The voice among the stars by maaldas for <user site="livejourn

[springflingmod.livejournal.com]

Title: The voice among the stars
Pairing : Jared/Jensen
Rating: Gen



The voice among the stars

“So, listen, I met Sandra yesterday and asked her about the car, right?” said a blond guy to his dark haired friend.

“And? What did she say?”

“She said her cousin will brought the car back on Monday afternoon.”

“Damn it! I need that car on Sunday, Man! I’ve promised April that I’ll take her to that concert. Now, what am I gonna do?” the dark haired man lamented.

When the two men walked pass a dark alley, a tall guy suddenly emerged from the alley with his phone stucked on his ear. Busy talking into the phone, the guy didn’t see the two of them.

“Hey, man, watch where you’re going!” The dark haired guy snapped at the the tall guy accidentally collided with him.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you. It’s ...” He weakly gestured at his phone. “My girlfriend. She’s angry about something. I’m not really sure what but ...” He’s ended it with a helpless shrug.

Dark haired guy was quickly mollified, considering he too was dreading his own girlfriend’s wrath if he didn’t get a car soon. “Hey, I get it. It’s okay, man. Just becareful, next time.”

“Okay, thanks!” The tall guy smiled and waved at him before continuing his conversation on the phone and walking away.

Some people passed them by and paid them no mind as they walked around them since the three of them had blocked the road. A teenage boy in dark blue hoodie walked behind the blond haired man, swiping his wallet from his back pocket along the way without him knowing.

The teenage boy quickly pocketed the wallet and walked away smirking. Even as he turned the corner of the next block the two men still hadn’t realized that they’ve lost a wallet to a pick pocket. A hand clamped on his shoulder and steered him to a nook behind the dumpster in the next alley.

“Gimme!” asked the tall guy, wriggling his fingers at him.

The boy glowered at him and fished the wallet out of the front pocket of his hoodie. He took the bills out and dumped the wallet into the dumpster. Counting the bills, he gave some of it to the tall guy.

“What’s this?” The tall guy protested with a frown.

“What? I’m the one with the skill. It’s my wallet ‘cause I picked it,” The teenager challenged.

“Yeah? I distracted them. Now, gimme my share, punk!” Taking advantage of his height, he stepped closer to the boy.

Sensing a lost battle, the teenager tried to stall. His eye trained to the fake phone in the tall guy’s back pocket. “Is your radio works?”

“’Course it is! I just got it from the Charlie yesterday. It’s brand new!”

“Gimme your radio and you can have all the money,” The teen bargained.

The tall guy frowned and looked at him weirdly. “What’s wrong with yours?”

“Busted.” The teen shifted his feet impatiently. “Come on, you can get another from Charlie. She got the hots for you, anyway. It’s past eight, man.”

“Fine.” The tall guy took the phone-shaped-radio out and give it to the teen and grabbed all the money from the teen’s hands. “You’re a weird kid, you know.” He counted the money and gave a five dollar bill to him. “Buy some food, kid. Get out of here!”

The teen walked away, fiddling with his new radio when the tall guy called out to him. “Hey, Jared! Aren’t you going back to the shelter tonight?”

“No, bad reception down there. It’s Wednesday night, Tim. Don’t worry, I got a place.” Jared waved the radio at Tim and ran away. Proably to his hiding place, where he usually dissapeared to every Wednesday night.

Tim shook his head. He’d met Jared at the shelter a couple of months back when the kid stumbled in on a rainy night. He didn’t know where Jared spent his other-than-Wednesday-nights before the shelter but ever since he met him, Jared had always had a radio with him that he listened to religiously every Wednesday night at eight PM sharp. He said there was this announcer on the radio that he really liked that told a story every Wednesday night. Tim once teased him if he had a crush on the announcer. Jared didn’t answer but from the red tinge of his ears he knew that that was actually the reason why the kid never missed a Wednesday night
without earphones glued to his ears.
///

Jared winced when the edge of the old iron ladder stabbed into his shoulder in his haste to pull it down. Once it touched the ground, he quickly went up the stairs leaving the ladder to fold back up behind him. Jared had found the old apartment building three months ago after wandering the town for two days. He’d also found an old radio up on its roof that first day and fixed its busted antenna with his shop tools. It was the only good thing his latest foster parents had done for him, buying him a reasonably good set of tool-kit for his shop class when his shop class teacher, nosy that he was, had managed to persuade his foster parents to buy the kit for him because of his good grades on the class. Too bad he wouldn’t be able to attend the class anymore, but he’d rather avoid the beatings if he could.

There was another reason why he chose to spent every Wednesday night on this roof than other places, even the warm safety of the shelter. It was because this roof had the best reception signal to tune into WNY radio station and Wednesday night was ‘Hunter Night’. The first time he got a reception on his old radio (after the antenna was fixed) was the first time he tuned into ‘Hunter Night’. It was a special program created by a WNY announcer called Rocker who told a radio play about two brothers who hunt supernatural creatures every Wednesday night. Rocker also played classic rock songs thoughout his storytelling and Jared was captivated. It also didn’t hurt that Rocker had the most sexy baritone voice that sent his heart aflutter and his dick hard.

Six days ago, Thursday morning after the broadcast, his old radio stopped working. He needed to buy a new radio before Wednesday or stole one, but the problem was instead of radio, people walked around with an IPod, nowadays. Jared had been agonizing for days until he saw Tim’s new radio-phone, which boggles his mind because, well, let’s just say that the bastard wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Jared didn’t know what Charlie saw in him but the fact remained that Tim got a new radio that Jared desperately needed and the stupid dude needed help to get the job done right. So, he offered him a deal that he’d helped him with the job and split the earnings. What Tim needed to do was distracted the mark while Jared robbed them blind. Easy peasy.

Jared heaved his body up the edge of the roof and rolled over. Scooting over to the nearest glass roof window, he turned on his newly acquired radio and dialed the WNY channel. It was half past eight, so the broadcast had been on for a while and Rocker was in the middle of telling the Hunter’s story.

“Sam thinks that it is good for Dean to see his old flame and perhaps giving them both the closure that they need. It’s also clear to him that his brother still harbors feeling towards her. Maybe, just maybe, after all of this revenge business is done, they can go back together. The thought stings a bit but Sam thinks it’s the least he can do for his brother. After all, Dean has done a lot for him, has sacrifices everything for him…” Rocker’s deep and hypnotizing voice droned on, entrancing Jared to lean closer towards the radio.

“No, Sam you can’t let Dean go to her,” Jared whispered his plead.

Rocker had implied about this new character last Wednesday; had said that the brothers would meet someone from Dean’s past. Some of the fans had commented on Rocker’s twitter about their speculation as the announcer read them all one by one at the end of the storytelling. Jared didn’t have a phone, so he couldn’t comment but he wanted, just once to talk to him. He spent nights dreaming about meeting the guy, wondering what he looked like and if his voice was as sexy and charismatic as what it seemed on the radio.

“So, the brothers drive on their beloved Impala with ‘Ramble On’ blasting on the radio,” Rocker said and a few seconds later ‘Ramble On’ played.

Jared leaned his head on the window sill, listening to the classic rock song and watching the stars. The sky was bright that night, sprinkled with stars of many sizes. The light at the apartment below him was dark as it always was whenever Jared was up there on Wednesday night. The tenant probably liked to work late at Wednesday night, so he wasn’t worry of being found out and kicked out of the roof. Jared wrapped his jacket closer and settled for another two hours.

///

Jensen blinked his eyes a couple of times as the dawn break and the sky above his overhead glass roof window got lighter with morning rays. He remembered that he’d gone home earlier last night. Usually, he just slept at the station and went home at nine on Thursday morning; stopping by at the nearest café for a brunch and finally stumbling into his apartment in the afternoon. He wouldn’t be expected to be at the station until Friday afternoon when he hosted another program for the rest of the week, but he’d been feeling ill the last couple of days and decided to just drive home after he finished with the latest episode of the Hunter series before he got worse.

The night air had made his head pounding and his nose watered and he’d sneezed his way up the stairs. Tiredness had made him fumbling with his room key for ten minutes before finally entering the dark room. It had taken him a few more minutes to get used to the darkness before finding the lamp switch. Locking the door and throwing his backpack on the floor, Jensen then made a beeline towards his old fridge. He’d remembered keeping a pack of Advil there. After taking two of them and washing them down with a glass of cold water, he’d thrown himself on his couch and proceeded to sleep the rest of the night off.

Now, he got a crick in his neck and pain on his back but at least his head had stopped pounding. A sound made him frown. There was something on his roof window and it moves. For a second there, he thought that it was probably just birds but then something clattered up there and he saw a head. Quickly sitting up, he peered at the window from different angle and was sure that he saw a person up there, probably peeking inside.

He was rarely at home on Thursday morning before due to his working hour, so he never knew if someone had made it a habit of peeking inside his apartment in the morning. Taking the emergency stair up, Jensen quickly made his way up his roof and found a boy, probably late teen curled up next to his window glass with his head pillowing the window sill.

Jensen cautiously stepped closer and kneeled down in front of him. There was a small radio playing next to his head. He picked it up and recognized the channel as WNY. The station played a playlist that he’d put up last night before he went home. This kid was listening to his program last night until he fell asleep. He looked at the kid’s curled up body, shivering in the chilly morning air and thought how long had this kid snuck up there on top of his roof listening to his story every Wednesday. Did he do it every night or just every Wednesday night?

///

Jared was shaken awake by someone. He could feel their hand grabbed his shoulder and jerked awake in an instant. Having living on the street for the past six months had thought him to stay alert at all times but he didn’t think he’d be bothered there on the roof. He thought the place was safe since he’d always find the apartment below dark and empty, so there was no chance that he’d bothered anyone. Guess he was wrong.

He blinked his eyes and stared at a smiling young guy above him.

“Hey, what’s your name?” asked the smiling guy.

Jared shrunk and scooted backwards a bit. “Uh, sorry, I… I fell asleep.” Then, he turned and looked into the window glass.

“Yeah, I live down there. Never thought that I’d be getting a visitor this morning. Are you here often?”

“Uh…” What could Jared said about that?

“Oh, sorry, let me introduce myself. I’m Jensen and your name is?”

Jared looked at the outstretched hand warily before shaking them tentatively and said, “Jared.”

“Why don’t you come inside, Jared. Get you warm and eat something, maybe?” When Jared just stared at him the guy stood and beckoned him to follow. “After all, you just spent the night on my roof; I probably should charge you for rent.”

Jared saw that the guy got his radio on his hand and it was the only thing Jared owned. Conflicted, Jared stood. “Look, I’m sorry I hijacked your roof but if you return my radio I’ll never bother you again,” Jared half pleaded.

“D’you like to listen to stories, Jared? WNY got a program every Wednesday night that tells a compelling story about bother hunters. The announcer… uhm,” the guy tilted his head as if trying to remember something, “Rocker, I think his name. He’s a good storyteller, ain’t he?” Then, he chuckled and his tone of voice went deeper and lower, much like Rockers. “Don’t you think, Jared?”

And Jared wondered if his wish had come true because he’d recognize that voice anywhere. It was Rocker’s voice. It was his laugh and Jared was about to faint.