Worth The Wait: Chapter One
Jared clucked his tongue as he leaned back on his heels and then pushed back forwards. He checked his watchless wrist for what had to be the third time since he got there before remembering again that he wasn't wearing his watch and he pulled out his phone. He'd been waiting for Danneel to come out for a good twenty minutes now. Danneel was on the college paper and the building was pretty far from the dorms, and when she was staying 'til after the sun went down Jared didn't want her walking all on her own across campus. She'd mostly given up on protesting. And it wasn’t that he didn't think she could handle herself, it was more that he didn't want her to ever have to prove it.
He gave it another couple of minutes and then he went inside to find out what the hell was going on. When he got to the room there was a definite panic in the air and when he spotted Danneel she looked frazzled to say the least. When she looked up and caught his eye he saw the oh shit and she came over to him, "Jared I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you wait."
"What's going on?"
"Computer crashed right as we were mid-upload, and it took down the whole system. We're just getting things back up and running. Now of course most people save their stuff on their own flash drives, but there were a bunch of little things without external back-up. So the seniors are totally freaking out."
Jared gave her a sympathetic smile, "You want me to go get a bunch of coffee or something?"
Danneel looked like she was going to kiss him, but the hottest voice Jared had ever heard cut in, "Don't let anyone else hear you say that, or you'll be branded the snack guy for life," and Jared's eyes were immediately drawn to the lips of the owner of that voice, who was now standing right next to Danneel. That smile. Which in turn drew his gaze up to the most gorgeously green eyes he'd ever seen.
"Wha-huh?" is what came out of his own mouth and he heard Danneel giggle, but he couldn't take his eyes off the very ruggedly handsome stranger.
"Jared," Danneel said with a shove to his shoulder, "This is Jensen. Jensen this is my best friend, Jared. Though I might have to trade him in for a newer model if he doesn't close his mouth soon."
Jared caught her look that time and he tried his best to snap out of his daze, "What? Hi," looking back at Jensen didn't exactly help, "Right. Sorry. Forgive me. I don't know where my manners have gone. It's nice to meet you, Jensen," he said holding out his hand which Jensen took firmly.
"Nice to meet you too, Jared. Danni speaks highly of you," he said with that smile again, "But honestly, Danni, you should just go home. You've done all you can."
"But-" Danneel started, but Jensen didn't let her get any further than that.
"Really. I'm gonna be heading out soon myself. The senior editors and the computer gurus can manage. Go. Save yourself. We'll still need you tomorrow. You won't get kicked off for escaping. I promise."
By the time Danneel and Jared got down and out onto the quad he was ready to explode with all the thoughts racing round his head, though his main question, "How could you keep this from me?" and he really didn't know how she physically managed to not tell him about Jensen. She never failed to give details about super cute boys. And Jensen was what Jared would categorise as insanely hot. So how could she not know what he was talking about?
"Keep what from you?"
"No, no. Not what. Who! I'm talking about the walking, talking drool bucket with the smile that launched ten thousand butterflies!" Jared sighed just thinking about it.
"Well you got me there-"
"What did he mean by you speak highly of me? You've spoken about me? What did you tell him?"
"Whoa," Danneel held up her hands, "Slow down there cowboy, keep going like that you're gonna start hyperventilating," Jared made an effort to take a deep cleansing breath at her calm the fuck down look, putting it on a little and she rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Of course I've told him about you, dummy. You're my best friend, and we do almost everything together. You feature pretty heavily in a lot of my stories. So when someone asks me about me, there's a pretty good chance your name will crop up."
Jared frowned a little, "Well did he seem interested?"
Danneel worried her lip, "He wanted to meet you. Sure. But I never got any because I want to jump his bones vibes off of him. And even if he did. Jensen's not like that. He's always so gentlemanly," she said the last part fondly, a secret smile that she'd obviously shared with the older boy at some point.
"Oh I see how it is. You just want him for yourself," Jared teased with a little hint of a huff.
"Jared, you're being completely ridiculous. See this is why I didn't tell you. I knew you'd go completely gaga over him. And you haven't even really said much more than hello."
"But he's-"
"Gorgeous? Yeah I know. And he's a total sweetheart. But, honey, I really don't think that I'm his type."
Hope flickered.
"I think he might already have a boyfriend."
And was snuffed out just as quick. Jensen having a boyfriend was the most tragic thing Jared had ever heard. Well for himself. It was great for Jensen and whoever the lucky guy was. And well Jared had only just met Jensen, and besides his ridiculous good looks, Jensen seemed like a really cool guy. And it was clear that Danneel liked him. So Jared would very happily be Jensen's friend.
"I do not go gaga," he pouted and then ruined it with a grin, "I like to think I'm more of a Katy Perry," and he flipped his hair over his shoulder and then shook his head opening his mouth up wide in a silent roar.
Danneel slugged his arm lightly and she shook her head with a grin of her own, "You are such a dork."
"That's why you love me," he said reeling her in to his side.
"S'xactly why I love you," she said with a nod.
"You won't replace me?" he teased.
"No one could replace you. No one else could eat that much."
"Hey!" Jared laughed, bumping her hip with his own as they continued to walk.
"Hey yourself. Don't pretend you're not proud of that bottomless pit of a stomach of yours."
That was true. And his stomach must have heard them because it grumbled long and low. He hadn't given it anything since two o'clock that afternoon and it was fast approaching six.
"I swear that thing is independently sentient," she said with a playful poke to his abdomen.
"Well if it is, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't appreciate being referred to as that thing."
"You said he. Tell me you did not just name your stomach."
Jared raised a finger with an air of import, like he was about to announce a royal guest at a ball or something, "Gustov Gutstovovich."
Danneel snorted, "And why is your stomach Ukrainian?"
"It's not. That's not...- it's supposed to be Polish," Jared huffed, "Whatever. It was funny and you know it."
"And no one can take that away from you."
"You suck," Jared pouted, laying it on a little bit and got a gentle smack to his chest for his troubles.
"Now, now, you don't behave you won't get any pizza."
Jared knew she didn't mean it and he gave her a squeeze, resting his head on top of hers for a moment. There was no way she would put up with a hungry Padalecki anyway, "What are our plans for tonight?"
Danneel sighed, "Well I had been hoping that we'd finally get a chance to watch some more New Girl, but it seems Addy got some new game, and so the rest of us shall be forced to watch you two kill each other."
"Not if Gen and Felicia are there, then we will have to put aside our differences and join forces to annihilate them!" Jared said raising his hand before his face and drawing it down into a fist. They had decided early on that there could only be one super gaming genius per team, so Felicia and Adrianne were never allowed to side together. Well at least not in the game zone. But outside of it?
Danneel did not share in their love affair with video games, and she sighed again -though she had been known on occasion to get invested from a spectator point of view- shaking her head this time, "Thwarted by my own soft spot for dorks."
Jensen was sitting at the breakfast bar of the kitchenette in Chris's apartment, pencil in hand. Chris had given him a key for whenever, and Jensen felt kind of weird if he didn't check in with him at least twice a week. Not to mention the fact that Chris was not above giving him a shake if he felt Jensen wasn't socialising enough. He was prone to self-hermitisation if he didn't get the odd gentle -but surly- prod from his best friend.
It wasn't that he didn't like people, he was just happy to be in his own company when time permitted it.
Besides, the other students in his dorm were throwing some kind of hallway party, and he needed quiet to do his work, which normally wasn't that much of an issue. He'd lucked out in his freshman year when his roommate had dropped out early and thanks to whatever glitch gods there were he hadn't been assigned a new one.
He didn't even bother to look up when Chris came in, comfortable in the fact that his best friend would be unphased by his presence. It wasn't until Chris set his stuff down that Jensen glanced over his shoulder and they shared a look with a nod in greeting and then resumed what they had been doing. Chris had his own routine for unwinding when he was essentially home for the day and Jensen knew better than to engage before he was ready.
"So how long you been here?" was what Chris asked when he re-appeared.
Jensen shrugged, "'Bout half an hour before you. I stuck one of the lasagnes my mom sent you in the oven." Jensen's mom liked to make sure they were eating proper meals, and she'd make up a bunch of stuff for them to freeze, she knew where their priorities lay in respects to food prep time.
"Man you need to tell her to stop doing that."
Jensen half laughed with a shake to his head, it's what Chris always said in regards to free mom-food. He appreciated it, but Chris had always been more independent and it bristled his caveman-hunter instincts just a smidge.
"You tell her. You're the one who had to tell her your mom never sends you anything."
Chris huffed, they both knew full well Chris would never say anything and not that it would matter if he did because nothing would stop Mama Ackles, as Chris -and Chad- liked to call her, from feeding her boys.
"It should be ready in about twenty minutes I think," Jensen said before Chris could ask, looking back down at the paper he had on the table.
"What are you doing?" Chris said with a nod to Jensen's sleeping laptop. He hardly ever read hard copies of things anymore, but some things just read better from paper.
"Reading something over for Danni."
Chris furrowed his brow, "The freshman chick from the paper?"
Jensen fixed him with a look and rolled his eyes, "I like her. She's good. Just needs a little encouragement," which she wasn't going to get from the senior editors. They were a little power crazed and a lot tactless. He couldn't wait 'til the next year when they'd be gone. "I met her friend Jared today."
"Yeah?"
Jensen's head tilted to the side as he recalled the encounter, a small smile forming on his lips, "Kind of a doof. But in an endearing sort of way. Can definitely see why they're such good friends." They both gave off the same bubbly energy and Danneel's go get 'em attitude was exactly what the paper needed.
"So you liked him?" Chris asked.
Jensen frowned a little, not sure what the purpose of the question was. Did Chris know something about Jared? "Well sure. Why wouldn't I?"
"That's not-" Chris sighed, “Forget it. So what brings you to this side of town?"
"Well not your warm hospitality," Jensen said without missing a beat.
Chris just fixed him with that look of his, "You got legs. You know where the fridge is. The only reason I have coffee is for you." You wouldn't be able to tell from his demeanour, but Chris liked his herbal teas. It was something he picked up in his martial arts phase. And Jensen knew he was free to take whatever he wanted from Chris’s kitchen. Regardless Chris still had to ask, "You want a beer?"
Jensen's nose crinkled up a bit and he shook his head, "Nah. Maybe later."
Chris gave him an okay shrug and proceeded to get one for himself, "Mid-week party huh?" he said with a knowing smile as he popped the cap off his bottle.
Chris knew him too well, but it was really just an added bonus that paying his best friend a visit coincided with not having to listen to obnoxious music all night long. Jensen cocked his brow, "Almost like they don't want to go to class tomorrow."
Chris rubbed his chin thoughtfully before taking a quick mouthful of his beer. "Well Thursday is almost Friday. Practically the weekend."
"And yet they couldn't wait two days to get absolutely hammered."
Ah sarcasm, where their friendship lived and breathed most easy, but they knew when to switch it off.
"What are they celebrating?" Chris asked as he took a peek into the oven.
Jensen got up to join him in the kitchen on the other side of the breakfast bar to check the timer he'd set. "I don't know," he'd never stopped long enough to find out, "Somebody found their other shoe? It's all very moving."
"How long?" Chris asked, Jensen knew the smell was too good for his best friend to ignore after he'd let some escape.
"Not long," Jensen said, checking the timer again and grabbing the oven mitts. They were definitely both hungry now.
"Okay we don't tell her to stop, but we should at least tell her to stop making so much! That thing could feed a football team!"
Jensen snorted, "Shouldn't Chad be gracing us with his presence?"
"If he's not out on the prowl."
They shared a short huff of a laugh at that one, Jensen shook his head but mostly fondly, "He's always on the prowl. But he never says no to free food."
Chad was much more comfortable with accepting what was offered to him and he wasn't exactly shy about making requests either, as the still frozen peach cobbler would attest to.
"I'll call him," Chris said as he shoved his hand in his pocket to retrieve his phone just as the timer went off.
Jensen took a sip of his coffee as he walked back to his working station from the printer with a copy of the assignment sheet. They had one pinned to the board, but it had a habit of getting lost behind other things. That and having it readily at hand was so much more convenient. He scanned down the list and he was about half way to his seat when he made a bee line for Danneel.
"Hey, Harris," he said waving the printout between them, though Danneel had her head down, "what's this?"
"What's what?" she said as she looked up, taking the piece of paper from him.
"You agreed to write up the puppy parade?" he said like it was obvious, but Danneel just gave him a well yeah look with a tint of confusion, so he went on, "Why would you do that?"
"Cute puppies?" she shrugged with a smile.
Jensen shook his head, "It's a fluff piece." Not that there was anything wrong with fluff pieces, but, "Very unbefitting of your Lois Lane tenacity." And if you said yes to one the seniors had a habit of offloading a whole lot more onto you, "I thought you wanted action?"
"Well hey," Danneel arched her eyebrow, almost in challenge, "you never know right?"
Jensen went for it.
"What, like one of the puppies is actually a massive diva and can only eat triangular shaped kiblets? And the poor kid of the owner is being forced to separate out any square or circular bits by a mother who loves her dog more than her own kid?"
They shared a smirk, Danneel's clearly said smart ass, but she wasn't backing down, "Well that was specific," and she took a pause, propping her elbows on the desk she clasped her fingers. "One might even say too specific," she reached out to take hold of his arm, "Jensen," she said softly, "you can tell me. Is that your story?"
Jensen sucked in his lips and brought his fist up to his mouth for dramatic effect, "If I closed my eyes real tight I could almost pretend the square ones were a bowl of Cap'n Crunch."
And he may have thrown in a sniffle for good measure, which had them both cracking up a little, "Jensen!" she chided, "You are the absolute worst!"
"It's what I aim for."
Danneel shook her head, "You don't really have something against the puppies do you?"
He didn't. Jensen had always wanted to get a dog when he was a kid, but his parents had never let him. And he had been about to tell Danneel that when Jared interrupted, "Puppies? There's puppies? When? Where?"
Just over a week had passed since Jensen had met Danneel's best friend and he was getting to become a regular visitor, showing up a good ten/fifteen minutes before they finished up. And Jensen found that he didn't mind.
"Tomorrow on the quad. Noon," Danneel rattled off, "It's a charity thing for sick kids," and she threw a pointed look his way when she said, "Jensen doesn't think I should go."
Jensen scoffed mock-offended, "That's not what I said. If you want to go look at the puppies, go. You don't need to write about them to see them."
Jared gave him a pout, "Does that mean you don't want to see the puppies?" working his very own puppy eyed look.
He wasn't going to phase Jensen. "What, and miss the collective aww from the female population that just might 'cause a campus wide blackout due to the increase in carbon dioxide?" And Jensen laughed at Danneel's playful you better watch it mister look, complete with pointed finger, "I've got to see Chris, but maybe we might stop by if we have time."
"You can't be serious." "You've got to be kidding me." Jensen and Chris ended up saying at the exact same time after sharing a look of incredulity, though how Chad could still surprise them was beyond either of them.
"Come on, it'll be fun," Chad said as undeterred as ever, "How can you guys not want to go?"
Jensen bit the corner of his lip as he looked up in thought, weighing the choices with his hands as the scales before exchanging another look with Chris.
"Pride." "Self-respect." they said unable to keep the smirks from their faces. They weren't really so against it. Just what Chad might say to ruin it.
"Screw that. Cute puppies. Hot chicks. It's the perfect combo."
Chris pushed his hand back through his hair and shook his head with a sigh, "I'm already regretting the why."
Jensen sighed too, "And math takes another hit."
Chad rolled his eyes, "It's simple. Puppies make them think of babies and babies make them think of finding a mate. Mated."
"And there it is," Jensen said, head tilted to the side, "almost poetic."
Chris shuddered, "'You imagine a bunch of Chad babies running around?"
"Maybe we should get him fixed," Jensen teased, and the look on Chad's face would have been priceless but all three of them flinched a little to the proximity of that suggestion to their own junk.
Chad broke the silence.
"Let's just get going before all the good spots are taken."
Danneel still wasn't too sure how they'd manage to wrangle it but she, Jared and Genevieve just had the one nine a.m. class on a Friday; with a bi-weekly tutorial in the afternoon, which they'd just gone to the Friday before. The rest of their friends hadn't been so lucky. So that's how the two of them ended up going with her. She'd wanted to get there early. They must have arrived just shortly after the girls who were organising the whole thing. There were girls putting up ribbons and balloons and setting up tables.
The puppies were being let out of their carriers and put into a pen where they could frolic. Jared diverted Genevieve directly towards the little fluffballs of joy, leaving Danneel to approach the girl with the pink clipboard, who was immediately flanked by two other girls upon spotting Danneel.
"Can we help you?" the one with the clipboard asked and Danneel was instantly reminded why she'd hung up her pom poms for good. During orientation these were the same girls who'd approached her about rushing for their house. They hadn't appeared too happy when she'd declined their invitation.
But she wasn't going to bite, "Hi. I'm Danneel and I'm with the school paper and I wanted to have a word about the good work you're doing here today. And maybe we could talk a little about what you've got planned next."
There was always a next thing. And well it was for charity. So there was no reason for hostility, no matter how tempting they made it.
"Are they together?"
"What?" Danneel blinked, that she hadn't been expecting. They who? But she turned to look in the direction of their gaze and saw her friends, puppies in their arms, then looked back at the sorority girls, eyebrows raised, "Jared and Gen? No. They're not together," but they did make quite the picture with their googily I want all the puppies eyes. She shook her head to get back on point, "So can I get an interview with one of you ladies?"
But seemingly they didn't hear anything she'd just said.
"And he's not your boyfriend?"
"No," she said again, trying real hard to keep her exasperation to herself, "He's my best friend."
All the while the three girls never took their eyes off Jared, "You can get your interview after the parade. If you bring him with you."
"He is gay you know," she said purely for clarification reasons because that was something she did not want Jared to have to deal with and she wasn't under any circumstances going to pimp Jared out for any reasons, personal or political.
Now either they didn't believe her or they took it as a challenge because the one on the left said, "Well he's still really cute."
Danneel's brow scrunched, alternatively, maybe they just wanted to ogle him with their eyes some more. Which was a bit more understandable and there was nothing wrong with enjoying some eye candy action: as long as they didn't expect anything more. She sighed, "Well sure, I guess I could persuade him to stick around." Not that he would leave without her.
And the sorority girls seemed happy enough at that though none of them said another word.
Danneel shook her head with a shrug before heading back over to her friends, Cindy and Adrianne had showed up when she'd had her back turned, "Did you get your interview?" Jared asked automatically with only a quick glance away from the puppies.
Danneel bumped their arms together as she stood next to him, "Not yet. After. They want your cuteness to be present."
Jared just grinned, he very much took being a babe magnet in his stride, "So they were checking out my ass huh? It was starting to feel underappreciated. I mean you don't write, you don't grope," he teased and Danneel smacked his chest lightly, Genevieve rolled her eyes and Cindy and Adrianne snorted.
"Poor unsqueezed boy butt," Adrianne said putting her hands over her heart.
"Like unrubbed puppy bellies," Cindy said as she reached down to scratch the head of the sweetest little golden retriever, "Couldn't you just die?"
And she was right the puppies were unbearably squishable, "Can I trust that you lot aren't organising some sort of Grand Theft Puppy?"
"Oh come on we could totally get away with it," Adrianne said letting her head tip back before bringing it back down, "Jared takes his shirt off and flexes his man muscles and we walk away clean."
"Right. It's fool proof," Danneel said as if she was actually going along with it, "You know, except for the part where there'd be a puppy-less puppy parade. And these little guys are all collared. They belong to people."
"Reckless people," Genevieve interjected, bringing the puppy she was holding up closer to her face, "Entrusting their precious little babies to a bunch of strangers!" she scoffed and then her voice softened as she addressed the puppy, "I would never let you out of my sight."
"Clearly," Danneel laughed, Genevieve had a weakness for puppies, well okay all of her friends did, herself included, but Genevieve? She did not get smooshy about things. And human children kind of scared her a little. But put a puppy in front of her?
"Okay time to put the puppies down. And let’s go claim a spot before anyone else shows up," Danneel said wanting to be out of the way before the sorority girls came over to get the puppies ready. Besides it hardly seemed logical to throw away their right to first dibs on any of the prime locations.
Jared had to pry the puppy Genevieve had been cradling out of her arms. Adrianne sandwiched herself in between them to steer Genevieve in the other direction, slinging her arm across the shorter girl's shoulders. And Genevieve hardly even ruffled at the personal bubble violation. She'd gotten better about that -the walls could come back up when hackles were raised or with new people- but she'd always been somewhat closer to Adrianne. Though the four of them -Danneel, Jared, Genevieve and Adrianne- had all been the best of friends since elementary school. So they knew each other pretty well.
It wasn't long before other people started showing up, and they were joined by Felicia and Amy who Jared stole some cuddles from automatically. She was the youngest and so baby of the group, and had put up no resistance to Jared's gravitational pull. He was protective of all of his girls. That was definitely one of the things Danneel loved so much about him. But it didn't escape her that her best friend still had other things on his mind, she caught him scanning faces every time a tall boy passed by.
Danneel tugged on Jared's arm to pull him down a little to say, "Looking for someone?" which jolted him out of his whatever it was. Love haze perhaps.
"What?" he asked confused, seemingly hearing and not hearing what she said at the same time, eyebrows drawn together, before it sunk in.
"A tall someone maybe," Danneel said with a smirk, "with the greenest of green eyes, the most adorable of adorable freckles and the cutest slash hottest bowlegs you've ever seen?" Jared looked ready to give his standard denial followed by sheepish acceptance but Adrianne butted in.
"Wait. Are we finally going to meet the Jensen? Is he here?" she asked craning her neck to get a better look at the crowd.
"He said he might show," Danneel said giving Jared a sympathetic half hug.
"With his boyfriend," Jared said almost forlornly.
"Can we really be sure Chris is his boyfriend?" Amy asked, trying for hopeful -though Danneel could still hear the tiny niggle of doubt- and getting a kiss to the forehead for it from Jared.
"Well I still want to meet him," Adrianne piped up and the others made their agreement known.
Genevieve quirked her brow with a grin, "Oh, I definitely want to meet the guy that's got our guy all junior high over him."
Jared huffed, "I am not all junior high-"
Genevieve cut him off, "I've seen the doodle hearts, Padalecki. They don't lie."
"Doodle hearts? There's doodle hearts?" Danneel could hardly contain the urge to squish him all up, "This I have to see."
She'd never seen Jared so smitten before. Don't get her wrong if he was dating someone he was always excited to see them and to spend time with them. But things tended to fizzle pretty quickly, particularly if there weren't any signs of mutual sparkage. Normally Jared would have moved on already.
When she looked up and across the way her heart sank a little for Jared. It was Jensen with two other boys. One who she knew to be Chris, who she'd met briefly that one time when he came in to the paper to drag Jensen away. And the other she suspected to be the somewhat infamous Chad, who Jensen had mentioned here and there.
Chad, if it was in fact him, didn't stick close to them for long.
But Jensen and Chris were pretty much shoulder to shoulder, well if you ignored the height difference. She had just flicked her gaze to see if Jared had spotted them yet when she caught the movement, Jensen leaning in to say something for only Chris to hear. The two of them smiling and laughing. Jared looked kind of crushed, she was going to suggest that they leave but then the parade was starting and Jensen looked right at them when he lifted his head and he gave them a wave. Danneel and Jared both waved back, mirroring Jensen's smile.
"You want to go over there?" she asked quietly.
Jared sucked in a breath and then let it all back out on a sigh with a shrug, "Nah."
"Puppies then ice-cream?" she asked already knowing the answer.
"You read my mind," Jared smiled.
CHAPTER TWO