J2 Ficlet. Johnson High School Blues
Title: Johnson High School Blues
Author: Blueeyedliz
Word count: 1,823
Rating: PG/13
Summary: Jared’s a star player on his high school football team and Jensen is the cheerleader he’s dating. Nobody knows about them, yet.
A/N: This is a little something for bflyw who wanted a J2 coming out story. I hope this works for you. This isn’t beta’ed and my knowledge of American football is practically none-existent...but heck, I did watch the movie ‘Friday Night Lights’ a few months ago.
Disclaimer: Sadly for me, I don’t own a thing.
Johnson High School Blues
The locker room is empty, except that it isn’t entirely empty. Not everyone on the team has left the building yet.
Jensen opens the door nervously, ensuring the area is clear of testosterone charged muscle-bound jocks before he slowly slips inside.
It smells pretty rank, body odour and the unique aroma of well worn sneakers. On top of that, covering but not eliminating the sweat stench, is an almost suffocating mix of at least fifteen different brands of deodorant.
The tiled floor is still slippery with the water dripped from numerous bodies fresh out of the showers and Jensen moves carefully through the darkened room, his eyes taking their time to adjust to the dim gloom.
There’s an obvious sense of disappointment still lingering in the air, thick and heavy, almost tangible enough for him to touch. The Johnson High School Mustangs lost today and none of the cheers or impressive acrobatics of Jensen’s cheerleading squad could boost the players’ flagging morale in the last quarter. Not when the scoreboard was showing how they were practically handing a clear victory to Beaumont Central.
Jensen had been down at the sidelines getting a drink from the water boy when Jared was taken out of the game.
He’d almost tipped the entire contents of his cup over the team mascot when he heard a near deafening chorus of ‘oooohs’ and ‘aaahhhs’ from the crowd-suffice to say the kid inside the costume wasn’t impressed-but Jensen was distracted, turning his attention to the field in time to see Jared making a interception from a pass thrown by the Beaumont Central quarterback, Luke Becker. Jared was sprinting away with the ball and making some significant yardage too when the opposing team’s gigantic linebacker, Brendan Greenwood aka Moose, took him down in a painful looking tackle.
Jensen watched feeling helpless, like just another spectator but he was one who had real fear in his gut as Moose viciously stamped his heavy boot down on Jared’s ankle when both players were still scrambling to untangle themselves and get to their feet. Jared was up and off the ground a heart-beat later and the next thing Jensen saw was both players ripping off their helmets and going at each-other with wildly swinging fists.
Jared’s a popular guy, a talented running back with fast long legs that can eat up the field. He runs so swiftly he’s practically a blur when he gets into a good stride. He’s disciplined and always has good poise during a game; it’s out of character for him to get involved in a fight, not least in the middle of an important game being televised across Texas.
The crowd lapped it up of course, both the Mustang and the Jaguars fans. Nothing gets a crammed stadium going more than a rough and ready bout of fisticuffs and the chanting for more had been loud and bloodthirsty, like the sounds you’d expect to hear bouncing off the walls inside a Roman coliseum.
In reality, the boys probably only managed to exchange a couple of punches each before the referee and one of the coaches dragged them apart and sent them both off the field for an early shower.
Jensen’s first instinct was to quit the field too, to give up trying to rally his team to what was now an increasingly unlikely victory so he could go and check if Jared was okay. He’d noticed Jared limping as he’d walked towards the tunnel, shoulders slumped and head hanging.
Jensen turns a corner, rounding another row of lockers and sees Jared sitting on a slatted wooden bench, still dressed in his uniform. The once blazing white number twenty-seven on his back now half obscured with dried mud and grass stains.
“Hey.” Jensen says, eyes fixing on the ice-pack Jared is holding idle in his hand.
Jared lifts his head and acknowledges Jensen with a weak smile. Jensen flinches when he gets his first good glimpse of Jared since the final whistle.
There are bruises running across the bridge of Jared’s nose and along his cheekbone in flourishing blues and purples. It looks like he’s made a half-assed attempt at copying the war paint from ‘Brave Heart’.
“So, what do you reckon, should I challenge him to Lacrosse sticks at dawn?” Jared asks, squinting to try and force his swollen right eye open and then hissing through his teeth when it pulls at the tender skin.
“Jesus, Jare. You okay?” Jensen closes the distance and examines one of the bruises above Jared’s eyebrow with gentle fingers as though he has a doctorate in medicine and isn’t a seventeen-year-old still a full year away from receiving his high school diploma.
Jared bats half-heartedly at Jensen’s hand and scowls. “He was gunning for me throughout the entire game, called me a fag and stamped on my leg when I was still down.”
“You are a fag.”
“Yeah but I didn’t like the way he said it.”
“You keep trying to take on the world and you’re going to end up with your ass in a sling.” Jensen eyebrows furrow and he runs his thumb along his bottom lip. Jared tracks the movement almost unconsciously. Jensen is still staring at the bruises with a mixture of anger and concern burning in his eyes, “Don’t worry, next time I see Moose in the Dairy Queen I’ll be sure to shove my pom-poms up his ass while I take his order.”
“You don’t have any pom-poms.”
“Hey, every cheerleader has pom-poms. Even if mine are kept under my bed and only used under cover of darkness.”
“Under your bed, huh? Isn’t that where you keep your Princess Sparkles tiara and your Hannah Montana DVD too?”
Jensen glares furiously, giving the back of Jared’s head a hard whack. “You’re a dick.”
“True but I’m only joshing, I know you keep your impressive collection of gay porn under your bed.” Jared reaches out and puts an arm across Jensen’s shoulder, pulling him in at the same time as Jensen grouchily tries to resist. In the end Jensen has no choice but to let Jared tug him forward until his face ends up squashed against Jared’s sweaty neck.
Jensen squirms while Jared chuckles, easily restraining him. When Jensen’s face is finally allowed to resurface his cheeks are bright red and his mouth is already working. “Next time you feel the urge to hug me, take a shower and take me out to dinner first.”
Jared’s smile falters, only for the barest moment before he shrugs it off and goes back to grinning like a Grade A lunatic again. “You love my manly musk.” He studies the floor, wishing he had a beer to chug because he’d kill for a cold one right now. “I want to do that.”
“What? Smell like a real man?”
“Take you out to dinner.”
“Jared...”
“Every time we get together it’s so we can make out somewhere nobody can see us, up at the bluff or at Cooper’s Point. You mean a lot to me, you’re not some dirty secret I want to hide. I’ve been thinking...I’m going to do it, Jen, tonight. I’m going to...”
“Finally come out of the closet? Are you sure you want to do that now? You could wait another year until you’re away at college and then it’ll be a little easier on you if your folks don’t react well.”
“I’m sick of hiding how I feel about you. I don’t want to lie anymore.” Jared pulls Jensen closer, trapping him between his legs. He runs his hand up Jensen’s thigh, sliding it all the way underneath Jensen’s cheerleader shirt and feels the shiver which runs the length of Jensen’s body as his fingertips ghost across the warm bare skin of firm tight abs.
One thing that never ceases to make Jared’s dick so hard he could chop wood with it, is how cut Jensen’s body is. He knows the amount of training Jensen puts in. Jensen’s as much an athlete as any guy on the football team, not that Jared’s team-mates would agree of course but Jensen works hard to be as strong as he is... as flexible as he is.
Every time they have sex, Jared feels like he’s playing Russian roulette because he’s pretty sure one day Jensen’s going to give him tachycardia. “How did you do it? How did you tell your parents that you’re gay?”
“You’re kidding, right? I’m a male cheerleader. That’s pretty much synonymous to putting a bowl of fruit on my head and dancing around the house shaking a pair of maracas. They’ve known for a long time.” Jensen smiles as he watches Jared finally stripping out of his blue and white football jersey. “Hey, do you want me to be there? For moral support? I could hold your hand.”
“Fucker,” Jared laughs loudly, virtually showing Jensen his tonsils. “We waltz in their holding hands and I won’t need to think up a way to tell them. My parents can be slow on the up-take sometimes but they’re not that dense.”
Jensen would smile but he’s sidetracked by the sight of Jared’s naked chest, tanned skin glistening with sticky sweat, nipples red and erect from where they been chaffing against the rough material of his jersey.
He cups the back of Jared’s head, tangles his fingers in damp dark hair and bends down to kiss lips which are dry and taste of salt but still mouth-wateringly delicious. Getting a second taste is suddenly as essential as breathing. Jensen sweeps in for a second kiss, nipping Jared’s bottom lip in the process, holding it between his teeth and sucking it into his mouth before finally letting go when Jared tickles his side with long thin fingers. Jared’s already laughing again, his painful bruises and the even more painful defeat forgotten for the time being. “Whatever happens, I’ll be here for you.”
Jared’s second tonsil display of the evening meets an abrupt end as his mouth slams closed. He smiles as he tilts his head, sucking in a breath as Jensen straddles his lap and they steal another deep kiss in the quiet peacefulness of the locker room.
This is why they’re together; this is why they work because the one thing that Jared has learned is that it’s easy to love Jensen. So easy.
If it were only them in the world and no-one else, life would be simple, uncomplicated but the fact remains that Jared’s not openly gay....but by tomorrow he will be.
Looking at Jensen, feeling the warmth of Jensen’s body pressing against his own as ardently as he feels Jensen’s love for him, Jared knows he’ll be okay, whatever the outcome.
~TBC~
Part two - We dance round in a ring and suppose, but the secret sits in the middle and knows.