Real Person Fic - J2: But We'll Always Have Our Vending Machines [Part 1/3]
It’s definitely the first day of school.
Jensen remembers this feeling all too well, but he kind of thought he wouldn’t ever have to go through it again. His stomach’s all tied up in knots and he seems to be the only person at the table who’s even vaguely uncomfortable.
They all know each other. Of course they do; Jensen expected that. He just didn’t really think about how much it would suck until he was surrounded by them, catching up and laughing easily and occasionally turning to stare at the fresh meat, no matter how hard he tries to sink into his chair.
When Principal Kripke tells the staff to quiet down and take their seats, Jensen is actually relieved that they’ll be focusing on work instead of socializing. But the fourth thing on the agenda is: “Everyone say hello to our new math teacher, Jensen Ackles. Jensen, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?” Which really means: “Stand up and give us your credentials even though no one really cares-see the way they’re glaring at you? It’s 6:45 a.m. and you’re holding up this staff meeting.”
Jensen never liked being the new kid in school. Somehow it’s no less scary when he’s standing up addressing adults than it was when he was likely to get pelted by a spit ball.
He gets through the staff meeting alive, and it’s only seven when Kripke says they’re all free to go get set up. That leaves Jensen with almost half an hour to get lost trying to find his way from the library to his classroom. He only ever came in from the faculty parking lot during the planning week because he was avoiding running into people. It was a brilliant plan until today.
He’s standing slightly off to the side, trying to memorize the school map without being too obvious, when someone comes up behind him.
“Hey, there,” a male voice says.
Jensen jumps slightly and turns, glaring, to find a giant smile beaming down at him. “Uh, hi?”
The smile takes a step back, but makes no other attempt to morph into the kind of body language a normal human exudes at seven in the morning.
“I wanted to welcome you to Stimson High. I’m Jared Padalecki. I teach freshman and senior English.”
“Oh, cool,” Jensen says, trying not to sound dismissive. “It’s nice to meet you.”
They shake hands and Jensen waits for Jared to leave. He’s not the first staff member to come up since the meeting ended and introduce himself, even if he is the peppiest. Jared, however, does not budge.
“Can I help you with something?”
“Actually, I was hoping I could help you. First day and all. I’ll be showing you around the school.”
“Wow, that sucks.”
Jared’s face falls. “I mean, I don’t have to. I just thought you might want-”
“No, look, I need all the help I can get. I mean it must suck for you. How’d you get stuck having to be the welcome wagon?”
Jared shifts his weight. “Uh…actually…I. Well, when I started working here two years ago, they kind of just tossed me in and left me to figure everything out, and I thought that kind of sucked. So I told Kripke that there should be some kind of tour and he told me that if I cared so much, why don’t I do it myself? So now I do.”
He finishes the speech off with a nod and somehow smiles wider and Jensen probably only listened to half of what the poor guy said. Jared is really fucking distracting. He’s taller than Jensen, which doesn’t happen all that often, built like Jensen’s last ten dirty fantasies combined, and he’s got long brown hair in his face. Plus, there’s that smile: giant, perfect white teeth and a wide mouth and dimples of all things. Jensen runs a hand over his lips just to make sure he’s not drooling.
“Um,” Jensen replies brilliantly.
“You’re gonna be teaching my kids, I think. Pre-algebra and geometry, right?”
Jensen nods.
“That’s great! They’re really awesome kids.”
Jensen doesn’t bother pointing out that they’re sharing freshmen, so there’s no way Jared’s met them yet. He has a feeling there’s a point to what Jared’s saying, even if it’s too early in the morning for Jensen to get it, and he’s not about to highlight the fact that he’s missing it.
“Jared,” an angry voice says from behind the book counter. “11:30 rule. Get out.”
Jared turns his head towards the noise. “Sorry, babe, I forgot. Long summer and all that.”
“Don’t,” replies ‘babe’ with a glare. The librarian is a pretty brunette with a pout much more becoming of the hour than the grin Jared’s aiming at her. The sign in front of her reads Ms. Genevieve Cortese. “Don’t ever forget.”
Jared rolls his eyes and turns back to Jensen. “Hold on. Just have to deal with this and then we can get going.”
He walks over to the counter and leans on it. “Do you have any presents for me before I leave you to your solitude?”
Genevieve smiles grudgingly and pushes three books across the counter. There are Post-it notes sticking out in every direction, and Jared takes them and pulls two out of his messenger bag, handing them to Genevieve proudly.
She must get what he’s so excited about, because she smiles immediately. “Book Club over lunch?”
Jared shakes his head and points to Jensen. Genevieve snickers. “Aww, you made a friend. Wednesday, then.”
“Wednesday it is!”
Jared inclines his head towards the door and Jensen knows to follow. “I’m just going to take you straight to your room right now, because I’m sure you have stuff you still want to put in order, but I’d love to show you around a little more if you’re free on your lunch break.”
“Yeah, that sounds really helpful. Thanks,” Jensen says.
“No problem.”
They walk in companionable silence for a few strides before Jensen can’t help asking, “11:30 rule?”
Jared laughs. “She says she can’t handle me in the morning. I’m not allowed in the library until 11:30, unless there’s a staff meeting, but I’m supposed to leave immediately after.”
“That seems inclusive.”
Jared laughs again and Jensen wishes he would stop doing that. His laughs are infectious and way too open and warm for Jensen to get used to. “It’s totally unfair. That used to be our library. She stole it with that damned library science degree.”
Jensen just lifts an eyebrow.
“We used to go to school here together. We were those awesome kids who skipped lunch to hang out in the library, fighting over who got to check out which books.”
“Oh, no, yeah. That’s what the cool kids used to do at my school, too.”
“That a fact?”
“Dude, I majored in math. As if I know what the cool kids did.”
Jared looks down at Jensen for a few seconds too long and then shakes his head as if to clear it.
“Is this your first time teaching, or…?”
“Nah, I put in five years at a school in Richardson.”
Jared waits to see if Jensen is going to give more details, but mercifully changes the topic when he doesn’t.
“So, this is the hall that you’re going to want to come in from to avoid getting caught by a giant pack of kids rushing to get to class or stopping at their lockers. There’s a stairway kind of out of the way at the end of the corridor that goes to the math hall. I’m over in the 300 hall, which is,” Jared points right, “down that way. Room 319, smack in the middle, so I’m the first door you see if you come in through the courtyard. And if you have any questions before lunch, you can just dial my extension. It’s 5283.”
They make it to the stairway Jared had mentioned, which is tucked off to the side as advertised; Jensen really never would have found it on his own. He expects Jared to leave then, but he starts climbing the stairs right along with Jensen, even though he just pointed out that his classroom is on the first floor and in the opposite direction. It’s nice, but also a little unsettling.
“I think I can find my room from here if you want to go get ready for your first class,” Jensen says.
“Oh no you don’t,” Jared replies. “You haven’t told me where your room is yet. How am I supposed to find you at lunch?”
“I could tell you now?”
“Bah, I’m already halfway up the stairs.”
Jensen is more than happy to drop it at that and let Jared lead the way. He’s not exactly hard to look at.
They get to his door half a minute later. Jensen unlocks it and turns to face Jared. “So this is me.”
“I’ll see you in a few hours then, Mr. 178.” He gives Jensen a reassuring clap on the shoulder. “Good luck with your first few classes.”
“Thanks, you too.”
Jared is waiting outside the door already once Jensen’s class is done funneling out of the room for lunch. He messes up one of the kid’s hair as he walks out the door and gets swatted at. Jared just grins wider.
“Ready to go?”
Jensen shoves a few things into his laptop case and nods.
“Awesome. So, I think we should start at the other end of the school and then make our way back here. Hopefully, we’ll have enough time to stop in the teachers’ lounge, because I got sandwiches.”
“Don’t you have classes?” Jensen asks, throwing one last look at his desk to make sure he didn’t miss anything.
“Nope, this is my planning period. But if you’d rather starve than eat the delicious sandwich I bought you, I’m sure I’ll find someone who will take it. Namely me.”
“No, I’ll take it,” Jensen says sheepishly.
“Oh, how generous of you.”
“But you gotta let me get your lunch sometime this week. I’m no leech.”
“And I’m no one to pass up free lunch plans.” Jared grins. He points to a trophy case as they pass it. “The one on the top right? That was from my senior year. Last time our football team was any good.”
Jared holds the door to the stairs for Jensen, so he doesn’t pause long enough to read the aforementioned trophy.
“Let me guess. You were on the team?”
Jared smirks. “Wide Receiver, number 11.”
“So is this going to be a tour of the school as it’s relevant to you?”
Jared sticks his tongue out. “I have one moment of glory. Let me gloat.”
“How are the rest of the sports?”
“Not bad. Why do you ask?”
“I dunno, I like sports. Thought maybe I’d see about coaching something.”
“Hey, that’s perfect! You should talk to Coach Beaver who’s in charge of athletics. The Impalas need a new coach, that’s our track team.”
“I can do track.”
Jared gestures grandly as they round a corner. “And now you are entering the best hall in the entire school. That’s my classroom right there.”
“Is there a scarlet letter on your door?”
“It’s, uh…yes. Yes there is.”
“Long story?”
“Unbelievably.”
“I won’t ask.”
Jared points to the two double doors standing at opposite ends of the hallway. “Okay, left here means science hall, but there’s also a staircase in there that’ll take you to your classroom. Down to the right is the courtyard, library, and teachers’ lounge. Note the vending machines. It is important to memorize where every single one on campus is. Vending machines are the school board’s only sign that they love us and want us to be happy.”
“You could draw me a map.”
“What, and give up the gift of discovering them yourself?”
Jensen shakes his head and Jared settles one unfairly large hand on his shoulder, wrapping his fingers around and pulling Jensen in like an old friend. Jensen tries not to get too comfortable or focus on how good Jared smells, but the guy is not exactly making things easy.
“Ok, we’re going to go straight ahead. We’ll pass the auditorium and then come out in the throng of children having lunch. No one eats in the cafeteria. I won’t even show you where the cafeteria is. Hell, I’ve been here for years and I hardly know where the damned thing is.”
“Not enough vending machines?”
Jared shakes his head sadly.
“And beyond the children having lunch?”
“Well, there’s the gym on the left and a shiny new building where they mostly have language and social studies classes, and then comes all of the stuff that really matters, by which I mean I’m really trying to woo you with the track, because they really need a new coach.”
Jensen nods and tries to swallow all of the information Jared is throwing out. In the process of crossing the pavilion where all the kids are eating, Jared gets stopped by no less than three separate students or groups of students, all asking questions or just making jokes. Jared acts like that’s perfectly normal.
“You didn’t warn me we’d get rushed by your fan club.”
“Bite me,” Jared replies, waving at someone Jensen doesn’t get a look at.
By the time he’s seen the entire grounds, complete with all the history Jared knows, which is more than Jensen can even begin to wrap his head around, there are only fifteen minutes left for them to sit and eat in the teachers’ lounge before class starts again.
“Did you know the teachers’ lounge is, like, half the reason I became a teacher?” Jensen doesn’t actually know why he’s bringing it up. Jared’s word vomit must be contagious.
Jared pokes the bacon in his sandwich back into place, tongue sticking out of his mouth and a look on his face like he’s doing rocket science. He doesn’t even glance up at Jensen as he replies, “Is it because we get our own vending machines?”
Jensen chuckles. “When I was really little, I used to think teachers lived at the school, and over night the teachers’ lounge would turn into, I don’t know, Disneyland or something.”
“That’s fantastic,” Jared says, dropping his sandwich. “I think that’s the best reason to become a teacher I’ve ever heard.”
“I mean, it’s not why I became a teacher. I obviously knew that wasn’t the case. But a little part of me felt like I was really pulling one over on the universe the first time I walked into a teachers’ lounge without getting yelled at.”
“Dude, how disappointed were you when you found out it’s just mailboxes and cheap plastic furniture?”
“No, it was great. I was exposing the lounge for the fake it was.”
“Look at you, Mr. Ackles. You’re a hero.”
“I don’t like to brag about it.”
Jared bunches up a napkin and throws it at Jensen.
Jensen knocks lightly and then sticks his head into Jared’s room, pointedly ignoring the scarlet J staring him in the face.
“Mr. Ackles, the new math teacher. Has everyone met Mr. Ackles?”
The class all mumbles something and Jensen waves awkwardly, turning to Jared.
“Um, hey, can I talk to you for a second?”
“Looks like our dramatic rendition of Romeo and Juliet will have to be put on hold.” Jared looks to the class and cries out grandly, “Snails!”
For whatever reason, every person in the room (excepting Jensen) breaks up into hysterical laughter.
“Colin, will you make sure the class doesn’t get out of hand for me?”
The kid Jared harassed as he left Jensen’s room the other day rolls his eyes. “Isn’t that what I was doing already?”
“Well, it certainly wasn’t me keeping you all in line. I’ll be right back, all right? You guys just keep working on scene 1.”
Jared closes the door behind him. “What’s up?”
“Snails?”
Jared’s lips turn up. “It was a really nasty curse word back in Shakespeare’s day. Bet ya didn’t know that.”
“You taught a bunch of teenagers to curse?”
“Nonsense. They know how to curse. I taught them how to curse with class.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Whatever, do you have any idea how hard it is to get a roomful of fourteen year-olds excited about the language of Shakespeare?”
“Dude, I’m trying to push algebraic formulas at them. I think I get it.”
“Well, so there, then.”
Jensen and Jared smirk at each other for a few seconds before Jensen remembers there was a reason he came down here, and it wasn’t just because Jared is fun to look at.
“I’m really embarrassed to have to knock on your door every time I don’t know something, but you’re the only person I know here, so.”
“No, go ahead, that’s what I’m here for. What can I help you with?”
“I don’t know how to work the copy machine. I know there are guys we’re supposed to be able to ask about that, but it’s going to be something stupidly obvious. Then I’ll forever be that idiot the computer guys hate for calling them all the way across the school to learn how to press a button. And I know how it works, man, if those guys are against you, nothing gets fixed.”
Jared smiles warmly. “No, it’s not obvious. Nobody knows how to use that thing. I’m pretty sure it’s broken. We all just pretend to know how so the computer guys won’t hate us.”
“What, seriously?”
He laughs. “I should have warned you, my bad. What you want to do is go to the new building’s supply room. There are some aides there that’ll hook you up.”
“Oh, man, thanks.”
“Yeah, no problem.”
“Hey, I still owe you lunch. You free today?”
“No Book Club on Thursdays,” Jared says with a smile.
“Great, so I’ll just…uh...any restaurants you recommend?”
“Just meet me here when lunch starts. I’ll take us somewhere good.”
Jared and Jensen end up eating lunch together more days than not, which is how Jensen starts to meet more of his coworkers. At first he’s only really comfortable with Jared, but Jared must sense this, because he starts to go out of his way to include Jensen in conversations instead of just letting him sit off to the side and observe the group. By week four, Jensen’s already carved out a place for himself with the other staff members Jared introduces him to.
Danneel Harris, who teaches biology in the room directly below Jensen’s, is his favorite (after Jared, that is). She’s a snarky redhead who unabashedly rolls her eyes and exchanges looks with Jensen across the table when someone is being ridiculous. Danneel and Jensen get along right away, and she starts calling him during his planning period to exchange gossip.
Genevieve, the librarian Jensen had seen picking on Jared that first day, is nice to just about everyone except for Jared, who she proudly abuses at every opportunity and who seems to be more amused by her when she’s insulting him than on the rare occasion she’s caught accidentally being friendly. Jensen is pretty sure Jared and Genevieve are dating, or engaged, or something, but he likes her just fine. Being jealous would just be petty and ridiculous.
Jensen so isn’t jealous.
Jared, Jensen, Genevieve, and Danneel are the four who are always together, except for when Genevieve finds a new book to challenge Jared to read in a few days. That’s when they begin some kind of Post-it analysis war that ends in Genevieve and Jared sitting off to the side having Book Club and Jensen and Danneel making relentless fun of them.
There are a few others in the bunch, members that come and go: Sandra McCoy, the home economics teacher, who is possibly the only person alive more bubbly than Jared; Julie McNiven, one of the history teachers, who never really says anything until she breaks into a conversation with something extremely brilliant or extremely funny; Chad Murray, the P.E. teacher, who only Jared ever enjoys the company of; and Misha Collins, the art teacher-possibly the weirdest fucking person Jensen has ever met in his life.
Today is one of the rare but welcome days that Jensen gets Jared all to himself.
“All right, it’s been weeks and I’ve been wondering, so I have to ask. Is it just me, or does Misha wear the same thing every day? He’s always complaining about the trench coat, too, but there it is the next morning.”
Jared’s laugh shakes his whole body. He looks around the restaurant quickly to make sure there are no other teachers within earshot and leans in across the table.
“Ok, I am going to tell you something that is highly classified.”
“This’ll be good.”
“So, before he was married, a staff member who will remain nameless-it was Julie-went home with him after a particularly wild Christmas party. She swears to this day that his closet looks exactly like a cartoon character’s, with multiples of the same white shirt, blue pants, etcetera on every hanger.”
“You’re lying.”
“Hey, I’m just telling you what she said.”
“You just made that up right now.”
“I swear on my mama, that’s the God’s honest truth. Don’t you believe me?”
“Not one bit.”
Jared kicks Jensen under the table. Jensen tries to return the favor, but his loafers are no match for the out-of-season boots Jared always insists on wearing.
“Ow,” Jensen says. “Asshole.”
Jared gasps. “Well I never.”
“Please. You do all the time.”
Jared’s grinning, obviously about to reply with something facetious, but then he glances down at his watch. “Must’ve gotten distracted peering into your soulful orbs. We’re going to be late if we don’t leave right now.”
Jensen takes off his glasses and rubs them on his shirt. “One, you can’t really see my eyes. Two, the next time you even think the words ‘soulful orbs’ at me, I will throw up.”
“Alas,” Jared says sadly, pushing back his chair and making it across the table in time to pull out Jensen’s. “I have fallen for a hard-hearted woman. She does not appreciate the poetry in my soul.”
“Maybe you’re the one who needs glasses.”
In an uncharacteristic moment of boldness, he shoves Jared as he stands up. Jared just shoves back and Jensen doesn’t notice if Jared’s hand is particularly warm, or if he feels like Jared holds on to him for a moment too long. Jensen is probably just imagining it.
“So, feel free to stop me whenever, because I don’t want to be that guy, but, is there a reason we never hang out outside of work?”
Jensen looks from his soup to Jared and back to his soup, suspecting a trap. “Umm…no?”
“Great! Just checking.”
Jensen waits for a minute or so for Jared to continue. Jared doesn’t.
“Was there a reason you asked, Jared?”
Jared bites his lip. “Just curious.”
“Did you want to hang out today after school?”
“Oh, hey, since you brought it up. I have these tickets to this concert, right? You have to come with me, Jensen. Look, I’ll be honest. It’s probably not your cup of tea. It’s not my cup of tea. But it’s one of my seniors from last year and he really wanted me to show up and support them, but how awkward would going to something like that alone be? Gen won’t go, Danny won’t go, Chad definitely won’t go. You’re my only hope.”
“Nothing flatters a guy into agreeing to something faster than telling him he’s the absolute last resort.”
Jared looks down, almost shy, which just does not fit the Jared Jensen is used to. “I didn’t think you’d want to go.”
“So, am I meeting you there, or…?”
Jared perks up. “You’ll come, really?”
“I thought you spoke English.”
“I’ll make you dinner.”
“What?”
“As a thank you. I’ll make you dinner. I mean, I was gonna eat tonight anyway. You should come over and hang out, and I’ll feed you.”
It sounds like a date to Jensen. Half of him wants to ask if it’s a date. The other half of him remembers that he’s in the middle of Texas and Jared is almost definitely not gay and may or may not be married to a librarian, and what kind of monster tries to steal a man from a nice, innocent librarian, anyway? Jensen stays quiet about dates and just agrees to dinner, instead.
“Should I meet you at your car at 2:30, then?”
Jared frowns a little. “I can’t immediately after. You’d have to wait until 3:30.”
“And that is because?”
Jared grins. “Chess Club is on Wednesdays.”
“Chess Club? Really?”
“Don’t you dare, man. Chess Club is my baby.”
“Does anyone actually show up for Chess Club?”
“Everyone shows up for Chess Club. It’s the best. Ever.”
“You don’t seem biased at all.”
“Do you know how to play? I could teach you if you wanna stop by.”
“Wow, the amount of slow torture you’re trying to put me through today.”
“Please?” Jared bats his eyes.
“Finish your lunch,” Jensen says.
To Jared’s credit, there is a surprisingly strong showing at Chess Club. Half the games seem to be paused while the players have a conversation, but on the whole, Jared at least has the kids somewhat excited about it.
Jared looks up when Jensen knocks awkwardly at the doorframe and lets himself in. He kicks the chair across from him, which is where Colin Ford is sitting, apparently deeply frustrated by the way the game’s going.
“All right, kid, go kick someone else’s ass. I’m gonna play Mr. Ackles and see if he’s any good.”
Colin tilts his head at Jared, then turns to Jensen, a calculating look in his eyes.
“Yes,” he says, still watching Jensen closely. “Yes, I see.”
“You don’t see anything, you menace. Get outta here.”
Colin shrugs and vacates the seat and Jensen sinks into it.
“I’ve only ever been mediocre at this game,” Jensen warns.
Jared clucks his tongue. “Not after I’m done. I’ll make a master out of you. Of course, you’ll never beat me-I’m undefeated.”
“I call bullshit,” says a curly-haired girl, now playing opposite Colin. “Last March, after the championship.”
“Oh, that doesn’t count,” Jared says.
“We say it does.”
“They won some big games at the competition,” Jared explains. “I let them all play me as a reward. Fifteen on one. Doesn’t count.”
“I say it does,” Jensen says, smirking.
“Bah, who invited you, anyway?” Jared sits back and smiles just a little for a moment. “Fine. It counts then. One to one million. Your odds are still shit.”
“Your ego is almost as big as your hair.”
“It’s cool, Mr. Ackles,” Colin says from across the room. “You can come to Chess Club as much as you want to.”
Jared tries to scowl and doesn’t really succeed.
Jensen sits on the couch jiggling his foot until Jared comes out of his room, tight black V-neck shirt clinging to him obscenely and dark blue jeans. He looks completely different from the way he is at school, and Jared didn’t really need to get any hotter as far as Jensen’s concerned. His brain nearly shuts down, so it takes a few seconds to realize that he’s telling Jensen to stand up.
“You should untuck your shirt,” Jared says. “Do you know how to do that? And lose the tie.”
“What’d’ya mean ‘do you know how to do that’?”
“Nothing, you’re just so straight-laced all the time. Won’t make much sense at a concert.”
“But it’ll feel…wrong.”
Jared smiles. “Don’t make me do it for you.”
Jensen swallows a lump and tries to think of something other than Jared’s hands tugging at the fabric he’s got on. “Uh, should I lose the glasses, too, I guess?”
“Nah, keep them. They make you look hip.”
Jensen decides not to point out how gay that sounds, decides to keep the moment for himself. Jared nods contentedly once Jensen’s done undoing all the hard work he put into looking presentable in the morning.
“You know, I think this is the first time I’ve seen you not look like you’re about to go to a meeting on Wall Street.”
“You know, I think this is the first time I’ve seen you without a stack of books in your hand.”
“Touché, sir, touché.” Jared smiles and pushes Jensen towards the door. “Let’s get this over with.”
They get as drunk as they probably can on a school night, and Jared spends most of the concert with his arm around Jensen’s shoulder, singing terribly and joking and making Jensen’s heart constrict uncomfortably. Jensen almost thinks Jared is going to kiss him a few times, but the moments are always gone just as quickly as they appear: little dark looks that Jared blinks away, bodies swaying too close together and then swaying back out, Jared’s forehead pressing against Jensen’s for a few seconds as he whispers some gossip Jensen can’t focus on. It’s actually torture from where Jensen’s standing-physical and emotional torture, and Jensen must be one sick puppy, because he can’t get enough of it.
For most of the night, Jared acts exactly the same as he does at work or when they’re out on lunch breaks: friendly, more handsy than most of Jensen’s male friends (at least, more handsy than the ones who didn’t first expressly state the desire to get into Jensen’s pants), but there’s nothing decisive. Not enough evidence for Jensen to risk a good friendship turning into a really awkward atmosphere at work. He’s never been the first-move kind of guy; Jared’s that guy. Jensen figures if Jared’s not going for it, it’s because he doesn’t want to. Jensen is not really being subtle anymore.
Teacher planning days used to mean Jensen getting a certain amount of privacy as he works. The first quarter of the school year is over. Jensen is feeling pretty good about how things are going so far, and there are no kids at the school, all the other math teachers have clocked out.
So he maybe gets a little carried away singing along with the stereo as he cleans. Which is fine until someone starts clapping from the door and Jensen realizes he just had an audience for his too-loud rendition of “Crazy Love”.
“Uh,” he says, blinking at the faces in the doorway. Danneel is trying her damnedest to hold in laughter, but Jared’s leaning against the frame smiling with his teeth. He looks a little like a lion that’s about to attack something, and Jensen has the uncomfortable feeling that he’s a gazelle right now.
“So you sing, huh?” he asks, playing at casual.
It’s a trick question and Jensen knows it’s a trick question, but it’s not like he can really lie at this stage. “Somewhat.”
“I don’t know. You sounded pretty good to me.”
“Looked pretty good, too. You should teach me how to swing my hips like that.” Danneel smirks wickedly.
“I hate both of you. A lot.”
“Why me? I’m not the one being mean!”
“You’ve got a look in your eyes. I don’t like it.”
“Nonsense. You like everything about me,” Jared says.
“That a fact?”
“You know what you like most about me?”
“Sometimes you go home and I don’t have to see you?”
“It’s that I have this giant, warm, generous heart that loves to make children happy-”
“Oh God help us,” Danneel says.
“-and sometimes I even find ways to let you do wonderful things for children. That’s just how good I am.”
“I’ve clearly lost you both. This is where I make my escape.”
Danneel turns and Jensen can hear the accelerated clicking of heels as she rushes away, presumably to get to a phone and broadcast his humiliation to anyone who will answer.
“What’re you getting at, Jared?”
“So, I don’t know if you’re aware, but I’m the supervisor for the Drama Club.”
“What happened to Chess Club?”
“Chess Club is on Wednesdays. Drama is on Mondays. Creative Writing is on Tuesdays and the Honor Society is on Thursdays.”
“You supervise all of those clubs?”
Jared nods cheerfully.
“You have way too much time on your hands. What’s on Fridays?”
“It seems even I am not enough of a pull to get kids to stay after school on Fridays.”
“Why four clubs, you psycho?”
Jared shrugs. “They need things to get excited about.”
“You really do make everyone look bad.”
“Well, you’ve got track on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I know you loved stopping by Chess Club, even if you pretended it was against your will for three weeks in a row now. But Mondays, you poor thing, you must get so bored all alone on Mondays.”
“I don’t act, Jay.”
“No, no, they have a great acting coach already. That’s me, by the way.”
Jensen pretends to be surprised and Jared pokes him in the side.
“What they really want to do is a musical, and I can’t give that to them unless I have someone who can teach them to sing. For example, a person who sings. Let’s throw out some options here: there’s you.”
“No. No way. Man, I don’t sing in public. This was an accident. I can’t teach kids to sing. Not gonna happen.”
“It’ll only be a few songs. I’ll let you choose the show. I’ll beg on my knees if necessary.”
“I really don’t like you.”
“But the answer is?”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Fantastic. You have the entire weekend. If you decide to show, we’ll be in the auditorium. Waiting for you. With tears in our eyes.”
“Go away and let me do my job,” Jensen says, shutting the door on Jared.
“I have you already. I just know it,” Jared shouts through the door. Jensen kind of hates that he’s completely right.
He’s fifteen minutes late to Drama rehearsals that Monday, which is not a great start. Jared obviously hadn’t expected him to come through, because he practically jumps out of his boots when he sees Jensen walking up the aisles.
He announces what Jensen is there to do with patent Jared enthusiasm, and the kids do actually seem kind of excited. Jensen only recognizes two of them, one girl from his fourth period geometry class and, of course, Colin, who is middle stage and apparently supposed to be playing romantic lead to a senior who towers over him comically.
About half of the kids announce that they can sing and follow Jensen over to where Jared’s made space for him and even found him a student piano player. About half of the ones who say they can sing actually can. The rest, Jensen thinks, should be able to work in the ensemble with a fair share of hard work on both his and their parts.
As much as he wants to hate Jared for dragging him into this, he thinks he gets a rush of whatever it is that convinces Jared to give up his off hours to teach teenagers how to play chess or write about whatever teenagers write about when given free reign. It’s kind of nice and Jensen has no idea where the time went when Jared taps him on the shoulder and points to the rest of the kids grabbing their stuff to go.
“You know, I didn’t really expect you to show up,” Jared admits once the kids have left and it’s just them shoving scenery back off stage.
“I kind of didn’t expect me to, either.”
Jared’s hardly smiling, but the warmth Jensen can see in it and the softness of his tone would be enough to drag Jensen back next week, even if he hadn’t enjoyed working with the kids, even if he hadn’t already decided to come back.
“Thanks for doing it,” he says, clapping Jensen on the back. “I really appreciate it.”
Jensen doesn’t see Jared for most of the next day.
His first instinct is that this means Jared’s out sick. He worries for a few moments and considers calling him, then realizes that it’s more than a little self-important to assume Jared’s not at school just because he didn’t wait by the coffee machine to say “good morning” or swing by Jensen’s room and ask him to lunch. Still, a part of Jensen kind of hopes Jared isn’t around, because he feels pretty pathetic sitting alone at their table grading papers in the empty teachers’ lounge.
Forty-five minutes into his lunch hour, Jensen gives up on the hope that Jared just got held up talking to someone and will show up with plans any moment. He gets up and heads to the vending machines-and dammit, he can’t think of the damn things without smiling at Jared’s stupid enthusiasm for them.
He’s in the middle of buying a Diet Coke when he feels something grab his shoulder and push him back against the wall behind the soda machine.
Jensen opens his mouth to protest, but is silenced by Jared’s lips pressing against his, tongue slipping in and sliding over Jensen’s like this is totally normal for them, like this is something Jared knows he has a right to. Fortunately, Jensen doesn’t need much of a thought process to follow Jared’s lead; he gives as much as Jared does without pausing to consider that they’re at work, or that anyone could walk in any moment, or that Jensen has no idea what Jared is actually thinking, or any of the millions of other things that would usually make him freeze up and shove.
Jared doesn’t let up immediately, just goes on holding Jensen in place and kissing him hard. He pulls away, lips parted with heavy breath only to move forward again and press his lips to Jensen’s twice, thrice…Jensen loses count of the tiny, fleeting kisses.
“Jared,” Jensen says when Jared finally pauses, but Jared shakes his head, taking a step back and letting his hands drop in an instant.
Jensen wants to reach out to him, but Jared turns, bends, and grabs the Diet Coke Jensen had forgotten he’d paid for and could really not care less about at this point. He takes Jensen’s hand and presses the can into his palm, eyes trained on the soda and very much avoiding Jensen’s.
He keeps his own fingers over Jensen’s where they curve around the Coke as he says, “I just thought you should know.”
Jared lets go then, leaves the room as suddenly as he appeared in it, and Jensen’s too dazed by what just happened to call him back.
He focuses on one recurring thought for the next ten minutes: this thing with Jared is not just him and, even if Jared is scared of it, Jensen knows he can go for it now. Because that? Was definitely a first move.
Jensen stands with his mouth hanging open, staring at the can without actually seeing it, until the bell rings and announces he needs to get back to his classroom. It’s not until he tries to pick up his laptop bag that he realizes his fingers are frozen numb from holding the cold aluminum in his hand for too long.
