Archive of Our Own

Jensen is at his usual spot behind the main desk, filling out the final paperwork for Brandon’s internship. Keeping up with all the bureaucratic requirements of the program was one of the downsides of their deal with the Art Institute of Austin but the pros definitely outweighed the cons. Having students like Brandon to provide them with free labor takes a lot of the little mundane daily tasks off of Jensen’s plate. In return, the students get internship credit towards their degrees and practical experience in how to making a living with their art. All in all, it’s a pretty sweet deal for everyone involved.

Getting the school-sponsored internship program established at Skin Deep had been Jensen’s idea but it had been inspired by Jared. Or more accurately by Osric; their first apprentice, who has become a fixture at the shop ever since Jared took him under his wing.

When Jared first introduced Osric into the shop it was with the intention of molding him from the kid he’d found painting a mural in a downtown parking lot into a tattoo artist. He did fine on the pork skin that Jared had him practice on, but being the sweet guy that he is Osric realized pretty quickly that he was never going to get past the idea of causing people pain. His unfortunate squeamishness aside, he was still a genuinely talented artist and he made himself an invaluable help to Jensen around the shop. For those reasons, Jared had kept him on and mentored him anyway, helping him put together a portfolio and apply to art school. Now almost two years later, Osric is getting ready to graduate soon with an associate’s degree in graphic design and Skin Deep has a steady stream of interns on waitlist for the privilege of being mentored by Jared, an artist at the top of his game.

At the moment, all the guys are hanging around waiting to see Brandon off; Chad, Misha, Osric, and Chris, who is busy getting his station setup for his next appointment. The only absentee is Steve. Ever since his daughter started first grade, Steve’s wife went back to work full time and he’s been pitching in by picking up the slack at home. He still comes in on Saturdays but the rest of his week is by special appointment only, and even then only during the hours when Jamie is at school. The rest of the guys tease him some for going from a fulltime tattoo artist and gigging musician to Mr. Mom, but he seems to take their good-natured ribbing in stride. Even though they miss having him around, it’s obvious to all that Steve is a happier guy now that he gets to spend more time with his kid.

Jensen is just finishing up the paperwork when the door chimes ring. He looks up to see who it is and he’s pleasantly surprised to see Danneel. She’s wearing a navy blue tie-dyed maxi dress and her hair is up in messy bun - effortlessly beautiful as always.

“Hey guys,” she says brightly, sending a little wave around the room to everyone. “How’s tricks?”

Misha, Chad, and Osric look up from where the three of them are clustered together around Misha’s laptop, each offering her a quick hello in reply. They’re currently occupied with eating Chinese food straight out of the cartons and watching Misha’s latest short film he’s been working on. It’s a gruesome horror flick about a transvestite Japanese school boy who wears a little plaid skirt and kills vampires in his spare time. Jensen hasn’t seen the most recent round of edits yet but he can’t imagine that it’s gotten any less disturbing than the last time Misha roped him into a screening session. He still has nightmares about it.

“Hey you,” Jensen says, getting up to greet Dani with a hug. He hasn’t been able to see her as much as he’d like lately and he’s missed having her around. “I didn’t know if I was going to see you today.”

“Are you kidding?” she huffs, taking a seat on the waiting area couch. “Any excuse to leave the house. I’m going stir-crazy, I swear.”

Chris quickly finishes up prepping and sterilizing his station and tosses away his latex gloves. He comes over to join them with his hands on his hips, a disapproving frown on his face aimed at Danneel. “Why didn’t you call me to come pick you up? You know I don’t like you driving right now.”

Danneel just rolls her eyes at him in annoyance. “See what I’m dealing with here?” she says to Jensen. “He’s impossible. I thought I was dating a musician and what I got was a mother hen.”

At nearly a full nine months pregnant, Danneel's been spending more time at home lately than at work, although certainly not by choice. If she had her way she’d still be pulling down a full schedule, but Chris threatened to stop supplying her with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups if she didn’t start taking it easy. The cravings ultimately won out over her pride. However, she’d made it abundantly clear that she wasn’t about to let her independence go quietly.

“Sorry,” Jensen tells her with a shrug. “I’ve got to agree with Chris on this one.” He gestures at the round swell of her belly. “You look like you’re about to pop any minute.”

Danneel narrows her eyes at him menacingly. “Traitor.”

“Don’t get mad at me!” Jensen throws his hands up in gesture of truce. He points an accusatory finger at Chris. “I wasn’t the one who knocked you up.”

Chris scowls back at him, clearly unamused but unable to dispute a hard fact.

“Better not have,” Jared says lightly, walking out of his office with uncanny timing.

Jensen doesn’t have to turn and look at him to see the smirk on his face, he can hear it in his voice clearly enough. “Ha ha,” he says dryly, hands on his hips. “What a comedian.”

“There he is,” Dani says, smiling at Jared. It morphs into a sneer the moment she turns her attention back to Jensen. “Your much better half.” She points her tongue out at him petulantly.

Jared comes over to them, bending down to plant a quick kiss on Dani’s cheek. “Hey Dani. Good to see you. You look great.”

“Kiss ass,” Chris grumbles under his breath.

“They’re ganging up on me,” Dani says to Jared with a dramatic pout. “Make them stop.”

Jared straightens up with confused expression on his face. “What’s going on?”

“Just the usual. She’s stubborn as a mule and she won’t listen to reason,” Chris explains with a long-suffering sigh. “She’s days away from giving birth and she’s still just brushing this thing off like it’s no big deal. We haven’t even picked out a damn name for it.”

Dani huffs at him, shooting daggers with her eyes. “I have two weeks til my due date. There’s plenty of time.”

“Yeah, there’s no way I’m getting caught in the crossfire here.” Jared backs away, moving to stand next Jensen. “I’m thinking the safe thing for me to do is to just stay out of it.”

“Wise decision,” Jensen laughs. “What did you do with Brandon?”

“He’s admiring himself in the mirror.”

Brandon walks out of Jared’s office with his t-shirt balled up in his hand and a huge grin on his face. “Hey y’all!” he says, coming to a stop in the middle of the shop floor. “Check it out!” He raises his left arm over his head and pivots to the side, proudly showing off the fresh tattoo on his ribs. Jared had given it to him as a going away present. Its a few lyrics from one of his favorite Bob Marley songs; Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds.

The guys at Misha’s computer put the video on pause and crowd around Brandon admire it.

“Nice, man,” Osric says. “Did it hurt?”

“Like a bitch,” Brandon replies happily.

Chad just laughs at him and pats him on the back before returning to his food. Misha makes himself useful wrapping up Brandon’s side.

Chris seizes the opportunity while everyone is distracted to take a seat next to Danneel. She’s captive on the couch because she can’t stand up at this point without help. He takes her hand, linking her fingers with his. Jensen takes note that she doesn’t resist him. She even smiles a little.

“Hey, Jay,” Chris says, pulling Jared’s attention away from the neat job Misha is doing on Brandon’s bandage. “Think you could make some room in your schedule to do me next?”

“’Course, buddy. Anytime you want,” Jared tells him. “What do you have in mind?”

“Just some lettering. Right here.” Chris taps a spot over the left side of his chest, above his heart. “I want you to write our baby’s name.” He gives Dani’s had a little squeeze. “When we pick one, that is.”

Danneel looks up at him adoringly, all of her former orneriness gone. Her eyes well up with tears. “Chris,” she sniffles. “That’s perfect.”

Chris leans over and gives her a light kiss. When they part, they’re both smiling again.

“There it is. That’s what I like to see,” Jensen says, relieved that their little spat seems to be over for the moment at least.

Jared drapes his arm loosely across the back of Jensen’s shoulders. He doesn’t say anything but he doesn’t really have to. Jensen can feel their connection in the solid warmth of him against his side, the contact linking them as a little unit of their own. Jensen smiles to himself, amused at how much of a sentimental sap Jared can be without even realizing it.

Osric says something that makes Brandon crack up laughing. He’s in the midst of putting his t-shirt back on now that Misha has finished dressing his new tattoo when he gets stuck. One of his arms is through its normal sleeve but somehow he’s managed to get the other one snagged halfway through the neck opening.

Jared sighs, watching Osric trying to help him fix it. “Just think. This time next week we’ll be starting from scratch again with the summer intern. Are they getting younger or is it just me?”

“You can’t fool me,” Jensen teases at him, bumping him with his hip. “I know you like them young.”

“True,” Jared says, without missing a beat.

Jensen elbows him lightly. “Hey! You didn’t need to agree with me so fast. What, are you planning on trading me in for newer model?” He’s not really worried, but still. Brandon is kind of hot. Not that he’s noticed or anything.

“Are you kidding?” Jared says. He reels Jensen in closer to him with an arm around his neck. With his free hand, Jared traces a fingertip over the lines of ink that are peeking through the open vee of Jensen’s henley. “After all the man-hours I’ve put into marking you up so pretty?” he says, arching an eyebrow at Jensen coyly. “Not a chance.”

Jensen can’t help himself. He leans in and gives Jared a kiss. It’s tame by anyone’s standards, barely opened mouths pressed together in a brief exchange of affection. It’s an unspoken rule of theirs to try and keep the more blatant PDA’s out of the workplace. They’re the owners after all and they should be setting a good example. However there are times, like now for instance, when breaking that rule is just too hard to resist. It’s all Jared’s fault anyway, Jensen tells himself. He smells like he’s been using Jensen’s soap again and he knows that does terrible things to Jensen’s self-restraint.

Chad groans, setting aside his Chinese food container. “Jesus Christ, guys! Can you not get your gay all over the place? Some of us are trying to eat lunch here.”

Misha shakes his head at him. “Pay no attention to him,” he says to Jensen and Jared. “He’s just jealous.”

“I am not,” Chad tosses back indignantly.

“He’s upset because Sophia dumped him again,” Misha informs them, ignoring Chad’s mutinous glare.

“Is that true?” Jared asks, releasing Jensen as he turns to direct his question to Chad.

“She’s just been working some extra shifts at the hospital,” Chad says. “No biggie.” He tries to make it come across casual but he’s fooling no one. He’s been smitten with Sophia since they first met, even though they’ve broken up and gotten back together more times than anyone can count.

“And by that,” Danneel puts in, “he means she finally got tired of dating a guy with the maturity level of a twelve year old.”

“Hey, I’m plenty mature,” Chad objects.

Danneel just laughs at him.

“You wanna go there?” Chad scowls at her. “You want to talk about who the immature one around here is? Cause I’m thinking it’s the one who can’t remember to take her birth control.”

“Dude,” Chris says to him. “Easy.”

If looks could kill, Chad would be pushing up daisies judging from the look that Danneel gives him. “You take that back,” she hisses at him.

“Alright kids, break it up,” Jensen says, before it can escalate any further.  Danneel and Chad are both too stubborn to let the other one have the last word when they get to bickering with each other.  He’s seen it firsthand too many times and with Danneel’s hormones being what they are at the moment he’s slightly afraid for Chad’s safety.

“Hey y’all,” Brandon interrupts, calling for everyone’s attention. “I’m getting ready to head out now.”  He walks over to Jared and offers him a handshake. “Thanks so much for everything, man.”

“No problem,” Jared says. “Bart is going to be lucky to have you.”

“Bart?” Chris asks. “You mean Southside Tattoo, Bart?

“Jared scored me a real professional apprenticeship with him,” Brandon says, practically beaming. “I’m starting over there next week.”

“That’s great,” Misha says. “You’ll be able to learn a lot from him.”

“Don’t be a stranger,” Jensen tells him.

“I won’t,” Brandon promises. He makes the rounds to each of them individually as he says his goodbyes with a quick hug or a firm handshake. Then with one last wave to everyone, he’s out the door and the shop feels just a little bit emptier.

“They grow up so fast,” Chad says with a sigh.

Jensen rolls his eyes and is about to comment on that when he feels his phone buzzing in his pocket.  He pulls it out and is surprised to see his sister’s number on the screen.  Aside from the birthday card she sent him a couple of months ago he hasn’t heard from her since Christmas. They haven’t talked all that much over the years since he dropped out of college and landed in rehab, not anywhere near as much as they used to anyway. Still, she’s the one member of his family who actually bothers to contact him at all anymore. Jensen escapes into the kitchenette where it’s a little quieter to take the call.

“Mack?”

“Jensen, hi!” she says excitedly. “How are you?”

“I’m okay…” Jensen’s not under any illusions that Mack called him out of the blue just to shoot the shit. She’s clearly got some news she’s anxious to share. “So what’s up?”

“I’m engaged!” she squealed. “Can you believe it?”

Jensen is stunned for a moment, so much so that he can’t think of how to respond. In the last ten years since he left their hometown for Austin he’s seen his sister face-to-face only a handful of times, the last occasion being the day she graduated from Southern Methodist University. He’s seen her grow from a bubbly blonde teenage girl into a woman mostly just through her Facebook pictures. Now she’s getting married?

“Jensen? Say something.”

“Sorry,” he says, shaking his head a little to clear the cobwebs from it. “My brain is just taking a while to buffer here. That’s… Wow. I mean, congratulations. I’m really really happy for you, Mack.”

“Thank you,” she says, sounding relieved.

Jensen leans against the kitchenette fridge, racking his brain trying to remember her boyfriend’s name. Man, he is a shit brother. “I hope you and…Will? It’s Will, right?”

“Yes, Will,” Mack says, clearly amused at his awkwardness.

“That you and Will,” Jensen continues, “will be very happy together.” He’s at a loss for what else to say. They haven’t been in each other’s lives much lately but he’s always had a special fondness for Mack. Hearing that she’s about to be married is making him think about all the time they’ve missed and all the distance that’s grown between them. He regrets all the times he could have met her halfway over the years and didn’t.

“Thanks, Jensen,” she says. “I’m glad to hear you say that.” She clears her throat and when she speaks again her tone has changed, more subdued and more serious. “The other reason I called was because I wanted to invite you to my engagement party. I figured it’d be harder for you to turn me down over the phone than if I just sent a card in the mail. Was I right?”

Jensen’s got to give her credit for her tactics. They are certainly effective. The guilt he’s feeling just gets compounded even further. “Mack…I don’t know.”

“Please,” she says to him. “It would mean so much to me to have you there. The wedding isn’t until February – Valentine’s Day, and I don’t want to wait that long until I get to see you again. I just know that day is going to be insane and I won’t get to spend nearly enough time with you. You’ll probably sneak in the back of the room somewhere, watch the ceremony, and sneak out again before anyone gets a chance to talk to you.”

She’s got him there. Jensen hadn’t even known about this wedding for more than a few minutes and he had already begun planning that exact scenario for when the day finally came. Whenever he was forced into a situation like this where he’d be attending an Ackles family event he tried to treat them like a Special Ops mission. He wanted be in and out with as much stealth as he could manage within the absolute minimum amount of time that it took to fulfill his objectives. No one but his sister would even have to know he was there. Now Mack was throwing a wrench into his plans and he doesn’t like the idea of it at all.

“I want you to meet Will,” she pressed on. “Have a beer with him or something and get the chance to actually know him. And I want to finally meet Jared.”

That throws him for a loop. No one in his family has met Jared, or any other guy that he’s dated for that matter. He’s pretty sure that Mack is the only who even knows about Jared. Jensen’s not sure how his parents would respond to seeing him again after all these years; their bisexual, former drug addict, and all-around black sheep of a son. There’s no telling how they’ll handle meeting said son’s live-in lover.  He can’t imagine it going any way but bad.

“Listen, don’t get me wrong, Mack,” Jensen says, feeling awful that he’s going to have to disappoint her on this. “I want all those things too. I really do. I just think it would be better for everyone if-“

“I know what you’re going to say and you’re wrong,” Mack says, cutting him off. “It wouldn’t be better if you didn’t come. It would be easier, but that’s not the same thing. I know this is a big ask, but when Will and I get married it’s going to be the most important day of my life. I don’t want to spend it worrying about whether or not you and Dad can handle being in the same room. I think it’s better to break the ice now while there’s still plenty of time for everyone to get adjusted to the idea.”

As much as Jensen wants to do whatever he can to make her happy, he doesn’t think that there’s much hope for the rest of his family – especially his Dad, to get used to the idea of him and Jared. “I’m sorry. I just don’t think that it’s going to do anyone any good for us to show up there. I don’t want my problems with the family to take away from your day.”

“Jensen, you’re my brother. Your problems are my problems,” Mack counters. “I know things have been…strained. But that doesn’t mean I don’t care.”

Jensen feels a lump take form in his throat. It’s been a long time since they’ve been this open with each other. “I know. Thanks, Mack.”

“I want things to change,” she tells him earnestly. “I want to make them better. Don’t you?”

“Yeah, I do,” Jensen concedes. As much as he’d like to think that he’s past the point where he cares what his parents think of him, he knows deep down that he isn’t. He’d like for them to see what he’s made of himself and to be proud of him. And it would be really nice to be able to go visit Mack or have her come and see him in Austin without feeling like they had to do it behind their parent’s backs.

“I think Josh would really like to see you too,” Mack adds carefully.

Jensen tenses, feeling his hackles start to rise just from the mention of that name. “I seriously doubt that.”

Their big brother Josh.  Aside from their parents, he was the other major reason that Jensen hadn’t been back to Richardson. The last time he’d seen his older brother had been a few months after Jensen had gotten out of rehab. Josh had been the one to shell out the cash for his treatment – both times. Somehow that seemed to give his brother the idea that he had purchased the right to tell Jensen how to live his life when he got back out in the world. Jensen, of course, had a very different opinion on the subject. They fought constantly about it, even after Jensen had left for Austin in the effort to start his new life with a clean slate. The last time they’d talked on the phone Josh had hung up on him, but not until after he’d made it clear that he was washing his hands of Jensen entirely. That had been over five years ago and they hadn’t spoken since.

“He does, Jensen. I know he does,” Mack insists. “He just doesn’t know how to take the first step.”

“So you want me to?” Jensen asks incredulously. “Why should I?”

“You owe him.”

“I paid him back every goddamn cent of what I owed him!” Jensen says, close to shouting he’s so exasperated with the subject. He glances down the hall, checking to make sure no one overheard him raising his voice. Thankfully the drone of Chris’s tattoo machine seems to have drowned it out. His client must have finally shown up.

“This isn’t about the money.” Mack takes a deep breath, deep enough that Jensen can hear her frustration through the phone. “If he hadn’t dragged you kicking and screaming to rehab in the first place you never would have faced up to the fact that you needed help and you know it. If you ask me, I think you owe it to him and you owe it to yourself to give things between you two another chance.”

Jensen falls silent, still fuming. He doesn’t really want to admit it but part of him knows that Mack is right. If Josh hadn’t stepped in after their parents had all but disowned him he’d probably be dead by now.  Mack had been too young at the time to be of any real help and their parents had kept her sheltered from the worst of it.  Jensen had been in near constant haze of prescription painkillers, floating through his days like a zombie when he wasn’t passed out asleep.  He didn’t want to die but he was having a hard time living with his parent’s rejection.  He’d come out to them as bisexual and initially they’d written it off as a phase.  When he made it clear to them that his attraction to men wasn’t something that they could just pray away, they’d reacted with outright disgust and disdain.  Josh hadn’t exactly welcomed the news either, but he’d at least been able to rise above his own feelings on the matter when he realized how self-destructive Jensen had become.  For that reason alone, Jensen decides to take Mack’s advice and give his brother the benefit of the doubt.

“So when is thing anyway?” Jensen asks, sighing wearily.  He knows when he’s been beaten and his sister’s little guilt trip has certainly done the trick.

“This weekend…” she responds, an apology in her tone.

“This weekend?! Are you freaking kidding me?” Jensen feels trapped. Truth be told, he doesn’t have any specific plans other than lying in bed for as long as Jared will let him.  But that’s hardly the point.  He would have liked at least a little more time to gear himself up for this. “You want me to just drop everything-“

“And Jared,” Mack is quick to remind him.

“You want Jared and I,” Jensen corrects himself through clenched teeth,” to drop everything and drive up there this weekend?”

“I was afraid that if I gave you too much time to think about it that you’d chicken out!” Mack says defensively.

“Jesus Christ, Mack.” Jensen takes a seat at the kitchenette’s little table set, leaning his elbows on its well-worn, graffiti-covered surface. He can feel a pounding headache coming on.

“Please, Jensen,” she begs. “I already reserved a room for you and Jared at the Grand so you’ll have a place to stay. All you have to do is show up.”

Jensen rubs at his temple trying to massage the tension away. “You’re making it really hard for me to say no.”

“That was the plan. So does that mean you’ll come?” she asks, sounding cautiously optimistic.

Jensen closes his eyes, sending up a silent prayer for patience.  He’s already starting to feel like he’s going to regret this but he wants very much to believe that Mack is right.  Maybe the years of absence from his family have worn them down and now they’ll be willing to actually listen to him with a more open frame of mind.  He’ll never know for sure if he doesn’t at least try.

“I have to talk to Jared about it,” he begins. That’s about as far as he gets before Mack interrupts him with an excited squeal.

“You’re the best! Thank you so much!” she exclaims. “You’ll see, Jen. It will all work itself out just fine.”

By the time he hangs up with her, Jensen is already hunting through the drawers in the kitchenette for their aspirin bottle.  He finds it and pops two before he shoves his phone back in his pocket and heads back out towards the front of the shop.  He’s got to find Jared and explain why they’re going to need Osric to watch the dogs this weekend.  He just hopes that Jared is in an understanding mood.

This has all the potential to be the engagement party/family reunion from Hell, but at least with Jared and Mack on his side he won’t have to go through it alone.  It’s pretty much the only thing that’s keeping him from completely freaking out at the moment.  Hopefully, it will be enough to carry him through the next few days as well.