Jackson

Jackson groaned as the first rays of the Murario sun hit the windows. The nights were known to be a bit shorter than on Earth, and that was maybe a reason for the excessive dryness of the climate. He felt a little guilty about complaining about the lack of warm water, when people here had to fight more serious problems. It was not like he had gotten his beauty sleep, but he had no desire to rest more than strictly needed, seeing that he could be in quite a terrible situation without even knowing it too well.

He needed to check if Dana was already awake. The guy needed to make good on his promise and show him how handy he was with those guns.

He was about to call the guy out loud, but his words died in his throat as soon as he saw the boy sleeping half naked on the couch. That big round butt was barely covered by plain black underwear that stretched nicely over it. Jackson almost smashed one toe into a corner, as his eyes remained glued to that glorious sight. Okay, a guy was not supposed to have that kind of ass. He quickly turned and walked back into the bedroom. Only after taking care of his morning ritual of washing, brushing, and cleaning, he called again.

"Dana, are you still asleep?"

He hoped his voice was loud enough to wake up that sleeping beauty. Eventually, a sleepy voice replied.

"Where is it burning?"

"Are you decent? Can I come in?" he asked, as he adjusted his suit and took a critical look in the only small mirror in the room.

"Decent? What do you mean? I saw you naked," the boy called in that brazen tone of his.

"True enough, but I'd rather say it was completely accidental, and I wasn't inviting you to watch. Also, I would like to be spared the sight of you in the buff first thing in the morning."

There were long seconds of silence after that, but he could tell, by the rustling of clothes, that his bodyguard was dressing up. When Dana came into his room and nonchalantly headed for the bathroom, he paused.

"Is this the only bathroom?"

"Yeap, Your Highness, I'm sorry, but you'll have to live with the idea of sharing a bathroom with me. Also, I need to brush my teeth, as otherwise, I might just damage you with my stinky morning breath. Right after you escaped the torture of seeing me naked," the boy added and slammed the door to the bathroom behind him.

"You have no idea," Jackson grunted. Remembering that glorious ass dressed in nothing but thin cotton undies was not good for him.

He decided to wait for Dana in the so called living room. He examined the content of the cabinet holding the food and decided to just skip breakfast for now. He was used to food prepared by chefs, but it was not his palate that was preventing him from eating what was readily available. He just had no idea how to eat what was there. Or what was edible.

Dana returned after a few minutes with a miffed expression on his pretty face. He went to the food cabinet, grabbed something that looked like a bun and began eating. Jackson pretended to look away.

"Aren't you eating anything?" Dana asked.

He hesitated. There was no need to act all knowingly when he was practically as far away from home as he had ever been.

"I would like to, but your food is strange."

All right, even he knew that must have sounded like an insult. But, to his surprise, Dana rummaged through the cabinet and offered him a bun just like what he was eating.

"Here. My friend says that it's pretty much like what you call a sandwich on Earth. Only that it's all combined."

"Thank you," Jackson took the bun and sank his teeth in it. "Wow, this is really good," he said appreciatively.

"Well, my dad says that I got the recipe spot on. I like making a bunch of them, so I can eat them over a few days."

"You ... made this?" Jackson pointed at the bun with an incredulous look on his face.

***

Dana

Damn, wasn't he a little prick? Dana thought as Jackson was holding the food like it was some foreign object. Of course, on Earth, no one cooked. She had heard that only robots cooked there. Women were way too emancipated for that. But she liked cooking, and she was not going to start feeling ashamed because of that.

"If you don't like it, don't eat it," she made a move to grab the food from his hand.

He withdrew with a hungry look on his face.

Stolen story; please report.

"Who says I don't like it?" he glared at her and took a mouthful, his eyes never leaving hers. "It's just that I didn't picture you like someone who would cook. Are you studying to become a chef?"

Dana guffawed. If he was genuine, he was a precious thing. And if he was not, he was at least funny.

"No, I'm just ... I like to do that once in a while. Wait, what kind of person do you think I am?"

He shrugged.

"I don't know, the badass type. You know, all bang bang and boom boom,” he said, while making a small gesture as he was cocking a gun. “Like in action movies."

"Really?" she smiled at him. "Do you think I'm a badass?"

"You're wearing a ton of weapons on you. Of course you are. So, you must forgive me if I could not picture you in a white apron, trying sauces and experimenting with fusion cooking."

"You speak a bit funny."

"Well, if I'm funny, that means you're entertained and, if that is the case, than you have forgiven me."

"Forgive you? For what?"

"For being rude to you earlier."

"Are you always like this? Sorry about things? Afraid you might hurt someone's feelings?"

"I suppose. My job is to ensure everyone's happy."

For someone with such a job, there was a pretty serious look on his face when he said that. Dana shook her head.

"Just eat," she said, but she could not stop smiling, as she stole glances in his direction, secretly enjoying the small sounds of delight he made as he ate her food.

"Thank you for the meal," he pressed his palms together and bowed slightly.

"You're welcome," she replied, feeling embarrassed with his reaction and not wanting to let him know she was affected by his behavior. "Let's go. You wanted to see my weapons in action, right?"

"Yes, definitely," he took a handkerchief out of his chest pocket and patted his lips.

Dana wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Are you going to prance around, dressed up like this?" she pointed at his clothes.

He looked drop dead gorgeous in his clothes. And that was a problem.

"What's wrong with the way I'm dressed?" he asked, a small frown on his face.

"You're too flashy," she shrugged and added, seeing that he seemed not to understand the concept. "You're like one of those birds in a thousand colors."

"But I'm wearing black!" he replied, throwing his arms to the sides in a theatrical gesture.

"It must be your personality," she said wryly, still salty over the fact that he considered seeing her naked some kind of punishment he didn't want to be subjected to. Really, for a guy whose job was to make people feel good, he was doing a shitty job. Not all the time, though, but, whatever.

"I can hardly change that!" he protested. "What do you suggest?"

"We should dress you up in something more appropriate. You look like a character from a 19th century book."

"So give me some of your clothes," he said quickly.

"Yeah, right," she snorted. "We're not the same size."

"Yes, you're short."

She had no idea why but that rubbed her the wrong way, so she got into his face and tried to stare him down somehow. Jackson didn’t look impressed.

"Then that's too bad, because I think the only thing in my closet that would fit you is a dress," she said.

Now his eyes grew wide and he gulped nervously.

"Do you have a dress in your closet?" he asked.

"What? Is it so impossible to picture me wearing a dress?"

He hesitated for a second.

"Is that a trick question?" he asked again, and the worst part was that he seemed serious about it.

She groaned and buried her face into the balls of her fists.

"I'll see what I can do."

She flicked open her phone.

"Hi, Bella, yeap, it's little ol me. Hey, do you still have your brother's old clothes somewhere? No time to explain. I'm like on a mission or something. My dad asked me to. Thanks a bunch. Who's awesome? You're awesome. Kisses!"

The look on Jackson's face was priceless when she cut off her convo with Isabella.

"What?" she snapped.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" he blurted out.

"Isabella? Well, she's a friend, and she's a girl, so I suppose you can call her that. Wait, are you asking me if I'm like ... you know, with her?"

"Nonsense," he turned and pretended to examine very carefully an old book left on a shelf.

"Wait," she giggled. "Wait, wait, wait. Are you like jealous or something?"

"Me? Jealous?"

***

Jackson

Well, he was. Dana had seemed pretty close with that girl on the phone. What was the nature of their relationship? And wasn't the young man not into girls anyway? Maybe he swung both ways. He wasn't judging. On Earth, people were all the colors possible, not only of the rainbow. But he was just a bit conservative when it came to this. No matter how much he needed to display himself when meeting foreign commissaries, he was into women and women only. And Dana, apparently. Which was pretty annoying. Especially since the guy seemed the type to play the field. So he felt the need to be a little obnoxious.

"Does she know?" he asked, averting the discussion from his supposed jealousy.

"Know what?"

"That you're hitting on guys. Is she okay with that?"

"Isabella?" the boy asked like he couldn’t understand the question. "Of course she's okay with that. Actually, she can barely wait for me to get some of that," he added.

He looked at the other utterly shocked. But while his words had seemed daring, Dana's cheeks were in flames and very much visible, despite his dark complexion.

"Oh," Jackson replied. "So I'm some sort of experiment for you?"

"Don't flatter yourself," the young man snorted. "You're so not my type."

"Do you have a type? What is it?"

***

Dana

Blond, tall, and Earthian, she wanted to yell at him. Instead, she chose to lie. It was not like he was interested in her anyway.

"I don't know. Someone who knows how to throw a punch," she shrugged.

Jackson stiffened.

"So you think I cannot throw a punch?"

"I'll believe it when I see it," she replied. "Stay right here. I'm going to get clothes for you. Don't do anything stupid."

"Like what?"

"Like starting to roam around on your own. Who knows why may happen to a pretty boy like you."

"Dana Drake, you're a pain in the ass and I don't like you," he said squarely and turned his back on her.

"Wow, where is the guy saying his job is to make everyone feel good?" she spat.

"I suppose I could, but with a porcupine like you, I suppose that's impossible."

"A what?!"

"Or a hedgehog. Something with spikes. But still cute. Yet vicious."

She was lucky he was turned away from her. Dana felt like choking on her own words. How could he insult her and compliment her at the same time?

"Now go fetch me those clothes. Come on, shoo," he spoke again.

"I'm not your servant," she hissed.

"It's your idea to change my clothes. I can go out like this. After all, a pretty boy like me can count on a badass bodyguard like you to fend off any attacks, right?"

She mumbled under her breath and made sure to slam the door hard behind her. She hated Jackson Marmy like she never hated anyone. But she also wanted to kiss him for calling her pretty and cute. How could he speak like that and still act like such an airhead around her?

***

Isabella was waiting in front of the building. She opened the trunk of her car.

"Here is everything. I hope you'll find something. I hope they're not for you, though. You know Frank is pretty tall."

"No, not for me, for a guy."

"A guy? Wait, what guy? Do you have someone over, Dana Drake? And you dare keeping your mouth shut?"

Isabella pushed her ginger hair out of her face, just to show how irritated she was with all of Dana's secrecy. But her green eyes were all a sparkle.

"Quit it," Dana murmured, but her lips quirked into a smile. "It's not what you think. It's a job I took for dad. It's this asshole I need to take care of. And his clothes are stupid."

Isabella put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

"How much of an asshole is he? Wait, why are you smiling? What are you hiding from me?"

"Ha, ha, you should see your face," Dana guffawed. "Really, I cannot tell you. It's only because it's work. There's nothing I want more but to gossip with you about this guy."

"But didn't you say he's an asshole? Why waste your breath on him?"

"Because he's a sexy asshole, that's why," Dana replied, while grabbing some clothes that seemed that would fit the sexy asshole.

"Wow, now I'm tingling all over," Isabella got excited. "Where is he from?"

Dana hesitated. Suddenly, she got a hold of herself. She had promised his dad.

"What's the matter?" Isabella sensed her change of attitude.

Dana looked around, having a sudden bout of foreboding. The street seemed a bit too quiet for her taste.

"I'll take these, okay?" she grabbed the clothes. "Talk to you later, Bella."

Her friend embraced her, now quiet as well.

"Take care, D, alright?" she said affectionately and smooched her cheek.

"I always do."

She followed her friend's car with her eyes, and not because there was a reason to watch Bella leave. She was waiting for a move. When nothing happened, she went back to her apartment.

TBC