Cooking for the Family 8
Jared slowly moved off Jensen. He threw away the condom and grabbed his dirty tee shirt off the floor. He wiped the off his dick and stepped into PJs. He went and grabbed two glasses and an open bottle of white out of the fridge. Heading back to bed, he saw the Jensen was stretched out and he feasted on the view. “Pretty.” He passed off a glass and filled them both. “To being home.” They tapped glasses and took their first sips. Jared took off his pants and climbed back into bed. While they drank they caressed each others’ bodies. It was comfortable and Jared moved to sit behind Jensen and pulled the man back against his chest. He played with Jensen, making him hard. Kissing from Jensen’s neck to his ear Jared asked, “What do you want next?” He took the last sip of his wine and put the glass aside.
“Give me a few minutes, then I’m taking you,” Jensen panted as Jared played with his nipples. “Feels so good.”
“Yes, you do,” agreed Jared and Jensen chuckled.
Jensen finished his wine and put the glass down on the bedside table. He turned and then pulled Jared down the bed. “I know how much you like getting manhandled,” he said, stroking Jared’s shoulders.
He stretched Jared open with four fingers. Jared was writhing and he knew he was talking but he didn’t know what he was saying. It must have been funny because Jensen was laughing. He didn’t care because it felt so good. Jensen turned them so that Jared was in his lap and he pounded into his body. Jared grabbed his shoulders for leverage. He lost all concept of time except that it went on forever. Jensen made him come with his clever hands and Jared moved with Jensen until he came.
Slumping down into the bed Jensen ran his hands up and down Jared’s back. “I know you’ve got your sex endorphins but just lie with me for a little while.” Jensen moved away to throw away the condom and then drew Jared down, “Wake me up when you’re ready to go again.”
Jared gave him a half hour before kissing him awake. Jensen writhed, “Hi, that’s nice.” Jensen held him close. Jared started to finger him and Jensen wrapped his legs around Jared. “Harder this time?”
Jared nodded and kissed him. It was awesome that Jensen trusted him like this. He was faster this time, a little rougher, a little more possessive. But while sex was more forceful this time he kissed Jensen everywhere he could reach and held him so close that it made Jared feel like they couldn’t be any closer without being one person. Jensen pulled Jared to kiss him on the mouth. “Like it?” asked Jared. Jensen made a happy noise. “Good.” Jared rubbed Jensen into coming and quickly followed him. He relaxed against Jensen and then said, “Snack?”
“Yes please.” Jared detangled their limbs, threw away the condom and went into the bathroom and ran a wet washcloth over his abdomen. He rewet it and went to the bed and washed Jensen.
He brought Jensen his pants, pulled on his own and said, “I’ll be right back. Pour us another glass of wine.” The first thing Jensen had done when they’d come home was make Jamie a cake to celebrate getting out of the hospital. The cake had eggs and was delicious. Jared cut them a large slice and grabbed two forks. Coming back he said, “I really love this cake.”
“Never thought I’d make a cake with eggs ever again.” Jensen smiled and they ate the slice together. The next morning Jared woke up and made them all eggs Benedict. Over the coming weeks they ate a lot of eggs: scrambled, boiled (both hard and soft), poached, fried and over easy. They set a date for the barbeque and pretty much everyone said they would be there.
~~~
Jensen called his agent and started fielding movie offers. He didn’t like any of them. It wasn’t so much the movies themselves, it was the way he was being asked. They were proposed with how much they would pay him, how long they would give him, how much time he had to spend in LA, the feeling they wanted and how many songs with lyrics they wanted. They were impersonal and made Jensen feel apathetic.
One morning he was cleaning up the kitchen, Jamie was out in the yard, playing with his cousins and Mary’s new dog. Sadie and Harley were playing with the puppy nicely. The cover was on the pool because Jensen didn’t like it to be open when there were lots of kids around without sufficient adult supervision. Jared was at JT’s cooking and Jensen was enjoying the quiet.
The phone rang and he answered it with a, “Hello.”
“Jenny-boy, how are you?”
Jensen smiled at the voice of Jim Cameron, “Jim, my momma gave me a boy’s name for a reason. I’m doing pretty well. How are you?”
“Great. How’s Jamie? I know he was in the hospital for a long time.”
“Yeah, he has developed a new allergy. Thankfully it’s only sesame seed oil. That can be cut out so easily. If it were beef or something we’d be screwed. How are the kids?”
They talked for the next hour and a half, filling each other in on their kids and lives. Jensen said how awesome Avatar was and Jim said, “You are a hard man to find. I called Jessica who only had your cell phone and I didn’t want to call that because I never pick up my cell phone if I don’t recognize the number. I had to call Michael who was like, ‘I’m in the middle of shooting and Mark Harmon is glaring at me.’ He had your number.”
“I love NCIS.”
“Me too. I’m sorry I can’t come to your barbeque, I’m on location.”
“I totally understand.”
“I have to let my DP have it off though. We’re going to do rehearsals that day.”
“Oh is it Chad?”
“Yup, he said that Jared’s his best friend and that he would get on his knees if he had to. I wasn’t sure if he meant a blow job or groveling but obviously I let him have it off.”
Jensen laughed, “Thank you.”
Jim started talking about his movie, a movie about a submarine in the distant future piloted by aliens.
Jensen felt himself smiling and said, “Sounds awesome.”
“I hope so. It’s getting back to basics. I loved shooting Avatar and I’m using the technology to do Battle Angel but this has sets, animatronics and make up. It’s pretty cool. So would you be interested?”
“I’m sure I’ll go see it. If it isn’t scary I’ll take Jamie.”
“I meant scoring it, actually. I heard you were open for business.”
“Oh wow, I’ve always loved working with you. I mean, Titanic was my first movie and Dark Angel was one of my favorites. I would love to. So what are you looking for?”
“Well, if I knew I would do it myself. Or I would hire someone who wasn’t you and wasn’t half as expensive. I want you to look at it and decide what to do. You have a great ear and a great style.”
“Tone? Songs with lyrics?”
“You have a look at it, I’ll email you the dailies and we can talk about it once you’ve watched them and if you decide it’s a project you want to work on. We can do money then too. I know it’s the summer and you want to be with Jamie so you can work from home. So maybe a week in California to record and conduct an orchestra?”
“Awesome. If you send them today I’ll start watching them this evening. Is it scary or can Jamie watch it? How much swearing is there?”
“The word bastard is used three times, once in the dailies so far. It’s not scary really, the bad guys are a little campy and fun. I think Jamie can watch it.”
“Cool. Send it when you get a chance.”
“Great, I’ll send them now. Thanks, Jen.”
“No, thank you. You’re the first director who has spoken to me like it would be more than just a clinical job.”
“Well, I’ve been working with you since you were sixteen. It’s more than just a job.”
They hung up and Jensen headed out to the yard to play with the kids. They had fried rice with eggs and beef. Later Linda came over to pick up Marky and Mary. Jensen and Jamie went swimming to escape the heat of the day. They played with toys and floated on rafts with the dogs swimming around them. They played the piano for four hours, laughing and singing and having fun. Jensen made them burgers with wet fried eggs on top and fries for dinner. It was summer and Jensen never gave Jamie a bedtime during the summer. They ate on the couch and started watching the dailies. It was a fun movie, very cool.
Jamie asked him what they were watching and Jensen said, “The guy who directed Avatar is a very old friend of mine. I made Titanic and Dark Angel with him. This is his new movie and I’m going to write all the music for it. Pretty cool, right?”
“Are you excited?”
“Very, I really like Jim and I love writing music.”
Jensen made them homemade popcorn while Jamie put on his PJs and they watched more of the dallies. Jared came in at ten thirty, clearly recently showered. He sat next to Jamie. “What are you two watching?”
Jensen paused it, “These are dallies from Jim Cameron’s new movie. I’m scoring it.”
Beaming Jared said, “That is so cool.”
“How was work?”
“Awesome. Except that three idiots ordered their meat well done. They weren’t kids, kids can be forgiven. I went home and showered. I have to get up at four to go to the fish market with Paris.”
“That’s really early,” said Jamie.
“I know,” agreed Jared.
“But it’s kind of fun,” said Jared. “It’s nice to be awake when everyone is asleep and it’s not too, too hot yet. I get to hang out with Paris and drink our coffee and pick out the fish we’re going to serve.”
They ate the popcorn and watched the rest of dallies until eleven thirty and then Jensen said, “Well we all need to go to bed so that Jared can get up so early.”
Jamie brushed his teeth, fell into bed and promptly fell asleep. Jensen brought Jared to bed and kissed him slowly. “Go to sleep you need to get up super early.” But as they curled up together Jensen said, “I called a builder. He’s coming tomorrow to see about putting a shower into the garage.”
“I’m really pleased that you found a film to work on.” Jared curled into him. He slid a hand under Jensen’s t-shirt, resting his hand over Jensen’s heart. “Sleep well.”
He felt Jamie and the dogs climb into bed, he patted the bed behind him and felt that it was empty. He pulled Jamie close and went back to sleep. He woke up at nine and got up to have coffee. He fed the dogs and let them out into the yard. He called Jim while he had a quiet moment. Jim picked up saying, “Jen, did you watch it already?”
“We had a marathon on the couch last night. It’s so much fun and it is something I can watch Jamie. I would love to work with you. It would be great.”
“Okay well, I will start sending you finished scenes. We’ll take it from there. Five hundred thousand? I’ll send you a contract via courier. Will you be at home tomorrow?”
“Five hundred thousand sounds great and I’ll be in all day. Can I have personal distribution rights?” He always asked for that in his contract. He wanted to make sure he could play them wherever and whenever he liked.
“Of course, that’s always been your thing and I agree.” Jensen could hear the smile in Jim’s voice. “I am so excited. I’ll start sending you cut scenes but, obviously, you can’t really score anything until you’ve seen it totally. We’re still shooting, we have twenty-two days left but within thirty-five days we’ll have a rough cut. Right now I just would like it if you watched the dailies to get the right feel.”
“Sure. That sounds perfect. Jamie was watching with me but usually he goes to bed around nine so I have all evening.”
“Perfect. I’ll send you the stuff we have finished now, you can get started when you like.”
“Jim? This is awesome. I’m so pleased to be working with you. It’s been a really long time since I’ve felt like composing and working with you has always been fun.”
“Tricia was a really wonderful woman and I think she’d be pleased that you’re having fun again.”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s time to get back to my real life.” Jamie came in looking half awake. “Oh, the sleepy boy is up. I’m going to make breakfast and I’ll send you the contract back tomorrow.” Jensen hung up and smiled, “Morning, baby. Sick of eggs yet?”
“Nope, still loving them.” So Jensen made them a ham and cheese omelet. Jamie dug into it with relish.
Once they finished Jensen asked, “Want to play the piano?”
“I want to practice all of our friends’ music so that I can play them at the party.”
Jensen smiled, “That sounds really fun.” They got dressed and played the piano for two hours before Jared came in mid morning and took the dogs for a run. He smiled at them as he came in and Jensen said, “Shouldn’t you be cooking for strangers?”
“No, I’m on dinner duty I have to be back at five. I’m going to shower and take a nap.” Once he had gone into the bathroom, Jensen and Jamie went back to playing. Then the builder came. Jamie stayed where he was, practicing the songs and singing.
Jensen showed him the area where he wanted the shower in the climate controlled garage and showed him how large he wanted it. The man quoted him a price which seemed reasonable and said he would draw up some plans. The plan was to start after the barbeque.
When the man was done Jensen made them all sandwiches for lunch that didn’t have eggs. Jared ate with them, it was his dinner and he said goodnight to Jamie. Jensen told Jamie that he was going to be working from home and that he was going to be a bit busier. Then he and Jamie went down to jump on the trampoline. After a little while Jamie said, “Can we go back to playing music or were you bored?”
“No, let’s go back to the music.” They headed upstairs and Jensen tuned his violin. His violin was a Michael Rhonheimer made specifically for him. Outside of the house and Jamie’s medical care she was the largest investment Jensen had ever made. The sound was achingly beautiful and Rhonheimer’s violins beat a Stradivarius in a recent study and Jensen wasn’t surprised. Although she’d been given the name Opus 29 he called her Katja. There was some argument as to whether or not instruments should be named. Tricia had always said it was creepy that he named them and referred to them by female pronouns but Jensen felt that it was right. Katja had been made with Francis Schwarze’s fungus-treated wood and fashioned by Rhonheimer himself. She wasn’t just an object, she wasn’t utilitarian, she was art. And art deserved a name.
As Jensen tuned her he said to Jamie, “If you can get these songs down really well, well enough to do them with everyone then I can play the violin. Does that sound fun?”
Jamie bounced on the bench, “Really?”
“Yeah, but we’ll have to practice a lot because we want to sound great, right?”
Jamie nodded. “Can we use the metronome at first?”
“Sure if that would help.” Jensen set up the electronic metronome. And as he finished tuning his violin he said, “Okay, what do you want to play?”
“I want to start with LeAnn. I want to do How Do I Live, can we do that?”
“Of course.” Jamie set up his sheet music. “You count off.”
“Okay, start on five. One, two, three, four,” They began together. It was good, but not great. Jensen pointed out a few changes to Jamie and they played it twice more before moving on to Can’t Fight the Moonlight. It was good to play his violin just for fun. They went through all of LeAnn’s hits before dinner and bath time. Jensen’s fingers hurt and he figured if he practiced enough he would get his calluses back before the barbeque. After the bath Jensen said, “Let’s watch a little TV to calm down after all the fun music.”
They watched some stupid thing on the Disney Channel with singing puppets. Jamie liked it and Jensen liked having Jamie so close. He was still freaked out by how long Jamie had been in the hospital. Forty-three days was the new record for one of Jamie’s hospital stays. Every time it happened Jensen got a little more scared. It was nine, Jamie kept nodding off and Jensen said, “You ready for bed? It’s late and we had a really late night last night.”
“Are you going to do some work for your movie?” asked Jamie rousing himself a little.
“Yeah, that’s my plan.”
Jamie nodded and hugged Jensen, “I’m tired.”
Picking Jamie up Jensen said, “It’s been a nice day, hasn’t it?”
“I love the piano.”
“Me too,” Jensen rubbed his back. In his bedroom he tucked Jamie in with the lion. “Music?”
“The concert in New York, please.”
Jensen put on the CD and kissed Jamie goodnight, “Sleep well, baby. I love you.”
Jamie hugged him back. In the living room Jensen put on his laptop watching the scenes in order. He plucked his violin as he watched, adding soft music under the scenes, he already had a feel for the film. He opened up his composing software and played the music for one scene into the microphone. The software recorded it and transcribed it as sheet music. He emailed it to Jim with a note that said, “Hey Jim, Just a rough idea for the third scene. I’m not sure the tone is right as I haven’t seen the whole yet. I’ll let you know when I get the contract. Have a good night, Jensen”
Continues in Jens POV