Of Dice and Jen(sen)

by Epeeblade

Chapter 1

Whose brilliant idea was it,” Jensen grumbled to himself, as he shifted his computer tower to rest on one thigh. He paused mid-landing to catch his breath, dodging the girl with a box so large it obscured her vision, and then finished the last set of stairs as he said: “to get the dorm without an elevator?”

Boxes and computer equipment cluttered the landing in the center of the four bedrooms that would comprise his home for the next year. Off to his right the door to the full-size fridge was held open by a case of Mountain Dew. Only one bedroom door remained closed, the others stood wide open.

“Jensen!” Mike Rosenbaum popped his head out of door D and Jensen could only blink in surprise. Mike had shaved his head: completely bald, shiny Kojack bald. He hardly looked like the same guy who had worn his hair past his waist during their first three years at Springfield College.

“Nice haircut,” because really, Jensen just couldn’t let that go.

Tom Welling and Chad Lindberg emerged from the other room, Chad holding a pair of wire cutters in one hand. “Yeah, his lack of hygiene finally got to him,” Tom said.

“I just didn’t want you guys to have to clean my hair out of the shower drain,” Mike said.

“Fuck, Mike, you’re more of a girl without the long hair,” Chad laughed.

Mike rolled his eyes and tilted his head in Tom’s direction. “At least I don’t have twelve different bottle of hair gel.”

“So you’re not going to tell Jensen about the lice incident?” Tom said.

“I so don’t want to know.” Jensen set the computer tower down and fished out the key he had picked up from the main office.

They had finally scored senior housing, the set of townhouses that ranged the very edge of campus. Sandy had joked about them creating role-playing housing, on par with the frat houses along the main drag of town. “D&D on Tuesdays, Magic on Wednesdays…”

“And Mike’s anime screenings every other day of the week,” Jensen had retorted.

Jensen might have to share a bathroom and shower with three of his best friends, but he was sure glad to be able to hide in his own room when he needed to. When his floormates – computer science majors that they were -- needed to be up late, commiserating over coding hell and Y2K, Jensen could sequester himself in his own room and get some actual studying done. He unlocked his door now, revealing the tiny room with its extra long twin bed, scarred wooden desk and tall dresser. He figured it was about the size of his mother’s closet back home.

Maybe having his own room was overrated.

“Jensen? Where do you want this?” his father’s voice broke into his musings. Jensen turned to find that his dad had carried the monitor up the three flights of stairs.

Jensen winced. He hoped his 17-inch monitor would fit on the desk.

“Need some help hooking up?” Chad asked, poking his head in while Dad tried to fit the monitor in the small space. “Tom hacked the port so our network is live.”

Sweet, Jensen thought. He had missed the college’s T1 connection while home. He had to share his parents’ dialup account with his sister, who had just discovered AIM and never ever signed off. “I got a new PC over the summer,” he told Chad as they both dived under the desk, pulling wires through the hole in the wood.

“Built it himself,” his dad said with a smile. Jensen grinned back. It had been worth all the hard work – finding computer shows to get the spare parts, reading manuals about jumpers and dealing with some bum ram chips – to finally have the powerhouse machine he always wanted.

“Pentium 3,” he told Chad.

Chad whistled. “I see much Quake 2 in our future.”

“Tonight, if we can get you hooked up,” Tom said from the doorway.

“You boys do plan on getting some work done, right?” Dad said. He let the guys mess with the computer and stepped out of the way.

“Classes don’t start till Monday, Dad.” Jensen said. After freshman year, it always seemed weird when his parents stuck around to help him unpack. That first year Jensen hadn’t wanted them to leave, and missed home fiercely. He alternated the time doing his homework – even then he was a nerd about going to every class and doing every assignment – and calling his mother.

Then Mike had wandered onto their floor lounge. Jensen had escaped there to get some studying done, he couldn’t manage it with his roommate's loud music. Mike invited Jensen up to an impromptu game of Dungeons and Dragons he had going on in his room. At first Jensen didn't know what to make of the game, they didn't have a board, but they did have lots of dice. Mike had hid behind a little cardboard screen, scratching notes on a piece of paper and cackling to himself.

"We need someone to be the wizard," Tom had said apologetically upon their first meeting. Everyone else wanted to smash things.

Curious about how you could play a game without a board, Jensen's natural curiosity drove him, against his better judgment, to agree. This was certainly one of those things his pastor back at home warned against, but he figured it wouldn't be college without a little bit of rebellion.

They presented him with a character sheet filled with numbers and statistics that made little sense to him. "I'll roll for you," Tom offered. "You just need to play the part.”

And that, Jensen knew he could do, slipping into the role like one of his acting moments back in drama class in high school. He may not know what a THAC0 was, but he nailed the character of the misanthropic, myopic wizard. No one else seemed to mind rolling for him, or correcting him when he tried to do something impossible. Jensen fell into pretending to be someone else, just for a little while, in a world where magic and dragons were real, where he could escape both his statistics homework and his obnoxious roommate.

When Mike invited him to become a regular member of the group, he jumped at the chance. Four years later, he could calculate a THAC0 -- the die roll it took to hit a heavily armored opponent -- with the best of them, prepare a character sheet and design his own campaign. Somehow he fit that all in between biology labs and cramming for the GREs.

Hopefully all that hard work would pay off. Jensen put the box with his grad school applications carefully on the bookcase. He'd be spending most of the fall semester filling them out. With his test scores, Columbia was more than just a dream right now. He rested his hand on the blue folder on top; very soon he’d be on his way to becoming a physical therapist.

"How many books did you bring?" Mike groaned, dumping the blue plastic milk crate on the bed. It bounced and tumbled over, books scattering onto the floor.

"Hey!" Jensen bent to gather them up. "This is my room; keep the mess in yours." This crate held the resource books he needed for the Werewolf campaign he hoped to run this semester. If he had any interested players. The other crate had all his biology textbooks, no less heavy, but slightly more important.

"You're welcome, Jensen. I am happy to help lug your heavy ass books up three flights of stairs. Are you going to wait till your dad leaves before you hang up your Sailor Moon posters?"

Jensen rubbed at the back of his neck and ducked his head, pushing up his glasses as they drooped down his nose. "Fuck you, that’s your fault anyway." Without Mike there would be absolutely no pictures of scantily-clad Japanese teens with brightly colored hair anywhere near Jensen's walls. Particularly since no one believed him when he said he just liked the story. Just like most of the role-playing games he participated in, he loved the idea of far-flung worlds and reincarnated princesses. It made going back to the mundane so much easier.

It took them a better part of an hour to completely unpack the van his dad had rented for the trip. Luckily the townhouse came with its own refrigerator and microwave, so no need to lug those appliances all the way from Texas, like he had in previous years. He probably had the longest commute, Springfield tended to attract mostly local students.

Jensen figured it would take him the rest of the week to completely unpack and get his room just the way he wanted it, unlike Tom, who already had all his drawers organized, with even his socks folded and filed away. He had no idea how Tom had managed to share a room with Mike for three years.

Jensen walked his dad downstairs to the van parked on the sidewalk. "Are you sure you're going to be okay driving back by yourself?" Jensen felt a bit guilty for having his dad drive all the way out to Springfield and then back.

"I'll be fine, Jensen. I'm visiting your Aunt on the way back, remember?"

"Right." Jensen closed the door of the van and leaned against it. "I'll call Mama when you leave, tell her you're on the way."

His dad smiled. "Don't let those boys keep you from studying."

"They're good friends," Jensen said.

"With a lot of toys," his dad opened the driver's side door and climbed in. “You’ve got all those graduate school applications to finish!”

“I really just need the letters of recommendation,” Jensen explained. “I did most of the hard stuff before I left home.”

“Smart boy,” he patted Jensen’s shoulder, gripping it tightly for a moment. They always joked that Jensen was the smart one in the family, something that annoyed his siblings to no end.

"Take care of yourself, son. Don't be a stranger."

"I'll call," he promised. Then he stepped back and watched his dad pull into the moving day traffic. Jensen missed him already, though he figured that soon he'd be so busy, he'd forget he even had a family.

***

The first week of classes always had that settling in feeling to it. Jensen waited on line to buy his textbooks, he waited on line at one of the dining halls, and he came home to a room that was mostly boxes and half hung up posters. His computer was the only thing arranged exactly as he liked it. That wouldn't last long, he had already started installing the cracked copies of games that Mike insisted they all play. Of course, this would only last until Mike discovered something else new and shiny.

Jensen plunked his heavy backpack down on one of the dining hall tables. He flexed his back, relieved to have all the weight off of him. He'd leave the thing here while he got his tray; any potential thieves were welcome to the darn thing if they could actually carry it. Hurray for a major that had the unintended consequence of helping him build some muscle mass.

"Jensen!"

He looked up at the shrill cry and grinned as he spotted Sandy and Sophia making their way through the crowded dining hall. They dropped their backpacks next to his, along with a stack of brightly colored flyers. "Sandy! Sophia!" He hugged them both. "How was your summer?"

"Totally boring," Sophia snorted. "Sandy got to be in a play though."

Sandy blushed. "It was just a local thing for my town."

"Hey, you're adding to your acting creds." He grinned, stepping back. "Don't leave without giving me your numbers."

"Mine's the same as last year," Sandy said.

Right, Jensen thought. She and Danneel were still in the same dorm. "Right...So, ah, how IS Danneel?"

"Why don't you come over and ask?" Sandy laughed when Jensen shuddered. "She's not that bad."

Most of his friends would have agreed, Danneel was absolutely gorgeous, and had one hell of a crush on him. He couldn't tell her why he wasn't interested, so just deflected her attention as best he could. "As long as she doesn't invite me to another Bible study."

"You're overreacting," Sophia chided. "C'mon, let's get cheesesteaks before the line at the grill gets too long."

"Working on keeping that girlish figure?"

"Don't you know it," she laughed, swaying her hips as they made their way to yet another line.

"What are you hanging flyers for?" Jensen asked, plucking his tray from the pile in the door to the cafeteria. Sandy followed him, gathering silverware as they moved through the crowd of people.

"Eric wanted us to advertise the LARP. He thinks we could use some fresh blood."

Jensen snickered. "Freshmen as vampire victims?"

She poked his belly and he darted away. Sandy knew he was ticklish. "C'mon Jen, all you guys are graduating this year. Who's gonna be left to run the gaming club?"

"Fine, but nobody's gonna notice the flyers in the Freshman dorms. You're competing with the frats and all the other campus events the RA's are plugging." Jensen frowned at the salad bar. First week and the lettuce was already wilting? The food just seemed to be getting worse and worse each year; they knew the students didn't have any choice but to use their meal plans. The most edible food was from the grill, which just happened to be the food dripping with grease and fat. Or, as Gabe tended to say, "full of deliciosity."

They joined the line to the grill and placed their orders. "We don't want those kind of freshman anyway," Sandy told him. "There's gotta be a geek or two among the horde."

"Are they still invading the dining halls en masse?" he asked. Freshman usually arrived a week before everyone else, for orientation and bonding time. He remembered the first week; he went everywhere with his roommate and the other twenty people who shared their dorm floor. Justin turned out to be a major asshole, although he still remembered to say hi to Jensen when he saw him around campus.

"They'll be doing that until October, at least," she rolled her eyes. "Luckily they haven't found the food court in the student center yet."

"Only a matter of time."

***

Jensen grabbed one of the flyers on his way out of the dining hall, and he made sure both Sandy and Sophia had his room extension. For once he didn't have to share the phone with a roommate and he could have whatever stupid message on the voicemail that he wanted. Granted, he didn't plan on anything other than "this is Jensen, leave a message" but it was a damn sight better than Justin's insisting on song clips before the message. When he got back to the townhouses, Chad and Mike were poking at an open computer case, parts strewn around the tiny common area and They Might be Giants blaring from Chad's room.

"What exactly are you guys doing?" Jensen stepped over some wires to get to the fridge.

"Building a Linux box," Chad answered. He poked at the hard drive in his hands and frowned at it.

"Again?"

"Hopefully one that works this time." Mike straightened.

"Don't you guys ever go to class?"

"I make sure not to schedule class before noon." Mike looked at his watch. "I think I have one in an hour."

Jensen leaned against the door to the fridge, opening the bottle of Mountain Dew he had just grabbed. "You guys are still playing in the LARP right? Eric's planning on being here on Friday."

"Before the first meeting of ThIS?" Mike groaned, referring to the gamer club. "How are we going to let everyone know about it?"

Jensen waved the flyer at him. "Sandy and Sophia got it covered."

Chad snatched it out of his hand. "Like roleplaying? Want to go beyond tabletop? Then meet at the Springfield College Student Center, this Friday at 7PM for Springfield College by Night, A Vampire The Masquerade LARP...Man, this makes the thing sound better than it actually is."

"Maybe this year we'll actually finish the storyline."

"That's if Eric makes up his mind." Mike stretched. "I think he has four or five different endings planned. Fortunately the apocalypse only factors into three of them."

"Don't count on him actually going with a plan." Chad plunked the hard drive back into the computer case. "I've got to get to the computer lab. We're setting schedules today and I don't want to get stuck with Friday nights."

"You're apparently very busy." Jensen picked up the flyer and folded it carefully. "The game would fall apart without your character."

Chad snorted. "Only cause Kristin is dead set against me being elected leader. Gives it all a nice bit of drama."

"And Eric just loves his drama," Mike said. "I think I should find out where my class is."

Jensen rolled his eyes. Typical Mike. He didn't seem to put much effort into anything, yet always ended up on top. Then again, few of his friends needed to put in the same amount of time Jensen did for his classes. It was one of the hazards of the sciences. If he wanted to have any fun at all this weekend, he needed to start his reading and then work on his grad school applications. He had one month left to meet his deadlines, and there were still letters of recommendation to gather.

Fortunately, he could just shut the door to his closet sized room and close himself away to get started on it. After he checked his email, of course.

Chapter 2

Like most weekends at Springfield College, the campus quieted into a ghost town. The students, mostly locals, retreated back home, or left the lonely acreage to join parties already in full swing at the Frat houses. Jensen couldn't really go home on weekends, not unless he hopped on a plane and, really, it wasn't worth it. After his freshman year, he'd lost the desire to go; he was far too busy with studying or gaming to even bother missing home. When he did go back, he found he still loved his family, but he was much better at it from a distance, when he didn't have to explain every new interest.

The student center, one large lounge peppered with square seating areas, arranged like cubicles in the room, had little traffic. The snack bar, tucked into one corner, closed early on Fridays. The student store, hiding behind the glass of one wall, was dimly lit with only one student worker at the cash register, holding a magazine in one hand. Jensen guessed the computer lab would still be crowded, though that was sensibly located in a walled off corner, safe from the noise that usually permeated the larger lounge area.

He had arrived early with his floormates, camping out the section of chairs they usually reserved for LARPing. Mike and Tom had transformed into their vampire personas, dressing far better than usual in dark slacks and button down shirts. Chad's character didn't differ much from himself, so he still wore too-large ripped jeans and a brightly colored t-shirt with Japanese kanji on the front. Jensen didn't feel the need to dress up, his only concession to the event was to replace his wire-rimmed glasses with his contacts. He only saved those for special occasions.

The other players took their time in arriving. He grinned and waved as Chris Kane and Steve Carlson wandered in. Chris's jeans trailed the floor, fringe covering his canvas sandals. He played two characters normally, sometimes cleaning up to play the savvy lawyer Lindsay. Tonight he seemed firmly stuck in his other character, a Gangrel vampire who simply went by the name of Kane.

"How the hell you been?" Jensen asked, reaching out to smack Chris's outspread hand.

"Fucking busy as usual. You don't want to even look at my schedule. I shoulda quit freshman year and started my own damn band." Chris's grin softened his words.

"You have your own band," Steve muttered.

"Playing on the quad doesn't count," Mike countered.

"Where's Eric?" Chris looked around.

"He'll show up after everyone else, like usual." Tom shrugged, leaning back on the large oversized couch.

"Could have brought my guitar," Chris said. “What’s with the hair, Rosenbaum?”

Mike ran his hand over his naked pate. “Got sick of the boys from the Gay student union hitting on me.”

Jensen flinched as Chris laughed.

Steve jostled him with one elbow. "The girls just showed up."

Jensen peeked around them, expecting Sandy and Sofia. Oh, he thought, he had forgotten about the other girls; Alona and Kristin didn't go to Springfield. They attended the local community college and caught the ads Eric had placed there. Of course, Eric didn't go to Springfield either, so Jensen had no business being down on them for that. They just took the whole thing entirely too seriously; roleplaying was supposed to be fun. Alona and Kristin played the depressed vampire to the hilt, dressing all in black, wearing heavy eyeliner and dour expressions. He was all for feeling a role, but sometimes he didn't think these two actually enjoyed the game aspect of it. Kristin had far too much invested in getting her character, Claudia, elected leader of the Springfield College vampires.

"Hey, darling," Chris drawled, settling into flirting with Alona, the more approachable of the two. She smiled at him and played with her long, blond hair.

Great, he'd be stuck watching the two of them sniff around each other all evening. Jensen tapped his foot impatiently and stood with relief when Sandy and Sophia finally showed up. Sophia had her dark hair pulled into two pigtails, and wore a set of pink overalls. He didn't even want to know where she got that outfit. Sandy looked gorgeous as always, in a satin blouse and dark mini skirt. She was made to be an actress, he only hoped this theater thing worked out for her.

"You're late," he said, pulling Sandy down onto his lap.

She shrieked and pulled her skirt down over her thighs, settling herself on his knees. "We still made it before Gabe and Eric," she pointed out.

"I saw Gabe at the dining hall," Steve offered. "Is he bringing the snacks?"

"This ain't a tabletop, son," Chris kicked him. "Vampires don't drink ... Mountain Dew."

"Funny," Jensen rolled his eyes.

Just then Eric arrived, before Gabe for a change, but no less harassed than usual. He had a folder full of papers, jagged edges of torn out notebook pages sticking out everywhere. "Hey guys!" He dropped his messenger bag on the boxy table in the center of their seating area, and it clunked against the wood. "I got all your character sheets from last year, oh and you are not going to believe some of the things I've got planned!" He pulled off his tan trench coat and cowboy hat and dropped them over the arm of the couch Jensen sat on. Eric flipped through his folder and started handing out the character sheets. "You guys need to figure out what your characters did over the summer and give me a rundown, so I can make it fit into the storyline..."

"Excuse me?" A deep, drawling voice broke into Eric's excited ramblings and caught all of their attention. Jensen leaned over to see the speaker.

Two men stood behind Eric, but Jensen's eyes were drawn up and then up some more to the taller of the two. Dark hair curled around the stranger's head like a halo, illuminating golden skin and a brilliant, dimpled smile. Jensen's heart beat wildly in his chest.

"I assume this is y'all?" The gorgeous stranger held out one of Sandy and Sophia's pink flyers advertising the LARP.

"You're kidding?" Sophia nearly slid off the couch. "You guys are freshmen?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm Jared and this is my roommate, Chad," the tall guy gestured to his friend. Jensen gave him a cursory glance, noting blond hair and a scruffy looking chin, but he didn't move his gaze off of Jared for very long.

"And you're interested in joining?" Eric looked downright perky at the news. He always liked new players, probably gave him even more evil plot ideas, Jensen reflected.

"Well," the shorter one drawled, another Chad, Jensen remembered, "We kinda want to know what it is first."

"LARP stands for Live Action Role Playing," Sophia started.

"It's kinda like a play," Jensen jumped in. He flashed a smile. "We're pretending to be these characters and there's an ongoing storyline."

"Involving vampires on campus," Sandy finished. She looped an arm around Jensen's neck and he frowned. He didn't want to give the kid the wrong idea about him and Sandy.

Who was he kidding? What were the odds this Jared was gay, never mind be interested in Jensen?

"You'd need a character sheet." Eric produced a pair of blank ones from his folder. "You get to pick a name and a clan for your vampire."

Jared looked at his sheet and frowned. "What if I don't want to be a vampire? I'd rather be a vampire hunter or something."

The entire group groaned. Jared squinted. "What?"

"Jensen's playing the vampire hunter." Mike pointed at him.

"Only, shh, we're all not supposed to know that," Kristin said, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, I don't get that."

"There's a difference what we know in character and out of character," Jensen tried to explain. "There are things we have to know to keep the story going, but we act like we don't know them."

"You really just have to play," Sandy said. "You'll figure out all the rules and stuff as you go."

"And keep a copy of the rule book handy." Tom flashed his copy of Laws of the Night.

"Actually." Eric's eyes were lit with an unnatural light. "Jared could I speak to you over here? I have a great idea for your character..." And then Eric stole the cutie away and left the new Chad to the tender mercies of the rest of the group.

"You know," Kristin said, moving over to Chad's side. "I have a great idea for a story for your character. You could start out as human..."

"Oh." Alona joined her on Chad's other side. "And we could slowly seduce you to the dark side."

And increase Kristin's character's power in the circle. Man, she was conniving with the newbie. Jensen was damn glad he wasn't playing a vampire. His big coup last semester was killing off the vampire character of a graduating senior. The vampires had spent the spring trying to figure out who had done it and worrying if they were next. It set up this semester nicely. Jensen trusted Eric to incorporate the newbies into whatever crazy plot he had planned next.

"Sounds good to me," the new Chad was saying.

"Great, another whiny Toreador," Sandy whispered into Jensen's ear.

He bit his lip to keep from laughing.

Mike jostled them both from behind. "So what were our characters doing over the summer?"

Jensen spent a good ten minutes spinning tales with him, helping to figure out what exactly vampires who hung out on a college campus would do when said college was out of session. "Summer classes?" Sophia had suggested.

"No night classes in the summer," Tom argued.

Before they wrapped that up, Eric came back with a grinning Jared. "This is going to be fantastic," Eric said. "Let's get started."

Fifteen minutes later, the group had scattered. The Toreadors hung out near the arcade, eying the other Chad -- going by Murray --as he lined up a shot at the pool table. They were going to arrange their first meeting with the poor sap. Jensen wished him well. The other vampires were in various groups around the lounge, probably regrouping after the murder of last semester. His character knew them as fellow students, and only suspected that some of them were vampires. He would have to step up his game; this was his last year after all. Jensen liked the idea of going out with a bang.

He stepped out of the shadows of one of the tall stone pillars, intending to talk to Sandy's character, Sandra. Sometimes it was just easier when everyone kept their own damn name. Jensen didn't get far before he was barreled into by a large figure. Jared hit him hard and they both tumbled to the concrete floor.

"Ow." Jensen winced, rubbing his ass.

"Oh, man, I'm sorry." Jared knelt over him and held out a hand. "Sorry about that. I didn't see you."

"Uh, that's ok," Jensen said.

"I'm Sam," Jared said with a grin, pulling Jensen to his feet.

Ah, neat trick. "Dean," Jensen supplied. "You make a habit of running into people you don't know?"

"It's a good way of meeting people." Jared grinned. "I'm new here."

"If you keep knocking people over, it's no wonder you have trouble making friends and influencing people."

Jared winked. "I bet you could teach me a better way."

Was Jared flirting with him? Jensen felt his face heat. Probably not, the kid just slipped into the role so easily. Jensen wondered if he had acting experience in his past. "Try not falling over," Jensen suggested, pretending his voice wasn't shaking as he spoke. He cleared his throat. "So, uh, freshman?"

"Yeah, pre-law. Well, maybe. Haven't declared yet."

"I know what you mean. I got no intention of graduating any time soon." Unlike Jensen, Dean's goals at this college were very different. Figure out who the vampires taking out the students were, and torch them.

"Hey Dean," Sandy called. "Who's your friend?" She walked with Sophia, who skipped along to meet them. Sophia's alter ego belonged to the Malkavian clan, the vampires who embraced madness; he liked her interpretation of it.

"This is Sam. He's new."

Sandy nodded and smiled. "Nice to meet you Sam." Then she turned to Jensen. "Thaumaturgy check."

"Gah, anything complicated like that we need Eric." Jensen frowned. He turned and waved their GM over. Sandy conferred with him over to the side.

"What is she doing?" Jared whispered.

"Out of character," Jensen said, "she's going to try to read your aura. She'll play rock/paper/scissors with Eric to see if she succeeds and he'll tell her what she discovered."

"Oops," Jared murmured.

Sandy came back with a grin. "I think you'll fit in just fine around here, Sam."

Jensen slanted his eyes over at Jared. Hmm, interesting. Who exactly was Sam? Actually, more to the point, what exactly was Sam?

"I hope Dean hasn't been telling tales about the icky stuff that's been going on around campus."

"Icky, sticky, dead people," Sophia giggled.

"She's just like that," Jensen whispered, back in character.

"What...are you talking about?" Jared asked.

"It made the student paper last semester, but you wouldn't know. They found a body floating in the lake. I knew the guy, he wasn't a friend or anything, but it shakes you up, you know?"

"I can imagine." Jared nodded.

"This isn't the kind of thing Sam wants to hear about just starting out here," Jensen interrupted. As far as his character knew, Sam was an innocent, a human who was about to be drawn in by Sandra's wily ways. And Dean was pretty damn sure Sandra was a vamp, since she and David's character were thicker than thieves.

"I think I should know, at least where to avoid hanging out," Jared said.

"Drain the lake, find the killer, drink his blood."

"Sophy, why don't you go play," Sandy said, her voice dark. "Sam doesn't have time to deal with you."

"Liar, liar, pants on fire." Sophia pouted, but did go off to leave them.

"She's mentally challenged," Sandy explained, watching as Sophia went towards the group with Kane and Steve. Gabe never did show up, Jensen realized. He wondered what had happened to him. "Smart as a whip though when you get her on a good night."

"Is this how you make friends and influence people?" Jared turned to Jensen, looking puzzled.

Jensen laughed. "Later Sandra, I think you've scared our freshman enough."

"Hardly." She laughed and let him pull Sam away.

"I guess I should introduce you to everyone else." Jensen sighed. "Both in and out of character."

Jared laughed. "Just point them out to me, man, I don't think I can take any more weirdness tonight."

Jensen grinned and pointed. "Kane and Steve. They're the Gangrel vamps. Think vampires who can turn into wolves or mist." He didn't bother explaining Chris's second character. "Kristin and Alona, aka Claudia and Simone. They're the Toreadors. Think typical Interview with a Vampire mopey vamps. My floormates, Mike and Tom, they're Ventrue, the business vampires. Chad, Chad Lindberg, he's the Brujah who's looking to take over the group. Kristin doesn't like it."

"And the girl who didn't make any sense?"

"Sophia. She's a Malkavian. They've embraced insanity. Oh, Sandy's a Tremere. Watch out for her. She's sweet in real life, but her character's a total bitch."

Jared laughed. "I don't know how you keep this straight."

"We've been playing for a while. Eric's got some great stories planned out. They're still trying to figure out who killed David's character."

"And that was Dean." Jared grinned.

"But you don't know that," Jensen reprimanded.

"Maybe I do. Maybe there was a reason Sam dropped into this little town."

Jensen laughed. "Guess I'll find out."

"Oh," Jared said. "Your real name?"

"It's Jensen," he said. "Jensen Ackles."

Jared repeated it to himself, as if memorizing the syllables. Jensen swallowed. "Where you from, anyway? You remind me of home."

"Home wouldn't be Texas, would it?" Jared asked.

"Maybe," Jensen said with a grin.

There was some shouting coming from the other end of the lounge. "Crap, they gotta keep that down unless they want campus police on us. C'mon, let's see what's going on." Jensen took off towards the arcade, Jared on his heels.

They got to the alcove in time to hear Alona shout at Lindberg: "This isn't over."

"Sweetheart, don't test me," Lindberg drawled. "If the message is real, we'll have enough problems on our hands."

Tom had noticed Jensen and Jared's arrival and hissed, "Remember the masquerade, all of you," under his breath.

"Everything all right here?" Jared asked, slipping into the scene with no problem.

He was going to fit in just fine, Jensen thought. Now he just had to put together what the argument had been about and how he would slowly pull Sam into the vampire-hunting fold. Jensen's mind spun and he gleefully plotted. The LARP just got a hundred times more interesting.

***

Jensen wasn't surprised when Sandy slid in across from him in the food court booth. She knew he preferred to come here for breakfast on Saturdays, away from the crowds at the main dining hall. He did just fine with his bagel and coffee. She had her own tray, filled with cereal, fruit and juice. "So," she said with a grin. "Interesting game last night."

He grinned back. "You could say that. Too bad I missed the beginning of Alona and Chad's argument. That would have given me so much more to work with."

She smacked his hand. "That's not what I'm talking about. I meant the major crushing you were doing on tall, dark and goofy."

"Sandy." Jensen looked around to make sure no one they knew were around.

"Jensen, you know none of our crew wakes up before noon," she sighed. "No one's going to find out."

"They'd totally flip out," Jensen muttered, poking at his bagel. It didn't look nearly as appetizing as when it first came out of the toaster.

Sandy reached out to touch his hand, caressing this time with the tip of one finger. "I didn't mean to upset you, hon. You just looked so happy around him."

"God, do you think anyone else noticed?" Jensen groaned.

She snorted. "C'mon, the guys are about as emotionally aware as a stack of bricks. And I was the one sitting on your lap, remember? I could feel your blush."

Jensen's face heated at her words. "He's a freshman. He's probably straight. And I'm really too busy for shit like that."

"Shit like what? Dating? Having a relationship? Falling in love?"

"Typical theater major, everything is romance with you," he teased.

"Oh, fuck you." She grinned. "Too bad you're bio and not chemistry. Otherwise you'd be all over him."

He rolled his eyes. "There's more to a relationship than chemistry."

"Ha, you ARE thinking about him like that."

"Sandy, I just met him. Let me get a chance to get to know him before you start planning a commitment ceremony."

Sandy just grinned at him, and Jensen just knew she didn't plan on letting this go anytime soon.

Chapter 3

Jensen pushed his glasses up his sweaty nose, though they immediately slid back down. He sighed and tugged his backpack straps onto both shoulders. After lab he always felt grimy, like he needed another shower. Thank goodness he didn't have another class until this afternoon; maybe he could scrub the smell of formaldehyde off of his skin.

"Jensen!" he heard someone call from behind him.

Jensen turned, nearly skidding on the slippery tile used in the lobby of the science building. To his surprise, Jared was bounding towards him, a messenger bag slung over one shoulder, baggy jeans over sloppy flip flops that made the requisite noise against the flooring. He waved to some other students walking in the opposite direction before catching up with Jensen.

"Hey man, almost didn't recognize you." Jared jostled him with one shoulder.

Futilely, Jensen pushed his glasses up again. "Hey. What are you doing in my building?"

Jared snorted. "Class. Gen Bio I."

"That's the majors section," Jensen said. "You're a bio major?" He thought Jared had said he was pre-law, but wait, that was Sam, his character. Damn, he really knew next to nothing about the guy.

Jared shook his head. "Education, but I haven't picked my subject specialty yet. I'm thinking about either Biology or English."

Jensen frowned. "If you're just going to be a teacher, why bother with the bio major?"

He could see Jared's face close down, the light dimming from those changeable hazel eyes. Jensen reviewed what he said, and realized that once again he let his mouth get away from him and probably insulted the dude.

"My mom's a teacher. I don't think it's a waste at all." Jared took off towards the glass entrance doors.

Jensen took off after him. "Jared, wait, that's not what I meant. I'm sorry." He had to jog a bit to keep up with the giant. "It sounded wrong, I just...they're both tough majors. Bio is pretty ruthless about weeding people out the first year. Don't want to see your GPA get ruined, man."

Jared slowed down a bit, and turned to look at Jensen. Jensen tried giving him his best apologetic face -- wide-eyes, trembling lips -- the whole nine yards. When Jared let out a breath of air and smiled, he knew it had worked. "I think I can handle it."

He just might at that, Jared seemed the type of guy who went for things head first. "Want to grab something to eat?" Jensen offered. He wanted to prolong the conversation, get to know Jared better. Damn, all the things Sandy said. He just might be crushing on the tall kid.

"I can always eat." Jared laughed. "Food court?"

"Sure." Jensen smiled back.

They walked the length of the quad, back to the student center where the food court was hidden. Jensen waved to Chris and Steve who were propped up against a tree, tuning their guitars. Chris threw him a confused look, but Jensen kept on walking. He didn't want anyone else to interfere with his little lunch with Jared. He wanted to get to know him outside of the LARP and anyone involved in it.

"So, what year are you?" Jared asked. "Obviously you made it out of first year bio."

Jensen laughed. "I'm a senior. I'm in the A and P -- anatomy and physiology -- sequence now. We've moved up from cats to people."

Jared wrinkled his nose. "You cut up people?"

"Not really. I won't get a cadaver until grad school."

"Not medical school?"

"No, I'm applying for physical therapy." Jensen shrugged. "It's something I've always wanted to do."

Jared threw one of those huge smiles at him as he opened the door to the food court. "Hey man, good luck with it."

"Thanks."

They separated long enough to grab trays and find something to eat. Jensen wasn't too hungry; after lab his appetite tended to wane anyway. He met up with Jared again at the cash register and stared at the guy's filled tray. "Aren't you having dinner later?"

Jared shrugged. "I'm hungry. I'm a growing boy."

"You plan on getting taller?" Jensen held out his student ID to the cashier who swiped it along her register.

"There's a reason I got the biggest meal plan."

"If you keep eating like that you'll be out of money by October!"

Jared shrugged and handed over his own card. Jensen went to scope out a table. He chose a booth nestled in the corner. It was mostly private and that way he'd be able to see if any of his friends approached them. He felt sneaky, keeping Jared all to himself like this.

Jared slid across from him and Jensen promptly stole a french fry before it could fall off his tray. "Hey! Get your own! My meal plan!"

Jensen laughed, and opened his own can of coke. "So what's a nice Texas boy like you doing here at Springfield?"

Jared shrugged and squirted some ketchup out of a little packet all over his fries. Jensen found himself mesmerized by those large hands, and long fingers as they dwarfed the tiny ketchup package. "Wanted to do something different. Everyone goes to UT. I wanted to go someplace smaller. More like a small town than a big city." He looked away as he spoke, pink tingeing his cheeks. “One of my teachers went here.”

"And it's like fifteen hours away from home." Jensen grinned. "Has it been everything you expected?"

"Not exactly." Jared took a moment to bite into his huge cheeseburger. "It's big, for a small school. And I didn't expect to have so much free time between classes."

Yeah, Jensen remembered the culture shock after high school and spending seven hours straight attending class in hard plastic chairs. It was nice to be able to take a nap after class if he needed to. Or, he caught a whiff of himself again and pushed his sandwich away, have a shower after lab. "Just wait till midterms and papers start coming due. You'll need every one of those hours just to keep up."

Jared smirked. "Or prepare for the LARP?"

"Yeah. How the hell did you decide to show up based on those stupid signs?" Jensen chugged his coke. That didn't upset his stomach, at least.

"Didn't have anything else to do. And I always wanted to try Dungeons and Dragons. When I was a kid some friends of my brother used to play it in our basement, but my mama caught them and forbid them from doing it again. Don't think she liked the violence."

Jensen grimaced. "As long as she didn't accuse them of worshipping Satan."

"That might have come up a few times or two."

"We need a public relations campaign or something. Gamers get such bad press."

"And the ones that do make the news aren't exactly role models."

The silence stretched after that comment. Yeah, Jensen wasn't touching that with a ten-foot pole. It looked like a good opportunity to change the subject. He'd question Jared about plot ideas later. "So, did you get your email and stuff set up okay? You know they give us webspace right? Ten megs."

Jared shook his head. "I haven't been able to hook my computer up to the network yet."

"Oh, you gotta be hooked up by someone in Campus Computing. Mike and Chad work for them. If you want, I could take a look, I've picked up a bit over the years."

"You got time now? I don't have class till tonight."

"Sure." Jensen picked up his tray still filled with mostly uneaten food. Man, once he had a shower, he'd have to grab dinner. Jared came up behind him to toss out his own trash and brushed against his back. Jensen swallowed. Yeah, thinking about showers and Jared -- bad idea. He thought of that tall body, covered with droplets of water glistening off that tanned skin.

"Jensen?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"I said I live at Gilbert Tower."

"Right, freshman dorm. I lived there too my first year. Tenth floor."

Jared winced. "I'm only on the third. The fucking fire alarm went off three times last week."

"Ah, the joys of being a freshman."

"I'm not exactly seeing the joy here."

"You're lucky you know us," Jensen said as they walked against student traffic back to the tower. "Thanks to the LARP you are now connected to people who actually own cars. You might get off campus every now and then."

"Great, could you drive me to a grocery store? I'd like to get some toilet paper that doesn't chafe."

Jensen laughed so hard he had to stop and bend over to catch his breath. Jared pounded on his back helpfully.

They made it back to Jared's room without incident. "Chad's at class all day," Jared said, struggling with his key for a moment. "Um, his half is the messy side of the room."

"I live with Mike, trust me, messy doesn't faze me," Jensen said as he waited for Jared to dig out his key. Man, he did not miss these dorms -- too many people crammed into a small space, never mind having to share the bathroom down the hall with 20 other people.

Behind the door, Jared's room looked like any dorm room, about twice the size of Jensen's, with the twin beds pushed up against opposite walls. He guessed they had separated the bunk beds; Jared would probably knock his head against the bed above him, or hell, even the ceiling if they kept them stacked. The messier half of the room -- clothes in piles; the sheets bunched up on the end of the bed; books dropped carelessly on the floor, heedless of concern for their bindings -- had a few posters up, both of models in bikinis. Jensen figured that for Chad's side.

Jared's side was less messy, his bed at least was made, although piles of clothes still stacked up on the end. On the top of his pillow sat an orange and purple stuffed monkey.

A few photographs were stuck to the wall near his bed. Jensen caught sight of more canine faces than human, but it looked like there were family photos there as well. One large photo had Jared and a girl blowing raspberries at the camera.

"Well, here's my computer." Jared plopped down on his bed and pulled something out from underneath it.

At first Jensen thought Jared was pulling a prank on him. The thing looked more like a toilet seat than a portable computer; it curved like a clamshell. Jared picked up the blue plastic edge and lifted it up. "What the hell is that?" Jensen blurted.

He got a raspberry in return. "Why does everyone keep saying that to me? It's an iBook!"

Jensen took a tentative seat next to Jared, nervous about being so close to him on the guy's bed. But his attention was soon taken over by the computer. "It's a Macintosh."

"Don't tell me you have some deep inner hatred of Macs?"

"Can I?" Jensen reached out and Jared handed it over. He tilted the iBook and checked out the ports on the side. "This has an ethernet card built in. Sweet. All you need is the cable and you're good to go."

"Man, I knew I forgot something. We have wireless at home."

"Shit. Is your family nuts about technology or something?"

Jared grinned. "My mom's a teacher. We all have Macs. And my dad is really into technology, so he always gets the newest thing off the market."

"Crazy. You know, you should tell Tom you're good with Macs. He's always looking for someone to manage the Macintosh lab over in Gretona."

"I'm not that good." Jared looked away, and his cheeks turned pink again. He was adorable.

Jensen snorted. "Probably better than whoever they've got working there. Hey," he realized he hadn't invited Jared to a club meeting. "You should come out to ThIS on Wednesday."

"This?"

"The Imagination Society. It's the gamer club."

"Shouldn't that be 'Tis'?"

Jensen handed back the iBook. "It's funnier our way. We meet at 1:30, up in 101 in the student center. You said you wanted to know more about D&D and gaming. That's the best place to find out. And you can talk to Tom about the lab job." Maybe Jared would join the game Jensen intended to announce at the first meeting. He hoped he could get players.

"Um, sure," Jared said with a grin.

"Oh, what's your extension? I'll call if we have an extra cable lying around."

"2234," Jared supplied. "Here, I have a post-it."

Jensen took the slip of paper with a grin. He tucked it into his jeans pocket. "Thanks. Um, see you around."

Jared walked him to the door. "See you Wednesday."

Jensen grinned all the way back to his dorm. And if he took a bit longer in his shower, well, at least there was no one around to notice. He enjoyed the feel of the warm water on his skin, washing away the grime of the lab. Jensen slowly soaped himself up, lingering for a moment on his dick. The soap made it slick and slippery, and he stroked himself to hardness, delighting in the pleasure of his own touch. He thought about large hands and long capable fingers, touching him, sliding over his body and making him come. Jensen didn't even feel guilty afterwards, well, for the most part. Not like he'd actually jerked off to thoughts of Jared, just his hands.

Chapter 4

Room 101 slowly filled with the usual gang, everyone filing in laughing and loud. Jensen sat towards the back of the room, Sandy on one side. He kept the seat to the other side empty, just in case Jared showed. Mike and Tom jostled each other to the front. Tom started sketching a grid on the chalkboard, and filled in each column with days of the week. Under Friday he wrote in giant letters: LARP.

"Yeah, when does that start?" Gabe Tigerman said as he wandered into the room, tossing his backpack onto one of the tables.

"Last week, man." Chris Kane leaned back in his chair, plopping his bare feet on the table. His sandals sat neglected underneath. "Where the hell were you?"

"In my dorm! I didn't know you guys were starting!" Gabe sounded offended.

Sophia slipped in and sat next to Sandy, raising an eyebrow at the empty seat with Jensen's backpack on it.

The door slammed open, crashing into the opposite wall. Everyone turned around at the sound and Jared smiled and waved at the room.

Jensen waved him over and slid his backpack off the chair.

"Thanks," Jared said. "Want some candy?" He held out a package of gummy worms to Jensen.

"Can't you last five minutes between meals?" Jensen grumbled, stealing a worm.

"It's a whole four hours till dinner, man." Jared stuffed his mouth full and then grinned at Jensen.

"All right everyone," Mike called the meeting to order. "Before you break out your Magic cards, we've actually got some business to talk about."

Tom cleared his throat loudly. "Maybe we should welcome everyone back for the semester? And introduce the new member?"

"Oh you mean the really tall guy in the back? I didn't notice him. Jared, this is everybody. Everybody, this is Jared."

Jared stood and took a little bow. "Thank you! Thank you." The group applauded and he sat down with a grin.

Jensen leaned over and pointed out the people who Jared didn't know. "Gabe, he's in the Larp too, but he missed last week's. That's Nick, Seth, Marc and Chris Gauthier. They're just here for the anime and maybe Magic..."

"Magic?" Jared whispered back.

"You'll see..."

"Now," Mike turned to the board, "we have to settle the gaming schedule. Eric's running the LARP on Friday nights. I've scored the Townhouses Main lounge for anime nights on Tuesdays." He blocked off the square on the chart.

"No more gross anime!" Sophia called out. "I'm not sitting through anything with tentacles."

"Especially giant tentacles projected on the wall," Sandy agreed.

The rest of the room groaned. "Fine, fine," Mike sighed. "You've cut my library in half."

"You're lucky that's all I'm cutting in half," Sophia shot back.

Jensen cleared his throat. "I'd like to run a Werewolf campaign. Tabletop. Uh, probably in the common room in our townhouse."

"I'm in," Lindberg said. "Name the time."

"Wednesday nights, if that works okay with everyone."

"It's free." Mike pointed to the schedule. "Okay, anyone who wants to join, see Jensen after the meeting. What else is running?"

Marc raised his hand. "Magic nights."

"D&D, classic," Gabe added.

"What about computer games?" Lindberg asked.

After a bit, Mike managed to arrange a schedule where nothing really conflicted with anything else. "I'll post it on the website later," Tom said. And then the meeting degenerated into its usual chaos: more chatting and game playing than actual meeting.

Jensen showed Jared his Magic deck. "It's like the roleplaying, only with cards instead of dice. I really don't play much, but Lindberg put a deck together for me for the meetings."

Jared shuffled through the cards. "Neat artwork."

"Are you gonna stare at it, or are you guys gonna play?" Sandy leaned over the table. "I got a new deck I want to try out."

"Can you give Jared your old one? He hasn't been sucked into the paper crack yet," Jensen said.

"When you put it like that, I'm not sure I want to." Jared made a face. "I'm out of candy."

"Poor thing, " Sandy said. "Here, have a Life Saver. That should tide you over."

Sophia pulled out her own deck. "Why don't you and Jensen just play the one deck together? That way you can learn while we play."

Oh, sure, great idea, Jensen thought. Jared moved his chair closer and their arms brushed against each other as Jensen shuffled and dealt. Jensen shivered the first time the skin of their forearms met, the tiny hairs raising on the back of his neck. He swallowed and forced himself to pay attention on the game, not how warm Jared's skin felt.

"Are you going to try out for the play?" Sandy asked as she shuffled. Sophia pulled out her tiny pouch of counters and spilled the iridescent blue stones out onto the table.

Jensen shook his head. "I don't have time this semester. Unlike you, I'm not required to perform for my major."

"You were fantastic in the one-acts last semester." Sophia started to form her counters into little smiley face shapes.

"I don't have time." Jensen shook his head. His momma had wanted him to model as a kid, but his dad put his foot down and said Jensen was too young for that kind of thing. By the time he got old enough, he had lost interest in making faces for the camera. "And you know I only did that because it was the small theater. I can't imagine being up on stage in front of more than twenty people."

He turned to Jared to explain: "They're theater majors, they need to be in at least one stage show a semester."

"That's pretty cool." Jared grinned. He looked up from his cards to speak directly to Sandy and Sophia. "I took some acting classes as a kid. Too bad they didn't pay off."

Jensen jostled him slightly. "Hey, you're gonna be a teacher. You're going to be standing up in front of an audience for eight hours a day, five days a week. That's like acting all the damn time."

Jared turned that full watt gaze on him, eyes lit up, cheeks dimpled and Jensen just melted. Man, it just wasn't fair.

"Are we gonna play or are we gonna talk?" Sophia grumbled.

"Fine, I play a land, I'm done."

***

Jensen emerged from the lunch line with his tray full of mostly non-appetizing food. He looked out over the sea of faces at the tables. He could spot Jared easily, sitting heads taller than anyone else. Sandy sat across from him. They were one of the smaller groups in the Dining Hall. Most of the freshman still sat with their floors or other people in their majors, not yet spreading out in the smaller groups the upper-classmen usually divided into. He wondered if Jared hung out with any of them, he seemed to eat most of his meals with Jensen and the other member of THiS.

"Hey, Jensen." Jared swiped a fry from Jensen's tray, darting out of the way just to avoid getting smacked.

"My fry," Jensen whined.

"He already ate all of mine," Sandy said.

"You said you were on a diet, I'm just trying to be helpful." Jared grinned, displaying his dimples.

Jensen slid into the seat next to him, but he transferred his fries to the other side of his plate, as far from Jared's reach as he could get.

Jared all but bounced in his seat. His tray held only an empty plate and a pile of greasy napkins. No wonder he was picking from Sandy and Jensen's plates.

"Oh!" Jared pulled his messenger bag onto the table and started pulling out books and folders, loose-leaf paper sticking out of both with no apparent organization. Jared seemed to know exactly what he was looking for.

Jensen picked up the thick novel that Jared dropped onto the table. "The Fountainhead?"

"It's for Intro to Philosophy." Jared said, still searching in his bag.

"Don't tell me," Sandy started, "you have that guy that was one of Rand's protégés? He's like totally obsessed with her and makes the class analyze one of her novels each year. And if you don't agree with her, you'd better have a damn good paper otherwise."

"Speaking from experience?" Jensen asked. He had dodged the philosophy bullet by taking World Religions instead.

"You don't know the half of it." Sandy tapped Jared on his arm to get his attention. "I still have all my papers from that class if you want to have a look. We read Atlas Shrugged instead, but it's not that different."

Jared flashed one of his huge grins at Sandy, dimples full in force. Jensen wished that smile had been turned towards him and for a minute, felt annoyed that Sandy had taken Jared's attention instead. Don't be stupid, Jensen, he thought. You don't own him.

"Thanks!" Jared pulled out a red spiral notebook, the metal rings already bent out of shape. "This is what I wanted to tell you about. In my intro to teaching class, Professor Mancini talked about the roles of a teacher..."

"Professor Mancini? Not the same Manicini who teaches theater?" Sandy asked.

"Totally awesome, yet crazy red-headed lady?" Jared queried.

"Takes any opportunity to break into song?" Sandy added.

"Hell yeah." Jared grinned. "Guess she double dips. She was saying," he jostled Jensen's arm, and Jensen was just relieved to be included back in the conversation again, "that it's like being on stage every day. Like you said, about acting and teaching. That some days I'll have to be the stern overseer, and others I can be the goofball who makes the kids laugh. Sometimes all at the same time. It made me think about role-playing and how that's just training for my future." Jared gestured as he spoke, arms spread to make his point. "I'll have to learn to act a certain way, even if I'm having a bad day or if I really don't like a student."

"And you still want to be a teacher?" Jensen asked.

Jared shot him a look. "Of course. That's part of the fun, you don't know what every day is going to be like."

Of course, Jensen thought, there he went, putting his foot in his mouth again. Jared was so passionate about his plans, and Jensen should admire that. Hell, he did admire that. Not everyone knew what they wanted to do with their lives freshman year. Jensen had, of course, though there were times, usually during some all-night study sessions, where he really questioned his path.

"I love Mancini," Sandy said. "She helped me out a lot when I decided to change my major. She loves being on stage, and just becomes her characters."

"The thing about role-playing," Jared said, "is that you get to create your own character. You're not playing a character someone else wrote for you."

Unless it's a pre-scripted character sheet, Jensen thought, but didn't get the chance to retort. Sandy plunged ahead. "It's almost harder in some ways, because you're responsible for creating a credible backstory."

"Come on, I've seen some pretty bad backstories," Jensen said.

"And some bad role-playing." Sandy grinned. "But to do it right your character has to be their own person. Sandra is totally not me at all, but sometimes she seems so real that I wonder if she's not really out there."

"You're a space cadet," Jensen told her.

"Oh, like you haven't planned out Dean's life down to the tiniest detail," she shot back.

"Shut up," he said, because really, it was true. Jensen just didn't share the bits and pieces he had written up of Dean's life with the others.

Jared laughed. "I think I have some planning to do then."

Jensen slapped him on the back. "I could lend you some of my source books."

"Awesome, thanks," and then those dimples flashed at Jensen this time, exactly where they belonged.

***

"I just don't think Dean would trust Sam that quickly," Jensen argued, as he and Jared waited outside the elevator in Jackson Hall. They were meeting up with Sandy in her dorm room, then having lunch downstairs before the next ThIS meeting. It just made sense to go together beforehand, since they didn't have any classes. Jensen was glad Sandy and Jared got along so well. Jared had fit himself in perfectly to their group, a willing pupil, though he still borrowed Magic decks if he wanted to play.

"We gotta move the plot forward eventually." Jared frowned, hitting the button again. "Else we're gonna spend another night listening to Kristin fight with Chad. The other Chad."

"The real Chad," Jensen protested.

"So my Chad is a fake Chad?"

"You're the one who said the only reason he's sticking around is to get into Alona's pants. Which, might I add, is really pissing off Chris. Kane, not the other Chris in the gaming club."

"You're so lucky you have such a weird name." The elevator doors slid open and Jared strode inside. "I don't think I could take two Jensens."

"Cute." Jensen followed.

He knocked on Sandy's door, rapping out a little rhythm. Jared leaned against the wall, one long leg kicked out. The door swung open and a familiar redhead peeked out. Oh fuck. Danneel.

"Hey, Danneel. Thought you had class."

"Hey, Jensen! My class was canceled."

"We're, uh, looking for Sandy." Jensen looked at Jared, then away. Great, the last thing he needed was dealing with Danneel with Jared around.

"She's not back yet. You guys wanna come in?" She looked over at Jared.

"Oh, Jared, this is Danneel, Sandy's roommate. This is Jared. He's new."

Jared smiled and waved, his usual greeting. "Nice to meet you."

"Come on in." She moved back and now they had to follow. "I'm sure she'll be back any minute if she knew you guys were coming."

"Right." Jensen squared his shoulders and followed. Hopefully Sandy would be quick.

The girls' had covered their dorm room in posters from top to bottom. Near Sandy's bed she kept her "wall of men" -- cutouts from magazines that she found especially attractive. Jensen was particularly partial to one shot of Antonio Banderas in his underwear. Sandy was the only one who knew about that. Danneel's side had more posters of her favorite bands, and the requisite M.C. Esher print. Her cello sat in one corner, boxed up and lonely looking.

"Are these the sophomore dorms?" Jared asked. "You guys got your own bathroom!"

"Oh yeah, it's awesome. It's got a tub and everything," Danneel pointed out.

Great, they were making small talk about the bathrooms. Just shoot him now. Soon Jared would be waxing philosophical about the trials and tribulations of having to go down the hall to shower.

"We missed you on Thursday, Jensen," Danneel said, derailing the bathroom train of conversation.

Jensen would rather have discussed the bathrooms. "Oh, I have class. Lab. Can't miss it."

Jared looked at him quizzically. Jensen shook his head, hoping to let the subject drop.

"I have a schedule of other events going on." Danneel poked at some papers on her desk. "You have to be free sometime."

"What kind of events?" Jared asked.

"Fellowship." Danneel turned around and handed Jared a flyer.

"Danneel's really involved in the campus Christian group," Jensen explained. "I, uh, used to go my freshman year." Then stopped when he started to get uncomfortable. Jensen had just started to think of himself as gay at that point, and knew he had no place with that group.

"You really should think about coming back, Jensen." Daneel smiled at him. God, was she fluttering her eyelashes? Jensen shifted and looked away.

Thankfully, the door slammed open and Sandy made her appearance. "Jensen!" she shrieked when she saw him. She ran across the room and threw herself at him. He barely caught her and she wrapped both arms and legs around him. "I got it! I got the part!"

He laughed and set her down. "That's great! What part?"

"Lady freakin' Macbeth."

"That's fucking awesome!" He high-fived her. "I told you girl, you're going places."

She blushed and kept grinning.

"Hey, congrats," Jared said and leaned down to give her a hug.

"Thank you!" Sandy grinned. "Now let's get out of here. Don't want to be late."

They waved goodbye to Danneel as they left the room, Sandy unable to contain her giggles. "I can't believe it, it's an incredible part. Oh, Sophia is one of the witches."

Jensen snorted. "That fits."

Sandy smacked his arm. "Don't you dare, asshole."

Jensen shook his head. "You're both going to be great. It'll be the best production of Macbeth Springfield College has ever seen."

She put her finger over his lips. "It's the Scottish Play. Calling it by its real title is like inviting all kinds of bad luck."

He rolled his eyes, but it didn't dim his happiness for her. Sandy deserved this. She worked so hard and finally someone noticed.

It wasn't until they got out of the dorm building and well on their way to the dining hall that Jared asked, "So, how long has Danneel been trying to get into your pants?"

Jensen could feel the flush rising up his neck, he was sure his ears were burning red. "Uh." Jared tended to do that, figure out something without having Jensen say anything at all. Jensen wasn't sure if he liked that ability or not.

Sandy laughed. "Don't know about in his pants, I think Danneel pledged her virginity or something. But she's been crushing on Jensen since freshman year."

"Oh, God. Can we not talk about this?" Jensen grumbled, curling his fingers around his backpack straps. He ducked away from Jared's attempt to noogie his head. Damn the guy for being so much taller than him.

"What's wrong?" Jared asked. "The girl's been into you for four years."

"Don't even start," Jensen growled, "Mike's been after me to date her just cause she's hot. Don't need that crap from you too."

"Sorry, sorry." Jared held up his hands in apology. "I guess it's the constant witnessing that's turning you off?"

He shrugged. "She's just not my type." There, that understated the situation nicely. He didn't have to go into the entire sordid history. Honestly, he figured Danneel only played up the religion aspect because that's where they met, and she didn't really know Jensen well enough to tap any of his other interests.

"Are you going to explain what exactly is your type?" Sandy asked softly.

Damn it. He knew she was trying to help, to somehow shift the conversation to Jensen's orientation, but he didn't know how Jared felt about that, and he didn't want to lose their friendship over his stupid crush. "I'll know it when I see it," he grumbled, tired of the topic.

"Man, I'm sorry," Jared said. He threw a hand around Jensen and squeezed his shoulder. Jensen swallowed hard. Jared touched him all the time. An arm around his shoulders, a hand through Jensen's hair, once even a good-natured slap on the ass. Jensen loved it and hated it at the same time. It was torture, plain and simple. He could never have what he wanted.

"I know," he shrugged.

"Listen," Sandy said, "I'm gonna have to quit the Werewolf game. Just rip up my character sheet. I won't have time with rehearsals starting up."

"You're still going to manage the LARP, right?" Jared asked.

She grinned. "Oh yeah, I got a plan for this week. We're finally going to get the story moving."

"Oh, yeah?" Jensen raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm not telling you, you'll just have to see. C'mon, I'm hungry."

"Must be all that bouncing around," Jared teased.

"Like you're not the bottomless pit," she shot back.

Jensen just rolled his eyes and grinned at their banter. He hated losing Sandy from his game, but he'd work around it. Jared had signed up, and Jensen was looking forward to seeing how he'd do with his first tabletop game. They had spent the last few weeks getting character sheets down and familiarizing the players with the world. Jensen had even lent Jared one of his player manuals.

They got caught up during the lunch rush, and ended up taking longer than normal. So they walked into the ThIS meeting a bit late. Jensen was honestly surprised the meeting hadn't already degenerated into the card game fest it usually turned into. Mike stood at the front of the room, next to one of the TVs that Media often brought to classrooms.

"Now that the dynamic trio have arrived, we can start," Mike said.

Jensen slid into a seat at the back, slightly quelled. Honestly, he had been spending a lot more time with Jared and Sandy than his floormates. But hell, he lived with them. He actually had to go looking for these two. Jared sat to one side of him and Sandy went off to sit by Sophia, whispering under her breath. Probably about the play, Jensen thought.

"What's so important that you had to wait for us?" Jensen asked.

"I knew you wouldn't want to miss this." Mike grinned. "You can thank me later. This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is an honest to goodness, genuine Sega Dreamcast." He flipped on the TV.

"How the hell did you get one of those?" Lindberg asked. Everyone had straightened in their seats. Jensen squinted, wishing he had gotten a closer seat.

"I have my ways." Mike took a controller. "You're going to love Soul Caliber..."

The only problem, Jensen thought, was that there was only one Dreamcast, two controllers and a shit load of people wanting to play. Jared's arm brushed his and he offered Jensen some of the candy he had gotten from the dining hall. Jensen grinned and took one of the red Twizzlers. He could wait his turn.

***

Jensen could admit to himself that he was a bit nervous. He played in countless campaigns, hell he'd designed storylines himself. But this was the first time he was doing it all on his own. And it would be Jared's first tabletop campaign. He wanted to make it good for the kid. Unlike just hanging out, this time Jensen felt responsible for Jared having a good time. He was Game Master, if the game tanked, it would be his fault.

"I am so nervous," he said to Sandy on the phone just before the game.

"Jensen, sweetie, love, honey," she sighed, "You've either got to get over this crush or admit it to him. You should not be so worked up over a game."

"It's my first time," Jensen started, not surprised at her sudden laugh. "First time GMing alone," he corrected. "What if I screw up?"

"I think it's more likely one of your players will screw up. Don't tell me, Mike took the overconfident flaw again?"

She had a good point.

"Oh god, this is going to be awful," he moaned, hiding his face behind his hand.

Sandy sighed. "You take everything so seriously, Jensen. Just relax. Have fun. Enjoy spending time with your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend," he whispered into the phone, but Sandy had already hung up.

Well, he thought, time to go face the masses.

The masses amounted to Jared, Mike, Tom, Chad Lindberg, Sophia and Gabe. Not a bad size for a game, but not the largest he had ever seen either. Jensen came down the stairs holding his binder with all his notes. Everyone had already arrived, taking seats around the table in the first floor common room, except for Gabe who had claimed the couch. The door leading to the RA's room was shut tight; Jensen was pretty sure Matt had class tonight anyway. He didn't want to end up annoying the entire house. Maybe they should have moved this to the main lounge, or even better, the laundry room.

"Hey guys." Jensen sat next to Jared, like he usually did, and plopped the binder on the table.

"I brought snacks," Gabe supplied, pointing to the chips and salsa on the little coffee table in the center of the room.

"I brought down the Mountain Dew," Tom said. "Too bad we don't have any cups."

"No backwashing!" Mike declared.

"Okay, gross." Jensen rolled his eyes. "Let's get started, I figure we'll run about two hours if all goes to plan."

Jared grabbed his character sheet from the pile and Jensen handed the rest out. "Okay, this is the scenario. Each of you have been having dreams and visions to come meet at Riverview park. There's a large monument in the center of the park, near, well, a river. The monument has a statue of a dog on it. So you all know you're in the right place. Why don't you describe what each of you are doing? Jared, don't worry about the dice just yet."

Jared had been spinning one of the ten-sided die around and around. If Jensen had to watch those long fingers move any more, he'd completely lose his mind.

"We'll tell you when to roll," Mike chimed in, "Just like we did for Jensen's first time."

Jensen rolled his eyes. Four years ago and Mike would never let him forget it. At least with this system they only needed one kind of dice. He had a little box full of the ten-sided dice, along with the 4, 6, 8, 12, 20 and 100 sided needed for Dungeons and Dragons. "Let's just get started. Mike, what is your character doing?"

They progressed fairly quickly from there. Mike's character was an asshole, as usual. Everyone else brought a nice mix into the group. Chad Lindberg played the techno werewolf, Sophia the angry Amazon from the Black Furies tribe, Tom the peacemaking hippy, and Gabe the loner type. Jared's character...well, it wasn't the tribe he picked -- Uktena -- it was the backstory he chose. His character was born as a wolf, not a human. So his first transformation was into a man, and the wolf knew little of the ways of humans. Jared played that up the entire night, missing jokes, asking questions about simple things. When Jensen played the role of an NPC shaman sent to guide them, Jared grabbed the side of his head and licked up a strip up Jensen's cheek. Everyone laughed. Jensen slapped Jared's hands away. "Jared, this isn't a LARP, you don't have to actually act everything out. Just say you're going to lick the dude!" he yelled to cover his blush. Jared's tongue had been so close to his lips.

"C'mon, Jensen, I'm just teasing," Jared drawled, his eyes heavy lidded. His voice went straight to Jensen's cock and he shifted in his seat. For the first time Jensen wondered if Jared was doing this on purpose. The constant touching, the always getting in Jensen's personal space, and now with the licking ...could Jared be flirting with him?

Jensen tossed a salsa-covered chip at him, laughing when Jared opened his mouth and tried to grab it in midair. "Good dog." He grinned.

"Okay, so does the Shaman throw us a bone or what?" Mike interrupted.

Jensen snorted and turned back to his notes. Maybe, he thought, just maybe his crush wasn't exactly unrequited.

***

Jensen always liked how the weather change let him know the semester was progressing. He liked melting into fall, the leaves changing colors and the brisk winds kicking up. However, he really wished he wasn't outside at night, with the wind blasting his face. Jared trudged along next to him, hands shoved firmly down his pockets, and head braced against the wind.

Sandy's little addition to the LARP had her daring Sam and Dean to visit the place where the student -- vampire -- died last spring. Or rather, where Dean had killed him and dumped the beheaded body with the intent to burn later. Unfortunately the rest of the vampires had stumbled upon the corpse first before he could finish. Jensen knew Sandra's motivation was to draw Dean out, to return him to the scene of the crime. Dean would have refused the dare, but Sam didn't know the backstory, and seemed up for the challenge.

So here they found themselves walking in the dark, Jensen holding the slim flashlight he normally brought to the LARP. It was one of his Dean props -- along with the plastic water gun tucked into his pants and the Halloween plastic knife strapped underneath his jeans. They trod along the dirt path along the man-made lake, towards the tiny bridge that crossed its narrow point, which students often took as a short cut off campus and into town and the only convenience store in walking distance. The trees shuddered in the wind, leaves spinning at their feet. Jensen ducked before he could run into some branches and heard Jared curse behind him.

"Sorry, man," he said, still acting as Dean for the moment. If the weather turned any worse, he'd break character and get them both back to the student center for something hot to drink. He had a feeling Sandy and Eric had set something up out here. He kept expecting some of the vampires to hop out of the shadows, and wondered how he could defend against that.

"What do you think is out here in the dark, Dean?" Jared asked. He usually appended the 'Dean' to make sure Jensen knew he was speaking in character.

"Hopefully just a bunch of drunken frat boys." Jensen grabbed a branch and pulled it away, annoyed. "You think they'd trim this damn path."

He heard rustling from up ahead. Jensen held his hand up and the both stilled. "Be prepared for anything," Jensen whispered.

"What do you mean by anything..." Jared started, when a figure came out of the bushes and slammed into Jensen. The flashlight rolled to the ground. He reached up and his fingers closed on slim shoulders. Jared must have gotten the light, because it shone over Jensen and the new comer.

"Danneel?" he shrieked. "What the hell are you doing out here?"

"You're not supposed to know who I am," she grinned. Jared moved the light closer and Jensen noticed the makeup on her neck, the little red marks probably made with lipstick or something like it.

"Don't tell me Sandy talked you into joining," he snapped.

"Just for tonight. NPC she called it."

Jensen couldn't wrap his mind around it. Danneel would never roleplay; she was one of those people who thought it was one step above devil worship. Unless she had finally given up trying to pull Jensen into her world and decided to move headfirst into his. His shoulders drooped and he let go of her, stepping back. "What did Sandy tell you?"

"Just that it was like acting. I'm supposed to be a vampire's victim and you're the vampire hunter. You save me." She grinned up at him.

Jensen shook his head and let the storyline fill his mind. "Okay, how are we going to play this? We supposed to find you unconscious or running through the woods?"

She shrugged. "I'm not dead, I told Sandy I didn't want to play a body. She said they'd come up in a bit."

He turned back to where Jared stood, still holding the flashlight. "Okay, you got your wish. Sam is going to find out about the supernatural in a very spectacular fashion."

Jensen carefully arranged the scene. They came upon Danneel -- going by her own name -- dazed and confused in the woods. She didn't remember what happened to her, one moment she was in the student center, the next she followed someone into the woods. The bite marks were obvious on her neck. They offered to escort her back to her dorm.

They came upon the vampires when they emerged from the woods, the streetlights acting like a spotlight over the group. It was the first time Jensen had ever seen them unified. "What did you find in the dark, Dean?" Sandy asked.

"You know I wonder," Jensen said, "if whatever killed that student is still out there. Someone attacked this girl."

"Maybe we should call campus police," Jared put in.

"No, that's okay, I'm fine," Danneel put in weakly.

She totally killed Jensen's little threat to the vamps.

"You should take her home. It's dangerous out here," Sandy said.

When the three of them started back on the path away from the vampires -- and God, they had all gotten the creepy stare thing down -- Sandy followed them, her arms crossed over her chest like a mummy. "She's invisible," Jensen said to Jared, "just pretend she's not there."

They dropped Danneel off at Jackson hall. Jared pulled Jensen aside and slammed him against the brick wall of the dorm. "What the hell is going on here, Dean?"

Jensen winced and it wasn't entirely faked. Jared had one hell of a grip on him, and the wall was hard, damn it. He also pressed close, Jensen could feel Jared's breath on his face, and he had to close his eyes to regain his composure. "There's a good reason to be afraid of the dark, Sam." He was aware of Sandy's presence, could see her out of the corner of his eye. "There are things that live in the night."

Jared let him go and stepped back. "Are those things your friends? The people you introduced me to?"

"I'm not sure about them all." Jensen shrugged. "But the guy who died last year? He was a vampire. They think I killed him."

"Did you, Dean?"

Crap, if Jensen confirmed while Sandy was listening, then the vampires would know he was the hunter. However, he didn't know Sandy was listening because she was supposed to be invisible. He just threw up a Dean grin and said, "What do you think, Sam? Do you even believe in vampires?"

Jared looked away. "You don't know what I believe."

"You're right, kid. Go back to your dorm and your classes, you don't want to be involved with this."

"I think maybe I do." Jared threw one of his half smiles at him, the absolutely adorable one that always had Jensen smiling in return.

"And scene," Sandy said from under her breath. "Guys, that was awesome, I totally wish I had a video camera."

"That's gotta be worth at least five experience points." Jensen laughed.

She came over and wrapped an arm around Jensen. "Eric had better be generous with the XP tonight. It's cold out here."

"Don't try stealing my warmth." He pushed her away half-heartedly. Besides, she had invited Danneel to the LARP. He thought he should be a bit pissed off at her. "It was your idea."

Sandy pouted at them, then turned and snuggled against Jared's massive chest. Jensen's stomach dropped at the sight of them together like that. Sandy only cuddled with Jensen in public, damn it. "It worked right? Moved the plot forward. Anything was better than listening to Kristin bitch."

Jensen pushed away from the wall. "Yeah. C'mon, let's back to the student center and collect our points. I want a new skill." He started walking away.

"You okay man?" Jared ran up beside him and slung an arm around his shoulders. Jensen felt better immediately.

Chapter 5

Pumpkins glowed at the front doors of many townhouses as Jensen walked along the path to the main lounge. Some townhouses had fake spider webbing around the windows, or a glow-in-the-dark skeleton hanging from the side. Halloween was only a few weeks away and midterms approached far more rapidly than he was ready for. But Jensen all but bounced as he made his way. All his applications were done. Every single one had been meticulously filled out. He had secured his letters of recommendation, written his essays, and packaged them all up. And finally he could make anime night. He'd had to drop some activities in order to get everything done, but tonight he was ready to sit back, relax and enjoy whatever movie Mike had cooked up for tonight.

Hopefully no tentacles would be involved.

He opened the door to the main lounge and stepped in.

"Jensen!" Mike shouted, coming over from where he and Tom were fighting with the projector/VCR set up. "Man, it's like I haven't seen you for weeks."

Jensen pumped the air with one fist. "My grad school apps are done. I am fucking free, man! Bring on the anime!"

Tom cocked his head to one side. "You do know that Sophia said no tentacles, right?"

"And I said no more cute schoolgirls in sparkly outfits." Sandy stood from her seat and came over to give him a hug. "You can only watch so much Sailor Moon before it warps your brain."

"You just didn't like the magical dream hole," Mike muttered, referring to a major plot point in the third Sailor Moon movie.

"The fact that you don't see anything wrong with what you just said proves my point!" Sandy threw up her hands.

"Jensen, we saved you a seat!" Jared didn't move from the couch in the back, up against the wall. Plastic chairs and the plush armchairs from the lounge were all arranged in a semi-circle, facing the one all-white wall where Mike projected his movies.

Jensen slapped Mike on the back. "I'm sure you picked a good one," and then he rapidly made his way to Jared's side. The couch was really only big enough for two people, and he wondered if Sandy planned on sitting on his lap the entire time. Again. However, she dropped into a chair between Sophia and Chad Lindberg.

"Tell me you brought candy," Jensen said.

Jared grinned. "Dude, don't you know me by now?" He leaned over and pulled a plastic bag out of his messenger bag. "I love this time of year. The stores have everything, man."

"Who took you off campus?" Jensen actually had a choice of candy to choose from. He pulled out some red Twizzlers. "Or did you walk to the convenience store?"

"Nah, Chris ran some people out to the supermarket on Saturday. You were busy, so we didn't bug ya." Jared popped a handful of gummi worms into his mouth.

"Who's we?" Jensen asked, curious.

"Sandy, Sophia, my Chad, Steve. Small group."

"Not many more would fit in Chris' car."

Jensen wondered why they hadn't asked him to come along. Then again, he had locked himself away with his applications.

"Yeah, I had to sit on Chad's lap as it was." Jared snickered. He stuck his tongue out at Jensen, showing it had turned perfectly blue.

"Okay guys, let's get started." Mike turned off the lights and the room quieted. The projector whirred as the fan sped up, and the picture finally came into being on the wall. "This is a great series," Mike said as they waited. "It's an OAV, so the story's not actually finished, but it ends in a good place. The hardest part is keeping all the names straight..."

And then Please Save My Earth started and Jensen found himself enthralled in the story of reincarnated aliens, born again as humans, but still fighting all the same issues that had plagued them the first time around. Since it was anime, of course all the males were in love with the same girl, a shy, quiet, Japanese schoolgirl named Alice. Except for one guy, named Issei, who just happened to have been a woman in his past life.

Jared had sprawled out on the couch, like he usually did, arms and legs akimbo. His calf brushed against Jensen's leg, his fingers feathered against the small hairs on the back of Jensen's neck. As always, Jensen felt the heat from Jared's body, their closeness causing his pulse to race and his face to flame.

And then Issei kissed his best friend, the man he was in love with in a past life. And that friend pushed him away and ran. The kiss...Jensen had never seen anything like it, two young men pressed against each other, caught in the moment. Then everything started moving again.

He wondered what everyone else thought of it. Jensen slid away from Jared's touch, leaning forward in his seat. He couldn't let Jared touch him right now, not with that on his mind. What would it be like, he thought, to kiss Jared? What would those bow-shaped pink lips taste like? Would they be soft? Would Jared open to him, let Jensen fuck his mouth with his tongue?

Jensen swallowed and shifted in his seat. God, he shouldn't be thinking about this here, if anywhere. He turned, against his better judgment, to look at Jared. Jared turned to look at him at the same time. His eyes glittered with something, Jensen couldn't tell. But his cheeks were pink in the light reflected from the projector. Could he be interested in Jensen at all?

Sandy would tell him to just shut up and go for it. Just tell Jared how he felt. But Jensen couldn't. He didn't want to risk their friendship, so new right now.

However, he thought, the idea coming to him suddenly after watching the scene on the wall, he could do it at the LARP. If Jared rejected him, well, it was only a game and Jensen was a damn good actor when needed. He could do it on Halloween, they were all gathering at Kristin and Alona's apartment for the event. Kristin and Alona were planning to turn Chad's character into a vampire. Apparently Eric had gone all out. He and Jared would need to disappear for a while when it all went down...and that was it.

Jensen grinned over at Jared, happy to have his decision made. He'd know soon enough exactly how Jared felt.

***

"I never even heard of a practical before," Jared grumbled, pulling out his notebooks and arranging them on the lab table in the corner.

They weren't the only group in the biology lab on a Saturday. The lab stayed open long hours for the students to study for midterms, coming up early next week. Thankfully they'd all be over by the time Halloween rolled around. Jensen pulled a set of latex gloves out of the box in the center of the table. "If you're going to stay in bio, expect to do a lot of them. They have to test you on what you do in the lab, it's more than just book knowledge. How can you be a doctor if you don't know what a pancreas looks like?"

Jared brushed his hair out of his eyes and grabbed his own set of gloves. They stretched over his ridiculously large hands.

Feel mischievous, Jensen grabbed a glove, stretched it and let it fly so it hit Jared straight in the chest. "Is that what they teach you in advanced bio?" Jared grabbed the glove and attempted to blow it up like a balloon. He eventually had to give up when he ran out of air.

Jensen laughed. "So what do you need my help with? I do have to get up to the A and P lab sometime this afternoon."

"Could you go over the cat with me?" Jared asked, his eyes softening. "I hate seeing the poor thing cut up."

Yeah, Jared was totally in the wrong major. He had a good head for the work, Jensen had spent most of the night before quizzing Jared from the textbook, however, the guy couldn't stand dissecting animals. He couldn't see beyond that to the purpose of the dissection and the lab to the end result -- learning how the body worked so when it broke, it could be fixed.

"Don't think of it that way." Jensen led the way to the cat station. Several opened up bodies littered the table, already ransacked by nervous freshman. "You know if you were in Principles of Bio instead you wouldn't need to have a practical."

"Shut up and show me the damn gall bladder." Jared peered over Jensen's shoulder.

Jensen chuckled. "First tell me what the gall bladder does."

Jared rolled his eyes. They had gone over this last night. Jensen had to practically order Jared to go to bed to prevent the guy from staying up all night studying. "It stores bile."

"So where should it be?"

"Near the liver?" Jared leaned closer, their arms touching. He reached out and poked the cat's liver, then moved his hand to the gall bladder. "There?"

"Yup."

They continued working, moving from the dissection station to the others set up around the room. Jensen explained how the exam would work and what Jared could expect. A few hours later, they hunched over lab stools near the plastic models of brains. Everyone else had left the lab as the afternoon had waned, and the studying had degenerated once Jared had named the model brains. He was currently tapping the dog brain, the one named Rover. It was an improvement over Sharkie for the Shark brain.

"I don't think I can fit any more of this in my brain," Jared groaned, dropping his pencil.

"You deserve a break," Jensen agreed. He rolled the chimp brain model -- Cheetos -- across the lab table.

Jared laughed. He picked it up and mimed tossing a football. "Go long!"

Jensen pushed back from the lab stool, which crashed to the ground in spectacular fashion and dived for the spinning brain. He managed to catch it, but slid to the ground and nearly collided with one of the stations.

"Shit, you okay?" Jared ran over and slipped on the same slick patch of linoleum and ended up on the floor next to Jensen.

Jensen tossed him the brain. "Touchdown," he said. "Why am I always on my ass around you?"

"Practice." Jared spun the brain around on one finger like a basketball. Or he tried to, the brain had ideas of its own.

"C'mon." Jensen stood and helped Jared to his feet. "I think it's past time to feed you."

They packed up quickly, Jared piling sheets of paper back into his binder. "Hey, Jensen, did you see the registration schedule for the spring semester?"

"Huh?" Jensen had already pulled his backpack over his shoulders.

"Was thinking we might want to take a class together."

"I don't think you're ready for A and P II," Jensen said. He thought for a moment. "I do need a literature credit, though. I'm guessing you need one too. We could try picking one of those."

"Awesome." Jared grinned at him. Jensen smiled back, thrilled that Jared wanted to take a class with him. Of course, they had been studying together for the past few days. Maybe for once it could be for the same damn class.

They walked out of the science building, towards the food court and its better selection of food. Jared had that serious look on his face, probably processing the information they had just gone over. Jensen had noticed Jared got that little furrow in his forehead when his mind was busy with schoolwork. He decided to take advantage of the preoccupation.

"What did you think of Mike's anime?" Jensen asked. He'd been dying to ask Jared for days what he thought, but never had the opportunity. He hadn't wanted to bring it up when anyone else was around, he wanted Jared's honest opinion, and hoped the absence of the other guys would draw it out.

Jared shrugged. "Kinda sad, really. I mean, they all got this second chance and they just kept fucking it up again."

No, no, Jensen thought, tell me what you thought of the two guys kissing! He tried to think of a way to approach the topic, but without downright asking about it. "Yeah," he agreed, "Even when Issei came back as a guy he was still in love with his best friend." What was that character's name again? There had been so many to remember and everyone had two names -- almost like trying to keep track of who was who in the LARP.

"That's kinda." Jared looked away. "You're gonna make fun of me."

"I won't," Jensen promised.

"It's like, even coming back as a man didn't stop her from loving him. I think it was the only honest kind of love in the whole series. She came back a man because she wanted to be his friend, even if she couldn't be his lover."

"That's...profound."

"Shut up." Jared slammed into him and nearly knocked him over.

"No," Jensen protested, "I meant it. That's an interpretation I didn't think of. That's why I like anime. There are so many genres and some really well-done stuff." At least Jared hadn't said the kiss had disgusted him.

"You should have seen last week's. Really interesting. It was about this Japanese secret agent where America was the bad guys. Ask Mike for the title, I don't remember."

"I will," Jensen promised as they continued towards the food court, their choice place to dine when seeking to fill Jared's bottomless pit. He could get cheeseburgers there. And candy.

"So what's the plan for Sunday?" Jared asked once they got food and settled into their booth.

"Plan?" Jensen shrugged. "Not to get killed by any vampires. I haven't really had time to consider plotting anything. Just rolling with whatever Eric throws at us."

Jared squired ketchup all over his fries before shoving five into his mouth. "Is Danneel gonna be there?"

It took a minute to get the translation through the fries. Jensen shook his head. "No way. I don't even know how Sandy talked her into coming last time. Danneel hates roleplaying."

"Maybe," Jared held up another bundle of fries as he spoke, "she just wanted to hang out with you?"

Jensen picked up his own burger. "That's what I'm afraid of." He had asked Sandy what the hell she was thinking with the whole Danneel thing right after that LARP.

Sandy had sighed, exasperated. "Eric liked my idea, but we needed an NPC. He doesn't play victim very well, and everyone else was busy with their own plots. Danneel was there when I was on the phone with him and volunteered."

"Email him next time."

"You know how Eric is about email. Unless it's in character. Look, it turned out fine. She's not asking to join the LARP or anything. Chill out, Jensen."

He had let it go, because it really wasn't Sandy's fault. It was his own damn fault for not just telling Danneel he wasn't interested. Then again, she never actually came out and asked him out. Danneel kept inviting him to her bible studies or fellowship meetings, and he always said he didn't have time. Maybe he needed to say a stronger no.

"You're really not into her?" Jared asked, holding his coke in one hand.

"No," Jensen said. "Like I said, not my type."

"You're every gonna tell me what your type is?" Jared asked.

Jensen grinned at him and risked a little bit of flirting, "You'll find out soon enough."

"Can't wait," Jared shot back.

***

Jensen came upstairs to his room to find the other three bedroom doors open. Mike shouted, "I need more lesbian ass!"

"Vespian gas, you freak!" Jensen yelled, poking his head into Chad Lindberg's room. He wasn't risking his head by distracting Mike. "You're playing Starcraft?"

"Round is almost over if you want in," Chad drawled. "You and me versus those two idiots?"

Jensen laughed. "Sure, I can play a round."

He unlocked his room, dropped his backpack and kicked off his shoes. By the time he had his computer loaded up with the game CD, the guys were ready for another round. He partnered with Chad and settled into the real time strategy game. This is what he missed over the summer, the inability to just have a pickup game with his buds. No waiting for the server time or arguing with his sister for access to the internet.

Tom and Mike elected to play as humans, so he and Chad chose the alien races -- the Zerg and the Protoss. Jensen set up his units collecting resources and building tiny little buildings. Eventually he'd build up his troops and come up with a strategy with Chad to take out their friends. He pulled up the team chat, tiny print on the left side of the screen where he and Chad could plot their next move. Although right now all they could do was wait until their characters stored up enough recourses.

//So where were you all day?// Chad's words came up on his screen.

//Bio Lab.//

//You're in the wrong major dude//

Jensen chuckled, and moved a few more figures around. He was low on food. //Don't want to sit on my ass and wait for code to compile all day long.//

//s'why gaming was invented//

He positioned some new buildings, and started to build some troops. Things were coming along nicely. He watched as Mike's armies attacked one of Chad's bases. They did some damage, but ended up dying quickly. This is why Mike sucked at this game. As soon as he got some military, he dove right in instead of being patient and building up his forces. Tom had better hold back to compensate for it.

Chad sent him another message during the lull. //Thought you had a girlfriend, you're never around//

Jensen frowned, then debated a moment before sending back. //Not yet. But there's someone I like.//

//seriously?//

//It's not going anywhere yet. I haven't said anything.// Jensen sighed.

//Anyone I know?//

That was a loaded question. //maybe// he said instead.

//You've got any ships? Tom's corner is looking vulnerable//

They focused back on the game, the troops built up and moving in. Jensen leaned forward and focused on his forces. Chad set everything up, all they needed was for Mike or Tom to make a mistake. It was only a matter of time.

***

"No," Jensen said, darting out of Sandy's reach. "Dean would so not wear fucking eyeliner."

Sophia sat on Sandy's bed, flipping through a magazine. She crossed her legs, pink bunny ears flopping on one slipper. Once again, her LARP character went for the outrageous. "He so would if he was trying to go undercover at a vampire party, hello."

As if Jensen wasn't nervous enough about the LARP party, they had to tag team him into trying makeup of all things. "You just want to see me wearing makeup." He had arrived just a few minutes ago. Sandy's room was the meeting place for those going in Sophia's car. He hadn't expected to be assaulted with eyeliner.

"It's Halloween, everyone will be wearing a costume. You'll look silly without one." Sandy waved the little wooden stick at him. She still had a bathrobe on over her own costume. Jensen had a feeling she hid it on purpose.

"I'll just tell people I'm a serial killer. They look like everyone else!" And jeans and a black long sleeved shirt would do just fine for Dean. If he was going to put his little kiss plan into action tonight, he didn't want to look like he had planned it. Though he did shave.

"Oh, hey Danneel," Sandy said.

Jensen uncovered his eyes for a split second and then Sandy leapt on him. "Nooo!!!!!"

Sophia laughed. "We're drama majors. We know eyeliner, man."

He made a face and Sandy poked him until he smoothed out his expression. "Just don't make me look dumb. And when it flakes into my contacts, you're going to have to be the one leading me around."

"Jensen, I would not make you look dumb," Sandy declared. Not in front of Jared. Those words remained unspoken. Sandy didn't even know what Jensen planned.

When she was done, he pushed past her and into the bathroom and took a long hard look in the mirror. He didn't look like himself. The lack of glasses changed the shape of his face, changed his eyes so they were the focal point. Sandy's eyeliner had only enhanced that, his lined lids framing his eyes, which looked very green now, instead of their normal shade of somewhere in-between. No, Sandy hadn't made him look stupid. He felt raw and open, stretching out of his skin. It was almost as if Dean existed, if that persona pulled at Jensen, wanting to take control.

He backed out of the room and opened his mouth to say something. But all words were lost when he caught sight of Sandy, who had finally removed her robe. "You might as well wear the robe!" he shrieked.

"What?" she bit back, a bit defensive. The black mini-skirt wasn't anything unusual, everyone had seen that number before. He just didn't think they made halter tops that were more halter and less top. The fabric hung over each breast, then plunged to right above her navel area. Jensen never thought about Sandy's boobs before and he never ever wanted to again. "It's my character, not me."

"That's going to fly so well when we get arrested for indecent exposure."

"Christ, would you guys get a room?" Sophia dropped the magazine.

Jensen looked away, not liking the implication. Sure he and Sandy spent a lot of time together, but she was his best friend. It wasn't like Sophia, or anyone else for that matter, knew he was gay. "That's just wrong, Soph," he said instead.

A knock came at the door. "Please let that be Jared so we can leave."

Sandy grabbed her black pea coat and slipped it on before answering. Probably a good idea. Jared would be looking down at her, and Jensen wanted to keep him out of Sandy's boobs as well.

"It's Jared," Sandy called.

"Let's go," Sophia grabbed her coat and car keys. Jensen grabbed his denim jacket. In a perfect world, Dean would be wearing a heavy leather one. However, unlike some others, he wasn't willing to spend that much money on clothing props.

"Hey," Jensen greeted Jared. Jared made a face at him. "Sandy did it," he pointed to the eyeliner.

"What did she do, sit on your chest and hold you down?" Jared snorted.

"She's feisty," Jensen defended himself.

"C'mon." Sandy linked arms with both of them. "This is going to be awesome. Remember, no breaking character once we get to Alona's apartment."

"I have the directions." Sophia waved the printout at them from the elevator. She all but bounced in her rag doll costume and bunny slippers. "Let's go."

Alona and Kristin shared an apartment about a half hour away from the college, closer to the county college they both attended. The bunny slippers didn’t hamper Sophia’s driving and they made it to the complex in record time. Eric greeted them at the door, a devious grin on his face.

"Remember, once you enter the door, it's all in character. Except for me, I'll be GMing." Eric handed envelopes to the girls. "Jensen, if you and Jared could hide out on the balcony at around ten pm? That way we can get Chad vamped up without you 'knowing'."

"Got it."

They ended up piling their coats in the closet next to the entrance. Jared's eyes nearly bulged out of his head at the sight of Sandy's outfit. "Say nothing," Jensen advised, a hand on Jared's arm to lead him away from the girls and towards the food. Halloween decorations ranged the length of the apartment, from pumpkins on the shelves, to flickering candles and an eerie looking black light in one corner.

"In character," Jared hissed.

So as Sam and Dean, they couldn't really go over and say hi to his floormates congregating in the area around the TV. The original Star Wars flickered on the screen and come on, Jensen thought, that couldn't be in character. At least they’d moved on from watching bootlegged copies of The Phantom Menace. Chris, Alona, and Steve sat on another couch, chatting with Gabe, who wore his usual heavy sweatshirt with the hood up. He played one of the Nosferatu and was supposed to be horribly disfigured under there. Kristin emerged from the kitchen with Chad Murray on one arm. Her costume consisted of a long black dress, cut to accentuate her figure, though nowhere near as revealing as Sandy's. She flashed a smile at him and Jared.

"Sam, Dean, so nice of you to come. Did Sandra invite you?"

Jensen smiled. "You know us, we're always up for a party." He carefully didn't mention that no one had invited him. The plot was that there were supposed to be other non-vamps there, more victims for the vampires on Halloween. Dean had learned of the party from hacking into some email accounts, or so Jensen had plotted with Eric. Eric had to roleplay all the extra victims, since they didn't have any other players who weren't undead.

"Have the ranch dip man, it's awesome," Chad said. He waved a carrot at them before following Kristin into the crowd.

Jared grabbed one of the Mountain Dew bottles from the cooler under the table. "You want?"

"Might as well, it's a good idea to be alert." He tried to slip into character, but for some reason couldn't quite reach Dean's state of mind. Jensen kept thinking of what he planned to do once they made it to the balcony.

"You never explained how you know these guys are vampires," Jared said, filling a plate with food. He might be acting as Sam now, but when Jared was hungry, he needed to be fed.

Jensen surveyed the room, hoping he looked like a cool and confident vampire hunter. "Lots of legwork. There's no fast way to tell. I just found evidence of people looking far younger than they should be. Put that together with students disappearing off campus..."

"Isn't there a sure way to tell? A vampire detector or something?"

"I wish there was, kid, it would make my job a whole lot easier." Jensen found himself sliding into Dean. As long as Jared kept playing along, they were good. He watched as Chad settled on the couch, in between Alona and Kristin, who giggled and petted him like a spoiled pet. Kane moved to Alona's side, grasped her by the arm and pulled her up. Oh, Jensen thought, this was gonna be good.

"What about other supernatural creatures?"

Jensen whirled his head around. "What?"

"Couldn't they tell you if someone was a vampire? Like a witch."

He shook his head and laughed. "You think there are any good supernatural things out there? If it's supernatural, I kill it."

Jared's face darkened. "Excuse me," he said and left Jensen standing there with his Mountain Dew, wondering what had just happened. Apparently Sam wasn't at all impressed with Dean's bravado. He sighed and then decided he might as well mingle. Time to learn as much about the cadre as possible. Perhaps the whole leadership thing would finally get resolved tonight. Even if Kristin succeeded, Jensen knew she wouldn't have power for long.

The hours passed quickly. Jensen darted in and out of the crowd, overhearing some very interesting conversations. Apparently the group was under pressure to conform to the Camarilla, the larger vampire government. Their failure to comply would risk them being branded as enemies. Without a centralized leader, the group was risking being targeting by Camarilla assassins for their silence. They got noticed because of the press surrounding the college, the increase in student deaths, and of course, Dean's very public killing of David.

Jensen's hands were shaking from drinking too much caffeine. Either that or from all the candy he had consumed since entering. He didn't know how Jared ate so much of the stuff without bouncing off the walls. Then again, a bouncing Jared was the norm. Jensen nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand on his arm. He turned and grinned at Eric. "It's time," Eric whispered.

Time. Oh, for Chad to be Embraced. For Dean to take Sam out on the balcony. For Jensen to complete his plan.

Here went absolutely nothing. Jensen walked over to Jared, who chatted with Sophia in the corner, laughing at whatever insane ramblings she had come up with for her character now. "Sam," he said, "Can I talk to you for a sec, in private?"

"Sure." Jared drew away smoothly and they walked to the glass doors that led outside. Jensen risked looking behind as everyone gathered around Eric. He wondered how they were going to roleplay this.

Jared closed the doors behind them, the wind rifling through his hair. They should have brought their jackets, Jensen thought, running his hands up and down his arms, trying to stay warm. He wasn't sure how long they had to stay out here, he probably should have asked Eric.

"What is it, Dean?" Jared asked, leaning against the wall to the side of the door. Good, no one would see them.

"What did I say to piss you off?" Jensen asked, coming closer. He could always say he needed the body heat.

Jared looked away and grimaced. It amazed Jensen how easily Jared slid into his character. "This is what you do? Killing things?"

"You make it sound like I'm all about death. Sam, I'm saving people." Jensen tried to put the emotion Dean would be feeling into his facial expression. Dean would want Sam to understand, he needed Sam to understand. Dean never got close to people, but he let Sam in now, and he couldn't risk losing their friendship.

"You believe that?"

"I know it."

"What have you killed besides vampires?" Jared asked, swallowing hard. His brow creased, and he looked worried. "Witches? Mages? Werewolves?"

Jensen shook his head. "I've put a few ghosts to rest. I stopped some witches from summoning a demon once, but I didn't kill any of them. And werewolves? I don't think they exist, never met one. So, yeah, it's mostly vampires. Sam, they kill people. They enjoy killing people. Don't you understand? They have to be stopped."

Jared's face smoothed out. He smiled at Jensen, eyes clear, the light from the street lamps below reflecting in his pupils. "I admire you for that, for wanting to save people."

Jensen shrugged. "I'm not always successful."

"You're human," Jared said, "that makes it even more inspiring, to do what you do and go up against creatures stronger than you."

"Sam," Jensen whispered. That wasn't the name he wanted to whisper, he wanted to say Jared, to make this real. But this was the only way to find out if Jared was interested without destroying everything. He stepped close to Jared, reached up and wound his hand in Jared's too long hair. Reaching up, he tilted his head and caressed Jared's lips with his own. For a moment, a fraction of a section, Jared's lips opened to him and Jensen tasted him, moist heat, a bit salty sweet, too many chips and chocolate bars. Jared's hands moved up, clamped around Jensen's upper arms and pushed him away, hard.

Jensen wiped his hand over his mouth, wondering if it looked as red and swollen as it felt. Jared stared at him with wide eyes; his cheeks flushed a bright pink. "Dean," he said.

Oh, Jensen's heart beat wildly in his chest. Had Jared liked it at all? Did he open his mouth in shock or because he wanted to kiss Jensen back? "Don't," Jensen started, not sure what he wanted to say. Don't pretend it wasn't real? Don't lie to me? Before he could finish, one of the balcony doors banged open. Jensen darted out of the way of a very angry looking Sophia.

"What are you doing out here alone boys? Aren't you always with Miss Sandra?" Either she had forgotten her character's shtick, or Sophia wasn't playing any more.

"Just getting some fresh air," Jared said, clearing his throat. His lips looked slick, and he licked them nervously.

"It's cold." She walked to the edge and looked out over the parking lot. Jensen felt a pang of worry. "Do you know?" She turned suddenly and stalked towards Jensen, forcing him back against the edge of rail. "Do you know the secret about your boy? I can see his aura, you know."

"You're insane." Jared grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away, giving Jensen some much needed breathing room.

Sophia began to laugh, an outrageous cackle that sounded menacing. Jensen wondered if she had been practicing. "You'll be insane soon enough," she hissed at Jared and folding her arms over her chest, which signaled that she had simply vanished to their eyes.

"Fuck," Jared whispered.

"Let's, just, go back inside," Jensen said weakly. He needed his space, needed to get away from Jared and from whatever game Sophia was playing. He wanted to kiss Jared again, feel the heat from his body, pay attention to all the things he hadn't noticed while his lips had been held captive. And for all his hope, he still had no fucking clue how Jared felt about him.

Back in the apartment, things appeared to be breaking up. People were milling in groups, around the food or the TV. Eric had the character sheets in hand and looked about ready to assign experience points. Jensen looked around, but didn't see Sandy anywhere. In that top she was darn hard to miss. "You see Sandy?" he asked.

"She's probably busy," Sophia snapped behind him and turned towards the kitchen. Jensen watched her and wondered what the hell had crawled up her ass. When he turned back, Sandy was walking down the hall that led to the bathroom and bedrooms, Chad Murray by her side.

"Okay everyone," Eric called, "You all did wonderfully. I'd like to give out the points..."

"And you're all welcome to stay afterwards," Alona said, tucked under Chris's arm. Jensen wondered if that was still in character or not. "We've got plenty of food."

Eric assigned the points and asked Jensen about his and Jared's conversation on the balcony. Jared mentioned Sophia's threat, but thankfully didn't mention the kiss. Eric gave them both three points.

After the awarding of points, Sophia came towards them with her coat in one hand and her car keys in the other. "I'm leaving now, if you guys don't want to go back to the dorm, you're going to need to find a ride with someone else."

Jared coughed. "No, I'm good," he said. Jensen nodded and they both went to find their coats.

"Jared," Jensen said when they had a moment of privacy, waiting outside for Sophia and Sandy.

"Jensen, it's cool. It's just a game, right?" he grinned his same blinding grin. Jensen couldn't see anything uncomfortable in those eyes. But he didn't see acceptance either.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Just a game."

Sophia and Sandy came out of the building, their voices rising as they came closer, puffs of cold air emerging from their heated words like clouds of ice. "Sophia, for God's sake, it's just a fucking game."

"You didn't have to go into the bedroom with him."

"Nothing happened. It's just a part, Sophia, I'm not some kind of slut!" Sandy's arms flailed as she shouted.

Jensen and Jared looked at each other, eyebrows raised. "Awkward," Jensen mouthed and Jared nodded in agreement.

They rode back to campus in silence.

Chapter 6

"Hold these." Jensen thrust the rather large bouquet of roses towards Jared.

"Why Jensen, for me?" Jared batted his eyelashes at him.

Jensen bent to tie his shoelaces, his glasses slid down his nose and dangled precariously off of his ears. "They're for Sandy, you jerk. I'm not tripping up to the stage."

Eric had canceled the LARP for the next two weeks due to Sandy and Sophia's play. It was pretty unusual, since they just worked around it when people couldn't come one night, but most of the LARP crew wanted to actually see the girls perform, so they all agreed last month to postpone. Good thing they had decided then, because Sophia and Sandy were not exactly talking to each other right now.

Jensen waited with Jared in the lobby, the doors to the theater hadn't opened yet, so they had time to kill before being allowed to find their seats. He straightened and took the flowers from Jared. His plan had worked well, almost too well. There didn't seem to be a blip on their friendship. However, Jensen couldn't stop his own feelings of awkwardness. Kissing Jared was an experience he couldn't forget; even now he had to look away, not wanting his eyes to linger upon Jared's pink lips.

"Did you get any for Sophia?" Jared asked, balancing forward on the balls of his feet, then rocking backwards. He never liked to stand still, always moving somehow.

"Chris has it covered. We figured it would be better if they got flowers from different people."

Jared rolled his eyes. "I talked to Chad. He said nothing happened other than game stuff. I don't get why she's so upset."

"You didn't actually tell Chad about any of this, did you?" Jensen asked. Sandy would never forgive either of them.

"I'm not that dumb; I asked him what happened while we were outside."

"You're not dumb at all," Jensen said. The doors opened and the usher appeared handing out programs. "Let's go." They picked the door Steve worked, taking their programs from him. Steve pretended to trip Jared, who merely took an exaggerated step over his foot. They got a glare from the other theater dude working the same door.

"Is the entire LARP crew into theater?" Jared asked. He squirmed in his seat, attempting to stretch his long legs out in the too short space.

"You don't see any of my floormates here, do you? I think they're sitting around Mike's PC ogling screenshots of Unreal Tournament." Jensen flipped open the program, noting that intermission was between acts three and four. They'd be able to feed Jared then. He made sure no candy made its way into the theater; he had too much respect for that, even if Jared didn't. However Jared had eaten an entire bag of gummy bears before they left the dorms to make up for it.

"I'd rather play a game over a table than on the computer." Jared slouched further, catching one of his legs around Jensen's, probably the only way he could sit comfortably. Jensen swallowed and concentrated on not jerking his leg away. "It's more fun to actually see the people you're playing with."

"Depends on the game," Jensen said.

The lights dimmed and the last stragglers hurried to their seats. After a moment, the curtain drew open. He could spot Sophia easily among the three witches, artfully arranged around a huge cauldron -- plastic, he had helped carry it up from the basement -- that spewed clouds of smoke into the air around the stage. She spoke first, and from the first moments, Jensen lost himself in the magic of the play.

Whoever had planned the stage dressing kept it minimal. Smoke featured heavily throughout, always creeping along the blackness of the stage, making the world of Macbeth seem unearthly. When Sandy appeared on stage in her first moments as Lady Macbeth, Jensen held his breath. He knew she would be magnificent, making the character her own, yet still projecting that ruthlessness inherent to the character. Well, before the madness set in anyway.

"She's really good," Jared said during intermission. He had brought his chocolate bar back to his seat. At Jensen's glare he said, "I'll finish it before it starts back up again."

Jensen just grinned and rolled his eyes. "Sandy? or Sophia?"

"Both of 'em. I can see why Sandy went into acting though, she's really feeling it."

"She started as a psych major," Jensen said. "Starred in a play freshman year and then she was off."

The lights went down and the curtain went up. The final two acts moved quickly as the action picked up. Macbeth -- played by a student Jensen didn't know -- died his ignoble death and MacDuff had the crowd applauding in their seats. As the curtain went down and the actors came out for their bows, Jensen slipped out of his seat with his flowers. He had to reach up, but Sandy caught them and threw a blinding grin at him. Over on the other side of the stage, he caught Chris handing his set to Sophia and breathed a sigh of relief. Opening night down, only five more shows to get through.

***

Jensen opened his email shortly before class. He had snuck into a computer lab between classes, too addicted to email to wait until his three-hour afternoon course finished. By this stage of the semester he had reached his usual state of tension, and break couldn't come fast enough. That reminded him -- he needed to double check the arrangements with his parents. Normally he'd fly home for Thanksgiving, since his time off was so short it didn't make sense for his dad to drive all the way up to Springfield to pick him up. This year they'd be spending it at his Aunt's, who conveniently lived halfway between the college and home.

Jensen just had to make sure he had a ride.

Unfortunately he had to leave his computer in his dorm. He fretted at the idea of going without it for almost an entire week. Maybe if he made some excuse about needing it for class, he could sneak some time on his Aunt's computer. Just face it, man, he thought, you're addicted.

In his inbox he had an email from Jared. It had "IC" in the subject line, which meant "in character" so Sam had technically written the email. Jensen swallowed, his finger hovering over the enter key for a moment. Had it been too much to hope for that Jared had let the whole kiss thing go?

Dean, (the email read) Look, I'm sorry about running out on you the other night. Sophy just really shook me up. Now that I know what we're dealing with, well, it just makes me nervous.

Whatever you're planning with the vamps --- I want in. I don't want these guys to go on killing other students.

I really value your friendship, Dean.

-Sam

Jensen looked at the clock, then clicked R to send a reply.

Sam, It's too dangerous. You're just a kid. You need to let me handle this. Dean

Because that's exactly how Dean would react. He wouldn't bring up the kiss, he wouldn't respond to Sam's subtle way of saying he didn't feel that way for Dean and he would protect the innocent at all costs. It didn't do much for the plot, so Jensen knew Dean would need to cave eventually; he looked forward to seeing how Jared would convince Dean otherwise.

Too bad he would have to wait until December to find out. With one play-less Friday before Thanksgiving, Eric just canceled until the next month. Some people were already cutting out that early, skipping Monday and Tuesday classes to do it. Jensen couldn't afford to miss any classes. This was his future. Even if was accepted into the grad school of his choice, they could always rescind the acceptance if he did poorly his senior year. Not that he planned on failing any classes, but Jensen never took chances, never diverted his focus. Sandy once said that was one of the most annoying things about him. He smiled and hit compose to drop her an email, since it seemed like forever since he'd seen her other than on stage.

Then he emailed the players of his Werewolf game, asking if they wanted to play the week before Thanksgiving. Truthfully, he'd rather cancel it. Sophia hadn't exactly been pleasant to be around during the last game and he didn't want to tiptoe around her again. She had made a comment after the game about him being on Sandy's side that he didn't quite know how to take. Luckily Jared had stuck around and she didn't follow up on it, probably realized that anything she said might get back to Chad, since Jared lived with the guy. Jensen would tell them both to have it out, but he didn't think the universe could deal with the aftermath of a Sandy/Sophia deathmatch.

Before he got up to leave his email dinged with a new message. Jared, still in character:

Dean, I'm more than just a kid. Don't count me out just yet. Sam

Jensen smiled and quit out of Pine. He couldn't wait for Jared to surprise him.

***

The campus slowly emptied as Thanksgiving grew closer. Jensen had most of his stuff packed up in one of his milk crates, waiting for his cousin to pick him up on Wednesday. With the way people kept leaving, he doubted they would have to fight the usual holiday traffic. He looked forward to catching up on his sleep and getting away from classes and studying and yes, even his gaming. Sometimes he just wanted to rest.

Dark clouds rolled in that morning, threatening a rain that never came. Jensen didn't bring an umbrella when he went to meet Jared and Sandy for lunch, a surefire sign, he thought, that it would pour the moment he stepped out of the dining hall. His skin felt sticky and his hair prickled on his scalp. Luckily it was too early for snow yet. He made a mental note to pick up a new pair of boots when he had the chance.

"I think they're running out of food," Jared said when Jensen slid in the seat across from him. His tray did look skimpy in comparison to his usual assortment of food. "I may have gotten the last hamburger."

"No!" Jensen gasped, "Not the last hamburger!" He dropped his backpack on the floor and went to see what he could scrounge up. Jared wasn't kidding about the slim pickings. He settled on a grilled cheese sandwich and some fries. And he managed to save the sandwich before it melted the Styrofoam plate the grill worker scooped it onto.

Jared raised his eyebrow at Jensen's plate, which had a napkin spread out over it and the grilled cheese settled on top, like a pillow in the middle of a tiny bed. Jensen shrugged. "It's fried, it's gotta be good."

Jared laughed. "Don't tell