12 Days of a J2 Christmas: Day 8
Master Post and Notes
There wasn’t much that Jensen ever did that surprised Jared. He was a stable guy, even-tempered, and didn’t do much out of the ordinary to really shock Jared (except when he was annoyed and cranky, but at least Jared could see it coming). But for the day Jared found him in the backyard, below-freezing weather, hose in hand, and a smile planted on his face.
“What’re you … ” Jared asked strangely as he decided to keep a good twenty-foot distance. For his own safety.
“Skate park,” Jensen replied plainly.
He chuckled nervously. At six-and-a-half feet, there wasn’t much promise for coordination on two slivers of metal. “For who?”
Jensen smiled easily. “For us.”
“Ah, well, too bad I don’t have skates,” Jared said with fake disappointment.
“Check the closet.”
“What?”
Jensen smiled again, broad and toothy. “Merry Early Christmas.”
“Wow. Okay.” Jared watched in wonder and fear, because for everything Christmas they’d done so far, Jensen was not the initiator. He did relish Jensen’s spirit finally kicking in, but this was the last thing he wanted to consider participating in.
It took quite a lot of finagling once the ice was solid enough to use. And really it was Jared’s crushed pride at seeing how easily and gracefully Jensen skated around the frozen sheet that convinced him to even put the damned skates on.
Jensen spun and skated backward, shimmying his hips and knees to glide left and right. He smiled at Jared, who hovered at the seam of snow and ice. “C’mon, you big baby. It’s just a little skating.”
Jared’s mind flipped back to high school roller skating parties, when his lanky limbs did nothing to give him balance and everything to make him fall. When he busted knees and elbows and, most importantly, his ego. He didn’t exactly want to relive that here, especially with Jensen to witness it.
He effortlessly skimmed over the surface and skidded to a stop before Jared, shavings spraying out. With his arms stretched, Jensen made grabby hands at Jared. “C’mon. I’ll help.”
Reluctantly, Jared held Jensen’s hands, let Jensen slowly pull him over the ice. Jared’s legs wobbled like a newborn calf trying to right itself, and the shakes in his knees embarrassed him. He frowned and refused to look at Jensen’s face, wanting so badly to ignore his smug face or taunting smile.
“Just one foot, then the next,” Jensen murmured, drawing Jared from his spinning thoughts. “Pretend you’re sliding in the kitchen.” When Jared looked up, Jensen’s eyes were soft, his mouth careful with its smile. His voice stayed soft and encouraging. “Keep your knees like jelly but your ankles firm.”
“You’re teaching me how to skate?” Jared tried to joke, but he heard how his voice wavered over the last few words.
“You obviously need it more than I do,” he smirked.
Jensen continued with gentle directives … like how to shift his weight for slight turns, or to keep his torso upright. Jared followed them to the T, focusing more on Jensen’s words than on his own movements, and before he knew it, they were ringing around the ice, taking one lap after another with Jensen guiding him. Jared looked up with a bright smile, pinning Jensen with his excited eyes, silently saying I’m doing it!
Of course that was the moment he slid a second too late and his skate caught the very edge of the ice, snagging itself in snow and grass, and then stumbled to the ground. As he had imagined from the very second he caught Jensen soaking the backyard, Jensen skated over, smiling down on him and fighting off a laugh. Jared at least appreciated Jensen was trying to keep it in, but it was obvious Jensen wasn’t doing it that well.
Jared turned to his side with a loud groan, feeling an immediate ache in his back and left knee and elbow. “Son of a bitch,” he grumbled. “I hate you.”
“Jared,” Jensen chuckled.
“You and this ice and this cold and skates. Hate you all.”
Jensen crouched close, guiding Jared up. “Not very Christmasy of you.”
When he looked, Jensen was still smiling, and he shot him a terse look. But it eased away and he looked somewhere else because at least Jensen was helping him up. He successfully got to his knees, planted his right foot, and then pushed up to his left, which is exactly when he slid again. This time, he brought Jensen down. Or rather, he landed on him.
“Oh, my God,” Jensen breathed out. “You behemoth.”
Jared tried to push himself up, lessen the press of weight on Jensen, but the ice was … ice, and he slid every time he moved. He mumbled angry apologies and continued shifting away until Jensen quietly shifted Jared’s legs and arms so he could more comfortably be crushed. “I’m sorry, alright? I didn’t want to do this stupid skating anyway,” Jared spat.
Jensen chuckled, running his hand over Jared’s neck and pulling him down. “Calm down, you giant baby.” He leaned up and softly pressed his mouth to Jared’s, warm and dry but still pleasant.
Jared grumbled, “I’m not a baby.”
His eyebrows went up high in response.
As Jared shifted and rolled to his side, he whined, “I hate skating. Skating sucks.”
“You were doing pretty okay there for a while,” Jensen pointed out.
“Okay. I hate falling.”
Jensen laughed, patting his palm to the center of Jared’s chest. “Let’s get you inside. Warm bath will soothe you right up.”
Jared gave a critical eye. “Will this bath be solo?”
His lips curled just so. “Of course not.”
In seconds, Jared unlaced his skates, chucked them into the yard then hurried across the ice and snow in just his socks. Jensen laughed again, shaking his head but easily following.
Day 9
