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Fic: You can do magic (you're the one who can put out the fire)
Part Two: (The Methods by which Witches Entice and Allure the Innocent)
Jensen is hiding in the bathroom. He’s been in here for far too long; Jared’s parents are sure to be suspicious by now, but he needed a moment alone.
In all honesty, Jensen isn’t sure what to make of Jared’s parents. Last time he saw Jared’s mom, on that Fox News show where she went head-to-head with his own mom, Jessica Padalecki had straight black hair. She’d been wearing a long fitted back dress with bat wings and Jensen has to confess, watching her on the television, he’d been a little scandalized by her nose and eyebrow piercings.
The piercings she has in today are even more outlandish. She has a bright red stud in her nose and a silver dragon in her eyebrow. She also has very short rainbow-colored hair. And she’s wearing multi-colored harem pants and an emerald green crop top.
Jared’s dad is wearing blue jeans and a purple tie-dyed shirt. He has long silver hair, pulled into a bun with some sort of chop sticks sticking out of it and he’s wearing black nail polish.
Jensen tries to imagine Jared’s parents having a civil conversation with his and fails dismally. Just the thought of them being in the same room is almost enough to trigger a panic attack and he finds himself laughing, a little hysterically.
There’s a knock on the bathroom door and he cans the laughter and pulls himself together.
“Just a minute,” he calls.
He flushes the toilet for good measure and then washes his hands and splashes cold water on his face.
When he opens the door he finds Jessica Padalecki on the other side.
“Oh honey,” she says and pulls him into a hug.
He resists for about ten seconds and then sighs and settles into the embrace.
“I’ve met your mom,” she says, “and it’s true that on the surface, we don’t seem to have a lot in common. But we’re both very passionate about the things we believe in and we both love our children fiercely. That’s important,” she steps back and holds him at arm’s length, her hands on his shoulders as she looks directly into his eyes.
“Your eyes are gorgeous,” she says. “Really mesmerising. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if you had a little magic in you.”
“I doubt it,” Jensen ducks his head and Jessica laughs warmly.
“C’mon,” she says. “We want to get to know you.”
Later, when the Padaleckis have headed off to a hotel and he and Jared are tucked together in bed, Jensen tries to articulate how he feels.
“It’s not that I wasn’t happy to meet them,” he says. “They’re really nice. And it’s awesome that they’re so open to having a mundane in the family. But…it feels like we gave them an opportunity that we didn’t give my parents.”
Jared is annoyed. And a little hurt.
“I told them not to come,” he says defensively. “They just ignored me. It’s not like we asked them to come, but told your parents they couldn’t.”
Jensen’s being unfair and he knows it, but he’s feeling off-kilter and out of sorts and really alone in a sea of witches.
Jared gets out of bed and storms out of the bedroom. Jensen hears the bathroom door slam. He folds his arms over his face and thinks a very sincere apology at Jared.
I’m so sorry. That was rude and uncalled for. I’m being a selfish dick.
All he gets along the bond is a sniffle, which serves to remind him yet again just how young Jared really is.
Jensen thinks love and support at Jared. He’s not as good as the magus is at this magic bond stuff, but he thinks he’s doing it right.
Come back to bed.
He pictures Jared as the little spoon, wrapped in his arms. He gets amusement and then a mental picture of himself as the little spoon. Jensen grins. He really doesn’t care who ends up being the little spoon, so long as he gets Jared back in his arms.
The bedroom door opens.
“Sorry,” they say in unison.
Jensen pulls back the comforter and Jared shuts the bedroom door and gets in beside him.
“You’re not alone,” Jared whispers. “You’ll never be alone again. And maybe that’s part of the problem. I’m used to being aware of the emotions all around me. And okay, being able to read actual thoughts is new, but you can get a lot just from people’s emotions and I’m already used to that. For you, this is a really, really big change.”
“Yeah.” It is. Jensen has to acknowledge that. “I guess I’m just feeling a little jealous. You’ve got your family supporting you and I don’t. And I know,” he cuts Jared off, knowing full well what his soulmate is about to say, “that your family is more than happy to give me their full support, but they’re still not my family. Not really.”
Jared nods. “So maybe, when exams are over, you should go and visit your parents?”
Jensen pulls a face. “Maybe. I guess the real problem is that I’m not sure I can count on their support. In fact I’m pretty sure that they won’t be there for me; not unless I break things off with you.”
Jared presses a soft kiss to Jensen’s temple and then he wriggles and turns, all arms and legs, and Jensen finds himself the little spoon, held tightly in Jared’s arms.
“We’ll just have to take things one step at a time,” Jared says. “Sleep now.”
Jensen does.
--
Jared’s parents come with them to visit the Palo Alto coven. Jensen is sort of expecting a cave or a dark, dank basement, with lots of black furnishings, and a bubbling cauldron and pentagrams all over the walls.
There is a pentagram; a discreet silver one, on the burnt-orange feature wall behind the pine reception desk. The small office is brightly lit and cheerful and the receptionist is kind and welcoming as she ushers them into a conference room, where all thirteen members of the Coven Council are seated around a board table. The board table is high gloss pine and there are chilled water glasses and a pitcher of cold water on the table. There is also a small bowl of mints.
Seriously? Jensen looks at Jared. This is so freakin’ cheery I feel like it’s a glamor or something!
Jared sniggers and one of the Coven members—Jensen looks at her and recognizes the priestess from the ritual last night—makes an aww noise and beams.
“You two are adorable!”
Jensen scowls, but he can feel his cheeks heating.
The Coven asks for permission to inspect the mark of Nasc Aman on both of their necks. Jensen tries not to shudder as several sets of cool, dry fingers brush against his throat.
They’re asked a lot of questions about the bond. Mostly Jared answers, but occasionally someone will direct a question to Jensen and he’ll fumble through a response as best as he can.
Some of the questions are simple enough:
Does Jensen actually hear subvocalized words when Jared talks to him telepathically or does he just get an understanding of intent? He hears actual words. They can send each other images too.
Did he feel anything when the mark appeared. No.
But other questions, he struggles to answer:
Has he noticed any increase in his ability to manipulate comhchoitiantaspiorad? Huh?
Has he been tested for the Gene? What gene? The magic gene? Are you serious?
“I don’t have any thaumaturgical ability,” Jensen says, his voice shaking. “You know who my family is, right? You really think they wouldn’t have tested for that gene in utero, despite that being illegal?”
Jared is running his thumb soothingly over Jensen’s wrist. They’ve been holding hands underneath the table pretty much since they sat down. Jensen hadn’t fully realized until now. He glances up at this soulmate and asks him wordlessly to explain that long complicated word that one of the Coven had asked him about.
Someone from the Coven is speaking again, but she falls silent when Jared holds up his hand. “Sorry,” Jared says, “Jensen just asked me to explain what comhchoitiantaspiorad is.”
The woman who officiated as Priestess at last night’s ceremony makes a gesture, indicating that Jared has the floor. Jared squirms a little and turns faintly pink. “Uh, well, I’m only a first year thaumaturgy student, but, uh, it’s basically a form of metaphysical energy,” he pauses and inclines his head. “I suppose you could say that our connection with the universe is a little like the connection a radio station has to the receiving radio. Except that we’re an intelligent radio which is capable of both sending and receiving energy waves. We receive energy waves from the Universe and, if you have the gene for magic, then the Universe can receive energy waves from you. Once you’ve learnt how to make the energy waves that you’re sending out have an impact on the Universe, then you’re manipulating comhchoitiantaspiorad or, to put it another way, you’re working magic.”
“Right,” Jensen says. “Well, I can’t do that.”
“Have you tried lately?” asks a Coven member.
Jensen shakes his head, exasperated. “If I was a magus,” he says, “my abilities would’ve manifested during childhood, wouldn’t they?”
“That’s usually the case,” Jared’s mom says, “but it’s also possible that your abilities could be latent and that the mark of Nasc Anam could have triggered the gene. Turned it from ‘off’ to ‘on’, epigenetically speaking.”
“Okay,” Jensen kneads at his forehead. He can feel a headache starting up. “I guess I should have the blood test then.”
Jared reaches out and places his cool hand on the back of Jensen’s neck and Jensen closes his eyes and leans into the touch. His headache evaporates.
There’s a chorus of “Awwws” from around the table and Jensen straightens up with a glare. “So did any of the previous mundane soulmates turn out to have the gene for magic?”
The guy who officiated as Priest at last night’s ceremony shrugs. “You’re the first officially recognized soulmates since 1896 and back then we didn’t have the genetic knowledge that we do now.”
“Do we actually know what a soulmate is?” Jensen asks. “Does every magus have a potential soulmate? Is it always a mundane like the history says? Jared says his magic recognized my soul and reached out for it. Is that actually what happened?”
What follows is a long, animated discussion, with several theories raised and debated. What Jensen takes away from the conversation is that there are several schools of thought within the magi community, but nobody really knows exactly how the whole soulmate thing works.
What do you believe? he asks Jared.
Jared’s response is hesitant. I guess…it doesn’t really matter what anyone believes, the facts will be what they are and maybe one day we’ll know and maybe we never well. But my favorite theory is the one that at some point, billions of years ago, you and I were actually one single-celled micro-organism and we shared a soul.
Jensen can’t help smiling up at Jared because that one’s his favorite theory too.
The Church of the Holy Fire doesn’t believe in reincarnation—Jensen was brought up to view it with scorn and derision, as a stupid, primitive idea. Then again The Church doesn’t believe in evolution either and Jensen’s definitely on board with that theory. The micro-organism soulmate theory appeals to the scientist in him. The idea that he and Jared were one and then, at some point in evolution one of their incarnations split and their one soul became two—two parts of the one whole—if he puts his skepticism about reincarnation aside he can just about believe that. And looking at Jared, with his puppyish enthusiasm for life and the way he clings to the people he loves like a baby monkey, Jensen can well believe that if his magically-infused soul had seen it’s other half it would have reached out and grabbed it and not let go.
The Priestess clears her throat. “We need to discuss the Prophecy,” she says.
“Prophecy?” Jensen arches an eyebrow.
“Together, you are the way forward. The path to the light. That’s what the Goddess said. We need to determine what She meant.”
Oh. That. Jensen harrumphs a little. He isn’t sure he believes in prophecy, but it seems like a real prophecy should be longer or something.
There’s a lot of long winded talk and fancy language that Jensen doesn’t fully understand and frankly it all seems a bit stupid. Beside him Jared snorts and nods his head and the Coven members stop their bickering and turn as one to face him.
“Oh,” Jared says. “It’s just…” he looks at Jensen. “Jen and I kind of figured that me being who I am and him being who he is, that because we’re soulmates it could go some way to healing the rift between us and the Church of the Holy Fire.”
A man in a grey cardigan looks at him dubiously. “That seems a bit simplistic.”
“It was a pretty simple statement,” Jensen says. “You’re the ones trying to complicate it.”
“Know a lot about prophecy, do you?” the man asks. His tone is snide and Jensen doesn’t need to tap into Jared’s ability to read emotions to know that the man doesn’t really like him.
Jensen shrugs. “No, not really. The Church of the Holy Fire doesn’t believe in them. But I’m a student of Science and we were taught early on that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.”
“Right,” Jared nods. “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”
“I think the boys are right,” the Priestess says. “When the Goddess spoke through me I had a definite sense that her thoughts were toward healing and reconciliation,” she pauses. “And there might be people who don’t like that. Do you have Security?”
“They do,” Jared’s dad speaks up. “Two Faire-Gadhar. And the College owns the building they live in so we’ve got Campus Security keeping an eye on them too.”
Jensen glances at Jared. This is news to both of them. They knew that Professor Morgan asked Campus Security to clear the reporters, but neither of them had realized that Security was still keeping an eye on them.
My parents must’ve organized it, Jared thinks.
Jensen knows they mean well, but he can’t help feeling managed.
“We need to organize a Press Conference,” Jessica Padalecki says, and as she and the Priestess begin to plan a PR strategy, Jensen starts to feel his control of the situation slipping.
It’s only the fact that Jared seems so damn relieved that his parents and the Coven are managing everything that allows Jensen to hold his tongue.
They hold the Press Conference that very afternoon, out the front of the Palo Alto Coven’s offices. The Priestess (who Jensen has since learned is called Samantha Smith) and Jared’s mom do all the talking, with Jared and Jensen standing in between them.
Jensen stares out at the crowd of reporters with a stony expression. He suspects he looks rather unfriendly, but he just knows that a number of the people in the crowd will be Holy Fire devotees and they’ll be convinced that he’s bewitched. He wishes he could tell them otherwise, but the Coven and Jared’s parents had decided that it would be a bad idea for either Jared or Jensen to speak at the Press Conference.
Jensen can’t pretend that he’s not pissed about that; or that, once again, it was only Jared’s overwhelming relief that kept him silent.
They’re just getting into Jared’s parents’ hire car to go home when Jensen’s cell phone rings.
“Hi Mom,” he says, tiredly.
There’s a pause. “Oh baby,” she says. “You sound exhausted.”
He laughs, without a lot of humor. “I am. So I’m guessing you saw the Press Conference.”
“We did. You didn’t mention earlier that you’d been bewitched by Jared Padalecki.”
Her tone is reproachful and Jensen closes his eyes and massages the bridge of his nose. “I’m not bewitched. I’m not under a spell. We’re just soulmates. How many times do I have to say it?”
“I see you’ve met Jared’s parents,” his Mom says with a sniffle.
“Yeah.”
“And they’re taking control of everything aren’t they? Not giving you any say.”
Jared touches his leg and Jensen knows that the younger man has been able to hear the entire conversation by listening in to Jensen’s thoughts. He shakes his head.
“Now’s not a good time, Mom, I’ll call you back, okay?”
He hangs up before she can respond.
Jen…you know it’s not like that. My parents are just trying to help.
Jensen locks his thoughts down and turns to look out the side window. It’s not that he doubts Jared—or Jared’s parents—he just feels like his life’s getting away from him. And he doesn’t like it.
Jared sighs and reaches out for Jensen’s hand and Jensen doesn’t want Jared to be upset so he squeezes his hand and rubs his thumb over the pulse in Jared’s wrist.
By the time they arrive back home, Jensen is feeling a lot calmer and he knows that Jared is too. While Jared’s parents park the car, Jensen unlocks the front door and is promptly bailed up by two excited dogs, who leap at him, yipping, with tails wagging and then promptly lose their minds when the spot Jared coming through the door behind him.
“Harley! Sadie! Down!” Jared barks and the dogs drop to their bellies, tails thumping madly.
Jared introduces Jensen to the dogs and they sniff his hand and plead for pets with sad, hopeful eyes.
Jensen frowns. “These are the…the Faire-Gadhar?”
“I know right?” Jared says solemnly. Harley is snuffling at Jensen’s shoe and Sadie is on her back, clearly hoping Jared will rub her belly. “They’re clearly vicious and evil.”
“They’re just dogs,” Jensen blurts.
There are voices coming from the living room and they head in there. Professor Morgan and Gen are in with Chris and Charisma.
“Hey!” Chris grins. “I’m an internet meme now. Me in my boxers.”
Gen is sitting pressed up against Professor Morgan and Jensen knows he should be scandalized that the professor is so obviously dating his TA, but he’s already got enough on his plate.
Professor Morgan leans forward and picks up a piece of paper from the coffee table.
“Here,” he hands it to Jared. “It’s the Licence to keep Faire-Gadhar on the premises and to have them accompany you in public as service animals.”
Jared takes it with a nod of thanks.
Everyone seems to have a beer so Jensen goes to the kitchen and snags a couple for himself and Jared. Back in the living room he perches on the arm of his soulmate’s armchair and hands him off a bottle. Only Jared doesn’t take it.
“Uh,” Jared bites at his bottom lip. “I’m not old enough. And with my parents here…”
And doesn’t that just make Jensen feel like a cradle robber?
“Question,” Chris raises his own bottle. “If Jensen gets drunk, do you get drunk too Jared?”
“Yeah,” Jared nods.
“Huh,” Chris looks intrigued. “So if you both have one beer, it’ll be like you both had two beers?”
Jared and Jensen look at each other and shrug. “I guess,” Jensen allows.
“Or maybe,” Jared adds, “we’ll have twice the tolerance, because there’s two of us. Maybe if he had six beers, it’d be like he only had three because I’d be sharing the effects.”
“How about we wait a couple of years to test these theories?” Jared’s mom suggests, as she and Jared’s dad make their way into the living room.
“Some guard dog you are,” Jensen says to Sadie, who’s sitting with her head resting on Jared’s feet.
“The dogs know my parents,” Jared says. “They wouldn’t react to them.”
“And besides,” Jessica smiles. “They don’t love us nearly as much as they love Jared.”
Because Jensen’s parents raised him to have manners, he immediately gets up and offers Jared’s parents his place on the sofa and then runs around organizing drinks and snacks for everybody.
Gen, who’s been texting surreptitiously on her cell phone ever since Jensen and Jared arrived, growls suddenly.
“Sorry,” she says when everyone looks at her. “I’m on Twitter.”
Jared’s mom looks at her sharply. “Did @StateofGrace tweet a reaction to the press conference?”
Gen looks grim. “Yeah. Pretty much what you’d expect. Jensen’s been bewitched; it’s all an evil witch-plot to take over the world, yada, yada, yada.”
Jared’s brow is furrowed. “@StateofGrace? That’s the Church of the Holy Fire’s official Twitter account right?”
Gen nods. “Yeah. It’s run by this real little—”
“Sister,” Jensen croaks. “My sister Grace runs it.”
“Awkward,” Gen murmurs, looking down at her phone.
“Your…little sister?” Jared says.
Jensen shakes his head. “No, she’s my big sister. Four years older. She studied Public Relations at UAT and now she does PR stuff for the Church.”
There’s some uncomfortable shuffling and nobody except Jared seems able to meet Jensen’s eyes. Jensen is perched on the arm of the sofa next to where Jared is sitting squished beside his parents and Jared reaches out and takes hold of Jensen’s hand.
How much would you kill me if I pulled you onto my lap? Jared asks.
Don’t. Jensen shakes his head.
But you feel so sad. I just want to cuddle it better.
Jensen snorts. He gets an image through the bond of Jared, arms spread wide, coming in to cuddle him like some sort of over-large cuddle monster and it brings a smile to his face even as he rolls his eyes. And then he notices that everyone is staring at them. Charisma practically has hearts in her eyes.
“What?” he says, lifting his chin.
Charisma sighs. “You two are so adorable when you do that whole silent talking thing.”
Jessica purses her lips. “Maybe we should get them a spot on Oprah? If people could only see how good they are together, then maybe--”
“Wouldn’t make any difference,” says Jensen. “They’d just think he’d bewitched me to be happy with him. Their minds are made up.”
He spreads his arms and shrugs in a ‘what can you do’ gesture. He knows his former Church. They’ll never change their minds on this. The best the magi can do here is try to limit the fallout and control the damage.
“I’ve got some studying to do,” he says. “If you’ll excuse me.”
You want me to come with you? Jared asks.
No. I just need some time alone. Jensen responds. He’s generally not one for PDAs, but he leans down and gives Jared a kiss before he leaves because he can feel how troubled Jared is by the shit-storm their soulbonding seems to have unleashed.
In the quiet of his room, Jensen puts his mind blocks in place like Jared taught him and then he takes a moment to silently fall apart. He lies face down on his bed, his face buried in the pillow that smells like Jared, and grieves for a lost future where his family and his husband’s family can sit down to Thanksgiving dinner together without a third global Witch War actually, literally, breaking out.
Eventually, Jensen decides that he’s done feeling sorry for himself for now and he rolls over and picks up his laptop, which is on charge beside his bed. There’s an online practice exam he needs to do before his Anatomy exam tomorrow. And he truly does mean to log on to the College website, except that as soon as his laptop boots up he’s bombarded with Facebook and Twitter mention notifications. Jensen’s stomach plummets to his boots. He doesn’t want to know. He knows, in the abstract, the kind of thing that the Church and its True Believers are saying about him; about Jared. He doesn’t need to see the fucked up details.
Only there’s also an email from his sister and that isn’t quite so easy to ignore.
Jensen stares at the screen and rubs his chin. And then he clicks on the new mail icon.
Hi Jensen,
I don’t really know how to start this. I guess…I’ll start by saying I’m really worried about you. You must feel really stressed and alone, out there amongst all those witches who are trying to convince you that you’re okay, that you’re not going straight to Hell. But you are, Jensen. If you keep consorting with a witch then I’m sorry, but you are.
We’ve been doing research, looking into the Church’s known remedies for people who’ve been bewitched with inordinate love—or philocaption as it’s more properly known. Jensen, the Witch Jared has turned your mind, but we can overcome his magics with prayer and acts of devotion. Please come home and let us cure you. Please, brother.
Love always,
Grace
Jensen reads the email through three times and drops his head into his hands. And then he clicks on reply:
Hi Grace,
Thanks for your email. I appreciate your concern. Yeah, it’s all pretty stressful. Jared’s a great guy. Funny, kind, loving and giving. You’d really like him. I wish I knew how to convince you that I’m not bewitched. But I don’t think there’s any proof that you would accept. Is there? What would convince you?
Love,
Jensen
Jensen doesn’t have to wait long for a reply. His sister very earnestly tells him that if he submits to the Patriarch’s recommended regime of prayer and acts of devotion and is still in love with Jared afterwards, the Church will accept that their love is real and not a product of bewitchment.
Jensen frowns and then scrubs a hand across his face. He doesn’t need this shit. He’s got his final exams this week. He should be focusing on that, not all this stupid drama.
He thinks about what Grace said and shudders. Prayers, okay. He can deal with prayers. But acts of devotion? He doesn’t know precisely what the Church would expect him to do to show his devotion to God, but he can’t imagine it would be anything good.
But if it would get them off his back? If it would make them leave Jared alone? Then yeah. It would be worth it.
--
Jared watches Jensen walk out of the room and then sags, his head dropping down against the back of the sofa.
“It’s gonna be okay, Honey,” his mom says, slipping her arm around his shoulders.
“Yeah,” Jared sighs. “It’s just. This is so hard for him. He’s still got all this indoctrination to work through and he feels really alone.”
“Want me to go talk to him?” Chris says. “As the only other non-magi here?”
Jared shakes his head. “He needs some alone time right now.”
“And we have to plan our PR strategy,” Jessica says.
Jared turns to look at her, his eyes wide. “This is my life, mom. Not some activist campaign.”
“This situation is precisely why we are activists,” his mom says. “You can’t expect us to sit back and do nothing while The Church of the Holy Fire accuses you of all sorts of vile crimes.”
Sadie shifts restlessly at his feet and Jared leans forward and pets her. “Think I’ll take the dogs for a walk,” he says.
His parents and Professor Morgan exchange a significant look. “Stick to the grounds of the apartment block,” his dad says.
Okay. Wow. People have obviously been making threats online.
“Anything credible?” he asks.
His dad’s mouth takes on a pinched look. “Just the usual lunatic fringe,” he says. “But it doesn’t hurt to be careful.”
In the end Charisma comes with him too. The dogs are really excited; snuffling and scent marking and generally just enjoying their new territory. Jared allows himself to relax. To pretend for a moment that he’s just a regular college boy excited about his amazing new boyfriend.
Sadie bounds toward a tree, dragging Charisma behind her and Jared can’t help grinning as Sadie sniffs and then cocks a leg.
“This is so messed up,” he suddenly finds himself saying. “All I was trying to do was study for my exams. And then, there’s this hot, green-eyed guy sitting opposite me and I’m thinking, ‘Whoa, man, where have you been all my life?’” Jared sighs. “The next minute my magic’s swirling all around his head and the minute after that we’ve got matching ‘tattoos’ and he can’t move out of my line of sight without keeling over.”
Charisma’s brown eyes are focused on his. “He’s okay now though, right? Now that you guys have consummated the bond?”
Jared nods. “Yeah. We can be apart now, but probably not for more than a few days; a week at most.”
Charisma is quiet for a moment and then she asks, “Do you regret it? Meeting your soulmate?”
Jared thinks about the question; truly thinks about it. On the one hand he’s suddenly the target of a lot of hate from certain quarters of the community. On the other hand, being with Jensen is like nothing Jared could have ever imagined. The thought of being without him is just…horrible. It would feel like being torn in two. Jared doesn’t really have the words to describe what it’s like to be connected with his soulmate. Nobody who doesn’t have one could ever possibly understand. Jared is no longer one person; not really. His sense of self has suddenly become much larger and he will never regret that; never regret the way he and Jensen have fused together.
“No,” Jared tells Charisma. “Despite all the trouble it’s caused, meeting my soulmate is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
The continue walking, and as they walk Charisma suggests that Jared should ask Professor Morgan if the university library has any reference material about soulbonds that is kept confidential and not made available to the general public.
They make several laps of the building’s grounds. Harley gets very excited when he sees a small flock of pigeons and the build-up of purple swirls around his head tells Jared that he’s trying to magically slip his leash. Jared resists the temptation to give him the magical equivalent of a smack on the nose and instead reprimands him verbally, because Harley is going to be working with a mundane and he needs to remember to keep his magic sheathed unless he’s told he can play or it’s an emergency. Pigeons don’t constitute an emergency, no matter how Harley may like to argue otherwise.
When they finally get back to the apartment, Jared’s mom is on the phone to Oprah’s people, his dad is in the kitchen cooking and Gen is having an argument with @StateofGrace on Twitter. Chris is nowhere to be seen and Jensen is still in his room. Jared checks in with him via the bond, just a quick, concerned, ‘are you all right’ prod and gets a fond, slightly exasperated prod in return.
Professor Morgan is mostly just watching Gen trade barbs with Grace, so Jared asks him if the university has any ‘restricted’ material on soulbonding that he and Jensen could take a look through, given their very obvious need to know everything there is to be known on the subject. Professor Morgan says he’ll see what he can do.
Chris returns just as Wade Padalecki announces that he’s made a spicy chicken casserole and it should be ready in about an hour. Chris came out of Jensen’s room and Jared determinedly doesn’t ask him what they were talking about despite the fact that he really wants to know.
His mom snaps her phone shut and grins. “I’ve got you a spot on Oprah. We have to be at the studio by 9.00am next Thursday.”
Jared feels a rush of fury across the bond and then hears Jensen speak from just behind him. “I have my Pharmacology in PT exam then,” he says. “And no disrespect intended, but maybe you should be checking with us before you go making arrangements for us to do things. You’re not our manager and we’re not D-List celebrities looking for publicity.”
Jared holds his breath and sifts the rampant emotions in the room to try to get a feel for the way things are going to go. Jensen may look calm and controlled, but Jared can feel the way his pulse is racing; the angry adrenaline coursing through his veins.
“I apologize,” his mom says after a moment of stunned silence. “You’re absolutely right. I should’ve checked with you and Jared first. When will you be available to go on Oprah?”
“Never,” Jensen says.
Jessica Padalecki frowns and fiddles with the bracelets on her wrist. “I know you’re not comfortable with putting yourself out there, Jensen. But we need to get in front here. Need to show everyone that you and Jared are just a normal couple.”
Jensen points out that normal couples don’t go on Oprah and he reiterates—yet again—that there is nothing the magi can do to convince the Church of the Holy Fire and its congregation that Jensen hasn’t been bewitched. Jessica asks if there’s anything that would convince them and Jensen moves from the doorway into the room and rests his hands on Jared’s shoulders.
“I’d have to let them try to cure me of Jared’s ‘spell’.”
Jared can feel his fear through the bond and the way Jensen’s hands tremble where they rest on his shoulders. He reaches up and grips one of Jensen’s hands, squeezing gently.
“You don’t have to,” he says. “We know the truth. You don’t owe them anything. If they don’t trust you enough to take your word for it, then,” he’s not sure how to finish the sentence because they’re Jensen’s family and besides, his mama’s in the room.
Privately, Jared thinks that if Jensen’s family is going to make him go through some sort of Inquisition-style trial to prove that he’s not bewitched, then they can get fucked. But he’s pretty sure that if he said it out loud his mama would try to send him to his room or something.
“We’ll see,” Jensen says. “But I’m not going on Oprah,” he smiles wryly. “It’d be totally counterproductive anyway. If I did that, my parents would be convinced I was bewitched. Or possibly possessed.”
They eat an early supper and try to keep the conversation light, as if Jensen is just a regular guy meeting his boyfriend’s family for the first time. Jared’s parents and Professor Morgan and Gen leave shortly afterwards and Jared and Jensen spend the rest of the evening studying.
By the time they go to bed, it’s late and they’re exhausted. Jared had kind of been hoping that maybe they’d have sex, but Jensen just says goodnight and switches off the lamp. It’s feels like he’s got a lot on his mind and Jared doesn’t want to seem like he’s pushing so he just pecks him on the cheek and rolls over.
--
The next day is weird. Jared has his Thaumaturgy Theory exam at 10.00am and as soon as he walks into the exam hall, people are craning their necks to gawk at him and there’s an upsurge in curiosity, and not just because he’s got a Faire-Gadhar with him. There’s a little bit of envy in the emotions that swirl around him, but there’s also a lot of fear and worry too. He and Jensen have mostly been trying to avoid the news and social media, but maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to know what people are saying about them.
Jared tries to talk to his classmates after the exam—he’s always been a friendly, gregarious guy and he’s generally pretty well-liked by everyone—but today, a lot of people are in too much of a hurry to chat. The few that will talk are mostly just curious to hear what it’s like to have a soulmate or they just want to pat Harley. When Jared asks what people are saying about the soulbonding he doesn’t really learn anything he didn’t already know; the Church of the Holy Fire is using it to whip up anti-magi sentiment and a lot of mundanes are scared.
Seeing as how he’s on campus anyway, Jared decides to call in and see Chad.
He still has some stuff in their dorm room and he may as well start picking it up and moving it to Jensen’s, because they’re not ever going to live apart again. And besides, he kind of wants to see his old roommate.
He knocks, because Chad could be doing anything in there and when Chad opens the door he’s wearing a tee-shirt but no pants and his hair is sleep-tousled.
“Sorry,” Jared says. “Is this a bad time?”
Chad squints at him and then frowns. “No?” he widens the door and lets Jared in. “You didn’t have to knock, you know. Your name’s still on the door.”
Jared nods. “It seemed like the polite thing to do.” He clears a space on his old bed, which is now covered in Chad’s dirty laundry, and sits down. “So. How are you?”
“Good. Nice dog.” Chad lets Harley sniff his hand and then runs a hand through his hair and looks Jared squarely in the eye. “This thing with Jensen…you didn’t bewitch him, right?”
“No. My magic just recognized him as my soulmate and we bonded.”
Chad nods. “That’s what I’ve been telling people,” he shakes his head. “Something like this, it really tells you who the fuckers are. They’re all down with the magi when y’all are turning water into wine for frat parties, but then this happens and it’s like all this prejudice that was sitting just below the surface starts oozing out, like it just needed an excuse. I gotta tell you, Jay, it’s been really fucking disappointing. I’ve had to dump people I thought were friends.”
Jared finds himself feeling ridiculously touched. “You dumped friends for me?”
Chad squints at him again. “I dumped them because they were prejudiced assholes. Anyone who knows you knows that you’re a nice guy. Far too nice to bewitch someone into becoming your sex slave.”
Jared forgets how to breathe and when he remembers that it’s a necessity he gasps so hard that he chokes and coughs. Chad comes and slaps his back and then sits down beside him with a sigh.
“Goddess above,” Jared finally manages to say. “That’s what people are saying?”
Chad nods. “And I keep telling them, I’m way hotter than that Ackles dude and I freaking love going to orgies, which Ackles would never, because he’s an uptight Holy Fire freak, so if Jay was the sort of guy to put a spell on someone to make them become his sex slave, it would’ve been me, his roommate of twelve months.”
Honestly? Jared isn’t sure whether to laugh or cry so he settles for letting his jaw drop and looking at Chad with wide eyes.
“Thank you?” he says finally.
Chad beams proudly. “You’re welcome, Asshole.”
Jared isn’t quite sure why he’s the asshole, but okay.
He packs up most of the rest of his stuff into a couple of duffel bags and tells Chad that he’ll be back for the rest when he has time. As he strolls across the campus Jared hears a few muttered comments and there’s a Holy Fire prayer group in the Quadrangle that gets really loud when he and Harley walk past. At one point, as he’s walking down the sidewalk toward Jensen’s (and his now too) off-campus apartment, he gets the sense that he’s being followed. Even Harley seems suspicious if the way he keeps looking behind them and growling is any indication.
Jensen isn’t yet back from his Anatomy exam and Charisma is out, but Chris is home. He’s playing guitar in the living room with Steve.
Jared makes small talk with them for a little while and then excuses himself to go and make himself some nachos. He retreats to Jensen’s bedroom with Harley and a large plate of cheese and salsa soaked corn chips. He hopes his boyfriend won’t get mad at him for eating on the bed. He calls his mom and begs off her suggestion that he and Jensen meet them at their hotel and go out for dinner. He tells her they’ve got too much studying to do, which is true. But more truthfully Jared just needs to spend some quality time with his soulmate. They’d both agreed to keep their blocks fully in place while they were doing their exams and it’s the right thing to do, but Jared misses Jensen when he can only sense his presence as a dull, background buzz rather than a bright, white hot dazzling presence in the forefront of his brain. When he hears the front door open and close and voices start up in the living room, Jared lowers his barriers and Jensen’s anger slams into him.
Jared is off the bed and out of the bedroom before he’s even finished processing all the emotions that Jensen is emitting.
“What’s wrong?” he demands, striding into the living room.
Jensen turns to face him, his green eyes burning. “Professor Brown wouldn’t accept Sadie’s paperwork. Said she didn’t qualify as a ‘service dog’ and she couldn’t come in. Sadie thought he was threatening me—which he kind of was, and she did the whole, you know, three heads, red eyes, and roaring thing. Scared the crap outta me. And Professor Brown. I had to get Professor Morgan to come and deal with him; explain that she’s my protection on account of ‘credible threats’ and she’s been approved by the College and City Hall,” Jensen shakes his head. “I always thought Brown was all right, you know? Now I find out he’s actually a bigot.”
Jared wraps his arms around his soulmate and holds him tight. Jensen has probably always been aware that the magi face prejudice; he just hasn’t had that prejudice impact him personally on a regular basis. It must be an eye-opening experience.
Jensen sighs and pulls back. “Yeah,” he says. “Knowing something intellectually and experiencing it yourself are two very different things.”
Jensen puts his stuff away and goes to brew a pot of coffee. Jared sits down at the table and watches him putter about. Jared frowns to himself. Yesterday, his dad had dismissed the threats that were being made as no more than the usual rantings of the lunatic fringe, but today Professor Morgan said that Jensen was allowed to have Sadie in the exam hall because of a credible threat. Which was it?
“Jensen,” he says. “I think we’re gonna have to brave the social media cesspool to see what’s being said about us.”
Jensen wrinkles his nose. “Yeah,” he says. “I think you’re right. Let’s do it tonight.”
<<PREV | NEXT>>
Back to MasterPost
Jensen is hiding in the bathroom. He’s been in here for far too long; Jared’s parents are sure to be suspicious by now, but he needed a moment alone.
In all honesty, Jensen isn’t sure what to make of Jared’s parents. Last time he saw Jared’s mom, on that Fox News show where she went head-to-head with his own mom, Jessica Padalecki had straight black hair. She’d been wearing a long fitted back dress with bat wings and Jensen has to confess, watching her on the television, he’d been a little scandalized by her nose and eyebrow piercings.
The piercings she has in today are even more outlandish. She has a bright red stud in her nose and a silver dragon in her eyebrow. She also has very short rainbow-colored hair. And she’s wearing multi-colored harem pants and an emerald green crop top.
Jared’s dad is wearing blue jeans and a purple tie-dyed shirt. He has long silver hair, pulled into a bun with some sort of chop sticks sticking out of it and he’s wearing black nail polish.
Jensen tries to imagine Jared’s parents having a civil conversation with his and fails dismally. Just the thought of them being in the same room is almost enough to trigger a panic attack and he finds himself laughing, a little hysterically.
There’s a knock on the bathroom door and he cans the laughter and pulls himself together.
“Just a minute,” he calls.
He flushes the toilet for good measure and then washes his hands and splashes cold water on his face.
When he opens the door he finds Jessica Padalecki on the other side.
“Oh honey,” she says and pulls him into a hug.
He resists for about ten seconds and then sighs and settles into the embrace.
“I’ve met your mom,” she says, “and it’s true that on the surface, we don’t seem to have a lot in common. But we’re both very passionate about the things we believe in and we both love our children fiercely. That’s important,” she steps back and holds him at arm’s length, her hands on his shoulders as she looks directly into his eyes.
“Your eyes are gorgeous,” she says. “Really mesmerising. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if you had a little magic in you.”
“I doubt it,” Jensen ducks his head and Jessica laughs warmly.
“C’mon,” she says. “We want to get to know you.”
Later, when the Padaleckis have headed off to a hotel and he and Jared are tucked together in bed, Jensen tries to articulate how he feels.
“It’s not that I wasn’t happy to meet them,” he says. “They’re really nice. And it’s awesome that they’re so open to having a mundane in the family. But…it feels like we gave them an opportunity that we didn’t give my parents.”
Jared is annoyed. And a little hurt.
“I told them not to come,” he says defensively. “They just ignored me. It’s not like we asked them to come, but told your parents they couldn’t.”
Jensen’s being unfair and he knows it, but he’s feeling off-kilter and out of sorts and really alone in a sea of witches.
Jared gets out of bed and storms out of the bedroom. Jensen hears the bathroom door slam. He folds his arms over his face and thinks a very sincere apology at Jared.
I’m so sorry. That was rude and uncalled for. I’m being a selfish dick.
All he gets along the bond is a sniffle, which serves to remind him yet again just how young Jared really is.
Jensen thinks love and support at Jared. He’s not as good as the magus is at this magic bond stuff, but he thinks he’s doing it right.
Come back to bed.
He pictures Jared as the little spoon, wrapped in his arms. He gets amusement and then a mental picture of himself as the little spoon. Jensen grins. He really doesn’t care who ends up being the little spoon, so long as he gets Jared back in his arms.
The bedroom door opens.
“Sorry,” they say in unison.
Jensen pulls back the comforter and Jared shuts the bedroom door and gets in beside him.
“You’re not alone,” Jared whispers. “You’ll never be alone again. And maybe that’s part of the problem. I’m used to being aware of the emotions all around me. And okay, being able to read actual thoughts is new, but you can get a lot just from people’s emotions and I’m already used to that. For you, this is a really, really big change.”
“Yeah.” It is. Jensen has to acknowledge that. “I guess I’m just feeling a little jealous. You’ve got your family supporting you and I don’t. And I know,” he cuts Jared off, knowing full well what his soulmate is about to say, “that your family is more than happy to give me their full support, but they’re still not my family. Not really.”
Jared nods. “So maybe, when exams are over, you should go and visit your parents?”
Jensen pulls a face. “Maybe. I guess the real problem is that I’m not sure I can count on their support. In fact I’m pretty sure that they won’t be there for me; not unless I break things off with you.”
Jared presses a soft kiss to Jensen’s temple and then he wriggles and turns, all arms and legs, and Jensen finds himself the little spoon, held tightly in Jared’s arms.
“We’ll just have to take things one step at a time,” Jared says. “Sleep now.”
Jensen does.
--
Jared’s parents come with them to visit the Palo Alto coven. Jensen is sort of expecting a cave or a dark, dank basement, with lots of black furnishings, and a bubbling cauldron and pentagrams all over the walls.
There is a pentagram; a discreet silver one, on the burnt-orange feature wall behind the pine reception desk. The small office is brightly lit and cheerful and the receptionist is kind and welcoming as she ushers them into a conference room, where all thirteen members of the Coven Council are seated around a board table. The board table is high gloss pine and there are chilled water glasses and a pitcher of cold water on the table. There is also a small bowl of mints.
Seriously? Jensen looks at Jared. This is so freakin’ cheery I feel like it’s a glamor or something!
Jared sniggers and one of the Coven members—Jensen looks at her and recognizes the priestess from the ritual last night—makes an aww noise and beams.
“You two are adorable!”
Jensen scowls, but he can feel his cheeks heating.
The Coven asks for permission to inspect the mark of Nasc Aman on both of their necks. Jensen tries not to shudder as several sets of cool, dry fingers brush against his throat.
They’re asked a lot of questions about the bond. Mostly Jared answers, but occasionally someone will direct a question to Jensen and he’ll fumble through a response as best as he can.
Some of the questions are simple enough:
Does Jensen actually hear subvocalized words when Jared talks to him telepathically or does he just get an understanding of intent? He hears actual words. They can send each other images too.
Did he feel anything when the mark appeared. No.
But other questions, he struggles to answer:
Has he noticed any increase in his ability to manipulate comhchoitiantaspiorad? Huh?
Has he been tested for the Gene? What gene? The magic gene? Are you serious?
“I don’t have any thaumaturgical ability,” Jensen says, his voice shaking. “You know who my family is, right? You really think they wouldn’t have tested for that gene in utero, despite that being illegal?”
Jared is running his thumb soothingly over Jensen’s wrist. They’ve been holding hands underneath the table pretty much since they sat down. Jensen hadn’t fully realized until now. He glances up at this soulmate and asks him wordlessly to explain that long complicated word that one of the Coven had asked him about.
Someone from the Coven is speaking again, but she falls silent when Jared holds up his hand. “Sorry,” Jared says, “Jensen just asked me to explain what comhchoitiantaspiorad is.”
The woman who officiated as Priestess at last night’s ceremony makes a gesture, indicating that Jared has the floor. Jared squirms a little and turns faintly pink. “Uh, well, I’m only a first year thaumaturgy student, but, uh, it’s basically a form of metaphysical energy,” he pauses and inclines his head. “I suppose you could say that our connection with the universe is a little like the connection a radio station has to the receiving radio. Except that we’re an intelligent radio which is capable of both sending and receiving energy waves. We receive energy waves from the Universe and, if you have the gene for magic, then the Universe can receive energy waves from you. Once you’ve learnt how to make the energy waves that you’re sending out have an impact on the Universe, then you’re manipulating comhchoitiantaspiorad or, to put it another way, you’re working magic.”
“Right,” Jensen says. “Well, I can’t do that.”
“Have you tried lately?” asks a Coven member.
Jensen shakes his head, exasperated. “If I was a magus,” he says, “my abilities would’ve manifested during childhood, wouldn’t they?”
“That’s usually the case,” Jared’s mom says, “but it’s also possible that your abilities could be latent and that the mark of Nasc Anam could have triggered the gene. Turned it from ‘off’ to ‘on’, epigenetically speaking.”
“Okay,” Jensen kneads at his forehead. He can feel a headache starting up. “I guess I should have the blood test then.”
Jared reaches out and places his cool hand on the back of Jensen’s neck and Jensen closes his eyes and leans into the touch. His headache evaporates.
There’s a chorus of “Awwws” from around the table and Jensen straightens up with a glare. “So did any of the previous mundane soulmates turn out to have the gene for magic?”
The guy who officiated as Priest at last night’s ceremony shrugs. “You’re the first officially recognized soulmates since 1896 and back then we didn’t have the genetic knowledge that we do now.”
“Do we actually know what a soulmate is?” Jensen asks. “Does every magus have a potential soulmate? Is it always a mundane like the history says? Jared says his magic recognized my soul and reached out for it. Is that actually what happened?”
What follows is a long, animated discussion, with several theories raised and debated. What Jensen takes away from the conversation is that there are several schools of thought within the magi community, but nobody really knows exactly how the whole soulmate thing works.
What do you believe? he asks Jared.
Jared’s response is hesitant. I guess…it doesn’t really matter what anyone believes, the facts will be what they are and maybe one day we’ll know and maybe we never well. But my favorite theory is the one that at some point, billions of years ago, you and I were actually one single-celled micro-organism and we shared a soul.
Jensen can’t help smiling up at Jared because that one’s his favorite theory too.
The Church of the Holy Fire doesn’t believe in reincarnation—Jensen was brought up to view it with scorn and derision, as a stupid, primitive idea. Then again The Church doesn’t believe in evolution either and Jensen’s definitely on board with that theory. The micro-organism soulmate theory appeals to the scientist in him. The idea that he and Jared were one and then, at some point in evolution one of their incarnations split and their one soul became two—two parts of the one whole—if he puts his skepticism about reincarnation aside he can just about believe that. And looking at Jared, with his puppyish enthusiasm for life and the way he clings to the people he loves like a baby monkey, Jensen can well believe that if his magically-infused soul had seen it’s other half it would have reached out and grabbed it and not let go.
The Priestess clears her throat. “We need to discuss the Prophecy,” she says.
“Prophecy?” Jensen arches an eyebrow.
“Together, you are the way forward. The path to the light. That’s what the Goddess said. We need to determine what She meant.”
Oh. That. Jensen harrumphs a little. He isn’t sure he believes in prophecy, but it seems like a real prophecy should be longer or something.
There’s a lot of long winded talk and fancy language that Jensen doesn’t fully understand and frankly it all seems a bit stupid. Beside him Jared snorts and nods his head and the Coven members stop their bickering and turn as one to face him.
“Oh,” Jared says. “It’s just…” he looks at Jensen. “Jen and I kind of figured that me being who I am and him being who he is, that because we’re soulmates it could go some way to healing the rift between us and the Church of the Holy Fire.”
A man in a grey cardigan looks at him dubiously. “That seems a bit simplistic.”
“It was a pretty simple statement,” Jensen says. “You’re the ones trying to complicate it.”
“Know a lot about prophecy, do you?” the man asks. His tone is snide and Jensen doesn’t need to tap into Jared’s ability to read emotions to know that the man doesn’t really like him.
Jensen shrugs. “No, not really. The Church of the Holy Fire doesn’t believe in them. But I’m a student of Science and we were taught early on that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.”
“Right,” Jared nods. “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”
“I think the boys are right,” the Priestess says. “When the Goddess spoke through me I had a definite sense that her thoughts were toward healing and reconciliation,” she pauses. “And there might be people who don’t like that. Do you have Security?”
“They do,” Jared’s dad speaks up. “Two Faire-Gadhar. And the College owns the building they live in so we’ve got Campus Security keeping an eye on them too.”
Jensen glances at Jared. This is news to both of them. They knew that Professor Morgan asked Campus Security to clear the reporters, but neither of them had realized that Security was still keeping an eye on them.
My parents must’ve organized it, Jared thinks.
Jensen knows they mean well, but he can’t help feeling managed.
“We need to organize a Press Conference,” Jessica Padalecki says, and as she and the Priestess begin to plan a PR strategy, Jensen starts to feel his control of the situation slipping.
It’s only the fact that Jared seems so damn relieved that his parents and the Coven are managing everything that allows Jensen to hold his tongue.
They hold the Press Conference that very afternoon, out the front of the Palo Alto Coven’s offices. The Priestess (who Jensen has since learned is called Samantha Smith) and Jared’s mom do all the talking, with Jared and Jensen standing in between them.
Jensen stares out at the crowd of reporters with a stony expression. He suspects he looks rather unfriendly, but he just knows that a number of the people in the crowd will be Holy Fire devotees and they’ll be convinced that he’s bewitched. He wishes he could tell them otherwise, but the Coven and Jared’s parents had decided that it would be a bad idea for either Jared or Jensen to speak at the Press Conference.
Jensen can’t pretend that he’s not pissed about that; or that, once again, it was only Jared’s overwhelming relief that kept him silent.
They’re just getting into Jared’s parents’ hire car to go home when Jensen’s cell phone rings.
“Hi Mom,” he says, tiredly.
There’s a pause. “Oh baby,” she says. “You sound exhausted.”
He laughs, without a lot of humor. “I am. So I’m guessing you saw the Press Conference.”
“We did. You didn’t mention earlier that you’d been bewitched by Jared Padalecki.”
Her tone is reproachful and Jensen closes his eyes and massages the bridge of his nose. “I’m not bewitched. I’m not under a spell. We’re just soulmates. How many times do I have to say it?”
“I see you’ve met Jared’s parents,” his Mom says with a sniffle.
“Yeah.”
“And they’re taking control of everything aren’t they? Not giving you any say.”
Jared touches his leg and Jensen knows that the younger man has been able to hear the entire conversation by listening in to Jensen’s thoughts. He shakes his head.
“Now’s not a good time, Mom, I’ll call you back, okay?”
He hangs up before she can respond.
Jen…you know it’s not like that. My parents are just trying to help.
Jensen locks his thoughts down and turns to look out the side window. It’s not that he doubts Jared—or Jared’s parents—he just feels like his life’s getting away from him. And he doesn’t like it.
Jared sighs and reaches out for Jensen’s hand and Jensen doesn’t want Jared to be upset so he squeezes his hand and rubs his thumb over the pulse in Jared’s wrist.
By the time they arrive back home, Jensen is feeling a lot calmer and he knows that Jared is too. While Jared’s parents park the car, Jensen unlocks the front door and is promptly bailed up by two excited dogs, who leap at him, yipping, with tails wagging and then promptly lose their minds when the spot Jared coming through the door behind him.
“Harley! Sadie! Down!” Jared barks and the dogs drop to their bellies, tails thumping madly.
Jared introduces Jensen to the dogs and they sniff his hand and plead for pets with sad, hopeful eyes.
Jensen frowns. “These are the…the Faire-Gadhar?”
“I know right?” Jared says solemnly. Harley is snuffling at Jensen’s shoe and Sadie is on her back, clearly hoping Jared will rub her belly. “They’re clearly vicious and evil.”
“They’re just dogs,” Jensen blurts.
There are voices coming from the living room and they head in there. Professor Morgan and Gen are in with Chris and Charisma.
“Hey!” Chris grins. “I’m an internet meme now. Me in my boxers.”
Gen is sitting pressed up against Professor Morgan and Jensen knows he should be scandalized that the professor is so obviously dating his TA, but he’s already got enough on his plate.
Professor Morgan leans forward and picks up a piece of paper from the coffee table.
“Here,” he hands it to Jared. “It’s the Licence to keep Faire-Gadhar on the premises and to have them accompany you in public as service animals.”
Jared takes it with a nod of thanks.
Everyone seems to have a beer so Jensen goes to the kitchen and snags a couple for himself and Jared. Back in the living room he perches on the arm of his soulmate’s armchair and hands him off a bottle. Only Jared doesn’t take it.
“Uh,” Jared bites at his bottom lip. “I’m not old enough. And with my parents here…”
And doesn’t that just make Jensen feel like a cradle robber?
“Question,” Chris raises his own bottle. “If Jensen gets drunk, do you get drunk too Jared?”
“Yeah,” Jared nods.
“Huh,” Chris looks intrigued. “So if you both have one beer, it’ll be like you both had two beers?”
Jared and Jensen look at each other and shrug. “I guess,” Jensen allows.
“Or maybe,” Jared adds, “we’ll have twice the tolerance, because there’s two of us. Maybe if he had six beers, it’d be like he only had three because I’d be sharing the effects.”
“How about we wait a couple of years to test these theories?” Jared’s mom suggests, as she and Jared’s dad make their way into the living room.
“Some guard dog you are,” Jensen says to Sadie, who’s sitting with her head resting on Jared’s feet.
“The dogs know my parents,” Jared says. “They wouldn’t react to them.”
“And besides,” Jessica smiles. “They don’t love us nearly as much as they love Jared.”
Because Jensen’s parents raised him to have manners, he immediately gets up and offers Jared’s parents his place on the sofa and then runs around organizing drinks and snacks for everybody.
Gen, who’s been texting surreptitiously on her cell phone ever since Jensen and Jared arrived, growls suddenly.
“Sorry,” she says when everyone looks at her. “I’m on Twitter.”
Jared’s mom looks at her sharply. “Did @StateofGrace tweet a reaction to the press conference?”
Gen looks grim. “Yeah. Pretty much what you’d expect. Jensen’s been bewitched; it’s all an evil witch-plot to take over the world, yada, yada, yada.”
Jared’s brow is furrowed. “@StateofGrace? That’s the Church of the Holy Fire’s official Twitter account right?”
Gen nods. “Yeah. It’s run by this real little—”
“Sister,” Jensen croaks. “My sister Grace runs it.”
“Awkward,” Gen murmurs, looking down at her phone.
“Your…little sister?” Jared says.
Jensen shakes his head. “No, she’s my big sister. Four years older. She studied Public Relations at UAT and now she does PR stuff for the Church.”
There’s some uncomfortable shuffling and nobody except Jared seems able to meet Jensen’s eyes. Jensen is perched on the arm of the sofa next to where Jared is sitting squished beside his parents and Jared reaches out and takes hold of Jensen’s hand.
How much would you kill me if I pulled you onto my lap? Jared asks.
Don’t. Jensen shakes his head.
But you feel so sad. I just want to cuddle it better.
Jensen snorts. He gets an image through the bond of Jared, arms spread wide, coming in to cuddle him like some sort of over-large cuddle monster and it brings a smile to his face even as he rolls his eyes. And then he notices that everyone is staring at them. Charisma practically has hearts in her eyes.
“What?” he says, lifting his chin.
Charisma sighs. “You two are so adorable when you do that whole silent talking thing.”
Jessica purses her lips. “Maybe we should get them a spot on Oprah? If people could only see how good they are together, then maybe--”
“Wouldn’t make any difference,” says Jensen. “They’d just think he’d bewitched me to be happy with him. Their minds are made up.”
He spreads his arms and shrugs in a ‘what can you do’ gesture. He knows his former Church. They’ll never change their minds on this. The best the magi can do here is try to limit the fallout and control the damage.
“I’ve got some studying to do,” he says. “If you’ll excuse me.”
You want me to come with you? Jared asks.
No. I just need some time alone. Jensen responds. He’s generally not one for PDAs, but he leans down and gives Jared a kiss before he leaves because he can feel how troubled Jared is by the shit-storm their soulbonding seems to have unleashed.
In the quiet of his room, Jensen puts his mind blocks in place like Jared taught him and then he takes a moment to silently fall apart. He lies face down on his bed, his face buried in the pillow that smells like Jared, and grieves for a lost future where his family and his husband’s family can sit down to Thanksgiving dinner together without a third global Witch War actually, literally, breaking out.
Eventually, Jensen decides that he’s done feeling sorry for himself for now and he rolls over and picks up his laptop, which is on charge beside his bed. There’s an online practice exam he needs to do before his Anatomy exam tomorrow. And he truly does mean to log on to the College website, except that as soon as his laptop boots up he’s bombarded with Facebook and Twitter mention notifications. Jensen’s stomach plummets to his boots. He doesn’t want to know. He knows, in the abstract, the kind of thing that the Church and its True Believers are saying about him; about Jared. He doesn’t need to see the fucked up details.
Only there’s also an email from his sister and that isn’t quite so easy to ignore.
Jensen stares at the screen and rubs his chin. And then he clicks on the new mail icon.
Hi Jensen,
I don’t really know how to start this. I guess…I’ll start by saying I’m really worried about you. You must feel really stressed and alone, out there amongst all those witches who are trying to convince you that you’re okay, that you’re not going straight to Hell. But you are, Jensen. If you keep consorting with a witch then I’m sorry, but you are.
We’ve been doing research, looking into the Church’s known remedies for people who’ve been bewitched with inordinate love—or philocaption as it’s more properly known. Jensen, the Witch Jared has turned your mind, but we can overcome his magics with prayer and acts of devotion. Please come home and let us cure you. Please, brother.
Love always,
Grace
Jensen reads the email through three times and drops his head into his hands. And then he clicks on reply:
Hi Grace,
Thanks for your email. I appreciate your concern. Yeah, it’s all pretty stressful. Jared’s a great guy. Funny, kind, loving and giving. You’d really like him. I wish I knew how to convince you that I’m not bewitched. But I don’t think there’s any proof that you would accept. Is there? What would convince you?
Love,
Jensen
Jensen doesn’t have to wait long for a reply. His sister very earnestly tells him that if he submits to the Patriarch’s recommended regime of prayer and acts of devotion and is still in love with Jared afterwards, the Church will accept that their love is real and not a product of bewitchment.
Jensen frowns and then scrubs a hand across his face. He doesn’t need this shit. He’s got his final exams this week. He should be focusing on that, not all this stupid drama.
He thinks about what Grace said and shudders. Prayers, okay. He can deal with prayers. But acts of devotion? He doesn’t know precisely what the Church would expect him to do to show his devotion to God, but he can’t imagine it would be anything good.
But if it would get them off his back? If it would make them leave Jared alone? Then yeah. It would be worth it.
--
Jared watches Jensen walk out of the room and then sags, his head dropping down against the back of the sofa.
“It’s gonna be okay, Honey,” his mom says, slipping her arm around his shoulders.
“Yeah,” Jared sighs. “It’s just. This is so hard for him. He’s still got all this indoctrination to work through and he feels really alone.”
“Want me to go talk to him?” Chris says. “As the only other non-magi here?”
Jared shakes his head. “He needs some alone time right now.”
“And we have to plan our PR strategy,” Jessica says.
Jared turns to look at her, his eyes wide. “This is my life, mom. Not some activist campaign.”
“This situation is precisely why we are activists,” his mom says. “You can’t expect us to sit back and do nothing while The Church of the Holy Fire accuses you of all sorts of vile crimes.”
Sadie shifts restlessly at his feet and Jared leans forward and pets her. “Think I’ll take the dogs for a walk,” he says.
His parents and Professor Morgan exchange a significant look. “Stick to the grounds of the apartment block,” his dad says.
Okay. Wow. People have obviously been making threats online.
“Anything credible?” he asks.
His dad’s mouth takes on a pinched look. “Just the usual lunatic fringe,” he says. “But it doesn’t hurt to be careful.”
In the end Charisma comes with him too. The dogs are really excited; snuffling and scent marking and generally just enjoying their new territory. Jared allows himself to relax. To pretend for a moment that he’s just a regular college boy excited about his amazing new boyfriend.
Sadie bounds toward a tree, dragging Charisma behind her and Jared can’t help grinning as Sadie sniffs and then cocks a leg.
“This is so messed up,” he suddenly finds himself saying. “All I was trying to do was study for my exams. And then, there’s this hot, green-eyed guy sitting opposite me and I’m thinking, ‘Whoa, man, where have you been all my life?’” Jared sighs. “The next minute my magic’s swirling all around his head and the minute after that we’ve got matching ‘tattoos’ and he can’t move out of my line of sight without keeling over.”
Charisma’s brown eyes are focused on his. “He’s okay now though, right? Now that you guys have consummated the bond?”
Jared nods. “Yeah. We can be apart now, but probably not for more than a few days; a week at most.”
Charisma is quiet for a moment and then she asks, “Do you regret it? Meeting your soulmate?”
Jared thinks about the question; truly thinks about it. On the one hand he’s suddenly the target of a lot of hate from certain quarters of the community. On the other hand, being with Jensen is like nothing Jared could have ever imagined. The thought of being without him is just…horrible. It would feel like being torn in two. Jared doesn’t really have the words to describe what it’s like to be connected with his soulmate. Nobody who doesn’t have one could ever possibly understand. Jared is no longer one person; not really. His sense of self has suddenly become much larger and he will never regret that; never regret the way he and Jensen have fused together.
“No,” Jared tells Charisma. “Despite all the trouble it’s caused, meeting my soulmate is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
The continue walking, and as they walk Charisma suggests that Jared should ask Professor Morgan if the university library has any reference material about soulbonds that is kept confidential and not made available to the general public.
They make several laps of the building’s grounds. Harley gets very excited when he sees a small flock of pigeons and the build-up of purple swirls around his head tells Jared that he’s trying to magically slip his leash. Jared resists the temptation to give him the magical equivalent of a smack on the nose and instead reprimands him verbally, because Harley is going to be working with a mundane and he needs to remember to keep his magic sheathed unless he’s told he can play or it’s an emergency. Pigeons don’t constitute an emergency, no matter how Harley may like to argue otherwise.
When they finally get back to the apartment, Jared’s mom is on the phone to Oprah’s people, his dad is in the kitchen cooking and Gen is having an argument with @StateofGrace on Twitter. Chris is nowhere to be seen and Jensen is still in his room. Jared checks in with him via the bond, just a quick, concerned, ‘are you all right’ prod and gets a fond, slightly exasperated prod in return.
Professor Morgan is mostly just watching Gen trade barbs with Grace, so Jared asks him if the university has any ‘restricted’ material on soulbonding that he and Jensen could take a look through, given their very obvious need to know everything there is to be known on the subject. Professor Morgan says he’ll see what he can do.
Chris returns just as Wade Padalecki announces that he’s made a spicy chicken casserole and it should be ready in about an hour. Chris came out of Jensen’s room and Jared determinedly doesn’t ask him what they were talking about despite the fact that he really wants to know.
His mom snaps her phone shut and grins. “I’ve got you a spot on Oprah. We have to be at the studio by 9.00am next Thursday.”
Jared feels a rush of fury across the bond and then hears Jensen speak from just behind him. “I have my Pharmacology in PT exam then,” he says. “And no disrespect intended, but maybe you should be checking with us before you go making arrangements for us to do things. You’re not our manager and we’re not D-List celebrities looking for publicity.”
Jared holds his breath and sifts the rampant emotions in the room to try to get a feel for the way things are going to go. Jensen may look calm and controlled, but Jared can feel the way his pulse is racing; the angry adrenaline coursing through his veins.
“I apologize,” his mom says after a moment of stunned silence. “You’re absolutely right. I should’ve checked with you and Jared first. When will you be available to go on Oprah?”
“Never,” Jensen says.
Jessica Padalecki frowns and fiddles with the bracelets on her wrist. “I know you’re not comfortable with putting yourself out there, Jensen. But we need to get in front here. Need to show everyone that you and Jared are just a normal couple.”
Jensen points out that normal couples don’t go on Oprah and he reiterates—yet again—that there is nothing the magi can do to convince the Church of the Holy Fire and its congregation that Jensen hasn’t been bewitched. Jessica asks if there’s anything that would convince them and Jensen moves from the doorway into the room and rests his hands on Jared’s shoulders.
“I’d have to let them try to cure me of Jared’s ‘spell’.”
Jared can feel his fear through the bond and the way Jensen’s hands tremble where they rest on his shoulders. He reaches up and grips one of Jensen’s hands, squeezing gently.
“You don’t have to,” he says. “We know the truth. You don’t owe them anything. If they don’t trust you enough to take your word for it, then,” he’s not sure how to finish the sentence because they’re Jensen’s family and besides, his mama’s in the room.
Privately, Jared thinks that if Jensen’s family is going to make him go through some sort of Inquisition-style trial to prove that he’s not bewitched, then they can get fucked. But he’s pretty sure that if he said it out loud his mama would try to send him to his room or something.
“We’ll see,” Jensen says. “But I’m not going on Oprah,” he smiles wryly. “It’d be totally counterproductive anyway. If I did that, my parents would be convinced I was bewitched. Or possibly possessed.”
They eat an early supper and try to keep the conversation light, as if Jensen is just a regular guy meeting his boyfriend’s family for the first time. Jared’s parents and Professor Morgan and Gen leave shortly afterwards and Jared and Jensen spend the rest of the evening studying.
By the time they go to bed, it’s late and they’re exhausted. Jared had kind of been hoping that maybe they’d have sex, but Jensen just says goodnight and switches off the lamp. It’s feels like he’s got a lot on his mind and Jared doesn’t want to seem like he’s pushing so he just pecks him on the cheek and rolls over.
--
The next day is weird. Jared has his Thaumaturgy Theory exam at 10.00am and as soon as he walks into the exam hall, people are craning their necks to gawk at him and there’s an upsurge in curiosity, and not just because he’s got a Faire-Gadhar with him. There’s a little bit of envy in the emotions that swirl around him, but there’s also a lot of fear and worry too. He and Jensen have mostly been trying to avoid the news and social media, but maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to know what people are saying about them.
Jared tries to talk to his classmates after the exam—he’s always been a friendly, gregarious guy and he’s generally pretty well-liked by everyone—but today, a lot of people are in too much of a hurry to chat. The few that will talk are mostly just curious to hear what it’s like to have a soulmate or they just want to pat Harley. When Jared asks what people are saying about the soulbonding he doesn’t really learn anything he didn’t already know; the Church of the Holy Fire is using it to whip up anti-magi sentiment and a lot of mundanes are scared.
Seeing as how he’s on campus anyway, Jared decides to call in and see Chad.
He still has some stuff in their dorm room and he may as well start picking it up and moving it to Jensen’s, because they’re not ever going to live apart again. And besides, he kind of wants to see his old roommate.
He knocks, because Chad could be doing anything in there and when Chad opens the door he’s wearing a tee-shirt but no pants and his hair is sleep-tousled.
“Sorry,” Jared says. “Is this a bad time?”
Chad squints at him and then frowns. “No?” he widens the door and lets Jared in. “You didn’t have to knock, you know. Your name’s still on the door.”
Jared nods. “It seemed like the polite thing to do.” He clears a space on his old bed, which is now covered in Chad’s dirty laundry, and sits down. “So. How are you?”
“Good. Nice dog.” Chad lets Harley sniff his hand and then runs a hand through his hair and looks Jared squarely in the eye. “This thing with Jensen…you didn’t bewitch him, right?”
“No. My magic just recognized him as my soulmate and we bonded.”
Chad nods. “That’s what I’ve been telling people,” he shakes his head. “Something like this, it really tells you who the fuckers are. They’re all down with the magi when y’all are turning water into wine for frat parties, but then this happens and it’s like all this prejudice that was sitting just below the surface starts oozing out, like it just needed an excuse. I gotta tell you, Jay, it’s been really fucking disappointing. I’ve had to dump people I thought were friends.”
Jared finds himself feeling ridiculously touched. “You dumped friends for me?”
Chad squints at him again. “I dumped them because they were prejudiced assholes. Anyone who knows you knows that you’re a nice guy. Far too nice to bewitch someone into becoming your sex slave.”
Jared forgets how to breathe and when he remembers that it’s a necessity he gasps so hard that he chokes and coughs. Chad comes and slaps his back and then sits down beside him with a sigh.
“Goddess above,” Jared finally manages to say. “That’s what people are saying?”
Chad nods. “And I keep telling them, I’m way hotter than that Ackles dude and I freaking love going to orgies, which Ackles would never, because he’s an uptight Holy Fire freak, so if Jay was the sort of guy to put a spell on someone to make them become his sex slave, it would’ve been me, his roommate of twelve months.”
Honestly? Jared isn’t sure whether to laugh or cry so he settles for letting his jaw drop and looking at Chad with wide eyes.
“Thank you?” he says finally.
Chad beams proudly. “You’re welcome, Asshole.”
Jared isn’t quite sure why he’s the asshole, but okay.
He packs up most of the rest of his stuff into a couple of duffel bags and tells Chad that he’ll be back for the rest when he has time. As he strolls across the campus Jared hears a few muttered comments and there’s a Holy Fire prayer group in the Quadrangle that gets really loud when he and Harley walk past. At one point, as he’s walking down the sidewalk toward Jensen’s (and his now too) off-campus apartment, he gets the sense that he’s being followed. Even Harley seems suspicious if the way he keeps looking behind them and growling is any indication.
Jensen isn’t yet back from his Anatomy exam and Charisma is out, but Chris is home. He’s playing guitar in the living room with Steve.
Jared makes small talk with them for a little while and then excuses himself to go and make himself some nachos. He retreats to Jensen’s bedroom with Harley and a large plate of cheese and salsa soaked corn chips. He hopes his boyfriend won’t get mad at him for eating on the bed. He calls his mom and begs off her suggestion that he and Jensen meet them at their hotel and go out for dinner. He tells her they’ve got too much studying to do, which is true. But more truthfully Jared just needs to spend some quality time with his soulmate. They’d both agreed to keep their blocks fully in place while they were doing their exams and it’s the right thing to do, but Jared misses Jensen when he can only sense his presence as a dull, background buzz rather than a bright, white hot dazzling presence in the forefront of his brain. When he hears the front door open and close and voices start up in the living room, Jared lowers his barriers and Jensen’s anger slams into him.
Jared is off the bed and out of the bedroom before he’s even finished processing all the emotions that Jensen is emitting.
“What’s wrong?” he demands, striding into the living room.
Jensen turns to face him, his green eyes burning. “Professor Brown wouldn’t accept Sadie’s paperwork. Said she didn’t qualify as a ‘service dog’ and she couldn’t come in. Sadie thought he was threatening me—which he kind of was, and she did the whole, you know, three heads, red eyes, and roaring thing. Scared the crap outta me. And Professor Brown. I had to get Professor Morgan to come and deal with him; explain that she’s my protection on account of ‘credible threats’ and she’s been approved by the College and City Hall,” Jensen shakes his head. “I always thought Brown was all right, you know? Now I find out he’s actually a bigot.”
Jared wraps his arms around his soulmate and holds him tight. Jensen has probably always been aware that the magi face prejudice; he just hasn’t had that prejudice impact him personally on a regular basis. It must be an eye-opening experience.
Jensen sighs and pulls back. “Yeah,” he says. “Knowing something intellectually and experiencing it yourself are two very different things.”
Jensen puts his stuff away and goes to brew a pot of coffee. Jared sits down at the table and watches him putter about. Jared frowns to himself. Yesterday, his dad had dismissed the threats that were being made as no more than the usual rantings of the lunatic fringe, but today Professor Morgan said that Jensen was allowed to have Sadie in the exam hall because of a credible threat. Which was it?
“Jensen,” he says. “I think we’re gonna have to brave the social media cesspool to see what’s being said about us.”
Jensen wrinkles his nose. “Yeah,” he says. “I think you’re right. Let’s do it tonight.”
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