The Bloop
http://stormbrite.livejournal.com/25475.htmlstormbrite Made this incredible art for our J2 Reversebang, which I am incredibly proud of because it is a love story mixed with a horror story. I hope that you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Inspired by stormbrite and the amazing art, but also partially inspired by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloop
Without further adieu, I give you, The Bloop
“Bet the media just loved taking your picture for all this nonsense, huh? You look more like a model than an oceanographer. And how damn tall are you? Cause most of the hallways are only six feet due to the” Chad, the pilot of the submarine shuttle droned on and on but Jared just tuned him out. He’d been over and over all of this with the press and the higher-ups in charge of the program and everyone he’d met since he’d decided this project was his endgame while he was getting his PhD in Biological Oceanography. He peered out of the port window next to him, trying to get a glimpse of the Sea Lab through the murk of the deep ocean.
Sea Lab International had been established only a few years ago, though the logistics and actual construction had been underway for more than a decade before that. The world had finally decided that deep ocean exploration was just as important as space exploration, and a consortium of scientists from CERN in Switzerland had begun working on the project. Spots in the Sea Lab were competitive and the training was intense. NASA had been brought in to help train the scientists that were chosen to go down for long assignments so that each scientist down there was in peak physical condition.
Jared had been told all along he was too tall for the station, but he didn’t care; it was his dream.
He was going to work with Jeff Morgan, the ex Navy Seal in charge of the program and the famed Mark Sheppard, the British Scientist who had developed the program from its infancy. Jared was going to be their first Biological Oceanographer on the project and he was going to be working with the famed Jensen Ackles, the project’s marine zoologist.
Jensen Ackles, boy, did Jared have it bad. It started as a little bit of hero worship; Jensen had been just a few years ahead of him at school and Jared spent a lot of his time emulating the older boy. But it had developed into something a little bit more like a crush over time, and even with all the other life changing, all important things happening at Sea Lab, Jared was more nervous about meeting and working with Jensen than he was everything else.
He felt the thud of Chad docking the sub at the station and was brought out of his daydreams. He’d missed the first glimpse of the Sea Lab, but that’s okay. They were latching at the dock and he felt his ears popping as they equalized the pressure. He forced his nerves all the way down to the bottom of his feet at he stood, stooping to avoid the ceiling. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves and choked on the stale air and scent of Chad’s sweat that filled his nostrils. He was ready.
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Jensen Ackles is a dick. Jared threw himself, gingerly, into his bunk at the end of yet another long, frustrating day. He’d been so excited , back on that first day, to meet everyone, to start working on such an amazing project. Morgan was a silver-fox hardass but a good, solid guy. He was a touch of home for Jared somehow. Mark was brilliant and totally fascinating to talk to; Jared had already spent hours discussing the project and the things they’d discovered already with Mark and he looked forward to discussing even more.
Jensen Ackles was a dick. He’d been closed off and dismissive at first. Then he’d started with the “oh, yeah, I think I heard about you. Spent a lot of time chasing my shadow at school, right?” and the constant niggling about Jared’s height or his hair or whatever else he could comment on. Jared had been dealing with those kinds of comments since he’d sprouted upwards at 16 but it was just demoralizing faced with it in and out, day after day, from someone who he used to respect.
“Sometimes I hate it here.” He whined aloud from under his forearm.
“Aww, stretch, but we do so love having you here.” A voice rang out from his doorway and he jumped off the bed, his heart pounding and he could already feel his face turning red. He turned to look and see who was bothering him, but he already knew.
“Jensen, to what do I owe the honor of your visiting me?” Jared asked, trying to keep the anger out of his voice. He looked over at Jensen, looking perfect and leaning in his doorway, smile on his gorgeous face making Jared even more frustrated. How dare he be so handsome and such a dick at the same time?
“Jeff wanted to get together for a family meal thing, so he sent me to fetch you. That and there’s some kinda rumble on my radars that I can’t seem to identify: I think it might be a large mammal and wanted to come and get you for that too.”
Jared felt his heartbeat speed up; something new? That was, after all, the whole reason he wanted to be here. Not to play nice with the other scientists or deal with his college crush but to discover something new in the unexplored, deep ocean. Something of his thought process must have shown on his face because Ackles held up a hand.
“Family meal first, Jumbo, then we can take a look at the readings together. I think Jeff has something to tell us.”
Jared forced a breath out of his mouth without letting it sound too much like a sigh before he stood up and went looking for a clean shirt for dinner. He grabbed one from his pile of laundry and turned around, pausing when he noticed that Jensen was still standing in his doorway, watching him. He cocked his head to the side and paused with his shirt up around his navel. “Something I can help you with or were you just going to watch me get dressed?” He asked and was wholly unprepared for the honest to god blush that bloomed across Jensen’s cheeks.
“Sorry. I’ll just wait outside for you then?” And he was gone without another word or a smartass remark.
“Huh. Weird AND a dick?” Jared shrugged and yanked off his shirt, tossing it onto his bunk before pulling on the clean one. He started to think about what Jeff could possibly want to tell them as he and Jensen made their way silently to the mess area.
“You’re LEAVING? But what if something happens? What, what, what are we going to do? I mean just.” Mark stuttered as Jensen and Jared shared a look across the table at each other; they didn’t think that Jeff leaving for a week was that big of a catastrophe.
“There’s nothing to worry about. I need a bit of shore leave, is all. My wife wants to get pregnant and that won't happen unless I get to go see her every once in awhile. Chad is picking me up tomorrow and I’ll be back in seven days and Misha Collins will be coming down while I’m gone. Honestly, the place runs itself. The only thing that’s likely to happen while I'm gone is that these two will forget to eat and play nice.” Jeff mockingly pointed his fork back and forth between Jared and Jensen and they all laughed at the truth of it.
“Oh no, what is that granola-munching hippie coming down here for? Honestly, a little more notice would have been nice; about you leaving and that, that, that Environmentalist setting foot in my lab.” Mark made the word environmentalist sound like some kind of disease and Jared quirked a face at Jensen, silently trying to ask what the deal was with the guy and got a hand wave in reply. “And you and I are spending a lot of time going over things from now until the moment that you set foot in that submarine, you hear me Jeffrey?” Mark added and Jeff nodded solemnly, with a wink at Jared for good measure.
Jared gulped down the last of his rations and looked across the table at Jensen pleadingly.
“Oh, alright fine. Go look at the readout from earlier and I'll be right behind you. Do not mess with my equipment or the settings, you hear me? I'm two minutes behind you.” Jensen said and Jared dumped his plate in the dirty dish bin and was gone in a blur.
The readouts didn’t make sense at all, at first. Jared looked at them trying to decipher if it was the sound of an iceberg cracking a long way off or the rumblings of a giant, seriously massive actually, animal down in the deep. It was some kind of mixture of the two and Jared was as puzzled as he was excited.
“Do you think we can replicate it and send it back out? Say it is some kind of call from a massive new species, that would be the best way to determine it, right? Looks a little bit like the same resonance as a fully submerged iceberg cracking though.” Jensen asked, plopping himself down into his chair as Jared’s mind raced with possibilities.
“We are talking twice the size of a blue whale, if this is a mammal’s call. I mean, if you can replicate it and send it back out that would be the best thing for us to study it. Though, something that size could come along and eat the damn Sea Lab.” Jared joked and Jensen’s fingers paused on his keyboard.
His wide, green eyes met Jared’s across their shared workspace in silence. “You think?” He asked and Jared couldn’t tell if he was being serious or being his usual charming self.
“I mean, that resonance and that wavelength. It’s a deep sound. Like a ‘turn your bowels to water’ sound, if you know that expression. This thing could absolutely be big enough to come along and eat us whole.”
Slowly, Jensen began to type again, plotting out a program that would replicate the sound and send it back out into the deep. “So, like, you think we found Cthulhu?” He snickered and Jared sighed; the asshole is back.
“Do your job and I’ll do mine. We will probably get up tomorrow to wish Jeff bon voyage and find out it was ice cracking. For now, I’m done, I’m gonna go work out.” He pushed himself up out of his chair and left without waiting for another word.
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Jensen wasn't really sure why he was like this with Jared. The kid was seriously brilliant and nice and hotter than the center of the fucking earth. And yet, something made Jensen act like a complete and utter asshole when the kid was around instead of being himself and trying to get into the kid’s pants. He sighed and made the final adjustments to his program before setting it to go out twice in the next twelve hours.
Hopefully, that would be enough to learn something.
He shut the lab down for the night and headed towards his bunk, stopping briefly outside the room they’d designated as the gym to perv on Jared for a moment. They were all required to do a certain amount of PT while down in the Sea Lab; between the lack of sunlight and fresh oxygen in their systems and the tremendous amount of pressure they were under, mentally and physically, exercise was necessary to their well being.
Jared took it to a whole other level.
When Jensen said that the kid was hot, he meant it. The kid sweated like no one’s business, but how he managed to sweat and smell good was anyone’s guess. Looking at him in the gym, shirt off and muscles gleaming under the artificial lights, set Jensen’s nerves tingling. He would love to get that body underneath his own. He wanted to taste the sweat streaming down Jared’s impossibly long neck. He wanted to feel those ridiculous legs wrapped around his waist. He wanted to get up close and personal with the most perfect ass he’d ever seen in real life.
And instead of behaving in a way that might make any of that possible, he acted like a complete asshole. He shoved the thoughts of Jared down deep and continued on his way to his bunk, never noticing that Jared had seen him there.
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Misha the environmentalist arrived expecting a warmer and more familiar greeting than the one he got, from what Jared could tell. He immediately, and unhappily to both of them, attached himself to Mark’s side, stating that he would be conducting round the clock inspections for the week that he would be there. Jeff left with little fanfare and a lot of offers to come help impregnate his wife if he didn’t find himself up to the challenge. Once the airlock was tightened and the gentle “woosh-woosh” of the shuttle sub taking off was fading into the distance, Jared and Jensen made their way over to the shared lab to see if there were any new readings from overnight and Mark made his way, worriedly, to the command bridge to make sure that everything was running smoothly in the ten minutes since Jeff had left with Misha trailing behind, making notes in a notebook he’d produced seemingly from thin air.
“Gonna be a long week with Jeff gone, mother Mark worrying like that and Misha the inspector poking his nose in where it doesn’t belong.” Jared said as he plopped down into his chair and turned on his console.
“You’re not wrong. But at least we have each other. Before you got here, on the rare occasion that Jeff had to leave for a day or two, it was just me and Mark and it was-holy shit.” Jensen cut himself off softly as he looked at the readouts from the night before. “Jared are you seeing this?” He asked in disbelief.
The sounds that they’d sent out the night before had been answered vigorously. In fact, there was no doubt that it was an actual animal making those sounds; and it was coming closer. “Did… did we call it closer? Did it move closer? And fuck, it moved fast.” Jared said as he looked over the data, his excitement dulled slightly by the worry he suddenly felt.
The size of the creature in question had been all speculation the day before but on their radar there was something roughly the size of a small land mass off to the south of them and it looked to be coming closer. A creaking rumble ran through the Sea Lab and the two men froze, looking up at each other in a panic.
“That couldn’t possibly be…” Jensen asked, trailing off and looking up at the ceiling above him suspiciously.
“I’m sure it was just metal fatigue or something. There’s no way it was…” Jared felt suddenly superstitious. He was reluctant to talk about the monster aloud, lest it hear him. He tried to communicate this with a look and he was pretty sure that Jensen understood.
This job suddenly felt dangerous in a way that it had never felt before. He’d been asked, but doctors, by the press, by his friend and family, about being afraid to be down this deep, but he’d never given it a second thought until just that moment. The rumbling sound repeated itself through the lab and Jared felt a shiver run through his frame.
“I need-” Jensen began in a whisper before clearing his throat and trying again, “I need to get out of here. I think we both need a cup of coffee?” He asked and Jared nodded, quickly shoving himself out of his chair and heading towards the door, Jensen hot on his heels.
Nether one of them gave a glance to their computer screens as they left, so neither one saw their external sensors going crazy before abruptly going still and silent.
Over the course of the first day that Jeff was gone, they noticed little things outside the lab. What sea life had been present on the ocean floor either fell silent or vanished completely. The mystery creature, which Jared had begun to refer to as Cthulhu in his head only, was filling their radar, though they had yet to have an actual visual yet.
Jensen worriedly sat at his computer screen and watched the darkness of the deep ocean become darker in the creature’s shadow. He vigorously regretted sending out that call.
Jared spent most of the day in his bunk, silently writing in his journal, or in the gym. He took solace in physical activity; making his body exhausted. But it didn’t matter, he couldn’t quiet his mind. By the time evening family meal came around, both scientists were nauseous with worry and eyeing the seams and ceiling of the lab with suspicion.
“What the bloody fuck is wrong with the two of you? What is the sound that has been blooping through my lab all day? Why can I not find any of my bottom dwellers out in the camera field anymore? What did you two do?” Mark ranted as he sat down at the table in the mess, Misha sitting silently next to him and looking across the table at Jared and Jensen just as curiously.
“There...there was a call. A loud call. And we flipped it and sent it back out. This creature...this bloop is easily twice the size of a blue whale. Possibly even the size of a small land mass. And we called it. It’s coming this way. We can’t… we can’t see it yet. But it’s filling the radar field.” Jared rambled nervously, fiddling with his fork and unable to look up and meet Mark’s eye.
“You...what? Summoned an actual sea monster? Is that what I’m hearing?” Mark asked quietly, no inflection in his voice at all. Jared and Jensen made quick eye contact over the table top and nodded silently.
The table was totally quiet for a moment before Misha began to laugh loudly, joined shortly by Mark. Jared and Jensen maintained their chastised faces and silence while the other two men laughed loudly, mocking them both.
“You guys are a hoot! This is the best entertainment I’ve had in a long time!” Misha guffawed as he literally slapped at his own thighs in amusement. Mark was no better.
“So Lovecraft was right and Cthulhu is real? Or, was it Pacific Rim? Is it the Kaiju come to get us?” He asked jestingly. Both men fell silent as a loud boom rocked through the lab, literally flickering the artificial lights and making all of their ears begin to ring. Jensen clapped his hands over his ears and Jared tumbled from his seat, clutching at the floor for security.
“What the bloody fuck was that?” Mark asked as he looked around to see if there was any lasting damage from the movement. Misha was totally white faced and looked as though he was about to throw up.
“Undersea earthquake?” Mark offered to the room and was met with three sets of eyes; two of them silently saying that he knew what it was though none of them wanted to discuss it. “You summoned a bloody sea monster?” He whisper-yelled and pushed himself over to where Jared was still clinging to the floor. “Nothing should be able to do what just happened. Nothing, you hearing me?” Mark threatened.
“It did happen. We were all here for it.” Jensen said, reaching down and pulling Jared off the floor. Jared steadied himself against Jensen, his equilibrium shot from his racing nerves.
“Take me to your lab and let’s look at the readouts. I assume that you’ve been good little scientists and made sure to record each noise as it happened?”
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The four of them piled into the small work area that belonged to Jared and Jensen. Jensen showed Mark the readouts and the radar screens and illustrated the path that the monster seemed to have taken; pointing out the area that it looked to have been inhabiting. Jared hovered silently in the corner and wished that he could take back the request for Jensen to send the call back out.
“This bloody thing is massive and it looks like it was laying on the seabed? At this depth? Not moving. Do you think it could have been hibernating and we woke it up?” Mark rambled question after question at Jensen, so quickly that Jensen couldn’t get the answer out before Mark was asking another and with each question, Jared’s heart sped up even faster with fear.
“I have to get out of here.” He said, quickly but quietly before he shoved his way out of the suddenly claustrophobic space and down towards the main gathering area. He didn’t notice Misha following him until the strange man was suddenly at his side, smiling with silent support.
“Don’t blame yourself. You know, this is the reason that they send people like me to do checks on each changing projects. Because it fundamentally changes the earth. As soon as this project was greenlit, the events for this to take place were put in motion. It would’ve happened to any other scientist as well.” MIsha said with a polite smile on his face and a strange tone in his voice; one that made the hair on the back of Jared’s neck stand up and his stomach twist.
“Thanks...Misha. I’m not sure if any of that makes me feel better, though.” Jared said slowly as he stopped next to one of his favorite viewports. He flicked on the light that was meant to shine out onto the seafloor, but nothing happened and, without thinking, he tapped on the glass frustrated.
“Oh, it wasn’t meant to make you feel better.” Misha replied, still polite but with a curious tone in his voice.
Jared leaned his head against the side of the port window and looked out again, hoping to see the bioluminescent bottom dwellers that always soothed him to watch when he first got there. It had always reminded him of kids on a playground. He blinked slowly and refocused his eyes before yelling and jumping backwards away from the wall.
“A tooth! A mouth! A giant fucking mouth!” He yelled pointing at the port as he scrambled backwards to get away.
Misha calmly walked towards the port and peered out, blinking slowly and still with the creepy smile on his face the whole time. “Why yes. I see that.” He replied calmly, turning his head to smile at Jared shaking by the door before turning back to coo at the monster outside the port window. “It’s a pity that we can’t let something so beautiful be, isn’t it? Or speak with it directly? It’s been on this earth, a part of this earth, for longer than we can fathom. Think of what it could teach us if only we could get to it.” With that, Misha reached up and tapped on the enforced port window in morse code, though Jared’s racing and fear filled mind could not translate the dots and dashes into words.
Jensen and Mark came running into the room a moment later, both out of breath. “We heard yelling. Jared are you okay?” Jensen asked, rushing over to him and trying to shake Jared out of the stupor he’d fallen into. Jared couldn’t make his voice work, so he shook his head in the negative and pointed a shaking finger at Misha and the viewport.
As Mark began to open his mouth to ask what had happened, both he and Jensen happened to look directly into the open viewport only to see most of a giant eye blink and shift to be looking at them. Jensen jumped and Mark went still and silent.
“Isn’t he beautiful? So big, so ancient.” Misha sighed dreamily, still tap-tap-tapping on the glass. Mark looked over at Jared and Jensen, clutching at each other in the corner, before he slowly began to edge towards the crazy person in the room. Mark sucked in a breath as his mind raced to find something to say when Misha reached into his pocket and removed a small multi-tool, not unlike a swiss army knife.
But with an acetylene torch that he quickly lit.
“No! I mean, yes, it would be wonderful to speak to the creature but we need to study it a little longer, don’t you think? We need to be able to speak in its language, don’t we?” Mark asked hurriedly, edging forward as fast as he dared. He reached out towards the tool but Misha held it out of his reach and clicked the flame off.
“Oh, no, I think I will keep this. As soon as we know how to speak to him we are going to need it to let him in here.” Misha said, walking out the door. “Come along gentlemen, let’s head back to the lab. We have a lot of work to do.”
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Jared lay in his bunk that night and listened to the sounds of the creature outside the sea lab, suddenly feeling as though it wasn’t as sturdy as it used to be. The way its call seemed to sound mournful and then angry in turn as it rumbled through the lab, shaking everything that wasn't bolted down. The way that it must be rubbing itself along the outer shell of the sea lab; it was a sound not unlike being inside a boat that was having the barnacles scraped off. Horrifyingly loud, though.
The next day, all of the lights in the lab went out and most of the equipment stopped working. The life support systems were the only things still working. Mark paced and worked furiously to keep MIsha from damaging the shell of the sea lab somehow and killing them all in an attempt to speak with the giant sea creature that Jared was still calling Cthulhu in his head. He sat, dejectedly, in a corner of the room they all worked in since MIsha was reluctant to let anyone out of his sight.
Jensen came and flopped himself down next to Jared, speaking lowly out of the corner of his mouth. “We need to talk in private and I have an idea. Just go with it, okay?” Jensen didn’t even give Jared a chance to nod or really process what he’d said before his hands were moving, one sliding up Jared’s thigh and the other one groping familiarly on his stomach. Jared tried to twist his head to look at Jensen but Jensen was sliding his lips on Jared’s neck and jaw, making moving his head impossible.
“For fuck’s sake boys, we are doing something important, can’t you keep it in your pants?” Mark sighed angrily when he caught sight of them. Misha turned to look at them curiously. “I suppose we should let them have some alone time; you know how these young kids are with their insatiable libidos and I don’t feel like seeing that ever again. Walking in on them once was enough.” Mark sighed, pushing Misha to let the two younger men leave and have some alone time.
“Yes, that’s fine. You two can go fuck like bunnies if you like, we are almost done here and I’d like you both to be ready when the time comes to meet the creature.” Misha granted, blank look in his eye, almost as though he was possessed. Jared felt a full body shiver run through him as Jensen pulled him to his feet, placed a proprietary hand on his ass and steered him out of the room without ever pulling his lips off Jared’s neck.
They made it most of the way towards Jared’s bunk before Jesen finally removed himself from Jared’s personal space; and Jared was so damn confused. Without thinking, he reached down to rub at his cock in his pants. It had been a long time since he’d even thought about jerking off and Jensen Freaking Ackles had just felt him up and sucked on his neck.
Yeah, he was fucking hard.
He looked up in time to see that Jensen was in a similar state and he raised his eyebrows at him in question, loving the way Jensen’s cheeks went pink. “Look, you’re fucking hot and if anyone ever tells you different they are lying but this is NOT the time. I swear to you, that if we survive this and get back to the surface I will lock you in my bedroom and fuck your brains out till we are tired of it.” Jensen grabbed the back of Jared’s neck and pulled his face down, crashing their mouths together to make his tantalizing words into a promise.
His mouth tasted like the stale coffee they’d been drinking all morning, but up close Jensen smelled amazingly good and Jared’s whole body thrummed with arousal. He was slipping his arms around Jensen’s shoulders to pull him closer when the creature’s call rumbled through the room and he remembered what was really going on. Reluctantly, he shoved Jensen away, lest they waste time they didn’t really have.
“We didn’t actually come in here to fuck like bunnies so what’s going on?” Jared panted as he stepped backwards, away from temptation. He licked the last taste of Jensen off his lips and opened his eyes, unprepared for the heat that flashed through him when he saw how ruffled and messed up Jensen looked.
“We gotta, fuck, we gotta get in touch with Chad.” Jensen finally got out, turning and rifling through the cluttered mess on Jared’s work table.
“Chad?” Jared asked confused and horny. He didn’t want to think about Chad, he wanted to think more about being ass up on Jensen’s bed.
“Yeah, dude, Chad is the number one Submariner in the world. He’s also a member of Seal Team 6, trained by Jeff. Don’t let him fool you, he’s basically Jason Bourne with an idiot, surfer boy exterior.” Jensen replied as he rifled through the mess and getting agitated as he couldn’t find what he was looking for. “Didn’t they give you a communicator? Misha took mine and Mark’s but Mark convinced him they hadn’t hooked yours up yet.” Jensen asked, his face flushed and red.
Jared moved towards his bunk and pulled the communicator from his pillowcase, handing it over with a shy smile. “It made me feel a little less lonely, even though I never used it and even if I had it would've been Chad on the other end.”
“Aww gigantor, that’s adorable and sad.” Jensen said as he clutched at the communicator and dialed in the emergency code, setting off an alarm on Chad’s end that translated to “Get your ass down here immediately, but be careful.”
“How’s he supposed to get past… Misha’s bestie?” Jared found himself asking as Jensen shoved the communicator back into Jared’s pillow case and turned to size him up.
“That is, for now, his problem and not mine. My current problem is how to make sure that you look properly ravished.” Jensen replied as he came towards Jared with his hands outstretched towards Jared’s hair. Jared had a few suggestions about how they could make it look real, but he held his tongue and tried not to groan as Jensen ran fingers through his hair messing it up.
“We will know if Chad got the message in about six hours. We just gotta hold on for that long.” Jensen whispered right into Jared’s face, sharing his breath for a second before stealing another soft kiss. “Till we are safe at home. That’s a promise.”
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By the time that Jared and Jensen joined Mark and Misha, the life support alarms were going off. Jensen pulled Jared into his side, placing a calming hand at the small of his back. Mark was sweating, the hair on the back of his head nearly black with panic sweat, but Misha looked calmer and less human than ever.
“The life support systems say we have less than ten hours left.” Mark babbled at them worriedly but Misha simply smiled and sat down by the view port, gazing out at the giant eye that seemed to be looking in at them. He lifted a hand and pressed it against the glass calmly, tapping his fingers and waiting as the monstrous eye blinked back in the same rhythm.
“I’ve learned how to speak with her. Isn’t she lovely?” He asked the room of scientists dreamily.
Jared, fed up and tired and so scared that he could barely function, was the only one to speak up. “I thought it was a ‘he’?” He slid down the wall opposite Misha and the view port, and sat on the floor. Waiting.
“Well, now that we can speak I know better. And I am sorry that I’ve had to resort to actually killing you, especially since the two of you have found a way to copulate without breeding, but Vehement informed me of what you’d found and this beautiful creature must be woken and experienced before the human race is fully phased out.” MIsha smiled again and lovingly caressed the glass next to his face.
“What… Misha, did you say that you were a member of Vehement?” Jensen asked slowly, moving away from Jared and towards Misha. He froze when the eco-terrorist’s smile fell from his face and he turned icy-blue eyes onto him.
“V.H.E.M.T. is a serious group with an important cause. To save the animals and the Earth by eliminating humans. Look at this monstrosity of humanity that you have built here, in this creature’s home. At the appointed time, I will break the seal. We will be swallowed up by the water, crushed by the pressure and our bodies will be consumed by the creatures out there. Even now, she calls for others, can’t you hear her?” Misha asked and cocked his head to the side as the loudest rumble yet rattled through all of their frames.
Jared felt his heart speed up and he began to hyperventilate. Crouched on the floor, he tried to put his head between his knees, but couldn’t manage until Mark came over to place calming hands on him. Mark glared at Misha silently as Jensen tried to edge even closer.
“He’s so young, Misha. Can’t you let us call Chad to come and get Jared at least?” Mark asked as a distraction for Jensen to edge a little closer. Jared focused on breathing in and out and looked at the floor beneath him. He worked to block out everything until he was nothing but inhales and exhales and the warmth of Mark’s hand on the back of his neck, grounding him.
“We are all needed to feed her. How else will she have the energy to reproduce after she’s slumbered for so long?” The words were wistful and loving and Misha turned to look out on her eye once again and it was just the second that Jensen needed to move.
Jensen leapt towards Misha where he sat and the two of them slammed into the wall with a terrific bang that made Jared’s head pop up fast enough that his vision began to swim. He thought it almost looked like the giant eye was watching the fight, but he decided that it had to be a figment of his imagination.
MIsha was strong for his small size and nearly got the drop on Jensen, but in the end, Jensen’s strength and size won out and he had Misha pinned to the floor with his hands behind his back and the multi-tool he’d been carrying was thrown across the floor towards where Mark and Jared were sitting.
“Do we have any zip-ties or rope or anything we can tie him up with until Chad gets here?” Jensen asked, out of breath and panting as Mark jumped up and ran into the next room, returning with rope and duct tape.
“Multi-billion dollar project in the deep of the ocean and we are stocked with duct tape?” Jensen asked, as he snatched it out of Mark’s hands and began to wrap it around Misha’s wrists. He then hauled Misha upright and plopped him back in the chair before he tied him up with the rope.
“None of this matters. Even if Chad is able to dock the submarine shuttle, no one will make it back to the surface alive.” He droned mournfully as he gazed out the port once again.
“Yeah, right, crazy. We will just see about that.” Mark dismissed as he found his communicator to check in with Chad and his progress.
“Copy that Mark, I’m an hour out, but you should come into my line of sight any… holy shit.” They heard over the speaker. “What the ever loving fuck did you nerds do?” Chad asked quietly and Mark fumbled for words to reply.
Jared got fed up waiting for Mark to find his words and snatched the communicator out of Mark’s hands. “Look, let’s discuss that later. The point is, can you dock?” The crackle of the speaker went quiet for a moment and all three of them held their breath. Jared jumped when Chad’s voice came back over the speaker. “Yeah, but it’s a damn good thing for you guys that I’m the friggin best in the world. I want everyone who’s leaving standing at the docking airlock. We are doing this in less than 10 minutes. I dunno how fast that thing moves but I know how fast we can ascend… and I hope the speeds aren’t all that close.”
Jensen dragged the tied-up Misha in his chair into the airlock room and they proceeded to wait, Mark with his data-notebooks in his hands and Jared with the communicator clutched in one of his. He looked up at Jensen, “Is there anything you need from your bunk? I think I have time to go check?”
“No, I don’t. Everything can rot on the bottom of the ocean for all I care. And, no, you don’t. You’ll stay right here. Nothing is more important now than getting to the surface.” As soon as the words were out, an horrific screech rang out from above them and instinctively they each ducked and looked up, though there was nothing to see.
“Uh, nerds? We are gonna have to make it happen in less than 2 minutes, okay? Beastie is moving a lot faster than I’d hoped. I’m docking now. As soon as the airlock lights up green, it’s go time. No fanfare kiddos.”
They heard the thud-thud-click of the sub docking and all of them tensed to move as soon as they got the green light.
“She is still going to consume us all. I just hope that the submarine does not hurt her.” Misha said softly, barely loud enough to be heard over the buzzing that the pressure was equalized and the docking was complete. Mark released the handles and opened the lock into the sub, Chad hovering nearby to help if he was needed. “Whoa, all the lights are out.”
“Yeah, Chad, less than 4 hours left on life support. Thanks for the hustle. Let’s get this guy tied into his seat and get to moving.” Jensen said as he dragged Misha’s bound form into the sub followed finally by a slow-moving and still nauseous Jared. He fumblingly buckled himself into the seat next to Jensen and in front of Misha, while Chad locked the door and began to disengage sequence.
Jared could see the monster very clearly out the front portal. It was mind-bogglingly large and it’s shape was too indistinct to describe fully. It was blacker than anything he’d ever seen before and it was moving towards them faster than a creature that size ought to be able to move. It had tentacles near the front of it’s body that looked to be reaching out towards them and Jared had never felt such fear. He closed his eyes and pictured his childhood bedroom. He pictured his bedtime routine at the age of six and how his mother would come into the room and check his closet and under his bed for monsters before they would kneel and say a prayer together. His lips began to move at the same moment that the submarine began to move but before he could make it all the way through his childhood prayer, he felt a hand slip into his own loose fist where it was clenched in his lap and his eyes opened.
“We are gonna make it. I made you a promise.” Jensen said, leaning over so that he could brush their lips together. “Us good old boys gotta stick together. We are gonna make it. But, if you wanna, I can pray with you.”
Jared jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned to look at Mark behind him. “It’s been a long couple of years since I spoke with God, but I think I can remember a prayer or two as well.”
The submarine rocked suddenly from side to side and Jared turned his fear-filled eyes back to the front to see that the creature was gaining on them. “I told you. Nature will always win. Come and get us my sweet!” Misha yelled from his seat. Bafflingly, the head of the creature seemed to swing around to the sound of Misha’s voice. “Come get us my love! Reclaim what is yours!” He screamed as Mark slapped a hand over his mouth and asked why they hadn’t duct taped his mouth shut.
“Alright nerds, time to quote my favorite movie of all time and the most badass man to ever badass, Mister Samuel L Jackson. HOLD ONTO YOUR BUTTS.” Chad yelled, as he swung the submarine in a direction that shouldn’t have been possible and sped them through the creature’s outstretched tentacles before pointing them upwards and moving fast enough that each of them felt their ears pop. “This is gonna be a bumpy ride gentleman. I’m moving as fast as physically possible towards home. Hold on tight and resume praying if you like. Bye Felicia!” Chad whooped at the creature as it began to fall back away from them.
Jared felt his lips begin to move in the familiar and soothing pattern of his bedtime prayers and he felt more that heard Jensen join in with him. He didn’t stop reciting until the submarine broke the surface of the water and he saw real sunlight for the first time in weeks. He looked down at his lap to see that Jensen’s fingers were so tightly intertwined with his own that both of them had red fingertips.
Chad docked the sub and all of them clambered out onto the deck of the repurposed aircraft carrier they used as a surface station to see Jeff waiting there with open arms and a stern look on his face.
“Don’t you even start with me Jeffrey Dean Morgan! You were the one that cleared mister cuckoo over here! He’s part of V.H.E.M.T, you git! WHat could happen you said. It’s only a week you said. I’ve almost been eaten by a sea monster straight out of Lovecraft!” Mark shouted, his face red and mouth frothing a little in his vehemence.
Jeff laughed as he stepped forward and took hold of Misha’s tied-up form from Chad. “Well, you survived, didn’t you? C’mon, time for a debriefing.” Mark spluttered in anger but followed Jeff, leaving Jensen and Jared alone on the deck.
“Do you wanna know?” Jensen asked softly and Jared paused, truly thinking about it. Did he want to know what the creature was? How long it’d been down in the depths? Would it go back to sleep now or was it going to destroy a delicate, unknown eco-system first? With a deep breath, he looked at the freckles coming out on Jensen’s face in the sunlight and he realized his answer.
“No. I’d rather know what color sheets are on your bed.”
Inspired by stormbrite and the amazing art, but also partially inspired by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloop
Without further adieu, I give you, The Bloop
“Bet the media just loved taking your picture for all this nonsense, huh? You look more like a model than an oceanographer. And how damn tall are you? Cause most of the hallways are only six feet due to the” Chad, the pilot of the submarine shuttle droned on and on but Jared just tuned him out. He’d been over and over all of this with the press and the higher-ups in charge of the program and everyone he’d met since he’d decided this project was his endgame while he was getting his PhD in Biological Oceanography. He peered out of the port window next to him, trying to get a glimpse of the Sea Lab through the murk of the deep ocean.
Sea Lab International had been established only a few years ago, though the logistics and actual construction had been underway for more than a decade before that. The world had finally decided that deep ocean exploration was just as important as space exploration, and a consortium of scientists from CERN in Switzerland had begun working on the project. Spots in the Sea Lab were competitive and the training was intense. NASA had been brought in to help train the scientists that were chosen to go down for long assignments so that each scientist down there was in peak physical condition.
Jared had been told all along he was too tall for the station, but he didn’t care; it was his dream.
He was going to work with Jeff Morgan, the ex Navy Seal in charge of the program and the famed Mark Sheppard, the British Scientist who had developed the program from its infancy. Jared was going to be their first Biological Oceanographer on the project and he was going to be working with the famed Jensen Ackles, the project’s marine zoologist.
Jensen Ackles, boy, did Jared have it bad. It started as a little bit of hero worship; Jensen had been just a few years ahead of him at school and Jared spent a lot of his time emulating the older boy. But it had developed into something a little bit more like a crush over time, and even with all the other life changing, all important things happening at Sea Lab, Jared was more nervous about meeting and working with Jensen than he was everything else.
He felt the thud of Chad docking the sub at the station and was brought out of his daydreams. He’d missed the first glimpse of the Sea Lab, but that’s okay. They were latching at the dock and he felt his ears popping as they equalized the pressure. He forced his nerves all the way down to the bottom of his feet at he stood, stooping to avoid the ceiling. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves and choked on the stale air and scent of Chad’s sweat that filled his nostrils. He was ready.
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Jensen Ackles is a dick. Jared threw himself, gingerly, into his bunk at the end of yet another long, frustrating day. He’d been so excited , back on that first day, to meet everyone, to start working on such an amazing project. Morgan was a silver-fox hardass but a good, solid guy. He was a touch of home for Jared somehow. Mark was brilliant and totally fascinating to talk to; Jared had already spent hours discussing the project and the things they’d discovered already with Mark and he looked forward to discussing even more.
Jensen Ackles was a dick. He’d been closed off and dismissive at first. Then he’d started with the “oh, yeah, I think I heard about you. Spent a lot of time chasing my shadow at school, right?” and the constant niggling about Jared’s height or his hair or whatever else he could comment on. Jared had been dealing with those kinds of comments since he’d sprouted upwards at 16 but it was just demoralizing faced with it in and out, day after day, from someone who he used to respect.
“Sometimes I hate it here.” He whined aloud from under his forearm.
“Aww, stretch, but we do so love having you here.” A voice rang out from his doorway and he jumped off the bed, his heart pounding and he could already feel his face turning red. He turned to look and see who was bothering him, but he already knew.
“Jensen, to what do I owe the honor of your visiting me?” Jared asked, trying to keep the anger out of his voice. He looked over at Jensen, looking perfect and leaning in his doorway, smile on his gorgeous face making Jared even more frustrated. How dare he be so handsome and such a dick at the same time?
“Jeff wanted to get together for a family meal thing, so he sent me to fetch you. That and there’s some kinda rumble on my radars that I can’t seem to identify: I think it might be a large mammal and wanted to come and get you for that too.”
Jared felt his heartbeat speed up; something new? That was, after all, the whole reason he wanted to be here. Not to play nice with the other scientists or deal with his college crush but to discover something new in the unexplored, deep ocean. Something of his thought process must have shown on his face because Ackles held up a hand.
“Family meal first, Jumbo, then we can take a look at the readings together. I think Jeff has something to tell us.”
Jared forced a breath out of his mouth without letting it sound too much like a sigh before he stood up and went looking for a clean shirt for dinner. He grabbed one from his pile of laundry and turned around, pausing when he noticed that Jensen was still standing in his doorway, watching him. He cocked his head to the side and paused with his shirt up around his navel. “Something I can help you with or were you just going to watch me get dressed?” He asked and was wholly unprepared for the honest to god blush that bloomed across Jensen’s cheeks.
“Sorry. I’ll just wait outside for you then?” And he was gone without another word or a smartass remark.
“Huh. Weird AND a dick?” Jared shrugged and yanked off his shirt, tossing it onto his bunk before pulling on the clean one. He started to think about what Jeff could possibly want to tell them as he and Jensen made their way silently to the mess area.
“You’re LEAVING? But what if something happens? What, what, what are we going to do? I mean just.” Mark stuttered as Jensen and Jared shared a look across the table at each other; they didn’t think that Jeff leaving for a week was that big of a catastrophe.
“There’s nothing to worry about. I need a bit of shore leave, is all. My wife wants to get pregnant and that won't happen unless I get to go see her every once in awhile. Chad is picking me up tomorrow and I’ll be back in seven days and Misha Collins will be coming down while I’m gone. Honestly, the place runs itself. The only thing that’s likely to happen while I'm gone is that these two will forget to eat and play nice.” Jeff mockingly pointed his fork back and forth between Jared and Jensen and they all laughed at the truth of it.
“Oh no, what is that granola-munching hippie coming down here for? Honestly, a little more notice would have been nice; about you leaving and that, that, that Environmentalist setting foot in my lab.” Mark made the word environmentalist sound like some kind of disease and Jared quirked a face at Jensen, silently trying to ask what the deal was with the guy and got a hand wave in reply. “And you and I are spending a lot of time going over things from now until the moment that you set foot in that submarine, you hear me Jeffrey?” Mark added and Jeff nodded solemnly, with a wink at Jared for good measure.
Jared gulped down the last of his rations and looked across the table at Jensen pleadingly.
“Oh, alright fine. Go look at the readout from earlier and I'll be right behind you. Do not mess with my equipment or the settings, you hear me? I'm two minutes behind you.” Jensen said and Jared dumped his plate in the dirty dish bin and was gone in a blur.
The readouts didn’t make sense at all, at first. Jared looked at them trying to decipher if it was the sound of an iceberg cracking a long way off or the rumblings of a giant, seriously massive actually, animal down in the deep. It was some kind of mixture of the two and Jared was as puzzled as he was excited.
“Do you think we can replicate it and send it back out? Say it is some kind of call from a massive new species, that would be the best way to determine it, right? Looks a little bit like the same resonance as a fully submerged iceberg cracking though.” Jensen asked, plopping himself down into his chair as Jared’s mind raced with possibilities.
“We are talking twice the size of a blue whale, if this is a mammal’s call. I mean, if you can replicate it and send it back out that would be the best thing for us to study it. Though, something that size could come along and eat the damn Sea Lab.” Jared joked and Jensen’s fingers paused on his keyboard.
His wide, green eyes met Jared’s across their shared workspace in silence. “You think?” He asked and Jared couldn’t tell if he was being serious or being his usual charming self.
“I mean, that resonance and that wavelength. It’s a deep sound. Like a ‘turn your bowels to water’ sound, if you know that expression. This thing could absolutely be big enough to come along and eat us whole.”
Slowly, Jensen began to type again, plotting out a program that would replicate the sound and send it back out into the deep. “So, like, you think we found Cthulhu?” He snickered and Jared sighed; the asshole is back.
“Do your job and I’ll do mine. We will probably get up tomorrow to wish Jeff bon voyage and find out it was ice cracking. For now, I’m done, I’m gonna go work out.” He pushed himself up out of his chair and left without waiting for another word.
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Jensen wasn't really sure why he was like this with Jared. The kid was seriously brilliant and nice and hotter than the center of the fucking earth. And yet, something made Jensen act like a complete and utter asshole when the kid was around instead of being himself and trying to get into the kid’s pants. He sighed and made the final adjustments to his program before setting it to go out twice in the next twelve hours.
Hopefully, that would be enough to learn something.
He shut the lab down for the night and headed towards his bunk, stopping briefly outside the room they’d designated as the gym to perv on Jared for a moment. They were all required to do a certain amount of PT while down in the Sea Lab; between the lack of sunlight and fresh oxygen in their systems and the tremendous amount of pressure they were under, mentally and physically, exercise was necessary to their well being.
Jared took it to a whole other level.
When Jensen said that the kid was hot, he meant it. The kid sweated like no one’s business, but how he managed to sweat and smell good was anyone’s guess. Looking at him in the gym, shirt off and muscles gleaming under the artificial lights, set Jensen’s nerves tingling. He would love to get that body underneath his own. He wanted to taste the sweat streaming down Jared’s impossibly long neck. He wanted to feel those ridiculous legs wrapped around his waist. He wanted to get up close and personal with the most perfect ass he’d ever seen in real life.
And instead of behaving in a way that might make any of that possible, he acted like a complete asshole. He shoved the thoughts of Jared down deep and continued on his way to his bunk, never noticing that Jared had seen him there.
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Misha the environmentalist arrived expecting a warmer and more familiar greeting than the one he got, from what Jared could tell. He immediately, and unhappily to both of them, attached himself to Mark’s side, stating that he would be conducting round the clock inspections for the week that he would be there. Jeff left with little fanfare and a lot of offers to come help impregnate his wife if he didn’t find himself up to the challenge. Once the airlock was tightened and the gentle “woosh-woosh” of the shuttle sub taking off was fading into the distance, Jared and Jensen made their way over to the shared lab to see if there were any new readings from overnight and Mark made his way, worriedly, to the command bridge to make sure that everything was running smoothly in the ten minutes since Jeff had left with Misha trailing behind, making notes in a notebook he’d produced seemingly from thin air.
“Gonna be a long week with Jeff gone, mother Mark worrying like that and Misha the inspector poking his nose in where it doesn’t belong.” Jared said as he plopped down into his chair and turned on his console.
“You’re not wrong. But at least we have each other. Before you got here, on the rare occasion that Jeff had to leave for a day or two, it was just me and Mark and it was-holy shit.” Jensen cut himself off softly as he looked at the readouts from the night before. “Jared are you seeing this?” He asked in disbelief.
The sounds that they’d sent out the night before had been answered vigorously. In fact, there was no doubt that it was an actual animal making those sounds; and it was coming closer. “Did… did we call it closer? Did it move closer? And fuck, it moved fast.” Jared said as he looked over the data, his excitement dulled slightly by the worry he suddenly felt.
The size of the creature in question had been all speculation the day before but on their radar there was something roughly the size of a small land mass off to the south of them and it looked to be coming closer. A creaking rumble ran through the Sea Lab and the two men froze, looking up at each other in a panic.
“That couldn’t possibly be…” Jensen asked, trailing off and looking up at the ceiling above him suspiciously.
“I’m sure it was just metal fatigue or something. There’s no way it was…” Jared felt suddenly superstitious. He was reluctant to talk about the monster aloud, lest it hear him. He tried to communicate this with a look and he was pretty sure that Jensen understood.
This job suddenly felt dangerous in a way that it had never felt before. He’d been asked, but doctors, by the press, by his friend and family, about being afraid to be down this deep, but he’d never given it a second thought until just that moment. The rumbling sound repeated itself through the lab and Jared felt a shiver run through his frame.
“I need-” Jensen began in a whisper before clearing his throat and trying again, “I need to get out of here. I think we both need a cup of coffee?” He asked and Jared nodded, quickly shoving himself out of his chair and heading towards the door, Jensen hot on his heels.
Nether one of them gave a glance to their computer screens as they left, so neither one saw their external sensors going crazy before abruptly going still and silent.
Over the course of the first day that Jeff was gone, they noticed little things outside the lab. What sea life had been present on the ocean floor either fell silent or vanished completely. The mystery creature, which Jared had begun to refer to as Cthulhu in his head only, was filling their radar, though they had yet to have an actual visual yet.
Jensen worriedly sat at his computer screen and watched the darkness of the deep ocean become darker in the creature’s shadow. He vigorously regretted sending out that call.
Jared spent most of the day in his bunk, silently writing in his journal, or in the gym. He took solace in physical activity; making his body exhausted. But it didn’t matter, he couldn’t quiet his mind. By the time evening family meal came around, both scientists were nauseous with worry and eyeing the seams and ceiling of the lab with suspicion.
“What the bloody fuck is wrong with the two of you? What is the sound that has been blooping through my lab all day? Why can I not find any of my bottom dwellers out in the camera field anymore? What did you two do?” Mark ranted as he sat down at the table in the mess, Misha sitting silently next to him and looking across the table at Jared and Jensen just as curiously.
“There...there was a call. A loud call. And we flipped it and sent it back out. This creature...this bloop is easily twice the size of a blue whale. Possibly even the size of a small land mass. And we called it. It’s coming this way. We can’t… we can’t see it yet. But it’s filling the radar field.” Jared rambled nervously, fiddling with his fork and unable to look up and meet Mark’s eye.
“You...what? Summoned an actual sea monster? Is that what I’m hearing?” Mark asked quietly, no inflection in his voice at all. Jared and Jensen made quick eye contact over the table top and nodded silently.
The table was totally quiet for a moment before Misha began to laugh loudly, joined shortly by Mark. Jared and Jensen maintained their chastised faces and silence while the other two men laughed loudly, mocking them both.
“You guys are a hoot! This is the best entertainment I’ve had in a long time!” Misha guffawed as he literally slapped at his own thighs in amusement. Mark was no better.
“So Lovecraft was right and Cthulhu is real? Or, was it Pacific Rim? Is it the Kaiju come to get us?” He asked jestingly. Both men fell silent as a loud boom rocked through the lab, literally flickering the artificial lights and making all of their ears begin to ring. Jensen clapped his hands over his ears and Jared tumbled from his seat, clutching at the floor for security.
“What the bloody fuck was that?” Mark asked as he looked around to see if there was any lasting damage from the movement. Misha was totally white faced and looked as though he was about to throw up.
“Undersea earthquake?” Mark offered to the room and was met with three sets of eyes; two of them silently saying that he knew what it was though none of them wanted to discuss it. “You summoned a bloody sea monster?” He whisper-yelled and pushed himself over to where Jared was still clinging to the floor. “Nothing should be able to do what just happened. Nothing, you hearing me?” Mark threatened.
“It did happen. We were all here for it.” Jensen said, reaching down and pulling Jared off the floor. Jared steadied himself against Jensen, his equilibrium shot from his racing nerves.
“Take me to your lab and let’s look at the readouts. I assume that you’ve been good little scientists and made sure to record each noise as it happened?”
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The four of them piled into the small work area that belonged to Jared and Jensen. Jensen showed Mark the readouts and the radar screens and illustrated the path that the monster seemed to have taken; pointing out the area that it looked to have been inhabiting. Jared hovered silently in the corner and wished that he could take back the request for Jensen to send the call back out.
“This bloody thing is massive and it looks like it was laying on the seabed? At this depth? Not moving. Do you think it could have been hibernating and we woke it up?” Mark rambled question after question at Jensen, so quickly that Jensen couldn’t get the answer out before Mark was asking another and with each question, Jared’s heart sped up even faster with fear.
“I have to get out of here.” He said, quickly but quietly before he shoved his way out of the suddenly claustrophobic space and down towards the main gathering area. He didn’t notice Misha following him until the strange man was suddenly at his side, smiling with silent support.
“Don’t blame yourself. You know, this is the reason that they send people like me to do checks on each changing projects. Because it fundamentally changes the earth. As soon as this project was greenlit, the events for this to take place were put in motion. It would’ve happened to any other scientist as well.” MIsha said with a polite smile on his face and a strange tone in his voice; one that made the hair on the back of Jared’s neck stand up and his stomach twist.
“Thanks...Misha. I’m not sure if any of that makes me feel better, though.” Jared said slowly as he stopped next to one of his favorite viewports. He flicked on the light that was meant to shine out onto the seafloor, but nothing happened and, without thinking, he tapped on the glass frustrated.
“Oh, it wasn’t meant to make you feel better.” Misha replied, still polite but with a curious tone in his voice.
Jared leaned his head against the side of the port window and looked out again, hoping to see the bioluminescent bottom dwellers that always soothed him to watch when he first got there. It had always reminded him of kids on a playground. He blinked slowly and refocused his eyes before yelling and jumping backwards away from the wall.
“A tooth! A mouth! A giant fucking mouth!” He yelled pointing at the port as he scrambled backwards to get away.
Misha calmly walked towards the port and peered out, blinking slowly and still with the creepy smile on his face the whole time. “Why yes. I see that.” He replied calmly, turning his head to smile at Jared shaking by the door before turning back to coo at the monster outside the port window. “It’s a pity that we can’t let something so beautiful be, isn’t it? Or speak with it directly? It’s been on this earth, a part of this earth, for longer than we can fathom. Think of what it could teach us if only we could get to it.” With that, Misha reached up and tapped on the enforced port window in morse code, though Jared’s racing and fear filled mind could not translate the dots and dashes into words.
Jensen and Mark came running into the room a moment later, both out of breath. “We heard yelling. Jared are you okay?” Jensen asked, rushing over to him and trying to shake Jared out of the stupor he’d fallen into. Jared couldn’t make his voice work, so he shook his head in the negative and pointed a shaking finger at Misha and the viewport.
As Mark began to open his mouth to ask what had happened, both he and Jensen happened to look directly into the open viewport only to see most of a giant eye blink and shift to be looking at them. Jensen jumped and Mark went still and silent.
“Isn’t he beautiful? So big, so ancient.” Misha sighed dreamily, still tap-tap-tapping on the glass. Mark looked over at Jared and Jensen, clutching at each other in the corner, before he slowly began to edge towards the crazy person in the room. Mark sucked in a breath as his mind raced to find something to say when Misha reached into his pocket and removed a small multi-tool, not unlike a swiss army knife.
But with an acetylene torch that he quickly lit.
“No! I mean, yes, it would be wonderful to speak to the creature but we need to study it a little longer, don’t you think? We need to be able to speak in its language, don’t we?” Mark asked hurriedly, edging forward as fast as he dared. He reached out towards the tool but Misha held it out of his reach and clicked the flame off.
“Oh, no, I think I will keep this. As soon as we know how to speak to him we are going to need it to let him in here.” Misha said, walking out the door. “Come along gentlemen, let’s head back to the lab. We have a lot of work to do.”
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Jared lay in his bunk that night and listened to the sounds of the creature outside the sea lab, suddenly feeling as though it wasn’t as sturdy as it used to be. The way its call seemed to sound mournful and then angry in turn as it rumbled through the lab, shaking everything that wasn't bolted down. The way that it must be rubbing itself along the outer shell of the sea lab; it was a sound not unlike being inside a boat that was having the barnacles scraped off. Horrifyingly loud, though.
The next day, all of the lights in the lab went out and most of the equipment stopped working. The life support systems were the only things still working. Mark paced and worked furiously to keep MIsha from damaging the shell of the sea lab somehow and killing them all in an attempt to speak with the giant sea creature that Jared was still calling Cthulhu in his head. He sat, dejectedly, in a corner of the room they all worked in since MIsha was reluctant to let anyone out of his sight.
Jensen came and flopped himself down next to Jared, speaking lowly out of the corner of his mouth. “We need to talk in private and I have an idea. Just go with it, okay?” Jensen didn’t even give Jared a chance to nod or really process what he’d said before his hands were moving, one sliding up Jared’s thigh and the other one groping familiarly on his stomach. Jared tried to twist his head to look at Jensen but Jensen was sliding his lips on Jared’s neck and jaw, making moving his head impossible.
“For fuck’s sake boys, we are doing something important, can’t you keep it in your pants?” Mark sighed angrily when he caught sight of them. Misha turned to look at them curiously. “I suppose we should let them have some alone time; you know how these young kids are with their insatiable libidos and I don’t feel like seeing that ever again. Walking in on them once was enough.” Mark sighed, pushing Misha to let the two younger men leave and have some alone time.
“Yes, that’s fine. You two can go fuck like bunnies if you like, we are almost done here and I’d like you both to be ready when the time comes to meet the creature.” Misha granted, blank look in his eye, almost as though he was possessed. Jared felt a full body shiver run through him as Jensen pulled him to his feet, placed a proprietary hand on his ass and steered him out of the room without ever pulling his lips off Jared’s neck.
They made it most of the way towards Jared’s bunk before Jesen finally removed himself from Jared’s personal space; and Jared was so damn confused. Without thinking, he reached down to rub at his cock in his pants. It had been a long time since he’d even thought about jerking off and Jensen Freaking Ackles had just felt him up and sucked on his neck.
Yeah, he was fucking hard.
He looked up in time to see that Jensen was in a similar state and he raised his eyebrows at him in question, loving the way Jensen’s cheeks went pink. “Look, you’re fucking hot and if anyone ever tells you different they are lying but this is NOT the time. I swear to you, that if we survive this and get back to the surface I will lock you in my bedroom and fuck your brains out till we are tired of it.” Jensen grabbed the back of Jared’s neck and pulled his face down, crashing their mouths together to make his tantalizing words into a promise.
His mouth tasted like the stale coffee they’d been drinking all morning, but up close Jensen smelled amazingly good and Jared’s whole body thrummed with arousal. He was slipping his arms around Jensen’s shoulders to pull him closer when the creature’s call rumbled through the room and he remembered what was really going on. Reluctantly, he shoved Jensen away, lest they waste time they didn’t really have.
“We didn’t actually come in here to fuck like bunnies so what’s going on?” Jared panted as he stepped backwards, away from temptation. He licked the last taste of Jensen off his lips and opened his eyes, unprepared for the heat that flashed through him when he saw how ruffled and messed up Jensen looked.
“We gotta, fuck, we gotta get in touch with Chad.” Jensen finally got out, turning and rifling through the cluttered mess on Jared’s work table.
“Chad?” Jared asked confused and horny. He didn’t want to think about Chad, he wanted to think more about being ass up on Jensen’s bed.
“Yeah, dude, Chad is the number one Submariner in the world. He’s also a member of Seal Team 6, trained by Jeff. Don’t let him fool you, he’s basically Jason Bourne with an idiot, surfer boy exterior.” Jensen replied as he rifled through the mess and getting agitated as he couldn’t find what he was looking for. “Didn’t they give you a communicator? Misha took mine and Mark’s but Mark convinced him they hadn’t hooked yours up yet.” Jensen asked, his face flushed and red.
Jared moved towards his bunk and pulled the communicator from his pillowcase, handing it over with a shy smile. “It made me feel a little less lonely, even though I never used it and even if I had it would've been Chad on the other end.”
“Aww gigantor, that’s adorable and sad.” Jensen said as he clutched at the communicator and dialed in the emergency code, setting off an alarm on Chad’s end that translated to “Get your ass down here immediately, but be careful.”
“How’s he supposed to get past… Misha’s bestie?” Jared found himself asking as Jensen shoved the communicator back into Jared’s pillow case and turned to size him up.
“That is, for now, his problem and not mine. My current problem is how to make sure that you look properly ravished.” Jensen replied as he came towards Jared with his hands outstretched towards Jared’s hair. Jared had a few suggestions about how they could make it look real, but he held his tongue and tried not to groan as Jensen ran fingers through his hair messing it up.
“We will know if Chad got the message in about six hours. We just gotta hold on for that long.” Jensen whispered right into Jared’s face, sharing his breath for a second before stealing another soft kiss. “Till we are safe at home. That’s a promise.”
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By the time that Jared and Jensen joined Mark and Misha, the life support alarms were going off. Jensen pulled Jared into his side, placing a calming hand at the small of his back. Mark was sweating, the hair on the back of his head nearly black with panic sweat, but Misha looked calmer and less human than ever.
“The life support systems say we have less than ten hours left.” Mark babbled at them worriedly but Misha simply smiled and sat down by the view port, gazing out at the giant eye that seemed to be looking in at them. He lifted a hand and pressed it against the glass calmly, tapping his fingers and waiting as the monstrous eye blinked back in the same rhythm.
“I’ve learned how to speak with her. Isn’t she lovely?” He asked the room of scientists dreamily.
Jared, fed up and tired and so scared that he could barely function, was the only one to speak up. “I thought it was a ‘he’?” He slid down the wall opposite Misha and the view port, and sat on the floor. Waiting.
“Well, now that we can speak I know better. And I am sorry that I’ve had to resort to actually killing you, especially since the two of you have found a way to copulate without breeding, but Vehement informed me of what you’d found and this beautiful creature must be woken and experienced before the human race is fully phased out.” MIsha smiled again and lovingly caressed the glass next to his face.
“What… Misha, did you say that you were a member of Vehement?” Jensen asked slowly, moving away from Jared and towards Misha. He froze when the eco-terrorist’s smile fell from his face and he turned icy-blue eyes onto him.
“V.H.E.M.T. is a serious group with an important cause. To save the animals and the Earth by eliminating humans. Look at this monstrosity of humanity that you have built here, in this creature’s home. At the appointed time, I will break the seal. We will be swallowed up by the water, crushed by the pressure and our bodies will be consumed by the creatures out there. Even now, she calls for others, can’t you hear her?” Misha asked and cocked his head to the side as the loudest rumble yet rattled through all of their frames.
Jared felt his heart speed up and he began to hyperventilate. Crouched on the floor, he tried to put his head between his knees, but couldn’t manage until Mark came over to place calming hands on him. Mark glared at Misha silently as Jensen tried to edge even closer.
“He’s so young, Misha. Can’t you let us call Chad to come and get Jared at least?” Mark asked as a distraction for Jensen to edge a little closer. Jared focused on breathing in and out and looked at the floor beneath him. He worked to block out everything until he was nothing but inhales and exhales and the warmth of Mark’s hand on the back of his neck, grounding him.
“We are all needed to feed her. How else will she have the energy to reproduce after she’s slumbered for so long?” The words were wistful and loving and Misha turned to look out on her eye once again and it was just the second that Jensen needed to move.
Jensen leapt towards Misha where he sat and the two of them slammed into the wall with a terrific bang that made Jared’s head pop up fast enough that his vision began to swim. He thought it almost looked like the giant eye was watching the fight, but he decided that it had to be a figment of his imagination.
MIsha was strong for his small size and nearly got the drop on Jensen, but in the end, Jensen’s strength and size won out and he had Misha pinned to the floor with his hands behind his back and the multi-tool he’d been carrying was thrown across the floor towards where Mark and Jared were sitting.
“Do we have any zip-ties or rope or anything we can tie him up with until Chad gets here?” Jensen asked, out of breath and panting as Mark jumped up and ran into the next room, returning with rope and duct tape.
“Multi-billion dollar project in the deep of the ocean and we are stocked with duct tape?” Jensen asked, as he snatched it out of Mark’s hands and began to wrap it around Misha’s wrists. He then hauled Misha upright and plopped him back in the chair before he tied him up with the rope.
“None of this matters. Even if Chad is able to dock the submarine shuttle, no one will make it back to the surface alive.” He droned mournfully as he gazed out the port once again.
“Yeah, right, crazy. We will just see about that.” Mark dismissed as he found his communicator to check in with Chad and his progress.
“Copy that Mark, I’m an hour out, but you should come into my line of sight any… holy shit.” They heard over the speaker. “What the ever loving fuck did you nerds do?” Chad asked quietly and Mark fumbled for words to reply.
Jared got fed up waiting for Mark to find his words and snatched the communicator out of Mark’s hands. “Look, let’s discuss that later. The point is, can you dock?” The crackle of the speaker went quiet for a moment and all three of them held their breath. Jared jumped when Chad’s voice came back over the speaker. “Yeah, but it’s a damn good thing for you guys that I’m the friggin best in the world. I want everyone who’s leaving standing at the docking airlock. We are doing this in less than 10 minutes. I dunno how fast that thing moves but I know how fast we can ascend… and I hope the speeds aren’t all that close.”
Jensen dragged the tied-up Misha in his chair into the airlock room and they proceeded to wait, Mark with his data-notebooks in his hands and Jared with the communicator clutched in one of his. He looked up at Jensen, “Is there anything you need from your bunk? I think I have time to go check?”
“No, I don’t. Everything can rot on the bottom of the ocean for all I care. And, no, you don’t. You’ll stay right here. Nothing is more important now than getting to the surface.” As soon as the words were out, an horrific screech rang out from above them and instinctively they each ducked and looked up, though there was nothing to see.
“Uh, nerds? We are gonna have to make it happen in less than 2 minutes, okay? Beastie is moving a lot faster than I’d hoped. I’m docking now. As soon as the airlock lights up green, it’s go time. No fanfare kiddos.”
They heard the thud-thud-click of the sub docking and all of them tensed to move as soon as they got the green light.
“She is still going to consume us all. I just hope that the submarine does not hurt her.” Misha said softly, barely loud enough to be heard over the buzzing that the pressure was equalized and the docking was complete. Mark released the handles and opened the lock into the sub, Chad hovering nearby to help if he was needed. “Whoa, all the lights are out.”
“Yeah, Chad, less than 4 hours left on life support. Thanks for the hustle. Let’s get this guy tied into his seat and get to moving.” Jensen said as he dragged Misha’s bound form into the sub followed finally by a slow-moving and still nauseous Jared. He fumblingly buckled himself into the seat next to Jensen and in front of Misha, while Chad locked the door and began to disengage sequence.
Jared could see the monster very clearly out the front portal. It was mind-bogglingly large and it’s shape was too indistinct to describe fully. It was blacker than anything he’d ever seen before and it was moving towards them faster than a creature that size ought to be able to move. It had tentacles near the front of it’s body that looked to be reaching out towards them and Jared had never felt such fear. He closed his eyes and pictured his childhood bedroom. He pictured his bedtime routine at the age of six and how his mother would come into the room and check his closet and under his bed for monsters before they would kneel and say a prayer together. His lips began to move at the same moment that the submarine began to move but before he could make it all the way through his childhood prayer, he felt a hand slip into his own loose fist where it was clenched in his lap and his eyes opened.
“We are gonna make it. I made you a promise.” Jensen said, leaning over so that he could brush their lips together. “Us good old boys gotta stick together. We are gonna make it. But, if you wanna, I can pray with you.”
Jared jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned to look at Mark behind him. “It’s been a long couple of years since I spoke with God, but I think I can remember a prayer or two as well.”
The submarine rocked suddenly from side to side and Jared turned his fear-filled eyes back to the front to see that the creature was gaining on them. “I told you. Nature will always win. Come and get us my sweet!” Misha yelled from his seat. Bafflingly, the head of the creature seemed to swing around to the sound of Misha’s voice. “Come get us my love! Reclaim what is yours!” He screamed as Mark slapped a hand over his mouth and asked why they hadn’t duct taped his mouth shut.
“Alright nerds, time to quote my favorite movie of all time and the most badass man to ever badass, Mister Samuel L Jackson. HOLD ONTO YOUR BUTTS.” Chad yelled, as he swung the submarine in a direction that shouldn’t have been possible and sped them through the creature’s outstretched tentacles before pointing them upwards and moving fast enough that each of them felt their ears pop. “This is gonna be a bumpy ride gentleman. I’m moving as fast as physically possible towards home. Hold on tight and resume praying if you like. Bye Felicia!” Chad whooped at the creature as it began to fall back away from them.
Jared felt his lips begin to move in the familiar and soothing pattern of his bedtime prayers and he felt more that heard Jensen join in with him. He didn’t stop reciting until the submarine broke the surface of the water and he saw real sunlight for the first time in weeks. He looked down at his lap to see that Jensen’s fingers were so tightly intertwined with his own that both of them had red fingertips.
Chad docked the sub and all of them clambered out onto the deck of the repurposed aircraft carrier they used as a surface station to see Jeff waiting there with open arms and a stern look on his face.
“Don’t you even start with me Jeffrey Dean Morgan! You were the one that cleared mister cuckoo over here! He’s part of V.H.E.M.T, you git! WHat could happen you said. It’s only a week you said. I’ve almost been eaten by a sea monster straight out of Lovecraft!” Mark shouted, his face red and mouth frothing a little in his vehemence.
Jeff laughed as he stepped forward and took hold of Misha’s tied-up form from Chad. “Well, you survived, didn’t you? C’mon, time for a debriefing.” Mark spluttered in anger but followed Jeff, leaving Jensen and Jared alone on the deck.
“Do you wanna know?” Jensen asked softly and Jared paused, truly thinking about it. Did he want to know what the creature was? How long it’d been down in the depths? Would it go back to sleep now or was it going to destroy a delicate, unknown eco-system first? With a deep breath, he looked at the freckles coming out on Jensen’s face in the sunlight and he realized his answer.
“No. I’d rather know what color sheets are on your bed.”