Do. Not. Laugh.

If Jared could just remember that mantra and repeat it to himself a zillion times a minute for the next twenty four hours, he might just be able to convince Jensen not to take a kitchen clever to his nuts. Easier said than done. Jensen was scowling, glaring even, trying to look intimidating, and failing miserably. He looked like Cliché might look like if Jared ever got his way and drowned the evil feline in the toilet. His shower damp hair hung dark across his pale forehead and he leaned into the protective circle of Marc's arm tiredly. Glaring. At Jared.

Jared hadn't known Jensen was capable of looking so utterly pissed.

Adorably pissed.

Cute, kitten-like-pissed.

Hence the none laughter point.

Yes, alright, maybe he deserved it. Maybe pissy Jensen was better than sad, hurt looking Jensen, but that didn't change the fact that for once, Jared was right, and Jensen was a stubborn ass.

'I just think you should go back to LA with Sam, just until things blow over.' He signed, trying to make his face portray the pleading his voice couldn't. 'Please, Jensen.'

Jensen, in his usual fashion, cut straight through the bullshit and threw what he presumed to be a deceitful decision back in Jared's face. 'You want me out of the way.' The movements of his hands were short, sharp and jerky. He hadn't said a word since his rather violent outburst over the phone.

'Not true!' He protested.

Liar, Liar, pants on fire! Wasn't that what he used to say when he caught his brother out on a lie? Ruthlessly stomping down on his inner six-year-old, he strode over to the couch, silently grateful when Marc took the cue and made a hasty exit for the kitchen.

Jensen slumped into the cushions of the couch, boneless once his support had been removed. The fairytale prince in Jared wanted to wrap him up warm and take him some place safe. The realist in him was beginning to think that protecting Jensen was a virtually impossible task.

'I want to meet your family, Jay.' Jensen looked so painfully desperate that Jared wasn't sure he could keep on denying him. Sliding sideways onto the sofa, he pulled Jensen into his arms. The surge of adrenaline that had pumped through his blood had long since faded, replaced by a bone deep ache and a fear that their not so uncomplicated lives were about to get a whole lot worse.

He knew at once when Jensen gave in. The fight and the tension that stiffened his frame melted away in Jared's arms. He turned closer, buried himself against Jared's chest, and trusted in a strength that was being spread thinner and thinner every day.

"What makes you more ashamed of me?" Jensen whispered the question into the warmth of Jared's skin. "That I'm sick, that I'm deaf, or that I made you a fag?"

Aw fuck, Jared though miserably, and the waterworks sprung a leak.

*****

In the end it was a moot point. Sam nursed Jensen through a string of attacks, finally pumping him full of sedatives and praying for the best. Jared used the time wisely.

That is to say he played Mister Hot-Shot Hollywood and threatened to sue every member of the press in town, plus a few who weren't. He had Kale Roberts' $700 an hour lawyer on the phone within an hour and made it perfectly clear that if Roberts wanted to press charges, Jensen would hit back with his own. Henry had even sent over a smiling pair of cops (both Supernatural fans, oddly enough). The pair had looked on Jensen with poorly disguised pity when he tried and failed to give a coherent statement, and if it hadn't been a point in Jensen's favor, Jared would have smacked it off the both of them.

Ironically enough, the angle they were now facing was not the world questioning Jared's sexuality, but them all wanting to know the big secret of Jensen's mystery illness. Half of Hollywood had rallied around them in support, and without quite realizing how, Jared had seen Jensen get propelled to the head of the latest anti-paparazzi campaign to strike the industry.

As for Sam- Jared had never seen her so stressed. Her usual no-nonsense attitude had dissolved to barely suppressed tears and pale, quiet mutterings. Even the pets had noticed the tension in their home, dog, cat, budgie and fish alike uniting in their attempts to cheer up their humans, or maim anything threatened to bring them harm.

His parents were arriving in…fuck, two hours.

"Calm down." Sam said as she breezed past him, soiled bed sheets in hand.

Jared felt his teeth grind together. "I am perfectly calm."

"Of course you are."

He checked on Jensen once more, and settled down to kill something on the Xbox.

*****

His mom smelled like honeysuckle and roses from the garden, and his dad's hands were still bigger than his own. He introduced Sam, who having been through exactly the same process with Jensen's parents, was an old hat at smoothing over awkward introductions.

Sadie and Harley attacked his old man, and the cats, oddly enough, only meowed sweetly at his mom. Everyone was on their best behavior, and it made Jared hope for the best.

"So," his mom whispered, "do we get to meet this Jensen boy?"

Jared shuffled. Jensen was still out cold, huddled under the covers of their bed and shaking out the spike of fever that had settled in when his immune system was vulnerable. He'd not be much company.

"He's through here." He said reluctantly, leading his parents through the hallway of the apartment.

"Nice place you have here." His dad commented, nodding appreciatively at the clean, smooth décor and the simple but stylish lines of the suite. He saw an opening for some pre-meeting prep work and dove right on in.

"Jensen's domesticated me." He grinned ruefully. "I even pair my socks up now." He added that for his mom's benefit, and cheered a little inside when her eyes brightened with amusement. As a kid, he'd been majorly disorganized, and could never find a matching pair of socks.

The bedroom was dark when he pushed open the door, and his was immensely relieved that Sam had changed the bedclothes whilst Jared had manhandled Jensen into the shower that morning. The room didn't smell of sickness, but it lacked the warm, homely scent Jared had become accustomed to.

Jensen was laid out on his side, wrapped up as usual in his dozen and one layers, his face relaxed and pale in sleep. Jared felt his parents shuffle behind him, undoubtedly uncomfortable with the intimate setting. Jared ignored them both and settled his palm on Jensen's sharp shoulder. The thick wool sweater was one of Sam's handmade ones, knitted in the pale green of spring meadows and flowers. It took close to a minute of Jared's gentle shaking to prompt a flutter of dark eyelashes.

"Mmm?" Jensen blinked blearily, no doubt still feeling the lingering effects of Sam's happy drug cocktail. "Jay?"

Leaning down close and carefully angling his face so Jensen could read his lips, Jared whispered, "My parents are here."

Jensen responded immediately, and Jared could see the struggle behind his eyes as he fought to gain a better grasp on consciousness. He turned as best he could under Jared's hands and fixed an owlish gaze on Jared's mom.

As predicted, his mom had just to glimpse Jensen at his most vulnerable for her heart to melt to the consistency of warm butter. She took a step closer to the bed as Jared helped prop Jensen up against the cushions and smiled.

"Hello Jensen." She said quietly, her words a whisper as though anything louder would hurt her son's sickly boyfriend.

Jensen turned the charm on to full flow, which in his condition constituted a pale version of his bright smile and a crinkle of smile lines around his eyes. "Pleasure to meet you, ma'am." He said politely, voice rough and sleepy.

And just like that, another of the Padalecki clan fell head-over-heels in love with Jensen Ross Ackles. It was quite remarkable, really. Maybe it was a genetic thing?

"Sam'll have you if you try to get up." Jared warned darkly when Jensen made a move for the covers. Or she'd have Jared, whichever of them was an easier target. As always, Jensen ignored him and forged on, only nearly falling flat on his face twice which was an improvement on yesterday.

Jared understood why he was so stubborn a moment later when Jensen stood tall and held out a hand for Jared's father to shake.

His mom muttered something about men and pride, whilst Jared simply sat back and grinned at the two men he loved most in the world.

The tension in the room broken, Jensen turned a dry smile on Jared and raised his eyebrow questioningly. 'Tell me you have offered them a drink, Jay.'

"I was gonna do that next." Jared protested meekly. When his father frowned, confused, Jared explained, "Apparently I am a sucky host." He pointed back to the bed. Jensen pointed to the kitchen.

The internal doorbell rang. It was probably Marc. Only he and Eric were known by the concierge, and no-one else they knew had keys to the building.

Jared sighed. 'Fine, you answer the door, I'll go make coffee.'

Jensen grinned triumphantly, and only wobbled a little on his way out of the room.

"So-" Jared poked carefully, aware that as first meetings went, that had to have been a little surreal.

His mom hid a smile behind her hand. "I can see why you like him." She giggled.

Jared smiled, then blinked, then horror set in. "Mom! You cannot think my boyfriend is hot!" He yelped, shuffling quickly towards the door whilst she laughed.

"I'm not blind, JT." She teased.

He wasn't sure if he had ever loved her more. Or ever been so embarrassed.

"But he is deaf." Jared's father pointed out quietly. "And a he."

Jared flinched, recoiling from his father's touch. "I'm gay, dad. Not a leper."

His father shook his head. "That's not the- I don't care about that, your mom and I don't care, but you've never before shown any interest in men."

"Jensen's special." Jared whispered, knowing he'd somehow reverted to the same tone of voice he had used as a little boy and hating himself for it.

"Jared-" his mom hugged him from behind.

"We just worry you're in over your head." Jared nodded a little at his father's whispered concerns and tried to smile.

"I know things are a little weird, and I know this isn't the life you saw me leading, he it isn't the life I saw me leading, but I'm happy."

And he was. He was more stressed than he had ever been in his life, weighed down by concerns for another human being, but happy. Deliriously so. "You wait till you've had his chocolate chip cookies," Jared grinned, reluctant to leave his mother's warm embrace. "You'll wanna put him in your pocket and take him home."

His father snorted and smacked him on the shoulder. "The way to your heart always was though your stomach."

"Ain't that the God's honest truth." Jared grinned. "So…are we good?" His smile dropped into a worried frown.

His mom smiled and nodded, her small hand settling into his as they left the bedroom and headed for the kitchen. "We'll let your brother talk to you about keeping us in the dark all this time."

Jared swallowed and smiled weakly. His big brother was one of the few men on the planet who could kick his ass without even trying. Him and Jet Li.

He nodded, and silently repeated Jensen's 'yes ma'am'.

Talking of…

Leaving his parents with Sam in the kitchen, he jogged past Sadie and Harley who had curled up together under the coffee table. Perfect guard dogs, his babies were.

The front day was open still. Jared reached for it, half prepared for Marc to jump at him with a water pistol.

Nope. No Marc.

No Jensen for that matter.

"Sam?" He shouted louder than he intended, worry settling cold and bitter in his stomach. "You seen Jen?"

"No." Jared jumped; she was closer than he had realized. His parents appeared in the doorway. His mom looked worried.

Still no Jensen.

Worry turned rapidly to fear, and fear to anger.

"I'mma fucking kill him." He growled.

Read Part Twenty Two Close to Dawn in the Louder Than Words 'Verse by SplashPink