Chapter Text
Chapter 1
FADE IN:
EXT. DARK ALLEYWAY - DUSK
DEAN and CASTIEL are arguing, having lost track of the WITCH they were hunting.
DEAN
Damnit, Cas! I told you to stay on her ass!
CASTIEL
Dean! She attacked me and I needed your help! Where were you?
DEAN
(sarcastically)
Oh, you know, having tea with the Queen of England.
(shakes head)
The hell do you think I was doing? I was helping the poor bastard by burning the hex bag!
CASTIEL
Oh, of course. The guy with the
(makes air quotes)
'toothpaste smile'.
No wonder it took forever to burn a little hex bag.
DEAN
(feigns a laugh before expression grows serious)
Well, if you weren’t too busy flirting with that bouncer, you might’ve seen her attack coming.
CASTIEL
(growls and pushes Dean against the wall behind him. They eyefuck for a beat)
I did not flirt with anybody!
DEAN
(scoffs, but makes no attempt to shove CASTIEL away)
Sure you didn’t, you were just touching the guy’s arm and smiling at him because that’s how you always act.
CASTIEL
(squints eyes at DEAN)
You sound jealous.
DEAN
(shoves CASTIEL away)
No. I’m pissed you lost the witch, the whole point of this case, or was that guy so cute you friggin’ forgot?
CASTIEL
(pushes DEAN against the wall again and holds him there)
Dean! I would never flirt with someone other than–
DEAN
Rowena, I know. Now let me go so we can go do our damn jobs!
CASTIEL
(shouts)
You, Dean!
(more eyefucking)
DEAN licks his lips and grabs CASTIEL, KISSES HIM -- the best kiss he has ever experienced. A beat, they pull away, DEAN stares at CASTIEL’s lips.
DEAN
(clears throat)
Uh, that’s... uh, good.
FADE OUT.
Jensen sighed as he read over the script for the seventh time. A script given to only himself, that Misha guy, and the director for the episode. With the announcement of the show’s cancellation due to a twenty three percent ratings drop and loss of viewership, the producers chose to move forward with confirming the existence of “Destiel”.
When Depp had handed them the scripts, he had merely shrugged his shoulders and said, “Well, it’s not like we’ll get cancelled for it.”
It was top secret, not even Jared or Alex were in on the decision. Not that Jensen really spoke to them. After years of working with a temperamental jerk, Jensen had learned to avoid interacting with his castmates. Misha seemed like a nice enough guy, if a little weird, but after every take, Jensen bolted to his trailer to meditate. It was just easier to deal with.
They were going to shoot off-set, at a quiet, top secret location. Hell, they were even using handheld, hidden camcorders in order to capture the scene to preview to a small test audience, before moving forward with finalizing the decision and officially shooting on a closed set.
That’s where Jensen found himself, sitting alone at a table in a large trailer about three miles from the location, re-reading the script as he waited for the car to pick him up and drive him to the “set.”
Jensen was a little ambivalent to the whole thing. He didn’t think, or feel like his character was gay, or bi, or whatever; and he didn’t actively try to portray Dean that way. Hell, he’d spent his whole life keeping his own sexuality quiet, and he thought he was doing a good job of it so far. Being an actor definitely had its perks. Jensen did understand how significant this moment would be, not only for the incredibly expressive fanbase, but for television history.
Supernatural had been accused of queerbaiting, hell, since Misha came on board eleven years ago. And boy did Jensen hate fielding those questions at the conventions they attended. Thankfully, after the first couple of years, they separated Jared and Jensen’s panels. Jared had eased up on his bullshit ego, in exchange for hyperactivity.
Hell, he’d even apologized for his previous behavior, but Jensen was still hesitant to pursue any sort of relationship with the guy. What was the saying? Fool me once?
Jensen sighed again as he read the scene for the eighth time. At least this was a casual shoot simply for a test audience. Which meant he and Misha were in normal clothes. Well, at least Jensen still looked like Dean. Misha was wearing… a t-shirt with a sock monkey on it and a pair of dark jeans. Not really Cas attire, but it wasn’t like this was an official shoot.
After one last readthrough, he grabbed his satchel, dropped the script into it, and made his way outside of the trailer. The driver still hadn’t arrived, and Misha was nose deep in his cell phone. Man, that guy spent way too much time on social media.
He looked up at Jensen with a bright grin. "Hello, Jensen."
Jensen nodded to him, wondering if it would be too obvious he wasn’t into the whole small talk thing if he went back inside the trailer. “Uh, hey.”
"The driver is just a few minutes away," Misha stated, bobbing up and down on his feet like an over-energized Energizer bunny. "Hey, what do you think about the script? We didn't get a chance to talk about it."
Great. Now he wanted to talk about the scene. From what he had heard at conventions, Misha seemed to be on board with the idea. “I, uh… I haven’t thought much about it.” There. Maybe that would shut him up.
Misha's mouth opened, but no words came out before he looked confused and just replied with an, "Oh, I see." There was an awkward silence between them and Misha made it even more awkward by looking everywhere but Jensen for a moment. "Have you kissed a guy before?"
And way to make this even more awkward.
Jensen cracked his knuckles and sighed. “I would prefer if we didn’t talk. Need to get into character. You understand.”
Misha looked at him like a kicked puppy before he sighed and looked away. "Yeah, sure." He pulled out his phone again, probably writing stuff on the weird bird app.
Thankfully, Clif pulled up in that moment. As soon as the black SUV came to a full stop, Jensen slipped into the front seat. That wasn’t his usual spot, but he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to be able to deal with being stuck in the back seat with Misha for however long the trip to this undisclosed location would take.
Jensen greeted Clif’s bemused eyebrow quirk with a soft, “Don’t ask.”
A quick look in the mirror showed him that Misha was completely ignoring them, staring at his phone with an unreadable expression. Almost like he was channeling Cas. He didn't even greet Clif.
Huh. Jensen finally found the guy’s shut off switch. He filed that away for later use, when Misha’s lack of professionalism hindered their takes.
…. :::: :::: ….
Misha shook his hands and his body to get rid of his tension. He usually was outgoing and friendly. He had a lot of cool friends back home and was well liked, but every time he went back to work, to this set, he was treated like the weird kid no one picked in gym class.
No matter what he said, both Jared and Jensen were arrogant assholes who never included him in anything, and kept him at arm’s length. His character came late to the show, and he thought he would only be doing this for a few episodes, but then his character turned into a fan favorite and had now been on the show for years. Despite that, they still treated him like he didn’t exist.
So he tried to grin and bear it, not letting anyone see how much he hated working with those assclowns.
He looked at the script again, not because he needed to, just so he didn’t have to interact with Jensen. Not that Jensen wanted to interact with him anyway, but Misha always felt the need to fill the silence with talking. He folded the page in his back pocket when the cameraman talked to them, telling them where to stand. It was all so over the top secret, with their secret camera and them wearing their normal clothes, hiding in an alleyway, it was almost ridiculous.
Misha just wanted to get it over with. He knew his lines. Like he always did, because he was a professional. No matter what his co-actors thought. Jared had a tendency to intimidate him on set, making him stumble over his lines, which made Jensen constantly annoyed with him, but Jensen wasn’t the one who once got a cake smashed in his face by Jared just for fun, an incident that almost broke his nose. So he could go fuck himself.
“Okay, we’re ready for you two,” the cameraman said before he left them to go to his hiding place.
Misha did his best not to roll his eyes as he walked over to the wall for the scene, waiting for Jensen to join him.
When the director gave a nonverbal command to start, Jensen didn’t miss a beat. “Damnit, Cas! I told you to stay on her ass!”
Misha felt enough aggression in his body to not have any problem giving that energy right back to Jensen. He lowered his voice into a growl. "Dean! She attacked me and I needed your help! Where were you?"
“Oh, you know, having tea with the Queen of England,” he said with such biting sarcasm, it felt more authentic than just acting. Jensen shook his head. “The hell do you think I was doing? I was helping the poor bastard by burning the hex bag!”
Misha scoffed. “Oh, of course. The guy with the 'toothpaste smile'." He did the typical Cas finger quotes before he added in the same sarcastic tone, "No wonder it took forever to burn a little hex bag." Although Misha could see why the fans liked Destiel and saw it on screen, he wasn't all that excited to kiss Jensen, or about the prospect of having even more scenes with him. On the other hand, maybe he would be lucky and his character would get killed off because of it. Not that he didn't like having a steady income with the show, but damn… he really wanted to work with some nice actors again.
Jensen forced a laugh before he stared Misha down, face the picture of seriousness. “Well, if you weren’t too busy flirting with that bouncer, you might’ve seen her attack coming.”
Misha growled and pushed Jensen against the wall. He enjoyed this moment probably more than he should. He stared into Jensen's eyes. Eyes that made him understand why so many people were smitten with Jensen. The 'eye-fucking' part was always the easiest to perform. He growled, "I did not flirt with anybody!"
At that, Jensen scoffed, never once breaking eye contact. “Sure you didn’t. You were just touching the guy’s arm and smiling at him because that’s how you always act.”
Misha squinted his eyes at Jensen, pressing more weight against him to pin him against the wall. "You sound jealous."
Jensen shoved Misha away, a little harder than was necessary, but he was used to that sort of behavior from J squared. “No. I’m pissed you lost the witch, the whole point of this case. Or was that guy so cute you friggin’ forgot?”
So Misha pushed Jensen back against the wall with an annoyed expression, holding him in place. "Dean! I would never flirt with someone other than–"
“Rowena, I know,” he said as he struggled against Misha. “Now let me go so we can go do our damn jobs!”
Misha dreaded this moment, but he knew he could do it. He pushed harder against Jensen’s chest as he shouted, "You, Dean!" And then he just stared at Jensen, hoping he could bring across how big that admission had been for his character. Even though he didn't really like this job, he cared about his character. And he didn't want to disappoint the fans who had been waiting for this moment to happen.
Jensen slowly licked his lips, holding Misha’s gaze for a beat before he twisted his fist into Misha’s shirt and pulled him flush, crashing his lips against Misha’s in a surprisingly passionate frenzy.
Misha tried to keep up with him, and not get lost in the moment, that was until he accidentally pushed his tongue into his co-star's mouth. Jensen's lips were soft, and perfect, and it was hard, especially when he felt his body automatically reacting to a pretty awesome kiss. Sparks coursed through his body, and he couldn't suppress a little gasp as his body relaxed against Jensen's.
Jensen finally drew back, panting slightly before he cleared his throat. “Uh, that’s... uh, good.”
The director made the nonverbal command to cut, and Misha could actually see as Dean disappeared and he became Jensen again.
At that, the crew started shifting positions, swapping spots with the hidden cameras, as one of the makeup girls approached Misha to see if he needed any touch ups.
Amanda gave them both a smile. “We’ll do a couple more takes from different angles.”
Jensen nodded to Misha as another makeup girl started powdering his jaw, his expression clearly impressed. “First take even.”
“Well, Jared isn’t here,” Misha replied nonchalantly before he pulled out his phone and looked at it again. He had no intention of any small talk with Jensen. Especially because he really didn’t want to let him know how much he liked the kiss. If he was blasé about it, maybe Jensen would go back to ignoring him until the next take.
“Figured it was the lack of real cameras. I just thought you were camera shy.”
"Acting in front of a camera is my special skill," Misha replied without looking up from his phone.
“Gotcha,” Jensen said with a sigh.
Misha looked up and rolled his eyes. He tried not to be an asshole, but he was still pissed at Jensen for how he had treated him earlier. "Was there something you wanted to say? Because you know, I would prefer if we didn't talk. Need to stay in character. You understand." It might have been petty to throw that back in Jensen's face, but damn it felt good.
Jensen’s eyebrows shot up. He raised his hands in surrender. “Message received.” He turned and approached Amanda.
Misha turned his attention back to his phone. Not that there was anything interesting on it; he just browsed through funny cat gifs to distract himself from thinking about the kiss. He wondered if Jensen felt it too. The weird tingling. He hated how amazing it felt to kiss Jensen, and that a part of him was looking forward to doing the scene again.
It was stupid.
He seriously needed to get his act together. Misha knew how close he had been to turning the fake kiss into a real one.
Amanda approached him again with a nod. “We’re ready for the next take.”
Misha put his phone away and nodded, joining Jensen at the wall again. He massaged the back of his neck with a soft groan, trying to relieve the tension before he nodded to his co-star that he was ready.
“So, we’re going to start at the kiss. Get that taken care of from different angles, then focus on the dialogue after,” Amanda said before she gave the nonverbal action command.
Jensen pressed himself against the wall, clearly not waiting for Misha to take the lead. As soon as Misha stepped in front of him, Jensen licked his lips again and yanked Misha close by his t-shirt. When he kissed him, his lips were unmoving and it felt… off this time.
Misha pushed him a little bit, just a gentle nudge before he softly dragged his lips over Jensen's, trying to get him to kiss back.
After a beat, Jensen pushed Misha off. He turned to Amanda and said, “I need a break.”
That appeared to take the director aback. “Are you okay, Jensen?”
Jensen didn’t answer her, he just waved and moved to step around the corner.
And they called Misha unprofessional.
Misha rolled his eyes. "I'm going to talk to him, Amanda."
She nodded, shrugging before she shook her head and nodded again. "Sure, just please don't make it worse. He’s sensitive."
As if Misha didn't know that. He nodded and followed the direction Jensen disappeared, rounding the corner and finding him a few feet away, leaning against the wall with closed eyes. When Misha caught up to him, he cleared his throat. "Hey, um, I'm... I'm sorry for earlier." He wasn't really, but he was going to take the high road. "Is everything okay?"
When Jensen opened his eyes, his gaze was hyper-focused on Misha. It was a little disconcerting. “Why are you here?”
"That's a pretty existential question for this time of day," Misha replied with a smirk before he added, "Believe it or not, I was a little worried, and I feel shitty about how I behaved earlier." Yeah, those acting classes weren't only good for his job.
“Man, you’re weird,” Jensen said as he straightened his posture. “I just needed a break. You’ve done your good deed; you can go back to the ‘set’.”
Misha sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I seriously don't get why I still try to be nice to you. What have I ever done to you that you keep treating me like this?" Misha crowded Jensen against the wall. "You're an arrogant asshole. So take your time with your diva moment and when you feel like working again, you know where to find me."
He glared at Jensen before he turned around, ready to leave him there.
Jensen grabbed him by the wrist. He looked at Misha, expression almost stricken. “I don’t know why you all feel the need to crowd me, to accost me, because I’m not…” He shook his head and stepped away. “I don’t know why I’m trying to justify myself.”
Misha pulled back from Jensen, holding up his hands. "Hey, if you don't want me to talk to you, or be near you, I accept that. It's okay. I won't talk to you other than when I have to. If you don't like me, then I can't change that, but we should at least try to not let this affect our job. So, what do you say we go back and get this scene over with. Then it's done and you won't need to spend more of your precious time with me."
“Huh,” Jensen said. “You aren’t as nice as everyone says you are.”
Misha scoffed at Jensen and shook his head. "You never bothered to get to know me in all the years I've been a part of this show, so how would you know?" He crossed his arms over his chest. "So, what happened earlier? When you kissed me? I mean... you're not usually the one who fucks up a scene."
Jensen scoffed. “I’m sorry, do I owe you an explanation, considering every take you’ve fucked up?”
He seriously couldn't believe this asshole. "You know what? I don't need to listen to this crap from a washed up soap star."
“Which one of us has an Emmy?” Jensen countered before he sighed and shook his head. “Guess I’m not gonna get the break I needed. Thanks for that, by the way,” he said as he shoulder-checked Misha on his way back to the “set.”
Misha counted to ten in his head to calm down. He decided he just wouldn't bother with the asshole anymore. He would treat Jensen like he didn't exist, and would keep their interactions strictly between Dean and Cas. He returned to the "set" and nodded to Amanda that he was ready before he went back to his mark. At least now he was angry enough to not fuck up the kiss. Because he certainly wouldn't enjoy kissing that fucker.
When Amanda waved for them to start again, Jensen yanked Misha forward, a lot rougher than the first time, before he fisted his shirt and dove in, lips first. No hesitation, none of the dead fish action from before. He even raked his other hand through Misha’s hair, tugging it gently, while his lips remained rough and insistent.
Misha didn't back down, he kissed back with the same roughness, sliding his fingers down Jensen's throat as his other hand grabbed Jensen’s side to pull him close. And then he did something that he knew would look awesome with a close up. Misha drew back a little, opened his mouth, his lips hovering, just a breath from Jensen's, before he captured his upper lip, trying to stir the kiss to a softer, more intimate level.
Because this was still Dean and Cas. And he wanted this to look good for their characters.
After Jensen pressed one more gentle kiss to Misha’s lips, he drew back, breathing ragged and lips kiss red. His hand still gripped in Misha’s shirt. He didn’t step back until Amanda said, “Great. Actually, I think the kiss takes might be good after that. Give me a second, boys.”
Jensen flattened out his t-shirt and immediately turned away from Misha, approaching one of the cameramen.
Misha cleared his throat and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes for a moment. Good thing he didn't get the chance to say something nice to Jensen, like he had planned. He needed to accept that Jensen would never accept or like him, no matter if he was doing a pretty good job or not. And he hated himself that he still sometimes felt like that naive actor who had looked up to Jensen, seeking validation.
It was a long time ago, but that admiration was still buried under all of the rejection he had received from both Jensen and Jared. At one point he just stopped making a fool of himself, running after them like a lost puppy. He had his own fan base, for fuck’s sake. He didn’t need their validation.
In that moment, Amanda approached him. “You guys have nailed this scene. We’re actually going to go ahead and call it a day. You just both need to sign the NDA’s in the trailer and you can go home.”
Misha gave her a grateful look and nodded. "Sure, thank you, Amanda." He shook her hand, feeling incredibly grateful that this stupid day was over. He needed to do something fun tonight, and forget about stupid Jensen, and that stupid kiss scene.
He walked up to the car, waving at Clif before he got into the back seat.
A couple minutes later, Jensen got into the car too, but instead of sitting up front, he took the seat next to Misha in the back. As he buckled his seatbelt, he nodded to him. “Good work today.”
Misha gave him a surprised look. "Yeah, um, ditto," he replied slowly before he said what he wanted to say earlier. "I think that last scene will look pretty good. If they decide to go down this road, I think this could break the internet."
Jensen nodded, lips pursed as he shrugged. “Well, we’ll see.”