Half Way There (Part 1)

2008-03-03T08:24:07Z

Title: Half Way There
Pairing: Jared/Jensen, (Jared/Sandy),(Jensen/OFC),(Tom/Mike),(Chris/OFC)
Author: 4evernblue
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Word Count: 4,265
Summary: With a chance meeting and a one-flight stand Jared and Jensen discover that opposites do attract. But when their trip is over so are they, both moving on and not letting go. Searching for love that dosen't end in disaster they keep finding each other. And while the chemistry is still there the timing is always wrong, always leaving them half way there.
A/N: This story is for the abouttwoboys</lj>promt, and based on the movie A Lot Like Love. Not everything is the same, I kinda put my own J2 spin on things with the help of my wonderfully, brillant beta uglyduckling_me</lj>. She's the stuff of legends! What I did take from the movie I totally give credit to Colin Patrick Lynch and Nigel Cole, the writer and director of the movie.

***

7 Years Ago

The car quickly dove in and out between traffic, screeching and swerving to a stop in front of its final destination.

Jared always hated when Megan drove. She was like a speed demon, hopped up on cocaine and pop music.

"Jesus Christ, Meg?!" He yelped as his head slammed into the head rest.

Just breathe deep and your life will stop flashing before your eyes.

Really, it was routine whenever he was in the car with her. Jared knew he really should be used to restarting his heart by now.

"What?" she sighed along with her new signature eye roll. It was something she had just started doing. He had this theory that she stands in front of the bathroom mirror every morning perfecting it. It was the only explanation as to why she was in there so long. It couldn’t be to fix her face, because she always came out looking the same, if not worse, in his opinion.

"Does mom know you drive like that?" Jared knew there was no way she did. Their mom wouldn't willingly let him get in the car with someone who drove like that, would she? Jared sat in his seat and steadily started to panic; trying to figure out if his mother was trying to tell him something.

"Whatev' Jared, would you just get out the car? I have stuff to do."

Stuff to do? Riiight.

"Megan, what could you possibly have to do? Besides asking mom for a new face, 'cause your current one... yeah, needs some work." He finished getting out of the car and slamming the door shut.

"You're such a DICK!" she shouted back as she sped off.

Jared shook his head as he watched the car sped off into the distance. He made a reminder to have a talk with his mom about his sister’s driving when he got back from his trip. Megan was bound to hurt herself, or even worse an unaware little old lady. Jared seriously hoped that wasn't the last time he saw his sister before she crashed into her untimely death. At least he could tell their mom it wasn't his fault. He could explain that he told Meg to slow down, that everyone in the family loved her, and that crashing her car was in not the proper way to ask for help when you clearly needed it.

Jared was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of shouting. He turned around to see two of the strangest people he had ever had the chance to lay eyes on.
There was a short girl, with even shorter black hair. She was kind of skimpy for a girl, too.

Jared didn’t like skimpy girls, especially evil ones. Which she clearly was if the look on her face was anything to go by. She was wearing a tiny, jean skirt with pants underneath, and her top was grey with what looked like neon paint splattered all over it; clunky combat boots completed the ensemble. Okay, she wasn't that strange. He’d seen girls like that walking around San Francisco, but he had just assumed that there were only one or two of them tops, and that they all got dressed in the dark. Apparently not.

Her shouting companion was a guy, and he too, was beyond strange. The guy…well, he had blue hair for starters. He also had piercings all over the place: eyebrows, nose, ears, and lips. Jared found it hard to believe that drinking liquids would be possible with that many holes in your face. His eyes traveled downward and where one would expect to find pants, he found a skirt. Well, not a skirt to be exact. It was…well, it was a kilt. The stranger’s look was also completed with combat boots. But, as far as guys in skirts went, Jared supposed he didn't look half bad.

It shouldn't have surprised him that people who dressed like that obviously had no problem with being noticed, which was exactly what was happening. They were shouting at the top of their lungs and others were starting to stare.

"I just think that we should spend some time apart," said Skimpy.

"What?!" he shouted. Apparently that wasn't what Brave Heart wanted to hear.

"You have got to be kiddin' me! Where the hell is this coming from?" he continued in clear disbelief.

Jared decided now was as good a time as any to discreetly use his new Cannon camera. He had gotten it as a graduation present from his mom. She had carefully explained that it was so he could take pictures of his trip to New York, because “you only saw the "Big Apple" for the first time once”, and not so he could take pictures of himself naked in the bathroom with the zoom lens so he could see every single pore magnified by 1000. Like he would do that anyway. Jared happened to know that all of his pores were awesomely clean and awesome, thank you very much.

However, Jared didn't think his mom would mind that he started taking pictures at the airport before he took off. He was sure he'd find even stranger things once he finally got to New York anyway. Quickly turning on the camera, he zoomed in on the girl, who wasn't even that great now that he could see her up close, and snapped a shot. He then changed his angle, hit the zoom button again and focused on the guy, and promptly had to restart his heart for the second time that day. Jared had lived in San Francisco his whole life and living in the city provided that you saw all kinds of different people. But never in all the time that he had lived in this city had he found himself attracted to one of its weirder citizens. He quickly snapped another shot, and started to breathe again, because breathing was a must, you know, in order to live Jared reminded himself.

Jared took a step back and continued to watch. He didn't really see a point in stopping now, when things were clearly going so well.

"Is this about the drummer, what's-his-name? Because that kiss didn't mean anything, I told you that already!" said Brave Heart.

Well! That was a little more information than he thought anyone needed to hear.

"No, this isn't about that. You know what? Just go, just leave!" Skimpy look decidedly pissed, like she wanted to hit someone.

“Fine, I will, but don’t expect me to come crawling back to your hypocritical ass! You act like you never kissed another guy before, and you and I both know that's a bunch of bullshit if you say you haven't!”

It sounded like both of them had commitment problems, if you asked him, but then again no one was asking him, so…

"You don’t support me, you never have and I doubt you ever will!" screeched Skimpy.

"I do support your stupid ass! I followed your band half way ‘round the country!" Brave Heart screamed back, grabbing his bags out of the trunk of the car.

"If you don't want me here, just say so," he said once he had all his bags.

Brave Heart waited, waited for Skimpy to say something, anything to keep him from going.

There wasn’t a reply.

"Thanks, thanks a fucking bunch! I know when I'm not wanted, so just fuck you and your band! Fuck it all to hell!" he screamed.

Brave Heart grabbed all his bags and stormed in to the airport.

Jared noticed that Skimpy didn't even bother to look ashamed. He knew he never liked skimpy girls.

***

Jared found a seat in the terminal and waited for his flight to board. It was times like these when he wished he had someone to talk to but seeing as he didn't, he quietly searched his bag for his CD player and slipped the headphones over his ears. He was just about to listen to some serious Third Eye Blind tuneage, when he spotted Brave Heart slamming his bag down in a seat just across from him.

Now Jared’s usually a friendly kind of guy, but by no means was he going to go over and chat with toga boy. Seriously, just because you eavesdrop on someone’s conversation it doesn’t mean you know the guy, but that didn't stop Jared from wanting to know him. So seeing as how he wasn't going to go over and talk to him, Jared found it perfectly logical to just stare at him as inconspicuously as he could.

Apparently Jared wasn't as stealth as he thought he was, because one second Brave Heart was checking his bags and the next he was staring right back at him, or at least he thought he was. Jared quickly turned his head to make sure no one was behind him. Nope. He was definitely staring back at him. Jared knew he should stop staring, staring was against like, rule number 1 in the manners book, but he couldn't help it. Jared figured with eyes that green and a mouth like that; staring probably came as a package deal.

However, it seemed that Brave Heart, too, had forgotten his manners, because he kept staring right back. Jared even went as far as to assume that Brave Heart didn't have any manners at all, because he had just spread his kilt-clad legs as wide as they could go without being completely indecent, leaned back in his chair, licked his lips and fuckin’ smirked.

Jared felt the heat rise to his face like lava rising from a volcano, and quickly dropped his gaze; he could hear Brave Heart chuckle over the call of his flight. He hurriedly grabbed his stuff and walked towards the boarding area.

***
Stupid guys and their stupid fucking skirts. It wasn't his fault he couldn't stop staring!
“Eyes and faces that pretty should be outlawed," he mumbled to himself as he found his seat on the plane.

Jared settled into his seat and prepared for a long, cramped up journey. Just has he had gotten comfortable, the guy in front of him had decided now was a nice time to recline and enjoy a nap. Which was just great because as soon as the front seat fell back, Jared’s tray, which had been cautiously balancing his drink, collapsed under the added weight, spilling its contents all over the front of his shirt.

As if his day couldn't get any worse. First, he finds himself attracted to a guy, and not just any guy, but a guy in a fucking skirt! Which really wasn’t his fault, if you thought about it; his mom always said he liked things that were different. Now, to top it all off, he had carbonated shit down the front of his shirt!

All of his grumbling must have become noticeable, because he now had an apologizing stewardess taking up what little of his personal space that was left.
"Sir, I am so sorry!" she said. "Let me just get you a towel!" and with that she had hurried off, without him having to say anything. Jared really didn't need her to go and get him a towel; he was making his way to the bathroom and he was sure there was a hefty supply in there. He didn’t really want her going out of her way to help him anyway.

Jared seemed to have forgotten that airplane bathrooms weren’t all that big, but he managed to squeeze himself in and lock the door.
Just as he grabbed a towel from the rack to clean himself off, there was a knock on the door.

"It's ok, I found some towels," he explained through the door.

Another knock came.

"Jesus Christ, I said I'm okay!" he replied with frustration.

Jared knew she was just trying to be polite, but he really was NOT in the mood. He unlocked and opened the door, just to make sure the stewardess got the message.

"I said -" and the rest of his words were lost somewhere between his throat and the lips that crashed into his. By the time his brain kicked into gear again the door slammed shut and locked with a click, and Jared came nose to nose with thousands of freckles and those fucking green eyes.

Now this was definitely unexpected, not bad but unexpected. Jared opened his mouth to voice this, but a hand quickly covered it preventing any speech.

“Don’t say anything," said Brave Heart. "You'll ruin it," and with that Brave Heart proceeded to suck all the air out of Jared’s lungs through his lips.

If speaking proved to ruin this, then Jared was ready to take an oath to never speak again like... yesterday. He had absolutely no problems with not speaking. Oh God, did he not have a problems with that. Although he really didn't think it was common courtesy to be doing… this in an airplane bathroom, with the lack of space and the fact that it was public and everything.

A bed would be nice, he thought. They should find one; it would give them room to stretch out and... and all thought has to stop now, because Brave Heart was doing marvelous things with his tongue and thought could just not be processed right now. Hands slid up under his soda sticky shirt, skimming over muscles all the up to tweak nipples and sweet Jesus, the feeling slid all the way down to his cock.

Groaning in return, Jared pushed Brave Heart up against the wall, sliding big hands down to grip narrow hips and attached his teeth to his collarbone. He might as well give as good as he was getting, and if the whimper his actions produced was anything to go by, then his companion had no objections. The thought never crossed Jared mind that he was intentionally making out with another boy. He figured if he thought about it too much, he’d freak the fuck out. Plus, why bother, when everything they were doing felt good. God did it feel good and Jared was a firm believer of the motto “If it feels good, it probably is good.” Yeah, he was down with that.

Moving from Brave Heart’s neck back up to those gorgeous lips, Jared quickly pressed his own against them, licking the seam with a warm swipe of his tongue to gain entrance. He wanted to know if Brave Heart tasted as good as he thought he did. Brave Heart moaned and complied with Jared’s silent request, opening his mouth, body going slack, letting Jared gather him into his arms and surround his personal space.
Losing himself in the kiss, Jared slowly let the hand that wasn’t wrapped around his companion’s waist travel down to grip his ass and bring him, if possible, even closer. What he got in return was an unexpected thrust of hips against his own, causing his eyes to roll back and heat to roar through his veins.
“Fuck yes,” Jared growled as he rhythmically rolled his own hips against Brave Heart’s, clutching at the back of his shirt, one hand still melded to his waist. His blood pumped through his veins and his vision swam, but he wasn’t gonna stop now. Not even if his heart gave out. He used what strength he could manage and lifted Brave Heart up. Legs immediately wrapped around his waist and Jared backed him up onto the wall and continued with his thrusting.
“Uhhng more…” moaned Brave Heart.

And who was Jared to deny him when he asked so pretty?

***

As far as being a first time flyer, all and all Jared could say he did a pretty good job. Most people were worried about terrorists but as far as he was concerned, what everyone really needed to be worried about was hot guys in the airplane bathroom. Everyone would still get the whole heart-stopping, ‘will I make it to tomorrow?’ experience, because it was just that good. The only bad experience he could seem to come up with was the fact that waiting for your luggage was a complete and utter bitch.

Not only did it seem as though God had purposely put everyone else's luggage before yours, there was also the fact the every fucking bag looked the same! Maybe he should have tied a signature pink bow onto his bags, because that seriously would have helped a whole fucking lot right about now.

But on the plus side sitting right there, next to the luggage reel was Brave Heart.

God won’t give him his luggage but he hand delivers the guy he made out with on a silver fucking platter.

The Big Guy 1. Jared 0.

Jared figured he might as well go over and talk to him. It's not like it would be awkward. They were already passed that weird stage where no one could ever think of anything to say. They could always talk about the fact that they had trouble detaching their lips from each other’s unmentionable body parts. It couldn't hurt... could it?

Taking a deep breath, and promising himself he wouldn’t regret this obviously life altering decision, he walked over.

Just be cool. Take a deep breath, and let it out. Good, you can do this. No need to freak. YOU CAN DO THIS.”

"HiImJaredPadalecki."

WHAT THE FUCK!? Way to go, word vomit.

"I mean, I'm Jared. Hi," he said as he nervously scratched the back of his head.

His introduction obviously meant nothing because Brave Heart seemed to be doing his damnedest to ignore anyone and everyone around him, and Jared was just NOT having that.

"Umm I'm Jared?" he said one again, in case he didn't hear him the first time.

Brave Heart finally turned his head in Jared’s direction, letting his gaze settle upon his face.
"You keep sayin’ that and didn't I tell you not to speak? Now you’ve ruined it."

Ruined it? Ruined what exactly?

"What do ya mean I ruined it?" Jared asked perplexed "If anything, I think IT went pretty damn well if ya ask me."

But Brave Heart wasn’t listening; he was already up grabbing his bags from the carousel and making his way toward the exit.

So much for getting to know one another.

***

As Jared watched the guy in the kilt go, he decided that he have never been so confused in his entire life. But being confused had never stopped him from plunging head first into something before, so why should it be any different now? He quickly grabbed his bags and ran after him. As it turned out, Brave Heart hadn't gone too far. Jared found him at the tram station waiting for the next ride. He decided to once again try his hand at small talk.

Usually people warmed up to him pretty quickly. He figured he could only try so many times until Brave Heart started to like him, too.
So he took a deep breath, slid right up next to him and asked the first question that came to his mind.

"So, how’s Skimpy?"
Great now we're prying into people's personal lives, way to go Jay-man.

“Excuse me?" He answered back with a quirked eye brow.

“You know, your girlfriend," Jared reminded.

"Ex-girlfriend." Brave Heart corrected.

"Yeah, I kinda figured," Jared replied with a smile.

A long silence continued after that.

Looks like the Jay-man here is gonna have to do all the work.

"So, Skimpy gonna go on a world tour?" he questioned.

"Her name’s not Skimpy.”

"Ah..."

"She's in a band," Brave Heart supplied.

"Everyone’s in a band," Jared said with conviction.

"Are you in a band?" Brave Heart asked with an amused smirk.

"No," Jared scoffed.

Great the ONE chance you had to impress him and you freakin’ blew it. I have got to join a band!

"Strike two," murmured Brave Heart.
Strike two!? Where the hell was strike one?

"What was strike one?" Jared asked thoroughly confused.

Brave Heart just bent down to once again pick up his bag and Jared once again felt like he hadn't gotten anywhere with the guy. The tram pulled up and Brave Heart made to get on. Jared followed, more determined now than ever to at least get the guy’s name. After all, he still had one strike left.

***
Jared took a seat on the tram; all that separated him from his new found obsession was a little old lady, and fate. He sat there and tried in various fashions to come up with a plan to get closer to Brave, when it seemed Fate decided to cut him some slack.

“Excuse me,” says the woman in her little old lady voice. “Would you like to sit next to your friend?”

Really, someone up there must really like him, because an old lady just offered him a seat next to the guy that he properly defiled in a public bathroom! A public bathroom, that was in an airplane no less. It’s not like she knew, but still come on!

“Yes, yes I would like to sit next to my friend. Thank you very much, ma’am.” Jared added along with one of his very best 1000 watt smiles.

She slowly switched places with him and he was now pressed leg to leg with his new found friend. Jared thought of several ways to start round two of their conversation and decided again to just go with the first thing that popped into his head.

“So, Jared, are you here for business or pleasure?” Jared realizes he’s talking to himself but it’s the only way to get this thing going and if the slightly amused look Brave Heart is trying to hide is anything to go by, then he’d say he’s doing well so far.

“Who me?” he continues, pretending to be surprised by the question. “Well, I guess you could say I’m here for pleasure. I’m here to visit my older brother.”

Still getting no response from his ever silent companion, Jared continues with his one sided conversation.
“I graduated from college a year ago and I’m looking for a job, so this will be a good experience for me. I’ve never really been outside of San Francisco. But I suppose there’s a first time for everything,” he added with a shrug.

Taking a deep breath to continue, Jared was interrupted with,

“You graduated a year ago and you still haven’t found a job? A little late aren’t you?” Brave Heart questioned with his a nod in his direction.

“What are you, my father?” Jared asked, embarrassed and a little bit amused that after all his efforts the one thing the guy responded to was his education and lack of a job.

“I don’t know. When you look at me do you see your father?” Brave Heart asked with a questioning gaze.

Jared wasn’t sure if that little statement was supposed to be funny or not. In all actuality, it made him want to throw up a little.
This was a reaction Brave Heart here seemed to live for, if the amused smile he was wearing was any indication.

The tram was starting to slow down and only then did Jared realize he was starting to run out of time. He frantically tried to think of a cool, James Bond way to ask for Brave Heart’s number or for some way to contact him while he was in the city, but it seemed that he wasn’t having any luck.

“What’s your sign?” Brave Heart asked with nonchalance.

Oh no, this is some kind of test. There’s no way he would just ask me my sign out of curiosity. Knowing this guy he’d come up with some shit like I can’t date Cancers… their likely to have well cancer, and everybody know that’s not true.

He learned that lesson when he was eight.

Jared took a deep breath and decided to go with telling the truth. Besides, lying was no way to start a relationship.

“Cancer… I’m a Cancer,” he voiced with determination.

“Strike three.” said Brave Heart.

Jesus Christ, he knew he should have lied! Fuck being truthful in new relationships, that advice was obviously a heaping pile of shit, Jared thought furiously.

“What do you mean strike three?” Jared hollered.

“How is me being a Cancer, a fact that I had absolutely no control over mind you, count as a strike?” he questioned with disbelief.

It figures, just when he finds someone he actually wants to spend time with, he finds out he has to fill out a fucking application and wait for a return call to see if he’s even compatible.

While Jared was contemplating how to turn the conversation around in his favor, he didn’t notice Brave Heart pick up his bag and make his way toward the sliding doors.

Jared came around in just enough time to holler a question as the doors opened for Brave Heart to make his way out into the bustling city.

“Hey, can I at least get your name?” he asked using what his mom called the dreaded puppy dog eyes.

“It’s Jensen.” Brave Heart replied with a little smile.

Score 1 for the Jay-man!

“Well, I’d have never guessed Jensen,” Jared returned with his own smile.

“Don’t talk to strangers,” Jensen replied with a smirk and the doors slid shut.

Part 2

Where I Stand

Friends Only

Half Way There (Part 1)