Fic: RPS (Jared/Jensen): In It for Love [4 / 16] | PG-13 | 6060 words
Title: In It for Love [ 4 / 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): The end of the first 'date' and another elimination.
Word Count: 6060 (this part)
Disclaimer: Never happened, no affiliation.
Master Post: Master Post
Part 3 | Master Post | Part 5
Episode 2 - Second Half
After ‘their’ team had won the match, Jared had been absolutely glowing with happiness and Jensen had felt an urge to put on sunblock just by being around him. Or at least shade his eyes from the glare. Maybe bask like a contented lizard. Before he could do anything, though, Jared had disappeared for a half hour, sending the group back to the limo to drive around town for a little awhile before the car had pulled up in front of a small restaurant that, when they walked in, had no customers.
Sandy started inspecting the place nearly immediately, running her hands lightly over the checkered tablecloths of the empty tables, and walking around the outskirts of the dining room. Jensen himself was doing the same thing, but only with his eyes, taking in everything about the place-from its small dining room and rather intimately arranged tables, to the double swinging doors leading to the kitchen.
There was no doubt, though, that they were in the right place. Recording equipment was scattered all around and, as they waited, two cameramen emerged from a side door, walking backwards and Jared was right behind them. Jared smiled at them, spreading his hands wide. “Welcome to Peter’s, guys.” He did a dramatic sweep of his arms, encompassing the whole place with the gesture. “As you can see, it’s kind of closed. But there’s a good reason for that!” He held up his finger, looking like the school prankster about to reveal one of his masterpieces. “Because for the next two hours, this place is ours.”
Misha started clapping and the rest of them joined in until Jared waved them down. “And Peter himself is in the kitchen and has personally made us a dinner that I swear is good enough to die for. I know you guys have got to be hungry, so let’s eat, right?” Jared waded into the middle of them like a benevolent king, urging them all towards the room that he had just come out of. As they started moving towards it, he grabbed a hold of Georgie, swinging her around in his arms and kissing her cheek as she laughed. “MVP,” he murmured and kissed her again.
Jensen forced himself to look away, following the rest of the group into the room, but he could see that he, thankfully, wasn’t the only one feeling just a little bit jealous. Sandy was glancing anywhere but Jared’s direction, Mary’s lips were pursed and Ben, already in the room, was standing at parade rest again which Jensen was starting to realize was Ben’s non-fidgety way of dealing with nerves.
Misha was the only one who looked okay, but, then again, he always did appear kind of Zen. He was sitting down at the large table in the room that was sat for seven, choosing a spot in the center and looking absolutely serene.
Jared gave Georgie one last kiss, chuckling when she surprised him by turning and tilting up her face so he caught her lips this time.
Jensen was definitely going to win next time, cameras and possible competition be damned because, damn it, he wanted it to be him that everyone was averting their eyes from. His vehemence at the thought shocked him a little, but he was going to chalk it up to his deep-seated competitive streak. Usually it only came out for sports and his writing, but apparently he was making an exception.
Jensen had never had to fight for a guy before, though, so maybe he would always do this? It was a bit unsettling to think about but they always said that reality TV brought out the worst in people. Besides, how could he go back and face Chris if he didn’t honest to God try?
At Jared’s beckoning, they all sat down at the table that Misha was already occupying-Jared at the head with Georgie on his left and Jensen hadn’t had a prayer of being quick enough to beat Sandy to the seat at Jared’s right. Instead, he settled for sitting next to Sandy and then Mary sat down next to him, at the end of the table. Ben took the last available seat and Jared grinned at them. “I want to thank you all so much for coming,” he said. “I really hope you enjoy this.”
The doors at the end of the room opened again, a couple of waiters bringing out large trays of food and Jensen wondered if every meal with Jared was always going to involve such huge quantities. Not that he was complaining-it smelled delicious. Even if, when the waiter set down a plate in front of him, he was pretty sure he didn’t recognize any of it.
“Everybody, I want you to meet Peter, who’s the chef that cooked all this for you.” Jared waved his hand at the door where a slight, blond man was standing. As everyone nodded and murmured appreciatively, Peter smiled and backed out, presumably to head back to his kitchen. Jared grinned. “Okay, now don’t ask me how to pronounce any of this, I just know that it’s going to be amazing.”
Jensen watched as Misha took a first bite and moaned. “Good, right?” Jared said, nodding approvingly. Misha’s eyes fluttered and he took another big bite. Mary also started helping herself and Jensen figured that he might as well, too.
“Jared, this food is fantastic,” Mary said appreciatively in her throaty voice. The first bit hit Jensen’s tongue and he had to agree. Flavor exploded in his mouth and for a second, he felt the urge to follow in Misha’s footsteps and moan, too.
Wow. And just what else had he been missing his entire life? He took another bite, wrapping his tongue around his fork to catch every last bit, trying to savor the experience but Jared caught his eye as he was doing it. Jared was licking his lips though he hadn’t touched his food yet and he was staring directly at Jensen. Jensen choked.
He covered it with a small cough, reaching for his water, but, by the time he recovered, Jared was already looking away, talking with Sandy.
“I donate every year to all the local pounds,” Jared was saying. “That’s where I got my dogs from and I want to help out in any way possible.”
“Yeah,” Sandy replied, nodding her head enthusiastically. “I totally believe in volunteer work and donations. I help out in soup kitchens during the holidays and I love donating to charities, too. There are just so many worthwhile causes out there-I feel like I’m making a difference!”
“I know, right? Me, too! And, you know, putting in little appearances like we did, work wonders for the kids’ self-esteem, especially when they find out that you’re just a normal person.”
Ben was still looking rather dubiously at some of the food but, like everybody else, he was gamely trying everything. Judging by the look on his face, he wasn’t exactly regretting it, either.
“Every year, the gym that I work at donates to the St. Jude’s,” Georgie was adding. Jensen wished he had something to add as well, but, well, he figured that a few bucks to the Salvation Army here or there, didn’t exactly measure up to the Global ‘Let’s Make a Difference!’ slogan that they were talking about.
“So, Mary!” Jared said, switching tracks in mid-ride. “I haven’t heard much about you, yet. You’re a lawyer right?”
Mary smiled demurely and took a sip of water. “Yes.”
“So, if I get into trouble, you could totally save me from going to prison, right?” Jared would probably look pretty damn good in prison, sweaty gray shirt on as he benched huge amounts of weights and Jensen really needed to stop basing his idea of prison on HBO’s Oz.
“You think you could afford me?” Mary asked lightly.
“I’d re-mortgage my house,” Jared confided. “So I take it that you’re pretty good then?”
“Well, I don’t know if I’d be able to keep you out of prison-I specialize in civil cases, not criminal.”
Jared waved her off. “I’ll have to make sure that I’m never arrested, then. Where’d you graduate from?”
“Yale.”
“No kidding!” Jared said. “So you’re really smart, huh?”
“Possibly,” she replied, laughing. “It’s nice of you to say so.” From there, Jared launched into a conversation with her over the complexities of contracts and while Jensen found the whole thing fascinating to listen to, it wasn’t as if he had much to add. Instead, he just sat back and absorbed it like a sponge, possible ideas for a movie star character with contract problems swirling into his head. After that, the conversation shifted back to what Jensen was starting to identify as a favorite topic of Jared’s: his dogs. He and Misha started to discuss the different issues surrounding animals and before Jensen knew it, he was scraping his plate clean.
Jared sat back, patting his full stomach. “That was good, wasn’t it guys?” He glanced past them and Jensen turned his head to see Jeff standing at the door, pointing at his watch. “Well, listen. It was really great to be able to talk to you all and I hope to do it again, real soon but right now apparently Georgie and I are running a little bit late, so…” He took Georgie’s hand, kissing it again and then turned back to the rest of them. “I’ll see you guys a little bit later.” He gave them one last smile before ducking his head beside Georgie’s murmuring something to make her laugh and Jensen took that as his cue to leave before he managed to do something stupid. Like flip over the table or possibly drag Jared away by his overly floofy hair.
Jensen flopped backward on the zebra print couch, bringing his feet up off the fuzzy purple rug and sighed. He really had to admit that this sucked. Without Jared around to keep him occupied, Jensen was left with nothing but an extremely tacky house, some bored crazy people and his own overactive imagination that was making up scenarios for what might be going on right now wherever Jared and Georgie, the so buff she might as well be a man physical trainer, were. They were probably kissing. And Jared’s hand was holding her face just like he liked to do in all his movies, keeping her at just the right angle while she slowly slide off his shirt-oh fuck’s sake. Jensen slammed his hand down on the couch arm, hating himself, and he saw Misha staring at him. Misha was once again holding the gigantic plastic apple, inspecting it like a curious cat, and Jensen blushed when he raised an eyebrow. “Sorry,” Jensen murmured. Christ. Now he was one of the crazy people, too.
This was apparently what hanging out with Jared Padalecki did to people. The man turned them all into raving lunatics just by breathing.
He was saved from having to make any further explanations or maybe just dieing in embarrassment by the thundercloud that was Felicity. Jensen thought he would have rather have had to deal with Misha’s too knowing looks. She stormed into the room and marched up to them, regarding them both with a cold glance before she turned her complete focus onto Jensen. She shook out her blond hair and then curled up in the opposite corner of the couch like a rattlesnake and Jensen fought down the urge to run. He knew that would do anything but reveal his fear and he had a few terrifying moments of entertaining the thought of trying to make a run for it and Felicity bringing him down like a lioness with a gazelle. It wouldn’t be pretty.
Ever since she’d lost the match and the chance at a date, Felicity had apparently been terrorizing the entire house and now, after a few hours later of having sufficiently cowing her former teammates or having at least driven them off, she was occupying herself with trying to antagonize everyone else. Jensen knew that he should have hid when he had the chance. He just really had thought that Mary would hold her off for longer. The two had been sniping back and forth in the kitchen for the past half hour with Felicity only understanding half of Mary’s digs and getting more and more pissed off about that fact.
“So…” Felicity said, pushing her hair back behind her ear. “How are you doing?” Jensen licked his lips because if this went the way he thought it was going to, he had about thirty seconds before she struck and he’d have to start thinking of really good comebacks which, yeah, sometimes he had some winners, but he only had a fifty/fifty chance of pulling that off. Felicity continued on without his answer, running her nails over the back of the couch. “You know, I really worry about you. And people like you. You know what I mean, right?”
Jensen really didn’t. He was still waiting for the damn shoe to drop.
Felicity leaned in, lowering her voice. “I mean, do you really think that Jared’s going to pick a guy?” Jensen blinked at her concerned, scheming face, his jaw dropping, unable to believe his ears. She was seriously playing the gay card here? “I mean, our liberal government pushed through a bill but that doesn’t mean that everyone feels that way, you know. Jared’s family doesn’t feel that way-they’re from Texas. I know you don’t know that, but I do, because I know him so well, and I know how people from Texas are.”
Jensen dropped his eyes from her, staring at the ground, wondering what he was supposed to say to that. Because, uh, he did know how people from Texas were and he was also pretty sure that they were just people.
“He’s not going to pick a guy,” Felicity continued confidently. “Sure, he might want to do one because, well, everyone experiments sometime, right? And Jared’s pretty open about that kind of thing. But when it comes down to someone to bring home to his mother? He’s going to choose someone like me. So I really worry about you. Are you doing okay?”
He sucked in a breath, buying himself some time because if he was going to answer that in any way remotely approaching satisfactorily, he was going to have to think about it because he wanted it to be good. “You…” He trailed off, glaring at his hands which had clenched into fists on his thighs. Fuck it. “You don’t actually know him,” he told her, glancing up to stare her down. “Don’t pretend that you do.” He stood up, not willing to let her drag this on like she wanted but she jumped up to, stepping in front of him.
“Of course I know him,” she hissed. “I-”
“No, you don’t!” Jensen said, circling around her. “You’ve seen a few movies! You’ve looked up a few facts! You don’t actually know him. Neither do I but at least I don’t pretend otherwise.” Jesus fucking Christ. “None of us actually know him.”
Felicity narrowed her eyes, moving closer to stand only a few inches away from Jensen, coming up to just about his shoulder. She was trying to appear intimidating, he knew, but still-his shoulder. “He’s still not going to choose you,” she sneered. “Jared’s not a fag.”
“I think you’re on the wrong show,” Jensen shot back quietly. Or maybe she’d just missed her calling in life. There was a big market for people like her.
“You bitch,” someone snarled and Jensen glanced over his shoulder to see Danneel stomping towards them. He had a quick argument with himself whether to hold his ground or to cut and run because, unlike Felicity, Danneel was absolutely fucking terrifying when she was pissed. “You think you can get away with saying whatever you want?” Felicity, though, beat him to the punch, already backing away. “You fucking little rich bitch, how dare you call me a golddigger?”
Well, that was being bleeped come editing time. Jensen swallowed hard and edged away, trying to get out of the line of fire. This obviously wasn’t his fight any more.
“ ‘Over the hill’?” Danneel growled. “I’ll fucking show you ‘over the hill’!”
The backs of Felicity’s legs hit the couch, and she firmed her spine, apparently figuring on fighting now that she was cornered. “Well, you’ve got to admit,” she said, “you are a little bit past your prime.”
“How fucking dare you!” Misha dropped the apple at Danneel’s screech, hightailing it for safer pastures and Jensen had to agree. He darted off towards the kitchen, sparing a look back at the girls who hadn’t even noticed that they’d been left alone. He skittered around the corner and almost tripped over Mike who was crouched down on the ground, peering out just past the door jamb. Jensen just barely caught himself on the counter, somehow managing to avoid Tom, too, who was watching the scene from the ever safer distance of behind Mike. “Oh, this is good…” Mike whispered. His hands twitched like he was wishing he had a camera.
Jensen glared at him. “I almost died out there and you’re happy?”
Mike rolled his eyes. “You lived, didn’t you? Don’t be so melodramatic. At the very most, you only would have lost an ear or something.”
“I hate you,” Jensen hissed but yet he was still joining Mike in peering back out at Danneel and Felicity.
“Whatever. This is so much better than her going after Mary: there’s a possibility of violence.” Mike grinned back at Tom who stared at him like he was crazy. Jensen was glad that he wasn’t the only one thinking so.
“You presumptuous little slut!” Danneel yelled. “At least I’ve got something going for me!”
“Had. You had something going for you. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? Because nobody wants to book the old wrinkly model!”
The shrieks were definitely getting louder and they were attracting an audience. Misha and Jensen might have fled but Lita wasn’t afraid of a fight. She ran into the room, jumping over the chair to land beside Danneel and Felicity, getting up in Felicity’s face shouting about how she was going to “Take this useless fucking whore down a peg!” Jesus. Sandy rushed in, too, but she wasn’t shouting insults, instead she was shouting for everyone to just calm down and talk this through like rational people. Which, good fucking luck. Justin was out and out laughing over on the stairs like the little emo troll he was and, oh, look. There was Jeff.
Jeff was standing out of view, looking mildly concerned about the way that Lita kept clenching her fists, fake lunging at Felicity and occasionally kicking the chair, but otherwise he was just short of clapping for joy. He’d just lucked upon ratings gold and he knew it. Jensen tried to hate him for it, but he knew that if he was Jeff, he’d probably be doing the exact same thing.
“Don’t you think that we should do something?” Jensen asked Mike when the screaming started to reach a fever pitch.
Mike snorted. “Braver men than I have died by getting in the middle of a chick fight, man.” Jensen winced because Mike had a bit of a point. It looked like certain death out there. Jensen, though, couldn’t justify just standing around, especially not when Lita decided to stop pulling her punches and lunged for real.
“You fucking cunt!” she screamed, reaching for Felicity who squealed and ducked away.
“Hey!” Jensen yelled, wading into the middle of the fight. He wasn’t sure what he could do but at the very least, at 6 foot, he was taller than the girls and formed a barrier between them. It just remained to be seen, though, if his height was actually going to help or if he was going to be brought down like the Berlin Wall.
Luck was on his side, though, because Ben finally entered the fray, drawn by all the screaming and he grabbed Lita around the middle because apparently she wasn’t considering Jensen much of an obstacle. He lifted her up, swinging her around as she kicked out her legs screaming, “You can’t do a damned thing without your daddy’s money and you fucking know it! You’re a fucking whore!”
With Lita restrained, Felicity was apparently stupidly braver. “I’m so much better than you’ll ever be and you know it, you white trash trailer ho!” she yelled, coming close again. Jensen stopped her, holding his hands up and stepping in front of her as she tried to scream around him.
Lita broke free from Ben’s hold with one last desperate swing and rushed forward. Jensen braced for impact because this was just going to suck and Felicity’s eyes widened.
“I’m going to fucking KILL you!”
Felicity screamed, turning tail and running, this time for real, bounding up the stairs, as Ben grabbed a hold of Lita again. “Calm down,” he ordered as Lita twisted and snarled, out for blood.
The fight over with-despite Lita’s feelings on the matter-Danneel took a deep breath before turning away to head out the patio doors and into the backyard. Sandy, looking desperately close to tears, walked towards the kitchen where Jensen could see Mike jumping up, trying to pretend that he hadn’t just been hiding and watching the whole thing.
“That so fucking sucked,” Sandy said, wiping at the tears that were still threatening and Jensen had to agree.
Ben’s deep voice was still murmuring to Lita but Jensen couldn’t make out what he was saying or what Lita was telling him in reply. He stepped closer, curious despite the manners that his mother had tried to train into him but fortunately for his mother’s pride, Jeff caught him before he could get close enough to get called out for eavesdropping. “Jensen,” Jeff said and Jensen turned toward him to see Jeff pointing at the damn closet. He had to be fucking kidding. Jeff raised an eyebrow to let Jensen know that no he was not.
Jensen sighed and resigned himself to being stuck in the closet with Jeff for a little while. He followed after the producer who shut the door behind them. The room was plain with only one camera pointing at a chair and a simple red backdrop. Just out of view of the camera was another chair that Jeff sat down in. Jeff motioned for Jensen to take a seat in the chair that the camera was watching and Jensen sat down on the edge. No way was he ever going to get comfortable in here. He might not watch a lot of reality TV shows, but he did know that the little confessionals could really be a bitch reputation-wise.
Jeff waited a few seconds for Jensen to start talking but, when Jensen didn’t, he wasn’t above prompting. “Want to tell us what happened out there?”
No. Not really. “Uh…” Jensen shrugged, feeling a blush starting to creep up his neck. There was no way that he was going to be able to pull this off the way that he wanted to. Directly in front of a camera with Jeff’s dark eyes staring him down, Jensen felt too uncomfortable to pull off anything remotely smooth. His words were getting caught in his throat and his mind was going blank. “Fel-Felicity wanted to, uh, talk.”
Jeff nodded. “About what?” he prompted again.
Jensen stared down at his hands which were trying to twist together into a pretzel. “She was just mad,” he said.
“Mad about what?”
“About not winning,” Jensen said, glancing up at Jeff who was nodding in agreement. It brought a small smile out of Jensen because he should have known that Jeff would already know what was up. “She’s been taking it out on everybody,” he added, feeling the butterflies in his stomach start to settle, just a little bit. “Guess I was just next.”
“Mmm hmm. What did she say to you?”
Jensen swallowed, uncomfortable again. “Uh…she. She…doesn’t think that Jared’s going to pick a guy.” He stopped, licking his lips.
“How did that make you feel?” Jeff asked, leaning forward.
Jensen shrugged. “Angry, I guess.”
“Angry?”
“Yeah,” his hands were twisting together again and Jensen deliberately separated them, smoothing them against his thighs. “Because she doesn’t know anything,” he said, flicking his eyes up to meet Jeff’s. “She thinks she does but she doesn’t.”
Jeff’s face broke into a slow smile and he nodded. “That’s right, Jensen,” he agreed. “Thanks for coming in here,” he added and Jensen blinked because apparently they were done and he hadn’t said anything really. Jeff winked. “First time’s always the hardest, I know. These will get easier as we go along.”
Just like the whole camera thing, Jensen didn’t believe him but he nodded anyway. “Okay.”
“Okay? Now, back to the house with you.”
Jensen left the closet, wondering exactly what he’d said that had made Jeff smile. He’d thought that he’d have to dish some major dirt to get the man to release him but maybe Jeff wasn’t as bad as Jared had been thinking.
Jared and Georgie arrived back at the house just after ten and Jensen was so fucking glad because it had felt like the house was strained like a too tight rubber band and ready to just fucking snap. Apparently someone had already briefed Jared outside, too, because when he came in, he wasn’t smiling. Jen felt his heart sink because he’d really needed that little bit of sunshine that it looked like he wasn’t going to get.
Instead, Jared had said good night to Georgie and had headed up the stairs, ignoring Justin who was sitting on them. Felicity was waiting beside his door like she’d been ever since the fight, no matter what kind of sniping comments Danneel and Lita had shot her way and Jensen heard her asking Jared if she could come in. He agreed and shut the door behind them.
Jensen sat back down on the zebra couch where he’d been waiting for Jared for a few hours now like a faithful dog and leaned over, hiding his mouth behind his hands. Mike, sitting in one of the chairs, drummed his fingers on the arm, and Misha was holding the apple again, spinning it around and around. Danneel walked over, having been glaring at Felicity the entire time and sat down next to Jensen while Lita flopped down in an empty chair. Sandy was sitting on the purple rug, legs drawn up while Ben, Tom and Mary circled around the outside.
Georgie joined them, eyes wide. “…What happened?” she asked.
Lita slammed her heel back against the chair. “We should be up there, too,” she growled.
“Doing what?” Danneel asked. “Kissing his ass and making fools of ourselves like she is? Let her hang herself with her own rope.”
“We should at least explain or something-”
Danneel held up her hand. “There’s ten of us against one of her.” She glanced over at Justin who was checking out his nails disinterestedly. “Okay. Nine of us. If he wants an explanation, he’ll ask us.”
“Not like they don’t have footage of her picking fights with everybody,” Sandy chimed in from the floor.
“That’s very true,” Mike agreed. “Seriously. She was making very pointed comments about my looks and possibly my dick size. I can’t be sure.” Jensen snorted. At least he hadn’t had to deal with that.
“She’s a conniving little bitch,” Danneel said, “and I’m already sick of her. Hopefully Jared sees her for what she is.”
“Unless Jared’s convinced to keep her around,” Misha interjected as he flipped his apple. The rest of the group turned to look at him and he shrugged. “Ratings are ratings and TV shows like ratings.”
“If she stays, I’m killing her tonight,” Lita snarled sullenly, probably already plotting the messiest way of doing so.
Jared’s door finally opened and they all glanced up as Jared emerged, Felicity clinging to him like a limpet and Jensen glared. Jared rubbed her shoulder and murmured something in her ear before sending her off towards the bedrooms while he made his way down the stairs. He passed Justin, running a hand over his shoulder and headed towards the assembled group. Jensen swallowed, feeling the butterflies start up in his stomach and fighting down the urge to run. Jared walked into the middle of the group and sat down on the couch between Jensen and Danneel, his warm leg pressing up against Jensen’s. He leaned forward, steepling his fingers and glanced around at all of them. “So,” he said, “I’ve, uh, been hearin’ lots of things.”
A few of them nodded, others frowned, but everybody was waiting patiently for him to continue. Jared turned towards Jensen, his hand landing large and warm on Jensen’s thigh and Jensen’s breath caught as he stared at it. “You okay?” Jared asked and Jensen didn’t even try to answer verbally. He knew that his voice wouldn’t be there. Instead, he nodded quickly and nearly whimpered when Jared quirked a small smile at him. “Okay.” He turned back to the rest of the group, asking them all the same question and getting a variety of answers in return. When he was done, he came back to the center. “So, I want you all to know that I’ve reviewed the tapes and talked it over with Jeff.” Jared stared at his hands. “And, uh, there’s not going to be an Elimination tonight.” The room was quiet, still waiting for Jared to finish and he winced. “Because Felicity just quit.”
“What?” Danneel asked, blinking.
Jared held up his hands. “That’s all I’m saying,” he said. “Now, I hope everyone else is still willing to do this thing with me because I’ve got to say, I’ve got feelings for all of you and really want you to stay.”
“Like we’d be crazy enough to quit,” Lita replied, leaving off the unspoken ‘unlike some people.’
Jared bobbed his head. “Good. That’s good.” He stood, slapping his hands against his thighs and Jensen was already missing his warmth. “So I’ll, uh, see you guys tomorrow.” They watched him go, taking the steps two at a time. He stopped next to Justin who apparently made him offer judging by Jared’s quiet, “I think I’m just going to be alone tonight.”
And Jensen felt just a little bit disappointed though he couldn’t quite put his finger on why.
It was still dark out when Jensen woke up. He groaned, putting a hand to his head, hoping that the world would just go away again, but there was a rustling to his right and that couldn’t be ignored. He pushed himself upward, blinking at the room and fumbling for his glasses. Not only was there rustling, now that he was listening, but there was also whispering and just what the fuck was going on?
When he finally managed to find his glasses, he could just barely make out Mary in the darkness, packing her suitcase and Jensen scrubbed at his face. What? Wondering if Mary had had a sudden attack of homesickness or something, Jensen threw back the covers and stood up. Tom was still fast asleep under his mound of covers. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“Mary’s leaving,” Jared said and Jensen jumped. Holy fuck, when did he get here?! Jensen stared at Jared like a deer in headlights but thankfully the man wasn’t looking at him, instead just sitting on Mary’s bed with his head in his hands.
When Mary spoke, it was with heavy regret in her tone. “I just got offered full partnership but only if I fly back tonight to take a new high profile case in the morning,” she whispered.
“Seriously?” Jensen asked, pushing a hand through his hair. It was way too early for this…
“Yes.” Mary zipped her suitcase, dropping it onto the floor before crouching down in front of Jared. “I’m really sorry,” she said, touching his hair and Jensen swallowed back the familiar surge of jealousy.
Jared glanced up with a bright smile despite his dejected pose. “It’s okay,” he whispered back. “I understand.” He kissed her cheek impulsively. “I hope you win.”
She nodded and straightened. “Thanks,” she said and picked up her suitcase, wheeling it out the door.
Jared sighed and Jensen didn’t think twice about kneeling down in front of him. “Hey, man, you okay?” Jared’s arms wrapped around Jensen’s shoulders, dragging him close without a word and Jensen squeaked, stiffening instinctually before letting himself relax into Jared’s hug. It was everything he’d imagined it to be-warm and strong and so full of just pure Jared. Jensen hesitantly raised his own hands, sliding them around Jared’s waist, and soaked up the feeling of Jared’s arms around him.
“You’re not leaving me, are you, Jen?” Jared asked, his voice quiet next to Jensen’s ear and Jensen shivered at the puff of air against his skin. When he shook his head, Jared nuzzled Jensen’s neck. “Good.”
Jensen’s hands tightened on Jared, fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt because Jared felt really fucking good against him. It was making him forget where he was or how many cameras might be watching or whether or not they were equipped with nightvision. It was making him think about pushing Jared down onto the bed and hoping like hell Tom didn’t wake up. On the whole, it really wasn’t something that Jensen needed to be dealing with when his defenses were still down and half asleep. He tried to pull away but Jared surprised him again when, with one amazingly simple move, he tilted Jensen’s head up and kissed him.
Dear God, Jensen thought faintly, his brain sputtering to a halt. His toes were curling, weren’t they? He was being kissed by Jared Padalecki and his toes were fucking curling like a stereotypical cliché. Deciding that he couldn’t be anymore pathetic and that he’d probably lost all respectability at this point anyway, Jensen whimpered and threw himself into the kiss, meeting Jared head on.
It was a chaste kiss, lasting only a few seconds but it felt like an eternity and Jensen was fast deciding that cameras or no, he was definitely okay with taking this a few steps further to which his body gave a resounding 'hell, yes.' His fingers twitched, wondering if they could slip underneath Jared’s shirt and find out if his skin was really as smooth as it looked on camera and Jensen squirmed a little as he felt his boxers growing tighter.
Except this time it was Jared pulling back whispering, “Sorry,” as he dropped his arms away from Jensen’s shoulders.
Jensen huffed a laugh because after a kiss like that no one should be sorry. “Any time,” whispered and then ducked his head to avoid Jared’s laughing eyes and fend off another blush. His mother was going to hear that.
“I’ll have to take you up on that,” Jared murmured and Jensen stopped breathing because yes, please? But then Jared was standing, smiling as he grabbed Jensen’s hand and pulled Jensen to his feet as well. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Jared said, tilting his head to give Jensen a peck on the cheek that Jensen tried not to feel too terribly disappointed about.
“Yeah…” Jensen rasped. “See you tomorrow.” He forced himself to drop his hand away from Jared, letting him go, and watched as Jared slowly ambled out of the room. He couldn’t have pried his eyes away if he wanted to because it wasn’t everyday that a man had an up close and personal view of Jared Padalecki’s ass and Jensen already knew that he wasn’t going to get any more sleep.
He’d almost consider going to the bathroom except that there’d be no possible way he could deny later on what he’d be doing. With a sigh, Jensen dropped himself back on to his bed and willed it to be tomorrow and one step closer.
It was a long time in coming.
Part 3 | Master Post | Part 5
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): The end of the first 'date' and another elimination.
Word Count: 6060 (this part)
Disclaimer: Never happened, no affiliation.
Master Post: Master Post
Part 3 | Master Post | Part 5
Episode 2 - Second Half
After ‘their’ team had won the match, Jared had been absolutely glowing with happiness and Jensen had felt an urge to put on sunblock just by being around him. Or at least shade his eyes from the glare. Maybe bask like a contented lizard. Before he could do anything, though, Jared had disappeared for a half hour, sending the group back to the limo to drive around town for a little awhile before the car had pulled up in front of a small restaurant that, when they walked in, had no customers.
Sandy started inspecting the place nearly immediately, running her hands lightly over the checkered tablecloths of the empty tables, and walking around the outskirts of the dining room. Jensen himself was doing the same thing, but only with his eyes, taking in everything about the place-from its small dining room and rather intimately arranged tables, to the double swinging doors leading to the kitchen.
There was no doubt, though, that they were in the right place. Recording equipment was scattered all around and, as they waited, two cameramen emerged from a side door, walking backwards and Jared was right behind them. Jared smiled at them, spreading his hands wide. “Welcome to Peter’s, guys.” He did a dramatic sweep of his arms, encompassing the whole place with the gesture. “As you can see, it’s kind of closed. But there’s a good reason for that!” He held up his finger, looking like the school prankster about to reveal one of his masterpieces. “Because for the next two hours, this place is ours.”
Misha started clapping and the rest of them joined in until Jared waved them down. “And Peter himself is in the kitchen and has personally made us a dinner that I swear is good enough to die for. I know you guys have got to be hungry, so let’s eat, right?” Jared waded into the middle of them like a benevolent king, urging them all towards the room that he had just come out of. As they started moving towards it, he grabbed a hold of Georgie, swinging her around in his arms and kissing her cheek as she laughed. “MVP,” he murmured and kissed her again.
Jensen forced himself to look away, following the rest of the group into the room, but he could see that he, thankfully, wasn’t the only one feeling just a little bit jealous. Sandy was glancing anywhere but Jared’s direction, Mary’s lips were pursed and Ben, already in the room, was standing at parade rest again which Jensen was starting to realize was Ben’s non-fidgety way of dealing with nerves.
Misha was the only one who looked okay, but, then again, he always did appear kind of Zen. He was sitting down at the large table in the room that was sat for seven, choosing a spot in the center and looking absolutely serene.
Jared gave Georgie one last kiss, chuckling when she surprised him by turning and tilting up her face so he caught her lips this time.
Jensen was definitely going to win next time, cameras and possible competition be damned because, damn it, he wanted it to be him that everyone was averting their eyes from. His vehemence at the thought shocked him a little, but he was going to chalk it up to his deep-seated competitive streak. Usually it only came out for sports and his writing, but apparently he was making an exception.
Jensen had never had to fight for a guy before, though, so maybe he would always do this? It was a bit unsettling to think about but they always said that reality TV brought out the worst in people. Besides, how could he go back and face Chris if he didn’t honest to God try?
At Jared’s beckoning, they all sat down at the table that Misha was already occupying-Jared at the head with Georgie on his left and Jensen hadn’t had a prayer of being quick enough to beat Sandy to the seat at Jared’s right. Instead, he settled for sitting next to Sandy and then Mary sat down next to him, at the end of the table. Ben took the last available seat and Jared grinned at them. “I want to thank you all so much for coming,” he said. “I really hope you enjoy this.”
The doors at the end of the room opened again, a couple of waiters bringing out large trays of food and Jensen wondered if every meal with Jared was always going to involve such huge quantities. Not that he was complaining-it smelled delicious. Even if, when the waiter set down a plate in front of him, he was pretty sure he didn’t recognize any of it.
“Everybody, I want you to meet Peter, who’s the chef that cooked all this for you.” Jared waved his hand at the door where a slight, blond man was standing. As everyone nodded and murmured appreciatively, Peter smiled and backed out, presumably to head back to his kitchen. Jared grinned. “Okay, now don’t ask me how to pronounce any of this, I just know that it’s going to be amazing.”
Jensen watched as Misha took a first bite and moaned. “Good, right?” Jared said, nodding approvingly. Misha’s eyes fluttered and he took another big bite. Mary also started helping herself and Jensen figured that he might as well, too.
“Jared, this food is fantastic,” Mary said appreciatively in her throaty voice. The first bit hit Jensen’s tongue and he had to agree. Flavor exploded in his mouth and for a second, he felt the urge to follow in Misha’s footsteps and moan, too.
Wow. And just what else had he been missing his entire life? He took another bite, wrapping his tongue around his fork to catch every last bit, trying to savor the experience but Jared caught his eye as he was doing it. Jared was licking his lips though he hadn’t touched his food yet and he was staring directly at Jensen. Jensen choked.
He covered it with a small cough, reaching for his water, but, by the time he recovered, Jared was already looking away, talking with Sandy.
“I donate every year to all the local pounds,” Jared was saying. “That’s where I got my dogs from and I want to help out in any way possible.”
“Yeah,” Sandy replied, nodding her head enthusiastically. “I totally believe in volunteer work and donations. I help out in soup kitchens during the holidays and I love donating to charities, too. There are just so many worthwhile causes out there-I feel like I’m making a difference!”
“I know, right? Me, too! And, you know, putting in little appearances like we did, work wonders for the kids’ self-esteem, especially when they find out that you’re just a normal person.”
Ben was still looking rather dubiously at some of the food but, like everybody else, he was gamely trying everything. Judging by the look on his face, he wasn’t exactly regretting it, either.
“Every year, the gym that I work at donates to the St. Jude’s,” Georgie was adding. Jensen wished he had something to add as well, but, well, he figured that a few bucks to the Salvation Army here or there, didn’t exactly measure up to the Global ‘Let’s Make a Difference!’ slogan that they were talking about.
“So, Mary!” Jared said, switching tracks in mid-ride. “I haven’t heard much about you, yet. You’re a lawyer right?”
Mary smiled demurely and took a sip of water. “Yes.”
“So, if I get into trouble, you could totally save me from going to prison, right?” Jared would probably look pretty damn good in prison, sweaty gray shirt on as he benched huge amounts of weights and Jensen really needed to stop basing his idea of prison on HBO’s Oz.
“You think you could afford me?” Mary asked lightly.
“I’d re-mortgage my house,” Jared confided. “So I take it that you’re pretty good then?”
“Well, I don’t know if I’d be able to keep you out of prison-I specialize in civil cases, not criminal.”
Jared waved her off. “I’ll have to make sure that I’m never arrested, then. Where’d you graduate from?”
“Yale.”
“No kidding!” Jared said. “So you’re really smart, huh?”
“Possibly,” she replied, laughing. “It’s nice of you to say so.” From there, Jared launched into a conversation with her over the complexities of contracts and while Jensen found the whole thing fascinating to listen to, it wasn’t as if he had much to add. Instead, he just sat back and absorbed it like a sponge, possible ideas for a movie star character with contract problems swirling into his head. After that, the conversation shifted back to what Jensen was starting to identify as a favorite topic of Jared’s: his dogs. He and Misha started to discuss the different issues surrounding animals and before Jensen knew it, he was scraping his plate clean.
Jared sat back, patting his full stomach. “That was good, wasn’t it guys?” He glanced past them and Jensen turned his head to see Jeff standing at the door, pointing at his watch. “Well, listen. It was really great to be able to talk to you all and I hope to do it again, real soon but right now apparently Georgie and I are running a little bit late, so…” He took Georgie’s hand, kissing it again and then turned back to the rest of them. “I’ll see you guys a little bit later.” He gave them one last smile before ducking his head beside Georgie’s murmuring something to make her laugh and Jensen took that as his cue to leave before he managed to do something stupid. Like flip over the table or possibly drag Jared away by his overly floofy hair.
Jensen flopped backward on the zebra print couch, bringing his feet up off the fuzzy purple rug and sighed. He really had to admit that this sucked. Without Jared around to keep him occupied, Jensen was left with nothing but an extremely tacky house, some bored crazy people and his own overactive imagination that was making up scenarios for what might be going on right now wherever Jared and Georgie, the so buff she might as well be a man physical trainer, were. They were probably kissing. And Jared’s hand was holding her face just like he liked to do in all his movies, keeping her at just the right angle while she slowly slide off his shirt-oh fuck’s sake. Jensen slammed his hand down on the couch arm, hating himself, and he saw Misha staring at him. Misha was once again holding the gigantic plastic apple, inspecting it like a curious cat, and Jensen blushed when he raised an eyebrow. “Sorry,” Jensen murmured. Christ. Now he was one of the crazy people, too.
This was apparently what hanging out with Jared Padalecki did to people. The man turned them all into raving lunatics just by breathing.
He was saved from having to make any further explanations or maybe just dieing in embarrassment by the thundercloud that was Felicity. Jensen thought he would have rather have had to deal with Misha’s too knowing looks. She stormed into the room and marched up to them, regarding them both with a cold glance before she turned her complete focus onto Jensen. She shook out her blond hair and then curled up in the opposite corner of the couch like a rattlesnake and Jensen fought down the urge to run. He knew that would do anything but reveal his fear and he had a few terrifying moments of entertaining the thought of trying to make a run for it and Felicity bringing him down like a lioness with a gazelle. It wouldn’t be pretty.
Ever since she’d lost the match and the chance at a date, Felicity had apparently been terrorizing the entire house and now, after a few hours later of having sufficiently cowing her former teammates or having at least driven them off, she was occupying herself with trying to antagonize everyone else. Jensen knew that he should have hid when he had the chance. He just really had thought that Mary would hold her off for longer. The two had been sniping back and forth in the kitchen for the past half hour with Felicity only understanding half of Mary’s digs and getting more and more pissed off about that fact.
“So…” Felicity said, pushing her hair back behind her ear. “How are you doing?” Jensen licked his lips because if this went the way he thought it was going to, he had about thirty seconds before she struck and he’d have to start thinking of really good comebacks which, yeah, sometimes he had some winners, but he only had a fifty/fifty chance of pulling that off. Felicity continued on without his answer, running her nails over the back of the couch. “You know, I really worry about you. And people like you. You know what I mean, right?”
Jensen really didn’t. He was still waiting for the damn shoe to drop.
Felicity leaned in, lowering her voice. “I mean, do you really think that Jared’s going to pick a guy?” Jensen blinked at her concerned, scheming face, his jaw dropping, unable to believe his ears. She was seriously playing the gay card here? “I mean, our liberal government pushed through a bill but that doesn’t mean that everyone feels that way, you know. Jared’s family doesn’t feel that way-they’re from Texas. I know you don’t know that, but I do, because I know him so well, and I know how people from Texas are.”
Jensen dropped his eyes from her, staring at the ground, wondering what he was supposed to say to that. Because, uh, he did know how people from Texas were and he was also pretty sure that they were just people.
“He’s not going to pick a guy,” Felicity continued confidently. “Sure, he might want to do one because, well, everyone experiments sometime, right? And Jared’s pretty open about that kind of thing. But when it comes down to someone to bring home to his mother? He’s going to choose someone like me. So I really worry about you. Are you doing okay?”
He sucked in a breath, buying himself some time because if he was going to answer that in any way remotely approaching satisfactorily, he was going to have to think about it because he wanted it to be good. “You…” He trailed off, glaring at his hands which had clenched into fists on his thighs. Fuck it. “You don’t actually know him,” he told her, glancing up to stare her down. “Don’t pretend that you do.” He stood up, not willing to let her drag this on like she wanted but she jumped up to, stepping in front of him.
“Of course I know him,” she hissed. “I-”
“No, you don’t!” Jensen said, circling around her. “You’ve seen a few movies! You’ve looked up a few facts! You don’t actually know him. Neither do I but at least I don’t pretend otherwise.” Jesus fucking Christ. “None of us actually know him.”
Felicity narrowed her eyes, moving closer to stand only a few inches away from Jensen, coming up to just about his shoulder. She was trying to appear intimidating, he knew, but still-his shoulder. “He’s still not going to choose you,” she sneered. “Jared’s not a fag.”
“I think you’re on the wrong show,” Jensen shot back quietly. Or maybe she’d just missed her calling in life. There was a big market for people like her.
“You bitch,” someone snarled and Jensen glanced over his shoulder to see Danneel stomping towards them. He had a quick argument with himself whether to hold his ground or to cut and run because, unlike Felicity, Danneel was absolutely fucking terrifying when she was pissed. “You think you can get away with saying whatever you want?” Felicity, though, beat him to the punch, already backing away. “You fucking little rich bitch, how dare you call me a golddigger?”
Well, that was being bleeped come editing time. Jensen swallowed hard and edged away, trying to get out of the line of fire. This obviously wasn’t his fight any more.
“ ‘Over the hill’?” Danneel growled. “I’ll fucking show you ‘over the hill’!”
The backs of Felicity’s legs hit the couch, and she firmed her spine, apparently figuring on fighting now that she was cornered. “Well, you’ve got to admit,” she said, “you are a little bit past your prime.”
“How fucking dare you!” Misha dropped the apple at Danneel’s screech, hightailing it for safer pastures and Jensen had to agree. He darted off towards the kitchen, sparing a look back at the girls who hadn’t even noticed that they’d been left alone. He skittered around the corner and almost tripped over Mike who was crouched down on the ground, peering out just past the door jamb. Jensen just barely caught himself on the counter, somehow managing to avoid Tom, too, who was watching the scene from the ever safer distance of behind Mike. “Oh, this is good…” Mike whispered. His hands twitched like he was wishing he had a camera.
Jensen glared at him. “I almost died out there and you’re happy?”
Mike rolled his eyes. “You lived, didn’t you? Don’t be so melodramatic. At the very most, you only would have lost an ear or something.”
“I hate you,” Jensen hissed but yet he was still joining Mike in peering back out at Danneel and Felicity.
“Whatever. This is so much better than her going after Mary: there’s a possibility of violence.” Mike grinned back at Tom who stared at him like he was crazy. Jensen was glad that he wasn’t the only one thinking so.
“You presumptuous little slut!” Danneel yelled. “At least I’ve got something going for me!”
“Had. You had something going for you. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? Because nobody wants to book the old wrinkly model!”
The shrieks were definitely getting louder and they were attracting an audience. Misha and Jensen might have fled but Lita wasn’t afraid of a fight. She ran into the room, jumping over the chair to land beside Danneel and Felicity, getting up in Felicity’s face shouting about how she was going to “Take this useless fucking whore down a peg!” Jesus. Sandy rushed in, too, but she wasn’t shouting insults, instead she was shouting for everyone to just calm down and talk this through like rational people. Which, good fucking luck. Justin was out and out laughing over on the stairs like the little emo troll he was and, oh, look. There was Jeff.
Jeff was standing out of view, looking mildly concerned about the way that Lita kept clenching her fists, fake lunging at Felicity and occasionally kicking the chair, but otherwise he was just short of clapping for joy. He’d just lucked upon ratings gold and he knew it. Jensen tried to hate him for it, but he knew that if he was Jeff, he’d probably be doing the exact same thing.
“Don’t you think that we should do something?” Jensen asked Mike when the screaming started to reach a fever pitch.
Mike snorted. “Braver men than I have died by getting in the middle of a chick fight, man.” Jensen winced because Mike had a bit of a point. It looked like certain death out there. Jensen, though, couldn’t justify just standing around, especially not when Lita decided to stop pulling her punches and lunged for real.
“You fucking cunt!” she screamed, reaching for Felicity who squealed and ducked away.
“Hey!” Jensen yelled, wading into the middle of the fight. He wasn’t sure what he could do but at the very least, at 6 foot, he was taller than the girls and formed a barrier between them. It just remained to be seen, though, if his height was actually going to help or if he was going to be brought down like the Berlin Wall.
Luck was on his side, though, because Ben finally entered the fray, drawn by all the screaming and he grabbed Lita around the middle because apparently she wasn’t considering Jensen much of an obstacle. He lifted her up, swinging her around as she kicked out her legs screaming, “You can’t do a damned thing without your daddy’s money and you fucking know it! You’re a fucking whore!”
With Lita restrained, Felicity was apparently stupidly braver. “I’m so much better than you’ll ever be and you know it, you white trash trailer ho!” she yelled, coming close again. Jensen stopped her, holding his hands up and stepping in front of her as she tried to scream around him.
Lita broke free from Ben’s hold with one last desperate swing and rushed forward. Jensen braced for impact because this was just going to suck and Felicity’s eyes widened.
“I’m going to fucking KILL you!”
Felicity screamed, turning tail and running, this time for real, bounding up the stairs, as Ben grabbed a hold of Lita again. “Calm down,” he ordered as Lita twisted and snarled, out for blood.
The fight over with-despite Lita’s feelings on the matter-Danneel took a deep breath before turning away to head out the patio doors and into the backyard. Sandy, looking desperately close to tears, walked towards the kitchen where Jensen could see Mike jumping up, trying to pretend that he hadn’t just been hiding and watching the whole thing.
“That so fucking sucked,” Sandy said, wiping at the tears that were still threatening and Jensen had to agree.
Ben’s deep voice was still murmuring to Lita but Jensen couldn’t make out what he was saying or what Lita was telling him in reply. He stepped closer, curious despite the manners that his mother had tried to train into him but fortunately for his mother’s pride, Jeff caught him before he could get close enough to get called out for eavesdropping. “Jensen,” Jeff said and Jensen turned toward him to see Jeff pointing at the damn closet. He had to be fucking kidding. Jeff raised an eyebrow to let Jensen know that no he was not.
Jensen sighed and resigned himself to being stuck in the closet with Jeff for a little while. He followed after the producer who shut the door behind them. The room was plain with only one camera pointing at a chair and a simple red backdrop. Just out of view of the camera was another chair that Jeff sat down in. Jeff motioned for Jensen to take a seat in the chair that the camera was watching and Jensen sat down on the edge. No way was he ever going to get comfortable in here. He might not watch a lot of reality TV shows, but he did know that the little confessionals could really be a bitch reputation-wise.
Jeff waited a few seconds for Jensen to start talking but, when Jensen didn’t, he wasn’t above prompting. “Want to tell us what happened out there?”
No. Not really. “Uh…” Jensen shrugged, feeling a blush starting to creep up his neck. There was no way that he was going to be able to pull this off the way that he wanted to. Directly in front of a camera with Jeff’s dark eyes staring him down, Jensen felt too uncomfortable to pull off anything remotely smooth. His words were getting caught in his throat and his mind was going blank. “Fel-Felicity wanted to, uh, talk.”
Jeff nodded. “About what?” he prompted again.
Jensen stared down at his hands which were trying to twist together into a pretzel. “She was just mad,” he said.
“Mad about what?”
“About not winning,” Jensen said, glancing up at Jeff who was nodding in agreement. It brought a small smile out of Jensen because he should have known that Jeff would already know what was up. “She’s been taking it out on everybody,” he added, feeling the butterflies in his stomach start to settle, just a little bit. “Guess I was just next.”
“Mmm hmm. What did she say to you?”
Jensen swallowed, uncomfortable again. “Uh…she. She…doesn’t think that Jared’s going to pick a guy.” He stopped, licking his lips.
“How did that make you feel?” Jeff asked, leaning forward.
Jensen shrugged. “Angry, I guess.”
“Angry?”
“Yeah,” his hands were twisting together again and Jensen deliberately separated them, smoothing them against his thighs. “Because she doesn’t know anything,” he said, flicking his eyes up to meet Jeff’s. “She thinks she does but she doesn’t.”
Jeff’s face broke into a slow smile and he nodded. “That’s right, Jensen,” he agreed. “Thanks for coming in here,” he added and Jensen blinked because apparently they were done and he hadn’t said anything really. Jeff winked. “First time’s always the hardest, I know. These will get easier as we go along.”
Just like the whole camera thing, Jensen didn’t believe him but he nodded anyway. “Okay.”
“Okay? Now, back to the house with you.”
Jensen left the closet, wondering exactly what he’d said that had made Jeff smile. He’d thought that he’d have to dish some major dirt to get the man to release him but maybe Jeff wasn’t as bad as Jared had been thinking.
Jared and Georgie arrived back at the house just after ten and Jensen was so fucking glad because it had felt like the house was strained like a too tight rubber band and ready to just fucking snap. Apparently someone had already briefed Jared outside, too, because when he came in, he wasn’t smiling. Jen felt his heart sink because he’d really needed that little bit of sunshine that it looked like he wasn’t going to get.
Instead, Jared had said good night to Georgie and had headed up the stairs, ignoring Justin who was sitting on them. Felicity was waiting beside his door like she’d been ever since the fight, no matter what kind of sniping comments Danneel and Lita had shot her way and Jensen heard her asking Jared if she could come in. He agreed and shut the door behind them.
Jensen sat back down on the zebra couch where he’d been waiting for Jared for a few hours now like a faithful dog and leaned over, hiding his mouth behind his hands. Mike, sitting in one of the chairs, drummed his fingers on the arm, and Misha was holding the apple again, spinning it around and around. Danneel walked over, having been glaring at Felicity the entire time and sat down next to Jensen while Lita flopped down in an empty chair. Sandy was sitting on the purple rug, legs drawn up while Ben, Tom and Mary circled around the outside.
Georgie joined them, eyes wide. “…What happened?” she asked.
Lita slammed her heel back against the chair. “We should be up there, too,” she growled.
“Doing what?” Danneel asked. “Kissing his ass and making fools of ourselves like she is? Let her hang herself with her own rope.”
“We should at least explain or something-”
Danneel held up her hand. “There’s ten of us against one of her.” She glanced over at Justin who was checking out his nails disinterestedly. “Okay. Nine of us. If he wants an explanation, he’ll ask us.”
“Not like they don’t have footage of her picking fights with everybody,” Sandy chimed in from the floor.
“That’s very true,” Mike agreed. “Seriously. She was making very pointed comments about my looks and possibly my dick size. I can’t be sure.” Jensen snorted. At least he hadn’t had to deal with that.
“She’s a conniving little bitch,” Danneel said, “and I’m already sick of her. Hopefully Jared sees her for what she is.”
“Unless Jared’s convinced to keep her around,” Misha interjected as he flipped his apple. The rest of the group turned to look at him and he shrugged. “Ratings are ratings and TV shows like ratings.”
“If she stays, I’m killing her tonight,” Lita snarled sullenly, probably already plotting the messiest way of doing so.
Jared’s door finally opened and they all glanced up as Jared emerged, Felicity clinging to him like a limpet and Jensen glared. Jared rubbed her shoulder and murmured something in her ear before sending her off towards the bedrooms while he made his way down the stairs. He passed Justin, running a hand over his shoulder and headed towards the assembled group. Jensen swallowed, feeling the butterflies start up in his stomach and fighting down the urge to run. Jared walked into the middle of the group and sat down on the couch between Jensen and Danneel, his warm leg pressing up against Jensen’s. He leaned forward, steepling his fingers and glanced around at all of them. “So,” he said, “I’ve, uh, been hearin’ lots of things.”
A few of them nodded, others frowned, but everybody was waiting patiently for him to continue. Jared turned towards Jensen, his hand landing large and warm on Jensen’s thigh and Jensen’s breath caught as he stared at it. “You okay?” Jared asked and Jensen didn’t even try to answer verbally. He knew that his voice wouldn’t be there. Instead, he nodded quickly and nearly whimpered when Jared quirked a small smile at him. “Okay.” He turned back to the rest of the group, asking them all the same question and getting a variety of answers in return. When he was done, he came back to the center. “So, I want you all to know that I’ve reviewed the tapes and talked it over with Jeff.” Jared stared at his hands. “And, uh, there’s not going to be an Elimination tonight.” The room was quiet, still waiting for Jared to finish and he winced. “Because Felicity just quit.”
“What?” Danneel asked, blinking.
Jared held up his hands. “That’s all I’m saying,” he said. “Now, I hope everyone else is still willing to do this thing with me because I’ve got to say, I’ve got feelings for all of you and really want you to stay.”
“Like we’d be crazy enough to quit,” Lita replied, leaving off the unspoken ‘unlike some people.’
Jared bobbed his head. “Good. That’s good.” He stood, slapping his hands against his thighs and Jensen was already missing his warmth. “So I’ll, uh, see you guys tomorrow.” They watched him go, taking the steps two at a time. He stopped next to Justin who apparently made him offer judging by Jared’s quiet, “I think I’m just going to be alone tonight.”
And Jensen felt just a little bit disappointed though he couldn’t quite put his finger on why.
It was still dark out when Jensen woke up. He groaned, putting a hand to his head, hoping that the world would just go away again, but there was a rustling to his right and that couldn’t be ignored. He pushed himself upward, blinking at the room and fumbling for his glasses. Not only was there rustling, now that he was listening, but there was also whispering and just what the fuck was going on?
When he finally managed to find his glasses, he could just barely make out Mary in the darkness, packing her suitcase and Jensen scrubbed at his face. What? Wondering if Mary had had a sudden attack of homesickness or something, Jensen threw back the covers and stood up. Tom was still fast asleep under his mound of covers. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“Mary’s leaving,” Jared said and Jensen jumped. Holy fuck, when did he get here?! Jensen stared at Jared like a deer in headlights but thankfully the man wasn’t looking at him, instead just sitting on Mary’s bed with his head in his hands.
When Mary spoke, it was with heavy regret in her tone. “I just got offered full partnership but only if I fly back tonight to take a new high profile case in the morning,” she whispered.
“Seriously?” Jensen asked, pushing a hand through his hair. It was way too early for this…
“Yes.” Mary zipped her suitcase, dropping it onto the floor before crouching down in front of Jared. “I’m really sorry,” she said, touching his hair and Jensen swallowed back the familiar surge of jealousy.
Jared glanced up with a bright smile despite his dejected pose. “It’s okay,” he whispered back. “I understand.” He kissed her cheek impulsively. “I hope you win.”
She nodded and straightened. “Thanks,” she said and picked up her suitcase, wheeling it out the door.
Jared sighed and Jensen didn’t think twice about kneeling down in front of him. “Hey, man, you okay?” Jared’s arms wrapped around Jensen’s shoulders, dragging him close without a word and Jensen squeaked, stiffening instinctually before letting himself relax into Jared’s hug. It was everything he’d imagined it to be-warm and strong and so full of just pure Jared. Jensen hesitantly raised his own hands, sliding them around Jared’s waist, and soaked up the feeling of Jared’s arms around him.
“You’re not leaving me, are you, Jen?” Jared asked, his voice quiet next to Jensen’s ear and Jensen shivered at the puff of air against his skin. When he shook his head, Jared nuzzled Jensen’s neck. “Good.”
Jensen’s hands tightened on Jared, fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt because Jared felt really fucking good against him. It was making him forget where he was or how many cameras might be watching or whether or not they were equipped with nightvision. It was making him think about pushing Jared down onto the bed and hoping like hell Tom didn’t wake up. On the whole, it really wasn’t something that Jensen needed to be dealing with when his defenses were still down and half asleep. He tried to pull away but Jared surprised him again when, with one amazingly simple move, he tilted Jensen’s head up and kissed him.
Dear God, Jensen thought faintly, his brain sputtering to a halt. His toes were curling, weren’t they? He was being kissed by Jared Padalecki and his toes were fucking curling like a stereotypical cliché. Deciding that he couldn’t be anymore pathetic and that he’d probably lost all respectability at this point anyway, Jensen whimpered and threw himself into the kiss, meeting Jared head on.
It was a chaste kiss, lasting only a few seconds but it felt like an eternity and Jensen was fast deciding that cameras or no, he was definitely okay with taking this a few steps further to which his body gave a resounding 'hell, yes.' His fingers twitched, wondering if they could slip underneath Jared’s shirt and find out if his skin was really as smooth as it looked on camera and Jensen squirmed a little as he felt his boxers growing tighter.
Except this time it was Jared pulling back whispering, “Sorry,” as he dropped his arms away from Jensen’s shoulders.
Jensen huffed a laugh because after a kiss like that no one should be sorry. “Any time,” whispered and then ducked his head to avoid Jared’s laughing eyes and fend off another blush. His mother was going to hear that.
“I’ll have to take you up on that,” Jared murmured and Jensen stopped breathing because yes, please? But then Jared was standing, smiling as he grabbed Jensen’s hand and pulled Jensen to his feet as well. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Jared said, tilting his head to give Jensen a peck on the cheek that Jensen tried not to feel too terribly disappointed about.
“Yeah…” Jensen rasped. “See you tomorrow.” He forced himself to drop his hand away from Jared, letting him go, and watched as Jared slowly ambled out of the room. He couldn’t have pried his eyes away if he wanted to because it wasn’t everyday that a man had an up close and personal view of Jared Padalecki’s ass and Jensen already knew that he wasn’t going to get any more sleep.
He’d almost consider going to the bathroom except that there’d be no possible way he could deny later on what he’d be doing. With a sigh, Jensen dropped himself back on to his bed and willed it to be tomorrow and one step closer.
It was a long time in coming.
Part 3 | Master Post | Part 5