RPS J2 / R: JJ do WW: Shibboleth
Title: Jensen and Jared Do the West Wing: Shibboleth
Genre: RPS J2
Rating: R - bad word or two
Word count: 2,700
Summary: They’re bored and there are chickens.
Notes: Yet another WW-themed one. In the timeline, this falls between the other two. Title and cut from West Wing episode.
Previously: The Short List: Jared likes fish. If only Jensen knew what kind.
It's the week before Thanksgiving break and the guys are restless in Jared’s trailer. The sudden Vancouver snow has thrown off filming for most of the day and there they were, another two-hour delay, waiting for it to stop. It’s happened enough this week that they're already tired of Madden 10, have argued plenty over which TV show to replay on DVD (Jared, as always, begged for Seinfeld; Jensen said anything but; they were currently at standstill), and completed every crossword puzzle they could get their hands on. But Jensen isn’t quite so bored with it all - not enough to leave the trailer and do his own thing. He's slouched into the couch, feet up on the coffee table, ankles crossed. Jared's much the same beside him, tossing a Nerf ball into the air.
“What about ER?”
“How?”
“On their off time.”
Jensen’s hands settle behind his head and he sighs. “They work like 60-hour shifts. When do they have time off?”
“When they’re not in the hospital,” Jared replies with a ‘duh’ quality.
Jensen shakes his head.
“The Office.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No. The whole point is what goes on inside the office.”
“Yeah?”
“They’re not going out and becoming PIs.”
“Dwight would make a killer private dick.”
Jensen is quiet, putting his rebuttal on hold. “Maybe.”
“Andy would help. He’d be the fumbling assistant who crushes on him because he’s really good at his job.”
“Maybe,” Jensen says again, with a little more power in it. It’s something to consider.
Neither of them looks to the knock at the door or at Misha entering. Jared keeps watching the ball float up then back into his hands and Jensen does, too. “Man, killer snow.”
“No shit,” Jensen grumbles.
“What’re you guys doing?”
Jared answers easily, “Playing detective.”
“What?”
Jensen’s head rolls to see Misha’s confused look. “Jared likes to make every show about solving crimes.”
“Does that even work?”
“No,” Jensen says as Jared says, “Yes.”
“It doesn’t,” Jensen adds on, shaking his head.
“When does it work?” Misha asks, but Jensen can tell he’s playing Jared.
Jared won’t look away from the foam ball, won’t stop tossing. “We just agreed on The Office.”
“No, we did not.”
“Yes, we did.”
“I said maybe.”
“That’s all but yes.”
“All but.”
Jared sighs noisily, annoyed. “We agreed on Mythbusters.”
“Uh, yeah, because they already are.”
Jared chuckles. “They’re scientists.”
“They’re scientific detectives.”
Misha butts in, “You are fascinating.”
“I know, right?” Jensen smirks, knowing their co-star is still belittling Jared.
“Well, you’re not exactly helping the situation.”
Jensen frowns. “What?”
Misha shakes his head and moves to the door. “I have got to find a better show.”
“Yeah, go tweet about it,” Jared calls back.
Jensen looks at Jared as Misha closes the door behind him.
Going back to tossing the ball, he mumbles, “I kind of hate him.”
“No, you don’t.”
He’s quite for a moment. “I don’t.”
“I know.”
Jared immediately says, “He’s kind of annoying”
“Hmm.”
“With the whole ‘better than you’ thing going on.”
“Yeah.” Jensen closes his eyes and breaths evenly. “The Twitter is funny.”
“Hmm.”
“Sometimes.”
“He’s annoying sometimes.”
Jensen scoffs, “Sometimes?”
“Most times.”
“Yeah.”
They sit in silence and Jensen starts thinking of the fact that he’s spent way too much time on that couch that week. Way too much time just next to Jared and not doing a damned thing. At all. At least Jared is playing catch with himself. Jensen hasn’t bothered to do anything but sit beside him. And, well, pine, a little. Because he couldn’t imagine not sitting next to Jared and he knows most of it is the fact that this is the last season and they’ll part ways and he doesn't know what to do with himself.
So he spends every free minute with Jared, hoping to pack every little possible moment into his memory bank for a later date. Like when they go weeks between phone calls and months between hugs.
Jensen stops for a minute. He can’t remember the last time he worried about not hugging someone. Then again, he doesn’t really let anyone but Jared do it, and that’s really saying something.
“Huh,” he accidentally says aloud.
“What?”
Jensen flashes a look to Jared, taking in the profile. He smiles a little, realizing he’s always felt pretty strongly for the guy and it’s likely not going away any time soon. “Nothing.”
*
The next day, they’re in much the same position, wasting time by Jared’s trailer and not doing much of anything. This time, however, they’re on the steps leading up to the door, actually enjoying the fresh air. It’s still snowing, but as they’d learned in the early months of filming in Vancouver, it’s never all too cold when there’s snow falling. It’s when it stops that they have to worry.
“CSI.”
Jensen huffs out a breath to see the air crystallize then gives a bored look to Jared.
“Hear me out.”
“No.”
“They’re not stuck in the lab.”
“No.”
“But they go out in the field.”
“They are in the field.”
“But they, like, actually do stuff.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Jensen’s voice is suddenly interested, but he’s totally yanking Jared’s chain. “Like collect evidence?”
Jared swipes his hands at the steps to push snow around. “Yeah.”
“And maybe, I don’t know, question people?”
“Exactly.”
“They already do.”
“Yeah, but, they could actually do it right.”
“They do it wrong?”
Jared gives him a flat look. “They’re not actual detectives, c’mon.”
Jensen frowns and shakes his head. “I hate that show.”
“I do, too.”
“No you don’t.”
Jared nods, collecting bits of snow in his hand. “I don’t.”
Misha walks by and gives an easy nod. “What’s today’s game?”
Jared frowns and Jensen shakes his head with a tiny laugh.
“Flippin’ coins? See who gets the most heads in a row?”
Jensen shakes his head again.
“Maybe some tic-tac-toe? Hopscotch?”
Jared huffs a little laugh and watches Misha walk away. “I hate that guy.”
Jensen chuckles. “No, you don’t.”
“Yeah.” Jared tosses bits of snow off his fingers and then drags over the snow again. “Hey, remember last Thanksgiving? We should redo the corn thing.”
“Corn thing?”
“Like last Thanksgiving.”
“Last Thanksgiving?”
“Yeah.”
“You mean when I got sick and went home?”
Jared looks to Jensen with a confused look. “You didn’t go home.”
“You don’t remember a 103-degree fever and my coughing up lungs?”
“Huh.”
“Yeah. And you did the corn thing to Bob without me.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Without me.”
Jared chuckles. “That was alotta corn.”
“I heard,” Jensen grumbles in return.
Jared’s face seems to consider a long thought. “We could do it this year. Together.”
“To who?”
They both look up to people talking in the area and realize there’s some fussing around.
Jensen nods to one of the personal assistants. “What’s going on?”
She turns and looks a little freaked out as she gets closer to them. “The chickens are here, but Terry’s not around to accept. I don’t know where they go.”
Jensen and Jared looked to each other, knowing the delivery is for this episode (a little farm fun), but realizing how perfect it is for them. They both look to the PA with a smile. “Terry’s not here today?” Jared asks in a nice voice, but it’s threaded with some mischief. And Jensen just smiles more.
“He is, but not right here.”
“Where’s he at?” Jensen asks.
“I think they ran off to the north trailer for some props.”
Jared stands with an easy smile and pats her on the shoulder. “It’s cool. We got it.”
Jensen follows and stands next to Jared. “Yeah. We got it.”
“You do?” She looks kind of relieved.
“Yeah, we know where they go.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Jensen eases out.
She shuffles off, leaving the chicken guy standing awkwardly in front of them. The kid can’t be more than 20. He looks kind of freaked. “So?”
“Yeah,” Jensen smiles. He leans down to the cage holding two chickens. He’s smirking hard, terribly entertained. He even reaches for the cage, settling fingers around the wire on top. “Chickens.”
“Chickens,” Jared smiles right back.
“Where they go?”
Jensen stands up straight and smiles. “Misha’s.”
“Misha?”
Jared speaks up, “Yeah, he’s the assistant prop master.”
“Yeah, I’d definitely put them there.” Jensen points down the line of trailers. “His office is right here.”
They lead the kid over to the trailer, Jared opening the door while Jensen motions inside.
“This the office?” the kid asks as he puts the cage down
“Yeah, you know,” Jared starts as comfortably as possible. But his voice gets a little goofy when he glances at Jensen. “Misha’s really good with animals and he already feels bad you had to cage them when you brought them in.”
“Yeah?” the kid asks warily.
Jensen picks up with his perfected flat voice. “Yeah. Why don’t you just let them out?”
“Out of the cage?”
“Yeah,” Jared nods. “Just let them roam freely. It’s cool.”
“Yeah?”
Jensen pats the kid’s back while he eyes Jared with a grin. “Yeah. Just let ‘em free.”
*
Jared and Jensen settle at Jared’s trailer steps again. They seem to take turns on the watch of Misha’s trailer, just waiting for the guy to return and find whatever mess the chickens could have made in the last hour. Jared watches to their left, hoping Misha comes from there. He’s prepared to knock Jensen’s arm whenever the guy shows up.
Jensen leans back, elbows on the top step and legs stretched before him. Jared looks back on him and smirks. Jensen smirks back and feels himself warm a little. From day one he liked laughing and smiling with Jared. He knows it’ll never change for any reason.
It’s another 25 minute before Misha shows up. They share a smile and the guy asks what other games they’re going to play. “Maybe some jacks?”
They both smile back, not a word between them.
Misha frowns a little. “You guys okay?”
“Good,” Jensen smiles.
Jared adds, “Perfectly fine.”
Misha smiles with them, but they can tell he’s confused by how settled they are right there.
It’s not a minute later that they’re standing on the stairs, intent eyes on Misha’s door, but they don’t hear a thing. They continue staring and waiting, holding their breath. It’s another thirty seconds until Misha comes out and stares at them across the way. His face is blank and he blinks. He takes one slow step down, then another, and Jensen puts a hand to Jared’s arm, feeling a little guilty but also nervous about what will happen next. Jared stays still beside him.
Misha’s steps quicken up a bit as he quickly closes the space between them. Jensen turns into Jared’s trailer with Jared right behind him. They press hard into the door as Misha tries pushing it open. “That chicken crapped in my sink!”
And they’re laughing.
Jensen’s not sure how long they stand there, laughing at Misha as he complains about whatever else the chickens did - like burrowing into one of his favorite sweaters - but it feels like a good, long time. When Misha finally laughs (“This is going on Twitter! You gave me presents!”) and goes back to his trailer, Jensen’s grinning up at Jared. “That was awesome.”
Jared’s smile is large and wide and anchored by deep dimples. His hand swipes down Jensen’s head followed by a quick pat. “We needed a camera in there.”
Jensen’s beaming right back because it’s infectious. “Next time. Camera for sure.” He raises a hand to Jared’s head, patting at the side then holding there and he feels warmth in his face spread down to his stomach. Jared’s palm smooths over Jensen’s hip and Jensen freezes. He hasn’t held terribly romantic thoughts about Jared but he does know that he feels a little lost when they’re not in each other’s space. They’re best friends and they spend an unreal amount of time with each other and physically they’re closer than anyone Jensen has ever had in his life. It sits in his chest and he wants to kiss Jared, has thought about it for a while. But he just pats Jared’s head again.
And here is where Jared’s smile goes soft and so do his eyes. And Jensen feels warm and fuzzy all over again even when he pulls his hand back. Especially when Jared’s voice goes easy. “I’ll miss this.”
He stares back for a few seconds before he asks, “Miss what?”
Jared’s face goes through a quick range of emotions - from thoughtful to nervous to happy. “Just messing around. Shit. What’re we gonna do next year?”
Jensen quickly taps his palm to Jared’s chest as he moves around him. “We’ll live.”
“Hey,” Jared says gently, grabbing onto Jensen’s wrist to stop him.
They stare a bit longer than is probably necessary and Jensen’s heart feels good. That’s what he’s come to realize through this whole thing. Through all his loving Jared - as a little brother into best friend into whatever it is he feels right now - he never exactly felt nervous. It just felt right and content. He couldn’t care less if nothing more happened because he already had this with Jared. The blurred line between best friends and soul mates.
Jared’s hold on Jensen’s wrist eases up, but the fingers are still there, careful. “You’ve always had Danneel.”
“What?”
“Danneel. She’s always been here.”
Jensen’s eyes won’t break from Jared’s while he tries to make out the point. “I don’t … What?”
Jared’s hand releases him, but then it’s on his shoulder, still careful. “Nevermind.”
“No, what?”
“Nah, I just …”
“You just what?”
“Nothing.”
Jensen pats at Jared’s chest again, trying to ease this oddly nervous energy Jared’s giving off. “It’s not nothing. What’s up?”
“You were looking.”
“Looking what?”
“Like something.”
“Something?”
“Yeah. You looked.”
Jensen chuckles. “Jared, you gotta give me more than that.”
“Just now. We laughed and you looked.”
He shakes his head with confusion. “Looked at what?”
“Me.”
The simpleness in Jared’s voice hits Jensen right where it counts and he has to take an incredibly deep breath. “You …” Jensen’s mind reels. It couldn’t happen this easily, could it? No major freakouts? It all unravels after a dumb prank on a co-star? Jared opens the door? Another breath and his voice goes softer, almost wondrous. “You?”
“Yeah,” he answers simply, because they are on that page and it appears they don’t need verbs or adjectives to get through this. “You?”
Jensen’s smile is crooked and it makes his cheeks color. He nods.
“You’ve always had Danneel.”
He frowns a little, because yeah, he has this awesome, beautiful, sexy girlfriend back in L.A., and has had her for three, four, whatever years now. But this is Jared. He really can’t let the guy walk out of his life for anything. “Yeah.”
“That’s why. Why I never.”
“Yeah.”
“But you?” Jared asks quietly.
“Danneel. That’s why I never.”
It doesn’t take much more, but soon enough, Jensen pulls Jared in to kiss. It’s not magical or mind blowing - it’s the first time either kisses a man, someone with hard muscles and rough hands. And no matter how much they care for each other, it's still a little difficult, especially as they know this is a whole new plane, a new dimension, breaking the fourth wall. But it does open the door to so many other kisses and everything beyond that because they spend the rest of their snow-break messing around in Jared’s trailer, discovering how different thick tendons feel in thighs and biceps, or how mammoth their hands are in spaces where delicate little fingers usually went. It's incredibly new, but they already know each other so well, building this relationship over the last five years, that it’s easy and real. And Jensen couldn’t be happier at being right about that.
Next: Celestial Navigation: Jensen drives Jared to a party. Jared just drives him crazy.
Genre: RPS J2
Rating: R - bad word or two
Word count: 2,700
Summary: They’re bored and there are chickens.
Notes: Yet another WW-themed one. In the timeline, this falls between the other two. Title and cut from West Wing episode.
Previously: The Short List: Jared likes fish. If only Jensen knew what kind.
It's the week before Thanksgiving break and the guys are restless in Jared’s trailer. The sudden Vancouver snow has thrown off filming for most of the day and there they were, another two-hour delay, waiting for it to stop. It’s happened enough this week that they're already tired of Madden 10, have argued plenty over which TV show to replay on DVD (Jared, as always, begged for Seinfeld; Jensen said anything but; they were currently at standstill), and completed every crossword puzzle they could get their hands on. But Jensen isn’t quite so bored with it all - not enough to leave the trailer and do his own thing. He's slouched into the couch, feet up on the coffee table, ankles crossed. Jared's much the same beside him, tossing a Nerf ball into the air.
“What about ER?”
“How?”
“On their off time.”
Jensen’s hands settle behind his head and he sighs. “They work like 60-hour shifts. When do they have time off?”
“When they’re not in the hospital,” Jared replies with a ‘duh’ quality.
Jensen shakes his head.
“The Office.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No. The whole point is what goes on inside the office.”
“Yeah?”
“They’re not going out and becoming PIs.”
“Dwight would make a killer private dick.”
Jensen is quiet, putting his rebuttal on hold. “Maybe.”
“Andy would help. He’d be the fumbling assistant who crushes on him because he’s really good at his job.”
“Maybe,” Jensen says again, with a little more power in it. It’s something to consider.
Neither of them looks to the knock at the door or at Misha entering. Jared keeps watching the ball float up then back into his hands and Jensen does, too. “Man, killer snow.”
“No shit,” Jensen grumbles.
“What’re you guys doing?”
Jared answers easily, “Playing detective.”
“What?”
Jensen’s head rolls to see Misha’s confused look. “Jared likes to make every show about solving crimes.”
“Does that even work?”
“No,” Jensen says as Jared says, “Yes.”
“It doesn’t,” Jensen adds on, shaking his head.
“When does it work?” Misha asks, but Jensen can tell he’s playing Jared.
Jared won’t look away from the foam ball, won’t stop tossing. “We just agreed on The Office.”
“No, we did not.”
“Yes, we did.”
“I said maybe.”
“That’s all but yes.”
“All but.”
Jared sighs noisily, annoyed. “We agreed on Mythbusters.”
“Uh, yeah, because they already are.”
Jared chuckles. “They’re scientists.”
“They’re scientific detectives.”
Misha butts in, “You are fascinating.”
“I know, right?” Jensen smirks, knowing their co-star is still belittling Jared.
“Well, you’re not exactly helping the situation.”
Jensen frowns. “What?”
Misha shakes his head and moves to the door. “I have got to find a better show.”
“Yeah, go tweet about it,” Jared calls back.
Jensen looks at Jared as Misha closes the door behind him.
Going back to tossing the ball, he mumbles, “I kind of hate him.”
“No, you don’t.”
He’s quite for a moment. “I don’t.”
“I know.”
Jared immediately says, “He’s kind of annoying”
“Hmm.”
“With the whole ‘better than you’ thing going on.”
“Yeah.” Jensen closes his eyes and breaths evenly. “The Twitter is funny.”
“Hmm.”
“Sometimes.”
“He’s annoying sometimes.”
Jensen scoffs, “Sometimes?”
“Most times.”
“Yeah.”
They sit in silence and Jensen starts thinking of the fact that he’s spent way too much time on that couch that week. Way too much time just next to Jared and not doing a damned thing. At all. At least Jared is playing catch with himself. Jensen hasn’t bothered to do anything but sit beside him. And, well, pine, a little. Because he couldn’t imagine not sitting next to Jared and he knows most of it is the fact that this is the last season and they’ll part ways and he doesn't know what to do with himself.
So he spends every free minute with Jared, hoping to pack every little possible moment into his memory bank for a later date. Like when they go weeks between phone calls and months between hugs.
Jensen stops for a minute. He can’t remember the last time he worried about not hugging someone. Then again, he doesn’t really let anyone but Jared do it, and that’s really saying something.
“Huh,” he accidentally says aloud.
“What?”
Jensen flashes a look to Jared, taking in the profile. He smiles a little, realizing he’s always felt pretty strongly for the guy and it’s likely not going away any time soon. “Nothing.”
*
The next day, they’re in much the same position, wasting time by Jared’s trailer and not doing much of anything. This time, however, they’re on the steps leading up to the door, actually enjoying the fresh air. It’s still snowing, but as they’d learned in the early months of filming in Vancouver, it’s never all too cold when there’s snow falling. It’s when it stops that they have to worry.
“CSI.”
Jensen huffs out a breath to see the air crystallize then gives a bored look to Jared.
“Hear me out.”
“No.”
“They’re not stuck in the lab.”
“No.”
“But they go out in the field.”
“They are in the field.”
“But they, like, actually do stuff.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Jensen’s voice is suddenly interested, but he’s totally yanking Jared’s chain. “Like collect evidence?”
Jared swipes his hands at the steps to push snow around. “Yeah.”
“And maybe, I don’t know, question people?”
“Exactly.”
“They already do.”
“Yeah, but, they could actually do it right.”
“They do it wrong?”
Jared gives him a flat look. “They’re not actual detectives, c’mon.”
Jensen frowns and shakes his head. “I hate that show.”
“I do, too.”
“No you don’t.”
Jared nods, collecting bits of snow in his hand. “I don’t.”
Misha walks by and gives an easy nod. “What’s today’s game?”
Jared frowns and Jensen shakes his head with a tiny laugh.
“Flippin’ coins? See who gets the most heads in a row?”
Jensen shakes his head again.
“Maybe some tic-tac-toe? Hopscotch?”
Jared huffs a little laugh and watches Misha walk away. “I hate that guy.”
Jensen chuckles. “No, you don’t.”
“Yeah.” Jared tosses bits of snow off his fingers and then drags over the snow again. “Hey, remember last Thanksgiving? We should redo the corn thing.”
“Corn thing?”
“Like last Thanksgiving.”
“Last Thanksgiving?”
“Yeah.”
“You mean when I got sick and went home?”
Jared looks to Jensen with a confused look. “You didn’t go home.”
“You don’t remember a 103-degree fever and my coughing up lungs?”
“Huh.”
“Yeah. And you did the corn thing to Bob without me.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Without me.”
Jared chuckles. “That was alotta corn.”
“I heard,” Jensen grumbles in return.
Jared’s face seems to consider a long thought. “We could do it this year. Together.”
“To who?”
They both look up to people talking in the area and realize there’s some fussing around.
Jensen nods to one of the personal assistants. “What’s going on?”
She turns and looks a little freaked out as she gets closer to them. “The chickens are here, but Terry’s not around to accept. I don’t know where they go.”
Jensen and Jared looked to each other, knowing the delivery is for this episode (a little farm fun), but realizing how perfect it is for them. They both look to the PA with a smile. “Terry’s not here today?” Jared asks in a nice voice, but it’s threaded with some mischief. And Jensen just smiles more.
“He is, but not right here.”
“Where’s he at?” Jensen asks.
“I think they ran off to the north trailer for some props.”
Jared stands with an easy smile and pats her on the shoulder. “It’s cool. We got it.”
Jensen follows and stands next to Jared. “Yeah. We got it.”
“You do?” She looks kind of relieved.
“Yeah, we know where they go.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Jensen eases out.
She shuffles off, leaving the chicken guy standing awkwardly in front of them. The kid can’t be more than 20. He looks kind of freaked. “So?”
“Yeah,” Jensen smiles. He leans down to the cage holding two chickens. He’s smirking hard, terribly entertained. He even reaches for the cage, settling fingers around the wire on top. “Chickens.”
“Chickens,” Jared smiles right back.
“Where they go?”
Jensen stands up straight and smiles. “Misha’s.”
“Misha?”
Jared speaks up, “Yeah, he’s the assistant prop master.”
“Yeah, I’d definitely put them there.” Jensen points down the line of trailers. “His office is right here.”
They lead the kid over to the trailer, Jared opening the door while Jensen motions inside.
“This the office?” the kid asks as he puts the cage down
“Yeah, you know,” Jared starts as comfortably as possible. But his voice gets a little goofy when he glances at Jensen. “Misha’s really good with animals and he already feels bad you had to cage them when you brought them in.”
“Yeah?” the kid asks warily.
Jensen picks up with his perfected flat voice. “Yeah. Why don’t you just let them out?”
“Out of the cage?”
“Yeah,” Jared nods. “Just let them roam freely. It’s cool.”
“Yeah?”
Jensen pats the kid’s back while he eyes Jared with a grin. “Yeah. Just let ‘em free.”
*
Jared and Jensen settle at Jared’s trailer steps again. They seem to take turns on the watch of Misha’s trailer, just waiting for the guy to return and find whatever mess the chickens could have made in the last hour. Jared watches to their left, hoping Misha comes from there. He’s prepared to knock Jensen’s arm whenever the guy shows up.
Jensen leans back, elbows on the top step and legs stretched before him. Jared looks back on him and smirks. Jensen smirks back and feels himself warm a little. From day one he liked laughing and smiling with Jared. He knows it’ll never change for any reason.
It’s another 25 minute before Misha shows up. They share a smile and the guy asks what other games they’re going to play. “Maybe some jacks?”
They both smile back, not a word between them.
Misha frowns a little. “You guys okay?”
“Good,” Jensen smiles.
Jared adds, “Perfectly fine.”
Misha smiles with them, but they can tell he’s confused by how settled they are right there.
It’s not a minute later that they’re standing on the stairs, intent eyes on Misha’s door, but they don’t hear a thing. They continue staring and waiting, holding their breath. It’s another thirty seconds until Misha comes out and stares at them across the way. His face is blank and he blinks. He takes one slow step down, then another, and Jensen puts a hand to Jared’s arm, feeling a little guilty but also nervous about what will happen next. Jared stays still beside him.
Misha’s steps quicken up a bit as he quickly closes the space between them. Jensen turns into Jared’s trailer with Jared right behind him. They press hard into the door as Misha tries pushing it open. “That chicken crapped in my sink!”
And they’re laughing.
Jensen’s not sure how long they stand there, laughing at Misha as he complains about whatever else the chickens did - like burrowing into one of his favorite sweaters - but it feels like a good, long time. When Misha finally laughs (“This is going on Twitter! You gave me presents!”) and goes back to his trailer, Jensen’s grinning up at Jared. “That was awesome.”
Jared’s smile is large and wide and anchored by deep dimples. His hand swipes down Jensen’s head followed by a quick pat. “We needed a camera in there.”
Jensen’s beaming right back because it’s infectious. “Next time. Camera for sure.” He raises a hand to Jared’s head, patting at the side then holding there and he feels warmth in his face spread down to his stomach. Jared’s palm smooths over Jensen’s hip and Jensen freezes. He hasn’t held terribly romantic thoughts about Jared but he does know that he feels a little lost when they’re not in each other’s space. They’re best friends and they spend an unreal amount of time with each other and physically they’re closer than anyone Jensen has ever had in his life. It sits in his chest and he wants to kiss Jared, has thought about it for a while. But he just pats Jared’s head again.
And here is where Jared’s smile goes soft and so do his eyes. And Jensen feels warm and fuzzy all over again even when he pulls his hand back. Especially when Jared’s voice goes easy. “I’ll miss this.”
He stares back for a few seconds before he asks, “Miss what?”
Jared’s face goes through a quick range of emotions - from thoughtful to nervous to happy. “Just messing around. Shit. What’re we gonna do next year?”
Jensen quickly taps his palm to Jared’s chest as he moves around him. “We’ll live.”
“Hey,” Jared says gently, grabbing onto Jensen’s wrist to stop him.
They stare a bit longer than is probably necessary and Jensen’s heart feels good. That’s what he’s come to realize through this whole thing. Through all his loving Jared - as a little brother into best friend into whatever it is he feels right now - he never exactly felt nervous. It just felt right and content. He couldn’t care less if nothing more happened because he already had this with Jared. The blurred line between best friends and soul mates.
Jared’s hold on Jensen’s wrist eases up, but the fingers are still there, careful. “You’ve always had Danneel.”
“What?”
“Danneel. She’s always been here.”
Jensen’s eyes won’t break from Jared’s while he tries to make out the point. “I don’t … What?”
Jared’s hand releases him, but then it’s on his shoulder, still careful. “Nevermind.”
“No, what?”
“Nah, I just …”
“You just what?”
“Nothing.”
Jensen pats at Jared’s chest again, trying to ease this oddly nervous energy Jared’s giving off. “It’s not nothing. What’s up?”
“You were looking.”
“Looking what?”
“Like something.”
“Something?”
“Yeah. You looked.”
Jensen chuckles. “Jared, you gotta give me more than that.”
“Just now. We laughed and you looked.”
He shakes his head with confusion. “Looked at what?”
“Me.”
The simpleness in Jared’s voice hits Jensen right where it counts and he has to take an incredibly deep breath. “You …” Jensen’s mind reels. It couldn’t happen this easily, could it? No major freakouts? It all unravels after a dumb prank on a co-star? Jared opens the door? Another breath and his voice goes softer, almost wondrous. “You?”
“Yeah,” he answers simply, because they are on that page and it appears they don’t need verbs or adjectives to get through this. “You?”
Jensen’s smile is crooked and it makes his cheeks color. He nods.
“You’ve always had Danneel.”
He frowns a little, because yeah, he has this awesome, beautiful, sexy girlfriend back in L.A., and has had her for three, four, whatever years now. But this is Jared. He really can’t let the guy walk out of his life for anything. “Yeah.”
“That’s why. Why I never.”
“Yeah.”
“But you?” Jared asks quietly.
“Danneel. That’s why I never.”
It doesn’t take much more, but soon enough, Jensen pulls Jared in to kiss. It’s not magical or mind blowing - it’s the first time either kisses a man, someone with hard muscles and rough hands. And no matter how much they care for each other, it's still a little difficult, especially as they know this is a whole new plane, a new dimension, breaking the fourth wall. But it does open the door to so many other kisses and everything beyond that because they spend the rest of their snow-break messing around in Jared’s trailer, discovering how different thick tendons feel in thighs and biceps, or how mammoth their hands are in spaces where delicate little fingers usually went. It's incredibly new, but they already know each other so well, building this relationship over the last five years, that it’s easy and real. And Jensen couldn’t be happier at being right about that.
Next: Celestial Navigation: Jensen drives Jared to a party. Jared just drives him crazy.