Almost one year to the day after he left, Jared steps out of a cab and looks up at the gate to Jensen's mansion. It looks exactly as he remembers it, solid and unforgiving, but the strings of brightly colored pennants twined around the iron wrought points at the top of the gate are new.
There's music playing from the other side of the gate, something soft and mellow, and Jared almost loses his nerve. He's been debating whether or not to look for Jensen ever since he got to L.A. two months ago, and he finally decided on coming. He picked Resurrection Day out of nostalgia but he should have figured Jensen would be hosting a party.
Swallowing hard he walks up to the gate and presses the tiny button to call security. He's got this whole speech rehearsed but as the intercom crackles to life, it's completely wiped from his mind.
"Uhm... hi," he says. "My uhm... name is Jared Padalecki, I uh..."
There is a buzzing sound and the intercom dies. Looking around Jared reaches out and tries the handle of the small door set into the gate, it comes open under his hand. He steps inside gingerly, waiting to see that the door slips shut behind him, and looks up at the house. It looks even bigger than he remembers, sprawling out in every direction with lights blazing in every window.
The front door is propped open and he can see people milling around on the front porch. He starts walking, the sound of gravel crunching under his feet obnoxiously loud over the music spilling out from the house, and he's painfully aware of the curious glances thrown in his direction. He recognizes a couple of very famous faces and immediately diverts his gaze. This is the worst idea he's ever had.
He can feel people looking at him as he walks up the steps, their gazes prickling on his skin. He supposes he doesn't fit in very well with the Hollywood crowd. Sure, his jeans are Abercrombie and Fitch and his t-shirt sports a D&G logo, but his hair is unfashionably long and the beard he's been growing for the past few weeks makes him look more like a surfer than anything else.
He pushes his shades into his hair as he enters the house, eyes darting back and forth as he looks for Jensen's familiar face. There is a security guy in a black suit standing just inside the door. Jared expects to be asked for an invitation, or at least identification, but the guy just lets his eyes slide over him before looking away.
The momentum that has carried him thus far runs out and he stops uncertainly just inside the living room doors. It looks like he remembers, maybe a little tidier than it was when he was last here, but it's hard to tell with all the people in the way. Everywhere he looks there are famous faces but none of them belongs to the only star he'd like to see.
He expects someone to stop him and ask him what the fuck he's doing there, but for most part his presence seems to go unnoticed. He can't recall feeling this out of place since his freshman year in college when he accidentally walked in on his married professor having sex with his TA, his male TA.
He grabs a drink from a passing tray and does his best to look cool and unimpressed as he walks through the rooms on the bottom floor, looking for Jensen. He's got no clue what he's going to say once he finds him and his heart is lodged firmly in his throat, but somehow he still feels exhilarated.
The house is like a maze and he's starting to realize how little of it he actually saw last time around. He walks back and forth through the rooms for what feels like forever, carefully avoiding catching anyone's eye. He even walks out into the back garden, scanning for Jensen's familiar face but pulling up a blank. Jensen's like the worst host ever.
Finally, he works up the courage to go upstairs. The party seems to be confined to the lower level for the most part, but no one tries to stop him as he walks up the stairs, still clutching the drink he barely touched as if it's a magical backstage pass.
He spots Jensen as soon as he comes level with the upper floor. He's talking to a woman and she's giggling prettily at whatever it is he's murmuring into her ear. His back is turned to Jared so it's the woman that spots Jared first.
"Who are you?" she says, crinkling her nose. "You're not supposed to be up here."
Jared swallows and stops dead in his tracks as Jensen whips around, his mouth falling open as he recognizes Jared. Their eyes meet and Jared's breath get stuck in his throat.
"Jared," Jensen says, his voice betraying nothing.
Jared wants to make some sort of flippant remark about how at least Jensen remembers his name, but his mouth is suddenly too dry for him to speak.
"Sweetheart," Jensen says, turning his attention back to the woman. Jared notices that she's really pretty, with long auburn hair and rounded breasts just barely concealed by her dress. "Why don't you go back downstairs? I'll find you later, I promise."
She huffs, giving Jared a cold look, but then she smiles prettily at Jensen. "Okay," she says. "See you later."
She sashays past Jared on the stairs and he catches just the barest hint of her perfume. It's the same perfume Sandy used to wear while they were still together and his heart clenches. He hasn't talked to Sandy in way too long. He wonders where she is and what she's doing and if he could possibly be teleported there.
He looks up to find Jensen staring at him, face unreadable and forehead wrinkled. He wonders if he made a mistake coming here. Slowly, almost expecting Jensen to tell him no, he takes the last few steps up to the landing. Jensen's face has been plastered on the cover of every other magazine lately, with his new movies coming out, but it's nothing compared to seeing him in real life.
Compared to Jensen's crisp grey pants and black short-sleeved shirt Jared's dressed like a hoodlum and he feels weirdly self conscious. He's neither poor, nor ugly, yet he feels like an ugly duckling in a sea of swans. Maybe it's because so much in L.A. seems to be about the surface and Jared never cared too much about that stuff.
"So what brings you to this neighborhood?" Jensen asks, sounding carefully indifferent.
Jared narrows his eyes because Jensen's blank faced shit is starting to really piss him off.
"Oh, you know," he answers, keeping his face as neutral as Jensen's. "I just wanted to check up on this asshole I used to know."
A muscle in Jensen's jaw jumps and he shifts his stance slightly. "I'm fine," he says, voice tense. "So if there was nothing else you wanted you can run along now."
Jared nods and puts his glass down on the little end table next to the stairs. "Bye," he says. "It wasn't really nice seeing you."
He starts to turn but before he's taken a step Jensen's hand lands on his shoulder.
"Fuck this," Jensen says and spins him around, fingers digging into Jared's flesh.
For a second they just look at each other then Jensen shifts his grip on Jared's shoulder and Jared kisses him. For a moment Jensen's lips are tense against his, then he lets out a breath through his nose and opens up for Jared's tongue. The sudden surge of desire is almost enough to buckle Jared's knees, wild and unexpected.
Jared brings his hands up to cup Jensen's face, thumbs dragging over the hollows of his cheeks. Jensen's slight beard is an unusual tickle that scratches against his own, but the slick slide of his tongue and the lushness of his mouth is intimately familiar. Jensen fists Jared's shirt in his hands, making it stretch and pull over Jared's back.
Jared moves one of his hands to the back of Jensen's neck while the other fumbles down over his ribs to his back, pulling their bodies flush together. A shudder goes through him when he feels Jensen's cock, hot and hard, against his thigh and he moans against Jensen's lips. Somehow Jensen manages to wriggle his hands in under Jared's t-shirt and rakes his fingers up Jared's back, until they're spanning over his shoulder blades, holding him close.
A sudden shout of Jensen's name by someone coming up the stairs makes them jump apart, staring at each other in wild eyed terror. Jensen looks around and within seconds Jared finds himself shoved into what appears to be a supply closet. The door closes behind him and the world plunges into darkness, only the barest sliver of light creeping in underneath the door.
It smells like laundry detergent and for a moment the only thing Jared can hear is the thunder of his heartbeat. Then whoever it is makes it up the stairs and laughter filters in through the door. Jared can't make out what they're talking about, just the hushed murmur of voices and the occasional thump as Jensen shifts against the door.
Slowly his eyes get accustomed to the dark and he can make out his surroundings. There are shelves on either side of him, lined with towels, clean sheets and cleaning supplies. He's pretty sure the dark mess in the corner is a vacuum cleaner and a lonely mop against the wall makes him feels as if he's got company of an anorexic with whitish hair.
The voices outside quiets and for a few minutes Jared stays eerily still wondering if Jensen abandoned him. Then the closet is flooded with light, or so it seems, as the door opens. He swivels around only to be faced with Jensen's disapproving face, once again set in an indifferent mask.
"Hurry," Jensen says, stepping aside to let him out. "Not that way," he hisses when Jared moves towards the stairs.
He grabs Jared's elbow, hard enough to leave bruises and drags him down the corridor towards one of the many rooms Jared never got around to seeing. He finds himself shoved into a guestroom and then pushed towards a small door at the end of it.
"That way," Jensen says and he sounds pissed off.
Jared turns around to face him. "What the fuck?" he asks. "Don't push me around."
"You need to be gone," Jensen hisses. "Out of this house and out of my fucking life. I can't think around you."
Jared narrows his eyes. "Did you ever stop to wonder if maybe that's a good thing?"
Jensen looks as if he's just barely refraining from punching Jared in the nose. "You don't understand," he says, throwing a nervous look over his shoulder. "You can't just show up and expect me to... You can't."
"I'm not expecting you to anything," Jared hisses back. "But some common decency would be nice."
"Please," Jensen says, casting another glance over his shoulder. "Just leave."
Jared just stares at him for a moment, a familiar ache settling in the pit of his stomach. "Fine," he finally says. "Have it your way."
He doesn't spare Jensen another glance as he opens the door Jensen indicated, holding his head high and back rigid as he steps through it.
Two weeks after the disastrous scene at Jensen's party, Jared finally moves into a real apartment. Living in a hotel grew stale after a week and even though pretty much everything is new and therefore doesn't really feel like home, at least it's his.
It's an open apartment in two floors. The lower floor has a kitchen that opens up to a spacious living room with amazing floor to ceiling windows and the upper floor is really just a loft with the master bedroom. The loft isn't that big, but there's enough room for Jared's king size bed and a desk for whatever work he needs to take home.
It's in a good neighborhood with a park for his morning jog just around the corner and not too far from the Jeff Morgan offices, so Jared really thinks he should be happier. He's got a good job, a nice car, a great apartment and more money than he's ever had before, so why does he feel as if there's no point to anything just because Jensen rejected him?
He turns his life into a routine, one he can do with his eyes closed, just so that he won't have to think. He gets up at 5:00 every morning, eats something quick, usually milk and cereal, and then he heads out for his morning run in the park. He gets back around 6:00, has a shower, dresses for work and then eats a second breakfast while reading the paper. Around 6:45 he leaves for work, usually by public transportation even if he has a car parked in the apartment building's garage. He found within a week of living in L.A. that driving to work is just not worth the hassle and also that it means he'll have to forgo his morning coffee from Starbucks.
At 7:15 sharp every weekday he walks into the Starbucks closest to the office and orders a grande soy latte with an extra shot of espresso and a pinch of caramel syrup. He flirts with whatever barista is on duty while he waits for his coffee to be ready, much to the chagrin of his fellow commuters. Within two weeks he knows everybody's name and within a month he has so many phone numbers tucked into his wallet there's no room for money.
At 7:30, or maybe 7:45 if the line at Starbucks is long, he walks in through the doors of Jeff Morgan Associates, Inc. and joins the queue to the elevators with his coffee clutched in one hand and his work ID in the other. Sometimes he chats idly with his workmates and sometimes he just stares up at the glass roof high over his head.
Five to ten minutes later he steps out of the elevator again, ready to start another work day. He'll chat for a while with his secretary before his assistants and the other three members of his team show up to go over the day's schedule. Sometimes Jeff Morgan himself will show up to supervise their work or offer ideas. In the beginning it used to freak Jared out, making him stutter and mumble and blush as he outlined his ideas, but lately he's come to realize that Jeff actually trusts him, which is why he got the job to begin with.
Work usually drags on until late in the evening and most of the building is empty and dark when Jared finally gathers up his files and heads home. Sometimes he walks by Misha's office and asks if he wants to grab something to eat, but more often than not he goes home alone. In the evenings he works a little, watches a little TV and more often than not falls asleep on the couch, waking up in the middle of the night to tuck himself into bed. Every other day he talks to his mom and just hearing her voice makes him ache for home.
She worries about him, he can tell, and he's pretty sure that if he's as much as breathed a word about it she would show up on his doorstep, but he's twenty-six , way too old to run to mom with all of his problems.
The weekends are the worst. Forty-eight hours of nothing but alone time and no friends to spend it with. He hangs out with Misha sometimes, the quirky graphic designer on his team, but they haven't yet crossed over the line from acquaintances to buddies and he doesn't know a lot of people in L.A.
Every other weekend he will go out with one of the baristas. He'll wine and dine them, but even though all of them have been very receptive to his charms, he just ends up telling them the sad story about this guy he used to date, even though he secretly thinks date is too strong a word and that he's a pathetic loser for being this hung up on the guy.
It would be easier, he thinks, if Jensen wasn't everywhere. He has yet to manage a day without seeing a picture of Jensen's smiling face and every time he catches a glimpse of it unaware his stomach clenches almost painfully. It's hard to fool himself that he's over Jensen when every glimpse of his face, even in a picture, hits him like a punch to the gut.
To fill his time he starts volunteering at a dog shelter on the weekends. Misha is a volunteer as well and over the heads of yapping puppies and attention seeking dogs they forge the bonds of a real friendship. Misha reminds Jared of Chad but in a less sleazy more quirky way. He has the same tendency to say whatever is on his mind, but it's more likely to be zombies than boobies.
Misha teases him endlessly about what he thinks is Jared's epic man crush on Jensen Ackles and in a weird way it actually helps. It's not quite the same as actually talking about it, but with Misha Jared can allow himself to be gay. He still likes women, of course, but he finds himself spending way more time checking out guys than girls. Maybe it's because he spent so much repressing the gay side of his personality that he's trying to make up for lost time.
The shelter is pretty big, located on the outskirts of the city with plenty of room for the dogs to run free. The work is mostly tedious, wiping down floors and cleaning the play pens, but it also allows for time to play catch with the dogs. During the introductory course they warned against playing favorites, but it's pretty much impossible not to.
Jared favorite is a pretty German Sheppard mix named Sadie. She's got ridiculously big ears and the energy of en exuberant puppy. They're not sure how old she is, their best guess is something like four, and people are not exactly standing in line to adopt her. She was found running along a highway, with sores all over her paws and her ribs sticking out in a pitiful way, but after just a couple of weeks at the shelter she's looking so much better.
Whenever Jared stops by he always takes the time to play with her, playing catch and teaching her tricks. She's a wonderful dog, obviously used to being around people and Jared can't help but to wonder why no one has come looking for her.
"You should adopt her," Misha says one Sunday, eyes trailing after Sadie as she runs after the ball Jared just threw. "She obviously loves you."
"I can't man. Not all of us have a writer for a wife that stays home all day with nothing better to do than to look after the puppy farm."
Misha laughs. "You know what you should do? You should marry Jensen Ackles. I bet he'd let you have all the dogs you wanted."
Jared smiles, pretending that it doesn't sting. "I would if he'd have me," he says, feeling uncomfortable only because it's true.
Sadie comes barging back with the ball clutched in her mouth. She drops it three feet away and then runs up to Jared for pettings. She still hasn't quite grasped the concept.
"What a good girl," Jared says, crouching down to scratch behind her ears. "Such a good girl, Sadie."
He can feel Misha watching him, blue eyes unreadable. "Can I ask you something?" Misha asks.
Jared looks up. "Anything."
"Have you ever met him?"
"Who?" Jared asks, pretending he doesn't get the question. The thing Jared keep forgetting about Misha is that underneath the crazy he's really fucking clever and unnervingly perceptive.
Misha just looks at him, eyebrows raised.
Jared takes a deep breath."Yeah," he finally says. "Yeah, I have."
It's the closest he's ever come to revealing what happened between him and Jensen, and he feels oddly detached as if he's watching them from afar. Misha just nods.
"Thought so," he says. Then he grins. "Well, it was a bit of a tossup between you being delusional and him fucking you over, but option number two won out. I figured that if you were delusional you'd have thought up a better scenario than heartbroken."
Jared averts his gaze and catches sight of someone standing at the edge of the perimeters with a camera. As Jared looks he lifts it up and snaps a picture, lens pointed straight at them. His mouth goes dry and his heart lurches.
"Did that dude just take a picture of us?" Misha asks.
"Yeah," Jared says, straightening up. "He did."
They share a look and Jared's pretty sure they're thinking the same thing.
"You're the only one that knows," Jared whispers, close to panic. "I didn't even tell my mom."
Sadie suddenly spots the intruder and runs towards him, barking happily. Jared's voice is way too shrill when he calls her back and she stops so suddenly she almost makes a somersault. The guy seems to realize he's been spotted and takes off running towards a car parked in the distance. There's no way they'll be able to catch him.
"Hmm," Misha says and when Jared turns to look at him he's got his iPhone in hand. "There's nothing on the internet about Jensen except for a lot of hoopla about this new movie he's supposedly making."
Jared sucks in a breath and his heart calms down slightly. "Maybe it had nothing to do with... that. Maybe it was just a weirdo."
Misha's only answer is another hmm, and it's not at all as reassuring as it should be.
Over the course of the next week Jared almost forgets about the mysterious photographer. Together with his team he's putting the finishing touches to their first big project and his days are filled with reviewing blueprints and superlative filled phone conversations. If it wasn't for Gabe, his secretary, he would probably have starved to death as he spends most evenings bent over his work desk, looking for something they might have missed.
The final review for the project is scheduled for Friday and after a meeting that drags on into the evening they get an all clear from Jeff Morgan and the other associates. Jeff pats his back and says he knew Jared could do it and Jared's practically floating on clouds as he leaves the building to take his team out for drinks.
His high only lasts until the following morning though when Misha calls him from the shelter.
"Sadie's been adopted," he says by way of greeting.
Jared blinks and swallows drily. His mouth tastes as if something died in it and his eyelids seems to be glued together.
"Yeah?" he croaks.
Just last night he was talking to Misha about possible ways for him to adopt her that didn't involve marrying Jensen.
"Yeah... I just wanted you to hear it from me rather than anyone else."
Jared pushes himself up and manages to blink his eyes open, squinting against the sudden light. "Is it... Did she go to a good home?"
"Of course," Misha says. "You know how rigorous the screening process is."
Jared swallows again, his head pounds dully, but there's something Misha's not telling him. "It takes way more than a week to be screened," he says.
"Maybe it's been going on for a while and no one wanted to tell you... I'm sorry man. I know how much you loved that dog. "
"Yeah. Thanks for calling me."
Jared disconnects the call and lets the phone drop to the bed. He knows it wouldn't have been fair of him to adopt Sadie, not when he works as much as he does, but he really thought he would have to. As with all shelters space is a problem and dogs that don't get adopted are put down. He had started to tell himself he would be doing her a favor, giving her a loving home even though she would have to spend most of her day at some daycare, and now she's gone. He wonders, with a ball of hurt in his chest, if Misha lied to him and Sadie was put down for lack of interest.
Monday shapes up to be craptastic. Jared oversleeps and has to skip his morning run. For some reason there's no hot water for his shower and he forgot the milk on the counter overnight. The old man that sits next to him on the bus smells like pee and he trips on his shoelaces when he gets off it almost face planting onto the pavement.
It's safe to say he's not in a good mood as he approaches Starbucks and with the luck he's been having he's pretty sure they'll be out of coffee anyway. He can see the line through the window, people are packed ten deep to the counter and none of the usual baristas are working. He glances at his clock; it's 7.30, so it's either coffee or punctuality.
He stops uncertainly outside the door, gauging the line and wondering if his success on Friday would excuse a late arrival today. He's startled out of his thoughts by something wet and cold touching his hand. With an unmanly little yelp he pulls his hand away and turns to find Sadie panting at him, big ears perked forward and her tongue lolling out of her mouth.
He blinks, blindsided by the rush of relief at seeing her alive and well, and crouches down to greet her properly. She slobbers all over his face and nearly knocks him over in her enthusiasm, tail wagging so frenetically she almost ties herself into a knot. It's not until she finally sits down with her back wedged between his knees that he looks up to see who's holding the leash. He expects it to be Misha. It isn't.
Jensen's wearing holey jeans and there's a baseball cap shoved down over his hair that shades his face, but there's no mistaking who he is. He's got Sadie's leash looped around one hand and a Starbucks cup in the other. Jared stares at the scrabbly writing on the side of it, it looks just like his usual order.
"I got your coffee," Jensen says, holding the cup out.
Jared blinks and staggers to his feet, taking the cup out of Jensen's hand because he doesn't know what else to do. He takes a sip from the cup, it tastes just right and somehow that pisses him off. Between Sadie and the coffee, it's pretty obvious Jensen's been checking up on him somehow. He just got no clue what it means.
"Have you been following me?" he asks, taking another mouthful of coffee. It's warm against his tongue, but not hot enough to burn. Jensen must have had it ready for the time Jared would usually show up.
Jensen looks down at Sadie, smiling when she tilts her head to the side as if to ask what he wants. "I hired a P.I.," he finally says without looking up. "To find you."
Jared's not sure if he's flattered or creeped out. "Why?"
"I wanted to talk to you. Apologize..."
Jensen finally looks up, catching Jared's eyes. It's a cheap trick, because the shock that goes through Jared's body pretty much cancels out the anger. He tears his gaze away, staring down the road towards the entrance to Jeff Morgan. He can see people walking in, the revolving doors swallowing them in groups of three or four. He should get moving, but he stays rooted to the spot.
"Why did you adopt Sadie?" he asks, looking down at her. She's sitting on Jensen's shoes, looking as if she belongs there. It pisses him off, kind of, but it also makes him happy for her. He's a strange type of person.
"Because the only time you really looked happy was when you were playing with her," Jensen answers and Jared looks up with a start. He feels as if he's watching them from afar. He hears what Jensen's saying, but the dots refuse to connect in his head.
"The photographer," he says slowly. "He was yours."
Jensen winces. "I only meant for him to find you but... He asked... and I didn't say no."
"Asked what? If you wanted him to keep following me?"
Jensen nods. Jared doesn't want to notice that he looks tired, that there are darks circles under his eyes or that his skin is pulled taut over his cheekbones, but he can't help it. He can't help but to see it and he can't help the urge to fix it. He's so fucked and obviously not in a good way.
"I'm gonna be late for work," he says, but he still doesn't move.
"I'm sorry," Jensen says, making a vague abortive gesture towards Jared. "I just wanted a chance to... say sorry for how I behaved at the party. This isn't easy for me."
"Yeah, cause it's been real easy for me," Jared hisses, anger flaring up again. "At least you've known you were gay since you were fifteen years old. I've known for fifteen minutes."
He finally starts walking, clutching the coffee cup so hard the lid pops off and coffee sloshes over his fingers.
"Jared please," Jensen calls after him and he sounds so broken Jared can't help but to stop.
He slowly turns around to face Jensen, noting the way Sadie strains against her leash to follow him and Jensen's white knuckled grip on it. Jensen stumbles forward letting Sadie drag him towards Jared with a look of panic on his face.
"I looked up every Jared in Texas," Jensen says. "And I called one every night until I lost all hope that it would ever be you... I've regretted the way I treated you every day since you left and then when you showed up... God... I just... froze."
He looks up and there's nothing but honesty in his eyes.
"I've been planning this day for weeks but no matter how hard I try I just can't get it right, can I?"
Jared wants to say something, anything, but he can't. The words keep tumbling over themselves in his head, but they never make it to his tongue.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm in love with you," Jensen finally says. "And I've never been so terrified of anything or anyone in my life."
Jared's heart trips, blood whooshing thick and fast in his ears. He slowly reaches out, wrapping his fingers around Jensen's wrist and tugging him closer. Jensen comes easily, almost crushing Sadie and Jared's coffee between them as he stumbles forward.
"I'm going to kiss you now," he says, embarrassed by the way his voice breaks.
Jensen doesn't protest, he doesn't say anything, eyes so green and wide Jared thinks he could drown in them. Slowly he bends forward until their lips finally touch. Jensen makes a tiny desperate little sound and that's all the incentive he needs to deepen the kiss, licking his way into Jensen's mouth and dropping the coffee cup in favor of cupping the side of Jensen's face with his coffee slick hand.
Jensen trembles under his hands and when Jared pulls away he's breathing harshly with his lips parted and eyes closed. Jared rubs his thumb over Jensen's cheek, spreading the coffee stain over his freckled skin. He's vaguely aware of the way people are staring, craning their necks as they walk past. Jensen's cap is askew and he reaches up to straighten it, making Jensen look up at him.
"You don't have to be afraid of me," he says, uncurling his hand from around Jensen's wrist. "I'm one of the nice guys."
"You know, I had a feeling you'd say that," Jensen answers, lifting his free hand to rest on Jared's chest while a grin slowly spreads over his face.
Jared grins back. How could he not when Jensen looks so amazingly happy and befuddled. He can't believe Jensen just let Jared kiss him in the middle of a busy street, but the rapid thump of his heart tells him it really happened.
"So..." Jensen says, dragging the word out. "Wanna come for dinner tonight?"
"Oh believe me, I'll be coming," he says, grinning when Jensen blushes.
"I guess I better let you go to work then," Jensen says reluctantly. "But I'll see you tonight?"
"Yeah." Jared can't stop grinning. "You'll see me tonight."
He finally drops his hands from Jensen and takes a step back, surveying the damage caused by the splattered coffee. He thinks it might actually work for him, rather than against him. Anyone that sees his rumpled, coffee stained suit will understand that he had a bitch of a morning. He gives Sadie one last scratch behind the ear and Jensen one last smile, before turning towards the doors to Jeff Morgan.
He only has time to take two steps before Jensen calls out for him.
"Yeah?" he asks, half turning.
"Did you draw me a house?"
Jensen looks kind of pitiful standing there with his coffee stained jeans, ratty old shirt and Sadie's leash clutched tightly in his hand. There's this look on his face that's scared, confused, hopeful and sincere at the same time, as if he can't really believe that this is actually happening.
Jared's grin widens. "Yeah, I did."
Jensen's answering smile hits Jared straight in the gut, making his heart constrict and expand almost painfully. He's not sure he's ready to believe that their story will get a fairytale ending, but the irregular beat of his heart and the whoosh of blood in his ears tell him that maybe, just maybe, Jensen is the Prince Charming he didn't even know he was waiting for.
