"Through a glass, brightly" - a Brokeback fic
Brokeback fic (ca 1,600 words), movie canon romance, rating a mild R.
Disclaimer: They belong to Annie Proulx and Focus Features, and I am not profiting in any way from this, except that I find enjoyment in thinking and writing of them.
A/N:
This was written as a response to Sienna and Lola's love fest challenge. Since I have a thing for fic smex involving mirrors I tried to figure how that could be realistically incorporated in a canon fic. :-) However, turned out that the guys first wanted to share a force of nature moment, so the fic ends just as the action really gets going. I enjoyed writing this one though, and I hope it shows.
Through a Glass, Brightly
It was probably the most perfect day of that entire summer, high altitudes be damned.
Bright sunshine, the air mild and kind as kisses, not even the smallest whisper of wind, and a sky so blue you could drown in eternity, just looking up.
Around midday Jack packed a couple of beers, some hard bread and dried meat, added a soap to his bundle, and rode up to the mountain pastures. All was so right with his world this day that even his unpredictably skittish mare behaved herself, pacing smoothly and giving him no trouble as the two of them ascended towards the high meadows, their route bordered by dense high grasses and mountain flowers - sweet fresh fragrances, a rainbow specter of colors.
Nestled in a dell between the peaks near the upper pastures there was a small melt-water lake, draining into one of the narrow streams that would gain more speed and strength further down, rushing away off the mountain. Jack had his sights and plans firmly set on that lake - the destination for this trek towards the top of the world.
Once there he discovered with a jolt of joy that - not for the first time - he and Ennis had been of like mind.
Ennis was already sitting by the lake, chin in hand, shaded face drowsy and pensive, body relaxed in the midday sun. No sound broke the silence of the still mountain air except for the ever-present distant bleating, but by now both men were so used to it, the sound did not register with them. Nothing marred the view of the little lake, nestled in green and surrounded by tall snow-peaked mountains - the tranquil water presenting a perfectly mirrored image of its beautiful surroundings to the gratefully sunny sky.
They shared kisses, a relaxed meal. Then more kisses, growing urgent, before Jack, twisting aside and sitting up, playfully brandished the soap.
“That lake’s too good to waste on a day like this, friend. Let’s git to it, I say.”
Ennis felt so mellow, he didn’t want to be objectin’ - would be way too much of a hassle. Still, he didn’t want to quit what they were doin’ either - at least not to have ice cold water freeze his balls off and shrivel up his dick just when it was growin' strong and plump and excited.
“Shit, that’s melt water, it's freezin’ cold, you know. Thought you would run a mile from that.”
“Yep, any other day than today I would. Anyhow, who’s sayin’ I hafta go far and deep in the water? Plannin’ on dippin’ my toes, perhaps that’s all.”
Jack grinned big and Ennis gave him a look, felt that the only thing to do was to shut Jack up, make him forget this sudden stupid lake obsession - best way would be to move real quick from their slow sweet kisses and on to more serious business.
He wasted no time letting action follow thought, pushing Jack down on the grass, his mouth diving for Jack’s, hands diving for other parts of special interest on the man.
Jack laughed freely, jabbing him with an elbow, rolling out of his grip, scrabbling on all fours to get away. Once out of reach he got up, jumping on one foot, pulled a boot off, then the other, letting his jeans and shirt and underwear follow in very short order.
Ennis looked on in mute frustration, feeling horny and annoyed and ready for about anything else than a fuckin’ freezin’ bath. That feeling just increased once Jack was standing by the water’s edge without a stitch on his body, his profile as he turned back to speak proving that he had been far from indifferent to Ennis’s ministrations.
Ennis groaned, and Jack swore at him happily.
“Christ, will you just come on? Look at all this - tell you what, it’s too good to waste. And why d’you think I brought the soap anyhow? We kin get cleaned up, go at it, and then we kin get cleaned up again.”
He turned towards the lake, teasing Ennis with a perfect pale lean butt view, and stuck a toe tentatively in the water. A small quiver ran through his entire body, shivering like a horse does when a hand touches its flank unexpectedly. He remained there until Ennis came to stand next to him, clothes and boots discarded in defeat.
“Gonna git us sunburned for sure, hell to pay,” he groused.
“Aw, better not hang around jabberin’ on about it then, git to it.”
"Son of a bitch," Ennis grumbled. The water proved every bit as cold as he had imagined. The butt-clenchin’, ball-shrivellin’, mind-numbin’, heart-stoppin' kind a cold. He’d not to this for anyone else than Jack. Not sure he wanted to do it even for Jack.
“Well, tough guy, “ Jack said, poking him in the side. “You’re so hardy and strong, you just wade in there and show me the way.”
Christ. Fuck. Well, alright.
Ennis didn’t spend useless time arguin’, just drew a deep breath - ready to rush ahead and throw himself in full throttle, get it over with, hurry the hell back out, get on with better things to get warmed up again.
“No”. Jack laid a hand on his arm, looked at him with those sky-colored eyes of his, eyes suddenly turned quiet depths of still waters, his voice changed into a soft slow caress.
“Not like that, Ennis. Don’t rush it, just let’s wade out there a little bit…. Not too deep…Just a few steps.”
Lookin’ into those eyes, readin’ some truth or puzzle there that made him shiver with something else than cold, Ennis frowned and did as told. Slowly he took one step out into the water, then another one, and a couple more. The water lapped his calves, reached his knees, crept halfway up his chill thighs.
“Stop”, Jack said. He was quietly wading in behind Ennis, soap in hand, closing the gap between them until he was standing so near, his chest was a mere whisper away from touching Ennis’s back.
“My feet are gettin’ numb,” Ennis mumbled.
“Oh, hush up with you. You kin take it. Just… stand here. Be still. Just… let’s be.”
Leaning in, Jack closed the gap between them, embracing Ennis loosely around the waist, placing his chin on Ennis’s shoulder, a small sigh escaping his lips.
They held still, silently letting the gentle ripples - created when they waded out into the lake - settle down, the lake surface once more turning tranquil, blank and bright as newly polished glass.
“Look” Jack murmured into Ennis's ear. “Look a that. What I thought… See? We’re standin’ right smack in the middle of a mirror.”
Ennis saw. Head ducking once in an abrupt nod, a breath hitched in his throat. He didn’t speak, but reached back, his arms firmly surrounding and clasping Jack’s haunches, in a strangely reversed imitation of Jack’s embrace.
Neither of them moved nor spoke again for a long, entranced moment. They stood spellbound in their silent embrace, marveling at the image in the sun-sparkling mirror. Two young strong naked bodies in perfect harmony, close as one. Skin on skin, breath on breath, encircling arms. A beautiful and spare Eden surrounding them, everything as naked and genuine as they themselves - no distractions, no subterfuges. Nothing but bare craggy rocks, crystal water, sweet green grasses and the frank open sky above.
The lake’s cold bright mirror showed the image of man as a part of nature, as perfect and pure and essential as intended at the dawn of time. No distortion marred that clear image, no false note jarred the simple beauty, no disconcerting doubt encroached on the joy of that moment. It was simple, natural, and right.
“Just be still now,” Jack whispered, placing a kiss like the ghost of a breath on Ennis’s shoulder, his arms holding on tighter, Ennis’s arms firm as they responded in kind.
They stood transfixed - a moment stolen from time and given to eternity.
---
At last, when he couldn’t feel his feet anymore, Jack reluctantly decided to return them to reality. Letting his free hand drift from its waist-encircling resting place, touching warm skin all the way on its slow sure descent, he breathed laughter into Ennis’s ear.
“You ever wonder what the back a your dick look like? ‘Cause you know in this big mirror we’re standing in you have a real good chance a finding out. Kin see a lot - a lot - if’n you manage to stand very still. If you don't move. Not a twitch. Even if’n I… do this. And... this. You up for that? I dare ya….”
Ennis grunted, his focus firmly readjusted, back to earth with a jolt and a vengeance. Another of those shivers not due to cold rippled through his shoulders, sparks were shooting up his spine, but his feet remained firm, unmoving. He looked down, studied Jack’s hand on him, - saw beyond that the slightly translucent mirror image of the two of them. Could see clearly what mirror Jack was doing, and how his own mirror body was reacting, could see all of it both from above and below.
A hot flush scalded Ennis's face, mocking the icy cold from the lake. He drew a shuddering breath through clenched teeth.
“Fuck… you do your damnedest, Twist,” he exhaled, forcing himself to speak at all. “Bet ya I kin stand it as long as you kin, and then some”.
Jack snorted a throaty little laugh at him.
“Even if’n I use the soap?”
Ennis groaned.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
There's a brief sequel chapter to this fic, here: http://gilli-ann.livejournal.com/5881.html