Title: In Admiration - Part 22

Fandom: Lost

Characters: Jack Shephard, Boone Carlyle

Prompt: #76 Secrets

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

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"Son of a bitch!" Sawyer yelled, sitting up and seeing the mud he'd gotten all over him. He slowly pulled himself up to his feet, backtracking through the jungle for a little bit to grab the tarp he'd dropped when running from the boar. Sawyer didn't care that Sayid had mocked him for it; that boar was really out to get him! He folded up the tarp and stuffed it under his arm, trying not to think about how the mud felt caked on his clothing and how the fabric stiffened as it slowly dried. He was having a shitty day.

Sawyer heard the distinctive crunch of footsteps on the jungle floor and afraid that it was the boar coming back for the tarp, he hid behind a clump of bushes. Sawyer felt like a moron hiding from something he should be eating for dinner, but he just got his tarp back. When living on an island, having shelter from the incessant and unpredictable rain was more important than maintaining dignity.

The steps got closer, and they were close enough that he could tell it wasn't a boar. Or at least he hoped it wasn't a boar because it sounded like a damn big boar. The pace was slower, though, and the sound of two feet walking through the jungle was distinctively different than the sound of four. Someone was coming his way, and seeing how Sawyer didn't feel like explaining to anyone why he was crouched behind a bush covered in mud and holding a tarp, he wasn't going to move anytime soon.

The sight of Jack coming out from the surrounding foliage made Sawyer wonder if Jack was looking for him and get the gun back, but Jack's cursory glance behind him settled that thought in Sawyer's mind. Jack was making sure he wasn't being followed. Sawyer then thought maybe Kate had given her gun back and Jack was going to put it back with the others. Sawyer knew from experience that there was no way he could break the case open, but he also realized that just having the case was an asset since everyone knew what was in there.

He stood slowly, careful not to make too much noise, as he followed Jack, carefully staying back and near things he could hide behind. Sawyer hadn't noticed how damn big the trees were on the island until he was using them to duck behind for cover. He peeked around a wide tree trunk, frowning slightly when he saw another person. Sawyer snuck a little closer to see who it was that Jack could be meeting out here so secretly.

Sawyer's eyes narrowed in confusion, recognizing Boone almost instantly. From the distance, he couldn't make out what was being said, and Sawyer was curious. Jack couldn't be out here about the guns, the kid didn't seem to like them, so why were they out here? He crept even closer, watching the ground as he walked to not give himself away, and when he looked back up, Sawyer almost fell over. He was having a hard time wrapping his brain around what he was seeing, but at the same time, it made perfect sense.

Jack and Boone were kissing. Not just any kissing, though, but full-blown tonsil hockey, complete with roaming hands. Sawyer had figured Jack was sweet on someone based on his behavior from before the whole Ethan debacle, and it had obviously not been Kate, but Sawyer just figured it was some other woman on the island. Hell, there were practically fifty survivors and Sawyer knew he couldn't name half of them. Not by their real names, anyway. Some of the other survivors whose names he didn't know he'd given nicknames as a way to reference them.

A person couldn't survive as a con man if you couldn't get a read on people, and Sawyer could see enough to tell this wasn't just a casual thing because both parties were willing and needy. Emotions such as those could only be faked to a certain extent. Sawyer was surprised to find himself a little jealous that at least someone on the island was getting some action.

That thought made him wonder how much further this was going to go. There was no way he could just leave without being noticed, and Sawyer didn't feel like sticking around to watch and see how it would play out. He figured there was a way to use this to his advantage. They seemed to what to keep things all hush-hush, and their mistrust of Sawyer gave him a great deal of leverage in the situation.

Sawyer stood, intentionally snapping a twig underneath with his foot, and chuckling as Jack and Boone jumped apart, both of their expressions resembling the old deer in the headlights cliché. "I'd heard Pretty Boy's CPR technique wasn't up to par, but private lessons?" He kept his tone teasing. "Where can I sign up?"

With the shock of being caught diminished, Jack's expression had become relatively calm. Boone, on the other hand, was giving Sawyer the familiar defying glare he'd found himself on the receiving end of when the golf course had been made a little over two weeks earlier. "What do you want, Sawyer?" Jack asked.

Sawyer shrugged slowly, grabbing the tarp out from under his arm and waving it in his hand. "Came to get this back. Looks like I stumbled across somethin' a little more interestin'."

"You're covered in mud," Boone said, voice sounding a little disdainful, but it seemed to Sawyer like he was also a little afraid. Sawyer sneered at him, not wanting to explain to them how he'd been chased after by a boar.

"You were makin' out with the doc." He noticed Boone pale slightly and understood that Boone was afraid, although if the fear was from Sawyer himself or the possibility of Sawyer telling everyone else, he wasn't sure. "Now look," Sawyer started, laying down the lines, "I ain't gonna tell nobody, because it's none of their damn business, but for that I'm gonna expect some favors in return."

Jack nodded, almost as if he'd been expecting it. "What do you want?"

"Well for one, I'm keepin' the gun for a little bit."

"Why?"

"Now that's none of your damn business. I'm not gonna go killin' anybody so don't worry about that. Second, no one else is to go through or ask for my stuff. I got tortured over somethin' I didn't even have and don't feel like goin' through that again."

He watched Boone lean into Jack, one hand intertwining with the other, and Sawyer felt the pang of jealousy again. He had been alone before the crash, but he'd been running enough cons to be able to pretend he wasn't. On the island, he was just alone. "That all?" Jack's eyebrows were raised, and Sawyer really wanted to get back to the beach.

"Yeah...for now. I'll let ya know if I come up with somethin' more." He turned and started to walk back to the beach, leaving Jack and Boone there in the jungle. This was what he and Kate had in common, Sawyer knew. Neither of them let people get close, and they suffered for it.