Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Unsurprisingly, getting pregnant the summer before his senior year did nothing to improve Jared’s social standing in high school. He was able to keep the whole thing a secret for several months, but it turned out that constantly dressing in layers and bulky sweaters could only conceal his ever-growing belly for so long. On the bright side, the reveal of his pregnancy allowed him to stop wearing such heavy clothing; doing so had already raised a lot of suspicion near the end of summer (leading to rumors that he was covering himself in order to hide a hideous and likely contagious skin disease) and even during the autumn and early winter months, the unseasonably warm Texas weather still made the clothing somewhat miserable to wear. The downside was...pretty much everything else.

Jared’s number of friends had dwindled with each passing day, for one. Apparently, to them, being pregnant was significantly worse than having the fictional, grotesque skin diseases that the rumor mill had initially seen fit to bestow upon him and everyone treated him as if he were patient zero of an epidemic that they themselves could fall victim to just by virtue of breathing the same air as him. And although he was able to cling to a small portion of allies at first, one-by-one the few friends who didn’t voluntarily stop hanging out with him were eventually coerced to avoid his presence by neurotic parents who declared Jared to be a “bad influence.” Because Jared had totally gotten knocked up with the intention of convincing their precious children to have unprotected sex in order to enter the rewarding and glamorous world of teenage pregnancy.

Right. That made sense.

At any rate, it was his lack of friends that led Jared to where he was now: perching on top of an overturned bucket and eating a depressing sack lunch in an equally depressing supply closet in order to avoid sitting alone in the school’s cafeteria and being subjected to the judgmental gaze of his peers. He had started eating there regularly several weeks ago when he realized that hardly anyone actually used it; well, no one aside from the occasional custodian and most of them didn’t care enough about the fact that he invaded the closet for a short period of time on a daily basis to do anything about it. Either that or they figured that if some poor sap needed to escape to a tiny, ill-lit closet in order to eat lunch, then he probably had enough problems as it was. They wouldn’t be wrong: Jared didn’t exactly have a shortage of problems.

                                                                                            ********************

The thing of it was that Jared had always been a bright kid with an equally bright future; he was a straight A student who excelled in his advanced placement classes and had a nearly impeccable GPA. Before everyone found out about his pregnancy, people would always ask Jared what his plans for college were, and he would proudly answer that he wanted to study hard so he could earn scholarships, get accepted a good university, and major in engineering. And then every person who heard this would smile back at Jared.

“Of course you will,” they would say confidently. “You have so much potential, Jared.”

And they meant it; they truly did. But now...

Well, no one really asked Jared about college any more. Whenever Jared still occasionally mentioned his plans to become an engineer to people, their smiles were forced and their eyes drifted unsubtly to his round belly.

“Of course you will,” they would croon insincerely with pity in their eyes. And most of them didn’t say it (not to his face at least), but he knew they were probably also thinking, “You had so much potential, Jared.”

Eventually, he just stopped talking about it with people so that he wasn’t forced to be constantly confronted with the crushing fact that no one really had any faith in him and more or less thought that his life was over. So he ignored the teachers who shook their heads when they looked at him and just saw another dumb teenager who decided to throw away all of the hard work they put into school over the years. He ignored the students who whispered about the slutty Padalecki kid when he walked through the halls. He ignored the gossiping housewives in his neighborhood who talked about what a shame it was that the Padaleckis got saddled with a burdensome son who couldn’t keep his legs closed, but at least they still had two other kids that they hadn’t screwed up yet.

He even ignored the traitorous voice in his own mind that told him that all of it was true.

                                                                                     ********************

Jared’s ruminating was interrupted by the sound of the creaky supply closet door opening and was prepared to greet one of the custodians only to be surprised by the sight of a much more alluring figure: his English teacher, Mr. Ackles.

Mr. Ackles, who was the one teacher (and one of the only people period) who hadn’t looked at or treated him any differently since his pregnancy became known.

Mr. Ackles, who was young and fresh out of college and had green, green eyes set in a face that was handsome enough to have him declared “stupid hot” by almost the entire female population of the school (and some of the male population for that matter...including Jared).

Mr. Ackles, who was now witnessing Jared eating alone in a supply closet like a weirdo while gaping at him with a mouth full of turkey sandwich.

Jared wracked his mind to try and think of something to say to him. Something witty, perhaps, or charming that would eloquently explain to Mr. Ackles in a non-pathetic way why he was sitting in a cobweb-ridden closet and stuffing a sandwich in his face.

“Uhhhhhh...,” he said, not quite hitting the mark of either “witty” or “charming.”

Fortunately, Mr. Ackles didn’t seem put off by Jared’s lack of grace and quirked a smile at him.

“I didn’t mean to startle you, Jared. I spilled coffee on my desk like an idiot and was just looking for a roll of paper towels,” he said, politely sidestepping the question of why Jared was there in the first place.

Jared ignored the flutter in his chest at the fact that Mr. Ackles knew his name (of course he does, he reminded himself. He knows all of his students’ names) and reached behind himself to pluck a roll of paper towels from a shelf and handed it to his teacher.

Mr. Ackles thanked him, and for a few seconds they stared at each other awkwardly before he cleared his throat and spoke.

“As lovely as I’m sure this spider infested closet is to eat in, you’re more than welcome to finish your lunch in my classroom if you’d like.”

The thought of being alone in a room with his teacher caused Jared to feel the unbidden sensation of butterflies in his stomach and Jared had to swiftly remind himself that his infatuation with Mr. Ackles would never amount to anything more than a silly crush. He was a student, for starters, and a pregnant one at that. Mr. Ackles was just a decent guy who was taking pity on the poor, knocked up kid.

“Oh, er, I don’t wanna bother you,” he demurred shyly while fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

“I actually wouldn’t mind having some company, so you wouldn’t be any bother at all,” Mr. Ackles reassured him. “And since you’re one of my brightest students, I’m sure you’d be good for some conversation.”

Jared blushed under the praise before Mr. Ackles continued.

“Besides, I think letting you eat in here might be some kind of health code violation. I can practically see the asbestos falling from the ceiling, and that can’t possibly be good for you. Well, either of you,” he said while gesturing vaguely at Jared’s midsection.

Jared stood up and collected his meager belongings from the floor.

“In that case, you make a pretty compelling argument,” he admitted before following Mr. Ackles out of the tiny room.

Maybe being shunned by his classmates wasn’t as bad as he initially thought if it meant getting to spend time with the most gorgeous teacher in school.

Chapter Text

Jensen had always liked to think that he was a fine, upstanding citizen; he paid his taxes, he had never accrued so much as a speeding ticket over the course of his life, and even though he had only been a teacher for less than a year, he was respected amongst his colleagues and regarded as professional, engaging instructor.

Unfortunately, they would probably respect him a little (or a lot) less if they knew that he was wildly attracted to one of his students. In fairness to him though, it’s not like Jensen had intended to fall for the kid; in fact, he never imagined that he would get the hots for any of his students, period. It seemed like there was something in the news every other week about a teacher who got caught sleeping with one of their students and Jensen had always shaken his head at it.

How could someone just toss away their career like that?, he used to think. How could they take advantage of someone who put their trust in them?

Being high and mighty didn’t come quite so easily to him anymore now that he had Jared Padalecki sitting in his classroom every day. It wasn’t the fact that Jared was ridiculously attractive that drew Jensen to him (well, not just that); it was the fact that he was smart as a whip and charming in a way that made Jensen look forward to teaching fourth period English no matter how shitty of a day he was having. While the rest of his students generally just looked bored and prayed not to get called on, it was always Jared who spoke the most during class discussions and made astute observations about whatever book the class was reading that even Jensen hadn’t considered. It was Jared who turned in clever, insightful essays that were so genuine and full of life that Jensen always saved them for last whenever he was grading papers so that he could end his evening on a positive note.

Even the knowledge that Jared was pregnant wasn’t enough to quell Jensen’s insane crush. At first, he felt irrationally jealous that someone else had clearly been intimate with Jared but, if he was being honest with himself, there was something strangely alluring about the sight of Jared’s round belly, and this admission made him feel like even more of a deviant.

It seemed that not everyone had a positive reaction towards Jared’s pregnancy, however, and Jensen couldn’t help but notice that Jared talked less and less with his peers as time went on until it seemed as if he had been effectively ostracized in school. The idea that people would stop hanging around such a sweet, friendly guy just because he had gotten pregnant made Jensen angry on Jared’s behalf, and there were many times when Jensen wanted to reach out to him but resisted because he worried that he wouldn’t be able to keep a lid on his feelings if they were to spend any time outside of class together. Jared probably had enough problems in his life, Jensen reasoned to himself. The last thing he needed was the knowledge that a perverted teacher was lusting after him.

Still, when he came across Jared eating in a storage closet of all places during his lunch hour (a place that he highly suspected had been frequented by Jared more than once), he couldn’t help but invite the kid to hang out in his classroom instead and ignored the voice in his head that warned him that being alone in a room with the object of his affections wouldn’t exactly do anything to rid himself of his pesky infatuation.

                                                                                     **********

Despite Jensen’s reservations about being alone with Jared, his initially one-time lunch invitation became a long standing one that Jared cashed in on nearly every school day for the next month. Just as Jensen suspected, this didn’t exactly ease the crush he had on his student; in fact, Jensen couldn’t help but become more attracted to him with every passing day.

He couldn’t help it, really. It’s just that he spent day after day eating lunch with Jared while they talked about anything that popped into their heads. Whether they were gushing over movies and music that they both enjoyed or arguing over The Cowboys’ chances at making it to the Superbowl, Jensen found that he felt more at ease with Jared than he’d been with anyone else in a long while. On rarer occasions, they would venture into less shallow territory and Jared would talk to him about his pregnancy and how different his life was because of it. How lonely he’d been after his friends stopped talking to him. How he felt like he was a disappointment to his family for getting knocked up in high school. How he sometimes didn’t believe that he’d be able to go to college while raising a child because no one else seemed to. And, finally, how despite all of that, he was still excited about his pregnancy even though he worried that he wouldn’t be a good father for his child.

Jared’s confessions left Jensen both saddened by the fact that the boy felt so insecure about himself and angry that the people who should have been supporting Jared had instead made him feel like he had no one in his corner. He was pretty sure that Jared could do anything he set his mind to, baby or not, and he made sure to tell Jared this so he knew that there was at least one person out there who believed in him. The beautiful, sunny grin that he got in response was enough to give Jensen palpitations.

In fact, the whole thing was both terrifying and exhilarating for Jensen at the same time; terrifying because getting this close to a student was dangerous territory and exhilarating because the connection he shared with Jared was something that was only growing stronger as time went on and part of Jensen didn’t want to ever let it go. Every time he thought about forsaking his feelings, something would happen that changed his mind.

Sometimes it was something as simple as the way Jared would throw his head back and laugh at whatever stupid thing Jensen had said, scrunching his nose up in the most endearing way as he did so. Sometimes it was the way that Jared would so passionately throw himself into whatever discussion they were having, his voice raised and hands gesticulating wildly, and then become a little red-faced afterward as if he were embarrassed about how enthusiastic he’d gotten. And sometimes it was just the way that Jared’s hand would occasionally brush up against his own on accident, sending little sparks of electricity all the way up from Jensen’s fingertips and into his traitorous heart.

Jensen knew that he was completely fucked, but he had to admit that spending time with Jared was worth it.

                                                                            **********

“...and then he just died immediately after he confessed to fathering Pearl, which was kind of bullshit because he got to relieve his guilty conscience without really dealing with any fallout from the townspeople while--”

Jared’s ranting about The Scarlet Letter, the novel that the class had just finished, was cut off prematurely by the piercing ring of the school bell that signified the end of the lunch period.

Jensen chuckled. “Sorry Jared, but it looks like we’ll have to finish this lively discussion tomorrow.”

“Oh, uh, I don’t think I’ll be able to make it here for lunch tomorrow, actually. Or class for that matter,” Jared replied as he fumbled for his backpack and gathered his belongings.

Jensen frowned; it wasn’t like Jared to miss class. “I see. Well, your presence will certainly be missed; is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine. I just have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow and probably won’t make it to school until late in the afternoon. I’m finally gonna find out the sex of my baby,” he said with a smile as he patted his stomach.

“That’s awesome! That must be pretty exciting for you and the baby’s other father,” Jensen enthused.

Jared’s face fell and Jensen winced to himself as he remembered that Jared had never really spoken about the father of his child. There was probably for a good reason for it, too, and he kicked himself for dampening Jared’s spirits.

“He’s...not really in the picture,” Jared admitted, his hand tightening around the strap of his backpack. “It’s fine though. I usually just go to the appointments alone; it’s not a big deal.”

The idea of Jared going to each of his pre-natal appointments all by himself caused a feeling of sadness to unfurl in Jensen’s stomach. “Neither of your parents can go with you?,” he asked before he could think better of it.

Jared looked away and Jensen once again felt like a huge jerk for prodding at what was obviously a sore spot.

“They’re just...really busy,” Jared mumbled, still not meeting Jensen’s gaze. “I don’t think they’d be all that excited about it anyway.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Jared,” Jensen said consolingly. “I’d love to hear all about your appointment the next time we see each other though.”

Jared looked at him shyly. “Really?,” he asked, the corners of his lips twitching just slightly upwards.

“Sure!,” Jensen exclaimed, and he was relieved to see Jared’s crestfallen expression abate. “You’ve gotta have someone to share the excitement with.”

“I’d...really like that,” Jared responded softly. Before either of them could say anything else, students from Jensen’s next period began filing into class and Jared gave him a wave before rushing out to make it to his own class in time.

                                                                                      ********

Despite the fact that he should have been focusing on his students and helping them understand Hawthorne’s usage of symbolism the next day, Jensen’s mind was consumed by only one student in particular. Even though he knew that Jared wouldn’t be in class that day, the sight of the empty chair that Jared typically occupied still vexed him, and he couldn’t help but think about how much more enjoyable the class would have been with Jared present. He also couldn’t get the image of Jared’s downtrodden expression from the day before out of his head and wondered how Jared was faring at his appointment. Part of him wished that he could be there with Jared as he received the news from his doctor so that he had at least someone with him, but he tried to drive that thought out of his mind. He wasn’t Jared’s boyfriend for God’s sake, and he was pretty sure that the kid wouldn’t want his weird English teacher there regardless. Plus, he would hear about the appointment tomorrow from Jared anyway.

But at the end of the day as Jensen was packing up to leave the already nearly empty school, he heard a hesitant knock on his door and opened it to find Jared nervously lingering in his doorway and supposed that he wouldn’t have to wait so long after all.

“Er, sorry,” Jared apologized bashfully as he eyed the car keys in Jensen’s hand. “I should have figured that you’d be on your way out; I don’t want to bother you.”

“You’re never a bother to me,” he said before Jared could turn around and leave. “What’s up? I didn’t think I’d be seeing you today.”

Jared shuffled in and let the door fall back shut behind him as he reached into his pocket to pull out a piece of paper. “I know I said I’d tell you about it tomorrow, but I couldn’t wait,” he explained as he handed handed over what Jensen could now see was a copy of a sonogram. Jensen studied it intently and kept flipping it around as if he would be able to determine the sex of the gray blob based on the angle.

“Yeah, I couldn’t really make sense of it either to be honest with you,” Jared said eventually with a grin, taking pity on Jensen. “But the doctor assured me that I’m having a perfectly healthy son.”

“That’s amazing,” Jensen congratulated as he smiled. “You must be so excited.”

“I really am. I wanted you to be the first one to know about it because...” his voice faltered and his grin crumpled before he continued, “because I’m pretty sure that you might be the only person who actually cares.”

Jensen put his hand on Jared’s shoulder. “People will come around eventually,” he said softly.

Jared let out a shaky laugh. “Will they?,” he asked bitterly as he swiped his hand over his eyes. “It sure doesn’t seem like it.”

“I’m sure they will,” he reassured. “And if they don’t...well, it’s their loss.”

Jared sniffed and looked up at him. “You really think so?,” he asked quietly.

“Of course I do. You’re an incredible guy, Jared. And if people have their heads too far up their asses to realize that, then the problem is with them, not you.”

For a few seconds, Jared just stared at him, speechless. Jensen cleared his throat and tried to think of something to say, but was instead caught off guard when Jared leaned forward and pressed their lips gently together. Before Jensen could stop himself, he responded to the kiss and didn’t regain his sanity until Jared moaned softly into this lips, the vibration of it making his mouth tingle slightly and jarring Jensen back to reality.

Despite the fact that he wanted nothing more than to continue kissing him, his nagging conscience reminded him that it wouldn’t be right and he quickly pushed Jared away from him, his heart thudding and his lips aching from the loss.

“Jared, I...we can’t do this,” he said regretfully as he stared at Jared’s flushed face and slightly parted lips that practically begged for Jensen’s attention.

Jared looked ashamed of himself, and Jensen hated that he was the one to put that wretched expression on such a gorgeous face. “Oh God, I’m sorry. I just thought that you...” his voice trailed off before quietly saying “...I thought maybe you felt the same way as me.”

And there it was: an out. If Jensen told Jared that he simply misunderstood his intentions and that he didn’t return his feelings, then they could both just put the whole thing behind them. That was the right thing to do; the only thing to do.

And yet, there was a part of Jensen that didn’t want that. A part that felt ecstatic that Jared returned his not-so-unrequited feelings. A part that couldn’t bear to allow Jared to think that he was the only one who felt a connection between them.

He sighed. “It’s not that I don’t have feelings for you,” he said honestly. “But I’m your teacher, and you’re in a vulnerable position right now. You’re just not thinking straight. You don’t really want this.”

Jared looked at him with steel in his eyes. “I understand if you don’t want to be with me,” he replied sharply, “but don’t patronize me. I know what I want, and this is something I’ve thought about for a long time. It just wasn’t until today that I thought you might want it too.”

And God, Jensen did. He really did.

“It isn’t about what I want,” he responded, trying to maintain sternness. “It’s about the fact that you’re a teenager, Jared. My student, no less.”

“The age of consent is seventeen,” Jared pointed out.

“Kudos on the legal knowledge, but that doesn’t really address the whole ‘student’ thing.”

Jared bit his lip and looked like he was deep in thought. “I won’t be your student anymore in a few months,” he said finally. “We can just...keep it under wraps until then.”

Jensen felt his resolve begin to crumble; he was a man of principle, but even he couldn’t be expected to remain strong in the face of Jared practically begging him. “It isn’t that simple,” he protested weakly.

“It could be,” Jared insisted. “Couldn’t we at least try?”

Jensen swallowed and exhaled shakily. “I don’t know what to do,” he admitted while trying to calm the roiling mass of conflict he was battling.

“You could kiss me again,” Jared offered quietly. “I’d like it if you did, even if it’s for the last time.”

Jensen knew deep down that he couldn’t just say goodbye to the burgeoning whatever-it-was growing between them, and he also knew damn well that if he kissed Jared again, then it wouldn’t be the last time he did it.

Fuck it, he thought and, in defiance of the hundred reasons against it, he leaned forward and claimed Jared’s lips with his own once more and kissed him until all of those perfectly sound reasons dissolved away like they were never there at all.

After a few minutes of roaming hands and messy kisses, the buzzing of a phone sounded off in the room, and this time it was Jared who pulled away first.

“Sorry,” he apologized sheepishly, “but I should probably check to see who it is.”

When Jared looked down at his phone and scrolled through his text messages, his facial expression morphed into one of shock, and he shoved his phone into his pocket before rushing to gather his things together.

“I-I have to go,” he stammered.

“Is something wrong?,” Jensen asked in a concerned tone as he wondered what on Earth could have spooked him so badly.

“I just...need to leave.”

Before Jensen could question him further, Jared was already out of the classroom, leaving him in a whirlwind of confusion.

Chapter Text

When David Parker first said “hello” to Jared in a coffee shop on one sunny day early in June, he almost couldn’t believe it. He knew who David was, of course, because who didn’t? He came from one of the richest families in town, and with his sharp jaw line, well groomed black hair, and crystal blue eyes, he was devilishly handsome enough to have hordes of admirers vying for his attention whenever he came home from college for summer break, and, although it had been several years since he’d graduated from Turner High, he was still legendary for being one of the most talented baseball players that the school had ever seen.

Indeed, there wasn’t a person in town who didn’t know who David Parker was...but Jared sure didn’t expect him to know who he was. In fact, when David first approached the little table that Jared was sitting at, he was convinced that he was about to be told off for the not-quite-inconspicuous way that he had been stealing glances at the older man from behind the book he was reading. While his face turned as red as the charmingly tacky cherry-patterned curtains that adorned the windows of the shop, Jared began to stutter out a preemptive apology only to be cut off by the sound of David’s warm laughter. To Jared’s surprise, it wasn’t the sort of mocking, scornful snickering that he would expect from a gorgeous man who just caught a gawky, teenage boy checking him out; on the contrary, David was nothing if not charming and he appeared indulgent of Jared’s faux pas.

“You can relax,” he said as he grinned at Jared and took the liberty of sitting in the chair across from him. “I’m not here to give you any trouble. I just thought I’d say ‘hi.’”

“Oh...h-hi,” Jared squeaked and then winced at how awkward he was being.

Most of his very tame fantasies about David more or less just involved him lightly stalking the other man (in a friendly, non-threatening way, he reasoned to himself) and even in his day dreams, Fantasy Jared rarely ever mustered up the courage to speak to his crush, and now Real Jared was paying the price as he realized that he was literally incapable of stringing a few sentences together.

But David didn't seem to mind. Instead, he sat down and offered to buy Jared another coffee and the next couple of hours were simultaneously the best and most surreal experience of Jared's life as David actually seemed to show genuine interest in him even though he was just a gangly, almost-senior in highschool while David himself was nearly finished with college and was probably surrounded by gorgeous co-eds on a regular basis. 

And if Jared's disbelief reached epic proportions when David asked for his phone number at the end of the evening, then it spiraled out of control when he got a text the next day from David asking him if he wanted to catch a movie with him on the weekend. A drive-in movie, no less, which in Jared's mind pretty much erased any possibility that David just wanted to spend some platonic guy-time with him; after all, wasn't the whole concept of a drive-in movie theater just a thinly veiled excuse for making out in the back seat of a car? Jared had never been with an another man (or anyone for that matter) in any kind of romantic or sexual capacity, but the very idea of having even the most innocent of kisses with David made his heart skip a beat. And when the day that their date (at least, Jared was almost positive that it was a date) finally arrived, his heart nearly stopped all together when David leaned over his seat, cupped Jared's head with one of his hands and drew him into a sweet, perfect kiss while a woman screamed bloody murder on the movie screen as she was being chased by a masked psychopath whose motives remained unknown to Jared as one kiss soon turned into a make out session that lasted for the rest of the film.

For the next couple of weeks, what little of Jared's life that wasn't consumed with thinking of David was spent sneaking around with him late at night and going to secluded places away from prying eyes. David had been reluctant to meet with Jared during the day time or in crowded public places and while it stung a little bit, Jared knew that it was for the best. Everyone in town knew who they were and wouldn't exactly look favorably on a relationship between a sixteen year old and a college student in his twenties,so he understood why David didn't want to parade him around; it wasn't like he was ashamed of Jared or anything. The covertness of their relationship was a small price to pay in order to date a gorgeous older man and the sneaking around made their relationship more than a little exciting. Plus, David always made up for any of the awkwardness that accompanied keeping their relationship a secret by giving him little tokens of affection during their clandestine outings or whispering the sweetest words in his ear between kisses and while his hands traversed Jared's body. 

And, sure, maybe David went a little fast as far as the physical aspect of their relationship went. But if his kisses were a little too demanding and his hands a bit too wandering, then Jared reminded himself that it was because David was so much more experienced than he was and was probably used to being with people who didn’t balk at the idea of having full-on sex and certainly wouldn’t shy away from a little groping or even giving out the occasional blow job as Jared was swayed to during one memorable late-night date in the park.

At first, the whole thing seemed rather romantic to Jared as they exchanged kisses under the moonlight on a secluded park bench by the pond, but it wasn’t long until David started talking about wanting more from their relationship, about how great Jared was at kissing...about how great he would be at putting his mouth to other uses. It was the first time that Jared had really wanted to tell him “no”; he wasn’t sure if he wanted to perform oral sex at all much less in a park, deserted or not. But against his better judgment, he let David coax him to his knees and told himself that if he didn’t do it, then David could always just find someone else who would.

As far as first-time blowjobs went, it wasn’t quite a rousing success; David wasn’t exactly gentle as he yanked on Jared’s hair to try and pull him down further on his cock and he let out an irritated sigh every time Jared began to choke, his gag reflex unused to being tested in such a way. Although he was vaguely aware of David moaning and giving obscene encouragements, the only thing Jared could think about while he was doing it was the fact that he was sucking someone’s dick near the very same park bench where he used to sit with his mother and feed the ducks as a child and the realization caused an odd sense of shame to settle in his stomach. It was several minutes later when David finally finished and the only thing Jared had to show for the experience was grass stains on his knees, an aching jaw, and a sense of gratitude that it hadn’t lasted longer.

It wasn’t until David was driving him home (well, a block away from his house, just to be safe. Jared wasn’t sure why he could blow him in a public park but couldn’t be dropped off directly at his house but he didn’t argue) that Jared realized that he never even offered to reciprocate. He wasn’t sure whether he was relieved or not.

Although the entire incident cast a brief pall over the relationship (for Jared at least), David had been especially considerate towards him the following days and Jared wondered if David had sensed that he hadn’t been entirely pleased with the whole thing. When David invited him to dinner at an actual honest-to-god restaurant the following weekend, Jared felt a little knot of unease untangle in his stomach at the prospect of going on a normal date. A date at a restaurant that was outside of town where people didn’t know them, obviously, but a normal date nonetheless. Jared felt almost giddy as they drove past the city-limits and to the fanciest restaurant that he’d ever been to. He felt a brief moment of panic when he looked at the menu and realized that the fancy food had prices to match, but David only smiled and told Jared to order whatever he wanted.

The feeling of giddiness lasted throughout dinner and only began to dim later in the evening when they were back in David’s car and Jared realized that they didn’t seem to be driving in the direct that was back towards town.

“Are we...going somewhere else?,” Jared asked nervously. He didn’t recall David saying that he had anything else planned and he began to feel anxious for reasons that he couldn’t quite place.

David briefly took his eyes off the road to flash Jared a quick, charming grin. “We’re having a great night so far, aren’t we? There’s no reason why we should have to end it early.”

“...I guess there isn’t. Are we going to a movie or something?”

David laughed. “Or something. I got us a hotel room a few miles from here. I figured it was about time that we took our relationship to the next level, you know?”

Something about his tone made a little part of Jared wonder if he had any input in this decision, but he tried to smother it. David was just trying to be romantic, he reasoned to himself.

“That- That sounds great,” he stammered “but my parents would probably wonder where I am.”

“You already told them earlier that you were at a friend’s house, didn’t you?,” David asked, impatience leaking into his tone the way it always did whenever Jared gave the slightest indication of disagreement. “Can’t you just text them and say that you’re spending the night?”

Jared didn’t answer, but he pulled out his phone to text his mom and although David seemed satisfied, Jared couldn’t help but feel guilty as he typed the message. He had been lying to his parents from the beginning of his relationship with David, but somehow it felt even worse that he was trying to cover up staying in a hotel room with his secret boyfriend.

It wasn’t until they had arrived at the admittedly nice hotel, retrieved the room key and settled into the suite that the full weight of what was happening hit Jared: David clearly wanted to have sex with him tonight. He didn’t want it at some vague, distant point in future where they had known each other for more than just a few weeks; he wanted it now, and the idea of it sent a sudden surge of panic in Jared.

“I think I’ve changed my mind,” he said, trying not to let his voice quaver as he picked at the threads on the no doubt ridiculously expensive comforter on the bed. “Can you please just take me home?”

David sighed and gave Jared a look that was more suited to be directed towards a particularly ornery child.

“Take you home?,” he asked bitterly, a sneer on his handsome face, “So you’re saying that I spent all this money on a hotel room that you don’t even want to stay in?”

Jared looked down at his feet, avoiding David’s harsh stare. “I didn’t ask you to do it,” he defended quietly his voice barely a mumble.

David scoffed. “Yeah, well, I sure didn’t see you complaining like this when I paid for you to eat at one of the nicest places in town. I’ve put a lot of effort into this relationship, and you’re being awfully selfish right now.”

Jared wanted to point out that he hadn’t asked David for the fancy meal either (in fact, he would have been perfectly happy with a burger and fries) and that spending a lot of money didn’t quite equal putting effort into a relationship, but he started to wonder if maybe he really was being selfish.

As if sensing that Jared was having doubts and might change his mind about leaving, David’s face softened and he sat on the bed next to Jared, draping his arm around his shoulders.

“I don’t think you really want to leave, baby. You’re just nervous because it’s your first time. All I’m trying to do is make it special for you,” he crooned.

Jared relaxed as David seemingly turned back into the sweet guy that he fell for in the first place instead of the bitter, pushy man that he had been a few seconds ago. Maybe Jared really was just letting his nerves get the best of him. Didn’t everyone get nervous before losing their virginity? He was almost positive that they did. He was also almost positive that most of them didn’t have boyfriends who booked them nice hotel rooms beforehand. Hell, a lot of them probably lost theirs in the cramped backseat of a car or in their bedroom when they had the house to themselves for a few hours, afraid that their parents would come home at any second and interrupt them.

All things considered, Jared was pretty lucky. And luckier still that he was doing it with someone mature who knew what they were doing.

“You’re probably right,” he relented. “I think I’m just nervous. I’m sorry for almost ruining things.”

“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. Let’s just forget that the past few minutes even happened; the only thing that matters now is that you’ve come to your senses. I promise that this is gonna be a night you won’t forget.”

Technically, he wasn’t wrong. That night would stay with Jared forever, in more ways than one.

After Jared acquiesced, it wasn’t long before David coaxed him out of his clothes and had him on his stomach with his legs splayed open obscenely. David had spent a few minutes roughly opening him with lube-slick fingers before abruptly stopping and Jared knew what must be coming, but he was jarred from his feeling of trepidation when he heard David let out a curse behind him.

He craned his head to look back towards him. “Is there something wrong?”

“It looks like I remembered everything except the condoms,” David explained, schooling an expression of contrition onto his face.

Jared knew that he should be disappointed, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved that there was a roadblock in their plans for the evening. Maybe they could just call the whole thing a wash and try again some other time.

“That...seems like a pretty important thing to remember. We should probably just call it off tonight, don’t you think?”

“I guess we could,” David said thoughtfully, “but we don’t have to use one. I’m clean and it’s not like you can give me anything since you’re a virgin.”

A sinking feeling settled in Jared’s stomach as every grueling, embarrassing safe-sex lecture he’d ever received started playing in his head unbidden.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he argued as he bit his lip anxiously. “You know that I’m a carrier, and I’m not on the pill or anything.”

“Maybe we both should have planned this better then,” David pointed out impatiently. “But it’s not like we can go back in time.”

Jared hadn’t known that there was going to be anything to plan for in the first place.

“Look, what if I just promise to pull out? It’s totally safe, trust me.”

Before Jared could respond, David dragged his eyes up and down his nude body and leered at him with such desire that Jared felt like he was blushing all the way down to his toes.

“Plus, it just wouldn’t be fair to tease me like this. You look so fucking hot and I’ve been wanting this for so long that there’s no way we can stop now,” he implored.

Jared shyly turned his head away, feeling slightly buoyed by how much David seemed to want him.

“I guess that’s true,” he caved. “We might as well finish what we’ve started. You’ll really pull out though? You promise?”

David draped himself over Jared’s body and gentle began kissing his neck as he guided his cock towards Jared’s entrance.

“Of course. Don’t you worry about a thing,” he soothed as he slowly moved entered him.

When Jared felt the tip of David’s cock penetrate him, the sudden pain jarred him so badly that his entire body locked up and he couldn’t help but wish that more time had been taken to stretch him.

“That hurts,” he gasped. “Can’t I just try blowing you again instead? I know it wasn’t very good the first time, but I really think that I can do it better this time and this just really--”

David cut off Jared’s babbling by covering his mouth with his palm, still thrusting. “Shhh, it hurts for everyone the first time they do it. You just gotta relax, sweetheart. It’ll get better before you know it.”

It didn’t exactly get better, but it did get easier after Jared forced himself to relax his muscles, and he wondered if that was the same thing in the end. After a few minutes, he even found himself getting half-hard despite David’s erratic and too rough thrusting and wondered if the evening was beginning to turn around.

But just as he was beginning to convince himself to enjoy it,” he felt David’s thrusts stutter and heard him let out a load groan. He knew that he must have been right about to pull out, but to Jared’s horror, he felt something hot and wet release inside of him instead and any previous arousal that he felt was quickly extinguished.

He was still reeling by the time that David carelessly and quickly rolled off of him and flopped onto the other side of the bed.

“Did...did you seriously just come inside of me?,” he asked, his voice shaky from shock and the sudden anger that began welling up inside of him.

“I’m sorry, Jare. I got so caught up in the moment that I completely forgot about it,” David said, having the grace to at least pretend to sound remorseful.

But Jared couldn’t bring himself to believe that he actually regretted what he had done.

“How could you forget? You could have gotten me pregnant!”

David rolled his eyes. “Why are you making such a big deal about this? You know that it’s a lot more difficult for male carriers to get knocked up than it is for chicks. You’re freaking out over nothing.”

Jared leapt up from the bed and began furiously gathering his clothes from where they had been strewn across the floor, wincing slightly as his sore body protested the movements.

“That isn’t the point!,” he shouted half-hysterically, his eyes burning and his chest heaving, “you shouldn’t have done it because you promised that you wouldn’t. Because I asked you not to. Why can’t you ever just listen to me?”

From that point on, the night was mostly a hazy blur to Jared that consisted of them shouting at each other until David finally just refused to keep talking to him because he claimed that there was no point in doing so when Jared was being so unreasonable.

All Jared wanted to do was go home and try to put the miserable night behind him, but it wasn’t long before he realized that he no means to actually get there. He didn’t have enough money with him for cab fare, David was giving him the silent treatment and had already refused to take him home until the morning, and there was no way that he could call his parents to pick him up because that would mean actually explaining to them why he needed to be picked up and he didn’t think he could handle their disappointment on top of the shame that he already felt. He spent the night on the too-small couch on the other side of the room, counting down the minutes until morning and wishing that he’d never even heard the name “David Parker.”

The car ride the next morning was spent in stoney silence, and when David unceremoniously dropped him off near his house, Jared distantly realized that their relationship was over but he couldn’t muster up anything but a sense of relief.

A sense of relief that lasted right up until a couple of weeks just after his birthday in July.

A sense of relief that was suddenly and permanently crushed by the positive pregnancy test that he had finally mustered up the courage to take.

His life pretty much spiraled into a disaster after that point as his once happy life became filled with mournful glances from his parents, gossiping townspeople, and friends who suddenly wanted nothing to do with him. The one bright spot he had was hanging out with Mr. Ackles, the only person that actually treated Jared like a normal human being and a person who, amazingly, seemed to feel as strongly for Jared as Jared did for him.

When Jared finally kissed Mr. Ackles, it was one of the most exhilarating moments of his life, and he knew that the memory of it was something that he would treasure forever, but that brief moment of perfection was shattered only seconds later by the chiming of his phone.

A text from David saying We need to talk.

Chapter Text

To say that Jared was apprehensive to see David again was an understatement and it wasn't until he fled Mr. Ackles' classroom and typed out an affirmative text to David with trembling fingers that the full weight of what was about to happen hit him: this would be the first time that he and David would be face-to-face with each other since that miserable night at the hotel months ago. Even when he confessed to David that he was pregnant, it had been through a phone conversation because Jared had been too nervous to do it in-person, and it turned out that his nervousness had been well-founded. 

In hindsight, Jared sometimes wished that he had never bothered to tell David about it at all. But he had been afraid. Too afraid to even tell his closest friends, let alone his parents. So a couple of weeks after he nearly hyperventilated while staring down a pregnancy test and trying to force its results to change through sheer force of will, he finally mustered up the courage to tell David about his pregnancy in the hopes of...well, Jared wasn't too sure what he had been hoping for. Comfort? Support? Love? None of those were things that he ever received in their relationship before, but he had been desperate and foolish enough to delude himself into wishing for it all the same. 

Instead, he got accusations that he was trying to ruin David's life. That him getting pregnant was a part of some purposeful, grand scheme to force David to financially support him  so Jared could leech away his family's fortune (as if the whole thing hadn't been a result of David's refusal to use protection). That maybe there wasn't even a pregnancy at all and Jared was just some obsessed admirer who would say or do anything to keep David's attention  (as if Jared had even the slightest interest in being in a relationship with him again). That even if there was a pregnancy, Jared probably just got knocked up by any number of random men and he was simply targeting the one who could be the most lucrative option (as if Jared had't desperately wished that there was even the most remote possibility that someone else had gotten him pregnant so that he could pretend that David had never even existed instead of creating a lifelong tie to him by having a child). 

Even when he finally convinced David that the child was his and that Jared never in his wildest dreams intended to get pregnant before even finishing high school, David had only told him not to contact him again. He had a girlfriend back at school, a career to build once he graduated, and a life that had no room at all in it for Jared or their bastard child. Jared wished that he could have been surprised or hurt by David's reaction, but it just left him feeling numb and it wasn't long before he realized that he was truly alone during a time of his life when he would have done anything for just a little support. 

But now that David had contacted him out of the blue after months of silence, Jared couldn't help the rampant curiosity that coursed through him. David made it all too clear how he felt about both Jared and their child, so what could he possibly want? If he was just going to scream some more at him and threaten Jared into staying out of his life, then he was only wasting his time because Jared wanted nothing more to do with David anyway.

As he meandered to the meeting spot that David requested, he had to talk himself out of just turning around and going home at least ten times during the short walk. But each time he thought about doing so, it only took one look at his rounded stomach for him to strengthen his resolve; he had to do this not only for the sake of his unborn child, but also for himself. 

When he finally approached his destination, he saw David sitting on a garishly red park bench, a pinched, sour look on his face. The area of the park that he was in was mostly abandoned as the chilly weather that had finally seized their Texas town had persuaded most families to stay inside where it was cozy and warm. Jared realized with a start that this was the very same park bench where he and David had sat together on one of their "dates." The same place where David had coaxed him to his knees and Jared had let him do what he wanted because he had been too starry eyed and eager to please to tell him that he didn't want to do it, and was too ashamed afterwards to speak up against what had happened. Jared idly wondered if David had picked this place intentionally as a reminder of the control that he had over him once and a warning that he would continue to have it. Jared froze in place and for just one last time, he reminded himself that he could just leave. David hadn't even seemed to notice him yet, so it's not like he would know that Jared had turned tail and ran away from him like a frightened child. 

But Jared would know. And if he was through kneeling before David in a literal sense, then he certainly wouldn't let himself be put on his knees figuratively. Steeling himself, he held his head up high and marched up to where David was sitting and plopped down on the other side, making sure he was at a cool distance. 

"What do you want?," he asked icily, his face schooled into a stony expression. 

David seemed briefly surprised at Jared's borderline hostility as if he had still expected Jared to fawn over him after everything that had happened, but he quickly gathered his composure as if he'd never lost it.

"Ah," he said as he raised his eyebrow and gave Jared's prominent stomach a pointed look, "I see that you're still...you know."

Jared snorted. "Carrying your child? Yeah, it's kind of a nine month long commitment. Or do you knock so many people up that you can't keep all of the timelines straight?"

David pursed his lips and let out a frustrated sigh. 

"I suppose we'll just get right down to it," he said after a brief moment's silence. "Jared, I want to talk to you about your future. The child's future." 

Their child's future? For the first time, Jared wondered if he might have misjudged David's reasons for wanting to meet with him. Maybe he had a change of heart and wanted to take responsibility for his actions and actually take an active role in his child's life. Yes, he'd been a horrible, manipulative boyfriend but Jared supposed that people, even awful ones, could change and that David could be a decent father. Maybe. At any rate, Jared was willing to put effort into tolerating him for the sake of their son. He would rather set himself on fire than actually be in a relationship with him again, but that didn't mean that they couldn't-- 

"I want you to take this," David said, interrupting his train of thought by shoving an envelope at him. 

For a second, Jared was dumbstruck at the unexpectedness of it, but he finally gathered his wits and opened the envelope only to pull out a check with a large amount of money written on it. 

A very large amount of money. 

"What..." Jared asked in confusion, "what is this?"

"It's enough money for you and the baby to live very comfortably. You're free to use it however you see fit. Hire a nanny. Go to college like you've always wanted. Hell, you could use it so that you can sit on your ass at home all day long. Do whatever you want." 

"But why?," Jared asked sharply.  "What do you want in return?"

"I want for this to be the last time we see each other. I want you to take this very generous gift and use it to build a life that's far away from mine."

Jared felt a surge of incredulous anger. "So you just came here to try and buy me off so I can't inconvenience you with something as petty as being pregnant with your own child?" 

"If you want to word it so crudely, then yes," David replied, his face and voice impassive and cold. "I'm getting married next year, Jared. And graduating in the summer means that I'll also be expected to help manage my family's business. I can't have any of," he paused for a second before giving Jared's midsection a disdainful glance, "this becoming a distraction for me. I think we both know that we'd be better off parting ways." 

Jared wondered if the news of David's impending marriage should surprise or hurt him in some way, but he just felt bitterly amused. 

"Yeah," he snorted, "I guess your bride-to-be wouldn't exactly be thrilled that you're having an illegitimate child with a teenage boy." 

For just a second, David's composure slipped and he paled just ever so slightly and Jared realized that his jab must have hit close to home for him. 

"Look, I've said all I need to say. Are we done here?," he asked, clearly trying to put an end to an uncomfortable thread of discussion. 

For the first time in...well, ever, Jared realized that David might actually be afraid of him. For all of his posturing and trying to throw money at Jared in an attempt to make him back down and slink away into the shadows, never to be seen again, there was obviously a part of him that was terrified of the havoc that Jared could wreak upon his life. After all, Jared could hound him for child support if he wanted to. Could tell his pretty, oblivious fiance that her future husband liked to trip high schoolers into bed. Hell, he could probably even take David to court for statutory rape if he wanted to. Sure, his family was wealthy enough that probably nothing would stick, but the damage it would do to his reputation would be long lasting. And if David and his family valued anything, it was their reputation. 

Jared had all of the power in their relationship now, and he intended to start wielding it. 

"No, I don't think we are," he answered. "If you're really going to use money as a way for you to avoid being a father or even acknowledging your child's existence at all, then this isn't enough. This check will go a long way, but I need to know that my child's future is secured. I want a trust fund to be set up for the baby. A sizable one." 

David scowled; he clearly wasn't expecting Jared to actually demand something else. 

"I think my original offer was more than fair. I suggest that you take it and quit while you're ahead."

"And I suggest that you consider your next move very carefully because I have a hell out a lot less to lose here than you do," Jared threatened. "I think we both know that I can make your life very difficult and if you don't give me what I ask, then I promise that I can easily become the attention whoring, scheming bitch that you've obviously painted as in your own mind. So unless you want me calling you at all hours of the night, showing up on your doorstop and harassing you for child support, or explaining to your fiance what exactly you got up to over the summer, then it's in your best interest to realize that one, measly trust fund isn't much to ask for in the grand scheme of things if the other option is dealing with the baby daddy from hell." 

David didn't answer for a long time, but his silence was all that Jared needed to know that he had won.  

"And if I do this, we'll never see each other again?," David asked, defeated.

"I can only hope." 

For the next several minutes, they hammered out the newly agreed upon financial agreement and Jared felt more like he was in a formal meeting than discussing his child's future. Eventually, David stiffly bid him him farewell with the assurance that he would email Jared any additional details that he'd need when the trust was established. As Jared took one last look at David, he couldn't help but wonder what he had ever seen in him at all; how had he ever been enough of a starry-eyed fool to not see the cruelty and selfishness hidden behind a bravado of boyish charm? 

Even so, as David walked away, something occurred to Jared. 

"The baby is a boy, by the way," he called out. "I found out today. You didn't ask, but I figured that you should least know something as basic as the fact that you're having a son."

David stopped for just a second but didn't turn around. 

"No, Jared, you're having a son. I think we've established today that this is your child and your child only, if nothing else." 

That suited Jared just fine.

                                                                                                       **********

The next day passed in a blur to Jared as the full weight of what happened began sinking in. The whole thing seemed so absurd to him once he stopped to actually think about it, like something that only happened to characters on television shows. Jared wasn't especially knowledgeable about daytime television, but getting bribed with a ludicrous sum of money to disappear from the life of the man who got him pregnant in the first place seemed like something that was straight out of a soap opera. It was so ridiculous that it was almost laughable until Jared was sobered by the disheartening idea that he might not have been the first person that David had paid off at one point or another. How many illegitimate children and jaded ex-lovers (if they could even be considered that) had he left in his wake over the years? Considering David's distaste for using protection during sex and his apparently large amount of disposable income that could be easily used as hush money when circumstances demanded it , Jared was willing to bet that there were at least a few out there. 

Hell,  there were probably enough for them to form their own support group.  

Before too long, his train of thought began to depress him so much that didn't even bother going to his fourth period class since he wouldn't have been able to focus on English anyway, and he figured that he might as well take a long lunch in a familiar storage closet just for the sake of nostalgia. At least that was what he told himself because it was better than acknowledging the fact that he was actually trying to avoid seeing Mr. Ackles.  It was hard to believe that they had finally kissed and were on the cusp of...well, Jared quite sure what they were doing, but it was something, on the same day that his world had been up-heaved once again by David. Part of him wanted nothing more than to run to Mr. Ackles and get the comfort and validation that he was doing the right thing that he so desperately wanted, but a little voice in the back of his head told him that dumping all of his emotional baggage on his teacher would only send him running for the hills. He knew that he wasn't exactly a prize to begin with; he didn't need to overhear the sneering and whispering that people did behind his back on a daily basis to put together the fact that most people weren't interested in being romantically involved with someone who managed to get themselves pregnant while they were still in high school. It probably wasn't a great idea to keep giving Mr. Ackles more items to put on an endless list of reasons why being with Jared was the worst idea ever conceived. 

Jared shifted futilely as he tried to find a more comfortable position on the overturned milk crate that served as a makeshift chair and wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his hoodie. 

As he was trying to convince himself not to cry, the door handle of the storage room began to turn and Jared prepared himself for the embarrassment of having someone walk in on him while he was in the beginning stages of an emotional breakdown. 

When the person who walked in instead was none other than the very frazzled looking Mr. Ackles himself, Jared couldn't tell whether he felt elated or mortified. He decided to go with the former when he saw Mr. Ackles' face relax into a beautiful smile (then again, all of his facial expressions were beautiful by default in Jared's opinion) as he gave a sigh of relief. 

"I thought you might be in here," he said as he quietly closed the door behind him. He made an aborted movement towards Jared but hesitated as if he wasn't quite sure that he would welcome him coming closer.

"I was worried about you when you didn't show up for fourth period," he explained. "It's not like you to skip class." 

Jared fiddled with the strings of his hoodie as he tried to figure out a plausible excuse, and Mr. Ackles seemed to grow more and more apprehensive at Jared's silence until he ended up misinterpreting the situation entirely.. 

"Jared, I...I'm so sorry if I made you uncomfortable yesterday. What I did was inappropriate, and you shouldn't feel like you need to skip class just so you don't have to be around your creepy teacher," he babbled as he attempted to pace around the small closet to comical effect, "and you can see if you can switch English classes if you want, or I can just quit, or--" 

"No!," Jared interjected before the self-flagellation could grow even worse. "It's not about what happened between us yesterday, and I'm not avoiding you. I mean, I guess I kind of am, but not because of that. I just had a rough day yesterday and wasn't really ready to talk about it." 

Mr. Ackles seemed to relax a bit at that, but the worried expression didn't completely leave his face. 

"Does it have something to do with the text message you got yesterday?," he asked gently. 

Jared didn't respond, but Mr. Ackles seemed to take his silence as answer enough. 

"You don't have to talk about it right now if you don't want to," he reassured gently, "but you look exhausted. Maybe you should take the remainder of the day off and sneak out of school so you can get some rest." 

"Are you sure that a teacher should be encouraging truancy?," Jared joked weakly, a smile barely tugging at his lips. He really was tired; he had barely been able to get any sleep at all the previous night, and the fact that the baby only seemed to enjoy kicking him while he was trying to sleep didn't help matters. 

Mr. Ackles reached out to tuck a strand of Jared's disheveled hair behind his ear and gave a concerned look to the bags under Jared's eyes. The palm of his hand still lightly cradled the side of his head, and Jared couldn't help but lean into the touch. 

"I think I can make an exception for today." 

"My mom will probably be there, and she'll  be upset that I'm skipping class," Jared protested, even though he knew he was caving. To be honest, his mother probably wouldn't even mind very much if she found out he was skipping school; his parents had more or less accepted that he was going to disappoint them, so he might as well commit to it. Still, he wasn't looking to going home. He had always felt on edge and anxious there ever since his family found out that he was pregnant, their disapproval weighing heavily on him. 

Mr. Ackles seemed to think about that for a second and after a moment of consideration, he pulled out a scrap of paper from his pocket, grabbed a stray sharpie from one of the baskets of supplies on a nearby shelf, and began to write scribble something on it. Once he was finished, he handed to Jared, who stared at it in bewilderment for a few seconds before realizing that an address was written on it. 

"It's my home address," he explained as he tossed Jared a key. "It's only a ten minute walk from here, so you can go there and catch a couple of hours of sleep if you want. I won't get home until this evening since there's a staff meeting this afternoon, so just make sure that you lock up and leave the key under the mat if you leave before I get there." 

"You...want me to go to your house?," Jared asked in disbelief. He was surprised that Mr. Ackles had enough trust in him to just let him go into his home alone. 

"I think I can trust that you won't throw any wild parties while you're there," he teased. 

Jared grinned and, after heaving himself up off of the milk crate, threw his arms around Mr. Ackles before he could think better of it and was pleased when the hug was returned. 

"Thanks Mr. Ackles," he said quietly, his voice muffled from the way his face was smooshed into his teacher's sweater. 

Mr. Ackles snorted. 

"Jared,  I think we're long past the point where you have to call me 'Mr. Ackles', especially considering...recent events," he explained somewhat awkwardly. Jared thought the slight flush on his cheeks suited him quite nicely. 

"Would you prefer that I call you 'sir' instead?," Jared asked mischievously, deciding to blame his boldness on sleep deprivation if it wasn't well received. 

"Just 'Jensen' would be fine," he replied calmly, but Jared was happy to note that his face was growing even redder. 

"Whatever you say, Just Jensen," he called as he was already making his way towards the door. 

As he was closing the door behind him, conscious of the fact that it might appear strange for him and Jensen to exit a closed storage closet together if anyone were to see, he could just barely hear Jensen say something about it being far too early for Jared to already be making Dad jokes and he snickered to himself. It was amazing how just a few minutes of being with Jensen was able to erase the stress of the past day, even if only for a little while. 

Leaving the school undetected proved to be easier that he thought, and it wasn't  long before he arrived at the small but well-kempt house that Jensen called home. He felt oddly nervous as he stood in front of it, and he checked several times to make sure that no one was looking  before he quickly made his way to the front door and breathed a sigh of relief once he was inside. It felt silly to be so paranoid about being seen; it wasn't like the school principal would be lurking around Jensen's house and even if his neighbors did see him, they probably wouldn't even put together the fact that he was a student hanging out at his teacher's house. In fact, they might even just assume that he was Jensen's boyfriend and that they were just an entirely unsuspicious, happy little family. 

The thought of that gave him a warm feeling inside and Jared tried to quell it; there was no sense in getting ahead of himself. He and Jensen had shared only a few kisses, so it wasn't like they were in love or anything. Jared had first hand experience when it came to learning that falling hard for someone too quickly didn't lead anywhere good. 

He tried to shake away the bad memories that were attempting to creep up on him by finally taking a look at Jensen's house. It was small in a way that made it more cozy than cramped, and even the slight messiness left by the graded papers that were strewn across various different surfaces added to the charm of the place rather than giving it an air of slobbiness. There were a couple of different bookshelves filled to capacity and what didn't fit in them were stacked by the slightly mismatched furniture in the living room. Jared decided almost immediately that he quite liked the house, and it was easy for him to picture Jensen living in it. He debated for a minute whether or not he wanted to be nosey and poke around some more, but a long, sudden yawn reminded him that he the whole reason he came there was to get some sleep. 

His heart beat a little bit faster when he found himself in the bedroom and he didn't know why the idea of sleeping in Jensen's bed made him feel so worked up. It just seemed like a strangely intimate sort of thing to do despite the fact that Jensen wasn't even in the bed with him. As he finally settled down in the bed and drew the covers, he couldn't help but wish that Jensen was next to him but he supposed that the soothing scene that lingered on the pillow would have to do for now. 

For the first time since he could remember, Jared slept uninterrupted and woke up feeling refreshed. A glance at the clock on the bedside table told him that he had slept for a hearty five hours; much longer than he intended. He also noted that the bedroom door was slightly ajar and he could just barely make out the sounds of someone clanging away in the kitchen. He felt a little guilty for imposing on Jensen since he had originally intended on getting out of his hair before he got home, but he couldn't deny that he was happy to have the chance to be with Jensen somewhere more private than a classroom. He spent several minutes trying to convince himself to leave the warm bed when Jensen's head poked through the door and gave him a grin. 

"Oh good, you're awake! I'm making dinner and it's just about ready, so you have good timing," he greeted.

Jared smiled back, realizing for the first time how little he had eaten that day aside from the sandwich that he had barely picked at in the storage closet and he mentally apologized to the baby. 

"That sounds great, I'm starving. Sorry for sleeping so long," he replied sheepishly. 

Jensen waved him off. 

"Don't worry about it. I came in earlier to check on you, but you were sleeping like a log so I just figured that I'd leave you be for a while." 

"Yeah, I crashed pretty hard. Thanks for--" he broke off as he felt a  kick to his ribs and let out a small 'oof.'. Jensen's gaze immediately turned sharp as he walked towards where Jared was sitting. 

"Is everything okay," he asked concerned. 

Jared laughed. "Yeah, nothing's wrong. It was just the baby kicking, that's all. He usually does it while I'm trying to sleep instead of afterwards, so I guess I should be thankful." 

Jensen's worried expression shifted into one of awe. "That's so cool," he breathed. "I've always kind of wondered what it would be like to experience something like that."

"Yeah, it's real cool when you're not the one getting your bladder stomped on,:" Jared snorted and paused for a second before hesitantly continuing, "He's still doing it, you know. You can...feel it if you want to. But you don't have to if you think it's weird or whatever." 

"You really don't mind?," Jensen asked curiously before placing his hand on Jared's stomach. Jared gently guided his hand a little lower to where the baby was moving and smiled at how much Jensen seemed to enjoy the experience. He had gotten so used to feeling the baby move that the novelty had mostly worn off until it became just a daily source of reassurance (and occasionally annoyance. The bladder thing was no joke). He had forgotten how amazed he had been when he first felt the baby kick and it was nice to share the experience with someone else. The soft look on Jensen's face as he gently cradled Jared's stomach filled him with a longing that he had become more and more familiar with since he began growing closer to Jensen. Occasionally, he liked to fantasize that Jensen had been the one to father his child instead of David; it was a silly, pointless thought that caused an ache in his chest when he lingered on it for too long, but he couldn't resist daydreaming about it from time to time. 

Jared was jarred from his thoughts a minute later when the smoke alarm started going off, making them both jump and Jensen cursed before running out of the room and into the kitchen to salvage whatever was burning. Jared was oddly disappointed by the loss of the weight of Jensen's warm palm on his belly; still, it had at least been a nice, if brief, moment. 

A few minutes later they were both sitting at a small kitchen table, chowing down on spaghetti, salad, and slightly charred garlic bread. Jensen seemed somewhat embarrassed about burning the meal, but Jared was so hungry that he honestly couldn't have cared less and Jensen seemed pleased as he watched Jared demolish the meal. 

"I guess I shouldn't have been worried about you being deterred by a little bit of burnt food," he observed as Jared handily finished off a third helping. 

"I am eating for two, you know," Jared defended through a mouth full of spaghetti. 

"Well, I have some ice cream in the freezer if you've saved room for dessert. It's getting late though, and I suppose that your parents are probably wondering where you are." 

Oh no, they don't really care," Jared reassured awkwardly.

"They don't?"

Jared stared down at his plate to avoid Jensen's gaze.

 "Yeah, they don't really mind what I do after school. I guess they figured that since I'm already pregnant anyway, I can't get into much more trouble than that. Why bother keeping tabs on me when I'm already in their worst case scenario?" He tried to keep his tone casual and light, but it probably just came out sounding more bitter than anything. He jolted when he felt Jensen's hand reach across the table and settle on top of his own, and he looked up to see Jensen looking at him sympathetically. 

"I'm really sorry, Jared," he said, and Jared could hear the genuineness in his tone.

"Thanks," he replied, his throat feeling tight. "I like to think that they'll come around once the baby is actually born and they get to hold their grandchild, but I don't know. I hope they do, anyway." 

Jensen squeezed his hand lightly. "I hope so too." 

He opened his mouth and seemed as if he was going to say something else but didn't know how to approach it. 

"What?," Jared prodded. 

"It's just...you know that you can talk to me about things like this, right? You're dealing with a lot of stress, and I just wanted to let you know that you can vent to me about anything." 

Jared knew that they weren't talking about his parents anymore, or at least not just about them. Jensen wanted to know why he was so upset earlier and while a part of him was eager to finally talk about it to someone, the earlier fears he had about dumping a bunch of drama at Jensen's feet were still creeping up on him. 

It's kind of a lot to deal with," he demurred. "You shouldn't have to get caught up in it." 

"Jared, if we're doing...whatever it is that were doing, then you shouldn't be afraid to be open with me. I want to know these things about you." 

The sincerity in his voice broke something in Jared, and he could feel his resolve grower weaker and weaker until he couldn't remember why he wanted to keep everything hidden in the first place. 

"You know about the Parker family, right?," he asked, realizing that the question probably seemed apropos of nothing. 

Jensen frowned in confusion. "Well, sure...I'm not from here, but I'm pretty sure I've heard that they own most of the buildings in town, don't they? What do they have to do with this?" 

"You'd be surprised." 

And then Jared proceeded to tell Jensen about, well, everything. About how he'd been dumb enough to fall for David's cheap lines and thought that he had actually been in love with him; about how David pushed him into doing things that he wasn't comfortable with, including having sex with him; about how David ignored him for months until finally getting in contact with him just to pay him off; about how his child was going to grow up without a father because the one he had was too selfish to even want to be around him. When he was finally finished, he felt like he had run a marathon and even though he wasn't sure how coherent all his babbling had been, he felt oddly relieved as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. 

In contrast, Jensen looked stricken. 

"Jesus, that's...that's fucking awful," he said after Jared had concluded. "I can't believe that someone could treat you like that. You deserve so much better than that." 

Jared could feel tears welling up in his eyes and he willed them to go away. 

"Thanks...I know that I'm--we're--better off without having someone like that being involved in our lives but still hurts a little. It's not exactly the kind of thing that you think is gonna happen to you when you picture what it would be like to have a child. It just sucks that he's such a dick, I guess."

Jensen looked indignant. "A 'dick'? Jared, he practically rap--" 

Jared flinched. "Don't," he interjected loudly. "Can we just...not? I don't really want to think about it anymore."

Jensen barely seemed to hear him and got up from the table with a frantic look in his eyes. 

"And, fuck, it's not like I'm any better than him when I'm also a grown-ass man chasing after a teenager." 

He gazed at Jared with a pleading look on his face. "What the hell are we doing? I don't think I can be just one more person who takes advantage of you," he said, guilt lacing his words. 

Jared felt an icy chill go up his spine as he realized what Jensen was getting at. No, no, no. 

"This is part of the reason why I didn't want to tell you! I knew that you would take everything the wrong way and try to use it as an excuse not to be together." 

"The wrong way? I'm pretty sure that I'm taking it exactly the right way. You're just going from one predator to another and--" 

"Don't compare yourself to him," Jared demanded, half-begging. "If I've learned nothing else from this whole thing, then it's how to tell the difference between an asshole who just wants to get into my pants and someone who genuinely cares for me. I'm pretty sure that you're the latter."

The panicked expression on Jensen's face softened. "Of course I care for you; I just..." 

"Well, David never did," Jared continued. "Everything he ever said or did was just used as a way to manipulate me, and I know that you're different. If you really, genuinely don't want to be with me, then that's fine. But if you just don't want to even try out of some sense of nobility, then I don't know if I can accept that. All I want is to have a say in something for once." 

"Jared..." 

"I like you a lot, Jensen. And I'm pretty sure that you like me too. I know this isn't exactly the best way to start a relationship and that everything is going too fast, but yesterday you said that you would at least try, and that's all I want," he pleaded. 

Jensen exhaled deeply  and seemed to regain his composure somewhat as he plopped down onto the couch in the living room adjacent to the dining area. "I do like you," he admitted. "More that I should, probably." 

"So we're still good then?," Jared asked hopefully as he sat down next to Jensen and took the liberty of leaning his head on his shoulder. 

"I...yeah, I think so. I'm not saying we don't still have things to discuss at some point, but you were right yesterday: we only have a few months before I'm not your teacher anymore. We probably still won't be able to be openly together for a while without it seeming suspicious, but I guess we can take that as it comes. I also trust that you'll let me know if I do something that makes you uncomfortable. I want us to be completely open with each other, okay?" 

"Mmhmm," Jared hummed as he snuggled closer to Jensen's side, relieved that things seemed to be back on track before them after a momentary lapse. "Super equal, gotcha." 

Things were quiet after that between them for a while with Jared curled up against Jensen's side, but the silence wasn't an uncomfortable one as they both enjoyed each other's company, knowing that the evening would be coming to an end soon. Still, Jared couldn't help but ask for one more thing.

"...Jensen?"

"Yeah? 

"I feel like you might have forgotten about the ice cream thing. Did you forget about the ice cream thing? Because I could probably eat a bowl or three." 

"Kid, you're gonna eat me out of house and home," Jensen laughed as he hoisted himself off the couch, already on his way to the freezer. 

Jared tried to look offended but couldn't stop himself from smiling. 

"It's the baby who wants it, not me. I'm just trying to be a responsible parent."

"Yeah, yeah..."

                                                                            ******************

About an hour and two bowls of ice cream later, Jared reluctantly announced that he should head home and Jensen insisted on driving him there. 

"You can stop here if you want to," he offered once they were about a block away from his house.

Jensen frowned in confusion. 

"Don't be silly. I know we don't exactly live in the most dangerous town, but you shouldn't have to walk alone late at night if you don't have to. Besides, it's chilly outside." 

Jared faced the window so Jensen wouldn't see the way he smiled. The offer he had made caught even him by surprise when he said it, but he supposed that it had just been ingrained into him by the way that David had always refused to drop him off at his house on the off chance that someone would see them together. It just seemed like it would hurt less to broach the subject himself rather than have Jensen kick him out of the car, but of course Jensen wouldn't do something like that to him. 

"Oh, right, thank you," he said sheepishly, the car crawling to a stop in front of his house soon afterwards. 

"I really wish that you would have higher standards for the way people treat you if not getting tossed out a block from your house is something that warrants gratitude," Jensen said a little sadly as Jared fumbled with his seat belt. "How am I supposed to exceed your expectations if you don't have any?" 

Jared wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, but it turned out that he didn't have to because Jensen leaned in to place a chaste kiss on his lips that erased all of his previous thoughts. 

"Goodnight, Jared."

Still feeling delightfully off-kilter from the kiss, Jared just barely managed to bid him a soft farewell while he was stumbling not-quite-gracefully out of the car. 

When he was lying in bed only a few minutes later, Jared's mind was too busy ruminating over the day's events to allow him to sleep (and the five or so hour long nap that he had taken earlier probably didn't help matters). Maybe Jensen was right when he said that Jared should hold people to higher standards.  But he had a feeling that even if he did have grand expectations, Jensen would breeze past them with little effort. 

With that thought in mind and the lingering warmth from Jensen's kiss on his lips, Jared was finally able to drift off to sleep. 

************

The weeks ahead passed by quickly and, in a lot of ways, his life wasn't much different than before. His family still more or less ignored him and most of his classmates tolerated his presence at best or shunned him at worst with the exception of a few people who would smile at him in the halls or partner with him on group projects once the scandal and novelty of him being pregnant had lost some of its shine. He still stressed out about school and the thought of graduating while managing a newborn, but he at least got to continue his daily lunches with Jensen where he occasionally shared his anxieties or let himself be drawn into ridiculous conversations or arguments over sports teams to keep his mind off of them entirely. 

That wasn't to say that his life didn't change at all, however, and Jared was pleased to discover that it was mostly in positive ways. He and Jensen began spending a lot more time together outside of class, and Jared estimated that he was probably at Jensen's house more often than his own when all was said and done. On most days, he would just go straight there from class (using the spare key that Jensen gifted him with once it became more trouble than it was worth to constantly pass the original house key between them) and wait for Jensen to get home. They more or less had a routine now; Jared would do his homework while Jensen graded papers and then they would eat dinner together and sit on the couch afterwards, sometimes drinking hot cocoa by the fireplace  or just watching mindless television until Jared needed to go home. It all felt strangely domestic to him, almost as if they were playing house, and Jared liked to indulge the fantasy that they were just any other normal little family. 

The winter holidays came upon them before Jared knew it, and he relished the chance to use the break as an opportunity to spend even more time with Jensen. Unfortunately, they weren't able to see each other literally on Christmas day since Jensen had traveled to visit his family for several days while Jared and his own family were busy entertaining their extended relatives, most of whom weren't any more thrilled about his pregnancy than his parents and weren't afraid to let him know, which didn't exactly make for the most enjoyable holiday. Even so, the bitter taste that their scorn left in his mouth was erased when he and Jensen had their own holiday celebration a couple of days later, complete with an endearingly lopsided little tree sitting on Jensen's coffee table that had a few poorly wrapped gifts underneath it. Jared felt fondly amused when it was revealed that they had both gotten each other the same book for Christmas (at least they could read it together) and was touched when the last gift under the tree contained a couple of onesies for the baby from Jensen.

If he saw Jared tear up a little over the fact that Jensen had been thoughtful enough to include his unborn child in the festivities, then he didn't call attention to it and allowed Jared to deflect from the emotional moment by making fun of the fact that the onesies Jensen bought were all Shakespeare themed ("I'm an English teacher, Jared. I've gotta represent"). It also served as a pointed reminder to Jared that Jensen cared about both him and the baby, and it only made him fall harder for Jensen in the days that followed as the progression of his pregnancy meant that he was constantly thinking about the welfare of his child, knowing that he would be giving birth before he knew it. He began allowing himself to believe that Jensen would stick around after the baby was born, something  that he previously tried not to be hopeful about, lest he be devastated when it didn't happen. 

Sometimes it seemed as if his stomach was growing rounder and rounder by the day and his excitement and trepidation seemed to grow right along with it. When he wasn't doing homework or hanging out with Jensen, he was reading a dozen different books about pregnancy and parenthood (all of which seemed to conflict with each other; go figure) and they simultaneously reassured and terrified him. Fortunately, when his anxieties overwhelmed him, it seemed as if Jensen was there to do or say the right things to calm him down. Sometimes it was just a matter of Jensen convincing him that the "right" way to parent couldn't be completely gleaned just from a few books and that he would forge his own parenting style through trial and error. 

Other times (some of his favorite times, in fact), Jensen was more than happy to let Jared use him as a distraction from school and pregnancy related stress by stealing kisses while they cooked dinner together or making out on the couch when neither of them could focus on anything else but getting their hands on each other. Occasionally, things progressed further between them and the odd handjob every now and again wasn't out of the question, and if he thought that kissing Jensen was amazing, then it was nothing compared to the bliss that he felt when he had Jensen's hand wrapped around him. But even that was tough to compete with the way that Jensen looked when his full, perfect lips were wrapped around his dick, his cheeks flushed and eyelashes fluttering (well, it was admittedly difficult to get a real good look when his belly obstructed the view somewhat, but he could fill in the blanks) while Jared tried not to come embarrassingly quickly.  The way that Jensen seemed to clearly enjoy blowing him even gave Jared the confidence to return the favor despite the fact that his previous experiences with the subject weren't exactly positive and that Jensen never made him feel like he "owed" him anything. It also helped that Jensen was patient in the face of his inexperience; his hands were gentle as they threaded through his hair rather than roughly pulling at it, he never tried to force Jared to swallow down more than he could handle, and his words were filled with encouragement and praise rather than degradation. Jensen always allowed Jared to set the pace of their relationship, and it wasn't until Jared talked about wanting to try a certain thing that they did it. 

 It was strange how Jared wasn't able fully grasp how imbalanced and cruel his relationship with David was until Jensen treated him the exact opposite. 

                                                                                           ***********

In late February, Jared sat on Jensen's couch as he tried and failed to focus on his history assignment, too distracted by thoughts of his boyfriend (more specifically: Jensen's hands, his lovely mouth, and just about every other part of him that Jared could touch and feast his eyes upon) to care about the construction of the Panama Canal. It really wasn't fair that he had gotten to be so uncomfortable large while at the same time being hornier than ever. He had heard of people having an increased libido while they were pregnant, but he didn't expect it to come out in full force while he was as big as a house and only had a little over a month in his pregnancy to go. Of course, he could also just be overly eager due to the fact that he was hoping to finally go all the way with Jensen that night. It was an idea that had lingered between them unspoken for a while, but Jared had always been too nervous to broach the topic and he suspected that Jensen was hesitant about it as well, always concerned about making sure that he didn't cross any of Jared's boundaries. 

Even with the knowledge that he felt ready to take the next step, Jared felt anxious as he waited for Jensen to finally come home. The idea that the whole thing could turn into a disaster or, worse, that Jensen would reject him altogether weighed heavily on his mind until the sound of the front door opening and announcing Jensen's arrival made his doubts melt away. Jared wasted no time in abandoning his notes and textbooks in favor of greeting Jensen with a kiss as soon as he walked through the door and Jensen regarded him with fond amusement. 

"Someone's eager today," he teased as he tossed his keys on the counter.  

Jared gave a long suffering sigh. "Only because I haven't seen you in forever." 

"I'm pretty sure that it's been four hours tops." 

"Close enough," Jared pouted, dragging Jensen into another kiss. 

When they finally broke  apart, Jensen regarded him with playful suspicion and wrinkled his nose in concentration a he tried to figure out what Jared was playing at. 

"You're up to something," he declared. "You usually wait at least a couple of minutes before you maul me when I get home. Not that I'm complaining, obviously, but there's clearly something going on." 

And just like that, Jared had his window of opportunity to tell Jensen that he was ready and eager to sleep with him. He'd spent all day thinking about how he could best approach the subject and found it to be more difficult than he anticipated. How exactly do you ask someone to have sex with you? He initially thought about  wearing something revealing and posing sexily so that he could seduce Jensen with his overpowering wiles when he walked through the door. Sadly, this idea was quickly nixed after he determined that most of the outfits that he could think of didn't exactly flatter the figure of someone who was eight months pregnant and the majority of the sexy poses he tried were extremely uncomfortable with his stomach in the way. He thought about getting the sentiment across through written word, but Hallmark had a sad dearth of "please bone me" cards. Cooking a romantic meal seemed like a surefire way to set the mood, but he quickly talked himself out of that one when he reminded himself that Jensen coming home to see his house burning down probably wasn't a good seduction tactic. 

In the end, he decided that he should play it cool; maybe hint at it subtly or toss out a witty line that showed Jensen that he was a mature adult in a mature adult relationship who was ready to take the next step in their relationship. 

But instead of doing that, his mind went perfectly blank and he blurted out "We should have sex! With each other. Tonight." 

Jared winced as soon as the words spewed uncontrollably from his mouth. He could admit that he missed the mark with that one a bit, but he supposed that there was something to be said for being straightforward. 

Jensen blinked at him a little stunned. "...come again?" 

"I think we should have sex," he repeated, his confidence beginning to flag. Things weren't exactly going according to plan. 

"We already have sex..." 

Jared snorted. "You know what I mean," he argued. "I just...thought it was the right time. I've been thinking about it for a while, and my parents are out of town, so I could stay over here the whole weekend if I wanted to." 

When Jensen hesitated to respond, Jared started to become even more alarmed. Maybe he completely misread the signals that he thought Jensen had been sending him, or maybe he just wasn't attracted to someone who looked like they were smuggling an oversized beach ball underneath their shirt. 

"It's fine if you don't want to!," he backtracked hastily, stepping away so he could put a little distance between them. "We don't have to sleep together  We could just have dinner together like we usually do and forget about it, or I could just leave, or--"

"No, no, no," Jensen interjected frantically. "I definitely want to. Hell, I could probably write an entire book about how badly I want to have sex with you and the specific ways that we could do it. You just kind of caught me off guard." 

"...really?"

"Jared, if you don't know by now that I'm ridiculously attracted to you, then you're not half as observant as I thought you were," he replied as he tugged Jared back towards him, raking his eyes up and down his body for good measure. "I just don't want you to feel like I'm pushing you to do this." 

Jared laughed incredulously. "I'm the one who pounced on you and practically demanded that you have sex with me a few minutes ago. If anyone's doing the pushing in this scenario, it's probably me." 

"Your technique could use a little bit of refining," he admitted. 

"I knew I should have gone with the singing telegram idea." 

Things settled down between them once they realized that they were both emphatically on the same page and they grinned at each other goofily across the dinner table as they were eating. Jared, eager as he was,  had wanted to go straight to the bedroom after their conversation, but Jensen insisted on cooking dinner first so they could make an evening of the whole thing. He even lit a few candles for ambiance, which Jared thought was a nice touch even if the only candles Jensen owned had the Dallas Cowboys logo on them. 

It wasn't until they were in the bedroom later than evening, kissing and peeling off each other's clothes that Jared felt nervousness prickle at his skin, especially when Jensen attempted to take off his shirt. 

Jared caught his wrist and tugged his shirt back down a little bashfully. He had been a little self-conscious about how big he had gotten in recent weeks and mostly tried to keep his stomach and the stretch marks that came along with it hidden under clothes as much as possible when he was around Jensen. He didn't want to put a premature end to the evening if Jensen was turned off by it.

"Maybe I should leave it on..." he muttered, his face burning hotly. 

Jensen seemed undeterred as he gently pried Jared's fingers from the death grip he had on his shirt and lifted it over his head. 

"I like every part of you," he reminded Jared as he splayed his hand over his belly. "Even this. Especially this." 

Jared didn't know quite how to respond to such sincerity, but he was sure that his relief and gratitude for the fact that Jensen always understood and accepted him so easily could be read on his face. It wasn't long before they were both completely bare in front of each other, and even though nudity wasn't a novel concept between them, something about the moment felt strangely significant. to him. They both stared at each other breathless for a moment before Jensen gently pushed Jared to lean against the pillows at the front of the bed and knelt between his legs. Jared let out a strangled moan when he felt Jensen's mouth on his cock, his head bobbing up and down with practiced ease. When he was sufficiently lost in ecstasy, he heard the distant sound of a cap popping open and realized that Jensen must have grabbed some lube when he wasn't paying attention. 

"Is this okay?," Jensen asked unsurely as he had one of his fingers poised against Jared's entrance.

Jared was fairly sure by this point that whatever Jensen planned on doing to him was probably going to be mindblowing, so he let out a garbled sound that hopefully at least resembled the word "please." 

It felt a little strange at first, but Jensen took his time carefully stretching Jared and occasionally curling his fingers in a way that had Jared mindlessly rocking against them until he was right on the edge of coming. When Jensen removed his fingers after what seemed like an eternity, Jared wasn't sure whether he was disappointed by their loss or excited for what was coming next. Jensen kissed him deeply once more before gently positioning Jared onto his side; he was somewhat disappointed that they wouldn't be face-to-face for their first time, but he also knew that it was probably going to be the most comfortable position for both of them, considering the obstacle that his stomach presented. He also couldn't deny that he liked the way Jensen felt when he was spooned up behind him, his breath gently ghosting across his neck. 

Jared could hear Jensen tearing open a condom wrapper and curse as he fumbled with it and finally got it rolled onto his cock after a couple of false starts. Jared wondered if Jensen was as nervously excited as he was and the idea reassured him in a strange way. 

"We could stop here," Jensen offered as his cock just barely nudged Jared's entrance. "There's no need to rush." 

"You just want me to beg." Jared accused a little impatiently. 

Jensen laughed against his shoulder, relieved that Jared was still feeling comfortable. 

"Maybe next time..." 

Whatever retort Jared had prepared was lost  as he felt Jensen slowly enter him. He was relaxed enough from Jensen's previous ministrations that it wasn't painful exactly, but he had forgotten how big Jensen was, despite becoming intimately familiar with his cock during their previous escapades. His discomfort was mitigated by the fact that Jensen was being as careful as possible and only began moving in earnest when Jared gave him the go-ahead. He was a little surprised by how quickly it started to become pleasurable after that, and he nearly lost his mind when Jensen found just the right angle to thrust. A tiny part of him had been worried that sex would always be painful for him, that maybe the only reason he hadn't enjoyed it with David was because something was wrong with him. The relief that he felt when he realized that it was an entirely different story when the person he was having sex with actually cared about him and wanted him to feel good was so tremendous that he had to convince himself not to start choking up lest Jensen misread his tears and assume that something was wrong. 

When Jensen managed to get his hand wrapped around his cock (an impressive feat with his belly in the way), it was pretty much game-over for Jared as he felt himself coming all over Jensen's hand only a few moments later. 

Jensen's thrusts became more sporadic and shallow as he was conscious of the fact that Jared was a little over-sensitized in his hazy, post-orgasm state, but he eventually let out a long moan as he came while his face was buried in Jared's sweaty nape. After Jensen carefully extracted himself and tossed the condom in the wastebasket, they didn't speak for a while as they quietly enjoyed the afterglow, Jensen's fingers lightly tracing patterns on Jared's belly while Jared tried not to doze off in his sated state. 

Despite his efforts, he was just about to drift off to sleep when he heard Jensen's next words. 

"We don't have to stay here, you know."

"....in bed?," Jared asked in confusion as he snuggled deeper into his pillow. "I love this bed. I never want to leave it."

"Not here here," Jensen clarified. "I meant in this town. We could move away after you graduate, go to whatever city you decide to go to college in. Just you, me, and the baby."

Jensen said it casually as if he wasn't just suggesting that he quit his job and run away with Jared and presumably raise his child with him. He suddenly felt completely alert and he turned over to face Jensen, his heart pounding. 

"You shouldn't say things like that if you don't mean it." 

"I'm one hundred percent serious. I can be a teacher in any city, so it's not like my job is keeping me here and I know that you have bigger plans than to stay in this town forever."

Jared thought about the as-of-yet untouched sum of money that he had at his disposable. It wasn't like he couldn't afford to live somewhere else or that he wasn't planning on moving away anyway; he didn't think he could stay in this town for much longer than he had to. 

He just didn't think that Jensen would want to go with him. 

"It would be nice to leave all the rumors and judgement behind," he admitted. 

Jensen smiled at him, sagging his shoulders in relief and Jared realized that he had actually been afraid that Jared would shoot him down. It was a ridiculous notion if Jared had ever heard of one. 

"Yup. People will probably just think that we're a normal couple, same as anyone else. Well," he amended, "they might wonder why you're dating an old geezer like me, but still."

"Dude, you're like six years older than me." 

"Ah, to have such youth..." Jensen sighed wistfully as Jared rolled his eyes, aware that Jensen could probably see right through his fake-annoyance and realize that Jared was already on board with the idea of them settling down together.

"...you really want to do this? It's a lot, Jensen. I don't want you to wake up one day and regret settling down to raise someone else's child. I couldn't handle it if you realized that I was a burden to you." 

"You've never been and never will be a burden to me," he said firmly. "Neither of you are. I'm not saying it'll be easy; I'm just saying that anything is easier than imagining my life without you in it." 

"Okay," Jared breathed, taken aback by Jensen's confession. "Yeah, let's do it." 

Jared knew that they didn't have the most conventional relationship in the world, but something told him that it was worth holding onto, no matter how crazy it seemed. 

When he fell asleep that night with his face plastered against Jensen's chest, his dreams were filled with visions of a Jensen that greeted him at home (their home) every day and of a happy little boy who had two fathers that loved him beyond measure. There was once a time where Jared thought such a thing was just a silly fantasy but he knew now that his dreams of having a family were finally becoming a reality.