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

[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.

[jackabbot]

"Sounds about right," Jack agreed. "R&R leave's usually about halfway through, they say, but you know, who the fuck knows if, when, or how that'll happen. The only certainty is uncertainty, right?"

He toasted with his own glass, mostly sarcastically. The first deployments were already in progress, so he was going to see what happened with them before he made any plans for his own R&R.

[physicianheal]

"Okay, well," says Robby, shifting so that he can press his mouth against Jack's shoulder. "We've got two nights here. Guess we'd better make them count and then cross those bridges when we get to them?"

[jackabbot]

“Oh, you think you can go again?” Jack immediately challenged, but he also drained his glass and put it to the side. He wasn’t going to say anything or promise anything. They both knew he might not come back, or might not come back uninjured, but he couldn’t live like that. He couldn’t focus on that and also focus on doing his fucking job when he was over there.

The first time, they’d had two hours. In New Orleans, the longest they’d ever had was a night, but mostly it’d been a few hours. Two nights was so much time that he almost didn’t know what to do with that kind of opportunity.

[physicianheal]

"Depends. What're we thinking?" he asks, draining his own glass and setting it on his side table. He shifts, up onto his knees and then swinging one leg across Jack's hips so that he's straddling him. He takes one of Jack's wrists, then the other, loosely pinning them up over his head. "What're you in the mood for?"

[jackabbot]

Suddenly Robby was on top of him and then he'd grabbed both of Jack's wrists and pinned them, and oh yeah, his dick was definitely already a little interested in wherever this was going.

"Seems like you have a plan already," he pointed out, although he wasn't actually sure Robby did, other than "be close to Jack".

[physicianheal]

"Not really," he says, shaking his head. The position he's put them in means that he's leaned down over Jack, and it's easy to learn a little lower and take a kiss. He keeps his loose hold on Jack's wrists as he idly rolls his hips down against Jack's. He's not hard yet, and Jack isn't either, but blood's definitely starting to flow south.

[jackabbot]

"You just wanted to see what I look like with my arms above my head?" Jack asked with a smirk, but he also tilted his chin up so that he could meet Robby in a kiss.

They were both more relaxed, literally, but he was curious to see if this was going to go anywhere. He could honestly be talked into sleeping, showering, or another round. They had time. They had so much time.

[physicianheal]

"Something like that," says Robby, and that fucking smirk just makes him want Jack more. He takes another kiss, holding Jack's jaw with his free hand. "Maybe I just like the idea of having you at my mercy."

[jackabbot]

He kept himself perfectly still under Robby's hands and hips, just to see how Robby would react to absolutely no physical feedback.

"And what would you do if I was?"

He didn't know where this was going, but he trusted Robby. If Robby wanted to get a little kinky, Jack was willing to play with that, up to a certain point. He had his own boundaries, but Robby wasn't likely to try any shit that required negotiation without that negotiation in place.

[physicianheal]

Jack holds himself still, and Robby knows the effort that that has to be taking. He rolls his hips again, kissing the side of Jack's neck.

"Take you apart," he says. "See how much you could take before you were begging me to let you come."

Jack has to have done interrogation training, so maybe Robby would have been on a hiding to nothing there.

[jackabbot]

Jack closed his eyes and exhaled, but still didn't move, even though it was getting more difficult. He was at least half hard now and he wanted to push up into the friction when Robby rolled his hips down.

"You didn't already do that?" He definitely remembered asking Robby to fuck him just a few minutes ago, and he hadn't been particularly calm when he did. He hadn't begged, though.

[physicianheal]

"You were still pretty coherent, from what I remember," he says, loving the flicker of Jack's expression, the shaky exhale of his breath. He could feel Jack getting harder, pressed against him. "I think I can do better." He sucks lightly on Jack's skin, making sure that it's not enough to leave a mark.

[jackabbot]

Robby had accepted every restriction Jack's life had placed on him, from little things like avoiding marks and beard burn to big things like never admitting to anyone, even his close friends, that he and Jack had ever been anything more than buddies who sometimes liked to meet up for a beer and shoot the shit about their respective lives in health care. Sometimes Jack thought Robby should want more from his life, but he also wasn't going to turn it down as long as Robby was willing to deal with it.

"Overachiever," he teased. Robby was almost hard against him like he was almost hard against Robby.

[physicianheal]

"Sometimes," admits Robby, rolling his hips again,.teasing them both with the friction. It hasn't escaped him that Jack hasn't even tried to break his hold on his wrists.

"Would you let me tie you up?" he asks, not even entirely sure that he wants to, but curious, all the same. "Or a blindfold, maybe."

[jackabbot]

He thought about that for a moment, looking up at Robby and with those big brown eyes looking down at him, so soft and curious but also focused. He hadn’t ever done any of that shit with anyone, and he wasn’t sure how that felt in his mind and body. The blindfold might actually be fun, though, to not know where the next touch would come or what it would be. That could be pretty hot.

“I’ve never done either of those things. Guess I’ve been pretty vanilla, if that’s the right word for that,” he replied. “But … I could do a blindfold. Not sure about tying up. I don’t think I’d like not being able to touch you.”

He hadn’t pulled his wrists away from Robby’s, but they were still teasing. If they really got into it, he’d want to be able to touch Robby.