Fic: RPS (Jared/Jensen): Small Small World [4/4] | NC-17 | 34570 words

[dragonspell]

Part 3 | Master Post | Art Post | Onto Dreaming of Far-Off Places | Onto Dreaming of Happily Ever After

Jared didn’t want to be here. He really, really didn’t. If Jared had had his way, he would have been on the other side of town, sitting beside Jensen’s bed and waiting to see if One was right about the “mild paralytic” wearing off in a few hours. He would not be here, sitting outside of a rundown apartment complex for the second time today. Jensen was strung out and defenseless back home and Jared should be there, with him. But he’d had no choice. Ross had given him no other options.

Jared had found Jensen on the bathroom floor, drugged and vulnerable and Jared wanted to know just exactly how Ross snuck in, anyway. The Del Montes were supposed to be watching, damn it.

…That, Jared knew, was probably part of the problem. Some of the Del Montes? Liked Ross. Every single one of the Del Montes had a different opinion and some of them didn’t see him as dangerous-just a friend in need of a little help. Yeah, sure. Ross was in need of a little “help” alright. Jared would help him. Right back into whatever underhanded place he’d climbed out of. He’d touched Jensen twice now, had hurt Jensen twice now and that was unacceptable.

Luckily, One didn’t share the opinion of Ross basically being an upstanding guy. One knew just how dangerous Ross was, what Ross really wanted and One was committed to standing in Ross’s way because of it. That was good because Jared had had no choice but to leave Jensen behind and if he was going to have to do that, he needed it to be with someone that he could trust. As it was, Jared hadn’t wanted to leave in the first place. He’d wanted to stay right there by Jensen’s side because what if Ross came back? Jared had failed miserably in protecting Jensen twice now-he wasn’t going to do it a third time.

One hadn’t been too happy at the idea of being left behind. Jared had given no other options, though. Either One stayed or Jared did and that was final. Seeing as how One definitely wanted Jared to go pick up the machine before Ross got a hold of it, that really hadn’t been a choice.

So here he was, having miraculously managed not to crash during his first driving experience ever (would it have killed Jensen to have given him a car in the book world?). Actually, Jared thought that he’d done quite well all things considering. There’d been a few close calls (okay, more than a few), but Jensen’s car had survived without a scratch (he was sure that he could buff that little one on the back fender right out).

“Oh, this is definitely the right place,” one of the Del Montes said.

“Yeah,” another one chimed in, “you should see the distortions. They’re getting worse.”

“Worse?” Jared asked in disbelief. The thing was already tearing a hole in the fabric of time and space. Just how much worse could it get?

The Del Monte who’d admitted to the situation being worse shrugged. “Worse,” it said and then offered Jared its glasses as if that would help. Jared sighed. So apparently holes in space and time were only a stepping stone on the scale of bad to worse. Who knew? He slid out of the car, holding the door open for the flood of Del Montes that had tagged along with him. The sooner that they went in and grabbed the machine that was causing this whole mess, the sooner that he could get back to Jensen.

The yellow pinto that had been parked in front of the apartment building the last time was still there but it looked like it had been reparked, this time actually not even bothering to make an attempt at staying off the sidewalk. The entire front end was up on the cracked cement, nearly running straight into a fire hydrant. Jared was exactly an expert on the rules of the road, but he was fairly certain that that was worth a ticket at least. He hoped that the owner managed to move it soon; they must have been in a hurry. Like Jared.

Jared quickly entered the building and began climbing up the now familiar stairs again. Beside him, the Del Montes were still talking, but quieter than usual, like they were realizing that this was a serious time.

“It’s on the third floor again,” one whispered.

“Oh, yes, definitely, I can feel it.”

“Yes, it’s there. I can feel it humming!”

“It doesn’t hum! It’s more of a drone!”

“Well, I think it’s a very pretty hum!”

Jared tuned out the chatterboxes as he climbed the stairs up to the third floor for the second time today. He had no idea why Chad would have wanted to come back to his apartment after successfully running away and making off with his prized possession. Maybe he just thought that it would be the last place that anyone would ever look. It was sensible enough, Jared supposed. After all, Chad had no idea that Jared would have…help. The Del Montes might make his life a living Hell at times but they did have their uses. They were better than bloodhounds.

…Jared didn’t want to think about what it said about him that he was essentially using extremely powerful (if flighty), apparently trans-dimensional creatures as dogs. He was entirely too blasé about this whole situation lately.

At the entrance to the third floor, Jared pushed open the door, heading for apartment 3C again. He stopped, though, when a familiar face smiled at him. Standing directly outside of 3A was Jeff, the cop from the alley way, holding the door open as he talked to a small dark-skinned woman. As Jared approached, the woman shrank away, staring suspiciously at Jared. One of her eyes had a black ring around it, a mottling that ran down her cheek, and Jared winced in sympathy. “I’ll talk to you later, Lucia,” Jeff said to the woman, giving her an easy way out. “Remember not to let him in again.” The woman nodded quickly and shut the door, the lock snicking into place. Jeff turned to face Jared. “She won’t press charges,” he said, shaking his head. “She never does.” He changed the subject, focusing the conversation on Jared. “I didn’t expect to see you back here so soon. Where’s your boyfriend?”

Jared pushed down the unexpected flood of warmth he felt at hearing Jensen referred to as his ‘boyfriend.’ He’d never had one of those before, actually. But he was really hoping that that was exactly what Jensen was. He was, right? As far as Jared was concerned, they’d been sort of dating for over five years now… He’d crossed a dimension for Jensen, that earned him to right to be Jensen’s boyfriend, right? “He’s home,” Jared said easily. He jerked his thumb towards apartment 3C. “Had to stop by and see Chad again…”

“Oh, you guys friends of Chad’s?”

Jared shrugged with a smile. “Kind of.” They would definitely be his friends when they took the machine away from him-whether Chad realized that or not. Better to have Jared steal Chad’s ‘atomic toaster,’ though, than Ross. Either way, that toaster was going. It was just a matter of how.

“That boy needs more friends,” Jeff said. “Want a beer?”

“Actually…” Jared hedged before stopping himself. Actually, that might not be a bad idea. Jeff would at least have to go back to his apartment to get it which might buy Jared enough time to do a quick snatch and grab-with a little help from the guys, that was. “That sounds great.”

“Great!” Jeff smiled. “I’ll be right back and join you guys.”

“Yay!” one of the Del Montes cheered as Jeff headed down the hallway, presumably to his own apartment. “We’re getting free beer!”

“He didn’t mean for you,” another one said bitterly. “We never get anything good.”

“You guys can’t hold your liquor,” Jared said, rolling his eyes. They acted like they never got anything when he distinctly remembered them getting into a six pack just last week. He remembered because it had resulted in a completely trashed house, courtesy of an entire mob of drunk peas. In their defense, it was probably hard to moderate their drinking with how small they were. “And we’re not staying anyway.”

A few of the guys pouted but Jared ignored them. Most of them were focused and that was the important part. The few stragglers would get into line. “Now, listen, I need you guys to work with me on this.” The guys started to bounce back and forth, letting Jared know that they were with him. “Okay, so you’re certain that Chad’s in there, right?”

“Oh, yes,” four chimed in unison.

“Most definitely.”

“Affirmative.”

“Okay,” Jared said. “That means that there’s going to have to be a distraction.”

“Ooh, I like distractions! Can I be the distraction, Jared?”

“But he can’t see you! How distracting could you be?”

“I’m sure that I could-”

Jared stopped the fight before it managed to get going. They were on a time crunch here. “I’m going to be the distraction,” he said, pointing at himself. “Me. I’ll get Chad to focus on me and I need you guys to steal the machine. Can you do that?”

“All of the machine?” one asked.

“Of course not,” another one answered. “That would take too long. Jared just wants us to take the main contraption. The one with the booster crystal. Right, Jared?”

Jared had no idea what the guys were talking about but he really hoped that they were all on the same page. “Uh, yeah. The toaster. Whichever one that is-the one that Chad took with him. Can you do that?”

“Oh, absolutely!”

“You can count on us!”

“I still want a beer.”

Jared closed his eyes. “I’ll get you a beer if you get me the toaster, deal?”

“Deal!” a chorus of Del Montes said-a lot more, Jared noticed, than the one that had originally wanted the beer. Dear God, what was he getting himself into…?

It didn’t matter. As long as they got the machine and got back to Jensen, Jared would be happy. He’d deal with everything-including possibly drunk Del Monte shenanigans-later. Much, much later. “Okay, guys. That’s the plan then. Are we ready?” The Del Montes answered in unison and Jared pushed back any second thoughts. Time to do this.

The door opened after the first knock. “I thought you’d come back you, invention thief! They always come back to the scene of the crime!” Chad said, standing in the doorway and trying to look as big and imposing as his scrawny frame would let him. He held a rolled up magazine in his hand, holding it against his hips as he braced both hands on his waist and puffed up his chest.

“Chad,” Jared said, holding up his hands and trying to be placating. “You’ve got it all wrong; I didn’t want to steal your machine; Ross did!” The Del Montes swarmed right on past Chad, weaving in an out as they headed into the living room. Jared could see the sprawling monstrosity that he had met earlier this morning still looking as rag tag as ever. The ‘toaster’ wasn’t attached, though. It was sitting in a place of honor on the couch.

“Yeah, that’s what you said,” Chad accused. “But then I went and found this and you’re not university people!” He slapped the rolled up magazine against Jared’s chest and Jared realized that it wasn’t a magazine but instead an issue of a comic book. Issue number 57, actually. And, of course, in typical Small Small World fashion, his face was blazoned across the cover, lovingly detailed by Jensen. Well, shit. “How do you explain this?” Chad demanded. “You and your little boyfriend must have fallen on hard times if you’re looking to steal my inventions! I am not an easy mark my friend! I have eyes like a hawk! Like a hawk!”

Jared scratched at his head, trying hard to come up with a plausible excuse. “Well, you see, so I might have posed for a few-”

“Oh, I bet you posed alright!” Chad said, still full of bluster. “I see you. I know what you’re up to!”

Jared raised his eyebrows. “And that is?”

Chad drew back for half a second before he exploded. “Stealing inventions, obviously!” Jared really didn’t want to explain to Chad that he wasn’t particularly interested in Chad’s inventions-nothing personal, just not his thing, really. Somehow, though, he had the sneaking suspicion that Chad wouldn’t believe him. Especially since, well, Jared was about to steal one of his inventions. Or rather the guys were. They were poking at the toaster and trying to figure out the best way to pick it up and get it out the window…the window that Ross was climbing in from.

“Son of a…” Jared whispered, taking a step forward.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Chad shrieked, stopping him.

Jared pointed. “There,” he said. Ross had noticed them both, smiling as he grabbed up the machine despite the swirling Del Montes. Some were chatting to him happily while others were attempting to lecture him but none were thinking to stop him. So very, very typical.

“Oh, I don’t think so!” Chad said. “You just want to-”

“No, Chad, there.” Jared grabbed a hold of Chad’s face and physically turned him to be able to see Ross standing in the middle of Chad’s living room like he owned the place. Chad’s jaw dropped.

“Son of a bitch!” Jared rolled his eyes. Now he noticed.

Pausing, realizing that he wasn’t going to get a clean get-away, not this time, Ross shook his head, chuckling quietly. “Should have just let me take it, Jared,” he said.

“Drop it!” Chad shouted, turning away from Jared and striding towards Ross. “I don’t believe this! I have to watch you guys from all angles, don’t I?” He strode up to Ross, brandishing his comic book like it was a weapon. Ross looked completely unconcerned.

Then again, he had a reason. When Chad was within a few feet of him, smiling, Ross pulled out a gun from behind his back. He pointed it at Chad who immediately froze, dropping the comic book to the floor and holding his hands up. “That’s close enough,” Ross said cheerfully. Cheating bastard.

Chad’s eyes were white around the edges. “Dude,” he squeaked. “Is that real?”

“No,” Ross mocked, “It’s a fake one that I just brought along to impress you.”

“Really?” Chad asked hopefully and Ross blinked.

“No.” He motioned back toward Jared with the gun. “Now get back along the wall.” Chad started backing up, nearly hyperventilating, one step away from falling to his knees. Jared would have felt sorry for him if he didn’t feel the exact same way. As it was, Jared didn’t have the time to sympathize with Chad.

Jared knew that he only had one shot at this. Ross was far too good to let him get another. While Chad was distracting him, though, maybe, just maybe… Jared darted towards Ross, determined to take him down while he still had the chance. One shot.

He never got it. With ruthless speed, Ross turned away from Chad and trained his gun on Jared, pulling the trigger. Jared heard the bang reverberate through the room and all he could think was Oh, fuck…. There was no way that he could avoid the bullet-he was too close, Ross was too good, there just wasn’t enough time. Was he about to die?

He felt himself roughly shoved to the left, stumbling to the side with the bullet just barely missing him, passing through the air that he’d just been standing in and sinking into the door jamb behind him. The Del Montes were swarming around him, chattering fiercely-nothing that Jared could make out-and Jared stared at them, dumbfounded. They’d just saved his life…. Jesus, he could have died! Just how would he ever have explained that one to Jensen?

“Fuck,” Ross swore and Jared jerked his head up to face him. Ross glared and took aim again. “You won’t get lucky again.”

“Holy shit!,” Chad said, scrambling out of the way. “Holy shit!” He skittered out of the living room and down the hallway. Jared wanted to join him but Ross had the gun leveled at him again.

“Get down!” a voice roared and Jared dropped. He hit the floor just as a dark shape flashed past him, barreling into the room. Ross moved the gun to focus on who was charging him but instead of firing, he froze for just a minute, his eyes widening and it was enough time for Jeff Morgan to slam into him, shoving him towards the floor. Ross tried to catch himself, grabbing onto Jeff and fighting back-anything he could do to keep himself upright. The machine tumbled out of Ross’s hands, smashing onto the floor. Jared heard it break-heard the metal snap and something crystalline shatter-but he was too busy focusing on the fight to figure out what that meant.

Ross was trying his hardest to shake Jeff off but everything he did, Jeff countered, and Ross was just off-balance enough to finish tipping over, falling backwards towards the floor. He grabbed a hold of Jeff’s shirt, dragging him along, set to continue the fight on ground level, but he never had a chance: they never made it to the floor.

The Del Montes were still talking too fast for Jared to figure out what they were saying but they left him in a rush, shooting towards Ross and Jeff and swarming around them as they fell. They started to circle the pair, spinning faster and faster into a whirlwind and Jared watched wide-eyed as a funnel developed…leading straight down into the comic book. Jared scrambled backward and flattened himself to the wall, keeping himself as far away from the scene in front of him as possible. God, no, please… He didn’t want to go…

“No!” Ross shouted. “No!” He tried to shove Jeff off and throw himself to the side but he was already in the middle of it all and getting sucked inside. “No!”

“What the Hell?” Jeff got out and then he was gone, impossibly disappearing into the pages of the book, an unwilling victim. Ross held on for a few moments later, his hands dragging across the floor, squeaking on the wood and then he was gone too, disappearing in a swirl of green and a ripple of reality.

The Del Montes were starting to be pulled in too, the funnel that they’d created starting to dwindle and cycling into the book, though, as they slowed, Jared could see that more than a few were willingly throwing themselves in, smiles on their little faces. Still others were breaking formation, zooming off to the ceiling, apparently not wanting to go.

Jared’s breathing was rapid and heavy as he inched to the side, slipping back into the doorway and out into the hall. The whirlwind was starting to ripple outwards, growing unstable and he wasn’t going back. If it was the last thing he did, he wasn’t going back-Jensen wasn’t there. Jensen was here and Jared was staying.

There was a loud suction noise as the Del Montes finally stopped, either breaking off to fly away or throwing themselves into the book, riding the dying ripples of the tear in reality. The entire room shuddered, one last undulation of reality before it firmed up again, leaving a shaken Jared, some chattering Del Montes, a broken machine and an open comic book.

“You have got to be shitting me…” And Chad. “This isn’t happening. This is impossible. This is…this is…”

Jared didn’t wait to find out what Chad thought it might be. He pushed himself to his feet, catching himself on the door when he swayed and stepped cautiously into the room. He knew that he couldn’t risk Chad possibly being able to fix the machine. He had to take it with him. He just didn’t want to get any closer to the comic book than he had to, just in case it was still “active.” He braced himself and leaned, using his long arms to reach out and snag and metal pieces that had once been Chad’s atomic toaster and his unwitting cross-dimensional facilitating device. He pulled them to him, gathering them up and then took off running for the stairs, leaving the open comic book where it laid. Behind him, Chad was still gibbering. “…this is…this is…”

Jared didn’t want to know what this was. He just wanted to be with Jensen. And that was exactly where he was going to be.



As he hazily returned to the land of the living, there was only one thing that Jensen was sure of: There was somebody in bed with him. A shock of surprise ran through him but his limbs were coated in a kind of lazy lethargy that kept them from bolting him upright. Instead, he stayed right where he was, his body not willing to move that fast. Well alrighty, then. Jensen turned his head to at least see who he was in bed with and came face to face with an extremely familiar set of eyes.

“Hi,” Jared said quietly and the past few days came flooding back to Jensen. Jared was real. And he wanted Jensen. Ross was real and he wanted the end of the world. The Del Montes were real and they wanted-it didn’t matter what they wanted. Jensen suspected that it would probably have something to do with food and/or coffee and it didn’t bear thinking on.

“Jared?” Jensen asked and Jared nodded. So Jared was back. He was still here and back. Provided this wasn’t some kind of crazy dream or cracked out hallucination, Jared was back. That had to mean that he’d won, right? Or that at least something had gone right? The last thing that Jensen remembered clearly was getting ready to leave with Jared to go get the machine and then…Ross. “Ross?” he asked. His voice sounded rusty and disused, choked with sleep. Just how long had he been out?

Jared was lying on Jensen’s pillow, under his blankets, in his bed and seemed perfectly comfortable being there. It was a little presumptuous but Jensen thought that he liked it. Maybe even more than just liked it. In fact, he kind of loved it. Jared needed to be in his bed more often. “Back in the book,” Jared said and it took Jensen a minute to translate that.

“…Back in the book?”

Jared nodded. “Got sucked back in. I didn’t, though.” He wiggled closer, looking for all the world like an overexcited puppy. Jensen, though, wasn’t letting him off with just that.

“What about the machine?” he asked. Didn’t they have to take care of that? Wasn’t it tearing a hole in the fabric of time and space? That should be a priority, shouldn’t it? Granted, Jared was here but…

“It broke,” Jared said. He reached out a hand, touching Jensen’s face and Jensen had to sigh with just how warm Jared felt. It was still kind of blowing his mind that Jared was really real. “Ross dropped it. It broke. The hole closed up.” Jared pulled a face. “The guys say that it was some kind of rare meteorite crystal or something in the machine that was causing it to do, you know. Whatever.” He sounded supremely disinterested in how the whole thing had come about but that was hardly new.

Jensen, though, was trying hard to process all of this. Apparently the world had been saved while he’d been out cold. “So the machine’s broken, the hole’s gone and Ross is back in the book but you’re not?” he summarized, feeling just a little bit dizzy. Jesus. Had he been asleep for a year?

Jared nodded again. “The guys shoved him back in. Him and Jeff.”

“Jeff?” Jensen scanned his mind, trying to think of any possible ‘Jeff’ that he might know but all he was getting with a vague idea of a weary smile and warm brown eyes. And then it hit him, pieced together memories steamrolling over him.

“Ross hesitated when he saw him,” Jared said, shrugging. “I don’t know why.”

Jared might not have known why but Jensen sure as hell did. He had a vague recollection of just exactly what he’d done and now he knew that it hadn’t been a dream. Guilt seeped into him, slowly pooling into the pit of his stomach; he hadn’t meant for that to happen. It was just supposed to… It had been the only thing that he could think of at the time. He hadn’t been thinking too clearly, after all. Jensen cleared his throat. He wondered if the picture was still on the desk in his studio, if it was any good. He wondered how Jeff was doing. Jeff hadn’t deserved that. “I…” Aw, Hell, he might as well just confess to it all. “I made Jeff Ross’s happy memory,” Jensen said. Jared frowned at him so Jensen clarified. “Ross didn’t have any. He didn’t have any weaknesses, either.” He remembered One talking to him about that.

“So you gave him one,” Jared finished as if that made any sense at all. Then again, Jensen supposed it made just about as much sense as the rest of this. “The picture that you wouldn’t let go of.” Jared suddenly sat up and leaned across Jensen’s lap. Jensen found himself sucking in his stomach just because he didn’t know just how he would act if Jared touched him but it would probably be inappropriate considering that he was supposed to be getting answers. Unfortunately, the action made him breathe in Jared’s scent and he realized that Jared wasn’t smelling of ink and paper any more. Jared was smelling one hundred percent real-sweat and humanity and a bit like Jensen’s soap. The whole thing together was intoxicating and Jensen was suddenly hard. Damn. “Here,” Jared said, snatching a piece of drawing paper off the nightstand on Jensen’s side. He moved back onto his own side and for a brief moment, Jensen was disappointed. He wanted Jared leaning back over him. Realizing just how pathetic that was, he made himself drop his attention to the paper that Jared had sat in his lap.

It was a rough sketch, one that could use a whole lot of work, but Jensen knew exactly what it was. What it had meant. Maybe that was what maybe all the difference… The intent behind something. Because he remembered being incoherent and all drugged-up to Hell and back but he remembers having intent when he drew the picture. It was a picture of a wide-open park in the height of summer, the grass full and flowers in bloom, and there, vaguely in the middle was a sketch teenage boy smiling for real for possibly the first time in his life. Beside him was a man that looked uncannily like Jeff. Jensen hadn’t meant to use Jeff as his inspiration, not at first. But he could definitely remember ending the picture with the knowledge of who it was supposed to be. A guy like Jeff, a Good Samaritan, was exactly what Ross had needed in his life-something that he’d never gotten.

Jensen had hoped that a happy memory, deep-seated in Ross’s past would make it enough that he might possibly stop what he was doing. He’d never counted on Jeff actually being there…

At least he didn’t think so. It hurt too much to think. Jensen set the paper aside, laying it back on the nightstand. “It’s my fault,” he said.

“What is?” Jared asked, clueless.

Jensen pointed at the paper. “It’s my fault that he’s stuck in there.”

Jared blinked. “You didn’t make Jeff charge Ross,” he said. “Jeff did that all on his own.”

“Yeah, but I guarantee he didn’t expect to be sucked into a comic book world for doing it!” Jared shrugged, looking entirely too unconcerned about the whole damn thing and Jensen glared. “He’s in another world, Jared. And he’s stuck there.”

Jared drew back a little from Jensen’s anger. “…But he likes it there,” he protested.

“And how do you know?” Jensen demanded. “How do you know that he likes it there?”

“Because…the guys told me?”

“What?”

“The guys. The can…communicate or something across the divide.” Jared waggled his hand at the word ‘divide’ and, again, looked remarkably unconcerned for just how the whole thing worked. “They say that Jeff’s happier where he is. You know, the world that you made, Jensen, it’s not exactly all bad. I wouldn’t mind being there if it had you…”

Jensen swallowed and put the last half of Jared’s sentence out of his head. There would be time to take that one out and marvel over it later (Jared wanted to be with him!). Instead he focused on the middle. “How does he know that he’s happier? It’s only been, what…” He glanced at the clock, seeing the time as 6:45 a.m. That meant it was nearly seven p.m. “…a few hours. How would he know that?”

“Time works differently in the book, Jen,” Jared said. Once again, Jensen let the nickname go and it was entirely because of the little shuddery skip his heart made when Jared said it. “It doesn’t…flow, uh, right…” He frowned. “It’s hard to explain. But he’s been there for about a week now.”

“Oh,” Jensen replied weakly. He couldn’t think of anything else to say, really. His guilt trip had been cut off short. But… “What about Ross?”

Jared shrugged again. “Turned over a new leaf. He’s still kind of crazy but, uh…” He trailed off and stared at the bed for a few moments before looking back up at Jensen. “I guess he’s on medication or something now?” Jared was staring straight at Jensen with the same eyes that Jensen had drawn countless times, the same face, and it hit Jensen that he wasn’t going to be able to draw it in a comic book anymore. That would be just too…weird. Jared wasn’t in the comic books anymore. He was in the real world.

But Jensen knew who was still in Small Small World. And he realized that Kripke was going to get his wish: Jared’s series was indeed going to get canceled. But not Small Small World. Matter of fact, now that he thought about it, he had some storyboarding to do…

A hand caught a hold of Jensen’s wrist, stopping Jensen from sliding off the bed towards the studio and Jensen stared at it bemused. “Where are you going?” Jared asked and when Jensen looked up, even though he’d just been thinking something else, the real answer was obvious.

“Nowhere.” He wasn’t going anywhere when Jared was looking at him like that.

“Good,” Jared said, leaning towards him again and Jensen’s breath caught. “Because it’s ‘later.’” He was just inches away from kissing Jensen, so close that Jensen could nearly feel him, feel his body heat, but Jensen had just one last, very important, question.

“Where are the peas?” he asked. If they were going to do this, the answer to that question was vitally important.

Jared grinned. “Out,” he said gleefully and crossed the last few inches to press against Jensen’s lips. That was probably the best news that Jensen had heard yet. Jensen let himself sag forward into the kiss, giving himself over to it and Jared wiggled happily, pushing closer, his big hands rising to cup Jensen’s face.

Fuck yes, Jensen thought, letting everything else go. They’d won. They’d survived. They’d saved the world and Jared was here and the damn hole was closed and Jared was still here. If Jensen were the type, he’d be jumping for joy. As it was, he settled for lying back down and pulling Jared along with him, a fist in Jared’s shirt. That would work just fine.

He couldn’t help it. He liked it when Jared was on top of him. There was just something so incredibly primal about having a bigger guy pressing him into the bed. And it was Jared. Jared who’d stayed in an unfamiliar world just to be with him. Jared who had been his for years, just waiting for Jensen.

Jensen kissed Jared again and deepened it as he ran his hands down Jared’s arms, fingers trailing along his muscles, and spread his legs, wrapping them around Jared’s waist. Jared bucked forward, grinding himself against Jensen, whining helplessly. Yeah. That was hot. Jared needed to be a whole lot more naked. Jensen pushed at Jared’s shirt until Jared got the hint and pulled back enough to strip it off himself and then come back. Jensen moaned happily when his hands came into contact with nothing but bare skin. Jared return the favor by pushing Jensen’s shirt up over his head as well, dragging it off of him.

Screw foreplay, Jensen thought. He’d had five years of foreplay. Jared apparently agreed because when Jensen went directly for Jared’s jeans, Jared was right there with him, shoving them off over his hips and trying his damnedest to set a new world record for getting out of them. As Jared worked on that, Jensen kicked his own off, sliding them down over his hips and stripping them off his legs to throw them to far corner of the room. He dragged Jared back down before Jared was completely ready, needing to kiss him again.

It was like he couldn’t get enough of Jared. Now that he’d decided to do this-now that he’d realized that he could have this-he wanted to gorge himself on everything that was Jared. Jared kissed back just as eagerly, pure passion and little technique but Jensen knew the feeling. It was getting sloppy fast but that was just fine with him.

Jared tilted his head to the side, biting down Jensen’s neck and making Jensen shiver before coming back up and kissing him again, grinding against him. Jesus but the guy was big. Jensen felt an odd sense of pride as he fumbled between their bodies and grabbed a hold of Jared’s dick. Jensen had done a great job, he had to admit. Fantastic. Jared was thick and heavy in his hand and perfect. He couldn’t wait for it to be inside of him. It’d been years since he’d been fucked and God but he’d been missing it. His own fingers and whatever toys he’d convinced himself into buying would never equal the real thing.

“Yeah, come on…” he said, stroking Jared’s dick. Jared whimpered, his hips rocking forward. “Do it…”

Jared stared down at him for a few seconds before squeezing his eyes shut and reaching down to grip his own dick at the base, freezing up as he bit his lip. Jensen moaned helplessly-seeing Jared riding the edge of orgasm already was making his own dick throb-and shoved two fingers into his mouth, swirling them around and getting them wet.

“Oh fuck…” Jared breathed. He was back to watching Jensen, his mouth open and panting. Jensen pulled his fingers out and smirked up at him as he brought them down in between his legs. He slowly pushed them inside of himself, stretching himself, enjoying the slight burn and how Jared was staring at him like he wanted to eat him whole.

“Lube’s in the drawer,” Jensen said huskily and Jared was suddenly leaning over, jerking open the drawer of the nightstand and fumbling through it. He was making a mess out of it-tossing things aside left and right-but Jensen didn’t care. There were condoms in there, too, but that was up to Jared. Personally, Jensen really didn’t want them. He didn’t need them. When Jared came back, his hands were shaking as they clasped onto Jensen’s thighs. Jensen could understand that feeling, too. “Yeah,” he said encouragingly, pulling his fingers out to make room for Jared. God, it was going to be awesome.

It took Jared three tries to finally get the cap of the lube bottle open and Jensen squirmed impatiently, running his hands over Jared’s forearms. He wanted this show on the road as in yesterday. Jared nodded, apparently to himself, and then he was pushing a finger inside of Jensen and Jensen was willing to forgive him anything. He arched upward, biting his lip as Jared slowly smeared the lube around. “Up…” Jensen muttered and Jared did just that, finger glancing across Jensen’s prostate and making him see stars. “Fuck…”

Jared froze. “Is that okay?” he asked and Jensen nodded quickly.

“Fucking fantastic,” he said, wrapping his legs around Jared’s waist. “Hurry up.” As fun as this was, if Jared kept it up, Jensen was going to be done long before they even had a chance to get going. Maybe some other time, they’d have a chance to explore this some more but right now, Jensen just needed Jared inside of him.

Jared exhaled harshly and lined himself up as he pulled his finger out, smearing the left over lube on his dick. Jensen pulled him in, tightening up his legs and Jared pushed hesitantly inside, like he was unsure of his size. That was okay because Jensen was more than sure enough for the both of them. His eyes fluttered and his toes were beginning to curl. Fuck, yeah. How had he managed to live without this? Jared was filling him up so completely it was blowing his damn mind. His fist balled in the sheets, needing the tension to steady himself, to keep himself grounded.

“Fuck,” Jared whined, bending over, resting his forehead against Jensen’s shoulder as his hands slid underneath Jensen’s shoulders, elbows bracing himself. “Jen.” Jensen moaned at the sound of the nickname, loving it and loving the tone that Jared was using to say it. “It feels so good…”

“Mmm,” Jensen agreed and Jared sank in the rest of the way, resting against him.

Jared was pressing small, quick, grateful kisses along Jensen’s face muttering about “I never knew it would feel this good,” and “So amazing…” and “God, Jensen.” Jensen turned his head and caught on of Jared’s kisses, drawing him in for a long one as he started to rock his hips, encouraging Jared to thrust. He wrapped his arms around Jared’s shoulders, hands snaking up to bury in Jared’s hair. Jared whimpered and followed his lead, moving into a rhythm with him.

It was slow and deep and each slide inward had Jensen’s back arching. It was slow and easy and perfect but Jensen knew that he needed more. “Harder,” he coaxed and Jared groaned as he obeyed, his hips moving faster and rougher, pounding into Jensen. Jared panted above him and Jensen reached for his dick, wrapping his hand around it and jerking himself off as Jared lost himself in the pleasure of fucking. A few hard pulls later and Jensen was going blind, his vision flashing to white as he came, spilling on to his chest. Jared kept fucking him through it, gasping and shivering before he suddenly froze and Jensen felt his insides being flooded.

“God,” Jared moaned, burying his face in the junction of Jensen’s neck and holding on tight as he shuddered his way through his orgasm. Jensen smiled happily as he eased down from his own climax, feeling sated and lazy and more relaxed than he’d felt in years. Jared collapsed on top of him, bearing him down into the mattress but Jensen didn’t care. He rather liked the feeling and had no plans on moving.

It took Jared a few minutes to finally come back to himself but, when he did, he lifted up a bit-as much as Jensen would allow him to-and tilted his head to kiss Jensen, his tongue pushing into Jensen’s mouth to duel lazily with Jensen’s own. “That was awesome,” Jared purred, nuzzling against Jensen’s cheek. “So much better than jerking off.”

“Mmm,” Jensen agreed automatically before his sluggish mind started to piece a few things together. Jared was still deep inside him and that was definitely distracting but Jensen was regaining the ability to add one and one to equal two. “When you say that it’s better than jerking off…” he started. “Do you mean…?” he trailed off, looking up at Jared who raised his eyebrows and pulled a face.

“Well, it’s not like you ever gave me a boyfriend or anything,” Jared said honestly. “Besides, I was waiting for you, you jerk.” Jensen closed his eyes. He’d just kind of, sort of, unknowingly deflowered a virgin. He didn’t know whether that was hot or…really hot, actually. “So…” Jared started, rocking his hips suggestively and causing Jensen to gasp as Jared moved inside of him, “as you can guess, I’m a little behind in the experience department. That means that we’re going to have to go again real soon. Make up for lost time.”

Jensen couldn’t disagree with that. They had a lot of years to make up for, after all. Jared grinned down at him. “Love you,” he said, pressing a kiss to the corner of Jensen’s mouth and Jensen still couldn’t believe that Jared was real. That Jared-perfect, incredible Jared-was his. He’d crossed an impossible void and, somehow, amazingly, it was such a small, small world.






Epilogue

“This is so delicious!”

“You’re such a pig! Don’t eat it all!”

“Yeah, you have to share!”

“Not if I manage to eat it all before you do!”

“Anybody want any coffee?”

“No, but I really could use a beer…”

“You’re not getting any more alcohol! I remember what happened the last time!”

“Oh, hey what’s this-AH! MY EYE!”

Jensen had no idea just exactly how he’d managed to get used to all the chaos that now seemed to follow him around but, somehow, he had. The swarm of Del Montes currently running amok in his studio hardly made him bat an eyelash now. Of course, it had taken a few months but he’d done it. A few months of Jared being amazingly patient with him as he’d lost his temper again and again and, really, Jensen didn’t think he deserved Jared. No one did. The man should be nominated for sainthood for all that he’d put up with in the past five months.

Such as the time that Jensen had snapped and painted numbers in blazing red paint on all the Del Montes in an attempt to tell them apart, not to mention count the little buggers (he could swear that they were multiplying even though they claimed that they weren’t). Even Jared, though, had to admit that that had been pretty hilarious. Especially with the conniption fit that One had thrown. Personally, Jensen had thought it was more out of not wanting to lose his position as number one among the peas than anything else.

Jared had even put up with the weirdness that was publishing one last comic of his “adventures”-sort of as a wrap up to the Jared-version of Small Small World. Jared, of course, hadn’t thought that it was weird at all but Jensen sure had. Now, though, it was over and done with and Jensen had a brand new series. And a brand new publisher. Gamble Comics was a bit different than Kripke, if only because Sera was a kinder, gentler overlord. She was more willing to let Jensen do as he pleased and never pushed for a bit more spandex to appear in his productions. She did, however, push for a bit more shirtless scenes which, considering the more adult audience of Gamble Comics was only to be expected.

Jensen had left Kripke Comics right after he’d informed Kripke about his plans for his next series, Small Small World II, and the man had just about been fit to be tied. Hey. It wasn’t Jensen’s fault that Ross had made a few new life choices and now Jensen felt compelled to draw those (okay, so that was kind of weird, too, but Jensen was getting over that-he had to make a living somehow). It really hadn’t been Jensen’s decision for Ross to move in with Jeff (now a cop on the streets of Small Small World)(yeah, weird actually didn’t even begin to cover it). Nor had it been Jensen’s decision for Ross to want to fight his old evil allies. That had been all Ross’s doing (with, of course, some help from Jeff). Jensen was just opting to relay the story of it. So, really, Jensen’s hands had been tied and he’d had no choice but to leave Kripke behind. Spandex just really wasn’t his thing, after all.

Not unless it had Jared in it, but that wasn’t exactly something that Jensen thought needed to be published. That was more “private collection” material. Speaking of his own, personal muse…

Jensen looked up from his contemplation of the last issue of Small Small World across his desk to where Jared was sitting at a table in the studio, reading one of his textbooks. He’d decided to go back to school just last month, actually, to get his degree in engineering, the same as he’d been going for in Small Small World. Unfortunately, no real world university was about to accept fictional credits from a fictional school, so Jared had been forced to start over but the good news was that he was well acquainted with a great deal of the material and so was in a special, accelerated course. And acing it.

Jensen felt his heart skip a beat just looking at Jared and, even after five months, he still had a hard time believing that Jared was real, that he wasn’t a hallucination or a sign of Jensen going crazy. He was just that incredible, especially sitting framed by the light as he was. It was a familiar position for him and one that made Jensen itch to draw him even though he’d already done so countless times in the past. The world, Jensen figured, could always use more pictures of Jared.

Jensen’s mother, as well, was all set to adopt Jared. Jensen sometimes wondered if she wasn’t willing to do an all out swap-Jensen for Jared-as she seemed that fond of Jared but Jensen supposed that he should at least be glad that his family got along with Jared. They’d never done so with Tom. Then again, this was Jared. It was awfully hard to hate him. He’d even gotten Jensen to stop smoking which may have been what had cemented him as a favorite in Jensen’s mother’s eyes. Either that or the casserole. Jensen’s mother loved to make three bean casserole and Jared, as far as Jensen knew, was the only one who liked to eat it.

Then again, Jared would eat just about anything but Jensen wasn’t about to tell his mother that.

Brushing aside a couple wayward Del Montes, Jensen smiled in bemusement at Jared as he read, just watching him. It was fast becoming his favorite past time. All around them, the Del Montes were doing as they pleased but, for the most part, they were behaving themselves so Jensen didn’t bother them. A group were devouring a burger bought just for them and another couple were messing with a tube of paint-one having managed to get paint on itself already-and others were zooming around aimlessly but compared to previous messes, this was barely a blip on the radar.

As if he felt Jensen watching him, Jared turned and caught Jensen’s eye, a smile breaking out across his face. Jensen’s own smile grew wider.

“I’m blind! I’m blind!”

“Well, you should have been messing around!”

“You know, I think that your triangleness gives you personality.”

“You really think so?”

“Oh, yes, definitely.”

“Oh, hey, I found the porn!”

“Porn?! Oh my God, I’ll be right there!”

The Del Montes swarmed en masse, the one group even leaving their burger as they headed towards the far side of the room-the bottom of the third cabinet on the left. The newly painted and blind one followed just behind, zooming erratically and pleading for the others to wait for it as they exclaimed over their newly discovered treasure. Left alone in what felt to be suddenly empty space, Jared started to laugh and Jensen joined him, dissolving into nearly helpless giggles.

So his life was a lot more chaotic now. Gone were the days when he could lock himself away in his studio for days on end. And, yeah, he had to explain a lot more "mysterious accidents" now, caused by a few too curious peas, but Jensen didn't think that he'd have it any other way. He closed the issue of Small Small World in front of him and left it at the desk as he joined Jared, sitting beside him and giving him a quick kiss. No, definitely not.

His life was perfect as it was. Flying peas and all.






Part 3 | Master Post | Art Post | Onto Dreaming of Far-Off Places | Onto Dreaming of Happily Ever After