fic: can't get my head around you | jared/jensen | r
title: can't get my head around you
author: earthquakedream
pairing: Jared/Jensen, brief Jared/Matt Cohen, Danneel/Katie
rating: R
warnings: asshole!Jensen, bullying, mention of underage sex (characters are 17)
disclaimer: These guys aren't mine, only the words are. Title and cut text from The Offspring.
word count: ~6300
summary: AU. There's always been one constant in Jared's life: he hates Jensen Ackles. It's easy to ignore his attraction to the guy because he's such a bully. When Jared goes to college, he thinks he's finally free, but then Jensen shows up there too and Jared is forced to confront his feelings.
author's note: This is for petite_madame for the j2_afterclass exchange. One of her likes was enemies falling in love and that is one of my FAVORITE tropes. I really hope you like this!
Thanks to bekkis for the beta and wiselyparanoid for running the exchange and being patient with me.
Jared is in the mud. He is in the cold, dirty mud, in his brand new jacket and his favorite jeans, his clean white shoes his mama got him for his birthday, all of it dirty and soaked through.
He’s 10, he has tears in his eyes, and he hates Jensen Ackles. That big bully pushed him into the mud after making fun of Jared’s hair. Which, seriously, how does that work? Jensen’s the new kid, he shouldn’t be pushing Jared around. Jensen moved here a month ago and stole all his friends, so now Jared has to hang out with the girls. And they’re okay, Sandy and Sophia are pretty and funny, but they talk about boys too much, and they like Jensen. They think he’s pretty.
Jensen has stupid big green eyes like those girls from Pokemon, the anime chicks that Chad likes because they have big breasts. And he has a bunch of freckles that look like someone sprayed his face with cinnamon.
And he pushed Jared in the mud. Jared get up, finds a clean spot on his sleeve and wipes at his eyes, glaring into those bright green eyes. "I hate you, Jensen Ackles. You’re a big fat jerk!"
Then he throws himself at Jensen, grinning when they land back in the mud because Jensen has been showing off stupid Batman shirt all day and now it’s gonna get all dirty. Sucks to be him. The Flash is way cooler than Batman anyway.
They both get detention and Jared’s mom grounds him for a month, but he gave Jensen a bloody lip, so it was worth it.
He never forgets that day, or any of the other days Jensen makes him so angry he can’t speak. He never stops hating Jensen Ackles, even when he realizes that maybe, Sandy and Sophia (and the rest of the girls in their class) aren’t the only ones who think Jensen is ridiculously gorgeous.
Jensen is to blame for the worst parts of Jared's life. The time he threw up on Mr. Beaver's shoes because Jensen had put worms on his sandwich, or the time he almost broke his tailbone because Jensen tugged his chair away when Jared was going to sit down.
The time when Jared fell asleep in class and had a wet dream. That was Jensen's fault too, because Jared was dreaming about him. So along with his intense, undying hatred for Jensen, Jared is attracted to him. Really, really attracted to him.
He has as many fantasies about getting revenge against Jensen as he does jerk off fantasies.
It's sort of a huge problem, but one Jared has to learn how to deal with.
The worst moment of Jared's high school life, however, is when Jensen steals his phone during gym and starts reading his texts out loud to all the guys in the locker room, while Jared's getting his ankle wrapped by Coach Johnson. Jensen had pushed him down while they were playing basketball.
He limps into the locker room to hear familiar words repeated back to him.
"Don't you think Matt's ass looks just delicious in those skinny jeans? I can't look away!" Jensen's voice is high-pitched and lisping, obnoxiously effeminate. He looks up and sees Jared while all the other guys are laughing. His smirk is pure evil.
"And here's the big cocksucker now! Tell us, Jared, do you ever think about my ass?" Jensen shoves his ass out towards him, wiggling it, and everyone bursts into laughter and calls of fag.
Jared sees red. He lunges at Jensen, smashes him against the lockers, and punches that stupid, pretty face until he gets pulled off by two guys. Jensen's lip is split, his nose bleeding heavily. He looks shocked, those bright green eyes locked on Jared with something close to fear.
Jared just rips his phone from Jensen's hand and grabs his bag, hurrying out. He goes straight to the principal's office, not out of guilt, but he knows it's inevitable. Mr. Beaver looks surprised to see him.
"Jared, are your knuckles bleeding? What happened?"
"Oh, um." Jared wipes them on his shorts and winces. "I kinda punched Jensen Ackles in the face. A couple times."
Mr. Beaver sighs. "What happened?"
"He stole my phone and was reading my texts out loud. He was, um. Making fun of me. For liking guys." Jared was totally provoked. Because Jensen is the biggest asshole to ever walk the Earth.
"Ahh. So you punched him." Mr. Beaver rubs a hand over his face. "You'll be punished, of course, but I expect you already know that. Jensen will be punished as well, though, for invasion of privacy and discrimination."
Jared relaxes slightly. "Okay. Want me to call my mom? That's how this works, right?"
"Why don't we wait for Jensen to get here? I'm sure Nurse Smith will be calling any second now."
Sure enough, the phone starts ringing and Jared slumps back in his seat. He's going to become the laughing stock of the whole school - the token queer. It's only the beginning of junior year. He's still got a while before he's free of this hellhole.
Jensen shows up a few minutes later, holding tissues under his nose, his face already bruising vividly. Jared has to fight not to smirk.
Jensen ends up with a week of in school suspension with after school detention. Jared gets two days of out of school suspension, and three of after school detention.
"You boys will serve after school detention together for those last three days and Coach Johnson will be making sure you work out your issues. Neither of you were in the right here."
"Yes, sir," Jared says, nodding solemnly. Jensen doesn't take it so well.
"Are you serious? I didn't touch him and he almost broke my nose! How was I in the wrong here?"
Mr. Beaver raises his eyebrows at Jensen. "Excuse me, Mr. Ackles, but what is right about stealing a classmate's cell phone and reading private text messages out loud in the men's locker room? You targeted a student because of his sexual orientation, even if that isn't why you stole his phone in the first place. That's an invasion of privacy. Jared shouldn't have used violence, but what you did was just as hurtful." He sits back in his chair and rests his hands on his desk.
"Jensen, I want you to go to the assistant principal's office and call your parents to tell them about what happened. Miss Ferris will be making sure you do exactly that. Jared will do the same thing in here."
"Fine," Jensen says petulantly, then leaves the room. Jared just sighs.
He fucking hates high school.
***
Detention doesn't go well. They're the only two in the classroom and Coach Johnson had to leave five minutes ago to take care of some emergency with the football equipment.
Jensen glares at him. "This is all your fault."
"My fault? You stole my phone and read my texts out loud. I wasn't planning on coming out until after graduation and now I don't have a fucking choice. My parents aren't going to react well to this. Did you forget we're in Texas? What the hell is wrong with you? What did I ever do to you to make you hate me so much?"
He doesn't expect to get an answer. Maybe a punch in the face or some anti-gay insult, but nothing like what Jensen actually does.
He slides out of his chair and sits on Jared's desk, leaning in close. "I don't hate you, Jared. Oh, I don't hate you at all. Maybe I'm just trying to get your attention. Pull your pigtails. 'cause I think you're dreamy." Jensen leans close enough that Jared can feel his breath fanning out over his skin.
"What?" Jared's voice cracks and Jensen's face comes even closer.
Coach Johnson comes back in then and Jensen pulls away and slides back into his chair like nothing ever happened. Coach raises an eyebrow.
"You boys working it out?" he asks. Jared finds himself licking his lips and staring into those piercing blue eyes. He pushes Jensen's weirdness out of his mind. He's probably just trying to find a new way to embarrass Jared.
"Of course," Jensen says, winking at the coach. Jared just gives him an easy smile.
"Good."
Jensen looks over at Jared and makes a kissy face when Coach Johnson isn't looking. Jared scowls and looks away.
He has a year and a half left in this place. He can make it.
***
Jensen is still a jerk to him after they "bond" in detention. At least, he's a jerk in public. But Jared knows, thanks to Chad, that Jensen has kept some guys from trying to beat the shit out of Jared. He doesn't get what that's about, but Jared's not going to complain.
The few times they're alone, Jensen hits on him, complete with cheesy pick up lines, touching Jared and getting close enough that Jared can smell what he had for lunch. It's, well, it's creepy. Totally creepy.
Jared still thinks about Jensen when he jerks off and hates himself for it. But his fantasies never leave his mind and he does owe Jensen a little bit.
Thanks to the whole episode with Jensen outing him, Matt Cohen - the owner of the fine ass in the skinny jeans - asks Jared out during the summer between junior and senior year. Because it's still Texas they keep it on the down low.
Mostly they make out in Matt's room while his mom is gone or fool around in the back of Jared's truck. He's nothing if not cliché. There's a couple times when they go to some shitty movie and end up doing inappropriate things in the back of the theater because no one's there.
It's a great summer, honestly. Matt has a pool and a big privacy fence. Jared hits a growth spurt over the summer and soothes his growing pains by soaking in the cool water.
They're never really serious, Jared knows that. Matt's a fun guy but not someone Jared wants to be with forever. They're just the only two gay kids in a sea of straight jerks and it makes sense for them to stay together, if only for the sex.
But Jared supposes they could be a little bit more sneaky. A month into senior year, Matt's got him pinned to the wall in the back of the sports storage room, hidden behind the volleyballs. They're making out, grinding together, and Jared's about ready to drop to his knees when who else but Jensen Ackles walks in. Jared can barely see him through the cage of volleyballs and he and Matt freeze.
Matt pulls away, crouches down, and Jared presses his back tight against the wall, trying to keep his breathing calm. He hopes Jensen is just going to grab a basketball from the front of the room
Of course, he's not that lucky, and Jensen rounds the volleyball cage and sees them. His face goes dark.
"The fuck are you two doing here?" He glances over them and scowls. "That's disgusting. Don't you fags have anywhere better to be?"
Matt steps forward, fists clenched, but Jared blocks his way and gets in Jensen's face. He grew a total of four inches over the summer and all the swimming he did in Matt's pool helped him fill out, bulk up. He's bigger than Jensen now.
"Fuck off, Ackles," he growls out. Jensen's eyes flash and go darker. He doesn't back down.
"You can't intimidate me, sweetheart. I'm not scared of you." A smirk twists his mouth and he steps in closer, voice dropping into a whisper. "You know I could take you. And you'd like it."
Then Jensen just leaves. Jared's struck dumb and it takes him a minute to focus and realize Matt's saying his name.
"What'd he say to you, Jared? Did he threaten you?"
"No," Jared says, voice shaking. "No, just... drop it. He's an asshole."
He ends things with Matt a couple weeks later. He can't get Jensen's words out of his head and every time he sees the guy, Jensen gives him this look like he's going to slam Jared up against the nearest surface and take him, just like Jensen said he could.
And Jared wants it so fucking bad he aches.
***
College starts off okay, at least for the first couple weeks that Jared's there. He doesn't have a roommate yet - guy never showed up - and even though he's supposed to be getting a new one soon, he doesn't mind. He's free from the oppressive nature of high school, free from his parents, and free from Jensen Ackles.
His classes start on Monday. The first week was all orientation shit, getting to know people in your major, et cetera. Jared made some friends, but unfortunately hasn't met any other gay guys. At least, none that were out and proud.
He did get to meet the leader of the GSA though. Danneel Harris identifies as pansexual - a lover of all creatures great and small, but I only fuck the ones that know how to say yes - and is spunky, sexy, and fun. Jared almost wishes that he liked boobs, because she seems awesome. However, she has a girlfriend - a firecracker of a blonde named Katie.
"JARED!" There's a hard pound on his door that sounds like it's coming from someone even bigger than him.
Jared yanks the door open and finds Katie standing there. She's tiny and innocent looking. But a devil lurks deep in her depths, Jared knows it.
"It's seven in the morning. What could you possibly want." She's wearing a tight tank top and spandex shorts, so Jared thinks he already knows.
"You promised you'd go to the gym with me. And the gym opens at seven. I like to get there bright and early."
"Why?"
"Because Danneel works the first shift at the desk and I need to give her some entertainment, of course." Katie rolls her eyes at him and comes into his room, looking around. "What are you doing? Get your gym clothes on, let's get going!"
Jared changes in front of her because he's too tired to have shame. T-shirt, basketball shorts, sneakers. He grabs a water bottle from his mini fridge and his ID card and keys before following Katie down the stairs to the gym.
They're side by side on different treadmills when Katie starts asking him about his ex-boyfriends.
"There's only one," he tells her honestly, starting with an easy jog. They're the only ones in the place, other than Danneel.
"So, tell me about him!"
"His name was Matt, he was good looking, we fooled around and then..."
"Then what?" Katie looks over at him expectantly. Jared's already sweating, but she still looks perfect. He shrugs and looks away.
"I just... didn't really like him that much. He was hot, he was good with his hands and mouth and... everything else, really, but that was about it."
Katie gives him a wicked grin. "There was someone else! Who were you crushing on? Was he hot?"
"Yeah." Jared sighs and speeds up his run, hoping that the slap of his feet against the treadmill will drown out anymore attempts at conversation. But Katie just demands details and Jared groans.
"C'mon! I'm your gym buddy, this is our chance for gossip."
"If you must know... he was a total asshole. He outed me to the whole school by reading my texts out loud. He'd been pushing me around since we were kids. But he was just..."
"A total hot ass? Yeah, I get that. Happens to the best of us."
"He'd hit on me all the time, when no one was around, just say the dirtiest things and I liked it. I really liked it. I'm such a masochist."
"Aww, poor Jared." Katie stops her treadmill and steps close, then slugs him in the arm. "C'mon, suck it up. You're out of high school now and this dick won't bother you again. Now you can meet nice guys!"
When Katie holds her fist out again, Jared flinches instinctively, then fist bumps her after she rolls her eyes.
"Okay. I'll meet nice guys."
***
Jared meets five "nice guys" in his first three days of classes. He doesn't know what it is about this school, but there are a lot of happily out and proud gay men. They all seem to know Katie and she's pretty sure she showed them a picture because they also know who he is.
While the guys are hot and, well, nice, Jared's already feeling stressed just looking at the syllabi for his classes. He has so many papers and exams and he's going to die his first semester from his head exploding with all the knowledge he needs to cram in there.
Technology education maybe wasn't the best choice for him. But here he is and, well, he could change his mind, but Jared's positive he's done the right thing.
Well, pretty positive.
He's going to fail so hard.
But then he meets his new roommate, Chris, who doesn't actually want to live on campus, but since all full-time, first year students are required to stay in the dorms, he doesn't have a choice.
Despite his reluctance to be in the room, he seems like a cool guy. He's majoring in music therapy, he has a band, and one of the guys in it is 21 and lives off campus. So Jared definitely knows where he's going to party.
Best part? Chris doesn't give a shit that Jared's gay.
"As long as you remember to warn me if you're gonna have a guy here, okay? Just do the sock over the door, or fuckin' text me or something. I'll do the same for you when I wanna get laid."
Jared smirks. "You mean, if you ever manage to find a girl who's willing to be with you, short stuff?"
Chris is also nearly a foot shorter than Jared. It's hilarious. He's not sensitive about it either, which means they're already ribbing each other about stupid things without any offensive being taken.
So yeah, his first two weeks go well. Then Chris invites him to a party, Jared drags Katie and Danneel along, and they all decide to ride together.
"Oh!" Katie says as they're climbing into Danneel's Jeep. It's nice and roomy, which Jared is grateful for when Katie finishes her thought. "I invited another friend over, I hope that's okay! He's in my Astronomy class, he's very hot and bisexual, so--"
"So you thought you'd try to set me up again?" Jared asks with a laugh.
"Yes!" Katie grins back at him, then leans over to kiss Danneel. Chris looks preoccupied with watching them, so Jared looks out the window to search for whoever this guy might be.
He finds him immediately. It's not hard to figure it out when he sees the guy walking towards the Jeep.
"No, Katie, no, please tell me that's not the guy--"
"Jensen!" Katie shouts over Jared's pleas. Jared wants to cry.
Jensen climbs in the back and fits himself right up against Jared. Apparently the car isn't as roomy as Jared thought.
"Hey, gorgeous," Jensen practically purrs, leaning over to kiss Katie's cheek, giving a little wave and smile to Danneel. "We ready to go?"
"I changed my mind, I'm not going," Jared says quickly. "Let me out."
"Don't be such a downer, Jay! It's your first college party. You seem tense, you obviously need to take care of that. What's better than having fun with your friends?"
Danneel's the only one not staring at them curiously, but that's because she's driving. Jared feels his cheeks burn.
"You're not my friend, Ackles."
"That hurts! After all the good times we've had together..."
"Like the time you pantsed me at a pep rally?"
Jensen smirks. "Well, that was fun for me. And the rest of the school."
"And the time you shaved off my eyebrows?"
"Serves you right for falling asleep first in a room full of guys. You should know better."
Jared lets out a growl. "And the time you got me suspended for--"
"Whoa, whoa, that was your fault for deciding to fool around with your slutty boyfriend in the prop room!"
"He was not slutty and there were plenty of other times where you just left us alone--"
"He was cheating on you, you fucking idiot, he was a slut and you deserved it, anyway, for always choosing the worst spots to go at it--"
"Wait, what? Matt was not cheating on me, there wasn't any other gay guys in our school--"
"Don't be such a fucking idiot, Jared, he was cheating on you with me."
The car is silent, then, except for Jared's labored breathing, his entire body trembling with anger.
"So, this must be the guy you were telling me about in the gym, huh?" Katie says suddenly. Both Jared and Jensen look at her, then glare at each other.
Chris lets out a laugh. "Well, this is gonna be a fun night."
Danneel lets out a whoop in agreement and drives faster.
Jared crosses his arms over his chest and stares straight ahead, jaw clenched. He knows without looking at Jensen that he's doing the same.
Yeah, this night is going to be fucking awesome.
***
It's not that Jared's never drank before. But a couple times in high school with Matt and the occasional beer snuck to him by his Uncle Danny at Thanksgiving and Christmas doesn't really compare to three (losing) games of beer pong with Chris and his friends and a seemingly never-ending keg.
His father always told him to never use alcohol as a solution to his problems, but Jared still tries to drink away his anger. He's pissed at Matt for cheating on him, for cheating on him with Jensen of all people, and god, he's so fucking pissed off at Jensen for doing that to him. Not that he's surprised, because he is an asshole, but embarrassing Jared on a daily basis isn't the same thing as fucking around with his boyfriend.
Especially when Jensen was always acting like he wanted Jared, not Matt.
"I wanna punch him in his pretty face," Jared says to Katie. They're sitting together on a couch, watching Danneel play flip cup with a punch of guys from, hm, Jared thinks they're wrestlers. They're short and broad and angry looking, and they're all staring at Danneel's tits, so they're definitely some sort of jock.
"Why, so you won't be tempted to lust after him anymore?"
Jared sighs heavily. "Yes. And because I know he was just fucking around with Matt to piss me off."
"If he was doing that, don't you think he would have told you sooner?"
He ponders that for a second. "Um. Well. Yeah, probably."
"You said he used to hit on you, right?" Katie's stroking his hair now. That's nice. Jared less angry now and more sleepy.
"Yeah..."
"Maybe he knew he couldn't have you and Matt was the next best thing."
Jared sits up suddenly, almost dropping his cup - but it's empty, anyway, so he does drop it and stand up.
"You think so? Maybe I should go talk to him about it."
Katie tugs him back down and points across the room. Jensen's dancing with some hot little blonde, his hands on her hips and his mouth on her neck.
"I think he's a little busy right now," she points out.
"Oh." Jared sighs again and leans back against Katie. "I want to punch him in his pretty face."
"I know, sweetie. You know what the best thing to do right now is?"
"What?" He looks at her, knowing his eyes are wide and hopeful and he probably looks completely pathetic.
"Forget about him. It's not going to do you any good to dwell on how you feel."
Danneel throws her arms up and lets out a happy cheer when her team wins. One of the guys tries to pull her close, tries to kiss her, and Katie gets up suddenly and storms over. She shoves the guy away, grabs her girl, and kisses her hot and hard.
The guy seems to like that even better and Jared can't hear what he says to Katie, but it seems to piss her off because she practically hisses at the guy and drags Danneel away.
"We're going, Jared. Tell Chris, I'll see what Jensen's doing."
"I love you," Danneel tells Katie, smearing a kiss messily over her cheek. "You're so amazing."
"Actually, you find Jensen too, I'm going to go wait in the car."
Jared knows that wait in the car really means make out with my girlfriend, so he takes his time. He already knows Chris is planning on staying over, so he just lets him know they're leaving, and then sets out to find Jensen.
He's not with the blonde anymore, she's dancing with someone else, so Jared heads off through the house, weaving through drunk people. He finally spots Jensen down a hallway with a guy almost as tall as Jared, leaning against the wall with the guy looming over him. Jared scowls. And Jensen was calling Matt a slut.
"Jensen," Jared snaps out, stalking forward. Jensen looks over and lights up like Jared's the best thing he's ever seen, which makes Jared freeze up.
"Jay!" he says, too loud, slipping away from the guy and draping himself all over Jared.
"Um."
The guy scowls. "Who are you?"
"This is my boyfriend," Jensen tells him, kissing Jared's cheek. He sounds sloppy drunk and smells like that girl's perfume. Jensen kisses his ear too and whispers, "Go with it, please."
Jared's tempted to make a scene, but he's not that much of a dick. And this way he can be a better guy than Jensen. Which he is, but Jensen doesn't seem to get that.
"Jared," he introduces himself, holding his hand out. "We were just leaving. Get lost on the way to the bathroom, babe?" He looks at Jensen and fixes a fond smile on his face. "You really need to learn to hold your liquor."
The guy ignores his hand. "No way are you two boyfriends. He was all over my buddy Brent earlier. I was hitting him up for a threesome."
"Jensen gets friendly when he's drunk. But he's not interested, so back off."
"Maybe you should learn to keep him in line." And with that, the douchebag stalks off down the hall.
Jared immediately pulls away from Jensen, ignoring the look on his face, even though he looks sort of upset at the loss.
"I'm not even going to ask what that was about. I don't want to know. Let's go."
He feels a lot more sober than he did five minutes ago. Jensen follows after and when he speaks, he sounds more sober too.
"Thank you for that."
"I said I don't want to know. Let's just drop it."
"Jared--"
"No. We're not talking about this."
"I expected you to shove me away. I would have deserved it."
"I would have done it for anyone in that position. Just... be more careful, okay?"
Jensen looks at him intensely, making Jared feel seriously uncomfortable. "Yeah. I will be."
The ride home is uncomfortable. The Jeep smells like girl sex, Katie and Danneel are both obviously sated and can't keep their hands off each other the entire way home. Fortunately, Katie manages to get Jared and Jensen dropped off at the dorms without incident. She's sober but so caught up in Danneel she may as well be drunk.
They make it inside without incident, luckily, since there's someone at the front desk of the dorm making sure no one's got alcohol poisoning, and it's not until they get to the stairs that Jensen realizes he left his dorm keys in the car.
"My ID's attached, too, so I can't even get the lockout," Jensen says. Jared sighs.
"Don't suppose your roommate is around?"
"Nope." Jensen shrugs. "I'll just sleep in the lounge or something."
"Fuck that. Chris is still at the party, he won't be back till Sunday night, you can sleep in his bed." Jared should be more reluctant, but honestly, after tonight and given how drunk he is, there's no little voice telling him locking yourself in a room with Jensen Ackles for a night is a horrible idea.
So Jared locks himself in a room with Jensen, still half-drunk and messed up from the whole situation with the douche at the party and pretending to be Jensen's boyfriend, if even for a second, and oh, Jensen's stripping down to these tiny little boxer briefs because it's not like the man can wear normal underwear, no.
Jared, of course, has to one-up him. He gets naked.
Jensen stares at him.
Jared stares back.
Somehow, he ends up on his back with Jensen's mouth on his dick, sucking him better than Matt ever had, making these sounds like it's the best thing he's ever tasted and oh, god, there's two slick fingers in his ass, filling him up just enough - and Jared comes with a whine, nearly braining himself on the bedpost, hands clenching in the sheets.
He's barely coherent enough after that to hear Jensen asking, "Can I fuck you, please? C'mon, Jared, need to be in you, been dying for it--"
And Jared gasps out, "Yes, yes, fuck me--"
And then Jensen's inside him, barely slick enough to keep it from hurting, and thank god he remembered a condom because Jared didn't even think of that, but it doesn't even matter because Jensen's fucking him, starting out slow but it's like he can't hold back. His hips slam into Jared, hands pushing Jared's thighs towards his chest and it's honestly the best thing Jared's ever felt. He can't get it up again but that doesn't even matter because it's so fucking good, he wants to do this over and over again.
He can feel the moment Jensen comes even though Jensen's pretty quiet during it, just a quiet gasp and then his dick jerking and filling up the condom. He pulls out after a few minutes, barely makes the trash when he throws the condom away, and Jared tugs him down for a kiss.
Jared falls asleep mid-kiss with a smile on his face.
***
Jensen isn't there when Jared wakes up in the morning. If he didn't have a sore ass and the lingering taste of come in his mouth - both of which aren't really all that pleasant - he would write the whole thing off as a dream. A really vivid, amazing dream.
But it wasn't a dream, and Jensen ditched him, and Jared's pissed.
With a sigh, Jared hauls himself out of bed and into the shower. He's going to track Jensen down and give him hell. And then he's going to drag him back to bed and see if sober sex is even better than drunk sex. It's probably not a good idea to get involved with Jensen, but Jared's just fucking sick of denying that he's interested. Jensen's an asshole, but he's fucking hot and there's got to be something good in that sexy body. Deep, deep down.
Jared will just have to find it. Preferably with his dick.
He calls Katie and gets Jensen's keys from her. He's tempted to let himself into Jensen's room, but that's creepy and he'd probably end up snooping through Jensen's things and he doesn't want to piss him off.
So, he waits around for Katie to call him letting him know that Jensen's asked for his keys, heads to Jensen's room a couple times but no one answers the door.
It's not until Jared goes to get some food that he finally finds Jensen. He's sitting with the guy Jared saved him from the night before. They look way too cozy and comfortable with each other.
"Hey, baby!" Jared sits himself down next to Jensen and kisses his cheek. Jensen looks completely nonplussed.
"Ben, right? Hi, Ben. Didn't expect to see you again." Jared gives him a great big fake smile.
"It's Brian. And your boy sat with me, okay, said you two were over." The man looks pissed. Jared understands how he feels.
"That wasn't very nice, Jen! I'm sorry, Ben, he's just cranky because he's hungover."
"My name is Bri--"
"I wasn't even drunk last night," Jensen snaps suddenly. "Are you stalking me, Padalecki?"
Jared scoffs. "No, but it's not very nice to walk out on the guy you fucked last night. Besides, you left your keys."
He dangles them in front of Jensen's face and Jensen grabs them back. Brian looks between them, then stalks off, leaving a tray of untouched food on the table. Jared steals the bacon off his plate and crunches down. Mmm.
Jensen doesn't even look up. "I thought Katie had my keys."
"She did," Jared says. "But she gave them to me because she had places to be."
"Great." Jensen snatches the cream-filled donut off Brian's tray. Jared puts at him but Jensen isn't even looking at him.
"Look, Jared, last night--"
"You can't tell me last night was a mistake, because you've been trying to fuck me for months, probably over a year now. Is that why you slept with Matt, huh? 'Cause you couldn't have me?"
Jensen freezes and drops the donut. Jared takes it back.
"I've wanted you since I knew what my dick was for, man. But I never did anything about it because you were always a jerk." Jared shrugs and bites into the donut. "So, I dunno. I'm willing to try to date you if you stop being an asshole. Or at least less of an asshole."
"Wait, seriously?" Jensen takes the donut again. "After everything I've done, you want to date me?"
"Yep. After everything you've done to me, I want to date you. Danneel likes you, Katie likes you... people in high school liked you, for some reason. You have to have a few redeeming qualities, right?"
He grins widely at Jensen, unable to stop himself.
"I like to think so." Jensen squeezes the donut, watching the thick cream leak out. Jared tries not to laugh at the sight, but once he gets a look at Jensen's smirk, he lets loose with a snort. Jensen cracks a grin.
"Great!" Jared says. "So... we're going to go out to dinner tonight, then mini golf, then..."
"Then sex?" Jensen flashes him that grin. Jared wants to kiss him - so he does.
"Then sex. And this time, you're staying the whole night so we can have sex in the morning too."
Jensen exhales and studies him, then nods once.
"I think I can manage that."
"See that you do."
"So, this is the part where I apologize, right? 'Cause... I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry."
Jared waves a hand, then wraps it around the back of Jensen's head and tugs him into another kiss. "Pay for dinner tonight, give me a couple rockin' orgasms, and all is forgiven."
"I dunno about paying, but the orgasms? I can handle those." Jensen smacks another kiss to his lips, then pulls away. "Let's finish Ben's--"
"Brian's --"
"Whoever's food. And then maybe start in early on the sex."
"You read my mind."
***
The date goes well. At least, Jared thinks it does, but he doesn't even get a kiss goodnight at the end, even though three hours ago Jensen had Jared's dick in his mouth. They get to Jared's room and Jensen looks at him, looks away, then walks off.
Jared thinks about following him but he can't muster up the energy. Fuck Jensen if he's going to be a coward about this - again. Because apparently this morning wasn't enough.
He thinks about sending some kind of passive-aggressive angry text to him, but instead types out you're a dick. He's just about to send it when Jensen walks back over, shoves Jared into the wall and kisses him hard.
At first, Jared's too shocked to kiss back. His phone drops from his hand, clattering across the floor, and that's Jensen's tongue in his mouth, Jensen's hands on his arms gripping tightly, and Jared finally gets it together. His hands grab at Jensen's head and tilt it so he can fit his mouth perfectly against Jensen's.
"Sorry," Jensen says when they finally break apart. "I'm sorry. I just... kinda couldn't believe this was happening for a second and wanted to push you down just so you wouldn't figure out I liked you."
"Dude, I know you like me now. You can't pretend you don't. But don't run away again. That hurts worse than everything you've done to me."
Jensen frowns at him. "I didn't even think you liked me before... this morning, really."
"I always thought you were an asshole. But it was only to me, so... I figured out awhile ago that you were a nice guy to everyone else. I was just special." Jared grins when Jensen cracks up.
"You're special alright," he says.
"Damn straight."
Jared pulls Jensen into his room, immensely glad that Chris has gone off for the night, because it means he can get Jensen naked again. And that's never not going to be awesome, the fact that all of this flawless, gorgeous man is his.
"You're thinking," Jensen says accusingly as he lays back on Jared's bed, a nearly sappy smile on his face.
"Nah. I don't do stupid shit like that anymore. Especially when I've got you here to stop me."
Jared climbs on top of Jensen and proceeds to make him stop thinking too.
author: earthquakedream
pairing: Jared/Jensen, brief Jared/Matt Cohen, Danneel/Katie
rating: R
warnings: asshole!Jensen, bullying, mention of underage sex (characters are 17)
disclaimer: These guys aren't mine, only the words are. Title and cut text from The Offspring.
word count: ~6300
summary: AU. There's always been one constant in Jared's life: he hates Jensen Ackles. It's easy to ignore his attraction to the guy because he's such a bully. When Jared goes to college, he thinks he's finally free, but then Jensen shows up there too and Jared is forced to confront his feelings.
author's note: This is for petite_madame for the j2_afterclass exchange. One of her likes was enemies falling in love and that is one of my FAVORITE tropes. I really hope you like this!
Thanks to bekkis for the beta and wiselyparanoid for running the exchange and being patient with me.
Jared is in the mud. He is in the cold, dirty mud, in his brand new jacket and his favorite jeans, his clean white shoes his mama got him for his birthday, all of it dirty and soaked through.
He’s 10, he has tears in his eyes, and he hates Jensen Ackles. That big bully pushed him into the mud after making fun of Jared’s hair. Which, seriously, how does that work? Jensen’s the new kid, he shouldn’t be pushing Jared around. Jensen moved here a month ago and stole all his friends, so now Jared has to hang out with the girls. And they’re okay, Sandy and Sophia are pretty and funny, but they talk about boys too much, and they like Jensen. They think he’s pretty.
Jensen has stupid big green eyes like those girls from Pokemon, the anime chicks that Chad likes because they have big breasts. And he has a bunch of freckles that look like someone sprayed his face with cinnamon.
And he pushed Jared in the mud. Jared get up, finds a clean spot on his sleeve and wipes at his eyes, glaring into those bright green eyes. "I hate you, Jensen Ackles. You’re a big fat jerk!"
Then he throws himself at Jensen, grinning when they land back in the mud because Jensen has been showing off stupid Batman shirt all day and now it’s gonna get all dirty. Sucks to be him. The Flash is way cooler than Batman anyway.
They both get detention and Jared’s mom grounds him for a month, but he gave Jensen a bloody lip, so it was worth it.
He never forgets that day, or any of the other days Jensen makes him so angry he can’t speak. He never stops hating Jensen Ackles, even when he realizes that maybe, Sandy and Sophia (and the rest of the girls in their class) aren’t the only ones who think Jensen is ridiculously gorgeous.
Jensen is to blame for the worst parts of Jared's life. The time he threw up on Mr. Beaver's shoes because Jensen had put worms on his sandwich, or the time he almost broke his tailbone because Jensen tugged his chair away when Jared was going to sit down.
The time when Jared fell asleep in class and had a wet dream. That was Jensen's fault too, because Jared was dreaming about him. So along with his intense, undying hatred for Jensen, Jared is attracted to him. Really, really attracted to him.
He has as many fantasies about getting revenge against Jensen as he does jerk off fantasies.
It's sort of a huge problem, but one Jared has to learn how to deal with.
The worst moment of Jared's high school life, however, is when Jensen steals his phone during gym and starts reading his texts out loud to all the guys in the locker room, while Jared's getting his ankle wrapped by Coach Johnson. Jensen had pushed him down while they were playing basketball.
He limps into the locker room to hear familiar words repeated back to him.
"Don't you think Matt's ass looks just delicious in those skinny jeans? I can't look away!" Jensen's voice is high-pitched and lisping, obnoxiously effeminate. He looks up and sees Jared while all the other guys are laughing. His smirk is pure evil.
"And here's the big cocksucker now! Tell us, Jared, do you ever think about my ass?" Jensen shoves his ass out towards him, wiggling it, and everyone bursts into laughter and calls of fag.
Jared sees red. He lunges at Jensen, smashes him against the lockers, and punches that stupid, pretty face until he gets pulled off by two guys. Jensen's lip is split, his nose bleeding heavily. He looks shocked, those bright green eyes locked on Jared with something close to fear.
Jared just rips his phone from Jensen's hand and grabs his bag, hurrying out. He goes straight to the principal's office, not out of guilt, but he knows it's inevitable. Mr. Beaver looks surprised to see him.
"Jared, are your knuckles bleeding? What happened?"
"Oh, um." Jared wipes them on his shorts and winces. "I kinda punched Jensen Ackles in the face. A couple times."
Mr. Beaver sighs. "What happened?"
"He stole my phone and was reading my texts out loud. He was, um. Making fun of me. For liking guys." Jared was totally provoked. Because Jensen is the biggest asshole to ever walk the Earth.
"Ahh. So you punched him." Mr. Beaver rubs a hand over his face. "You'll be punished, of course, but I expect you already know that. Jensen will be punished as well, though, for invasion of privacy and discrimination."
Jared relaxes slightly. "Okay. Want me to call my mom? That's how this works, right?"
"Why don't we wait for Jensen to get here? I'm sure Nurse Smith will be calling any second now."
Sure enough, the phone starts ringing and Jared slumps back in his seat. He's going to become the laughing stock of the whole school - the token queer. It's only the beginning of junior year. He's still got a while before he's free of this hellhole.
Jensen shows up a few minutes later, holding tissues under his nose, his face already bruising vividly. Jared has to fight not to smirk.
Jensen ends up with a week of in school suspension with after school detention. Jared gets two days of out of school suspension, and three of after school detention.
"You boys will serve after school detention together for those last three days and Coach Johnson will be making sure you work out your issues. Neither of you were in the right here."
"Yes, sir," Jared says, nodding solemnly. Jensen doesn't take it so well.
"Are you serious? I didn't touch him and he almost broke my nose! How was I in the wrong here?"
Mr. Beaver raises his eyebrows at Jensen. "Excuse me, Mr. Ackles, but what is right about stealing a classmate's cell phone and reading private text messages out loud in the men's locker room? You targeted a student because of his sexual orientation, even if that isn't why you stole his phone in the first place. That's an invasion of privacy. Jared shouldn't have used violence, but what you did was just as hurtful." He sits back in his chair and rests his hands on his desk.
"Jensen, I want you to go to the assistant principal's office and call your parents to tell them about what happened. Miss Ferris will be making sure you do exactly that. Jared will do the same thing in here."
"Fine," Jensen says petulantly, then leaves the room. Jared just sighs.
He fucking hates high school.
***
Detention doesn't go well. They're the only two in the classroom and Coach Johnson had to leave five minutes ago to take care of some emergency with the football equipment.
Jensen glares at him. "This is all your fault."
"My fault? You stole my phone and read my texts out loud. I wasn't planning on coming out until after graduation and now I don't have a fucking choice. My parents aren't going to react well to this. Did you forget we're in Texas? What the hell is wrong with you? What did I ever do to you to make you hate me so much?"
He doesn't expect to get an answer. Maybe a punch in the face or some anti-gay insult, but nothing like what Jensen actually does.
He slides out of his chair and sits on Jared's desk, leaning in close. "I don't hate you, Jared. Oh, I don't hate you at all. Maybe I'm just trying to get your attention. Pull your pigtails. 'cause I think you're dreamy." Jensen leans close enough that Jared can feel his breath fanning out over his skin.
"What?" Jared's voice cracks and Jensen's face comes even closer.
Coach Johnson comes back in then and Jensen pulls away and slides back into his chair like nothing ever happened. Coach raises an eyebrow.
"You boys working it out?" he asks. Jared finds himself licking his lips and staring into those piercing blue eyes. He pushes Jensen's weirdness out of his mind. He's probably just trying to find a new way to embarrass Jared.
"Of course," Jensen says, winking at the coach. Jared just gives him an easy smile.
"Good."
Jensen looks over at Jared and makes a kissy face when Coach Johnson isn't looking. Jared scowls and looks away.
He has a year and a half left in this place. He can make it.
***
Jensen is still a jerk to him after they "bond" in detention. At least, he's a jerk in public. But Jared knows, thanks to Chad, that Jensen has kept some guys from trying to beat the shit out of Jared. He doesn't get what that's about, but Jared's not going to complain.
The few times they're alone, Jensen hits on him, complete with cheesy pick up lines, touching Jared and getting close enough that Jared can smell what he had for lunch. It's, well, it's creepy. Totally creepy.
Jared still thinks about Jensen when he jerks off and hates himself for it. But his fantasies never leave his mind and he does owe Jensen a little bit.
Thanks to the whole episode with Jensen outing him, Matt Cohen - the owner of the fine ass in the skinny jeans - asks Jared out during the summer between junior and senior year. Because it's still Texas they keep it on the down low.
Mostly they make out in Matt's room while his mom is gone or fool around in the back of Jared's truck. He's nothing if not cliché. There's a couple times when they go to some shitty movie and end up doing inappropriate things in the back of the theater because no one's there.
It's a great summer, honestly. Matt has a pool and a big privacy fence. Jared hits a growth spurt over the summer and soothes his growing pains by soaking in the cool water.
They're never really serious, Jared knows that. Matt's a fun guy but not someone Jared wants to be with forever. They're just the only two gay kids in a sea of straight jerks and it makes sense for them to stay together, if only for the sex.
But Jared supposes they could be a little bit more sneaky. A month into senior year, Matt's got him pinned to the wall in the back of the sports storage room, hidden behind the volleyballs. They're making out, grinding together, and Jared's about ready to drop to his knees when who else but Jensen Ackles walks in. Jared can barely see him through the cage of volleyballs and he and Matt freeze.
Matt pulls away, crouches down, and Jared presses his back tight against the wall, trying to keep his breathing calm. He hopes Jensen is just going to grab a basketball from the front of the room
Of course, he's not that lucky, and Jensen rounds the volleyball cage and sees them. His face goes dark.
"The fuck are you two doing here?" He glances over them and scowls. "That's disgusting. Don't you fags have anywhere better to be?"
Matt steps forward, fists clenched, but Jared blocks his way and gets in Jensen's face. He grew a total of four inches over the summer and all the swimming he did in Matt's pool helped him fill out, bulk up. He's bigger than Jensen now.
"Fuck off, Ackles," he growls out. Jensen's eyes flash and go darker. He doesn't back down.
"You can't intimidate me, sweetheart. I'm not scared of you." A smirk twists his mouth and he steps in closer, voice dropping into a whisper. "You know I could take you. And you'd like it."
Then Jensen just leaves. Jared's struck dumb and it takes him a minute to focus and realize Matt's saying his name.
"What'd he say to you, Jared? Did he threaten you?"
"No," Jared says, voice shaking. "No, just... drop it. He's an asshole."
He ends things with Matt a couple weeks later. He can't get Jensen's words out of his head and every time he sees the guy, Jensen gives him this look like he's going to slam Jared up against the nearest surface and take him, just like Jensen said he could.
And Jared wants it so fucking bad he aches.
***
College starts off okay, at least for the first couple weeks that Jared's there. He doesn't have a roommate yet - guy never showed up - and even though he's supposed to be getting a new one soon, he doesn't mind. He's free from the oppressive nature of high school, free from his parents, and free from Jensen Ackles.
His classes start on Monday. The first week was all orientation shit, getting to know people in your major, et cetera. Jared made some friends, but unfortunately hasn't met any other gay guys. At least, none that were out and proud.
He did get to meet the leader of the GSA though. Danneel Harris identifies as pansexual - a lover of all creatures great and small, but I only fuck the ones that know how to say yes - and is spunky, sexy, and fun. Jared almost wishes that he liked boobs, because she seems awesome. However, she has a girlfriend - a firecracker of a blonde named Katie.
"JARED!" There's a hard pound on his door that sounds like it's coming from someone even bigger than him.
Jared yanks the door open and finds Katie standing there. She's tiny and innocent looking. But a devil lurks deep in her depths, Jared knows it.
"It's seven in the morning. What could you possibly want." She's wearing a tight tank top and spandex shorts, so Jared thinks he already knows.
"You promised you'd go to the gym with me. And the gym opens at seven. I like to get there bright and early."
"Why?"
"Because Danneel works the first shift at the desk and I need to give her some entertainment, of course." Katie rolls her eyes at him and comes into his room, looking around. "What are you doing? Get your gym clothes on, let's get going!"
Jared changes in front of her because he's too tired to have shame. T-shirt, basketball shorts, sneakers. He grabs a water bottle from his mini fridge and his ID card and keys before following Katie down the stairs to the gym.
They're side by side on different treadmills when Katie starts asking him about his ex-boyfriends.
"There's only one," he tells her honestly, starting with an easy jog. They're the only ones in the place, other than Danneel.
"So, tell me about him!"
"His name was Matt, he was good looking, we fooled around and then..."
"Then what?" Katie looks over at him expectantly. Jared's already sweating, but she still looks perfect. He shrugs and looks away.
"I just... didn't really like him that much. He was hot, he was good with his hands and mouth and... everything else, really, but that was about it."
Katie gives him a wicked grin. "There was someone else! Who were you crushing on? Was he hot?"
"Yeah." Jared sighs and speeds up his run, hoping that the slap of his feet against the treadmill will drown out anymore attempts at conversation. But Katie just demands details and Jared groans.
"C'mon! I'm your gym buddy, this is our chance for gossip."
"If you must know... he was a total asshole. He outed me to the whole school by reading my texts out loud. He'd been pushing me around since we were kids. But he was just..."
"A total hot ass? Yeah, I get that. Happens to the best of us."
"He'd hit on me all the time, when no one was around, just say the dirtiest things and I liked it. I really liked it. I'm such a masochist."
"Aww, poor Jared." Katie stops her treadmill and steps close, then slugs him in the arm. "C'mon, suck it up. You're out of high school now and this dick won't bother you again. Now you can meet nice guys!"
When Katie holds her fist out again, Jared flinches instinctively, then fist bumps her after she rolls her eyes.
"Okay. I'll meet nice guys."
***
Jared meets five "nice guys" in his first three days of classes. He doesn't know what it is about this school, but there are a lot of happily out and proud gay men. They all seem to know Katie and she's pretty sure she showed them a picture because they also know who he is.
While the guys are hot and, well, nice, Jared's already feeling stressed just looking at the syllabi for his classes. He has so many papers and exams and he's going to die his first semester from his head exploding with all the knowledge he needs to cram in there.
Technology education maybe wasn't the best choice for him. But here he is and, well, he could change his mind, but Jared's positive he's done the right thing.
Well, pretty positive.
He's going to fail so hard.
But then he meets his new roommate, Chris, who doesn't actually want to live on campus, but since all full-time, first year students are required to stay in the dorms, he doesn't have a choice.
Despite his reluctance to be in the room, he seems like a cool guy. He's majoring in music therapy, he has a band, and one of the guys in it is 21 and lives off campus. So Jared definitely knows where he's going to party.
Best part? Chris doesn't give a shit that Jared's gay.
"As long as you remember to warn me if you're gonna have a guy here, okay? Just do the sock over the door, or fuckin' text me or something. I'll do the same for you when I wanna get laid."
Jared smirks. "You mean, if you ever manage to find a girl who's willing to be with you, short stuff?"
Chris is also nearly a foot shorter than Jared. It's hilarious. He's not sensitive about it either, which means they're already ribbing each other about stupid things without any offensive being taken.
So yeah, his first two weeks go well. Then Chris invites him to a party, Jared drags Katie and Danneel along, and they all decide to ride together.
"Oh!" Katie says as they're climbing into Danneel's Jeep. It's nice and roomy, which Jared is grateful for when Katie finishes her thought. "I invited another friend over, I hope that's okay! He's in my Astronomy class, he's very hot and bisexual, so--"
"So you thought you'd try to set me up again?" Jared asks with a laugh.
"Yes!" Katie grins back at him, then leans over to kiss Danneel. Chris looks preoccupied with watching them, so Jared looks out the window to search for whoever this guy might be.
He finds him immediately. It's not hard to figure it out when he sees the guy walking towards the Jeep.
"No, Katie, no, please tell me that's not the guy--"
"Jensen!" Katie shouts over Jared's pleas. Jared wants to cry.
Jensen climbs in the back and fits himself right up against Jared. Apparently the car isn't as roomy as Jared thought.
"Hey, gorgeous," Jensen practically purrs, leaning over to kiss Katie's cheek, giving a little wave and smile to Danneel. "We ready to go?"
"I changed my mind, I'm not going," Jared says quickly. "Let me out."
"Don't be such a downer, Jay! It's your first college party. You seem tense, you obviously need to take care of that. What's better than having fun with your friends?"
Danneel's the only one not staring at them curiously, but that's because she's driving. Jared feels his cheeks burn.
"You're not my friend, Ackles."
"That hurts! After all the good times we've had together..."
"Like the time you pantsed me at a pep rally?"
Jensen smirks. "Well, that was fun for me. And the rest of the school."
"And the time you shaved off my eyebrows?"
"Serves you right for falling asleep first in a room full of guys. You should know better."
Jared lets out a growl. "And the time you got me suspended for--"
"Whoa, whoa, that was your fault for deciding to fool around with your slutty boyfriend in the prop room!"
"He was not slutty and there were plenty of other times where you just left us alone--"
"He was cheating on you, you fucking idiot, he was a slut and you deserved it, anyway, for always choosing the worst spots to go at it--"
"Wait, what? Matt was not cheating on me, there wasn't any other gay guys in our school--"
"Don't be such a fucking idiot, Jared, he was cheating on you with me."
The car is silent, then, except for Jared's labored breathing, his entire body trembling with anger.
"So, this must be the guy you were telling me about in the gym, huh?" Katie says suddenly. Both Jared and Jensen look at her, then glare at each other.
Chris lets out a laugh. "Well, this is gonna be a fun night."
Danneel lets out a whoop in agreement and drives faster.
Jared crosses his arms over his chest and stares straight ahead, jaw clenched. He knows without looking at Jensen that he's doing the same.
Yeah, this night is going to be fucking awesome.
***
It's not that Jared's never drank before. But a couple times in high school with Matt and the occasional beer snuck to him by his Uncle Danny at Thanksgiving and Christmas doesn't really compare to three (losing) games of beer pong with Chris and his friends and a seemingly never-ending keg.
His father always told him to never use alcohol as a solution to his problems, but Jared still tries to drink away his anger. He's pissed at Matt for cheating on him, for cheating on him with Jensen of all people, and god, he's so fucking pissed off at Jensen for doing that to him. Not that he's surprised, because he is an asshole, but embarrassing Jared on a daily basis isn't the same thing as fucking around with his boyfriend.
Especially when Jensen was always acting like he wanted Jared, not Matt.
"I wanna punch him in his pretty face," Jared says to Katie. They're sitting together on a couch, watching Danneel play flip cup with a punch of guys from, hm, Jared thinks they're wrestlers. They're short and broad and angry looking, and they're all staring at Danneel's tits, so they're definitely some sort of jock.
"Why, so you won't be tempted to lust after him anymore?"
Jared sighs heavily. "Yes. And because I know he was just fucking around with Matt to piss me off."
"If he was doing that, don't you think he would have told you sooner?"
He ponders that for a second. "Um. Well. Yeah, probably."
"You said he used to hit on you, right?" Katie's stroking his hair now. That's nice. Jared less angry now and more sleepy.
"Yeah..."
"Maybe he knew he couldn't have you and Matt was the next best thing."
Jared sits up suddenly, almost dropping his cup - but it's empty, anyway, so he does drop it and stand up.
"You think so? Maybe I should go talk to him about it."
Katie tugs him back down and points across the room. Jensen's dancing with some hot little blonde, his hands on her hips and his mouth on her neck.
"I think he's a little busy right now," she points out.
"Oh." Jared sighs again and leans back against Katie. "I want to punch him in his pretty face."
"I know, sweetie. You know what the best thing to do right now is?"
"What?" He looks at her, knowing his eyes are wide and hopeful and he probably looks completely pathetic.
"Forget about him. It's not going to do you any good to dwell on how you feel."
Danneel throws her arms up and lets out a happy cheer when her team wins. One of the guys tries to pull her close, tries to kiss her, and Katie gets up suddenly and storms over. She shoves the guy away, grabs her girl, and kisses her hot and hard.
The guy seems to like that even better and Jared can't hear what he says to Katie, but it seems to piss her off because she practically hisses at the guy and drags Danneel away.
"We're going, Jared. Tell Chris, I'll see what Jensen's doing."
"I love you," Danneel tells Katie, smearing a kiss messily over her cheek. "You're so amazing."
"Actually, you find Jensen too, I'm going to go wait in the car."
Jared knows that wait in the car really means make out with my girlfriend, so he takes his time. He already knows Chris is planning on staying over, so he just lets him know they're leaving, and then sets out to find Jensen.
He's not with the blonde anymore, she's dancing with someone else, so Jared heads off through the house, weaving through drunk people. He finally spots Jensen down a hallway with a guy almost as tall as Jared, leaning against the wall with the guy looming over him. Jared scowls. And Jensen was calling Matt a slut.
"Jensen," Jared snaps out, stalking forward. Jensen looks over and lights up like Jared's the best thing he's ever seen, which makes Jared freeze up.
"Jay!" he says, too loud, slipping away from the guy and draping himself all over Jared.
"Um."
The guy scowls. "Who are you?"
"This is my boyfriend," Jensen tells him, kissing Jared's cheek. He sounds sloppy drunk and smells like that girl's perfume. Jensen kisses his ear too and whispers, "Go with it, please."
Jared's tempted to make a scene, but he's not that much of a dick. And this way he can be a better guy than Jensen. Which he is, but Jensen doesn't seem to get that.
"Jared," he introduces himself, holding his hand out. "We were just leaving. Get lost on the way to the bathroom, babe?" He looks at Jensen and fixes a fond smile on his face. "You really need to learn to hold your liquor."
The guy ignores his hand. "No way are you two boyfriends. He was all over my buddy Brent earlier. I was hitting him up for a threesome."
"Jensen gets friendly when he's drunk. But he's not interested, so back off."
"Maybe you should learn to keep him in line." And with that, the douchebag stalks off down the hall.
Jared immediately pulls away from Jensen, ignoring the look on his face, even though he looks sort of upset at the loss.
"I'm not even going to ask what that was about. I don't want to know. Let's go."
He feels a lot more sober than he did five minutes ago. Jensen follows after and when he speaks, he sounds more sober too.
"Thank you for that."
"I said I don't want to know. Let's just drop it."
"Jared--"
"No. We're not talking about this."
"I expected you to shove me away. I would have deserved it."
"I would have done it for anyone in that position. Just... be more careful, okay?"
Jensen looks at him intensely, making Jared feel seriously uncomfortable. "Yeah. I will be."
The ride home is uncomfortable. The Jeep smells like girl sex, Katie and Danneel are both obviously sated and can't keep their hands off each other the entire way home. Fortunately, Katie manages to get Jared and Jensen dropped off at the dorms without incident. She's sober but so caught up in Danneel she may as well be drunk.
They make it inside without incident, luckily, since there's someone at the front desk of the dorm making sure no one's got alcohol poisoning, and it's not until they get to the stairs that Jensen realizes he left his dorm keys in the car.
"My ID's attached, too, so I can't even get the lockout," Jensen says. Jared sighs.
"Don't suppose your roommate is around?"
"Nope." Jensen shrugs. "I'll just sleep in the lounge or something."
"Fuck that. Chris is still at the party, he won't be back till Sunday night, you can sleep in his bed." Jared should be more reluctant, but honestly, after tonight and given how drunk he is, there's no little voice telling him locking yourself in a room with Jensen Ackles for a night is a horrible idea.
So Jared locks himself in a room with Jensen, still half-drunk and messed up from the whole situation with the douche at the party and pretending to be Jensen's boyfriend, if even for a second, and oh, Jensen's stripping down to these tiny little boxer briefs because it's not like the man can wear normal underwear, no.
Jared, of course, has to one-up him. He gets naked.
Jensen stares at him.
Jared stares back.
Somehow, he ends up on his back with Jensen's mouth on his dick, sucking him better than Matt ever had, making these sounds like it's the best thing he's ever tasted and oh, god, there's two slick fingers in his ass, filling him up just enough - and Jared comes with a whine, nearly braining himself on the bedpost, hands clenching in the sheets.
He's barely coherent enough after that to hear Jensen asking, "Can I fuck you, please? C'mon, Jared, need to be in you, been dying for it--"
And Jared gasps out, "Yes, yes, fuck me--"
And then Jensen's inside him, barely slick enough to keep it from hurting, and thank god he remembered a condom because Jared didn't even think of that, but it doesn't even matter because Jensen's fucking him, starting out slow but it's like he can't hold back. His hips slam into Jared, hands pushing Jared's thighs towards his chest and it's honestly the best thing Jared's ever felt. He can't get it up again but that doesn't even matter because it's so fucking good, he wants to do this over and over again.
He can feel the moment Jensen comes even though Jensen's pretty quiet during it, just a quiet gasp and then his dick jerking and filling up the condom. He pulls out after a few minutes, barely makes the trash when he throws the condom away, and Jared tugs him down for a kiss.
Jared falls asleep mid-kiss with a smile on his face.
***
Jensen isn't there when Jared wakes up in the morning. If he didn't have a sore ass and the lingering taste of come in his mouth - both of which aren't really all that pleasant - he would write the whole thing off as a dream. A really vivid, amazing dream.
But it wasn't a dream, and Jensen ditched him, and Jared's pissed.
With a sigh, Jared hauls himself out of bed and into the shower. He's going to track Jensen down and give him hell. And then he's going to drag him back to bed and see if sober sex is even better than drunk sex. It's probably not a good idea to get involved with Jensen, but Jared's just fucking sick of denying that he's interested. Jensen's an asshole, but he's fucking hot and there's got to be something good in that sexy body. Deep, deep down.
Jared will just have to find it. Preferably with his dick.
He calls Katie and gets Jensen's keys from her. He's tempted to let himself into Jensen's room, but that's creepy and he'd probably end up snooping through Jensen's things and he doesn't want to piss him off.
So, he waits around for Katie to call him letting him know that Jensen's asked for his keys, heads to Jensen's room a couple times but no one answers the door.
It's not until Jared goes to get some food that he finally finds Jensen. He's sitting with the guy Jared saved him from the night before. They look way too cozy and comfortable with each other.
"Hey, baby!" Jared sits himself down next to Jensen and kisses his cheek. Jensen looks completely nonplussed.
"Ben, right? Hi, Ben. Didn't expect to see you again." Jared gives him a great big fake smile.
"It's Brian. And your boy sat with me, okay, said you two were over." The man looks pissed. Jared understands how he feels.
"That wasn't very nice, Jen! I'm sorry, Ben, he's just cranky because he's hungover."
"My name is Bri--"
"I wasn't even drunk last night," Jensen snaps suddenly. "Are you stalking me, Padalecki?"
Jared scoffs. "No, but it's not very nice to walk out on the guy you fucked last night. Besides, you left your keys."
He dangles them in front of Jensen's face and Jensen grabs them back. Brian looks between them, then stalks off, leaving a tray of untouched food on the table. Jared steals the bacon off his plate and crunches down. Mmm.
Jensen doesn't even look up. "I thought Katie had my keys."
"She did," Jared says. "But she gave them to me because she had places to be."
"Great." Jensen snatches the cream-filled donut off Brian's tray. Jared puts at him but Jensen isn't even looking at him.
"Look, Jared, last night--"
"You can't tell me last night was a mistake, because you've been trying to fuck me for months, probably over a year now. Is that why you slept with Matt, huh? 'Cause you couldn't have me?"
Jensen freezes and drops the donut. Jared takes it back.
"I've wanted you since I knew what my dick was for, man. But I never did anything about it because you were always a jerk." Jared shrugs and bites into the donut. "So, I dunno. I'm willing to try to date you if you stop being an asshole. Or at least less of an asshole."
"Wait, seriously?" Jensen takes the donut again. "After everything I've done, you want to date me?"
"Yep. After everything you've done to me, I want to date you. Danneel likes you, Katie likes you... people in high school liked you, for some reason. You have to have a few redeeming qualities, right?"
He grins widely at Jensen, unable to stop himself.
"I like to think so." Jensen squeezes the donut, watching the thick cream leak out. Jared tries not to laugh at the sight, but once he gets a look at Jensen's smirk, he lets loose with a snort. Jensen cracks a grin.
"Great!" Jared says. "So... we're going to go out to dinner tonight, then mini golf, then..."
"Then sex?" Jensen flashes him that grin. Jared wants to kiss him - so he does.
"Then sex. And this time, you're staying the whole night so we can have sex in the morning too."
Jensen exhales and studies him, then nods once.
"I think I can manage that."
"See that you do."
"So, this is the part where I apologize, right? 'Cause... I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry."
Jared waves a hand, then wraps it around the back of Jensen's head and tugs him into another kiss. "Pay for dinner tonight, give me a couple rockin' orgasms, and all is forgiven."
"I dunno about paying, but the orgasms? I can handle those." Jensen smacks another kiss to his lips, then pulls away. "Let's finish Ben's--"
"Brian's --"
"Whoever's food. And then maybe start in early on the sex."
"You read my mind."
***
The date goes well. At least, Jared thinks it does, but he doesn't even get a kiss goodnight at the end, even though three hours ago Jensen had Jared's dick in his mouth. They get to Jared's room and Jensen looks at him, looks away, then walks off.
Jared thinks about following him but he can't muster up the energy. Fuck Jensen if he's going to be a coward about this - again. Because apparently this morning wasn't enough.
He thinks about sending some kind of passive-aggressive angry text to him, but instead types out you're a dick. He's just about to send it when Jensen walks back over, shoves Jared into the wall and kisses him hard.
At first, Jared's too shocked to kiss back. His phone drops from his hand, clattering across the floor, and that's Jensen's tongue in his mouth, Jensen's hands on his arms gripping tightly, and Jared finally gets it together. His hands grab at Jensen's head and tilt it so he can fit his mouth perfectly against Jensen's.
"Sorry," Jensen says when they finally break apart. "I'm sorry. I just... kinda couldn't believe this was happening for a second and wanted to push you down just so you wouldn't figure out I liked you."
"Dude, I know you like me now. You can't pretend you don't. But don't run away again. That hurts worse than everything you've done to me."
Jensen frowns at him. "I didn't even think you liked me before... this morning, really."
"I always thought you were an asshole. But it was only to me, so... I figured out awhile ago that you were a nice guy to everyone else. I was just special." Jared grins when Jensen cracks up.
"You're special alright," he says.
"Damn straight."
Jared pulls Jensen into his room, immensely glad that Chris has gone off for the night, because it means he can get Jensen naked again. And that's never not going to be awesome, the fact that all of this flawless, gorgeous man is his.
"You're thinking," Jensen says accusingly as he lays back on Jared's bed, a nearly sappy smile on his face.
"Nah. I don't do stupid shit like that anymore. Especially when I've got you here to stop me."
Jared climbs on top of Jensen and proceeds to make him stop thinking too.