You're Not Trying Hard Enough [Jake]

[Dylan Black]

Dylan had basically been demanded to go and get fresh air by his mother on the weekday he'd booked off. She'd scolded him for spending so much time indoors and shoved him via the power of her words to go to the lake with his laptop and retreat somewhere well out of the way of anyone else who might suddenly decide to be overly social towards him. He'd packed himself a sandwich and some other little cheap nibbles, then pretty much left the trailer park without much of a noise.

The walk to the lake was peaceful, and Dylan had found himself the perfect spot next to a tree to set up and actively avoid everyone. He'd hooked his headphones in, made sure his cheap laptop would survive a few hours worth of battery power and then disappeared into a glorious world where his vampire detective had just discovered a brutally murdered half-blood, and was now hunting for clues. He particularly relished in the gory description, mostly because it seemed to get rid of some of his overpowering stress. As the detective began investigating, it appeared as though he were being investigated himself, and Dylan was sure to make it subtle for his imaginary readers.

He was just about to write a new paragraph when he felt a warm wet muzzle by his leg. Starting, he looked around for some moron with a missing dog, yet found no one. The little hound was adorable, and Dylan grinned, removing his headphones and leaning over to pet the errant dog. The basset wagged furiously and rolled onto it's belly. The janitor laughed quietly and kept petting at the dog, unbothered by the fact there was probably some dumbass owner walking around wondering where his mutt had gone.

"Hey there boy. You're a friendly little shit." He smiled, continuing the fuss. "Where's your owner? Just left you to wander off? What a dipshit." He snorted, then fished out one of the chips from his bag and offered it over. "There you go."

[Jacob Lawrence]

Jake had been on his daily walk with his dogs, the four of them attached to the multi-leash and happily trotting along. With the arrival of fall, the temperatures were starting to drop, so Jake had slipped on an oversize sweater before leaving his house. The dogs didn't seem to mind the nippy wind, and even Ein, who had the shortest coat, was prancing out ahead of the group with his head held up high.

They had walked along their normal path, towards the park by the lake that they frequented, but they never made it. A squirrel ran across their path, which enticed the pack to lunge forward, barking. It was nothing unusual, as small animals generally earned this reaction from them. What was unusual, however, was the small clinking noise of metal hitting concrete, and then Beta suddenly being several feet ahead. Jake looked down to see the broken metal end of the lead laying on the ground, panicked, then shouted for Beta. But the hound had a scent and he wasn't going to let it go.

Quickly, he snatched up the broken leash and urged the remaining dogs forward, still shouting for the hound. But even with his short and stubby legs, he still was faster than Jake. Of course he wasn't going to give up that easily. Beta normally never ran off, but he was a scent hound, and once he had a trail, he wasn't going to abandon it.

... well, except for maybe food... and cuddles.

When Jake finally caught sight of the wayward dog again, he didn't realize he had just wandered back into familiar territory, near the lake that they had been going in the first place. Nope, he'd been too focused on finding his dog to pay attention to where he'd been going. Luckily for him, there happened to be someone nearby that Beta could bother for affection and snacks and it was likely the squirrel had disappeared up a tree.

Unfortunately, that person would have to be Dylan; the man who had assaulted him in the grocery store and then kissed him. Once he recognized the face, he scowled. Of all the people in the world, it would be Dylan sitting there with his... face. Jake didn't want to make a scene, so he took a deep breath before walking over. "Sorry if he bothered you. The leash broke and he got away." He could be civil. He'd just collect his dog and then leave. That's all he had to do.

Hooking the unbroken clip to Beta's collar, he rubbed the dog's head and wrapped the other end of the leash around his hand. "C'mon boy, let's go home." Now if only Dylan could return the favor.

[Dylan Black]

If Dylan had witnessed Jake being pulled along by four dogs, he might have laughed pretty hard. But as it was, he was at least a kilometre from the beginning of Jake's walk, and had been utterly devoted to writing his story. He knew that if he got it just right he could find a publisher and get out of being a miserable janitor and no longer have to be social ever again. It was a lovely thought.

Beta continued to lie besides Dylan with his stumpy legs in the air even as he chomped on the chip with a pleased look on his face. The man wished he could have had a dog in his trailer - they were so decent and didn't do small talk. It was all about being friendly and generally respecting their master. He leant down to lift the hound into his lap, toying with those long floppy ears and grinning. What a massive cutie.

The big smile that was on his face died when he heard the crunching of leaves, and his face dropped into a sullen, angry expression. Glancing behind him, he caught a flash of a scowl, then recognition boiled through him and one hand coiled into a fist. The leaves continued to rustle as he stepped over, and it was only when his eyes fell on three other dogs that he correctly assumed that this adorable hound was Jake's. "He's not bothering me." He grunted coldly, pressing save on his laptop and standing up to be semi-level with Jake.

Beta seemed unbothered by the fact Dylan's body language had gone from open and friendly to angry and closed, but then, it was directed straight for Jake and not for anyone else. "You're lucky it was me that found him and not some thief." He muttered, looking down at the cheerful dog with a half smile. "Don't you check the clips before you go out?" He added sharply, finding himself feeling defensive of the stumpy dog.

"Doubt you can be bothered." He muttered to himself, his eyes narrowing as he flopped back down at the base of the tree. "Too busy being a dick." And with that, Dylan put his laptop back in his lap and silently prickled, hoping the obnoxious man would either start a fight or kindly piss off back to whatever hole he crawled out of. He pet the larger dog with his free hand though, assuming it was a great dane. Certainly looked like one.

[Jacob Lawrence]

Jake might have been amused at how nice Dylan was being to his dog. Might have, if he wasn't focusing on how much he disliked the other man, or if he wasn't busy cursing his luck that he had to run into him again. The dogs, however, with their all-encompassing love for people didn't seem to mind Dylan nearly as much as Jake did. Except for Gabe, that is, who sat at Jake's feet without so much as a tail wag.

He debated arguing, but decided against it. He didn't want a repeat of the grocery store incident. "Yes, I check them and it was fine when we left the house." He mumbled grudgingly. He was actually rather perplexed over how the clip broke, it wasn't even rusted. Besides, it would be more possible for Ein to break a lead than Beta, considering his size.

Speaking of Ein, the dane interpreted the pat on the head as an invitation to sit on Dylan's lap, which he did, tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth happily. Jake had to try very hard not to laugh. "Ein, you're not a lapdog."

But of course, Dylan could not stop being a jerk. Jake released a heavy sigh, bending down to ruffle Buccaneer's fur. "Look, can you drop the asshole routine for half a second?" He shouldn't have said anything, he should have just walked away, but if Dylan was going to take a cheap shot at him, he was going to take one right back. "You might find that the world isn't as bad as it seems if you take the tree branch out of your ass."

He shrugged, giving the dogs a gentle tug to get them back on their way. "But whatever, thanks for not hurting my dog." All he knew about Dylan included his temper and his general dickhead behavior, he wouldn't have put it past him to hurt a dog.

[Dylan Black]

Dylan was actually enjoying the dog shaped interruption to his writing, if only because he was a total sucker for animals. They all seemed pretty friendly aside from the one, and the janitor was smart enough not to approach - when his old dog when he was a kid had done that it meant he was uncomfortable or not happy. And now he was semi-pining for a dog of his own.

Still, there was no time to bother with that when Jake spoke, and he shrugged. "Maybe it's a cheap lead." He offered, faux-helpfully. In honesty he reckoned Jake couldn't be bothered to keep a check on his dogs, and just let them piss off without too much worry. Snorting to himself, he took the lead (or rather snatched it) from Jake's hand and inspected the clip with a soft huff. "Yeah, it's a defect." He said simply, pointing at the sheered metal around the top. "Our old dog had a lead like that. I'd complain."

When he was sat on by a giant lump of a dane, Dylan scowled, then couldn't help but grin. "S'alright." He said bluntly to Jake, mainly ignoring him to continue rubbing at the dane's head. "Hello boy, you're a big lump aren't you?" When he received a lick, he laughed and gently nudged his head against Ein's own. Now he really wanted a dog.

Jake had to speak again and the animator's face dropped to a nasty scowl. "It's your fault, just strutting around being a complete moron everywhere. Oh look at me and my designer stubble, everyone should bow down and kiss my ass." He gently pushed Ein off his lap and stood, fisting a hand in Jake's shirt. "The world is great." He said flatly, eyes narrowed. "I bet you get your life handed to you on a fucking silver platter. And then lets talk about the rapists, or the murderers, or terrorists?"

He took a breath then and gave Jake a shove. "I wouldn't hurt an animal." He swallowed, and tensed. The idea of someone hurting any of those dogs, even if they did belong to Captain Dickhead, made him all the more angry. "Fucking pretty boy." He growled, jaw clenched.

[Jacob Lawrence]

Jake pinched the bridge of his nose to keep from saying something he might regret when Dylan yanked the leash out of his hand. Maybe he was just trying to be helpful, he just didn't know how to do it without being an ass. Mostly he was just trying to keep himself in check, as it seemed the more frustrated that Jake got, the more agitated that Gabe became. Though the Leonberger was only young, Jake didn't want to know what kind of damage his teeth could do. (Okay actually he would have really loved for him to bite Dylan, just so the bastard would suffer, but that would lead to a whole other world of complications, so he'll just keep those images inside his head.)

"It's no big deal. I'll just get another one. Besides, it's only the first time it's happened." Defects happened, there was no sense in kicking up a fuss over something so small. He'd found Beta safe and sound and all the other dogs were still firmly attached to the main lead. There were more important things to worry about. Things like refraining from punching Dylan in the face.

The insults came with no surprise and Jake crossed his arms, hoping that if he just stood there and took it, Dylan would get it all out of his system. But something that Dylan said got to him, made him inwardly wince. Terrorists. That was what Cobalt had called him. That was what he was. But he wasn't going to say anything about that to Dylan. "So it might not be all sunshine and rainbows, but this whole I-hate-the-world bullshit you're spewing is just as bad. You're worse than an angsty teenager. Grow the fuck up."

But Dylan wasn't done. Jake took a step back when he was shoved and there was a sudden change. The wagging tails stopped and a single growl was uttered from Gabe. If their master was being threatened, they weren't going to stand for it. Even Beta pinned his oversize ears back. "I don't think we'll be playing that game today."

[Dylan Black]

Dylan's body language spoke volumes as Jake stared him down. He did actually smile at the dogs loyalty to their master, even if their displeasure was directed at him. Reminded him of his big dog when he was a kid. Still, it did make him back off a little, eyes narrowed. "Angsty teenager?" He repeatedly blankly, arching an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, as far as I see, the human race is one big fuck up."

Instead of shoving, Dylan used his intimidation tactics (It's funny because despite being shorter than our darling Jacob, he seems to radiate six foot eleven height) to back the stupid brunette with his designer stubble into a tree, where he slammed his fist against the bark. His knuckles began to dribble blood and he hissed quietly, jaw clenched. He gestured down at the dogs to give him one minute -like they'd understand- then moved his lips to be merely a hair's width from Jake's ear.

In a growly, earthy voice, he managed to speak out. "You know what disgusts me about you?" His voice remained level, low and menacing. "That I have never wanted to fuck anyone in my life, but when I see your goddamn face..." He let out a breath. "I want to tear your clothes off and make you scream." The janitor drew back then, a crease in his brow as he looked a mixture of frustrated and angry, and let out a smooth sigh.

Staring at Jake as though he were the reason Dylan was born with a scowl on his face, the animator backed further off, lifting his hands up to show the dogs he was no longer a threat to their master, before slumping back down and staring down at the blood that dribbled from the torn skin on his knuckles. He sucked the skin viciously, giving a sideways glance over at the taller man, blaming him for his sore fingers.

[Jacob Lawrence]

Jake wouldn't admit to being intimidated by a grumpy little man, but he did back away from him as he rounded on him. If asked, he'd probably say something about how Dylan was invading his personal space and that he was only trying to maintain his little bubble of safety. But we all know that's a lie. As much as he would have liked Dylan to be in pain, he didn't want the dogs to attack him, because that would be a mess all its own.

When his back hit the tree, he tensed up, because Dylan wasn't slowing down at all. He waited for the shit to hit the fan, but instead the animator's fist collided with the tree. He heard another growl from Gabe, but the dogs didn't lunge. And then he felt Dylan's chest touch his followed by words in his ear that it took him a moment to process.

He relaxed a little when Dylan finally pulled away, silent as he thought about what he'd just been told. A short, curt laugh bubbled up in his throat, more out of shock, out of a need to make some sort of noise to break the uncomfortable silence, than finding any of this funny. "So let me get this straight..." He started, pinching the bridge of his nose and taking a deep breath. "The reason you hate me... is because I give you a hard-on?"

Jake sure as hell wasn't expecting that.

He also didn't have the slightest clue how to react to it, either. He stood there, against the tree, looking down at his dogs, then at Dylan, then covered his face with his hand. The way Dylan growled in his ear reminded him of Gabriel, reminded him of a feeling of belonging. It felt like that was so far away, but in Dylan's words he could feel just a faint sliver of it.

The awkwardness settled in shortly after while Jake stared at Dylan. He was truly at a loss. So instead of breaching the subject again, he settled on pointing out the obvious. "You're bleeding." Yes, this was a much safer topic. "Stop sucking on it, you'll make it worse." Jake held his hand out, meaning to examine Dylan's own. The man had punched a tree after all, he could have splinters or something else stuck in his skin.

[Dylan Black]

Dylan takes being called little very badly, considering he's average height for a man. But it was nice using his general attitude to scare Jake into the tree. It's amazing how someone so grumpy can cause active avoidance. And Dylan wouldn't report the dogs if they attacked him, he actually likes them, he'd find some way to blame Jake for it instead.

When Dylan was laughed at, his brow dropped dangerously low over his eyes, and he twisted his face into a snarl, before shrugging. "Not a "hard-on" per-say." He explained slowly, still inspecting his knuckles. "I'm sure for someone who fucks everything, it's a surprise, but I'm asexual. I don't do physical relationships." He hissed then, picking at a bit of loose skin on his hand. "I don't do relationships of any sort."

Still, there he was discussing actively wanting to shove his genitals in another man. An irritating man.

Instead of continuing the conversation, he reached over to pet Ein to reassure him he was quite done being mean to his owner, and then returned to typing one handedly. His other hand still occupied his mouth for some sort of frustration vent to stop him repeatedly kicking Jake in the face till he vanished or stopped existing in his part of the universe, at least. When the man spoke again, the animator realised the chance of him continuing writing as of now was totally moot, and he powered the laptop down and bagged it up.

"No shit sherlock." He snapped, looking over at Jake and glancing down at his fingers. "Bet you say that to all the men." He added slyly, with a cocky little smirk on his lips. Still, he let the shadow manipulator look at his hand anyway, looking generally unbothered. "I've punched worse." He muttered bleakly, offering a shrug.

What was more irritating than Jake's concern was the fact the other man was touching him, and his mind was going into territory he'd never even considered going into. "Is this whole touching thing meant to make me want to fuck you in the most carnal of ways, or what?" He piped up, growling and tensing like a caged animal.

[Jacob Lawrence]

There was no doubt in Jake's mind that this was one of the most awkward conversations he's ever had. He was momentarily at a loss for words, bending down to ruffle Gabe's fur, reassuring him that everything was okay. The Leonberger licked his arm almost apologetically while Jake stared at Dylan trying to explain why he behaved the way he did around Jake.

"Well..." Jake trailed off, not really knowing what to say in this kind of a situation. "Then... I guess you're not as asexual as you thought." He sighed, raking his hands back through his hair. Why oh why, out of all the people in Pilot Ridge, out of all the people in the world, did Beta have to find Dylan of all people. Jacob was one hundred percent sure he would have been perfectly happy to never run into the grumpy man again. "And I guess giving me a black eye and a bruised back didn't change that, huh?"

Yes, he's still sore about the fight in the grocery store.

When Jake took Dylan's hand to inspect the scrape, the catty remark caused him to draw his eyebrows together. "The hell are you talking about? Do you even listen to yourself?" Whatever comment Dylan was trying to make was lost on him, but instead of pushing the issue he just shrugged and reached into his pocket to pull out his utility knife. "Don't freak. You've got a chunk of bark in there." Gently, Jake used his thumb and the blunt edge of the knife to wiggle the piece of wood out and discarded it on the ground.

"I'm not trying to do anything of the sort." Jake scowled. "God, for someone who claims to be asexual, seems like the only thing you can think about is fucking me." That was also going down on the list of things Jake thought he would never say, but he tried not to think about it too much. He flipped the knife closed and slipped it back into his pocket. "Who says I'd even want you to, anyways?"

[Dylan Black]

"I'm twenty seven." Dylan said blankly, staring over at Jake with a nonplussed expression. "In twenty seven years I have never even wanted to kiss another living being." He leant over and rubbed Beta's ears, smiling as the basset wagged his little tail. The basset was adorable, he was sort of tempted to scoop him up and run away. But that wouldn't get him anywhere with Jake - though he was debating whether trying anything was worth it anyway.

"You broke my nose. For the fiftieth time in my short lifetime." He accused quietly, brow arched. "Still, I shouldn't have thrown that shit at you. You just fucked me off with your arrogance." A rare apology from Dylan's lips but such was sort of needed. "I'm banned from that store now anyway." He said with a huff, offering Ein one of the chips in the bag beside him.

Still he didn't flinch when Jake got the knife out - even if Jake decided to try and stab him, he could animate the knife out of his hand or something. He offered another shrug when the man griped at his comment. "Lighten up for fucks sake, you think I have the stick up my ass." Dylan snorted, then watched as the bark came out. "Better than the time involving glass bottle shards in my arm."

Then Jake had to start getting snippy and Dylan decided that wouldn't do.

Fisting his hand in Jake's shirt, he tugged him over with narrowed eyes and stared into those pretty blues. "Because by the time I'm done, you'll be aching." He hissed, moving a hand to dig into Jake's shoulder. "God you'd be so bruised." He purred, before shaking his head and standing up, as though clearing his thoughts. "Ugh, look, just fuck off or something, if it offends you." The animator grumbled, threading his fingers through his hair.

[Jacob Lawrence]

Of all the things that Dylan could have said and all the things he had said, Jake was probably the most shocked by the apology. He might not have come out and said sorry plain as day, but it was close enough. “I wasn't arrogant. I'm not arrogant. But really, did you need to do that to that woman's cart?” Considering Jake's former affiliation with a meta supremacy group, he was a bit sensitive when it came to power abuse.

Sighing, Jake dropped his hands down by his sides. “I'm sorry for breaking your nose.” If Dylan was going to be somewhat nice, he figured he could at least return the favor. Besides, it was probably way harder for Dylan with his omnipresent bad mood. Being angry just used up way too much energy anyways, Jake was already rather fed up with the bickering.

Jake winced when the animator mentioned an accident involving a glass bottle, but chose against asking about it. He'd rather not know the gory details involving shards of glass lodged in Dylan's skin, as much as the other man might have annoyed him. He was trying to be the bigger man here... no pun intended.

Arranged in a lopsided half-circle around the pair of them, the dogs were laying down or sitting or chewing on one another. The threat that Dylan had provided was gone now and he was giving them attention, though Gabe still seemed wary, but not angry. He had managed to wiggle his way into their good books. Jake turned away from Dylan, but he didn't get a chance to do anything else before he found himself dangerously close to the janitor again.

This time was different. There was an intensity in Dylan's eyes that wasn't sheer anger and the way his fingers dug into his skin was much preferable to the way that he had punched him before. Dylan's dark promises caused Jake's breath to hitch against his will and he clenched his jaw to prevent another slip up. He didn't want to look that easy. “What makes you think I'd like that?” His voice was unsteady and entirely unconvincing and he turned his head away from Dylan.

[Dylan Black]

Dylan was just as surprised at himself as Jake was, especially when he realised he'd apologised for giving someone injury. That certainly didn't happen often. He paused when Jake spoke about being arrogant, and gave an unconvinced shrug. "Yes." He said simply, staring over at the man with a slight huff. "She was being a complete bitch and deserved everything that happened." He didn't feel like explaining what she'd done to him aside from existed and been annoying, since the other man didn't need to know.

"It's alright. I'm used to it." He added blandly when Jake apologised for the nose break. Really, it wasn't as bad as it had been when he'd first been punched in the nose. He was surprised he didn't have rock solid cartilage by now. He almost felt better now he'd aired out his previous misdemeanour, though the dogs presence definitely helped his mood.

When Beta decided to start begging for more chips, Dylan gave up and basically just passed over the entirety of the packet to the stocky hound, letting him stuff his houndy face. He scratched Ein, but couldn't stop watching Jake's every move, just tensed under his scowl. He wanted to do something, anything to just prove that he could best this stupid older man and his pretty face.

Dylan was nowhere near an expert, but there was something on Jake's face that hinted he might have a slight chink in his armour. Leaning forward, and keeping the grip and pressure on Jake's shoulder, he pressed his lips to Jake's ear. "You do. And even if you don't like it, you'll learn to." He muttered, before pushing a rough nip against Jake's neck. "Because you'll be black and blue, and I'll press each one to make sure you still feel it."

It was only the fact the two men were now practically on top of each other that caused the anti-social part of Dylan to jerk slightly. He could feel his whole body seething with a mixture of desire to get away and desire to get closer. He ran his fingers over the curve of Jake's jaw, then moved forward. "I'm going to kiss you now." He growled, before leaning in and capturing Jake's lips with his own.

...

He couldn't stop smiling, if only because Ein was licking his forehead.