If you had told Jared when he moved to Nashville with his three suitcases, his two boxes of books, and his pickup, that in less that five years he'd own three motorcycles and his own house, and that he'd be throwing a Christmas party with his boyfriend, he'd have asked when you lost your mind and how hard were you looking for it? And yet here he was in his own living room for which he paid a mortgage, his three motorcycles parked in the garage, his two dogs losing their shit in anticipation, and his boyfriend walking in the front door with a six-pack of Lone Star and a carton of rainbow sherbet.

He'd wanted to have a Christmas party, since he had a house to host it in and a boyfriend to help him, but Christmas being on a Saturday messed with his plans a little - Katie and her roommates were having a party the weekend before, and he couldn't do it the weekend after - and it was his mom's idea to just have an open house on Sunday.

(And then, of course, she had to share all the tips and tricks she could for feeding an unknown number of people for an unknown length of time. Jensen laughed at his obsessive planning, but Jared wanted everything to be right.)

( The house wasn't exactly clean )

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and that's it. :D thanks for sticking with me.

(this part's nc-17. i think it's the last smutty bit.)

Jensen hadn't lied to Jared on the phone - he really did love playing with the band, and he really did love playing for a live audience, and he really did love getting to meet other musicians and talk shop with them, and he hadn't mentioned it but he kind of liked getting to see other parts of the country. But he also really hated being away from his bed and his own place and most especially he hated being away from his boyfriend. And talking to Jared on the phone, listening to him stroking himself off in the bathtub, knowing Jared was thinking about him as he did so - that didn't help. Jensen was a little surprised and a lot upset to discover that phone sex actually made the separation worse.

And he didn't think he'd really mentioned it, because he'd rather make light of things on the phone so as not to make Jared worry, but he was getting tired of traveling. He was getting tired of being away from home. He was getting tired of showering in motel showers, and sharing a bed with someone he wasn't dating, and sitting in the van trying to read the map or get directions on his phone when the GPS got them lost, and counting miles and gas money, and having to meet new people (club owners, promoters, sound guys, local fans, whoever) every damn night.

As much as he loved getting to sing and play his guitar on a regular basis, he was also really, really tired.

( Which was how he found himself sitting at a table drinking with some local fans one night )

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(wren? here's your phone sex. :D )

Having Jensen gone wasn't quite the hardest thing Jared had ever had to put up with, but it certainly wasn't easy. But he had things to occupy his time - his job, his dogs, his friends, the night class he'd registered for at Belmont, his bikes. He very nervously came out to his parents as bi and told them he was dating a guy, and his mom asked how he knew, when did he know, had he told his friends and coworkers, were they ok with it, and when could she and his dad meet this boy? And his dad asked the kinds of questions about Jensen that a dad might ask about a boy who was dating his daughter - where was he from, what did he do, what was family like, what was he like.... And neither of them gave Jared much grief or seemed too upset. He was relieved.

( He wondered if they were ok with it for the same reason Jensen had said his parents were ok with it )

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oh lovely reading filter! as thanks for allowing me to believe i'm not writing into a void, you can if you so desire give me someone to add to the story. (probably as a random cameo, because this is the fic of 1000 cameos, but who knows. i still need to cast a couple country/rock bands.) so if you want to tell me what to do, narratively speaking, now's your chance. :D

(i'd prefer someone who's still alive, altho the mysterious mr manners with the gorgeous blue marmon passed away a couple years ago in real life, so i'm kind of flexible on that score. i would prefer someone whose name i at least recognize, tho.)

After that it was like a dam breaking. They spent weekends together and every weeknight they could, allowing for Jensen having to be at the coffeeshop early and Chris being home and Jensen or Jared having something to do at night. ( They started learning about the things they liked to do with and to each other )

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this is nc-17, just so you know. :D

Jensen hadn’t told anyone but Chris and Danneel about his interest in (and desire for) Jared, but somehow word seemed to have gotten around. By now everyone knew he was no longer seeing Matt, but how they’d figured out that he was trying to put the moves on someone else, he couldn’t guess, and he wasn’t going to ask.

He had to pick a weekend to make his move, though, because on the off-chance it worked and Jared was actually interested in him, he wanted the guy to be able to stay over. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was going to do, or when, or how far exactly he wanted to push it on the first try, but he did want to make sure there would be enough time for them to play around, if Jared was into it. And he wanted to do it at his place, so Jared could leave if he freaked out.

( Jensen was trying very hard not to think about what would happen if Jared freaked out. )

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And in the meantime, he and Jensen would be friends and do stuff together and email each other silly shit and Jensen would get lost the first time he got Jared to invite him over to the house to see his motorcycles and meet his dogs.

Jared was working on the Triumph in the driveway when Jensen finally pulled up to the house. He’d parked his truck on the street to give himself more space. The garage door was open, as was the door into the house from the garage – he didn’t have the air conditioning on so it didn’t matter how many doors he had open – Harley was inside, probably sprawled all over the couch, and Sadie was lying down on the garage floor, watching the great outdoors.

Jared had his dogs trained well enough that they weren’t going to go running off while he was there, but he still had to yell “Sadie!” when Jensen parked his car in front of the house and got out, and Sadie jumped up and went running over to him. She stopped maybe a foot in front of him and started barking, and he backed against the car, clearly startled.

“Sadie!” Jared called again, jumping up to rescue Jensen. “Sit!”

( Uh... Jared? Jensen said. )

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Breaking it off with Matt was not the most difficult conversation Jensen had had in the past eight months, but it was definitely one of the more awkward ones. Matt had seemed more baffled than upset - they weren't incompatible, things hadn't been going badly, how did Jensen know it wouldn't work? And Jensen couldn't really tell him "I know it won't work because I don't want it to, because I want someone else." He didn't exactly lie, but he couldn't tell Matt the whole truth. Matt wasn't immediately interested in just staying friends, but he didn't want to discount Jensen entirely.

Jensen wanted to tell him that he was a great guy who would meet a great guy, and he deserved better than what Jensen had given him, but it sounded lame.

Matt kissed him goodbye, and to Jensen it felt like Matt was telling him "This is what you're turning down, and let me tell you, you're gonna miss it". Which wasn't entirely wrong. Matt was a great kisser. But for all Jensen knew, Jared was too.

( So that was that. )

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"We need people for our first open mike night!" Aly had told Jensen and Chris - and everyone else she knew - and since Chris thought Jensen might be nervous, he volunteered to drive both of them in case Jensen needed to mentally prepare, in case he needed someone to calm him down, and in case he needed a couple of beers before and another couple of beers after.

And also, apparently, so Chris could grill him about Matt.

"Is your boyfriend coming?" he asked at the first red light.

"He's not my boyfriend," Jensen said, "and I'm not sure. He said he'd try." They hadn't seen each other since Sunday night, when Jensen went over to Matt's place for a few hours, but they'd talked on the phone once, chatted briefly a couple times online, and Matt had dropped by the coffeeshop yesterday to say hi. But he'd gotten busy - he was teaching a summer class, doing a lot of reading and research and thinking about his future thesis, and working what amounted to a summer job as an accountant - and kind of expected to stay that way.

( You've been out, what, twice? Three times? )

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Katie was still teasing Jared about his new “friend” – she even used the air quotes when she said it – on Friday, especially since Jared had let slip that they’d already talked on the phone and texted back and forth a bunch of times, and they were supposed to be seeing a movie together on Saturday. Jensen had the day off, and the Belcourt was showing For a Few Dollars More and High Plains Drifter, neither of which Jared had seen, and in fact Jared wasn’t sure if Jensen was interested in both movies or just one. He should probably find out.

He called Jensen on his lunch break, got the voice mail, and left a message – “High Plains Drifter or For a Few Dollars More? They’re both showing Saturday. Gimme a call when you get a chance.” Katie overheard him and snickered. Jared just rolled his eyes. He didn’t care if she thought he had a thing for the guy.

Later that afternoon he started on a 2006 Chevy Impala, determining that he’d probably have to dismantle it in an attempt to figure out what was rattling around when you turned the air or the heat on. Tom was in the bay next to him realigning a Jeep Cherokee, and Katie was doing a state inspection on an old LeSabre when Aldis bounced through the garage, telling everyone “Go outside right now, you can thank me later.”

( I can’t stop an inspection, Katie protested. )

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(the mysterious mr manners' 1924 marmon)