Chapter Two



When Jared woke up the next morning he turned over, groaning a little at the light spilling in through his window and cursing himself for forgetting to close the blinds before falling asleep. His head felt kind of foggy and his eyes were like sandpaper. He rubbed them for a few seconds before he attempted opening them and when he did he came face to face with a grinning Jensen, who had moved over to the other side of the bed at some point in the night.

"Morning sunshine," he said far too cheerfully. This wasn't the first time Jared had woken up next to Jensen after a night of drinking but every time he did it killed him a little, forcing him to wonder what it would be like to wake up with him in a whole other way.

"Your phone was ringing five minutes ago, I couldn't make myself get up to answer it," Jensen told him, stretching and snuggling back down into the covers.

Jared let himself watch the older man for only a few seconds before forcing himself to get up. The temptation to roll over and snuggle up to his friend was too great. To press a kiss to his sleep warm neck and slide his hand down over his chest and damn he really needed to get up. Right now.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed, jumping over Harley as he nearly stood on him. He looked over to the doorway and saw Sadie sitting there, patiently for him to wake up and feed her. He needed some Advil or something before he even attempted a difficult task such as opening a can of dog food.

"Man I'm starving," Jensen said beside him, still snuggled down in the bed. Jared turned to look at him and instantly regretted it. Jensen was facing him, his bare chest begging to be kissed and sleepy face so fucking adorable that Jared had to force himself to look away.

"Well I'm not bringing you breakfast in bed," Jared told him with a forced smile as he made his way out of the room and downstairs. He opened the backdoor and let the dogs go out while he put food in their bowls, otherwise Harley would be pushing him out of the way to get to it.

He poured himself a glass of milk and retrieved the headache tablets from the cabinet before swallowing them down and thanking God they didn't have to work until tonight.

Once he'd let the dogs back in he went through to the living room, cringing at the mass of beer cans and the collection of Doritos crumbs everywhere. Ignoring the mess for the time being, he went over to the phone and grabbed it, flopping down into his armchair and looking through the caller history. His mother's phone number flashed up as the last caller and he felt an odd mixture of emotions. Usually, he felt excited, happy and warm when he thought about talking to his mom, and all of that was still there, but it was tinged with the bitter taste of worry, something he hated with a passion.

He was so close with his mom, he didn't want to have any negative feelings towards her. He hit the call button and held it to his ear, listening as it rang. His mom picked up after just two rings and Jared took a deep breath as she started speaking immediately, telling him how excited she was that he was coming home.

"Now, Friday evening is the meet and greet at the hotel so everyone can get to know each other, then Saturday it's lunch at home, just us, then Saturday night is the bachelor and bachelorette parties, I think the boys have got a theme but they won't say what, and then of course Sunday is the wedding," his mother was telling him excitedly and Jared could tell this was going to be anything but a relaxing week.

"Do I have to go to the bachelor party? I don't even know the guy Amanda's marrying," Jared pointed out, only for his mother to tut.

"Jared, he's going to be family soon, and besides, he has a gay cousin who'll be there," she told him and he could hear the happiness in her voice.

That was it; all it took for all those years of honesty, and the values he had been taught by his family, to break down. "Mom, can I bring someone with me?"

Sheri was quiet for a moment and Jared could tell she was thinking it was too good to be true. "A man?" she asked hopefully and Jared felt his fingernails dig into his palm, hating himself for lying to his mother.

"Yeah, I'm kinda seeing someone."

"Jared," she shouted down the phone. "Why haven't you told me?"

"I'm telling you now, and besides, it's still kinda new," Jared explained. She had no idea just how knew it was. "It's um… it's Jensen, actually." He cringed, waiting for her to speak again, which she didn't for some time.

"Your friend Jensen? I didn't know he was gay," she said, and Jared wondered if maybe she wouldn't believe him. Then not only would he be set up with every man gay, bi or undecided but she would also know he lied to her. He was an actor, if he could fool his own family into thinking that he and Jensen were a couple, then he would have passed the ultimate test.

"Well actually he's bisexual," he told her, relaxing into the chair a little more. "And I guess you can't really choose who you fall in love with huh?" as he said it even he could hear the sadness in his voice, knowing how true that really was.

His mother was quiet for a moment and Jared's heart was beating a mile a minute. He hadn't lied to him momma since that night he went out drinking with his buddies in the park when he was seventeen. And boy had he paid for that one in karma the next morning.

"Oh honey," she said softly. "Love?"

Jared bit his lip, at least this technically wasn't lying. "Yeah mom… I love him," he said quietly, looking over at the stairs, hoping that Jensen couldn't hear this.

"Oh sweetheart, I'm so happy to hear that. I've been kinda worried about you, I just want you to be happy. When you said it was Jensen I worried that you were gonna mess up your friendship, and your working relationship, but if you love one another then I guess I got nothing to worry about, huh?"

Jared swallowed and laughed nervously. "Yeah, listen mom, I kinda promised I'd make Jen breakfast as he's not feeling so great. I'll see you on Friday okay."

"Okay baby, you go look after him," she said delightedly. "I love you."

"Love you too mommy." He put the phone down and leaned forward, placing his face in his hands. "Oh God."

Sadie came up to him and nudged his hands, making him look up and stroke her. "What did I just do?"

She cocked her head to one side and wagged her tail, making him smile and kiss her on the snout. "Come on," he said to her, getting up and going to the kitchen.

By the time he made it back up to the bedroom Jensen was asleep again and Jared winced at the idea of waking him up. A part of him wanted to sit on the bed and watch him sleep and another part wanted to run far away and never look at him again.

The choice was taken away from him however when Jensen sniffed in his sleep, smelling the breakfast Jared had made and brought up for him.

He opened his green eyes, smiling at Jared as he pushed himself up into a sitting position and accepted the plate that Jared handed to him. "I thought you said you wouldn't bring me breakfast in bed," he quipped, taking a bite of the bacon sandwich, which was coated in ketchup, just how he liked it.

Jared smiled at him sheepishly and shrugged. "Yeah, well I kinda have a favour to ask you."

Jensen just raised his eyebrows, waiting for Jared to ask his favour.

"Last night, were you serious?" Jared asked, bringing his long legs up onto the bed and folding them under him.

Jensen frowned and took another bite. "About letting you win? No."

Jared rolled his eyes and picked at his bed covers nervously. "About coming home with me and pretending to be my… you know."

Jensen laughed around his mouthful of food. "It's not a bad word Jared."

"Aren't your family like… all godly?" Jared asked as he reached over and grabbed the second half of the sandwich, taking a big bite.

Jensen playfully scowled at him. "Sandwich thief. And just because I believe in God, doesn't mean I believe everything I read in the bible," he said, tearing off a bit of his sandwich to feed to Sadie. "And yes, I was serious, I'll be your boyfriend, Jared," he said, fluttering his awfully long eyelashes and pretending to be bashful.

"You're a jerk," Jared told him, unable to fight the smile, grabbing his pillow and hitting the other man with it, making Jensen laugh and roll away from the attack.

"And you're starting to sound like Sam," Jensen told him, trying to put the rest of his sandwich on the bedside table, lest Jared knock it over. "You bitch."

Jared just grinned and lay back on the bed. When Jensen was sure that the attack had stopped he grabbed his sandwich again and quickly finished it off. They stayed there in silence for some time, both of them lost in their own thoughts.

"So uh, do I need to like… learn stuff?" Jensen asked and Jared found himself choking on nothing but air.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. Is there like a uh…gay handbook I should read?" Jensen asked, looking down at Jared seriously. The younger man just laughed and shook his head.

"Dude, I'm the only gay person I know, they aren't expecting us to be able to name every member of the village people," Jared reminded him only for Jensen to put on his thinking face.

"Alex Briley, David Hodo… Felipe Rose…" Jensen trailed off, looking up at the ceiling. "Nah that's it."

Jared just looked at him stunned. "Okay, now even I feel the need to do something butch."

"Shut up," Jensen said, starting the pillow attacking again and smacking his friend round the head.

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That night as they were filming out in the rain, the blessed rain, the lush cooling rain, Jensen came up to Jared in between takes. "Hey, what did you mean this morning when you said you're the only gay guy you know?"

Jared furrowed his brow and shrugged, letting the hand holding his script fall to his side. "Well, I am."

"Well I mean… there must have been… someone, right?" Jensen asked. "I mean, you have actually done stuff… with a guy, right?"

Jared felt his face flush and he looked back down at his script. His silence answered Jensen's question and the older man let out a long breath. "Dude, how do you… I mean how do you know that you're definitely gay then?"

Jared looked at him, seemingly hurt by that question and Jensen found himself regretting it immediately. "I'm sorry. I just… I was just trying to understand."

"It's just…" Jared looked around the set, hoping no one could hear them talk. "You just know, you know? It's like how you automatically knew you liked girls."

Jensen frowned and sat down in one of the nearby chairs, cursing when he realised too late that it was wet, making Jared smile again.

"Actually, I don't know. A girl kissed me when I was eleven, I liked it," Jensen explained to him with a casual shrug. "A girl went down on me when I was sixteen, I liked that even more," he said with a grin, making Jared smirk and turn back to his script.

They stood close together in a companionable silence for a while, Jared reading his script and Jensen watching Jared curiously. "Hey, so I figured we could have a trial run before Friday."

Jared turned and looked at him, hazel eyes wide. "What?"

"Tom and Michael asked us round for pizza, beer and playstation. You think we can fool them?" Jensen asked with a grin, his eyes glinting devilishly.

Jared snorted in disbelief. "Are you serious? They'll flip."

"No, no, it'll be fun. We'll tell them we talked and hooked up just last week but were keeping it between us until we really knew how we felt," Jensen explained, still grinning like it was the funniest idea in the world. They both enjoyed messing with Tom and Michael but maybe this was taking it a bit too far.

"Dude, two of your best friends are gonna think you're gay… you're okay with that?" Jared asked curiously, tossing his script down onto the soggy chair, realising there was no way he'd be able to concentrate after this conversation, and he already had his lines pretty straight in his head.

Jensen shrugged. "Why would I care?"

"You know, you're more comfortable being a gay man than I am, and you're not even gay," Jared pointed out, making Jensen laugh.

"Hey, I'm easy going, which is why I totally let you win last night," he said with a grin before leaning forward and kissing him on the cheek before walking off. Jared watched after him, a little stunned because Jensen Ackles had never once kissed him on the cheek. Jared, he was certainly a kisser. He kissed everyone, ranging from his mom and dad to his friends and co-workers, but Jensen wasn't. He hugged Jared on occasion, like when Jared hugged him first or when they'd had that fight that one time. He guessed Jensen was trying to ease into this new roll that Jared had forced upon him.

He was not looking forward to tomorrow night, especially as he suspected Tom knew about his crush on Jensen. And maybe if he kept calling it a crush, instead of love, then it would hurt less when Jensen met a girl and Jared would be faced with just how unrequited it all was.

Read Chapter Three of Twelve of The Wedding Date