The fifth one
Title : The fifth one
Author : siriala
Rating : NC-17
Word count : 3,800
Fandom : J2, CW RPF
Genre : slash, RPS
Characters : Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Julian Richings, Katie Cassidy, Samantha Ferris, original characters
Pairings : Jensen/Jared, Jared/Julian
Beta : the wonderful honscot. Thank you so much !
Disclaimer : mensonges et billevesées, lies and twaddle. Total fiction coming up !
Warnings/enticements : alternate universe, bottom!Jared, big age difference (Jared/Julian), forced marriage leading to dub- to non-con, happy ending, mpreg, minor character's death, mention of children's death
Summary : Jared is only sixteen when he's forced into a union he never wanted with a much older man. Life as his fifth mate isn't exactly the stuff Jared's dreams were made of, but what choice does he have ? Is this really all that life has in store for him ?
Notes : this idea was inspired by the real-life story of someone I read about but I only used the fact that this person was unhappy about having to marry an older man who already had several spouses. The rest is completely invented, as evidenced by the fact that I chose to set my story in a fictitious world where men can get pregnant. Anyway, no disrespect intended. Also, I didn't intend to write a no-dialogue fic at first but this is the way it worked and I quite like it.
Link to AO3
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Julian is not a bad man, but he's old and tired, cranky more often than not because of the pain in his joints. His four previous mates gave him only daughters and a carrier son he's always refused to give away to prevent inheritance troubles. He's still in need of an heir, so he decided to marry again as soon as the elders announced that Jared, as an orphaned teenager, needed to be wed and taken care of.
Jared's afraid, but it's not of Julian. He would be anyway, regardless of the person who's gonna have life and death rights over him. He doesn't think he's ready to marry anyone, let alone a man fifty years older than him who already possesses four mates. And while he's not sure exactly what making love entails, he sure doesn't want this old, charmless guy to touch him intimately.
Problem is, he's got no say in this matter. The council does, and the council decided the best for him was to marry Julian, not to be sent away to the city to live with his aunt Sam. The village is small and they need all the fertiles they have, so Jared's not going anywhere.
No words are required from him to make Jared Julian's property. He doesn't even have to acquiesce. His will is of no interest to anyone here. At sixteen, he's considered old enough to give birth, but not to form an enlightened opinion. All he needs is to kneel down in front of the council and shut up, and this is symbolized by the heavy black veil obstructing his view, falling over his face, over his lips, up until the moment someone lifts it up a bit and something large and moist is shoved up against his mouth, forcing it open to take in the hard flesh pumping in and out so violently that Jared begins to cough and retch, fighting to get away. But his arms are each squeezed by the strong hands of the tribe's best warriors who brought him there in place of his deceased parents, keeping him still so that Jared can only take it again and again, right till the moment a warm, salty-bitter liquid rushes to fill his mouth, and then Jared, disgusted and bruised, is declared married and indentured to Julian.
He feels the tears rolling down his cheeks, unseen below the veil. No one comments as Jared, freed at last, leans down to his right and throws up.
It probably happens a lot in this place.
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His eyes are still covered when Julian leads him to his new house. He can't seem to stop crying, and his throat has closed ever since he was forced to swallow his spouse's semen, no matter that it went out again in the next minute. He can only take shallow and quick breaths. He knows this was the easy part of the wedding.
Soon he'll have to lie down, strip entirely, and let his husband play with his body as he wishes.
Jared hopes he will be offered a temporary reprieve, that Julian will introduce him to his new household, never mind that he's known those people since he was born, and that he won't be taken to his bedroom before nightfall. But even though he feels many people staring at him as they enter the house, no one takes his veil off, not before he hears a door shutting behind him. His tunic is lifted over his head, leaving him naked, and the veil goes with it.
Julian pushes him to lie down on the bed, arranging him to his liking, Jared gripping his calves with his own hands to keep his legs wide open. Jared can feel himself blushing hard in this lewd position but Julian can't tear his eyes away from Jared's opening and then his hands begin to play with it, making Jared more uncomfortable than ever. It's not long before Julian takes off his own tunic, revealing a stiff, thin and aging body that does nothing to turn his young husband on. He pushes his hard cock deep inside Jared, shushing his cries of distress with distracted words as he quickly bottoms out. Jared hopes, foolishly once again, that it's the end of it as he feels Julian's dick sliding out, but then he feels it going in again immediately, more forcefully.
And so it goes, until Julian lets out a cry of pleasure and goes limp on Jared, his old body cradled by the younger one in his sleep, unaware that Jared, who doesn't dare change his position, never felt any stirring in his own loins.
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Julian is rich. He owns twenty-five oselo. That's twenty-three more than Jared's parents did. It's more than anyone else in the village.
No, in fact, Jared's calculation is wrong : Julian owns twenty-seven oselo. The two Jared inherited from his parents are now Julian's, like everything else Jared ever possessed. Which is not a lot, but still, it's grating to be obliged to pass it all to this husband he never asked for.
Julian is also powerful, in part because of his possessions, and also because he's on the council. Jared's refusal had no chance to be heard by the time he was told about becoming Julian's fifth companion. Carrier males have always been highly fertile in his family, and Julian desperately wants a son. If Jared's first child is a girl, he'll be made pregnant again as soon as possible.
Julian will own as many children as oselo if that's what he has to do to get his heir at last ! He's got ten of them, the ones who survived, ranging from age thirty-nine to five. His former latest spouse, Katie, miscarried twice already. She's the one who welcomed Jared the least warmly. He can understand her ; he's kind of a rival, and odds are good that he might beat her at the pregnancy race. He'd like to tell her he didn't want to participate but it doesn't really matter. In the end, they're both in this boat. Neither of them holds onto the helm and they have to follow the direction someone else gave to their lives. Katie probably didn't want to marry Julian either, such a pretty girl, only two years older than him, who could have anyone if her beauty was the only scale.
For a while, Jared entertains the hope that they will become friends someday, if only to ally against the older spouses who dislike them on principle and treat them like shit as soon as Julian is out of the room. There is Leeda, as old as Julian is, the mother of none. Jared learns after a few weeks that she had three children at the risk of her own life, and that all three of them died very young. She was, and still is, Julian's great love, and that's why she's never been repudiated. But she can't stand seeing her husband into someone else's bed, someone as young and pretty as Jared or Katie.
She can't stand being reminded that Julian hasn't shared her own bed for so many years that no one can count anymore, Jared knows this thanks to Julian's second spouse. Evor probably looked gorgeous in his younger days but too many pregnancies did a hard number on his body. Like Jared, he was reputed highly fertile before his marriage. It proved true, as he gave birth to seven of Julian's living children and five more, all girls, who died later on. Jared can't imagine following in his steps and yet he fears this is the road his already-decided future will travel by. Unless he can have a boy. A real boy, not a carrier like him. Maybe then Julian will stop visiting him so often during the day as well as sleeping at night with him more often than Katie.
Katie who finds herself expecting again and so Julian stops visiting her altogether. All his attention goes to Jared, intent on making him pregnant too as soon as possible. It becomes more than a fervent desire. It's an unhealthy obsession that he takes on Jared, forcing him to stay lying down for one hour after he's tried to impregnate him. When nothing happens, it turns into two hours, then three. Then come the accusations ; Julian is convinced that Jared is doing something to avoid pregnancy. Every other spouse, beginning with Dut, Julian's third wife, tries to look concerned and help. Dut even persuades Julian that Jared should eat only pergams, because she knows he hates their taste. She pretends to remember a ritual her late father, the previous tribe's shaman, used to cure infertile couples. It means having sex at least twice a day - because she knows Jared also hates that and Julian will be too tired to seek someone else, including her - at sunrise and sunset, spending half the day prone and unmoving, receiving complete and intimate massages from pretty much the whole household, so that his body will feel how loved and cared for Jared is ; feel that it's safe to create a child who will be loved in his turn.
Months pass and still Jared is barren. Katie gets bigger and she cries all the time, because Julian ignores her completely, certain that her baby will be just another girl - if it ever comes that far, but it's clear he lost faith in her a long time ago. Dut hits Jared as often as she can get away with when it's her turn to take care of him ; Julian knows it and doesn't comment because he also has a ready and heavy hand at times, when his joints hurt too much, thinning patience inversely proportional to their swelling. Jared doesn't try to understand how his mate can still hit while in such pain, all he knows is to shut up and think of something else. Leeda is a hurtful bitch who criticizes Jared constantly and Evor seems to take too much of a liking to the massage therapy - the intimate parts of it. The children keep Jared company when they are allowed and they are the only ones to make his time sufferable enough, if not happy.
Julian fucks him again and again.
Jared endures, praying for a pregnancy that will give him some of his freedom back, until the day Julian falls dead on him during his last-ever ejaculation. Not the petite mort this time. The big, final one.
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Jensen is not a bad man. In fact, he's such a good one that a part of Jared is still waiting for the other shoe to drop weeks after their marriage, for the moment he'll do something so stupid that Jensen will raise his hand and hit him twice as hard as he should, simply because he never did before, because he's too frustrated to hold back. Only time proves to him that his instinct was right, that Jensen is not that kind of man.
Jared meets him three months after Julian's funeral. His aunt Sam comes from the city and fights the elders once more to get her nephew away. The fact that Jared hasn't been able to get pregnant in more than a year of trying helps to secure the council's blessing. Jared's decision to waive his claim to any of Julian's possessions makes Evor and Julian's other mates more amenable to his departure, though the older spouses, as well as the children, had all agreed to keep him and Katie, in case other men would declare themselves ready to wed the young fertiles. Katie isn't happy about it, wanting to marry the guy she's been in love with forever, now that her parents can't stop her and choose a wealthier mate, but Jared is authorized to leave before her situation has been discussed and decided. He can only hope for her sake that the younger man won't mind raising her previous husband's child in case Katie's pregnancy ends well this time. And that it will be a girl once again. A boy at last would only make Julian's spouses fight harder to keep her and make sure Julian's possessions won't escape their collective grasp.
Life in the city is nothing like Jared's ever known. So many people, rushing around to go about their jobs, but no dangerous animals ready to pounce on you for a quick and dirty meal. They're far from the ocean, yet fresh water is much easier to find. Buildings grow everywhere, standing up to three stories tall, colored as rainbows in the paved but uneven streets that have Jared obliged to learn to wear shoes. His tunics turn as colorful as his environment, banning from his wardrobe the monotonous beige and brown of his past.
Sam shows him around at first, giving him a feel for the city that she's already admitted to love as one loves their mate. Maybe that's why she never married, her life and soul already invested in all the people populating the big town rather than only one person.
Jared trails behind her when she goes to the busy market, shy and feeling awkward, still getting used to his new freedom and happiness as well as the bustling activity that is so far from the sedate pace of his previous life. But it takes him going alone, determined at last after a few weeks of residency to take matters in his own hands, to meet the love of his life.
He stops to admire some fabric, asks for its price but never hears the answer, fascinated by the most dazzling smile. Instead of a new tunic, he gets a job offer he can't resist and, in the next few weeks, Jared falls in love.
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Jared's eyes are covered the day Jensen leads him to their future home. But then Jensen takes his hand off and lets him admire the house he'd like to purchase for them both, one of his surprise gifts to Jared on their wedding day. If Jared agrees, they're going to make the deal straight away.
Jared takes in the charming, two-story cottage with a garden and falls in love again. With the house or his new husband, that's still unclear, even to him.
Jensen has courted him for months, not willing to marry him before Jared becomes an adult and can choose freely, without Sam's agreement to back him up.
Today, Jared has turned nineteen. He's now his own man and no one can tell him what to do or who to marry. He's chosen Jensen because their mutual love has just kept on growing strong and beautiful in the almost two years they've known each other. Jared has discovered, thanks to him, what it means to long for a man's touch, along with the feeling of being loved and admired for more than your physical assets and your ability to give birth.
Ever since Jensen offered him a career and treated him, carrier boy, with the same respect he did his other employees, Jared has been watching him. He's stopped trying to mimic him quickly enough, about the time Jensen told him how good he was at his job, a natural, and that people enjoyed talking with him, that Jensen had made the best decision work-wise the day he had hired on a whim the kid with the beautiful eyes and gentle smile whom all his customers now want to deal with.
Before the real courtship, they date for a while without calling it that, all those times they have lunch together, unexpected free meals that come as a bonus to becoming friends with the boss. They talk extensively, Jared sharing for the first time the unhappy memories of his marriage. Jensen returns the favor and explains why he never married, because his first love died before he could act upon his feelings. Deep inside himself, Jared feels the hope awaken that Jensen is truly monogamous.
And then one day during lunch, Jensen leans down and kisses Jared's cheek. He tells him he loves him, that he wants to court him, and that he feels guilty. Another man, a client, asked him if Jared was free and Jensen replied without thinking that Jared was his betrothed. Jensen says that he will give Jared the man's name if he wishes to know of his options, but he doesn't want to risk losing Jared just like he lost his first love. Jared shuts him up with a real kiss. It's kind of a first for him. Julian never much liked displays of affection.
They share more passionate kisses after that. They touch a bit more than a man and his intended should before they are wed ; at work, or when they visit each other's home, but Sam trusts Jensen, and Jared's not a virgin anymore. He longs for his wedding day and the moment he will give himself to his husband more than he's ever wanted anything else. He suspects Jensen's intimate touch will be nothing like Julian's to him.
When it comes at last, Jared is beyond nervous and yet certain that he's doing the right thing. He's chosen his own tunic this time, and no matrons were allowed to paint his nails. Instead, he's decided to put kohl on his eyes, because he knows Jensen loves when he does it.
Many people come to the ceremony to give their blessing, friends, family and clients alike, for they are both well loved in the city. Few stay for the meal, only the closest of friends to share in the moments leading to the consummation of their union. Fortunately, both grooms refused to use the old-fashioned wedding ; Jensen wants Jared to come into this marriage with open eyes, and Jared needs to keep their first full sexual encounter private.
Jensen takes him through their new house, empty right now but for one thing : a huge mattress littered with pillows and cushions. Jared recognizes the beautiful fabrics covering their bed ; they found them together on their many work travels, all the ones Jared loved so much, that Jensen vetoed back then by saying they were too pricy to sell well, then obviously bought in secret for Jared himself.
Seeing Jensen entirely naked for the first time feels like some kind of revelation. Jared doesn't need any encouragement to lean and take his husband's cock in his mouth. He sucks, caresses and licks, marveling at the difference feeling attracted to another human being can make in the pleasure he finds in this act. He ruts and moans when Jensen's fingers find his hole and make love to him, as well as make sure he's ready to take him. Jared loves him more than ever for all the care he's showing, all the love he's bestowing on his body.
When at last Jensen enters him, Jared's legs settle automatically around his waist, forcing him deeper and deeper inside. He can't get enough of this sensation, the shared intimacy and the feeling of Jensen lighting up those parts of him he never really got to enjoy before. He wants to keep Jensen in him forever, to enjoy eternally those fantastic sparks of pleasure, and know he won't ever be alone anymore.
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Jensen is rich, and that means Jared is too. He's glad to know that part of Jensen's money is due to his talents and efforts. As a merchant, Jensen already had many sellers working for him in a lot of stalls all around the country before they met, but Jared can proudly say that his hard work multiplied everything. They own a staggering number of osello to carry their merchandise on the dirt roads leading to other cities. Not something unheard of in those other towns, but definitely a huge change to what Jared used to know as he was growing up.
They also keep many pets at home, a lot of them that Jensen bought for Jared. They enjoy this second wedding gift together. Jensen loves their dogs, cats and the random passing birds just as much as Jared, as evidenced by the ones he already possessed before their wedding. Their house is never really asleep thanks to them.
The day they discuss having children, Jensen easily picks up on Jared's fear of being infertile after he failed getting pregnant with his previous mate. Jensen tells him that Julian was old and obviously obsessed to the point of becoming unable to conceive. He doesn't think Jared was at fault in this, or maybe for not wanting to get pregnant, and even if it becomes clear someday that Jared can't conceive either, Jensen is not against the idea of adopting as many kids as Jared will want to in the future. In the meantime, he plans to enjoy their marital relationship to the brim and make the most of their freedom.
He proves it by taking him right there, right then in the cooking area, Jared naked and writhing in bliss as Jensen bites his nipple raw and fucks him deep and slow.
It takes Jared seven more months to get pregnant and it feels like the happiest time of his life. Never mind the few moments of sickness, or the difficulty to move around once he's as big as a whale. Pregnancy agrees with him. Sam is sure he's bearing at least twins, fighting for space in his huge belly, and Jared thinks she might be right when the kicks begin and the logistics of them seem to imply more than two feet at work. Jensen takes the news with the same grin he did when he learned that he would soon become a father. He puts his arms around Jared - as much as possible in his current state - and kisses him senseless for what feels like hours. Blissful hours.
They welcome two sons. Two gorgeous and healthy babies Jared and Jensen fall instantly in love with, who become the other lights of their lives, as well as Sam's, who starts to spend more time with them than in her own house. This could be a tricky situation but Sam never tries to force her ways on Jared, leaving to him and Jensen every decision pertaining to their children.
A few years later, the next pregnancy brings more twins to the household, but this time a little girl finds her way into their growing family and she soon becomes Sam's favorite. Jared's aunt kind of lives with them by that time, after she bought the house next to theirs, official babysitter since Jared decided not to give up his job at his husband's side.
Years pass, and Jared's fears evaporate with time. Jensen never so much as looks at someone else. It seems his love for Jared only deepens, and Jared is sure of it when his last pregnancy is a complete drama that leaves him weak for months after losing so much blood. Jensen swears these were their last children - the three of them thankfully alive and well - and that they'll find ways to make love and ensure that Jared's life will never be at risk again.
They make it work together, as usual.
-------FIN-------
Happy holidays everyone !
Author : siriala
Rating : NC-17
Word count : 3,800
Fandom : J2, CW RPF
Genre : slash, RPS
Characters : Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Julian Richings, Katie Cassidy, Samantha Ferris, original characters
Pairings : Jensen/Jared, Jared/Julian
Beta : the wonderful honscot. Thank you so much !
Disclaimer : mensonges et billevesées, lies and twaddle. Total fiction coming up !
Warnings/enticements : alternate universe, bottom!Jared, big age difference (Jared/Julian), forced marriage leading to dub- to non-con, happy ending, mpreg, minor character's death, mention of children's death
Summary : Jared is only sixteen when he's forced into a union he never wanted with a much older man. Life as his fifth mate isn't exactly the stuff Jared's dreams were made of, but what choice does he have ? Is this really all that life has in store for him ?
Notes : this idea was inspired by the real-life story of someone I read about but I only used the fact that this person was unhappy about having to marry an older man who already had several spouses. The rest is completely invented, as evidenced by the fact that I chose to set my story in a fictitious world where men can get pregnant. Anyway, no disrespect intended. Also, I didn't intend to write a no-dialogue fic at first but this is the way it worked and I quite like it.
Link to AO3
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Julian is not a bad man, but he's old and tired, cranky more often than not because of the pain in his joints. His four previous mates gave him only daughters and a carrier son he's always refused to give away to prevent inheritance troubles. He's still in need of an heir, so he decided to marry again as soon as the elders announced that Jared, as an orphaned teenager, needed to be wed and taken care of.
Jared's afraid, but it's not of Julian. He would be anyway, regardless of the person who's gonna have life and death rights over him. He doesn't think he's ready to marry anyone, let alone a man fifty years older than him who already possesses four mates. And while he's not sure exactly what making love entails, he sure doesn't want this old, charmless guy to touch him intimately.
Problem is, he's got no say in this matter. The council does, and the council decided the best for him was to marry Julian, not to be sent away to the city to live with his aunt Sam. The village is small and they need all the fertiles they have, so Jared's not going anywhere.
No words are required from him to make Jared Julian's property. He doesn't even have to acquiesce. His will is of no interest to anyone here. At sixteen, he's considered old enough to give birth, but not to form an enlightened opinion. All he needs is to kneel down in front of the council and shut up, and this is symbolized by the heavy black veil obstructing his view, falling over his face, over his lips, up until the moment someone lifts it up a bit and something large and moist is shoved up against his mouth, forcing it open to take in the hard flesh pumping in and out so violently that Jared begins to cough and retch, fighting to get away. But his arms are each squeezed by the strong hands of the tribe's best warriors who brought him there in place of his deceased parents, keeping him still so that Jared can only take it again and again, right till the moment a warm, salty-bitter liquid rushes to fill his mouth, and then Jared, disgusted and bruised, is declared married and indentured to Julian.
He feels the tears rolling down his cheeks, unseen below the veil. No one comments as Jared, freed at last, leans down to his right and throws up.
It probably happens a lot in this place.
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His eyes are still covered when Julian leads him to his new house. He can't seem to stop crying, and his throat has closed ever since he was forced to swallow his spouse's semen, no matter that it went out again in the next minute. He can only take shallow and quick breaths. He knows this was the easy part of the wedding.
Soon he'll have to lie down, strip entirely, and let his husband play with his body as he wishes.
Jared hopes he will be offered a temporary reprieve, that Julian will introduce him to his new household, never mind that he's known those people since he was born, and that he won't be taken to his bedroom before nightfall. But even though he feels many people staring at him as they enter the house, no one takes his veil off, not before he hears a door shutting behind him. His tunic is lifted over his head, leaving him naked, and the veil goes with it.
Julian pushes him to lie down on the bed, arranging him to his liking, Jared gripping his calves with his own hands to keep his legs wide open. Jared can feel himself blushing hard in this lewd position but Julian can't tear his eyes away from Jared's opening and then his hands begin to play with it, making Jared more uncomfortable than ever. It's not long before Julian takes off his own tunic, revealing a stiff, thin and aging body that does nothing to turn his young husband on. He pushes his hard cock deep inside Jared, shushing his cries of distress with distracted words as he quickly bottoms out. Jared hopes, foolishly once again, that it's the end of it as he feels Julian's dick sliding out, but then he feels it going in again immediately, more forcefully.
And so it goes, until Julian lets out a cry of pleasure and goes limp on Jared, his old body cradled by the younger one in his sleep, unaware that Jared, who doesn't dare change his position, never felt any stirring in his own loins.
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Julian is rich. He owns twenty-five oselo. That's twenty-three more than Jared's parents did. It's more than anyone else in the village.
No, in fact, Jared's calculation is wrong : Julian owns twenty-seven oselo. The two Jared inherited from his parents are now Julian's, like everything else Jared ever possessed. Which is not a lot, but still, it's grating to be obliged to pass it all to this husband he never asked for.
Julian is also powerful, in part because of his possessions, and also because he's on the council. Jared's refusal had no chance to be heard by the time he was told about becoming Julian's fifth companion. Carrier males have always been highly fertile in his family, and Julian desperately wants a son. If Jared's first child is a girl, he'll be made pregnant again as soon as possible.
Julian will own as many children as oselo if that's what he has to do to get his heir at last ! He's got ten of them, the ones who survived, ranging from age thirty-nine to five. His former latest spouse, Katie, miscarried twice already. She's the one who welcomed Jared the least warmly. He can understand her ; he's kind of a rival, and odds are good that he might beat her at the pregnancy race. He'd like to tell her he didn't want to participate but it doesn't really matter. In the end, they're both in this boat. Neither of them holds onto the helm and they have to follow the direction someone else gave to their lives. Katie probably didn't want to marry Julian either, such a pretty girl, only two years older than him, who could have anyone if her beauty was the only scale.
For a while, Jared entertains the hope that they will become friends someday, if only to ally against the older spouses who dislike them on principle and treat them like shit as soon as Julian is out of the room. There is Leeda, as old as Julian is, the mother of none. Jared learns after a few weeks that she had three children at the risk of her own life, and that all three of them died very young. She was, and still is, Julian's great love, and that's why she's never been repudiated. But she can't stand seeing her husband into someone else's bed, someone as young and pretty as Jared or Katie.
She can't stand being reminded that Julian hasn't shared her own bed for so many years that no one can count anymore, Jared knows this thanks to Julian's second spouse. Evor probably looked gorgeous in his younger days but too many pregnancies did a hard number on his body. Like Jared, he was reputed highly fertile before his marriage. It proved true, as he gave birth to seven of Julian's living children and five more, all girls, who died later on. Jared can't imagine following in his steps and yet he fears this is the road his already-decided future will travel by. Unless he can have a boy. A real boy, not a carrier like him. Maybe then Julian will stop visiting him so often during the day as well as sleeping at night with him more often than Katie.
Katie who finds herself expecting again and so Julian stops visiting her altogether. All his attention goes to Jared, intent on making him pregnant too as soon as possible. It becomes more than a fervent desire. It's an unhealthy obsession that he takes on Jared, forcing him to stay lying down for one hour after he's tried to impregnate him. When nothing happens, it turns into two hours, then three. Then come the accusations ; Julian is convinced that Jared is doing something to avoid pregnancy. Every other spouse, beginning with Dut, Julian's third wife, tries to look concerned and help. Dut even persuades Julian that Jared should eat only pergams, because she knows he hates their taste. She pretends to remember a ritual her late father, the previous tribe's shaman, used to cure infertile couples. It means having sex at least twice a day - because she knows Jared also hates that and Julian will be too tired to seek someone else, including her - at sunrise and sunset, spending half the day prone and unmoving, receiving complete and intimate massages from pretty much the whole household, so that his body will feel how loved and cared for Jared is ; feel that it's safe to create a child who will be loved in his turn.
Months pass and still Jared is barren. Katie gets bigger and she cries all the time, because Julian ignores her completely, certain that her baby will be just another girl - if it ever comes that far, but it's clear he lost faith in her a long time ago. Dut hits Jared as often as she can get away with when it's her turn to take care of him ; Julian knows it and doesn't comment because he also has a ready and heavy hand at times, when his joints hurt too much, thinning patience inversely proportional to their swelling. Jared doesn't try to understand how his mate can still hit while in such pain, all he knows is to shut up and think of something else. Leeda is a hurtful bitch who criticizes Jared constantly and Evor seems to take too much of a liking to the massage therapy - the intimate parts of it. The children keep Jared company when they are allowed and they are the only ones to make his time sufferable enough, if not happy.
Julian fucks him again and again.
Jared endures, praying for a pregnancy that will give him some of his freedom back, until the day Julian falls dead on him during his last-ever ejaculation. Not the petite mort this time. The big, final one.
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Jensen is not a bad man. In fact, he's such a good one that a part of Jared is still waiting for the other shoe to drop weeks after their marriage, for the moment he'll do something so stupid that Jensen will raise his hand and hit him twice as hard as he should, simply because he never did before, because he's too frustrated to hold back. Only time proves to him that his instinct was right, that Jensen is not that kind of man.
Jared meets him three months after Julian's funeral. His aunt Sam comes from the city and fights the elders once more to get her nephew away. The fact that Jared hasn't been able to get pregnant in more than a year of trying helps to secure the council's blessing. Jared's decision to waive his claim to any of Julian's possessions makes Evor and Julian's other mates more amenable to his departure, though the older spouses, as well as the children, had all agreed to keep him and Katie, in case other men would declare themselves ready to wed the young fertiles. Katie isn't happy about it, wanting to marry the guy she's been in love with forever, now that her parents can't stop her and choose a wealthier mate, but Jared is authorized to leave before her situation has been discussed and decided. He can only hope for her sake that the younger man won't mind raising her previous husband's child in case Katie's pregnancy ends well this time. And that it will be a girl once again. A boy at last would only make Julian's spouses fight harder to keep her and make sure Julian's possessions won't escape their collective grasp.
Life in the city is nothing like Jared's ever known. So many people, rushing around to go about their jobs, but no dangerous animals ready to pounce on you for a quick and dirty meal. They're far from the ocean, yet fresh water is much easier to find. Buildings grow everywhere, standing up to three stories tall, colored as rainbows in the paved but uneven streets that have Jared obliged to learn to wear shoes. His tunics turn as colorful as his environment, banning from his wardrobe the monotonous beige and brown of his past.
Sam shows him around at first, giving him a feel for the city that she's already admitted to love as one loves their mate. Maybe that's why she never married, her life and soul already invested in all the people populating the big town rather than only one person.
Jared trails behind her when she goes to the busy market, shy and feeling awkward, still getting used to his new freedom and happiness as well as the bustling activity that is so far from the sedate pace of his previous life. But it takes him going alone, determined at last after a few weeks of residency to take matters in his own hands, to meet the love of his life.
He stops to admire some fabric, asks for its price but never hears the answer, fascinated by the most dazzling smile. Instead of a new tunic, he gets a job offer he can't resist and, in the next few weeks, Jared falls in love.
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Jared's eyes are covered the day Jensen leads him to their future home. But then Jensen takes his hand off and lets him admire the house he'd like to purchase for them both, one of his surprise gifts to Jared on their wedding day. If Jared agrees, they're going to make the deal straight away.
Jared takes in the charming, two-story cottage with a garden and falls in love again. With the house or his new husband, that's still unclear, even to him.
Jensen has courted him for months, not willing to marry him before Jared becomes an adult and can choose freely, without Sam's agreement to back him up.
Today, Jared has turned nineteen. He's now his own man and no one can tell him what to do or who to marry. He's chosen Jensen because their mutual love has just kept on growing strong and beautiful in the almost two years they've known each other. Jared has discovered, thanks to him, what it means to long for a man's touch, along with the feeling of being loved and admired for more than your physical assets and your ability to give birth.
Ever since Jensen offered him a career and treated him, carrier boy, with the same respect he did his other employees, Jared has been watching him. He's stopped trying to mimic him quickly enough, about the time Jensen told him how good he was at his job, a natural, and that people enjoyed talking with him, that Jensen had made the best decision work-wise the day he had hired on a whim the kid with the beautiful eyes and gentle smile whom all his customers now want to deal with.
Before the real courtship, they date for a while without calling it that, all those times they have lunch together, unexpected free meals that come as a bonus to becoming friends with the boss. They talk extensively, Jared sharing for the first time the unhappy memories of his marriage. Jensen returns the favor and explains why he never married, because his first love died before he could act upon his feelings. Deep inside himself, Jared feels the hope awaken that Jensen is truly monogamous.
And then one day during lunch, Jensen leans down and kisses Jared's cheek. He tells him he loves him, that he wants to court him, and that he feels guilty. Another man, a client, asked him if Jared was free and Jensen replied without thinking that Jared was his betrothed. Jensen says that he will give Jared the man's name if he wishes to know of his options, but he doesn't want to risk losing Jared just like he lost his first love. Jared shuts him up with a real kiss. It's kind of a first for him. Julian never much liked displays of affection.
They share more passionate kisses after that. They touch a bit more than a man and his intended should before they are wed ; at work, or when they visit each other's home, but Sam trusts Jensen, and Jared's not a virgin anymore. He longs for his wedding day and the moment he will give himself to his husband more than he's ever wanted anything else. He suspects Jensen's intimate touch will be nothing like Julian's to him.
When it comes at last, Jared is beyond nervous and yet certain that he's doing the right thing. He's chosen his own tunic this time, and no matrons were allowed to paint his nails. Instead, he's decided to put kohl on his eyes, because he knows Jensen loves when he does it.
Many people come to the ceremony to give their blessing, friends, family and clients alike, for they are both well loved in the city. Few stay for the meal, only the closest of friends to share in the moments leading to the consummation of their union. Fortunately, both grooms refused to use the old-fashioned wedding ; Jensen wants Jared to come into this marriage with open eyes, and Jared needs to keep their first full sexual encounter private.
Jensen takes him through their new house, empty right now but for one thing : a huge mattress littered with pillows and cushions. Jared recognizes the beautiful fabrics covering their bed ; they found them together on their many work travels, all the ones Jared loved so much, that Jensen vetoed back then by saying they were too pricy to sell well, then obviously bought in secret for Jared himself.
Seeing Jensen entirely naked for the first time feels like some kind of revelation. Jared doesn't need any encouragement to lean and take his husband's cock in his mouth. He sucks, caresses and licks, marveling at the difference feeling attracted to another human being can make in the pleasure he finds in this act. He ruts and moans when Jensen's fingers find his hole and make love to him, as well as make sure he's ready to take him. Jared loves him more than ever for all the care he's showing, all the love he's bestowing on his body.
When at last Jensen enters him, Jared's legs settle automatically around his waist, forcing him deeper and deeper inside. He can't get enough of this sensation, the shared intimacy and the feeling of Jensen lighting up those parts of him he never really got to enjoy before. He wants to keep Jensen in him forever, to enjoy eternally those fantastic sparks of pleasure, and know he won't ever be alone anymore.
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Jensen is rich, and that means Jared is too. He's glad to know that part of Jensen's money is due to his talents and efforts. As a merchant, Jensen already had many sellers working for him in a lot of stalls all around the country before they met, but Jared can proudly say that his hard work multiplied everything. They own a staggering number of osello to carry their merchandise on the dirt roads leading to other cities. Not something unheard of in those other towns, but definitely a huge change to what Jared used to know as he was growing up.
They also keep many pets at home, a lot of them that Jensen bought for Jared. They enjoy this second wedding gift together. Jensen loves their dogs, cats and the random passing birds just as much as Jared, as evidenced by the ones he already possessed before their wedding. Their house is never really asleep thanks to them.
The day they discuss having children, Jensen easily picks up on Jared's fear of being infertile after he failed getting pregnant with his previous mate. Jensen tells him that Julian was old and obviously obsessed to the point of becoming unable to conceive. He doesn't think Jared was at fault in this, or maybe for not wanting to get pregnant, and even if it becomes clear someday that Jared can't conceive either, Jensen is not against the idea of adopting as many kids as Jared will want to in the future. In the meantime, he plans to enjoy their marital relationship to the brim and make the most of their freedom.
He proves it by taking him right there, right then in the cooking area, Jared naked and writhing in bliss as Jensen bites his nipple raw and fucks him deep and slow.
It takes Jared seven more months to get pregnant and it feels like the happiest time of his life. Never mind the few moments of sickness, or the difficulty to move around once he's as big as a whale. Pregnancy agrees with him. Sam is sure he's bearing at least twins, fighting for space in his huge belly, and Jared thinks she might be right when the kicks begin and the logistics of them seem to imply more than two feet at work. Jensen takes the news with the same grin he did when he learned that he would soon become a father. He puts his arms around Jared - as much as possible in his current state - and kisses him senseless for what feels like hours. Blissful hours.
They welcome two sons. Two gorgeous and healthy babies Jared and Jensen fall instantly in love with, who become the other lights of their lives, as well as Sam's, who starts to spend more time with them than in her own house. This could be a tricky situation but Sam never tries to force her ways on Jared, leaving to him and Jensen every decision pertaining to their children.
A few years later, the next pregnancy brings more twins to the household, but this time a little girl finds her way into their growing family and she soon becomes Sam's favorite. Jared's aunt kind of lives with them by that time, after she bought the house next to theirs, official babysitter since Jared decided not to give up his job at his husband's side.
Years pass, and Jared's fears evaporate with time. Jensen never so much as looks at someone else. It seems his love for Jared only deepens, and Jared is sure of it when his last pregnancy is a complete drama that leaves him weak for months after losing so much blood. Jensen swears these were their last children - the three of them thankfully alive and well - and that they'll find ways to make love and ensure that Jared's life will never be at risk again.
They make it work together, as usual.
-------FIN-------
Happy holidays everyone !