A/N For a long time I've wanted to write some Opax hurt/comfort but I wasn't sure about the setting. Phyisical hurt often makes the story seem a bit contrived - I at least wouldn't want to have sex after I had just been stabbed or shot - so I went for emotional pain instead. This story is set between season two and three and will end with an alternative start to "SO". Enjoy.

The days after Abel's kidnapping – and Half-Sack's murder – were though for everyone. It wasn't the first time disaster had struck the club but in Opie's experience you never really could get used to loss. It was made worse by the fact that there was nothing for them to do. Avenging a murder did not bring the dead back but it sure as hell helped moving on, making it the coping mechanism of choice for most of SAMCRO. But this time they had nothing to go on. Cameron had vanished without a trace and had taken both Abel and any chance on payback for Half-Sack with him. They had reached out to various sources – one of them being their Belfast contacts – but until they got a new lead they were treading water. Add the additional worry about Gemma and you had the perfect ingredients for a truly bad time. And boy, did it show.

The clubhouse was a show of misery these days. Clay was gruff and silent most of the time, Tig was up north tending to Gemma, Bobby was busying himself baking more stuff then anyone could eat and Chibs cursed the 'mick pricks' anytime somebody spoke to him. Piney had – of course – retreated up to the cabin and was probably marinating in Tequila. Even the usually upbeat Juice was solemn – he had taken the news of Half-Sack's death pretty badly – and spent most of the time working on his computer. But nobody felt the misery more than Jax himself: His best friend was heartbroken and could barely get through the day. Which ensured Opie spent his days worrying about his best friend and watching him sitting in the dark of the clubhouse with only his smokes and a bottle as company. When you tried to talk to him, he only gave vague, tightlipped answers – and that was if you were lucky. When Juice had tried to take a bottle from him yesterday – rightfully thinking that Jax had had enough – Jax had clogged the guy in the face and just taken it back. Everybody had backed off a bit afterwards.

By now the police had cleared Jax's house and Opie hoped that it would help his best friend to sleep in his own bed again. But he had to admit that seeing Abel's empty bedroom or the spot where Sack had been murdered could easily make it worse as well. Shit, Opie probably never would have set a foot in his house again, if Donna had been killed there instead of on the street – at a spot that he avoided to this day. So here he was, drinking in the clubhouse despite the early hour – they had only closed shop an hour ago – and worrying about Jax. Juice was tending bar which was rare enough. It had been one of his duties as a Prospect but the guy had been so twitchy that he had broken more bottles than anyone could count. Clay had finally banned him from doing it and it was still rare to see him behind the counter, despite Juice being a lot calmer these days. "How is Jax?" Juice asked him when he refilled Opie's glass.

Opie shrugged. "Seemed the same when he left this morning. Maybe some time off work can cheer him up."

"I hope so," Juice said but he didn't seem convinced.

"How is your eye?" Ope asked, indicating the black eye Jax had given the Puerto Rican the day before.

"Okay, I guess. But I won't take Jax's booze anytime soon."

He seemed down about something and a sad Juice was so unusual that Opie just had to ask. "Are you alright?"

"More or less," Juice said. "Still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Sack is gone."

Opie nodded. "He was a good Prospect. He would have been a great member."

"We were pretty close in the end," Juice continued. "I was already planning his patching-in party." Tears welled up in his eyes but he quickly blinked them away. "Shit, sorry, Ope."

"Never mind, Juice. There is no shame in mourning a brother. Do you want to go home?"

Juice shook his head. "No. I have some programming to get done. Hopefully it will take my mind off things."

When Ope wanted to answer his phone rang. He answered it. "Yeah?"

"It's Tara. I need your help."

Concern welled up in Ope. "Everything okay?"

"It's Jax. He is completely apathetic. Hasn't said a word to me all day. I don't know what to do anymore."

"You are at his place?" Opie asked.

"Yes."

"I will be right over," Opie said and ended the call. Okay, time to cheer up the next guy. Jesus, not like he was a fucking expert. He just had lost his wife and already had to tell others how to cope. And he had the feeling that banging a porn star would not work for everyone.

"Jax?" Juice asked, when Opie downed his last drink.

"Yeah. Gotta check on him."

Juice nodded. "Give him my best."

"I will," Ope said. He said his good-byes and got to his bike. He was worried. If Tara couldn't cheer Jax up, things must be bad and he wasn't sure he could do anything to help. Still, he had to try. Not like there were a lot of other candidates. Gemma had her good sides but Opie didn't think of her as a good shoulder to cry on – not counting the fact that she was on the run and far away from Charming. Clay would be even worse, especially since Jax and he had just pieced things together over the revenge on Zobelle. The other guys didn't know Jax half as good as Opie did and if Tara was out of options, he was the only logical choice. He had no idea what he would do once he was there but he guess he would just have to improvise. The ride to Jax's place felt shorter than usual and Opie actually felt a little apprehensive when he moved up the porch. He swallowed and softly knocked on the door. Tara opened just a moment later, looking deeply troubled. "He is in the nursery," she said.

Opie took this as an invitation and got inside. He briskly walked towards the room and found Jax there, sitting on the floor. He was fully dressed in his clothes and cut and leaned against Abel's empty bed. His gaze was unfocused and did not shift when Opie entered the room. Opie had seen this before. Jax had spent the last days in a similar daze. It seemed like the only thing that had changed was the location. "Jax?" Opie asked carefully. The VP didn't respond and Opie wasn't sure if Jax had even heard him. This was new. Usually he had reacted when someone spoke to him – if he wasn't too drunk to do so, that was. Ope went into a crouch to get on face-level with Jax but the VP still ignored him. "Are you okay, Jax?"

Still no answer. Tara joined him at this moment. "He has sat there for hours, just staring into space. I can't get him to talk to me." She shook her head. "I don't know what to do anymore."

She sounded close to tears and Opie realized that he had to take care of her as well. Shit, just what he needed. He straightened up and led Tara back to the kitchen. "I will take it from here. You go home. Get some rest."

"No, I want to help, I..."

"Tara, trust me. It is better if I do it alone," Opie said. He searched for the right words. "This needs a club solution and I don't think Jax would want you to see it."

For a moment he could see fear in her eyes. "What are you going to do?"

"Something that should help," Opie said simply. Truth be told, he didn't really know what to do but he knew Tara wasn't any help at the moment. "Go now. I will stay here tonight and take care of Jax. Lyla has the kids."

"Okay," she said quietly. Ope could tell that she was worried but thought she was glad he had taken the burden from her. "I will get my stuff."

While she got her things he phoned Layla and told her he would stay with Jax. To his relief, she complete understood and promised to take care of the kids. Good, the last thing he needed right now was problems on his own. When Tara was gone, he slowly walked back towards the nursery. Unsurprisingly, Jax hadn't moved at all.

"I sent Tara home," Opie said. "Told her to get some sleep."

No reaction. Damn, this was really starting to get on his nerves. He dropped to his knees next to the sitting Jax. "You know I am not going to leave, don't you? You can't just ignore me to death like you did with Tara."

Opie meant every word but Jax seemed determined to push his luck – though Opie wasn't sure if it was spite or if his best friend really didn't get what was going on. From his blurry, unfocused gaze he strongly suspected this latter. Probably Jax was in some fugue state at the moment, fueled by lack of sleep, grief and a lot of booze – not counting any other drugs. Maybe Ope should wake him up first. A shower certainly would help and would have other benefits – the VP smelled more than a bit. Yeah, he might start with that. He wanted an awake Jax for whatever conversation they would need next.

"Come on, Jax."

He tried to pull him to his feet but Jax made no effort in moving. Quickly losing his patience, Opie brought his considerable strength to bear and picked Jax up. This wouldn't have worked if the VP had struggled but his best friend didn't seem to care much that Opie was bringing him somewhere. Ope didn't know if this was a good or a bad sign. He carried Jax to the bathroom and dropped him in front of the shower – maybe a bit rougher than usual. Jax caught himself but still seemed to be out of it, so Opie thought it was time for a rough measure. He dragged Jax closer to the shower so that his head was inside the cabin, grabbed the shower nozzle and poured a stream of cold water on the VPs head. Jax sputtered and jerked upwards, away from the cold water.

"What the hell did you do that for?" he asked, water dripping from his long hair.

"To get you awake," Ope said simply. "Did you even get one thing I was saying?"

Jax looked thoughtful for a moment. "I'm not sure."

"Are you drunk?"

"Yeah," Jax said. "I cleaned out half a bottle of Jack today. Smoked a lot of weed, too. Doesn't help much. Everything gets blurry but I still feel like shit."

"We will talk about this in a second," Ope said. "Get in the shower, you smell even worse than usual."

Jax looked like he wanted to argue but then he just shrugged and took his cut off. His movements were jerky and uncoordinated – probably due to lack of sleep and the drugs in his system. He needed a lot of time to open up his shirt which really wasn't that complicated.

"What's the deal with you and Tara?" Opie asked, partly to distract himself from the pitiful sight in front of him.

"I don't want to talk about it," Jax said curtly. He paused with just his boxers on. "You gonna stay and watch me shower?"

"Pretty much, yeah. You look like you could collapse at any second. Don't want you to bash your head in while taking a goddam shower. That would just be embarrassing."

"Might be tough to catch me from the outside," Jax said who now dropped his boxers. It was by no means the first time that Opie had seen his best friend without clothes but there was something off this time. The air was charged with something Opie couldn't quite identify.

"What are you saying?" Opie asked.

"That you should be inside if you want to be able to catch me in time," Jax said, carefully walking over to the shower and turning the water on.

To call this an unusual request would be a hell of an understatement but Opie had to admit that Jax had a point there. But what was his deal? Was this just an off-the-cuff remark or did he play an angle here? It was hard to imagine that Jax was able to think of anything in his current state but Ope knew he shouldn't underestimate the guy's shrewdness. Maybe he wanted to embarrass Ope so he would leave him alone and he could avoid further conversation? Yeah, that might be it. Well, he was shit out of luck in this case. "Hm, good point," he said simply and took his own cut off. Jax barely had time to gape at him in surprise before Opie was as naked as he was and shoved both of them inside.

"I didn't mean you should actually do it," Jax complained when the water washed over them. "Back off a bit."

Opie did but there was only so much he could do. The shower was big enough for both of them but there wasn't much wiggle room "No reason to be shy, Jax. I saw everything you had to offer before - more than a few times."

"Doesn't make it any less awkward," Jax mumbled before putting his head under the spray for a moment. When he emerged again, dripping water all over Opie, he reached for the shower gel, which was awkwardly positioned to his left. He slipped and crashed back first into Ope who grabbed him and stopped him from falling. He tightened his grip, pressing Jax against his chest to stabilize him. His beard tickled Jax's neck and the VP looked back at him with something that Opie couldn't quite interpret. "Are you alright?" Opie said.

"Yeah," Jax said. He hesitated for a moment. Then he twisted his head towards Opie and kissed him. Ope was too startled to respond and Jax broke the kiss a second after.

"Sorry," he said. "I thought you were cool with that."

He looked totally miserable and lost for a moment which made Opies heart ache. "Is that what you need?" he asked.

Jax nodded. "Please, Ope."

Ope bent forward and started nuzzling Jax's neck. "Come here."

He pulled him even closer and captured his lips in another kiss, this one much longer and more passionate. Ope had thought they had left this stuff way behind them but it seemed like he had been wrong. "I got you, Jax."

While he kept Jax busy with his mouth, Opie wrapped one hand around the VP's rock-hard dick. He slowly moved the foreskin up and down, drawing a soft whine from Jax. Well, this was already much better than a Jax that just ignored him. He was hard himself now but didn't expect to get off anytime soon. This was about Jax, not him. He could just as well jerk off later – or maybe surprise Layla.

Opie slowly stroked Jax while using his mouth to devour as much of the VP as he could reach from this position. The water rained down of them, adding additional sensation to every lick and stroke. Damn, Opie had started this as a service to his friend but now he was starting to get really into it as well, especially since his own dick was rubbing against Jax's ass. Just as he debated if he should crank it up a notch his best friend shuddered and came all over Ope's fingers. The water washed most of the seed away but Ope couldn't resist bringing the digits up to Jax's face and pushing them in his mouth. The VP sucked them off greedily and Ope started to wonder if he should just take the guy here and now. It would be extremely awkward – the shower wasn't that big and they had neither lube nor proper preparation – but he had his own desires to think off. But then Jax slumped in his grip and Ope had other worries for the moment. "You okay, Jax?"

"Yeah, just a bit dizzy," Jax said weakly. Seems like the days without proper sleep or food were catching up to him – the drugs probably weren't helping.

"Let's clean you up," Ope said. "Maybe get you some dinner."

Jax softly shook his head. "Just sleep."

"Okay but let's wash up first. Now that I got you in the shower."

"Don't you want me to take care of it?" Jax asked, indicating Opie's still hard dick.

"You don't have to...," Ope began but Jax had already dropped to his knees and taken him in his mouth. Opie wanted to push him off at first – he doubted Jax was up to the task – but the VP surprised him. It seemed like he had a real knack for sucking dick even in a half-delirious state. It only took him a minute to make Ope shoot in his mouth and as usual between them he swallowed every drop. Ope was a bit embarrassed by his short performance but to be fair he had been very much turned on before.

"So much for dinner," Jax said as he got up again. "Now, didn't you want to clean me up?"

It seemed like Jax intended for them to wash each other which Ope found incredibly hot – if wasteful. It took much longer for them to finish this way – they kept getting distracted – but finally they were both squeaky clean and moderately dry again. Ope finished drying his hair and bent down for his boxers. "Why do you bother?" Jax asked him from behind.

Opie turned around, getting a good look at the still completely naked Jax. "What do you mean?"

"You are staying tonight, right?"

"If you want me to," Opie said, not really seeing the connection.

"Then you won't need any clothing," Jax said with a smile.

Damn, this went right to Ope's dick. "You want me next to you?"

"Yeah," Jax said, smiling gently. "Come on, let's get some sleep."

Opie knew that they would still need to talk about things but he guessed he would get nowhere with a bone-tired Jax. It probably wouldn't hurt to wait for tomorrow. He followed Jax to the bedroom and fell into bed with him. To his surprise, Jax actually snuggled into him, so that Opie was spooning the guy. Ope quenched the lights and Jax almost immediately fell asleep.

He probably should get some shut-eye as well but it was still early for him and he hadn't spent the last days drinking and doing drugs, so he doubted he would find sleep anytime soon. But maybe this was a good thing. With a sleeping Jax nestled to his side Opie had some time to do some much-needed thinking. This evening had gone not at all like Opie had expected. He had planned to give Jax some tough love, clean him up, get some food in him and maybe force him to talk about his shit. Jerking him off and getting blown in return had definitely not been on his to-do list and this turn of events puzzled him. He completely got that physical comfort could mend a grieving heart but why hadn't Jax gone to Tara for that? He thought things were going well between them. But maybe he was wrong about that if Jax had preferred to rekindle things with Ope to hooking up with his girlfriend.

Their relationship was as much of a mess as Opie's sexuality was. He mostly stuck to women but there was a couple of guys he had taken a liking to over the years. It had always been just fun with the enormous exception of Jax. At first it had been just teenage experimentation shit – fueled by his curiosity on how Jax's uncut cock worked compared to his own – but Opie guessed that line had been crossed when they had moved from jerking off together to blowing each other and making out. It definitely had been crossed the moment Jax had asked him to fuck him for the first time – something Opie had considered but never would have dared to ask. They had spent almost two years like this – best friends on the outside, lovers behind closed doors. Neither of them had ever considered coming clean about this, they knew there was no way this would go over well. Then Jax had met Tara and things had gone back to friendship quite suddenly. Ope had been hurting but since he like women as well he just shifted his attention to them instead. And once Tara had left Charming, Jax had quickly been back in his bed. This had been a pattern over the years, they would hook up for some time and then go back to friendship when the situation changed. The up and down had hurt for the first few times but now Ope was quite cool with the situation, especially since their friendship had never wavered.

They hadn't hooked up with each other for years now. Opie had been in prison and once he was out, he was trying to leave the club behind him – and that included sex with Jax in his book. Ope had strongly considered making a move on the VP when Donna had been killed but had resisted. Partly because he thought it would be a disservice to Donna and because he didn't want to screw up the good thing Jax had going on with Tara. It seemed like Jax had no such reservations when he was the troubled one. Ope looked down on the sleeping Jax and wondered where things would go from here. Did Jax expect him to take care of him more than just once? If yes, could Opie do it? He had an okay thing with Layla at the moment and didn't want to hurt her but he couldn't really refuse his best friend. And now that his appetite had been whet once again, he couldn't help thinking about doing more stuff with Jax. He wondered if that ass was still as tight as he remembered it. Or maybe – and this thought made his cock twitch – Jax would want it the other way around. Shit, he should stop thinking like that before he got too horny to sleep. He would try to get some shut-eye and wait what the morning would bring.

With a massive effort, Opie shoved all thought of dirty deeds with Jax aside and moved in to a comfortable position for some sleep. Jax's warm body next to him had a soothing effect and soon he found himself drifting.