Title: Sincerity Is Key.
Fandom: Supernatural.
Pairing: Jo/Balthazar.
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 1324
Spoilers: If you know who Balthazar is, you're good.
Warnings: None.
Feedback: Yes please.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything even remotely related to Supernatural.
Beta: None for this one.
Notes: Another super rare pairing. Just because. And OMG, het! I must be ill. And yes, I know they're both technically dead. Pfft. Details.
Summary: Balthazar puts the moves on Jo. Because he can.
Link to this fic on LJ and on DW. and on AO3.
“You're kidding,” Jo said, her beer frozen half way to her lips.
“Swear to... well, you know,” Balthazar said, winking lewdly.
Jo squinted at him before finally letting her beer meet her mouth and taking a long swig. “No, I don't buy it. It's a self-contradiction. I just can't believe that the best way to schmooze someone is to be honest. The whole idea of sweet-talking is to lie!”
Balthazar frowned for a moment before suddenly laughing low and intimate. “My dear girl, I think your mother has been a little too vigilant in her battle to keep your innocence intact.”
“Pfft. She failed. But seriously, I work in a bar. I've heard every empty compliment there is.”
“Ah, but none of those ever worked, did they?”
Jo considered it for a long moment. “No. Not really.”
Balthazar beamed. “My point exactly. For your compliments to be effective, they must be sincere.”
Pondering this statement, Jo finished her beer before turning on her stool to face him. “All right. Prove it. Give me a sincere compliment.”
“Just like that?” he asked, blinking innocently. “What's in it for me?”
“Well what's usually in it for you when you turn on your charm?” Jo asked, challenging.
Balthazar's eyes widened in mock concern. “Your mother is right over there!”
“So?” Jo said, sticking out her chin. “She might not like it, but she can't actually control what I do.” She leaned closer, her eyes twinkling. “So gimme your best shot, Casanova.”
“Weeell,” Balthazar smiled. “In that case, the game is on, as they say.” He drained his drink and then slid smoothly off his stool, ending up almost shoulder to shoulder with Jo, and then leaned casually on the bar, facing her.
For a long time, he simply watched her, his face friendly, but neutral, and Jo waited patiently for whatever was coming. His blue eyes traveled slowly across her features, but never descended below her shoulders. Eventually his eyes settled on hers, and he smiled warmly at her.
“It never ceases to astound me...”
“What does?” Jo asked, grinning crookedly at the somewhat cheesy opening.
“How much strength you humans have packed into your fragile bodies,” he concluded, shaking his head minutely, looking like it truly was a mystery to him.
Jo blinked. She hadn't expected that.
“The reason you people manage to kill so many powerful things, is because all other beings always underestimate your kind,” he continued, still meeting her gaze steadily.
“And you...” he trailed off, as if unsure.
“What?” Jo found herself asking, before being able to stop herself.
Balthazar leaned in just a fraction, blinking his eyes slowly. “You... so young, and yet already so hardened by life.”
Jo frowned and looked away. “I thought the idea was to compliment me.”
Reaching out carefully to nudge at her chin with the back of his forefinger, Balthazar coaxed her eyes back on him. “I can think of no greater compliment than that, for someone so tired of being judged too weak or too innocent for everything we both know you're more than ready for.”
Eyes widening, Jo stared at Balthazar before pouting. “You're reading my mind or something.”
“Not at all,” he murmured. “I've been reading your face and listening to your words for the past half hour. It's clear for anyone to see that you're perfectly ready to fly, but your wings are clipped.”
Jo felt her throat dry up and swallowed harshly. Balthazar leaned in closer, slowly and cautiously, as if afraid to scare her off, until his lips were right by her ear. “You should be set free,” he whispered, his breath hot on her skin and she shivered unconsciously. “You should be allowed to spread your wings wide. To soar on the winds. You'd show them all...”
“Show them all what?” Jo breathed, her eyes falling closed from the words washing over her ear.
“How high you can go. How far you can reach. How bright you shine.”
He was so close. Jo could feel the heat from his skin right next to her cheek and she found herself leaning into it before shaking herself out of her stupor and pulling away from him. He let her distance herself, and met her gaze calmly when she finally raised her eyes to his again.
“Okay, fine. You've made your point. I still don't like the idea of telling people what they want to hear, just to get them into bed,” Jo argued, feeling shaken and somewhat vulnerable. Balthazar had managed to push the exact buttons to make her emotional.
To her surprise, he didn't fall back to his normal role of smooth seducer. Instead his face fell and he looked genuinely concerned. “That's not the idea at all. I don't think you do understand my point.”
“Then enlighten me,” Jo snapped, not happy with being laid bare like that.
Balthazar took her hand in both of his, making Jo's eyebrows shoot upwards in her surprise. “My dear girl. I meant every word. And I wasn't just saying what I thought you wanted to hear.”
“Yeah, right-”
“No, listen to me,” he interrupted. “When you see someone who appeals to you, and you wish to get closer, in whatever manner suits you, all you have to do is tell the object of your interest what you see in them. When most patrons of this bar tell you how sexy you are, it's because that's what they see. A pretty face and a pleasing figure. I see so much more in you.” He smiled slyly. “A perk of being a celestial entity. Seeing beyond the surface.”
Jo looked into his eyes for a long time, seeing nothing there but honesty and that undefinable shimmer of his angelic grace swirling behind his irises. Finally she smiled stiffly and carefully extracted her hand.
“Yeah, well... thank you, I guess. For telling me something nice. Even if it was just a dare.”
She started when he suddenly chuckled. “Oh, Joanna-”
“It's Jo,” she protested. “Only my mom calls me Joanna. And usually she's pissed when she does.”
“All right then. Jo,” he corrected, his eyes shining with mirth. “For someone so clever you really can be horribly dim.”
“Gee, thanks,” she said acidly.
“Come on, now. Think about it. I told you what I would say to someone who appealed to me. Then I said it to you. Make the connection, darling.”
Jo blinked and then dropped her jaw. “No way...”
Balthazar just smirked and winked at her. She pursed her lips and asked incredulously: “So you really did come over here to put the moves on me?”
“Guilty,” he replied, looking nothing of the sort.
In a flash she hopped off her stool and punched him hard in the shoulder. She knew enough about angels to appreciate how he rolled with it, so it wouldn't feel like she was hitting concrete, but she was still a little pissed at him.
“That was for being a dick,” she explained, before taking a firm hold of his ridiculous v-neck shirt and dragging him from the bar and into the apartment behind it, where she and Ellen lived. As soon as the door slammed behind them, she reached up and yanked his head down to her and kissed him hard. The room was dark, and she was breathing harshly by the time she released him and pulled back far enough to meet his liquid eyes in the faint light from the window.
“What was that for, then?” he purred, clearly happy with the turn of events.
“That was for being right,” she said, before pulling him down to her again, this time for a much softer kiss.
End
Read the sequel: Sincerity Is Still Key After The Lights Go Out.