You let me believe you were someone else Part 3 - Hide the memories of yourself
Title: You let me believe you were someone else
Author: Mark_angel01
Rating: PG13 for now will go higher eventually, warnings will be put before the chapter though.
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Characters: Jared, Jensen, Chris Kane, Tom welling, Mike Rosenbaum, Sophia Bush, Chad Murray, Sandy McCoy, Steve Carlson, Jeffrey Morgan, OFC, OMC.
Warning: This is male/male pairing so if you don't like then please leave, it is AU and the boys are 16, very low rating to start but will eventually get higher, so may be underage depending on where you live. There will be violence in future chapters but I will warn before a chapter.
Disclaimer: If I owned them I would force them to admit their love for eachother, which is so obvious, sadly i do not even own a strand of their hair.
Summary:
"Your secrest did this .... you did this. You let me believe you were someone else ..... I feel like I don't even know you.
Jared is 16 and hiding a dark past, Jensen is drawn to him, what will happen when secrets are revealed. Read to find out.
Story notes: My wonderful Beta reader is Basez dreams, any mistakes left are my own doing.
This is going to be a long story, I have some chapters written and will post weekly so there is not a long time between updates.
This Chapter is dedicated to kes1807 who really helped out with the layout of my journal and made it look great with her icons and cool banner, thanks a ton babe couldn't have done it without your help. *hugs*
Chapter 3 - Hide the memories of yourself
Song: Broken by Seether
Jared ignored the knock at his door, hoping that whoever it was would take the hint and go away. He just wanted to avoid everyone at all cost, which he knew would be next to impossible, but he had hoped it would last a little longer. He had known that it would be easier said than done. Part of him wished they had just put him in a secure unit; at least he wouldn't have a therapist bugging him every five minutes.
He dropped the pile of clothes on the bed at the same time a second knock sounded on his door. He took his time opening it, his leg slowing him down some. He let out a sudden curse as he stumbled the last few steps, his body hitting the door causing him to bounce off it and drop to the floor. He could feel the pain radiating through his arm and leg as he landed on his ass and bit back a groan of pain. The last thing he needed was to...
"Fuck!" Too late; the cavalry has arrived. He fully expected Laurie to be the one walking into his room, so when he saw Jensen, he froze for a moment, staring up at him confused.
******
Jensen was getting impatient as he waited for the door to be opened. He wouldn't admit this, but, he wanted to spend some time with Jared before Chris showed up and made it awkward. It took him a few moments of hesitation when he heard the loud bang, but soon decided he needed to see if the Jared was ok, privacy be damned.
He couldn't help the smirk as he looked down at Jared. He obviously wasn't hurt, other than his injuries he already had, so he decided teasing was allowed.
"No need to fall at my feet, man. I just came to offer some help." Jensen tried to ignore the nervous energy jumping around inside him as he held out his hand to the guy sprawled at his feet.
Jared could only stare for a few minutes, wondering if this would get old soon and would be able to see Jensen without turning into a slobbering moron. He couldn't escape the smirk and the way he was offering help, but then Jared remembered what Jensen thought about him. Pity party. So instead of taking the offered hand like he wanted to, he focused on the fact that this pretty boy thought he was a pathetic loser.
"I can do it myself,” he growled, pushing himself up. “Not fucking helpless." He tried to ignore the pain that shot through his wrist as he put pressure on it, but felt the colour drain from his face none-the-less. He somehow managed to get himself up and stumbled back to the bed, cradling his arm protectively against his chest. It really fucking hurt.
He wanted Jensen to leave him alone. It was bad enough he thought he was a loser, let alone seeing him on the floor like that. And now he may just cry from the pain in his wrist. Fucking great.
He bit hard on his lip and took some deep breaths, letting the pain wash over him in waves until he could get past the sharpness of it. He used to try meditating with Sandy, but he was never much good at it, as he always had too much energy to sit still. Now ,though, as he took more deep breaths, he felt himself relaxing and he could focus past the throbbing in his wrist. He then he remembered that Jensen was still standing there watching him.
"What do you want?" He no longer sounded angry, just tired.
Jensen was shocked at the deep growl that had come from the big guy. He had backed off and watched Jared get himself up off the floor. He couldn't understand what he had against being helped up; sure it's embarrassing to fall over, but everyone does it. He didn't miss the way he was holding his arm already in a cast and wondered if he should get Laurie. He was about to shout for her when he watched a peaceful expression cross Jared's face, making him freeze to the spot. He hadn't realised until now how haunted the other boy looked. Now he was taking deep breaths and looked like he may be meditating. Jensen was enraptured and in that moment, he didn’t want to see that look vanish.
He almost jumped at Jared’s question and could see him wiggling his fingers now, testing them out. He watched the hard mask fall into place as Jared looked at him with an unmistakable question of ‘well?’ clear in his eyes. He really hated that cold, hard look on Jared’s face and wanted the peaceful look back instead.
"Er…" Real smooth, Ackles. He rubbed the back of his neck for a few seconds, looking round the room. "I just came in to see if you needed any help. You have tons of shit to unpack."
Jared just shrugged and slowly stood, trying to ignore the apologetic tone in the other guys voice. Probably only came in here because Laurie asked him to. He went back to unpacking his clothes, ignoring the twinges of pain. "Well thanks, but I can manage just fine."
Jensen knew a brush off when he saw one and just smirked to himself. Yeah, like getting rid of me is going to be that easy? You wish. So he returned the shrug. "Sure you can, but doesn't mean you have to." With that, he grabbed a box and began emptying things out, finding places for each item. "How come you have so much stuff with you?."
Jared wanted to tell Jensen to back the Hell off, but pushed that down inside. Getting worked up wouldn't help; besides, Jensen had seen too much of him already. He needed to keep calm and ignore him. Easier said than done.
Jared looked at Jensen and said, "because I’m moving in." He then went back to ignoring him. Yeah, he had lots of stuff, but that was because his entire room had been cleared out. He knew it wasn’t so he had all his home comforts. No; it was his families way of saying you’re never coming home, Jared.
Jensen brushed the sarcasm off and allowed Jared to ignore him. He got that Jared probably wanted to be quiet, and he appreciated that. So they worked in silence for a while, unpacking a box at a time. He kept stealing glances at Jared, who was oblivious to him. He wanted to be able to take a good long look at him, even though he couldn't say what he found so fascinating. He had seen plenty of good looking guys over the years, but no one had gotten his attention like this or he would have bit more experience.
It wasn’t that he was picky or anything; he just hadn’t found anyone he had been interested in. Basically, he was just more reserved than his friends, like Mike and Tom, although that wasn't saying much. But he was attracted to Jared, and he was confused as to why he felt like this so suddenly. He barely knew him, if at all, and yet here he was.
He was sorting through a box when Jared's voice cut into his thoughts.
"That's for storage."
Jensen looked down at a box full of medals, trophies and photos. "You don't want any of this stuff out?" A quick shake of the head was all he got and he looked at a trophy for basketball. "You used to play?"
"I used to; not anymore." Truth was, Jared used to adore the game, played all the time when he could. Not now, though; it was all over.
"How come? Were you any good?" Jensen seemed genuinely curious.
Jared frowned; God didn't he give it a rest? "I used to be ok."
"So you going to join the team here? My friend Tommy’s on the team.” Jensen paused to look up at Jared. “He’s almost as tall as you,"
Jared could feel himself getting annoyed with the questions and suddenly snapped. "I can barely walk, how do you suggest I play sports?" He knew it was unfair, but it was a sore spot for him. He used to love the game and now, well, now it was all shot to Hell.
"Sorry, but…you shouldn't give up, you know?" Jensen looked at him then and smiled. "I'm sure your leg and arm will heal eventually."
Jared narrowed his eyes at that. "Didn't realise you knew better than the doctors that told me I won’t ever heal enough to play sports again."
Jensen paused what he was doing. At least he looked guilty, or was that pity? Sure. Whatever. Feel pity for the poor cripple. "Don't say sorry; I don't need your pity." Jared met the other boys eyes and felt satisfied at the slight blush on his cheeks at that word.
"I don't feel that way." Jensen denied, ignoring the flush in his cheeks.
Jared shrugged, not sure why he was even talking to him anymore. "Whatever." He walked back to his wardrobe, ignoring Jensen’s existence.
Jensen felt like an ass. Not only was his foot firmly wedged in mouth from the comment about ‘not giving up’, but he had the impression that Jared had overheard him earlier. He looked at the trophy and then at Jared’s injured leg. It seemed so unfair that someone so young would lose the ability to play sports. Jared seemed pissed at him, not that he blamed him, but it didn't sit well with him. He figured he better quit, for now at least.
He decided he would help with the last box, then put some of them into storage for him. Maybe he could try later. It wasn’t like Jared could escape him.
As he was putting some books into the bookcase, he tried to not laugh out loud at the Harry Potter collection. He had nothing against the books, but somehow they didn't suit Jared's gloomy demeanour, and this, apparently, struck him as funny.
He bent down as something fell out the books and picked up what looked like a bookmark at first, but then he noticed it was a strip of 4 photos, obviously taken in a photo booth. They were of a blond haired guy, a very pretty girl and a hot guy with brown hair and dimples to die for. It took him a few moments to realise the guy was the same guy standing across the room from him, only he wasn't all banged up or shut down. He looked happy and carefree and breathtakingly beautiful.
He felt himself blushing at that thought; he had never thought of a guy looking that way, but it didn't make it any less true. Jared's eyes were lit up and he was laughing with the two friends, his big grin causing the cutest dimples. He had his arm around the blond guy, and the girl on his knee. They all looked close and happy and comfortable with each other as they pulled faces and did bunny ears. He felt a twinge of jealousy as he realised the girl was probably Jared’s girlfriend.
"Are we done?" Jared was suddenly close to him and Jensen jumped a little, startled out of his thoughts.
"Oh hey, man, I found some photos." He held out the pictures to Jared who was frowning and Jensen was sure he had gone white. "Are you OK ?"
Jared just stared for a moment. "Just put them into the box with the other photos."
Jensen didn't miss the fact that everything in said box should be taking pride of place on the shelves, not kept hidden away. Jensen realised they were all memories, items that were collected to remind people of happy times and what they had achieved. He looked at the withdrawn boy before him and thought of the photo. What the hell happened to him to make him so broken?. It made him feel cold, as he knew it had to be something big. Jared had obviously been hurt, hurt so bad that the smile had been erased from his eyes. Jensen had never wanted to hold someone so much in his life as he did then; not even when Sophia had almost drowned. Pity had nothing to do with it.
"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry. If it's too much I'll put them away….but maybe you want to keep them in here somewhere?" He just didn't want these photos ruined in the garage by damp and mould, because one day, Jared may want them back.
Jared could feel the panic crawling up his throat, the lump there making it hard to swallow, too many memories fighting to fill his head. He had decided along with not talking about things that he had to stop thinking about anything in his past. It always lead to him thinking of what happened, of what he had lost and the ache in his chest would become almost unbearable and eventually he would snap. He couldn't do that again. The last time he had, it had caused a major freak out and he had spent two days doped up to keep him calm.
He knew deep down Jensen didn't mean any harm, but right now he was the only one there and he needed someone to lash out at, someone to blame and push away.
He managed to stumble past him and he snatched the photos out of his hands, muttering as he headed to the door. “Mind your own damn business. I'm going out back."
He didn't wait for a response, because he didn't want to risk getting out of control. It wasn't Jensen’s fault, not really. He just needed to be alone to calm down and was thankful when he saw his escape route was clear. He knew he wasn't allowed out of the house alone, so he opted for the back garden so he could gather himself.
*******
Jensen stood there shocked for a few moments and debated going after him, but decided Jared obviously needed some space.
"Note to self, friends are a touchy subject."
He couldn't help but wonder what had happened to those friends in the photo; did Jared still see them? Probably not, or he wouldn't have acted the way he did. Jared's life was one big mystery that Jensen was keen to figure out. He really wanted him to get back to being the happy guy in those photos.
"Talking of photos…" He only felt a little guilty as he pulled out a few framed photos whispering, "what he doesn't know wont hurt."
He looked at a family photo; it captured a slightly younger Jared with an older guy that must be his brother. They each had an arm slung around an older man that must be their dad. Just in front of them was Jared's mum; she also looked different to the women he had met earlier. She looked bright and full of life and love like mum’s should be. She was hugging a younger girl that reminded him of his own sister and he smiled. They all looked like a close, happy family. So why did they ship their son all this way ?
The next picture was the pretty girl in the first photo’s Jensen had found, and she was hugging Jared. They both looked happy and were laughing at the person taking the photo. The next photo was of the blond guy and the same girl. It had obviously been taken not long after the previous one, and it became clear that the girl was not Jared's girlfriend, but the blonds‘, as they were kissing. He felt a little contrite over his previous feelings of jealousy, but also relieved.
There were a few more photos, some of Jared and his brother or sister, some with his mum, one was of Jared and two huge dogs and one of Jared and his basketball team. In all of them Jared looked happy and confident, not the guy he is now and Jensen felt a twinge of sadness that somehow, someone, had taken that away from Jared.
Deciding to make things easier for him, Jensen grabbed the couple of boxes that Jared didn't want and decided to store them in his closet so they wouldn't get damaged. He would say they were in storage if Jared asked, not that he was likely to. He liked the thought of having those photos close by, because he hoped Laurie could work her magic with Jared and perhaps, in the future, he would want to see them again.
And maybe one day, Jensen would know what had happened to change him so much.
Author: Mark_angel01
Rating: PG13 for now will go higher eventually, warnings will be put before the chapter though.
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Characters: Jared, Jensen, Chris Kane, Tom welling, Mike Rosenbaum, Sophia Bush, Chad Murray, Sandy McCoy, Steve Carlson, Jeffrey Morgan, OFC, OMC.
Warning: This is male/male pairing so if you don't like then please leave, it is AU and the boys are 16, very low rating to start but will eventually get higher, so may be underage depending on where you live. There will be violence in future chapters but I will warn before a chapter.
Disclaimer: If I owned them I would force them to admit their love for eachother, which is so obvious, sadly i do not even own a strand of their hair.
Summary:
"Your secrest did this .... you did this. You let me believe you were someone else ..... I feel like I don't even know you.
Jared is 16 and hiding a dark past, Jensen is drawn to him, what will happen when secrets are revealed. Read to find out.
Story notes: My wonderful Beta reader is Basez dreams, any mistakes left are my own doing.
This is going to be a long story, I have some chapters written and will post weekly so there is not a long time between updates.
This Chapter is dedicated to kes1807 who really helped out with the layout of my journal and made it look great with her icons and cool banner, thanks a ton babe couldn't have done it without your help. *hugs*
Chapter 3 - Hide the memories of yourself
Song: Broken by Seether
Jared ignored the knock at his door, hoping that whoever it was would take the hint and go away. He just wanted to avoid everyone at all cost, which he knew would be next to impossible, but he had hoped it would last a little longer. He had known that it would be easier said than done. Part of him wished they had just put him in a secure unit; at least he wouldn't have a therapist bugging him every five minutes.
He dropped the pile of clothes on the bed at the same time a second knock sounded on his door. He took his time opening it, his leg slowing him down some. He let out a sudden curse as he stumbled the last few steps, his body hitting the door causing him to bounce off it and drop to the floor. He could feel the pain radiating through his arm and leg as he landed on his ass and bit back a groan of pain. The last thing he needed was to...
"Fuck!" Too late; the cavalry has arrived. He fully expected Laurie to be the one walking into his room, so when he saw Jensen, he froze for a moment, staring up at him confused.
******
Jensen was getting impatient as he waited for the door to be opened. He wouldn't admit this, but, he wanted to spend some time with Jared before Chris showed up and made it awkward. It took him a few moments of hesitation when he heard the loud bang, but soon decided he needed to see if the Jared was ok, privacy be damned.
He couldn't help the smirk as he looked down at Jared. He obviously wasn't hurt, other than his injuries he already had, so he decided teasing was allowed.
"No need to fall at my feet, man. I just came to offer some help." Jensen tried to ignore the nervous energy jumping around inside him as he held out his hand to the guy sprawled at his feet.
Jared could only stare for a few minutes, wondering if this would get old soon and would be able to see Jensen without turning into a slobbering moron. He couldn't escape the smirk and the way he was offering help, but then Jared remembered what Jensen thought about him. Pity party. So instead of taking the offered hand like he wanted to, he focused on the fact that this pretty boy thought he was a pathetic loser.
"I can do it myself,” he growled, pushing himself up. “Not fucking helpless." He tried to ignore the pain that shot through his wrist as he put pressure on it, but felt the colour drain from his face none-the-less. He somehow managed to get himself up and stumbled back to the bed, cradling his arm protectively against his chest. It really fucking hurt.
He wanted Jensen to leave him alone. It was bad enough he thought he was a loser, let alone seeing him on the floor like that. And now he may just cry from the pain in his wrist. Fucking great.
He bit hard on his lip and took some deep breaths, letting the pain wash over him in waves until he could get past the sharpness of it. He used to try meditating with Sandy, but he was never much good at it, as he always had too much energy to sit still. Now ,though, as he took more deep breaths, he felt himself relaxing and he could focus past the throbbing in his wrist. He then he remembered that Jensen was still standing there watching him.
"What do you want?" He no longer sounded angry, just tired.
Jensen was shocked at the deep growl that had come from the big guy. He had backed off and watched Jared get himself up off the floor. He couldn't understand what he had against being helped up; sure it's embarrassing to fall over, but everyone does it. He didn't miss the way he was holding his arm already in a cast and wondered if he should get Laurie. He was about to shout for her when he watched a peaceful expression cross Jared's face, making him freeze to the spot. He hadn't realised until now how haunted the other boy looked. Now he was taking deep breaths and looked like he may be meditating. Jensen was enraptured and in that moment, he didn’t want to see that look vanish.
He almost jumped at Jared’s question and could see him wiggling his fingers now, testing them out. He watched the hard mask fall into place as Jared looked at him with an unmistakable question of ‘well?’ clear in his eyes. He really hated that cold, hard look on Jared’s face and wanted the peaceful look back instead.
"Er…" Real smooth, Ackles. He rubbed the back of his neck for a few seconds, looking round the room. "I just came in to see if you needed any help. You have tons of shit to unpack."
Jared just shrugged and slowly stood, trying to ignore the apologetic tone in the other guys voice. Probably only came in here because Laurie asked him to. He went back to unpacking his clothes, ignoring the twinges of pain. "Well thanks, but I can manage just fine."
Jensen knew a brush off when he saw one and just smirked to himself. Yeah, like getting rid of me is going to be that easy? You wish. So he returned the shrug. "Sure you can, but doesn't mean you have to." With that, he grabbed a box and began emptying things out, finding places for each item. "How come you have so much stuff with you?."
Jared wanted to tell Jensen to back the Hell off, but pushed that down inside. Getting worked up wouldn't help; besides, Jensen had seen too much of him already. He needed to keep calm and ignore him. Easier said than done.
Jared looked at Jensen and said, "because I’m moving in." He then went back to ignoring him. Yeah, he had lots of stuff, but that was because his entire room had been cleared out. He knew it wasn’t so he had all his home comforts. No; it was his families way of saying you’re never coming home, Jared.
Jensen brushed the sarcasm off and allowed Jared to ignore him. He got that Jared probably wanted to be quiet, and he appreciated that. So they worked in silence for a while, unpacking a box at a time. He kept stealing glances at Jared, who was oblivious to him. He wanted to be able to take a good long look at him, even though he couldn't say what he found so fascinating. He had seen plenty of good looking guys over the years, but no one had gotten his attention like this or he would have bit more experience.
It wasn’t that he was picky or anything; he just hadn’t found anyone he had been interested in. Basically, he was just more reserved than his friends, like Mike and Tom, although that wasn't saying much. But he was attracted to Jared, and he was confused as to why he felt like this so suddenly. He barely knew him, if at all, and yet here he was.
He was sorting through a box when Jared's voice cut into his thoughts.
"That's for storage."
Jensen looked down at a box full of medals, trophies and photos. "You don't want any of this stuff out?" A quick shake of the head was all he got and he looked at a trophy for basketball. "You used to play?"
"I used to; not anymore." Truth was, Jared used to adore the game, played all the time when he could. Not now, though; it was all over.
"How come? Were you any good?" Jensen seemed genuinely curious.
Jared frowned; God didn't he give it a rest? "I used to be ok."
"So you going to join the team here? My friend Tommy’s on the team.” Jensen paused to look up at Jared. “He’s almost as tall as you,"
Jared could feel himself getting annoyed with the questions and suddenly snapped. "I can barely walk, how do you suggest I play sports?" He knew it was unfair, but it was a sore spot for him. He used to love the game and now, well, now it was all shot to Hell.
"Sorry, but…you shouldn't give up, you know?" Jensen looked at him then and smiled. "I'm sure your leg and arm will heal eventually."
Jared narrowed his eyes at that. "Didn't realise you knew better than the doctors that told me I won’t ever heal enough to play sports again."
Jensen paused what he was doing. At least he looked guilty, or was that pity? Sure. Whatever. Feel pity for the poor cripple. "Don't say sorry; I don't need your pity." Jared met the other boys eyes and felt satisfied at the slight blush on his cheeks at that word.
"I don't feel that way." Jensen denied, ignoring the flush in his cheeks.
Jared shrugged, not sure why he was even talking to him anymore. "Whatever." He walked back to his wardrobe, ignoring Jensen’s existence.
Jensen felt like an ass. Not only was his foot firmly wedged in mouth from the comment about ‘not giving up’, but he had the impression that Jared had overheard him earlier. He looked at the trophy and then at Jared’s injured leg. It seemed so unfair that someone so young would lose the ability to play sports. Jared seemed pissed at him, not that he blamed him, but it didn't sit well with him. He figured he better quit, for now at least.
He decided he would help with the last box, then put some of them into storage for him. Maybe he could try later. It wasn’t like Jared could escape him.
As he was putting some books into the bookcase, he tried to not laugh out loud at the Harry Potter collection. He had nothing against the books, but somehow they didn't suit Jared's gloomy demeanour, and this, apparently, struck him as funny.
He bent down as something fell out the books and picked up what looked like a bookmark at first, but then he noticed it was a strip of 4 photos, obviously taken in a photo booth. They were of a blond haired guy, a very pretty girl and a hot guy with brown hair and dimples to die for. It took him a few moments to realise the guy was the same guy standing across the room from him, only he wasn't all banged up or shut down. He looked happy and carefree and breathtakingly beautiful.
He felt himself blushing at that thought; he had never thought of a guy looking that way, but it didn't make it any less true. Jared's eyes were lit up and he was laughing with the two friends, his big grin causing the cutest dimples. He had his arm around the blond guy, and the girl on his knee. They all looked close and happy and comfortable with each other as they pulled faces and did bunny ears. He felt a twinge of jealousy as he realised the girl was probably Jared’s girlfriend.
"Are we done?" Jared was suddenly close to him and Jensen jumped a little, startled out of his thoughts.
"Oh hey, man, I found some photos." He held out the pictures to Jared who was frowning and Jensen was sure he had gone white. "Are you OK ?"
Jared just stared for a moment. "Just put them into the box with the other photos."
Jensen didn't miss the fact that everything in said box should be taking pride of place on the shelves, not kept hidden away. Jensen realised they were all memories, items that were collected to remind people of happy times and what they had achieved. He looked at the withdrawn boy before him and thought of the photo. What the hell happened to him to make him so broken?. It made him feel cold, as he knew it had to be something big. Jared had obviously been hurt, hurt so bad that the smile had been erased from his eyes. Jensen had never wanted to hold someone so much in his life as he did then; not even when Sophia had almost drowned. Pity had nothing to do with it.
"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry. If it's too much I'll put them away….but maybe you want to keep them in here somewhere?" He just didn't want these photos ruined in the garage by damp and mould, because one day, Jared may want them back.
Jared could feel the panic crawling up his throat, the lump there making it hard to swallow, too many memories fighting to fill his head. He had decided along with not talking about things that he had to stop thinking about anything in his past. It always lead to him thinking of what happened, of what he had lost and the ache in his chest would become almost unbearable and eventually he would snap. He couldn't do that again. The last time he had, it had caused a major freak out and he had spent two days doped up to keep him calm.
He knew deep down Jensen didn't mean any harm, but right now he was the only one there and he needed someone to lash out at, someone to blame and push away.
He managed to stumble past him and he snatched the photos out of his hands, muttering as he headed to the door. “Mind your own damn business. I'm going out back."
He didn't wait for a response, because he didn't want to risk getting out of control. It wasn't Jensen’s fault, not really. He just needed to be alone to calm down and was thankful when he saw his escape route was clear. He knew he wasn't allowed out of the house alone, so he opted for the back garden so he could gather himself.
*******
Jensen stood there shocked for a few moments and debated going after him, but decided Jared obviously needed some space.
"Note to self, friends are a touchy subject."
He couldn't help but wonder what had happened to those friends in the photo; did Jared still see them? Probably not, or he wouldn't have acted the way he did. Jared's life was one big mystery that Jensen was keen to figure out. He really wanted him to get back to being the happy guy in those photos.
"Talking of photos…" He only felt a little guilty as he pulled out a few framed photos whispering, "what he doesn't know wont hurt."
He looked at a family photo; it captured a slightly younger Jared with an older guy that must be his brother. They each had an arm slung around an older man that must be their dad. Just in front of them was Jared's mum; she also looked different to the women he had met earlier. She looked bright and full of life and love like mum’s should be. She was hugging a younger girl that reminded him of his own sister and he smiled. They all looked like a close, happy family. So why did they ship their son all this way ?
The next picture was the pretty girl in the first photo’s Jensen had found, and she was hugging Jared. They both looked happy and were laughing at the person taking the photo. The next photo was of the blond guy and the same girl. It had obviously been taken not long after the previous one, and it became clear that the girl was not Jared's girlfriend, but the blonds‘, as they were kissing. He felt a little contrite over his previous feelings of jealousy, but also relieved.
There were a few more photos, some of Jared and his brother or sister, some with his mum, one was of Jared and two huge dogs and one of Jared and his basketball team. In all of them Jared looked happy and confident, not the guy he is now and Jensen felt a twinge of sadness that somehow, someone, had taken that away from Jared.
Deciding to make things easier for him, Jensen grabbed the couple of boxes that Jared didn't want and decided to store them in his closet so they wouldn't get damaged. He would say they were in storage if Jared asked, not that he was likely to. He liked the thought of having those photos close by, because he hoped Laurie could work her magic with Jared and perhaps, in the future, he would want to see them again.
And maybe one day, Jensen would know what had happened to change him so much.