Snooker - Sports!fic / Birthday present for Ema
Title: Snooker I
Author:
insane_songbird
Pairing: Jared/Jensen (what else?)
Words: ~6.500 (both parts)
Rating: PG13 (much more schmoopy than my usual)
Warnings: Sports I am anything but an expert on, snogging
Disclaimer: Do not own, never will.
Dedicated to
envious_ema . HAPPY BIRTHDAY, darling!!!
Summary: AU. Jared’s agent said the leading role in this movie would show that he had range and could do drama as well as his usual action flicks. But what his agent didn’t say was that he had to play a lot of Snooker against a real pro. Thankfully Jensen Ackles has no objections to showing Jared the moves.
Several readers requested more sports!fiction. I will grant those wishes and this is #1. Maybe not the sport you were hoping for but I find snooker sexy *daring look*.
A/N: The italian paragraphs are newspaper snippets…
The fic was split in two parts because the post was too big.
This is unbetaed due to the deadline I worked with. But my friend Cat read it over quickly, so I hope it's not to terrible :P
Snooker I
2009-02-12 ~ L.A. Today:
Action movie star Jared Padalecki (Fall Down II, Friday 13th) will change the genre. As stated by Padalecki’s agent the 6’5’’ muscle man will be taking over the leading role of Samuel Colt in the historical sports drama ‘Snooker’. Padalecki is ‘thrilled about the opportunity to widen his range and show the world that he is up to every challenge’, said his agent yesterday. (...)
~+~+~+~
Snooker. That was the name of the game… well and the name of the movie. This was probably the first movie in Jared Padalecki’s prospering Hollywood career in which most of the ‘stunts’ involved a billiard cue - without the script asking him to smash said stick over anyone’s head. So far Jared had made the jump off the daytime t.v.-shows and into real motion pictures. First it was gory horror movies, followed by one or the other action flick - in which he even had more text than just panting and screaming and swearing.
The producers loved him for everything that needed a nice face and even nicer pecs. Standing and 6’5’’ really came in handy when one had to carry some anorectic seventy pound starlet through one end of the studio or another for the fourteenth time in a row, because the leaves did not move right and the light was not gloomy enough. Jared was packed and he knew it. But sex sells and so do muscles when you are an action-movie star.
Funnily enough, when Jared arrived at the set of his newest movie - which was the first job since leaving daytime t.v. that did not include a truck full of fake blood or an FX-expert for car explosions - the girl from the costume department had a nice time staring at Jared’s undressed upper body before sending her assistant out to get a dress shirt with wider arms. Jared wasn’t sure if he should see that as a compliment or an insult. He had even bulked down a little around the neck for this flick, so he looked less butch. The first shirt she had handed him had been a tight fit, but a fit none the less. But she insisted on something wider around his shoulders and arms since he would spend a lot of time bend forwards with his arms outstretched.
Now that sounded rather kink indeed. Jared had to snicker, when she told him to wear the tight shirt until the real item was delivered and forced him into the rest of his costume. He felt like a penguin. Usually Jared wore jeans on set and off. Most of his roles had to move around a lot and that was not done in pressed black pants and dress shoes. God help him, they made him wear suspenders! At least he was allowed to roll up the sleeves of his white shirt after they added a dark vest to finish the look that stroke Jared as very English.
When his agent had asked him about his opinion to playing the lead in a sports-movie with an academy-awards-worthy plot, Jared was enthralled. Of course being Texan he had thought they’d make him play ball a lot and insert some dramatic background story with a lot of yelling and maybe even some tears.
Well, he was wrong. Once he saw the script one thin was sure: The balls he was going to deal with were surely no footballs. But the script was amazing. The story gripping and deep. It was even historical, set in the 1950s. Everything Jared could wish for to break in a new image, where people acknowledged him for being able to do character and depth other than shooting, kicking in doors and running around in ripped shirts, flashing his muscles.
He had played billiard before and snooker wasn’t that far from it, right? Jared usually prided himself on coming prepared when he took over a new role. Sadly the productions timing sucked and he had flown in directly from the promotion of Fall Down II - yes, the movie was just what you would expect from this title.
Jared had watched a few champions league snooker games on youtube but sadly most of the commentary was about the players and their season performance rather than the basics Jared wanted to know. He had bought himself a book on the sport but he had fallen asleep while reading the second page of the introduction after having crossed two time zones in 36 hours. That’s how he couldn’t feel really guilty about not being the expert on the sport. He had tried and he had failed. Shit happens. At twenty-six Jared had worked the business for about a decade already and he knew that coming prepared was highly appreciated by the directors, but not really expected. If they wanted special skills usually one would get either an instructor or double.
Of course this movie was no different in that aspect. After some meet and greet with the producers and the director, Jared was brought to a set that was filled with billiard tables. It was a nice remake of a 1950s men’s only establishment complete with cigar cases lying on side tables next to half filled scotch glasses. Jared grinned. He loved extravagant sets. After having experienced every diversity of creepy forests, gloomy caves, run down cabins and burning warehouses this was a set he could really enjoy. Of course a burning warehouse could be fun too… but after twelve hours of sweating and enduring the smoky stench, it could really grade on one’s nerves.
Jared was still taking in the atmosphere as the producer, Big G, sent one of the PA's to do god knows what. A minute later the girl returned tailed by a man Jared hadn’t been introduced to yet. He was certain of that fact because there was no way in hell that Jared could forget meeting this guy. He was tall, six foot something, but not nearly as tall as Jared, sporting short dark blond hair that framed a handsomely freckled face. A fine pair of rimless glasses was perched on a cute button nose. Jared watched mesmerized as the man licked his lips. Jared could live for these lips only.
He did his utmost not to keep staring on the little pout the new guy had, as he followed the girl to their little gathering, but let his eyes scan over broad shoulders clad in an ensemble similar to Jared’s, only that this one was of a silvery gray rather than Jared’s nearly black one. The color brought out a pair of stunningly green eyes framed with long brown lashes. The man had his hands buried in the pockets of the dress pants and inspected the set with pursed lips.
Big G stepped up and greeted the man, dismissing the PA to get them all coffee. “Jensen! I can call you Jensen, right?” The new guy only nodded, shaking the producer’s hand. “Good to see you. What do think of our set? One fine men’s club, right?”
Big G didn’t wait for an answer and Jensen did not even try to throw one in. The guy looked half irritated and half amused. Jared liked him already. The easiest way of dealing with producers was to give them what they wanted and otherwise let them bask in their own sun.
“Jared, kid, I want to introduce you to Jensen. Jensen here is our very own snooker pro. He will be the one who will make sure that the balls will actually be potted, right Jen?”
Jensen gave a sly smile. “That’s what I do.”
They shook hands and Jared knew that he had a crush on the guy when he noticed just how perfect Jensen’s handshake was. Sometimes he wondered if he wasn’t more of a teenage girl than his little sister.
He knew his grin must have been so wide that he looked like some weird version of the Joker and he hoped Jensen wasn’t scared of clowns. When Jared was nervous he grinned. When he was happy or amused he grinned as well. So in conclusion Jared grinned half the time, or more. “Nice to meet you, Jensen.”
Jared would have loved to hug the guy but then that might just be overkill. Usually he wouldn’t care and just do it anyway. But this dude was too hot to weird him out early on.
Jensen gave him another smile. Jared watched him closely and he saw one thing: Jensen was nervous but trying to play it cool. Jared wondered if it had anything to do with him.
When Jared felt the nervous excitement of being around that man as well. When he was nervous, he babbled. Keeping a constant flow of conversation was the only thing that Jared could do no matter what. Jensen seemed to be the scared rabbit kind, growing quiet when stressed out.
Big G had been talking but Jared really didn’t know what he said. If it was important, he’d get a memo or a personal reminder by one of the PA's anyway.
“Jensen, why don’t you show Jared around the sport a little?” Not waiting for an affirmative answer the producer headed off, taking a coffee from one of the production assistants.
Jared was left standing in the middle of the set next to an absolutely gorgeous and very quiet man. What to do now? Babble of course.
“I gotta warn you, Jensen. I have no idea what snooker is about. I know my way around billiard but I usually only play pool table when I had at least two beers and me and my friend Chad need to settle a bet or something.” Jared scratched the back of his neck and grinned at Jensen, bouncing on the balls of his feet excitedly.
Jensen gave him an amused frown and nodded towards the nearest billiard table. Jared shrugged, walking over and watched as Jensen started to set the balls on the green fleece. If the guy would just SAY something.
“So, I- I tried to prepare myself for this role. I bought a book on snooker but I have to admit that I fell asleep… Not that the game is boring or anything. I just had a hard time with the jet lack is all.”
He heard Jensen snicker lowly as he placed several colored balls on the table after setting a triangle of red balls out first. Jared loved the sound. Jensen’s voice was a well tempered baritone and Jared wished he’d hear more of it. “You know, Mr. Padalecki, snooker itself is a very nice game to play… but even I’d fall asleep if I tried to read a book about it.”
Jared laughed heartily and bit his lower lip. “Well if you put it like this… and please call me Jared, alright? Otherwise I’d feel rude because I don’t even know your last name and my momma would whip me with a spoon for forgetting my manners.”
Jensen stopped placing the balls and stood up straight, a smirk on his face that made Jared’s stomach flutter. “It’s Ackles, Jensen Ackles. But you can call me Jensen, Jared.“
The tall man bounced just a little more, nodding enthusiastically. This movie shoot was going to be so much fun.
“Awesome. So… I do have some stupid questions, if you don’t mind?”
Jensen walked around the table, grabbing two cues and checking if the balls were all set. “There are no stupid questions, Jared. Only stupid answers.”
Jared flashed the other man a smile and bit his lip again. He could swear Jensen was watching that particular move. “Thanks. Erm, so what is the deal with the colors and how do I know which ball to play if there are no halves and fulls like with pool?”
Jensen handed Jared a cue before using his own to point on the different balls, starting with the white one. “This one you know from the normal pool, right? It’s the cue ball. This is the one you strike with the cue to pot an object ball. All the other balls are object balls.” He pointed at the triangle formed by solid red balls. “These are the reds. There are fifteen of them. If you break for the first time you have to hit a red with your cue ball first, or you committed a foul. The same goes whenever you are up again after your opponent missed. Then only the reds are legal for you to pot. Then they are ‘ball on’, alright?”
Jared frowned a little but filed the information as good as he could, nodding.
“Good. There are points for every ball potted. The reds count one, yellow is two, green 3, brown 4, blue 5, pink 6 and black 7.”
Jared huffed, trying to recall the order… blue four? No.
Jensen let out a small laugh and clapped Jared on the shoulder. “I’ll write it down for you later, alright? You’ll get the hang of it after a few dozen games.”
Jared nodded thankfully. “Do I have to play them in the order of the points?”
Jensen smiled. “Not initially. You have to break with red. You can collect points by potting the balls. The higher the points the better for your score. But as long as there are reds on the table you have to alternate between reds and colors, always starting with a red until there are no reds left. Until then, the reds will stay off the table when potted but the colors will be put back to their original positions. When all the reds are gone you can either score again with black of you want - for example when your opponent’s score is far ahead of yours - or start emptying the table. For that you pot the balls in the order of their points, starting with the lowest, ending with black. It’s not about who pots black in the end but about who has the best score.”
Jared was enthralled by Jensen talking that much in a row. This voice could read the weather to him, and he’d love it. It was a challenge to listen to the actual words while basking in the sound of that voice, but Jared could multi task. “Okay, I think I get it. Can I lose points as well?”
Jensen grinned at him, bumping their shoulders together. “Good question. You can not lose points from your own score, but you can add to your opponents score when performing a foul.”
“Okay. What counts as a foul?”
“Mostly when you pot a ball that is not your ball on.”
Jared huffed. “And when is that?”
“Like playing a red, when you’re supposed to do color, or the other way around… or not keeping the order of the colors when no reds are left. There are some more but we’ll get there with time.”
Jared nodded, looking at the table. “That’s how the balls are supposed to be settled?”
“Spotted. That’s how they are spotted.” Jensen leaned forwards, rolling the pink ball that sat at the peak of the red ball triangle a little closer. “The apex ball of the pyramid has to be spotted as close to the pink ball as possible. No touching!”
Jared wanted to protest, since he really would have liked to touch Jensen’s behind that instant. The man was leaning on the table and, god, that was a sight that made a wave of heat run up Jared’s back.
It took a moment for Jared to realize that Jensen was actually talking about the balls. He wasn’t sure if he should be disappointed or relieved. How sick was that?
Jensen stood back up, obviously satisfied with the spotting of the balls now. As the green eyes fell onto Jared again the tall man saw an unreadable expression cross that handsome face. Shit, maybe his expression had betrayed the thoughts Jared had just entertained?
Thinking for a quick way to draw the other man’s attention of the furious blush he felt creeping up to him, Jared cleared his throat. “So, why’s it called snooker?”
The grin Jensen gave him got responses that made Jared blush even more. God, those lips were poison. Jensen raised an eyebrow with to accompany the grin and Jared was damn sure he had been made out. Holy shit.
“This is a tactical game, Jared.” A green gaze was fixed onto him, while Jensen -that devil! - innocently fingered his cue. “A snooker game is played over several fames. Sometimes it’s necessary to block your opponent. The most effective way to do that is snookering him.” Why did Jared feel blocked right now as well? Cock-blocked a devious little voice in his head snickered. This wasn’t funny, but it was definitely fun. Didn’t make sense? So sue him!
“A cue ball is snookered when it is positioned in a way that prohibits a straight line to any ball on.”
Jared felt like a teenager. This little salon-game was not supposed to be that sexy, theoretically. So snookering - which sounded a lot like snogging if you asked Jared - meant the avoidance of doing something straight? That was absolutely fine with him because what Jared wanted to do with Jensen that moment was anything but straight by definition. Jared couldn’t help grinning back to Jensen, picking up his own cue.
“Not straight… got it.” It was all he could do not to wink while saying that.
The laugh he got from Jensen was warm and low. A beautiful sound. What was beautiful as well was the way Jensen’s head fell backwards as he laughed, showing off his freckled neck. It was a move Jared did a lot himself while flirting and that thought made butterflies erupt in his stomach.
Jensen stepped closer to Jared, for the first time moving into his personal space. Jared loved it. People always said he had no sense of personal space himself but he felt Jensen breaking in with every fiber of his body. Jensen stood tall, looking up to Jared with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. They weren’t touching but if Jared reached out he could have smothered Jensen then and there.
“Let’s see what you got then, tiger.” The challenge was clear in Jensen's face as well as the low rumble of his voice. Then Jensen stepped away again, leaving Jared to nearly whine on the loss of proximity. “Your break.”
Jared felt a wide grin crawl onto his features as Jensen leaned against the billiard table. “You’re SO on, dude.” This would be amazing fun.
“I sure as hell hope so.”
Jared’s break was nothing extraordinary but Jensen said he had seen a lot worse. Maybe he was just trying to be nice to the poor untalented movie star but Jared didn’t mind. He could live with being the most horrifically awful snooker player the world had ever seen as long as it was Jensen he was playing with. Was it embarrassing? Fuck, yeah. Would he like to do something else? Not in his wildest dreams… well maybe in some of them he did more than just snookering with Jensen. Could one blame him?
As Jared was leaning over the table, he caught Jensen watching him intently. Maybe he was assessing Jared’s stance from a technical perspective… maybe not. “I think at the end of this movie, I might have to visit a psychotherapist for my back. These tables are definitely not made for a big guy like me.”
Jensen snickered adorably. “Don’t whine. There must be some disadvantage to being that ginormous. The table height is internationally standardized… I think half of the reason they are producing this movie is so the fans can watch us bending over the table half of the time.”
Jared laughed so hard, he missed the cue ball with his stroke but couldn’t care. “Are you implying we were hired for having a nice ass?”
Jensen only shrugged, eying the table to see where to place his next stroke. “You might have been, I was hired for actually knowing the game.”
Jared gaped at him in fake shock. “Don’t kid yourself. You were probably hired because you were the best looking pro they could find.”
“But a pro none the less.” Jensen gave Jared a nonchalant shrug as he rounded the table, brushing shoulders with the tall actor. “Or do you want to doubt my striking ability?” He potted the blue ball with one quick strike, angling the cue ball to scatter the reds that had still been spotted in one big lump on the table.
Jared bit his lip, deciding that he could tease right back. “You’re striking alright.”
Jensen smiled as he turned back around from his next stroke. “Thanks.” Jared was pretty sure the other man had heard the compliment beneath the compliment and it made him bounce on the balls of his feet as he smiled back. There was a moment where they just stared at each other, Jared drinking in the appearance of the green eyed man. “Your shot.”
Jared hadn’t even noticed Jensen missing his last strike. He mad a point of wiggling his butt as he leaned over the table to take aim. “You think the fans’ll like it?”
“They’ll love it.” Jensen’s voice sounded husky and did the funniest things to Jared.
Snooker II