Runaway – Ch 12

Pairing: Jared x Reader
Tags: more new characters!, including Jared’s abs
WC: 2.2k

Masterlist

Movie sets were intense, Y/N/N soon discovered. She hadn’t known what to expect exactly, but she never could have dreamt this up. Everyone ran around like each and every minute detail was a matter of life and death, Cece especially. Maybe it was Quinn’s attitude bleeding off onto him, but the combination of Cece and Quinn was stressing Y/N/N out to no end. Jared was by far the most easy going person on the set, but even he was more high strung than he’d been back in L.A. He hadn’t said it, but Y/N/N would have bet that Quinn and Cece were winding Jared up as well. 

Occasionally, while Jared was listening to Quinn drone on about her approach to her characterization, or to the writer, Phil, explaining something in the most microscopic detail he could, Y/N/N would catch Jared’s gaze, and he would roll his eyes dramatically and crack a smile. Y/N/N cherished those little moments of shared humour, in amongst all the crazy and bustle. Those were the times that felt most like the familiarity of their friendship hadn’t changed. But it was bittersweet, because those were also the moments she realised how much she missed Jensen being there to laugh with them. She couldn’t imagine how much Jared must be missing his best friend. 

“Alright, cut!” Morgan’s voice startled Y/N/N out of her thoughtful silence. She’d been studying a small hummingbird, flitting fruitlessly through the vines in search of flowers it could siphon. “Camera two, close in angles on Jared. Quinn, back to your mark!” Morgan called through his megaphone. 

Cece scrambled to Quinn’s side with a bottle of water and a sun umbrella clutched in his hands as he fled down to the far end of the row of grape vines to shield her from the sun and keep her makeup from melting down her face. Carly, one of the makeup assistants, hurried after him, armed with powder. Glancing around for Jared, Y/N/N waved the water bottle she held to ask if he wanted any, but he waved her away with an easy smile, brushing his hair out of his eyes with a forearm and trekking toward the director for a word. Despite not being asked, Y/N/N moved in the same direction, wanting to be on hand in case Jared changed his mind about the water, but also happy for the excuse to hang out with Morgan for a moment. 

Spencer Morgan was a big deal in the indie film community, and Taking a Chance was his first big budget production. Surprisingly, he was the only other person on set that Y/N/N truly enjoyed being around, besides Jared. She would have imagined a newer director on his first breakout project would be freaking out and unbearably heavy handed, but he had this peaceful energy about him that helped put everyone around him at ease. The first time she had watched Morgan work, Y/N/N had reflected that that was probably how he got the most out of actors like Quinn; people who were overthinking each and every acting choice they made to the umpteenth iteration. Morgan’s vision for this film was ‘effortless’, he’d told everyone on the first day, and he really did make it look that way. 

As she approached the director’s chair, Y/N/N caught a snippet of what Jared and Morgan were discussing. 

“…. That’s what’s worrying you? Man, out of all the things,” Morgan chuckled quietly to himself and shook his head, removing his embroidered baseball cap to wipe the sweat off his forehead before it could reach his eyes. “God, why they thought black everything was the way to go,” he privately lamented, replacing the offending black hat with its gaudy pink logo. Jared laughed sympathetically and ran a hand through his own hair, grateful he didn’t have to wear the merchandise as part of his costume. 

“Yeah, so, I don’t know, Morgan. It just doesn’t seem…’ Jared felt around for the right word but came up short. 

“Organic?” Morgan supplied. 

“Exactly,” Jared nodded. “It feels contrived. And I get that to a certain extent it is but–” 

“No, no, you’re right,” Morgan pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Let me talk to Phil for a minute,” he patted Jared on the back and hopped down from his chair to the writer. 

“He’s by the coffee cart, Mr. Morgan,” Y/N/N interjected, having just seen him sucking on a gallon sized iced tea on her walk over towards Jared. 

“Of fuckin’ course he is,” Morgan rolled his eyes and went to retrieve him. 

“You really should have some water,” Y/N/N turned her attention to Jared, now. “It’s about a hundred degrees out here.” Jared gave her a tight lipped smile in response. 

“I wish kiddo, but I’ve gotta strip down some time in the next hour,” he rolled his eyes, faking indulgence but clearly nervous about the prospect. 

“So… you’re not allowed to have any water to make sure you don’t die of heatstroke in the meantime?” Y/N/N pressed, not understanding.

“Gotta keep these in tip top shape,” Jared huffed, aggravation bubbling through his tone as he hiked up the white linen of his blousy shirt to display his stomach. Up this close, there was clearly a bit of makeup on his skin, slight shadows defining the ridges of muscles that descended from his ribs to the tan waistband of his trousers, but there was no question about it  that Jared’s abs really were that cut. Y/N/N felt herself flush as she stared at the sun bronzed expanse of bare skin, and she knew it wasn’t heat from the sun this time. 

“They, um–” she cleared her throat awkwardly, “they look good,” she smiled, rending her eyes away from the object of their admiration and re-focusing them a respectful distance further up Jared’s body, gaze connecting with his. 

“Thanks,” he gave a short laugh, dropping the hem of his shirt and taking a deep breath, chest heaving with the effort. 

“Look, you really should have a bit of water, just a couple sips. You’re going red under the sun out here,” she pointed to the column of Jared’s neck, and the sliver of his chest that was visible between the vee shaped collar of his top, the skin clearly beginning to bloom rosy with sunburn. 

Jared looked down abruptly to his chest, where Y/N/N was gesturing, and felt his blush spread up to his cheeks in embarrassment. 

“Um, yeah, okay. Here,” he held out his hand for the water Y/N/N was offering him. “And can you go grab Carly if she’s done with Quinn’s touch-ups? Ask her to bring over that aerosol sunscreen they’ve got?” Jared hoped desperately that Y/N/N would continue believing that the tint of his skin was the sun, and not guess its actual origin – a combination of mild attraction and intense shame. Her staring so intently at his body had had an unintended effect. 

The moment he’d felt his cock twitch beneath the beige linen trousers Chance was wearing for today’s scene, Jared had started up an internal monologue of admonitions about how inappropriate his attraction to Y/N/N was, even if she was only a few days away from her eighteenth birthday. The fact that even a semi would be incredibly noticeable in this costume was also good motivation for getting his body to behave as quickly as possible. God forbid that get caught on film. The voice in his head that sounded a lot like Jensen chanting the word ‘teenager teenager teenager’ did the trick in the end. 

By the time Y/N/N returned with Carly and her airbrush machine loaded with SPF, Jared had confirmed with a brief examination of his front that the problems had been dispensed of – no more boner, no more blushing. What he hadn’t considered was that in order to not stain his clothing, Carly needed him to remove his shirt to apply more sunscreen and touch up the makeup beneath it. Great fucking idea, Jared, he scolded himself again, hesitantly shrugging out of his shirt so Carly could get to work, hoping to God he managed to keep himself in check, even as he felt Y/N/N’s eyes on him again. 

A chirping trill alerted Y/N/N to a text from her work phone, and she looked down to see a notification from Cece. 

“Y/N/N?” Jared’s voice recalled her attention to her boss and his once again naked torso. Y/N/N swallowed thickly, her mouth suddenly unbearably dry. 

“Yes, Mr. Padalecki?” she asked, tucking her phone away for the time being. She would answer Cece in a moment. 

“Fill this up with ice?” Jared shook the now empty water bottle she’d handed him earlier. “I should be allowed to drink again by the time it’s melted,” he laughed. 

“Sure thing,” Y/N/N reached out for the bottle, dodging the makeup artist’s airbrush stream as she worked. A thought occurred to her as she did, and she pulled out her personal phone, swiping to the camera as the screen lit up. 

“What are you doing?” Jared asked anxiously, eyeing Y/N/N and her phone with suspicion. 

“Jensen’s gonna want a photo of you getting abs painted on,” Y/N/N smirked, snapping a photo for their friend. “Plus Morgan asked the crew to take loads of photos for the behind the scenes stuff,” Y/N/N shrugged. Jared rolled his eyes at her, but smiled. 

“If you’re sending it to Jen, here, take a new one.” Jared raised both his hands, middle fingers sticking up, and scowled at the camera. Y/N/N giggled, taking several more pictures before returning her phone to her pocket, just as Morgan returned to his chair. 

“What’s with the photo shoot?” He eyed them all, bemused, as he squeezed through the crowd to re-situate himself in his chair. 

“Boss’s instructions, right Mr. Morgan?” Y/N/N smiled at the director. 

“Excellent,” he laughed, nodding. “Definitely show Tiffany, see if she wants any.” Y/N/N nodded, phone now safely stowed, and took out her work equivalent to make a note on her to-do list to email the photos to Tiffany in PR. Yet another text from Cece popped up while she was typing, and Y/N/N rolled her eyes to herself, wondering what he could want. When she looked up again, Jared and Morgan were deep in conversation about the issue Jared had been having with the scene earlier, so Y/N/N quietly made her exit, moving off toward the coffee cart to have them fill Jared’s bottle with ice as he’d asked, then hopefully finding a bit of shade to rest in while the filming resumed. 

Handing the bottle over to the barista, Y/N/N opened the texts from Cece. The first was a smiley face responding to her last message about Jared and Quinn’s PT session the next day. The most recent message gave her pause, though. 

Cece: Can’t blame you for staring girl 🥵🥵

Y/N/N: Huh?  

As her message appeared in the chat, another text from Cece came through, answering the question he hadn’t known she was asking. 

Cece: You best be sending me those pics 🔥

Y/N/N looked around nervously, embarrassed that Cece had noticed her ogling her shirtless boss, even though she hadn’t seen him near them at the time. 

Y/N/N: I wasn’t staring, I was just taking some pics for the BTS stuff 

Cece: Don’t be shy babe, I would stare if I were you too 😍
Cece: Must be nice to get to follow him around all day, anytime you wanna trade lmk! 😏
Cece: Plus, he was clearly into it 😉😉

Y/N/N: I don’t know what you’re talking about 

Y/N/N took her freshly filled ice bottle back from the barista and glanced around. She couldn’t see Cece anywhere, which was all the more unnerving considering he had apparently been able to see her just a few minutes ago. Looking back towards Jared, she saw he was on his mark again, and Morgan was about to start filming back up. She flicked the notifications on her phone to silent and cast around for a place to sit, settling on the shade of a row of vines a few yards away. Hopefully the shade of the grapes would help keep the ice intact as long as possible.  

Cece: don’t be coy with me darling, we’re in the saaaaame boat lol 
Cece: anywhooo, a few people are going into Napa tonight to get some drinks, celebrate the end of the first week, ask Jared if he’s up for it when you get a chance?
Cece: you too of course 😘

Y/N/N: Sounds like fun, I’ll ask Jared as soon as filming’s done

Cece: Lovely, see you soon darling