The Road So Far (1/?)

[disneymagic]

Name:  The Road so Far
Author:  Disneymagic
Characters:  Jared, Jensen, Christian, Osric, Aldis, Misha, Chad, Ruth, Rob, Tahmoh, Samantha, JDM, Felicia, Briana
Paring:  J2
Rating:  PG13
Disclaimer:  I do not own and do not profit
Summary:  Jared was beginning to think that, given some time, they could really come together as an awesome band. Sure, they were all very different people - different personalities, different backgrounds, different specializations. And yet, they were also alike in a lot of ways. They had a love of music and performance in common, for one thing. Blending their talents together into a successful group would take effort and a willingness to compromise, not to mention, a lot of hard work, like Tahmoh had told them the first time they met. Jared hoped they had the perseverance to see it through.

Chapter 1

The applause was deafening, so loud it was like being inside a massive wave, swell after swell of tumultuous, concussive sound crashing over him.  It was amazing, absolutely amazing.  And humbling.  The love of their fans never ceased to inspire him.

His heart, fueled by the adrenaline coursing through his system, pounded in time with the fading rhythm from Apocalypse, the concert’s finale, the first song he and JR had written together.  Grin wide, he pointed out at the ocean of faces and made a sweeping gesture meant to encompass them all before splaying his fingers in front of his face and flicking his wrist in the sign for beautiful.  “Beautiful!” He shouted into his microphone.  “You’re beautiful!  Each and every one of you!”

Austin’s sold out Moody Center erupted into impossibly louder cheers, and Jared watched as fifteen thousand people made the sign for beautiful back at him.  He took the moment to look, really look, at individual faces out in the audience.  Their fans were, not surprisingly, predominantly female.  Many were openly crying, others had their hands outstretched toward the band members on stage.  Some even seemed to be swooning, held up by their companions.  The outpouring of love from the crowd was palpable.  Jared wanted to soak it up forever.  After all their hard work; long, exhausting hours of practice, sleeping five to a hotel room, traveling on a ramshackle bus from one tiny venue to the next just to sing and dance their hearts out in front of a handful of people, this response…this adoration…was frankly surreal.

The overwhelming urge to share this moment with the only other people who could possibly understand how he felt submerged him.  Glancing wildly around the large stage, he found JR first.  JR’s face was flushed red, most likely a combination of exertion - their choreography was brutal - and shyness.  As the youngest member of their band, JR was also the hardest working and the most reserved.  Jared felt responsible for all the band members’ happiness and well-being, but especially JR’s.

Bounding over to his best friend, he engulfed the slightly shorter man in a huge hug from behind.  JR leaned back into the embrace, then laughingly extricated himself, shooting Jared a tolerant smile.  “Your overgrown puppy is showing, again, Jare,” he teased into his microphone.  The audience hooted and screamed.  The more caring they were with each other on stage, the happier their fans were, which was fine by Jared who was normally very openly affectionate with his friends.  But pda’s just were not JR’s style at all, like at all, at all.

Not put off in the slightest, Jared grinned and linked their hands together, holding them aloft in triumph to the gusty shouts from their fans.  He sensed rather than saw the other three members come up beside them, forming a single row, hands clasped and raised.  Together, they took a bow, and the stage lights faded to black, signaling the end to the concert.

The crowd continued to scream and cheer long afterwards.

Their fans - their wonderful, supportive, freakin’ awesome fans - didn’t want the concert to end, and Jared understood that feeling.  That feeling of something long awaited being over.  It had been a long, hard road to get where he and the band were right now.  There had been many, twists and turns along the way, forks that could have lead to very different destinations, cliffs that could have ended in certain disaster, but somehow, they had all made it here, together, to this place and this time, and he didn’t want it to ever end.  His life now, their lives, were so fantastical that he still had a hard time believing it was real.  Sometimes it felt like he was only dreaming, or like he was an imposter who had stolen someone else’s life and the real Jared Padalecki would come along to rip it all away from him.  In those times, the only way to reassert reality was to sit himself down and reflect.  Reflect on how he and the rest of the band had gotten here.  Reflect on the road so far.