Big bang 2013: Better together: Chapter three
Fic title: Better together 3/5
Author name: dutch_chick674
Artist name: theextrac00kie
Genre:> RPS au
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Rating: NC-17
Word count: 23.331
Warnings: Angst, sex scenes
Summary: Jared finally left Jensen when he was tired of always being the second choice to the other man. He worked thought the hard times on supernatural but was happy when the series finally ended.
Jensen was broken when Jared finally had enough, even though he always knew in the back of his mind that thing would eventually fall apart. He only realized what a fool he was letting Jared go after he had ruined things between them
This is the story of what happens when they meet again four years after supernatural ended.
Authors note 1: This is part of the heartbreak verse, but reading it not requited.
previous chapter
Chapter three.
After Jared had falls asleep, Jensen lies awake and thinks about how lucky he is. Jensen had never though he could have this again: have Jared back in his life and completely his. Jensen wonders what made Jared forgive him, but he figures it doesn't matter because he has never been happier. He smiles softly as Jared slowly opens his eyes.
“Hey,” he says, and reaches out to caress his boyfriend's hair.
Jared smiles and leans in for a kiss. Jensen concludes that life is pretty awesome right now.
They see each other almost every day now, and most of the time they end up sleeping at each other’s house. After six months of being back together, Jensen wonders if it's too soon to ask Jared to move in with him. The question has been on his mind for a while now, but he is simply too afraid to ask.
There are times that this thing between them still feels too fragile, and Jensen is afraid that if he makes one wrong move he will lose Jared all over again. He already fucked-up once, and he doesn't think Jared will give him a third chance.
“Good morning,” Jared whispers “I have to go walk the dogs.” He climbs out of bed.
Jensen moves to join him. He would have liked to stay in bed with Jared, and enjoy each other for a little while longer, but the dogs need a walk. Jared stops him with a hand on his chest and a kiss on his lips.
“You stay in bed, I'll be right back,” he whispers before leaving the room.
Jensen doesn't stay in bed though, and plans to surprise his boyfriend with a nice Sunday morning breakfast. He starts making pancake batter and whistles a soft tune to himself.
He usually hates getting out of bed early but it's worth it when he sees the smile on Jared's face when he walks up and notices the table Jensen had set for them.
“I thought you weren't a morning person,” Jared says with a smile, after he gives Jensen a deep kiss.
“Things change,” Jensen says then adds, “I wanted to surprise you.”
“Well you did, it smells great!” Jared says. He sits down and picks up his script.
Jensen smiles to himself. It used to be all about the stolen moments and about keeping things between them a secret. He had been so afraid of his career and about what other people would thing. Most of all, he had feared what his parents would think.
But, being here with Jared, like this? It all seems so long ago and important. Sure things between them were still new and they were still figuring things out, but here he was, enjoying a Sunday morning breakfast, which is something he thought he'd lost.
“I can't believe the weekend is over. I have to go back to set tomorrow.”
“Did you manage to study all your lines?” Jensen asks and raises both eyebrows.
“Did you prepare for the scenes you're going to shoot?” Jared asks, and that soft smile is back.
Jensen sighs, he hadn't prepared and it has been like this for the past two months. Every Saturday he spends with Jared is dedicated to him exclusively. And every Sunday it results in spending the whole day in the living room preparing for work, with Jared studying his lines beside him.
***
A few months later they become insanely busy. Jared had hoped for time with Jensen once their projects were done, but he had forgotten about the promotional tours. Jensen and he sometimes ended on opposite sides or the country, and occasionally on opposite sides of the world. Jensen started in Europe first and will end his tour in the US. He was nominated for several awards and the producers think he has a better chance of winning if the promotional tour is fresh in the minds of the judges. Unfortunately, the producers of Jared’s film are doing the exact opposite, starting in USA and ending in Europe.
Jared gets tired of playing phone tag after a week. Every time he calls Jensen, the other man can't pick up the phone, and Jared is busy whenever Jensen calls back. Jared knows it’s because of the time difference and their busy schedules, but he can’t help think back to another time when Jensen was too busy with Danneel to make time for him. Jared knows he’s going to go crazy if he doesn’t get any distraction soon, so he's happy Olivia is there to keep him company and, to take his mind of off his worries.
“I still can’t believe Ellen was flirting with you!” Olivia says as they enter his hotel room.
They’re just coming back from an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, who was indeed flirting with Jared.
“I can’t help that I’m hotter than you,” Jared jokes as they both sit down on the bed. “Hey Liv, thank you for deflecting that dating question for me.”
Olivia settles next to him flipping on the TV, “that’s quite alright Padawan, now order me room service, bitch.”
Jared shakes his head. Seriously, she’s like a female version of Chad sometimes. She had proved to be a real friend, and he was happy she would be with him for all of the interviews they had planned. She and Jared made a little pact: she would deflect all dating questions, and he would talk through the interview whenever her ex-boyfriend came up.
It had worked great so far, and Jared actually found himself looking forward to their trip to Europe, even if it meant more time away from his boyfriend.
***
The first thing Jensen does when he get back in LA is pick up Jared's dogs. He still needs to do a couple more interviews and he should rest a bit. But he has missed home, and missed his boyfriend even more. Since Jared is currently in Europe doing a promotional tour, Jensen thinks the dogs might be nice company.
He had wanted to check with Jared before he takes the dogs, but he has a hard time getting in touch with the other man. This makes Jensen worry even more. He feels Jared is using their time apart to pull away from him. He has no idea what to do about it, and is afraid to ask Jared.
He figures that since Jared is currently several thousand miles away from him, he will have to wait until he comes home to talk this out.
When Jensen walks into his house, dogs in tow, he's happily surprised that his housekeeper stopped by. She has cleaned the house and filled the fridge, despite that fact Jensen had forgotten to call her.
He's about to sit down with a beer when his phone rings.
“Hey Jason,” he greets, with a smile on his face.
Having been busy with both work and Jared, he hasn't talked to Jason for some time, but, now that he is back in LA and has nothing to do, it seems like a nice idea to meet up with his friend.
“Hey, you home?”
“Yeah.”
“Good then open your door,” Jason says.
Jensen does and is greeted with hug from his friend.
“Jensen! How are you? How did the promotion bit go? I hear great things about this movie of yours.”
Jensen breaks away, smiling, Jason is always running his mouth like that. Much like Jared. After the years of Supernatural, with Jared distracting the cameras, he sometimes still misses the buffer between him and the press.
“You know how the promotions are. God I hate those things! And they asked me the dating question. I have no idea how to answer those!” Jensen says, waving his arms around a bit spastically.
Jason just smiles, steals Jensen beer, and sits down on the couch. Jensen scowls, his little rant forgotten, and goes to the kitchen to get another beer.
“Well at least this time you might get an award out of it,” Jason says when Jensen walks back into the living room, “I mean other that a PCA.”
Jensen just nods, sitting down again. The moment his ass hits the couch, Tiny tries to crawl into his lap. Jensen just pets the dog and tries to get him to stop, which just makes Tiny more determined to be a lap dog.
“You know, I didn't think Jared could get a bigger dog than Harley,” Jason comments.
“Well guess he proved you wrong.”
Jason just ignores Jensen and starts telling him about his plans, before he segued into how drunk he got with Chris and Steve. Jensen tells a couple stories of his own. Both are laughing their ass off, and then the topic of Jared's interview with Ellen comes up.
“You know what is weird,” Jason says when he's done laughing, and Jensen just looks at him, “how not weird it is that Jared and you are dating, you know?”
Jensen does; it has been kind of weird. All his friends just picked up where they had left off, before Jared left Jensen's life. The only thing different now is that sometimes he and Jared kiss in front of them. Jensen frowns- most of his friends accept it. Chris and Steve are still a bit weird, but Jensen can understand their protectiveness.
“Yeah.” Jensen just smiles a little.
He enjoys his rest of the night watching bit of television with Jason. They drink a couple of beers, and Jensen promises to call Jason for a boy’s night out when Jared is back in town. He goes to sleep happy that night, not even worried about tomorrow’s interview.
***
“Hey Jen,” Jared says, walking into the apartment.
They had exchanged keys after their five month anniversary. At first they both had been kind of nervous about it. If Jared was honest with himself, he is still nervous about it now. Despite that, Jared loves that they are moving forward. It is clear to him how different their relationship is from how it was before.
Jensen comes walking out of the kitchen with a large smile on his face. He rushes towards Jared and kisses him deeply. Jared has missed his boyfriend like crazy; they've been out of touch the past couple of weeks.
“Missed you,” Jared says against his lips.
“How was Europe?” Jensen asks, pulling Jared towards the kitchen.
“Big. What are you making?” Jared asks when they enter the kitchen, and Jensen returns to the stove.
Jared never realized how hard it is to be away from home for such a long time, and how lonely it is. He just misses Jensen, and now all he wants is to spend the next couple of hours on the couch cuddling with his boyfriend.
“A welcome home dinner. I still don't understand why you didn't want me to pick you up from the airport.”
“Oh babe, you didn't have to do that,” Jared says and kisses Jensen again. “Beside I had to go drop of something at my apartment.” Jensen turns back to the stove as Jared sits down to pet Sadie, who walked up to him in greeting.
Jared had been happily surprised when Jensen told him that he picked up the dogs already. He wanted to go to Jensen's straight from the airport, but he had gotten scared. With him and Jensen not talking much the past few days, he worried about their relationship. He just doesn't know how to talk to Jensen about this.
It may be unfair but he can't forget all the times Jensen dismissed him when he wanted to talk about things between them. When Jensen was with Danneel, Jared’s feelings didn’t really matter (at least it felt that way to him). He is afraid of the same dismissal when he talks about his feeling this time, even though it's clear to him the situation is completely different.
“I missed you,” Jared says again.
Jensen sighs, walks over to him, and sits on his lap. “We should think about coming out to the public. I mean, tell them we're dating. Everybody already knows we're gay. And our friends just took it in stride. I was talking to Jason about it the other day and he even said so. And if the world knew about us, we could do these kinds of things together.”
Jared smiles softly and pull Jensen closer. “Maybe. We should make it classy though. Maybe call Sera have her write a script. You know she'd be up for that.”
Jensen snorts into Jared's neck before mumbling, “You know that’s going to be all porny right?”
Jared just pulls Jensen closer, he doesn't want to talk about it anymore; he just wants to enjoy his time with Jensen.
***
Jensen grins and watches Jared move around in the kitchen. Jared insisted on inviting over his co-stars and to make them dinner. He wanted Jensen to meet his new friends.
“So are they bringing their boyfriends or girlfriends?” Jensen asks as he’s setting the table.
“Nah, they’re both single. Set the table for four,” Jared answers without taking his eyes from the pot on the stove.
Jensen smiles and walks over to gently kiss his boyfriend. It is obvious Jared wants to make a good impression on his friends. Jensen doesn’t think Jared needs to try so hard. Just when Jensen has placed the last plate the doorbell rings.
“I’ll get it,” Jensen says, before he opens the door.
“You must be Olivia,” he says to the blonde girl standing in front of him, and to the guy, “and you’re Alex. I’m Jensen,” he says, shaking both their hands.
The girl winks at him before she rushes into the kitchen saying, “Oh my god, Jared, your boyfriend is even hotter in person!”
Jensen doesn’t hear Jared’s reply, but both of them dissolve into laughing so it must have been good. He looks at Alex who just smiles before walking into the house.
“They’re always like that,” Alex says as he hangs up his coat. “It can be exhausting at times.”
Watching Jared and Olivia together in the kitchen reminded Jensen of the three episodes of Supernatural that Jake Abel had done. Jared and Jake would pull prank after prank until even Jensen got sick of it. He almost pities Alex for having to work with Jared and Olivia if that’s the case.
“Luckily this time you have good wine and a calming presence, and I can’t speak for Olivia, but Jared will calm considerably after a glass or two,” Jensen says with a wink and pulls out said bottle of wine.
Jensen feels uncomfortable at first, as he usually is with people he doesn’t know. After his second glass of wine, he starts to loosen up and instead of just listening to Jared interacting with his new friends, Jensen joins in. When they’re done eating, Jensen is fully relaxed and is telling stories of his own.
“I still can’t believe you worked with Joseph Gordon Levitt,” Olivia says after Jensen finishes telling about a prank the other man pulled on him. “He’s hot!”
“I can’t believe he actually did that,” Jared says, pouting. “I thought I was the best!”
“Well baby,” Jensen says, intending to say Jared was the best he’s ever had, but Alex quickly interrupts him.
“Okay, I’m nipping this in the bud,” he says, able to see where this is going. “Come Liv, I think it’s time to leave the love birds alone.”
“Ahh booo,” Liv pouts but stands up to get her handbag anyway, and when she’s saying goodbye to Jensen she says, “Please invite me when you have your co-workers over. I desperately want to meet Joseph.”
Jensen smiles and says goodbye to the two of them. When they’re gone Jared pulls him close and kisses him deeply.
“I had a great night,” he whispers.
“Me too,” Jensen says and smiles.
***
Jared takes Jensen to his favourite restaurant as a small thank you for being an awesome boyfriend. They both had been so busy lately it was nice to go on a date just the two of them.
“You’re going to love it,” Jared says as they walk into the restaurant. “After I moved back here from Vancouver, it took me ages to find a new favourite restaurant. I mean the one in Canada was just so good! But this one, Jen, their steak is like heaven.”
Jensen smiles a little when Jared finished rambling, and he squeezes Jared’s hand. “Heavenly steak, now this I gotta try.”
Jared smirks at him when they get to the table, “You can always try the salad.”
“Why do you have to be like that?” Jensen asks and makes a face.
Jared watches the waiter check Jensen out when he gives them the menu, but Jensen only has eyes for him. Jensen doesn’t even look at the menu. Jared orders a bottle of wine and the waiter leaves.
“So tell me how you found this restaurant. I mean, I didn’t know about it,” Jensen asks, placing his hand on top of Jared’s.
Jared grins before explaining that Chad lived nearby and that one day he’d had a fight with Kenzie, who had proceeded to kick him out. When Jared had come to pick him up, after Chad had called, he had forgotten his keys.
“It was June, so I was sweating buckets. Chad and I just went into the first public place we saw, which was this restaurant. After lunch, Chad called McKenzie and they made up.” Jared just finishes the story when the waiter arrives to take their order.
“So I guess I have to thank Chad for this supposedly awesome steak I’m going to eat,” Jensen says when the waiter leaves.
“Him and Kenzie,” Jared teases. “Now eat your steak or else I’m going to eat yours too and then you’ll spend the rest of your live wondering: was that steak really as good as Jared said.”
They make comfortable conversation until their food arrives. Then they eat in companionable silence. When Jensen sits back after dinner, declaring it was the best steak he had outside of Texas, Jared just smirks at him.
Jared is content, when he gets home and crawls in bed with Jensen. He shuffles close to Jensen and plasters himself to the man’s side.
“I love you,” Jensen whispers into his hair.
“Love you,” Jared replies. He falls asleep with smile on his face.
***
“I think we should move in together,” Jensen says.
Jared looks at Jensen like he has grown a third head. Of course, Jared is on his knees between Jensen's legs and is unbuttoning his jeans. So maybe Jensen’s timing is a bit off, but the question has been on his mind for a while now. Jensen can't remember the last time Jared spend the night at his own apartment. Hell even the dogs haven't left since Jensen got them from the kennel. It seems like a natural transition.
“Seriously, Jen?” Jared asks. He gets off his knees and sits on the couch.
Jensen sighs, “I'm sorry. It's too soon. I shouldn't have asked.”
Jared laughs, “I'm about to blow you, and you ask me to move in. Babe normally those kinds of questions come after you have.”
Jensen scowls. “Stop trying to be funny!”
Jensen tries to shake it off, tries to ignore the fact that Jared hadn't answered. He gets up to get some water from the kitchen. His relaxed state had disappeared the moment he opened his big mouth.
“Jen,” Jared says and grabs his wrist.
“Never mind Jay, it wasn't the smartest idea anyway.”
“No, Jen,” Jared says, pulling Jensen back to the couch and crawling onto his lap.
Jensen thinks he does it to prevent him from walking away-not that he minds.
“You want to move in together?” Jared asks and cuddles close to him.
Jensen shifts, wraps both arms around Jared and takes comfort in his boyfriend’s arms.
“I was thinking about it, yeah,” he says shyly.
Jared starts kissing his neck, sucking softly on his pulse point. Jensen feels himself growing less interested in talking about moving in together and more interested in what they’re doing.
“We should,” Jared says. “I mean, I will keep the lease on my place though, just for a while. But me and the dogs have been here most of the time anyway. Why not move all of my stuff in here.”
“Why keep your own place?” Jensen asks.
“Just until we tell the public, we still have to decide how and when we do that,” Jared answers solemnly.
Jensen feels his giddy, happy that they are finally talking about this seriously. But Jared is kissing him deeply before he can ask just when, precisely, they are going to come out. He wants to protest but, when Jared pushes him down on the couch, Jensen has mostly forgotten what they had talked about.
Jared starts kissing his way down Jensen's body and pulls his clothes out of the way. Jensen lets his head fall back against the couch, moaning softly as his fingers find Jared's hair.
“Now where were we,” he says, grinning up at Jensen as he finds his way back between his legs.
***
The funniest thing Jared has ever seen is Chad trying to lift a salon table and wobble out of his apartment. Jared knew he shouldn't laugh at his friend, seeing as he was currently helping him move most of his stuff, but he can't help himself. Jared is leaving some things behind since not everything fit in Jensen's apartment. They had decided to trade off some of the furniture, so they both had an influence on how the place looked. Jared had been happy when Jensen suggested it, but unfortunately it did mean that they had to make two trips.
“So Jensen wasn't able to come and help?” Chad asks after they shoved the salon table into the van they rented.
That was actually Jared's fault. Jensen had wanted to help, but he was busy with some left over work stuff for his movie. This had meant he wouldn’t have time to help with the move for another two weeks. Jared wants to do it by himself, anyway; it gives him some time to think. He doesn’t want Jensen to think he’s having second thoughts but moving is a big step for him and he isn’t really sure it’s what he wants.
“He was busy with work. I tried calling Adam but he couldn't make it. I know it was all very last minute,” Jared says with a shrug before walking back into his apartment.
“Well it makes sense. The two of you have been together for a while now. So are you going to sublet this place? Cause I might know a guy...” Chad says.
Jared has been thinking about it. But he doesn't want any press to get wind of this. Moving during the day may not have been the best way to keep things a secret Jared realizes.
“I don't know yet. I'll talk to Jensen about it.”
Chad chuckles and says something about being pussywhiped. Jared just grins, knowing there isn't a thing Chad will do without consulting with Kenzie first.
“So do you have everything?” Chad asks when the van is almost full.
Jared nods, even though it didn't really matter; they will be back here to deposit some of Jensen things. Beside the most important things are already at Jensen's.
“Yeah let's go.”
Jared smiles all the way back home, thinking about waking up next to Jensen every morning. Jensen is going to be done in about half an hour so maybe they could get some dinner with Kenzie and Chad. He hasn’t asked Jensen yet but he thinks his boyfriend will like some social interaction, after spending the whole day working.
“Hey Jay,” Chad says when they pull up to Jensen's apartment, “I'm really happy for you,”
Jared smiles. “Thanks Chad, now let's get the last things inside and get some beer.”
***
Jensen decides to go out and celebrate the end of the promotion tour when he finishes his last interview. He’s so happy it’s over. Jared supports the idea and has invited all their friends.
“Hey, how is my favourite director?” Chris shouts in his ear before drooping all over his back.
Jensen pushes his friend away with a grin, before he orders a couple of beers for him and Jared. For once they don't have to think about their diet or work and they are well on their way to getting drunk.
“You're boyfriend can't keep his eyes off you,” Chris says casually as Jensen waits for his beer.
“Yeah, and if you didn't insist on sitting between us the whole time, I bet he wouldn't be able to get his hands of me either,” Jensen says with a smirk.
“This exactly is the reason why I’m sitting between you two. I mean, Jared couldn't keep his hands of you before you were dating. I can't imagine how bad it now that the two of you are dating. Nobody wants to see that shit! We're here to have a good time,” Chris says, getting his own beer before walking back to the table they were sitting at.
“Hey Jen, Chad says I have been undressing you with my eyes,” Jared says as Jensen hands him his drink.
Jensen laughs, “I think Chad is projecting.”
Chad huffs and folds his arms in front of his chest. He kind of looks like a disgruntled hamster, and Jensen can't help but think about Alvin and the Chipmunks. When he starts thinking that Chris and Steve might be the other two chipmunks, and imagining the three of them singing and dancing, he decides to stop drinking. He obviously has had too much already.
The whole group burst into laughter when Jared beats Chris to the chair next to Jensen, and steals a kiss.
“I think we should have sex in the bathroom,” Jared’s says, and he grins as Chris spews his beer all over the table.
“I knew you two were kinky!” Jason says smacking his hand down on the table.
“Dude TMI!” Chad says.
Jensen sits back as Chris and Chad arguing about who is the kinkiest. Jared scoots up to him to lean his head on his shoulder.
“You know what is funny,” Jensen asks after a while.
“What,” Jared asks, not taking his head of off Jensen’s shoulder.
“They’re both wrong,” Jensen says. He nods toward Chad and Chris who are still arguing. “Jason is the kinkiest fucker I know.”
Jared snorts. “I believe that when I see it.”
Jensen turns his head to give Jared a slow deep kiss. “Which you never will,” Jensen breathes against Jared's lips.
Jensen loves hanging out with his friends like this. He thinks that, for the first time in a long while, he's absolutely content with all his friends in the same room.
Next Chapter
Author name: dutch_chick674
Artist name: theextrac00kie
Genre:> RPS au
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Rating: NC-17
Word count: 23.331
Warnings: Angst, sex scenes
Summary: Jared finally left Jensen when he was tired of always being the second choice to the other man. He worked thought the hard times on supernatural but was happy when the series finally ended.
Jensen was broken when Jared finally had enough, even though he always knew in the back of his mind that thing would eventually fall apart. He only realized what a fool he was letting Jared go after he had ruined things between them
This is the story of what happens when they meet again four years after supernatural ended.
Authors note 1: This is part of the heartbreak verse, but reading it not requited.
previous chapter
Chapter three.
After Jared had falls asleep, Jensen lies awake and thinks about how lucky he is. Jensen had never though he could have this again: have Jared back in his life and completely his. Jensen wonders what made Jared forgive him, but he figures it doesn't matter because he has never been happier. He smiles softly as Jared slowly opens his eyes.
“Hey,” he says, and reaches out to caress his boyfriend's hair.
Jared smiles and leans in for a kiss. Jensen concludes that life is pretty awesome right now.
They see each other almost every day now, and most of the time they end up sleeping at each other’s house. After six months of being back together, Jensen wonders if it's too soon to ask Jared to move in with him. The question has been on his mind for a while now, but he is simply too afraid to ask.
There are times that this thing between them still feels too fragile, and Jensen is afraid that if he makes one wrong move he will lose Jared all over again. He already fucked-up once, and he doesn't think Jared will give him a third chance.
“Good morning,” Jared whispers “I have to go walk the dogs.” He climbs out of bed.
Jensen moves to join him. He would have liked to stay in bed with Jared, and enjoy each other for a little while longer, but the dogs need a walk. Jared stops him with a hand on his chest and a kiss on his lips.
“You stay in bed, I'll be right back,” he whispers before leaving the room.
Jensen doesn't stay in bed though, and plans to surprise his boyfriend with a nice Sunday morning breakfast. He starts making pancake batter and whistles a soft tune to himself.
He usually hates getting out of bed early but it's worth it when he sees the smile on Jared's face when he walks up and notices the table Jensen had set for them.
“I thought you weren't a morning person,” Jared says with a smile, after he gives Jensen a deep kiss.
“Things change,” Jensen says then adds, “I wanted to surprise you.”
“Well you did, it smells great!” Jared says. He sits down and picks up his script.
Jensen smiles to himself. It used to be all about the stolen moments and about keeping things between them a secret. He had been so afraid of his career and about what other people would thing. Most of all, he had feared what his parents would think.
But, being here with Jared, like this? It all seems so long ago and important. Sure things between them were still new and they were still figuring things out, but here he was, enjoying a Sunday morning breakfast, which is something he thought he'd lost.
“I can't believe the weekend is over. I have to go back to set tomorrow.”
“Did you manage to study all your lines?” Jensen asks and raises both eyebrows.
“Did you prepare for the scenes you're going to shoot?” Jared asks, and that soft smile is back.
Jensen sighs, he hadn't prepared and it has been like this for the past two months. Every Saturday he spends with Jared is dedicated to him exclusively. And every Sunday it results in spending the whole day in the living room preparing for work, with Jared studying his lines beside him.
***
A few months later they become insanely busy. Jared had hoped for time with Jensen once their projects were done, but he had forgotten about the promotional tours. Jensen and he sometimes ended on opposite sides or the country, and occasionally on opposite sides of the world. Jensen started in Europe first and will end his tour in the US. He was nominated for several awards and the producers think he has a better chance of winning if the promotional tour is fresh in the minds of the judges. Unfortunately, the producers of Jared’s film are doing the exact opposite, starting in USA and ending in Europe.
Jared gets tired of playing phone tag after a week. Every time he calls Jensen, the other man can't pick up the phone, and Jared is busy whenever Jensen calls back. Jared knows it’s because of the time difference and their busy schedules, but he can’t help think back to another time when Jensen was too busy with Danneel to make time for him. Jared knows he’s going to go crazy if he doesn’t get any distraction soon, so he's happy Olivia is there to keep him company and, to take his mind of off his worries.
“I still can’t believe Ellen was flirting with you!” Olivia says as they enter his hotel room.
They’re just coming back from an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, who was indeed flirting with Jared.
“I can’t help that I’m hotter than you,” Jared jokes as they both sit down on the bed. “Hey Liv, thank you for deflecting that dating question for me.”
Olivia settles next to him flipping on the TV, “that’s quite alright Padawan, now order me room service, bitch.”
Jared shakes his head. Seriously, she’s like a female version of Chad sometimes. She had proved to be a real friend, and he was happy she would be with him for all of the interviews they had planned. She and Jared made a little pact: she would deflect all dating questions, and he would talk through the interview whenever her ex-boyfriend came up.
It had worked great so far, and Jared actually found himself looking forward to their trip to Europe, even if it meant more time away from his boyfriend.
***
The first thing Jensen does when he get back in LA is pick up Jared's dogs. He still needs to do a couple more interviews and he should rest a bit. But he has missed home, and missed his boyfriend even more. Since Jared is currently in Europe doing a promotional tour, Jensen thinks the dogs might be nice company.
He had wanted to check with Jared before he takes the dogs, but he has a hard time getting in touch with the other man. This makes Jensen worry even more. He feels Jared is using their time apart to pull away from him. He has no idea what to do about it, and is afraid to ask Jared.
He figures that since Jared is currently several thousand miles away from him, he will have to wait until he comes home to talk this out.
When Jensen walks into his house, dogs in tow, he's happily surprised that his housekeeper stopped by. She has cleaned the house and filled the fridge, despite that fact Jensen had forgotten to call her.
He's about to sit down with a beer when his phone rings.
“Hey Jason,” he greets, with a smile on his face.
Having been busy with both work and Jared, he hasn't talked to Jason for some time, but, now that he is back in LA and has nothing to do, it seems like a nice idea to meet up with his friend.
“Hey, you home?”
“Yeah.”
“Good then open your door,” Jason says.
Jensen does and is greeted with hug from his friend.
“Jensen! How are you? How did the promotion bit go? I hear great things about this movie of yours.”
Jensen breaks away, smiling, Jason is always running his mouth like that. Much like Jared. After the years of Supernatural, with Jared distracting the cameras, he sometimes still misses the buffer between him and the press.
“You know how the promotions are. God I hate those things! And they asked me the dating question. I have no idea how to answer those!” Jensen says, waving his arms around a bit spastically.
Jason just smiles, steals Jensen beer, and sits down on the couch. Jensen scowls, his little rant forgotten, and goes to the kitchen to get another beer.
“Well at least this time you might get an award out of it,” Jason says when Jensen walks back into the living room, “I mean other that a PCA.”
Jensen just nods, sitting down again. The moment his ass hits the couch, Tiny tries to crawl into his lap. Jensen just pets the dog and tries to get him to stop, which just makes Tiny more determined to be a lap dog.
“You know, I didn't think Jared could get a bigger dog than Harley,” Jason comments.
“Well guess he proved you wrong.”
Jason just ignores Jensen and starts telling him about his plans, before he segued into how drunk he got with Chris and Steve. Jensen tells a couple stories of his own. Both are laughing their ass off, and then the topic of Jared's interview with Ellen comes up.
“You know what is weird,” Jason says when he's done laughing, and Jensen just looks at him, “how not weird it is that Jared and you are dating, you know?”
Jensen does; it has been kind of weird. All his friends just picked up where they had left off, before Jared left Jensen's life. The only thing different now is that sometimes he and Jared kiss in front of them. Jensen frowns- most of his friends accept it. Chris and Steve are still a bit weird, but Jensen can understand their protectiveness.
“Yeah.” Jensen just smiles a little.
He enjoys his rest of the night watching bit of television with Jason. They drink a couple of beers, and Jensen promises to call Jason for a boy’s night out when Jared is back in town. He goes to sleep happy that night, not even worried about tomorrow’s interview.
***
“Hey Jen,” Jared says, walking into the apartment.
They had exchanged keys after their five month anniversary. At first they both had been kind of nervous about it. If Jared was honest with himself, he is still nervous about it now. Despite that, Jared loves that they are moving forward. It is clear to him how different their relationship is from how it was before.
Jensen comes walking out of the kitchen with a large smile on his face. He rushes towards Jared and kisses him deeply. Jared has missed his boyfriend like crazy; they've been out of touch the past couple of weeks.
“Missed you,” Jared says against his lips.
“How was Europe?” Jensen asks, pulling Jared towards the kitchen.
“Big. What are you making?” Jared asks when they enter the kitchen, and Jensen returns to the stove.
Jared never realized how hard it is to be away from home for such a long time, and how lonely it is. He just misses Jensen, and now all he wants is to spend the next couple of hours on the couch cuddling with his boyfriend.
“A welcome home dinner. I still don't understand why you didn't want me to pick you up from the airport.”
“Oh babe, you didn't have to do that,” Jared says and kisses Jensen again. “Beside I had to go drop of something at my apartment.” Jensen turns back to the stove as Jared sits down to pet Sadie, who walked up to him in greeting.
Jared had been happily surprised when Jensen told him that he picked up the dogs already. He wanted to go to Jensen's straight from the airport, but he had gotten scared. With him and Jensen not talking much the past few days, he worried about their relationship. He just doesn't know how to talk to Jensen about this.
It may be unfair but he can't forget all the times Jensen dismissed him when he wanted to talk about things between them. When Jensen was with Danneel, Jared’s feelings didn’t really matter (at least it felt that way to him). He is afraid of the same dismissal when he talks about his feeling this time, even though it's clear to him the situation is completely different.
“I missed you,” Jared says again.
Jensen sighs, walks over to him, and sits on his lap. “We should think about coming out to the public. I mean, tell them we're dating. Everybody already knows we're gay. And our friends just took it in stride. I was talking to Jason about it the other day and he even said so. And if the world knew about us, we could do these kinds of things together.”
Jared smiles softly and pull Jensen closer. “Maybe. We should make it classy though. Maybe call Sera have her write a script. You know she'd be up for that.”
Jensen snorts into Jared's neck before mumbling, “You know that’s going to be all porny right?”
Jared just pulls Jensen closer, he doesn't want to talk about it anymore; he just wants to enjoy his time with Jensen.
***
Jensen grins and watches Jared move around in the kitchen. Jared insisted on inviting over his co-stars and to make them dinner. He wanted Jensen to meet his new friends.
“So are they bringing their boyfriends or girlfriends?” Jensen asks as he’s setting the table.
“Nah, they’re both single. Set the table for four,” Jared answers without taking his eyes from the pot on the stove.
Jensen smiles and walks over to gently kiss his boyfriend. It is obvious Jared wants to make a good impression on his friends. Jensen doesn’t think Jared needs to try so hard. Just when Jensen has placed the last plate the doorbell rings.
“I’ll get it,” Jensen says, before he opens the door.
“You must be Olivia,” he says to the blonde girl standing in front of him, and to the guy, “and you’re Alex. I’m Jensen,” he says, shaking both their hands.
The girl winks at him before she rushes into the kitchen saying, “Oh my god, Jared, your boyfriend is even hotter in person!”
Jensen doesn’t hear Jared’s reply, but both of them dissolve into laughing so it must have been good. He looks at Alex who just smiles before walking into the house.
“They’re always like that,” Alex says as he hangs up his coat. “It can be exhausting at times.”
Watching Jared and Olivia together in the kitchen reminded Jensen of the three episodes of Supernatural that Jake Abel had done. Jared and Jake would pull prank after prank until even Jensen got sick of it. He almost pities Alex for having to work with Jared and Olivia if that’s the case.
“Luckily this time you have good wine and a calming presence, and I can’t speak for Olivia, but Jared will calm considerably after a glass or two,” Jensen says with a wink and pulls out said bottle of wine.
Jensen feels uncomfortable at first, as he usually is with people he doesn’t know. After his second glass of wine, he starts to loosen up and instead of just listening to Jared interacting with his new friends, Jensen joins in. When they’re done eating, Jensen is fully relaxed and is telling stories of his own.
“I still can’t believe you worked with Joseph Gordon Levitt,” Olivia says after Jensen finishes telling about a prank the other man pulled on him. “He’s hot!”
“I can’t believe he actually did that,” Jared says, pouting. “I thought I was the best!”
“Well baby,” Jensen says, intending to say Jared was the best he’s ever had, but Alex quickly interrupts him.
“Okay, I’m nipping this in the bud,” he says, able to see where this is going. “Come Liv, I think it’s time to leave the love birds alone.”
“Ahh booo,” Liv pouts but stands up to get her handbag anyway, and when she’s saying goodbye to Jensen she says, “Please invite me when you have your co-workers over. I desperately want to meet Joseph.”
Jensen smiles and says goodbye to the two of them. When they’re gone Jared pulls him close and kisses him deeply.
“I had a great night,” he whispers.
“Me too,” Jensen says and smiles.
***
Jared takes Jensen to his favourite restaurant as a small thank you for being an awesome boyfriend. They both had been so busy lately it was nice to go on a date just the two of them.
“You’re going to love it,” Jared says as they walk into the restaurant. “After I moved back here from Vancouver, it took me ages to find a new favourite restaurant. I mean the one in Canada was just so good! But this one, Jen, their steak is like heaven.”
Jensen smiles a little when Jared finished rambling, and he squeezes Jared’s hand. “Heavenly steak, now this I gotta try.”
Jared smirks at him when they get to the table, “You can always try the salad.”
“Why do you have to be like that?” Jensen asks and makes a face.
Jared watches the waiter check Jensen out when he gives them the menu, but Jensen only has eyes for him. Jensen doesn’t even look at the menu. Jared orders a bottle of wine and the waiter leaves.
“So tell me how you found this restaurant. I mean, I didn’t know about it,” Jensen asks, placing his hand on top of Jared’s.
Jared grins before explaining that Chad lived nearby and that one day he’d had a fight with Kenzie, who had proceeded to kick him out. When Jared had come to pick him up, after Chad had called, he had forgotten his keys.
“It was June, so I was sweating buckets. Chad and I just went into the first public place we saw, which was this restaurant. After lunch, Chad called McKenzie and they made up.” Jared just finishes the story when the waiter arrives to take their order.
“So I guess I have to thank Chad for this supposedly awesome steak I’m going to eat,” Jensen says when the waiter leaves.
“Him and Kenzie,” Jared teases. “Now eat your steak or else I’m going to eat yours too and then you’ll spend the rest of your live wondering: was that steak really as good as Jared said.”
They make comfortable conversation until their food arrives. Then they eat in companionable silence. When Jensen sits back after dinner, declaring it was the best steak he had outside of Texas, Jared just smirks at him.
Jared is content, when he gets home and crawls in bed with Jensen. He shuffles close to Jensen and plasters himself to the man’s side.
“I love you,” Jensen whispers into his hair.
“Love you,” Jared replies. He falls asleep with smile on his face.
***
“I think we should move in together,” Jensen says.
Jared looks at Jensen like he has grown a third head. Of course, Jared is on his knees between Jensen's legs and is unbuttoning his jeans. So maybe Jensen’s timing is a bit off, but the question has been on his mind for a while now. Jensen can't remember the last time Jared spend the night at his own apartment. Hell even the dogs haven't left since Jensen got them from the kennel. It seems like a natural transition.
“Seriously, Jen?” Jared asks. He gets off his knees and sits on the couch.
Jensen sighs, “I'm sorry. It's too soon. I shouldn't have asked.”
Jared laughs, “I'm about to blow you, and you ask me to move in. Babe normally those kinds of questions come after you have.”
Jensen scowls. “Stop trying to be funny!”
Jensen tries to shake it off, tries to ignore the fact that Jared hadn't answered. He gets up to get some water from the kitchen. His relaxed state had disappeared the moment he opened his big mouth.
“Jen,” Jared says and grabs his wrist.
“Never mind Jay, it wasn't the smartest idea anyway.”
“No, Jen,” Jared says, pulling Jensen back to the couch and crawling onto his lap.
Jensen thinks he does it to prevent him from walking away-not that he minds.
“You want to move in together?” Jared asks and cuddles close to him.
Jensen shifts, wraps both arms around Jared and takes comfort in his boyfriend’s arms.
“I was thinking about it, yeah,” he says shyly.
Jared starts kissing his neck, sucking softly on his pulse point. Jensen feels himself growing less interested in talking about moving in together and more interested in what they’re doing.
“We should,” Jared says. “I mean, I will keep the lease on my place though, just for a while. But me and the dogs have been here most of the time anyway. Why not move all of my stuff in here.”
“Why keep your own place?” Jensen asks.
“Just until we tell the public, we still have to decide how and when we do that,” Jared answers solemnly.
Jensen feels his giddy, happy that they are finally talking about this seriously. But Jared is kissing him deeply before he can ask just when, precisely, they are going to come out. He wants to protest but, when Jared pushes him down on the couch, Jensen has mostly forgotten what they had talked about.
Jared starts kissing his way down Jensen's body and pulls his clothes out of the way. Jensen lets his head fall back against the couch, moaning softly as his fingers find Jared's hair.
“Now where were we,” he says, grinning up at Jensen as he finds his way back between his legs.
***
The funniest thing Jared has ever seen is Chad trying to lift a salon table and wobble out of his apartment. Jared knew he shouldn't laugh at his friend, seeing as he was currently helping him move most of his stuff, but he can't help himself. Jared is leaving some things behind since not everything fit in Jensen's apartment. They had decided to trade off some of the furniture, so they both had an influence on how the place looked. Jared had been happy when Jensen suggested it, but unfortunately it did mean that they had to make two trips.
“So Jensen wasn't able to come and help?” Chad asks after they shoved the salon table into the van they rented.
That was actually Jared's fault. Jensen had wanted to help, but he was busy with some left over work stuff for his movie. This had meant he wouldn’t have time to help with the move for another two weeks. Jared wants to do it by himself, anyway; it gives him some time to think. He doesn’t want Jensen to think he’s having second thoughts but moving is a big step for him and he isn’t really sure it’s what he wants.
“He was busy with work. I tried calling Adam but he couldn't make it. I know it was all very last minute,” Jared says with a shrug before walking back into his apartment.
“Well it makes sense. The two of you have been together for a while now. So are you going to sublet this place? Cause I might know a guy...” Chad says.
Jared has been thinking about it. But he doesn't want any press to get wind of this. Moving during the day may not have been the best way to keep things a secret Jared realizes.
“I don't know yet. I'll talk to Jensen about it.”
Chad chuckles and says something about being pussywhiped. Jared just grins, knowing there isn't a thing Chad will do without consulting with Kenzie first.
“So do you have everything?” Chad asks when the van is almost full.
Jared nods, even though it didn't really matter; they will be back here to deposit some of Jensen things. Beside the most important things are already at Jensen's.
“Yeah let's go.”
Jared smiles all the way back home, thinking about waking up next to Jensen every morning. Jensen is going to be done in about half an hour so maybe they could get some dinner with Kenzie and Chad. He hasn’t asked Jensen yet but he thinks his boyfriend will like some social interaction, after spending the whole day working.
“Hey Jay,” Chad says when they pull up to Jensen's apartment, “I'm really happy for you,”
Jared smiles. “Thanks Chad, now let's get the last things inside and get some beer.”
***
Jensen decides to go out and celebrate the end of the promotion tour when he finishes his last interview. He’s so happy it’s over. Jared supports the idea and has invited all their friends.
“Hey, how is my favourite director?” Chris shouts in his ear before drooping all over his back.
Jensen pushes his friend away with a grin, before he orders a couple of beers for him and Jared. For once they don't have to think about their diet or work and they are well on their way to getting drunk.
“You're boyfriend can't keep his eyes off you,” Chris says casually as Jensen waits for his beer.
“Yeah, and if you didn't insist on sitting between us the whole time, I bet he wouldn't be able to get his hands of me either,” Jensen says with a smirk.
“This exactly is the reason why I’m sitting between you two. I mean, Jared couldn't keep his hands of you before you were dating. I can't imagine how bad it now that the two of you are dating. Nobody wants to see that shit! We're here to have a good time,” Chris says, getting his own beer before walking back to the table they were sitting at.
“Hey Jen, Chad says I have been undressing you with my eyes,” Jared says as Jensen hands him his drink.
Jensen laughs, “I think Chad is projecting.”
Chad huffs and folds his arms in front of his chest. He kind of looks like a disgruntled hamster, and Jensen can't help but think about Alvin and the Chipmunks. When he starts thinking that Chris and Steve might be the other two chipmunks, and imagining the three of them singing and dancing, he decides to stop drinking. He obviously has had too much already.
The whole group burst into laughter when Jared beats Chris to the chair next to Jensen, and steals a kiss.
“I think we should have sex in the bathroom,” Jared’s says, and he grins as Chris spews his beer all over the table.
“I knew you two were kinky!” Jason says smacking his hand down on the table.
“Dude TMI!” Chad says.
Jensen sits back as Chris and Chad arguing about who is the kinkiest. Jared scoots up to him to lean his head on his shoulder.
“You know what is funny,” Jensen asks after a while.
“What,” Jared asks, not taking his head of off Jensen’s shoulder.
“They’re both wrong,” Jensen says. He nods toward Chad and Chris who are still arguing. “Jason is the kinkiest fucker I know.”
Jared snorts. “I believe that when I see it.”
Jensen turns his head to give Jared a slow deep kiss. “Which you never will,” Jensen breathes against Jared's lips.
Jensen loves hanging out with his friends like this. He thinks that, for the first time in a long while, he's absolutely content with all his friends in the same room.
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