Smoke & Lightning, Heavy Metal Thunder [10/?]
Posting a wee bit early, because I'm bored. Also, there will be a filler post before Wednesday with more downloadable goodies! Enjoy. :D
Title: Smoke And Lightning, Heavy Metal Thunder (10/?)
Authors: bloody_adorable and eviltwin
Fandoms: Supernatural RPS
Pairing: Jensen Ackles / Jared Padalecki.
Rating: PG all the way to NC-17 in future chapters.
Wordcount: 2,534
Summary: AU. Jared's a classic case of rich kid gone wrong, whose only sense of family comes from his motorbike, the guy he rents a garage from to live in and the precinct cops who know his face better than most already. Jensen's a hard-working student whose family are helping push him towards great things. What happens when their two worlds collide, and will Jared's troublesome nature be too much for Jensen to handle?
Disclaimer: None of the following is true in any way, and no profit is made from this work of fiction.
CHAPTER TEN
"Which one is he?"
Jensen shivered, feeling like his breath should be clouding around his head as he bent to the side to point out the correct player. "The quarterback," he answered. "The one that has the ball right now."
Jared leaned to one side, then the other, trying to get a good look at Doug. "He's kinda scrawny."
Jeffrey chuckled. The same thought had gone through his head, but of course he'd opted not to say it, for fear of hurting Jensen's feelings. Jared, however, did not have such a social filter. "Jay."
Jared glanced over at the older man. "He is," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
Chris was seated to the other side of Jared and laughed when the man pointed out the obvious. He didn't really know him, but he could tell that he liked him already. And he was important to Jensen, which was really all that mattered.
"He makes up for it," Jensen assured them. "He's got a bad reputation and one hell of an uppercut."
"You know from experience, huh?" Jeffrey smiled.
Jensen nodded his head and sighed. He shivered again. The day wasn't overly chilled, but the trip to the swimming hole had sapped all of his inner warmth from him. Even if it had been freezing, the fans were devoted to the school team. They were one of the best in the league, probably because of Doug. He was a good player, but he had poor sportsmanship and had no qualms about cheating to win. "I'm freezing," Jensen said. "They should have coffee for sale over at the Snack Shack. Anybody want anything?"
Jeffrey dug into his jeans pocket, grunting as he straightened out his leg to try and get the money out. "Yeah," he said. "Get me a coffee. Black is fine."
Jensen waved away Jeffrey's money and looked at Jared. "You want anything?"
"Hot dog," Jared answered, not taking his eyes off of the game. "The works."
Laughing, Jensen shook his head as he got up from the bleachers. "Chris?"
"I'm good, thanks," he returned. He looked back to the game, clapping his hands at a good play and shouting encouragement to the team.
Jensen nodded and climbed down and headed for the Snack Shack, fishing his wallet out of his back pocket. Jeffrey watched him go, a watchful eye over his boy. Even though Jensen wasn't his son, he'd grown fond of the boy and he couldn't help but be protective of him.
Jared turned away from glancing in Jensen's direction, too. He sniffled through his nose and rubbed his hands together. His hair was still damp. When they had arrived home, Jeffrey had scolded both of them, telling them that if they didn't get pneumonia, it would be a miracle. Sighing, Jared shook his head. "God, I must love that jerk," he grumbled. "Freezing my ass off."
Jeffrey looked over at him, his smile bright. "I think that's the first time I've ever heard you say that." He glanced over at Chris with a look that silently told the young man that this was a big deal.
"What?" Jared returned.
"That you love someone."
He didn't look at Jeffrey. He stayed curled into himself, his knee bouncing out of both nervous habit and chills. "Yeah, well," he sighed. "People tend not to stick around, so..."
It wasn't often that Jared was serious enough for such conversation, and Jeffrey never pushed him about it. But when he got into the mood, Jeffrey would eke a few things out of him that the boy would otherwise not admit. "So you try not to get attached."
"Yeah." It was quiet for a second, Jared coughing against the cold air in his lungs, still keeping his eyes on the game. "You stuck around at least."
Jeffrey smiled. Taking a deep breath, he looked out to the game and cleared his throat. "Yeah," he agreed. "That's just to make your life hell though."
"And a fucking stellar job you do at that, old man."
They laughed again, quickly glancing to each other and then over to Jensen as he neared them. He carried a disposable tray with two cups of coffee and a heavily loaded hot dog atop it.
"That was fast," Jeffrey said, accepting one of the cups of coffee. "Thank you."
"I think everyone's conserving body heat and not going down there," Jensen joked.
"Well, you were the fools that went swimming."
Jared dug into his hot dog, holding the disposable tray on his lap. While he ate, Jensen curled his lip around the cup of coffee in his hands. He blew on it and sipped gingerly, relishing the feel of the hot liquid slipping down his throat and expanding in his chest. It warmed his body, stopped his shivers.
Leaning a bit closer to Chris, Jared spoke around the hot dog in his mouth. "Which one is yours?"
Chris saw him watching the cheerleaders and chuckled. He pointed out one of the girls. She had short blonde hair and the perfect little figure and, in short, was everything a cheerleader should be. "That one there," he said. "Her name is Dani."
"Cute," Jared nodded, finishing off the hotdog. While he ate the last of it, he set the disposable tray on the bleacher seat in front of him. Barely even a second after he had swallowed, his body racked with a spasm, and he belched loudly. "Ah!"
"Jared," Jeffrey said sternly.
"Sorry." He smiled sheepishly.
"Someday, you'll be a real boy," Jeffrey teased, "and a functioning part of society."
"Bite your tongue."
"You're not the only one that's horrified," he said. "Trust me."
Jensen glanced over at Chris, both of them laughing at the two men. Jared reached around Jensen and punched Jeffrey's shoulder, but the man merely put up his fists, as if he was going to fight back but never intending to.
Finally, the football team set up for one more play, but they were so far ahead of the other team, that they just let the clock run down. They all congratulated each other on the field. Doug jumped up and bumped chests with several of his teammates, declaring himself the victor. Coach had to remind him that it was the team that won, not just him.
In the parking lot, Jeffrey told Jared and Jensen that he was taking them out for Chinese. He invited Chris and Dani to come along, and Chris took him up on the offer.
"Sure, Dani'd like that, I think," he nodded. "That is, if Jen doesn't mind me hanging around." He playfully wrapped his arm around Jensen's neck and tugged him down into a headlock.
Jared watched, a huge grin on his face. While Chris had him bent down, he took advantage of the situation and heartily smacked Jensen's backside. He laughed when the young man cried out in mock pain, which only made him repeat his movements.
Jensen laughed and tried to work out of Chris's ironclad hold, but he wasn't exactly on the wrestling team. He could hear Jeffrey laughing with them, and blindly reached for the man, begging for help with feigned distress.
"Well, goddamn," someone said.
Everyone turned to see who had interrupted the rough-housing. Finally released, Jensen straightened and looked too. His heart sank when he saw Doug staring back at them. His three best friends walked behind him as they usually did, like little lost puppies.
"Looks like little Jenny Mae's in trouble."
"Go away, Doug," Chris said.
"What are you doing here, Kane?" Doug asked. "Shouldn't you be out somewhere fucking that whore of yours?"
Chris gritted his teeth as he glared over at him. "She's still inside getting changed," he said as calmly as he could. "But if you call her a whore again, I'll rip your head off."
Doug laughed at the threat. "Ooh," he lowed. "I'm really scared." He strode closer to Jensen, his walk that of a man who thought he was God's gift to everyone and everything.
Jensen watched him warily, anxiety clutching at his stomach. "Go away, Doug," he said. He cursed his voice for giving out on him, cracking and making him sound as afraid as he really felt.
Pretending to be offended, Doug stepped closer. "Jenny, Jenny," he almost sighed. "Is that any way to treat your rescuer?"
Jeffrey watched from his place, ready to step in if needed, but letting Jensen tend to his own problems. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jared start to step closer to interfere, and reached out to him. He grabbed hold of Jared's arm and shook his head at him when Jared met his gaze.
"Rescuer?" Jensen smiled. "What are you talking about?"
Doug glanced around to Jared, Jeffrey and Chris, then back to his goons. "Looked to me like you were on your way to being gang-banged."
Smile disappearing, Jensen shook his head. "Shut up."
"Or, maybe that's what you were hoping for," Doug grinned, "eh, little twink?"
Jared roughly shook off Jeffrey's hold on his arm. He headed towards Doug and purposefully bumped into him hard enough to knock the man off balance. He glared down at him, nose-to-nose with the bully. Jaw aligned in fury, Jared clenched his teeth and refused to back down.
Doug wasn't moving either. After catching his balance, he stood as tall as he could, still falling a couple inches short of Jared's six-foot-five-inch height. "You got a problem, pretty boy?" he snarled.
"No, but you do now," Jared returned.
"Jared, come on," Jensen said, setting a hand to the man's shoulder. "He's not worth it, come on."
"Yeah, come on, Jared," Doug smiled, narrowing his eyes.
Jared's jaw muscles were flexing, his nostrils flaring, fury bubbling below the less-than-calm exterior. Jeffrey saw the signs of the impending fight and took it upon himself to stop it. He knew Jared better than any of the others, knew he could talk him down.
Wedging himself between the two of them, Jeffrey faced his boy. "Walk away, Jared," he advised. He pushed the man back slightly, making more room between him and Doug. "Walk away." He turned around and faced the instigator, pointing away from the group. "You too," he told Doug. "Walk away right now."
Doug smiled and took a step back. "Hear that, Jared?" he smirked. "Your old sugar-daddy has spoken. Better do what he says or he won't butt-fuck you like a good little fag."
Fury flashed in Jeffrey's eyes. He didn't care that Doug thought he was gay. He didn't even really care that the man was clearly homophobic. What he did care about, was that the little jerk was calling his boy a fag. Shaking his head, Jeffrey narrowed his eyes at him. "You really are as dumb as you look, ain't you?"
Doug only laughed.
Jeffrey stepped out from between Doug and Jared. "Kick his ass," he said, nodding to the high schooler. "I don't even care anymore."
There was only a split-second in which fear flashed across Doug's face. His eyes widened as he saw Jared's fist coming directly for him. He didn't have time to duck, and Jared's fist connected with his mouth, sending him reeling down to the parking lot floor. His goons did not move to defend him, instead crowding around him and helping him to stand back up. Furious, he shook them off and looked back over at Jared, blood flowing down his chin and neck.
"This ain't over, Ackles," he growled. "I swear to God, you're dead."
Jared puffed up again, taking a step closer. "Try it," he warned, "and I'll fucking kill you."
Doug stumbled backwards when Jared neared him. He gathered his things, and his followers, and headed towards his car.
The fight was over almost as soon as it started. Jared shook off the pain in his hand, clenching and unclenching his fist. Chris saw Danielle emerge from the school, her hair still wet from the quick shower she always took after a game. He quickly told her what had gone down, but reassured her that everything was alright.
Jensen, still stunned, stared over at Jared, green eyes wide. He had seen him fight before. It was the man's words that had him worried. Try it, and I'll fucking kill you. He wasn't sure if he should feel flattered or fearful.
At the restaurant, Jared's hand didn't look any better. It was already bruising, making Jensen worry. "Are you sure your hand's okay?"
Jared looked down at it, amidst his meal, and flexed his fingers. "Yeah," he said. "No big deal."
Jensen managed to eat a decent meal. Even though he laughed with Jared and the others, he still ran through the events in the parking lot. Why did Doug have to show up? Why did he have to be a jerk? And why did he have to insult Jeffrey? He felt like his past was hurting the ones he loved.
Jeffrey paid for dinner, even though Jensen offered to help. He still had some money saved up, as Dad had demanded he and his siblings do when they reached a certain age. Jeffrey wouldn't hear of it though. He paid for the meal and Jensen walked with Chris over to his friend's car to say good night.
"Call me tomorrow, okay?" he offered. "We can still go get your stuff."
"Yeah."
"Hey." Chris glanced over to Jared, where the man stood beside the car with Jeffrey. "Don't worry about what happened. Maybe Dougie learned his lesson, hm?"
Jensen smiled even though he didn't feel like it. "Yeah," he returned. "Maybe." Fat chance. He watched Chris settle Danielle into the car and then slip into the driver's seat. He waved at him as he drove off, a smile still pasted to his face.
The ride back home was done in silence on Jensen's part. Jeffrey and Jared played music and talked, but Jensen was still too worried. What was Doug going to do to him? He knew he wouldn't forget this and knew that he would blame Jensen. That Jensen would be the one he'd come after, because Jared wasn't someone he'd be able to stand up to.
Finally home, Jensen settled on the sofa with Jared to watch television for awhile. They both had a beer in their grasps, but Jensen's was almost untouched.
"Hey," he finally spoke. "What you said in the parking lot?"
Jared turned and looked at him. "What'd I say?"
"That you'd kill Doug," he reminded him. "But those were just words, right?" He saw Jared staring at him, a slight furrow in his brow. "I mean, you'd never really hurt him, right?"
After a moment of stillness, Jared nodded his head. "Yeah," he answered. "I would. I'd fucking kill him if he touched you."
Fear snaked its way around his throat again. He nodded at Jared, trying to swallow. "Oh," he breathed. He turned back to the television and stared at it, but processed nothing. He heard Jared laugh at the sitcom and tried to smile with him. He doubted it worked, however, since he couldn't get Jared's words out of his head.
--TBC--
Title: Smoke And Lightning, Heavy Metal Thunder (10/?)
Authors: bloody_adorable and eviltwin
Fandoms: Supernatural RPS
Pairing: Jensen Ackles / Jared Padalecki.
Rating: PG all the way to NC-17 in future chapters.
Wordcount: 2,534
Summary: AU. Jared's a classic case of rich kid gone wrong, whose only sense of family comes from his motorbike, the guy he rents a garage from to live in and the precinct cops who know his face better than most already. Jensen's a hard-working student whose family are helping push him towards great things. What happens when their two worlds collide, and will Jared's troublesome nature be too much for Jensen to handle?
Disclaimer: None of the following is true in any way, and no profit is made from this work of fiction.
CHAPTER TEN
"Which one is he?"
Jensen shivered, feeling like his breath should be clouding around his head as he bent to the side to point out the correct player. "The quarterback," he answered. "The one that has the ball right now."
Jared leaned to one side, then the other, trying to get a good look at Doug. "He's kinda scrawny."
Jeffrey chuckled. The same thought had gone through his head, but of course he'd opted not to say it, for fear of hurting Jensen's feelings. Jared, however, did not have such a social filter. "Jay."
Jared glanced over at the older man. "He is," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
Chris was seated to the other side of Jared and laughed when the man pointed out the obvious. He didn't really know him, but he could tell that he liked him already. And he was important to Jensen, which was really all that mattered.
"He makes up for it," Jensen assured them. "He's got a bad reputation and one hell of an uppercut."
"You know from experience, huh?" Jeffrey smiled.
Jensen nodded his head and sighed. He shivered again. The day wasn't overly chilled, but the trip to the swimming hole had sapped all of his inner warmth from him. Even if it had been freezing, the fans were devoted to the school team. They were one of the best in the league, probably because of Doug. He was a good player, but he had poor sportsmanship and had no qualms about cheating to win. "I'm freezing," Jensen said. "They should have coffee for sale over at the Snack Shack. Anybody want anything?"
Jeffrey dug into his jeans pocket, grunting as he straightened out his leg to try and get the money out. "Yeah," he said. "Get me a coffee. Black is fine."
Jensen waved away Jeffrey's money and looked at Jared. "You want anything?"
"Hot dog," Jared answered, not taking his eyes off of the game. "The works."
Laughing, Jensen shook his head as he got up from the bleachers. "Chris?"
"I'm good, thanks," he returned. He looked back to the game, clapping his hands at a good play and shouting encouragement to the team.
Jensen nodded and climbed down and headed for the Snack Shack, fishing his wallet out of his back pocket. Jeffrey watched him go, a watchful eye over his boy. Even though Jensen wasn't his son, he'd grown fond of the boy and he couldn't help but be protective of him.
Jared turned away from glancing in Jensen's direction, too. He sniffled through his nose and rubbed his hands together. His hair was still damp. When they had arrived home, Jeffrey had scolded both of them, telling them that if they didn't get pneumonia, it would be a miracle. Sighing, Jared shook his head. "God, I must love that jerk," he grumbled. "Freezing my ass off."
Jeffrey looked over at him, his smile bright. "I think that's the first time I've ever heard you say that." He glanced over at Chris with a look that silently told the young man that this was a big deal.
"What?" Jared returned.
"That you love someone."
He didn't look at Jeffrey. He stayed curled into himself, his knee bouncing out of both nervous habit and chills. "Yeah, well," he sighed. "People tend not to stick around, so..."
It wasn't often that Jared was serious enough for such conversation, and Jeffrey never pushed him about it. But when he got into the mood, Jeffrey would eke a few things out of him that the boy would otherwise not admit. "So you try not to get attached."
"Yeah." It was quiet for a second, Jared coughing against the cold air in his lungs, still keeping his eyes on the game. "You stuck around at least."
Jeffrey smiled. Taking a deep breath, he looked out to the game and cleared his throat. "Yeah," he agreed. "That's just to make your life hell though."
"And a fucking stellar job you do at that, old man."
They laughed again, quickly glancing to each other and then over to Jensen as he neared them. He carried a disposable tray with two cups of coffee and a heavily loaded hot dog atop it.
"That was fast," Jeffrey said, accepting one of the cups of coffee. "Thank you."
"I think everyone's conserving body heat and not going down there," Jensen joked.
"Well, you were the fools that went swimming."
Jared dug into his hot dog, holding the disposable tray on his lap. While he ate, Jensen curled his lip around the cup of coffee in his hands. He blew on it and sipped gingerly, relishing the feel of the hot liquid slipping down his throat and expanding in his chest. It warmed his body, stopped his shivers.
Leaning a bit closer to Chris, Jared spoke around the hot dog in his mouth. "Which one is yours?"
Chris saw him watching the cheerleaders and chuckled. He pointed out one of the girls. She had short blonde hair and the perfect little figure and, in short, was everything a cheerleader should be. "That one there," he said. "Her name is Dani."
"Cute," Jared nodded, finishing off the hotdog. While he ate the last of it, he set the disposable tray on the bleacher seat in front of him. Barely even a second after he had swallowed, his body racked with a spasm, and he belched loudly. "Ah!"
"Jared," Jeffrey said sternly.
"Sorry." He smiled sheepishly.
"Someday, you'll be a real boy," Jeffrey teased, "and a functioning part of society."
"Bite your tongue."
"You're not the only one that's horrified," he said. "Trust me."
Jensen glanced over at Chris, both of them laughing at the two men. Jared reached around Jensen and punched Jeffrey's shoulder, but the man merely put up his fists, as if he was going to fight back but never intending to.
Finally, the football team set up for one more play, but they were so far ahead of the other team, that they just let the clock run down. They all congratulated each other on the field. Doug jumped up and bumped chests with several of his teammates, declaring himself the victor. Coach had to remind him that it was the team that won, not just him.
In the parking lot, Jeffrey told Jared and Jensen that he was taking them out for Chinese. He invited Chris and Dani to come along, and Chris took him up on the offer.
"Sure, Dani'd like that, I think," he nodded. "That is, if Jen doesn't mind me hanging around." He playfully wrapped his arm around Jensen's neck and tugged him down into a headlock.
Jared watched, a huge grin on his face. While Chris had him bent down, he took advantage of the situation and heartily smacked Jensen's backside. He laughed when the young man cried out in mock pain, which only made him repeat his movements.
Jensen laughed and tried to work out of Chris's ironclad hold, but he wasn't exactly on the wrestling team. He could hear Jeffrey laughing with them, and blindly reached for the man, begging for help with feigned distress.
"Well, goddamn," someone said.
Everyone turned to see who had interrupted the rough-housing. Finally released, Jensen straightened and looked too. His heart sank when he saw Doug staring back at them. His three best friends walked behind him as they usually did, like little lost puppies.
"Looks like little Jenny Mae's in trouble."
"Go away, Doug," Chris said.
"What are you doing here, Kane?" Doug asked. "Shouldn't you be out somewhere fucking that whore of yours?"
Chris gritted his teeth as he glared over at him. "She's still inside getting changed," he said as calmly as he could. "But if you call her a whore again, I'll rip your head off."
Doug laughed at the threat. "Ooh," he lowed. "I'm really scared." He strode closer to Jensen, his walk that of a man who thought he was God's gift to everyone and everything.
Jensen watched him warily, anxiety clutching at his stomach. "Go away, Doug," he said. He cursed his voice for giving out on him, cracking and making him sound as afraid as he really felt.
Pretending to be offended, Doug stepped closer. "Jenny, Jenny," he almost sighed. "Is that any way to treat your rescuer?"
Jeffrey watched from his place, ready to step in if needed, but letting Jensen tend to his own problems. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jared start to step closer to interfere, and reached out to him. He grabbed hold of Jared's arm and shook his head at him when Jared met his gaze.
"Rescuer?" Jensen smiled. "What are you talking about?"
Doug glanced around to Jared, Jeffrey and Chris, then back to his goons. "Looked to me like you were on your way to being gang-banged."
Smile disappearing, Jensen shook his head. "Shut up."
"Or, maybe that's what you were hoping for," Doug grinned, "eh, little twink?"
Jared roughly shook off Jeffrey's hold on his arm. He headed towards Doug and purposefully bumped into him hard enough to knock the man off balance. He glared down at him, nose-to-nose with the bully. Jaw aligned in fury, Jared clenched his teeth and refused to back down.
Doug wasn't moving either. After catching his balance, he stood as tall as he could, still falling a couple inches short of Jared's six-foot-five-inch height. "You got a problem, pretty boy?" he snarled.
"No, but you do now," Jared returned.
"Jared, come on," Jensen said, setting a hand to the man's shoulder. "He's not worth it, come on."
"Yeah, come on, Jared," Doug smiled, narrowing his eyes.
Jared's jaw muscles were flexing, his nostrils flaring, fury bubbling below the less-than-calm exterior. Jeffrey saw the signs of the impending fight and took it upon himself to stop it. He knew Jared better than any of the others, knew he could talk him down.
Wedging himself between the two of them, Jeffrey faced his boy. "Walk away, Jared," he advised. He pushed the man back slightly, making more room between him and Doug. "Walk away." He turned around and faced the instigator, pointing away from the group. "You too," he told Doug. "Walk away right now."
Doug smiled and took a step back. "Hear that, Jared?" he smirked. "Your old sugar-daddy has spoken. Better do what he says or he won't butt-fuck you like a good little fag."
Fury flashed in Jeffrey's eyes. He didn't care that Doug thought he was gay. He didn't even really care that the man was clearly homophobic. What he did care about, was that the little jerk was calling his boy a fag. Shaking his head, Jeffrey narrowed his eyes at him. "You really are as dumb as you look, ain't you?"
Doug only laughed.
Jeffrey stepped out from between Doug and Jared. "Kick his ass," he said, nodding to the high schooler. "I don't even care anymore."
There was only a split-second in which fear flashed across Doug's face. His eyes widened as he saw Jared's fist coming directly for him. He didn't have time to duck, and Jared's fist connected with his mouth, sending him reeling down to the parking lot floor. His goons did not move to defend him, instead crowding around him and helping him to stand back up. Furious, he shook them off and looked back over at Jared, blood flowing down his chin and neck.
"This ain't over, Ackles," he growled. "I swear to God, you're dead."
Jared puffed up again, taking a step closer. "Try it," he warned, "and I'll fucking kill you."
Doug stumbled backwards when Jared neared him. He gathered his things, and his followers, and headed towards his car.
The fight was over almost as soon as it started. Jared shook off the pain in his hand, clenching and unclenching his fist. Chris saw Danielle emerge from the school, her hair still wet from the quick shower she always took after a game. He quickly told her what had gone down, but reassured her that everything was alright.
Jensen, still stunned, stared over at Jared, green eyes wide. He had seen him fight before. It was the man's words that had him worried. Try it, and I'll fucking kill you. He wasn't sure if he should feel flattered or fearful.
At the restaurant, Jared's hand didn't look any better. It was already bruising, making Jensen worry. "Are you sure your hand's okay?"
Jared looked down at it, amidst his meal, and flexed his fingers. "Yeah," he said. "No big deal."
Jensen managed to eat a decent meal. Even though he laughed with Jared and the others, he still ran through the events in the parking lot. Why did Doug have to show up? Why did he have to be a jerk? And why did he have to insult Jeffrey? He felt like his past was hurting the ones he loved.
Jeffrey paid for dinner, even though Jensen offered to help. He still had some money saved up, as Dad had demanded he and his siblings do when they reached a certain age. Jeffrey wouldn't hear of it though. He paid for the meal and Jensen walked with Chris over to his friend's car to say good night.
"Call me tomorrow, okay?" he offered. "We can still go get your stuff."
"Yeah."
"Hey." Chris glanced over to Jared, where the man stood beside the car with Jeffrey. "Don't worry about what happened. Maybe Dougie learned his lesson, hm?"
Jensen smiled even though he didn't feel like it. "Yeah," he returned. "Maybe." Fat chance. He watched Chris settle Danielle into the car and then slip into the driver's seat. He waved at him as he drove off, a smile still pasted to his face.
The ride back home was done in silence on Jensen's part. Jeffrey and Jared played music and talked, but Jensen was still too worried. What was Doug going to do to him? He knew he wouldn't forget this and knew that he would blame Jensen. That Jensen would be the one he'd come after, because Jared wasn't someone he'd be able to stand up to.
Finally home, Jensen settled on the sofa with Jared to watch television for awhile. They both had a beer in their grasps, but Jensen's was almost untouched.
"Hey," he finally spoke. "What you said in the parking lot?"
Jared turned and looked at him. "What'd I say?"
"That you'd kill Doug," he reminded him. "But those were just words, right?" He saw Jared staring at him, a slight furrow in his brow. "I mean, you'd never really hurt him, right?"
After a moment of stillness, Jared nodded his head. "Yeah," he answered. "I would. I'd fucking kill him if he touched you."
Fear snaked its way around his throat again. He nodded at Jared, trying to swallow. "Oh," he breathed. He turned back to the television and stared at it, but processed nothing. He heard Jared laugh at the sitcom and tried to smile with him. He doubted it worked, however, since he couldn't get Jared's words out of his head.
--TBC--