Summary: Set after Jak 3, so there will be spoilers. Jak learns that his best friend is not as happy as he seems and aims to change it. Only, the remedy comes at a higher price then Jak had originally realized. (OC alert. Yaoi alert, in later chapters. Slightly AU.)

Disclaimer: Don't own Jak and Daxter. Naughty Dog does. Lucky bastards.

/Act. 1/

Work

(A Jak and Daxter Fic)

Chapter One: All Down Hill From Here

"I think that you should know… that I absolutely refuse to call you Mar. I mean, what kinda name is Mar anyway?"

A pair of familiar blue eyes blinked slowly. The intensity of the young man's stare never wavered however.

"Ok."

"Good. Just so we're clear."

With that being said Daxter returned to the drink in front of him. Jak in turn resettled back into the comfortable quiet of the empty bar.

He had come to enjoy these quiet times nowadays. When the truth about his origins was made known he had no idea how much he had gotten himself into. For one, Ashelin seemed to double her advances toward him. Not that it hadn't been clear what she wanted with him before, but now it was down right scandalous.

With her new position as Governor of Haven city, the former Krimson Guard General seemed to believe that if she had Mar's heir on her arm her position would be sealed. The people were still weary of any type of rule at this point not that Jak could blame them. They had even seemed to take his new found status with a grain of salt.

It wasn't that Jak was completely uninterested in Ashelin. He just wanted to take it slow. He thought that it was pretty obvious that he was not the type to settle down. Well, not yet anyway.

There just seemed to be so much more out there. Things he wanted to do and see. Besides, he and Daxter had too much adventuring left to do. And there was no way that he could see himself trying to run a city. To be honest he was still just as much of a mess as Haven himself. Balance be damned, he still some times found him self at a complete loss when it came to his supposed Dark and Light gifts.

The green blond sighed silently. There were other things to focus on at the moment. Like keeping Daxter from drowning himself in booze. The ottsel was currently curled up on a pile of napkins snoring softly. Jak grinned lightly at the sight; at least he'd stopped drinking.

Jak set about cleaning up the remains glasses and bottles left by customers after locking up. The Naughty Ottsel was Dax's bar but more often then naught Jak found himself and Tess doing most of the managing lately.

Not that Jak was one to complain. Daxter had been there for most of his life. It was nothing to be there to help his friend with some as trivial as running a bar when compared to the things that Jak had dragged his friend through. But he had to wonder why it was that his friend didn't seem as interested in the bar anymore.

Daxter had been so excited about it in the beginning. In fact, lately Daxter hadn't seemed as excited about anything lately. Well except getting completely wasted. The frequency of those episodes hadn't gone unnoticed by Jak either. There had been many times when Jak had fixed his mind to say something. To ask his friend what was wrong. But then Daxter would look at him and say something oh so Dax-like and he would be fooled. And they'd go on as if nothing was wrong.

The thing was… there was something wrong. And it had begun to seep into their friendship. When Dax wasn't right, Jak wasn't right. And the longer this went on the more un-right the two of them would be come. So Jak had made up his mind yet again that he would find out what was bugging his friend. He stole a glance at the sleeping ottsel. It seemed that it would have to wait til morning, or afternoon at this rate.

Once everything was in its proper place Jak picked his snoozing partner in crime up and headed for the back stairs. The two of them shared one of the only two rooms in the top floor of the bar. It wasn't so bad actually. The two of them hardly ever slept when the place was open anyway therefore they never were annoyed by the noise or the horrendous (though Daxter would never call it that) glow of the Naughty Ottsel's mascot. Which just so happened to be right out side their window.

It was on the way up that Daxter started to stir. He looked up groggily at his much larger friend and grinned.

"Aww…" He said drunkenly. "Did ah fall 'sleep on da bar again?"

Jak smiled. "Course not. Ya fell asleep on the napkins this time."

"Oh…good."

As they got to the top of the stairs Jak began to make out a noise that sound suspiciously like giggling. Jak grinned despite himself but the smile quickly wavered as he discovered where the sound was coming from.

It seemed that Tess had company.

Daxter tensed noticeably in his friend's arms. Jak hadn't failed the notice the tension in the air between Tess and Dax. She had left the bar early that night on her way to dinner date. It was obvious to everyone except the blonde woman that Dax hadn't been all that happy about it.

Jak had also noticed that the normally sickening interaction between the two had sort of waned since their last adventure. After which, to everyone's unending surprise, instead of wishing to be human again Daxter had asked for a pair of ottsel fitted pants.

That had taken Jak completely by surprise even though he had done his best to keep a straight face. Jak had been given the offer to become a Precursor at one point as well, but he couldn't have been more relived that Veger had forcibly taken his place once he learned the truth behind the Precursor's Legacy.

He'd never said anything about it to Daxter though.

But he was still surprised that his friend had decided to stay an ottsel. Jak had thought that maybe Daxter was just so excited about being a legendary being that he didn't care about it anymore. The older boy had been a bit disappointed however. Changing Daxter back had been the reason for their first big adventure together and even with everything that had happened since then it had always been one of Jak's goals to get his friend back to normal one day.

But if Daxter was happy the way he was, who was Jak to say anything about it?

The sour look on Daxter's face at the moment however, had caused Jak to think otherwise. The ottsel turned his nose up and twisted away from the bar tender burying his face in Jak's tunic.

"Uh hi Tess… hi… Jinx." Jak muttered.

Tess blushed prettily and returned the greeting shyly. Jinx's greeting was a bit more obnoxious however. Jak left to the pair to their own devices as soon as he got the chance.

"Well, that was…" Jak shuttered slightly as he pushed the door to their room open.

"Some pair, huh?" Daxter said ruefully.

"Well to each their own I guess. But I would have never pictured those two together."

Jak looked down at the soft bundle of fur in his arms. Daxter wouldn't even look at him. There was no way that his shirt was all that interesting.

"Dax?"

"Nothing's wrong Jak."

To this the taller of the two sighed heavily.

"And that of course means that something is."

It had to be about Tess. Jak had hoped that they had both come to some sort of agreement or something… He'd hoped that the two of them really were just friends. Friends with absolutely no boundaries, but friends nonetheless. But maybe he was wrong? He usually was when it came to other people. But with Dax… He'd always known what was going on with Dax.

Jak gave up if only for a little while and made them the both of them comfortable in his bed. You see, Daxter never slept in his own bed. He said that it was way too big for such a small creature such as himself. And that since ottsels were such tiny things that it meant that they didn't generate much body heat on their own.

And if that didn't convince Jak enough to Daxter's liking he proceeded to go on about how in nature such a creature would sleep within a group to keep warm. At that point Jak would roll his eyes and pretend he never asked and Dax would do the same.

For some reason Jak wasn't as tired now as he probably should be. He couldn't get his mind to settle. But Daxter seemed to be peaceful enough. He could tell by his friend's even breaths.

But he couldn't sleep. And it wasn't fair that he was the one that couldn't rest now. Dax was the one with the problem.

He hadn't even noticed that he was being watched… by a pair of weary, hung over baby blues.

There was a tired sigh and then:

"Jak…" Daxter started. "Could you please… please… stop thinking! I'm trying to sleep here!"

"I'm sorry Dax."

The older boy's gaze lingered a little longer then Daxter would have liked. He was forced to raise an orange furred brow in response.

"If this is about Tess then you can just save it alright." The ottsel said curling back in on himself. "Because it's her loss anyway!" He said whipping back around to face his friend.

"Oh of course!" His best friend agreed.

"That's right. I mean the girl has to be crazy anyway right? Giving up all this!"

"Yeah!" Jak laughed in response.

"Don't be surprised if she comes back running Jakky boy," his friend said sleepily. "Who wouldn't once ya realized that you, my friend, have given up your one chance with Orange Lightening?"

Jak grinned.

Daxter curled up on the boy's chest.

"Now get some sleep buddy, we've got a big day tomorrow."

And with that Dax said no more. But the thing was, though as amusing as his little speech had been, Jak still wasn't convinced.

"Uh, Jak?"

"Yeah?"

"You're not sleeping."

"Uh no, I'm not."

"And why is that?"

"…"

Sigh.

"Not buying it huh?"

"Uh…nope."

The silence that followed was… wrong. Nothing like the ones they usually shared. The comfortable types that reminded them both of Sandover and sleepovers they had when they were kids.

"Dax," Jak said sitting up. Effectively ruining his friend's comfy position.

This did not go over well with Daxter.

"You know Jak." He half growled. "I liked it better when you didn't talk."

Jak ignored him.

"Just tell me what's wrong. Maybe I can help."

Daxter sat up hunched over; Jak couldn't even make out his face. A soft humorless chuckle was the only response he got in return for his sincere declaration of concern. He really didn't know what to make of it. It wasn't like his friend at all. And it didn't help his worry any.

"Come on big guy." Jak said running his fingers through his friend's furry head. "What's going on?"

When Dax still didn't answer, Jak doubled his ministrations. Ah yes, there was no way to get his best buddy to do whatever you wanted like the patent pending Jak's infamous behind the ear scratch. The key was to apply just the perfect amount of pressure. With in moments Daxter was putty.

"Cu…ut…it…out Jak!" He said slapping his hand away.

Jak smiled at first but it gone as soon as he saw the hurt look on his friend's face.

"Dax?"

"Look…I'm sorry okay." The ottsel said quietly. "I just haven't been feeling to good lately."

Well he knew that. The question was why?

Jak pleading baby blues were not helping matters for the little guy.

"Do we have to do this now?" he asked.

"Well, you know Daxter, I would just let it drop but your aura is disturbing my rest."

Dax smiled ruefully. "My aura huh?"

"Yep." Jak said his eyes full of the determination that Daxter had always loved and admired.

He was finding that it wasn't so great when it was directed toward him.

"Your Chi is in disarray my friend." Jak continued, with a straight face mind you. "We must find the root of your troubles before more damage can be done." He added rubbing his much abused hand.

"Well there's nothing we can do… your holiness."

Sigh. "Daxter, Daxter, Daxter." Jak tisked. "When has that ever stopped me?"

"You do know that it's three in the morning?"

A green brow raised in response.

"Look, Jak I had my chance… and I wasted it, okay. It's over."

Now Jak was really confused.

"With Tess?"

"No not with Tess!"

Dax stared into his friend even more confused gaze. For the love of the Precursors… He loved Jak. Really he did but the guy could be so thick sometimes. Did he really have to go into detail about all this?

"With the precursors! I wished for a fucking pair of pants okay!"

Oh.

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh." Daxter sneered. "And why didn't you stop me!" He said poking Jak in the chest.

"I…I don't know Dax."

He had been too surprised to say anything. And disappointed. But he couldn't tell Daxter that now. Not when he was as upset as he was.

"If I could take it back I would." Daxter began, as serious as Jak had ever seen him. It brought a strange tightness to his chest.

"But it all seemed so… I don't know. Glamorous maybe? Being a mystical being and junk. But that doesn't last long once you realize that having orange fur and a tail doesn't mean that everyone's going to be bowing down at your feet. Nope, I'm just still just plain ol' Daxter. Scratch him behind his ears and you can get him to do whatever you want."

Jak felt like he'd swallowed a whole pot of hot coffee. He face flushed red and he dropped his head guiltily.

"Um…I'm sorry Daxter."

"Oh don't be. I went along with it. It really wasn't so bad at first."

Jak truly didn't know what to say. But for once the silence was killing him.

"So now you see, there's nothing even you can do buddy. So just get some sleep."

Jak sighed but froze when he realized that Daxter was heading to his own bed. His friend turned back and smiled weakly at him.

"Maybe you'll have a better chance if I keep my disarrayed Chi over here." He joked lamely.

And with that the ottsel settled down to rest.

Green brows furrowed. And he was supposed to sleep now?