(no subject)

[longsufferingly]

A Little Slow
Jared/Jensen. Jared and Genevieve break up, and Jared moves into Jensen's house this time.
2500 words, PG-13.


Jensen's been back in L.A. for a little over three weeks when Jared shows up on his doorstep in the middle of the night.

Jared has a key, of course, so the doorbell-ringing is something of a courtesy. He could have just come in and explained in the morning.

When he first sees him, Jensen thinks he was out of town--he's wearing flip-flops and sunglasses and looks haggard, like he might have come from the airport. But Jared hadn't mentioned anything about leaving, and he usually does. Besides, it's a Wednesday, and Jensen thinks he was filming. He had some movie.

"Sorry I didn't call," says Jared.

Jensen waves his hand. "No, no, I've missed our slumber parties. I just have to find my footie pajamas."

"She kicked me out," Jared says, not taking the bait.

"That was my second guess."

"What was the first?"

"You were coming back from or going somewhere, and my place was closer to the airport."

"But it isn't."

"Also it's Wednesday and you look like shit. What happened?"

"I called her Sandy."

"During sex, I assume."

"Just once," he says.

Jensen raises his eyebrows. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure once is enough."

"There was other stuff too," he admits. "Just that was the last straw."

"I'm sorry, man," says Jensen, and he means it. He liked Genevieve--and isn't it fucked up, how quickly he'll stop liking her for Jared? Not that there was any doubt whose side he was on. He knows Jared hasn't talked to Danneel since they broke up, and Jared adored Danneel. Hell, Jensen still talks to her, but Jared won't. "You coming in?"

"I thought I'd put the dogs in the yard."

Jensen raises his eyebrows. "She kicked the dogs out too?"

"The whole family, man. I was just lucky the duffel was in the car. She just threw the clothes at me."

"I don't blame her."

"Neither do I," says Jared, pushing his hand through his hair. "Jesus. I never meant--"

"You suck at rebounding," says Jensen. And that's part of it, he's sure. He liked Genevieve, Jared liked Genevieve, but it was too soon, and Jared's head was still screwed up from whatever happened with Sandy. That's what Jensen always thought, anyway. "It's cool. It's expected."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asks Jared harshly.

"You suck at everything," says Jensen easily, and Jared laughs, almost against his will. "Let's get the kids out."

Harley and Sadie are as delighted to see him as ever. He thinks they got used to him the couple years he and Jared lived together, and Jared told him pretty much the same thing. When they got back to California and Jared moved in with Genevieve, he told Jensen the dogs spent three days sniffing around for him. It made something warm settle in Jensen's gut.

"Hey, guys," says Jensen, rubbing behind Harley's ears. "Good to see you too."

When he gets up, he sees Jared leaning in the open doorway, looking tired but content.

"Leaving me to do all the heavy lifting, huh?"

"Leave 'em alone for a few minutes, let 'em do their business. You mind them sleeping in here?"

Everything in Jensen's house has been dog-proofed ever since he moved back, even though he hasn't needed it. "As long as they sleep on your bed, I don't care, man. You know that. It's not like they slobber on me more than you do."

"Oh fuck you," says Jared, laughing.

Jensen straightens and leaves the dogs. "Come on, I'll get you set up in the guest room. You can tell me all about it."

"You gonna wear your footie pajamas?"

"Only if you say please."

*

"I know you thought it was too soon," says Jared quietly. He hasn't bothered to make fun of Jensen's guestroom decor--Danneel did it for the last time her mom came up--and Jensen figures that, as much as anything, is evidence of how upset he is.

"It's not that," says Jensen. "You guys were good. She was good."

"But," says Jared, his lips twisting up. He squeezes the comforter--it's pale pink with a floral pattern. Danneel's mom loved it. She cried when they broke up.

"But it was kind of soon," admits Jensen. "And you were kind of out to prove how okay you were. A lot of guys do that with random hookups or something. You do it with serious relationships. You weren't that far out of dating Alexis when you got together with Sandy. And I'm not saying it has to go wrong, just--"

Jared's smile softens and turns real. "You worry about me."

"Every now and then," Jensen admits. "God knows you can't take care of yourself."

"That's rich coming from you. I'm betting there isn't anything in your fridge that isn't rotten or leftovers. Or rotten leftovers."

"You wouldn't be wrong," says Jensen. "Lucky for me, I can afford to eat out." Jensen yawns. "I'm going to bed, if you're set in here. Shockingly, you woke me up. I need my beauty sleep."

"You were asleep at one a.m.? I can't believe I ever thought you were cool."

Jensen flips him off easily. "I'll even let your dogs in. Get some sleep, Padalecki."

"Thanks, Jensen," says Jared. "I owe you one."

Jensen shrugs. "I crashed at your place for two years. I kind of owe you."

*

Jensen wakes up with a tongue on his face. If he didn't know it was Sadie, it might be sexy.

"Tell your dad I hate him," he says, looking at the dog lying next to him on the bed. "Go. Take my message."

"Don't you have a job?" asks Jared from somewhere across the room. "How do you get to sleep until eleven?"

Jensen stretches. "I'm between projects. I wrapped that thing in Washington a few weeks back, and the pilot I was doing got canceled. I thought you were doing something."

"Wrapped last weekend," says Jared. "Ahead of schedule for once."

"If I'd known we both had free time at the same time, I would've called." He rolls over and looks at Jared. "You make coffee?"

"In the kitchen. I'm not feeding your addiction any more than I have to."

Jensen pushes out of bed and looks around for a t-shirt. He doesn't bother pulling on his jeans, just puts on his slippers to protect against the cold tile of the kitchen floor. The dogs take over his bed as soon as he leaves it, of course. He's not surprised that he missed them--all three of them.

He takes a long drink of coffee and then turns back to Jared, who's just watching him.

"Weirds me out when you're this quiet," he says.

Jared smiles. "Maybe I'm getting mature in my old age."

Jensen snorts. "You just turned twenty-nine." He'd flown back down for Jared's birthday party, which had been a bizarrely formal dinner party. He'd found some forgettable date and wished he was drunker the whole time. Looking back on it now, he thinks there was tension between Jared and Genevieve then too, but he hadn't had the time to really think about it.

"Yeah, well. We can't all be as old and wise as you."

"Are you gonna call her?"

"I don't know. I mean, I fucked up. I think I should give her space."

"I think if you fuck up, you're supposed to apologize."

"I was always bad at that."

"Hey," says Jensen, "you know you can stay as long as you need to, right?"

"Gonna get me a new comforter? Cuz I gotta say, I like pink, but, man. That's a lot of pink."

Jensen's so relieved to hear the joke he can't even pretend to be pissed. "Oh, fuck you, dick."

*

Jensen's at the store when Genevieve calls him.

"Let me guess," she says, before he's even gotten a greeting out, "he's with you."

"Hi, Genevieve."

"Hi, Jensen."

"Yeah, he's at my place."

She laughs. "He would be."

"He's my best friend."

"Did he tell you what happened?"

"Yeah," he says. "And you have every right to be upset."

"I'm glad I have your permission."

"I didn't mean it like that."

He hears her sigh. "I know. But what am I supposed to think?"

"He and Sandy were tog--"

"He told you this was about Sandy?"

"Well, that was the last str--"

"God," says Genevieve. "This is so far from being about Sandy."

"I'm sure he," Jensen starts, but Jared hasn't said anything about wanting to get back together. He's been sitting around Jensen's house reading scripts, looking surprisingly upbeat. "He's just going through some stuff."

"Well, you should ask him what actually happened," she says. "Because it's not something we're just getting over. Anyway, I'm going to be in New York for a week starting tomorrow. Tell him I want the rest of his stuff gone."

"You can't tell him?"

She snorts. "I left him a voicemail. He won't pick up my calls."

Jensen winces. "Listen, I'm sorry."

"You don't have anything to be sorry for, do you?" she asks. There's something about her tone he doesn't quite get--it doesn't sound right.

"I'm just--you're a great girl."

"Yeah," she says. "I kick ass. Tell Jared."

"I will. Bye, Genevieve."

"Bye, Jensen."

He's pretty sure they're never going to talk again.

*

"Your ex called me," says Jensen. "Help me put these groceries away."

"Is it bad I'm hoping you mean Alexis?"

"It says some pretty shitty things about your life, yeah."

Jared gives him the finger and puts eggs in the newly cleaned fridge. "What did she say?"

"That she's gonna be in New York for a week, and she wants your stuff gone."

"I could use more than one pair of pants."

"I thought you just enjoyed your smell."

"You find my musk enchanting," says Jared. "She threw me three t-shirts, one pair of jeans, and seven pairs of boxers. A total of three handfuls, and the button for the jeans hit me in the forehead."

"Sucks to be you." Jensen's hands pause. "She said it wasn't about Sandy."

"It was a lot of things."

"Jared."

Jared laughs. "I was going to tell you," he says.

"Tell me what, exactly?"

"I didn't call her Sandy."

Jensen doesn't say anything.

Jared takes a deep breath. "I called her Jensen."

"Well," says Jensen after a minute, "from a purely anatomical standpoint, that's gotta be pretty discouraging."

Jared laughs, for too long. "You are kind of girly," he finally says.

"And our names do start out the same."

"I'm sure that's it," says Jared.

It's not, and they both know it, and the knowledge sits in the air between them, making it heavy.

*

Jared picks up his stuff and moves it into the guest room without asking. It's not like Jensen wants him to leave. He just doesn't really know where they're supposed to go, exactly.

They've never been best friends like other people, he doesn't think. He knows that his other friends have never been like Jared. He's always lived with other people out of necessity, spent time with them based on occasions more than anything else. If Steve and Chris have a show, he tries to go, if something important is happening, he makes it, but with Jared, if Jared is around, he wants to be there too. It's liking Jared more than he likes anyone else.

He thinks that Jared saying his name during sex should change things more than it does, but Jensen thinks, in the range of fucked up things about their relationship, it doesn't even rate that high.

*

Jensen gets a guest spot on Bones as a murder suspect, and it does him good to be out of the house for a while, away from Jared. It's always weird to see David, because he feels like David Boreanaz should be a better friend than he is, given how close he is to Chris. He thinks that David is probably to him as Jared is to Chris, which is why he's never tried to make them hang out more. There's this awkwardness with your best friend and the guy who would be your best friend, kind of naturally.

Still, it's a fun cast, and he likes hanging out with them. If it's not as strange as it should be to come home to Jared, he tries to ignore it.

David and Emily make him come out drinking his last day, and it's the kind of camaraderie he's missed--busting on whether or not John's legal to drink, doing suicide shots with Michaela--but all he can think is how much he wishes Jared was here.

"You should be here," he tells Jared earnestly, and with hopefully a minimal amount of slurring.

"Is it because you're too trashed to get yourself home without hurting someone? I think it is," says Jared. He sounds amused.

"You should be here," says Jensen, "cause I like you more than them."

"I'm cooler than them," Jared agrees.

"I like you more than anyone," says Jensen, and Jared doesn't get a chance to respond before T.J. takes his phone.

"Hi," says T.J., effortlessly dodging Jensen's sluggish grabby hands. "This is T.J., designated driver, here to prevent Jensen from saying anything he'll regret. If you'd like to leave a message, I'm going to hang up and let it go to voicemail. Have a great day."

"I think I owe you," says Jensen.

"You're not sure?"

"No," Jensen says. "No idea."

*

Jensen wakes up with a dog on top of him.

It's a nice feeling, which means he's not hungover. He thinks T.J. made everyone drink a lot of water. T.J. is kind of an awesome DD. Jensen owes him.

"I brought coffee," says Jared from the door. "Pity coffee."

"I accept pity coffee," says Jensen. He sits up and lets Jared give him the cup. "Did you leave me a voicemail?"

"I live with you," says Jared. He doesn't say I'm crashing in your guest room or I'm staying with you. Jensen notices. "I figured I didn't need to."

"Yeah."

"You were why I broke up with Sandy," Jared says finally.

"I kind of figured," says Jensen.

"When?"

"Not til after I found out you said my name during sex."

"Oh good. I was gonna be pissed."

"I am pissed," says Jensen, but he knows his heart isn't in it.

"That's about when I figured it out too, if it helps," says Jared. "Well. Before I said it, actually. But not that long before. I wasn't trying to string anyone along." He smiles. "I'm just slow."

"You should stay."

Jared laughs. "Come on, isn't that moving a little fast?"

Jensen rolls his eyes. "Yeah, the entire problem with this relationship is moving too fast."

Jared leans over and kisses him. It's quick and almost completely chaste.

"That's it?" asks Jensen. "You gonna get me flowers next? Hold my hand at the movies?"

"Chocolates," says Jared. "I know what you're into."

"This better not be another rebound," says Jensen.

"Nah," says Jared. "Think I'll keep you."

"My place," says Jensen. "So I'm keeping you. And your dogs."

Jared beams. "Yeah, whatever. Have it your way, man."

And, really, he does.