Fic: Serendipity (Jared/Jensen)
Title: Serendipity
Pairing: Jared/Jensen, with mentions of Jared/Sandy and OFCs
Rating: Adult.
Warnings: Um. Schmoop? Marriage-y type schmoop, I kid you not. And when is someone going to run the 'get the boys married' challenge, I'd like to know?
Summary: Serendipity: the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely. Jared lives and learns.
Disclaimer: This is all fiction, and any resemblance to reality other than an attempt at a plausible timeline is purely accidental.
Notes: For my dear friend and sometimes beta Lisa, who is having a really rough week. Sweetie, I hope this is what you were after! Everyone else, I apologise for the schmoopiness. *hides*
Jared's never been nervous before going out in front of the fans. He's lost count of the convention weekends by now, after five full seasons, and he's never had a problem.
He can totally do this. That tremor in his hand? Lack of sleep, that's all.
"I'll go out first," he tells the guy that's just been put in charge of them, and nobody looks surprised. Jensen nudges him, searching around in his pocket with a little frown creasing his forehead. He brings out a squashed gummi... something. It's not a bear, though it might be a frog. It's hard to say for sure in its less than pristine condition.
"I'll be with you in spirit," Jensen intones, pressing it solemnly into Jared's left hand.
Jensen's spirit, it seems, is mostly green. It's also kind of sticky, for which Jared will get his revenge later, but for now he keeps it in his palm, shoves his hand deep in his pocket, and turns for the door. It's oddly reassuring to feel it there, and somehow, god knows how when his stomach is threatening to leap out of his throat, it's the same as always. As soon as he catches the first squeak from the crowd, the first excited face, he's filled with energy enough to light up the room, can feel it buzzing around him, coming from this amazing crowd.
That's when he knows he really can do this.
"Hi!" he shouts, bounding onto the stage. The greeting bubbles out of him, and he points, exclaims, admires a t-shirt here, a poster there, waves every time someone calls out his name, even remembers to acknowledge the back of the room as much as he can.
"So," he says, fingers still toying with the little green something in his palm. "We're a little late getting started, and it's totally my fault, I'm sorry."
There are a few rustles from the crowd, some mumbling.
"The thing is," Jared says, and he can't help the grin that's creeping onto his lips, pulling them into a hopeless curve, because although, yes, there's a possibility this will backfire, he's just so damn pleased with himself. "The thing is, I kind of-"
He pulls his left hand out of his pocket, reluctantly letting go of the maybe-frog stuck to his palm. He flashes the back of his hand to the audience and immediately he can hear the front row whisper, one girl say "Oh my god" as she catches sight of the ring, all shiny and new.
Jared grins, half sheepish, half still beside himself. "I kind of got married yesterday."
*
Jared's very young, maybe nine or ten, when his mom tells him not to grow up to be one of those guys. The kind who's only after one thing, she says, even though Jared isn't very clear what that one thing is. Or the kind who flits from girl to girl, she says, that breaks hearts without ever taking a dent to his own.
Jared's always wanted his mom to be proud of him, so he decides there and then. He's never going to be like that.
When Jared is thirteen, he falls in love. Missy Jacobs is pretty, although she doesn't believe him when he tells her that. Her stepsister Allie has long blonde hair and wears lipstick every day to school until the teachers make her wipe it off, and all the boys are interested in her.
Missy likes reading the same books Jared does, and her eyes are the color of melted chocolate. She makes Jared feel all funny inside, and lets him kiss her, just once, in the life sciences section of the library. He kind of bumps her nose, and he hasn't done it before so he probably really sucks, but she giggles all the same. He grins all the way home, but the next time he sees her, she's holding hands with Davey Nicholls, Allie's boyfriend's best friend. She doesn't say one more word to him from then until graduation.
Jared didn't think the kiss sucked that much.
Jared's mom makes her lips go all thin when he tells her, hesitantly, about Missy's betrayal. She doesn't say very much, but she doesn't stop him helping himself to the black cherry ice cream after dinner, even though they both know he'll have a stomach ache later.
He never wanted to feel that way again, but the thing is, Jared can't really do half-measures. How can anyone really get to know you if you don't put it all out there, be yourself? It's always seemed obvious to him.
So by the time he meets Ellie, he's been burned a few times. He doesn't think it shows, though. "You're like a great big puppy," she tells him, and laughs. It's hardly the first time someone's called him that, but Jared can't see what's wrong with it. Dogs are great: when they love you they hold nothing back, and apart from the odd one (which Jared puts down to mistreatment by humans, no two ways about it) they're always willing to give a friendly face a chance.
Jared thinks the world would be a better place if people were more like dogs. Ellie doesn't agree, but it's not really a big deal because they have plenty of other things in common. She's a student, but unlike most of the students he's met she doesn't talk to him like he's an idiot just because he's skipping college to be on some teen show she doesn't even watch. They spend most of their time kissing anyway, and Jared thinks maybe he doesn't suck at it any more.
He tells her he loves her on Valentine's Day, sitting in a café with rain pouring down outside. Her little round glasses steam up when he kisses her, but she doesn't complain, and doesn't wipe them clean straight away. She puts his card and gift in her shoulder bag with awkward fingers and it's a good half hour after she leaves before he realizes she didn't say anything back.
Jared doesn't push it, but he's not surprised a few weeks later when she breaks things off. He's been waiting for it.
"I don't need anything complicated right now," she explains, but Jared doesn't see what's so complicated about just wanting to be around someone. Dogs can manage it, he thinks, so why can't people?
He passes the animal shelter on his way home that night, and although he has resisted going in every other day because this is so far from the ideal time to get a dog, this time he doesn't stop himself.
Turns out there's never an ideal time to get a dog, but from the first time Harley lays his head on Jared's lap, it really doesn't matter.
Jared's mom never tells him girls can be just like those guys, but he works it out for himself in the end.
Of course, eventually he meets Sandy.
Jared knows pretty much from the start that they'll end up together. Together forever, and he's sure she feels it too. She's everything he's ever imagined in his perfect girl.
On their first date she falls asleep with her arms around his dog, on the second she runs barefoot down the street like a crazy person, and on the third he finds out they want the same number of children. He hasn't even mentioned love yet, but he already knows she'll say it back, and she doesn't disappoint him.
They're young, ambitious, and in no hurry to rush towards that future, so it's four years before Jared goes shopping for a ring. By then their little family includes Sadie, because if Jared has someone special, Harley should have someone too.
That should be where the story ends, with the obligatory happily ever after.
Nobody is more surprised than Jared that it doesn't.
When Jared first talks to his mom about acting, he asks her if she thinks he can make it. All she says is: "If we know where every path goes, JT, there's no fun in walking down them."
He's thought about that saying a lot, lately.
Sandy's thrilled for him when he gets the Supernatural gig. She's understanding about the time they'll have to spend apart, because hey-they have their whole lives ahead of them, and in this business they know it'll only be a problem if they let it.
He has no expectations about meeting his new co-star for the first time; he might have had if he'd had chance to even think about it, but the whole thing has been insane, what with moving to another country, and making arrangements for the dogs. He doesn't even know Jensen is from Texas until they're up there on set and he hears that drawl slip into Jensen's soft, deep voice at the end of a long, hard day.
When he goes to sleep that first night in a strange new place, it's on several beers, the buzz of talking about home, and with Jensen's crooked grin behind his eyelids.
His first trip home that year is for Thanksgiving, and before the festivities are halfway over his sister is shouting out 'Jensen says' every time Jared opens his mouth. That's one story he doesn't share with Jensen when they get back to Vancouver, and instead he tells him his little sister has a crush on him. It's his duty as a brother, and as a friend.
"So obviously I told her you were gay," Jared says, with a gleeful cackle.
The way Jensen ducks his eyes is nothing unusual when he's embarrassed, but for some reason that's the moment Jared's brain decides to stop being dense.
"Oh," he says, breathless suddenly, and stops, not sure what else to say. He feels really stupid, because it took him no time at all to get behind Jensen's façade, but somehow he hadn't consciously put all the pieces together until now. "I didn't know, man."
Jensen's head slides forward until it rests on his folded arms. He bangs his forehead up and down a couple of times before he says, voice muffled. "You weren't supposed to."
Jared just laughs, because if Jensen thinks this will put Jared off being his friend, he needs to get his head out of his ass. "So do you have full-on gaydar? Because I have this bet with Chad about Milo, and-"
The make-up girls moan about the state of Jared's hair when Jensen has finished shoving Jared's head into the table, but when Jared looks across at Jensen as they fuss over him, he's just about smiling again.
Everyone who knows Jared knows that he will do anything to make Jensen smile.
When Jared's mom meets Jensen, it takes her a long time - by Jared's admittedly impatient standards -- to deliver a verdict. "I like him," she says in the end, while Jared is pouring out the New Year toasts, and Jared's too delighted to wonder why she seemed reluctant to say it. "Be careful, honey," is the only other thing she says, and Jared rolls his eyes, because he has the steadiest hand in the family, which is why he's the one pouring the champagne.
The first glass he clinks is Jensen's, before he kisses Sandy.
Jared doesn't even think about it when Jensen needs somewhere new to live.
"I've plenty of room," he says, and although Jensen comes up with a million reasons why it's a bad idea, Jared has answers for all of them. For god's sake, they've been best friends for three years by now, nobody's going to say anything they haven't been saying approximately forever. Not to mention that Jensen has had a million and one perfectly innocent male roommates, and Jared's never heard a hint of real gossip about him, for all the fan speculation that the crew rag on them about constantly. That comes with the territory, and nobody believes a word of it.
It's nice of Jensen to be concerned about Jared's reputation and all, but really. "There's no need, man," he says, and Jensen agrees at least to store his stuff there over the summer.
That's fine by Jared, because he can have another twenty great reasons for Jensen to move in by then. He hasn't even brought up the benefits to videogaming opposition on tap, or that they like all the same foods, namely steak, beer, and anything that can be delivered in under an hour.
So it's a shock when he tells Sandy about his fantastic plan, and she hates it.
"We're engaged, Jared," she says, and Jared's never felt restrained by that until he hears her say those words. "Don't you think we should be moving forward, not back?"
She's never been one of those girls who quotes women's magazines at him, but he gets the feeling that's what's happening here.
"It's not like we're going to live in Vancouver," he says, because it's not the plan, unless he ends up taking another role out there, which he supposes could happen, theoretically. "The house there is temporary. It's for the dogs, so they can have a yard."
"And Jensen," she says, and he's never heard that tone in her voice when she talks about him before.
"Since when do you not like Jensen?" he asks, because they've always got along fine. He would have noticed if they didn't, wouldn't he?
"Since he's always around," she says. "Since you don't come home every weekend. Since you would rather go watch some football game with him than visit me."
And the thing is, Jared realizes then, she's right. He does hang out with Jensen rather than fly out to L.A. every weekend, any weekend, now that Jensen mostly stays at home.
He'd want to hang out with Jensen as much as he does now even if they were all in L.A., or all in Vancouver. And he can't do that forever, not if he has marriage, and kids, and work.
"I want to marry you, Jared," Sandy says, and her eyes are suspiciously shiny. "But I don't want to marry Jensen too."
Jared wonders why his mom never warned him about being this kind of guy, until he realizes that she did.
"I don't think I'm ready for marriage," he tells Jensen when he calls him that night, but he can't find the rest of the words that he knows are there. The rest of what he might want to say, one day.
Jensen ditches his poker game and tells him ridiculous stories from the My Bloody Valentine set until Jared feels almost normal again.
"I miss you," he says, because they say that kind of thing, have done for years. Jared doesn't think he's ever meant it this much before.
"Yeah," Jensen says, and his voice cracks on the word. Jared falls asleep to the silence on the other end of the phone, but there's nothing uncomfortable about it.
Jensen's already at the house when Jared gets back to Vancouver a few weeks later, crashed out on Jared's couch with his boots still on and his glasses sliding off his nose. There are bags and boxes everywhere.
"Dude, you have a room now," Jared says, and kicks him awake. "Stop making the place untidy."
"You make my life untidy," Jensen tells him, because he's always grumpy when he first wakes up. Jared already knew that, and now he's going to see it every day.
It's going to be awesome.
"It's awesome," he tells his mom when she asks, and it really is. It's only been three weeks, but it is. Jensen's always been good company, but Jared never realized how empty the place felt when there was only one human occupant.
She's not uttered one word of reproach over Sandy, or the new arrangement with Jensen, which… well, Jared's mom has never been slow to share her opinion with him about anything, and she loved Sandy. Still does, he knows that. He appreciates her withholding the lecture, but he knows he has to have it sometime, is waiting for it even as she chatters on about Aunt Louise and her troublesome offspring, or the fruit trees she wants to plant this year.
"I think I'm in love with Jensen," he says when she pauses for breath.
There's nothing special about the Saturday morning in November when it happens. Jared finds Jensen in the kitchen comparing the instructions or ingredients or whatever on two cans of dog food, while Harley and Sadie wait patiently at his feet.
"Game and ham, or… duck and rabbit?" Jensen asks them, and scrutinizes their faces for a response while Jared grins at them all.
"Good choice," Jensen says eventually, and empties the can into their bowls. "Now eat your breakfasts."
Jared wades through the swish of tails and around the dog bowls, until he's right in Jensen's space.
"Dude, that's three mornings in a row they've turned down the game and ham," Jensen says, finally noticing Jared is there. He bites on his lip thoughtfully. "Maybe we shouldn't get any more of that one."
"Jensen." Jared's voice is firm as his hand comes up to touch Jensen's chest, his shoulder, his hair. Jensen's eyes are widening further with each successive movement, but he's not backing away and that's got to count for something. "Shut up about the dog food," he says, and presses his lips to Jensen's.
This is really not the moment for Jared to call his mom, but if he did? He'd be thanking her right now.
Jensen's skin is warm under his clothes, under Jared's hands, under his tongue.
"Fuck," Jensen says, and "Jared, your mouth-". Jared's kissing has improved since the eighth grade, and he's always been praised for his ability to learn quickly, but it's still a thrill to have Jensen squirming and gasping underneath him, pinned by Jared's body.
"I want to do everything," Jared says what seems like hours later, holding Jensen down and licking him open, fucking him with slick wet fingers. "Twice."
"Only twice?" Jensen sounds as if once will kill him, he's so far gone, but he's not begging to stop yet. "That all I get?"
Jared pushes inside him, sets up a rhythm, leans down low over Jensen's back.
"I'm just talking about tonight," he growls, and licks the sweat from the back of Jensen's neck.
In the end, it's on a dare, of all things.
"You would not."
Jensen whistles, picks up the phone. Jared watches him press the buttons, but he doesn't believe it.
"Mrs Padalecki?" Jensen leaps over the back of the couch and settles himself down comfortably. "It's-oh, you know. I'm fine, thank you, are-that's good to hear."
Jensen's an actor, he could totally be faking it. Jared's not falling for this stunt.
"Well, I was wondering if you and Mr Padalecki would have any objection to me asking Jared-" He grins and covers the phone with his hand. "Dude, she's way ahead of us. She cannot wait to get rid of you."
Jared lunges for the phone, and oh, holy Christ it really is his mom Jensen's been talking to.
"Is this what you want?" she says, sounding like she already knows the answer.
Jared looks at Jensen, who is now face to face with Sadie and attempting to lick his own nose like her.
"Yeah," he says, "it is." And although he's trying to play it cool, he can see Jensen's face crack into a grin.
*
Jensen's always nervous before going out in front of the fans. Or anyone, really. But Jared knows it helps when he's there, warms the crowd up a little first.
This crowd is so warm now it's practically on fire.
"Who's the lucky girl?" Someone calls from the back, and Jared hears someone cough "Or guy," down at the front before someone hushes them.
"Later!" he promises, and signs for the presenter guy to introduce Jensen.
Jensen looks okay, better than he expected, and Jared suspects he's gone right through terror and out the other side. If he was any prouder right now he'd probably explode, because he knows, better than anyone, what a huge, huge deal this is to Jensen.
"I was just explaining the lateness," Jared says when the crowd calms a little.
Jensen twists his fingers in his pocket, sees one or two people in the front row frown as they notice. "I heard." He coughs, clears his throat, and addresses the crowd. "Jared here likes to take responsibility for everything," he tells them, "but I have to take my share of the blame."
He moves closer to Jared, and Jared can tell even Jensen is enjoying it just a little when the audience starts to get it. Jensen eases his hand out of his pocket and holds it up, showing off the ring that's identical to Jared's.
"I kind of got married too," he says, and in the uproar Jared catches hold of his hand, just in case anyone hadn't got the message. From the flashes and clicks that assault them, he's pretty sure the whole internet will have the message before lunch, possibly before they leave the stage.
Jared slips something that might be a gooey, mangled gummi frog (or possibly not) into Jensen's shirt pocket and pats it. Hard.
"You know, divorce is always an option," Jensen grumbles, but Jared knows better.
"You're not that kind of guy, Jen," he says, and kisses him for the crowd.
Pairing: Jared/Jensen, with mentions of Jared/Sandy and OFCs
Rating: Adult.
Warnings: Um. Schmoop? Marriage-y type schmoop, I kid you not. And when is someone going to run the 'get the boys married' challenge, I'd like to know?
Summary: Serendipity: the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely. Jared lives and learns.
Disclaimer: This is all fiction, and any resemblance to reality other than an attempt at a plausible timeline is purely accidental.
Notes: For my dear friend and sometimes beta Lisa, who is having a really rough week. Sweetie, I hope this is what you were after! Everyone else, I apologise for the schmoopiness. *hides*
Jared's never been nervous before going out in front of the fans. He's lost count of the convention weekends by now, after five full seasons, and he's never had a problem.
He can totally do this. That tremor in his hand? Lack of sleep, that's all.
"I'll go out first," he tells the guy that's just been put in charge of them, and nobody looks surprised. Jensen nudges him, searching around in his pocket with a little frown creasing his forehead. He brings out a squashed gummi... something. It's not a bear, though it might be a frog. It's hard to say for sure in its less than pristine condition.
"I'll be with you in spirit," Jensen intones, pressing it solemnly into Jared's left hand.
Jensen's spirit, it seems, is mostly green. It's also kind of sticky, for which Jared will get his revenge later, but for now he keeps it in his palm, shoves his hand deep in his pocket, and turns for the door. It's oddly reassuring to feel it there, and somehow, god knows how when his stomach is threatening to leap out of his throat, it's the same as always. As soon as he catches the first squeak from the crowd, the first excited face, he's filled with energy enough to light up the room, can feel it buzzing around him, coming from this amazing crowd.
That's when he knows he really can do this.
"Hi!" he shouts, bounding onto the stage. The greeting bubbles out of him, and he points, exclaims, admires a t-shirt here, a poster there, waves every time someone calls out his name, even remembers to acknowledge the back of the room as much as he can.
"So," he says, fingers still toying with the little green something in his palm. "We're a little late getting started, and it's totally my fault, I'm sorry."
There are a few rustles from the crowd, some mumbling.
"The thing is," Jared says, and he can't help the grin that's creeping onto his lips, pulling them into a hopeless curve, because although, yes, there's a possibility this will backfire, he's just so damn pleased with himself. "The thing is, I kind of-"
He pulls his left hand out of his pocket, reluctantly letting go of the maybe-frog stuck to his palm. He flashes the back of his hand to the audience and immediately he can hear the front row whisper, one girl say "Oh my god" as she catches sight of the ring, all shiny and new.
Jared grins, half sheepish, half still beside himself. "I kind of got married yesterday."
*
Jared's very young, maybe nine or ten, when his mom tells him not to grow up to be one of those guys. The kind who's only after one thing, she says, even though Jared isn't very clear what that one thing is. Or the kind who flits from girl to girl, she says, that breaks hearts without ever taking a dent to his own.
Jared's always wanted his mom to be proud of him, so he decides there and then. He's never going to be like that.
When Jared is thirteen, he falls in love. Missy Jacobs is pretty, although she doesn't believe him when he tells her that. Her stepsister Allie has long blonde hair and wears lipstick every day to school until the teachers make her wipe it off, and all the boys are interested in her.
Missy likes reading the same books Jared does, and her eyes are the color of melted chocolate. She makes Jared feel all funny inside, and lets him kiss her, just once, in the life sciences section of the library. He kind of bumps her nose, and he hasn't done it before so he probably really sucks, but she giggles all the same. He grins all the way home, but the next time he sees her, she's holding hands with Davey Nicholls, Allie's boyfriend's best friend. She doesn't say one more word to him from then until graduation.
Jared didn't think the kiss sucked that much.
Jared's mom makes her lips go all thin when he tells her, hesitantly, about Missy's betrayal. She doesn't say very much, but she doesn't stop him helping himself to the black cherry ice cream after dinner, even though they both know he'll have a stomach ache later.
He never wanted to feel that way again, but the thing is, Jared can't really do half-measures. How can anyone really get to know you if you don't put it all out there, be yourself? It's always seemed obvious to him.
So by the time he meets Ellie, he's been burned a few times. He doesn't think it shows, though. "You're like a great big puppy," she tells him, and laughs. It's hardly the first time someone's called him that, but Jared can't see what's wrong with it. Dogs are great: when they love you they hold nothing back, and apart from the odd one (which Jared puts down to mistreatment by humans, no two ways about it) they're always willing to give a friendly face a chance.
Jared thinks the world would be a better place if people were more like dogs. Ellie doesn't agree, but it's not really a big deal because they have plenty of other things in common. She's a student, but unlike most of the students he's met she doesn't talk to him like he's an idiot just because he's skipping college to be on some teen show she doesn't even watch. They spend most of their time kissing anyway, and Jared thinks maybe he doesn't suck at it any more.
He tells her he loves her on Valentine's Day, sitting in a café with rain pouring down outside. Her little round glasses steam up when he kisses her, but she doesn't complain, and doesn't wipe them clean straight away. She puts his card and gift in her shoulder bag with awkward fingers and it's a good half hour after she leaves before he realizes she didn't say anything back.
Jared doesn't push it, but he's not surprised a few weeks later when she breaks things off. He's been waiting for it.
"I don't need anything complicated right now," she explains, but Jared doesn't see what's so complicated about just wanting to be around someone. Dogs can manage it, he thinks, so why can't people?
He passes the animal shelter on his way home that night, and although he has resisted going in every other day because this is so far from the ideal time to get a dog, this time he doesn't stop himself.
Turns out there's never an ideal time to get a dog, but from the first time Harley lays his head on Jared's lap, it really doesn't matter.
Jared's mom never tells him girls can be just like those guys, but he works it out for himself in the end.
Of course, eventually he meets Sandy.
Jared knows pretty much from the start that they'll end up together. Together forever, and he's sure she feels it too. She's everything he's ever imagined in his perfect girl.
On their first date she falls asleep with her arms around his dog, on the second she runs barefoot down the street like a crazy person, and on the third he finds out they want the same number of children. He hasn't even mentioned love yet, but he already knows she'll say it back, and she doesn't disappoint him.
They're young, ambitious, and in no hurry to rush towards that future, so it's four years before Jared goes shopping for a ring. By then their little family includes Sadie, because if Jared has someone special, Harley should have someone too.
That should be where the story ends, with the obligatory happily ever after.
Nobody is more surprised than Jared that it doesn't.
When Jared first talks to his mom about acting, he asks her if she thinks he can make it. All she says is: "If we know where every path goes, JT, there's no fun in walking down them."
He's thought about that saying a lot, lately.
Sandy's thrilled for him when he gets the Supernatural gig. She's understanding about the time they'll have to spend apart, because hey-they have their whole lives ahead of them, and in this business they know it'll only be a problem if they let it.
He has no expectations about meeting his new co-star for the first time; he might have had if he'd had chance to even think about it, but the whole thing has been insane, what with moving to another country, and making arrangements for the dogs. He doesn't even know Jensen is from Texas until they're up there on set and he hears that drawl slip into Jensen's soft, deep voice at the end of a long, hard day.
When he goes to sleep that first night in a strange new place, it's on several beers, the buzz of talking about home, and with Jensen's crooked grin behind his eyelids.
His first trip home that year is for Thanksgiving, and before the festivities are halfway over his sister is shouting out 'Jensen says' every time Jared opens his mouth. That's one story he doesn't share with Jensen when they get back to Vancouver, and instead he tells him his little sister has a crush on him. It's his duty as a brother, and as a friend.
"So obviously I told her you were gay," Jared says, with a gleeful cackle.
The way Jensen ducks his eyes is nothing unusual when he's embarrassed, but for some reason that's the moment Jared's brain decides to stop being dense.
"Oh," he says, breathless suddenly, and stops, not sure what else to say. He feels really stupid, because it took him no time at all to get behind Jensen's façade, but somehow he hadn't consciously put all the pieces together until now. "I didn't know, man."
Jensen's head slides forward until it rests on his folded arms. He bangs his forehead up and down a couple of times before he says, voice muffled. "You weren't supposed to."
Jared just laughs, because if Jensen thinks this will put Jared off being his friend, he needs to get his head out of his ass. "So do you have full-on gaydar? Because I have this bet with Chad about Milo, and-"
The make-up girls moan about the state of Jared's hair when Jensen has finished shoving Jared's head into the table, but when Jared looks across at Jensen as they fuss over him, he's just about smiling again.
Everyone who knows Jared knows that he will do anything to make Jensen smile.
When Jared's mom meets Jensen, it takes her a long time - by Jared's admittedly impatient standards -- to deliver a verdict. "I like him," she says in the end, while Jared is pouring out the New Year toasts, and Jared's too delighted to wonder why she seemed reluctant to say it. "Be careful, honey," is the only other thing she says, and Jared rolls his eyes, because he has the steadiest hand in the family, which is why he's the one pouring the champagne.
The first glass he clinks is Jensen's, before he kisses Sandy.
Jared doesn't even think about it when Jensen needs somewhere new to live.
"I've plenty of room," he says, and although Jensen comes up with a million reasons why it's a bad idea, Jared has answers for all of them. For god's sake, they've been best friends for three years by now, nobody's going to say anything they haven't been saying approximately forever. Not to mention that Jensen has had a million and one perfectly innocent male roommates, and Jared's never heard a hint of real gossip about him, for all the fan speculation that the crew rag on them about constantly. That comes with the territory, and nobody believes a word of it.
It's nice of Jensen to be concerned about Jared's reputation and all, but really. "There's no need, man," he says, and Jensen agrees at least to store his stuff there over the summer.
That's fine by Jared, because he can have another twenty great reasons for Jensen to move in by then. He hasn't even brought up the benefits to videogaming opposition on tap, or that they like all the same foods, namely steak, beer, and anything that can be delivered in under an hour.
So it's a shock when he tells Sandy about his fantastic plan, and she hates it.
"We're engaged, Jared," she says, and Jared's never felt restrained by that until he hears her say those words. "Don't you think we should be moving forward, not back?"
She's never been one of those girls who quotes women's magazines at him, but he gets the feeling that's what's happening here.
"It's not like we're going to live in Vancouver," he says, because it's not the plan, unless he ends up taking another role out there, which he supposes could happen, theoretically. "The house there is temporary. It's for the dogs, so they can have a yard."
"And Jensen," she says, and he's never heard that tone in her voice when she talks about him before.
"Since when do you not like Jensen?" he asks, because they've always got along fine. He would have noticed if they didn't, wouldn't he?
"Since he's always around," she says. "Since you don't come home every weekend. Since you would rather go watch some football game with him than visit me."
And the thing is, Jared realizes then, she's right. He does hang out with Jensen rather than fly out to L.A. every weekend, any weekend, now that Jensen mostly stays at home.
He'd want to hang out with Jensen as much as he does now even if they were all in L.A., or all in Vancouver. And he can't do that forever, not if he has marriage, and kids, and work.
"I want to marry you, Jared," Sandy says, and her eyes are suspiciously shiny. "But I don't want to marry Jensen too."
Jared wonders why his mom never warned him about being this kind of guy, until he realizes that she did.
"I don't think I'm ready for marriage," he tells Jensen when he calls him that night, but he can't find the rest of the words that he knows are there. The rest of what he might want to say, one day.
Jensen ditches his poker game and tells him ridiculous stories from the My Bloody Valentine set until Jared feels almost normal again.
"I miss you," he says, because they say that kind of thing, have done for years. Jared doesn't think he's ever meant it this much before.
"Yeah," Jensen says, and his voice cracks on the word. Jared falls asleep to the silence on the other end of the phone, but there's nothing uncomfortable about it.
Jensen's already at the house when Jared gets back to Vancouver a few weeks later, crashed out on Jared's couch with his boots still on and his glasses sliding off his nose. There are bags and boxes everywhere.
"Dude, you have a room now," Jared says, and kicks him awake. "Stop making the place untidy."
"You make my life untidy," Jensen tells him, because he's always grumpy when he first wakes up. Jared already knew that, and now he's going to see it every day.
It's going to be awesome.
"It's awesome," he tells his mom when she asks, and it really is. It's only been three weeks, but it is. Jensen's always been good company, but Jared never realized how empty the place felt when there was only one human occupant.
She's not uttered one word of reproach over Sandy, or the new arrangement with Jensen, which… well, Jared's mom has never been slow to share her opinion with him about anything, and she loved Sandy. Still does, he knows that. He appreciates her withholding the lecture, but he knows he has to have it sometime, is waiting for it even as she chatters on about Aunt Louise and her troublesome offspring, or the fruit trees she wants to plant this year.
"I think I'm in love with Jensen," he says when she pauses for breath.
There's nothing special about the Saturday morning in November when it happens. Jared finds Jensen in the kitchen comparing the instructions or ingredients or whatever on two cans of dog food, while Harley and Sadie wait patiently at his feet.
"Game and ham, or… duck and rabbit?" Jensen asks them, and scrutinizes their faces for a response while Jared grins at them all.
"Good choice," Jensen says eventually, and empties the can into their bowls. "Now eat your breakfasts."
Jared wades through the swish of tails and around the dog bowls, until he's right in Jensen's space.
"Dude, that's three mornings in a row they've turned down the game and ham," Jensen says, finally noticing Jared is there. He bites on his lip thoughtfully. "Maybe we shouldn't get any more of that one."
"Jensen." Jared's voice is firm as his hand comes up to touch Jensen's chest, his shoulder, his hair. Jensen's eyes are widening further with each successive movement, but he's not backing away and that's got to count for something. "Shut up about the dog food," he says, and presses his lips to Jensen's.
This is really not the moment for Jared to call his mom, but if he did? He'd be thanking her right now.
Jensen's skin is warm under his clothes, under Jared's hands, under his tongue.
"Fuck," Jensen says, and "Jared, your mouth-". Jared's kissing has improved since the eighth grade, and he's always been praised for his ability to learn quickly, but it's still a thrill to have Jensen squirming and gasping underneath him, pinned by Jared's body.
"I want to do everything," Jared says what seems like hours later, holding Jensen down and licking him open, fucking him with slick wet fingers. "Twice."
"Only twice?" Jensen sounds as if once will kill him, he's so far gone, but he's not begging to stop yet. "That all I get?"
Jared pushes inside him, sets up a rhythm, leans down low over Jensen's back.
"I'm just talking about tonight," he growls, and licks the sweat from the back of Jensen's neck.
In the end, it's on a dare, of all things.
"You would not."
Jensen whistles, picks up the phone. Jared watches him press the buttons, but he doesn't believe it.
"Mrs Padalecki?" Jensen leaps over the back of the couch and settles himself down comfortably. "It's-oh, you know. I'm fine, thank you, are-that's good to hear."
Jensen's an actor, he could totally be faking it. Jared's not falling for this stunt.
"Well, I was wondering if you and Mr Padalecki would have any objection to me asking Jared-" He grins and covers the phone with his hand. "Dude, she's way ahead of us. She cannot wait to get rid of you."
Jared lunges for the phone, and oh, holy Christ it really is his mom Jensen's been talking to.
"Is this what you want?" she says, sounding like she already knows the answer.
Jared looks at Jensen, who is now face to face with Sadie and attempting to lick his own nose like her.
"Yeah," he says, "it is." And although he's trying to play it cool, he can see Jensen's face crack into a grin.
*
Jensen's always nervous before going out in front of the fans. Or anyone, really. But Jared knows it helps when he's there, warms the crowd up a little first.
This crowd is so warm now it's practically on fire.
"Who's the lucky girl?" Someone calls from the back, and Jared hears someone cough "Or guy," down at the front before someone hushes them.
"Later!" he promises, and signs for the presenter guy to introduce Jensen.
Jensen looks okay, better than he expected, and Jared suspects he's gone right through terror and out the other side. If he was any prouder right now he'd probably explode, because he knows, better than anyone, what a huge, huge deal this is to Jensen.
"I was just explaining the lateness," Jared says when the crowd calms a little.
Jensen twists his fingers in his pocket, sees one or two people in the front row frown as they notice. "I heard." He coughs, clears his throat, and addresses the crowd. "Jared here likes to take responsibility for everything," he tells them, "but I have to take my share of the blame."
He moves closer to Jared, and Jared can tell even Jensen is enjoying it just a little when the audience starts to get it. Jensen eases his hand out of his pocket and holds it up, showing off the ring that's identical to Jared's.
"I kind of got married too," he says, and in the uproar Jared catches hold of his hand, just in case anyone hadn't got the message. From the flashes and clicks that assault them, he's pretty sure the whole internet will have the message before lunch, possibly before they leave the stage.
Jared slips something that might be a gooey, mangled gummi frog (or possibly not) into Jensen's shirt pocket and pats it. Hard.
"You know, divorce is always an option," Jensen grumbles, but Jared knows better.
"You're not that kind of guy, Jen," he says, and kisses him for the crowd.