"Hey Jason," Johnny calls out as he walks up the beach to the outdoor bar the cast and crew of Pirates has taken over in the two weeks that they've been on St. Vincent. "How's it going?"

Jason has been sitting on a stool, nursing a drink that involves a lot of rum and a little paper umbrella, and staring out at the ocean. He smiles at Johnny. "Not bad," he says. "I see you managed to avoid getting knocked around too badly this afternoon." 

"And I found time to get groomed, so I'm feeling pretty good," Johnny says, stretching his wings out a little before sitting down. "I'll have what he's having," he calls to the waitress, grinning at her with a flash of gold teeth.

"I don't envy you having to do all of those bits in the water," Jason tells him. "But all in all, it's looking quite good. I can't wait to see it with all the CGI in." When the waitress brings Johnny's drink, Jason raises his glass in a toast. "To piracy."

"To the Pearl," Johnny says with a grin. He weaves and bobs a little in Jack Sparrow's trademarked fashion. He looks at Jason a little more seriously after he drinks; the fight coordinator has been quieter and even a little withdrawn since they got to the island.

Everyone's noticed Jason's change in attitude and it was Orlando who told Johnny that Jason's probably missing Viggo and the closeness of the winged community in New Zealand. "I'd try to fuck him out of it," Orli'd said to Johnny, "but I'm too much a part of that past to help."

And so here Johnny is, determined to at least offer Jason a shoulder and more if he wants it. He likes Jason and enjoys working with him. Furthermore, the couple of times he tumbled into sex with the man back in California had been damn good. Hardly a sacrifice to offer that again, he thinks with a mental grin.

Jason drinks and looks out over the water again. It's not the first time he's been on such an isolated shoot--and that's part of the problem. Too much about it all reminds him of Rings, and of Viggo. We're still friends--we didn't part on bad terms--but it's still hard, somehow. I'd thought...I'd hoped he was someone I could settle down and nest with.

"So," Johnny says, abandoning any pretense of subtlety. "You want someone to drink with, talk to, or screw? Or all three? Because you're kind of stuck with me tonight." He gives Jason a lopsided smile that implies he's joking, which he is, up to a point. If he tells me point blank to fuck off, I will, but it'll take something that blunt.

"Oh, all three is sounding good," Jason says, grinning. "Though depending on how coherent you want me to be, the order of operations will definitely matter." He reaches out and lightly strokes Johnny's hair. "But I'm definitely up for another go, if you're game."

"I'm good however you want it," Johnny says, "long as you don't get too drunk to fuck. Orli's off with Kiera tonight and you wouldn't want your star pupil to get all lonely, now would you?" He tries to imitate Orlando's big puppy dog look, something he knows looks ridiculous coming from him.

Jason tosses back the rest of his drink and stands. "Somehow, I doubt that you'd be too lonely, but be that as it may..." He holds out a hand to Jonny. "I'm thinking that we can maybe start with the fucking part, and go from there?" Jason had enjoyed the evenings he'd spent with Johnny, and right now, a good shag seems like just the thing to get him to stop being so broody.

"I like the way you think," Johnny says. Jason's like most winged people, utterly casual about sex. Well casual sex, Johnny thinks, which suits him just fine. In spite of not being winged herself, Vanissa understands how it is and as long as Johnny keeps to the winged tradition of saving "real" sex for his primary partner, she doesn't mind his fooling around.

"Your place or mine, mate?" Jason asks, wrapping both arms and wings around Johnny and leaning in for a kiss.

After kissing Jason back with enthusiasm, his wings sliding along the other man's, Johnny pulls back. "Mine has a balcony; we could do it looking at the ocean."

"Oh, now, that sounds perfect..." Jason smiles. "Which one's yours?" he asks, turning towards the hotel.

"Up at the top there," Johnny says, with a grin, pointing out the broad balcony on the 12th floor of the hotel. "No one to look down from the balcony above and see what we're doing." Knowing what Jason had in mind, he moves just far enough away from Jason and springs into the air, his dark brown wings moving in a strong down-stroke that carries him aloft.

Jason laughs aloud as he bends his knees deeply and launches himself into the air with a powerful leap, his black wings beating steadily as he gains altitude. The currents are warm and inviting, and he can't help making a couple of passes around the hotel for fun, taking advantage of the last lingering rays of sunlight.

"Show off," Johnny calls from the balcony. He doesn't mind; in fact if he weren't being so careful not to strain his muscles, he'd be out there with Jason.

"I just couldn't resist," Jason explains as he lands. "It's so bloody gorgeous out there, and no phone lines or power cables to get in the way. Makes up for the whole not being able to swim thing." For a moment, he has an image of Viggo diving into a lake, and he has to close his eyes. When he opens them again, he's smiling. "Right now, though, I want to see what's under your skirt."

"It's a sarong," Johnny protests, "not a skirt." He hooks his thumbs in the waist of the sarong and pushes it down just a little lower, revealing even more tanned skin. "More skin," he says. "And no other clothing."

Jason bends down and licks a line from Jonny's navel down to the edge of the sarong. "Whatever you call it, it's yummy," he purrs.

"You hungry?" Johnny teases, reaching for the place where the sarong is tucked closed. He pulls it free but doesn't let the sarong drop just yet.

"Starving" Jason murmurs. "And if you don't get me inside soon, I may just have to ravish you right here on this very balcony."

"Thought we were gonna stay here," Johnny says, finally letting the sarong drop. "No one can see us. Probably."

"Oh. Well, then..." Jason drops to his knees and takes Johnny's cock in his mouth. He's always loved doing this, and he does it well.

"Goddamn," Johnny mutters, making the words sound less like a curse and more like a prayer. "So fucking good." He brings his wings around Jason, sliding them over Jason's wings and shoulders.

Jason shivers, loving the feeling of Johnny's soft feathers sliding over his skin. He moans hungrily as he sucks, sliding his tongue under Johnny's foreskin and ruffling his feathers against Johnny's.

"Oh yeah," Johnny moans, one hand sliding easily over Jason's smooth scalp. "Fuck yeah." He bends a little and moves his other hand down Jason's chest until he finds a nipple ring, which he begins to tug.

"Mmmmm..." Jason squirms, his cock getting fully hard the minute Johnny touches the ring in his sensitive nipple. Johnny tastes wonderful, smoky and salty at once. Jason swallows more of him, letting the muscles of his throat work along Johnny's shaft.

"Jason," Johnny gasps, and then he can't say any more. Clutching Jason's shoulder, he yells incoherently and comes hard, almost falling before he remembers to lock his knees.

Jason grabs hold of Johnny's hips to steady him, wings beating against Johnny's as he tilts his head back to swallow. Gently stroking Johnny's legs, he slowly pulls away, giving the other man's cock a couple more tiny licks.

"Damn," Johnny says softly. "Damn. That was amazing." He slides down to his knees, drawing his wings back as he leans in for a long kiss.

Jason kisses Johnny back enthusiastically, bringing his wings around to rub against Johnny's.

After a long moment spent enjoying the taste of himself in Jason's mouth Johnny pulls back. "Hands or mouth?" he asks, his hands moving down Jason's chest to toy with the rings there. "Or both?" he adds, moving in to nuzzle Jason's neck.

"Oh, I'd a greedy bastard--definitely both," Jason tells him. "Mm...yeah. Both sounds lovely...." Jason leans back to give Johnny better access to him.

"Mmmm," Johnny murmurs as he kisses his way up Jason's neck to the other man's smooth scalp. "I like this greedy bastard." He moves one hand around and under Jason's arm to tease at the sensitive wing joint.

"Oh God..." Jason moans. He loves having that spot rubbed, and his wings flutter as Johnny's fingers brush over his skin. "Fuck, that feels good."

Still running his fingers over the wing joint, Johnny moves his other hand slowly down Jason's chest, fingers teasing and stroking the smooth, tattooed skin. "You feel so good. Smell good too." It's true, Jason smells like sun and sandalwood and sweat, and Johnny breathes in deeply as his fingers toy with the wiry hair at the base of Jason's cock.

Jason whimpers, the light caresses driving him wild. He reaches down so he can run his fingers through the dark satin of Johnny's hair. "In a year or so I may have to ask you to stop that," he says, sounding rather breathless.

"Does that mean you want me to leave your cock alone?" Johnny asks, nipping at one of Jason's ears.

"God! No, please..." Jason groans, tightening his fingers in Johnny's hair.

Snickering, Johnny trails one finger down the length of Jason's erection and down to his balls, which Johnny rolls carefully. "Got you now, don't I?"

Trying to keep a straight face, Jason mutters, "Bloody pirates..."

"Arrrr," Johnny says in his best Geoffrey imitation. "Be sitting back now, you scurvy dog and I'll be showin' ye a few tricks."

Jason bursts out laughing at that. "Aye, Captain," he says when he can breathe again. "But I hear it's really just a matter of...leverage."

"I can lever anything," Johnny says, reaching back to tease Jason's opening. "I'm Jack Sparrow, savvy?

Any reply that Jason can think of is lost in a sound somewhere between a moan and a giggle. "You're a wicked man, you are...God...oh..."

Backing up a little, Johnny bends and lowers his mouth slowly over Jason's cock, taking it in inch by sensitive inch as he continues to tease Jason's hole. Guess we now know how to shut Jack Sparrow up, he thinks with as much of a smile as he can manage.

Jason trembles, wings outstretched and rustling loudly. He's not thinking of anything now except how good Johnny's mouth feels, how warm and wet and incredibly talented his tongue and fingers are, and how much he doesn't want to come just yet, but he's not sure he can help it.

Hearing Jason's wings rustle, Johnny backs off a little, sliding his finger into his mouth before slowly pushing it into Jason. "Not yet," he says. "Not yet." He bends his head again, this time to lick and nibble at Jason's thighs as he works his finger in deeper.

"Trying..." Jason gasps..."So close, though...please..." he begs, completely gone now.

"No you're not," Johnny says, with a little chuckle that sends warm air gusting over Jason's cock. "No coming yet," he says a little more firmly as he works a second finger into Jason. God he's tight; wish we didn't have that whole thing about "real" sex being all meaningful, because I'd love to fuck him.

Jason whimpers again, squirming, his wings beating furiously. "You're...gonna make me...fall...like Orli did..." he complains, arching up a little into Johnny's mouth.

"Not likely," Johnny says pulling his mouth away before Jason can reach it with his cock. "You're sitting on the floor of the balcony, not the railing." Before Jason can answer he bends his head and moves his mouth swiftly down over Jason's cock, sucking hard as he thrusts his fingers hard into Jason's arse.

"God! Please, dammit, Johnny!" Jason throws back his head, tightening around Johnny's fingers and trying to thrust into his mouth at the same time.

"Mmmm hmmm," Johnny hums, brushing Jason's prostate as he sucks just a little harder. Yeah Jason, come for me now.

Taking that as permission, Jason cries out, his body arched into a perfect bow as he comes into Johnny's mouth, wings extended and beating wildly.

Swallowing hard, Johnny doesn't let up until he knows Jason's just on the edge where sensitivity becomes pain. With a gentle kiss to Jason's lower stomach, Johnny sits back and pulls Jason with him, holding the other man close.

Jason leans into Johnny, tilting his head up for a kiss and almost purring into Johnny's mouth. "Thank you," he whispers, idly stroking Johnny's wings with his fingers.

"It was pretty mutual, savvy?" Johnny says, with a little chuckle. "You're fucking gorgeous when you come."

Snuggling close, Jason grins. "Definitely mutual--not to say that you're not fucking gorgeous in general. Or gorgeous fucking. Whichever."

"Flatterer," Johnny says. "You're as much a pin up boy as I am." There are times when he finds it amusing to think that teenaged girls once had his picture alongside Jason's on their walls back when he was the next teen idol and Jason was the hottest thing on skis. "C'mon inside. I don't have any tiny umbrellas, but I've got rum and pineapple juice."

"Aha! So that's where the rum's gone!" Jason gets up and puts an arm around Johnny's waist, kissing him once more before they head inside.

"But why's the rum gone?" Johnny says. He laughs as he heads toward the small bar in the living room of his suite. "I fucking love this script, you know? It's so much fun."

"It's really brilliant," Jason agrees. "Especially because it's clear that everyone's having fun with it." He claims one of the sky-chairs and stretches his legs out in front of him on the attached hassock.

"I think Orli's taking it a bit seriously," Johnny says with a smile. "He needs to lighten up a bit." Handing Jason a rum and pineapple juice -- light on the juice -- he flops into a low backed chair and reaches across to rest his hand casually on Jason's calf.

"Ta, love." Jason takes a healthy swig from his glass. "I'm a little surprised by that, actually," Jason continues. "He wasn't like that at all during Rings."

"I get the feeling he's a little unsettled," Johnny says, as he mixes his own drink. "He's the romantic lead after all. Bit of a big thing for him."

"True enough. I suppose it's a bit nerve-wracking when you've just had your big break." Jason takes another drink and chuckles. "Especially when you've got teenage girls sending your their undies in the post. You remember that phase, don't you? Half the world wanting in your pants and the other half just waiting for you to fuck it all up."

"Oh hell yeah," Johnny says. "He'll loosen up eventually." He suddenly grins. "And I'll say one thing for him; he knows how to have fun. Says you taught him a lot of that."

Jason laughs. "Well, I certainly tried. We all did on that shoot. It was...there's really nothing to compare it to." He sighs. "We all got so close. I thought...." Jason drains his glass. "You've been married for a while, haven't you?"

"Not married, but we might as well be," Johnny says, getting up to make Jason another drink. "Several years, one kid and another on the way." He pours just a splash of juice into a glass of rum and brings it over to Jason. "She's not winged either, which makes it more unusual that we've lasted this long." He pauses to smile fondly. "She's amazing."

"Mmm...thanks. How'd you know, then? I mean, that she was the one?" Jason downs half of the rum. "I thought--well. I just don't know how you're supposed to be sure."

"I didn't know at first," Johnny says, knowing that Jason's talking about Viggo. "Thought she was just another wing fangirl, only a lot prettier than most." He looks thoughtful as he continues. "It was only after we'd been together for about a year that I realized ... she just fit, you know?"

"Ah." Jason stares into his glass. "I never really thought about it much, when I was skiing, y'know? It's just now, I'm starting to want to...to nest. Settle down, have kids..." He finishes off his drink and holds it out to Johnny, his expression mournful. "Why's the rum gone?"

Glad they had sex before Jason started drinking, Johnny laughs. It's not," he says, quickly making another drink, this one a little heavier on the juice than the rum. "Welcome to the Caribbean, love," he says in Jack Sparrow's voice as he hands the drink to Jason. Mixing another for himself, he smiles.

"It's great being a dad," he says. "My boy hasn't got wings, but we know the one on the way will. It's not gonna make a bit of difference; they could both be winged or wingless. It's a great feeling."

Jason raises his glass in Johnny's general direction. I'll have to drink these faster--damned overactive metabolism. "Yeah," he says wistfully. "It was great being with Dylan and Lucinda. We stayed with this flock in Laramie, too--Wyoming, believe it or not--and they had a bunch of kids. I loved being there with them, y'know?" He looks at Johnny curiously. "Was it hard, being in love with someone who's not winged?"

"It's tough at times," Johnny says. "We live sort of by ourselves; we've got an apartment in a building that houses a flock, mostly artists and models. So it's kind of best of both worlds." He finishes his drink and moves to make another.

"And we have a deal; I can fool around with anyone with wings, because that's something I can't have with her. And she's got a girlfriend, wingless, so she can have something different too." He pauses for a moment. "So, Viggo," Johnny finally continues, hesitating a little before saying the name. "He didn't want kids?"

"No..." Jason says slowly. "Wasn't just that, though. We were just too different, when it came down to it. I mean, I'm pretty green and all, but I'm really a city boy at heart, and I like my computers and video games and internet connection. I guess we just didn't mesh." He sighs and takes another drink. "Hadn't felt like that about anybody in a really long time."

"I'm sorry," Johnny says, reaching out to slide his hand along Jason's leg. "All the things I could say ... well you've probably either thought them or heard them before."

"S'okay." Jason slides a hand over Johnny's. "Thanks for listening to me whinge about it." He's silent for a long moment, and then he says, "Funny. When I think about it--the whole settling down thing--these days, it's usually a guy I'm thinking about."

"Really?" Johnny asks. "I, well obviously, love sex with guys, but I always intended to settle down with a woman."

"That's what I always thought I wanted, too. But when I close my eyes and picture the person I want to spend the rest of my life with--it's a bloke. Which may make the having kids thing a little tricky," He adds with a wry smile.

"You're involved in the IWCF, aren't you?" Johnny asks, fairly sure that he's seen Jason's name on the list of celebrities involved with the group that looks after the rights of winged children in developing nations. "You know that it's possible to adopt."

"That's true!" Jason bounces a little. "Of course! There are lots of winged kids in really awful situations who need parents who can take care of them. Just need to find Mr. Right." He slides out of the chair and goes back over to the bar, this time only waving the pineapple juice in the general direction of the rum. "More for you, mate?"

"Sure," Johnny says, a little awed at the amount Jason can drink and still be upright. "Not letting you fly home though," he adds with a smirk. "Might want you for ... oh something in the morning."

"A little wakeup call, eh?" Jason brings the bottle over to Johnny and tops off his glass. "'m not too drunk to fly, mind. Used to do it all the time on the weekends in flight school. Go up and ski, then come back and get smashed on vodka and peppermint schnapps, and fuck and fly back to the dorms."

"Christ that sounds good," Johnny says, taking a sip of the rum. "Did mine in Florida; nice place near the ocean. And yeah we did a fair amount of drinking and flying. All very frowned upon, but I was one of the bad kids. Had a band and everything."

 
"A band? Really? What'd you play?" Jason sits up a little, wings fluttering.

"Oh God," Johnny says, a little embarrassed. "Sort of punk. A garage band and then some small gigs. Best we ever did was to open for Iggy once."

"Hey, that's pretty fucking impressive, if you ask me." Jason nods sagely. "'Course, you're talking to a man who couldn't carry a tune in a bucket." He sighs. "Not good for much, really, but skiing and showing other people how to fight."

"Oh don't even start that," Johnny says. "Because if I have to make the speech about you being an inspiration to countless winged kids everywhere, I won't have time for any drinking."

"That would be tragic," Jason says, quite seriously. "We can't have that. I'll stop being maudlin, then." He smiles. "And really, I don't have much to complain about. Life's been pretty damned good."

"You sound like you're ancient or something," Johnny protests. "You're not even 40 yet."

"Almost there, aren't I? Being around Orli sure makes me feel old. Of course, I can only hope that when I really am old, I'm as good as Bob still is." Jason takes another drink and shakes his head. "Man's fucking incredible."

"He is," Johnny agrees, deciding that the chair isn't comfortable any more. He moves off it to stretch out on the thick soft carpet, lazily extending his wings a little. "What did you want to do when you were a kid?" he asks.

Jason smiles, his expression wistful. "Would you believe, I wanted to be a lawyer, like my brother?

"Seriously?" Johnny asks with a surprised grin. He looks at Jason, taking in the tattoos and the piercings and the shaved head. "I just can't see it," he continues. "I wanted to be a rock star, so I'm not that far off really."

"S'true! I wanted to be...'normal', I guess. I couldn't fly yet, and the doctors were still saying I might never be able to, so I thought what's the use in having the silly things?" Jason snorts. "I felt like a great bloody penguin."

Everyone knows the story -- how Jason flew too far when he was too young for it to escape some bullies, and how he managed to not only fly later in life, but went on to medal in more than one Winter Olympics -- and Johnny just nods. "Must have sucked. I mean I tried it too young; everyone does -- but never that young."

"It hurt more than just about anything, even that fall I took in Albertville. The worst part was the look on my mum's face, though. She told me she'd been waiting for that call, but when it came, she was still terrified." Jason grins. "My brothers took care of the kids who'd been giving me a rough time, though. Winged or not, you mess with one of the Isaacs lads, you'd best be prepared to take them all on. 'S why I'm all for Winged Pride, but I'm not even remotely a separatist."

"Well, I'm obviously not in that camp," Johnny says with a grin. "It's fucking stupid, really, that whole Winged Nation thing. It's not like we were ever persecuted."

"No, not here. " Jason waves a hand. "But some places, you know...especially with girls. Places like Afghanistan, they clip their pinfeathers so they can't fly. They say that otherwise they won't get married. And in Thailand, winged girls get sold to the brothels for a ton of money. But I know what you mean. It's not like it makes us better or anything, because we can fly. It's a pain in the arse more often than not."

"I think we've been doing a better job lately of telling people," Johnny says. "As much as I hate things like reality shows, having that one guy on the Real World made a difference."

"Oh, definitely," Jason agrees. "It's odd--we're not like everyone else, but we are..." He breaks off, laughing. "That made absolutely no sense, which probably means I've had about enough to drink.

"Made perfect sense to me," Johnny says, getting to his feet. "Which means I need to lure you off to bed because I've had too much as well."

Jason smirks. "You won't have to lure too hard, trust me, mate." He manages to get out of the chair without stumbling and drapes an arm over Johnny's shoulders.

'It'll all work out," Johnny says, much later, when Jason's fast asleep on the big bed. "You'll find the right guy and he's going to be very lucky." He takes one last drag of his cigarette -- the reason for leaving the bed in the middle of the night -- crushes it out and slides back into bed with Jason.

-end-

Notes: We give up. What started out as a crack!fic idea became a whole AU in which a percentage of the population is born with wings. It's a typical Nancy and Ruth situation: we've taken one improbable/impossible thing, added it to the real world and then looked at how the real world works with that addition. It didn't hurt that we had a whole road trip from Salem MA, to Sacramento CA to work the details out. So no, people are not built so that they could have wings and be able to fly, but this is what we think the world would be like if they could. The series title is from Paul Simon's song "Boy in the Bubble."

In this,  Jason is not an actor but was an Olympic skier -- there are winged events at the games -- and is now a fight coordinator. People metioned in this fic: Dylan and Lucinda are the names of the actors who played the young Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann in PotC and Bob is Bob Anderson who coordinated all the non-wing fighting on PotC and LotR.

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