#unfinished things

Jensen is all hands on hips, eyes squinting as Jared mumbles to himself, tosses his shaggy hair back. Jensen wonders how long he'll stand there before Jared remembers that he's there

The one thing he hears clearly is how his headshots were crap - apparently everything is all wrong, and the photographer is Not Happy.

Meanwhile, Jared’s secretly going crazy because he’s trying to get this shoot lit properly - whoever took those headshots was a hack, didn’t even begin to do justice to the model who showed up, and Jared’s determined to capture the impossible beauty before him.

Jared keeps frowning at the headshot, finally addresses Jensen directly: “how do you feel about a haircut?”

"I...excuse me?" Jensen blurts out, eyebrows shooting up. Is this guy for real? That's the angle he's going with. "A haircut?" He wonders if this is a joke, or maybe he's made a mistake. He is confused, at the very least.

'A haircut," Jared repeats, looking up, meeting jensen's eyes. Jensen's mouth opens and closes a few times.

“What the fuck is wrong with my hair?” Jensen says, a bit more shrill than he meant to but come on. This is The Haircut for pretty young men, the agency said. This is what he has to look like. He’s not going to change it for some photographer’s whim, no matter how hot the guy is.

“It’s not really right,” Jared says, frowning, completely oblivious to Jensen’s thoughts. “And it’s just so... everywhere. I’m thinking shorter. Less frosted. Let your eyes be the focus.” Because those eyes are to die for, but not attached to the flopfest hair style the model’s sporting. And the frost doesn’t go with the freckles.

Jared knows he could set new trends with this model... if the man will stop glaring at him, cooperate a little.

"And lose the scowl," Jared adds, matter-of-fact, pointedly ignoring the man's obvious distaste. "It's kind of throwing the whole boy-next-door thing you've got going off."

Jensen doesn't know whether to be flattered or insulted. He wrinkles his nose as he gives Jared a once-over. The guy's not unattractive; quite the opposite, really. He's got dimples that Jensen is sure would make any girl go weak in the knees, a killer build…

Snapping back to reality, Jensen says, "Hmm", like he is considering it, like he is actually going to change his hairstyle based on one comment from a perfect stranger.

Jared flashes the man a smile, pushes his hair out of his eyes.

“I’ll have to call my agency,” Jensen says. He’s not screwing his career on this photographer’s whim, no matter how hot the guy is. Jared nods absently, turning back to the lights and set.

When Jensen hasn’t returned after half an hour, and Jared needs him there to check the lighting, he goes in search of the model. Finds him outside, cigarette in hand, ranting to someone on his phone about how ridiculous this shoot is, and Jared frowns.

Jensen doesn't even notice Jared's there, just continues ranting to the person on the other end of the phone, peppering his rant with a plethora of colorful expletives. Jensen pauses only to light his cigarette, take a drag, then continues.

Jared stares for a moment, shaking his head. He's worked with the diva types before, so he's not surprised by this, but he is surprised that Jensen isn't aware of his presence.

He clears his throat to break the silence. "Ahem. Were you planning on coming back, or......"

"Look, I really don't care what you do in your free time," jared continues smoothly, "but right now, you're on my time, and I'm not getting paid to babysit some pouty little boy." He crosses his strong arms across his chest.

Jensen blinks.

And okay, maaaaybe Jensen's been a bit bratty, but it's not his fault - Jared was ignoring him practically from the moment he arrived, just shoving him around the set like he was a prop or something, and then the first thing the man says is that his haircut sucks? And fuck his manager - "If Jared freaking Padalecki wants to cut your hair, you fucking let him and say 'thank you,'" is not exactly what he'd wanted to hear when he called in.

"I gotta go," he says into the phone before turning to face Jared fully. "My manager says it's a 'yes' for the haircut." Because that was a business call, and Jared has no right to scold him. Jensen knows he's sulking, can feel his lips pouting, and he can't quite stop it.

"Great," Jared says, ignoring the bitable way Jensen's lower lip is sticking out. "You know Gen's? Tell 'em I sent you. I'll tell her what I want. And we'll have to reschedule the shoot - light'll be lost by the time you're done. I'll call your agency and arrange it."

He turns and goes back inside. Jensen's jaw drops.

"Dick," Jensen mumbles, rubbing the back of his neck. So. Apparently he's going to Gen's, then, to get a haircut, for a guy he only just met. Jensen doesn't like this at all. But his manager insisted, and well...the chance to work with Jared Padalecki is one that many people dream of. So he should be appreciative, he supposes.

But does Jared have to be a complete dick to him?

Jensen slips into his jacket, runs a hand over his face, and prepares to leave. Is he supposed to say goodbye to Jared? He isn't quite sure of the proper etiquette, here.

But it had sounded like a dismissal, and he’s not really excited to be treated like a child by the hottest guy he’s ever seen. His hand’s on the doorknob when his phone chirps at him. His agent.

“You better be hauling ass to Gen’s. God, I’m so jealous… do you even know how hard it is to get an appointment there?”

“Hello to you, too, Danneel,” he says.

“If you weren’t so pretty,” she mutters. “Jensen, you got the hottest photographer taking an interest in your appearance. And getting his ridiculously awesome stylist to squeeze you in last minute, and he’s setting up some sort of special photoshoot, and he wants to take some new headshots for you. Do you understand how major this is?”

“What sort of special photoshoot?”

“He just asked if you can drive stick. Unless that’s some innuendo…”

“Pretty sure he hates me.” And damn if that didn’t hurt.

Jensen can almost see Danneel's eye roll when she says,

“Don't be such a drama queen, Jensen.”

“Have you ever met the guy, Dani? He is a complete control freak. He's--”

“The best young photographer in the world, bar none,” Danneel cuts Jensen off. “Not to mention the hottest.” Her voice is insistent, now.

“Do whatever he tells you to do, Jensen. I'm not going to pass up the chance to work with Jared Padalecki. This benefits both of us.”

“All right, all right.”

And then I hear the song again just now and, VOI-FUCKING-LA, the ending changes! Changes so completely that I was chills from head to toe! I had to go add more notes!

Oh, and did I mention how much angst this story is going to contain? I mean, my house rules still stand, but shit. This thing is fucking ripping my heart out, okay?

And don’t even start about how all three WIPs are basically a triptych of May/December Mentor/Protege Praise!Kink stories. I know. I KNOW.

Do you know Lori Petty? Did the two of you cook this up together somehow? I wouldn’t put it past TankedMuse (the Lori-Petty-as-Tank-Girl-shaped Muse that has lived with me for 25 years now) to have reached out, especially since I have been actively AVOIDING the Mirandy fandom because it’s just a little predictable for me, isn’t it? I mean, come on.

Then @xvnot15 posted all those Mirandy fics helpfully broken out by trope/topic. And then @chilly-flame wrote several brilliant hurt/comfort Mirandy fics that I had never read because I was avoiding the entire fandom, and then, well, I was fucked.

So... All of this to say THANK YOU, because this is the first album I have ever in my whole life pre-ordered, which I did because of its absolutely historic nature, and then it turns out it’s freaking brilliant. You’re brilliant. Truly. 

I mean, I knew you were good but this is next level shit.

I have a lot of albums of yours to buy now. Luckily, I have the means to do it, too.

And thank you to @xvnot15 and @chilly-flame, too. Sharp Relief and By Heart were both decadent brilliance and I don’t think I could have reasonably expected stories so perfectly suited to me had I given you the prompts myself.

(And don’t think you’re getting out of anything here, @fictorium. Your AO3 page with all your Mirandy is bookmarked on my iPad, waiting.) 

And finally, thank you to @fullmetalswift, whose post about Folklore and how it was being released let me know it was even a thing. If I hadn’t have seen that post with the link to Taylor’s page, I wouldn’t have pre-ordered the album and I wouldn’t be where I am now - which is basically overflowing with writing ideas, something I legitimately thought was in my past. 

So, thank you. To all of you.