Archive of Our Own ^beta

It started off like any other day.

Jensen woke to the sound of Jared moving around downstairs and he could hear cupboards being opened and closed as Jared stomped around in the kitchen and got ready for his run. Jensen didn’t need to look at the clock to know that it was still insanely early, even by the standards of their crazy schedule but Jared insisted on getting up before dawn so he could have a decent workout before they headed to the set and just laughed whenever Jensen pointed out how nuts that was.

He wished he could get mad at Jared for waking him up but opted for just cursing under his breath as he clamped his pillow over his head. Really, it was pretty much impossible to get mad at Jared. He’d just look at you with those eyes and that smile and you’d forget what had been bugging you in the first place. The sorts of people who actually got mad at Jared were the sorts of people who kicked puppies. For fun.

Jensen squeezed his eyes shut and lay as still as possible. Maybe once Jared went out he’d be able to get back to sleep. Maybe . . .

The next thing he knew the bed was dipping as Jared sat down next to him and Jensen blinked sleepily.

“Is it time to get up?”

Jared shook his head and flashed him a small smile. “No, we’ve got a while yet.”

Jensen was about to ask why Jared was disturbing his precious sleep but he froze as Jared reached out a hand and brushed it over his cheek.

“What?” Jensen asked with a shaky smile. “I got something on my face?”

“No,” Jared replied softly. “You just look so hot, all rumpled like that.”

Jensen blinked at him again, wondering if he was high or possibly still asleep. He swallowed hard. “Oh, fuck off, man. Don’t you got anything better to do than kid around when I’ve only just woken up?”

“I’m not kidding,” Jared whispered, leaning in close so that his breath tickled Jensen’s cheek. “I would never kid about this.”

Jensen turned his head slightly just as Jared closed the distance between them and pressed a kiss to his lips.

“Is this okay?” Jared asked softly, sounding just slightly uncertain as he pulled back a little. Jensen simply nodded and Jared kissed him again, harder this time and plundering Jensen’s mouth with his tongue. Jensen moaned into the kiss, sinking down into the mattress as Jared trailed a hand down his chest and under the sheets.

“There you are,” Jared grinned as his hand wrapped around Jensen’s cock.

“Fuck!” Jensen arched his back and hissed as Jared started to stroke him.

Jared grinned and kissed him again. “We’ll get to that part soon.”

Jensen’s breath was coming in ragged gasps now, his whole body thrumming under Jared’s hands. Right now he wanted nothing more than to pull Jared down on the bed with him and fuck his brains out.

“JENSEN!”

His eyes snapped open at the banging sound and he frowned when he realized that not only was he alone but he was also achingly hard.

“Come on, Jensen! Roll your lazy ass out of bed! I have coffee.”

These dreams really needed to stop.

The alarm clock was beeping beside him and he’d managed to sleep through it. Great.

“Jensen, don’t make me come in there.”

God, Jensen wished he would.

“I’m up,” he groaned instead as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. The dreams and the damn early mornings were going to be the death of him, he was sure of it.

“Dude, our ride is going to be here in ten minutes,” Jared’s muffled voice came through the door. “And your coffee’s going cold.”

“Ok, ok. Gimme a minute.”

He rolled out of bed and staggered into the shower, jerking off under the hot stream of water until he came with a low groan. He quickly toweled himself off and got dressed, not bothering to fix his hair since the girls on set would change it as soon as he got there anyway.

Jared was still hovering outside his bedroom when Jensen stepped outside, flask of coffee held out like a lifeline.

“I’m awesome, I know.” Jared grinned as Jensen snatched the offered drink and gulped down the now lukewarm coffee.

Jensen simply grunted and handed the empty flask back to him.

“Come on,” Jared said with a smile as they headed downstairs together. “The car’s here. If Clif puts his foot down we won’t get our asses kicked for being late.”

“If Eric tries to kick our asses I’m just gonna hide behind you,” Jensen replied as he pulled on his coat. “Your freaky height has gotta have some uses, right?”

“Whatever, asshole. You know I’ll have no qualms about ratting you out for sleeping in.”

“Bitch.”

“Jerk.”

* * *

Jensen dozed in the make-up chair while Jared chatted away in the background and flirted with the girls while they fixed his hair. It was the same as every day when they were working, and Jensen was grateful for the fact that he could rely on Jared to keep the conversation going while he rested for a bit longer. It was just something Jared did and not something they’d ever discussed. In fact, more than once Jensen had suspected Jared of having some sort of mind reading skill because the man had an uncanny knack of knowing just what people needed without them ever having to tell him.

Occasionally he wondered what things would have been like if someone else had got the role of Sam, or if he’d got the role of Sam himself when he first auditioned for it and someone else had wound up playing Dean. It was weird, and not something he let himself think about very often, but he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d have had this same bond with any other actor. He felt like he’d known Jared forever, in the best possible way, and he just couldn’t imagine the show getting much beyond the pilot with anyone else playing his brother.

“And then I had to tell him they were chopsticks.”

Jared’s laugh echoed through the trailer as Rosie finished some story Jensen hadn’t really been paying attention to. He cracked a smile anyway just because the sound of Jared’s laugh was so damn infectious.

“Ok, you’re done.”

Jensen groaned at the prospect of having to move from his comfortable seat out into the cold Vancouver air. He needed at least three more cups of coffee before he’d be fully awake and ready to become Dean Winchester for the day.

“Come on,” Jared grinned as he tugged Jensen to his feet. “The girls are done making you pretty. If we haul ass we can grab some more coffee on the way.”

“Coffee,” Jensen murmured appreciatively. “Coffee good.”

“I love how eloquent you are first thing in the morning. Makes for really stimulating conversation.”

Jensen groaned as he spotted Misha standing in the doorway, already in costume and with an amused smile on his face.

Jensen liked Misha a lot. He was smarter than most people Jensen knew, funny in a kind of insane way and he always had an interesting story to tell. Things were certainly never boring when Misha was around but right now it was just too damn early for Jensen to handle him. That smile on Misha’s face, which was disarming the first time you saw it in contrast to the stony faced way he played Castiel, always made Jensen feel like Misha was in on some private joke that the rest of the world was oblivious to. It was weird.

“Hey, man,” Jared greeted with a warm smile as he pulled Misha into a hug. “How was your weekend?”

Apparently, it was never too early for hugs in the book of Padalecki and Jared certainly didn’t seem to be fazed by Misha in the same way that Jensen was. It had probably never even occurred to Jared that there was anything to be fazed by in the first place. It was one of the reasons he got along so well with everyone.

Misha grinned and gave Jared a slap on the back before pulling back from the hug.

“Oh, the usual diplomatic incidents. My minions are taking care of it.”

Jensen blinked. What the hell?

“I’ve told you before, man,” Jared replied with a grin. “You gotta stop pissing off foreign leaders. Michelle Obama can only save your ass so many times.”

Jensen blinked again. He was pretty sure he was getting a headache. He needed coffee. Now.

“Come on,” Jared said, apparently using those freaky mind reading skills again. “Caffeine stop on the way to the set.”

Jensen had never heard more perfect words in his life.

* * *

Shooting was a bitch that day.

It was yet another fight between Sam and Dean while Castiel lurked in the background and did very little beyond looking soulfully at Dean and offering the occasional bit of cryptic advice. Jensen channeled his tiredness into Dean’s frustration with Sam and Castiel but by lunchtime he just wanted to crawl into bed and never come out again. Those fucking dreams about Jared were not good for his mental state or his levels of sleep.

“You look beat,” Jared said with a sympathetic smile as he slung an arm across Jensen’s shoulders and steered him towards their trailers. “Get some sleep and I’ll grab us some food and more coffee.”

“Thanks, man,” Jensen grunted, his voice hoarse with exhaustion as he stumbled up the steps. He barely made it to the bed before he collapsed face first and fell asleep.

* * *

When he woke up he couldn’t feel his right hand, his back ached and he was cold. All in all he felt worse than he had before he fell asleep, which kind of defeated the point of his nap. He sat up and winced as he realized he’d been lying on his arm and now that the blood was flowing back into his hand he had a lovely and painful dose of pins and needles. He flexed his hand a few times and swung his legs over the side of the bed, almost falling off when he spotted Misha sitting at the far end of the trailer, still in costume and watching him intently.

“Jesus, Misha,” he grumbled when his heart rate had slowed down a little. “I didn’t realize you were into the whole method acting gig.”

Misha smiled and all traces of Castiel melted away.

“Jared sent me with food. He’s asked to do some of Sam and Ruby’s scenes this afternoon so you can catch up on your beauty sleep. Clearly he doesn’t think you’re pretty enough for the rest of us.”

Jensen snorted and then smiled to himself as he thought about Jared taking on extra work just so Jensen could rest. Really, what the hell had he done to deserve having someone like Jared in his life?

He realized Misha was still staring at him and he cleared his throat.

“You said something about food?”

Misha grinned in a way that made Jensen feel more than a little uneasy and pushed a plate towards him. Damn, that man was too perceptive for his own good.

“I’ll go and tell him that you’re awake.”

Jensen tried to pretend that Misha had said ‘them’ instead of ‘him.’

Damn.

* * *

“What are you going to do over the summer?” Jared asked while they were sprawled on the couch watching TV that night. “Apart from the conventions and stuff, I mean.”

Jensen shrugged and reached for some popcorn in the bowl that was currently nestled in Jared’s lap. “I dunno. Right now I’m thinking I’m gonna sleep for at least a month.”

“Man, you are such a pussy,” Jared laughed. “Three months off and you’re gonna waste it sleeping? Lame, dude.”

“Let me guess, you’ve already got some sort of huge plan in your head that starts the day after we wrap. Seriously, how have you not collapsed from exhaustion already?”

Jared grinned and patted Jensen’s hand. “Maybe you’re just getting old.”

“Fuck off,” Jensen growled and gave Jared’s hand a slap.

“I’m just telling it like it is, man.”

The silence they fell into after that was comfortable, but Jensen made sure to shoot Jared his best fake scowl as they continued to watch the movie and he thought about Jared’s question. The truth was, he had no idea what he was going to do over the summer. He didn’t have any movies or anything lined up and, to be honest, that suited him just fine. Shooting My Bloody Valentine last summer had been fun and not exactly taxing but he’d been fucking exhausted by the time he’d got back to Vancouver because he hadn’t taken a break. He was looking forward to three months of doing very little apart from meeting some fans and signing autographs.

“I think I’ll take a vacation,” he finally announced. “A long one.”

“That sounds awesome,” Jared smiled. “Where to?”

“I dunno.”

He realized that he was just a breath away from asking Jared to come with him, like they didn’t spend enough time together already. He had no idea when he’d become such a co-dependent loser but the truth was, he couldn’t imagine not having Jared around all the time like this.

He really was well and truly fucked.

* * *

The next day was better. Jensen’s hormones had decided to take a night off so there had been no dreams about Jared and he’d actually managed to get some sleep. Sam and Dean were back on speaking terms (which translated to them basically ignoring all their problems) and were working together to hunt down the evil of the week with the usual cryptic messages from Castiel.

“You were awesome today,” Jared said, huge grin plastered on his face as they headed back to their trailers for lunch.

“You didn’t do too badly yourself,” Jensen replied with a smile.

“We’re both awesome,” Jared agreed, his grin widening as he spotted Misha sitting outside Jensen’s trailer with his nose buried in the latest script. “Too bad about Misha, though.”

“Yeah.” Jensen winced as he followed Jared’s line of sight. “He sucked pretty bad today. He’s probably gonna get fired.”

“I think I heard Krip talking about replacing him with CGI.”

Misha raised an amused eyebrow as Jensen grinned at him. “You just want to get rid of me so Dean can go back to having sexual tension with his brother instead of Castiel. You have issues, man, and they run deep.”

Jared laughed. “I’m gonna go and get changed. Catch up with you guys in ten. Save me some food.”

“I’d need to invite the whole crew into my trailer if we were going to eat your share of the food,” Jensen grinned. Jared slapped him around the back of the head and laughed again before heading to his own trailer.

Jensen watched him go, a small smile curling his lips as Jared’s laughter still rang in his ears.

“How long?”

Misha’s voice cut into his thoughts and snapped him back into reality. “What?”

“How long have you been in love with Jared?”

Jensen blinked at him, blood running cold in his veins as he glanced around to see if anyone had heard. Thankfully, they were alone.

“What?” he repeated, his mind screaming deny, deny, deny even as he spoke.

“It’s all right,” Misha said softly with a sympathetic smile. “No one else has realized. I just thought maybe you’d want to talk about it.”

For a moment Jensen thought, or at least hoped, that Misha was just fucking around. There was no humor in his eyes this time though, only warmth. It made Jensen feel more than a little bit uncomfortable, like Misha was looking inside him and peering at his most personal thoughts. He realized with a sinking heart that even if he denied it there was no way Misha was going to believe him.

“Let’s go inside,” he said gruffly as he opened up his trailer and Misha quietly followed him.

“So, how long?” Misha asked once they were inside and the door was closed firmly behind them.

“I don’t know,” Jensen sighed, pacing up and down the small space in an effort to work off some of the nervous energy that was fluttering in his gut. For a moment he’d thought that maybe talking to someone about it would help. It didn’t. In fact he felt worse, like suddenly what he felt for Jared had become real instead of just some fantasy in his head.

“Are you going to tell him?”

Jensen froze mid-stride, caught by surprise and unsure whether to laugh out loud at the utter insanity of the question.

“You’ve met Jared, right? Tall guy, very much into girls.”

Misha shrugged. “No one is 100% straight. Have you noticed how much he likes to touch you?”

“That’s just Jared,” Jensen snorted. “He does that with everyone. He does it with you.”

“That’s because I’m hot,” Misha grinned. “Seriously, you should think about telling him. He might surprise you.”

“Yeah, and he might not.” Jensen replied. “Look, just drop it, ok?”

“You really think he’d treat you differently because of how you feel about him?”

“No, I don’t,” Jensen sighed. “Because it’s Jared and he’d go out of his way to make me feel like it’s no big deal. It’d be there, though, and we’d both know it even if we never mentioned it again. I like the way things are between us and I don’t want anything to fuck that up.”

“Man, I am starving.”

Jared burst into the trailer, freshly showered and changed, which put a quick stop to any further conversation between Jensen and Misha. Jensen forced a smile into place as Jared collapsed onto the couch.

“Well, no change there then,” Jensen grinned. “Come on, let’s eat before you faint from hunger and crush Misha under your epic weight.”

* * *

Once lunch was over they headed back towards the set so they could rehearse the scenes they’d be filming that afternoon. Jared patted his full stomach happily and let out a contented sigh. “That was awesome.”

“Hey, losers!” The three of them stopped walking as a new voice called out to them from the set. “Did you guys know that the security at this place sucks? They’ll let just about anyone in.”

Jared grinned. “Hey look, Jensen. It’s that guy who used to be in that Superman show. What was his name?”

“Beats me,” Jensen replied with a smile. “Haven’t seen him since he upped and left a year ago.”

Jared couldn’t hold it in any longer and he strode over and pulled Michael into a hug. “How’ve you been, Rosey?”

Michael pressed a sloppy wet kiss to Jared’s cheek and then pulled Jensen into a hug. “How’s it going, Jenny?”

“Good. How are you, Mike? Still enjoying the hair growth thing?”

“Man, you have no idea.”

They grinned at each other.

When Jensen had been working on Smallville he’d got wasted with Tom and Michael one night and told them he hated being called Jenny because it was a fucking girl‘s name and he was a man, goddamnit. Michael, in turn, had told them that he hated being called Mike because it was a frat boy’s name and reminded him of the jock assholes who had tormented him at school. Feeling the need to complete the circle of truth or whatever, Tom had added that he hated being called Tommy and the names had sort of stuck, but only between them and only on special occasions.

“You here to see Welling?”

Michael nodded. “You guys too, though. That’s why I’m here. I’ve got a proposition for you.”

Jared fluttered his eyelashes. “Oh, Michael. If only you’d told me sooner. We could have made sweet love in the Luthor mansion.”

Michael grinned. “It’s funny you should say that because there was this one time when me and Tom--“

“Please don’t finish that sentence,” Jensen pleaded.

“Jensen’s just jealous because he hasn’t had the chance to fuck anyone in the back of the Impala yet.”

All eyes focused on Misha who smiled innocently back at them.

“I had heard that,” Michael replied with a grin. “He came up with some lame excuse that it was too cramped.”

Misha quirked a smile in Jensen’s direction. “I could help you out there. I know some great yoga positions that will make you more . . . flexible.”

“Oh, fuck you.”

“Well, I was going to suggest you try it out with Jared but I’m happy to oblige.”

Jensen was sure his face couldn’t turn any more red and Jared was laughing so hard Jensen thought for a moment he was going to rupture something.

“You didn’t tell me the new guy was so awesome,” Michael grinned. “I like him.”

“Oh!” Jared said, suddenly all manners and politeness just like his momma had taught him. “Sorry, man. Rosey, this is Misha. Misha, this is Michael.”

Michael shook Misha’s hand firmly. “You should totally come out with us tonight. It’ll be a riot.”

“Where are we going tonight?” Jensen asked as the blush finally started to fade from his cheeks.

“Dinner,” Michael said. “Weren’t you listening? I’ve had an awesome idea and I want you guys to be a part of it.”

Jensen raised an eyebrow. “An awesome idea like the time you decided to point out to Kristin that Lana spelled backwards was anal?”

“Hey, it’s true,” Michael shrugged. “And Tom thought it was funny.”

“I’m pretty sure he was just humoring you, dude.”

“Whatever. I know you guys think I’m hysterical. So, dinner tonight?”

“Sure,” Jared said. “I don’t think we’re doing anything, are we, Jensen?”

“Aww,” Michael cooed, ruffling Jared’s hair with a fond smile. “It’s so sweet that you guys have a joint schedule. Have you set a date for the wedding yet?”

Jared laughed as Jensen was hit with yet another wave of mortified embarrassment. Seriously, someone was out to get him today and he suspected it was Misha’s fault.

“Have you been talking to the fans again?” Jared asked. “I’ve told you before not to believe everything you read on the internet.”

“Oh,” Michael gasped with wide eyes. “You mean Misha didn’t really eat a pony?”

“No, that part is true,” Misha replied. “Security are under instructions to keep PETA away from the set in case they interrupt filming by dragging me off to their secret lair.”

“Fuckers. If you can’t eat a horse to survive an earthquake, then what can you do?”

Jensen looked from Misha to Michael to Jared who was laughing like he knew what the hell they were talking about. He wondered if the whole world had gone insane or it was just him.

“Well, I’ll let you guys get back to work,” Michael announced. “I’m gonna go harass Tom for a bit. I’ll call you later with the restaurant details.”

“I like him,” Misha said as they watched Michael walk away.

Yeah, that figured. Those two were as nutty as each other.

* * *

Jensen’s phone rang when they were in the car heading home.

“Gotham Steakhouse,” Michael announced when Jensen answered. “Can you let the new guy know? 8pm.”

“He has a name, you know that, right?” Jensen snorted. “And you always want to go to Gotham. You are such a fucking geek.”

“You love it, Jenny. I take it J-Bird is with you. Tell him not to take too long making himself pretty. I’m starving.”

He hung up before Jensen could reply.

Jared raised a quizzical eyebrow as Jensen relayed the message. “What do you think he’s got planned, anyway?”

“I have no idea,” Jensen replied with a shrug. “Just so long as he doesn’t try and make us sing karaoke again.”

“Hey, at least you can sing,” Jared pointed out. “Me and Tom had to get wasted afterwards just to forget about the whole thing.”

“Like you need an excuse to get drunk,” Jensen grinned.

“Well, so long as it doesn’t involve singing I’ll be ok. And why the hell did you tell him I take ages to get ready, anyway?”

“Dude, I tell everyone you take ages to get ready. No way I’m getting blamed when we’re always late for everything.

Jared grinned and patted Jensen’s cheek. “Well, we’re not all fortunate enough to be as naturally pretty as you.”

Jensen glowered at him.

“Sorry,” Jared corrected immediately. “I meant hot. Your hotness is all natural, and very manly. Not girly and pretty at all.”

Jensen couldn’t stop the smile from curling his lips and he wished it was easier to get mad at Jared. “Damn straight.”

“Come on,” he said as the car rolled to a stop outside their house. “We need to get ready fast before Michael goes mad from hunger and tries to eat Tom.”

“I’m pretty sure he eats him on a fairly regular basis,” Jared grinned.

“Dude!”

* * *

They were late.

It was coming up to eight thirty by the time they arrived at the restaurant, with Jared insisting it wasn’t his fault.

“We were out all day and I had to play with Harley and Sadie for a while. They miss us when we’re not around.”

Jensen hadn’t been complaining. He knew the dogs were like Jared’s kids, and it made him smile that when Jared talked like they were an ‘us’. Yeah, he was officially turning into a woman.

Misha was already there when they arrived, sitting back in his chair and looking relaxed and happy, chatting to Tom and Michael like they were old friends rather than guys he had only just met. That was just the way he was. People instantly liked Misha.

“So, we have this special timezone on set,” Misha was saying as Jared and Jensen were shown to the table. “Whenever something starts at a specific time we always tell them it’s an hour earlier just so they show up on time.”

“Which totally worked until we figured it out,” Jared grinned as Tom stood up to hug him and Jensen. “Now we just adjust our watches.”

“How very professional of you,” Tom grinned back as they all sat down. “Still, only thirty minutes late tonight. You’re getting better.”

“Let me guess,” Misha said as he handed a menu to Jared and Jensen. “It was all Jared’s fault?”

“Damn right it was,” Jensen replied, not even bothering to glance at the menu. He already knew he was having the steak and he suspected Jared would be having the same even though he was making a show of studying the choices.

Jensen wasn’t one for stereotypes most of the time, but when it came to food he was willing to make an exception. Jared was the same and it was one of the reasons they got along so well. They were both Texas boys through and through and they ate and drank like Texans.

Jensen ordered beers for them all and knew it would only be a matter of time before the tequila came out. Working tomorrow was not going to be fun but he figured they deserved to kick back and relax once in a while.

“I’ll have the steak,” Jared said when the waitress came to take their order and Jensen smiled to himself as he ordered the same.

“So, how’s unemployment treating you?” Jensen asked while they drank their beer and waited for the food to arrive. “Enjoying the quiet life or slowly going nuts?”

Michael shrugged. “Done a few things. Shot a pilot and did a couple of small parts in movies. I dunno. I’m just waiting for the right thing to come along, I guess.”

“So you don’t regret leaving?”

Jensen knew that eventually he was going to be in the same position. At some point Supernatural would end and he and Jared would have to go their separate ways and find new projects. Just thinking about it hurt a hell of a lot more than he could have imagined so most of the time he tried not to think about it at all.

Michael sighed. “Man, you saw the show. It was past time for me to leave. I miss Tom, of course, and I miss perving on you guys in the gym but it was the right decision, for sure.”

He reached over and gave Tom’s hand a squeeze. To anyone outside and even to Misha it would be seen as a friendly gesture. But Jensen knew how close they had been when they were working together, and how close they still were even now. To Jensen the gesture said ‘I’m sorry I left you. I miss you.’

“So,” Michael said after a moment, letting go of Tom’s hand and directing his attention to Misha. “How are you coping with the insane world of a cult TV show? Done your first convention yet?”

Jensen snorted. “Man, he loves it. He’s an even bigger attention whore than you.”

“You don’t exactly mind,” Misha replied with a wry grin. “Keeps some of the attention off you, right?”

He couldn’t argue with that. He had nothing against meeting the fans. After all, they wouldn’t have jobs if people didn’t like the show. He just wished they were a bit less . . . intense. It didn’t seem to bother Misha, though. He took all the questions, even the most insane and personal ones, and just ran with it, changing the subject or making a joke if it was something he didn’t want to answer. The fans were eating out of his hands already.

“We should all do one together some time,” Michael chimed in with a grin. “Tom and Jensen can hide behind the rest of us.”

“You mean I can hide behind Jared,” Tom smiled. “He’s the only one here that’s taller than me.”

The food arrived at that point and Jensen decided it was time to talk about why they were all here.

“So, what’s this plan of yours, Rosenbaum?”

The gleeful twinkle that appeared in Michael’s eyes suddenly made him feel nervous. He’d seen it before and the end result was almost always badness, like the time he’d had the idea of an all-naked episode of Smallville and stripped down to his boxers in the middle of the set to demonstrate how good Lex would look naked.

“Do you guys have anything planned for the summer?” Michael asked with a grin. “Any movies or anything?”

Jensen grinned. Funny Michael should ask so soon after the exact same conversation he’d had with Jared the night before.

“Nope,” Jared answered before Jensen could speak. “We were kind of thinking we might take a vacation.”

Jensen blinked in surprise. Since when had his hypothetical vacation become a ‘we’ event? Not that he minded. Far from it, in fact. It was just weird that Jared had just sort of assumed that he’d be coming too.

Michael grinned wolfishly at them. “You’re taking a vacation together? Are you two actually fucking now?”

“Jesus, Michael,” Tom hissed, his face flushing red though he wasn’t even the one being talked about. “We’re in a public restaurant, man.”

Michael ignored him and looked at Misha instead. “Are they fucking? Come on, you can tell me.”

Misha shot Jensen a look and he felt himself withering under it. Damn, why the hell hadn’t he just denied everything when Misha had asked him about it? He hated this.

“No,” Misha finally replied with an innocent smile. “They’re not.”

Jensen could feel the ‘but Jensen wishes they were’ hanging in the air.

“Do you fuck all the people you go on vacation with?” Jared asked with a raised eyebrow.

“At least one of them, yeah,” Michael replied with a shrug. “Otherwise, what’s the point?”

“You’re an asshole,” Tom muttered.

Nobody pointed out that his last few vacations had all been with Tom.

“So have you booked this vacation yet?” Michael asked. “Got a dream destination in mind?”

“No,” Jared and Jensen replied in unison and then grinned at each other.

Michael rolled his eyes. “You guys really do scare me. If you’re not fucking you really should be. But that’s good news about the vacation because I have the answer for you. Two words: road trip.”

“Road trip?” Jensen repeated dubiously. “Are you serious? We’re kind of old for the whole voyage of self-discovery before college thing, you know.”

“Come on, man. It’ll be awesome! We can load up my van and just take off. It only needs to be for a couple of weeks and then you can do whatever sophisticated bullshit you were thinking about after that.”

Jensen glanced at Jared and had to hold back the groan that was building in his throat. He could see just by the way Jared’s eyes were shining that he was already on board with the idea. It wasn’t that he was totally against it himself, it was just . . . well, he liked his space and his privacy and the idea of being cooped up in a van with four other guys made him feel claustrophobic.

“It does sound great,” Jared said excitedly as he jabbed Jensen in the ribs with his elbow. “Jensen, think of all the photos you’ll be able to take with your new camera. You’ve been dying to try it out somewhere out of Vancouver ever since you bought it.”

Jensen sighed. The crux of it was that no matter how dubious he was about the trip he couldn’t say no to Jared, especially when he was all bouncy like this.

“Yeah,” he finally said with a smile that was almost genuine. “It does sound fun.”

“What about you, new guy?” Michael pressed. “Wanna spend a couple of weeks getting to know your co-stars, warts and all?”

Jensen tensed in his seat. He really hoped Misha would say no, not because he didn’t like the guy but because it was going to be awkward as hell now that Misha knew. He watched as Misha’s eyes flitted between the two of them and he could almost hear him plotting as he considered his answer.

“Sure,” Misha finally shrugged. “I’ve got no plans and I love to travel.”

Jensen’s heart sank. This was going to be hell.

* * *

He felt pleasantly numb during the cab ride back to their house. Michael had insisted on breaking out the tequila to celebrate their road trip and one shot had quickly turned into several. He knew he was going to feel rough as hell in the morning but right now he didn’t care. Jared was slumped against him, warm breath tickling Jensen’s neck as Jared slumbered against his shoulder. Maybe this road trip wouldn’t be so bad after all, Jensen mused to himself. Maybe Jared was right. They’d get to see lots of interesting things, he hoped, and he’d be with Jared and some of his other friends. It’s not like they were going to be trapped in Michael’s sardine can of a van the whole time. Just while they moved from place to place.

The cab pulled to a stop and Jensen gently nudged Jared awake.

“Is it time for work?” Jared mumbled, snuggling closer and sending the blood flowing straight to Jensen’s cock.

“Not yet, buddy,” Jensen croaked as he tried to crawl out from underneath Jared. “We need to go to bed first.”

“Mmm . . . bed.”

If he didn’t know better he’d swear Jared was doing this on purpose, talking about bed in that low, sleep-husky voice of his. Jensen was amazed he was able to walk straight as he dragged Jared out of the car and into the house.

Jared was warm and heavy against him, and part of Jensen didn’t want to let go of him. It was only when they got inside that he realized that getting Jared to bed meant navigating the stairs. So not happening when Jared was barely conscious.

He considered dumping Jared on the couch, but decided it was too small for him to stretch out on. The last thing he wanted was a grumpy Jared in the morning because his limbs were all stiff as well as him being hung over. Unfortunately, that only left one option.

“Jared?”

“Mmm.”

“I’m gonna put you in my bed, ok? I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“Mmm.”

Jensen sighed and dragged Jared into his room, collapsing under his weight just as they reached the bed. For a moment he just lay there, winded, with Jared sprawled on top of him and drooling on his shoulder. This was in no way how he’d imagined their first time in bed together.

When he’d caught his breath and recovered from the rather painful sensation of Jared’s knee digging into his crotch, Jensen eased himself out from underneath Jared and tugged off his shoes. Jared was well and truly out for the count and did nothing but let out a small snuffling sound as Jensen arranged his limbs into a more comfortable position and tugged the comforter over him. By the time he clicked off the light, Jared was snoring softly.

Jensen wandered into the living room, carefully avoiding Harley and Sadie who were dancing around his feet and whimpering to go out. He opened the back door and stared at the couch while he waited for them to take care of business and come back inside, already imagining the discomfort he was going to be in after sleeping on it for the night.

Harley and Sadie came back inside and immediately made a beeline for Jensen’s room, clearly intending to spend the night with Jared regardless of where he was sleeping.

“Fuck it,” he muttered. If Jared was going to spend a comfortable night in Jensen’s bed with his dogs then Jensen was going to sleep in his.

He headed up the stairs, brushed his teeth and stripped down to his boxers before climbing into bed. It was kind of weird but not exactly unpleasant. He fell asleep surrounded by Jared’s scent and had a weird dream where Jared was Sleeping Beauty, he was the Prince and Misha, Tom and Michael were the three fairies.

Unfortunately, his alarm woke him before he got to actually kiss Jared.

* * *

Jensen wasn’t surprised when he got downstairs the next morning and found Harley and Sadie tapping the door to go out with no sign of Jared anywhere. He let the dogs out and let the coffee brew while he looked for some painkillers. It was eerie being the first one up. Everything felt so quiet.

His room was still in darkness when he nudged the door open, mug of coffee in one hand and Tylenol in the other. He could just about make out the shape of Jared’s body buried deep beneath the covers as he set the coffee down.

“Jared? You awake?”

The noise that came from the bed couldn’t even be described as a groan. It was like a rusty rattle muffled by the comforter and Jensen grinned. Jared’s Sasquatch nickname had never been more appropriate, judging by the noises he was making. It sounded like Chewbacca.

“Jared, I hate to break it to you but the car will be here in thirty minutes. I have coffee and Tylenol.”

“Coffee?” Jared’s voice was raspy as his head poked out from beneath the covers, hair sticking out in all directions as he peered blearily at Jensen.

Jensen pressed the mug into Jared’s grasping hands. “Pills are on the table. I’ll go get the shower running. You smell like a bar.”

“I’m gonna kill Rosenbaum,” Jared groaned as he sipped his coffee. “He always does this to me.”

“Actually, I’m pretty sure you did it to yourself,” Jensen called from the bathroom as he set the shower to medium hot. “I don’t remember anyone forcing you to drink.”

He came back into the bedroom and took the empty mug from Jared, setting it down on the dresser.

“How come you’re ok?” Jared pouted as he struggled to extract himself from the covers.

“Because I’m older and can handle my liquor,” Jensen shot back.

Jared grimaced. “I hate you. Why am I in your bed anyway? Did you try and have your wicked way with me while I was drunk and defenseless?”

Jensen had never been more glad that he was an actor. “No, it’s because I wasn’t going to hurt my back hauling your heavy ass up the stairs. Now get in the shower, Padalecki. I’m not going to be late again because of you.”

“Fine,” Jared sighed as he finally managed to struggle out of bed and get to his feet. “Well, you might not have a hangover but at least Misha will be feeling as bad as I do.”

* * *

“What do you mean you don’t get hangovers?”

Misha shrugged. “I drank some water before I went to sleep and I feel fine.”

Jared whirled on Jensen and shot him an accusing glare. “Why didn’t you make me drink water last night?”

Jensen raised an eyebrow. “Make you? Dude, you were barely conscious. If I’d tried to force water down your throat you’d have probably drowned.”

“It’d be better than feeling like this,” Jared moaned pitifully. “How long before we can go home and I can die?”

“We’ve been here less than an hour.”

“Shit.”

“Don’t worry,” Jensen grinned as he slung an arm across Jared’s shoulders. “Misha and I will take care of you while you’re all fragile and delicate.”

“Absolutely,” Misha agreed. “There will be no loud noises or jostling you around at all.”

Jared groaned. “I hate you both.”

* * *

“Well, at least you’re still alive,” Jensen pointed out as they climbed into the car at the end of the day.

“No thanks to you and Misha,” Jared grumbled. “I still want to know where he managed to get firecrackers from.”

“It’s Misha. I gave up trying to figure out how or why he does anything ages ago.”

“Point.”

Jared dozed during the drive home and Jensen focused his eyes on the world outside rather than on how cute his friend looked slumped against the window with his mouth slightly open.

He really was screwed. There was no way this was ever going to end well.

* * *

“You hungry?” Jensen asked as they got inside and were pounced upon by Harley and Sadie.

“Yeah, I kind of am, actually,” Jared replied as he let the dogs out. “I think my stomach has finally recovered from last night. Are we eating real food or do you want to get takeout?”

“I’ll cook,” Jensen replied, already heading into the kitchen. “It won’t take long.”

Jared followed him into the kitchen and collapsed into one of the chairs. “Man, I can’t wait until we wrap tomorrow. I’m so not drinking at the party, by the way.”

Jensen snorted as he pulled a few ingredients out of the cupboards. “Sure you’re not. I give you an hour, tops, before Misha has you drinking the weirdest thing they’ve got.”

“You have to protect me from him. Seriously.”

Jensen made a noncommittal hum and dropped some pasta into a pan of water. “So, I was thinking we should hang out here for a few days before heading to LA to meet up with Rosey and the others. I need time to catch up on my sleep and get packed and stuff.”

“Sure,” Jared replied. “Works for me. I’m fucking exhausted.”

“Me too. Misha said he was going to fly home right after the wrap party. I guess he’s sick of living in a hotel.”

“God, I remember those days,” Jared said, face twisting into a grimace. “Buying this place was the best thing I ever did.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Jensen said as he set the table. He could barely remember the days when he’d been worried about moving in with Jared because they already spent so much time together. This house felt like home now, and so did Jared and his dogs. He couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

“Want a beer with your meal?” he asked with a grin.

“Fuck off, man.”

* * *

Not surprisingly, Jared completely failed in his plan to stay sober at the wrap party, but Jensen was too buzzed and drunk himself to care or even tease him about it. It had been a hellish year of filming for all of them, even Misha who hadn’t been in all the episodes, and right now Jensen just wanted to have a few beers and relax while he looked forward to his three months off.

“So, you looking forward to doing this full-time next year?” Jensen’s beer was cold and his hand was starting to go numb from holding it. Misha was drinking some sort of bright green shit that Jensen didn’t even want to try and identify.

“Sure,” Misha shrugged. “I’m not gonna say no to steady work and you and Jared aren’t total assholes so I think it’ll be bearable.”

Jensen raised his glass in a mock toast. “Well, it’s awfully kind of you to say so.”

Misha just grinned and drained his glass. “So, where’s the gigantic object of your gigantic crush? I get so confused when I don’t see you together, considering it only happens about once a month.”

Jensen glanced over his shoulder, easily spotting Jared towering over the rest of the crowd. He was chatting to one of the cameramen and laughing at whatever he was saying, thankfully far enough away to be out of earshot of this conversation.

“We’re not conjoined twins or anything,” he grumbled.

“You might as well be,” Misha replied. “How the hell he hasn’t realized that you want to fuck him is beyond me.”

“Classy, Collins. Can we not talk about this now, please? Or ever again, for that matter.”

“I’ve already told you he won’t hear it from me,” Misha said. “I just think maybe if you told him it wouldn’t be as bad as you think.”

Jensen sighed and drained his beer. “Look, I’ve told you before. Jared’s straight. In fact I’m pretty sure he’s flirting with Gen right now. I’m not going to screw up our friendship because of some stupid fucked up crush, ok?”

“Sure, ok. End of conversation. You want another drink?”

“Yeah,” Jensen replied. “Something strong.”

Before Misha could stand up, Jared bounded over and collapsed into the seat next to Jensen.

“Heeeey,” he slurred, resting his head on Jensen’s shoulder. “What are you guys talking about, tucked away in the corner over here?”

“Nothing,” Jensen replied quickly just as Misha said exactly the same thing. Way to not sound suspicious.

Jared sat up and looked between them with a frown.

“I was just getting Jensen a drink,” Misha said smoothly, easing out of his seat and motioning to the bar. “You want one?”

“Sure,” Jared replied, the frown melting from his face and a lazy grin settling on his face. “I’ll have whatever Jensen’s having.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me? Be right back.”

“He’s weird,” Jared murmured as Misha disappeared in the crowd.

His head dropped back onto Jensen’s shoulder and Jensen couldn’t stop himself from ruffling his hair. “Yeah, well, so are you.”

“Hey, I’m adorable and you know it.”

Jensen smiled softly and dropped his hand. The last thing he needed was to be seen openly petting Jared like a dog at their own wrap party, and he certainly didn’t need a hard on while Jared snuggled up to him.

Luckily, Misha chose that exact moment to come back, armed with two shots of tequila and a glass of something blue which looked even worse than the green stuff he’d been drinking earlier.

“Dude,” Jared groaned when he saw the drinks. “I’m still recovering from the last tequila session. Are you trying to kill me?” He pushed his glass towards Jensen. “You drink mine.”

“I can get you something else if you want,” Misha offered.

“Nah, I’m good. Should probably stop now anyway.”

Jensen shrugged and knocked back both shots one after the other. Jared grinned and clapped him on the back. “You can take the guy out of Texas but you can’t take Texas out of the guy.”

Jensen grinned back, enjoying the way the booze burned his throat and warmed his stomach. It didn’t hurt that Jared’s hand stayed resting on his back either.

“So, I’m flying back to LA tomorrow,” Misha said, and shot Jensen an annoyingly smug look when he noticed where Jared’s hand was resting. “Gonna hang out for a few days and then head over to Michael’s.”

“We’re gonna fly over the day before we leave,” Jared said. “Rosey has said we can crash at his place the night before.”

“Does anyone even know where we’re going?” Jensen asked curiously. “I talked to Tom and he said it’s all planned out but he doesn’t know the schedule.”

“It’s Michael,” Jared sighed. “You know how he loves surprises.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of what I’m afraid of.”

* * *

They spent most of the next day sleeping.

“Damn, that felt good,” Jensen moaned when he eventually staggered out of bed at lunchtime and wandered into the kitchen. Jared was eating breakfast, or maybe lunch. “How long have you been up?”

“About twenty minutes,” Jared grinned. “I love not having to go to work.”

“Me too,” Jensen replied as he stole a piece of toast from Jared’s plate. “Remind me why we took this job again?”

“Because, despite the hellish working hours, it’s an awesome job.”

“Oh, yeah. Now I remember.”

Jared slapped Jensen’s wrist when he made a beeline for a piece of bacon. “So, since we’re not flying to LA for another couple of days, what do you want to do?”

“Go back to bed?” Jensen suggested.

Jared rolled his eyes and handed Jensen his own plate of breakfast. “I was thinking maybe we could go out somewhere with Harley and Sadie. Enjoy some fresh air, you know.”

“Man, fresh air is overrated.” Jensen replied as he tucked into his food. “I just wanna sleep. Maybe watch a DVD or something while I’m sleeping.”

“While you’re sleeping?” Jared laughed.

“It’s not like I haven’t seen every movie we own about twenty times,” Jensen pointed out.

“Come on, let’s go out for a couple of hours and then we can get takeout and I’ll kick your ass at Guitar Hero.”

And Jensen never could say no to Jared, especially when he looked at him with that hopeful smile of his. “Sure, ok. But only if we go somewhere where I can take photos.”

Jared grinned. “I know just the place.”

* * *

Jensen had his camera out as soon as they got into the entrance of Stanley Park, snapping a photo of the statue of Robert Burns that loomed above them. Amusingly, there was a bird perched on the statue’s head and Jensen had to wonder what sort of poem Burns would have written about that if he’d still been alive.

Harley and Sadie were in their element, chasing each other around Jared’s legs and barking impatiently because the humans weren’t walking. Jensen had to snap a picture of the huge grin on Jared’s face before they set off down the trail.

“Still think fresh air is overrated?” Jared asked as they walked through the forest, Harley and Sadie darting among the trees and stopping every few minutes to investigate a new smell.

Jensen grinned and jabbed Jared in the ribs with his elbow.

“Does that translate to ‘yes, Jared, you were right. Thanks for bringing me on this awesome day out’?”

“Something like that,” Jensen replied.

“You think Rosenbaum has anything like this planned for us?” Jared asked as they walked, arms occasionally brushing against each other.

“I dunno.”

He hoped so, though.

* * *

They spent the next couple of days chilling out at home and packing ready for their trip. By Monday night Jensen actually felt like he’d caught up on all the sleep he’d missed while they were filming and was actually sort of looking forward to going away.

One of the guys on set had offered to take Harley and Sadie in while they were gone, a fact that had made Jared happy. He hated the idea of leaving his babies with a stranger and Bob had a couple of dogs of his own who seemed to get along with Harley and Sadie so it all worked out ok. The dogs were kind of getting their own vacation out of it.

“I’m gonna miss them,” Jared said softly once Bob had picked them up with assurances that they would be spoiled rotten over the next couple of weeks.

“I know, man,” Jensen replied. There wasn’t really anything else he could say.

Their flight was early the next morning so they spent a quiet evening watching TV and finishing their packing. They still didn’t know where they were going on this trip, and when Jensen had asked Michael he’d just been told to pack a bit of everything.

So not helpful.

“I bet he’s gonna have us go skydiving or something,” Jared suggested over dinner. “Ooh, or maybe we’ll do a safari. That’d be awesome.”

“Come on, man, it’s Rosenbaum,” Jensen grinned. “He’ll probably have us hitting every town that’s got a dirty sounding name so we can collect shot glasses.”

Jared snorted. “Awesome.”

“There’s a place in North Carolina called Horneytown. I gotta say, I’m curious.”

“Aww! You feeling horny, Jensen?” Jared asked with mock concern. “You should have said something, man. I know plenty of girls who would be willing.”

Jensen didn’t like the way this conversation was going so he decided to end it the way he always did when a change of subject was needed. “Fuck you, dude.”

Jared laughed and said, “Come on, we should go to bed. We have to be up in six hours to make our flight.”

He hated the way Jared said ‘let’s go to bed’ every night. Because for one fleeting moment he imagined them going upstairs together, hot bodies wrapping around each other as they fucked slowly before falling asleep.

Instead he went to bed alone and jerked off to the image.

* * *

“Why the hell didn’t we choose a later flight?” Jensen growled the next morning when he was up too damn early. It wasn’t even light outside yet.

Jared handed him a mug of coffee and patted his shoulder. “You can sleep on the plane. It’s a three hour flight.”

“Not long enough,” Jensen grumbled.

“Rosey called while you were in the shower,” Jared said as he handed Jensen a plate of pancakes. “He’s gonna meet us at the airport. Misha arrived at his place last night.”

Jensen tried not to think about the conversations they might have had over drinks. Fuck, why the hell hadn’t he just lied to Misha? So damn stupid.

“You ok?” Jared asked, cutting into his thoughts. “You kinda zoned out there.”

“Yeah, man,” Jensen smiled. “Just tired, you know.”

“Well, you need to eat up,” Jared replied. “Cab’s gonna be here in ten minutes. I’ll round up our stuff.”

Okay, so maybe this trip was going to be tougher than he thought.

* * *

Jared elbowed Jensen in the ribs as they were coming down the escalator at LAX and pointed. Michael had obviously attempted to disguise his appearance by wearing a New York Rangers cap and he was holding up a sign that read ‘Jason Teague and Dean Forester’.

Jensen sighed. This was going to be a long two weeks.

“Uh oh,” Michael said when they reached him and he saw the glare on Jensen’s face. “Looks like Jenny didn’t get enough beauty sleep last night.”

Jared grinned and wrapped an arm around Jensen’s shoulders, which did little to relieve the tension he was feeling. “You know he needs at least twelve hours a night. Guy picked totally the wrong line of work.”

“Can we stop talking and get coffee?” Jensen asked, resisting the temptation to lean into Jared. “Then you can mock me all you want.”

“Is that a promise?” Michael asked with a grin. “Come on, my car’s out front and we can hit Starbucks on the way to my place.”

* * *

Jensen did feel better once he’d had another injection of caffeine. Well enough to mock Michael for knowing the name of Jared’s Gilmore Girls character.

“You watched it, man, I know you did. Bet you had a thing for Lorelai.”

“Hell, no. It was Luke all the way for me,” Michael shot back as they pulled into his driveway. “Hey, lemme show you the van before we go inside. It’s awesome.”

The van in question was a white BMW and it was obvious from the way Michael’s eyes shone that it was his pride and joy.

“Check this out!” Michael said excitedly as he pressed a button on his keychain. The van’s alarm beeped three times as it disabled and then the engine started.

“And wait until you see the inside,” he said without waiting for any sort of reaction from Jared and Jensen. He slid open the side door and stepped back so they could see inside.

There was a set of furry dice hanging from the mirror, the seats were all lined with cream leather and a flat screen TV was mounted in the back.

“Dude, did you go on Pimp My Ride without telling anyone?” Jensen asked with a raised eyebrow as he took in the interior.

“No, man, this is all my own work. Didn’t I tell you it was awesome?”

He pressed a switch and strobe lights started to flash as he beamed at them.

Jared was now looking more than a little concerned. “Are you sure the five us are gonna fit in there? None of us are exactly small.”

“Apart from Misha,” Jensen added with a grin.

“Dude, he’s like an inch shorter than you.” Jared snorted.

“Hey, it’s not my fault I’m used to being dwarfed by your gigantic body. Misha probably feels like a munchkin standing next to you.”

“Whatever.”

“There’s plenty of room,” Michael chimed in. “Now let’s go and dump your stuff in the spare room and we can crack open the beers.”

Spare room? Singular? Oh, this was not good.

* * *

The bed stood out in the fairly bare room and the first thing Jensen thought was that it was nowhere near big enough. It was a king, but as Jared had pointed out, they weren’t exactly small guys. There was no way they were going to be able to avoid touching and if one of them rolled over in his sleep . . .

“Come on,” Michael said, giving Jensen a hearty slap on the back and jarring him out of his rather alarming thoughts. “Tom and Misha have already opened the beers. We’ve got some catching up to do.”

Jensen sighed and nodded. “Right.”

Apparently Tom and Misha had decided to settle for the afternoon in Michael’s entertainment room. Jensen couldn’t help but be impressed by the sheer amount of geeky stuff in there. There was an actual lightsaber hanging on the wall, an old games console in one corner of the room and a karaoke machine in the centre of it all. Michael’s love of karaoke had been the subject of many stories while Jensen had worked on Smallville. Thankfully he’d managed to avoid having to sing anything so far but he was suddenly painfully aware that his luck might have run out.

“Hey, you made it!” Tom waved a half empty beer bottle in their general direction but didn’t make any effort to get up from the couch

Misha grinned at them from a bean bag on the floor and also made no effort to get up.

“How was the flight?”

“Slept through most of it,” Jensen shrugged, accepting a cold beer from Michael and flopping down on the couch next to Tom.

“It was hilarious,” Jared laughed as he took a bean bag next to Misha. “He was snoring and there was so much drool I thought the stewardess was going to kick him out in the middle of the flight.”

“Fuck you,” Jensen grumbled. “I don’t snore.”

Jared grinned. “I guess we’ll find out tonight.”

“What?” Misha asked, blinking innocently at him. “You guys have never shared a room before in the whole time you’ve known each other?”

“Why would we?” Jensen replied, hoping his tone didn’t sound as snappy as he was feeling. Why the hell couldn’t Misha leave things alone? “We have our own trailers on set and they always put us in separate hotel rooms when we go anywhere.”

“Me and Tom used to crash in the same room all the time when we were working together,” Michael chimed in, and Jensen really wanted to kill everyone now.

“Only because you’d come into my room, drink the mini-bar dry and then pass out in my bed,” Tom pointed out.

Ok, Tom was on the safe list and so was Jared, but the other two were dead men.

“Oh, I’ve done that before,” Jared laughed. “Jensen just took my key and slept in my room.”

“Yeah, because you were sprawled out so much there was no room for me in the bed.”

Jensen decided the subject needed changing. Right now.

“So, Rosenbaum, what’s the plan for this trip of yours? Do we actually get to know where we’re going now?”

“Nope,” Michael replied with a grin. “Come on, it’s more fun this way. Just relax, have a few beers and all will be revealed in the morning.”

Jensen sighed. He had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

* * *

“Jenny! I think you need to sing for us.”

Michael swayed on his feet, eyes glazed as he pointed the karaoke microphone in Jensen’s direction.

“No, I really don’t.”

“Come on, man,” Michael pleaded. “You’re the only one of us who can actually sing. I’ll let you choose the song.”

Tom snorted beside Jensen. “This is the only time he’s ever admitted he can’t actually sing. You should make the most of it.”

“Nope,” Jensen replied. He’d lost count of the number of beers he’d had but he was still sober enough to know that he wasn’t going to sing. It was different when he was with Christian and Steve. He didn’t know why but it was.

Michael was actually pouting now. “You’re no fun. I hope you’re not going to be like this the whole trip.”

“Whatever, man. I’m beat and I’m going to bed.”

Jared struggled to his feet, handing his empty bottle to Misha before lurching towards Jensen. “I’ll come too.”

“Lightweights,” Misha smiled. “The night is young, right, guys?”

Tom’s only reply was a soft snore from the couch.

“I’m still with you, buddy,” Michael announced as he collapsed into the bean bag that Jared had vacated. “We’re the party guys.”

Jensen rolled his eyes and headed up to the bedroom. Somehow he doubted that the party guys would be awake for much longer, and he didn’t want to even think about whether Michael would be in a fit state to drive in the morning.

“You want the bathroom first?” he asked when they reached the bedroom, the large bed reminding him again of the awkward sleeping arrangements.

“Nah, you go,” Jared relied, sitting down on the end of the bed and looking up at the Justice League print that hung above him on the wall. “I’m just gonna . . . sit.”

Jensen shrugged. “Ok, man. Whatever makes you happy.”

It didn’t take him long to find the bathroom and he was surprised at how small it was compared to the other rooms in the house. It was typically Michael, though. There was a Rubix cube (unsolved) on the back of the toilet and a pile of porn magazines under the sink. Playboy and Playgirl, Jensen noticed with a wry grin. Michael was never one to let himself be confined to sexuality labels. He liked who he liked and that was it. Mostly it was Tom these days but that didn’t stop him letting his eyes wander once in a while.

He got washed up and changed into a pair of pajama bottoms before he padded barefoot back into the bedroom. He couldn’t help but smile. Apparently sitting had been too much effort for Jared and he was now sprawled on the bed with his feet still hanging over the edge.

“You awake?” Jensen asked as he put his clothes back into his bag.

“Mmm,” Jared murmured, twisting away when Jensen shook his shoulder.

“Come on, bathroom’s free. Move your ass so I can go to bed.”

“’Kay,” Jared groaned and struggled to his feet.

As his friend wandered to the bathroom Jensen slid into bed, making sure to be as far on his side as possible without making it too obvious. He lay there staring at the ceiling and wondering just when his life got so fucked up. He liked things to be simple and uncomplicated. Being in love with your best friend was so far from simple it actually hurt.

He didn’t realize Jared was back in the room until the light snapped off and he felt the bed dip. He lay there, stiff and awkward as he listened to Jared twisting around and hitting the pillow in an effort to get comfortable.

“Jensen?” Jared’s voice was muffled, as though his face was pressed into the pillow.

“Yeah?”

“Goodnight.”

Jensen sighed as Jared started to snore softly. “’Night, Jared.”

* * *

When Jensen woke up the next morning he was warm and comfortable and there was no way in hell he wanted to get up, ever. Until he heard a soft chuckle.

“You two look cozy.”

His eyes snapped open and he almost fell off the bed when he saw Misha grinning down at him from the loft.

“Jesus Christ! What the hell are you doing up there?”

If anything, the question just made Misha’s grin wider. “The other bed is up here. Didn’t Michael tell you?”

Other bed? There was another bed and no one bothered to tell him? Oh, he was going to kill someone. Probably Misha.

“I just figured you knew but you wanted to share with Jared.”

Definitely Misha.

“He doesn’t seem to mind anyway.”

It was only then that he realized half the reason he was so warm and comfortable was because he was wrapped up in Jared’s arms and pulled flush against his chest. Jared was one of the most touchy-feely guys Jensen knew. It figured he’d be the same when he was asleep. It sure as hell didn’t mean anything.

He slowly started to ease himself out of Jared’s grasp and naturally that was when Jared decided to wake up.

“Morning,” he rasped in Jensen’s ear before letting go of him. “Sorry about that. I must have got cold in the night. Hope I didn’t crush you or anything.”

Jensen leapt out of bed as soon as he was free, trying to make it look as casual as possible but all the while feeling Misha’s eyes on him as he grabbed some clean clothes.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m gonna go shower.”

And he practically bolted from the room before anyone could see how hard he was.

One very long, cold shower and a jerk off later and Jensen felt ready to face the world again. Or almost. He still needed his coffee and headed straight to the kitchen while Jared and Misha decided who was going to shower next. He was surprised to see Tom and Michael already awake.

“Someone else is going to have to drive,” Michael moaned unhappily while Jensen poured himself a coffee. “I’m dying.”

“You’re not dying,” Tom scoffed. “Take some Tylenol, drink some water and suck it up. Besides, you have to drive. You’re the only one who knows where we’re going.”

“Man, sometimes my plans suck.”

Tom pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I’m glad you’ve finally acknowledged that.”

Jared stumbled into the room a few minutes later, face flushed and hair still damp from his shower. “Misha says he’ll be ready in ten minutes but we should go ahead and eat breakfast.”

“That’s a plan I’m not gonna argue with,” Jensen replied. “You gonna cook for your guests, Rosenbaum, or are we eating out?”

“I’m not cooking in my delicate condition. We’ll hit the road as soon as Collins is ready.”

* * *

After a brief stop to fill up on pancakes and coffee they were on their way, Michael behind the wheel with Tom riding shotgun and Jared, Jensen and Misha in the back. Michael had been right and the van was actually pretty spacious. Jensen could feel himself drifting back to sleep, lulled by the smooth sound of the vehicle’s engine.

“It’s gonna take us about six hours to reach our first stop,” Michael said, jarring Jensen out of his doze. “Who wants some music?”

Before anyone could object, the sound of Lionel Richie filled the van.

“Dude,” Jensen groaned, burying his head in Misha’s shoulder.

“Hey, a wise man once said ‘driver picks the music, everyone else shuts their cakehole.’”

That just made Jensen groan again. “I can’t believe you’re quoting my own show at me. Actually, I can’t believe you watched it.”

“I only saw that one episode. Had to see if what you’d left us for was worth it.”

“Was it?” Jared asked with a faint smile.

“Totally.”

Jensen kept his head on Misha’s shoulder, deciding it was more comfortable than leaning against the window. Eventually he was able to block out the sound of the music and fall asleep

* * *

“Do you know the way to San Jose? I'm going back to find some peace of mind in San Jose.”

Jensen woke up to the sound of Michael singing along to Dionne Warwick and let out a long sigh before stretching. His neck was stiff from where he’d been sleeping on Misha and he was slightly embarrassed to see a patch of drool on Misha’s shirt.

“I’ll send you the laundry bill,” Misha said with a grin as he rolled his shoulder. “Did you have a nice nap at least?”

“Yeah,” Jensen replied, glancing out of the window to see they were still in the middle of nowhere. “Are we nearly there?”

“Not yet, children,” Michael’s voice piped up from the front. “We’re still a couple of hours out. You could play a fun game of I-Spy if you’re bored.”

“I spy with my little eye something beginning with J,” Jensen said in a sing-song voice.

“Jackass,” Jared replied immediately.

“Good call,” Jensen said with a grin.

“You two really do spend way too much time together,” Tom observed, and that was enough to make Jensen fall quiet again.

“Well, if the singing wasn’t enough to give it away I think it’s pretty obvious where we’re going first,” Jared said, breaking the silence.

The sign for San Jose flashed by.

Well, there were certainly worse places to start a road trip, Jensen mused to himself.

“Just because you know where we’re going doesn’t mean you know the awesome things I have planned for us to do.”

Jensen could practically hear the grin in Michael’s voice and that did not bode well.

“Just tell me it has nothing to do with porn.”

Michael cackled. “Not everything is about porn, Jenny. You need to get your head out of the gutter.”

“Hey, it’s only there because you put it there,” Jensen shot back. “I was an innocent until I met you.”

“I think Christian would have a thing or two to say about that,” Jared said.

Jensen flipped him off.

* * *

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

He could hear Jared howling with laughter behind him as Michael grinned and patted him on the shoulder.

“Come on, man. It’s perfect. I can’t believe you guys have never been here before.”

“Yeah, because I don’t like to take my work home with me, you freak,” Jensen snapped, but there was already a smile curling on his lips, which he blamed on the sound of Jared’s laughter.

They stood in the car park of The Winchester Mystery House for a few minutes while Jensen got his camera out and took a few photos of the facade. House was an understatement really. It was a mansion.

“Are we just gonna stand here or are we actually going to go inside?”

Jensen grinned and slipped his camera strap around his neck as Jared practically bounced with excitement beside him.

“Wow, you’re really into this, aren’t you?”

“Are you kidding? It’s awesome!”

“See? I’m glad someone appreciates my efforts,” Michael grumbled as they walked towards the entrance.

They paid the fee and picked up a brochure on the way in. Misha then took it upon himself to act as tour guide and tell them about the house as they walked around.

“According to this, Sarah Winchester consulted a medium after her daughter and husband both died. The medium told her that her family was cursed because the guns they made had taken so many lives and the spirits wanted vengeance.”

Jensen grinned. “Dude, that sounds like something straight from an episode of the show.”

“That’s a hell of a lot of corpses to salt and burn,” Jensen replied with a snort. “We’ll have to mention it to Krip. We could drag that story out for a whole season.”

“This is so cool!” Jared exclaimed happily as they walked around the house. “It’s an actual haunted house.”

Jensen smiled and took a few discreet photos of Jared excitedly pointing at the various hidden doors and windows they were finding as they explored. The house was certainly impressive but Jensen had to wonder whether the grief of losing her family had sent Sarah Winchester insane. There were stairs that led to nowhere, windows in the floor, doors in places it was impossible to reach and, his favorite, a cabinet that opened into a another room. It was almost like looking into Narnia.

The gardens were no less impressive, filled with dozens of different kinds of flowers, trees and shrubs. The air was thick with the scent from the flowers and Jensen breathed deep, soaking up the sun as they walked around.

“Ok, that’s just weird,” Michael said, bringing their group to a halt in front of a topiary that had been cut into the shape of the number thirteen.

“Sarah Winchester was obsessed with the number thirteen,” Misha said, resuming his role of tour guide. “One of the chandeliers in the house was imported and then modified so it would hold thirteen candles, and all the wall clothes hooks are in multiples of thirteen. When Sarah died she left the whole place to her cousin Marian Marriot because M is the thirteenth letter of the alphabet and her name had thirteen letters.”

Jensen shook his head. Grief had definitely sent the woman insane.

“It’s kind of sad,” Tom said softly. “That medium played on her guilt and got her to spend the last forty years of her life living in fear of some curse that didn’t exist.”

Jensen hadn’t really thought about it like that, and he considered how he would feel if he lost the people he loved most, glancing at Jared and trying to imagine a life without him in it. Yeah, he could suddenly understand Sarah Winchester a whole lot better.

They stood there for a few minutes in silence, Michael slipping his hand into Tom’s and Jensen aching to do the same to Jared.

“Come on,” Michael finally said, clearing his throat to break the silence. “Let’s go and eat before we hit the road again.”

* * *

“I’m telling you we’ll save time if we go through San Fran. Maybe we can stop while we’re there.”

Tom sighed. “I’m not saying we can’t go. I’m just saying that the traffic will be hell and if there’s nothing for us to see there it’ll make more sense to go around.”

Jared, Jensen and Misha tried hard to ignore the conversation in the front that was rapidly heading towards an argument.

“It’s not like we’re in a rush or anything,” Michael pointed out. “Come on, Tommy, relax.”

“Don’t call me Tommy. You know I hate it.”

“Fine, whatever. Who wants some music?”

He switched on the stereo before anyone had the chance to express an opinion either way and the van was filled with the sounds of Chicago.

Apart from the music they drove in silence for a while, save for Tom sighing when Michael headed into the city instead of going around it.

Twenty minutes later, they were stuck in traffic. To his credit Tom didn’t gloat, but then Jensen couldn’t see his face from where he was sitting. Possibly he was looking smug without having to say it.

“Welcome to San Fran, everyone,” Michael said with false cheer and he started to sing If You’re Going To San Francisco.

They were moving, just incredibly slowly, and Tom sighed as they were overtaken by several people on bikes.

“Forty thousand people in San Francisco cycle to work every day,” Misha said as he peered out of the window over Jensen’s shoulder.

Jared grinned. “And I thought Jensen was a geek for knowing random shit like that.”

“Fuck you, man,” Jensen replied with a smile, desperate to break the tension a little. “I am a fount of knowledge. You’d be lost without me around to answer all your dumbass questions.”

Tom twisted around in his seat and grinned back at them. “Rosey once asked me if you mated a bulldog and a shitsu, would it be called a bullshit?”

Jared howled with laughter while Jensen groaned and buried his head in his hands.

“I thought it was a perfectly valid question,” Michael offered and Jensen could hear the smile in his voice now that everyone was laughing again.

“I think we should stop pretty soon and get a hotel for the night,” Michael said, and there were murmurs of assent from everyone else.

They got as far as Richmond and decided to call it a day, checking into the first hotel they came across that didn’t look like a total hole. By the time they’d checked in, showered, changed and headed down to the restaurant, Tom and Michael were holding hands again and all was right with the world.

“So, where are we heading tomorrow?” Jared asked while they ate.

“What? And ruin the surprise?” Michael grinned. “You’ll just have to wait and see. I promise no more traffic jams, though. I’ve made Tom navigator.”

“Wait. So now Tom knows where we’re going and we don’t?” Jensen asked.

“Come on, Jensen. Live a little. It’s kind of exciting not knowing where we’re going to end up.”

“I don’t like surprises.”

“Maybe one day something will surprise you that you actually like,” Misha volunteered with a smile, taking Jensen back to their conversation about Jared. He’d been doing so well at not thinking about it, too.

“I doubt it.”

He seriously hoped that would be the end of the matter, but the sly look in Misha’s eyes told him this was far from over.

Crap.

* * *

The next day they hit the road straight after breakfast and drove solidly for five hours until they hit the first stop of the day.

“We’re here!” Michael exclaimed gleefully as they all got out of the car to stretch their legs. Jared in particular let out a moan of pleasure as he walked up and down to ease the kinks out of his knees. Jensen figured being stuck in the van for hours at a time must be worse for him, being taller than the rest of them. It wasn’t particularly cramped inside but there wasn’t a huge amount of space to move, especially for Jared.

“You ok?” he asked gently as Jared walked past him.

Jared nodded his head and then grinned. “I wouldn’t say no to one of your expert massages right now. My legs and back are killing me.”

“Don’t be such a pussy, Padalecki,” Michael crowed. “Come on, let’s go and explore.”

Jensen smiled and placed a hand on the small of Jared’s back. “If you’re still hurting when we stop at the hotel tonight I’ll sort you out, ok?”

“Awesome. Thanks, man.”

Jensen deliberately didn’t make eye contact with Misha. He could already feel those blue eyes boring into the back of his head.

Bandon was most famous for storm watching. Unfortunately, the skies were blue and there was barely any wind so they decided to take a walk along the beach before looking for somewhere to eat lunch.

Jensen turned when he heard Michael yell and laughed softly. Tom had thrown Michael over one shoulder and was threatening to drop him in the surf. Michael then decided to distract Tom from his quest by spanking his ass, and it seemed to be working.

Misha was up ahead exploring and poking around in various rock pools, which left Jensen alone with Jared for the first time since they’d left.

It was nice.

“Harley and Sadie would love it here,” Jared said as they walked.

“Yeah,” Jensen agreed. “Do you miss them?”

“A little,” Jared said softly. “But I’m glad we’re doing this. It’s fun. Nice to just get away from everything, you know?”

Jensen nodded. They really needed a break after intense levels of filming over the past few months.

“What about you?” Jared asked. “Are you glad we came? You didn’t seem too happy about the idea at first.”

Jensen glanced up at Jared, all windswept and tanned and smiling.

“Yeah, I’m glad we came.”

* * *

Jensen took a deep breath, exhaled and smiled as the fresh clean air filled his lungs. They’d made it to Olympic National Park just as the sun was setting and now that they were here he wasn’t sure he’d be able to make himself leave. Everything was so peaceful. He could hear the sound of the water lapping against the lake shore, the insects were chirping and the wind was rustling gently in the trees. Really, he could just close his eyes and sleep on his feet listening to the sounds of nature.

“Camping?” Jared yelped, breaking the silence and making Jensen frown. “In a tent? Dude, it’s cold! And there’s some lovely cabins over there that we could stay in where it’s not cold and I can sleep in a proper bed.”

“Don’t be such a wimp,” Michael replied, already in the process of erecting one tent. The other was still in its bag at Jared’s feet. “Come on, you want to experience the great outdoors, don’t you? This is the best way to do it.”

Misha wandered over from wherever he’d been exploring and started putting together the second tent. “Actually, if you really wanted to experience the great outdoors we’d be sleeping under a tree behind a shelter made out of fallen branches. I did that once and it was pretty awesome.”

He grinned when he realized everyone was staring at him. “I’m just saying.”

Jared was smiling now and he crouched down to help Misha assemble the tent. “Man, you really missed out not being around in the sixties, didn’t you?”

Jensen snapped a quick photo of Misha and Jared working on the tent and then wandered over to join them. “I’d offer to help but you guys look like you’ve got it covered.”

“You could go and get some water,” Tom suggested. “Since you’re clearly bored. There’s a faucet over near the cabins for clean drinking water and a water tank in the back of the van.”

Jensen was starting to regret opening his mouth but he put his camera away and got the tank out of the van. Luckily, it wasn’t too far to walk because by the time he’d filled it with water it was damned heavy.

“Next time we camp I’m putting myself on tent building duty,” he grunted as he set the water down.

“You need to work out more,” Jared grinned, flexing his muscles for effect, which left Jensen’s mouth dry.

“I’ve told you before, not all of us are crazy enough to get up before sunrise to get all hot and sweaty before going to work for sixteen hours.”

“I’m with Jensen,” Misha agreed. He sorted through the tent poles until he found the one he was looking for. “I can think of much more fun ways of getting hot and sweaty. None of them involve a gym.”

“Man, I miss my gym,” Jared mourned, totally ignoring the obscene way in which Misha was fondling the pole to demonstrate what he’d been talking about in case anyone hadn’t figured it out.

“I could teach you some yoga in the morning,” Misha offered. “I know it’s not the same as an intense workout but it’ll help with those cramped muscles from sitting in the van.”

“Awesome!” Jared’s face lit up and Jensen had to swallow back the completely irrational flare of jealousy that the smile wasn’t being directed at him.

“I’ll wake you up in the morning,” Misha promised.

“Not too early, I hope,” Jensen grumbled. “Some of us are on vacation.”

“Aww! You don’t want to get all bendy and stretchy with us?” Misha asked with a smirk that seemed far too dirty for Jensen’s liking. “You’ll be amazed at the positions I’ll be able to get Jared into.”

Jared laughed and cuffed Misha around the back of the head. “Shut up, dude. You’re making Jensen blush.”

Blush was an understatement. Jensen could feel his whole face burning red at the thought of Jared bent into some of the positions Misha had demonstrated to him once when they’d been bored. Some of them had practically defied the laws of physics.

“Tent’s done,” Misha announced with a casual grin, shrugging his shoulders and giving Jensen a friendly pat on the shoulder as he wandered over to see how Tom and Michael were getting on with theirs.

Jensen watched him, plotting his demise in slow and painful detail. Misha clearly got some sort of twisted pleasure from fucking with him and now Jensen wanted revenge. He just had to think of something good.

When he turned back to look at Jared he found his friend frowning at him.

“What?”

Jared shook his head and the frown melted away. “Nothing. Come on, let’s eat. I’m starving.”

“There’s a stove in the trunk of the van,” Tom said. Apparently he was now in charge of organisation as well as being the navigator. “Misha said he’d cook dinner for us.”

“Do we even have anything to cook?” Jared asked, his stomach growling in a way that seconded his opinion.

“Relax,” Michael assured him. “It’s all taken care of. I picked up supplies while we were in Bandon.”

Supplies, as it turned out, was bacon, eggs, beans and more beer. A lot more beer. And tequila.

“Are you trying to kill me?” Jared asked when he saw the beer mountain. “Because Krip is going to be pissed if he has to recast Sam at this point.”

“Ain’t no way in hell I’m getting a new brother now,” Jensen replied. “Plus I’d have to move out.”

Jared flung himself at Jensen, sprawling across his lap and clinging to him. “Jensen! Protect me from the tequila! You’re my only hope!”

He stroked Jared’s hair and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “Don’t worry, baby. I’ll keep you safe.”

Jared cackled and climbed off Jensen, who found himself feeling cold at the lack of contact.

“I thought we’d stay here a couple of days,” Michael said, now happily nestled against Tom and sipping his beer. “Plenty to see and we’ll be on the road a few days after this.”

“You gonna tell us where we’re going next?” Jensen asked, even though he already knew the answer.

“Nope. But it’s going to be awesome!”

* * *

A few beers later and Jensen was feeling warm, content and sleepy.

“I’m gonna head to bed,” he said, receiving little more than sleepy murmurs from everyone else.

“Misha should sleep in the middle,” he told Jared when Jared slowly climbed to his feet. “He’s the smallest.”

“Why is Misha sleeping with us?” Jared asked, not unkindly, just curiously. “Our tent is the same size as Tom’s.”

“Because I don’t want to be caught in the middle of Tom and Michael having sex,” Misha explained. “Well, actually, I’d have no problem with that but I think they might object.”

“Yeah, ok, you’ve got a point there. Let’s sleep.”

* * *

Not surprisingly, Jensen dreamed about Jared and kisses in his trailer which quickly turned into something more NC-17 rated. When he woke up he wasn’t cold anymore but he was hard as a rock.

It was light outside now but Jensen’s internal clock told him it was still nowhere near time to get up. He let out a soft groan and tried to readjust himself without waking up Misha who was still sleeping soundly beside him, or underneath him, more to the point. His eyes widened when he realized that some time during the night he had cuddled up to Misha and was now practically grinding against him. He prayed Misha had slept through the whole thing because this went way beyond embarrassing.

He shifted away, closed his eyes and took a steadying breath. That was when he heard Jared moving around. For a moment he considered pretending to be asleep, but finally decided against it and raised his head the minimal amount needed to get Jared in his line of sight.

“Dude,” he croaked, “it’s still early. Go back to sleep.”

“Just need a bathroom break,” Jared replied. His eyes were fixed firmly on his shoes, which he was tying with a look of almost fierce concentration. “I won’t be long.”

He crawled out of the tent before Jensen could reply. He must have been really desperate for a piss, Jensen figured.

Jensen sighed and closed his eyes, making sure there was a healthy distance between him and Misha before he fell back asleep.

When he woke up he was cold again and there were soft voices coming from outside the tent.

“I’m pretty sure it shouldn’t be this hard.”

Jensen could hear Jared groaning and he sat up cautiously. The tent was now empty, Misha apparently having got up at some point after Jensen had fallen back to sleep.

“It’s just because you’re not used to it,” Jensen heard Misha saying, his voice clearly amused. “Just take a few deep breaths and try again.”

Jensen had to admit he was curious and he quickly pulled his clothes on and stuck his head out of the tent.

He was not prepared for the sight of Jared’s ass sticking up in the air just a few inches away from his nose. He froze, eyes wide as Misha spotted him and smirked.

“This position is called Prasarita Padottanasana,” Misha told Jared, circling him to check his posture. “It’s for relieving stress and anxiety.”

“Oh, god,” Jared groaned. “I think I’m gonna die.”

“Just remember to breathe and you’ll be fine,” Misha assured him. “Like I said, you’re just not used to using some of these muscles. Keep doing this every day and you’ll be bending your body into positions you didn’t even know existed.”

Jensen scrambled out of the tent with a muttered excuse about finding the bathroom. One very cold shower later he headed back to the tents and was relieved to find that Misha’s little yoga session was over.

“I may never walk again,” Jared whimpered as Jensen sat down next to him.

“I guess now’s not the time to tell you about the ten mile hike we’ve got planned for today then?” Tom asked with a grin.

Jared let out a small sob and buried his face in Jensen’s shoulder. “Jensen, don’t make me go. Please?”

Jensen grinned. “Jared, you’re the youngest one here. You’re not going to wuss out and leave us old men to do all the hard work, are you?”

Jared considered this for a moment. “I’ll never hear the end of it if I stay here, will I?”
“Nope,” Jensen replied. “Come on, you’ll be fine once you’ve had breakfast, I promise.”

Jared’s eyes lit up at the mention of food and Jensen laughed.

* * *

Tom had been exaggerating slightly with his talk of a ten mile hike. It was actually a fairly gentle walk and it gave Jensen plenty of opportunity to take photos while they ambled through the forest.

“This place is incredible,” Jared breathed as he walked alongside Jensen.

Jensen couldn’t disagree. He didn’t think he’d seen anything this green and lush in his life. The trees that towered over them were literally covered in green moss that was so dense it was actually dripping down off the branches. It was like something from a fantasy movie and he half expected to run into the characters from Lord of the Rings.

Misha was up ahead giving an animated commentary on the types of trees and moss they were looking at, most of which went straight over Jensen’s head. How the hell did Misha know so much about everything anyway?

“He’s like a walking encyclopedia,” Jared laughed, apparently reading Jensen’s mind.

Jensen chuckled and nodded. “Well, at least he’s happy.”

“What about you?” Jared asked with a sideways glance. “Are you happy?”

“Me? I’m peachy.”

Jared considered this for a moment, almost as though he was deciding what to do with the information. Then he smiled and nodded. “Okay.”

“What about you? You having fun?”

“Yeah.”

Jensen grinned and slapped Jared on the arm. “Come on. We should catch up with Misha before he realizes he’s talking to himself.”

“Where are Michael and Tom?” Jared asked as they quickened their pace a little to catch up.

A soft moan came from somewhere behind them and Jensen grinned. “Probably best we don’t know.”

* * *

He was tired by the time they got back to the tents, but happy. It had been a pretty amazing day. He almost couldn’t wait to get home to see how his photos had come out. There was only so much detail you could get from the little display on the back of the camera.

“We’ll head off after breakfast in the morning,” Michael said after dinner as they cracked open the next set of beers. “It’s gonna be a long drive but it’ll be worth it, I promise.”

“You up for some more yoga in the morning, Jared?” Misha asked with an innocent smile. “I’ve got a whole bunch of other positions you can try.”

Jensen didn’t even want to imagine.

“Are they going to hurt as much as this morning?” Jared asked sceptically. “Because I don’t know if I’ve recovered from that yet.”

“I told you, you just need to get used to it. Maybe we can get Jensen to give it a try as well.”

“No thanks,” Jensen quickly replied. “I like my spine in one piece, thanks.”

“Your loss,” Misha said with a shrug, and Jensen wondered for a moment whether he was still talking about the yoga.

* * *

Jensen made sure to leave a reasonable distance between him and Misha that night and put on a couple of extra layers of clothes to keep him from seeking out body heat in his sleep.

“Where do you think Rosey is going to drag us to next?” Jared asked and Jensen could hear him moving around in the dark, trying to get comfortable.

“I dunno,” Jensen replied, keeping his voice at a low whisper in case Misha was actually asleep. “I’m kinda gonna miss this place, though. It’s pretty amazing and we’ve barely seen any of it.”

“Maybe we could come back some time,” Jared suggested. “You and me and the dogs. They’d love it here.”

“Yeah,” Jensen replied softly. “That sounds nice.”

He felt Misha nudge him with his foot, which answered the question about whether he was sleeping or not.

“’Night, Misha,” he said pointedly and rolled over so that his back was to the two of them. “’Night, Jared.”

“’Night, guys,” Jared’s voice came back, already sounding sleepy.

Beside him he heard Misha sigh and chose to ignore it, closing his eyes and willing himself to sleep.

Thankfully, his night was dream free and when he woke up in the morning Jared and Misha were already up.

* * *

“I can stick the TV on if you want,” Michael offered a couple of hours into the journey. “We’re gonna be on the road most of the day and there’s no sense all of you being bored.”

Jensen had laughed when he’d first seen the small TV screen installed in the back of the van because, really, who wants their car to feel like a plane? Now, though, with nothing but a whole lot of nothing outside he was glad of something to do. Jared was staring out of the window looking about as bored as Jensen felt and Misha was busy tapping away on his phone.

“I didn’t figure you for the yuppie type,” Jensen said, gesturing at the phone. “Checking up on your stocks and shares? Wrong time to be investing in anything, or hadn’t you noticed?”

Jared grinned and snatched the phone from Misha, reading aloud from the screen.

“In times of war we must all make sacrifices. As such I have given up shoes in favor of leaves tied to my feet. I suggest you all do the same.”

He glanced at Misha and then laughed. “You know you’re insane, right?”

“It has been mentioned.”

Jared handed the phone back to Misha and grinned. “Well, so long as you’re aware.”

Jensen shook his head, still having no idea what the hell they were talking about.

“Hey, Tom, pass me my phone would you?” Michael asked and Jensen could hear the grin in his voice.

“Not while you’re driving,” Tom chastised. “You can play later.”

“Fine,” Michael sighed. “Next town we come to, we’re stopping for lunch.”

* * *

The town they stopped in could barely be called a town. It was one small street dotted with a few houses and a convenience store with a small bar at the far end. Still, the bar served food and it gave them a chance to stretch their legs and that was all they really needed.

“Do you want me to drive for a while?” Tom asked while they ate. It was obvious to anyone who looked that Michael was exhausted. He’d done all the driving himself since they’d set off from LA and even the small break in the national park hadn’t done him much good.

“Nah, man,” Michael said with a grateful smile. “Nobody drives my baby but me.”

At the slightly hurt look in Tom’s eyes, he reached over and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “Don’t worry, I’ll only drive for a couple more hours and then we’ll find a hotel for the night. Then you can help me relax after a hard day’s driving.”

Tom grinned. “Yeah, I think I can do that.”

* * *

When they got back in the van Michael put the TV on without asking whether anyone actually wanted to watch it or not, and Jensen had to laugh when he saw what was on the screen.

“Aww, man,” Jared groaned as the opening credits for Gilmore Girls started. “Put something else on. Seriously.”

“Are you kidding?” Michael asked. “This show is awesome. You ever seen it, new guy?”

“Can’t say that I have,” Misha replied innocently, and Jensen knew for a fact that he was lying. Misha had told him one day on set that he’d watched a couple of episodes of Smallville and Gilmore Girls as well as Supernatural before the audition so he could get a feel for who he’d be working with if he got the part.

“Watch and enjoy,” Michael cackled as Jared curled up as much as he could and looked at anything but the TV. Jensen felt kind of bad. He hated to see himself on screen even more than Jared did but at the same time it was fascinating to watch. Jared was so young, so different from the guy he was now. Except the smile. His smile was still exactly the same, so bright and dimpled that it made him want to smile back.

Jensen watched until the episode was over and then Michael switched the TV to one of the music channels.

“My god, that was embarrassing,” Jared moaned when he realized it was over. “Next time we have to watch Days of Our Lives or one of the crappy movies you guys did when you were starting out.”

“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Misha said gently, patting Jared on the knee. “We all had to start out somewhere.”

“Yeah,” Jensen agreed, wishing he’d been the one to offer words of comfort first and wishing even more that he could reach Jared’s knee. “Seriously, man, I promise we can watch Dark Angel or something next time.”

The smile Jared flashed him was brighter than the one he’d given Misha and somehow that made Jensen feel better.

* * *

Jensen was lying on the bed of his hotel room doing a whole lot of nothing when he heard the tap at his door. For a moment he considered ignoring it. He was beyond exhausted and the only reason he was still awake was because it was way too early to go to sleep.

“Jensen?”

Jared’s muffled voice coming through the wooden door had him up and out of bed in an instant, opening up to find his friend standing on the other side with a tentative smile on his face.

“Hey,” Jared said, his smile fading a little when he took in Jensen’s appearance. “You weren’t sleeping or anything, were you?”

“Nah,” Jensen said, stepping aside to let Jared in. “Too early.”

“Misha has gone off to commune with nature or something,” Jared explained as he flopped down into one of the armchairs. “Tom and Michael are ‘relaxing’ so I thought maybe we could hang out and raid the mini bar.”

“Sounds perfect.”

Several small bottles of booze later, they were sprawled side by side on Jensen’s bed and staring up at the ceiling. He wasn’t quite drunk but there was a sort of comfortable numbness that he was enjoying the feeling of.

“Can I ask you something?” Jared asked in a soft voice which was slightly slurred and told Jensen that Jared was about as drunk as he was.

“Sure,” Jensen replied. “But would it stop you if I said no?”

Jared chuckled quietly. “Only because I’m too tired to argue with you right now.”

Jensen grinned. “Ok, shoot.”

“You know you can tell me anything, right?”

Jensen frowned. “Uh, yeah, I know. Why?”

He felt the bed move as Jared shrugged. “I dunno. I just wanted to make sure you knew.”

Jensen’s frown deepened. He knew there was something Jared wasn’t telling him, or more specifically he was waiting for Jensen to talk to him about it and this was his opening.

Oh, shit! What if Jared knew? He knew and he wanted Jensen to tell him so he could let him down gently. It was the only explanation. If Jared returned his feelings, he’d have kissed him or done something by now, right?

“I know,” he said quietly finally, hoping to God he’d managed to keep the panic out of his voice. “There’s nothing, honest.”

“Okay.”

He wasn’t sure Jared believed him.

* * *

He jolted awake with a start and blinked when the first thing he saw was Jared’s face a few inches from his own. It took a moment for him to realize that they must have fallen asleep after their date with the mini bar and a quick check told him they were both fully clothed and lying on top of the covers. Jared was sound asleep, face relaxed.

Jensen smiled and allowed himself a few minutes just to watch Jared sleep. What he wouldn’t give to be able to wake up to that sight every morning.

Jared shifted slightly, letting out a small murmur as his hair tumbled into his face. Jensen brushed the hair back, smiling softly when Jared sighed contentedly in his sleep. The rational part of his brain told him he should wake Jared up, but the rest of him, the part that was still buzzing with alcohol, told him he’d rather cut off a limb than wake his friend when he looked so peaceful.

Jensen continued to watch Jared until he fell back asleep himself.

When he woke up again Jared was gone and a blanket had been draped over him. Jensen in no way rolled over onto the half of the bed Jared had been occupying so he could breathe in his scent.

* * *

The next day was not what Jensen would call fun. They spent pretty much the whole day cooped up in the van, only stopping for meal and bathroom breaks. The time in between was filled with listening to Michael sing along to Chicago (badly), watching crappy TV (thankfully, no Dark Angel or Days of Our Lives though) and watching a whole lot of nothing go by the window.

By the time they reached the hotel that night Jensen was pretty sure he was going to go stir-crazy and the amount of coffee he’d been drinking during the day didn’t help much.

“I think I’m gonna hit the gym or something,” Jensen announced once they’d checked in.

Jared stared at him. “Ok, who are you and what have you done with Jensen?”

“What? I work out!”

“Yeah, only when you have to,” Jared laughed.

“Well, I have to right now or I’m going to go nuts. Seriously, how are you guys not crawling up the walls after being stuck in that van all day?”

Misha shrugged. “I’m going to go and indulge in some herbal refreshment.”

The look Tom and Michael shot each other told him exactly what they’d be doing to unwind and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Seriously, if all Michael had wanted to do was spend two weeks fucking Tom, they didn’t need to leave LA.

“I’ll come with you,” Jared announced, cutting into Jensen’s thoughts. “That yoga this morning did nothing to burn off my excess energy.”

“Philistine,” Misha muttered with a smile and Jensen went back to the receptionist to ask about the gym.

“They’ve only got a pool,” he said when he came back to rejoin the group.

Jared shrugged. “Works for me. See you back down here in ten? Just gonna dump my bags in the room.”

“Sure,” Jensen agreed. “See you in ten.”

* * *

The air was warm and humid, filled with the smell of chlorine as Jensen entered the changing area and found an empty cubicle to change in. It felt good to get out of his clothes and into a pair of shorts and he couldn’t wait for the cool water on his skin. He could already feel all his pent up energy melting away, just at the thought of it.

“Jensen? You in here?”

“Yeah,” he called back to Jared. “Be out in a minute.”

“I’m already changed so I’ll see you in the pool, ok?”

“Ok!”

He finished changing and shoved his clothes into a locker before heading to the pool. He really hated the humidity of indoor pools. Nothing like the dry Texan summers he was used to.

There were a few casual swimmers slowly making their way up and down the pool length. Mostly guys on business looking to unwind Jensen guessed from their leisurely pace.

It made Jared easy to spot as he powered past all of them, long arms gliding in and out of the water like he belonged there. Jensen had to take a minute to appreciate the way Jared’s arms bulged as he flexed them and the way the muscles in his back rippled as he ploughed through the water. Really, no one on earth had the right to look as good as Jared did right now. It was like something from a cologne commercial. He half expected Jared to rise out of the water in slow motion while some cheesy rock music played as he brushed the hair out of his face.

“Are you coming in or are you just going to stand there like a pussy?” Jared called, earning him a glare from one of the middle-aged businessmen.

Jensen grinned and jumped in, eyes closing in pleasure as the cool water enveloped him. When he came to the surface he found that Jared had swum over to join him.

“I’d offer to race you,” Jared grinned, “but I know you’d never keep up with me.”

Jensen smiled slyly and edged closer. “Oh, yeah?”

He dunked Jared’s head under the water and cackled before swimming as hard and fast as he could towards the other end of the pool. He could hear Jared splutter behind him before following.

Jensen kicked harder, feeling the adrenaline of the chase hit him hard. This was just what he needed. He swam faster, no idea how far behind him Jared was. All he was focussing on was getting to his goal.

He touched the side and turned around to proclaim his victory when Jared crashed into him. Jensen reacted instinctively, grabbing hold of Jared’s arm and pulling him close to stop him sinking under the water.

“You ok?” he asked, eyes warm with concern.

“Yeah,” Jared replied with a grin. “Thanks. You gonna gloat about your victory now?”

Jensen returned the grin. “Hey, if you can’t accept that I beat you, that’s not my problem.”

Jared laughed and shook his head vigorously, spraying Jensen with water from his wet hair.

“I swear, man, you get more and more like your dogs every day. You need help.”

“You love it and you know it.”

It was then that Jensen realized he was still holding onto Jared’s arm and that they were practically chest to chest in the water. Jared seemed to notice it too but he wasn’t making any effort to get away. Instead his tongue snaked out to lick away a drop of water from his lip in a way that Jensen considered to be borderline obscene.

“Jared…”

Jensen realized in a moment of startling clarity that he wanted to tell Jared everything about how he felt, right here and right now. All his doubts, any insecurities he might have had about it ruining their friendship lay suddenly forgotten as he looked into Jared’s eyes and thought about kissing him.

For one split second he thought Jared was going to make the first move. His head tilted and he leaned forward slightly as Jensen readied himself for a kiss.

The kiss never came.

Instead Jared laughed softly, almost sadly, and gently extracted himself from Jensen’s grasp.

“Why don’t we go and see what Misha is up to?”

What the hell?

“You know what Misha is up to,” Jensen practically growled. “He pretty much told us less than an hour ago.”

“Yeah, well, why don’t we join him?”

Jared was already starting to swim away and Jensen was already aching at the loss of contact. He had no idea what was happening now but he had the feeling Jared knew something that he didn’t.

“Join him?” Jensen repeated incredulously. “I didn’t think you were into that shit.”

“I’m not,” Jared replied, now having to practically yell down the length of the pool to make himself heard. “I just think he could use the company. Come on.”

Jensen could only watch in baffled confusion as Jared got out of the pool and headed back into the changing area. After a few moments, when Jensen was sure Jared wasn’t coming back, he got out and followed him.

* * *

Breakfast was a quiet affair the next morning. They’d knocked at Misha’s door after the swim but had no answer so figured he’d either passed out in bed or gone out. They’d headed to their own rooms with a muttered goodnight and that was the end of it.

Now Jared could barely make eye contact with Jensen, and Jensen had no idea why. He was reminded of just why he hadn’t ever told Jared about his feelings for him. Because this was awkward enough and nothing had even happened.

“We’ll be at our destination in a few hours,” Michael told them once they were on the road. Either he was oblivious to what was going on between Jared and Jensen or he was just ignoring it.

“Great,” Jensen muttered in an unenthusiastic voice. Right now he kind of just wanted to go home.

The journey was made pretty much in silence save for the music coming out of the car stereo and Misha occasionally telling them something interesting about the wilderness they were driving through. There was only so much you could say about endless stretches of forest though, and soon even he fell silent.

Eventually they slowed down and pulled into a small car park.

“Here we are,” Michael announced happily and they all climbed out of the van. It was obvious what they were here for as soon as they got outside.

“Mount Rushmore?” Jensen snorted. “You drove us for three days of nothing to see Mount Rushmore?”

“What?” Michael asked, almost sounding hurt. “I’ve never seen it before.”

Jared tilted his head to one side and squinted. “I kind of thought it would be . . . more impressive.”

He grinned at Jensen, Jensen grinned back and suddenly everything was ok with them again. Like nothing had ever happened.

“I’ve seen it before,” Misha contributed and that just made them all grin harder.

“So have I,” Tom chipped in. “And it was kind of boring the first time around.”

“You guys suck,” Michael grumbled with a pout. Jensen managed to pacify him by taking a photo of them all standing in front of it. Michael had a huge grin on his face while the rest of them expressed various levels of boredom.

“Ok,” Michael announced, apparently happy again. “Let’s find a hotel for the night and then we can move on.”

“What’s next?” Jensen asked as they all headed back to the van. “The Grand Canyon?”

“Only if I get to toss you in it,” Michael shot back.

“You can try,” Jensen replied. “But you’ll have to get past Jared first and he’s bigger than you.”

“He’s bigger than all of us,” Tom said with a grin. “Maybe we should just avoid The Grand Canyon and go somewhere . . . safer.”

“Works for me.”

* * *

The next morning Misha announced that he wanted to swap seats with Jensen in the van so he could see out of the window for a while.

“We’re driving through Indiana, dude,” Jensen pointed out. “There’s nothing to see.”

“So it won’t make any difference if we swap then, will it?”

Misha had that glint in his eye again that made Jensen nervous but he didn’t want to question it in front of everyone. He traded seats without a fuss and found himself sandwiched between Jared and Misha. Now he knew where the glint had come from. Misha was getting less subtle with every day that passed.

“I’m totally using you as a pillow if I get tired,” Jared said with a grin once they were on the road.

“Right back at you,” Jensen replied.

“You know, I can tip the seats back into a bed if you guys want to sleep,” Michael offered.

Jensen blinked. “Your van turns into a bed? Wow, and I thought the strobe lights were tacky. Please tell me you never fucked anyone back here.”

Michael paused for a moment. “I had the seats cleaned afterwards if that’s any good.”

Jensen faked vomit sounds. “No, it isn’t.”

“Well, it’s either that or walk.”

Jensen muttered under his breath about this being the worst vacation ever until Jared gave his knee a comforting squeeze. Then things didn’t seem quite so bad.

They paused when they got to the Mississippi River and got out so they could stretch their legs and Jensen could take some photos before getting back into the car and driving for a few more hours before they had to stop for the night.

The next day Jensen found himself sandwiched between Jared and Misha again with no words being spoken on the matter. Apparently, this was the new seating arrangement and that was it. Even though he was still kind of pissed at Misha for doing it, he had to admit he’d been in worse places.

They arrived in Chicago late that night, having got caught up in traffic as soon as they crossed into the city. It had taken them nearly an hour just to get to the hotel and by that point none of them had really felt like trying to go out and explore. Instead they had dinner and a few drinks at the hotel bar and then headed off to bed.

Things seemed better the next morning. It was a bright, sunny day, perfect weather for doing the whole tourist thing.

“We’re not driving,” Michael told them all at breakfast. “I’ve got a few things we can do while we’re here but pretty much everyone has told me that driving in this city is hell. We’ll take buses and cabs to the places we need to get to.”

“Or we could try walking,” Misha suggested, which just earned him a laugh from Michael.

“Buses and cabs,” Michael repeated. “Now, who here likes baseball?”

Jensen shrugged. He and Jared often spent a quiet afternoon watching football when they weren’t working, but he was pretty much indifferent to baseball.

“I’m not really into the whole sport thing,” Misha said, “but I don’t hate it or anything.”

“Well, we might check out a game later,” Michael said, “but we’ll do some other stuff first and see how it goes.”

Other stuff, it transpired, turned out to be one of the weirdest sculptures Jensen had ever seen.

“I don’t get it,” Jared said as they circled the thing so Jensen could take photos from every angle. “What’s it supposed to be?”

“A bean, apparently,” Jensen said. “I dunno, I kind of like it.”

Jared grimaced and glanced over to Tom and Michael, grinning when he saw Michael pulling stupid faces at his reflection and standing at different angles so that his shape was distorted.

Misha was standing back from the rest of them and just watching, taking the occasional photo of himself from different angles in front of the bean.

“That going on your Twitter?” Jared asked.

Misha shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Who wants to go on the Ferris Wheel?” Michael suddenly asked, bounding over and practically reeking of hyperactivity. “Come on, it’ll be awesome.”

They headed towards the pier and the giant wheel that was clearly the main attraction. Luckily, it wasn’t too busy and they only had to stand in line for about ten minutes.

It was two per car and Tom and Michael took the first one, leaving Jared, Jensen and Misha to sort out who would be riding on their own.

“You ride with Misha,” Jared insisted to Jensen. “I don’t mind going on my own.”

Jensen obviously wanted to ride with Jared but wasn’t going to press the issue after the incident in the pool so he just stood quietly while Misha insisted he wanted to ride on his own and that Jared and Jensen should share a car.

“I’m going to take some photos for Twitter while I’m at the top,” Misha finally said. “If you want Jensen to be in them, then fine, but I really don’t think he’d want that.”

“Hell, no,” Jensen quickly interjected. “Jared, I’m riding with you.”

They quickly climbed into the car while Misha waited behind them to get the next one.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as they slowly made the climb up. When they finally made a stop at the top the view was spectacular. They could see right out over half of Chicago and over the sea as well. Jensen took out his camera and snapped a few photos.

“Misha’s kind of an asshole,” Jared finally blurted out with such ferocity that Jensen almost dropped his camera.

“What? Why would you say that?”

“Dude, he threatened to put pictures of you on the internet just so he wouldn’t have to ride with you. Don’t you think that’s kind of a shitty thing to do?”

Jensen shook his head. “Come on, man. It’s Misha. You know he wouldn’t actually have done it.”

“Well, why say it then?”

That left Jensen stumped. He knew exactly why Misha had done it. He was still determined to push the two of them together at any available opportunity but obviously there was no way in hell he could tell Jared that.

“I dunno,” he finally said. “I find it easier not to question the weird shit that Misha does.”

Jared frowned.

“Look, can’t you just enjoy us hanging out like this?” Jensen pressed. “Or do you hate being around me that much.”

“Of course not,” Jared quickly replied. “You know I love hanging out with you. I just don’t like seeing Misha treat you like that, ok?”

The warmth that spread through Jensen heated him from his toes right to the tips of his hair as he gave Jared a gentle smile. “I appreciate that, man, I really do. But don’t worry about me, ok?”

“I always worry about you, Jensen,” Jared replied softly. “Don’t ever ask me to stop.”

Jensen had no answer to that and before he knew it they were back on the ground again.

“Right,” Michael announced with a big smile. “Food and then baseball. Let’s go.”

* * *

Jensen was surprised at how much he enjoyed the baseball once they actually got there, but was willing to admit that a lot of it was to do with how excited Jared was during the game.

“Did you see that?” he yelled, grabbing hold of Jensen’s arm, and when either team scored a home run Jared practically jumped on him with glee.

“That was awesome,” Jared said once the game was over, slinging an arm across Jensen’s shoulders. “We should watch more baseball on TV at home.”

Jensen simply smiled and patted Jared’s hand. He was always like this whenever he discovered something new, like a toddler in some respects. Jensen was almost certain that by the time they got home Jared would have forgotten all about baseball and would be fixated on something else instead.

“Wait until you see what I’ve got planned for after dinner,” Michael said with a grin. “I’ve saved the best till last.”

“Just tell me it’s not a pony,” Jensen replied. “I’ve been telling Jared for months that he can’t have one.”

“Only because I know what Misha does to ponies,” Jared replied.

Misha shrugged. “At least I’m being environmentally friendly.”

“I swear you guys are talking a foreign language half the time,” Jensen said with a shake of his head. “Can we go and eat now?”

Jared blinked at him in surprise. “Are you telling me Misha hasn’t shown you his Twitter page?”

“Uh, no,” Jensen replied as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Why would he? You know me, I can barely find the time to e-mail my mom once a week to let her know I’m still alive.”

“I dunno. I just figured…never mind. Let’s go eat. I’m starving.”

“All is right with the world then,” Jensen replied with a smile and they followed Tom and Michael in the direction of the restaurant.

* * *

They spent the evening wandering the streets of Chicago, checking out the stores and a couple of bars until night fell and Michael took them to the final stop of their trip.

“I hope none of you are afraid of heights,” Michael said as they entered the observatory. “It’s a long way up.”

It wasn’t that Jensen was scared of heights, exactly. He could appreciate a good view when he saw one so long as he didn’t think about how far up they were and how many microseconds it would take between him falling and hitting the ground. As long as he didn’t look down, he’d be fine.

“Hey, look at this!” Jared exclaimed gleefully. “There’s glass balconies where you can see through the floor.”

Jensen could feel himself turning green at the mere prospect and forced a smile as Jared bounced happily next to him. “That’s great, man. I’m just gonna stay here, ok?”

He felt almost guilty when Jared stilled beside him. “Shit, are you ok? You look like you’re about to pass out.”

“I’m fine,” Jensen lied, and it would have worked, he was sure, if it hadn’t come out as more of a moan. He could swear the building was swaying in the wind and he found himself wondering if there was any chance of survival if the building fell over.

“You don’t look fine,” Jared frowned. “Do you want to get out of here?”

Jensen shook his head. There was no way he was ruining Jared’s vacation over a touch of vertigo. “Nah, I’m good. Go enjoy the glass balcony. I’m just gonna head to the restaurant and get some water or something.”

For a moment he thought Jared was going to insist on going with him, and the pathetic thing was that Jensen almost wanted him to. Jared had this amazing skill for making him forget about what was bothering him just by being there.

“I’ll come and find you in a few minutes, ok?” Jared finally promised hesitantly.

Jensen gave him a gentle shove. “Go have fun.”

He waited until Jared was out on the balcony before heading towards the elevators. He could have sworn the floor was rising and falling under his feet, like he was on a boat. He let out another soft moan and bolted for the bathroom where he threw up what felt like everything he had eaten that week.

* * *

He had no idea how long he’d been slumped over the toilet but there was no way he was moving. Just the idea of even lifting his head made him want to puke some more, and he was pretty sure he had nothing left to throw up.

“Jensen?”

Jared’s voice, frantic and worried, did manage to get him to raise his head.

“Jensen, are you in here?”

“Yeah,” he said, but what actually came out was more of a rusty whine.

He felt the door of the cubicle hit the back of his feet as Jared squeezed his way in.

“Shit,” Jared whispered as he crouched down beside him. “Why didn’t you tell me you were sick?”

“Wasn’t,” Jensen moaned unhappily as his stomach started to roll again. “Not until we got here.”

“Come on, let’s get you out of here, then,” Jared said gently as he eased Jensen to his feet. For a moment Jensen was worried he was either going to pass out on top of Jared or puke down his shirt. His vision whited out for a moment and he reached out blindly to grab hold of Jared’s arm, but then everything settled down and all he could see was Jared’s concerned eyes looking into his.

“You ok?” Jared asked, and they were so close that Jensen could feel his breath brushing against his face.

Jensen nodded his head. Right now he wanted nothing more than to kiss him, and it was only the fact that he was all pukey and gross that stopped him. “Can we just get out of here?”

He let Jared steer him out of the bathroom, grateful for the warm body to lean on. Misha, Tom and Michael were waiting outside for them.

“I’m gonna take him back to the hotel,” Jared said and nobody argued. Jensen realized he must look at bad as he felt, which was pretty fucking awful.

“Come on, it won’t take us long to get back,” Jared said and Jensen simply nodded, letting Jared lead him out.

* * *

When they got back to the hotel Jared insisted that Jensen drink some water and brush his teeth before getting into bed. The truth was, once they were on the ground and outside Jensen actually felt a lot better, but Jared seemed determined to take care of him so Jensen wasn’t going to argue.

When he came out of the bathroom he found that Jared had laid a t-shirt and sweats out on the bed for him to sleep in. He ducked into the bathroom while Jensen changed and came out a few minutes later with a damp washcloth in his hand.

“I don’t have a fever,” Jensen pointed out as he climbed into bed.

“I know,” Jared replied, waiting for Jensen to get settled before putting the cloth on his forehead. “But it’ll cool you down a bit and that should help settle your stomach.”

Jensen sighed. “I’m sorry I ruined your evening, man. I’m just gonna sleep now if you want to go and meet up with the others.”

“Nah,” Jared said with a shrug. “I’m pretty beat. Figured I’d just stay and keep an eye on you. Misha will be pissed if I let you choke on your own vomit.”

A small smile curled Jensen’s lips as he closed his eyes. “Well, so long as you’re not going to just sit here and watch me sleep. At least find a book or watch TV or something.”

He fell asleep before Jared answered.

* * *

When he woke up he felt a hell of a lot better and a quick glance at the clock told him it was only 4am so he had hours yet before breakfast and hitting the road. The bed was warm and comfortable and he was just considering going back to sleep when he realized that he wasn’t alone.

Jared was sprawled in a chair beside the bed, in a position that did not look comfortable.

Jensen blinked.

Jared had kicked off his shoes but was still in the same clothes he’d been wearing when Jensen had fallen asleep.

Jensen blinked again.

As he reached out a hand to shake Jared awake, he was almost certain he was hallucinating. He couldn’t imagine why else Jared would still be in his bedroom at 4am.

“Jared?”

He shook Jared’s knee and frowned when he realized that he was very much real and still dead to the world. Jensen shook him again.

“Hey, Jared, wake up.”

Jared’s eyes opened into small slits as he peered through the dark at Jensen.

“You ok?” he finally asked in a raspy voice. “Feeling sick?”

“Nah, I’m fine,” Jensen replied with a small smile. “Thought you might want to try sleeping in an actual bed for a few hours, though.”

Jared grunted and lurched to his feet, staggering a few feet to Jensen’s bed and collapsing face first beside him. He shifted his weight slightly and let out a contented sigh as he settled down while Jensen blinked again in surprise.

“This wasn’t exactly the bed I meant,” Jensen sighed.

Jared’s only response was a soft snore and Jensen sighed again as he closed his eyes. How the hell was he supposed to get to sleep now with Jared lying so close and looking so adorable? He lay there for a while, listening to Jared’s snores and wondering why the world insisted on continually torturing him like this.

When his alarm eventually went off he no longer felt well rested, he felt tense and irritable and in serious need of coffee.

He showered and headed down to the restaurant for breakfast, leaving Jared to sleep a while longer.

* * *

Misha looked highly amused when he joined Jensen at breakfast.

“Do I even want to know?” Jensen sighed wearily.

“I heard Jared didn’t go back to his room last night,” Misha said by way of an explanation, and if possible his grin got even wider.

“So?” Jensen asked with feigned disinterest. “Maybe he hooked up with some girl he met at the hotel bar.”

“Or maybe he’s naked and sated in your bed,” Misha suggested right back at him.

Jensen raised both eyebrows. “You know, for someone who’s happily married you have a rather unhealthy interest in my sex life.”

Misha shrugged. “Everyone needs a hobby.”

He tilted his head and studied Jensen for a moment, a mannerism which Jensen had no problem with when Misha was in character, but while sitting here at breakfast in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt it looked just plain disturbing.

“Oh,” Misha said disappointedly after a few seconds. “You didn’t fuck him then?”

Jensen was about ready for the floor to open up and swallow him now. “Jesus, Misha. Keep your fucking voice down, will you?”

Misha glanced around. “I’m not talking any louder than usual.”

“Yeah, well, stop talking then.”

Misha shrugged. “You know you’re going to regret it when you eventually hook up with Jared and realize all the amazing hotel sex you’ve missed out on during this trip. I’m just saying.”

“Hotel sex?” Jensen asked curiously, although he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

“Let’s put it this way,” Misha said with a sly smile. “Hotel beds are designed to be a hell of a lot stronger than regular beds.”

Jensen blinked at him.

“Oh, look, there’s Jared,” Misha said with an innocent grin as Jared walked in. “I’ll leave you with that image.”

He grabbed an apple from the fruit pile and bit into it as he left, humming to himself as he passed Jared.

“Hey,” Jared said tiredly as he plonked himself down in the chair opposite Jensen. “Sorry for crashing on you earlier. I didn’t mean to fall asleep in your room. Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah, I’m good. You look like hell, though.”

Jared managed a weak grin as he tucked into his breakfast. “Thanks, man.”

“We’ve got a few hours between here and our next stop,” Jensen said. “According to Rosey, anyway. So at least you can crash in the van. Seriously, you should have just gone to bed.”

Jared shrugged. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

And there was no way Jensen could be mad about that.

They ate the rest of their breakfast in silence.

* * *

Jared passed out pretty much as soon as they got seated in the van, and it wasn’t long before he was curled against Jensen and resting on his shoulder.

“You enjoying the snuggles back there?” Michael asked as soon as they were on the highway. “Tom, why don’t you ever do that to me?”

“Because you’re driving, dumbass,” Tom pointed out. “I’m not going to cause an accident just so you can get some cuddles.”

Misha just looked at Jensen with that now patented amused smile.

“What?” Jensen asked, almost snapping. He was getting pretty damn sick of Misha turning everything into something about Jared’s imaginary lust for him. “He’s done this ever since I’ve known him. He crashes in the car and his body just sort of seeks out the nearest warm object.”

“He’s not cuddling me,” Misha pointed out and Jensen glowered.

“Fuck you, man.”

The journey through Indiana was about the most boring one they’d done yet and Jensen fell asleep after a while, resting his head against Jared’s and not caring what Misha or anyone else thought. He didn’t wake up until they were driving into Cleveland and Jared was already awake by that point and staring out of the window.

“Feeling better?” Jensen asked as he wiped the sleep out of his eyes.

“Yeah,” Jared replied with a soft smile. “Thanks.”

By the time they’d parked up, Michael was practically bouncing in his seat.

“How much coffee have you had today?” Tom asked wryly as they got out of the van.

“Dude, do you even know where we are?” Michael asked with almost manic glee.

“Uh . . . Cleveland? Is this a trick question?”

“Cleveland!” Michael screeched. “Do you know who came from Cleveland?”

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

“The Cleveland Torso Murderer,” Misha volunteered.

Michael chose to ignore him. “Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel.”

Everyone except Tom looked at him blankly.

“The guys who created Superman!” Michael added. “Come on, this place is practically Mecca.”

Tom smiled and pulled Michael into a hug. “Isn’t he just the cutest little geek?”

“Fuck you, man.” Michael squirmed as Tom pressed a sloppy kiss to the top of his head. The others just laughed.

“So where are we going first?” Jensen asked once Michael finished glowering at everyone. “Please tell me we’re not going up any more skyscrapers.”

Jared smiled and gave Jensen’s shoulder a squeeze.

“Yeah, I don’t think any of us wants to wind up covered in your puke,” Michael grimaced, “so I thought we’d stick to some nice, safe museums.”

“Works for me,” Jensen replied with a smile.

“Alrighty then, let’s go.”

* * *

“And once he had lured his victims away, he hacked off their heads, arms and legs leaving only an unidentifiable bloody torso behind. To this day the police don’t know for sure how many people he killed.”

There was a manic glint in Misha’s eyes as he described the Cleveland Torso Murderer to them in gruesome detail as they walked around Cleveland Police Museum.

“I’m really starting to think there’s something wrong with him,” Jensen said to Jared in a stage whisper as they walked alongside him. “He’s way too into this.”

Misha grinned. “Ooh, look, death masks.”

By the time they’d finished the tour of the museum and Michael had announced it was time for dinner, Jensen wasn’t sure he wanted to even look at food. Misha’s graphic descriptions had pretty much made him lose his appetite.

“Don’t be such a wimp,” Michael said as they piled into a nearby restaurant.

Jared nodded. “Besides, you need to replace all that food you threw up yesterday.”

“Yeah, because talking about puke is really going to make me hungry,” Jensen grumbled. He still managed to force down a salad and some fries and felt better for it afterwards.

They found a nearby hotel to crash in and Jensen was almost freaked out by how weird it felt to be sleeping in a bed without Jared in. He really needed to get a grip and get over this stupid crush before it fucked everything up. He tried not to think about Jared as he fell asleep, but still ended up dreaming about him.

“I think I’m actually losing my mind,” he told Misha quietly over breakfast the next morning. “Seriously, I’m going nuts.”

“I’ve already told you what you need to do,” Misha replied patiently. “Tell him how you feel. Even if he’s not interested, at least it’ll be out there and you can move on.”

“Well, what if I don’t want to move on?” Jensen said. “I don’t think I’m ever going to meet anyone like him again and I can’t fuck this up, you know.”

“So you’re willing to fuck yourself up instead?” Misha asked. “It’s not healthy, Jensen. Seriously.”

Jensen laughed weakly. “You’re never serious, apart from when you’re working.”

“I’m serious when one of my friends is doing something like this to themselves,” Misha replied and Jensen was shocked to see that there was none of the usual humor in his eyes. “Have you looked at yourself recently? You look like shit.”

“I’m still pretty, though, right?”

Misha simply stared at him and Jensen felt himself withering under the gaze.

“I’ll get over it. Don’t worry about me.”

Misha shrugged. “It’s my job to worry about you, since you’re apparently not going to do it for yourself.”

“Dude, you sound like Jared.”

“Yeah, well, we both care about you. Although I suspect Jared cares about you in a different way to me. Have you noticed he’s sitting alone this morning?”

Jensen glanced over Misha’s shoulder and saw Jared sitting at another table by himself, quietly eating breakfast. Jensen hadn’t even seen him come in.

“Go and talk to him,” Misha prompted. “I’m done eating anyway.”

Jensen was already halfway across the room and barely heard him.

“This seat taken?”

Jared shrugged and Jensen took that as an invite and sat down. “What’s wrong with you this morning? Hung over?”

“No,” Jared replied. “Just didn’t want to bother you is all.”

Jensen laughed. “Wow, there really is a first time for everything. When has bothering me ever stopped you before?”

Jared’s head shot up, eyes narrowed and cheeks flushed. “Well, I’m sorry my mere presence irritates you. I’ll be sure to stay out of your way more often.”

“What the hell?”

Jensen could count on one hand the number of times he’d seen Jared get actually angry. Generally, if he was pissed he’d go off and vent his anger somewhere alone before coming back and joining everyone else. He was the sort of guy who didn’t want his bad mood to bring anyone else down with him. So seeing him now, flushed with rage like this, pretty much freaked him out.

“Jared, what’s up? Are you pissed at me?”

“No,” Jared replied in a tone that suggested the opposite.

“Wow, I see you’re really putting those acting skills to work this morning,” Jensen said dryly. “Come on, man, it’s me. You can talk to me. What did I do?”

“Nothing,” Jared replied in the same sullen voice.

Jensen sighed. “You know what? Fine. You want to act like an emo teenager then that’s cool with me. I’m gonna go and pack. When you get done sulking and actually want to talk then come and find me.”

He marched out of the restaurant and back to his hotel room. He didn’t see Jared until it was time for them to meet at the van, and Jared climbed in without making eye contact.

Well, if that was how he wanted to play it then that was fine by Jensen.

* * *

They had been driving for two hours and by that time Jared and Jensen’s bad moods seemed to have hit everyone else in the van.

“Right,” Michael announced. “We’re stopping here and getting a few drinks until everyone has chilled the fuck out. We’re on vacation, guys.”

Nobody objected and they filed into the nearest bar and ordered some beers.

Jensen watched Jared staring at his beer, sipping it slowly as he slouched forward in his seat. He still had no clue what Jared was pissed about, but something was clearly bothering him and he apparently didn’t want to talk about it, which was so not Jared. Usually you had to bribe him to shut him up.

“So, who’s going to tell me what’s going on?” Michael said. “Because if you two are going to act like bitches for the rest of the trip I am leaving your asses here and you can make your own way back to LA.”

Jared shrugged and muttered into his drink. “Nothing. Just tired is all.”

Michael sighed his disbelief and turned his attention to Jensen.

“Don’t look at me,” Jensen said, raising his hands in surrender. “I don’t know what’s crawled up his ass.”

Jared slammed his bottle down on the table, ignoring the foam that erupted from the neck of the bottle and ran down onto his hand. “I’m going to get some air.”

He stormed out without another word, leaving the rest of them watching his back in silence.

“Okay, that’s weird,” Tom said once Jared was out of sight. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jared mad like that before.”

“Seriously, I have no idea what he’s so pissed about,” Jensen said helplessly. “He got mad at breakfast and wouldn’t tell me why. I’ve tried talking to him but he’s not interested.”

Misha rose from his seat. “Let me try talking to him.”

Jensen nodded. If anyone could get Jared to open up it would be Misha. Jensen had no idea how he did it but Misha had a knack of getting people to talk about whatever was bothering them. It was pretty much why he was in this situation now, in fact.

Misha headed outside and Jensen sipped his beer quietly.

“I don’t know why you two don’t just fuck and have done with it,” Michael said after a couple of minutes.

Jensen raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” Michael retorted.

“You want me to fuck Misha?” Jensen asked incredulously. “Look, I know he has a very open relationship with his wife but I don’t think he’s into me in that way.”

“Don’t be a dick, Jensen, you know what I mean. I don’t know why you don’t just fuck Padalecki and have done with it. Might snap him out of his pissy mood, if nothing else.”

Jensen was getting pretty damn sick of everyone telling him to fuck Jared. Especially since right now Jared didn’t even want to look at him, never mind talk to him. Did the whole world think hearts, rainbows and world peace would occur if the two of them had sex?

“I’m gonna take a piss,” he said, ignoring Michael’s suggestion entirely as he rose to his feet. “Anyone want another beer when I get back?”

Tom and Michael nodded and Jensen headed to the bathroom.

“Don’t I know you?”

The guy that came in just after Jensen reeked of booze and was swaying on his feet as he fumbled with his zipper.

It wasn’t that Jensen was recognized everywhere he went, but when it did happen it seemed to be at really bad times, like right now while he had his dick in his hand.

“I don’t think so,” Jensen replied politely. “I’m just passing through and having a few drinks with my buddies.”

He deliberately tried not to make eye contact with the guy, who he could feel staring at him now.

“Nah, man, I’m sure I know you from somewhere.”

Now Jensen just wanted to finish pissing and get the hell out of there. He was really starting to regret those beers he’d had as well as the coffee and juice he’d drunk with breakfast.

“Just give me a minute and it’ll come to me.”

Jensen thankfully finished, zipped his fly and quickly washed his hands before making a break for the door.

“You’re on TV!”

He froze, his hand resting on the door handle. He’d grown used to avoiding talking about what he did over the years but he made a point of never outright lying to anyone.

“Yeah,” he said softly and he could hear the guy zipping up and splashing some water on his hands behind him.

“You gotta have a drink with us, man. My buddies will be so jealous I met a real-life TV star. Hey, are your friends from TV too? You should all join us! It’ll be awesome!”

The guy pulled the door open for him and rested his hand on Jensen’s lower back as he steered him away from Tom and Michael and towards a group of guys who could be heard before he even saw them.

“No, thanks,” Jensen replied, trying his very best to remain polite even though the hand on his back was freaking him out more than just a little. “We were actually just getting ready to leave.”

“Aww! Come on! You can have one drink. We don’t get many celebrities out our way.”

The pressure on his back increased a little and he found himself being almost pushed towards the large crowd of guys.

Enough was enough.

Jensen twisted away and turned so that he was actually facing the guy instead of being steered like cattle.

“Look,” he said firmly. “I’m sorry but I really have to go.”

It was like a switch had been flipped. One minute the guy was all smiles and the next he was glaring at Jensen like he’d just stolen the virginity of the guy’s daughter.

“What? You think you’re too good to hang out with a few regular guys?”

Jensen could feel flecks of spit hitting him in the face and it made him feel sick.

“It’s not like that at all,” he tried desperately to explain. “We only stopped for a quick drink and we’ve got places we need to be.”

The guy stepped forward, getting right into Jensen’s face. “Let me tell you something. You might think you’re better than me, but when was the last time you did a fucking honest day’s work? Huh? Lemme guess, it’s such a chore being paid thousands of dollars a day to play dress up. Fuck you, man.”

He poked Jensen hard in the chest. “You think you can just show up in our town and wave your money around like you’re a fucking king or something?”

The guy wasn’t even making sense anymore and that made Jensen even more uneasy. He’d obviously got himself worked up, and he was clearly drunk which meant that pretty much nothing Jensen said was going to make any difference.

He backed away slowly, jerking when the man’s hand wrapped around his wrist.

“Don’t you fucking walk away when I’m talking to you, you arrogant fuck.”

“Hey, you might want to let go of my friend right about now.”

Jensen had been so caught up in what was happening that he hadn’t even noticed Jared come up to them. He’d drawn himself up to his full height which was pretty damn scary at the best of times, never mind right now when it was coupled with an almost murderous glare.

The guy latched onto Jensen’s arm clearly wasn’t a total idiot because he let go of Jensen almost immediately, but he then turned his attention to Jared which Jensen knew was not going to end well.

“Jared, let’s go,” he said softly. “The guy’s drunk, just let him be.”

“Hiding behind your boyfriend?” drunk guy sneered. “Yeah, that figures. You Hollywood types are all a bunch of faggots.”

“Look,” Jared said calmly, even though Jensen could almost see the tension radiating off him. “We don’t want any trouble. Why don’t you just go back to your buddies and let us go back to ours and that can be the end of it.”

But the drunk was already calling over his shoulder. “Hey, guys, got a couple of Hollywood fairies here who think they can tell us what to do.”

Jared reacted quickly when ten people at the far end of the bar seemed to rise en masse and headed in their direction. He grabbed hold of Jensen’s arm and dragged him back towards their table.

“Come on, I think we need to get out of here.”

Tom, Michael and Misha were already on their feet, having apparently seen that something was happening.

“Shit, Jensen,” Michael laughed nervously. “I thought you were going for a piss, not starting a riot.”

“Maybe we should save this for the car,” Tom pointed out as they headed for the door.

Jensen came to a halt as he found the doorway blocked by several drunk and pissed off locals, but before he could do or say anything he found himself shoved unceremoniously behind Jared.

“Stay behind me,” Jared grunted over his shoulder. “Let me handle this.”

“Dude, I’m not a fucking girl,” Jensen hissed.

Tom strode forward and stood beside Jared, forming a protective shield in front of Jensen, Misha and Michael.

“We just want to leave,” Tom explained politely. “We only came in for a couple of beers.”

Only a complete idiot would fuck with Tom and Jared, being the size they were and physically fit on top of that. Which was why Jensen could only stare as the biggest member of the group staggered forward and took a swing, cheered on by his friends who quickly piled on top of them.

Jensen staggered backwards under the weight of several bodies and crashed into Misha who, in turn, fell into the wall.

“Shit, are you okay?” he groaned painfully as Misha’s elbow collided with his gut.

“Yeah,” Misha replied. “Where are the others?”

It was impossible to tell in the mass of flailing arms and legs. He could hear Michael yelling for Tom but couldn’t see anything. He pulled out his phone. “I’m calling the cops.”

Before he’d even finished punching 911 into his phone he spotted the flashing lights and heard the sirens. Apparently, someone else had got there first and it was amazing how fast ten drunk guys could run. By the time the cops actually got there, the place was practically empty.

Tom stood in the middle of the room, panting heavily, his shirt slightly ripped and what looked like the start of a black eye forming. Michael was at his side, looking a little rumpled but mostly okay.

“Where’s Jared?” Jensen’s eyes scanned the room, heart suddenly pounding when he realized he couldn’t see him. “Jared?”

“I lost him in the fight,” Tom said softly. “One minute he was next to me and then he wasn’t.”

Jensen cursed softly under his breath as the four of them started searching. It wasn’t a huge bar but more than a few tables and chairs had been busted up during the fight and there was a lot of crap strewn all over the floor.

Jensen almost puked when he overturned half a table and found Jared in a crumpled heap underneath it.

“Shit! Jared! Someone call an ambulance!”

Everything seemed to fade out after that. He was vaguely aware of the others around him but he couldn’t hear what they were saying. All he could focus on was Jared and how still he was. He didn’t dare try and move him in case he was badly hurt so instead he flitted his hands over Jared, trying to find any obvious injuries.

Jared let out a soft moan and curled in on himself when Jensen’s fingers ran over his head.

“Jared?” Jensen called hopefully. “Jared, can you hear me? It’s Jensen. Are you ok?”

“Jen…” Jared’s voice was soft and slurred but he stirred a little more and uncurled himself “H’ppened? Y’ok?”

Jensen let out a surprised laugh. “Me? Yeah, I’m ok. Don’t try to move, all right? There’s an ambulance on the way. Need to check how badly you’re hurt.”

“M’ok.”

He seemed more alert now and actually tried to sit up before Jensen pressed a hand to his shoulder. “Jesus, Jared, you must have a concussion or something if you’ve already forgotten that I told you not to move.”

“I’m ok,” Jared insisted now that he was fully aware of what was going on. “Just got a little banged up is all.”

“How about you let a doctor decide that, ok?” Jensen replied although he was already feeling relief that Jared did seem to be more or less in one piece. At least he was talking. That had to be a good sign.

“Is everyone else okay?” Jared asked.

Jensen glanced up. Michael was hugging Tom, apparently reassuring himself that he was okay. Misha was standing by the door, looking out for the ambulance.

“Tom’s a little banged up but the rest of us are fine, so quit worrying.”

Jared smiled and closed his eyes. “Good.”

The ambulance arrived a few minutes later and after a brief examination the paramedics decided that it was safe to move Jared, but that he should get checked out in the hospital just in case.

“You go with him,” Misha said as Jared was loaded into the ambulance. “We’ll take a cab and meet you there.”

Jensen hadn’t even considered that anyone apart from him would be riding with Jared, but he nodded his head and climbed in.

Jared flashed him a weak smile. “So, this part of the vacation kind of sucks.”

Jensen couldn’t agree more but he forced a smile. “Oh, I don’t know. It’ll be something to talk about when we get home.”

“And Misha can conduct a second test of the healthcare system. Man, I hope I don’t get one of those crappy sandwiches.”

Yet again, Jensen was lost and he really hoped it was just one of those jokes he was out of the loop on and not the result of some massive head trauma.

* * *

“Well, there’s no sign of any trauma,” the doctor announced after conducting an examination of Jared. “Just a minor concussion and a few bruises. Someone should stay with you tonight and wake you up every couple of hours and you’ll need to come back if you experience any blurred vision, nausea or dizziness.”

Jared flashed his best smile at the doctor and then grinned at Jensen. “Told you, man, I’ve got a solid head.”

Jensen let out a relieved sigh quietly and then grinned back. “Well, you need it with the number of times you walk into stuff. Come on, are you ready to get out of here?”

Jared nodded and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. “Uh…you want to give me some privacy while I get dressed?”

“What, you worried your hot body will be too much for my sensitive nerves to take?” Jensen forced a grin and had to will himself not to blush as he headed for the door, bolting before Jared could shoot back a reply.

Tom, Michael and Misha were sitting in the waiting area and looked expectantly at Jensen when he came out to join them.

“He’s fine. Someone needs to stay with him tonight but the doctor doesn’t think there’s any major damage.”

He glanced at Tom whose black eye was already starting to darken. “Shit, Tom, did you get someone to take a look at that?”

Tom waved an ice pack at him. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a bruise. Thank god we don’t start filming for a few more weeks. The network would kill us if me and Jared showed up now.”

“Fuck the network,” Michael practically growled. “I’m just glad you’re ok.”

A sentiment Jensen matched exactly.

“Road trip is over,” Michael announced when Jared arrived a few minutes later. “We’re heading back to LA. You guys are welcome to stay with me for a few days once we get there but we’re not doing anything but sitting around and drinking.”

Jared’s shoulders slumped. “You don’t have to do that. I’m okay, and so is Tom. We shouldn’t ruin the trip because of a few assholes.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not okay,” Michael snapped. “You guys got fucked up because I dragged you out here. Now let’s find a hotel because I’m exhausted and I want to sleep.”

He walked out without waiting for anyone to speak and Tom sighed as they watched him go. “He’s just worried. I’ll talk to him.”

“Maybe going home isn’t such a bad idea,” Jensen suggested. “You and Jared should probably take it easy for a while.”

“Hey, I’m standing right here,” Jared pointed out. “I already said I’m fine.”

“You’d say you were fine if your intestines were hanging out,” Jensen shot back at him.

“Why don’t we just see how we feel in the morning,” Misha said gently. “We’re all tired.”

They all grumbled their assent and headed out after Michael.

* * *

Nobody questioned that Jensen would be the one to stay with Jared that night and they booked a twin room. Too exhausted to think about going out for food, they ordered room service, watched some crappy Vin Diesel movie on TV and then collapsed into their separate beds.

“I’m sorry you’re not going to get to sleep either,” Jared whispered into the darkness. “Maybe heading home tomorrow isn’t such a bad idea.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Jensen replied softly. “I’m just glad you didn’t get your brains beaten in or something. You should get some sleep. I’ll wake you up in a couple of hours.”

He heard Jared shift around in an effort to get comfortable.

“’Night, Jensen.”

“’Night.”

* * *

Each time Jensen’s alarm went off it was harder and harder for him to drag himself out of bed to wake Jared, although the relief he felt each time Jared assured him that he was alright soothed him a little. By morning Jensen was about ready to keel over and Jared didn’t look much better.

“I think we should stay here for another day,” Jared groaned as they staggered into the elevator to go down for breakfast. “We could just sleep all day and it would be awesome.”

Jensen simply grunted, having lost the power of speech a few hours earlier.

“You can sleep in the van,” Michael told them as Jensen inhaled one cup of coffee after another. “It’ll take us about three days to get back if we only stop for food and sleep.”

Tom shrugged helplessly. His left eye was now swollen and a dark shade of purple. Michael was doing a good job of looking at anything but it.

“Hey, so long as I can sleep I don’t care where it is,” Jared said into his own coffee.

Jensen’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Jared had seemed happy enough to carry on the trip before they went to bed last night but something had clearly changed his mind. He didn’t press the issue. He kind of wanted to go home, actually. It wasn’t that he hadn’t had fun, apart from last night, but he was sick of the hotels and Misha fucking with him. Anyway, he missed his stuff and the quiet of the house he shared with Jared.

“Yeah,” he finally agreed. “Sleeping in the van sounds good.”

Misha just shrugged and didn’t argue either way.

* * *

Jensen fell asleep as soon as he got into the van and didn’t even register Jared slumping against him. When he woke up he was warm and comfortable and had absolutely no desire to move. REO Speedwagon was playing softly, much more quietly than Michael’s usual volume and Jensen appreciated it, especially when he realized Jared was still sleeping beside him.

“What time is it?” he asked gently so as not to wake him. “Did I miss anything?”

“It’s coming up to lunchtime,” Tom replied. “We’re gonna stop in the next town we come to.”

“And avoid any bars,” Michael added darkly.

“You missed corn,” Misha chipped in. “Lots and lots of corn.”

Jensen glanced out of the window. More corn. Well, at least he hadn’t missed much.

* * *

“Hey, Jared, come on. You need to wake up and eat something.”

Jensen had been shaking Jared for about five minutes now and had so far got nothing beyond a few sleepy murmurs in response. Tom, Michael and Misha were already in the diner they had stopped at and were probably already eating. He’d briefly considered leaving Jared to sleep, except they wouldn’t be stopping again after this until they got a hotel for the night.

Jensen poked him in the ribs. “Come on, man, I mean it. Wake up.”

Jensen was starting to panic now. What if it was a concussion and he was in a coma or something?

Jensen was just reaching for his phone to call an ambulance when Jared finally stirred. “Jensen? What time is it?”

“Lunchtime. Come on, the others are already inside.”

Jared yawned and stretched, his back popping and giving Jensen a rather pleasant view of Jared’s bare stomach as his t-shirt hitched up.

“I’m starving,” Jared said around his yawn. “Come on, let’s eat.”

* * *

Jensen was reassured that no permanent damage had been done to Jared when he tucked in and ate three courses of food and went on to talk about taking more with them for the road.

“I’m gonna go stretch my legs for a few minutes before we go,” Jared announced after dinner as he gave his stomach a satisfied pat. “I’ll meet you guys at the van.”

“Is he okay?” Tom asked after Jared had left.

“Yeah, I think so.” Jensen replied. “It could have been a hell of a lot worse. Stupid fucker could have got himself killed.”

“You know he was just trying to protect you.” Tom flashed him a soft smile. “I heard him yelling that he wasn’t going to let anyone get near you.”

Jensen sighed. He’d been trying to avoid thinking about it ever since Jared had been hurt, especially since Jared seemed pretty damned determined not to talk about it.

“Guys, I need a minute. I’ll meet you out front.”

* * *

It didn’t take him long to find Jared, who had opted just to walk circuits around the back parking lot.

“Hey,” Jared greeted when he spotted Jensen walking towards him. “Come to get some exercise too? Man, I feel like I’ve been sitting down for a month.”

“How long have we known each other?” Jensen asked, cutting straight to the point. “Five years?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Jared replied and the smile faded from his lips as he spotted the dark look on Jensen’s face. “Why?”

“I was just wondering why, after five years of us working together and living together, you think I’m some delicate flower that needs protecting.”

“What? Jensen . . .”

“Jesus, Jared. Just let me talk, okay? Do you have any idea how scared I was when I found you under that table? I thought you were dead, hell you could have been, and all because you wanted to assert your masculinity or whatever. I’m not a girl, you know.”

“Oh, I know that,” Jared said with a dry laugh. “Believe me, I know. But you are my friend and I’m sorry if not wanting some drunk meat-head to beat the shit out of you gives you some sort of inferiority complex but I’m not going to apologize for the fact that you didn’t get hurt.”

“But you did!” Jensen exclaimed.

Jared sighed. “Look, I’m okay, Jensen. Really. Can we just not talk about this? I mean, what’s the point? It’s over, right? A few bruises and a mild concussion. It’s nobody’s fault. If I hadn’t stepped up then all of us would have wound up in hospital.”

“I just hate seeing you like this, man,” Jensen mumbled.

Jared flashed him a soft smile and drew Jensen into his arms and hugged him gently. “I know, but it’s okay. Come on, let’s go. The sooner we get back to LA the sooner we can forget about this and get wasted.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me.”

* * *

It was almost midnight when they reached LA two days later, and Jensen was pretty sure he’d lost all feeling in his legs and back from sitting still for so long. He was also now acutely aware of just how little there was to see when you’re not stopping off in towns and cities to look at interesting things.

“Home sweet home,” Michael said as the van pulled to a stop. His voice was dry and raspy with exhaustion and Jensen could sympathise. No matter how wiped out the rest of them felt, it was nothing compared to Michael who had been driving solidly for three days and only stopping when they needed to eat or sleep.

The five of them stumbled into the house and up the stairs. Michael and Tom disappeared into Michael’s bedroom and Jensen, Jared and Misha made their way into the room they’d used before setting off on the trip. It seemed like an age ago but had only been less than two weeks.

Jared collapsed face first onto the bed with a grunt and was asleep almost instantly. Misha shot Jensen a tired smile. “Do you want to take that bed or the one in the loft?”

The fact that he was even asking and not devising some scheme so he had to share with Jared told Jensen just how tired Misha was. He glanced down at Jared and smiled at the way his hair flopped over his soft and relaxed face.

“I’ll stay here.”

Misha nodded and gave him a small grin. “Goodnight, Jensen.”

“’Night, Misha.”

He didn’t even bother changing out of his clothes. He was too damn tired. Instead he just kicked off his shoes, flopped down next to Jared and closed his eyes.

* * *

They all slept late into the afternoon the next day and Jensen didn’t wake up until the smell of cooking bacon hit him and his stomach rumbled.

“Mmm . . .” Jared murmured sleepily next to him. “Smells good.”

Jensen smiled. “Thought you’d be down there by now. I’ve never known anything get in the way of you and food before.”

“I’m comfy right here. D’you think you can get Misha to bring us some food? I don’t wanna move and you’re keeping me warm.”

Jensen glanced up at the loft and saw that Misha’s bed was empty. He chuckled. “Sorry, man. I don’t think Misha is going to bring us breakfast in bed. Besides, you kind of need to shower. You’re smelling a bit ripe there, buddy.”

“Fuck you,” Jared growled with a lazy smile. “You’re not exactly smelling like a bucket of roses yourself.”

Jensen grinned. “Ok, how about I go get us some food while you shower and then you can fill the dishwasher while I shower. I bet Rosey will have some sort of plan for the rest of the day.”

“Sounds good to me,” Jared said around a yawn as he stretched. “I’ll see you downstairs, I guess.”

Jensen’s stomach let out another growl and it was enough to get him out of bed and downstairs.

* * *

Misha was in the kitchen, humming softly to himself as he cooked.

“You hungry?” he asked as Jensen padded in to join him. “I made plenty for everyone. Tom and Michael are already eating.”

“Sure, thanks. Jared’s just taking a shower and he should be down in a minute.”

Misha grinned as he handed Jensen a plate piled with food. “I won’t ask if anything happened this time because I know how out of it we all were last night.”

Jensen, as always, ignored him and headed into the dining room to join Tom and Michael.

“Hey there, Jenny!” Michael greeted with the first proper smile Jensen had seen since the bar in Ohio. “Sleep well? I’m having a party tonight to celebrate us getting home.”

The stream of words came out so fast that Jensen could barely keep up.

“A party? Wow, you don’t waste any time, do you?”

Tom grinned. “You weren’t here the time he decided to have a party thirty minutes before the guests started arriving.”

“Who’s having a party?” Jared asked around a mouthful of food as he and Misha headed in to join them. “Are we invited?”

“You’re the guests of honour,” Michael beamed cheerfully. “But that means you have to help me buy the booze. I’ve got caterers doing the food.”

Jensen faked shock. “You mean you don’t have enough booze in the house for a party? Are you losing it in your old age, man?”

Michael casually extended a middle finger and ignored him. “So, I take it you’re all sticking around for the party?”

Everyone nodded their assent.

“Awesome! This is going to be my best party yet.”

“He says that every time,” Tom replied with a grin.

“And I’m always right.”

* * *

Michael’s parties were infamous for being wild and crazy but Jensen had to admit it wasn’t as bad as some of Chad’s parties that Jared had dragged him to over the years. At least Michael wasn’t going around insisting that everyone was wearing too many clothes and refusing to let them in until they were sufficiently undressed. He had a drink in his hand, he was happy and no one was pressuring him to get naked. Life was pretty good.

“Jenny!” Michael slurred as Jensen made his way into the entertainment room, slinging an arm across his shoulders. “You’re just in time to sing some karaoke.”

“No thanks,” Jensen said as he tried to twist away from Michael’s hold. “I was just looking for Jared.”

“I’m right here,” Jared said from his sprawled position on the couch. “You missed me singing Duran Duran.”

“Now that I am sorry I missed.”

Michael grabbed hold of him. “So, now it’s your turn. Everyone who comes in here has to sing and I pick the songs. If Padalecki can do it, and he can’t sing for shit, then you can with your pretty voice.”

Before Jensen could argue there was a microphone in his hand and Michael was keying a song into the karaoke machine.

“You’ll thank me for this later,” he whispered as the song started to play.

I can’t fight this feeling any longer And yet I’m still afraid to let it flow What started out as friendship, has grown stronger I only wish I had the strength to let it show

Jensen shot Michael a glare as he started to sing the words on the screen.

I tell myself that I can’t hold out forever I said there is no reason for my fear Cause I feel so secure when were together You give my life direction You make everything so clear

He was doing his best to look at anyone but Jared now. Because if he looked at Jared while he was singing, it was all over. Michael had known exactly what he was doing when he picked this song and Jensen was damn sure he was going to beat the shit out of him for it afterwards.

The thing was, he meant it. The damn song was pretty much exactly what he felt for Jared, and now he was having to sing it in front of a bunch of people he didn’t know as well as Jared himself. Really, beating the shit out of Michael was too good for him.

He finished the song and kept his eyes on the carpet the whole time, barely hearing the whoops and cheers.

“You were awesome!” Jared said as Jensen tried to make a hasty exit from the room. “Hey, are you ok? You don’t look so good.”

“Yeah,” Jensen mumbled. “I just need some air.”

“Shit, okay. I’ll come with you. Let me just get you some water.”

Jensen couldn’t really be mad at Jared for wanting to help but he just needed to be far, far away from him until he’d pulled himself together. He watched as Jared walked into the kitchen and headed out to the pool.

He took a deep breath once he was outside and searched around for a quiet corner to sit in for a while. He just needed a few minutes to not think about Jared or the fact that he had just sung his feelings in front of him like some cheesy musical.

There were a few people swimming lazily in the pool and others making out on the poolside loungers. His eyes widened as he recognised one of the people currently being straddled by a hot young guy that Jensen didn’t recognise.

“Holy shit! Misha!”

The words were barely more than a gasped whisper but they left Jensen’s lips just as Jared arrived with a glass of water in his hand.

His eyes followed Jensen’s and a moment later Jensen found the glass of water shoved into his hand as Jared stalked towards Misha and his companion. Jensen watched, more than a little confused as Jared sent the other guy packing and hauled Misha to his feet. He quickly put the glass down and hurried over to find out what was happening.

“I don’t give a shit what sort of open relationship you have with everyone else, but you can’t just make out with some random guy right in front of Jensen like that. It’s cruel, man.”

Jensen didn’t think he’d ever heard Jared sound as angry as he did right now.

“Jared,” Misha sounded calm and almost amused by the whole thing, “I really don’t think it’s any of your business who I choose to sleep with. Except now you’ve scared Ben away I’m going to need to find someone else.”

“Dude! Jensen is standing right here! Don’t you care?”

“About what?”

Jared’s fist shot out without warning and Jensen could only watch in horror as Misha stumbled backwards and collapsed onto the lounger he’d been lying on.

“Jesus Christ, Jared! What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Me?” Jared spluttered. “Jensen, seriously, I’ve tried not to say anything but he treats you like shit. The sex can’t be that good for you to put up with all this.”

Jensen blinked at him. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Come on, I’m not stupid. I’ve seen all the little private conversations you’ve been sneaking off to have, and you were snuggling in the tent back in Washington. I’d kind of hoped you’d just tell me about it but I guess you didn’t trust me enough or something.”

Jensen blinked at him again. “You think I’m sleeping with Misha?”

Jared glanced down at Misha who was rubbing his jaw and watching them curiously. “Uh, yeah?”

Jensen sighed. “You’re a fucking moron, Padalecki.”

He knelt down beside Misha and cupped his jaw gently, tilting his head so he could examine the spot where Jared had hit him. There was going to be a hell of a bruise in the morning. “Shit, man. Are you okay?”

“I’ve had worse,” Misha assured him. “Maybe you should tell him what we were talking about in all those private little chats though. You know, before he hits me again.”

Jensen glanced up to see Jared chewing on his lip.

“I’m not going to hit you again.” Jared murmured, sounding almost embarrassed as Jensen rose to his feet again.

“Come on,” he said, taking Jared by the arm. “We’re not talking about this here.”

They headed out to Michael’s front yard where there was a guy passed out on the front lawn but no one else around.

Jensen took a deep breath. “Ok, so you know I’m not fucking Misha, right?”

“Yeah, I kind of figured that out.”

Jensen glanced at Jared and the way he was looking at him, eyes warm and concerned. It wasn’t making this any easier.

“Well, the reason Misha and I were talking in private all the time is because he knows something I wasn’t comfortable sharing with anyone else.”

“Not even me?” Jared asked, sounding so damn hurt it almost broke him. “Jensen, you know you can tell me anything.”

“I know, and if it was anything else I would have. I just didn’t want to screw things up, you know?”

“Screw what up? Jensen you’re not making any sense.”

This was it. He had to do this now or he never would.

He took a deep breath, said a silent prayer and pulled Jared down into a kiss.

Jared pulled back a moment later, eyes wide with surprise. “Jensen?”

“Tell me you want this,” Jensen pleaded. “God, you drive me nuts. Wanted you for so long.”

It took Jared less than a second to respond, and he let out a soft moan as he kissed Jensen back. Jensen’s body trembled with sheer need as Jared pressed into him, grinding their hips together and letting Jensen know quite clearly that Jared was enjoying this.

“God, Jensen, why the hell did we wait so long to do this?” Jared whispered between kisses.

“Because we’re stupid,” Jensen panted back as he slid his hand underneath Jared’s t-shirt. “So fucking stupid.”

Jared grunted his agreement and cupped Jensen’s ass with his hands.

“Jen, I want you. Waited too long for this.”

Jensen couldn’t agree more. “Come on. Bedroom. Now.”

They clung to each other as they stumbled back into the house, neither of them willing to relinquish contact now they had it. Navigating up the stairs was tricky but they made it and fell into the bedroom, clutching at each other and tugging at their clothes as soon as the door closed behind them.

Jensen pulled Jared towards the bed but stopped when he saw something on top of the covers that most definitely hadn’t been there earlier in the day. It was a box of condoms, a bottle of lube and a note.

Heading home for a couple of days. Enjoy the rest of your night. See you back on set.
Misha

Jared let out an unhappy groan. “Man, I can’t believe I hit him.”

“We’ll make it up to him,” Jensen whispered. “If I’d talked to you about this when Misha first told me to . . .”

Jared kissed him. “We’re here now, right? That’s all that matters.”

They finished undressing slowly and Jensen took in every inch of Jared’s flesh as he lay down on the bed. He was an Adonis. There was no other way to describe him with his long, lean body, taut muscles and eager smile.

“Are you just gonna stand there and stare?” Jared asked with a shy grin.

“It’s tempting,” Jensen replied. “Do have any idea how you look? God, I wish I had my camera.”

Jared’s grin widened. “You can take all the photos you like. Next time. Now come here.”

The bed dipped as Jensen knelt down and crawled up to Jared.

“Hi,” he whispered gently.

“Hi yourself.”

Jensen stroked his hand along Jared’s inner thigh until he reached his prize, lips curling at the soft gasps Jared was making as he stroked him.

“You know, it would be rude not to use the presents Misha left for us.”

“Yeah,” Jared agreed with a strangled moan. “Very rude.”

Jensen leaned in and nipped Jared’s earlobe with his teeth. “Roll over.”

Jared did as he was asked and for a few moments Jensen just drank in the sight of him as he skimmed his hands over Jared’s back. He picked up the lube, making a mental note to buy Misha anything he wanted when they got back to Vancouver, and slicked up his hand.

He felt Jared quiver beneath him as he slowly opened him up, taking his time to explore Jared’s body. He wanted this to last, for every moment and memory to be etched into his brain.

“Feels good, Jen,” Jared moaned softly. “So fucking good.”

Jensen pressed a kiss to the base of Jared’s spine and opened one of the condoms, sliding it on before he got to his knees.

“I’m ready for you, Jen. Need to feel you inside me.”

Jared arched his back as Jensen entered him, letting out a strangled moan and fisting his hands in the bed sheet.

“Christ, Jen. Yeah.”

Jensen started to increase his momentum under Jared’s encouragement, thrusting inside him and wrapping one hand around to stroke Jared’s cock at the same time. He was such a fucking idiot for denying himself this for so long. Jared was hot beneath him, the sweat from his back and Jensen’s chest fusing them together into one being.

“Faster,” Jared groaned beneath him. “Go faster.”

He tightened his grip on Jared and increased his pace, his breath coming in ragged gasps as Jared writhed underneath him.

“Jared, I’m gonna . . .”

“It’s ok, me too,” Jared gasped.

Jensen thrust again and let out a strangled moan as he came. A moment later Jared spurted onto his hand and collapsed beneath him.

They lay there for a few minutes, gasping for breath until Jensen slowly withdrew and disposed of the condom in the nearby trashcan.

“I’m gonna buy Misha a house,” Jared announced as they lay side by side in the tangled sheets. “Or a plane or something. Maybe a pony.”

Jensen nodded and pressed a kiss to Jared’s shoulder. “I’ll chip in for that.”

Jared smiled and pulled Jensen into his arms. “You know, even though you got sick and I got beat up this was a pretty fucking awesome vacation.”

“Mmm . . .” Jensen murmured sleepily. “Not as awesome as right now, though.”

“We should totally do it again.”

Jensen grinned. “I like your thinking, but you need to give me a few minutes recovery time.”

“Jackass. I meant the trip. We could go and see all the places we missed out on by cutting it short.” He paused for a moment. “Although I’m totally ok with us fucking again too.”

“Atta boy.”

As Jared leaned over and kissed him, slowly and lazily, Jensen was struck by just how right this felt. It was like he’d just found some part of himself that he hadn’t even realized was missing.

And now that he’d found it, there was no way in Hell he was ever letting go.

The End.