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Colonel Jack O’Neill was a man of action, which made his second favorite activity seem a bit odd. Fishing, with the possible exception of the deep sea variety, didn’t exactly have a lot of action to it. That was probably why Jack liked to do it so much. It was good idea, he thought, to have a hobby completely unlike what you did professionally.
Vacations were rare for members of SG-1, so Jack had grabbed Daniel and high-tailed it out of Colorado when their week off was announced. Barely 12 hours later and he was in Northern Minnesota, sitting on the bank of a remote lake and watching his fishing line disappear into the water with avid interest.
“You know what they say.” Daniel’s voice was quiet, as befit the environment. “A watched fish never bites.”
Jack glanced lazily over at his lover. “That’s what they say, huh?”
Daniel was sitting further back on the bank, under a tree. He had a book with him, but it was open on his lap, totally ignored. Evidently watching Jack was more interesting than whatever Daniel had brought with him to read. For Daniel, that was a hell of a compliment.
“I’m sure they say it somewhere.” Daniel grinned.
Jack grunted, although it was hard to bite back a smile. “If you say so.”
“You know, in the language of the Esiates who live on PD8-170, the word for fish is the same as the word for life.”
“Is it now?” It was said mildly; Jack knew better than to seriously question Daniel’s cultural or lingual knowledge. “Good to know.”
Silence descended again, but it didn’t last long.
“Fishing is one of the oldest food-gathering techniques that we know of. It dates back at least 40,000 years to the Upper Paleolithic period.” Daniel rattled off the facts as simply as if he were reading a grocery list.
Jack grinned. “And yet it hasn’t changed all that much. All a man really needs is a hook, a pole and some bait and he’s set.”
Daniel put his book completely aside and sat up straighter. “It was Thoreau that said ‘Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after.’”
“Daniel,” Jack had a feeling that he knew where all of Daniel’s sudden fascination with fishing was coming from. “Get your ass over here.”
Jack knew he was right when Daniel got up quickly and without complaint. It took a few minutes of maneuvering, but soon Daniel was sitting on the bank in front of Jack, nestled between the older man’s legs and leaning against his back. Daniel was holding the fishing pole, but Jack’s hands were over his, guiding him.
“You just play the fish,” Jack told Daniel. “The trick is to get them to bite onto the bait. It’s harder than it sounds, though, because they’re sneaky little devils. Some fishermen prefer natural bait, but there’s hundreds of thousands of different types of lures and flies.”
“You do realize that fish are not exactly Earth’s most intelligent vertebrates,” there was a smile in Daniel’s voice. “It’s hard to believe there’s a whole industry that revolves around trying to fool a creature that has such a tiny brain relative to body size.”
“Bite your tongue, Danny boy,” Jack corrected him. “This is man against nature at its most primal level.”
Daniel turned in Jack’s arms to look at him in disbelief. “Primal?”
“Yes, primal.” Jack wouldn’t acknowledge Daniel’s teasing. “Now hush up, grasshopper and learn from one of the masters.”
For once, Daniel obeyed Jack. He settled into Jack’s arms and became quiet, but it was a content type of silence. As for Jack, he sat back and enjoyed the twin feelings of warmth, one coming from the sun at his back and the other coming from the man in his arms. Jack had spent many hours fishing during his life, but he’d never had an afternoon of fishing nearly as good, even if he didn’t catch a thing.
Eventually, the sun grew low in the sky and Jack knew it was time to go back to the cabin.
“Hey,” he gently shook Daniel’s elbow. “Ready to go in?”
Daniel was slow to answer and Jack knew that his lover had been napping. “Hmmm… sure.”
The two men got to their feet. Daniel gathered up his book and Jack gathered up his fishing gear.
“Enjoying your vacation so far?” Daniel asked as they headed away from the lake.
“Are you kidding?” Jack leaned over and stole a quick kiss. “I spent my day with my favorite person, doing my second favorite thing in the world.”
Daniel frowned in that way that Jack found so adorable. “Second favorite thing? I thought fishing was your favorite hobby?”
Jack’s smile turned into a leer. “My favorite thing isn't exactly a hobby. . . it’s more of an activity.” He waggled his eyebrows. “And if you do it right, you get really sweaty.”
Daniel caught Jack’s sense of playfulness. “This activity, it wouldn’t be more primal than fishing, would it?”
Jack licked his lips. “Oh, yeah.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Daniel, the cheat, took off for the cabin at a run. “Last one in has to sleep in the wet spot.”
“Oh, Danny,” Jack said softly, not even tempting to race. “You’re assuming that we’re going to be using the bed.”
He gave the lake one last fond look before heading, more slowly, inside. He got fishing and Danny together in one day. Yeah, it was a hell of a vacation and it was only the first day.
~the end~