Fic: A Happy Ending

[csi_sanders1129]

Title: A Happy Ending
Chapters: 1/1
Author: csi_sanders1129
Genre: Angst. Romance.
Ratings: M
Word Count: 7,651
Pairings/Characters: Michael Woods/Jake Hunter, Tommy Biggs
Synopsis: Jake’s not really sure when exactly he stopped hating Michael, the arrogant, entitled asshole with all of his trouble-attracting labels, but it’s not until dinner that he realizes just how much that’s changed since Michael and Tommy first stepped onto his boat.
Comments: Okay, I know. Another fic for another fandom that no one is interested it (barring the friends I forced to watch the movie while I was writing this (to whom I owe thanks)). And yeah, the three main actors are all played by the Lawrence brothers, but they're not playing brothers, so ha! Not weird. Starts at the end of the movie (which I hate) and goes from there. Characters not mine. Enjoy!

Jake’s not really sure when exactly he stopped hating Michael, the arrogant, entitled asshole with all of his trouble-attracting labels, but it’s not until dinner that he realizes just how much that’s changed since Michael and Tommy first stepped onto his boat.

“Hello,” Michael says, appearing from nowhere and sliding into the seat between his father and Jake, looking rather like the cat that ate the canary, smug satisfaction written all over his face. He’s been gone for a while, their food has long since arrived, and Jake is clearly not the only one who’s curious about Michael’s whereabouts.

His father claps him on the back with a cheerful, “Hey Michael, where’ve you been?”

Michael grins a mischievous grin and his eyes move around the table, settling on Jake for just a second longer than everyone else. “Let’s just say that, um, preparation has met opportunity. I hope you guys don’t mind, but, ugh, I created a little job opportunity for us.”

“Here? What is it?” Jake asks, looking around for whatever this supposed job opportunity could be. He can’t think of many options to be found inside of the fancy restaurant. 

Michael gestures to the docks behind them, where the pirate’s boat sits tethered to the pier. “They’re gonna rename that boat, ugh,” he grins, plops a hat down in front of Jake and smiles, “Tiffany II. Captain.”

“What?”

“They gave us a reward for turning in Frakes,” he explains, clearly pleased with himself. “So I did a little negotiating. See, they were gonna put this boat up for auction so I offered to buy the boat with our reward money. We are all gonna be partners in the charter business.”

Jake frowns down at the hat in his hands, as he thinks this through. He certainly needs a new boat if he wants to keep sailing now that the Tiffany is gone and one as good as that one will certainly be profitable. Not to mention that it sounds like Michael, at least, will be sticking around, and that is a pleasantly surprising development. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah. I mean, you said it yourself - charters sail outta here all the time,” a hand lands on Jake’s shoulder as he talks and Jake finds himself nodding in agreement, because this? This is a good plan. He’d never even really entertained the idea that Michael might stay. He’s not even sure why he wants Michael to stay, but he knows he does. Something just feels right about it, right in the same way Michael’s hand feels on his shoulder. Michael turns back to his Dad, then, though, saying, “And, ugh, Dad, I was hoping I could pay you back the money I owe you out of my share of the profits.”

“That sounds great,” he says, but then he’s asking, “but does that mean you’re planning to move to Australia?”

Then it happens. At first, Michael grins, like his answer is going to be an unquestionable yes, but then it’s: “No. I don’t think I’m gonna need to do that,” Michael says, but he doesn’t notice the way Jake’s expression absolutely crumbles when he hears that answer. “I was actually kinda hoping that that file clerk job was still available. Cause, you know, if I’m gonna be a lawyer, I better learn about it, right? Inside and out, top to bottom. Besides, I think it’d be kind of cool to do lunch with my Dad every now and then.” Jake frowns - he’s even using Jake’s words to justify leaving. It’s great that Michael’s finally decided what he wants to do but why couldn’t it be here? After all that... They’re both just going to leave him here to run the boat and he’ll be alone again.

“That sounds great, son.” Mr. Woods is saying, looking so so so proud of Michael and Jake’s maybe a little jealous of that, too.

“So, we really own it. It’s really ours?” Tommy asks, all excited at the prospect.

Michael stands, looking at them both, now. “As long as we all agree on it,” he says, “It’s gonna be a three way partnership.” Tommy grins, but he catches sight of Jake’s slightly broken and panicked expression. “What do you guys say?” Michael asks.

“I don’t know what to say.” Jake replies quietly, forcing himself to look up at Michael.

“Well, I say yes!” Tommy blurts out as he gets to his feet and now Jake can’t really back out without seeming like a giant, selfish ass.

“Ugh, yes,” he says, slowly standing, too. Michael’s arm curls around his shoulders then and he makes himself be happy about this. If they’re running this business together, then they have to have some contact, right? Okay. “Absolutely, yes.”

Michael squeezes his shoulder lightly, leaning in close. Tommy brackets him on Jake’s other side and he’s saying “Then a partnership, it is,” like this is the best possible solution to being trapped on an island with pirates on their tail for nearly two weeks. Never mind that Michael just completely shattered Jake with one sentence.

***

After dinner, they all go back to the hotel. Jake’s rooming with Michael, but he stops to talk to his Dad on the way to the room so Jake goes on ahead. He’s still kind of angry and lost and he’s not sure he can face being alone with Michael quite yet, so he changes into a pair of shorts, grabs a towel and heads back downstairs.

Michael returns to find the hotel room vacant. Jake had said he would be here and his absence makes Michael worry. After everything on the island, all the close calls - crocodiles and gunshots and everything else - he’s a little paranoid about where Tommy and Jake are at all times.  He calls up to Tommy’s room and his Aunt tells him that Jake hasn’t been by. His concern increases.

But then he spots the missing towel in the bathroom and has an idea. He changes into shorts himself and goes to hunt Jake down.

His options are the hotel pool or the beach about a mile away. He doesn’t have to go any farther than the pool because he finds Jake doing fast laps across the length of the impressively sized swimming pool; he’s the only one there. Michael stays by the door, unnoticed and observing as Jake goes back and forth and back again, kicking off of the sides and flipping in the water to change direction with ease. He’s good, fast, and he moves with a minimum of splashing. Michael counts sixteen laps before Jake slows down, doing two more laps at a slower pace to cool down before he drags himself to the edge of the pool and perches on the edge, his back to Michael.

“You’re really good,” Michael says and Jake jumps in surprise at his voice. “Sorry. You, ugh, you weren’t in the room.”

“Yeah, I needed a break,” Jake replies, standing now so he can grab his towel from one of the chairs that surround the pool. “Did you want something?”

Michael’s just a little distracted by the way the water trails down Jake’s chest and stomach, all well-toned muscles and sun-tanned skin, how the trails of water stop at the band of Jake’s shorts, slung low on his hips. And no. He’s totally not staring and “sorry, what?”

“Is there a reason you needed to come find me?”

“Oh,” he says. “No. Not really. I just... you seemed kind of upset. Earlier. At dinner.”

“Just surprised,” Jake lies, the words heavy and bitter on his tongue. He folds his arms over his chest in what is clearly a defensive move, the towel draped around his shoulders now. “I wasn’t exactly expecting to have a boat again so soon.”

Michael nods, but looks decidedly unconvinced because good news, no matter how surprisingly, does not typically make people look all defensive and angry. “Yeah, right,” he says. “Are you coming back upstairs or are you doing more laps?” He’ll stay if Jake does. Might even do a few himself, cool off some. “Sorry,” he finds himself saying again, before Jake can snark at him for being nosy. “I just like knowing where everyone is now. I know it doesn’t make any sense - they’re in jail, but still...”

Jake gets that. Michael spent more time at gunpoint than he did so he can understand why he’s a little more paranoid about the pirates. “That’ll be a little difficult to do from LA.” He finds himself blurting out. He doesn’t mean to - it’s a little too close to the truth and he really doesn’t want that to come up. He avoids looking at Michael, turns back to the water instead. The water’s safer. He dives in before Michael can say anything and when he comes back to the surface, he finds Michael tugging his shirt over his head in one swift motion and following him in.

“Great,” he mumbles, while Michael’s still submerged.

“That’s what you’re upset about.” Michael says, when he surfaces next to Jake. It’s not a question so Jake doesn’t bother responding. “You want me to stay here?”

But Jake swims away, kicking off of the edge again and he’s halfway across the pool before Michael gets to the wall. It probably says something that he’s not exactly running away - there are only so many places to go in the pool before Michael catches him, it’s not like he’s bolting out the door and out into the streets or anything.

“Jake, c’mon,” Michael calls to him, treading water on the deep end wall where Jake has to hit to flip and change direction. Michael’s hand curls around his arm before he can kick off again, though, and he’s forced to come sputtering back to the surface. “Sorry,” he apologizes again. “But, really. Talk to me.”

“I didn’t want you to stay, okay?” Jake growls out, pushing away a bit so he can tread on his own. “But then it sounded like you were and I realized that maybe I did want that. But, you’re not,” he snaps, “So it doesn’t really matter what I might’ve wanted, does it?”

Michael frowns at him, looking more than a little bit hurt. “I guess that depends on what else you want. You want the boat, yeah? Or did you only say yes because Tommy did?”

“I need the boat,” Jake admits. Not that Michael won’t know that. “You’ve got the law firm, Tommy’s got the ranch, but the Tiffany is gone and this partnership is about the only thing I have left. So, yeah. I want the boat.”

More frowning, and Jake really wishes he would stop doing that. It only deepens as Michael seems to finally realize just how much Jake gave up to save them from the pirates. “Sorry. I didn’t... If you don’t want the boat, I can help you out some other way.”

“That I don’t want.” Jake answers. That much he’s sure of. He certainly doesn’t want to have to owe Michael anything, no matter what he says. “And please stop apologizing.” He needs some distance again so he takes off swimming. He hears Michael sigh in something like exasperation and then there’s the muted splash that says he’s following after him this time. He gives up, though, after just a minute and sits on the edge of the pool, watching Jake work out his anger and frustration on the water. When he finally slows again, he throws Jake with his question.

“If I did stay, then what?”

Jake doesn’t have an answer for that, though. Letting himself entertain the idea again hurts too much after earlier. But he lets himself think the bad things. If the both of them stayed on the boat, then charters would be crowded - they’d be limited on space. There are certainly law firms around town, but Michael probably won’t be so eager to work at one that his father doesn’t run. There’d be all sorts of problems, for sure, but there’d be one good thing: He wouldn’t be alone. He can’t tell Michael that, though. “I don’t know.” He says instead, because he can’t make Michael stay. Not just because he feels sorry for Jake. “And you’re not. So stop it.”

Jake swims over to where Michael sits and accepts the hand that’s wordlessly held out to him. The older boy hauls him up onto the concrete edge, too, and he sits a little closer than he really intended to.  Michael’s hand settles on his back, a slightly warmer presence since it’s drier and his skin’s still all dripping wet. The goosebumps that flash on his skin might not be totally because of the chilly air.

“What do you want?” Jake dares to ask, even though he’s already gotten his answer.

Michael surprises him, though, when he sighs and says, “I don’t know.”

Jake finds himself missing the touch when Michael’s hand drops away, but he says, “Yes, you do. You said so earlier. File clerk jobs and lunches with your dad, right?”

Michael looks up, taking in Jake’s water flattened hair, how it sticks to his face and sends more water trails down his skin, a couple of stray pieces sticking up wildly. Touching Jake had felt nice, but he can’t quite justify putting his hands on him again so soon, not without a reason. “Not exactly my dream, but I’m willing to work for it.” He fidgets with his hands, wanting to reach out again, but resisting.

Jake shifts, trying to get out of Michael’s personal space - just a little bit - but the cement is slippery with the water that’s been dripping off of both of them and so he goes flailing back into the water instead. Michael tries to catch him before he goes in, but all he really does is manage to get himself dragged in, too.

They both come up splashing and spluttering and choking on chlorinated water, but mostly laughing. They’re close, really close - so much so that Jake’s hands land on Michael’s shoulders just so he has somewhere to put them. But, then the laughing stops, abruptly replaced by a frantic sort of quiet as they both realize just how close they are.

“We should...” Michael starts to say, but he cuts himself off before any other words can escape. Jake’s just staring at him, watching as he takes a deep breath to steady himself and watching the movement of his throat as he swallows down his panic. Michael’s watching, too, though. He sees Jake’s tongue dart out to wet his lips, even though there are still droplets of water clinging to them. Jake’s brown eyes are dilated - he’s betting his own are, too - and he just can’t resist not touching anymore. His hands settle on Jake’s sides, moving over smooth skin and defined muscle that he hadn’t had an excuse to touch before, pulling Jake in even closer and forcing him to shift his arms a bit in response to the movement, so that they land low on Michael’s hips, instead.

The next thing Michael knows, his lips are on Jake’s. He’s not actually sure which one of them made that move, but then he doesn’t really care, either, because it’s a pretty awesome kiss, especially as far as first ones go. One of his hands comes up to tilt Jake’s head to the side a bit, allowing for a better angle, and his fingers curl into Jake’s wet hair.  

“Mm,” Jake groans out, with the pressure of his fingernails digging lightly into Michael’s hips. His tongue presses against Michael’s lips and the older boy’s mouth opens for him without hesitation.

Reasons to stay are starting to pile up in Michael’s mind - not that he hadn’t been thinking of them already, every time he’s looked at Jake’s defeated expression in the time since dinner. This, he thinks, this would be an awesome reason. He pushes Jake back against the cement wall of the pool, water lapping up to their shoulders with their movements. He opts to break the kiss in favor of something more but he finds himself staring again in the time it takes them to catch their breaths. Jake’s all flushed and warm, his eyes half-lidded and a little darker; his lips a little bit redder than usual, slightly swollen with their actions - but that’s not enough. He wants to leave marks so that Jake can’t look in the mirror without remembering this. Maybe he’ll even figure out how much Michael wants to stay.

“What’re you...” Jake starts, when Michael somehow gets hold of his hands and pins his wrists to the wall on either side of his head.

“You’ll see,” Michael answers, before his mouth descends upon Jake’s neck, nipping lightly before he settles in to a sucking pressure that’s sure to leave marks. He grins against Jake’s skin when the younger man turns his head to the side to give him better access and the way Jake gravitates to every touch prompts him to step things up. He lets his teeth scrape lightly over Jake’s skin, countering the motions of his tongue. Jake shivers in response and Michael chooses then to pull away, satisfied that his mark will stick around for a while.

Jake leans forward then, as much as he can when he’s effectively pinned, but his mouth is on Michael’s again and he is certainly not opposed to more kissing. He releases his hold on Jake’s wrists and immediately, they’re on him.

Michael’s never been with another guy before - before Jake, he’d never let himself be interested, not really, and he’s still kind of mystified by the way Jake can get to him - but he’s been with a fair amount of women. And being with Jake is so different from being with them, all sharp angles and hard muscles in place of soft curves and softer touches. The barely there scruff on Jake’s chin is kind of scratchy and definitely unfamiliar, but not in a bad way. He knows that Jake can take whatever he gives, and that he’s strong enough to manhandle Michael anyway he wants to, too - now, for instance, he’s spinning them around, so that Michael’s the one against the pool wall, and Jake’s hands are dragging up his sides smoothly, raising goosebumps in their wake. They’ve moved down a little, too, into shallower water, and yet Michael is not all expecting what Jake does.

First, it’s fingers, moving over one nipple and then the other and Michael jerks in surprise at the motion. Wet skin already chilled now that it’s out of the water reacts even more so than it usually would to Jake’s touch, hardening like other parts of his anatomy. Jake grins, pleased to see the reaction and before Michael can say anything, his mouth surrounds one nipple, all hot and wet and perfect. No one’s ever done that to Michael before and it is surprisingly pleasurable, so much so that after a moment he finds himself seeking relief. He lets one of his legs slip between Jake’s, pleased to find an answering hardness there, one that rivals his own. He must admit to letting out a rather desperate sounding groan when Jake pulls away to switch sides, but the new contact is just as enticing and he’s not even sure when he started rocking against Jake’s body.

“Jake,” Michael says, the word choked out, even as he slips a hand under the band of Jake’s shorts.

That is more than enough to get Jake to snap back to reality, though, because as awesome as this is, they are in a public pool - anyone could come in at any time and they’re a little too far away from publicly acceptable displays of affection now to brush this off. So he catches Michael’s hand and somehow manages the willpower to stop everything. “If... if you want this to go any farther, we... We should go back to the room.”

It takes a second for Michael to process those words since he’s not exactly thinking clearly, but then he’s nodding. “Yeah,” he says, a grin on his face. “Yeah, that’s a good idea.” He’s already at the edge, so he let’s go of Jake and uses his hands to lever himself up onto the concrete in one surprisingly swift motion. He reaches down to haul Jake out after him, keeping his hold on one of Jake’s hands as they go for their towels and t-shirts.

They’re both still kind of dripping as they wind through the halls and into the elevator. The ride to their floor seems to take forever, but somehow they manage to keep their hands to themselves until the doors open on their floor. Michael fumbles with the card key in the door, Jake just behind him and all bare skin against his back, but he gets the thing open with a mumbled curse and he is really, really glad that their room isn’t near his father’s or his Aunt’s, because that would just be awful.

“C’mere,” Michael mumbles, the second the door is closed and locked behind them. He catches Jake’s hand and drags him into the spacious bathroom attached to the room. Michael flips the shower on, an idea in mind - this started in water so he thinks it’s fitting that it end in water, too. The water warms quickly, and Michael has to force himself to focus with the distraction of Jake’s mouth landing on the spot where neck meets collarbone, intent to leave marks of his own. When the water is just this side of too hot, he’s dragging Jake under the spray with the younger man still mouthing at his neck.

Jake seems to relax instantly under the spray. “Good idea,” he says, abandoning his assault on Michael’s neck to tilt his head back, letting the warm water wash over him for the briefest of seconds, but a second is all Michael needs to get Jake where he wants him. He moves quickly, getting Jake turned around and then pulling him close, so that Jake’s back is pressed firmly against Michael’s chest. He fits there well.

Michael leans forward rather awkwardly, then, and offers a fierce kiss even as one of his hands finds its way into Jake’s shorts. Unlike earlier, when he had to stop the action in the pool, Jake gives in easily. He groans and arches his hips into the unexpected touch, while Michael’s hand curls around him. He tilts his head back in such a way that Michael simply can’t resist sucking and nipping at his neck again.

When he pulls away, thoroughly pleased with the new marks he’s left on Jake’s skin, he looks over Jake’s shoulder, the spray of the shower sending torrents of water over his head as he looks down - glad that Jake’s just a little bit shorter than he is. He nudges Jake’s shorts down his hips enough so that he can see everything he’s doing to the younger man and lets his hand move fluidly over the hardened organ in his hand. “I... I don’t really know what I’m doing,” Michael admits. “I’ve never - Is there anything you want me to do?”

“Just do whatever you like,” Jake offers, leaning back against Michael as much as he can.

“Okay,” he answers. He can do that. He can totally do that. “Okay.”

His hand drags and curls around Jake, his thumb tracing over the erect organ’s head and the movement makes the other man squirm and writhe against him. Michael watches him with rapt attention, taking in all of the details of Jake like this. From the sharp, jerky breaths, and the lust-glazed look to his eyes, his red, kiss-swollen mouth that he captures again, his tongue moving past parted lips to explore, flushed pink skin that’s hot from the water still cascading down on them, and the way Jake keeps rocking back against him, the movements furthering his own arousal.

“Like this?” He asks, a little uncertain, even as he presses open-mouthed kisses along Jake’s neck and down to his shoulder. He bites down lightly there - enough to leave a mark, but nowhere near enough to break skin - and Jake shivers and groans in response.

“Yeah,” Jake says, but he’s pressing back against Michael with more and more urgency as Michael’s pace increases. 

The hold he has on Jake tightens and he twists his grip around the organ’s base, drags a finger lightly over the vein that runs along the underside of it, and offers a few more drawn-out drags before he has Jake thoroughly undone, spilling all over Michael’s hand. The water washes it all away within seconds, though, leaving Jake to ride it out as he arches back against Michael.

Michael’s a little surprised by how turned on he is, watching Jake lose it was almost enough to send him over the edge, too.

Jake starts shifting against him, though, movements that make Michael groan and contemplate finishing himself off, but that idea escapes him when Jake turns to face him, looking all sated and satisfied but maybe like he’s going to return the favor. Instead, much to Michael’s surprise, Jake meets his eyes and slowly drops to his knees, difficult as that is in the confined space of the hotel shower.

“You don’t have to-” Michael starts to say, once he realize what he’s intending. But Jake’s already tugged his shorts down, already has one hand planted firmly on Michael’s hip to keep him relatively still, the other curled around the base of Michael’s arousal, holding him off a bit.

Then his mouth is on Michael, all surrounding wet heat and the warm pressure of his tongue, mimicking some of the maneuvers he’d used on Jake. He covers his teeth with his lips, keeps himself from choking with concentrated effort that took a few tries to learn because Jake has done this before. He’s had a little more experience with this than he imagines Michael has given his earlier uncertainty. He’s had to do some things he isn’t particularly proud of in order to keep the Tiffany afloat and that unfortunately involved picking up some skills that he isn’t exactly keen to tell Michael about.  

For now, though, Michael’s not wondering about where Jake learned these skills, he’s a little too focused on watching Jake work him over the edge, his hands curling into fists and then relaxing over and over again trying to resist touching Jake because he knows if he does, he’ll lose control even faster. Wide eyes look up at him every few seconds, gauging his reactions, and he’s fixated on the way Jake’s lips surround him as he moves. Jake licks along the tip of the other man’s length, and the sound Michael makes in response makes Jake smirk as he pulls away. “You still with me?”

Michael’s answer is something somewhere between ‘guh’ and ‘yes’ as he watches on. Michael’s been with girls who’ve done this to him before, but those experiences pale in comparison to this.

Michael’s hands land on Jake’s shoulders as his mouth engulfs him again. Jake’s running his tongue along the hardened organ’s tip, even as his lips move over more of the sensitive flesh. And he s rather glad he had the foresight to get a grip on Michael’s hips because he tries desperately to shift and buck to get more contact. A pointed glance up at Michael makes him still, muttering a barely coherent apology that makes Jake laugh a bit. The vibrations that that causes hit Michael hard and after that, he’s done. He works his fingers into Jake’s hair, tugging lightly, all the warning he can manage with his brain all turned to mush, leaning back against the tile wall for support.

Jake stands again, wiping his mouth as he waits for Michael to regain some functionality.

“That,” Michael manages, “was amazing.” He’s still recovering from that mind-blowing experience, but he reaches out for Jake and pulls him in for a kiss, still able to taste himself on his lips. “What do you say we finish up in here and try the bed?” He suggests, with the sudden realization that neither of them has slept on a bed in close to two weeks.

“Sounds good,” Jake says, nodding in agreement.

***

Exhaustion wins out over their intentions to continue after their joint shower. There’s some more making out, and they’re both about as minimally dressed as possible, but they both end up passed out and curled together on one of the two beds in the room.

Jake wakes first, some few hours later because he’s facing the window and neither of them thought to close the curtains and so the sun is leeching into the room without any consideration for those inside. His muscles are sore from his lengthy swimming work-out and he can feel a light sting in all the places where Michael left marks on him.

Michael, warm and comfortable and wrapped all around him, with his head buried in the pillow behind the shield of Jake’s head, is undisturbed by the rising sun. Jake’s minute shifting makes him tighten his hold a bit, preventing Jake from any attempts he might’ve been entertaining of escape. As it stands, though, he doesn’t want to move because he’s not an idiot. One night, awesome as it was, isn’t going to change Michael’s mind. He’s still going to go back to LA, no matter how much Michael enjoyed himself last night. He’d be kidding himself if he thought otherwise. So he’ll enjoy this while it lasts because at least he’s figured out why he wants Michael around now.

Carefully, because he doesn’t want to wake Michael and bring about a premature end to this comfortable rest, he shifts enough to roll over a bit, facing Michael now and not the bright, early morning sunshine. It would probably be easier to pull the curtains closed, but that wound entail getting out of bed and that has a much higher chance of rousing his bedmate.

And so Jake lets himself drift back to sleep still trapped in Michael’s hold.

***

Michael wakes a little while later to the sight of Jake’s face framed by the light of the sun from the window. It’s a pretty angelic image and it definitely makes Michael think that he wants to wake up to this again and again and again. Jake’s comfortable and warm and fits well in his arms, all wrapped up and softly snoring.

Slowly, so as not to wake Jake, he traces his fingers over one of the marks he left last night. He wants to do that again, too, everything they did last night. That and more. But he knows that it won’t be easy. He knows that when Jake wakes up, he’s going to go back into the same mopey, bitter mood he’d been in yesterday and Michael worries that he’ll start avoiding him. He really doesn’t want that now - not when they’ve finally figured this out. He can’t imagine not being able to reach out and touch Jake whenever he wants to now. It’s only been a few hours, really, but they go so well together that it feels different. Right.

He has a plan, though. One that might even work.

But, unfortunately, he has to get out of bed to set it into action.

                                                                                            

He leans forward, a soft kiss landing on Jake’s neck just because he can’t resist doing it, and then he’s carefully untangling himself from Jake and slowly moving off the bed. He pulls on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and the well-worn shoes that survived eleven days on the island and ducks out of their room.

He heads down the hall to his father’s room, and of course, the man is already up - an annoyingly early riser, he always has been - though he is surprised to see Michael awake so early. “Is something wrong?”

“No, Dad,” he laughs. “I was just wondering if I could borrow your laptop for a little while?”

“Sure,” he agrees, offering the computer, still in its case, to his son. “Can I ask what you’re up to?”

Michael hesitates, knows that his Dad will appreciate his plan, maybe find accepting it a little easier, if he has his research done first. “Can I tell you in a little while?” His father nods. “Do you mind if I take this to that café down the street? I shouldn’t be too long.”

“Have at it.”

***

Three cups of coffee and an hour and a half later, Michael shuts the laptop. He’s made definite progress, enough to bring his plan to his Dad, for sure. He’s got notes scribbled all over a few sheets of paper that some sympathetic college student gave to him in place of the napkins he’d previously been writing all over and he’s made quite a few phone calls on the pay phone outside of the café, as well.

Feeling accomplished, and rather hopeful, he packs up and heads back to the hotel, bypassing his and Jake’s room and going straight to his father.

“So what was all that about?” His father asks, accepting the returned laptop with a look of slight suspicion on his face.

Michael takes a deep breath, preparing himself for what he wants to say, what he needs to say in order to get his Dad on board with his idea. He won’t like it, Michael knows, but Michael doesn’t care because he has something now - the same sort of something Jake had with his boat and Tommy has with the ranch, something to work for, towards, and he’s not giving that up if there’s any way he can avoid it.

“I changed my mind.”

***

 Jake wakes alone this time, the sun too high now to have caused it. He’s not really sure why he woke up this time, but the bed is cold where Michael had previously been soundly sleeping and that makes Jake’s heart race in alarm. For a second, just a second, he panics, thinking that maybe they went back already, that they’re all back in Los Angeles and they didn’t even bother to say goodbye. That Michael didn’t even care enough to do that much for him.

But, Michael’s bag is still sitting by the dresser, so he has to still be here, right?

He turns away from the bag, opts instead to ignore the traces of Michael scattered all over the room. It’s not like they’ll be there much longer. It doesn’t matter, none of it matters. He’s not going to get another chance to wake up with Michael, so he might as well get used to that idea now. No matter how much the mere idea of that hurts.

He takes a quick shower, one that washes the lingering scent of Michael off of him - but the shower only serves to remind him of last night’s activities - and then he changes clothes as fast as he can. And bolts.

He doesn’t go far, he can’t, despite how much the idea of just running away might appeal. He doesn’t have many places he can go. So he goes someplace where no one will bother him, at least not for a while.

***

Michael holds out the lingering hope that maybe Jake is still asleep. It’s only just after nine and they’ve had some pretty exhausting days recently. If he’s asleep, then Michael can just slip back into bed with him. Wrap his arms around him and drag him in close, kiss him until he’s awake and maybe pick up where they left off last night. He can tell Jake his plan and Jake, well, he might not get it, not at first. But then he’ll see how serious Michael is about it and he’ll be happy. And really, that’s all Michael wants.

But, as Michael discovers upon slipping back into their room, that plan won’t work out. Because Jake isn’t there.

That feeling of alarmed dread hits him again, like it did last night, and he’s back out of the room. He checks the pool first, finds no sign of Jake though it’s crowded, full of families, now. Gaggling groups of teenagers and little kids in floaty rings and observing parents. No sign of Jake.

Then he tries the beach. Definitely makes for a harder search - so much to cover and if he’s out in the surf, then he’ll be even harder to find. Michael doesn’t stay there long.

“Where are you?” He wonders aloud, as he starts on the walk back to the hotel, intending to sit in the room and anxiously wait until Jake returns, all the while wondering how long before he can call the police to go find him and bring him home.

Home. That’s a strange thing to call the hotel. It’s only been one night and the impersonal walls of their room are hardly homey at all. But, it does spark an idea and so he changes direction and heads for the docks.

The Tiffany II is still docked by the restaurant. There’s not much to see, Michael knows - the police have confiscated all the pirate’s belongings, so there’s not a whole lot left but the bare furnishings of the boat. It’s pretty big on the inside, though, enough room for a few passengers to fit comfortably and for the captain not to be in their way And right now it’s more than enough room for Jake to hide out for a while. There’s no elevated wheelhouse here, like on the Tiffany, and so it’s easy to tell that if Jake’s on board he’s certainly not on deck so Michael slips below.

“Found you,” he says, breathing a relieved sigh as he spots Jake in the galley, examining his new vessel curiously. Jake jumps, nearly slams his head into a cabinet in his haste to turn around, but ultimately he avoids the head injury.

“You seem to enjoy sneaking up on me,” Jake answers, leaning back against the counter as he recovers from the surprise. “But, yeah, you found me. What’s up?”

Michael bites back a comment about Jake enjoying running away from him. Instead, he says, “I, ugh, I wanted to tell you that we’re going back to LA tomorrow morning. That’s why I wasn’t there when you woke up, I was talking to my Dad about the plans.”

Okay, so not ignoring what happened last night, at least not completely. Jake’s somewhat relieved by that, but Michael’s news devastates any hope that that might have inspired. “Great. I’m sure you can’t wait to go home.” He feels like an idiot even though he’d known this was coming - he has to be an idiot if he’d thought even for a second that Michael would care enough about him to want to stay, as if last night meant anything to him. His arms cross over his chest, defensive and distancing body language that Michael apparently does not miss because he approaches, moving close into Jake’s personal space and his hands land on Jake’s arm.

“Relax,” he says, fingers moving lightly over Jake’s skin, and slowly they unfold and fall to his sides. Jake’s totally unwilling to dig himself in any deeper at this point and distance sounds like a wonderful idea, but Michael’s blocking him effectively, keeping him from bolting.

“I don’t want to talk about this,” Jake monotones.

“Because I’m leaving.” Michael says. “I know, but if I tell you that I’ll be back in like two weeks, will that help?”

Jake squashes down the traitorous parts of his brain that cling to that idea, that those words might mean something he can’t let himself believe again. He steels his face into stony impassiveness and asks, “why would you be doing that?”

“I’m going back to LA to get things organized and to get my stuff. Then I’m moving here. Ideally with you, if you’ll stop acting all detached and indifferent about it.”

“What?” Jake’s voice betrays the same sort of hopeful incredulity that he’d expressed back when he thought Michael was staying when he first explained the charter partnership at dinner. “Here?”

“With you. Yes. That is the general idea.” Michael answers, looking a little nervous himself because Jake still doesn’t seem to believe him. “I... you’d want that, right?”

Jake nods, reduced to speechlessness with the shock of this announcement. Luckily, though, Michael renders speech unnecessary, closing the meager distance between them to press his lips to Jake’s in a quick kiss that has the desired effect of snapping him back to reality. “Yeah, yeah,” he says. “I want that. But I can’t ask you to... Your family, your life is back in California and out here...”

“Out here I’ve already found a nice apartment near the beach, applied and interviewed for a job at a law firm nearby, and once I’m settled, there’s a pretty good law school like ten minutes away,” Michael explains the extent of his early morning planning, his internet research and phone calls. “I have to go check out the apartment at some point before I leave, and I’ll know if I got the job by the time I’m back in LA, but everything is as set up as it can get for now. I need time to sort things out with moving and all that, but I’ll be back before you know it. My Dad even worked out some of the visa stuff - he has a friend here who sped it along.”

Michael is seriously set on this, Jake realizes then. He’s planned and worked this out down to the details. A surprising turn of events but not an unwelcome one. “Your Dad’s okay with this?”

“Yeah, I kind of told him everything. I needed him on board with this. We even called my Mom, told her what’s going on.”

Jake’s a little stunned. Mr. Woods certainly hadn’t seemed keen on the idea of Michael moving to Australia yesterday, so Michael really must have pushed for this. “They don’t mind you moving to the other side of the planet?”

“I won’t say they’re ecstatic or anything, but they’ve got each other. They’ve got most of the rest of my family all right there.” Tommy’s probably the furthest away, in Montana, but pretty much everyone else lives within the confines of the California state lines. “But you don’t have that.”

Suddenly defensive again - he doesn’t want Michael doing this out of pity - he frowns and pulls away. “I don’t need that.”

“But you want that.” Michael counters. “I know you do. You wouldn’t have been so upset yesterday if you didn’t want it at least a little bit. But I want it, too.” Hands on Jake again, as much contact as he can get because those two weeks are going to be long and awful, “And this thing between us? It’s totally crazy to want that as much as I do. Even more than that, though - I don’t want you to be alone.” Jake was so miserable and lonely when he and Tommy first got on the boat, and they weren’t fast friends or anything, too much tension had hung between them for that, but they’d become close on the island and Michael doesn’t ever want to see lonely Jake again.

Jake drops his head in defeat, brings up his own hands to land on Michael’s hips and accepts easily when Michael’s arms curl around him, pulling him in close. “I don’t want that either,” he says, “being alone. I’ve had enough of that.”

“Yeah, you have,” Michael agrees.

Doubt still lingers though, because this is just too good to be true. There has to be a catch somewhere. “Are you sure about this? That you’d rather stay with me than go back home?” Lingering reservations concerning the things he’d done to keep the boat afloat in the time since his father passed away come to mind - where the people he’d involved himself with didn’t stick around and were only interested in the exchange of goods and services.

“Yes.” Michael answers, resolute and unwavering in the way Jake had hoped he’d be when he’d been asked virtually the same question yesterday. His response eclipses those doubts quite effectively, especially when Michael keeps talking. “You are home. Not LA, not Australia. You know, I called the hotel ‘home’ earlier just because that’s where I thought you were. So I’m not going home tomorrow. I’m going away for two weeks so that I can come home.” It’s extraordinarily cheesy, but it seems to work because Jake stops questioning his dedication to this plan, to this relationship. “If you want that.”

“Alright,” Jake says, letting Michael’s words sink in. It’s not going to be easy. Michael’s going to be busy with work and school and getting used to living in a new country and Jake’s going to be busy dealing with the boat and charters and being away for days at a time. They’re going to argue, to fight, because that’s just what they do. Things won’t be easy, but things will be good, too. He lets himself think them now. Showing Michael around will be an interesting experience. And getting him involved with the boat should prove entertaining, too. Then there’s living with Michael when he’s not doing charter business, waking up with him in the morning like he did today. He’ll have someone, for the first time in a long time and things aren’t going to get much better than that. “Alright, yeah. I totally want that."