Chapter Text
Prologue
A sharp crack resounded through the air. Pain, white hot and instant, lanced through his chest. He barely had time to cry out in surprise or pain or fear before his knees gave out, thudding against the unforgiving ground, too weak now, to hold up his body.
He was only vaguely aware of the warm gushing that bloomed red across his naked chest, mind consumed instead by the fervent prayer that it was all over now. That his sacrifice hadn’t been in vain. That the pain-filled road that brought him here, took him and only him to the murky underwaters of Death.
“Nooo!!!!!”
The scream, although saturated with anguish and terror, was exactly the thing that made this whole endeavor worth it. He felt himself being lifted and the comforting feel of strong arms encircling him made even the pain dull slightly. All at once, he was faced with the reminder of why he had done what he had done. And he could never regret it.
His body was shaking badly, his own shudders of shock mixing with the violent tremors of the man holding him. He wanted so badly to reach out, brush away the cascade of tears, tell the man that he was going to be okay, that everything would be okay with time.
“Don’t you do this to me,” the man begged roughly, bringing his face close to press their foreheads together. “Don’t you do this, don’t you leave me.”
I’d never leave you, he wants to tell the man. Not really. I love you.
As though the man can hear his thoughts, which sometimes seems likely, he screams for help before leaning down again to pepper his face with kisses. “I love you, God I love you so fucking much. Please don’t this to me, I’m begging you, please, please, please…”
“Love…too..” is all he manages to choke out before he has to succumb to the looming darkness. The last thing he hears is an anguished cry permeating the air.
And then, it is dark.
###
Chapter one: New Friends
Pain was a mistress Jensen was intimately familiar with.
Maybe it sounds morbid, and to an extent, it really is, but the fact of the matter remains, that Jensen had been through far too much pain in the seventeen years he’d been alive.
After losing both his parents in a car crash when he was no more than 2 years old, Jensen was palmed off to the system when his aunt and uncle thought themselves “too busy to entertain and raise a baby”. He was one of the fortunate ones, finding himself with a couple that loved him and treated them like their own. Quite honestly, though, it would soon come to pass that Jensen’s luck, ended there.
Jensen would argue that Lady Luck gave him one more good thing, just to spice up her never-ending quest for his torture and subsequent demise.
Of course, with the luck he had, it was quite a story to get his karmic payback.
~* Jensen *~
“Class, meet our new student, Jensen Ackles.”
Jensen fought the urge to groan as Mrs. Cohen, his new form room teacher, felt the need to announce his presence. This, as far as he was concerned, was the worst part of coming to a new school. Everyone feeling the overwhelming need to announce your arrival, like the entire student body hadn’t already weeded him out as the new kid.
Jensen offered his teacher a half-hearted smile at her efforts, that came out as more of a grimace. She nodded at him to take a place and, noting that the only empty seat was near the back, he figured that once, maybe luck was on his side for a little while. He nodded once to the dark-haired boy sitting next to him before slinking down in his seat in a vain attempt to lose the attention so kindly prompted by his well-meaning teacher.
Fighting against the urge to roll his eyes, he managed to stop himself from reacting when he noticed the boy next to him staring at him in his peripheral vision, obviously trying to be stealthy about it.
“Don’t strain yourself trying to be discreet,” Jensen commented dryly.
“You’d rather I stare directly at you?” his rough voice sounded slightly surprised, and definitely amused, and Jensen huffed out a small breath, lifting his head to meet piercing blue eyes. Jensen was never usually this direct, but last night had been a rough one, and combine that with the constant gazes attributed to his peers’ amazement at a new and fresh face? It was understandable that he wasn’t really in the mood to be affable.
“It beats acting like everyone else here with SNTS,” he snorted.
“SNTS?” the boy asked curiously.
“Shiny New Toy Syndrome,” Jensen explained. “You know, like when a kid gets some new toy for Christmas and he can’t help staring at it because it’s new?”
“You, being the new toy in this analogy?” he clarified, sending a grin Jensen’s way. Realizing that he was attracting attention now, which was his last intention, he returned to his original position and fixed his eyes on his table.
“Obviously.”
The bell for first period rang shrilly, saving Jensen from any more of a discussion, and with a small nod, he kept his head down and wove his way through the mill of students and out the door.
Stopping briefly at his locker to grab his Chemistry books, he groaned when he realized the door was jammed. Of course it would be. As he wrestled with the handle, cursing low under his breath, a hand suddenly shot out, slamming hard against the locker and making Jensen cringe at the sound that he normally associated with pain. He recovered quickly, however, when the door swung easily open, and as he turned to thank whichever Locker Whisperer had helped him, he was met once more by startling cerulean eyes. The boy grinned at him again, and Jensen wondered why he was being so friendly.
“Seems like we’re locker mates too,” he grinned, opening his own locker next to Jensen’s in the same way.
“Seems like,” Jensen mumbled, quickly grabbing his books and trying not to meet the boy’s eyes. It wasn’t out of disrespect, no; Jensen just didn’t trust anyone. Period. Generally, for that very reason, it was easier to just shut people out. For some reason, though, Jensen didn’t really want to shut him out. He seemed like a cool guy, and it wasn’t like he had a load of friends or even friendly faces at the moment.
“You should be more excited,” the boy smirked. “You get to see this gorgeous face every morning and have a good excuse for it.”
“Sure,” Jensen deadpanned before he could stop and think about his words. “At least you can fix my locker when I need to.”
The boy barked out a laugh and Jensen blushed a little as he realized what he’d allowed himself to say.
“I like you,” the guy grinned, nodding at him in approval. A glint of happiness sparked inside Jensen as he allowed himself a smile, forcing himself not to hide for once.
“I can hardly contain my excitement,” he rolled his eyes, grinning finally, as the boy let out another loud laugh.
“I’m Christian Kane,” he offered, holding out his hand. “Call me Chris.”
“Jensen Ackles,” he gripped the proffered hand, throwing caution to the wind. “Don’t you dare call me Jenny.”
“Noted,” Chris laughed, slamming his locker shut. “Now, Jensen, tell me; how good are your wingman skills?”
###
Chris was definitely a little more talkative than Jensen first thought, filling the time to walk to their chemistry class with mindless chatter, mostly about Sophia Bush, the head cheerleader Jensen guessed his new friend was obsessed with. He didn’t mind it; in fact, Jensen would go so far as to say he really enjoyed having something to fill in the mind-numbing silence he’d been stuck with since he left home and his best friend, Cas, in favor of coming here. Of course, with the way his foster father was allowing things to escalate, Jensen wasn’t holding his breath about this place either.
“…definitely want to bang that,” Chris finished, bringing Jensen back from his thoughts. He smiled at the wolfish grin his friend was sporting, and flicked his chin subtly in the direction of the cheerleaders with their backs facing him. Judging from the love-struck expression that suddenly found its way to Chris’s face, one of them was Sophia, and Chris definitely wanted more than to just “bang that”. He chuckled, for the first time in a while, nudging Chris lightly in the side.
“Lose the puppy-love look, Romeo,” he sniggered, and without missing a beat, Chris flipped him off, only serving to make him laugh again. Chris shoved him lightly to the side, and Jensen felt himself connect with something warm and solid.
“Sorry…” he started to say, before looking up in the hazel eyes of what he was sure was the most gorgeous guy on the face of the earth. His heart felt like it had stopped beating in his chest and the world around him seemed to come to a complete stand-still. All that mattered were the chocolate brown eyes looking down at him and the strong arms encasing him. He felt almost dizzy with the crazed impulse to bury himself in this handsome stranger and the worst part was, he knew he'd happily do so and stay in his embrace permanently, if the idea wasn't already bucket-loads of crazy.
What the hell was going on with him?