After Friendship

I’m finally here with a new chapter, sorry to keep you waiting. But I've had some computer problems so I haven’t been able to work on this as much as I would have liked to.

And please don’t hate me for letting you wait for some Jak and Daxter action. It will come, I promise, and we’re definitely getting very close to it. XD

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AlphaOmegaPsi: No need to worry, as you can read in the summary, all sexual activities will be with Daxter in his human form. So I can promise you that this will not be a story with bestiality. But unfortunately you’ll have to wait for any action in the bedroom for awhile longer; I like to take it slow to make it more realistic. But I can promise you it will come. :)
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Robin: Yes they certainly do, cute little ottsels needs some serious cuddling to get better. XD Thanks!
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Sej: Tess could probably handle herself quite well I think, I’m sure she has a gun lying around somewhere in the bar, lol.

Daxter could be like the perfect boyfriend but he’s also a bit like the typical gay friend who you can take shopping and talk about guys. XD

I’m very glad you liked the chapter, I just hope this one won’t disappoint you too much. It’s not overly exciting, but the next one will definitely be better.
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Anon: It will come, eventually. :) Please be patient with me.
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Jak made sure to leave a note for Tess before he carried the injured ottsel back to headquarters. She would probably freak out when seeing the state her bar was in but at least she wouldn’t have to worry about Daxter. His own racing heartbeat had only just recently returned to normal. Now he knew that Daxter was safe; not entirely unharmed, but the leg they could fix.

The only thing that had him a bit worried now was the ottsel’s persistence silence. He was cuddled up against his chest with a firm grip on his tunic, but so far he hadn’t said a word. He knew that the ottsel had to be feeling quite bad if he wasn’t up for a single smart remark. Daxter was always constant chatter in any situation, and there were very few incidents that Jak could recall when he hadn’t been.

He could still clearly remember one time in Sandover when they had just been kids. Daxter had, in one of his many moments of inattention, tripped and fallen off a small cliff they used to play on. Luckily it hadn’t been a very high fall, but it had been enough to give Daxter a broken arm and a concussion. When Jak eventually found his friend at the foot of the cliff his arm had stuck out at an odd angle and he had blood on his forehead that stood in stark contrast against his ghostly pale face.

That had certainly been enough to worry Jak, but what made it even worse was the silence. It was not in any way the first time Daxter injured himself, but those other times he was either whining about it or up and playing again like nothing had happened. But the complete silence had unnerved Jak. It even made him, in his youthful naivety, think that his friend might be dying, which later of course turned out to be a bit of an exaggeration.

But on the walk home Daxter hadn’t said one word. He just leaned heavily on Jak with a pained, but focused expression on his face, as if he was concentrating all his energy on getting back. When they eventually reached home, Daxter had passed out, and Jak had been frantic with worry. He was now pretty much certain that Daxter must be dying, if not dead already. The fact that the redhead had still been breathing steadily hadn’t even occurred to him. So it was a big relief when Samos had assured Jak that he would definitely survive. The old man had just sighed over Daxter’s usual clumsiness, then set his arm right and put him to bed. Jak had watched over his friend anxiously but to his great relief, by the time Daxter woke up, he was his old usual self again, and he spent the following weeks complaining about the big and clumsy wrapping on his arm.

So now he knew that Daxter’s silence clearly didn’t mean that he was dying, but it was still a pretty good sign that the ottsel was in a lot of pain. He glanced down at his precious burden who was settled in the crook of his arm. The eyes of the ottsel were closed and his jaw was set in a hard line.

“We’re almost there, Dax.”

He got a grunt in reply.

He scowled at the pained frown upon his friend’s face, and gently started to rub the point of his index finger against the wrinkled brow in a soothing manner. He smiled when the simple gesture made Daxter’s jaw relax and the frown slowly disappear. He traced his way from the forehead to the back of the ottsel’s ears and started to scratch just the right spots that he knew Daxter loved. Jak could just barely make out the low purr coming from his friend when it mixed with the everyday noise of the city. He smiled. Daxter was so easy to please, just find the right spots and he would turn into a puddle of goo in your arms.

When they arrived at the headquarters he carefully manoeuvred through the busy corridors before he, with some trouble, managed to fish out the keys to their room and unlock the door without jostling the ottsel too much. He locked the door before he settled his burden on their bed, where he helped Daxter lean back against the headboard. The ottsel whined in discomfort when the movement jostled his leg.

Jak muttered an apology. He had never had the right touch for handling such a small delicate creature as an ottsel. The initial time after Daxter’s transformation he had actually been terrified of in some way crushing his friend by accident. Though he had learned in time that Daxter wasn’t quite as fragile as he looked, but he still felt like a clumsy fool every time Daxter got hurt and had to be handled with extra care.

He rummaged through a couple of drawers before he found their last quantity of their precious green eco. They had been running low on it for quite some time now, so Jak was relieved that they still had some of it left to treat Daxter’s injury. He sure needed, it and Jak wasn’t sure how easy it would be to fix a broken ottsel leg the natural way.

He got on the bed and opened the jar of glowing substance.

“This should do the trick.”

His fingers tingled as he carefully applied the eco on the injury, and with satisfaction watched the lines of pain on Daxter’s face finally beginning to fade. A sigh of relief escaped the ottsel.

“Feeling better?” Jak inquired, hoping to see some of the old Daxter back in action, and wanting a more detailed version of what had happened. That the Krimzon Guards had found their way to the bar didn’t sit well with him at all. And even worse was that Daxter had had an encounter with them. He was lucky to be still alive.

“Yeah.”

“Tell me what happened.”

The ottsel was less cooperative than usual and Jak actually had to drag some of the answers out of him, which was a highly unusual thing when it came to Daxter. But what he was told made him realize, even more so than before, that Haven City was out of safe places to hide. Who knew, next time it could be the headquarters.

He glanced down at the ottsel who sat slumped against the headboard and was studying one of his paws with a sad expression. Jak sighed. The grimace of pain had faded but instead it was replaced with a look of misery. The green eco may have taken care of the injured leg, but it did nothing to change his ottsel state. Daxter had gotten a taste of the good stuff and it was already taken away from him. After getting a summary of the day’s events Jak couldn’t say he was any wiser as to what could have happened. Without a decent explanation to his sudden transformation Daxter had succumbed to self-pity, convinced that the change had just been temporary.

Jak wasn’t too pleased about the whole thing either. To have Daxter back as human had done some crazy stuff to his hormones, but it had been nice. He liked being able to hold Daxter, something he was not going to reveal to his friend. And Daxter had been so happy; that had been the best thing about it. He wanted to see that smile again.

With a finger under Daxter’s chin he raised the ottsel’s head so that he met his gaze.

“Hey, we will figure this out. You’ll get your body back.” With a cheerier tone than usual, he added, “we’ll just have to think reasonable about this. There must be a reason as to why you changed back, so if we just figure it out then you could be able to do it again.”

Daxter looked at him doubtfully, then pushed Jak’s finger away from under his chin.

“I think I will just have to start getting used to being small and fuzzy, Jak.”

Refusing to join Daxter in his dark mood, he persisted. “The light eco was the real thing Dax, it isn’t temporary. There must be something else that we’re missing.”

“There was obviously something wrong with it,” the ottsel muttered, his mood steadily declining.

Jak sighed inwardly, but still refused to give up. “You said that you wished to become an ottsel again at the moment you changed, so you could hide?”

“Yeah.”

“And you pictured yourself as an ottsel again, right?”

“I guess. But it’s not like I thought it would work or anything.”

“Well, what if that’s the key, you wished for it and you got it?”

Daxter shook his head disbelievingly. “It sounds like some shit out of a fairytale; you don’t get your wishes coming true in Haven City, Jak.”

He could feel a headache coming on.

“You could give it a try at least. Think of yourself as human.”

“I don’t—"

“Give it a try Daxter,” Jak interrupted him.

“Alright, but it’s not like it’s going to work.”

“Just do it, for me.”

After a moment of hesitation Daxter closed his eyes with a small frown of concentration on his brow. Jak watched with anticipation; it had probably been a crazy suggestion but he couldn’t stop himself from hoping just a little bit. A few seconds passed by. The ottsel’s ears twitched slightly but nothing else happened.

Jak was just about to speak up when the air around Daxter began to glow faintly. He blinked to clear his vision, but his eyes snapped open when he heard a shout followed by a thump. A feeling of panic seized him when suddenly finding himself alone on the bed.

He turned his head when he heard a groan from the floor.

“Oww.”

He leaned over the edge of the bed, and there beside it on the floor he found Daxter in a human and a very much naked form, a sight that had stared to become quite common lately. A smile of relief was forming on his lips. He couldn’t believe it had actually worked.

“It worked,” he said, and reached down to capture a lock of fiery hair which he stroke affectionately between his thumb and index finger.

Daxter looked down at himself, his ears perked up, and finally Jak got to see a grin spreading across his face. God, he had missed it so much already. A depressed Daxter, just wasn’t Daxter.

“Heh, that wasn’t so hard after all,” the redhead said with a satisfied smirk while stretching his limbs. That’s when he also noticed that he was as naked as the day he was born, and with a small squeak he quickly snatched a pillow from the bed to place over his lap.

Jak grinned at the blush that was forming on his friend’s cheeks. Daxter saw it, and gave him a punch on the arm.

“It’s not funny!”

Jak ignored the statement.

“Do you think you can do it again?” he asked curiously.

Daxter rubbed his head. “I think so… Give me a moment.”

He closed his eyes and bit his lip in concentration, and just a few seconds later he was gone and instead there was an ottsel struggling under the pillow on the floor. Jak chuckled, and leaned down to remove it.

“Hey, this is pretty easy!” Daxter exclaimed as soon as he was free from the pillow’s clutches.

“How does it feel when you change, does it hurt?”

“No, not really. It’s more like a tingling all over your body, a pleasant one. It feels kind of good actually.”

At that moment Daxter stomach decided to protest loudly. The ottsel stared down at it as it was some sort of strange creature.

Jak grinned. “How about you choose your form, and we’ll go get ourselves some dinner?“

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The next few weeks passed almost like before Daxter’s transformation. However, there were a few important differences. There was of course the big change of having Daxter by his side both as an ottsel and a human. It certainly made life interesting; you never knew which form Daxter would show up in, and it seemed like he was taking great pleasure in surprising him. However, Jak noticed that Daxter had a tendency of choosing his human form more often. Which made him happy for Daxter, but not always so happy himself.

Of course he would always prefer Daxter in his original form. That was the way he should be after all. But the ottsel was definitely easier to handle. He could have him on his shoulder during missions, and he didn’t have to worry about blushing like an idiot around him, which in Jak’s book was a big plus. He was starting to feel like a horny teenage boy, which he admittedly was in some ways. But with Daxter as an ottsel it almost felt like old times again. It was nice to be able to lose the edge for awhile, and not worry about any inappropriate physical reactions.

His feelings for the charismatic little redhead were growing stronger everyday. Or feelings maybe wasn’t the word for it; they had always been there.

He loved Daxter, he always had.

It was more like urges; urges to reach out and touch him, to stroke his hair, or maybe even a bit more. He had already received some strange looks from Daxter the times he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out to touch him or put a strand of red hair back in place. To his relief Daxter hadn’t acted totally disgusted with him, yet. Or maybe he was, but didn’t say anything about it. The thought worried him. It frustrated Jak that it was hanging in the air between them but no neither one of them dared to say a thing about it.

Sometimes it felt like awkward moments were starting to become a daily occurrence. Mostly because Daxter stayed in his human form most of the times with the exception of missions, because Jak wouldn’t have it any other way, and sleeping times. It seemed like the little redhead still had a fondness for curling up like a little ball of fuzziness on the pillow or on Jak’s chest. Though Daxter would never admit it, instead he blamed it on Jak for taking up too much space on their narrow bed. But whatever reason Daxter had, Jak was pretty damn relived about it. The warm solid body of his best friend pressed up against him in bed was just a bit too much for him to handle right now.

But although Daxter may have been happy and content with the sleeping arrangements he sure wasn’t as happy about being stuck on Jak’s shoulder anymore. So far he had managed to be firm on that point, though he didn’t know how long it would last. But there was just no way he would bring Daxter with him any other way. For once the redhead would just have to accept defeat. It was the compromise he could agree to; Dax could come along on the missions, but in return he had to settle with a ride on his shoulder.

He was, after all, enough bothered about the fact that Daxter was more and more often going out alone. Which made his overprotective side kick in, maybe a bit too much, in the redhead’s opinion at least. But he knew he should probably have more faith in his friend. He could handle himself pretty well, but he couldn’t help but sigh in relief every time Daxter showed up safely again. Haven City was no place to wander around alone in.

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Jak still wanted him to sit on his shoulder like a good little pet. It might not have bothered Daxter before, but now when he had a choice, he just didn’t see the damn point of it. It was stupid. Now that he actually could help Jak, why shouldn’t he? Not that he wanted to throw himself head first into danger. But he would never let Jak go alone, so when he was already there why not make himself useful? It might just help the big guy get back in one piece. That was just basic logic. Stupid Jak just didn’t see it, he could be so irritably stubborn sometimes.

But otherwise life was great. He was back to human, again.

Damn was that getting old.

And he fully enjoyed his new freedom. He could finally walk the streets without being trampled to death or risk being picked up by Krimzon Guards. All right, that risk was always there, but it had minimized quite a lot since his change of appearance. According to Daxter, life was good, and he sure as hell was going to enjoy it.

The only cloud in his clear blue sky was that saying hello to his old body was like saying hello to hormones.

Very bad hormones, gay hormones.

He had always thought Jak was good looking. Yes, that may have sounded a bit gay. But come on, just by looking at the green-blond elf anyone would agree that it was just a basic fact, like the sky was blue and the grass was green. The hero looked good, and the girls knew it. But you really didn’t have to be of the opposite sex to see it. In fact the only one that seemed totally clueless about it was Jak himself. He still didn’t seem to have the slightest clue why girls had a habit of clinging on to him. But Jak’s good looks had never felt quite so painfully obvious to Daxter as they were now.

‘Has Jak gotten sexier over the last couple of years?’

Well, at least something had happened for sure. Things were different, or maybe he just had a too vivid imagination. But just the way Jak touched him felt different.

‘And is he doing it more often?’

No, that couldn’t be it. He was cuddled all the time when he was an ottsel. The touching wasn’t different either; it was just cuddles for human Daxter. A pet on the head, maybe a ruffle of his hair or sometimes a quick hug. But the question was, were you supposed to cuddle your best friend? Well, Tess and Keira could get awfully touchy-feely sometimes. And he didn’t really mind because it felt good, maybe a bit too good. It could just be the ottsel in him talking, why stop enjoying a cuddle just because you changed form? Although lately he did feel like he wanted a lot more than just a pat on the head.

TBC

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I hope you didn’t found this too boring but I can promise a lot more action in the next chapter. :)

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