Work Text
1“It was so much fun!” Jensen enthused, and Cougar couldn’t help but smile softly as he watched the other man wax poetic about his time with his niece. “And Beth looked adorable in her costume. She was super excited that I was actually going to be able to be there this year. She insisted we match. Look! Here! I have pictures!”Jensen crammed himself into the armchair with Cougar, a space that really wasn’t built for two grown men, much less ones of their stature. Cougar enjoyed the warmth of Jensen’s body pressed against his own, though. He would forever be grateful that Jensen was so free with touching and physical contact. Cougar would never be so brave or forward, not with the feelings for his friend that he secretly harbored.“Linda,” he commented on the picture that was shoved in his face, and he meant it. “Cute.”Beth had dressed up as Buzz Lightyear for Halloween and Jensen was right, she looked utterly adorable in the costume Jess had obviously made for her. Her little cardboard wings jutted out to each side, one already a little dinged, probably from her running into something with it in her excitement. Jensen knelt next to his niece, beaming proudly and tipping an old cowboy hat up out of his face to wink at the camera.“I was Woody, of course,” Jensen continued, swiping through more pictures of his evening back home, “and Jess was Jessie. It’s really a shame she won’t let Beth have a dog, since he could have been Bullseye. That’s the horse. Or Slinky! Aw, man, could you just imagine how cute that would be? Especially if it were actually a wiener dog! Beth had a great time anyway, though. She ate so much candy she had a stomach ache the next morning. I did, too, actually. I’m pretty sure Jess was judging us, but we got to lay on the couch all day and watch cartoons, so joke’s on her.”He continued to talk and Cougar continued to watch and listen with that little smile on his face. Cougar could be content with this, he told himself. He didn’t need any more. Having this was enough.2“Remind me again why we have to do this ourselves?” Pooch complained, propping himself up on his shovel and wiping sweat from his brow.The sun was beating down on them from above, but Cougar just drove his own shovel back into the dirt and heaved it out to add to the growing pile off to the side. The sooner they finished, the sooner he could go back inside, have a shower, and fall asleep for about a week. He’d rather do training drills than this any day of the week.“Because the upper brass still won’t approve us having a patio built out from our quarters,” Clay replied testily, no less overheated than they rest of them, “but, if we do it ourselves, we can still bill them for the materials and they’re not gonna come rip it out because then they’d have to pay to refinish the siding.”Roque grumbled something in a murderous tone that sounded suspiciously like, “They sure as hell better not.”Clay made a non-committal noise that Cougar was pretty sure was agreement.“Okay! I’m back!” Jensen’s cheerful voice cut through the discontent.Cougar squinted through the sun to where Jensen was leaving their housing quarters and picking his way across their work zone, large pitcher in one hand and a stack of glasses in the other. A vaguely familiar, wide-brimmed cowboy hat sat perched on his head. It was probably for the best, considering Cougar could already see large, red patches of skin high on his cheeks.“About time!” Pooch groused. “You were gone for ages! You said you were going to the bathroom, what happened?”Jensen, as expected, was entirely unaffected by the accusatory tone.“I made lemonade,” he announced happily, beaming at them all and hoisting the pitcher up just a bit enticingly. “I figured we could all use a drink out here in this sun. And then I remembered I still had this hat from when I was with Beth and Jess for Halloween and figured I’d go find it. I knew I’d stuck it somewhere, but I just couldn’t remember where and-““We get it,” Clay cut off his rambling. “Are you gonna pour that lemonade for not?”“Aye, aye, Captain!” Jensen crowed, pouring and passing the cups around.He didn’t warn them that he’d spiked it.They ended up having to tear the patio out and rebuild it anyway.3“Are you in yet?” Cougar heard Clay ask.He walked into the room where Clay, Pooch and Jensen were holed up, Jensen working to get into the security system of their latest target. Roque had just relieved him on look-out duty and Cougar was still looking over his shoulder in that direction. He came up short when he turned his head and caught sight of their little group. Pooch was off to the side, doing his own thing, and completely faded to the background of Cougar’s awareness. Clay and Jensen were facing the door, Clay leaning over Jensen’s shoulder and peering at the screen as if he could divine some meaning from the code that no doubt scrolled across it. His face was deadly serious as Jensen responded snappishly to his question.Cougar couldn’t have reproduced what Jensen said if his life depended on it. His attention was too focused on what Jensen was wearing. Or not wearing, which was the more apt description.For some reason, Jensen had stripped out of his shirt and pants, leaving him in just his boots, boxer-briefs, and that wide-brimmed hat that was quickly becoming a familiar sight. Cougar’s mouth felt impossibly dry, his throat tight and face hot. He’d seen Jensen in such states of undress before, sure, had even seen him naked, but there was something about the unexpectedness of this time that left his reeling.Maybe it was the way Jensen’s cheekbones were sharpened by the light of the screen, or the way his eyes seemed to glow in the shadow of the hat’s brim. Maybe it was the small, rare scowl that tugged at his lips. Or maybe, just maybe, it was the way Jensen’s whole face lit up when he glanced up to see Cougar standing in the doorway.Cougar couldn’t say, but he did know it meant he was in trouble. Big trouble.4It was getting bad. Cougar couldn’t even deny it. What had once been a slowly simmering attraction to his best friend was now threatening to boil over at any given moment. It was getting harder and harder to remind himself why he shouldn’t cross the space between them and show Jensen how he really felt. His heart tripped over itself every time Jensen sent one of his blinding smiles Cougar’s way. Jensen’s laughter sent his pulse racing and his teasing never failed to make Cougar’s collar heat.It was the moments like this one, though, that really told Cougar just how much trouble he was in.The mission they’d just gotten back from had been a hard one. Roque’d had the closest call, but they’d all suffered from it. They had been exhausted, sore and grouchy as they’d trudged back into their home. Cougar’d wanted nothing more than to collapse into bed and sleep for a week, never mind that it was barely ten in the morning, but they’d checked out some equipment that needed returning and he headed off to do that first. It would be better to have it out of the way.He returned to find that Jensen had showered and, instead of heading to his own bed, had passed out across the couch in their living room. His limbs were splayed all across it, one leg hanging off completely. Soft snores filled the room, a testament to just how deeply Jensen was sleeping. The leather cowboy hat covered his face, keeping the sunlight off of it. Cougar wanted to lift it up and use it to shield them both as he lay kisses to Jensen’s lips and cheeks and nose and brow.“He was trying to wait up for you,” came Clay’s tired but amused voice as their leader emerged from the kitchen with a sandwich in hand. “You should put him out of his misery already.”Cougar frowned at him for a moment, confused by the odd phrasing, before giving a shrug and moving forward to lift Jensen up and into his arms. Even after years of speaking it, the English language still sometimes sounded strange to his ear. Sleeping in the couch would definitely leave Jensen feeling miserable whenever he woke up, more so than he would be already. The hat tumbled to the floor, slipping off Jensen’s face as Cougar carried him to bed.5Cougar stopped in his tracks, his eye catching on something up above. Jensen got about two steps further along the path before realizing he’d lost his audience and turning back. He tipped his cowboy hat up a bit.“Cougs?”Cougar twitched his chin up, indicating the tree that stood just off the trail they were following through the park. It was a larger one, with wide, expansive branches reaching out overhead. Crouched in the crook of two of the branches, a small, fluffy kitten peeked down at them. A plaintive meow escaped it as they watched. Jensen frowned.“Is it stuck?”Cougar gave a sharp nod. The kitten’s eyes were wide with fear, its paws shifting as it tried to move this way or that, only to freeze in place when it felt too unstable. It was a tiny little thing, but the branches were thin so high up and swayed with every shift it made. Cougar eyed the tree critically. There was no way either of them would be able to climb up there. It wouldn’t take their weight.“Here,” Jensen said, pulling the hat from his head, “see if you can find a stick to nudge her off. I’ll catch her.”It wasn’t the least stress-inducing plan, but it would probably be the most expeditious one. They’d be able to calm the kitten down again once they had her out of the tree. (He assumed it was a her, since Jensen seemed to think so. That was another thing they could deal with later.) He glanced around for a stick, stepping off the path to pick one up that was about three feet long.“Time to come down, gatita,” he urged softly, giving the kitten a nudge on her rump.The kitten meowed again in protest, planting her feet against the momentum.“Gentle! Gentle!” Jensen warned unnecessarily.The worry for the tiny creature was clear in his voice, though, and Cougar couldn’t help but give a small smile at it. Sometimes he just had to marvel at how good Jensen was.Cougar clicked his tongue a few times to draw the kitten’s attention before prodding her again, this time just a bit harder and sending her tumbling off her perch. Jensen darted forward, catching the precious bundle in his upside-down hat and pulling her in close to his chest.“There you go, princess,” he praised in a sickeningly sweet baby voice, “all safe now! Nothing to be afraid of. Cougar came to your rescue like the white knight he is and now you’re all good.”Something in Cougar’s chest cracked and shattered and he couldn’t seem to stop himself from leaning over to press a chaste kiss to Jensen’s cheek. Jensen gaped at him, fingers frozen where they’d been softly petting the kitten.“What?”Cougar turned away and continued along the path. They’d need to stop by a pet store for some food and supplies before they made their way back to base. The conversation he knew was coming could wait until they were back there, with some semblance of privacy. He heard Jensen jolt into action and scramble after him moments later.“Wait! Cougar! What was that?”+1“So,” Jensen said with an uncharacteristic sedateness, handing Cougar a beer as he flopped down onto the couch beside him with one of his own, “I’ve been thinking.”Princess startled a bit at being disturbed before giving a huge yawn and settling back into Cougar’s lap to try and go back to sleep. She seemed to be settling in well, for all that Clay was remaining adamant that they couldn’t keep her. Cougar lifted the hand that had been petting her to lay his arm across the back of the couch and give Jensen room to cuddle into his side. The blond did so, but only after taking a moment to lean forward and snatch his cowboy hat off the coffee table.“¿Si?”Cougar loved the feeling on Jensen’s warmth against him, even more so than he normally did. He’d been expecting to have to sit down with Jensen and explain his actions upon their return to base, to have to offer assurances that he would be able to control himself in the future. He hadn’t expected Jensen to practically tackle him as soon as they were through the door, pressing their lips together in a demanding kiss that left him breathless.Now, Jensen turned the hat around in his hands a few times before peeking up at Cougar, a playful smirk across his lips.“Well,” he admitted, reaching up to plop the hat onto Cougar’s head, “I’ve been thinking you’d look pretty good in this hat for a while now.” He squirmed around to press a kiss to Cougar’s lips before leaning in close to whisper huskily in his ear. “And I’ve always wanted to ride a cowboy.”Cougar would make it up to Princess later for scooping her up and placing her on the abandoned couch as he hustled a cackling Jensen toward his bedroom. A few treats and she’d forgive him. Cougar had higher priorities right now.