'It's time for our final panel of the day'
Words which Jensen actually had nightmares about last night, he knew this moment was going to be a tough one and Misha was on the exact same train of thought.
After their almost friendly exchange earlier, both Jensen and Misha had little to do with each other yet again for the rest of the day, going about their separate panels, photos and autographs.
But now was time to put their acting skills to the ultimate test, the joint panel was looming and there was no going back now.
While a few minor words of encouragement and good show of sportsmanship for ten seconds is one thing, this was an hour long (not 45 minutes as Jensen just found out a mere five minutes ago!) panel with each other, on stage in front of a 1000 + fans and both Jensen & Misha had no idea what to expect from each other (depending on the others mood at the time) or the fans (depending on the trying questions they could be faced with).
"I guess this is it" Misha muttered as they both waited on the side-lines, the introduction video playing on stage.
"I guess so" Jensen mumbled in response, refusing to look at Misha for fear he might bolt at any moment.
"Appearing together for the first time on stage, especially for you guys today…please welcome Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins."
The MC's voice echoed through the auditorium and Jensen took the opportunity to lurch forward first when Misha made no sign of moving, watching his co-star take to the stage pushed Misha to stride out after him and the sounds of screaming, whistling, clapping and cheering hit him like an oncoming storm. Dean and Castiel were already the start of a popular on screen duo.
Smiling was an automatic response for Misha because there was no way in hell he could ever get bored of this reaction from fans, it was such an adrenaline rush and he was incredibly honoured to be welcomed into the fandom so quickly.
Jensen blanched slightly at first from the amount of camera flashes aimed in their direction, fans clearly wanting plenty of photos of them both on stage together but he managed to plaster on a bright smile, although Jensen still couldn't understand the fascination fans seem to be building for Dean and Castiel's friendship and yet here the fans were, going crazy at seeing them on stage together.
They both took a seat as the crowd were told to stop flash photography for the time being, this would be the portion of the panel where banter between the guests on stage would take place before answering any questions and yet both of them seemed completely lost, an awkward moment passed but fans didn't seem to notice.
Jensen being the natural he was managed to take them straight onto fan questions without further awkwardness and Misha was internally grateful for that. Any awkward blips they could always brush off as first time con jitters for Misha, if needs be.
The questions progressed for the next 45 minutes, not too many awkward moments and both Jensen and Misha really made an effort to interact with each other as well as the fans, there were no overly friendly or banter worthy moments to note but they included the other in questions and even asked for each other's opinions on certain subjects.
For the most part, they got through it ok with no damage done and managed to scrape by without suspicion from the fans, smiles and amusing light hearted stories about on set antics (mostly including Jared and not each other) definitely helped.
Misha was thankful they managed to go nearly the entire panel now without the twitter mention so far, although the girl that started her earlier question with 'you guys seem like great friends outside of work, always up for a laugh…', he figured that may have been linked to the photo Jared took and noticed Jensen frown very slightly in confusion. But the moment passed and they were on track for a home run.
*15 minutes left* Jensen noted in his head.
They could do this…
So close…
Almost there…
And typically that last 15 minutes was when everything came crashing down.
The final fan stepped up to the microphone and asked the final question of the panel.
"The fans are already shipping Destiel, what are your thoughts about that?"
Jensen frowned in confusion at the question and even risked a glance over to Misha, who met his eyes for a split second before turning back to the fan.
"Jensen looks a little confused…"
"I am." Jensen added.
"…so can you just break it down for him, because I THINK I know what you're implying but maybe just clarify it, you know…in case I'm wrong." Misha stated, handing the floor back to the fan in question.
"So Destiel is a combination of Dean and Castiel, it's a ship…the newest one in the fandom…"
"Wait so, a ship?" Jensen asked curiously and slightly oblivious to the implications.
"A ship…a relationship…Wincest is Supernatural's biggest ship…"
Realisation dawned on Jensen and he gaped slightly, refusing to look in Misha's direction.
"You're talking about slash fics right? Pairing two characters together…romantically?" Jensen asked, wanting confirmation.
The fan nodded in response and Jensen's stomach flipped at the choice of subject.
"I was right but thanks for clarifying…so you wanna know what we think of Destiel as a ship?" Misha asked carefully, his voice a lot more steady than Jensen's.
Once again the fan nodded her yes and Misha took a deep breath, not knowing who should answer first but before he could think anymore, Jensen finally spoke up with a slightly shaky voice.
"Well that's just crazy, you guys think Dean and Cas should be together…seriously? I don't understand that, they're barely friends…at the end of the day, it's not really an existent thing on the show, that's not where writers are going with it so it's hard to discuss something that doesn't occur on the show itself." Jensen explained, his voice growing calmer towards the end and deeming his words final enough that they can move on from the question.
But Misha wasn't done.
"Actually I can see where the fans are coming from, even now and it's only early days. Would it be evident on the show or ever written in? Probably not but the fans are damn creative, I like that you guys are so intelligent that you can create spin off stories and fan art and fan videos…it's awesome, I only know about Destiel via twitter cause you guys are already sending me a bunch of stuff and I like it so far. I haven't read a full fanfic yet and it's a little odd at first but I get it, there is enough tension there that something could happen I guess…it's not entirely crazy."
A large portion of the crowd cheered and applauded at Misha's response, Jensen suddenly felt anger building. The fans were in clear support of Misha's answer and not Jensen's, something that he was finding hard to deal with because in his clouded mind, Misha was making him look bad and more than likely just agreeing with the fans to appease them.
Jensen almost continued the debate but took a deep breath, plastered on a smile instead; adding a small nod as though he appreciated Misha's view and thankfully that seemed to be the end of that discussion as the panel wrapped.
They both exited the stage and soaking up the applause, a huge weight lifting off their shoulders as the dreaded panel was finally over but Jensen was less than amused by those final 15 minutes.
He was still taken back by Misha's response to the final question and was ready to pull him up about it once they exited the stage but as luck would have it, Misha was rushed off to do some final autographs and leaving Jensen's anger to bubble further.
Misha was unaware of Jensen's renewed annoyance, he left for the autograph room feeling accomplished that they both made it through the joint panel without any harm done and Jensen actually did remain civil throughout, it proved to Misha that if they really put the effort in they can work together peacefully in future.
Meanwhile, Jensen paced behind the scenes angrily and Jared bypassed him, not daring to ask why his friend was suddenly so mad again.
"This is just typical Misha, make me look like the bad guy in front of OUR fans and make out that he's on their side when really he's probably got the same opinions on that subject as I do, I'm seriously gonna kick that guys ass…fuckin' dick!" Jensen muttered and rambled, pacing furiously while Jared watched from a distance as his friend did the insane act of having a one sided conversation with himself.
Jared was tuned in, even though he wasn't entirely aware of why Jensen was so angry, it was clear to Jared that the 'civil' act was about to draw to a close and Jensen was about to take that journey over the edge of that rocky cliff.
Jared would just wait for the landing and be ready to pick up some very messy pieces.
