Your Strength

The rest of the week passed without Jared seeing Jensen; that wasn’t particularly hard, they did both have lives after all. On Thursday night, Jared got a text from Jensen.

‘We still on for tomorrow?’ it read, and Jared smiled down at his phone.

‘Yeah, of course,’ he replied.

‘Good. Pick me up at seven,’ Jensen responded.

‘Your wish is my command,’ Jared shot back, grinning, then added, ‘Even if it was bossy.’

‘Okay but remember that you said that, minus the bossy part. I have it right here in plain writing that you promise to do as I wish.’ Jensen sent back.

‘Noted,’ Jared replied. ‘See you tomorrow.’

The next evening, Jared was oddly nervous. He walked up the walk to Jensen’s house and knocked on the door at almost precisely seven. It took a moment, but finally Jensen heaved open the door.

“Wow, you’re punctual,” Jensen laughed, but Jared could hear the anxiety in it, which was vaguely calming; however that was completely counter affected by just how good Jensen looked. Sure, Jensen always looked good, Jared knew that. But tonight, it seemed like he was truly a product of an artist. He wore jeans that Jared knew without having to see would make Jensen’s ass look amazing. His deep green button up was tight in all the right places around his arms and unbuttoned enough to hint at Jensen’s toned chest, and the color made his eyes pop. His five o’clock shadow added a nice roughness to his chiseled jaw, and his hair was gelled perfectly to look like he had both just showered and rolled out of bed. It took a moment for Jared to catch his breath, and when he did, he slowly grinned at Jensen.

“You look amazing,” Jared said and was both pleased and slightly awed that Jensen looked down and blushed. He must have known that he was a God send, how could he look in the mirror and think anything but?

“Thank you,” Jensen murmured. “Obviously, you look great. You always do.”

Jared glanced down at his outfit—dark jeans and a black button up, simple but just slightly classier than casual.

“Although,” Jensen added, looking back up at Jared, a smile playing across his lips. “I’m a little disappointed you didn’t come as Paul Bunyon. I thought we had a deal?”

Jared laughed. “Aw, well, I took the precaution of Googling the restaurant before I got dressed, and it didn’t look like the kind of place that would encourage dressing up as a giant lumberjack, and since all my plaid dress shirts are packed still, I just couldn’t swing it.”

Jensen tsked. “Well, can’t say I’m disappointed. But it’s okay. I think I’ll be able to manage without the suspenders.”

Jared laughed. “Next time.”

“Oh, no,” Jensen shook his head. “Where we’re going next time, you can’t be Paul Bunyon.”

Jared raised his eyebrows, chuckling. “Right, because you’re planning date number two!”

“That is, only if you don’t screw this one up,” Jensen replied, winking.

“I like how the pressure is all on me,” Jared laughed, and then swooped his arm out where his car waited at the curb. “Please, dearest Jensen, if you will.”

“’Dearest Jensen’,” Jensen laughed. “I don’t know, seems like you’re brown nosing a little.”

“Okay, just Jensen then,” Jared amended as they both walked to his car. Jared opened the door for Jensen, gesturing him in grandly.

“Alright, Mr. Darcy,” Jensen laughed. “Trying too hard.”

Jared laughed. “Pride and Prejudice, huh?”

“Hey, don’t hate,” Jensen warned. “Kiera Knightly is great.”

“No hate,” Jared replied as he got into the driver’s seat. “Are you a big fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise then?”

“She’s only in two,” Jensen replied absently.

“So, those two then?” Jared prompted, and Jensen snorted.

“Actually, all of them,” Jensen admitted. “I’m a big fan. I talked like Jack Sparrow for a week in college.”

Jared looked at him in astonishment as he approached a red light. “You didn’t.”

Jensen blushed but grinned. “I did. Freshmen year of college, I was obsessed with the movies.”

“That’s not even when the first one came out!” Jared exclaimed, laughing.

“I know,” Jensen laughed. “I just really liked them. And I was practicing for a roll. It wasn’t Jack Sparrow, but kind of like his character so I thought he’d be a good model.”

Jared glanced at him. “I thought you said you weren’t an actor.”

“I’m not, professionally,” Jensen confirmed. “But I did a few things freshman and sophomore year of college, and in high school. I was probably the only “jock” in the theatre class.”

“Why’d you stop sophomore year?” Jared asked absently, trying to picture a jock-like young Jensen reading lines on a stage in football uniform. It was a good picture.

Jensen’s pause was a little too long and Jared glanced over at him to see Jensen biting his bottom lip, seemingly in hesitation. It struck Jared that he knew why, probably. Charlie. Jared felt like an idiot for asking, but then remembered that supposedly, he shouldn’t know. As far as Jensen knew, his question was a perfectly valid one.

“It…uh…just stopped being fun,” Jensen finally blurted, and Jared could hear the slight panic in his voice. He forced down the anger at the thought of someone who could make Jensen sound like that, and made himself laugh.

“Oh, I know what you mean,” Jared said. “I hated my college theatre class. It’s exactly why I dropped out and came to L.A.”

“You mean you just dropped out of college?” Jensen raised his eyebrows.

Jared laughed. “No! This was a couple of years ago. I flew out here, got myself an agent. But when the work didn’t come immediately, I went back to Texas to work with my uncle. He runs a little local publishing company in Austen. Whenever my agent found work for me, I’d fly back here, and then return to Texas once the shoot was done. But now I’ve signed on to this new project that…I don’t know, seems like it’ll be good for me. So I decided to make the move permanent.”

“What new project? Can you tell me, I know that sometimes the directors and people are pretty hush-hush about it,” Jensen inquired.

“You know, I can’t,” Jared laughed. “I’m sorry! I’ve just read the script, and it’s amazing. That’s pretty much all I can tell you. I don’t even know whose script it is—I’ve only talked to the Assistant Director so far. I’ve got the whole meet and greet with the Director, Producers, Screenwriter, and the rest of the cast sometime this month, I think. Then maybe I can tell you more.”

“Huh,” Jensen said. Jared glanced at him and noticed an odd little smile playing across his lips.

“What?” Jared asked.

“Nothing,” Jensen shook his head. “That sounds great, dude! Congrats.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Jared laughed. “Have you got anything new lined up?”

“Actually, yes,” Jensen smiled at him. “I just sold another script. It’s really cool with this one, because it’s the first time that the Director is having me around for the entire production. She thinks it is important to have me there, so I can ‘realize my vision’ or whatever. I mean, it’s cool. I’ll get to have input.”

“That is amazing!” Jared exclaimed, grinning. He was about to ask more questions when Jensen laughed.

“Alright, now enough shop talk!” Jensen said. “Tell me something about yourself not job related.”

Jared gave him a quick fond look before considering. “Uh…Well, only Chad and my family know this: I’m kind of obsessed with my dogs.”

“You have dogs?” Jensen asked, smiling.

“Oh, yeah, I guess I could’ve started with that,” Jared said, laughing. “I have two dogs: Harley and Sadie.”

“What breeds?” Jensen asked, and Jared found himself getting excited.

“Well, I adopted them from a shelter, so they’re mutts, but Harley is a Mastiff mix, and Sadie is a German Shepherd mix,” Jared replied, grinning.

“And you’re obsessed with them?” Jensen laughed.

“Well, I mean, I kind of see them as my kids, essentially,” Jared admitted, a little embarrassed. “Honestly, I like dogs more than most people. And I like my dogs probably just as much as I love my parents, more than my siblings on some days.”

Jensen laughed. “Wow, nice! I get the whole liking dogs more than people thing. I like a lot of things more than people…dogs, cats…a good pizza.”

Jared chuckled a little. “You like pizza more than people?”

“A good pizza, hell yeah,” Jensen agreed. “I’m pretty fond of the people who provide me with the pizza, too, though.”

“Wow, maybe we should be going to a pizza place and not for steak,” Jared commented, winking.

Jensen laughed. “Nah, pizza is terrible for first dates. There’s no way to look good while eating pizza.”

“You could make literally anything look good,” Jared blurted and Jensen snorted.

“You’re so corny,” Jensen said, but when Jared glanced over, he saw that he was blushing a little, and wore a huge smile.

Jared turned to grin at Jensen as they pulled up to the restaurant. Jared opted for the valet.

“I suck at finding my car later,” Jared offered as explanation. “Even in small parking lots, I sometimes have issues.”

“I’m almost the exact opposite,” Jensen replied. “I’m kind of anal retentive when it comes to things like that.”

Jared laughed for a long moment, and Jensen rolled his eyes. “If you’re laughing at my use of the term ‘anal retentive’, I’m going to have to leave.”

Jared laughed harder but managed to choke out, “Nope…definitely not that…”

“Child,” Jensen grumbled, but he was fighting back fits of laughter himself. “Can we go into the restaurant now and act like adults?”

Jared slowly stopped laughing, ending with a grin as he looked at the elder of the two. “Yeah, sorry, right. We’re adults,” he stated, putting on a faux serious face. “Taxes and what not.”

Jensen laughed and rolled his eyes. “You’re so dumb, come on.”

Jared chuckled as he followed Jensen into the restaurant.