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“So who is coming round?” Nathan asked, frowning at the blonde man in front of him who was looking sheepish.
“My friend, Jim,” Jack said, trying not to look guilty.
“What sort of friend?” Nathan’s voice was taking on the jealous quality that usually got Jack’s blood running but he didn’t need that now.
“Just a friend,” he laughed. “I'm just worried that you won’t like him. He’s kind of a child and has a bad habit of attracting trouble. Really, it’s a tossup between him and Fargo over who causes more problems.”
“Then why are you inviting him to an, and I'm quoting you here, ‘overly problematic town’?”
“Technically, he invited himself,” Jack confessed, trying not to cringe under Nathan’s stern look, “But I want him here. He’s dying to meet you and his other best friends are working.” Jack decided to use his puppy eyes now and they worked just as they always did – Nathan caved.
“Alright, alright,” he said. “Your friend Jim can come. Just keep him under control.”
“I’ll try,” Jack promised and moved to pull his boyfriend into a dizzying kiss. Nathan melted against him, moaning into his mouth and Jack was reluctant to break it but then his phone rang. Pulling away with a half-hearted smile, he picked up the device and answered.
“Carter.” He listened for several minutes as Andy explained the problem to him then said “Okay, I’ll be right there.” Turning back to Nathan, he gave him one last kiss then walked out of the bunker.
“I'm sorry. School’s shrunk. I’ll see you later. Bye Sarah.”
“Goodbye Sherriff,” was the reply as the door closed behind him. Nathan stood in the empty house for a few moments, just watching the door before Sarah caught his attention.
“Sorry Sarah,” he apologised. “I'm just nervous about meeting someone from Jack’s time before Eureka. He’s never really talked about a best friend before.”
“Sherriff Carter had mentioned this Jim Kirk exactly 3 times,” Sarah supplied helpfully, causing Nathan to frown. If Jack barely mentioned the guy, what did that say about their relationship? He thought he was right to be worried.
He was stupid to have worried. Jim was a great guy. At the moment the three of them were in Café Diem along with Henry, Allison, Grant (who had somehow become a friend), Fargo, Jo and Zane (the last two who had recently gotten together (or back together, depending on who you asked)). Jim was cracking jokes and making everyone laugh but they had found out earlier that he wasn’t just a funny guy. He was highly intelligent and Nathan realised that this man must be the reason that Jack had never shown a great level of discomfort living in a town that only held geniuses. In fact, Jim seemed to bring out all of Jack’s own intelligence – not that Nathan had ever thought of Jack as actually being an idiot, despite some of the things he had said.
“Then I said, ‘that’s a rabbit’ and he looked at me like I’d grown an extra head, and said, completely seriously, ‘rabbits are blue’.” Everyone laughed at Jim’s story, causing the blonde man to beam. He threw an arm over Jack’s shoulders and pointed at Nathan to direct his next words at the scientist.
“You know, I could tell you some great stories about this one.”
“I’d be interested to hear them,” Nathan said slyly, making Jack groan and throw his friend’s arm off of him.
“If you tell them any bad stories-”
“You’ll what?” Jim asked, laughing.
“I’ll bring up the kangaroos,” Jack threatened. The others at the table stopped laughing and looked confused but the horror on Jim’s face showed that he considered this as a real threat.
“You wouldn’t?” he said hoarsely.
“I might,” Jack said primly. “Or I may tell them that you didn’t realise your two best friends were in love.” Jim thumped his head onto the table and Jack laughed.
“I believe we’d all like to hear this,” Allison said with a smile. When Jim looked up at her in mock betrayal, she mollified him by adding “And in return you can tell us something about Jack.” Jim’s wide grin of mischief settled back on his face as Jack spluttered. Nathan pulled his boyfriend to his chest but shushed him when he tried to complain.
“Deal,” Jim said. “Go on then Jack, you can tell them about my lack of observation.” The two blonde men shared a smile and Jack began his story (though he left out all the parts about their real job). He was so glad to have finally introduced his friend to his new family that he was willing to risk a little humiliation.
“I'm glad for you,” Jim told Jack as they sat together at one of the outside tables of Café Diem. The others were still inside but they had been allowed to leave to have a few minutes to themselves.
“Thank you,” Jack said sincerely but then let out a sad sigh. Jim tilted his head, encouraging him to talk.
“I'm just worried,” Jack supplied.
“What about?”
“When I’ll be forced to leave.”
“I doubt Control will ever move you. And if they do they will definitely have you recruit at least Nathan first. They’ll probably employ the whole town and keep you here to keep an eye on them.” Jack snorted at the idea but Jim had cheered him up none the less.
“How are you doing?” he suddenly asked his friend. Jim lent back in his chair and thought for a moment before answering.
“I'm good. I don’t need or want a relationship; I'm happy with all my friendships. I get good assignments but I also get to see you lot. I really couldn’t be better.” Jim spoke honestly so Jack smiled and raised his bottle.
“A toast then. To friendship and good assignments.”
“Here, here.”