FIC: The Laws of Refraction Chapter Three (Jared/Jensen NC-17)
There are many things that Jensen never wants to experience again in his life. Getting so drunk on Dallasian vine-liquor that he throws up green bile for four days. That time the goat-king of Baa wanted Jensen to rub his horns with his foot. Or the moment when Jensen found out his father died.
Crash landing in an aging pirate ship on a planet full of blue hookers? He’s adding that to his list immediately.
“Uuuuuuh,” Jensen moans, coughing from the dust from the debris covering his legs. He tentatively sits up and nothing hurts too badly, so he’s hoping that means he didn’t break anything in the collision.
“Jared?” he croaks out, relieved, when he looks over and sees his husband sitting up with a dazed expression on his face. Jared runs a hand through his hair, his hand coming back blue with blood.
He waves at Jensen and shakes his head. “I’m alright, just a small cut. How are you?”
Jensen pulls himself up to his feet, standing on wobbly legs. “I’m alive, that’s a start.”
“My baby,” comes a mournful wail, and Jensen and Jared both look over at Morgan lying across the burned out wreckage of the control panel he was just sitting at.
“I would ask if he’s okay, but if he’s able to cry that pitifully, he can’t be injured that badly,” Jensen says wryly, stumbling over to help Jared to his feet and then looking around to assess the damage.
“Everyone okay?” Jared calls out, and gets various responses.
Gen’s face is completely covered in dust and she looks like she has a mask on. “Ew,” she says, spitting out the debris that got inside her mouth, but she’s brushing herself off and is standing, so she appears okay.
“Fine over here,” Misha trills, and Jensen looks over and startles a laugh at Misha curled up in Sterling’s arms like a new bride, arms flung around the man’s neck with a dreamy smile on his face and fully erect feelers.
“Can I put you down now?” Sterling asks him dryly.
“Nope,” Misha replies, snuggling in deeper.
Osric, still bolted to the floor with the spikes from his ankles, is looking a little worse for wear, considering his right arm is ripped off from the elbow down.
“This is most inconvenient,” he tsks, his face almost Jared-like in its pout. Looks like the robot learns from his master after all, in the most unexpected ways.
“Captain, we have to get out of here,” Gen insists, wiping the last of the dirt from her cheek. “Huffman and her crew couldn’t have been far behind us.”
Jared springs into action immediately. “She’s right. Huffman’s entire objective in attacking was to get Jensen, so this ship is the last place we need to be right now.”
“Bah,” Morgan says, standing up. He leans down and kisses the control panel one last time. “Goodbye, baby. I’ll come back for you, I promise.”
“Morgan, stop making love to your piece of junk and get us some damn weapons so we can defend ourselves,” Jared demands.
Morgan looks at him like he’s ready to shoot back a retort, but seems to think better of it as he instead heads over to a case and starts throwing phasers to them.
Sterling puts down a sad looking Misha, who perks up when Sterling hands him a little silver taser with a smirk and a “you know how to use this?”
“I’m a fast learner,” Misha replies, batting his eyelashes.
“Misha, for Gods’ sake, focus,” Jared says incredulously. “This is your planet, so you need to help us figure out the best place to hide.”
“Why are we hiding? We should take the fight to them and figure out whom in the name of the Gods is trying to kidnap me in the first place!” Jensen insists. Everyone seems to be forgetting that there is someone out there that seems to have paid - handsomely, he might add - to have a gang of dangerous space pirates kidnap him for some Gods-forsaken reason. Jensen, for one, wants to find out why.
“Jensen,” Jared starts, voice completely exasperated. “We’re two pampered princes, a robot, the three most cowardly pirates in the galaxy, and Misha. Tell me again exactly why we should go seek out the crew of crazy mercenary killers?”
“Well, when you put it that way.”
Jensen clutches the phaser to his chest and takes off running out of the ship.
==
Morgan, for all his pirately faults, actually managed to be a pretty good crash-lander. He didn’t take out any houses, but instead put the ship down -roughly, granted-in a huge courtyard that led out into an lattice work of alleys.
It’s through this alleyway that they climb out of the busted ship and creep down, staying along the wall for the best protection. They figure that they don’t have too much of a head start, and the sudden appearance of a broken pirate spaceship in the courtyard won’t go unnoticed for very long.
“Oh, good! You landed well. I know a place we can hide,” Misha announces, and it’s the first bit of good news that Jensen’s heard all day.
After another ten minutes or so, Misha leads them towards a hidden door with no adornment above it. If one didn’t know it was there, one would likely pass it right by, which is perfect for their current situation.
“Don’t be alarmed by what you see,” Misha warns, before knocking four quick times in succession. The door clicks open on the fourth knock, and he leads them directly into a darkened corridor.
“It’s so dark, how can we see anything….oh.” Jensen’s voice trails off as, as soon as the group gets inside the door and it shuts and locks automatically behind them, the lights, while still dim, rise enough to expose an undulating mass of bodies.
“Everyone,” Misha starts, waving at Jensen and the group and then back at the naked people. “Meet the family!”
“That position seems illogical,” Osric says, head tilting to the side.
“If I didn’t have a concussion, this might seem weird,” Gen adds.
“Misha!”
“Hey, Mom.”
Jensen slaps his hands over his eyes as fast he possibly can.
“She put on a sarong. It’s safe to look,” Jared whispers in his ear, amusement in his voice for the first time since they got married.
Jensen peeks one eye open and see an older, beautiful lady with dark hair, skin a shade deeper blue than Misha’s, and bright feelers embracing Misha in her arms. Jensen knows that Misha hasn’t seen his family in at least five cycles, and there has been tension there in the past about him venturing out to a different planet to ply his trade. It would be kind of sweet, under different circumstances, of course.
“Family reunions are fun and all, but do you naked folks have a place for us to hide? We’re on the run,” Jared asks. Jensen peers over and Jared is looking up at the ceiling with pink cheeks, and he can’t help but find his prudishness adorable.
“You can stay naked, though,” Sterling deadpans, and Morgan looks at him like he has two heads. Looks like old Misha is rubbing off - literally - on another poor sap.
Another beautiful Celestian, naked body glistening with a sheen of sweat that appears almost shiny like glitter, walks over to them with a wide smile.
“That’s my cousin, Cindy,” Misha throws out. Jensen goes to stick out his hand, and it ends up connecting with her bare breast.
Cindy just chuckles good-naturedly, tossing her black hair over her shoulders and beckoning them towards the back of the room.
“So, you people just get it on with your family members? I mean, I am a space pirate, so no judging here, but that’s some freaky shit,” Gen comments, eyes locked on Cindy’s swaying tail as they follow the naked Celestian.
Misha’s mother chuckles. “Oh, you primitive creatures. So delightful. There is no ‘on’ to get. We are recharging our pleasure center as part of our daily energy regimen. You all should try it sometime. I guarantee there would be less war.”
“This is a logical conclusion. If natural beings were more concerned with physical and mental enjoyment, the likelihood that they would want to maim each other would be lessened,” Osric agrees, waving the stump of his arm around.
“See, the robot gets it,” Misha’s mother replies with a wink, as they cross an entryway and spill out into a large room with no furniture besides pillows lining the walls along the floor.
“Do we want to know what’s been done on those pillows?” Jared whispers over to Jensen, who just shakes his head with a panicked expression. Jared laughs softly, and Jensen can’t help a small smile.
They aren’t in there longer than ten minutes before a loud crash comes from the front where they entered, followed by the sounds of phaser guns and screams in a language Jensen doesn’t know but assumes is Celestian.
Suddenly, several more Celestians pour into the space, armed to the teeth and throwing more weapons to Jensen and his group.
“I thought your race were all pacifists?” Jensen shouts over at Misha, as Misha locks a blast charger into place.
“We are. But slug lords don’t take no for an answer and we have standards,” Misha replies, with a shrug.
The action gets closer to them and they are ready with their weapons. They are not expecting, however, the stun bomb that Huffman throws into the room, causing a flash of light that blinds them long enough for chaos to ensue.
Shots are fired and Jensen hears someone crying out in pain. It sounds frighteningly close to Jared, and Jensen is horrified.
“Jared!” Jensen shouts, not able to see his husband anymore in the brightness. Jensen aims his phaser but without being able to see properly, he doesn’t take the chance of firing.
Suddenly, Jensen feels himself being lifted, and then he’s begin dragged through a hallway by his hair, still blinded from the light. Once he’s past the threshold, he’s thrown to the ground, and he blinks his eyes quickly to try and see who apprehended him.
“You’re even prettier in person, imagine that,” says a voice in the light, and between the tone and the words, Jensen knows it’s Huffman herself.
“What do you want with me? What did I do to you?” Jensen demands, his eyesight slowly clearing to see her standing above him with a phaser gun pointed directly at him. She has googles lifted over up over her bright red wave of hair, and he realizes she and her crew must have used them to see past the stun light blast.
Huffman rolls her eyes and waves the phaser around nonchalantly. “Money, princess, what else? Heyerdahl is paying me a pretty sum to capture your ass and take it back to him. That idiot Morgan just made it easier for me by getting you away from your palace and the entire Dallasian royal army.”
“Heyerdahl?” Jensen repeats, stunned, the name immediately conjuring up reviled memories of the former Dallasian defense minister. “Heyerdahl! My father banished him to the Far East quadrant of the galaxy for trying to overthrow the government. Are you telling me he’s the one that’s caused all of this drama?”
“Not only this drama, sweets. Who do you think killed your daddy and King Padalecki?” Huffman says, her smirk triumphant when Jensen’s entire face falls in horror and surprise.
“Oh, you didn’t know that part, did you? Poor thing,” she crows, laughing through her slash of a crimson mouth.
“But why me? If he already killed my father, why try to kidnap me now after the fact? My mother is still the queen, I have no real power on my planet, and likely won’t for decades,” he says, trying to work it all out in his head, but dizzy from both the crash and the ensuing fire fight.
“Isn’t it obvious? You are the prize. Not only did he punish your father with his death, he’ll punish your mother and you with your desecration.” Huffman stops to laugh. “I mean, I’m not one to be sentimental, but that’s some poetry right there.”
Jensen uses that moment of her distraction to pull out the phaser gun that he hid under his tunic, and sends a blast ray right at her chest. She flies backwards with a stunned shout and falls slumped to the ground.
“How’s that for poetic?” he growls down at her, falling back in exhaustion.
“Jensen!” comes a shout, as Morgan comes running into the door, followed closely by Sterling and Gen. “Are you okay, did she hurt you?” he says, kneeling down besides Jensen and running his hands lightly over his body to check for injuries.
Jensen pushes his hands away and drags himself to his feet. “I’m fine, where’s Jared?”
“She’s still breathing,” Gen calls out, from where she’s squatting next to Huffman’s unconscious form.
“Tie her up. We’ll let the council take care of her as soon as we get far enough away that they won’t round us up, too. I'm sure they'll get her to sing against her would-be benefactor for leniency” Morgan replies, and Gen nods before proceeding to do just that.
“We got the rest of her crew tied up as well. It’s over,” Morgan says, turning back to Jensen and smiling with what Jensen assumes is supposed to be reassurance.
He didn’t answer Jensen’s question however, and fear builds up in his belly as he repeats it while at the same time running back towards the other room. “I said, where is Jared?”
“Jensen…” Morgan trails off, and his face is nothing but pity.
“Oh no, no, that’s not going to happen. Jared!” Jensen screams, running into the next room. Jared is on the floor, covered chin to waist in bright blue blood. He head is slumped over and resting in the lap of Misha’s mother.
“Jared, no, not Jared, please,” Jensen yells out, running over to his husband and falling to the floor beside him. He pushes the Celestians away and cradles him in his arms.
“Jensen, wait. Let us help. He’s not dead, okay? He’s injured, but we have medicines and you have to let us treat him,” Misha says, reaching over to grasp his best friend’s forearm.
“What? Oh,” Jensen says, through what he now feels are tears on his cheeks. “Yes, please, save him. He was just trying to help me, that’s all. He’s a good man, I know it now. Please.”
“My cousin Cindy is a nurse by training, a healer. Let us take him,” Misha says again, prying Jensen away, as three strong looking Celestian men come up and lift Jared’s limp body onto a makeshift stretcher.
“Please, save him,” Jensen says again, watching helplessly as he’s taken from the room.
The first thing that Jared feels is a sharp tug of pain right in the middle of his solar plexus, followed immediately after that by a dazed sensation of ice flowing through his veins. His eyelids, so heavy from whatever is sending that sensation coursing through him, crack open after long moments of struggle.
“He’s awake!” comes a voice that sounds vaguely like Jensen’s, and it makes a smile tip the corners of Jared’s mouth. Jensen. His husband. Jensen is his husband.
“Ugh,” Jared groans, as he tries to move. The swift jab of it reminds him suddenly and sharply of the events that put him wherever he is now, and the consequences of what happened after he married Jensen, his husband.
“Jared, can you hear me? It’s Jensen.” A hand touches Jared’s face and he leans into them instinctively. A sigh escapes his lips at the sound of his name, and it’s one of relief even through the pain.
“Water,” Jared manages to croak out, and the hand disappears long enough to then come back with a cup pressed to his cracked and dry lips. Jared sucks the liquid eagerly, and the fresh water rushes down his throat like a gift from the Gods.
“Are you in pain? Can you look at me?” Jensen continues on, and Jared lets out an exasperated sigh at all the questions.
“Oh, it’s like that, is it?” Jensen growls, seeing Jared’s look. “Do you even know how long I’ve been sitting here? Three days, Jared. Three full days surrounded by blue naked people with tails assuring me that my Gods-forsaken husband was going to wake up and come back to me but you just kept sleeping. You almost died, do you hear me, you idiot? You almost died and you can’t do that to me! Never again, Jared Padalecki, you terrible man!”
Jared doesn’t even care that his entire face hurts when a huge smile breaks out from ear to ear. He can practically feel his dimples indenting his cheeks.
“I think that’s the closest you’ve ever been to ‘I love you, Jared’. I’ll take it.”
Jensen huffs a breath, and there is just enough of a pause for Jared to be the tiniest bit worried that he read the situation wrong. But Jensen continues, and his voice is softer and fond, and Jared knows everything is going to be just fine.
“You are still terrible. An absolutely horrible husband. I mean, I’m going to have to train you how to be a civilized person who knows better than to run into danger like a wild person.”
Jared’s eyes finally crack fully open. Jensen is grinning, the bastard. “Wild person, huh? Wait until I get out of this…what is this, a bed? Yes, out of this bed that has surely been used in ways that I don’t even want to contemplate, and back to our bed back on Dallasia. I’ll show you wild person then.”
Jensen’s eyes flare with lust, and it makes every bit of pain in Jared’s chest worth it. But then his face turns soft again, and he smiles, reaching over to take Jared’s hand in his own. “Dallasia is it, then? You alright with leaving your home planet for me?”
Jared squeezes the hand back, and doesn’t let go.
“And who knows where else? We have our whole lives for adventures.”
