Real Person Fic - CW: Starbucks Rewards
Title: Starbucks Rewards
Fandom: Real Person Fic: CW
Characters/Pairings: Jared/Jensen
Rating: PG for Language
Word Count: 1,530
Author’s Note: Written for this wish at insmallpackages because the prompt was "J2 - Magical Realism" and that was too, too cool to pass up. I'm also using it to fill the "fae/fairies" square on my au_bingo. Hopefully I succeeded at making this magical realism. It's kind of hard to know when your fic crosses the line into just plain magical. I wish I'd seen the prompt sooner and could have written a longer fic for it, but hopefully you'll enjoy this, wisher, and I hope your holiday season is going wonderfully! PS: I really hope you like Starbucks. Thank you to dev_earl for the speedy beta! ETA 5/7/2013: Thanks to eos_rose, you can now read this in epub format here.
Summary: Jared's having a really good week. Like, scary good.
It all starts in a Starbucks, as good things have a habit of doing.
Jared's drink gets called out, so he grabs it, turning to leave without bothering to check behind him. In your typical Jared-Padalecki-is-a-clumsy-idiot-with-unbelievably-bad-luck situation, this would be the part where Jared's coffee spills out into the air, burning Jared's face off and staining an all-white suit belonging to some fashion-conscious mafia boss who then puts a hit out on Jared out of spite.
But this is not one of those situations, so instead it's Jensen standing right behind him, Jensen's warm fingers on Jared's wrist, steadying his drink so it doesn't spill. It's Jensen who Jared trips into, and Jensen's lips that Jared's land on-and not even in an accidental kind of way, but in an 'oops, your mouth is open, and now we are making out in public' kind of way.
Jared expects a reporter to be walking by and catch a picture, and not only will Jared's career be ruined, he'll have ruined Jensen's too, and, even then, he almost feels like it's worth it. Jensen's mouth is so soft under his, exactly like he always imagined, and there's warmth there like nothing Jared's ever felt.
He pulls away as soon as he can remind his brain that he's supposed to and smiles, because sometimes Jared's face just does that around Jensen, and it's not like he can help it.
Around them, the coffee shop sounds continue the same as before-another drink called out, another angry businessman yelling on his cell phone, another slightly crazed graduate student typing away at her laptop like she's only a second away from using her forehead to finish whatever she's working on. No one is staring at them, or pointing, or acting like they saw anything at all. Directly in front of Jared, Jensen is smiling back, which makes Jared regret his own smile a whole lot less.
It's kind of weird in that everything just fell into place, but it's not extraordinary. Jared just sends a "thank you" to the ceiling and takes Jensen's hand as discreetly as he can manage, letting Jensen lead him back out to the car.
_______________________________________________________________
The second time is two days later. In the same Starbucks. Jared's in line, late for call, but he had to stop-this is not the morning to try and make it without coffee. He and Jensen were up all night fucking, because that's just what you do the day after you discover that your gigantic, longstanding, and tragically unrequited crush on your best friend and co-star is not so unrequited. If anyone on Earth could have kept their hands off Jensen in the name of maintaining a responsible sleep schedule, Jared salutes them. He's just not that strong.
Of course, since Jared is already running late, today just has to be the day the line is so long that Jared's nearly standing outside the door in the cold. It's stupid to feel sorry for himself, he knows, especially since Jensen's got twice as many scenes to shoot today and had to get up at the crack of dawn. But it's still enough to make Jared feel a little sour.
All he wants is his damn coffee, and one for Jensen, and to get to set without being reprimanded so he can see Jensen as soon as humanly possible. And, yeah, they've only been apart for a few hours, but Jared still misses him. He's got that brand new relationship buzz and he doesn't care if that makes him sappy or clingy or whatever adjectives Jensen is going to start attaching to it once he's noticed.
Jared's thoughts are interrupted by a loud confrontation at the counter where customers pick up their drinks. There's a woman standing with a Styrofoam holder, yelling about how she's got the wrong drinks, and the barista behind the counter is staring ahead with wide eyes like she has no idea what to do.
One of the other Starbucks employees comes by, takes the drinks from the woman and slides her a new container. She surveys it wearily, then nods just once before stomping out with her drinks. The employee with the two rejected drinks checks them, then looks up at the line. "Anyone waiting for a venti triple shot latte or a grande caramel macchiato by any chance?"
Jared nearly jumps out of his skin when he hears the drinks called out, because what are the odds? He doesn't let himself get too excited, though. Someone ahead of him must be willing to change their order for the sake of getting out of here.
He waits twenty seconds and no one pipes up, so Jared figures, fuck it. He raises his hand and steps forward, fishing in his pocket for his wallet. "How much?" he asks, feeling a little bad for skipping ahead in line.
The barista shrugs. "We'd just throw them out if you didn’t want them," he says. "Don't worry about it."
Against all odds, Jared makes it to set on time, up two free coffees and a kiss in thanks the moment Jensen gets him alone. It's shaping up to be Jared's favorite week ever, basically.
_______________________________________________________________
Okay, but then it happens again on Thursday, only this time it's a whole box of cookies that are about to expire that he gets for free. On Friday, Jared has to pay, but there's not a single person in line-bright and early on a weekday morning?-and the girl who makes his drink must be some kind of coffee goddess, because Jared's never had a better latte in his life.
It's creepy. Jared's not complaining or anything, but really. What the hell?
"Okay, wait, what?" Jensen snorts. "Say that part again."
"I think our Starbucks is cursed! Or haunted. I'm pretty sure, Jensen."
Jensen shakes his head, turning toward the TV. "You've been watching too much Supernatural, Jay."
"How else do you explain that much good luck?" Jared asks. "And where the fuck did I put the-oh." He turns to see the marinade he'd been searching for sitting on the counter staring back at him. Jared wonders how he missed it earlier but shrugs, picking it up and returning to his steaks. "Never mind."
"And the most logical thing you could come up with was a Starbucks ghost? Who, what, has a crush on you?"
Jared shrugs. "Well, what's your explanation, if you're so damn smart?"
"I'm a fairy," Jensen says, sounding bored.
"Yes, I'd picked up on that in the last few days."
Jensen turns the television off, then stands up and walks across the room, leaning in the archway to the kitchen. "No, you idiot. Not like that. I'm an actual fairy."
Jared stops. Thinks it over. Yeah, that does make a lot of sense. Jensen is really, really pretty.
"Oh," Jared says.
"I can't believe the first thing you assume when something good happens is fangirl coffee shop ghost," Jensen says. "That's both egotistical and crazy."
"Okay, it's not that crazy," Jared defends. It's probably a little crazier than the obvious solution, but whatever. Whose brain automatically goes to "fairy boyfriend" when you've been on set shooting ghosts all day?
Jared decides it's time to change the subject from his own stupidity. "When were you planning on telling me, anyway?"
"I dunno," says Jensen, going to the refrigerator and grabbing a couple of beers. "When was I supposed to?"
"When we met? When we started living together? I don’t know, man, maybe when we started fucking?"
Jensen smiles sheepishly, handing Jared his beer and leaning in for a quick kiss. "Sorry, babe. It slipped my mind."
"Oh my god, never call me that again," Jared says, making a face. "Is this like how you keep forgetting to dump the bad milk?"
Jensen sighs. "Look, I've apologized about the milk. And I do not keep doing it. It was one time!"
"It was three times!"
"It was one time. Over the span of three days," Jensen reasons.
Jared opens his mouth to make a retort, then shuts it, shaking his head. "Get your fairy ass out of my kitchen," he finally says.
Jensen laughs, dodging Jared's attempt to smack his ass as he leaves. "Hurry up with my steak, woman," he calls back.
Jared doesn't have to. By the time he turns around, the steaks are sitting on two plates, cooked just the way Jensen likes them, with mashed potatoes Jared doesn't even think they have the ingredients for sitting next to them.
He glares at the perfect, effortless dinners, rolling his eyes as he picks them up and carries them to the table. It's just like Jensen to keep something like this from him, make him go through unnecessary work for years and then one day just go, 'oops, sorry, forgot to mention, I can do that with my mind.'
"You're doing the dishes," Jared says as he takes his place at the table.
Jensen grins wickedly. "They're already done."
Yeah, Jared thinks. What an asshole.
But then Jensen's foot finds Jared's under the table, and he kind of really loves that asshole.
Fandom: Real Person Fic: CW
Characters/Pairings: Jared/Jensen
Rating: PG for Language
Word Count: 1,530
Author’s Note: Written for this wish at insmallpackages because the prompt was "J2 - Magical Realism" and that was too, too cool to pass up. I'm also using it to fill the "fae/fairies" square on my au_bingo. Hopefully I succeeded at making this magical realism. It's kind of hard to know when your fic crosses the line into just plain magical. I wish I'd seen the prompt sooner and could have written a longer fic for it, but hopefully you'll enjoy this, wisher, and I hope your holiday season is going wonderfully! PS: I really hope you like Starbucks. Thank you to dev_earl for the speedy beta! ETA 5/7/2013: Thanks to eos_rose, you can now read this in epub format here.
Summary: Jared's having a really good week. Like, scary good.
It all starts in a Starbucks, as good things have a habit of doing.
Jared's drink gets called out, so he grabs it, turning to leave without bothering to check behind him. In your typical Jared-Padalecki-is-a-clumsy-idiot-with-unbelievably-bad-luck situation, this would be the part where Jared's coffee spills out into the air, burning Jared's face off and staining an all-white suit belonging to some fashion-conscious mafia boss who then puts a hit out on Jared out of spite.
But this is not one of those situations, so instead it's Jensen standing right behind him, Jensen's warm fingers on Jared's wrist, steadying his drink so it doesn't spill. It's Jensen who Jared trips into, and Jensen's lips that Jared's land on-and not even in an accidental kind of way, but in an 'oops, your mouth is open, and now we are making out in public' kind of way.
Jared expects a reporter to be walking by and catch a picture, and not only will Jared's career be ruined, he'll have ruined Jensen's too, and, even then, he almost feels like it's worth it. Jensen's mouth is so soft under his, exactly like he always imagined, and there's warmth there like nothing Jared's ever felt.
He pulls away as soon as he can remind his brain that he's supposed to and smiles, because sometimes Jared's face just does that around Jensen, and it's not like he can help it.
Around them, the coffee shop sounds continue the same as before-another drink called out, another angry businessman yelling on his cell phone, another slightly crazed graduate student typing away at her laptop like she's only a second away from using her forehead to finish whatever she's working on. No one is staring at them, or pointing, or acting like they saw anything at all. Directly in front of Jared, Jensen is smiling back, which makes Jared regret his own smile a whole lot less.
It's kind of weird in that everything just fell into place, but it's not extraordinary. Jared just sends a "thank you" to the ceiling and takes Jensen's hand as discreetly as he can manage, letting Jensen lead him back out to the car.
_______________________________________________________________
The second time is two days later. In the same Starbucks. Jared's in line, late for call, but he had to stop-this is not the morning to try and make it without coffee. He and Jensen were up all night fucking, because that's just what you do the day after you discover that your gigantic, longstanding, and tragically unrequited crush on your best friend and co-star is not so unrequited. If anyone on Earth could have kept their hands off Jensen in the name of maintaining a responsible sleep schedule, Jared salutes them. He's just not that strong.
Of course, since Jared is already running late, today just has to be the day the line is so long that Jared's nearly standing outside the door in the cold. It's stupid to feel sorry for himself, he knows, especially since Jensen's got twice as many scenes to shoot today and had to get up at the crack of dawn. But it's still enough to make Jared feel a little sour.
All he wants is his damn coffee, and one for Jensen, and to get to set without being reprimanded so he can see Jensen as soon as humanly possible. And, yeah, they've only been apart for a few hours, but Jared still misses him. He's got that brand new relationship buzz and he doesn't care if that makes him sappy or clingy or whatever adjectives Jensen is going to start attaching to it once he's noticed.
Jared's thoughts are interrupted by a loud confrontation at the counter where customers pick up their drinks. There's a woman standing with a Styrofoam holder, yelling about how she's got the wrong drinks, and the barista behind the counter is staring ahead with wide eyes like she has no idea what to do.
One of the other Starbucks employees comes by, takes the drinks from the woman and slides her a new container. She surveys it wearily, then nods just once before stomping out with her drinks. The employee with the two rejected drinks checks them, then looks up at the line. "Anyone waiting for a venti triple shot latte or a grande caramel macchiato by any chance?"
Jared nearly jumps out of his skin when he hears the drinks called out, because what are the odds? He doesn't let himself get too excited, though. Someone ahead of him must be willing to change their order for the sake of getting out of here.
He waits twenty seconds and no one pipes up, so Jared figures, fuck it. He raises his hand and steps forward, fishing in his pocket for his wallet. "How much?" he asks, feeling a little bad for skipping ahead in line.
The barista shrugs. "We'd just throw them out if you didn’t want them," he says. "Don't worry about it."
Against all odds, Jared makes it to set on time, up two free coffees and a kiss in thanks the moment Jensen gets him alone. It's shaping up to be Jared's favorite week ever, basically.
_______________________________________________________________
Okay, but then it happens again on Thursday, only this time it's a whole box of cookies that are about to expire that he gets for free. On Friday, Jared has to pay, but there's not a single person in line-bright and early on a weekday morning?-and the girl who makes his drink must be some kind of coffee goddess, because Jared's never had a better latte in his life.
It's creepy. Jared's not complaining or anything, but really. What the hell?
"Okay, wait, what?" Jensen snorts. "Say that part again."
"I think our Starbucks is cursed! Or haunted. I'm pretty sure, Jensen."
Jensen shakes his head, turning toward the TV. "You've been watching too much Supernatural, Jay."
"How else do you explain that much good luck?" Jared asks. "And where the fuck did I put the-oh." He turns to see the marinade he'd been searching for sitting on the counter staring back at him. Jared wonders how he missed it earlier but shrugs, picking it up and returning to his steaks. "Never mind."
"And the most logical thing you could come up with was a Starbucks ghost? Who, what, has a crush on you?"
Jared shrugs. "Well, what's your explanation, if you're so damn smart?"
"I'm a fairy," Jensen says, sounding bored.
"Yes, I'd picked up on that in the last few days."
Jensen turns the television off, then stands up and walks across the room, leaning in the archway to the kitchen. "No, you idiot. Not like that. I'm an actual fairy."
Jared stops. Thinks it over. Yeah, that does make a lot of sense. Jensen is really, really pretty.
"Oh," Jared says.
"I can't believe the first thing you assume when something good happens is fangirl coffee shop ghost," Jensen says. "That's both egotistical and crazy."
"Okay, it's not that crazy," Jared defends. It's probably a little crazier than the obvious solution, but whatever. Whose brain automatically goes to "fairy boyfriend" when you've been on set shooting ghosts all day?
Jared decides it's time to change the subject from his own stupidity. "When were you planning on telling me, anyway?"
"I dunno," says Jensen, going to the refrigerator and grabbing a couple of beers. "When was I supposed to?"
"When we met? When we started living together? I don’t know, man, maybe when we started fucking?"
Jensen smiles sheepishly, handing Jared his beer and leaning in for a quick kiss. "Sorry, babe. It slipped my mind."
"Oh my god, never call me that again," Jared says, making a face. "Is this like how you keep forgetting to dump the bad milk?"
Jensen sighs. "Look, I've apologized about the milk. And I do not keep doing it. It was one time!"
"It was three times!"
"It was one time. Over the span of three days," Jensen reasons.
Jared opens his mouth to make a retort, then shuts it, shaking his head. "Get your fairy ass out of my kitchen," he finally says.
Jensen laughs, dodging Jared's attempt to smack his ass as he leaves. "Hurry up with my steak, woman," he calls back.
Jared doesn't have to. By the time he turns around, the steaks are sitting on two plates, cooked just the way Jensen likes them, with mashed potatoes Jared doesn't even think they have the ingredients for sitting next to them.
He glares at the perfect, effortless dinners, rolling his eyes as he picks them up and carries them to the table. It's just like Jensen to keep something like this from him, make him go through unnecessary work for years and then one day just go, 'oops, sorry, forgot to mention, I can do that with my mind.'
"You're doing the dishes," Jared says as he takes his place at the table.
Jensen grins wickedly. "They're already done."
Yeah, Jared thinks. What an asshole.
But then Jensen's foot finds Jared's under the table, and he kind of really loves that asshole.