Fic: RPS (Jared/Jensen): In It for Love [7 / 16] | PG-13 | 6115 words
Title: In It for Love [ 7 / 16 ]
Author: dragonspell
Fandom: RPS
Pairing: Jared/Jensen (and Jared/a slew of other characters including Misha Collins, Tom Welling, Mike Rosenbaum, Danneel Harris, Sandy McCoy and some OMCs and OFCs)
Rating: Currently PG-13 (eventual NC-17)
Warnings: AU. Cheesiness. Fandom cliches. The usual drill.
Summary (fic): After a drunken dare, award-winning writer Jensen agreed to on a reality television show to vie for the attention of megastar Jared Padalecki who he's had a crush on for years. Only Jensen doesn't know how he's going to be able to tolerate all the other contestants and their widely varying personalities and he's pretty sure that you're not supposed to be able to get used to somebody filming you 24/7.
Summary (part): The next challenge.
Word Count: 6115 (this part)
Disclaimer: Never happened, no affiliation.
A/N: I was trying to make this episode all in one part but apparently that's just not going to happen...
Master Post: Master Post
Part 6 | Master Post | Part 8
Episode 4 - First Half
Jensen tipped his head back under the spray of the shower, letting the water beat down on him. It was one good thing he could say about the mansion-it had killer water pressure. He grabbed the soap off the ledge, working it into a lather onto his body, soaping up his chest and stomach before moving onto his shoulders and arms.
Lately, it seemed like the shower was the only real place to get some privacy or even just some alone time and Jensen had to say that he appreciated that. So he was definitely going to take his time. He worked his way back down his body and stopped at his cock as it gave an interested twitch. He licked his lips, feeling his body tingle-he could go for that. God knew that he needed it. Jensen was feeling about ready to just peel off his skin and be done with it because being around the object of his wildest fantasies for so long wasn’t great for his sanity.
Except that there was privacy and then there was privacy. Jensen couldn’t really be sure if there truly weren’t any cameras in the bathroom or if that was just an illusion and then there was happening to graze it while showering as opposed to outright playing with it. He could probably explain away the first one if it made it onto TV (oh, fucking Christ, no) but the second…
Jensen cursed as his dick began to fill despite his decision apparently taking his hesitation as a green light. No, this was what living with one Jared Padalecki did: Jensen had no freaking control anymore. He shook his head in a firm no, gave his dick one soothing stroke that had a shiver running up and down his spine-damn it anyway-and then ignored it, moving on down to his legs.
It didn’t matter how much he needed it, Jensen wasn’t going to go there because he didn’t trust anything in this house. For all he knew, there were cameras hidden in the showerhead. He pushed himself back under the water, soap sluicing off to pool at his feet before circling down the drain. Finishing up, he slicked his hands through his hair one last time and then pulled back, shaking himself like a dog. It was probably past time to get out of the shower, anyway. Not only could he apparently not be trusted, but he’d already been under the water for a half hour. Someone was bound to get pissed at him for hogging the bathroom. He turned off the water and pulled back the curtain, stepping out of the tub onto the white tile floor.
“Don’t tell anyone we’re here.” Jensen shrieked and nearly killed himself trying to jump back into the shower. It wasn’t his proudest moment but, in his defense, he’d thought that he’d been alone. Apparently he’d been wrong because there was Mike, sitting on the toilet beside the tub, eyeing Jensen like he was the weird one. And, oh look, there was Misha sitting on the countertop, acting as if he did this all the time.
…Which maybe he did, but still. “What the fuck are you doing in here?” Jensen yelled, trying to recover from his nearest bout of death and thanking God that he didn’t actually decide to jerk off.
“Hiding,” Misha replied simply.
“What?!”
Mike shushed him. “I might have opened my big mouth and now the girls might be looking for us.” Jensen’s brain sputtered to a stop and he just ended up staring at Mike. “They want to do evil things to us,” Mike clarified during Jensen’s silence.
Jensen closed his eyes and counted slowly, stopping when he hit five. “And this concerns me how?”
“Jensen, are you alright?” a new voice called through the door and Jensen froze. Mike was starting to panic, waving his arms frantically and Misha looked cornered. “We heard you scream!” Sandy said.
“Uh…” Mike slipped off the toilet, falling to his knees in front of Jensen, his hand clasped in prayer. “I slipped,” Jensen said weakly.
“Oh. Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Mike was nodding madly. Jensen scowled at him.
“Okay. You haven’t seen Mike or Misha have you?”
“Uh, no.” Mike gave him a thumbs up and Jensen rolled his eyes. He was so killing him after this was done. Screw the girls.
“Okay. Thanks!” Then she was gone, bouncing off down the hall.
“We so owe you, man-” Mike said.
“I just want to know one thing,” Jensen interrupted, pinching his brow. Great. He’d just lied to Sandra McCoy. Sandra McCoy as in America’s Sweetheart. This was a sign of how fucked up his life was fast becoming. “How did you get in here?”
Mike shrugged and pointed over towards Misha. “Man’s good with a lock pick, what can I say?”
Misha proudly held up the lock pick in question. “You never know when you’re going to need it.”
…Oh, dear God. There was footage of Misha and Mike picking the lock on the bathroom and slipping inside with Jensen, wasn’t there? Jensen didn’t even want to know how that was going to be made to look come edit time. He was so fucking screwed and probably a shoo-in for the show slut now but, for some reason, he couldn’t decide if he was horrified or amused by the whole situation.
Jensen was still debating his next possible move when Mike’s eyes suddenly swerved to dangerous territory. “Damn, Jenny,” he teased, quirking an eyebrow. “Who would have guessed?”
And Jensen suddenly reminded that he was utterly and completely naked. The slow burn started at his face but it was working its way down as Jensen reached for the towel that he’d set aside. He closed his eyes, wrapping the towel around his waist and cutting off Mike’s free show. This was just not how he’d planned on this day going. It really wasn’t. He swallowed. “Get out.”
“Hey, man, it’s okay-nothing I haven’t seen before, right? Except for the fact that it’s yours-”
“OUT!” Jensen shouted and Mike was up like a shot, heading for the door that Misha beat him to. What the fuck did it take for a man to be able to take a shower in peace around here, anyway?
Misha darted out the door and Mike stopped at it, halfway in, halfway out. “Hey, man-”
“I’m going to scrub this moment from my mind,” Jensen said.
“Cool.” Mike grinned. “So don’t tell Sandy we were here, okay?”
Tell Sandy? That sounded like a good plan. “SANDY!” Jensen yelled, still looking at Mike who grimaced. “They’re over here!”
“You’ll pay for this, Captain Planet,” Mike hissed and darted down the hallway. Jensen closed the bathroom door again before the girls had a chance to thunder past and leaned up against the door. Wet, mildly scandalized and clad in nothing but a towel, he finally gave into the helpless laughter that had been threatening to escape.
Everyone in this house was certifiably insane-himself included. Jared wasn’t the only thing in the house bad for Jensen’s health.
Jared was gone again and that just wasn’t fair, Jensen decided. Jared promised that this was the last time and that he’d be home soon but Jensen couldn’t help but feel something scarily akin to resentment towards the movie and the promotional obligations in Jared’s contract. He supposed, though, that this would probably be what life with Jared would be like. Except for, you know, the not being able to have contact with the outside world. Because that part really sucked.
Jensen had not seen either Mike or Misha since kicking them out of the shower nor had he seen Sandy or Danneel. He hoped everyone was getting everything that they deserved and then some. Lita and Georgie, he knew, were out by the pool, sunning themselves and Tom and Ben were out in the gym. Jensen was actually kind of wondering if Ben had plans on actually leaving that gym sometime today. That left Jensen alone-fucking finally-to do as he wanted…which would normally mean quality laptop time but everyone knew that that wasn’t happening.
So instead Jensen walked into the kitchen, deadest on making himself a sandwich. He’d skipped breakfast-slept through it actually (no sense in being there if Jared wasn’t going to be there)-so he was edging into starving now. He stepped onto the checkered tile floor and walked to the island where he knew there had been a loaf of bread only to stop dead halfway there because there was Chad sitting there eating the house food. Jensen stared because he would have thought that if Chad was hanging out, he would have been out perving on Lita and Georgie. Actually, he took that back because it looked like Chad was making his way through the last of the cookies that Jared had had delivered. Jensen narrowed his eyes. Bastard.
Chad was unaware of Jensen’s inner commentary. He smiled and stuffed the last of his cookie into his mouth before wiping his hands off on his jeans and holding one out. “Hey, Jensen, right? How are you doin’?”
Jensen reluctantly took the proffered hand, shaking it, mumbling something about being fine.
“Good. Want a seat?” Chad invited, like Jensen was already living in the house. Jensen gingerly sat on the stool next to Chad, not wanting to offend him or anything. He was well aware that Chad came with the whole Jared package so he supposed that he should at least try to get to know the guy. “Can’t believe that Jared just totally left me here, you know? Whatever. He’s supposed to be back soon.” Jensen sincerely hoped so. The house just seemed empty when Jared wasn’t in it. “So how are you fitting in around here? Good?”
“Yeah,” Jensen said. He met Chad’s blue eyes for a second before Chad looked away to select another cookie. Damn it but Jensen really should have made that sandwich before sitting down. At the moment, he was wondering if he could get away with reaching over the guy to grab one of the cookies before they were gone. “It’s, uh, nice. Everyone is really nice.”
“That’s good,” Chad said before skewering Jensen with his eyes. “Boring but good, I guess. No problems with anyone?”
Jensen swallowed and looked away, shaking his head. “No. Everyone gets along.” Chad was sorely mistaken if he thought that Jensen was going to divulge any dirt on his castmates. That was not a route that he wanted to go.
“Hmm. Want a cookie?” Chad pushed the plate of cookies across the island countertop toward Jensen. There were two left on it and Jensen didn’t have the willpower to refuse. He was fucking starving. Jensen picked one up and took a bite out of it. Cookies for breakfast-okay lunch, more like-wasn’t exactly the healthiest thing in the world but, then again, Jared definitely knew his cookies and bought accordingly. The chocolate chip unfurled in his mouth and Jensen fought back the urge to moan. Damn good cookies.
“That’s right,” Chad was saying, “You’re the one with those lips…” and then there was a finger touching the side of Jensen’s mouth, pressing against the skin. Jensen jerked away, nearly choking on the cookie and skittered backward off the stool, trying to recover as he took a few huge steps away. Chad stared peacefully back at him, with only his eyebrows raised but there was a small smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. “Jumpy?”
Jensen knitted his eyebrows into a scowl. Chad was openly smirking at him now. “What-You-” Jensen snapped his mouth closed because how did you politely tell a guy to keep his sleazy hands to himself, anyway? Jesus. He’d been about ready to punch the guy in the face.
Chad held up his hands in surrender, face sliding into a caught look. “No touching, I got it.” Chad patted the stool again and he had to be fucking crazy if he thought that Jensen was sitting back down there. “Come on,” Chad coaxed. “I promise I won’t touch you again. Cross my heart and hope to die.” He pouted and Jensen caved, slowly sliding back onto the stool despite his better judgment. “Only for Jared, right?” Chad asked slyly and Jensen slanted him a flat look. Better than that punch in the face, he supposed. “I can appreciate that.”
“I…” Chad tilted his head, waiting expectantly for Jensen to finish (Chad Michael Murray waiting-the world was coming to an end) and Jensen mumbled, “just don’t like people touching my face.” It was partially true. Jensen didn’t like strangers touching him period, not just his face.
“Fair enough,” Chad said. He was trying to look contrite but was failing miserably. Jensen didn’t know if that was because he didn’t feel that way or if he just plain didn’t have that look in his repertoire. “Sorry. I just got this thing-I see something pretty, I have to touch it. It’s something that I’m supposed to be working on. …I guess it’s just a good thing that I’m a movie star.” Chad laughed. “Less lawsuits.” Jensen blinked, wondering what he could say to that when Chad continued. “Plus a lot of people don’t mind if I touch them. Touched by greatness and all that.”
“Oh.”
Chad snorted and turned the conversation a full 180. “So Jared’s, like, stupidly crazy over your books.” Just like it was a magic word, the mention of ‘Jared’ made Jensen’s world come to a halt, his full attention now on Chad and not because of the touching thing now. “He’s bought all of them, in every different edition, dragging from bookstore to bookstore.”
“Really?” Jensen asked, sounding painfully pathetic and so took a bite of cookie to try and hide that. For Jared to go to that kind of effort, though… It had to mean something, right?
“Yeah. Same thing he’s done with all of Sandy’s movies and do you know how hard it is to get a hold of a copy of Junkhouse Blues? Talk about an indie film.” Jensen’s heart plummeted just as fast as it had been rising, slamming into the ground. Apparently Jared was going through all of this trouble for everybody. Which figured-Jared was just that kind of guy. Jensen cursed himself for being so naive and thinking that Jared would only be jumping though all those hoops for him.
Chad swung around on Jensen, startling him again and making Jensen wonder if it had been a wise decision to sit down again. “Not that he doesn’t like you, dude. Trust me, there’s favorites and all, I’m just allowed to tell you and fuck, let’s just forget I said anything.” Chad glanced worriedly at one of the cameras and Jensen nodded slowly, still a little amazed that Chad had felt a need to reassure him. Or had even picked up on that fact.
Well. Maybe Chad wasn’t all bad. Jensen could see himself getting used to him.
“Everybody line up!” Jeff bellowed, his voice booking no protest, and, like they were in the army and Jeff was their commanding officer, everyone fell into line immediately, looking at him and waiting for the next order. Well. Except for Ben. He was staring straight ahead like a good little officer. “Jared’s running a little late, so we’re going to be ready to just throw him into this, okay? I’m just going to explain the rules and whenever Jared gets-” Jeff cut off, suddenly holding his ear and turning to the side.
They were all standing in the main room again, awaiting their next challenge. Jensen glanced nervously to his right and Danneel who shifted uneasily. Apparently they were all feeling the irritation currently circling the room. Rows and rows of cameras and sound equipment were surrounding them-all set up to get this next challenge rolling except for the fact that the main star was missing. They didn’t even have Chad because he’d taken off for parts unknown.
“Well it’s about goddamned time,” Jeff snarled. “You tell little miss perfect that the next time she wants to take my boy, not only had she better clear it with me first but she’d better make damn sure to get him here on time! I’ve got a show to run and we’re already two hours late.” He turned back to face the assembled crowd and Jensen forced himself to stand strong-if he stepped back, he’d be separating himself from the herd and when facing a pissed-off lion that was never a good thing. “Jared’s coming up the drive right now,” Jeff said, sounding just a tiny bit calmer. “We’re going to wait three minutes for him to get here and then we’re going to launch straight into this.” With that, he turned his back on them and strode off, muttering obscenities under his breath that Jensen was sure would make a sailor blush.
Jensen looked to each side, watching the other houseguests fidget as they waited for Jared. Lita was biting her lip and Mike looked absolutely bored. Misha looked serene, though, but, then again, he always did. Jensen had no doubt that Misha was just like the rest of them-wanting to get this over with and thus get another chance at having a date with Jared.
Jared came rushing in a few minutes later, pulling on an overshirt, obviously just having changed clothes and Jensen felt a little pang of disappointment at having missed that. Jeff caught his arm, hauling him in for a quick, whispered conversation that had Jared repeating “Sorry” over and over before Jeff let him go and Jared skittered in front of the line-up. He straightened himself, trying to recover from his rushed entrance and took a deep breath. “All right, sorry for the wait guys! That was the last time, I promise!” Jensen hoped so-with less promotional obligations, Jared might be in the house more often. He’d like that.
“Okay. The next challenge, that’s what we all want to know about, right?” Jared nodded, watching the line-up mimic him. “Well, okay. So I’m an actor. And there’s a lot of different industries that I have to interact with on a regular basis because of that!” Jared appeared fully recovered now and picking up steam, his enthusiasm making his voice even louder than usual. “One of those is…the fashion industry!” He waved his hand at them, grinning at Danneel and Tom in particular. “Right?” He turned to Sandy who smiled and nodded. “Right. So, I figured, why not have our next challenge based on that?”
Jensen resisted the urge to groan. Fuck. This was going to involve crazy-ass costumes and funny walking, wasn’t it? …Jensen was refusing right now to wear a shoe on his head.
“You all are going to split into teams of three and together, we’re all going to put on a fashion show!” There was a round of clapping and Mike was doing that annoying whistle thing again while Jensen prayed for an earthquake-maybe he’d get lucky and the ground would swallow him whole. “The team that wins gets a group date with me to, because this is a fashion show, see a famous designer’s new collection walk down the runway!” Danneel’s eyes went big as saucers and Sandy giggled, moving from foot to foot. “Plus, each group member will get to spend a little one-on-one time with me. So make sure you pick the people who are going to help your team make it to the top. One person will be the model and the other two are going to help that person look their best.” Jared smiled that Oscar winner again and despite his horror at the situation, Jensen still felt sucker-punch by those damn dimples.
“Each team is going to have either one professional model on their team or at least someone that I know has modeled before. Jared turned that killer grin onto Sandy. “Danneel, Tom, and Sandy are the team leaders, so if you guys would like to come up here and pick your teams?” Jared waved them forward. “To make this fair, I’m thinking of a number between one and ten, what is it?”
Danneel glanced at the others before answering first. “Five.”
Jared turned to Tom who shrugged. “Three?”
“Ten,” Sandy answered with a smile.
Jared grinned. “So close. It was one. Tom, you pick first, Dannel second and Sandy, sorry, you get last pick.” Sandy shrugged good naturedly. “I don’t think there’s any bad choices, though.”
“I don’t think so, either,” Sandy said.
“Tom, first pick.” Jeff was quietly tapping his foot off to the side, behind the rows of cameras and glancing at his watch.
“Mike,” Tom said immediately and no big surprise there. Tom was always pretty much glued to Mike’s side plus Mike probably had experience helping with fashion shows. Or at least photographing them.
“Jensen,” Danneel called right after and yeah, that was a bit of a surprise. Jensen blinked at her because seriously? Then he realized just who he was standing by: a gym leader that was hardly ever out of her athletic clothes, a former Marine, a stripper, and Buddhist monk in training. He probably would have picked the gay guy that dressed moderately nice, too. Jensen stepped forward, sliding behind Danneel as Sandy picked Misha, citing that he probably had a lot of experience with ‘fashion forward.’ Fair enough.
Tom grinned and picked Georgie next while Danneel selected Lita which left poor Ben filing into Sandy’s team. Sandy greeted him with a hug, though. “We’re going to rock,” she said.
“Great!” Jared said, clapping his hands. “Let’s get Operation Fashion Show underway! Think Project Runway, guys! The sewing room’s just down the hall and I’ll see you guys in a little bit!”
Whoa. Sewing? Nobody had said anything about sewing? “He’s exaggerating,” Danneel whispered to him. Jensen’s panic had to be written all over his face. “At least I hope so.” They were all looking a little worried as they stepped into the room at the end of the hall.
It was dark-the lights off and the windows darkened-and Jensen blinked, trying to peer into inky blackness and hope like hell that he didn’t see any sewing machines. Light flooded into the room, quick and bright and Jensen winced, averting his eyes. What the hell?
“Welcome, Jared’s harem contestants!” Chad shouted and son of a bitch, so this was where he’d disappeared to. Jensen scrubbed away the dots spotting his vision and glared at Chad who was grinning at them. He was standing in front of racks of clothes and tables full of accessories and Jensen breathed a sigh of relief that at least they weren’t going to have to create a dress from scratch. “When I say go, you’ve got twenty minutes to pick out some clothes off the rack behind me, all donated by some of Jared’s favorite designers, and modify it with the accessories you see here. You have to create a fashion masterpiece. Ready?” No. No, Jensen was not. “Go!”
Screaming erupted around Jensen as the crowd surged forward, shoving Chad out of the way and tearing into the clothes. Jensen watched it all, feeling rather terrified of his life, especially considering the way some of the houseguests were jostling others. Danneel and Lita were forming a dream team, pulling clothes off of hangers left and right and making a pile beside them while Misha was using guerilla tactics, stealing from their pile when they weren’t looking and running off to put the articles in Sandy’s. Ben was standing directly in the middle of the fray looking lost and Jensen put himself behind him, hoping that the big guy would afford him some protection as he looked over at the still untouched accessory tables.
…Judging by the way Danneel and Lita were fighting tooth and nail for the clothes, he figured that they had that covered, so Jensen figured that he’d be a team player by grabbing a few of the belts and shoes.
There were huge collections in front of him, some looking more like implements of torture than anything, spiked heels and what he supposed was a belt but really just looked like a particularly vicious whip. It was an S & M aficionado’s wet dream in here. Jensen picked up the whip-belt, a couple pairs of shoes and a few bracelets and waited for the crowd to die down around the racks.
Nearly operating as one, the other houseguests turned, attacking the accessory tables and Jensen hightailed it for safer pastures. Escaping with his life, he slid into place behind his team’s pile, dumping the accessories on top of the clothes as Danneel and Lita scooped up more.
Fucking nuts was what this was. Jensen was immensely glad that at least the rest of the challenges hadn’t seemed to go like this-all the ripping and tearing and climbing over each other to try and scratch your way to the top. It was more just a little bit…terrifying. Physical challenges like the volleyball game were one thing but this was an all out Battle Royale brawl and, Jesus, did Lita really just yank that pair of shoes right out of Sandy’s hands? Jensen shivered and stayed out of it.
After fully dominating the competition, Danneel and Lita appeared with armfuls of fashion and dumped it on top of the pile and Jensen and began to sort through it. Danneel held up a few dresses to herself, eyeing them for style and length and color and whatever else it was that those involved in fashion looked for while Lita did the same. “I think this one,” Danneel said, holding out a blue dress.
Lita scoffed. “I’d fall right out of that.”
Danneel jerked the dress back, glaring at Lita. “Who said that you were going to be the model?” Jensen stayed on the ground and prayed that they didn’t notice him. This has the potential of getting ugly.
“Why shouldn’t I be?” Lita snapped back.
“Because I already AM a model!” Danneel shouted, her hands waving wildly. Jensen inched back a little bit more, hoping to make it under a table before they noticed him.
“All the more reason for you not to be! Jared will be expecting it!” Lita stepped forward into Danneel’s space, pointing her finger.
“You don’t think that’s the reason why he put us on these teams?”
“Tom’s on one of the other teams and I don’t think he’s going to be wearing any of this!” Touché, Jensen thought. Most of the choices were obviously feminine in appearance and he imagined Tom-even with his gorgeous face-would look pretty silly in most of them.
Danneel drew herself up to her full height which-unfortunately-was still a little shorter than Lita. “You don’t have the body to be a model,” Danneel remarked coldly, glancing down pointedly at Lita’s boobs. “None of these clothes will fit you.”
Lita threw the dress that she’d been holding down onto the floor. “Fuck you, bitch-!”
“LADIES!” Chad cut in, sliding in between them which is more than Jensen would have given him credit for. Jensen mentally upped his estimation of Chad. Either that or Chad was just more stupid than previously thought. Either or. Maybe a little of both. “You’ve got ten minutes left-fighting isn’t going to help.”
“Fine,” Lita snarled. “Let’s just throw the whole damn competition, then.” She stormed off to a corner to sulk, making her bad mood apparent to the entire room.
Right then and there, Jensen saw his chances at winning the next date with Jared start to go up in smoke and his heart sank. Damn it anyway. And this would be why Jensen rarely worked in teams.
“It doesn’t matter,” Danneel said softly, holding the dress back up to herself and nodding sagely. “I shouldn’t have picked her and we can do this without her anyway. Right, Jensen?” She snapped her head over towards Jensen who nodded quickly. Absolutely. Anything to escape being killed right now. “Right. So, we’d better hurry.” She slid out of her current clothes, not self-conscious at all and pulled on the blue dress. It fit her like a glove hugging all of her curves all the way down except where it flared at the end. “Which ones should we chose?” she asked.
“Uh…” Jensen pulled out the whip belt because what the hell did he know about fashion? It wasn’t like he religiously read Vogue or anything. He must have missed that part of his ‘Welcome to Being Gay’ education because while he doesn’t remember much of it besides a whole lot of awkwardness and lots of bottles of lube, he’d like to think that if he’d gone through that part of boot camp, he would have remembered it.
The other teams were already well underway, Sandy and Georgie already in dressed, being accessorized by their bouncing teammates. So Jensen picked a few things at random and thrust them towards Danneel. Danneel took them thoughtfully, threw one of the bracelets back down and put on the rest, buckling the belt into place and using it to pull up a side of the dress. Then she moved her hands to her hair, piling it up on top of her head and thinking about it before letting part of it slide down and wrapping a necklace around it. “What do you think?” she asked and Jensen stared at her. “Good?”
“Sure,” he said because yeah, she did look good but Jensen had the feeling that Danneel could make a potato sack look good. She was eyeing the different shoes and he pushed a pair at her that she shrugged at and slipped her feet into, buckling the straps. “You look-”
“Alright!” Chad bellowed. “Time’s up! Is everybody ready? The runway is THIS way!” He waved his hand dramatically and charged out of the room, obviously expecting them to follow. They didn’t disappoint, everyone running out of the room, after him, though how Danneel and the other two models were managing in those stiletto heels, Jensen didn’t know. Georgie stumbled in the middle of the hallway but caught herself on the wall, keeping herself from hitting the floor. Even Lita was following them, though she was still staying in the back of the crowd.
Chad led them back to the stage that he’d had them on before in his last challenge, running down the aisle and past the rows of seats. Jensen could see Jared in the front row, clapping and grinning as Chad urged them behind the curtain of their makeshift ‘runway.’
Chad explained the rules, about how each model was to give her best walk down the runway and pose for Jared but Jensen tuned him out because he was too busy trying to subtly move the black curtain to get a peek at Jared. At least until Jared caught him, winking and Jensen flushed, ducking back behind the curtains. Jesus. It really was kind of like he was thirteen all over again. This was awkward.
Georgie went first and while she didn’t do half-bad, it was obvious that she wasn’t a model-she didn’t have the typical walk-but Jared clapped and cheered accordingly. She only tripped on her flowy skirt once, stumbling just a little but miraculously managing not to fall and Jensen was just glad that it wasn’t him out there because he was pretty sure that he would have broken his leg for sure and just how would he explain that one to his mom?
Danneel was next and, frankly, blew Georgie out of the water. Jensen didn’t know how she did it, but it looked like she had a fan blowing on her, her hair moving in a wind that wasn’t there even though she seemed to be taking her own sweet time making it down the runway towards Jared. She paused in front of him, striking an edgy pose and Jared wolf-whistled before she turned around, heading back. She did one last twirl at the back of the runway before coming back to Jensen, grinning from ear to ear. “Yeah?” she asked and Jensen nodded hurriedly.
“Awesome,” he said and Danneel put her hand up for a high-five which he happily obliged. Maybe they’d win this, after all.
Sandy started out and while she wasn’t nearly as good as Danneel, it was obvious that she had either done this before or at least thought about it because she was light-years ahead of Georgie, moving into a cute and cuddly pose at the end of the runway before turning around and returning. After Sandy was back behind the curtain, Chad sent them all back out again, heading down the runway one last time while Jared cheered. Then Chad jerked his head at the rest of them, telling them to get their asses out there too and Jensen took a deep breath before moving from behind the curtain.
Jared was still clapping as everyone went and stood with their team, the team members standing to each side of the ‘model’ while Chad jumped off the stage and sat next to Jared. The two stars left them all up there, fidgeting nervously as the two conferred. Mike was playing with Georgie’s skirt, quietly telling how awesome she’d been and Lita was still pouting down at the end of the line, pointedly not joining the group to stand next to Danneel.
After awhile, Jared nodding, seeming to come to an understanding with Chad and then he turned to them, flipping his megawatt smile back on, just like that. Jensen held his head high and tried not to get his hopes up even though he felt them rising anyway because, yeah, they had a pretty damn good shot at winning this. Danneel had blown the other two out of the water and, frankly, the outfit looked damn good on her. They’d done a good job picking it out even if Jensen hadn’t had a fucking clue what he’d been doing. Not to say that the other two were bad-though Georgie’s jewelry really needed to be rethought-it was just too chunky for her… Jensen stopped himself right there. Just because he’d been a part of a faux fashion show did not make him a fashionista. It made him a reality show contestant.
“So, thank you all for doing this and I’ve got to say, you all did a great job. Danneel, Sandy, Georgie-you all look fantastic and your teams did a good job at picking out something that suits you. But I’ve got to pick a winner to take out on a date, don’t I?” He waited for the cheers from Mike and Sandy to die down before continuing. “Well, based on pure performance, I know who I’d pick but, well, this was supposed to be a team effort.” Jared swung his gaze over to Lita still standing with her arms crossed on the end and Jensen felt his heart clench. No. No, he hadn’t just lost his chance because… “Lita, any reason why you didn’t help your team pick out their outfit?”
“I did help,” Lita protested immediately.
“Bull,” Danneel shot back and Lita snapped her head to the side to glare at her.
“If I recall, I was the one that grabbed that dress off the rack,” she snarled before turning back to Jared. “I couldn’t work with Danneel’s attitude,” she said and it was Danneel’s turn to snarl.
“My attitude? You were the one that-”
“Okay!” Jared said, cutting in as he stood up. “Uh, one of the points of this challenge was about teamwork, though, so, based on that, the team that I picked is Sandy’s.” He smiled at Sandy who pumped her arm in the air while Misha and Ben grinned. “Great teamwork guys and I’ll see you in an hour.” Jared smiled at the rest of them before turning and walking out with Chad and disappointment came crashing down on Jensen. Well that sucked.
He stared down at the floor and tried to tell himself that it was just a group date and that would probably keep everybody in line but it really wasn’t working. Jealousy was going to fucking eat him alive, tonight, wasn’t it?
Danneel was glaring at Lita who huffed and stormed out of the room, the door slamming shut behind her.
Part 6 | Master Post | Part 8
Author: dragonspell
Fandom: RPS
Pairing: Jared/Jensen (and Jared/a slew of other characters including Misha Collins, Tom Welling, Mike Rosenbaum, Danneel Harris, Sandy McCoy and some OMCs and OFCs)
Rating: Currently PG-13 (eventual NC-17)
Warnings: AU. Cheesiness. Fandom cliches. The usual drill.
Summary (fic): After a drunken dare, award-winning writer Jensen agreed to on a reality television show to vie for the attention of megastar Jared Padalecki who he's had a crush on for years. Only Jensen doesn't know how he's going to be able to tolerate all the other contestants and their widely varying personalities and he's pretty sure that you're not supposed to be able to get used to somebody filming you 24/7.
Summary (part): The next challenge.
Word Count: 6115 (this part)
Disclaimer: Never happened, no affiliation.
A/N: I was trying to make this episode all in one part but apparently that's just not going to happen...
Master Post: Master Post
Part 6 | Master Post | Part 8
Episode 4 - First Half
Jensen tipped his head back under the spray of the shower, letting the water beat down on him. It was one good thing he could say about the mansion-it had killer water pressure. He grabbed the soap off the ledge, working it into a lather onto his body, soaping up his chest and stomach before moving onto his shoulders and arms.
Lately, it seemed like the shower was the only real place to get some privacy or even just some alone time and Jensen had to say that he appreciated that. So he was definitely going to take his time. He worked his way back down his body and stopped at his cock as it gave an interested twitch. He licked his lips, feeling his body tingle-he could go for that. God knew that he needed it. Jensen was feeling about ready to just peel off his skin and be done with it because being around the object of his wildest fantasies for so long wasn’t great for his sanity.
Except that there was privacy and then there was privacy. Jensen couldn’t really be sure if there truly weren’t any cameras in the bathroom or if that was just an illusion and then there was happening to graze it while showering as opposed to outright playing with it. He could probably explain away the first one if it made it onto TV (oh, fucking Christ, no) but the second…
Jensen cursed as his dick began to fill despite his decision apparently taking his hesitation as a green light. No, this was what living with one Jared Padalecki did: Jensen had no freaking control anymore. He shook his head in a firm no, gave his dick one soothing stroke that had a shiver running up and down his spine-damn it anyway-and then ignored it, moving on down to his legs.
It didn’t matter how much he needed it, Jensen wasn’t going to go there because he didn’t trust anything in this house. For all he knew, there were cameras hidden in the showerhead. He pushed himself back under the water, soap sluicing off to pool at his feet before circling down the drain. Finishing up, he slicked his hands through his hair one last time and then pulled back, shaking himself like a dog. It was probably past time to get out of the shower, anyway. Not only could he apparently not be trusted, but he’d already been under the water for a half hour. Someone was bound to get pissed at him for hogging the bathroom. He turned off the water and pulled back the curtain, stepping out of the tub onto the white tile floor.
“Don’t tell anyone we’re here.” Jensen shrieked and nearly killed himself trying to jump back into the shower. It wasn’t his proudest moment but, in his defense, he’d thought that he’d been alone. Apparently he’d been wrong because there was Mike, sitting on the toilet beside the tub, eyeing Jensen like he was the weird one. And, oh look, there was Misha sitting on the countertop, acting as if he did this all the time.
…Which maybe he did, but still. “What the fuck are you doing in here?” Jensen yelled, trying to recover from his nearest bout of death and thanking God that he didn’t actually decide to jerk off.
“Hiding,” Misha replied simply.
“What?!”
Mike shushed him. “I might have opened my big mouth and now the girls might be looking for us.” Jensen’s brain sputtered to a stop and he just ended up staring at Mike. “They want to do evil things to us,” Mike clarified during Jensen’s silence.
Jensen closed his eyes and counted slowly, stopping when he hit five. “And this concerns me how?”
“Jensen, are you alright?” a new voice called through the door and Jensen froze. Mike was starting to panic, waving his arms frantically and Misha looked cornered. “We heard you scream!” Sandy said.
“Uh…” Mike slipped off the toilet, falling to his knees in front of Jensen, his hand clasped in prayer. “I slipped,” Jensen said weakly.
“Oh. Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Mike was nodding madly. Jensen scowled at him.
“Okay. You haven’t seen Mike or Misha have you?”
“Uh, no.” Mike gave him a thumbs up and Jensen rolled his eyes. He was so killing him after this was done. Screw the girls.
“Okay. Thanks!” Then she was gone, bouncing off down the hall.
“We so owe you, man-” Mike said.
“I just want to know one thing,” Jensen interrupted, pinching his brow. Great. He’d just lied to Sandra McCoy. Sandra McCoy as in America’s Sweetheart. This was a sign of how fucked up his life was fast becoming. “How did you get in here?”
Mike shrugged and pointed over towards Misha. “Man’s good with a lock pick, what can I say?”
Misha proudly held up the lock pick in question. “You never know when you’re going to need it.”
…Oh, dear God. There was footage of Misha and Mike picking the lock on the bathroom and slipping inside with Jensen, wasn’t there? Jensen didn’t even want to know how that was going to be made to look come edit time. He was so fucking screwed and probably a shoo-in for the show slut now but, for some reason, he couldn’t decide if he was horrified or amused by the whole situation.
Jensen was still debating his next possible move when Mike’s eyes suddenly swerved to dangerous territory. “Damn, Jenny,” he teased, quirking an eyebrow. “Who would have guessed?”
And Jensen suddenly reminded that he was utterly and completely naked. The slow burn started at his face but it was working its way down as Jensen reached for the towel that he’d set aside. He closed his eyes, wrapping the towel around his waist and cutting off Mike’s free show. This was just not how he’d planned on this day going. It really wasn’t. He swallowed. “Get out.”
“Hey, man, it’s okay-nothing I haven’t seen before, right? Except for the fact that it’s yours-”
“OUT!” Jensen shouted and Mike was up like a shot, heading for the door that Misha beat him to. What the fuck did it take for a man to be able to take a shower in peace around here, anyway?
Misha darted out the door and Mike stopped at it, halfway in, halfway out. “Hey, man-”
“I’m going to scrub this moment from my mind,” Jensen said.
“Cool.” Mike grinned. “So don’t tell Sandy we were here, okay?”
Tell Sandy? That sounded like a good plan. “SANDY!” Jensen yelled, still looking at Mike who grimaced. “They’re over here!”
“You’ll pay for this, Captain Planet,” Mike hissed and darted down the hallway. Jensen closed the bathroom door again before the girls had a chance to thunder past and leaned up against the door. Wet, mildly scandalized and clad in nothing but a towel, he finally gave into the helpless laughter that had been threatening to escape.
Everyone in this house was certifiably insane-himself included. Jared wasn’t the only thing in the house bad for Jensen’s health.
Jared was gone again and that just wasn’t fair, Jensen decided. Jared promised that this was the last time and that he’d be home soon but Jensen couldn’t help but feel something scarily akin to resentment towards the movie and the promotional obligations in Jared’s contract. He supposed, though, that this would probably be what life with Jared would be like. Except for, you know, the not being able to have contact with the outside world. Because that part really sucked.
Jensen had not seen either Mike or Misha since kicking them out of the shower nor had he seen Sandy or Danneel. He hoped everyone was getting everything that they deserved and then some. Lita and Georgie, he knew, were out by the pool, sunning themselves and Tom and Ben were out in the gym. Jensen was actually kind of wondering if Ben had plans on actually leaving that gym sometime today. That left Jensen alone-fucking finally-to do as he wanted…which would normally mean quality laptop time but everyone knew that that wasn’t happening.
So instead Jensen walked into the kitchen, deadest on making himself a sandwich. He’d skipped breakfast-slept through it actually (no sense in being there if Jared wasn’t going to be there)-so he was edging into starving now. He stepped onto the checkered tile floor and walked to the island where he knew there had been a loaf of bread only to stop dead halfway there because there was Chad sitting there eating the house food. Jensen stared because he would have thought that if Chad was hanging out, he would have been out perving on Lita and Georgie. Actually, he took that back because it looked like Chad was making his way through the last of the cookies that Jared had had delivered. Jensen narrowed his eyes. Bastard.
Chad was unaware of Jensen’s inner commentary. He smiled and stuffed the last of his cookie into his mouth before wiping his hands off on his jeans and holding one out. “Hey, Jensen, right? How are you doin’?”
Jensen reluctantly took the proffered hand, shaking it, mumbling something about being fine.
“Good. Want a seat?” Chad invited, like Jensen was already living in the house. Jensen gingerly sat on the stool next to Chad, not wanting to offend him or anything. He was well aware that Chad came with the whole Jared package so he supposed that he should at least try to get to know the guy. “Can’t believe that Jared just totally left me here, you know? Whatever. He’s supposed to be back soon.” Jensen sincerely hoped so. The house just seemed empty when Jared wasn’t in it. “So how are you fitting in around here? Good?”
“Yeah,” Jensen said. He met Chad’s blue eyes for a second before Chad looked away to select another cookie. Damn it but Jensen really should have made that sandwich before sitting down. At the moment, he was wondering if he could get away with reaching over the guy to grab one of the cookies before they were gone. “It’s, uh, nice. Everyone is really nice.”
“That’s good,” Chad said before skewering Jensen with his eyes. “Boring but good, I guess. No problems with anyone?”
Jensen swallowed and looked away, shaking his head. “No. Everyone gets along.” Chad was sorely mistaken if he thought that Jensen was going to divulge any dirt on his castmates. That was not a route that he wanted to go.
“Hmm. Want a cookie?” Chad pushed the plate of cookies across the island countertop toward Jensen. There were two left on it and Jensen didn’t have the willpower to refuse. He was fucking starving. Jensen picked one up and took a bite out of it. Cookies for breakfast-okay lunch, more like-wasn’t exactly the healthiest thing in the world but, then again, Jared definitely knew his cookies and bought accordingly. The chocolate chip unfurled in his mouth and Jensen fought back the urge to moan. Damn good cookies.
“That’s right,” Chad was saying, “You’re the one with those lips…” and then there was a finger touching the side of Jensen’s mouth, pressing against the skin. Jensen jerked away, nearly choking on the cookie and skittered backward off the stool, trying to recover as he took a few huge steps away. Chad stared peacefully back at him, with only his eyebrows raised but there was a small smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. “Jumpy?”
Jensen knitted his eyebrows into a scowl. Chad was openly smirking at him now. “What-You-” Jensen snapped his mouth closed because how did you politely tell a guy to keep his sleazy hands to himself, anyway? Jesus. He’d been about ready to punch the guy in the face.
Chad held up his hands in surrender, face sliding into a caught look. “No touching, I got it.” Chad patted the stool again and he had to be fucking crazy if he thought that Jensen was sitting back down there. “Come on,” Chad coaxed. “I promise I won’t touch you again. Cross my heart and hope to die.” He pouted and Jensen caved, slowly sliding back onto the stool despite his better judgment. “Only for Jared, right?” Chad asked slyly and Jensen slanted him a flat look. Better than that punch in the face, he supposed. “I can appreciate that.”
“I…” Chad tilted his head, waiting expectantly for Jensen to finish (Chad Michael Murray waiting-the world was coming to an end) and Jensen mumbled, “just don’t like people touching my face.” It was partially true. Jensen didn’t like strangers touching him period, not just his face.
“Fair enough,” Chad said. He was trying to look contrite but was failing miserably. Jensen didn’t know if that was because he didn’t feel that way or if he just plain didn’t have that look in his repertoire. “Sorry. I just got this thing-I see something pretty, I have to touch it. It’s something that I’m supposed to be working on. …I guess it’s just a good thing that I’m a movie star.” Chad laughed. “Less lawsuits.” Jensen blinked, wondering what he could say to that when Chad continued. “Plus a lot of people don’t mind if I touch them. Touched by greatness and all that.”
“Oh.”
Chad snorted and turned the conversation a full 180. “So Jared’s, like, stupidly crazy over your books.” Just like it was a magic word, the mention of ‘Jared’ made Jensen’s world come to a halt, his full attention now on Chad and not because of the touching thing now. “He’s bought all of them, in every different edition, dragging from bookstore to bookstore.”
“Really?” Jensen asked, sounding painfully pathetic and so took a bite of cookie to try and hide that. For Jared to go to that kind of effort, though… It had to mean something, right?
“Yeah. Same thing he’s done with all of Sandy’s movies and do you know how hard it is to get a hold of a copy of Junkhouse Blues? Talk about an indie film.” Jensen’s heart plummeted just as fast as it had been rising, slamming into the ground. Apparently Jared was going through all of this trouble for everybody. Which figured-Jared was just that kind of guy. Jensen cursed himself for being so naive and thinking that Jared would only be jumping though all those hoops for him.
Chad swung around on Jensen, startling him again and making Jensen wonder if it had been a wise decision to sit down again. “Not that he doesn’t like you, dude. Trust me, there’s favorites and all, I’m just allowed to tell you and fuck, let’s just forget I said anything.” Chad glanced worriedly at one of the cameras and Jensen nodded slowly, still a little amazed that Chad had felt a need to reassure him. Or had even picked up on that fact.
Well. Maybe Chad wasn’t all bad. Jensen could see himself getting used to him.
“Everybody line up!” Jeff bellowed, his voice booking no protest, and, like they were in the army and Jeff was their commanding officer, everyone fell into line immediately, looking at him and waiting for the next order. Well. Except for Ben. He was staring straight ahead like a good little officer. “Jared’s running a little late, so we’re going to be ready to just throw him into this, okay? I’m just going to explain the rules and whenever Jared gets-” Jeff cut off, suddenly holding his ear and turning to the side.
They were all standing in the main room again, awaiting their next challenge. Jensen glanced nervously to his right and Danneel who shifted uneasily. Apparently they were all feeling the irritation currently circling the room. Rows and rows of cameras and sound equipment were surrounding them-all set up to get this next challenge rolling except for the fact that the main star was missing. They didn’t even have Chad because he’d taken off for parts unknown.
“Well it’s about goddamned time,” Jeff snarled. “You tell little miss perfect that the next time she wants to take my boy, not only had she better clear it with me first but she’d better make damn sure to get him here on time! I’ve got a show to run and we’re already two hours late.” He turned back to face the assembled crowd and Jensen forced himself to stand strong-if he stepped back, he’d be separating himself from the herd and when facing a pissed-off lion that was never a good thing. “Jared’s coming up the drive right now,” Jeff said, sounding just a tiny bit calmer. “We’re going to wait three minutes for him to get here and then we’re going to launch straight into this.” With that, he turned his back on them and strode off, muttering obscenities under his breath that Jensen was sure would make a sailor blush.
Jensen looked to each side, watching the other houseguests fidget as they waited for Jared. Lita was biting her lip and Mike looked absolutely bored. Misha looked serene, though, but, then again, he always did. Jensen had no doubt that Misha was just like the rest of them-wanting to get this over with and thus get another chance at having a date with Jared.
Jared came rushing in a few minutes later, pulling on an overshirt, obviously just having changed clothes and Jensen felt a little pang of disappointment at having missed that. Jeff caught his arm, hauling him in for a quick, whispered conversation that had Jared repeating “Sorry” over and over before Jeff let him go and Jared skittered in front of the line-up. He straightened himself, trying to recover from his rushed entrance and took a deep breath. “All right, sorry for the wait guys! That was the last time, I promise!” Jensen hoped so-with less promotional obligations, Jared might be in the house more often. He’d like that.
“Okay. The next challenge, that’s what we all want to know about, right?” Jared nodded, watching the line-up mimic him. “Well, okay. So I’m an actor. And there’s a lot of different industries that I have to interact with on a regular basis because of that!” Jared appeared fully recovered now and picking up steam, his enthusiasm making his voice even louder than usual. “One of those is…the fashion industry!” He waved his hand at them, grinning at Danneel and Tom in particular. “Right?” He turned to Sandy who smiled and nodded. “Right. So, I figured, why not have our next challenge based on that?”
Jensen resisted the urge to groan. Fuck. This was going to involve crazy-ass costumes and funny walking, wasn’t it? …Jensen was refusing right now to wear a shoe on his head.
“You all are going to split into teams of three and together, we’re all going to put on a fashion show!” There was a round of clapping and Mike was doing that annoying whistle thing again while Jensen prayed for an earthquake-maybe he’d get lucky and the ground would swallow him whole. “The team that wins gets a group date with me to, because this is a fashion show, see a famous designer’s new collection walk down the runway!” Danneel’s eyes went big as saucers and Sandy giggled, moving from foot to foot. “Plus, each group member will get to spend a little one-on-one time with me. So make sure you pick the people who are going to help your team make it to the top. One person will be the model and the other two are going to help that person look their best.” Jared smiled that Oscar winner again and despite his horror at the situation, Jensen still felt sucker-punch by those damn dimples.
“Each team is going to have either one professional model on their team or at least someone that I know has modeled before. Jared turned that killer grin onto Sandy. “Danneel, Tom, and Sandy are the team leaders, so if you guys would like to come up here and pick your teams?” Jared waved them forward. “To make this fair, I’m thinking of a number between one and ten, what is it?”
Danneel glanced at the others before answering first. “Five.”
Jared turned to Tom who shrugged. “Three?”
“Ten,” Sandy answered with a smile.
Jared grinned. “So close. It was one. Tom, you pick first, Dannel second and Sandy, sorry, you get last pick.” Sandy shrugged good naturedly. “I don’t think there’s any bad choices, though.”
“I don’t think so, either,” Sandy said.
“Tom, first pick.” Jeff was quietly tapping his foot off to the side, behind the rows of cameras and glancing at his watch.
“Mike,” Tom said immediately and no big surprise there. Tom was always pretty much glued to Mike’s side plus Mike probably had experience helping with fashion shows. Or at least photographing them.
“Jensen,” Danneel called right after and yeah, that was a bit of a surprise. Jensen blinked at her because seriously? Then he realized just who he was standing by: a gym leader that was hardly ever out of her athletic clothes, a former Marine, a stripper, and Buddhist monk in training. He probably would have picked the gay guy that dressed moderately nice, too. Jensen stepped forward, sliding behind Danneel as Sandy picked Misha, citing that he probably had a lot of experience with ‘fashion forward.’ Fair enough.
Tom grinned and picked Georgie next while Danneel selected Lita which left poor Ben filing into Sandy’s team. Sandy greeted him with a hug, though. “We’re going to rock,” she said.
“Great!” Jared said, clapping his hands. “Let’s get Operation Fashion Show underway! Think Project Runway, guys! The sewing room’s just down the hall and I’ll see you guys in a little bit!”
Whoa. Sewing? Nobody had said anything about sewing? “He’s exaggerating,” Danneel whispered to him. Jensen’s panic had to be written all over his face. “At least I hope so.” They were all looking a little worried as they stepped into the room at the end of the hall.
It was dark-the lights off and the windows darkened-and Jensen blinked, trying to peer into inky blackness and hope like hell that he didn’t see any sewing machines. Light flooded into the room, quick and bright and Jensen winced, averting his eyes. What the hell?
“Welcome, Jared’s harem contestants!” Chad shouted and son of a bitch, so this was where he’d disappeared to. Jensen scrubbed away the dots spotting his vision and glared at Chad who was grinning at them. He was standing in front of racks of clothes and tables full of accessories and Jensen breathed a sigh of relief that at least they weren’t going to have to create a dress from scratch. “When I say go, you’ve got twenty minutes to pick out some clothes off the rack behind me, all donated by some of Jared’s favorite designers, and modify it with the accessories you see here. You have to create a fashion masterpiece. Ready?” No. No, Jensen was not. “Go!”
Screaming erupted around Jensen as the crowd surged forward, shoving Chad out of the way and tearing into the clothes. Jensen watched it all, feeling rather terrified of his life, especially considering the way some of the houseguests were jostling others. Danneel and Lita were forming a dream team, pulling clothes off of hangers left and right and making a pile beside them while Misha was using guerilla tactics, stealing from their pile when they weren’t looking and running off to put the articles in Sandy’s. Ben was standing directly in the middle of the fray looking lost and Jensen put himself behind him, hoping that the big guy would afford him some protection as he looked over at the still untouched accessory tables.
…Judging by the way Danneel and Lita were fighting tooth and nail for the clothes, he figured that they had that covered, so Jensen figured that he’d be a team player by grabbing a few of the belts and shoes.
There were huge collections in front of him, some looking more like implements of torture than anything, spiked heels and what he supposed was a belt but really just looked like a particularly vicious whip. It was an S & M aficionado’s wet dream in here. Jensen picked up the whip-belt, a couple pairs of shoes and a few bracelets and waited for the crowd to die down around the racks.
Nearly operating as one, the other houseguests turned, attacking the accessory tables and Jensen hightailed it for safer pastures. Escaping with his life, he slid into place behind his team’s pile, dumping the accessories on top of the clothes as Danneel and Lita scooped up more.
Fucking nuts was what this was. Jensen was immensely glad that at least the rest of the challenges hadn’t seemed to go like this-all the ripping and tearing and climbing over each other to try and scratch your way to the top. It was more just a little bit…terrifying. Physical challenges like the volleyball game were one thing but this was an all out Battle Royale brawl and, Jesus, did Lita really just yank that pair of shoes right out of Sandy’s hands? Jensen shivered and stayed out of it.
After fully dominating the competition, Danneel and Lita appeared with armfuls of fashion and dumped it on top of the pile and Jensen and began to sort through it. Danneel held up a few dresses to herself, eyeing them for style and length and color and whatever else it was that those involved in fashion looked for while Lita did the same. “I think this one,” Danneel said, holding out a blue dress.
Lita scoffed. “I’d fall right out of that.”
Danneel jerked the dress back, glaring at Lita. “Who said that you were going to be the model?” Jensen stayed on the ground and prayed that they didn’t notice him. This has the potential of getting ugly.
“Why shouldn’t I be?” Lita snapped back.
“Because I already AM a model!” Danneel shouted, her hands waving wildly. Jensen inched back a little bit more, hoping to make it under a table before they noticed him.
“All the more reason for you not to be! Jared will be expecting it!” Lita stepped forward into Danneel’s space, pointing her finger.
“You don’t think that’s the reason why he put us on these teams?”
“Tom’s on one of the other teams and I don’t think he’s going to be wearing any of this!” Touché, Jensen thought. Most of the choices were obviously feminine in appearance and he imagined Tom-even with his gorgeous face-would look pretty silly in most of them.
Danneel drew herself up to her full height which-unfortunately-was still a little shorter than Lita. “You don’t have the body to be a model,” Danneel remarked coldly, glancing down pointedly at Lita’s boobs. “None of these clothes will fit you.”
Lita threw the dress that she’d been holding down onto the floor. “Fuck you, bitch-!”
“LADIES!” Chad cut in, sliding in between them which is more than Jensen would have given him credit for. Jensen mentally upped his estimation of Chad. Either that or Chad was just more stupid than previously thought. Either or. Maybe a little of both. “You’ve got ten minutes left-fighting isn’t going to help.”
“Fine,” Lita snarled. “Let’s just throw the whole damn competition, then.” She stormed off to a corner to sulk, making her bad mood apparent to the entire room.
Right then and there, Jensen saw his chances at winning the next date with Jared start to go up in smoke and his heart sank. Damn it anyway. And this would be why Jensen rarely worked in teams.
“It doesn’t matter,” Danneel said softly, holding the dress back up to herself and nodding sagely. “I shouldn’t have picked her and we can do this without her anyway. Right, Jensen?” She snapped her head over towards Jensen who nodded quickly. Absolutely. Anything to escape being killed right now. “Right. So, we’d better hurry.” She slid out of her current clothes, not self-conscious at all and pulled on the blue dress. It fit her like a glove hugging all of her curves all the way down except where it flared at the end. “Which ones should we chose?” she asked.
“Uh…” Jensen pulled out the whip belt because what the hell did he know about fashion? It wasn’t like he religiously read Vogue or anything. He must have missed that part of his ‘Welcome to Being Gay’ education because while he doesn’t remember much of it besides a whole lot of awkwardness and lots of bottles of lube, he’d like to think that if he’d gone through that part of boot camp, he would have remembered it.
The other teams were already well underway, Sandy and Georgie already in dressed, being accessorized by their bouncing teammates. So Jensen picked a few things at random and thrust them towards Danneel. Danneel took them thoughtfully, threw one of the bracelets back down and put on the rest, buckling the belt into place and using it to pull up a side of the dress. Then she moved her hands to her hair, piling it up on top of her head and thinking about it before letting part of it slide down and wrapping a necklace around it. “What do you think?” she asked and Jensen stared at her. “Good?”
“Sure,” he said because yeah, she did look good but Jensen had the feeling that Danneel could make a potato sack look good. She was eyeing the different shoes and he pushed a pair at her that she shrugged at and slipped her feet into, buckling the straps. “You look-”
“Alright!” Chad bellowed. “Time’s up! Is everybody ready? The runway is THIS way!” He waved his hand dramatically and charged out of the room, obviously expecting them to follow. They didn’t disappoint, everyone running out of the room, after him, though how Danneel and the other two models were managing in those stiletto heels, Jensen didn’t know. Georgie stumbled in the middle of the hallway but caught herself on the wall, keeping herself from hitting the floor. Even Lita was following them, though she was still staying in the back of the crowd.
Chad led them back to the stage that he’d had them on before in his last challenge, running down the aisle and past the rows of seats. Jensen could see Jared in the front row, clapping and grinning as Chad urged them behind the curtain of their makeshift ‘runway.’
Chad explained the rules, about how each model was to give her best walk down the runway and pose for Jared but Jensen tuned him out because he was too busy trying to subtly move the black curtain to get a peek at Jared. At least until Jared caught him, winking and Jensen flushed, ducking back behind the curtains. Jesus. It really was kind of like he was thirteen all over again. This was awkward.
Georgie went first and while she didn’t do half-bad, it was obvious that she wasn’t a model-she didn’t have the typical walk-but Jared clapped and cheered accordingly. She only tripped on her flowy skirt once, stumbling just a little but miraculously managing not to fall and Jensen was just glad that it wasn’t him out there because he was pretty sure that he would have broken his leg for sure and just how would he explain that one to his mom?
Danneel was next and, frankly, blew Georgie out of the water. Jensen didn’t know how she did it, but it looked like she had a fan blowing on her, her hair moving in a wind that wasn’t there even though she seemed to be taking her own sweet time making it down the runway towards Jared. She paused in front of him, striking an edgy pose and Jared wolf-whistled before she turned around, heading back. She did one last twirl at the back of the runway before coming back to Jensen, grinning from ear to ear. “Yeah?” she asked and Jensen nodded hurriedly.
“Awesome,” he said and Danneel put her hand up for a high-five which he happily obliged. Maybe they’d win this, after all.
Sandy started out and while she wasn’t nearly as good as Danneel, it was obvious that she had either done this before or at least thought about it because she was light-years ahead of Georgie, moving into a cute and cuddly pose at the end of the runway before turning around and returning. After Sandy was back behind the curtain, Chad sent them all back out again, heading down the runway one last time while Jared cheered. Then Chad jerked his head at the rest of them, telling them to get their asses out there too and Jensen took a deep breath before moving from behind the curtain.
Jared was still clapping as everyone went and stood with their team, the team members standing to each side of the ‘model’ while Chad jumped off the stage and sat next to Jared. The two stars left them all up there, fidgeting nervously as the two conferred. Mike was playing with Georgie’s skirt, quietly telling how awesome she’d been and Lita was still pouting down at the end of the line, pointedly not joining the group to stand next to Danneel.
After awhile, Jared nodding, seeming to come to an understanding with Chad and then he turned to them, flipping his megawatt smile back on, just like that. Jensen held his head high and tried not to get his hopes up even though he felt them rising anyway because, yeah, they had a pretty damn good shot at winning this. Danneel had blown the other two out of the water and, frankly, the outfit looked damn good on her. They’d done a good job picking it out even if Jensen hadn’t had a fucking clue what he’d been doing. Not to say that the other two were bad-though Georgie’s jewelry really needed to be rethought-it was just too chunky for her… Jensen stopped himself right there. Just because he’d been a part of a faux fashion show did not make him a fashionista. It made him a reality show contestant.
“So, thank you all for doing this and I’ve got to say, you all did a great job. Danneel, Sandy, Georgie-you all look fantastic and your teams did a good job at picking out something that suits you. But I’ve got to pick a winner to take out on a date, don’t I?” He waited for the cheers from Mike and Sandy to die down before continuing. “Well, based on pure performance, I know who I’d pick but, well, this was supposed to be a team effort.” Jared swung his gaze over to Lita still standing with her arms crossed on the end and Jensen felt his heart clench. No. No, he hadn’t just lost his chance because… “Lita, any reason why you didn’t help your team pick out their outfit?”
“I did help,” Lita protested immediately.
“Bull,” Danneel shot back and Lita snapped her head to the side to glare at her.
“If I recall, I was the one that grabbed that dress off the rack,” she snarled before turning back to Jared. “I couldn’t work with Danneel’s attitude,” she said and it was Danneel’s turn to snarl.
“My attitude? You were the one that-”
“Okay!” Jared said, cutting in as he stood up. “Uh, one of the points of this challenge was about teamwork, though, so, based on that, the team that I picked is Sandy’s.” He smiled at Sandy who pumped her arm in the air while Misha and Ben grinned. “Great teamwork guys and I’ll see you in an hour.” Jared smiled at the rest of them before turning and walking out with Chad and disappointment came crashing down on Jensen. Well that sucked.
He stared down at the floor and tried to tell himself that it was just a group date and that would probably keep everybody in line but it really wasn’t working. Jealousy was going to fucking eat him alive, tonight, wasn’t it?
Danneel was glaring at Lita who huffed and stormed out of the room, the door slamming shut behind her.
Part 6 | Master Post | Part 8