Fireflies (2/2)
Part Two
Art | Masterpost | Part One
Jared doesn’t mention the kiss, and Jensen hasn’t brought it up either, so he thinks he’s probably doing the right thing by just letting it slide. It’s just that, it’s all that Jared can think about and he’s having to consciously not think about it as he furiously scrubs at the paint on his windows.
Things between the two of them have been good, despite the kiss and Jared thinks they’re friends now, which is awesome. Jensen drops by just to chat. He’s as at home as Dani, or Gen, when he’s sitting on the counter top watching Jared work in the mornings. Fits as perfectly into his life as Chris or Chad do when they hang out over beers and football, feet on the coffee table. But somehow it’s more than that.
Jared thinks he may be falling just a little for Jensen. And that could make things complicated.
His shoulders ache as he scrubs a little harder. It’s strange, he thinks, how out of everything, the people of this town choose his magic to be discriminating about. He sighs as the soapy water runs down the inside of his arm and drenches his sleeve. Great. He wonders what it is he’s being blamed for this time.
Original. He surmises as he takes another look at the graffiti that’s been haphazardly sprayed across the shop window. As if he hasn’t seen that before. For a second he considers phoning Hank, the sheriff, then he thinks better of it. The only thing that that would really accomplish is him losing a few more hours of his day. With wet hands Jared pushes the sleeves of his jacket a little higher and resigns himself to a little elbow grease.
He can’t be certain how long he’s been at it when he hears footsteps approach somewhere to his left, but he’s about halfway through and his shoulders are really beginning to cramp, he makes a mental note to hit the gym more regularly. He knows Gen would suggest he just use ‘the big whammy’ to deal with his morning surprise, but Jared knows that that’s a slippery slope he doesn’t want to go down. Once you’ve started, where do you draw the line on what you can and can’t use magic for? No, he’s seen too many people become twisted that way. Isn’t that why he’d committed to living his life as magic free as possible? Isn’t that why he’d left his family, his home and his heritage for something more?
“What happened?” The deep rasp breaks the early morning silence and Jared almost flinches, he’d dismissed the footsteps as a passer-by, hadn’t realised they’d stopped close by.
Jared shrugs as he turns to Jensen. “Kids.” He offers as explanation, bending down to stroke May. Jared likes the way he always sees the two of them together. It’s like Jensen can’t go anywhere without her and Dani’s words from the BBQ that he found odd come to mind. He thinks he understands now. Jensen’s training her for himself. He wonders if Jensen can go anywhere without her, but the day he first met Jensen, here in his bakery comes to mind, and he doesn’t think May was with him. He makes a mental note to do some serious research on service dogs and training later. By serious he means a google search and the top three hits, but hey, he’s showing an interest.
“You call the Sheriff?” Jensen asks, he’s staring intently at the graffiti his mouth set in a hard line.
“Nah.” Jared stands, his knees are beginning to cramp now too. Damn, he really needs to hit the gym next week, or at least get into a better routine with his morning jogs. He notices the furrow in Jensen’s brow.
“Ain’t the first time.” Jared explains. “Probably won’t be the last. Anyway, Hank’s got better things to do, or so he tells me.”
It’s safe to say that Jared isn’t Hank’s favourite person in the world and the feeling is pretty much mutual, which is odd for Jared, he’s not in the habit of disliking people, in fact he often makes it a point not to, but there’s just something about Hank that rubs him the wrong way, always has done.
“So people take this seriously huh?” Jensen asks. Jared finds himself retracing the conversation to find the meaning behind Jensen’s words.
Jensen continues when Jared remains silent. “The magic thing?”
Ah, it clicks, little slow on the uptake there, but he’s catching up. He takes a moment though to decide how to go about this with Jensen.
“People take the truth seriously I guess.” Jared explains and he watches scepticism float across Jensen’s features. “It’s a family trait.” Jared continues, not put off by Jensen’s disbelief. “Like eye colour or height.”
“You inherited it?” Jensen asks, and there’s just a hint of incredulity in his tone that, if Jared wanted to, he could probably take offense at. But that isn’t really his nature. Jared gets the feeling Jensen is one of those people who believes in what they can see and touch, in what they can explain and he can understand that. Life sometimes destroys people’s ability to take things on faith.
“Yeah. It’s been passed down for generations, it’s a little different in everyone, you can never really be sure of its strength, but maybe that’s more to do with acceptance than with ability.”
Jared knows he’s probably making Jensen uneasy with the way he can openly talk about this, no doubt Jensen’s going to go away from this conversation having classed Jared with some kind of crazy. He wouldn’t be the first.
“So, what are you doing here then?” Jensen asks, a little bluntly, then tries to lighten the question with a joke. “I guess, if I had magic I’d be off making money or living the good life.”
Jared just shrugs. “This is the good life.”
He knows Jensen probably doesn’t agree, probably wonders what’s so great about scrubbing graffiti from a window, but the thing that most people don’t understand is that that’s his window.
They talk a little longer about lighter things, like the weather and plans for the day, before Jensen awkwardly asks.
“So why don’t you just…” He makes a poofing sound that Jared takes to mean ‘magic it away’ and heaves a sigh as he drops the sponge into the bucket.
“It’s nice to do things for myself.” Jared explains.
Jensen rolls up his sleeves and grabs the sponge from the bucket. “I can understand that.” He tells Jared as he begins to scrub at the graffiti.
With help, the window is clean in half the time it would have taken Jared to do it alone, and Jared’s spirit feels more balanced again. The hour with Jensen has been nice, even with the magic talk. He wonders who told him.
As Jensen gets May and turns to leave he asks. “You’re having me on right?” He gestures to the window. “With the magic thing?”
Jared’s heart stutters a little, disbelief hasn’t hurt quite this much before.
“No.” Jared says, resigned.
“So, Chris didn’t put you up to this?” Jensen enquires, and the strange thing is, that if it wasn’t the truth, it is just the type of thing Chris would do. He finds, knowing that that’s where Jensen’s come from he can’t hold it against him.
“No.” He repeats.
Jensen nods his head in acceptance as he heads out the door and Jared’s not sure where on the belief scale Jensen sits anymore.
Jared doesn’t know why he’s surprised when Chris and Danneel ambush him a few days later. He’s know them too long and knows them too well to not have seen this coming.
“You should ask him on a date.” Danneel suggests, sliding onto the sofa next to him, she snags his beer off the coffee table and Jared has a moment to think that he should probably be annoyed by that, but it’s just Danneel and he finds he isn’t.
If he wanted to be difficult he might ask who she’s talking about, but he knows it wouldn’t get him very far, and it’s not really his nature.
“I don’t date.” He gives as explanation, it’s one he’s given countless times, and it’s mostly true.
“But you’re perfect for each other.” Danneel continues, easing over his words as if they weren’t said or weren’t important anyway. “Chris agrees.” She turns on Chris and Jared mirrors her movement. He pauses mid movement, hand full of chips frozen hallway between the bag and his mouth and merely shrugs. Danneel sighs and shrugs, that universal shrug of woman saying ‘what can you do’ then turns back to Jared. “He agrees. I’ve been telling him to introduce the two of you for years.”
Jared doesn’t comment, just flicks through the channels searching for the game.
“I told you this was a waste of time.” Chris chimes in, earning himself Dani’s death glare, to which Chris merely holds up his hands in defeat and shakes his head, while muttering just loud enough for the two of them to hear. “Well I did.”
“You’re not helping.” She snipes back at him. “And you.” Her forefinger burrows forcibly into Jared’s chest, it’s not a feeling he’s entirely enjoying. “Are being a stubborn idiot.” She twists for good measure on the last word and Jared winces, before letting his head fall backwards to rest on the top of the sofa.
“He’s not interested.” He says more to remind himself than to tell her. “So it doesn’t matter anyway.”
Out of the corner of his eye Jared sees Danneel narrow her own at him and he knows he’s said too much.
“How do you know-“
“Course he is.”
“-that?”
Danneel asks and Chris interjects.
They both turn to look at Chris who shakes his head to say that’s all he’s saying.
“He’s not. Okay.” Jared tells Danneel, choosing to pretend Chris never said anything. “Can we drop it?”
He’s been trying to get the failed kiss attempt out of his mind since it happened and it’s been hard enough to do without having Jensen mentioned and bringing the whole thing up again. Reminding him how good it had felt until it hadn’t.
Dani bumps her shoulder against his and keeps silent this time. She plays dirty, Jared thinks, as he feels her support and understanding and interest twine through the silence that’s only broken by the announcement of the score from the TV and the crunch of chips from across the room.
“I kissed him okay.” Jared blurts out.
Danneel woops and claps her hands and Jared thinks if he doesn’t explain properly she might do cartwheels around his living room in a minute.
“Calm down.” He tells her. “Like I said. He wasn’t interested.”
“Oh come on Jared. Anyone that looks at the tw-”
“Dani! I was there okay, and I know disinterest when I see it. So just. Enough.” His words are more forceful than he’d like but he feels the annoyance crawling under his skin. Standing, he heads for the kitchen and a fresh beer and a few moments to calm himself.
When he turns from the fridge it’s to find Chris leaning against the jamb of the door. Should’ve known Dani would send Chris after him. They’re like a goddamn tag team the two of them, they’ll wear anyone down until they break.
Chris holds up his hand before Jared can speak. “Just hear me out.” He says.
Jared nods.
“Jensen. He’s got, issues. Being in the military for as long as he was and seeing the things he did will do that to a guy. But, just take my advice and ask him for a beer somewhere, or some food. You threw him with the thing at the BBQ.” Chris looks as uncomfortable as Jared feels. He picks at the corner of the label on his bottle. “Just think about it okay?”
Jared nods again.
The topic of Jensen is dropped for the rest of the night, they watch the Cowboy’s beat the Bear’s but Jared’s mind isn’t on the game, Chris’ words just play on a loop in his mind and when he closes the door and heads to bed he’s still not sure what he should do.
By the next morning it’s decided. Jared is going to ask Jensen out. On date. With him. The only problem with that is actually doing the asking.
Jensen swings by, as is his usual habit, to watch Jared bake. He says he finds it relaxing, but Jared knows he does it just so he can scam baked goods from him, he’s under no illusions about Jensen’s ulterior motives.
However on this morning he burns the muffins, which only serves to make Jensen laugh and Jared to frown.
“Like you’ve never burnt some muffins before.” Jensen jokes.
“I’ve never burnt these muffins before.” Jared pouts. He knows his funk’s all out of whack with this question he wants to ask Jensen burning in the back of his throat and it’s annoying. Actually it’s beyond annoying because this is his life and it was going perfectly well, he was not burning muffins, until Jensen stupidly walked into it.
“Do you wanna go out with me?” He blurts out without really thinking, casts his gaze skywards in exasperation with himself as he realises the words that just came out of his mouth. He throws the tray of muffins on the counter, takes a breath to steady himself and thinks to hell with it, might as well try to make the best of a bad situation.
“Like on a date.” Okay that wasn’t much better. Another breath, he prays for patience with himself. Try again. “Can I take you o-“
“Yes.” Jensen interrupts and Jared’s thankful someone was listening to his plea for help and then it hits him. Jensen just said yes. He probably looks as startled as he feels. Jensen rolls his eyes and chuckles. “I’m free tonight if you are?”
“Yes!” Jared says a little too eagerly. “Yeah, tonight’s great. I’ll swing by yours around 7?”
“Sure."
Jensen said yes. Jensen said yes and they’re going on a date tonight! Jared has to practically restrain himself from picking up the phone and dialling Gen as soon as possible to freak out over clothes and places to go. Oh god. He hadn’t thought about the actual date part. Just the asking. He’s so screwed.
Jared does manage to hold onto control however, he even offers Jensen as muffin as he’s leaving.
“You burnt them.” Jensen points out as they both turn to the muffins, to find them sitting on the counter golden brown, and not a singe in sight.
“Huh. Guess they weren’t as well done as we thought.” Jensen tries to explain a puzzled look crossing his face. Oops, Jared thinks, looks like his happy overflowed just a little too much. Ah well, magical accidents will happen.
“This is fun.” Jensen laughs as Jared spins them around and then around again. “But if you keep it up that lasagne is gonna make another appearance.”
Jared guffaws as he slows their movement until they’re just slightly swaying in time with the music.
“You really think it’s fun?” He asks Jensen. He’d been wary about bringing Jensen here, to the pavilion in the town square, but when he’d suggested it to Gen she’d thought it was the most romantic idea ever and she wouldn’t hear a word about any other plans for the night.
“Yeah.” Jensen says, leaning back a little so he can look up at Jared, there’s a slight blush across his cheeks that makes Jared’s heart race. “It reminds me of the story my Mum used to tell of Dad courting her.”
Jared can’t hold back the grin that spreads across his face. “You sap.” He teases and loves the way Jensen’s easy laugh rumbles out in response.
Jensen eases closer to Jared, rests his head against Jared’s shoulder as they continue to move and says, just barely louder than a whisper. “If I were the sappy kind, which I definitely am not, I might tell you I like the romance of it all.”
Jared’s heart clutches and he makes a mental reminder to bake Gen whatever she wants for the rest of her life for talking him into this plan.
The date so far had gone off without a hitch. He’d arrived at Jensen’s, palms sweaty, feeling like a teenager on his first date all over again, but when Jensen had opened the door and smiled in greeting, May pushing between him and the door to see who the visitor could be. Well, all anxiety had fled and he’d just had this sudden feeling that he can’t describe as anything other than rightness.
That feeling had only grown as the evening had progressed, it had built through their meal, good food, good drink and even better company and now it’s this little fluttering in his stomach and this ache in his heart as he pulls Jensen into a fast spin as the tempo of the music picks up once again.
It’s with reluctance that he finally suggests they head home.
“We’ll be the talk of the town if we stay out later than Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald.” Jared jokes as they head down the steps of the pavilion.
“I can see the scandal now!” Jensen laughs, lacing their fingers together and pulling Jared down the street.
The air is just the comfortable side of crisp as they reach Jensen’s door and they pause outside as Jensen searches his pocket for a key. The pause gives Jared time to think, which sometimes, really isn’t a good thing. He wonders if he should give that kiss another try, works the thought over and over in his mind.
“I had a great time.” He tells Jensen. His eyes keep darting to Jensen’s lips and then back up to his eyes.
“Me too.” Jensen agrees.
“So if I was to call and ask if you wanted to do this again, you’d say yes?” Jared blurts out before his brain has time to tell his lips to stop moving dammit.
Jensen, however, just finds it amusing, chuckling he tells Jared. “Why don’t you call me and find out?”
“Flirt.” Jared teases.
This time it isn’t Jared who makes the move, it’s Jensen, he pushes forward off the door, grabs the lapels of Jared’s jacket and hauls himself into Jared’s space. Before Jared can think to react, he’s got Jensen’s mouth pressed firmly against his. Acting purely on instinct, his lips part and he slides one hand up to cradle Jensen’s jaw, the other comes to rest on the small of Jensen’s back, pressing them closer together.
The spark that Jared has felt building since he saw Jensen in this doorway seems to explode as their tongues meet and Jared can feel it from his head, which is becoming decidedly fuzzy, to the tips of his toes. He’s never felt anything so right before.
His breath comes choppy and fast when he pulls back, and his eyes don’t leave Jensen’s face. Jensen however is looking past Jared, and over his shoulder, then his head tilts back, to the left, then to the right and there’s this look of utter wonder on his face. Pulling his gaze away from Jensen Jared suddenly understands Jensen’s awe. They’re surrounded by light. Tiny little sparks of light. It’s almost like a hundred fireflies are dancing around them.
Realisation sinks in and for Jared, it’s like being hit with a bucket of cold water, the lights immediately dim, before fading out of existence entirely. It turns out that that spark that felt like it exploded within his chest actually manifested his magic. He’s heard stories like this before, but he’d always though they were a myth, a story to entertain the children. When he was little his mother had talked of music playing when she kissed his father for the first time, and until the kiss was over she hadn’t realised the music had actually been her magic. Jared realises the implication of this moment and it scares him just a little.
Jensen is watching him, that look of wonder still on his face and Jared thinks he looks younger, hasn’t got the age of the life he’s seen behind those eyes.
“Guess you weren’t having me on.” Jensen jokes, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he swings open the door.
Jared turns to leave, is halfway down the porch steps when he hears his name and turns back.
“Call.” Jensen says simply. Five minutes earlier Jared was 100% sure he’d call, now, a little shaken, he’s not quite sure he’ll have the guts to pick up that phone.
“It’s your turn to ask.” He tells Jensen as he hops down the final step. Easier that way, he thinks, to put the control in Jensen’s hands.
His legs don’t feel quite so steady as he makes the walk home.
Jared puts it off as long as he can, but after a sleepless night, and never-ending thoughts he realises what he’s got to do. Call his mother.
It’s early when he picks up the phone, but she’s always been an early riser. She’s not surprised when she hears his voice, but then Jared wonders if his mother has ever really been surprised by anything.
He ask her what the weather’s like, how the family is, he tells her about the shop and she tries to convince him to come home. It’s the same conversation they always have, the same questions with the same old answers. One question changes it all.
“You remember that story you used to tell me, about Dad and the music?” He asks.
“You met someone!” She immediately replies.
“It’s not serious.” He thinks of the lights and knows that that’s anything but true.
“So you’re just asking me about the music out of the blue?” She accuses.
“It’s just, in case it does get serious.” If she doesn’t believe him she doesn’t call him on the lie, just tells him what he needs to know, how a soul can recognise another.
“You know the stories Jared, love is the purest form of magic, we always taught you that.” She takes a breath as if choosing her words carefully. “You can’t make a love spell that will ever work, because you can’t imitate pure magic, it just is. People with magic, like me or you, we can sometimes sense a soulmate and the purity of that magic it can manifest in some way.”
Like music or light, Jared thinks.
“But I thought you didn’t believe in fate.” Jared’s frustrated, his mother has always taught him that no one makes their destiny but themselves, it’s why she’s always badgering about him coming home and embracing his gifts. The way she’s explaining this, it’s as if he has no say in his life at all. It’s as if fate has already chosen Jensen for him.
“I don’t.” She continues. “You don’t necessarily have just one soulmate Jared. Things change based on the choices you make in life and the person you become because of those choices.”
She pauses, and Jared feels more confused than ever, he thought calling his mother was supposed to help him figure this whole thing out.
“Jared, your father wasn’t the first man I loved.” She explains and that is news to Jared. “When I was younger I fell in love with a boy, as teenage girls do and the first time he kissed me two dove’s materialised from nowhere. I’d thought, then, that I’d spend my life with him, I thought that’s what it meant. It didn’t really work out that way though, a few more years and a little more life experience we started to grow apart and eventually we went our separate ways and then, I met your father.”
Jared thinks he understands, or at least he’s come to some understanding on the whole thing. They talk for a little longer before Jared tells her he needs to get back to the bakery.
“You’ll call won’t you?” She asks. “When it gets serious.”
“Course.” He lies, or doesn’t, because he guesses he did call.
“Promise?”
“Promise.” And he doesn’t feel as bad as he should about that lie.
Once he’s off the phone, he spends the morning pottering around the bakery, he tries to ground himself in the day to day tasks of running a business and living in a small town. He chats with Mrs. Halloway when she pops in and she beams at the cream scone he saved for her. Like always she tells him he’s a good boy.
Mrs. Fitzgerald stops by and comments on the weather, he hears the accusation in her voice, but chooses to let it go, as he has done every other time she’s made the same comment. Sometimes it needs to rain. It does put a thought in his mind though. What would he do if he did decide to control the weather, would he make it snow so the kids could have a day off school and him and Jensen could make snow angels. Or maybe he’d bring the sun out so they could have a picnic in the park and sunbathe with May.
He realises almost every thought he has these days involves Jensen in some way and just like that any lingering anxiety over the light incident just kind of fades away, because he kind of likes it that way. So what if his soul recognises Jensen’s, surely that’s awesome.
It takes two days for Jensen to call and Jared had resigned himself to the fact that he’d scared Jensen away, so it’s a shock when he picks up the phone to Jensen’s voice.
“Mine. 6 O’Clock. Bring beer.” That’s all he says before the line goes dead and Jared’s not quite sure what it all means.
When he arrives promptly on Jensen’s doorstep, he’s greeted with sloppy kisses from May and the widest grin he’s ever seen on Jensen’s face.
“Something smells good.” Jared appreciates the smell of good food and hands off the beer to Jensen.
“I cooked.” Jared raises an eyebrow, he didn’t realise that Jensen could cook, shouldn’t be surprised really, Jensen, it turns out, is pretty good at most things. When it comes to cooking though, it turns out, Jensen isn’t just good he’s pretty damn fantastic.
After the meal, full and content they laze on Jensen’s sofa, May snuggled across their laps and some football game is playing on the TV but Jared’s not really paying attention to it.
“You never did explain the name May to me.” Jared says, it’s his roundabout way of asking the question, without actually asking it.
“Guess I didn’t.” Jensen shifts next to him and Jared thinks that’s all the reply he’s going to get but then Jensen continues. “I met Chris in a bar in May the week before I left with the army, five years later I got out. I moved here in May you know. Like I said it’s been a good month for me and when I got May I didn’t realise, although I think Dani probably did, but I’m not training May for anyone else, she’s staying with me.”
Nothing really changes over the next few weeks, Jensen still sits on the counter top in the mornings to watch him bake, still manages to steal a few too hot cookies from their cooling racks, still props his feet on Jared’s coffee table and shouts at the TV when they watch football. Really almost nothing at all changes, except for the make-out sessions and the dog food in Jared’s kitchen, but really that isn’t a lot. He’s not sure what he’d been so afraid of.
It’s a relatively mundane Monday morning when things do change, as all things must.
Whilst Jensen is an excellent chef he’s never baked and somehow he manages to wrangle Jared into teaching him. Who knew what a task it would be.
The kitchen is a mess, flour everywhere, Jared thinks there might be more on Jensen than actually in the cakes they’re making and he can’t hold back his laughter. It rumbles in his chest and makes his sides hurt. There’re tears in his eyes and he’s gasping for breath as words he doesn’t have a chance to think about spill from his lips.
“God I love you.”
The laughter dies out and they both still, the humour of the moment suddenly lost. Jensen doesn’t say anything, just eases around the table, stands in front of Jared before leaning up on his tip toes and pressing a kiss to Jared’s lips.
“Love you too.” Jensen says easing back. They’re both sporting the widest grins, Jared is now covered in half of Jensen’s flour and laughter breaks out between them.
The End
Art | Masterpost | Part One