Fic: RPS (Jared/Jensen): In It for Love [2 / 16] | PG-13 | 6500 words
Title: In It for Love [ 2 / 16 ]
Author: dragonspell
Fandom: RPS
Pairing: Jared/Jensen (and Jared/a slew of other characters including Misha Collins, Tom Welling, Mike Rosenbaum, Danneel Harris, Sandy McCoy and some OMCs and OFCs)
Rating: Currently PG-13 (eventual NC-17)
Warnings: AU. Cheesiness. Fandom cliches. The usual drill.
Summary (fic): After a drunken dare, award-winning writer Jensen agreed to on a reality television show to vie for the attention of megastar Jared Padalecki who he's had a crush on for years. Only Jensen doesn't know how he's going to be able to tolerate all the other contestants and their widely varying personalities and he's pretty sure that you're not supposed to be able to get used to somebody filming you 24/7.
Summary (part): Jensen confesses a deep dark secret and Jared makes his first cut.
Word Count: 6500 (this part)
Disclaimer: Never happened, no affiliation.
Master Post: Master Post
Part 1 | Master Post | Part 3
Episode 1 - Second Half
Lita, of the huge boobs, was drunk. Lita was drunker than drunk. Lita was barely standing. Jensen was convinced that the only reason she was currently standing is because Jared was holding her up. Jensen sat quietly in his chair and tried not to glare. It really wasn’t any of his business and he shouldn’t be judging. If she wanted to get a little wild and plaster herself all over Jared while consistently losing clothes until she was walking around in a scraps of nothing, it shouldn’t fucking matter to Jensen. Especially since it looked like Jared was enjoying it.
God damn fucking bisexuals anyway. Jensen glared at the grass. Jared was also over there talking to Misha like the man was a prophet from God, as well. It was a little bit more understandable to Jensen than the Lita situation-Misha, Jensen had already found out just from the few times he’d heard the man talk, had a tendency to be very profound. Plus, he and Jared apparently shared a keen interest in animal rights and they’d been in a deep discussion for the past half-hour-regardless of Lita’s best attempts to encourage Jared elsewhere.
Even Chad the perv had wandered away, despite the fact that he’d spent the better part of thirty minutes ogling Lita’s ever increasingly exposed charms. He was now over chatting up Sandy who was bouncing around like the cheerleader Jensen knew she was in her soul.
“You know, I’m sure that whatever the grass did, it is very sorry.” Jensen sighed, remembering that he was supposed to be talking with Mike at the moment-at least making an attempt at it.
“Sorry,” Jensen said. Mike had been flitting around all night, going from group to group and getting to know everybody. Apparently it was Jensen’s turn and he wasn’t doing very well.
“No, I understand, man.” Mike leaned forward. “You should go talk to him.”
“Just push yourself right in there,” Danneel added, sitting down next to Jensen with her new drink. She placed her hand sympathetically on Jensen’s shoulder and, for once, Jensen allowed it because, for some reason, he was actually growing kind of fond of Danneel. He thought it was probably her attitude. Or maybe the fact that she was looking down on Lita’s display right along with him. He could appreciate a woman after his own heart like that.
Jensen probably should go talk to Jared. The entire party, he’d done nothing but just stare at the man from afar and, wishful thinking aside, that was really not how a guy went about getting noticed. It was just that every time he tried, somebody else beat him to the punch and Jensen really didn’t feel like he should interrupt. Even though nobody else seemed to have that problem: Jensen was the only one in the group that hadn’t talked to Jared yet. Well, besides David, because Jensen was unsure if he should count. He’d only said two words to Jared so far and had spent the rest of the time drinking and playing games.
Jensen got the feeling that David was here more for the party and free booze than Jared but whatever.
Jensen nodded, setting his empty beer bottle down beside his chair. “I should.” But practically naked Lita was still plastered to Jared’s side, Jared’s big hand sliding up her waist and he and Misha still looked extremely involved. And, if Jared, for some improbable reason, got bored of Misha, Justin, Katrina, and Felicity were all biting the bit at the chance to talk to him.
“You’re pathetic,” Mike said, rolling his eyes. “Dude, it is not that hard.”
Jensen frowned. “Says you.”
“Yeah says me. Come on.” Mike stood and grabbed Jensen’s hand, holding on tight even though Jensen tried to tug himself free. Mike dragged him over towards Jared and Jensen’s eyes grew wider and wider with each step.
“What the hell are you doing?” Jensen hissed, trying to dig in his heels.
“Getting you noticed,” Mike replied easily. He dragged Jensen the last few feet, stopping just in front of Jared and Jensen wanted to crawl into a ball and die. “Hey, Jay-man,” Mike said. He let go of Jensen’s hand and shoved him forward. “You’ve met my buddy, Jenny, right? He’s a little shy.” Jensen winced at the ‘Jenny’ crack, privately vowing to kill Mike in his sleep. Then Jared turned his thousand watt smile on them and Jensen felt himself starting to melt.
“Yeah,” Jared drawled and Jesus, Jensen had never noticed that Jared had a drawl before. Jared gave Jensen an up and down that had him starting to blush again. “I definitely remember you. Jenny?”
Jensen kept the tightness caused from way too many mocking comments back in high school off his face and smiled, holding out his hand. He could do this. He could talk to Jared fucking Padalecki and not come off as a total freak. “Jensen,” he said.
Jared’s grin grew bigger. “Can I call you, Jen?”
The way that Jared said the nickname should probably be censored, Jensen decided. The throaty purr zipped straight down his spine and made him think of things that were definitely not appropriate for public. He blushed a little bit more despite himself and nodded. “I’d like that.”
“Great,” Mike said, cutting in. He wrapped his arm around Misha’s shoulder and pulled him away. “So, Mish, I was thinking about what you said earlier…”
Which left Jensen alone with Jared. And Lita. And, apparently Katrina. She appeared at Jensen’s side, smiling brightly. “Jared, you have to come and listen to me sing. I wrote a song just for you.”
“Jared,” Lita whined. “We should get in the hot tub. I’m all ready.”
“No,” Justin said, appearing on the other side of Jensen. “He really needs to spend some more time with me.”
“Jared!” Katrina rubbed herself up against Jared’s free side. “Come on, you said that you have a piano, right? I could sit on top of it and sing for you. You’d like that.”
Jensen dropped his eyes from Jared’s face and stared at the ground. It really wasn’t that he didn’t think he could compete here. He knew that he was just as good as the rest of the crowd, that he deserved to be here but for the life of him, he couldn’t think of what to say. There was nothing he could possibly talk about that could compete with the three in front of him. If he was Misha, he’d offer up some random comment that would intrigue Jared so much, he’d just have to know more. If he was Mike, he’d joke around. Hell, if he was Ben, all he’d have to do would be roll up his shirt sleeves.
All Jensen had was the remnants of his last novel, a few ideas for his follow-up, and a tight knot of jealousy-the rest of his mind was completely fucking blank and that just wasn’t fair.
“Hey guys, so I kind of want to talk to Jen right now, could we maybe get some time alone?” Jensen snapped his attention back onto Jared, realizing with a cold shock that Jared was actually sending everyone else away. He was sending everyone else away because he wanted to talk to Jensen. Jensen’s heart did a somersault and he felt like following it.
“Jared,” Lita protested when Jared pulled his arm away. “You promised.”
“In a little while, okay?”
“Jared!”
“Jared!”
Jensen blinked. Jesus. The way that the three were clinging to Jared, Jensen almost wanted to run away out of pure sympathy-if Jared couldn’t escape, Jensen would escape for him-but the way that Lita had turned a cold hard glare onto Jensen had him holding his ground. Okay, yeah, he wasn’t much for crowds and imposing on people but he’d be damned if he’d let a challenge like that go unanswered. He grabbed Jared’s hand and pulled him forward, out of the grasping clutches of the ‘Look at Me! Parade.’ Katrina reached for Jared’s arm but Jared shook her off. “Give just a little bit, okay?” Jared pleaded and then he darted forward, dragging Jensen across the yard.
He slowed as they neared the edge of the yard, coming up close against the fence and Jared ran a hand through his hair and smiled. “Wow, right?”
Jensen nodded and forced himself to speak through the dryness of his mouth. “You must get that a lot,” he said quietly. Jensen was sure that the crowds that Jared was used to were probably a whole lot worse than the now sulking trio. Lucky for them, Chad was moseying back now that he saw that Lita was finally detached from Jared’s side. Good. Maybe he’d keep them occupied.
“Sometimes,” Jared admitted, leading Jensen to a partially hidden bench. “It can get kind of scary.” Jensen thought that the scene back there was kind of scary and didn’t think he wanted to know what Jared’s definition of the word was, then. “I was hoping that I’d get a chance to talk to you,” Jared said, low and smooth and Jensen was blushing again. Damn it.
“Y-y-yeah?” He swallowed. Damn it, he could do this. Except that he knew that the bush in front of them totally had a camera and a microphone in it and try as he might, he couldn’t ignore the creeping camera men-they were like ninjas sneaking out of the darkness and how the fuck could somebody ignore cloaked death coming for them? Jared, though, didn’t look phased by the slowly approaching cameras and Jensen wondered how the hell he did it.
“Yeah. I have to confess, I already knew that you were a writer.” Jared was still holding Jensen’s hand, his thumb rubbing distracting circles over the skin.
Jensen stared at Jared, his brain clicking the puzzle pieces together. “’Cause that’s what I said in the video.”
“Yeah,” Jared said. “I watched everybody’s you know. Just had to say that stuff for the show.”
“Ah.” There were no less than three camera men quietly filming them and Jensen caught himself staring at them.
Jared laugh and touched Jensen’s face, making him shiver as Jared turned Jensen’s attention back to him. “You get used to them after awhile,” he said. “It’ll be easier after tonight anyway.” Jensen didn’t think that was possible-a person shouldn’t be able to get used to having other people record them for nearly twenty-four hours a day. That was just crazy talk. Jensen’s thoughts must have been showing because Jared laughed again, making Jensen’s heart do its little somersault trick again. “I know it sounds weird, but you really do. And it’ll be easy when it’s just in the house-you don’t have the guys following you around.”
“That’s a relief and kind of not,” Jensen replied.
“Kind of not?”
“I don’t think I’d want to get used to be recorded like this.”
“But you’re here.” Jared really needed to stop the thumb circling thing. It was awfully fucking distracting-Jensen could focus on anything but how good it made him feel.
“Yeah.”
“So why are you here?” Jared asked. “If you don’t like the being recorded thing, I mean.”
Jensen closed his eyes and hid behind his hand. He could not admit that. He’d be admitting to his own patheticness on national television and he really didn’t need that kind of grief in his life. “Oh, so it’s a good story, then? Now you’ve got to tell me,” Jared demanded, poking at Jensen with a finger.
“I plead the fifth?” Jensen tried.
Jared’s eyes widened. “Is your confession going to lead to criminal proceedings?”
“Possibly.” When he killed Chris for even suggesting the idea that he go on, it would anyway.
Jared threw himself against the back of the bench, sprawling. “That is such a cop-out,” he sighed. Then he perked up, rolling onto his knee and wiggling closer until his face was only a few inches away from Jensen’s. Jensen swallowed hard, staring at Jared’s impossibly expressive eyes and tried so damn hard to keep himself from doing something embarrassing-like maybe begging Jared to fuck him. That’d be embarrassing, alright. That’d be downright humiliating. Blackmail material for years. “Can you whisper it to me?” Jared asked.
Jensen shivered and tried to focus on what Jared was saying. “What?”
“I won’t tell anybody you don’t want me to. Cross my heart and hope to die.” Jensen wanted to laugh at Jared’s earnest look but he found he couldn’t think much beyond just how close Jared was looming. “Please?”
“Yeah, sure,” Jensen said, caving before he even realized what he was doing. He needed some fucking room to think-apparently the moment Jared Padalecki entered into his sphere of personal space, all common sense was rendered null and void. Jensen closed his eyes and leaned closer, putting his lips next to Jared’s ear. Being this close to Jared made is heart pound and certain parts of him misbehave but he wasn’t about to have the mics pick up his most embarrassing secret ever.
Jared leaned more forward, completely looming over Jensen and Jensen kept his thoughts away from dangerous territory as he confessed, “My best friend made me when he found out that I’d, that I’d…” Fuck but he couldn’t say that-what the hell did he think he was doing? He barely knew this guy! He’d freak poor Jared out for sure. Jensen flushed and pulled away.
“That you’d?” Jared prompted and Jensen’s heart was about to pound right out of his damn chest. A warm weight settled on Jensen’s thigh and he jumped as his dick gave a hopeful twitch. He glanced back up at Jared, hardly daring to meet his eyes but unable not to. Jared smiled and casually rubbed his fingers against Jensen’s pants as he leaned in to whisper, “Were you just about to admit that you’ve jerked off to me, Jen?”
Jensen covered his face with his hand, hoping to die of embarrassment on the spot but, hey, since he was already there: “Frequently,” he muttered.
Jared sucked in a sharp, quick breath. “Jen-”
“Jared, we’ve talked about this.” The warmth at Jensen’s shoulder that he knew was Jared jerked away and the light press of Jared’s hand against his thigh lifted. Jensen glanced up to see a disapproving Jeff Morgan staring down at them.
“Sorry, Jeff,” Jared said, hanging his head. Jeff loomed some more before sighing.
“Just…try to get your comments into the mic, okay? Don’t make the boys have to call me out here again.” Jeff walked away, shaking his head and Jared watched him go, completely hang-dog until Jeff disappeared. Then he turned to Jensen and winked.
Jensen blinked again, his mouth dropping open as he desperately thought of something-anything-he could say. It was too bad that Katrina beat him to the punch. “Okay, Jared, you’ve spent long enough, right? Time to hear me sing? You’re going to love it.”
Jensen sighed and aimed a glare at the diminutive woman but she was oblivious-too busy staring at Jared’s face. Jared, for his part, was wearing a polite smile. “Sure,” he said. He turned to Jensen. “Want to come with?”
It meant having to listen to Katrina and pretend whatever she came up with was good but Jensen couldn’t think of anywhere he’d rather be. “Sure.”
Katrina looked sort-of pissed that Jensen was coming along but Jared tugged Jensen to his feet. “Come on,” he coaxed with a smile. Jensen smiled back, not even caring as Jared dragged him across the yard to the house again. Along the way, they picked up a few followers: Justin pouting just off to the side and Sandy, bouncing along beside them. Jared led them inside, twisting around a few corners until they ran smack dab into a baby grand piano.
Jensen felt his breath catch a little in his throat because, wow, the thing was gorgeous. It was all black lacquer and ivory keys and he wanted to sit down and worship at its carefully carved feet.
Katrina, though, apparently thought differently because she squealed and threw herself on top of it, much to Jensen’s horror, and then proceeded to sound something akin to a dying cat. The highs were way too high, out of her range, making her squeak on the end, and apparently she wasn’t even trying to hit the lows. Jensen winced and glanced over at Jared who was watching politely and just barely hiding his cringe-Justin, though, was openly covering his ears and Sandy looked like she wanted to do the same but was too nice to do so.
They suffered through it, though, and when Katrina was done, Jared even told her that it’d been, “Definitely unique.” Yeah, it was unique all right.
“I know, right?” Katrina gushed. “I’m so different from everyone else that’s out there. And, you know, I’m so glad about my name because with the hurricane and everything, I’ll definitely stand out.”
Sandy’s jaw dropped and Jared was struggling to keep his closed, Jensen could tell. “Um. Sure?” Jared said. Katrina grinned because, in her world, it was apparently okay to grossly exploit a national tragedy as long as it helped you to ‘stand out.’ “That’s, uh, that’s…great.” Katrina giggled behind her hand. Jensen wanted to tell her to get down from the piano before she managed to injure it. “So, uh, that was good, wasn’t it everybody?” Jared glanced around, looking for support but he’d forgotten just who he was with. Justin was openly disgusted, Sandy wouldn’t meet his eyes and Jensen, well, Jensen had to be honest-he shook his head a tiny bit. Jared’s shoulders slumped, looking adorably dejected. It almost made Jensen wished that he’d lied. “So, let’s go back to the party, okay?”
Now that sounded like a plan. Katrina slid off the piano-fucking finally-and they backtracked through the maze that was the mansion that they were supposedly living in before reaching the yard again. Lita was lounging on one of the chaise chairs, all miles of naked skin with Chad still drooling after her (did he even realize that she wasn’t here for him?). Tom and Danneel were engrossed in conversation, possibly about the horrors of the modeling world, while Mike and Misha were chatting with Felicity, laughing loudly. Mary and Ben were hanging out by the food table, trying to not be obvious about the fact that they were waiting for Jared to come back but their eyes lit up the moment they saw him. David was still bouncing a basketball on the court by himself but Georgie was in the pool, holding a beach ball and smiling at them.
“Anyone up for a game?” she asked with a wink and good God, but it had to be her job or something to work out because no one that didn’t spend hours at the gym could possibly look like that. She had to have, maybe, one percent body fat.
“Oh, count me in,” Sandy said, pulling off her shirt. Jared watched her with interest as she stripped down to a tiny white bikini and Jensen tried not to feel too awfully jealous. Jared looked like he could crush her.
“Yeah,” Jared agreed breathily and, to Jensen’s embarrassed arousal, stripped off his shirt as well. Jared looked even better than Georgie, Jensen thought, and he wondered just how long Jared spent in the gym, himself. Apparently, judging by the fucking twelve pack abs, it was about 48 hours a day. The man was fucking cut and Jensen resisted the urge to wipe his mouth for drool. Wow. Apparently Jared really got into the whole action-star lifestyle. Jared caught him staring and winked as he pushed down his jeans, not having any problem stripping completely in front of the cameras, and Jensen flushed again. He supposed that Jared was used to it, though-all of it-and with a body like his, he couldn’t really expect people not to stare.
Sandy was already in the pool when Jared finished stripping and Jared glanced at Jensen and Justin who were both eyeing the beach-ready bodies dubiously. Jared smiled and ran his hand lightly down Jensen’s arm before jumping in after Sandy and Georgie, splashing towards the giggling girls. Ben-surprise, surprise-was right in after him, barreling past Jensen to dive into the pool. David, too, had dropped his basketball and wandered over, roughly splashing into the water.
Jensen was unsure what game that the five were playing but he did know that it involved a whole lot of splashing and touching and out and out grabbing and not a whole lot about the actual ball.
Mike wandered over to his side, raising his beer to the spectacle. “Yeah, that’s nice.” He turned on Jen. “That looks way too active for me. Do you want to try out the hot tub?”
Jensen glanced over to the raised tub up on the patio of the house and, he had to admit, he really kind of did. It’d been a long fucking time since he’d had a chance to use a hot tub-ever since Chris had been involved with that hotshot lawyer lady, actually-and it sounded absolutely wonderful. Except… Jensen glanced unhappily at the cameras, most of which were currently circling the party in the pool. It wasn’t as though they needed to cover the hot tub, though-the embedded cameras already had that thing covered in six different angles.
Mike laughed, clapping Jensen on the shoulder. “Gotta get used to them sometime, Jenny. You ain’t got anything to worry about. Now strip.” With an explicit order like that, Jensen found he didn’t have it in himself to argue. He quietly slunk over to the tub and began to unbutton his shirt as Mike started rounding up other people. “Hey, Dani! Mish! Tommy boy! You up for a soak? Mary, Mary, quite contrary, you know you want to!”
Jensen stared down at the swirling water beside him and, cameras aside, it looked inviting. It also looked big enough to fit about twelve people-like the rest of the house, it was completely outsized and obviously made to impress. Jensen slipped his shirt off his shoulders, discarding it in one of the chairs behind him as he unhooked his mic. They’d been told that the hot tub was one of the few places were they were allowed to take off the microphones, probably because not only were water and electronics-even waterproofed electronics-a generally bad idea, but the area was so blanketed by various sound recording equipment, that Jeff could probably hear your innermost thoughts. Jensen hurriedly pushed off his pants and threw them on top on his shirt before he sunk into the water. The less time he spent half-naked in front of the cameras, the better Jensen figured his mental health would be. His family was probably going to watch this, after all, and wasn’t that a horrifying thought? Jensen couldn’t decide which was worse: his family watching this or Chris. Probably Chris because Chris was going to watch it with Steve and between the two of them, Jensen knew that he’d never hear the end of it.
All because of one drunken confession and a dare while watching TV one night. God. Jensen bowed his head, hiding his slight blush and hoping to blame it on the heat of the water. He still couldn’t believe that he’d confessed to Chris about Jared being his favorite jerk-off fantasy. It really wasn’t Jensen’s fault. It was Jared with his stupidly gorgeous body, full-hearted laugh, honest, adorable puppy-dog eyes and amazing talent. Jensen was obviously not meant to be able to resist that kind of combination.
With a sigh, Jensen let himself relax into the warm water, letting himself drift as he absently watched the steam rise from the tub into the night air. If it wasn’t for the various cameras pointing directly at him, Jensen would be convinced that he was in some version of heaven.
“Water nice and hot, Jenny?” Except, in Jensen’s heaven, Mike and his stupid nickname probably wouldn’t be there. Mike slipped in beside Jensen, unconcerned about Jensen’s glare and sighed happily as he settled in. Tom and Misha followed after him and even Danneel in her blue bikini. Mary sat on the edge of the tub, dipping her feet in and unbuttoning the top few buttons of her suit and shirt. “Yeah,” Mike said. “I could definitely live in here.”
“You could be a dolphin,” Misha replied.
“And then he could do tricks for fish,” Danneel joked.
“Mackerel is very tasty.” Misha grinned, his blue eyes vivid and sparkling.
“It’d be a sweet life,” Mike said, cutting in.
“Except for the part that you’d only be eating raw fish and doing tricks for tourists.” Jensen smirked when the rest of the group glanced at him.
Mike laughed. “Hey, I like sushi. And my life’s kind of hollow as it is-maybe doing tricks for tourists would give me meaning.”
“It’s good to have goals,” Misha said, nodding.
“See? Mish agrees with me. Jenny’s just jealous of my career opportunities.”
“Fuck you,” Jensen replied easily, splashing water at Mike.
“You’re just lucky that I am way too comfortable right now to move otherwise I’d dunk you.” Jensen rolled his eyes. He’d like to see Mike try. He shifted against the wall of the tub, spreading out. “Damn, Jen, you sure you’re a writer?”
Jensen sat up straight, glancing over at Mike. “Yeah,” he replied. He was pretty sure he knew his own profession. “Why?”
Mike raised his eyebrows. “Because you’re pretty damn cut for sitting on your ass all day.” Jensen couldn’t stop the resulting blush. Damn it! Mike was giggling again.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to get sick of that,” a new voice rumbled and Jensen tried to sink into the water as Jared slid into the tub with them. Jared grinned at Jensen and Jensen blushed harder. “I’m still going to find out if it goes all the way.”
The pool party had apparently drawn to a close, the participants pulling themselves out of the water and drying off. Sandy and Ben joined Jared in sliding into the tub and soon the rest of the houseguests wandered over as well, even David.
The tub had definitely been made for parties like this but even still, Jensen was starting to feel just a little crowded. He had Mike on one side and Mary’s feet on the other and nearly every other houseguest was in the tub with them. It was a little unsettling, almost like Jensen was sharing a bath with a Roman orgy. He winced. His ideal orgy, probably wouldn’t be much of an orgy at all. Unless, of course, Jared had a twin or three. Then it could probably qualify.
Katrina didn’t want to get her hair wet-she’d just gotten it styled, she said-so she was sitting on the outside of the tub like Mary was. Justin had claimed the exact same thing, but he hadn’t let it stop him from getting into the water anyway. Lita, of course, had wedged herself against Jared, having pushed Misha out of the way to get there and Jared, like always, had adapted, throwing an arm over her shoulder. Chad had, of course, plopped himself down on the other side of Lita. “Yeah, that’s nice,” he said and Jensen had his doubts if Chad was referring to the water. Chad leered at the rest of the assembled crowd and Jensen felt just a little bit slimy.
…Did Chad always give off that feeling?
“So how is everybody liking the house?” Jared asked.
“Oh, it’s great,” Felicity answered as she checked to make sure her blonde hair was perfectly pinned up-she was probably a bottle blonde just like Lita and afraid of the chlorine. “I love it.”
“It’s to die for,” Justin agreed. “I just love the décor.”
“I’m rather fond of the extremely large plastic apple in the center of the living room,” Misha said and the group fell silent as they stared at him.
Jared laughed. “It is a bit much, isn’t it?” There were a few hesitant nods and he smiled again. “I didn’t pick it out-the producers did. Said it was ‘edgy.’” The place was edgy alright-except that the edges were sharp enough to cut.
“Hey, dude,” Chad protested. “This house is kickin’.”
Jared laughed. “Of course you like it.”
“Say what you want man, I’ve got my eye on that zebra couch. Thing’s sweet.”
“Maybe they’ll let you have it when we’re done,” Jared said before turning to include everybody else. “So are we liking being here?” he asked, getting a chorus of affirmative answers. Even Jensen had to agree. Despite the cameras and the absolute ton of new people, he was rather glad he was here. After all, how else would he have ever gotten a chance to share a hot tub with the Jared Padalecki? Only in his wet dreams, that was for sure. “That’s good.”
They rambled on through a few more topics, Jared leading the conversation with a series of questions with Chad interjecting with his mostly skeevy but sometimes insightful comments. Jensen let him soak it all in, the words washing over him. Jared had a great speaking voice-Jensen thought he should record it and sell it. He wouldn’t even have to make sense-he could just read off a grocery list or maybe the dictionary-but Jensen was sure he’d make money anyway. Hell, Jensen knew he’d probably own two copies: one to play and one to treasure.
Which put him at the top of the pile in sheer pathetic fanboy-ness, but hey. Jensen was embracing his inner self.
All too soon, though, Jeff put in an appearance and then Jared was pushing himself out of the tub and standing dripping on the patio, water running over the hard lines of his body. Jensen tried not to stare but it was impossible. He settled for just not drooling. At least not obviously. “Okay, guys,” Jared said. “It’s been really great meeting you all. Thanks so much for coming. Chad and I, uh, have to go inside now, though, and…decide who’s going home.” Jensen felt his heart clench despite himself. He didn’t think that Jared would send him home, at least not yet, but that didn’t stop his instinct to panic. “So, enjoy yourselves a little more, get dried off and changed and I’ll see you in the main room in an hour. Okay?”
They nodded as a group, like the hopeless sheep they were and Jared smiled apologetically at them before leaving. As Jared and Chad walked inside, Jensen glanced around at his housemates, noticing a few confident grins and more than a couple worried frowns. Mike, though, was blowing bubbles in the water and that couldn’t possibly be sanitary.
Eliminations had to be the most surreal part of reality shows, Jensen thought. Because try as he might, he couldn’t think of a way that reality show eliminations truly compared to real life. It wasn’t like you ever got voted out of the house of life-not yet anyway. So, like the cameras but even more so, Jensen didn’t think that he’d ever get used to them. He didn’t think that he wanted to.
He was standing on the side of the room, lined up with the show’s other contestants. They were in two rows, all dressed to impress-some less than others, Jensen thought, glancing at David’s athletic shorts-and staring at Jared who was standing alone and who was also, for once, not smiling. Jared not smiling was kind of like the sun winking out of existence, Jensen thought-it was just so opposite of what the natural order should be that you felt cold inside.
“So guys, I only have twelve necklaces to hand out and there are fourteen of you.” Jared held up a silver chain with a tiny ‘J’ hanging off from it. “I really don’t like doing this, but I’m told I have to, so, if it’s alright with you guys, I’d rather just get on with this. Um…okay, so first is a person that really stood out for me-smart, funny and really good looking, I definitely want to get to know this person more. So, Misha, can you come up and get your necklace?”
Misha smiled and strode to where Jared was standing. Jensen watched, his mouth dry and a pit of apprehension in his gut as he watched Jared attach the silver chain around Misha’s neck. “I can’t wait to talk more,” Jared said, kissing Misha on the cheek. Misha nodded and stepped off to the side while Jared pulled out another chain. “Next is another person that I really enjoyed talking to tonight and definitely want to get to know more about. Sandy?” Sandy clasped her hands over her mouth like she was actually shocked at being chosen and Jensen just barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Of course she’d be chosen.
“You’re so amazingly talented and I’m honored that you’re here for me,” Jared said as he gave Sandy her token and a peck on the cheek as well. “Next is a person that I’d definitely like to see more of if you know what I mean. Ben?”
The nervous apprehension in Jensen’s gut was starting to grow, taking over his entire body. He clenched his fists to stop himself from shaking. It was ridiculous to be worried about this-he knew that. Either he’d be picked or he wouldn’t and it wasn’t going to be the end of the world. Knowing that, though, didn’t stop him from breathing just a little too fast, anticipation and disappointment warring inside of him, getting worse as Jared picked Mike and Lita-freaking Lita-putting the thin chains around their necks.
“The next person is a little bit shy but I think I kind of liked that and, you know, I just have to know how far down that blush goes. Jensen?”
Jensen jumped as his heart skipped a beat and he stared at Jared’s hopeful smile. The ball of anticipation exploded inside of him and Jensen should have had to scrape himself off the walls instead of just clenching his fists to stop his shaking and walking down to where Jared was waiting.
Jared’s sure hands brushed against Jensen’s skin, making him shiver, as Jared attached the necklace. “So, what you told me outside? I won’t repeat it but I wanted you to know that I really liked what you said. A lot.” Jensen didn’t try to stop the blush this time, just smiled through it as he walked over to where the rest of the chosen group was waiting.
Jared worked his way through the throng of hopefuls, picking Danneel, Tom, Georgie and Justin. Felicity nearly fainted when Jared called her name, stumbling down the stairs to stand in front of him.
Mary, Katrina and David were the last ones left standing on the stairs. Jensen swallowed, glancing between all of their faces and wondering who Jared was going to pick. “Mary, I didn’t get to see much of you tonight. You were holding back but the bit I did get to see, I liked.” Mary nodded and pushed her hair over her shoulder. “Katrina, you…were the opposite.” Jared looked truly apologetic as Katrina’s mouth dropped open. “You were very front and center but demanding and you got into that fight with Justin while everybody else was in the pool.” Jensen glanced over at Justin who looked smug. Jensen must have missed that moment and he was just a little bit sorry he had-he was sure that it had to have been a bitch-fight of the century. “And, uh, I don’t think a national disaster should be talked about so lightly. I’m really sorry, but I didn’t chose you. The red carpet ends here.”
“Are you kidding?” Katrina demanded, ready to pitch a fit. Then, apparently remembering where she was and exactly how many cameras were on her, she stopped herself and stood up to her full height of just under five foot. She marched out brushing off the attempt of a hug that Jared tried to give her. Jared glanced at the floor and huffed a little laugh before looking back up at Mary and David.
“Uh... Okay. David, you were kind of like Mary: I didn’t get to see much of you, either. So...I had to make a choice and it was a hard one, believe me, but I went with my gut. Mary, come get your necklace?” Jared held it out to her and Mary closed her eyes, blowing out a small sigh before she descended the stairs and walked towards him. David, left by himself, shrugged and looked relatively unconcerned.
Jared hooked the chain around Mary’s neck. “You’re wicked smart and I like that. I’d definitely like to get to know you more.”
“I’d like to get to know you more,” Mary replied and Jared smiled, running a hand over her shoulder.
“I’d like that.” He looked back up at David as Mary joined the rest of the group. “I’m really sorry, David. I’m sure that you’re a great person and I really didn’t want to get rid of anybody.”
“It’s cool, man,” David said, walking into Jared’s hug.
Jared hugged with his entire body, holding absolutely nothing back as he wrapped his arms around David and pushed in close. Jensen shivered and stared at the floor as his brain grabbed a hold of the idea of wondering what it would be like to be on the receiving end of one of Jared’s hugs and ran with it. It looked pretty damn hot from the distance he was standing at and his body was assuring him that it would be even better up close.
Jared finally let David go, letting him walk out the front door like Katrina had done, and turned to face the rest of the group. He bit his lip, steeling himself for a moment and Jensen felt a throb of empathy even as he wondered just how Jared could have formed attachments so incredibly fast. Then Jared smiled, pushing it all away and, once again, Jensen was amazed at his acting talent. “Well, I’m glad that’s over. So, how about a toast to all of us that are still here and a remembrance to those who aren’t?”
A couple of waiters were circulating, holding flutes of champagne and Jensen took one, holding it up as Jared said, “Here’s to finding true love.”
“Here, here!” Mike yelled and Jensen downed his entire glass. He had a feeling that he was going to need it.
Part 1 | Master Post | Part 3
Author: dragonspell
Fandom: RPS
Pairing: Jared/Jensen (and Jared/a slew of other characters including Misha Collins, Tom Welling, Mike Rosenbaum, Danneel Harris, Sandy McCoy and some OMCs and OFCs)
Rating: Currently PG-13 (eventual NC-17)
Warnings: AU. Cheesiness. Fandom cliches. The usual drill.
Summary (fic): After a drunken dare, award-winning writer Jensen agreed to on a reality television show to vie for the attention of megastar Jared Padalecki who he's had a crush on for years. Only Jensen doesn't know how he's going to be able to tolerate all the other contestants and their widely varying personalities and he's pretty sure that you're not supposed to be able to get used to somebody filming you 24/7.
Summary (part): Jensen confesses a deep dark secret and Jared makes his first cut.
Word Count: 6500 (this part)
Disclaimer: Never happened, no affiliation.
Master Post: Master Post
Part 1 | Master Post | Part 3
Episode 1 - Second Half
Lita, of the huge boobs, was drunk. Lita was drunker than drunk. Lita was barely standing. Jensen was convinced that the only reason she was currently standing is because Jared was holding her up. Jensen sat quietly in his chair and tried not to glare. It really wasn’t any of his business and he shouldn’t be judging. If she wanted to get a little wild and plaster herself all over Jared while consistently losing clothes until she was walking around in a scraps of nothing, it shouldn’t fucking matter to Jensen. Especially since it looked like Jared was enjoying it.
God damn fucking bisexuals anyway. Jensen glared at the grass. Jared was also over there talking to Misha like the man was a prophet from God, as well. It was a little bit more understandable to Jensen than the Lita situation-Misha, Jensen had already found out just from the few times he’d heard the man talk, had a tendency to be very profound. Plus, he and Jared apparently shared a keen interest in animal rights and they’d been in a deep discussion for the past half-hour-regardless of Lita’s best attempts to encourage Jared elsewhere.
Even Chad the perv had wandered away, despite the fact that he’d spent the better part of thirty minutes ogling Lita’s ever increasingly exposed charms. He was now over chatting up Sandy who was bouncing around like the cheerleader Jensen knew she was in her soul.
“You know, I’m sure that whatever the grass did, it is very sorry.” Jensen sighed, remembering that he was supposed to be talking with Mike at the moment-at least making an attempt at it.
“Sorry,” Jensen said. Mike had been flitting around all night, going from group to group and getting to know everybody. Apparently it was Jensen’s turn and he wasn’t doing very well.
“No, I understand, man.” Mike leaned forward. “You should go talk to him.”
“Just push yourself right in there,” Danneel added, sitting down next to Jensen with her new drink. She placed her hand sympathetically on Jensen’s shoulder and, for once, Jensen allowed it because, for some reason, he was actually growing kind of fond of Danneel. He thought it was probably her attitude. Or maybe the fact that she was looking down on Lita’s display right along with him. He could appreciate a woman after his own heart like that.
Jensen probably should go talk to Jared. The entire party, he’d done nothing but just stare at the man from afar and, wishful thinking aside, that was really not how a guy went about getting noticed. It was just that every time he tried, somebody else beat him to the punch and Jensen really didn’t feel like he should interrupt. Even though nobody else seemed to have that problem: Jensen was the only one in the group that hadn’t talked to Jared yet. Well, besides David, because Jensen was unsure if he should count. He’d only said two words to Jared so far and had spent the rest of the time drinking and playing games.
Jensen got the feeling that David was here more for the party and free booze than Jared but whatever.
Jensen nodded, setting his empty beer bottle down beside his chair. “I should.” But practically naked Lita was still plastered to Jared’s side, Jared’s big hand sliding up her waist and he and Misha still looked extremely involved. And, if Jared, for some improbable reason, got bored of Misha, Justin, Katrina, and Felicity were all biting the bit at the chance to talk to him.
“You’re pathetic,” Mike said, rolling his eyes. “Dude, it is not that hard.”
Jensen frowned. “Says you.”
“Yeah says me. Come on.” Mike stood and grabbed Jensen’s hand, holding on tight even though Jensen tried to tug himself free. Mike dragged him over towards Jared and Jensen’s eyes grew wider and wider with each step.
“What the hell are you doing?” Jensen hissed, trying to dig in his heels.
“Getting you noticed,” Mike replied easily. He dragged Jensen the last few feet, stopping just in front of Jared and Jensen wanted to crawl into a ball and die. “Hey, Jay-man,” Mike said. He let go of Jensen’s hand and shoved him forward. “You’ve met my buddy, Jenny, right? He’s a little shy.” Jensen winced at the ‘Jenny’ crack, privately vowing to kill Mike in his sleep. Then Jared turned his thousand watt smile on them and Jensen felt himself starting to melt.
“Yeah,” Jared drawled and Jesus, Jensen had never noticed that Jared had a drawl before. Jared gave Jensen an up and down that had him starting to blush again. “I definitely remember you. Jenny?”
Jensen kept the tightness caused from way too many mocking comments back in high school off his face and smiled, holding out his hand. He could do this. He could talk to Jared fucking Padalecki and not come off as a total freak. “Jensen,” he said.
Jared’s grin grew bigger. “Can I call you, Jen?”
The way that Jared said the nickname should probably be censored, Jensen decided. The throaty purr zipped straight down his spine and made him think of things that were definitely not appropriate for public. He blushed a little bit more despite himself and nodded. “I’d like that.”
“Great,” Mike said, cutting in. He wrapped his arm around Misha’s shoulder and pulled him away. “So, Mish, I was thinking about what you said earlier…”
Which left Jensen alone with Jared. And Lita. And, apparently Katrina. She appeared at Jensen’s side, smiling brightly. “Jared, you have to come and listen to me sing. I wrote a song just for you.”
“Jared,” Lita whined. “We should get in the hot tub. I’m all ready.”
“No,” Justin said, appearing on the other side of Jensen. “He really needs to spend some more time with me.”
“Jared!” Katrina rubbed herself up against Jared’s free side. “Come on, you said that you have a piano, right? I could sit on top of it and sing for you. You’d like that.”
Jensen dropped his eyes from Jared’s face and stared at the ground. It really wasn’t that he didn’t think he could compete here. He knew that he was just as good as the rest of the crowd, that he deserved to be here but for the life of him, he couldn’t think of what to say. There was nothing he could possibly talk about that could compete with the three in front of him. If he was Misha, he’d offer up some random comment that would intrigue Jared so much, he’d just have to know more. If he was Mike, he’d joke around. Hell, if he was Ben, all he’d have to do would be roll up his shirt sleeves.
All Jensen had was the remnants of his last novel, a few ideas for his follow-up, and a tight knot of jealousy-the rest of his mind was completely fucking blank and that just wasn’t fair.
“Hey guys, so I kind of want to talk to Jen right now, could we maybe get some time alone?” Jensen snapped his attention back onto Jared, realizing with a cold shock that Jared was actually sending everyone else away. He was sending everyone else away because he wanted to talk to Jensen. Jensen’s heart did a somersault and he felt like following it.
“Jared,” Lita protested when Jared pulled his arm away. “You promised.”
“In a little while, okay?”
“Jared!”
“Jared!”
Jensen blinked. Jesus. The way that the three were clinging to Jared, Jensen almost wanted to run away out of pure sympathy-if Jared couldn’t escape, Jensen would escape for him-but the way that Lita had turned a cold hard glare onto Jensen had him holding his ground. Okay, yeah, he wasn’t much for crowds and imposing on people but he’d be damned if he’d let a challenge like that go unanswered. He grabbed Jared’s hand and pulled him forward, out of the grasping clutches of the ‘Look at Me! Parade.’ Katrina reached for Jared’s arm but Jared shook her off. “Give just a little bit, okay?” Jared pleaded and then he darted forward, dragging Jensen across the yard.
He slowed as they neared the edge of the yard, coming up close against the fence and Jared ran a hand through his hair and smiled. “Wow, right?”
Jensen nodded and forced himself to speak through the dryness of his mouth. “You must get that a lot,” he said quietly. Jensen was sure that the crowds that Jared was used to were probably a whole lot worse than the now sulking trio. Lucky for them, Chad was moseying back now that he saw that Lita was finally detached from Jared’s side. Good. Maybe he’d keep them occupied.
“Sometimes,” Jared admitted, leading Jensen to a partially hidden bench. “It can get kind of scary.” Jensen thought that the scene back there was kind of scary and didn’t think he wanted to know what Jared’s definition of the word was, then. “I was hoping that I’d get a chance to talk to you,” Jared said, low and smooth and Jensen was blushing again. Damn it.
“Y-y-yeah?” He swallowed. Damn it, he could do this. Except that he knew that the bush in front of them totally had a camera and a microphone in it and try as he might, he couldn’t ignore the creeping camera men-they were like ninjas sneaking out of the darkness and how the fuck could somebody ignore cloaked death coming for them? Jared, though, didn’t look phased by the slowly approaching cameras and Jensen wondered how the hell he did it.
“Yeah. I have to confess, I already knew that you were a writer.” Jared was still holding Jensen’s hand, his thumb rubbing distracting circles over the skin.
Jensen stared at Jared, his brain clicking the puzzle pieces together. “’Cause that’s what I said in the video.”
“Yeah,” Jared said. “I watched everybody’s you know. Just had to say that stuff for the show.”
“Ah.” There were no less than three camera men quietly filming them and Jensen caught himself staring at them.
Jared laugh and touched Jensen’s face, making him shiver as Jared turned Jensen’s attention back to him. “You get used to them after awhile,” he said. “It’ll be easier after tonight anyway.” Jensen didn’t think that was possible-a person shouldn’t be able to get used to having other people record them for nearly twenty-four hours a day. That was just crazy talk. Jensen’s thoughts must have been showing because Jared laughed again, making Jensen’s heart do its little somersault trick again. “I know it sounds weird, but you really do. And it’ll be easy when it’s just in the house-you don’t have the guys following you around.”
“That’s a relief and kind of not,” Jensen replied.
“Kind of not?”
“I don’t think I’d want to get used to be recorded like this.”
“But you’re here.” Jared really needed to stop the thumb circling thing. It was awfully fucking distracting-Jensen could focus on anything but how good it made him feel.
“Yeah.”
“So why are you here?” Jared asked. “If you don’t like the being recorded thing, I mean.”
Jensen closed his eyes and hid behind his hand. He could not admit that. He’d be admitting to his own patheticness on national television and he really didn’t need that kind of grief in his life. “Oh, so it’s a good story, then? Now you’ve got to tell me,” Jared demanded, poking at Jensen with a finger.
“I plead the fifth?” Jensen tried.
Jared’s eyes widened. “Is your confession going to lead to criminal proceedings?”
“Possibly.” When he killed Chris for even suggesting the idea that he go on, it would anyway.
Jared threw himself against the back of the bench, sprawling. “That is such a cop-out,” he sighed. Then he perked up, rolling onto his knee and wiggling closer until his face was only a few inches away from Jensen’s. Jensen swallowed hard, staring at Jared’s impossibly expressive eyes and tried so damn hard to keep himself from doing something embarrassing-like maybe begging Jared to fuck him. That’d be embarrassing, alright. That’d be downright humiliating. Blackmail material for years. “Can you whisper it to me?” Jared asked.
Jensen shivered and tried to focus on what Jared was saying. “What?”
“I won’t tell anybody you don’t want me to. Cross my heart and hope to die.” Jensen wanted to laugh at Jared’s earnest look but he found he couldn’t think much beyond just how close Jared was looming. “Please?”
“Yeah, sure,” Jensen said, caving before he even realized what he was doing. He needed some fucking room to think-apparently the moment Jared Padalecki entered into his sphere of personal space, all common sense was rendered null and void. Jensen closed his eyes and leaned closer, putting his lips next to Jared’s ear. Being this close to Jared made is heart pound and certain parts of him misbehave but he wasn’t about to have the mics pick up his most embarrassing secret ever.
Jared leaned more forward, completely looming over Jensen and Jensen kept his thoughts away from dangerous territory as he confessed, “My best friend made me when he found out that I’d, that I’d…” Fuck but he couldn’t say that-what the hell did he think he was doing? He barely knew this guy! He’d freak poor Jared out for sure. Jensen flushed and pulled away.
“That you’d?” Jared prompted and Jensen’s heart was about to pound right out of his damn chest. A warm weight settled on Jensen’s thigh and he jumped as his dick gave a hopeful twitch. He glanced back up at Jared, hardly daring to meet his eyes but unable not to. Jared smiled and casually rubbed his fingers against Jensen’s pants as he leaned in to whisper, “Were you just about to admit that you’ve jerked off to me, Jen?”
Jensen covered his face with his hand, hoping to die of embarrassment on the spot but, hey, since he was already there: “Frequently,” he muttered.
Jared sucked in a sharp, quick breath. “Jen-”
“Jared, we’ve talked about this.” The warmth at Jensen’s shoulder that he knew was Jared jerked away and the light press of Jared’s hand against his thigh lifted. Jensen glanced up to see a disapproving Jeff Morgan staring down at them.
“Sorry, Jeff,” Jared said, hanging his head. Jeff loomed some more before sighing.
“Just…try to get your comments into the mic, okay? Don’t make the boys have to call me out here again.” Jeff walked away, shaking his head and Jared watched him go, completely hang-dog until Jeff disappeared. Then he turned to Jensen and winked.
Jensen blinked again, his mouth dropping open as he desperately thought of something-anything-he could say. It was too bad that Katrina beat him to the punch. “Okay, Jared, you’ve spent long enough, right? Time to hear me sing? You’re going to love it.”
Jensen sighed and aimed a glare at the diminutive woman but she was oblivious-too busy staring at Jared’s face. Jared, for his part, was wearing a polite smile. “Sure,” he said. He turned to Jensen. “Want to come with?”
It meant having to listen to Katrina and pretend whatever she came up with was good but Jensen couldn’t think of anywhere he’d rather be. “Sure.”
Katrina looked sort-of pissed that Jensen was coming along but Jared tugged Jensen to his feet. “Come on,” he coaxed with a smile. Jensen smiled back, not even caring as Jared dragged him across the yard to the house again. Along the way, they picked up a few followers: Justin pouting just off to the side and Sandy, bouncing along beside them. Jared led them inside, twisting around a few corners until they ran smack dab into a baby grand piano.
Jensen felt his breath catch a little in his throat because, wow, the thing was gorgeous. It was all black lacquer and ivory keys and he wanted to sit down and worship at its carefully carved feet.
Katrina, though, apparently thought differently because she squealed and threw herself on top of it, much to Jensen’s horror, and then proceeded to sound something akin to a dying cat. The highs were way too high, out of her range, making her squeak on the end, and apparently she wasn’t even trying to hit the lows. Jensen winced and glanced over at Jared who was watching politely and just barely hiding his cringe-Justin, though, was openly covering his ears and Sandy looked like she wanted to do the same but was too nice to do so.
They suffered through it, though, and when Katrina was done, Jared even told her that it’d been, “Definitely unique.” Yeah, it was unique all right.
“I know, right?” Katrina gushed. “I’m so different from everyone else that’s out there. And, you know, I’m so glad about my name because with the hurricane and everything, I’ll definitely stand out.”
Sandy’s jaw dropped and Jared was struggling to keep his closed, Jensen could tell. “Um. Sure?” Jared said. Katrina grinned because, in her world, it was apparently okay to grossly exploit a national tragedy as long as it helped you to ‘stand out.’ “That’s, uh, that’s…great.” Katrina giggled behind her hand. Jensen wanted to tell her to get down from the piano before she managed to injure it. “So, uh, that was good, wasn’t it everybody?” Jared glanced around, looking for support but he’d forgotten just who he was with. Justin was openly disgusted, Sandy wouldn’t meet his eyes and Jensen, well, Jensen had to be honest-he shook his head a tiny bit. Jared’s shoulders slumped, looking adorably dejected. It almost made Jensen wished that he’d lied. “So, let’s go back to the party, okay?”
Now that sounded like a plan. Katrina slid off the piano-fucking finally-and they backtracked through the maze that was the mansion that they were supposedly living in before reaching the yard again. Lita was lounging on one of the chaise chairs, all miles of naked skin with Chad still drooling after her (did he even realize that she wasn’t here for him?). Tom and Danneel were engrossed in conversation, possibly about the horrors of the modeling world, while Mike and Misha were chatting with Felicity, laughing loudly. Mary and Ben were hanging out by the food table, trying to not be obvious about the fact that they were waiting for Jared to come back but their eyes lit up the moment they saw him. David was still bouncing a basketball on the court by himself but Georgie was in the pool, holding a beach ball and smiling at them.
“Anyone up for a game?” she asked with a wink and good God, but it had to be her job or something to work out because no one that didn’t spend hours at the gym could possibly look like that. She had to have, maybe, one percent body fat.
“Oh, count me in,” Sandy said, pulling off her shirt. Jared watched her with interest as she stripped down to a tiny white bikini and Jensen tried not to feel too awfully jealous. Jared looked like he could crush her.
“Yeah,” Jared agreed breathily and, to Jensen’s embarrassed arousal, stripped off his shirt as well. Jared looked even better than Georgie, Jensen thought, and he wondered just how long Jared spent in the gym, himself. Apparently, judging by the fucking twelve pack abs, it was about 48 hours a day. The man was fucking cut and Jensen resisted the urge to wipe his mouth for drool. Wow. Apparently Jared really got into the whole action-star lifestyle. Jared caught him staring and winked as he pushed down his jeans, not having any problem stripping completely in front of the cameras, and Jensen flushed again. He supposed that Jared was used to it, though-all of it-and with a body like his, he couldn’t really expect people not to stare.
Sandy was already in the pool when Jared finished stripping and Jared glanced at Jensen and Justin who were both eyeing the beach-ready bodies dubiously. Jared smiled and ran his hand lightly down Jensen’s arm before jumping in after Sandy and Georgie, splashing towards the giggling girls. Ben-surprise, surprise-was right in after him, barreling past Jensen to dive into the pool. David, too, had dropped his basketball and wandered over, roughly splashing into the water.
Jensen was unsure what game that the five were playing but he did know that it involved a whole lot of splashing and touching and out and out grabbing and not a whole lot about the actual ball.
Mike wandered over to his side, raising his beer to the spectacle. “Yeah, that’s nice.” He turned on Jen. “That looks way too active for me. Do you want to try out the hot tub?”
Jensen glanced over to the raised tub up on the patio of the house and, he had to admit, he really kind of did. It’d been a long fucking time since he’d had a chance to use a hot tub-ever since Chris had been involved with that hotshot lawyer lady, actually-and it sounded absolutely wonderful. Except… Jensen glanced unhappily at the cameras, most of which were currently circling the party in the pool. It wasn’t as though they needed to cover the hot tub, though-the embedded cameras already had that thing covered in six different angles.
Mike laughed, clapping Jensen on the shoulder. “Gotta get used to them sometime, Jenny. You ain’t got anything to worry about. Now strip.” With an explicit order like that, Jensen found he didn’t have it in himself to argue. He quietly slunk over to the tub and began to unbutton his shirt as Mike started rounding up other people. “Hey, Dani! Mish! Tommy boy! You up for a soak? Mary, Mary, quite contrary, you know you want to!”
Jensen stared down at the swirling water beside him and, cameras aside, it looked inviting. It also looked big enough to fit about twelve people-like the rest of the house, it was completely outsized and obviously made to impress. Jensen slipped his shirt off his shoulders, discarding it in one of the chairs behind him as he unhooked his mic. They’d been told that the hot tub was one of the few places were they were allowed to take off the microphones, probably because not only were water and electronics-even waterproofed electronics-a generally bad idea, but the area was so blanketed by various sound recording equipment, that Jeff could probably hear your innermost thoughts. Jensen hurriedly pushed off his pants and threw them on top on his shirt before he sunk into the water. The less time he spent half-naked in front of the cameras, the better Jensen figured his mental health would be. His family was probably going to watch this, after all, and wasn’t that a horrifying thought? Jensen couldn’t decide which was worse: his family watching this or Chris. Probably Chris because Chris was going to watch it with Steve and between the two of them, Jensen knew that he’d never hear the end of it.
All because of one drunken confession and a dare while watching TV one night. God. Jensen bowed his head, hiding his slight blush and hoping to blame it on the heat of the water. He still couldn’t believe that he’d confessed to Chris about Jared being his favorite jerk-off fantasy. It really wasn’t Jensen’s fault. It was Jared with his stupidly gorgeous body, full-hearted laugh, honest, adorable puppy-dog eyes and amazing talent. Jensen was obviously not meant to be able to resist that kind of combination.
With a sigh, Jensen let himself relax into the warm water, letting himself drift as he absently watched the steam rise from the tub into the night air. If it wasn’t for the various cameras pointing directly at him, Jensen would be convinced that he was in some version of heaven.
“Water nice and hot, Jenny?” Except, in Jensen’s heaven, Mike and his stupid nickname probably wouldn’t be there. Mike slipped in beside Jensen, unconcerned about Jensen’s glare and sighed happily as he settled in. Tom and Misha followed after him and even Danneel in her blue bikini. Mary sat on the edge of the tub, dipping her feet in and unbuttoning the top few buttons of her suit and shirt. “Yeah,” Mike said. “I could definitely live in here.”
“You could be a dolphin,” Misha replied.
“And then he could do tricks for fish,” Danneel joked.
“Mackerel is very tasty.” Misha grinned, his blue eyes vivid and sparkling.
“It’d be a sweet life,” Mike said, cutting in.
“Except for the part that you’d only be eating raw fish and doing tricks for tourists.” Jensen smirked when the rest of the group glanced at him.
Mike laughed. “Hey, I like sushi. And my life’s kind of hollow as it is-maybe doing tricks for tourists would give me meaning.”
“It’s good to have goals,” Misha said, nodding.
“See? Mish agrees with me. Jenny’s just jealous of my career opportunities.”
“Fuck you,” Jensen replied easily, splashing water at Mike.
“You’re just lucky that I am way too comfortable right now to move otherwise I’d dunk you.” Jensen rolled his eyes. He’d like to see Mike try. He shifted against the wall of the tub, spreading out. “Damn, Jen, you sure you’re a writer?”
Jensen sat up straight, glancing over at Mike. “Yeah,” he replied. He was pretty sure he knew his own profession. “Why?”
Mike raised his eyebrows. “Because you’re pretty damn cut for sitting on your ass all day.” Jensen couldn’t stop the resulting blush. Damn it! Mike was giggling again.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to get sick of that,” a new voice rumbled and Jensen tried to sink into the water as Jared slid into the tub with them. Jared grinned at Jensen and Jensen blushed harder. “I’m still going to find out if it goes all the way.”
The pool party had apparently drawn to a close, the participants pulling themselves out of the water and drying off. Sandy and Ben joined Jared in sliding into the tub and soon the rest of the houseguests wandered over as well, even David.
The tub had definitely been made for parties like this but even still, Jensen was starting to feel just a little crowded. He had Mike on one side and Mary’s feet on the other and nearly every other houseguest was in the tub with them. It was a little unsettling, almost like Jensen was sharing a bath with a Roman orgy. He winced. His ideal orgy, probably wouldn’t be much of an orgy at all. Unless, of course, Jared had a twin or three. Then it could probably qualify.
Katrina didn’t want to get her hair wet-she’d just gotten it styled, she said-so she was sitting on the outside of the tub like Mary was. Justin had claimed the exact same thing, but he hadn’t let it stop him from getting into the water anyway. Lita, of course, had wedged herself against Jared, having pushed Misha out of the way to get there and Jared, like always, had adapted, throwing an arm over her shoulder. Chad had, of course, plopped himself down on the other side of Lita. “Yeah, that’s nice,” he said and Jensen had his doubts if Chad was referring to the water. Chad leered at the rest of the assembled crowd and Jensen felt just a little bit slimy.
…Did Chad always give off that feeling?
“So how is everybody liking the house?” Jared asked.
“Oh, it’s great,” Felicity answered as she checked to make sure her blonde hair was perfectly pinned up-she was probably a bottle blonde just like Lita and afraid of the chlorine. “I love it.”
“It’s to die for,” Justin agreed. “I just love the décor.”
“I’m rather fond of the extremely large plastic apple in the center of the living room,” Misha said and the group fell silent as they stared at him.
Jared laughed. “It is a bit much, isn’t it?” There were a few hesitant nods and he smiled again. “I didn’t pick it out-the producers did. Said it was ‘edgy.’” The place was edgy alright-except that the edges were sharp enough to cut.
“Hey, dude,” Chad protested. “This house is kickin’.”
Jared laughed. “Of course you like it.”
“Say what you want man, I’ve got my eye on that zebra couch. Thing’s sweet.”
“Maybe they’ll let you have it when we’re done,” Jared said before turning to include everybody else. “So are we liking being here?” he asked, getting a chorus of affirmative answers. Even Jensen had to agree. Despite the cameras and the absolute ton of new people, he was rather glad he was here. After all, how else would he have ever gotten a chance to share a hot tub with the Jared Padalecki? Only in his wet dreams, that was for sure. “That’s good.”
They rambled on through a few more topics, Jared leading the conversation with a series of questions with Chad interjecting with his mostly skeevy but sometimes insightful comments. Jensen let him soak it all in, the words washing over him. Jared had a great speaking voice-Jensen thought he should record it and sell it. He wouldn’t even have to make sense-he could just read off a grocery list or maybe the dictionary-but Jensen was sure he’d make money anyway. Hell, Jensen knew he’d probably own two copies: one to play and one to treasure.
Which put him at the top of the pile in sheer pathetic fanboy-ness, but hey. Jensen was embracing his inner self.
All too soon, though, Jeff put in an appearance and then Jared was pushing himself out of the tub and standing dripping on the patio, water running over the hard lines of his body. Jensen tried not to stare but it was impossible. He settled for just not drooling. At least not obviously. “Okay, guys,” Jared said. “It’s been really great meeting you all. Thanks so much for coming. Chad and I, uh, have to go inside now, though, and…decide who’s going home.” Jensen felt his heart clench despite himself. He didn’t think that Jared would send him home, at least not yet, but that didn’t stop his instinct to panic. “So, enjoy yourselves a little more, get dried off and changed and I’ll see you in the main room in an hour. Okay?”
They nodded as a group, like the hopeless sheep they were and Jared smiled apologetically at them before leaving. As Jared and Chad walked inside, Jensen glanced around at his housemates, noticing a few confident grins and more than a couple worried frowns. Mike, though, was blowing bubbles in the water and that couldn’t possibly be sanitary.
Eliminations had to be the most surreal part of reality shows, Jensen thought. Because try as he might, he couldn’t think of a way that reality show eliminations truly compared to real life. It wasn’t like you ever got voted out of the house of life-not yet anyway. So, like the cameras but even more so, Jensen didn’t think that he’d ever get used to them. He didn’t think that he wanted to.
He was standing on the side of the room, lined up with the show’s other contestants. They were in two rows, all dressed to impress-some less than others, Jensen thought, glancing at David’s athletic shorts-and staring at Jared who was standing alone and who was also, for once, not smiling. Jared not smiling was kind of like the sun winking out of existence, Jensen thought-it was just so opposite of what the natural order should be that you felt cold inside.
“So guys, I only have twelve necklaces to hand out and there are fourteen of you.” Jared held up a silver chain with a tiny ‘J’ hanging off from it. “I really don’t like doing this, but I’m told I have to, so, if it’s alright with you guys, I’d rather just get on with this. Um…okay, so first is a person that really stood out for me-smart, funny and really good looking, I definitely want to get to know this person more. So, Misha, can you come up and get your necklace?”
Misha smiled and strode to where Jared was standing. Jensen watched, his mouth dry and a pit of apprehension in his gut as he watched Jared attach the silver chain around Misha’s neck. “I can’t wait to talk more,” Jared said, kissing Misha on the cheek. Misha nodded and stepped off to the side while Jared pulled out another chain. “Next is another person that I really enjoyed talking to tonight and definitely want to get to know more about. Sandy?” Sandy clasped her hands over her mouth like she was actually shocked at being chosen and Jensen just barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Of course she’d be chosen.
“You’re so amazingly talented and I’m honored that you’re here for me,” Jared said as he gave Sandy her token and a peck on the cheek as well. “Next is a person that I’d definitely like to see more of if you know what I mean. Ben?”
The nervous apprehension in Jensen’s gut was starting to grow, taking over his entire body. He clenched his fists to stop himself from shaking. It was ridiculous to be worried about this-he knew that. Either he’d be picked or he wouldn’t and it wasn’t going to be the end of the world. Knowing that, though, didn’t stop him from breathing just a little too fast, anticipation and disappointment warring inside of him, getting worse as Jared picked Mike and Lita-freaking Lita-putting the thin chains around their necks.
“The next person is a little bit shy but I think I kind of liked that and, you know, I just have to know how far down that blush goes. Jensen?”
Jensen jumped as his heart skipped a beat and he stared at Jared’s hopeful smile. The ball of anticipation exploded inside of him and Jensen should have had to scrape himself off the walls instead of just clenching his fists to stop his shaking and walking down to where Jared was waiting.
Jared’s sure hands brushed against Jensen’s skin, making him shiver, as Jared attached the necklace. “So, what you told me outside? I won’t repeat it but I wanted you to know that I really liked what you said. A lot.” Jensen didn’t try to stop the blush this time, just smiled through it as he walked over to where the rest of the chosen group was waiting.
Jared worked his way through the throng of hopefuls, picking Danneel, Tom, Georgie and Justin. Felicity nearly fainted when Jared called her name, stumbling down the stairs to stand in front of him.
Mary, Katrina and David were the last ones left standing on the stairs. Jensen swallowed, glancing between all of their faces and wondering who Jared was going to pick. “Mary, I didn’t get to see much of you tonight. You were holding back but the bit I did get to see, I liked.” Mary nodded and pushed her hair over her shoulder. “Katrina, you…were the opposite.” Jared looked truly apologetic as Katrina’s mouth dropped open. “You were very front and center but demanding and you got into that fight with Justin while everybody else was in the pool.” Jensen glanced over at Justin who looked smug. Jensen must have missed that moment and he was just a little bit sorry he had-he was sure that it had to have been a bitch-fight of the century. “And, uh, I don’t think a national disaster should be talked about so lightly. I’m really sorry, but I didn’t chose you. The red carpet ends here.”
“Are you kidding?” Katrina demanded, ready to pitch a fit. Then, apparently remembering where she was and exactly how many cameras were on her, she stopped herself and stood up to her full height of just under five foot. She marched out brushing off the attempt of a hug that Jared tried to give her. Jared glanced at the floor and huffed a little laugh before looking back up at Mary and David.
“Uh... Okay. David, you were kind of like Mary: I didn’t get to see much of you, either. So...I had to make a choice and it was a hard one, believe me, but I went with my gut. Mary, come get your necklace?” Jared held it out to her and Mary closed her eyes, blowing out a small sigh before she descended the stairs and walked towards him. David, left by himself, shrugged and looked relatively unconcerned.
Jared hooked the chain around Mary’s neck. “You’re wicked smart and I like that. I’d definitely like to get to know you more.”
“I’d like to get to know you more,” Mary replied and Jared smiled, running a hand over her shoulder.
“I’d like that.” He looked back up at David as Mary joined the rest of the group. “I’m really sorry, David. I’m sure that you’re a great person and I really didn’t want to get rid of anybody.”
“It’s cool, man,” David said, walking into Jared’s hug.
Jared hugged with his entire body, holding absolutely nothing back as he wrapped his arms around David and pushed in close. Jensen shivered and stared at the floor as his brain grabbed a hold of the idea of wondering what it would be like to be on the receiving end of one of Jared’s hugs and ran with it. It looked pretty damn hot from the distance he was standing at and his body was assuring him that it would be even better up close.
Jared finally let David go, letting him walk out the front door like Katrina had done, and turned to face the rest of the group. He bit his lip, steeling himself for a moment and Jensen felt a throb of empathy even as he wondered just how Jared could have formed attachments so incredibly fast. Then Jared smiled, pushing it all away and, once again, Jensen was amazed at his acting talent. “Well, I’m glad that’s over. So, how about a toast to all of us that are still here and a remembrance to those who aren’t?”
A couple of waiters were circulating, holding flutes of champagne and Jensen took one, holding it up as Jared said, “Here’s to finding true love.”
“Here, here!” Mike yelled and Jensen downed his entire glass. He had a feeling that he was going to need it.
Part 1 | Master Post | Part 3