Chapter One



Jensen flopped back down onto the couch next to Jared and handed him one of the beers he had brought back from Jared's fridge. At first, when they were still getting to know each other, Jared would always go get the beer when they were at his house and Jensen would get the beer when they were at his place. He wasn't sure when that had changed, when they'd gotten comfortable enough with each other, treating each other's homes as their own.

They had gotten to the point where they were so comfortable with each other that they no longer hid a part of themselves. They let down the masks that the rest of the world saw. When alone, together like now, they were the them they were supposed to be, the them they only let each other see.

"I think this job is fucking with my head," Jensen admitted as he opened his can and took a swig before picking up his X Box controller again and un-pausing the racing car game they were playing. "Last night I dreamt I walked down to my laundry room, only it was a morgue and a clown was sat up on the table holding your dog."

Jared laughed in that carefree, joyous way of his that never failed to make Jensen smile. "Which one?"

"Huh?"

"Which dog?" Jared asked, moving his whole body along with the controller as he turned a sharp corner.

"Does it matter?" Jensen asked, cursing as Jared over took him.

"I'm trying to visualise."

"Sadie."

"Huh," Jared said with a surprised frown, biting the tip of his tongue as though the act could help his car go faster.

"What?" Jensen asked, risking a look over at his friend.

"No, it's just that, Sadie's less likely to go off with a stranger than Harley," Jared explained, his words a little slower then usual.

Jensen tried not to let his smile become a laugh and he looked over at the table to see how many beers Jared had drunk. "Right, that's what doesn't make sense about my dream."

Jared, even slightly drunk, was a cute Jared. He was even more affectionate, if that were possible, his Texan accent was heavier, he spoke much slower and always looked sleepy. And drunk Jared plus sleepy Jared was just too damn cute for words.

Jensen frowned and leaned back into the couch, watching as Jared won the race and punched both his fists in the air as if he himself had really just won a rally, leaving an equally drunk Jensen to wonder just when had he started thinking of Jared as being cute?

"Yeah!" Jared cried, pointing at Jensen and biting his lower lip. "I am king."

"You are drunk," Jensen retorted, smiling as Sadie jumped up onto the couch next to him, wagging her tail. "And I let you win."

"Oh shit," Jared suddenly said, picking up the smaller of his two dogs. "I'm sorry girl, I haven't taken you out yet."

Jensen placed his controller down on the coffee table next to Jared's and stood up. "I'll come with you, you're too drunk to rain in Harley man," he said with a laugh, knowing how feisty the bigger dog could be.

It was summer and too hot, even at this time of night, with only shirts and jeans on, they could still feel the lingering effects of the day's blazing sun, as they made their way down the street. Jensen, though not as drunk as Jared, was having to use all of his strength to keep Harley from pulling him, something that made Jared laugh every time the dog lunged forward, making Jensen nearly trip over.

"I'm gonna miss this," Jared said suddenly as they attempted to walk slowly, much to Harley's dismay. Sadie was being a perfect lady, as always, and Jensen wondered how Jared could have trained them both only for them to be so different.

"What're you talking about?" Jensen asked, swapping the leash over to his other hand, thinking he was going to get rope burns on his palms.

"This, you know? Just taking it easy with a good friend."

Jensen frowned and turned to face him. "You going somewhere?"

"Home," Jared reminded him only for Jensen to roll his eyes.

"For four days. I'm sure we can stand to be apart for less than a week dude," he said, shaking his head and stopping abruptly. "You know what, it's time to switch. You got three inches on me, you won't be so easy to pull."

Jared laughed and took Harley's leash, almost falling backwards as the dog jumped up and put his paws on his shoulders. "Whoa, down… down… get down," he said in a soft, amused voice, still laughing and swaying. Jensen thought it looked like they were dancing. "Down, Harley… I'm serious now."

Jensen just laughed harder before putting his fingers in his mouth and whistling, making the dog's ears go up and jump back down, looking around excitedly. "You showed him whose boss."

"Fuck you," Jared said good-naturedly. He was sure it didn't usually take him this long just to walk round the block with them before bedtime. "And I know it's only for a few days, but I wish I could stay here, it's my cousin's wedding."

"You usually can't wait to get home," Jensen reminded him, deciding that Sadie was certainly his favourite of the two dogs, and that was probably why he had placed her in the dream.

"Yeah but… I don't know. It's like, I was worried last Christmas when I told them I was gay right? And I thought the worse case scenario would be that they'd hate me, though deep down I knew they would never do that."

"You told me they were cool with it right? So what's the problem?" Jensen asked. They had been working together for almost nine months now and after this one-week break they had two more weeks and then they beaked until season two. They had been working together for four months before Jared had confided in him that he was in fact gay. At first Jensen had been hurt that the guy who was rapidly becoming his best friend felt he couldn't talk to him, but then he had seen the fear in his face.

Jared hadn't told anyone about himself, not even his family knew yet and suddenly all those nights in bar when Jensen had pushed girl after girl onto his friend made him feel like a total asshole.

Jared had seemed almost afraid of Jensen after coming clean, like he was just waiting for Jensen to hit him if he accidentally touched his shoulder and the constant hugging suddenly stopped. Finally Jensen'd had to sit him down and tell him that they were cool and that Jared needed to stop being weird around him. Jensen wasn't one of those guys who was likely to misinterpret an innocent touch or hug for something it wasn't, which was clearly what Jared had been afraid of.

Nothing had really changed between them after that, only now when they went out Jensen didn't lure girls over and he no longer forwarded Jared the naked pictures of girls that his brother emailed him.

"The problem is, they're too cool," Jared said, pulling Harley back once again. "I told them on Christmas Eve and two days later my mum's invited this guy over. She sits us together at dinner and casually suggests we should go out some time."

Jensen laughed and patted his friend on the back. "Was he hot?"

Jared kind of screwed up his face. "I don't know, I didn't… you know…"

"Get a hardon just from looking at him?" Jensen supplied.

Jared laughed, a little embarrassed. They didn't usually talk about this sort of thing, and Jared knew it was his fault. Jensen had been all for sharing and talking about things but Jared still wasn't comfortable doing that, not when it came to him being gay, it was still kind of new to him, this being able to tell people who he really was.

"She sends me emails with gay dating websites and she's joined the local PFLAG, I'm just kinda worried that my cousin's wedding will be the perfect opportunity for her to set me up."

They continued walking together in an easy silence for a while, the dogs behaving themselves as they looped round and neared Jared's place again. "You staying over?" Jared asked as they entered the front door.

Jensen didn't live far from Jared but he couldn't drive home and honestly, he was just too lazy to walk. "Yeah, but shut Harley in the kitchen cos you're couch ain't big enough for us both."

Jared just laughed and ruffled his dog's head. "He can sleep in with me. He's just a big puppy," he said, bending down to kiss him.

Just like you, Jensen thought.

When they got in Jared put down fresh water for the dogs and a few doggy biscuits before going upstairs to brush his teeth. Jensen had stayed over so many times that he was no longer a guest, he knew where the sheets were kept and he even had a spare toothbrush there now.

Jensen was brushing his teeth, watching Jared's open bedroom door in the mirror as the younger man changed into a pair of sweats and got into bed, Harley flopping himself down on top of him.

Jensen finished up in the bathroom and made his way down the hall to say goodnight to Jared. He walked in and copied Harley, flopping himself down and making Jared groan with yet more extra weight on top of him.

"Hey, why don't you just tell your mom that you're seeing someone?"

Jared cringed, wishing he could forget about the impending wedding for a little while. "Yeah I thought about that, but she'll wanna know who he is and she'll wanna meet him."

"So, make someone up… or tell them it's me," Jensen suggested, laying his head down on Harley's soft fur, the dog doing no more than lifting his head to look to see who was lying on him before turning back and closing his eyes.

"You?" Jared asked with an incredulous laugh. "They'll never believe that."

"Why not?" Jensen asked, feeling a little offended.

"Well for one thing, you're straight and what'll happen when they see you in the magazines with some girl?" Jared told him, reaching over and switching off the lamp on his bedside table. The light from the hallway spilled in through the open door enough that they could still see each other clearly.

"You make me sound like a whore," Jensen complained.

"No, I didn't mean it like that, I mean, I know you're not like that. But you're gonna have a girlfriend eventually and then I'll have to tell them all we broke back and you went back to girls and then they'll hate you, and I don't want that."

"Well, the offers there," Jensen said through a yawn, rubbing his cheek sleepily on Harley's soft fur and closing his. "I'm just hanging out here for the weekend so I could even go home with you."

Jared looked down at him and watched him as Jensen fell asleep. The soft light from the landing was hitting his hair and making the blond almost glint. He closed his eyes, thinking that if he looked at Jensen's beautiful face for too long it'd burn his eyes. The ache in his chest was almost constant now, something he had learned to live. Of course he'd had feelings for men before, but no one he was this close to, no one that he saw every day, it was like the darkest torture. If Jensen only knew the truth, he would never have offered what he just had.

Read Chapter Two of Twelve of The Wedding Date