Fic: In-Flight Entertainment
Title: In-Flight Entertainment
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Word Count: 1,884
Summary: Jared doesn’t so do well on planes. Lucky for him, Jensen is used to helping nervous flyers.
A/N: Written for the prompt for morgentau : ‘Jared is afraid of flying but has to go to Vancouver for whatever reasons. He thinks that sitting at the window might help but he's not that lucky and a dude (Jensen) blocks the view. So Jared's freaking out but he's trying not to show it. Jensen, however, notices and tries to calm him down, distract him. I would love to see how something like a close bond evolves between those complete strangers and they are slowly getting to know and like each other.’ I hope you like it!
Eyes closed, Jared stood at the back of the check-in queue as people all around him wheeled suitcases, held tight onto children’s hands and rooted around in their bags for the passports that they were sure they had put in there that morning. Someone coughed behind him and he opened his eyes and took a step forward to close the gap that had formed in the line. Needing something to do, he looked at his ticket again; checking that it had the right destination and that he was down as ‘Mr Jared Padalecki’, not ‘Miss’ as he had been on one memorable occasion.
“Sir?”
The people in front of him had moved on and the woman behind the counter sounded polite but exasperated; he had a feeling she had already asked him to come forward once. He stepped up to the counter and held out his ticket and passport for her, answered the questions that she asked about his trip in a surprisingly calm manner for someone who was afraid of flying.
He watched as his suitcase disappeared and took the boarding pass from her with a nod of thanks. Turning away, he drummed his fingers against his thigh as he started to walk through the airport. He still didn’t get why Katie couldn’t have gone to the meeting herself; she hadn’t had anything in her diary and she was higher up the managerial chain which, Jared conceded, was the whole problem. If Katie said he had to get onto a death trap - plane - and fly to Vancouver, then that was what he had to do.
Jared spent the walk through airport security on autopilot; he held up his passport, answered questions about his luggage without really being aware of what he was doing. He was well aware that, the further he got through the airport, the nearer he got to being on a plane; something that he didn’t really want to think about. Instead, he tried to think about other things; the Christmas that he would be spending at home with his family, the taste of the sticky toffee pudding that was served at the restaurant that was just a two minute walk away from his apartment. He was thinking about how nice the pudding was with a scoop of ice-cream alongside it when he looked up and just managed to stop himself from walking into the guy in front. The man wasn’t quite as alert and, as he rummaged for something in his bag, he took a step back right onto Jared’s foot.
“Fuck.” The guy span around. “I’m sorry. I was-”
“No, don’t be. It was my fault - I was walking too close behind you.”
“We were both at fault, then.” The man flashed him a smile and then half-turned away before speaking again. “Have a nice flight.”
He opened his mouth to reply but the guy had already gone which, Jared reflected, was a pity because he had been good-looking. And then he thought about what the man had just said and all thoughts about the guy’s looks disappeared. There was no way he was going to have a ‘nice flight’, not when a scrap of metal was all that was keeping him up in the air. He breathed, deeply, in and out in the way his Mom had always told him to and tried not to think about his potential death. The trip to Vancouver was going to suck.
---
The plane was already half-full by the time had plucked up the courage to actually walk up the steps onto it. After nodding at the hostess, he began to walk down the aisle. He glanced at his ticked to check where his seat was and groaned; he had specifically requested a window seat because it helped him to be able to see outside. Maybe he would get lucky and there would be a free window seat next to him.
Or not. He groaned when he saw that the seat was occupied, his eyes widening slightly when he saw that it was the guy from before. He slid into his own seat and pulled his seatbelt on tight then stared straight ahead, tapping his foot.
He watched the safety demonstration intently and then pulled out the card from the back of the seat in front of him, scanning the instructions on there. Cursing under his breath, he shoved it back into the seat pocket; thinking about what might happen if they crashed wasn’t helping him calm down.
“Nervous flyer?”
He turned to look at the guy sitting in the window seat and nodded. “Yeah, sorry, it’s probably not going to be much fun for you.”
“Don’t worry about it - my older brother is terrified of flying. I’m used to it.”
“It’s,” he broke off as the plane started to move along the runway and then forced himself to continue, “It’s probably good that I’m sitting next to you and not someone else, then.”
“I think it’s definitely a good thing.” The man smirked. “I’m Jensen, by the way, and I don’t make a habit of stepping on feet.”
“Jared. And I’m usually a lot calmer than this.” He jerked as the plane began to speed up.
“Just try and breathe as we take off, it’ll get easier after that. You from Texas?”
“Yes, you?”
“Dallas.” Jensen’s grin turned into a frown as they left the ground and Jared began to bite his lip. “Dude, come on, try and calm down. I’ve been on this flight a dozen times and it’s always fine.”
“Yeah, fine for someone who’s okay with flying.”
“Fair enough. What’s taking you to Vancouver, anyway?”
“Work.” And the first thing he was going to do when he got back was resign; he wasn’t putting himself through this again.
“Ah, that’s…boring.” Jensen smirked, “I’m heading up to visit some friends and hang out. You should come for a drink with us if you have time.”
“We’ve known each other for two minutes.”
“I’m being spontaneous.”
His brow furrowed when he realised that the plane had straightened out without him realising it and he blinked a few times before returning to the conversation. “It actually sounds like a good idea. You’re - if we weren’t flying right now, I would totally be hitting on you.” His mouth dropped open; he couldn’t believe he had just said that.
Jensen laughed, “So you’re gay?”
“Yeah, is that - is it a problem?”
“No. I am, too. And I’m totally going to encourage this friendship now.”
He nodded and glanced up at the ceiling as the seatbelt light went off, checked his own to see that it was still fastened tight.
Jensen coughed. “I’m scared of horses.”
“What?”
“I just thought you’d like to know. I hate the things.”
“How come?” He thought about his Grandpa’s ranch back in Texas, about long rides out in the country.
“They’re really big, man.”
“I’m big. Tall, I mean.”
“Yeah, but I haven’t seen you charge at anyone so I’m not running away from you just yet.”
He laughed, actually laughed on a plane for the first time ever, and then felt guilty. “Sorry, I shouldn’t - you haven’t laughed at me.”
“Don’t worry about it - I wanted to make you laugh, relax, it’s all good.” Jensen twisted slightly in his seat so that he was facing Jared. “You live in LA, right?”
“Yeah, for now. I miss home, though.”
“Me too. It’s just not the-” he stopped talking as the plane lurched slightly and Jared jumped.
Jared looked up at the seatbelt sign that was still off. “That was - was that turbulence or-”
“That was turbulence, Jared. Try not to think about it, okay?”
“That’s kind of hard.”
Jensen nodded, nudged Jared’s foot with his own. “I know. Do you have a brother?”
“Yeah, and - and a sister, Megan. She’s younger, he’s older. And I know what you’re doing, trying to distract me.”
“If it works, don’t complain. That’s the same as me, one older one younger.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. All of that stuff about middle child syndrome is bull, though. I definitely stood out.”
Jared smiled, “I can believe that.”
“It’s not a long flight, you know. There’s not much longer to go.”
“There’s at least another two hours.”
“That’s not long, not when you’ve got good company.” Jensen stretched his arms up above his head and then looked out of the window. “You got a partner, then?”
“A partner? I’m not the boss.”
“No, a romantic partner, a boyfriend.”
“Ah, right.” He told himself that he would have been less idiotic if he had been on the ground. “No, not anymore.”
“Me neither. Do you like hangman?”
“As in the game?”
“Yeah.”
“Sure, it’s okay.”
“Awesome.” Jensen leaned forwards and pulled a notebook and pen out of his bag. “Let’s play. You go first.”
He took the notebook from Jensen and flipped to a blank page. They might be up in the air and he might be scared of crashing any moment but there was no way he was going to let himself lose at hangman. He had embarrassed himself enough already today.
---
“I can’t believe I lost.”
Jensen just grinned.
He shook his head. “I mean, I never lose.”
“Obviously, you do.” Smiling even wider, Jensen turned to look out of the window again and then swore softly. “Did you want the window seat? Josh always preferred them. I didn’t even think.”
“I, well yeah, I - how long until we land?”
“Only about ten minutes.”
“I’ll stay where I am, then.” Foot tapping again, Jared glanced towards the crew at the front of the plane and then looked back at Jensen, “Will you keep talking to me as we land? It’s been helping a lot.”
“Course I will. How long are you staying in Vancouver for?”
“Two nights.”
“Huh, same as me. Good, it’ll give you enough time to see the sites. Man, just think of the mini-bar at your hotel and you can - there’s this ice-cream place I want to show you, it’s awesome.”
“I’m all for ice-cream.” His fingernails dug into his legs as they began to descend.
“What flavour?”
“Chocolate, mint chip, strawberry. I’m not fussy - it’ll be fun.”
“You really want to go with me?”
“Yeah.” He met Jensen’s eyes. “Dude, you’ve put up with me for almost three hours, least I can do is go for ice-cream with you.”
“Jared, I - for me, I’d like it to be a date. I mean-” He broke off.
Jared smiled. “It’s the same for me, Jensen. I like you.” His eyes widened as he felt the plane touch down on the runway. “I didn’t even notice we were about to land.”
“That was the plan.” Jensen winked. “So, once we’ve been on this date and you’ve done this work thing, how would you feel about driving back to LA?”
“Driving?”
“Yeah, I’m driving back with my buddy Chris, anyway. You’d be welcome.”
“Jensen, I think this is going to be an awesome, awesome relationship.”
“I sure hope so, after I put up with three hours of you on a plane.”
“Hah. Hah. Really funny.” Smiling now, Jared undid his seatbelt and leaned across, pressing his lips to Jensen’s and thinking that, for once, the flight had definitely been a risk worth taking.