Real Person Fic - CW: Arm in Arm, We'll Win the Fight [Part 2/3]
Back to Masterpost 
Back to Part One
PART TWO
Jared meets Jensen again much sooner than he could have hoped.
He decides to take a detour-a big detour-when leaving Cerulean the next morning. Normally, to get to Vermillion and the S.S. Anne, Jared would head south through Saffron. It's not a terribly quick journey, either. About a week on foot, maybe longer. But Jared's in no rush-is maybe even trying to buy a little time if he's being honest. There's no way he'll be able to afford a ticket for both himself and a Pokémon on the cruise, and even if he could, it wouldn't be fair to trap Dean like that. But he'll miss the company, even if the Ninetales is a huge pain in his ass most of the time.
Like right now, for instance. "Dude, calm down. I have no idea what you're trying to tell me."
Dean just keeps circling him excitedly, biting at the air just around Jared's feet as if to get him to walk faster.
"Ugh," Jared whines, shaking his leg. "You know what would help me walk faster? If I'd gotten any sleep at all last night instead of having your giant ass in my space."
The Pokémon makes a wounded face, and, before Jared gets a chance to apologize, he runs off down the path ahead of them.
They're on their way to Jared's friend Misha's seaside cottage. Jared has no idea if Dean knows that, but the path is fairly easy to follow and he's a smart Pokémon. He'll find his way to Jared if he wants to.
Misha lives about a day's walk outside of Cerulean City on his own private beach. He's somewhat of a mad genius when it comes to Pokémon and struck gold a few years back when he invented the Pokédex. Ever since, he's lived out here in the middle of nowhere. He has his Pokémon for company: the biggest collection Jared's ever seen, and he doesn't keep them locked up or fight them, they stay of their own volition. That's good enough for Jared. He tries to visit Misha whenever he gets a chance, and Misha is always a generous host.
Jared doesn't make it to the cottage until well after sundown. Dean never reappeared after running off, which Jared supposes is his own fault, but a part of him is still hoping the Pokémon only needed some time to cool off and that he beat Jared to Misha's place and is now being fed and pampered and will be waiting for Jared as soon as he arrives.
When he knocks at Misha's door and his friend opens it, the first thing out of Jared's mouth is, "Have you seen a Ninetales by any chance?"
"I've seen over 700 Ninetales," Misha replies blandly. "Or as we used to say when I still spoke to humans, 'hello.'"
Jared laughs lightly, wrapping an arm around Misha and patting him on the back. "Hey man, it's nice to see you."
"Yes, it must be," Misha agrees. "I'm very easy on the eyes."
"But in all seriousness, has a Ninetales been by in the last few hours?"
Misha lifts an eyebrow. "You keeping Pokémon now, Padalecki?"
"More like he was keeping me," Jared says. "I guess he got tired of that."
"Can't say I really blame him," says another voice in the room. Jared hadn't even noticed there was anyone else here. The chances of Misha having any guest at all, let alone two at once, are about as good as the chances of a Dragonite losing to a Magikarp.
He looks away from Misha and around the room. Sitting at one of the desks, relaxed as if it was his own lab, is Jensen.
"You're one to talk," Jared says, only half teasing. "You're the one he seems to be avoiding."
"You two know each other?" Misha asks, looking from Jared to Jensen and back again.
Jensen smirks out of one side of his mouth, a dirty expression that makes Jared heat up all over again. "Quite intimately."
Misha lifts two hands. "No further details will be required."
Jensen huffs out a laugh and looks down to the table; Jared feels himself blush and scratches at the back of his neck. He decides to change the subject. "I was gonna ask to stay the night, but I'm guessing you're all full up?"
"Nonsense," Jensen says before Misha gets a chance to respond. "I'm very good at sharing."
The man knows no shame.
"I do only have one guest room," Misha replies after a bit. "You guys figure that out amongst yourselves. I'm going to go to bed and I wish to hear nothing more about it."
"Aw, but I just got here," Jared whines, trying to catch Misha's arm and drag him back into the room. "Don't you want to talk at me about things I'll politely pretend to understand? Don't you want to hear about my adventures?"
"Tomorrow, brave explorer." Misha waves him off. "I had to get up at the crack of dawn to study the electromagnetic resonance of my Magnetite when combined with the-"
"Okay, okay," Jared says, stopping him before he keeps himself up all night just trying to get his excuse across. "Tomorrow. But, uh, I don't suppose you have any food I can dig through?"
"Jensen made dinner," Misha says, throwing a thankful smile in the aforementioned Jensen's direction. "And he accidentally made way too much. What a fortuitous accident!"
Misha exits the room in a rush, leaving Jared alone with Jensen and what looks to be a hardy Tentacool stew. Still smoking hot, not unlike the guy standing at the pot serving a bowl for Jared.
"Thanks," he says as he takes a seat at the desk Jensen had been using as a dining room table.
"Yeah, no problem," Jensen replies, setting the bowl down in front of Jared. "Misha really needs to get some human-oriented furniture, huh?"
"Good luck trying to sell him on that." Jared takes a spoonful of the soup and blows before putting it to his lips. It still burns his tongue, but it's worth the pain. "Holy crap," he says once he's swallowed. "This is so, so good."
Jensen's smile is almost modest, making it the first even moderately modest thing he's done in the short time Jared's known him. "There's plenty of extra if you want more. I'll bet you're hungry."
Jared doesn't say much else as he finishes his first bowl. Jensen's right-he's starving after a long day of walking with no snack breaks, and even though he got a decent meal in the city last night, it's been months since he had anything that could even pass as a home-cooked meal.
"You didn't tell me you were coming here," Jared says as he watches Jensen walk across the room to refill his bowl again. He seized on the empty dish as soon as Jared put it down, and Jared's tired enough to let a stranger wait on him if Jensen is so eager to do it. "How crazy is this?"
"You didn't tell me, either," Jensen points out, setting the food down in front of Jared. "To think, we could have taken this whole trip together. Think of all the lost orgasms."
"Hey, I offered to share a room," Jared reminds him.
Jensen smiles to himself, taking the seat across from Jared. "Well, looks like that's in the cards after all."
Jared coughs. "So how do you know Misha?" Okay, so he has no game, but he doesn't really know how to carry on conversations in Jensen's direct style.
"My family helped him out back when he was first trying to get the Pokédex off the ground."
"Ah," Jared says, grinning as he leans back in his seat. "So you're a somebody, huh?"
Jensen shrugs.
"C'mon, don't be modest," Jared tells him.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," Jensen replies. "I'm no one but a friend of a friend. Who happens to give exceptional blowjobs."
"Exceptional," Jared confirms. He points his spoon down into his nearly empty bowl and adds, "And makes exceptional soup."
"You're probably just imagining it's better than it is because you're hungry." Jared shakes his head, but Jensen rolls his eyes and changes the subject. "How about you? How do you know our nutty acquaintance?"
"Professor Kripke put us in contact, back when I was still trying to be a Pokémon master." Jared ducks his head in shame, even though that's not something people generally are embarrassed about. Rare is the person under thirty these days who never chased dreams of catching all 150 Pokémon or sweeping every gym in Kanto. "The first time we met, he'd turned himself into a Pokémon."
"I feel like that should be a really improbable story, but it's Misha."
Jared nearly snorts. "Yeah, it was surprising at the time. In retrospect? Just a day in the life."
Jensen stands to collect Jared's dish and takes it to the sink, grabbing a bottle and two glasses from the cabinet on his way back to the desk. He really does seem as comfortable here as Jared would be in his own home if he still had one, and Jared wonders for a brief moment if it's weird that he feels a little jealous. Then Jensen starts pouring red wine and Jared gets distracted. "Any Pokémon in particular he'd turned himself into?"
"Oh, yeah. A Nidoran♀."
There's a moment of hesitation as Jensen pours, and in that half a second, the wine nearly spills all over the table. "I'm sorry," Jensen says when Jared reaches out to steady his wrist. "But you did mean he was a Nidoran♂, right?"
Jared shakes his head. "To this day, I still haven’t figured out if he was trying to turn himself into a girl, a Pokémon, neither, or both. But that's how I found him."
"Probably for the best you didn't ask too many questions," Jensen says. "With Misha, usually, that's the safest route."
"Tell me about it." Jared takes a slow sip of his drink and watches closely as Jensen does the same. The wine leaves a slight red stain on Jensen's mouth.
After a few seconds, Jensen picks up the conversation. "You said you know Professor Kripke. The Professor Kripke?"
"We're from the same town. He's our one and only claim to fame, but in a town as small as ours, everyone knows everyone. Even the celebrities."
"What town is that?"
Jared fiddles with his wine glass. "You've probably never heard of it. No one has."
"Try me," says Jensen, giving Jared a sharp look.
"Pallet Town."
Jensen grins. "Just north of Cinnibar Island."
"Yup!" Jared smiles, genuinely surprised that Jensen knows it, but in the best possible way. "You been?"
"Can't say I've had the pleasure," Jensen admits. "But I'm from Cinnibar, so we're almost neighbors."
"Get out," Jared replies. "You didn't tell me that when I told you I was going there."
Jensen gives him a smarmy wink. "We weren't talking much."
"Well, since then," says Jared.
"I suck at telling people things," Jensen admits, as if Jared hadn't noticed yet. "Why Cinnibar?"
"The islands are the only part of Kanto I've never seen."
"What?" Jensen asks with a raised eyebrow. "Living so close?"
"Never had a surfing Pokémon." Jared spreads his hands out. "There wasn't any other way to get there until the S.S. Anne added it to their route."
"That's hilarious," Jensen says. "You're going all the way around just to get somewhere an hour away, tops."
"And having a great journey in between." Jared looks up into Jensen's eyes and lets his voice drop. "Meeting some interesting people."
"Tell me," Jensen says, raising his glass to his lips, "what are you doing, really?"
"It's stupid," Jared replies, not because he believes it but because it's how everyone responds when he tells them, and he's tired of hearing it from strangers.
"No, it's not. Whatever it is." Jensen reaches into his pocket to get a cigarette and lights it. "Anyone who tells you that is stupid."
"I wander around aimlessly searching for abusive poké masters and freeing their Pokémon," Jared says, all in one breath. "And I've saved a lot of lives, so don't tell me all Pokémon want to be with their masters or whatever the Pokémon League bullshit is these days because it's not true and I've seen that it's not."
To his surprise, Jensen doesn't laugh at him when he finishes. He takes a long, thoughtful drag from his cigarette and lets the smoke out slowly. "You're right, you know. They're wrong."
He stares at Jensen for a long minute. "Are you just saying that to make me feel better about myself? Because you don't really have to lie to me to get into my pants."
Jensen purses his lips and gives a curt shake of his head. "I think it's really beautiful, what you do. I bet those Pokémon you free are very grateful to you."
Jared has to wonder if Jensen's just poking fun at him, but he sounds completely sincere. Jared's eyebrows draw together, so used to being ridiculed that he's not sure how to respond to seemingly genuine support. "I hope so," he finally answers. "I mean, I don't know what Pokémon think any better than anyone else, but I try to do what's best for them."
After a few seconds of searching Jared's face, Jensen flicks the ashes off his cigarette and looks down at the smoking end of it. "I think you understand them better than you give yourself credit for. I'd bet it makes them uncomfortable, even, being so well understood by a human."
Laughing, Jared finishes his drink and pours himself another. "What are you even talking about?"
Jensen looks up then as if he's coming out of a daze. He shakes his head to clear it, takes a long sip, and swallows. "Nothing," he says. He rubs at his forehead with the hand holding the cigarette, and Jared worries for a second that he'll burn himself. "Nothing, just thinking. Weird day, that's all."
Jared sits up a little straighter. "Wanna talk about it?"
"No," Jensen replies, smiling dismissively. "Decidedly not."
"You're so mysterious," Jared teases, wiggling his fingers. "I bet all this mystery is just a trick to keep me interested."
"Are you?" Jensen asks. "Interested?"
Jared decides not to pad Jensen's ego with an honest answer to that, so he keeps on talking shit. "You're probably something really boring like a janitor or an accountant."
Jensen laughs. "I can promise you, no one has ever counted on me to clean up after myself or others and definitely not to keep track of money."
"You're not gonna tell me what you do, are you?"
"What made you decide to start rescuing Pokémon?" Jensen asks, propping his elbow on the desk and resting his chin on it. It's such a clear subject change that Jared just decides to give up and let the hot mysterious stranger act do its work.
"I was a trainer back in the day, like everyone else on the planet." Jared gives Jensen a self-deprecating smile, and Jensen chuckles. "I got three badges and then I met a gang of Rockets in Cerulean who were using Pokémon to try to rob a bank. Knew damn well whoever went in the vaults might not come back, so they were sending Pokémon in, the cowards. They tried to recruit me-told me the whole plan and promised I'd be a Pokémon master in no time if I joined up."
"Did you?"
Jared shakes his head. "Nah, even then I wasn't desperate enough to be famous to be okay with that. I tried to stop them." Jared swallows hard, averting his eyes. "I should have just gotten the hell out of dodge."
Jensen reaches out, putting one hand over Jared's. "What happened?"
It's a story Jared probably wouldn't feel comfortable sharing with a near-stranger three drinks back, but, unfortunately, this is not three drinks back, and Jared has been waiting for someone willing to listen to him for too long. It practically falls out. "I held them back long enough for the police to show up, but they…they killed my Charmander. He was my best friend. My first Pokémon. Professor Kripke gifts one Pokémon to all the aspiring trainers from Pallet Town, since we'd, you know, never have a fucking chance to get anywhere any other way."
Jensen's frowning when Jared dares to look up. "I'm so sorry, Jared."
"Don't apologize to me," he says. "I'm the one that got Sammy killed."
"You were trying to help," Jensen tells him.
Jared shrugs. "Most of the guys didn't even get tried for it. The sonofabitch that killed my Charmander was in jail for less than a year before he was back with Team Rocket, but they put-" Jared covers his mouth, takes a deep breath, and continues. "They put down all the Pokémon that were involved in the robbery. I tried to save them and I got them all killed instead."
"Jared." Jensen stands up and circles the table, wrapping an arm around him from behind. Jared finds the contact oddly comforting. Jensen smells familiar, but before Jared can pull himself together enough to identify the scent, Jensen has already let go. He gives Jared's shoulder one last friendly squeeze and then refills Jared's glass. "I'm so sorry that happened to you."
Jared shakes his head and forces a smile. "Anyway, I freed the rest of my Pokémon that night and haven't kept one since. Well, except Dean, but I have a feeling he wouldn't follow me around if he knew what an idiot I am."
"You're not an idiot," Jensen insists, putting out his cigarette.
"Agree to disagree. Anyway, I've been trying to fight back against Rocket in what modest ways I can without any money, friends, or Pokémon to help me out. It's not all that much, really, but at least the only life I risk is my own."
"You're too hard on yourself," Jensen tells him. "You're a hero. You've saved so many since then."
"What makes you so sure?"
Jensen smiles faintly. "I've got good instincts," he says, and Jared has noticed that he seems to be one step ahead of almost everything Jared tells him-already guessed-so maybe that's the truth.
They sit quietly for a few minutes, and then Jared bursts out with an awkward laugh. Jensen looks over at him like he's crazy, so Jared explains himself. "I really killed the mood here, didn't I?"
Jensen smiles just a little. "Nah," he says. "I still want in your pants."
They finish another bottle between the two of them and don't head to the guest bedroom until a little over two hours have passed. Their conversation gets light and easy and fun pretty quickly, and they only stop talking when their mouths get too busy doing other things.
Mostly making out, but there's some neck sucking and biting going on, too. It's a good night in Jared's book, and they haven't even made it to the-
Jensen shoves Jared back and he trips onto the mattress, laughing as he falls ass first. "Wow, we were closer to the bedroom than I realized."
"Mmm," Jensen says, pulling off his shoes and tossing them across the room. "You just weren't paying attention while we were walking."
"Guilty," Jared agrees.
He pulls his shirt off over his head and shoves his pants away so he's wearing nothing but his boxers. Jensen does the same and then climbs into bed.
As soon as Jensen is next to him, he pulls Jared in for a kiss and Jared presses his palm flat against the bare skin of Jensen's belly, desperate to slip his fingers under the fabric of his underwear and touch. "I still owe you," he says, smiling woozily against Jensen's neck, a mix of alcohol and being so turned on he'd be drunk even if he were sober.
Jensen catches his hand and wraps his fingers in Jared's pulling it up and away. "No, I owe you."
Jared laughs, face still flush against Jensen. "What could you possibly owe me for?"
There's a kiss against Jared's temple and then it moves down to his mouth. Jensen's hand-the one that isn't still holding Jared's-cups Jared's cheek, and the kiss is really kind of weirdly tender in a way that should confuse Jared and would if it didn't feel so nice. "I'm going to owe you forever."
"Whatever," Jared replies with a laugh. "Then let me suck you because I really fucking want to."
"You don't," Jensen insists. He lets go of Jared's hand and moves down, palming at Jared's dick through the thin layer of cotton. "Just let me take care of you, okay?"
"Do you have a small dick?" Jared asks, turning his face into Jensen's shoulder. "Because that's nothing to be ashamed of. I'll like it. I can work with whatever-" Jared finally manages to get a grip between Jensen's legs, and he feels his eyes widen. "Fuck. Fuck. You're huge."
To Jared's unending disappointment, Jensen pushes his hand away before he can figure out just how huge.
"Don't, Jared. Just trust me."
But Jared is not about to give up on something that glorious without a fight. "Are you worried I can't take it? Because I'm pretty sure I can take it. I would really, really like to try to take it. Boy, would I ever like to try."
Jensen laughs, still not letting Jared near his dick. "I'm sure you'd take it like a champ."
He moves quickly, way faster than Jared expects or is ready for, and as soon as his fist is inside Jared's boxers and pressed all against his cock, Jared forgets what he was complaining about. Jensen's grip is rough and sure and he's a fucking monster, working fast and then slow and then fast, making sure Jared is right on the edge of coming but never quite there for so long Jared's got tears in his eyes from how bad he needs it before Jensen finally finishes him off with a skilled twist at the head of his dick.
Once his breath evens out, Jared turns onto his side, about to get back to insisting Jensen at least let him return the handjob, but then Jensen brushes his fingers through Jared's hair and leans in for a slow kiss.
The feeling Jared had thought was only his deluded memory of his and Jensen's first meeting returns, a hot pulse just under his skin that doesn't burn but feels so good it kills every other thought in his mind.
"You must be tired after such a long day," Jensen whispers. "You should sleep."
"But-" he says, the word cut short by a heavy yawn.
"And don't worry about your Ninetales," Jensen adds, giving Jared a faint smile. "I know you're still worrying. He'll come back to you."
"How do you know that?" Jared asks, even though he can hardly keep his eyes open.
Jensen's lips press against his for less than a second. "I promise. Stop thinking and sleep now."
Jared has so many things he still wants to ask, but he can’t fight the urge to close his eyes and drift away.
Jared wakes up the next morning alone. He has to hand it to Jensen that he's really got this mystery man thing down to an art form, but it’s just about starting to piss Jared off.
He stumbles out of bed and into his clothing as quickly as he can manage in the hopes that Jensen will just be out in the lab with Misha, assisting in some crackpot experiment or making breakfast.
There's breakfast when he reaches the lab, and Misha wearing a helmet that screams 'crackpot experiment,' but no Jensen as far as he can tell.
"Jensen?"
"Actually, my name is Misha," Misha replies. "Or as we used to say back when I still spoke to humans, 'good morning.'"
"Good morning," says Jared. "Where's Jensen?"
"He left hours ago," Misha says apologetically. "Said he had a big day ahead of him."
"Who is he?" Jared asks.
"Jensen Ackles, of course," Misha answers. As if that fucking says anything useful. Jared loves Misha like a brother, he really does, but sometimes he just wants to grab the guy and shake him until his social skills knock into place.
Then Misha says the only thing that can adequately distract Jared from his annoyance. "You still looking for that Ninetales?"
"Dean?" Jared says, putting his hands on Misha's shoulders eagerly. "You've seen Dean?"
"He's around back," Misha replies, pointing a thumb over his shoulder. "Or at least I assume it's him. Showed up about twenty minutes ago, demanding to be fed like he's the Emperor of Tohjo Falls and I'm lucky just to share my rations with him."
Jared grins. "That's Dean alright!"
Misha laughs. "So now that I'm a little better rested, you gonna fill me in on your life and particularly the Ninetales thing?"
By the time Jared is done telling Misha about everything he's gotten into since he last stopped by and listened to Misha relate his work (which is as fascinating in its successes as it is hilarious in its failures), the sun has long since set and Jared decides to stay one more night at the cottage before setting out on the week-long trek to Saffron and Vermillion.
He leaves the next morning with Dean at his side, the Pokémon apparently completely over whatever insult of Jared's sent him off in such a huff the day before.
They get a room in Cerulean for one night and then head south toward Saffron City. By the time they clear the city limits, they've been walking for nearly four days straight without a real bed, a decent meal, or, god forbid, a shower that doesn't involve Jared skinny dipping in rivers and hoping against hope no one spots him.
"I'm going to hang around in town for a few days and try to relax before we hit the road again," Jared tells Dean as they pass through the welcome center. "It might be boring for you, though, so you don't have to hang out. Route 7 has great hunting, or so I'm told. You might like it there."
Dean nods and looks toward the west exit out of the city like he's excited to get going. He's probably getting pretty tired of following Jared from one town to another. Sooner or later he'll run off into tall grass and not come back. Jared knows that's what he's supposed to be hoping for, but the thought makes his chest ache.
"I'm going to get a room at the inn near Silph Co., okay? So…if you want to come back, just meet me there tomorrow morning. I'll tell the concierge to call me if a Ninetales wanders in."
Dean licks his hand and saunters off in the direction Jared recommended, and Jared watches him go, letting out a heavy sigh.
Right, so, drinking. He's already finishing up his fourth drink when he sees someone take the empty stool next to him out of the corner of his eye. Jared doesn't pay the newcomer much attention until he hears their deep, rich voice.
"I'll have a Jinx's Kiss on the rocks, and his drinks are on me."
Jared's head snaps up, and he looks over to see Jensen watching him with an amused look on his face. "Jensen?"
"You couldn't look any more pathetic sitting here drinking by yourself, man." Jensen's smile turns to something a little more genuine. "You alright? Have a bad break up with your Ninetales who isn't really your Ninetales or something?"
"Oh, no," Jared says. "Dean's great."
"Uh huh." Jensen raises an eyebrow. "You know, I hate to point out the obvious, but he's not around now, either. Starting to suspect he doesn't really exist."
"He totally exists," Jared replies stubbornly. "He just doesn't like you because you smell."
Jensen laughs. "Sure, sure. You tell yourself that."
"He's off hunting!" Jared insists. "He's totally real."
Jensen twirls his finger in the air to imply Jared's crazy, and Jared laughs, pouncing out to push his hand down. "Don't be cute."
"I'm always cute," says Jensen. "If you learn only one thing about me, let it be that."
"It's all you've told me about you," Jared takes a sip from his beer, "so I guess I don't have much of a choice."
"That's how I like all my men," Jensen tells him in a confidential whisper. "Completely out of the loop."
"Well, I live in a tent and don't talk to anyone but my Ninetales, so you can't get more out of it than I am," Jared says with a laugh. Then he frowns at Jensen. "Hey, wait a minute, I thought you said I could buy you a drink next time we bumped into each other."
"I lied," Jensen says. "You don't have a job."
"How do you know that?"
"You told me what you do," Jensen reminds him. "At Misha's? It was like a week ago. You can't be that drunk."
"Fine. But maybe I'm independently wealthy. Who says I can't afford to buy you a drink?"
Jensen doesn't falter for a second. He lets his eyes sweep over Jared, assessing, and then says, "I made an educated guess."
Jared feels suddenly conscious of his worn traveling clothes and frayed backpack in a way he never really has before. He ducks his head. "Oh, and you're so special."
"Here you are, sir. I can't tell you what an honor it is to have you at my establishment," the bartender says, appearing just at that moment with Jensen's drink as if he timed it so it would be as humiliating for Jared as humanly possible.
Jared is considering downing the rest of his beer and slinking off to a poké mart so he can get booze and take it back to his hotel room and drink it in humiliated solitude.
"Thanks," Jensen says, dismissing the bartender's ass-kissing with a self-assured wave of his hand. "Don't mention it, and if you really wanna get on my good side, forget I was ever here."
The bartender looks stunned, but he nods and walks off to serve someone else. Jared twiddles his thumbs awkwardly on the counter. "Should I know who you are? Because I really am out of the loop, so sorry, but you'll have to fill me in."
"No," Jensen says, giving Jared a warm smile. "In no way, shape, or form should you know who I am. I like that you don't know who I am."
Jared nods, still looking down at his hands, and then he feels Jensen's warm palm on his thigh and he can't help looking up. "I upset you," Jensen says softly. "I didn't mean to upset you."
Jared shakes his head. "Well, I am pretty broke, so it's not like you said anything that isn't true."
"Fuck it, who cares? What you do is more important than money." Jensen squeezes his leg. "The least I can do is buy the hero a drink."
"I appreciate that." Jared waves the bartender over. "But I can afford to fight Rockets and get sloshed on my own."
"Those Rockets are real bastards, huh?" Jensen clucks his tongue. "Have you heard about this new thing in Lavender Town?"
It's an obvious way to avoid letting Jared pay, but the bastard knows how to manipulate him already, and Jared's attention is sufficiently riled. "No. What new thing?"
Jensen swishes the liquid in his glass casually. "I heard a rumor they've taken control of the tower. Trying to figure out a way to turn some of the Pokémon buried there into new ghost-types."
Jared's eyes get so big they nearly fall out of his head. "They what now?"
"Just what I heard," Jensen replies.
"Something like that would have gotten out. The tower is right by Mr. Morgan's Pokémon house. I know Jeff-I've taken hundreds of Pokémon there for recovery. He wouldn't let something like that happen right on his doorstep. He would have at least called me to-"
"You're probably right," Jensen cuts in. "Anyway, you've got a boat to catch. Places to see. It's probably nothing to worry about."
"I'll have to go there myself and find out," Jared says. "I can leave tomorrow, as soon as Dean comes back." He thinks it over for a moment and swallows a lump. "No, maybe I shouldn't wait until-Dean used to be one of theirs, you know. If I lead him back-"
"You can't go there," Jensen says. "You said it yourself, the last time we talked. You're one person. You're not going to be able to stop them."
"I can try," Jared replies, wondering what's prompting this sudden 180-degree turn. Last week, Jensen had been 100% behind Jared. He was the only person to ever be entirely supportive, and Jared had believed he meant it. He didn't even realize how much he needed someone backing him up until Jensen did. Only to yank it away a few days later? "I can't just let them torture dead Pokémon like that."
"You can't just walk in there and think you'll get lucky like the last-" Jensen stops himself, takes a long breath. "Jared, just think it through, okay? Let's just…let's get a room and you can take a night to think about it."
"But Dean will come back," Jared says weakly. "I can't make him stop following me, and I'll lead him right back to-"
"Well, that's something else to consider," Jensen says, his voice shaking. "Don't make him go."
"What are you afraid of?" Jared asks. "What's it matter to you if I do get myself killed?"
"Don't say that," Jensen replies, grabbing Jared's arm. "You don't even know what you're saying."
Jared tries to stand up and it's lucky Jensen's still got a steady grip on him. He didn't realize how drunk he was until he got to his feet. Jensen rises with him, dropping a few bills carelessly on the counter and wrapping his arm around Jared's middle. "C'mon. Let's sleep on it, okay?"
Jared lets Jensen lead him, even though he's not drunk enough to not know where he's going. He's just confused. Jensen doesn’t make any sense. First he tells Jared that he actually respects Jared's beliefs and now he's trying to talk Jared out of them. And why did he even tell Jared about this latest Rocket scheme if he didn't want Jared to try to fix it?
"Who are you?" Jared asks as they walk. "Why won't you tell me anything? Am I just supposed to trust you?"
"Yes." Jensen says, stopping in front of the inn and opening the door for Jared. "You should trust me."
"Why should I?"
Jensen doesn't say anything as he waits for Jared to cross through the open doorway. He just watches Jared with these big, intense, sad green eyes, and Jared can't fucking remember where he's seen those eyes, but for some stupid reason, it is enough to make him trust Jensen.
He goes in and Jensen follows him, walking up to the concierge. The boy behind the desk, a tough guy type wearing a name tag that says Brock, looks them over, his eyes widening a bit when he sees Jensen. He sits up straighter and wipes the rebellious-teenager-I-hate-you-even-though-you're-a-customer look off his face. "Can I help you?"
"We need a room. You know where to charge it, right?"
Brock raises an eyebrow, but he nods. "Yes, Mr. Ackles. Of course."
Jared shakes his head, looking around the lobby. He realizes this isn’t where he told Dean to meet him and tugs on Jensen's sleeve. "We have to go somewhere else," he says as Jensen takes the key card that Brock slides across the counter to him. "Dean isn’t going to come here."
"Dean will know," Jensen tells him softly. "I promise he'll know."
Jared is just drunk enough to forget to ask how, how it's possible that Jensen's never met his Ninetales and yet he seems to know when Dean will or will not be around. Instead, he lets his head drop onto Jensen's shoulder, and Jensen walks him to their room. He helps Jared into bed and climbs in behind him.
Jensen buries his face in Jared's neck, giving him another one of those weirdly tender kisses. He doesn't understand Jensen, doesn't understand anything about him.
"Go to sleep, Jay," Jensen tells him, pushing hair away from Jared's temple and brushing his lips over it.
It doesn't seem possible, Jared thinks, for one person to give off so much warmth, but it wraps around Jared better than any blanket, and he can't even think to try to resist sleep.
Jared doesn't wake until his phones rings the next morning, and he turns over to face it, letting out a groan when he sees the time. He slept almost until noon, and he still feels like a Graveler sat on his head. Good life choices, Padalecki.
"Hello," he mumbles into the receiver.
"Good morning, sir. This is the front desk calling. On his way out, Mr. Ackles asked us to ring you if a Ninetales showed up. There's one waiting for you in the lobby."
"Mr. Ackles?" Jared asks. Oh, right. "Jensen?"
He looks over and is not even remotely surprised to find the bed is empty except for him. There's an envelope on the nightstand next to the side Jensen was sleeping on with Jared's name on it. He knows better than to hope it's a 'went out to breakfast, be back soon.' More likely a 'sorry you were too embarrassing to have sex with last night, you won't be seeing me again.'
"Yeah, the very one." There's a short pause from the concierge. "Look, buddy, you sound like you just woke up, so I'm going to let you get ready."
"Right," Jared says, sitting up. "I'll be right there."
"I hope so. Check out's in half an hour."
The line dies then and Jared listens to the dial tone for half a minute before he remembers how to hang up the phone. Apparently people aren't as polite to you once your ambiguously famous fuck buddy has left you high and dry.
He gets out of bed and takes a quick shower, brushing his teeth and throwing his few belongings in his backpack. Then he grabs the envelope Jensen left for him, sitting at the edge of the bed before opening it.
A letter and something thicker fall out onto Jared's lap.
Jay,
Bon voyage. Don't do anything stupid.
- J.A.
Jared's confused for a hot second before he realizes that the other thing that fell out of the envelope is a first class ticket for the S.S. Anne with a Pokémon package included. He and Dean could waltz right into Vermillion City and up the pier now and sail to Cinnibar in better luxury than Jared's ever experienced.
Then the conversation he and Jensen had last night flashes back into his mind, and Jared realizes what this is supposed to be. Temptation. Jensen's trying to make Jared forget what the Rockets in Lavender Town are getting up to and just take a nice vacation instead.
He huffs out a laugh and tucks the ticket into his backpack. Maybe he'll treat himself if he actually manages to live through this, but no way is he about to sail off and leave good Pokémon in harm's way.
Dean is waiting for him in the lobby as advertised, draped over an entire loveseat grooming himself while a family waiting for check in stare mournfully at the one and only place to sit. Jared shakes his head and whistles for Dean to get down, understanding why the concierge is so eager for him to get out of here.
The Ninetales looks up at his call and yawns lazily, taking his sweet ass time before deciding to hop down from his couch and let the customers take it.
"You're the reason most hotels don't let Pokémon in," Jared tells him as they walk out the door. "You're why we can't have nice things."
Jared doesn't waste any time heading out of town. He hits route 8 and spends half the walk building up his courage before finally he reaches a nice patch of tall grass and figures he won't get a better chance than this.
He kneels in front of Dean. "Alright, boy. I hate to do this, but, uh. You can't follow me anymore, okay? You gotta stay here. I know I said that a lot, but I really mean it this time."
Dean stares at him like he genuinely has no idea what Jared's saying for the first time since he met the Ninetales, and he remembers that Dean may be smarter and more powerful than pretty much any other Pokémon alive, but he's still a Pokémon. He can't keep expecting Dean to always understand him.
So he gives Dean a light shove, and Dean growls but stands his ground.
"I don't want you anymore," Jared tells the Ninetales. That gets a light whimper, but Dean still licks his hand and tries to push at him for affection.
Jared turns away, continuing to walk, but Dean doesn't just keep following him as usual. He cuts in front of Jared and tries to herd him south, toward Vermillion City and the S.S. Anne. Maybe the Pokémon understands more than Jared wants to give him credit for.
So Jared tries running with that. "I'm going to see the Rockets," he says. "I'm going to go fight them and they'll catch you again if you come with me. And I won't be able to free you this time. So, just, leave me alone already."
Dean stops trying to detain him then, stops dead in his tracks, making a few last sad sounds. Jared can't bear to look at him and risk seeing those big sad green eyes, so he faces ahead and thinks of nothing but one foot in front of the other.
There's no one following him now. It's a hollow victory, and he knows he'll lose it if he looks back for even a second.
He walks and walks and pays no attention to the scenery or the people along the route or even the amount of time that passes. He doesn't realize the sun is setting and he'll have to camp for the night until someone grabs his arm and forces him to spin around.
"Jared."
Jared shakes Jensen off and glares. "Why am I not surprised to see you here?"
"Because I knew you'd be an idiot about this," Jensen replies, starting to walk at Jared's side when Jared tries to pass him by. "Please, will you just stop and think about this?
"Think about what, Jensen?" Jared asks. "I told you what I do. Why would I turn back on this?"
"There are hundreds of Rockets in Kanto. Probably at least fifteen in Lavender Town alone. They all have Pokémon-powerful Pokémon. They have money and connections and they've already taken over. You're one guy, with one Pokémon at the best of times, and no one backing you up. This is a suicide mission."
Jared stops in his tracks and gives Jensen a cold look.
Jensen just sighs. "Look, Jared, my family, we're powerful. We can go to Cinnabar, like you planned, and get their help. Then you'll have a damn chance at least."
"Fine," Jared says.
For a long minute, Jensen just stares at him with his mouth hanging open. He almost looks disappointed. "Really?"
"Yeah, fine. No problem. Let's go see your family." Jared puts his hands on his hips. "Just tell me how many Pokémon are gonna die in the time it takes for us to get there and back and put a stop to this."
"Jared," Jensen says, grabbing out for him again. "Come on."
"What are you even doing here?" Jared asks. "What does any of this matter to you?" He gives Jensen a long look, just trying to understand the guy, then steps back. "I've got no reason to trust you. For all I know, you're one of them."
Jared blinks a few times as soon as the words are out of his mouth, watching the insult as it washes over Jensen. He looks stung at first, then guilty, and it's so fucking obvious it's embarrassing. From the moment they met, Jensen already knew so much about Jared. He went along with all of Jared's ideas even though no one else ever has. And how could he have known about some Rocket scheme Jared has yet to catch wind of unless he's been a part of it this whole time? He was bait, and Jared fell for it over and over.
"Fuck, you are, aren't you?" Jared asks, shoving Jensen. "You're one of them."
Jensen denies it with a shake of his head, but he says, "Not anymore."
Jared turns his back on Jensen, wiping a hand over his mouth. "What does that even mean?"
"You're right, okay? I worked for them. I was a part of this until I got out, but Jared-"
He feels a sick twist in his gut thinking of all the times he let Jensen touch him-after doing who knows what with those same hands. "How could you?"
"I didn't have a choice."
"Bullshit," Jared yells. "You always have a choice. You know who really doesn't have a choice? Their Pokémon, who you probably had some part in torturing. My Dean-no wonder he takes off every time you're near. To think I've been subjecting him to you."
"Stop it," Jensen snaps. "Stop it, okay? I was young and I was stupid. I made a mistake. I paid for it, and I got out. And I told you about Lavender Town because I don't know how to stop it myself. Don't I get any points for trying to fix what I did?"
"What, and then trying to convince me not to do anything?" Jared laughs coolly. "No you definitely do not get points for that." Jared shifts his weight from one foot to another. "Is this a trap or something? Was the whole story you told me bullshit just to get me there?"
"Why would I try to talk you out of going, then?"
"Why did you tell me at all if you actually don't want me to go?" He demands. "You must have known I would want to interfere."
"Yeah, I thought maybe you'd listen to reason and not go storming in by yourself. I thought you've been doing this long enough, you must have some way to block them without getting yourself killed."
"Well, you were wrong."
"Starting to get that," Jensen replies sharply. "Jared, I am begging you. Do not go after them alone."
"You could come with me." Jared gives Jensen a nasty smile. "If you're so repentant. If you don't want me going in by myself. Why don't you come help me stop them?"
Jensen stops abruptly, a lost-little-boy look on his face. "I can't. I won't."
Jared barks out a laugh. "That's what I thought."
Jensen catches him by the shirt sleeve and drags him back again. "You don't know what you're doing. You don't know how bad they are."
"Who knows better than I do?" Jared asks. "The things I've seen in the last few years-they're horrific. I'm not going because I'm not scared of Team Rocket. It's just the opposite. But when I remember what they did to Dean," Jared looks down at his feet, "I don't think a smarter or stronger Pokémon than him exists, and he would have been dead in the worst way if I'd arrived a few minutes later than I did. I can't even imagine that. He's all I've got now, Jensen. This-suicide mission or not-this kind of thing is all I have. So if I die tomorrow, fine. I can do that if there's even a slight chance it'll free another Pokémon like him."
"What about Dean, then? You're going to leave him all alone."
Jared's anger falters, and he knows, as stupid as it is to still trust Jensen, no Rocket would ask that question. Even if Jensen was one once, he never could really have been like them.
It tears at his heart to have to face the accusation, but Jared can't waver now. "He'll be fine without me."
"He won't be," Jensen replies, his voice shaking as if he's personally invested in the feelings of a Pokémon he's never even met. "Don't pretend you don't know that."
Jared frowns. "Dean will understand. You might not, but he will. He always understands me."
Jensen is quiet for a long time, but finally he nods, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "I can't change your mind, can I?"
"'Fraid not," Jared replies. He takes a step closer and puts his hand on Jensen's shoulder. "I didn't mean what I said earlier, Jensen. I understand why you don't want to fight Team Rocket. I know it's a crazy thing to do, and you do get points for trying to help. Just-just promise me you never hurt a Pokémon, please."
Jensen's eyes widen, and he shakes his head. "Not me. I've never caught a Pokémon in my life."
"You never hurt Dean?" he presses.
"I swear, Jared, I never did."
Jared gives him a weak smile and reaches out to cup his face. "Okay," he says, holding the pose for a few seconds and then dropping his hand. "Okay."
By now, the sun has almost completely set, and the sky is a dark, dark shade of purple. Jared looks ahead, wondering if he should bother to keep going. It's about the time he starts missing those easy fires he's gotten so used to.
"There's no point in walking any further tonight," Jensen says quietly, a few paces behind him. "You can go the rest of the way in the morning."
Jared nods, willing to admit Jensen has a point. Then Jensen steps forward tentatively, taking the backpack off Jared and slowly reaching up to tangle a hand in his hair. The kiss is fleeting, but soft and warm. "I'll pitch the tent," he says. "If you don't mind me being near you a little while longer."
Jared squeezes his hand so that Jensen knows he's forgiven. He falls asleep that night with his whole body wrapped around Jensen's.
ON TO PART THREE
or
BACK TO MASTERPOST
Back to Part One
PART TWO
Jared meets Jensen again much sooner than he could have hoped.
He decides to take a detour-a big detour-when leaving Cerulean the next morning. Normally, to get to Vermillion and the S.S. Anne, Jared would head south through Saffron. It's not a terribly quick journey, either. About a week on foot, maybe longer. But Jared's in no rush-is maybe even trying to buy a little time if he's being honest. There's no way he'll be able to afford a ticket for both himself and a Pokémon on the cruise, and even if he could, it wouldn't be fair to trap Dean like that. But he'll miss the company, even if the Ninetales is a huge pain in his ass most of the time.
Like right now, for instance. "Dude, calm down. I have no idea what you're trying to tell me."
Dean just keeps circling him excitedly, biting at the air just around Jared's feet as if to get him to walk faster.
"Ugh," Jared whines, shaking his leg. "You know what would help me walk faster? If I'd gotten any sleep at all last night instead of having your giant ass in my space."
The Pokémon makes a wounded face, and, before Jared gets a chance to apologize, he runs off down the path ahead of them.
They're on their way to Jared's friend Misha's seaside cottage. Jared has no idea if Dean knows that, but the path is fairly easy to follow and he's a smart Pokémon. He'll find his way to Jared if he wants to.
Misha lives about a day's walk outside of Cerulean City on his own private beach. He's somewhat of a mad genius when it comes to Pokémon and struck gold a few years back when he invented the Pokédex. Ever since, he's lived out here in the middle of nowhere. He has his Pokémon for company: the biggest collection Jared's ever seen, and he doesn't keep them locked up or fight them, they stay of their own volition. That's good enough for Jared. He tries to visit Misha whenever he gets a chance, and Misha is always a generous host.
Jared doesn't make it to the cottage until well after sundown. Dean never reappeared after running off, which Jared supposes is his own fault, but a part of him is still hoping the Pokémon only needed some time to cool off and that he beat Jared to Misha's place and is now being fed and pampered and will be waiting for Jared as soon as he arrives.
When he knocks at Misha's door and his friend opens it, the first thing out of Jared's mouth is, "Have you seen a Ninetales by any chance?"
"I've seen over 700 Ninetales," Misha replies blandly. "Or as we used to say when I still spoke to humans, 'hello.'"
Jared laughs lightly, wrapping an arm around Misha and patting him on the back. "Hey man, it's nice to see you."
"Yes, it must be," Misha agrees. "I'm very easy on the eyes."
"But in all seriousness, has a Ninetales been by in the last few hours?"
Misha lifts an eyebrow. "You keeping Pokémon now, Padalecki?"
"More like he was keeping me," Jared says. "I guess he got tired of that."
"Can't say I really blame him," says another voice in the room. Jared hadn't even noticed there was anyone else here. The chances of Misha having any guest at all, let alone two at once, are about as good as the chances of a Dragonite losing to a Magikarp.
He looks away from Misha and around the room. Sitting at one of the desks, relaxed as if it was his own lab, is Jensen.
"You're one to talk," Jared says, only half teasing. "You're the one he seems to be avoiding."
"You two know each other?" Misha asks, looking from Jared to Jensen and back again.
Jensen smirks out of one side of his mouth, a dirty expression that makes Jared heat up all over again. "Quite intimately."
Misha lifts two hands. "No further details will be required."
Jensen huffs out a laugh and looks down to the table; Jared feels himself blush and scratches at the back of his neck. He decides to change the subject. "I was gonna ask to stay the night, but I'm guessing you're all full up?"
"Nonsense," Jensen says before Misha gets a chance to respond. "I'm very good at sharing."
The man knows no shame.
"I do only have one guest room," Misha replies after a bit. "You guys figure that out amongst yourselves. I'm going to go to bed and I wish to hear nothing more about it."
"Aw, but I just got here," Jared whines, trying to catch Misha's arm and drag him back into the room. "Don't you want to talk at me about things I'll politely pretend to understand? Don't you want to hear about my adventures?"
"Tomorrow, brave explorer." Misha waves him off. "I had to get up at the crack of dawn to study the electromagnetic resonance of my Magnetite when combined with the-"
"Okay, okay," Jared says, stopping him before he keeps himself up all night just trying to get his excuse across. "Tomorrow. But, uh, I don't suppose you have any food I can dig through?"
"Jensen made dinner," Misha says, throwing a thankful smile in the aforementioned Jensen's direction. "And he accidentally made way too much. What a fortuitous accident!"
Misha exits the room in a rush, leaving Jared alone with Jensen and what looks to be a hardy Tentacool stew. Still smoking hot, not unlike the guy standing at the pot serving a bowl for Jared.
"Thanks," he says as he takes a seat at the desk Jensen had been using as a dining room table.
"Yeah, no problem," Jensen replies, setting the bowl down in front of Jared. "Misha really needs to get some human-oriented furniture, huh?"
"Good luck trying to sell him on that." Jared takes a spoonful of the soup and blows before putting it to his lips. It still burns his tongue, but it's worth the pain. "Holy crap," he says once he's swallowed. "This is so, so good."
Jensen's smile is almost modest, making it the first even moderately modest thing he's done in the short time Jared's known him. "There's plenty of extra if you want more. I'll bet you're hungry."
Jared doesn't say much else as he finishes his first bowl. Jensen's right-he's starving after a long day of walking with no snack breaks, and even though he got a decent meal in the city last night, it's been months since he had anything that could even pass as a home-cooked meal.
"You didn't tell me you were coming here," Jared says as he watches Jensen walk across the room to refill his bowl again. He seized on the empty dish as soon as Jared put it down, and Jared's tired enough to let a stranger wait on him if Jensen is so eager to do it. "How crazy is this?"
"You didn't tell me, either," Jensen points out, setting the food down in front of Jared. "To think, we could have taken this whole trip together. Think of all the lost orgasms."
"Hey, I offered to share a room," Jared reminds him.
Jensen smiles to himself, taking the seat across from Jared. "Well, looks like that's in the cards after all."
Jared coughs. "So how do you know Misha?" Okay, so he has no game, but he doesn't really know how to carry on conversations in Jensen's direct style.
"My family helped him out back when he was first trying to get the Pokédex off the ground."
"Ah," Jared says, grinning as he leans back in his seat. "So you're a somebody, huh?"
Jensen shrugs.
"C'mon, don't be modest," Jared tells him.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," Jensen replies. "I'm no one but a friend of a friend. Who happens to give exceptional blowjobs."
"Exceptional," Jared confirms. He points his spoon down into his nearly empty bowl and adds, "And makes exceptional soup."
"You're probably just imagining it's better than it is because you're hungry." Jared shakes his head, but Jensen rolls his eyes and changes the subject. "How about you? How do you know our nutty acquaintance?"
"Professor Kripke put us in contact, back when I was still trying to be a Pokémon master." Jared ducks his head in shame, even though that's not something people generally are embarrassed about. Rare is the person under thirty these days who never chased dreams of catching all 150 Pokémon or sweeping every gym in Kanto. "The first time we met, he'd turned himself into a Pokémon."
"I feel like that should be a really improbable story, but it's Misha."
Jared nearly snorts. "Yeah, it was surprising at the time. In retrospect? Just a day in the life."
Jensen stands to collect Jared's dish and takes it to the sink, grabbing a bottle and two glasses from the cabinet on his way back to the desk. He really does seem as comfortable here as Jared would be in his own home if he still had one, and Jared wonders for a brief moment if it's weird that he feels a little jealous. Then Jensen starts pouring red wine and Jared gets distracted. "Any Pokémon in particular he'd turned himself into?"
"Oh, yeah. A Nidoran♀."
There's a moment of hesitation as Jensen pours, and in that half a second, the wine nearly spills all over the table. "I'm sorry," Jensen says when Jared reaches out to steady his wrist. "But you did mean he was a Nidoran♂, right?"
Jared shakes his head. "To this day, I still haven’t figured out if he was trying to turn himself into a girl, a Pokémon, neither, or both. But that's how I found him."
"Probably for the best you didn't ask too many questions," Jensen says. "With Misha, usually, that's the safest route."
"Tell me about it." Jared takes a slow sip of his drink and watches closely as Jensen does the same. The wine leaves a slight red stain on Jensen's mouth.
After a few seconds, Jensen picks up the conversation. "You said you know Professor Kripke. The Professor Kripke?"
"We're from the same town. He's our one and only claim to fame, but in a town as small as ours, everyone knows everyone. Even the celebrities."
"What town is that?"
Jared fiddles with his wine glass. "You've probably never heard of it. No one has."
"Try me," says Jensen, giving Jared a sharp look.
"Pallet Town."
Jensen grins. "Just north of Cinnibar Island."
"Yup!" Jared smiles, genuinely surprised that Jensen knows it, but in the best possible way. "You been?"
"Can't say I've had the pleasure," Jensen admits. "But I'm from Cinnibar, so we're almost neighbors."
"Get out," Jared replies. "You didn't tell me that when I told you I was going there."
Jensen gives him a smarmy wink. "We weren't talking much."
"Well, since then," says Jared.
"I suck at telling people things," Jensen admits, as if Jared hadn't noticed yet. "Why Cinnibar?"
"The islands are the only part of Kanto I've never seen."
"What?" Jensen asks with a raised eyebrow. "Living so close?"
"Never had a surfing Pokémon." Jared spreads his hands out. "There wasn't any other way to get there until the S.S. Anne added it to their route."
"That's hilarious," Jensen says. "You're going all the way around just to get somewhere an hour away, tops."
"And having a great journey in between." Jared looks up into Jensen's eyes and lets his voice drop. "Meeting some interesting people."
"Tell me," Jensen says, raising his glass to his lips, "what are you doing, really?"
"It's stupid," Jared replies, not because he believes it but because it's how everyone responds when he tells them, and he's tired of hearing it from strangers.
"No, it's not. Whatever it is." Jensen reaches into his pocket to get a cigarette and lights it. "Anyone who tells you that is stupid."
"I wander around aimlessly searching for abusive poké masters and freeing their Pokémon," Jared says, all in one breath. "And I've saved a lot of lives, so don't tell me all Pokémon want to be with their masters or whatever the Pokémon League bullshit is these days because it's not true and I've seen that it's not."
To his surprise, Jensen doesn't laugh at him when he finishes. He takes a long, thoughtful drag from his cigarette and lets the smoke out slowly. "You're right, you know. They're wrong."
He stares at Jensen for a long minute. "Are you just saying that to make me feel better about myself? Because you don't really have to lie to me to get into my pants."
Jensen purses his lips and gives a curt shake of his head. "I think it's really beautiful, what you do. I bet those Pokémon you free are very grateful to you."
Jared has to wonder if Jensen's just poking fun at him, but he sounds completely sincere. Jared's eyebrows draw together, so used to being ridiculed that he's not sure how to respond to seemingly genuine support. "I hope so," he finally answers. "I mean, I don't know what Pokémon think any better than anyone else, but I try to do what's best for them."
After a few seconds of searching Jared's face, Jensen flicks the ashes off his cigarette and looks down at the smoking end of it. "I think you understand them better than you give yourself credit for. I'd bet it makes them uncomfortable, even, being so well understood by a human."
Laughing, Jared finishes his drink and pours himself another. "What are you even talking about?"
Jensen looks up then as if he's coming out of a daze. He shakes his head to clear it, takes a long sip, and swallows. "Nothing," he says. He rubs at his forehead with the hand holding the cigarette, and Jared worries for a second that he'll burn himself. "Nothing, just thinking. Weird day, that's all."
Jared sits up a little straighter. "Wanna talk about it?"
"No," Jensen replies, smiling dismissively. "Decidedly not."
"You're so mysterious," Jared teases, wiggling his fingers. "I bet all this mystery is just a trick to keep me interested."
"Are you?" Jensen asks. "Interested?"
Jared decides not to pad Jensen's ego with an honest answer to that, so he keeps on talking shit. "You're probably something really boring like a janitor or an accountant."
Jensen laughs. "I can promise you, no one has ever counted on me to clean up after myself or others and definitely not to keep track of money."
"You're not gonna tell me what you do, are you?"
"What made you decide to start rescuing Pokémon?" Jensen asks, propping his elbow on the desk and resting his chin on it. It's such a clear subject change that Jared just decides to give up and let the hot mysterious stranger act do its work.
"I was a trainer back in the day, like everyone else on the planet." Jared gives Jensen a self-deprecating smile, and Jensen chuckles. "I got three badges and then I met a gang of Rockets in Cerulean who were using Pokémon to try to rob a bank. Knew damn well whoever went in the vaults might not come back, so they were sending Pokémon in, the cowards. They tried to recruit me-told me the whole plan and promised I'd be a Pokémon master in no time if I joined up."
"Did you?"
Jared shakes his head. "Nah, even then I wasn't desperate enough to be famous to be okay with that. I tried to stop them." Jared swallows hard, averting his eyes. "I should have just gotten the hell out of dodge."
Jensen reaches out, putting one hand over Jared's. "What happened?"
It's a story Jared probably wouldn't feel comfortable sharing with a near-stranger three drinks back, but, unfortunately, this is not three drinks back, and Jared has been waiting for someone willing to listen to him for too long. It practically falls out. "I held them back long enough for the police to show up, but they…they killed my Charmander. He was my best friend. My first Pokémon. Professor Kripke gifts one Pokémon to all the aspiring trainers from Pallet Town, since we'd, you know, never have a fucking chance to get anywhere any other way."
Jensen's frowning when Jared dares to look up. "I'm so sorry, Jared."
"Don't apologize to me," he says. "I'm the one that got Sammy killed."
"You were trying to help," Jensen tells him.
Jared shrugs. "Most of the guys didn't even get tried for it. The sonofabitch that killed my Charmander was in jail for less than a year before he was back with Team Rocket, but they put-" Jared covers his mouth, takes a deep breath, and continues. "They put down all the Pokémon that were involved in the robbery. I tried to save them and I got them all killed instead."
"Jared." Jensen stands up and circles the table, wrapping an arm around him from behind. Jared finds the contact oddly comforting. Jensen smells familiar, but before Jared can pull himself together enough to identify the scent, Jensen has already let go. He gives Jared's shoulder one last friendly squeeze and then refills Jared's glass. "I'm so sorry that happened to you."
Jared shakes his head and forces a smile. "Anyway, I freed the rest of my Pokémon that night and haven't kept one since. Well, except Dean, but I have a feeling he wouldn't follow me around if he knew what an idiot I am."
"You're not an idiot," Jensen insists, putting out his cigarette.
"Agree to disagree. Anyway, I've been trying to fight back against Rocket in what modest ways I can without any money, friends, or Pokémon to help me out. It's not all that much, really, but at least the only life I risk is my own."
"You're too hard on yourself," Jensen tells him. "You're a hero. You've saved so many since then."
"What makes you so sure?"
Jensen smiles faintly. "I've got good instincts," he says, and Jared has noticed that he seems to be one step ahead of almost everything Jared tells him-already guessed-so maybe that's the truth.
They sit quietly for a few minutes, and then Jared bursts out with an awkward laugh. Jensen looks over at him like he's crazy, so Jared explains himself. "I really killed the mood here, didn't I?"
Jensen smiles just a little. "Nah," he says. "I still want in your pants."
They finish another bottle between the two of them and don't head to the guest bedroom until a little over two hours have passed. Their conversation gets light and easy and fun pretty quickly, and they only stop talking when their mouths get too busy doing other things.
Mostly making out, but there's some neck sucking and biting going on, too. It's a good night in Jared's book, and they haven't even made it to the-
Jensen shoves Jared back and he trips onto the mattress, laughing as he falls ass first. "Wow, we were closer to the bedroom than I realized."
"Mmm," Jensen says, pulling off his shoes and tossing them across the room. "You just weren't paying attention while we were walking."
"Guilty," Jared agrees.
He pulls his shirt off over his head and shoves his pants away so he's wearing nothing but his boxers. Jensen does the same and then climbs into bed.
As soon as Jensen is next to him, he pulls Jared in for a kiss and Jared presses his palm flat against the bare skin of Jensen's belly, desperate to slip his fingers under the fabric of his underwear and touch. "I still owe you," he says, smiling woozily against Jensen's neck, a mix of alcohol and being so turned on he'd be drunk even if he were sober.
Jensen catches his hand and wraps his fingers in Jared's pulling it up and away. "No, I owe you."
Jared laughs, face still flush against Jensen. "What could you possibly owe me for?"
There's a kiss against Jared's temple and then it moves down to his mouth. Jensen's hand-the one that isn't still holding Jared's-cups Jared's cheek, and the kiss is really kind of weirdly tender in a way that should confuse Jared and would if it didn't feel so nice. "I'm going to owe you forever."
"Whatever," Jared replies with a laugh. "Then let me suck you because I really fucking want to."
"You don't," Jensen insists. He lets go of Jared's hand and moves down, palming at Jared's dick through the thin layer of cotton. "Just let me take care of you, okay?"
"Do you have a small dick?" Jared asks, turning his face into Jensen's shoulder. "Because that's nothing to be ashamed of. I'll like it. I can work with whatever-" Jared finally manages to get a grip between Jensen's legs, and he feels his eyes widen. "Fuck. Fuck. You're huge."
To Jared's unending disappointment, Jensen pushes his hand away before he can figure out just how huge.
"Don't, Jared. Just trust me."
But Jared is not about to give up on something that glorious without a fight. "Are you worried I can't take it? Because I'm pretty sure I can take it. I would really, really like to try to take it. Boy, would I ever like to try."
Jensen laughs, still not letting Jared near his dick. "I'm sure you'd take it like a champ."
He moves quickly, way faster than Jared expects or is ready for, and as soon as his fist is inside Jared's boxers and pressed all against his cock, Jared forgets what he was complaining about. Jensen's grip is rough and sure and he's a fucking monster, working fast and then slow and then fast, making sure Jared is right on the edge of coming but never quite there for so long Jared's got tears in his eyes from how bad he needs it before Jensen finally finishes him off with a skilled twist at the head of his dick.
Once his breath evens out, Jared turns onto his side, about to get back to insisting Jensen at least let him return the handjob, but then Jensen brushes his fingers through Jared's hair and leans in for a slow kiss.
The feeling Jared had thought was only his deluded memory of his and Jensen's first meeting returns, a hot pulse just under his skin that doesn't burn but feels so good it kills every other thought in his mind.
"You must be tired after such a long day," Jensen whispers. "You should sleep."
"But-" he says, the word cut short by a heavy yawn.
"And don't worry about your Ninetales," Jensen adds, giving Jared a faint smile. "I know you're still worrying. He'll come back to you."
"How do you know that?" Jared asks, even though he can hardly keep his eyes open.
Jensen's lips press against his for less than a second. "I promise. Stop thinking and sleep now."
Jared has so many things he still wants to ask, but he can’t fight the urge to close his eyes and drift away.
Jared wakes up the next morning alone. He has to hand it to Jensen that he's really got this mystery man thing down to an art form, but it’s just about starting to piss Jared off.
He stumbles out of bed and into his clothing as quickly as he can manage in the hopes that Jensen will just be out in the lab with Misha, assisting in some crackpot experiment or making breakfast.
There's breakfast when he reaches the lab, and Misha wearing a helmet that screams 'crackpot experiment,' but no Jensen as far as he can tell.
"Jensen?"
"Actually, my name is Misha," Misha replies. "Or as we used to say back when I still spoke to humans, 'good morning.'"
"Good morning," says Jared. "Where's Jensen?"
"He left hours ago," Misha says apologetically. "Said he had a big day ahead of him."
"Who is he?" Jared asks.
"Jensen Ackles, of course," Misha answers. As if that fucking says anything useful. Jared loves Misha like a brother, he really does, but sometimes he just wants to grab the guy and shake him until his social skills knock into place.
Then Misha says the only thing that can adequately distract Jared from his annoyance. "You still looking for that Ninetales?"
"Dean?" Jared says, putting his hands on Misha's shoulders eagerly. "You've seen Dean?"
"He's around back," Misha replies, pointing a thumb over his shoulder. "Or at least I assume it's him. Showed up about twenty minutes ago, demanding to be fed like he's the Emperor of Tohjo Falls and I'm lucky just to share my rations with him."
Jared grins. "That's Dean alright!"
Misha laughs. "So now that I'm a little better rested, you gonna fill me in on your life and particularly the Ninetales thing?"
By the time Jared is done telling Misha about everything he's gotten into since he last stopped by and listened to Misha relate his work (which is as fascinating in its successes as it is hilarious in its failures), the sun has long since set and Jared decides to stay one more night at the cottage before setting out on the week-long trek to Saffron and Vermillion.
He leaves the next morning with Dean at his side, the Pokémon apparently completely over whatever insult of Jared's sent him off in such a huff the day before.
They get a room in Cerulean for one night and then head south toward Saffron City. By the time they clear the city limits, they've been walking for nearly four days straight without a real bed, a decent meal, or, god forbid, a shower that doesn't involve Jared skinny dipping in rivers and hoping against hope no one spots him.
"I'm going to hang around in town for a few days and try to relax before we hit the road again," Jared tells Dean as they pass through the welcome center. "It might be boring for you, though, so you don't have to hang out. Route 7 has great hunting, or so I'm told. You might like it there."
Dean nods and looks toward the west exit out of the city like he's excited to get going. He's probably getting pretty tired of following Jared from one town to another. Sooner or later he'll run off into tall grass and not come back. Jared knows that's what he's supposed to be hoping for, but the thought makes his chest ache.
"I'm going to get a room at the inn near Silph Co., okay? So…if you want to come back, just meet me there tomorrow morning. I'll tell the concierge to call me if a Ninetales wanders in."
Dean licks his hand and saunters off in the direction Jared recommended, and Jared watches him go, letting out a heavy sigh.
Right, so, drinking. He's already finishing up his fourth drink when he sees someone take the empty stool next to him out of the corner of his eye. Jared doesn't pay the newcomer much attention until he hears their deep, rich voice.
"I'll have a Jinx's Kiss on the rocks, and his drinks are on me."
Jared's head snaps up, and he looks over to see Jensen watching him with an amused look on his face. "Jensen?"
"You couldn't look any more pathetic sitting here drinking by yourself, man." Jensen's smile turns to something a little more genuine. "You alright? Have a bad break up with your Ninetales who isn't really your Ninetales or something?"
"Oh, no," Jared says. "Dean's great."
"Uh huh." Jensen raises an eyebrow. "You know, I hate to point out the obvious, but he's not around now, either. Starting to suspect he doesn't really exist."
"He totally exists," Jared replies stubbornly. "He just doesn't like you because you smell."
Jensen laughs. "Sure, sure. You tell yourself that."
"He's off hunting!" Jared insists. "He's totally real."
Jensen twirls his finger in the air to imply Jared's crazy, and Jared laughs, pouncing out to push his hand down. "Don't be cute."
"I'm always cute," says Jensen. "If you learn only one thing about me, let it be that."
"It's all you've told me about you," Jared takes a sip from his beer, "so I guess I don't have much of a choice."
"That's how I like all my men," Jensen tells him in a confidential whisper. "Completely out of the loop."
"Well, I live in a tent and don't talk to anyone but my Ninetales, so you can't get more out of it than I am," Jared says with a laugh. Then he frowns at Jensen. "Hey, wait a minute, I thought you said I could buy you a drink next time we bumped into each other."
"I lied," Jensen says. "You don't have a job."
"How do you know that?"
"You told me what you do," Jensen reminds him. "At Misha's? It was like a week ago. You can't be that drunk."
"Fine. But maybe I'm independently wealthy. Who says I can't afford to buy you a drink?"
Jensen doesn't falter for a second. He lets his eyes sweep over Jared, assessing, and then says, "I made an educated guess."
Jared feels suddenly conscious of his worn traveling clothes and frayed backpack in a way he never really has before. He ducks his head. "Oh, and you're so special."
"Here you are, sir. I can't tell you what an honor it is to have you at my establishment," the bartender says, appearing just at that moment with Jensen's drink as if he timed it so it would be as humiliating for Jared as humanly possible.
Jared is considering downing the rest of his beer and slinking off to a poké mart so he can get booze and take it back to his hotel room and drink it in humiliated solitude.
"Thanks," Jensen says, dismissing the bartender's ass-kissing with a self-assured wave of his hand. "Don't mention it, and if you really wanna get on my good side, forget I was ever here."
The bartender looks stunned, but he nods and walks off to serve someone else. Jared twiddles his thumbs awkwardly on the counter. "Should I know who you are? Because I really am out of the loop, so sorry, but you'll have to fill me in."
"No," Jensen says, giving Jared a warm smile. "In no way, shape, or form should you know who I am. I like that you don't know who I am."
Jared nods, still looking down at his hands, and then he feels Jensen's warm palm on his thigh and he can't help looking up. "I upset you," Jensen says softly. "I didn't mean to upset you."
Jared shakes his head. "Well, I am pretty broke, so it's not like you said anything that isn't true."
"Fuck it, who cares? What you do is more important than money." Jensen squeezes his leg. "The least I can do is buy the hero a drink."
"I appreciate that." Jared waves the bartender over. "But I can afford to fight Rockets and get sloshed on my own."
"Those Rockets are real bastards, huh?" Jensen clucks his tongue. "Have you heard about this new thing in Lavender Town?"
It's an obvious way to avoid letting Jared pay, but the bastard knows how to manipulate him already, and Jared's attention is sufficiently riled. "No. What new thing?"
Jensen swishes the liquid in his glass casually. "I heard a rumor they've taken control of the tower. Trying to figure out a way to turn some of the Pokémon buried there into new ghost-types."
Jared's eyes get so big they nearly fall out of his head. "They what now?"
"Just what I heard," Jensen replies.
"Something like that would have gotten out. The tower is right by Mr. Morgan's Pokémon house. I know Jeff-I've taken hundreds of Pokémon there for recovery. He wouldn't let something like that happen right on his doorstep. He would have at least called me to-"
"You're probably right," Jensen cuts in. "Anyway, you've got a boat to catch. Places to see. It's probably nothing to worry about."
"I'll have to go there myself and find out," Jared says. "I can leave tomorrow, as soon as Dean comes back." He thinks it over for a moment and swallows a lump. "No, maybe I shouldn't wait until-Dean used to be one of theirs, you know. If I lead him back-"
"You can't go there," Jensen says. "You said it yourself, the last time we talked. You're one person. You're not going to be able to stop them."
"I can try," Jared replies, wondering what's prompting this sudden 180-degree turn. Last week, Jensen had been 100% behind Jared. He was the only person to ever be entirely supportive, and Jared had believed he meant it. He didn't even realize how much he needed someone backing him up until Jensen did. Only to yank it away a few days later? "I can't just let them torture dead Pokémon like that."
"You can't just walk in there and think you'll get lucky like the last-" Jensen stops himself, takes a long breath. "Jared, just think it through, okay? Let's just…let's get a room and you can take a night to think about it."
"But Dean will come back," Jared says weakly. "I can't make him stop following me, and I'll lead him right back to-"
"Well, that's something else to consider," Jensen says, his voice shaking. "Don't make him go."
"What are you afraid of?" Jared asks. "What's it matter to you if I do get myself killed?"
"Don't say that," Jensen replies, grabbing Jared's arm. "You don't even know what you're saying."
Jared tries to stand up and it's lucky Jensen's still got a steady grip on him. He didn't realize how drunk he was until he got to his feet. Jensen rises with him, dropping a few bills carelessly on the counter and wrapping his arm around Jared's middle. "C'mon. Let's sleep on it, okay?"
Jared lets Jensen lead him, even though he's not drunk enough to not know where he's going. He's just confused. Jensen doesn’t make any sense. First he tells Jared that he actually respects Jared's beliefs and now he's trying to talk Jared out of them. And why did he even tell Jared about this latest Rocket scheme if he didn't want Jared to try to fix it?
"Who are you?" Jared asks as they walk. "Why won't you tell me anything? Am I just supposed to trust you?"
"Yes." Jensen says, stopping in front of the inn and opening the door for Jared. "You should trust me."
"Why should I?"
Jensen doesn't say anything as he waits for Jared to cross through the open doorway. He just watches Jared with these big, intense, sad green eyes, and Jared can't fucking remember where he's seen those eyes, but for some stupid reason, it is enough to make him trust Jensen.
He goes in and Jensen follows him, walking up to the concierge. The boy behind the desk, a tough guy type wearing a name tag that says Brock, looks them over, his eyes widening a bit when he sees Jensen. He sits up straighter and wipes the rebellious-teenager-I-hate-you-even-though-you're-a-customer look off his face. "Can I help you?"
"We need a room. You know where to charge it, right?"
Brock raises an eyebrow, but he nods. "Yes, Mr. Ackles. Of course."
Jared shakes his head, looking around the lobby. He realizes this isn’t where he told Dean to meet him and tugs on Jensen's sleeve. "We have to go somewhere else," he says as Jensen takes the key card that Brock slides across the counter to him. "Dean isn’t going to come here."
"Dean will know," Jensen tells him softly. "I promise he'll know."
Jared is just drunk enough to forget to ask how, how it's possible that Jensen's never met his Ninetales and yet he seems to know when Dean will or will not be around. Instead, he lets his head drop onto Jensen's shoulder, and Jensen walks him to their room. He helps Jared into bed and climbs in behind him.
Jensen buries his face in Jared's neck, giving him another one of those weirdly tender kisses. He doesn't understand Jensen, doesn't understand anything about him.
"Go to sleep, Jay," Jensen tells him, pushing hair away from Jared's temple and brushing his lips over it.
It doesn't seem possible, Jared thinks, for one person to give off so much warmth, but it wraps around Jared better than any blanket, and he can't even think to try to resist sleep.
Jared doesn't wake until his phones rings the next morning, and he turns over to face it, letting out a groan when he sees the time. He slept almost until noon, and he still feels like a Graveler sat on his head. Good life choices, Padalecki.
"Hello," he mumbles into the receiver.
"Good morning, sir. This is the front desk calling. On his way out, Mr. Ackles asked us to ring you if a Ninetales showed up. There's one waiting for you in the lobby."
"Mr. Ackles?" Jared asks. Oh, right. "Jensen?"
He looks over and is not even remotely surprised to find the bed is empty except for him. There's an envelope on the nightstand next to the side Jensen was sleeping on with Jared's name on it. He knows better than to hope it's a 'went out to breakfast, be back soon.' More likely a 'sorry you were too embarrassing to have sex with last night, you won't be seeing me again.'
"Yeah, the very one." There's a short pause from the concierge. "Look, buddy, you sound like you just woke up, so I'm going to let you get ready."
"Right," Jared says, sitting up. "I'll be right there."
"I hope so. Check out's in half an hour."
The line dies then and Jared listens to the dial tone for half a minute before he remembers how to hang up the phone. Apparently people aren't as polite to you once your ambiguously famous fuck buddy has left you high and dry.
He gets out of bed and takes a quick shower, brushing his teeth and throwing his few belongings in his backpack. Then he grabs the envelope Jensen left for him, sitting at the edge of the bed before opening it.
A letter and something thicker fall out onto Jared's lap.
Jay,
Bon voyage. Don't do anything stupid.
- J.A.
Jared's confused for a hot second before he realizes that the other thing that fell out of the envelope is a first class ticket for the S.S. Anne with a Pokémon package included. He and Dean could waltz right into Vermillion City and up the pier now and sail to Cinnibar in better luxury than Jared's ever experienced.
Then the conversation he and Jensen had last night flashes back into his mind, and Jared realizes what this is supposed to be. Temptation. Jensen's trying to make Jared forget what the Rockets in Lavender Town are getting up to and just take a nice vacation instead.
He huffs out a laugh and tucks the ticket into his backpack. Maybe he'll treat himself if he actually manages to live through this, but no way is he about to sail off and leave good Pokémon in harm's way.
Dean is waiting for him in the lobby as advertised, draped over an entire loveseat grooming himself while a family waiting for check in stare mournfully at the one and only place to sit. Jared shakes his head and whistles for Dean to get down, understanding why the concierge is so eager for him to get out of here.
The Ninetales looks up at his call and yawns lazily, taking his sweet ass time before deciding to hop down from his couch and let the customers take it.
"You're the reason most hotels don't let Pokémon in," Jared tells him as they walk out the door. "You're why we can't have nice things."
Jared doesn't waste any time heading out of town. He hits route 8 and spends half the walk building up his courage before finally he reaches a nice patch of tall grass and figures he won't get a better chance than this.
He kneels in front of Dean. "Alright, boy. I hate to do this, but, uh. You can't follow me anymore, okay? You gotta stay here. I know I said that a lot, but I really mean it this time."
Dean stares at him like he genuinely has no idea what Jared's saying for the first time since he met the Ninetales, and he remembers that Dean may be smarter and more powerful than pretty much any other Pokémon alive, but he's still a Pokémon. He can't keep expecting Dean to always understand him.
So he gives Dean a light shove, and Dean growls but stands his ground.
"I don't want you anymore," Jared tells the Ninetales. That gets a light whimper, but Dean still licks his hand and tries to push at him for affection.
Jared turns away, continuing to walk, but Dean doesn't just keep following him as usual. He cuts in front of Jared and tries to herd him south, toward Vermillion City and the S.S. Anne. Maybe the Pokémon understands more than Jared wants to give him credit for.
So Jared tries running with that. "I'm going to see the Rockets," he says. "I'm going to go fight them and they'll catch you again if you come with me. And I won't be able to free you this time. So, just, leave me alone already."
Dean stops trying to detain him then, stops dead in his tracks, making a few last sad sounds. Jared can't bear to look at him and risk seeing those big sad green eyes, so he faces ahead and thinks of nothing but one foot in front of the other.
There's no one following him now. It's a hollow victory, and he knows he'll lose it if he looks back for even a second.
He walks and walks and pays no attention to the scenery or the people along the route or even the amount of time that passes. He doesn't realize the sun is setting and he'll have to camp for the night until someone grabs his arm and forces him to spin around.
"Jared."
Jared shakes Jensen off and glares. "Why am I not surprised to see you here?"
"Because I knew you'd be an idiot about this," Jensen replies, starting to walk at Jared's side when Jared tries to pass him by. "Please, will you just stop and think about this?
"Think about what, Jensen?" Jared asks. "I told you what I do. Why would I turn back on this?"
"There are hundreds of Rockets in Kanto. Probably at least fifteen in Lavender Town alone. They all have Pokémon-powerful Pokémon. They have money and connections and they've already taken over. You're one guy, with one Pokémon at the best of times, and no one backing you up. This is a suicide mission."
Jared stops in his tracks and gives Jensen a cold look.
Jensen just sighs. "Look, Jared, my family, we're powerful. We can go to Cinnabar, like you planned, and get their help. Then you'll have a damn chance at least."
"Fine," Jared says.
For a long minute, Jensen just stares at him with his mouth hanging open. He almost looks disappointed. "Really?"
"Yeah, fine. No problem. Let's go see your family." Jared puts his hands on his hips. "Just tell me how many Pokémon are gonna die in the time it takes for us to get there and back and put a stop to this."
"Jared," Jensen says, grabbing out for him again. "Come on."
"What are you even doing here?" Jared asks. "What does any of this matter to you?" He gives Jensen a long look, just trying to understand the guy, then steps back. "I've got no reason to trust you. For all I know, you're one of them."
Jared blinks a few times as soon as the words are out of his mouth, watching the insult as it washes over Jensen. He looks stung at first, then guilty, and it's so fucking obvious it's embarrassing. From the moment they met, Jensen already knew so much about Jared. He went along with all of Jared's ideas even though no one else ever has. And how could he have known about some Rocket scheme Jared has yet to catch wind of unless he's been a part of it this whole time? He was bait, and Jared fell for it over and over.
"Fuck, you are, aren't you?" Jared asks, shoving Jensen. "You're one of them."
Jensen denies it with a shake of his head, but he says, "Not anymore."
Jared turns his back on Jensen, wiping a hand over his mouth. "What does that even mean?"
"You're right, okay? I worked for them. I was a part of this until I got out, but Jared-"
He feels a sick twist in his gut thinking of all the times he let Jensen touch him-after doing who knows what with those same hands. "How could you?"
"I didn't have a choice."
"Bullshit," Jared yells. "You always have a choice. You know who really doesn't have a choice? Their Pokémon, who you probably had some part in torturing. My Dean-no wonder he takes off every time you're near. To think I've been subjecting him to you."
"Stop it," Jensen snaps. "Stop it, okay? I was young and I was stupid. I made a mistake. I paid for it, and I got out. And I told you about Lavender Town because I don't know how to stop it myself. Don't I get any points for trying to fix what I did?"
"What, and then trying to convince me not to do anything?" Jared laughs coolly. "No you definitely do not get points for that." Jared shifts his weight from one foot to another. "Is this a trap or something? Was the whole story you told me bullshit just to get me there?"
"Why would I try to talk you out of going, then?"
"Why did you tell me at all if you actually don't want me to go?" He demands. "You must have known I would want to interfere."
"Yeah, I thought maybe you'd listen to reason and not go storming in by yourself. I thought you've been doing this long enough, you must have some way to block them without getting yourself killed."
"Well, you were wrong."
"Starting to get that," Jensen replies sharply. "Jared, I am begging you. Do not go after them alone."
"You could come with me." Jared gives Jensen a nasty smile. "If you're so repentant. If you don't want me going in by myself. Why don't you come help me stop them?"
Jensen stops abruptly, a lost-little-boy look on his face. "I can't. I won't."
Jared barks out a laugh. "That's what I thought."
Jensen catches him by the shirt sleeve and drags him back again. "You don't know what you're doing. You don't know how bad they are."
"Who knows better than I do?" Jared asks. "The things I've seen in the last few years-they're horrific. I'm not going because I'm not scared of Team Rocket. It's just the opposite. But when I remember what they did to Dean," Jared looks down at his feet, "I don't think a smarter or stronger Pokémon than him exists, and he would have been dead in the worst way if I'd arrived a few minutes later than I did. I can't even imagine that. He's all I've got now, Jensen. This-suicide mission or not-this kind of thing is all I have. So if I die tomorrow, fine. I can do that if there's even a slight chance it'll free another Pokémon like him."
"What about Dean, then? You're going to leave him all alone."
Jared's anger falters, and he knows, as stupid as it is to still trust Jensen, no Rocket would ask that question. Even if Jensen was one once, he never could really have been like them.
It tears at his heart to have to face the accusation, but Jared can't waver now. "He'll be fine without me."
"He won't be," Jensen replies, his voice shaking as if he's personally invested in the feelings of a Pokémon he's never even met. "Don't pretend you don't know that."
Jared frowns. "Dean will understand. You might not, but he will. He always understands me."
Jensen is quiet for a long time, but finally he nods, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "I can't change your mind, can I?"
"'Fraid not," Jared replies. He takes a step closer and puts his hand on Jensen's shoulder. "I didn't mean what I said earlier, Jensen. I understand why you don't want to fight Team Rocket. I know it's a crazy thing to do, and you do get points for trying to help. Just-just promise me you never hurt a Pokémon, please."
Jensen's eyes widen, and he shakes his head. "Not me. I've never caught a Pokémon in my life."
"You never hurt Dean?" he presses.
"I swear, Jared, I never did."
Jared gives him a weak smile and reaches out to cup his face. "Okay," he says, holding the pose for a few seconds and then dropping his hand. "Okay."
By now, the sun has almost completely set, and the sky is a dark, dark shade of purple. Jared looks ahead, wondering if he should bother to keep going. It's about the time he starts missing those easy fires he's gotten so used to.
"There's no point in walking any further tonight," Jensen says quietly, a few paces behind him. "You can go the rest of the way in the morning."
Jared nods, willing to admit Jensen has a point. Then Jensen steps forward tentatively, taking the backpack off Jared and slowly reaching up to tangle a hand in his hair. The kiss is fleeting, but soft and warm. "I'll pitch the tent," he says. "If you don't mind me being near you a little while longer."
Jared squeezes his hand so that Jensen knows he's forgiven. He falls asleep that night with his whole body wrapped around Jensen's.
ON TO PART THREE
or
BACK TO MASTERPOST