2001 AU

[jackabbot]

He’d gotten his orders two weeks ago, but he’d known they were coming down the pipe since September 11. The country was at war again and war meant casualties. Casualties meant medics and that meant deployment orders for one Sergeant Jack Abbot among countless others. He’d been given a week of preparation leave, which he was supposed to use to go visit his family and wrap things up, but there wasn’t a lot of family he wanted to visit and not much to wrap up. He didn’t even have a dog.

Instead he booked a flight to Seattle. If anyone asked, he said it was because Seattle was cold and rainy and he thought he was going to be short on cold and rain for a while, or at least rain. Afghanistan and Iraq could get really fucking cold in the winter. He knew that from the stories people told about the Gulf War. He ought to call it the first Gulf War now, he guessed.

He’d actually chosen Seattle because he’d texted Robby “just to check in” as soon as he’d gotten his orders and Robby had mentioned that he’d be at the ACEP annual assembly in Seattle this week. They’d seen each other several times after Jack’s first trip to New Orleans, but then he’d PCSed from Polk and their relationship had dwindled to text messages and emails, all of which were carefully written so that he was friendly but not too friendly, in case anyone ever saw something. Even still, if Jack was going to the other side of the planet and potentially (maybe even probably) not coming back, he wanted to see Robby again. He’d told Robby he’d be visiting Seattle at the same time and just left out the part where he made his travel arrangements after he’d talked to Robby.

He had a room at a hotel near the convention center and its hotels but not too near, and he had arranged to meet Robby in a bar that was between the convention center and Jack’s hotel. They tended to meet in bars since it was a completely public and defensible place to be, even if they didn’t always stay in the bar.

He was sitting in a booth this time instead of on a barstool, turning a beer bottle in his hands and waiting for Robby. He was late. Jack wondered if Robby would actually show or if this whole trip had been a stupid idea.

Comments

[physicianheal]

"That's okay," says Robby, kissing every bit of skin he can get his mouth to. "That's okay. Go on. Go on." He shifts, pushing himself up on his hands a little higher so that he can get a bit more leverage, so he can fuck Jack a little harder. "I'm right behind you."

[jackabbot]

Jack had his hand on his dick so fast it was possible his hand had blurred in the air, or maybe it just felt like that, and he jerked up into his own hand as he grabbed hold of himself. He didn't have enough lube, really, but he didn't need it. He just needed that little bit of extra touch and once he had it, he was gone, with all his muscles clenching and his nails digging into Robby's back unintentionally as he shot all over his own stomach and chest.

[physicianheal]

The fact that Jack barely has a chance to touch his own cock before he all but explodes is intensely, incredibly hot, as Robby makes a soft, strangled noise when he realises that that's exactly what's just happened.

"Stay there," he murmurs, his hips snapping, his face buried in the sweaty crook of Jack's neck. "Stay right there."

It doesn't take more than a couple of thrusts before he's coming himself, teeth nipping at the skin over Jack's shoulder.

[jackabbot]

He couldn't have moved anyway since his muscles weren't really working yet, but he was happy to do what Robby said and let him drive into Jack a couple more times before he let go. Fuck, that was hot, and Jack hissed at the bright sting of Robby's teeth. It wasn't a bad hiss, though. Definitely not a bad hiss.

"Jesus fuck," he breathed out.

[physicianheal]

He shudders through it, his hips still working, his mouth still against Jack's skin, until he's sure that he's spent. When he can, when he comes back to himself, he straightens up a little, making a soft sound when his cock slips out of Jack's body. He immediately shifts onto his knees between Jack's spread legs, kissing his way down to the mess on Jack's chest and then trailing his tongue through it.

"Fuck, you taste good."

[jackabbot]

Jack made a similar sound when Robby pulled out of him, and then another when Robby started kissing his way down Jack's body.

He'd said he wanted to lick the come off Jack's abs, but Jack hadn't really expected him to do that. He really ought to expect Robby to do whatever the fuck he said he was going to do, though. After this many years, he really should.

"You might be, fuck, the only one who thinks that," he said, because no one else had seemed interested in anything except Jack getting cleaned up as soon as possible. The expletive in the middle was for Robby trailing his tongue over the cut of his abs.

[physicianheal]

"Yeah, well, everyone else has been missing out," says Robby, taking his time as he licks and sucks at the come splashed on Jack's skin. He needs to take care of the condom, his own mess, but, for right now, he's perfectly content where he is.

"That should take the edge off, at least."

[jackabbot]

The warmth of Robby's tongue licking and cleaning Jack's stomach was making him twitch. His dick wasn't twitching -- it had decided to take a well-deserved nap -- but his skin did.

"You want to take a shower or a nap or neither?" he asked, and brushed his fingers through Robby's hair gently, so gently. This had stopped being just about sex sometime in 1998, although neither of them had put a label on it either, and they'd never been exclusive. They couldn't be. Both of them knew the score. Jack would get kicked out and Robby was a resident in Louisiana. He literally could get killed if someone thought he was a queer.

[physicianheal]

The gentle touch is lovely, and he catches Jack's hand, kissing the inside of his wrist.

"I need to deal with the condom and take a piss, and then I think I could for a drink?" he says, pressing a final kiss to Jack's abs before he shifts, sitting on the edge of the bed and removing the condom, knotting it carefully. "Beer or bourbon?"

[jackabbot]

"Dealer's choice," Jack said, and pushed himself up and towards the pillows while he watched Robby deal with the condom and enjoyed looking at the long lines of his back. There were about five more of them than he thought were really needed on a king-sized bed, but at the same time, he wasn't complaining.

"No new tattoos?" Robby liked tattoos. Jack still didn't.

[physicianheal]

"Nope. Just the ones you've seen before," says Robby, getting up off the bed and padding in the direction of the bathroom, naked as the day he was born. He drops the condom into the toilet and pees, and then he wets one of the washclothes on the counter and grabs the two glasses that are meant for water and brings them back into the bedroom. He passes Jack the washcloth and then sets the glasses down next to the bag with the alcohol they bought earlier.

"Let's do bourbon," he says, cracking open the bottle. "And then we can sleep or shower or just...lie here and talk." He grins as he pours them both a couple of fingers. "Wait to bounce back."

[jackabbot]

Jack enjoyed watching Robby walk to the bathroom and then walk back from the bathroom, and he didn't make any secret of that.

"You have a fantastic ass," he told Robby, as if Robby was unaware that he had a great ass. Maybe he was, in that case, now he wasn't.

He took the washcloth and cleaned himself up, then folded it onto one of the nightstands. He'd never really liked the feeling of lube on his ass, but he knew he would like the feeling of getting fucked without it even less.

[physicianheal]

"Uh...thanks," he says because, while it's not the first time he's been told that, he's always been genuinely shitty at accepting compliments. He comes back to the bed, carrying two glasses of bourbon and offering one to Jack before he sits down next to him.

"You're in ridiculous shape these days," he says, reaching out to touch Jack's abs with the backs of his fingers.

[jackabbot]

Jack tapped his glass of bourbon against Robby's in a little toast, then put his free hand on Robby's thigh. He wasn't trying to start anything. He just wanted to touch him.

When Robby skimmed his hand over Jack's abs, Jack chuckled. He had been working on his body recently, but not to look good naked. That was a nice side benefit, though.

"I'm gonna be wearing body armor and a full pack for up to twelve hours a day. That shit is not light and I might be running in it. I can't have soldiers bleeding out because their medic couldn't get to them in time."

He still felt a little complicated about what he was about to go do and experience, but he was going to do his best for the soldiers under his care.

[physicianheal]

"Makes sense," he says, sipping his drink. He hates the thought of Jack out there and doesn't intend to dwell on it but if it's something that Jack needs to talk about then he's definitely going to listen.

"I feel like I haven't changed much since the last time we did this."

[jackabbot]

"You got hotter," Jack argued, because Robby had definitely done that.

Robby clearly didn't want to talk about what Jack was about to deal with and Jack didn't blame him. He didn't want to talk about it, really, so he'd just been dealing with all the logistics of everything, including making sure he could handle himself in the fucking desert with body armor and a full pack on.

"I heard there's gonna be some NGOs as soon as things are stable enough to rebuild. Who the fuck knows when that would be, but you might be getting a phone call if they've still got your number."

[physicianheal]

"God, it's been a while." For all the shit he'd seen, he'd genuinely loved the NGO work he's done while he was in med school. For years, he's been telling himself that he'd make time for it again, but if just never happened. Robby sips his drink again, idly stroking his fingers over Jack's freckled skin.

"Think you'll be up for another round tonight?"

[jackabbot]

"Don't insult me like that, man," Jack replied, and tried to look offended. It was hard because he wasn't offended and Robby was tracing his freckles again, but he tried. "I'm younger than you."

His dick was still taking a little nap, but it'd perk up if they needed to get something started. He knew that much.

"You have a year left, right? Where're you gonna apply to make the big bucks?"

[physicianheal]

"That's true, conceded Robby, who'd tipped over into being thirty a few months before. He's pretty sure he could get it up in a second if Jack wanted him to, but lying here talking and drinking was nice, too. This was also something he wanted.

"I'm starting to think that I might go home," he says. "Keeping my fingers crossed that something comes up at PTMC - that's the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. That's where I'd like to be." He tilts his head. "You gonna come visit?"

He doesn't see any harm in idly fantasising about a future, even if it's something they can probably never have.

[jackabbot]

There had to be more than one ER in Pittburgh, but Jack thought he'd probably aim for the place that had the word "trauma" right in the name too, if he was gonna be an ER doc.

"Yeah, sure. I'll spend my R&R leave visiting all the beautiful sights of Pittsburgh," Jack replied, but he took some of the snark out of the statement by looking down Robby's body.

[physicianheal]

"Hey," says Robby, blushing faintly at the way Jack's eyes scan down his naked body, sprawled on the sheets. "Only seven and a half hours drive from New York." He shifts, pressing a kiss against Jack's temple. "I'll try and make it worth your while."

[jackabbot]

"Probably three hours from Bumfuck," Jack said, because yeah, he'd gotten out the map and figured out how far it was from his parent's town to Pittsburgh. Which was, again, not something that was normal for a casual fling, but they both knew this wasn't casual anymore, or at least not entirely. To the world, they were always going just be old friends who'd met in a war zone and "bonded".

[physicianheal]

"Mmmm," says Robby, who definitely hasn't spent time thinking about how close they grew up, in the grand scheme of things. He takes another swallow of bourbon. "I'm just saying. It's workable. If you wanted to... y'know. Make it work."

[jackabbot]

He'd had all the rules of OPSEC almost literally pounded into his brain and he wasn't going to be drawing any maps. But at the same time, they were specifically allowed to tell some details to those who knew how to keep their mouths shut. Even the Army acknowledged that families needed to know that shit. Robby wasn't his family, but he knew how to keep his mouth shut.

"My tour's supposed to be about a year," he said after another sip of bourbon, partially because he wanted to enjoy the bourbon and partially because booze made this discussion easier. "Fucking joke to call it a 'tour' like I'm gonna be seeing pyramids and shit."

[physicianheal]

He doesn't like thinking about it but it's also something that he wants to know. He nods, sipping his drink.

"So you'll be back around the time I'm starting an attending position," he says. He is not even willing to consider a future when Jack doesn't come home.