Iceberg Anatomy
By Simarillion

Fandom: Supernatural RPS
Universe: Alternative Universe
Rating: PG-13 (this instalment)
Beta: Sulfuric Fusion
Pairing: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki (one-sided), Jared Padalecki/Sandra McCoy (mentioned), others
Warnings: slash, M/M
Word Count: 3,475
Summary: Movie meets reality. At the end of the world a fateful meeting takes place.
Disclaimer: None of the herein presented happenings and events are true. Everything is 100% fiction and that includes the sexuality of the characters. I don’t claim to be in the know about their relations and private affairs, and I don’t make any money with the creation of this story.

Author’s Note: I changed the age of Jensen and Jared, they are the same age now. The plot wouldn’t really work otherwise.

This is part 2 of the Glaciology! ‘verse. Jensen is a scientist in the field of glaciology and he spends most of his time surrounded by ice, whereas Jared is a Hollywood movie star. Prequel to this story is Invisible Glaciers.

[Masterpost]



Part One

It is a balmy 32 degrees Fahrenheit outside. After the heavy winter, the rise in temperature comes as a welcome change - and it comes not a second too soon. Today, a group of strangers will join the base. There had been lots of rumours and speculations since no one told them what kind of people would be sent their way. The stories had been increasing in hilarity as the arrival date closed in, include theories about secret government agents, aliens from area 51, the cast of a reality show (something about Paris Hilton had been whispered), and movie stars.

Jensen has spent the last three days outside. He and three others have been travelling to the gauging stations further out. The snow is heaped high like mountain ranges at some places, and the frozen masses glitter coldly in the sunlight. There’s nothing more beautiful than this.

Dean barks happily as they near home. Jensen knows that the only reason why the husky is so excited is because Danneel spoils him rotten with treats and scratches behind the ears. Dean is spineless like that. For a beef jerky, he would turn his back on Jensen any day.

There is a commotion at the base when they stop in front of it. Jeff is showing a group of people around, newcomers wrapped in arctic gear; bright red, blue, yellow and orange shapes in all this white and grey. The group follows him around like a pack of obedient puppies.

Once Jensen has settled the dogs down, Danneel comes up to him. She’s grinning like a loon, and her cheeks are blushing. It could be the cold, but he’s sure that she’s excited about something. Dean sees her and starts whining. Without a look back at Jensen the husky dashes for his enabler. His rewards are eager scratches and a strip of dried meat.

“One day he’ll be too fat to pull the sled, and I know exactly who’ll be to blame for that.” There’s amusement in his voice as he hugs his friend.

“Psh, Dean is a lean mean sled pulling machine.” She crouches down and rubs the dog’s sides. “Aren’t you? Yes, we both know that your daddy is just being jealous because I like you better.”

Dean rubs and twists himself around her and slobbers onto her clothes and her face.

“So, the mystery visitors arrived?” He checks a last time that the dogs are securely tied to the chain. Every one of the huskies is curled up and resting.

“Yeah, just now. And you’ll never guess who it is they brought out here.” Now that Dean has settled down somewhat, she gets up and wipes her face. “It’s Jared Padalecki. They’re doing some movie about a polar expedition, and that’s why he’s doing some boot camp kind of thing here with us.”

Jensen feels himself tense at the name. He hadn’t heard a word about the Hollywood star since the reunion two years ago, though it’s not like there are any movie theatres out here, and he never followed the trends and happenings of the movie stars anyway. It annoys him that the mere mentioning of the other’s name has him all nervous and jittery.

“Huh.” There’s nothing else he knows to say here.

“They’re going to stay for four weeks, and they’re supposed to join treks, help with the scientific team, and get an in-depth course about surviving in snow and ice. Jeff said that he’d send them to you about survival training and the dogs.” Danneel follows him up to the main building while she goes on and on about who is going to do what with the movie stars.

Inside the compound the excitement is almost tangible. Everyone is talking about their guests. Apparently everyone but Jensen is up-to-date about the latest gossip from tingle town. They pass by Alona and Brock who argue about the relationship statues of one Jared Padalecki. The only things Jensen hears in passing are the words ‘Sandy’ and ‘break-up’.

The only sane people thought the base seem to be Sam and Jim. Samantha is busy kicking someone’s ass, while Jim just stands by and grins amused. It looks like the general excitement about their guests has spilled into the quality of the work that ought to be done. If there’s one thing that makes Sam angry, it’s shoddy work.

Jensen heads for his small office/closet, Dean trailing after him. Danneel abandoned them when she overheard Alona and Brock’s conversation, and without her feeding him, the husky seems to remember that he’s actually Jensen’s dog. Inside the tiny room, Dean curls up under the desk, and leaves his owner to whatever work he’s supposed to do.

At first he starts with the entering of the collected data. Some of the samples will need further testing, but the preliminary findings are ready to be filed. He spends almost two hours on this particular job, making sure to check everything, referencing and cross-referencing everything, and then forwarding the requested data to Paula at the Scott Polar Institute and Professor Kripke at UA.

He’s almost finished with the task, when there’s a knock at his door, which is wide open to keep Jensen from getting claustrophobic.

“Hi, Jensen! D’you have a minute for us?” Jeff is leaning against the door frame. Behind him he can make out other people, and the giant figure of Jared Padalecki.

“Sure.” He doesn’t get up to greet the newcomers; there isn’t enough room for that in his office, nor in the hallway.

Jeff makes more room to allow the strangers to get a good look at his colleague and his work place. There’s some shuffling and faces peer inside. “Okay, I already introduced you to most of the people you’ll be working with. Jensen here will be the one to show you the ropes where survival in the Polar region is concerned. He’ll give you a crash course on Polar Medicine, teach you how to work with the dogs, and how to ski and hike around here. He’s actually our most experienced explorer, and can tell you exactly what it’s like to cross the South Pole.”

The looks this earns him vary from curious, to bored. Especially one guy, a blonde dude who looks like he just rolled out of bed – tousled hair and all – seems to not care at all about what’s going on around him.

“Cool.” The comment takes Jensen by surprise. “Hi, I’m Jared.”

Before he can reply, or even find his cool, Dean wedges himself out from under the desk and jumps the new stranger, knocking him to the floor. The husky shamelessly climbs over the tall guy and goes on whining and licking him happily.

“Dean!” Jensen is mortified. Leave it to his dog to completely embarrass him.

“Hey, it’s no problem.” Jared has only eyes for his new canine friend, who seems to have decided that the strange human is his one true love. Dean is practically sitting in the man’s lap as he gets his sides rubbed and his ears scratched. “You are a real beauty.”

There’s a snort from the blonde douche bag, and Jensen decides to ignore it. He enjoys watching the display right in front of him. Never before has he been able to see Jared Padalecki this close. In High School he’d had to watch from the bleachers, but now, here, he isn’t even two feet away from him.

“Alright, I’ll show you to your quarters, and you can unpack your stuff.” Jeff gets the group moving again, and after a last pat on the head and a smile at Jensen, Jared follows them. They leave a speechless Jensen behind, who stares at the now empty doorway.

It takes several minutes of processing before he’s come to terms with what happened and then he finishes his work. Once the last figures are entered into the databank, and everything’s been saved and catalogued, he heads for the lab to help with the samples.

Sam is already working on it, and Jensen sidles up next to her. “You need help?”

“Yeah, prepare the next two samples.” She never turns to him, just keeps her eyes trained on her work. “Where did you get these?”

“Just a mile out of station 16. The ice has been melting a lot more out there. The samples are from layers that have been covered for decades, if not a century.” He starts with the preparations and makes sure he’s careful not to ruin anything by contaminating them.

“Explains the results I got. The ice melts even faster than we feared.” And that’s that.

They work side by side in silence and are able to check half of the samples he brought in today. When Dean gets restless, Jensen packs his stuff away and leaves Sam to finish for the day as well. Eagerly, the husky makes for the outside. Just as he has his jacket zipped his up, he can hear someone calling out his name.

“Jensen?”

He turns around and finds Jared heading for them. He’s wearing his full polar gear and he’s smiling happily at him.

“D’you mind my coming with you? You’re going to the dogs, right?” All excited and eager, he looks like a puppy himself. Like Dean when he gets to go outside.

“Sure.” He holds the door open and waits for Dean and Jared to precede him outside. Though the temperature has dropped somewhat he thinks that the other is wearing far too heavy clothes – but then again, Jensen is used to this climate. It’s likely that to someone usually living somewhere much warmer feels the cold differently than he does.

The dogs don’t even raise their heads when they come closer. Jared wants to reach out and pet them but Jensen stops him before anything can happen. “Don’t touch them before I’ve introduced you. Most of them are tame enough, but some wouldn’t hesitate to bite you if they don’t know you.”

Introductions are made and Jensen lets Jared feed the dogs some treats. Now he can pet them as much as he wants to. While the other is busy playing and clowning around with the dogs, Jensen prepares their food. The dogs are still somewhat tired from the long journey; normally they would loudly demand that their human hurry up and prepare their dinner faster.

He carries their bowls over and makes to put away the ingredients of the food.

“Can I help you with something?” Jensen turns his head towards Jared and shakes it.

“Nope.” With that he washes off the fork and the spoon and puts them away. “Everything’s taken care of.”

“They are awesome dogs.” Jared smiles kindly at the pack. “I have two dogs at home as well, but they’re no sled dogs. I think they would love the pack though.”

Jensen doubts that Jared’s dogs would enjoy the pack. “They seem even-tempered, but believe me, when a new dog joins and they don’t get along it can get nasty. The first two months there were lots if fights, two dogs got killed. They killed them during the night.”

There is disbelieve and something like uncertainty in the other’s eyes as he looks from the dogs to Jensen and back.

“The dogs killed each other?”

“Yeah, tore their throats out.” He leaves it at that. It’s better that Jared knows that these are not spoiled pets.

They stay to watch the dogs finish eating and then they collect the bowls, and Jensen washes them out. Dean is curled up against Sammy. The two dogs have their snouts tucked against each other’s fur and are dozing contently.

“You want me to show you the sled and their gear?” Now that the huskies are full and tired, there’s nothing much they can do with them.

“Sure.” The eagerness and excitement is back. He shows Jared around, explains the gear and the sled, answers questions, and they walk around the compound as Jensen points out different things and places of importance.

When they return to the entrance, Dean shows up and looks at them as if he were asking what took them so long. “Dude, you have no reason to look at me like that.”

Jared laughs, amused at the interaction between dog and human, and reaches down to scratch the husky behind the ears. This earns him a happy yip and doggy kisses.

“You are so easy.” Jensen rolls his eyes at Dean’s antics and opens the door for all of them. There’s a short scuffle about who’ll enter first and then they’re back inside. The air is much warmer than outside.

“Thanks, man that was real fun.”

“Anytime.” And Jensen is surprised that he means it. He enjoyed taking care of the dogs together with Jared. The other was eager to learn and he really adored the dogs, all things that rank very highly with Jensen.

“Jared, dude.” They are joined by the blonde guy that seems to be constantly annoyed with being here. “Where were you?”

“Helping Jensen with the dogs.” He smiles satisfied at the other. “Uh, I don’t think you were really introduced to each other. Jensen, meet Chad, my best friend and the biggest douche bag I know as well.”

“Shut up, freak!” But to Jensen’s surprise there’s no heat of malice in either Jared’s or Chad’s voice. Apparently they really were that good of friends that they were allowed to make fun of each other.

“Hi!” He’s not sure if he should shake Chad’s hand or if a greeting is enough, but he’s saved by Chad, who nods at him.

“Nice.”

Then he turns back to his friend. “Dude, dinner is served, and I know you, if you don’t get any food any time soon you’ll annoy me like there’s no tomorrow.”

News about food is, apparently, even greater than dogs, and with a happy grin shot towards Jensen, Jared leads the way towards the cantina. Jensen leaves the actors to their eating and grabs an apple before he heads for his own quarters. He needs a shower. Three days on the trek is too much time without the chance to properly clean oneself.

Dean jumps onto Jensen’s bed and curls up. Through slit eyes he watches his human undress and get into the bathroom. The lukewarm water feels like heaven on his skin. There are strict rules on the timing of showers; no longer than five minutes, and he treasures each of them. Finally, he turns the shower off and climbs out of the cubicle.

Jensen is one of the few who actually have their own shower. There had been talk about him having to give up his room during the presence of their guests, but in the end Jeff has decided that no one would be temporarily relocated. His exact words had been ‘if they want to experience what life is like out here, they can do it the real way’.

Drying off and slipping into sweats, a t-shirt, and a fleece sweater, he walks back into his bedroom. Dean is deep asleep and has uncurled. The husky is spread across the whole bed.

He grabs the apple he picked up at the cantina and slips into thick woollen socks. With David’s book about climate change and its impact on the Polar Regions in hand, he does his best to fit onto the bed somewhere next to, or under, the dog, and settles down.

There’s a soft knock on his door.

“Yeah?” He doesn’t even try to untangle himself again from the pretzel that is him and Dean.

The door opens and Jared peeks in. “Um, Jeff told us that if we want to take a shower we’re supposed to ask. My room is across the corridor, so, is it alright if I use your shower?”

There are public showers as well, Jensen knows that, but the thought of Jared Padalecki taking a shower just a few feet away makes this one of the easiest decisions he’s ever made. “Sure, feel free to use the shower.”

“Awesome. I’ll just get my things.”

The head disappears and a couple of minutes later the door to his room opens again to let Jared in. Jensen looks up but returns to reading his book after the other closes the bathroom door behind himself.

“Five minutes only!” He shouts the instructions at the wall that separates them. He receives no reply though. If Jeff gave them the whole shebang, he surely informed them on showering policies as well.

At first he can hear nothing, but then the shower turns on. The rushing of water fades into the background as he forces himself to focus on the text he’s reading. He’ll be able to fantasize about a naked Jared Padalecki in his quarters later, after the object of his interest is back in his own room, and Dean is no longer resting his head on Jensen’s crotch.

It’s impossible to be contrite with temptation so near. His eyes scan over letters, words and paragraphs, but it’s like his eyes and his brain don’t share a connection. He can see but he can’t read. Fortunately it only takes a little bit longer than five minutes, and then there is silence once more in the adjoining room.

Five more minutes and the door opens, revealing a flushed Jared. His hair is tousled and still wet. Bunching his worn clothes and his other stuff in his arms, he smiles at Jensen. “Thanks, I really needed that after the long day I had.”

Jensen nods and closes the book in his hands. “Feels nice, huh?”

“Sure does.” If he feels uncomfortable standing in another person’s private space, he doesn’t show it. He grins at Dean and looks up at Jensen, laughing softly. “He likes the bed.”

“Yeah. If he could, he would throw me out of my own room. Thinks it’s all his.” Absentmindedly he scratches the dog behind the ears. “So, what are the plans for your group tomorrow?”

“Well, we’re going to have a couple of lectures on the Polar flora with Dr. Tal in the morning. In the afternoon, there’s gonna be a crash course in Polar fauna with Dr. Beaver and Capt. Morgan.” It’s strange to hear his friends and colleagues being referred to by their title and their family name. “I was wondering, what time do you guys usually get up at?”

“Depends on what shift you are working, but most of the people are up and at breakfast around six, six thirty the latest.” He smirks at the dismayed look on Jared’s face.

“Man, I thought that for once I would be able to sleep longer than till five o’clock.” The statement is accompanied by a put-upon sigh. “What time do you get up?

“My days start around four-thirty. Got to feed the dogs and take Dean for a short walk. Sometimes I help with preparing breakfast.”

This time Jared can’t hide his dislike.

“What?”

“I really wanted to help you with the dogs in the morning as well. But, four-thirty?” A groan follows and a grimace that shows exactly what he thinks about the idea of getting up that early.

“Hey, no problem. You can help in the evening.” He doesn’t even get to say anymore before he’s interrupted.

“No way, I want to help! I’ll be up bright and early, four-thirty tomorrow morning.” Jensen is sure he can hear a murmured, “more like night,” added at the end.

“Okay.”

“Great. I’ll leave you to your reading again.” Jared turns to the door and steps out. In the doorway he looks back and smiles gratefully. “Thanks for the shower.”

“No problem. You can take one anytime.”

Another nod and then the door is closed, leaving Jensen back in the room, alone with Dean. The husky huffs heavily and buries his face deeper into his crotch. One hand rubbing the dog’s neck and another holding the book open, he can finally concentrate again on the text, and he continues reading till about an hour later.

He pushes Dean off the bed and pulls off the fleece sweat shirt. Curled up in his blankets he’s too tired to even to think about Jared Padalecki taking a shower, and quickly falls asleep.




continue: Part Two