Prompts: 07, 19, 27, "Jensen Ackles: In a world of dreams I'm a frequent flyer" for spn_30snapshots
Title: "Say the words you never dare"
Author: the_milky_way
Character(s)/Pairing: Jensen Ackles (Jared/Jensen)
Theme: Jensen Ackles: In a world of dreams I'm a frequent flyer
Prompt(s): 07. Kiss, 19. Trust, 27. Truth
Words: ~5.800
Rating: PG-13
Beta: Thanks so much parka_girl. You, as always, saved my life.
Disclaimer: This is not true. It never happened and I don't own anything.
Summary:“It starts simply enough, with a note taped to the wardrobe mirror on set, telling him that he should go out with the guys, that Jared will be there later. They haven’t really talked outside dialogue and scene set-up for a couple of days."
Notes:Written for akintay's prompt at Fall Fandom Free-For-All (2011). Her prompt was Jared/Jensen, non-AU, communicating through notes. I really hope this comes close to what you wanted. :)
I trust you with my heart
It starts simply enough, with a note taped to the wardrobe mirror on set, telling him that he should go out with the guys, that Jared will be there later. They haven’t really talked outside dialogue and scene set-
up for a couple of days.
It’s nothing, they’re just busy. Different scenes, different schedules - one of them flying down to Cali during weekends, the other staying in Vancouver. Sure, they go out, but lately they’re never alone. No quiet nights at one of their places, never dinner at one of their favorite places without company.
There are texts, voicemail messages and short conversations on the phone during the day, but lunch is usually cut short or someone else is with them. There are no gummy worm wars in their trailer or runs with the dogs during breaks anymore. Everything is just tightly scheduled these days and most of the easy going atmosphere from the earlier seasons is gone.
The note makes him feel a little lighter. The day has been stressful and he’s been looking forward to an evening in a bar, having a drink and doing nothing but shooting the shit. He didn’t think Jared would be able to join them. Now the note proclaims something else and he lets the smile tugging at his lips slip free.
It’s something new in their hectic routine. A sparkly yellow piece of paper with a smiley in the corner and Jared’s sprawled scrawling all over it. For some reason he carefully pulls it from the mirror and folds it into his wallet. The smile he still sports when he meets up with the guys feels like the first real one he's had in months, maybe even years.
Somehow the note feels more personal than any other form of communication they’ve used recently. Of course, he’d rather talk to Jared face to face, spend some one on one time with one of his best friends but this kinda feels like maybe Jared’s on the same page, finally.
“Jensen, c'mon man, we need another one on the team. Game of pool. You in?”
Until Jared joins them, he thinks, and lets himself be dragged off towards the pool tables in the back of the bar. A typical night out as it seems, but something feels different now.
***
The next note shows up a few days later. It’s a blue one this time. Again with a smiley in one corner and words sprawled all over the space. It flutters softly in the breeze and he marvels that it hasn’t been swept away yet. It’s right in front of his eyes when he’s about to enter his trailer during a break in filming.
The note doesn’t say much, just that there are gummy worms waiting for him under the stairs. It makes him smile even more than the first one did. It’s silly - maybe. But he can’t help it, he pulls the note off the surface and tucks it next to the one already in his wallet.
The gummy worms are just what he needs. His blood sugar levels feel way too low and he admires that Jared obviously knew as much. He shakes his head, grabs the bag and climbs into his trailer. He has a session with red and yellow sour gummy worms now and he plans to thoroughly enjoy it.
The smile’s still there when he comes back to set. Jared ducks his head a little but the satisfied smirk is still visible.
***
The third note is green and shows up the same day as the previous note. There are two smileys on it and it makes Jensen laugh out loud, startling the PA scuttling along behind him to make sure he’ll be safe on his way to the car.
That’s new, too. They aren’t allowed to walk to the cars alone anymore. Something about security and insurance, but Jensen thinks the studio’s just paranoid. They're not that famous. And he doubts that a tiny PA could actually help defend him if something should happen. She’s barely half his size. He sincerely hopes for her own sake that she has a black belt or something.
He shrugs in apology but she isn’t even looking at him, cheeks flushed and eyes on the car they're heading toward. So much for having bodyguards around at any given time. He should have known that the studio only meant ‘outside studio premises’ when they said ‘always.’
The note had been attached to his house keys, or rather, its keychain. The green a startling contrast to the silvers and coppers of the keys. It simply says that there’s take-out waiting in the car and that he should really eat more.
The smile is automatic and hasn’t left since he saw the note. He feels a little weird, being this stupidly happy about sticky notes. It certainly has the taste of something out of high school and those secret post-its in the lockers no one was supposed to see but everyone knew about.
The green piece of paper is folded and joins the other two.
***
There's a small box in his bedside drawer that's getting fuller and fuller over the next few months. Next to the box are stacks of colorful sticky notes and multicolored pens. Because, he decided that two can play that game.
So he leaves notes of his own now. Just simple ‘Thank yous’ or a ‘see ya in a bit.’ No smileys or anything. He’s not Jared after all. His colors are less flashy, nothing neon or pink. The brightest color he stocked up on is orange. And only because they were out of blue ones. He feels silly most of the time, but the smiles he gets in return make up for it.
The crew is accustomed to their weird games and has gotten used to them finding the most mundane things to entertain themselves with. They let them be, never removing notes from equipment or commenting about what’s on them. The private ones are kept to their trailers anyway.
It shows how much he trusts the team, trusts Jared, that he doesn’t even think about writing notes with private admissions, left in places for anyone to see but only meant for Jared’s eyes.
It’s fun. And he doesn’t try to think about the why.
***
The day the second box is full he blinks and wonders where they all came from. Colorful post-its peek out from where the lid doesn’t close fully anymore and he realizes how long they’ve been doing this. Communicating through notes, smileys, and looks. It’s been a year already.
They do talk, have to if they want to do their jobs right. They shoot the shit during breaks; hang out after work or during weekends. They watch movies at each other’s places or actually just meet up to fire up the grill and relax on Jared’s backyard deck.
But somehow during those months, when he needed Jared’s notes as pick-me ups and something to look forward to during the day, somehow during the time when he decided to answer and leave notes of his own they slipped into communicating the important things solely on bright colorful paper.
There’s Jared’s sad smiley and a vet’s appointment on one, and he remembers just showing up on Jared’s doorstep the day it was set. The smile he got still sometimes flashes across his inner eye and he shivers. It’s weird and inexplicable how they’ve become even closer through writing such seemingly unimportant things down.
He knows it's really so much more than that. It’s what they can read between the lines that makes this all so weird and also so damn sweet -- so sweet that he sometimes wants to smack himself. They know each other so well by now that one single appointment written down translates into asking for the other to be there without having to say it out loud.
The top most post-it makes his heart clench and teeth grind. It’s from this morning and holds so much bad news that he doesn’t really know how to answer it. A simple smiley or a ‘Sorry to hear that, dude’ won’t work. It didn’t when he wrote almost the same thing about a year ago. It was just the beginning of ‘the love notes’ and he still thinks he should try and find out who called them that first and hit them hard. That’s so not what they are or what this is about. Jared’s his best friend and he kind of loves the fact that they have so many ways of communication.
A year ago, one sentence on a dark blue post-it ended in a night of drinks and real talking. He knows that’s what’s needed right now as well. He grabs his keys, wallet and cell and is out of the door half a minute later.
He doesn’t see the lid slide further down and the top note slipping onto the floor.
“She’s gone” shines from gloomy-looking brown paper, the usually elegant sprawl of letters is now just chicken scratches among a few blots that might be tears or just spilled coffee.
***
I wish I had known the truth all along
He wakes up with a thrumming head and his eyes glued shut. There’s also something sticky on his forehead and when he’s awake enough to make a grab for it he snorts. It’s a bright pink post-it.
Thank you. <3
The hangover forgotten, he smiles and flops back down into his pillow. The previous night is still lingering in his bones, on his mind. His body’s not really awake just yet, still at the bar mostly. He risks a glance at the clock and is surprised to see that it’s fairly early in the day. Lately, he thought he was getting too old for a night spent drinking and not caring for sleep or how he’d look like in the morning.
It’s a rare day off and he’s not on a plane down south. Hasn’t done that in a while even though he’s still friends with Dani, and has other friends he should meet up with, should be seen around if he wants to land a role during hiatus. Only, he’s not really looking for work. The show’s enough for now.
He also wants to spend some time with Jared. Especially now.
The truth is that last night had been long time coming, brewing on the horizon and neither of them could prevent it from happening. Sure, he could've tried to be around more, actually talk to his best friend instead of feeling all giddy over sticky notes.
Jared, of course, dismissed this notion. First thing he said when Jensen entered the bar last night was: “Don’t blame yourself. You’ve been there for me the whole time. It’s okay, Jense. She left and it’s mostly my fault.” That’s all they really said about that.
Drinks kept coming, games of pool happened and somehow they ended up at Jensen’s. Curled around each other on the bed and asleep the second they hit the mattress. He doesn’t know what to think about the fact that he actually wanted to wake up that way. Those kinda of thoughts were never allowed, have always been pushed back into the drawer deep in his mind. He isn’t sure why he allows them now, if only for a second or two.
It’s a truth he's known for a long time. Even Dani knew, told him to get his act together when she agreed to stay around for him. He has yet to manage that, even doubts if he'll ever be able to. It’s Jared, his best friend, one of the very few people in the world who can make him smile and feel good with a single word, a look or just a stupid smiley on bright pink sticky notes.
He groans when the sun hits him in the face.
When he turns his head to search for the Advil he knows are in his beside drawer he can’t help the surprised snort that escapes him. There’s another post-it, attached to the glass of water that’s placed next to the bottle of pills.
’Take me.’ That’s all it says.
For some reason it makes his heart skip a beat. He’s very close to rolling his eyes at himself. It’s really sort of pathetic what an impact those small pieces of paper have on him now. A year and it’s still going on.
He grabs the pills and the glass and actually laughs out loud when he sees that the backside of the post-it sports another message.
Take two, Jen. Don’t let the tequila win over you. Breakfast is waiting downstairs. Eat it. <3 Jay
Breakfast. It’s such a small thing but he can’t stop staring at the word. It’s not the first time Jared's made him breakfast, far from it. It’s just that Jared once told him that he’s not doing it for just anybody. The he thinks he vaguely remembers how Genevieve once complained about how Jared - even on his days off - was too lazy to make her breakfast.
He doesn’t know why he remembers that now, why it suddenly means so much today of all days. He just doesn’t know. But it makes him blush for no reason, makes him flick back to the way things were last night. Jared plastered closer to him than he had been in a long time, mumbled words of sorrow and heartbreak but sentences filled with hope as well.
It had been a strange night, though not a bad one. He just thinks that he expected Jared to be more upset about everything. Jared’s not someone who can hide his feelings that easily. And he knows Jared - sometimes a little too well.
The two pieces of paper join the others in the full box. He needs to get a new one. He doesn’t see an end to this and just thinking about it ending has him grumpy and sad. It’s then that he realizes how much his own state of mind depends on those simple notes, how much his own happiness depends on the things Jared lets him read between the lines.
It’s another truth he's tried not to see but can’t help it anymore.
***
The box of tissues is one of the most hideous ones he’s ever seen in his life. Orange, with a floral décor and sparkling leaves sprinkled all over it. The glittery shit is already spread all over his hands and t-shirt. But he couldn’t not buy it when he saw it in the drugstore.
Jared’s been sniffling for a day now, running through boxes of tissues faster than any PA can run and get new ones. It’s been a week since that night out, since she left Jared and they got even closer than they’ve ever been before.
It’s a gradual development. It’s just them drifting in the same direction again, spending time together, sharing thoughts and laughter, looks and smiles. After the night out, a routine they haven’t had in years seems to set in again.
They get to the set together, go home together, even if one of them has to wait. Sticky notes telling each other where they are, where they're going and what they’ll be doing once at home. They spend the night at either place, not caring if it looks weird to everyone else.
It’s just that they need to be together, supportive and just there for each other. He’s the best friend helping Jared through a rough time, if he gets something out of it for himself then all the better. He doesn’t even feel too selfish about it.
The closeness is probably the reason why he knew that Jared was on the way to a bad cold the day he greeted him in the kitchen with puffy eyes and sniffling every few seconds. Jared still insists on working, on finishing this episode - the last one before Thanksgiving - so everyone around them tries to tiptoe and not aggravate the ailing half of the co-leads or the other half that is taking care of the sick one.
He finds it all rather amusing.
It’s also why he’s in Jared’s trailer now, trying to find the perfect place to put the box down. He wants Jared to see it first thing when he comes in, wants to be there and take in Jared’s face. So in the end, the box is placed right in the middle of the table in the living area, exactly in Jared’s line of sight when he'll walk in.
The couch is little out of the way but he can still see the entrance from where he’s sprawled over the comfortable cushions. He’s tired, has been done with his scenes for the day and is just waiting for Jared to take him home.
The sparkly box is like a beacon. His eyes are drawn to it every second or so. But it’s more about the note attached to it than the box itself. When he wrote it, it took him five tries to get it right, to say exactly what he wanted to say without sounding too blatant, too sappy, too cold, too overbearing or too much like a lunatic who thinks something is going on when there maybe (probably) isn’t.
But then again, it had been Jared starting with the notes, with the words that somehow mean more than what they're literally saying. It’d been Jared who let him answer and keep things going. It’s been Jared who let him get away with so many things he said in those notes.
He just hopes he chose the right words now.
***
He can hear Jared’s coughing echoing through the house. It sounds painful and he flinches every time Jared bellows out and barely manages to calm down again. The tea should be done in a minute, the soup’s already on the tray.
They're done with shooting for now. Have been for two days.
Thanksgiving will actually be vacation days for them, for the first time in years. The studio scheduled the break longer since they have one more episode to shoot this year. He’s really not complaining about it and neither is Jared, who now has the chance to get better and actually be up to going home for the holidays. They’ll both be going down to Texas. Family time, they both need it. Knowing their mothers, they’ll end up spending most of the time together anyway.
He carefully carries the try upstairs to Jared’s bedroom. The house is still new to him even though he’s spent a lot of time here lately. But it still doesn’t feel as much as home as the old one had. He doesn’t try to think about the why and that the most probable reason is out of the picture now anyway.
Jared’s asleep again when he steps into the room. The air smells stale and like Vick’s, like his room when he was little and had a cold. It makes him smile. The tray ends up on the bedside table, next to the half-eaten sandwich from this morning.
Disheveled and still fluffy hair is the only thing visible of Jared, everything else is covered by the thick blanket and comforter Jared’s wiggled under. It’s such a cute sight that he stops for a minute or two to just look. He opens the window, lets the breeze in and takes a deep breath himself.
Jared snuffles a little but doesn’t wake.
Then something green catches his eyes, it’s a sticky not wedged between the half-empty water glass and the nose spray. It’s the note he attached to the box of tissues during that last day on set. It makes him curious why it’s here. He has no idea what Jared does with all the notes, if he keeps them as well or just throws them away. For some reason he doubts Jared would do the latter.
He pulls the piece of paper from where it’s sticking to the glass and blinks when he sees that the words he'd written, the words he'd fretted over so much, are crossed through and others are written beneath them.
Jared had never really answered him back in the trailer, had just smiled all wide but really tired and almost begged him to drive them home. He hadn’t wanted to push, had almost forgotten about it while taking care of a sick Jared and fielding calls from worried family.
Now, he thinks, he’ll get his answer.
Let me take care of you?
Always.
He stands there, staring and reading the one word over and over again. He feels way too old to be scared like this. But that one word has thoughts whirling inside his head that scare him like nothing else has in quite a while. There’s hope among those thoughts and he doesn’t know how to take it, if he’s really thinking the right thoughts right now.
Jared’s blinking at him when he dares a look, a small smile playing around his lips and the flush on his cheeks is probably due less to the cold than he tries to convince himself it is.
“I mean it, Jensen. Always.” It’s mumbled, voice croaky and rough but Jared’s lucid. It makes his heart skip and a smile slips free.
“Put it in the box, before you lose it.” There’s a finger pointing out from under the covers towards a book shelf. There’s a wooden box and he just knows what it is, looks back at Jared and grins. He sees Jared shrug under the blanket and knows they both understand each other perfectly.
Once the note joins all the others with his handwriting on them, he makes Jared eat the soup and doesn’t feel bad when Jared falls asleep halfway through. The cough sounds less painful the next morning.
There’s a yellow post-it on the empty bowl when he picks it up to carry to the kitchen.
Thank you. Again. Don’t know what I’d do without you.
The truth - the one truth he's known since the day he realized how close he and Jared were after a few months - is that he doesn’t know what to do without Jared anymore either.
***
Touches linger on my lips. just kiss
Home. He never realized how many places he has that the word could refer to.
His parent’s place, even though it’s not the one he grew up in, simply because it’s his parent’s home. His place in L.A. because he loves it and knows he’ll stay there until his career is over and done with. His Vancouver place, the one of many there but it feels like home because of the people around and the fact that he loves his work.
But there are so many other not-so-obvious places as well. Jared’s houses and Jared’s family place among them. And today is one of the days he feels so very much at home among Jared’s family that he wonders why he never figured it out before, why it took him years to actually see what’s going on.
Things have been a little strange between him and Jared. Not in a bad way, just some tension neither of them knows how to dissolve. Unspoken words seem to hang in the air between them and not even sticky notes with sappy words that make him cringe can do anything to resolve the tension.
They’ve been in Texas for a few days. Jared’s recovering still but feels well enough to spend his days babysitting or trying to help his mom with Thanksgiving preparations. How he knows all this? Jared, geek that he is, found a website where you can send sticky notes via email. Bright and colorful as they come.
Sitting in front of his computer, he'd laughed for a full fifteen minutes. His mom’s raised eyebrows and his sister’s attempts to look over his shoulder at the screen had brought him out of it - for a minute or so.
Just saying Jared, as if it explained everything, had been enough.
One look at his momma then and he knew they’d be spending Thanksgiving in San Antonio. It’s just them and Mackenzie this year anyway. Josh opted out to bring his kids to his wife’s parents. That’s how he found himself in a truck this morning on the way to Jared’s family home.
It’s cozy and warm, filled with laughter and conversations, people that genuinely like each other in the same place enjoying company and good food. Only, Jensen feels so much more than just a guest and wonders - not for the first time - why that is.
He’s on the way back from the kitchen, having helped cleaning away the rest of dinner, when he sees the pink post-it clinging with one corner to the banister of the stairs leading up to Jared’s old room. Sometimes he’s all amazed about the fact that he knows this house so well, can navigate it with his eyes closed and knows he’s allowed to.
Pulling the note from the wood, he looks around and smiles when he sees the rest of their families engaged in a tough looking game of scrabble.
’Follow the pink’, the note reads and he actually snorts but does it anyway. He wants to know what Jared’s up to.
The next pink piece of paper greets him at the top of the stairs, sticking to one of the family photos. It’s a newer one and it takes him a second to realize that he’s on it as well. It’s from the summer, the one week spend here before they took off to Europe. His heart skips a bit again. He’s getting used to it.
He thinks Jared placed the post-it there to show him something. Reading between the lines because the note simply says ‘Come on, Jensen. You know the way. ;) ’ . This time he doesn’t suppress the laugh that wants to escape.
And yes, he does know the way to Jared’s room.
There’s another dot of pink attached to the door and he doesn’t hesitate to read it, wants to know what it says so badly that he has to blink a few times before the words become clear.
Since it’s Thanksgiving I guess I should tell you what I’m thankful for … your friendship.
He pulls the note and sees another one beneath it.
Your understanding.
He smiles and detaches this one as well. He snorts, shakes his head and reads the next one.
Your acceptance … how you always know what I need and how you let me be.
It shouldn’t make him swallow as hard as it does. And there definitely aren’t tears collecting in the corner of his eyes. There so aren’t. It’s just that he knows what Jared’s saying and he wants to say the same things as well, feels them just as much as Jared seems to. Figures that they are - or rather that Jared is - using post-its to say the important things.
The next one makes him groan though.
What the fuck is taking you so long, come in, dude! :P
Right. For a second he forgot that it’s Jared writing these. Maybe not really, but he has to smile.
The room's dark, only the light on the desk is switched on, leaving the other half of the room in shadows. He knows Jared’s there, he also knows that there’s a reason why only this light is on. There’s another pink piece of paper attached to a wooden box on the table.
A similar box Jared has in his bedroom in Vancouver. He’s over there in two strides, sees the printed out notes they sent via email and places the ones he just collected inside the box as well. Then, and only then, does he read the one that’s new.
Most of all I’m thankful for you being in my life. Being there for me. For hopefully not reading this wrong. I want to thank you. Turn around.
And he does. Turns slowly and watches Jared walk out of the shadows into the light.
There’s pink over his mouth. A sticky note on his lips and he’s grinning, hope shining out of his eyes. Jared stops just a few inches away and the words on his lips become visible.
Kiss me?
He takes a deep breath, carefully pulls the sticky note away and steps closer. It's been a long time coming and they both know it. Relationships left behind because no one could compete but they've both only realize that now. Jared’s eyes are bright and open, telling him that they are on the same page. It took them this long and it probably had to go this way.
He kisses Jared with a force he’s never used before. He lays it all on the line in this one kiss, the unspoken words, the ones they were never able to express, the ones only written down on colorful paper secured in boxes they’ll keep safe for the rest of their lives.
They kiss deeply, long and devouring. Jared's hands on hips and twisted in hair, bodies pressed close. He gets lost in the kiss and feels like he’s never experienced something like it before. He should have known, the way Jared has made him feel ever since they were introduced all those years ago.
Maybe, he thinks, this is what Dani meant.
“Jensen,” Jared mumbles against his lips, drags him even closer and lets them stumble over each other. They land on the bed and he grunts in surprise but lets Jared re-arrange them anyway. He’s never been one to snuggle or cuddle much, this though feels kind of right. He’s not sure what to think about it.
“You’re okay with this, right?” Jared sounds a little unsure and Jensen knows why, he’s feeling it as well.
“Yeah. ‘M good,” he says, moves a little and smiles when Jared’s arm comes around his waist. They are sharing a pillow now, can look at each other and the light is just enough to do that. He’s amazed how young Jared suddenly looks.
“This … has been coming for a long time, Jay.”
Jared nods then, drops a small kiss on his lips and sighs. Guess they are talking it out right now. For the first time in a year he wants to hear the words, wants to hear Jared talk and say them out loud. Right now he doesn’t want to read between the lines, doesn’t want to interpret, to read into anything. He needs to hear it all.
“When things with … when things started to get bad she said a lot of things that got me thinking. About us … She, well she basically said no one would ever be able to get between us and if I didn’t think it was time to face up to it … It wasn't such nice words but then she was pissed that I’d forgotten an important date over hanging out with you. “
He thinks it’s strange that he feels a small flair of anger. But then he guesses it’s not that weird after all, the feelings of jealousy have been around for a while. Looking at Jared, he knows they've both realized that.
“We’re good now. Talked a lot. She made me think about what I wanted, what I need, ya know? Just when I started with the notes … at first it was just something to cheer you up, make you smile, ‘cause I missed it. Then it kinda turned into something more. A thing between us. Just for us. Didn’t think it would take this long to actually understand what it all really meant. It just felt good and along the way I figured out what she meant. That’s when I ended it.”
It’s not new to him that Jared ended it but they never really talked about it. Never said those words out loud for them both to hear.
“Tell me I didn’t read this all wrong. Communicating through post-its is fund and all, but sometimes I need to hear you.”
He smiles, wide and like he hasn’t in a while. “You got it all right, Jay. Just never knew how to tell you.”
“Glad I took the step then?”
“Very. And … I’m thankful for having you in my life as well. Now, can we stop being all sappy and get to the one thing I know you want to do?”
Jared laughs, out loud and happy. Raises an eyebrow then and he just knows the question. Can see the post-it with it written down in front of his inner eye.
What would that one thing be?
He knows that there are no words needed now to answer it, so he moves in closer, kissing Jared again and lets himself get lost a second time.
***
Jensen wakes up held tightly against a strong chest. It’s still dark in the room, the desk lamp remains the only source of light. The door is slightly ajar and he wonders what whoever came looking for them saw. He doesn’t much care, knows their families won’t either. Not with the way they all seemed to push them together whenever they could.
Yeah, Jensen thinks, he totally should've seen it coming, long before the notes ever started. But he doesn’t regret the notes, thinks they’ll keep those colorful reminders of how they finally managed to get their heads out of their asses.
Messages like ‘I miss you’, ‘Can we meet tonight?’ or ‘Chinese vs Indian?’ will now be preserved for their grandkids to laugh about. Jensen blinks and wonders when kids entered the picture. It's far too soon to be thinking about that topic.
Jensen turns in Jared’s arms and almost laughs out loud when he sees the sticky note attached to Jared’s forehead. It’s his momma’s handwriting and he so doesn’t blush at the thought of their families knowing all about it.
We all approve + are happy for you. Sleep well boys.
It tugs at his heart again and Jensen blinks, smiles when Jared grumbles and frowns.
“Itchy.”
“Can imagine.”
“What’s it say?”
Jensen thinks he shouldn't find sleepy, rough sounding Jared so damn sexy. He leans in for a kiss and pulls the post-it from Jared’s skin while doing so.
“They approve and are happy for us.”
“Awesome. Need that in the box, too. This one here is for combined notes.”
Jensen laughs, low and soft and feels it vibrating against Jared’s chest. It feels good, true and right. It’s them.
***
If there are sticky notes involved in confessions of love, questions to move in and a proposal, neither of them minds all that much. Those very important notes get a box of their own in the end. Sometimes this kind of communication works best for them, so they never really stop.
The end.
Author: the_milky_way
Character(s)/Pairing: Jensen Ackles (Jared/Jensen)
Theme: Jensen Ackles: In a world of dreams I'm a frequent flyer
Prompt(s): 07. Kiss, 19. Trust, 27. Truth
Words: ~5.800
Rating: PG-13
Beta: Thanks so much parka_girl. You, as always, saved my life.
Disclaimer: This is not true. It never happened and I don't own anything.
Summary:“It starts simply enough, with a note taped to the wardrobe mirror on set, telling him that he should go out with the guys, that Jared will be there later. They haven’t really talked outside dialogue and scene set-up for a couple of days."
Notes:Written for akintay's prompt at Fall Fandom Free-For-All (2011). Her prompt was Jared/Jensen, non-AU, communicating through notes. I really hope this comes close to what you wanted. :)
I trust you with my heart
It starts simply enough, with a note taped to the wardrobe mirror on set, telling him that he should go out with the guys, that Jared will be there later. They haven’t really talked outside dialogue and scene set-
up for a couple of days.
It’s nothing, they’re just busy. Different scenes, different schedules - one of them flying down to Cali during weekends, the other staying in Vancouver. Sure, they go out, but lately they’re never alone. No quiet nights at one of their places, never dinner at one of their favorite places without company.
There are texts, voicemail messages and short conversations on the phone during the day, but lunch is usually cut short or someone else is with them. There are no gummy worm wars in their trailer or runs with the dogs during breaks anymore. Everything is just tightly scheduled these days and most of the easy going atmosphere from the earlier seasons is gone.
The note makes him feel a little lighter. The day has been stressful and he’s been looking forward to an evening in a bar, having a drink and doing nothing but shooting the shit. He didn’t think Jared would be able to join them. Now the note proclaims something else and he lets the smile tugging at his lips slip free.
It’s something new in their hectic routine. A sparkly yellow piece of paper with a smiley in the corner and Jared’s sprawled scrawling all over it. For some reason he carefully pulls it from the mirror and folds it into his wallet. The smile he still sports when he meets up with the guys feels like the first real one he's had in months, maybe even years.
Somehow the note feels more personal than any other form of communication they’ve used recently. Of course, he’d rather talk to Jared face to face, spend some one on one time with one of his best friends but this kinda feels like maybe Jared’s on the same page, finally.
“Jensen, c'mon man, we need another one on the team. Game of pool. You in?”
Until Jared joins them, he thinks, and lets himself be dragged off towards the pool tables in the back of the bar. A typical night out as it seems, but something feels different now.
***
The next note shows up a few days later. It’s a blue one this time. Again with a smiley in one corner and words sprawled all over the space. It flutters softly in the breeze and he marvels that it hasn’t been swept away yet. It’s right in front of his eyes when he’s about to enter his trailer during a break in filming.
The note doesn’t say much, just that there are gummy worms waiting for him under the stairs. It makes him smile even more than the first one did. It’s silly - maybe. But he can’t help it, he pulls the note off the surface and tucks it next to the one already in his wallet.
The gummy worms are just what he needs. His blood sugar levels feel way too low and he admires that Jared obviously knew as much. He shakes his head, grabs the bag and climbs into his trailer. He has a session with red and yellow sour gummy worms now and he plans to thoroughly enjoy it.
The smile’s still there when he comes back to set. Jared ducks his head a little but the satisfied smirk is still visible.
***
The third note is green and shows up the same day as the previous note. There are two smileys on it and it makes Jensen laugh out loud, startling the PA scuttling along behind him to make sure he’ll be safe on his way to the car.
That’s new, too. They aren’t allowed to walk to the cars alone anymore. Something about security and insurance, but Jensen thinks the studio’s just paranoid. They're not that famous. And he doubts that a tiny PA could actually help defend him if something should happen. She’s barely half his size. He sincerely hopes for her own sake that she has a black belt or something.
He shrugs in apology but she isn’t even looking at him, cheeks flushed and eyes on the car they're heading toward. So much for having bodyguards around at any given time. He should have known that the studio only meant ‘outside studio premises’ when they said ‘always.’
The note had been attached to his house keys, or rather, its keychain. The green a startling contrast to the silvers and coppers of the keys. It simply says that there’s take-out waiting in the car and that he should really eat more.
The smile is automatic and hasn’t left since he saw the note. He feels a little weird, being this stupidly happy about sticky notes. It certainly has the taste of something out of high school and those secret post-its in the lockers no one was supposed to see but everyone knew about.
The green piece of paper is folded and joins the other two.
***
There's a small box in his bedside drawer that's getting fuller and fuller over the next few months. Next to the box are stacks of colorful sticky notes and multicolored pens. Because, he decided that two can play that game.
So he leaves notes of his own now. Just simple ‘Thank yous’ or a ‘see ya in a bit.’ No smileys or anything. He’s not Jared after all. His colors are less flashy, nothing neon or pink. The brightest color he stocked up on is orange. And only because they were out of blue ones. He feels silly most of the time, but the smiles he gets in return make up for it.
The crew is accustomed to their weird games and has gotten used to them finding the most mundane things to entertain themselves with. They let them be, never removing notes from equipment or commenting about what’s on them. The private ones are kept to their trailers anyway.
It shows how much he trusts the team, trusts Jared, that he doesn’t even think about writing notes with private admissions, left in places for anyone to see but only meant for Jared’s eyes.
It’s fun. And he doesn’t try to think about the why.
***
The day the second box is full he blinks and wonders where they all came from. Colorful post-its peek out from where the lid doesn’t close fully anymore and he realizes how long they’ve been doing this. Communicating through notes, smileys, and looks. It’s been a year already.
They do talk, have to if they want to do their jobs right. They shoot the shit during breaks; hang out after work or during weekends. They watch movies at each other’s places or actually just meet up to fire up the grill and relax on Jared’s backyard deck.
But somehow during those months, when he needed Jared’s notes as pick-me ups and something to look forward to during the day, somehow during the time when he decided to answer and leave notes of his own they slipped into communicating the important things solely on bright colorful paper.
There’s Jared’s sad smiley and a vet’s appointment on one, and he remembers just showing up on Jared’s doorstep the day it was set. The smile he got still sometimes flashes across his inner eye and he shivers. It’s weird and inexplicable how they’ve become even closer through writing such seemingly unimportant things down.
He knows it's really so much more than that. It’s what they can read between the lines that makes this all so weird and also so damn sweet -- so sweet that he sometimes wants to smack himself. They know each other so well by now that one single appointment written down translates into asking for the other to be there without having to say it out loud.
The top most post-it makes his heart clench and teeth grind. It’s from this morning and holds so much bad news that he doesn’t really know how to answer it. A simple smiley or a ‘Sorry to hear that, dude’ won’t work. It didn’t when he wrote almost the same thing about a year ago. It was just the beginning of ‘the love notes’ and he still thinks he should try and find out who called them that first and hit them hard. That’s so not what they are or what this is about. Jared’s his best friend and he kind of loves the fact that they have so many ways of communication.
A year ago, one sentence on a dark blue post-it ended in a night of drinks and real talking. He knows that’s what’s needed right now as well. He grabs his keys, wallet and cell and is out of the door half a minute later.
He doesn’t see the lid slide further down and the top note slipping onto the floor.
“She’s gone” shines from gloomy-looking brown paper, the usually elegant sprawl of letters is now just chicken scratches among a few blots that might be tears or just spilled coffee.
***
I wish I had known the truth all along
He wakes up with a thrumming head and his eyes glued shut. There’s also something sticky on his forehead and when he’s awake enough to make a grab for it he snorts. It’s a bright pink post-it.
Thank you. <3
The hangover forgotten, he smiles and flops back down into his pillow. The previous night is still lingering in his bones, on his mind. His body’s not really awake just yet, still at the bar mostly. He risks a glance at the clock and is surprised to see that it’s fairly early in the day. Lately, he thought he was getting too old for a night spent drinking and not caring for sleep or how he’d look like in the morning.
It’s a rare day off and he’s not on a plane down south. Hasn’t done that in a while even though he’s still friends with Dani, and has other friends he should meet up with, should be seen around if he wants to land a role during hiatus. Only, he’s not really looking for work. The show’s enough for now.
He also wants to spend some time with Jared. Especially now.
The truth is that last night had been long time coming, brewing on the horizon and neither of them could prevent it from happening. Sure, he could've tried to be around more, actually talk to his best friend instead of feeling all giddy over sticky notes.
Jared, of course, dismissed this notion. First thing he said when Jensen entered the bar last night was: “Don’t blame yourself. You’ve been there for me the whole time. It’s okay, Jense. She left and it’s mostly my fault.” That’s all they really said about that.
Drinks kept coming, games of pool happened and somehow they ended up at Jensen’s. Curled around each other on the bed and asleep the second they hit the mattress. He doesn’t know what to think about the fact that he actually wanted to wake up that way. Those kinda of thoughts were never allowed, have always been pushed back into the drawer deep in his mind. He isn’t sure why he allows them now, if only for a second or two.
It’s a truth he's known for a long time. Even Dani knew, told him to get his act together when she agreed to stay around for him. He has yet to manage that, even doubts if he'll ever be able to. It’s Jared, his best friend, one of the very few people in the world who can make him smile and feel good with a single word, a look or just a stupid smiley on bright pink sticky notes.
He groans when the sun hits him in the face.
When he turns his head to search for the Advil he knows are in his beside drawer he can’t help the surprised snort that escapes him. There’s another post-it, attached to the glass of water that’s placed next to the bottle of pills.
’Take me.’ That’s all it says.
For some reason it makes his heart skip a beat. He’s very close to rolling his eyes at himself. It’s really sort of pathetic what an impact those small pieces of paper have on him now. A year and it’s still going on.
He grabs the pills and the glass and actually laughs out loud when he sees that the backside of the post-it sports another message.
Take two, Jen. Don’t let the tequila win over you. Breakfast is waiting downstairs. Eat it. <3 Jay
Breakfast. It’s such a small thing but he can’t stop staring at the word. It’s not the first time Jared's made him breakfast, far from it. It’s just that Jared once told him that he’s not doing it for just anybody. The he thinks he vaguely remembers how Genevieve once complained about how Jared - even on his days off - was too lazy to make her breakfast.
He doesn’t know why he remembers that now, why it suddenly means so much today of all days. He just doesn’t know. But it makes him blush for no reason, makes him flick back to the way things were last night. Jared plastered closer to him than he had been in a long time, mumbled words of sorrow and heartbreak but sentences filled with hope as well.
It had been a strange night, though not a bad one. He just thinks that he expected Jared to be more upset about everything. Jared’s not someone who can hide his feelings that easily. And he knows Jared - sometimes a little too well.
The two pieces of paper join the others in the full box. He needs to get a new one. He doesn’t see an end to this and just thinking about it ending has him grumpy and sad. It’s then that he realizes how much his own state of mind depends on those simple notes, how much his own happiness depends on the things Jared lets him read between the lines.
It’s another truth he's tried not to see but can’t help it anymore.
***
The box of tissues is one of the most hideous ones he’s ever seen in his life. Orange, with a floral décor and sparkling leaves sprinkled all over it. The glittery shit is already spread all over his hands and t-shirt. But he couldn’t not buy it when he saw it in the drugstore.
Jared’s been sniffling for a day now, running through boxes of tissues faster than any PA can run and get new ones. It’s been a week since that night out, since she left Jared and they got even closer than they’ve ever been before.
It’s a gradual development. It’s just them drifting in the same direction again, spending time together, sharing thoughts and laughter, looks and smiles. After the night out, a routine they haven’t had in years seems to set in again.
They get to the set together, go home together, even if one of them has to wait. Sticky notes telling each other where they are, where they're going and what they’ll be doing once at home. They spend the night at either place, not caring if it looks weird to everyone else.
It’s just that they need to be together, supportive and just there for each other. He’s the best friend helping Jared through a rough time, if he gets something out of it for himself then all the better. He doesn’t even feel too selfish about it.
The closeness is probably the reason why he knew that Jared was on the way to a bad cold the day he greeted him in the kitchen with puffy eyes and sniffling every few seconds. Jared still insists on working, on finishing this episode - the last one before Thanksgiving - so everyone around them tries to tiptoe and not aggravate the ailing half of the co-leads or the other half that is taking care of the sick one.
He finds it all rather amusing.
It’s also why he’s in Jared’s trailer now, trying to find the perfect place to put the box down. He wants Jared to see it first thing when he comes in, wants to be there and take in Jared’s face. So in the end, the box is placed right in the middle of the table in the living area, exactly in Jared’s line of sight when he'll walk in.
The couch is little out of the way but he can still see the entrance from where he’s sprawled over the comfortable cushions. He’s tired, has been done with his scenes for the day and is just waiting for Jared to take him home.
The sparkly box is like a beacon. His eyes are drawn to it every second or so. But it’s more about the note attached to it than the box itself. When he wrote it, it took him five tries to get it right, to say exactly what he wanted to say without sounding too blatant, too sappy, too cold, too overbearing or too much like a lunatic who thinks something is going on when there maybe (probably) isn’t.
But then again, it had been Jared starting with the notes, with the words that somehow mean more than what they're literally saying. It’d been Jared who let him answer and keep things going. It’s been Jared who let him get away with so many things he said in those notes.
He just hopes he chose the right words now.
***
He can hear Jared’s coughing echoing through the house. It sounds painful and he flinches every time Jared bellows out and barely manages to calm down again. The tea should be done in a minute, the soup’s already on the tray.
They're done with shooting for now. Have been for two days.
Thanksgiving will actually be vacation days for them, for the first time in years. The studio scheduled the break longer since they have one more episode to shoot this year. He’s really not complaining about it and neither is Jared, who now has the chance to get better and actually be up to going home for the holidays. They’ll both be going down to Texas. Family time, they both need it. Knowing their mothers, they’ll end up spending most of the time together anyway.
He carefully carries the try upstairs to Jared’s bedroom. The house is still new to him even though he’s spent a lot of time here lately. But it still doesn’t feel as much as home as the old one had. He doesn’t try to think about the why and that the most probable reason is out of the picture now anyway.
Jared’s asleep again when he steps into the room. The air smells stale and like Vick’s, like his room when he was little and had a cold. It makes him smile. The tray ends up on the bedside table, next to the half-eaten sandwich from this morning.
Disheveled and still fluffy hair is the only thing visible of Jared, everything else is covered by the thick blanket and comforter Jared’s wiggled under. It’s such a cute sight that he stops for a minute or two to just look. He opens the window, lets the breeze in and takes a deep breath himself.
Jared snuffles a little but doesn’t wake.
Then something green catches his eyes, it’s a sticky not wedged between the half-empty water glass and the nose spray. It’s the note he attached to the box of tissues during that last day on set. It makes him curious why it’s here. He has no idea what Jared does with all the notes, if he keeps them as well or just throws them away. For some reason he doubts Jared would do the latter.
He pulls the piece of paper from where it’s sticking to the glass and blinks when he sees that the words he'd written, the words he'd fretted over so much, are crossed through and others are written beneath them.
Jared had never really answered him back in the trailer, had just smiled all wide but really tired and almost begged him to drive them home. He hadn’t wanted to push, had almost forgotten about it while taking care of a sick Jared and fielding calls from worried family.
Now, he thinks, he’ll get his answer.
Let me take care of you?
Always.
He stands there, staring and reading the one word over and over again. He feels way too old to be scared like this. But that one word has thoughts whirling inside his head that scare him like nothing else has in quite a while. There’s hope among those thoughts and he doesn’t know how to take it, if he’s really thinking the right thoughts right now.
Jared’s blinking at him when he dares a look, a small smile playing around his lips and the flush on his cheeks is probably due less to the cold than he tries to convince himself it is.
“I mean it, Jensen. Always.” It’s mumbled, voice croaky and rough but Jared’s lucid. It makes his heart skip and a smile slips free.
“Put it in the box, before you lose it.” There’s a finger pointing out from under the covers towards a book shelf. There’s a wooden box and he just knows what it is, looks back at Jared and grins. He sees Jared shrug under the blanket and knows they both understand each other perfectly.
Once the note joins all the others with his handwriting on them, he makes Jared eat the soup and doesn’t feel bad when Jared falls asleep halfway through. The cough sounds less painful the next morning.
There’s a yellow post-it on the empty bowl when he picks it up to carry to the kitchen.
Thank you. Again. Don’t know what I’d do without you.
The truth - the one truth he's known since the day he realized how close he and Jared were after a few months - is that he doesn’t know what to do without Jared anymore either.
***
Touches linger on my lips. just kiss
Home. He never realized how many places he has that the word could refer to.
His parent’s place, even though it’s not the one he grew up in, simply because it’s his parent’s home. His place in L.A. because he loves it and knows he’ll stay there until his career is over and done with. His Vancouver place, the one of many there but it feels like home because of the people around and the fact that he loves his work.
But there are so many other not-so-obvious places as well. Jared’s houses and Jared’s family place among them. And today is one of the days he feels so very much at home among Jared’s family that he wonders why he never figured it out before, why it took him years to actually see what’s going on.
Things have been a little strange between him and Jared. Not in a bad way, just some tension neither of them knows how to dissolve. Unspoken words seem to hang in the air between them and not even sticky notes with sappy words that make him cringe can do anything to resolve the tension.
They’ve been in Texas for a few days. Jared’s recovering still but feels well enough to spend his days babysitting or trying to help his mom with Thanksgiving preparations. How he knows all this? Jared, geek that he is, found a website where you can send sticky notes via email. Bright and colorful as they come.
Sitting in front of his computer, he'd laughed for a full fifteen minutes. His mom’s raised eyebrows and his sister’s attempts to look over his shoulder at the screen had brought him out of it - for a minute or so.
Just saying Jared, as if it explained everything, had been enough.
One look at his momma then and he knew they’d be spending Thanksgiving in San Antonio. It’s just them and Mackenzie this year anyway. Josh opted out to bring his kids to his wife’s parents. That’s how he found himself in a truck this morning on the way to Jared’s family home.
It’s cozy and warm, filled with laughter and conversations, people that genuinely like each other in the same place enjoying company and good food. Only, Jensen feels so much more than just a guest and wonders - not for the first time - why that is.
He’s on the way back from the kitchen, having helped cleaning away the rest of dinner, when he sees the pink post-it clinging with one corner to the banister of the stairs leading up to Jared’s old room. Sometimes he’s all amazed about the fact that he knows this house so well, can navigate it with his eyes closed and knows he’s allowed to.
Pulling the note from the wood, he looks around and smiles when he sees the rest of their families engaged in a tough looking game of scrabble.
’Follow the pink’, the note reads and he actually snorts but does it anyway. He wants to know what Jared’s up to.
The next pink piece of paper greets him at the top of the stairs, sticking to one of the family photos. It’s a newer one and it takes him a second to realize that he’s on it as well. It’s from the summer, the one week spend here before they took off to Europe. His heart skips a bit again. He’s getting used to it.
He thinks Jared placed the post-it there to show him something. Reading between the lines because the note simply says ‘Come on, Jensen. You know the way. ;) ’ . This time he doesn’t suppress the laugh that wants to escape.
And yes, he does know the way to Jared’s room.
There’s another dot of pink attached to the door and he doesn’t hesitate to read it, wants to know what it says so badly that he has to blink a few times before the words become clear.
Since it’s Thanksgiving I guess I should tell you what I’m thankful for … your friendship.
He pulls the note and sees another one beneath it.
Your understanding.
He smiles and detaches this one as well. He snorts, shakes his head and reads the next one.
Your acceptance … how you always know what I need and how you let me be.
It shouldn’t make him swallow as hard as it does. And there definitely aren’t tears collecting in the corner of his eyes. There so aren’t. It’s just that he knows what Jared’s saying and he wants to say the same things as well, feels them just as much as Jared seems to. Figures that they are - or rather that Jared is - using post-its to say the important things.
The next one makes him groan though.
What the fuck is taking you so long, come in, dude! :P
Right. For a second he forgot that it’s Jared writing these. Maybe not really, but he has to smile.
The room's dark, only the light on the desk is switched on, leaving the other half of the room in shadows. He knows Jared’s there, he also knows that there’s a reason why only this light is on. There’s another pink piece of paper attached to a wooden box on the table.
A similar box Jared has in his bedroom in Vancouver. He’s over there in two strides, sees the printed out notes they sent via email and places the ones he just collected inside the box as well. Then, and only then, does he read the one that’s new.
Most of all I’m thankful for you being in my life. Being there for me. For hopefully not reading this wrong. I want to thank you. Turn around.
And he does. Turns slowly and watches Jared walk out of the shadows into the light.
There’s pink over his mouth. A sticky note on his lips and he’s grinning, hope shining out of his eyes. Jared stops just a few inches away and the words on his lips become visible.
Kiss me?
He takes a deep breath, carefully pulls the sticky note away and steps closer. It's been a long time coming and they both know it. Relationships left behind because no one could compete but they've both only realize that now. Jared’s eyes are bright and open, telling him that they are on the same page. It took them this long and it probably had to go this way.
He kisses Jared with a force he’s never used before. He lays it all on the line in this one kiss, the unspoken words, the ones they were never able to express, the ones only written down on colorful paper secured in boxes they’ll keep safe for the rest of their lives.
They kiss deeply, long and devouring. Jared's hands on hips and twisted in hair, bodies pressed close. He gets lost in the kiss and feels like he’s never experienced something like it before. He should have known, the way Jared has made him feel ever since they were introduced all those years ago.
Maybe, he thinks, this is what Dani meant.
“Jensen,” Jared mumbles against his lips, drags him even closer and lets them stumble over each other. They land on the bed and he grunts in surprise but lets Jared re-arrange them anyway. He’s never been one to snuggle or cuddle much, this though feels kind of right. He’s not sure what to think about it.
“You’re okay with this, right?” Jared sounds a little unsure and Jensen knows why, he’s feeling it as well.
“Yeah. ‘M good,” he says, moves a little and smiles when Jared’s arm comes around his waist. They are sharing a pillow now, can look at each other and the light is just enough to do that. He’s amazed how young Jared suddenly looks.
“This … has been coming for a long time, Jay.”
Jared nods then, drops a small kiss on his lips and sighs. Guess they are talking it out right now. For the first time in a year he wants to hear the words, wants to hear Jared talk and say them out loud. Right now he doesn’t want to read between the lines, doesn’t want to interpret, to read into anything. He needs to hear it all.
“When things with … when things started to get bad she said a lot of things that got me thinking. About us … She, well she basically said no one would ever be able to get between us and if I didn’t think it was time to face up to it … It wasn't such nice words but then she was pissed that I’d forgotten an important date over hanging out with you. “
He thinks it’s strange that he feels a small flair of anger. But then he guesses it’s not that weird after all, the feelings of jealousy have been around for a while. Looking at Jared, he knows they've both realized that.
“We’re good now. Talked a lot. She made me think about what I wanted, what I need, ya know? Just when I started with the notes … at first it was just something to cheer you up, make you smile, ‘cause I missed it. Then it kinda turned into something more. A thing between us. Just for us. Didn’t think it would take this long to actually understand what it all really meant. It just felt good and along the way I figured out what she meant. That’s when I ended it.”
It’s not new to him that Jared ended it but they never really talked about it. Never said those words out loud for them both to hear.
“Tell me I didn’t read this all wrong. Communicating through post-its is fund and all, but sometimes I need to hear you.”
He smiles, wide and like he hasn’t in a while. “You got it all right, Jay. Just never knew how to tell you.”
“Glad I took the step then?”
“Very. And … I’m thankful for having you in my life as well. Now, can we stop being all sappy and get to the one thing I know you want to do?”
Jared laughs, out loud and happy. Raises an eyebrow then and he just knows the question. Can see the post-it with it written down in front of his inner eye.
What would that one thing be?
He knows that there are no words needed now to answer it, so he moves in closer, kissing Jared again and lets himself get lost a second time.
***
Jensen wakes up held tightly against a strong chest. It’s still dark in the room, the desk lamp remains the only source of light. The door is slightly ajar and he wonders what whoever came looking for them saw. He doesn’t much care, knows their families won’t either. Not with the way they all seemed to push them together whenever they could.
Yeah, Jensen thinks, he totally should've seen it coming, long before the notes ever started. But he doesn’t regret the notes, thinks they’ll keep those colorful reminders of how they finally managed to get their heads out of their asses.
Messages like ‘I miss you’, ‘Can we meet tonight?’ or ‘Chinese vs Indian?’ will now be preserved for their grandkids to laugh about. Jensen blinks and wonders when kids entered the picture. It's far too soon to be thinking about that topic.
Jensen turns in Jared’s arms and almost laughs out loud when he sees the sticky note attached to Jared’s forehead. It’s his momma’s handwriting and he so doesn’t blush at the thought of their families knowing all about it.
We all approve + are happy for you. Sleep well boys.
It tugs at his heart again and Jensen blinks, smiles when Jared grumbles and frowns.
“Itchy.”
“Can imagine.”
“What’s it say?”
Jensen thinks he shouldn't find sleepy, rough sounding Jared so damn sexy. He leans in for a kiss and pulls the post-it from Jared’s skin while doing so.
“They approve and are happy for us.”
“Awesome. Need that in the box, too. This one here is for combined notes.”
Jensen laughs, low and soft and feels it vibrating against Jared’s chest. It feels good, true and right. It’s them.
***
If there are sticky notes involved in confessions of love, questions to move in and a proposal, neither of them minds all that much. Those very important notes get a box of their own in the end. Sometimes this kind of communication works best for them, so they never really stop.
The end.