Jack had huddled with Daniel for warmth before. He’d pressed himself against all of them at one time or another, and they’d pressed back. Not every planet they explored was warm and sunny; sometimes they got caught in sudden spring showers, or rainstorms where lightning skipped across the sky, like PX-whatever-Carter-and-Daniel-called-it. Once they’d almost been caught in a flash flood. This time shouldn’t be any different. Normally though, more clothing was involved.

“Tell me again, why we’re naked?” Daniel asked, teeth chattering, voice muffled against Jack’s bare shoulder.

“Body heat transfers faster this way. Survival 101.”

“Must have fallen asleep for that part.”

“It used to be my favorite part.”

“Used to be?”

“Before I realized I had to be really fucking wet and cold to get to the naked part.”

“Yeah.” Daniel shivered. “I’m not really a fan of the wet and cold part.”

“Think of that next time, before you decide to take a swim.” Jack felt Daniel stiffen against him in righteous indignation.

“I did not-”

“I know, I know. You fell, you were pushed, it was the one-armed man, okay? Jesus.”

He could feel Daniel going all prickly. Not in the literal sense, of course, but in the sense that Jack might have opened his mouth once too often in the past five minutes. Daniel might have pulled away, but the ambient temperature of their current accommodations and the fact that given the width of the cave- and really, the word “cave” was rather generous- moving away from each other was pretty much an impossibility, meant that Daniel had to stay put, mid-hissy fit or no. Jack sighed and shoved his arm under Daniel’s head to get it away from Daniel’s chest, which was far to distracting to let him sleep, and closed his eyes.

--

Jack was in a field of purple flowers. All purple, no variation of shade or color as far as he could see. He was very naked. He thought briefly, that since he was naked in real life, it was entirely possible that this wasn’t a dream until he heard Daniel’s voice, coming from a rather large and robust-to Jack’s mind- chipmunk. The chipmunk happened to be perched on the lowest branch of a tree that hadn’t been there a moment ago.

“This isn’t a dream.”

Jack nodded, gave the “I so don’t believe you” smile. “Right.” He realized he couldn’t feel his arm. He checked to make sure it was still there.

“He’s got something to tell you.”

Shit. The arm wasn’t there.

“Listen.”

Jack grabbed frantically for his arm as the flowers, the tree, and the chipmunk all seemed to melt together, whirling into black oblivion. He blinked, uncertain now if he was awake or still dreaming until he felt Daniel’s breath against his neck and the tingling of a thousand pins and needles in the arm that Daniel currently used as a pillow.

That was going to hurt.

Jack tried pulling his arm away, intending to let sleeping archaeologists lie, but he’d gotten tangled in the sleeping bag somehow.

“Daniel… Daniel…” Jack patted Daniel’s cheek with his free hand. He learned long ago that harsh, loud wake-up calls often caused flailing limbs and explosive yelling. Jack tried to avoid getting beaten up by a half-awake man as much as possible.

Daniel muttered a bit, nudging his head closer into Jack’s shoulder, sending a fresh wave of needles up and down Jack’s trapped arm.

“Daniel, I’m dyin’ here,” Jack said, urgently poking at Daniel’s face.

Daniel snapped awake. “Jack, what? I had the weirdest dream.”

“Was there a chipmunk?”

“What?”

“Will you move already? My arm might already be dead.”

Daniel laughed as he shifted around, lifting his head a couple of inches off Jack’s arm. “Is that like ‘you may have already won’? I never believe them either.”

Jack groaned as blood and sensation flowed back into his limb. He flexed his hand, shaking it to relieve some of the agony. “How ‘bout I take a nap on your arm?”

Daniel shrugged. “If it’ll get you to go back to sleep.” He spread his arm out along the top of the bag, his hand just grazing the stone behind Jack's head.

“Yeah, okay.” Jack put his head down on Daniel’s bicep. His forehead butted up against Daniel’s jaw and he felt Daniel’s breath gusting over his ear. He shivered.

“Cold?” Daniel tucked the sleeping bag more firmly around them and rubbed his hand down Jack’s still tingling arm.

Jack squirmed a bit, felt Daniel’s thighs brush against his. He stopped moving, trying to think of a good reason to move, or a good reason to stay. Daniel pulled him closer and he did neither. He closed his eyes.

--

The purple flowers were still there, as was the tree. Daniel’s voice inhabited a rather large, bushy-tailed squirrel.

“Why are you always a rodent?”

Squirrel-Daniel rubbed his little paws together, scratching at his nose. “He has something to tell you,” he said again.

Second verse, same as the first, Jack sang in his head. Snow started falling gently on the flowers, making the horizon a sort of mushy light pink. He shivered.

“Listen!” said the squirrel, as everything melted away again.

--

“Sir?”

Jack gave a slightly indignant “mmph” and rolled over.

“Sir?” He lifted his head and squinted toward the cave entrance.

“Carter?” he whispered, not wanting to wake Daniel.

“She’s on the com, Jack,” Daniel muttered, pushing himself off the ground. “Gotta piss.”

Jack reached for the radio just as Daniel’s naked ass passed in front of his eyes. He jumped as Carter squawked “sir!” again, amidst a surge of slightly annoyed static.

“What?” he hissed into the radio.

“Just checking in. Teal’c and I are okay, if a bit cold. Rain hasn’t stopped yet.”

Jack scrubbed at his eyes with one hand, the other had a strangle hold on the radio. Daniel stood a few feet away at the entrance to their cave, relieving himself from under the cover of the rocky overhang. Jack had problems- problems, he admitted quietly to himself- taking his eyes off Daniel.

“Sir?”

He jumped and glared down at the radio. “Copy, Carter. Get some rest.”

Radio silence as Daniel turned from the entrance to the cave, shuddering from the cold and scrambling to get back inside the warm cocoon of the sleeping bag.

“Oof.” Jack winced as Daniel dropped down on top of him, squirming to get as much of himself inside the bag as quickly as possible. Daniel. Squirming on top of him. Jack tried not to move and most of his body obeyed that request. He knew the moment Daniel felt his hard-on; Daniel stopped moving, his thigh pressed just between Jack’s legs.

“Jack…”

“I swear to God, Daniel, you ask me if that’s a pencil in my pocket and I will shoot you.”

“Jack.”

“I have a gun and everything.”

“You don’t have pockets.”

“Fully load- what?”

His breath hitched as he felt Daniel’s thin, cold hand smooth down his side. “No clothes, no pockets,” Daniel whispered, his face suddenly inches from Jack’s. “I have to assume this is all for me.”

His hand wrapped around Jack’s thick cock, zero-to-go in about six seconds, tugging a little and Jack gasped before he managed to say, “cold, cold hands.”

Daniel laughed. “Sorry.” He pulled his hands away, rubbed them a bit to warm them up. “Your hands aren’t cold.”

“Nope.” Jack experimented, laying his palm flat over Daniel’s smooth chest. “When-?”

Daniel shook his head, spreading his warmed hands over Jack’s hips. “Don’t ask questions, Jack.”

Jack nodded and moved his hand, rubbed against Daniel’s shoulder, his neck, before moving around to his back. Moved slowly across, shoulder to shoulder, before he swept down. He hesitated at the small of his back, fingertips just grazing the softer skin of Daniel’s ass.

“Yes,” Daniel said, answering a question Jack didn’t know how to ask. He pushed back against Jack’s hand, leaning his chest forward to slide firmly against Jack’s. Daniel’s slim hands came up, fingers skirting lazily over the sparse hair on Jack’s chest.

Their faces lined up, Daniel’s eyes blinking blurrily in the half-light filtering through the thick cloud cover. His mouth grazed Jack’s cheek, trailed a moist path over to his mouth. His lips grazed Jack’s and Jack met him open-mouthed, his tongue passing lightly over Daniel’s.

Jack liked kissing as much as the next guy. A little wet, a little soft and goopy, but with the right person you didn’t notice. The right person made it sexy and hot. Daniel definitely made it different. Daniel made a hot little noise in the back of his throat, one Jack was sure he’d never heard before, and pushed closer, sprawled over Jack, his legs on either side of Jack’s hips.

Daniel pulled his head back a bit and Jack opened his eyes. Daniel above him and around him, Jack decided he pretty much loved the view from down here. “Are we?” he asked, hands clenching on Daniel’s ass.

“Do you want to?” Daniel asked as he ground his erection against Jack’s.

Jack couldn’t answer, didn’t remember how to answer for a few moments. He was pretty sure his eyes crossed. “Yes,” he said when his brain cleared. “Definitely yes.”

Daniel reached above them, digging through his pack for something and Jack took the opportunity to nibble at those parts of Daniel within nibbling distance. He grazed his teeth over Daniel’s neck, flicked his tongue out over the little indent at his collarbone. He felt Daniel shudder against him and did it again.

Daniel found what he was looking for and scooted down a bit, lining them up again, thrusting slowly against Jack as he held up his prize: air force issue bug repellant. It came in lotion form, which made it suitable. Jack gave a fleeting thought to adverse skin reactions but Daniel thrust again, and again, and Jack decided he didn’t care.

Jack moaned as Daniel kissed him again, soft chapped lips rubbing slowly against his own, smooth wet tongue gliding along his, twining together before withdrawing, only to return moments later. Jack thought Daniel kissed like a porn god and made a note to tell him so.

He jumped when he felt slick fingers gliding against his ass. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had touched him there, someone other than Fraser, during some sort of inane and probably useless medical procedure. Daniel’s forefinger slipped inside and he gave up trying to remember. He could feel Daniel’s breath, harsh and loud, against his ear. Jack lifted hands and arms that felt heavy, too heavy, and wrapped them around Daniel’s back. Daniel’s shorter hair was harder to get a grip on and Jack found himself missing the longer, shaggier hair, conveniently forgetting all the times he’d given Daniel crap for it. He fit his palm against the back of Daniel’s neck, pulled Daniel’s mouth back toward his.

Daniel’s skin heated under his palm. Jack smoothed over muscled shoulders and biceps and fumbled for the bug repellant, plucking it from Daniel’s hand, the one not involved with Jack’s ass, and squirted some lotion onto his own hand. Slightly sticky and slightly watery, and Jack wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about using this for lube, but then Daniel slipped another finger inside, and Jack figured it was probably too late to care. He circled Daniel’s cock with his hand, slicking the warm, taut skin. Daniel made whimpery, impatient noises against his mouth, pressing himself into Jack’s hand.

Daniel pulled his fingers away and Jack pulled his mouth away to protest, killing it quickly when Daniel flipped him over, pressed him into the sleeping bag. He spread his legs and felt Daniel settle heavily between them, hips firmly against his ass.

“Ready?” Daniel whispered against his ear.

Jack’s brain wouldn’t form a coherent response. He muttered something he thought might have been “yes, now,” and lifted his ass up. He felt Daniel’s cock at his opening, pressing slowly inside as Daniel’s lips moved against Jack’s neck, the words unintelligible, the meaning clear.

He reached behind him, hooked his hand over Daniel’s thigh, pressing Daniel further into him, rising to meet each thrust, slow, even, and deep. Daniel wedged his hand between Jack and the ground, pressed his palm against the dip of Jack’s stomach, his fingers just brushing against Jack’s cock. Jack moaned quietly, slipped his hand down to close over Daniel’s, pushing Daniel’s fingers deeper, further into his skin. I will make you part of me, he thought, he might have said aloud, because Daniel bit the back of his neck and came, with a harsh groan almost torn from his throat. His fingers clenched on Jack’s stomach, nails biting into Jack’s flesh, and Jack came with a muffled howl.

--

“Not again,” Jack muttered, looking around. The flowers, the tree, but Daniel was a peacock this time. Jack thought it oddly appropriate.

“He’s got something to tell you.”

Jack shrugged. “So you’ve said.”

The peacock gave him a mildly reproving glare. “Listen.”

Jack lost patience, would have stamped the ground if he could have found his feet. “To what!?” he called, whirling around, trying to find the tree, the peacock, the field of flowers.

There was nothing. He opened his eyes. Light filtered through the vegetation hanging over the mouth of the cave. He turned his head a bit and his nose brushed Daniel’s.

“Morning,” Daniel said. His lips looked chapped and swollen and Jack felt oddly proud.

“Sir?”

Jack jumped about three feet in the air, landing a foot away from Daniel.

“Sir?”

He looked around. “Carter?”

Daniel sighed, sitting up and reaching for his glasses. “The com, Jack.”

“I knew that.” Jack grabbed the unit and yelled “what!?” just as Sam gave a third, slightly impatient, “Sir?”

“Still raining, but Teal’c says there’s a break in the clouds to the west, so it’s likely that it won’t be raining much longer.”

“What about the area around the gate?”

“We’ll need to wait for the water to drain off, but we can probably help that along with some C-4.”

“Well done. Thank you, Carter. Over and…. out.”

“Right, sir.”

Jack tossed the radio onto his jacket, rolled it up and threw it further back into the cave.

“Jack, about that…”

“About what?”

“Look, I know we can’t say anything, technically, but are we going to say anything?”

Jack rubbed his hands together for a moment, buying time. “You do realize you just answered your own question, right?”

Daniel didn’t answer, just gazed steadily. Jack hated it when he did that. It was worse when he gazed and quirked an eyebrow, but the gazing thing was enough.

“I don’t know. Is there a thing to say anything about?”

“Is there?”

“I didn’t realize this would involve fierce negotiations over breakfast.”

“What did you think it would involve?”

“Will you STOP with the questions?” Jack rubbed at his forehead, trying not to look Daniel in the eye.

Daniel’s hand twitched in his lap, like an aborted attempt to reach out. “So is this going to take?” he asked. Jack could hear something like hope and frustration in his tone.

He watched Daniel’s hands trembling in his lap. He remembered what the rodents (and the peacock) had told him. Listen, listen to what? He reached out for Daniel’s wrist, fingers circling the smooth skin and he could feel Daniel’s heart pumping a little too quickly, a little too fast.

Heat suffused his face, his heart beat faster than Daniel’s. “You love me,” he said, almost stumbling over the words. “You’ve always loved me.”

He felt more than saw Daniel’s head nod, short, soft hair rubbing against his cheek. When had Daniel gotten so close?

“Sha’re?”

Daniel turned his palm over in Jack’s grasp, rubbing their fingers together. “I loved her. But I love you too.”

Jack’s hand clenched on Daniel’s. He should have listened a long time ago. “God, Daniel.”

“You love me, too.”

Jack nodded, cupped his other hand behind Daniel’s head. Their faces were already pressed together.

“So this’ll take?” Daniel breathed, lips brushing his.

Jack smiled, then laughed. “Yeah. Yeah, it’ll take.”