A Breakfast Story
Jensen doesn't plan it.
It's just, well. One minute he's asleep and the next he's not. His eyes
are open, his dreams are already fading to nothing, and, well, he's
actually awake. The sort of awake where he knows it's far too early in
the morning—seriously, the sky is still *pale*; the sun isn't even high
enough to be *coming in through the windows yet*—but for some reason,
he actually has energy.
The kind that makes it pretty much impossible to fall back asleep, no
matter how much he tries.
And he does try.
He closes his eyes, works himself a little bit more firmly down beneath
the covers, breathes in deeply through his mouth, breathes, thinks
sleepy thoughts, and—
Yeah, he's awake.
And since he's awake and making awake sorts of noises, another member
of their family decides it's time to get up, too. He can hear her in
her bed across the room, by the windows: shifting first, then the soft
clicking of toenails across hardwood floors. He feels the mattress dip
under the weight of a head, and when he opens his eyes again, he finds
himself face-to-face with, well, Sadie's nose. And her tongue. And her
big, hopeful eyes.
And yeah, Jensen hasn't ever really had a lot of luck saying 'no' to
that look, so despite the fact that the bed is warm and the sun is
hardly above the horizon, he finds himself pushing back the covers and
actually *getting up.* This seems to be Harley's cue, because the next
thing Jensen knows, both dogs are racing out of the room, tails
wagging, and Jensen looks guiltily back over his shoulder, but Jared's
still fast asleep, spread out on his back, mouth parted, breathing
steadily.
When Jensen leaves the room, he shuts the door behind him.
The thing is: Jensen's not used to this.
Usually Jared's the first one up, dealing with the dogs, maybe going
for a run, and by the time Jensen's up, he's already eaten his
breakfast, showered, is ready to start the day. Jensen doesn't ever
really spend his mornings alone.
Which is why he finds himself standing in the kitchen, pretty much at a
loss, looking at the coffee maker, at the refrigerator, at the
cupboards, wondering what to do. What now, what next.
Sadie noses at his hand, and when he looks down, she's sitting right
beside him, the tip of her tail twitching. She cocks her head, as
if asking a question, and Jensen smiles, says, "Yeah, yeah, okay."
He starts the coffee first, scooping the grounds into the maker,
turning it on, inhaling deeply as the scent starts to fill the kitchen.
The breakfast options are pretty much toast and cereal, and given that
Jensen sort of doubts his ability to get upstairs without spilling
anything if he tries to tackle two cups of coffee and two bowls of
cereal and two dogs eager to accompany him, he opts for the toast.
Which means he's pulling the peanut butter and the jelly and the butter
out of the fridge, too.
He grabs the serving tray from it's spot on top of the refrigerator,
two napkins from the holder on the counter, three knives from the
drawer, two plates, and then there's nothing to do but wait for the
coffee, for the ding of the toaster.
When it sounds, it seems especially loud in the relative silence of the
kitchen, and for a moment, Jensen freezes, almost expecting to hear the
door to their bedroom open, or at the very least, Jared's feet on the
floor. Jensen doesn't, though, and after a beat, he relaxes again. He
plucks the bread out of the toaster, hissing as it burns the tips of
his fingers, then pulls two mugs out of the cupboard, pouring the
coffee, adding Jared's mandatory teaspoon of sugar and dollop of milk
to one, leaving the other black.
It's not exactly pretty on the tray, but it fits and it's balanced and
that's pretty much all Jensen cares about now: getting it upstairs. He
can hear the dogs in the living room, nosing around and doing doggy
things, but the moment he starts for the stairs again, they're joining
him. He shoos them up ahead of him, although Sadie pauses at the top
landing, waiting for him, but by the time he actually reaches her, he
can see that Harley's already nosed the door to their bedroom open. He
can hear Jared inside, saying, "Hey, boy. Hey, where's everyone else?"
So Jensen says, "Here, we're right here," and then he's at the door,
and Jared's turning his attention from Harley to Jensen, and he's
already smiling, but when he sees what Jensen's carrying, his face just
*lights up*.
"Seriously?" he asks, and he probably would have said more, except
Jensen says, "Yeah, hey, surprise. I just, you know, woke up early and
thought—"
He's at the bed now, though, and Jared's taking the tray from him and
setting it down on the mattress, moving the cups of coffee to the
nightstand before he pats the spot next to him, encouraging Jensen to
sit down, and Jensen does. He's not the only one, though, because Sadie
and Harley jump up, too, eyeing the plates even as they sit down at the
very end of the bed.
Jensen watches as Jared looks at the spread, as he reaches for the
peanut butter and the jelly, as he picks up a knife, and when he
glances over at Jensen himself, when he catches Jensen looking, he
grins even more widely and says, "You're going to spoil me, you know."
Jensen ducks his head. "Yeah, well," he says.