Jack glanced at his offending appendage, wriggling the five fingers, assessing their attachment to the rest of his body. He made a futile effort to wipe the puzzled expression from his face before answering Daniel. "Nope you didn't sit on anything...and I'm not too sure actually why I touched your ass. It was like my hand wasn't connected to my brain."

Daniel snorted at Jack's response. "In other words, you wanted to cop a feel? Enlighten me, but isn't that something you should ask permission for first?"

Jack chewed on his lower lip, hesitating before responding. "And what would you have said if I had asked...'hey Daniel ...can I touch your ass?' Honestly, would you have said, 'Sure Jack...go right ahead?'"

Daniel tapped a finger to his pursed lips, contemplating the question. "Isn't that against regulations?"

Jack sighed. "What's against regulations...the touching or the asking?"

Daniel shrugged his shoulders. "You're the Colonel, but I'm thinking the act of asking and the act of touching may be listed under the heading of court-martial offenses."

"Would you?" Jack asked.

"Would I what, Jack?" Daniel leaned against his kitchen counter, arms crossed, burrowing his ass against the wood of the cabinet for protection.

"Would you say yes if I wanted to, you know..." In a futile move to avoid further embarrassment, Jack made repetitive pinscher grasps with his thumb and forefinger of his right hand.

Daniel furrowed his brow, watching the movements of Jack's hand. "That's pinching Jack...that's a whole different type of touch. Pinching..." Jack watched as Daniel mimicked his movements. "Is different than touching. Touching is more like...like...like this." Daniel stepped forward and placed a hand on Jack's upper arm, gently stroking along the muscles.

Jack cleared his throat before continuing. "Yup, you're right, big difference. Big, big difference." He looked down at the hand still on his arm, licking suddenly dry lips, willing to sell his soul at the moment for an iced cold beer to quench the sudden tightness in his throat.

Daniel flinched as if burned, pulling his hand back, tucking it under his armpit. "Um yeah...see the difference? One is... and the other is..." Daniel took a step back until his ass was once again hugging the counter.

"Well can I?" Jack whispered.

"Can you....oh. Why do you want to? I mean if you have a desire to touch my ass...I'd at least like to know why."

Jack raised his hands in surrender. "I'm not too sure why, Daniel. Curiosity, okay?"

"What are you curious about? That it'll feel good?" Daniel turned around resting his elbows on the counter, offering his ass, with a slight wiggle, to the dumbfounded Colonel behind him. "Go ahead...feel away." Daniel wiggled again for emphasis. "Jack...are you feeling yet? 'Cause I don't sense your hands down there."

Silence, utter silence. Daniel slowly turned to find Jack's gaze pinned downward to what had been the vicinity of his ass. Daniel followed Jack's line of vision to see what now held the older man's attention, since his ass was again firmly planted against the cabinets. Daniel screwed his eyes shut, feeling the rise of a blush creeping over his body when he realized Jack's eyes were staring at his groin area. Swallowing audibly he asked, in a voice that seemed to be a pitch higher than normal, "Do you want to touch that also?" In Daniel's mind he pictured his already engorged cock screaming "ask me...ask me."

Jack raised his head, meeting Daniel's eyes, a knowledgeable little smirk appearing on his face. "Can I?"

Daniel found himself nodding yes, when he really wanted to say no...nyet, nada, kree...anything but yes. He even tried to get his hands to cover the area that Jack seemed so enamored with, but like his head, they also refused to obey any commands. So like damned ET with that pointer finger, Daniel watched mesmerized as Jack ran his offending finger along the outline of Daniel's zipper.

"Oh." The two men uttered simultaneously, Daniel's came out more as a moan while Jack's was one of surprise, as Daniel's cock hardened at his slight touch.

"Nice." Jack said shaking his head.

"Oh damn it, Jack." Daniel shouted. "It's Friday night...we're supposed to meet Sam and Janet..." he looked over Jack's shoulder at the oven clock, "in twenty minutes. Couldn't you have just kept your hands to yourself?"

Jack took a step closer, and Daniel backed up until he was sure the imprint of the cabinet knobs were going to be embedded in his ass.

"Can you deny that it felt good, Daniel?"

Embarrassed, Daniel hung his head. "Well it's been awhile, except for my own..." Blushing at his own admission worried his lower lip before responding. "Yes."

"So? If it felt good...and honestly although today may have been the first time I actually touched you...I've been touching you a lot in here." Open mouthed, Daniel watched Jack tap his temple.

"You've been thinking about me?" Daniel squeaked.

"That's one way to put it. Yeah, you could say thinking was part of the process."

"We're guys, and you're Air Force...and this is against regulations and you could...and we're guys..."

Jack sighed before offering his explanation. "Daniel, you're my best friend."

"That's it, Jack. That's the explanation of why my body parts have become so fascinating to you all of sudden? Because I'm your best friend? I mean Sam's one of my best friends and you don't see me entertaining thoughts of touching her."

"Besides the fact that Carter would kill you if you touched her...tell me why you haven't entertained any thoughts of touching her?"

"Because."

"You're a linguist and the only word you can think of is because? Come on, you can do better than that."

"Jack, what the hell do you want from me? I offered you my ass, I let you touch my..." Daniel pointed downward to his crotch. "What do you want from me?"

Jack opened his mouth to answer, but Daniel took a breath and just kept talking. "You want my friendship...you've got it...you know that. I'll give you love, and devotion...hell is this...is this what you want?"

Daniel reached forward grabbing Jack by the shirt and pulling him close, latching his lips onto Jack's. All intentions of backing away from this practical joke kiss were halted when Jack cupped the back of Daniel's head, pulling him in deeper. A tongue knocked on closed lips. Daniel permitted access to Jack, allowing him to delve into the depths of his mouth. Tongues touching, tentatively at first then warring for placement caused Jack to moan into Daniel's mouth, sending a thrill of vibration through his whole body.

Separating, the two men looked at each other wide eyed and panting, Daniel licking his lips. "Stop that," Jack admonished. "Please stop that." He adjusted Daniel's glasses and stepped back, allowing Daniel personal space.

Moment passed, silence ensued, stretching into uncomfortableness. "Say something, Daniel, please?"

Daniel could feel a smile spreading over his face, accompanying the feeling of warmth through his body. "Um...that was different."

"Different in like ewww different...or different like in wow...I would like to try that again different."

"Definitely not ewww...no definitely not ewww. Maybe bordering on wow...but I'm thinking more research needs to be done in that area before I can give you back a mission report."

Jack lightly traced the outline of Daniel's nipple through his thin shirt. "More research...I can handle more research. You gonna take notes?"

The ringing phone interrupted any further conversation and Daniel reached sideways, grabbing it from its wall mount to answer. He cleared his throat before he responded with a "Hello" followed by an "okay"...followed by "we're on our way," ending the conversation with a "sorry."

"I know...I know." Jack countered. "That was Carter, she wanted to know where the hell we are, right?"

"Well I didn't want to tell her we were in my kitchen doing ... umm... research...I'm thinking that would arouse suspicion. So I guess we need to get going." As Daniel stepped away from the counter, he brushed past Jack, surprised when he was pulled in for a quick kiss on the lips. "Research?" Daniel inquired.

"If that's what you want to call it."

Daniel jumped as he felt a hand on his ass. "Jack! Did you just touch my ass?"

"Research, Daniel. All in the name of research."