Jays2 (9/?)
Title: Jays2 (9/?)
Genre: J2 RPS, AU
Pairing: Jensen/Jared although - Heh! You know major league teams have 25-man rosters, right?
Rating: Adult
Warnings: Language, Baseball, Schmoop, Angst, Boy-Sexin’ (wait, what kind of warning is that?)
Word Count: 3,950
Disclaimer: Fiction not fact. All these beautiful guys belong to themselves. Jensen and Jared belong to each other, we all know that :D Only the words are mine. No copyright infringement intended for the use of the MLB teams/players/logos, the Toronto Star, or Rogers Sportsnet. This is for fun, not profit.
A/N: In my head, this was touching, funny and perfect... I truly hope it comes across that way to you guys as well. Read, review, enjoy! Comments = Love!
Summary: There’s been trouble in the Blue Jays version of paradise for the past two weeks with the heart and soul of the team on the outs with each other. Can Jensen and Jared get past this? Will they be the same even if they do? Are the Jays gonna bust out a new musical number? Only time can tell.
( One ), ( Two ), ( Three ), ( Four ), ( Five ), ( Six ), ( Seven ), ( Eight )
NINE: WE GO TOGETHER
Jensen had taken to wearing his shades all the time now because at least then, people would stop commenting on how horrible he looked. He knew how he looked: like he hadn’t really slept in days. And he knew why he looked that way: he really hadn’t slept in days.
Goddamn Jared.
It had started when they had roomed together that first month in Dunedin; the room so small and their beds so close, it was almost like they had been sleeping on one king instead of two queens. And given Jared’s propensity for talking - all the goddamned time - he had gotten used to falling asleep to the sound of his voice. Then, when they had moved to Toronto, it had been more of the same, until they had gotten their own apartment and were now separated by a wall.
Getting to sleep had been difficult those first few days, both for him and Jared - which was heartening; he wasn’t in this absurd situation alone. Then Jared started talking to him through the wall, which was actually quite thin, and other than sounding just a bit muffled, it had worked fine. The furniture had already been arranged as if the rooms were mirror images of each other, which meant that the head of Jensen’s bed butted against the wall with Jared’s bed just on the other side. They didn’t even need to raise their voices to be heard. And Jared prattling on about baseball, or his Momma’s cooking, or his Daddy’s model car collection, or Jeff’s little boy, or Megan’s idiot boyfriend, lulled him to sleep.
It had been comforting, and now it was gone, and Jensen just could not get any rest. Drops to soothe his dry, scratchy eyes, or pills to put him to sleep hadn’t helped. If he did fall asleep from sheer exhaustion, it only lasted an hour or two, tops. It was as if his body had declared mutiny, and now it was messing up his mind.
Not to mention his game.
And for the first time since he joined the team, Jensen was benched, and Eugene Byrd had taken his place at Short. Watching him out there with Jared was almost physically painful. But Jensen had kept his shades on, and kept his mouth shut, and kept his hands to himself, when all he wanted to do was pound his fists into a wall and wail at Jared. The whole situation transported him back in time to when he was in the minors, and had not really known anyone on the team; where he'd always had that feeling of being alone in a crowd, a feeling he’d had all his life. A feeling Jared had changed from the first time they’d met.
It was so unfair. Because Jared looked good. He looked fine. He looked like nothing had happened. He laughed and joked and played ball like it was just another day, and if that day began and ended without Jensen in it, that was apparently just fine with him. It cut Jensen to the quick. And every day, it seemed as if Jared made a new best friend. First Chad, then Misha, then Aldis, Mark, David, Kane, Carlson... the list went on and on. Everyone got a piece of him except Jensen. Jensen who had had all of him before. It fucking sucked, and it was all Jensen’s fault.
He and his big, fat, stupid mouth.
|*|*|*|
Jared made sure he came back to the hotel room as late as possible the night they arrived in Tampa Bay. He was tired, to the bone, but he had wanted to avoid Jensen, so he grinned and made himself spend a night out with Chad and Misha - something he was never doing again on a game night - and now it was just after midnight as he stepped quietly into the big room.
He could see Jensen’s still form under the covers, only the top of his head poking out as he lay face-down in his bed; he was unmoving, which meant he was awake and just pretending to be asleep. Jared sighed and ran a hand down his face, feeling lost and so fucking lonely, he had no idea what to do with himself.
Or with Jensen.
He wished he had been able to change their hotel booking for separate rooms, but this time, unlike in Atlanta, the hotel had been booked solid and he was stuck with Jensen. Or Jensen was stuck with him, rather. The realization that he had made Jensen so uncomfortable still shot hot waves of embarrassment through his body. What a idiot he was, never to have noticed Jensen’s aversion to him. Even thinking of his words that day, his rejection, flayed Jared, hurting him more than he could have ever imagined. He felt like he was never going to be the same again and try as he might, he just could not shrug that feeling off. He didn’t even want to look at Jensen for fear of what he might see in the other man’s face: dislike, distrust, disgust?
He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and then headed to the shower, slowly but surely feeling the tension ease from his muscles under the pounding, almost scalding spray. When the water started running lukewarm, he stepped out, roughly towelling himself dry and dragging on a clean pair of boxers. He threw on his t-shirt and partially dried his hair on the hair-dryer’s lowest setting, so the sound wouldn’t be too loud, and he wouldn’t dampen his pillow too much.
When he stepped out and back into the room, the last thing he expected to see was Jensen, standing by windows, staring out into the dark night.
He wanted to ignore him, but he just couldn’t. “Jensen?” He didn’t mean for his voice to sound so hesitant, but it did, and when Jensen turned to look at him, Jared felt his heart almost stop.
“Yeah?” His voice was gravelly, and he sounded pained. He also looked terrible, like he hadn’t slept in days. He remembered Jensen saying something to Eric about having trouble sleeping, but this was bad; he really looked awful and Jared’s heart went out to him.
“What’s the matter?”
“Can’t sleep.”
“You need something? The hotel has 24 hour room service. Should I get you some warm milk? Or... er... I dunno, that tea that makes you sleepy?”
One sardonic eyebrow rose questioningly, and the gesture was just so Jensen, that it sent a pang through Jared’s chest. “Tea that makes you sleepy?”
“I dunno what it’s called - I can call my mom and find out,” Jared offered, and then stood there uncertainly, watching the other man watch him, those bloodshot green eyes boring into him, pinning him in place so he couldn’t have moved even if he had wanted to. God, he looked so tired that it even hurt Jared to look at him.
The silence stretched on, making the spacious room seem suddenly smaller with every breath he took, but then, what seemed like an eternity later, Jensen spoke. “One little thing,” he whispered, his voice almost cracking on the words, “I said one little stupid thing and you hold it against me.”
“Wha...?”
“I don’t even know why I said it... and you just forgot about me. Like I don’t mean anything to you at all...”
“Jensen...”
“You hardly even look at me anymore.”
“Jensen, you were the one who...”
“I said don’t touch me so much,” Jensen interrupted, “and yes, I get it - it was a damn fool thing to say and I regretted it almost the moment the words came outta my mouth, but you... you just shut me out, Jared.”
“I...”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t even mean it. I just... I don’t even know...”
“Jensen...”
“Please - could you just find it in your heart to forgive me? So we can go back to what we had before, because I miss you so much...,” Jensen pleaded, goddamn tears pooling in his tired eyes, and Jared was moving without conscious thought.
“Oh God...,” he whispered, striding up to Jensen and reaching out to touch his face but, right then, his hand froze about an inch away from Jensen’s cheek. He waited there, motionless and a more than a little nervous, for permission to touch. Jensen looked up at him, took a shuddering breath and leaned into his hand, pressing his scruffy cheek into it like he had been starving for human contact. Then his own hand came to close over Jared’s and Jared expelled the breath he hadn’t even known he was holding.
“I don’t want to go back to being that guy I was before I met you. I don’t...”
“Shut up,” Jared muttered brokenly, his free hand fisting in Jensen’s t-shirt, “just shut up and come here.”
And then he hauled Jensen to him, until it felt like every part of his body was touching Jensen’s, from toes to thighs, to bellies, to chests, to cheeks; one arm securely wrapped around his waist while the other wound around his neck. With a ragged sigh that spoke volumes, Jensen relaxed into him, his own arms finding purchase around Jared’s waist, one hand anchored to his back, as if afraid that Jared would let go too soon.
Jared rubbed his face against Jensen’s, the soft scruff of his beard prickling his skin. The hand at Jensen’s neck rose of its own volition and carded through Jensen’s soft hair, soothing, massaging, petting. God, how he had missed this... just touching Jensen; Jared didn’t think he had even realized the physical ache that had become equated with their separation these past two weeks. He felt it now though, as it crested in his chest, and slowly subsided, eased away by the feel of Jensen’s skin against his, the lingering scent of his cologne, the soft breaths he exhaled against the sensitive side of Jared’s neck.
Jared palmed the back of Jensen’s head in one hand, while the other rose to cup his cheek, and he kissed him: on the top of his head, right at his temple, at that crinkle in the corner of his eye, his cheek where the most of his freckles were clustered.
“You’re kissing me now?” Jensen ventured, holding on through the admittedly girly display of affection longer than Jared would have expected him to.
Jared smirked as he kissed his forehead. “You got a problem with that?”
“No!” Jensen was quick to reassure him, only the slightest glimmer of a smile in his eyes as he pulled back to look up at Jared. “No - you do what you you gotta do.”
Jared couldn’t help but bust out the biggest smile in his arsenal, and it was heartening to see Jensen look a little bedazzled by it. “We should fight more often.”
“No, we really shouldn’t,” he argued gruffly. Jared’s grin widened to near improbable proportions.
“All right,” he reluctantly pulled away, but not wholly - he kept an arm slung around Jensen’s neck as he steered him to his bed. “I need you in the field tomorrow. No way I’m doing this with Eugene again, he’s even shorter than you - it’s throwing me off my game..."
"Because Eugene's shorter than me, huh?"
"Yup. What?" he asked at the derisive smirk on Jensen's face. "That's a totally credible reason. I'm justified. It's not like I missed you or anything. And you need to get to bed, and get some sleep - you look like shit.”
“Gee, thanks,” Jensen muttered, the sarcasm out in full force, and Jesus - Jared had even missed that. “S’all your fault, anyway.”
“My fault?”
“Yeah,” he mumbled somewhat miserably as he got under the covers, “I was an idiot. Instead of calling me on it - you let me run my stupid mouth and then you go and make best friends with like every other guy on the team and leave me all alone,” he glared at Jared in accusation. “You took you away from me. You don’t get to do that, Jared.”
“I took me away from you?” Jared repeated incredulously.
“Yeah - and then you gave you to everyone else.”
Jared couldn’t help it. He laughed. “Dude, are you jealous?”
“No.” Oh, Grumpy McGrumps in da house.
“You totally are.”
“Am not.”
“Are too,” Jared teased, not-so-secretly thrilled that they were back to being them again. “Boop!” He tweaked Jensen’s nose playfully and the other man just stared at him.
“You... I... God, the indignity.”
“That attitude is not gonna make me wanna kiss and make up with you, mister.”
“I hate you.”
Jared squished Jensen’s adorable, indignant face between his hands. “You love me. You’re like my jealous wife who loves me so much you can’t stand sharing me, but it’s okay, sugarpie, you know at the end of the day, I’ll always come home to you.”
“Shut up,” Jensen grumbled, “I really hate you.”
Jared kissed away the crease between Jensen’s eyebrows. “I love you, too, Angel.” With a wide smile still on his face, he tucked Jensen into bed and was about to draw back, when Jensen grabbed his wrist.
“Can you stay with me?” He asked, looking at Jared’s chin. Jared’s lips twitched.
“I am with you.”
“No, I mean here...”
Jared wondered how long he could drag this on. What? Jensen deserved a little payback for making him suffer. “Here in bed?” Jensen nodded. “You, mean sleep with you?” Jensen nodded again. “Depends - do I get to cuddle?” A glare and then another - albeit somewhat reluctant but not really - nod. “Okay then.”
Jared sighed dramatically, sounding very much put-upon by the request, but he figured Jensen saw right through his guise since he merely rolled his eyes and scooted over a bit. Jared climbed in and artfully arranged the covers over the both of them before taking one deep breath and glomming onto Jensen with a grin. Jensen huffed, his breath warm and still minty against Jared’s face. Jared snuggled closer, making sure that Jensen was pressed flush against him until even their legs were intertwined.
And then... God, then, Jensen smiled. It was small, but it was sweet, and it reached all the way to his eyes and it had just been too long since Jared had last seen that smile. “I’m sorry too,” Jared found himself whispering, “it’s just that - it was easier not to be with you,” he tried to explain. “It’s like... I don’t know how to be with you and not be me, not be us, like this...”
Jensen nodded again, and for a second Jared thought that was the only response he would get. “How about you be you, and I’ll try and not be an idiot?”
“Deal.” Jared sealed it with a kiss to Jensen’s nose.
“I missed you.” He said again, his eyes fluttering shut.
“I missed you too, Jensen.”
“Call me Jen...” And just like that, he was asleep. Jared pulled him closer still as he shut his eyes. And all he could think as he fell asleep himself was: this is why I couldn’t be with you, Jen, because when I hold you, I never want to let you go.
|*|*|*|
“Well, hell, would you look at that?” Tom whistled as Jensen and Jared walked up the visitor’s dugout steps and onto Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays.
Mike grinned. “Aww, they kissed and made up.”
“So was it as good as everyone says it is?” Chad asked, a glint in his eye that Jensen, for one, did not like.
“What?” Jared asked, looking like he really didn’t want to ask.
“Make up sex, dude,” Chad cackled, and Jared thumped him upside the head while Jensen whacked him in the belly with his glove. Chad backed away and yanked Misha in front of him as a human shield. “Totally worth it.”
“I hate you all,” Jensen muttered.
“Except me,” Jared was quick to voice, as he hooked his arm around Jensen’s neck and dragged him close, pulling off his ballcap to place a smacking kiss to the top of his head.
John grinned, relief apparent on his face as he approached them from the where the pitchers had been talking to Kim Manners. “Oh, thank God!” He beamed at them. “Can you guys not do that again? I like to be able to count on certain things in this world and you two are one of them. Jesus, I thought it was a sign of the apocalypse or something.”
Jensen’s mouth dropped at that, but before he could sputter a word out, Cory came by and leaned an elbow on John’s shoulder. “Amen, brother. I thought I had fallen into some alternate universe. And I didn’t like it. Not one bit.”
Chris spat out some sunflower seed shells and motioned between himself and Zach. “Freaked us the fuck out.”
Jared turned to a still stunned Jensen and grasped his face between his hands. “We are like the glue that holds this team together, Jen,” he declared, squashing Jensen’s now clean-shaven cheeks so hard that his mouth pursed like a blowfish, “you owe it to this team, nay - to the city of Toronto... hell, to the entire nation of Canada, the True North strong and free - never, ever to fight with me again!”
Jensen giggled. Oh, he would probably deny it to his dying day, but Jensen giggled and Jared practically swooned at the freaking adorable sight he made with that smile on his face and no shadows in his eyes.
Mike and Tom smirked at each other, and Mike waited for Jared to release him before he poked Jensen in the ribs. “Have you thought about what you’re gonna sing to make it up to him?”
“You’re gonna sing me a song?” Jared blurted, just barely resisting the urge to bounce up and down in excitement.
“No,” came the vehement response.
“Why not? Mike did it for Tommy!”
“We’re not Mike and Tommy.”
Jared pouted. “What you mean to say is that you don’t love me as much as Mike loves Tommy,” Jared wrinkled his nose, cast his eyes downward and sniffed. “All right, Jen; I get it, man. That hurts, like bone deep. You’re crushing me, Jensen.”
“I thought we established that I hate you?” Jensen glowered at him.
“I thought we established that you’re a lousy liar who lies?” Jared tried, but he couldn’t hold the smirk back. “But that’s okay, because I have a song for you.”
“What?” Jensen and Mike squeaked in unison. “But it was my fault!” Jensen argued. Jared’s gaze softened as he winked at Jensen, and then his smirk escalated to a full-blown leer.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t exactly help.” He reached over and bumped fists with Tom. “It was Tommy’s idea that when we kissed and made up, I should try to top Mike’s number...”
Mike leaned closer to Tom and whispered, in an awestruck tone, “You told him that last night too?”
“You’re not the only brains of this outfit, you know,” Tom smirked down at him.
Mike leaned in even closer, until his lips brushed against Tom’s ear, “I’m so hot for you right now, you don’t even know.”
Tommy blushed a bit and nodded to someone in the Tampa Bay dugout. The guy - a coach, from the looks of it - grinned and picked up the dugout phone. In a minute, music filled the air around Tropicana Field.
Jensen sputtered out a laugh and slapped a hand to his face as Jared whipped off his ballcap and glove, tossing them to the dugout floor, as he wiggled his hips, looking totally and utterly ridiculous as Chad, Misha, Mike and Tom lined up behind him. Looking over his shoulder, Jensen realised that he was backed up by John, Cory, Chris and Zach while the rest of the team were busting out dance moves all over the field.
And when Jared started singing, Jensen almost lost it completely.
“I got chills. They're multiplyin'. And I'm losin' control. 'Cause the power you're supplyin',” he touched Jensen’s shoulder, and his body spasmed as he fell to the ground, “it's electrifyin'!”
Cory had to whack him on the back, as Zach mimed his next move, before Jensen got with the program. God. How was he suddenly Olivia Newton-John? Well, he supposed he had this coming for being such a douche to Jared. He lifted his cleated foot and lightly kicked at Jared’s shoulder.
“You better shape up, 'cause I need a man and my heart is set on you,” he grinned saucily as Jared scrambled to him feet, “You better shape up; you better understand... to my heart I must be true...”
Jared clutched at his chest, as the team joined in with the chorus. “Nothin' left, nothin' left for me to do.”
You're the one that I want
(you are the one I want), ooh, ooh, ooh, honey
The one that I want
(you are the one I want), ooh, ooh, ooh, honey
The one that I want
You, ooh, ooh, ooh, are what I need.
Oh, yes indeed
Eric Kripke walked by and watched his team make jackasses of themselves with nary a flicker of expression on his stoic face. “Everything’s back to normal, then.” He cast a shrewd look at look at his second baseman and shortstop as they made moon-eyes at each other, before nodding at Jim Beaver. “So that’s them fixed. Excellent. Carry on,” he called as he disappeared into the dugout.
“Idjits,” Beaver drawled, rolling his eyes as he followed their manager into the clubhouse.
Jensen chuckled, but was immediately distracted by Jared groping him. He shoved him away à la Sandy Olsson. “If you're filled with affection, you're too shy to convey...” As if, he couldn’t help thinking, after all this was Jared. “Meditate in my direction. Feel your way.”
“Aaooo!” Jared howled. “I better shape up, 'cause you need a man...”
“I need a man,” Jensen looped his arms around Jared’s neck and pulled him close, “who can keep me satisfied.”
“I better shape up,” Jared laughed, “if I'm gonna prove...”
“Oh, you better prove... that my faith is justified...”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I'm sure down deep inside.”
You're the one that I want
(you are the one I want), ooh, ooh, ooh, honey
The one that I want
(you are the one I want), ooh, ooh, ooh, honey
The one that I want
You, ooh, ooh, ooh, are what I need.
Oh, yes indeed
Jensen almost busted a blood vessel laughing when the Tampa Bay players joined in the chorus from their side of the field, ooh-ooh-oohing all over the place, some of them throwing in some pretty nifty dance moves from Grease. It was freaking hilarious, and Jensen collapsed against Jared, breathless with laughter as everyone sang and danced around them, keeping it going as ‘You’re The One That I Want’ faded and the opening strains of ‘Summer Nights’ rang from the speakers, as Mike and Tom, and Chris and Zach, started channeling their own versions of Sandy and Danny.
He was still chuckling as he looked up at Jared, a little startled to find him so close, his breath catching in his throat when Jared whispered, in time with the song, “Met a boy, cute as can be...” But then Jensen blinked and that heady moment passed and they were once again caught up in the music as they backed up the other guys.
God, it felt good to be happy again, Jensen thought to himself, as ‘Greased Lightnin’’ kicked into gear, half of the teams' jaws dropping in shock when - from out of nowhere - David Boreanaz and Mark Salling appeared to re-enact the classic Zuko and Kenickie dance routine.
It was beyond awesome. It was perfect. All was right with the world again. Jensen was back in the line-up, Jared was at his side, and the Jays?
The Jays got the win.
|*|*|*|
Genre: J2 RPS, AU
Pairing: Jensen/Jared although - Heh! You know major league teams have 25-man rosters, right?
Rating: Adult
Warnings: Language, Baseball, Schmoop, Angst, Boy-Sexin’ (wait, what kind of warning is that?)
Word Count: 3,950
Disclaimer: Fiction not fact. All these beautiful guys belong to themselves. Jensen and Jared belong to each other, we all know that :D Only the words are mine. No copyright infringement intended for the use of the MLB teams/players/logos, the Toronto Star, or Rogers Sportsnet. This is for fun, not profit.
A/N: In my head, this was touching, funny and perfect... I truly hope it comes across that way to you guys as well. Read, review, enjoy! Comments = Love!
Summary: There’s been trouble in the Blue Jays version of paradise for the past two weeks with the heart and soul of the team on the outs with each other. Can Jensen and Jared get past this? Will they be the same even if they do? Are the Jays gonna bust out a new musical number? Only time can tell.
( One ), ( Two ), ( Three ), ( Four ), ( Five ), ( Six ), ( Seven ), ( Eight )
NINE: WE GO TOGETHER
Jensen had taken to wearing his shades all the time now because at least then, people would stop commenting on how horrible he looked. He knew how he looked: like he hadn’t really slept in days. And he knew why he looked that way: he really hadn’t slept in days.
Goddamn Jared.
It had started when they had roomed together that first month in Dunedin; the room so small and their beds so close, it was almost like they had been sleeping on one king instead of two queens. And given Jared’s propensity for talking - all the goddamned time - he had gotten used to falling asleep to the sound of his voice. Then, when they had moved to Toronto, it had been more of the same, until they had gotten their own apartment and were now separated by a wall.
Getting to sleep had been difficult those first few days, both for him and Jared - which was heartening; he wasn’t in this absurd situation alone. Then Jared started talking to him through the wall, which was actually quite thin, and other than sounding just a bit muffled, it had worked fine. The furniture had already been arranged as if the rooms were mirror images of each other, which meant that the head of Jensen’s bed butted against the wall with Jared’s bed just on the other side. They didn’t even need to raise their voices to be heard. And Jared prattling on about baseball, or his Momma’s cooking, or his Daddy’s model car collection, or Jeff’s little boy, or Megan’s idiot boyfriend, lulled him to sleep.
It had been comforting, and now it was gone, and Jensen just could not get any rest. Drops to soothe his dry, scratchy eyes, or pills to put him to sleep hadn’t helped. If he did fall asleep from sheer exhaustion, it only lasted an hour or two, tops. It was as if his body had declared mutiny, and now it was messing up his mind.
Not to mention his game.
And for the first time since he joined the team, Jensen was benched, and Eugene Byrd had taken his place at Short. Watching him out there with Jared was almost physically painful. But Jensen had kept his shades on, and kept his mouth shut, and kept his hands to himself, when all he wanted to do was pound his fists into a wall and wail at Jared. The whole situation transported him back in time to when he was in the minors, and had not really known anyone on the team; where he'd always had that feeling of being alone in a crowd, a feeling he’d had all his life. A feeling Jared had changed from the first time they’d met.
It was so unfair. Because Jared looked good. He looked fine. He looked like nothing had happened. He laughed and joked and played ball like it was just another day, and if that day began and ended without Jensen in it, that was apparently just fine with him. It cut Jensen to the quick. And every day, it seemed as if Jared made a new best friend. First Chad, then Misha, then Aldis, Mark, David, Kane, Carlson... the list went on and on. Everyone got a piece of him except Jensen. Jensen who had had all of him before. It fucking sucked, and it was all Jensen’s fault.
He and his big, fat, stupid mouth.
|*|*|*|
Jared made sure he came back to the hotel room as late as possible the night they arrived in Tampa Bay. He was tired, to the bone, but he had wanted to avoid Jensen, so he grinned and made himself spend a night out with Chad and Misha - something he was never doing again on a game night - and now it was just after midnight as he stepped quietly into the big room.
He could see Jensen’s still form under the covers, only the top of his head poking out as he lay face-down in his bed; he was unmoving, which meant he was awake and just pretending to be asleep. Jared sighed and ran a hand down his face, feeling lost and so fucking lonely, he had no idea what to do with himself.
Or with Jensen.
He wished he had been able to change their hotel booking for separate rooms, but this time, unlike in Atlanta, the hotel had been booked solid and he was stuck with Jensen. Or Jensen was stuck with him, rather. The realization that he had made Jensen so uncomfortable still shot hot waves of embarrassment through his body. What a idiot he was, never to have noticed Jensen’s aversion to him. Even thinking of his words that day, his rejection, flayed Jared, hurting him more than he could have ever imagined. He felt like he was never going to be the same again and try as he might, he just could not shrug that feeling off. He didn’t even want to look at Jensen for fear of what he might see in the other man’s face: dislike, distrust, disgust?
He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and then headed to the shower, slowly but surely feeling the tension ease from his muscles under the pounding, almost scalding spray. When the water started running lukewarm, he stepped out, roughly towelling himself dry and dragging on a clean pair of boxers. He threw on his t-shirt and partially dried his hair on the hair-dryer’s lowest setting, so the sound wouldn’t be too loud, and he wouldn’t dampen his pillow too much.
When he stepped out and back into the room, the last thing he expected to see was Jensen, standing by windows, staring out into the dark night.
He wanted to ignore him, but he just couldn’t. “Jensen?” He didn’t mean for his voice to sound so hesitant, but it did, and when Jensen turned to look at him, Jared felt his heart almost stop.
“Yeah?” His voice was gravelly, and he sounded pained. He also looked terrible, like he hadn’t slept in days. He remembered Jensen saying something to Eric about having trouble sleeping, but this was bad; he really looked awful and Jared’s heart went out to him.
“What’s the matter?”
“Can’t sleep.”
“You need something? The hotel has 24 hour room service. Should I get you some warm milk? Or... er... I dunno, that tea that makes you sleepy?”
One sardonic eyebrow rose questioningly, and the gesture was just so Jensen, that it sent a pang through Jared’s chest. “Tea that makes you sleepy?”
“I dunno what it’s called - I can call my mom and find out,” Jared offered, and then stood there uncertainly, watching the other man watch him, those bloodshot green eyes boring into him, pinning him in place so he couldn’t have moved even if he had wanted to. God, he looked so tired that it even hurt Jared to look at him.
The silence stretched on, making the spacious room seem suddenly smaller with every breath he took, but then, what seemed like an eternity later, Jensen spoke. “One little thing,” he whispered, his voice almost cracking on the words, “I said one little stupid thing and you hold it against me.”
“Wha...?”
“I don’t even know why I said it... and you just forgot about me. Like I don’t mean anything to you at all...”
“Jensen...”
“You hardly even look at me anymore.”
“Jensen, you were the one who...”
“I said don’t touch me so much,” Jensen interrupted, “and yes, I get it - it was a damn fool thing to say and I regretted it almost the moment the words came outta my mouth, but you... you just shut me out, Jared.”
“I...”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t even mean it. I just... I don’t even know...”
“Jensen...”
“Please - could you just find it in your heart to forgive me? So we can go back to what we had before, because I miss you so much...,” Jensen pleaded, goddamn tears pooling in his tired eyes, and Jared was moving without conscious thought.
“Oh God...,” he whispered, striding up to Jensen and reaching out to touch his face but, right then, his hand froze about an inch away from Jensen’s cheek. He waited there, motionless and a more than a little nervous, for permission to touch. Jensen looked up at him, took a shuddering breath and leaned into his hand, pressing his scruffy cheek into it like he had been starving for human contact. Then his own hand came to close over Jared’s and Jared expelled the breath he hadn’t even known he was holding.
“I don’t want to go back to being that guy I was before I met you. I don’t...”
“Shut up,” Jared muttered brokenly, his free hand fisting in Jensen’s t-shirt, “just shut up and come here.”
And then he hauled Jensen to him, until it felt like every part of his body was touching Jensen’s, from toes to thighs, to bellies, to chests, to cheeks; one arm securely wrapped around his waist while the other wound around his neck. With a ragged sigh that spoke volumes, Jensen relaxed into him, his own arms finding purchase around Jared’s waist, one hand anchored to his back, as if afraid that Jared would let go too soon.
Jared rubbed his face against Jensen’s, the soft scruff of his beard prickling his skin. The hand at Jensen’s neck rose of its own volition and carded through Jensen’s soft hair, soothing, massaging, petting. God, how he had missed this... just touching Jensen; Jared didn’t think he had even realized the physical ache that had become equated with their separation these past two weeks. He felt it now though, as it crested in his chest, and slowly subsided, eased away by the feel of Jensen’s skin against his, the lingering scent of his cologne, the soft breaths he exhaled against the sensitive side of Jared’s neck.
Jared palmed the back of Jensen’s head in one hand, while the other rose to cup his cheek, and he kissed him: on the top of his head, right at his temple, at that crinkle in the corner of his eye, his cheek where the most of his freckles were clustered.
“You’re kissing me now?” Jensen ventured, holding on through the admittedly girly display of affection longer than Jared would have expected him to.
Jared smirked as he kissed his forehead. “You got a problem with that?”
“No!” Jensen was quick to reassure him, only the slightest glimmer of a smile in his eyes as he pulled back to look up at Jared. “No - you do what you you gotta do.”
Jared couldn’t help but bust out the biggest smile in his arsenal, and it was heartening to see Jensen look a little bedazzled by it. “We should fight more often.”
“No, we really shouldn’t,” he argued gruffly. Jared’s grin widened to near improbable proportions.
“All right,” he reluctantly pulled away, but not wholly - he kept an arm slung around Jensen’s neck as he steered him to his bed. “I need you in the field tomorrow. No way I’m doing this with Eugene again, he’s even shorter than you - it’s throwing me off my game..."
"Because Eugene's shorter than me, huh?"
"Yup. What?" he asked at the derisive smirk on Jensen's face. "That's a totally credible reason. I'm justified. It's not like I missed you or anything. And you need to get to bed, and get some sleep - you look like shit.”
“Gee, thanks,” Jensen muttered, the sarcasm out in full force, and Jesus - Jared had even missed that. “S’all your fault, anyway.”
“My fault?”
“Yeah,” he mumbled somewhat miserably as he got under the covers, “I was an idiot. Instead of calling me on it - you let me run my stupid mouth and then you go and make best friends with like every other guy on the team and leave me all alone,” he glared at Jared in accusation. “You took you away from me. You don’t get to do that, Jared.”
“I took me away from you?” Jared repeated incredulously.
“Yeah - and then you gave you to everyone else.”
Jared couldn’t help it. He laughed. “Dude, are you jealous?”
“No.” Oh, Grumpy McGrumps in da house.
“You totally are.”
“Am not.”
“Are too,” Jared teased, not-so-secretly thrilled that they were back to being them again. “Boop!” He tweaked Jensen’s nose playfully and the other man just stared at him.
“You... I... God, the indignity.”
“That attitude is not gonna make me wanna kiss and make up with you, mister.”
“I hate you.”
Jared squished Jensen’s adorable, indignant face between his hands. “You love me. You’re like my jealous wife who loves me so much you can’t stand sharing me, but it’s okay, sugarpie, you know at the end of the day, I’ll always come home to you.”
“Shut up,” Jensen grumbled, “I really hate you.”
Jared kissed away the crease between Jensen’s eyebrows. “I love you, too, Angel.” With a wide smile still on his face, he tucked Jensen into bed and was about to draw back, when Jensen grabbed his wrist.
“Can you stay with me?” He asked, looking at Jared’s chin. Jared’s lips twitched.
“I am with you.”
“No, I mean here...”
Jared wondered how long he could drag this on. What? Jensen deserved a little payback for making him suffer. “Here in bed?” Jensen nodded. “You, mean sleep with you?” Jensen nodded again. “Depends - do I get to cuddle?” A glare and then another - albeit somewhat reluctant but not really - nod. “Okay then.”
Jared sighed dramatically, sounding very much put-upon by the request, but he figured Jensen saw right through his guise since he merely rolled his eyes and scooted over a bit. Jared climbed in and artfully arranged the covers over the both of them before taking one deep breath and glomming onto Jensen with a grin. Jensen huffed, his breath warm and still minty against Jared’s face. Jared snuggled closer, making sure that Jensen was pressed flush against him until even their legs were intertwined.
And then... God, then, Jensen smiled. It was small, but it was sweet, and it reached all the way to his eyes and it had just been too long since Jared had last seen that smile. “I’m sorry too,” Jared found himself whispering, “it’s just that - it was easier not to be with you,” he tried to explain. “It’s like... I don’t know how to be with you and not be me, not be us, like this...”
Jensen nodded again, and for a second Jared thought that was the only response he would get. “How about you be you, and I’ll try and not be an idiot?”
“Deal.” Jared sealed it with a kiss to Jensen’s nose.
“I missed you.” He said again, his eyes fluttering shut.
“I missed you too, Jensen.”
“Call me Jen...” And just like that, he was asleep. Jared pulled him closer still as he shut his eyes. And all he could think as he fell asleep himself was: this is why I couldn’t be with you, Jen, because when I hold you, I never want to let you go.
|*|*|*|
“Well, hell, would you look at that?” Tom whistled as Jensen and Jared walked up the visitor’s dugout steps and onto Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays.
Mike grinned. “Aww, they kissed and made up.”
“So was it as good as everyone says it is?” Chad asked, a glint in his eye that Jensen, for one, did not like.
“What?” Jared asked, looking like he really didn’t want to ask.
“Make up sex, dude,” Chad cackled, and Jared thumped him upside the head while Jensen whacked him in the belly with his glove. Chad backed away and yanked Misha in front of him as a human shield. “Totally worth it.”
“I hate you all,” Jensen muttered.
“Except me,” Jared was quick to voice, as he hooked his arm around Jensen’s neck and dragged him close, pulling off his ballcap to place a smacking kiss to the top of his head.
John grinned, relief apparent on his face as he approached them from the where the pitchers had been talking to Kim Manners. “Oh, thank God!” He beamed at them. “Can you guys not do that again? I like to be able to count on certain things in this world and you two are one of them. Jesus, I thought it was a sign of the apocalypse or something.”
Jensen’s mouth dropped at that, but before he could sputter a word out, Cory came by and leaned an elbow on John’s shoulder. “Amen, brother. I thought I had fallen into some alternate universe. And I didn’t like it. Not one bit.”
Chris spat out some sunflower seed shells and motioned between himself and Zach. “Freaked us the fuck out.”
Jared turned to a still stunned Jensen and grasped his face between his hands. “We are like the glue that holds this team together, Jen,” he declared, squashing Jensen’s now clean-shaven cheeks so hard that his mouth pursed like a blowfish, “you owe it to this team, nay - to the city of Toronto... hell, to the entire nation of Canada, the True North strong and free - never, ever to fight with me again!”
Jensen giggled. Oh, he would probably deny it to his dying day, but Jensen giggled and Jared practically swooned at the freaking adorable sight he made with that smile on his face and no shadows in his eyes.
Mike and Tom smirked at each other, and Mike waited for Jared to release him before he poked Jensen in the ribs. “Have you thought about what you’re gonna sing to make it up to him?”
“You’re gonna sing me a song?” Jared blurted, just barely resisting the urge to bounce up and down in excitement.
“No,” came the vehement response.
“Why not? Mike did it for Tommy!”
“We’re not Mike and Tommy.”
Jared pouted. “What you mean to say is that you don’t love me as much as Mike loves Tommy,” Jared wrinkled his nose, cast his eyes downward and sniffed. “All right, Jen; I get it, man. That hurts, like bone deep. You’re crushing me, Jensen.”
“I thought we established that I hate you?” Jensen glowered at him.
“I thought we established that you’re a lousy liar who lies?” Jared tried, but he couldn’t hold the smirk back. “But that’s okay, because I have a song for you.”
“What?” Jensen and Mike squeaked in unison. “But it was my fault!” Jensen argued. Jared’s gaze softened as he winked at Jensen, and then his smirk escalated to a full-blown leer.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t exactly help.” He reached over and bumped fists with Tom. “It was Tommy’s idea that when we kissed and made up, I should try to top Mike’s number...”
Mike leaned closer to Tom and whispered, in an awestruck tone, “You told him that last night too?”
“You’re not the only brains of this outfit, you know,” Tom smirked down at him.
Mike leaned in even closer, until his lips brushed against Tom’s ear, “I’m so hot for you right now, you don’t even know.”
Tommy blushed a bit and nodded to someone in the Tampa Bay dugout. The guy - a coach, from the looks of it - grinned and picked up the dugout phone. In a minute, music filled the air around Tropicana Field.
Jensen sputtered out a laugh and slapped a hand to his face as Jared whipped off his ballcap and glove, tossing them to the dugout floor, as he wiggled his hips, looking totally and utterly ridiculous as Chad, Misha, Mike and Tom lined up behind him. Looking over his shoulder, Jensen realised that he was backed up by John, Cory, Chris and Zach while the rest of the team were busting out dance moves all over the field.
And when Jared started singing, Jensen almost lost it completely.
“I got chills. They're multiplyin'. And I'm losin' control. 'Cause the power you're supplyin',” he touched Jensen’s shoulder, and his body spasmed as he fell to the ground, “it's electrifyin'!”
Cory had to whack him on the back, as Zach mimed his next move, before Jensen got with the program. God. How was he suddenly Olivia Newton-John? Well, he supposed he had this coming for being such a douche to Jared. He lifted his cleated foot and lightly kicked at Jared’s shoulder.
“You better shape up, 'cause I need a man and my heart is set on you,” he grinned saucily as Jared scrambled to him feet, “You better shape up; you better understand... to my heart I must be true...”
Jared clutched at his chest, as the team joined in with the chorus. “Nothin' left, nothin' left for me to do.”
You're the one that I want
(you are the one I want), ooh, ooh, ooh, honey
The one that I want
(you are the one I want), ooh, ooh, ooh, honey
The one that I want
You, ooh, ooh, ooh, are what I need.
Oh, yes indeed
Eric Kripke walked by and watched his team make jackasses of themselves with nary a flicker of expression on his stoic face. “Everything’s back to normal, then.” He cast a shrewd look at look at his second baseman and shortstop as they made moon-eyes at each other, before nodding at Jim Beaver. “So that’s them fixed. Excellent. Carry on,” he called as he disappeared into the dugout.
“Idjits,” Beaver drawled, rolling his eyes as he followed their manager into the clubhouse.
Jensen chuckled, but was immediately distracted by Jared groping him. He shoved him away à la Sandy Olsson. “If you're filled with affection, you're too shy to convey...” As if, he couldn’t help thinking, after all this was Jared. “Meditate in my direction. Feel your way.”
“Aaooo!” Jared howled. “I better shape up, 'cause you need a man...”
“I need a man,” Jensen looped his arms around Jared’s neck and pulled him close, “who can keep me satisfied.”
“I better shape up,” Jared laughed, “if I'm gonna prove...”
“Oh, you better prove... that my faith is justified...”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I'm sure down deep inside.”
You're the one that I want
(you are the one I want), ooh, ooh, ooh, honey
The one that I want
(you are the one I want), ooh, ooh, ooh, honey
The one that I want
You, ooh, ooh, ooh, are what I need.
Oh, yes indeed
Jensen almost busted a blood vessel laughing when the Tampa Bay players joined in the chorus from their side of the field, ooh-ooh-oohing all over the place, some of them throwing in some pretty nifty dance moves from Grease. It was freaking hilarious, and Jensen collapsed against Jared, breathless with laughter as everyone sang and danced around them, keeping it going as ‘You’re The One That I Want’ faded and the opening strains of ‘Summer Nights’ rang from the speakers, as Mike and Tom, and Chris and Zach, started channeling their own versions of Sandy and Danny.
He was still chuckling as he looked up at Jared, a little startled to find him so close, his breath catching in his throat when Jared whispered, in time with the song, “Met a boy, cute as can be...” But then Jensen blinked and that heady moment passed and they were once again caught up in the music as they backed up the other guys.
God, it felt good to be happy again, Jensen thought to himself, as ‘Greased Lightnin’’ kicked into gear, half of the teams' jaws dropping in shock when - from out of nowhere - David Boreanaz and Mark Salling appeared to re-enact the classic Zuko and Kenickie dance routine.
It was beyond awesome. It was perfect. All was right with the world again. Jensen was back in the line-up, Jared was at his side, and the Jays?
The Jays got the win.
|*|*|*|