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Jack Benjamin

COURT Unseelie.
TITLE Description.
OCCUPATION Brothel owner.
ABLE TO FAST-TRAVEL No.
RESIDENCE IN 2,701 Mair.
RESIDENCE IN 2,702 Mair.

MAJOR EVENTS

HIGHLIGHT
Description [ ✖ ]

PLANS
After the destruction of Caer Scima, Jack will be spending the first half of the timeskip year becoming a formal officer in the Unseelie military and getting his brothel up to par. On a more personal level, he will spend the first half of the year largely in a downward spiral, and the last half picking himself back up again.

SUMMARY OF KNOWN DETAILS
Advancement in the Unseelie military. Becoming a successful business owner. Learning blood magic.

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

SPRING IN 2,701 (Mar, Apr, May)

MARCH - He knows a place where people can come keep warm.
APRIL 15 - Smashing some fucking harps. (Anger and lust to play a role.)
May - There's gold in them thar birds. Jack will hunt the swans once he hears about the profit in them..

SUMMER IN 2,701 (Jun, Jul, Aug)

June - Jack will attend the joust still wondering if this is his real life. Maybe some "fun" during the nights of it. Possibly a mistake.*
July - Jack will clash with some anti-shardbearers and be pulled away from this fight by Johnny Storm, leaving a burn around Jack's wrist as a result.
August -This is Jack's turning point. Attends the festival of lights.

FALL IN 2,701 (Sept, Oct, Nov)

September - Miscommunications.
October - Samhain. Jack just fine in the darkness...until he starts thinking too much about his dead lover.*
November -BOUNTY HUNTING. Also his birthday month. Let's party.

WINTER IN 2,701/2,702 (Dec, Jan, Feb)

December -Yule.
January -
February -So much for the arts.

SPRING IN 2,702 (Mar, Apr)

March -Knockin' some skeleton block off.
April -Good riddance to the imps, that's what he says.

( codes by whambam )

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[ Johnny looks up when Jack by, and it doesn't take a genius to note that he's more curt than usual. Not that it really matters, right? He's here, and that's all that's important right now. Johnny's happy for any distraction that draws him away from how on-edge he feels, how his own energy's just gathered under his skin, waiting, waiting for something to happen, something to catalyze.

He reaches for the bottle of alcohol (it's not fun drinking without Jack, no matter how beautiful the girls are), and he pours a drink for both of them. ] Of what?

[ Let's hear you say it, Jack. ]

[Jack's eyes lower to the glass, but he doesn't reach for it. He's tried that, tried to drown everything in alcohol. It had barely worked for him in the past. Right now it doesn't seem to work for him at all.]

Of the same thing, over and over again. Sure, the faces change, but... [He shrugs his shoulders, shifts in his seat, like he can't sit still.] Don't you ever wish for something different. Something new, exciting.

[Jack grins, not knowing that he just said the magic words for a man like Johnny Storm.]

I can give you that. I've been saving it for just the right client, but now that I think about it, I want you to have it.

[ Magic words indeed. Different, new, exciting; and maybe Jack's definitely hit the nail on the head with this offer, as if he'd known Johnny's taste for more, his hunger for something that he's never had -- something unexplored.

He's leaning forward now, alcohol between them entirely forgotten, and the world narrowing itself down to the man speaking to him, offering him that particular sort of promise. Johnny's eyes darken with interest, and he's almost predatory when he smiles. Here is something for him to have, something he's never had before -- who can say no to something like that? ]

What is it? Show me.

[Jack smiles slowly. And only now does he pick up the shot that Johnny poured for him, tossing it back. He gets up from his chair, gives a little cock of his head to the side that tells Johnny to follow him. A couple of the girls glance up curiously, because Jack doesn't make it a habit of inviting people back to his room. Not even them.

The room is dark when they get there. Jack crowds him against the wall, gripping Johnny's collar to haul him in, pressing his mouth hard against the other man's. He's fought so hard to control the urges these past few weeks, taken his father's advice to heart for reasons he doesn't understand right now. Especially not with the harps a more bearable music in the background now that his mouth has found Johnny's.]

[ Okay. Okay. So, when Jack was talking about new and different and exciting, Johnny definitely wasn't expecting this. He wasn't expecting being crowded against the wall, then hauled in and kissed, that mouth pressed against his own is too ridiculously sinful, too warm and too delicious for his own good.

And that's weird, right? That's really fucking weird; Johnny takes a few seconds to really process it, to work past the initial shock and guilty pleasure of it, his hands coming to grip Jack's arms to put some distance between them, to urge him away from his mouth. It was a damn good kiss, and maybe it's something he would've continued, maybe, but this is so out of left field that he's reeling from it.

Johnny can't quite see Jack, not in the dark like this, and he blurts out, ] Jack, what are you doing?

[Jack feels better when the kiss breaks, a release that he couldn't find through alcohol or brawling. He's panting softly, unable to see Johnny's face clearly but still smirking at the surprise he hears in his voice.]

You know what a kiss is, don't you? [He braces his arm against the wall above Johnny's head.] Or was all your talk just that?

[He'd be furious with himself if he was thinking clearly. But his mouth is wet and tingling pleasantly, and all Jack can think about is taking another.]

[ Oh, what the hell. He can hear him panting, and it's more compelling than he can ever, ever admit to himself. There's something, he thinks; this isn't Jack, right? This isn't like him.

There's a revelation that's just beyond his fingertips, something he can't grasp quite yet, but he's distracted by the heat of his proximity. He doesn't need to see to know that Jack has him cornered, and he definitely doesn't need to think about how he's tempted, tempted to do it again.

Because why not, right? Because maybe he's tired of the same old fucking thing and he could blaze through something else and --

-- no. Jack's a friend. Jack's someone he's come to care for, someone he can't seem to keep away from, although all those noble thoughts dissipate in the face of Jack's challenge. There's nothing that irritates him more than the insinuation that Johnny's little more than empty boasts, because he can fucking deliver, and the harps that leave him so rattled and aggressive makes him grasp Jack's chin in the darkness, answering that challenge. ]

You think that was all talk? [ And then he's the one who kisses him back, hard and passionate and burning, tongue in the prince's goddamn mouth because when he shuts up he tastes just like a girl, that mouth so sinfully soft and spicy-sweet that it makes him ache. That's not right, a part of him thinks, that part swiftly drowned by everything else. He has a point to prove, and he's not letting anyone else think less of him again. ]

[This is new, and not just for Johnny. It's a rare event where Jack pushes and someone pushes back just as hard, harder. Johnny grips his chin and holds him steady, like he wouldn't let Jack turn away if he tried. He won't, and he doesn't need the light to know that the other man's eyes have a fire all their own.

Johnny is trying to prove a point, but this isn't Jack's first time at any of this. There's something in that kiss, something that feels natural and right. And later he will dismiss it, try to forget it, tell himself that a mouth is a mouth (isn't that what he's told himself through numerous charades, when he was trying to prove himself too?) But for right now he's going to pull him close, yield his mouth and his secrets all in one burning bright moment. His hands slide over Johnny's chest, grip it, because he loves what he tastes and he feels. Jack groans against those soft, warm lips, because this is the first time he's felt completely right in a very long time. He could make something of himself here, and he could have this.]

[ In this one shining moment, all of Jack's secrets are his to have -- and the biggest of all lies in the fact that he's kissing him back, pressed against him and enjoying it. And for a few moments more there is something deep down inside that shifts irreversibly, clicks into place (this, Johnny will deny later, too; this, he'll dismiss and forget).

This is new, and this is so damn good in ways it shouldn't be, like he's tasting something he never knew he wanted before this. No one's ever challenged Johnny this way before, no one's ever made his blood boil, made him so reckless that he kisses them instead of throwing a punch.

But when Jack groans (and it's the fucking sweetest sound and he doesn't know what to do about it, about himself), Johnny pulls away, blue eyes glazed over. ] What -- [ He licks his lips, and tastes Jack, still; and he swallows, burning for more. He feels out of control, wild, and he'd take in a heartbeat if he could --

-- but Jack's a friend. Just a friend, right? (He'll spend the next few months working so hard to believe that, because good things don't last forever, not for Jack Benjamin.) ] what the fuck are we doing? I'm not -- you're not --

[There's a moment of clarity, and one that Jack doesn't want. It's no different than his father whispering in his ear, telling him exactly what he can and can't have and clearing away any illusions to the contrary.

Johnny's not like this. When he looks at and flirts with and kisses women, there's no pretense in it. Only Jack is this wretched. Only Jack wants things that he can only have under the cover of darkness. But the lights will come back on. They always do.

He pushes away from him, still breathing hard but for different reasons. Jack tries to make out Johnny's face in the shadows, but then decides that he doesn't want to. He doesn't want to see the look on his face. It's enough...it's enough to hear the disgust in his voice.

Jack turns and stumbles for the door. The girls will show Johnny out. Maybe they'll even invite him to stay. That, Jack thinks, is how he was made.]

[ Johnny blindly grasps for him in the darkness, he doesn't think, when he catches a hold of his wrist -- he doesn't know what to say, but he knows that if he walks out now, they won't even get to be friends. They won't sort this out.

This is just a mistake, right? Emotions riding high -- even if some things don't add up -- and that is all there is. He tries not to think about how much he wanted it, him, and it's not disgust that colors his tone. ]

Jack. Hey. C'mon. Can we -- I dunno, talk? I don't want you to go away mad.

[He should've known that Johnny would come after him, that he would reach for him. It must come from the same goodness that made him push Jack from a crumbling castle. Jack takes a breath before he turns to face him. He fights against the urge to push his hand away, but it's easy to not look angry. He isn't angry.

He's not exactly sure what he feels, he just knows that it hurts, and he handles his pain best through denial or trying to hurt someone else. But he doesn't really want to hurt Johnny.]

There's nothing to be angry about. My girls suspected you were a certain way, and now I know that it's true.

[Like he didn't have his tongue halfway down Johnny's throat.]

[ Johnny's brows raise at that comment. He's not sure if Jack meant that as an insult (actually, he's very sure that Jack meant that as an insult), and it takes him by surprise that he'd think it was one -- more than the fact that he's been accused of it.

Johnny might have been raised in a pretty straight environment, but he figured that you liked who you liked and there was nothing wrong with that, whether they had the same genitals as you or not.

He's just reeling from the fact that a part of him liked this. And, very obviously -- ]

You liked it too. And what the hell did your girls tell you? They knew I was gay because I -- what, paid attention to them?

[That's all well and good for Johnny, who's never been called a disgrace by his father, who's never been shamed or had to choose between being who he is and literally everything else. He wonders if Johnny's ever lost a lover - no, Joseph was much more than that. The only person who ever really loved him, and Jack as good as lowered his coffin into the ground because he wasn't brave enough.

Be brave now? He's not sure that he can be. He's faced death a dozen times or more, but this is something he's never made peace with. Jack stares impassively at Johnny, but his throat works as he swallows.]

So what if I did?

[This is as close as he's come to admitting it, and that paired with the quiet of his words must border on shocking. Jack finally pulls his hand away.]

Now go back to paying attention to them, Johnny.

[ It is -- Johnny had the fortune to never be in Jack's position; he had never known what it was to have a father's disdain for something he could not help. He doesn't understand what it was like for Jack, the pain that something like this caused, how Jack took all the hatred into himself and became the poison that had been fed to him all his years.

But Jack is brave now, and the admission stuns Johnny (who could usually come up with a quip or two even in the most dire situations) into complete silence.

He's too surprised to hold on to him, to even know what to say. And so he says nothing as he watches him leave. ]

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