His Space
Title: His Space
Author: hunters_retreat
Summary: His mama always said his love of art would be the death of him. Of course, she never expected him to grow up to be a time-traveling space cowboy looking for a few good historical facts to sell.
Author's Note: Written for My trope Bingo Card. My hubby wanted to know about my thought process when I wrote so I told him to prompt me for my bingo card. He chose the time travel square and added tesseract. Knowing nothing of math, I looked for images and found Dali's Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus). So, this became about stealing a model and less about math which is far more doable for me :P
“What the hell was all of that?”
His question was met with nothing but a slack-mouthed stare. Again.
Jared cursed his luck and began scrambling through the ship to try to find a cup, but realized they were all in the sink, dirty. He opened the door of the refrigeration box instead and smiled. There was what he needed. He pulled out two bottles and popped the lids open. It looked like it’d be a long night, and if the other guy wouldn’t take the drink Jared would be happy enough to finish it off for him.
“Drink this,” he said, handing him the beer bottle.
It almost dropped as the man before him pulled his hand away at the cold. Jared caught the bottle, then placed it firmly in the other man’s hand. “Drink it.”
Jared didn’t wait but tipped his head back and downed half the bottle.
His mama always said his love of art would be the death of him. Of course, she never expected him to grow up to be a time-traveling space cowboy looking for a few good historical facts to sell. Jared loved his job. His mama would never understand, but there were a lot of people who were willing to give you good money if you could bend the law and make jumps to historic moments to get the real dirt on the creation of “modern civilization from its barbaric tortured ancestry” as his current client put it. Okay, the guy was kind of a douche but he paid well.
Maybe not this time since Jared sorta stole the model. Rescued. Rescued the model, because what the hell? The guy was strung up like he was being crucified as the artist sat back watching his paint dry. The ropes binding the model were actually suffocating him. Damn artist was too busy painting to notice his model was dying.
Which meant Jared had to step in. And the artist had gotten pissed and there were words exchanged that he didn’t quite understand because, hello, no one speaks Earth languages anymore but what the translator put into common tongue. All the hand waving must have meant something, though, and Jared had just taken the model and run. He double-checked that the piece was finished as soon as he had the time machine ready to move in the right direction but he was stuck with the guy now.
Who still hadn’t taken a drink of his beer. Who was still staring at Jared slack-jawed. Who was still completely naked.
“Oh shit, you probably think I’m an angel or a demon or something, right? Earth was full of some crazy ideas, man. Seriously interesting shit back in the day. Humans aren’t that interesting anymore, I have to admit. They’ll spend a fortune to learn about their past but ever since the planet-storm they haven’t really looked forward. Lost all their imagination when they figured out how to live in a space station.”
Jared grabbed the guy’s hand and pulled him to his feet. He dragged him back to the smallest cargo bay that he’d converted into his own bedroom. He had ‘captain’s quarter’s’ on the ship, of course, but they were made for Martians and, no offense, but the little grey guys considered themselves tall if they were on the right side of four feet. Jared was 6’4” and he liked his space. The cargo bay wasn’t huge, but it was still bigger than what he’d have if he was living back home right now.
He pushed the guy onto the bed to wait while Jared set his beer down and rummaged through his clothes. He finally came up with something he thought might fit. It wasn’t perfect but the pants were part of a costume he’d had to wear at a gala event. The shirt had been just tight enough when Charles Frederick Worth made it for him but he’d been a younger man then, and years of active living had added muscle to his once lithe frame. It would fit the other man just fine.
He threw the clothes at him and took a seat across from him on the lounge chair he had found after Paris had been deserted. Alright, so Jared didn’t just bend the time-travel laws for his clients.
“We’ll have to find you something better when we figure out what to do with you. I don’t suppose you have any usable skills?”
The guy stared at Jared’s mouth, holding onto the bottle of beer, with clothes draped over him where they’d landed.
“Oh shit, you don’t have any idea what I’m saying, do you?” He reached back behind his bed and pulled out a box of translators. He kept them there because he had a tendency to lose them. Or break them like he’d done just that morning.
He showed the guy the little piece of metal and then pushed it against the skin of the guy’s ear. The guy yelped as the translator dug into the flesh, piercing the skin to sink in. Jared did the same, pressing a new one to his own ear. He thought they looked like the earrings of old Earth but he’d been called an idiot for voicing that opinion so he might be wrong.
Without the translator working on both ends they wouldn’t be able to communicate, so when the other guy started trying to pull his out, Jared grabbed his hand and smiled, trying to project calm until he was quiet enough to try again.
“Hey, don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you. I just wanted to get you away from that guy. He was going to let you die and I couldn’t stand there and watch.”
The guy’s eyes widened, and Jared could see the translator had started to work already. “My name is Jared,” he said slowly to keep from spooking the guy. “The device I just put on your ear will help you translate what I’m saying so that you can understand me. I’m from … well… I’m from the future and I rescued you. And, it would probably be a really great thing if you put some clothes on because that’s really distracting.”
The guy startled into action and he pulled the clothes on quickly. Jared wasn’t sure what was more distracting, though, the guy naked or the guy wearing his clothes. He wasn’t going to hear the end of this when he got home and told Misha what had happened.
“Do you have a name? Because I can keep thinking about you as ‘naked guy’ or you can tell me.”
“Jensen,” the guy finally said. “I … where am I?”
“You’re in my time-traveling ship.”
“This is a nightmare,” Jensen whispered. “A nightmare because of my impurities.”
“Your what?”
“The church sent me to that man to repent my sins. They hoped that by helping to depict the Lord through art, I would find redemption.”
“The church,” Jared asked to clarify, “sent you to a man to hang you by the neck and that was supposed to make you become a better person?” He laughed. “Man, people are definitely not this interesting anymore. How in the hell is suffocation supposed to make you a better person?”
“I … they hoped my nudity would shame me into forgoing impure thoughts.”
“Oh, impure thoughts. Those are the best kind. What were you thinking about?”
“I wouldn’t dare tell. I’m not … I would never have acted on them, be assured.” Jensen looked at Jared, though, looked down his body and then back up before he closed his eyes and licked his lips. “I am a good Christian by deed, and if the Devil tries to tempt my thoughts, I know that I am strong enough to forswear the actions he would want me to take.”
“Oh, Jensen, we are going to have so much fun together.”
“Where are you going to take me?” Jensen asked.
“I could drop you off back at home, but I don’t really like the idea of taking you back there. To be honest, I was thinking of just keeping you with me. It’ll take a while before I can find someone who can forge papers for you, and I can’t exactly go around telling people I took you from your time period. It’s illegal.”
“You are an amoral man?”
Jared grinned. “I have my moments. Let’s just take it a day at a time and see what happens.”
Jensen didn’t answer, but when Jared instructed the man to lie down on his bed and sleep, he did without hesitation. Really, Jared thought as he watched the man sleeping in his bed, he could get used to this.
**
“You can’t just say things like that, Jared!”
Jared watched Jensen flush and he smiled widely. “What? It’s true.”
In the month Jensen had been with him, Jared had been infinitely patient as he waited for Jensen to start acting on all those impure thoughts he had, but the man had remained steadfast in his denial. Jared was done waiting.
“It’s not … allowed.”
“I’m not allowed to tell you that you have the most amazing green eyes and that every time I look into them I want to drown in you?”
“No!”
“Or that I’ve wanted to kiss those lips since I saw you hanging by that post?”
“Definitely not!”
“You are really not gonna want to hear what I have to say about your ass then.”
Jensen ran from the bridge and Jared watched him go with a firm smirk in place.
Progress. At least Jensen didn’t hit him this time.
***
“So, you’re going to go back in time again?” Jensen asked as Jared walked around the bridge, setting the coordinates and time he was headed.
“Yes. Revolutionary War. My client believes his ancestor was at an important event and he wants me to get documentation.”
“Planning to abduct more unknowing citizens?”
“One of you is enough.”
“Good,” Jensen said before he started to walk off the bridge.
Jared looked up in surprise and he ran after Jensen. He caught the other man as he walked quickly down the hallway towards the Captain’s Quarters. Jared had given them to Jensen since he didn’t use them. “Jensen, wait.”
Jensen stopped but he didn’t turn to face Jared. “Are you jealous?”
“What? No. Don’t be absurd, Jared.”
Jared forced Jensen to look up at him, and he could see it in the angry line of Jensen’s mouth. “You were. You were jealous. You didn’t want me to go back in time to pick someone else up.”
Jensen pushed past him and headed into his quarters. Jared didn’t stop following the other man. Jensen had never so much as hinted that he’d enjoy Jared’s advances, no matter how he looked at Jared when he thought Jared wouldn’t notice. He couldn’t let this go.
“Get out!” Jensen shouted at him as soon as Jared stepped into the room, but he was stone still as he looked around the room Jensen had made home.
He’d never come in, not since he gave it over to Jensen. The room was tidy, everything in its place, and the few things Jensen now owned were set carefully, artfully, throughout the room. On one wall were pictures that Jensen had taken over their last six months together. Pictures of places they’d been or people they’d met. Most of it was black and white, and Jared couldn’t help but admire Jensen’s eye for photography.
What held him still, though, was the handful of pictures that decorated the wall above Jensen’s bed. Pictures of Jared in different places and times. Pictures of the two of them together.
“Jensen.”
Jensen’s eyes were closed, and Jared closed the space between them to pull Jensen into his arms. “Why do you do this to yourself, Jensen?” he asked. “Why do you do this to us?”
Jensen pushed him away and Jared could see the pain in the other man’s eyes. “What happens next, Jared? Will you find someone else and drop me off where you picked me up? In a world where I can’t be who I want to be? In a world where I have to fear my neighbors if I love who I would? You travel from world to world but you don’t understand. I would have rather died on that artist’s rope than live with the humiliation I felt for being who I was. And you come in and swoop me away and tell me … tell me it’s okay to want you … but I can’t want you and not love you, and where will that leave me, Jared? When you leave me behind, what life will I have left?”
“Jensen, do you think after all this time that I could take you back there? Even if you begged me to let you go, I could never leave you in a place like that. I would take you someplace safe for you to be who you are. If I could. Jensen, don’t you understand? I want to be with you. Not because you’re beautiful, but because you’re the man I want to travel in this stupid ship with. I want to go to the pyramids with you and see if aliens really helped build them, or set sail with Columbus to see if he really was such an idiot. I want to stay on this ship and wrap you in my arms and never come up for breath. Jensen, I love you. I won’t ever leave you.”
Jensen turned away but he was looking at another photo of them, an ancient Mayan temple in the background taken with the camera droid Jared had given Jensen before they left the ship. Jared was looking out across the treetops but Jensen was looking at Jared with open desire on his face.
Jared stepped up behind Jensen and he dared to pull the other man until his back rested against Jared’s chest. “Please, Jensen. Love me. Let me love you.”
Jensen turned in his arms, and before Jared could decipher the look on Jensen’s face, he was pulled down into a hungry kiss. Jared wrapped his arms around Jensen and held him tight to keep him from pulling away again. Jensen didn’t seem to want that, though, as he groaned into Jared’s mouth.
“Jensen,” Jared whispered his name as he pulled back slightly.
“I can’t live like this, Jared,” Jensen said softly. “I can’t want you like I do and not have you, not when you make me think the things you do. If you’re going to leave me somewhere down the road then do it now. If not, then make me feel loved. For once in my life, make me believe I can have what I want.”
Jared didn’t bother with more words. He knew it would take a long time for Jensen to let go of his 1950’s upbringing and his need to hide his attraction to men. Jared was willing to prove to Jensen that he wasn’t going anywhere without him. Jared had traveled too far and too long alone to let go of someone like Jensen.
Instead, he pulled Jensen back to him and kissed him while he led them towards the bed. He took his time as he stripped Jensen of his clothes and pushed him back onto the mattress. Jensen was none too shy as he pulled Jared’s shirt off his body. When they were lying on the bed together, Jared explored Jensen’s body with his hands and lips. Jensen was a vocal lover, and Jared responded with approval at each whimper and moan.
When they were both naked and Jared slid into Jensen’s body, he’d never felt more alive or more connected to anyone. Jared had never been shy of following his passions, but Jensen was more than a passion. Jensen had become his life and Jared wanted to spend the rest of his life showing him that.
“I love you, Jensen,” he whispered against the other man’s mouth.
Jensen gasped at the words and Jared kissed him before he could respond.
It wasn’t until after, as they lay spent on the bed together, that Jensen leaned up on one elbow and smiled shyly at him.
“What you said before?”
“Uhm?”
“You love me?”
Jared smiled as he brought one hand up so that his fingers could play across the back of Jensen’s neck. Now that he had permission to touch, he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to stop. “Yeah, I do.”
“I love you too.”
Jared kissed him again. Kissed him because he could. Kissed him just because he wanted to.
This had all started out as another strange job, a strange place, and a stranger situation, but it had turned out alright in the end. Jared had gained more than insight and more than just money. He had Jensen now, Jensen in his life and in his space. It was more than a time-traveling space cowboy could ever want.
Author: hunters_retreat
Summary: His mama always said his love of art would be the death of him. Of course, she never expected him to grow up to be a time-traveling space cowboy looking for a few good historical facts to sell.
Author's Note: Written for My trope Bingo Card. My hubby wanted to know about my thought process when I wrote so I told him to prompt me for my bingo card. He chose the time travel square and added tesseract. Knowing nothing of math, I looked for images and found Dali's Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus). So, this became about stealing a model and less about math which is far more doable for me :P
“What the hell was all of that?”
His question was met with nothing but a slack-mouthed stare. Again.
Jared cursed his luck and began scrambling through the ship to try to find a cup, but realized they were all in the sink, dirty. He opened the door of the refrigeration box instead and smiled. There was what he needed. He pulled out two bottles and popped the lids open. It looked like it’d be a long night, and if the other guy wouldn’t take the drink Jared would be happy enough to finish it off for him.
“Drink this,” he said, handing him the beer bottle.
It almost dropped as the man before him pulled his hand away at the cold. Jared caught the bottle, then placed it firmly in the other man’s hand. “Drink it.”
Jared didn’t wait but tipped his head back and downed half the bottle.
His mama always said his love of art would be the death of him. Of course, she never expected him to grow up to be a time-traveling space cowboy looking for a few good historical facts to sell. Jared loved his job. His mama would never understand, but there were a lot of people who were willing to give you good money if you could bend the law and make jumps to historic moments to get the real dirt on the creation of “modern civilization from its barbaric tortured ancestry” as his current client put it. Okay, the guy was kind of a douche but he paid well.
Maybe not this time since Jared sorta stole the model. Rescued. Rescued the model, because what the hell? The guy was strung up like he was being crucified as the artist sat back watching his paint dry. The ropes binding the model were actually suffocating him. Damn artist was too busy painting to notice his model was dying.
Which meant Jared had to step in. And the artist had gotten pissed and there were words exchanged that he didn’t quite understand because, hello, no one speaks Earth languages anymore but what the translator put into common tongue. All the hand waving must have meant something, though, and Jared had just taken the model and run. He double-checked that the piece was finished as soon as he had the time machine ready to move in the right direction but he was stuck with the guy now.
Who still hadn’t taken a drink of his beer. Who was still staring at Jared slack-jawed. Who was still completely naked.
“Oh shit, you probably think I’m an angel or a demon or something, right? Earth was full of some crazy ideas, man. Seriously interesting shit back in the day. Humans aren’t that interesting anymore, I have to admit. They’ll spend a fortune to learn about their past but ever since the planet-storm they haven’t really looked forward. Lost all their imagination when they figured out how to live in a space station.”
Jared grabbed the guy’s hand and pulled him to his feet. He dragged him back to the smallest cargo bay that he’d converted into his own bedroom. He had ‘captain’s quarter’s’ on the ship, of course, but they were made for Martians and, no offense, but the little grey guys considered themselves tall if they were on the right side of four feet. Jared was 6’4” and he liked his space. The cargo bay wasn’t huge, but it was still bigger than what he’d have if he was living back home right now.
He pushed the guy onto the bed to wait while Jared set his beer down and rummaged through his clothes. He finally came up with something he thought might fit. It wasn’t perfect but the pants were part of a costume he’d had to wear at a gala event. The shirt had been just tight enough when Charles Frederick Worth made it for him but he’d been a younger man then, and years of active living had added muscle to his once lithe frame. It would fit the other man just fine.
He threw the clothes at him and took a seat across from him on the lounge chair he had found after Paris had been deserted. Alright, so Jared didn’t just bend the time-travel laws for his clients.
“We’ll have to find you something better when we figure out what to do with you. I don’t suppose you have any usable skills?”
The guy stared at Jared’s mouth, holding onto the bottle of beer, with clothes draped over him where they’d landed.
“Oh shit, you don’t have any idea what I’m saying, do you?” He reached back behind his bed and pulled out a box of translators. He kept them there because he had a tendency to lose them. Or break them like he’d done just that morning.
He showed the guy the little piece of metal and then pushed it against the skin of the guy’s ear. The guy yelped as the translator dug into the flesh, piercing the skin to sink in. Jared did the same, pressing a new one to his own ear. He thought they looked like the earrings of old Earth but he’d been called an idiot for voicing that opinion so he might be wrong.
Without the translator working on both ends they wouldn’t be able to communicate, so when the other guy started trying to pull his out, Jared grabbed his hand and smiled, trying to project calm until he was quiet enough to try again.
“Hey, don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you. I just wanted to get you away from that guy. He was going to let you die and I couldn’t stand there and watch.”
The guy’s eyes widened, and Jared could see the translator had started to work already. “My name is Jared,” he said slowly to keep from spooking the guy. “The device I just put on your ear will help you translate what I’m saying so that you can understand me. I’m from … well… I’m from the future and I rescued you. And, it would probably be a really great thing if you put some clothes on because that’s really distracting.”
The guy startled into action and he pulled the clothes on quickly. Jared wasn’t sure what was more distracting, though, the guy naked or the guy wearing his clothes. He wasn’t going to hear the end of this when he got home and told Misha what had happened.
“Do you have a name? Because I can keep thinking about you as ‘naked guy’ or you can tell me.”
“Jensen,” the guy finally said. “I … where am I?”
“You’re in my time-traveling ship.”
“This is a nightmare,” Jensen whispered. “A nightmare because of my impurities.”
“Your what?”
“The church sent me to that man to repent my sins. They hoped that by helping to depict the Lord through art, I would find redemption.”
“The church,” Jared asked to clarify, “sent you to a man to hang you by the neck and that was supposed to make you become a better person?” He laughed. “Man, people are definitely not this interesting anymore. How in the hell is suffocation supposed to make you a better person?”
“I … they hoped my nudity would shame me into forgoing impure thoughts.”
“Oh, impure thoughts. Those are the best kind. What were you thinking about?”
“I wouldn’t dare tell. I’m not … I would never have acted on them, be assured.” Jensen looked at Jared, though, looked down his body and then back up before he closed his eyes and licked his lips. “I am a good Christian by deed, and if the Devil tries to tempt my thoughts, I know that I am strong enough to forswear the actions he would want me to take.”
“Oh, Jensen, we are going to have so much fun together.”
“Where are you going to take me?” Jensen asked.
“I could drop you off back at home, but I don’t really like the idea of taking you back there. To be honest, I was thinking of just keeping you with me. It’ll take a while before I can find someone who can forge papers for you, and I can’t exactly go around telling people I took you from your time period. It’s illegal.”
“You are an amoral man?”
Jared grinned. “I have my moments. Let’s just take it a day at a time and see what happens.”
Jensen didn’t answer, but when Jared instructed the man to lie down on his bed and sleep, he did without hesitation. Really, Jared thought as he watched the man sleeping in his bed, he could get used to this.
**
“You can’t just say things like that, Jared!”
Jared watched Jensen flush and he smiled widely. “What? It’s true.”
In the month Jensen had been with him, Jared had been infinitely patient as he waited for Jensen to start acting on all those impure thoughts he had, but the man had remained steadfast in his denial. Jared was done waiting.
“It’s not … allowed.”
“I’m not allowed to tell you that you have the most amazing green eyes and that every time I look into them I want to drown in you?”
“No!”
“Or that I’ve wanted to kiss those lips since I saw you hanging by that post?”
“Definitely not!”
“You are really not gonna want to hear what I have to say about your ass then.”
Jensen ran from the bridge and Jared watched him go with a firm smirk in place.
Progress. At least Jensen didn’t hit him this time.
***
“So, you’re going to go back in time again?” Jensen asked as Jared walked around the bridge, setting the coordinates and time he was headed.
“Yes. Revolutionary War. My client believes his ancestor was at an important event and he wants me to get documentation.”
“Planning to abduct more unknowing citizens?”
“One of you is enough.”
“Good,” Jensen said before he started to walk off the bridge.
Jared looked up in surprise and he ran after Jensen. He caught the other man as he walked quickly down the hallway towards the Captain’s Quarters. Jared had given them to Jensen since he didn’t use them. “Jensen, wait.”
Jensen stopped but he didn’t turn to face Jared. “Are you jealous?”
“What? No. Don’t be absurd, Jared.”
Jared forced Jensen to look up at him, and he could see it in the angry line of Jensen’s mouth. “You were. You were jealous. You didn’t want me to go back in time to pick someone else up.”
Jensen pushed past him and headed into his quarters. Jared didn’t stop following the other man. Jensen had never so much as hinted that he’d enjoy Jared’s advances, no matter how he looked at Jared when he thought Jared wouldn’t notice. He couldn’t let this go.
“Get out!” Jensen shouted at him as soon as Jared stepped into the room, but he was stone still as he looked around the room Jensen had made home.
He’d never come in, not since he gave it over to Jensen. The room was tidy, everything in its place, and the few things Jensen now owned were set carefully, artfully, throughout the room. On one wall were pictures that Jensen had taken over their last six months together. Pictures of places they’d been or people they’d met. Most of it was black and white, and Jared couldn’t help but admire Jensen’s eye for photography.
What held him still, though, was the handful of pictures that decorated the wall above Jensen’s bed. Pictures of Jared in different places and times. Pictures of the two of them together.
“Jensen.”
Jensen’s eyes were closed, and Jared closed the space between them to pull Jensen into his arms. “Why do you do this to yourself, Jensen?” he asked. “Why do you do this to us?”
Jensen pushed him away and Jared could see the pain in the other man’s eyes. “What happens next, Jared? Will you find someone else and drop me off where you picked me up? In a world where I can’t be who I want to be? In a world where I have to fear my neighbors if I love who I would? You travel from world to world but you don’t understand. I would have rather died on that artist’s rope than live with the humiliation I felt for being who I was. And you come in and swoop me away and tell me … tell me it’s okay to want you … but I can’t want you and not love you, and where will that leave me, Jared? When you leave me behind, what life will I have left?”
“Jensen, do you think after all this time that I could take you back there? Even if you begged me to let you go, I could never leave you in a place like that. I would take you someplace safe for you to be who you are. If I could. Jensen, don’t you understand? I want to be with you. Not because you’re beautiful, but because you’re the man I want to travel in this stupid ship with. I want to go to the pyramids with you and see if aliens really helped build them, or set sail with Columbus to see if he really was such an idiot. I want to stay on this ship and wrap you in my arms and never come up for breath. Jensen, I love you. I won’t ever leave you.”
Jensen turned away but he was looking at another photo of them, an ancient Mayan temple in the background taken with the camera droid Jared had given Jensen before they left the ship. Jared was looking out across the treetops but Jensen was looking at Jared with open desire on his face.
Jared stepped up behind Jensen and he dared to pull the other man until his back rested against Jared’s chest. “Please, Jensen. Love me. Let me love you.”
Jensen turned in his arms, and before Jared could decipher the look on Jensen’s face, he was pulled down into a hungry kiss. Jared wrapped his arms around Jensen and held him tight to keep him from pulling away again. Jensen didn’t seem to want that, though, as he groaned into Jared’s mouth.
“Jensen,” Jared whispered his name as he pulled back slightly.
“I can’t live like this, Jared,” Jensen said softly. “I can’t want you like I do and not have you, not when you make me think the things you do. If you’re going to leave me somewhere down the road then do it now. If not, then make me feel loved. For once in my life, make me believe I can have what I want.”
Jared didn’t bother with more words. He knew it would take a long time for Jensen to let go of his 1950’s upbringing and his need to hide his attraction to men. Jared was willing to prove to Jensen that he wasn’t going anywhere without him. Jared had traveled too far and too long alone to let go of someone like Jensen.
Instead, he pulled Jensen back to him and kissed him while he led them towards the bed. He took his time as he stripped Jensen of his clothes and pushed him back onto the mattress. Jensen was none too shy as he pulled Jared’s shirt off his body. When they were lying on the bed together, Jared explored Jensen’s body with his hands and lips. Jensen was a vocal lover, and Jared responded with approval at each whimper and moan.
When they were both naked and Jared slid into Jensen’s body, he’d never felt more alive or more connected to anyone. Jared had never been shy of following his passions, but Jensen was more than a passion. Jensen had become his life and Jared wanted to spend the rest of his life showing him that.
“I love you, Jensen,” he whispered against the other man’s mouth.
Jensen gasped at the words and Jared kissed him before he could respond.
It wasn’t until after, as they lay spent on the bed together, that Jensen leaned up on one elbow and smiled shyly at him.
“What you said before?”
“Uhm?”
“You love me?”
Jared smiled as he brought one hand up so that his fingers could play across the back of Jensen’s neck. Now that he had permission to touch, he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to stop. “Yeah, I do.”
“I love you too.”
Jared kissed him again. Kissed him because he could. Kissed him just because he wanted to.
This had all started out as another strange job, a strange place, and a stranger situation, but it had turned out alright in the end. Jared had gained more than insight and more than just money. He had Jensen now, Jensen in his life and in his space. It was more than a time-traveling space cowboy could ever want.