Disclaimer: Not my characters, and I make no money from them.
AN: Unbeta'd.

Chapter 12

"Jack, my boss here wants to send me to a conference in Washington D.C. in January. The American Astronomical Society Conference. Do you think you can come? I have checked with another graduate student I will be rooming with, Yusef. He will let you room with us as long as we don't do anything while he is in the room. I know it would cost a lot of money for you to come out there. Maybe you could take a train. I really miss you, Jack. It would mean a lot to me, and please tell me if there is something I can do to help you make it.

Ennis del Mar"

Jack stared at the e-mail a long time before he had to remove himself to the bathroom in anticipation of seeing Ennis in just a few short months. Yusef or not, they'd find their time together. Of that he was dead certain.

So taken with the haze of satiation and the afterglow of hopes for the future was Jack that he entirely forgot to answer Ennis's e-mail until morning. When he woke up, though, that was his very first thought, and he jolted out of bed, half-dressed, past Teng in the kitchen eating his cereal, and to the computer, to answer.

"ennis, fuck yes i'll figure something out. I fucking love you and you made my fucking day.

Jack."

He meant every word of it, but now it was the figuring out that Jack had to do. That whole week it was on his mind. He and Ennis continued to exchange bland e-mails about weather and classes, but always at the end was some little thing about the trip, Jack's newest price for some train, or what did people wear to the conference, or else asking Ennis about the poster Ennis was planning to present there, the hotel they were staying at, the logistics of splitting it. Jack had a million questions, and he jotted down packing lists when his professors were boring. He couldn't leave fast enough even though he didn't yet have half the money he needed for the trip.

In the end the plane turned out to be the cheapest at one hundred and sixty one dollars from Denver. Jack could take a Greyhound bus from Laramie to Denver pretty cheaply and quickly, so that turned out to be his plan. He loaded up on nice clothes for the conference. According to Ennis's fellow students, no suits were required, but khakis and collared shirts were the most casual sort of things undergrads should expect to get away with.

And in the rush of trip planning, and trying to focus on his classes around it, Jack forgot completely about Randy, and about Spectrum. Or maybe he wanted to forget. Because the truth was his body'd been right there, ready and willing to do something that he didn't know that Ennis would have forgiven him for doing. Whatever happened, Jack knew that he wasn't going to tell Ennis what happened with Randy. After all, nothing'd happened with Randy, so there was nothing to tell. Or so Jack told himself, but if that was really true, Jack didn't know why the thought sometimes kept him up at night.

At last the end of the semester arrived. Jack had picked up extra hours at the dining hall all fall to earn the extra money for the trip, and he just barely had enough, although it meant that he couldn't afford a Christmas present for Ennis. He hoped that showing up in D.C. was enough. His grades had slipped a little on account of the extra work, but they weren't too bad-- A's and B's, though it was a problem that the A's were in his non-technical classes and the B's were in his technical classes, but Jack had never pretended to be a genius. Finals week was hell, but, as happened every finals week, the physics students banded together and studied together and pulled themselves through by their bootstraps together. Their final grades were somehow group victories. Jack felt like a liability, his mind elsewhere, but the other students were patient with him. In return he proofread a couple essays for those who weren't so good in English classes. Jack was developing a reputation for having some skill in that department.

And then Jack was alone with Teng, the week of Christmas coming on strong in a fit of wind and snow from the west. Teng wasn't going home for Christmas, though he and his girlfriend had some plans in mind with friends, leaving Jack completely alone on Christmas Eve.

But not really, because his phone rang early in the day.

"Hello?"

"Hey." Ennis's voice sounded comforting and warm, but also lonely and cold. Jack wasn't sure how it could be both at the same time, so near and so far away.

"Hey there."

"Uh, Merry Christmas."

"You too."

"You got any plans?"

"Nope, not any."

"How'd finals go?"

"I fucking hate finals week."

"You and every other student."

"Yours?"

"They went."

"Yeah, well, I bet at least you passed yours," Jack laughed.

Ennis laughed too, though neither was really sure if it had been a joke.

"You all set for the conference?," Jack asked after a moment.

"Uh," Ennis laughed a little nervously. "Not really. Still finishing up the poster."

"Guess that's normal," Jack answered. He had no idea whether it was or not, but he sure that Ennis was more than competent, so it couldn't be too abnormal. Jack suggested that they exchange the particulars of their flight information, and he took down all of Ennis's on a piece of printer paper which he then folded and stuck in his back pocket. He planned to keep it with him, as if the paper itself was a Christmas present.

After that they seemed to have run out of things to say. Jack stretched the phone cord to the couch and slumped against it, sighing. "Well, I guess you want to go, right?"

Ennis grunted, though Jack couldn't tell what he meant by that.

"You in the lounge?"

"Yeah," Ennis sighed.

"Too bad." And Jack meant it, because he was already unbuttoning his jeans.

"How's that?"

But Ennis got the message soon as Jack's breathing sped up to a panted fervor against the phone receiver, and Jack heard Ennis making some strangled noises on the other end of the line. Ennis tried to stop him with some hushed and scolding, "Jack, Jack," warnings.

"I can't stop, Ennis. I got to do this. I'm gonna shoot with you right on the line in a public place."

"Jack--" Ennis sounded almost like he was going to cry.

"Miss-- you-- so-- much-- Ennis."

"Uuuhm."

And then Jack couldn't talk any more, only moan and grunt incoherently until he came, calling Ennis's name across the apartment, the phone line, and the ocean.

Not three seconds later the line went dead without a goodbye, but Jack didn't mind. Warmed from the inside out, he knew that in some bathroom or dorm room in Germany, Ennis del Mar was wringing it out thinking about what he'd just done, and it felt like even though the phone line wasn't still connected, they were, always, forever and a day.

It was Jack's first plane flight, and that fact almost made up for the miserable hours he'd spent in a stinking bus. The airport smelled like no place he'd been, like carpet that had seen more travelers come and go than Jack could imagine if he'd spent his life thinking of it, and he tried to imagine that it wasn't an airport, but a spaceport, ushering him into his future, to the man he loved, and to a conference on astronomy at the Nation's Capital on the back of a giant silver bird.

He waited patiently in the ticket line, putting his bag on the scale with a smile. He waited patiently in the security line, carefully laying out all the contents of his pockets in a little tray, and putting his carry-on on the conveyor to move through the X-ray. He waited patiently at the gate until his row number was called, wanting to follow every rule. He watched the stewardess-- flight attendant-- whatever their politically correct name was this week, with rapt attention as she showed him how to put on his oxygen mask before assisting the person next to him. He noted the nearest exit and read the safety card in the seat back in front of him, all with a smile.

But, finally, the moment had arrived, and, buckled in as Jack imagined an astronaut might buckle into the space shuttle, Jack sat perfectly straight against the seat and looked out the window. He felt every G with elation, every turn of the plane with excitement. Once they were airborne, he didn't tear his eyes away from the window until the flight attendant asked him multiple times for his drink order.

A plastic cup of Coke later, Jack was back to scanning the cloud-tops, noting the unprecedented blueness of the sky, the way his ears popped, every little detail of the flight cataloged as if it might be his last. When they hit turbulence and the plane shook, Jack didn't even care. His only thought was that, if the plane crashed now, he'd die in a way he couldn't find a single fault with, falling from the back of a silver bird from space.

At last though, they descended, and Jack found he loved that more than the climb. The dips the plane took were rather like driving a hilly country road, and Jack had always loved that. The braking of the plane was noisy, but that was good too. Spaceships should make noise as well. And finally, there he was, on the ground at the end of his direct flight. There he was on the ground in Washington D.C., and Ennis was out there somewhere on the ground before him.

Jack's patience evaporated, and suddenly he could not get off the plane fast enough. It wasn't a spaceship and this wasn't a spaceport, but none of that mattered because the real fantasy was still ahead of him somewhere in the city on the real, live ground.

Ennis sat in the lobby, fingering the edge of his polo shirt. He'd been sitting here for over an hour, and he was damned tired. Flying across the ocean didn't get easier just 'cause you'd done it once. After they'd arrived and settled, Yusef went looking for the hotel bar, and Ennis found a chair with a good sight of the front desk. He tried not to fidget or look suspicious, tried to blend in, as he watched a lot of scientists filter into the lobby. Many were in suits, but just as many wore jeans and T-shirts. A lot seemed to know each other. They broke into small groups here and there to catch up on old times or to talk about making their way to a restaurant. It was dinnertime in D.C., which meant it was way past dinnertime for Ennis and he was barely awake and starving to death, just about. But hunger was no new thing to him so he stood it. He was used to more than one day of studying or working where he would just forget to eat entirely.

He was nearly asleep against the back of the armchair when a familiar-- but not so familiar after all-- figure entered the lobby, wearing the same backpack he remembered, and dragging a bag Ennis even knew. Without seeing him, Jack went up to the front desk and started talking to the blonde man there. Ennis found himself frozen, afraid to watch because of the way his vision was fading and his heart was pounding at the sight, but equally afraid to turn away from such a beautiful view.

Ennis rose to his feet and walked up to the counter, standing carefully behind Jack. He didn't trust himself not to do something foolish, suddenly. But Jack seemed to sense him there, because after he was handed a key, he turned around, and broke into all smiles. Ennis felt suddenly breathless. Jack's lips parted. His tongue drew a wet line from one corner to the middle, and his eyes watched Ennis's lips. Ennis was certain it was unconscious, but the sight was driving Ennis wild.

"I, uh, room's upstairs," Ennis stammered out.

"Yeah." Jack broke his lip-gaze to look down at his key. "It says 356. That's usually upstairs, I think."

The feeble attempt at humor was lost on Ennis, who jerked Jack's bag away from him and bee-lined it straight to the bank of elevators in the middle of the lobby.

The hotel had three ten-floor towers. All three towers were connected on the ground floor and on a mezzanine, but the insides of the towers were empty, with doors on all sides of the square towers facing towards the center across brass railings. Hanging plants decorated every railing, and a fountain skirted the elevators. The hotel was no cheap place, and no place like either of them had been before. Ennis watch Jack take in the sight. He didn't care much for the luxury himself. It made him feel awkward and out of place. But he could see Jack's eyes light up like he'd come to some level of importance. Ennis smiled to watch it happen.

They rode in a glass elevator only up to the third floor, and then followed the square wall around until they found their room. Ennis swiped the key and held the door aside while Jack went in.

Jack looked around for a moment. The room was dark, and nothing special except that it was a hotel room. It wasn't the first they shared, Ennis remembered, thinking of their football trip to Texas, but it was the nicer of the two.

"Which bed is yours?," Jack asked breathlessly.

That was all the cue Ennis needed. He had the sense enough to flick the deadbolt on the door before he ripped at Jack's shirt buttons from behind, then spun him around and laid his own lips again those that had been silently begging for this since the lobby. Jack didn't resist. Ennis took a second to stare into his eyes, but what he saw in that blue depth was too much, and Ennis shut his own eyes against Jack's as his hands worked Jack's fly without an ounce of progress. He was lost in a world of fumbling, needful love. "Oh God," Ennis moaned.

"Ennis," Jack breathed gently. Jack grasped Ennis's wrist and pulled his hand away from the fly where it was still scrambling. "Ennis," Jack leaned against his cheek, "I'm here. Calm down, alright."

Ennis felt a smile, more genuine than he'd felt in months, stretch his features.

Jack, hands calm though damp with sweat, moved under Ennis's shirt and under Ennis's own pants with considerably more dexterity. "Easy," Jack whispered. "It's alright."

Ennis dove in and planted another hard kiss, aiming for Jack's lips, but Jack dove away at the last possible moment and the kiss went wide, hitting Jack in the cheek. Jack chuckled.

Then Ennis had had enough. He pushed them both to the bed. Jack, not complaining, pulled his own pants down on the way. Kicking and fumbling and laughing and snorting, they fought to get each other's shirts and underwear off, to get the upper hand. Ennis liked the feel of Jack's strong legs, covered in wiry dark hair, wrapped around his own as Jack held him down, whispering, "I am not that easy to pin, Ennis!"

Ennis laughed. "Like hell. I got two inches on you."

Jack put a tanned hand around his own cut dick. "Not where it counts, friend."

Ennis tried to hide his mischievous smile. "Don't see how that counts at all."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. You don't usually do nothing with it."

"I been doing a lot of something with it since you've been gone," Jack snorted.

"That wasn't what I meant."

"I know it. You offering."

"Didn't say that."

"You afraid of that extra inch, huh?," Jack's laugh was wicked.

"Ain't afraid," Ennis protested.

Jack leaned in close, grasping the hotel lotion from the bedside table as he did so. He held the lotion against Ennis's forehead like a cold pack for an injury. "Oh yeah? Why don't you prove it?"

Ennis froze, and their eyes met, but the moment of stillness flowed directly into movement as Jack worked to enter and bury himself in Ennis. Ennis rocked back, grunting, his hand working himself. He could see the muscles in Jack's arms shake as they drew the seconds out to minutes, wanting to come both quickly and never at all.

"Ennis," Jack choked, "I'm gonna--"

"Jack." Ennis clamped a hand on Jack's shoulder, and they came together, gripping and twisting each other in tightening palms. Neither drew a breath for an unbearably beautiful handful of seconds, until Jack made a noise like a sob, and Ennis started sucking in mouthful of thick air, and--

The doorknob jiggled.

Jack and Ennis froze, holding their breath, Jack still buried but softening within Ennis.

"Ennis," an accented voice called.

"God dammit," Ennis hissed, pulling away from Jack. They snatched up as much of their clothes as they could grasp and ran for the bathroom. Jack was laughing like a crazy idiot, and Ennis wondered if maybe he'd gone a little screwy or something.

"Ennis! Open up! What the heck?"

"Uh, just... just hold on!" Ennis pushed Jack into the bathroom with his clothes, and pulled on his own jeans and shirt. He slammed the bathroom door and swung open the room door.

"Ennis." Yusef looked mad. "Why'd you lock me out? And why's your shirt on inside out?"

Ennis looked down and cursed under his breath.

The bathroom door creeked open, and a dressed Jack emerged.

"Uh." Ennis started.

"Oh," Yusef answered his own question, but he didn't look any less angry.

"Yusef, this is Jack. Jack, Yusef is a grad student out in Germany."

"Nice to meet you," Jack nodded sheepishly, but he didn't offer his hand.

"Yeah," Yusef answered. "Anyway, if you all are done, I can barely stay awake. I'm going to bed."

"Yup."

"I haven't had dinner. I was thinking of food," Jack offered, more to Ennis than to Yusef.

"Ain't eaten myself."

Yusef tumbled, fully-dressed without a word, into his bed, while Jack and Ennis got cleaned up and stepped into the brightly-lit hallway to find a meal and eat it together for the first time in five months.