Fic: And There's That Pesky Thing Called Reality (3/5)

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He almost fell over when he first tried to walk on his leg after the cast had been removed. It wasn’t just the weakness, although the doctor hadn’t been kidding about that; it was the weird difference in weight too. He’d kind of got used to the heavy cast during the six weeks he’d been wearing it and now that it was gone his leg felt way too light.

“You okay?” Misha asked as he caught hold of Jared when he stumbled.

Jared nodded. “Yeah, I’m good. Thanks, man.”

He leaned on Misha a little as they walked back to the car and by the time they were halfway to the parking lot he found he was able to walk by himself.

He pulled out his phone as soon as he sat down.

My leg is really pale and gross. Cast is off though and I just need to learn how to walk again now. J2.

He got a reply almost immediately.

You’ll be running marathons before you know it. See you online later. J

He smiled and put his phone back in his pocket.

“You’ve really got it bad,” Misha observed as they pulled out of the parking lot.

“I haven’t got anything,” Jared sighed. “Jesus, Misha. You really think two people can’t be friends? Seriously, it’s not like that between us.”

“Hmm,” was the only reply Misha seemed willing to give.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means would you feel differently if she was a single gay guy instead of a single gay girl?”

“I don’t know!” Jared snapped. “She’s not so it’s not really an issue, is it?”

Misha shrugged. “You know I’ve always seen sexuality as more of a fluid thing. Why should it matter whether the person you love has got a cock or a pussy? It’s the person you love, right?”

“That’s easy for you to say, you’re married,” Jared pointed out.

“And if Vicki had been a guy I’d still be with her,” Misha shot back.

The rest of the car journey was made in silence.



Jensen: So when do you go back to work?
Jared: Next week. I think my boss is going kind of nuts actually. He’s offered to drive me to work and take me home afterwards until my leg gets a bit stronger.
Jensen: Well, at least you can get out there into the big wide world again, and I’ll be here in the evenings so you can tell me all about it.

It warmed Jared’s heart to think of Jensen waiting for him when he got home, and that just made him think again about the conversation he had with Misha in the car. Sure, he loved Jensen, but kind of in the way he would love a close sibling. It could never be anything more than that despite Misha’s opinions about the fluid nature of sexuality.

Jared: Hey, tell me if I’m overstepping the mark but I was thinking we should meet up some time.

He had no idea where it had come from but now that he’d started typing he couldn’t seem to stop himself.

There was no reply from Jensen and after a second Jared started to panic that maybe he’d freaked her out and scared her off.

Jensen: I’d like that.

A huge smile broke out on Jared’s face.

Jared: Yeah, me too. I mean, I can’t take any vacation time after all the sick time I’ve had but we could do something one weekend if you wanted and I have a spare bed if you want to come here.
Jensen: That works for me. Maybe once you’ve got settled in back at work we can sort something out.

The thought crossed his mind for a second that he should be worried about how excited he was about meeting Jensen in person but he quickly pushed it aside. He really couldn’t wait.



“Let me get this right,” Jeff said wearily as they sorted through the library inventory. “You’re spending the weekend with someone you met on the internet and it’s got nothing to do with sex at all?”

“No,” Jared sighed. Really, he was sick of explaining this to people. “We’re just friends who are going to hang out, that’s all.”

“Weird.”

Yeah, it might be, but Jared really didn’t care.



He glanced at his watch, then back at the arrivals board. Jensen’s plane had landed over thirty minutes ago and there was still no sign of her. He’d texted her that morning with what he was wearing to make him easier to spot, although he was a good six inches taller than anyone else around him so it really shouldn’t be that hard.

He wondered if he should text her again to check she was okay and not lost.

“Holy crap, you weren’t kidding when you said you were tall!”

Jared blinked in surprise at the guy who was standing in front of him with an eager smile.

“Excuse me?”

Immediately the smile faded from the other guy’s face.

“Oh, shit, I’m sorry. I thought you were my friend Jared. I must have got mixed up.”

Jared blinked again, a frown wrinkling his brow as he tried to work out who the hell this guy was.

“I’m Jared,” he finally managed to say.

And the smile was back. “Oh, great. I was kind of worried you’d get sick of waiting or something. Hey, are you okay?”

The guy glanced down at himself and pulled the baseball cap off his head.

“I. . .” Jared honestly had no idea how to say it politely. “Sorry, but do I know you?”

The guy frowned. “Uh, I’m Jensen.”

For a second, everything froze. Jared opened his mouth, realised no sound was coming out and closed it again.

Jensen looked faintly nervous now, like he’d blundered into the path of the resident crazy person.

“You’re Jensen?” Jared finally managed to say but he couldn’t stop himself from staring.

Jensen nodded.

“Sorry, it’s just I was expecting. . .you’re really Jensen?”

“Want to see my passport to prove it?” Jensen asked dryly. He looked less nervous now and more annoyed.

Jared shook his head to clear it. Okay, Jensen was a guy. He could deal with that, right? Except now that he was properly looking, Jensen was hot.

Shit.

His online best friend was a hot, gay, single guy.

Jared was so screwed.

“Sorry,” he said again, smiling this time and Jensen relaxed a little.

“So you are Jared?”

“Yeah,” Jared replied. “I’m Jared. J2.”

And that was it. Jensen’s face lit up again as he hefted his bag onto his shoulder and placed a hand on Jared’s arm. “Thank God. I thought I had the wrong guy for a minute there.”

Jared’s head was back on the fact that his hot, gay, single, male best friend was now touching him.

Jensen frowned. “Are you okay? You don’t look okay. Is your leg bothering you? Maybe we should sit down for a bit. There’s a coffee shop just over there.”

Sitting down suddenly sounded like a really good idea.



“Seriously?”

Jensen stared at him with a mixed look of amusement and total disbelief while Jared slumped down in his seat and wondered if it was possible to blush any harder than he was right now.

“You seriously thought I was a lesbian?”

Jared felt his face burn a little more so apparently it was possible.

“Dude, I am so sorry. I just assumed. . .most of the people on that livejournal community are women, and you never said anything that made me think otherwise.”

Jensen sat back in his seat, studied Jared for a moment and then took a sip of his coffee.

“So what now? You want me to head back to Texas?”

Jared shot up in his seat. “What? No! It’s just a surprise, that’s all. Of course you’re welcome.”

With just a wall between him and his incredibly hot gay friend when they went to sleep at night. Jesus.

Jensen smiled and Jared felt a warmth flood through him and go straight to his cock. Man, he was in serious trouble.

“Well, that’s good,” Jensen said as he took another sip of his coffee. “Because I was kind of looking forward to spending some time with you.”

“Do you want to get out of here?” Jared asked quickly, suddenly deciding that he really needed to do something that didn’t involve sitting and staring at Jensen.

Jensen nodded and drained his cup. “Sounds like a plan to me.”



Jared was feeling a little more relaxed by the time they got back to the house, which he suspected was largely due to Jensen singing along softly to the radio while they drove. There was just something soothing about listening to him, and the fact that they didn’t need to talk.

So now he was compiling a list of reasons why Jensen was so awesome in his head. So far he had amazing writer, amazing singer, gorgeous and the fact that he wasn’t freaked out at being mistaken for a lesbian.

“The dogs might get a bit excited,” he warned Jensen as they pulled into the driveway. “Just so you’re prepared.”

“I think I can handle it,” Jensen smiled. “Got one of my own at home.”

Jared added dog lover to the list as he got Jensen’s bag out of the trunk.

Exactly as he’d predicted, Harley and Sadie went nuts as soon as the front door opened. Harley let out one cautious growl when he spotted Jensen but as soon as Jensen crouched down and held out his hand to be sniffed, both dogs were like pudding.

“Hey there, guys,” Jensen grinned as he rubbed their bellies. “I hope you don’t mind me stealing some of your daddy’s time this weekend.”

Jared watched the whole scene with wonder and was struck by just how right Jensen looked sitting on his floor playing with his dogs.

He shook his head and took Jensen’s bag up to the guest room. He really needed to keep himself busy before he started planning a wedding in his head.

His phone rang and he was grateful for the distraction.

“What’s she like?” Misha said when Jared answered, not even bothering to wait for him to say hello. “Have either of you backed down on your quaint notions of sexual orientation yet?”

Jared snorted even though his face was flushing red. It wasn’t like Misha could see him anyway. “Yeah, turns out that she is actually a he.”

“I see.” Misha didn’t even sound surprised. “So why are you answering your phone instead of screwing his brains out? Don’t tell me you haven’t been all pent up with sexual frustration because I’ll know you’re lying.”

“Dude!” Jared hissed. “He only just got there. Besides, I don’t even know if he’s interested in me like that.”

“He flew a thousand miles to see you,” Misha pointed out. “I think you can probably assume that he is.”

“I dunno,” Jared replied. “It was never really like that.”

Misha sighed. “Look, why don’t you bring him over tonight? I’ve just about finished work on the house and I’m an awesome cook.”

“You want to inspect him, don’t you?”

“You say inspect, I say gauge his interest.”

Jared snorted again. “Whatever. I’ll ask him. He only just got here and I don’t know how tired he’s feeling.”

“Well, talk to him and call me back.”

“Yeah, okay.”

He hung up and went back downstairs to find Jensen still happily playing with Harley and Sadie.

“So, Misha has invited us over for dinner,” Jared said as he stood in the doorway and watched. “But it’s totally up to you. I don’t know if you’re tired or you want to do something else but it’s totally fine if you don’t want to go.”

Part of him really hoped Jensen said no. This evening had the potential to be seriously embarrassing, especially since Jared was pretty sure that Misha had no idea how to be discreet.

Jensen rose to his feet and dusted the dog hair off his jeans. “Sounds fun. Besides, I really ought to thank him for loaning you that computer in the first place. We’d never have met otherwise.”

Jared couldn’t ignore the knot of fear that started to twist in his stomach.



“Do you like chocolate?” Misha asked as soon as he opened the front door. Jared, thankfully, had remembered to explain to Jensen that the word ‘hello’ was likely missing from Misha’s vocabulary.

“Sure,” Jared said as Misha ushered them inside. Whatever was cooking smelled good.

“Try this,” Misha insisted and handed them a box of what Jared could only really describe as brown balls.

“They’re truffles,” Misha called over his shoulder as he headed back towards what Jared assumed was the kitchen. “I just made them today.”

He looked back in the box. They looked kind of messy, but he’d never been one to turn down free sugar so he popped one into his mouth.

“Oh my God,” he moaned as the chocolate melted. “Jesus, Misha, these are awesome.”

He passed the box over to Jensen who took one of the chocolates for himself. As soon as he closed his mouth he started making noises which Jared really thought should be made illegal and which had him half hard.

Misha came back out and grinned. “I added rum to give them a bit of a kick. Dinner will be ready soon and Vicki’s on her way home. Do you guys want something to drink?”

“You got any beer?” Jared said at exactly the same time as Jensen.

Misha smirked as they grinned at each other and headed back into the kitchen to get the drinks.

“Well, I’m glad to see there’s still some Texas in you, boy,” Jensen drawled in a ridiculously over the top accent.

Jared snorted. “My mama told me there ain’t nothing bigger than a Texan’s heart because they carry a bit of the state with them wherever they go.”

Jensen laughed and it was the best sound Jared had ever heard.

“Here you go,” Misha said and pressed a cold beer into each of their hands.

Before they could sit down the front door opened and a woman bustled in, laden down with shopping bags.

“Here, let me help you with that,” Jared said quickly and moved over to grab a couple of the bags before she dropped them.

“Thanks,” she sighed with relief. “You must be Jared. I’m Vicki. I’d shake your hand but. . .” She rustled the bags she was carrying to demonstrate that her hands were full.

“It’s no problem,” Jared smiled. “You want me to put these in the kitchen?”

“I got it,” Misha said, intercepting Jared and taking the bags from him. “You go and sit with Jensen. You’re the guest. I’ll have dinner ready in a few minutes anyway.”



Jared wasn’t surprised to discover that Misha’s wife was pretty damn awesome. It figured that a guy like Misha would attract someone interesting like Vicki. Misha couldn’t stand boredom.

“So, I write about sex mostly,” she told them over dinner as though she’d just told them she knitted sweaters for a hobby. “But I do a bit of journalism too.”

Jensen started to choke on his beer and Jared had to clap him on the back until he stopped coughing.

“Sorry, does it make you feel uncomfortable?” Vicki asked once Jensen had recovered.

“Me?” Jensen rasped. “No. It’s just. . .how do you get into that?”

Vicki shrugged. “I like sex. Well, more specifically I’m interested in relationships as well as the sex. I mean, you two are a great example. Misha told me you met online. Is this the first time you’ve seen what each other looks like?”

Jared glanced at Jensen who was now smiling to himself. “Yeah, why?”

“I was just wondering whether your opinion of each other has changed since you met in person.”

“Not really,” Jensen replied. “Should it have?”

“Not at all. I was just curious.”

“Well, I don’t think Jensen is a lesbian anymore,” Jared chuckled in an effort to inject some humor. This was all getting a bit too in depth and heavy for him to be comfortable.

Vicki let out small hum and turned in her seat to face Misha. “Shall I get dessert?”

Misha nodded and Vicki got up and disappeared into the kitchen.

“So, what are your plans for the weekend?” Misha asked with a smirk that told Jared exactly what he thought their plans should be.

Jared shrugged. “I dunno, really. Depends what Jensen wants to do.”

“I don’t mind,” Jensen added. “We can just hang out, if you like.”

“Yeah, I’d like that.” Jared smiled.

Misha smirked again and Jared really felt like kicking him under the table.



He was buzzed when they finally left Misha’s at 1am with Jensen leaning on him heavily as they stumbled into the cab Misha had called for them. After dessert Misha had broken out a bottle of Absinthe which he and Vicki had bought on vacation in Prague and if that alone hadn’t been enough to knock him sideways, they’d followed it up with a thick joint which Misha had insisted would make the booze taste even better.

“I like your friends,” Jensen murmured once they were in the cab. “They’re awesome.”

Jared smiled as Jensen immediately slumped on his shoulder and fell asleep, making these adorable little sleepy murmurs as he tried to burrow into Jared’s warmth.

His phone bleeped in his pocket and he was half inclined to ignore it, given how comfortable he was feeling. He did wonder who was texting him at this stupid time, though, and eventually curiosity won out over comfort. He managed to extract his phone without disturbing Jensen and read the message

He definitely wants you. Go for it - Misha

He smiled and slid the phone back into his pocket.

Maybe he would.



“Jensen?”

Jared almost hated to wake him up. He looked so peaceful sleeping against him. Unfortunately, the cab driver probably didn’t see it that way.

“Hey, Jensen. We’re home.”

Jensen nuzzled against him a little and finally opened his eyes, blinking sleepily at Jared before frowning in confusion.

“Come on,” Jared said gently. “There’s a nice bed waiting for you in the house.”

Jensen nodded and rubbed his eyes. “Bed sounds good.”

They almost fell out of the cab and staggered back towards the house.

Jensen stood at the foot of the stairs, swaying and looking like he was about three seconds away from falling flat on his face.

“Upstairs,” Jared said, wrapping an arm around his waist. “I’ll show you where the bedroom is.”

He could still smell the pot smoke on their clothes, thick and heavy as they climbed the stairs side by side. When they got to the top he pointed out the bathroom and then steered Jensen into the guest bedroom and sat him down on the bed.

“You need anything?”

Jensen tilted his head up, eyes glazed, lips parted and cheeks slightly flushed. Jesus Christ, Jared wanted to kiss him so bad right now.

“No,” Jensen finally said softly. “Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow, when I’m less wasted. I want to remember it.”

Jared took a step back, eyes still fixed on Jensen’s parted lips as he tried to work out whether Jensen was saying what Jared really hoped he was saying.

“Tomorrow,” Jensen repeated with a nod and then slumped over to one side and curled in on himself. By the time Jared snapped out of his thoughts, Jensen was deeply asleep and snoring softly.

He let out a shaky breath and took a tentative step closer to the bed. He was achingly hard now and all he could do was stand there and watch Jensen sleep. God, he was perfect, even sleeping on top of the covers in rumpled clothes and drooling into the pillow. As Jared took another step closer, Jensen let out a small snuffle and the snoring stopped.

He had half a mind to just stand there all night and watch Jensen sleep until he realized that was pretty damn creepy. Then he heard one of the dogs let out a whine downstairs and he was reminded that he still needed to let them out. He ran a hand through his hair and carefully pulled off Jensen’s shoes before folding the comforter over from the other side of the bed to cover him. His hand hovered an inch or so from Jensen’s hair but he finally thought better of it and pulled back.

“Tomorrow,” he murmured to himself and left Jensen to sleep.

Tomorrow couldn’t come fast enough.



Jared groaned when Harley and Sadie bounded into the bedroom at 8am and jumped all over him to announce it was breakfast time. His head was pounding, his stomach was churning and his mouth felt like something had died inside it.

“Later, guys,” he moaned. “Daddy’s dying.”

Harley barked which sent a white hot spark of pain flaring through his head and he knew he was fighting a losing battle. Not even the epic demonic hordes from the Supernatural books could get between his dogs and their food.

“Okay,” he sighed as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and lurched to his feet. “You win.”

The dogs charged downstairs and he followed at a slower pace, poking his head into the guest bedroom as he passed. Jensen was still sleeping soundly and Jared was grateful that at least one of them was managing to get some rest.

He fed the dogs, let them outside for a bit and considered going back to bed. Maybe he’d feel a bit less like death after he’d had a nap.

Except as he headed into the hallway he could hear Jensen moving around upstairs, and Harley and Sadie took that as an invitation to visit and charged.

Shit.

If Jensen felt even half as bad as Jared did there was no way he’d want two large dogs jumping all over him. What if he never wanted to visit again?

He raced up after them. Sure enough, both dogs were standing in the middle of Jensen’s bed, but there was no sign of Jensen himself.

“Jensen? Sorry about the dogs. They get a bit excited.”

The bathroom door opened and Jensen wandered back into the bedroom. Wearing nothing but a towel. His hair was damp, his skin slightly flushed from the hot water and as he walked past Jared caught the scent of Jensen’s cologne. Damn, he smelled good.

“Dude, I think I’m dying.”

Jared opened his mouth but realised that his throat was dry and any words that might have been forthcoming were stuck there. It was entirely possible he was still asleep, or high. It was that or his life had just turned into a porno.

Jensen started rummaging through his bag and pulled out some clean clothes while Jared just stood there, mouth slightly open as he watched one wayward drop of water run down Jensen’s back.

“Please tell me you have coffee,” Jensen rasped, still with his back to Jared and apparently totally oblivious to the effect he was having. “If you don’t we need to hit Starbucks before we do anything else and that includes eating.”

The drop of water had made its way to the base of Jensen’s spine now.

“Jared?”

“What? Oh! Coffee! I’ll. . .uh. . .I’ll just go and make some.”

He bolted from the room before he lost total control and pounced on Jensen right there.

When Jensen came downstairs ten minutes later, mercifully clothed, Jared had the coffee ready.

“Please tell me you feel the same way I do,” Jensen moaned as he accepted the mug of coffee from Jared.

“Uh. . .”

“I like your friends, man, but I think they half killed me.”

Jared snorted. “Right. Well, we can take it easy today. No booze or drugs, I promise.”

“Awesome. Damn, this coffee is amazing.”

“I know, right? First thing I bought when I started at the library was a decent coffee maker.”

They finished drinking in silence after that and Jared was surprised at how comfortable it was, despite his earlier freak-out at the sight of a half-naked Jensen.

“So, I was thinking maybe we could take the dogs to the park a bit later on,” he finally said. “Maybe rent a movie and get some pizza tonight. Just take it easy.”

“Sounds good to me,” Jensen replied.

Jared was already starting to feel better.



By the time they got to the park and the fresh air hit him, Jared found he was feeling a hell of a lot better, and as they watched Harley and Sadie chase each other around like idiots he noticed Jensen was smiling to himself, too. The sun was warm on his face and the air was clear. It was a good day.

“We should have a picnic,” Jared announced as the idea suddenly struck him. “I mean, if you want to. Take the dogs and some food up into the hills. What do you think?”

Jensen’s smile brightened. “I think that sounds perfect.”

“Awesome.”



It didn’t take them long to go back to Jared’s place, pack up some food and load it and the dogs into Jared’s car. His leg meant he still couldn’t drive far but it didn’t take them long to get out of the city and up into the hills.

Jensen had his camera out almost as soon as they stepped out of the car.

“Look at that view,” he breathed as he snapped some shots of the city skyline.

Jared watched as Jensen took a few more photos before slipping the camera back into his bag.

“Do you want to eat?” Jared asked. “I’m starving. I think my hangover finally wore off.”

Jensen chuckled. “Yeah, me too. I could definitely eat.”

The food was nothing special, just some sandwiches and chips and a couple of cans of soda. Jensen wound up giving half his food to the dogs even though Jared told him to resist their carefully calculated woobie faces.

“Seriously,” he said when Jensen gave Sadie some of his sandwich. “Sam Winchester has nothing on these two when it comes to the puppy eyes.”

“Guess I’m a soft touch like Dean,” Jensen grinned. “He can’t resist those eyes either.”

“Well, you won’t be able to get rid of my dogs now,” Jared smiled. “You’ll be like the cool uncle who spoils them rotten under daddy’s disapproving glare.”

Jensen glanced over his shoulder. “Yeah, I can see you look real disapproving over there.”

“I’m glaring on the inside.”

When they saw that Jensen had run out of food, Harley and Sadie headed over to Jared and sat expectantly at his feet.

“Oh, you guys can forget it.”

He still ended up giving them most of one of his sandwiches, which made Jensen laugh. It was worth it just for that.

They took a short walk so Jensen could take some more photos but they didn’t get far before Jared’s leg started to cramp.

“I’m really sorry,” Jared sighed as he limped back to the car with Jensen supporting him at the elbow.

“Don’t be sorry,” Jensen replied. “I’ve had an awesome day and didn’t you say something about pizza and a movie?”

They called in at the video store on the way home.

“Grab whatever you like,” Jared said. “There’s a deal where you can rent two movies for $5. We can pick one each and mock one another’s taste in films.”

“Deal.”

After five minutes Jared had picked up Sherlock Holmes and went to find Jensen.

“You find anything yet?”

Jensen nodded and held up a box. “I’ve been meaning to see this for ages. Robert Downey Jr. is awesome.”

For a moment Jared stared at the Sherlock Holmes box in Jensen’s hand and wondered if he was secretly some sort of psychic. Then he held up his own copy of the movie.

“Well, I guess we both have good taste,” Jensen grinned.

They left with Sherlock Holmes, Iron Man and a huge bag of popcorn.

Jared was back to planning that wedding in his head.



By the time Tony Stark had escaped his cave in the prototype Iron Man suit, Jared found he was on the verge of falling asleep. He glanced over at Jensen who was curled up at the other end of the couch, his face bathed in the glow of the TV screen.

“Hey,” Jared said softly. “I’m beat. Gonna have to go to bed. You can watch the rest of the movie, though.”

Jensen grabbed the remote from the table and hit pause. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just wiped from the walking. Seriously, man, it’s still early. Finish watching the movie. I’ve seen it like a dozen times or something anyway.”

He rose to his feet and Jensen caught hold of his hand before he could move.

Something had changed. He didn’t know if it was the way Jensen was looking at him, or the fact that Jensen was holding his hand, but there was an energy between them, a tension that hadn’t been there a few minutes ago.

Jensen rose to his feet, still holding onto Jared’s hand, so that they were now standing just a few inches apart.

“So, I promised you something last night,” Jensen said softly.

Jared had kind of assumed that Jensen had forgotten about last night. He’d been pretty wasted, they both had. He swallowed, opened his mouth and realised he had no idea what to say.

Jensen kissed him.

It was soft at first but the feeling of Jensen’s lips on his was enough to spur Jared into action. He deepened the kiss and pulled Jensen close so their bodies were flush against each other and he could feel Jensen’s hardness digging into his thigh.

“It’s too bad you’re tired,” Jensen murmured with a sly smile when Jared pulled back from the kiss. “Because I had one or two ideas for something else we could do instead of watching the movie.”

Jared’s heart leapt and he grinned. “Really? What sort of ideas?”

“How about we go upstairs and I show you?”

Together they staggered up the stairs, unable to keep their hands off each other as they fell onto Jared’s bed, pulling at each other’s clothes. Jared’s heart was pounding, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he tossed Jensen’s shirt on the floor and started working on his jeans. Christ, he wanted this so much. Part of him had wanted it before too, back when he thought Jensen was a girl.

“You’re thinking too much,” Jensen moaned as he nipped at Jared’s collarbone. “Don’t think about it.”

Jared could do that. He could most definitely do that.

He lay back and let Jensen slowly strip him of his clothes until they were both naked. God, Jensen was perfect. Lean, but toned. Oh, so very toned.

Jensen knelt on the bed between Jared’s legs and slowly stroked his hands up and down Jared’s thighs. Jared was so hard his body was trembling with sheer need and he was pretty sure he was going to come right there if Jensen didn’t fuck him soon.

Instead Jensen’s hands travelled further down until one of them came to rest on the leg he had broken. He flinched.

“Did I hurt you?” Jensen asked with concern and his hands stopped moving.

Jared swallowed hard. “No. No, it’s fine. It doesn’t really hurt anymore. It’s just my leg is kind of gross after being in a cast for six weeks. It’s all white and thin.”

Jensen dipped his head and pressed a kiss just below Jared’s knee. “You know, I’m kind of glad you broke your leg. We never would have met otherwise.”

He kind of had a point.

Jared reached down and brushed a hand over Jensen’s hair. “And for what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re not a lesbian.”

Jensen laughed softly. “Good. Now that we’ve got that out of our systems, how about you let me take care of you.”

Jared bit his lip. “Jensen, I don’t know if I can. . . I can’t put a lot of weight on my leg.”

Jensen smiled. “Don’t worry about anything. Like I said, I’m going to take care of you.”

Jensen moved his head up a little and pressed another kiss to Jared’s knee, then again to his inner-thigh. When Jensen’s mouth finally wrapped around his cock, Jared realised just how long it had been since he’d been with another guy. Way too long. In fact, he realized in a moment of cold dismay as Jensen sucked and licked, it had been so long he was having trouble controlling himself.

“Jen,” he groaned as Jensen’s tongue started doing this amazing thing at the base of his balls. “Jen, I think I’m gonna. . .”

He came with a shudder, falling limp beneath Jensen as his breath caught in his chest. This was, without a doubt, the most embarrassing experience of his life. And that included the time his History teacher had caught him with his hand down Jimmy Warren’s pants under the bleachers in high school.

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath and raked a hand through his hair. He half expected Jensen to get up and leave right now.

Instead Jensen crawled back up the bed and flopped down beside him. “Hey, don’t worry about it. It happens.”

Jared chuckled nervously. “It’s. . .uh. . .it’s been a while.”

“It’s okay, Jared, really.”

“At least let me do something for you,” Jared murmured and stroked a hand over Jensen’s chest, feeling the muscles twitch as his hand moved down between Jensen’s legs. Jensen caught hold of him and pulled his hand back up and settled it over his heart.

“I’m good.” Jensen pressed a kiss to his shoulder and slung an arm over Jared’s chest. “I know you’re tired. Besides, we’ve got all day tomorrow to try again. Now how about we try and get some sleep so that you’re all rested up for that.”

Jared blinked in the dark and wondered just exactly which deity he’d pleased to have deserved someone like Jensen.

“Yeah,” he finally said with a soft smile. “Tomorrow.”

It took him a while to relax and stop thinking about what had just happened, even though Jensen was slumbering quietly beside him and seemed content enough. He was suddenly struck with the cold, awful fear that he was going to do something to mess this up. What if the sex never got any better than this? What if the distance thing became a problem?

When he eventually did fall asleep he dreamed that he’d lost Jensen and when he tried to run to look for him, his legs fell off.



When he woke up to sunlight filtering in through the curtains, he realised he was really uncomfortable. His left arm was numb and he badly needed to piss. The problem was, the reason his arm was numb was because Jensen was lying on it and he looked so damn peaceful that Jared couldn’t bring himself to move.

So he lay there, bladder aching and arm growing more numb by the minute, and studied Jensen’s face. He hadn’t had the opportunity to look at him close up before. Jensen had eyelashes that some of Jared’s female friends would kill for, and a spattering of freckles across his nose and cheeks which just made him look adorable.

“I can feel you staring at me,” Jensen murmured sleepily as his mouth quirked up into a small smile. “What time is it?”

Jared glanced over Jensen’s shoulder to the clock on the nightstand. “Still early. You should go back to sleep.”

Jensen let out another little murmur and fell still again. Jared took the opportunity, while Jensen was still kind of awake, to extract his arm.

“Just going to the bathroom,” he said and slipped out of bed.

Of course, as soon as Harley and Sadie heard movement they came running and when Jared got out of the bathroom he found two sets of brown eyes looking at him expectantly.

“Fine,” he sighed. “But we’re making this quick.”

He grabbed his robe from the hook on the bathroom door and padded down the stairs. He filled the dogs’ bowls with food and left them to eat while he headed back upstairs.

Jensen let out a small whimper as Jared slipped back into bed. “Your feet are cold.”

“Sorry,” Jared whispered. “I had to let the dogs out.”

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to warm you up then.” Jensen cracked one eye open and smirked at him. Jared grinned as Jensen rolled over so that they were facing each other and then dipped his head forward to kiss him.

Jensen’s hand brushed over Jared’s stomach, moving down to his cock.

Jared sucked a breath in through his teeth as Jensen stroked him, painfully slowly.

“Let me fuck you,” Jensen whispered and the only thing Jared was capable of doing was nodding his head. He wanted this, of course he did, but after last night he was worried it was all going to go horribly wrong again and Jensen would go running for the hills.

“There’s stuff in the drawer,” he finally managed to croak but it was all the prompting Jensen needed. He leaned over and pulled out a condom and a small bottle of lube.

Jared rolled onto his front without needing to be asked. His cock was pressing into his stomach now but he knew his leg wasn’t up to him getting onto his knees. He kind of didn’t care how uncomfortable it was, actually. He just wanted to feel Jensen inside him.

“I’ll try not to hurt you,” Jensen whispered, his warm breath tickling Jared’s ear as he leaned in close. “Tell me if your leg starts to bother you.”

Jared really didn’t give a shit about his leg right now.

When Jensen slid a finger into him Jared let out a small groan. Fuck, it really had been a long time.

“Does that feel good?” Jensen asked as he slid a second finger into Jared.

The best Jared could manage was a strangled moan.

“I’m just getting to the good part,” Jensen promised and Jared had to bite down on his lip to stop himself from crying out.

Finally Jensen pressed into him, easing himself in slowly, and Christ it felt good. Jared had been way too used to jerking off as his only method of release. He’d forgotten how good it felt to have another person with him like this, and the fact that it was Jensen just made it perfect.

“You okay?” Jensen asked and Jared nodded his head.

“Don’t stop.”

As Jensen started to slowly thrust Jared almost screamed at him to go faster, but at the same time he wanted this to last.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted this,” Jensen moaned as he increased momentum.

Jared bucked against him. “Me too,” he grunted.

As Jensen pounded into him, Jared found himself stripped of all thoughts beyond how good this felt. Right then he wanted nothing more than to grab hold of Jensen and demand that he stay here forever.

He came with a strangled cry and a few moments later Jensen collapsed on top of him. Jared didn’t even care about the weight crushing him.

After a couple of minutes Jensen eased out of him and rolled onto his side, tossing the used condom into the trash.

“You okay?” he whispered between ragged gasps, and all Jared could do was nod.

He pulled Jensen close to him and for a few minutes they just lay there, listening to each other breathe.

“Well,” Jensen finally said. “Not that I didn’t enjoy last night but that was better.”

Jared snorted a laugh. “Yeah, it was.”

“We should definitely do that again some time.”

“Definitely.” Jared agreed. “Soon.”

“Maybe we should get up,” Jensen suggested.

“Maybe we should take a shower first.”

Jensen lifted his head and grinned. “That sounds like a pretty awesome idea.”

So, when they eventually had enough energy to move they stumbled into the bathroom and fucked for the second time under the warm water of the shower stream.

This was pretty much the best day Jared had ever had, and it was only 11am.



“So, what do you want to do today?” Jared asked when they finally made it downstairs for coffee and breakfast. “Apart from the obvious.”

Jensen’s lips quirked into a smile. “Hey, I didn’t say anything.”

“Oh, so you weren’t thinking what I was thinking then?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Jared chuckled and loaded the breakfast dishes into the sink. “We should probably go out for a couple of hours at least, even if it’s just to walk the dogs.”

“Yeah, I can probably keep my hands to myself for that long,” Jensen replied. “Hey, maybe we could go to the library. I’d love to see where you work.”

“Really?” Jared frowned. “It’s just a library. It’s pretty boring.”

“Not to me,” Jensen replied. “I love books, and I’d like to see it so I can imagine you there when you’re texting me because you’re bored.”

“Okay,” Jared shrugged. “If you’re really interested we can do that.”

“Great!”



“You’re Jensen?”

Jared could tell that Jeff was trying not to laugh and he was really starting to think that coming here was a bad idea.

“Let me guess,” Jensen smiled. “You were expecting someone with boobs? I’ve had that a lot this weekend. A guy could get a complex.”

Jeff chuckled. “Well, it’s nice to put a face to the name at least, even if you do have questionable taste in books.”

Here it came. Jared should have expected it really. Jeff couldn’t help himself. Lecturing people about what he thought they should be reading was like some sort of pre-programmed function.

Jensen, however, simply shrugged. “I appreciate the Supernatural books aren’t to everyone’s tastes but I like to balance out my reading.”

He picked up a book that Jeff had been reading when they’d come in. “Take this, for example. You’ve got the overriding theme of socialism in post-war Britain but underneath that you’ve got an examination of the nature of evil. That’s not so different to Sam and Dean facing down the forces of Heaven and Hell.”

Jeff blinked at him. “You’ve read Sarah Waters?”

“I preferred The Night Watch to The Littlest Stranger.”

Jeff’s face broke out into a grin and Jared couldn’t help but smile. It was the first time, ever, he’d seen his boss rendered speechless when it came to the subject of literature.

“How about I go and get us some coffees,” he suggested and when he left Jensen and Jeff were locked in a deep conversation about the novels of Kazuo Ishiguro.



“What?”

Jared hadn’t been able to stop staring at Jensen since they’d left the library and it seemed that Jensen had finally noticed.

“Nothing,” Jared replied as they walked back to the house.

“No, come on, it’s something. You keep staring at me.”

As soon as they were through the front door Jared pounced, pinning Jensen to the wall. “It’s you. Jesus, Jensen, do you have any idea how hot it was listening to you talk to Jeff about homosexuality in the Victorian era?”

Jensen’s eyes darkened and his tongue snaked out to wet his lips. “Shit, Jared, if I’d known literary criticism was such a big turn on I’d have started talking about the symbolic use of color hours ago.”

Jared kissed him.

“Upstairs,” he growled.

Jensen, thankfully, didn’t need telling twice.



“You don’t need to go back to Texas, right?” Jared said softly as he and Jensen lay in a sweaty tangled mess in his bed.

“I kind of don’t want to,” Jensen murmured. “But I’m booked on a flight that leaves in a few hours and I have to work tomorrow.”

Of course Jared had known this was only going to be for a couple of days, but that had been before he’d met Jensen in person. Everything was different now, and he sure as hell didn’t want to let him go.

“Just promise you’ll come back soon.”

Jensen nodded and pressed a kiss to his throat. “You’ll have to come and visit me, too. Get a taste of home.”

Jared couldn’t stop the smirk from spreading over his face. “Well, there’s definitely something I want to get a taste of.”

“You’re insatiable.” Jensen chuckled.

They lay there for a few more minutes and Jared just listened to the sound of Jensen breathing. It had been so long since he’d shared a bed with someone that he’d kind of forgotten what it was like. Now he wasn’t sure if he’d ever get used to sleeping alone again.

“We should eat,” he finally said, even though he really didn’t want to move.

Jensen let out a soft murmur which Jared took to be a noise of agreement but he didn’t actually do anything but nuzzle closer.

“Or we could stay here.”

Jensen nodded his head against Jared’s shoulder. “I like that plan.”

Jared kind of did too.



They hovered in front of the departure board, watching Jensen’s flight slowly make its way up the list. It wouldn’t be long now before he had to go to his gate and Jared was really trying to rein in the urge to grab hold of him and make a scene.

“So, I’ll talk to you on MSN?” Jensen asked. “And I’ll text you when I land.”

Jared nodded. “Hey, if you have any good fic ideas on the plane make sure you write them down or you’ll forget them.”

“Got it.”

Jensen’s gate flashed up on the board. It was time for him to go.

Jared pulled him into a crushing hug. “It was great to finally meet you in person.”

“You too.” Jensen pulled back from the hug and kissed him. “We’ll do this again soon, I promise.”

Reluctantly Jared let Jensen go after giving him one final kiss. “Yeah, soon.”

“Bye,” Jensen said, eyes filled with sadness even though he was clearly trying to smile.

“Bye,” Jared repeated sadly.

He had no idea how soon ‘soon’ actually was, but as Jensen walked away he already felt like a part of him was missing.

He waved as Jensen turned back for one last glimpse and tried not to think about the empty bed that would be waiting for him when he got home.

Part 4