tresa_cho prompted: battle scars (it was hurt/comfort day.) I'll go ahead and apologize for any OOCness.

Tobias didn't know the day Jake changed his morphing outfit to the long sleeve spandex and pants that Marco kept heckling him about, "Those are leggings!" He did recall Jake and Cassie acting strange with each other, remembered quite clearly the night Jake mumbled, "She doesn't want to be an us, anymore." It was the same night Jake clumsily kissed him for the first time. It was a mere bumping of lips and rushed "I'm sorry, jeez, I'm so sorry." Then, Jake was gone, morphing so smoothly into his falcon that Cassie would have been jealous. Three meetings later Tobias cornered Jake and gave him a real kiss.

In the dark (and it is always dark, no matter how much they argue) when they were together Tobias can feel the reasons Jake changed his outfit. On his right arm from shoulder to below his bicep there was a scar, a quarter-inch thick and the feel was new. The first time Tobias trailed his fingers over it Jake sucked in a breath and went still.

"What's wrong?" Honestly, Tobias doesn't think it's the scar marring Jake's skin. He was still fingering it gently, mapping it, putting a picture in his head of it. It was a part of Jake he didn't know.

"N-nothing."

Later he found jagged skin that had been hastily sewn together along his left calf. "What happen here?" Jake didn't answer, only rolled them so he was hovering over Tobias. He stopped any further questioning by covering Tobias' mouth and kissing him senseless.

Tobias wanted answers. Since Jake and him had become...they hadn't quite put a name to it yet, he had found scars littering Jake's body. Scars Jake didn't want to talk about and one had been stitched, stitches that to Tobias' knowledge no one knew about.

One night he couldn't take it anymore and as Jake rolled his hips into Tobias' he put his hand in the middle of his back. "Tell me about this one," he doesn't ask.

Jake stilled and lifted up. Where his lips had been was a cooling spot on his neck with the force Jake's breath left him. "Now?"

Tobias stroked the long scar; it started between his shoulder blades and ran all the way to his mid-back. "Yes, now. How did you get it? Why didn't you ever mention it?"

Jake pulled away and grabbed his shirt, yanking it violently over his head. "I guess now you'll give me that look. Or get angry? Demand that I stop trying to save you guys in battle; even though it's. My. Job." If it wasn't Jake's room Tobias didn't think he would still be sitting there. Jake was a tight ball of tension on the edge of the bed, his arms wrapped around himself. From finger-mapping his entire body Tobias knew he was running his fingers along the scar on his right arm.

"No, I wasn't planning on it," He kept his voice even, soft. "I just..." What did he want? He was curious, had been about the scars since the first one he had felt. "I just want to know about them."

"Why?" Jake narrowed his eyes over his shoulder, pinning the glare on Tobias.

Tobias moved closer, his hands out palm up. "They're apart of you, and no one even knows you have them."

"Why should that matter? They're awful." Jake turned away again. Tobias took the opportunity to wrap his arms around Jake; he stiffened but Tobias didn't pull away.

Tobias exhaled and with seriousness replied, "I didn't take you as self-conscious."

"You asked me once why Cassie and me broke up." Tobias nodded, he had and Jake had kissed him. He always thought that had been the answer. "It's because she wouldn't stop."

"Stop what?"

"Looking at me with pity. Like, 'Poor Jake, all covered in scars and hideous.'" Tobias shook his head, Cassie would never think something like that. "She did," Regardless, Jake thought it. And, Tobias had to admit, it might have been true. Cassie was the softest-hearted of them all. "Then the arguments started." That was all Jake offered on that, and Tobias didn't pry. Whatever they fought about it, it was their fight.

"Jake," Tobias turned his head so he could see Jake's eyes in the dim lighting. "I am not going to look at you with pity, or am I going to argue that you shouldn't do what you do best. Keeping us safe and alive." Jake nodded but looked unconvinced. "Where did it come from?" He put his hand again on the scar running down his back.

"Hork-Bajir got me in my rhinoceros form. That morph still doesn't feel right." Tobias gaped, to inflict that sort of harm with such a tough morph... "Please," Jake's voice cracked, "please don't look at me like that."

Tobias snapped his mouth shut with an audible click. "Jesus, Jake." He unwrapped his arms from around the other teen; Jake was already trying to stand and Tobias knew if he let him go he'd lose him. "Don't!" He grabbed Jake by his arms and held him still. "Don't go anywhere. Please." He grabbed the hem of Jake's shirt and pulled it over his head. "Lay back down."

With a lot of coaxing he had Jake laying back down. Tobias straddled his hips and ran his hands over his chest. There were three of various sizes and ages along the torso. "Tell me about these ones." It wasn't easy, and some times Tobias thought Jake would just stop speaking altogether. Finally though he had told him the story to each one, how long it had taken to become accustomed to it and how it felt now in that particular morphs body.

His hand drifted behind him and he had to lean slightly to fully touch it. The jagged one on Jake's calf was the only he hadn't asked about yet. "And this one?" It couldn't have happen in a morph it didn't have the smooth edges of healing through the morphing process.

"It's an old one. Happen during the beginning. Rachel stitched it up." It made sense that Rachel was the one; she had always worn her battle scars with pride. An accomplishment. Was it irony that it had been one of the reason Tobias had drifted away from her? He thought that would be all he heard from it, "It didn't even happen in a battle. I was playing basketball with Tom, he got rough...or the yeerk did. I cut it on a piece of sheet metal my dad had been using for some project. I didn't want to tell my parents...I don't know why; maybe because Tom is my older brother and I loved him. Regardless."

"I never noticed it." And he was sure no one had.

Jake grinned, but it was humorously and dark, "I used waterproof foundation on it."

Tobias frowned, "why go through so much trouble, Jake?"

He snorted, "I'm your leader, right? A scarred up leader isn't very inspiring."

Tobias thought it over and didn't agree, but Jake had made up his mind on this long before. "Can I see you now?" He had hoped that by revealing all the hows and whys Jake would be comfortable. But Jake went ridged and Tobias was prepared to climb off him at the word. He relaxed though, slowly, limb by limb. In the dim light Tobias saw the slight nod; he reached for the lamp and paused, "You can say no."

"I-I want to see you, too." Jake ran his fingers down Tobias' chest.

They both had to blink at the harsh light. The first thing Tobias sought out were Jake's eyes. He had never had the chance to look into the blue pools before when they were in an intimate position. Jake smiled slightly and Tobias returned it. They settled next to each other, with a foot of bed between them so they had easy access to looking where they pleased.

Tobias put his hand on Jake's cheek and turned his face up to look at him. "It's everything about you that I love," Tobias could freak out later that he actually admitted that, "your brains, your skills. Even your scars; there is no shame in how you received each one. And Jake?" Jake looked at him, a little fear a little pure unadulterated love. "Please don't ever change who you are."