[ddd; log; Jack]

[reversedpolarity]

Scotty hadn't yet had time that day to check the community; he'd been busy, which wasn't an unusual thing for him, and between one thing and another he'd not only managed to go nearly a whole day without checking up on the community, he'd also managed to go nearly a whole day without remembering to eat. The end of his shift found him tired, hungry, and once again covered in grease; the other day it had been helm relays and piston shafts, today it had been plasma conduits. Cleaning the things was a dull, tedious task, usually delegated to the rookies or anyone who'd been in a bit of trouble, but every now and then Scotty liked to make an example by doing those sorts of jobs himself.

After the plasma conduits it had been an on-going series of other small, menial tasks, but it was a welcome break from paperwork. Now, however, Scotty was off duty and on his way down to the mess hall to grab something to eat before heading back to his quarters. He'd almost made it to his destination when he happened to pass by someone who was both strangely familiar and not wearing a Starfleet uniform. He paused, and turned, and then it hit him. After the few video chats they'd had, he'd recognize that coat anywhere. "Captain?"

Comments

[51stcentury]

Jack smiled as he tried to imagine it. "Ah, yes, the late night nude adventures of young Mr. Scott, I can see it now," he said, chuckling. "It's best that you were out then, though, especially if you burn in the sun. Ianto's lucky that it's very rarely ever sunny in Wales, because otherwise, he's got the exact problem as you. Well, maybe not the nude bit," he said, with a grin, "although I'm trying to work on that one as well. It's a shame that you people are still so hung up on embarrassment about your body." Then again, Jack didn't really know when that started to become less of a problem. It wasn't in his part of the universe, at least, although there was so much sand everywhere, clothes were kind of a necessity, most of the time.

[reversedpolarity]

That earned yet another blush from Scotty, because he just knew that Jack was trying to picture that, and yes, he was very much still hung on up embarrassment about his body, even if the alcohol had made him bold enough to at least share that particular story. "Aye, well. I'm rather fond o' clothes," he said eventually. "I mean. Especially considerin' my line o' work. I don't want tae think about the sort o' accidents that could happen if clothes weren't a cultural requirement." He pushed his sleeves back a bit, so Jack could see his wrists and forearms, which were covered in a spattering of scar tissue. "Arc welder. Now just imagine what'd happen if I used it without wearin' anything."

[51stcentury]

Jack nodded appreciatively, not only of the scars backing up his story, but also of the way they looked. Jack always did like a working man. Half the reason Wales was so enjoyable a place to've ended up, with all of those poor, deprived miners around... But the Master was trying to take over the world, and so even flirting was a bit beyond Jack in that moment. "Nice," Jack said, smiling at the other man.

He moved to pull up his own sleeves, rolling them up to the elbow, so Scotty could see them. "I would show you my battle wounds as well, but. Technology in the 51st century's pretty far out there. People don't generally get scars unless something pretty awful happened." And then all of the really awful things hadn't happened to Jack until after the Doctor, and so. He'd never scar again, as it was. "Needless to say, though, I hear you about the fondness for clothes. At least when you're working with powertools."

[reversedpolarity]

Scotty shrugged, pushing his sleeves back down. Twenty-third century medical technique was good enough to not leave scarring - if the injured party sought medical attention soon enough. "Aye, our medical technology is pretty ace," he told Jack, before adding a bit sheepishly, "It wouldn't've scarred if I'd gone tae Medical, but it didn't seem that important at the time." In fact, Scotty had several scars that he'd managed to keep because of his habit of putting off going to Medical unless it was something life-threatening. After all, keeping the engine running smoothly was far more important than a few scratches or burns. "An' then, with one thing an' another, I.... Well, I sort o' forgot tae go."

[51stcentury]

Jack shook his head at the other man once again, chuckling. "Oh, Scotty," he said, fondly. "Why am I really not too surprised that you'd answer something like that? I'm not reprimanding you, mind. I just... I can see something like that happening all too easily." He shot a grin at the other man. "Still, I'd hope you would go to Medical a bit more often, if clothes were more of an option. I'd hate to have any sort of accidents in that way, y'know?"

[reversedpolarity]

Scotty laughed, at that. "Well. Even without clothes bein' optional, I had a bit of a scare back when I was a cadet. Ah." He must be tipsier than he thought, he realized, if he was sharing this particular story. "So I'm on this freighter, right, doin' a bit more field work in conjunction with bein' at the Academy, an' I'm seein' this girl. Brilliant engineer, she was." Right. He needed more alcohol if he really was going to finish this story. He held up a hand as he paused to take a long swig of brandy, clearing his throat when he was finished. "Alright, so I'm with this girl, an' she convinces me tae, ah, dance with her up in one o' the Jefferies tubes, right. Only I lose my footing an' slip. Sprained my ankle an' cut my leg open. Had fun tryin' tae explain that tae the CMO."

In fact, he'd been so embarrassed by the whole thing that he'd ended up just getting the ankle fixed, without bothering to mention that he'd somehow managed to cut up the inside of his thigh when he'd fallen.

[51stcentury]

Jack found himself wondering just what exactly a Jefferies tube was, and when he could try one out himself, but quickly shook himself of those thoughts. He supposed he'd just have to find out later, he thought to himself. Instead, he listened to Scotty's story, and by the end of it, was chuckling along with the other man. "Ouch," he said, sympathetically. "Guess you're gonna have to find a better way of doing it, next time. Assuming you haven't already. It's been a while since you were a cadet, after all," he said, with a grin.

[reversedpolarity]

If Jack had asked, Scotty would have gladly given him a basic overview of what the Jefferies tubes were - service shafts, most of them, although a few of them connected decks together, and a few others led to the service tunnels hidden out of sight of the corridors. Some, like the one he'd fallen out of, were vertical, and others, horizontal or even on a slight sloping incline. "Well, truth be told, after that I left the Jefferies tubes alone a while." And considering the fact that after the Academy, he'd been too busy to have time for any kind of relationship, he'd been single for years and therefore without any reason to find a better way.

[51stcentury]

And if Jack had known that it'd been years since Scotty'd had a bit of fun, he would've forgone any moping right there and then and suggested they do something just so he wouldn't feel sorry for the other man. But alas, Scotty didn't share, and Jack wasn't really in the mood for that sort of thing anyway, which was definitely out of character for him. "Aw, c'mon," Jack said, taking another swig of his brandy to find he'd finished his second glass. "You're not going to let that beat you, are you? Tell me that the times you got a little adventurous didn't all end up like that, did they?"

[reversedpolarity]

Chances were, if Jack had suggested anything, Scotty would've declined. He wasn't much for casual sex, no matter how adventurous he'd been back when he'd been in the Academy. He'd had a few flings here and there, true, but by now he was content to go without 'dancing'. "Nah, not all o' them," he allowed, chuckling. "Granted, I don't think anything ever came quite so close tae bein' as adventurous as goin' up in the Jefferies tubes. I'm lucky I only sprained my ankle, rather than breakin' it."

[51stcentury]

Jack shook his head again, amused but also feeling slightly sorry for Scotty, that he'd gotten injured during one of the most adventurous sexual moments he'd had. "That's too bad, Mr. Scott," he said, chuckling and shaking his head. "Although like you said, it's good you just sprained it, rather than breaking it. You need to replace that with a better memory sometime, though."

[reversedpolarity]

He waved a hand, grinning. "Enough with the 'Mr. Scott', please," he said, making no comment on Jack telling him he needed to replace the memory of getting injured. "I get enough o' bein' Mr. Scott on duty. It's Scotty, when I'm not workin'."

[51stcentury]

Jack laughed at the other man, setting his glass down on the table in front of him, since it was empty. He leaned forward, his hands on his knees. "Alright, then, Scotty," he said, shaking his head once more. "You need to get out of your engineering room more often. Or at least have more people in there with you. And I don't mean to work with you, either. Give those Jeffries tubes another try, maybe with some more enjoyable results this time, yeah?"

[reversedpolarity]

Scotty couldn't help but flush bright red, at that, even if he'd more or less brought it upon himself. "I think," he said carefully, setting his drink aside, "That I'll have tae forgo anything o' that sort." It was one thing to get up to those sorts of shenanigans as a young twenty-something cadet. It was quite another to do so as Chief of Engineering. "I really couldn't. I've got my job tae consider, y'know, an' if I got caught..."

[51stcentury]

Jack grinned at the blush on Scotty's face, chuckling and shaking his head at Scotty's explanation. "Just because you're your own boss in Engineering doesn't mean that you need to give up ever having a social life other than the ship, you know," he said, smiling at the other man. "Never mind the adventurous stuff, then. You could still be having fun in your off time. Instead of...entertaining melancholy captains with some very good alien alcohol, as the case may be."

[reversedpolarity]

"It's... it's not just that I'm my own boss in Engineerin'," he replied, serious now, even in spite of his blush. "I'm a commandin' officer, tae start with. I make it a rule not tae see anyone in my own department, an' preferably not anyone lower in rank, because I've got that responsibility as Lieutenant Commander, an' I can't afford any sort o' emotional attachment that might affect my ability tae take command. On top o' that... I don't know if you've noticed, but a good number o' the crew... They're all years an' years younger than I am." He shook his head then, and offered Jack a small smile. "Besides, I wouldn't say that entertainin' melancholy captains with good alien alcohol isn't fun. I'm enjoyin' the company."

[51stcentury]

Jack chuckled, a little darkly, but it was a chuckle nonetheless. "Never let age stop you, Scotty," he said. "Not unless the person's way too young to be in a relationship. I never let it get in the way for me, after all. Ianto's way younger than I am, that's for sure." Of course, if Jack limited the people he involved himself with to people that were his own age...he'd never be involved with anyone ever. "Don't make yourself out to be an old man, Scotty. You're still young. Still capable of having a bit of fun here and there."

"Not," he said, cocking his head slightly, "that I'm not appreciating the company, of course. Or the brandy. Which was good, by the way. Definitely got to get my hands on some more of that, somehow."

[reversedpolarity]

He shook his head again, and reached over to refill both Jack's glass and his own. "It's not just the age difference. It's my position on the ship, mostly. I haven't got time tae spare, for one thing, an' for another... Like I said. I'm a commandin' officer. If I weren't in a command position, maybe, but considerin' I outrank most o' the crew..." Another shake of his head, and he smiled again, adding, "The ship's good company, if not much for conversation."

[51stcentury]

Jack nodded in thanks, picking up his glass again, but at Scotty's words, he leaned back against the sofa, shaking his head at the other man. "I really hope that you at least seek out social company, if nothing else, to have a drink and a conversation with. There's loving your job, and then there's loving it too much and letting it consume you, and well. The latter really isn't as pleasant as you may think it sounds."

[reversedpolarity]

Scotty chuckled quietly at that. "No matter what stories you might hear about me, I do actually get out o' the engine room once in a while," he replied, sounding a bit amused. "Difficult as it might be tae believe, I do manage a bit o' socializin'." Granted, that was usually on shore leave, but he did have a few friends aboard the ship he hung out with from time to time even when he wasn't on leave. "Much as I love bein' in engineerin', I think I'd go mad if I didn't manage escapin' it here an' there." He grinned brightly then, adding, "The community helps, too. Lots o' interestin' conversation tae be had there. Just wish the blasted thing'd stop intrudin' when I'm actually on-shift."

[51stcentury]

"Oh yeah?" Jack said, taking another swallow of his brandy, wincing as it went down just a little harder than it should've, taking a bit too big a swallow of it. "Well, then," he said, sitting back and cocking his head at Scotty, grinning at him. "Like what? What sort of interesting conversation have you had with people on the community so far, then?"

[reversedpolarity]

"Had a very interestin' conversation just the other day, as a matter o' fact," Scotty answered, pausing to take a sip. He grinned into his glass, only barely refraining from actually laughing into his drink, which wouldn't have been terribly pleasant. "Talked tae some bloke about the importance o' well-lubricated piston shafts," he deadpanned, before giving up trying to keep a straight face. No matter how much he thought the drink wasn't affecting him all that much, it was a measure of how inebriated he really was, if he could manage to say something like that to Jack of all people and not stumble all over himself trying to say it.

[51stcentury]

Jack raised an eyebrow, grinning at Scotty's joking around. Unlike Scotty, Jack hadn't had nearly enough to drink to get him any more than slightly buzzed, and so he had no trouble countering the other man's joking, teasing him mercilessly. "Some bloke, huh? Well. I hope he was handsome. You have to be handsome in order to get away with that level of an innuendo, otherwise it's just creepy."

[reversedpolarity]

For a moment, Scotty didn't reply; he was too busy snickering into his drink - a mistake, as it turned out, because he thought he was finished laughing and tried to take another sip, and then realized that no, he was still laughing and now he had to try to swallow a mouthful of Saurian brandy without choking on it. He wasn't entirely sure how he managed to not choke, but in the end, he managed to stop laughing long enough to swallow, before taking a deep breath. "Well," he said, setting his drink aside, because he was at least aware enough to know that if he was laughing that much, he was good and drunk, "Well. I'll tell you this much. He's no Enterprise, but." Another snicker. It was always like this. He'd be drinking, perfectly fine, and suddenly he'd realize he'd had a bit too much and it'd all start catching up to him. "But. Nobody's perfect."

[51stcentury]

Jack grinned, laughing along with Scotty as he almost choked on his drink, laughing more as he went on to say even more, and well. Jack couldn't help himself. "Well, it's no wonder. You start pitting people against this ship, and I tell you what, no one's going to be able to measure up to size. If you know what I mean," he said, waggling an eyebrow at the other man.

One thing could be said for certain, though. Scotty's plan to get his mind off of the troubles back on Earth was working, even if it wasn't working quite exactly in the way that Scotty might have originally thought it would.