Life For Rent

Chapter 6 : Fardels

"Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life;" - Shakespeare, Hamlet

Author's Notes :
- Fardels : burden
- Thank you to everyone who's reviewed. It's much appreciated. And wow, the response to this story has been overwhelming, so thank you all again.
- Twinkies belong to Hostess.

"I hate stake-outs."

Callen looked at Sam. "Since when?"

"Since we've been sitting here for seven hours and the dude hasn't even come out for a cigarette or a lunch break." He gestured through his car windshield to the office building of the guy they were watching.

"Maybe he ordered in." Callen suggested before sliding his lollipop back into his mouth.

"No one has entered the building in three hours. We should know."

Callen pulled the sucker out of his mouth with a popping sound. "Well maybe he's a fan of the vending machine lunch."

Sam groaned. "No one's a fan of that, G."

"I happen to like Twinkies." Callen said with a smirk.

"You would." Sam raised the binoculars towards the building again.

Callen thought about Jared. Jared who he hadn't had time to call in the past two days since he'd last seen the other man. Jared who had texted him exactly nine times, each time bringing a small smile to Callen's face. Jared who would probably be horrified at the thought of anyone eating a Twinkie.

"I think that's our man, G." Sam said hitting the side of Callen's arm. "Let's go."

Callen had already wrapped his sucker back up and was opening his door.

Callen winced as he rolled his body towards the back of the couch. They'd managed to get some information out of the guy he and Sam had been watching earlier that day. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, that information had led to another man suspected of killing a petty officer. The unfortunate part was that he hadn't been willing to come in peacefully and that resulted in the rather colorful display now on Callen's chest and back. Bruises littered his torso. They weren't so deep that it would take more than a few days to heal, but there were enough that laying down wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world right now.

Callen had spent most of the night at the boat house interrogating the suspect with Sam and Nate. It had been 2300 hours before they'd managed to get him to talk after which Callen had called it a day.

He turned back onto his back and stared at the ceiling of the LA headquarters. He tried not to think too much of anything and had almost succeeded when his phone buzzed with a text.

Hey G, you still up? ~ Jared

Callen smiled and fumbled with the small letters on his phone. Texting definitely wasn't his favorite way to converse, but Jared seemed to like it well enough. Yeah.

What time do you have to be at work?

No set time. Callen answered.

If you come over I'll make you breakfast in the morning.

Callen thought about it. Jared's bed was bound to be more comfortable than the couch and a homemade breakfast did sound good. Okay.

It took twelve minutes to get to Jared's and the other man was waiting for him at the door. "Hey." Jared greeted, leaning down.

It took Callen a second to realize that Jared was waiting for a kiss, a hug, something. So he tilted his head up to meet Jared's lips. It was weird and felt uncomfortable and if they had sex tonight it would be the first time in a long time that Callen would have sex with the same person twice. He was a bit like Kensi… never really a second date kind of guy. If there was a date.

"Want something to eat?" Jared asked as he pulled back.

Callen shucked his shoes at the door and let Jared lock up behind him. He surreptitiously slipped his gun into his jacket pocket and hung it up on the coat hook. "I'm good."

"Bed?" Jared asked.

Callen met the other man's eyes. "Bed." He agreed.

"I'm just gonna lock everything up, you remember where it is, right?" Jared asked already heading towards an open window.

"Yeah." Callen went down the hall to Jared's bedroom. He wondered what this was. Last time he checked booty calls didn't come with offers of breakfast in the morning. But he wasn't sure he was ready for more.

Jared's internal clock woke him up. It was early and he had to go meet the delivery guys again. He glanced down at G who had moved away from him sometime during the night and was now so close to the other side that he might fall off. He sighed and swung his legs over his side of the bed, sitting up.

"Jared?" A quiet voice asked, filled with sleep. Then, "Oh, deliveries?"

"Yeah." G's memory was something else.

"You'll be back by eight?"

"Yeah."

"I'll leave a note if I have to go in to work." G told him. He turned his head to face Jared. He looked remarkably young and Jared kept reminding himself that G was older than he was.

"Thanks."

Oh, fuck it, Jared thought to himself. He leaned backwards and over G offering the other man a brief kiss. "I'll make us waffles when I come back." He mumbled against G's lips.

"Sounds good." G replied with a small smile.

Jared hurried through his shower and arrived only seconds before the vegetable guy showed up. He was elbows deep in a box of onions when his phone rang. Jared shifted around until he could extract his arm to answer his phone.

"Hello?" He pressed it between his ear and his shoulder so he could go back to sorting.

"Jared, I'm on my way to your place to drop off those movies I borrowed."

"Lindsey?" Jared asked with a frown.

"Of course." She answered and Jared could practically feel her eyes roll.

"I'm not home." Jared said, pulling out of the onions and moving on to some lettuce.

"I know that. I have a key."

"The key that you were supposed to leave me when you finished redoing my apartment?"

"Sure, we'll go with that. Anyways, I'll just leave them on the counter. Okay, gotta go, love ya!"

"Wai--!" And then there was silence. "Fuck." Jared reached up to grab the phone and dialed Lindsey back.

"Hey, you've reached Lindsey, I'm probably driving and can't answer the phone, leave a message! Thanks."

Jared hung up then dialed G's number.

"Hello?"

"G, hey, remember when I mentioned my friend Lindsey?"

"Decorated your place, lived by you in San Diego." G responded.

"Yeah. She's on her way over to drop something off. I don't think she'll go into the bedroom but I wanted to let you know just in case."

There was a long pause. "Should I leave?"

"No!" Jared answered quickly. "Stay. I'm sorry about all this."

"It's fine."

Jared inwardly sighed. "Okay. I'll be back in about forty five minutes."

"See you then."

"Bye."

"Bye." Callen said, hanging up the phone. He left the bed and went into the bathroom. There was a pile of clothes on the counter with a note.

G,

Sorry I didn't get around to washing your clothes this morning, feel free to borrow these. I hope they fit.

- Jared

Callen shrugged and went over to turn on the shower. He'd borrowed a lot of clothes over the years and Jared was at least close to his size. Callen stepped into the hot stream of water, letting it soothe his aches. He thanked whoever was listening that Jared hadn't seen his bruises in the dark or at least hadn't commented on them. He quickly washed his hair and ran a bar of soap over his body. There was a clean towel hanging by the shower, waiting for Callen when he stepped out.

He was showered and dressed in under six minutes. Callen grabbed his toothbrush that was still in Jared's holder and was rinsing his mouth out when he heard the door open. He winced as he quickly turned the water off hoping Jared's friend hadn't heard it.

Callen slowly exhaled the breath he didn't know he was holding when the door opened and shut again. Having Jared make him breakfast was one thing, meeting his friend was another. Callen left the bathroom, grabbed his phone and went in search of some coffee.

Jared's coffee machine was a little fancier than Callen had ever used and he fiddled around with it until it stopped beeping at him. After loading the coffee and the water in he sat down on a stool to wait. There was a pile of four movies next to him and he flicked through them. They were all comedies, movies that Callen had thought looked potentially funny but had never gotten around to seeing. Maybe now he could.

When the coffee was ready, Callen pouted himself a cup, taking it between his hands. He slowly walked around Jared's apartment examining it more closely than he had a chance to before. Jared was in a few of the surfing pictures, board tucked under his arm. There were a couple of Jared with unknown people. Callen assumed one of them was Jared with his parents and another of him and Lindsey.

Callen had just finished his first cup of coffee and was pouring a second when he heard a key in the front door. He faced it in time to see Jared coming through. Jared had a smile on his face and a look that suggested that he half thought Callen wouldn't be there when he got back. Callen couldn't deny that he had thought about it, but in the end he had no reason not to stay.

"Hey." Jared greeted, hanging up his sweatshirt and shucking his sandals.

Callen nodded a greeting in response. "Coffee?" He asked, holding up an empty mug that he had set aside earlier for Jared.

"Definitely." Callen poured some out for Jared, who took the proffered mug and settled onto a stool. "Lemme finish this cup and then I'll make us some waffles."

"No rush." Callen said, sipping his own drink.

Jared nodded. He turned on the stool to look at Callen. "So, uh, sorry about Lindsey. I didn't expect her to drop by."

"It's fine." Callen assured him.

Jared twisted the mug in his hands. "Did you talk to her?"

"I was in the bathroom." Callen offered truthfully.

"Ah." Jared looked behind Callen and gestured towards the movies. "Have you seen any of those?"

Callen shook his head. "I meant to."

Jared smiled. "Well, when you come over again and we can watch one."

As far as securing more dates went, Callen thought that was a pretty smooth line, if not a bit over-used. "Look, Jared…"

Jared swallowed the coffee in his mouth. "Is this where you tell me that you don't watch movies?" Jared asked and Callen could hear the real question-- Is this where you tell me you don't want to see me anymore?

"I like movies." Callen said with a wry grin. "I'm just not really looking for a relationship."

Jared's eyes bore into Callen's and it felt like years before the other man started to slowly nod. "I think you are." He said, taking another sip of his coffee.

Callen raised an eyebrow. "You do?" He asked with a mixture of skepticism and surprise.

"Yes, I do." Jared confirmed. "I think you're lonely, G." He said more gently. "And I think you don't have anywhere else to go."

Callen frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Jared waved away the question. "It doesn't matter. I really like you." He said honestly. "I think you like me too, otherwise you would have left when I was out that first morning, but you didn't."

"Well, maybe I just wanted a free breakfast." Callen defended.

Jared smiled kindly. "I think we both know that breakfast isn't what kept you here."

Callen stood up. "Look, Jared--"

"Stay." Jared pleaded quietly, reaching out to land a hand on Callen's arm. "We don't have to call it a relationship, we don't have to call it anything; just two guys who like each other having a good time."

Callen shifted uncomfortably and Jared's blue eyes bore into him, asking him to stay. Callen could hear Nate's voice in his head saying things about commitment issues and insecurities left over from foster care and things about an inability to form close attachments to others, to trust.

"For now." Callen agreed, sitting back down on the stool.

"Thank you."