Fic: A Writer's Best Friend

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Title: A Writer's Best Friend
Author: hils
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2220
Summary: Prompt fic written for isarae. Jensen is a writer and Jared secretly reads everything he writes
Thanks to kitty_poker1 for the beta



It’s not that he’s embarrassed about what he does for a living. Well, okay, maybe a little embarrassed but it’s not that he enjoys lying to Jared either. It’s just one of those things that sort of happened and the longer it went on, the harder it became for Jensen to admit it.

“Man, what sort of accountant are you?” Jared asks one day when Jensen comes out late for dinner again. “You’ve been locked in that room all day. I swear you’d forget to eat if I wasn’t here to remind you.”

He looks so open and earnest and, damnit, concerned that a fresh stab of guilt cuts through Jensen’s core. He forces a smile and slings an arm across his best friend’s shoulders.

“Sorry, man, just had some reports that were a total mess. I’m all yours now, I swear. How about we order takeout and I kick your ass at Guitar Hero?”

The frown melts away from Jared’s brow a little but he’s still got that concerned look in his eyes that makes Jensen squirm.

“How about I cook you some proper food and then I kick your ass at Guitar Hero?”

Jensen grins. “Deal. I’ll even get the beers open while you cook.”

That does it. Jensen gets flashed a beaming dimpled smile that makes everything bad in the world seem like somebody else’s problem. It warms him inside and makes him thank God he’s got Jared Padalecki in his life.

They’d met in college when Jensen was majoring in Accounting and Jared was majoring in Architecture and just sort of hit it off. Jensen had claimed it was because they were the only two Texans studying in Vancouver. Jared had claimed it was because they were both so awesome. After they’d graduated Jared had said they should get a bachelor pad for the two of them, and pretty much wouldn’t take no for an answer. They rented for a while and as soon as he could afford it Jared bought a place because he wanted to get some dogs. Jensen had pretty much decided to get his own place at that point but Jared wouldn’t hear of it. He even dragged Jensen to the animal shelter so they could choose the dogs together.

Harley and Sadie had joined them in their new place and they’d pretty soon settled into a routine. Jared worked from home and after a while Jensen did too. He’d worried that they were going to get under each other’s feet or start annoying one other, but by some miracle it had never happened.

And now here they are. Somewhere along the way Jared took on the role of caring wife, a fact Jensen teases him about regularly and Jared generally responds with his middle finger. It’s all good natured and Jensen can’t imagine giving anyone else half the amount of shit he gives Jared and getting away with it. It’s another reason he feels so horribly guilty about not telling Jared what he really does for a living.

He hadn’t set out to lie to Jared. Things just sort of escalated. When he’d first started writing it had just been a hobby and not something worth mentioning. When his first book was published he hadn’t expected it to go anywhere beyond a few hundred copies so he’d kept quiet. By the time he’d got the contract for a whole series and his books were on the bestseller list, it had gone on too long for him to turn around and tell Jared ‘oh, by the way, I’m a professional author now’.

It’s not like it’s a big deal anyway. It’s just work. Well, okay, it’s a bit more than that. He loves the world he’s created and he loves his characters. That’s why he misses so many meals. He gets lost in his stories a lot of the time and he suspects that Jared is right and he’d have starved if Jared wasn’t here to remind him to sleep and eat.

He’s just grateful that he had the foresight to come up with a pen name when he first started writing. Although, to be honest, if he’d realised things were going to get this huge he might have come up with something a little less obvious than Sadie Tristan. In fact he was amazed Jared hadn’t realised given it was the name of one of the dogs combined with Jared’s middle name.

“Hey, Jen,” Jared calls, snapping Jensen out of his thoughts. “Those beers any closer to being here or what?”

“Sorry, man.” Jensen quickly grabs two bottles out of the refrigerator and opens them both before passing one to Jared.

“Food’s almost done,” Jared says after he takes a healthy chug of his beer. “Hope you’re hungry.”

Jensen’s stomach rumbles before he can answer and the sound makes Jared laugh. “Sit down before you faint from hunger or something.”

Jensen grumbles under his breath but takes a seat at the table while Jared strains the pasta and adds some final touches to the sauce. It smells amazing and his mouth is watering before the plate is even in front of him.

He loads his fork and practically inhales the food, letting out a moan of pleasure when it tastes even better than it smells.

“You like it?” Jared asks with a small smile. “It’s just pasta and some chicken with a bit of sauce.”

“It’s amazing,” Jensen sighs as he all but shovels the food into his mouth. “Seriously, Jared, have you ever considered ditching the architecture and becoming a chef? You’d be awesome.”

Jared smirks at him. “You think I need a change of career? Maybe you should take your own advice.”

“What do you mean?” Jensen swallows hard and almost chokes on a piece of pasta. Damnit, he should have kept his stupid mouth shut about jobs.

“I’m just worried about you,” Jared says, passing Jensen a glass of water when he continues to cough around the pasta. Jensen accepts it with a grateful nod.

“You don’t need to worry about me,” Jensen assures Jared when he’s finally able to breathe again. “I love my job.”

“I know you do,” Jared replies gently. “I just don’t know if it’s good for you, man.”

And right then Jensen wants to tell Jared everything. He wants to explain how much his books are a part of his life, but that he wants to share it with Jared because Jared is part of his life too.

The words dry on his lips, though, and all he can say is. “I’m fine. Come on, you promised to kick my ass at Guitar Hero.”

Jared looks at him sadly for a moment but doesn’t press the issue. By the time they’ve had a few more beers and Jensen has had his ass handed to him on a plate, Jared is smiling again and nothing else matters.

* * *

A week later Jensen finds their roles reversed when Jared comes down with a nasty dose of the flu.

“Seriously,” Jared gasps between coughing fits. “You don’t need to do this. I’ll be okay.”

“Yeah, well maybe I want to,” Jensen replies when he emerges from the bathroom with a fresh cool washcloth in his hands. “You take care of me all the time. You at least gotta let me return the favor once.”

Jared lets out a sigh when Jensen lays the cloth over his head. “Well, make sure you remember to eat while you’re playing Florence Nightingale, okay?”

Jensen smiles softly as Jared falls asleep in a sea of used Kleenex, and he’s startled to find that even though Jared’s face his flushed, his nose is red and his hair is plastered to his face, he still looks perfect.

Suddenly it becomes important that he does something, anything, to take his mind off this fact and he sets about quietly cleaning up Jared’s room. As well as there being Kleenex all over the bed they seem to be all over the floor as well. He wrinkles his nose as he picks them all up and deposits them in the wastebasket.

“Dude, how the hell did you manage to get these things under the bed?” he grumbles as he drops to his knees and starts feeling around. He pulls out three Kleenex and something else.

He blinks.

It’s his book. Well, the first one anyway. The pages are curled in places and the spine is cracked. It’s clearly been read a lot.

Jensen blinks again and glances up at Jared who is still sleeping deeply.

He knows he should put the book back and just forget it. Maybe Jared just bought it on a whim. There’s no reason he should know that Jensen wrote it.

He slides the book back under the bed but curiosity gets the better of him and he looks.

They’re all there. Every book that Jensen has written, all piled neatly under the bed with his most recent one, in hardcover, at the front with a bookmark halfway through it.

Shit.

Jensen scrambles to his feet, slips on the hardwood floor and crashes back down again.

“Jen?”

Jared is sitting up in bed, looking blearily at him. Jensen smiles weakly.

“Sorry, man, fell over my own feet. Go back to sleep.”

He really hopes that in Jared’s sickness and drug induced haze he’s going to get away with it, but Jared is frowning at him now. “What’re you doing over there?”

Jensen climbs back to his feet and mercifully manages to stay upright this time. “I was cleaning up your disgusting snotty tissues. How the hell did you manage to spread them across the whole room anyway?”

Jared smiles and flops back down onto the bed. “It’s a skill.”

A few minutes later he’s out for the count again and Jensen sighs in relief, until the panic sets in.

Jared knows! And now he has to decide what to do about it.

* * *

Jensen is half-watching Raiders of the lost Ark when Jared pads into the living room, hair still damp from his shower.

“Still alive then,” Jensen says with what he hopes is a nonchalant grin.

“Barely,” Jared replies as he collapses onto the couch. “Still feel like shit.”

“Look like it too,” Jensen replies.

“Thanks, man, you’re a great comfort to me.”

“Any time.”

They watch the movie in silence for a while. Jensen knows he needs to say something to Jared about his discovery but he can’t find the words (ironic for a writer) and the more time passes, the harder it is to know where to start.

“So, I need to tell you something,” Jared finally says, breaking the silence and almost making Jensen jump. Jared mutes the TV and swivels so that he’s facing Jensen. Jensen has never seen him looking more serious and he starts to freak out.

“I need to tell you something too,” he quickly says, his mouth working before his brain can catch up.

“I know you write books,” Jared says at exactly the same time that Jensen says, “I write books.”

They both chuckle softly and Jensen is amazed at how calm and relaxed he suddenly feels.

“I didn’t mean to find out,” Jared says quickly. “You were in the bathroom one day and I’d run out of paperclips so I went into your office to borrow some. You had the manuscript for Mystery Spot on your desk and I couldn’t help it.”

“I never meant to lie to you,” Jensen quickly interjects. “I was just kind of embarrassed, you know?”

“Why?” Jared asks. “They’re brilliant books, Jensen. I’ve read them all over and over.”

Jensen blushes. “Yeah, that’s kind of why I didn’t mention it. It’s just weird. I don’t care how many nameless people out there read them but when it’s someone you know and care about it just feels different.”

Jared takes Jensen’s hand in his and gives it a squeeze. “I’m not mad at you. In fact I’m kind of glad that it’s not spreadsheets and pie charts that are keeping you locked in your room all the time.”

As he glances down at their clasped hands, Jensen realises there’s something else he needs to tell Jared while they’re in sharing mode. He brushes his thumb over the back of Jared’s hand.

“You know, you’re pretty damn amazing, Jared.”

Jared grins. “Yeah, man, I know.”

“I don’t think you do.”

When Jensen leans forward and kisses him, Jared sits there, rigid, for a moment and then he leans into the kiss, cupping the back of Jensen’s head with his hand and pulling him closer. Jensen lets out a little murmur of contentment. Suddenly it’s like the part of his life he didn’t even know was missing has just slotted into place.

“You know you’ve probably just caught my germs,” Jared says with a small smile when he finally pulls back.

“Don’t care,” Jensen replies.

“And at some point we need to have a conversation about your rather disturbing incestuous subtext.”

Jensen almost chokes. “What?”

“Seriously, man, Sam and Dean are one step away from fucking each other’s brains out.”

“No,” Jensen exclaims mournfully. “No, no, no.”

Jared nods his head. “Don’t make me show you the fanfiction.”

Jensen frowns. “What’s fanfiction?”

The End