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glitterblazercalum · 3 years

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got a river for a soul, and baby, you’re a boat

or: Oh, fuck. We showed up wearing matching couples’ costumes to this party by accident and now everyone thinks we’re together.” + cashton

hello and happy halloween everyone!! giant thank u to ainslee @ashesonthefloor for putting this event together!! and for forcing me to actually get this fic done, looking it over, and generally being a major source of serotonin in my life. another huge thank u to bella @clumsyclifford for being one of my favorite people and loving frat boys enough that it made me want to write a fic about them to annoy her <3 love you both <3

here is the link to the event masterpost bc I highly recommend checking out all of the other amazing fics:

https://ashesonthefloor.tumblr.com/post/633534107120549888/hello-welcome-to-my-halloween-fic-event

warnings: mentions of alcohol

word count: 2,872

without further ado, please enjoy the fic I wrote mostly all last night while looping drag me down for thirteen hours straight :))

Calum doesn’t know what fuckhead came up with the idea of having a joint Halloween party for Sigma Nu and Sigma Pi this year, but he really wants to fight them. He thinks he’d probably have a lot of people on his side, considering how much Sig Nu and and Sig Pi hate each other, so he tucks the idea of interfraternity war away in his head as a contingency plan in case the party goes to shit, as joint parties with any other frat always seem to. And it’s not like it’s a one night thing, because all three days of the “Halloweekend,” as Michael refuses to stop calling it, are supposedly going to be spent with Sig Nu, one party at their own house, and two at the shithole that he assumes is the Sig Nu house, in some deranged attempt at bonding. He’ll be lucky to make it out alive, probably.

Before college, he really never did anything of his own for Halloween, mainly used to being used as a prop or side character for his sister Mali-Koa’s elaborate costumes, or, after she’d moved out, sticking a pair of fake fangs in his mouth to hand out candy to the few kids who rang the doorbell despite his efforts to keep all the lights in the house off. Last year, as a freshman, he’d gotten roped into a group costume with some of the other Sig Pi pledges, and while his memories are...hazy at best, he vaguely remembers falling asleep in a Teletubbies onesie at the end of the night.

This year, though, no one has tried to tell him what to dress up as, so it’s now a few hours before the first of the three parties, and Calum still has no ideas for what he should dress up as. A quick Google search for “cheap easy costumes” hadn’t really been all that helpful, so he decides to ignore the problem and take a nap until he actually has to leave.

A few hours later, Michael barges into the room to drag him out of bed, and looks around for a few seconds before asking, “You don’t have a costume, do you?”

Calum groans, pulling himself out of bed and wracking his brain for an idea that he can plausibly bullshit in the next few seconds, because he can’t let Michael be right and have something to tease him about, so he blurts, “I’m going to be a salt shaker.”

Michael gapes at him a bit for a few seconds before asking, “What the fuck? What kind of costume is that? What are you even going to wear for that?”

Calum mentally kicks himself in the shin, as hard as possible, because he really hasn’t thought this through. Why couldn’t he have just said cat or cowboy or something even slightly in the realm of normal Halloween costumes?

“Uhhh.. y’know that baseball tee I have? The one with the black sleeves and white middle?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s in my closet, but continue.”

“What the fuck, dude? Give it back!”

“You haven’t noticed that it’s missing for like three weeks, I just assumed it was mine now. Tell me what the rest of the costume is,” Michael demands.

“I’ll just tape a piece of paper with a big ‘S’ on it to the front of my shirt, and then put one of those pots with the holes on my head. Bam! Salt shaker!” Calum says, moderately impressed with his ability to pull stuff out of his ass this quickly.

“What makes you think we even have a colander?” Michael asks, crossing his arms.

Calum gives him a blank stare. “A what?”

“That’s what the pots with the holes are called, you idiot.”

“You think Harry would live anywhere that didn’t have a fully-stocked kitchen? There’s bound to be one in one of the cabinets or something.”

“Fine. I’ll go get the shirt while you look for the colander.” Before Calum can object, suggest that he look through Michael’s closet himself and steal back any of his other clothes that have somehow wound up there, Michael’s already halfway down the hallway.

Sighing, he trudges down the stairs towards the kitchen, where one of the seniors, Niall, is sitting with his head in his hands, dressed as a pirate.

“Hey, dude, nice costume,” Calum offers as a greeting. “You wouldn’t happen to know where I can find a colander, would you? I know Harry—”

“Do not talk to me about Harry right now,” Niall says, and Calum stops his search for a moment to send him a concerned look.

“What happ—”

“That needy-ass motherfucker thinks that just because I didn’t want to do a couples’ costume with him, it means I don’t love him anymore! Never mind the fact that he literally mentioned this idea to me yesterday, well past the point where everyone finalizes their costumes.”

Calum offers him a sympathetic look and offers, “Couples’ costumes are boring and cheesy anyways. Neither of you are missing out on anything, at least in my opinion.”

Niall lifts his head up from where he’d been repeatedly hitting it on the table to smirk at Calum and ask, “Have a lot of experience with couples’ costumes, do you?”

Luckily, Calum has finally found the colander, so he opts to ignore the question and just leave the kitchen entirely.

When he gets back upstairs, Michael’s in his room, unabashedly checking himself out in the mirror that’s on the back of the closet door. “Yeah, yeah, your anime character of the year looks great, now get out and let me get ready.”

Michael scoffs, “Get ready, as if you’re even doing anything,” but moves towards the door anyway.

Michael’s right, the costume is ridiculously easy to throw together, and two minutes later, they’re both out the door, walking across Fraternity Row to get to the Sig Nu house, where the music is already blaring and strobe lights throw red, then green, then blue shadows across everyone’s faces. On his way to the kitchen to grab a drink, he sees Niall and Harry walk into the house, holding hands and laughing together, so he assumes that their fight has blown over as quickly as all of their other fights always seem to.

He sees a few different trays of shots and decides he might as well take one to get the night started off right. After, he realizes that he probably shouldn’t grab a beer now, Mali’s rule about sticking to one color of booze for the night ringing in his head, so he settles for filling up a Solo cup with whatever glow in the dark gin concoction is in all the punch bowls. He wouldn’t put it past the Sig Nus to poison the drink on purpose, but it tastes relatively normal, so he grabs another cup for Michael and attempts to leave the kitchen, steering around the couple sloppily making out in the doorway.

It’s harder to spot Michael than it usually is, considering that at least half the people at the party are wearing some type of wig, but Calum eventually makes his way back over to him. He’s talking to Niall and Harry, and they both offer him a smile before continuing on with the conversation. Once that reaches a lull, Niall leans closer to Calum and says, “Mate, you didn’t need to lie to me about couples’ costumes.”

Calum has no idea what Niall is talking about, so he shakes his head and asks, “What are you talking about?”

Niall cackles, and Harry turns to look at him adoringly before going back to talking to Michael, and Calum is more confused than ever. Niall grabs his shoulder and spins him around and points in the direction of a clump of people. “You’re salt and he’s pepper, right? That’s such an obvious couples’ costume, although you two do seem to have a bit of a disconnect on how much effort you put in. That guy really went all out. And dude, why haven’t you told us that you have a boyfriend? You know we’d want to know about that, give him the Sig Pi seal of approval and all that. Wait. Unless he’s a Sig Nu, in which case, I don’t want to know because I’d probably have to kick you out. That’s a joke, by the way.”

Calum barely has the presence of mind to mumble, “He’s not my boyfriend,” before crossing the room to get to the guy in the hyper-realistic pepper grinder costume.

The guy smiles as Calum approaches, and despite the costume covering most of his body, Calum can tell that he’s cute. “Why so salty?” Pepper Guy greets, the sunshiney smile still on his face.

Calum smirks and replies, “Maybe I just need some more spice in my life.” Pepper Guy laughs, and just like everything else about him, it’s cute, and Calum wants to hear it again. “I’m Calum, by the way.”

“Ashton. Nice to meet you, man.”

Calum leans a little closer so that it’s easier to hold a conversation over the loud music and asks, “What’s the deal with the super realistic pepper grinder costume?”

Ashton makes a strange noise, somewhere between a laugh and a groan, and says, “I got it off some random sketchy website, but it was supposed to be a chess piece. Something clearly went wrong somewhere in production, and my friend Luke said that I might as well sharpie a “P” onto it and just go with it.”

Calum makes a noise of agreement, mind stuck on a dumb idea. Before he can reconsider, he sends Michael a quick text that says if u’ve already taken over as dj, can u play that come grind w me song? and a few seconds later, he hears the opening notes and grins.

“Hey, Ashton?”

“Yeah?” Ashton replies, as realization slips across his face.

Right in time with the singer’s voice, Calum says, “Come grind with me,” and he laughingly pulls Ashton towards the makeshift dance floor. Neither of them can really dance, so it’s a mess of laughter and limbs flopping around, but Calum feels an unmistakable electricity between them too, and once the song is over, they stay for the next few, enraptured by each other. When they finally exhaust themselves with all the laughing and mock-twerking, Ashton asks Calum if he wants a refill, and when Calum nods, he grabs his hand and starts pulling him towards the kitchen.

Once they’re there, Calum goes for another serving of the glow in the dark punch, which is steadily dimming as the glow sticks run out of light. Since that’s really the only light source in the kitchen, Calum doesn’t see Ashton until he’s turning around and Ashton is right in front of him, reaching around him for a cup. Calum’s kind of trapped with his back against the counter, Ashton’s pepper grinder costume tall enough to really block out the view of the rest of the party, and the world narrows, all of it contained in where their eyes connect, and then, after Calum has safely set his drink back on the counter, that narrow point expands just a bit to where their mouths land on each other’s. The colander gets knocked off Calum’s head as he lifts himself up to sit on the counter, wrapping his legs around Ashton’s waist to pull him closer, as close as he can possibly get him.

Ashton’s sucking a mark into Calum’s neck when Calum has his first coherent thought of the past few minutes and pulls back, breathlessly asking “Wait, wait, you’re not a Sig Nu, are you?” fully expecting the answer to be no.

Ashton steps back a little too, and it takes him a second to register the question before he groans, “Of course you’re a fucking Sig Pi, that’s the only explanation that makes sense for me never seeing you anywhere before. You’re too hot for me to not notice otherwise.”

Calum flushes and mentally curses out whatever idiots had started the rivalry between Sig Nu and Sig Pi before he grabs his stupid colander off the ground and gives Ashton an awkward wave goodbye.

Once he’s out of the kitchen, he quickly glances around in search of Michael, and when he can’t immediately find him, he just gives up and leaves entirely. Fuck Sig Nu.

He spends most of the next day bitching about his hangover, and then, a few hours later, bitching about his hangover while helping to set up the house for that night’s party.

He doesn’t really have much more of a costume for tonight, throwing on a gray shirt and sharpie-ing some whiskers on his face. Michael takes pity on him and makes him a headband with an approximation of what they both think mouse ears are, and Calum is mildly entertained by going up to everyone and saying, “I’m a mouse, duh.”

His heart’s really not in the right place to party tonight, which is probably breaking the cardinal rule of being in a frat, so he sticks close to Michael, who has taken over the role of DJ, once again. Zayn from Alpha Sig strolls over after about half an hour, devil horns askew, and quietly says to Calum, “Cat and mouse, huh? Didn’t think you had it in you, Hood, that’s proper cute. Not as cute as me and Lou, mind you, but still, I respect the effort.”

Calum is reluctant to look up and see who he’s accidentally matching with today, because, with his luck, it’s probably another guy from Sig Nu. When he does eventually look up, he immediately makes eye contact with Ashton, who happens to be walking by, dressed in all black and with whiskers sharpie’d onto his face too. Calum wants to bang his head into a wall because the universe clearly hates him if it’s having him match with Ashton again. Even beyond that, Ashton looks so good out of the stupid pepper grinder and in all black that Calum wants to make out with him again.

Ashton is clearly having similar thoughts when he gestures Calum over and leads them towards a little pocket of quiet space in one of the lesser used hallways.

Calum really wants to hook his thumb into one of Ashton’s belt loops, so he does, as Ashton looks him up and down a few times. “Is the mouse costume your way of telling me you want me to chase you?”

Calum murmurs, “Shut up,” before leaning in to kiss him, frat rivalry be damned. It’s just as good as it was the night before, maybe even more so, now that the pepper costume isn’t in their way. At this point, there’s no denying the chemistry. It can’t be blamed on being drunk since Calum’s been nursing the same beer all night, and the part of his brain that’s protesting against being this close to a Sig Nu is getting smaller and smaller as he and Ashton continue to kiss.

They stay in that hallway for the rest of the night, eventually sliding down to sit on the ground, legs pressed together, sharing stupid stories about their respective frats. Calum’s surprised when the music shuts off because it feels like it’s only been an hour at most, that’s how easy it is to talk to Ashton. Ashton heaves himself up and reaches both hands down to help Calum up, too.

“I don’t think there’s any way you can match your costume to mine tomorrow, but I’ll come find you anyways,” Ashton says, as he leaves Calum with a kiss on the cheek.

Calum’s too wired to sleep much, so he opts to help clean up the house instead, and that takes up enough of his day that when nighttime rolls around, he’s stood staring at his closet without a costume idea for the third time in as many days. After ten minutes of consideration, he digs through one of his drawers to pull out the fake vampire fangs that he had somehow remembered to bring with him, and he goes down the hall to ask Jack to put some fake blood on his mouth and neck. Jack always goes all out for Halloween.

Once he’s at the party, he doesn’t have to wait long to find Ashton, who looks incredibly good in his werewolf costume. There’s fake blood on him too, which is really the only way their costumes could be understood to be matching, or so Calum thinks. Tonight, Jack and Alex are the ones to tease him, “You know what, I agree. Jacob and Edward should have ended up together, Bella was boring as shit.”

Calum’s really not bothered by the comments at all, so much so that he’s already thinking of couples’ costumes ideas for next year when he finds his way over to Ashton and whispers, “Let’s get out of here.”

“Are you trying to make a move on me? I’m a respectable Sigma Nu, I don’t know if I can allow that.”

Calum laughs and tugs him out the door, “Told you I wanted some more spice in my life.”

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twixtandshout · 3 years

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Tagged by @pidgeonpostal! And not tagging anyone else because I have SOILED the original template (soiled it!!) in deference to my [brushes off skirt] mostly clean public-facing appearance.

...I’ve been making a lot of Spongebob memes lately for someone who has not seen Spongebob.

How many works do you have on AO3?

71!

What’s your total AO3 wordcount?

...306,834. Jesus.

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Uh. Many! I do a lot of one-offs (and/or start long things I never finish) in many different places. My top three fandoms by fics written are RWBY (29), Undertale (25), Gravity Falls/Transcendence AU (4).

Bet you can’t tell where my hyperfixations have fallen.

I’ve also got some Pokémon and Sonic the Hedgehog fics back on my ff.net account, or I think I still do, anyway, but let’s never go back there pls

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. Sweeter Than Honey (Undertale): Taking a Completely unsurprising first place, with over 600 more kudos than the runner-up, the haphazard Underswap fic featuring a post-college self-insert I wrote just after high school! I shake my head some at how overblown and ridiculous the gap between this and all my other stuff is (c’mon, guys, I’ve written way better fics), but this is also the fic which prompted me (and at least one other person!) to start using they/them pronouns. I’ve gotten a lot of really sweet comments about how seen and appreciated it’s made people feel, so I can’t get down too far about it.

2. To Be A Hero (BNHA): I don’t count myself as part of the BNHA fandom, for a number of reasons, but for something that’s arguably the main motivation for the entire plot, Midoriya’s quirklessness is something I’ve never thought has been handled well. This fic marked the first time I (somewhat tentatively) claimed the disability label (thanks again to Sweeter Than for prompting that realization) to hold that lens over canon. It also really shot up my chart, dang! It’s the only thing here I’d consider “recent.”

3. Three-Sentence Shipping (Undertale): Self-explanatory.

4. Brothers Beyond Bonedaries (Undertale): Ah, the way-overcomplicated AU³ I got nowhere close to finishing. One of the things I really like about Undertale is the interface screw, how Toby Fox uses the medium of the video game to pull off crazy things and enhance his game, but most of the fic written for the fandom seems dedicated to explaining it away, grounding it, rather than taking it to the next step and messing with the medium of fanfiction when you keep the story going. I tried to do something cool like that here, playing with questions like narrator and authorship and breaking the fourth wall, even taking the “final boss” fight to a “totally separate” fic reached through the first by link – but, well, then I never finished it, which probably didn’t make anything less confusing for the poor folks who missed the intent.

5. Spirit and Such (Gravity Falls: Transcendence AU): A whole fic written to line out a particular image I had, which, naturally, never made it to the page. I consider it a bit of a cautionary tale for myself when it comes to writing (near-)original content; there’s a lot I look back on and cringe. I still love the characters, though – well, the important ones – and I think just stepping away from the tried-and-true Mizar formula nets it a star sticker here.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

>w>; I try, but a lot of the time I just don’t have anything to say? Like, oh, you liked it? Neat. There’s not much to respond to in comments like that, and then I’m weighing falling down on an ~obligation~ to respond to every message in my inbox vs annoying people with copy-paste fluff responses all down the page. Plus I know I make more of an effort to comment on things that didn’t get the attention I feel they deserve, so if I’m driving up my own comment count with nonsense, am I preventing myself from being in a position to receive more comments later? And then if I do comment, am I being too effusive or running people’s ears off explaining things they don’t actually need to know? Sometimes people just want to express interest or admiration and don’t necessarily want a whole peek and guided tour behind the curtain.

Can you tell I have anxiety? x3;

Anyway, I do respond when I can. And I keep most of the comments I’ve gotten to go back and reread.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hm, hmm. Lots of stuff in the TQ Nonsense series would probably qualify! I’m thinking of Unfixable, Wolfsong, and Ethanol. And there’s Bursting Through A Blood-Red Sky (I Can Live, I Can Breathe), of course, but that was always intended to have a fix-it epilogue. It’s just that I wrote it in a couple of hours day-of, stared at it, and decided I didn’t wanna just then. But now that’s As Long As You’re Still Burning Bright (I’m Still Awake), and that’s probably the best romance I’ve written, so that one worked out.

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve ever written?

Now and then! When the urge strikes. Uhhh, I’ve got a series of Doctor Who x Undertale crossovers I actually made a whole dang verse for that never made it to print. Get a couple great comments on that every few months or so. I think the World Trigger x Undertale crossover is probably weirder, though, by virtue of WT being a very small fandom. My enthusiasm kinda sputtered out on that one.

Mostly I just daydream crossovers with whatever happens to catch my eye at any given moment. I have a lot!!!! Though odds are out on whether I manage to remember any of them once the initial thought’s passed, lol.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Gotten a couple eyebrow-raising comments, but I think mostly I’m just too small a writer to draw that kind of attention.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don’t? think so? Think my tastes are a little niche for most people to bother ^^;

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I had someone apologize once for any language mistakes in their comment cause they had to run it through a translator! That’s not what you asked (the answer is no), but it’s very flattering to think that someone liked my fic enough to read and comment despite the language barrier.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! :D @pidgeonpostal was gracious enough to agree to co-write Five Nights at Denny’s with me off an idea about shoes. This has fulfilled a long-held dream of mine (collabing with someone, not the shoes) and also introduced me to some lovely people.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Who has time for just one? ;3c Honestly, I care more about the characters and how the relationship – any relationship – between them changes them than I do about ~A Ship~ as a solid, bounded noun-object. I’ve got characters I like more and less and feelings about who does and doesn’t have chemistry in which directions with whom, but finding anything that agrees with those preferences is hard, harder when you take alloromanticism into account. I’ll play in any sandbox with cool toys, especially if other folks have already built sick sandcastles there.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

[kicks every single unfinished fic further under the bed] What nooo no WIPs here, everything on my account is either finished or does not exist

I’ve got a couple extra chapters of Sweeter Than floating around unposted, but 1. that fic’s a mess 2. high school Twixt and post-college Twixt are different people and trying to contort myself into three other me-shapes just cause people Like this fic is not something I’m super interested in 3. it’s headed for an emotional dip and I’d rather leave it where it is than post two chapters, stall out again, and leave folks with a bad end.

As for other fics... it’s looking more and more likely that v7 of my Yellow Brick Road AU will never actually make it out. >w>; I’ve got some really great ideas, but not enough to make me feel like I know what I’m doing, and that’s a big roadblock. Plus trying to engage with RT’s Atlas-Mantle worldbuilding in any serious capacity is... a headache. I can’t recommend the Happy Huntress Cinematic Universe enough, but it leaves some pretty big shoes to follow! And I’ve got small feet. <w<;

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue’s fun, probably as an extension of characterization. I love tearing into what makes people tick, especially against the backdrop of their environment, the story they’re in, and the people they’re up against. Voice is a double-edged sword; I’ve been told my writing is really recognizable and individual, but on the other hand, I’ve been growing frustrated with with the limits of my narrative ability. There’s a strong rhythm I keep when I write (you might notice it here, even) but that leaves me feeling predictable and stale. I’m not sure I’m great at setting as a matter of course, but I’m pretty good at describing setpieces where the need comes up; that comes from my background in poetry, as does the fun I have with sublimating and abstracting complex imagery. And I think I bring some needed nuance to the universal. For good or ill, I don’t do what “everyone else” is doing.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Well, writing, for one thing. If I don’t know how something’s going to go and don’t have the urge to write it, it isn’t getting done, which means there’s a billion things that will never see the page and a few hundred more that are never getting finished. I lose momentum easily and have a hard time getting started, and I put way too much standing on finding a foothold with other people; as critical as I am of my work, I have high expectations for the stuff that passes muster, and it never seems to measure up. I’m also really uncreative. Yeah, I can mix up elements and extrapolate events, but coming up with things wholesale is really hard, which is why I avoid it wherever possible and steal/reskin stuff from other places instead.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Something along the lines of “Hoo boy, I am Not qualified for this but hopefully it’s decent anyway.” Maria’s Spanish lines haven’t been a big deal – I’ve used it sparingly and, as a Latin language, it should be easy for English-speaking audiences to pick up on the gist – but I’ve had a harder time with Tai’s Chinese, both because I have Even Less background there and because it is, of course, an entirely different language system. If I write it out in English or Romanized italics, am I colonizing it or changing the meaning? If I write it out in the presumed-original characters (presumed because it’s Google Translate and who knows if I’m even barking in the right forest), am I confusing or alienating my presumed-majority-English-speaking audience? Where should I put the translations? Should I put the translations? And for Frisk’s sign language, thinking back, are the brackets I used instead of quotes alienating/infantilizing? I like that different characters give the text between a different feel, but I’m not an ASL speaker – and I’m pretty sure the word is “speaker,” which would only reinforce that that demographic would rather I didn’t do that. It’s important for all these characters, I think, that they use non-English language where it makes sense; it’s part of who they are. But as a white monolingual English-speaker, I don’t think I can really weigh in.

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

Thaaaat’d be Pokémon, followed closely with Sonic the Hedgehog. Whether those fics are still on my ff.net account or not (pretty sure I’ve purged them, but you never know) I’ve still got a couple saved to a folder on my current laptop, ostensibly so I can look back and see how far I’ve come and more practically to allow for the possibility of furthering group cohesion through public shaming.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I still like the idea behind The Man Who Is Atlas, and Burning Bright (Still Awake) gets props for being my current fic, though it’s currently in that spot where I’m excited to get new chapters posted but also quietly marking everything up in red pen. I think Harbinger gets the crown here, at least for now.

#answerin' stuff

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solalunar-eclipse · 4 years

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Scars You Can’t See - Chapter 5

Chapter title: Ready to explode

Word count: about 3800 words (whoa)

Author’s Note: I think it’s about time I gave a shoutout to @teamxdark! Their comments have gotten me to start planning out some of the later chapters (and giving me a lot of inspiration), so I figured they deserved some credit!

And thank you to everyone who’s read this fic so far- every note I get is incredible and I hope you’re all enjoying the ride :)

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Sonic stared blankly at his phone screen for the fifth time this morning. The old texts and the name at the top of the messaging app blurred slightly as his eyes unfocused. He was waiting for...something. What, he wasn’t sure.

That was a lie.

Truthfully, he was hoping that the three little dots showing that someone was typing would appear like a miracle. He knew that wouldn’t happen, though. The hedgehog on the other end of the messages had turned off his phone entirely. Heck, Shadow was literally in hiding. There had been exactly one post on Chatter (which he and Tails totally hadn’t read over and over searching for hidden messages) and that was from Omega.

But chaos, how Sonic wished for just five minutes to talk to him. He hadn’t even realized before now how much he normally texted the hybrid in a day. The hero honestly just messaged whenever he saw something or found a funny joke that he thought Shadow would like. In dealing with his new absence, though, Sonic had come up with an idea to write down whatever it was he’d seen that he figured Shadow would enjoy and save it for later.

He was forced to stop this when he wrote nearly two thousand words’ worth of moments in half an hour.

Sonic cursed all the times he’d taken Shadow’s near-constant presence for granted. The hybrid had always been a punctual texter, despite Rouge’s repeated attempts to convince him that he didn’t have to answer right away. Even when the other hedgehog had been off on a mission, Sonic still had an idea of how long he needed to wait before he could start texting. But now, it could be days, weeks, or even months before he could talk to Shadow freely again.

What if you’ll never hear from him again? a nasty inner voice whispered. What if that call was the last time you got to hear his voice?

Sonic felt his stomach fall through the floor at that idea, before swallowing the sensation and shaking his head. He couldn’t doubt Team Dark like that! They were guaranteed to pull through, and kick G.U.N.’s butt in the process.

Speaking of which…

The hero was pretty angry at G.U.N., and that was actually a big deal for him. Sonic didn’t get angry, except sometimes at Eggman. Even when a bitter detractor had posted a lengthy essay on Chatter explaining exactly why Sonic was (supposedly) a terrible person, he hadn’t reacted in fury- or even close. He’d had his friends’ support, and honestly? He’d pitied the person more than anything. Anyone who was trying to tear others down had probably been hurt pretty badly themselves.

Sonic had even made a meme out of their misspelling of his name- “Sanic” was now a worldwide joke with a hilarious drawing to match.

But now, all he really wanted to do was beat someone up- some robots, some evil agents, whatever- and trash the whole organization until they were all falling over themselves to apologize. The fact that G.U.N. had dared to treat Shadow’s obviously painful past with no kindness whatsoever really got on his nerves. The hybrid had suffered a hundred times over, lost his memory, and even died to save the world, yet he still didn’t get the respect he deserved.

“Uhhh, Sonic? Is everything okay?”

The blue blur jumped, startled out of his spiraling thoughts. He heard a growling noise, and his eyes widened when he realized it was coming from him. Sonic could feel his lips curled back into a snarl and quickly straightened his face out, blinking and clearing his throat. “Yeah! Sorry, Tails…” he said, embarrassed at having been caught in that kind of state. The fox eyed him skeptically. “Really, I’m fine!”

“Are you su-”

“Yeah!” Sonic exclaimed, grinning reassuringly. No point in upsetting others with his own problems, after all. “Everything’s good here, buddy!”

“If you say so…” Tails muttered. He didn’t seem convinced, but accepted it despite this. “Anyway, what I came over to say was: we’re out of groceries- can you head out and get some? I made a list of everything we need, it’s right here!”

Ordinarily, Sonic would’ve complained loudly and with much drama about having to do something so menial as a grocery run when he was a hero, for chaos’ sake. But that wasn’t the case these days. “Sure thing!” Sonic agreed, feeling better already. With a distraction to keep his worries and negative thoughts away, he’d be back to normal in no time. “See ya soon!”

The blue blur dashed out the door- before returning a second later, a sheepish grin on his face. “Forgot the list,” he explained, rushing out again.

With the wind in his quills, it was almost too easy to forget everything that he’d been thinking about just moments before. Sonic grinned properly as he raced across fields and through side streets. This was his element, after all! He made his way to his and Tails’ favorite grocery store, bounding over obstacles and pulling a few awesome parkour tricks he’d picked up over the years. Shadow had always gotten on their case for not supporting a more local store- this one was a big name, after all- but Sonic had--

He shook his head, walking into the building. No more thoughts like that! There was only so much ruminating on bittersweet memories a guy could do in a day.

His presence here was relatively common, so he didn’t do much more than turn a few heads as he stepped through the automatic doors into the air-conditioned halls of the large grocery store. Sonic forced himself to walk through the aisles (instead of sprinting through them and accidentally whipping half the items off the shelves in his wake). As he did so, though, he began to hear people talking. And they weren’t just talking about the latest viral video, or boring politics, or any of those things, either.

They were talking about them.

Of course, everyone would always change the subject when he walked by, chatting loudly about their dog or their kids or whatever. It was almost as though they were saying, “Don’t look at me! I didn’t say anything about your friends! I’m just here, minding my own business!” But of course none of them really had been.

He recognized that he was spiraling down the path of thinking about it again, even though there was nothing he could do. And now no matter what, the thoughts of some of his closest friends were tainted. Which totally didn’t frustrate him at all.

It didn’t help, he thought irritably (not noticing the mild scowl that had appeared on his face), that G.U.N. was basically screaming in all the op-eds and information releases the organization could get their hands on that they weren’t in the wrong. They didn’t say that specifically, of course- that would be too obvious. Instead, they just published the same old news over and over again: Team Dark had stolen classified files and then run away.

This had all begun to grate on Sonic’s nerves a little, particularly when pundits and newspaper writers alike began to spout wild conspiracy theories about Team Dark having been spies for ‘the enemy’- whoever that was- or that one of them had finally lost it...or even all three at once. The most frustrating, however, was when once avid supporters of the former G.U.N. agents completely disavowed them and distanced themselves from the team as much as possible. It made him want to pull a Knuckles and punch a wall- how could people turn on the team so easily?

The hero pulled himself back to reality to realize that he’d been staring at a can of soup for the past few minutes. And were those dents where his fingers had been? He put the can in his shopping cart, took a deep breath, and continued on, giving himself a little ride on the back of the cart as a treat. Normally, he’d remember his various accidents and restrain himself, but lately the hero had needed to clear his head. He deserved this.

A few minutes later, a chime on his phone let him know that Tails had sent him a message. Sonic opened it up and read the text:

milesperhour: Sonic, I think you need to see this. Take a close look at paragraph 5. https://www.centralcitynews.com/team-dark-update

Sonic clicked the link, sighing, and began to scan the article. Another one? Really, he’d had enough of-

Oh boy. Oh wow. Okay.

They’d made a move. G.U.N. didn’t release much in the way of information- all they’d done was declare an official alert asking people to keep a lookout for Rouge, Shadow and Omega. And to tip G.U.N. off at a hotline that they’d provided for this purpose.

Sonic had learned how to read between the lines over the last few days, though, and on his second read-through, he saw what most would not.

...are in possession of multiple classified files…

So they’d stolen more info? That must’ve been what Omega’s post was about! Sonic began to squeeze his phone hopefully. Maybe this was it, maybe soon this whole nightmare would be over!

He practically flew through the rest of the store at the thought. Team Dark would give G.U.N. what for, the organization would apologize, and then everything would be fine!

Sonic checked out in a hurry, rushing home as fast as he could. Slamming open the door, he yelled out, “Tails! Did you see- oh right, you sent me the article. But still! Things are looking up, buddy!”

Tails had a slightly lopsided grin on his face, making the hero’s heart sink. “What’s that look all about?”

“I don’t know- it’s probably nothing! After all, Team Dark can handle any situation they come up against...just, G.U.N. has a lot of resources, you know?”

Sonic’s smile returned in full force. “Sure they do, but they also owe me for saving the world, like, a million times over! Once we’ve got the Edge Gang back with us, I’ll go talk with the commander and get them to straighten everything out!”

“That sounds like corruption, Sonic…” Tails said, a wicked smirk appearing on his face.

“Dude, what?! No! I’d never-! I just meant I was gonna see if I could talk some sense into them- hey, get back here!” Sonic screeched, seeing Tails run off with the groceries...including the donut he’d bought for himself.

…

Later that afternoon, Sonic was in the middle of finally enjoying said donut after wrestling it from Tails’s (evil terrible Sonic-and-sugar-hating) claws. It was a little squished, but it was still great- he wasn’t complaining!

That was, of course, when he heard a loud, sharp knock on the door.

He jumped up and zipped over to the entry hall, pastry still in hand. Whipping open the door, a shocking sight greeted him- one that made all of his battle-honed senses immediately scream danger danger danger. Two impeccably dressed G.U.N. agents stood before him, a human and a barn owl. The human seemed pretty awkward, wearing slightly rumpled slacks and overall looking a little messy. The owl, however, despite being about the same height as the blue blur, exuded an air of steely discipline that would make everyone she faced feel about two inches tall.

Everyone except Sonic, that was. He was secure in the knowledge that his friends were not wrong, and he maintained his usual relaxed demeanor without a hitch. The hero smiled fake-pleasantly at the two agents, ignoring the fact that he had sugar glaze at the corners of his mouth and all over his glove. “Sorry, guys, I wasn't really expecting guests.” He gestured to himself as an obvious example. “Anything I can do for ya?”

He didn’t offer to let them inside, though. These agents were hunting down his friends, he was absolutely sure of that. Sonic refused to help them in any way, not when Team Dark was still out there and being threatened by their organization.

The barn owl gave him a look that nearly pierced through his very soul. “Sonic the Hedgehog. I am Agent Toya, and this is my colleague, Agent Jones. We have a few questions that we would like to ask you. Inside.” Her voice was cold and clear, with no trace of an accent.

Sonic felt a chill run down his spine, but kept his smile up regardless. “Sure thing!” he chirped, despite very much not wanting to let them in. “The living room’s right this way- make yourselves comfortable, I’ll be back there in a sec.” He honestly didn’t think he could have refused them entry without...complications.

The hero zipped over to Tails’s workshop, flinging open the door with a little more force than he’d intended. The fox jumped up in a fright when it smacked against the wall, staring at Sonic. “G.U.N. is here. Two agents.” he said quickly. The imminent sense of danger in the back of his head wouldn't leave him be, despite the fact that he was one of the most powerful people alive.

...Despite this, don’t let G.U.N. take you or anyone else anywhere. You might not come back…

...These people aren’t crazy geniuses- they’re ruthless destroyers…

“Oh, chaos.” Tails breathed. “I’ll wait nearby, okay? Then I can do something if they start getting too intense.”

Sonic nodded, before speeding back down to see the agents sitting on his couch. “Hi! So whatcha guys want?” he asked perkily, burying his thoughts for now.

“Hello to you too, Sonic.” Jones said politely. “How are you?”

The hero tugged slightly at the cuff of his glove. “Pretty good!” he lied through his grin. “Been chilling around the house for most of the day- how ‘bout you?”

“Not bad,” the human answered. “Work is work though, you know?”

“Yeah, sounds pretty rough.” Sonic said, a little unconvincingly. Before he could stop himself, he thought of all the late nights Shadow and Omega had spent working on paperwork and various odd jobs for G.U.N., and the times when Rouge had to cancel her dates with Knuckles because she was just too exhausted from work to do much of anything. His smile became slightly strained as he worked to keep his frustration on Team Dark’s behalf under wraps.

The owl gazed at him silently for a moment, having watched this whole awkward transaction with a calculating look in her eye. Then she spoke. “I’m certain you have seen the news lately.”

“Uhhh...kinda, I’m not big on newspapers, but I try to keep up, yeah! Always nice to see an article about yours truly, hah.” He played it off, deciding to act dumb for now.

Agent Jones shifted in his seat, looking cautious. “Yeah…” he said, offering up an incredibly fake smile. “I’m a bit of a fan, myself.”

Sonic knew exactly what was going on. It was almost so classic he had to laugh- the old good cop/bad cop scenario. The human was clearly trying to play the good cop, and not enjoying it either. The hedgehog had to wonder, though, was he just a better bad cop or uncomfortable because he was helping grill a hero?

Oh, right- Agent Toya was talking again. “We know that you have seen the articles published about the betrayal of Team Dark. Even if you do not read the news, one of your friends will have told you by now.”

The hedgehog’s eyes narrowed a little. “And what’s that supposed to mean? What do you want outta me?”

“You. Know. Something.” she said sharply. “That team- in particular Shadow the Hedgehog-” He tensed at her flippant use of his name, as if they weren’t hunting him down like he had legitimately gone bad. “-trust you. You are very close with them. They would not have left you with nothing.”

Sonic shook his head, trying one last time. “I don’t think so, lady. I know about as much as you- if that. It’s not like we’re besties or anything.”

Agent Jones shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know- it looks like you guys are pretty close to me. Not that that’s bad, I mean-!!” he amended rapidly, realizing his mistake. In addition to having blown his role as the ‘good cop’, he was now being stared down by a very irritated pair of green eyes. The look he was being given contrasted sharply with the grin plastered across the hero’s face, and the agent began to sweat slightly and avoid his stare.

Meanwhile, Sonic turned his attention back to Agent Toya, sitting up straight and squaring his shoulders in preparation for more. He was a fighter, after all.

It seemed that the barn owl came here ready for a fight as well, because her own eyes flashed and she straightened her G.U.N. uniform. “Sonic. We need information. Our organization has been compromised. Twice. We are in a crisis and we are ordering you to tell us what you know.”

That did it.

“As if!” the hero exclaimed, jumping to his feet. “You think I’m the kind of guy who’d sell his friends out and watch them get carted off to jail- or worse?! I don’t know as much as you think I do, and if I did, I wouldn’t tell you!” He had probably blown any semblance of ignorance up now, but Sonic couldn’t find it in himself to care.

The owl agent stood as well, glaring at him. “If that is the attitude you are going to take, then we have no choice but to take you into custody.” She began to reach for the Taser on her belt at the same time as Jones grabbed the gun from his holster. Sonic’s eyes flickered between them both- the human he could take on, but he wasn’t completely sure about Toya’s skill with the Taser.

Could he get around them? Sure, but not without breaking something...and he hated to bust up his house just because a couple of agents showed up on his doorstep and pulled weapons on him. He’d handled worse odds, hadn’t he? But then he and Tails would constantly be on the run, and that was no way for a nine-year-old to live…

A loud crash resounded in the kitchen. Jones shouted and jumped up, Sonic’s head snapped around so fast he tweaked his neck, and Toya took a step backwards.

Rubbing his neck and wincing, Sonic yelled out, “Everything okay in there?”

Tails dashed into the room out of nowhere, crying out, “Sorry! Sorry! I was just working and wanted a drink- and I heard- I heard-”

The fox then began to cry, sobbing and clinging to Sonic’s chest. “You’re not gonna take him away, are you? I need my big brother…” he sniffled. “Sonic, everything’s gonna be okay, right?”

The hero was trying his very hardest, meanwhile, to keep his jaw from hitting the floor as he watched his brother, a brave, intelligent sidekick and someone he was proud to fight beside, put on the most incredible show he’d ever seen. “I…I dunno, buddy…” he said honestly, uncertain about how to react.

This seemed to be a pretty good move, as Tails immediately began to bawl harder and gasped, in between sobs, “Please don’t take him away from me!”

It appeared that Toya would not feel comfortable using force against Sonic (or even resuming her interrogation) when the young fox was around. Instead, she gave him a very pointed, piercing look, before declaring, “We will be back at a later date to continue this conversation.”

She stalked out the door, Jones shoving his gun back onto his belt and following sulkily behind her. As soon as she had gotten into her car and driven off, the hero sagged into the couch and let out a loud sigh. “Welp.”

Tails flew out of the room immediately afterwards, whispering a quick “Wait there and chill for a second I’ll be right back” before he exited. Once he returned, the fox crawled around on the couch next to Sonic before letting out an “Aha!” and holding up what appeared to be a tiny piece of metal.

“It’s a shame to have to do this, but…” he muttered, before vanishing with it. A couple minutes later, a very loud noise boomed from Tails’s workshop and made Sonic panic before blasting in there at top speed.

“What was that?!” he shrieked.

“Just destroying this camera that human agent left in our couch.” the engineer replied lightly.

“Wait- what??” Sonic gasped. “He did what?”

“I thought they’d be crazy to leave without planting one, so I checked the camera feed, and it was pretty obvious! He must be a new recruit.”

“Wait- you have a camera? In our living room?” the hero asked, feeling slightly creeped out.

Tails shrugged. “Well, I didn’t until recently, but I figured that G.U.N. would have to show up at our place eventually, so yeah.”

They both stayed there in silence for a minute, before making their way back down to the main house.

“Well, what do we do now?” Tails wondered.

“I dunno- you’re the smart guy, pal.” Sonic replied quickly. “I just don’t want to have to escape from them! I like running, but not away from people. Especially bad people.”

“Well...does it count as running if we’re hanging out with Knuckles?” the fox suggested hopefully.

Sonic sighed. “I guess not...it’d be cool with him, too, since Angel Island is a pretty safe place and all. I still hate the idea of hiding from them, though.”

“Maybe you won’t have to!” Tails said, trying to be cheerful. “After all, I don’t think people will buy it if G.U.N. says you’re a...traitor…” He trailed off, remembering a particularly eventful moment from their past.

“Yyyeah.” the hedgehog said dryly, having thought of the same thing. “That’s exactly why I didn’t have to ride through the streets of Central City on a piece of helicopter.”

“Let’s not think about that for now though, okay?” Sonic asked. “ I don’t like the idea of being scared all the time.”

Tails nodded in agreement. “Besides, we’ve handled them before! We can cross that bridge when we come to it anyway.”

Sonic grinned. “How about we watch some TV for now, take our minds off things?”

“Sure! But I’m definitely gonna tell Omega- or whoever calls us next- about this. They deserve to know.” the fox answered.

“Okay…” the blue blur said. He felt a little guilty that he could just turn on a movie and forget about G.U.N. for a while- Team Dark didn’t have that luxury. Quickly, though, he added, “Anything on there you’ve been dying to watch?”

Tails smiled happily, and Sonic decided that this was totally worth it. “Well, there is this one documentary…”

#scars you can't see #sycs #team dark #sonic the hedgehog #miles tails prower #*eggman voice* it's time for a change of pace!#i had to look up sonic characterization posts right before the final edit #i want to write him well!!#btw just to clarify #gun received word about the second heist directly after the end of chapter 4 #i can't believe we're at chapter 5 already!#wow #sol’s fanfiction

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coffee-obsessed-writer · 5 years

Text

When You Least Expect It, Part Thirteen

Jensen x Musician!Reader

Masterlist - Contains Chapter Links & Wardrobe Collages

A/N: This is a slow burn fic that I have been working on for a while. Its a story I wrote for myself and just wanted to share with everyone. Yes, the “Dee” in the story is who you think, but there is no intended hate on her or their actual marriage. It is a work of fiction, that is all. Part thirteen has parts from Both POVs. There is also a playlist to go along with the series.

Spotify Playlist:

Chapter Summary: Y/N arrives in San Diego. Between telling Jensen what happened at FBBC and experiencing life in the spotlight as his new girlfriend, Y/N finds she is more than ready to make some big life changes.

Chaper Warnings: Language, Ragey!Jensen

WC: 8.2K

Series Beta’d by the beautiful @closetspngirl

The plane bounced along the tarmac at San Diego International Airport and Y/N felt herself be able to breathe again. It had barely been a week since she’d seen Jensen but after the incident with Nathan the night before, and the subsequent questioning by the police, she needed him more than ever.

She thought of calling him and telling him everything by phone, but the idea left her cold. Jensen had wanted her in San Diego in the first place, and she should have just gone. But the stubborn woman that dwelled inside her couldn’t relent everything quite yet. As soon as she had decided to book a ticket, Detective Perkins arrived along with two marked cruisers and scoured the area searching for Nathan. Perkins arranged to put out an APB on him for the assault and intent to question about the break-in. Y/N told Perkins everything Nathan said but left out the part where he implied a woman’s involvement. She knew what he meant, but was keeping that information for herself for now.

Hours later, when Y/N was finally back at Jensen’s house and laying in the bed she now shared with him, her overwhelming need to be near him was almost too much. She eventually got up and went to the guest room, laying down with Briana and finally falling asleep as the sun began to rise. Now, merely an hour away from seeing Jensen, she felt relief and the ability to breathe easy again.

Briana had all the arrangements taken care of, including reaching out to Robbie to secure credentials for Y/N to get into Comic-Con and to where she could surprise Jensen. Bri made him swear on his children that he would keep the secret and help Y/N get to where she was going. Unfamiliar with the chaos that was a convention such as Comic-Con, Bri didn’t want her to navigate those waters alone.

Early the next afternoon, Y/N disembarked the plane and retrieved her checked bag, then found the driver that Robbie had sent for her. The car brought her directly to the convention center with the promise of dropping her luggage at the hotel where everyone was staying. She made her way to the Will Call booth, already overwhelmed by the enormity of the event but still excited to get a glimpse into Jensen’s world.

With a quick flash of her identification, she retrieved her All-Access Pass lanyard and drew in a deep breath of the Southern California air. It was just as hot as it was in Texas, but the excitement that swirled in the atmosphere around the convention center made it seem slightly more tolerable. She could feel the people’s elation as she made her way through the crowds, trying to find her way to the conference room where Robbie was waiting for her.

Jensen exhaled a yawn and rubbed a hand over his tired face. He could easily sleep for a week already, and they were only on day one of three in San Diego. Normally he looked forward to Comic-Con weekends, they were different enough from the regular con circuit that there was a certain level of exhilaration over the unknown of what could happen. This year though, he was tired and a little sad, desperately wishing that Y/N was there with him.

He just got out of hair and makeup for a second time that day, to do yet another interview; this time it was Entertainment Weekly. They were usually easy going, lots of laughs, not too many hard-hitting questions; but fun conversation and banter about the show. If he was somehow able to work in a plug for the festival, even better. Getting exposure through an outlet like that could easily boost ticket sales enough to make a huge impact in what they are able to give back to the community.

Shaking off the last bit of sluggishness, Jensen made his way towards the set where the spotlights were pointed directly at the chair where he would sit. Tasha Wilson, one of EW’s representatives that weekend, was already seated and waiting; her wide smile and heavily produced eyes popped with excitement.

“Jensen!” she exclaimed, darting out a hand to shake his without moving from her seat. “So good to see you! Having fun this weekend?”

“Yeah,” he smiled as pleasantly as he could muster. “I am. It's always a good time here.”

“Anything scoopy you wanna dish before the cameras start rolling?” she asked, her tongue peeking out as she playfully wiggled her eyebrows. “Promise to keep my mouth shut!” She crossed her chest with her fingers and held them up a mock salute. “Scout’s honor!”

It instantly made Jensen smile softly and think of Y/N. God, I wish she were here, he thought, then tried to focus on Tasha instead.

“Uhhh,” he started, then laughed nervously, “you know I can’t. But I think you’ll be surprised at what’s in store.”

“Okay, fine. I know… can’t say anything,” she waved him off with a flirty laugh. “You ready, gorgeous?”

“Let’s do it,” Jensen said and dug deep down to find that switch he needed to flip just for these moments. Just as the cameras started to roll, and Tasha started to talk, he found his inner professional and turned on the charm.

As she flirted her way through the questions, Jensen tried to maintain his focus, but he felt like something was coming; though he had zero idea of what it could be that was causing it. Not necessarily in a bad way, but there was a sensation he couldn’t explain, building from the depths of his gut and crawling up his spine to his neck. Whatever it was, it made him take his attention away from Tasha and look off towards the fringe of the set, beyond the cameras to where the shadowed figures stood watching the interview.

“Did you and Jared get a lot of say in how this was going to go?” she asked, unaware that Jensen was no longer paying attention.

At first, he didn’t understand what he was seeing because it was like he was seeing her in fragments. First her hair, then her smile, and even from the distance he sat, he couldn’t mistake her eyes. His heartbeat faster as he noticed the familiar position of her stance, as her arms were crossed loosely over her chest, a hip hitched out while standing beside Rob. Jensen was rendered speechless by the sight of her. At first, he wasn’t sure if it was her or just a hallucination--the sheer desire to have her there playing with his mind--but then she laughed, and even though the ambient noise and distance, he knew for a fact she was really there.

“Jensen?” Tasha asked, and then followed his line of sight trying to locate the source of what grabbed his attention. “You alright? Still with me?” she continued when she went back to him.

“Yes. Sorry,” he laughed with a mixture of excitement and discomfort at being so caught off guard by her presence. “I’m, uh… I’m alright, I just saw a familiar face.”

He swallowed hard, and looked back in Y/N’s direction, almost afraid she would be gone, but thankfully she was still there. She was looking his way now, her lips pulled taut into the little smirk he loved so much; the one that made her look like she carried the world’s biggest secret and only wanted to tell him. Jensen’s heart swelled at the sight of her, the ache in his arms building with the need to run over and grab her tightly.

“Oh? An old friend, perhaps?” Tasha turned excitedly in her chair, still trying to discern as to who Jensen was referring too.

“No, no,” he chuckled, the kind that was forced and slightly frustrated. “It seems as though my girlfriend has decided to surprise me here this weekend.” Jensen couldn’t hide the enormous smile that exploded on his face as he nodded in her direction. Calling Y/N his girlfriend for the first time, especially to someone in this very separate world, made him almost giddy. He loved how Tasha’s expression went from excited to crestfallen in less than a second.

“Your… girlfriend? Ohhh! Well… this is new, I take it? Last I heard you were single and ready to mingle, Mr. Ackles.”

He laughed his fake laugh again. “Yes, it is new. Though we’ve been good friends for a while.”

“And is she someone we know?”

“Probably not yet. But I promise you, you will.”

“Oh, and why’s that?” Tasha asked with animated curiously, but Jensen took notice that her entire demeanor now changed from the flirtatious behavior earlier in the interview.

“Y/N is the most incredible singer, songwriter, and musician I’ve ever known. She’s been working on the Hometown Brewfest we’re hosting on Austin, and what she’s managed to put together will blow your mind. I guarantee the second she gets on the stage that weekend, everyone’s gonna know her name.”

“Wow! That’s quite an endorsement! And you’ve been known to sing as well, do you plan on sharing the stage with her that weekend?”

“Hell yes!” he responded enthusiastically. “Honestly, It’s what I am most looking forward to for the whole weekend. To share a stage with her, it’s gonna be awesome.”

Tasha went on to ask a few follow up questions about both the festival and the show, then began to realize that Jensen’s attention was far too divided to get much more out of him. Tasha relented and went into asking her final few questions. The moment the lights cut off, and she put down her mic, Jensen was up, out of his seat and dodging the camera equipment in order to get to his girl.

Jensen thought his heart may beat right out of his chest, like those old Bugs Bunny cartoons. The way she felt in his arms, the sensation of her breath on his neck as she embraced him back, the familiar scent of her shampoo wafting into his nose… all of it was able to drown out all the other noise and people that were around them. He didn’t care how many people were watching them from the corners of their eyes. Nor did he care that he had his face buried into her neck and unable to peel himself from her body. He refused to let go until he filled every one of his senses was lingering with traces of her. Finally, he felt he had held her long enough that he could breathe. When his grip loosened, hers did too, but they didn’t stray far from the other.

“What are you doing here?” he asked his expression a mix of wonderment, joy, and disbelief.

“Can’t a girl just miss her guy?” Y/N teased, but Jensen could see there was more behind hiding behind her eyes.

“Yeah, I mean… are you okay though? You don’t look okay.” He caressed the side of her face with his hand, and lightly brushed her cheek with the pad of his thumb. “What happened?”

Y/N opened her mouth to talk, but looked around quickly and visibly hesitated. “C--Can we… I mean, do you have a few minutes we could go somewhere quiet?”

“For you, I have all the time in the world, come on.”

Jensen took her hand and led her around behind the Entertainment Weekly set and into a small green room that was completely empty. Once inside, Jensen shut the door and turned the lock, not caring about who needed the space.

Y/N put her arms around his neck again and kissed him softly. “I missed you. A lot.”

“I missed you too, Trix. And not that I don’t love the surprise, but I know you well enough to know that something happ--” Jensen stopped mid-thought, and brushed the hair away from her neck. He thought it strange that she was wearing it down, as it wasn’t her usual style. But as he studied the subtle differences in the tone of her skin was that when he noticed the bruising on her neck. A sudden, intense flash of rage-filled his features.

“What the fuck happened?” he asked, trying to not scare her with the anger that was rapidly enveloping him. “Y/N…”

“Ok… so, just remember that I am here telling you now. Please don’t get mad I didn’t tell you last night. Can you promise?”

“No! Not when it involves bruises on your neck, I can’t!” he snapped, then saw the way she was looking at him and reeled in his emotions a little. He took a moment, then nodded with a breathy sigh. “I can promise not to get mad at you. The situation, though… something tells me that is a whole other thing entirely.”

“Nathan showed up,” she admitted quickly and quietly, casting her eyes to the floor as if she was ashamed to tell him.

“Nathan showed up at the brewery? When? Did Paolo--”

“Paolo called the cops just like you told him too. He wanted to call you immediately, I asked him not too. So, don’t take anything out on him. He was absolutely amazing last night.”

A slight bit of tension visibly left Jensen’s shoulders as he continued to try and regulate his breath. “What happened?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“I was walking to the truck, and starting to text you back when he just came out of the shadows. He wanted to talk, more like bitch me out, but… I tried to text you while he was rambling, so you could…I don’t know…”

“That was smart.”

“Well, until he saw me doing it, then smacked it out of my hands straight to the ground along with the files I was carrying. So, I don’t have a phone for the moment.”

Jensen rubbed his hand over his face, desperately trying to keep his composure while she continued.

“Then he got angrier and said some things… I said some things that pissed him off even more and then that’s when tried to choke me.”

Her last few words hung in the air like the haze of a humid afternoon. Jensen tried to process what she just revealed without having an explosive reaction, though purely for her sake. Y/N had seen enough anger and violence at Nathan’s hands, and he refused to let her see him in the same way.

Drawing in a deep breath through his nose, he steadied his hands that were shaking and did his best to unclench them.

“Did he hurt you? I can see the bruises, but did he--”

“No,” she replied quickly. “He didn’t hurt me. It was over quickly because I kneed him in the balls. It dropped him just as Bri and Paolo were coming out of the back door. Then he got up and took off. Cops came, I talked to Detective Perkins and then Bri took me home. Bri booked a ticket for me, called Robbie to get the credentials, and now here I am. But, there’s something else you gotta know… he admitted to the break-in, Jay. He did it and I think--”

A soft knock at the door interrupting the conversation nearly set Jensen off, but one look in Y/N’s direction and he knew that he couldn’t explode when she was present. He took a few slow, steady steps towards the door and unlocked it. Robbie stood on the other side, an apologetic look on his face.

“I know, my timing sucks bad. But, it’s time for the panel. I can take Y/N and get her seated upfront, is that cool? You just gotta head over to--” Robbie paused when he noticed how tense Jensen was. “You okay, man?”

“No. I’m not. But, I will be,” he cast a longing, side-eyed glance at Y/N and sighed. “Nathan showed up again.”

“What? When?” Robbie asked, walking in and closing the door behind him. “What the fuck happened?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Y/N replied and went to stand in front of Jensen. She forcibly took his hands into hers and squeezed them. “I didn’t want to tell you here, but I knew you wouldn’t let it go unless I did. I promise I’m fine. There’s an APB out for him, and that’s why I came here as soon as I could.”

“Thank God for that,” he said before running his tongue over his bottom lip anxiously. “I gotta go do the panel. Let Robbie take you to find a seat, and I’ll meet you when it’s done, and we can talk more about this, okay?”

“Okay,” she smiled, though there was a spark of uncertainty in her eyes. Y/N lovingly touched his cheek with her hand before leaving a soft kiss on his lips.

Y/N went to leave with Robbie, then paused and turned back to Jensen. “Aren’t you coming?”

“I’ll be along in a minute. You guys to ahead and get settled,” he said, and she could tell that he just needed a moment to himself to decompress from what she just told him. She nodded and reluctantly followed Rob from the room.

When they were gone, Jensen felt overheated from the lack of air circulating and the rage that boiled in his gut. He carefully discarded his blazer and neatly hung it over one of the chairs off to the side. He put his hands on his hips, and let his head fall to his chest as he tried to calm the fire that was still raging. He had a job to do, but he couldn’t do his job and be Mr. Personality to the crowd in Hall H when all he wanted to do was find Nathan and rip his head clear off his shoulders.

Jensen paced the room, and couldn’t help but conjure the image of Nathan actually wrapping his fingers around Y/N’s throat. Then he remembered what she said right before Robbie came in and felt like he was going to explode. He looked up at the ceiling and tried to exhale slowly, but he couldn’t fight it any longer. Grabbing a folding chair that was off to the side, Jensen flung it across the room with guttural roar. He kicked the small coffee table as hard as he could, sending it into the love seat against the far wall, spraying the magazines all over the room. He grabbed another chair and raised it before he whipped it to the ground while suppressing the roar of rage he had growing in his chest.

When he was finally spent, he stood in the middle of the room and found a steady breath as he surveyed the mess he made. In an effort to be cathartic about the entire situation, he slowly and methodically went around the room and put things back as they were. Luckily, he didn’t break anything beyond repair and made a mental note to contact someone to pay for whatever damage there ended up being. When he finished, he stood in the middle of the room and took one more moment to collect himself. He rested his hands on the back of the chair where he’d hung his blazer, his knuckles turning white from the intensity of his grip.

“I swear to God,” he mumbled to the empty room, his eyes fluttering closed, and his gut clenching at the images that were burning through his mind. “If that sonofabitch ever comes near her again, I will murder him myself.”

With that, Jensen grabbed his blazer and left for the panel.

It was well past ten when they finally returned to the hotel. Robbie had arranged for the staff to leave Y/N’s luggage in Jensen’s room, so all her things were there when they got back. They hadn’t spoken about the incident with Nathan again; not after the panel, and certainly not while they ate dinner with the rest of the cast that were in attendance for the con that weekend.

Back in the room, Jensen emptied his pockets onto the dresser and kicked off his boots into the closet. He neatly hung his blazer in the closet and then turned to find Y/N just sitting on the edge of the bed. Her eyes were closed, and her head hung to her chest. He thought she looked tired and slightly defeated.

“You alright?” he asked, slowly walking over, then crouching in front of her, resting a hand on either one of her thighs to steady himself. He picked up her chin with his thumb, lifting her (y/c) eyes to meet his, which were soft and thoughtful. “Talk to me, Trix.”

“I’m sorry,” she rasped, her throat dry and thick with emotion. Y/N hadn’t really allowed herself to cry or feel too much of anything after the confrontation with Nathan. She needed to feel strong and fortified. Now that she was finally in a safe, quiet place with Jensen, she thought she could finally could let herself feel something.

Jensen could sense that the dam was about to break, and took her hand, bringing it to his lips. “Baby, you have nothing to be sorry for.”

Those words from him were enough to finally break down the last vestige of emotional fortitude that she had. The tears flowed easily then. She withdrew her hand from Jensen’s and covered her face, trying to hide the emotion that spilled over. He got up from the floor and sat beside her on the bed. Drawing her in close, Jensen kissed the top of her head and just let her cry. All he could do was hold her tightly and let her know she wasn’t alone.

Y/N picked up her head a short time later and wiped as many of the tears away as she could. She got up and went to the bathroom for a cool washcloth to clear her skin of the salty tears that left streaks down her face.

“We don’t have to talk about it tonight,” Jensen called out from the other room. “It can wait, you know.”

“I know,” Y/N said, emerging from the bathroom. “I think I like that idea, to be honest.”

“Okay, good. So, tired? Ready for bed? Wanna watch tv? A movie, maybe?” Jensen picked up the remote and was scrutinizing it to locate the power button when Y/N plucked it from his hand and tossed it across the king-sized bed.

“No,” she said, and slowly unbuttoned her shirt, revealing her black lace bra that barely contained the swell of her breasts.

Jensen sat up straighter, an instant change in his expression lured her closer. She slotted herself between his thighs and delicately ran her fingers through his hair. Being with him so intimately, and knowing how safe she was When she was right in front of him, he gingerly pushed the blouse open further, wrapping his fingers around her waist and drawing her in even more. He kissed the soft skin on her stomach and hummed contentedly.

He reached up and gently pushed the garment from her shoulders, letting it fall to the floor, then sat back further on the bed and patted his lap. Y/N smiled impishly and took a moment to remove the rest of her clothes until she was left in nothing but her bra and panties then took him on his invitation and straddled his lap and lacing her fingers behind his neck.

Jensen buried his face between her breasts and drew in a deep breath of her while his lips pressed into her flesh. His fingers ran roughly up her back to the hooks of her bra. Before he unclasped it, he paused and looked up at her. Y/N was gazing down at him, her expression was delicate and soft. She looked angelic in the dim light of the room, and he couldn’t help but think of how differently things could have gone.

Once again, he could have lost her.

“Y/N…” he started softly, bringing one hand up to gently touch her cheek. “I want you to stay with me until the festival. We’ll just stay in Vancouver and if you have to go back to Austin, we’ll do it when I’m not filming. No more of this back and forth, okay? I don’t want to let you out of my sight.”

“Okay,” she whispered, before bending down and engulfing his plump lips with her own. “Whatever you want, Hollywood.”

Contented with her response, he kissed her back with purpose and went back to the task of unhooking her bra then taking her to bed. Later, when they were sweaty and breathless, completely spent from making love, Jensen held her and watched her sleep for a while before drifting off himself. The last thing he thought of before sleep pulled him under, was how he would do anything to protect Y/N, and how one day he’d be giving interviews and calling her his wife.

The next day was spent dashing from one event to another, most times with Jensen having to go on ahead, and Y/N meeting him there. More interviews, autograph signings, promotional shoots, and that was all before lunch. Jensen didn’t want to leave her again but knew he had to fill several last few commitments before he could be completely free of the rigid schedule. He waited until Y/N was busy chatting with Jared, then pulled Robbie aside and spoke in just above a whisper.

“You don’t let her out of your sight. Okay?”

“Yeah man, I gotcha. Me ‘n her stuck like glue.”

“I doubt he’d come here, but…” Jensen shrugged then looked up to see if she was still otherwise engaged. Thankfully, she was. “Don’t want to take the chance.”

“No, he couldn’t get through security. But… she could,” Rob mused sort of casually, more to himself than Jensen, but when he saw his friend’s expression change, he back-peddled a little. “I just mean… she likes to cause trouble, you know? Not that she has. I don’t think. Other than lunch…”

“She? You mean, Dee? And what lunch are you talking about? What else don’t I know?” Jensen asked harshly, then felt someone tugging on his sleeve.

“Ready?” the young PA asked that was there to escort him to the next event.

“Yeah, one sec,” he replied then turned to Rob again. “This conversation isn’t over.”

“I figured,” Robbie sighed and regretted opening his mouth at all.

Jensen stepped quickly towards Y/N and Jared, giving her a quick kiss goodbye, and grabbing his best friend to be led off to yet another place he didn’t want to be.

Robbie stood close to Y/N and when the guys were out of sight, he turned to her, an apologetic look on his face. “You didn’t tell him everything yet, did you?”

Y/N seemed surprised, then a veil of nerves clouded her expression. “No, not yet. Why?”

“I may have said something I shouldn’t have,” he shrugged and winced a little.

She exhaled slowly. “What did you say?”

“I said something about Dee. He seemed surprised her name came up. Bri told me… you know, what Nathan said.”

“Dammit, Bri,” Y/N mumbled and moved out of the crowd that was slowly engulfing them where they stood. When they were a little more removed, she caught Robbie’s intense blue eyes and scrutinized them for a moment. “What did she tell you?”

“You know she’s just looking out for you, right? And really, all she told me was that you said Nathan implied that someone paid him to break in. Is that true?”

“I don’t know. He said something like, ‘even though the dumb bitch was happy’ right before he described snapping my guitar into pieces, and how good it felt to do.”

“Jesus,” Robbie breathed and rubbed his hand over his face and down to his beard. “This is insane.”

“Tell me about it,” she snorted, and he could tell she was beginning to feel on edge.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I hate that any of this is happening to you. Especially just because you and Jensen found some happiness together.”

Y/N felt a rush of warm, enveloping love at the thought of being happy with Jensen. It was a foreign feeling to her, as any of her previous relationships were all bogged down with some sort of strangling weight. There was a brief time when she was far younger, where she thought she was in love; but that was nothing like what she felt now.

“I would go through this forever if it meant being able to be with him, Robbie.”

Robbie’s face lit up. “You really mean that, don’t you?”

She nodded softly. “So much. But I didn’t want to tell him about Dee, yet. Because he’ll blame himself and that’s the last thing I want. It’s why I left her name out of the police report--”

“Wait. You did? I don’t get why.”

“Because I have no evidence Nathan meant her. He didn’t say her name. But I know it was her. Unless Jensen has some other crazy ex-girlfriend I don’t know about.”

“You’re right, it had to be her. But, I can see why you withheld it. You have to tell him though and tell him about that day at lunch. She overheard us talking about the brewery. Do you think she sent Nathan there? Told him about it?” Rob asked, and leaned back against the wall, dumbfounded at the reality that the answer to his otherwise preposterous question could be yes.

“I don’t know, Robbie. None of this makes sense to me,” Y/N sighed and leaned against the wall next to him. “Honestly, I’m exhausted from thinking about it all. Why don’t you show me around the craziness that is comic con? Maybe get our minds off all this for a hot minute before we--and yeah, you’re doing it with me ‘cause you were at lunch that day--tell him about Dee.”

“Fair enough,” he said, pushing off the wall and sticking out his elbow for her to take. “Come on.”

She linked her arm in his, and Rob escorted her through the con.

After some navigating, Rob weaved them through various crowds of people, her arm still firmly linked with his. Y/N could hear the build-up of a crowd the closer they got to the end of the corridor and when they finally came out onto a balcony that overlooked a huge open room, she understood why it got so loud. Hundreds of people stood in different autograph lines, all snaking together around round booths that allowed the actors to engage up close and personal with the fans.

Y/N’s eyes searched the tables and finally spotted Jared laughing and signing something for a guest. Beside him, Jensen was doing the same thing, excitedly talking to a little kid in a Castiel cosplay. They walked along the perimeter, trying to get a closer look and maybe even grab the guys' attention to wave hello. As Y/N and Rob stood there casually watching the floor below, they were approached by several groups of fans, a few independent reporters all proudly flashing their press badges, and at least two different Supernatural cosplay groups. Y/N offered to snap pictures for the groups and even took out her own phone for a few as Robbie posed with each of them in glorious, fanboy fashion.

Y/N watched, amused, as Robbie lavished in the attention, but was genuinely excited to talk to them about the show, Louden Swain and the Brewfest. He introduced Y/N to the reporters and had hoped she would turn on the charm as she usually did, but he found her to be quieter than normal. Several times he had to help coax her to answer a question or give some details, and by the third or fourth quick pass at an interview, he realized that she just wasn’t ready. After the last staffer from FanFest News had shoved a recorder in their faces to catch a quote, Robbie led her away from the railing and deeper into the belly of the con.

Wanting to do something to take away the tension of having a million questions thrown at her, Rob led Y/N down to where the autograph lines twisted through the room and eventually made their way straight up to where Jensen and Jared were conducting their signing.

“Oh wait,” Y/N said, an impish grin forming on her lips, “Do you have the BrewFest’s IG saved on your phone?”

“Yeah, why?” Rob asked as he automatically retrieved his phone from his pocket.

“I want to do a quick live stream, but I am sans phone, so… Can I borrow yours?”

“Oh sure,” he said, and navigated the device to the proper place. “Go for it. That will be fun. Anytime someone can catch either of those two fools off guard, I am all for it.” Rob raised his eyebrows knowingly.

Y/N shook her head and rolled her eyes. “You boys…” she muttered, trying to quickly get the live stream up and going before they were spotted by Jensen or Jared. She got it recording just as she approached Jensen, and watched through the screen of Rob’s phone as a giant grin unfurled his face.

“What are you doing down here?” he asked, forcing himself to reign in the utter glee that controlled his expression at the surprise of seeing her there. “I thought you and Rob were mingling. Are you recording this?” His cheeks instantly tinged pink and the giddy smile returned.

“I am and we thought we’d come over and surprise you,” she giggled and met his eyes over the top of the phone. “this is a Live Stream for the BrewFest followers.”

Jensen leaned his elbows on the counter and looked directly into the phone, giving the lens and intense but soulful gaze.

“Hello there,” he spoke, purposely lowering the register of his voice. “How are you guys?”

On the screen, hearts, and comments exploded as people joined the stream in rapid fashion. A moment later, Jared leaned into the shot, playfully hiding behind Jensen and waving from over his shoulder. More likes, hearts, comments flew by so fast as the guys gave the viewers a fun moment of banter before Jared continued on to more autographs and Jensen turned his attention away from the camera and back to the woman behind the device.

“We’ll let you get back at it, right Robbie?”

Y/N panned the camera to Rob, catching him off guard, more so than she did Jensen and Jared. He stammered nervously and then pulled his lips taut and replied with a simple, “Yup.”

Y/N laughed and turned the camera back to Jensen.

“Say goodbye, Jensen.”

He waved one last time, and his attention was pulled away by fans handing him a picture to sign. Y/N turned off the live stream and waited for him to finish with the young couple. When he was, he slid down towards where she was waiting, leaned over the table to leave a quick, sweet kiss to her cheek.

“I’ll be done in about an hour. Don’t go for, okay?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” she replied and watched him go back to do what he did best--winning the hearts of everyone that had the chance to meet him.

Robbie placed an arm over her shoulder and turned her towards the main con floor. “Ready to witness complete pandemonium?”

“Because this isn’t?” she asked with a laugh and motioned to the room around them before handing his phone back to him.

“Oh, this is nothing. Come on,” he said, taking the phone and tucking it deeply in his jeans pocket.

It was later that night that she got her first real taste of an overly aggressive member of the press who just wouldn’t take no for an answer. After all the interviews and autographs were done, their small group headed out to find a quick and quiet meal before heading back to the hotel. They were due to leave the next morning and everyone was beyond exhausted.

Jared and Rob were walking ahead, Jensen and Y/N strolling a few steps behind, walking hand in hand just admiring the city. The others who had joined them the night before called it an early bedtime and headed off to their respective hotels for a bit of peace and quiet. As the foursome tried to decide where to eat, a pair of paparazzi came around the corner. Y/N saw their faces light up as they realized just who they were looking at.

“Jared! Jensen! Over here! Rob!”

They were both calling out names, cameras suddenly up and flashing fiercely.

“What’s going on guys?”

“Where you off too?”

They asked at the same time, as they scurried along, clicking the cameras for picture after picture. One of them pulled out their phone looking for something while his companion continued clicking away.

“Just out for dinner, fellas. It’s been a long day,” Jensen said with a fake smile and a “fuck-off” tone.

“Stop and talk for a sec, come on guys!” one called out, while the other pocketed his phone again and picked up his camera, pointing it directly at Y/N.

“Hey! Y/F/N L/N! That’s you, right?” he asked, and took a few steps closer, a bit too close for her preference.

“Just ignore him,” Jensen mumbled and gripped her hand a little tighter. “Come on.”

Their group kept walking a little faster, trying to ignore the badgering call outs and questions but the two men were relentless.

“Come on, Y/N! Just a picture or two! People want to know who you are!”

Y/N didn’t know what to do. It was one thing while at the con and they were peppering her with questions; but out there on the streets, vulnerable and raw from the last few days, she hadn’t built up the walls she needed to in order to handle what they were throwing at her. She was infinitely glad Jensen was with her and able to shield her from their attention.

Instead of saying anything, or stopping to allow them a good picture, she politely held up a hand in a brief wave. As their cameras clicked away regardless, she continued walking and ignoring them, until the questions started up.

“How come you have a restraining order against your ex?!” the one called out, just as the other followed up with something similar and just as irritating.

“There’s a warrant too… just issued! Was he the one who broke in? Come on, everyone knows about that. What happened?”

“Jensen… Jensen! Did you know about that?!” the first one asked him.

Y/N immediately felt her body tense and her heart started pounding.

‘How the HELL did they know all that?’ She wondered, becoming scared by how intrusive everything felt right then, but desperately worked on keeping her eyes forward as her grip tightened on Jensen’s hand.

Jared and Rob stopped walking as the paps kept firing questions at her. They turned to see Jensen do the same, pulling Y/N to a stop. Knowing him well enough, Jared jumped between his best friend and the infuriating men before Jensen could do something stupid, and Robbie made his way towards Y/N. He grabbed her hand and protectively walked with her down the street while Jared and Jensen hung back, acting as a shield they stood there to prevent Rob and Y/N from being followed. When Jensen was sure that Rob had ushered her far enough away, he turned to the men and smiled in a way that made them take pause.

“Listen here, guys… you want my picture, have at it. I get it, it’s part of the whole gig… but her… she’s not here for that. So just leave her alone, okay? I see one of you point another camera at her again... ask her questions like that again and I promise you, it’s something you will regret.”

“Jay, c’mon,” Jared encouraged, putting his hand on Jensen’s arm. “You don’t wanna do this, not worth the effort.”

Jensen pulled his arm from Jared’s grip. He could feel himself getting angry, and on some level knew that it was entirely due to the current situation. It was all of it--Dee, Nathan, the break-in--and he was ready to find someone to take his frustrations out on. These two unfortunate souls may just be it.

“Jensen!” Jared called out, finally able to grab his attention. “Hey man, let it go. Not the time or place. Let’s go eat. Fuck these guys, let them be dicks… come on.”

Jensen’s jaw was clenched as he stared down the older of the two men. There was thirty seconds of intense silence where even Jensen wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He knew that Jared was right, it wasn’t worth the trouble, but he wanted nothing more than to take out the weeks of frustration out on one of these two men that thought it was okay to start throwing questions at his girl.

“She’s off-limits. Got it?” Jensen’s expression, coupled with his words were enough to cause the photographer to nod and take a few steps back. “In fact, any pictures of her surface from this, and I’ll know exactly who posted them. You wanna take pictures at the con, or on a red carpet somewhere, go for it. But right now we are off duty. You feel me?”

“Yeah,” the younger of the two said, “whatever you say, Jensen.” He was compliant but Jensen could tell that the man’s tone was still slightly aggressive.

The two men didn’t waste any time moving on after that, but Jensen stood his ground and made sure they were well out of sight before he turned to head in the direction that Rob and taken Y/N. Before he could go, Jared grabbed his elbow and pulled him back.

“Whoa buddy, just hold on there. What the hell was all that about?” Jared asked with a curious snort of a laugh.

“It’s been busy, haven’t had a chance to catch you up on everything…” Jensen sighed and then looked over his shoulder to make sure they were still gone.

“Well, now is a good time. What happened?”

“Not really a great place though. I always feel like they’re lurking. You know?”

“Yeah man, I definitely do. But you gotta tell me what’s going on. C’mon, fill me in on the way.” Jared motioned with his head and started in the direction of the restaurant where Rob and Y/N were hopefully waiting.

By the time they arrived there, Jensen and Jared found Rob and Y/N seated in a far corner booth. Jared was all caught up on why Y/N had come out to San Diego in the first place, and before he slid into Rob’s side of the booth, he sat down next to Y/N and hugged her.

“Jay told me what happened and I’m so sorry you had to go through that. Just know you got us. All of us. Since you have terrible taste and ended up with this guy,” he motioned over his shoulder towards Jensen, “you’re part of our family now. We got your back, okay?”

Y/N smiled and choked back the emotion that rushed up at Jared’s words; the whole situation hitting her harder than she realized. He moved back out of the seat and to the other side of the booth, while Jensen slid next to her and immediately wrapped an arm across her shoulders.

“You alright?” he asked quietly, as Jared and Rob began their own quiet conversation.

“Yeah. I just hate that you have to keep asking me that.”

“Come on, Y/N, none of this is on you. Those parasites, they have teams of people digging for stuff all the time. The minute the press learned your name yesterday, they were on it. I’m just sorry that being with me means your privacy is compromised.”

Y/N nodded slightly and rested her head against him. “It's okay, you’re worth it,” she replied.

He could tell she was trying to be playfully, lighten the mood a bit. But he could see that the usual spark of levity in her eyes was dulled and tired. The rest of the evening was pleasant and quiet; everyone enjoying a final meal in San Diego together. But all Jensen could think of was getting her back up to Vancouver and settling into a little bit of a normal life, with no drama, no complications and absolutely NO Nathan or even mention of his name.

Early the next morning, Jensen had arranged to have a private plane take them back to Vancouver, and invited the rest of the cast that was flying back to join them. He claimed to the group it was just easier to go together on one plane, but really it was simply to avoid the waiting paparazzi he knew would be stalking the usual terminals at the airport. He didn’t think after the weekend they had, that she’d be up for that kind of swarm, so he made a few calls and splurged on the private ride to his second home.

Back in Vancouver, Y/N found her stride quite easily. Jensen spent long days on set, but she found ways of entertaining herself by exploring Vancouver, checking out their cafes, and shops; even stumbling upon the one where Jensen bought her pendant.

When he was home, they spent a lot of time perfecting the last of the plans for the festival and talking about what songs they wanted to sing together. Jensen helped her write music, and she helped him run lines. They fell into a domesticated bliss that they didn’t see coming, nor did they question it. It all just felt so incredibly right.

Over the next several weeks, they flew back to Austin twice to work on the BrewFest. By the time August was coming to a close, the festival was approaching quickly and their free time dwindled down to nothing.

It was the Thursday before Labor Day weekend, and Y/N was sitting out on the balcony of Jensen’s Vancouver apartment. She had papers spread everywhere, trying to load the schedules into the new laptop Jensen had purchased but was getting frustrated by the updated software.

Y/N groaned loudly and sat back in the chair with a huff. She took off her sunglasses and tossed them across the glass patio table and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Dammit, Robbie… why you gotta be like this,” she mumbled and then leaned forward again just as Jensen was coming out on the balcony, a glass of cold iced-tea in hand for her.

“What did the little man do now?” Jensen asked with a raise of his brow. “Bitching about the cloud, still?”

Y/N laughed. “No. He updated this shared software we’re using to track the bands and setlists, and it changed everything around.” She whined and sat back again, her bottom lip protruding at the thought of all the extra work this was going to generate. “Ugh. I don’t wanna…”

“So, don’t,” Jensen shrugged and sat in the empty seat beside her. “You’ve been working non-stop for almost a year on this thing. Take a day off, Trix. Come on. It's a holiday weekend.”

“I know, but I’m just afraid that if I don’t, something will go wrong. I can’t have anything go wrong, Jay. I don’t know what I’m doing…”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.” Jensen repositioned his chair to face her. “You are pulling off something amazing here. I am in awe, every day when you tell me what’s going on. What you’ve already accomplished and what this event is going to be… whatever happens, Brewfest is going to be a massive hit. “

“You really think so?”

“Yes, I do. I know it.” He took her hand and tangled his fingers with hers as he sat, thoughtful for a moment, before speaking again. “Do you remember a while back when we made that deal. I said that I would leave you alone about San Diego, but I reserved the right to whisk you away at any given moment?”

Y/N rolled her eyes and inhaled slowly through her nose. “Mmhmm, what about it.”

“Good, cause I’m cashing in that chip. “I think you should go and pack because we’re going on vacation.”

“Ooookay,” she replied sarcastically and chuckled as she uncoiled her fingers from his to pick up the iced tea glass that was now profusely sweating in the August heat, and quickly spreading its condensation all over the table.

“You don’t believe me?”

“Come on, vacation? Seriously? When you said that I thought you meant after the festival.”

“Nah, now. We both need it now. Just for a couple days… I have everything arranged. We fly out tonight, fly back on Monday night.”

“When did you arrange all this? And where are we flying to, exactly?”

The one corner of his mouth tugged up into an impish little smirk. “Well Trix, that’s for you to just wait and see. Pack for someplace warm and make sure to bring a bathing suit.”

“Very mysterious…” she said and pouted her lips, narrowing her eyes on him. Slowly she got up from her chair and moved to sit on his lap, Jensen’s large hands instantly gathering her knees and swinging them up to lay across his thighs. “Won’t you give me a little hint?” she asked, batting her eyelashes animatedly.

He methodically shook his head. “Nope Just gotta wait and see. But I promise you,” he paused, tucking a wild strand of hair behind her ear, “you’re gonna love it.”

Everything Tags: @sorenmarie87 // @his-paradox // @thefaithfulwriter // @sister-winchesters99 // @thymeheals // @yallgotkik

When You Least Expect It: @winchest09 // @jerkbitchidjitassbutt // @aomi-nabi // @luciathewinchestergirl // @alexisxwinchester // @moonxdance // @seppys-return-to-madness // @donnaintx // @deans-baby-momma // @the-is13 // @stoneyggirl // @captaindorit0 // @fanfictionjunkie1112 // @focusonspn // @vickyfarley

SPN RPF: @screechingartisancashbailiff // @winchesterxfamilybusiness // @sandlee44 // @wings-of-a-raven // @negans-wife // @kazosa // @hobby27 // @breereadsthings // @maddiepants // @katehuntington // @whereismyangel-damnitdeanshare

#Jensen Ackles RPF #Jensen Ackles x y/n #jensen ackles x reader #jensen ackles x reader insert #jensen x reader #jensen x you #jensen x reader insert #spn rpf

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