The Food Network Presents Jamie the Orator (Timestamp)

Apr 04, 2011 00:32

Title: The Food Network Presents Jamie the Orator
Pairing: Pre Jsquared
Rating: A bit of swearing
Timing: Near the beginning on A Better Life
Summary: Jared gets sad and Jamie fixes him
Words: 2,706
Author: Azure K Mello
Bunny care of: mediaville found here: http://mediaville.livejournal.com/12649.html

His electric blue 1959 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner was a beautiful convertible. It was the car he’d wanted when he was a kid. After college he’d wanted a restaurant. But those cost money. So he’d worked at other people’s restaurants and saved up. He’d started entering the Food Network contests and saved his money. He was a hard worker and they saw that and they gave him his show. The money they gave him for the creative rights to his idea had given him the money to start JT’s and get rid of his ’93 Honda in favor of his dream car. And here he was, working on the fifth season of his show only five years after graduating from the CIA.

He was a millionaire, he was a celebrity (kinda, not really, almost, in the right circles), he had a TV show, a top rated restaurant, a wonderful family, awesome friends and kickass dogs. On top of all that he was making his own family now. He had sold his house and moved in with his two favorite people in the world. Jensen was the cleverest, most loving, witty, talented, gentle and, yeah, handsomest guy Jared had ever been with. And that amazing man wanted him there, to help raise his little boy, to be his partner and it made Jared’s chest feel like it was going to burst open, because that much happiness and love just wasn’t natural.

With Halloween just passed Jared was starting to put on weight. He had worried a little about that. They’d met in early February when Jared was getting thin not fat. Early January was when he always stopped over indulging and started running for more than just to tire out Sadie and Harley. Then he keeps it off through spring, summer and fall. But since October thirty-first all bets were off. They’re not even up to Thanksgiving and he’d already gained three pounds. He’d be fifteen over his summer weight come January first.

Then one night after a grownup date Jensen rolled into bed saying, “I ate way too much beef stroganoff. I feel too full. I should warn you: I pack on fat for winter. So suck it up if you miss my tight abs come January. I don’t swim when it’s cold.” They made out, lazily, too full from a delicious dinner. Then Jensen said, “Okay, I feel better. Here’s another fifteen calories I don’t need.” Then he gave Jared a fantastic blow job, all wet heat, and almost painful suction that left Jared moaning and begging. He came and felt like he was falling to pieces. Jensen crawled up the bed, kissed him so tenderly and said, “This is the only exercise I do in the winter.” After that it was just athletic thank-fuck-I’m-gay-and-men-are-strong-and-you-are-wonderful-at-manhandling-me sex that melted his mind and left him babbling about how much he loved this man and his dick. He thought that maybe, with sex like that, he wouldn’t gain all fifteen pounds.

But today was not a good day. Today was a bad day. The kind of day that made Jared afraid of being near people in case he infected them with how bad his day had been and how low it left him feeling. On top of everything else his beautiful convertible wasn’t running. He knew he should call his mechanics, ask them to tow and fix it. But, instead of doing that, he was elbow deep in grease and reading the manual for at least the thirtieth time. He wanted to feel manly. For fuck’s sake: once upon a time he was going to be a mechanical engineer. They build engines he should at least be able to figure out how to fix one. This one was old, it didn’t have any computer chips in it; he should’ve just been able to fix it. But he couldn’t and his mind whispered, “No ‘cause you dropped out of real college before you’d even finished freshman year and went to fucking culinary school.”

And Jared really hated that because he loved himself, he loved being him. Before he came out of the closet he knew it would be hard. Especial as he was famous (kinda, not really, almost, in the right circles) he knew it would get some attention. He knew that there would be a lot of shit in the media about it but he hadn’t really thought about how it would change his everyday life. It hadn’t much, mostly because everyone he hung out had already known. But now it was a problem for his job. And now he was out here as dusk was falling on an unseasonably hot day trying to feel manly. Jamie came out of the house carrying two sodas.

Holding out one he said, “It’s hot and you’ve been out here almost two hours.”

He took one saying, “Thanks, Jamie.” He took several long sips.

“Is it fixed yet?” asked the six year old sitting down on the sidewalk.

“No, not yet.”

“Do you know how to fix a car?”

“Not yet. I’m working through the manual.”

“I finished my homework but Daddy’s on the phone with Chad so he can’t check it. He’s worried about you.”

Shit, Jared hadn’t gone inside because he didn’t want to worry Jensen. “Oh,” he said, not the wittiest thing ever but there you go. He sat down on the sidewalk next to Jamie. “Do you want me to check your homework?”

“No, you’ll get black grease on it,” said Jamie. “I wasn’t eavesdropping but Daddy’s on in the kitchen on the phone and he’s not being quiet.”

Jared took a long sip, “Right.”

“What’s a douche nozzle?” asked Jamie.

Jared choked on his soda. Jensen always answered Jamie’s direct questions honestly so Jared followed his lead. Wiping his chin he said, “It’s a part of a thing ladies use to clean their lady parts. Why?”

“Daddy was kind of repeating Chad to make sure he knew what was going on. The way he does when he’s about to get angry?” Jared nodded, yeah he knew all about the danger of Jensen repeating things, like he’s working up to being pissed. “And he said that a douche nozzle was mean to you in a supermarket and that you’re trying to prove something to that douche nozzle by being manly but really you’re just going to break your car. And he says if you’re going to get dirty you should do it with him in bed not in the driveway under the hood of your car… I don’t really get the last bit.”

Jared chose to ignore the last bit. “It’s not a nice thing to call someone that, Jamie.”

“Daddy said it.”

“Well, he wouldn’t have if he’d known you were listening.”

Jamie shrugged and said, “Is it true?”

With a sigh Jared said, “Yeah. It’s true.”

“What happened?” asked Jamie.

“I was doing the part of the show where I pick someone up in the supermarket and I asked this guy if I could come home with him but he was mean and it really hurt my feelings mostly because he called me girly so Mike said we should just call it a day.”

That was a hell of a lot simpler than it was. What had actually happened was that Jared had done his usual: accosted a guy and said he was going to go home with him to cook. Jared never actually made it a question, mostly because then people might say no. If he made it a statement, “I’m coming home to cook for you,” they were much more likely to let it just happen.

The guy had said, “No, I have kids.”

Jared had thought the guy was a fan of the show and said, “It’s cool. We dropped the Dinner for Two thing. Now the show is just called the Gallivanting Gourmet so I’ll cook for your family.”

The guy snorted like Jared was retarded and missing the point, “I don’t want some effeminate queer pretending to show my kids how to cook while actually copping a feel.”

Jared had been stunned to silence. He’d felt his eyes start to tear up and he thought that his ever-so-slightly-there eyeliner (Chad had insisted on it back in the first season, saying that supermarket lights made Jared’s eyes look weird on film. But Jared kind of liked it; it made him feel like TV’s Chef Jared as opposed to just himself. Real Jared never wore guyliner. It wasn’t black and smoky, just brown, just to get his green eyes to “pop” as Chad put it and how is Chad not the gay one?) was going to run and become obvious. It was just such a shocking and brutally mean thing for someone to say.

While he was too shocked to speak Chad was telling the guy to go fuck himself while Mike was smiling nice-as-you-please and looking in the guy’s cart saying, “Well, sir, we hope your family enjoys their DiGiorno frozen pizza. I’m sure it’s much better than what the award winning -nationally ranked ¬- chef would have done.”

Mike and Chad had sort of manhandled him out of the supermarket and they hadn’t hit up someone else for the episode because Jared was almost catatonic. They’d gone to the office to drop off all the filming equipment and then Chad had driven him home, ranting all the time about bigotry and how Mike really should have let him beat the guy up. Jared had gone into the garage to shower and then remembered that he’d promised Jensen he would grab beer from the supermarket. So he’d gone to his awesome convertible only to find it wasn’t working.

The guy had upset him. Partly it was that Jared hated it when people didn’t like him. He liked everyone so long as they were cool and he was never prepared to have someone be actively mean to him. More than that, it was that the guy implied that Jared raped children. But strangely the largest thing was the guy calling him effeminate. And it wasn’t that Jared had a problem with effeminate guys; they never really did anything for him but he didn’t dislike them. Tom curled his eyelashes, went on diets and painted his toe nails and Jared adored Tom and thought no less of him for being the way he was. His problem was that he was not an effeminate guy. Maybe for someone else that would have been the least insulting but for Jared…

It’s like this. The guy was rude? Fuck him. The guy thought all gay guys rape kids? Well then he’s a bigoted douche nozzle. But the guy called him effeminate and that’s just categorically not true. Jared was a masculine guy. Yes, he liked that Jensen frequently dominated him in bed (or in the pool, or in the shower, or on the couch or the kitchen table if Jamie wasn’t home) but it wasn’t a thing about being taken care of, it was about giving in, it was about belonging to someone completely, about being equals with his partner.

And, yes, he told people he loved them whenever he got the chance but Chad and Sophia spoke in baby talk whenever they weren’t fighting. They gave each other Eskimo kisses and butterfly kisses, which made Jared gag, and Chad’s straight. He couldn’t really list off his manly qualities but he wasn’t the kind of guy who collected tablecloths, or went antiquing or wore lip gloss. He couldn’t give a fuck about craft projects, flowers or any other stereotypical “effeminate” interest. He doesn’t care about clothes all that much except for when he wears stuff that turns Jensen on, but that’s not about fashion that’s about getting laid.

The effeminate comment was a hell of a lot more personal than the other things. And he wasn’t totally sure why. Maybe it was because of how scared Jared had been about coming out and that it felt like a slap. Or maybe it’s Milo. Because Milo used to call him a bitch while fucking him. Instead of asking him if his ass was sore the morning after he would say, “How’s your pussy?” Like taking it up the ass made him somehow less of a man. So using “effeminate” as an insult cut deeper.

Maybe it was because Chad had made fun of him (totally innocently: Chad would never hurt him) once. He’d still been in the hospital and filling out his transfer applications to the CIA as well as submitting his recipe samples. Chad had teased him and said, “Cooking? Could you pick a twinkier discipline? I hear they have a really difficult wine class. Real men drink beer, Jay.” And Chad hadn’t meant it at all because Chad would literally rather cut off a finger before he purposefully hurt a friend. Jared had never, ever, told Chad that it hurt him because Chad would be devastated. But after Milo it had fucking hurt. Even though he’d been really out of it during his three weeks at the hospital he still remembered the throwaway barb all these years later. Whatever the reason was, after the supermarket, Jared spent almost two hours trying to do the manly thing and fix his own car.

Jamie sighed, “I hate the douche nozzle.”

Jared had to fight not to laugh at that, “Jamie, that’s a really gross and vulgar phrase. You can’t use it.”

“But it’s true. I took my bath early so that if you came home before bedtime we could watch TV together. Then you came home super early but instead of going swimming or something you’re out here fixing a car you can’t fix, Daddy’s on the phone with Chad, no one’s checked my homework so it’s not really done and we haven’t started cooking dinner. He ruined our night by being mean. And you’re not girly. You’re really tall which makes you instantly a man. You’re super competitive which Annie always complains about boys for being. Every new restaurant that opens you watch the reviews to make sure you’re still number one. Annie says girls want a happy life while boys want to be winning some secret race against each other. You kill scorpions really fast and easily and Mr. Morgan used to be the head of the Secret Service but he catches them in a glass and drowns them. You kill them with your shoe and don’t even whine if they sting you and it gets all swollen and painful looking. You can open jars without even banging the lid on the counter first. You’re not girly.”

Right there, that’s the list Jared hadn’t been able to come up with on his own. And suddenly he felt better; to have someone he loved make it for him. So he nodded, “You’re right, Jamie, you’re right. I’m sorry I wasted so much of our evening being sad.” He finished the soda and used a cleaning rag to wipe off the worst of the grime. “New plan,” he said, “I’ll call the mechanics in the morning. Would you please open the door for me? I don’t want to get things dirty.” They stood and went inside. Jared went to Jensen and took the phone away. “Goodnight, Chad,” he said before shutting it. He leaned in and kissed Jensen. And, yeah okay, it’s a little dirtier than the kiss should be as Jamie’s in the room but it’s not too-too steamy. “I’m okay; Jamie is a great orator. I’m gonna take a quick shower and you should check Jamie’s homework, then let’s make dinner and hang out together. I love you.”

“I love you too,” said Jensen in a deep, meaningful voice. The tone alone made Jared’s day go back to awesome.

“I couldn’t get beer because my car won’t start and my Momma borrowed my SUV.”

Jensen’s laugh was fast and a sort of shocked bark, “I think we can manage.”

“Jared?” said Jamie as Jared was heading to the bathroom. He turned to the kid with a raised eyebrow. “If you really want to be manlier you should stop singing Taylor Swift’s Love Story in the shower.”

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