Code Purple - Part Two
Title: Code Purple
Author: Ru_salki99
Rating: R
Pairing: Jensen/Misha
Disclaimer: None of the events mentioned in this story are based on fact and as far as I know, never happened.
Beta: Much thanks to the wonderful inanna1130 and the amazing sprlngdwnwrd for all their beta work. You guys rock!
Author's notes: Written for the 2010 deancasbigbang.
Artist: Many, many thanks to kiasca for creating such wonderful art for me. Art post here
Summary: RPS AU - Movie star and model Misha Collins hasn't been home in over fifteen years. However, with his youngest sister getting married, he finds himself travelling back there to face everything and everyone he ran away from to try and overcome all those things that caused him so much pain. There's only one problem; MTV are following him for a fly on the wall documentary. What could possibly go wrong?
Part One
Misha was running. It was 06:00, and he was out in the extremely quiet streets of Brown Oak, running. Sure he was doing it as part of his daily exercise routine, usually he would be doing it on the treadmill in his gym, but he wasn’t about to stop and let himself get fat just because his parents didn’t have a gym of their own. And besides, exercising helped him think.
He had made sure to be up and out of the house before the camera crew arrived. They’d probably be pissed at him for going out without them, but he really did need time to himself, even away from Genevieve and Colton. And so, he ran.
Last night had left him more unsettled and confused than he had imagined it could. Meeting up with Richard and Vicki again - and even Traci - had actually felt really good, but when he’d seen Jensen there, looking hotter than Hell and having the most Goddamn sexy voice Misha had ever heard, all those feelings he’d buried deep down inside him had come flooding back. He probably would’ve had another panic attack if he hadn’t been so hypnotised by Jensen’s voice.
Then Jensen sang a song about ‘the one who got away’ and he actually looked right at Misha as he sang: right into his fucking eyes and it had almost killed him.
Thankfully, it had been Jensen’s last song and Misha had not only downed his beer, but grabbed the last of Genevieve’s and Colton’s drinks and downed them too. He was just about to head to the bar to get something stronger than beer, when someone with a deep, gruff and oh so sexy voice said his name.
“Misha?”
Misha swore inwardly before turning to see Jensen standing there, a small nervous smile on his lips.
“Hey Jensen,” Misha said with his own small smile.
“Wow. I can’t believe it’s actually you,” Jensen said as he looked him up and down, making Misha blush, “I mean, you look great. Amazing in fact.”
“Thanks,” Misha nodded. “You’re looking good yourself,” he’d said, mentally kicking himself for sounding so fucking lame. “And uh, that set… I never realised you could sing.”
“Yeah I kinda got into it in college. Wanted to go professional with it, but never quite made it,” Jensen shrugged. “But I’m happy now with what I got and just playing here once in a while.”
“Well I guess happiness is really all that matters right?” Misha said just as a gigantor of a man came over and heavily slung his arm over Jensen’s shoulder, nearly knocking him off his feet.
“I gotta go Jen,” he said, “sorry, but I’ve got a dog emergency. I’ll call you tomorrow okay?”
“Sure Jay,” Jensen nodded, waving goodbye to his friend.
“Who the hell was that?” Genevieve asked from Misha’s left, making Misha and Jensen realise she was there for the first time.
“Jensen, this is my friend Genevieve Cortese. Genevieve, this is Jensen Ackles.”
“Hey,” Genevieve said as she shook his hand. “So, your friend?”
“Jared Padalecki,” Jensen said with an amused smile. “He runs a shelter for dogs, hence the dog emergency. And yes, he is single.”
“Interesting,” Genevieve said, making Misha roll his eyes as she turned around and said something to Colton who had just come back from the bar with more drinks.
“So listen,” Jensen began, “we should hook up while you’re in town. Grab a burger or something.”
“Well I don’t eat red meat, but yeah. Something,” Misha nodded, his stomach doing flips inside him as Jensen pulled out his phone so they could exchange numbers.
Misha wasn’t sure if Jensen had just asked him out on a date or not, but he wasn’t going to ask for fear of looking like an asshole. So they’d exchanged numbers then shook hands before they both sort of awkwardly gave each other a one armed hug.
After that, Misha had one more drink with his sister, interrupted by a few of the younger patrons asking him and Genevieve for autographs before they called it a night. On the way out, Jensen waved at Misha and made the universal sign for ‘call me.’
So Misha was really very confused about exactly what was happening. Had Richard and Vicki not told him Jensen was gay then he would probably have just assumed he was being friendly for old time’s sake and all. But with the added information that he did in fact belong to the pink brigade and their suspicion that he had been in love with Misha as a teenager, well now he didn’t know what to think.
His run hadn’t really helped at all apart from confuse him even further and make him completely paranoid that he had an inflated ego and thought too much of himself.
So by the time he got back to his parents’, the camera crew had arrived - which he wasn’t too happy about since he was drenched in sweat and more than likely red in the face - and the entire house was up and about. The fact that everyone was awake wasn’t that unusual, but what was unusual was the van parked outside the house marked ‘Landscape Gardener.’
Letting himself into the house, he headed straight for the kitchen where he could hear everyone.
“Morning,” he said as he went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, drinking half of it in one gulp.
“How was your run?” Colton asked.
“Confusing,” Misha said as the camera filmed it all. “What’s with the landscaping van?” he asked.
“Oh, he likes to get an early start,” his mom said, “so that he can finish before it gets too hot.”
“Oh right,” Misha nodded, turning to look out the window to see what the guy was doing. Except by looking out the window, he only managed to make himself choke on his water, “What the fuck?! Jensen’s the landscaper?”
“Yeah,” his mother nodded, giving him a look as if that fact had been obvious.
“Jensen Ackles. He’s the gardener?” Misha asked again as he pointed out the window.
“Yeah Misha. Jeez, what’s your problem?”
“Jesus fucking Christ mother!” Misha said in complete exasperation, panic setting in, “Colton, Gen, code purple!” he shouted at them as he turned and headed out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
“What’s a code purple?” his mom asked as Genevieve quickly followed him and Colton slid out of his chair.
“It means there’s a hot guy in the vicinity and Misha needs to make himself pretty,” Colton explained as he too followed Misha up the stairs.
“You know, some guys find the whole sweaty, ‘I’ve just had a hard workout’ look attractive,” Genevieve started.
“Maybe, but B.O. isn’t exactly a turn on,” Misha said as he lifted his shirt off of his head and threw it towards his empty luggage.
“I don’t know,” Colton began, “there’s been some studies to show that when you’re in love with someone, the smell of them and their sweat makes you horny.”
Misha frowned at him, but didn’t comment, wondering if that was true or not as he kicked off his sneakers and pulled off his socks and shorts, leaving him in just his underwear as Genevieve threw a towel at him, ordered him to go shower and pushed him past the camera crew.
“Right,” Colton began, “we going for casual?”
“Yup. Casual,” Genevieve agreed as she opened Misha’s wardrobe and started to sort through the jeans.
She pulled out two pairs, a dark pair that were new and hadn’t been worn before and Misha’s favourite pair that were ripped at one of the knees, well worn and made his ass look great. Then she grabbed a selection of t-shirts while Colton sorted out his underwear, shoes and aftershave.
By the time they were done laying his clothes out on the bed for him, Misha was back, towel wrapped low around his waist while he used another to vigorously dry his hair. Colton wordlessly handed him his underwear and Misha, not caring about the cameras, stripped himself of his towel and began to pull the briefs on. The film crew made a small noise of surprise at Misha baring himself to all - of course, parts of him would end up pixelated on the final cut, but made no other sound to indicate their presence.
“Right, what pants should I wear?” he asked, towelling his hair again.
“Well, you’ve got these new ones,” Genevieve said, “or you could go with old faithful.”
Misha stared between the two pairs of pants, chewing on his bottom lip before he reached out and grabbed his old and most favourite pair of pants. Pulling them on, he eyed the t-shirts lying on the bed.
“T-shirts?”
“Yeah, we thought casual would be best,” Colton told him, “you were dressed pretty smart last night, which was fine for that setting, but to do the same at six forty five in the morning would probably make him a bit intimidated or think that you’re an ass.”
“Right,” Misha nodded, picking up a couple of the t-shirts to look at.
He immediately discarded the red and blue ones as they both had intricate patterns with sparkly bits on them, and instead concentrated on the pale yellow t-shirt and the white one.
“What’s with this Jensen guy anyway?” Colton asked curiously. “I mean, is he like an ex or something?”
“Or something,” Misha muttered as he pulled the white Vivienne Westwood t-shirt on.
“Misha’s the one that got away,” Genevieve said in a sing-song voice.
“I am not,” Misha snapped. “We were just friends and I, kinda had a crush on him.”
“Oh,” Colton said with a nod, “he’s one of those.”
“Yes, one of those,” Misha nodded before turning to Genevieve, “where’s your blow dryer?”
Genevieve pointed towards her luggage and Misha went over to it, pleased to find it full of her hair care products as he was going to need them.
They spent the next half hour making sure that Misha’s hair was just right, that his eyebrows were tweezed to perfection and that he smelled amazing. They decided to go for bare feet as it was ‘sexier’ than shoes before finally heading back down the stairs to have the breakfast that had been so rudely interrupted.
When they got to the kitchen, Misha’s dad and Cliff were gone, but sitting having coffee and eating pancakes like he belonged there Jensen himself.
“Morning,” Jensen said with a smile and a salute with his fork.
“Jensen?” Misha said, “What a surprise. What are you doing here?” he asked ignoring the way his mother rolled her eyes at him.
“I’m your sister’s gardener,” he said, “and I’m eating your mom’s food ‘cause she thinks I’m too skinny.”
“Yeah well, Mother isn’t happy until all those around her have a BMI of over thirty.”
Jensen laughed, thinking Misha was joking. Misha wished he was. His mom had always over fed them, which Misha had attributed to being the start of his problems with food.
“So you’re up early,” Jensen pointed out as Misha poured himself a cup of orange juice and grabbed a banana for his breakfast.
“Not particularly,” Misha said. “I’m usually up at five or six every morning. Seven’s a lazy day for me.”
“Really?” Jensen asked in surprise. “I thought you celebrity types got to live a life of luxury.”
Misha snorted in amusement, “I work, on average, fifteen hours a day,” he explained. “And sure, now I can do some things that are easy money, but our contracts are only temporary. We don’t have a permanent income, so yeah, we have to work extra hard to earn as much as we can, when we can.”
“Urgh, are you complaining about being a celebrity again?” Genevieve asked as she entered the kitchen in search of a refill for the coffee she had abandoned earlier. “If it bothers you so much, why don’t you put that PhD of yours to good use and go be a professor at some college. That’ll be a steady income for you.”
“And give up all the glamour?” Misha asked with mock indignation. “Never.”
The two of them laughed before turning to see Jensen watching them curiously.
“Dude, you’ve got a PhD?” he asked. “You actually did it?”
“Yeah. I did it,” Misha nodded.
“Did what?” his mother asked.
“Back in school, Misha always used to talk about how he was gonna get a PhD and then pass on all his wisdom to future generations. I guess he’s half way there.”
“You never told me that,” his mom said.
Misha shrugged, “Jensen was the only person who ever asked me. It’s no big deal. I mean, it’s not like I never accomplished it. I did.”
“Well it’s a big deal to me,” his mom said, “that’s the sort of thing a boy should tell his mother, not just his best friend.”
“We weren’t best friends,” Misha said quietly, yet loud enough that they all heard him.
“Of course you were. You boys used to spend every moment of spare time together either up on our roof or out at the ranch,” his mom pointed out as she shook her head in disbelief. “I have no idea why you boys fell out.”
“Yeah,” Jensen said, looking very serious all of a sudden, “me neither.”
An uncomfortable silence stretched throughout the room until Misha placed his glass and half eaten banana down onto the worktop, grabbed Jensen by the elbow and dragged him outside - completely forgetting that they were both mic’d up.
“Ow,” Jensen said as he pulled back his arm, “when the hell did you get so strong?”
“What are you doing here Jensen?” Misha asked him, ignoring the pout he was getting even if it was kinda cute.
“Your sister hired me to fix your mom’s garden for the wedding,” Jensen told him.
“Really?!”
“Yes, really,” Jensen frowned. “I would’ve been finished a week ago, but we had to make some last minute changes to fit your cameras in!”
“Don’t you shout at me. I’m not the one in the wrong here.”
“And I am?”
Misha folded his arms and just glared at Jensen, cursing the fact that Jensen was still a couple of inches taller than him.
“Oh you’re kidding me! Seriously? You’re still mad about what happened at the party?”
“Wouldn’t you be?”
“At the guys that were actually acting like assholes sure, but not at the one and only other person there who got hurt just as much as you did when you ran away.”
“You got hurt?” Misha asked with a sardonic smile. “Yeah right. You were laughing your ass off.”
Jensen shook his head and gave a sad sigh, “No Misha, I wasn’t.”
At a loss for words, Misha watched as Jensen walked back into the house, said something to his mother then disappeared out towards the front of the house. Then he heard the distinct sound of an engine coming to life and eventually driving away.
“Fuck!”
~*~*~*~*~*~
To say Misha’s mom had been pissed with him would be an understatement. She’d demanded to know what it was that he’d said to upset Jensen so much that he had to leave. But Misha wasn’t telling her. He wasn’t even telling Colton or Genevieve and if it wasn’t for the stupid film crew, nobody would know exactly what was said and that he’d kind of been a dick.
But then, how was he supposed to have known Jensen had been upset? He hadn’t exactly stood up for him in front of everyone or kissed him back for that matter. Misha wasn’t a mind reader after all. But Jensen had come round to the house to try and talk to him before they both left for college and Misha hadn’t let him in. It had hurt too much to even think about facing him let alone actually do it. So he’d left and had never given Jensen a chance to speak his peace, which he now realised, he probably should have.
After breakfast, Misha sat and read the morning paper while he waited for Genevieve to get ready, which thankfully, wasn’t as long as the night before.
Once they were all dressed and had a suitable amount of make-up and hair products on, they grabbed one of the film crews and headed out towards the high school. Misha wasn’t exactly happy about going there, but MTV wanted them to go visit and so they did.
Upon arrival, they were escorted towards the principal’s office - Mr Morgan. Misha remembered him from when he attended the school. He’d been the math teacher, and while Misha had hated the subject, he’d loved going to class because Mr Morgan had been the hottest member of the faculty.
Seriously! Everyone loved him. He was way too good looking to be a teacher and Misha couldn’t help but wonder if he still was or if the years had been cruel.
When he stepped out of his office to invite them in, Misha soon realised that there were some things in life that definitely improved with age and Jeffrey Dean Morgan was one of them.
“Oh my,” Genevieve muttered under her breath, earning an elbow to the ribs from Misha.
“Mr. Collins,” Mr. Morgan said as he held out his hand for Misha to shake, “we’re honoured to have you back.”
“It’s an honour to be back sir,” Misha said, trying not to drool when Mr. Morgan smiled at his words.
“I have to admit though, that when the folks from MTV called and said an ex pupil wanted to return, I had trouble placing you.”
“Oh, well, my real name is Dmitri Krushnic,” Misha explained, “not Misha Collins.”
“You’re shitting me!” Mr. Morgan said.
“Um, no. No, I’m not.”
“God, you look nothing like yourself… in a good way.”
Misha grinned, liking the way Mr. Morgan was flirting with him, ‘cause he was totally flirting.
“Misha,” Genevieve said from his side.
“Oh, this is my friend Genevieve Cortese,” he said with feigned interest.
“Now you, you I’d remember,” Mr. Morgan said, making Genevieve giggle.
Okay, so maybe he hadn’t been flirting with Misha.
“Alright, so why don’t I give you the tour. Some things have changed since you were last here. Then we’re going to have a special assembly and if you have the time, I’d really appreciate it if you could spend some time with the LGBT students.”
“The LGBT students?” Misha asked in surprise.
“Yeah, we have our own LGBT society now, and when I heard you were coming, I thought it would be nice for them since they don’t really get the chance to talk to many adults who’ve been through what they’re experiencing. Texas is bad enough, but a town like Brown Oak…”
“I’d love to spend some time with them,” Misha interrupted. “If I’d had the chance to speak to someone when I was their age, then things would probably have been very different for me.”
“That’s not necessarily a good thing,” Genevieve told him as Mr Morgan began to give them the tour, “and what’s with you never telling me Texas men were so hot?” she hissed.
“What?”
“Oh come one. That man is fine, as is Jensen and that friend of his Jared. Who I would totally like you to introduce me to by the way,” she told him. “If I’d known all the men down here were so attractive, I’d have made you visit a long time ago.”
Misha shook his head at her, unable to actually form some kind of response to that as agreeing with her would only be giving her ammo to pester him about Jared and worse, Jensen. So he kept quiet and walked with her as they followed Mr. Morgan about the school, nodding when he pointed out certain areas, asking appropriate questions when the time arose and being as polite as they possibly could, trying not to make it obvious that they were continuously staring at Mr. Morgan’s ass.
After the tour, they had a quick lunch that Colton had kindly prepared for them. Misha would’ve eaten from the cafeteria, but Colton knew how fussy he was about his food and had prepared a packed lunch for him and Genevieve before they left the house.
They sat themselves in the lunch room to eat and while Genevieve happily spoke away with Mr. Morgan, Misha found himself just watching the kids as they glanced his way or tried to carry on as normal, all the while getting flashbacks to the times when he’d have his lunch tray shoved out of his hands or be forcibly removed from his seat or the times when he didn’t even make it as far as the lunch line before he got roughed up and had his lunch money stolen from him.
God he hated this place.
“You okay?” Colton asked him quietly.
“Yeah, just some unpleasant memories,” he said as he poked at a chunk of mango with a plastic fork.
Colton frowned, but didn’t comment any further, instead just handing Misha his bottle of water and telling him to drink.
~*~*~*~*~*~
After a long day at the school and spending time with what turned to be three students who only had a vague idea of who he was and no idea who Genevieve was, Misha decided to have a quiet night in.
He gave Colton and Cliff the night off and told them to take Genevieve with them as he just didn’t have the energy for her. Throughout the entire day she’d kept switching between asking about Mr. Morgan and Jared to pestering him about Jensen.
“Whatever happened in the past, that guy is hot and you haven’t been laid in months,” was the general gist of what she said to him… ALL DAY!
Upon arrival back home, Misha’s mom told him how Jensen had come back to finish his work when Misha had left and that she’d told Jensen that Misha would be out the next day too so he should make himself scarce.
He had no idea what he was going to do.
But, the good news was, he had the house to himself… well, his parents were still there, as well as the camera crew, but still, all he had to do was hide in his room and he’d be fine.
First things first though; spend a little quality time with the parental units.
As his mother made dinner, Misha sat with his dad in the living room, both of them sitting in silence as they read. They swapped the occasional bit of dialogue, but mostly, the noise made either came from the camera crew, his mother in the kitchen or the turning of book pages.
To outsiders it would look like they were both ignoring each other, but this was how they bonded. For as long as Misha could remember, he and his dad would sit reading while his mom cooked. None of the others ever joined in, so it was their special time and Misha loved it.
But soon, the silence was over and they were being called into the kitchen to eat. Misha was slightly horrified at the size of the portion that was put in front of him, but he knew his mom was just trying to encourage him to eat more than he normally would. And even if he wanted to gorge himself on his mother’s wonderful cooking, his stomach just wasn’t big enough any more.
Though what he couldn’t eat she would either put by for lunch tomorrow or give it to the crew who she seemed to have taken it upon herself to look after, just like she did with every other person who entered her home.
“So what are you to do tomorrow?” his mom asked as he helped her clear the dishes away.
“No idea. Probably go into town, have a look and see what’s new around here,” he said with a shrug, “and Gen’s been annoying me about going out and taking a look at Jared’s dog sanctuary.”
“She after a dog then?” she asked.
“No. A cowboy,” Misha said with a smile, making his mother snort in amusement.
“Well, she could do worse than Jared Padalecki. That boy’s got a heart of gold, but he needs a good woman to take care of him,” she told him. “It’s a shame that he’s never been the same since that Sandy girl left.”
“Wasn’t that like ten years ago though?”
“She fell pregnant by another man and told him about it the night before their wedding.”
“And you know this how?” he asked with a roll of his eyes.
“People talk,” she shrugged.
“Since when do you listen to people?”
“Well that’s what people said and Sandy’s mother goes up to Dallas to visit her and her husband every second week.”
“Okay, fine. So the guy’s been hurt. I’ll pass it on to Gen that she should be gentle with him.”
“God help him,” his dad said as he came in from taking out the garbage, walking right past them and back into the living room.
Misha grinned while his mom shook her head. She waited until the door was closed before she put down her dish cloth and turned to him.
“Now about Jensen…”
“Oh God Mom, please don’t. Genevieve and Colton haven’t dropped the subject all day.”
“And are you surprised?” she asked. “Look, there is obviously something you’re not telling me and I respect that - you’re an adult, that’s your choice - but you are both hurting and whatever was said this morning is only making it worse.”
Misha sighed, “I know,” he said, leaning back against the worktop, “it’s just a difficult situation.”
“And it’ll get even more difficult if you don’t talk to him.”
Misha nodded, knowing she was right and that he probably should just call Jensen; he did have his number after all, but that was easier said than done.
As he debated inwardly with himself about how best to approach the situation, he finished helping his mother clean up then excused himself saying that he was going to take a bath.
The camera crew weren’t extremely happy that he was going off and ultimately locking them out, but he really did need some time alone and having a camera pointed in his face wasn’t really going to help him relax any.
As he filled the bath with hot water, he stripped off, yanking off the microphone and making sure it was off - he didn’t need them to hear him splashing about - before finally climbing in.
It was a smaller tub then he was used to and the shower head on the wall above him kept dripping onto his head, but he did his best to ignore it as he turned his thoughts towards Jensen.
He really had no idea what to do about him, and he really didn’t want to do any of it on camera. But then, he wasn’t entirely sure that he actually had to do anything. After the wedding, he had no plans to come back again so what difference would it make if he and Jensen continued to not talk to each other? He didn’t owe him anything as far as he was concerned. But then, some closure would probably be quite nice.
As the tap, tap, tapping on his head got faster and more persistent, Misha gave up and climbed out the bath. He quickly wrapped a towel round himself and gathered up all his clothes, then he just about shit himself when he opened the door to find a camera pointed in his face.
“Fuck,” he hissed as he struggled to not drop anything, “I’m going to bed,” he then said to them as he disappeared up to his room.
Genevieve had covered the bed in clothes that she had obviously been trying to decide between before she went out. Not having the energy to put it all away for her, Misha dumped his own stuff in the corner before gathering up all her clothes and throwing it all in the direction of her luggage.
That done, he pulled on a pair of sweat pants and a sweatshirt then opened up the window so he could climb up onto the roof.
He knew that it was probably stupid and immature to hide up on the roof like he was seventeen again, but it was his sanctuary and he’d always done his best thinking up there.
However, as he got himself settled, his eyes were immediately drawn toward the names ‘Jensen and Dmitri’ scratched into one of the slates, two beer bottle caps stuck down next to them with the number ‘95’ just below.
Reaching out, he traced the letters gently, a soft smile appearing on his lips as he did so. Then before he knew what he was doing, he was pulling out his phone and taking a picture of it before sending it to Jensen with the words ’Guess where I am’ attached to it.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Unlike the typical gay stereotype, Misha hated shopping.
He always knew what he wanted and either went to get it himself or sent Colton, and came straight back home again. Not Genevieve. Oh no, she liked to browse and ‘window shop.’ It was possibly the most painful form of torture ever!
The main street in town fortunately didn’t have many stores so he knew that there was at least an end in sight and then he would hopefully he able to lie down somewhere quiet away from the cash registers and brightly coloured store fronts with over friendly store clerks.
The reason he was tired however, was because he had stayed up pretty late texting Jensen.
They hadn’t talked about their argument or that night all those years ago, but instead exchanged memories of stuff that had happened in school and laughed about what had happened to all the assholes that they’d gone to school with. Jensen had also clarified for him what had happened between Jared and Sandy; she hadn’t fell pregnant or left him for someone else, but merely broke it off because she didn’t want to spend all of her life in Brown Oak. And Danneel - well, she’d gone to college in Florida and had stayed there. She was a teacher or a librarian or something, Jensen wasn’t entirely sure as he hadn’t spoken to her since graduation.
And that was when Misha had called it a night as he didn’t want to broach the subject of graduation or the party so late at night and through text. Also, Genevieve had been due home and he didn’t want to explain who he’d been talking to.
He hadn’t told anyone that he’d spoken with Jensen, they would only quiz him on what was going on and as far as he was concerned, at the moment, they were barely friends.
And all of that would’ve been fine; Genevieve and Colton were none the wiser, if it wasn’t for the fact that after they’d had a quick bite to eat at the one and only coffee house in town, Misha as promised, took Genevieve out to Jared’s dog rescue facility.
It was a bit of a drive outside of town and up the dirt tracks, and since he was the ‘local’ Misha had been nominated to drive with Cliff, taking a break in the passenger seat. And again, all that would’ve been fine - Misha enjoyed driving and relished the chance to do it - but when they arrived at the Happy Endings Dog Rescue Foundation, the sight of a familiar van made Misha’s stomach fill with butterflies, making him stall the car.
“Isn’t that Jensen’s van?” Genevieve asked.
“Looks like,” Colton said and Misha couldn’t help but notice the conspiratorial grin they shared.
Ignoring them, Misha climbed out of the car and headed over to the entrance. The main building was actually a house that Misha guessed was where Jared actually lived, and from what they could hear, what with all the barking, the kennels were out the back.
The front door was open and so they all headed inside, Misha calling ‘hello’ as they made their way down the hall. At first, it didn’t look like anyone was there, but then a young blonde girl stuck her head out a door and eyed Misha for a second before her eyes started to bug out and she disappeared again, shouting at Jared.
“Seriously Alona, you gotta stop shrieking like that. You’re giving me a headache, never mind the dogs,” Jared said as he appeared in the hallway. “Hey Misha,” he added with a smile as he held out his hand, “Good to see you man.”
“You too,” Misha said. “I had a spare few hours so thought I’d come see what all the fuss was about.”
“Any time man,” Jared nodded before he shook hands with the others, “so you want me to show you around?”
“Sure,” Misha nodded, “so long as I’m not interrupting anything.”
“Nothing important anyway,” Jared said, “I was just listening to Jensen bitch and moan about his non-existent love life,” Jared smiled as he led them down the hall.
“I was not bitching,” Jensen said as he appeared, holding onto a rather fluffy looking dog.
“But you were moaning,” Jared pointed out to which Jensen just shrugged.
“Whatever,” Jensen shrugged. “Hey Misha.”
“Hey,” Misha replied. “Nice dog.”
“Oh, this is Icarus,” Jensen smiled, “Icarus, this is Daddy’s friend Misha. Say hi.”
“Daddy?” Misha asked, trying not to smile.
“Well yeah,” Jensen nodded. “Jared rescued him one night when I was over for dinner and the kennels were full, so I took him home for the night and well, I just kept him,” he explained. “I mean look at him. He’s adorable. How could I give him up?”
“He certainly is fluffy anyway,” Misha smiled.
Jensen rolled his eyes at him before gesturing with his head for Misha to follow him. Leaving the other three to their tour, Misha went with Jensen outside where Icarus was put down and allowed to run around with a couple of larger dogs - Jared’s own dogs, Jensen later explained - before Jensen turned to face him.
“So last night,” he began, “you uh, kind of ended our conversation pretty abruptly. Guess you really don’t want to talk about that night do you?”
“It’s not number one on my list of things to do,” Misha said with a nod, “but I’d rather talk about it face to face without any spectators,” he added.
Jensen nodded a little before looking at the ground, “Gonna be a bit difficult with them,” he pointed out, as he nodded towards the cameras.
Misha grinned, “Don’t worry about it,” he said, aware of Jared leading the others out of the house and towards the kennels.
“So uh, we should probably go catch up or something then?” Jensen suggested.
“Yes,” Misha nodded, “maybe have dinner?”
“Sure. I’m free tonight if you want?”
“Can’t tonight, Sasha and Elizabeth are coming back today, so a big family dinner is on the cards.”
“Right. So tomorrow?” Jensen suggested.
“Robbie’s bachelor party in Dallas,” Misha said biting his lip as he tried to think of a solution, “what about lunch tomorrow?”
“Yeah I’d like that,” Jensen nodded, glancing quickly at the camera crew nervously.
“We will talk about it,” Misha told him. “I promise.”
TBC
Part Three
Author: Ru_salki99
Rating: R
Pairing: Jensen/Misha
Disclaimer: None of the events mentioned in this story are based on fact and as far as I know, never happened.
Beta: Much thanks to the wonderful inanna1130 and the amazing sprlngdwnwrd for all their beta work. You guys rock!
Author's notes: Written for the 2010 deancasbigbang.
Artist: Many, many thanks to kiasca for creating such wonderful art for me. Art post here
Summary: RPS AU - Movie star and model Misha Collins hasn't been home in over fifteen years. However, with his youngest sister getting married, he finds himself travelling back there to face everything and everyone he ran away from to try and overcome all those things that caused him so much pain. There's only one problem; MTV are following him for a fly on the wall documentary. What could possibly go wrong?
Part One
Misha was running. It was 06:00, and he was out in the extremely quiet streets of Brown Oak, running. Sure he was doing it as part of his daily exercise routine, usually he would be doing it on the treadmill in his gym, but he wasn’t about to stop and let himself get fat just because his parents didn’t have a gym of their own. And besides, exercising helped him think.
He had made sure to be up and out of the house before the camera crew arrived. They’d probably be pissed at him for going out without them, but he really did need time to himself, even away from Genevieve and Colton. And so, he ran.
Last night had left him more unsettled and confused than he had imagined it could. Meeting up with Richard and Vicki again - and even Traci - had actually felt really good, but when he’d seen Jensen there, looking hotter than Hell and having the most Goddamn sexy voice Misha had ever heard, all those feelings he’d buried deep down inside him had come flooding back. He probably would’ve had another panic attack if he hadn’t been so hypnotised by Jensen’s voice.
Then Jensen sang a song about ‘the one who got away’ and he actually looked right at Misha as he sang: right into his fucking eyes and it had almost killed him.
Thankfully, it had been Jensen’s last song and Misha had not only downed his beer, but grabbed the last of Genevieve’s and Colton’s drinks and downed them too. He was just about to head to the bar to get something stronger than beer, when someone with a deep, gruff and oh so sexy voice said his name.
“Misha?”
Misha swore inwardly before turning to see Jensen standing there, a small nervous smile on his lips.
“Hey Jensen,” Misha said with his own small smile.
“Wow. I can’t believe it’s actually you,” Jensen said as he looked him up and down, making Misha blush, “I mean, you look great. Amazing in fact.”
“Thanks,” Misha nodded. “You’re looking good yourself,” he’d said, mentally kicking himself for sounding so fucking lame. “And uh, that set… I never realised you could sing.”
“Yeah I kinda got into it in college. Wanted to go professional with it, but never quite made it,” Jensen shrugged. “But I’m happy now with what I got and just playing here once in a while.”
“Well I guess happiness is really all that matters right?” Misha said just as a gigantor of a man came over and heavily slung his arm over Jensen’s shoulder, nearly knocking him off his feet.
“I gotta go Jen,” he said, “sorry, but I’ve got a dog emergency. I’ll call you tomorrow okay?”
“Sure Jay,” Jensen nodded, waving goodbye to his friend.
“Who the hell was that?” Genevieve asked from Misha’s left, making Misha and Jensen realise she was there for the first time.
“Jensen, this is my friend Genevieve Cortese. Genevieve, this is Jensen Ackles.”
“Hey,” Genevieve said as she shook his hand. “So, your friend?”
“Jared Padalecki,” Jensen said with an amused smile. “He runs a shelter for dogs, hence the dog emergency. And yes, he is single.”
“Interesting,” Genevieve said, making Misha roll his eyes as she turned around and said something to Colton who had just come back from the bar with more drinks.
“So listen,” Jensen began, “we should hook up while you’re in town. Grab a burger or something.”
“Well I don’t eat red meat, but yeah. Something,” Misha nodded, his stomach doing flips inside him as Jensen pulled out his phone so they could exchange numbers.
Misha wasn’t sure if Jensen had just asked him out on a date or not, but he wasn’t going to ask for fear of looking like an asshole. So they’d exchanged numbers then shook hands before they both sort of awkwardly gave each other a one armed hug.
After that, Misha had one more drink with his sister, interrupted by a few of the younger patrons asking him and Genevieve for autographs before they called it a night. On the way out, Jensen waved at Misha and made the universal sign for ‘call me.’
So Misha was really very confused about exactly what was happening. Had Richard and Vicki not told him Jensen was gay then he would probably have just assumed he was being friendly for old time’s sake and all. But with the added information that he did in fact belong to the pink brigade and their suspicion that he had been in love with Misha as a teenager, well now he didn’t know what to think.
His run hadn’t really helped at all apart from confuse him even further and make him completely paranoid that he had an inflated ego and thought too much of himself.
So by the time he got back to his parents’, the camera crew had arrived - which he wasn’t too happy about since he was drenched in sweat and more than likely red in the face - and the entire house was up and about. The fact that everyone was awake wasn’t that unusual, but what was unusual was the van parked outside the house marked ‘Landscape Gardener.’
Letting himself into the house, he headed straight for the kitchen where he could hear everyone.
“Morning,” he said as he went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, drinking half of it in one gulp.
“How was your run?” Colton asked.
“Confusing,” Misha said as the camera filmed it all. “What’s with the landscaping van?” he asked.
“Oh, he likes to get an early start,” his mom said, “so that he can finish before it gets too hot.”
“Oh right,” Misha nodded, turning to look out the window to see what the guy was doing. Except by looking out the window, he only managed to make himself choke on his water, “What the fuck?! Jensen’s the landscaper?”
“Yeah,” his mother nodded, giving him a look as if that fact had been obvious.
“Jensen Ackles. He’s the gardener?” Misha asked again as he pointed out the window.
“Yeah Misha. Jeez, what’s your problem?”
“Jesus fucking Christ mother!” Misha said in complete exasperation, panic setting in, “Colton, Gen, code purple!” he shouted at them as he turned and headed out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
“What’s a code purple?” his mom asked as Genevieve quickly followed him and Colton slid out of his chair.
“It means there’s a hot guy in the vicinity and Misha needs to make himself pretty,” Colton explained as he too followed Misha up the stairs.
“You know, some guys find the whole sweaty, ‘I’ve just had a hard workout’ look attractive,” Genevieve started.
“Maybe, but B.O. isn’t exactly a turn on,” Misha said as he lifted his shirt off of his head and threw it towards his empty luggage.
“I don’t know,” Colton began, “there’s been some studies to show that when you’re in love with someone, the smell of them and their sweat makes you horny.”
Misha frowned at him, but didn’t comment, wondering if that was true or not as he kicked off his sneakers and pulled off his socks and shorts, leaving him in just his underwear as Genevieve threw a towel at him, ordered him to go shower and pushed him past the camera crew.
“Right,” Colton began, “we going for casual?”
“Yup. Casual,” Genevieve agreed as she opened Misha’s wardrobe and started to sort through the jeans.
She pulled out two pairs, a dark pair that were new and hadn’t been worn before and Misha’s favourite pair that were ripped at one of the knees, well worn and made his ass look great. Then she grabbed a selection of t-shirts while Colton sorted out his underwear, shoes and aftershave.
By the time they were done laying his clothes out on the bed for him, Misha was back, towel wrapped low around his waist while he used another to vigorously dry his hair. Colton wordlessly handed him his underwear and Misha, not caring about the cameras, stripped himself of his towel and began to pull the briefs on. The film crew made a small noise of surprise at Misha baring himself to all - of course, parts of him would end up pixelated on the final cut, but made no other sound to indicate their presence.
“Right, what pants should I wear?” he asked, towelling his hair again.
“Well, you’ve got these new ones,” Genevieve said, “or you could go with old faithful.”
Misha stared between the two pairs of pants, chewing on his bottom lip before he reached out and grabbed his old and most favourite pair of pants. Pulling them on, he eyed the t-shirts lying on the bed.
“T-shirts?”
“Yeah, we thought casual would be best,” Colton told him, “you were dressed pretty smart last night, which was fine for that setting, but to do the same at six forty five in the morning would probably make him a bit intimidated or think that you’re an ass.”
“Right,” Misha nodded, picking up a couple of the t-shirts to look at.
He immediately discarded the red and blue ones as they both had intricate patterns with sparkly bits on them, and instead concentrated on the pale yellow t-shirt and the white one.
“What’s with this Jensen guy anyway?” Colton asked curiously. “I mean, is he like an ex or something?”
“Or something,” Misha muttered as he pulled the white Vivienne Westwood t-shirt on.
“Misha’s the one that got away,” Genevieve said in a sing-song voice.
“I am not,” Misha snapped. “We were just friends and I, kinda had a crush on him.”
“Oh,” Colton said with a nod, “he’s one of those.”
“Yes, one of those,” Misha nodded before turning to Genevieve, “where’s your blow dryer?”
Genevieve pointed towards her luggage and Misha went over to it, pleased to find it full of her hair care products as he was going to need them.
They spent the next half hour making sure that Misha’s hair was just right, that his eyebrows were tweezed to perfection and that he smelled amazing. They decided to go for bare feet as it was ‘sexier’ than shoes before finally heading back down the stairs to have the breakfast that had been so rudely interrupted.
When they got to the kitchen, Misha’s dad and Cliff were gone, but sitting having coffee and eating pancakes like he belonged there Jensen himself.
“Morning,” Jensen said with a smile and a salute with his fork.
“Jensen?” Misha said, “What a surprise. What are you doing here?” he asked ignoring the way his mother rolled her eyes at him.
“I’m your sister’s gardener,” he said, “and I’m eating your mom’s food ‘cause she thinks I’m too skinny.”
“Yeah well, Mother isn’t happy until all those around her have a BMI of over thirty.”
Jensen laughed, thinking Misha was joking. Misha wished he was. His mom had always over fed them, which Misha had attributed to being the start of his problems with food.
“So you’re up early,” Jensen pointed out as Misha poured himself a cup of orange juice and grabbed a banana for his breakfast.
“Not particularly,” Misha said. “I’m usually up at five or six every morning. Seven’s a lazy day for me.”
“Really?” Jensen asked in surprise. “I thought you celebrity types got to live a life of luxury.”
Misha snorted in amusement, “I work, on average, fifteen hours a day,” he explained. “And sure, now I can do some things that are easy money, but our contracts are only temporary. We don’t have a permanent income, so yeah, we have to work extra hard to earn as much as we can, when we can.”
“Urgh, are you complaining about being a celebrity again?” Genevieve asked as she entered the kitchen in search of a refill for the coffee she had abandoned earlier. “If it bothers you so much, why don’t you put that PhD of yours to good use and go be a professor at some college. That’ll be a steady income for you.”
“And give up all the glamour?” Misha asked with mock indignation. “Never.”
The two of them laughed before turning to see Jensen watching them curiously.
“Dude, you’ve got a PhD?” he asked. “You actually did it?”
“Yeah. I did it,” Misha nodded.
“Did what?” his mother asked.
“Back in school, Misha always used to talk about how he was gonna get a PhD and then pass on all his wisdom to future generations. I guess he’s half way there.”
“You never told me that,” his mom said.
Misha shrugged, “Jensen was the only person who ever asked me. It’s no big deal. I mean, it’s not like I never accomplished it. I did.”
“Well it’s a big deal to me,” his mom said, “that’s the sort of thing a boy should tell his mother, not just his best friend.”
“We weren’t best friends,” Misha said quietly, yet loud enough that they all heard him.
“Of course you were. You boys used to spend every moment of spare time together either up on our roof or out at the ranch,” his mom pointed out as she shook her head in disbelief. “I have no idea why you boys fell out.”
“Yeah,” Jensen said, looking very serious all of a sudden, “me neither.”
An uncomfortable silence stretched throughout the room until Misha placed his glass and half eaten banana down onto the worktop, grabbed Jensen by the elbow and dragged him outside - completely forgetting that they were both mic’d up.
“Ow,” Jensen said as he pulled back his arm, “when the hell did you get so strong?”
“What are you doing here Jensen?” Misha asked him, ignoring the pout he was getting even if it was kinda cute.
“Your sister hired me to fix your mom’s garden for the wedding,” Jensen told him.
“Really?!”
“Yes, really,” Jensen frowned. “I would’ve been finished a week ago, but we had to make some last minute changes to fit your cameras in!”
“Don’t you shout at me. I’m not the one in the wrong here.”
“And I am?”
Misha folded his arms and just glared at Jensen, cursing the fact that Jensen was still a couple of inches taller than him.
“Oh you’re kidding me! Seriously? You’re still mad about what happened at the party?”
“Wouldn’t you be?”
“At the guys that were actually acting like assholes sure, but not at the one and only other person there who got hurt just as much as you did when you ran away.”
“You got hurt?” Misha asked with a sardonic smile. “Yeah right. You were laughing your ass off.”
Jensen shook his head and gave a sad sigh, “No Misha, I wasn’t.”
At a loss for words, Misha watched as Jensen walked back into the house, said something to his mother then disappeared out towards the front of the house. Then he heard the distinct sound of an engine coming to life and eventually driving away.
“Fuck!”
~*~*~*~*~*~
To say Misha’s mom had been pissed with him would be an understatement. She’d demanded to know what it was that he’d said to upset Jensen so much that he had to leave. But Misha wasn’t telling her. He wasn’t even telling Colton or Genevieve and if it wasn’t for the stupid film crew, nobody would know exactly what was said and that he’d kind of been a dick.
But then, how was he supposed to have known Jensen had been upset? He hadn’t exactly stood up for him in front of everyone or kissed him back for that matter. Misha wasn’t a mind reader after all. But Jensen had come round to the house to try and talk to him before they both left for college and Misha hadn’t let him in. It had hurt too much to even think about facing him let alone actually do it. So he’d left and had never given Jensen a chance to speak his peace, which he now realised, he probably should have.
After breakfast, Misha sat and read the morning paper while he waited for Genevieve to get ready, which thankfully, wasn’t as long as the night before.
Once they were all dressed and had a suitable amount of make-up and hair products on, they grabbed one of the film crews and headed out towards the high school. Misha wasn’t exactly happy about going there, but MTV wanted them to go visit and so they did.
Upon arrival, they were escorted towards the principal’s office - Mr Morgan. Misha remembered him from when he attended the school. He’d been the math teacher, and while Misha had hated the subject, he’d loved going to class because Mr Morgan had been the hottest member of the faculty.
Seriously! Everyone loved him. He was way too good looking to be a teacher and Misha couldn’t help but wonder if he still was or if the years had been cruel.
When he stepped out of his office to invite them in, Misha soon realised that there were some things in life that definitely improved with age and Jeffrey Dean Morgan was one of them.
“Oh my,” Genevieve muttered under her breath, earning an elbow to the ribs from Misha.
“Mr. Collins,” Mr. Morgan said as he held out his hand for Misha to shake, “we’re honoured to have you back.”
“It’s an honour to be back sir,” Misha said, trying not to drool when Mr. Morgan smiled at his words.
“I have to admit though, that when the folks from MTV called and said an ex pupil wanted to return, I had trouble placing you.”
“Oh, well, my real name is Dmitri Krushnic,” Misha explained, “not Misha Collins.”
“You’re shitting me!” Mr. Morgan said.
“Um, no. No, I’m not.”
“God, you look nothing like yourself… in a good way.”
Misha grinned, liking the way Mr. Morgan was flirting with him, ‘cause he was totally flirting.
“Misha,” Genevieve said from his side.
“Oh, this is my friend Genevieve Cortese,” he said with feigned interest.
“Now you, you I’d remember,” Mr. Morgan said, making Genevieve giggle.
Okay, so maybe he hadn’t been flirting with Misha.
“Alright, so why don’t I give you the tour. Some things have changed since you were last here. Then we’re going to have a special assembly and if you have the time, I’d really appreciate it if you could spend some time with the LGBT students.”
“The LGBT students?” Misha asked in surprise.
“Yeah, we have our own LGBT society now, and when I heard you were coming, I thought it would be nice for them since they don’t really get the chance to talk to many adults who’ve been through what they’re experiencing. Texas is bad enough, but a town like Brown Oak…”
“I’d love to spend some time with them,” Misha interrupted. “If I’d had the chance to speak to someone when I was their age, then things would probably have been very different for me.”
“That’s not necessarily a good thing,” Genevieve told him as Mr Morgan began to give them the tour, “and what’s with you never telling me Texas men were so hot?” she hissed.
“What?”
“Oh come one. That man is fine, as is Jensen and that friend of his Jared. Who I would totally like you to introduce me to by the way,” she told him. “If I’d known all the men down here were so attractive, I’d have made you visit a long time ago.”
Misha shook his head at her, unable to actually form some kind of response to that as agreeing with her would only be giving her ammo to pester him about Jared and worse, Jensen. So he kept quiet and walked with her as they followed Mr. Morgan about the school, nodding when he pointed out certain areas, asking appropriate questions when the time arose and being as polite as they possibly could, trying not to make it obvious that they were continuously staring at Mr. Morgan’s ass.
After the tour, they had a quick lunch that Colton had kindly prepared for them. Misha would’ve eaten from the cafeteria, but Colton knew how fussy he was about his food and had prepared a packed lunch for him and Genevieve before they left the house.
They sat themselves in the lunch room to eat and while Genevieve happily spoke away with Mr. Morgan, Misha found himself just watching the kids as they glanced his way or tried to carry on as normal, all the while getting flashbacks to the times when he’d have his lunch tray shoved out of his hands or be forcibly removed from his seat or the times when he didn’t even make it as far as the lunch line before he got roughed up and had his lunch money stolen from him.
God he hated this place.
“You okay?” Colton asked him quietly.
“Yeah, just some unpleasant memories,” he said as he poked at a chunk of mango with a plastic fork.
Colton frowned, but didn’t comment any further, instead just handing Misha his bottle of water and telling him to drink.
~*~*~*~*~*~
After a long day at the school and spending time with what turned to be three students who only had a vague idea of who he was and no idea who Genevieve was, Misha decided to have a quiet night in.
He gave Colton and Cliff the night off and told them to take Genevieve with them as he just didn’t have the energy for her. Throughout the entire day she’d kept switching between asking about Mr. Morgan and Jared to pestering him about Jensen.
“Whatever happened in the past, that guy is hot and you haven’t been laid in months,” was the general gist of what she said to him… ALL DAY!
Upon arrival back home, Misha’s mom told him how Jensen had come back to finish his work when Misha had left and that she’d told Jensen that Misha would be out the next day too so he should make himself scarce.
He had no idea what he was going to do.
But, the good news was, he had the house to himself… well, his parents were still there, as well as the camera crew, but still, all he had to do was hide in his room and he’d be fine.
First things first though; spend a little quality time with the parental units.
As his mother made dinner, Misha sat with his dad in the living room, both of them sitting in silence as they read. They swapped the occasional bit of dialogue, but mostly, the noise made either came from the camera crew, his mother in the kitchen or the turning of book pages.
To outsiders it would look like they were both ignoring each other, but this was how they bonded. For as long as Misha could remember, he and his dad would sit reading while his mom cooked. None of the others ever joined in, so it was their special time and Misha loved it.
But soon, the silence was over and they were being called into the kitchen to eat. Misha was slightly horrified at the size of the portion that was put in front of him, but he knew his mom was just trying to encourage him to eat more than he normally would. And even if he wanted to gorge himself on his mother’s wonderful cooking, his stomach just wasn’t big enough any more.
Though what he couldn’t eat she would either put by for lunch tomorrow or give it to the crew who she seemed to have taken it upon herself to look after, just like she did with every other person who entered her home.
“So what are you to do tomorrow?” his mom asked as he helped her clear the dishes away.
“No idea. Probably go into town, have a look and see what’s new around here,” he said with a shrug, “and Gen’s been annoying me about going out and taking a look at Jared’s dog sanctuary.”
“She after a dog then?” she asked.
“No. A cowboy,” Misha said with a smile, making his mother snort in amusement.
“Well, she could do worse than Jared Padalecki. That boy’s got a heart of gold, but he needs a good woman to take care of him,” she told him. “It’s a shame that he’s never been the same since that Sandy girl left.”
“Wasn’t that like ten years ago though?”
“She fell pregnant by another man and told him about it the night before their wedding.”
“And you know this how?” he asked with a roll of his eyes.
“People talk,” she shrugged.
“Since when do you listen to people?”
“Well that’s what people said and Sandy’s mother goes up to Dallas to visit her and her husband every second week.”
“Okay, fine. So the guy’s been hurt. I’ll pass it on to Gen that she should be gentle with him.”
“God help him,” his dad said as he came in from taking out the garbage, walking right past them and back into the living room.
Misha grinned while his mom shook her head. She waited until the door was closed before she put down her dish cloth and turned to him.
“Now about Jensen…”
“Oh God Mom, please don’t. Genevieve and Colton haven’t dropped the subject all day.”
“And are you surprised?” she asked. “Look, there is obviously something you’re not telling me and I respect that - you’re an adult, that’s your choice - but you are both hurting and whatever was said this morning is only making it worse.”
Misha sighed, “I know,” he said, leaning back against the worktop, “it’s just a difficult situation.”
“And it’ll get even more difficult if you don’t talk to him.”
Misha nodded, knowing she was right and that he probably should just call Jensen; he did have his number after all, but that was easier said than done.
As he debated inwardly with himself about how best to approach the situation, he finished helping his mother clean up then excused himself saying that he was going to take a bath.
The camera crew weren’t extremely happy that he was going off and ultimately locking them out, but he really did need some time alone and having a camera pointed in his face wasn’t really going to help him relax any.
As he filled the bath with hot water, he stripped off, yanking off the microphone and making sure it was off - he didn’t need them to hear him splashing about - before finally climbing in.
It was a smaller tub then he was used to and the shower head on the wall above him kept dripping onto his head, but he did his best to ignore it as he turned his thoughts towards Jensen.
He really had no idea what to do about him, and he really didn’t want to do any of it on camera. But then, he wasn’t entirely sure that he actually had to do anything. After the wedding, he had no plans to come back again so what difference would it make if he and Jensen continued to not talk to each other? He didn’t owe him anything as far as he was concerned. But then, some closure would probably be quite nice.
As the tap, tap, tapping on his head got faster and more persistent, Misha gave up and climbed out the bath. He quickly wrapped a towel round himself and gathered up all his clothes, then he just about shit himself when he opened the door to find a camera pointed in his face.
“Fuck,” he hissed as he struggled to not drop anything, “I’m going to bed,” he then said to them as he disappeared up to his room.
Genevieve had covered the bed in clothes that she had obviously been trying to decide between before she went out. Not having the energy to put it all away for her, Misha dumped his own stuff in the corner before gathering up all her clothes and throwing it all in the direction of her luggage.
That done, he pulled on a pair of sweat pants and a sweatshirt then opened up the window so he could climb up onto the roof.
He knew that it was probably stupid and immature to hide up on the roof like he was seventeen again, but it was his sanctuary and he’d always done his best thinking up there.
However, as he got himself settled, his eyes were immediately drawn toward the names ‘Jensen and Dmitri’ scratched into one of the slates, two beer bottle caps stuck down next to them with the number ‘95’ just below.
Reaching out, he traced the letters gently, a soft smile appearing on his lips as he did so. Then before he knew what he was doing, he was pulling out his phone and taking a picture of it before sending it to Jensen with the words ’Guess where I am’ attached to it.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Unlike the typical gay stereotype, Misha hated shopping.
He always knew what he wanted and either went to get it himself or sent Colton, and came straight back home again. Not Genevieve. Oh no, she liked to browse and ‘window shop.’ It was possibly the most painful form of torture ever!
The main street in town fortunately didn’t have many stores so he knew that there was at least an end in sight and then he would hopefully he able to lie down somewhere quiet away from the cash registers and brightly coloured store fronts with over friendly store clerks.
The reason he was tired however, was because he had stayed up pretty late texting Jensen.
They hadn’t talked about their argument or that night all those years ago, but instead exchanged memories of stuff that had happened in school and laughed about what had happened to all the assholes that they’d gone to school with. Jensen had also clarified for him what had happened between Jared and Sandy; she hadn’t fell pregnant or left him for someone else, but merely broke it off because she didn’t want to spend all of her life in Brown Oak. And Danneel - well, she’d gone to college in Florida and had stayed there. She was a teacher or a librarian or something, Jensen wasn’t entirely sure as he hadn’t spoken to her since graduation.
And that was when Misha had called it a night as he didn’t want to broach the subject of graduation or the party so late at night and through text. Also, Genevieve had been due home and he didn’t want to explain who he’d been talking to.
He hadn’t told anyone that he’d spoken with Jensen, they would only quiz him on what was going on and as far as he was concerned, at the moment, they were barely friends.
And all of that would’ve been fine; Genevieve and Colton were none the wiser, if it wasn’t for the fact that after they’d had a quick bite to eat at the one and only coffee house in town, Misha as promised, took Genevieve out to Jared’s dog rescue facility.
It was a bit of a drive outside of town and up the dirt tracks, and since he was the ‘local’ Misha had been nominated to drive with Cliff, taking a break in the passenger seat. And again, all that would’ve been fine - Misha enjoyed driving and relished the chance to do it - but when they arrived at the Happy Endings Dog Rescue Foundation, the sight of a familiar van made Misha’s stomach fill with butterflies, making him stall the car.
“Isn’t that Jensen’s van?” Genevieve asked.
“Looks like,” Colton said and Misha couldn’t help but notice the conspiratorial grin they shared.
Ignoring them, Misha climbed out of the car and headed over to the entrance. The main building was actually a house that Misha guessed was where Jared actually lived, and from what they could hear, what with all the barking, the kennels were out the back.
The front door was open and so they all headed inside, Misha calling ‘hello’ as they made their way down the hall. At first, it didn’t look like anyone was there, but then a young blonde girl stuck her head out a door and eyed Misha for a second before her eyes started to bug out and she disappeared again, shouting at Jared.
“Seriously Alona, you gotta stop shrieking like that. You’re giving me a headache, never mind the dogs,” Jared said as he appeared in the hallway. “Hey Misha,” he added with a smile as he held out his hand, “Good to see you man.”
“You too,” Misha said. “I had a spare few hours so thought I’d come see what all the fuss was about.”
“Any time man,” Jared nodded before he shook hands with the others, “so you want me to show you around?”
“Sure,” Misha nodded, “so long as I’m not interrupting anything.”
“Nothing important anyway,” Jared said, “I was just listening to Jensen bitch and moan about his non-existent love life,” Jared smiled as he led them down the hall.
“I was not bitching,” Jensen said as he appeared, holding onto a rather fluffy looking dog.
“But you were moaning,” Jared pointed out to which Jensen just shrugged.
“Whatever,” Jensen shrugged. “Hey Misha.”
“Hey,” Misha replied. “Nice dog.”
“Oh, this is Icarus,” Jensen smiled, “Icarus, this is Daddy’s friend Misha. Say hi.”
“Daddy?” Misha asked, trying not to smile.
“Well yeah,” Jensen nodded. “Jared rescued him one night when I was over for dinner and the kennels were full, so I took him home for the night and well, I just kept him,” he explained. “I mean look at him. He’s adorable. How could I give him up?”
“He certainly is fluffy anyway,” Misha smiled.
Jensen rolled his eyes at him before gesturing with his head for Misha to follow him. Leaving the other three to their tour, Misha went with Jensen outside where Icarus was put down and allowed to run around with a couple of larger dogs - Jared’s own dogs, Jensen later explained - before Jensen turned to face him.
“So last night,” he began, “you uh, kind of ended our conversation pretty abruptly. Guess you really don’t want to talk about that night do you?”
“It’s not number one on my list of things to do,” Misha said with a nod, “but I’d rather talk about it face to face without any spectators,” he added.
Jensen nodded a little before looking at the ground, “Gonna be a bit difficult with them,” he pointed out, as he nodded towards the cameras.
Misha grinned, “Don’t worry about it,” he said, aware of Jared leading the others out of the house and towards the kennels.
“So uh, we should probably go catch up or something then?” Jensen suggested.
“Yes,” Misha nodded, “maybe have dinner?”
“Sure. I’m free tonight if you want?”
“Can’t tonight, Sasha and Elizabeth are coming back today, so a big family dinner is on the cards.”
“Right. So tomorrow?” Jensen suggested.
“Robbie’s bachelor party in Dallas,” Misha said biting his lip as he tried to think of a solution, “what about lunch tomorrow?”
“Yeah I’d like that,” Jensen nodded, glancing quickly at the camera crew nervously.
“We will talk about it,” Misha told him. “I promise.”
TBC
Part Three