dime_liora | I'm In Love (With A Fairytale) Part 2

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It was because he didn’t answer his phone for two weeks. That was the only explanation for his godmother sitting on his couch and staring at the wreck he’d become. Jared was too drunk to edit the story, or to care how insane it made him sound.

Aunt Sam was humoring him pretty well though.

“So then he just took off and left you here alone?”

“Yeah. Because I’m a big old freak. Which ain’t news, but damn if I didn’t think a man with tentacles would avoid the f-word.”

Aunt Sam worked her jaw for a moment before taking his chin and tilting his face up so they were looking into each other’s eyes.

“You sure you love this prince? Really love him Jay, not just like him or want him?”

There were the tears again, the hand that he’d known since he was a child softening its grip and stroking his skin gently in comfort he knew all too well.

“I love him. I love him more than anything, and I never thought I- but he doesn’t love me. Couldn’t. Missed too many days of trawling so I’m done here. I’m just gonna crawl back home with my tail between my legs and hope I can get some construction work or something.”

His aunt wrapped him in her arms, pulled him in tight, and Jared let himself be held like a baby as she shushed him and comforted him.

“Jared, baby, I promise you that if you really love him this isn’t over. I promise.”

Except it was. He couldn’t afford the apartment, couldn’t afford to just ride out to that spot every day and wait in case Jensen changed his mind and popped back up above the waves. He couldn’t anymore, and that was all there was.

And with that Aunt Sam helped pack his things, and he rode back to San Antonio with no hope for the future left but that it wouldn’t include any more tentacled heartbreakers. Or tequila.

-----

The bar was small, old, and everything in it was tough enough to survive Jared’s flaws. He was far enough away from the stage that he rarely ever upset any of the amplifiers the constant barrage of classic rock cover bands and local country singers dragged in every Friday and Saturday. He barely knew anyone, and he liked it that way. He’d saved up enough money to rent the apartment above the place, and on his two nights off he listened to the conversations that floated up and imagined he was a part of them.

Which was as close to interpersonal relations as he got these days. His aunt called on an almost daily basis, but Jared wasn’t terribly interested in answering most of those calls so many of them went to his old answering machine. His mother and father called less frequently, once a week, but their messages were just as worried as Aunt Sam’s. When they had Megan call him that was Jared’s breaking point.

He informed them that he was simply working things out, and that he wasn’t on the edge of some deep break or imminent suicide. There was no reason to guilt trip him into answering the phone. He followed that up with his own guilt trip by subtly suggesting that they were setting back his progress.

Which would have been true if he was making any.

Except every night when Jared laid down in the surprisingly comfortable bed that had come with the tiny apartment all he thought about was how much more comfortable he’d been cramped against the wall with his head awkwardly on Jensen’s shoulder.

And he realized it was stupid, crazy, nonsensical love that made him think the neck pains were romantic, or that it was totally alright that one of them had incompatible anatomy, or that love could conquer any distance and separation, even that of age and species.

Because it couldn’t.

Because life was real, and reality dictated that when you chose a person to love you picked someone with similar aspects and characteristics so that love could survive. Otherwise the two of you burned out, and that was what the fairytales and the romantic comedies forgot when the music swelled and the screen dimmed. That the future of the stalwart businessman and the manic pixie dream girl, or the plucky commoner and the elegant princess, was ultimately one of heartache and ruin.

Opposites only attracted to a point and human and sea creature seemed to be that point.

It was alright though. Jared could get by, and while he didn’t necessarily enjoy the solitude or slinging drinks for a group of people who would probably find his sexual preferences, men not tentacled sea creatures, disgusting to the point of violence he got by. He kept to himself, and that allowed him time to compartmentalize everything that had happened to him, and to work his way through it.

Or so he thought, until a familiar voice requested a glass of “the amber liquid that makes you a fool.”

When Jared looked up from where he’d been fiddling with the tap he saw Jensen. In a shirt. To be specific he was fully-clothed, but the shirt was the first thing that caught his attention and so foreign to his treasured and hated memories that it stole anything he might have been able to say and reduced him to simply uttering a noise before dropping his rag and standing.

“Is that not the proper etiquette? This is my first bar.”

“You’re wearing a shirt.”

“I have been informed in polite society humans always wear shirts.” He plucked at the material before looking back up at Jared. “It’s unfortunate.”

“They’re not that-what the fuck are you doing here? In a shirt? With legs?”

“Shirts don’t have legs.” Jensen’s lips curled into a sardonic smile, eyes bright and lively. For the first time it inspired something other than butterflies in Jared.

“Get out.”

The surprise that flashed in Jensen’s eyes, along with the hurt, shouldn’t have affected Jared the way it did, and that only made him angrier.

“What?”

“I said get out. I don’t want you here in my bar.” Jared caught Aaron the bouncer’s eyes and nodded to Jensen.

“But I- Jared I came for you. I am human now so that-“

“You know what a fairytale is Jensen?”

The green eyes widened, lips parted on an indrawn breath. “I know that fairies are-“

“Fake. Or shit, considering what you are maybe real, who knows? The point is that I’m no pretty princess and you’re no charming prince. I’m a socially awkward wizard and you’re a tentacled asshole. Or formerly tentacled. You get my point. So sweeping in here and making jokes doesn’t mean the music swells and I fall into your arms. It just means you’re wasting my time and salting my wounds. There’s your ride.”

And then, as Jensen tried to stammer something out, Aaron dragged him from the bar.

----

Three days later Jared woke to a pounding on his door. He managed to crash out of bed, sheets tangling with his pajama pants as his Aunt practically screamed down his door.

“Jared Tristan Padalecki you open this door this instant young man or I will break it down! Do you hear me?”

“Coming. I’m coming.” His feet felt like lead. The last couple nights after his shift ended he’d managed to stagger upstairs before drinking himself into oblivion. His body was reminding him at the moment that he was the biggest idiot on the planet, and the banging was not helping.

The door creaked, and his aunt’s fist missed his face by about an inch.

“Boy, what the hell-are you hung-over? Jared?” His aunt looked just as put together as she always did despite the anger sparking in her eyes.

“I’m old enough Aunt Sam. What did you need at-“ he looked at his watch and winced. “Four in the afternoon?”

“Take a shower. Jensen and I will wait.”

And that’s when Jared noticed him, eyes downcast and freckles standing out against his flush. Just as handsome as always, and twisting Jared’s gut in ways he was unprepared for.

“Aunt Sam I don’t want-“

“You will shower, you will come back not smelling like sweat and cheap booze, and then we will discuss what you want. I love you dear, but you’re being pig-headed at the moment and it’s unacceptable.”

Jared had never been very good at telling her no. Instead he headed to the shower, threw on clothes, and came out toweling his hair and barefoot with Jensen staring at him hungrily and his aunt smiling indulgently.

“Jay, honey, I’m gonna tell you a few things now and I want you to listen. When your parents chose me to be your godmother they had no idea that I was one of the Fae.”

He opened his mouth, but she cut him off with a gesture.

“I did my duty as I was supposed to. I blessed you to be lucky in love, because that’s what they wanted, and I balanced that by taking away your luck in basically every category available. That may not seem fair to you, but believe me when I say the majority of the population would kill for the opportunity you’ve been given. And I doted on you too much, rubbed off on you in ways I shouldn’t have and then never explained it to you or stopped to make it better. That was my fault, and I’m awfully sorry about that. All of that aside, now you got a gift and you got a man. Enjoy them.”

Jensen’s hands were clenched tightly in his lap, legs twitching in a rhythm Jared recognized as a toned down copy of his tentacle movement.

“Aunt Sam you don’t understand what he did. He was-“

“Awful.” Jensen’s voice sounded wrecked, throaty and sad, and Jared felt himself blinking back his own tears at the sound of it. “I was awful to you. But you have to understand you were telling me all these things about human life and relations and you had this look on your face. This longing. Jared I wanted to tell you I loved you too, and that I would do anything for you but what kind of life could I offer you stuck in your tub and incompatible with your physiology? There would be no dancing, no long walks on the beach under moonlight, and no future other than you bringing me shrimp and changing out my water. I could not do that to you. It killed me to hurt you, to leave you, but it seemed the only way.”

It was the little lip quiver that did him in, the way that mouth he’d kissed so many times shook with the force of the repressed tears as Jensen said exactly what Jared had refused to allow himself to hope.

“So when you said he broke your heart I went down there to take him out, and found out he’d just been a foolish little squid-“

“I am not a squid.”

“Shush boy. He’s human now. And he can spend as much time as you want making it up to you, but don’t string him on too long because I’ve been waiting twenty-one years to see you be as happy as I’d like you to be.”

Jared licked his lips, darted his eyes between the two of them for a long moment, and then settled back into his chair.

“So, I have two obvious questions. What do y’all want for dinner, and where are your wings Aunt Sam?”

His aunt still hit as hard as she had when he was little.

-----

Jared made it to five dates before whatever lingering anger he had left was gone, and he was too wrapped up in how happy Jensen made him to care about what had passed. Every day they didn’t go out Jensen came to the bar, acquiescing to Jared’s request to keep a low profile by mingling with other patrons instead of simply sitting in front of Jared and mooning all night.

And he was mooning, no matter how much he argued that such a thing were beneath him.

Jensen radiated love, infused it with humor and the childlike exuberance he had for every single aspect of his newfound life as a human being. Everything fascinated him. Nothing seemed to get him down. When his first try at driving a car ended with destroying the front bumper of Jared’s old truck Jensen apologized and then asked if he could go for one more round of the parking lot. When he found out his new legs were “bowed” through a series of increasingly insulting jokes from bar customers he asked Jared if he could learn to ride a horse, to “earn them.”

He spent a good portion of his time away from Jared in libraries, college classes he apparently snuck into, and movies.

Jensen watched a lot of movies.

Jared had finally replaced his old TV, and the new set was just as snowy, but between the two of them Jensen could load the VCR without the tapes getting partially erased, and they could watch together to their hearts’ content.

Jared was informed that movie nights didn’t count.

The dates were elaborate rituals, dinners and events, thoughtful and romantic touches, each one more fitting for some fairytale romance. And in the moment Jared loved them, but this one made it perfectly clear that he was ready for the roses and the horse-drawn carriages and the violinists to stop.

“Jensen?”

“Wait. Wait Jared there are supposed to be fireworks and I cannot figure out why they haven’t-“

“Jensen. I need you to look at me.”

And he did, eyes sparkling in the moonlight, slight tension in his mouth at either the lack of fireworks or the seriousness in Jared’s tone.

“Is this a bad talk?”

“No, it’s just- where are you getting the money for all of this?”

Jensen’s eyebrow lifted, and then he smiled brightly. “Why, I did not come from the sea empty-handed. What sort of prince would I be without treasures?”

Jared swallowed at that, took Jensen’s hands, and then found what he hoped was the right way to word this.

“I don’t want this anymore.”

His boyfriend’s face crumpled, hands tightening on his.

“Jared I will do whatever you want if you simply do not-“

“Oh no! No, not like that. Shit I’m sorry Jensen. Not like that. I mean I don’t want these dates anymore. They were sweet, and I love your theme, but I’m not looking for a fairytale. I told you this wasn’t one and that wasn’t a challenge.”

Jensen’s head tilted, eyebrows arched and voice laden with disbelief. “I am missing something. This is what everyone in your culture wants, is it not? Romance and magic? A story that Disney would turn into a feature-length film?”

He reached up, cupped Jensen’s face in his hands and pulled him in for a kiss.

“It’s nice in theory, but in reality those stories are just about someone, usually a young girl I’d like to point out, that’s unhappy with their life and longing for something else. Those relationships have no chance in the long-term. That’s why the stories always end after they get together. No one’s going to have a healthy relationship based off of meeting in a coffin or asleep in a tower. I don’t want that Jensen. I want to bitch at each other about dishes and settle into a life with sweat pants and sex and burping. I want a real relationship with you, despite you being a fairytale prince not because of it. Do you get that?”

Fingers tangled in his hair, and Jensen pulled him into a kiss before resting their foreheads together.

“I do enjoy sweat pants. And burping.”

“I know you do. So can we skip the canned romance stories and just go home, fuck until my legs are weak, and then fall asleep?”

Fireworks began to pop off in front of them, lighting the sky and casting Jensen’s heart-breakingly beautiful face in light and shadow.

“Of course. That sounds perfect.”

And that’s what they did. Barely through the door Jensen had Jared’s belt undone and his pants unbuckled, and then Jared found himself bent over the couch with Jensen’s tongue trailing up his thighs and along his asshole. Strong hands spread his legs wider and scruff rubbed against the tender flesh as Jensen’s mouth slicked the way for his fingers.

Jared, for his part, moaned and cried as he tried to get a grip on the upholstery of the couch and his toes dug into the dingy old carpet. Sometimes he wondered if Jensen’s self-made lesson plans included porn, because he doubted rimming was standard fair in the Vetehinen community.

When his cock was fully hard, leaking against his stomach and no doubt staining the couch, Jensen’s mouth left him and then Jared felt the slick head of Jensen’s cock pushing into him and spreading him open while rough palms slid up and down the length of his back.

“Jensen, oh fuck yes. Yes. Fuck me hard.”

And like always, Jensen gave him exactly what he asked for. He set an almost brutal pace, thrusts lifting Jared’s feet from the floor and pushing him awkwardly over the back of the couch and his hands pulled Jared back into his movements. His prostate was pegged randomly, the edge of his orgasm approaching rapidly as the couch gave his cock added friction and Jensen’s soothing voice grounded him.

“That’s it. That’s it Jared give it up to me. So pretty like this, my Taikuri, so well spread on my cock. Begging just like I like you to. Now come for me, come on my cock.”

Jared twisted, arched, and then he was releasing onto the couch, one hand flailing until it found Jensen’s thigh and gripped hard while the other slapped at the seat of the couch as if that could make his brain work to tell Jensen properly how much he enjoyed this.

He was weak and boneless as Jensen rocked his way through the last of his own orgasm, warmth spreading through him as Jensen filled Jared’s ass and slowly softened inside of him.

Somehow they made it to the shower, and from there the bed. Jared’s head rested comfortably on Jensen’s chest, listening to the strong beat of his heart and the whooshing of his breath. When Jensen spoke it rumbled through Jared’s ears and vibrated against his cheek.

“Are you happy Jared?”

Jared couldn’t help the smile, the slight undercurrent of concern in Jensen’s voice displaying a lack of self-esteem Jared would have initially thought impossible.

“Yeah. Yeah, man. I’m really happy.”

Fingers carded into his hair again, moving slow and soft against his scalp and through the length of it.

“Do you wish for anything else?”

“Wish? No. I mean, well, uh sometimes I-“ The flush overtook his face and Jared trailed off before he said something he’d regret.

“What, Jared? Speak it and it is yours.”

“I don’t think you can promise that.”

“I can promise anything. Between the two of us and your aunt anything is possible.”

“Dude, don’t mention my aunt when we’re in bed and naked, ok?”

A low chuckle and Jared’s head was pressed more firmly into Jensen’s chest.

“Noted. Now what are you missing?”

“Well, I mean the sex is great Jensen, like really great, but sometimes I-I miss your tentacles.”

Silence reigned for a long time, and then Jensen tilted his face up and looked down so they were making eye contact and Jared knew Jensen was only focused on him.

“Funny you should say that. It is actually related to what I was going to ask you. Is there any chance that we could move back to the shore and go back to hunting for shrimp?”

Jared licked his lips and tried not to show his apprehension.

“Do you miss the ocean?”

“Yes. But more importantly, your aunt informed me that my transformation is temporarily negated when I enter sea water.”

He would not cry. He wouldn’t beg or plead because that was ridiculous and he was an adult.

“So you want to go back to being a Vetehinen?”

Jensen’s eyebrow arched, confusion written clearly on his face, and then recognition dawned and he bent awkwardly to kiss Jared’s forehead.

“Jared, the same way you are always Taikuri, whether you use your powers beyond lifting beers to yourself or predicting when to carry an umbrella, I am always Vetehinen. My interest in the ocean is simply because it is my home, and I believe you were happier there. We were happier there. I am not looking to leave you Jared, but if you wish to…enjoy my tentacles again then a dip in the sea will allow for that.”

“You want to be shrimpers and have tentacle sex in the ocean?”

“Is that so strange?”

He thought of all they’d been through, all that waited for them, and then Jared pushed up enough to properly kiss Jensen on the mouth. They stayed that way for a while, lips sliding gentle and sweet, and then Jared pulled back and gave Jensen the same intense stare he’d afforded him a moment before.

“No. Not strange at all. I’ll put in my two weeks tomorrow.”

Jensen gasped, eyes wide. “You can bend time Jared?”

He fell asleep laughing.

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Current Music: "Fairytale"-Sara Bareilles, "A Sorta Fairytale"-Tori Amos