In The Dark, by Lady Stetson

In The Dark

by Lady Stetson

Pairing: Tony Edwards/OMC Grand Plans (Jake and The Kid)

Warning: Slashy sorts of things. Nothing terribly explicit

Disclaimer: Tony Edwards appears to belong to Great North Productions (I think...) but he's decided to leave them and camp out in my brain pretty much full time. I'll take him. Mack Douglas, and any other characters mentioned in this story, along with the story itself, belong to me. Please don't use them without my permission.

Author's Notes: This story takes place in the same universe as my story in the ZoneZine. This is a prequel to Casualties of War, and you don't have to have read that story to follow this one (although if you haven't bought the Zine yet, what are you waiting for? It's all full of good things. *G*) While watching Grand Plans I decided that either "Mac Smith" was the lamest alias on record, or Tony had a reason for picking that name... I went with the latter theory.

Beta: Thank you to Sue for the beta. This was supposed to be finished in time for her birthday, but my real life had other ideas. So... happy birthday 2 weeks late, Sue. Always, thanks to Nick; my muse and Tony's heart and soul...

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The foxhole was supposedly six feet long at the top, but it was several inches shy of that at the bottom. Tony had to keep his knees bent so he could lie down. His eyes were open wide, as though that would help him see in the pitch black that surrounded him. He'd never admit it to anyone, but Tony was afraid of the dark; he always had been. He had tried to tell himself that he was too old for childhood fears; after all he'd be nineteen in just a few months, but he still felt that he'd almost prefer to be above ground where he could see some light from the not-so-distant blasts that shook the earth around them, rather than in this hole in the ground. Their unit had been up on the front-line for nearly two weeks, and they were due to be relieved. For the past several days they'd expected orders any time that would send them to the relative safety of the rear, where they could stock up on supplies and relax somewhat, but so far those orders hadn't come. Tony was beginning to wonder if the army had forgotten they were there. He was cold, tired, and he really, really needed a cigarette; they were out.

Next to him, he could hear the nervous breathing of his best friend. Their shoulders touched as they lay side by side and Tony took comfort from that contact. He had known Mack forever, at least it seemed that way. He couldn't remember ever not knowing him. They'd grown up together, enlisted together, and, for almost a year now, served together. Tony shifted, pressing closer to Mack, and noticed that his friend was shivering. He turned his head and asked almost silently,

"Cold?"

He correctly interpreted the sound that Mack made in reply as a yes, and he turned slightly towards the other man, putting his arm around Mack's shoulders. "Me too, c'mere." They were already sharing their blankets; it only made sense that they share body heat as well. Mack draped his own arm over Tony's body, and, after some silent negotiating, the two of them found a fairly comfortable position for both pairs of long legs.

They lay that way for what might have been several hours, Tony alternating between tense wakefulness, and the dreamless sleep of sheer exhaustion, before Mack's voice, whispering almost against his ear, startled him awake.

"Tony?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm scared." Mack confessed.

"Yeah," Tony responded in a neutral tone. In almost ten months in the service, he'd never before heard anybody voice those words. He could hardly remember what it felt like not to be scared, but there was no way in hell or on earth he would ever admit it. "It'll be morning soon," Tony reassured his friend, as though that would solve all their problems. Morning would just mean that they'd have to leave their meager shelter and face whoever might be out there with less than friendly intentions towards the two of them, but Tony couldn't help thinking that at least being able to see would improve the situation hugely.

"I think I'm going to get killed," Mack voiced his fatalistic thoughts sadly.

"No you're not." Tony's voice was sharp, and louder than he had intended. Both young men froze, listening intently for sounds that meant they had been overheard. Gradually, they allowed themselves to breathe again. "You're not going to die," Tony hissed fiercely. He unconsciously tightened his hold on Mack, pulling him closer. "If you die, I'll have to kick your ass."

Mack snorted, "Yeah, try."

"You think I can't?"

"My little sister could kick your ass," Mack told Tony derisively.

Tony snickered, "Sadie's meaner than you are."

"Now that's true," Mack agreed readily, then he conceded, "But then, she had to put up with us."

"Poor kid," Tony sympathized.

Mack's sympathy, though, ran in another direction, "I sure feel sorry for whoever she ends up married to." He paused, then added with a smirk, "'Course, if Sadie had her way that would be you."

It was Tony's turn to snort in slightly offended amusement. He'd known that Sadie had a crush on him for several years, but mostly he ignored the knowledge. She was his best friend's kid sister; he practically thought of her as his own sister, plus he'd been going steady with Beth for most of that time. Still, he couldn't help needling Mack from time to time, "She's going to be a looker, you know, when she grows up."

"Quit thinking of my sister as a girl," Mack protested, rising predictably to the bait.

"Hey, you started it."

For a few moments their surroundings faded and the two of them could have been back in Cleveland, whispering so their voices wouldn't carry down the hall to Mack's parents' room. Tony had spent as much time as he could at Mack's house growing up, and as boys they had spent countless nights lying awake talking in hushed voices about baseball, and girls, and whatever else was important to them at the time.

Then reality closed back around them, and they both fell silent for several long seconds.

"It's dark," Mack whispered pointlessly.

"Hadn't noticed." Tony took his arm from around Mack's shoulders and reached behind himself, his hand falling unerringly on his rifle. The familiar feeling of the smooth wood under his fingers reassured him slightly. Then, even though they were both warmed up enough to not need the shared body heat, he put his arm back around his friend. It just felt comfortable there now. "We should try and get some more sleep."

"Yeah."

Tony stared into the dark around him, was the blackness not quite as thick as it had been before, or was that wishful thinking? Mack was awake, although how Tony knew that, he wasn't sure. He didn't know if the other man had slept. The only way he knew that he'd been asleep was because he'd been dreaming. He'd dreamed that Rita Hayworth was flirting with him.

He'd responded to the dream Rita's flirting, it seemed; he'd woken up hard, almost uncomfortably so. He wriggled, trying to find a more comfortable position. In his maneuvering, he brushed up against Mack. Tony didn't need to hear the quickly indrawn breath to know that what he had bumped against was Mack's own erection. For a split second Tony expected Mack to pull away, instead he leaned in to the contact.

Tony liked girls, he'd never even questioned that fact, and he knew that Mack did too. It never occurred to him to compare what he and Mack were doing with anything he'd ever done with Beth, or any other girl. Mack was his best friend; with less than six months difference in their ages, the two of them were closer than they would have been even if they had been actual brothers. Instinctively, Tony turned his face towards Mack's; he was momentarily startled to feel several days' growth of whiskers against his lips before he found Mack's mouth with his own and gave him a tentative kiss. He'd always thought that the way he loved Mack was different from the way he'd loved Beth, but maybe it wasn't so different after all.

The young men rapidly fell into a rhythm of thrusting hips and breathless kisses. Mack's hand slid from Tony's waist to his hip, and then crept around to clutch at the fabric covering his ass. Tony felt himself being pulled closer to the erection sliding against his own. He gasped softly. Damn, that felt good. The sound of quiet, panting breaths filled the darkness around them as their bodies writhed together at an increasingly frantic pace.

"Oh God," Mack gasped almost soundlessly, "OhGodOhGod, Oh…" He tensed briefly before a shudder ran through his whole body. "Oh my God," he whimpered as another tremor shook him. That was enough to push Tony over the edge into his own orgasm. He bit down on his lower lip to keep from crying out, as pleasure shot through him. He emitted several whimpering moans of satisfaction as the waves of sensation slowly receded, and he relaxed. The two of them lay still, resting forehead to forehead, until their breathing returned to normal, then Tony slowly rolled onto his back as Mack did the same

"Damn…" The combination of contentedness and bewilderment in Mack's tone exactly matched Tony's state of mind, which struck him as funny. He snickered. Mack snickered, then chuckled. Tony giggled, which made Mack giggle. Then Tony couldn't stop giggling. Before they knew it, they were both laughing too hard to stop. Shoving his knuckles into his mouth to try and keep quiet, Tony shook with laughter until tears came to his eyes and his stomach muscles ached from the effort. Finally he regained enough control to catch his breath.

"Get a grip on yourself, Douglas," he gasped. Mack fought to choke back his laughter, until soon they were both quiet. After a lengthy silence, Tony began to wonder if Mack had dozed off. The thought made him yawn widely.

"So," Mack began, then he paused again, "how do you think the Indians are gonna do this year?"

"They're due for a pennant," Tony said.

"Yeah, I think so," Mack agreed sleepily.

Then Tony was suddenly too tired to care that it was dark, or that the ground under him was uncomfortable, or even about baseball. He yawned uncontrollably again, and closed his eyes, and that was the last thing he remembered before he woke up to daylight.

* End *

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★