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FIC UPDATE! Angels Ain't Easy Chapter 18: (A Thorn In the Lion's Paw)
Title: 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 this chapter
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, and dominate/submissive themes. If this ain’t your thing, venture no further.
Summary this chapter: After their date night, Jody is having second thoughts about Matt's agreement to meet up with his ex and lodges his complaint.
~*~
Chapter 18: A Thorn In the Lion’s Paw
Dawn broke over the mountainside as a golden haze, strengthening in intensity until it crept past the windowsill, tiptoeing politely inside Matt’s bedroom. Jody lay awake, tracking the rising glow as it pooled warmly against the wall. He monitored its progress, studying its spill down the wood paneling, becoming a bright touch against the chipped red paint of the old wood burning stove in the corner, before finally coming to rest across the end of the bed as a swath of golden silk.
Jody wiggled his toes, tucked warmly under the blanket and sunlight, and flexed his fingers. His whole arm tingled, and to further improve the circulation he really needed to move it more, but he fell still. Matt, deeply asleep, head pillowed in the crook of Jody’s arm and shoulder, sighed softly, and slept on. Looking down at Matt, his face relaxed in sleep and his riotous blonde hair going every which way, had Jody smiling.
Waking up warm, and mostly comfortable, to a sunlit bedroom with an armful of gorgeous ranger made him a damned lucky man, and Jody reveled in it. The night had passed too quickly for his liking. If he’d been able, he would’ve stretched out the hours, fashioned them into a long, endless midnight where he’d make love to Matt endlessly, keeping their bodies joined, one to the other, in limitless pleasure. He was finding as their relationship progressed that his desire for Matt was, if anything, strengthening, not lessening, and if that meant that in addition to being a lucky bastard he was also a greedy man, then so be it.
Flexing his hand again, Jody drew in a long breath, exhaled it, and shifted a little seeking a more comfortable position. Settling once more, wrapped in warmth and the satisfaction stemming from being a lucky, greedy man, he fell into a light sleep, the smile clinging to his lips. Matt came to him even in his dreams, his lovely ranger, his captivating green eyes promising anything, and giving everything.
It was Matt’s digital alarm clock that jarred Jody from his dream, and finally woke Matt with its loud, unwelcome buzz. Matt popped up at the sound, jostling a grunt from Jody who would’ve been content to laze away the whole morning in his dreaming, and was less than happy about the elbow butting against his ribs like a crowbar. Head swiveling toward the clock, Matt stared at it for a second before reaching out and swatting it with one hand. The buzzing ceased, and this wasn’t the first time that Jody had noticed Matt had a way of coming awake swiftly, from even the deepest of slumbers. He figured it had to do with being a first responder, and that some part of Matt’s lizard brain was always on alert, trained to activate at the insistent ring of a phone, or squawk of a radio.
Having successfully quieted the alarm, Matt turned back, flopping down onto the mattress. Jody took the opportunity to finally fully flex his arm and as the blood began circulating properly again tingles skittered down his arm and into his hand. He didn’t have long to enjoy the freedom however, and he grinned as Matt burrowed in against his side once again, hiding his face against Jody’s shoulder.
“There’s no way it’s nine o’clock already,” he whined.
Ignoring his still tingling hand, Jody cupped the back of Matt’s head, his fingers beginning a slow, gentle stroke through wild blonde hair.
“Seems like it, baby.”
Matt’s arm snaked out and over Jody’s wide chest, hand planeing over the bumps of his abs before curling around, coming to rest against his ribs, long fingers splayed out.
“Don’t wanna move. You’re so fucking warm.”
Chuckling, Jody kept up the caress to Matt’s hair knowing how he loved it.
“How about we just spend the morning in bed? Bet I could warm you up even more.”
That got Matt’s attention. Lifting his head, he blinked blearily up at Jody. With his mused bright hair and sleepy green eyes, he appeared younger than he was, absent the maturity he’d accumulated in his twenty-four years, and the warmth that had settled inside Jody's chest upon waking with his boy at his side blossomed into something more, something more deeply felt. He tipped a smile down at Matt, so rumpled and handsome in the fresh morning.
“You got any thoughts on that?” he asked when Matt didn’t immediately reply.
Matt blinked again, and his gaze clearing a bit, offered Jody a smile as sweet as the morning, but edged with an earthier intent and it was all there, contained in the slightest curl at the corner of his mouth like a comma in the middle of a sentence, just the tiniest hitch of sexy taking space amid the boyish charm.
“Oh, I’ve got tons of thoughts on that… but, I’ve gotta get up.”
The illicit promise coloring Matt’s tone reached down inside Jody, brushing him with heat, but it was the genuine regret at the tail end of his reply that reminded him that Matt, did indeed, have somewhere to be. He let his head fall back against this pillow. He hadn’t forgotten, of course, but he’d have been perfectly content if Matt had done.
“That’s right. You’ve got a date with your old boyfriend.”
Matt, lips pressing together and wholly ruining the alluring smile he’d only just given Jody, sighed.
“It’s not a date.”
Jody grunted, feeling the now familiar, unwanted itch of annoyance working its way up his spine whenever he thought of Matt’s old flame. He watched with some measure of envy as Matt pushed himself up from the mattress with the grace and vigor of a man still firmly in his twenties. Taking a moment to stretch out his arms and back, he slipped out of bed and padded across the room, pausing to reach out and take one of the robes hanging on a hook on the back of the bedroom door. Jody watched him go, drinking in the movement of sleek muscle under smooth skin, and felt his annoyance intensify as Matt shook out the robe and made to cover himself.
Matt’s body bore the signs of Jody’s loving. Smudgey bruises scattered over the silky skin of his hipbones, and a series of blatant hickeys trailed along his collar bone, anchored by another at the base of his neck. A more insistent mark, purpled against the light tan of his skin, shone darkly against the back of his shoulder, and was now disappearing underneath the flannel fabric of the robe as Matt shrugged into it. Each mark had been laid down by Jody’s hand, by his mouth and teeth in the night, and he was left feeling strangely bereft upon their concealment. He wanted more time with them, to stroke and peruse them, like a favored novel that he wanted to read over and over, discovering something new with each revisit.
It felt like a fair consolation then, when he saw that the hickey at the base of Matt’s throat would most likely peak out above the neckline of any shirt he chose, unless he donned a turtleneck, wore a scarf or tied a bandanna around his neck. Jody felt his lips curl up in amusement. He spent a few moments envisioning Silva’s reaction to the mark, and he tried to find a bit of shame in himself on Matt’s behalf, but couldn’t quite manage it.
His satisfaction was short lived, however, as his thoughts revolved from Silva just noticing the mark, to actively asking Matt about it, or teasing him about it… or worse, twisting it into some sort of opportunity to reminisce about their time together.
Mood souring, Jody glowered, and his jaw clenched.
“What is it?”
Shaken from his introspection, Jody looked up to find Matt standing at the bedroom door, one hand on the knob. He’d paused half way through the act of pulling it fully open. He stood watching Jody with a particular focus, head tilted, eyes slightly narrowed, gaze thoughtful.
Shit. Me and my fucking imagination.
Jody settled on making a curious, inquisitive sound, as if he hadn’t just been caught out scowling off into the middle distance imagining Matt and Jonathan together… maybe in this very bed. And fuck, they’d most certainly been together in this very bed, Matt had said they’d dated for more than a couple months. He wondered suddenly what it’d been like… had they split their time between Matt’s cabin and swanky hotels? Or maybe Jonathan had done as Jody had, and had practically moved in so he could enjoy every minute when Matt wasn’t on duty.
The thought of Silva wandering around Matt’s cabin like he belonged rankled, and wasn’t that rich? Jody had barely spent more than a few nights at his rented house that was closer to town. Somehow they’d always just ended up back at Matt’s, and somewhere along the way his duffel full of clothes had migrated their way into the top drawer of Matt’s dresser. It wasn’t something they’d discussed, or mapped out… it’d just, happened, the way everything seemed to unfold between them… as if they’d always each had space for the other in their life.
Maybe he and Matt did need to have a conversation. Had that been where Silva had gone wrong? Maybe he’d just assumed too much, that he belonged here, that it’d all work out… maybe that was why he’d never, according to Matt, wanted to talk about what was going on between them.
Jody unclenched his jaw and chided himself for being an idiot, and wouldn’t Silva just pop a boner knowing that he’d gotten into his head so effortlessly, and without even being in the fucking room.
“You’ve got that look,” Matt said.
“What look?” Jody countered mildly.
Matt’s gaze sharpened further, and pulling his hand from the door knob, he turned to face Jody squarely. Lips pursing, he reached down and finished tying his robe, knotting the sash around his waist. He took a step away from the doorway, moving a step nearer the bed.
“That looks that says you’re mentally cataloguing all the ways you can kill a guy with nothing but a fork. What gives?”
Jody huffed a laugh, and then tilted his head. “What kind of fork? Salad or dinner?”
Matt’s expression pinched, though the quickly suppressed curl at the corner of his mouth told Jody he’d almost gotten a smile out of him.
“Neither. A spork. So, you gonna tell me, or are we going to bat this back and forth for a while?”
Jody considered deflecting again, as there was a whole conversation hovering there about the varied utilizations of sporks that he could enlighten his lover on, but he figured it was no use. Matt had scented something was up, and he wouldn’t let go of the issue until he’d tracked it to its source. It was just his nature.
“Are you sure you’re okay with seeing this guy again?” he asked.
In the wake of that, Matt cocked his head, studying Jody for a moment, and then shrugged.
“Yeah, pretty sure. Are you asking me not to?”
And if that wasn’t a loaded question Jody didn’t know what was.
“What if I said yes?” Jody returned, knowing full well it wouldn’t make him look good, but it was what he wanted to say, so yeah, he’d already started this ball rolling, he might as well commit fully.
Matt sighed, blinked a couple times seeming to think it over. “Well, first I’d need to clarify if you’re asking, or telling.”
If was a fair point, and so Jody elaborated. “I’m asking. I know you too well to do the other, at least in this instance.”
Matt smirked at the qualifier.
In this instance, indeed.
“You really do not want me to go,” he said, and it wasn’t really a question, but that didn’t mean Jody wasn’t going to answer it as such.
Letting his head fall back against the pillows stacked at his back, he regarded Matt through half closed eyes. Brows drawing down, he replied plainly. “No.”
This time the smile did reach Matt’s lips. “You know I can handle him, right?”
“I know you can. I still don’t want you anywhere near him,” Jody answered truthfully, voice firm.
The statement came out evenly, with only the tiniest clip at the end of each word.
Matt nodded slowly, smile fading. There was the slightest hint of color sitting high in his cheeks, and Jody knew his ranger. He well enough to know that the flavor of command he’d pressed into his voice just now was having an effect, and that Matt would recognize how serious he’d meant his words to be received.
“Okay. You realize I’m going anyway, right? And the fact that you’ve waited until just now to say anything is kinda an asshole thing to do?”
Jody held onto his scowl through a rush of pure appreciation for his boy that almost washed away his contrariness. Matt knew his own mind, and fuck anyone who tried to tell him what to do, even Jody, though, technically Jody wasn’t trying to tell him what to do at all. Mainly he just wanted to lodge his protest. But he would be the first to admit, he could’ve chosen a better time to do it.
But fuck that, he’d never claimed to be a saint.
“I know it. I just want you to hear what I’m saying. Him just showing up outta the blue with that little pale watchdog of his just feels off.”
Matt took this in, then after a beat, came back to the bed, and sat down on its foot. Jody felt the mattress dip slightly, and his eyes were drawn to Matt, to the robe parting, falling open along his long legs, revealing strong thighs dusted with blonde hair, one of which was marked with another hickey on the sweet plain of skin well above his knee. Matt tracked Jody’s interest at the revealed mark, and sat back, bracing his hands behind himself. He stretched out his legs, showing them off even more, and rolled his eyes.
“Are we really arguing about this right now?” he asked. “And I think that’s his assistant. I know he had one, or several, back when we were together.”
Pulling his eyes back up to Matt’s face, Jody huffed out a breath. “I’m not arguing. And that kid is more than an assistant. Trust me, on that.”
Lacing his fingers together over his belly, Jody resisted the urge to pull Matt on top of him and see how late he could made him for his meet up with Silva.
“Are you saying they’re fucking?” Matt asked, brows raised.
Jody frowned. “What? No. I mean, who the hell knows? But that kid isn’t just some administrative assistant for fuck’s sake.”
Matt, appearing entirely too amused for Jody’s liking, just gazed out over the small space between them without comment.
Sighing in annoyance, Jody unlaced his fingers and made a dismissive gesture. “Look, whatever, and I know how it sounds, like I’m being possessive, and jealous, but I just do not trust this fucking guy’s motivations.”
Matt nodded, amusement conveyed now in annoying, knowing grin said, “I know. You keep saying that, over, and over, and over.”
Undeterred, Jody pulled his chin up. “Well, at least you’re listening.”
That gentled Matt’s grin, bringing it back down into a genuine smile, a slow curving of his lips that was as charming as it was sexy as hell.
“I am. And I don’t trust him either, since you asked.”
Planted firmly in his annoyance, Jody growled, but before he could answer Matt continued.
“But he owes me some answers. There was a time where I’d would’ve told him to fuck off, but I think I’ve let go of most of the… badness, that I’d been carrying around. Being with you has brought me to a place where I don’t need to hold onto that anymore. I feel like I can hear what he has to say, and not be damaged by it.”
Jody looked away, gritting his teeth against a reply that would only come out sounding gruff, overprotective and asshole-ish, at the same time feeling a wave of warmth, a tightening in his chest, at Matt’s honest, uncluttered words.
“And,” Matt said dipping his head to catch Jody’s elusive gaze. “I know you don’t know him, but for Jon to come and ask me for help, and money related help, at that, that tells me something is really wrong in his world. Despite everything, I hate to see him in that kind of bind. I think that I’d like to help him, if I can. Up to a certain point, anyway.”
When Jody didn’t reply, Matt prodded, “Can you accept that?”
Jody absorbed this. A deep sense of unease passed through him at the thought of Matt ‘helping’ Silva with anything but an express bus ticket out of town. He wished he had a more concrete reason for his alarm. His tripwires were jangling, and it was pissing him off, but at the end of the day he trusted Matt.
“I know that he meant something to you. I get that you want to help him out. And I know I wasn’t around for all that, so I probably shouldn’t speak on it, but he hurt you and that puts him on my personal shit list.”
Matt nodded slowly, eyes thoughtful. “Why didn’t you say something last night?”
Feeling himself smile, Jody sat up. Reaching out, he curled his fingers under Matt’s chin, brushing the pad of his thumb over the full bottom lip. He relished the way Matt went completely still under his touch.
“Because, sweetheart, when we got home last night, all I could think about was getting my hands on you, getting the taste of you in my mouth.”
Matt grinned, a sudden flash of a reaction that he spent a moment mastering, and the color deepening in his cheeks and setting off the green of his eyes made him so lovely that Jody ached inside with want.
“I get it,” he said. “You’ve got suspicions. So all the more reason to go and figure out what he’s about. I just want to see what he has to say, and I promise, if he gets out of hand I’ll handle it.”
It wasn’t exactly what Jody wanted to hear, but it was what he expected to hear. Matt waited him out before Jody finally gave him a nod. “Okay.”
“Anything else you need to tell me?” Matt asked.
“Nah,” Jody said, once more settling back against his pillows and stretching out. With his leg he gave Matt a playful bump. “I think I’ve said enough.”
Visibly suppressing a grin, Matt laid a hand on Jody’s shin, fingers curling around him through the blanket.
“After I meet Jon I need to run by the station for a while. I’m not on duty today, but we were having some issues the other day with the short wave. I need to check on that so it’ll be after lunch before I get back. You gonna hang around here?”
Jody shrugged. “I may head into town, run by the rental and check on things.” He trailed to a halt, mind touching back on his earlier musing about whether or not he should just assume his place here, in Matt’s home, but the hopeful light in Matt’s eyes wiped away that fog of wondering.
“How about we plan on an early dinner? Maybe camp out on the couch and watch a movie?”
Matt nodded. “Sounds perfect.” Giving Jody’s leg a squeeze, he stood. “I’m gonna take a quick shower. You wanna come with?”
Jody shook his head, but before the disappointment on Matt’s face could solidify he said, “Baby, if I go into the shower with you you’ll never leave the house today.”
Crooked grin making an appearance, Matt chuckled. With a wave he turned, and headed toward the partially open bedroom door and hallway just beyond.
“And, angel?” Jody called after him.
Matt turned, question in his eyes.
“You will wear an open collared shirt to your little meeting with Silva. Do you understand?”
The air seemed to sharpen between them. Jody watched Matt take a quick breath, savoring the way lips his parted as he stared back. Wanting a verbal reply, Jody tilted his head and raised a brow.
“I understand, Jo. I’d already planned on it, actually,” Matt complied with an even tone, and then with a slow, sly smile that sidelined the sweetness of his reaction, coloring it in a darker, sexier hue, he turned and walked out of the bedroom.
Jody watched him go, then dropped his head back against his pillow, and blew out a breath.
“I swear, that boy is going to be the death of me.”
*********Notes & Ramblings********
At last! Feels so nice to update again. This chapter's main idea stayed pretty much the same, but it's form did move around a bit, or this would have been up a few days ago. With the previous version I came to feel Jody was being a little whiney in his communication with Matt. I think this version works better, and I'm working from the notion that Jody just senses something off, and as someone who has learned to listen to his instincts he's trying to be reasonable while at the same time making his feelings clear. Then, of course, his possessiveness is going to come to the fore as well. From the beginning with these two I've had a thread of a thought when that I've tried to subtly hint at, that they share a very real, instinctual connection, and through that connection Jody is now sensing something amiss, and it will frustrate him that he can't show Matt how or why, but he also is not willing to throw aside what his instincts are telling him.
I also love wrapping them in romance, and deeply felt longing and love, especially in they way they think of one another, and in the way the desire each other. That's something that I loved doing from my time as fic writer for LOTR, Aragorn/Boromir, though in that instance that love story so often involved a huge amount of loss and tragedy.
Anyway, Matt & Jody's connection is going to be part of another element in their story (at least in my head right now it is) something that unfolds far ahead in their story that I hope to eventually arrive at! But that's for another time!
In my mind these two have always been uniquely, deeply connected, it just took time for them to physically meet, and as they grow in their relationship that connection grows, in an almost preternatural way. I'm reminded of instances in the episodes where Jesse insisted that he just 'knew' Matt was alive (when he was missing), and that he could 'feel' the truth of that. I like that idea, that they there are those in Matt's world that share this connection, his immediate family, and now his man. :D
I had a main idea for the wrap up for Angels, but now that Jon is on the scene I find that it is shifting and changing on me. I'm looking forward to seeing what unfolds! Ah, enough rambling. As always, share thoughts or rambles in the comments!
*****
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 this chapter
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, and dominate/submissive themes. If this ain’t your thing, venture no further.
Summary this chapter: After their date night, Jody is having second thoughts about Matt's agreement to meet up with his ex and lodges his complaint.
~*~
Chapter 18: A Thorn In the Lion’s Paw
Dawn broke over the mountainside as a golden haze, strengthening in intensity until it crept past the windowsill, tiptoeing politely inside Matt’s bedroom. Jody lay awake, tracking the rising glow as it pooled warmly against the wall. He monitored its progress, studying its spill down the wood paneling, becoming a bright touch against the chipped red paint of the old wood burning stove in the corner, before finally coming to rest across the end of the bed as a swath of golden silk.
Jody wiggled his toes, tucked warmly under the blanket and sunlight, and flexed his fingers. His whole arm tingled, and to further improve the circulation he really needed to move it more, but he fell still. Matt, deeply asleep, head pillowed in the crook of Jody’s arm and shoulder, sighed softly, and slept on. Looking down at Matt, his face relaxed in sleep and his riotous blonde hair going every which way, had Jody smiling.
Waking up warm, and mostly comfortable, to a sunlit bedroom with an armful of gorgeous ranger made him a damned lucky man, and Jody reveled in it. The night had passed too quickly for his liking. If he’d been able, he would’ve stretched out the hours, fashioned them into a long, endless midnight where he’d make love to Matt endlessly, keeping their bodies joined, one to the other, in limitless pleasure. He was finding as their relationship progressed that his desire for Matt was, if anything, strengthening, not lessening, and if that meant that in addition to being a lucky bastard he was also a greedy man, then so be it.
Flexing his hand again, Jody drew in a long breath, exhaled it, and shifted a little seeking a more comfortable position. Settling once more, wrapped in warmth and the satisfaction stemming from being a lucky, greedy man, he fell into a light sleep, the smile clinging to his lips. Matt came to him even in his dreams, his lovely ranger, his captivating green eyes promising anything, and giving everything.
It was Matt’s digital alarm clock that jarred Jody from his dream, and finally woke Matt with its loud, unwelcome buzz. Matt popped up at the sound, jostling a grunt from Jody who would’ve been content to laze away the whole morning in his dreaming, and was less than happy about the elbow butting against his ribs like a crowbar. Head swiveling toward the clock, Matt stared at it for a second before reaching out and swatting it with one hand. The buzzing ceased, and this wasn’t the first time that Jody had noticed Matt had a way of coming awake swiftly, from even the deepest of slumbers. He figured it had to do with being a first responder, and that some part of Matt’s lizard brain was always on alert, trained to activate at the insistent ring of a phone, or squawk of a radio.
Having successfully quieted the alarm, Matt turned back, flopping down onto the mattress. Jody took the opportunity to finally fully flex his arm and as the blood began circulating properly again tingles skittered down his arm and into his hand. He didn’t have long to enjoy the freedom however, and he grinned as Matt burrowed in against his side once again, hiding his face against Jody’s shoulder.
“There’s no way it’s nine o’clock already,” he whined.
Ignoring his still tingling hand, Jody cupped the back of Matt’s head, his fingers beginning a slow, gentle stroke through wild blonde hair.
“Seems like it, baby.”
Matt’s arm snaked out and over Jody’s wide chest, hand planeing over the bumps of his abs before curling around, coming to rest against his ribs, long fingers splayed out.
“Don’t wanna move. You’re so fucking warm.”
Chuckling, Jody kept up the caress to Matt’s hair knowing how he loved it.
“How about we just spend the morning in bed? Bet I could warm you up even more.”
That got Matt’s attention. Lifting his head, he blinked blearily up at Jody. With his mused bright hair and sleepy green eyes, he appeared younger than he was, absent the maturity he’d accumulated in his twenty-four years, and the warmth that had settled inside Jody's chest upon waking with his boy at his side blossomed into something more, something more deeply felt. He tipped a smile down at Matt, so rumpled and handsome in the fresh morning.
“You got any thoughts on that?” he asked when Matt didn’t immediately reply.
Matt blinked again, and his gaze clearing a bit, offered Jody a smile as sweet as the morning, but edged with an earthier intent and it was all there, contained in the slightest curl at the corner of his mouth like a comma in the middle of a sentence, just the tiniest hitch of sexy taking space amid the boyish charm.
“Oh, I’ve got tons of thoughts on that… but, I’ve gotta get up.”
The illicit promise coloring Matt’s tone reached down inside Jody, brushing him with heat, but it was the genuine regret at the tail end of his reply that reminded him that Matt, did indeed, have somewhere to be. He let his head fall back against this pillow. He hadn’t forgotten, of course, but he’d have been perfectly content if Matt had done.
“That’s right. You’ve got a date with your old boyfriend.”
Matt, lips pressing together and wholly ruining the alluring smile he’d only just given Jody, sighed.
“It’s not a date.”
Jody grunted, feeling the now familiar, unwanted itch of annoyance working its way up his spine whenever he thought of Matt’s old flame. He watched with some measure of envy as Matt pushed himself up from the mattress with the grace and vigor of a man still firmly in his twenties. Taking a moment to stretch out his arms and back, he slipped out of bed and padded across the room, pausing to reach out and take one of the robes hanging on a hook on the back of the bedroom door. Jody watched him go, drinking in the movement of sleek muscle under smooth skin, and felt his annoyance intensify as Matt shook out the robe and made to cover himself.
Matt’s body bore the signs of Jody’s loving. Smudgey bruises scattered over the silky skin of his hipbones, and a series of blatant hickeys trailed along his collar bone, anchored by another at the base of his neck. A more insistent mark, purpled against the light tan of his skin, shone darkly against the back of his shoulder, and was now disappearing underneath the flannel fabric of the robe as Matt shrugged into it. Each mark had been laid down by Jody’s hand, by his mouth and teeth in the night, and he was left feeling strangely bereft upon their concealment. He wanted more time with them, to stroke and peruse them, like a favored novel that he wanted to read over and over, discovering something new with each revisit.
It felt like a fair consolation then, when he saw that the hickey at the base of Matt’s throat would most likely peak out above the neckline of any shirt he chose, unless he donned a turtleneck, wore a scarf or tied a bandanna around his neck. Jody felt his lips curl up in amusement. He spent a few moments envisioning Silva’s reaction to the mark, and he tried to find a bit of shame in himself on Matt’s behalf, but couldn’t quite manage it.
His satisfaction was short lived, however, as his thoughts revolved from Silva just noticing the mark, to actively asking Matt about it, or teasing him about it… or worse, twisting it into some sort of opportunity to reminisce about their time together.
Mood souring, Jody glowered, and his jaw clenched.
“What is it?”
Shaken from his introspection, Jody looked up to find Matt standing at the bedroom door, one hand on the knob. He’d paused half way through the act of pulling it fully open. He stood watching Jody with a particular focus, head tilted, eyes slightly narrowed, gaze thoughtful.
Shit. Me and my fucking imagination.
Jody settled on making a curious, inquisitive sound, as if he hadn’t just been caught out scowling off into the middle distance imagining Matt and Jonathan together… maybe in this very bed. And fuck, they’d most certainly been together in this very bed, Matt had said they’d dated for more than a couple months. He wondered suddenly what it’d been like… had they split their time between Matt’s cabin and swanky hotels? Or maybe Jonathan had done as Jody had, and had practically moved in so he could enjoy every minute when Matt wasn’t on duty.
The thought of Silva wandering around Matt’s cabin like he belonged rankled, and wasn’t that rich? Jody had barely spent more than a few nights at his rented house that was closer to town. Somehow they’d always just ended up back at Matt’s, and somewhere along the way his duffel full of clothes had migrated their way into the top drawer of Matt’s dresser. It wasn’t something they’d discussed, or mapped out… it’d just, happened, the way everything seemed to unfold between them… as if they’d always each had space for the other in their life.
Maybe he and Matt did need to have a conversation. Had that been where Silva had gone wrong? Maybe he’d just assumed too much, that he belonged here, that it’d all work out… maybe that was why he’d never, according to Matt, wanted to talk about what was going on between them.
Jody unclenched his jaw and chided himself for being an idiot, and wouldn’t Silva just pop a boner knowing that he’d gotten into his head so effortlessly, and without even being in the fucking room.
“You’ve got that look,” Matt said.
“What look?” Jody countered mildly.
Matt’s gaze sharpened further, and pulling his hand from the door knob, he turned to face Jody squarely. Lips pursing, he reached down and finished tying his robe, knotting the sash around his waist. He took a step away from the doorway, moving a step nearer the bed.
“That looks that says you’re mentally cataloguing all the ways you can kill a guy with nothing but a fork. What gives?”
Jody huffed a laugh, and then tilted his head. “What kind of fork? Salad or dinner?”
Matt’s expression pinched, though the quickly suppressed curl at the corner of his mouth told Jody he’d almost gotten a smile out of him.
“Neither. A spork. So, you gonna tell me, or are we going to bat this back and forth for a while?”
Jody considered deflecting again, as there was a whole conversation hovering there about the varied utilizations of sporks that he could enlighten his lover on, but he figured it was no use. Matt had scented something was up, and he wouldn’t let go of the issue until he’d tracked it to its source. It was just his nature.
“Are you sure you’re okay with seeing this guy again?” he asked.
In the wake of that, Matt cocked his head, studying Jody for a moment, and then shrugged.
“Yeah, pretty sure. Are you asking me not to?”
And if that wasn’t a loaded question Jody didn’t know what was.
“What if I said yes?” Jody returned, knowing full well it wouldn’t make him look good, but it was what he wanted to say, so yeah, he’d already started this ball rolling, he might as well commit fully.
Matt sighed, blinked a couple times seeming to think it over. “Well, first I’d need to clarify if you’re asking, or telling.”
If was a fair point, and so Jody elaborated. “I’m asking. I know you too well to do the other, at least in this instance.”
Matt smirked at the qualifier.
In this instance, indeed.
“You really do not want me to go,” he said, and it wasn’t really a question, but that didn’t mean Jody wasn’t going to answer it as such.
Letting his head fall back against the pillows stacked at his back, he regarded Matt through half closed eyes. Brows drawing down, he replied plainly. “No.”
This time the smile did reach Matt’s lips. “You know I can handle him, right?”
“I know you can. I still don’t want you anywhere near him,” Jody answered truthfully, voice firm.
The statement came out evenly, with only the tiniest clip at the end of each word.
Matt nodded slowly, smile fading. There was the slightest hint of color sitting high in his cheeks, and Jody knew his ranger. He well enough to know that the flavor of command he’d pressed into his voice just now was having an effect, and that Matt would recognize how serious he’d meant his words to be received.
“Okay. You realize I’m going anyway, right? And the fact that you’ve waited until just now to say anything is kinda an asshole thing to do?”
Jody held onto his scowl through a rush of pure appreciation for his boy that almost washed away his contrariness. Matt knew his own mind, and fuck anyone who tried to tell him what to do, even Jody, though, technically Jody wasn’t trying to tell him what to do at all. Mainly he just wanted to lodge his protest. But he would be the first to admit, he could’ve chosen a better time to do it.
But fuck that, he’d never claimed to be a saint.
“I know it. I just want you to hear what I’m saying. Him just showing up outta the blue with that little pale watchdog of his just feels off.”
Matt took this in, then after a beat, came back to the bed, and sat down on its foot. Jody felt the mattress dip slightly, and his eyes were drawn to Matt, to the robe parting, falling open along his long legs, revealing strong thighs dusted with blonde hair, one of which was marked with another hickey on the sweet plain of skin well above his knee. Matt tracked Jody’s interest at the revealed mark, and sat back, bracing his hands behind himself. He stretched out his legs, showing them off even more, and rolled his eyes.
“Are we really arguing about this right now?” he asked. “And I think that’s his assistant. I know he had one, or several, back when we were together.”
Pulling his eyes back up to Matt’s face, Jody huffed out a breath. “I’m not arguing. And that kid is more than an assistant. Trust me, on that.”
Lacing his fingers together over his belly, Jody resisted the urge to pull Matt on top of him and see how late he could made him for his meet up with Silva.
“Are you saying they’re fucking?” Matt asked, brows raised.
Jody frowned. “What? No. I mean, who the hell knows? But that kid isn’t just some administrative assistant for fuck’s sake.”
Matt, appearing entirely too amused for Jody’s liking, just gazed out over the small space between them without comment.
Sighing in annoyance, Jody unlaced his fingers and made a dismissive gesture. “Look, whatever, and I know how it sounds, like I’m being possessive, and jealous, but I just do not trust this fucking guy’s motivations.”
Matt nodded, amusement conveyed now in annoying, knowing grin said, “I know. You keep saying that, over, and over, and over.”
Undeterred, Jody pulled his chin up. “Well, at least you’re listening.”
That gentled Matt’s grin, bringing it back down into a genuine smile, a slow curving of his lips that was as charming as it was sexy as hell.
“I am. And I don’t trust him either, since you asked.”
Planted firmly in his annoyance, Jody growled, but before he could answer Matt continued.
“But he owes me some answers. There was a time where I’d would’ve told him to fuck off, but I think I’ve let go of most of the… badness, that I’d been carrying around. Being with you has brought me to a place where I don’t need to hold onto that anymore. I feel like I can hear what he has to say, and not be damaged by it.”
Jody looked away, gritting his teeth against a reply that would only come out sounding gruff, overprotective and asshole-ish, at the same time feeling a wave of warmth, a tightening in his chest, at Matt’s honest, uncluttered words.
“And,” Matt said dipping his head to catch Jody’s elusive gaze. “I know you don’t know him, but for Jon to come and ask me for help, and money related help, at that, that tells me something is really wrong in his world. Despite everything, I hate to see him in that kind of bind. I think that I’d like to help him, if I can. Up to a certain point, anyway.”
When Jody didn’t reply, Matt prodded, “Can you accept that?”
Jody absorbed this. A deep sense of unease passed through him at the thought of Matt ‘helping’ Silva with anything but an express bus ticket out of town. He wished he had a more concrete reason for his alarm. His tripwires were jangling, and it was pissing him off, but at the end of the day he trusted Matt.
“I know that he meant something to you. I get that you want to help him out. And I know I wasn’t around for all that, so I probably shouldn’t speak on it, but he hurt you and that puts him on my personal shit list.”
Matt nodded slowly, eyes thoughtful. “Why didn’t you say something last night?”
Feeling himself smile, Jody sat up. Reaching out, he curled his fingers under Matt’s chin, brushing the pad of his thumb over the full bottom lip. He relished the way Matt went completely still under his touch.
“Because, sweetheart, when we got home last night, all I could think about was getting my hands on you, getting the taste of you in my mouth.”
Matt grinned, a sudden flash of a reaction that he spent a moment mastering, and the color deepening in his cheeks and setting off the green of his eyes made him so lovely that Jody ached inside with want.
“I get it,” he said. “You’ve got suspicions. So all the more reason to go and figure out what he’s about. I just want to see what he has to say, and I promise, if he gets out of hand I’ll handle it.”
It wasn’t exactly what Jody wanted to hear, but it was what he expected to hear. Matt waited him out before Jody finally gave him a nod. “Okay.”
“Anything else you need to tell me?” Matt asked.
“Nah,” Jody said, once more settling back against his pillows and stretching out. With his leg he gave Matt a playful bump. “I think I’ve said enough.”
Visibly suppressing a grin, Matt laid a hand on Jody’s shin, fingers curling around him through the blanket.
“After I meet Jon I need to run by the station for a while. I’m not on duty today, but we were having some issues the other day with the short wave. I need to check on that so it’ll be after lunch before I get back. You gonna hang around here?”
Jody shrugged. “I may head into town, run by the rental and check on things.” He trailed to a halt, mind touching back on his earlier musing about whether or not he should just assume his place here, in Matt’s home, but the hopeful light in Matt’s eyes wiped away that fog of wondering.
“How about we plan on an early dinner? Maybe camp out on the couch and watch a movie?”
Matt nodded. “Sounds perfect.” Giving Jody’s leg a squeeze, he stood. “I’m gonna take a quick shower. You wanna come with?”
Jody shook his head, but before the disappointment on Matt’s face could solidify he said, “Baby, if I go into the shower with you you’ll never leave the house today.”
Crooked grin making an appearance, Matt chuckled. With a wave he turned, and headed toward the partially open bedroom door and hallway just beyond.
“And, angel?” Jody called after him.
Matt turned, question in his eyes.
“You will wear an open collared shirt to your little meeting with Silva. Do you understand?”
The air seemed to sharpen between them. Jody watched Matt take a quick breath, savoring the way lips his parted as he stared back. Wanting a verbal reply, Jody tilted his head and raised a brow.
“I understand, Jo. I’d already planned on it, actually,” Matt complied with an even tone, and then with a slow, sly smile that sidelined the sweetness of his reaction, coloring it in a darker, sexier hue, he turned and walked out of the bedroom.
Jody watched him go, then dropped his head back against his pillow, and blew out a breath.
“I swear, that boy is going to be the death of me.”
*********Notes & Ramblings********
At last! Feels so nice to update again. This chapter's main idea stayed pretty much the same, but it's form did move around a bit, or this would have been up a few days ago. With the previous version I came to feel Jody was being a little whiney in his communication with Matt. I think this version works better, and I'm working from the notion that Jody just senses something off, and as someone who has learned to listen to his instincts he's trying to be reasonable while at the same time making his feelings clear. Then, of course, his possessiveness is going to come to the fore as well. From the beginning with these two I've had a thread of a thought when that I've tried to subtly hint at, that they share a very real, instinctual connection, and through that connection Jody is now sensing something amiss, and it will frustrate him that he can't show Matt how or why, but he also is not willing to throw aside what his instincts are telling him.
I also love wrapping them in romance, and deeply felt longing and love, especially in they way they think of one another, and in the way the desire each other. That's something that I loved doing from my time as fic writer for LOTR, Aragorn/Boromir, though in that instance that love story so often involved a huge amount of loss and tragedy.
Anyway, Matt & Jody's connection is going to be part of another element in their story (at least in my head right now it is) something that unfolds far ahead in their story that I hope to eventually arrive at! But that's for another time!
In my mind these two have always been uniquely, deeply connected, it just took time for them to physically meet, and as they grow in their relationship that connection grows, in an almost preternatural way. I'm reminded of instances in the episodes where Jesse insisted that he just 'knew' Matt was alive (when he was missing), and that he could 'feel' the truth of that. I like that idea, that they there are those in Matt's world that share this connection, his immediate family, and now his man. :D
I had a main idea for the wrap up for Angels, but now that Jon is on the scene I find that it is shifting and changing on me. I'm looking forward to seeing what unfolds! Ah, enough rambling. As always, share thoughts or rambles in the comments!
*****
Woot! She’s back!
Re: Woot! She’s back!
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As for Matt: he can be such a little shit. And he needs to learn how to delegate work issues. Maybe Jody could teach him. ;)
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