This Tangled Shape (1/?)
Title: This Tangled Shape (1/?)
Author: Danse Amore
Wordcount: This part, 2667. Overall, 8895 and growing.
Rating: R eventually
Pairings: Jared/Jensen, Chris/Steve, Chad/Sophia, Sandy/OFC, Misha/OFC
Disclaimer: Don't own. Not real. I don't make any money.
Warnings/Spoilers: This part: Language.
Summary: College AU. Jared meets a superhero.
Jared knows it's childish, but every time he sees someone on a motorcycle with one of those reflective-shield helmets, his mind assumes that it's a superhero. The black leather jacket, tight and outlandish in the Texas heat, doesn't help. Only a superhero - or maybe a robot - could bear the sweat-fest that must be.
So he watched, eyebrows raised, as the robot-superhero parked his bike at the campus center, and resisted the urge to look around for escaping, cackling men with freeze-rays. Oh man, freeze-rays, what a perfect weapon for a day like today...
His eyebrows stayed up as the figure dismounts and pulls off the reflective helmet, tucking it under his arm and walking up to Jared.
Definitely a robot. Jared's mind supplied dazedly. No human has eyes that green. He's in the middle of examining the man before him for the telltale signs - ethernet ports, switches, little glowing LED displays - when he realizes the guy is talking to him. "Oh. What? Sorry." He stammered, a panicked smile stretching his lips into what must be a horrifying rictus. He toned it down a little and tried to look helpful and attentive.
The robot smiled back, and Jared sent a quick - very quick, he doesn't want to miss anything else - nod of recognition to whoever had programmed that little delicious business. "I asked you where I could find Prof. Kripke's office."
"It's two buildings down - the one with the green roof, see?" He gestured, pointing, and the man followed his arm. "He's probably not interested in interviews at the moment, though, he's really busy, what with finals - I mean, we're all busy 'round about now, obviously, sorry, you've probably set one up anyway I'm sure he has time for it I mean why would you come all this way if - "
He stopped babbling. The man was laughing at him. "I look like a reporter to you?"
Jared swallowed. No, you look like a robot. A gorgeous fucking superheroic robot. He just shrugged, a supreme effort of will keeping his mouth closed on that tidbit. He probably already seemed a bit insane, and opening his mouth would only add to that impression.
The man shrugged back, mocking. "Well, I'm not. And I hope he has time for me, I'm his new TA." He sauntered off towards the building, spinning and giving Jared a wave of thanks. Jared stared after him for a moment before realizing he was actually moving after him, trailing like a lost puppy. He hurried up and caught up with him as if he had something to say rather than be caught wandering in the man's footsteps like a dork. Not that he wasn't a dork, but, hey. He liked to keep his illusions at least illusory, rather than nonexistent.
"You're really in college?" He blurted, when the man looked at him questioningly.
"Christ, do I look that old?" Asked the man.
"No! No, it's just, the way you hold yourself, you've got, like....grace." The man stopped and just looked at him. "Oh, god." Groaned Jared. "I'm not hitting on you, I swear, I just...nevermind, okay? Nevermind. I'll leave you alone now."
He turned up the nearest pathway, ears burning. He hadn't been hitting on him - not that he wouldn't, had Jared possessed one iota of charm and flirting ability and had seen this guy in a bar and not getting off a beautiful motorcycle in front of his campus center (though why the motorcycle made him off-limits Jared wasn't sure) - but he hadn't been, truly, and he hated to leave such a...strange impression.
He heard laughter behind him, and flushed hotly, the back of his neck sticky with embarrassment and with Texas. The man pushed past him. "You're fleeing right towards where I need to go." He said, chuckling, and Jared ducked his head, feeling about a third of his ridiculous, ungainly height. Why'd he have to be so tall, anyway? It put a lot of pressure on him, romance-wise, to always be the one sweeping people off their feet. What if he wanted to be -
The man turned back and looked up at him through golden, unfair eyelashes. "Thank you." He said seriously, his voice low and Jared reeled a bit.
- swept.
Fuck.
**
"He said you had grace?" Chris' voice was choked with laughter.
Jensen nodded and flopped down on the old, broken couch, carefully not leaning back too far against the arm. The duct-tape was pretty old, after all. "Yeah. And then proceeded to backpedal all the way down the street, shouting that he wasn't hitting on me."
Chris shook his head in amazement, his hands idly caressing the neck of his guitar. "It's probably just as well. He sounds a little...special."
"He could be special." Jensen's thoughtful tone gave an entirely different meaning to the word.
Chris' hands stilled. "Oh, you're kidding me. Him?"
Jensen shrugged. "Why not? You know we're down one, since Danneel bailed - "
"Thank god. Bitch only joined 'cause she was lusting after your hot ass - "
" - and it wouldn't take much tweaking to make it work."
Chris rolled his eyes but his fingers were moving again, and Jensen relaxed. His hip found its favorite spot between springs, and he felt the leftover tension from his first day flowing away.
"Yeah, okay." His friend said after a minute of thought. As always with Chris, thought was accompanied by a wandering sort of melody. Jensen doubted he was even aware of it, but it made him smile. "I'll talk to Misha about it. But Jen, what makes you think this guy'd be good?"
Jensen's eyes had slipped closed at some point, and he didn't bother to open them. "Dunno. His face, I think. He's really expressive. And like I said, I think he could be special."
Chris' hands sped up a little, and his voice was teasing. "You're sure this isn't just because he's tall? Because dude, after Tom - "
"Shut up." Said Jensen, and curled further into the couch. Jerk had a point, though. One dunken fistfight with Michael Rosenbaum was enough. More than, really.
He yawned and heard Chris chuckle at him. He scowled but didn't open his eyes, and when Chris began to sing softly, something slow, the scowl became a smile and he slept.
**
"Dude, I told you, I don't want to hear any of your gay woes!"
"My woes aren't gay!" Protested Jared, running a hand through his hair. "Okay, maybe these particular woes are but usually my woes are as straight as yours."
"No way, man. Your woes are like, "Oh gosh golly gee, which pink shirt shall I wear today?" My woes could beat the shit out of your woes." Chad stole the beer from his hand just as Jared went to drink it.
Jared glared at him and lunged forward, but there was a knock at the door. "My woes are plenty manly." He grumbled as he went to answer it.
Sandy raised an eyebrow at him. "Sure, Jare. Whatever you say."
"Sandy!" Chad called from the leather chair he'd shoved into a corner of their tiny living room. "Thank God. Get in here and let Jared complain to you about how he totally made an ass out of himself with some sexy TA. I need me my Matrix time."
Jared got himself another beer. "And you call me gay? No straight man likes to watch another man contort himself like that."
"It's different when he's dodging fucking BULLETS, jackass." Chad grumbled, settling into his chair. "Besides, I only watch this so much because Trinity's smokin'."
Jared smirked against the lip of his beer bottle as he followed Sandy into his bedroom. "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that."
The smirk faded as Sandy closed the door, though, and Jared collapsed on his bed with a groan. She immediately crossed to him, perching on the bed's edge like a bird. Jared found himself comparing her to a bird a lot, and he's glad for once that she shares qualities with a mother hen.
"A sexy TA, huh?"
Jared groaned again and buried his face in a pillow. "It's not a big deal." He said into the bed.
Sandy's voice was warning. "Jare."
Jared was silent a moment. "You should've seen his eyes. Greenest things I ever saw." He flopped over onto his back. "I'd like to see anyone be suave with eyes like that staring up at them like...like...I don't know! And I just babbled on and I think I hit on him by accident and then he turned around and just thanked me like I'd saved his life or something rather than just giving him directions, and his fucking eyelashes - and he moves like a dancer or an acrobat or something and he has this motorcycle, that's what made me notice him first, this black motorcycle, and I don't know how he wasn't dying, wearing all that leather, it was like a hundred degrees today -"
"Jay - "
" - and you know my first thought? He had to be sweating so much, but he was just all...cool and calm and collected. Even asking for help! God, why can't I be like that? Instead of stumbling over my own feet and my words all the time - "
"Jared!" Sandy finally managed to cut in, laughing. "Settle down. The situation is hardly lost. He thanked you, right, and didn't run screaming?"
Jared nodded. "Yeah. That's something, I guess."
"It's more than something. Or it will be. Okay, so the next thing is to see him again - but casually. By chance. Carefully orchestrated chance, but chance nonetheless."
She was grinning, and Jared couldn't help but grin back. It didn't last long, though. His lips pinched. "Why bother? He's probably not even gay. And even if he were, the hell would he be interested in me for?"
Sandy narrowed her eyes. "I'm making an effort not to be insulted here. You think I would have languished for years over you if you were some ugly, pathetic loser like you assume you are? You think I would have hung around even after I knew my feelings would never be returned? It's not because I'm desperate, Jare, it's because I like you. Somewhere in all that pining you became my friend. My best friend, even." She smiled a little. "A best friend who hasn't been this worked up about guy for a long time. Of course I'm going to help you."
Jared's heart rose in his throat and he launched himself at Sandy, pulling her into his chest in a bear hug. She squeaked and started to laugh, and then he was laughing, too. He released her, and she promptly fell of the bed, landing on the floor with a surprised whumph! There was silence for a minute, and then both of them burst out into even louder laughter.
Wiping her eyes, Sandy scrambled back onto the bed, using Jared's lap as a pillow. Jared smoothed the hair out of her eyes fondly. "Missed you." He said quietly.
"Yeah." Her eyes darkened, and Jared could almost see her thoughts swirling behind them. She'd gone home over spring break and come back white, shaken and close to tears. She hadn't offered information as to why, and he hadn't asked. Sometimes he could keep his mouth shut.
"So this guy." Immediately Jared's mind was drawn back to that morning. "What's his name?"
"I don't know." His voice was small. "I didn't even ask."
Sandy sighed. "Well, who's he a TA for?"
"Kripke."
She whistled. "Poor guy. Well, I can ask Steve. He's working towards his double major and has a class with Kripke this semester."
Jared nodded. He leaned down, folding nearly in half, and pressed a kiss into her hair. "Thanks."
She grinned, and her fingers found his. Jared leaned back against his headboard and stared upwards, the ceiling dissolving into images of golden lashes sweeping over green eyes, of freckles scattered over pale skin, and for the first time he had hope.
**
"Now, you may easily draw a parallel between Icarus and the Judeo-Christian figure of Lucifer..."
A small smile twisted Steve's lips. Doomed to fall, he thought. Faulted from the start. His pencil hovered over his blank page. He should have notes, probably, but he couldn't bring himself to quite care enough about Kripke's words to write any of them down. His mind kept returning to last night, to different words shouted through the door, to eyes meeting his and eyes refusing to.
It was the words, he thought, that hurt the most. The sadness in his eyes and the coldness in his voice, those he'd been seeing for months. But the words made them real. He found his pencil moving, the graphite tracing out the turmoil he felt because otherwise he'd be screaming.
We were doomed to end, you know
You knew we would be falling
Taking the heat from my heart
Stealing the smile that I gave and letting it show
We were doomed to end, you knew
You know I will be calling
Trying to to grasp what had gone wrong
Making you know, making you see it through -
He looked up to see that class had ended. A man stood talking quietly to Kripke as the rest of the students shuffled out the door. Steve sighed and packed up his stuff.
Sandy was leaning against the wall outside, and he briefly considered ducking into the bathroom to avoid her. It wasn't that he didn't like Sandy, it was just that she...well, she was just so fucking cheerful all the time, and if there was one thing he wasn't in the mood for, it was forcing a smile onto his face and making small talk. He sighed and resisted the urge to run, instead lifting a hand in greeting and hoping she would sense that he really wasn't in the mood.
"Steve! Hey, listen, I was wondering - when's Jason's next gala? Because Jay's actually mooning over some guy, for once, and I thought maybe if they had a "chance meeting" - " She paused mid air-quotes, her expression suddenly concerned. "Steve? What's wrong?"
Steve swallowed and cleared his throat, trying to work past the feeling of suffocation he felt when he thought about Jason. "We, uh." He coughed, and it helped a little. "We broke up, actually. Jason and I."
She was immediately contrite. "Oh, god, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean - "
"Sandy." He said quellingly. Sympathy didn't help. He wasn't a teenage girl, to be coddled with ice cream and tears. He hadn't even really been dumped. It wasn't like he was pining. It'd been a mutual thing. Jason was full of more bullshit than he could handle, too, if anything he'd broken up with him...
Not that that made it easier.
"There's a party this weekend, actually." He said. "If you and Jared want to go and hunt down this mystery guy. Have you been, before? I don't think I've seen you there."
She shook her head, eyes still full of so much pity that he looked away.
"Well you definitely should, then. There's really nothing...nothing like them." He swallowed again and turned back to Sandy with a small smile. "So who's this guy, then, that's got Father Jared all worked up?"
She rolled her eyes, obviously relieved. "He's not a PRIEST, Steve, he's just...he's been single. For a long time. And seemed pretty happy with that."
"But now?"
Sandy grinned, happier than Steve's ever seen her. "He met him ONCE, stumbled over his words, halfway hit on him, and ran away convinced that the man hated him. He didn't even get the guy's name."
His smile grew in response, even partially sincere. "It must be love. But...what makes you think this guy will be at...at the party?"
Sandy's smile became mischievous. "We're going to invite him."
Part Two
Author: Danse Amore
Wordcount: This part, 2667. Overall, 8895 and growing.
Rating: R eventually
Pairings: Jared/Jensen, Chris/Steve, Chad/Sophia, Sandy/OFC, Misha/OFC
Disclaimer: Don't own. Not real. I don't make any money.
Warnings/Spoilers: This part: Language.
Summary: College AU. Jared meets a superhero.
Jared knows it's childish, but every time he sees someone on a motorcycle with one of those reflective-shield helmets, his mind assumes that it's a superhero. The black leather jacket, tight and outlandish in the Texas heat, doesn't help. Only a superhero - or maybe a robot - could bear the sweat-fest that must be.
So he watched, eyebrows raised, as the robot-superhero parked his bike at the campus center, and resisted the urge to look around for escaping, cackling men with freeze-rays. Oh man, freeze-rays, what a perfect weapon for a day like today...
His eyebrows stayed up as the figure dismounts and pulls off the reflective helmet, tucking it under his arm and walking up to Jared.
Definitely a robot. Jared's mind supplied dazedly. No human has eyes that green. He's in the middle of examining the man before him for the telltale signs - ethernet ports, switches, little glowing LED displays - when he realizes the guy is talking to him. "Oh. What? Sorry." He stammered, a panicked smile stretching his lips into what must be a horrifying rictus. He toned it down a little and tried to look helpful and attentive.
The robot smiled back, and Jared sent a quick - very quick, he doesn't want to miss anything else - nod of recognition to whoever had programmed that little delicious business. "I asked you where I could find Prof. Kripke's office."
"It's two buildings down - the one with the green roof, see?" He gestured, pointing, and the man followed his arm. "He's probably not interested in interviews at the moment, though, he's really busy, what with finals - I mean, we're all busy 'round about now, obviously, sorry, you've probably set one up anyway I'm sure he has time for it I mean why would you come all this way if - "
He stopped babbling. The man was laughing at him. "I look like a reporter to you?"
Jared swallowed. No, you look like a robot. A gorgeous fucking superheroic robot. He just shrugged, a supreme effort of will keeping his mouth closed on that tidbit. He probably already seemed a bit insane, and opening his mouth would only add to that impression.
The man shrugged back, mocking. "Well, I'm not. And I hope he has time for me, I'm his new TA." He sauntered off towards the building, spinning and giving Jared a wave of thanks. Jared stared after him for a moment before realizing he was actually moving after him, trailing like a lost puppy. He hurried up and caught up with him as if he had something to say rather than be caught wandering in the man's footsteps like a dork. Not that he wasn't a dork, but, hey. He liked to keep his illusions at least illusory, rather than nonexistent.
"You're really in college?" He blurted, when the man looked at him questioningly.
"Christ, do I look that old?" Asked the man.
"No! No, it's just, the way you hold yourself, you've got, like....grace." The man stopped and just looked at him. "Oh, god." Groaned Jared. "I'm not hitting on you, I swear, I just...nevermind, okay? Nevermind. I'll leave you alone now."
He turned up the nearest pathway, ears burning. He hadn't been hitting on him - not that he wouldn't, had Jared possessed one iota of charm and flirting ability and had seen this guy in a bar and not getting off a beautiful motorcycle in front of his campus center (though why the motorcycle made him off-limits Jared wasn't sure) - but he hadn't been, truly, and he hated to leave such a...strange impression.
He heard laughter behind him, and flushed hotly, the back of his neck sticky with embarrassment and with Texas. The man pushed past him. "You're fleeing right towards where I need to go." He said, chuckling, and Jared ducked his head, feeling about a third of his ridiculous, ungainly height. Why'd he have to be so tall, anyway? It put a lot of pressure on him, romance-wise, to always be the one sweeping people off their feet. What if he wanted to be -
The man turned back and looked up at him through golden, unfair eyelashes. "Thank you." He said seriously, his voice low and Jared reeled a bit.
- swept.
Fuck.
**
"He said you had grace?" Chris' voice was choked with laughter.
Jensen nodded and flopped down on the old, broken couch, carefully not leaning back too far against the arm. The duct-tape was pretty old, after all. "Yeah. And then proceeded to backpedal all the way down the street, shouting that he wasn't hitting on me."
Chris shook his head in amazement, his hands idly caressing the neck of his guitar. "It's probably just as well. He sounds a little...special."
"He could be special." Jensen's thoughtful tone gave an entirely different meaning to the word.
Chris' hands stilled. "Oh, you're kidding me. Him?"
Jensen shrugged. "Why not? You know we're down one, since Danneel bailed - "
"Thank god. Bitch only joined 'cause she was lusting after your hot ass - "
" - and it wouldn't take much tweaking to make it work."
Chris rolled his eyes but his fingers were moving again, and Jensen relaxed. His hip found its favorite spot between springs, and he felt the leftover tension from his first day flowing away.
"Yeah, okay." His friend said after a minute of thought. As always with Chris, thought was accompanied by a wandering sort of melody. Jensen doubted he was even aware of it, but it made him smile. "I'll talk to Misha about it. But Jen, what makes you think this guy'd be good?"
Jensen's eyes had slipped closed at some point, and he didn't bother to open them. "Dunno. His face, I think. He's really expressive. And like I said, I think he could be special."
Chris' hands sped up a little, and his voice was teasing. "You're sure this isn't just because he's tall? Because dude, after Tom - "
"Shut up." Said Jensen, and curled further into the couch. Jerk had a point, though. One dunken fistfight with Michael Rosenbaum was enough. More than, really.
He yawned and heard Chris chuckle at him. He scowled but didn't open his eyes, and when Chris began to sing softly, something slow, the scowl became a smile and he slept.
**
"Dude, I told you, I don't want to hear any of your gay woes!"
"My woes aren't gay!" Protested Jared, running a hand through his hair. "Okay, maybe these particular woes are but usually my woes are as straight as yours."
"No way, man. Your woes are like, "Oh gosh golly gee, which pink shirt shall I wear today?" My woes could beat the shit out of your woes." Chad stole the beer from his hand just as Jared went to drink it.
Jared glared at him and lunged forward, but there was a knock at the door. "My woes are plenty manly." He grumbled as he went to answer it.
Sandy raised an eyebrow at him. "Sure, Jare. Whatever you say."
"Sandy!" Chad called from the leather chair he'd shoved into a corner of their tiny living room. "Thank God. Get in here and let Jared complain to you about how he totally made an ass out of himself with some sexy TA. I need me my Matrix time."
Jared got himself another beer. "And you call me gay? No straight man likes to watch another man contort himself like that."
"It's different when he's dodging fucking BULLETS, jackass." Chad grumbled, settling into his chair. "Besides, I only watch this so much because Trinity's smokin'."
Jared smirked against the lip of his beer bottle as he followed Sandy into his bedroom. "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that."
The smirk faded as Sandy closed the door, though, and Jared collapsed on his bed with a groan. She immediately crossed to him, perching on the bed's edge like a bird. Jared found himself comparing her to a bird a lot, and he's glad for once that she shares qualities with a mother hen.
"A sexy TA, huh?"
Jared groaned again and buried his face in a pillow. "It's not a big deal." He said into the bed.
Sandy's voice was warning. "Jare."
Jared was silent a moment. "You should've seen his eyes. Greenest things I ever saw." He flopped over onto his back. "I'd like to see anyone be suave with eyes like that staring up at them like...like...I don't know! And I just babbled on and I think I hit on him by accident and then he turned around and just thanked me like I'd saved his life or something rather than just giving him directions, and his fucking eyelashes - and he moves like a dancer or an acrobat or something and he has this motorcycle, that's what made me notice him first, this black motorcycle, and I don't know how he wasn't dying, wearing all that leather, it was like a hundred degrees today -"
"Jay - "
" - and you know my first thought? He had to be sweating so much, but he was just all...cool and calm and collected. Even asking for help! God, why can't I be like that? Instead of stumbling over my own feet and my words all the time - "
"Jared!" Sandy finally managed to cut in, laughing. "Settle down. The situation is hardly lost. He thanked you, right, and didn't run screaming?"
Jared nodded. "Yeah. That's something, I guess."
"It's more than something. Or it will be. Okay, so the next thing is to see him again - but casually. By chance. Carefully orchestrated chance, but chance nonetheless."
She was grinning, and Jared couldn't help but grin back. It didn't last long, though. His lips pinched. "Why bother? He's probably not even gay. And even if he were, the hell would he be interested in me for?"
Sandy narrowed her eyes. "I'm making an effort not to be insulted here. You think I would have languished for years over you if you were some ugly, pathetic loser like you assume you are? You think I would have hung around even after I knew my feelings would never be returned? It's not because I'm desperate, Jare, it's because I like you. Somewhere in all that pining you became my friend. My best friend, even." She smiled a little. "A best friend who hasn't been this worked up about guy for a long time. Of course I'm going to help you."
Jared's heart rose in his throat and he launched himself at Sandy, pulling her into his chest in a bear hug. She squeaked and started to laugh, and then he was laughing, too. He released her, and she promptly fell of the bed, landing on the floor with a surprised whumph! There was silence for a minute, and then both of them burst out into even louder laughter.
Wiping her eyes, Sandy scrambled back onto the bed, using Jared's lap as a pillow. Jared smoothed the hair out of her eyes fondly. "Missed you." He said quietly.
"Yeah." Her eyes darkened, and Jared could almost see her thoughts swirling behind them. She'd gone home over spring break and come back white, shaken and close to tears. She hadn't offered information as to why, and he hadn't asked. Sometimes he could keep his mouth shut.
"So this guy." Immediately Jared's mind was drawn back to that morning. "What's his name?"
"I don't know." His voice was small. "I didn't even ask."
Sandy sighed. "Well, who's he a TA for?"
"Kripke."
She whistled. "Poor guy. Well, I can ask Steve. He's working towards his double major and has a class with Kripke this semester."
Jared nodded. He leaned down, folding nearly in half, and pressed a kiss into her hair. "Thanks."
She grinned, and her fingers found his. Jared leaned back against his headboard and stared upwards, the ceiling dissolving into images of golden lashes sweeping over green eyes, of freckles scattered over pale skin, and for the first time he had hope.
**
"Now, you may easily draw a parallel between Icarus and the Judeo-Christian figure of Lucifer..."
A small smile twisted Steve's lips. Doomed to fall, he thought. Faulted from the start. His pencil hovered over his blank page. He should have notes, probably, but he couldn't bring himself to quite care enough about Kripke's words to write any of them down. His mind kept returning to last night, to different words shouted through the door, to eyes meeting his and eyes refusing to.
It was the words, he thought, that hurt the most. The sadness in his eyes and the coldness in his voice, those he'd been seeing for months. But the words made them real. He found his pencil moving, the graphite tracing out the turmoil he felt because otherwise he'd be screaming.
We were doomed to end, you know
You knew we would be falling
Taking the heat from my heart
Stealing the smile that I gave and letting it show
We were doomed to end, you knew
You know I will be calling
Trying to to grasp what had gone wrong
Making you know, making you see it through -
He looked up to see that class had ended. A man stood talking quietly to Kripke as the rest of the students shuffled out the door. Steve sighed and packed up his stuff.
Sandy was leaning against the wall outside, and he briefly considered ducking into the bathroom to avoid her. It wasn't that he didn't like Sandy, it was just that she...well, she was just so fucking cheerful all the time, and if there was one thing he wasn't in the mood for, it was forcing a smile onto his face and making small talk. He sighed and resisted the urge to run, instead lifting a hand in greeting and hoping she would sense that he really wasn't in the mood.
"Steve! Hey, listen, I was wondering - when's Jason's next gala? Because Jay's actually mooning over some guy, for once, and I thought maybe if they had a "chance meeting" - " She paused mid air-quotes, her expression suddenly concerned. "Steve? What's wrong?"
Steve swallowed and cleared his throat, trying to work past the feeling of suffocation he felt when he thought about Jason. "We, uh." He coughed, and it helped a little. "We broke up, actually. Jason and I."
She was immediately contrite. "Oh, god, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean - "
"Sandy." He said quellingly. Sympathy didn't help. He wasn't a teenage girl, to be coddled with ice cream and tears. He hadn't even really been dumped. It wasn't like he was pining. It'd been a mutual thing. Jason was full of more bullshit than he could handle, too, if anything he'd broken up with him...
Not that that made it easier.
"There's a party this weekend, actually." He said. "If you and Jared want to go and hunt down this mystery guy. Have you been, before? I don't think I've seen you there."
She shook her head, eyes still full of so much pity that he looked away.
"Well you definitely should, then. There's really nothing...nothing like them." He swallowed again and turned back to Sandy with a small smile. "So who's this guy, then, that's got Father Jared all worked up?"
She rolled her eyes, obviously relieved. "He's not a PRIEST, Steve, he's just...he's been single. For a long time. And seemed pretty happy with that."
"But now?"
Sandy grinned, happier than Steve's ever seen her. "He met him ONCE, stumbled over his words, halfway hit on him, and ran away convinced that the man hated him. He didn't even get the guy's name."
His smile grew in response, even partially sincere. "It must be love. But...what makes you think this guy will be at...at the party?"
Sandy's smile became mischievous. "We're going to invite him."
Part Two