J2 Big Bang Fic: Two Cures for Love Part 3

[lizzywinks]

Back to Chapter 2

Hangovers, Jensen decides the following morning, definitely need adding to the list of experiences he never wants to repeat again. All through college he'd been bitter and resentful that he couldn't risk getting regularly drunk off his ass like the rest of his friends. Right now though, he's thinks it's a pretty safe to say that he's been missing out on absolutely nothing.

The excessive quantities of alcohol he'd consumed hadn't made him feel even slightly better at the time. Seven hours on, his mouth tastes like he spent the night licking a homeless man's feet, and his tongue feels at least three sizes too big thanks to the workout. His stomach is filled with a quivering, outraged ball of burning bile and his eyes seem to be clinging to his head by sheer force of will alone.

What he wants to do, is to choke down a handful of the strongest painkillers he can find, crawl back into bed and pull the covers over his head until this passes. Or for sweet, sweet, death to arrive, whichever comes first.

What he's doing instead is tiptoeing across his apartment―he doesn't dare risk putting his full weight down on the hardwood floors; the echo might be just enough to loosen the final strand holding his eyes in his sockets―and peering out through the peep hole.

The hallway is empty.

Jensen lets out a small whimper of relief, and then nearly throws up on himself when a shaggy head pops into view, peering right back at him as though Jensen is clearly visible to Jared in all his hungover, revolting glory. Hell, maybe Jared can see him―he's a dragon for fuck's sake. For all Jensen knows, he has X-ray eyes that can see through metal and melt the bones from under his skin with a single glance.

Right about now, Jensen would take him up on that offer in a heartbeat.

Jensen slowly turns his back to the door and slumps―gently, very, very gently―against it while he considers his options. He's hungover, not stupid so it isn't long before he's forced to concede there's no point pretending any longer that this isn't happening. Also, if he ever wants to actually leave his apartment again, he doesn't have much choice other than to man up and talk to the dragon who's camped out on his doorstep.

By the time he's finally managed to navigate the excessive, and stupidly loud, locks on his own front door, Jensen is genuinely startled by the realization that there are actually further depths of pain he can descend in to. There is also the very slight possibility that he wouldn't still be on his feet if Jared wasn't holding him up. Jensen isn't exactly sure when that happened, but mostly he's too grateful to care.

"Jensen, are you sick?" Jared asks, having no trouble at all keeping him upright with just one hand curled under his elbow, while he sets the other to the task of patting Jensen down, as though he's searching for broken bones. It's actually fairly pleasant, until Jared moves his attention to Jensen's head, fingers, or possibly claws, pawing at his scalp as if he's trying to gouge chunks out of it.

"Bed," Jensen whimpers mournfully, batting ineffectually at Jared's hand until he drops it to Jensen's hip, solid and hot through the layers of fabric. "I need to go to bed."

"Okay," Jared bellows, and then frowns when Jensen's face crumples in pain, eyes squinted shut in an attempt to block the light that's currently attempting to burn out his retinas. "Um, shall I help you?"

Jensen would know that Jared is a dragon now, even if he hadn't seen it for himself; his roar is so loud, he could hardly be anything else.

"That would be―nice," he whispers in the fruitless hope Jared will pick up on it and follow his lead.

The return journey across his apartment seems to take much longer, and is worsened by the, loud, running commentary Jared keeps up. Jensen doesn't respond, but he's not entirely sure Jared even notices.

Days, possibly weeks, pass, until finally, more by luck than judgement―because Jensen has played no part in guiding Jared in the right direction―they stagger into the blessedly cool darkness of Jensen's room. Jared pauses on the threshold, and then navigates Jensen the last few painful feet to the sanctuary that is his bed.

"Will you be okay?" Jared asks, and thank god, he's got a clue from somewhere, because his voices is soft and soothing, like the distant rumble of the ocean.

"Mmph," Jensen grunts, and buries his head in soft downy heaven of his pillow. Jared gently frees the bedsheets from under him, and tucks them carefully back into place over him, wiping a tender finger across the burning hot skin of his brow. It's comforting this time instead of painful, and Jensen drifts into sleep with no clear thought in his head beyond the fact that for a dragon that almost ruined his life, Jared's not so bad after all.



Jensen wakes up to the sound of pounding, and this time unlike the last, he's pretty sure it isn't in his head. He levers himself up groggily and takes stock of the situation. He's feeling much better, he's relieved to note, just a distant heaviness in his stomach that might actually be hunger; he can't remember the last time he ate.

He lowers his feet gingerly to the floor, and when no fresh pain is forthcoming, pushes himself out of bed. Staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, he looks significantly worse than he feels; crazy bed hair, bloodshot eyes, and a face gray and shiny with old sweat. He considers a shower, but settles instead for brushing his teeth vigorously and splashing his face with scalding water.

When he's done, he takes a moment to re-examine himself and attempts to tame his hair by running wet fingers through it, before he quickly he gives up with a shrug. He's probably not going to look any better without another few hours of sleep and and a significantly more thorough attempt at cleaning himself.

Outside of his bedroom, the softer light tells him it's probably early afternoon, and the even softer mutter of conversation tells him he has a guest. Another guest. Crap, what now? A Griffin riding a unicorn?

Jensen hurries through the apartment and pulls up short when he reaches the kitchen. Jared is standing in the middle of the room, face tight with anger, glaring down at a much smaller man. He has long hair pulled back roughly and tied with what looks like a leather thong, and a few days growth of beard on his face. For all the fact that Jared outweighs him by at a good fifty pounds, the smaller man looks dangerous, and Jensen feels his spine stiffen.

"Jared? You okay?" he asks, keeping his voice light, but pulling himself up to his full height. He heads over to stand next to Jared, shoulder to shoulder even with the few inches difference between them.

"Yes, sorry, I hope it's okay; this is Chris, he's my um, my bodyguard," Jared says in a rush.

Jensen frowns. A bodyguard? Why the hell would Jared need a bodyguard?

"This is the human?" Chris asks, taking Jensen in with cold, dark eyes. His lips curl in distaste. "I expected more."

"Hey!" Jensen says at the same time as Jared growls, low and warning, "Christian, that's enough."

Christian holds his hands up in the air, but doesn't seem otherwise apologetic. "You need to check in," he directs toward Jared.

"What? Why can't you do it?" Jared whines, suddenly sounding like the sullen teenager that he doesn't resemble in the slightest.

"Because you know exactly how well that would go down. Go let them know you've arrived safely. I'll report in later, confirm what you've said; hopefully that should buy you a few weeks. But, Jared, no promises; you're the one that's going to have to sell this or it won't work."

Jared lets out a soft huff of frustrated air and then turns to face Jensen. "Um, I need to do this," he says, scowl etched on his face. "Is there somewhere more... private I could go?"

Jensen nods off toward the opposite side of the apartment. "You can use my studio, it's the best I can offer, sorry, unless you want to head back out to the hall?" Loft living meant lots of open spaces and not huge amount of privacy, but Jensen's work area is separate to his living area, and should give Jared whatever solitude he needs.

Jared looks toward the front door and shakes his head quickly, obviously not willing to risk banishment again. "No, your studio is fine, perfect." He glances between Jensen and Christian and frowns. "You'll be okay here?"

Jensen isn't entirely sure which of them the question is directed at, but he and Christian nod at basically the same time. The other man―dragon―, has a very satisfied expression on his face that seems to give Jared pause, but eventually he squares his shoulders and makes his way over to the studio. He looks behind him as he rounds the corner. Jensen lifts his right hands in a reassuring wave, and Jared grins weakly back.

As soon as Jared is out of sight, Christian rounds on him, brows lowered and expression grim. He looks even more threatening than Jensen had first thought, if that was possible.

"Okay, human, I don't know what you're planning here with all your cross-species... perversion, but Jared is under my protection, and one wrong move and I will rip out your spleen and feed it back to you. Raw."

"As opposed to what?" Jensen barks back. "Lightly sauteing it in a nice herb butter with some seasonal vegetables? Cause I gotta be honest, not really making it worse." Christian takes a lunging step toward him, and Jensen assures himself he doesn't flinch away even a little bit. "Alright then," Jensen says, gloves definitely off, and very slightly non-plussed. "I have no clue what your twisted little lizard brain thinks is about to happen, but I have no intention of putting any kind of move on Jared, wrong or otherwise."

Christian watches him, narrow-eyed, and Jensen holds up his hands. "Look, I'm not playing you. This is seven kinds of crazy and I'm still kinda doubting my sanity right now, but if all this is real, one thing you can trust me on is that I am not about to deflower your charge." He holds Christian's gaze and after a moment the other man's stiff stance relaxes, puzzlement taking the place of mother hen fury.

"You do know, human, why Jared is here?"

"Okay, can we go with 'Jensen' please? Because this is already plenty weird enough without you constantly reminding me that you aren't, that you're―"

"A dragon?"

"God, you had to say it, didn't you?"

Christian grins. In his entirely human-looking mouth, Jensen swears he can see the gleam of a hundred sharp-toothed fangs glinting dangerously. "What?" Christian asks, "You're seriously asking me to believe that you forgot that we existed? Because I was there when the Royal Guard arrived to retrieve Jared, and it seems like the sort of thing that would stick in your memory."

His tone is a little bit kinder than full out mockery, but Jensen's not particularly interested in taking advantageous of the dragon's softening attitude to try and win him over right then.

"Wait, Royal Guard? What the fuck, are you saying Jared is some sort of Royal dragon? How big is the freaking crown?"

"He's second in line to the throne," Christian says, suspicion back in full force. "That change matters, human?"

"Look, fuck, I told you it's Jensen, and no, it doesn't. I don't care if he's got diamonds and rubies falling out of his ass, it's the fact that I'm not into other dudes' asses that's causing a problem here."

"Jared isn't a dude," Christian sneers, "he's a dragon,"

"Well, unless dragons come with significant amounts of extra plumbing, that's not gonna work for me either." Jensen sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "I just―royalty? Really?"

"I don't know why this is such a big shock to you. You think a courtship usually involves a chaperone―"

"I thought you were a bodyguard!"

"Yes, that too. Look, this visit took almost five years to get agreed, and in the end the only reason Jared was allowed to come at all was because he finally threatened to renounce his title and seek asylum in the human world. Jared has sacrificed more than you'll ever know to return to you. That level of devotion all wrapped up in riches beyond anything you humans could hope to imagine would be tempting to even the most honorable of dragons, and that, Jensen" he adds sarcastically, "is something you could never hope to be."

"Hey, screw you!" Jensen spits out. "I've been more than reasonable here―my house got burnt down by your super special Royal Guard and I spent most of my childhood getting side-eyed by my whole family because your stupid retrieval team couldn't hang around an five extra minutes so they didn't think I was crazy! I'm not the bad guy here," he says, forcing himself into a calmer tone. "And I don't want to hurt Jared. Look, as soon as he gets back I'll sit him down and explain it to him. Make him understand that I can't be what he wants." Jensen nods decisively, ignoring the faint curl of something low in his belly that felt crazily like disappointment that Jared would soon be gone as quickly as he came.

Christian lets out a weird, unhappy rumble of sound and sinks down onto a chair. He drums his fingers against the table top distractedly.

"What?" Jensen demands. His head is pounding dully again, and the fact that he's right next to the sadly empty coffee pot is making his craving for the hot, fortifying drink all the worse. He turns his gaze determinedly away and focuses on Christian. "Seriously, I thought you'd be glad."

"Oh, I am," Chris growls, "but the kid won't be, and that kind of fucks up my plans."

Jensen isn't sure he wants to know exactly what Christian's plans involved, but if he's minutes away from getting his ass barbecued, it's probably better he knows. "Which were...?"

"The way I figure it, Jared's in love with the idea of you. I mean, it's romantic, I get it, story book stuff; humans, forbidden love, secret letters, but none of it's real. Dragons can't mate with a human, and even if they could, why would they want to? Jared thinks he knows about your world, but that TV he's obsessed with, the contraband books he has smuggled in? It's filled his head with fantasies. He needs a reality check, to spend enough time with you to see for himself just why this could never work."

Jensen is torn between insulted and impressed, because as plans go, it's not half bad. "So you think if Jared hangs out here he'll realize it's not all sunshine and roses in human land?" He pulls out a chair to sit down across from Christian.

"I'm sure of it," Chris says. "I mean, what's so special about you?"

Jensen considers being offended, and then shrugs it off. "But what about the mated thing? He definitely bit me." His fingers edge up towards his ear, tracing the small nick still visible in the lobe of his ear.

Chris shakes his head dismissively. "Mating bites are for dragons, and you're a human, so it doesn't count, and that's if he even bit you at all; he was only a baby at the time, probably more of a nibble than a bite."

"It was a bite!" Jensen says, stung. "I had to get two stitches!"

"Two stitches? My apologies," Christian says and sketches a small half bow. "I was unaware that humans existed capable of such courage."

"Oh, screw you," Jensen snaps, throwing caution to the wind.

"See?" Christian shakes his head, lips twisted disparagingly. "Humans. Utterly faithless."

"I wasn't actually offering―" Jensen snarls.

But Christian waves his protest away. "It's of no matter, I'm not interested."

Jensen stiffens. "Like I said, I wasn't offering. And humans are perfectly capable of being faithful, not that you'd know that, being a dragon," he adds, trying to make the word sound as insulting as Christian does 'human'.

"Oh, I know," he says, words coated in deep dislike. "Our worlds haven't always been so completely closed off from each other. Long before Jared was hatched, I was assigned to the portal guard. I saw first hand what humans do to dragons, which isn't so surprising considering what you do to each other."

"What, are we talking, like, medieval times or something here? Because we've kind of moved on since then."

"And so have dragons―we have no desire to reopen that connection to find out if you're over your quest to harvest our organs for magic and display our severed heads for vanity."

Jensen winces, but doesn't protest; it's kind of hard to argue any case where you're on the wrong side of decapitation for wall hangings. He also understands a little better now why it took five freaking years to get a royal visit approved.

"Okay, no arguments here, but you guys seriously need to update your knowledge―even that whole age of consent thing is way out of date."

"You're complaining that there was a delay in meeting your mate?"

"Yes. No, not really." Jensen frowns. "I'm just saying if you're getting even those kind of basic details wrong..."

"What is this, human? Have you changed your mind?" Christian asks, slowly straightening in his chair, a very definite aura of danger emanating from him. "Because if you're thinking about―"

"I'm not!" Jensen holds out his hands, and Christian subsides back into his seat. "That isn't―it's just, I guess no one wants to look like they come from a race of dicks, you know? That isn't us, or at least, not most of us."

Christian tilts his head, gaze fixed firmly on Jensen's for long, silent moments, and then he nods.

"Maybe not, but that won't be enough to convince Jared's family. They're naturally protective of their subjects, but that's nothing compared to the lengths they'll go to to protect their children. We left your world when it was clear we could never share it. All the known portals were closed and made accessible only to the royal family, but they're still there, just... hidden."

Christian sighs and then stands up to walk over toward the fridge. He opens the door, leans in and reappears with a bottle of beer, popping the cap effortless off with the ornate ring on his finger. Jensen watches him, open-mouthed as Christian twist his chair round to sit at it backward, folded arms resting on the seat back, and the neck of the bottle dangling casually from his fingers.

"Your world is monitored, Jensen," he says, completely oblivious to Jensen's wide-eyed stare at his sudden transformation. "The scholars aren't ignorant to what goes on here. Jared is no fool, but they've done their best to feed him a whole stable-full of horseshit over the years. With the resources he's had, it's hard for him sometimes to spot the truth from the lies."

"I don't―what are you saying?" Jensen asks, scrabbling to keep up.

Christian shrugs. "I'm saying it's probably for the best that you aren't actually Jared's mate, because if you were, there would be a lot of people invested in keeping the two of you apart."

Jensen swallows past the large knot in his throat. His chair screeches against the wood floor as he pushes himself to his feet and makes for the coffee pot. It's too early for beer, and Jared's surely going to be back soon. He wants this conversation over before then.

"So, to recap, the plan is I let Jared hang out with me 'till he realizes what a crappy mate I'd be and takes off home?" Jensen's stomach roils as the usually awesome smell of the fresh coffee brewing begins to fill the room. "And you do what? Hang around watching?"

"Pretty much, except for the watching part. I've got things to do and I'm betting you can figure out how to lose a dragon in 10 days just fine well without me."

"Movie references? Are you kidding me? What happened to all the 'noble dragons separating themselves from the evil humans crap,' Chris?."

"I said, all the known portals were closed. Now the unknown ones are a different matter."

"So after feeding me all that shit about how dragons hate us, it turns out you spend your free time slutting it up in our world?"

"What can I say? I'm not ready to relocate, but you humans sure do know how to make a burger. Plus, dragons never really got what makes action movies so much damn fun."

Jensen sloshes coffee into his mug with a little more force than necessary, and then curses when it splashes up over the side and burns his wrist. "Okay, fine," he says, turning back to face Chris who's grinning mockingly over at him. "I'm kind of busy right now, but I can spend a few nights showing him the around, take him to see the sights."

"Sure, that'll work, but being around you 24 hours a day will probably have the most effect."

"Twenty four hours a day―" Jensen starts, but Chris is already up and heading for the door. "Hey, wait! What are you―you can't just leave him here!"

"He's your mate, for now, anyway, which means you get to handle this."

"What? No, I told you―"

"And I told you, your problem now." Chris sighs at Jensen's wild eyed panic. "Look, if you need me, Jared will know how to reach me, but I honestly think this has the best chance of working if you haven't got someone breathing down your neck the entire time. You'll be fine, Jensen, Jared is young for a dragon, but he's smart― he'll figure it out before you know it, and then you can go back to forgetting any of this ever happened."

"I didn't forget the first time," Jensen protests, but Chris is too intent on making his escape to listening.

"Good luck," he turns at the door to say, a faint hint of Texas twang slipping into his drawl. Jensen guesses Chris is also partial to a good Western. "And I meant what I said―I will feed you your spleen if you hurt him."

Jensen clutches at his abdomen protectively. He's not sure what his spleen does, but he's pretty fond of it nonetheless.



Twenty minutes later and there's still no sign of Jared. There's also no hint of raised voices or the sound of screeching, mid-air battles, so Jensen assume things aren't going too badly with the phone call―or whatever the dragon equivalent is―home.

Jensen uses the time to swallow back a couple of Advil and drain the coffee pot. He starts a new one brewing, and is just contemplating whether his stomach could handle food, when Jared appears.

"So, how'd it go?" Jensen asks, taking in the pallor under Jared's tan, his hair sticking up weirdly where he'd obviously been dragging his fingers roughly through it, and the weary droop to his shoulders. Jensen drops his gaze, and is briefly distracted by the sheen of sheen of sweat gleaming in the hollow of his collarbone. He closes the jaw he hadn't realised was hanging open with a soft snap, relieved that Jared doesn't seem to have spotted anything amiss. Not that there's anything amiss for him to spot.

Jared shuffles over to the table and drops bonelessly onto a chair. "It was...okay. They worry about me," he says. "It's hard for them to accept this is where―" Jared breaks off, a briefly devastated expression washing over his face, before he pulls himself quickly back under control.

Jensen tactfully pretends he hasn't noticed or that he knows he's the cause, and pushes a cup of coffee across the table. Jared picks it up distractedly and takes a sip. His whole face scrunches in distaste, and he directs a betrayed look at the cup, and then swings it back up toward Jensen.

Jensen, purses his lips, and stands to pull a sugar bowl out of the cupboard, and the milk from the fridge, placing them both on the table in front of him. Jared eyes them suspiciously and then lifts the lid off the sugar bowl, poking cautiously at the contents with the tip of his finger, before pulling out one of the cubes.

Jensen takes his coffee black and unsweetened, as God intended, and only keeps the bowl filled and ready for occasional, very occasional, guests. Unfortunately, it looks like it's gotten damp somewhere along the way, because about six cubes of sugar come out stuck together in a lump. Jared studies them curiously, lifting them to his nose to sniff, and then gives them a quick lick before happily cramming the whole lot into his mouth at once.

"Hey, no, those are for the coffee!"

Jared's enthusiastic crunching pauses and he frowns, mid-chew. Mouth still carefully half open he reaches for his abandoned cup and steels himself for a second before swallowing back the steaming contents in two deep swallows.

Jensen jumps to his feet, his own mouth and tongue tingling painfully in sympathy and shoves the cold milk carton toward Jared. "Jesus, Jared―quick, drink this!"

Jared shrugs, and lifts the carton to his mouth, draining the contents easily. He looks up at Jensen when he's finished, an expectant expression on his face, and a milk mustache on his upper lip.

"Um," Jensen says, brain finally catching up with his unexpectedly protective urge that had swamped him when he thought Jared was hurt, leaving him feeling spectacularly dumb. He reaches over to take the empty carton from Jared's grip, and hands him a napkin instead. "I guess with the whole dragon, fire breathing thing you've got going on, scalding beverages not really much of an issue."

Jared shrugs. "Not really." He's examining the napkin curiously.

When he lifts it to his nose and sniffs at it, Jensen reaches hurriedly over to take it back from him before he can progress down his usual path of licking and then eating.

"Here," he says, and dabs at Jared's lips, carefully removing all traces of milk. Jared's eyelids drop closed, and he pushes up into the touch, a deep rumble starting up somewhere in his chest as he nuzzles at Jensen's palm like a cat. Jensen snatches his hand back, crumpling the napkin as his fingers spasm around it.

"So," he says, as Jared's eyes spring open to focus on him, heat and longing obvious in his gaze. "I―okay, well on the positive side, at least we know now that coffee's probably not the drink for you," he says, his voice loud in the silence.

Jared blinks, and sits up straight on his chair. "That was coffee?" He frowns. "I brought money," he says, reaching into his jeans pocket and dragging out a scrunched wad of notes, coins falling out behind them and clattering to the floor. "So we could get coffee. I noticed human mating rituals often begin with coffee buying so I thought..."

He trails off when Jensen jumps to his feet and busies himself rinsing out the empty milk carton before throwing it in the trash, and then grabs at a dishcloth to wipe at the splatters on the faucet. When he finally runs out of pointless tasks and has to turn back toward the table, it's to find Jared staring deeply into the sugar bowl, fingers pushing at the contents desultorily, an unhappy frown on his face. Jensen reaches over to drop the lid firmly back into place, and Jared neatly pulls his fingers free just in time, a lone sugar cube gripped between his middle fingers.

Jared, locks his gaze with Jensen's, lifts the sugar cube up to his mouth, and bites down defiantly, the sound of loud crunching filling the air.

Jensen gnaws on his bottom lip. He'd hoped to put this conversation off until he was feeling a little more able to handle it, but that's obviously not an option.

"Look, Jared," he starts, and Jared watches him, eyes hopeful. "What I said yesterday, about me not dating guys? I'm not trying to be a dick here, but you need to understand that that's just not gonna change. I―you and me? We can get coffee, but we can't ever get coffee. Do you understand what that means, what I'm saying?"

Jared watches him silently, swirling gaze roving over his face. Jensen twitches uncomfortably, but forces himself to hold his gaze until Jared finally nods. "Are you sure? Maybe, in time..."

"I―" Jensen struggles to get his mouth to form the agreement his brain is screaming at him, and eventually has to settle on a nod of his own that seems to finally free his trapped voice. "No," he says hoarsely. "I know that's not what you want to hear, and I'm sorry, but I'm sure."

Jared breathes in sharply, nostrils flared. "Are you asking me to go?"

Jensen shakes his head quickly. "No! I mean, you came all this way. You could stick around for a while, see the human world. Unless you want to go?" He suddenly remembers Chris's plan and curses himself silently for suggesting the option―what if Jared says yes?

Thankfully, there's no time to panic about what punishment Chris might send crashing down on him, because Jared immediately shakes his head, a beaming grin tilting his lips. "No, I'd like that, thank you."

Jensen hesitates uncertainly. "And you're okay about the whole...?" He lifts his hands and makes a nonsensical swirling movement.

"I think so." Jared nods not looking particularly distraught, and Jensen fights back a feeling of mild affront.

"Okay, that's good. Very good," he adds firmly and Jared nods happily again. "Okay, so I guess I should show you to your room, let you get settled in?"

"Thanks!" Jared says, and gets up "Hey, Jensen, did you know, that coffee is your world's most traded commodity next to petroleum, but tea is actually the most consumed beverage worldwide? I didn't really like the coffee," he adds apologetically, "but maybe we could get tea some time?" He taps at his pocket, the crinkle of notes audible.

Jensen stumbles to a halt, but Jared is already pushing open the door to his room, exclaiming happily over the sight of a TV.

Chapter 4