Fic: RPS (Jared/Jensen): In It for Love [12 / 16] | R | 9945 words
Title: In It for Love [ 12 / 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 gets his date, even if it goes a little farther than what he's comfortable with, and Jared kicks another person out of the house.
Word Count: 9945 (this part)
Disclaimer: Never happened, no affiliation.
Master Post: Master Post
A/N: This. Was a bitch. -_-
Part 11 | Master Post | Part 13
Episode 6 - Second Half
Jeff was in Jensen’s bedroom. After claiming one of the bathrooms to take a shower, Jensen had opened the door to the room where he was sleeping and had seen the producer laying out clothes on Jensen’s bed like Jensen was a showgirl and Jeff was his creepy manager, trying to make him look pretty for his new John. Great. Return of the harem girl, then. It was another thing, like the cameras, that Jensen didn’t think that he’d ever get used to-not only was he told were to go, but he was also told what to wear when doing it. Sometimes he felt that if they could get away with controlling what he thought, they’d do that, too. As if he was right back out on the stage in front of Jared, the butterflies in Jensen’s stomach had started right back up because seeing Jeff there to make him look presentable cemented it in Jensen’s mind that this was actually happening. Personally, though, Jensen was just glad that he’d made the decision to put on his previous pair of pants after the shower instead of crossing the hallway in nothing but a towel. Jeff, he’d found, was a lot easier to face with clothes on.
Jeff glanced over his shoulder. “Hey, kiddo,” he said, waving Jensen in. “This should fit you but try it on and if it doesn’t, we’ll get a different one.” Jeff pointed down at the clothes on the bed and Jensen approached slowly, not knowing what to expect but hoping against hope that it wasn’t a pair of genie pants and a silky bra with a couple of veils to go along with them. Though that would certainly be appropriate.
On the bed, though, laid out nice and neat, was a crisp, black suit that Jensen knew that he most definitely did not own. Judging by the fabric and the cut, it was out of his price range. “Come on, Jen,” Jeff said, snapping his fingers, “if the suit doesn’t fit, I’ve only got so much time to find you a new one.”
Jensen shot Jeff a glare and picked up the suit jacket, fingers sliding over the impossibly soft exterior before he moved it to the side and grabbed the slacks. They certainly looked his size… He held them to his chest and glanced over at Jeff, raising an eyebrow to quietly ask when Jeff was planning on leaving so that Jensen could get dressed. When Jeff just stared blandly back, Jensen flushed, taking that as his answer. He turned around and presented his back to the older man, resolutely ignoring the chuckle. Jackass.
Embarrassed, Jensen tore at the fly of his pants, his fingers not cooperating enough to have any finesse. He couldn’t believe that Jeff was just going to stand there and watch him like he was five, not trusting him to get dressed by himself. At least that’s what he hoped Jeff was watching him like. The alternatives were not exactly any better because Jensen didn’t think that being eyed like a piece of meat or, worse, a complete non-entity was appealing, either. Just as he was sliding his pants over his hips, though, blush firmly in place and hating Jeff for it, he heard the click of the door closing. Jensen’s hands froze and he whirled around to check to see who else was in the room with them.
There was no one, not even a sign of Jeff. Jensen scanned the room before realizing that the producer must have left. Well. Maybe Jeff wasn’t a complete asshole, then.
Still, Jensen wasn’t taking any chances. He shoved his pants down and stepped out of them to pull the new ones on. He wanted to be fully dressed by the time that Jeff came back and he knew that if he wanted even this modicum of privacy that he’d better hurry it up because soon Jeff would be pounding down his door whether Jensen was ready or not.
Muttering to himself, he jerked the pair of pants on, surprised when they fit very nearly perfectly, like they’d been perfectly tailored to his body-which was a scary thought because of how entirely probable it was. Even the legs fell to the right length. Jensen stared down at them, shifting from foot to foot, and prayed that no one had been taking his measurements while he was asleep or anything. Then he called himself a paranoid freak and grabbed the shirt.
After all, the creepers had undoubtedly just gone through his suitcase.
Trying to force himself to think that crew members pawing through his clothes was any better than them taking a measuring tape to his leg or something, Jensen unbuttoned his old shirt and tossed it onto the bed, sliding the soft fabric of the new one on to his arms.
Damn but they were nice clothes… Jensen pulled up one side of the shirt and smelled it, trying to find out if he’d be able to smell the money that they were worth. It must have been sprayed in cologne, however, because a faint whiff of something dark and deep and heady tickled at his nose and uncurled a tendril of heat, hot and heavy, in his lower gut. Jensen dropped the shirt and tucked it into his pants as he shifted uncomfortably.
This was what Jared was doing to him: Jensen was getting aroused by shirts now. Jensen grabbed the jacket off the bed and whirled it around his shoulders, shrugging into it. It fit like a dream, too, the lines of the suit coat following his body nearly perfectly and Jensen wished that there was a mirror in the room. He wasn’t exactly vain but something that seemed to fit him this nicely he just had to see.
He was smoothing his hands down the front of the jacket, having just buttoned it, when Jeff walked in. Jeff nodded approvingly as he looked him over and Jensen firmly shoved his blush down, trying to ignore the innuendos that Jeff’s eyes were suggesting. “You’ll make some nice eye candy tonight, kid,” Jeff chuckled and Jensen tried not to feel too scandalized. It was just Jeff, after all-he was fast learning that that was just how Jeff operated. Jensen wanted to ask Jeff where they were going but he knew better. Jared always seemed to like to make it a surprise and Jeff wouldn’t ruin that-best to keep your stars happy, after all. “I’m going to go get Jared,” Jeff told him. “Why don’t you meet us downstairs and we can get an early start?”
Jensen nodded his understanding and gave it a solid ten count after Jeff left before he followed the man out of the room. He stopped off at the bathroom to give his hair a quick spike, deriding himself as vain the entire time before he finally started for the stairs. He just as bad as the girls.
Jensen never made it to the stairs because Jared’s double-doored bedroom was before them and Jared stepped out before Jensen could pass. The bit of heat that Jensen had been fighting off ever since he’d smelled the shirt exploded inside of him as he quickly devoured the sight of Jared in his respective suit. Now Jensen knew why that Jeff had insisted that he wear the one that had been laid out because it complimented Jared’s-seeming to be made out of the same fabric and everything. Jared’s suit emphasized his broad shoulders and his trim waist and the other thing that Jensen could think about was the best way to get the suit off of him. He had to stop a stare a minute, indulging himself in fantasies that they didn’t have time to reenact.
A low whistle snapped him out of it. His eyes darted up from Jared’s body to his face, a guilty flush spreading across Jensen’s cheeks but it quickly turned into a pleased smile when he saw Jared having the same problem. “Damn, Jen…” Jared murmured. “I’m going to have to beat off people with a stick tonight…” He spread his hands wide, gesturing at Jensen and Jensen ducked his head.
“Same,” Jensen replied.
Jared turned sharply and held his arm out for Jensen. “Well, shall we?” he asked and Jensen blinked down bemusedly at Jared’s arm for a few moments before finally agreeing to take it.
“This doesn’t mean that I’m a girl,” Jensen muttered. It was a holdover reaction from his teen years when Jensen had spent way too much time contemplating ways to butch up his image before he ended up being begged to put on a dress again.
“Of course it doesn’t!” Jared reassured him, clapping a hand over the one that Jensen had reluctantly linked in his arm. He leaned in to whisper, “I’ve felt your manly bits, Jen. They’re very manly.”
Jesus. Jared just had to come out and say that didn’t he? Jensen flushed again as Jeff’s lips quirked because apparently he’d heard that. Jared, though, just laughed and hauled Jensen down the stairs. “Come on,” he said with a wink. “We don’t want to be late.”
“Late?” Jensen asked, wondering what kind of time frame they were running on.
“You’ll see.”
Jensen saw alright. He saw an awful lot. He sat back in the limo, trying very hard to ignore what was happening outside the tinted windows. It was a circus out there with throngs of reporters and camera crews and flashing lightbulbs. He swallowed. It was a lot of people.
Jared was holding his hand, doing the distracting thumb rubbing thing but not even that was happening right now. It was like being in the middle of a mob… “Sorry, Jen,” Jared apologized. He scooted closer, placing his solid warmth against Jensen’s side. “I know that a movie premiere is probably not exactly your idea of great time.” Jared had no freaking idea just how far away from ‘a great time’ it actually was. More like ‘possible worst nightmare.’ “But I promised Chad that I’d show up for his movie and, believe it or not, it’ll be fun, I promise. And I’ll make it up to you, later...” Jensen glanced over at Jared, wondering just how Jared thought he was going to make it up and if it was going to involve a blowjob in the limo because that really the only way he could see any of this getting any better. He wet his dry lips because Jesus, that was a lot of fucking people.
Jared groaned. “God, Jen, you’ve got to stop that lip sucking thing when I’m trying to behave myself…” He dropped Jensen’s hand and grabbed a hold of his face instead, holding Jensen still while he planted a quick kiss on Jensen’s mouth, tongue briefly flicking at Jensen’s lips. He pulled away far too soon and Jensen found himself following, forgetting where they were at and just wanting more.
…Okay. So Jared’s little thumb thing did nothing but apparently one kiss from Jared had the power to possibly make Jensen forget his own name.
“Gotta stop,” Jared muttered. “Or you’re going to look like such a slut by the time I’m through with you…”
“I-I’d be okay with that,” Jensen confessed. The idea actually kind of appealed to him.
“Not going to a movie premiere, you wouldn’t be.” Jared dropped his hands away from Jensen, setting them onto the leather seat. Jensen sighed and sat back, trying to work up the courage to step outside of the limo with Jared and not, say, scream in terror and hide. That probably wouldn’t win him any big points with Jared.
“Oh,” Jared said, turning to dig into his pocket. “I almost forgot. Jeff would have killed me!” Jared pulled out a small black box and handed it to Jensen. “Here, this is for you.”
Jensen blinked at the box before finally accepting it, sliding his fingers over the velvety outside. It looked kind of like a… “What is this?”
Jared shrugged. “Just a little something. Sorry you didn’t get a chance to pick yours out but I thought you’d like it anyway.”
…Jewelry box. Jensen flashed back to standing on the landing of the mansion’s stairs, watching with no small amount of jealousy as Sandy, Misha and Ben had entered the house at Jared’s side, all wearing tokens from him. Wondering if he should accept Jared’s gift or not-it was bound to be expensive but one small part of him was jumping for joy at the thought of wearing something Jared had given him-Jensen opened the box.
A silver-colored watch sat in the silk-lined interior, looking gorgeous but unobtrusive-quietly rich as the tiny hands ticked away the seconds. “It’s a Blancpain,” Jared said quietly, his fingers rising up to clasp around Jensen’s frozen ones. “Can I put it on you?” Jensen nodded, not allowing himself to speak, and Jared picked the watch up out of its box and slide it over Jensen’s wrist, fastening it securely. Jensen stared down at it, wondering how much the thing cost and warring with his sense of decorum. His manners wanted him to return it-he’d only just met Jared after all, regardless of the strange reality TV bubble he’d been existing in that fooled him into believing otherwise-but the vicious thirteen year old in him was screaming for him to keep it.
“Do you like it?” Jared asked, sounding worried and Jensen finally broke out of his loop of to keep or not to keep.
“It’s gorgeous,” he said honestly and Jared smiled happily. How could he bear to crush that look of happiness? His inner thirteen year old nodded sagely and that was that. Apparently he was keeping it. His heart beating at double-time, Jensen firmly told himself that even if it was a nice gift and given to him personally by Jared, it was the same thing that Sandy, Misha and Ben had gotten and so it wasn’t like it was a proposal or anything. There really wasn’t a need to shriek like a girl about it.
“Thought I was going to make you wear one of the J chains, didn’t you?” Jared teased. Jensen laughed, turning his head because, uh, maybe. As much as he liked the idea of wearing Jared’s mark, Jensen didn’t think he was quite ready to wear something so…obvious. Jared tugged on his arm. “Come on,” he said, hauling Jensen toward the far side of the limo. “Our public awaits!” Jensen wanted to protest-wanted to tell Jared he wasn’t ready or that he was going to puke or anything, really, that would make him stop-but Jared was already opening the door and Jensen knew that there wasn’t anymore waiting. Jared pulled him out of the limo and onto the red carpet and Jensen was immediately blinded by the flashing bulbs of hundreds of cameras. The only thing keeping him moving, letting him know where to go, was Jared’s sure hand laced with his. Jensen clutched it like a lifeline.
Jared led them across the red carpet, stopping to give a few sound bites to the reporters, introducing Jensen over and over. Jensen smiled and tried not to look like he was terrified but the model-thin girls in their slinky dresses, holding microphones to Jared’s face and baring their sparkling teeth reminded him of a pack of rabid wolves, hungry and desperate for any scrap of meat that they could find. It was all he could do to plant his feet and stay put because creatures like these, he knew, could smell fear and if they did, it’d be all over for him. He’d be torn apart faster than a hapless caribou carcass.
“Jared!” one of them cried, attracting Jared’s attention. Jared swung around and greeted her with a large smile as Jensen tried to will himself to be calm. She was tanner than tan, looking like perhaps she’d fallen asleep in the tanning both and ended up extra crispy instead of just golden brown and he was unsure if her orange dress could technically get any shorter or if it was already considered a shirt. “I hear that you’re filming a new reality series!” she said. “That you’re the newest most-eligible bachelor on the block!” She held the microphone out to Jared who laughed.
“Yeah, I’m the host of the newest ‘In It for Love.’” He squeezed Jensen’s hand and pulled him closer to wrap an arm around Jensen’s shoulders. “This is Jensen. He’s in the house with me.” Jensen wondered if he should wave or something but, luckily, he was chopped liver to the shewolf.
“Now, Jared, it doesn’t seem to me that you’d have a hard time getting dates!” she chirped.
Jared ducked his head, grinning as he ran a quick hand through his hair. “Well, I’m not just looking for a date-I’m looking for more, so I’m hoping that this all works out.”
“I’ll be hoping that it does,” she said. “You’ll let me know if it doesn’t, though, right? Because I’m available.” The last comment snapped Jensen’s attention directly on the girl in front of them instead of eyeing the crowd like he had been. She wasn’t seriously trying to pick up Jared directly in front of him, was she? He’d thought it had been bad enough fighting off people at the house…
“Thanks for the offer, Vanessa,” Jared said, pulling Jensen away. Jensen pulled her eyes away from the overly tan model as she pouted after Jared and waited for her next victim. “She’s a vulture,” Jared whispered in Jensen’s ear and Jensen jumped. When he turned to look at Jared to see if he’d been serious or not, or even if Jensen had just been enacting a little bit of wish-fulfillment by imagining that Jared had said it, Jared was already moving on to the next reporter.
Slowly but surely, they made their way to the front door of the theater, stopping for countless interviews and photo ops along the way. Jensen tried not to cling too hard but like hell was he letting go of Jared’s hand, even when a few of the photographers subtly hinted that he should. He had a feeling that if he did that, he’d possible drown in the sea of people. Jared was his life-preserver here.
Luckily, they emerged from the other side of the throng and stopped for just one more photo op. “Hey, J-man!” Chad greeted, striding up to wrap his arms around Jared. “You made it!”
“Said I would!” Jared replied back, laughing as he clapped Chad solidly. He had to drop Jensen’s hand to do it and Jensen felt a momentary sense of panic before he shoved it back down. Jesus. Forget being a teenager, apparently he was two.
It didn’t stop him from reaching for Jared the minute that Jared stepped away from Chad. Still smiling at Chad, Jared appeased Jensen’s inner insecurities and grabbed his hand again, bringing it up to place a smacking kiss on it. Cameras flashed on the shot and Jensen went beet red, unable to decide which was worse-being adrift alone in the sea of paparazzi or Jared drawing attention to them. One made him think that he was about to die, the other made him want to.
Jared and Chad, though, didn’t even seem to notice. “So, the after party’s gonna be in the usual spot,” Chad said, waving at a few of the cameras. It served the dual purpose of drawing the majority of the attention away from Jared and Jensen and for that, Jensen could have gladly kissed Chad. Possibly.
“Actually, I was thinking about skipping that,” Jared replied.
“What? Dude, man, no, you have to come. It’s going to be totally bitching.”
Jared held up his and Jensen’s joined hands again. “Sorry, man, Jen and I got plans.” So much for Jensen actually riding down the flush-it came back with a renewed vengeance.
Chad shook his head. “You got plans…” He shrugged and pointed inside. “Whatever. They’ll probably be better than the party anyway.” Chad gave Jensen the same rather creepy leer that he usually reserved for Lita and Jensen resisted the urge to punch him despite the fact that his skin was starting to crawl.
“Stop leering, creeper,” Jared accused laughingly, shoving Chad forward. “Let’s go watch your movie.” He swung his joined hands with Jensen’s pulling him inside the smallish but opulent theater. When he squeezed Jensen’s hand again, a little bit of reassurance once they stepped inside, Jensen squeezed back.
Jared pounded the table, trying not to spit out his bite of sushi as he laughed while Jensen smiled. That’d teach him.
True to his word, Jared had no made Jensen attend the after party. Jensen greatly appreciated it because the red carpet situation had been terrifying enough without having to add in talking to people on top of it. It wasn’t an experience he thought that he’d care to repeat, though, even if Chad’s movie had been better than he’d been expecting. Jensen hadn’t seen Chad in many things-just the movies that he’d starred in with Jared, but Jensen had to admit that Chad was a better actor than he’d thought that he’d be based on his actions at the house.
Granted, the movie had just been basically one long car chase with explosion after explosion but still. Jensen wouldn’t mind watching it again if he had to. Especially not if Jared was going to sit next to him in one of the comfiest movie theaters Jensen had ever been in and quietly play with his hand again. Jared had played with Jensen’s fingers the entire length of the show, trailing over the sensitive tips of his fingers, cataloguing the lines on Jensen’s palm… Jensen shivered just thinking about it.
“Are you cold?” Jared asked, finally managing to swallow his food. Instead of going to the after party, Jared had backed out and lived up to his promise to make it up to Jensen. They were sitting in a small, dimly lit sushi bar, trying to make their way through mounds of food because, when Jared had realized that not only did he not know how to pronounce anything that the restaurant served but that he also had no idea what anything was, Jared had simply ordered the menu.
As in the entire menu. The Japanese chef behind the counter was still shooting them happy grins as he happily took away the empty dishes. Jensen wasn’t sure exactly what he was eating just that he knew that he probably didn’t want to know anyway and he and Jared had been making surprisingly sizable dents in the array of food.
“Nah,” Jensen replied. “I’m fine.” As if he could actually be cold with the blast furnace that was Jared sitting directly next to him.
Jared smiled, flashing his dimples again and picked up another roll of sushi, popping it into his mouth. “Did he really say that?” he asked.
Jensen ducked his head, instinctively hiding his grin. They’d somehow wandered onto the subject of Chris and his exploits. Jensen hoped that very little of it would actually make it into the final cut of the show because Chris would be pissed to hear some of his dirtiest laundry aired on national television but Jensen hadn’t been able to resist Jared’s dimples and he’d needed something to make the man laugh. Chris had just been an easy target. Besides, he knew that Chris would get over it. “He did,” Jensen replied. “Right in front of his mother, too. If he’d been a teenager again, he would have gotten grounded for sure.”
Jared clapped his hands, tilting his head back. “That’s awesome.”
“You should have heard her voice,” Jensen added. “She was mad.”
“I’ll bet,” Jared replied, settling down but still giggling. “I’d probably mad if my kid’s son slept with my best friend, too.”
Jensen shrugged. In Chris’s defense, his mother’s best friend was a looker as far as women went. He set his head on his hand as he leaned across the counter. It was pathetic, but he thought that he’d be content to watch Jared for days, just like this. Jared smiled back and slid his eyes down to look at Jensen’s new watch. “Oh, shit…”
“What?” Jensen asked, glancing down as well. “Whoa.” It was after one in the morning. Jensen looked around the rest of the bar and found that it was empty except for them.
“Where does the time, go?” Jared asked, shrugging. “We should get back to the house.” He held out a hand for Jensen to take and, though he was reluctant to have the night end, Jensen took it, hoping off his stool.
Jared led them outside, one-handedly dialing his cell for the limo to come pick them up and they waited in the cooling air of the night, standing outside the restaurant. Jensen stared down at the sidewalk, his mind blank as he studied the cracks in the cement. His hand was still in Jared’s, like it had been for most of the night, and it made Jensen’s heart beat erratically-just the thought of knowing that he was holding hands with Jared Padalecki-that he’d been out on a date with the man. He’d gone to a movie premiere like a movie star and then spent hours in a sushi bar talking about nothing at all. Jensen wanted to do it all over again-he’d even deal with the red carpet part because, technically, if one didn’t include the group date, he’d only really been out with Jared on two different dates and it was already one of the best relationships he’d ever been in. Nobody else save Chris had ever made Jensen want to talk so much but yet Jared effortlessly pulled it out of him. It was scary, knowing that they’d only just met a little while ago and wondering that if he was this far gone already, then how far down the rabbit hole would he go, but it was oddly thrilling at the same time.
Jensen had never done anything even remotely this crazy and that included the time that Chris talked him into going down to Tijuana. Wandering the streets of a Mexican city, drunk off his ass had nothing on the fact that he’d flown hundreds of miles to put his damn heart on the line for someone that he only knew through a camera lens. Because Jensen knew that that was exactly what he was wagering here, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. His heart was already involved-it had been too hard for it not to be. Jensen glanced over at Jared, hoping that none of his thoughts were showing on his face.
Jared just smiled back, thumb rolling its distracting circles against Jensen’s hand. “Had a great time, tonight, Jen,” he confessed and Jensen nodded in agreement. “Don’t think I’m quite ready for it to end.”
Jensen’s breath caught in his throat as Jared echoed his earlier thoughts. “Me, either,” he replied quietly and Jared grinned again, turning to face him more fully.
Jared’s arms wrapped around Jensen’s waist, dragging him in close to Jared and Jensen caught himself against Jared’s chest as Jared dipped his head to nuzzle at Jensen’s neck. “Hot tub?” he asked and Jensen paused, mind whirling in confusion until Jared clarified. “When we get back to the house.”
There were definitely worse things in the world than sharing a space with a wet Jared Padalecki. “Sounds great…” Jensen agreed, his focus already more on how Jared felt against him than the thought of how many people were going to be watching him.
“You don’t need a swimsuit,” Jared chuckled, flashing his dimples again and making Jensen’s world spin a little. The man had no right to look that damn hot. Jensen swallowed and stared down at the slowly swirling water of the hot tub, wondering just how he let Jared talk him into these kinds of things and why his brain always decided to take a hike whenever Jared was around. “Come on,” Jared coaxed, pushing down his pants and Jensen eyes immediately averted from their contemplation of the water to focus on Jared’s nearly naked body again. It wasn’t fair how easily distracted he was by Jared’s ridiculously cut muscles. Jared had lost his shirt the minute that they’d entered the mansion, throwing it towards the stairs before dragging Jensen towards the patio. Jensen had tossed his better judgment towards the same place that Jared’s shirt had gone.
Jared stood confidently in front of Jensen, wearing nothing but a pair of nearly skin-tight black boxer-briefs that rode low on his hips, looking like he’d been clipped straight from a Calvin Klein ad, ready to feature in Jensen’s kinkiest fantasies. “Like what you see, Jen?” Jared asked teasingly and Jensen looked away, trying to hide his blush even as he started stripping off his shirt. There was no way that he could turn Jared down now. Jensen thought that no one in their right mind would ever tell Jared Padalecki ‘no’ when he looked at them with that devil-may-care grin.
At least the rest of the houseguests seemed to be asleep-hardly unusual now that Mike was gone and no longer keeping everyone awake at night. It was as if they were all trying to adjust to Jared’s schedule, too. None of them beside Ben were particularly early risers but yet everyone managed to get up by eight now. The flipside of that meant that there were also no more late night parties, either.
As Jensen pushed down his pants, folding them to put onto one of the surrounding chairs, he was acutely aware of the fact that he was now just walking around in a pair of gray underwear. Jared wolf-whistled as he settled into the water. “Funny,” Jensen remarked, hurrying to get into the water before the production team got too much footage.
The warm water swirled around Jensen’s feet as he stepped in, giving him pause as he adjusted to the sudden heat. He nearly groaned, feeling himself starting to release tension that he hadn’t realized that he’d been carrying around and he slowly descended into the tub. Jared spread his arms, coaxing Jensen in close and Jensen went with a contented smile, curling up against Jared like a cat.
Or like the teenager he was still pretending not to be.
Jared’s arm came down around his shoulder, his hand trailing over Jensen’s forearm and Jensen could have happily purred. He’d been wanting this since the first night when everyone had climbed into the hot tub and it was definitely so much better this time around. “So you sometimes sing with Chris?” Jared asked.
Jensen nodded lazily, swirling his hands in the water. Jared and he had been talking about Jensen’s choice of a talent back in the restaurant before they’d gotten distracted by stories of Chris’s various hijinks. Jensen was flattered that Jared wanted to know about him even if it wasn’t a too terribly comfortable subject for him. He didn’t feel as if he was that great of a singer and both Steve and Chris could play circles around him, so he didn’t want to brag. Still, it made him happy. “I’ll, uh, sometimes sing backup for him. Or harmony.”
Jared’s hand was now tracing over Jensen’s chest, its previously innocent path turning decidedly more devious. Jensen decided that he liked it. He arched forward into Jared’s touch encouragingly, licking his lips before turning his head to catch sight of Jared’s face. Jared was watching his hand intently as it crept down Jensen’s body, dipping below the water and sliding over Jensen’s stomach. “Really?” Jared muttered distractedly. His hand paused just above the elastic band of Jensen’s underwear, his fingers tracing the ridge of the hem.
Unable to take the teasing, Jensen rolled, his body emerging up from out of the water and nudging Jared’s arm away for half a second before he tucked himself back in close, aligning their bodies as he straddled Jared’s lap in the tub. This was where the night had all been leading, anyway, right? All throughout the movie, it had been all Jensen could think about-throwing Jared down and climbing on top of him, demanding that Jared fulfill all the promises that he was making with his little touches. Jared groaned, rolling his hips to grind his growing cock against Jensen’s ass as his hands skating around to Jensen’s back, holding him.
Licking his lips again, fighting off nervousness, Jensen bent downward and Jared surge up to meet him, their lips coming together in a kiss. Jensen moaned and tilted his head, getting a better angle as he slipped his tongue inside of Jared’s mouth. Just as good as he remembered. Jensen felt like he could happily kiss Jared for hours. Jared’s hands gripped Jensen’s back, like he was afraid that Jensen might fly away if he let go but when Jensen rubbed his hips against Jared, his still covered cock getting friction against Jared’s naked stomach, Jared shifted his hands downward to dive beneath Jensen’s underwater and squeeze his ass.
Jared’s fingers dipped even lower and Jensen startled when they teasingly rubbed at his hole. Sucking in a harsh breath, he dropped his head onto Jared’s shoulder and pushed his hips back against Jared, inviting him to do more. Jared obliged him readily, sliding one finger in deep and Jensen’s eyes fluttered. Fuck, that was good. Jared growled, his head tilting so that his mouth could assault Jensen’s neck, nipping and suckling like he wanted to leave marks.
“God…” Jensen muttered, holding onto to Jared’s shoulders and rolling his hips. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to move forward, to rub his cock against Jared’s hard abs, or if he’d rather go backward, trying to get more of Jared inside of him. He settled for a rocking motion until Jared solved the problem by pushing his finger in as deep as he could get it, swirling to brush against Jensen’s prostate.
Jensen surged forward, his eyes opening wide as he bit his lip to try to keep quiet. He shoved forward against Jared, humping like a desperate teenager as he felt his orgasm start to build, coming on strong. “God, Jared…” He was about to come in his underwear for the first time since he was fifteen and it was all Jared’s fault. He tried to hold himself together, staring straight ahead at the landscape plants beside the tub but a quick glint snapped him straight into the here and now. Oh fuck.
Jensen stared in horror at what he knew was definitely a camera hidden in the bushes and froze, his mind stumbling to a halt even as his body shivered in pleasure. Just what the hell did he think he was doing? Out in the open no less! “Stop!” Jensen said, his head turning as he finally realized just how many cameras were focused on him, catching his slutty act from every angle imaginable. Four, five, six… Oh, Jesus… He sank down into the water, trying to see if he could somehow circle down the drain.
Jared jerked his head away, trying to look concerned but his eyes were still glazed over. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
What’s wrong was that Jensen’s mother was definitely going to see this and it wasn’t even underneath the covers… He was willing to bet that the hot tub water hid absolutely nothing and the cameras were picking up what Jared was doing extremely well. “Gotta stop,” Jensen gasped, trying to push him away.
Jared nodded. “The cameras,” he said, understanding. “Oh, God, I’m sorry. I’m sorry Jen…” But he didn’t let go, instead reburing his face in Jensen’s neck again, kissing him even as he continued to murmur, “…sorry…” over and over. Somehow, Jensen thought that Jared was missing the point. He tried to push Jared away but ended up pulling him closer, tilting his head to Jared more room.
Realizing what he was doing, Jensen finally stood up, pushing himself away instead. “No,” he said firmly. God, he was telling a hot and heavy Jared Padalecki ‘no.’ …What was the world coming to? “No,” he repeated. “I think I’d better, uh, go to bed.” Jared nodded again, his eyes conveying such a hang dog look that Jensen forced himself to look away before he just gave in again and fucked Jared in the hot tub. Jesus. Jensen climbed out of the tub, grabbing his pants and holding them in front of him like a shield as Jared stood up too. The water sluiced off his toned body and Jensen bit back a groan. God. He’d just turned that down. “S-s-see you in the morning,” he stuttered and fled before his willpower failed him.
“Night!” Jared called after him. Jensen didn’t run but it was a near thing.
Jensen opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. God he was pathetic. No, he took that back. It really wasn’t that he was pathetic-it was that this whole situation was fucked so he didn’t have anything to work with. He happily would have fallen in bed with Jared last night if it hadn’t been for the damn cameras, so Jensen knew that it wasn’t him. It was the whole damn ‘reality’ thing. He needed it to be done with before it killed him. Jensen snorted and sat upright. Hopefully Jared didn’t have any hard feelings about last night.
It wasn’t as if Jensen had had a choice. Not with Jared looking like that. Jensen had jerked off to less and he was just supposed to stand idly by and not try to molest Jared? Not a chance.
The very least that Jensen could do now, though, was explain himself. In the light of day, in full view of everyone, he thought that he might be able to resist the temptation that Jared provided. Jensen slid out of bed, grabbing some clean clothes from the laundry-that was creepy, too, but Jensen wasn’t going to think about the fact that the crew washed the cast’s dirty underwear-and quickly dressed before heading out of his room. He hoped that Jared would be down in the kitchen again, where he usually was in the early morning.
As he headed for the stairs, however, Jensen’s eyes widened when he saw one of the doors to Jared’s bedroom open. His heart started to beat faster because of the pathetic crush that he’d been trying to deny and Jensen forced himself to keep slow, even strides as he walked to the door, determined to be cool and calm when he greeted Jared good morning.
Should he kiss him? Would that be appropriate? It wasn’t like they hadn’t done a lot more than that already. Yeah. He should probably kiss him. It would let Jared know that, last night’s desperate escape aside, Jensen was still very much into Jared. He just wasn’t into the cameras that peppered the mansion.
Making up his mind, Jensen cheerfully approached the doors, keeping the goofy smile off his face because there was such a thing as being too eager. There was happy to see someone and then there was stalker.
The blonde head that emerged from Jared’s room, however, was definitely not Jared’s and Jensen stopped dead. Lita? His jaw must have been dropped open because when Lita saw him, she giggled. “That’s a good way to catch flies.” Jensen snapped his jaw shut with an audible click. What the hell was she doing sneaking out of Jared’s room…? That meant that she had… Lita smiled at him, tossing her hair back over her shoulder. “Well,” she said, “you didn’t seem to want him.” Her smile was deceptively sweet and Jensen really just wanted to see if he could knock a tooth out. He clenched his fists at his side. “You know, you really should learn how to keep guys interested…”
“Jen?” Jensen turned his head to see Jared finally emerging from the bedroom, looking sleep tousled in a v-neck shirt and plaid pajama bottoms and, yeah, that was definitely lipstick smudged on his neck. “Morning!”
Jensen turned and headed back to his room. He really didn’t feel like having breakfast anymore. He was pretty sure that he’d just lost his appetite. Jared had spent the night with Lita, no doubt inviting her in right after his date with Jensen-more, appropriately, right after Jensen had left him hanging.
It wasn’t Jared’s fault. Hell, Jensen knew that he probably would have been pissed too. And if someone had slipped in, offering a little comfort…? “Jen?”
Jensen just really needed some time to think. He hadn’t had any real time to do that since he’d wound up in the mansion and while Jensen had theoretically known what he’d been signing up for when he accepted the casting offer, he really hadn’t been aware of all the details.
The whole ‘reality dating’ scene just wasn’t his schtick. He wasn’t built for it. People like Danneel-sensible, down to Earth Danneel-were built for it. They knew how to separate out their feelings and keep them in separate compartments instead of letting rampant emotions bleed all over everything.
He reached his borrowed bedroom and ducked inside, grabbing a hold of the door and closing it behind him. Just a little bit of time to think this over and figure out if he’d be able to live through this or if he’d better get out now. Jensen really wanted to go up to Jared and demand what the HELL did he think that he was doing or possibly tackle Lita to the ground but neither one of those was Jensen’s thing. He wasn’t that person. He didn’t want to be that person.
Yet that was exactly what the show was turning him into. He was already way too invested in Jared to maintain the kind of distance that he needed to keep his sanity and that was probably why he really shouldn’t stick around. Jensen knew that he would end up doing something that he would regret if he had to watch Lita leaving Jared’s bedroom again, looking sated and happy letting the whole damn world know exactly what she’d been up to without even having to say a word.
Jensen pulled his suitcase out from underneath the bed and unzipped it to flip it open. It really would be for his own good if he got out now. He’d be a quitter and a coward but at least he’d still be in one relatively whole piece. If he just waited for Jared to vote him off-for Jared to chose Sandy or Ben or Lita-then Jensen would lose whatever self-respect he had left. He didn’t want to lose but he didn’t think he could bear the rejection when it came. At least this way, he would be the one making the choice.
There was a part of him that was insisting that it was if the rejection came not when but Jensen just sneered derisively at his suitcase. What did he think that he had to offer Jared? Sure, Jensen was good looking, but, in the house of amazingly beautiful people, he was just part of the crowd. And Jared needed someone outgoing-someone that wouldn’t desperately cling to him like a wet mop at a movie premiere. Sandy wouldn’t have done that, Jensen knew. Sandy would have thrown herself into the mix and came out victorious, looking like a perfect match for Jared. She would have thrown Vanessa’s little come-ons back in her face and she would have posed for gorgeous pictures.
Jared would have been able to go to the after party with Sandy. Just who did Jensen think that he was kidding that he and some outrageous movie star even had a chance in hell together? Jensen liked his privacy far too much to be a good fit for Jared. He wouldn’t be able to take all the cameras that Jared constantly had shoved in his face and last night had certainly proven that one. Jared hadn’t even really noticed the cameras until Jensen had pointed them out and he’d only been bothered by them because Jensen had been bothered by them. If Jared had been with someone like slutty, attention-loving Lita, Jensen knew that there would have been no doubt that Jared would have had to find someone else to keep him company for the rest of the night. Lita wouldn’t have left just because of a few cameras.
What had Jensen been thinking running off like that?
Jensen eyed the basket of clean laundry beside his bed and grabbed a shirt off the top layer. He’d been thinking about preserving his self-respect, the same thing that he was contemplating right now. He’d run away then, so it stood to reason that that was exactly what he should do this time as well. Because even if Jared did decide on a guy instead of a girl, even if he did decide that he could take home a gay relationship to his mother back in Texas, then someone like Misha would probably be a better choice. They could hold protests together and star in animal rights advertisements. They’d be the gay Bradgelina and it would be perfect, wouldn’t it?
Jensen rolled the shirt up and tucked it into the corner of the suitcase. Then, rethinking, he pulled it back out and threw it back into the basket. He was being melodramatic. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he asked himself quietly.
But he already knew the answer. The whole damn house in general and Jared Padalecki in particular was what was wrong with him. If he stayed any longer he was going to go insane and he wouldn’t have anyone to blame but himself because he was supposed to be the one that stood up and left when it got to be too much.
“Jensen?” Jensen turned his head to look at the doorway, seeing Jared there, his hand on the knob. He should have locked the thing but he didn’t know if that there actually were locks on the doors or not. Jared focused immediately on Jensen’s suitcase. “Are you packing?”
The hurt in Jared’s voice was tearing at Jensen’s heart but he forced himself to stand up and shrug. He didn’t need to go overboard with this, he didn’t need to overreact. Jared, though, did deserve to know what Jensen was thinking-just like Jensen deserved to know what Jared was thinking except that, in the surreal world of reality TV, Jensen knew that the latter was unlike to happen.
“Why?” Jared asked. “I…You didn’t have fun last night?” Then his eyes widened, as if he’s suddenly stumbled across the answer. “I’m sorry for pushing you,” he said hurriedly, his hands reaching out to grab Jensen’s shoulders as if he was going to physically force him to stay in the house. “I know that I shouldn’t have done it and that it’s probably way too soon and I’ve been rushing it, but, Jen, God, if that’s what this is about, you don’t have to leave, I swear. I’m good with it.”
Why wouldn’t he be, after all, when he had Lita to take care of those needs? Jensen swallowed and glanced away, unable to meet Jared’s earnest eyes. “I’m okay with last night,” he confessed. Honestly, he’d been on the same exact page as Jared until he’d seen the cameras.
“Then why are you leaving?” Jared asked.
He was weak. He was so damn weak. Jensen felt himself start to cave and he sighed, backing up to sit down on the bed. Jared let him go, moving to sit quietly beside him, leaving Jensen a little bit of space as he waited for Jensen to answer. “I’m not,” he finally said. He kicked the suitcase back underneath the bed. God. He deserved all the pain that Jared was going to give him, didn’t he?
“You’re having second thoughts. About me?”
Jensen warred with himself on whether or not he was going to say it but, in the end, he decided that he’d most likely go crazy if he didn’t, so, even if it did lead to him getting branded as the ‘quietly crazy and desperately clingy one’ he still had to say it. At least Lita had him beat on ‘slutty’ even if Jensen couldn’t decide which one was the worse one. “Did you spend the night with Lita?” he asked point blank, his eyes finally meeting Jared’s as they scanned Jared’s face for any reaction.
And apparently Jared hadn’t been expecting Jensen to ask that question because his brows drew downward, his face turning confused. “What?”
He really should have finished packing. He could have been out the door and running instead of standing here, facing down Jared. Jensen stood up and walked to the other side of the room to put some much needed space between them. He lost his damn mind whenever Jared was around and he really needed to keep his wits about him. “I can’t take it,” he confessed to the wall. “I thought I could, but I can’t.” If this got him labeled for the rest of his life, so fucking be it. At least he’d be able to claim that he’d been honest. Jensen turned to look at Jared. “I’m just not made to handle this kind of thing.” Jared was still sitting on the bed, watching Jensen and Jensen began to pace because now that he’d started this conversation, he really wanted to stop but he couldn’t. “I just can’t fucking do it.”
“Can’t do what?” Jared asked quietly.
“Share you!” Jensen snapped. “I’m not one of the Playboy Playmates, Jared. I can’t just sit back and be okay with you sleeping with everybody else in the damn house!” ‘Crazy wall of fame,’ here he came. “It’s one thing to be told that ‘oh, you’re going to be living in this tacky mansion with all these crazy people who all want to date Jared Padalecki’ and it’s another to see people creeping out of the damn bedroom in the morning. You know? Because I really thought that I’d be able to handle it but I can’t. I’m done. I’m done!”
Jensen felt like he should punch the wall or run a few miles or, hell, go get in a bar fight or something. Anything besides standing here doing nothing, baring his soul to the man on the bed.
Jared folded his hands and leaned forward. “And what about me?”
Jensen dropped his hands to his side, feeling like he’d just had the wind taken out of his sails. Wasn’t Jared supposed to be screaming back at him by now? Or falling to his knees or something? Wasn’t that how it happened in the movies? “What about you?”
“How do you feel about me, Jen?” Jared clarified and Jensen didn’t know how to answer that. He’d only just met the guy and yet here he was, pitching a jealous fit over him. If there had ever been a line, Jensen was sure that he’d crossed it a long time ago.
“I…” Jensen’s mind refused to let him finish the sentence, unable to come up with any appropriate words and Jensen swore. “Damn it, Jared.” He punched at the air, using the momentum to turn himself back around to face the wall again.
“’Cause we can talk about all that other stuff, Jen,” Jared said and Jensen jumped because Jared was directly behind him, having moved from the bed when Jensen wasn’t looking. “But I just got to know. Are you done with me, too?” Jared paused for a moment, sucking in a harsh breath. “’Cause I-because I’m kind of crazy about you, Jensen and I don’t want you to leave.” Jared’s hands landed on Jensen’s back and Jensen let himself be turned around.
“This isn’t me,” Jensen said, closing his eyes. He didn’t do things like this. Any of it.
“I know it’s not,” Jared replied. He pulled Jensen into a hug that Jensen reluctantly accepted. It wasn’t like he could pretend that he didn’t want it. His anger was melting and it was getting too hard to try and hold onto to his arguments. He knew that they were important but, somehow, they seemed to be losing their relevance.
He was going to lose his goddamned mind before any of this was over. God help him but he was. Because he couldn’t walk away.
“You don’t like that Lita spent the night with me,” Jared said, a statement of fact but Jensen answered him anyway, shaking his head. “But I did the same thing with you, Jen.”
Jensen snorted. “That was just sleeping.” His face was directly beside the lipstick smudge on Jared’s neck.
“That’s all Lita and I were doing,” Jared replied and Jensen’s eyebrows rose as he reached up to touch the smear on Jared’s throat.
“Just sleeping?”
Jared pulled away and slapped a hand over the smudge. “Among other things,” he admitted. “Lita wanted to talk last night, so I let her talk.” He shrugged. “I can understand what it looks like, Jen. And you’re not the only one that’s unhappy with this arrangement.” Jensen couldn’t decide if Jared was talking about himself or about another houseguest but he wasn’t going to ask. Jared wrapped his big hands around Jensen’s arms and brought Jensen’s attention to him. “Just promise me that you’ll stay? It’ll get better, I swear.”
He really should have just finished packing his suitcase. Jensen nodded. “I’ll stay,” he said and Jared yanked him into a bear hug.
“Thank you.” Jensen felt himself melting even as Jared attempted to break his spine but all too soon, Jared was letting him go. “I’ve got to go talk to Chad, okay, Jen? But I’ll see you later. Right?” He aimed a pleading little smile at Jensen and Jensen rolled his eyes, nodding again. “Good.”
Jensen was already sick of the Elimination Ceremonies. Hell, he was sick of a lot of things. He still couldn’t believe that he didn’t have the willpower to manage to walk away from all of this and the best that he could hope for was that his heart didn’t get shattered into a million pieces by the end and what kind of bright light was that?
“Tonight’s gonna go a little bit differently,” Jared said. He was standing in front of them, his head bowed and staring at the floor. Jensen took a deep breath, promising himself that he wasn’t going to crack. “I’ve had some talks with a couple of you and they made me start to think. This whole situation is a bit…weird? It feels like we’re trapped in this little bubble of an alternate reality, speeding along and if we could take a minute to step back, we’d go ‘whoa! Somebody let me off!’ Right?” The group glanced at each other. Ben and Danneel slowly started to nod while Misha smiled. Sandy and Lita, though, kept staring straight ahead. “Anyway. Tonight, I’m not handing out any chains.” Sandy gasped, clasping her hands over her face and Jensen wasn’t going to react so obviously but he knew how she felt. What was Jared up to?
“But I am going to ask someone to leave.” After the talk this morning, Jensen knew-knew-that it couldn’t be him but that didn’t stop his heart from speeding up anyway. “Because you’re all important to me and it’s too hard to chose an arbitrary order anyway. But I did get a chance to talk to Chad.”
Jensen frowned, wondering what Chad had to do with anything.
“And, Lita, he’s denying your accusations.” What? Jensen turned to look at Lita, standing on the end of the row, and so did everyone else, all waiting for her answer, wanting to ask what she’d accused Chad of doing but not daring to ask.
“He’s lying,” Lita said softly, crossing her arms.
Jared shrugged. “Maybe. But I trust Chad. He’s been my best friend since high school and he’s the reason why I came to Hollywood. And he says that you’re lying. So who do I side with? You're accusing him of trying to force you into uncomfortable situations which is something that I take very seriously and you can bet that I looked into it. But it doesn't sound like Chad to me. Yeah, he's kind of skeezy at times, but he knows the line. And when I talked to him, he told me that you were trying to get closer to me and he said that you were inviting his comments.”
Jensen felt as if he was standing in the middle of a tennis match, watching the ball fly from one side of the court to the other and not knowing if he wanted to watch Lita field Jared’s latest lobby or focus on Jared as he prepared the next hit. He kept glancing between them-Lita biting her lip, her arms crossed, and Jared with his body language still open but his jaw starting to tighten.
“I wouldn't do that.”
“And then you start telling me things about the other people in the house, about how they're going behind my back or that they're saying this or that and...I just don't know. Can I trust you, Lita?”
“Yes,” she said. “Yes, you can-”
“Because some of them have been outright lies and don't tell me that they weren't. Jeff and I went through the tapes. So, I don't know what to do. Because I like you, Lita. I do. But I don't know if I like the game that you've been playing with me. So what do I do?”
Lita let the silence drag on as Jared gave her time to answer him until, finally, Jared broke it. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave, Lita. I’m sorry.” Lita nodded stiffly, her hand rising to dab at her eyes before she screwed up her courage and walked off the stage. She bypassed Jared entirely who made an abortive move to try and give her a hug before he realized that she wasn’t going to go anywhere near him. His arms fell back down to his side and she kept on walking, straight out the door and it slammed behind her.
Jared cleared his throat. “Uh, sorry you guys had to see that. I just want you all to know that I take your concerns very seriously. All of them.” He made eye contact with everyone still left up on the podium and Sandy smiled so winningly back at him that Jensen wondered what it was that she had talked to Jared about. And when?
“I’d like you all to come down and have a drink with me if that’s alright?”
They were down to the final five and Jensen glanced around at the people that were left-at Ben’s subtle smile and Misha’s easy grin, at Danneel, so incredibly poised as she stepped down in her five inch heels, and at Sandy who was just short of jumping for joy. Maybe he should have packed his suitcase. But, as he looked back at Jared, who was flashing his dimples again, he couldn’t bring himself to regret staying.
Part 11 | Master Post | Part 13
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 gets his date, even if it goes a little farther than what he's comfortable with, and Jared kicks another person out of the house.
Word Count: 9945 (this part)
Disclaimer: Never happened, no affiliation.
Master Post: Master Post
A/N: This. Was a bitch. -_-
Part 11 | Master Post | Part 13
Episode 6 - Second Half
Jeff was in Jensen’s bedroom. After claiming one of the bathrooms to take a shower, Jensen had opened the door to the room where he was sleeping and had seen the producer laying out clothes on Jensen’s bed like Jensen was a showgirl and Jeff was his creepy manager, trying to make him look pretty for his new John. Great. Return of the harem girl, then. It was another thing, like the cameras, that Jensen didn’t think that he’d ever get used to-not only was he told were to go, but he was also told what to wear when doing it. Sometimes he felt that if they could get away with controlling what he thought, they’d do that, too. As if he was right back out on the stage in front of Jared, the butterflies in Jensen’s stomach had started right back up because seeing Jeff there to make him look presentable cemented it in Jensen’s mind that this was actually happening. Personally, though, Jensen was just glad that he’d made the decision to put on his previous pair of pants after the shower instead of crossing the hallway in nothing but a towel. Jeff, he’d found, was a lot easier to face with clothes on.
Jeff glanced over his shoulder. “Hey, kiddo,” he said, waving Jensen in. “This should fit you but try it on and if it doesn’t, we’ll get a different one.” Jeff pointed down at the clothes on the bed and Jensen approached slowly, not knowing what to expect but hoping against hope that it wasn’t a pair of genie pants and a silky bra with a couple of veils to go along with them. Though that would certainly be appropriate.
On the bed, though, laid out nice and neat, was a crisp, black suit that Jensen knew that he most definitely did not own. Judging by the fabric and the cut, it was out of his price range. “Come on, Jen,” Jeff said, snapping his fingers, “if the suit doesn’t fit, I’ve only got so much time to find you a new one.”
Jensen shot Jeff a glare and picked up the suit jacket, fingers sliding over the impossibly soft exterior before he moved it to the side and grabbed the slacks. They certainly looked his size… He held them to his chest and glanced over at Jeff, raising an eyebrow to quietly ask when Jeff was planning on leaving so that Jensen could get dressed. When Jeff just stared blandly back, Jensen flushed, taking that as his answer. He turned around and presented his back to the older man, resolutely ignoring the chuckle. Jackass.
Embarrassed, Jensen tore at the fly of his pants, his fingers not cooperating enough to have any finesse. He couldn’t believe that Jeff was just going to stand there and watch him like he was five, not trusting him to get dressed by himself. At least that’s what he hoped Jeff was watching him like. The alternatives were not exactly any better because Jensen didn’t think that being eyed like a piece of meat or, worse, a complete non-entity was appealing, either. Just as he was sliding his pants over his hips, though, blush firmly in place and hating Jeff for it, he heard the click of the door closing. Jensen’s hands froze and he whirled around to check to see who else was in the room with them.
There was no one, not even a sign of Jeff. Jensen scanned the room before realizing that the producer must have left. Well. Maybe Jeff wasn’t a complete asshole, then.
Still, Jensen wasn’t taking any chances. He shoved his pants down and stepped out of them to pull the new ones on. He wanted to be fully dressed by the time that Jeff came back and he knew that if he wanted even this modicum of privacy that he’d better hurry it up because soon Jeff would be pounding down his door whether Jensen was ready or not.
Muttering to himself, he jerked the pair of pants on, surprised when they fit very nearly perfectly, like they’d been perfectly tailored to his body-which was a scary thought because of how entirely probable it was. Even the legs fell to the right length. Jensen stared down at them, shifting from foot to foot, and prayed that no one had been taking his measurements while he was asleep or anything. Then he called himself a paranoid freak and grabbed the shirt.
After all, the creepers had undoubtedly just gone through his suitcase.
Trying to force himself to think that crew members pawing through his clothes was any better than them taking a measuring tape to his leg or something, Jensen unbuttoned his old shirt and tossed it onto the bed, sliding the soft fabric of the new one on to his arms.
Damn but they were nice clothes… Jensen pulled up one side of the shirt and smelled it, trying to find out if he’d be able to smell the money that they were worth. It must have been sprayed in cologne, however, because a faint whiff of something dark and deep and heady tickled at his nose and uncurled a tendril of heat, hot and heavy, in his lower gut. Jensen dropped the shirt and tucked it into his pants as he shifted uncomfortably.
This was what Jared was doing to him: Jensen was getting aroused by shirts now. Jensen grabbed the jacket off the bed and whirled it around his shoulders, shrugging into it. It fit like a dream, too, the lines of the suit coat following his body nearly perfectly and Jensen wished that there was a mirror in the room. He wasn’t exactly vain but something that seemed to fit him this nicely he just had to see.
He was smoothing his hands down the front of the jacket, having just buttoned it, when Jeff walked in. Jeff nodded approvingly as he looked him over and Jensen firmly shoved his blush down, trying to ignore the innuendos that Jeff’s eyes were suggesting. “You’ll make some nice eye candy tonight, kid,” Jeff chuckled and Jensen tried not to feel too scandalized. It was just Jeff, after all-he was fast learning that that was just how Jeff operated. Jensen wanted to ask Jeff where they were going but he knew better. Jared always seemed to like to make it a surprise and Jeff wouldn’t ruin that-best to keep your stars happy, after all. “I’m going to go get Jared,” Jeff told him. “Why don’t you meet us downstairs and we can get an early start?”
Jensen nodded his understanding and gave it a solid ten count after Jeff left before he followed the man out of the room. He stopped off at the bathroom to give his hair a quick spike, deriding himself as vain the entire time before he finally started for the stairs. He just as bad as the girls.
Jensen never made it to the stairs because Jared’s double-doored bedroom was before them and Jared stepped out before Jensen could pass. The bit of heat that Jensen had been fighting off ever since he’d smelled the shirt exploded inside of him as he quickly devoured the sight of Jared in his respective suit. Now Jensen knew why that Jeff had insisted that he wear the one that had been laid out because it complimented Jared’s-seeming to be made out of the same fabric and everything. Jared’s suit emphasized his broad shoulders and his trim waist and the other thing that Jensen could think about was the best way to get the suit off of him. He had to stop a stare a minute, indulging himself in fantasies that they didn’t have time to reenact.
A low whistle snapped him out of it. His eyes darted up from Jared’s body to his face, a guilty flush spreading across Jensen’s cheeks but it quickly turned into a pleased smile when he saw Jared having the same problem. “Damn, Jen…” Jared murmured. “I’m going to have to beat off people with a stick tonight…” He spread his hands wide, gesturing at Jensen and Jensen ducked his head.
“Same,” Jensen replied.
Jared turned sharply and held his arm out for Jensen. “Well, shall we?” he asked and Jensen blinked down bemusedly at Jared’s arm for a few moments before finally agreeing to take it.
“This doesn’t mean that I’m a girl,” Jensen muttered. It was a holdover reaction from his teen years when Jensen had spent way too much time contemplating ways to butch up his image before he ended up being begged to put on a dress again.
“Of course it doesn’t!” Jared reassured him, clapping a hand over the one that Jensen had reluctantly linked in his arm. He leaned in to whisper, “I’ve felt your manly bits, Jen. They’re very manly.”
Jesus. Jared just had to come out and say that didn’t he? Jensen flushed again as Jeff’s lips quirked because apparently he’d heard that. Jared, though, just laughed and hauled Jensen down the stairs. “Come on,” he said with a wink. “We don’t want to be late.”
“Late?” Jensen asked, wondering what kind of time frame they were running on.
“You’ll see.”
Jensen saw alright. He saw an awful lot. He sat back in the limo, trying very hard to ignore what was happening outside the tinted windows. It was a circus out there with throngs of reporters and camera crews and flashing lightbulbs. He swallowed. It was a lot of people.
Jared was holding his hand, doing the distracting thumb rubbing thing but not even that was happening right now. It was like being in the middle of a mob… “Sorry, Jen,” Jared apologized. He scooted closer, placing his solid warmth against Jensen’s side. “I know that a movie premiere is probably not exactly your idea of great time.” Jared had no freaking idea just how far away from ‘a great time’ it actually was. More like ‘possible worst nightmare.’ “But I promised Chad that I’d show up for his movie and, believe it or not, it’ll be fun, I promise. And I’ll make it up to you, later...” Jensen glanced over at Jared, wondering just how Jared thought he was going to make it up and if it was going to involve a blowjob in the limo because that really the only way he could see any of this getting any better. He wet his dry lips because Jesus, that was a lot of fucking people.
Jared groaned. “God, Jen, you’ve got to stop that lip sucking thing when I’m trying to behave myself…” He dropped Jensen’s hand and grabbed a hold of his face instead, holding Jensen still while he planted a quick kiss on Jensen’s mouth, tongue briefly flicking at Jensen’s lips. He pulled away far too soon and Jensen found himself following, forgetting where they were at and just wanting more.
…Okay. So Jared’s little thumb thing did nothing but apparently one kiss from Jared had the power to possibly make Jensen forget his own name.
“Gotta stop,” Jared muttered. “Or you’re going to look like such a slut by the time I’m through with you…”
“I-I’d be okay with that,” Jensen confessed. The idea actually kind of appealed to him.
“Not going to a movie premiere, you wouldn’t be.” Jared dropped his hands away from Jensen, setting them onto the leather seat. Jensen sighed and sat back, trying to work up the courage to step outside of the limo with Jared and not, say, scream in terror and hide. That probably wouldn’t win him any big points with Jared.
“Oh,” Jared said, turning to dig into his pocket. “I almost forgot. Jeff would have killed me!” Jared pulled out a small black box and handed it to Jensen. “Here, this is for you.”
Jensen blinked at the box before finally accepting it, sliding his fingers over the velvety outside. It looked kind of like a… “What is this?”
Jared shrugged. “Just a little something. Sorry you didn’t get a chance to pick yours out but I thought you’d like it anyway.”
…Jewelry box. Jensen flashed back to standing on the landing of the mansion’s stairs, watching with no small amount of jealousy as Sandy, Misha and Ben had entered the house at Jared’s side, all wearing tokens from him. Wondering if he should accept Jared’s gift or not-it was bound to be expensive but one small part of him was jumping for joy at the thought of wearing something Jared had given him-Jensen opened the box.
A silver-colored watch sat in the silk-lined interior, looking gorgeous but unobtrusive-quietly rich as the tiny hands ticked away the seconds. “It’s a Blancpain,” Jared said quietly, his fingers rising up to clasp around Jensen’s frozen ones. “Can I put it on you?” Jensen nodded, not allowing himself to speak, and Jared picked the watch up out of its box and slide it over Jensen’s wrist, fastening it securely. Jensen stared down at it, wondering how much the thing cost and warring with his sense of decorum. His manners wanted him to return it-he’d only just met Jared after all, regardless of the strange reality TV bubble he’d been existing in that fooled him into believing otherwise-but the vicious thirteen year old in him was screaming for him to keep it.
“Do you like it?” Jared asked, sounding worried and Jensen finally broke out of his loop of to keep or not to keep.
“It’s gorgeous,” he said honestly and Jared smiled happily. How could he bear to crush that look of happiness? His inner thirteen year old nodded sagely and that was that. Apparently he was keeping it. His heart beating at double-time, Jensen firmly told himself that even if it was a nice gift and given to him personally by Jared, it was the same thing that Sandy, Misha and Ben had gotten and so it wasn’t like it was a proposal or anything. There really wasn’t a need to shriek like a girl about it.
“Thought I was going to make you wear one of the J chains, didn’t you?” Jared teased. Jensen laughed, turning his head because, uh, maybe. As much as he liked the idea of wearing Jared’s mark, Jensen didn’t think he was quite ready to wear something so…obvious. Jared tugged on his arm. “Come on,” he said, hauling Jensen toward the far side of the limo. “Our public awaits!” Jensen wanted to protest-wanted to tell Jared he wasn’t ready or that he was going to puke or anything, really, that would make him stop-but Jared was already opening the door and Jensen knew that there wasn’t anymore waiting. Jared pulled him out of the limo and onto the red carpet and Jensen was immediately blinded by the flashing bulbs of hundreds of cameras. The only thing keeping him moving, letting him know where to go, was Jared’s sure hand laced with his. Jensen clutched it like a lifeline.
Jared led them across the red carpet, stopping to give a few sound bites to the reporters, introducing Jensen over and over. Jensen smiled and tried not to look like he was terrified but the model-thin girls in their slinky dresses, holding microphones to Jared’s face and baring their sparkling teeth reminded him of a pack of rabid wolves, hungry and desperate for any scrap of meat that they could find. It was all he could do to plant his feet and stay put because creatures like these, he knew, could smell fear and if they did, it’d be all over for him. He’d be torn apart faster than a hapless caribou carcass.
“Jared!” one of them cried, attracting Jared’s attention. Jared swung around and greeted her with a large smile as Jensen tried to will himself to be calm. She was tanner than tan, looking like perhaps she’d fallen asleep in the tanning both and ended up extra crispy instead of just golden brown and he was unsure if her orange dress could technically get any shorter or if it was already considered a shirt. “I hear that you’re filming a new reality series!” she said. “That you’re the newest most-eligible bachelor on the block!” She held the microphone out to Jared who laughed.
“Yeah, I’m the host of the newest ‘In It for Love.’” He squeezed Jensen’s hand and pulled him closer to wrap an arm around Jensen’s shoulders. “This is Jensen. He’s in the house with me.” Jensen wondered if he should wave or something but, luckily, he was chopped liver to the shewolf.
“Now, Jared, it doesn’t seem to me that you’d have a hard time getting dates!” she chirped.
Jared ducked his head, grinning as he ran a quick hand through his hair. “Well, I’m not just looking for a date-I’m looking for more, so I’m hoping that this all works out.”
“I’ll be hoping that it does,” she said. “You’ll let me know if it doesn’t, though, right? Because I’m available.” The last comment snapped Jensen’s attention directly on the girl in front of them instead of eyeing the crowd like he had been. She wasn’t seriously trying to pick up Jared directly in front of him, was she? He’d thought it had been bad enough fighting off people at the house…
“Thanks for the offer, Vanessa,” Jared said, pulling Jensen away. Jensen pulled her eyes away from the overly tan model as she pouted after Jared and waited for her next victim. “She’s a vulture,” Jared whispered in Jensen’s ear and Jensen jumped. When he turned to look at Jared to see if he’d been serious or not, or even if Jensen had just been enacting a little bit of wish-fulfillment by imagining that Jared had said it, Jared was already moving on to the next reporter.
Slowly but surely, they made their way to the front door of the theater, stopping for countless interviews and photo ops along the way. Jensen tried not to cling too hard but like hell was he letting go of Jared’s hand, even when a few of the photographers subtly hinted that he should. He had a feeling that if he did that, he’d possible drown in the sea of people. Jared was his life-preserver here.
Luckily, they emerged from the other side of the throng and stopped for just one more photo op. “Hey, J-man!” Chad greeted, striding up to wrap his arms around Jared. “You made it!”
“Said I would!” Jared replied back, laughing as he clapped Chad solidly. He had to drop Jensen’s hand to do it and Jensen felt a momentary sense of panic before he shoved it back down. Jesus. Forget being a teenager, apparently he was two.
It didn’t stop him from reaching for Jared the minute that Jared stepped away from Chad. Still smiling at Chad, Jared appeased Jensen’s inner insecurities and grabbed his hand again, bringing it up to place a smacking kiss on it. Cameras flashed on the shot and Jensen went beet red, unable to decide which was worse-being adrift alone in the sea of paparazzi or Jared drawing attention to them. One made him think that he was about to die, the other made him want to.
Jared and Chad, though, didn’t even seem to notice. “So, the after party’s gonna be in the usual spot,” Chad said, waving at a few of the cameras. It served the dual purpose of drawing the majority of the attention away from Jared and Jensen and for that, Jensen could have gladly kissed Chad. Possibly.
“Actually, I was thinking about skipping that,” Jared replied.
“What? Dude, man, no, you have to come. It’s going to be totally bitching.”
Jared held up his and Jensen’s joined hands again. “Sorry, man, Jen and I got plans.” So much for Jensen actually riding down the flush-it came back with a renewed vengeance.
Chad shook his head. “You got plans…” He shrugged and pointed inside. “Whatever. They’ll probably be better than the party anyway.” Chad gave Jensen the same rather creepy leer that he usually reserved for Lita and Jensen resisted the urge to punch him despite the fact that his skin was starting to crawl.
“Stop leering, creeper,” Jared accused laughingly, shoving Chad forward. “Let’s go watch your movie.” He swung his joined hands with Jensen’s pulling him inside the smallish but opulent theater. When he squeezed Jensen’s hand again, a little bit of reassurance once they stepped inside, Jensen squeezed back.
Jared pounded the table, trying not to spit out his bite of sushi as he laughed while Jensen smiled. That’d teach him.
True to his word, Jared had no made Jensen attend the after party. Jensen greatly appreciated it because the red carpet situation had been terrifying enough without having to add in talking to people on top of it. It wasn’t an experience he thought that he’d care to repeat, though, even if Chad’s movie had been better than he’d been expecting. Jensen hadn’t seen Chad in many things-just the movies that he’d starred in with Jared, but Jensen had to admit that Chad was a better actor than he’d thought that he’d be based on his actions at the house.
Granted, the movie had just been basically one long car chase with explosion after explosion but still. Jensen wouldn’t mind watching it again if he had to. Especially not if Jared was going to sit next to him in one of the comfiest movie theaters Jensen had ever been in and quietly play with his hand again. Jared had played with Jensen’s fingers the entire length of the show, trailing over the sensitive tips of his fingers, cataloguing the lines on Jensen’s palm… Jensen shivered just thinking about it.
“Are you cold?” Jared asked, finally managing to swallow his food. Instead of going to the after party, Jared had backed out and lived up to his promise to make it up to Jensen. They were sitting in a small, dimly lit sushi bar, trying to make their way through mounds of food because, when Jared had realized that not only did he not know how to pronounce anything that the restaurant served but that he also had no idea what anything was, Jared had simply ordered the menu.
As in the entire menu. The Japanese chef behind the counter was still shooting them happy grins as he happily took away the empty dishes. Jensen wasn’t sure exactly what he was eating just that he knew that he probably didn’t want to know anyway and he and Jared had been making surprisingly sizable dents in the array of food.
“Nah,” Jensen replied. “I’m fine.” As if he could actually be cold with the blast furnace that was Jared sitting directly next to him.
Jared smiled, flashing his dimples again and picked up another roll of sushi, popping it into his mouth. “Did he really say that?” he asked.
Jensen ducked his head, instinctively hiding his grin. They’d somehow wandered onto the subject of Chris and his exploits. Jensen hoped that very little of it would actually make it into the final cut of the show because Chris would be pissed to hear some of his dirtiest laundry aired on national television but Jensen hadn’t been able to resist Jared’s dimples and he’d needed something to make the man laugh. Chris had just been an easy target. Besides, he knew that Chris would get over it. “He did,” Jensen replied. “Right in front of his mother, too. If he’d been a teenager again, he would have gotten grounded for sure.”
Jared clapped his hands, tilting his head back. “That’s awesome.”
“You should have heard her voice,” Jensen added. “She was mad.”
“I’ll bet,” Jared replied, settling down but still giggling. “I’d probably mad if my kid’s son slept with my best friend, too.”
Jensen shrugged. In Chris’s defense, his mother’s best friend was a looker as far as women went. He set his head on his hand as he leaned across the counter. It was pathetic, but he thought that he’d be content to watch Jared for days, just like this. Jared smiled back and slid his eyes down to look at Jensen’s new watch. “Oh, shit…”
“What?” Jensen asked, glancing down as well. “Whoa.” It was after one in the morning. Jensen looked around the rest of the bar and found that it was empty except for them.
“Where does the time, go?” Jared asked, shrugging. “We should get back to the house.” He held out a hand for Jensen to take and, though he was reluctant to have the night end, Jensen took it, hoping off his stool.
Jared led them outside, one-handedly dialing his cell for the limo to come pick them up and they waited in the cooling air of the night, standing outside the restaurant. Jensen stared down at the sidewalk, his mind blank as he studied the cracks in the cement. His hand was still in Jared’s, like it had been for most of the night, and it made Jensen’s heart beat erratically-just the thought of knowing that he was holding hands with Jared Padalecki-that he’d been out on a date with the man. He’d gone to a movie premiere like a movie star and then spent hours in a sushi bar talking about nothing at all. Jensen wanted to do it all over again-he’d even deal with the red carpet part because, technically, if one didn’t include the group date, he’d only really been out with Jared on two different dates and it was already one of the best relationships he’d ever been in. Nobody else save Chris had ever made Jensen want to talk so much but yet Jared effortlessly pulled it out of him. It was scary, knowing that they’d only just met a little while ago and wondering that if he was this far gone already, then how far down the rabbit hole would he go, but it was oddly thrilling at the same time.
Jensen had never done anything even remotely this crazy and that included the time that Chris talked him into going down to Tijuana. Wandering the streets of a Mexican city, drunk off his ass had nothing on the fact that he’d flown hundreds of miles to put his damn heart on the line for someone that he only knew through a camera lens. Because Jensen knew that that was exactly what he was wagering here, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. His heart was already involved-it had been too hard for it not to be. Jensen glanced over at Jared, hoping that none of his thoughts were showing on his face.
Jared just smiled back, thumb rolling its distracting circles against Jensen’s hand. “Had a great time, tonight, Jen,” he confessed and Jensen nodded in agreement. “Don’t think I’m quite ready for it to end.”
Jensen’s breath caught in his throat as Jared echoed his earlier thoughts. “Me, either,” he replied quietly and Jared grinned again, turning to face him more fully.
Jared’s arms wrapped around Jensen’s waist, dragging him in close to Jared and Jensen caught himself against Jared’s chest as Jared dipped his head to nuzzle at Jensen’s neck. “Hot tub?” he asked and Jensen paused, mind whirling in confusion until Jared clarified. “When we get back to the house.”
There were definitely worse things in the world than sharing a space with a wet Jared Padalecki. “Sounds great…” Jensen agreed, his focus already more on how Jared felt against him than the thought of how many people were going to be watching him.
“You don’t need a swimsuit,” Jared chuckled, flashing his dimples again and making Jensen’s world spin a little. The man had no right to look that damn hot. Jensen swallowed and stared down at the slowly swirling water of the hot tub, wondering just how he let Jared talk him into these kinds of things and why his brain always decided to take a hike whenever Jared was around. “Come on,” Jared coaxed, pushing down his pants and Jensen eyes immediately averted from their contemplation of the water to focus on Jared’s nearly naked body again. It wasn’t fair how easily distracted he was by Jared’s ridiculously cut muscles. Jared had lost his shirt the minute that they’d entered the mansion, throwing it towards the stairs before dragging Jensen towards the patio. Jensen had tossed his better judgment towards the same place that Jared’s shirt had gone.
Jared stood confidently in front of Jensen, wearing nothing but a pair of nearly skin-tight black boxer-briefs that rode low on his hips, looking like he’d been clipped straight from a Calvin Klein ad, ready to feature in Jensen’s kinkiest fantasies. “Like what you see, Jen?” Jared asked teasingly and Jensen looked away, trying to hide his blush even as he started stripping off his shirt. There was no way that he could turn Jared down now. Jensen thought that no one in their right mind would ever tell Jared Padalecki ‘no’ when he looked at them with that devil-may-care grin.
At least the rest of the houseguests seemed to be asleep-hardly unusual now that Mike was gone and no longer keeping everyone awake at night. It was as if they were all trying to adjust to Jared’s schedule, too. None of them beside Ben were particularly early risers but yet everyone managed to get up by eight now. The flipside of that meant that there were also no more late night parties, either.
As Jensen pushed down his pants, folding them to put onto one of the surrounding chairs, he was acutely aware of the fact that he was now just walking around in a pair of gray underwear. Jared wolf-whistled as he settled into the water. “Funny,” Jensen remarked, hurrying to get into the water before the production team got too much footage.
The warm water swirled around Jensen’s feet as he stepped in, giving him pause as he adjusted to the sudden heat. He nearly groaned, feeling himself starting to release tension that he hadn’t realized that he’d been carrying around and he slowly descended into the tub. Jared spread his arms, coaxing Jensen in close and Jensen went with a contented smile, curling up against Jared like a cat.
Or like the teenager he was still pretending not to be.
Jared’s arm came down around his shoulder, his hand trailing over Jensen’s forearm and Jensen could have happily purred. He’d been wanting this since the first night when everyone had climbed into the hot tub and it was definitely so much better this time around. “So you sometimes sing with Chris?” Jared asked.
Jensen nodded lazily, swirling his hands in the water. Jared and he had been talking about Jensen’s choice of a talent back in the restaurant before they’d gotten distracted by stories of Chris’s various hijinks. Jensen was flattered that Jared wanted to know about him even if it wasn’t a too terribly comfortable subject for him. He didn’t feel as if he was that great of a singer and both Steve and Chris could play circles around him, so he didn’t want to brag. Still, it made him happy. “I’ll, uh, sometimes sing backup for him. Or harmony.”
Jared’s hand was now tracing over Jensen’s chest, its previously innocent path turning decidedly more devious. Jensen decided that he liked it. He arched forward into Jared’s touch encouragingly, licking his lips before turning his head to catch sight of Jared’s face. Jared was watching his hand intently as it crept down Jensen’s body, dipping below the water and sliding over Jensen’s stomach. “Really?” Jared muttered distractedly. His hand paused just above the elastic band of Jensen’s underwear, his fingers tracing the ridge of the hem.
Unable to take the teasing, Jensen rolled, his body emerging up from out of the water and nudging Jared’s arm away for half a second before he tucked himself back in close, aligning their bodies as he straddled Jared’s lap in the tub. This was where the night had all been leading, anyway, right? All throughout the movie, it had been all Jensen could think about-throwing Jared down and climbing on top of him, demanding that Jared fulfill all the promises that he was making with his little touches. Jared groaned, rolling his hips to grind his growing cock against Jensen’s ass as his hands skating around to Jensen’s back, holding him.
Licking his lips again, fighting off nervousness, Jensen bent downward and Jared surge up to meet him, their lips coming together in a kiss. Jensen moaned and tilted his head, getting a better angle as he slipped his tongue inside of Jared’s mouth. Just as good as he remembered. Jensen felt like he could happily kiss Jared for hours. Jared’s hands gripped Jensen’s back, like he was afraid that Jensen might fly away if he let go but when Jensen rubbed his hips against Jared, his still covered cock getting friction against Jared’s naked stomach, Jared shifted his hands downward to dive beneath Jensen’s underwater and squeeze his ass.
Jared’s fingers dipped even lower and Jensen startled when they teasingly rubbed at his hole. Sucking in a harsh breath, he dropped his head onto Jared’s shoulder and pushed his hips back against Jared, inviting him to do more. Jared obliged him readily, sliding one finger in deep and Jensen’s eyes fluttered. Fuck, that was good. Jared growled, his head tilting so that his mouth could assault Jensen’s neck, nipping and suckling like he wanted to leave marks.
“God…” Jensen muttered, holding onto to Jared’s shoulders and rolling his hips. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to move forward, to rub his cock against Jared’s hard abs, or if he’d rather go backward, trying to get more of Jared inside of him. He settled for a rocking motion until Jared solved the problem by pushing his finger in as deep as he could get it, swirling to brush against Jensen’s prostate.
Jensen surged forward, his eyes opening wide as he bit his lip to try to keep quiet. He shoved forward against Jared, humping like a desperate teenager as he felt his orgasm start to build, coming on strong. “God, Jared…” He was about to come in his underwear for the first time since he was fifteen and it was all Jared’s fault. He tried to hold himself together, staring straight ahead at the landscape plants beside the tub but a quick glint snapped him straight into the here and now. Oh fuck.
Jensen stared in horror at what he knew was definitely a camera hidden in the bushes and froze, his mind stumbling to a halt even as his body shivered in pleasure. Just what the hell did he think he was doing? Out in the open no less! “Stop!” Jensen said, his head turning as he finally realized just how many cameras were focused on him, catching his slutty act from every angle imaginable. Four, five, six… Oh, Jesus… He sank down into the water, trying to see if he could somehow circle down the drain.
Jared jerked his head away, trying to look concerned but his eyes were still glazed over. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
What’s wrong was that Jensen’s mother was definitely going to see this and it wasn’t even underneath the covers… He was willing to bet that the hot tub water hid absolutely nothing and the cameras were picking up what Jared was doing extremely well. “Gotta stop,” Jensen gasped, trying to push him away.
Jared nodded. “The cameras,” he said, understanding. “Oh, God, I’m sorry. I’m sorry Jen…” But he didn’t let go, instead reburing his face in Jensen’s neck again, kissing him even as he continued to murmur, “…sorry…” over and over. Somehow, Jensen thought that Jared was missing the point. He tried to push Jared away but ended up pulling him closer, tilting his head to Jared more room.
Realizing what he was doing, Jensen finally stood up, pushing himself away instead. “No,” he said firmly. God, he was telling a hot and heavy Jared Padalecki ‘no.’ …What was the world coming to? “No,” he repeated. “I think I’d better, uh, go to bed.” Jared nodded again, his eyes conveying such a hang dog look that Jensen forced himself to look away before he just gave in again and fucked Jared in the hot tub. Jesus. Jensen climbed out of the tub, grabbing his pants and holding them in front of him like a shield as Jared stood up too. The water sluiced off his toned body and Jensen bit back a groan. God. He’d just turned that down. “S-s-see you in the morning,” he stuttered and fled before his willpower failed him.
“Night!” Jared called after him. Jensen didn’t run but it was a near thing.
Jensen opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. God he was pathetic. No, he took that back. It really wasn’t that he was pathetic-it was that this whole situation was fucked so he didn’t have anything to work with. He happily would have fallen in bed with Jared last night if it hadn’t been for the damn cameras, so Jensen knew that it wasn’t him. It was the whole damn ‘reality’ thing. He needed it to be done with before it killed him. Jensen snorted and sat upright. Hopefully Jared didn’t have any hard feelings about last night.
It wasn’t as if Jensen had had a choice. Not with Jared looking like that. Jensen had jerked off to less and he was just supposed to stand idly by and not try to molest Jared? Not a chance.
The very least that Jensen could do now, though, was explain himself. In the light of day, in full view of everyone, he thought that he might be able to resist the temptation that Jared provided. Jensen slid out of bed, grabbing some clean clothes from the laundry-that was creepy, too, but Jensen wasn’t going to think about the fact that the crew washed the cast’s dirty underwear-and quickly dressed before heading out of his room. He hoped that Jared would be down in the kitchen again, where he usually was in the early morning.
As he headed for the stairs, however, Jensen’s eyes widened when he saw one of the doors to Jared’s bedroom open. His heart started to beat faster because of the pathetic crush that he’d been trying to deny and Jensen forced himself to keep slow, even strides as he walked to the door, determined to be cool and calm when he greeted Jared good morning.
Should he kiss him? Would that be appropriate? It wasn’t like they hadn’t done a lot more than that already. Yeah. He should probably kiss him. It would let Jared know that, last night’s desperate escape aside, Jensen was still very much into Jared. He just wasn’t into the cameras that peppered the mansion.
Making up his mind, Jensen cheerfully approached the doors, keeping the goofy smile off his face because there was such a thing as being too eager. There was happy to see someone and then there was stalker.
The blonde head that emerged from Jared’s room, however, was definitely not Jared’s and Jensen stopped dead. Lita? His jaw must have been dropped open because when Lita saw him, she giggled. “That’s a good way to catch flies.” Jensen snapped his jaw shut with an audible click. What the hell was she doing sneaking out of Jared’s room…? That meant that she had… Lita smiled at him, tossing her hair back over her shoulder. “Well,” she said, “you didn’t seem to want him.” Her smile was deceptively sweet and Jensen really just wanted to see if he could knock a tooth out. He clenched his fists at his side. “You know, you really should learn how to keep guys interested…”
“Jen?” Jensen turned his head to see Jared finally emerging from the bedroom, looking sleep tousled in a v-neck shirt and plaid pajama bottoms and, yeah, that was definitely lipstick smudged on his neck. “Morning!”
Jensen turned and headed back to his room. He really didn’t feel like having breakfast anymore. He was pretty sure that he’d just lost his appetite. Jared had spent the night with Lita, no doubt inviting her in right after his date with Jensen-more, appropriately, right after Jensen had left him hanging.
It wasn’t Jared’s fault. Hell, Jensen knew that he probably would have been pissed too. And if someone had slipped in, offering a little comfort…? “Jen?”
Jensen just really needed some time to think. He hadn’t had any real time to do that since he’d wound up in the mansion and while Jensen had theoretically known what he’d been signing up for when he accepted the casting offer, he really hadn’t been aware of all the details.
The whole ‘reality dating’ scene just wasn’t his schtick. He wasn’t built for it. People like Danneel-sensible, down to Earth Danneel-were built for it. They knew how to separate out their feelings and keep them in separate compartments instead of letting rampant emotions bleed all over everything.
He reached his borrowed bedroom and ducked inside, grabbing a hold of the door and closing it behind him. Just a little bit of time to think this over and figure out if he’d be able to live through this or if he’d better get out now. Jensen really wanted to go up to Jared and demand what the HELL did he think that he was doing or possibly tackle Lita to the ground but neither one of those was Jensen’s thing. He wasn’t that person. He didn’t want to be that person.
Yet that was exactly what the show was turning him into. He was already way too invested in Jared to maintain the kind of distance that he needed to keep his sanity and that was probably why he really shouldn’t stick around. Jensen knew that he would end up doing something that he would regret if he had to watch Lita leaving Jared’s bedroom again, looking sated and happy letting the whole damn world know exactly what she’d been up to without even having to say a word.
Jensen pulled his suitcase out from underneath the bed and unzipped it to flip it open. It really would be for his own good if he got out now. He’d be a quitter and a coward but at least he’d still be in one relatively whole piece. If he just waited for Jared to vote him off-for Jared to chose Sandy or Ben or Lita-then Jensen would lose whatever self-respect he had left. He didn’t want to lose but he didn’t think he could bear the rejection when it came. At least this way, he would be the one making the choice.
There was a part of him that was insisting that it was if the rejection came not when but Jensen just sneered derisively at his suitcase. What did he think that he had to offer Jared? Sure, Jensen was good looking, but, in the house of amazingly beautiful people, he was just part of the crowd. And Jared needed someone outgoing-someone that wouldn’t desperately cling to him like a wet mop at a movie premiere. Sandy wouldn’t have done that, Jensen knew. Sandy would have thrown herself into the mix and came out victorious, looking like a perfect match for Jared. She would have thrown Vanessa’s little come-ons back in her face and she would have posed for gorgeous pictures.
Jared would have been able to go to the after party with Sandy. Just who did Jensen think that he was kidding that he and some outrageous movie star even had a chance in hell together? Jensen liked his privacy far too much to be a good fit for Jared. He wouldn’t be able to take all the cameras that Jared constantly had shoved in his face and last night had certainly proven that one. Jared hadn’t even really noticed the cameras until Jensen had pointed them out and he’d only been bothered by them because Jensen had been bothered by them. If Jared had been with someone like slutty, attention-loving Lita, Jensen knew that there would have been no doubt that Jared would have had to find someone else to keep him company for the rest of the night. Lita wouldn’t have left just because of a few cameras.
What had Jensen been thinking running off like that?
Jensen eyed the basket of clean laundry beside his bed and grabbed a shirt off the top layer. He’d been thinking about preserving his self-respect, the same thing that he was contemplating right now. He’d run away then, so it stood to reason that that was exactly what he should do this time as well. Because even if Jared did decide on a guy instead of a girl, even if he did decide that he could take home a gay relationship to his mother back in Texas, then someone like Misha would probably be a better choice. They could hold protests together and star in animal rights advertisements. They’d be the gay Bradgelina and it would be perfect, wouldn’t it?
Jensen rolled the shirt up and tucked it into the corner of the suitcase. Then, rethinking, he pulled it back out and threw it back into the basket. He was being melodramatic. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he asked himself quietly.
But he already knew the answer. The whole damn house in general and Jared Padalecki in particular was what was wrong with him. If he stayed any longer he was going to go insane and he wouldn’t have anyone to blame but himself because he was supposed to be the one that stood up and left when it got to be too much.
“Jensen?” Jensen turned his head to look at the doorway, seeing Jared there, his hand on the knob. He should have locked the thing but he didn’t know if that there actually were locks on the doors or not. Jared focused immediately on Jensen’s suitcase. “Are you packing?”
The hurt in Jared’s voice was tearing at Jensen’s heart but he forced himself to stand up and shrug. He didn’t need to go overboard with this, he didn’t need to overreact. Jared, though, did deserve to know what Jensen was thinking-just like Jensen deserved to know what Jared was thinking except that, in the surreal world of reality TV, Jensen knew that the latter was unlike to happen.
“Why?” Jared asked. “I…You didn’t have fun last night?” Then his eyes widened, as if he’s suddenly stumbled across the answer. “I’m sorry for pushing you,” he said hurriedly, his hands reaching out to grab Jensen’s shoulders as if he was going to physically force him to stay in the house. “I know that I shouldn’t have done it and that it’s probably way too soon and I’ve been rushing it, but, Jen, God, if that’s what this is about, you don’t have to leave, I swear. I’m good with it.”
Why wouldn’t he be, after all, when he had Lita to take care of those needs? Jensen swallowed and glanced away, unable to meet Jared’s earnest eyes. “I’m okay with last night,” he confessed. Honestly, he’d been on the same exact page as Jared until he’d seen the cameras.
“Then why are you leaving?” Jared asked.
He was weak. He was so damn weak. Jensen felt himself start to cave and he sighed, backing up to sit down on the bed. Jared let him go, moving to sit quietly beside him, leaving Jensen a little bit of space as he waited for Jensen to answer. “I’m not,” he finally said. He kicked the suitcase back underneath the bed. God. He deserved all the pain that Jared was going to give him, didn’t he?
“You’re having second thoughts. About me?”
Jensen warred with himself on whether or not he was going to say it but, in the end, he decided that he’d most likely go crazy if he didn’t, so, even if it did lead to him getting branded as the ‘quietly crazy and desperately clingy one’ he still had to say it. At least Lita had him beat on ‘slutty’ even if Jensen couldn’t decide which one was the worse one. “Did you spend the night with Lita?” he asked point blank, his eyes finally meeting Jared’s as they scanned Jared’s face for any reaction.
And apparently Jared hadn’t been expecting Jensen to ask that question because his brows drew downward, his face turning confused. “What?”
He really should have finished packing. He could have been out the door and running instead of standing here, facing down Jared. Jensen stood up and walked to the other side of the room to put some much needed space between them. He lost his damn mind whenever Jared was around and he really needed to keep his wits about him. “I can’t take it,” he confessed to the wall. “I thought I could, but I can’t.” If this got him labeled for the rest of his life, so fucking be it. At least he’d be able to claim that he’d been honest. Jensen turned to look at Jared. “I’m just not made to handle this kind of thing.” Jared was still sitting on the bed, watching Jensen and Jensen began to pace because now that he’d started this conversation, he really wanted to stop but he couldn’t. “I just can’t fucking do it.”
“Can’t do what?” Jared asked quietly.
“Share you!” Jensen snapped. “I’m not one of the Playboy Playmates, Jared. I can’t just sit back and be okay with you sleeping with everybody else in the damn house!” ‘Crazy wall of fame,’ here he came. “It’s one thing to be told that ‘oh, you’re going to be living in this tacky mansion with all these crazy people who all want to date Jared Padalecki’ and it’s another to see people creeping out of the damn bedroom in the morning. You know? Because I really thought that I’d be able to handle it but I can’t. I’m done. I’m done!”
Jensen felt like he should punch the wall or run a few miles or, hell, go get in a bar fight or something. Anything besides standing here doing nothing, baring his soul to the man on the bed.
Jared folded his hands and leaned forward. “And what about me?”
Jensen dropped his hands to his side, feeling like he’d just had the wind taken out of his sails. Wasn’t Jared supposed to be screaming back at him by now? Or falling to his knees or something? Wasn’t that how it happened in the movies? “What about you?”
“How do you feel about me, Jen?” Jared clarified and Jensen didn’t know how to answer that. He’d only just met the guy and yet here he was, pitching a jealous fit over him. If there had ever been a line, Jensen was sure that he’d crossed it a long time ago.
“I…” Jensen’s mind refused to let him finish the sentence, unable to come up with any appropriate words and Jensen swore. “Damn it, Jared.” He punched at the air, using the momentum to turn himself back around to face the wall again.
“’Cause we can talk about all that other stuff, Jen,” Jared said and Jensen jumped because Jared was directly behind him, having moved from the bed when Jensen wasn’t looking. “But I just got to know. Are you done with me, too?” Jared paused for a moment, sucking in a harsh breath. “’Cause I-because I’m kind of crazy about you, Jensen and I don’t want you to leave.” Jared’s hands landed on Jensen’s back and Jensen let himself be turned around.
“This isn’t me,” Jensen said, closing his eyes. He didn’t do things like this. Any of it.
“I know it’s not,” Jared replied. He pulled Jensen into a hug that Jensen reluctantly accepted. It wasn’t like he could pretend that he didn’t want it. His anger was melting and it was getting too hard to try and hold onto to his arguments. He knew that they were important but, somehow, they seemed to be losing their relevance.
He was going to lose his goddamned mind before any of this was over. God help him but he was. Because he couldn’t walk away.
“You don’t like that Lita spent the night with me,” Jared said, a statement of fact but Jensen answered him anyway, shaking his head. “But I did the same thing with you, Jen.”
Jensen snorted. “That was just sleeping.” His face was directly beside the lipstick smudge on Jared’s neck.
“That’s all Lita and I were doing,” Jared replied and Jensen’s eyebrows rose as he reached up to touch the smear on Jared’s throat.
“Just sleeping?”
Jared pulled away and slapped a hand over the smudge. “Among other things,” he admitted. “Lita wanted to talk last night, so I let her talk.” He shrugged. “I can understand what it looks like, Jen. And you’re not the only one that’s unhappy with this arrangement.” Jensen couldn’t decide if Jared was talking about himself or about another houseguest but he wasn’t going to ask. Jared wrapped his big hands around Jensen’s arms and brought Jensen’s attention to him. “Just promise me that you’ll stay? It’ll get better, I swear.”
He really should have just finished packing his suitcase. Jensen nodded. “I’ll stay,” he said and Jared yanked him into a bear hug.
“Thank you.” Jensen felt himself melting even as Jared attempted to break his spine but all too soon, Jared was letting him go. “I’ve got to go talk to Chad, okay, Jen? But I’ll see you later. Right?” He aimed a pleading little smile at Jensen and Jensen rolled his eyes, nodding again. “Good.”
Jensen was already sick of the Elimination Ceremonies. Hell, he was sick of a lot of things. He still couldn’t believe that he didn’t have the willpower to manage to walk away from all of this and the best that he could hope for was that his heart didn’t get shattered into a million pieces by the end and what kind of bright light was that?
“Tonight’s gonna go a little bit differently,” Jared said. He was standing in front of them, his head bowed and staring at the floor. Jensen took a deep breath, promising himself that he wasn’t going to crack. “I’ve had some talks with a couple of you and they made me start to think. This whole situation is a bit…weird? It feels like we’re trapped in this little bubble of an alternate reality, speeding along and if we could take a minute to step back, we’d go ‘whoa! Somebody let me off!’ Right?” The group glanced at each other. Ben and Danneel slowly started to nod while Misha smiled. Sandy and Lita, though, kept staring straight ahead. “Anyway. Tonight, I’m not handing out any chains.” Sandy gasped, clasping her hands over her face and Jensen wasn’t going to react so obviously but he knew how she felt. What was Jared up to?
“But I am going to ask someone to leave.” After the talk this morning, Jensen knew-knew-that it couldn’t be him but that didn’t stop his heart from speeding up anyway. “Because you’re all important to me and it’s too hard to chose an arbitrary order anyway. But I did get a chance to talk to Chad.”
Jensen frowned, wondering what Chad had to do with anything.
“And, Lita, he’s denying your accusations.” What? Jensen turned to look at Lita, standing on the end of the row, and so did everyone else, all waiting for her answer, wanting to ask what she’d accused Chad of doing but not daring to ask.
“He’s lying,” Lita said softly, crossing her arms.
Jared shrugged. “Maybe. But I trust Chad. He’s been my best friend since high school and he’s the reason why I came to Hollywood. And he says that you’re lying. So who do I side with? You're accusing him of trying to force you into uncomfortable situations which is something that I take very seriously and you can bet that I looked into it. But it doesn't sound like Chad to me. Yeah, he's kind of skeezy at times, but he knows the line. And when I talked to him, he told me that you were trying to get closer to me and he said that you were inviting his comments.”
Jensen felt as if he was standing in the middle of a tennis match, watching the ball fly from one side of the court to the other and not knowing if he wanted to watch Lita field Jared’s latest lobby or focus on Jared as he prepared the next hit. He kept glancing between them-Lita biting her lip, her arms crossed, and Jared with his body language still open but his jaw starting to tighten.
“I wouldn't do that.”
“And then you start telling me things about the other people in the house, about how they're going behind my back or that they're saying this or that and...I just don't know. Can I trust you, Lita?”
“Yes,” she said. “Yes, you can-”
“Because some of them have been outright lies and don't tell me that they weren't. Jeff and I went through the tapes. So, I don't know what to do. Because I like you, Lita. I do. But I don't know if I like the game that you've been playing with me. So what do I do?”
Lita let the silence drag on as Jared gave her time to answer him until, finally, Jared broke it. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave, Lita. I’m sorry.” Lita nodded stiffly, her hand rising to dab at her eyes before she screwed up her courage and walked off the stage. She bypassed Jared entirely who made an abortive move to try and give her a hug before he realized that she wasn’t going to go anywhere near him. His arms fell back down to his side and she kept on walking, straight out the door and it slammed behind her.
Jared cleared his throat. “Uh, sorry you guys had to see that. I just want you all to know that I take your concerns very seriously. All of them.” He made eye contact with everyone still left up on the podium and Sandy smiled so winningly back at him that Jensen wondered what it was that she had talked to Jared about. And when?
“I’d like you all to come down and have a drink with me if that’s alright?”
They were down to the final five and Jensen glanced around at the people that were left-at Ben’s subtle smile and Misha’s easy grin, at Danneel, so incredibly poised as she stepped down in her five inch heels, and at Sandy who was just short of jumping for joy. Maybe he should have packed his suitcase. But, as he looked back at Jared, who was flashing his dimples again, he couldn’t bring himself to regret staying.
Part 11 | Master Post | Part 13