Fic: You can do magic (you're the one who can put out the fire)
Part One: (The Enormity of Witches is Considered)
In retrospect, Jensen supposes that he really should’ve seen this coming.
Hindsight. It’s a beautiful thing. 20/20 and all that. And it’s not like he didn’t see this coming at all; he just didn’t see it coming so soon.
Yeah, it’s safe to say that Jensen was really not ready for the hundreds of camera flashes that blind him the moment he opens his front door. Nor for the microphones that are suddenly shoved in his face.
“Jensen, can you show us the mark?”
“Jensen, is it true that you’ve been bewitched?”
“How does it feel to have a soulmate?”
“Was the bond formed without your consent?”
“Will you be having the magus charged?”
“Who is the lucky magus?”
“What does your devout Holy Fire family have to say?”
Jensen finally gets the door shut and locked. He sags against it for a moment and then turns to face Jared, thankful that his boyfriend had gone back to the bedroom for his cell phone and hadn’t been beside him when the cameras went off.
“I’m sorry,” Jared says.
Jensen shakes his head. “None of this is your fault.”
Jared bites at his bottom lip. “I know, I just--”
Jensen can feel his distress through their bond and he’s beside the younger man in a couple of strides. “I know,” he says, reaching out for Jared. “But it is what it is. Neither of us had a choice about what happened,” he feels Jared withdraw; feels his shame through the bond and shakes his head. “I don’t regret it, Jared,” he waggles his eyebrows and grins, all cockiness and bravado. “The sex alone is enough to make the soulbond worthwhile.”
Jared stops retreating, but he isn’t quite as comforted as Jensen had hoped. “I heard those questions, Jen,” he says. “We’re gonna get a lot of that. From everyone. Especially your family.”
Jensen pulls Jared in close and wraps his arms around him. “I know. And I’m gonna tell everyone who asks the same thing: nothing has happened between us that I didn’t 100% agree to. This is not something you did to me. This is something that happened to us. We’re in this together. All the way.”
Jared nods and rests his chin on the top of Jensen’s head. They stand with their arms around each other, ignoring the banging on the front door and the occasional question shouted through the keyhole, until Chris bursts out of his bedroom and glares at the door.
“What the fuck?” he says, turning to Jared and Jensen.
“The media,” Jared says.
Chris swears, loudly and eloquently and then heads toward the door.
“Dude,” Jensen reaches out for his arm. “Don’t go out there.”
Chris scowls and pulls away and stomps to the door. He’s only wearing white boxer shorts with multi-colored horseshoes on them, but he flings the door open just the same, shielding his eyes from the flare of flashing cameras with his forearm.
“Get the hell off my lawn,” he shouts, slamming the door closed behind him, “before I call the cops.”
Jensen looks up at Jared, his eyes wide. His lips begin to twitch and then he’s grinning widely. “Oh man. Every media outlet in the country just got a picture of Chris in his boxers!”
It’s funny, except that it’s really not. The soulbond is very new. They still need time to get used to it; to get used to them. Now they’re going to have to do it with the paparazzi in tow.
“Guys,” Charisma is standing in the doorway of the bedroom she shares with Chris. “What’s going on?”
Jensen brings her up to speed and Charisma purses her lips and turns to Jared. “We should call Professor Morgan. I have his number.”
Jared nods and pulls his cell phone out of his pocket. Jensen puts a hand to his arm. “Maybe you should call your parents too?”
Jared’s parents are well-known magi activists. If anyone can help with damage control, it will be Jessica and Wade Padalecki.
While Jared and Charisma call for reinforcements, Jensen retreats to the kitchen and makes himself a coffee. He listens to Chris loudly lecturing the gathered reporters about trespass and his constitutional right to be able to get out his own damned front door without being confronted by hooligans. Jensen snorts. Chris is having fun.
At least someone is.
Jared is freaking out. When they were standing in the hall, wrapped around each other, Jensen could feel Jared’s fear through their bond. He understands completely. Jared will be the one the Holy Fire propaganda machine paints as an abuser and a rapist. Jensen will be seen as a victim and that will suck, but it is far worse to be cast in the role of villain.
Jensen sits down at the kitchen table, wincing slightly, because the wooden seat is hard and Jared fucked him through the mattress last night. He smiles, remembering, and even though he’s alone, he blushes slightly. Jensen feels a small, slightly exasperated nudge along the bond and thinks an apology. Probably best if Jensen doesn’t replay their epic lovemaking in his mind while his soulmate is on the phone to his mother. He blows on his coffee and takes a small sip. At least Jared is calming down, thank the Goddess.
Jensen rubs a hand across his eyes. Jared is big and smart, outgoing and friendly. He’s awesome in the sack. It’s easy to forget that he’s only nineteen.
Jensen takes another sip of his coffee. Since he moved out to Los Angeles four years ago, Jensen has been significantly less celibate than his parents would like. They would have preferred that he’d kept himself pure for marriage, but Jensen knew early on that he was attracted to both men and women and he’d wanted to make sure that he investigated his options thoroughly.
The magi generally have a relaxed attitude to sex and Wiccans view it as a sacred act that its practitioners are encouraged to share with each other. Jensen’s former Church takes the view that the fire of passion is unhealthy if you aren’t joined in holy matrimony with the person you’re sharing the passion with. Jensen was brought up to believe that witches (he flinches at the slur) are sluts.
Jensen slumps forward and puts his head in his hands. His parents are going to lose their minds when they find out he’s soulbonded with Jared.
Jared sends a tendril of comfort along their bond and a moment later, he appears in the kitchen.
“My mom wants to talk to you,” he says.
Jensen’s eyes widen and he feels himself begin to panic. Why does she want to talk to him? Does she disapprove? Is she angry?
Focus! Jared sends across their bond, and Jensen’s eyes snap to his soulmate’s. He focuses on the bond and is able to sense that Jared is calm and optimistic.
She just wants to welcome you to the family. To get to know you, Jared sends.
Does she know who I am? Jensen asks
Of course. I had to explain why we were going to need to do damage control here.
Jensen takes a deep breath and then holds his hand out for Jared’s cell phone.
“Hi,” he says. “This is Jensen.”
There’s an audible intake of breath and then a woman’s voice says, “Welcome to the family. I can’t wait to meet you in person!”
The voice-Jared’s mom’s voice-sounds happy; excited even. And Jensen struggles to understand that.
“You do know who I am, right?” he says.
Not that he doubts Jared, it’s just…how can she sound so happy about this?
“You’re my son’s soulmate. Nothing else matters,” there’s a pause and then she sighs. “I know, I know,” she says, as if he’d scoffed out loud. “I’m not naïve enough to actually believe that. I only wish it were true. Yes, I know who you are. You’re Jensen Ackles. Youngest son of Naomi and Kenneth Ackles. Great nephew of the current Holy Fire Patriarch,” she pauses again. “Jared says you haven’t spoken to them yet.”
Jensen rubs a hand across the back of his neck. “No matter what I say, there’s gonna be a town car and security people picking me up and taking me home half an hour later.”
Jared grips his knee. “I won’t let them,” he says. “Not if you don’t want to go.”
“Put me on speaker,” Jared’s mom says.
Jensen does just that, placing the cell phone on the table in between him and Jared.
“You’ll need to manage any time you spend apart very carefully,” Jared’s mom says when Jared tells her they’re set. “Jared tells me you’ve consummated the bond and it’s now fully established,” Jensen blushes at her words and scowls at Jared, “but it’s still early days. The bond is not yet as solid as it will be and a separation of more than a few days will quickly become painful.”
Jensen leans his forehead against his hand. “I don’t want to go home period. They’ll try to break the bond.”
“How?” Jared demands.
Jensen looks up and shrugs. “I don’t know,” he chews on his lip. “But I have this vague recollection from when I was a little kid of a girl who the Church said had been possessed by magic. And I remember people saying that they tried to whip the magic out of her and she died,” he looks from Jared to the phone and back again. “This? This could get ugly.”
Chris comes inside, accompanied by Professor Morgan and Gen. Charisma follows them into the kitchen.
“We’re on the phone to my mom,” Jared says and Professor Morgan’s eyes light up.
“Ms Padalecki!” he says. “It’s an honor.”
Gen rolls her eyes and plonks her laptop down on the table. “Found this on YouTube,” she says.
It’s footage from the Drawing Down the Moon ceremony, posted by the Los Altos Coven. It shows The Priestess/Goddess talking to Jensen and Jared and the Mark of Nasc Anam is clearly visible on Jensen’s neck. The title of the video is “Goddess says these two boys are The Way Forward. Is that the Mark of Nasc Anam? Who are they??”
There are a number of comments underneath and reading through them, Jensen can see how he was tracked down.
“There’s more,” Gen begins, her tone grim, but she’s interrupted by the ringing of Jensen’s cell phone. He glances down at it and feels his heart thunder to a halt in his chest. It’s his parents’ home number.
“Shit,” he whispers, his eyes darting straight up to Jared’s. He’s not ready for this conversation.
Jared thinks love and support at him through the bond and Jensen takes a deep breath and answers the call.
“You’re on the television,” his mom says, her voice higher than usual, tight with fear. “They’re saying you’ve been bewitched! Are you okay, Jensen? Please tell me you’re okay.”
“I’m fine, Ma,” Jensen says soothingly.
His mom isn’t mollified. “Why were you at a Wiccan ceremony?”
“I went with a friend.”
The word friend utterly fails to encapsulate everything that Jared is to him, but he doesn’t think his mom is ready for the word ‘soulmate’ yet.
“A friend?” his mom sounds dubious. “You have Wiccan friends?”
“Yes, Mom, I do.” Jensen lifts his chin defiantly. He knows what’s coming next, and he feels his embarrassment roll off him in waves. Jared’s instant comfort and reassurance is expected, but he’s beyond surprised when he actually feels, through his bond with Jared, the way that all the magi in the room pick up on his emotions too. He feels a sudden barrage of reassurance and understanding come at him through the bond and knows it’s coming from the other magi, that Jared is picking up their emotions and amplifying them.
Jensen wonders how he ever coped without the extra sense that the bond with Jared has afforded him.
“I do hope,” his mother’s voice is tinged with steely disdain, “that you aren’t friendly with any witches.”
He was expecting it, but Jensen still can’t contain his sharp intake of breath.
“I’m friends with a lot of magi,” Jensen says. “And I would prefer that you don’t use the W word for them.”
“But that’s what they are! They use their magic to manipulate people. And that’s what they’re doing to you, Jensen!”
There are muffled voices at his mom’s end of the line and Jensen figures that his mom probably has him on speaker, just as he has her on speaker.
“Jensen? Apparently they’re now saying you have some sort of tattoo? Please tell me you don’t have a tattoo. You know The Book of Rules forbids them!”
Jensen tells his mom that he doesn’t have a tattoo. She accuses him of lying and demands to know what the rainbow-colored swirls on his neck are, if they aren’t a tattoo.
Jensen looks at Jared who’s sending a steady stream of love and support at him. He then looks at Charisma and gets a nod and then at Professor Morgan and Gen both of whom also nod.
Jensen steels himself. “It’s called the Mark of Nasc Anam. It means that Jared and I are soulmates.”
The scene that follows is epic.
Jensen’s mom alternates between crying and yelling, his dad gets involved; Jensen’s surprised that he’s there-obviously whatever they saw on the television was enough for them to declare an Ackles family state of emergency-and tells Jensen that he’s making his mother cry, which, yeah, thanks Dad, he can hear that. Pretty soon his brother and sister and several of his cousins are begging him to come home and then Pastor Roberts’s voice booms across the line. “Come home, Son,” he says. “We’ll set this right. There’s no need for you to be in bondage to a witch.”
Jensen’s mind goes slightly off-line at the mention of bondage and Jared huffs out a laugh and sends suggestive thoughts and images to Jensen across the bond. Jensen feels himself becoming aroused, but he knows that wasn’t what Pastor Roberts meant.
“Jensen?” his mom says. “Come home, Sweetheart. We can send someone to collect you if you’re worried they won’t let you leave.”
“I can’t come home,” Jensen says. “I have exams.”
He feels Jared deflate a little and thinks an apology at him. Of course his exams aren’t the only reason he doesn’t want to leave, but it’s the one reason his family will accept and Jensen is sick of arguing with them.
“Okay,” his dad says. “That’s fair. We’ll send some of the Church’s security people down to keep you safe.”
Jared reacts to Jensen’s instant panic, reaching out and pulling him close. Jensen breathes in the scent of him, lets himself bask in the comfort of his soulmate for just a moment and then says, “No security.”
“Sweetheart-” his mom begins, but Jensen cuts her off.
“No security. I don’t want it, I don’t need it and I will call the police if they come anywhere near me.”
There are background murmurs and then his mom, the tears obvious in her voice says, “Will you at least let the local Pastor come and visit with you? I know you don’t think you’ve been bewitched, but if you have been, you might not be able to tell.”
“Sure. Okay,” Jensen doesn’t want to fight with his family and agreeing seems the simplest way to get them off the phone.
Once the call is disconnected, Jensen finds that he can’t bring himself to come out from the comforting cocoon of Jared’s arms. He doesn’t want to face everyone, not now that they’ve heard the sort of things his family say about the magi.
“Jensen?” Charisma puts a hand on his shoulder. “It’s not like we didn’t already know.”
“Well I didn’t know,” Gen huffs, folding her arms across her chest. “I mean, I knew his family were Holy Fire, but man, they’re world class bigots!”
Jensen tenses.
“Not helping, Gen,” Jared growls. And then he sighs. “Gen Cortese, meet Jensen Ackles.”
Gen gapes. “No way! I mean, wow. That explains a lot. So the current Church of the Holy Fire Patriarch is your…” she trails off and allows Jensen to fill in the blank.
“Great Uncle.”
“Wow,” Gen says again. “And they let you come out to California?”
Jensen turns to face her. “I was always a quiet, easy going kid. Never really political. I think they thought that if they just let me quietly do my own thing, I wouldn’t rock the boat,” he frowns. “And they were right. If this whole soulmate thing hadn’t happened, I would’ve just faded away into the background as far as politics and the Church are concerned.”
“That’s not really an option now,” Jared’s mom is still on speaker phone. Jensen hates her just a little for being right. “And much as I hate to admit it,” Jessica Padalecki continues, “your parents do have a point. You could probably do with some Security right now.”
Professor Morgan clears his throat. “I’ve already had campus security clear the reporters. The university owns this apartment complex, so, uh, when you’re here you should be all right, but, yes, out and about, you might need Security.”
Jensen sighs. He’s not actually sure they’d be safer with his parents’ Security people. More to the point, he’s not sure Jared would be safer. Before he can voice his concerns, the man in question speaks up.
“What about Harley and Sadie?” Jared turns toward Gen and Professor Morgan. “They’re Guard Dogs.”
Jensen can hear the capitalization in the way he says Guard Dogs and he frowns. All of the magi-and even Chris-are grinning.
“Awesome!” Gen says.
“You’ll have to get permission for them,” Jared’s mom says.
“I’ll take care of it,” Professor Morgan says. “Just email me the details,” he rattles off his email address.
Jensen clears his throat. “Am I missing something?”
“Guard Dogs,” says Chris. “They’re awesome. Charisma’s family has one.”
Jensen frowns. He likes dogs well enough, but he judging by the reverence in Chris’s tone, he’s still missing something.
“Faire-Gadhar,” Jared says and Jensen’s eyes widen.
He wrenches himself from Jared and backs away. “You want to bring demonic monsters into my house?”
He sounds hysterical, even to himself and the disappointment he senses through the bond makes him feel like an asshat.
He takes a deep breath. “Okay. I’m guessing that’s bullshit Holy Fire propaganda? They’re not demonic? Or monsters?”
Relief, followed by a surge of love and then Jared says, “They’re not demonic. Although monster…we’ll revisit that again after Harley’s chewed all your shoes.”
Jensen nods. “So they’re just dogs?”
“Hell, no,” says Gen. “They’re magic dogs. I can’t believe you don’t know this stuff!”
Jensen knows about Faire-Gadhar. Sort of. Well…he knows what the Church says about them. The Church calls them demonic hellhounds. But then the Church calls Jared a witch; an evil man with a twisted soul who consorts with the Devil or maybe even sold his soul for power.
Jensen doesn’t actually believe in the Devil. He wasn’t sure about God either until the ritual yesterday when he actually met a Priestess channelling a Goddess and now…well, now he’s a little conflicted on the subject of Deities. But the Devil? The Devil seems like an excuse: It’s not my fault: the Devil made me do it.
If there’s no one to sell your soul to and no one to conjure up hell-beasts, then the magi are just people with magic, as prone to good and evil as anyone else. And that makes Faire-Gadhar…dogs with magic.
Holy shit.
Dogs. With magic.
Jared feels the moment Jensen gets it and grins.
“No they can’t do spellwork,” he says, forestalling the stupid question that Jensen would probably have asked. “They just have the gene for magic, same as we do. And sometimes it manifests; the same as with magi children or,” Jared blushes, “magi who’ve just met their soulmate.”
Jensen remembers the sparks that swirled furiously around his head the first time he met Jared.
“So what happens when a dog’s magic manifests?” he asks.
Professor Morgan steps in to answer. “With dogs it’s all about mating and feeding and fighting. They respond magically to the world around them in the way that will best get them what they need. They’re incredibly useful when trained to work with the magi. Most police dogs are Faire-Gadhar. Search and Rescue. Sniffer Dogs at airports. But of course, they’re most famous for their work as guard dogs for the wealthy.”
Because who wouldn’t want to be guarded by a dog that could grow three heads and suddenly manifest talon-like claws, dragon-like teeth and glowing red eyes?
“And you see them in the movies too,” Jared adds. “Like Fluffy in Harry Potter. Oh, and you also have to watch your food if there’s a Faire-Gadhar around or you can find your steak levitating off your plate and down onto the floor.”
“Sadie’s far too well-trained for that,” Jared’s mom says. “Harley on the other hand…”
Jensen sits down heavily. He rubs a hand across his eyes and then takes a sip of his lukewarm coffee. Professor Morgan and Gen take their leave, going off to start organizing the paperwork that they’ll need to have Harley and Sadie come and live with Jensen. And Jared. They haven’t really talked about it, but as far as Jensen is concerned, Jared will stay with him permanently, rather than go back to the dorms. He feels Jared’s surge of agreement through the bond, and that’s that taken care of.
Charisma says she has errands to run and offers to go down to Beachcombers to look for Jensen’s lost shoes while she’s out-the mission Jensen and Jared had been about to embark on when they found the media on their doorstep-and then she retreats to her room to get ready. Chris claps a hand on Jensen’s shoulder and tells him that he’s going to take a shower and then he’ll sit on the porch and do his best Clint Eastwood impression just to make sure that people have got the message.
Jared is still talking lowly with his mom and the love and concern between them is so obvious that it makes Jensen’s heart ache for his own mom. He takes another sip of his almost-cold coffee and makes a face. He gets up and tips it down the sink and then leans on the edge of the counter, head down. He feels Jared before he feels his soulmate’s big hands on his shoulders.
“You okay?” Jared asks.
“Yeah. Just. I’m not an activist. I’ve never wanted to be one. I just,” Jensen pauses. “All I’ve ever wanted is to find a partner, get a house somewhere, maybe a dog, work my way up to becoming the team physiotherapist for a major league sporting team-NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL-I don’t care which one. And just, you know, live my life. I’ve never wanted to be the way forward or whatever. And now. Now--”
Jared turns him around and hugs him hard, wraps him up in those big strong arms and Jensen really needs to get a grip here. He’s not the only one affected by this and Jared’s only nineteen. At twenty-three, he should be the one doing the comforting.
“Stop it,” Jared murmurs. “I don’t like it when your positive energy dips.”
“Sorry,” Jensen starts to apologize, but Jared cuts him off.
“This is a big deal,” he says. “I understand how you feel.”
And Jensen knows that he does. The bond is comforting, in so many ways. But it’s scary and intrusive in other ways. Jensen’s not immune to ugly thoughts. Occasionally he’s going to have knee-jerk reactions to things that are hurtful to Jared and-
“And we’ll both learn how to screen our thoughts,” Jared says. “I already know some techniques for screening out emotions that I think might work for screening our thoughts too. I’ll teach them to you and we can play around, see what works.”
“Yes,” Jensen latches onto the suggestion like a lifeline. “I’d like that.”
While Chris sits out on the porch with his laptop balanced on his knees and Charisma goes out to run her errands, Jared and Jensen practice screening their thoughts. They learn how to put blocks in place that enable them to have some privacy from each other. Because, as Jared says, every healthy couple needs to have some secrets, or how would you ever surprise your partner on their birthday? They soon find that if they’re really determined to get into each other’s minds, nothing can stop them, although they can successfully keep each other at bay for a little while.
Charisma brings back Jensen’s shoes, which she found in Lost Property, exactly where Jared said they would be, and then she sits outside with Chris to study.
It’s a warm California day, birds are tweeting and the scent of jasmine is wafting inside. Jensen is about to suggest to Jared that they go and join Chris and Charisma outside and do some studying for their own exams, when there’s a commotion out the front; loud angry voices, mostly Chris’s, but another male voice too.
Jared straightens, inclines his head and then frowns.
“What?” Jensen says.
Jared meets his eyes. “I’m picking up a lot of really negative emotion.”
Jensen rolls his eyes. “No shit.”
They move as one to the door and when they open it they find a red-garbed Holy Fire pastor arguing with Chris on the doorstep.
Jensen makes the Sign of the Pyre without thinking. It’s a reflex action, the result of years of indoctrination and he flushes when he realizes what he’s done.
The pastor, meanwhile, looks from Jensen to Jared and back again. More particularly he looks at the mark on their necks, before lifting his eyes to meet Jensen’s. He smooths his look of distaste rapidly, but not before Jensen sees it. And of course, he’s picking up on the pastor’s emotions via his bond with Jared.
Mostly what he’s picking up is disgust.
“Jensen Ackles,” the pastor says and Jensen steps forward and sticks out his hand.
“Nice to meet you Pastor,” he says, his manners another reflex.
The Pastor takes his hand and peers at him cautiously. “I’m Pastor Lehne,” he says softly. “Is there somewhere we can talk, Jensen?”
“Sure,” Jensen says, grateful for the gentle encouragement that Jared’s sending him. “Come on in, Pastor.”
The three of them settle in the living room, the pastor putting the brown leather hold-all he’s carrying on the floor beside him. Jensen asks him if he’d like a coffee.
“That would be lovely.”
Jared offers to make them all coffee and retreats to the kitchen, leaving Jensen alone with the pastor.
“Well now,” Pastor Lehne says with a smile, “I was a little worried he wasn’t going to give us any privacy.”
“Jared’s not a threat to me, Pastor. He hasn’t bewitched me. His magic recognized me as his soulmate, that’s all.”
“Magic isn’t natural,” Pastor Lehne begins.
“It is,” Jensen can’t help but interrupt. “For the magi, magic is natural. They don’t just do magic, they are magic. It’s an integral part of who they are.”
Pastor Lehne sighs. “It’s a defect. Their souls are twisted and the Devil got in. But the magi can still be good people, if only they don’t use their magic, don’t act on the evil that’s within them.”
“But if they use their magic to help people, how can that be evil?” Jensen is sitting forward in his seat, eyes alight.
The pastor shakes his head. “The end doesn’t justify the means, Jensen.”
“Coffee’s ready!” Jared is standing in the doorway with a plastic tray. There’s a coffee plunger, a sugar bowl, a small milk jug, three mugs and three teaspoons sitting on the tray. Jensen remembers when Jared transfigured all his teaspoons into shot glasses as practice for his Transfiguration exam. He wonders what Pastor Lehne would have to say about that; if he’d refuse to stir his coffee.
It’s a moot point anyway, because the good Pastor takes his coffee black and unsweetened. Lehne doesn’t take a sip of his coffee until Jared takes a sip of his and Jensen feels a sort of wry, disappointed sadness come at him through the bond.
“So,” Jensen says, picking up his mug. “Do you want to ask me any questions?”
Pastor Lehne’s eyes slide to Jared and Jared sighs. “Would you like me to leave the room?”
“No,” Jensen says, before the pastor can answer. “You stay, Jay.”
The pastor leans down and snaps open his hold-all. He reaches in and pulls out a set of iron shackles.
“Would you be willing to put these on?” he says to Jared.
Jensen gets to his feet, his whole body trembling. “Get out,” he says, voice shaking. “How dare you come into my home and expect my boyfriend, my soulmate to--”
Jared puts a hand to his thigh and sends a truckload of calm and reassurance to him.
“It’s okay, Jen,” he says. “I don’t mind. And it’ll help your priest feel reassured that I’m not influencing you.”
Jensen can’t watch as Pastor Lehne fastens the shackles to Jared’s wrists and ankles. The last piece to be connected is an iron chain that runs up between the two sets of cuffs and Jensen knows that somehow or other, all the iron interferes with Jared’s magical abilities. The moment Pastor Lehne clips it into place it’s as if the bond between them has been severed and Jensen sits down heavily, his face ashen.
Pastor Lehne looks at him sharply, his eyes alight with fervour.
“Are you free of him?” the pastor whispers. “Free of his enchantment?”
Jensen closes his eyes and concentrates. He can still feel Jared. His presence is much reduced, but the bond between them is still there.
Jensen?
Jensen opens his eyes and stares at his soulmate.
I can still hear you, Jay!
I can still hear you too. It took a moment though. The bond is…muted.
Jensen turns to the pastor. “Jared hasn’t enchanted me. I’m not bewitched; I’m not under a spell. He hasn’t done something to me, we’re simply soulmates.”
Pastor Lehne’s mouth turns down and his eyes shadow. “You’re still under his influence.”
Jensen frowns. “What’s the point of the shackles then? I thought they removed the magis’ magical ability?”
The pastor shakes his head. “It’s obviously too late. You’re already under his sway.”
Jensen stares at the pastor, at the genuine fear and sadness in his eyes and a feeling of helplessness overcomes him. How does he convince the pastor; the Church and its followers; his entire family; that he’s making his own choices here?
He puts the question to Pastor Lehne and the answer is as expected as it is unacceptable; by breaking up with Jared, by having nothing more to do with him.
Jared shakes his head and rattles the shackles, his smile grim. “If I float you’ll execute me for witchcraft and if I drown, it’s proof that I’m innocent, right?”
Pastor Lehne has the good grace to look a little sheepish. “We need to know that our minds are our own,” he says. “With your powers…”
“We can’t make anyone do anything they don’t want to do,” Jared interrupts, “and we’re no more prone to evil than anyone else. But you refuse to believe that. Your own pre-existing biases prevent you from accepting the proof.” He sticks his wrists out. “Get these off me.”
For a moment Pastor Lehne looks frightened and then he pulls himself together and unfastens the shackles.
“I know you think this is about hate,” the pastor says, his eyes tracking the way Jared rubs at his wrists, “but it’s about love. You’ve cut yourself off from Salvation,” he turns to Jensen, “and you have too. Your family loves you Jensen. It hurts them to see you cut off from God’s love and condemned to Hell.”
Jensen’s stomach swoops. His parents truly believe in the Church’s teachings, his siblings too as far as he knows. Right now they’re devastated, certain that he’s lost to them and to the right path. He hates that he’s causing them so much pain and fear.
Jared huffs in annoyance. “Jensen’s not condemned to Hell. Neither am I. All humans, including the magi, are as the Lord and Lady made us. I’m sorry that Jensen’s family’s beliefs are hurting them right now, but it’s their beliefs that need to change, not us.”
Pastor Lehne shakes his head. He turns to Jensen and leans forward, placing a hand over Jensen’s which are clenched in his lap. “You’ve been brought up in the One True Faith, my son. Never forget that.”
Jensen wrenches his hands away and presses himself into the back of the armchair.
Pastor Lehne pats his knee and Jensen wants to draw it up to his chest, to curl himself into a ball.
“I’ll show you out, Pastor,” Jared says.
Pastor Lehne stands. He stares down at Jensen and then makes the Sign of the Pyre and murmurs some sort of benediction. Jensen almost shudders. He stares at the floor and tries to shake the feeling of wrongness that the pastor’s words have caused.
When Jared comes back inside he has Chris and Charisma with him.
“You okay?” Chris says.
Jensen nods.
Jared perches on the arm of Jensen’s chair. “It’s not your fault. You’re not to blame for the way your family feels.”
Jensen nods again. “I know. Intellectually I know that. But in my heart, I still feel kind of responsible.”
Jensen feels Jared putting up shields in his mind. “You’d be better to blame me then,” he says. “My magic chose you. You were just sitting there minding your own business.”
Jensen rolls his eyes and lets his irritation filter across the bond. “I don’t blame either of us. We’re soulmates. I’m just sorry it’s going to upset so many people.”
Jared makes grilled cheese for everyone. He says it’s comfort food and Jensen agrees. His mom always made him grilled cheese whenever he was stressed or upset. And tomato and rice soup when he was sick. His stomach lurches uncomfortably at the thought that his mom’s love and comfort might be lost to him now. He doesn’t want that. His family may have their faults, but he still loves them. Jared, of course, feels his sorrow through the bond and feels bad and the whole thing ends up becoming one giant negative feedback loop.
“Okay, that’s enough!” Charisma finally snaps. “If you two don’t get your act together every magus within a ten mile block is going to be sobbing their hearts out! Just…do something happy for a while.”
Jared shakes his head. “We’ve got exams to study for.”
“I could put theory into practice and give you a massage?’ Jensen suggests.
“That actually sounds awesome,” Jared says with a shy smile.
Jensen has Jared strip down to his boxers and when Jared huffs that he doesn’t want to be the only one mostly naked Jensen takes off his clothes too.
Jared lies face down on the bed and Jensen picks up the bottle of massage oil from the nightstand before climbing to sit on Jared’s ass.
Jared’s shoulders and neck are tight and Jensen spends a lot of time, digging his thumbs and fingers into hard knots and then soothing the pain away with gentle caresses.
Jared moans wantonly and then laughs when Jensen’s cock hardens against his ass.
“Man you’re good at this, Jen. I’m actually drooling here.”
“Me too,” Jensen says, wriggling against Jared’s ass and eliciting another moan.
“Is this gonna be a happy ending type of massage?” Jared asks.
“Can be.”
“Awesome,” Jared sighs.
Jensen climbs off him and taps him on the hip, indicating that he should roll over. When he does, Jensen peels off Jared’s boxers and nudges his legs apart. And then he sits, kneeling in between his soulmate’s spread legs and stares down at him. This beautiful Sex God of a man is all his, forever and ever. Jensen has honestly never felt more in love.
Jared blushes and then cants his hips. “You gonna suck my dick or what?” he grumbles.
Jensen smirks, more grateful than he can say that Jared has saved him from his own sentimentality. He gets his mouth on Jared’s dick, tonguing at the head and then sucking him down until his gag reflex kicks in. He eases back then and wraps his hand around the base of Jared’s dick, licking and sucking and jerking him off. Jensen opens himself fully to the bond and feels Jared’s pleasure as if it were his own. Jared’s hands are fisted in the sheets and he’s making the most obscene noises as he thrusts up into Jensen’s mouth. Jensen echoes them and the vibration makes Jared come hard, so far down Jensen’s throat that Jensen doesn’t even taste it. Jensen swallows and Jared moans and Jensen allows Jared’s softening dick to slip from his mouth. His own boxers are sticky.
“That,” Jared croaks; his throat sounding as if it was just fucked raw. He clears it and tries again. “That was fucking awesome. I could feel me and I could feel you and…wow. I was really looking forward to sucking you off,” he frowns, “although I kind of feel like I already did, except that was you sucking me off.”
Jensen rubs a hand across the back of his neck. “Yeah. We should shower.”
They open the bedroom door, Jensen in his sticky boxers and Jared buck naked. As they cross the hall to the bathroom, they hear a loud moan and Jensen sticks his head around the living room corner and jerks back fast.
“You know how Charisma was talking before about us depressing the whole neighbourhood with our negative feedback loop?”
Jared’s jaw drops. “Oh man. Really? You think we just made the whole neighbourhood horny?”
Jensen shrugs. “Well, Charisma and Chris don’t generally make a habit of fucking on the sofa at five o’clock in the afternoon.”
They shower and change and when the return to the living room, Charisma glares at them. “Is this gonna be a thing now? Because if I’m gonna get all hot and bothered every time you two get it on, there’ll have to be rules.”
Jensen buries his face in Jared’s chest and groans. Jared cards a hand through his hair and Jensen can feel his fond smile.
Chris sniggers. “You two are gonna be such a hit at orgies.”
Jensen tries not to panic. “No orgies,” he says, the words muffled against Jared’s tee-shirt.
“Nothing you don’t want,” Jared soothes. “Not ever.”
“Sorry,” Chris says. “Didn’t mean to freak you out, man.”
Jensen turns to look at him. “I thought you weren’t religious?”
Chris shrugs. “I’m not. Not really. But I was brought up Wiccan,” he looks at Charisma and then Jared before meeting Jensen’s eyes again. “It’s different for the magi. They’re so much more in tune with the life-force of all things. For us,” he shakes his head. “We can’t feel it the same way. It’s easier to lose faith,” he ducks his head and clears his throat, clearly uncomfortable with the solemn moment. When he looks up, his grin is filthy. “Orgies are wicked fun though,” he teases. “You Holy Fire prudes don’t know what you’re missing.”
Before Jensen can do more than glare indignantly, there’s a knock on the door and Jared stiffens beside him.
“Oh man,” Jared says. “I can’t believe this. I told them not to come,” he turns to Jensen, his expression forlorn. “I’m sorry about this,” he says. “But my parents are here.”
NEXT>>
Back to MasterPost
In retrospect, Jensen supposes that he really should’ve seen this coming.
Hindsight. It’s a beautiful thing. 20/20 and all that. And it’s not like he didn’t see this coming at all; he just didn’t see it coming so soon.
Yeah, it’s safe to say that Jensen was really not ready for the hundreds of camera flashes that blind him the moment he opens his front door. Nor for the microphones that are suddenly shoved in his face.
“Jensen, can you show us the mark?”
“Jensen, is it true that you’ve been bewitched?”
“How does it feel to have a soulmate?”
“Was the bond formed without your consent?”
“Will you be having the magus charged?”
“Who is the lucky magus?”
“What does your devout Holy Fire family have to say?”
Jensen finally gets the door shut and locked. He sags against it for a moment and then turns to face Jared, thankful that his boyfriend had gone back to the bedroom for his cell phone and hadn’t been beside him when the cameras went off.
“I’m sorry,” Jared says.
Jensen shakes his head. “None of this is your fault.”
Jared bites at his bottom lip. “I know, I just--”
Jensen can feel his distress through their bond and he’s beside the younger man in a couple of strides. “I know,” he says, reaching out for Jared. “But it is what it is. Neither of us had a choice about what happened,” he feels Jared withdraw; feels his shame through the bond and shakes his head. “I don’t regret it, Jared,” he waggles his eyebrows and grins, all cockiness and bravado. “The sex alone is enough to make the soulbond worthwhile.”
Jared stops retreating, but he isn’t quite as comforted as Jensen had hoped. “I heard those questions, Jen,” he says. “We’re gonna get a lot of that. From everyone. Especially your family.”
Jensen pulls Jared in close and wraps his arms around him. “I know. And I’m gonna tell everyone who asks the same thing: nothing has happened between us that I didn’t 100% agree to. This is not something you did to me. This is something that happened to us. We’re in this together. All the way.”
Jared nods and rests his chin on the top of Jensen’s head. They stand with their arms around each other, ignoring the banging on the front door and the occasional question shouted through the keyhole, until Chris bursts out of his bedroom and glares at the door.
“What the fuck?” he says, turning to Jared and Jensen.
“The media,” Jared says.
Chris swears, loudly and eloquently and then heads toward the door.
“Dude,” Jensen reaches out for his arm. “Don’t go out there.”
Chris scowls and pulls away and stomps to the door. He’s only wearing white boxer shorts with multi-colored horseshoes on them, but he flings the door open just the same, shielding his eyes from the flare of flashing cameras with his forearm.
“Get the hell off my lawn,” he shouts, slamming the door closed behind him, “before I call the cops.”
Jensen looks up at Jared, his eyes wide. His lips begin to twitch and then he’s grinning widely. “Oh man. Every media outlet in the country just got a picture of Chris in his boxers!”
It’s funny, except that it’s really not. The soulbond is very new. They still need time to get used to it; to get used to them. Now they’re going to have to do it with the paparazzi in tow.
“Guys,” Charisma is standing in the doorway of the bedroom she shares with Chris. “What’s going on?”
Jensen brings her up to speed and Charisma purses her lips and turns to Jared. “We should call Professor Morgan. I have his number.”
Jared nods and pulls his cell phone out of his pocket. Jensen puts a hand to his arm. “Maybe you should call your parents too?”
Jared’s parents are well-known magi activists. If anyone can help with damage control, it will be Jessica and Wade Padalecki.
While Jared and Charisma call for reinforcements, Jensen retreats to the kitchen and makes himself a coffee. He listens to Chris loudly lecturing the gathered reporters about trespass and his constitutional right to be able to get out his own damned front door without being confronted by hooligans. Jensen snorts. Chris is having fun.
At least someone is.
Jared is freaking out. When they were standing in the hall, wrapped around each other, Jensen could feel Jared’s fear through their bond. He understands completely. Jared will be the one the Holy Fire propaganda machine paints as an abuser and a rapist. Jensen will be seen as a victim and that will suck, but it is far worse to be cast in the role of villain.
Jensen sits down at the kitchen table, wincing slightly, because the wooden seat is hard and Jared fucked him through the mattress last night. He smiles, remembering, and even though he’s alone, he blushes slightly. Jensen feels a small, slightly exasperated nudge along the bond and thinks an apology. Probably best if Jensen doesn’t replay their epic lovemaking in his mind while his soulmate is on the phone to his mother. He blows on his coffee and takes a small sip. At least Jared is calming down, thank the Goddess.
Jensen rubs a hand across his eyes. Jared is big and smart, outgoing and friendly. He’s awesome in the sack. It’s easy to forget that he’s only nineteen.
Jensen takes another sip of his coffee. Since he moved out to Los Angeles four years ago, Jensen has been significantly less celibate than his parents would like. They would have preferred that he’d kept himself pure for marriage, but Jensen knew early on that he was attracted to both men and women and he’d wanted to make sure that he investigated his options thoroughly.
The magi generally have a relaxed attitude to sex and Wiccans view it as a sacred act that its practitioners are encouraged to share with each other. Jensen’s former Church takes the view that the fire of passion is unhealthy if you aren’t joined in holy matrimony with the person you’re sharing the passion with. Jensen was brought up to believe that witches (he flinches at the slur) are sluts.
Jensen slumps forward and puts his head in his hands. His parents are going to lose their minds when they find out he’s soulbonded with Jared.
Jared sends a tendril of comfort along their bond and a moment later, he appears in the kitchen.
“My mom wants to talk to you,” he says.
Jensen’s eyes widen and he feels himself begin to panic. Why does she want to talk to him? Does she disapprove? Is she angry?
Focus! Jared sends across their bond, and Jensen’s eyes snap to his soulmate’s. He focuses on the bond and is able to sense that Jared is calm and optimistic.
She just wants to welcome you to the family. To get to know you, Jared sends.
Does she know who I am? Jensen asks
Of course. I had to explain why we were going to need to do damage control here.
Jensen takes a deep breath and then holds his hand out for Jared’s cell phone.
“Hi,” he says. “This is Jensen.”
There’s an audible intake of breath and then a woman’s voice says, “Welcome to the family. I can’t wait to meet you in person!”
The voice-Jared’s mom’s voice-sounds happy; excited even. And Jensen struggles to understand that.
“You do know who I am, right?” he says.
Not that he doubts Jared, it’s just…how can she sound so happy about this?
“You’re my son’s soulmate. Nothing else matters,” there’s a pause and then she sighs. “I know, I know,” she says, as if he’d scoffed out loud. “I’m not naïve enough to actually believe that. I only wish it were true. Yes, I know who you are. You’re Jensen Ackles. Youngest son of Naomi and Kenneth Ackles. Great nephew of the current Holy Fire Patriarch,” she pauses again. “Jared says you haven’t spoken to them yet.”
Jensen rubs a hand across the back of his neck. “No matter what I say, there’s gonna be a town car and security people picking me up and taking me home half an hour later.”
Jared grips his knee. “I won’t let them,” he says. “Not if you don’t want to go.”
“Put me on speaker,” Jared’s mom says.
Jensen does just that, placing the cell phone on the table in between him and Jared.
“You’ll need to manage any time you spend apart very carefully,” Jared’s mom says when Jared tells her they’re set. “Jared tells me you’ve consummated the bond and it’s now fully established,” Jensen blushes at her words and scowls at Jared, “but it’s still early days. The bond is not yet as solid as it will be and a separation of more than a few days will quickly become painful.”
Jensen leans his forehead against his hand. “I don’t want to go home period. They’ll try to break the bond.”
“How?” Jared demands.
Jensen looks up and shrugs. “I don’t know,” he chews on his lip. “But I have this vague recollection from when I was a little kid of a girl who the Church said had been possessed by magic. And I remember people saying that they tried to whip the magic out of her and she died,” he looks from Jared to the phone and back again. “This? This could get ugly.”
Chris comes inside, accompanied by Professor Morgan and Gen. Charisma follows them into the kitchen.
“We’re on the phone to my mom,” Jared says and Professor Morgan’s eyes light up.
“Ms Padalecki!” he says. “It’s an honor.”
Gen rolls her eyes and plonks her laptop down on the table. “Found this on YouTube,” she says.
It’s footage from the Drawing Down the Moon ceremony, posted by the Los Altos Coven. It shows The Priestess/Goddess talking to Jensen and Jared and the Mark of Nasc Anam is clearly visible on Jensen’s neck. The title of the video is “Goddess says these two boys are The Way Forward. Is that the Mark of Nasc Anam? Who are they??”
There are a number of comments underneath and reading through them, Jensen can see how he was tracked down.
“There’s more,” Gen begins, her tone grim, but she’s interrupted by the ringing of Jensen’s cell phone. He glances down at it and feels his heart thunder to a halt in his chest. It’s his parents’ home number.
“Shit,” he whispers, his eyes darting straight up to Jared’s. He’s not ready for this conversation.
Jared thinks love and support at him through the bond and Jensen takes a deep breath and answers the call.
“You’re on the television,” his mom says, her voice higher than usual, tight with fear. “They’re saying you’ve been bewitched! Are you okay, Jensen? Please tell me you’re okay.”
“I’m fine, Ma,” Jensen says soothingly.
His mom isn’t mollified. “Why were you at a Wiccan ceremony?”
“I went with a friend.”
The word friend utterly fails to encapsulate everything that Jared is to him, but he doesn’t think his mom is ready for the word ‘soulmate’ yet.
“A friend?” his mom sounds dubious. “You have Wiccan friends?”
“Yes, Mom, I do.” Jensen lifts his chin defiantly. He knows what’s coming next, and he feels his embarrassment roll off him in waves. Jared’s instant comfort and reassurance is expected, but he’s beyond surprised when he actually feels, through his bond with Jared, the way that all the magi in the room pick up on his emotions too. He feels a sudden barrage of reassurance and understanding come at him through the bond and knows it’s coming from the other magi, that Jared is picking up their emotions and amplifying them.
Jensen wonders how he ever coped without the extra sense that the bond with Jared has afforded him.
“I do hope,” his mother’s voice is tinged with steely disdain, “that you aren’t friendly with any witches.”
He was expecting it, but Jensen still can’t contain his sharp intake of breath.
“I’m friends with a lot of magi,” Jensen says. “And I would prefer that you don’t use the W word for them.”
“But that’s what they are! They use their magic to manipulate people. And that’s what they’re doing to you, Jensen!”
There are muffled voices at his mom’s end of the line and Jensen figures that his mom probably has him on speaker, just as he has her on speaker.
“Jensen? Apparently they’re now saying you have some sort of tattoo? Please tell me you don’t have a tattoo. You know The Book of Rules forbids them!”
Jensen tells his mom that he doesn’t have a tattoo. She accuses him of lying and demands to know what the rainbow-colored swirls on his neck are, if they aren’t a tattoo.
Jensen looks at Jared who’s sending a steady stream of love and support at him. He then looks at Charisma and gets a nod and then at Professor Morgan and Gen both of whom also nod.
Jensen steels himself. “It’s called the Mark of Nasc Anam. It means that Jared and I are soulmates.”
The scene that follows is epic.
Jensen’s mom alternates between crying and yelling, his dad gets involved; Jensen’s surprised that he’s there-obviously whatever they saw on the television was enough for them to declare an Ackles family state of emergency-and tells Jensen that he’s making his mother cry, which, yeah, thanks Dad, he can hear that. Pretty soon his brother and sister and several of his cousins are begging him to come home and then Pastor Roberts’s voice booms across the line. “Come home, Son,” he says. “We’ll set this right. There’s no need for you to be in bondage to a witch.”
Jensen’s mind goes slightly off-line at the mention of bondage and Jared huffs out a laugh and sends suggestive thoughts and images to Jensen across the bond. Jensen feels himself becoming aroused, but he knows that wasn’t what Pastor Roberts meant.
“Jensen?” his mom says. “Come home, Sweetheart. We can send someone to collect you if you’re worried they won’t let you leave.”
“I can’t come home,” Jensen says. “I have exams.”
He feels Jared deflate a little and thinks an apology at him. Of course his exams aren’t the only reason he doesn’t want to leave, but it’s the one reason his family will accept and Jensen is sick of arguing with them.
“Okay,” his dad says. “That’s fair. We’ll send some of the Church’s security people down to keep you safe.”
Jared reacts to Jensen’s instant panic, reaching out and pulling him close. Jensen breathes in the scent of him, lets himself bask in the comfort of his soulmate for just a moment and then says, “No security.”
“Sweetheart-” his mom begins, but Jensen cuts her off.
“No security. I don’t want it, I don’t need it and I will call the police if they come anywhere near me.”
There are background murmurs and then his mom, the tears obvious in her voice says, “Will you at least let the local Pastor come and visit with you? I know you don’t think you’ve been bewitched, but if you have been, you might not be able to tell.”
“Sure. Okay,” Jensen doesn’t want to fight with his family and agreeing seems the simplest way to get them off the phone.
Once the call is disconnected, Jensen finds that he can’t bring himself to come out from the comforting cocoon of Jared’s arms. He doesn’t want to face everyone, not now that they’ve heard the sort of things his family say about the magi.
“Jensen?” Charisma puts a hand on his shoulder. “It’s not like we didn’t already know.”
“Well I didn’t know,” Gen huffs, folding her arms across her chest. “I mean, I knew his family were Holy Fire, but man, they’re world class bigots!”
Jensen tenses.
“Not helping, Gen,” Jared growls. And then he sighs. “Gen Cortese, meet Jensen Ackles.”
Gen gapes. “No way! I mean, wow. That explains a lot. So the current Church of the Holy Fire Patriarch is your…” she trails off and allows Jensen to fill in the blank.
“Great Uncle.”
“Wow,” Gen says again. “And they let you come out to California?”
Jensen turns to face her. “I was always a quiet, easy going kid. Never really political. I think they thought that if they just let me quietly do my own thing, I wouldn’t rock the boat,” he frowns. “And they were right. If this whole soulmate thing hadn’t happened, I would’ve just faded away into the background as far as politics and the Church are concerned.”
“That’s not really an option now,” Jared’s mom is still on speaker phone. Jensen hates her just a little for being right. “And much as I hate to admit it,” Jessica Padalecki continues, “your parents do have a point. You could probably do with some Security right now.”
Professor Morgan clears his throat. “I’ve already had campus security clear the reporters. The university owns this apartment complex, so, uh, when you’re here you should be all right, but, yes, out and about, you might need Security.”
Jensen sighs. He’s not actually sure they’d be safer with his parents’ Security people. More to the point, he’s not sure Jared would be safer. Before he can voice his concerns, the man in question speaks up.
“What about Harley and Sadie?” Jared turns toward Gen and Professor Morgan. “They’re Guard Dogs.”
Jensen can hear the capitalization in the way he says Guard Dogs and he frowns. All of the magi-and even Chris-are grinning.
“Awesome!” Gen says.
“You’ll have to get permission for them,” Jared’s mom says.
“I’ll take care of it,” Professor Morgan says. “Just email me the details,” he rattles off his email address.
Jensen clears his throat. “Am I missing something?”
“Guard Dogs,” says Chris. “They’re awesome. Charisma’s family has one.”
Jensen frowns. He likes dogs well enough, but he judging by the reverence in Chris’s tone, he’s still missing something.
“Faire-Gadhar,” Jared says and Jensen’s eyes widen.
He wrenches himself from Jared and backs away. “You want to bring demonic monsters into my house?”
He sounds hysterical, even to himself and the disappointment he senses through the bond makes him feel like an asshat.
He takes a deep breath. “Okay. I’m guessing that’s bullshit Holy Fire propaganda? They’re not demonic? Or monsters?”
Relief, followed by a surge of love and then Jared says, “They’re not demonic. Although monster…we’ll revisit that again after Harley’s chewed all your shoes.”
Jensen nods. “So they’re just dogs?”
“Hell, no,” says Gen. “They’re magic dogs. I can’t believe you don’t know this stuff!”
Jensen knows about Faire-Gadhar. Sort of. Well…he knows what the Church says about them. The Church calls them demonic hellhounds. But then the Church calls Jared a witch; an evil man with a twisted soul who consorts with the Devil or maybe even sold his soul for power.
Jensen doesn’t actually believe in the Devil. He wasn’t sure about God either until the ritual yesterday when he actually met a Priestess channelling a Goddess and now…well, now he’s a little conflicted on the subject of Deities. But the Devil? The Devil seems like an excuse: It’s not my fault: the Devil made me do it.
If there’s no one to sell your soul to and no one to conjure up hell-beasts, then the magi are just people with magic, as prone to good and evil as anyone else. And that makes Faire-Gadhar…dogs with magic.
Holy shit.
Dogs. With magic.
Jared feels the moment Jensen gets it and grins.
“No they can’t do spellwork,” he says, forestalling the stupid question that Jensen would probably have asked. “They just have the gene for magic, same as we do. And sometimes it manifests; the same as with magi children or,” Jared blushes, “magi who’ve just met their soulmate.”
Jensen remembers the sparks that swirled furiously around his head the first time he met Jared.
“So what happens when a dog’s magic manifests?” he asks.
Professor Morgan steps in to answer. “With dogs it’s all about mating and feeding and fighting. They respond magically to the world around them in the way that will best get them what they need. They’re incredibly useful when trained to work with the magi. Most police dogs are Faire-Gadhar. Search and Rescue. Sniffer Dogs at airports. But of course, they’re most famous for their work as guard dogs for the wealthy.”
Because who wouldn’t want to be guarded by a dog that could grow three heads and suddenly manifest talon-like claws, dragon-like teeth and glowing red eyes?
“And you see them in the movies too,” Jared adds. “Like Fluffy in Harry Potter. Oh, and you also have to watch your food if there’s a Faire-Gadhar around or you can find your steak levitating off your plate and down onto the floor.”
“Sadie’s far too well-trained for that,” Jared’s mom says. “Harley on the other hand…”
Jensen sits down heavily. He rubs a hand across his eyes and then takes a sip of his lukewarm coffee. Professor Morgan and Gen take their leave, going off to start organizing the paperwork that they’ll need to have Harley and Sadie come and live with Jensen. And Jared. They haven’t really talked about it, but as far as Jensen is concerned, Jared will stay with him permanently, rather than go back to the dorms. He feels Jared’s surge of agreement through the bond, and that’s that taken care of.
Charisma says she has errands to run and offers to go down to Beachcombers to look for Jensen’s lost shoes while she’s out-the mission Jensen and Jared had been about to embark on when they found the media on their doorstep-and then she retreats to her room to get ready. Chris claps a hand on Jensen’s shoulder and tells him that he’s going to take a shower and then he’ll sit on the porch and do his best Clint Eastwood impression just to make sure that people have got the message.
Jared is still talking lowly with his mom and the love and concern between them is so obvious that it makes Jensen’s heart ache for his own mom. He takes another sip of his almost-cold coffee and makes a face. He gets up and tips it down the sink and then leans on the edge of the counter, head down. He feels Jared before he feels his soulmate’s big hands on his shoulders.
“You okay?” Jared asks.
“Yeah. Just. I’m not an activist. I’ve never wanted to be one. I just,” Jensen pauses. “All I’ve ever wanted is to find a partner, get a house somewhere, maybe a dog, work my way up to becoming the team physiotherapist for a major league sporting team-NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL-I don’t care which one. And just, you know, live my life. I’ve never wanted to be the way forward or whatever. And now. Now--”
Jared turns him around and hugs him hard, wraps him up in those big strong arms and Jensen really needs to get a grip here. He’s not the only one affected by this and Jared’s only nineteen. At twenty-three, he should be the one doing the comforting.
“Stop it,” Jared murmurs. “I don’t like it when your positive energy dips.”
“Sorry,” Jensen starts to apologize, but Jared cuts him off.
“This is a big deal,” he says. “I understand how you feel.”
And Jensen knows that he does. The bond is comforting, in so many ways. But it’s scary and intrusive in other ways. Jensen’s not immune to ugly thoughts. Occasionally he’s going to have knee-jerk reactions to things that are hurtful to Jared and-
“And we’ll both learn how to screen our thoughts,” Jared says. “I already know some techniques for screening out emotions that I think might work for screening our thoughts too. I’ll teach them to you and we can play around, see what works.”
“Yes,” Jensen latches onto the suggestion like a lifeline. “I’d like that.”
While Chris sits out on the porch with his laptop balanced on his knees and Charisma goes out to run her errands, Jared and Jensen practice screening their thoughts. They learn how to put blocks in place that enable them to have some privacy from each other. Because, as Jared says, every healthy couple needs to have some secrets, or how would you ever surprise your partner on their birthday? They soon find that if they’re really determined to get into each other’s minds, nothing can stop them, although they can successfully keep each other at bay for a little while.
Charisma brings back Jensen’s shoes, which she found in Lost Property, exactly where Jared said they would be, and then she sits outside with Chris to study.
It’s a warm California day, birds are tweeting and the scent of jasmine is wafting inside. Jensen is about to suggest to Jared that they go and join Chris and Charisma outside and do some studying for their own exams, when there’s a commotion out the front; loud angry voices, mostly Chris’s, but another male voice too.
Jared straightens, inclines his head and then frowns.
“What?” Jensen says.
Jared meets his eyes. “I’m picking up a lot of really negative emotion.”
Jensen rolls his eyes. “No shit.”
They move as one to the door and when they open it they find a red-garbed Holy Fire pastor arguing with Chris on the doorstep.
Jensen makes the Sign of the Pyre without thinking. It’s a reflex action, the result of years of indoctrination and he flushes when he realizes what he’s done.
The pastor, meanwhile, looks from Jensen to Jared and back again. More particularly he looks at the mark on their necks, before lifting his eyes to meet Jensen’s. He smooths his look of distaste rapidly, but not before Jensen sees it. And of course, he’s picking up on the pastor’s emotions via his bond with Jared.
Mostly what he’s picking up is disgust.
“Jensen Ackles,” the pastor says and Jensen steps forward and sticks out his hand.
“Nice to meet you Pastor,” he says, his manners another reflex.
The Pastor takes his hand and peers at him cautiously. “I’m Pastor Lehne,” he says softly. “Is there somewhere we can talk, Jensen?”
“Sure,” Jensen says, grateful for the gentle encouragement that Jared’s sending him. “Come on in, Pastor.”
The three of them settle in the living room, the pastor putting the brown leather hold-all he’s carrying on the floor beside him. Jensen asks him if he’d like a coffee.
“That would be lovely.”
Jared offers to make them all coffee and retreats to the kitchen, leaving Jensen alone with the pastor.
“Well now,” Pastor Lehne says with a smile, “I was a little worried he wasn’t going to give us any privacy.”
“Jared’s not a threat to me, Pastor. He hasn’t bewitched me. His magic recognized me as his soulmate, that’s all.”
“Magic isn’t natural,” Pastor Lehne begins.
“It is,” Jensen can’t help but interrupt. “For the magi, magic is natural. They don’t just do magic, they are magic. It’s an integral part of who they are.”
Pastor Lehne sighs. “It’s a defect. Their souls are twisted and the Devil got in. But the magi can still be good people, if only they don’t use their magic, don’t act on the evil that’s within them.”
“But if they use their magic to help people, how can that be evil?” Jensen is sitting forward in his seat, eyes alight.
The pastor shakes his head. “The end doesn’t justify the means, Jensen.”
“Coffee’s ready!” Jared is standing in the doorway with a plastic tray. There’s a coffee plunger, a sugar bowl, a small milk jug, three mugs and three teaspoons sitting on the tray. Jensen remembers when Jared transfigured all his teaspoons into shot glasses as practice for his Transfiguration exam. He wonders what Pastor Lehne would have to say about that; if he’d refuse to stir his coffee.
It’s a moot point anyway, because the good Pastor takes his coffee black and unsweetened. Lehne doesn’t take a sip of his coffee until Jared takes a sip of his and Jensen feels a sort of wry, disappointed sadness come at him through the bond.
“So,” Jensen says, picking up his mug. “Do you want to ask me any questions?”
Pastor Lehne’s eyes slide to Jared and Jared sighs. “Would you like me to leave the room?”
“No,” Jensen says, before the pastor can answer. “You stay, Jay.”
The pastor leans down and snaps open his hold-all. He reaches in and pulls out a set of iron shackles.
“Would you be willing to put these on?” he says to Jared.
Jensen gets to his feet, his whole body trembling. “Get out,” he says, voice shaking. “How dare you come into my home and expect my boyfriend, my soulmate to--”
Jared puts a hand to his thigh and sends a truckload of calm and reassurance to him.
“It’s okay, Jen,” he says. “I don’t mind. And it’ll help your priest feel reassured that I’m not influencing you.”
Jensen can’t watch as Pastor Lehne fastens the shackles to Jared’s wrists and ankles. The last piece to be connected is an iron chain that runs up between the two sets of cuffs and Jensen knows that somehow or other, all the iron interferes with Jared’s magical abilities. The moment Pastor Lehne clips it into place it’s as if the bond between them has been severed and Jensen sits down heavily, his face ashen.
Pastor Lehne looks at him sharply, his eyes alight with fervour.
“Are you free of him?” the pastor whispers. “Free of his enchantment?”
Jensen closes his eyes and concentrates. He can still feel Jared. His presence is much reduced, but the bond between them is still there.
Jensen?
Jensen opens his eyes and stares at his soulmate.
I can still hear you, Jay!
I can still hear you too. It took a moment though. The bond is…muted.
Jensen turns to the pastor. “Jared hasn’t enchanted me. I’m not bewitched; I’m not under a spell. He hasn’t done something to me, we’re simply soulmates.”
Pastor Lehne’s mouth turns down and his eyes shadow. “You’re still under his influence.”
Jensen frowns. “What’s the point of the shackles then? I thought they removed the magis’ magical ability?”
The pastor shakes his head. “It’s obviously too late. You’re already under his sway.”
Jensen stares at the pastor, at the genuine fear and sadness in his eyes and a feeling of helplessness overcomes him. How does he convince the pastor; the Church and its followers; his entire family; that he’s making his own choices here?
He puts the question to Pastor Lehne and the answer is as expected as it is unacceptable; by breaking up with Jared, by having nothing more to do with him.
Jared shakes his head and rattles the shackles, his smile grim. “If I float you’ll execute me for witchcraft and if I drown, it’s proof that I’m innocent, right?”
Pastor Lehne has the good grace to look a little sheepish. “We need to know that our minds are our own,” he says. “With your powers…”
“We can’t make anyone do anything they don’t want to do,” Jared interrupts, “and we’re no more prone to evil than anyone else. But you refuse to believe that. Your own pre-existing biases prevent you from accepting the proof.” He sticks his wrists out. “Get these off me.”
For a moment Pastor Lehne looks frightened and then he pulls himself together and unfastens the shackles.
“I know you think this is about hate,” the pastor says, his eyes tracking the way Jared rubs at his wrists, “but it’s about love. You’ve cut yourself off from Salvation,” he turns to Jensen, “and you have too. Your family loves you Jensen. It hurts them to see you cut off from God’s love and condemned to Hell.”
Jensen’s stomach swoops. His parents truly believe in the Church’s teachings, his siblings too as far as he knows. Right now they’re devastated, certain that he’s lost to them and to the right path. He hates that he’s causing them so much pain and fear.
Jared huffs in annoyance. “Jensen’s not condemned to Hell. Neither am I. All humans, including the magi, are as the Lord and Lady made us. I’m sorry that Jensen’s family’s beliefs are hurting them right now, but it’s their beliefs that need to change, not us.”
Pastor Lehne shakes his head. He turns to Jensen and leans forward, placing a hand over Jensen’s which are clenched in his lap. “You’ve been brought up in the One True Faith, my son. Never forget that.”
Jensen wrenches his hands away and presses himself into the back of the armchair.
Pastor Lehne pats his knee and Jensen wants to draw it up to his chest, to curl himself into a ball.
“I’ll show you out, Pastor,” Jared says.
Pastor Lehne stands. He stares down at Jensen and then makes the Sign of the Pyre and murmurs some sort of benediction. Jensen almost shudders. He stares at the floor and tries to shake the feeling of wrongness that the pastor’s words have caused.
When Jared comes back inside he has Chris and Charisma with him.
“You okay?” Chris says.
Jensen nods.
Jared perches on the arm of Jensen’s chair. “It’s not your fault. You’re not to blame for the way your family feels.”
Jensen nods again. “I know. Intellectually I know that. But in my heart, I still feel kind of responsible.”
Jensen feels Jared putting up shields in his mind. “You’d be better to blame me then,” he says. “My magic chose you. You were just sitting there minding your own business.”
Jensen rolls his eyes and lets his irritation filter across the bond. “I don’t blame either of us. We’re soulmates. I’m just sorry it’s going to upset so many people.”
Jared makes grilled cheese for everyone. He says it’s comfort food and Jensen agrees. His mom always made him grilled cheese whenever he was stressed or upset. And tomato and rice soup when he was sick. His stomach lurches uncomfortably at the thought that his mom’s love and comfort might be lost to him now. He doesn’t want that. His family may have their faults, but he still loves them. Jared, of course, feels his sorrow through the bond and feels bad and the whole thing ends up becoming one giant negative feedback loop.
“Okay, that’s enough!” Charisma finally snaps. “If you two don’t get your act together every magus within a ten mile block is going to be sobbing their hearts out! Just…do something happy for a while.”
Jared shakes his head. “We’ve got exams to study for.”
“I could put theory into practice and give you a massage?’ Jensen suggests.
“That actually sounds awesome,” Jared says with a shy smile.
Jensen has Jared strip down to his boxers and when Jared huffs that he doesn’t want to be the only one mostly naked Jensen takes off his clothes too.
Jared lies face down on the bed and Jensen picks up the bottle of massage oil from the nightstand before climbing to sit on Jared’s ass.
Jared’s shoulders and neck are tight and Jensen spends a lot of time, digging his thumbs and fingers into hard knots and then soothing the pain away with gentle caresses.
Jared moans wantonly and then laughs when Jensen’s cock hardens against his ass.
“Man you’re good at this, Jen. I’m actually drooling here.”
“Me too,” Jensen says, wriggling against Jared’s ass and eliciting another moan.
“Is this gonna be a happy ending type of massage?” Jared asks.
“Can be.”
“Awesome,” Jared sighs.
Jensen climbs off him and taps him on the hip, indicating that he should roll over. When he does, Jensen peels off Jared’s boxers and nudges his legs apart. And then he sits, kneeling in between his soulmate’s spread legs and stares down at him. This beautiful Sex God of a man is all his, forever and ever. Jensen has honestly never felt more in love.
Jared blushes and then cants his hips. “You gonna suck my dick or what?” he grumbles.
Jensen smirks, more grateful than he can say that Jared has saved him from his own sentimentality. He gets his mouth on Jared’s dick, tonguing at the head and then sucking him down until his gag reflex kicks in. He eases back then and wraps his hand around the base of Jared’s dick, licking and sucking and jerking him off. Jensen opens himself fully to the bond and feels Jared’s pleasure as if it were his own. Jared’s hands are fisted in the sheets and he’s making the most obscene noises as he thrusts up into Jensen’s mouth. Jensen echoes them and the vibration makes Jared come hard, so far down Jensen’s throat that Jensen doesn’t even taste it. Jensen swallows and Jared moans and Jensen allows Jared’s softening dick to slip from his mouth. His own boxers are sticky.
“That,” Jared croaks; his throat sounding as if it was just fucked raw. He clears it and tries again. “That was fucking awesome. I could feel me and I could feel you and…wow. I was really looking forward to sucking you off,” he frowns, “although I kind of feel like I already did, except that was you sucking me off.”
Jensen rubs a hand across the back of his neck. “Yeah. We should shower.”
They open the bedroom door, Jensen in his sticky boxers and Jared buck naked. As they cross the hall to the bathroom, they hear a loud moan and Jensen sticks his head around the living room corner and jerks back fast.
“You know how Charisma was talking before about us depressing the whole neighbourhood with our negative feedback loop?”
Jared’s jaw drops. “Oh man. Really? You think we just made the whole neighbourhood horny?”
Jensen shrugs. “Well, Charisma and Chris don’t generally make a habit of fucking on the sofa at five o’clock in the afternoon.”
They shower and change and when the return to the living room, Charisma glares at them. “Is this gonna be a thing now? Because if I’m gonna get all hot and bothered every time you two get it on, there’ll have to be rules.”
Jensen buries his face in Jared’s chest and groans. Jared cards a hand through his hair and Jensen can feel his fond smile.
Chris sniggers. “You two are gonna be such a hit at orgies.”
Jensen tries not to panic. “No orgies,” he says, the words muffled against Jared’s tee-shirt.
“Nothing you don’t want,” Jared soothes. “Not ever.”
“Sorry,” Chris says. “Didn’t mean to freak you out, man.”
Jensen turns to look at him. “I thought you weren’t religious?”
Chris shrugs. “I’m not. Not really. But I was brought up Wiccan,” he looks at Charisma and then Jared before meeting Jensen’s eyes again. “It’s different for the magi. They’re so much more in tune with the life-force of all things. For us,” he shakes his head. “We can’t feel it the same way. It’s easier to lose faith,” he ducks his head and clears his throat, clearly uncomfortable with the solemn moment. When he looks up, his grin is filthy. “Orgies are wicked fun though,” he teases. “You Holy Fire prudes don’t know what you’re missing.”
Before Jensen can do more than glare indignantly, there’s a knock on the door and Jared stiffens beside him.
“Oh man,” Jared says. “I can’t believe this. I told them not to come,” he turns to Jensen, his expression forlorn. “I’m sorry about this,” he says. “But my parents are here.”
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