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archetTitle: Angels Ain’t Easy
Author: Archet
Pairing: OMC Jody McKinnon/Matt Hawkes
Fandom: High Mountain Rangers
Summary: a story of falling in love, figuring things out and just holding on.
Disclaimer: I did not create the High Mountain Ranger character/s, only this fic and the Original Male Character, Jody McKinnon, and any other original characters in supporting roles. No copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: this fic is set in 1989, approximately a year and a half after the events of the final episode of High Mountain Rangers. There will be no acknowledgment of the events of the spin-off show Jesse Hawkes.
Warnings: none as yet
Note: this fic takes place a little over four months after Bad Luck, Bad Guys and High Mountain Rangers and is a sequel to that fic, so reading that first is recommended.
Additional: this fic will depict same sex relationships. If this ain’t your thing, venture no further.
***Additional story notes and etc at end of chapter***
~*~
Chapter 4: Clarion Call
Taking a moment to straighten his jacket, Jody pushed through the double doors to the ranger station, and almost plowed straight into Izzy as he hurried out.
“Shit! Sorry, man, didn’t see you. Hey, I was just about to call you.” The words came out in a rush, Izzy continuing to talk even as he bustled past. Jody turned and held one of the doors open between them as Izzy jogged down the front steps, holding up a key ring with a single key on it.
“Old Ms. Merriweather locked herself out of her house again. We keep an extra set, she gets kinds confused sometimes.”
Jody blinked at him. “You were going to call me to tell me that?”
Flight interrupted, Izzy paused on the paved walk, turning to face Jody, confused. “What? Oh! No, Matt got called out; they left a couple minutes ago. He thought I could catch you before you drove all the way out here.”
“Oh. Well, shit,” Jody muttered, disappointment drawing down inside him.
“I’m sorry, man,” Izzy offered, somehow sounding sincere even as he backed away down the walkway.
Raking fingers through his hair, Jody called after him. “Any chance they’ll be back soon?”
Izzy scrunched up his nose, holding out his hands. “Maybe?”
Jody tilted his head, giving the probie a flat look. “That’s unhelpful.”
Izzy shook his head, fighting smile. “I don’t mean to be. There’s just no way of knowing.” He gestured toward the station. “Look, I gotta run this key over. Go on inside, wait a while. You might get lucky, and they’ll be back in an hour or two. If anybody comes by, tell’em I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
With a final wave, Izzy loped off toward one of the station’s Blazers parked in a row a short distance away. Jody sent a scowl after Izzy, but he’d already climbed into one of the vehicles, started it up, and was backing out of the parking area. Jody watched a moment longer, then turned, and walked into the deserted station.
Hands on his hips, he looked around. Matt’s desk was in about the same condition as he’d last seen it, piled with papers and folders, though perhaps in a slightly more ordered arrangement. It felt weird being in the station without Matt there. Jody was tempted to explore a little, but disappointment sat in his stomach, cold and heavy, fouling his previous good mood.
Eyeing two leather couches aligned before a large, empty stone fireplace, Jody chose one, and sank down upon it. He stretched out his long legs, looked around the wide, airy room, and pretended not to be sulking. If not for the desks scattered round, loaded with computers and other office equipment, the place could pass for the common area in any one of the rustically styled resorts that dotted the region in and around Lake Tahoe.
Maybe an hour or two, if I’m lucky.
Jody’s gaze landed on a collection of framed photos decorating the wall to one side of the blank hearth. The photographs ranged from candid shots of men and women mugging for the camera, backed by craggy mountain peaks or rushing rivers, to formally posed groupings of solemn men and women dressed in crisp uniforms. He studied the faces peering out at him from behind glass panes, recognizing a few of Matt’s Rangers, and then there was Matt himself, smiling out at Jody in black and white. In the photo Matt leaned over the tank of a motorcycle with their medic, Robin, just behind him, and another ranger whose name Jody couldn’t remember, standing alongside, all practically leaning on top of one another and grinning.
Eyes tracking back to Matt, Jody exhaled his frustration. He’d been looking forward to their date, had ridden a happy little high all day just thinking about it. He told himself that it didn’t mean anything, that it was just his usual mercurial luck at work, and that Matt’s job was like this…demanded that he drop and run at a moment’s notice. Still, Jody couldn’t help but wallow in the letdown, just a little.
Stewing in the stillness of the quiet stations for a few more minutes, he decided he’d wait until Izzy got back, and then head back to his bland, empty hotel room. He’d get with Matt later, and they’d set something up for tomorrow, or sometime soon. Soon… and yeah, Jody wanted it to be soon, needed it to be, and he couldn’t explain why, just that is was a clarion call inside him, demanding an answer. The longer it went unresolved, the greater his need became.
Sinking further into the couch, he counted the steady ticks of the wall clock over Matt’s desk. Eyes drawn back to the photos, to one in particular, his mind’s eye filled in the absent colors, and suddenly he was smiling. Blonde hair, bright on the crown of Matt’s head, fading darker down around his ears and the nape of his neck… those luminous, sea-green eyes…
It wasn’t so much the sound of the voice, as it was the gentle tug on his jacket that woke him.
“Hey.”
Brow furrowing, Jody was not entirely certain if he was awake or dreaming as he opened his eyes to find Matt kneeling by his side, smiling crookedly at him. Why was Matt in his hotel room? Better yet, why was Jody sleeping when he could be doing so many other beautiful, filthy things to Matt in his hotel room?
Jody blinked.
This is not my hotel room.
Sitting up abruptly, he muttered, “Fuck. I didn’t.”
Smile blossoming into a wide open grin, Matt stood up, taking a step back. “You did.”
Jody swore again under his breath. “What time it is?”
Matt looked at his watch. “Almost nine-thirty.”
“Jesus,” Jody grumbled, sitting forward on the edge of the couch. His limbs felt a little stiff, and reaching up he rubbed the back of his neck. “I didn’t intend to fall asleep.”
Matt shrugged, lips twitching, mirth in his eyes. “You must’ve needed it.”
“Yeah, I came back, and man, you were out. So I just let you be.”
This came from Izzy as he crossed the lobby, heading for the gear room, a large duffel bag in each hand. Jody shot him a narrow-eyed look, but Izzy only grinned and disappeared through the doorway with a chuckle. Jody mused that his intimidation skills had suffered greatly since leaving the Marines. Or maybe rangers were just immune, it was hard to tell.
Turning back to Matt, Jody took him in properly. He wore a pair of charcoal grey pants with zippered pockets on the thighs, climbing boots and a bright red shirt, the long sleeves of which were pushed up to his elbows, revealing lean forearms. A helmet dangled from one gloved hand, and in the other he carried the tangled web of a climbing harness. His blonde hair, sweaty and disheveled, made Jody’s fingers itch to run through it. There was a streak of dirt along one cheekbone, and a tired but inviting light in his green eyes that stirred the unanswered call in Jody, that fashioned an ache in him that needed to wrap Matt up in his arms, and hold him close.
Warmth swarmed Jody. A fine tremor winged through his body, and his mouth went dry. The boy looked absolutely, beautifully edible, and it was nothing more than Matt just being Matt, just standing before him.
“We got called out right after six,” Matt was saying, and Jody had to apply a certain amount of effort to refocus his attention, to grab hold of the words and make sense of them. “Sorry, I thought maybe Izzy could reach you before you wasted a trip out.” This last was said quietly, limned with apology, and the notion that Matt felt the need to, hit Jody sideways.
His gaze moved over Matt, from crown to foot, a slow, deliberate sweep of blatant interest and appreciation.
“Don’t apologize. And it was not a wasted trip.”
Matt exhaled softly. He looked away, out across the span of the building toward the sound of Izzy moving equipment around, just out of sight, in the next room. Biting his bottom lip against a smile, he looked down at Jody.
“What’s your stance on pineapple on pizza?”
Jody tilted his head, pretending to give the question serious thought. “Blasphemy. Unless there’s ham. Ham changes everything.”
Matt laughed outright. “Wanna come get a pie with me? There’s a place that stays open until eleven.”
Pushing up from the couch, Jody edged into Matt’s personal space. He reached out when Matt made to step back to give him some room. His fingers curled around Matt’s wrist, the soft, vulnerable pulse point just above the border of the climbing glove. Matt stilled, head tilting up a fraction, eyes meeting Jody’s.
“Baby, I’d love to. But remember, that’s my line. I’m the one taking you out tonight.”
Matt did smile then, softly, sweetly, and desire shot through Jody, pierced the darkest parts of his desire with light and heat. His fingers stroked the warm, silky skin of Matt’s wrist, a slow caress.
Matt drew in a breath, and then needed another before he could reply. “I remember.”
“Good boy,” Jody whispered, and his hand closed fully around Matt’s wrist. He tugged gently, drinking in Matt’s reaction. The green eyes widened, seemed to go a shade darker as he leaned into Jody’s tender pull. Jody felt irrevocably bound to the man under his hand, tethered to his honesty, his male beauty, and underneath that, something else, a running current of desire the width and breadth of the mountain range surrounding them, strumming under the pounding of Jody’s heart.
Their lips were just inches apart when the sudden, unwelcome sound of someone clearing their throat intruded into their awareness. Matt’s head jerked aside, instantly alert, seeking out the source of the interruption. Immediately remembering that Izzy was unfortunately, unbearably near, and bless him, was giving them ample warning he was about to exit the gear room, Matt pulled away. Jody quelled the injustice of the missed opportunity to finally taste his ranger, and took a long, respectful step back as well. He berated himself for pushing for something out of bounds. For fuck’s sake, they were standing in the middle of Matt’s place of work, but he couldn’t quite feel sorry for it.
Jody opened his mouth to issue his own apology, but as with Matt’s, it wasn’t wanted, wasn’t required. Matt shook his head, chin pulling up, stalling whatever Jody meant to say. He gathered himself, and closed his eyes briefly, pressing his lips together to contain a laugh at the cough, emanating loudly and effectively from the gear room.
“I just need to shower and change, be out in a few, okay?”
This was spoken louder than needed, with Jody not two feet away, and both men grinned as Izzy took the proffered cue to make his escape. The probie strode across the room, retrieved a clip board from one of the desks, fiddled with the cup containing a handful of pens, and after selecting one only then did he look over at Matt and Jody.
“I’m just gonna go out and help Avila check over the chopper,” he said, and as he turned he tossed them a wink.
Matt snorted, and Jody let his head fall forward, shaking with quiet laughter.
“I’ll go grab that shower,” Matt managed to get out, and hefting the climbing harness, crossed in front of the fireplace, turning a corner to a hallway that lead to other parts of the station.
Watching him go, Jody promised, “I’ll be waiting.”
****Additional notes****
Woot! Actually updating a little earlier than usual! Nothing much to report this go around, just enjoying my boys and the dance they're doing. :-)
Author: Archet
Pairing: OMC Jody McKinnon/Matt Hawkes
Fandom: High Mountain Rangers
Summary: a story of falling in love, figuring things out and just holding on.
Disclaimer: I did not create the High Mountain Ranger character/s, only this fic and the Original Male Character, Jody McKinnon, and any other original characters in supporting roles. No copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: this fic is set in 1989, approximately a year and a half after the events of the final episode of High Mountain Rangers. There will be no acknowledgment of the events of the spin-off show Jesse Hawkes.
Warnings: none as yet
Note: this fic takes place a little over four months after Bad Luck, Bad Guys and High Mountain Rangers and is a sequel to that fic, so reading that first is recommended.
Additional: this fic will depict same sex relationships. If this ain’t your thing, venture no further.
***Additional story notes and etc at end of chapter***
~*~
Chapter 4: Clarion Call
Taking a moment to straighten his jacket, Jody pushed through the double doors to the ranger station, and almost plowed straight into Izzy as he hurried out.
“Shit! Sorry, man, didn’t see you. Hey, I was just about to call you.” The words came out in a rush, Izzy continuing to talk even as he bustled past. Jody turned and held one of the doors open between them as Izzy jogged down the front steps, holding up a key ring with a single key on it.
“Old Ms. Merriweather locked herself out of her house again. We keep an extra set, she gets kinds confused sometimes.”
Jody blinked at him. “You were going to call me to tell me that?”
Flight interrupted, Izzy paused on the paved walk, turning to face Jody, confused. “What? Oh! No, Matt got called out; they left a couple minutes ago. He thought I could catch you before you drove all the way out here.”
“Oh. Well, shit,” Jody muttered, disappointment drawing down inside him.
“I’m sorry, man,” Izzy offered, somehow sounding sincere even as he backed away down the walkway.
Raking fingers through his hair, Jody called after him. “Any chance they’ll be back soon?”
Izzy scrunched up his nose, holding out his hands. “Maybe?”
Jody tilted his head, giving the probie a flat look. “That’s unhelpful.”
Izzy shook his head, fighting smile. “I don’t mean to be. There’s just no way of knowing.” He gestured toward the station. “Look, I gotta run this key over. Go on inside, wait a while. You might get lucky, and they’ll be back in an hour or two. If anybody comes by, tell’em I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
With a final wave, Izzy loped off toward one of the station’s Blazers parked in a row a short distance away. Jody sent a scowl after Izzy, but he’d already climbed into one of the vehicles, started it up, and was backing out of the parking area. Jody watched a moment longer, then turned, and walked into the deserted station.
Hands on his hips, he looked around. Matt’s desk was in about the same condition as he’d last seen it, piled with papers and folders, though perhaps in a slightly more ordered arrangement. It felt weird being in the station without Matt there. Jody was tempted to explore a little, but disappointment sat in his stomach, cold and heavy, fouling his previous good mood.
Eyeing two leather couches aligned before a large, empty stone fireplace, Jody chose one, and sank down upon it. He stretched out his long legs, looked around the wide, airy room, and pretended not to be sulking. If not for the desks scattered round, loaded with computers and other office equipment, the place could pass for the common area in any one of the rustically styled resorts that dotted the region in and around Lake Tahoe.
Maybe an hour or two, if I’m lucky.
Jody’s gaze landed on a collection of framed photos decorating the wall to one side of the blank hearth. The photographs ranged from candid shots of men and women mugging for the camera, backed by craggy mountain peaks or rushing rivers, to formally posed groupings of solemn men and women dressed in crisp uniforms. He studied the faces peering out at him from behind glass panes, recognizing a few of Matt’s Rangers, and then there was Matt himself, smiling out at Jody in black and white. In the photo Matt leaned over the tank of a motorcycle with their medic, Robin, just behind him, and another ranger whose name Jody couldn’t remember, standing alongside, all practically leaning on top of one another and grinning.
Eyes tracking back to Matt, Jody exhaled his frustration. He’d been looking forward to their date, had ridden a happy little high all day just thinking about it. He told himself that it didn’t mean anything, that it was just his usual mercurial luck at work, and that Matt’s job was like this…demanded that he drop and run at a moment’s notice. Still, Jody couldn’t help but wallow in the letdown, just a little.
Stewing in the stillness of the quiet stations for a few more minutes, he decided he’d wait until Izzy got back, and then head back to his bland, empty hotel room. He’d get with Matt later, and they’d set something up for tomorrow, or sometime soon. Soon… and yeah, Jody wanted it to be soon, needed it to be, and he couldn’t explain why, just that is was a clarion call inside him, demanding an answer. The longer it went unresolved, the greater his need became.
Sinking further into the couch, he counted the steady ticks of the wall clock over Matt’s desk. Eyes drawn back to the photos, to one in particular, his mind’s eye filled in the absent colors, and suddenly he was smiling. Blonde hair, bright on the crown of Matt’s head, fading darker down around his ears and the nape of his neck… those luminous, sea-green eyes…
It wasn’t so much the sound of the voice, as it was the gentle tug on his jacket that woke him.
“Hey.”
Brow furrowing, Jody was not entirely certain if he was awake or dreaming as he opened his eyes to find Matt kneeling by his side, smiling crookedly at him. Why was Matt in his hotel room? Better yet, why was Jody sleeping when he could be doing so many other beautiful, filthy things to Matt in his hotel room?
Jody blinked.
This is not my hotel room.
Sitting up abruptly, he muttered, “Fuck. I didn’t.”
Smile blossoming into a wide open grin, Matt stood up, taking a step back. “You did.”
Jody swore again under his breath. “What time it is?”
Matt looked at his watch. “Almost nine-thirty.”
“Jesus,” Jody grumbled, sitting forward on the edge of the couch. His limbs felt a little stiff, and reaching up he rubbed the back of his neck. “I didn’t intend to fall asleep.”
Matt shrugged, lips twitching, mirth in his eyes. “You must’ve needed it.”
“Yeah, I came back, and man, you were out. So I just let you be.”
This came from Izzy as he crossed the lobby, heading for the gear room, a large duffel bag in each hand. Jody shot him a narrow-eyed look, but Izzy only grinned and disappeared through the doorway with a chuckle. Jody mused that his intimidation skills had suffered greatly since leaving the Marines. Or maybe rangers were just immune, it was hard to tell.
Turning back to Matt, Jody took him in properly. He wore a pair of charcoal grey pants with zippered pockets on the thighs, climbing boots and a bright red shirt, the long sleeves of which were pushed up to his elbows, revealing lean forearms. A helmet dangled from one gloved hand, and in the other he carried the tangled web of a climbing harness. His blonde hair, sweaty and disheveled, made Jody’s fingers itch to run through it. There was a streak of dirt along one cheekbone, and a tired but inviting light in his green eyes that stirred the unanswered call in Jody, that fashioned an ache in him that needed to wrap Matt up in his arms, and hold him close.
Warmth swarmed Jody. A fine tremor winged through his body, and his mouth went dry. The boy looked absolutely, beautifully edible, and it was nothing more than Matt just being Matt, just standing before him.
“We got called out right after six,” Matt was saying, and Jody had to apply a certain amount of effort to refocus his attention, to grab hold of the words and make sense of them. “Sorry, I thought maybe Izzy could reach you before you wasted a trip out.” This last was said quietly, limned with apology, and the notion that Matt felt the need to, hit Jody sideways.
His gaze moved over Matt, from crown to foot, a slow, deliberate sweep of blatant interest and appreciation.
“Don’t apologize. And it was not a wasted trip.”
Matt exhaled softly. He looked away, out across the span of the building toward the sound of Izzy moving equipment around, just out of sight, in the next room. Biting his bottom lip against a smile, he looked down at Jody.
“What’s your stance on pineapple on pizza?”
Jody tilted his head, pretending to give the question serious thought. “Blasphemy. Unless there’s ham. Ham changes everything.”
Matt laughed outright. “Wanna come get a pie with me? There’s a place that stays open until eleven.”
Pushing up from the couch, Jody edged into Matt’s personal space. He reached out when Matt made to step back to give him some room. His fingers curled around Matt’s wrist, the soft, vulnerable pulse point just above the border of the climbing glove. Matt stilled, head tilting up a fraction, eyes meeting Jody’s.
“Baby, I’d love to. But remember, that’s my line. I’m the one taking you out tonight.”
Matt did smile then, softly, sweetly, and desire shot through Jody, pierced the darkest parts of his desire with light and heat. His fingers stroked the warm, silky skin of Matt’s wrist, a slow caress.
Matt drew in a breath, and then needed another before he could reply. “I remember.”
“Good boy,” Jody whispered, and his hand closed fully around Matt’s wrist. He tugged gently, drinking in Matt’s reaction. The green eyes widened, seemed to go a shade darker as he leaned into Jody’s tender pull. Jody felt irrevocably bound to the man under his hand, tethered to his honesty, his male beauty, and underneath that, something else, a running current of desire the width and breadth of the mountain range surrounding them, strumming under the pounding of Jody’s heart.
Their lips were just inches apart when the sudden, unwelcome sound of someone clearing their throat intruded into their awareness. Matt’s head jerked aside, instantly alert, seeking out the source of the interruption. Immediately remembering that Izzy was unfortunately, unbearably near, and bless him, was giving them ample warning he was about to exit the gear room, Matt pulled away. Jody quelled the injustice of the missed opportunity to finally taste his ranger, and took a long, respectful step back as well. He berated himself for pushing for something out of bounds. For fuck’s sake, they were standing in the middle of Matt’s place of work, but he couldn’t quite feel sorry for it.
Jody opened his mouth to issue his own apology, but as with Matt’s, it wasn’t wanted, wasn’t required. Matt shook his head, chin pulling up, stalling whatever Jody meant to say. He gathered himself, and closed his eyes briefly, pressing his lips together to contain a laugh at the cough, emanating loudly and effectively from the gear room.
“I just need to shower and change, be out in a few, okay?”
This was spoken louder than needed, with Jody not two feet away, and both men grinned as Izzy took the proffered cue to make his escape. The probie strode across the room, retrieved a clip board from one of the desks, fiddled with the cup containing a handful of pens, and after selecting one only then did he look over at Matt and Jody.
“I’m just gonna go out and help Avila check over the chopper,” he said, and as he turned he tossed them a wink.
Matt snorted, and Jody let his head fall forward, shaking with quiet laughter.
“I’ll go grab that shower,” Matt managed to get out, and hefting the climbing harness, crossed in front of the fireplace, turning a corner to a hallway that lead to other parts of the station.
Watching him go, Jody promised, “I’ll be waiting.”
****Additional notes****
Woot! Actually updating a little earlier than usual! Nothing much to report this go around, just enjoying my boys and the dance they're doing. :-)
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Date: 2022-08-02 05:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 07:24 pm (UTC)