J2 Big Bang Fic: Hewitched Part 4
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Jensen is across the lot, talking to one of the set builders. Jared is watching the other man through narrowed eyes. He's not sure of the guy's name, but he's pretty sure he's a player. Or at the very least a hugger. He'd even tried it on Jared when they'd met, but the dude had backed away pretty damn quick, stuttering awkward apologies when Jared had set him straight with one quick, deadly look. It wasn't that he minded the contact, and despite Chad's ongoing advice, he was nowhere near Christian Bale levels of assholery, but the other man's attention had obviously not been on Jared's movie-star self but rather on his far too gullible assistant.
At the time, Jared had given serious thought to getting the guy fired, or at least moved to another show, which was basically the same thing, but in the end he decided it wasn't worth the risk of looking like a dick in front of... everyone.
The soft muttering beside him distracts him, and he glances to his right where Gabe had been a moment earlier. In fact, he's still there, but now Gabe's leveling a similar scowling glare at the two figures across the set. Gabe apparently has the same issues Jared does with the predatory nature of Jensen's new BFF.
"Hey, Gabe," he says, snapping his fingers in front of his face. He doesn't want Gabe drawing attention to his own over interest in Jensen and his new friend, and two pairs of eyes carry more weight than one. It's not easy, but Jared works hard to keep the buzzing annoyance out of his tone, because he appreciates Gabe solidarity on the matter.
Gabe jerks around, apology on his lips, and Jared holds up a hand to forestall him. "It's fine; the guy's a jackass, I know, but Jensen's big enough and smart enough to figure it out on his own." Jared's aware he's been starting to get a little possessive about Jensen lately. Too much time in close quarters he knows, but it's been surprisingly hard to keep a check on it. He needs to trust Jensen more.
Gabe looks surprised. "Tony? Actually, he's pretty cool. He brought in a muffin basket for Stu last week. You know, Stu?" Gabe prompts at Jared's blank expression. "The guy who got pecked by the ostrich and kicked in the, um..." he curves his hand into a duckbill-like shape and mimes a sharp jabbing motion toward his cheek and then his crotch.
"Oh, that guy." Jared winces a little in remembered sympathy, and then frowns. "He brought him a muffin basket?" Jared should have bought Stu a muffin basket. Or at least remembered his name.
"Yeah." Gabe nods eagerly. "And cupcakes for the rest of the crew. He made them himself. Baking is like a hobby of his, um, or something," he finishes a little less enthusiastically when Jared's eyes narrow into angry slits. Jared remembers the cupcakes. They were fucking delicious.
Jared takes back his previous feelings of goodwill toward Gabe, and transfers his glare to him instead. "Don't you have work to do?"
"I-yes, that's what I came to update you on. Your dry cleaning?" he prompts. Jared tears his gaze away from Tony, who's now guiding Jensen's hands on the trigger of a nail gun. Jensen's delighted laugh rings out when the nails hammer home. The last thing Jared wants is for Jensen to think he's a buzzkill, but he's pretty sure Tony is breaking some sort of union rules with his little show and tell session. He'd be remiss if he didn't at least look into reporting it.
"I've visited all the dry cleaners close to the studio, but nothing so far, so I'm widening my search to encompass a twenty mile perimeter around your house. It makes sense that Genevieve used somewhere closer to your home than-"
"Shit, sorry, man," Jared interrupts. "I completely forgot you were still doing that."
Genevieve's abrupt disappearance had left behind more problems than Jared had initially realized. When he'd first discovered exactly how much of his wardrobe was missing, presumably waiting collection from a dry cleaners somewhere, he'd been too embarrassed to admit to Jensen that he had no idea where his clothes were or even where to begin the search for them. Luckily, Gabe was rarely more than a few feet away working on whatever it was that he did, so Jared had been able to set him to the task of tracking down his missing items. Gabe had seemed delighted by the mission, so Jared had sent him off armed with his scrap books of tabloid shots, helpful Post-it notes identifying the ones of him wearing the missing clothes, and instructions to focus on stores that had a signed picture of him somewhere on the wall. No way was some little dry cleaning company gonna be cleaning his clothes and not leaping on the chance of free publicity with a Jared Padalecki headshot.
"That's okay, I haven't given up-"
"No, I mean you don't need to look anymore; Jensen found them."
"What? He... how-?" Gabe seems to be having difficulty forming sentences, something that isn't that unusual when he's in Jared's presence, but there's a darker edge to his stuttering. Something like growing anger, which is new.
"Hey, Jared. Gabe." Gabe's mini meltdown has blinded Jared to Jensen's approach, and he turns, grin splitting his face wide when he realizes Jensen has abandoned his carpentry lesson to join him. Also, he has coffee.
Jared has the cup in his hand before Jensen has even stopped walking. "Thanks, Jen," he says, wiping foam from his upper lip. "I needed that."
"How did you have time to-?" Jensen's indulgent smile fades to be replaced by a look of confusion. "He was just with Tony," Gabe is muttering, words directed to Jared now, "and then, two seconds later, he's here and, poof, coffee? No-I, no that isn't-"
"Gabe," Jared starts carefully. "I guess you need to get going? Oh, and thanks again for the dry cleaning thing."
"What? Oh." Gabe straightens up, spares Jensen a glancing look and nods. "Yes, I have to-yes," he mutters, and is gone.
"Is he okay?" Jensen asks, forehead wrinkling.
"Yeah. I mean, as okay as he gets anyway. He's been on a mission to find my dry cleaning."
"I told you, I picked it up already."
"I know, but Gabe didn't."
"Ah." Jensen nods, but he doesn't seem completely satisfied by the explanation. "He's probably kinda pissed he wasted his time."
"I guess." Jared fiddles with the lid of his cup; he's trying to figure out how to work some questions about Tony into the conversation without looking like a complete idiot, when he's distracted by a muffled shout that sounds a lot like Jensen's name. It doesn't come from any of the people milling around nearby and he cocks his head in an attempt to track the direction of the sound better. It doesn't really help though, because Jensen is suddenly talking abnormally loudly about something Jared's not really paying attention to.
"Jensen, can you hear that? What is that noise? Hang on, is it coming from...?" Jared sidles closer and bends his head until his ear is roughly on a level with Jensen's waist. Jensen squawks and bats at the side of Jared's exposed neck, but Jared just ducks in closer. It's only when his brain catches up to the fact that he's basically eye level with Jensen's crotch that he shoots upright, managing somehow to avoid smashing the back of his head into Jensen's jaw in the process.
"I think your pants are talking to you," Jared says, slightly breathless.
Jensen shakes his head and smacks his hand flat to the seat of his jeans. "What? No. What? Of course they're not talking. That would be crazy-"
"Jensen, baby, I know you're there," Jensen's pants announce in a now perfectly audible female voice, warm and cajoling with a slight hint of an accent running through it. "Jensen? Honey, dull as it is in here, don't think I won't talk to your behind for the next twenty minutes, because you know that I will. "
Jensen closes his eyes and drops his head back, face scrunched in what looks like pain. When he opens his eyes again, he carefully avoids Jared's gaze and reaches into the back pocket of his jeans to drag his cell phone out.
Getting Jensen to use his phone has been like fighting a losing battle. He keeps it switched off most of the time, insisting he's trying to save the battery. When Jared pointed out that there wasn't much use in keeping it fully charged if it was never actually on, Jensen had simply changed tactics: What does he need a phone for when there's rarely any time he isn't within shouting distance of Jared, anyway? Since Jared had convinced Jensen to extend his stay at his home (after he'd paid for his housekeeper to spend the summer visiting her late husband's family in Madrid, and told Jensen she was recovering from a broken hip), Jared couldn't really argue with that, so they'd compromised: if Jensen was going to be out of earshot, the phone would stay on. Jared has only tried calling Jensen once since then-it went straight to voicemail.
Now though, the phone is switched on, Jared assumes by accident rather than design, and is lit up like a Christmas tree. Jared blinks; he hadn't been aware that the external screens could be personalized like that, and then he blinks again when Jensen opens it to reveal a red-headed woman beaming out from the crystal-clear screen, hand lifted in a happy wave.
"Jensen, acushla! This is marvelous! Your cousin Danni says this is how your new people speak to each other? Am I doing it right? Such a wonderful idea; now I can talk to you anytime!"
"No, Mom," Jensen sounds panicked, "not anytime. You have to call first-"
"Baby, I did! Didn't you hear me?"
"Yes," Jensen says. He pinches the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "I heard you. Jared heard you, too."
Jared's ears prick at the half-hidden note of warning in his voice, but Jensen doesn't add anything else, so Jared uses the lull in the conversation as an opportunity to lean in to Jensen's space and introduce himself.
"Hey, Mrs. Ackles. It's really good to meet you," he says. Up close, the picture on the screen really is perfect: clear and totally lifelike, as if Jensen's mother's head had been shrunk down to miniature size and set inside the phone. It sort of reminds him of Willy Wonka (the original, not that remake with Johnny Depp being creepy as hell), and the kid who got miniaturized and sent into the TV, which in turn gets him thinking about The Ring (also the original, so actually Ringu instead of the not-so-bad, but definitely less creepy remake).
Jared shivers a little, caught up briefly in the image of Jensen's mom crawling out of his phone, and he jumps when his forearm is grasped in a tight grip. He shivers again when he recognizes it as Jensen's.
It takes more effort than he'd expect to pull his gaze up from the oddly compelling sight of Jensen's paler hand wrapped around the much darker skin of his own muscled forearm. When he does, it's to find Jensen watching him, his forehead pleated in concern.
"You okay?" he asks quietly. Jared suddenly remembers Jensen's mom has probably seen all of it, every flicker of emotion on his face, and his stomach drops like a stone.
"Me? Sure, fine," he says, obnoxiously cheerful. "Just... spaced out for a second there. Sorry, Mrs. Ackles. Trying to memorize lines always leaves me a little loopy." He grins, makes sure it's the full wattage version he uses for publicity, and knows it's worked when she blinks a little dazedly. It doesn't take her long to shake it off though, before she's leaning forward, a delighted smile of her own firmly in place.
"Jensen, why didn't you didn't tell me how handsome your new friend is? And look at those eyes! He has some fae in him for sure."
"Mom, don't-"
"Thank you, Mrs. Ackles," Jared says over him. Jensen's mom is cute, and maybe a little odd-he's really hoping that fae is something good-but he's used to this, and mostly enjoys it. Flirting, compliments, and fake awe make up a good chunk of his daily life; if he didn't get at least a little thrill out of it, he'd have gone crazy long ago.
"Call me Donna, sweetheart," she insists. "I'm sure we're going to be good friends, and since good friends shouldn't have secrets, tell me, are you married, courting, settled down already? Because my Jensen-"
"Mom!" Jensen barks. Donna lets out a little squawk when he moves as if to snap his phone shut. The frightened sound seems to jolt Jensen out of his temper, and he sighs, runs an apologetic finger around the edge of the phone. "Sorry, Mom," he says. His head hangs down a little, shoulders pulled up tight. He looks about ten years old, flushed and unhappy at the idea of making his mom angry at him. Jared edges in subtly (he thinks it's subtly anyway) closer, silently offering his support.
"I should hope so, too," Donna says, voice tight with hurt. "I swear, I don't know what gets into you sometimes, Jensen. It's no wonder you're always butting heads with your father lately-you're like two peas in a pod, getting all riled up about the silliest things!"
"I'm sorry," Jensen says again. Jared nudges him surreptitiously with his shoulder, and Jensen looks up, smiles a little shamefacedly when he catches Jared's worried gaze. "It's just, you know, Jared is my boss-"
"Boss?" Mrs. Ackles waves the word away like an annoying fly. "No one cares about that, and Jared doesn't mind me asking, do you, Jared?"
"Um, no, of course not-"
"See, Jensen! Jared says he doesn't mind. So, sweetheart, you were telling us about your love life?"
"Well, I guess I don't really have one at the moment. I split up with my fiancée a little while ago-"
"How recently?" Donna cuts in to demand.
"Um, six months? Maybe a little longer."
"Six months? Oh, that's plenty of time to be over it! Or get back together if you've made a mistake, I suppose." Her eyes narrow, and Jared suddenly sees the family resemblance to Danneel. "Any chance of that?"
"Yeah, no, I don't think that's gonna happen," Jared says, picturing Sandy's furious face the last time he'd seen her. She'd been hanging out her apartment window, insults flying thick and fast, while Jared's belongings rained down on him from above. She'd thrown him literally and figuratively out of her life, and Jared's only real emotion had been relief that his iPhone had somehow escaped its journey to the ground unscathed. "It was all pretty final."
"Good boy! What's done is done, but you're young. Sitting around moping is no good. Maybe Jensen-"
"Mom," Jensen interrupts firmly. "I love you, and I know you're just looking out for me, but stop, please."
"I don't know what you mean-"
"Jared doesn't date guys," Jensen says over her. There's no regret, no hesitation in his voice, and Jared freezes on the spot, weirdly hurt. Maybe it's true, but it would be nice if Jensen didn't sound so damn.... fine with it. It's actually pretty insulting.
"What never? Are you sure?" Donna demands, short-circuiting the rush of anger that's begun zipping through Jared's veins. The question is directed to Jensen, but it's Jared she's looking at, and he would answer, but he's kind of afraid to trust his voice right now. Jensen looks over at him, then angles the phone so Jared is completely out of view. Jared isn't sure if he's relieved or not for the reprieve.
"Very sure," Jensen says firmly.
"But he's so perfect!" Donna all but wails. "And human, just like you wanted!"
Jensen stiffens, and Jared frowns curiously. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's all anybody wants, Mom. Look, I'm going to have to go. I'm actually at work right now," Jensen adds, shoulders straightening. He sounds slightly proud, Jared notices, chest puffed out a little, a tiny half grin lurking at the corners of his mouth.
It's pretty freaking adorable.
"Okay, baby," Donna says on a sigh. "Let me see Jared before you go." Jensen's hesitation is barely perceptible, but then he's turning the phone obligingly in Jared's direction.
"It was lovely to meet you, Jared. And if you change your mind about boys, or even think about changing your mind, you let me know. I have a friend who can whip up the most amazing poti-"
"Okay, Mom, gotta go!" Jensen shouts. "Love you!" As Jensen snaps his phone shut Donna lets out another squeak of protest, abruptly cut off. Jensen winces, and turns to face Jared.
"Sorry, man, she just... she gets these ideas into her head, and then she can never figure out why everyone doesn't think they're as perfect as she does."
"She wants you to date me?" The idea isn't unimaginable, Jared suddenly realizes. He has more fun with Jensen going over work schedules than he's had with most of the women he's dated. Of course, the real stumbling block is what happens after the evening ends. He tries to picture himself bending down to steal a goodnight kiss, and immediately has to mentally adjust for the height difference. Despite Jared's type consistently running to small, petite brunettes, he can't deny that there would be definite benefits to intimacy with someone closer in size. It would be nice too, not to have to worry about being too rough or gentling his hold. Jensen could give back as good as he got, he's sure.
"She wants me to date, period," Jensen says, and Jared works hard to wipe any hint of what he's just been thinking from his face. "She thinks the quicker I get it all out of my system, the quicker I'll come home."
Jared has never had an assistant that's lasted for longer than a year, but somehow now a year seems an impossibly short space of time. "Is that what you want?" he asks, holding his breath as he waits for a response.
Jensen shrugs. "I don't know. I'm having fun right now, but I guess it isn't really home," he says a little sadly.
Jared nods, but he's thinking that if this were a movie, true love would always win out against family and home.
The club isn't members only, but it's exclusive enough, and the door policy is strict enough, that Jared and people like him can come and know that they won't be bothered by wide-eyed tourists, hungry to take home souvenirs from their vacation more enviable than t-shirts or keychains.
Exclusivity doesn't mean, of course, that outside the club-just beyond the hulking door staff and the gold ropes guarding the entrance-the paparazzi won't be congregated. Jared sometimes thinks it's less about keeping the civilians out, and more about herding the newsworthy together, like some sort of celebrity zoo.
So when he's out, Jared generally tempers his drinking with just enough restraint to ensure he doesn't lose sight of the fact that he's pretty much always on show.
For some reason, tonight that awareness is sadly lacking; he's knocking back straight shots like they're water, and whatever little voice started off the night telling him to be careful, slow down has long since given up and is now ordering drinks of its own.
The alcohol-fueled blur isn't having the desired effect though. Instead of leaving him mellow and loose, it's just making him obsessive and mopey. He can't concentrate on anything but Jensen and thoughts of what he's doing right now.
When Chad had arrived on set earlier that day, it hadn't struck Jared as odd. Recently Chad had been around a lot more than usual, which Jared had distantly assumed was to offer support during his painful transition from movie star to TV star.
Ten minutes into his arrival, the real reason for Chad's sudden inexplicable urge to nursemaid finally made sense.
"You're going out on a date with Jensen? You? What the fuck, man!" Jared had managed to wait until Jensen was out of earshot before turning on Chad, fury making it hard to get the words out.
"What?" Chad reluctantly dragged his eyes away from Jensen's retreating ass to look over at Jared. "I go on dates all the time."
"Not with other guys!"
"Sure I do."
"No, no you don't. I would have noticed if you did. You would have told me if you did, in horrible, horrible detail."
"Jaybird, I don't tell you half the shit I've got going on," Chad said with something like gentle pity. "If I did, it would blow your tiny, verging on vanilla mind. Also, and I'm not saying this would happen for sure, but there is a chance, a tiny, barely there chance, that if you did know everything, I might go down a little your estimation. Or, you know, to jail."
Jared shuddered, because the thought that Chad had been holding back... "Fuck, so what are you saying, that you're actually bi? I-why would you even bother to hide that?"
"I haven't been hiding it, man," Chad scoffed, and then paused thoughtfully. "Guess it's been a while though." He nodded, a hungry expression stealing over his face as he glanced back over to where Jensen had disappeared to, and Jared felt the band of rage in his chest tightening.
"All this time, and suddenly you can't keep it in your pants? I just-I don't get it, why Jensen, why now?" Jared demanded. He could hear the banked danger in his voice, but Chad, as usual, was oblivious.
"Um, because your assistant is hot? Because he obviously thinks I'm hot? Because neither of us has any ties and I'm in the middle of a dry spell right now?"
"A dry spell?" Jared clenched his hands into tight fists by his side. He was afraid of what would happen if he didn't keep track of exactly where they were. "Is that what this is about?"
"Huh? No, not just that," Chad said hurriedly, apparently finally picking up on the fact that Jared wasn't taking the discovery that Chad was again dating one of his assistants with his usual easy acceptance. "You know how I've been pretty down since my divorce came through; I think dating will be good for me, help me get my mind off Sophia."
"Pretty down?" Jared let out a huffing laugh. "Yeah, I was there when you got the divorce papers."
"So?"
"Chad, you were trying to dance with guy who delivered them!"
"Hey, man, grief makes us do weird shit. Who can predict how it'll affect them?"
"Well, I think we can safely say that most people who've suffered a loss don't traverse the seven stages of grief via a conga line."
Chad waved his objection away with careless hands. "Whatever. The point is, after the shock had worn off, I was completely bummed, for, like, days. I mean, I really thought Sophia was gonna be the one."
"Yeah, that's kinda what marriage means," Jared bit out.
"Oh, and this coming from the guy who's been engaged five times in the last six years?"
"Engaged," Jared repeated sullenly. "I didn't actually marry any of them."
"Because every one of them broke it off with your sorry ass before you could get them to the altar."
Jared was prevented from replying by a prickling along his spine, generally a good indicator that Jensen was somewhere nearby. Usually, there was a weird sensation of satisfied pleasure in his awareness of Jensen, but this time he’d have been more than happy to be wrong. He turned reluctantly to find that Jensen was, of course, there and watching him through wide eyes.
"You've been engaged five times?"
"I-yeah, but that’s actually less than one engagement a year," he tried, and added a half-laugh to indicate how crazy it was that Jensen thought that was a lot, but it didn’t remove the look of surprise. "I wouldn’t have actually married any of them," Jared said desperately, "if they hadn’t . . . um, broken up with me first, I mean."
"Good to know," Chad said, slapping him hard on the back. "Jensen, you about ready?"
"Yeah," Jensen said, sparing Jared a small smile. "Is there anything you need before we head out?"
"Um, a coffee might be good?" Jared asked, and Jensen's smile turned fondly indulgent.
Jared barely waited until Jensen was out of hearing range this time before he grabbed Chad by the wrist. It took a lot of effort not to grind the bones under his fingers. He reminded himself Chad was his friend. It didn't really help.
"Jensen isn't like your usual hookups, Chad, don't treat him like he is."
"Hey, give a guy some credit! It's just a date, who knows where it'll lead? Don't assume it's just about sex."
Jared fixed Chad with a dark glare from under severely lowered brows. "It's just about sex, isn't it?"
Chad grinned, unabashed. "Okay, you got me, but Jesus, Jared, have you seen the lips on him? Can you imagine..." he trailed off, eyes dropping closed and his expression falling slack with imagined pleasure.
Jared shook free of the grip he still had on Chad's wrist, and turned away in disgust, but it didn't change the fact that he could imagine. With just the tiniest prompt from Chad, suddenly all he could see was Jensen on his knees in front of him, hands gripping his hips, mouth stretched wide around his cock, taking him deep while he gazed up at Jared through dark lashes shading pleasure drenched eyes-
Jared growls under his breath, and despite all the alcohol singing in his veins, he can still feel his cock stiffening in his pants as his thoughts circle back again to that afternoon. Jensen had reappeared with his coffee before Jared had himself under control enough to threaten Chad with actual bodily harm-or probably more effectively, risk to the money his commission earns him. Jared had watched them go, heart beating heavy and occasionally out of time, and he'd tried to convince himself it was just down to the insane levels of caffeine in his system.
He throws back another shot, a ridiculously expensive whiskey that really doesn't deserve the contempt Jared's treating it with, and reaches for his phone. Not that he's going to call Jensen. Not that Jensen, the crazy battery hog, could answer if he did.
His elbow lands with a heavy thud into something soft and giving, and he hears a huff of pain to his left. He swivels bleary-eyed on his stool to apologize and then has to grab onto the bar and hang on when the room carries on spinning without him. When the floor finally settles back into a semi-stable state, he opens his eyes to try again with his apology and grins when he sees Gabe beside him, wincing and prodding at his ribs.
"Gabe!" he says, delighted by the sight of a friendly face. "What are you doing here? Did you tell them you know me? It's cool if you did," he adds generously, because Gabe is probably a little embarrassed to be caught out tossing Jared's name around, but hey, Jared's never had a problem with letting people bask in his reflected glory.
"No, um, you made me come? You said you were going to need someone to guard your stuff?" Gabe reaches down to the floor and comes back up clutching an iPad and a backpack that Jared vaguely recognizes.
"Oh." Jared frowns, and then stops when it makes the ache in his head worse. "Okay. How's it going? The guarding?" Jared prompts when Gabe stares at him, uncomprehending.
"Good. Great!" Gabe says. "It's all still here, sir."
Jared shakes his head muzzily. "You don't have to call me sir, Gabe."
"Oh, wow, thanks! I, seriously, that-"
"-'Mr. Padalecki', is fine." Jared watches perplexed as Gabe sort of deflates. He's really kind of small, and Jared can't help but think that for anyone seeing them from behind, it would look like Jared is out with his kid, who he probably had to pick up under the arms to lift him on to the stool, because he can't quite manage it by himself. Jared eyes the stools consideringly; they're high, but Jared has really been working on his upper body strength recently. He wonders if Gabe will let him try. He thinks Jensen would. Jensen is a great assistant. He only realizes he's said all that out loud when Gabe replies,
"Um, yeah, I was hoping to talk to you about that actually, about Jensen, if you had time-"
"No, I don't want to talk about Jensen," Jared says sullenly. "He won't be talking about me. He'll be talking about blowjobs and handjobs and what a shit boss I am. Or boyfriend."
"I didn't mean that kind of talking-"
"And it's not fair because I'm actually a pretty good boyfriend. But it's hard, y'know?" He glances over at Gabe to see if he gets it and finds him staring back, a look of growing panic in his eyes. Jared thinks about shutting up, but his mouth is already open and it seems like it would be harder to close it than to carry on. "I try though, to keep it up, keep being the guy they want me to be, but girls are weird, right? I mean have you noticed how squishy and jiggly and gooey all the most important bits are? And of course they're the areas they really want you to home in on, and, seriously, I do, but sooner or later they figure it out, and then instead of being grateful that I powered on through, they're all offended or something." Jared sighs, and reaches for his glass. "Jensen doesn't jiggle," he says sadly.
"No, no, I guess he doesn't, but I've been keeping an eye on him, and I've seen some stuff, stuff you need to know-"
"Y'know if Jensen just wants to date guys outside of his dumb community, he could date me. I love Chad, I do, but he's a dick, and Jensen doesn't deserve a dick." Jared purses his lips. "Not that kind of dick, anyway. The thing is, we're together practically all the time anyway, and how hard would it be to swap take out pizza for reservations at The Ivy? Except we couldn't hold hands, I guess, not with all the press there. Do you think that would matter?" Jared turns to Gabe, and then waves away his response. "I don't think it would matter. He wants to see what dating is like, he knows what having sex is like. And I'm basically a professional dater at this point so he'd be practically guaranteed to have an awesome time. Kissing though, I guess that is kind of non-negotiable. Can't end a date without a kiss." Jared pauses to picture Jensen's lips, wet and swollen and still eager for more. His cock twitches again in his pants, and he nods. "It would be fine, I mean, I'm an actor, and if Ledger and Gyllenhaall could do it, right?" He nudges Gabe's knee, and almost sends him toppling from his stool. By the time Jared has him settled back in place, the only thought he's managed to hang on to is the fact that he and Jensen should be dating. And that he might need to fight Chad.
He should probably get home so he can give Jensen the good news.
He hops down off his own bar stool, and knocks back the last dregs of his whiskey.
"Sir!" Jared frowns down at Gabe who's scrambling a lot less elegantly to edge his way off his perch. "Sorry, sorry, Mr. Padalecki," Gabe stutters, and Jared nods his approval. "I need to tell you about Jensen-"
"Not now," Jared says, distractedly, phone already in his hand. He sends off a quick message to his driver, and then bends down to collect his belongings. Adrenaline seems to be clearing his head a little or maybe it's excitement. "Thanks, Gabe, for helping me out tonight," he says, thoughts already jumping ahead to home and Jensen. "Catch you on set, yeah?"
Gabe reaches over and grabs his arm. Jared glances down and then up, confusion and impatience warring. Gabe opens his mouth, and closes it, and then slowly releases Jared's arm as if he's only then realized what he's done. "Okay," he says, reluctance in every line of his body. "Okay."
Jared spares him one last glance and strides for the door. He's got more important things to be doing right now.
Chapter 5