FIC: "Thawing Distance" (6/10)
Thawing Distance
By Simarillion
Fandom: Supernatural RPS
Universe: Alternative Universe
Rating: NC-17
Beta: asm_z
Pairing: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki, others
Warnings: slash, M/M
Word Count: 3,448 (20,075)
Summary: Tell it like it is. (Of settling and living)
Disclaimer: None of the herein presented happenings and events are true. Everything is 100% fiction and that includes the sexuality of the characters. I don’t claim to be in the know about their relations and private affairs, and I don’t make any money with the creation of this story.
Author’s Note: I changed the age of Jensen and Jared, they are the same age now. The plot wouldn’t really work otherwise.
This is part 6 of the Glaciology! ‘verse. Jensen is a scientist in the field of glaciology and he spends most of his time surrounded by ice, whereas Jared is a Hollywood movie star. Prequel to this story are Invisible Glaciers, Iceberg Anatomy, Avalanches Approaching, Crevasse Rescue and Shelf Ice Meander.
[ Masterpost]
Part Six
The bar-b-q is a big success. More than the already expected neighbors and community members showed up. There is barely enough food to last them through the day and the night. The entertainment which in the end consists of movie for the kids, a live performance of Kane (the rest of the band decided to join in) and various smaller events like face painting for the kids, musical interludes at the culinary stations, including belly dancing, an Italian two man band and an impromptu Flamenco performance.
Mike and Tom help Jensen with his allotted tasks which mainly consist of helping with the set up of the movie equipment, carrying the instruments and the equipment of the band from the truck, which is parked entirely too far away, to the stage and help with the restocking of the culinary stations.
In the evening when the kids are settled in front of the white linen screen and everyone else is gathered in front of the stage where Steve and Chris are starting their show, Jensen dashes into Mary’s station, where she’s already busy washing pots and pans, and throwing away paper plates and plastic cutlery. Mike and Tom are safely set up next to the stage so he won’t be missed.
“Hi Jensen!” Mary is one of the kindest and friendliest people Jensen’s ever met, and he’s met a lot of nice and friendly people. She’s setting aside a large pan, taking the next one and submerging it into the foamy water. “Today was crazy.”
“There were so many people. I’ve no idea where they all came from.” He takes one of the clean dishes and grabs a semi-dry dishtowel. Wiping the pot down, he leans against the counter behind him and looks out at the people in front of the stage. “All we wanted to do was organize a neighborhood bar-b-q. It’s unbelievable how this turned out.”
“Ruth set up a big bowl and asked people to donate since they aren’t paying anything for the food. It’s quite a sum and they said that since you’re on campus all the time, you should be able to find a good charity or project we can donate the money to.” Another pan and a large spoon are added to the pile of clean but wet dishes.
Jensen thinks about the question. There are a number of charities that come to his mind but he wants it to be something that his neighbors can relate to as well. Suddenly he remembers a discussion he had with Loretta only this week. Her younger sister is a social worker working with handicapped kids at a local hospital. She had told Jensen that at the moment they are petitioning for more funds to renovate the children’s hospital wing.
“I think I know something that would be perfect for it.” Jensen tells Mary about the hospital and the kids and the second he mentions ill handicapped children and the need of more funding her eyes shine brightly and he knows that the money will definitely go to this cause.
“Ruth will love it.” And with this they silently wash and dry, listening to the music.
The concert lasts for almost three hours, Chris and Steve lure Jensen on stage after the first break and he stays as a back up for the rest of the gig. The encore is a song with Jensen as the lead. He gets badgered into this not only by Chris and Steve, but Tom, Mike, Mary, Bill, Ruth and a number of his other neighbors nag as well, and so he just shakes his head and grabs the mike. What else can he do?
It’s really late when the party is declared to be officially over. Most of the kids are already at home and sleeping, and people are drifting off towards their cars, tired and happy. It is decided that the equipment will be stored in Bill’s garage until the next day, and Tom and Mike follow the rest of Kane to the cars.
After the long day everyone just drops face down into their bed, Jensen doesn’t even take off his clothes. He barely manages to toe off his shoes before falling asleep. He stays dead to the world until eleven the next day. The last time he got up this late was sometime at university after a particularly long party.
When he pads out of the bedroom, clothes rumpled, hair tousled, creases of the pillow still decorating his face, he can hear voices outside talking and laughing. Slowly Jensen heads downstairs, yawning all the way. With one hand he rubs the crusty residue from his eyes.
The noise is from his back porch. He identifies Steve and Mary, there’s the occasional bark and yip from Dean intermingled with the human chatting. Carding his fingers through his hair to get it into a somewhat resemblance of order and smoothing down his clothes, he opens the back door and looks outside.
He finds Steve sitting on the stairs talking with Mary who holds a basket with cake, pie and muffins. “Morning.”
His greeting has Steve turn around, smiling at him, and Mary giggles amused. “Looks like someone had a long night.”
At that Steve laughs winking conspiratorially at her. “I think Jensen is still asleep.”
“Ha-ha, very funny.” He sits down next to Steve, blinking against the sun light. “I’m sorry, I missed most of the morning and I promised to help with cleaning duty.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry for. You already helped yesterday and most of the stuff will be picked up in the afternoon. The cooling units and hot plates stay until John gets the truck for the transportation. It was really nice of his sister-in-law to lend us everything. She said that her catering company had nothing booked for that time.” Mary hands her basket over and the most heavenly smell wafts from it. It’s all sugar and cinnamon and chocolate and spices. “They are left-overs from last night. I thought that since you have visitors you might like something for breakfast.”
“Mary, I love you.” Jensen moans happily as he takes a bite of an apple cinnamon muffin. He chews slowly savoring the taste. “Will you marry me?”
His question has all three of them break out into laughter. Dean, who thinks that the humans are making all that noise just to attract him, runs over from the bushes in the back of the garden and barks happily. The husky tries his best to get a treat from the basket once he reaches Jensen.
“No way, you greedy mutt.” Jensen holds the basket up and out of Dean’s reach. “Look at you, the last couple of days you ate more than an elephant. You’ll get fat.”
At this Mary pats the husky’s head and with a final wave, leaves them to fight over the food she delivered. Steve isn’t of any help either. He just snags a scone and gets up, walking back into the house with the words: “I’ll make coffee.”
It’s about two in the afternoon when Chris finally rises from the dead and by that time the rest of the band has arrived as well. They carry everything from Bill’s garage to the truck and after a take out dinner of pizza and beer, Kane heads out.
Once he’s on his own Jensen cleans up his kitchen and then he changes his clothes, taking Dean for a run. During the afternoon the whole street had been cleared of any signs that the prior night a huge bar-b-q had taken place. He waves at neighbors who bring their cars back into the street, parking them once more in front of their houses.
Later that night he sets an alarm for the next day to ensure he’s up on time for Jared’s interview on the morning TV. Jared had told him that the only reason why he did that interview was that his little niece had complained that she never gets to watch any interviews with his uncle since they are always in the evening or more often than not, at night.
Throughout the morning TV show Jared sends him messages, mocking the interviewer and making fun of the questions. Jensen wonders what the director thinks about his actor texting non-stop during work.
In the afternoon, Jensen is sitting on the porch reading a book for one of his classes. There’s a knock on his door and when he opens it he finds no-one else but Chad Michael Murray and Zac Efron standing on his front porch. Both of them have black sun glasses crammed onto their noses, caps tucked low into their face.
Jensen can’t help himself, he sees the ‘icognito’ stars and starts laughing. The get up just looks so stupid. Wiping tears from his eyes he just turns and walks back into the house, leaving the door open for his guests to enter.
His laughter attracts Dean’s attention who peers around the corner from the kitchen into the hall. At first the husky growls softly but upon recognizing Chad he barks happily running at their guest, almost bowling the blond over. Doggy kisses and more barking accompany the two Hollywood stars into the living room.
While Zac and Chad pet Dean, having the dog space out about the canine heaven he finds himself in, Jensen gets three beers and joins his visitors. Without a word he hands a bottle to each of them. Zac nods his thanks, leaning back and taking off his sun glasses. There are dark smudges under his eyes, the rings looking almost like bruises. Apparently the actor had not found too much sleep recently.
“Thanks dude.” Chad shoves his shades onto his head, leaning back into the couch. Sprawling comfortably he looks around the room.
“So,” Jensen studies his surprise guests. There is some kind of tension but he doesn’t know what it is all about. “how’s it going in the Land of Dreams?”
His question has Zac wince and Chad snort. Apparently this is not a good topic to talk about. “Things are interesting.”
The way Chad says it has Jensen raise his eyebrows, prompting them to extrapolate on the comment. There’s no way that the two of them came all the way from LA to San Francisco for nothing. Not on a whim. Even if they have no ulterior motive they most certainly hope to accomplish something by their travel up north.
“Interesting?” Jensen watches Chad drink and Zac hunch into himself. “Why are you here, not that I’m not happy to have you visit.”
“Well, let’s just say that my man Zac here has a little problem with his girl, or rather the fact that he no longer has a girl, and since things are rather tense down South right now, I suggested paying you a visit.” Chad sets his bottle down on the coffee table and turns toward Jensen. “Nice house, I like it.”
“Thanks.” He can’t help but feel a little bit guilty of all the problems Zac seems to be having right now. Had he not been so drunk at the premiere party, he would never have come up with the idea of pairing Zac up with Shia Labeouf. “What about the other culprit?”
“He’s in Europe.” The words are weak and there is more than just of trace of tiredness in the tone of voice. The answer is the first thing Zac has said since showing up on Jensen’s doorstep.
“He’s waiting out the wrath of Vanessa Anne Hudgens as far away as possible.” Chad ignores the minute tremor that runs through his friend’s body and just continues on. “If you ask me he’s a total prick to run and let my man here deal with everything on his own. It’s not like Zac was the only one snogging. There are always two people involved and we all remember Shia being all hands at the party.”
Jensen thinks hard about anything he can say that might help or at least not make things worse but nothing comes to mind. Who would have thought that a drunk observation and dare would turn out like this. A question suddenly springs to his mind. “Does the press know about the circumstances of Zac and Vanessa breaking up?”
“No.” Zac looks up from his beer bottle and looks at Jensen. There are dark rings under his eyes. “They think it’s a PR gag and somehow for some elusive reason Vanessa hasn’t said anything about the why and how either.”
“Well, that’s good, right?” He waits for Chad or Zac to agree with him.
“Yeah, but don’t count on them never finding out, because there were a lot of people at the party and odds are that one of them is going to talk. Maybe not to the press but to some third party and then this someone tells someone else and so on and so on. In the end the media will find out and that will suck.” Dean’s arrival has Chad put his beer away, leaning forward to scratch the husky behind his ears, causing happy doggy whines. “After Jared going gay, Zac and Shia making out with each other is going to be exactly what they are looking for.”
Jensen fights back a snort as a though pops up in his head. “Who are we gonna pair you up with, hm?”
The question has Chad scowl and Zac chuckle. “Dude, this body is sole property of all the ladies out there. No guy’s gonna get a shot at it.”
The outraged reaction has the other two howling with laughter, causing Chad to scowl even more.
“What a pity.” Zac takes a swig from his bottle and then turns to Chad, winking at him playfully. “I might have wanted to give you a try.”
The spluttering this causes has Jensen almost fall from the couch as he rolls up laughing. His sides are hurting and he holds them to keep from the stinging to get worse. His letting go of the upholstery of the couch results in a drop from the seat onto the floor.
Dean who doesn’t get why the humans are behaving so strangely, trots over to Jensen and sniffs at his face. Once that the security measure proved his owner to be of no danger, the husky starts licking his face.
Reaching up and holding onto the dog, he buries his face in Dean’s fur. The gesture has the dog yip happily. There’s nothing Dean loves more than attention, and Jensen clinging to him, petting him, is by far the best kind of attention there is.
For the rest of the afternoon and in the evening their talk doesn’t improve at all. Whenever Chad says something douchy about Shia and Zac, Zac retaliates by flirting with Chad, which shuts the blond up much faster than anything else. Jensen can’t help but tease his friend about his reaction.
Additionally to the talking and joking, beer and Tequila help with the situation they are trying to discuss. Sometime after the fourth bottle of beer, Jensen gives Jared a call, telling him decidedly that Shia Labeouf is a douche bag. His declaration has Jared laugh and tell Jensen to send Chad his greetings. Shortly after that he has to hang up because he’s on set.
By the time that their tequila bottle is empty as well, Zac is asleep in the chair, one bottle of beer in his hand.
Jensen tells his friend about the big party they had on his street and describes in great detail the schemes Jared had made up to escape from set and show up for the bar-b-q.
“He said that he has the MacGyver episode on his computer. The one where they build the plane.” Jensen takes a swig from his beer bottle. “Said he was already working on it.”
With bleary eyes Chad stares at Jensen. It almost seems like he’s solving the Ultimate Question and Jensen feels the urge to blurt out ’42’, half sure that it’s the answer to whatever his friend seems to be looking for. With every second that passes, Chad’s eyes become more cross-eyed, until Jensen is sure that he must see everything double.
“You know it’s like birds.” Jensen stares at him, not sure how to respond to this. He isn’t really sure he should be insulted or flattered. Zac curls up in his armchair, mumbling unintelligently and clinging to his bottle of booze.
“What?” He thinks that about expresses what he thinks about the strange comment.
“Yea, you know how birds, they can fly real high and they shit on your head. Sometimes those fuckers fly right into your eye, almost. Scares me to death. But then I watch those stupid documentaries on TV where you can see them fly and you see that they’re actually beautiful. That’s how Jared feels about you.” Chad looks at Jensen all uncomfortable, embarrassed about having to discuss emotional stuff with him.
“Uh, okay.” He thinks that bird shit in the same breath as Jared’s feelings is somewhat disturbing, but he gets what Chad is struggling to say. He can’t help feeling happy about the bizarre love declaration. “I like him too.”
This was apparently the right thing to say because Chad nods, grinning happily. With another smile at Jensen, he turns his head to the side, resting it on the couch and from one second to the next he’s asleep, snoring softly. If anyone saw him like that they would never believe the bitchiness that can be Chad Michael Murray.
With a last look at the two sleeping figures Jensen carefully gets up from the couch. He’s a little uncoordinated from all the alcohol he’s drunk but he manages to make it to the kitchen and back without disturbing any of them. Jensen slips out of the house onto his back porch and climbs onto the garden bench, curling up. He dials Jared’s number and presses the phone to his ear.
“Hello?” The question is slurred with sleep, apparently a quiet evening and night. “Jensen?”
“Hey,” he answers, just happy with the world. It sounds sappy but Jensen suddenly feels like everything is exactly how it’s supposed to be. All the troubles and excitement of the past seem just like the road to the place where he’s right now.
“Did Chad treat you alright?” Jared already sounds more alert. “Is he telling lies about me?”
“Nope. He told me about the bird and shit and that you think I’m beautiful.” Maybe the answer to Jared’s question is bit confusing for everyone who hasn’t participated in the conversation but to Jensen it makes perfect sense. He closes his eyes, listening to Jared on the other end of the line, thinking about the last time they saw each other in person.
“Bird shit led to the two of you talking about my thoughts about you?” There’s a chuckle and rustling of sheets. “How much did the three of you drink?”
“M good.”
Laughter and then: “Yea, I can tell. So, d’you think I’m beautiful too?”
“I like you.” His words cause a silence on the phone, but Jensen really wants to say it. They have been talking about their feelings from time to time but mostly when they were fighting or something had happened that had hurt either of them. It’s only right to say it at a time when they are not having difficulties.
“Me too. You know, I think that I like you the best.” Jensen feels his heart speed up as he hears Jared’s declaration. “No, I’m pretty sure I don’t just know. I do like you the best Jensen.”
“Like you best too.” Even in his inebriated state Jensen realizes that they are getting pretty close to sliding into a chick flick moment. He takes a deep breath and suddenly a yawn splits his face. His eyes are kind of tired and he realizes that his thoughts are slowing down as well.
“Are you falling asleep on me?” There’s laughter in Jared’s voice.
“Sorry.” Jensen’s reply is more mumbled than anything else. It’s real hard, now that he’s lying down and his eyes are closed, to stay awake and to keep up with the conversation.
“Hey, don’t you worry. How about I tell you about my crazy day?” And then Jared starts talking. He tells Jensen about the mix up with the script and the broken coffee machine and the resulting craziness on set. There’s a story about one of the extras and her sprained ankle. Something about a monkey, and then Jensen doesn’t hear anything anymore because he’s asleep.
continue: Part Seven
By Simarillion
Fandom: Supernatural RPS
Universe: Alternative Universe
Rating: NC-17
Beta: asm_z
Pairing: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki, others
Warnings: slash, M/M
Word Count: 3,448 (20,075)
Summary: Tell it like it is. (Of settling and living)
Disclaimer: None of the herein presented happenings and events are true. Everything is 100% fiction and that includes the sexuality of the characters. I don’t claim to be in the know about their relations and private affairs, and I don’t make any money with the creation of this story.
Author’s Note: I changed the age of Jensen and Jared, they are the same age now. The plot wouldn’t really work otherwise.
This is part 6 of the Glaciology! ‘verse. Jensen is a scientist in the field of glaciology and he spends most of his time surrounded by ice, whereas Jared is a Hollywood movie star. Prequel to this story are Invisible Glaciers, Iceberg Anatomy, Avalanches Approaching, Crevasse Rescue and Shelf Ice Meander.
[ Masterpost]
Part Six
The bar-b-q is a big success. More than the already expected neighbors and community members showed up. There is barely enough food to last them through the day and the night. The entertainment which in the end consists of movie for the kids, a live performance of Kane (the rest of the band decided to join in) and various smaller events like face painting for the kids, musical interludes at the culinary stations, including belly dancing, an Italian two man band and an impromptu Flamenco performance.
Mike and Tom help Jensen with his allotted tasks which mainly consist of helping with the set up of the movie equipment, carrying the instruments and the equipment of the band from the truck, which is parked entirely too far away, to the stage and help with the restocking of the culinary stations.
In the evening when the kids are settled in front of the white linen screen and everyone else is gathered in front of the stage where Steve and Chris are starting their show, Jensen dashes into Mary’s station, where she’s already busy washing pots and pans, and throwing away paper plates and plastic cutlery. Mike and Tom are safely set up next to the stage so he won’t be missed.
“Hi Jensen!” Mary is one of the kindest and friendliest people Jensen’s ever met, and he’s met a lot of nice and friendly people. She’s setting aside a large pan, taking the next one and submerging it into the foamy water. “Today was crazy.”
“There were so many people. I’ve no idea where they all came from.” He takes one of the clean dishes and grabs a semi-dry dishtowel. Wiping the pot down, he leans against the counter behind him and looks out at the people in front of the stage. “All we wanted to do was organize a neighborhood bar-b-q. It’s unbelievable how this turned out.”
“Ruth set up a big bowl and asked people to donate since they aren’t paying anything for the food. It’s quite a sum and they said that since you’re on campus all the time, you should be able to find a good charity or project we can donate the money to.” Another pan and a large spoon are added to the pile of clean but wet dishes.
Jensen thinks about the question. There are a number of charities that come to his mind but he wants it to be something that his neighbors can relate to as well. Suddenly he remembers a discussion he had with Loretta only this week. Her younger sister is a social worker working with handicapped kids at a local hospital. She had told Jensen that at the moment they are petitioning for more funds to renovate the children’s hospital wing.
“I think I know something that would be perfect for it.” Jensen tells Mary about the hospital and the kids and the second he mentions ill handicapped children and the need of more funding her eyes shine brightly and he knows that the money will definitely go to this cause.
“Ruth will love it.” And with this they silently wash and dry, listening to the music.
The concert lasts for almost three hours, Chris and Steve lure Jensen on stage after the first break and he stays as a back up for the rest of the gig. The encore is a song with Jensen as the lead. He gets badgered into this not only by Chris and Steve, but Tom, Mike, Mary, Bill, Ruth and a number of his other neighbors nag as well, and so he just shakes his head and grabs the mike. What else can he do?
It’s really late when the party is declared to be officially over. Most of the kids are already at home and sleeping, and people are drifting off towards their cars, tired and happy. It is decided that the equipment will be stored in Bill’s garage until the next day, and Tom and Mike follow the rest of Kane to the cars.
After the long day everyone just drops face down into their bed, Jensen doesn’t even take off his clothes. He barely manages to toe off his shoes before falling asleep. He stays dead to the world until eleven the next day. The last time he got up this late was sometime at university after a particularly long party.
When he pads out of the bedroom, clothes rumpled, hair tousled, creases of the pillow still decorating his face, he can hear voices outside talking and laughing. Slowly Jensen heads downstairs, yawning all the way. With one hand he rubs the crusty residue from his eyes.
The noise is from his back porch. He identifies Steve and Mary, there’s the occasional bark and yip from Dean intermingled with the human chatting. Carding his fingers through his hair to get it into a somewhat resemblance of order and smoothing down his clothes, he opens the back door and looks outside.
He finds Steve sitting on the stairs talking with Mary who holds a basket with cake, pie and muffins. “Morning.”
His greeting has Steve turn around, smiling at him, and Mary giggles amused. “Looks like someone had a long night.”
At that Steve laughs winking conspiratorially at her. “I think Jensen is still asleep.”
“Ha-ha, very funny.” He sits down next to Steve, blinking against the sun light. “I’m sorry, I missed most of the morning and I promised to help with cleaning duty.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry for. You already helped yesterday and most of the stuff will be picked up in the afternoon. The cooling units and hot plates stay until John gets the truck for the transportation. It was really nice of his sister-in-law to lend us everything. She said that her catering company had nothing booked for that time.” Mary hands her basket over and the most heavenly smell wafts from it. It’s all sugar and cinnamon and chocolate and spices. “They are left-overs from last night. I thought that since you have visitors you might like something for breakfast.”
“Mary, I love you.” Jensen moans happily as he takes a bite of an apple cinnamon muffin. He chews slowly savoring the taste. “Will you marry me?”
His question has all three of them break out into laughter. Dean, who thinks that the humans are making all that noise just to attract him, runs over from the bushes in the back of the garden and barks happily. The husky tries his best to get a treat from the basket once he reaches Jensen.
“No way, you greedy mutt.” Jensen holds the basket up and out of Dean’s reach. “Look at you, the last couple of days you ate more than an elephant. You’ll get fat.”
At this Mary pats the husky’s head and with a final wave, leaves them to fight over the food she delivered. Steve isn’t of any help either. He just snags a scone and gets up, walking back into the house with the words: “I’ll make coffee.”
It’s about two in the afternoon when Chris finally rises from the dead and by that time the rest of the band has arrived as well. They carry everything from Bill’s garage to the truck and after a take out dinner of pizza and beer, Kane heads out.
Once he’s on his own Jensen cleans up his kitchen and then he changes his clothes, taking Dean for a run. During the afternoon the whole street had been cleared of any signs that the prior night a huge bar-b-q had taken place. He waves at neighbors who bring their cars back into the street, parking them once more in front of their houses.
Later that night he sets an alarm for the next day to ensure he’s up on time for Jared’s interview on the morning TV. Jared had told him that the only reason why he did that interview was that his little niece had complained that she never gets to watch any interviews with his uncle since they are always in the evening or more often than not, at night.
Throughout the morning TV show Jared sends him messages, mocking the interviewer and making fun of the questions. Jensen wonders what the director thinks about his actor texting non-stop during work.
In the afternoon, Jensen is sitting on the porch reading a book for one of his classes. There’s a knock on his door and when he opens it he finds no-one else but Chad Michael Murray and Zac Efron standing on his front porch. Both of them have black sun glasses crammed onto their noses, caps tucked low into their face.
Jensen can’t help himself, he sees the ‘icognito’ stars and starts laughing. The get up just looks so stupid. Wiping tears from his eyes he just turns and walks back into the house, leaving the door open for his guests to enter.
His laughter attracts Dean’s attention who peers around the corner from the kitchen into the hall. At first the husky growls softly but upon recognizing Chad he barks happily running at their guest, almost bowling the blond over. Doggy kisses and more barking accompany the two Hollywood stars into the living room.
While Zac and Chad pet Dean, having the dog space out about the canine heaven he finds himself in, Jensen gets three beers and joins his visitors. Without a word he hands a bottle to each of them. Zac nods his thanks, leaning back and taking off his sun glasses. There are dark smudges under his eyes, the rings looking almost like bruises. Apparently the actor had not found too much sleep recently.
“Thanks dude.” Chad shoves his shades onto his head, leaning back into the couch. Sprawling comfortably he looks around the room.
“So,” Jensen studies his surprise guests. There is some kind of tension but he doesn’t know what it is all about. “how’s it going in the Land of Dreams?”
His question has Zac wince and Chad snort. Apparently this is not a good topic to talk about. “Things are interesting.”
The way Chad says it has Jensen raise his eyebrows, prompting them to extrapolate on the comment. There’s no way that the two of them came all the way from LA to San Francisco for nothing. Not on a whim. Even if they have no ulterior motive they most certainly hope to accomplish something by their travel up north.
“Interesting?” Jensen watches Chad drink and Zac hunch into himself. “Why are you here, not that I’m not happy to have you visit.”
“Well, let’s just say that my man Zac here has a little problem with his girl, or rather the fact that he no longer has a girl, and since things are rather tense down South right now, I suggested paying you a visit.” Chad sets his bottle down on the coffee table and turns toward Jensen. “Nice house, I like it.”
“Thanks.” He can’t help but feel a little bit guilty of all the problems Zac seems to be having right now. Had he not been so drunk at the premiere party, he would never have come up with the idea of pairing Zac up with Shia Labeouf. “What about the other culprit?”
“He’s in Europe.” The words are weak and there is more than just of trace of tiredness in the tone of voice. The answer is the first thing Zac has said since showing up on Jensen’s doorstep.
“He’s waiting out the wrath of Vanessa Anne Hudgens as far away as possible.” Chad ignores the minute tremor that runs through his friend’s body and just continues on. “If you ask me he’s a total prick to run and let my man here deal with everything on his own. It’s not like Zac was the only one snogging. There are always two people involved and we all remember Shia being all hands at the party.”
Jensen thinks hard about anything he can say that might help or at least not make things worse but nothing comes to mind. Who would have thought that a drunk observation and dare would turn out like this. A question suddenly springs to his mind. “Does the press know about the circumstances of Zac and Vanessa breaking up?”
“No.” Zac looks up from his beer bottle and looks at Jensen. There are dark rings under his eyes. “They think it’s a PR gag and somehow for some elusive reason Vanessa hasn’t said anything about the why and how either.”
“Well, that’s good, right?” He waits for Chad or Zac to agree with him.
“Yeah, but don’t count on them never finding out, because there were a lot of people at the party and odds are that one of them is going to talk. Maybe not to the press but to some third party and then this someone tells someone else and so on and so on. In the end the media will find out and that will suck.” Dean’s arrival has Chad put his beer away, leaning forward to scratch the husky behind his ears, causing happy doggy whines. “After Jared going gay, Zac and Shia making out with each other is going to be exactly what they are looking for.”
Jensen fights back a snort as a though pops up in his head. “Who are we gonna pair you up with, hm?”
The question has Chad scowl and Zac chuckle. “Dude, this body is sole property of all the ladies out there. No guy’s gonna get a shot at it.”
The outraged reaction has the other two howling with laughter, causing Chad to scowl even more.
“What a pity.” Zac takes a swig from his bottle and then turns to Chad, winking at him playfully. “I might have wanted to give you a try.”
The spluttering this causes has Jensen almost fall from the couch as he rolls up laughing. His sides are hurting and he holds them to keep from the stinging to get worse. His letting go of the upholstery of the couch results in a drop from the seat onto the floor.
Dean who doesn’t get why the humans are behaving so strangely, trots over to Jensen and sniffs at his face. Once that the security measure proved his owner to be of no danger, the husky starts licking his face.
Reaching up and holding onto the dog, he buries his face in Dean’s fur. The gesture has the dog yip happily. There’s nothing Dean loves more than attention, and Jensen clinging to him, petting him, is by far the best kind of attention there is.
For the rest of the afternoon and in the evening their talk doesn’t improve at all. Whenever Chad says something douchy about Shia and Zac, Zac retaliates by flirting with Chad, which shuts the blond up much faster than anything else. Jensen can’t help but tease his friend about his reaction.
Additionally to the talking and joking, beer and Tequila help with the situation they are trying to discuss. Sometime after the fourth bottle of beer, Jensen gives Jared a call, telling him decidedly that Shia Labeouf is a douche bag. His declaration has Jared laugh and tell Jensen to send Chad his greetings. Shortly after that he has to hang up because he’s on set.
By the time that their tequila bottle is empty as well, Zac is asleep in the chair, one bottle of beer in his hand.
Jensen tells his friend about the big party they had on his street and describes in great detail the schemes Jared had made up to escape from set and show up for the bar-b-q.
“He said that he has the MacGyver episode on his computer. The one where they build the plane.” Jensen takes a swig from his beer bottle. “Said he was already working on it.”
With bleary eyes Chad stares at Jensen. It almost seems like he’s solving the Ultimate Question and Jensen feels the urge to blurt out ’42’, half sure that it’s the answer to whatever his friend seems to be looking for. With every second that passes, Chad’s eyes become more cross-eyed, until Jensen is sure that he must see everything double.
“You know it’s like birds.” Jensen stares at him, not sure how to respond to this. He isn’t really sure he should be insulted or flattered. Zac curls up in his armchair, mumbling unintelligently and clinging to his bottle of booze.
“What?” He thinks that about expresses what he thinks about the strange comment.
“Yea, you know how birds, they can fly real high and they shit on your head. Sometimes those fuckers fly right into your eye, almost. Scares me to death. But then I watch those stupid documentaries on TV where you can see them fly and you see that they’re actually beautiful. That’s how Jared feels about you.” Chad looks at Jensen all uncomfortable, embarrassed about having to discuss emotional stuff with him.
“Uh, okay.” He thinks that bird shit in the same breath as Jared’s feelings is somewhat disturbing, but he gets what Chad is struggling to say. He can’t help feeling happy about the bizarre love declaration. “I like him too.”
This was apparently the right thing to say because Chad nods, grinning happily. With another smile at Jensen, he turns his head to the side, resting it on the couch and from one second to the next he’s asleep, snoring softly. If anyone saw him like that they would never believe the bitchiness that can be Chad Michael Murray.
With a last look at the two sleeping figures Jensen carefully gets up from the couch. He’s a little uncoordinated from all the alcohol he’s drunk but he manages to make it to the kitchen and back without disturbing any of them. Jensen slips out of the house onto his back porch and climbs onto the garden bench, curling up. He dials Jared’s number and presses the phone to his ear.
“Hello?” The question is slurred with sleep, apparently a quiet evening and night. “Jensen?”
“Hey,” he answers, just happy with the world. It sounds sappy but Jensen suddenly feels like everything is exactly how it’s supposed to be. All the troubles and excitement of the past seem just like the road to the place where he’s right now.
“Did Chad treat you alright?” Jared already sounds more alert. “Is he telling lies about me?”
“Nope. He told me about the bird and shit and that you think I’m beautiful.” Maybe the answer to Jared’s question is bit confusing for everyone who hasn’t participated in the conversation but to Jensen it makes perfect sense. He closes his eyes, listening to Jared on the other end of the line, thinking about the last time they saw each other in person.
“Bird shit led to the two of you talking about my thoughts about you?” There’s a chuckle and rustling of sheets. “How much did the three of you drink?”
“M good.”
Laughter and then: “Yea, I can tell. So, d’you think I’m beautiful too?”
“I like you.” His words cause a silence on the phone, but Jensen really wants to say it. They have been talking about their feelings from time to time but mostly when they were fighting or something had happened that had hurt either of them. It’s only right to say it at a time when they are not having difficulties.
“Me too. You know, I think that I like you the best.” Jensen feels his heart speed up as he hears Jared’s declaration. “No, I’m pretty sure I don’t just know. I do like you the best Jensen.”
“Like you best too.” Even in his inebriated state Jensen realizes that they are getting pretty close to sliding into a chick flick moment. He takes a deep breath and suddenly a yawn splits his face. His eyes are kind of tired and he realizes that his thoughts are slowing down as well.
“Are you falling asleep on me?” There’s laughter in Jared’s voice.
“Sorry.” Jensen’s reply is more mumbled than anything else. It’s real hard, now that he’s lying down and his eyes are closed, to stay awake and to keep up with the conversation.
“Hey, don’t you worry. How about I tell you about my crazy day?” And then Jared starts talking. He tells Jensen about the mix up with the script and the broken coffee machine and the resulting craziness on set. There’s a story about one of the extras and her sprained ankle. Something about a monkey, and then Jensen doesn’t hear anything anymore because he’s asleep.
continue: Part Seven