Gingerbread: [J2] Restricted
Gingerbread - a Jensen and Jared Christmas story.
Authors: candygramme and sharonmarais
Word count: 15,013
Rating: R
Warning: slash
Beta by marys_scribbles
Authors' notes: Please have your insulin ready. The boys are sweet, very sweet
~~~
December in Vancouver means that occasionally, if the rain stops long enough, there'll be a frost. Returning from spending Thanksgiving in Texas hadn't prepared either Jensen or Jared for the way that downtown Vancouver sparkled in the freezing air. They'd been filming in an alley behind Sutton Place, and as they finally completed a scene to Kim's satisfaction, Jared grabbed Jensen's arm and tugged him off the set and away towards Burrard Street.
"What, man?" Jensen frowned. "Trailers are back that way."
"Yeah, I know." Jared was pulling on his ever-present beanie as he spoke. "We've got time. Come on. There's something I want to go and see."
Nodding, Jensen cast a quick look back towards the console where Kim was standing, intently studying the screens as he played back the scene they'd just finished shooting. "Kim? We got a few minutes?"
"Yeah. We'll need to relight, so I won't need you for an hour. Grab lunch or something." Kim didn't look up, and Jared renewed his pressure on Jensen's arm as he made for the street.
Christmas hung over the city, lights sparkling from the displays in the window, watched by the array of frosty stars above. Even though it was getting late there were still crowds rushing to and fro. Jared made his way through them to cross Robson and head down the hill. Jensen followed obediently, wondering what was on his mind.
The Hyatt Regency was a familiar sight, and as they approached it, Jensen was more and more perplexed. "Dude, you rented a room for old times' sake or what?" he asked, pulling up as it became obvious that Jared was making for the front door.
"You'll see." Jared's beaming smile was almost as luminous as the twinkling lights around the door, and Jensen felt a little flutter as something tightened deep down in his belly. He still hadn't grown used to having this enormous man-child as his lover, and each time he looked at Jared he felt his carefully guarded heart melt a little. He knew that whatever it was that Jared wanted of him he'd have very little chance of ever turning him down, and he was beginning to think that he'd never want to. Shaking his head a little, he hurried forward to catch up with his lover and see what it was that had him so excited.
Jared nodded a greeting at the doorman as he pushed through the revolving door with Jensen now just a step or two behind him. Jensen had not really been focused on anything other than getting inside as he entered the lobby of his former residence, so the sight that greeted him there made him gasp aloud. Jared turned to him, the enormous grin still gracing his face, arms outstretched - indicating the vastness of the entry way. "Look man, isn't this just awesome?" he said.
"Awesome." Jensen agreed, a grin spreading across his own face. He could see now why Jared had been so excited and keen to come here. Jared was standing in front of the largest gingerbread house Jensen had ever seen. To be honest, it was actually only the front of the house, but it was huge nonetheless. As he looked around the area to either side of this massive confection he could see that there were other houses, castles, lodges, and even a farm - all made from gingerbread, fudge, frosting and other delicious edibles. The second thing that registered in Jensen's stunned brain was the smell. It was delectable, and if it was making him drool, God only knew what it was doing to Jared, bottomless pit and possessor of the sweetest tooth on the face of the planet.
Jared didn't say anything but he continued grinning like a loon and practically bounced on the spot with delight. Smothering a laugh, Jensen moved further into the lobby. "All right then, let's take a look at them. Wherever did you hear about this anyhow?" he asked as they moved around to the other side of the room where there were even more of the gingerbread concoctions in various degrees of awesomeness.
"Molly told me about it," Jared said. "She told me her daughter's school was involved in making some of them, and that I ought to come and have a look."
Jensen vaguely remembered a muttered conversation between Molly and Jared that morning as she had commented on the fact that he was drinking a Gingersnap Latte. Jared had mentioned his love of all things gingerbread, and then Jensen really had stopped paying attention to the rest of the conversation as he had been concentrating on getting to grips with the script changes that Kim had just presented to them.
Now, faced with Jared at his most excitable, all Jensen could do was smile and attempt to ride the whirlwind, because there was no way that they would be leaving until Jared had seen it all.
"Okay," he said, grabbing for Jared's elbow just as he was showing signs of reaching over the ribbon separating spectators from the exhibits. "Let's be methodical. We don't want to miss any of this." He was staring at a carousel made entirely from gingerbread and candy. "Look, dude, it tells you who made it. This one was a catering school. I guess they'd have a pretty high standard."
"This one wasn't. It's a school." Jared's slanted eyes were wider than Jensen had ever seen them. "Wow, check it out. They built it out of blocks of cookie." The exhibit in question was a castle, complete with drawbridge. It had cannons on the turrets, made from Oreo cookies and chocolate, and even a coat of arms over the main gate.
Around the corner was a busy street scene, with a road and cars, stores and little people sitting at tables along the sidewalk. Jensen smacked Jared's hand down, as it stretched towards the exhibit seemingly unconsciously, although it would have been quite a reach even for Jared's long arms.
As they moved around the display, Jared's excitement seemed to increase rather than diminish. The heady scent of ginger and sugar was really starting to make Jensen's mouth water, so who knew what it was doing to Jared?
Jensen succeeded in keeping Jared in line until they got to the little display that was a mock-up of Whoville. There was the Grinch at the top of the mountain, and there were the weirdly rounded little Who-houses. The whole thing was much closer to the spectators than some of the first exhibits they'd looked at, and Jensen had been lulled into a false sense of complacency by his sweetheart. There was a little girl admiring a scene depicting gingerbread skaters on a pond, and Jensen watched her delight with fond amusement. When he looked back, Jared's cheek was bulging.
"Dude, what did you do?" he whispered, madly scanning Whoville for signs of abuse. The pathway that had been lovingly constructed from pieces of fudge was missing several steps. "Dammit!" He hissed. "Do you want to get us arrested? For God's sake, can't you behave?"
Jared looked a little sheepish, but continued munching and attempted to fob Jensen off. "What do you mean?" he asked, speaking around the fudge in his mouth, and trying to sound innocent but failing miserably. "What did I do?"
"Oh don't even try that one with me, Jay, you know full well what you did. If you have anymore of that fudge in your hand you'd better put it back right now," Jensen said.
He looked around nervously to see if anyone else had noticed Jared's crime. Fortunately it seemed that no one had so far, but he didn't want to take any chances. Jared flushed a hot pink and carefully placed back two squares of fudge to their former position. He hung his head a little, tilted it to one side and looked up at Jensen through his bangs, apparently attempting to look as contrite as possible. Jensen sighed. He ought to haul Jared out of there right now, but he just couldn't stay angry at him when he put on his puppy dog face.
He knew when he was beaten, but he resolved to keep an even closer eye on his lover as they looked at the rest of the exhibits. "Come on," he said, grabbing Jared's arm, "let's look at the rest of them, and for God's sake keep your hands to yourself from now on." Jared pouted but he put his hands in his pockets and allowed Jensen to lead him around to the next area of the display.
They both smiled in appreciation of one beautiful display which was called 'Snowy Pastures' and featured a farm, complete with water mill, a barn with little animals inside and a farm house. It reminded them both of the Kent Family Farm from Smallville, except that the farmhouse wasn't yellow. "It's incredible how much detail they've all put into these." Jensen said, marveling. "Even the animals are made out of marzipan and icing."
Jared nodded in agreement, but he looked subdued now. Jensen sighed, dammit, Jared's joy at the sight of all of the wonderful houses had been infectious. He hadn’t wanted to bring him down, but he had to make sure that no more of the exhibits went to fuel his lover's sugar high. "Hey," he said, nudging him in the arm, "don't mope. If you promise not to make off with anymore of the goodies, I'll buy you some gingerbread to take back to the set with us. I saw that they're selling it round beside the carousel."
Jared brightened visibly. "Really? You'd do that for me?" he asked. His face alight with joy again at the very thought of it.
"Dude, don't you know by now that there's very little I wouldn't do for you?" Jensen asked, smiling to see his lover happy again. "Now let's look at the last of these houses before we have to leave. We only had an hour and it must be getting close on to that now."
They went back to look at a couple of houses they had already seen. In particular, Jared's fancy was taken by a small lodge with Santa on the veranda and a reindeer and a snowman in the yard, and another small house with a doorway that had a white bow piped on it, and tiny marshmallows around the edge. There were lacy curtains made of piped icing at the windows and rainbow-colored Twizzlers forming the rooftiles. The roof itself was topped off with more of the white marshmallows on the ridge. In addition there were two small heart shaped cookies, covered in an icing sugar dusting, decorating one corner of the roof. It was beautiful. Then he noticed the card that showed which group had made it and bounced with excitement as he grabbed Jensen's arm.
"Jen, look at this one, number 24. It's made by Molly's daughter's school. Isn't it the cutest thing?" He sounded so wistful as he gazed at the beautiful concoction that it made Jensen smile. His lover was a very sentimental guy, and the little cabin certainly was cute, even if it was a little bit girly. He looked at Jared's face and swallowed hard when he saw the longing look in his eyes. He would never get used to how emotional his lover made him feel at the oddest of times. He found himself choking up regularly and getting blindsided by Jared's sentimental nature. Finding it hard to speak at that moment he merely nodded his agreement. Finally, he managed to find his voice and reminded Jared that they had to be getting back and they still had to vote for their favorite houses. Not to mention Jensen fulfilling his promise to buy his lover as much gingerbread as he could eat to take away with them.
They took one last look at the cute little cabin and walked around to the voting box. Jensen told Jared to vote for him as well whilst he went off to purchase the promised gingerbread goodies and some candy canes.
Handing over a bag of goodies to his lanky partner, Jensen succeeded in leading Jared back out onto the street through the revolving doors, with only a brief delay while Jared insisted on going around and around in them for a couple of turns. Laughing as the two of them spilled out onto Georgia Street once more, Jensen led the way back up the hill towards the set, and vowed that he would find a way to provide his sweetie with a gingerbread house.
~~~
"Dude, I got us a Christmas tree!" Jared's voice boomed through the house, and Jensen, who had been enjoying a lie in, slowly opened his eyes. A swift look at the clock revealed it to be nine thirty, and Jensen's heart sank. He knew from bitter experience that there would be no further sleep for him that day. He was contemplating getting out of bed and going to make coffee when the door burst open and Jared bounced in bearing a Starbucks mug.
"Did you hear? We've got a Christmas tree. It's downstairs in the porch waiting for us to decide where to put it. Hurry up and get up, man. We have to dress it up and make it sparkly." Jared's dimples punctuated the beaming smile, and Jensen felt his heart melt all over again at the sight of his enthusiasm.
"You got it, dude. Just give me a minute to steam my eyes open, and I'll come aid you in your folly." Jensen was smiling as he sipped the strong brew Jared had brought him. "You got lights and stuff to hang on it? Gotta have fairy lights, or it's not a real Christmas tree."
"You mean you want more than those air freshener things? Damn!" Impossibly, Jared's grin was even wider than before. "It was good enough for Sam, you know."
"Fairy lights, dude. I insist." Setting aside his now empty cup, Jensen rolled out of his nice, warm cocoon of blankets and headed for the bathroom. "Gimme a second to clean myself up, and I'll come show you just what a well-dressed Christmas tree should be wearing."
His shower revived him as much as the coffee had. Soon he was feeling much more human and even capable of coping with a bouncy Jared, two hyper dogs and the decorating of a Christmas tree. God help him but he was turning into Mr Joviality - living with Jared would do that to you he guessed. He grinned to himself, this would be their first Christmas together in this house and it would be great to share each other's traditions and make some of their own. He trotted down the stairs and towards the porch, not even thinking about breakfast yet. If Jared had gone to the trouble of getting a real tree then the least he could do was to postpone breakfast for a while.
When he went out onto the porch, the tree made him gasp. It was pretty tall, but he had hopes that it would fit in the living area of the house, it seemed to manage to stand upright in the porch at least. It was full too, a fabulous shape and the smell of the pine was warm and fresh. Jared grinned at him as he stopped to fully appreciate the sight of the tree.
"Isn't it great?" his lover said. "I was going to wait until you could come too, do the whole choosing the tree together thing, but this one caught my eye and I could see that it might be gone before we could get back to the lot." He looked a little apologetic, but Jensen wasn't bothered by the fact that Jared had chosen the tree on his own, he was too busy grinning at him, his eyes crinkling at the corners in amusement.
"Dude, what?" Jared said. "Do I have spinach in my teeth or something?" He frowned a little.
"No, not at all," Jensen said his face softening a little, "I was just thinking how much you looked like that Thomas Kinkade character you played, dressed in all that gear and clutching the tree and all."
Jared threw his head back and laughed. "I suppose I do," he agreed, "Especially as this scarf was one I wore in the movie, the jacket too, come to think of it." His eyes sparkled as he spoke, and Jensen couldn't resist leaning forward and planting a sloppy kiss on the end of his nose.
"You look adorable." He said. "Now let's get this tree inside and get decorating."
Jared blushed a glorious pink and ducked his head shyly. It was even more adorable and Jensen's heart swelled. He loved this man so much it was ridiculous, but he couldn't help it, and he didn't think he'd ever get used to it. He wasn't even sure he wanted to. If they could still be this happy when they'd been together for 20 years, and the relationship could still feel as fresh then as it did now, he'd count himself the luckiest man alive.
They grabbed the tree and maneuvered it through the front door and into the living room, pausing inside the doorway as it occurred to both of them that they had not yet planned where to put it. Jared started to giggle and the tree began to shake, shedding a few needles as it did so.
"Guess I should have thought about this before." He said
"Maybe," Jensen said, "But it shouldn't be too hard to figure out where to put it. How about next to the fireplace?"
Jared looked at the space Jensen was indicating with his chin, the only portion of his anatomy he could spare at the moment, the rest being occupied with holding up the tree. "We could put it there, but how about in the window?" He said nodding in the other direction. "There's lots of space there, and we'd be able to see it from outside as soon as we drive up, it'd be a welcome home."
Jensen considered Jared's point and had to concede that it had merit, it would be awesome to see their first tree greeting them every day when they returned home from work. "You're right," he said. "Let's get it over there now before we drop it." He was beginning to realise how heavy the tree was, it was a magnificent specimen and quite broad at the base. The needles were starting to prickle.
Together they shuffled the tree across to the window bay. Jared kicking the tree base he had bought along the floor so that it would be ready for them when they went to put the tree into its final position. After much sweating and straining they finally had it in place, secure in its stand, and they stood back to admire it. There was about 18 inches of space between the top of the tree and the ceiling in the window bay. The bottom branches reached to within about 6 inches on each side of the window. It would allow them ample space to reach around to decorate and still fill the window with its light and color.
Jensen smiled and looked expectantly at Jared. "So let's get the lights and baubles out then, dude." He said. "I can't wait to see what it all looks like with the lights on it."
Jared's face fell and Jensen noticed immediately. "What's up?" He asked, concerned.
"Dude, all we have to decorate this tree are those two awesome ornaments that girl gave us after the Chicago convention. You know, Thing 1 and Thing 2," he said as Jensen frowned at him.
"Jeanette you mean?" Jensen asked.
"Yes, Jeanette." Jared said, nodding in agreement. "The thing is though, I think this tree needs a little more decorating than just those ornaments, awesome as they are."
"I think you're right." Jensen said. "So we need to think about what we want on the tree, and then if we split up and get shopping quickly we can still get the tree decorated and ready before it gets dark again. I really want to see our tree from outside as soon as it gets dark."
Jared grinned, relieved. "Jensen, you are completely brilliant, that's why I love you." He said, flinging his arms around his lover and squeezing hard to show his appreciation.
"Dude, breathing!" Jensen gasped as he was all but crushed by the Padagrip. "I'm glad you like the plan though, so let's make some lists and divide the chores. We can have breakfast while we do it."
The mention of food perked Jared up, and before long the two of them were taking their seats at the counter, armed with plates of sausage, eggs, bacon and pancakes. Jensen, always one to plan ahead, was making two lists.
"Okay, man, what do you want to go at the top of the tree? A star, or an angel?" He nibbled the top of his pencil as he turned his head to look at the tree behind them.
"An angel would be cool." Said Jared, then he started to laugh. "We can put a dirty raincoat on it and call it Misha!"
"Okay, Castiel for the top of the tree," snickered Jensen, writing it down and then moving on to the next topic. "Lights... we need lights. You want to stay with the white ones or go for the colored kind?"
Jared frowned as he pondered the vexed question. "White... no, colored... no, wait..." He set his fork down and raised tragic, puppy-eyes to Jensen. "Can't we have both?" He asked, plaintively.
"Okay, dude. I'll just put lights, and you can choose what you think will look best." He reached for the syrup and added some to the pancakes on his plate. "We should get tinsel, and some of those bauble things. You wanna see what you can find? I'll go to Costco and get some candy canes and popcorn, because we have to put popcorn on a string and hang it on the tree. It's what we used to do when Josh, Mac and I were kids."
"Yeah, popcorn!" Jared was already shoveling in the last of his breakfast. "Okay, you go to Costco, and I'll hit Sears. We'll have the best tree ever." He was about to rise from his stool when he suddenly thought of something. "Dude, we should get some snow stuff for the windows and the branches, and a couple of stockings - maybe four, cos Sadie and Harley need one as well. Oh, and..."
"Jay, you need to go buy up the store." Jensen was grinning now. Jared's enthusiasm was always infectious, and Jensen loved Christmas anyway. "I'll get the eggnog; you get the shiny stuff."
***
Half an hour later, Jared was heading off to the nearest purveyor of shiny seasonal decorations, and Jensen was in his truck on his way to Costco. Candy canes, jars of assorted confectionery and a two liter jug of eggnog went into his cart, and he paused to admire a nativity scene. He decided to pass it by in the end, although he did grab a couple of packs full of decorations. He was about to make his way to the check out, when his eye was caught by a particular display, and he instantly knew what he must do.
The thing that had attracted his attention was a stack of boxes, each containing a kit that would enable the lucky recipient to build their own gingerbread house. Grinning to himself, Jensen grabbed two, because he was really not sure how good he'd be at this, and it would be good to have a spare. Once he'd got them he went back to find a box of gingerbread men, and as he hit the check-out, he was already planning how to fashion an Impala out of marzipan. This was going to be the best Christmas ever.
Knowing that Jared would still be out for some time, since he would be totally unable to resist buying up as much stuff as he could feasibly lay his hands on, Jensen headed directly for the kitchen as soon as he got home. Quickly unpacking his purchases he took some time to read the instructions on the back of the box containing one of the gingerbread house kits. He'd have time to do this and be tidied up before Jared got home. Grabbing Jared's flowery apron from the hook inside the walk-in pantry he put it on and headed off to wash his hands and begin work on his creation.
Jensen found that the kit contained a beautiful silver board to stand the house on, together with individual panels of gingerbread for the walls and the roof. The house he had chosen was similar in style to the one Jared had gazed at so wistfully. It was one of the reasons it had caught his eye as in the first place. There were also little tubes of colored icing for decorating the house, a few small candies and some ready piped decorations together with a useful set of diagrams for piecing the house together and suggestions for making the generic looking house much more individual. Taking a few moments to look at all of the pieces and carefully examining each one for strength and durability he was getting more confident with how well he would do in constructing the little cabin.
He began by laying out the pieces as shown in the diagram and then making a 'foundation' from the icing as directed. He then joined two of the wall panels together with icing and carefully stood them in the 'foundation' icing. So far so good, they stood up and didn't sag or wobble or even crack. He smiled, this was going to be so good, he could hardly wait to see Jared's face when he showed him what he had done. He made some more 'mortar' from the icing to hold the next wall panel in place and began to slide it into position when he heard the ominous sound of crunching and snuffling behind him. He stiffened and carefully let go of the piece in his hands, it slid into place perfectly and he turned to look and see what was going on. Harley lay on his stomach, grinning from ear to ear, (as he usually did, so much like his master it was uncanny.) and he was chewing away on a piece of gingerbread house!
Jensen stared at the dog in horrified fascination, unable to speak as he watched him consume a precious slab of gingerbread intended for the roof. Eventually he gained his voice enough to tell Harley what he thought of him, but even so he lacked that killer tone, the one Dean would have managed with no trouble. It just wasn't in Jensen to get too angry with either of Jared's babies. However, he had to try and keep some order here.
"Bad Harley, naughty boy, you know you shouldn't be in here when we're cooking, don't you?" He said, knowing that the animal was taking no notice of him at all. When had he ever? Instead he continued munching, completely unconcerned and still smiling his doggy smile. Finally he licked his lips and looked up at Jensen as if to ask for more.
That was too much, even for Jensen's tender heart, and Harley found himself banished to the back yard while Jensen sighed and opened the second box, thanking his stars that he'd had the foresight to buy two of them.
He finished putting the basic shape of the cabin together, and pondered the extra pieces. He was determined to make this something Jared would love, so he began to improvise, carefully sculpting his creation until he'd finally got a credible copy of Kinkade's Christmas Cottage. Once he'd gotten the basic shape, he began to embellish, adding candies and gingerbread men until it was so encrusted with goodies there was nowhere else to put one.
Jared still wasn't back, and it had been a good three hours since they'd gone their separate ways. Jensen looked at the tree, smiling as he imagined it once it was decorated. He was just about to start making popcorn, when the phone rang.
It was Jared, of course, reporting that he'd bought a whole heap of decorations, and wanting to know if he should pick up lunch for them. It only took Jensen a moment or two to calculate how long Jared would take, and he quickly asked his lover to bring back a pizza. Then he turned back to heat up the oven and took the cookie dough he'd bought out of the fridge, beginning to get out the things he'd need to bake them.
He carefully carried his Christmas cottage away to the bedroom he'd used when he first moved in and laid it down on the dresser in the corner. Closing the door to keep out Harley, the marauding opportunist, who he knew would be looking for more stolen treats once he was allowed into the house again, he returned to the kitchen to bake cookies for his sweetie.
By the time Jared came home, flushed with triumph and laden with bags and boxes galore, the entire house smelled delicious, and Harley was lying by the tree, sleeping soundly, full of stolen gingerbread.
"Oh My God Jen," Jared said as he burst through the front door, arms barely containing the packages he carried. "There were so many awesome things in the stores it was hard to choose what to bring home."
Jensen laughed at the bright-eyed, flushed expression of his lover and the enormous pile of bags and boxes he was toting. "Doesn't seem to have fazed you that much, Jay. Looks to me as though you bought out the entire stock. Is there anywhere in Vancouver that still has decorations for sale?"
"Did you know there's a shop on Robson and Bute called The Spirit of Christmas that's open all year round and sells nothing but Christmas trees, gifts and ornaments? There's a board at the back of the shop that counts down the days to Christmas," Jared continued, either ignoring or not hearing his lover. "And dude, there's another one called Christmas Presence on Johnston Street on Granville Island? It had the loveliest tree ornaments and wreaths and candy canes and this...."
He started to rummage through his bags as he was speaking and Jensen had to stifle a laugh. His lover reminded him of an excited four year old on Christmas morning, then he just gasped in awe as Jared pulled out what he was looking for from one of the capacious bags. It was a beautifully carved wooden nativity set, complete with star, Angelic Host, shepherds, wise-men, and the Holy Family. It took his breath away. He was so glad he had resisted the temptation to buy the one he'd seen at Costco. Not that there had been anything wrong with that one, it was just nowhere near as stunning as this one.
"This," Jared continued, "was from the Wood Co-Op on Granville." He gazed reverently at it and stroked the flank of one of the oxen as he spoke.
Jensen knew the place Jared meant. It had the most gorgeous turned wood bowls, carved ornaments, boxes, tables, in fact everything you could make out of wood and then some. He had often spent days mooching around Granville Island when he had first come to Vancouver for Dark Angel, and the Wood Co-Op was one of his favourite places to wander around, admiring the artist's work. The things were not cheap but they were beautiful and had obviously been produced with loving care. This, though, took his breath away.
"Jay," he breathed, "it's beautiful." He stepped forward to see more clearly, and couldn't help the tears that filled his eyes. Dammit, but he was getting as sentimental as Jared in his old age. He moved closer to his lover and snuggled into the side of his neck, suddenly overwhelmed by the love he felt for him.
"Let's dress the tree," he murmured, lips tickling Jared's neck. "And then I've got something special to show you."
"Oh, yeah?" Leered Jared. "Something I haven't seen before?"
"I guarantee that you haven't seen it before," smirked Jensen, pressing a kiss to Jared's rough jawline and pulling back reluctantly to start pulling Jared's purchases out of their carrier bags. "And no, it doesn't involve nudity of any kind."
"Curses!" Jared, as usual, was easily distracted, and now he raised his head to sniff the air. The cookies were almost ready, and the delicious scent of baking had begun to seep into the room. "Jen? Is there something you want to tell me? Did you bake something?"
"It's just cookies." Murmured Jensen, flushing a little under Jared's adoring gaze. "Thought it would be nice." He pulled out a strand of colored LED lights and turned to the tree. "We need to put lights and garlands on first, I guess, and then we can get to the dangly stuff."
"Cookies?" Jared hadn't heard a word Jensen said, and he was gazing at Jensen with an expression that strongly evoked Harley's earlier when he'd been begging for gingerbread.
"After we dress the tree. They aren't quite ready yet. The oven didn't ping." Jensen was half laughing as he rummaged through for the rest of the lights and began to wind them around the tree. "Look, there's plenty of cookies, and they aren't going to go bad if we don't eat them right away." He raised his eyebrows and tried to look severe, but he had a feeling that he was failing miserably. Jared, however, nodded in agreement.
"Okay, decorations first, cookies and eggnog after. Just as long as you don't let those cookies burn."
Jensen looked offended. "Dude, I can cook, you know, and I am not going to let them burn. That's one of the reasons I set the timer, so that I wouldn't have to remember when I turned the oven on. Just because you hardly ever use the oven doesn't mean that I'm clueless in the kitchen."
Jared grinned, his dimples deepening. "Relax Jen. I know that you're a good cook; I'm just kidding you. Now shall we start getting these lights on?"
Jensen nodded. "Okay." He said, then he looked at the huge number of lights that his lover had brought home. "Heck man, how many of these things did you buy? Are you figuring on decorating the whole house or what?"
"Well not the outside this year anyway, but I did want to put lights all around the room, then we can sit in the glow just from them in the evenings." Jared said, gazing at Jensen as if looking for his approval.
It struck Jensen then that Jared would often do that, seek out his approval as if he were somehow the one who knew everything. It touched his heart to know that Jared, normally so in control and in charge of every situation, including in the bedroom, still sought his approval in so many things. He smiled adoringly at his lover. "I think that sounds beautiful," he said leaning forward to kiss him. "And so are you."
Snorting and snuffling broke into their consciousness just as they were deepening the kiss. Harley had woken up and was sniffing around on the floor as if looking for something he'd lost. Distracted, Jared leaned down to pat his boy. "Hey there, Harley. What've you lost, boy?" he asked.
Jensen blushed a little, and Jared, the eagle-eyed, noticed it at once. "Jen? Something wrong?" he said.
"I might have fed Harley some sweet stuff earlier." Jensen muttered. "I think he's looking for some more."
Jared looked at Jensen fondly. "What happened to being strict with the dogs?" he asked "You said I spoiled them, and you weren't going to be so indulgent. Dude, you totally caved." Jared laughed delightedly. "My lover the big old softie," he giggled. "Brought to his knees by puppy dog eyes!"
Jensen looked directly at Jared, a fond smile on his face now, replacing the somewhat embarrassed look from before. "You'd better believe it," he said, his voice soft and warm. "After all, it's one of the reasons I fell for you."
Jared's eyes shone, full of emotion, as he let go of the lights in his hands and reached to pull his lover into an embrace. "And I thank God for it every day," he said. "I'm the luckiest guy in the whole world, and I wish everyone could know it."
"Yeah, you are," laughed Jensen, sweeping Jared's legs from under him so that he landed on the couch with Jensen pressing him down. There was a pause; Jensen gazed down, eyes of brilliant green crinkled in amused affection. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall," he said, smirking. "How far down you wanna go?"
"I have a choice?" Jared was laughing, deep belly shaking chuckles that showed off dimples Jensen could drown in. "What if I tell you I want to go all the way?" He slipped his hands up to cup the back of Jensen's head and pull it down. "I can't think of anywhere I don't want to go with you," he growled, his voice low and sultry, two seconds before his mouth pressed up against Jensen's.
"I could probably think of a couple of places," grinned Jensen, nibbling along Jared's chin and around his mouth. "But I'm not going to bother; this is much more fun." He licked along Jared's lips, then pressed closer, deepening the caress. Busy hands slid under Jared's sweater, pressing it up under his arms and exposing firmly muscled flesh to his touch. Jared squirmed as Jensen's feather-light fingers fluttered over his ribs.
"Jesus, man! Quit that right now. It tickles." Straining hard, Jared's superior strength rocked them over until they fell off the couch, landing on the floor with Jared now on top. Jensen snickered again, nipped along Jared's lower lip and claimed his mouth again, tongue sliding wet behind his lover's lips to trace the sensitive tissues there. As Jared melted against him, giving himself over to the kiss, Jensen succeeded in sliding both hands under Jared's jeans and began to squeeze his ass, pulling it tight against him.
"You feeling frisky?" There was an amused glint in Jared's eye as he rolled to one side, the better to allow Jensen access.
"What gave it away?" Jensen pressed Jared back onto the rug and pushed himself up so he could unfasten the worn and faded Levis his companion was wearing. There was definite interest from Jared's dick as he peeled away the underwear to allow it to spring free, and he grinned wickedly and reached for a strand of tinsel. "Here ya go, dude," he chuckled as his nimble fingers tied the shiny gold into a bow around Jared's erection. "Your junk just won a prize for littlest and prettiest!"
There was a certain amount of spluttering going on as Jared digested that remark. "Ye know not of what ye speak," gowled Jared, reaching for the tinsel and pulling it off. "The Padacock takes great exception to that remark, and will now proceed to take it out of your hide."
Jensen smirked. "Ya know it's a more than a little odd the way you refer to your cock in the third person, right?" he said, quirking one eyebrow at his lover, only to find himself flipped over onto his back again as Jared put all those fabulous abdominal muscles to good use.
"Well, when you've got it you should flaunt it, shouldn't you?" Jared said, making short work of slipping Jensen's underwear and jeans down below his knees, effectively pinning his legs together. He ran his hands up under the shirt and sweater his lover wore. He watched with interest as Jensen's stomach muscles fluttered, and his already half hard cock sprang to life with interest, bobbing and leaking a little from the tip. He brushed his hands across his lover's nipples and was rewarded with a gasp of pleasure as Jensen closed his eyes and parted his lips. His lips were swollen and moist from their kissing, and his lashes fanned dark and lush across the top of his freckled cheeks.
Those freckles mesmerized Jared; they always had. He loved the way they highlighted the pale and perfect skin of Jensen's face and completed the enticing picture. It was as if every single one pinpointed the spot where his lover needed to be kissed, licked and generally worshiped. He could surely do that. He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss to one such sunny caress and ground his hips into Jensen's groin, making them both groan with pleasure as their erections aligned.
Their mouths were glued to each other, hands sliding over smooth, needy flesh, bodies beginning to feel the tingles that heralded climax, when the oven timer sounded.
Jared swore, letting loose a string of invectives that made Jensen blink. Then he let go of Jensen's cock, rolling away to leave his lover lying spreadeagled on the floor wondering what had happened.
"Jeez, dude, you kiss your mama with that mouth?" Jensen asked, smirking.
"Cookies! You need to go rescue the cookies." It was evident that Jared had his priorities.
"Relax. They're only cookies. I can make some more if they burn." Jensen reached for Jared's hand to replace it, because he too had priorities. Jared reared back in astonishment.
"Dude, that's just wrong," he said, his normally sleepy eyes open wide. "I want cookies. You gonna deny me?" He blinked pathetically. "At Christmas?"
Jensen opened his mouth to speak, then wordlessly rose to his feet, rearranged his clothing and shambled off into the kitchen to retrieve the ill fated cookies, shaking his head the whole way and muttering imprecations against his lover, knowing full well that he would not carry out one single threat when he returned - because, God help him, he loved the big lug.
He loved him so much that, even leaving their lovemaking there, leaving him hanging for God's sake, was not something he could get angry over. That pouty bottom lip of Jared's was his undoing every time. He sighed. How in hell it had ever come to this he couldn't have said, but it felt as though they had been fated to be together since the first time they'd met. He'd been putty in the palm of Jared's large palms ever since.
The kitchen smelled heavenly, even he had to admit. The scent of baking cookies was definitely overwhelming. He opened the oven door and reached in with one oven gloved hand to pull the tray of freshly baked cookies towards him. He could see that they weren't burnt, in fact they looked perfect. Sighing contentedly he removed the tray from the oven and placed it on the work top, and began to carefully remove each sweet circle of baked dough from the tray and place it on the cooling rack he had waiting. He felt Jared enter the kitchen, somehow he knew Jared was there even before one hand sneaked its way over his right shoulder and headed for the still hot cookie he had just placed on the rack.
"Oh, no you don't," Jensen said, smacking the marauding hand with his spatula. "You eat those now, and you'll get a belly ache. Wait a few minutes for them to cool first."
"But I want cookies," Jared all but whined, resting his chin on Jensen's shoulder. "I don't wanna wait."
"My god you're impatient," Jensen said, "I bet when your Mama makes cookies she makes extra just so you can eat the raw dough while the rest is baking."
"Of course she does," Jared said, as though it was madness to expect anything else. "It's cruel to deprive me of my cookies, and inhuman too." He nodded to emphasise the last point.
"In - human." He reiterated as he took a step to the side so that he could look Jensen square in the eye. "There's like a whole Geneva Convention ruling on it and everything." He looked doleful and was soon joined by Harley, who had a duplicate wistful expression fixed on his face.
Jensen sighed. "Oh for the love of... go on then, but don't come crying to me if you get indigestion later and don't feed that dog any more cookies."
Jared grinned as he snagged a still warm cookie from the rack and shoved it whole into his mouth.
"Mmmmmhmmm 's good," he said, around his mouthful of cookie. "What do you mean any MORE cookies?" he asked suddenly, hearing what Jensen had said. "Did you make Harley cookies, before you made some for me?"
"I made something earlier, but Harley filched a bunch when I turned my back for a minute. Dude, I was really mad, and he grinned at me. Can you believe that?" Jensen was thinking fast, hoping to distract Jared before he realized that there was another treat out there somewhere. "Sadie's a good girl. She didn't come begging for cookies or filch stuff like her dumbass brother! Come to think of it, I haven't seen Sadie for an hour or so. Where is she?"
"Good question." Jared looked around. Harley was stretched out, apparently guarding the Christmas tree, but Sadie was nowhere to be seen. He reached for another cookie, fingers hovering as he decided which was the biggest. Finally he chose, then swooped to grab a second before turning to go through and look for his girl.
She wasn't down in the gym, and Jensen's door was closed. He thought about checking in the room, but decided that she wouldn't have gone in and turned away. The door to the rumpus room was closed too, and finally Jared trotted upstairs, looking into all the doors. She wasn't in the laundry room or the spare room. When he finally arrived in the bedroom that he and Jensen had been sharing for the past couple of months, he spied her at last. She was stretched out on their bed, looking incredibly comfortable, and between her front paws she had Jensen's new cashmere sweater. He frowned at her, and she grinned a big, doggy grin at him.
"Oh, Sadie, girl, Jensen's gonna want your hide for a jacket, you know that, don't you?" Jared crawled onto the bed and pushed her off the sweater. She started to roll, and then, thinking that Jared was playing a game, she grabbed the sweater in her jaws and lolloped off the bed, heading for the door. Peeking over her shoulder at him as if to invite the chase, she went charging off down the stairs towards the kitchen, trailing the sweater like a very expensive, cashmere flag.
Jared, of course, was hot on her trail, and just as Jensen spied the sweater and made a dive for it, he loped into the kitchen after her, colliding with his beloved, who went down like a pole-axed ox. Jared, arms windmilling in a vain attempt to stay upright, finally lost the battle and fell on top of him, knocking the air from Jensen's lungs and causing Sadie to stop trying to evade him and come to poke a cold wet nose inquisitively into his ear.
There was a stunned silence, and then Jensen croaked, "Jeez, Jay, if you wanted to kill me you didn't have to go to these lengths; you coulda just shot me!"
Some days, all you can say is, "Sorry." Jared mumbled the word sheepishly as he climbed to his feet, only to catch sight of Harley, who was attempting to be surreptitious about the fact that he was stalking the cookies where they lay cooling on the counter.
Gngerbread: part 2
Authors: candygramme and sharonmarais
Word count: 15,013
Rating: R
Warning: slash
Beta by marys_scribbles
Authors' notes: Please have your insulin ready. The boys are sweet, very sweet
~~~
December in Vancouver means that occasionally, if the rain stops long enough, there'll be a frost. Returning from spending Thanksgiving in Texas hadn't prepared either Jensen or Jared for the way that downtown Vancouver sparkled in the freezing air. They'd been filming in an alley behind Sutton Place, and as they finally completed a scene to Kim's satisfaction, Jared grabbed Jensen's arm and tugged him off the set and away towards Burrard Street.
"What, man?" Jensen frowned. "Trailers are back that way."
"Yeah, I know." Jared was pulling on his ever-present beanie as he spoke. "We've got time. Come on. There's something I want to go and see."
Nodding, Jensen cast a quick look back towards the console where Kim was standing, intently studying the screens as he played back the scene they'd just finished shooting. "Kim? We got a few minutes?"
"Yeah. We'll need to relight, so I won't need you for an hour. Grab lunch or something." Kim didn't look up, and Jared renewed his pressure on Jensen's arm as he made for the street.
Christmas hung over the city, lights sparkling from the displays in the window, watched by the array of frosty stars above. Even though it was getting late there were still crowds rushing to and fro. Jared made his way through them to cross Robson and head down the hill. Jensen followed obediently, wondering what was on his mind.
The Hyatt Regency was a familiar sight, and as they approached it, Jensen was more and more perplexed. "Dude, you rented a room for old times' sake or what?" he asked, pulling up as it became obvious that Jared was making for the front door.
"You'll see." Jared's beaming smile was almost as luminous as the twinkling lights around the door, and Jensen felt a little flutter as something tightened deep down in his belly. He still hadn't grown used to having this enormous man-child as his lover, and each time he looked at Jared he felt his carefully guarded heart melt a little. He knew that whatever it was that Jared wanted of him he'd have very little chance of ever turning him down, and he was beginning to think that he'd never want to. Shaking his head a little, he hurried forward to catch up with his lover and see what it was that had him so excited.
Jared nodded a greeting at the doorman as he pushed through the revolving door with Jensen now just a step or two behind him. Jensen had not really been focused on anything other than getting inside as he entered the lobby of his former residence, so the sight that greeted him there made him gasp aloud. Jared turned to him, the enormous grin still gracing his face, arms outstretched - indicating the vastness of the entry way. "Look man, isn't this just awesome?" he said.
"Awesome." Jensen agreed, a grin spreading across his own face. He could see now why Jared had been so excited and keen to come here. Jared was standing in front of the largest gingerbread house Jensen had ever seen. To be honest, it was actually only the front of the house, but it was huge nonetheless. As he looked around the area to either side of this massive confection he could see that there were other houses, castles, lodges, and even a farm - all made from gingerbread, fudge, frosting and other delicious edibles. The second thing that registered in Jensen's stunned brain was the smell. It was delectable, and if it was making him drool, God only knew what it was doing to Jared, bottomless pit and possessor of the sweetest tooth on the face of the planet.
Jared didn't say anything but he continued grinning like a loon and practically bounced on the spot with delight. Smothering a laugh, Jensen moved further into the lobby. "All right then, let's take a look at them. Wherever did you hear about this anyhow?" he asked as they moved around to the other side of the room where there were even more of the gingerbread concoctions in various degrees of awesomeness.
"Molly told me about it," Jared said. "She told me her daughter's school was involved in making some of them, and that I ought to come and have a look."
Jensen vaguely remembered a muttered conversation between Molly and Jared that morning as she had commented on the fact that he was drinking a Gingersnap Latte. Jared had mentioned his love of all things gingerbread, and then Jensen really had stopped paying attention to the rest of the conversation as he had been concentrating on getting to grips with the script changes that Kim had just presented to them.
Now, faced with Jared at his most excitable, all Jensen could do was smile and attempt to ride the whirlwind, because there was no way that they would be leaving until Jared had seen it all.
"Okay," he said, grabbing for Jared's elbow just as he was showing signs of reaching over the ribbon separating spectators from the exhibits. "Let's be methodical. We don't want to miss any of this." He was staring at a carousel made entirely from gingerbread and candy. "Look, dude, it tells you who made it. This one was a catering school. I guess they'd have a pretty high standard."
"This one wasn't. It's a school." Jared's slanted eyes were wider than Jensen had ever seen them. "Wow, check it out. They built it out of blocks of cookie." The exhibit in question was a castle, complete with drawbridge. It had cannons on the turrets, made from Oreo cookies and chocolate, and even a coat of arms over the main gate.
Around the corner was a busy street scene, with a road and cars, stores and little people sitting at tables along the sidewalk. Jensen smacked Jared's hand down, as it stretched towards the exhibit seemingly unconsciously, although it would have been quite a reach even for Jared's long arms.
As they moved around the display, Jared's excitement seemed to increase rather than diminish. The heady scent of ginger and sugar was really starting to make Jensen's mouth water, so who knew what it was doing to Jared?
Jensen succeeded in keeping Jared in line until they got to the little display that was a mock-up of Whoville. There was the Grinch at the top of the mountain, and there were the weirdly rounded little Who-houses. The whole thing was much closer to the spectators than some of the first exhibits they'd looked at, and Jensen had been lulled into a false sense of complacency by his sweetheart. There was a little girl admiring a scene depicting gingerbread skaters on a pond, and Jensen watched her delight with fond amusement. When he looked back, Jared's cheek was bulging.
"Dude, what did you do?" he whispered, madly scanning Whoville for signs of abuse. The pathway that had been lovingly constructed from pieces of fudge was missing several steps. "Dammit!" He hissed. "Do you want to get us arrested? For God's sake, can't you behave?"
Jared looked a little sheepish, but continued munching and attempted to fob Jensen off. "What do you mean?" he asked, speaking around the fudge in his mouth, and trying to sound innocent but failing miserably. "What did I do?"
"Oh don't even try that one with me, Jay, you know full well what you did. If you have anymore of that fudge in your hand you'd better put it back right now," Jensen said.
He looked around nervously to see if anyone else had noticed Jared's crime. Fortunately it seemed that no one had so far, but he didn't want to take any chances. Jared flushed a hot pink and carefully placed back two squares of fudge to their former position. He hung his head a little, tilted it to one side and looked up at Jensen through his bangs, apparently attempting to look as contrite as possible. Jensen sighed. He ought to haul Jared out of there right now, but he just couldn't stay angry at him when he put on his puppy dog face.
He knew when he was beaten, but he resolved to keep an even closer eye on his lover as they looked at the rest of the exhibits. "Come on," he said, grabbing Jared's arm, "let's look at the rest of them, and for God's sake keep your hands to yourself from now on." Jared pouted but he put his hands in his pockets and allowed Jensen to lead him around to the next area of the display.
They both smiled in appreciation of one beautiful display which was called 'Snowy Pastures' and featured a farm, complete with water mill, a barn with little animals inside and a farm house. It reminded them both of the Kent Family Farm from Smallville, except that the farmhouse wasn't yellow. "It's incredible how much detail they've all put into these." Jensen said, marveling. "Even the animals are made out of marzipan and icing."
Jared nodded in agreement, but he looked subdued now. Jensen sighed, dammit, Jared's joy at the sight of all of the wonderful houses had been infectious. He hadn’t wanted to bring him down, but he had to make sure that no more of the exhibits went to fuel his lover's sugar high. "Hey," he said, nudging him in the arm, "don't mope. If you promise not to make off with anymore of the goodies, I'll buy you some gingerbread to take back to the set with us. I saw that they're selling it round beside the carousel."
Jared brightened visibly. "Really? You'd do that for me?" he asked. His face alight with joy again at the very thought of it.
"Dude, don't you know by now that there's very little I wouldn't do for you?" Jensen asked, smiling to see his lover happy again. "Now let's look at the last of these houses before we have to leave. We only had an hour and it must be getting close on to that now."
They went back to look at a couple of houses they had already seen. In particular, Jared's fancy was taken by a small lodge with Santa on the veranda and a reindeer and a snowman in the yard, and another small house with a doorway that had a white bow piped on it, and tiny marshmallows around the edge. There were lacy curtains made of piped icing at the windows and rainbow-colored Twizzlers forming the rooftiles. The roof itself was topped off with more of the white marshmallows on the ridge. In addition there were two small heart shaped cookies, covered in an icing sugar dusting, decorating one corner of the roof. It was beautiful. Then he noticed the card that showed which group had made it and bounced with excitement as he grabbed Jensen's arm.
"Jen, look at this one, number 24. It's made by Molly's daughter's school. Isn't it the cutest thing?" He sounded so wistful as he gazed at the beautiful concoction that it made Jensen smile. His lover was a very sentimental guy, and the little cabin certainly was cute, even if it was a little bit girly. He looked at Jared's face and swallowed hard when he saw the longing look in his eyes. He would never get used to how emotional his lover made him feel at the oddest of times. He found himself choking up regularly and getting blindsided by Jared's sentimental nature. Finding it hard to speak at that moment he merely nodded his agreement. Finally, he managed to find his voice and reminded Jared that they had to be getting back and they still had to vote for their favorite houses. Not to mention Jensen fulfilling his promise to buy his lover as much gingerbread as he could eat to take away with them.
They took one last look at the cute little cabin and walked around to the voting box. Jensen told Jared to vote for him as well whilst he went off to purchase the promised gingerbread goodies and some candy canes.
Handing over a bag of goodies to his lanky partner, Jensen succeeded in leading Jared back out onto the street through the revolving doors, with only a brief delay while Jared insisted on going around and around in them for a couple of turns. Laughing as the two of them spilled out onto Georgia Street once more, Jensen led the way back up the hill towards the set, and vowed that he would find a way to provide his sweetie with a gingerbread house.
~~~
"Dude, I got us a Christmas tree!" Jared's voice boomed through the house, and Jensen, who had been enjoying a lie in, slowly opened his eyes. A swift look at the clock revealed it to be nine thirty, and Jensen's heart sank. He knew from bitter experience that there would be no further sleep for him that day. He was contemplating getting out of bed and going to make coffee when the door burst open and Jared bounced in bearing a Starbucks mug.
"Did you hear? We've got a Christmas tree. It's downstairs in the porch waiting for us to decide where to put it. Hurry up and get up, man. We have to dress it up and make it sparkly." Jared's dimples punctuated the beaming smile, and Jensen felt his heart melt all over again at the sight of his enthusiasm.
"You got it, dude. Just give me a minute to steam my eyes open, and I'll come aid you in your folly." Jensen was smiling as he sipped the strong brew Jared had brought him. "You got lights and stuff to hang on it? Gotta have fairy lights, or it's not a real Christmas tree."
"You mean you want more than those air freshener things? Damn!" Impossibly, Jared's grin was even wider than before. "It was good enough for Sam, you know."
"Fairy lights, dude. I insist." Setting aside his now empty cup, Jensen rolled out of his nice, warm cocoon of blankets and headed for the bathroom. "Gimme a second to clean myself up, and I'll come show you just what a well-dressed Christmas tree should be wearing."
His shower revived him as much as the coffee had. Soon he was feeling much more human and even capable of coping with a bouncy Jared, two hyper dogs and the decorating of a Christmas tree. God help him but he was turning into Mr Joviality - living with Jared would do that to you he guessed. He grinned to himself, this would be their first Christmas together in this house and it would be great to share each other's traditions and make some of their own. He trotted down the stairs and towards the porch, not even thinking about breakfast yet. If Jared had gone to the trouble of getting a real tree then the least he could do was to postpone breakfast for a while.
When he went out onto the porch, the tree made him gasp. It was pretty tall, but he had hopes that it would fit in the living area of the house, it seemed to manage to stand upright in the porch at least. It was full too, a fabulous shape and the smell of the pine was warm and fresh. Jared grinned at him as he stopped to fully appreciate the sight of the tree.
"Isn't it great?" his lover said. "I was going to wait until you could come too, do the whole choosing the tree together thing, but this one caught my eye and I could see that it might be gone before we could get back to the lot." He looked a little apologetic, but Jensen wasn't bothered by the fact that Jared had chosen the tree on his own, he was too busy grinning at him, his eyes crinkling at the corners in amusement.
"Dude, what?" Jared said. "Do I have spinach in my teeth or something?" He frowned a little.
"No, not at all," Jensen said his face softening a little, "I was just thinking how much you looked like that Thomas Kinkade character you played, dressed in all that gear and clutching the tree and all."
Jared threw his head back and laughed. "I suppose I do," he agreed, "Especially as this scarf was one I wore in the movie, the jacket too, come to think of it." His eyes sparkled as he spoke, and Jensen couldn't resist leaning forward and planting a sloppy kiss on the end of his nose.
"You look adorable." He said. "Now let's get this tree inside and get decorating."
Jared blushed a glorious pink and ducked his head shyly. It was even more adorable and Jensen's heart swelled. He loved this man so much it was ridiculous, but he couldn't help it, and he didn't think he'd ever get used to it. He wasn't even sure he wanted to. If they could still be this happy when they'd been together for 20 years, and the relationship could still feel as fresh then as it did now, he'd count himself the luckiest man alive.
They grabbed the tree and maneuvered it through the front door and into the living room, pausing inside the doorway as it occurred to both of them that they had not yet planned where to put it. Jared started to giggle and the tree began to shake, shedding a few needles as it did so.
"Guess I should have thought about this before." He said
"Maybe," Jensen said, "But it shouldn't be too hard to figure out where to put it. How about next to the fireplace?"
Jared looked at the space Jensen was indicating with his chin, the only portion of his anatomy he could spare at the moment, the rest being occupied with holding up the tree. "We could put it there, but how about in the window?" He said nodding in the other direction. "There's lots of space there, and we'd be able to see it from outside as soon as we drive up, it'd be a welcome home."
Jensen considered Jared's point and had to concede that it had merit, it would be awesome to see their first tree greeting them every day when they returned home from work. "You're right," he said. "Let's get it over there now before we drop it." He was beginning to realise how heavy the tree was, it was a magnificent specimen and quite broad at the base. The needles were starting to prickle.
Together they shuffled the tree across to the window bay. Jared kicking the tree base he had bought along the floor so that it would be ready for them when they went to put the tree into its final position. After much sweating and straining they finally had it in place, secure in its stand, and they stood back to admire it. There was about 18 inches of space between the top of the tree and the ceiling in the window bay. The bottom branches reached to within about 6 inches on each side of the window. It would allow them ample space to reach around to decorate and still fill the window with its light and color.
Jensen smiled and looked expectantly at Jared. "So let's get the lights and baubles out then, dude." He said. "I can't wait to see what it all looks like with the lights on it."
Jared's face fell and Jensen noticed immediately. "What's up?" He asked, concerned.
"Dude, all we have to decorate this tree are those two awesome ornaments that girl gave us after the Chicago convention. You know, Thing 1 and Thing 2," he said as Jensen frowned at him.
"Jeanette you mean?" Jensen asked.
"Yes, Jeanette." Jared said, nodding in agreement. "The thing is though, I think this tree needs a little more decorating than just those ornaments, awesome as they are."
"I think you're right." Jensen said. "So we need to think about what we want on the tree, and then if we split up and get shopping quickly we can still get the tree decorated and ready before it gets dark again. I really want to see our tree from outside as soon as it gets dark."
Jared grinned, relieved. "Jensen, you are completely brilliant, that's why I love you." He said, flinging his arms around his lover and squeezing hard to show his appreciation.
"Dude, breathing!" Jensen gasped as he was all but crushed by the Padagrip. "I'm glad you like the plan though, so let's make some lists and divide the chores. We can have breakfast while we do it."
The mention of food perked Jared up, and before long the two of them were taking their seats at the counter, armed with plates of sausage, eggs, bacon and pancakes. Jensen, always one to plan ahead, was making two lists.
"Okay, man, what do you want to go at the top of the tree? A star, or an angel?" He nibbled the top of his pencil as he turned his head to look at the tree behind them.
"An angel would be cool." Said Jared, then he started to laugh. "We can put a dirty raincoat on it and call it Misha!"
"Okay, Castiel for the top of the tree," snickered Jensen, writing it down and then moving on to the next topic. "Lights... we need lights. You want to stay with the white ones or go for the colored kind?"
Jared frowned as he pondered the vexed question. "White... no, colored... no, wait..." He set his fork down and raised tragic, puppy-eyes to Jensen. "Can't we have both?" He asked, plaintively.
"Okay, dude. I'll just put lights, and you can choose what you think will look best." He reached for the syrup and added some to the pancakes on his plate. "We should get tinsel, and some of those bauble things. You wanna see what you can find? I'll go to Costco and get some candy canes and popcorn, because we have to put popcorn on a string and hang it on the tree. It's what we used to do when Josh, Mac and I were kids."
"Yeah, popcorn!" Jared was already shoveling in the last of his breakfast. "Okay, you go to Costco, and I'll hit Sears. We'll have the best tree ever." He was about to rise from his stool when he suddenly thought of something. "Dude, we should get some snow stuff for the windows and the branches, and a couple of stockings - maybe four, cos Sadie and Harley need one as well. Oh, and..."
"Jay, you need to go buy up the store." Jensen was grinning now. Jared's enthusiasm was always infectious, and Jensen loved Christmas anyway. "I'll get the eggnog; you get the shiny stuff."
***
Half an hour later, Jared was heading off to the nearest purveyor of shiny seasonal decorations, and Jensen was in his truck on his way to Costco. Candy canes, jars of assorted confectionery and a two liter jug of eggnog went into his cart, and he paused to admire a nativity scene. He decided to pass it by in the end, although he did grab a couple of packs full of decorations. He was about to make his way to the check out, when his eye was caught by a particular display, and he instantly knew what he must do.
The thing that had attracted his attention was a stack of boxes, each containing a kit that would enable the lucky recipient to build their own gingerbread house. Grinning to himself, Jensen grabbed two, because he was really not sure how good he'd be at this, and it would be good to have a spare. Once he'd got them he went back to find a box of gingerbread men, and as he hit the check-out, he was already planning how to fashion an Impala out of marzipan. This was going to be the best Christmas ever.
Knowing that Jared would still be out for some time, since he would be totally unable to resist buying up as much stuff as he could feasibly lay his hands on, Jensen headed directly for the kitchen as soon as he got home. Quickly unpacking his purchases he took some time to read the instructions on the back of the box containing one of the gingerbread house kits. He'd have time to do this and be tidied up before Jared got home. Grabbing Jared's flowery apron from the hook inside the walk-in pantry he put it on and headed off to wash his hands and begin work on his creation.
Jensen found that the kit contained a beautiful silver board to stand the house on, together with individual panels of gingerbread for the walls and the roof. The house he had chosen was similar in style to the one Jared had gazed at so wistfully. It was one of the reasons it had caught his eye as in the first place. There were also little tubes of colored icing for decorating the house, a few small candies and some ready piped decorations together with a useful set of diagrams for piecing the house together and suggestions for making the generic looking house much more individual. Taking a few moments to look at all of the pieces and carefully examining each one for strength and durability he was getting more confident with how well he would do in constructing the little cabin.
He began by laying out the pieces as shown in the diagram and then making a 'foundation' from the icing as directed. He then joined two of the wall panels together with icing and carefully stood them in the 'foundation' icing. So far so good, they stood up and didn't sag or wobble or even crack. He smiled, this was going to be so good, he could hardly wait to see Jared's face when he showed him what he had done. He made some more 'mortar' from the icing to hold the next wall panel in place and began to slide it into position when he heard the ominous sound of crunching and snuffling behind him. He stiffened and carefully let go of the piece in his hands, it slid into place perfectly and he turned to look and see what was going on. Harley lay on his stomach, grinning from ear to ear, (as he usually did, so much like his master it was uncanny.) and he was chewing away on a piece of gingerbread house!
Jensen stared at the dog in horrified fascination, unable to speak as he watched him consume a precious slab of gingerbread intended for the roof. Eventually he gained his voice enough to tell Harley what he thought of him, but even so he lacked that killer tone, the one Dean would have managed with no trouble. It just wasn't in Jensen to get too angry with either of Jared's babies. However, he had to try and keep some order here.
"Bad Harley, naughty boy, you know you shouldn't be in here when we're cooking, don't you?" He said, knowing that the animal was taking no notice of him at all. When had he ever? Instead he continued munching, completely unconcerned and still smiling his doggy smile. Finally he licked his lips and looked up at Jensen as if to ask for more.
That was too much, even for Jensen's tender heart, and Harley found himself banished to the back yard while Jensen sighed and opened the second box, thanking his stars that he'd had the foresight to buy two of them.
He finished putting the basic shape of the cabin together, and pondered the extra pieces. He was determined to make this something Jared would love, so he began to improvise, carefully sculpting his creation until he'd finally got a credible copy of Kinkade's Christmas Cottage. Once he'd gotten the basic shape, he began to embellish, adding candies and gingerbread men until it was so encrusted with goodies there was nowhere else to put one.
Jared still wasn't back, and it had been a good three hours since they'd gone their separate ways. Jensen looked at the tree, smiling as he imagined it once it was decorated. He was just about to start making popcorn, when the phone rang.
It was Jared, of course, reporting that he'd bought a whole heap of decorations, and wanting to know if he should pick up lunch for them. It only took Jensen a moment or two to calculate how long Jared would take, and he quickly asked his lover to bring back a pizza. Then he turned back to heat up the oven and took the cookie dough he'd bought out of the fridge, beginning to get out the things he'd need to bake them.
He carefully carried his Christmas cottage away to the bedroom he'd used when he first moved in and laid it down on the dresser in the corner. Closing the door to keep out Harley, the marauding opportunist, who he knew would be looking for more stolen treats once he was allowed into the house again, he returned to the kitchen to bake cookies for his sweetie.
By the time Jared came home, flushed with triumph and laden with bags and boxes galore, the entire house smelled delicious, and Harley was lying by the tree, sleeping soundly, full of stolen gingerbread.
"Oh My God Jen," Jared said as he burst through the front door, arms barely containing the packages he carried. "There were so many awesome things in the stores it was hard to choose what to bring home."
Jensen laughed at the bright-eyed, flushed expression of his lover and the enormous pile of bags and boxes he was toting. "Doesn't seem to have fazed you that much, Jay. Looks to me as though you bought out the entire stock. Is there anywhere in Vancouver that still has decorations for sale?"
"Did you know there's a shop on Robson and Bute called The Spirit of Christmas that's open all year round and sells nothing but Christmas trees, gifts and ornaments? There's a board at the back of the shop that counts down the days to Christmas," Jared continued, either ignoring or not hearing his lover. "And dude, there's another one called Christmas Presence on Johnston Street on Granville Island? It had the loveliest tree ornaments and wreaths and candy canes and this...."
He started to rummage through his bags as he was speaking and Jensen had to stifle a laugh. His lover reminded him of an excited four year old on Christmas morning, then he just gasped in awe as Jared pulled out what he was looking for from one of the capacious bags. It was a beautifully carved wooden nativity set, complete with star, Angelic Host, shepherds, wise-men, and the Holy Family. It took his breath away. He was so glad he had resisted the temptation to buy the one he'd seen at Costco. Not that there had been anything wrong with that one, it was just nowhere near as stunning as this one.
"This," Jared continued, "was from the Wood Co-Op on Granville." He gazed reverently at it and stroked the flank of one of the oxen as he spoke.
Jensen knew the place Jared meant. It had the most gorgeous turned wood bowls, carved ornaments, boxes, tables, in fact everything you could make out of wood and then some. He had often spent days mooching around Granville Island when he had first come to Vancouver for Dark Angel, and the Wood Co-Op was one of his favourite places to wander around, admiring the artist's work. The things were not cheap but they were beautiful and had obviously been produced with loving care. This, though, took his breath away.
"Jay," he breathed, "it's beautiful." He stepped forward to see more clearly, and couldn't help the tears that filled his eyes. Dammit, but he was getting as sentimental as Jared in his old age. He moved closer to his lover and snuggled into the side of his neck, suddenly overwhelmed by the love he felt for him.
"Let's dress the tree," he murmured, lips tickling Jared's neck. "And then I've got something special to show you."
"Oh, yeah?" Leered Jared. "Something I haven't seen before?"
"I guarantee that you haven't seen it before," smirked Jensen, pressing a kiss to Jared's rough jawline and pulling back reluctantly to start pulling Jared's purchases out of their carrier bags. "And no, it doesn't involve nudity of any kind."
"Curses!" Jared, as usual, was easily distracted, and now he raised his head to sniff the air. The cookies were almost ready, and the delicious scent of baking had begun to seep into the room. "Jen? Is there something you want to tell me? Did you bake something?"
"It's just cookies." Murmured Jensen, flushing a little under Jared's adoring gaze. "Thought it would be nice." He pulled out a strand of colored LED lights and turned to the tree. "We need to put lights and garlands on first, I guess, and then we can get to the dangly stuff."
"Cookies?" Jared hadn't heard a word Jensen said, and he was gazing at Jensen with an expression that strongly evoked Harley's earlier when he'd been begging for gingerbread.
"After we dress the tree. They aren't quite ready yet. The oven didn't ping." Jensen was half laughing as he rummaged through for the rest of the lights and began to wind them around the tree. "Look, there's plenty of cookies, and they aren't going to go bad if we don't eat them right away." He raised his eyebrows and tried to look severe, but he had a feeling that he was failing miserably. Jared, however, nodded in agreement.
"Okay, decorations first, cookies and eggnog after. Just as long as you don't let those cookies burn."
Jensen looked offended. "Dude, I can cook, you know, and I am not going to let them burn. That's one of the reasons I set the timer, so that I wouldn't have to remember when I turned the oven on. Just because you hardly ever use the oven doesn't mean that I'm clueless in the kitchen."
Jared grinned, his dimples deepening. "Relax Jen. I know that you're a good cook; I'm just kidding you. Now shall we start getting these lights on?"
Jensen nodded. "Okay." He said, then he looked at the huge number of lights that his lover had brought home. "Heck man, how many of these things did you buy? Are you figuring on decorating the whole house or what?"
"Well not the outside this year anyway, but I did want to put lights all around the room, then we can sit in the glow just from them in the evenings." Jared said, gazing at Jensen as if looking for his approval.
It struck Jensen then that Jared would often do that, seek out his approval as if he were somehow the one who knew everything. It touched his heart to know that Jared, normally so in control and in charge of every situation, including in the bedroom, still sought his approval in so many things. He smiled adoringly at his lover. "I think that sounds beautiful," he said leaning forward to kiss him. "And so are you."
Snorting and snuffling broke into their consciousness just as they were deepening the kiss. Harley had woken up and was sniffing around on the floor as if looking for something he'd lost. Distracted, Jared leaned down to pat his boy. "Hey there, Harley. What've you lost, boy?" he asked.
Jensen blushed a little, and Jared, the eagle-eyed, noticed it at once. "Jen? Something wrong?" he said.
"I might have fed Harley some sweet stuff earlier." Jensen muttered. "I think he's looking for some more."
Jared looked at Jensen fondly. "What happened to being strict with the dogs?" he asked "You said I spoiled them, and you weren't going to be so indulgent. Dude, you totally caved." Jared laughed delightedly. "My lover the big old softie," he giggled. "Brought to his knees by puppy dog eyes!"
Jensen looked directly at Jared, a fond smile on his face now, replacing the somewhat embarrassed look from before. "You'd better believe it," he said, his voice soft and warm. "After all, it's one of the reasons I fell for you."
Jared's eyes shone, full of emotion, as he let go of the lights in his hands and reached to pull his lover into an embrace. "And I thank God for it every day," he said. "I'm the luckiest guy in the whole world, and I wish everyone could know it."
"Yeah, you are," laughed Jensen, sweeping Jared's legs from under him so that he landed on the couch with Jensen pressing him down. There was a pause; Jensen gazed down, eyes of brilliant green crinkled in amused affection. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall," he said, smirking. "How far down you wanna go?"
"I have a choice?" Jared was laughing, deep belly shaking chuckles that showed off dimples Jensen could drown in. "What if I tell you I want to go all the way?" He slipped his hands up to cup the back of Jensen's head and pull it down. "I can't think of anywhere I don't want to go with you," he growled, his voice low and sultry, two seconds before his mouth pressed up against Jensen's.
"I could probably think of a couple of places," grinned Jensen, nibbling along Jared's chin and around his mouth. "But I'm not going to bother; this is much more fun." He licked along Jared's lips, then pressed closer, deepening the caress. Busy hands slid under Jared's sweater, pressing it up under his arms and exposing firmly muscled flesh to his touch. Jared squirmed as Jensen's feather-light fingers fluttered over his ribs.
"Jesus, man! Quit that right now. It tickles." Straining hard, Jared's superior strength rocked them over until they fell off the couch, landing on the floor with Jared now on top. Jensen snickered again, nipped along Jared's lower lip and claimed his mouth again, tongue sliding wet behind his lover's lips to trace the sensitive tissues there. As Jared melted against him, giving himself over to the kiss, Jensen succeeded in sliding both hands under Jared's jeans and began to squeeze his ass, pulling it tight against him.
"You feeling frisky?" There was an amused glint in Jared's eye as he rolled to one side, the better to allow Jensen access.
"What gave it away?" Jensen pressed Jared back onto the rug and pushed himself up so he could unfasten the worn and faded Levis his companion was wearing. There was definite interest from Jared's dick as he peeled away the underwear to allow it to spring free, and he grinned wickedly and reached for a strand of tinsel. "Here ya go, dude," he chuckled as his nimble fingers tied the shiny gold into a bow around Jared's erection. "Your junk just won a prize for littlest and prettiest!"
There was a certain amount of spluttering going on as Jared digested that remark. "Ye know not of what ye speak," gowled Jared, reaching for the tinsel and pulling it off. "The Padacock takes great exception to that remark, and will now proceed to take it out of your hide."
Jensen smirked. "Ya know it's a more than a little odd the way you refer to your cock in the third person, right?" he said, quirking one eyebrow at his lover, only to find himself flipped over onto his back again as Jared put all those fabulous abdominal muscles to good use.
"Well, when you've got it you should flaunt it, shouldn't you?" Jared said, making short work of slipping Jensen's underwear and jeans down below his knees, effectively pinning his legs together. He ran his hands up under the shirt and sweater his lover wore. He watched with interest as Jensen's stomach muscles fluttered, and his already half hard cock sprang to life with interest, bobbing and leaking a little from the tip. He brushed his hands across his lover's nipples and was rewarded with a gasp of pleasure as Jensen closed his eyes and parted his lips. His lips were swollen and moist from their kissing, and his lashes fanned dark and lush across the top of his freckled cheeks.
Those freckles mesmerized Jared; they always had. He loved the way they highlighted the pale and perfect skin of Jensen's face and completed the enticing picture. It was as if every single one pinpointed the spot where his lover needed to be kissed, licked and generally worshiped. He could surely do that. He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss to one such sunny caress and ground his hips into Jensen's groin, making them both groan with pleasure as their erections aligned.
Their mouths were glued to each other, hands sliding over smooth, needy flesh, bodies beginning to feel the tingles that heralded climax, when the oven timer sounded.
Jared swore, letting loose a string of invectives that made Jensen blink. Then he let go of Jensen's cock, rolling away to leave his lover lying spreadeagled on the floor wondering what had happened.
"Jeez, dude, you kiss your mama with that mouth?" Jensen asked, smirking.
"Cookies! You need to go rescue the cookies." It was evident that Jared had his priorities.
"Relax. They're only cookies. I can make some more if they burn." Jensen reached for Jared's hand to replace it, because he too had priorities. Jared reared back in astonishment.
"Dude, that's just wrong," he said, his normally sleepy eyes open wide. "I want cookies. You gonna deny me?" He blinked pathetically. "At Christmas?"
Jensen opened his mouth to speak, then wordlessly rose to his feet, rearranged his clothing and shambled off into the kitchen to retrieve the ill fated cookies, shaking his head the whole way and muttering imprecations against his lover, knowing full well that he would not carry out one single threat when he returned - because, God help him, he loved the big lug.
He loved him so much that, even leaving their lovemaking there, leaving him hanging for God's sake, was not something he could get angry over. That pouty bottom lip of Jared's was his undoing every time. He sighed. How in hell it had ever come to this he couldn't have said, but it felt as though they had been fated to be together since the first time they'd met. He'd been putty in the palm of Jared's large palms ever since.
The kitchen smelled heavenly, even he had to admit. The scent of baking cookies was definitely overwhelming. He opened the oven door and reached in with one oven gloved hand to pull the tray of freshly baked cookies towards him. He could see that they weren't burnt, in fact they looked perfect. Sighing contentedly he removed the tray from the oven and placed it on the work top, and began to carefully remove each sweet circle of baked dough from the tray and place it on the cooling rack he had waiting. He felt Jared enter the kitchen, somehow he knew Jared was there even before one hand sneaked its way over his right shoulder and headed for the still hot cookie he had just placed on the rack.
"Oh, no you don't," Jensen said, smacking the marauding hand with his spatula. "You eat those now, and you'll get a belly ache. Wait a few minutes for them to cool first."
"But I want cookies," Jared all but whined, resting his chin on Jensen's shoulder. "I don't wanna wait."
"My god you're impatient," Jensen said, "I bet when your Mama makes cookies she makes extra just so you can eat the raw dough while the rest is baking."
"Of course she does," Jared said, as though it was madness to expect anything else. "It's cruel to deprive me of my cookies, and inhuman too." He nodded to emphasise the last point.
"In - human." He reiterated as he took a step to the side so that he could look Jensen square in the eye. "There's like a whole Geneva Convention ruling on it and everything." He looked doleful and was soon joined by Harley, who had a duplicate wistful expression fixed on his face.
Jensen sighed. "Oh for the love of... go on then, but don't come crying to me if you get indigestion later and don't feed that dog any more cookies."
Jared grinned as he snagged a still warm cookie from the rack and shoved it whole into his mouth.
"Mmmmmhmmm 's good," he said, around his mouthful of cookie. "What do you mean any MORE cookies?" he asked suddenly, hearing what Jensen had said. "Did you make Harley cookies, before you made some for me?"
"I made something earlier, but Harley filched a bunch when I turned my back for a minute. Dude, I was really mad, and he grinned at me. Can you believe that?" Jensen was thinking fast, hoping to distract Jared before he realized that there was another treat out there somewhere. "Sadie's a good girl. She didn't come begging for cookies or filch stuff like her dumbass brother! Come to think of it, I haven't seen Sadie for an hour or so. Where is she?"
"Good question." Jared looked around. Harley was stretched out, apparently guarding the Christmas tree, but Sadie was nowhere to be seen. He reached for another cookie, fingers hovering as he decided which was the biggest. Finally he chose, then swooped to grab a second before turning to go through and look for his girl.
She wasn't down in the gym, and Jensen's door was closed. He thought about checking in the room, but decided that she wouldn't have gone in and turned away. The door to the rumpus room was closed too, and finally Jared trotted upstairs, looking into all the doors. She wasn't in the laundry room or the spare room. When he finally arrived in the bedroom that he and Jensen had been sharing for the past couple of months, he spied her at last. She was stretched out on their bed, looking incredibly comfortable, and between her front paws she had Jensen's new cashmere sweater. He frowned at her, and she grinned a big, doggy grin at him.
"Oh, Sadie, girl, Jensen's gonna want your hide for a jacket, you know that, don't you?" Jared crawled onto the bed and pushed her off the sweater. She started to roll, and then, thinking that Jared was playing a game, she grabbed the sweater in her jaws and lolloped off the bed, heading for the door. Peeking over her shoulder at him as if to invite the chase, she went charging off down the stairs towards the kitchen, trailing the sweater like a very expensive, cashmere flag.
Jared, of course, was hot on her trail, and just as Jensen spied the sweater and made a dive for it, he loped into the kitchen after her, colliding with his beloved, who went down like a pole-axed ox. Jared, arms windmilling in a vain attempt to stay upright, finally lost the battle and fell on top of him, knocking the air from Jensen's lungs and causing Sadie to stop trying to evade him and come to poke a cold wet nose inquisitively into his ear.
There was a stunned silence, and then Jensen croaked, "Jeez, Jay, if you wanted to kill me you didn't have to go to these lengths; you coulda just shot me!"
Some days, all you can say is, "Sorry." Jared mumbled the word sheepishly as he climbed to his feet, only to catch sight of Harley, who was attempting to be surreptitious about the fact that he was stalking the cookies where they lay cooling on the counter.
Gngerbread: part 2