It's a Steal, J2, Hard R, Part 1
So I had the idea for this story, and I was all, hmm, this is strange, I don't read or write RPS so how come I can't let this story go? So I did a bit of research (read J2 fic/watched movies in this genre - both a real hardship *g*) and decided to write it. And then sat on it for ever and ever. I have decided just to post it. What the hey.
Title: It’s A Steal
Pairing: Jared/Jensen (implied Jensen/Jeff)
Rating: Hard R
Total Word Count: 20,250
Summary: J2 AU. Jared gets pulled into Jensen’s catburgling ring.
Disclaimer: This fic is all in fun, and bears no resemblance to the activities of any real life Jared or Jensen, or any of the names within.
Inspiration is also owed to the movies “Entrapment”, “Ocean’s 11”, and “Sneakers”.
Thanks to deirdre_c for the encouragement and support, and the fine beta.
**
Jared slowed the car down to a crawl, inching along the row of identical white houses, none of which felt the need to display their numbers prominently. His foot tensed on the gas. He could press it and be a mile away before the meeting even started.
Since when had any of Chad's plans been to Jared's benefit, anyway? They usually ended up with Jared in a fight, or owing money, or that one time “cooling his heels” in jail. To say that Chad did not have the best suggestions was an understatement. Chad had awful suggestions, which left Jared to wonder why he went along with them ninety percent of the time.
He finally found a number not hiding itself as successfully behind a hanging basket. Fourteen Ten. Evens to his left then.
Ten thousand dollars, Chad had said. Ten thousand for doing hardly anything at all. Jared had known for a while that Chad didn't exactly earn his money by honest means - some months Chad got no acting work at all, but still his rent got paid, and new expensive sunglasses bought. Until yesterday, he didn’t have any real idea of how dishonest those means were.
Of course Chad had a tendency to exaggerate too, so when he claimed to be a getaway driver for jewel thieves, the reality could be almost anything. But as long as the reality included Jared being paid ten thousand dollars “just to distract some guy,” then he could handle it. It wasn't strictly illegal, right?
He'd look upon it like an acting job. An acting job that paid better than his last three put together.
Jared spotted number twenty-one twenty. It was the same as the rest of the houses on the street: wide garden, door with pillars either side, big welcoming windows, the kind of house where parents and two point four kids lived inside. He needn’t have bothered looking out for the number; this house was the only one that had a garden that needed its grass cut, pillars that needed a repaint - oh, and a heist planning meeting going on inside, taking full advantage of its abandonment.
Jared parked his car up the street in the shadow of a large tree. It felt appropriate to start being stealthy early. He stuck to his method by staying close to the trees lining the street as he loped back up to the house. The black clothes he'd chosen helped to hide him in the darkness. He checked his watch. 10.59pm. Right on time.
The door took an eternity to be opened. An eternity during which Jared ran through all the possible ways this could end really, really badly, and very nearly turned and ran away. Finally, just as he was lifting up onto the balls of his feet, poised for flight, the door opened.
Chad smirked at him. “You didn't chicken out then.” Chad, who was clearly not wearing black like he'd told Jared to. Chad, who was in fact wearing the same jeans and t-shirt he'd been in last night - and Jared was bound to hear that story later - but who had told Jared to “dress like a burglar, at least.”
Jared had dressed all in black. Tight black pants, long-sleeve black t-shirt.
“You fucker!”
“What?” Chad let go of the door and turned without inviting Jared in. Jared followed him inside, trying to shut the door as quietly as possible, but still ending up creating a loud bang as it careened out of his hand for the final two inches and slammed shut. They headed down a long hall that consisted of tall white walls with grey squares indicating where pictures used to live.Chad led him to the back of the house, past two huge empty rooms, and paused in front of a wide, wood-panelled door.
“Why’d you tell me-” Jared swallowed the rest of his sentence because Chad had pushed open the door and was heading straight into the room. It was a library, only it didn't contain any books. Three of the walls were covered in empty sets of shelves, and there were a couple of large square tables. A few seats had been loosely arranged around one.
“This is him,” Chad announced, then threw himself into the only spare seat, landing in a position that would have anyone who didn't know him think he'd immediately gone to sleep.
There were three other people in the room. One guy sat on a couch by Chad and stared at Jared without blinking. Then there was a guy in a big armchair, no hair, who quirked a smile at Jared then twisted his head to look at-
Oh Jesus. The last guy was standing, leaning against the table with his arms folded. Jared was thrown, 'cause he'd been prepared for them all to look like the other two - okay-looking guys, the kind you'd have a beer with, play pool with, be only mildly suspicious of your sister dating.
This guy looked like a model. There was no way this guy broke into places without drawing attention. There was no way he went anywhere without drawing every pair of eyes in the room to him. He was wearing a shirt that clung to his arms, emphasizing muscles that obviously took some effort to keep up. The top button of his shirt was open, and Jared had to drag his eyes away from the triangle of lightly tanned flesh it revealed. Which left him staring at a gorgeous face that stole all of Jared's words away.
To make matters worse, the guy was staring straight at Jared from sharp green eyes, scrutinizing him. Jared forced his lips into an attempt at a smile.
“Okay.” The gorgeous guy nodded. “This is Chad's guy-”
“I'm not… I'm Jared.” Jared forced the words out and made himself glance away from the Greek God toward the rest of the room. He inched forward. There was nowhere for him to sit. Jared was used to towering over everyone in the place, but when everyone else was sitting, it felt particularly uncomfortable. He leaned against the side of Chad's chair, forcing Chad to slide his arm off the armrest with a curse.
“This is Chris-” the guy on the couch, who was still staring at Jared - “Mike”- that was armchair guy - “and I'm Jensen.”
Jensen. Jared nodded. He wasn't sure what to do. “Hey. I was expecting you all to have nicknames. Like Light Fingers Larry or Jimmy Kneebreaker or…” He bit his lip, swallowed the rest of the nerves down and silenced himself. No one laughed. Chad snorted, but he covered it up by turning into a yawn.
Jensen gave a small smile which looked born of politeness rather than genuine humor; it still lit up his face, creating cheeks where previously were angular planes, and rows of crinkles around his eyes. As soon as the smile vanished, Jared ached for it to come back.
“I was all set to come up with a nickname, that's all.” Jared crossed his arms, then uncrossed them. He desperately wanted to sit down. Before Jensen smiled again, and Jared's legs gave way.
“No need,” Jensen said. “Also?” His eyes trailed briefly down Jared's chest and the room got hot. Very hot. Jared struggled not to blush. “The black?”
“It's my color, right?” Jared joked. Jensen's lips threatened to smile again, but stayed in a straight line. ”It's stupid,” Jared waved his arm down his body. “Chad's idea of a joke. I'll dress normally next time.”
Jensen nodded. His eyes flickered away from Jared. Had the room suddenly gotten darker? “So guys we've got our Jethro-”
“It's Jared-” Jared interrupted. Hadn't Jensen been listening?
Mike laughed. It wasn't good laughter. It was kind of, making fun of Jared laughter.
“Jethro's your nickname,” Jensen said in a low voice. A patient voice, but one with a glint of steel beneath it that said Jensen didn’t appreciate too much fucking around. Jared gave a nod. “You're Jethro 'cause you're the-” Jensen’s voice cracked, and this time he really did smile again, “-distraction.”
“Oh right.” Jared glanced down at Chad, who gave a see-I-don't-lie-about-everything innocent smile, which only meant there was something Chad had lied about. “Yes.”
Jensen's smile slid off his face and was replaced by the angular lines that meant business. “Chad's driver, Chris is surveillance, and Mike and I are the team that retrieve the item. You take the guard's attention away from where Mike and I are breaking in.” Jensen moved behind the desk then, and Jared didn't pay attention to his next sentence, because he was too busy staring at the high curve of Jensen's ass and mentally praising whoever invented Levi’s Jeans. Mr Levi, Jared guessed. He was a smart man. “Jared?”
“What?” Jared’s cheeks felt suspiciously warm. Damn them.
“I said, is that clear?” Jensen's tone was a little impatient. Which was fair enough. Jared hadn't been listening.
“Uh. Yes. Absolutely. I can do that.”
Jensen leaned on the table, and Jared forced himself not to look at how that made the muscles on Jensen's arms bunch up. Jensen then rolled open a plan and beckoned them all to come over.
Jared tried to listen carefully while Jensen outlined the plan, partly 'cause he didn't want to fuck it up but mostly 'cause he had no intention of not knowing what was going on if he was taking part in a heist.
Jensen explained in simple, clear terms that the target was a museum, a painting specifically. It was clear Jensen was thorough, meticulous. Every eventuality seemed to be thought through and allowed for. Jensen received a quarter of the money as security; they then had to retrieve the painting and Jensen would leave it at the drop-off point. Jensen would be paid the rest of the money, then he paid them. Jared's job was easy: he had to get the security guard's attention for the ten-to-fifteen minutes it would take Jensen and Mike to get in and out again.
Fifteen minutes for seventy thousand dollars. Jared's cut was ten thousand, as was Chad's. Chris got more to cover equipment, and Jensen and Mike got more 'cause their job was more high risk.
No one argued with that. Jared wasn't sure they'd dare. Not that Jensen was scary - not especially - and they were obviously all friends, or friendly at least, but Jensen was still very much in charge. He had an aura about him; he was the kind of guy you wanted to please. The kind of guy Jared wanted to please, anyway.
“See you Saturday.” Jensen ended the meeting with a controlled wave of his hand. Jared was turning to Chad, about to tell him what he thought of his clothes gag, when Jensen's voice rang out, “Jared, a minute?”
Chad waggled his eyebrows comically at Jared and mouthed ‘Oooooh’ behind Jensen’s back. Jared did have the feeling that he'd been asked to stay behind after school. Chris and Mike rattled their way out of the door, calling goodbyes out as they did so. Chad wandered out, and Jared knew he'd be waiting afterward to find out what Jensen had said.
Jensen waited until everyone had left, busying himself rolling up the plans. Jared shoved his hands in his pockets. He wasn't sure if he should offer to help. He watched Jensen rolling them up, pulling a rubber band over them, watched Jensen’s nimble fingers as they moved and imagined them on different parts of his body-
“Jared.” Jensen's tone of voice pulled Jared to attention. Jensen pushed the plans into a small backpack and put it on the floor, leaning against the desk next to it.
“Yeah?”
“I just wanted-” Jensen hesitated. Jared took in Jensen as he gazed from one invisible object to another. Finally, Jensen turned his head, and Jared was staring right into his eyes. Jensen's eyelashes were really damn long. “I just wanted to say if you want to drop out any time, it's cool.” Really damn long. And fuck, those eyes. They were a magnet, physically preventing him from looking away. “What we're doing…it is illegal. So if you get cold feet, it's fine.” Jared made himself focus on Jensen's words. “Call me and let me know. No hard feelings.”
“Oh.” Jared hadn't been expecting that. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting. “Okay. I don't think I will-”
“I got the impression Chad probably hadn't explained much to you-” Jensen's gaze flickered over Jared’s attire ”-and I wanted you to know what you were getting yourself into.” Jensen's gaze met Jared's for an instant, but then broke away. Pushing himself off the desk, he moved to stand in front of Jared. “It's dangerous, if we get caught it's goodbye freedom. You have the least dangerous job, probably, 'cause you can walk away at any point, but you're still part of it. I want you to-”
“Jensen.” Jared stood up. He shuffled forward. His feet were a few inches away from Jensen's. For a crazy moment Jared wanted to lean over and kiss him. Instead he instituted a self-control he didn't know he had, took a shuffle back, and met a chair firmly with the backs of his legs. “I know what I'm getting into. I'm fine.” He smiled. “Thanks for being concerned though.”
Jensen nodded. “Any time.”
Jared stared across at Jensen - at the eyes - trailed his gaze down to the smooth curve of Jensen's neck and then away to the door, that was safe, and nodded. “See you Saturday.”
Yeah. Chad had had worse plans.
**
At least Jensen hadn’t used any of that pretend military talk. Meet at the house the next day at twelve midnight, Jensen had said. Straightforward, simple instructions. Jared appreciated that.
Chad picked Jared up at eleven thirty, as usual announcing his presence with a loud honk. Jared was wearing jeans and one of his good shirts; his part was ‘drunk guy after a night out.’
“Ready to become a criminal?” Chad called cheerfully out of the window as Jared approached.
“Shhh.” Jared got into the car. It wasn't Chad's normal car. It was a minivan. A black Dodge minivan. It would have fit a soccer mom taking her four kids to school better than a bunch of criminals. Jared supposed they all fitted inside easily.
“What?” Chad maneuvered them onto the road.
Jared didn't answer him. “Where'd the fuck this car come from?”
“Oh. It's Jensen's. For the jobs. It's kept at a Special Location.” Chad said the words like they had air quotes around them. For a minute Chad concentrated on his driving, darting along with ease. He was a good driver, Jared had to give him that. “I thought you'd wig out. Like you did that time with the midget-”
“I think the guy preferred ‘vertically challenged,’” Jared said. “And it wasn't that it was illegal, it was that the guy didn't want you to-”
“Screw you! He was up for it.”
“I don't mind this. My part's easy, right?” Jared stared out the window. Distract the target. Jared was pretty good at acting drunk. Or so he thought.
“Right. The plan-”
“It's a good one. Jensen's thorough isn't he?” They approached a crossroads. Right toward Jensen and crime, left away.
Chad paused. “Yeah. He doesn't leave much to chance.”
“Which is good.” Jared tried to sound casual. He looked over at Chad. “How many jobs have you done with him?”
“Three or four. I met him through Mike. Mike used to work with Tom, and he heard I was doing jobs with Tom. He claimed Jensen was better.” There was a car behind them now, and it was clear to go, but Chad didn’t move. “And he is. More careful. More money.”
“Right. He seems - they all seem - like okay guys too.” The car behind them honked. “Shouldn't we go? We'll be late.”
Chad gave him a quick glance that was curiously assessing. “Right.” Chad took the turn. “Don't wanna keep Jensen waiting,” he said lightly.
Jared didn't rise to the bait. He pressed his head against the window. No going back.
There was no going back if he wanted to.
**
Mike wasn't there when they arrived. Jensen opened the door barely seconds after they knocked. He was dressed in tight black pants and long sleeve shirt - similar to the outfit Jared had on at the first meeting. It emphasized every muscle in his body. Jared took particular care not to stare right at Jensen's crotch, but it was an effort.
Jared instead put all his attention on Jensen’s face. It was set like granite, with thin lips and furrowed brow. Moonlight shone through a crack in the window, bathing one side of his face in a soft glow. He could have been a statue with his perfect unmoving features.
“Mike's sick. Usually I'd cancel, but the painting moves tomorrow.” Jensen turned slightly away. Chris was sitting in a corner, fumbling with some wires. “I don't want to let this client down. Chris can't do it; we need surveillance. I'd get a back-up but it's too last minute. I-” Jensen crossed his arms and fixed his gaze on Jared. His voice lowered, deep in his throat. “Jared, you can say no.”
Only Jared couldn't say no. Not with Jensen's eyes staring at him like that. Not with Jensen’s voice making Jared wonder what his sex voice sounded like. He gave a wide smile that produced a small smile from Jensen in response, like a ripple. “Promotion already? But you haven't even seen me at work yet!”
“The plan won't change much. You still distract him, and I'll get in the back door. You'll have to slip this in his drink.” Jensen held up a small vial. Jared took it without touching Jensen's fingers. Touching Jensen seemed like it might be dangerous. “He'll go puke, and you can come meet me there as soon as the guy leaves his post. If it works, we should still have ten minutes.” Jensen bit his lip. “It's more risky, he might not even have a drink, but-”
“I don't mind a little danger,” Jared smiled. “Let's do it.”
They stopped to drop off Chris first so he could install himself on the roof of a building nearby with his equipment. They'd all been given buttons containing miniature cameras so Chris could keep an eye on them. Before he got out of the car, he tossed them all an earpiece. “So I can talk to you.”
Jared fingered it. It was clear plastic, with a part jutting out that he could only assume went down his ear. He couldn't really figure out what made it stay in. He pushed it into his ear. It fell out again. He turned it upside down and put it back in his ear. It fell out again.
Chad laughed. “Having trouble, dude?” He pushed his own earpiece in easily.
“Here.” Jensen reached out and plucked it from Jared's fingers. Jared jumped when their fingers touched. Jensen leaned in close, and Jared's breath caught as Jensen brushed his hair aside with a couple of fingers. He wanted to turn around, grab Jensen's face and kiss him. Throw him down on the seat, whether Chad was watching or not. Run his hands through Jensen’s hair and hold him down and not let go until Jared had mapped out every inch of that body with his tongue.
Find out if Jensen’s freckles extended beyond his face.
Instead, he dug his nails into his knees so hard there’d be grooves there long afterward. Jensen touched Jared's ear gently. He slid the earpiece in and gave a twist that must have locked it into place, but Jared didn't pay much attention to that. His ear burned where Jensen had touched him. His neck tingled where Jensen’s breath had warmed it.
When Jensen drew away, Jared felt cold again.
“Th-thanks,” Jared finally said.
Jensen's face was impassive. “S'okay.” He tapped his watch. “Synchronize watches.”
Chad dropped them off a block away from the museum and sped off to his designated waiting point. Chris's voice boomed out in Jared's ear. “Checking comms. Jay one. Jay two. Cee. It's Eagle.”
“See? I knew you'd have stupid nicknames,” Jared said.
Jensen grinned, then it was swept away by a solemn expression. It was like Jensen was always keeping himself under control, never allowing Jared to distract him with humor for long. It just made Jared long to rip that control away and see what happened, release whatever lay within. “You've been thrown in the deep end here, Jared. You sure?”
“Quit asking if I'm sure. Let's go.”
They walked down the street toward the museum as quickly as possible. It was a tall, imposing building at the end of the block. Jared didn't remember ever going in, not even when he first moved to L.A. and checked out some of the tourist sights. He guessed he wouldn't be able to go in after this.
Two guys and several large flags were guarding the main entrance.
Jared and Jensen peeled off before they reached the front, heading around the side of the building. A dozen yards away, there was a brick hut with a man posted in it. Jared's target. A back door to the museum was behind the hut, a little to the left. Jensen gave a tight, controlled nod at Jared, and Jared gave an overly-enthusiastic one in return.
He watched Jensen head off, melting into the shadows at the side of the road. The guard didn’t look up from whatever he was reading. Jensen was good.
Jared took a breath. Show time. He took out the miniature whiskey that he’d been hiding in his pocket and quickly threw it over his shirt. He palmed the vial Jensen had given him. His palms felt slippery, and Jared had to squeeze it a little tighter than he'd intended.
He headed straight for the guard. “Hey. Hey! You! ‘Scuze me!”
The guard looked up. His face creased into annoyance, and he rose from his seat. As Jared approached, he made sure to stumble unsteadily from left to right. One of his veers right gave him a clear view of the guy's desk. Among the crap on the guy’s desk were several pens, a half eaten bag of chips framing a video screen, a glasses case on top of some switches, a crossword puzzle, and next to it, a coffee with the lid off. Bingo.
“Can I help you?”
“Sure.” Jared leaned in close to the guard. The guy backed further into his seat when he caught the whiff of alcohol. “How'd'I get the bus, man? Where are the buses in this town?” He gave his best Texan drawl. “It's imposs-, imposs-” Jared gave a pretend retch and wheeled his body backwards, then forwards.
The guard's hands shot out. He held them an inch away from touching Jared. If Jared took one step too far, he'd be taken out. He had the guard's full attention though. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jensen run quickly toward the door, and remove a small item from a zip on his chest. Some kind of lockpick. Jared gave another hearty retch.
“You need a bus, head back to the main street. There's not many this time of night. You're better off calling a cab..” The guard's voice was kindly. Jared felt sorry for him. He was just a dude, earning some money by keeping watch on a museum. Shit, ninety percent of the time it must be crosswords and boredom. Behind the guard, Jensen was in the door already and sliding it shut.
“Can’t get a cab to stop for me,” Jared pouted, hiccupping. Then he pretended to catch notice of the crossword. “Hey. Cross- Crossword. Ya’ll good at those?”
The guard flickered his eyes down to the puzzle. “I'll call you a cab.”
“I’m great at these!” Jared leaned in, way in. His hand was right next to the coffee. Trouble was, he had the guard's full attention right on him. “Which way is the bus?” Jared twisted his head toward the street. “That way and left?”
The guard's eyes followed Jared's and as they did, Jared slid the vial into his drink. He straightened up before the guard managed to look back. “Yeah. Left. You sure you don't need a cab?”
“Nah. Sober up... sober before I see the wife. Thank you kindly.” Jared tipped an imaginary hat and headed off in the direction the guard had pointed. As soon as he turned the corner, he headed right into the shadows, like he'd seen Jensen do. Of course, Jared wasn't all in black, so he didn't blend so well. The guard didn't seem to notice as Jared came level with him, focussing his attention back on his crossword.
Time passed slowly. Jared's legs started to cramp up from crouching to hide in the shadow of the tree. Then the guard clamped a hand to his mouth, and his eyes went really wide. He ran into the trees a little to the right of Jared's current position, heaving, giving Jared a clear line to the door.
The door led into a completely empty corridor. There was no sign of Jensen. Jared stared hard at the corners. Nobody there. He took a step inside, then hesitated. Jensen knew all about which areas the cameras covered. Jared daren't move. He turned and nearly jumped out of his skin. Jensen stood right in front of him, toes an inch from Jared’s, that body nearly touching Jared’s arm. Jensen pulled him to the wall.
“Where did you come from?” Jared hissed.
Jensen put his mouth right to Jared's ear. “Was in a side room. Keep right behind me and do exactly what I do.”
Jared nodded. He turned and followed Jensen. Jensen slid right along the wall, keeping his body pressed to it. Chris's voice came in Jared's ear. “Your guard is still out. The two at the front aren't moving. I'll tell you when the guard moves again.”
Jared opened his mouth, then realized he had no way of speaking back. Chris's voice came over again. “I'm in their security feed. You aren't visible. Wait for my go, then go right up ahead and you should miss the camera.” When they got to the end of the corridor, it met another that stretched off left and right. Jensen kept them paused, flat against the wall. Jared was aware of exactly where Jensen's body was, of every line of his legs where they pressed tight against the wall, of the line of his neck, tantalizingly close.
“Go,” Chris's voice came, and Jensen peeled away from Jared, darting across the corridor and pressing himself close against the far wall. Jared started after him, landing with a thump. His hand caught a small sign hanging on the wall, advertising the cloakroom, and it wobbled loudly.
“Sorry, I-”
Jensen shook his head slightly. Jared's apology died on his lips. He followed after Jensen, down corridor after corridor. They seemed to pass through them with dizzying speed. They had to go down a staircase, and that felt like an eternity of pausing and darting down a few steps, then pausing, then taking a few more, but Jared supposed it must only have taken a minute. They paused on the bottom step, and Jensen relaxed.
“No cameras here,” Jensen said. He took a step down, into the corridor proper, and turned to the right.
“No cameras?” Jared moved to Jensen. “Surely that makes it-” The corridor ahead of them was covered in red laser lines that criss-crossed from floor to ceiling. “Oh.” Jared said. “That's why there's no cameras.”
Now that Jared thought about it, Jensen had mentioned getting past laser security at the meeting, but Jared hadn't been entirely sure what that meant. It hadn't affected him, so he hadn't asked. Now he wished he had.
“What do we do now?” Jared said.
Jensen unzipped another pocket and withdrew two small key cards. “I stole these last week,” Jensen said. He handed one to Jared and pointed to a box on the wall. They moved closer. The box had a slot at the top. “You wait here. I'll count to three. On three, card goes in, okay? One, two, in.”
Jared nodded. “Where are you going?”
Jensen grinned. The light of the red lasers shone onto his face, giving it a diabolical glow. “Down there.”
Jared stared past Jensen. “How the-” There was no room between the lasers for anyone to pass through and, even if they could, they’d have no space to straighten up before being hit by another one.
“Watch.”
Jensen turned and moved to the edge of the lasers. He lay down flat on the floor and crawled along underneath the lowest point. Then he bucked up and moved his ass into a gap formed by one of the lasers. Jared's mouth went very, very dry. He rubbed his palms onto his jeans. Fuck. He was staring straight at Jensen’s perfect, round, ass.
He was getting paid for this? Jared would do it for free.
Jensen straightened half up, then twisted the front part of his body underneath another laser. This time Jensen's back was flat, clear enough for Jared to see the lines of his spine.
Jensen’s outfit was very, very tight, especially when his body was stretching it to its limits. Jared’s jeans started to feel uncomfortably tight, but he couldn’t look away.
Jensen carried on like that, twisting his body around different laser sights, giving Jared a good view of the lines of his chest and thighs and ass. Jensen moved quickly - he'd had to have practiced this, Jared figured, and he wished he could have been there for that. He could have helped hold Jensen into place. Jared was all heart like that.
Jensen ended up limboing underneath the final laser, stretched back at not quite ninety degrees, but enough that Jared got an eyeful of exactly how Jensen’s outfit was covering his dick.
Snugly, it seemed.
Jensen straightened up, turned, and caught Jared's gaze. The reflection of the red lasers shimmered in Jensen's eyes. A tingle ran up and down Jared’s spine, his entire body buzzing with the resulting electricity. Jared realized his mouth was open. Jesus, his thoughts were probably written right across his face.
Jared dragged his eyes away and stared at the box on the wall. When he looked back, Jensen was at a similar box. He held up his hand into a fist and nodded. Jared fumbled to get the key card ready. Jensen held up one finger, then two, then Jared was sliding the key in.
All of the red lasers switched off. Jensen beckoned for Jared to join him. Jared ran as quickly as he could toward Jensen given that his legs were taking time obeying his instructions.
“Where did you learn to do that?”
Jensen grinned. “I was a cheerleader.”
The weird part was, he didn't sound like he was joking. Jensen turned, and they ran off down the rest of the corridor. They stopped in front of a small painting of a girl on a horse. Jared did not see why this would be worth so much money, but whatever turned people on.
Jensen opened yet another pocket -Jared wanted the job of exploring what was in each and every one- and drew out a small knife. He deftly cut the painting out of its frame and rolled it up. They ran back down the corridor, Jensen pulling out first one key card, and then the other. Upon pulling out the second card, all the lasers came back on. Chris's voice sounded in Jared’s ear. “Security guard straightening up. ETA three minutes or so. Hurry up.”
Jared's heart thumped loud in his ears as they whipped up the stairs and along corridors. Jensen took less time in moving along in retreat, and Jared tripped over his own feet a couple of times as they went. Chris's voice was a constant accompaniment. “Two minutes, I estimate. He's wiping his mouth. He's retching again. He's rubbing his stomach. He's leaning down. Be quick.”
They reached the door and Jensen ran out of it. Jared followed him as they belted into the foliage opposite. One of Jensen’s hands pressed into Jared’s side, pushing him into a crouching position near the base of a tree. “He's heading back-” Chris's voice provided narration to the scene in front of them, which was the guard heading back to his post, wiping his mouth.
Jensen whispered, “Now that he's not constantly throwing up, he'll probably call and alert the other guards. He'll know something's up, if he's smart. We don't have long.” He nodded behind Jared, the opposite direction to the way they had come. “Go.”
Chris's voice came over comms. “Moving into position. Cee, you are go. Jay one, Jay two, see you in the car. I repeat, moving into final positions.”
Jensen moved deftly through the grass and roots of the trees, further into the small patch of park that spread out at the back of the museum. Jared felt shaky, tripped a couple of times, once quite badly, and he landed on the grass with a painful bang. He felt one of Jensen's hands firm under his arm, half pulling him up. “Sorry-” Jared whispered.
Jensen didn't look pissed. He waved the painting. “S'okay. Not long, Jared, okay?”
Jared nodded. Soon they reached a street, and Jared spotted their car just ahead, engine idling, back door open. Jared fell into the back after Jensen, bending his wrist uncomfortably underneath him. As soon as they were in the door, Chad peeled away, Jensen pulling the door shut as they went. They stopped a block or two away, and Chris darted out from behind a building. Jensen had the door open for him before he got there, and then he was in, and they were all speeding away into the night.
Jared’s heart rate didn’t slow down until they were several miles away from the museum, and even then it was faster than usual. He wanted to get out of the car and run along the empty road, stretch every muscle in his body. He felt like he could just run and run and run. He wanted to scream, test how loud his lungs would go. He wanted to fuck someone, hard into a mattress, the kind of desperate, clawing sex that would leave bruises for days afterwards.
He wanted to ask Jensen if that was what he felt like; if part of it for him wasn’t the money but the high of the escape.
He didn’t get a chance. Jensen slid out of the car at an empty street corner, gave a small nod, and disappeared into the night. Jared twisted to watch him go, watched until he faded into the asphalt, into the night sky, became one with everything that was dark.
**
LINK TO PART 2
Title: It’s A Steal
Pairing: Jared/Jensen (implied Jensen/Jeff)
Rating: Hard R
Total Word Count: 20,250
Summary: J2 AU. Jared gets pulled into Jensen’s catburgling ring.
Disclaimer: This fic is all in fun, and bears no resemblance to the activities of any real life Jared or Jensen, or any of the names within.
Inspiration is also owed to the movies “Entrapment”, “Ocean’s 11”, and “Sneakers”.
Thanks to deirdre_c for the encouragement and support, and the fine beta.
**
Jared slowed the car down to a crawl, inching along the row of identical white houses, none of which felt the need to display their numbers prominently. His foot tensed on the gas. He could press it and be a mile away before the meeting even started.
Since when had any of Chad's plans been to Jared's benefit, anyway? They usually ended up with Jared in a fight, or owing money, or that one time “cooling his heels” in jail. To say that Chad did not have the best suggestions was an understatement. Chad had awful suggestions, which left Jared to wonder why he went along with them ninety percent of the time.
He finally found a number not hiding itself as successfully behind a hanging basket. Fourteen Ten. Evens to his left then.
Ten thousand dollars, Chad had said. Ten thousand for doing hardly anything at all. Jared had known for a while that Chad didn't exactly earn his money by honest means - some months Chad got no acting work at all, but still his rent got paid, and new expensive sunglasses bought. Until yesterday, he didn’t have any real idea of how dishonest those means were.
Of course Chad had a tendency to exaggerate too, so when he claimed to be a getaway driver for jewel thieves, the reality could be almost anything. But as long as the reality included Jared being paid ten thousand dollars “just to distract some guy,” then he could handle it. It wasn't strictly illegal, right?
He'd look upon it like an acting job. An acting job that paid better than his last three put together.
Jared spotted number twenty-one twenty. It was the same as the rest of the houses on the street: wide garden, door with pillars either side, big welcoming windows, the kind of house where parents and two point four kids lived inside. He needn’t have bothered looking out for the number; this house was the only one that had a garden that needed its grass cut, pillars that needed a repaint - oh, and a heist planning meeting going on inside, taking full advantage of its abandonment.
Jared parked his car up the street in the shadow of a large tree. It felt appropriate to start being stealthy early. He stuck to his method by staying close to the trees lining the street as he loped back up to the house. The black clothes he'd chosen helped to hide him in the darkness. He checked his watch. 10.59pm. Right on time.
The door took an eternity to be opened. An eternity during which Jared ran through all the possible ways this could end really, really badly, and very nearly turned and ran away. Finally, just as he was lifting up onto the balls of his feet, poised for flight, the door opened.
Chad smirked at him. “You didn't chicken out then.” Chad, who was clearly not wearing black like he'd told Jared to. Chad, who was in fact wearing the same jeans and t-shirt he'd been in last night - and Jared was bound to hear that story later - but who had told Jared to “dress like a burglar, at least.”
Jared had dressed all in black. Tight black pants, long-sleeve black t-shirt.
“You fucker!”
“What?” Chad let go of the door and turned without inviting Jared in. Jared followed him inside, trying to shut the door as quietly as possible, but still ending up creating a loud bang as it careened out of his hand for the final two inches and slammed shut. They headed down a long hall that consisted of tall white walls with grey squares indicating where pictures used to live.Chad led him to the back of the house, past two huge empty rooms, and paused in front of a wide, wood-panelled door.
“Why’d you tell me-” Jared swallowed the rest of his sentence because Chad had pushed open the door and was heading straight into the room. It was a library, only it didn't contain any books. Three of the walls were covered in empty sets of shelves, and there were a couple of large square tables. A few seats had been loosely arranged around one.
“This is him,” Chad announced, then threw himself into the only spare seat, landing in a position that would have anyone who didn't know him think he'd immediately gone to sleep.
There were three other people in the room. One guy sat on a couch by Chad and stared at Jared without blinking. Then there was a guy in a big armchair, no hair, who quirked a smile at Jared then twisted his head to look at-
Oh Jesus. The last guy was standing, leaning against the table with his arms folded. Jared was thrown, 'cause he'd been prepared for them all to look like the other two - okay-looking guys, the kind you'd have a beer with, play pool with, be only mildly suspicious of your sister dating.
This guy looked like a model. There was no way this guy broke into places without drawing attention. There was no way he went anywhere without drawing every pair of eyes in the room to him. He was wearing a shirt that clung to his arms, emphasizing muscles that obviously took some effort to keep up. The top button of his shirt was open, and Jared had to drag his eyes away from the triangle of lightly tanned flesh it revealed. Which left him staring at a gorgeous face that stole all of Jared's words away.
To make matters worse, the guy was staring straight at Jared from sharp green eyes, scrutinizing him. Jared forced his lips into an attempt at a smile.
“Okay.” The gorgeous guy nodded. “This is Chad's guy-”
“I'm not… I'm Jared.” Jared forced the words out and made himself glance away from the Greek God toward the rest of the room. He inched forward. There was nowhere for him to sit. Jared was used to towering over everyone in the place, but when everyone else was sitting, it felt particularly uncomfortable. He leaned against the side of Chad's chair, forcing Chad to slide his arm off the armrest with a curse.
“This is Chris-” the guy on the couch, who was still staring at Jared - “Mike”- that was armchair guy - “and I'm Jensen.”
Jensen. Jared nodded. He wasn't sure what to do. “Hey. I was expecting you all to have nicknames. Like Light Fingers Larry or Jimmy Kneebreaker or…” He bit his lip, swallowed the rest of the nerves down and silenced himself. No one laughed. Chad snorted, but he covered it up by turning into a yawn.
Jensen gave a small smile which looked born of politeness rather than genuine humor; it still lit up his face, creating cheeks where previously were angular planes, and rows of crinkles around his eyes. As soon as the smile vanished, Jared ached for it to come back.
“I was all set to come up with a nickname, that's all.” Jared crossed his arms, then uncrossed them. He desperately wanted to sit down. Before Jensen smiled again, and Jared's legs gave way.
“No need,” Jensen said. “Also?” His eyes trailed briefly down Jared's chest and the room got hot. Very hot. Jared struggled not to blush. “The black?”
“It's my color, right?” Jared joked. Jensen's lips threatened to smile again, but stayed in a straight line. ”It's stupid,” Jared waved his arm down his body. “Chad's idea of a joke. I'll dress normally next time.”
Jensen nodded. His eyes flickered away from Jared. Had the room suddenly gotten darker? “So guys we've got our Jethro-”
“It's Jared-” Jared interrupted. Hadn't Jensen been listening?
Mike laughed. It wasn't good laughter. It was kind of, making fun of Jared laughter.
“Jethro's your nickname,” Jensen said in a low voice. A patient voice, but one with a glint of steel beneath it that said Jensen didn’t appreciate too much fucking around. Jared gave a nod. “You're Jethro 'cause you're the-” Jensen’s voice cracked, and this time he really did smile again, “-distraction.”
“Oh right.” Jared glanced down at Chad, who gave a see-I-don't-lie-about-everything innocent smile, which only meant there was something Chad had lied about. “Yes.”
Jensen's smile slid off his face and was replaced by the angular lines that meant business. “Chad's driver, Chris is surveillance, and Mike and I are the team that retrieve the item. You take the guard's attention away from where Mike and I are breaking in.” Jensen moved behind the desk then, and Jared didn't pay attention to his next sentence, because he was too busy staring at the high curve of Jensen's ass and mentally praising whoever invented Levi’s Jeans. Mr Levi, Jared guessed. He was a smart man. “Jared?”
“What?” Jared’s cheeks felt suspiciously warm. Damn them.
“I said, is that clear?” Jensen's tone was a little impatient. Which was fair enough. Jared hadn't been listening.
“Uh. Yes. Absolutely. I can do that.”
Jensen leaned on the table, and Jared forced himself not to look at how that made the muscles on Jensen's arms bunch up. Jensen then rolled open a plan and beckoned them all to come over.
Jared tried to listen carefully while Jensen outlined the plan, partly 'cause he didn't want to fuck it up but mostly 'cause he had no intention of not knowing what was going on if he was taking part in a heist.
Jensen explained in simple, clear terms that the target was a museum, a painting specifically. It was clear Jensen was thorough, meticulous. Every eventuality seemed to be thought through and allowed for. Jensen received a quarter of the money as security; they then had to retrieve the painting and Jensen would leave it at the drop-off point. Jensen would be paid the rest of the money, then he paid them. Jared's job was easy: he had to get the security guard's attention for the ten-to-fifteen minutes it would take Jensen and Mike to get in and out again.
Fifteen minutes for seventy thousand dollars. Jared's cut was ten thousand, as was Chad's. Chris got more to cover equipment, and Jensen and Mike got more 'cause their job was more high risk.
No one argued with that. Jared wasn't sure they'd dare. Not that Jensen was scary - not especially - and they were obviously all friends, or friendly at least, but Jensen was still very much in charge. He had an aura about him; he was the kind of guy you wanted to please. The kind of guy Jared wanted to please, anyway.
“See you Saturday.” Jensen ended the meeting with a controlled wave of his hand. Jared was turning to Chad, about to tell him what he thought of his clothes gag, when Jensen's voice rang out, “Jared, a minute?”
Chad waggled his eyebrows comically at Jared and mouthed ‘Oooooh’ behind Jensen’s back. Jared did have the feeling that he'd been asked to stay behind after school. Chris and Mike rattled their way out of the door, calling goodbyes out as they did so. Chad wandered out, and Jared knew he'd be waiting afterward to find out what Jensen had said.
Jensen waited until everyone had left, busying himself rolling up the plans. Jared shoved his hands in his pockets. He wasn't sure if he should offer to help. He watched Jensen rolling them up, pulling a rubber band over them, watched Jensen’s nimble fingers as they moved and imagined them on different parts of his body-
“Jared.” Jensen's tone of voice pulled Jared to attention. Jensen pushed the plans into a small backpack and put it on the floor, leaning against the desk next to it.
“Yeah?”
“I just wanted-” Jensen hesitated. Jared took in Jensen as he gazed from one invisible object to another. Finally, Jensen turned his head, and Jared was staring right into his eyes. Jensen's eyelashes were really damn long. “I just wanted to say if you want to drop out any time, it's cool.” Really damn long. And fuck, those eyes. They were a magnet, physically preventing him from looking away. “What we're doing…it is illegal. So if you get cold feet, it's fine.” Jared made himself focus on Jensen's words. “Call me and let me know. No hard feelings.”
“Oh.” Jared hadn't been expecting that. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting. “Okay. I don't think I will-”
“I got the impression Chad probably hadn't explained much to you-” Jensen's gaze flickered over Jared’s attire ”-and I wanted you to know what you were getting yourself into.” Jensen's gaze met Jared's for an instant, but then broke away. Pushing himself off the desk, he moved to stand in front of Jared. “It's dangerous, if we get caught it's goodbye freedom. You have the least dangerous job, probably, 'cause you can walk away at any point, but you're still part of it. I want you to-”
“Jensen.” Jared stood up. He shuffled forward. His feet were a few inches away from Jensen's. For a crazy moment Jared wanted to lean over and kiss him. Instead he instituted a self-control he didn't know he had, took a shuffle back, and met a chair firmly with the backs of his legs. “I know what I'm getting into. I'm fine.” He smiled. “Thanks for being concerned though.”
Jensen nodded. “Any time.”
Jared stared across at Jensen - at the eyes - trailed his gaze down to the smooth curve of Jensen's neck and then away to the door, that was safe, and nodded. “See you Saturday.”
Yeah. Chad had had worse plans.
**
At least Jensen hadn’t used any of that pretend military talk. Meet at the house the next day at twelve midnight, Jensen had said. Straightforward, simple instructions. Jared appreciated that.
Chad picked Jared up at eleven thirty, as usual announcing his presence with a loud honk. Jared was wearing jeans and one of his good shirts; his part was ‘drunk guy after a night out.’
“Ready to become a criminal?” Chad called cheerfully out of the window as Jared approached.
“Shhh.” Jared got into the car. It wasn't Chad's normal car. It was a minivan. A black Dodge minivan. It would have fit a soccer mom taking her four kids to school better than a bunch of criminals. Jared supposed they all fitted inside easily.
“What?” Chad maneuvered them onto the road.
Jared didn't answer him. “Where'd the fuck this car come from?”
“Oh. It's Jensen's. For the jobs. It's kept at a Special Location.” Chad said the words like they had air quotes around them. For a minute Chad concentrated on his driving, darting along with ease. He was a good driver, Jared had to give him that. “I thought you'd wig out. Like you did that time with the midget-”
“I think the guy preferred ‘vertically challenged,’” Jared said. “And it wasn't that it was illegal, it was that the guy didn't want you to-”
“Screw you! He was up for it.”
“I don't mind this. My part's easy, right?” Jared stared out the window. Distract the target. Jared was pretty good at acting drunk. Or so he thought.
“Right. The plan-”
“It's a good one. Jensen's thorough isn't he?” They approached a crossroads. Right toward Jensen and crime, left away.
Chad paused. “Yeah. He doesn't leave much to chance.”
“Which is good.” Jared tried to sound casual. He looked over at Chad. “How many jobs have you done with him?”
“Three or four. I met him through Mike. Mike used to work with Tom, and he heard I was doing jobs with Tom. He claimed Jensen was better.” There was a car behind them now, and it was clear to go, but Chad didn’t move. “And he is. More careful. More money.”
“Right. He seems - they all seem - like okay guys too.” The car behind them honked. “Shouldn't we go? We'll be late.”
Chad gave him a quick glance that was curiously assessing. “Right.” Chad took the turn. “Don't wanna keep Jensen waiting,” he said lightly.
Jared didn't rise to the bait. He pressed his head against the window. No going back.
There was no going back if he wanted to.
**
Mike wasn't there when they arrived. Jensen opened the door barely seconds after they knocked. He was dressed in tight black pants and long sleeve shirt - similar to the outfit Jared had on at the first meeting. It emphasized every muscle in his body. Jared took particular care not to stare right at Jensen's crotch, but it was an effort.
Jared instead put all his attention on Jensen’s face. It was set like granite, with thin lips and furrowed brow. Moonlight shone through a crack in the window, bathing one side of his face in a soft glow. He could have been a statue with his perfect unmoving features.
“Mike's sick. Usually I'd cancel, but the painting moves tomorrow.” Jensen turned slightly away. Chris was sitting in a corner, fumbling with some wires. “I don't want to let this client down. Chris can't do it; we need surveillance. I'd get a back-up but it's too last minute. I-” Jensen crossed his arms and fixed his gaze on Jared. His voice lowered, deep in his throat. “Jared, you can say no.”
Only Jared couldn't say no. Not with Jensen's eyes staring at him like that. Not with Jensen’s voice making Jared wonder what his sex voice sounded like. He gave a wide smile that produced a small smile from Jensen in response, like a ripple. “Promotion already? But you haven't even seen me at work yet!”
“The plan won't change much. You still distract him, and I'll get in the back door. You'll have to slip this in his drink.” Jensen held up a small vial. Jared took it without touching Jensen's fingers. Touching Jensen seemed like it might be dangerous. “He'll go puke, and you can come meet me there as soon as the guy leaves his post. If it works, we should still have ten minutes.” Jensen bit his lip. “It's more risky, he might not even have a drink, but-”
“I don't mind a little danger,” Jared smiled. “Let's do it.”
They stopped to drop off Chris first so he could install himself on the roof of a building nearby with his equipment. They'd all been given buttons containing miniature cameras so Chris could keep an eye on them. Before he got out of the car, he tossed them all an earpiece. “So I can talk to you.”
Jared fingered it. It was clear plastic, with a part jutting out that he could only assume went down his ear. He couldn't really figure out what made it stay in. He pushed it into his ear. It fell out again. He turned it upside down and put it back in his ear. It fell out again.
Chad laughed. “Having trouble, dude?” He pushed his own earpiece in easily.
“Here.” Jensen reached out and plucked it from Jared's fingers. Jared jumped when their fingers touched. Jensen leaned in close, and Jared's breath caught as Jensen brushed his hair aside with a couple of fingers. He wanted to turn around, grab Jensen's face and kiss him. Throw him down on the seat, whether Chad was watching or not. Run his hands through Jensen’s hair and hold him down and not let go until Jared had mapped out every inch of that body with his tongue.
Find out if Jensen’s freckles extended beyond his face.
Instead, he dug his nails into his knees so hard there’d be grooves there long afterward. Jensen touched Jared's ear gently. He slid the earpiece in and gave a twist that must have locked it into place, but Jared didn't pay much attention to that. His ear burned where Jensen had touched him. His neck tingled where Jensen’s breath had warmed it.
When Jensen drew away, Jared felt cold again.
“Th-thanks,” Jared finally said.
Jensen's face was impassive. “S'okay.” He tapped his watch. “Synchronize watches.”
Chad dropped them off a block away from the museum and sped off to his designated waiting point. Chris's voice boomed out in Jared's ear. “Checking comms. Jay one. Jay two. Cee. It's Eagle.”
“See? I knew you'd have stupid nicknames,” Jared said.
Jensen grinned, then it was swept away by a solemn expression. It was like Jensen was always keeping himself under control, never allowing Jared to distract him with humor for long. It just made Jared long to rip that control away and see what happened, release whatever lay within. “You've been thrown in the deep end here, Jared. You sure?”
“Quit asking if I'm sure. Let's go.”
They walked down the street toward the museum as quickly as possible. It was a tall, imposing building at the end of the block. Jared didn't remember ever going in, not even when he first moved to L.A. and checked out some of the tourist sights. He guessed he wouldn't be able to go in after this.
Two guys and several large flags were guarding the main entrance.
Jared and Jensen peeled off before they reached the front, heading around the side of the building. A dozen yards away, there was a brick hut with a man posted in it. Jared's target. A back door to the museum was behind the hut, a little to the left. Jensen gave a tight, controlled nod at Jared, and Jared gave an overly-enthusiastic one in return.
He watched Jensen head off, melting into the shadows at the side of the road. The guard didn’t look up from whatever he was reading. Jensen was good.
Jared took a breath. Show time. He took out the miniature whiskey that he’d been hiding in his pocket and quickly threw it over his shirt. He palmed the vial Jensen had given him. His palms felt slippery, and Jared had to squeeze it a little tighter than he'd intended.
He headed straight for the guard. “Hey. Hey! You! ‘Scuze me!”
The guard looked up. His face creased into annoyance, and he rose from his seat. As Jared approached, he made sure to stumble unsteadily from left to right. One of his veers right gave him a clear view of the guy's desk. Among the crap on the guy’s desk were several pens, a half eaten bag of chips framing a video screen, a glasses case on top of some switches, a crossword puzzle, and next to it, a coffee with the lid off. Bingo.
“Can I help you?”
“Sure.” Jared leaned in close to the guard. The guy backed further into his seat when he caught the whiff of alcohol. “How'd'I get the bus, man? Where are the buses in this town?” He gave his best Texan drawl. “It's imposs-, imposs-” Jared gave a pretend retch and wheeled his body backwards, then forwards.
The guard's hands shot out. He held them an inch away from touching Jared. If Jared took one step too far, he'd be taken out. He had the guard's full attention though. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jensen run quickly toward the door, and remove a small item from a zip on his chest. Some kind of lockpick. Jared gave another hearty retch.
“You need a bus, head back to the main street. There's not many this time of night. You're better off calling a cab..” The guard's voice was kindly. Jared felt sorry for him. He was just a dude, earning some money by keeping watch on a museum. Shit, ninety percent of the time it must be crosswords and boredom. Behind the guard, Jensen was in the door already and sliding it shut.
“Can’t get a cab to stop for me,” Jared pouted, hiccupping. Then he pretended to catch notice of the crossword. “Hey. Cross- Crossword. Ya’ll good at those?”
The guard flickered his eyes down to the puzzle. “I'll call you a cab.”
“I’m great at these!” Jared leaned in, way in. His hand was right next to the coffee. Trouble was, he had the guard's full attention right on him. “Which way is the bus?” Jared twisted his head toward the street. “That way and left?”
The guard's eyes followed Jared's and as they did, Jared slid the vial into his drink. He straightened up before the guard managed to look back. “Yeah. Left. You sure you don't need a cab?”
“Nah. Sober up... sober before I see the wife. Thank you kindly.” Jared tipped an imaginary hat and headed off in the direction the guard had pointed. As soon as he turned the corner, he headed right into the shadows, like he'd seen Jensen do. Of course, Jared wasn't all in black, so he didn't blend so well. The guard didn't seem to notice as Jared came level with him, focussing his attention back on his crossword.
Time passed slowly. Jared's legs started to cramp up from crouching to hide in the shadow of the tree. Then the guard clamped a hand to his mouth, and his eyes went really wide. He ran into the trees a little to the right of Jared's current position, heaving, giving Jared a clear line to the door.
The door led into a completely empty corridor. There was no sign of Jensen. Jared stared hard at the corners. Nobody there. He took a step inside, then hesitated. Jensen knew all about which areas the cameras covered. Jared daren't move. He turned and nearly jumped out of his skin. Jensen stood right in front of him, toes an inch from Jared’s, that body nearly touching Jared’s arm. Jensen pulled him to the wall.
“Where did you come from?” Jared hissed.
Jensen put his mouth right to Jared's ear. “Was in a side room. Keep right behind me and do exactly what I do.”
Jared nodded. He turned and followed Jensen. Jensen slid right along the wall, keeping his body pressed to it. Chris's voice came in Jared's ear. “Your guard is still out. The two at the front aren't moving. I'll tell you when the guard moves again.”
Jared opened his mouth, then realized he had no way of speaking back. Chris's voice came over again. “I'm in their security feed. You aren't visible. Wait for my go, then go right up ahead and you should miss the camera.” When they got to the end of the corridor, it met another that stretched off left and right. Jensen kept them paused, flat against the wall. Jared was aware of exactly where Jensen's body was, of every line of his legs where they pressed tight against the wall, of the line of his neck, tantalizingly close.
“Go,” Chris's voice came, and Jensen peeled away from Jared, darting across the corridor and pressing himself close against the far wall. Jared started after him, landing with a thump. His hand caught a small sign hanging on the wall, advertising the cloakroom, and it wobbled loudly.
“Sorry, I-”
Jensen shook his head slightly. Jared's apology died on his lips. He followed after Jensen, down corridor after corridor. They seemed to pass through them with dizzying speed. They had to go down a staircase, and that felt like an eternity of pausing and darting down a few steps, then pausing, then taking a few more, but Jared supposed it must only have taken a minute. They paused on the bottom step, and Jensen relaxed.
“No cameras here,” Jensen said. He took a step down, into the corridor proper, and turned to the right.
“No cameras?” Jared moved to Jensen. “Surely that makes it-” The corridor ahead of them was covered in red laser lines that criss-crossed from floor to ceiling. “Oh.” Jared said. “That's why there's no cameras.”
Now that Jared thought about it, Jensen had mentioned getting past laser security at the meeting, but Jared hadn't been entirely sure what that meant. It hadn't affected him, so he hadn't asked. Now he wished he had.
“What do we do now?” Jared said.
Jensen unzipped another pocket and withdrew two small key cards. “I stole these last week,” Jensen said. He handed one to Jared and pointed to a box on the wall. They moved closer. The box had a slot at the top. “You wait here. I'll count to three. On three, card goes in, okay? One, two, in.”
Jared nodded. “Where are you going?”
Jensen grinned. The light of the red lasers shone onto his face, giving it a diabolical glow. “Down there.”
Jared stared past Jensen. “How the-” There was no room between the lasers for anyone to pass through and, even if they could, they’d have no space to straighten up before being hit by another one.
“Watch.”
Jensen turned and moved to the edge of the lasers. He lay down flat on the floor and crawled along underneath the lowest point. Then he bucked up and moved his ass into a gap formed by one of the lasers. Jared's mouth went very, very dry. He rubbed his palms onto his jeans. Fuck. He was staring straight at Jensen’s perfect, round, ass.
He was getting paid for this? Jared would do it for free.
Jensen straightened half up, then twisted the front part of his body underneath another laser. This time Jensen's back was flat, clear enough for Jared to see the lines of his spine.
Jensen’s outfit was very, very tight, especially when his body was stretching it to its limits. Jared’s jeans started to feel uncomfortably tight, but he couldn’t look away.
Jensen carried on like that, twisting his body around different laser sights, giving Jared a good view of the lines of his chest and thighs and ass. Jensen moved quickly - he'd had to have practiced this, Jared figured, and he wished he could have been there for that. He could have helped hold Jensen into place. Jared was all heart like that.
Jensen ended up limboing underneath the final laser, stretched back at not quite ninety degrees, but enough that Jared got an eyeful of exactly how Jensen’s outfit was covering his dick.
Snugly, it seemed.
Jensen straightened up, turned, and caught Jared's gaze. The reflection of the red lasers shimmered in Jensen's eyes. A tingle ran up and down Jared’s spine, his entire body buzzing with the resulting electricity. Jared realized his mouth was open. Jesus, his thoughts were probably written right across his face.
Jared dragged his eyes away and stared at the box on the wall. When he looked back, Jensen was at a similar box. He held up his hand into a fist and nodded. Jared fumbled to get the key card ready. Jensen held up one finger, then two, then Jared was sliding the key in.
All of the red lasers switched off. Jensen beckoned for Jared to join him. Jared ran as quickly as he could toward Jensen given that his legs were taking time obeying his instructions.
“Where did you learn to do that?”
Jensen grinned. “I was a cheerleader.”
The weird part was, he didn't sound like he was joking. Jensen turned, and they ran off down the rest of the corridor. They stopped in front of a small painting of a girl on a horse. Jared did not see why this would be worth so much money, but whatever turned people on.
Jensen opened yet another pocket -Jared wanted the job of exploring what was in each and every one- and drew out a small knife. He deftly cut the painting out of its frame and rolled it up. They ran back down the corridor, Jensen pulling out first one key card, and then the other. Upon pulling out the second card, all the lasers came back on. Chris's voice sounded in Jared’s ear. “Security guard straightening up. ETA three minutes or so. Hurry up.”
Jared's heart thumped loud in his ears as they whipped up the stairs and along corridors. Jensen took less time in moving along in retreat, and Jared tripped over his own feet a couple of times as they went. Chris's voice was a constant accompaniment. “Two minutes, I estimate. He's wiping his mouth. He's retching again. He's rubbing his stomach. He's leaning down. Be quick.”
They reached the door and Jensen ran out of it. Jared followed him as they belted into the foliage opposite. One of Jensen’s hands pressed into Jared’s side, pushing him into a crouching position near the base of a tree. “He's heading back-” Chris's voice provided narration to the scene in front of them, which was the guard heading back to his post, wiping his mouth.
Jensen whispered, “Now that he's not constantly throwing up, he'll probably call and alert the other guards. He'll know something's up, if he's smart. We don't have long.” He nodded behind Jared, the opposite direction to the way they had come. “Go.”
Chris's voice came over comms. “Moving into position. Cee, you are go. Jay one, Jay two, see you in the car. I repeat, moving into final positions.”
Jensen moved deftly through the grass and roots of the trees, further into the small patch of park that spread out at the back of the museum. Jared felt shaky, tripped a couple of times, once quite badly, and he landed on the grass with a painful bang. He felt one of Jensen's hands firm under his arm, half pulling him up. “Sorry-” Jared whispered.
Jensen didn't look pissed. He waved the painting. “S'okay. Not long, Jared, okay?”
Jared nodded. Soon they reached a street, and Jared spotted their car just ahead, engine idling, back door open. Jared fell into the back after Jensen, bending his wrist uncomfortably underneath him. As soon as they were in the door, Chad peeled away, Jensen pulling the door shut as they went. They stopped a block or two away, and Chris darted out from behind a building. Jensen had the door open for him before he got there, and then he was in, and they were all speeding away into the night.
Jared’s heart rate didn’t slow down until they were several miles away from the museum, and even then it was faster than usual. He wanted to get out of the car and run along the empty road, stretch every muscle in his body. He felt like he could just run and run and run. He wanted to scream, test how loud his lungs would go. He wanted to fuck someone, hard into a mattress, the kind of desperate, clawing sex that would leave bruises for days afterwards.
He wanted to ask Jensen if that was what he felt like; if part of it for him wasn’t the money but the high of the escape.
He didn’t get a chance. Jensen slid out of the car at an empty street corner, gave a small nod, and disappeared into the night. Jared twisted to watch him go, watched until he faded into the asphalt, into the night sky, became one with everything that was dark.
**
LINK TO PART 2