Shakes head) I can't believe I'm doing this. Well, somebody talked me into this. I can't think who . (glares of into a certain EVIL direction) I'm reasonably sure this is un-betaed because I don't know what that means and this is my very, very, very first fic ever, much less slash fic so please, be gentle. Once again, I can't beleive I'm sending this.

JAIL BAIT

Ezra was wearin' a table cloth.

Ezra was wearin' just a table cloth.

Ezra Standish.

It was a small table cloth.

He swallowed dryly and self-consciously licked his lips, watching the play of muscles along the gambler's body become outlined in the mid-day sun, accentuated as the pale man waved his arms around and cursed a blue streak. Still managed ta work in those big words a his, though, he thought absently. That table cloth looked like it was gonna fall off if Ezra kept movin' around like he was. The man's body fairly shook with outrage, no one o' those other words he used, in . . indig ... indignation, that was it. Shook with indignation. It looked good on him. Damn good. Ezra stalked past him, away from his room above the tavern, and entered the jail. The door closed with a bang. Why would Ezra go to the jail? The thought puzzled him for a moment until he remembered last Thursday, when Buck had 'accidentally' pushed the conman into a full trough. Ezra'd had to walk all the way back to his room sopping wet and after that had put a spare set of clothes in the jail to "save himself the humiliation of parading himself before the entire township." He shivered at the memory and shifted his feet on the walkway. The water had soaked Ez to the skin and, while the coat had hid his chest, it hadn't reached far enough to hide the way the water'd shrunk his pants, clinging to every muscle and curve ... he licked his lips again. The memory was one of his favorites. As he stood against the wall of the goods store lost in fond memories of water and Ezra and barely-there tablecloths, another shocking thought occurred to him.

Ezra was in the jail. This was followed quickly by:

Ezra was in the jail alone. And further, Ezra was in the jail alone and naked.

This might never happen again.

He vaulted away from the store wall and quickly walked over in the direction of the jail, conveniently shoving the little voice inside his head shrieking that this ... wasn't a good idea. Ya don' even know what yer gonna say ... far, far away to Bright Springs. In seconds he was at the door of the jail and walking in on a very startled Ez who promptly dropped the pair of pants he'd been holding in favor of pointing the derringer in his face. He quickly shut the door and locked it behind him. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that the blinds were down. Ez laid the gun down and hurriedly picked up his pants to cover himself, he'd already managed to put his shirt on but it wasn't buttoned, outlining his smooth chest. "To what, may I ask, do I owe this intrusion, sir?" Ez demanded. "Perhaps it has not come to your attention but I currently find myself sartorially challenged. If you will be so kind," he gestured outside with the hand holding his pants, unintentionally revealing himself. Ez looked down and snapped the pants back into place. He hadn't known Ez could go that red before. But what had interested him more was that Ez had looked ... hard? He'd seen it in himself enough to know but it seemed odd that even if he was attracted to Ez, that Ez should be attracted to him. He opened his mouth but for some reason couldn't think of anything to say. He also couldn't drag his eyes away from Ez's crotch. He knew he was staring and, again, couldn't stop himself from licking his lips. A quickly indrawn breath drew his attention up to Ez's face which had turned a strange half-red, half-white color.

Wide startled, green eyes met his and stuck there. He noticed that Ez was breathin' funny, heavy, almost panting. The hand that held his pants had tightened into a fist and, as he watched, Ez's other hand moved up to nervously stroke a flap of his open shirt. Ez swallowed and, impossibly, his eyes opened even wider, his breath deepened. He kept staring, drinking in the sight of this handsome, half-dressed man panting in front of him. Then, Ezra licked his lips, just a flicker of pink tongue against wind-roughened lips but it was enough. With a growl he rushed across the jail and slammed into the gambler, pushing him back against the bars of the jail cell and tearing the pants out of his grasp. He buried his face against Ez's neck, biting and licking, while his hands roamed up and down the gambler's sides and across his chest. He tweaked a nipple and was rewarded with a deep moan to add the collection he'd already begun accumulating. He bit down hard on the junction where shoulder met neck and Ezra quivered and shook, moaning nonsense words. Hands came up to caress his back under his jacket, pulling up his shirt and delving under it to stroke his bare skin. He groaned and thrust against the man pinned to the cell bars. Ez thrust back and kept thrusting until he slid his hands down his sides to grip the man's hips to keep him in place. Ezra whimpered and pressed kisses up and down his neck to his mouth. Here, Ez paused, hovering over his mouth uncertainly.

He growled and smashed his mouth down onto the gambler's, thrusting his tongue into the warm mouth and swirling it around his gums until Ez's tongue met his and dueled hungrily. Ezra tried to thrust against him again and he stopped him, holding his hips against the bars. Standing up was nice, VERY nice, but it wasn't enough. He jerked Ez away from the bars and threw open the cell door. Confused green eyes looked at him until he grabbed him again and pushed him to the floor. He fell heavily on top of Ezra and all was right with the world. This was what he needed, this sense of covering Ez completely, filling his vision until he was the only thing in the gambler's world. Ez's arms came up around him and crushed him against his chest and he realized he was wearing far to many clothes. He sat up, straddling the conman, and pulled his jacket and shirt off while Ez pulled at his belt and pants. The sight of Ez working feverishly at his pants, that look of dedication in his eyes, made him want to do things he normally wouldn't even think of, like finding a way to keep Ez down there all the time. Ez finally succeeded in opening his pants and he pulled them down fast. Not caring anymore, now that the restricting bits were out of the way, he fell back on to Ez and proceeded to bite and suck his way down the man's chest. Ez bucked and arched under his touch, digging his hands into his scalp and several times banging his own head on the floor. He moaned and shuddered. "Oh yes ... God ... yes, there, there, God, please," he gasped, the rich southern tones reduced to raspy pleading. When he paused and looked up at Ez the gambler was drenched with sweat, gasping, and shaking his head back and forth. He looked down and their eyes met, glassy green and intense blue. "Please ..." Ez sobbed. "Just ... please!"

With a smile, he bent his head, opened his mouth and went to work. He licked and sucked from the tip to the base until, with a hoarse cry, Ez began to pound his hips up and down, hands running up and down his own chest before tangling in his hair to hold him in place as he fucked his mouth. There was a jerk and a cry and then bitter liquid filled his mouth. On reflex, he swallowed and gently milked Ez dry until the man lay spent and gasping. He slid Ez's penis out of his mouth and slid up his body until they were face to face. He pinned him with his stare and began to rock, staring into the man's dilated green eyes. Ez's hands came up to grip his buttocks and pull him tight as he claimed the gambler's mouth and slowly thrust his tongue in and out.

They moaned at the same time and he began to thrust faster, harder, digging his hands into the gambler's shoulders, until, with a short, harsh cry he came and his seed splashed across their chests. He closed his eyes and dropped his head into the crook of Ez's neck, shaking with the aftermath of his release. They lay there quietly, tangled in each other until Ez, never one to stay quiet for long, cleared his throat. "Mr.-Mr. Tanner, to what do I owe ... this?"

The confused tone made Vin chuckle softly into Ez's neck. "Ya shouldn't go 'round in a table cloth, Ez," he said.

"I see?" For a conman, Ez seemed to have lost his ability to figure things out.

"It's a danged temptation," Vin clarified and sat up. He looked around and found a cloth J.D. used to clean the guns lying next to the cell. He picked it up and shrugged. He cleaned himself up and, going back to the cell, sat down to wipe his seed off Ez. Looking down, he saw the numerous scratches and bites decorating the man's fair skin. He chuckled. It was a good thing Ez had some spare clothes in here.

Ez watched as Vin swiped his chest and tentatively grabbed his wrist. "Then I take it this was a momentary compulsion?"

Vin frowned. "Huh?"

Ez was silent and looked down at his lap. He looked up and the badly hid fear and hope shocked Vin. "Is this ... will this be ... common?"

Vin laughed and swooped down, thoroughly kissing the gambler until he was gasping for air. He looked down into dazed eyes and smiled. "What do you think, Ez?"

JAIL BAIT II

//What do you think, Ez?//

A day after the ... the incident ... what Ezra thought wasn't repeatable and mostly directed towards himself. Fool, three times a fool! How could you get yourself into this position? Outwardly calm, Ezra leaned back in his accustomed chair at his usual table in the saloon and ostensibly surveyed the patrons. The usual ruffians and jackanapes swirled and swilled around the bar, keeping Inez well occupied with orders. Unfortunately, the marks were slim at this hour so Ezra sat somewhat alone. The esteemed gentleman who shared his table set his glass of milk down with a sigh and looked at him with a bemused yet weary expression on his face.

"Somethin' wrong, Ezra?" J.D. asked, but in such a manner that intimated he already knew the answer.

Ezra shuffled the cards in his hands twice and set them on the table carefully. "Nothing has been brought to my attention, Mr. Dunne." He reached out and nonchalantly sipped his whiskey. No, it was not precisely brought ... more like thrust.

"Bullshit."

Ezra choked on his drink. "I beg your pardon?" The inferior quality of the liquor was nothing compared to the shock of Mr. Dunne using profanity.

"You heard me," the young man stated calmly. "Ya wanna tell me what's gotten your shorts in a twist or ya wanna sit here an' scowl some more. Just so's ya know I figure Chris's got a corner on that last one."

Ezra stifled a chuckle and set his drink down on the table beside the cards. "I haven't the faintest idea what you are referring to," he said, trying to sound severe. That's right, I actually have a very strong idea.

J.D.'s mouth turned up at little at the corners in a fair imitation of Ezra's own smirk. "Yes, you do."

"I assure you, I do not." J.D.'s behavior was beginning to worry Ezra. He was almost ... smug.

"Ya want me to spell it out fer ya?"

Ezra spread his hands, the perfect semblance of mystified innocence. "By all means." *There is absolutely no way this naive child could guess ... *

"You and Vin had sex."

Oh my Lord! Ezra straightened in his chair, sputtering. "Mr. Du-J.D.-What in Tarnation!"

J.D. cocked his head to the side and grinned, though Ezra was gratified to see a tell-tale flush of rose coloring the young man's cheeks. At least some of the artless youth the seven regularly were privy to still existed. "Don't ya remember Ezra? In the jail?"

Vin told- Ezra felt as if he had been beaten over the head with a club. The ... incident ... to which he had felt had been an ... intense private moment between himself and the tracker had been laid out for public consumption like a dime store novel to this-this gulless monkey! Ezra's eyes turned cold as he berated himself yet again for allowing his guard to slip so far as to let Vin make free with his person.

To own it, a small voice in the back of his head whispered gleefully. To possess it utterly until you would have gone down on your knees and-

Will you please be quiet! Ezra firmly pushed the annoyingly persistent voice far back down into his psyche where it belonged. It subsided with a cackle that sounded far to much like his mother to be healthy. His mother. What a fine time to be thinking about Maude. He grimaced. Well, it had at least taken care of the heat he had begun to feel rising within him as memories of that day had replayed themselves before his mind. //Hands sliding up down his sides, tracing the contours of his muscles, before finally coming to rest at his hips and pressing down into the flesh hard enough to bruise. Arms like bands of steel crushing him to a hard chest, forcing him to rub up and down the length of it, trying to achieve some blessed friction against his genitals until the long-haired man ruthlessly held him immobile.// He gritted his teeth. Oh that helped. Ezra refocused on the cause of his consternation and found him with that foppish smirk still plastered over his face.

As Ezra's cold green eyes bored holes into him the smirk on J.D.'s face faded and was replaced by fond exasperation. "He didn't tell me nuthin', Ezra," the boy assured him. "I found out on my own."

Ezra's eyes narrowed. "How, exactly, did this ... hypothetical happenstance come to your attention?"

J.D.'s eyebrows furrowed. "Huh?"

"How did you find out?" Ezra reiterated. So help me, I am surrounded by ignoramuses.

His expression cleared. "Oh, I, uh," J.D. blushed. "I walked in on the two of ya yesterday."

Gulless fish was not a term Ezra had ever thought to use in conjunction with himself, having always taken great pride in his ability to control his facial expressions. That vaunted ability seemed to have temporarily fled his vicinity as he stared, mouth hanging slightly askew. "Walked in?" he managed to stammer.

J.D. nodded and the blush intensified a bit. "Yeah, I needed to get a book outta my desk drawer and, well ..." His voice faded away and he shrugged helplessly.

"You didn't say anything." Would you have stopped if he had? asked the irritating voice that lurked in his mind. Yes, I surely would have, he told the voice firmly. Just as I should have stopped Vin before he- Made you feel like the safest place in the world was underneath him? the snide voice interrupted. No! Ezra vehemently denied that accusation and shoved away the memory of Vin's body pressing down onto him. //Grimy metal bars digging into his back, soon the only thing keeping him from sliding to the floor as his knees gave way. Then the cold rush of emptiness as Vin stepped away, a whimper that leaked out of his throat that he cursed and yet couldn't withhold, then being born down to the ground. Vin lying full length on top of him, looming over him, hands never ceasing to caress every part of his flesh, dipping beneath his shirt to glide down his back and grip his buttocks, holding him tight against the other man's groin. Wanting to bury his head in Vin's chest, himself in Vin, until the outside world ceased to exist and the tracker became his world, his refuge, and knowing he would never quite deserve that.// Ezra shuddered. To know J.D. had walked in on that ... it was almost to much to be born. He gazed at the youngest of the seven and some of his desperation must have leaked out because J.D. instantly reached out and made an abortive move to touch him. He retracted the hand he'd been about to place over Ezra's and shifted to grip his shoulder.

"Oh, no Ezra," he said hurriedly, "I just left quick as I could and still look natural. Don't worry,

I didn't tell no one. Not even Buck!" J.D. smiled then, proudly, and the sight brought a weak but visible answering smile to the gambler's lips.

"Thank you for your discretion, Mr. Dunne," Ezra said and swallowed heavily. The whiskey, though usually endurable, had chosen this moment to react rather intolerably with his stomach.

J.D. shrugged. "Tweren't nuthin'," he said. "I figured ya needed a bit of privacy just then." A sly little grin stole over his face. "This mean you and Vin are together now?"

"No, Mr. Dunne, it does not," Ezra said firmly. That can never happen again. Yes, it can Ezra, the voice murmured, all you have to do is ask. Never! Ezra railed against that idea. To debase himself before Vin, to admit to wanting Vin, was an unthinkable loss of control. To allow anyone that kind of power over his life, well, not even Maude had that degree of dominion over him and she could tie Ezra into knots with one well placed lift of her elegant eyebrow. Vin would destroy him.

J.D. looked surprised. "Why not? After, I mean . . "

"Present circumstances make that occurrence untenable at this time, Mr. Dunne," Ezra said.

"Huh?"

Ezra sighed. "Bad timing."

"Oh." J.D. nodded his head and it seemed to Ezra as if he actually understood. But how could this mere boy, who took an almost childish delight in the simplest of things, react so calmly or know so much about this type of ordeal.

"Mr. Dunne," Ezra broached the question delicately, "may I inquire ..."

"How come I'm not shrieking to the heavens and climbin' the walls?" J.D. finished for him with a wide grin.

Ezra grinned in response, glad to have shifted the topic of his love, no, sex life. "Yes, exactly."

J.D. shook his head and looked down at the table. He absently picked up the pack of cards and began to run them through his fingers, shuffling and turning them end over end. It startled Ezra to see the youth ape his own nervous habit. "Well, y'see," J.D. began and then stopped with a wry grin. He flipped the cards one last time and then set them back on the table. "I'm new 'round here," he said and Ezra raised an eyebrow. "In the west," J.D. clarified. "So I don't know much out here and I don't know a lot about life in the meantime anyway 'cause my ma ... Well, she did a good job a keepin' me safe most of my life. But, y'all 're forgettin' that I used to live in a city. That I used to live in Boston. You ever been there?" he asked. He raised his eyebrows.

Ezra shook his head. He'd never felt the urge to go that far north. The cold alone was sufficient deterrent for his southern blood. The existence of said southern blood was another excellent reason to confine his pursuits in more familiar territory.

"Well, Boston -- it's the kinda place you don't live in long without learnin' a thing or two. How do ya think I learned how to shoot? Used to go down to the Irish quarter when it was light and I had the day of. Borrowed my first gun from a guy named O' Rourke who ran protection for Mr. O'Malley the butcher. He was a good guy, kept tryin' ta get me to work for him though."

Ezra bit back a smile. The idea of J.D. Dunne trying to exhort money from anyone much less the rough denizens of a borough was very humorous.

J.D. saw Ezra's poor attempt to hide a smile and grinned weakly in return. "Nah, Ezra it wasn't like that. O'Rourke wanted to put me to work in one of the brothels Mr. O'Malley owned. Said my face was like a 'fallen angel's' or somethin' like that." He shrugged and fiddled with his empty milk glass, suddenly shy in the face of Ezra's shocked silence.

J.D. in a brothel? The idea of him working in one, kept penned in a small room like a prize stallion by some thick Irish miscreant ... Of them all, J.D. had always seemed like the one who needed to be protected the most and Ezra now felt a most uncharacteristic urge to wrap the boy in cotton wool and put him away some place safe. "Did you, I mean, how?" Ezra struggled to come up with the words to express himself succinctly.

J.D. looked up and very consciously set his milk glass back down. "I said no," he said, "politely a course and then high-tailed it back to my home. But that doesn't mean I didn't ever see the boys on the street sellin' themselves or the men who used to go into the back room of O'Shaunessy's Tavern together. When Ma," he cleared his throat and blinked rapidly, "when she died O'Rourke stopped askin' for a while. Waitin' for the mournin' period to be over, I guess. So I jumped on the first stage I could find before he stopped taking 'no' for an answer. Plus, a man's just gotta come out west, don't he?" He grinned then and the J.D. Ezra had come to know and feel some, slight, affection for came back; replacing the somber and reflective young man who had revealed such a tale to him.

"I ... find myself at a loss Mr. Dunne," Ezra said.

"That's okay, Ez. Just keep it between us, right?" J.D. smiled at him trustingly and once again Ezra felt the full weight of his soul bear down upon him.

"Yes, Mr. Dunne," he said. "This will of course remain in my utmost confidence."

'Thanks, I think," J.D. said and stood up. "I'll be seein' ya Ezra," he said jauntily and walked out of the saloon.

Ezra leaned back in his chair and drained his glass with a gulp. As reflected on the conversation that had just occurred he realized that he had extracted no such promise from J.D. Strangely, he found that this revelation didn't bother him as much he would have previously supposed. He was reasonably confident that the seven's youngest member would not betray his knowledge willingly. As he sat there, eyeing the still crowded bar speculatively the doors to the saloon swung open. Reflexively, Ezra's eyes went to the entrance and his hand went to his side arm. The doors closed and the saloon's newest customer revealed himself. It was Vin. Ezra sat back in sudden dread and leaned back as far into the shadows as he could go. The tracker stood amidst the throng and, even as he desperately attempted to avoid his gaze, Ezra's eyes greedily drank in the sight of him. The long, supple hands callused hands, rough and tugging against his skin, the lean legs encased in leather, prying between his knees until his legs were spread so wide they seemed perpendicular to each other, the warm mouth, burning heat searing down his chest and marking his throat as if to say, This! This is mine and woe to any who dispute my claim!. Ezra shook and, as the tracker slowly surveyed the room, their eyes met.

Tbc