SPN RPS: You think you're cool but have you got the touch?
Slashfest! GAH!
Title: You think you're cool but have you got the touch?
Pairing: Jared/Jensen, Jared/Chad Michael Murray
Rating: R
Words: 8200-ish, beta'd by torturemysoul
Disclaimer: *insert witty line about not owning any of it, plz to not be suing*
Summary:Jared punched the Murray kid in the arm and grinned at him. "You're alright, Michael."
"It's Chad. Chad Michael Murray. And ow," Chad muttered.
Jared just grinned wider.
A/N: This is one of my slashfest fics, requested by anasuede. I hope I did okay by your request! I have another fic to finish and post by midnight so I'll be off doing that right now.
"So the way I see it," that kid--that Murray Michael or something--started. "Is that this could be a huge thing for us, right?"
Jared looked over at him, quickly slurping noodles into his mouth from his fork so they wouldn't slide off and make more of a mess than he'd already made. He looked from side to side to see if the guy was talking to someone else, swallowing hard when he realized he was the one Murray was looking at so intently.
"Excuse me?" Jared asked politely, reaching out to take a drink out of his Dr Pepper.
"This show--it could be big for us, man. Our characters are both vying for Rory's affections, we're young and hot, we're on the WB--look at that guy who plays Angel. He's huge right now."
Jared furrowed his brow, trying to remember exactly who it was that played Angel and found he couldn't. He nodded and let Murray continue, since he seemed to like to talk and that meant Jared could eat while he listened. Chad stabbed at his linguine and waved his fork around as he talked, a couple noodles flying here and there. Jared watched them and nodded at the appropriate intervals while the guy blathered on about how they were hitting the big time now, and they had to stick together; they had to watch each other's backs now.
Jared mumbled and muttered and grunted his approval without paying much attention, but at the end of it, when the PAs came to get them for their next scene, Jared punched the Murray kid in the arm and grinned at him. "You're alright, Michael."
"It's Chad. Chad Michael Murray. And ow," Chad muttered.
Jared just grinned wider.
~~~~
"Sorry about this, dude," Chad said as he threw crap from his trailer into a box. Well, technically it wasn't his trailer. It was a trailer that all of the guest stars and recurring characters got to use, but whatever. Chad liked to say it was his, and Jared went along with it when he did.
"About what?" Jared asked, not looking over from his place on the sofa where he was engrossed in trying to beat Chad's last score on Super Mario Kart.
"Leaving you behind, moving on to other things."
"Okay." That caught Jared's attention. He paused the game and put the controller down, turning to Chad. "First of all, you're only going to Dawson's Creek. Hate to break it to you, Chad, but it's not like you're working with Soderbergh, okay? Second, you're not 'leaving me behind'. Dawson's Creek is a WB show. We'll see each other at parties and premieres and all those other bullshit things the network schedules us for. And third..." Jared trailed off for a second, trying to find a third thing. "You're a douchebag."
"Yeah, whatever. Jealous."
"Yeah, that's it," Jared laughed. "That's totally it. I get to stay here in L.A., filming with people I know, staying in my own apartment and you get to go out to the middle of bum-fuck nowhere and film with a bunch of people who will probably hate you on sight."
"No, they won't. I've met that uh, that Dawson kid already."
"And?"
"And what? I said hey, he said hey. It was a thing."
"They're all going to hate you," Jared repeated, picking the controller back up.
"Why do you say that?" Chad asked, continuing to chuck things- some of which probably weren't even his- into the box.
"Because I hated you when I met you," Jared said offhandedly.
"Did not!"
"Totally did, dude."
"Well... what changed, then?" Chad asked, scratching his head. Jared paused the game again and looked over at Chad.
"Nothing, really. You just kinda... grew on me."
"Awww, Jared," Chad said in a simpering tone, clutching his hands to his chest. "You say the sweetest things."
"Kinda like a fungus," Jared continued thoughtfully. "You know that kind you get when you leave your sweats in a bag for too long in a locker, or something? Yeah, kind of like that. Or when your wet towels sit in a pile for a week or something."
"You know, I kind of hate you now," Chad threw back, but Jared just laughed at him. "What?"
"You'll never hate me."
"Says who?" Chad challenged.
"Because it's impossible to hate me." Jared grinned up at Chad who faltered for a moment, looked like he was going to say something, but instead jumped on top of Jared and tried to give him a noogie. They wrestled on the couch for a couple minutes, Chad in a headlock, and at one point Jared's front pocket was torn off his shirt--thank God it wasn't from wardrobe--before someone came into the trailer and gave them a funny look. They sat up and stopped trying to hurt each other.
Chad went back to packing his stuff and Jared turned back to his game and ignored the sly looks Chad kept trying to send his way.
~~~~
"I can't believe you're doing a Hilary Duff movie," Jared said as he sat down on the couch in Chad's trailer on the set of A Cinderella Story. Jared was on hiatus from Gilmore Girls and wanted to visit Chad on the set of his new movie. Chad scowled and sat down beside Jared, hands on his knees and close enough to run his pinky finger along Jared's leg.
"Shut up, man. This could be huge."
"That's what you said about Freaky Friday."
"Hey, that was actually a good movie!" Chad argued.
"You decimated a classic with Lindsay Lohan!" Jared shot back. Chad's hand was resting on Jared's leg now, and starting to run toward the button and belt buckle on his jeans.
"And I didn't even get a blow job out of the deal. Stuck up bitch," Chad muttered. Jared rolled his eyes and moved Chad's hand up quicker than he was moving it on his own. Chad grinned at him, almost shyly, and worked on opening the belt buckle.
"Did you get that script? The one they want to film in Australia?"
"The wax thing?" Jared asked, finding it hard to concentrate as Chad's hand wrapped around his cock and pulled him out of his pants.
"Yeah," Chad murmured, watching as Jared's eyes closed briefly. Chad ran his tongue over his lips with a smirk. "That's the one."
"I looked at it. Seems kinda lame," Jared replied softly, letting his head roll back on the couch. Chad eased down to the floor and leaned in, his warm breath ghosting over the head of Jared's cock, and Jared let out a shuddering gasp.
"You should go for it. It'll be fun. Just you and me 'down under'," Chad joked and Jared groaned--either from the lame joke or Chad's tongue swirling around his cock. "Sophia's not coming."
Jared perked up then, tilting his head back to look at Chad, whose head bobbed up and down a few times. "She's not?"
"Nah. Got things to do--scripts to read, a house to decorate or some shit. Whatever keeps her happy and busy, right?" Chad sucked on Jared's cock again for a few seconds and played with his balls before pulling off with a loud pop. Jared whimpered and tried to thrust his hips up toward Chad's mouth.
"So will you?" Chad asked, holding Jared's hips down.
"Will I what?" Jared ground out.
"Come?" Chad grinned evilly at him. "To Australia, of course."
"That depends on you," Jared growled and forced Chad's head down to his cock. Chad made quick work of it, bringing him to orgasm easily as he twisted and teased, sucked and slurped until Jared's fingers were tight in Chad's spiky hair and he was moaning constantly.
When Jared finally came he yelled, "Yes! Yes, I'll come!"
Chad sat back with a self-satisfied smirk on his face, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and nodded. "Knew you'd see it my way."
Jared just nodded back and tried to catch his breath. Chad sat back on the couch beside him as Jared tried to steady his heartbeat and even out his breathing, waiting to come back to his senses so he could return the favor. Just when Chad was going to lean over and grab Jared's hand to pull it to his own lap, Jared looked over at him and asked, "It's not going to be real wax, is it?"
Chad just groaned and let his head loll back on the couch.
~~~~
"Can't tonight dude, sorry."
"What are you doing?"
"Got plans with Paris and some of the crew."
"You're going hang out with Paris Hilton?" Jared asked, surprised. He and Chad were standing around waiting for the next shot. Chad took a drag from his cigarette and exhaled smoke into Jared's face. Jared made a face and stepped to the other side, out of the way of the slight breeze.
"Sure, why not?"
Jared shrugged. "Just thought you'd want to get together or something."
"Tell you what," Chad said, throwing his butt to the ground and turning to Jared. He reached up and laid a heavy hand on Jared's shoulder to get him to look down at him. "If it blows I'll come by and see you when I get in, okay? I don't know what we're doing or where we're going so the odds of it sucking are pretty good, I think. Then maybe we could get with the good--"
"Don't finish that sentence, man," Jared groaned. "That's lame." Jared didn't want to accept that, didn't want to be Chad's backup plan, but he really had no other choice. He nodded and they went to nail the next scene and go back to their hotels or out or, in Chad's case, whatever the hell it was they all did after work. Jared went back to his hotel room, had some dinner and watched re-run after re-run of Friends. He tried to calculate the time difference between Australia and Texas and Los Angeles, maybe call his parents or Alexis or something, but he gave up and decided to go to bed instead.
He'd just pulled his shirt over his head when there was a fumbled knock at the door. Jared rolled his eyes and thought about ignoring it, knowing Chad would be on the other side but he and Chad both knew that would never fly. He opened the door, trying to look somewhat ticked off, but Chad brushed past him, stumbling a little.
"Are you drunk?" Jared asked when Chad launched himself at Jared's bed and burrowed into the blankets. Chad looked back at him with a devious grin and got up on his hands and knees to wave his ass at Jared.
"More high than drunk. You like me when I'm high, remember?" Chad told him, his voice scratchy and low. Jared shook his head and stayed by the wall, watching as Chad tried to coax him over by licking hips lips and pouting at him. Finally Chad gave up and crawled off the bed shakily so he could cross the room and grab Jared by the arm, and Jared went willingly as Chad tugged him back to the bed. Collapsing down on the mattress, Chad pulled Jared to stand between his spread legs and buried his face in his hard stomach. Jared slowly raised a hand to rest on Chad's head as his lips burned a path down Jared's belly to the edge of his sweatpants.
"Did you have fun tonight?" Jared asked as Chad slipped his fingers under the waistband of Jared's sweats and slowly pushed them down, following the revealed skin with his lips and tongue.
"It was alright. You should have come," Chad told him between kisses. Jared fought against fisting his hand in Chad's hair.
"I wasn't invited," Jared returned.
"Who cares? You should've been there."
"Maybe next time," Jared murmured. "Right now, I don't really care."
He pushed Chad back so he sprawled out on the bed and crawled on top of him, pulling Chad up by his jacket to get higher on the mattress. Chad dug his dirty shoes into the bed to help push himself up but only succeeded in bumping into Jared with every movement. Once Chad was in a place Jared found satisfactory, Jared buried his face in Chad's neck and sucked softly, not enough to leave a mark that makeup would question the next day.
One thing led to another and soon Jared was helping Chad out of his jeans, shucking them off so that they fell in a heap on the floor. Jared ran a hand over Chad's hip easily, his fingers spread wide across skin and bones as he hooked a thumb in Chad's tighty-whiteys, dragging them down his legs. Chad lifted one leg, then the other, and then lay back on the bed with a happy, stoned smile, waiting for Jared to suck him off. Jared licked his way up Chad's legs, biting at the inside of his thigh before he stopped at Chad's cock. He looked down and--
"You smell like her," Jared said softly and everything stopped.
"What?"
"You fucked her?" Jared asked, wrinkling his nose at Chad's dick. It was hard to miss the evidence that someone had been there before him. Chad rolled his eyes and tried to push Jared's head down, but Jared only sat up and looked at him.
"Yeah, I fucked her. So what?"
"That's..."
"What?"
"Wrong? Nasty? Skanky?"
Chad raised an eyebrow at Jared's choice of words. "Wrong?"
"You're cheating on Sophia."
"I've been cheating on Sophia with you for a hell of a lot longer."
Jared felt his cheeks redden and he grabbed for his pants, forgotten at the end of the bed. Chad reached for his hands before he could reach them and pulled him back.
"Come on, dude. Don't be like that. I'm fucked up right now, don't know what I'm doing. I just need to get off. Really bad," he murmured, leaning in to kiss Jared's neck. Jared wanted to push him away, to tell Chad to go bunk with Paris if he was in such a bind, but he took Chad's cock into his hand, ignoring the sticky feeling of the skin in his palm, and jerked him off, slow and steady. Chad panted into his neck and came quickly and while he was trying to recover and catch his breath Jared reached out and wiped his hand on Chad's shirt, hidden under one of the pillows.
"Do you want me--" Chad started, reaching for Jared's boxers. Jared pushed his hand down firmly.
"No, I'm okay. You should go get some sleep, we have an early day tomorrow." Jared moved away from Chad and started to pick up their clothes, handing Chad his pants, and clearing off his bed.
"Yeah, okay," Chad said slowly. He pulled on his pants and grabbed his shirt, tugging it on while making a face at the mess Jared left on it. "I'll meet you in the morning for breakfast?"
"Sure." Jared walked him to the door and Chad left without saying anything else. Jared locked his door and went to the bathroom to wash his hands. He had no urge to jerk himself off anymore, and didn't care anyway. He crawled back into bed and fell asleep with the faint smell of Chad and someone else slip-sliding over his skin.
~~~~
"So what's this about again? You're a demon hunter?" Chad asked, his voice a bit rough and staticky across the phone line.
"Sort of. My dad and brother are, but I've been at school."
"Loser."
"It's my character, dude. And besides, he's a smart guy. My brother didn't go to school," Jared argued, feeling the need to defend the character he was auditioning for.
"Who's playing the dad and the brother?"
"No idea. Guess I'll find out when I get to the audition. From what I understand the father isn't really in the picture all that much. It's just the two brothers on a sort of road trip across America," Jared explained as he unbuckled his belt and unbuttoned his jeans. It was almost midnight and he had to get to the gym before seven if he wanted to make all of his appointments for the next day. His whole schedule had been thrown out of whack thanks to the impending audition for this show that, deep down, he really, really wanted to do.
"Cool. Tell them to stop by Wilmington, then," Chad snorted back.
"I'll get right on that. How're things between you and Sophia?" Chad's groan from the other end told Jared all he needed to know. "That good, huh?"
"She's totally strung out over all this wedding shit. Makes me tense just thinking about it," Chad's voice dropped low and the sound went right to Jared's dick.
"Chad," Jared warned.
"What? Can't a guy talk about how things have been... slow lately? And how many times he needs to jerk off in the privacy of his bathroom because he's not getting any from anywhere else? And how sometimes all he thinks about is a hard, long co--"
"Chad." Jared cut him off, suddenly short of breath and reaching a hand into his boxers.
"Knew you'd get off on that," Chad breathed. Jared could hear rustling on the other end of the phone as Chad presumably started to stroke his own cock. "You know how many nights I wanted to call you up and do this last week? So fucking hard every day, and all I can think of is you being here. When are you coming to see me?"
"Ungh," Jared grunted, jerking his cock quickly. His neck was already starting to ache a little from holding the phone between his shoulder and ear and all he really wanted to do was get off and go to bed. "Not sure. Depends on--oh shit--the filming schedule for the pilot."
"Maybe I'll fly out there and see you. Wrap my mouth around you and suck you until you--"
"Jesus!" Jared came suddenly and shuddered into his hand, riding out the pulses as Chad huffed and panted in his ear. He heard Chad's breath hitch when he finally came on his end, muffled crackles and loud breathing in Jared's ear.
"So when are you coming to see me?" Chad asked again, voice lazy and happy.
"Seriously, Chad. It depends on the shooting schedule for the pilot."
"S'never stopped you before," Chad said lightly.
"I've never had something this big before. Maybe in a month or something, okay?"
"Yeah, sure. Whatever," Chad said easily, trying to come off as casual and uncaring. Jared hung up a few minutes later, pleading an early day and left Chad hanging on, waiting for the sound of the dial tone after the abrupt click.
~~~~
"So Jensen Ackles, huh?" Chad started as soon as they were stretched out in lounge chairs on Jared's Los Angeles balcony. Jared looked over at him and raised an eyebrow.
"Problem?"
"Nah, nothin'." Chad shook his head.
"What?"
"I said nothin'," Chad repeated.
"Fuck you. Don't even play that game. You're worse than a fucking girl," Jared threw back, annoyed that Chad was jerking him around.
"It's just... I worked with the guy, right? He's nice and all, sure, but he's almost too into his work, you know?"
"And?" Jared shrugged.
"Dude's kind of a freak. A little stuck up, too."
"You sure it wasn't just you?"
"I'm not stuck up!" Chad replied.
"I didn't mean that you were stuck up. I meant that maybe Jensen was acting the way he did because he was around you, is all."
"Gee, thanks," Chad replied dryly and took a long drink from his beer. "You're a jackass, you know that?"
"Takes one to know one." Jared grinned back.
"Seriously, dude. Just... don't buy into his act, okay?"
Jared could see that for once Chad was trying to be serious so he nodded and caught Chad's eye and held it. Chad looked away after a few seconds, uncomfortable, and sucked back the rest of his beer before reaching for another. Jared paced himself and watched Chad pop the second bottle open. He didn't even say a word when Chad scooched his lounger just a touch closer to Jared's, close enough to rest his hand on the pad by Jared's leg and run his finger up and down the muscled thigh slowly.
Jared hesitated for a moment before placing his own hand on Chad's thigh and moving it up his leg slowly. He could feel Chad's fingers brush his cock and felt Chad's eyes on him, waiting for his reaction, but before anything could happen Jared's phone rang inside the apartment and he sprang up to answer it, shooting Chad an apologetic look. Chad listened as he answered it just inside the door and watched Jared's face light up as he heard who was on the line.
"Jensen," Jared mouthed at him and disappeared back into the apartment with a wide smile to talk to him. Chad tipped back his beer and waited for nearly a half hour before Jared came back and suggested they go out for dinner, their previous activities forgotten. Chad seemed to smile easily but Jared could tell it was forced and stood up to get ready. Jared felt bad for about three seconds-- for all the times Chad left him hanging he'd just have to deal with it.
~~~~
"Dude! You comin' down here this weekend? You've got three days off, right?" Chad knew automatically from Jared's hesitation that he was welshing on their weekend.
"Chad, I really want to come but Jensen got tickets to see-"
"The Spurs in Vancouver or some shit?" Chad cut him off.
"No," Jared sounded confused. "The Vancouver Canucks are playing LA. Hockey, man."
"Since when do you watch hockey?" Chad asked.
"I don't, really. But Jen doesn't either and he managed to score us some tickets so we thought we'd try it out. See what all the hype is about up here."
"Right."
"Don't be like that," Jared said with a groan.
"Like what?"
"All pouty and moody. Worse than a fucking girl, you are."
"Yeah? Your 'Jenny' tell you that?" Chad asked snidely. Jared held back a snort and sighed.
"You can't possibly be jealous of him."
"I'm not."
"Then what's got your panties in a twist, dude?"
"I just thought we'd be hanging out, is all. I passed over some stuff this weekend and now..."
"Now you're going to be sitting around by yourself all weekend, moping like a five year old girl?" Jared laughed. "Gimme a break, dude."
"Well, no. I'm just--I thought we'd be hanging out, okay? I thought we'd... you know, be hanging out." Chad tried to convey his meaning without actually saying it and Jared only gave him a short laugh. Chad cleared his throat and dropped his voice, slumping down on the couch so his hand rested between his spread legs. "If you wanted to make it up to me..."
"Yeah?" Jared asked, sounding a little interested. Chad grinned and started to work the button of his pants open.
"Yeah. You could tell me-"
"Jay! You in here, dude?"
"Hey, Chad, just a second." Chad could hear Jared try to muffle the phone and talk to whoever walked in on him as he ran his hand lightly over his half-hard cock.
"Hey, Chad?" Jared said when he removed his hand from the receiver, sounding a little breathless. "I gotta go. Jen just showed up and we're going to run out and get something to eat."
"Jared--" Chad started, wanting to whine, to complain and demand that he stay on the phone and talk him through an amazing orgasm but he stopped. "Yeah, okay. Have fun."
"I'll call you later, okay?"
"Su--" Jared hung up before Chad could respond. He sat on his couch, staring at the dismissed call on his cell display for a few minutes before making a quick decision and flipping through his address book until he found the number he was looking for.
"Hey! Kenzie?"
~~~~
"So what are you going to be doing all weekend?" Jensen asked as he watched Jared shift from foot to foot, staring at the terminal door where Chad would be arriving in a matter of minutes.
"I dunno, what do you want to do?" Jared asked with a shrug.
"He's your friend, I figured you'd be busy entertaining him," Jared replied.
"Well, sure. But I want you there, too! We can all hang out, right?"
Jensen fought to smile convincingly and nodded. "Sure."
"I know he's not your favourite person--all right, one of your least favourite people--but it's just for the weekend, right? And it means we can still hang out this weekend." Jared reached a hand out and let it trail down Jensen's arm lightly before dropping it back to his side and Jensen had to control the shudder that ran through him--even more so because Chad had just walked through the gate--and then felt a roll of bitter revulsion zing through him as well.
"Chad!" Jared called out as he walked toward the shorter man and threw his arms around him. Chad hugged Jared back tightly for a moment and then tried to step back quickly, as if it was too much for him to be seen hugging another guy in public, but Jared squeezed him tighter with a big grin.
"Get off me man," Chad mumbled, but he was still grinning as he pushed Jared away. "This weekend'd better not suck, man. I want to see booze, babes and--oh. Not him."
Jared didn't have to turn around to know what Chad saw and tried to keep the wide smile on his face. "He's actually a really nice guy, Chad. We'll have fun this weekend, okay? And maybe you'll see that Jensen's okay."
Chad frowned and patted his pocket for his smokes nervously before nodding and starting to walk toward the luggage carousel. "You better not kill the fun this weekend, Ackles," he said as he walked by Jensen.
"Nice to see you again, too, Murray," Jensen shot back and gave Jared a weary look. Jared shrugged helplessly and followed them both, already regretting trying to make this a fun weekend for the three of them.
~~~~
"... and I was running for the basket, cause that's what I was supposed to do, right? And the other guy, some jackass playing someone from the other team, they come charging at me so I don't know what the fuck to do because that totally wasn't in the script. I kept running, hoping I didn't fuck up the shot or something, made it to the basket and did a perfect layup. You know the ones I used to kick your ass with?"
Jensen resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Jared from the other side of the sofa and watched as Jared grinned and kicked out at Chad's shin. "You wish."
"You know it, dude," Chad shot back. "You guys play much?"
"Nah. We're getting into road hockey, though. The crew pulls us into pick up games a lot," Jared explained.
"Road hockey? What the fuck, dude?" Chad said with a short laugh. "Your brain freezin' up here or something?"
"It's a good game," Jensen told Chad before Jared could reply. "Rough as hell, too. Probably a bit harder than running up and down a court for a couple hours."
"Whatever," Chad muttered and turned to give Jared his undivided attention. "What do you want to do now?"
"Actually," Jared started apologetically as he looked at his watch. "I'm beat. Think I should hit the hay."
"Dude, it's only midnight. We could go out, hit the bars. Score some babes." Chad waggled his eyebrows and Jensen bit down on the inside of his mouth to keep from saying something they'd all regret.
"Maybe tomorrow night, okay? We were up at four this morning, getting ready for some sunrise shots, remember?" Jared glanced at Jensen. "We were just lucky we're off tomorrow or else you'd be here all alone."
"Yeah, lucky me," Chad muttered, picking at the fabric on the armchair he was sitting in. He turned his gaze to Jensen and brightened slightly. "So I guess this means you'll be going home."
"How many beers did you have, man?" Jared asked. Jensen thought for a second, then shrugged.
"Four?"
"You feel alright to drive?" Jensen hesitated before saying yes so Jared shook his head. "You stay here, then. The last thing I need is Kripke on my ass because you put your car off the road while smashed."
"I'm hardly smashed," Jensen argued.
"Fine. Because you got pulled over for being impaired, then." Jared stood up and whistled for the dogs for their last run of the night. "Go on up, I'll be back in in a few minutes."
"Hey, why does he get the guest room?" Chad asked suddenly. Jared froze for a second, then replied easily, "Because you'll stay down here watching shitty soft core porn and bitching that I don't have the Playboy channel and fall asleep with your hand in your pants until I wake you up in the morning."
Chad reddened slightly while Jensen snickered and jerked his head. "Fine, go on then. I'll stay down here and wank off on both sides of your couch cushions, then."
"I don't doubt it," Jensen muttered and followed Jared out of the living room to the kitchen. They waited until they heard the TV come on before Jensen stepped into Jared's space and cupped the back of his neck, pulling his head down to kiss him. Jared kissed him back, hands threading through Jensen's hair for the briefest of moments before he pulled back, too soon, and grabbed the dogs' leashes.
"I'll just take them out for a few minutes, okay? You go get ready for bed."
"And if he comes upstairs looking for you? Pokes his nose into the guest room?" Jensen asked, jerking his head toward the living room.
"He won't," Jared told him.
"What if he does?"
"He won't," Jared insisted. "But if he does then... he does."
"So we're not hiding it from him?"
"Well, no," Jared said uncomfortably.
"We're just not actively telling him?"
"Yeah, that's it."
"He's still into you."
"He was never into me," Jared said firmly.
"Could have fooled me. Those stories you told me--"
"Messing around doesn't mean he was into me. It was convenient," Jared explained.
"Uh, huh," Jensen replied, stepping closer to Jared and grabbing the hem of his shirt to tug on it gently. "And this?"
"Oh, this is very convenient," Jared said with a grin and kissed Jensen again, quickly, before whistling for the dogs again and clipping their leashes on. "Be right back."
"And I'll be here," Jensen said to himself as Jared left. He cast a disgusted look toward the living room but didn't hear any sound so he disappeared quietly up the stairs to wait for Jared.
~~~~
Chad tried, he really did. He tried to like Jensen, wanted to because he was Jared's new friend and seemed to be on the fast track to becoming a close friend--but not a best friend under any circumstances--and Chad didn't want to be a douche bag about everything. It just wasn't happening, though. It seemed like every time Chad said or did something Jensen was there doing and saying it better and bigger and more than Chad, and Jared was eating it up.
Jensen could cook, Jensen knew his way around Jared's kitchen, Jensen knew the best place to get fresh fruit from the market downtown, Jensen knew someone who could get them into a hot new club that had just opened--that, Chad had to admit, he wanted to check out, so Jensen was given a pass on that one. It just wasn't fair. This was supposed to be his visit with Jared, not Jared and his new co-star-friend-person.
There was something else he noticed about the way Jared and Jensen interacted that he didn't want to put his finger on, and he tried to ignore it at first. He figured he was being stupid, going insane from having not seen Jared in so long. But there was something about the way they moved together, something about how they knew what the other was going to say or was thinking. About the way they touched each other, seemingly innocently, and the looks they gave each other as they did it.
Yeah, Chad was going fucking insane.
Jared wanted to show Chad around, so they spent the day walking and driving around Vancouver and seeing all the places he and Jensen went to all the time: the old movie theatre on some street Chad would never remember (but they still found it necessary to tell him all about how many pieces of gum were stuck under the seats on one chair); to the park where Jared liked to bring the dogs a lot and he and Jensen sometimes filmed; to the market that was only open on Saturdays (and there's this guy who does amazing water colour paintings of people).
By the end of the day Chad wanted a drink more than anything, and when Jared said it would be cool to go to the bar, Chad almost got down on his knees and thanked him. But the thought of being on his knees led to other, less thankful thoughts and he quickly excused himself to the bathroom, uncaring of the looks Jared and Jensen gave each other. This visit was definitely not going as Chad had hoped it would. Normally, by this point, he and Jared would have been locked in Jared's bedroom jacking each other off and playing XBox or something.
Jensen's connections got them to the head of the line at the club and Chad was sucking back Jack and cokes in no time. He was pleasantly buzzed by ten, drunk by eleven and totally smashed by midnight. Jared and Jensen each took an arm as they walked him out of the club to a taxi and sat on either side of him on the ride back to Jared's place. Chad blinked owlishly around the cab and turned his head slowly from one side to the other, staring at Jared and Jensen unsteadily. He felt something brush his back and he mumbled something.
"What's that, Chad?" Jared asked.
"Said stop playin' hans-handsies w'each other," Chad slurred. He felt Jared stiffen beside him and then both of Jared's hands fell into his lap. Chad felt something of the same happen on Jensen's side. When they finally got back to Jared's they again took him by the arms and helped him into the house and up the stairs. Jared tugged his shoes and socks off and pulled his shirt off before pushing him gently back into bed while Jensen got a bucket from the broom closet.
"Want some water or anything?" Jared asked.
"Jus' you," Chad mumbled before Jensen walked back into the room. Jared turned bright red and shook his head when Jensen asked what was wrong. Jensen shot him a dirty look and set the bucket down beside the bed, taking an extra second to bump against the mattress so that Chad's world swam before his eyes with the motion.
"Where're you goin'?" Chad asked as Jared and Jensen turned to leave.
"We're going to bed, Chad."
"Where's he sleepin'?" Chad raised a shaky hand to point at Jensen.
"In the--"
"On the couch, Chad," Jared cut Jensen off with a look. Chad wanted to say something, tell them he wasn't stupid but his drunk mouth just interpreted his thoughts as drool and garble as they turned out the light and left the door ajar just a little.
"Don't choke on your own vomit, if you can manage it," Jensen said before he left the room, and Chad groaned.
He fought to listen to Jared and Jensen as they walked down the short hall to Jared's room. Chad wanted, wished, half-expected to hear steps going downstairs but instead he heard two people walk into Jared's room and the door close behind them. And then, a few minutes later, hushed talking, a few muffled moans and the rhythmic squeak of Jared's bed.
Chad really wanted to reach for a pillow to clamp over his head, but the very thought of moving made his stomach roll and he passed out with the sounds of Jared and Jensen having sex throbbing through his brain.
~~~~
The next morning Chad half thought that Jared had left him behind, the house was so quiet. He couldn't really remember much of the night before; bits and pieces and snide words from Jensen, but that was about it. He'd stumbled to the bathroom to piss out what felt like the fucking Indian Ocean and then listened hard to see if he could hear someone in the kitchen, maybe making coffee. Well, he said he was listening hard when really, he was just holding onto the door frame of the bathroom so he wouldn't keel over. Whatever.
He walked carefully to the stairs and noticed Jared's door was still closed. Jared couldn't really still be asleep, could he? Jared who was always up at the crack of dawn to walk his dogs? Chad paused and listened harder, but still didn't hear anything so he pressed his ear to the bedroom door. He didn't hear anything on the other side, so he turned the knob slowly, pushing the door open.
His stomach rolled and Chad breathed deeply, trying to settle his nerves as his eyes fell on Jared and Jensen-- in bed, naked, tangled in the sheets and each other. He backed out of the room as quietly as possible without falling backwards into the door frame, shut it softly and went back to the bathroom to be sick.
~~~~
Chad took the dogs out for their morning walk. Chad fed them their well balanced, vet-suggested organic dog food shit. Chad let them lie on him as he slumped on the couch, flipping through the channels on the TV aimlessly. Then Chad fed the dogs bits of his toast because he knew it would drive Jared crazy. It wasn't long before he heard Jared and Jensen creeping down the stairs, trying to be quiet, and it pissed him off even more. When they rounded the corner into the living room they stepped apart casually, sleep mussed and wrinkled.
"Chad, how're you feel--"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?" Jared asked, bewildered. Chad turned his head and leveled his gaze on both of them, unblinking. Jared shifted uneasily and shrugged.
"I didn't want to--"
"Hurt me?"
"Piss you off?"
"That worked out real well, didn't it?" Chad spat, pushing the dogs off so he could stand.
"Easy, man," Jared said sharply, snapping at the dogs and signaling for them to leave the room.
"Don't take it out on the dogs, Murray," Jensen spoke up, jaw tight.
"Shut up, Ackles," Chad snapped. "Why in the hell are you even here?"
"Why are you?" Jensen replied, stepping up into Chad's space.
"Hey!" Jared stepped between them. "Chad, this has nothing to do with Jensen. If you're pissed at me, be pissed at me."
"No, Jared. Don't take the blame for this douche bag who just uses you."
"Excuse me? Who the fuck do you think you are?" Chad yelled, trying to get past Jared to Jensen.
"I'm the guy who doesn't treat him like shit!"
"You've been around for what? A couple months? Me and Jared have years!"
"And how many of those were spent fucking around on him with other people?"
"You don't know anything about it, you fucker!" Chad tried to step up to Jensen again but Jared pushed him back with one hand, shoving Jensen with the other.
"Enough!" Jared bellowed, shocking Jensen and Chad both momentarily. "This is not between you two! Chad, I don't know what you expected me to do. Sit around waiting for you to make visits up here every now and then to exchange drunken hand jobs before you went back to your girlfriend or wife or fiancee--whatever the fuck it is you have this week?
"And you," Jared turned to Jensen who snickered as Jared chewed Chad out. "He's my best friend, whether you like it or not. What he and I ever went through is no concern of yours and you have no right to get involved in it!" Chad resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at Jensen and took a step back, puffing his chest out while Jensen glared back at him over Jared's shoulder. "I'm taking Sadie and Harley out for a walk. You two just... figure it out or something, I don't care how!"
Chad felt his jaw drop slightly as he watched Jared call for the dogs and then leave, slamming the door behind him. Jensen watched him warily, the space between them decidedly smaller now without Jared's hulking frame to fill it and keep them apart. They stood there for a few long minutes, waiting for the other to make the first move. Chad could see Jensen was waiting for him to make it, could tell by the grim smile on his face, knowing Chad would break.
"Do you ever stop looking so smug, pretty boy?" Chad finally asked, exasperated.
"Do you ever stop being such a fuck up, Murray?"
"He was with me first," Chad snarled.
"And he's with me now. All the time, in fact. I don't run off to sleep with dirty, disease-ridden skanks, though."
"Who were you dating, again? That Joanna chick? Playboy model, wasn't she? I'm sure she was a paragon of virtue."
"You're disgusting," Jensen ground out, hands clenching into fists.
"You're a stuck-up, self-righteous asshole."
Chad wasn't really sure who made the first move-- he only knew that he was on the floor with an aching jaw and his fist was stinging from making his own connection with Jensen's face. Jensen managed to stay standing, though, so Chad kicked his leg out and caught Jensen around an ankle, sending him to the floor as well. Jensen swore and tried to scramble to his feet but Chad reached out and grabbed his foot, keeping him down. Jensen tried to kick out to get free and ended up catching Chad in the stomach, forcing the breath from Chad's lungs, even as he held on.
"You goddamn prick," Chad bit out, using Jensen's leg as leverage to climb into a kneeling position. He punched Jensen hard in the thigh and grinned in triumph at Jensen's gasp, which gave him enough time to get to his feet. Jensen stumbled and swore at him as he struck out with his right hand, trying to catch Chad again, but he ducked out of the way and punched Jensen in the stomach, payback for getting kicked.
"You fucking asshole," Jensen growled and caught Chad by his short spiky hair, pulling him down into a headlock and jerking him around the room. Chad tried to punch Jensen in his side, hoping in anger to hit a kidney or his spleen or something. He managed to hurt him at least a little because Jensen let him go abruptly and Chad stumbled before catching himself so he could get in Jensen's face again. He managed to stun Jensen briefly with an uppercut that split Jensen's lip and made them both swear. Chad could see blood on his knuckles for an instant before Jensen retaliated with a left out of nowhere that landed on Chad's eye. Jensen stepped back quickly, fists up, and watched Chad warily. Chad could already feel his eye getting hot and tight, signaling the impending swelling and loss of sight but his blood was still pumping and he wanted to keep going, to bring the almighty Ackles down.
"You think that just because you guys had some good times in the past that he's been waiting around for you?" Jensen got out, his voice rough. "We've got a good thing here."
"He never showed any interest before you came along," Chad grumbled back.
"That you know of. You think it was easy for him to always see you out with other people and hear you go on about them when he just wanted you to show him the same fucking common courtesy?"
"He's my best friend!" Chad yelled.
"But you treat him like shit!" Jensen returned, just as loudly. "Don't fuck this up for him too, you asshole!"
"Stop trying to be his best friend!"
"Jesus Christ, Murray. You think I want to take your place? As easy as I'm sure it would be to fill that gap--because you're a fucking loser--I don't want to be constantly compared to you."
Chad eyed him as best he could with his good one, relaxing his stance a little and putting his hands on his hips as he tried to catch his breath. He really should quit smoking. "Bet you don't have as much fun as we did."
Jensen grinned wolfishly at Chad, dropping his hands and panting a little himself. "Bet we have more."
"Whatever," Chad muttered. He backed out of the room slowly, watching Jensen to make sure he didn't jump him while his back was turned--not that he ever expected the great Jensen Ackles to fight so unfair, but you never knew with guys like him--and grabbed a couple dishcloths and a bag of ice from the freezer. When he returned he sat on the couch with the bag of ice at his side and threw one of the cloths at Jensen.
"He's gonna be pissed when he comes back." Chad put some ice in the cloth and held it to the side of his head while Jensen limped to the couch and sank down on the other side, reaching for his own ice.
"Forget Jared, Kim and Kripke will skin me alive on Monday," Jensen muttered. Chad couldn't help but laugh at him, as much as it pained him to make any sudden movements.
When Jared returned his eyes widened fractionally at the sight of Jensen and Chad bruised and bloodied but he kept silent, ordered pizza for them and tried to keep the conversation light. Jensen went home to his own place that night, sticking his nose up at Chad just a little as he leaned in to kiss Jared tenderly goodbye, wincing at the pressure on his lip.
Jared and Chad played some half-assed XBox the night before Chad had to leave to go back to Wilmington, and Jared beat Chad every time. Chad blamed it on his inability to see and the pain from Jared elbowing him gently in the ribs that ached because of Chad's bruises. The next day he drove Chad to the airport alone and stuck his hands in his pockets sheepishly before Chad's plane boarded.
"Guess it wasn't the best visit, huh?"
Chad shrugged. "Could have been worse."
"You still don't like him, do you?"
"Hate his guts," Chad said immediately. "But... whatever, man. You're up here and I'm down there. I know it's hard for you to be apart from me and see me on TV every week knowing you can't be with me--"
"What the fuck ever, dude," Jared said rolling his eyes.
"You give me the word and I'm on a plane back up here to put him in his place if he needs it," Chad warned. Jared nodded and tried to suppress his smile while staring at Chad's black eye that was swollen shut.
"I'll keep that in mind." Over the intercom they heard the announcement about pre-boarding for Chad's flight. Jared stepped forward quickly to pull Chad into a tight hug. "You're still my bud, you know that, right?"
"Yeah," Chad replied gruffly, rolling his eyes, but secretly he was pleased. "An' you're mine."
Jared grinned widely and sent Chad off with a clap on the back. "You say hi to Kenzie for me, y'hear?"
"And you... don't tell Jensen anything from me, okay?" He started for his terminal and then turned back. "Oh! Unless it's to call him a jackass, okay?"
"Bye Chad!" Jared said deliberately, but he smiled to himself as he watched his friend disappear into the hallway.
Title: You think you're cool but have you got the touch?
Pairing: Jared/Jensen, Jared/Chad Michael Murray
Rating: R
Words: 8200-ish, beta'd by torturemysoul
Disclaimer: *insert witty line about not owning any of it, plz to not be suing*
Summary:Jared punched the Murray kid in the arm and grinned at him. "You're alright, Michael."
"It's Chad. Chad Michael Murray. And ow," Chad muttered.
Jared just grinned wider.
A/N: This is one of my slashfest fics, requested by anasuede. I hope I did okay by your request! I have another fic to finish and post by midnight so I'll be off doing that right now.
"So the way I see it," that kid--that Murray Michael or something--started. "Is that this could be a huge thing for us, right?"
Jared looked over at him, quickly slurping noodles into his mouth from his fork so they wouldn't slide off and make more of a mess than he'd already made. He looked from side to side to see if the guy was talking to someone else, swallowing hard when he realized he was the one Murray was looking at so intently.
"Excuse me?" Jared asked politely, reaching out to take a drink out of his Dr Pepper.
"This show--it could be big for us, man. Our characters are both vying for Rory's affections, we're young and hot, we're on the WB--look at that guy who plays Angel. He's huge right now."
Jared furrowed his brow, trying to remember exactly who it was that played Angel and found he couldn't. He nodded and let Murray continue, since he seemed to like to talk and that meant Jared could eat while he listened. Chad stabbed at his linguine and waved his fork around as he talked, a couple noodles flying here and there. Jared watched them and nodded at the appropriate intervals while the guy blathered on about how they were hitting the big time now, and they had to stick together; they had to watch each other's backs now.
Jared mumbled and muttered and grunted his approval without paying much attention, but at the end of it, when the PAs came to get them for their next scene, Jared punched the Murray kid in the arm and grinned at him. "You're alright, Michael."
"It's Chad. Chad Michael Murray. And ow," Chad muttered.
Jared just grinned wider.
~~~~
"Sorry about this, dude," Chad said as he threw crap from his trailer into a box. Well, technically it wasn't his trailer. It was a trailer that all of the guest stars and recurring characters got to use, but whatever. Chad liked to say it was his, and Jared went along with it when he did.
"About what?" Jared asked, not looking over from his place on the sofa where he was engrossed in trying to beat Chad's last score on Super Mario Kart.
"Leaving you behind, moving on to other things."
"Okay." That caught Jared's attention. He paused the game and put the controller down, turning to Chad. "First of all, you're only going to Dawson's Creek. Hate to break it to you, Chad, but it's not like you're working with Soderbergh, okay? Second, you're not 'leaving me behind'. Dawson's Creek is a WB show. We'll see each other at parties and premieres and all those other bullshit things the network schedules us for. And third..." Jared trailed off for a second, trying to find a third thing. "You're a douchebag."
"Yeah, whatever. Jealous."
"Yeah, that's it," Jared laughed. "That's totally it. I get to stay here in L.A., filming with people I know, staying in my own apartment and you get to go out to the middle of bum-fuck nowhere and film with a bunch of people who will probably hate you on sight."
"No, they won't. I've met that uh, that Dawson kid already."
"And?"
"And what? I said hey, he said hey. It was a thing."
"They're all going to hate you," Jared repeated, picking the controller back up.
"Why do you say that?" Chad asked, continuing to chuck things- some of which probably weren't even his- into the box.
"Because I hated you when I met you," Jared said offhandedly.
"Did not!"
"Totally did, dude."
"Well... what changed, then?" Chad asked, scratching his head. Jared paused the game again and looked over at Chad.
"Nothing, really. You just kinda... grew on me."
"Awww, Jared," Chad said in a simpering tone, clutching his hands to his chest. "You say the sweetest things."
"Kinda like a fungus," Jared continued thoughtfully. "You know that kind you get when you leave your sweats in a bag for too long in a locker, or something? Yeah, kind of like that. Or when your wet towels sit in a pile for a week or something."
"You know, I kind of hate you now," Chad threw back, but Jared just laughed at him. "What?"
"You'll never hate me."
"Says who?" Chad challenged.
"Because it's impossible to hate me." Jared grinned up at Chad who faltered for a moment, looked like he was going to say something, but instead jumped on top of Jared and tried to give him a noogie. They wrestled on the couch for a couple minutes, Chad in a headlock, and at one point Jared's front pocket was torn off his shirt--thank God it wasn't from wardrobe--before someone came into the trailer and gave them a funny look. They sat up and stopped trying to hurt each other.
Chad went back to packing his stuff and Jared turned back to his game and ignored the sly looks Chad kept trying to send his way.
~~~~
"I can't believe you're doing a Hilary Duff movie," Jared said as he sat down on the couch in Chad's trailer on the set of A Cinderella Story. Jared was on hiatus from Gilmore Girls and wanted to visit Chad on the set of his new movie. Chad scowled and sat down beside Jared, hands on his knees and close enough to run his pinky finger along Jared's leg.
"Shut up, man. This could be huge."
"That's what you said about Freaky Friday."
"Hey, that was actually a good movie!" Chad argued.
"You decimated a classic with Lindsay Lohan!" Jared shot back. Chad's hand was resting on Jared's leg now, and starting to run toward the button and belt buckle on his jeans.
"And I didn't even get a blow job out of the deal. Stuck up bitch," Chad muttered. Jared rolled his eyes and moved Chad's hand up quicker than he was moving it on his own. Chad grinned at him, almost shyly, and worked on opening the belt buckle.
"Did you get that script? The one they want to film in Australia?"
"The wax thing?" Jared asked, finding it hard to concentrate as Chad's hand wrapped around his cock and pulled him out of his pants.
"Yeah," Chad murmured, watching as Jared's eyes closed briefly. Chad ran his tongue over his lips with a smirk. "That's the one."
"I looked at it. Seems kinda lame," Jared replied softly, letting his head roll back on the couch. Chad eased down to the floor and leaned in, his warm breath ghosting over the head of Jared's cock, and Jared let out a shuddering gasp.
"You should go for it. It'll be fun. Just you and me 'down under'," Chad joked and Jared groaned--either from the lame joke or Chad's tongue swirling around his cock. "Sophia's not coming."
Jared perked up then, tilting his head back to look at Chad, whose head bobbed up and down a few times. "She's not?"
"Nah. Got things to do--scripts to read, a house to decorate or some shit. Whatever keeps her happy and busy, right?" Chad sucked on Jared's cock again for a few seconds and played with his balls before pulling off with a loud pop. Jared whimpered and tried to thrust his hips up toward Chad's mouth.
"So will you?" Chad asked, holding Jared's hips down.
"Will I what?" Jared ground out.
"Come?" Chad grinned evilly at him. "To Australia, of course."
"That depends on you," Jared growled and forced Chad's head down to his cock. Chad made quick work of it, bringing him to orgasm easily as he twisted and teased, sucked and slurped until Jared's fingers were tight in Chad's spiky hair and he was moaning constantly.
When Jared finally came he yelled, "Yes! Yes, I'll come!"
Chad sat back with a self-satisfied smirk on his face, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and nodded. "Knew you'd see it my way."
Jared just nodded back and tried to catch his breath. Chad sat back on the couch beside him as Jared tried to steady his heartbeat and even out his breathing, waiting to come back to his senses so he could return the favor. Just when Chad was going to lean over and grab Jared's hand to pull it to his own lap, Jared looked over at him and asked, "It's not going to be real wax, is it?"
Chad just groaned and let his head loll back on the couch.
~~~~
"Can't tonight dude, sorry."
"What are you doing?"
"Got plans with Paris and some of the crew."
"You're going hang out with Paris Hilton?" Jared asked, surprised. He and Chad were standing around waiting for the next shot. Chad took a drag from his cigarette and exhaled smoke into Jared's face. Jared made a face and stepped to the other side, out of the way of the slight breeze.
"Sure, why not?"
Jared shrugged. "Just thought you'd want to get together or something."
"Tell you what," Chad said, throwing his butt to the ground and turning to Jared. He reached up and laid a heavy hand on Jared's shoulder to get him to look down at him. "If it blows I'll come by and see you when I get in, okay? I don't know what we're doing or where we're going so the odds of it sucking are pretty good, I think. Then maybe we could get with the good--"
"Don't finish that sentence, man," Jared groaned. "That's lame." Jared didn't want to accept that, didn't want to be Chad's backup plan, but he really had no other choice. He nodded and they went to nail the next scene and go back to their hotels or out or, in Chad's case, whatever the hell it was they all did after work. Jared went back to his hotel room, had some dinner and watched re-run after re-run of Friends. He tried to calculate the time difference between Australia and Texas and Los Angeles, maybe call his parents or Alexis or something, but he gave up and decided to go to bed instead.
He'd just pulled his shirt over his head when there was a fumbled knock at the door. Jared rolled his eyes and thought about ignoring it, knowing Chad would be on the other side but he and Chad both knew that would never fly. He opened the door, trying to look somewhat ticked off, but Chad brushed past him, stumbling a little.
"Are you drunk?" Jared asked when Chad launched himself at Jared's bed and burrowed into the blankets. Chad looked back at him with a devious grin and got up on his hands and knees to wave his ass at Jared.
"More high than drunk. You like me when I'm high, remember?" Chad told him, his voice scratchy and low. Jared shook his head and stayed by the wall, watching as Chad tried to coax him over by licking hips lips and pouting at him. Finally Chad gave up and crawled off the bed shakily so he could cross the room and grab Jared by the arm, and Jared went willingly as Chad tugged him back to the bed. Collapsing down on the mattress, Chad pulled Jared to stand between his spread legs and buried his face in his hard stomach. Jared slowly raised a hand to rest on Chad's head as his lips burned a path down Jared's belly to the edge of his sweatpants.
"Did you have fun tonight?" Jared asked as Chad slipped his fingers under the waistband of Jared's sweats and slowly pushed them down, following the revealed skin with his lips and tongue.
"It was alright. You should have come," Chad told him between kisses. Jared fought against fisting his hand in Chad's hair.
"I wasn't invited," Jared returned.
"Who cares? You should've been there."
"Maybe next time," Jared murmured. "Right now, I don't really care."
He pushed Chad back so he sprawled out on the bed and crawled on top of him, pulling Chad up by his jacket to get higher on the mattress. Chad dug his dirty shoes into the bed to help push himself up but only succeeded in bumping into Jared with every movement. Once Chad was in a place Jared found satisfactory, Jared buried his face in Chad's neck and sucked softly, not enough to leave a mark that makeup would question the next day.
One thing led to another and soon Jared was helping Chad out of his jeans, shucking them off so that they fell in a heap on the floor. Jared ran a hand over Chad's hip easily, his fingers spread wide across skin and bones as he hooked a thumb in Chad's tighty-whiteys, dragging them down his legs. Chad lifted one leg, then the other, and then lay back on the bed with a happy, stoned smile, waiting for Jared to suck him off. Jared licked his way up Chad's legs, biting at the inside of his thigh before he stopped at Chad's cock. He looked down and--
"You smell like her," Jared said softly and everything stopped.
"What?"
"You fucked her?" Jared asked, wrinkling his nose at Chad's dick. It was hard to miss the evidence that someone had been there before him. Chad rolled his eyes and tried to push Jared's head down, but Jared only sat up and looked at him.
"Yeah, I fucked her. So what?"
"That's..."
"What?"
"Wrong? Nasty? Skanky?"
Chad raised an eyebrow at Jared's choice of words. "Wrong?"
"You're cheating on Sophia."
"I've been cheating on Sophia with you for a hell of a lot longer."
Jared felt his cheeks redden and he grabbed for his pants, forgotten at the end of the bed. Chad reached for his hands before he could reach them and pulled him back.
"Come on, dude. Don't be like that. I'm fucked up right now, don't know what I'm doing. I just need to get off. Really bad," he murmured, leaning in to kiss Jared's neck. Jared wanted to push him away, to tell Chad to go bunk with Paris if he was in such a bind, but he took Chad's cock into his hand, ignoring the sticky feeling of the skin in his palm, and jerked him off, slow and steady. Chad panted into his neck and came quickly and while he was trying to recover and catch his breath Jared reached out and wiped his hand on Chad's shirt, hidden under one of the pillows.
"Do you want me--" Chad started, reaching for Jared's boxers. Jared pushed his hand down firmly.
"No, I'm okay. You should go get some sleep, we have an early day tomorrow." Jared moved away from Chad and started to pick up their clothes, handing Chad his pants, and clearing off his bed.
"Yeah, okay," Chad said slowly. He pulled on his pants and grabbed his shirt, tugging it on while making a face at the mess Jared left on it. "I'll meet you in the morning for breakfast?"
"Sure." Jared walked him to the door and Chad left without saying anything else. Jared locked his door and went to the bathroom to wash his hands. He had no urge to jerk himself off anymore, and didn't care anyway. He crawled back into bed and fell asleep with the faint smell of Chad and someone else slip-sliding over his skin.
~~~~
"So what's this about again? You're a demon hunter?" Chad asked, his voice a bit rough and staticky across the phone line.
"Sort of. My dad and brother are, but I've been at school."
"Loser."
"It's my character, dude. And besides, he's a smart guy. My brother didn't go to school," Jared argued, feeling the need to defend the character he was auditioning for.
"Who's playing the dad and the brother?"
"No idea. Guess I'll find out when I get to the audition. From what I understand the father isn't really in the picture all that much. It's just the two brothers on a sort of road trip across America," Jared explained as he unbuckled his belt and unbuttoned his jeans. It was almost midnight and he had to get to the gym before seven if he wanted to make all of his appointments for the next day. His whole schedule had been thrown out of whack thanks to the impending audition for this show that, deep down, he really, really wanted to do.
"Cool. Tell them to stop by Wilmington, then," Chad snorted back.
"I'll get right on that. How're things between you and Sophia?" Chad's groan from the other end told Jared all he needed to know. "That good, huh?"
"She's totally strung out over all this wedding shit. Makes me tense just thinking about it," Chad's voice dropped low and the sound went right to Jared's dick.
"Chad," Jared warned.
"What? Can't a guy talk about how things have been... slow lately? And how many times he needs to jerk off in the privacy of his bathroom because he's not getting any from anywhere else? And how sometimes all he thinks about is a hard, long co--"
"Chad." Jared cut him off, suddenly short of breath and reaching a hand into his boxers.
"Knew you'd get off on that," Chad breathed. Jared could hear rustling on the other end of the phone as Chad presumably started to stroke his own cock. "You know how many nights I wanted to call you up and do this last week? So fucking hard every day, and all I can think of is you being here. When are you coming to see me?"
"Ungh," Jared grunted, jerking his cock quickly. His neck was already starting to ache a little from holding the phone between his shoulder and ear and all he really wanted to do was get off and go to bed. "Not sure. Depends on--oh shit--the filming schedule for the pilot."
"Maybe I'll fly out there and see you. Wrap my mouth around you and suck you until you--"
"Jesus!" Jared came suddenly and shuddered into his hand, riding out the pulses as Chad huffed and panted in his ear. He heard Chad's breath hitch when he finally came on his end, muffled crackles and loud breathing in Jared's ear.
"So when are you coming to see me?" Chad asked again, voice lazy and happy.
"Seriously, Chad. It depends on the shooting schedule for the pilot."
"S'never stopped you before," Chad said lightly.
"I've never had something this big before. Maybe in a month or something, okay?"
"Yeah, sure. Whatever," Chad said easily, trying to come off as casual and uncaring. Jared hung up a few minutes later, pleading an early day and left Chad hanging on, waiting for the sound of the dial tone after the abrupt click.
~~~~
"So Jensen Ackles, huh?" Chad started as soon as they were stretched out in lounge chairs on Jared's Los Angeles balcony. Jared looked over at him and raised an eyebrow.
"Problem?"
"Nah, nothin'." Chad shook his head.
"What?"
"I said nothin'," Chad repeated.
"Fuck you. Don't even play that game. You're worse than a fucking girl," Jared threw back, annoyed that Chad was jerking him around.
"It's just... I worked with the guy, right? He's nice and all, sure, but he's almost too into his work, you know?"
"And?" Jared shrugged.
"Dude's kind of a freak. A little stuck up, too."
"You sure it wasn't just you?"
"I'm not stuck up!" Chad replied.
"I didn't mean that you were stuck up. I meant that maybe Jensen was acting the way he did because he was around you, is all."
"Gee, thanks," Chad replied dryly and took a long drink from his beer. "You're a jackass, you know that?"
"Takes one to know one." Jared grinned back.
"Seriously, dude. Just... don't buy into his act, okay?"
Jared could see that for once Chad was trying to be serious so he nodded and caught Chad's eye and held it. Chad looked away after a few seconds, uncomfortable, and sucked back the rest of his beer before reaching for another. Jared paced himself and watched Chad pop the second bottle open. He didn't even say a word when Chad scooched his lounger just a touch closer to Jared's, close enough to rest his hand on the pad by Jared's leg and run his finger up and down the muscled thigh slowly.
Jared hesitated for a moment before placing his own hand on Chad's thigh and moving it up his leg slowly. He could feel Chad's fingers brush his cock and felt Chad's eyes on him, waiting for his reaction, but before anything could happen Jared's phone rang inside the apartment and he sprang up to answer it, shooting Chad an apologetic look. Chad listened as he answered it just inside the door and watched Jared's face light up as he heard who was on the line.
"Jensen," Jared mouthed at him and disappeared back into the apartment with a wide smile to talk to him. Chad tipped back his beer and waited for nearly a half hour before Jared came back and suggested they go out for dinner, their previous activities forgotten. Chad seemed to smile easily but Jared could tell it was forced and stood up to get ready. Jared felt bad for about three seconds-- for all the times Chad left him hanging he'd just have to deal with it.
~~~~
"Dude! You comin' down here this weekend? You've got three days off, right?" Chad knew automatically from Jared's hesitation that he was welshing on their weekend.
"Chad, I really want to come but Jensen got tickets to see-"
"The Spurs in Vancouver or some shit?" Chad cut him off.
"No," Jared sounded confused. "The Vancouver Canucks are playing LA. Hockey, man."
"Since when do you watch hockey?" Chad asked.
"I don't, really. But Jen doesn't either and he managed to score us some tickets so we thought we'd try it out. See what all the hype is about up here."
"Right."
"Don't be like that," Jared said with a groan.
"Like what?"
"All pouty and moody. Worse than a fucking girl, you are."
"Yeah? Your 'Jenny' tell you that?" Chad asked snidely. Jared held back a snort and sighed.
"You can't possibly be jealous of him."
"I'm not."
"Then what's got your panties in a twist, dude?"
"I just thought we'd be hanging out, is all. I passed over some stuff this weekend and now..."
"Now you're going to be sitting around by yourself all weekend, moping like a five year old girl?" Jared laughed. "Gimme a break, dude."
"Well, no. I'm just--I thought we'd be hanging out, okay? I thought we'd... you know, be hanging out." Chad tried to convey his meaning without actually saying it and Jared only gave him a short laugh. Chad cleared his throat and dropped his voice, slumping down on the couch so his hand rested between his spread legs. "If you wanted to make it up to me..."
"Yeah?" Jared asked, sounding a little interested. Chad grinned and started to work the button of his pants open.
"Yeah. You could tell me-"
"Jay! You in here, dude?"
"Hey, Chad, just a second." Chad could hear Jared try to muffle the phone and talk to whoever walked in on him as he ran his hand lightly over his half-hard cock.
"Hey, Chad?" Jared said when he removed his hand from the receiver, sounding a little breathless. "I gotta go. Jen just showed up and we're going to run out and get something to eat."
"Jared--" Chad started, wanting to whine, to complain and demand that he stay on the phone and talk him through an amazing orgasm but he stopped. "Yeah, okay. Have fun."
"I'll call you later, okay?"
"Su--" Jared hung up before Chad could respond. He sat on his couch, staring at the dismissed call on his cell display for a few minutes before making a quick decision and flipping through his address book until he found the number he was looking for.
"Hey! Kenzie?"
~~~~
"So what are you going to be doing all weekend?" Jensen asked as he watched Jared shift from foot to foot, staring at the terminal door where Chad would be arriving in a matter of minutes.
"I dunno, what do you want to do?" Jared asked with a shrug.
"He's your friend, I figured you'd be busy entertaining him," Jared replied.
"Well, sure. But I want you there, too! We can all hang out, right?"
Jensen fought to smile convincingly and nodded. "Sure."
"I know he's not your favourite person--all right, one of your least favourite people--but it's just for the weekend, right? And it means we can still hang out this weekend." Jared reached a hand out and let it trail down Jensen's arm lightly before dropping it back to his side and Jensen had to control the shudder that ran through him--even more so because Chad had just walked through the gate--and then felt a roll of bitter revulsion zing through him as well.
"Chad!" Jared called out as he walked toward the shorter man and threw his arms around him. Chad hugged Jared back tightly for a moment and then tried to step back quickly, as if it was too much for him to be seen hugging another guy in public, but Jared squeezed him tighter with a big grin.
"Get off me man," Chad mumbled, but he was still grinning as he pushed Jared away. "This weekend'd better not suck, man. I want to see booze, babes and--oh. Not him."
Jared didn't have to turn around to know what Chad saw and tried to keep the wide smile on his face. "He's actually a really nice guy, Chad. We'll have fun this weekend, okay? And maybe you'll see that Jensen's okay."
Chad frowned and patted his pocket for his smokes nervously before nodding and starting to walk toward the luggage carousel. "You better not kill the fun this weekend, Ackles," he said as he walked by Jensen.
"Nice to see you again, too, Murray," Jensen shot back and gave Jared a weary look. Jared shrugged helplessly and followed them both, already regretting trying to make this a fun weekend for the three of them.
~~~~
"... and I was running for the basket, cause that's what I was supposed to do, right? And the other guy, some jackass playing someone from the other team, they come charging at me so I don't know what the fuck to do because that totally wasn't in the script. I kept running, hoping I didn't fuck up the shot or something, made it to the basket and did a perfect layup. You know the ones I used to kick your ass with?"
Jensen resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Jared from the other side of the sofa and watched as Jared grinned and kicked out at Chad's shin. "You wish."
"You know it, dude," Chad shot back. "You guys play much?"
"Nah. We're getting into road hockey, though. The crew pulls us into pick up games a lot," Jared explained.
"Road hockey? What the fuck, dude?" Chad said with a short laugh. "Your brain freezin' up here or something?"
"It's a good game," Jensen told Chad before Jared could reply. "Rough as hell, too. Probably a bit harder than running up and down a court for a couple hours."
"Whatever," Chad muttered and turned to give Jared his undivided attention. "What do you want to do now?"
"Actually," Jared started apologetically as he looked at his watch. "I'm beat. Think I should hit the hay."
"Dude, it's only midnight. We could go out, hit the bars. Score some babes." Chad waggled his eyebrows and Jensen bit down on the inside of his mouth to keep from saying something they'd all regret.
"Maybe tomorrow night, okay? We were up at four this morning, getting ready for some sunrise shots, remember?" Jared glanced at Jensen. "We were just lucky we're off tomorrow or else you'd be here all alone."
"Yeah, lucky me," Chad muttered, picking at the fabric on the armchair he was sitting in. He turned his gaze to Jensen and brightened slightly. "So I guess this means you'll be going home."
"How many beers did you have, man?" Jared asked. Jensen thought for a second, then shrugged.
"Four?"
"You feel alright to drive?" Jensen hesitated before saying yes so Jared shook his head. "You stay here, then. The last thing I need is Kripke on my ass because you put your car off the road while smashed."
"I'm hardly smashed," Jensen argued.
"Fine. Because you got pulled over for being impaired, then." Jared stood up and whistled for the dogs for their last run of the night. "Go on up, I'll be back in in a few minutes."
"Hey, why does he get the guest room?" Chad asked suddenly. Jared froze for a second, then replied easily, "Because you'll stay down here watching shitty soft core porn and bitching that I don't have the Playboy channel and fall asleep with your hand in your pants until I wake you up in the morning."
Chad reddened slightly while Jensen snickered and jerked his head. "Fine, go on then. I'll stay down here and wank off on both sides of your couch cushions, then."
"I don't doubt it," Jensen muttered and followed Jared out of the living room to the kitchen. They waited until they heard the TV come on before Jensen stepped into Jared's space and cupped the back of his neck, pulling his head down to kiss him. Jared kissed him back, hands threading through Jensen's hair for the briefest of moments before he pulled back, too soon, and grabbed the dogs' leashes.
"I'll just take them out for a few minutes, okay? You go get ready for bed."
"And if he comes upstairs looking for you? Pokes his nose into the guest room?" Jensen asked, jerking his head toward the living room.
"He won't," Jared told him.
"What if he does?"
"He won't," Jared insisted. "But if he does then... he does."
"So we're not hiding it from him?"
"Well, no," Jared said uncomfortably.
"We're just not actively telling him?"
"Yeah, that's it."
"He's still into you."
"He was never into me," Jared said firmly.
"Could have fooled me. Those stories you told me--"
"Messing around doesn't mean he was into me. It was convenient," Jared explained.
"Uh, huh," Jensen replied, stepping closer to Jared and grabbing the hem of his shirt to tug on it gently. "And this?"
"Oh, this is very convenient," Jared said with a grin and kissed Jensen again, quickly, before whistling for the dogs again and clipping their leashes on. "Be right back."
"And I'll be here," Jensen said to himself as Jared left. He cast a disgusted look toward the living room but didn't hear any sound so he disappeared quietly up the stairs to wait for Jared.
~~~~
Chad tried, he really did. He tried to like Jensen, wanted to because he was Jared's new friend and seemed to be on the fast track to becoming a close friend--but not a best friend under any circumstances--and Chad didn't want to be a douche bag about everything. It just wasn't happening, though. It seemed like every time Chad said or did something Jensen was there doing and saying it better and bigger and more than Chad, and Jared was eating it up.
Jensen could cook, Jensen knew his way around Jared's kitchen, Jensen knew the best place to get fresh fruit from the market downtown, Jensen knew someone who could get them into a hot new club that had just opened--that, Chad had to admit, he wanted to check out, so Jensen was given a pass on that one. It just wasn't fair. This was supposed to be his visit with Jared, not Jared and his new co-star-friend-person.
There was something else he noticed about the way Jared and Jensen interacted that he didn't want to put his finger on, and he tried to ignore it at first. He figured he was being stupid, going insane from having not seen Jared in so long. But there was something about the way they moved together, something about how they knew what the other was going to say or was thinking. About the way they touched each other, seemingly innocently, and the looks they gave each other as they did it.
Yeah, Chad was going fucking insane.
Jared wanted to show Chad around, so they spent the day walking and driving around Vancouver and seeing all the places he and Jensen went to all the time: the old movie theatre on some street Chad would never remember (but they still found it necessary to tell him all about how many pieces of gum were stuck under the seats on one chair); to the park where Jared liked to bring the dogs a lot and he and Jensen sometimes filmed; to the market that was only open on Saturdays (and there's this guy who does amazing water colour paintings of people).
By the end of the day Chad wanted a drink more than anything, and when Jared said it would be cool to go to the bar, Chad almost got down on his knees and thanked him. But the thought of being on his knees led to other, less thankful thoughts and he quickly excused himself to the bathroom, uncaring of the looks Jared and Jensen gave each other. This visit was definitely not going as Chad had hoped it would. Normally, by this point, he and Jared would have been locked in Jared's bedroom jacking each other off and playing XBox or something.
Jensen's connections got them to the head of the line at the club and Chad was sucking back Jack and cokes in no time. He was pleasantly buzzed by ten, drunk by eleven and totally smashed by midnight. Jared and Jensen each took an arm as they walked him out of the club to a taxi and sat on either side of him on the ride back to Jared's place. Chad blinked owlishly around the cab and turned his head slowly from one side to the other, staring at Jared and Jensen unsteadily. He felt something brush his back and he mumbled something.
"What's that, Chad?" Jared asked.
"Said stop playin' hans-handsies w'each other," Chad slurred. He felt Jared stiffen beside him and then both of Jared's hands fell into his lap. Chad felt something of the same happen on Jensen's side. When they finally got back to Jared's they again took him by the arms and helped him into the house and up the stairs. Jared tugged his shoes and socks off and pulled his shirt off before pushing him gently back into bed while Jensen got a bucket from the broom closet.
"Want some water or anything?" Jared asked.
"Jus' you," Chad mumbled before Jensen walked back into the room. Jared turned bright red and shook his head when Jensen asked what was wrong. Jensen shot him a dirty look and set the bucket down beside the bed, taking an extra second to bump against the mattress so that Chad's world swam before his eyes with the motion.
"Where're you goin'?" Chad asked as Jared and Jensen turned to leave.
"We're going to bed, Chad."
"Where's he sleepin'?" Chad raised a shaky hand to point at Jensen.
"In the--"
"On the couch, Chad," Jared cut Jensen off with a look. Chad wanted to say something, tell them he wasn't stupid but his drunk mouth just interpreted his thoughts as drool and garble as they turned out the light and left the door ajar just a little.
"Don't choke on your own vomit, if you can manage it," Jensen said before he left the room, and Chad groaned.
He fought to listen to Jared and Jensen as they walked down the short hall to Jared's room. Chad wanted, wished, half-expected to hear steps going downstairs but instead he heard two people walk into Jared's room and the door close behind them. And then, a few minutes later, hushed talking, a few muffled moans and the rhythmic squeak of Jared's bed.
Chad really wanted to reach for a pillow to clamp over his head, but the very thought of moving made his stomach roll and he passed out with the sounds of Jared and Jensen having sex throbbing through his brain.
~~~~
The next morning Chad half thought that Jared had left him behind, the house was so quiet. He couldn't really remember much of the night before; bits and pieces and snide words from Jensen, but that was about it. He'd stumbled to the bathroom to piss out what felt like the fucking Indian Ocean and then listened hard to see if he could hear someone in the kitchen, maybe making coffee. Well, he said he was listening hard when really, he was just holding onto the door frame of the bathroom so he wouldn't keel over. Whatever.
He walked carefully to the stairs and noticed Jared's door was still closed. Jared couldn't really still be asleep, could he? Jared who was always up at the crack of dawn to walk his dogs? Chad paused and listened harder, but still didn't hear anything so he pressed his ear to the bedroom door. He didn't hear anything on the other side, so he turned the knob slowly, pushing the door open.
His stomach rolled and Chad breathed deeply, trying to settle his nerves as his eyes fell on Jared and Jensen-- in bed, naked, tangled in the sheets and each other. He backed out of the room as quietly as possible without falling backwards into the door frame, shut it softly and went back to the bathroom to be sick.
~~~~
Chad took the dogs out for their morning walk. Chad fed them their well balanced, vet-suggested organic dog food shit. Chad let them lie on him as he slumped on the couch, flipping through the channels on the TV aimlessly. Then Chad fed the dogs bits of his toast because he knew it would drive Jared crazy. It wasn't long before he heard Jared and Jensen creeping down the stairs, trying to be quiet, and it pissed him off even more. When they rounded the corner into the living room they stepped apart casually, sleep mussed and wrinkled.
"Chad, how're you feel--"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?" Jared asked, bewildered. Chad turned his head and leveled his gaze on both of them, unblinking. Jared shifted uneasily and shrugged.
"I didn't want to--"
"Hurt me?"
"Piss you off?"
"That worked out real well, didn't it?" Chad spat, pushing the dogs off so he could stand.
"Easy, man," Jared said sharply, snapping at the dogs and signaling for them to leave the room.
"Don't take it out on the dogs, Murray," Jensen spoke up, jaw tight.
"Shut up, Ackles," Chad snapped. "Why in the hell are you even here?"
"Why are you?" Jensen replied, stepping up into Chad's space.
"Hey!" Jared stepped between them. "Chad, this has nothing to do with Jensen. If you're pissed at me, be pissed at me."
"No, Jared. Don't take the blame for this douche bag who just uses you."
"Excuse me? Who the fuck do you think you are?" Chad yelled, trying to get past Jared to Jensen.
"I'm the guy who doesn't treat him like shit!"
"You've been around for what? A couple months? Me and Jared have years!"
"And how many of those were spent fucking around on him with other people?"
"You don't know anything about it, you fucker!" Chad tried to step up to Jensen again but Jared pushed him back with one hand, shoving Jensen with the other.
"Enough!" Jared bellowed, shocking Jensen and Chad both momentarily. "This is not between you two! Chad, I don't know what you expected me to do. Sit around waiting for you to make visits up here every now and then to exchange drunken hand jobs before you went back to your girlfriend or wife or fiancee--whatever the fuck it is you have this week?
"And you," Jared turned to Jensen who snickered as Jared chewed Chad out. "He's my best friend, whether you like it or not. What he and I ever went through is no concern of yours and you have no right to get involved in it!" Chad resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at Jensen and took a step back, puffing his chest out while Jensen glared back at him over Jared's shoulder. "I'm taking Sadie and Harley out for a walk. You two just... figure it out or something, I don't care how!"
Chad felt his jaw drop slightly as he watched Jared call for the dogs and then leave, slamming the door behind him. Jensen watched him warily, the space between them decidedly smaller now without Jared's hulking frame to fill it and keep them apart. They stood there for a few long minutes, waiting for the other to make the first move. Chad could see Jensen was waiting for him to make it, could tell by the grim smile on his face, knowing Chad would break.
"Do you ever stop looking so smug, pretty boy?" Chad finally asked, exasperated.
"Do you ever stop being such a fuck up, Murray?"
"He was with me first," Chad snarled.
"And he's with me now. All the time, in fact. I don't run off to sleep with dirty, disease-ridden skanks, though."
"Who were you dating, again? That Joanna chick? Playboy model, wasn't she? I'm sure she was a paragon of virtue."
"You're disgusting," Jensen ground out, hands clenching into fists.
"You're a stuck-up, self-righteous asshole."
Chad wasn't really sure who made the first move-- he only knew that he was on the floor with an aching jaw and his fist was stinging from making his own connection with Jensen's face. Jensen managed to stay standing, though, so Chad kicked his leg out and caught Jensen around an ankle, sending him to the floor as well. Jensen swore and tried to scramble to his feet but Chad reached out and grabbed his foot, keeping him down. Jensen tried to kick out to get free and ended up catching Chad in the stomach, forcing the breath from Chad's lungs, even as he held on.
"You goddamn prick," Chad bit out, using Jensen's leg as leverage to climb into a kneeling position. He punched Jensen hard in the thigh and grinned in triumph at Jensen's gasp, which gave him enough time to get to his feet. Jensen stumbled and swore at him as he struck out with his right hand, trying to catch Chad again, but he ducked out of the way and punched Jensen in the stomach, payback for getting kicked.
"You fucking asshole," Jensen growled and caught Chad by his short spiky hair, pulling him down into a headlock and jerking him around the room. Chad tried to punch Jensen in his side, hoping in anger to hit a kidney or his spleen or something. He managed to hurt him at least a little because Jensen let him go abruptly and Chad stumbled before catching himself so he could get in Jensen's face again. He managed to stun Jensen briefly with an uppercut that split Jensen's lip and made them both swear. Chad could see blood on his knuckles for an instant before Jensen retaliated with a left out of nowhere that landed on Chad's eye. Jensen stepped back quickly, fists up, and watched Chad warily. Chad could already feel his eye getting hot and tight, signaling the impending swelling and loss of sight but his blood was still pumping and he wanted to keep going, to bring the almighty Ackles down.
"You think that just because you guys had some good times in the past that he's been waiting around for you?" Jensen got out, his voice rough. "We've got a good thing here."
"He never showed any interest before you came along," Chad grumbled back.
"That you know of. You think it was easy for him to always see you out with other people and hear you go on about them when he just wanted you to show him the same fucking common courtesy?"
"He's my best friend!" Chad yelled.
"But you treat him like shit!" Jensen returned, just as loudly. "Don't fuck this up for him too, you asshole!"
"Stop trying to be his best friend!"
"Jesus Christ, Murray. You think I want to take your place? As easy as I'm sure it would be to fill that gap--because you're a fucking loser--I don't want to be constantly compared to you."
Chad eyed him as best he could with his good one, relaxing his stance a little and putting his hands on his hips as he tried to catch his breath. He really should quit smoking. "Bet you don't have as much fun as we did."
Jensen grinned wolfishly at Chad, dropping his hands and panting a little himself. "Bet we have more."
"Whatever," Chad muttered. He backed out of the room slowly, watching Jensen to make sure he didn't jump him while his back was turned--not that he ever expected the great Jensen Ackles to fight so unfair, but you never knew with guys like him--and grabbed a couple dishcloths and a bag of ice from the freezer. When he returned he sat on the couch with the bag of ice at his side and threw one of the cloths at Jensen.
"He's gonna be pissed when he comes back." Chad put some ice in the cloth and held it to the side of his head while Jensen limped to the couch and sank down on the other side, reaching for his own ice.
"Forget Jared, Kim and Kripke will skin me alive on Monday," Jensen muttered. Chad couldn't help but laugh at him, as much as it pained him to make any sudden movements.
When Jared returned his eyes widened fractionally at the sight of Jensen and Chad bruised and bloodied but he kept silent, ordered pizza for them and tried to keep the conversation light. Jensen went home to his own place that night, sticking his nose up at Chad just a little as he leaned in to kiss Jared tenderly goodbye, wincing at the pressure on his lip.
Jared and Chad played some half-assed XBox the night before Chad had to leave to go back to Wilmington, and Jared beat Chad every time. Chad blamed it on his inability to see and the pain from Jared elbowing him gently in the ribs that ached because of Chad's bruises. The next day he drove Chad to the airport alone and stuck his hands in his pockets sheepishly before Chad's plane boarded.
"Guess it wasn't the best visit, huh?"
Chad shrugged. "Could have been worse."
"You still don't like him, do you?"
"Hate his guts," Chad said immediately. "But... whatever, man. You're up here and I'm down there. I know it's hard for you to be apart from me and see me on TV every week knowing you can't be with me--"
"What the fuck ever, dude," Jared said rolling his eyes.
"You give me the word and I'm on a plane back up here to put him in his place if he needs it," Chad warned. Jared nodded and tried to suppress his smile while staring at Chad's black eye that was swollen shut.
"I'll keep that in mind." Over the intercom they heard the announcement about pre-boarding for Chad's flight. Jared stepped forward quickly to pull Chad into a tight hug. "You're still my bud, you know that, right?"
"Yeah," Chad replied gruffly, rolling his eyes, but secretly he was pleased. "An' you're mine."
Jared grinned widely and sent Chad off with a clap on the back. "You say hi to Kenzie for me, y'hear?"
"And you... don't tell Jensen anything from me, okay?" He started for his terminal and then turned back. "Oh! Unless it's to call him a jackass, okay?"
"Bye Chad!" Jared said deliberately, but he smiled to himself as he watched his friend disappear into the hallway.