Better than Moonshine: Epilogue

[riyku]

 

Part 4


Epilogue:

This was what a perfect day for writing looked like. It was somewhat cloudy and cool, the morning sun peeking through to reflect off of the small creek that ran lazy and twisting behind Jensen’s new place. One of those perfect spring days, muggy, a light wind pushing the clouds across the sky and carrying the promise of a warmer afternoon. Jensen wondered if the water would be warm enough for a swim later in the day.

Wisteria hung on a trellis along one wall of the screened porch, making the light take on a kind of surreal green tinge. Jared had been right: the stuff did smell exactly like honey and burnt cork.

Jared had been right about a lot of things.

The porch’s wide planked floor felt rough beneath Jensen’s bare feet. It gave a rusty groan when he settled down into his chair, dragging it up to a small desk he’d slapped together out of cinderblocks and scrap lumber. A cardboard box full of blank paper sat next to his chair, his blown glass paperweight keeping them in place. Jensen lifted it, holding it up to catch the sun. It had a small chip in it, a short crack on a path to the center, and the light caught and refracted in the imperfection. Probably a result of the move. He’d been in a rush when he’d packed, had thrown out most of what he owned and given a lot of the rest away.

The shrill ring of Tennessee’s old telephone sounded through the open window. It rang three and a half times. Jensen ignored it, downed the rest of his cup of coffee, now lukewarm. The wind changed direction, and Jensen could hear the distant sound of his closest neighbor’s music, a half a mile away down a narrow paved road. One good thing about living in the middle of nowhere was that there weren’t a lot of distractions.

An open box sat at his ankle, a couple dozen first editions of his new book were stacked neatly inside, their glossy covers starting to curl in the humid air. There were three more cases like this one, all waiting to be signed and sent out to bookstores all over the country. He pulled one out and opened it, the spine creaking and the comforting bookstore smell of paper and glue hanging in the air. Jensen thumbed through the pages. They contained seven short stories and one novella. Early reviews had come back favorable, but that didn't matter a lot to Jensen. What mattered was that these three hundred some odd pages had bought him the time to work on something that he needed to write. He paused at the dedication, the thick paper catching on his thumbnail. He skimmed the words.

for jared, because there is honor amongst thieves

The trilling noise of the spring on the screen door sounded, followed by the slap of wood on the doorframe. Jensen loved that sound. It reminded him of summertime growing up in Texas, lazy heat and his grandmother’s back porch. Sneaking sips of sweet mint juleps while his grandmother and her sister pretended not to notice.

Jensen shivered some when Jared looped his arms around him from behind. His skin was warm from the shower, a little damp still. It took a long time to dry off when the air was so humid like this. Jensen leaned into the feeling of Jared’s chest along the bare skin of his back. He reached up, touched Jared’s hand, traced along the bumps of his knuckles, the bones of his fingers. He tilted his head to make more room when Jared kissed the crook of his neck.

“HarperCollins on the phone. That PR guy again,” Jared spoke into his skin. “He wants you to fly to Tulane for that book reading Misha won’t shut up about.”

Jensen hummed his reply. They both knew he had no intention of going anywhere. Not for the time being, anyway. He was working, had been writing consistently for the last few months, and was superstitious about it. Now wasn’t the time to break the pattern.

He flicked the switch on his typewriter, the metal case offering a comforting sort of vibration under his palm. He fed a blank sheet of paper into the roller, centered it and typed a number one.

“Are you ready?” Jared asked.

“I think so,” Jensen replied. He paused, chewing thoughtfully on his lower lip. “You know, someone once told me that there were only two kinds of stories in the world. One of them starts out, ‘a stranger comes to town’.”

Jensen felt Jared’s smile on his skin. “So how does the other one go?”

“A man goes on a journey,” Jensen told him.

Jared kissed the back of his neck, giving his shoulders a final squeeze. “Okay. Then go.” He crossed the porch, had his hand on the door handle and turned back again. “And Jensen?”

“Yeah?”

“Make sure you take the long way home.”

Thanks for reading.

Comments

[klutzy-girl.livejournal.com]

Great fic! I liked it a lot. I hate how Jensen kept standing Jared up, but yay for them getting together in the end anyway!

And I'm so glad Jensen was writing again at the end! And that Jared was with him.

[exmanhater.livejournal.com]

This was so much fun to read! I loved how smoothly the action flowed from one scene to the next and how organic and witty the conversation sounded. Awesome job :)

[conchita-perez.livejournal.com]

Loved it! Was a great way to while away my lunch break!

[anne-higgins.livejournal.com]

I really, really enjoyed this! I'm having some writer's ... slump myself so it spoke to me more deeply than it might have normally, but it still would have been great fun.

They boys were cute, manic and well, fun. And Misha? Gotta say, he kind of stole the show as far as I'm concerned.

Bravo!

[slothy-girl.livejournal.com]

Wonderful job! The way you use language and description is amazing. Leaves me breathless :D

[apieceofcake.livejournal.com]

Enjoyed, thank you :-)

[equally-dour.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed this, it was beautifully written, engaging and fun. A great read, thank you!

[akadougal.livejournal.com]

Really enjoyed this. Thank you very much for sharing.

[13chapters.livejournal.com]

This is really lovely. Your writing is so witty and engaging, I enjoyed it so much. Thank you!

[atanih88.livejournal.com]

Aww, lovely read :)

[ships-harry.livejournal.com]

So this was pretty fantastic :). The thing with RPF is that I tend to end up reading as original fic with a cast of folk who look like and sound like the people whose names they share, but that's about it. I enjoyed how this played out, the way you combined your "two kinds of stories"; it's left me feeling very satisfied. But also itchy to go *make* something in the way that only reading about creative people doing creative things can, so I think it's time to go draw now :).

[topsyturvy.livejournal.com]

This was great! :)

[spoons1899.livejournal.com]

Wow, I almost cried at the end of this it was just so sweet and such a fantastic ending to such a fantastic piece of work. I love love love this story. I seriously can't express how much. The way you write about writing and being a writer is so charming and fun and accurate without any of the pretentiousness that usually comes with writers writing about writers. And the romance of this is beautiful, I love how not everything is perfect, but that makes it feel that much more realistic and awesome. I think this story is a lot like the conversation Jared and Jensen had about Jensen's story, about how maybe the meaning only exists in the readers head, because on the surface this is just a sweet little romance but to me at least it was a whole lot more. Thank you for writing this, I'm favoriteing it for sure, and coming back to read it many more times. <3 <3 <3

[fallsslowly.livejournal.com]

This is absolutely lovely and so beautifully written, enough detail for me to be able to see the story in my mind but without it every getting bogged down. I was so absorbed in this world it was a shock when it ended, I could have stayed happily for double (triple, quadruple) the length.

Romantic and charming and perfect for a Saturday afternoon, thank you.

[make5hift-wings.livejournal.com]

Oh I loved this, just gorgeous. Thank you for sharing.

[thalialunacy.livejournal.com]

This was lovely. Thank you. ♥

[katsheswims.livejournal.com]

I really liked this!!

It actually reminded me a bit of being in college and grammar class (that I just had last semester) and stuff...

I like that quote about the 'only two stories'- I was pretty sure the other one was 'someone goes on a journey' but I was going to look it up after finishing this if you didn't tell us by the end, but you did!

Keep up the good work!

[fridayblues.livejournal.com]

Lovely writing!
:D
xxx

[dugindeep.livejournal.com]

Oh man, this was not only a fun journey but an all too interesting one to consider as a writer, all the ups and downs and insecurities. I loved Jensen here, just all his responses to everything were so true and clever. At times I ached a little for him but still bought everything he did and why.

The way you set up their characters was wonderful, especially how all three interacted. I would love to see more of these folks, and especially know how Jared fares in the writing world!

And as always, you writing, just the words you choose, is so brilliant. There are times I read sentences and find them so clever for how you construct them and the words you use. It always feels fresh - I feel like I tell you this every time I comment but it's true!

[tebtosca.livejournal.com]

Really loved this! All of your characters felt very real, the story was engaging, and the build up of the relationship felt both honest and sweet. One of my faves so far, great job!

[shamangrrl.livejournal.com]

I loved this! I loved all the characters, I cheered and snorted when J2 stole the plaque, I wanted to smack Jensen when he let Jared go. Wonderful, wonderful story. Thank you so much.

[silverraven.livejournal.com]

So wonderful and charming! This flowed so well and I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Thank you.

[peggy-lane.livejournal.com]

This was gorgeous. I was totally sucked into their world and I love the thread of writing and the writer's life pulling through everything. Jared and Jensen were both great - loved their hi-jinks. The sex was HAWT, too. Fantastic.

[mirror-mirrin.livejournal.com]

Great read!

[big-heart-june.livejournal.com]

This was absolutely gorgeous, your writing is so much fun, such a joy to read and just so realistic and detailed with perfect perfect dialogue. Misha is so great, I love how you wrote him! lol. Your epilogue is absolutely beautiful, it's short but there's so much love there between Jared and Jensen, I love it, love Jensen's dedication to Jared.
Wonderful job! thank you. ♥