Jack's body may have acted on an impulse, but it wasn't an accident and he sure wasn't regretting it. He wanted to tell Boone that he wanted him, as well, but he couldn't find the words, so he closed the gap between them, capturing Boone's mouth in another kiss. It started out slow and tender, as if they were trying to commit the feel of one another to memory. As confidence and familiarity increased, so did desperation and need. Jack felt himself being pulled down onto the salvaged seat cushions so that he was laying half on top of Boone. The rest of the world seemed muted, subdued, except for Boone, who was electric, vibrant. The other man's body was smaller, but from what Jack could feel, just as strong, and the fierceness that Jack often saw in Boone's gaze was now transferred into his movements.

He could feel Boone groping blindly at his shoulders and chest as Jack moved from Boone's mouth to trace kisses down his jaw line, sucking at the spot where it met his neck. Jack shuddered slightly at the sound of Boone's voice, repeating his name over and over like a mantra. Jack swore when the shouting of his name got louder and the image of Boone quickly faded. He tried to ignore whoever was calling him, willing the dream to return, but he was too awake and it was gone.

Jack sat up, blinking blearily at Charlie, who was standing at the cave entrance. He heard Charlie asking if he could check on Claire, saying that she was in pain and wanted to be sure it was something she ate instead of trouble with the baby. Jack nodded, telling Charlie he'd be there in a minute, and got up to look for some antacids to help Claire's stomach, because that was most likely the case.

Locke was nearby when Jack left the cave, and the other gave Jack a long look, which he chose to ignore. Jack saw where Claire and Charlie were sitting, Sun and Hurley with them, too. Shannon and Boone, Jack noticed, must have gone back to the beach already. He shook away thoughts of the dream, still feeling disappointed that it had only been a figment of his imagination, but Jack knew he couldn't think about Boone when he had other responsibilities to attend to.