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Cat Scratch Fever (Jared/Jensen) PG (Part 1/2)
Title: Cat Scratch Fever
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Rating: PG
Word Count: 4500
Warnings: AU, creature fic
Summary: Jensen is a catwalker, hired to use his unique gifts to spy on his boss, Mr. Padalecki. When Jared catches him, though, it's Jensen who's in for a big surprise (For the catwalker prompt from
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aomasade for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif){kind=small}
spn_j2_xmas)Happy holidays aomasade and thanks for this fun prompt, hope this hits the spot and warms you up too!
Jensen has always relished the opportunities being a catwalker gives him. It’s rare, being able to do what he does, which makes him feel special – an unfamiliar feeling. When he was a kid, teased for having too many freckles or never the right clothes or because he was nice to the new guy everyone bullied, Jensen could escape as soon as the sun went down – not just from his tormenters, but from humanity itself. He figured out at a young age that his family was from the ‘wrong side of town’, cursed to never have a car that didn’t break down every other week or a dad who didn’t come home drunk every other night or enough food on the table every day. He also figured out that other humans didn’t give a damn, so there was no use asking for help or depending on the kindness of strangers. People inclined their heads while you waited in line at the food bank so they wouldn’t have to see that there were so many who needed that box bad enough to wait in line for it, enduring the shame for the blissful feeling of a full stomach one or two nights out of the month. (After that first night, they parceled it out to make it last, but there was no way not to scoop up those instant mashed potatoes until your tummy bulged the day the box came home).
He shifted for the first time at ten, at first only from a sound sleep. Initially it was terrifying, suddenly looking up at things he was used to being at eye level for, but soon enough Jensen realized the benefits. He snuck into grocery stores through open loading dock doors in the middle of the night and left carrying a bag of Clementines in his mouth, running so fast the bag burst and he lost most of them that first time, high on adrenaline and the exhilaration of finally getting one up on someone instead of being one down.
His parents never knew. Nights he came home with bite marks and scratches from literal cat fights, he got up in the morning and said it had been Tommy Green in the school yard the day before, and Tommy had thrown the first punch. If food sometimes appeared and nobody knew where it came from, no one was foolish enough to question it; their family didn’t get breaks like that. Later, Jensen got good at making a commotion as people were checking out of some local store, wallet in hand, a tawny cat that came out of nowhere tangled up in people’s legs and yowling. If someone’s wallet was mysteriously gone after, nobody suspected the stray cat.
By the time he was 20, Jensen could shift at will. He was careful not to do it too often, fingernails digging into his palms sometimes to stop himself when the humans around him were so annoying he couldn’t bear it. By the time he was in his mid twenties and living on his own, making do with jobs that never quite paid enough and supplementing it with the occasional grocery store pickpocketing, his create-a-disturbance-and-pickpocket-an-asshole ended with Jensen scooped up by a scowling man with a grip like iron. Jensen howled his rage and scratched and bit, but the guy didn’t let go and next thing he knew, Jensen was in a cage.
“I know what you are,” the man said, as Jensen lashed his tail back and forth and hissed. “Been watching you. I’ve got an offer for you, catwalker.”
Jensen’s eyes went wide. There were so few of them that most people assumed it was just a myth. Not this guy.
“An offer of employment,” the guy continued. “One that I think you’ll find very generous.”
Jensen sat back dumbfounded; no one had ever figured it out before. No one had ever offered him that kind of money before either.
He started working for Edgar the next day.
That’s how Jensen ended up, in human form, getting a job as an entry level clerk with Mantra Tech. Edgar had intel that Mantra was close to a patent for an anti-aging formula that would be very valuable indeed, but the company guarded their secrets like they were life and death and nobody could get near them. Except, of course, Jensen. In cat form.
According to Edgar, the founder and CEO of Mantra was a Mr. Jared Padalecki. He was, by all accounts, a calculating businessman, but he also had a reputation for being a bit of a softie. Donated part of the company’s profits, contributed to employees’ daycare expenses. And his favorite charity? Animal rescue and rehabilitation – especially big cats. Edgar disparagingly called him “Tiger King”, which made Jensen roll his eyes. Still, the pay Edgar was offering for this job was more than Jensen had ever dreamed of, so who cared what Padalecki liked or didn’t? He had plenty of money; Jensen didn't.
His third day on the job, Jensen ran into Mr. Padalecki in the hallway of the Mantra HQ building. It was a week before Christmas, and the boss was whistling some silly song about Jingle Bells and looking at his phone, which explains why he ran right into the new employee carrying a stack of boxes filled with decorations for the holiday party.
“Whoa, shit, sorry!” Padalecki apologized, then straightened up, eyes wide, as he realized that Jensen had managed to catch every single box before they fell. Cat-like reflexes and all that.
“Wow, you’re – um, coordinated.”
To his annoyance, Jensen felt himself blushing. His boss was taller than he was – and Jensen was no slouch at over 6 feet – and alot more attractive than his interview photos suggested. They both stood there, way too close together, for a long moment, before Padalecki took a self conscious step back.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. I wasn’t watching where I was going. Is this stuff for the party? Oh, sorry, I’m Jared. Are you new here?”
Jensen nodded, wondering why his boss seemed flustered. People in power usually knew how to wield it, and that meant taking the upper hand and keeping it.
“I am, it is, and it’s okay. And I know who you are, Mr. Padalecki.”
If Jensen had had his tail at the moment, it would have been swishing back and forth. People in power were so annoying.
Padalecki smiled. He even had annoying dimples. His too-long hair was half in his eyes, and he pushed it back behind his ear as he answered.
“Call me Jared. And you are?”
Jensen sighed. No way to avoid a direct question.
“Jensen.”
“Nice to meet you, Jensen. Welcome to Mantra. Everything going okay so far?”
“Peachy,” Jensen answered, and saw the expected surprise in Padalecki’s – Jared’s – eyes. Subordinates don’t usually talk back, especially with their arms full of boxes, but Jensen had never been good at being subordinate. Unless it was for fun.
“Oh, uh, okay, well, if you need anything…”
Jared trailed off and Jensen smirked a little. Upper hand relinquished then. Heh.
“Thanks, Jared,” he said pointedly and then continued down the hallway. Padalecki’s eyes no doubt followed him. Those eyes were a wild kaleidoscope of colors, slightly slanted in a way that Jensen had to admit was attractive. Catlike even.
Stick to the plan, Ackles, he reminded himself. No fucking around with the boss when you’re spying on him. Even if, as Jensen sort of suspected, Padalecki might have been thinking a little bit about that himself.
Two days later, Jensen waited until the cleaning crew arrived at midnight and snuck into Jared’s office in cat form, easily making sure that the already-exhausted-and-just-starting-her-second-job woman didn’t notice. He curled up beneath Jared’s imposing desk and waited.
At 8 am sharp the office door clicked open and Jensen watched Padalecki’s long long legs stalk around the office, pulling a book from the large bookshelves that lined the office and then sitting down to unpack his backpack. Jensen found it amusing that Jared didn’t carry a briefcase like the stereotypical boss; probably a calculated thing that he thought made him ‘relatable’. Jensen almost snorted and gave himself away at the thought.
“Hey Chad,” Jared said, picking up his cell as he settled in at his computer. Jensen listened to the log in, memorizing the number of digits in case it would be helpful, but hoping that he’d be able to find what he needed today while Jared was still logged on.
“Fine, fine. Are you gonna drop by the holiday party tonight?”
There was the sound of typing, then the scratch of writing with a pen as Jared listened to whoever Chad was. Then suddenly Chad’s voice, as Jared put his cell on speaker.
“…think he’ll be there? I just wanna catch a glimpse of this Adonis you can’t shut up about. If he’s anywhere near as drop dead gorgeous as you said, I might try to get his attention myself. I mean, nepotism is wrong, Jared.”
“Fuck you, Chad,” Jared said good naturedly.
“We tried that, didn’t work out, better as friends,” Chad returned, equally pleasant.
Oh, Jensen thought. Mr. Padalecki swings that way. Huh. He had to admit, the picture of Jared, with those long long legs wrapped around another guy and that slim waist naked, with his fitted button-down discarded on the floor…
“I gotta go,” Jared’s voice came above him, and Jensen shook his head to clear it. Concentrate, Ackles, you’ve got work to do here.
The rest of the morning was boring as hell, Jared working silently for the most part, Jensen trying to stay completely still and not give himself away. Finally as lunch time rolled around, there was a knock on the door and Lauren, Mr. Padalecki’s assistant, admonished him for being late for a lunch meeting.
“Shit, got caught up in finalizing some of the distribution plans. Okay, on my way.”
Jensen grinned as much as his cat face could manage it. Jared hadn’t logged out; it was Jensen’s lucky day. He waited until he heard the sound of the lock on Jared’s office door, then unwound himself and made his way out, stretching to his full length before shifting back to human form. He sat down in Jared’s still-warm executive chair, the leather chilly on his bare back, and took a moment just to savor it, sitting behind that big desk in that big office with its picture windows overlooking downtown. Some people didn’t know how lucky they were.
That moment of envy turned out to be Jensen’s undoing. He was so lost in thought he only heard the door lock snap a second before it opened, so when Jared walked back into the room, he was confronted with the surprising sight of a large tawny cat with bright green eyes sitting in his desk chair.
“What the—“ Jared exclaimed, and walked over toward Jensen, who was internally freaking out while trying to look as innocent as a cat can be.
“How the hell did you get in here?” Jared asked, and for a minute, Jensen thought he was about to be unceremoniously (and perhaps a bit too roughly) picked up and evicted. He arched his back as Jared approached, showing his fangs and hissing loudly.
“Whoa whoa, it’s okay, I’m not gonna hurt you,” Jared said, like Jensen was a skittish little kitten and not a perfectly capable tom cat. When Jared reached for him, Jensen’s paw shot out and caught him on the fleshy part of his palm, claws getting some nice purchase before Jared yanked his hand away.
“Ow, fuck!” Jared retreated, holding his wounded hand close to his chest.
Jensen smirked as much as was possible, and busied himself with licking his paw-slash-weapon, cleaning the droplets of Jared’s blood left there. He twitched his tail, going for casual, and looked up at Jared with his most innocent expression, letting his too-green eyes go wide.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were batting your eyelashes at me,” Jared muttered, pacing back and forth and staring at Jensen. “That’s not gonna work.”
Jensen cocked his head, daintily cleaning his other paw, still the picture of innocence.
“Look, just let me,” Jared tried, and as soon as he came a little closer, Jensen let his claws come out again. Casual like. Just reminding Jared that he wasn’t defenseless. Far from it.
To Jensen’s surprise, Jared snorted a laugh. “Okay okay, I get it. You’re a badass. Stay here then, I’ll be back.”
Jensen couldn’t believe his luck. He had to work fast; he didn’t even take the time to shift back, trying to memorize what was on Jared’s computer screen before he ran out of time. So this time when Jared swung the door open faster than Jensen thought possible, he found a cat staring at his computer.
He also moved so fast that Jensen was caught off guard, and before he knew it, there was a collar around his neck.
“Yawwwww,” Jensen screeched, trying to claw the thing off him, launching himself off the desk and onto the floor in the process. He tried with front paws and back legs to dislodge it, but the thing wouldn’t budge. It was flexible, but without actual hands, it wasn’t going anywhere and Jensen didn’t dare shift back and give his identity away. He thought about launching himself at Jared and trying to claw his eyes out.
“I don’t know what’s going on here,” Jared said, “but until I figure it out, you’re not going anywhere, buddy. That collar is electrified. Leave this office and it’ll zap the crap outta you. I can’t guarantee it won’t permanently… disable… you, in fact.”
What the fuck?
Jensen stared, narrowing his eyes to rageful slits and hissing as loudly as he could.
“I don’t know who – or what – you are,” Jared said from across the office, “but it’s clear you’re trying to steal from me, so I’m gonna find out. If you are what I think you are, you can save us both a lot of time by just shifting back so I can have you arrested.”
Shit. He knows. How does he know? What the hell, another person who figured it out??
It’s not like catwalkers are unknown, but to most people, they’re more a myth than a reality. Most people will never encounter a catwalker in their lifetime, and if they do, they won’t know it. Jensen has always used that to his advantage. Not this time.
Jensen tossed his head and twitched his tail, pretending to be clueless.
“Have it your way,” Jared said, and sat down to work. He pointedly did not pull up any confidential information related to the formula, however.
Jensen tried to ignore him. He sat in a corner for hours, refusing to move, licking his paws and twitching his tail. By 3 pm he was so bored, he was beside himself.
Jensen yawned, and Jared looked over at him. “Ready to talk yet?”
Jensen glared.
Jared sighed and turned back to his work.
Jensen grew more and more bored and more and more annoyed. He leapt to the top of the bookshelves and casually swept a little knickknack off the shelf. It clattered to the floor and Jared spun around in his chair to glare.
“Cut that out.”
Jensen shrugged as if to say, make me, and pushed a little potted cactus off next. The sand spilled out of its container all over the expensive rug.
“Okay, that’s it,” Jared said, and stalked over toward Jensen.
Now this was fun, Jensen thought.
Jared reached out to grab him, surprisingly agile for his size, but Jensen managed to elude him, leaping – incredibly gracefully if he didn’t say so himself – to the next bookshelf. He scrambled to right himself on the slick wood surface, and managed to sweep a whole stack of books off the shelf in the process. Bonus!
“Ohmygod, you asshole!” Jared yelled, and bounded after him. The chase was on!
A six and a half foot tall human was no match for an agile cat, as Jared soon found out. In the process of trying to grab Jensen repeatedly, Jared knocked over the lamp on his desk and the potted tree in one corner of the office before he gave up.
“You little bastard,” Jared swore, plunking himself back in his chair after picking up the lamp and righting the tree.
Jensen watched him from the far corner, safely behind one of the overstuffed visitor chairs. Jared sighed and went back to work.
Jensen regarded him with satisfaction from the chair.
By 4 pm, Jensen was bored again. And getting pretty damn hungry. He emerged from his hiding place and casually began scratching at the arm of the chair, his claws on the fabric making a satisfying tearing sound
.
“Are you kidding me?” Jared rolled back in his chair and glared at Jensen. Jensen stared back, implacable, and continued clawing the undoubtedly expensive chair.
Jared threw a paperweight across the room at him. It narrowly missed his head, and Jensen leapt backwards, yowling in surprise.
“Shit, did I hit you?”
The next thing Jensen knew, Jared was across the room and grabbing for him. This time he managed to get his hands on Jensen’s back and almost pick him up.
But Jensen was a cat, after all. He squirmed away, out of Jared’s grasp, and fled to the other side of the office.
“Jesus Christ, you’re gonna be the death of me,” Jared muttered. He gave Jensen a withering look and then sighed and went back to work. Jensen had to admit the guy was persistent.
The next time, Jensen waited until Jared was on the phone. Hopefully with an important customer. He tentatively tested out the floor-length curtains on Jared’s picture windows, beautifully framing a spectacular view of the city. Jensen sank his claws in and smirked. This would work. By the time Jared looked up, Jensen had climbed almost to the top and was now swinging precariously as his weight yanked the material loose from its rings one ring at a time. Pop…pop….pop...
“What the?” Jared said, looking alarmed, then “I – uh, gotta go”. He slammed the phone down just as the curtain rod gave way, and Jensen (along with Jared’s undoubtedly expensive curtains) came crashing down to the floor. Jensen skittered away, snickering. Jared’s heavy feet came after him, but Jensen slipped away again. If he hadn’t been so hungry, Jensen might have considered this a lot of fun. But he was hungry. VERY hungry.
“You know,” Jared said, as Jensen balanced himself on the top of the bookshelf. Jared looked up with those multi-colored pretty eyes of his narrowed in annoyance. “I can do this all night.”
He picked up his phone and ordered a cheesesteak and fries and a milkshake, and then, because he clearly was a bastard, a side order of fried shrimp in a basket. When it was delivered, he stood in front of the door and opened it carefully so Jensen couldn’t try escaping (he didn’t want to fry himself anyway, so…) and then sat down at this desk and fucking savored every bit of his meal.
Jensen couldn’t help the sad mewl as his sensitive nose picked up the delectable scent of seafood and milkshake. Both his human self and his cat self were hungry and thirsty and rapidly becoming just plain miserable. Why had he agreed to this stupid job?
“What’s the matter, buddy?” Jared taunted. “You hungry?”
Jensen hissed, arching his back to look as menacing as possible
.
Jared’s lip quirked. He was a handsome sonofabitch, Jensen thought with annoyance.
“Suit yourself,” Jared said, and dug into his food that smelled like the best meal in the universe.
7:30 pm came and went and Jared and Jensen were still at a standoff. Jensen was starving and cranky and Jared was tired and equally cranky.
“Well, I’m going home,” Jared finally announced. “I’ll have one of the security guards come up and keep you company to be sure you don’t get into any trouble.”
Oh great. It was bad enough that Jared wouldn’t leave him alone in the office to get the formula, now he was stuck here for the night – food and waterless no less – with some stranger who probably relished his position of “power” and would be all too happy to take it out on a feline. Fuck.
“Change your mind?” Jared asked, packing up his backpack and pointedly turning off his computer.
Jensen glared down at him from the top of the bookshelf. Was Jared really going to leave him here with no food or water? It was an old ingrained fear that bubbled up at the thought, and Jensen fought to swallow it down.
Jared sighed and pulled out his phone to call the guard, and Jensen panicked.
“Rawrrrrr” he yowled from the bookshelf, and prepared to launch himself. He was aiming for the visitor chair, but his back feet went out from under him at the last minute on the slick wood surface and instead he careened down the front of the shelves, books slipping to the front all at once, and the combined weight of cat and books knocked the entire shelving unit off balance. Jensen squeaked as it tipped over, scrambling to get out from under, and had a moment of shit I’m gonna die smashed by a fucking bookshelf, before there was a blur of movement and he felt himself yanked through the air by something gripping tight around his neck. The momentum tossed his body back and forth and Jensen found himself dizzy and disoriented as the floor rushed up to meet him.
Part Two
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