Archive of Our Own

'Our central heating's broken,' says Jared. He's said it about ten times already, and it still sounds stupid.

'Right,' says the chirpy CHDL girl on the other end of the phone. Except she actually doesn't sound that chirpy, and Jared gets distracted wondering whether she's had a bad day, and what it's like to work in a central heating company office; whether it's fun, with witty banter and water-cooler conversations, or depressing and soul-sucking. Is there any office sex? Jared quite likes the idea of office sex, in supply cupboards or something, but then office supplies just make him think of elementary school and his fourth-grade teacher and, well, no. He realizes he's missed the rest of what the un-chirpy girl said.

'I'm sorry?'

'We'll get someone out to you as soon as possible, Mr. Pad...Padalecki, but I'm afraid it won't be for a few days. We're very busy at this time of year.'

'Huh,' says Jared. 'Figures. Your technician will arrive and find us, perfectly preserved in ice, like mammoths, and it'll be your fault. What's your name? I'm going to carve it into the icy floor with my fingernails.'

'Kirsten,' says the girl. 'And if you're not nicer to me, I'll let the hungry locals eat the meaty parts of you before we call the scientists.' She rings off, laughing. She sounds a lot chirpier now. Jared feels he's done his bit to set the world to rights.

Jensen snorts from where he's standing at the kitchen counter, the hood of his huge puffy coat flopping in his eyes, fingers clumsy with cold.

'Unbelievable,' he says. 'You even manage to flirt with women you can't see and will never meet.'

Jared grins, puts the phone back in its cradle. 'I'm pretty sure that's what we do for a living. Make me a sandwich.'

'Maybe that's what you do. I am a serious ac-torr. I am a storytelling vessel. Make your own sandwich.'

'Whatever, Angelina. Pout a bit more, it's extremely important to the narrative.'

Jensen flicks a sloppy tomato slice at Jared, ignoring his outraged expression, then slides his sandwich across the counter towards him. Jared's face lights up, that total transformation that still manages to take Jensen by surprise after all this time. The good kind of surprise, though.

Jared takes a huge bite, then rolls his eyes and groans blissfully. 'Uhhhhmmm,' he manages around his mouthful. 'E-e-oh-ee an ayo. Esh.'

Jensen watches him, grinning, then realizes he's been watching for maybe too long.

'You can clean up,' he snaps, heading for the couch. 'Fuck, I'm freezing my ass off. When are they coming?'

'Not for a few days,' calls Jared. 'Kirsten seemed nice though.'

'Should we go get a hotel or something?' Jensen's huddling into the couch cushions, trying to get his knees inside the coat, too. It's only three in the afternoon, and it's already really cold. 'It's meant to be four below tonight.'

'Fahrenheit or Celsius?'

'Celsius, but that's still fuckin' cold with no heating.'

'Nah.' Jared wanders past the couch, still licking mayo off his fingers. 'You forget! We have a fire.'

'A totally fake gas fire,' corrects Jensen. 'Which we've never, ever used.'

'It was for emergencies such as this! Survival situations.'

'It was because you think the fireplace is pretty.'

'Well yeah. Just picture it, Jen. You and me, a roaring fire, some manly naked wrestling on a bearskin rug....'

Jensen snorts. 'It's a fake frickin' gas fire. It doesn't roar. And we don't have a bearskin, thank God. I'm not getting carpetburn wrestling your dumb ass. Although I'd totally rule at that shit. Lower center of gravity.' He doesn't let Jared see his face.

They don't get a hotel. With all the doors to the rest of the house closed, the gas fire on full, and their coats on, they manage to stay relatively warm for the rest of the evening. There are beers in the fridge but they decide that a) cold beer is a terrible idea and b) warm beer is just plain terrible, so they get the bourbon out instead, even though it doesn't really go with spaghetti and meatballs. ('Winter food,' says Jared.)

A couple of whiskeys in, Jared decides to go and drag some of the gym equipment into the lounge, so they can keep warm by working out. It kind of works, but Jensen's hood keeps flopping in his eyes every time he crunches, and Jared nearly drops eighty pounds on himself when he collapses on the floor laughing about the squeaky farting noises his big shiny jacket makes. They give up after that, play Wii Sports instead. Jensen always wins at bowling, moonwalking round the room in celebration, but Jared kicks his ass at tennis. They shamble off to their bedrooms before midnight, Jensen demanding a rematch in the morning.

If they'd thought this through a little more, they would have been a little more prepared for how petrifyingly cold the bedrooms are.

Jensen gets out every blanket, quilt, comforter and coat in his closet, piles them all up on top of himself. He's wearing his track pants, t-shirt, coat, and bathrobe. It's still so cold he can't stop shaking. He curls up as small as he possibly can, pulls all the covers right over his head, makes sure no heat can escape anywhere, and lies there, shivering and praying for sleep. He can't remember being this cold since they shot Dead in the Water back in season one, and at least then there was a heated trailer and dry clothes waiting at the end. He's shivering so much he doesn't think there's any chance of getting to sleep, but the more he tries to persuade himself to get up, get dressed, and go and find a hotel that's still open, the more it seems that maybe his cocoon is warming up, just a little.

Jensen freezes when he hears his door open, slowly, and then relaxes a little when Jared says 'Jen?'

'Mmm?' he says. He's not putting his head outside unless he really has to.

'I'm really fucking cold.'

'Uhuh. Think I'm gonna die. Can't feel my legs.'

'So...' Jared sounds expectant. Jensen groans, sticks his head out. Jared's just a amorphous mass silhouetted in the icy moonlight, completely bundled in blankets.

'So...what?'

'So, can I come in with you?'

Oh. Oh. Right. Huddling for warmth. Like penguins, or Arctic explorers. It's actually not a stupid idea. It makes perfect sense. The bed's definitely big enough, and it's not like they haven't slept in the same place before. Over the last few years, they've both had to get pretty good at grabbing sleep whenever they can. Also, it might be their only chance of survival.
But Jensen's pretty sure it actually is a stupid idea, because.
Because.
Well. Never mind.
Arctic explorers, he thinks firmly to himself.

'Yeah, sure,' he mumbles. 'Come into my igloo.'

Jared shuffles over, lifts one edge of the heap of covers and rolls awkwardly in, bringing his own blankets with him. As soon as Jared pulls the extra covers around them both and wriggles in close to him, Jensen feels delicious warmth beginning to spread out from where Jared's lying, close but not quite touching. He doesn't really understand how it's happened so quickly.

'Come here,' says Jared. 'You're little spoon.'

Jensen's about to protest, but then thinks about it and decides it's probably better than the other way round, just in case...
Well. Never mind.

Jensen grunts agreement and Jared slides in behind him, presses their bodies together, wraps one long arm around Jensen's chest. Jensen feels warmth flooding his body, Jared's hot breath on the back of his neck, Jared's heart beating steadily against his back. Jensen's muscles are all relaxing, his toes and feet still icy but his back and shoulders glorious.

'God, Jare, you're like a fuckin' furnace.'

'Mm,' hums Jared, sleepily content.

Jensen falls asleep faster than he would have believed possible.

When Jensen wakes up, he's stifling, drenched with sweat. It's so hot he feels like he can't breathe. Jensen's sprawled on his back and Jared's pressed into his side, legs tangled together, one arm still wrapped tightly around Jensen's chest. At some point in the night, they've both shed their extra layers; his coat and bathrobe are bunched up next to him, as well as....okay, as well as his T-shirt.
Jensen runs a hand up his sweat-drenched, bare stomach and wiggles experimentally, thinking please, God, don't let me be naked.

He's still got pants on. Well, that's something. He doesn't look at Jared, just gently lifts his arm off, sits up, throws off most of the mound of blankets, lifts his side up to let some air in, and then collapses back onto his front, grateful that they don't have to be on set until this afternoon. He feels sticky and sleepy but comfortable and rested at the same time.

Jared shifts, moves back in closer. He's just wearing boxers and his body's still radiating heat, still dripping with sweat.

'Jen,' he mutters, circling his hand across Jensen's back, and then laughs, a deep chuckle that Jensen's sure he can feel reverberate through the bedsprings.

'What?' says Jensen. His voice sounds normal, he's pretty sure.

Jared laughs again, the sound muffled against Jensen's shoulder. 'This is....this is pretty fuckin' homosexual, man.'

'Dude,' says Jensen. 'You are sweaty and nasty.'

'Mmm,' says Jared. 'You too.' His voice is even huskier than usual in the morning and he hasn't moved his hand. Jensen can feel his breath against his skin. This isn't really fair, he thinks, and stays very still. There's silence, and then Jared sighs, pushing himself up on one arm.

'Seriously, man,' he says, running his hand down Jensen's damp back. 'Put a shirt on, or I'm gonna hold you down and fuck the shit outta you.' He lightly slaps Jensen's ass, and then rolls over to his side of the bed and sits on the edge, looking for his shirt.

Jensen can't think of anything, anything at all to say, so he just puts his shirt on as quickly as he can and curls up again. He hears Jared padding softly outside in his socks, greeting the dogs, and lets out a shaky breath.

The next time he wakes up, Jared's sitting up in bed next to him, script in one hand, toasted sandwich in the other. When he sees Jensen moving, he looks down, face splitting into a gentle smile.

'Hey,' he says brightly. 'Sorry, I just – it's really cold out there. I made you a sandwich.' He proffers the plate.

'Coffee,' rasps Jensen.

'Yeah, here you go.'

Jensen extends a hand, grabs the cup Jared's holding out to him, relishing the solid heat of it in his hands. He takes a sip and moans with satisfaction. 'Ah. Yeah. That's it. Dude, I love you.'

There's a tiny moment, just an extra heartbeat, of silence, and then Jared grins 'I know, man, it's because I'm amazing,' and everything's normal.

Kind of.

'We're definitely going to a hotel tonight,' Jensen says firmly.

It's snowing. Even after nearly four years in Canada, Jared's still not sick of it, capering around in it like a kid, sticking his tongue out to catch flakes, watching them melt in his hand. Jensen probably wouldn't be doing this if he wasn't around Jared, but he's learnt that the best form of defense is offense, so Jared's taken utterly by surprise when Jensen leaps out at him from behind craft services, howling a war-cry, tackles him to the ground and shoves snow down the back of his shirt.

Sadly, they're the only ones on set who seem to be enjoying themselves. The snow means they've had to cancel their location shoot and the whole day's tense; stress and hard work for the crew as they try to set up something else they can film, monotony for the actors, who are mainly sitting in their trailers. They get some night shots done, not as many as anyone would have liked, but even so, they're not done until nearly 3am. Jensen's wiping makeup off in his trailer when Jared comes crashing in, snowflakes and night air swirling in behind him.

'Jen,' he says urgently. 'Jensen. Did you get a hotel room for tonight? Because I didn't.'

Jensen holds onto the washbasin, rests his forehead against the mirror.

'Unbelievable,' he sighs.

'I forgot!'

'Yeah. Me too.'

'Shit.'

'Yeah.'

Jared follows Jensen into his bedroom that night, and Jensen doesn't say anything, just holds up the covers for him to get in.

When Jensen wakes he's hot again, sweat running in lazy channels across his body, and he's hard, blindingly hard. For a second he blinks in the darkness, not understanding why, or what woke him, but then he feels it, feels Jared's tongue trailing down his neck and over his chest, his mouth nipping and sucking at his damp skin.

'Jare,' he gasps. 'What are you..oh, shit...what're you doing? Aw, fuck.' Jared's tongue has reached his nipple, licking lazily over it, and all coherent thought is gone from Jensen's mind, just like that.

'Sorry, Jen,' husks Jared, mouth moving around Jensen's nipple, 'Couldn't control myself.' He sucks on it, lightly, and Jensen practically screams, back arching, hips thrusting uselessly upwards, because holy Christ Jensen didn't know anything could feel that good.

'Jare,' he manages to rasp out, but Jared's on hands and knees above him, mouth trailing hot down his stomach, a hand sliding below his waistband and wrapping around his rock-hard cock, and Jensen's reduced to broken moans again, one hand desperately gripping Jared's bicep, the other grabbing weakly at his hair.

Jared begins to work Jensen's cock, slow at first and then faster, broad palm and long fingers sliding and twisting perfectly, all the while dragging his mouth downwards, and Jensen thinks he knows what's coming next, but he's still not prepared for the slick heat of Jared's mouth sliding over the head of his cock, tight and hot and unbelievable. He can feel Jared's tongue licking at the slit, he can feel Jared's teeth gently grazing the shaft, he can feel the back of Jared's throat as he fucks into it with shaky, uncontrollable hips, he can hear a voice that must be his own growling Jared's name, over and over again like a curse, swearing and moaning, and when Jared takes away his hand and takes all of him down his throat and then fucking swallows around the head, that's it, Jensen's gone.

He feels his orgasm tear through him, golden in his toes and blinding in his head, and comes down Jared's throat with a shout.

The last thing he remembers, before he blacks out and fades into glorious, blissful oblivion, is Jared's voice from above him, breathless, saying 'Fuck, Jensen, you're so fucking.....'

Then nothing.

There's coffee. Warm, delicious smells, wafting beneath Jensen's nose. He opens his eyes and sees Jared, smiling wide and bright, waving the steaming cup gently in front of his face.

'Morning,' Jared says breezily. 'Made coffee. Gotta be on set at ten today.'

'Mmmm,' says Jensen, expressively, he thinks. He drinks some of the coffee, wriggles his toes blissfully as he feels it spread through his body. Today is going to be a good day. The sun is shining outside the window, his body feels wonderful, relaxed and.....

Holy crap.

Jensen remembers. He remembers everything, more or less. He sits bolt upright in the bed, almost but not quite spilling the coffee, and stares at Jared. Jared looks back at him, apprehensively.

Jensen closes his eyes, takes several deep breaths, and then says 'Jared. Um....Jared. Did you, or did you not, blow me in the middle of the fucking night?'

Jared drops his head, hand going to the back of his neck.

'Um...No?' He's looking shyly up at Jensen with anxious eyes, and Jensen does not understand anything, any of this.

'Well I really hope you did, otherwise some other dude came in here and did it, and that would be even fucking weirder.'

Jared tips back his head and laughs, loud and warm, and Jensen feels nothing but fondness, despite the weirdness of this conversation, because really, there's no way he'd be able to stay mad at Jared for long.

If mad is what he is.

'Ok,' says Jared, picking at loose threads on his jeans. 'Yeah, I did. I'm sorry.' He does sound apologetic, but there's an edge of defiance to his words as well, an unspoken challenge.

'Kay. Uh, why?'

Jared shrugs. 'Dunno. I'm sorry, ok. I really hope I haven't made things too weird. Please don't report me to the rape crisis people.' He stands up, stretches, fingers nearly brushing the ceiling. 'I'm just gonna, um.....yeah.' He jerks his head towards the door, and turns to go.

'Jared,' snaps Jensen, his voice a mixture of frustration and amusement. 'Get back here.'

Jared turns back, hovers nervously.

'Jare,' begins Jensen, 'it's fine, ok? I don't – I mean, it was awesome.' Jensen's stomach does a delirious flip-flop at the naked hope in Jared's eyes when he says that, but he controls himself, because he has to know what's going on here. 'I just, I didn' t think you were....I didn't think you felt....you know, like that about...guys. About me.'

'Like what?'

'Y'know. Sexy.....sex things.' Jensen's can feel his face going all red, and this conversation is ridiculous, just ridiculous. 'I mean, uh....do you?'

'You're kidding, right?'

'What?' Jensen frowns, confused at the look of disbelief on Jared's face.

'Jensen,' says Jared, shaking his head uncomprehendingly. 'Are you serious? You didn't know I...? I tell you. I tell you every fucking day. I seriously don't see how I could have made it any clearer without actually committing a sex crime, which is technically what I did last night. I grope you constantly. I proposition you on an almost hourly basis. Did you just....not hear me, or something?'

Jensen feels like his mind's going to explode, like everything he thought he knew has flipped upside down and skipped away into the sunset. Yeah, Jared's constantly telling him he's pretty, sexy, got a nice ass, whatever. Yeah, he's always making dumb sex jokes. Yes, he's the handsiest person Jensen's ever met. But....

There's a long silence while Jensen takes it in, runs through every compliment, every nickname, every suggestive remark, readjusts. 'So..' he says eventually, 'wow. You must think I'm kind of an asshole. You really meant...all of it?'

'Yeah.'

'Including the bit where I'm a precious princess?'

'Ye...no! Not really. Kind of. Yes?'

'Including the time when you got down on your knees and sang Celine Dion at me in the makeup trailer?'

'No, that was temporary insanity.'

'Including the Miss Teen Texas 2008 sash you made me?'

'Man, you were robbed.'

'Including the naked wrestling?'

'Definitely.'

They're both grinning broadly at each other now, close to laughter. In all the times Jensen's imagined this moment, the moment when he and Jared declare their undying love for each other and then proceed to have incredibly hot sex, for days, he'd never pictured it like this. There'd always been alcohol, heated looks and slurred, Texas confessions, or a sweaty fight scene, or maybe just Jensen losing it and slamming Jared up against something and kissing him until neither of them could breathe. It was never just this, just the two of them smiling, easy laughter. He should have known.

Jensen stands up, slowly, stretches, lazy and unhurried, and finally, finally, lets himself look at Jared like he wants to, lets his eyes slide up his endless fucking legs, linger on his crotch, up across his hips and narrow waist and the hard curve of his chest under his soft shirt. By the time his eyes reach Jared's he's stepped up close, close enough to feel the warmth of his body, close enough to see the slight hitch in his breathing, the hot blush spreading up his neck and across his cheekbones.

'Including....'Jensen's voice is different now, low, dark and dangerous, soft in Jared's ear. 'Including when you said you'd hold me down and fuck the shit outta me?'

Jensen watches as Jared swallows, a pulse in his long, golden throat fluttering. When he speaks, it comes out husky and uneven. Hungry.

'Yeah, Jen. Definitely.'

'Good,' says Jensen, and tackles him onto the bed.

Jared flails and yelps 'What the fuck?' but he's easily silenced by Jensen's mouth, hot and greedy against his, and Jensen's hands sliding, rough and possessive, down his flanks, and Jensen's body, hard and heavy and moving just right, and Jensen.

'Lower center of gravity, remember?' growls Jensen into Jared's breathless, willing mouth, and Jared can hear his smirk.

'So does this mean-'

'I swear to God, Padalecki, if you're not naked in the next twenty seconds, I'm gonna....'

Jared's kind of curious as to what, exactly, he'd do, but decides that now isn't the time to find out.

'You are such a dick,' Jared mumbles into Jensen's chest. It's a new voice, one Jensen's never heard before, ragged and sated. Jensen likes it. He'd like to make him talk like this all the time. Shooting today took way too long, but getting home and tearing each other's clothes off definitely made up for it.

'You love my dick,' Jensen replies, letting out a long breath, feeling his heart rate gradually dropping. His body feels infinitely heavy and infinitely light at the same time. 'Why am I a dick?'

''Cause....you never.....How long've you been holding out on me?'

'Mmm,' says Jensen. He doesn't think he's ever going to move again. 'Always. Since always.'

'You haven't known me since always.'

'Yeah, well. Still.'

'Why didn't you say anything?'

'Didn't know.'

'Dumbass.'

'Yeah.'

There's silence. Then Jared shifts awkwardly, props himself up on one elbow, fixes his eyes somewhere just to the left of Jensen's face.

'Jen,' he says, 'I gotta tell you this now, before...before anything else.'

Jensen feels dread crush his chest, drop heavily through his stomach, because yeah, it figures that this was coming. He doesn't let anything show on his face, though. No need to act like a bitch about this.

'Yeah?' he says. Jared's gone pinkish, all over, and actually looks kind of terrified, which is....weird.

'Um,' he begins, and then falls silent again, frowning. 'Ahh. Fuck. Ok. You know the, um, you know how the central heating broke?'

This isn't what Jensen was expecting. He rolls on his side to face Jared. 'Yeah, I did notice that, sometime around when the frostbite took my remaining fingers.'

'It didn't.'

'What? Yeah it di – oh, no fucking way.'

Jared drops his head into his hands.

'Mmmph,' he groans. 'I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, I just, it seemed like an awesome plan and then I told Chad and he said I had to do it and you just weren't catching on and I was getting desperate and ..I didn't even mean to, I just turned it off and then I didn't know how to get it back on, honestly, I had no idea it would take them so long to come and fix it, I just, please don't hate me....stop laughing!

He looks up through his fingers, hopeful and contrite, and Jensen's pretty sure his chest is going to burst, because Jared Tristan Padelecki is the biggest, most adorable idiot he's ever, ever met.

'You didn't forget to get a hotel room, either, did you?'

'Nope,' Jared whispers, and Jensen's shaking with laughter, unable to speak, but the look in his eyes says enough.

As soon as Jared knows he's forgiven, he's smiling again, all 100 watts of it, and wriggling enthusiastically back in close to Jensen, and biting at his sweaty and sex-laced skin, and Jensen doesn't think it's possible to get hard again this quickly, but he might be on the way.

'Dude,' Jensen grins, letting his head flop back and his fingers tangle in Jared's sticky mane, 'You really need to work on some seduction techniques that don't involve nearly killing me.'

'It worked, though, didn't it?' breathes Jared, hot mouth nipping at Jensen's aching inner thigh, and yep, that's definitely gonna do the job.

'Yeah, but so would....oh, fuck Jared, don't stop....so would just asking.'

Jared doesn't reply, just chuckles softly and licks down Jensen's hipbone, but Jensen doesn't mind.

When the CHDL man arrives the next day, Jensen's on the edge of the kitchen counter in one of Jared's check button-downs, bare legs wrapped round Jared's shirtless waist, hands down the back of Jared's jeans, eating at his roommate's mouth as if his life depends on it.

When he sees Karl enter, Jensen yelps and flings himself off the back of the counter; Karl hears a thump and a curse, and then Jensen reappears, flushed and mortified, straightening out his shirt. Jared just turns round and leans against the counter, grinning happily.

To his credit, Karl doesn't bat an eyelid, just holds up his toolbag and says 'Hi, I'm Karl, I'll be your CHDL representative today. Might wanna lock your door, guys.' Then he drops his tools, pulls out his phone, and hits speed dial.

'What are you doing?' asks Jared curiously.

'Sorry, just gotta make a call. Hey, Kirsten? Yeah, it's me. I'm there, and the answer is yes. No, ok, hang on.' He holds the phone away from his ear and asks 'Which one of you is Jared?'

Jared raises a hand.

Karl wedges the phone between his ear and shoulder, picks up his tools, and heads for the heating closet, talking into the phone the whole time.

'Yeah, definitely. He's half naked right now, and it's ridiculous. No, seriously. Doesn't matter which one's which though, they both are. Yeah, I know, I feel like I just walked into a porno. Shame I'm not wearing my tear-off overalls. Yeah, I wish. Oh, look, it's not even broken! The knob's just jammed. Definitely a porno.'

Jared trails after Karl, listening in, while Jensen searches frantically for his pants. Karl laughs at something Kirsten says, rummaging in his toolbag. 'No way. Girl, you have no chance. When I walked in the two of them were pretty much fucking on the kitchen counter. Glad I'm not their cleaner. Yeah, for real. Exactly. Well, I didn't know I'd need them! I'll wear them every day from now on. Look, talk to Jared, I gotta get my wrench on. See you back at base, chica.'

He holds the phone out to Jared. 'Kirsten made me promise to call her and let her know if you were as hot as you sounded,' he explains, rolling his eyes.

Jared accepts the phone cautiously, brings it to his ear.

'Kirsten?' he says tentatively.

'Well, well,' she says, sounding amused. 'Sounds like your meaty parts are doing just fine.'

Jared laughs loud and long. 'Yeah,' he says, finally. 'We had to huddle for warmth.'

She giggles hysterically, then stifles it abruptly. 'Sorry,' she says. 'Boss walked past. Well, I hope you understand that you just made Karl-o's day, week, probably life. Don't let him get too excited, he'll burst something. Gotta go, bossman's heading back this way. Enjoy your huddling.'

The line goes dead. Jared smiles, looks back at Jensen, who's just emerged from the other room, fully dressed now, and then down at Karl, who's adjusting the thermostat and not-so-subtly checking out Jensen at the same time.

'Hey,' he says. 'Don't turn it up too much. I was kinda getting used to the cold.'