Spin the Light to Gold (J2, NC-17) 2/6
The weekend is largely uneventful. Most of the older counselors go on some kind of road trip to the nearest big town (well, bigger than the microcosm that is Shady Lake), so Jared and Chad spend their time sleeping in and gorging themselves and catching bits and pieces of old black-and-white movies on the ancient TV in the lounge. Well, Jared thinks the movies are black-and-white, but it could just be the extremely crappy reception. There’s never enough consecutive sound to figure out the plot, so he and Chad mostly make up random dialogue and try to guess why the geeky guy in glasses is so pissed, or why there are leopards in the movie in the first place.
Boredom finally sets in on Sunday morning, so Jared digs out his phone and decides to call his mom. He’s called a few times before - once to let his mom know they arrived safely, and a couple times since to assure her he’s alive - but those were just short conversations in the few minutes before Jared had to get campers rounded up for an activity. This is the first time he’s been able to tell his mom what he’s been up to in detail.
Candace was right about the camp barely getting any cell phone reception, so Jared heads out to the clearing where they had the bonfire last weekend. Sandy told him there’s a slight rise in one corner they call the hotspot, where the signal from a nearby tower is marginally stronger. She also told Jared the rules for using the hotspot - namely that no one’s allowed to monopolize it, and if there’s more than one person around, you have to keep two feet between you at all times, and no one’s allowed to repeat anything they hear. There’s also absolutely no phone sex allowed - at least, until after midnight. Then you accept the risk of overhearing something that will scar you for life.
Sunday mornings are pretty safe, though, and Jared’s alone in the clearing for the good hour he spends talking to his mom, filling her in on the camp. His mom is a little horrified to hear what some of the campers have gotten up to, but she’s happy that they’re feeding Jared plenty and he’s getting along with the other counselors (Jared neglects to mention his feud with Jensen, since he’s not sure his mom would understand). Then his mom puts his dad and sister on the phone for a few minutes each, and Jared hears about things at home.
He also apologizes to his sister for ever thinking her babysitting jobs were easy, because since being at camp and responsible for a dozen children at any given time, he’s realized that one hour here is ten times more stressful than a full shift at his old summer job at a grocery store. Megan just laughs and says he’ll get used to it. Jared doesn’t tell her that’s what he’s afraid of.
When he finally convinces his mother he’s eating plenty and getting enough sleep and taking care of himself, he promises to call again soon and hangs up. His hand’s all sweaty from holding the phone for so long, and his ear hurts from being smushed up against his face. There’s a reason he usually calls his mom when he has an excuse to end the call after fifteen minutes.
It was nice to talk to her, though, and Jared’s in a pretty good mood as he hikes back to his cabin. This weekend was a lot more relaxing than the last one, with plenty of sleeping in and time to just hang out, and Jared actually feels kind of refreshed and maybe ready to face another wave of children.
But then when he’s almost to the front steps of cabin Beaver, the screen door flies open and Sophia comes storming out. Her hair’s wild and she’s half-dressed, just jean shorts and a shirt clutched over her chest, and she looks ready to kill the first thing she sees. Jared jumps out of her way without even thinking about it, because he doesn’t really want to die today, but he’s out of luck and Sophia stops mid-step.
“Jared,” she says, like it’s perfectly normal to be having a conversation when one person is half-naked and pissed and obviously just hopped out of bed with the other person’s roommate. “Could you tell Chad something for me?”
Jared considers saying no, but there’s something a little crazy in Sophia’s eyes, despite her calm front, and it freaks him out. Instead, he nods.
“First, you can tell him that he’s the slimiest piece of scum to ever crawl out of the primordial ooze, and I hope he chokes on one of his stupid lies. Then you can tell him that I never want to see him or speak to him again, and if he even tries to come near me I will make him sorry he ever looked at me. Is that clear?”
Jared starts to nod again, but Sophia turns toward the cabin and raises her voice, and he figures it’s not really meant for him.
“So your bottom feeder roommate should just stay the fuck away from me if he wants to have any hope of a sex life in the future!”
After delivering that threat so loudly that everybody in a five-mile radius probably heard it, Sophia returns to storming off. Jared’s clearly not the target of her wrath, but he stands very still until she’s out of sight anyway, just in case she feels like unleashing some more anger.
But that’s not the end of it, and Jared steels himself before going inside the cabin. Chad’s on his bed, half under the sheets and cowering in the corner. “Is she gone?” he asks timidly.
Jared nods.
“Thank God.” Chad sighs and slumps down on the bed, flinging out his arms. “I was afraid for my life for a while there.”
“Oh, don’t stop on my account,” Jared says icily, folding his arms over his chest. “Chad, what is the one rule I made about this cabin?”
Chad narrows his eyes. “No sleeping naked?”
“No! Well - okay, so there’s two rules. No sleeping naked, and no sex! And you broke both of them!”
Chad rolls his eyes. “Okay, first of all? I’m not sleeping, so the naked part is irrelevant. And second of all, I definitely didn’t get any, so the yelling about sex is not necessary. Can we be more concerned about Sophia’s possible vendetta against me?”
“There’s absolutely no sex allowed within these walls!” Jared yells. “That includes foreplay and failing to get laid!”
“Okay, fine,” Chad grumbles. “Jesus, calm down. I’m sorry, all right? No more sex will happen in this cabin, cross my heart and hope to die of celibacy. Now will you help me figure out how to fix this?”
Jared flops down on his bed with a sigh. “Fine. What’s the problem?”
“It was totally just a stupid little thing,” Chad says. “No big deal at all. We were just, you know, getting down to things, and I kind of messed up her name. That’s all.”
“Messed up her name? How?”
Chad shrugs uncomfortably. “Well, I sort of accidentally said ‘Sandy’ instead.”
Jared stares at him for a long moment.
“What?” Chad asks. “It’s an easy mistake to make. They’re both little and dark-haired and hot.”
Jared shakes his head. “If you don’t get why that makes you a total asshole, then I’m not going to explain it to you.”
“I know it’s a crappy thing to do,” Chad argues, “But I totally recovered. I lied and said I was just thinking about how hot a threesome would be.” He pauses. “Well, that wasn’t a lie. See? I was being honest with her. Aren’t women supposed to respect that?”
“Uh, no,” Jared says. “I’m pretty sure no one has to respect honesty that sleazy.”
Chad heaves a sigh. “Whatever. That girl’s been nothing but trouble, anyway. I should have never hooked up with her in the first place.”
“Wait a minute,” Jared says, propping himself up on his elbows. “You mean this wasn’t the first time?”
“Nah, we’ve been fucking all week.”
“What the hell? When?” Jared demands.
Chad scratches lazily at his chest. “Uh, the first time was after that bonfire, but we were both pretty drunk. Then…well, pretty much every night this week.”
Jared’s kind of afraid to ask, but he has to know: “Where?”
“One time out in the woods, a couple times in her cabin, once on the couch in the lounge…”
Yep, Jared shouldn’t have asked. Now he’s never going to be able to go in there without worrying about catching something.
“…and then twice in here, not counting today,” Chad finishes. He frowns at Jared’s glare. “What?”
“Chad, Jesus Christ! What part of no sex in the cabin did you not understand?”
Chad groans. “Dude, will you get over that? It’s not the end of the world. Besides, it’s good practice. I’m going to be sexiling you all the time when we get to college, so it’ll be good for you to get used to it.” He tilts his head thoughtfully. “Now that we’re talking about it, we can set up some kind of system so you’ll know when I’m getting lucky. Something on the door or whatever.”
Jared has to remind himself that he needs Chad to control to the campers, so strangling him is strategically unsound. “Sophia was right,” he finally says. “You are a douche.”
“Whatever,” Chad says. “You know, now that I’m thinking about all the sex we had this week, she’s really hot. And nice. I think she might be the woman of my dreams.” He stares thoughtfully at the ceiling. “I think I might need to get her back.”
“Yeah, well, good luck with that,” Jared tells him. He’d never tell Chad, but he’s actually kind of glad his most complicated relationship drama right now is a quasi-feud he’s got going on with another guy. He might not know what Jensen’s thinking (or if Jensen even likes him) but that’s still a hell of a lot better than Sophia threatening to castrate Chad. And hell, messing with Jensen is fun. Part of it is just the thrill of having Jensen’s attention, knowing Jensen is intrigued as much as irritated, but it’s also just plain fun to be competing against someone.
Not even Chad getting pissy and yelling at Jared to stop smiling in the face of tragedy can ruin that.
* * *
Jared doesn’t have any kind of plan for how he’s going to try to one-up Jensen next, but as it turns out, Jensen makes it easy for him.
They’re getting ready to head out from lunch on Monday, campers about to be dismissed for the usual afternoon free period, when Jensen comes up to Jared’s table. “Hey. If you guys are interested, my cabin thought a game of kickball might be fun.”
Jared looks up from the plates he’s stacking, blinking in surprise.
“You know, as a challenge,” Jensen goes on, crossing his arms and leaning against the table. “Loser has to do a bedhead tomorrow morning. You guys up to it?”
The idea of a challenge perks up Jared’s campers as much as it does him, and they all nod excitedly when Jared looks down the table. “Sure,” he tells Jensen. “If you want to show off your pajamas that bad, we’re up for it.”
“Oh, I think you’re the one who should be worrying about that,” Jensen says with a smirk, backing away.
Jared gathers up his campers and tracks down Chad (he’s in the midst of one of his elaborate apologies to Sophia, but he happened to pick a time when Kristen’s in close enough range to overhear and bitch him out, so Jared doesn’t feel bad dragging him away), and then they head out to the dusty baseball diamond.
A bedhead’s not really that big of a deal - all it means is that the entire losing cabin has to come to breakfast exactly as they are when they roll out of bed. It’s more a threat to the girls, who have to forego makeup and brushing their hair, but Jared doesn’t care how petty it is - he makes sure his campers know that it’s about the principal of the matter, which is trouncing the other cabin and taking Jensen down a peg.
Fortunately, despite elementary school being six years behind him, Jared is still a formidable kickball player. He’s got the height and reach, along with long legs for running, and even despite Chad flubbing a kick and hobbling around claiming several broken toes, Jared’s campers beat Jensen’s soundly in a short and brutal game.
Jensen takes it well, though, and lines up his campers to shake hands like good sportsmen. When he and Jared reach each other in the line and Jared says, “Looking forward to seeing you without your makeup tomorrow,” Jensen’s eyes widen for a second before he shakes his head, smirking a little.
“This is natural beauty, you jerk,” he shoots back. “I was born with it.”
Jared raises his eyebrows. “I guess we’ll see about that. If you’re still just as pretty tomorrow, I’ll have to believe you.”
He doesn’t mean it as anything more than a response to Jensen’s challenge, but when he hears himself say the words, it sounds kind of weird.
And Jensen must agree, since there’s an awkward pause, but then he just bats his ridiculously long eyelashes and says, “Aw, you think I’m pretty? That’s so sweet.” He pats Jared lightly on the chest. “But you don’t have to butter me up. If you wanted makeup tips, you could have just asked.”
Jared’s mouth drops open, but before he can reply, Jensen says, “First one - smug clashes with your complexion,” and tosses another smirk over his shoulder as he walks away, leaving Jared without any hope of a comeback. He’s not exactly sure how he won the kickball game and still ended up feeling played, but when Chad rolls his eyes and shoves him toward their cabin, he remembers that there will still be plenty of mocking potential tomorrow morning.
But the next morning, in what’s becoming a disturbing trend, things don’t turn out exactly like Jared thought. His campers are already seated at their table when Jensen’s cabin straggles in, a ragged parade of tousled hair and wrinkled pajamas and puffy eyes, but it’s Jensen, bringing up the rear, who catches Jared’s attention.
Because really, it just figures. All the other kids look kind of sleepy and fuzzy and rumpled, not awful but not their best, but Jensen - well. Chad has to elbow Jared to stop him from staring, and even that doesn’t stop Jared from sneaking more looks over his shoulder when Jensen’s sitting down.
Because while disheveled looks a little silly on everyone else, on Jensen it’s kind of ridiculously hot. His thin t-shirt leaves little to the imagination, the ratty shorts show off more of his legs than usual, and somehow his hair, sticking up at the back, manages to look artfully tousled rather than accidental. And then there’s the part where he’s wearing a pair of wire-rimmed glasses and he’s got the slightest bit of visible stubble, and Jared has no real explanation for why that makes him swallow hard.
It’s not like he hasn’t noticed that Jensen’s attractive. It’s pretty hard to miss, even without people like Kristen driving the point home. But knowing someone’s attractive is much different than actually being attracted to them, and as Jared stares down at his plate of pancakes and can’t for the life of him remember what he’s supposed to be doing with them, he realizes that a line has definitely been crossed.
It’s kind of a scary thought. Jared did admit to Chad that one time (while drunk, obviously) that he’s maybe a little bit into guys. But while he recognizes good-looking guys as much as girls, he’s never actually had any kind of crush on a guy. Especially not one he doesn’t really like.
But Chad pokes him again and says, “Dude, you okay?” and Jared realizes all his campers are looking between him and his still-full plate like the apocalypse has come.
“Yeah, fine,” he says, pasting on a smile and attacking his pancakes. Stupid Jensen and his stupid attractiveness. Whatever. Jared can find Jensen hot even when he beats his ass at cleanliness competitions and kickball. He just can’t let Jensen’s ass distract him, is all.
* * *
Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done. Jensen asks for a rematch later that morning, but this time he challenges Jared’s campers to a game of Mother May I, with the losers doing a polar bear swim.
And a bedhead isn’t really a big deal, but a polar bear swim is a lot more painful. If Jared’s campers lose, they have to get up at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning and take a plunge in the lake while the water’s still chilly, and they aren’t allowed hot showers after. Jared’s seen other victims shiver through breakfast with wet hair, and it’s not something he wants to experience.
But Mother May I is harder than kickball, because it fucks with your head. The rules are simple enough, but it’s hard to remember to ask for permission every single time, and more than once a camper steps forward without thinking after getting a “no,” which sends them back to the starting line. Plus, it was decided they needed a neutral “mother” - someone who doesn’t know which camper belongs to which counselor - but Alison, while unbiased against children, takes entirely too much gleeful pleasure in making Jared and Chad take bunny hops back and forth or promising (and then denying) any actual steps. To be fair, she gets Jensen just as much - she makes him do ballet twirls and attempt to moonwalk, which is hilarious - but it’s still frustrating. Jared gets in arm’s reach of her at one point and forgets his “Mother, may I?” and gets sent all the way back to the start, much to the dismay (and loud complaints) of his campers.
And then one of Jensen’s kids successfully does a West Side Story walk (stepping high and snapping) and tags Allison’s shoulder, and that’s it. Jensen smirks and pats Jared on the shoulder, reminding him to dunk his entire head under, and Jared has to work hard at acting like a good loser for the kids. Because he may want to strangle Jensen and his smug talk, but murder is very unsportsmanlike and impressionable minds don’t understand justifiable homicide.
It takes even more effort to be positive the next morning. Jared was expecting maybe one counselor to meet them out at the lake, tops - it only takes one person to make sure they all duck under the water, after all - but instead, Jensen and his entire cabin are waiting next to the water, grinning, and every other counselor’s turned out as well.
Chad’s been grumbling the whole time about stupid competitions robbing him of sleep, but when he sees their audience, he stops dead and socks Jared on the arm, hard.
“Ow,” Jared says. “What the fu - uh, heck?”
“This is all your stupid fault,” Chad says succinctly, glaring.
Jared rubs at his arm, but he doesn’t have time to ask what exactly brought that on, since there’s that pesky business where they all have to unwrap from their towels and get in the chilly water.
It turns out Tom’s the official witness, so he makes sure all the Beaver kids are present on the sand, then herds them into the water before heading down the dock to make sure they all get sufficiently hypothermic.
The kids wade into the water, clutching their arms around them and grimacing at the early-morning chill. Normally Jared would try to be a good role model for them and lead the way, but he’s really more occupied with the way his toes already feel numb and he’s shivering when the water’s only up to his shins. And ducking your head under may be the official worst part, but the real moment of truth comes when the water nears waist-high. Chad and Jared share winces as they take that step forward, and Chad mutters something angry about people who take other people down with their stupid flirtations, and how revenge is very fucking sweet, thank you very much. Jared’s tempted to object, because he is not flirting with Jensen - they’re rivals, which makes them morally obligated to talk trash and get in each other’s space - but then he hears someone catcalling from the shore and realizes the real reason Chad’s pissed.
“Shrinkage is definitely a serious problem,” Sophia is saying loudly to Kristen, voice carrying clearly over the water. “I mean, any smaller and he might lose it, you know?”
Jared winces again, and this time it has nothing to do with the water. Chad looks murderous next to him, but before he can make any reply, there’s a different voice calling out, and this time it’s for Jared.
“Looking good, Padalecki!” Jensen calls, grinning. “But you’re still way too dry.”
“Yeah,” Allison echoes, smirking. “Come on, Beavers, get wet!”
Chad chokes and almost falls over laughing, so Jared takes advantage of the fact and dunks him. Someone has to be a role model, after all, and he doesn’t want to risk the campers asking what’s so funny. Chad splutters and kicks Jared in the shin before he manages to get his sodden hair out of his eyes, but then he says, “Oh, you are so dead.”
Jared rolls his eyes, because he knows better than to believe Chad’s big talk, but that ends up being a gross miscalculation. Because Jared may have briefly forgotten about the dozen kids in the water around them, but Chad didn’t. And when he sics them on Jared they cling like limpets, wet hands pulling at his arms and shoulders and weighing him down, and it’s only seconds before he’s dragged under, icy water closing over his head.
Everyone on the shore is laughing when he surfaces, and Jared has to bite down hard on a curse, because motherfucker. His legs and feet are practically numb from being in the water for a while, but now that his torso is wet and exposed, he’s about twenty times colder.
Thankfully, all of the kids are totally wet by now, after soaking Jared, so Tom gives them the okay to come out. Jared heads straight for his towel, roughly rubbing the water off his goosebump-dotted skin in a vain attempt to warm up. He’s so intent on getting dry and heading toward his cabin for warm clothes that he’s not paying attention to where he’s going, and it’s only when he nearly collides with someone that he looks up.
“Whoa,” Jensen says, stopping him with a hand pressed to the center of his chest. “Careful.”
Jared pauses for a second, but it’s too good an opportunity to pass up - Jensen, who got him into this stupid thing in the first place, is only inches away, and looking up at him. He grins, then leans in, both hands in his hair, and shakes as much water off onto Jensen as he can.
Jensen curses and ducks away, pushing Jared back, but he’s laughing. Jared tosses his hair back with a grand sweep, trying to look innocent. “Oops. Sorry.”
“Yeah, right,” Jensen says. “Jerk.” But he doesn’t move away, and his eyes dart down to Jared’s chest, like he’s looking at the place his hand was seconds before. Jared can still feel it there, a patch of skin that’s warmer than the rest, tingling just a little as the blood returns. Or at least, that’s what he thinks the feeling is. His entire chest is numb and his nipples are frozen painfully tight, so he could be wrong.
Jensen clears his throat and mumbles something about breakfast, turning quickly for the dining hall, and Jared shrugs and finishes toweling off.
But even when he’s back at the cabin, dressed in warm clothes and on his way to defrosting, he can still feel Jensen’s hand on him.
* * *
After that, their interactions are mostly limited to random trash talking when they run into each other. Talking smack is a lot harder when you have to make it appropriate for kid ears, though, so they mostly settle for threatening glares each morning when the scores are posted.
Then one of Jared’s kids gets in a scuffle with one of Jensen’s, something totally stupid about saving seats, and Candace, who’s finally caught on to the rivalry happening between the two of them, pulls them aside to frown on what she calls “fostering animosity between peers.” It’s kind of stupid, given that she’s the one who thought up cabins competing against each other for awards, but whatever. They promise to talk to their kids, and that’s (thankfully) the end of it.
Well, until Thursday evening, after the week’s final campfire. Jared’s dousing the fire, water for the flames and dirt stirred in for the embers, and Jensen’s putting his guitar away in its case. He and a couple other counselors play along whenever the kids sing songs, just strumming chords, but it makes Jared wish he’d paid attention when his brother went through a phase where he thought learning guitar would help him score with women. Not that Jared’s looking to score with any women in particular - it’d just be nice to know enough to play along with the kids.
Jensen looks up from fiddling with his case, and Jared realizes he’s drifted off and stopped stirring the ashes. Jensen gives him a little nod and comes over.
“So, looks like we’re busted,” he says. “No more encouraging the kids to compete.”
“Our little inter-cabin rivalry is corrupting the children,” Jared agrees, pulling a woeful face.
“Nothing like a little competition to kill the peace, love and harmony,” Jensen says. “But that’s okay. I was thinking we should stop taking this out on the campers, anyway.”
“You were?”
“Yeah,” Jensen says. “Cleaning cabins is all fine and good, but your poor kids looked like popsicles when they came out of the lake.” He shakes his head, all mock woe. “I can’t bring myself to compete with you when I know your campers are going to suffer.”
Jared rolls his eyes. “So what do you suggest, then?”
“I say we make things a little more interesting,” Jensen says. “Like, for example, if I win the broom this week, you have to do something for me.”
“Like what?” Jared’s known Chad way too long to make unrestricted promises. After that time when he ended up in a dress and lipstick, he considers his caution well earned.
Jensen just shrugs. “Like…a favor. Nothing big - just trading shifts or something.”
It still sounds a little sketchy, but Jared figures he’s capable of resisting anything he doesn’t really want to do, so it should be okay. Besides, if he wins, that means he can make Jensen do something for him. He’s not sure what, yet (something embarrassing, definitely), but the notion is appealing. So he nods. “Yeah, sure.”
“Okay, good.” Jensen scuffs the dirt with his toe for a second, then picks up his case. “Well. See you tomorrow morning.”
“Yeah.” Jared stirs the ashes one more time, making sure all the embers are out, then heads off for his own cabin. If he’s going to win and make Jensen his bitch, there’s some polishing of bunk beds to be done.
* * *
But no amount of detail work helps. When Candace announces the results of the competition the next morning, it’s Eagle cabin she calls, and Jensen’s grin for the picture is unbearably smug. Apparently Jensen’s back at whatever black magic he’s got going on.
At least, that’s all Jared can figure. That, or Jensen didn’t really think Jared could beat him last week, and now he’s actually putting effort into it. Either way, he wins the broom, and before they leave the lodge to supervise the campers’ packing, he pulls Jared aside to say he’ll be collecting his favor at dinnertime.
He winks when he leaves, and Jared can’t help but be a little nervous. He just handed Jensen a golden opportunity to make him do something humiliating or stupid, after all, and if the ideas he was considering if he won are anything to go by, Jensen shouldn’t have a hard time coming up with a good “favor.”
And it hasn’t escaped Jared’s notice that the little secret he revealed during initiation hasn’t exactly been spread around, but what he assumed before to be some discretion on Tom’s part (because he’s pretty sure it was Tom leading him around, from what he can remember) could really just be someone waiting for the opportune moment to announce it to everyone else. And that doesn’t even make sense, because Jensen doesn’t need the excuse of Jared doing him a favor to make fun of him, but whatever. Paranoia isn’t supposed to be rational.
But when Jensen finds Jared sitting on the bench outside the dining hall, jiggling his leg and wondering if he’ll be able to face any of the counselors Saturday morning, he doesn’t look smug or teasing. Instead, he nudges Jared’s foot with his own and says, “Pizza.”
Jared blinks. “What?”
“That’s my favor. I’m sick of the food here and I’m dying for some pizza.” Jensen grins. “Your treat.”
It’s not at all what Jared expected, but he’s never turned down food in his life, so he nods. It’s not until he’s on his feet that he remembers something. “Wait. We’re in the middle of nowhere. Where are we going to get pizza?”
“They serve it at the general store,” Jensen tells him. “It’s just whatever they’ve got in the freezer section, but they’ll throw a couple in the oven if you want to eat over at the bar. You got a car?”
“Uh, no,” Jared says. “But I can probably borrow Chad’s truck. Hang on while I get the keys.”
Chad’s moping in the cabin when Jared pokes his head in, probably working on his epic plan to lure Sophia back to him, so Jared makes his request quickly, before he can be drawn into diagramming Chad’s seduction strategies or something.
Chad digs the keys out of a shoe on the floor, but he pauses before tossing them to Jared. “Where are you going?”
“Just to town,” Jared says. “Jensen wants pizza, so we’re going to eat at the general store.”
Chad blinks. “I thought you hated Jensen. Now you’re taking him out on a date?”
“Dude, no,” Jared protests. “He just - we had a deal. He won, so I have to buy him dinner.”
Chad squints at him. “Still sounds like a date to me.”
Jared considers setting him straight, but then he’d have to explain the whole thing where he does sort of think Jensen’s hot and an asshole and maybe a little hot because he’s an asshole, and that’s too complicated, especially when his stomach’s rumbling. He settles for rolling his eyes and saying, “Keys?” while jiggling his hand.
Chad shrugs and throws them, going back to staring at the ceiling, and Jared heads out for his not-date with Jensen.
He’s been in the general store once before, but that was just to grab supplies, like beef jerky and Skittles and chips, and it was during the day. Now, on a Friday night, the atmosphere is strangely different. It’s smoky and crowded in the bar area, grizzled old guys in camo and Carhartt drinking beer at the stools, and when Jared steps inside, he can feel their gaze settle on him, heavy and not very friendly. But then Jensen comes in behind him, nodding to the woman behind the bar, and when she smiles in return, the air lightens considerably.
“Hey, Janice,” Jensen says, pulling Jared over with him. “We were hoping we could get a few pizzas.”
“Sure thing,” Janice says, “It’ll just be a few minutes. Pepperoni and sausage okay?”
Jensen looks to Jared, who nods. “Yeah, great.”
Janice disappears into a back room, and in a few minutes Jared can smell the slight burnt odor of an oven heating up. There’s an extremely awkward moment when he and Jensen both realize they’ve got nothing to say, now that the pizza’s taken care of and they’re not at camp. Normally that wouldn’t bother Jared at all - he’s good at talking, and he’s good at talking about himself. Usually that takes care of any awkwardness. But there’s something about being here with Jensen, who he’s not even sure he likes, that makes it a million times more difficult than usual.
He’s folding the corner of his napkin into a tiny accordion pleats just for something to do when Jensen says, “It’s a small town,” out of nowhere.
Jared looks up. “Uh, yeah. I know.”
“No, I mean - they’re just a little cautious of strangers, especially tourists,” Jensen says, tilting his head at the other patrons. “But once you’ve spent a little more time here, you’ll earn your honorary local status.”
More like honorary hick status. Jared nods. “Um, thanks. Good to know.”
“Yeah.”
And just like that, they’re back to awkward again. There’s music playing in the background, some CCR song, and the low hum of conversation going on in the background, but the silence stretches out between them like a fragile thread they’re both afraid to break.
Finally, Jensen clears his throat. “Uh. So, how did you end up here? Working at camp, I mean,” and Jared figures they’re in for some stilted small talk until the pizza gets there and they can stuff their faces.
But when he tells Jensen the story of Chad’s cousin getting them the job, Jensen says, “Wait, are you talking about Mark?” and it turns out he not only knows the guy, but also worked with him for a summer and has a whole stash of embarrassing stories. After half a dozen, it’s clear that Mark and Chad share more than just genes, and Jared isn’t sure whether to be amused or horrified. Ending the summer a broken nose for flirting with a townie’s girlfriend sounds suspiciously like something Chad might try, and Jared makes a mental note to warn Chad against townies in general. Sophia may not exactly be sweet, but there’s less chance of violence at a camp with children in close proximity.
Then Janice brings them drinks while they’re waiting, and after a lull where they both sip at their sodas, Jensen says, “Um. This is kind of random and you might not even remember, but that thing I said to you at the beginning of the summer, about finding a different job not involving kids?”
Jared looks up. “Yeah?”
“I just wanted to - I’m sorry.” Jensen traces a drop of condensation down his glass. “I shouldn’t have - it was just a stupid thing to say.”
Oh. Well, that’s - huh. Jared can’t even get his thoughts to form actual sentences, so it’s no surprise nothing comes out when he opens his mouth to reply.
“And I know you got off to kind of a rough start,” Jensen continues. “But you’ve been doing really good with them lately.”
When Jared finally makes his mouth work, all that comes out is, “Really?”
“Yeah,” Jensen says. “Definitely. That redheaded kid you had this week - Kyle? - I’ve had him before, and he can be a handful. But I saw you talking to him after he was goofing around at one of the campfires, and he was actually listening. I didn’t even know that was possible.”
“Uh, thanks,” Jared says, still kind of in shock. That’s his excuse for what he says next, anyway. “But I’m not anywhere near as good as you.”
To his surprise, Jensen laughs. “Yeah, well, that’s less about talent and more about experience.”
“So it’s only going to take me, what - four more years? And then I’ll magically be the best counselor ever?”
“Nine years,” Jensen says, taking a sip of his soda.
“What?”
“That’s how long I’ve been coming to camp. Started when I was twelve, went till I was sixteen, and then started working as a counselor when I was eighteen.”
“Oh,” Jared says. “I didn’t know you came as a kid.”
“That’s what I meant by experience,” Jensen says with a grin. “There are a lot of ways to get in trouble at camp, and I discovered almost all of them as a camper. So it’s hard for the kids to get much past me.”
That actually makes a scary amount of sense. No wonder Jensen’s campers are so much better behaved than Jared’s hooligans. Jensen probably knows what they’re thinking before they do.
“Not that they’re not inventive,” Jensen says, “Because God knows they still manage to shock and surprise me on a regular basis. But yeah, their options are limited.”
“Wow,” Jared says. “That’s cool, though, that you’ve been coming here so long. The camp must mean a lot to you.” And that explains why Jensen was a little touchy about people dissing the place the first week.
“Yeah, it’s kind of crazy,” Jensen says. “At first I just wanted to be a counselor to be back here, canoeing and swimming and hanging out with friends, but then the kids really grew on me.” He laughs. “Enough to make a career out of it, even.”
“You want to work with kids?”
“Yeah. I’m starting a master’s program for physical therapy in the fall, and hopefully someday I’ll be able to help injured kids.”
“Really? That’s - “ What it is is kind of incredibly sweet, Jensen being so into kids that he wants to help them get better when they’re hurt, but Jared can’t exactly say that, so he settles on, “ - cool. That’s cool.”
The pizza comes then, piping hot and smelling amazing, and they break off talking for a bit to dive in. Jared burns his tongue on the first bite, melted cheese and sauce way too hot, but he’s starving and it’s pretty good for frozen pizza, so he takes a big gulp of soda and keeps going. When they finally slow down enough for talking again, Jensen asks about Jared’s college plans.
Jared tells him about Chad and UT and what he thinks he might major in, and Jensen gives him a little advice on moving in and general college stuff. Then he shares a few of his memorable moments at college, and just like his stories about Mark, they’re completely hilarious.
Jared barely notices the pizza disappearing, too busy laughing at a recounting of a drunken streaking incident, his only clue when laughing makes his full stomach protest.
“Oh God, stop,” he groans, interrupting the current topic of discussion (speculation on Chad’s possibilities with Sophia - Jensen’s betting on Sophia breaking him by the end of the summer).
Jensen grins, holding his hands up in surrender, and Jared finds himself smiling back before he even thinks about it. The bar’s almost empty around them, most of the dinner-hour social crowd gone and only the hardcore drinkers settling in for the evening, and it’s coming on dusk outside. It barely feels like they’ve been at the store an hour, but according to Jared’s watch, it’s been nearly three.
He can’t believe that he and Jensen have been talking this whole time. He didn’t think Jensen wanted to talk to him at all, given their non-conversation at the bonfire, so it’s kind of a shock to learn that Jensen is actually a) funny, b) friendly, and c) really nice. After weeks of thinking Jensen was an aloof asshole, it’s a lot to take in at once.
And there’s also the part where this totally messes up Jared’s admiration of Jensen’s hot asshole-ishness. Because if he has to revise his opinion on Jensen being an asshole, that only leaves him with his admiration of Jensen, and given that he kind of likes Jensen now, that pretty much kills the excuse that it’s just a physical thing. As much as it pains Jared to admit it, physical attraction combined with affection (however small) pretty much means he’s got a crush on Jensen.
When he’s paying the check, Jensen at his elbow, and driving them back in Chad’s truck, he can’t help but think about Chad’s date comment.
When they get out of the truck at camp, Jensen hesitates for a minute before heading toward the cabins. “Hey, Jared.”
Jared shuts his door and makes sure it’s locked before pocketing Chad’s keys. “Yeah?”
Jensen leans back against the fender, crossing his arms. “I was thinking that maybe we could - “ he clears his throat, uncrossing his arms awkwardly. “Um. Stop this whole rivalry thing.”
“Stop?”
“Yeah.” Jensen laughs. “’Cause you have to admit, it’s all a little second grade. And I don’t hate you - you seem like a good guy - so it’s kind of pointless.”
When Jared doesn’t say anything, he shrugs. “I mean, I think we just proved we can get along - unless you were secretly planning ways to off me the whole time, or something.”
Jared laughs. “No. No plotting your demise over pizza going on here.”
“Well, then. Maybe we could just hang out sometimes, then. I mean, I’m still going to kick your ass every week in the cleaning competition, that’s a given.” Jensen smirks at Jared’s eyeroll. “But from now on, if there’s something either of us wants - trading shifts, dinner, or, you know, whatever - maybe we could just ask.”
‘Whatever’ seems like kind of a broad category to tack on there, and Jared’s not sure exactly what Jensen means - if he’s saying what Jared thinks he might be saying - but either way, Jared’s not saying no. “Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good.”
Jensen grins. “Okay, good. I’ll see you around, then. Thanks for dinner.”
Then he takes off for his cabin, and Jared’s left leaning against the truck and trying to figure out what just happened. It’s too much to think about right now - Jared needs to sleep on it, sort it out when it’s all had time to settle - so he shrugs and heads back to his cabin to help Chad plan how to conquer Sophia’s heart.
* * *
As it turns out, that takes longer than he thought. Not helping Chad on his quest to win Sophia back, because let’s be honest - that’s not going to happen without some kind of divine intervention or sudden memory loss on Sophia’s part. No, it’s the part about figuring out the thing with Jensen that takes a while.
Because now that he and Jensen aren’t competing anymore, Jared’s not really sure what their relationship is. Are they friends? Acquaintances? Maybe something more? Subtracting the rivalry aspect has left a weird kind of vague negative space, and while Jared can’t pretend that he hasn’t spent most of the week thinking about Jensen and the things he said Friday night, he doesn’t know what Jensen’s thinking. Because it sounded a little - just maybe - like Jensen might be interested, and if Jared’s come to any conclusion about the whole thing, it’s that his crush is still holding firm.
When one of Jensen’s campers ends up sidelined from activities thanks to his asthma acting up and Jensen spends the rest of the week entertaining the kid with various crafts and books and conversation, even during the free periods he has off, there’s no way Jared can pretend it doesn’t warm his heart just a little bit, knowing Jensen’s future plans. And there’s also no way he can pretend it’s just a little crush anymore, because when he sees Jensen reading My Teacher is an Alien out loud to the kid when he could be napping or taking a break, Jared’s about an inch away from pushing Jensen up against the nearest vertical surface and kissing him breathless. Which, considering Jared’s never even considered making a move on another guy before, kind of scares him shitless.
But there’s still the part where he doesn’t know if Jensen feels the same, and as it turns out, Jensen is not an easy guy to figure out. Every time Jared thinks he has Jensen pinned down, something happens that changes his mind. Jensen said he wanted to hang out after Friday night, but when everyone gets together for another bonfire on Saturday, he barely acknowledges Jared. He spends the whole night with a deck of cards, playing fuck the dealer with Mike and Tom, and though he says hi to Jared over the hot dog buns, that five seconds is the extent of their interaction.
But just when Jared starts wondering if Friday was just an aberration - if Jensen was bored or desperate for pizza or whatever, and Jared was the most convenient way to get food and conversation - Jensen makes a point of sitting next to him at the campfire and ending up as Jared’s partner for a three-legged race (which is just as bad of an idea as it sounds).
And then there’s Wednesday. The campers get a block of free time every afternoon where they can play sports or swim or hang out, and the counselors have a complex schedule for rotating positions and days off. Since Jared’s a newbie and a junior counselor, he automatically qualifies for the least pleasant task: manning the craft room. Even Chad, who’s just as lowly a peon, doesn’t get stuck down there - he’s got his lifeguarding certification, so he gets to supervise the beach. Jared’s not sure Chad’s really the best person to be guarding the safety of children in the water (most of his experience comes from Baywatch reruns, which don’t really apply with kids or freshwater or people without a lot of plastic surgery), but at least Chad gets some sun. Jared gets stuck inhaling glue and paint fumes in the basement of the lodge and helping kids with bizarre creations that only loosely fit the definition of art.
Sometimes one of the other counselors will stop by to keep Jared sane, and today it’s Sandy, taking a break from canteen duty to create some kind of fuzzy, glittery pink thing. There’s only one other camper in the room - some strange, quiet kid who spends every free period painstakingly constructing a Millennium Falcon out of pinecones - so Jared and Sandy are talking about the Chad/Sophia situation. The latest volley (a barrage of sappy letters from Chad, mostly song lyrics changed to fit what Chad calls their ‘epic love’) turned up on Beaver cabin’s doorstep the other day, in the form of a pile of ashes.
“Chad gets points for effort,” Sandy decrees, gluing rhinestones onto a popsicle stick. “But the execution was lame. And bribing campers to leave the notes on her bed is verging into stalker territory.”
Jared sighs. “Just be glad I talked him out of sending her a list of things he loves about her.”
“Why? That sounds sweet,” Sandy says.
“It really wasn’t. There was a whole section dedicated to her earlobes. And that’s not even touching the other, uh, areas that I really never wanted to be so well acquainted with.”
“Oh. Creepy.”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
Then the one camper asks for a different brush, and while Jared’s digging around in a cupboard for it, Jensen comes in. He smiles at Jared, then wanders along the table of craft supplies, checking out the ceramic figurines and paint and tissue paper.
And Jared’s kind of confused, because he knows it’s Jensen’s day off. He lifeguards most days, so given that Chad and Mike are out there right now, this has to be one of Jensen’s free afternoons. Normally counselors use the time to sleep or go to town or avoid the kids as much as possible. And Jensen’s never exactly struck Jared as the crafty type before, either.
But Jensen just picks out some leather cord and beads and settles himself at the table across from Jared and Sandy and starts working. Sandy shoots Jared a baffled look, but goes back to putting pompoms on her mystery stick.
Jensen looks up in time to catch it, though. “What?”
“Nothing,” Jared says. “Just…didn’t know you were into jewelry.”
“There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me,” Jensen replies, straightening the cord into even lines. “But maybe it’s not for me.”
“Okay,” Jared says, “But you still know how to make it, even if it’s not for you.”
Jensen shakes his head, tying a knot. “When you’re dating the counselor working the craft room, you learn these things whether you want to or not.”
Jared takes a minute to absorb that, mostly wondering whether the casual lack of gender was on purpose or accidental and what that might mean, but Sandy looks up from her glittery project. “Wait, do you know how to make those twisty bracelets Erin always did? You know, the ones with a spiral around the outside?”
“Chinese ladders?” Jensen asks. “Yeah, sure.”
He’s barely finished talking and Sandy’s abandoning her shiny stick thing and dashing over to the string box.
Jared’s a little caught up in the confirmation that Jensen was dating a girl last year, but hearing Jensen tell Sandy, “Hey, grab some string for Jared, too,” snaps him back.
“No, I’m good,” he protests, but Jensen says, “Dude, you can’t run the craft room without knowing how to make a Chinese ladder. You’ll be crushing the dreams of young girls right and left.”
“Exactly,” Sandy says, dumping a handful of pink and purple string on the table in front of Jared. “Like me. If Jensen hadn’t come along, I’d still be devastated.”
She’s picked blue and green for her colors, but when Jared tries to switch she smacks his hand. He glares at her, but she just gives him a sunny smile before arranging her strands in front of her.
Jensen pushes aside his project and gets them both set up, even lengths and strong knots and masking tape to hold it down, then shows them how the cross and tie the strands to get that cool twisting knot. Sandy’s thrilled when hers turns out perfectly, thread neat and careful, and Jensen counts her knots and helps her switch colors seamlessly.
Jared’s, on the other hand, looks like a piece of crap. Or a piece of badly knotted string, whatever. “This doesn’t work,” he says, sliding another knot up the strands and watching it unravel halfway along.
“That’s because you’re doing it wrong,” Jensen says, and when Jared makes a face at him, he grins and leans across the table, grabbing Jared’s hands. “Here, pick up this strand,” he instructs, tapping a purple string. “And then fold it over these ones, then under and through. Yeah, like that.” The whole time he’s guiding Jared’s fingers with his own, and Jared has to stare at the string to avoid blushing like crazy.
It’s not even a big deal, it’s just that Jensen has very nice hands (which Jared has no idea why he’s suddenly noticing) and they’re warm and strong. Jared’s glad when Jensen nods approvingly at his last few knots and goes back to his own bracelet.
But there’s only a minute or so of silence before Jensen says casually, “It’s too bad we’re not doing the whole bitch thing anymore, because it’d be hilarious to make you wear that thing for the rest of the summer. You know, when I win on Friday.”
“Excuse me, what? When you win?” Jared scoffs. “Just because there are no more incentives doesn’t mean I’m going to give up.”
Jensen smirks. “You’re the one who agreed to quit when I was ahead.”
“Yeah, well, that’s - you’re - “ Damn it. How did he not notice that?
“Of course, you can still ask me to do things,” Jensen points out. “I’m just not very likely to do them if there’s no benefit to me.”
“Really? Because I happen to think that doing my laundry or washing Chad’s truck would be very beneficial for you,” Jared says. “You know. It’d build character and all that.”
Jensen quirks an eyebrow. “Are you saying my character needs work?”
“I’m saying you should be thankful you got off so easy,” Jared replies, making another messy knot. “I could have made you do all kinds of crap. I could have made you trade shifts with me so you had to supervise this place.”
Jensen snorts. “Wow, yeah, that would have sucked. Especially seeing as how I’m already doing a better job than you without trying.” As if to prove his point, he ties a final knot in his bracelet and holds it out, admiring his work.
Sandy finally looks up from her own bracelet. “Hey, that’s awesome. Do you need me to tie it on for you?”
Jensen considers it for a second, then shakes his head. “Nah. I know someone who needs it more.”
Then he’s leaning across the table again, and before Jared can react, the bracelet’s triple-knotted around his right wrist. He stares at it dumbly for a second, then up at Jensen, but Jensen just smirks and says, “You need to get over your jewelry phobia,” and gets up and leaves.
Jared watches him go, still a bit baffled, then looks down at the bracelet. It’s sort of nice, as far as bracelets go, just leather cord and three evenly spaced silver beads. The center bead is one of those alphabet ones, but Jared’s not sure exactly who the J is supposed to be for.
He turns to ask Sandy what she thinks, but she’s staring at him with wide eyes. “Holy crap,” she says. “Is it always like that between you guys?”
“Like what?”
“Like all flirty and touchy and smoldering, that’s what,” Sandy says.
Jared’s a little worried at how much she’s misread the situation. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Besides, you weren’t even listening. You were obsessed with making your bracelet.”
“I was being quiet,” Sandy corrects. “Because I didn’t want to interrupt the blatant flirting going on.”
“There was no flirting! Or anything else.”
“Jared,” Sandy says, placing a hand on his arm, “There was so much sexual tension in the room that I’m surprised it didn’t explode. He’s totally into you.”
Jared rolls his eyes, checking surreptitiously that the lone camper isn’t listening to their conversation before replying. “He is not.”
“Uh, yes,” Sandy says, laughing a little. "Yes, he definitely is. Why are you being weird about it? Don’t you like him?”
Jared doesn’t really know how to answer that without lying or looking like an idiot, so he kind of shrugs and ducks his head at the same time.
Sandy reads it perfectly, of course, and actually squeals out loud. “Oh, my God! That’s so adorable.”
“Stop it. I don’t even know if he’s - you know.”
“Into guys?”
“Yeah.”
She rolls her eyes. “He just made you a bracelet. At the very least, he’s into one guy.”
Jared sighs. “But he also had a girlfriend last year.”
Sandy blinks. “What? Who?”
“Erin! The girl who was running the craft room, remember? The one who taught him how to make twisty bracelets?”
Sandy’s confused look melts into a wide smile. “Oh, Jared, no. Not Erin with an ‘e.’ With an ‘a.’”
“Erin with an - “ Comprehension dawns. “Oh. Aaron? Oh.”
“Yeah,” Sandy says. “And seeing as how Jensen spent most of last summer making out with him, I’d say he’s definitely into guys.” She bops him on the nose with her fluffy, fuzzy, glittery pink creation. “And now he’s into you, and you like him. It’s perfect.”
Jared leans back, away from the monstrosity. “What is that thing supposed to be, anyway? Your magic wand?”
“It’s a scepter, you jerk. It’s going to go with the tiara I’m making next.”
“Aw, you’ll be a pretty, pretty princess,” Jared coos.
“You’d better believe it. But stop changing the subject.”
“What subject?”
“Your boyfriend.”
Jared chokes. “He’s not.”
“Well, he’s not now. Which is why you should make a move.”
Jared rolls his eyes. “Look, Sandy - “
“Jared, why did he come in here?”
“I don’t know. To make a bracelet?”
Sandy shakes her head. “Wrong. He came down here because you were here. Because he wanted to flirt with you. Because he’s into you, but he’s either not sure you like him or he’s too shy to make the first move. Which is why you need to do it.”
Jared groans and buries his head in his hands. Part of him really wants to believe Sandy and wants everything she’s saying to be true, but part of him is terrified by the whole thing. Sandy could easily be wrong, and then Jared would be royally fucking things up between him and Jensen. But the thought of Jensen maybe liking him back a little causes something to squirm pleasantly in his stomach, and the first part wins out. Jared peeks over his hands. “You’re sure?”
“Yes,” Sandy says. “He’s into guys, he’s into you, and he’s really hot. You should totally go for it.”
The whole idea still makes Jared’s stomach do funny things, and he’s not sure if that’s nerves or excitement or a combination of the two, but at the same time, he can’t keep a smile from spreading across his face. This is maybe the craziest thing he’s ever considered (well, besides that one time Chad bet him five dollars he wouldn’t eat a food sculpture with all five food groups mushed together), but he’s probably going to do it anyway. He sighs and flicks a feather hanging off Sandy’s scepter. “What are you, my fairy godmother?”
Sandy taps him on the nose with it again, smiling. “Kind of.”
* * *
Jared thinks about it a lot over the next few days, but coming up with a way to make a move on a guy you only recently realized you sort of like is harder than it sounds. For one thing, Jared’s surrounded by young, impressionable children for most of the day, and he doesn’t really want them to watch him working his game on Jensen. And even if he gets away, Jensen’s surrounded by campers of his own, and Jared really doesn’t want any witnesses if he totally crashes and burns, so most interaction during the day is out. He doesn’t want the other counselors around, either - Jared’s never really done this kind of thing, not with a guy, and he has a feeling it could end in epic levels of awkwardness - which rules out the weekly campfires or their little camper-free downtime.
Jared goes over all his possible options. When that doesn’t work, he starts thinking about the less plausible (which include improbable romantic comedy-type setups, where he and Jensen just happen to get locked in a closet together or can’t get untied from a three-legged race and magically end up making out), and when that also fails (it’s a lot harder to set those things up than you’d think) Jared even enlists his female friends.
They’re full of suggestions, especially after Jared explains the whole “just ask” thing, but no matter what Sophia says, Jared doesn’t think it’d really be right to ask for sex right off the bat. That’d make him look desperate. Not to mention the part where it’s kind of presumptuous and rude and might earn him a punch to the face if Sandy’s wrong about Jensen liking him.
Finally, after Jared exhausts every bad idea in existence, he hits upon something sort of possible. It’s not ideal, but it’ll at least put him close proximity with Jensen, and if worst comes to worst, it’s still within the realm of platonic behavior.
When the last camper leaves on Friday, Jared catches Jensen before he can go back to his cabin. He decided starting with small talk was a bad idea, so he goes straight for the point. “Hey, so. Remember that whole asking thing we were going to do from now on?”
Jensen raises his eyebrows. “Something you want?”
There are a lot of ways Jared could answer that question. He sticks to the obvious. “Yeah.”
Jensen spreads his hands. “Ask away. So, what’s it going to be? Laundry? Car-washing? Crafts?”
Jared takes a deep breath. “Nope. Guitar lessons.”
Jensen blinks, like maybe he heard wrong.
Jared shrugs awkwardly. “I just thought that you could teach me a few chords or whatever, so I can play along when the kids are singing.” He scuffs the edge of his sandal through the dirt. “I guess it’s not very beneficial to you, but - “
“No,” Jensen interrupts. “I mean, yeah. It’s fine. I’ll have to borrow another guitar for you, but that should be fine. You want to start right away?”
“Yeah, I was thinking maybe tonight? After dinner?”
Jensen nods. “Campfire pit all right? It should be empty.” He looks thoughtful, watching Jared like there’s another, more subtle question underneath. When Jared nods, something flashes briefly in his eyes, just a flicker, before he says, “Okay, see you then,” and turns to go.
Jared’s not sure if that’s a good or bad thing - he’s not sure if he even answered the question right - but either way, he’s going to be alone with Jensen Ackles tonight, and this might be his only chance to find out if anything’s going to happen.
* * *
Part Three