Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy birthday DarkEcoMuse... Now here's some Jak x Keira for you!

AN: Join in on the Jak x Keira, and go wish DarkEcoMuse a happy birthday tomorrow!

Jak swallowed hard, trying to ignore the hard look Samos was giving him across the bar - of course that only made him notice it more. Precursors, what had possessed him to kiss Keira right in front of her father?

Well, if anything it probably had something to do with the fact he liked her. A lot.

But it had been worth it...

"Hello? Jak? Are you there?" He snapped out of his reverie at the sound of his name and turned to Keira, watching as the bright lights of The Bloody Hook reflected off of her green eyes.

"Wha- Sorry Keir. You were saying?"

She giggled and Jak marveled at the sound; it had hardly changed since their time in Sandover. "I just wanted to let you know my father can't seem to stop glaring at you." She turned her head to the side, blinking. "Or is that why you look so pale?"

"Ha ha, very funny," he told her, deadpanned.

She smiled and scrunched her nose. But they both knew the other had enjoyed their brief 'momen't earlier today. Perhaps that's why they hadn't really brought the topic up - to preserve it. Keep it locked away, keep it special. Because Precursor's knew how much longer it would be before it would happen again, at least while Samos was around. "Kissing me in front of him probably wasn't your greatest plan ever, I presume?"

Jak shrugged. "Probably not. But you don't hear me complaining." He looked at her wryly, pleased that the comment had the effect he was aiming for - she blushed and glanced down at her feet. However when she looked back up there was a mischievous glint in her eyes that hadn't been there before.

And he liked it.

"So... Seeing as you didn't care about my father the first time, maybe-"

As she spoke Jak leaned one arm on the long stretch of bar and grabbed her hand, bringing his face closer to hers until their noses were nearly touching. Her voice cut off abruptly. "Maybe?" he pressed.

There was that giggle of hers again as she peered at him shyly through her blue bangs. "Maybe we could... Try it again?"

Jak said nothing; he didn't need to, just titled his head and moved closer to Keira as their lips just about-

"Right? Hic...Jakky? Hic... Boy? Hic..."

Jak exhaled slowly and, very reluctantly, pulled away from Keira as his best friend- who was quite drunk at this point -staggered and collapsed against his arm. Whatever else Daxter was trying to say was being swallowed up by hiccups, so Jak ignored him. In his peripheral vision he saw Keira's hand- now disentangled from his own -twitch towards her drink, most likely to throw it towards the intoxicated ottsel for interrupting yet another moment of theirs. He had a feeling he wouldn't try and stop her if she tried. He also noticed that the glare Samos had been giving him had intensified tenfold.

Whoops.

He shrugged Daxter off of his arm, watching as the ottsel moved on without a second thought - not that he was thinking much to begin with.

He'd definitely had at least three beers, if not more.

Keira laughed as Daxter teetered to the left before dropping off of the bar completely, landing with a dull thump.

Oh, yeah. Definitely more than three.

Jak sighed and rolled his eyes, turning once again towards Keira. She was eying him hopefully, waiting for him to continue. "Where were we?"

They leaned forward again, closing their eyes and then-

"Oh for the love of- Daxter! Would you cut it out?" Whirling around Jak, who was expecting to be face to face with Daxter, was surprised (to say the least) when it turned out to be Samos who had tapped him on the shoulder, and not his drunken pal. "Oh, er... Samos... What a-" he swallowed hard. "Surprise," he tried, his tone sounding more like a question, confirming how nervous he was, and rightly so.

The sage harrumphed loudly, tapping his foot on the hard tile ground. "Yes. No doubt you were to busy macking on my daughter to notice much of anything else."

"Daddy! Seriously?"

Jak winced as Samos ignored Keira completely and instead fixed him with what he and Daxter called, 'The Look.'

Back in Sandover, whatever followed 'The Look' was never very pleasant.

Like when the dynamic duo decided it would be a good idea to fill Samos' hut with yakkows. Sure, it been funny at the time. Hilarious even. But after receiving 'The Look' Daxter had broken down and confessed their evil doings, much to Jak's dismay.

What had followed 'The Look' was a life lesson that Jak and Daxter hadn't forgotten to this day: Toothbrushes really suck at scrubbing Yakkow crap off of wooden floors.

So Jak knew what was going to happen next would like as not be very pleasant.

"Keira, why don't you go talk to Tess?"

Crap, crap crap.

Keira glanced towards Jak, who, at this point, was nearing hyperventilation, and turned back to her father. "Are you serious?"

He gave Keira 'The Look' but it didn't effect Keira the way it affected Jak and Daxter. She sighed heavily and nodded.

"Fine, but if you wanted to talk to Jak alone you could just say so." Nevertheless she leaned towards Jak to kiss him as he mirrored her motion, hoping that finally he could get that second kiss-

"Don't. Even. Think. About. It."

By the love of Precursors, would he ever be able to kiss his girlfriend? Didn't he deserve it? Had he not just saved them all from impending doom - again? Gotten the freaking antidote and killed one of the biggest crime lords in the history of forever? And now he wasn't allowed to kiss the girl he'd liked since he was seven? How the hell was that fair?

Giving her father a look of her own Keira stalked off to find Tess, as Jak brooded silently. Judge him if you will, but this was getting ridiculous. Meanwhile Samos moved to sit in a vacated seat to his left.

"Jak, I'd like to speak with you."

Great. These were the words he had been fearing since he'd kissed Keira in the bar this afternoon. 'I'd like to speak with you' was most likely a long list of ways Jak would die if he did anything that would hurt Keira. He prepared himself, taking a deep breath. Therefore he was quite stunned when the words that left Samos were not death threats, but in fact:

"Do you love her?"

Jak blinked rapidly for a moment, unable to come up with any response except a rather dumbstruck "What?" Things were not going well for the hero, and although the lack of ultimatum was refreshing, he was still rather confused with the sudden change of atmosphere.

"Keira. Do you love her?"

He couldn't reply. Obviously Samos was waiting for an answer- and Jak had a feeling it better be yes or his original hypothesis would be incorporated into the conversation -but he wasn't sure if he had an answer. Sure he liked Keira - he liked her a lot actually, as he had said before. But did he love her?

...Yes. Yes he did. And he always had. He loved her from the moment she pinned him to the ground in the mud, and had happily exclaimed "Tag! You're it!" From when she had shyly shown him- Jak, the village's mute of all people -her first invention, a small vehicle which later became the basis of the A-Grav Zoomer. Precursors, he had loved her even after all that time in prison; in fact, she had been the only thing that kept him from going insane during those two, torturous years. But how could he tell Samos this, when he himself barely realized it?

"Yes." Jak was surprised at how calm his voice sounded, seeing as he was most likely about to bare his soul to his girlfriend's father. "More than anything in the world." But he knew that wouldn't be enough for Samos.

"If-" this was where it got difficult, explaining to him just how much she meant to him. "If it hadn't been for the thought of her in prison, I don't think I would have made it. Or even wanted to."

Samos nodded, most likely trying to decide whether what Jak was saying was true. Apparently he sensed the sincerity in Jak's voice and motioned for him to continue. Jak blew out a sigh, wondering what else he could say. He'd never been good with words- he had been mute for the majority of his life -but Samos didn't seem to notice, let alone care.

"Gah... She's just... Something about her..." He was rambling now, sentences blending into one another. If that didn't prove he loved her he didn't know what would. "I just love everything about her. The way she smiles, the way she laughs. The way she suddenly drops everything she's doing because she has an idea for another invention-"

This was easy, listing all the things he loved about Keira. He knew the list could go on and on but he was uncomfortable as it was, and he had a feeling Samos wouldn't want to hear about what he thought of her in skinny jeans. "-and her eyes. I've always loved her eyes," Jak concluded, watching Samos and gauging his every reaction.

"She has her mother's eyes you know," the sage said at last. "I think that's what made me fall in love with her to begin with."

The younger elf let out the breath he had been holding in. Looked like it had turned out alright.

"That is good to know though. I do trust you to do what is best for my little girl." There was a moment of silence. "But you two will take precautions, you know, if you ever-"

Jak's face blanched. Oh no no no. They were not having this conversation.

"Oh, Precursors Samos! No - no no it's not like that - I mean maybe - or you know what - no. You really, really don't have to worry about that right now, okay?" Oh for the love of Mar. The awkward level had just risen quite significantly.

Samos nodded, clearly uncomfortable himself. "Yes, yes. I just wanted to check, she is my daughter after all." He hopped down from the bar stool, pausing for a moment. "Although if you do- as kids would say -knock her up, the consequences would most likely involve my walking stick and a place that shall remain unnamed."

Well there it was: the death threat. But Jak expected it; it was rather uncommon for Samos to go that long without insulting him or Daxter. And despite his irritation at the comment- what did the sage take him for? -he was in a considerably good mood. Samos small figure disappeared into the crowd. Now if only he could find Keira...

Aha! Her bright blue hair was impossible to miss, even with all the intoxicated dancers and flashing lights. He made his way through the crowd towards her where she sat in a booth with Tess; the female ottsel was giggling at something Daxter had just said. He was considerably less drunk than when Jak had seen him last. Not only did the alcohol enter his bloodstream quickly, it left just as fast.

Letting a smirk grace his features he sneaked up behind his girlfriend, but it was only when Keira turned around to see who Tess was smiling at he pounced. Before anyone could interrupt them he pressed his lips against hers, remembering how good she had tasted earlier. Somehow she tasted even better.

When they both decided they'd had enough (for now) they pulled back. Tess dragged a still slightly unsteady Daxter off of the table and across the dance floor, ignoring his protests that this could be perfect blackmail, if only he'd brought a camera.

"Hiya," Jak said, sliding into the booth with Keira. She smiled at him, cheeks still pink from his surprise attack.

"It was about time. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever get that kiss."

Jak smirked in return. "Well get ready, 'cause that was just a warm-up."

It turned out they wouldn't talk about Jak's discussion with Samos for a long time. In fact, they didn't get to talk about anything for the remainder of the night.

Happy birthday my awesome Flying Giant Dark Jak buddy! Fishyicon sends her best regards as well, and she beta-ed this for me, due to my lack of spelling skills XD

Anyway, I know it's a day early but hopefully you won't log on today, so I'll re-post this tomorrow on dA for yer real birthday. But it has everything that essentially makes Jak and Daxter awesome. Jak and Keira-ness (duh) grumpy Samos making threats and uncomfortable conversations, and drunk!Daxter. :D

Enjoy

~LeiaOrganicSolo