(fic) Try again (G)
"Jared, will you marry me?"
"No."
Jensen froze. His heart stopped and his throat immediately seemed to close off. "..no?" he squeaked. How had he gotten everything wrong? They'd been together for 7 years, he'd been sure that this was the right time. No. Fuck.
"No. I'm not accepting a proposal in the middle of a crappy hotel room between flights of an exhausting long tour of conventions. You can do better than that."
Jensen's chest immediately released the tension. It wasn't a 'no' it was a 'try harder'. A challenge. He could do that. He tucked the ring back in his suitcase. "Alright..."
Jared kissed him with a smile before spooning behind Jensen--who stayed up all night working up a new plan.
----
One agonizing month later, Jensen was sure he had it this time. The simple hadn't worked, so now he was going for the elaborate. Jared's favorite fancy restaurant all to themselves, musicians just for them, the wine glass filled with the finest wine, the lighting dimmed, his best suit. It was their anniversary, he'd bought a limo for the night (he tended to do this often, Jensen was a sucker for limo's), rented the most romantic hotel suite for the weekend. He couldn't think of anything better.
Yet as soon as Jensen led Jared into the restaurant and the soft music picked up, and Jared noticed the lack of other customers, Jared stopped walking. "Not tonight Jen."
Jensen didn't enjoy the rest of the night.
---
The next year was hell. At first Jensen took more and more time planning each proposal, but after the sky writing proposal over the baseball game and custom graphic on the jumbo-tron didn't work, or even the hired scuba diver to swim in the aquarium with a water proof sign at the restaurant that was even too expensive for *him*...Jensen just started getting crazy.
Jensen tried a picnic under the stars. Jared had hushed him so he could listen to the birds.
Jensen tried mowing the words into a large field. Jared had complained that now the entire field needed to be mowed.
Jensen tried carving each *letter* into a separate pumpkin at Halloween, with the ring illuminated in the question mark at the end. Jared laughed and walked away saying how he hoped that Jensen liked pumpkin pie.
Jensen tried slipping the ring on Jared's hand while he was sleeping. Jared wasn't completely asleep and smacked his hand away.
Jensen dropped to one knee in the middle of shooting one day. Jared called cut.
Jensen even went as far as to arrange to get arrested. Police showed up at the bar one night, cuffed him, hauled him out to the cruiser. They had charges of breaking and entering on him, and once in the questioning room, they pretended to cuff his hands behind the chair so when Jared came in to find out what the hell was going on, Jensen pulled the ring out from behind his back and pulled the corniest line he could think of. "Honey, I’m guilty. I’m guilty of being truly, madly, and deeply in love with you. I broke into your life, I entered your soul, I stole your heart. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you… will you marry me?" Jared laughed and asked if Jensen could be held over night anyway so that Jared could have the covers to himself for once.
Jensen was frustrated. What did Jared want? Was Jensen wasting his time? Was it a game? No, he knew it wasn't, but why couldn't he find the perfect proposal? There had to be something. This challenge wouldn't best him.
--
The next day Jared woke up with a letter tucked under his pillow. Stretching, he looked to Jensen's side of the bed to find it empty. Frowning, he picked up the paper and unfolded it.
It was long, it made Jared smile, laugh and hell even cry. How had Jensen remembered that mazes scared the crap out of him, or the moment in Mexico when he'd tripped over his own feet in attempts to avoid stepping on a gecko. Jensen had literally re-written all the hilights of the last 8 years, had poured his heart out. And it warmed him completely.
As he was putting the letter down, he noticed an oddity in the letter. Some letters seemed to be formatted differently. Bolded. Barely noticeable. Fighting a smile, Jared grabbed a pen off the nightstand and went through all the paragraphs writting down the bolded letters--it turned out to be the first letter of every sentence.
Jared Padalecki. I love you, always have. I would be honored to spend my life with you, so I ask you with all the love in my heart. Will you marry me?
---
Jensen flipped the toast and buttered the other side. His eyes were sore, he'd been up all night, and he just wanted to eat before crashing for the day. Sleep was all that was on his mind. A ustle behind him made him turn, and Jared was standing in the doorway. "Morning..." Jensen slurred.
"Yes."
That made no sense. He hadn't asked a--- Jensen's eyes widened and he turned to face Jared. "What?"
Jared's neutral face broke into a smile. "Yes."
"You're shitting me."
Jared closed the distance, taking Jensen in his arms and kissing him deeply. "Jensen Ackles, I would be honored to be your husband."
~~~~~~~~~