Author's disclaimer: Not intended to infringe on the rights of any copyright holders for The Sentinel. Not to be distributed without the permission of the author.
Author's notes: Thanks to Carla for the beta.
That Tight Black Tee
Jim and Blair were settled in a booth in the local bar trying to get their minds off their last case. A jukebox played from somewhere behind them and pool games were in progress on the two tables beside them. Jim was idly watching the nearest game as he downed his brew. Blair was idly watching Jim.
"Geez, Jim. It's too bad there aren't any good lookin' women in here tonight."
"Why? You horny or something, Chief?" Jim smirked.
"Man, I am always horny. But what I meant was, it seems a shame to waste that awesome t-shirt on me and the bartender, that's all."
"What's that supposed to mean? Something wrong with my shirt?"
"No, man. Au contraire. If that black tee you're wearing was any tighter, June'd be bustin' out all over."
"Funny, Sandburg. Ha ha."
"I'm serious, Jim." Blair ignored the snort from his partner. "That tee on those muscles spells babe-magnet. It just seems a shame that there are no babes here to appreciate it."
"Yeah, well, I didn't really wear it to haul in women, Sandburg."
"No? I thought that was your standard date uniform, your I-want-to-get-laid look."
Jim's smile was enigmatic. "It's comfortable."
Blair graced Jim with his give-me-a-break look. "Sure, Jim." He followed with his do-I-look-like-a-fool-to-you-Jim look.
Jim ignored the looks. "Besides, you know I don't do pick-ups."
"Unless the pheromones are right, you mean."
"Jesus, that was a low blow." Jim scowled at the non-repentant grin from his partner. "And it's only happened that once."
"Thank God," Blair muttered into his drink.
"You are walking on very thin ice here, Chief. Can it." Jim's growl joined the scowl.
"All right, all right. Sorry. I just think it's a damn shame that there's nobody around but me to appreciate Jim Ellison at his buff best."
"Sandburg, not all of us plan our lives around our libido. I'm a cop. Physical fitness is in the job description, you know. I work hard to stay fit."
"Hey, I can see that, man." Blair eyed the displayed muscles appreciatively.
"It's always amazed me the number of perps who think they can outrun a cop. Of course, the guys out on the beat are supposed to be ready to chase badguys down on a regular basis. Detectives are just supposed to be able to gather the evidence and then sit back like Sherlock Holmes and solve the puzzle. You know, like that little fat Belgian guy in Agatha Christie's books would say . . . our strength is in knowing how to use our little grey cells."
"Hey, I didn't know you read that stuff."
"Yeah, well, we all have our weaknesses, Chief. What cop wouldn't enjoy reading books where the detective always gets his perp."
"Ah, Jim. Didn't know you had any of the idealist left in you either."
"You got it all wrong, Sandburg, as usual. I'm talking about fiction. Entertainment? I just love the subtext to the whole genre, that's all."
Blair gave Jim a blank look. "Which is . . . ?"
"Crime doesn't pay," Jim grinned.
Blair tried out his own scowl, but it didn't seem to have much effect. "Well, I still think it's a crime that your awesome show of testosterone is going to waste."
"I'm not complaining, Sandburg." Jim's grin was still firmly in place, but it had been joined by a touch of speculation. "You're doing enough drooling for three females."
"What?" Blair's mouth dropped open. He sat in stunned silence.
"You heard me. Your heart's racing, you're leaking pheromones like a sieve, and you can't shut up about my body. Now I don't see any long-legged redheads, or blondes or brunettes in the place. . . except me. So who's turning you on, baby?"
Blair lifted his beer and chugged it down looking anywhere but at Jim.
"Blair?"
"Jim . . ." Blair had no idea what he was going to say.
"You just realizing what it's all about now, junior?"
"Huh?" Blair was lost.
"Sentinel and Guide, Blair." Jim leaned forward across the table. "Guide and Sentinel. That's the way it's meant to be."
"You mean . . ." Blair tried to choke out.
"Partners. In everything."
"Jim . . ." Blair's voice was an octave above his regular register.
"Let's go home and talk about it, okay?"
"Talk?" Blair squeaked. Talking was good. He could do talk.
"Well, we'll start out talking and see what we come up with to look after your little problem there." Jim was still grinning.
Blair glanced down at the erection straining at the front of his jeans. Jesus. He looked back up at Jim with his deer-in-headlights look.
Jim tried to make his smile look reassuring rather than lascivious. "Home?"
Blair gulped air. He took in the smile, the tight tee hugging that magnificent chest, and squirmed inside his too-tight jeans. "Yeah, let's go." He slid out of the booth, then tried to adjust himself discreetly and pull his jacket on at the same time. He'd just accomplished both when he felt Jim's big brawny arm come around his shoulders and pull him towards the door.
"Nervous?" Jim's voice whispered in his ear.
"Yeah," Blair murmured.
"Don't be," Jim pushed open the door and they stepped out into the night. "I'm very good with virgins."
Blair's legs buckled in shock at the boast and he stumbled going down the first step of the flight to the pavement below. Jim grabbed his arm and hauled him back around and tucked him against his body. Blair swayed against Jim's chest and felt his partner's arms come around him.
"Take it easy, buddy," Jim chuckled.
"Umm, Jim," Blair whispered uneasily as they stopped on the staircase in full view of the parking lot.
"What's the matter, Blair?" Jim nuzzled into Blair's cheek. "Haven't you ever been with a guy before?"
Blair hid his face in Jim's open coat. "Just on a dare," he confessed, sentinel-soft. "No intercourse." One of Jim's arms tightened around his waist and then a big hand slid down over his buttocks to cup one cheek.
"Don't worry, Chief. We'll take it slow and easy all the way and by the time we're through you'll think you've died and gone to heaven."
"Nothing wrong with your ego," Blair snuffed into Jim's shirt.
"I know where my strengths lie, Blair. I've got a lot of experience."
"You have?" Blair leaned back and looked into the bright blue eyes.
"Been bi ever since I was old enough to jerk off."
"You never said anything."
"Figured you'd have taken it for granted. Haven't you figured out yet that sentinels are drawn to mate with their guides, regardless of gender?"
"When did you figure this out, Professor Ellison?"
"I didn't. Can you think of a better reason that guides seem drawn to mate with their sentinels, regardless of gender?"
"Meaning?"
"You're not bi are you?"
"I never thought so, no."
"Strictly hetero since day one, right?"
"Yeah."
"So why do I turn you on so much?"
"I'm still trying to figure that one out."
A car turned into the parking lot and Jim turned Blair and urged him down the staircase. "Home," he whispered in Blair's ear. Blair just nodded and started down.
An hour later Blair lay panting and exhausted in Jim's arms in the big loft bed. Jim was still spooned tight to his backside, dick buried deep inside him and Blair felt . . . fantastic. He could never have imagined such pleasure. He'd thought making it with a woman was good, but he'd never felt this . . . euphoric . . . after sex before. He was incredulous and still flying high on the feelings of being fucked. Wow, talk about your new experiences. This one was starting to change the whole way he saw the world. Over the course of a single hour 'being thoroughly fucked' had become a good thing, not a bad thing.
Jim smoothed Blair's wild hair back away from his face and over his own shoulder. "Are you okay, Blair? Did I do all right?"
"Oh, Jim . . ." Blair groaned. "Any more 'all right' and I'd be unconscious, man."
Jim nuzzled Blair's bare neck. "Told you you'd like it."
"What's not to like? You made me feel the kind of pleasure most people only dream of, Jim."
"I'm glad," Jim licked the sweaty skin under Blair's ear.
"Oh, man," Blair sighed into a chuckle. "My body's still singing." Jim just chuckled and nuzzled and kissed very very gently. Blair could feel himself drifting off to sleep on a cloud of contentment.
"Blair . . ."
Jim's voice broke into Blair's slide into sleep. "Huh?"
"Blair, I was just wondering . . ."
"Uh huh?" Blair encouraged softly. He loved this new soft, tender tentativeness in big Jim Ellison's voice. Sex did good things for his sentinel too.
"Do you think you'd like to do it again?"
Blair grinned. "Now?" He could feel the heat of Jim's face as he pressed it into the nape of his neck.
"No, not now . . ." Jim mumbled. "Maybe . . . tomorrow?"
Blair sighed. He'd just given up his virginity to his sentinel and guess who needed reassurance? "Jim, I'd love it if you made love to me again tomorrow. As far as I'm concerned, you can make love to me anytime, anywhere, anyhow. How's that?"
Jim was speechless for long moments until Blair turned around a bit to get a look at his face.
"Really?" was all Jim could articulate.
"Really." Blair smiled. Then he turned and snuggled back against Jim's body. He wondered how long he could hang onto that softening cock. Maybe if he squeezed a bit with those muscles he'd discovered during the whole fantastic exploratory experience, maybe he just might manage a few more minutes.
"Blair?" Jim's voice was tentative again.
"What?"
"What did you like best about the whole thing?"
"You're, like . . . asking me to choose?" Blair was incredulous. "Every single moment . . . everything you did to me . . . everything I felt . . . Jesus, Jim! It was all a fucking miracle." He paused, grinning. "No pun intended." He sighed as Jim returned to his nuzzling.
"Blair . . ." Jim's voice had deepened and Blair shivered at the tone. He'd used that tone when he was making love to him.
"Uh huh?" Blair could barely concentrate on the words, between the effects of the voice and the lips.
"If you want us to make love anytime, and anywhere and anyhow . . ." Jim took a deep breath. "Are you still going to want to date women?" Jim's lips didn't return to Blair's neck as he waited for a response.
Blair lay very still in Jim's strong arms and thought about women. He loved women. Their bodies were so soft, so pliant, so giving. He loved the way they made him feel. Blair was not so big or strong or macho as a lot of guys, guys like Jim. But women made him feel that way. And he liked feeling that way. Could he give that up for Jim?
And as Blair lay there pondering that question, something profound happened. Well, not so profound, really, but profound to Blair. With his inattention he'd failed to notice Jim's shrinking cock slipping slowly out of his body until suddenly, he was empty. And that feeling of emptiness, of the loss of that heat, that body part connecting him to someone else . . . and not just any someone else . . . to Jim . . . stunned him. All the things he'd felt tonight that he'd never felt before . . . and here was another one. He'd never felt this sense of loss, of utter desolation and emptiness before when separating from a lover. Usually it was a relief, a chance to recover, to put himself back together. But this . . . Was it just because the tables had been turned? Because someone had been inside him this time?
Blair turned in Jim's arms and stared into pale blue eyes that were full of uncertainty, full of questions. Holy shit, Blair realized. He didn't want to recover from loving Jim. He didn't want to put himself back together and be Blair again. He wanted to be a part of Jim. He wanted to die being a part of Jim. He never wanted to be a body separate from Jim again. How was that for the surprise of his life? He was in love with Jim Ellison.
Blair stared and stared, speechless. He brought up one hand and traced Jim's lips, which gave him an idea. He leaned in and kissed Jim. It started out slow and gentle and slid into sensuous and then got hot and dove quickly into passion and possession. By that time, Blair wasn't thinking at all. He just knew he had to have more of Jim Ellison. And more . . .
Jim finally called a halt to the kiss to get some breath. He pulled back and held Blair away from him as the younger man strained to reconnect to his lips.
"Blair!"
Blair's eyes finally focused on Jim's and he hesitated. "Jim?"
"We've got all night, Blair," Jim reminded him with a slight smile.
Blair grinned back. He reached up and ran a shaking hand through Jim's short hair.
"Blair?"
"Yeah, Jim," Blair played with the soft dark strands of Jim's hair, what there was of it. Which wasn't very much at the rate it was receding, but Blair wouldn't mention that. He thought of Jim going bald and grinned.
"You didn't answer my question."
Blair looked into those eyes and saw something there that he felt inside himself and everything became very very clear. "Yeah, I did, Jim, but you weren't listening." He saw Jim frown in confusion. "You were too busy kissing me," Blair explained feeling mischievous but trying to look innocent.
"Blair . . ." Jim used his warning voice. It was in a softer tone than usual and gave Blair a delicious shiver.
"No, Jim," Blair told him, all trace of amusement gone. "No more women. Just you and me, sentinel and guide, Jim and Blair. Okay?" Blair had never before seen the exact smile that Jim graced him with then. But he hoped to see it very often in the future.
"I love you, Blair," Jim confessed, that smile breaking his face in two.
"Oh, yeah," Blair nodded. He grinned as Jim's eyebrows rose. "I love you, too." Then he giggled, which led to Jim kissing him breathless again. Which was okay until Blair thought of something he wanted to make clear about their new relationship right from the start. "Just one thing, Jim," he reached up and took hold of Jim's face with both hands, wanting to impress the seriousness of his one special condition upon the mind of his new lover.
"Anything, Blair." Jim's eyes shone.
"You are never to wear that black t-shirt in public again without my express permission." He could tell from Jim's expression that he wasn't being taken seriously. His hands slid up and took hold of a pair of very sensitive sentinel ears. "Jim?"
Jim's eyes got very very wide. They still shone, but they were very very wide. "Let go of the ears, Blair."
"Not until you promise, man," Blair's grip softened and his fingers caressed the backs of Jim's ears teasingly.
"I promise," Jim choked out as Blair's nimble fingers started teasing the insides of his ears. "No t-shirt."
"Except for me," Blair slid his fingers back into Jim's hair and around to caress his nape. He leaned in for another kiss.
"Just you," Jim mumbled against the soft lips and then was way too busy kissing them to say anything else.
The End