Sum of the Parts (Chapter Four)
Title: Sum of the Parts
Author: hunters_retreat
Artist: loverstar
Fandom: 10 Inch Hero/Dark Angel/RPS/Supernatural
Pairing: Dean/Jensen/Priestly/Alec
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: moresomes, graphic M/M sex
Word Count: 40,000+
Summary: There were men who stood up in the face of adversity, and there were men who fell. When humanity fell pray to the men and women taken with psychic powers, The Face stood together, collecting what they could of their kind and trying to make a safe place to live while they continued to fight. But when word reaches their ears that they could finally save Sam Winchester, it could change the face of the world as they know it. For better or worse, Dean Winchester will get his brother out, or die trying. The rest of them... they're just going to try to keep the pieces of humanity together until then.
Jensen took a deep breath as the doctor finished with the last of the tape. He wanted to get the hell out of there but he knew it wasn’t going to happen.
“Really, I’ll be fine in my own room,” Jensen told the doctor.
“You have a concussion,” the doctor informed him. “While you may be willing to risk your life, I’m not. I’ll keep you here where I can check up on you.”
Normally he’d be cursing up a storm but he was more worried about Dean than anything. He was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room, his elbows on his knees with his head down. He hadn’t said anything since Jensen woke up.
“I don’t think this is nec-”
“Jense, please,” Dean finally looked up and Jensen could see the fear in his eyes and that more than anything else kept him quiet. “Just do what he asks.”
He didn’t say anything, just watched Dean for a few minutes before the doctor broke the silence, “Alright. Since that’s settled, I’ll be back in a little while.” He turned to Dean, “If anything changes in his condition or he stops making sense, let the nurse know and I’ll come right back.”
“I know the drill. Thanks, Doc,” Dean said as he walked him to the door, closing it behind him as he left.
They were alone and it was the last thing Jensen wanted. He thought about asking for Alec but he didn’t think Dean would go get him even if he did. Damn Priestly for being back at the base. He’d know how to handle all this. He had a sixth sense for how to handle anything related to Dean and his brother.
Jensen was still floundering around with the obvious hatred Sam felt for him. In all the time they’d been talking to Dean about getting his brother back, he’d never once thought that maybe he wouldn’t get along with Dean’s little brother, that just maybe he wouldn’t approve of what it was they did.
“Jensen?”
He looked up as Dean moved closer.
“Was he right, Dean?” Jensen asked softly.
“What?”
“You’ve been looking for Sam for so long. I never thought about what would happen when you found him. Now that you have him, do you need us? Is there even room for us?”
Dean stared at him for a few minutes before shaking his head. “After… You’re going to doubt me now? After everything we’ve been through? Everything that’s been between us?”
Jensen shook his head, “Maybe I’m just seeing it in a new light. You never wanted this, Dean. When I met you all you were doing was pulling people out of cages and sending them on their way. I was the one that wanted to do more. Maybe this is all too much now?” Jensen asked, his voice rising as he let the fear take hold of him. “Maybe this was all just a means to an end and now that you have your brother you don’t need us around anymore. Or maybe I’m just confused because your brother gave me a concussion when I was trying to look out for you!” he yelled.
Dean flinched at that and Jensen ran a hand over his face, trying to get a little control back. Dean didn’t give him time for that though, because he was sitting on the side of the bed, pulling their foreheads together. He could feel Dean’s breath against his lips and he closed his eyes, allowing his lover’s proximity to calm him.
“Jensen, don’t do this to me now,” he whispered. “I’m no good at this and you know it. But you also know I need you here. Maybe, a long time ago, all I needed was my brother, but I’m not that man anymore. You didn’t create this all by yourself and if I’d wanted to walk away I could have. I stayed for you. And I stayed for Alec. And then Priestly came to us and every time one of you got too close I tried my damndest to pull away but it never worked because I needed you all to fill me up, take away those empty places and make me into something strong. You remember that, Jensen?” Dean asked as he leaned back, looking Jensen in the eye.
“You asked me to make you brave and the only thing that made me strong enough to do it was knowing that you needed me to. That you believed I could. So somewhere along the line I started to be strong again, because you believed in me and I can’t lose that now.”
Jensen reached out and grabbed Dean by the back of the neck, pulling Dean into a hard kiss. It was harder than he usually was with Dean but damn if Dean wasn’t the most amazingly thick man in the world. Dean, saying he couldn’t talk about what he felt, who managed to express so much when he actually did. Who managed to make Jensen feel like a babbling idiot. He needed to kiss the tears from his eyes before his lover could see it, could see just how much Jensen needed to hear what he meant to Dean.
Dean’s arms were wrapped around his waist tight though, pulling him close and that was what he wanted to feel. Dean’s tongue slipped between Jensen’s lips and there was so much desperation between them he could barely think through it. He let one hand slide through Dean’s short hair while the other ran over his shoulders, soothing himself as much as he was trying to sooth Dean.
When the kiss became less frantic, Jensen pulled back slightly, taking a deep breath as he looked at Dean. “I’m not sure if it’s the kiss or the concussion that’s making me dizzy,” he teased.
Dean smirked and Jensen could see the way the tension had already drained from him. “That’s 100% Winchester.”
Jensen shook his head as he leaned back on the bed, rolling his eyes at Dean. “Has that line ever worked for you?”
“When you look like this, you can get away with just about anything.”
“And modest on top of it,” Jensen laughed. He let out a deep breath then, watching Dean as he looked back at the door. “You should go.”
“What?” Dean asked, jerking his head back around.
“You need to talk to your brother.”
“It can wait.”
“Can it?” Dean started to answer but Jensen stopped him. “Dean, he needs you right now. I get that. If you need to go deal with him right now, I understand.” He didn’t want him to go, but he did understand.
Dean shook his head though, stopping to toe his shoes off as he climbed up into the medical bed with Jensen. Jensen huffed as Dean maneuvered him until he was laying half on top of Dean with his head on his chest but he didn’t stop him either.
“Sam will be okay. Logan is with him right now and I’m not sure … I mean, I know why he did it. It’s something we’ll have to deal with but he hurt you and I’m not gonna forgive that too easy. I don’t think I can be around him right now and not be angry. I need to be here right now. We’ll just take a nap and the nice nurse will wake you up in an hour, and when I wake up, I’ll go see my brother. Okay?”
When Dean threw a blanket up over them Jensen just sighed into Dean’s chest. “Yeah, okay.” He let his eyes drift closed as Dean’s hand ran up and down his arm, comfortingly. “Missed this the last few nights?”
Dean’s chest moved in a silent huff of laughter. “Sleeping in a hospital chair is quite a bit different than sleeping in a big, comfortable bed surrounded by lovers.”
“When you say it like that it sounds hedonistic.”
“Isn’t it?”
Jensen snorted. “Good night, Dean.”
He felt the soft press of lips against his temple and then Dean’s quiet, amused voice. “Good night, Jense.”
**
The nap lasted the night and a good portion of the next morning. As much as Dean wanted to complain about it, he knew he’d been running on fumes and with Sam safe and awake and Jensen in his arms, it had been easy for exhaustion to catch up to him.
The doctor declared Jensen was fine though, so after a quick shower Jensen went out to catch up on what happened since he was thrown into a wall andDean went in search of his brother.
It wasn’t a long search since Sam wasn’t able to move around too much. Dean stopped to talk to the doctor before going to Sam’s room and the prognosis was that he was doing fairly well. While he was still weak from malnutrition, dehydration, and exhaustion, his health was good.
What was going on in his head though, that was something else entirely. Jensen wasn’t the only person Sam had snapped at since the previous afternoon. The nurse and doctor had caused another incident but luckily Alec had come in to check on Sam and managed to take the brunt of it himself. He knew he needed to talk to Alec to see what had really happened, but Alec had gone on a scouting mission before Dean woke up. He couldn’t wait for that so he was left dealing with Sam on his own. He didn’t hesitate to go but it would have been nice to talk to Alec first. At least Alec knew Sam and might get an idea about what was going through his head.
He knocked on the door and gave it a second before walking in. He felt a strange camaraderie with his brother’s keeper, but it wasn’t the same as family. He’d never been worried about giving Sam privacy, but Logan deserved that much and he was practically attached to Sam.
“Morning, Sammy,” Dean said as he walked in to see his brother. He nodded to his brother’s companion. “Logan.”
Logan was sitting on a chair next to the bed for once and Sam was at the foot of the bed. He looked up when Dean came in. Instead of the hesitant smile Dean expected, Sam smiled at him as if nothing had happened.
“Dean, they said you were sleeping.”
“Yeah, I slept in. How are you doing?”
“Um, good,” Sam said with a slight frown. “I mean, I’m still feeling pretty weak but I’m free, you know?”
“Yeah,” Dean said with a nod. “Logan, you mind giving us a few minutes?”
Logan looked at Dean for a second then over at Sam. Sam stared at him, nodding after a few minutes. Dean wasn’t sure what the hell that was, except he knew Sam and Logan didn’t need to talk in words. He pushed down the jealousy he felt, tried not to tell the man to get the hell out when he was just taking care of Sam but it was a close thing.
Logan closed the distance between them then, resting his hand on Sam’s tattoo. Sam’s hand came up, catching Logan’s in something that was far too intimate. Dean looked away but it only lasted a moment and Logan was leaving the room.
Dean watched the door close behind him for a minute, then turned around to face his brother. Sam looked at him with an expectant face but Dean didn’t have any idea what to say. He’d expected to see Sam with some sort of remorse or regret for what he did to Jensen, but there was no recognition of wrong doing in Sam’s eyes.
“Sammy,” his voice was rougher than he liked, clogged with emotion. He was supposed to get Sam out and everything was supposed to be fine, damn it! But he was a Winchester and as he and Sam used to joke, the only ladies of luck that visited their doors, were the bad kind.
“Sam,” he started again. “What’s going on with you?” Sam furrowed his brow, cocking his head just slightly to the side in question. “What happened with Jensen-”
“They said he was fine, Dean,” Sam said, unconcerned. “I was going to check up on you and make sure you were alright, but the doctors said I needed to stay in my room.” He said it as he rolled his eyes, but Dean knew Sam was too weak to be moving around too much just yet. He was absurdly grateful for that fact now.
“And Jensen? Were you going to check up on him?”
“He’s fine, Dean.”
“Yeah, he is,” Dean took a step forward, anger propelling him. “But you don’t give a shit about that, do you? What is going on in that head of yours, Sam? ‘Cause I gotta tell you, I can’t make any sense out of it. Jensen is one of the people who helped save you. You have no idea what he’s done. Damn it, Sammy, if you were in your right mind you’d love the damn guy. He’s got the whole self-sacrificing be a better man bullshit down to a science, just like you used to. But you just threw him around with your psychic bullshit for no reason. So I’m asking, Sammy. What the hell?”
Sam finally looked down and Dean knew he’d finally got through, he just didn’t know if it mattered. Whatever Sam was dealing with, it wasn’t going to be gone in a day. Dean was in this for the long haul, but he couldn’t help but worry about his lovers and what it would mean for them. Jensen had been ready to take his block off for doubting, but what about Alec and Priestly? What if they decided they were happy enough on their own, without Dean and the trouble that was surrounding Sam? He knew they’d stick around, that they wouldn’t walk away from what they’d helped create, but that didn’t mean they’d still be a part of this. That they’d still want to deal with Dean and all his bullshit. The thought hurt more than he wanted to admit and it made him angry because he’d never had to doubt them before. He might not understand what they saw in him, but they were more than vocal about it.
“I need to understand.” Dean’s voice broke and he took a deep breath to try to rein in his emotions.
“Dean,” and Sam’s voice was just as broken as his own sounded. He watched Sam shiver against whatever he was dealing with but when he looked up at Dean, there was anger in his eyes. “He touched you.”
“What?”
“He, he touched you.”
“We got a real problem if you’re going to beat up everyone who brushes up against me.”
“Not his hand!” Sam yelled. “I can feel it Dean, him, the others, inside you. In your heart where there’s only supposed to be me. You don’t need them! I’m back and I can be what I was.”
Dean closed his eyes because this wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have with Sam. Hell, it wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have with anyone. What the hell was with people making him say things he didn’t want to say lately?
“Sam, you know no one could take your place in my life, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have other people. I … they’re family. They helped me get to you, Sam. Do you understand that? They kept me sane when the bond kept trying to pull me under. They planned and built something I could never have done, and because of that I got to you.”
“Bullshit!” Sam demanded. “It isn’t because of me that you’re close to them. I see the way Jensen looks at you. Hell, the way Alec looks at you now. I’ve seen the four of you together through the bond and what was there? It had nothing to do with me. They aren’t family. They’re just lovers and like everyone else in our lives, we’ll leave them behind.”
“Like you’ll leave Logan?”
Before he could move, he was slammed against the far wall, Sam crossing the distance on coltish legs as he glared at Dean. “Don’t you talk about Logan. He’s nothing like them.”
“You think I don’t get it, Sammy?” Dean asked. “The jealousy? Think I don’t want to take Logan’s head off every time he touches our mark? Every time he takes care of you in ways that I should be?”
Sam stepped back, his eyes wide. Whatever was holding Dean up let go suddenly and he stumbled slightly to his feet. “Dean, I’m not jealous.”
“I am,” he admitted. It was so much easier than addressing the rest of it, just admitting to his jealousy instead of what he really felt for his lovers. “It was always just you and me, even when we had other people around. We took care of each other and we might not have always been great at it, but we managed to get through. Seeing someone else take care of you? It hurts, but I can deal with that because I know you need him, Sam.”
Sam took another step away, but his knees gave out and Dean was there, catching him before he could fall. “I’ve got you,” he said softly, taking his brother back to his bed. He got him back up and wrapped the blankets over his shoulders in case he went into some sort of emotional shock or something
“Dean… just …”
His brother’s voice was barely a whisper and Dean knew what he needed. They didn’t do it often as adults but it happened sometimes, when things became too much and they just needed the reassurance. He crawled up in bed beside his brother and crawled under the blankets with him. The last time they’d done it, Sam had given them the bond.
Dean turned onto his side and Sam did the same, looking at one another a moment before Dean grabbed Sam’s hand and put it over his heart. “I’m always gonna be your big brother,” he reminded Sam.
It didn’t make Sam smile the way he’d hoped it would, but Sam sighed as if in relief. He moved until his forehead was pressed to Sam’s and then he took his brother’s hand in his own, pressing them both onto the mattress between them so that his hand was brushing Sam’s tattoo.
Sam shuddered slightly and closed his eyes. The tension left his body and Dean was amazed at how fast his brother fell asleep. Dean barely heard the door open, but when he turned his head slightly he saw Alec and Logan coming in. There were a stack of files in their arms and Dean knew that Alec was getting Logan up to date on the way the Face ran things. He didn’t know if Logan was doing it for Sam or for himself, but he was grateful either way.
Logan confused the hell out of him, stirring up Dean’s jealousy and his compassion continually. He knew he had his own issues to work out with the place Logan was taking in his brother’s life, but he and Sam would manage. They always did. They were brothers after all, and Dean wasn’t letting go.
**
In the end, it took three weeks before the doctors were ready to move Sam. It was a week longer than Dean had thought they would need to wait so he was antsy. They had always planned to stay at the base for two weeks before going back to B-base to make sure no one had managed to follow them back, but they hadn’t planned on Sam’s mental health to be more of a factor than the physical. He pushed himself too hard, trying to work out to get his strength back and he’d managed to delay them by putting his body right back into the exhaustion mode. Logan had been furious at him and Dean had just walked out of the room to keep from laughing as the shorter man gave his brother what for.
Moments like that helped settle Dean’s jealousy. Jensen hadn’t been back to see Sam since he was released from the doctor’s care and Sam made no effort to ask after him. Dean still talked about him though and the absence of snide comments by the end of the third week was progress. Alec pressed the issue harder than Dean did, ever since Dean had confided in Alec about the conversation with Sam, making every excuse to touch Dean while Sam was around. Sam grit his teeth a lot but Alec didn’t get thrown around like Jensen had. He didn’t know if it was because Sam was learning to cope or if it was because he knew Alec from before.
At two weeks, they sent most of the men with them back to B-base and Jensen went with them. Dean hated the idea of it, but he couldn’t deny that they needed one of them to get back to base and Jensen had volunteered, reminding Dean not only of his role on the base, but also that Alec should be allowed some time to see his friends again, both Sam and Logan. If Dean had darker thoughts on why Jensen wanted to leave, he was smart enough to keep them to himself and not let Alec see him brooding about it. The man could keep a secret, but if Dean even acted like he was getting upset about something Alec was Jensen’s little snitch and ratted him out every time. Really, he’d probably hate him a bit for it if they didn’t normally end up having mind blowing sex afterwards. He was forgiving like that.
Alec bumped against his shoulder and Dean looked up, watching as Sam came out of the base. He took a second to assess him, watching the way his movements were more coordinated and how his stride had a confident ease to it again. His shoulders were held back, not hunched in on himself. His eyes immediately went to the terrain around them, looking for snipers and soldiers, looking beyond his eyes to see if psychics roamed the area around them. Then his eyes finally turned to the men that were travelling with them. Three trucks worth of men and supplies were ready and waiting on Sam’s approach.
Sam turned to look back at Logan, the first self-conscious gesture Sam made, and Logan was smiling up at him encouragingly. Sam smiled back. It wasn’t the smile Dean knew he could have, the one that lit you up from the inside out when he gave it to you, but it was a good place to start anyway. Sam seemed pretty steady most of the time and Dean was willing to take the time to see that smile again. The opposite end, the depression and manic glee he’d felt through the bond before Logan had come into Sam’s life, he could do without that. He still felt it sometimes though, the mantra at the back of Sam’s head, the constant deandeandean and the image of people burning. It was disturbing as hell, but Sam was doing better, handling it better. Logan didn’t let him do it the Winchester way, but made him talk about it. He’d come in more than once to see Alec and Sam talking about the different attempts to break him. They were things he would never talk to Dean about, a lifetime of denial meant he couldn’t talk to Dean about them, but he thanked Alec and Logan however he could for being there for his brother.
When Sam finally turned his eyes on Dean, he was smiling again. “Hey Dean, looks like it’s time for a road trip.”
“You know it, Sammy.”
“No Impala?”
Dean snorted. “Like I’d risk my baby to transport your ass from base to base.”
Alec and Logan laughed at the bantering but they didn’t know the Impala. Dean had left her in storage years ago, knowing it was probably the last time he’d see her. Years later and he’d never gone back. He was almost afraid to find out if someone else had found her and she was missing. For now, at least in his head, she was safe and beautiful, waiting for the day they could be on the open road.
“So, let’s go see this base of yours,” Sam said.
Dean nodded, moving to the back of one of the trucks. With the exception of Sam and Logan, the men were fully armed. He didn’t anticipate trouble, but he wasn’t about to risk their lives on it. Not when the psychics had to be looking for Sam.
“They won’t,” Sam said suddenly as he settled across from Dean. Alec and Logan sat on either side of Sam.
“Who won’t what?” Alec asked.
“The psychics. They won’t come looking for me right now.”
“Sam-”
“It’s not denial and it’s not wishful thinking. The only reason they got me under their shield the first time was because I was knocked unconscious. When I woke they had me shielded. They can’t touch me now. They can’t find me. And because of the last three years, I’m a hell of a lot stronger than I was.”
“I don’t know if that makes sense, Sam.” He wanted to believe the psychics would leave Sam alone but he didn’t believe it.
“Think of it this way. The biggest, baddest demon can’t do a damn thing to you once you get him in a demon’s trap, but he can kick your ass ten ways to Sunday unless you can get him in it. It’s the same thing.”
“And they won’t come looking because…”
“Because they can’t find me. I’m too strong for them to track and they know it. I know if they find me they’ll come after me, but they can’t trust their senses to do it so they’ll have to find me the old fashioned way.”
Dean let himself relax a little at those words. “Looks like we should have a pretty smooth trip then.”
Alec was staring out the back cover of the truck bed as they began to move out. Logan reached over and touched Sam’s hand lightly, a gesture that Dean had begun to recognize as Logan’s nervousness. He covered his emotions well, but he had a few tells. “Let’s hope so.”
**
Jensen stalked through the corridors of B-base and people stepped out of his way, rumors of his foul temper spreading before him. B-base had never felt like home to him, had never given him the calm confidence that the original base had. He supposed it had something to do with the way the other base had fallen, how his safe sanctuary had ended with him on his back, a juicehead poised to kill him before Dean came in and saved him.
Like he was some sort of damsel in distress, he snorted at the thought. His head was aching and there was so much to do. The others were due back in two days and even though he had Priestly to hold at night, Jensen needed them all together, needed to have his other two lover’s safe at their side.
He could have stayed behind, he knew that. He could have stayed with Alec and Dean and come home with them, but he needed the distance as much as he needed them close. And honestly, he figured he was safer at a distance for that matter. He didn’t want to ever find Dean in a position of choosing between Jensen and his brother but he wasn’t sure Sam wouldn’t have forced that if Jensen had remained. Jensen had no doubt which end of that decision he would end up on.
“Jensen,” he heard his name called and he tried to ignore it, but one of the things he’d found was it was hard to ignore his own voice. He looked back at Priestly and couldn’t help but smile.
Priestly had his hair spiked up in bright red points today. The lighting in the hallways made the metal of his eyebrow piercing take on a reddish tint. He wore heavy boots and work pants, but somewhere, someone had started creating tee-shirts for him. His current shirt was dark green, one of their stock shirts, with the words “I’m with beautiful” in white lettering. An arrow pointed down, right, and left, an obscene joke about the number of his lovers. Once upon a time, it might have embarrassed him but he’d grown to live with it. It was hard not to with Priestly and Dean pushing each other on.
“I need you to come with me,” Priestly said as he grabbed his arm, pulling Jensen with him without waiting for his consent. It was entirely unlike Priestly. As crude as he sometimes talked, he was always very conscious of personal boundaries and permissions.
He wasn’t even aware of where he was being led until he was pushed into their quarters. Priestly slammed the door behind him, not in anger but for speed, and then he was pushing Jensen back into the bedroom.
“Priestly, what the hell are you doing?”
“Fucking you.”
“What?”
“You’re nasty to everyone around you today, so I figure if you got something stuck in your ass it might as well be me.” Priestly grabbed Jensen’s shirt and pulled it over his head before pushing Jensen back on the bed.
“I’m not being nasty to everyone,” Jensen defended himself, but he realized he actually was. Since he’d come back he’d been tense and he knew he was taking out his anger and worries on the people around him. He also knew that he’d barely even said hello to Priestly before he’d buried himself in the running of the base again.
“Shut up and get naked,” Priestly demanded as he pulled off his own shirt.
He was shocked into action by Priestly’s gruff manner. Things had been easy between them ever since Jensen had gotten over his insecurities over their newest addition, but this was unlike the Priestly he knew. Of course, Priestly demanding to fuck him in the first place was new, but Jensen wasn’t exactly complaining at the idea. In fact, he knocked his shoes to the floor and stripped himself naked, crawling up to the head of their bed as he watched Priestly.
He loved the look of Priestly’s skin, the dark ink marking him so much different than the rest of them. Alec and Jensen both had pale, unblemished skin, whereas Dean had his scars and Priestly had his tattoos. They drew Jensen, made him want to trace them with his tongue, and he knew just how much Priestly enjoyed that.
When Priestly joined him on the bed though, his hands were gently as they moved across Jensen’s skin. When he brought himself up, side by side with Jensen, his kiss was soft, his tongue asking permission instead of forcing its way into his mouth.
He wrapped an arm around Priestly’s waist and pulled their bodies closer, moaning at the feel of his lover moving against him. Priestly licked lazily inside him mouth, taking the tension that had been building in Jensen all week long and turning it into something else.
He couldn’t think through it, but Priestly was staring at him then, kohl lined eyes looking straight to the heart of him. “They’re gonna be here soon. They’re gonna be safe.”
“I know,” Jensen said softly.
“They’re still gonna be ours,” Priestly added.
Jensen didn’t know how Priestly always knew the problem, or how he came about this intense conviction, but Jensen couldn’t answer that, couldn’t voice his own doubts about his place with them now that Dean had his brother back. Instead, he slid his hands across the short, shaved hairs at the back of Priestly’s neck and pulled him in again, his kiss asking for the reassurances his words couldn’t.
Priestly seemed to understand because he took his time, showering Jensen with soft caresses and heated kisses until he was shivering underneath him. When he pushed his way inside Jensen’s body, it was with whispered words and adoration in his touch. When they came together, Priestly’s hand on his cock, Priestly’s body slowing as he pumped the last of his seed into Jensen’s body, it was with conviction in his eyes, that this thing between them all was far from over.
Even as they held one another, Jensen still doubted. But Priestly believed and Jensen knew that his lover’s affection and belief could sustain him a while longer.
On to Chapter Five
Author: hunters_retreat
Artist: loverstar
Fandom: 10 Inch Hero/Dark Angel/RPS/Supernatural
Pairing: Dean/Jensen/Priestly/Alec
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: moresomes, graphic M/M sex
Word Count: 40,000+
Summary: There were men who stood up in the face of adversity, and there were men who fell. When humanity fell pray to the men and women taken with psychic powers, The Face stood together, collecting what they could of their kind and trying to make a safe place to live while they continued to fight. But when word reaches their ears that they could finally save Sam Winchester, it could change the face of the world as they know it. For better or worse, Dean Winchester will get his brother out, or die trying. The rest of them... they're just going to try to keep the pieces of humanity together until then.
Jensen took a deep breath as the doctor finished with the last of the tape. He wanted to get the hell out of there but he knew it wasn’t going to happen.
“Really, I’ll be fine in my own room,” Jensen told the doctor.
“You have a concussion,” the doctor informed him. “While you may be willing to risk your life, I’m not. I’ll keep you here where I can check up on you.”
Normally he’d be cursing up a storm but he was more worried about Dean than anything. He was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room, his elbows on his knees with his head down. He hadn’t said anything since Jensen woke up.
“I don’t think this is nec-”
“Jense, please,” Dean finally looked up and Jensen could see the fear in his eyes and that more than anything else kept him quiet. “Just do what he asks.”
He didn’t say anything, just watched Dean for a few minutes before the doctor broke the silence, “Alright. Since that’s settled, I’ll be back in a little while.” He turned to Dean, “If anything changes in his condition or he stops making sense, let the nurse know and I’ll come right back.”
“I know the drill. Thanks, Doc,” Dean said as he walked him to the door, closing it behind him as he left.
They were alone and it was the last thing Jensen wanted. He thought about asking for Alec but he didn’t think Dean would go get him even if he did. Damn Priestly for being back at the base. He’d know how to handle all this. He had a sixth sense for how to handle anything related to Dean and his brother.
Jensen was still floundering around with the obvious hatred Sam felt for him. In all the time they’d been talking to Dean about getting his brother back, he’d never once thought that maybe he wouldn’t get along with Dean’s little brother, that just maybe he wouldn’t approve of what it was they did.
“Jensen?”
He looked up as Dean moved closer.
“Was he right, Dean?” Jensen asked softly.
“What?”
“You’ve been looking for Sam for so long. I never thought about what would happen when you found him. Now that you have him, do you need us? Is there even room for us?”
Dean stared at him for a few minutes before shaking his head. “After… You’re going to doubt me now? After everything we’ve been through? Everything that’s been between us?”
Jensen shook his head, “Maybe I’m just seeing it in a new light. You never wanted this, Dean. When I met you all you were doing was pulling people out of cages and sending them on their way. I was the one that wanted to do more. Maybe this is all too much now?” Jensen asked, his voice rising as he let the fear take hold of him. “Maybe this was all just a means to an end and now that you have your brother you don’t need us around anymore. Or maybe I’m just confused because your brother gave me a concussion when I was trying to look out for you!” he yelled.
Dean flinched at that and Jensen ran a hand over his face, trying to get a little control back. Dean didn’t give him time for that though, because he was sitting on the side of the bed, pulling their foreheads together. He could feel Dean’s breath against his lips and he closed his eyes, allowing his lover’s proximity to calm him.
“Jensen, don’t do this to me now,” he whispered. “I’m no good at this and you know it. But you also know I need you here. Maybe, a long time ago, all I needed was my brother, but I’m not that man anymore. You didn’t create this all by yourself and if I’d wanted to walk away I could have. I stayed for you. And I stayed for Alec. And then Priestly came to us and every time one of you got too close I tried my damndest to pull away but it never worked because I needed you all to fill me up, take away those empty places and make me into something strong. You remember that, Jensen?” Dean asked as he leaned back, looking Jensen in the eye.
“You asked me to make you brave and the only thing that made me strong enough to do it was knowing that you needed me to. That you believed I could. So somewhere along the line I started to be strong again, because you believed in me and I can’t lose that now.”
Jensen reached out and grabbed Dean by the back of the neck, pulling Dean into a hard kiss. It was harder than he usually was with Dean but damn if Dean wasn’t the most amazingly thick man in the world. Dean, saying he couldn’t talk about what he felt, who managed to express so much when he actually did. Who managed to make Jensen feel like a babbling idiot. He needed to kiss the tears from his eyes before his lover could see it, could see just how much Jensen needed to hear what he meant to Dean.
Dean’s arms were wrapped around his waist tight though, pulling him close and that was what he wanted to feel. Dean’s tongue slipped between Jensen’s lips and there was so much desperation between them he could barely think through it. He let one hand slide through Dean’s short hair while the other ran over his shoulders, soothing himself as much as he was trying to sooth Dean.
When the kiss became less frantic, Jensen pulled back slightly, taking a deep breath as he looked at Dean. “I’m not sure if it’s the kiss or the concussion that’s making me dizzy,” he teased.
Dean smirked and Jensen could see the way the tension had already drained from him. “That’s 100% Winchester.”
Jensen shook his head as he leaned back on the bed, rolling his eyes at Dean. “Has that line ever worked for you?”
“When you look like this, you can get away with just about anything.”
“And modest on top of it,” Jensen laughed. He let out a deep breath then, watching Dean as he looked back at the door. “You should go.”
“What?” Dean asked, jerking his head back around.
“You need to talk to your brother.”
“It can wait.”
“Can it?” Dean started to answer but Jensen stopped him. “Dean, he needs you right now. I get that. If you need to go deal with him right now, I understand.” He didn’t want him to go, but he did understand.
Dean shook his head though, stopping to toe his shoes off as he climbed up into the medical bed with Jensen. Jensen huffed as Dean maneuvered him until he was laying half on top of Dean with his head on his chest but he didn’t stop him either.
“Sam will be okay. Logan is with him right now and I’m not sure … I mean, I know why he did it. It’s something we’ll have to deal with but he hurt you and I’m not gonna forgive that too easy. I don’t think I can be around him right now and not be angry. I need to be here right now. We’ll just take a nap and the nice nurse will wake you up in an hour, and when I wake up, I’ll go see my brother. Okay?”
When Dean threw a blanket up over them Jensen just sighed into Dean’s chest. “Yeah, okay.” He let his eyes drift closed as Dean’s hand ran up and down his arm, comfortingly. “Missed this the last few nights?”
Dean’s chest moved in a silent huff of laughter. “Sleeping in a hospital chair is quite a bit different than sleeping in a big, comfortable bed surrounded by lovers.”
“When you say it like that it sounds hedonistic.”
“Isn’t it?”
Jensen snorted. “Good night, Dean.”
He felt the soft press of lips against his temple and then Dean’s quiet, amused voice. “Good night, Jense.”
**
The nap lasted the night and a good portion of the next morning. As much as Dean wanted to complain about it, he knew he’d been running on fumes and with Sam safe and awake and Jensen in his arms, it had been easy for exhaustion to catch up to him.
The doctor declared Jensen was fine though, so after a quick shower Jensen went out to catch up on what happened since he was thrown into a wall andDean went in search of his brother.
It wasn’t a long search since Sam wasn’t able to move around too much. Dean stopped to talk to the doctor before going to Sam’s room and the prognosis was that he was doing fairly well. While he was still weak from malnutrition, dehydration, and exhaustion, his health was good.
What was going on in his head though, that was something else entirely. Jensen wasn’t the only person Sam had snapped at since the previous afternoon. The nurse and doctor had caused another incident but luckily Alec had come in to check on Sam and managed to take the brunt of it himself. He knew he needed to talk to Alec to see what had really happened, but Alec had gone on a scouting mission before Dean woke up. He couldn’t wait for that so he was left dealing with Sam on his own. He didn’t hesitate to go but it would have been nice to talk to Alec first. At least Alec knew Sam and might get an idea about what was going through his head.
He knocked on the door and gave it a second before walking in. He felt a strange camaraderie with his brother’s keeper, but it wasn’t the same as family. He’d never been worried about giving Sam privacy, but Logan deserved that much and he was practically attached to Sam.
“Morning, Sammy,” Dean said as he walked in to see his brother. He nodded to his brother’s companion. “Logan.”
Logan was sitting on a chair next to the bed for once and Sam was at the foot of the bed. He looked up when Dean came in. Instead of the hesitant smile Dean expected, Sam smiled at him as if nothing had happened.
“Dean, they said you were sleeping.”
“Yeah, I slept in. How are you doing?”
“Um, good,” Sam said with a slight frown. “I mean, I’m still feeling pretty weak but I’m free, you know?”
“Yeah,” Dean said with a nod. “Logan, you mind giving us a few minutes?”
Logan looked at Dean for a second then over at Sam. Sam stared at him, nodding after a few minutes. Dean wasn’t sure what the hell that was, except he knew Sam and Logan didn’t need to talk in words. He pushed down the jealousy he felt, tried not to tell the man to get the hell out when he was just taking care of Sam but it was a close thing.
Logan closed the distance between them then, resting his hand on Sam’s tattoo. Sam’s hand came up, catching Logan’s in something that was far too intimate. Dean looked away but it only lasted a moment and Logan was leaving the room.
Dean watched the door close behind him for a minute, then turned around to face his brother. Sam looked at him with an expectant face but Dean didn’t have any idea what to say. He’d expected to see Sam with some sort of remorse or regret for what he did to Jensen, but there was no recognition of wrong doing in Sam’s eyes.
“Sammy,” his voice was rougher than he liked, clogged with emotion. He was supposed to get Sam out and everything was supposed to be fine, damn it! But he was a Winchester and as he and Sam used to joke, the only ladies of luck that visited their doors, were the bad kind.
“Sam,” he started again. “What’s going on with you?” Sam furrowed his brow, cocking his head just slightly to the side in question. “What happened with Jensen-”
“They said he was fine, Dean,” Sam said, unconcerned. “I was going to check up on you and make sure you were alright, but the doctors said I needed to stay in my room.” He said it as he rolled his eyes, but Dean knew Sam was too weak to be moving around too much just yet. He was absurdly grateful for that fact now.
“And Jensen? Were you going to check up on him?”
“He’s fine, Dean.”
“Yeah, he is,” Dean took a step forward, anger propelling him. “But you don’t give a shit about that, do you? What is going on in that head of yours, Sam? ‘Cause I gotta tell you, I can’t make any sense out of it. Jensen is one of the people who helped save you. You have no idea what he’s done. Damn it, Sammy, if you were in your right mind you’d love the damn guy. He’s got the whole self-sacrificing be a better man bullshit down to a science, just like you used to. But you just threw him around with your psychic bullshit for no reason. So I’m asking, Sammy. What the hell?”
Sam finally looked down and Dean knew he’d finally got through, he just didn’t know if it mattered. Whatever Sam was dealing with, it wasn’t going to be gone in a day. Dean was in this for the long haul, but he couldn’t help but worry about his lovers and what it would mean for them. Jensen had been ready to take his block off for doubting, but what about Alec and Priestly? What if they decided they were happy enough on their own, without Dean and the trouble that was surrounding Sam? He knew they’d stick around, that they wouldn’t walk away from what they’d helped create, but that didn’t mean they’d still be a part of this. That they’d still want to deal with Dean and all his bullshit. The thought hurt more than he wanted to admit and it made him angry because he’d never had to doubt them before. He might not understand what they saw in him, but they were more than vocal about it.
“I need to understand.” Dean’s voice broke and he took a deep breath to try to rein in his emotions.
“Dean,” and Sam’s voice was just as broken as his own sounded. He watched Sam shiver against whatever he was dealing with but when he looked up at Dean, there was anger in his eyes. “He touched you.”
“What?”
“He, he touched you.”
“We got a real problem if you’re going to beat up everyone who brushes up against me.”
“Not his hand!” Sam yelled. “I can feel it Dean, him, the others, inside you. In your heart where there’s only supposed to be me. You don’t need them! I’m back and I can be what I was.”
Dean closed his eyes because this wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have with Sam. Hell, it wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have with anyone. What the hell was with people making him say things he didn’t want to say lately?
“Sam, you know no one could take your place in my life, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have other people. I … they’re family. They helped me get to you, Sam. Do you understand that? They kept me sane when the bond kept trying to pull me under. They planned and built something I could never have done, and because of that I got to you.”
“Bullshit!” Sam demanded. “It isn’t because of me that you’re close to them. I see the way Jensen looks at you. Hell, the way Alec looks at you now. I’ve seen the four of you together through the bond and what was there? It had nothing to do with me. They aren’t family. They’re just lovers and like everyone else in our lives, we’ll leave them behind.”
“Like you’ll leave Logan?”
Before he could move, he was slammed against the far wall, Sam crossing the distance on coltish legs as he glared at Dean. “Don’t you talk about Logan. He’s nothing like them.”
“You think I don’t get it, Sammy?” Dean asked. “The jealousy? Think I don’t want to take Logan’s head off every time he touches our mark? Every time he takes care of you in ways that I should be?”
Sam stepped back, his eyes wide. Whatever was holding Dean up let go suddenly and he stumbled slightly to his feet. “Dean, I’m not jealous.”
“I am,” he admitted. It was so much easier than addressing the rest of it, just admitting to his jealousy instead of what he really felt for his lovers. “It was always just you and me, even when we had other people around. We took care of each other and we might not have always been great at it, but we managed to get through. Seeing someone else take care of you? It hurts, but I can deal with that because I know you need him, Sam.”
Sam took another step away, but his knees gave out and Dean was there, catching him before he could fall. “I’ve got you,” he said softly, taking his brother back to his bed. He got him back up and wrapped the blankets over his shoulders in case he went into some sort of emotional shock or something
“Dean… just …”
His brother’s voice was barely a whisper and Dean knew what he needed. They didn’t do it often as adults but it happened sometimes, when things became too much and they just needed the reassurance. He crawled up in bed beside his brother and crawled under the blankets with him. The last time they’d done it, Sam had given them the bond.
Dean turned onto his side and Sam did the same, looking at one another a moment before Dean grabbed Sam’s hand and put it over his heart. “I’m always gonna be your big brother,” he reminded Sam.
It didn’t make Sam smile the way he’d hoped it would, but Sam sighed as if in relief. He moved until his forehead was pressed to Sam’s and then he took his brother’s hand in his own, pressing them both onto the mattress between them so that his hand was brushing Sam’s tattoo.
Sam shuddered slightly and closed his eyes. The tension left his body and Dean was amazed at how fast his brother fell asleep. Dean barely heard the door open, but when he turned his head slightly he saw Alec and Logan coming in. There were a stack of files in their arms and Dean knew that Alec was getting Logan up to date on the way the Face ran things. He didn’t know if Logan was doing it for Sam or for himself, but he was grateful either way.
Logan confused the hell out of him, stirring up Dean’s jealousy and his compassion continually. He knew he had his own issues to work out with the place Logan was taking in his brother’s life, but he and Sam would manage. They always did. They were brothers after all, and Dean wasn’t letting go.
**
In the end, it took three weeks before the doctors were ready to move Sam. It was a week longer than Dean had thought they would need to wait so he was antsy. They had always planned to stay at the base for two weeks before going back to B-base to make sure no one had managed to follow them back, but they hadn’t planned on Sam’s mental health to be more of a factor than the physical. He pushed himself too hard, trying to work out to get his strength back and he’d managed to delay them by putting his body right back into the exhaustion mode. Logan had been furious at him and Dean had just walked out of the room to keep from laughing as the shorter man gave his brother what for.
Moments like that helped settle Dean’s jealousy. Jensen hadn’t been back to see Sam since he was released from the doctor’s care and Sam made no effort to ask after him. Dean still talked about him though and the absence of snide comments by the end of the third week was progress. Alec pressed the issue harder than Dean did, ever since Dean had confided in Alec about the conversation with Sam, making every excuse to touch Dean while Sam was around. Sam grit his teeth a lot but Alec didn’t get thrown around like Jensen had. He didn’t know if it was because Sam was learning to cope or if it was because he knew Alec from before.
At two weeks, they sent most of the men with them back to B-base and Jensen went with them. Dean hated the idea of it, but he couldn’t deny that they needed one of them to get back to base and Jensen had volunteered, reminding Dean not only of his role on the base, but also that Alec should be allowed some time to see his friends again, both Sam and Logan. If Dean had darker thoughts on why Jensen wanted to leave, he was smart enough to keep them to himself and not let Alec see him brooding about it. The man could keep a secret, but if Dean even acted like he was getting upset about something Alec was Jensen’s little snitch and ratted him out every time. Really, he’d probably hate him a bit for it if they didn’t normally end up having mind blowing sex afterwards. He was forgiving like that.
Alec bumped against his shoulder and Dean looked up, watching as Sam came out of the base. He took a second to assess him, watching the way his movements were more coordinated and how his stride had a confident ease to it again. His shoulders were held back, not hunched in on himself. His eyes immediately went to the terrain around them, looking for snipers and soldiers, looking beyond his eyes to see if psychics roamed the area around them. Then his eyes finally turned to the men that were travelling with them. Three trucks worth of men and supplies were ready and waiting on Sam’s approach.
Sam turned to look back at Logan, the first self-conscious gesture Sam made, and Logan was smiling up at him encouragingly. Sam smiled back. It wasn’t the smile Dean knew he could have, the one that lit you up from the inside out when he gave it to you, but it was a good place to start anyway. Sam seemed pretty steady most of the time and Dean was willing to take the time to see that smile again. The opposite end, the depression and manic glee he’d felt through the bond before Logan had come into Sam’s life, he could do without that. He still felt it sometimes though, the mantra at the back of Sam’s head, the constant deandeandean and the image of people burning. It was disturbing as hell, but Sam was doing better, handling it better. Logan didn’t let him do it the Winchester way, but made him talk about it. He’d come in more than once to see Alec and Sam talking about the different attempts to break him. They were things he would never talk to Dean about, a lifetime of denial meant he couldn’t talk to Dean about them, but he thanked Alec and Logan however he could for being there for his brother.
When Sam finally turned his eyes on Dean, he was smiling again. “Hey Dean, looks like it’s time for a road trip.”
“You know it, Sammy.”
“No Impala?”
Dean snorted. “Like I’d risk my baby to transport your ass from base to base.”
Alec and Logan laughed at the bantering but they didn’t know the Impala. Dean had left her in storage years ago, knowing it was probably the last time he’d see her. Years later and he’d never gone back. He was almost afraid to find out if someone else had found her and she was missing. For now, at least in his head, she was safe and beautiful, waiting for the day they could be on the open road.
“So, let’s go see this base of yours,” Sam said.
Dean nodded, moving to the back of one of the trucks. With the exception of Sam and Logan, the men were fully armed. He didn’t anticipate trouble, but he wasn’t about to risk their lives on it. Not when the psychics had to be looking for Sam.
“They won’t,” Sam said suddenly as he settled across from Dean. Alec and Logan sat on either side of Sam.
“Who won’t what?” Alec asked.
“The psychics. They won’t come looking for me right now.”
“Sam-”
“It’s not denial and it’s not wishful thinking. The only reason they got me under their shield the first time was because I was knocked unconscious. When I woke they had me shielded. They can’t touch me now. They can’t find me. And because of the last three years, I’m a hell of a lot stronger than I was.”
“I don’t know if that makes sense, Sam.” He wanted to believe the psychics would leave Sam alone but he didn’t believe it.
“Think of it this way. The biggest, baddest demon can’t do a damn thing to you once you get him in a demon’s trap, but he can kick your ass ten ways to Sunday unless you can get him in it. It’s the same thing.”
“And they won’t come looking because…”
“Because they can’t find me. I’m too strong for them to track and they know it. I know if they find me they’ll come after me, but they can’t trust their senses to do it so they’ll have to find me the old fashioned way.”
Dean let himself relax a little at those words. “Looks like we should have a pretty smooth trip then.”
Alec was staring out the back cover of the truck bed as they began to move out. Logan reached over and touched Sam’s hand lightly, a gesture that Dean had begun to recognize as Logan’s nervousness. He covered his emotions well, but he had a few tells. “Let’s hope so.”
**
Jensen stalked through the corridors of B-base and people stepped out of his way, rumors of his foul temper spreading before him. B-base had never felt like home to him, had never given him the calm confidence that the original base had. He supposed it had something to do with the way the other base had fallen, how his safe sanctuary had ended with him on his back, a juicehead poised to kill him before Dean came in and saved him.
Like he was some sort of damsel in distress, he snorted at the thought. His head was aching and there was so much to do. The others were due back in two days and even though he had Priestly to hold at night, Jensen needed them all together, needed to have his other two lover’s safe at their side.
He could have stayed behind, he knew that. He could have stayed with Alec and Dean and come home with them, but he needed the distance as much as he needed them close. And honestly, he figured he was safer at a distance for that matter. He didn’t want to ever find Dean in a position of choosing between Jensen and his brother but he wasn’t sure Sam wouldn’t have forced that if Jensen had remained. Jensen had no doubt which end of that decision he would end up on.
“Jensen,” he heard his name called and he tried to ignore it, but one of the things he’d found was it was hard to ignore his own voice. He looked back at Priestly and couldn’t help but smile.
Priestly had his hair spiked up in bright red points today. The lighting in the hallways made the metal of his eyebrow piercing take on a reddish tint. He wore heavy boots and work pants, but somewhere, someone had started creating tee-shirts for him. His current shirt was dark green, one of their stock shirts, with the words “I’m with beautiful” in white lettering. An arrow pointed down, right, and left, an obscene joke about the number of his lovers. Once upon a time, it might have embarrassed him but he’d grown to live with it. It was hard not to with Priestly and Dean pushing each other on.
“I need you to come with me,” Priestly said as he grabbed his arm, pulling Jensen with him without waiting for his consent. It was entirely unlike Priestly. As crude as he sometimes talked, he was always very conscious of personal boundaries and permissions.
He wasn’t even aware of where he was being led until he was pushed into their quarters. Priestly slammed the door behind him, not in anger but for speed, and then he was pushing Jensen back into the bedroom.
“Priestly, what the hell are you doing?”
“Fucking you.”
“What?”
“You’re nasty to everyone around you today, so I figure if you got something stuck in your ass it might as well be me.” Priestly grabbed Jensen’s shirt and pulled it over his head before pushing Jensen back on the bed.
“I’m not being nasty to everyone,” Jensen defended himself, but he realized he actually was. Since he’d come back he’d been tense and he knew he was taking out his anger and worries on the people around him. He also knew that he’d barely even said hello to Priestly before he’d buried himself in the running of the base again.
“Shut up and get naked,” Priestly demanded as he pulled off his own shirt.
He was shocked into action by Priestly’s gruff manner. Things had been easy between them ever since Jensen had gotten over his insecurities over their newest addition, but this was unlike the Priestly he knew. Of course, Priestly demanding to fuck him in the first place was new, but Jensen wasn’t exactly complaining at the idea. In fact, he knocked his shoes to the floor and stripped himself naked, crawling up to the head of their bed as he watched Priestly.
He loved the look of Priestly’s skin, the dark ink marking him so much different than the rest of them. Alec and Jensen both had pale, unblemished skin, whereas Dean had his scars and Priestly had his tattoos. They drew Jensen, made him want to trace them with his tongue, and he knew just how much Priestly enjoyed that.
When Priestly joined him on the bed though, his hands were gently as they moved across Jensen’s skin. When he brought himself up, side by side with Jensen, his kiss was soft, his tongue asking permission instead of forcing its way into his mouth.
He wrapped an arm around Priestly’s waist and pulled their bodies closer, moaning at the feel of his lover moving against him. Priestly licked lazily inside him mouth, taking the tension that had been building in Jensen all week long and turning it into something else.
He couldn’t think through it, but Priestly was staring at him then, kohl lined eyes looking straight to the heart of him. “They’re gonna be here soon. They’re gonna be safe.”
“I know,” Jensen said softly.
“They’re still gonna be ours,” Priestly added.
Jensen didn’t know how Priestly always knew the problem, or how he came about this intense conviction, but Jensen couldn’t answer that, couldn’t voice his own doubts about his place with them now that Dean had his brother back. Instead, he slid his hands across the short, shaved hairs at the back of Priestly’s neck and pulled him in again, his kiss asking for the reassurances his words couldn’t.
Priestly seemed to understand because he took his time, showering Jensen with soft caresses and heated kisses until he was shivering underneath him. When he pushed his way inside Jensen’s body, it was with whispered words and adoration in his touch. When they came together, Priestly’s hand on his cock, Priestly’s body slowing as he pumped the last of his seed into Jensen’s body, it was with conviction in his eyes, that this thing between them all was far from over.
Even as they held one another, Jensen still doubted. But Priestly believed and Jensen knew that his lover’s affection and belief could sustain him a while longer.
On to Chapter Five