Shelf Ice Meander
By Simarillion

Fandom: Supernatural RPS
Universe: Alternative Universe
Rating: R
Beta: Asm Z
Pairing: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki, Jared Padalecki/Genevieve Cortese (mentioned) others
Warnings: slash, M/M
Word Count: 3,005 (24,261 total)
Summary: Tell it like it is. (Of settling and living)
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 5 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 are Invisible Glaciers, Iceberg Anatomy,Avalanches Approaching, and Crevasse Rescue.

[Masterpost]



Part Eight

The next morning, when Jensen wakes up, he’s got a headache and his ears are still ringing from all the shouting.. Apparently, when they had seen the news about Jared and Genevieve in the morning, Chris and Danneel had called Mike and Tom. Once it had been determined that Jensen had already returned to San Francisco, they had tried to reach him on the phone.

With the phone not being answered, it had led to a mass exodus from Canada to the US. Now Jensen has three people sleeping in his guest rooms, who want to continue what they started last night, shouting at Jensen some more for being an asshole.

Burying his head under his pillow, Jensen wishes everyone would just disappear. How is he supposed to mope and get all depressed, if his ‘friends’ insist on shattering his eardrums with all their yelling?

There’s scratching on his door and he just wants to turn around and pretend to be still asleep, but it’s a really douchy thing to do, to take it out on Dean. The husky had been excited at the hoard of people showing up, but after the first hour of shouting, he had been confused, somehow believing that everyone was angry with him, and not Jensen, and in the end the husky had hidden in the downstairs bathroom, to keep out of everyone’s way.

Groaning pitifully, Jensen untangles himself from his sheets and rolls out of bed. He stumbles to the door and opens a crack just wide enough to let Dean in.

The dog wedges through, past Jensen, into the bedroom and jumps onto the rumpled bed. Jensen cards his fingers through his hair, and scratches his chest. He glances at Dean, who has rolled into a doggy pile, and goes to take a shower. It will help him to wake up, and get ready for the morning run.

Clean, and somewhat more alert than before the shower, Jensen gets his clothes out. He steps into sweats and a t-shirt, that proudly announces ‘Stanford Athletic Team’. Dressed for the work out, he calls Dean and they head out of the room, and downstairs.

The house is quiet, and after the noise yesterday, this is more than welcome. Jensen grabs the leash from the dresser, but only strapping it over his chest and shoulder. With a last check if he’s got keys with him, Jensen and Dean leave the house.

They jog up the street to where the dust track veers off into the fields. His feet are pounding on the dirt, creating tiny clouds of smoke. It feels good to get some exercise. The running also helps with clearing his head . It’s like something out of those Zen lifestyle guides, where you are told that you should find your inner centre. Jensen is right there, bulls eye, when he’s jogging through the nature all around him.

Dean runs left and right, crossing the track, and following scents he comes across. The husky occasionally checks up on Jensen, as if to make sure that his human doesn’t get lost, and then he disappears to some bush or mole hill in the fields, letting Jensen jog on.

The morning air is balmy and the sun is already announcing that the day will get rather hot. There’re no clouds in the sky, and no breeze is to be felt either.

In the distance Jensen can see a jackrabbit watching their approach suspiciously before it zigzags away. Dean tries to follow but the distance is too great and the rabbit is too fast. The dog returns, head hanging, disappointed he didn’t catch the animal.

Jensen just pats his head and tells him that it’s okay, that he can’t catch everything. Their run takes them past the shed of the farm, and next to it they find Ellen, the farmer’s wife, cleaning some buckets. She waves at them as Jensen and Dean pass by, and Jensen waves back.

Once the dirt track ends, they turn to the right and continue on the path that leads through the meadows and fields to the wilderness behind Jensen’s house. They discovered the path by chance, and ever since they take this way to return home. Jensen even uprooted one of the bushes and had a gate built, so that they can come and go without any trouble.

The path is narrow, and barely to be made out, but Jensen knows the way by heart, and he jogs without checking if he’s running in the right direction. The last part leads through the trees and bushes right behind Jensen’s garden. As they make their way through it, there’s some rustling to the left and the cats join them like every other morning.

He opens the gate to let their ragtag group inside the garden, and closes it behind them again. On the porch he can see Danneel sitting in a chair, watching their approach, a cup of something steaming (most likely coffee) in her hands. She cups her eyes and pears at the cats and the dog bounding up to the house.

With the run over, Jensen stretches and makes sure that his muscles don’t start to cramp. He shakes out his limbs and then walks up to the house, climbing the stairs onto the porch.

“Morning.” He cautiously scans Danneel’s face to estimate her mood.

“Morning.” Her reply is calm, with none of the anger from yesterday in her tone. She reaches down to pet one of the cats, and raises her cup with the other hand, taking a sip.

“Sleep well?” Jensen sits down in the chair opposite her and sprawls relaxed.

“Like the dead.” Another sip and then she sets the cup down on the table. “Jensen, about yesterday.”

He tenses, expecting the shouting to start up again.

“Yeah.” Taking a breath he prepares for what is to come.

“I’m sorry.” This has him blink confused at Danneel.

“Uh, what?” Jensen stares at her in confusion. After all the shouting, and yelling, she’s sorry?

“Yesterday we all were just so worried because we couldn’t reach you, and when we saw you standing there, nothing wrong with you, I just got so angry. I’m sorry I yelled at you like that. And I take back that you are a sucky friend.” The last sentence she mumbles so quietly that Jensen almost doesn’t hear her.

“Okay. Thanks.” He frowns. He hadn’t expected her to feel bad about berating him for his asshole behavior, but he’s glad that she doesn’t think that his friendship sucks. “And I’m really sorry for making everyone worry. I just didn’t want to talk about it.”

“Not even with me.” At that she gives him her best puppy look. Even going so far as to batting her eyes for a more dramatic effect.

Jensen snorts at the display. “Sorry, not even you.”

Danneel just nods her understanding and picks her cup up again. She sips and looks out into the garden.

“You know, one good thing about that whole mess is that I finally got to see your house.” She turns to him and smiles. “It’s very beautiful. I like it.”

The two of them continue to just sit in silence and enjoy the peace and quiet. Dean joins them, rolling up under the table and one of the cats curls up with him. Jensen has turned his chair, to be able to look out into the garden as well. The pale green of spring has slowly but surely been replaced by the richer shade of summer.

Most of the flowerbeds are still empty, but in the few where Jensen planted already, there are splashes of color. Seeing how everything changes with the seasons, and how the garden transforms once more into his own little paradise, Jensen promises to himself that he won’t let anyone jerk him around. No-one.

The decision made, he knows that it will be hard to do, but he has to tell Jared that they aren’t working out. In the beginning when Jared had been all enthusiastic, obsessed with the chase, and the promise of success, he had pictured their time together quite different from what it is now.

They are both at fault, but Jensen could change only one thing, to compromise even more. He would have to move to LA, and move in with Jared. He would have to give up the life he has here in San Francisco, and stay at Jared’s house, to be around when the other has time.

But as much as he likes and wants Jared, that is something he isn’t willing to do. He promised himself in the past, that he would never give himself up for someone else, and even though he was able to retain most of his self, he already changed more than he would have done for anybody else.

His contemplation is interrupted when the door opens and a sleepy Tom comes out onto the porch, blinking puffy eyes at them. He blearily looks from Danneel to Jensen and back to Danneel, and then he wedges through behind Danneel, and plops down in the chair to her right. The moment he’s sitting, his elbows come up on the table, and he rests his head on his arms.

“Uh…” There’s nothing added to that, and Jensen knows that Tom won’t say anything else for some time. He’s not even remotely a morning person. Having been scared out of bed yesterday, chasing Jensen from Canada to the States, and berating his friend until deep into the night, is something that makes waking up in the morning even harder.

They stay like that, Tom resting, Danneel sipping her cold coffee, and Jensen just thinking. But it doesn’t stay peaceful for very long. Not too long after Tom had joined them, Mike peers out and finds them sitting together. With a loud ‘ha’ he shoves Jensen to the side and climbs over him to the only other empty chair.

“So, are we going to talk like normal people today?” Mike’s question has Danneel snort into her cup and Tom groan. “What, the only thing we did yesterday was shout at the dickhead. We still haven’t talked about the asshole.”

Leave it to Mike to explain a situation with the maximum usage of swear words. Jensen just raises his eyebrow and glances at his friend. At least he’s the dickhead and not the asshole. Jensen takes what he can get.

“Shut it, Rosenbaum.” Danneel whacks Mike’s elbow and gives him her best glare. Jensen is glad that he isn’t on the receiving end of it.

Mike can’t be bothered by it though. He just raises an eyebrow, and then turns back to Jensen. “So?”

“I already said–“ He doesn’t get any further than this though, before his friend rolls his eyes.

“I don’t want to hear the same crap you told us yesterday, and I don’t care about you being a complete douche. I’m asking about what is going on with Jared and that bitch.”

And that is the big question that the press is sure they’ve answered. Normally Jensen doesn’t give a crap about what reporters write, but this isn’t a single incident. Jared has been with that woman more than once, and he never even mentioned her to Jensen. Saying that it is a misunderstanding just doesn’t work this time. Not with what she said, and Jared not denying it. Not with Jared being this happy with her and conveniently forgetting to tell Jensen about his new ‘friend’.

“It’s not the first time there were pictures of the two of them.” Saying it out loud is hard, like it makes it more real. It hurts, and Jensen thinks that the words taste very bitter on his tongue.

“What?” Mike’s question is mirrored in the twin looks of confusion on Tom’s and Danneel’s faces.

“A couple of weeks back, about two months ago; there were these pictures in a magazine about Jared and a woman playing with his dogs at his house.” He takes a deep breath before he goes on. “But it was only this one magazine, and no-one said anything about it anywhere else. So, I just thought it was’nt important.”

Which is not true. Because right after he saw the photos, he knew that they were important. But both Tom’s words and Jared’s ignorance of the incident, had changed his mind. Putting his worries to rest, and convincing him that he shouldn’t spend any time thinking about it anymore.

“Jensen.” Danneel looks at her, all compassionate and sorry, and Jensen suddenly feels anger boiling up in him. He doesn’t want his friends to look at him like that. Pitying him, and treating him like he’s made of glass. The shouting and yelling of yesterday was way better than anything that will come now.

“Danneel, don’t.” He glares at her, having her stare at him in surprise. “I don’t want to be pitied. This, all of it, sucks. And having my friends treating me like I might break doesn’t make it better. I want to not think about it.”

“But Jensen, you can’t ignore what’s going on.” Tom is leaning back in his chair and keeping a close watch on Jensen. His puffy and sleepy eyes are fixed on Jensen. “That’s what you’ve been doing all winter. You get hurt by his behavior, try to keep from obsessing about it, and then, once he gives you a call or visits you, you simply ‘forget’ it ever happened.

“Yeah, dude. This time you can’t let him get away with it.” Mike slaps his hand on the table. The loud smack that has Dean wake up and peer out from under the table, checking on the humans.

“I’m not planning on letting him get away with it.” His words have the others roll their eyes and snort. They don’t believe him, think that he will cave like he did in the past. “No, I mean it. I won’t answer his calls, and I will tell him that we just won’t work out.”

Their eyes are still skeptical, and Jensen can understand their reluctance in believing him. His actions in the past created a very different picture of his interactions with Jared. But, he’s determined to not let Jared walk all over him. Not this time.

His determination is tested right after he’s made his statement, when his phone rings, and Jensen finds Jared’s ID on the display. Demonstratively, he sets the phone down on the table and lets it ring until it goes to the mailbox.

As the backlight of the phone display goes out, he can feel his racing heart start to slow down again and the tight knot in his throat gets smaller as well. Looking up, he finds his friends watching him closely. He swallows hard, knowing that they are aware how difficult this is for him. They are worried that he won’t have the strength every time.

Jensen is tempted to switch the phone to silent mode, but the thought of his family or colleagues, or Chris, trying to reach him, keeps him from doing so.

The four of them stay like this for some time. The phone lying in the middle of the table, Jensen’s eyes on it, and his friend’s eyes on him. It doesn’t ring again, just sits there like the device of doom. At least it feels like this to Jensen, who is getting more antsy with every second. The weight of the other’s stares is making him feel nervous and uncomfortable.

When the display of the cell lights up again, giving a short beep and announcing a new message, Jensen’s heart stops for a second. He wonders if he should delete it without listening what Jared had to say, to take away the temptation, but he just can’t force himself to do so.

It is the cats scratching on the back door that finally wakes him from this stupor he’s in, having him get up, and leave the phone behind on the table.

“How does pancakes with syrup, eggs and toast, OJ, and coffee sound?” His question is answered by three looks that remind him of starving children in some Third World slum. Jensen grins and shakes his head. He opens the door and heads inside to prepare some breakfast, Dean and the cats following closely behind him.

In the kitchen he starts to brew some fresh coffee, and scrambles the eggs. While the coffee is dripping into the pot, Jensen prepares the food for the animals and sets the bowls down in their feeding corner. Dean shares his bowl with Paws, the other cats eat from the other bowl.

“D’you need some help?” Danneel’s voice has him turn his head. His friend is hovering in the door, unsure if she’ll get in the way.

“Sure.” Jensen shuffles to the side and makes some space for Danneel. “How about you make the pancakes?”

She just nods and goes about preparing the batter, and getting a pan for later.

The same time Danneel takes care of the sweet part of the breakfast, Jensen scrambles and seasons some more eggs, and gets the toaster out of the cupboard. He loads the dishes and the cutlery onto a tray, together with the spreads and the butter. Finding Danneel almost finished with her part of the cooking as well, Jensen carries the tray outside, and together with Mike and Tom, sets the table, and sets up the toaster.

A couple of minutes later, as Jensen is pouring out the coffee, Danneel joins them with a full plate of pancakes and a bottle of maple syrup. Mike’s eyes get a scary gleam when he reaches for his fork. Everyone makes sure to stay out his way, as he spears a nice stack and transfers them to his own plate.

“You now, no-one’s trying to take them away from you.” Tom’s comment earns him a doubtful look from Mike and amused snickers from Jensen and Danneel.



continue: Part Nine