Fic: RPS (Jared/Jensen): In It for Love [8 / 16] | R | 7410 words
Title: In It for Love [ 8 / 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 R (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 works in a little time with Jared and another person gets sent home.
Word Count: 7410 (this part)
Disclaimer: Never happened, no affiliation.
A/N: So. Had a couple of days off... Also, slowly starting to edge into R territory.
Master Post: Master Post
Part 7 | Master Post | Part 9
Episode 4 - Second Half
Jensen was sitting on Danneel’s bed, flipping through a copy of Cosmo though why he wasn’t quite sure. Oh, he knew why he was flipping through the pages of the magazine-it was because Danneel was in it and he’d actually gotten curious about her work now that he’d seen her in action-but he had no idea why he was listening to all of Danneel’s not so subtle digs at Lita.
Misha said that negativity was bad for your health. On the other hand, though, Danneel was fucking funny. Maybe that’s what he was doing here. He was trying hard not to outright giggle but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t hiding a smile behind the hand he was using to prop up his head as he turned the pages. “Seriously,” Danneel was saying, “her qualifications kind of involve taking clothes off, not on.” Jensen chuckled and Danneel smiled at him. “Right? I wasn’t the only one that noticed that the ‘dancer’ part was missing the ‘exotic’ tag? Dancers do not get boob jobs unless they swing around a pole.”
“I’m not going there,” Jensen replied, still smiling. He turned another page, raised and eyebrow and pushed the book at Danneel. Puzzled, Danneel leaned forward to catch sight of the picture before wincing.
“I don’t talk about that one,” she said. “We shall never speak of this again.”
“Okay.” Jensen nodded and firmly closed the magazine, hiding the shot of what looked to be Danneel in leg warmers and…a diaper. Why she was wearing a diaper, he wasn’t quite clear but it wasn’t like you could work that into normal, everyday conversations anyway, so he supposed that if she didn’t speak of it, he wouldn’t either.
They’d retreated to Danneel’s bedroom shortly after Jared had left with Sandy, Misha and Ben because Danneel couldn’t stand the sight of Lita and, frankly, Jensen couldn’t stand the sight of the house without Jared. Danneel seemed to understand that just like Jensen understood her and together, he thought that they’d been doing a really good job of making sure that neither one of those problems bothered them. He knew that Mike was downstairs with Tom, playing pool and drinking beer, commiserating over their loss while Georgie was in the gym, probably trying to get back some of her manliness after being forced to wear a dress. Jensen was actually surprised that they hadn’t just stuffed Tom in a dress, instead. Might have even gone over better.
Where Lita was, at the moment Jensen just didn’t give a damn.
Jared had been gone for hours now and, not that Danneel wasn’t great, but he was starting to miss him. Danneel could only hold out as a substitute for so long and Jensen really didn’t want to start picturing all the things that Jared could be doing on his date. There was Sandy who could understand Jared like no other, Misha who shared some of Jared’s most passionate interests and was just damn interesting to talk to and Ben of the fascinating ex-life and killer body. All of them were more than just stiff competition for Jensen and all of them he knew that Jared was interested in.
Jensen was just starting to feel sorry for himself again when he heard the chiming of the bells signaling that someone was at the front door. Danneel smiled at him and they both slid off the bed, heading out of the room and down the hall to the balcony to hope against Hell that Jared had finally returned. They hit the balcony and Jensen reached out to grip the railing as he stared downward, his heart thumping madly in his chest.
He caught sight of Jared’s familiar form immediately, standing taller than everyone else and pulling Mike into a back-thumping hug. Sandy was standing just behind him, looking as perfect and tiny as a china doll and…Jensen’s chest constricted painfully because it looked like she was wearing a brand new necklace. It was a tiny pinprick of a sapphire sitting against her throat, emphasizing the whiteness of her dress. He knew that she hadn’t been wearing it when she left-her neck had been bare-and he wasn’t stupid enough to think that she had bought herself while they were out. Swallowing hard, Jensen swung his gaze to her left, searching Ben for anything new.
It hurt, having Jared’s present on Sandy, his mark, a sign of his affection, but he wanted to at least know that she wasn’t the only one. That she wasn’t special. That if Jensen had just had a better team on this one, he’d be the one wearing something like that. His knees nearly gave out when he saw the new watch sitting on Ben’s wrist and a glittering bracelet on Misha’s. He didn’t like seeing them wearing anything either, but at least it meant that it had just been part of the date. It didn’t mean anything. Or at least Jensen hoped not.
Jared was now talking easily with Tom and Jensen knew that it really was time for him to get down there. Maybe if he was lucky, he could still get in some time with Jared before the night ended. Jared had told him that he wanted to spend time with him, after all. As Jensen started for the stairs, though, that was when he finally realized where Lita had been the entire night-sitting outside of Jared’s door and putting herself first in line. Jensen bit the inside of his cheek and looked away, unable to tolerate the wave of jealousy rolling through him.
There wasn’t much he could do now except maybe insist on Jared spending time with both of them or just waiting until she was done with him. Whenever that would be. So he by-passed her and headed on down the stairs, noting when Danneel turned up her nose and sauntered on past as well.
When Jensen hit the bottom of the stairs, Jared noticed him and smiled, waiting for Jensen to come to him this time. Jensen did, because there was no use in being shy or playing games when it was already obvious how far he’d come for Jared already. He walked straight up into Jared’s space and Jared pulled him into a hug as well, making Jensen’s heart stutter and his breath catch in his throat. God but it never ceased to amaze him just how incredibly big Jared was.
It made him think of other things that probably weren’t fit for polite company.
Jared released him but his hands stayed, one holding Jensen close and the other moving up to play with his hair as Jared murmured, “Did you have a good night, Jen?”
Jensen quirked his lips into a small smile and keep his eyes trained on Jared’s shoulder, unable to meet his eyes and successfully deliver one liners at the same time yet. “Without you?” he asked quietly and Jared exploded into laughter, the force rocking Jensen.
“Want to fix that?” Jared asked, wiggling his eyebrows and, God, but that offer was tempting. Before Jensen could give him a reply, though, Jared was already letting go of him and scooping Danneel up into a hug, apologizing for not being able to pick her. Jensen turned his back, willing to let Danneel have a few moments with Jared too, even if he didn’t like it. She deserved it just as much as he did.
Mike pulled Jensen into a hug, too, throwing him off balance and forcing him to catch a hold of Mike’s shirt to make sure he didn’t fall. “There you are, Jenny!” Mike crowed. “Been looking for you.”
“Must not have been looking too hard,” Jensen muttered. He’d just been upstairs after all.
“Well, no,” Mike confessed, good naturedly. “Tommy and I only made it to the kitchen in the hunt for you. Then we got distracted by beer. But hey! It’s the thought that counts.”
Jensen struggled out of Mike’s hold, feeling cheered despite the fact that Jared was still flirting with Danneel and quietly stood around. The entire house was here except for… Jensen glanced back behind himself and found Georgie, quietly watching them all in the corner. She looked fresh from the gym and only slowly approached, making no real effort to grab Jared’s attention like everyone else.
It was just as well because Jared was starting to head up the stairs already and he’d found Lita. He let go of Danneel, who hadn’t wanted to come any closer, anyway, and entered into a quiet conversation with the blonde waiting outside his door before entering his room and pulling her in along with him. The door closed behind them and a pit of apprehension mixed with a little anger started to grow in Jensen’s belly.
It wasn’t fair that she’d lost the competition for them and yet there she was, trying to make herself out to be the victim and slither her way back into Jared’s good graces. Jensen glanced over at Sandy again, seeing her necklace sparkle and moved onto Ben and Misha. Granted, it was a fashion show and Jensen would have been useless but he still should have been there. Being useless beside Jared at the very least.
Jared didn’t emerge from his room for the rest of the night and neither, frankly, did Lita and that was not something that Jensen should have known nor did he need to know. Screw the group date, this was Jared and a stripper in Jared’s bedroom. Jensen’s eyes snapped open at six fucking thirty in the morning and refused to close again knowing these indisputable facts.
So, sighing, Jensen resigned himself to having no sleep and being cranky all day and slid out of his bed into the cool morning air before pulling out some clean clothes from his suitcase and padding out of the room. Tom was still snoring in the corner because apparently having Jared barricaded in a room with a bed and a stripper didn’t seem to bother him. Why was Tom even here, anyway, if he didn’t care?
Jensen growled at himself and his ugly mood as he moved into the bathroom. He was probably the only damned person up at this godawful time of day. It shouldn’t matter to him who Jared spent his time with. He’d just met the man last week for fuck’s sake, and normal people wouldn’t react this way. Would they?
Jensen was just one of many, though, and he had to accept that. And that many just happened to include Lita as well. Jensen dumped his stuff on the counter and glared at his reflection in the morning, not liking what was looking back at him. He looked like Hell warmed over with scruff unevenly dotting his face and one side of his hair pressed flat and, fuck, were those bags under his eyes?
This whole living with Jared Padalecki thing was going to kill him for sure, he knew it. He dragged himself into the shower, quickly soaping himself down and spending no more time than necessary because, after yesterday’s performance, Jensen trusted the privacy of the bathrooms in this house even less than before.
He toweled himself off and pulled on some clean clothes, shaved and brushed his teeth before attempting to make his hair do anything but resemble road kill. Eventually he gave it up as a lost cause, popped in his contacts and retreated from the horror show still staring him down in the mirror.
Dumping his stuff back on his bed, Jensen ambled downstairs towards the kitchen, figuring that since he was up, he might as well get some breakfast. See if it was worth the hype that everyone gave about it. Frankly, Jensen didn’t see the appeal without Jared being there, but hey. He wasn’t pathetic enough to give up living just because Jared Padalecki had decided to spend the night with a stripper and was now probably sleeping in and cuddling and possibly deciding to wake her up for-
Okay. Enough of that shit. Jensen rounded the corner and entered the kitchen, ready to at least get some toast or something but he stopped dead, all thoughts of food fleeing from his mind because Jared wasn’t in his room: Jared was standing right in front of him, in the glow of the early morning and the open refrigerator door in well used running shoes, short blue shorts and a thin white T-shirt, chugging down an entire water bottle. Jensen swallowed hard, trying to fix his suddenly dry mouth as he followed the lines of Jared’s moving throat and focused on the beads of sweat still dripping off the man’s body to land on the floor. Jared’s normally fluffy hair was plastered to his forehead, roughly shoved to each side and Goddamn, but the man had no right to look this way. Especially in the morning when none of Jensen’s usual defenses and filters were awake yet.
Jensen bit down on his lip and tried to ignore the fact that he was half hard, shoving out all thoughts of Jared spread out on a bed like this, looking well used and exhausted and fucking sated.
Jared caught Jensen staring and choked, startled, his hand rising up to wipe away the water now dripping off his chin and smiling sheepishly. “Sorry. Didn’t expect anyone to be up.”
“You look happy,” Jensen blurted and mentally winced because what the fuck kind of thing was that to say? God, he was a freak.
Jared took another long swig off the water bottle and it was just like some strange fitness porno. Jensen shouldn’t be finding this hot. It was in the way that he could see just about all of Jared’s muscles, though, and, oddly, how he looked even more vulnerable than he’d had that first night half naked in the pool. It was like Jensen was being allowed to see a sight that no one else did-intensely private and that made it ten times hotter than any other position he’d ever seen Jared in and yes, that did include the nude wrestling scene in Running Deep.
Jensen gave up on being anything but hopelessly turned on and just prayed that Jared either didn’t notice the painful hard-on pressing at his zipper or at least didn’t decide to comment on it. Talk about embarrassing.
“I like running,” Jared said finally. “Plus, I-” Jensen heard a jingle and he swung around just in time to see a big black nose push open the door to the kitchen and an orange dog shove himself through. Jensen’s eyes widened. That was… He glanced over at Jared who was scratching the back of his head. “I got to spend some time with my babies and that always makes me happy.”
The big orange dog was followed by a slightly smaller dog, both of them making no pretenses about who they were here to see. The smaller dog went directly to Jared, pushing itself up against his legs with the big orange one planted itself in front of Jensen, wagging its tail and drooling on his feet.
“That’s, uh, that’s Harley,” Jared laughed. “Guess he likes you.” Figuring that the wagging tail was a good sign, Jensen slowly reached out and scratched behind Harley’s ears, making the dog’s tail wag harder. “This one’s Sadie,” Jared said, pointing down at the dog that was now sitting next to him. “She’s got a little bit more manners than Harley, sorry about that.”
“It’s okay,” Jensen replied quietly, squatting down to scratch both of Harley’s ears now. “I like dogs.”
“Do you?” Jared asked, just making small talk, and Jensen nodded. “I consider them excellent judges of character. …Well, Sadie more than Harley because Harley will let just about anybody pet him-he’s such a whore.”
Jensen smiled and kept his eyes on the drooling dog. “You callin’ me just about anybody, Jared?” he teased quietly and Jared laughed again.
“I think I was giving you a compliment,” he replied, moving closer. “But I can take it back if you don’t want it.” His hand came down, warm and solid on Jensen’s shoulder and Jensen’s entire focused shifted to that one point of contact.
He covered Jared’s hand with his own and slowly stood up, much to Harley’s disappointment. “No, I think I’ll keep it,” Jensen said. Jared’s eyes were starting to darken, his breathing growing deeper and Jensen thought he liked where this was going.
Jared’s other hand rose to grip Jensen’s hip, holding him still as Jared slowly leaned forward. Jensen met him with no hesitation, no second thoughts, his tongue licking into Jared’s mouth and Jared letting him with a soft moan. Jared tilted his head, getting them at a better angle and Jensen moved closer, pushing his body against Jared’s sweaty chest and not caring. He’d step right on into Jared’s skin right now if he could.
The hand at Jensen’s hip, moved, pushing up Jensen’s shirt to get at a strip of skin and Jensen shivered at the contact, not expecting the lightning rod of pleasure to zip down his spine. “Now this is a good way to start a morning,” Jared murmured before kissing Jensen again. Jensen welcomed Jared’s tongue, sucking on it as his hands ran across Jared’s back. There was a hardness poking him in his lower gut, tenting Jared’s shorts and Jensen fairly mewled, pressing up against it. “Jensen,” Jared gasped, his own hand fluttered away from Jensen’s hip to feather across Jensen’s dick. Jensen gasped, arching up into the light touch and, emboldened by the response, Jared’s fingers became more sure, more firm, outlining Jensen’s dick in his jeans and stroking it.
He was coming to come in his damn pants in the middle of the kitchen. Still kissing Jared with everything he had, Jensen shoved a hand between them and grabbed Jared’s arm, pulling the wonderful, amazing friction away before he lost it completely. Regrettable but fuck it had felt too good… “Sorry,” Jared breathed, his free hand coming up to cup Jensen’s jaw again. “Sorry, sorry, sorry…” Jared pressed a few more soft kisses to Jensen’s lips before stepping back and Jensen wanted to demand just where did he think he was going? “Too fast?” Jared asked. “Too fast. Uh, I’ll, uh…want some breakfast?” He turned around grabbing the loaf of bread off the island and heading to the toaster. “I’m horrible at cooking, though, so don’t expect anything fancy.”
Jensen’s head was spinning because one moment he’d been kissing Jared Padalecki and the next, the movie star was offering to make him breakfast-albeit a simple one but still. Touched by the gesture but wondering if maybe he’d given off the wrong signals by pulling Jared away and with his dick still throbbing painfully, Jensen stepped forward and smoothed his palms over Jared’s T-shirt covered back. Then, giving in to an impulse, he slipped his hands underneath Jared’s shirt to press against acres of soft skin and smooth, flowing muscle. He shivered and debated on trying to just pull the shirt off because he’d had a thing for Jared’s back for at least five years now. Oh fuck did he ever. It had been one of Jensen’s only regrets about having Jared shirtless in the hot tub with him that first night-that Jared hadn’t turned around. Then again: Jared’s chest.
It was all a give and take, really.
Jared stood completely still, just rippling the muscles in his back underneath Jensen’s fingers and Jensen stepped even closer, burying his nose in Jared’s t-shirt and inhaling the salty scent of his sweat. God… He pressed himself against Jared’s ass, just giving in and Jared swallowed thickly. “Gotta say, here, Jen, I’m kind of getting mixed signals…”
“Mmm?” Jensen asked, not particularly paying attention because he had Jared Padalecki underneath his hands here. The man was gorgeous with tons of hard packed muscle and miles of skin for Jensen to lick and… Jared had touched his dick. Jensen shivered because, yeah, Jared had definitely done that. And it would only be fair if Jensen got to do the same, right? Right? Jensen bit his lip and moved his hands away from Jared’s amazingly muscled back to slide around to his front, skating over his abs before diving into his shorts.
“Oh fuck!” Jared hissed, his hips surging upward. He leaned forward, gripping the countertop and Jensen couldn’t even breathe as his hands finally wrapped around the outline of Jared’s dick, encased in his underwear. It was damp and Jensen hoped it wasn’t sweat as Jared twitched in his grip. Jared moaned, shoving his ass back against Jensen and, yeah, that was nice…
Jared whipped around, his hands reaching out to grab a hold of Jensen and the world spun as the next thing Jensen knew he was being lifted up and, Jesus, Jensen hadn’t realized that Jared was that fucking strong. It turned him on even more being manhandled by Jared, being pushed into position whether he liked it or not. Jared shoved him up onto the countertop, hands moving to push Jensen’s knees apart so he could step in between them and then Jared was kissing him again, all forceful lips and demanding tongue. Jensen felt himself melting in a shuddery mess, his hands rising to grip Jared’s sweat slicked hair and hold him close. Jared hips bumped against Jensen’s, his tented shorts rubbing against the bulge in Jensen’s jeans and Jensen moaned, moving his hips forward in an answering pulse.
“Fuck yeah…” Jared breathed, his hands gripping Jensen’s thighs like he felt a need to keep Jensen spread. Not that Jensen had any big plans on going anywhere-not as long as they kept things just as they were. Jensen ran his hands down Jared’s neck, onto his shoulders and over to his arms to grip his biceps. Jared thrust forward again, grinding them together and oh fuck…
“Oh, fuck!” Jared swore in an entirely different tone of voice than Jensen had been expecting and the big, wonderful heat that was Jared pulled away. Jensen’s eyes fluttered open in confusion and did he smell something burning? “Fuck, fuck, fuck…” Jared said, messing around with the small white toaster before it finally popped up, discharging four charred pieces of toast. “Stupid thing…”
A chuckle rumbled through Jensen’s chest and before long he was out and out laughing at Jared who was berating the toaster for failing to deliver. “Sorry, Jen. Apparently I can’t even make toast.” He frowned down at the toaster before sliding his eyes back over to Jensen. “…Not when I’m distracted.”
“Sorry,” Jensen said insincerely. He wasn’t going to apologize for it. Ever.
Jared grinned and dropped his eyes down to the countertop. “So…,” he started, “I just gotta know: too fast or no?”
Jensen winced. “Just didn’t want to come in my pants,” he admitted reluctantly, flushing slightly, and Jared growled, thrusting forward again. Jensen’s eyes fluttered, his hands reaching out to grip Jared’s hips and try to hold him still. “Still don’t,” he gasped.
“But yet you say stuff like that that makes me want to make you…” Jensen closed his eyes, ready to let Jared have his way, cameras be damned but they both heard a dog sigh and collapse onto the floor in a disgruntled huff. Jared chuckled again and dropped his head onto Jensen’s shoulder. “Sorry. He’s a bit of a cockblock when he’s around.”
Jensen couldn’t blame the dog. Both of them had been ignored for a while and he was actually kind of surprised that they’d lasted this long. He glanced around Jared and saw that while Harley was pouting on the floor by Jared’s feet, Sadie was pointedly and politely laying down across the room. Maybe there was something to be said for a dog having manners after all. Jensen smiled to himself and leaned over to pull the burnt toast out of the toaster, grabbing the edge of the plastic bag holding the loaf of bread and using it to pull it closer and select four more pieces. He dropped them into the toaster, pushed the button down and then leaned back, resting against the cabinets behind him while Jared grinned at him. “Making me breakfast?” Jared teased.
“Could,” Jensen said.
Jared shook his head. “Toast is good. Don’t want to burn down the kitchen.”
Jensen narrowed his eyes playfully and lightly hit Jared’s shoulders. “Hey. I can cook,” he protested.
“Oh? Good,” Jared said, leaving it at that as he finally stepped away. “So did you have a good night last night?” Jared asked, the question eerily familiar and Jensen's answer still hadn't changed. Jared grimaced at the burnt toast before getting the bright idea to throw it down to Harley. Harley wagged his tail excitedly, getting up to sniff the toast before throwing Jared a look that plainly said ‘you have to be kidding’ and turning up his nose at it. Jared shrugged. “Hey, your loss, buddy.”
“…Not particularly,” Jensen answered, deciding to go with a hint of truth instead of the easy way out. Jared glanced back at him and Jensen forced himself not to blush under that questioning stare as he averted his eyes. “You kind of spent it with someone else.”
“Oh. Right,” Jared said. He cleared his throat. “Um, listen, Jen. This is a really awkward situation, I know. But you can… It’s okay if you want to… You…”
Jensen waited impatiently for Jared to finish a sentence-any kind of sentence, really. He could what?
“You two are up early,” a new voice cut in and Jensen could have died right then and there. He jumped, flushing when he realized the position that Jared and he were still partially in while Jared smoothly finished stepping away.
“Morning, Misha,” Jared said. Misha smiled back, grabbing an apple out of the fruit basket and biting into it. “Jen and I were just about to have breakfast. Have a seat.”
Jensen sighed quietly and leaned over to pop the toast up before the toaster managed to burn yet another set. Apparently he was eating breakfast with Jared and Misha. He supposed that things could be worse.
“They’re great dogs,” Misha was saying. He’d finished up his apple and was now stroking Sadie’s head who had taken an immediate liking to him. Figured. Jensen was still stuck with Harley and he wondered what that meant. “They don’t live with you?”
“Oh, they usually do,” Jared replied. “But I didn’t want them having to get used to so many people, you know? Especially ones that I didn’t know so well myself.”
Misha nodded that he understood and Jensen felt his heart flutter because if Jared was bringing the dogs by now, that must mean that he trusted the people that were left in the house with them. Jensen wasn’t quite sure what it meant for Jared to be thinking that his ‘babies’ were ready to meet everyone but he was pretty sure it was akin to a single parent allowing you to meet their children.
Jensen was dying to ask after Lita, to find out if she really had spent the night or even to find out what had gone on, but he knew that that would be crossing some yet unspoken line about the proper rules of etiquette for this surreal situation. Technically, Jared was quasi-dating all of them. They all had a right to spend time with him. More than that, though, they’d actually signed up for this experience. They’d known what they were getting into-at least theoretically. It shouldn’t bother him that Jared had spent the night with Lita or that he’d chosen Sandy, Misha, and Ben last night.
It worked well in theory but utterly fell apart in practice. So instead, he kept his questions to himself, chiming in on Misha and Jared’s conversation every now and then and loving that Jared couldn’t keep his hands to himself-even if he did the same thing with Misha. And when Ben put in an appearance, Jensen accepted him, too.
“Any inventive torture techniques in store for us today?” Misha asked.
Jared snorted. “I’m starting to think it’s more torture for me than it is most of you-I have to decide who’s going home today.”
“Oh,” Misha said.
“Yeah, oh.” Jared winced. “It’s just really hard going through everyone and being all ‘can I see myself with them?’ or ‘is this going anywhere?’ because I see potential with everybody here, you know? And I like everybody so I don’t want to send anyone home.”
“It’s definitely a hard choice,” Misha replied sympathetically and Jensen agreed because he didn’t think that he wanted to be in Jared’s shoes either. It was another one of those things that sounded so good in theory-a house full of gorgeous people vying for your attention-but Jensen knew that all the second guessing would drive him insane.
“Speaking of that…” Jared said, “I suppose I should be getting ready.” He glanced over at the clock and Jensen was shocked to discover that it was nearing ten already. “Jeff’s about to wake everyone else up because the ceremony’s at noon.”
“Hung at high noon, huh?” Misha asked with a smile.
“Yeah.” Jared pushed himself away from the table, standing up, and Jensen’s new furry buddy immediately deserted him, happily running off to Jared. “I’ll see you guys in a little while, okay?” Jared said before walking out of the room, both dogs trailing after him.
Misha smiled and looked over at Jensen. “They’ve very nice dogs.”
Jensen nodded slowly, his mind not on the dogs at all. “They sure are,” he replied weakly.
They were all lined back up on their little podium, standing like wallflowers at a dance, waiting to be asked, hoping that the homecoming king will notice them. This particular homecoming king, though, was staring resolutely at his little chains, his hands betraying his nerves as they played with the little dangling ‘J’s. Jensen took a deep breath, calming himself and glanced down the line at his fellow wallflowers. Danneel was dressed to kill and somehow Jensen knew that it meant that she thought that she wasn’t as high up on the list at the moment as she’d like. Tom was staring at the floor as he hadn’t had the time with Jared that Jared had said that he should. Mike, standing beside Tom, was the opposite, staring steadily at the ceiling and Lita was staring straight ahead at Jared. Jensen examined her closely, like maybe her very appearance would in some way, shape or form, tell him if she’d had sex with Jared last night. He couldn’t pretend that she hadn’t spent the night because he’d seen her exiting Jared’s room soon after Jared had left them in the kitchen, yawning and stretching and trying to smooth her sleep tousled hair.
Jensen was also fighting back a little kernel of disappointment in Jared and he’d like to think that Jared wouldn’t be the type to with somebody this quickly or, if he’d had, then at least he hadn’t caught anything from the poor man’s version of Pamela Anderson.
“This gets harder and harder each time,” Jared said, cutting though the impatient silence and startling everyone. They all stood completely still, watching him, waiting for his next move, and Jensen thought that some weren’t even breathing. “Once again, I’d like to thank you all for coming down to see me and I’d like to thank you for wanting to go through all of this with me. I think that I’ve reached my decision and it wasn’t an easy one.” He set down the chains, selecting just one and holding it up. “The first chain goes to someone that I have a lot in common with, someone that just seems to get me and someone that I could definitely see spending the rest of my life with. And I see that she’s still wearing the necklace that I gave her, so Sandy come down and let me give you another one.
Sandy smiled, stepping down off the podium and walking to stand in front of Jared, tilting her head and letting him put the necklace on her. She murmured something that had Jared cracking his first smile since he’d walked into the room and Jensen had to grit his teeth to stop the instinctual territorial growl. Sandy was one of America’s sweethearts and it wouldn’t be nice to claw her eyes out.
Didn’t mean he didn’t want to do it anyway. Especially when Jared leaned down and gave her a thorough kiss. Jensen looked away and thought uncharitably that it must be hell on Jared’s back to have to lean down so far.
“The next person to get one,” Jared said, continuing on and Jensen finally glanced back up. It he was announcing another selection, that meant that he was done kissing Sandy and it was safe to look again. “Is also a person I have a lot in common with. I love talking to them and I can see myself doing so for a long time. Misha, please step down.” Misha gently pushed himself through the crowd and moved down in front of Jared. Jensen averted his eyes right from the get go because he honestly liked Misha and-even if he did have to constantly remind himself-he could do this for him. He blocked out the quiet conversation and a sound of another kiss, trying hard not to wince.
Both Sandy and Misha would go well with Jared-they both understood him and circulated in his circles already-Sandy more than Misha but Jensen had no doubt that Misha would handle himself just fine in whatever crowd Jared put him in. Either of them would be a good match.
The thing about it, though, Jensen knew, was that all the people in the room were potentially a good match for Jared-himself included. Jensen knew-idle fantasies aside-that he could be good for Jared, too. Sure, he wouldn’t be the life of the party like Mike or Misha and he wouldn’t add much to Jared’s star power like Sandy but Jensen thought that Jared didn’t need much help in either of those departments. What Jared needed was someone that understood him, that could support him, be there for him-someone that could help him weather the fickleness that was Hollywood. Jensen knew he could do that.
…He even thought that he might be able to adapt to Jared’s world as well. It would take some doing-to get used to the constant spotlight that followed Jared around and having to deal with the bouts of jealousy that came with the territory when someone didn’t understand the line between showing appreciation and going overboard-but Jensen thought that he was already learning. He was starting to deal well the cameras-he’d never truly get used to them, but he was learning how to not let them bother him as much as they used to. He could do that.
For Jared, he could definitely do that.
Jared had called Ben next, which was to be expected, considering how Ben had been part of the winning team but now the floor was open, so to speak, and Jensen was all ears and restless, rolling nerves. Jared selected his next chain and held it up for inspection. “This next person, well, there’s no doubt in my mind about them. The more I see, the more I like and I know that there’s a whole lot more I’m just not seeing yet because they’re deep enough to make the ocean look shallow. I could see myself spending the rest of my life exploring their personality and loving every minute of it. Jensen, if you’d come accept your chain, I’d be really happy.”
Jensen bit the inside of cheek hard and fast to stop the goofy smile that wanted to explode across his face and smoothly made his way down to stand in front of Jared, though he felt the nearly irresistible urge to dance there. That was all he needed-something for Chris to hold over his head for the rest of his life. Jensen wouldn’t doubt that it would be even be set as his screensaver.
Jared’s eyes were dark again, taking Jensen right back to this morning and he sucked in another deep breath, trying to keep himself calm again. Jared’s hand rose to cup the back of Jensen’s head, fingers playing with his hair, and Jensen could stop the small shiver that ran through him. “Thanks for being here, Jen,” Jared said quietly. “Anytime you want some attention, you just let me know because I don’t think I could ever get enough of you.”
Jensen forced himself to not look away as he said, “Same here,” and then Jared was reacquainting himself with Jensen’s mouth. Jensen grabbed a hold of Jared’s hips, holding him close as Jared tilted for a better angle. It was over far too soon, Jared pulling back and smiling at Jensen as Jensen’s eyes fluttered open.
“Anytime,” Jared said, his hands falling away from Jensen. Jensen nodded and took his place beside the other three as Jared called out his next choices and why he could see himself with them. He went through Danneel and Mike and left Tom, Georgie and Lita up there for a few agonizing minutes before finally letting Tom know that he was safe-not off the hook yet but safe.
Georgie and Lita glanced at each other before looking back up at Jared. Georgie grabbed her left arm with her right hand, linking them subtly while Lita kept her body language open. Jared took a deep breath, summoning up his courage. “Georgie,” he said, starting, “I didn’t get to see too much of you these past few days. The only time I really did, besides during the challenge, was when I went to go visit you in the gym. I don’t know what’s going on.”
Silence descended on the room, Jared patiently waiting for Georgie to speak up which took her a few minutes. “I don’t know,” she said. “I guess it’s a lot of things. Things just…don’t feel right, right now.”
Jared nodded. “Do you still want to be here?” he asked. Her answering shrug made Jensen’s eyebrows rise.
“I think so,” she replied, defensively. Jared gave her a few more minutes to continue but when she didn’t, he moved on to Lita.
“Lita, your team would have won yesterday’s challenge if you wouldn’t have quit halfway through. I know there was some resentment there, on both sides, actually. I’m glad that you came and talked to me last night, let me know what’s going on and what’s going on in your head. We’re all dealing with a lot of pressure-this isn’t a normal situation and we all know that. What I need, though, is for you to get along with everyone else-if it’s a team challenge, it’s a team challenge, not just whatever Lita wants.” He paused, letting her defend herself if she chose and Lita nodded.
“I understand,” she said.
“Okay.” Jared picked up the last chain, holding it out in front of them. “So I had to think long and hard about who gets this last chain because I don’t ever want to send anybody home and I really like both you-you both know that. Georgie, I like your energy, I like the fact that you wouldn’t mind getting up at the crack of dawn to go running with me. I like your enthusiasm for life. Lita, you’ve got a lot of energy too. It’s not as peaceful as Georgie’s but it’s a lot of fun. You’ve got a lot of spunk and you definitely know how to handle yourself. I also think that you’d work well in the kind of life I lead, able to go with the flow and adapt.
“So, I the only real decision that I’m faced with is, who do I chose to go home? Who do I think that I have the least potential with? Do I send home someone who I like spending time with and who I thought would work well with me but doesn’t seem to be particularly liking me right now? Maybe she’s just feeling shy or maybe this was a bad couple of days. Or do I send home the one that I know really likes me, constantly seeks me out but may be just too wild?”
Jensen shifted nervously. He really wished that Jared would just get on with this already because the anxiety was going to eat him alive. He knew that this hadn’t been an easy choice for Jared to make and that Jared wanted to impress that upon everyone but Jensen knew that the choices were only going to get harder from here on out.
“I was still trying to decide when I walked in here, today,” Jared said, looking strained. “But in the end, Georgie, your answer made the choice for me. Lita, this necklace is for you.” Lita’s knees nearly gave out-she dropped a half a foot before catching herself and standing back up, her hand clutched to her chest. Georgie stared at the floor as Lita rushed down the stairs to stand in front of Jared. Jared looked down at her. “This isn’t about you,” he said, “and I think you understand that.”
He attached the necklace as Lita whispered, “Thank you.” She pulled him down for a quick kiss before running off to stand with everyone else while Jared addressed Georgie.
“Georgie, I’m sorry, but this is where the red carpet ends.”
Georgie nodded, her hand rising to dab at her eyes as she walked to Jared to get her hug. Jensen averted his eyes, not wanting to feel jealous of this moment and not wanting to feel sad, either. He’d barely known her but yet he still felt like he was losing a friend, even if he’d never seen much of her either.
“Thank you for coming out,” Jared said quietly, still holding her.
Georgie nodded and pushed herself back to get a little bit of room. “Thank you for having me,” she replied and pulled away from him. She straightened, steeling herself, and walked out the door as Jared watched her. The door closed softly behind her and Jared turned to the rest of them.
“Time for a drink,” he told them and the now familiar waiters were circling the room again. They each took a glass, holding it up as Jared said, “To Georgie and to us,” and downed his glass. Jensen threw his back, feeling the customary tickle of the champagne and moved with the rest of the crowd to circle around Jared. He glanced around the eight of them. “So, I don’t know about you guys, but that kind of wore me out and now the day’s just kind of shot, isn’t it?” They nodded and Jensen hoped like hell that they were going into the next challenge right after this.
“So I thought that maybe we could just have a lazy day,” Jared said. “Because, well, I’ve got a copy of James Cameron’s newest one and I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet.” Jensen blinked. He couldn’t be sure-it wasn’t like he was a avid movie news follower or anything-but he was pretty sure that James Cameron’s newest movie wasn’t due out for another month. “What do you all say to a little private screening?”
“I say ‘Hell yeah!’” Mike cheered and Jared laughed.
“Alright!” Jared grinned, pumping his arm in the air to echo Mike’s enthusiasm. “I’ve got food and drinks in the screening room and let’s go watch a movie!” Jared led the way, moving down the hall and Jensen followed close behind, making sure that he got one of the seats right next to Jared. And when Mike, Misha and Tom started tossing popcorn back and forth, Jensen may or may not have been responsible for the few kernels that ended up down Jared’s shirt.
Jared growled at him, Twizzler hanging out of his mouth and threatened revenge but luckily, Jensen had a package of gummi worms so all was forgiven.
This was definitely something Jensen knew that he could get used to.
Part 7 | Master Post | Part 9
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 R (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 works in a little time with Jared and another person gets sent home.
Word Count: 7410 (this part)
Disclaimer: Never happened, no affiliation.
A/N: So. Had a couple of days off... Also, slowly starting to edge into R territory.
Master Post: Master Post
Part 7 | Master Post | Part 9
Episode 4 - Second Half
Jensen was sitting on Danneel’s bed, flipping through a copy of Cosmo though why he wasn’t quite sure. Oh, he knew why he was flipping through the pages of the magazine-it was because Danneel was in it and he’d actually gotten curious about her work now that he’d seen her in action-but he had no idea why he was listening to all of Danneel’s not so subtle digs at Lita.
Misha said that negativity was bad for your health. On the other hand, though, Danneel was fucking funny. Maybe that’s what he was doing here. He was trying hard not to outright giggle but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t hiding a smile behind the hand he was using to prop up his head as he turned the pages. “Seriously,” Danneel was saying, “her qualifications kind of involve taking clothes off, not on.” Jensen chuckled and Danneel smiled at him. “Right? I wasn’t the only one that noticed that the ‘dancer’ part was missing the ‘exotic’ tag? Dancers do not get boob jobs unless they swing around a pole.”
“I’m not going there,” Jensen replied, still smiling. He turned another page, raised and eyebrow and pushed the book at Danneel. Puzzled, Danneel leaned forward to catch sight of the picture before wincing.
“I don’t talk about that one,” she said. “We shall never speak of this again.”
“Okay.” Jensen nodded and firmly closed the magazine, hiding the shot of what looked to be Danneel in leg warmers and…a diaper. Why she was wearing a diaper, he wasn’t quite clear but it wasn’t like you could work that into normal, everyday conversations anyway, so he supposed that if she didn’t speak of it, he wouldn’t either.
They’d retreated to Danneel’s bedroom shortly after Jared had left with Sandy, Misha and Ben because Danneel couldn’t stand the sight of Lita and, frankly, Jensen couldn’t stand the sight of the house without Jared. Danneel seemed to understand that just like Jensen understood her and together, he thought that they’d been doing a really good job of making sure that neither one of those problems bothered them. He knew that Mike was downstairs with Tom, playing pool and drinking beer, commiserating over their loss while Georgie was in the gym, probably trying to get back some of her manliness after being forced to wear a dress. Jensen was actually surprised that they hadn’t just stuffed Tom in a dress, instead. Might have even gone over better.
Where Lita was, at the moment Jensen just didn’t give a damn.
Jared had been gone for hours now and, not that Danneel wasn’t great, but he was starting to miss him. Danneel could only hold out as a substitute for so long and Jensen really didn’t want to start picturing all the things that Jared could be doing on his date. There was Sandy who could understand Jared like no other, Misha who shared some of Jared’s most passionate interests and was just damn interesting to talk to and Ben of the fascinating ex-life and killer body. All of them were more than just stiff competition for Jensen and all of them he knew that Jared was interested in.
Jensen was just starting to feel sorry for himself again when he heard the chiming of the bells signaling that someone was at the front door. Danneel smiled at him and they both slid off the bed, heading out of the room and down the hall to the balcony to hope against Hell that Jared had finally returned. They hit the balcony and Jensen reached out to grip the railing as he stared downward, his heart thumping madly in his chest.
He caught sight of Jared’s familiar form immediately, standing taller than everyone else and pulling Mike into a back-thumping hug. Sandy was standing just behind him, looking as perfect and tiny as a china doll and…Jensen’s chest constricted painfully because it looked like she was wearing a brand new necklace. It was a tiny pinprick of a sapphire sitting against her throat, emphasizing the whiteness of her dress. He knew that she hadn’t been wearing it when she left-her neck had been bare-and he wasn’t stupid enough to think that she had bought herself while they were out. Swallowing hard, Jensen swung his gaze to her left, searching Ben for anything new.
It hurt, having Jared’s present on Sandy, his mark, a sign of his affection, but he wanted to at least know that she wasn’t the only one. That she wasn’t special. That if Jensen had just had a better team on this one, he’d be the one wearing something like that. His knees nearly gave out when he saw the new watch sitting on Ben’s wrist and a glittering bracelet on Misha’s. He didn’t like seeing them wearing anything either, but at least it meant that it had just been part of the date. It didn’t mean anything. Or at least Jensen hoped not.
Jared was now talking easily with Tom and Jensen knew that it really was time for him to get down there. Maybe if he was lucky, he could still get in some time with Jared before the night ended. Jared had told him that he wanted to spend time with him, after all. As Jensen started for the stairs, though, that was when he finally realized where Lita had been the entire night-sitting outside of Jared’s door and putting herself first in line. Jensen bit the inside of his cheek and looked away, unable to tolerate the wave of jealousy rolling through him.
There wasn’t much he could do now except maybe insist on Jared spending time with both of them or just waiting until she was done with him. Whenever that would be. So he by-passed her and headed on down the stairs, noting when Danneel turned up her nose and sauntered on past as well.
When Jensen hit the bottom of the stairs, Jared noticed him and smiled, waiting for Jensen to come to him this time. Jensen did, because there was no use in being shy or playing games when it was already obvious how far he’d come for Jared already. He walked straight up into Jared’s space and Jared pulled him into a hug as well, making Jensen’s heart stutter and his breath catch in his throat. God but it never ceased to amaze him just how incredibly big Jared was.
It made him think of other things that probably weren’t fit for polite company.
Jared released him but his hands stayed, one holding Jensen close and the other moving up to play with his hair as Jared murmured, “Did you have a good night, Jen?”
Jensen quirked his lips into a small smile and keep his eyes trained on Jared’s shoulder, unable to meet his eyes and successfully deliver one liners at the same time yet. “Without you?” he asked quietly and Jared exploded into laughter, the force rocking Jensen.
“Want to fix that?” Jared asked, wiggling his eyebrows and, God, but that offer was tempting. Before Jensen could give him a reply, though, Jared was already letting go of him and scooping Danneel up into a hug, apologizing for not being able to pick her. Jensen turned his back, willing to let Danneel have a few moments with Jared too, even if he didn’t like it. She deserved it just as much as he did.
Mike pulled Jensen into a hug, too, throwing him off balance and forcing him to catch a hold of Mike’s shirt to make sure he didn’t fall. “There you are, Jenny!” Mike crowed. “Been looking for you.”
“Must not have been looking too hard,” Jensen muttered. He’d just been upstairs after all.
“Well, no,” Mike confessed, good naturedly. “Tommy and I only made it to the kitchen in the hunt for you. Then we got distracted by beer. But hey! It’s the thought that counts.”
Jensen struggled out of Mike’s hold, feeling cheered despite the fact that Jared was still flirting with Danneel and quietly stood around. The entire house was here except for… Jensen glanced back behind himself and found Georgie, quietly watching them all in the corner. She looked fresh from the gym and only slowly approached, making no real effort to grab Jared’s attention like everyone else.
It was just as well because Jared was starting to head up the stairs already and he’d found Lita. He let go of Danneel, who hadn’t wanted to come any closer, anyway, and entered into a quiet conversation with the blonde waiting outside his door before entering his room and pulling her in along with him. The door closed behind them and a pit of apprehension mixed with a little anger started to grow in Jensen’s belly.
It wasn’t fair that she’d lost the competition for them and yet there she was, trying to make herself out to be the victim and slither her way back into Jared’s good graces. Jensen glanced over at Sandy again, seeing her necklace sparkle and moved onto Ben and Misha. Granted, it was a fashion show and Jensen would have been useless but he still should have been there. Being useless beside Jared at the very least.
Jared didn’t emerge from his room for the rest of the night and neither, frankly, did Lita and that was not something that Jensen should have known nor did he need to know. Screw the group date, this was Jared and a stripper in Jared’s bedroom. Jensen’s eyes snapped open at six fucking thirty in the morning and refused to close again knowing these indisputable facts.
So, sighing, Jensen resigned himself to having no sleep and being cranky all day and slid out of his bed into the cool morning air before pulling out some clean clothes from his suitcase and padding out of the room. Tom was still snoring in the corner because apparently having Jared barricaded in a room with a bed and a stripper didn’t seem to bother him. Why was Tom even here, anyway, if he didn’t care?
Jensen growled at himself and his ugly mood as he moved into the bathroom. He was probably the only damned person up at this godawful time of day. It shouldn’t matter to him who Jared spent his time with. He’d just met the man last week for fuck’s sake, and normal people wouldn’t react this way. Would they?
Jensen was just one of many, though, and he had to accept that. And that many just happened to include Lita as well. Jensen dumped his stuff on the counter and glared at his reflection in the morning, not liking what was looking back at him. He looked like Hell warmed over with scruff unevenly dotting his face and one side of his hair pressed flat and, fuck, were those bags under his eyes?
This whole living with Jared Padalecki thing was going to kill him for sure, he knew it. He dragged himself into the shower, quickly soaping himself down and spending no more time than necessary because, after yesterday’s performance, Jensen trusted the privacy of the bathrooms in this house even less than before.
He toweled himself off and pulled on some clean clothes, shaved and brushed his teeth before attempting to make his hair do anything but resemble road kill. Eventually he gave it up as a lost cause, popped in his contacts and retreated from the horror show still staring him down in the mirror.
Dumping his stuff back on his bed, Jensen ambled downstairs towards the kitchen, figuring that since he was up, he might as well get some breakfast. See if it was worth the hype that everyone gave about it. Frankly, Jensen didn’t see the appeal without Jared being there, but hey. He wasn’t pathetic enough to give up living just because Jared Padalecki had decided to spend the night with a stripper and was now probably sleeping in and cuddling and possibly deciding to wake her up for-
Okay. Enough of that shit. Jensen rounded the corner and entered the kitchen, ready to at least get some toast or something but he stopped dead, all thoughts of food fleeing from his mind because Jared wasn’t in his room: Jared was standing right in front of him, in the glow of the early morning and the open refrigerator door in well used running shoes, short blue shorts and a thin white T-shirt, chugging down an entire water bottle. Jensen swallowed hard, trying to fix his suddenly dry mouth as he followed the lines of Jared’s moving throat and focused on the beads of sweat still dripping off the man’s body to land on the floor. Jared’s normally fluffy hair was plastered to his forehead, roughly shoved to each side and Goddamn, but the man had no right to look this way. Especially in the morning when none of Jensen’s usual defenses and filters were awake yet.
Jensen bit down on his lip and tried to ignore the fact that he was half hard, shoving out all thoughts of Jared spread out on a bed like this, looking well used and exhausted and fucking sated.
Jared caught Jensen staring and choked, startled, his hand rising up to wipe away the water now dripping off his chin and smiling sheepishly. “Sorry. Didn’t expect anyone to be up.”
“You look happy,” Jensen blurted and mentally winced because what the fuck kind of thing was that to say? God, he was a freak.
Jared took another long swig off the water bottle and it was just like some strange fitness porno. Jensen shouldn’t be finding this hot. It was in the way that he could see just about all of Jared’s muscles, though, and, oddly, how he looked even more vulnerable than he’d had that first night half naked in the pool. It was like Jensen was being allowed to see a sight that no one else did-intensely private and that made it ten times hotter than any other position he’d ever seen Jared in and yes, that did include the nude wrestling scene in Running Deep.
Jensen gave up on being anything but hopelessly turned on and just prayed that Jared either didn’t notice the painful hard-on pressing at his zipper or at least didn’t decide to comment on it. Talk about embarrassing.
“I like running,” Jared said finally. “Plus, I-” Jensen heard a jingle and he swung around just in time to see a big black nose push open the door to the kitchen and an orange dog shove himself through. Jensen’s eyes widened. That was… He glanced over at Jared who was scratching the back of his head. “I got to spend some time with my babies and that always makes me happy.”
The big orange dog was followed by a slightly smaller dog, both of them making no pretenses about who they were here to see. The smaller dog went directly to Jared, pushing itself up against his legs with the big orange one planted itself in front of Jensen, wagging its tail and drooling on his feet.
“That’s, uh, that’s Harley,” Jared laughed. “Guess he likes you.” Figuring that the wagging tail was a good sign, Jensen slowly reached out and scratched behind Harley’s ears, making the dog’s tail wag harder. “This one’s Sadie,” Jared said, pointing down at the dog that was now sitting next to him. “She’s got a little bit more manners than Harley, sorry about that.”
“It’s okay,” Jensen replied quietly, squatting down to scratch both of Harley’s ears now. “I like dogs.”
“Do you?” Jared asked, just making small talk, and Jensen nodded. “I consider them excellent judges of character. …Well, Sadie more than Harley because Harley will let just about anybody pet him-he’s such a whore.”
Jensen smiled and kept his eyes on the drooling dog. “You callin’ me just about anybody, Jared?” he teased quietly and Jared laughed again.
“I think I was giving you a compliment,” he replied, moving closer. “But I can take it back if you don’t want it.” His hand came down, warm and solid on Jensen’s shoulder and Jensen’s entire focused shifted to that one point of contact.
He covered Jared’s hand with his own and slowly stood up, much to Harley’s disappointment. “No, I think I’ll keep it,” Jensen said. Jared’s eyes were starting to darken, his breathing growing deeper and Jensen thought he liked where this was going.
Jared’s other hand rose to grip Jensen’s hip, holding him still as Jared slowly leaned forward. Jensen met him with no hesitation, no second thoughts, his tongue licking into Jared’s mouth and Jared letting him with a soft moan. Jared tilted his head, getting them at a better angle and Jensen moved closer, pushing his body against Jared’s sweaty chest and not caring. He’d step right on into Jared’s skin right now if he could.
The hand at Jensen’s hip, moved, pushing up Jensen’s shirt to get at a strip of skin and Jensen shivered at the contact, not expecting the lightning rod of pleasure to zip down his spine. “Now this is a good way to start a morning,” Jared murmured before kissing Jensen again. Jensen welcomed Jared’s tongue, sucking on it as his hands ran across Jared’s back. There was a hardness poking him in his lower gut, tenting Jared’s shorts and Jensen fairly mewled, pressing up against it. “Jensen,” Jared gasped, his own hand fluttered away from Jensen’s hip to feather across Jensen’s dick. Jensen gasped, arching up into the light touch and, emboldened by the response, Jared’s fingers became more sure, more firm, outlining Jensen’s dick in his jeans and stroking it.
He was coming to come in his damn pants in the middle of the kitchen. Still kissing Jared with everything he had, Jensen shoved a hand between them and grabbed Jared’s arm, pulling the wonderful, amazing friction away before he lost it completely. Regrettable but fuck it had felt too good… “Sorry,” Jared breathed, his free hand coming up to cup Jensen’s jaw again. “Sorry, sorry, sorry…” Jared pressed a few more soft kisses to Jensen’s lips before stepping back and Jensen wanted to demand just where did he think he was going? “Too fast?” Jared asked. “Too fast. Uh, I’ll, uh…want some breakfast?” He turned around grabbing the loaf of bread off the island and heading to the toaster. “I’m horrible at cooking, though, so don’t expect anything fancy.”
Jensen’s head was spinning because one moment he’d been kissing Jared Padalecki and the next, the movie star was offering to make him breakfast-albeit a simple one but still. Touched by the gesture but wondering if maybe he’d given off the wrong signals by pulling Jared away and with his dick still throbbing painfully, Jensen stepped forward and smoothed his palms over Jared’s T-shirt covered back. Then, giving in to an impulse, he slipped his hands underneath Jared’s shirt to press against acres of soft skin and smooth, flowing muscle. He shivered and debated on trying to just pull the shirt off because he’d had a thing for Jared’s back for at least five years now. Oh fuck did he ever. It had been one of Jensen’s only regrets about having Jared shirtless in the hot tub with him that first night-that Jared hadn’t turned around. Then again: Jared’s chest.
It was all a give and take, really.
Jared stood completely still, just rippling the muscles in his back underneath Jensen’s fingers and Jensen stepped even closer, burying his nose in Jared’s t-shirt and inhaling the salty scent of his sweat. God… He pressed himself against Jared’s ass, just giving in and Jared swallowed thickly. “Gotta say, here, Jen, I’m kind of getting mixed signals…”
“Mmm?” Jensen asked, not particularly paying attention because he had Jared Padalecki underneath his hands here. The man was gorgeous with tons of hard packed muscle and miles of skin for Jensen to lick and… Jared had touched his dick. Jensen shivered because, yeah, Jared had definitely done that. And it would only be fair if Jensen got to do the same, right? Right? Jensen bit his lip and moved his hands away from Jared’s amazingly muscled back to slide around to his front, skating over his abs before diving into his shorts.
“Oh fuck!” Jared hissed, his hips surging upward. He leaned forward, gripping the countertop and Jensen couldn’t even breathe as his hands finally wrapped around the outline of Jared’s dick, encased in his underwear. It was damp and Jensen hoped it wasn’t sweat as Jared twitched in his grip. Jared moaned, shoving his ass back against Jensen and, yeah, that was nice…
Jared whipped around, his hands reaching out to grab a hold of Jensen and the world spun as the next thing Jensen knew he was being lifted up and, Jesus, Jensen hadn’t realized that Jared was that fucking strong. It turned him on even more being manhandled by Jared, being pushed into position whether he liked it or not. Jared shoved him up onto the countertop, hands moving to push Jensen’s knees apart so he could step in between them and then Jared was kissing him again, all forceful lips and demanding tongue. Jensen felt himself melting in a shuddery mess, his hands rising to grip Jared’s sweat slicked hair and hold him close. Jared hips bumped against Jensen’s, his tented shorts rubbing against the bulge in Jensen’s jeans and Jensen moaned, moving his hips forward in an answering pulse.
“Fuck yeah…” Jared breathed, his hands gripping Jensen’s thighs like he felt a need to keep Jensen spread. Not that Jensen had any big plans on going anywhere-not as long as they kept things just as they were. Jensen ran his hands down Jared’s neck, onto his shoulders and over to his arms to grip his biceps. Jared thrust forward again, grinding them together and oh fuck…
“Oh, fuck!” Jared swore in an entirely different tone of voice than Jensen had been expecting and the big, wonderful heat that was Jared pulled away. Jensen’s eyes fluttered open in confusion and did he smell something burning? “Fuck, fuck, fuck…” Jared said, messing around with the small white toaster before it finally popped up, discharging four charred pieces of toast. “Stupid thing…”
A chuckle rumbled through Jensen’s chest and before long he was out and out laughing at Jared who was berating the toaster for failing to deliver. “Sorry, Jen. Apparently I can’t even make toast.” He frowned down at the toaster before sliding his eyes back over to Jensen. “…Not when I’m distracted.”
“Sorry,” Jensen said insincerely. He wasn’t going to apologize for it. Ever.
Jared grinned and dropped his eyes down to the countertop. “So…,” he started, “I just gotta know: too fast or no?”
Jensen winced. “Just didn’t want to come in my pants,” he admitted reluctantly, flushing slightly, and Jared growled, thrusting forward again. Jensen’s eyes fluttered, his hands reaching out to grip Jared’s hips and try to hold him still. “Still don’t,” he gasped.
“But yet you say stuff like that that makes me want to make you…” Jensen closed his eyes, ready to let Jared have his way, cameras be damned but they both heard a dog sigh and collapse onto the floor in a disgruntled huff. Jared chuckled again and dropped his head onto Jensen’s shoulder. “Sorry. He’s a bit of a cockblock when he’s around.”
Jensen couldn’t blame the dog. Both of them had been ignored for a while and he was actually kind of surprised that they’d lasted this long. He glanced around Jared and saw that while Harley was pouting on the floor by Jared’s feet, Sadie was pointedly and politely laying down across the room. Maybe there was something to be said for a dog having manners after all. Jensen smiled to himself and leaned over to pull the burnt toast out of the toaster, grabbing the edge of the plastic bag holding the loaf of bread and using it to pull it closer and select four more pieces. He dropped them into the toaster, pushed the button down and then leaned back, resting against the cabinets behind him while Jared grinned at him. “Making me breakfast?” Jared teased.
“Could,” Jensen said.
Jared shook his head. “Toast is good. Don’t want to burn down the kitchen.”
Jensen narrowed his eyes playfully and lightly hit Jared’s shoulders. “Hey. I can cook,” he protested.
“Oh? Good,” Jared said, leaving it at that as he finally stepped away. “So did you have a good night last night?” Jared asked, the question eerily familiar and Jensen's answer still hadn't changed. Jared grimaced at the burnt toast before getting the bright idea to throw it down to Harley. Harley wagged his tail excitedly, getting up to sniff the toast before throwing Jared a look that plainly said ‘you have to be kidding’ and turning up his nose at it. Jared shrugged. “Hey, your loss, buddy.”
“…Not particularly,” Jensen answered, deciding to go with a hint of truth instead of the easy way out. Jared glanced back at him and Jensen forced himself not to blush under that questioning stare as he averted his eyes. “You kind of spent it with someone else.”
“Oh. Right,” Jared said. He cleared his throat. “Um, listen, Jen. This is a really awkward situation, I know. But you can… It’s okay if you want to… You…”
Jensen waited impatiently for Jared to finish a sentence-any kind of sentence, really. He could what?
“You two are up early,” a new voice cut in and Jensen could have died right then and there. He jumped, flushing when he realized the position that Jared and he were still partially in while Jared smoothly finished stepping away.
“Morning, Misha,” Jared said. Misha smiled back, grabbing an apple out of the fruit basket and biting into it. “Jen and I were just about to have breakfast. Have a seat.”
Jensen sighed quietly and leaned over to pop the toast up before the toaster managed to burn yet another set. Apparently he was eating breakfast with Jared and Misha. He supposed that things could be worse.
“They’re great dogs,” Misha was saying. He’d finished up his apple and was now stroking Sadie’s head who had taken an immediate liking to him. Figured. Jensen was still stuck with Harley and he wondered what that meant. “They don’t live with you?”
“Oh, they usually do,” Jared replied. “But I didn’t want them having to get used to so many people, you know? Especially ones that I didn’t know so well myself.”
Misha nodded that he understood and Jensen felt his heart flutter because if Jared was bringing the dogs by now, that must mean that he trusted the people that were left in the house with them. Jensen wasn’t quite sure what it meant for Jared to be thinking that his ‘babies’ were ready to meet everyone but he was pretty sure it was akin to a single parent allowing you to meet their children.
Jensen was dying to ask after Lita, to find out if she really had spent the night or even to find out what had gone on, but he knew that that would be crossing some yet unspoken line about the proper rules of etiquette for this surreal situation. Technically, Jared was quasi-dating all of them. They all had a right to spend time with him. More than that, though, they’d actually signed up for this experience. They’d known what they were getting into-at least theoretically. It shouldn’t bother him that Jared had spent the night with Lita or that he’d chosen Sandy, Misha, and Ben last night.
It worked well in theory but utterly fell apart in practice. So instead, he kept his questions to himself, chiming in on Misha and Jared’s conversation every now and then and loving that Jared couldn’t keep his hands to himself-even if he did the same thing with Misha. And when Ben put in an appearance, Jensen accepted him, too.
“Any inventive torture techniques in store for us today?” Misha asked.
Jared snorted. “I’m starting to think it’s more torture for me than it is most of you-I have to decide who’s going home today.”
“Oh,” Misha said.
“Yeah, oh.” Jared winced. “It’s just really hard going through everyone and being all ‘can I see myself with them?’ or ‘is this going anywhere?’ because I see potential with everybody here, you know? And I like everybody so I don’t want to send anyone home.”
“It’s definitely a hard choice,” Misha replied sympathetically and Jensen agreed because he didn’t think that he wanted to be in Jared’s shoes either. It was another one of those things that sounded so good in theory-a house full of gorgeous people vying for your attention-but Jensen knew that all the second guessing would drive him insane.
“Speaking of that…” Jared said, “I suppose I should be getting ready.” He glanced over at the clock and Jensen was shocked to discover that it was nearing ten already. “Jeff’s about to wake everyone else up because the ceremony’s at noon.”
“Hung at high noon, huh?” Misha asked with a smile.
“Yeah.” Jared pushed himself away from the table, standing up, and Jensen’s new furry buddy immediately deserted him, happily running off to Jared. “I’ll see you guys in a little while, okay?” Jared said before walking out of the room, both dogs trailing after him.
Misha smiled and looked over at Jensen. “They’ve very nice dogs.”
Jensen nodded slowly, his mind not on the dogs at all. “They sure are,” he replied weakly.
They were all lined back up on their little podium, standing like wallflowers at a dance, waiting to be asked, hoping that the homecoming king will notice them. This particular homecoming king, though, was staring resolutely at his little chains, his hands betraying his nerves as they played with the little dangling ‘J’s. Jensen took a deep breath, calming himself and glanced down the line at his fellow wallflowers. Danneel was dressed to kill and somehow Jensen knew that it meant that she thought that she wasn’t as high up on the list at the moment as she’d like. Tom was staring at the floor as he hadn’t had the time with Jared that Jared had said that he should. Mike, standing beside Tom, was the opposite, staring steadily at the ceiling and Lita was staring straight ahead at Jared. Jensen examined her closely, like maybe her very appearance would in some way, shape or form, tell him if she’d had sex with Jared last night. He couldn’t pretend that she hadn’t spent the night because he’d seen her exiting Jared’s room soon after Jared had left them in the kitchen, yawning and stretching and trying to smooth her sleep tousled hair.
Jensen was also fighting back a little kernel of disappointment in Jared and he’d like to think that Jared wouldn’t be the type to with somebody this quickly or, if he’d had, then at least he hadn’t caught anything from the poor man’s version of Pamela Anderson.
“This gets harder and harder each time,” Jared said, cutting though the impatient silence and startling everyone. They all stood completely still, watching him, waiting for his next move, and Jensen thought that some weren’t even breathing. “Once again, I’d like to thank you all for coming down to see me and I’d like to thank you for wanting to go through all of this with me. I think that I’ve reached my decision and it wasn’t an easy one.” He set down the chains, selecting just one and holding it up. “The first chain goes to someone that I have a lot in common with, someone that just seems to get me and someone that I could definitely see spending the rest of my life with. And I see that she’s still wearing the necklace that I gave her, so Sandy come down and let me give you another one.
Sandy smiled, stepping down off the podium and walking to stand in front of Jared, tilting her head and letting him put the necklace on her. She murmured something that had Jared cracking his first smile since he’d walked into the room and Jensen had to grit his teeth to stop the instinctual territorial growl. Sandy was one of America’s sweethearts and it wouldn’t be nice to claw her eyes out.
Didn’t mean he didn’t want to do it anyway. Especially when Jared leaned down and gave her a thorough kiss. Jensen looked away and thought uncharitably that it must be hell on Jared’s back to have to lean down so far.
“The next person to get one,” Jared said, continuing on and Jensen finally glanced back up. It he was announcing another selection, that meant that he was done kissing Sandy and it was safe to look again. “Is also a person I have a lot in common with. I love talking to them and I can see myself doing so for a long time. Misha, please step down.” Misha gently pushed himself through the crowd and moved down in front of Jared. Jensen averted his eyes right from the get go because he honestly liked Misha and-even if he did have to constantly remind himself-he could do this for him. He blocked out the quiet conversation and a sound of another kiss, trying hard not to wince.
Both Sandy and Misha would go well with Jared-they both understood him and circulated in his circles already-Sandy more than Misha but Jensen had no doubt that Misha would handle himself just fine in whatever crowd Jared put him in. Either of them would be a good match.
The thing about it, though, Jensen knew, was that all the people in the room were potentially a good match for Jared-himself included. Jensen knew-idle fantasies aside-that he could be good for Jared, too. Sure, he wouldn’t be the life of the party like Mike or Misha and he wouldn’t add much to Jared’s star power like Sandy but Jensen thought that Jared didn’t need much help in either of those departments. What Jared needed was someone that understood him, that could support him, be there for him-someone that could help him weather the fickleness that was Hollywood. Jensen knew he could do that.
…He even thought that he might be able to adapt to Jared’s world as well. It would take some doing-to get used to the constant spotlight that followed Jared around and having to deal with the bouts of jealousy that came with the territory when someone didn’t understand the line between showing appreciation and going overboard-but Jensen thought that he was already learning. He was starting to deal well the cameras-he’d never truly get used to them, but he was learning how to not let them bother him as much as they used to. He could do that.
For Jared, he could definitely do that.
Jared had called Ben next, which was to be expected, considering how Ben had been part of the winning team but now the floor was open, so to speak, and Jensen was all ears and restless, rolling nerves. Jared selected his next chain and held it up for inspection. “This next person, well, there’s no doubt in my mind about them. The more I see, the more I like and I know that there’s a whole lot more I’m just not seeing yet because they’re deep enough to make the ocean look shallow. I could see myself spending the rest of my life exploring their personality and loving every minute of it. Jensen, if you’d come accept your chain, I’d be really happy.”
Jensen bit the inside of cheek hard and fast to stop the goofy smile that wanted to explode across his face and smoothly made his way down to stand in front of Jared, though he felt the nearly irresistible urge to dance there. That was all he needed-something for Chris to hold over his head for the rest of his life. Jensen wouldn’t doubt that it would be even be set as his screensaver.
Jared’s eyes were dark again, taking Jensen right back to this morning and he sucked in another deep breath, trying to keep himself calm again. Jared’s hand rose to cup the back of Jensen’s head, fingers playing with his hair, and Jensen could stop the small shiver that ran through him. “Thanks for being here, Jen,” Jared said quietly. “Anytime you want some attention, you just let me know because I don’t think I could ever get enough of you.”
Jensen forced himself to not look away as he said, “Same here,” and then Jared was reacquainting himself with Jensen’s mouth. Jensen grabbed a hold of Jared’s hips, holding him close as Jared tilted for a better angle. It was over far too soon, Jared pulling back and smiling at Jensen as Jensen’s eyes fluttered open.
“Anytime,” Jared said, his hands falling away from Jensen. Jensen nodded and took his place beside the other three as Jared called out his next choices and why he could see himself with them. He went through Danneel and Mike and left Tom, Georgie and Lita up there for a few agonizing minutes before finally letting Tom know that he was safe-not off the hook yet but safe.
Georgie and Lita glanced at each other before looking back up at Jared. Georgie grabbed her left arm with her right hand, linking them subtly while Lita kept her body language open. Jared took a deep breath, summoning up his courage. “Georgie,” he said, starting, “I didn’t get to see too much of you these past few days. The only time I really did, besides during the challenge, was when I went to go visit you in the gym. I don’t know what’s going on.”
Silence descended on the room, Jared patiently waiting for Georgie to speak up which took her a few minutes. “I don’t know,” she said. “I guess it’s a lot of things. Things just…don’t feel right, right now.”
Jared nodded. “Do you still want to be here?” he asked. Her answering shrug made Jensen’s eyebrows rise.
“I think so,” she replied, defensively. Jared gave her a few more minutes to continue but when she didn’t, he moved on to Lita.
“Lita, your team would have won yesterday’s challenge if you wouldn’t have quit halfway through. I know there was some resentment there, on both sides, actually. I’m glad that you came and talked to me last night, let me know what’s going on and what’s going on in your head. We’re all dealing with a lot of pressure-this isn’t a normal situation and we all know that. What I need, though, is for you to get along with everyone else-if it’s a team challenge, it’s a team challenge, not just whatever Lita wants.” He paused, letting her defend herself if she chose and Lita nodded.
“I understand,” she said.
“Okay.” Jared picked up the last chain, holding it out in front of them. “So I had to think long and hard about who gets this last chain because I don’t ever want to send anybody home and I really like both you-you both know that. Georgie, I like your energy, I like the fact that you wouldn’t mind getting up at the crack of dawn to go running with me. I like your enthusiasm for life. Lita, you’ve got a lot of energy too. It’s not as peaceful as Georgie’s but it’s a lot of fun. You’ve got a lot of spunk and you definitely know how to handle yourself. I also think that you’d work well in the kind of life I lead, able to go with the flow and adapt.
“So, I the only real decision that I’m faced with is, who do I chose to go home? Who do I think that I have the least potential with? Do I send home someone who I like spending time with and who I thought would work well with me but doesn’t seem to be particularly liking me right now? Maybe she’s just feeling shy or maybe this was a bad couple of days. Or do I send home the one that I know really likes me, constantly seeks me out but may be just too wild?”
Jensen shifted nervously. He really wished that Jared would just get on with this already because the anxiety was going to eat him alive. He knew that this hadn’t been an easy choice for Jared to make and that Jared wanted to impress that upon everyone but Jensen knew that the choices were only going to get harder from here on out.
“I was still trying to decide when I walked in here, today,” Jared said, looking strained. “But in the end, Georgie, your answer made the choice for me. Lita, this necklace is for you.” Lita’s knees nearly gave out-she dropped a half a foot before catching herself and standing back up, her hand clutched to her chest. Georgie stared at the floor as Lita rushed down the stairs to stand in front of Jared. Jared looked down at her. “This isn’t about you,” he said, “and I think you understand that.”
He attached the necklace as Lita whispered, “Thank you.” She pulled him down for a quick kiss before running off to stand with everyone else while Jared addressed Georgie.
“Georgie, I’m sorry, but this is where the red carpet ends.”
Georgie nodded, her hand rising to dab at her eyes as she walked to Jared to get her hug. Jensen averted his eyes, not wanting to feel jealous of this moment and not wanting to feel sad, either. He’d barely known her but yet he still felt like he was losing a friend, even if he’d never seen much of her either.
“Thank you for coming out,” Jared said quietly, still holding her.
Georgie nodded and pushed herself back to get a little bit of room. “Thank you for having me,” she replied and pulled away from him. She straightened, steeling herself, and walked out the door as Jared watched her. The door closed softly behind her and Jared turned to the rest of them.
“Time for a drink,” he told them and the now familiar waiters were circling the room again. They each took a glass, holding it up as Jared said, “To Georgie and to us,” and downed his glass. Jensen threw his back, feeling the customary tickle of the champagne and moved with the rest of the crowd to circle around Jared. He glanced around the eight of them. “So, I don’t know about you guys, but that kind of wore me out and now the day’s just kind of shot, isn’t it?” They nodded and Jensen hoped like hell that they were going into the next challenge right after this.
“So I thought that maybe we could just have a lazy day,” Jared said. “Because, well, I’ve got a copy of James Cameron’s newest one and I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet.” Jensen blinked. He couldn’t be sure-it wasn’t like he was a avid movie news follower or anything-but he was pretty sure that James Cameron’s newest movie wasn’t due out for another month. “What do you all say to a little private screening?”
“I say ‘Hell yeah!’” Mike cheered and Jared laughed.
“Alright!” Jared grinned, pumping his arm in the air to echo Mike’s enthusiasm. “I’ve got food and drinks in the screening room and let’s go watch a movie!” Jared led the way, moving down the hall and Jensen followed close behind, making sure that he got one of the seats right next to Jared. And when Mike, Misha and Tom started tossing popcorn back and forth, Jensen may or may not have been responsible for the few kernels that ended up down Jared’s shirt.
Jared growled at him, Twizzler hanging out of his mouth and threatened revenge but luckily, Jensen had a package of gummi worms so all was forgiven.
This was definitely something Jensen knew that he could get used to.
Part 7 | Master Post | Part 9