Balance Beam

Review Replies!

Once again, thank you everyone who commented! *hearts*

GoodMorningBeautiful2005:Yeah, I feel kind of bad for him too. Not that it's gonna stop me, of course, but you do gotta feel for the guy. And, sorry, but you'll have to wait for chapter four for Daxter's POV. Once we get to the later chapters, the POV will start switching back and forth between the boys more.

Grimreaperchibi: We'll never know, will we? Or, at least, we won't find out for a while, yet. But don't worry, everyone will get taken care of before the end.

Skunktail: Well, we'll see just how much of a perv Daxter can be! I hope you continue to enjoy the fic~

Chapter 3: Gold Gun Girls

Sheesh, I must have a permanent blush on my face by now, Jak thought as he entered the little apartment he shared with Daxter. It felt like every time he took a step he was stopped and asked about his new redheaded 'fiancée'. Jak wasn't sure how between the time he left their apartment for breakfast and the time he returned to the apartment with said breakfast that Daxter had gone from 'lady friend' to 'fiancée', but he wasn't about to ask and invite more rumors. “Dax? Come on, up and at 'em, I've got breakfast!” He called toward the room in the back where the bed was. When he got no answer, not even a sleepy grumble or muffled curse, Jak set the cloth bag of fruit down and ventured into the back. Daxter wasn't on the bed, though Jak's ears picked up faint sounds from the bathroom. “Dax?”

“Nnnnnnoh.... Um....yeah?” There were wet, slick noises coming from the other side of the door, and Jak could hear Daxter's soft panting and faint moans.

What the hell is going on in there? “You okay? I've got breakfast.”

“Ah- I'm- I'm fine Jak... ooohhhh I'll be out in a minute....”

Jak's ears shot straight up, then lowered to the sides in mortal embarrassment as realization of what, exactly, Daxter was doing dawned on him. Oh God.... leave it to Daxter to 'discover' his female body like that! But Jak didn't walk away. Instead, he leaned against the wall next to the door, listening. You are such a pervert, Jak. What the hell are you even doing?! Walk away, go into the kitchen, do something other than stand here listening to Daxter get off! His body didn't seem to be listening to that small, rational part of his mind though, and he slowly started rubbing himself through his pants. Daxter's soft, breathy moans urged him on as he opened his pants and slid his hand inside with a tiny whimper of his own. It had only been an hour ago since he last did this, but his body didn't care. He blindly kicked up the towel he had used earlier that morning before shoving his pants down around his thighs. Fuck...Daxter....

Jak bit his lip, his head resting back against the wall as his hips jerked into the towel. What did Daxter look like when she did this? Was she partly dressed, or completely naked? Jak closed his eyes, his hand moving faster as he pictured what Daxter looked like right now; Jak's shirt sliding off her shoulder as one hand fondled her breast, the other moving quickly between her legs, her palm covering a patch of golden curls. Her head would be against the wall, her mouth open slightly and her face flushed prettily as she panted and moaned, her hips rocking slightly into her hand as her toes curled into the ugly rug they had gotten for their bathroom. What would it be like to replace those hands with his own? To cradle that warm flesh in his hand again as he toyed with her nipple; to feel those hot, wet walls clench around his fingers as his thumb rubbed against her clit before he replaced that hand with his mouth and tasted her. Would Daxter taste sweet? Or salty like his own come? Jak's hand curled against the wall as he pumped himself with the soft towel, his imagination running away with him. Daxter would bury her hands in his hair as he tasted her, her legs trembling under his hands as she moaned his name. God he would give anything to hear her moan his name in that soft voice, to make her moan and writhe and cry out under him as his mouth and hands got her off, to be buried inside her with her legs around his waist and making her scream his name as she came again- Jak came hard into the towel, stars bursting behind his eyelids. Holy... He let his eyes flutter open, Daxter's moans in the bathroom loud in his ears as he looked down at the mess he made in the towel, ice cold horror at what he had just done growing in his chest. How could he do that to Daxter without her knowledge like that?! How could he be that self-centered of an asshole to do that to his best friend?! He dropped the towel like it burned him and kicked it viciously under the bed as he tucked himself back into his pants and fixed his clothes.

Jak banged on the door to the bathroom, snarling. “Damn it, Daxter, hurry up in there! We've got places to go!”

“Five more minutes, you damn dirty fascist!” Daxter snapped back at him, and Jak stomped back toward the kitchen to wash his hands in the hottest water he could manage from the taps. He felt sick, but there was also a strange thrill running through his body at doing something like that without getting caught.

You are a bastard, Jak! Absolutely the worst! He paused in scrubbing at his hands as a stray thought hit him: What would Daxter do if I walk in on her next time? He looked off at nothing as the idea that Daxter would let him do all those things to her took root before he shook his head violently and started scrubbing at the dishes instead. Idiot idiot idiot!

By the time Daxter came out of the bedroom fully dressed and a spring in her step, Jak had started washing all the dishes in their apartment, and the few pots and pans they had as well. “Good morning, Jak!” Daxter chirped, reaching into the grocery bag and pulling out an apple to eat. “Did you sleep okay?”

“Yeah.”

“I told you I was gonna take care of those, you know... it looks like you've washed every dish in the apartment!”

“I did. I had some time on my hands since someone was taking forever in the bathroom.” Jak flicked soap suds at Daxter, who laughed and darted away.

“Hey, I was taking care of something! It was very important!”

“I'm sure.” Jak glanced at her. “How did you sleep?”

“Like a baby. I had really good dreams!” Daxter shot him a smirk before biting into the apple, and a small amount of juice slid down her chin. Jak wondered if she'd let him lick it off her before he forcibly dragged his eyes away from Daxter and returned his attention to the pot he was scrubbing.

Stop it! Daxter doesn't think about you like that at all!

But he really wished she did.

---

It was nearly mid afternoon by the time they got to Haven City, and Daxter remained blissfully unaware that the majority of Spargus was now convinced that she was Jak's new bossy redheaded “fiancée”, not to mention that Jak jerked off to her masturbation session that morning (which he still felt like scum about).

Daxter glanced over her shoulder at Jak as they walked over to the Naughty Ottsel. “You okay? You've been quieter than usual.”

“Hm? I'm fine, Dax. Just thinking of what gun you should get.” I am not thinking about how I woke up with my hand on your boob, or about how I jerked off to the sounds of you getting yourself, or about how much I'd like to be with you, or about how much I want to fuck you. Nope. Maybe I should see if I can find a one night stand here.... Because of course fucking another person while thinking of Daxter isn't also a completely asshole move on my part. Argh!

“I'm sure she'll hook me up with something awesome. But...” Daxter slowed, eying the Naughty Ottsel (and its repaired sign) with some trepidation.

“Daxter?” Jak turned to look at his friend, concerned.

“She's still an ottsel, Jak.” Daxter said quietly, rubbing at one pale, freckled arm. “How can I walk in there looking like this when she's still an ottsel and we don't know if that machine can turn her back, if she even wants to be turned back.... What if she hates me? What if she thinks I'm abandoning her, or something? I couldn't handle it if she hated me, Jak...”
“Dax, I seriously doubt Tess could ever hate her widdle fwuffy muffin,” Jak rolled his eyes. Daxter and Tess' flirting always made him a little jealous, though he couldn't help but have been pleased when it hadn't gone beyond flirting, even once Tess was an ottsel as well. “Even if you're not so little and fluffy anymore.”

“But-!” Daxter turned to him, blue eyes wide.

Jak placed his hands on Daxter's shoulders. “Dax. If she hates you because of an accident, she was never worth it in the first place.”

Daxter stared at him for a long moment before she wrapped her arms around Jak, resting her cheek on his unarmored shoulder. Jak went rigid, hands frozen in the air, unsure if he should push Daxter away before something stupid (on Jak's part) happened or if he should hug back. “.....you're supposed to hug me back, Jak. I'm emotionally distraught here!” Daxter said after a long moment of Jak's indecision, her ear flicking in annoyance.

“Err, right. Sorry Dax.” Well, that answered that. Jak wrapped his arms around Daxter, resting his cheek in her hair and knocking her goggles askew. “Seriously, Dax. Things will be fine.”

“...Thanks Jak.” Daxter pulled away and grinned up at him. “Let's go see Tess. If I'm lucky, maybe I can still get kisses!” Daxter fixed her goggles and started back toward the bar, leaving Jak to stare after her with a shake of his head and a sigh.

Daxter strolled into the Naughty Ottsel and pulled up short. “Tess! You're human again!”

The buxom blonde was indeed back to her regular human self and turned to the door with a smile. “I know! Isn't it weird? I was doing prep work for opening yesterday and suddenly I was human again!” She blinked, frowning. “...Have we met before?”

Daxter shifted, looking down at her feet. “Um...”

Jak stepped around her. “It's a long story Tess.”

“Jak! ...Where's Daxxie?"

Daxter gave her a tiny wave. “There was...sort of an accident.”

Tess stared. “...You got turned into a human woman?”

“It's Jak's fault!” Daxter said quickly, blue eyes filling with tears.

Jak knew this trick. Dax hadn't pulled it since they were six, but Jak knew this trick very well. “Oh for the- Damn it Dax! Knock that off! It didn't work when we were six and it's not going to work-”

“Oh Daxxie,” Tess cooed, coming around from behind the bar. “My poor widdle snuggle bunny!”

“-now. Oh brother.” Jak rolled his eyes as Tess gathered the redhead into a hug, burying Daxter's face in her ample charms.

“What happened, sweetie?” Tess asked, stroking Daxter's hair comfortingly.

“There was some weird Precursor tech and Jak - he started touching things and-and there was this light and it hurt and the next thing I knew I was a chick and topless and Jak had to give me his shirt and then when we got back to Spargus Kleiver hit on me and was icky and then Sig said I have to take the arena challenge!”

“My poor Daxxie,” Tess cooed, stroking her hair. “That must've been awful.”

Daxter buried her face in Tess' chest again and Jak rolled his eyes, feeling irrational anger and jealousy welling up inside him. “We wanted to see if you could make Daxter a gun to use in the arena.”

“Oh of course I can! Don't you worry Daxxie, I'll make you the best boomstick ever!” Tess pulled away, beaming down at Daxter brightly. “You'll wipe the floor with those bastards in the arena!”

“I knew I could count on you, Tessykins!” Daxter said, just as brightly, and Jak wanted to groan. Really, Daxter was so shameless...

“Right. Let's get started then, huh?” Jak ushered the two women back toward the bar. Hopefully they'll keep the flirting to a minimum.

---

“So, tell me again why I can't just use Jak's gun?” Daxter pouted as she, Tess and Jak went over different gun schematics.

“Because, Daxxie, Jak's boomstick would knock you off your feet without something to brace against.”

“And don't even think about saying anything perverted Daxter,” Jak warned as Daxter opened her mouth with a smirk. “Stop it right now and put your mind where it belongs.”

Tess rolled her eyes and smiled as Daxter pouted. “Even Jak gets knocked off kilter with some of his mods. Besides,” Tess chirped, “you won't always be able to use Jak's gun! What about when you're on missions together?”

Jak froze. He hadn't even thought about that. Daxter had always gone with him on missions, but that was riding on Jak's shoulder. Daxter had never been a separate target before, and it made Jak sick to think about all the things that could happen to her out there. It was a cold comfort for Jak to realize that he would've thought the same even if Dax was back to being a human guy.

“I hadn't thought that far ahead,” Daxter murmured, leaning on her elbows on the counter. “I guess I would need my own gun then, huh?”

“See? It makes sense to just make you one now so that you can train with it and be really good with it by the time you face the arena! And then you'll be ready to go with Jak on missions!”

It was a good thing Jak was already sitting down, he felt like his legs would give out from under him if he stood. “Let's just deal with one thing at a time, alright? We need to find a style of gun Dax likes first, then customize it so it doesn't knock him over. I was thinking maybe something long range, since Dax isn't so great with hand to hand-”

“Hey! I can deal with it just fine! You are just a big worrier, Jak!”

“Oh, so you want to get some hand to hand practice in?”

Daxter leaned back, bringing her hands up in front of her. “Not against you! Maybe a wussy like Torn or something.”

Tess bit her lip. “Daxxie, I hate to break it to you, but Torn was a commander in the Krimzon Guard, and he's the head of the Freedom League. He didn't get there because he looks pretty, he's actually a pretty decent fighter and a good tactician. He's not gonna be easier to fight than Jak.”

“Really? 'Cause he seems pretty useless to me,” Daxter muttered slumping.

“Tell you what, Daxxie. I'll get you a Morph Gun like Jak's, and it'll have some long range and short range mods, and I can go over some basic hand to hand with you! I might not look it, but I have taken self-defense classes, and I'm pretty good! Jak can help out too!”

“How kind of you to include me,” Jak said dryly, but he smirked at the two women all the same.

“Now that we've got our plan of action, let's get to work!”

---

Jak and Tess had been doing gun drills with Daxter in the gun course for a few hours when Jak's comm went off.

“Keep at it, Dax, you're doing great!” Jak called before walking away to answer it. “Yeah?”

“Jak, it's Torn. Tess told me you were in town.”

At the sound of Torn's gravelly voice, Jak's ears twitched back. Great, just what he needed. “Yeah. Dax had a bit of an accident and needs a gun.”

“What? Never mind, tell me later. Right now I have a big problem, and thank God you're already here because I don't know if it can wait any longer.”

Jak frowned. Torn looked like he hadn't slept in a week and he was babbling. Torn never babbled. “Torn, what's wrong? What happened? Is everyone alright?”

“Maintenance just found a huge clutch of metal head eggs down by the Pumping Station. We're talking hundreds of eggs here, Jak. Eco knows how they managed to miss it for so long, but the eggs look ready to hatch any day now. I need you to take them out, Jak, I don't have the man power to send a team out there to take care of it. And to top it all off, there's been metal head sightings out there, too.”

Jak let out a low curse. When shit hit the fan, it really hit the fan. “How the hell did they miss a clutch of eggs like that for so long?!”

“I don't know, but when I find out, there's gonna be hell to pay for it!” Torn snarled. “I need you out there pronto Jak.”

“Right. I'm on it.” Jak ended the call and turned around, though he pulled up short when he spotted Daxter, who was looking at him with an oddly solemn expression. “...Dax...”

“He wants you to go on a mission.” It wasn't a question.

“Dax, I have to go.”

Daxter's ears drooped. “But you're going without me. I can't go with you on this one, I'm not ready...”

Jak wanted to kick himself, but it wasn't like he was any happier about going out alone than Daxter was. “I know Dax. Look, I don't know how long this is gonna take...”

“Don't you worry about a thing, Jak!” Tess said, slinging an arm around Daxter's shoulders. “Daxxie and I will finish up here, then I'll call Keira and we can have a girls' night slumber party!”

Jak frowned at Tess for a long moment. “Uh, Tess?”

Daxter's ears perked right up. “That sounds like a great idea, Tess! Run along now, Jak, and don't worry about me, I'll be just fine.” Daxter chuckled as she turned around and picked up the next gun, and Tess shot Jak a wink.

Somehow, that didn't comfort him in the slightest.