Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Damn. Oh, fuck. Damn!"

Jeff woke up to the bed dipping around him, the jostle and slide of Jensen's limbs disentangling from his own.

"I forgot to set my alarm clock, and the car's gonna be here in ten minutes. Shit!"

"The car?" Jeff asked muzzily, watching through hazy eyes as Jensen hurried off to the bathroom.

Jensen ducked back out of the bathroom door a moment later, talking around the toothbrush in his mouth. "To take me to set. Early start today."

Jensen stepped back out of sight, and Jeff reluctantly rocked himself up into a sitting position, listening to the splash of running water inside the bathroom. He wanted nothing more than to sleep a little longer with Jensen next to him, then maybe fuck again before breakfast. No such luck. They'd both forgotten last night that, while Jeff might be on vacation, Jensen was still due on set for a few more long days before the weekend.

Now all he could do was sit watching as Jensen ran back into the bedroom, skinning into underwear and jeans, pale skin glowing in the dimly lit room.

"Hey, my car's out in the lot if you want to use it today. Keys by the door." Jensen sat down next to Jeff on the bed and paused in pulling on shoes and socks long enough to lean over for a kiss. The taste of fresh toothpaste tingled against Jeff's tongue. Jensen's cell rang, and he pulled away, his eyes begging forgiveness and promising more later. He swore under his breath and grabbed the phone, talking as soon as he had it next to his face. "Yeah, I'm coming. Gimme a-" Jensen shut up, dropping the socks to the floor. "Seriously?"

Jeff watched as he walked barefoot over to the window and pushed aside the heavy light-blocking drapes. A triangle of cool white light shone inside. "Holy crap. Okay. So, tomorrow?" Jensen let the drapes close and walked back to the bed. "Sweet. Thanks, man." Jensen put the phone down, grinning at Jeff.

"What's going on?"

"Snow day!" Jensen's grin grew larger, the crinkles beside his eyes deepening. "There's like a foot and a half out there."

"So they don't need you at all?"

"Not today. Joe said they're going to let the roads clear, come up with a plan for tomorrow." Jensen sat down on the side of the bed and leaned back, popping open the top button of his jeans. "This'll screw us up for next week, but who cares?"

"Sure as hell not me." Jeff watched as Jensen let his head drop back against the headboard and closed his eyes, relaxing with his hand still at his hip, holding his shirt up to reveal a swath of pale skin. Jeff tried to absorb the idea that they had the whole day, no obligations, no commitments.

Jensen's stomach growled, breaking the silence, and he sat up. "I'm gonna go find something for breakfast. You want anything?"

Jeff pointed his chin toward the bathroom. "I'll be down in a minute."

"Cool."

~~~

Jeff walked into the kitchen a few minutes later to see Jensen biting into an apple, leaning against his kitchen counter watching the coffee brew. The fruit was red striped with veins of golden green, and Jensen had to stretch his jaw wide to take a bite. As Jensen chewed, his tongue swept out past his lips to capture a droplet of juice. Jeff wanted to volunteer for that clean-up duty himself, but he just stuck his hands in his pockets to disguise his growing erection and tried on a smirk.

"You call that breakfast? I was thinking bacon and eggs."

Still chewing his mouthful of apple, Jensen raised his eyebrows in response and patted his damn flat stomach.

"Oh, please," Jeff drawled. "I think we can find a way to work it off."

Jensen swallowed, Adam's apple bobbing. "Don't have any anyway. Kinda slim pickings in here."

Jeff walked over to the refrigerator and opened it, staring in at half a six-pack of Molson, a box of Diet Pepsi cans, a bottle of mustard, a couple more apples, and some crusty takeout containers. The freezer was a wasteland, with a tray of ice and two gel packs. "Dear God," Jeff groaned, "we're going to starve."

"Sorry, I'm usually on set all day, just eat at craft. I've, uh, got some crackers and peanut butter in the cabinet." Jensen pointed at the cabinet doors over the sink and took another bite of his apple.

"Banquet fit for a king." Jeff smiled and stepped closer to Jensen until he could smell the crisp scent of the apple in the air between them. "Give me a bite?"

Jensen held the unmarred side of the apple out to Jeff, but Jeff bypassed the apple and bent into to capture Jensen's mouth. His lips parted immediately under Jeff's, and his tongue tasted tart and sweet and felt cool from the refrigerated fruit. When Jeff pulled away, he hummed under his breath, "Delicious."

"No," Jensen smirked. "It's a Cameo."

"Huh?" Jeff got the joke then and shook his head. "You are such a dork."

"That's what you l--" Jensen's eyes suddenly went wide before he stumbled on. "Like about me. You know."

"Yeah." Jeff nodded and licked the taste of apple from his lips. An odd feeling twisted in his gut, and he told himself it was hunger.

~~~

Later, fueled by peanut butter spread over Ritz crackers and a few cups of coffee and bundled in his own not quite heavy enough coat and a pair of gloves borrowed from Jensen, Jeff walked through the snow at the side of the road, squinting against the bright noon sunshine reflected up from the ground. Jensen walked beside him, his boots crunching on the edges of their footprints from the trip out, and his breath puffed out into the air next to Jeff's, clouds of frozen breath meeting in front of them.

The prospect of lasting out the day inside with nothing to cook or eat just hadn't worked for Jeff, and the nearest grocery store was just over a mile away. The walk was a straight shot down the main road, and Jeff was pleased to find the store surprisingly well stocked. Jeff grabbed a basket and quickly filled it, mindful of the need to carry everything home. Two steaks and a pound of bacon. An onion and a round, smooth butternut squash that prompted Jensen to look on with something akin to horror. A bag of bagels and a dozen eggs. A bag of frozen whole green beans because the fresh green produce looked a little old for Jeff's taste. A carton of milk and a two-stick pack of butter, and the basket was full, weighing heavily in Jeff's hand.

They'd both been quiet on the walk to the store, and the walk back to Jensen's apartment was similar, except they couldn't even touch, the casual brushes of fingers and shoulders made impossible by the bags weighing down their hands. Jeff wanted the silence to feel comfortable, companionable, but he wasn't sure that it did, at least not for the whole of a 20 minute walk.

He didn't know if the tension he felt from Jensen was discomfort with the domesticity of the situation, the prospect of having it continue for a few days, or something else. Either way, he couldn't think of much to say himself, so they walked along, listening to the crunch and slide of their shoes in the snow, the slow grind of occasional passing vehicles, and the calls of birds wheeling through the blue skies.

"Hey." Jensen's voice startled Jeff out of his thoughts. "Who's taking care of Bisou while you're up here?"

"Oh." Jeff smiled, thinking about his girl. "My neighbor Jim's got her. He's her second favorite human."

"That's cool." Jensen nodded, rebalancing the bags in his hands. "You could've brought her. I wouldn't have minded."

"That's--" Jeff felt an unexpected lump in his throat and swallowed against it. "That's nice of you to offer, man. Really nice. But I'm trying to keep her frequent flier miles down--heard too many horror stories. Besides, she hates the snow."

Jensen laughed, a little bit of shiver in his voice. "Really? I thought most dogs loved running around in this shit." Jensen gestured at the lumpy snow around them. They'd reached the walkway leading up to Jensen's apartment, and the walk was shoveled, mounds of snow lining the edges.

"Yeah, not Bisou. She's a spoiled little princess sometimes, but if you tell her I said that I'll deny everything."

"And you call me a dork!" Jensen flipped his leg back, and Jeff side-stepped to avoid the playful kick.

The only excuse he could think of, as his footing slipping out from under him and his ankles tangled up with each other, was that the tread of his shoes weren't really meant for hiking in the snow. He tumbled to the side, landing in the thick shovel-tossed snow with an "Oof!" shocked at the cold of snow forced up between his shirt and jeans. Giving in to gravity, he laid back and laughed breathlessly at the sight of the squash--liberated from its bag--skittering across the surface of the snow.

"Shit!" Jensen called out from above him and then crashed down to his knees next to Jeff. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Jeff coughed to get his breath back. "You just better be glad I wasn't carrying the eggs."

"I'm so sorry!" Jensen put his bags down carefully on the sidewalk and reached one gloved hand out to touch Jeff's chest, his neck, though Jeff couldn't imagine what he thought he was checking for. Kid wasn't exactly a paramedic.

"I'm fine." Jeff took hold of Jensen's hand and gripped tightly. "Help me up?"

"Sure. Sure." Jensen nodded and stood up, bracing himself to take Jeff's weight, which was exactly when Jeff grinned up at him and tugged, using his own position and Jensen's strength for leverage to bring Jensen flopping down onto the snow next to him. Jeff rolled up from the snow, feeling cold all along his back, and straddled Jensen's thighs to hold him down.

"Bastard!" Jensen laughed, the corners of his eyes crinkling until Jeff wanted to kiss him there, licking away the tears brought out by the cold air.

Jeff bent down closer to Jensen's face and murmured, "Let's go inside so you can talk dirty to me in private."

Jensen stopped laughing, his eyes going warm despite the freezing air around them. They stood up and patted themselves down, knocking off all the loose snow they could, but still both of them straggled into the apartment with lines of snow caked into their jackets and jeans.

They dumped the groceries, recovered from the snow and the sidewalk, in the refrigerator and headed straight for the bathroom.

Jeff pulled off his drenched jacket and then hauled his shirts up over his head, shivering as the icy hems pulled up over parts of his chest that had been dry. He bent down to pull down his pants--stiff, cold denim resisting the movement--and then looked up to see Jensen struggling to do the same. The normally-pale skin of Jensen's thighs and ass was bright red with cold.

"Aw, look at you. You're freezing."

"Thin blood," Jensen replied, teeth chattering just slightly. "Texas. Can't help it."

Jeff pushed his jeans the rest of the way off, dragging his sopping wet socks and shoes with them, and then reached inside the shower to turn the hot water on before moving over to help Jensen.

"Come on." He pulled the waistband of Jensen's pants out of the grasp of cold fingers and tugged them off over Jensen's bare feet. "Let's get warmed up."

The glass-doored shower stall had already turned into a sauna, the warm, wet air a comfort after the cold crispness of outside. As he stepped inside, Jeff turned the cold knob up to keep their chilled skin from burning and then pulled Jensen in after him.

The water hit Jeff's back like a blessing, and he smiled, wrapped his arms around Jensen and relaxed into the heat.