Always You
Jared suffers from a break up, Jensen is there for him. They go on a road trip to a cabin, Jensen gets beaten up, they realize what they have is special.
Jensen woke to the ringing of his phone. His head ached and he ran a hand over his face to try and wake himself up. He fumbled blindly for the phone, knocking over at least two things before finding it. "M'hello?" he said half asleep.
"Dude, where are you? You said you'd be here half an hour ago." Jared's voice was way too bright and cheery for Jensen's liking.
Not wanting to be teased he grumbled. "’M nearly there.” Give a guy a break already."
Jared's laugh was strong and loud. "Yeah right you lazy bugger. Now get your ass over here before I come over there and drag you out myself."
Still grumbling under his breath, Jensen hung up and began searching for his pants. Pulling them on, he headed for the bathroom of his small apartment. He took a leak, brushed his teeth, and splashed water over his face, trying to feel human again.
He hated mornings, especially mornings when they had to be on set by six. Throwing on a random shirt, he headed out the front door, and slammed it behind him. He was halfway to the car when he realised his feet were sopping wet.
Damn. He had forgotten his shoes, again. He started back the way he had come, but groaned when he realized he had forgotten the keys to his apartment on the bedside table. He felt like kicking something.
His phone started vibrating, and he quickly answered it. "Dude, come on, seriously what’s taking so long?" Jared’s slightly accented voice complained. "Man, we're all here waiting, even the catering crew."
Jensen felt embarrassed, as he mumbled something that sounded like "s'not m'fault...stupid door, stupid keys...locked me out..." He finished off; just waiting for the teasing he knew was about to come. Yup there it was.
Jared was laughing loudly. "It’s not funny, you ass." Jensen whined.
Jared was still laughing as he said, "Alright, alright, I'll come pick your annoying ass up." With one last chuckle, he hung up.
********
Jared pulled up in front of Jensen's apartment, and saw a very depressed looking Jensen. It kind of reminded him of the rabbit's foot episode, they had filmed last week. When Jared had to look so pathetic and lost after his luck had turned bad.
Grinning, he leaned over and rolled down the passenger seat window. "You coming or what?"
********
Jensen who had been staring at his feet for the past ten minutes looked up, face lightening up slightly at the sight of his friend. Sliding in, he said in an annoyed voice "And what do you think is so funny?"
Jared replied, laughter in his voice, "Well apart from the fact that you look like someone just stole your favourite toy, and apart from the fact that you somehow managed to lock yourself out of your house, and car..."
Jared paused for effect, "...you also seem to be missing your shoes." Jared finished off with an even broader grin.
Jensen tried and failed to resist returning a smile. Jared was the only one who ever managed to cheer Jensen up when he was in one of his moods.
When Jared saw the edges of Jensen's mouth twitching, he began telling him that he had looked just like Sam in the last episode, emphasizing this by making faces, Jensen cracked, and they were both in hysterics by the time they were back on set.
After that, Jensen's day just seemed so much better. Eric had gotten them to do a scene from 'Red Sky at Morning' and Jensen had nearly died from laughing at Jared attempting to do the waltz.
Jared in turn had made hilarious comments when Jensen had to wear the tuxedo. Something along the lines of "Hey look, its James Bond" or "Don’t look now, but your fly's down," each time Jensen tried to do the slow (supposedly sexy) walk down the stairs.
After the twelfth retake, when Jensen had again not managed to keep a straight face (all thanks to Jared), Eric finally called a break.
"You ass!" said Jensen giving Jared a shove.
Jared put on mocking face, "Awww, does little Jenny, not like being teased?"
Jensen glared at him "You wait, you just wait." he said threateningly.
"Aww don’t be like that,” Jared said switching to his puppy-dog look.
Jensen could never stay mad at him when he used those eyes. No one could ever stay mad at Jared for long.
Jensen muttered, "Overgrown, mangy mutt." Jared grinned smacking him on the shoulder.
Knowing he was forgiven, Jared said, "Come on, I just bought this new game I wanna try out," and dragged Jensen off to his trailer.
The hour long break was filled with laughter as they sat in Jared's trailer playing on the play-station. It was the latest 007 game, and it was awesome.
Jared had gotten them each a beer, and had opened a new box of his favorite candy. Jensen smirked at him while he munched happily. "Dude, you are so gonna be fat and old one day." he said with a grin.
Jared kicked him and said, "You my friend, are already fat and old."
"Oh you did not just call me fat!"
"Oh, so you're admitting to the old part huh?" Jared said with a mischievous glint in his eye.
Jensen responded by kicking him off the couch.
Jared retaliated by tickling the soles of Jensen's feet (which were bare, as he wasn't wearing Dean's shoes anymore. Unfortunately for Jensen, he was extremely ticklish.
He writhed as he tried really hard not to laugh. As usual he failed miserably, and now Jared had something to use against him. Deciding enough was enough; he tried to give Jared a noogie.
Jared head-butted him in the stomach, and it turned into a wrestling match, as each tried to noogie the other.
Finally they declared a truce, and fell back onto the couch, not only with sore heads, but also aching jaws and stomachs from laughing so much. Kim popped in a few minutes later declaring the end of their break.
It was Jared's turn to look like an idiot: He had to do the waltz with the lady now, and this was very different to practicing with the dance teacher. Jensen was cackling with laughter as Jared was being harassed.
Throughout it all, Jensen knew Jared didn’t need to act much at all. He was just as embarrassed and weirded out as Sam was supposed to be.
The cool part was that Dean was having just as much fun as Jensen. When they were finally released and allowed to go home, Jensen teased Jared relentlessly. "Dude, you stink like sex."
Jared’s only response was to mutter something about, "G’na take a shower...’n ’m never comin’ out".
Not long after, they had arrived outside Jensen's apartment, they realized they had both forgotten that Jensen was locked out. This wouldn’t have been a problem, except for the fact that the apartment was on the third floor, so they couldn’t climb in any windows.
"Dude, we could break down the door." Jared suggested.
"No way my landlady’d kill me. She's so bloody attached to this damn place. She probably has spare keys though."
Jared shook his head "It's 11:30, she'll be asleep. You'll have to come over to place."
Jensen frowned "Won’t Sandy be annoyed?"
Jared frowned, "No way man, she likes you. She won’t mind."
And with that Jared shrugged off all Jensen's protests about not wanting to impose with a, "Nonsense you're my best friend," and started the car.
Jared continued muttering about 'pigheaded friends who think they're imposing', all the way to his small house. It was bigger than Jensen's apartment because the dogs needed space. It was nice, with a small garden around it and a small pool.
Jensen couldn't remember the amount of afternoons he had spent there: sometimes Jared had thrown barbecues and invited Tom, Steve, Chris, Mike and Chad along.
They had often fooled around in the pool, splashing and dunking each other, getting drunker and drunker with loud music playing. Or they had played touch rugby in the garden, or, Jensen smiled as he remembered, Jared had once gotten it into his head that they should build a tree-house in the back garden.
It had turned into a huge thing, with all 7 guys trying to fit up the tree. Unfortunately it was a small tree, and yes, it had broken under their combined weight. Yeah, they sure had had a lot of good times here.
But since Sandy had moved in after dating Jared for about two years, it had felt a bit weird to pass out drunk on Jared's couch, no - Sandy and Jared's couch- and to mess around like idiots.
So Jensen had sort of stopped coming round. That had been about two months ago. It wasn't that he had any problem with her. No, he liked her, having met her at events and parties held over the last two years, but she had always been kind of separate to them. Her moving in just made it feel weird to hang around Jared's house making awkward conversation.
Jensen sighed; he missed how it had been before. But he was really happy for Jared. Jared was head over heels in love with her. He practically worshiped the ground on which she walked.
"Jensen?" Jared's voice interrupted his thoughts. He realized he had been standing staring at the house.
"What’s the matter?" Jared asked looking concerned.
"Nothing, sorry. Just spaced out for a bit." Jensen mumbled.
Jared laughed, "And which planet were you visiting Mr Skywalker?"
Jensen grinned, "Dude, I'm not Luke, you’re the one with the bad hairdo, I’m Han Solo."
Their laughter was interrupted by the front door opening and Sandy sticking her head out. Jared looked up, "Oh hey honey, you don’t mind if Jenny here, uses the guest bedroom, do you?"
Jensen saw a flash of annoyance on Sandy's face before she donned a smile and said, "Sure why not," and walked back into the house.
"Dude are you sure it’s okay?" he asked for the hundredth time.
Jared rolled his eyes tossing blankets at him. "Jen seriously man, since when have you ever cared about imposing? I used to never be able to get rid of you, but lately you've hardly stepped a foot in this house. You wanna tell me why?"
Jensen felt kind of petty when he mumbled, "’Cause Sandy's here."
Jared stopped before grabbing a pillow and whacking Jensen over the head with it laughing. "Dude, that’s stupid."
Yeah, and in a way it was but Jensen knew that Sandy didn’t really like him being there.
With one last wallop over the head, Jared left the guest room saying over his shoulder, "I think I still have some of your shirts that you left here at some stage, but you’re going to have to wear the same jeans." he smirked as he added, "Mine are too long for you, shorty."
Jensen threw a pillow at him, but Jared effectively shut the door. It hit it with a thump, and Jensen could hear Jared laughing as he made his way up the hall.
Jensen fell asleep with a smile on his lips.
The next day came too quickly for Jensen's liking. He was woken by Jared's cheery voice saying, "Mornin’ sunshine," as he pulled the curtains open.
Sunlight hit Jensen bleary eyes, and he hid his head beneath his pillow. Jared laughed, "Oh no you don’t, come on we gotta get to work."
All he got in response was a muffled, "dnwanu...jusfewmomins."
Jared yanked the pillow off of his head, and Jensen let out a, "hmmmgh."
If they hadn’t have been running late, Jared would have filmed Jensen snuggling into his mattress (something Jensen would never have admitted on pain of death).
After a few more failed attempts at waking his friend up, Jared had an evil idea. He lifted up the duvet at the foot of the bed, snaked his hand in, and seized one of Jensen's feet, tickling it for all he was worth.
Muffled giggles (yes, giggles) came from the top of the bed. Jensen wriggled around so much he fell of the bed with a loud thump. He groaned, still trying to catch his breath. "It’s not fair, you play dirty."
He gave Jared an evil glare. Jared just smiled innocently and offered a hand to help Jensen up.
Jensen grasped his hand and was pulled up instantly. "Don’t think I’m gonna forget about this" he said as he took the clothes Jared had given him.
Once they had both had taken showers, and gotten dressed, they drove to the set.
Jensen had phoned his landlady and asked her to leave the spare keys under the mat, so that that night when Jared dropped him off he could get in.
Before getting out the car he turned, "Hey man, I really appreciate you and Sandy letting me stay over, tell Sandy I said thanks."
"Will do," Jared replied before driving off.
A few weeks later, Jensen arrived on set, late as usual, but there was no sign of Jared. Wondering what was up, he tried phoning his friend - it just went to voicemail.
Feeling worried, he told Eric that they would be late; ignoring the protests he got in his car and drove to Jared's.
After ringing the doorbell for five minutes, he used his car as a step and climbed over the fence, climbing down a tree on the other side.
Once inside the fence, it was a simple matter of sliding the glass doors open (they were always unlocked). He wandered through the house, amazed at all the mess lying around sure that Sandy would never let Jared leave empty beer cans all over.
He called Jared’s name countless times, and finally he heard a noise. It was a soft moan. He followed the direction it had come from, and came across Jared laying next to his dog’s baskets.
The dogs gave soft whines when Jensen approached, eyes big and sad. They were curled near their master, who had an empty bottle of tequila next to him, and was lying in a puddle of what looked very much like vomit. His face was pale - so pale he looked like a corpse.
He had a nasty bruise forming on his forehead. Jensen kneeled next to him, gently shaking him.
“Uhhh,” Jared’s eyes flickered. They opened slowly, as Jared gained half consciousness. Jensen slid his arm beneath Jared’s and around his back.
Hoisting his massive friend up, he managed to drag him to the bathroom. He quickly stripped Jared down to his boxers, and somehow he managed to get him into the empty bath.
Using the extendable shower nozzle, he got the water to a lukewarm temperature, and gently sprayed his buddy clean. He decided Jared would kill him if he left any vomit in his hair, so he decided to wash Jared’s hair as well.
It was a mission to get him out of the bath, but Jensen eventually managed to get him sitting on the edge of the bath as Jensen gently patted him dry.
Once that was done, he dragged Jared to the master bedroom, sat him on the edge of the bed and rummaged around in the cupboard for some sweatpants.
Jensen helped Jared into them, and slipped a T-shirt over Jared’s head and directed each arm to their correct exit. Finally he lay Jared down on the bed, covered him with the comforter and gently tucked him in.
Throughout all this, Jared had been semi-conscious, but the minute his head hit the pillow, he was fast asleep.
Jensen phoned Eric and told him the story. Eric reluctantly agreed to give them the weekend off, and Jensen promised to take good care of Jared before he hung up.
Jensen sighed as he watched his best friend fondly, thinking of various ways of killing Jared for doing this to himself. Jensen wondered what the hell had happened that was so bad it had Jared so messed up.
And where the hell is Sandy? Jensen thought angrily. She should be here for Jared. Right now all Jensen wanted to do was kill whoever was responsible for his friend losing it like this.
Still fuming, he wandered around the house absent mindedly cleaning each room. He mopped up the mess of vomit, and threw away all the empty cans and bottles. He fed and petted the dogs, trying to comfort them.
Jensen returned to the main bedroom once he was done, and checked on Jared. He ran his hand across Jared’s forehead: it was too warm for Jensen’s liking, so he went to the sink and wet a cloth.
He wrung it out so it wasn’t dripping, and gently began wiping the thin layer of sweat that covered Jared’s face. Jensen dampened it again, and left it draped over Jared’s brow. It was then that he realized that he was exhausted, even though it was mid afternoon.
Jensen didn’t want Jared to wake up alone, so after making sure there was a bucket and a glass of water next to the bed, he pulled up a chair next to it.
He saw a book on the bedside table, and picked it up. He grinned when he saw it was the ‘Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy’. It was Jensen’s favorite book. He was surprised to see that he had managed to corrupt Jared from his usual novel reading. Jared preferred more serious books.
Jensen opened the book and for some weird, unknown reason, he started to read aloud to Jared. He would have blushed if anyone had seen him, or if Jared had been coherent enough to hear him.
A few hours later, he finished off with, “So long and thanks for all the fish,” and quietly shut the book, placing it back onto the bedside table.
Jared looked a great deal better, his face, although still scarily pale, was better than a corpse’s. The bruise however, was now an angry purple-blue. Jensen supposed he had gotten that while drunkenly stumbling around the house.
Jensen cringed at the thought of how much worse it could have been. Jared could easily have injured himself very seriously, or could have choked on his own vomit.
Jensen’s mind began running through all the various things that could have happened, and he felt cold. Beginning to panic, he had to make sure Jared was still alive.
He checked the pulse at Jared’s wrist, only there was no pulse. Jensen freaked out; he laid his head on Jared’s chest to see if his heart was still beating.
Jensen heard a steady thump, thump, thump, and felt his whole body relax. He cursed himself when he realized he hadn’t been checking the wrist pulse properly. He sighed deeply as the panic began to die down.
He never, ever wanted to relive that moment. He had really thought that he had lost Jared.
He felt so relieved, that he couldn’t bring himself to move from that steady beating, so he fell asleep listening to Jared heartbeat.
********
When Jared woke up, the first thing he thought was that someone was holding a band practice involving pots and pans.
The second was that his mouth tasted like something had died in it.
The third thing was that there was something on his chest.
Looking down he saw the short messed up brown hair that he knew to be Jensen’s.
That was a major mistake. By looking down, he had moved his head, causing the band to start its terrible practice session with even more vigor.
“Urghhh,” he moaned feeling the bile in his stomach rise up again.
Jensen woke up and realized what was happening in time to position the bucket for Jared to throw up in it.
***
CONTINUED