Bunnies of the Non-Eastery Type
I always feel guilty when I post long, serious things, like I should immediately follow it up with something more fun. So this is more fun! Two miscellaneous Chris/Steve AU bunnies:
The Chef AU
For some reason, the chef AU became very popular in a very short amount of time. I think I read four different J2 chef AUs in the period of a week or so. And because my mind is (almost) all Chris/Steve all the time, I thought they should have a chef AU too.
Steve is the head chef at 67, owned by Eric Kripke. Let's make Danneel his sous chef (if Chris has a female sous chef, we'll give Steve one too), Jared the pastry chef, and Jensen the cute waiter. Maybe the three of them can have a threesome thing going on. Jeff would have to be there too. Let's make him the sommelier. Maybe Mike's the crazy busboy and Tom's the other cute waiter.
Chris is the head chef at Hyperion, owned by Joss Whedon. Stephanie Romanov is his sous chef. Dave has to be there somewhere, so let's make him the sommelier. Alexis Denisof is the pastry chef, and he and waitress Alyson Hannigan have an adorable love affair going on. Mercedes McNabb is the hostess. James Marsters and Charisma Carpenter are bitchy waitstaff. Vincent Kartheiser is the broodingly teenage busboy. (Hmm. Except for the part where he's not actually a teenager. Maybe the fact that everyone thinks he is is part of what he's broody about.)
67 and Hyperion are competitors, of course, in the high-end restaurant business. Chris and Steve somehow meet outside of that and fall in love and there's possibly drama about them working at competing restaurants. I don't know. I mostly just wanted to cast it.
The Werewolf AU
Steve's Alpha of his own pack now, a group of musicians, artists, actors: people doing the work their souls tell them they should be doing.
Chris is Steve's mate, which makes him pack second, although he'd probably be that even without it. Steve took Chris from another pack, or, more accurately, Chris came from another pack because Steve didn't fight for him head on. First of all, he wasn't entirely sure he could win that fight with Chris's Alpha, and secondly, he was pretty sure Chris was the type of guy who wouldn't mind being reminded of who he belonged to but wouldn't appreciate being taken in the first place. So Steve went the long way around and applied his music, his cooking, and the firm certainty of his love until Chris left his pack and joined Steve's of his own volition.
Aldis came from Chris's old pack too. He's barely a pup, and he adores Chris. Steve's had to growl to most new wolves and too many older wolves new to the pack that they're to obey Chris as they would him; Chris had to take Aldis aside and tell him to obey Steve as he would Chris. Even though Aldis is new to the pack and hasn't quite learned to read the lines of power, he knows that Chris is Steve's.
Powerful wolves can tolerate silver, and silver jewelry is one of the things wolves look for when they're sizing each other up. Chris has a box full of the stuff. Steve buys him a piece to add to his collection, a wide cuff to cage his wrist. He has the inside engraved with four words in delicate script: wolves mate for life. It makes him feel better. Chris wears it to bed, nuzzles at Steve's neck and lets the metal rest against his skin. Steve doesn't need Chris's whispered "for life" to know what he means.
The thing about having Aldis around, though, is that he makes Jared look mature. Jared's older than he acts, although he hasn't said how much. Steve has some guesses he doesn't share. For a long time, Jared was a floater of sorts. He wasn't a lone wolf, exactly - he had pack ties, it's just that his pack was in Texas while he was in LA - but he hung out with any number of different packs. That was before he met Jensen. Jensen's been with Steve's pack almost since it formed. His previous pack wasn't bad, exactly, just not quite what Jensen needed. Jensen has a habit of getting himself into occasional trouble, nothing too big, just enough to be worrying. It was on one of those occasions that Jared met him, stood at his back and between them they finished the fight Jensen might or might not have started. Jared's been at Jensen's back since then.
This is where the villain should be introduced. The villain is a member of Chris and Aldis's old pack who is displeased that their Alpha (David Boreanaz, of course) didn't go get them back. I don't know who that should be, though. I only know that it can't be J. August Richards. The other subplot is about J (J.? Jay? He apparently refers to himself as J. and IMDb lists "Jay" as his nickname, but figuring out how to style this in prose without annoying or confusing readers is, well, annoying and confusing.) wanting Aldis to come back to their pack because he genuinely likes/is fond of/maybe loves Aldis and wants him there.
The Chef AU
For some reason, the chef AU became very popular in a very short amount of time. I think I read four different J2 chef AUs in the period of a week or so. And because my mind is (almost) all Chris/Steve all the time, I thought they should have a chef AU too.
Steve is the head chef at 67, owned by Eric Kripke. Let's make Danneel his sous chef (if Chris has a female sous chef, we'll give Steve one too), Jared the pastry chef, and Jensen the cute waiter. Maybe the three of them can have a threesome thing going on. Jeff would have to be there too. Let's make him the sommelier. Maybe Mike's the crazy busboy and Tom's the other cute waiter.
Chris is the head chef at Hyperion, owned by Joss Whedon. Stephanie Romanov is his sous chef. Dave has to be there somewhere, so let's make him the sommelier. Alexis Denisof is the pastry chef, and he and waitress Alyson Hannigan have an adorable love affair going on. Mercedes McNabb is the hostess. James Marsters and Charisma Carpenter are bitchy waitstaff. Vincent Kartheiser is the broodingly teenage busboy. (Hmm. Except for the part where he's not actually a teenager. Maybe the fact that everyone thinks he is is part of what he's broody about.)
67 and Hyperion are competitors, of course, in the high-end restaurant business. Chris and Steve somehow meet outside of that and fall in love and there's possibly drama about them working at competing restaurants. I don't know. I mostly just wanted to cast it.
The Werewolf AU
Steve's Alpha of his own pack now, a group of musicians, artists, actors: people doing the work their souls tell them they should be doing.
Chris is Steve's mate, which makes him pack second, although he'd probably be that even without it. Steve took Chris from another pack, or, more accurately, Chris came from another pack because Steve didn't fight for him head on. First of all, he wasn't entirely sure he could win that fight with Chris's Alpha, and secondly, he was pretty sure Chris was the type of guy who wouldn't mind being reminded of who he belonged to but wouldn't appreciate being taken in the first place. So Steve went the long way around and applied his music, his cooking, and the firm certainty of his love until Chris left his pack and joined Steve's of his own volition.
Aldis came from Chris's old pack too. He's barely a pup, and he adores Chris. Steve's had to growl to most new wolves and too many older wolves new to the pack that they're to obey Chris as they would him; Chris had to take Aldis aside and tell him to obey Steve as he would Chris. Even though Aldis is new to the pack and hasn't quite learned to read the lines of power, he knows that Chris is Steve's.
Powerful wolves can tolerate silver, and silver jewelry is one of the things wolves look for when they're sizing each other up. Chris has a box full of the stuff. Steve buys him a piece to add to his collection, a wide cuff to cage his wrist. He has the inside engraved with four words in delicate script: wolves mate for life. It makes him feel better. Chris wears it to bed, nuzzles at Steve's neck and lets the metal rest against his skin. Steve doesn't need Chris's whispered "for life" to know what he means.
The thing about having Aldis around, though, is that he makes Jared look mature. Jared's older than he acts, although he hasn't said how much. Steve has some guesses he doesn't share. For a long time, Jared was a floater of sorts. He wasn't a lone wolf, exactly - he had pack ties, it's just that his pack was in Texas while he was in LA - but he hung out with any number of different packs. That was before he met Jensen. Jensen's been with Steve's pack almost since it formed. His previous pack wasn't bad, exactly, just not quite what Jensen needed. Jensen has a habit of getting himself into occasional trouble, nothing too big, just enough to be worrying. It was on one of those occasions that Jared met him, stood at his back and between them they finished the fight Jensen might or might not have started. Jared's been at Jensen's back since then.
This is where the villain should be introduced. The villain is a member of Chris and Aldis's old pack who is displeased that their Alpha (David Boreanaz, of course) didn't go get them back. I don't know who that should be, though. I only know that it can't be J. August Richards. The other subplot is about J (J.? Jay? He apparently refers to himself as J. and IMDb lists "Jay" as his nickname, but figuring out how to style this in prose without annoying or confusing readers is, well, annoying and confusing.) wanting Aldis to come back to their pack because he genuinely likes/is fond of/maybe loves Aldis and wants him there.