Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/489043.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Major_Character_Death, Rape/Non-Con,
      Underage
  Fandom:
      Supernatural_RPF
  Relationship:
      Jensen_Ackles/Jared_Padalecki, Jensen_Ackles/OMC
  Character:
      Jensen_Ackles, Jared_Padalecki, Chris_Kane, Steve_Carlson, Danneel
      Harris, Jake_Abel, Misha_Collins, others_-_Character
  Additional Tags:
      bottom!Jensen, hurt!Jensen, Age_manipulation, protective!Jared, Scars,
      Protective!Chris, Hurt/Comfort
  Collections:
      Sinful_Desire
  Stats:
      Published: 2012-08-17 Chapters: 14/14 Words: 32781
****** Truth is Stranger than Fiction. ******
by Saltandburnboys
Summary
     Jensen had a new life and a new name, he’d left everything behind. Or
     so he’d thought. When strange and horrific events began to point to a
     horror from his former life, he had to admit that maybe he hadn’t
     left his old life as firmly in his past as he’d once thought. As his
     friends were killed off, one by one, he was left wondering who he
     could trust and who couldn’t as the game of life and death he was
     unwilling caught up in rapidly sped towards an inevitable and
     terrifying conclusion.
Notes
     Clearly this is an AU story; this never happened. I do not own any of
     the actors in this story, especially not Jared or Jensen, they all
     belong to themselves. Jared and Jensen are not in a relationship,
     have never been and have no desire to be in a relationship; they are
     both happily married and not to each other which is awesome for both
     of them. None of the other pairings in the story exist either. It is
     pure and utter, self-indulgent fiction. It is based on the film
     ‘Urban Legend,’ which was directed by Jamie Blanks and written by
     Silvio Horta. I don’t own the idea and do not profess to do so; I
     just used it as a template to write a J2 story because it was an
     awesome film. Obviously, I don’t own any of the urban legends I used
     in the story. The title of this story – ‘Truth is Stranger than
     Fiction’ was coined by Lord Byron in the poem Don Juan 1823. Any
     references to the programme 'Supernatural' do not belong to me, but
     to the CW network and Eric Kripke. This is a COMPLETE story. I made
     no money from this story.
     I apologise to the villain in this story; I am positive they are an
     awesome person in real life. I apologise for abusing Jensen sooo
     badly in this story but I am a bit of a hurt!Jensen and
     protective!Jared junkie so this is what came out. I KNOW none of the
     people in my story are how I have written this, it is a work of
     complete and utter self-indulgent fiction. I am sure they are all
     amazingly awesome people.
***** Chapter One. *****
 
_ Chapter_One._
 
 Jensen sat in the quad waiting for his best friend, Chris, breathing in the
fresh clean air.  He liked it there at the university; he'd made some really
good friends and his classes were great.  Jensen felt that the last year had
been really good for him; it had got him away from everything that happened in
Texas, had helped him move on with his life and try to forget everything that
had come before.
 
 Jensen smiled when he heard the faint murmur of country music that always
signalled Chris' arrival, he always played his damn I-pod too loud.  Jensen
grinned when Chris rounded the corner and sat down next to him on the grass. 
It was still early so there was hardly anyone in the quad yet and Jensen was
just enjoying the peace before the hoards of students exited their dorms on
their way to class.

'How goes it, Jen?'  Came the lazy drawl from his friend.
 
 'Good, how was your date last night?'  Jensen asked purely out of politeness,
his friend didn't really date people as such, he was more of a ‘fuck 'em and
leave 'em’ kind of guy.
 
 'It was awesome, man, I love dating gymnasts, so limber.'  Chris leered at
Jensen and Jensen punched him lightly in the arm.


 
'Way too much information, man.'  He laughed.  'You gonna see her again?'
 'Nah.'  Of course not.
 
 'God, do you even know what her name was, Chris?'  Jensen asked exasperated. 
Jensen didn't really believe in one night stands, he was more into
relationships than random hook ups but, given his past, that wasn’t really much
of a surprise.  He just couldn't see how Chris could want to be with a
different girl every night of the week.



'Might have been Catherine.'  Chris tilted his head to look at Jensen, then
smirked, 'Or it might not have been.'  At Jensen's glare he added, 'Hey, I make
no promises, they know exactly what they're getting when they come back with
me.'  That was true, Chris had somewhat of a reputation now.
 


It was funny that they were such good friends actually, and had they not been
roomed together at the start of the year, Jensen, honestly, didn’t think they
would ever have crossed paths.  They were complete polar opposites; Chris loved
being the centre of attention, he was the front man of his band 'Kane' and
would sleep with any girl that passed his way whereas Jensen, well…Jensen just
didn't.



'Whatever.  So we gonna make a start on this psych paper or what?'  Chris
asked, the subject and the girl forgotten.
 


'Sure, sure.'  They both pulled their books out of their bags and started
discussing the topic for the paper.  They made a good team, what with being so
different, and it always gave them higher grades on their papers when they
explored both sides of the argument together.
 
 Jensen was chewing on the end of his pen when he heard a loud, booming laugh
nearby and looked up.  Then he saw him - Jared Padalecki, whom he'd been
crushing on since the first time he saw him at one of the freshman parties. 
The guy was gorgeous; he was tall, built, with a mass of floppy hair that
seemed unable to stay out of his eyes and, God, those intense hazel eyes that
Jensen wished would just look at him.  Just once.
 
 But they never did.  Jared Padalecki was way too cool for someone like Jensen;
he was friends with everyone, head of the college paper, and quarterback of the
football team so he certainly didn’t need someone like Jensen in his life. 
That didn't stop Jensen pining after him, though, despite Chris calling him a
dumbass for longing for someone who wouldn't even give him a second glance. 
 
 Then he was gone and Jensen watched his broad shoulders and back leave and
walk to one of the neighbouring buildings.
 
 Chris interrupted his staring, 'Come on, Jen, get your eyes off that jerk and
get them back on this paper.'  Jensen bristled, just because Jared didn’t like
him, like at all, didn't make him a jerk and Jensen had seen him with other
people, he knew that Jared was a good guy.  He just didn't like Jensen is all,
not surprising really, Jensen was a freak.
  


'He's not a jerk, Chris.'  Jensen sighed.  They'd had this discussion so many
times over the last year but Chris was hugely protective of him and pretty much
felt that anyone who didn't like Jensen was a jerk.  As much as Jensen liked
the fact that his friend cared so much, he really hated anyone calling Jared a
jerk.



'The dude has never even spoken to you, not once, and that guy talks to
everyone, except the one guy that turns up to all his football games and reads
every article he writes in the damn paper.'  Jensen blushed, God how pathetic
did that sound?
 
 'Still doesn't make him a jerk, Chris, he's just letting me know he's not
interested, that's not a crime.'



'Well he's a fucking idiot then.'  Chris always got kind of heated in these
arguments and Jensen just didn't have the energy for it today.
 
 'Can we just leave this, Chris, and get on with this paper.'

'Course man, sorry.'  Chris looked sadly at him and it looked a little too
close to pity for Jensen's liking.  He knew that Chris worried about him; he
hadn't hooked up with anyone since he got there and that really freaked his
friend out.  Chris was always telling him that he needed to find someone, that
there was someone special out there if Jensen just looked hard enough. 
 
 It wasn't that Jensen didn't believe his friend, it was just that Chris didn't
know Jensen's past, no one did.

 Jensen opened the door, laughing at something his sister had said but he
stopped when he saw two officers on his doorstep.



 'Um, can I help you?'

 'Jensen Ackles?'  One of the cops asked; his cool, professional demeanour was
extremely unnerving to Jensen.
 
 'Yes.'



 'Can we come inside for a moment, we have some bad news.'  Jensen's parents
were out for the evening so his heart immediately started to beat faster as he
led the officers into the living room.  Car crash?  Mugging? All the terrible
possibilities started whirling around his head.



 'Anna, sweetie, can you go upstairs for minute please?'  The 12 year old
frowned but went.  'Sorry...God, is it my parents?  Are they okay?'

 'Your parents are fine, as far as we’re aware, Jensen. We're here concerning a
Matt Bomer.'
 
 That, Jensen wasn't expecting.  'Matt? Why?  What's the matter?'

 'Mr. Bomer was found dead this evening outside his place of work.'  Jensen
stomach flopped and he felt the blood rush from his face.
 


 'I'm sorry…what?'

 'Matt Bomer's body was found outside La Traviata at 6pm this evening.  His
parents are out of town and we need someone to identify the body.  Matt was
your boyfriend, we understand?'  Jensen just nodded.  This wasn't happening, he
and Matt were going to prom next week then they were going to college together
and…this just...this couldn't... Jensen leapt to his feet and ran into the
kitchen and vomited in the sink.  He sank to the floor, dropping his head in
his hands as the tears fell.
 
 He remembered thinking; ‘Maybe someone will take me seriously now.’

Jensen blinked away the memory, that was in the past, and it had to stay there
or Jensen knew he’d go insane.


***** Chapter Two. *****

     Chapter_Two.
 
Jensen was sitting in the corner nursing his first beer, he never got drunk,
just trying to keep out of everyone's way.  He wished he hadn't come but Chris
had begged him to come to at least one party with him and, since Jensen had
finished all his assignments for the week, he decided to indulge his friend for
once.
 
 He’d retreated to the corner about half an hour in when Chris had found a
pretty blonde to hook up with for the night.  Jensen had assured his friend
that he would be fine and that he really didn't need a babysitter.  He had lied
through his teeth; Jensen wasn't fine, not really, there were too many people
and definitely too many he didn't know.  That was never a good mix for him so
he tried to make himself as small as possible in the corner and hope that he
would go unnoticed.
 
 Jensen had told Chris he wouldn't leave before one; he knew his friend would
need help getting back to the dorms since he'd be smashed after this and Jensen
wasn't going to leave him on his own.

 'Hey, I'm real sorry man, but the guy's a dick.'  Jensen looked up and saw
none other than Jared Freaking Padalecki looking down at him with a sympathetic
expression on his handsome face.
 
 Jensen looked from side to side to see if the guy was talking to someone else
because  one - Jared Padalecki, Mr Popular, did not talk to Jensen and two - he
had no idea what the man was talking about.
  


'Excuse me?'
 
 'Chris, he's a dick, I saw him making out with Katie Cassidy pretty hot and
heavy in one of the rooms upstairs, it's totally not on, man.'

 'Jesus, she's not your girlfriend is she Jared?   I'm really sorry, Chris is a
little....um uncontrollable when he's had a few drinks.'  Jensen smiled
apologetically at the very large man in front of him hoping to save his friend
(and maybe himself as well) from having his ass handed to him by the entire
college football team.



 Jared raised an eyebrow and shook his head, looking a little confused.  'God
no, me and Cassidy, no way.  I mean you and Chris, you should totally cut him
loose, you deserve so much better than that.'  Jared looked angrily at the
direction of the upstairs’ bedrooms.
  


Huh?  What the hell was the guy talking about?  Oh. My. God!  He didn't think? 
Ha!  He couldn't wait till he told Chris this; the guy was gonna be so pissed. 
'Oh no, me and Chris…we're not together.  Chris is 100% straight, believe me, I
live with the guy.  I'm here pretty much just here as the designated driver, so
to speak.'  He held up his first and only beer for emphasis.



 'Really?'  Jared looked suspicious for a moment, 'I could have sworn...'

 'Really, he'd kick your ass, and then mine as well probably, if you implied
that me and him have had anything to do with each other's...'  And he stopped
himself there, blushing furiously, had he really been about to say cocks in
front of Jared, really?  And he couldn't even blame the booze.  He was such a
loser.

 Jensen dared to look up at Jared and braced himself for the disdainful look he
knew he would find on the man’s face.
 
 Instead, he was met with a wide grin, 'Chris is gonna kick my ass, Jensen?' 
And was it Jensen or was Jared really close now?  Jensen looked up at the six
foot five wall of muscle in front of him, and thought of his five foot nine
friend.
 
 'Maybe not, but he'd give it a good go just on principle.'  Jensen replied,
God, the guy was freaking huge and it was doing funny things to Jensen’s libido
right then that he was pretty damn sure that Jared wouldn’t appreciate.
 


Jared threw his head back and laughed, taking a seat next to Jensen.  'God, you
have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that.'
 
 'What? That you'd be able to take Chris?  ‘Cause I'm pretty sure you already
knew...'
 
 Jensen's rambling was interrupted by a pair of soft lips against his own.
 
 'This okay?'  Jensen felt Jared's hand brush across his cheek and he just
nodded, not really understanding what was going on.  Jared's lips met Jensen's
a second time and the spark that went through Jensen's body at the contact was
finally enough for him to wake up and kiss Jared back.
 
 Jared deepened the kiss once he felt Jensen respond, drawing a deep moan from
Jensen that he would totally deny later.  Jared was a warm presence against his
body until...he wasn't.



'Get the fuck off him, Padalecki.'  Chris had Jared against the wall of the
frat house.
 
 'Chris, what the hell are you doing?'

 'Keeping this bastard away from you.  Come on, Jen, we're leaving.'  Jensen
had no idea what the hell was going on.
 
 'Like hell he is, who the fuck do you think you are, Kane?'  Jared loomed over
the shorter man.
  
'I'm Jensen's best friend and don't think I don't know about the bets you
football players make.'  Chris shot back, venom in his voice, as Jensen’s own
stomach plummeted at the words.
 
 'Bets?  Jared?'  Jensen's voice was much smaller than he would have liked but
they'd drawn the attention of the whole room by then and that really wasn't
okay with him.

 'Jensen, no, it’s not…'
 
 ‘It’s not what?  Don't even try to deny it, Golden Boy, I heard Chad bragging
about the points he got tonight, not ten minutes ago, and how he was going to
finally top your unbeaten record.'  Jensen paled at the thought that he might
have been used to make up some of those points and he looked at Jared with
pleading eyes.  Jared was as pale as he was and his jaw was ticking with
tension.  He looked Jensen in the eyes, 'No, Jensen, really, you weren't…'



 ‘Save it, Padalecki, and stay away from Jensen.'  Jensen couldn't speak, he
could feel the eyes in the room burning into him and he really hated Jared for
making everyone notice him like this, let alone making a fool of him in front
of them all as well.

 Jared's face moved to Kane's, displaying anger that Jensen didn't really feel
he was all that justified in feeling, 'Yeah and what are you gonna do to stop
me Kane?'  He was looming again and Chris took a step towards the taller man;
this was going to end badly if Jensen didn't do something.  He stepped
forwards, between the two men, and placed his hands on Chris's chest.



 'Please, Chris can we just go, please?'  Chris looked at him and his face
softened instantly.



 'Sure, Jen, let's get you home.'  Chris laid a hand on his arm and started to
pull him gently towards the door and away from the prying eyes of the other
party members.
 
 Jensen felt a large hand on his arm.  'Jensen please, just let me explain,
it's not what it sounds like.'  Jensen pulled his arm away.
 
 'No Jared, I can't do this…I don't go in for that crap, I don’t have time for
games; if you want that, go find yourself someone else and just leave me
alone.'
 
 ****
 
 Back in their room Chris made him a hot chocolate; he always did that when
Jensen woke up from one of his nightmares, knowing that it calmed Jensen down
and made him feel safe.  Jensen’s mom used to make them for him when he was a
kid, whenever he was afraid, and they still worked even if the monsters in his
life now were far more real than they had been when he was a child.

 'I'm sorry, man, I was a total jackass for leaving you alone like that.' 
Chris looked so wretched that Jensen's own heart hurt; he knew that he was
lucky to have such a great friend to look out for him.
  


'No, Chris it's okay, you didn't know.  God, I should’ve known; him so suddenly
showing an interest in me, I just kind of hoped, you know.'  Jensen sipped at
the hot chocolate, not really tasting it; he could still taste Jared on his
lips and, God help him, he wasn’t sure that he wanted that taste gone quite
yet.



 'I know, but the guy's a bastard, Jen, you need to stay away from him, okay?’ 
Chris rubbed his arms reassuringly and Jensen laid back down on his bed,
suddenly tired from the whirlwind of emotions he had felt in the past couple of
hours.

 'Yeah, you're right Chris.  Thanks, man.'  Jensen knew that Chris was right,
and he had meant what he had said earlier; Jensen’s life was complicated enough
without someone like Jared playing games with him.

 'No problem, Jen.'
 
 And with that Jensen fell asleep.


***** Chapter Three. *****
_ Chapter_Three._


 A week later, having evaded all of Jared's numerous phone calls and deleted
all his messages (God only knew how the guy managed to get both of his numbers;
he’d probably flashed those freaking dimples at one of the girls in admissions
and they’d handed them right over!) he was finally cornered in the library by
six and a half feet of Padalecki.
 
 Jensen was in one of the study rooms and looked up when the door opened; his
heart rate sky rocketed when Jared locked the door behind him.  Nononononono,
Jensen couldn't deal with being locked in anywhere, not after what had
happened, nonono, the world started to dim and Jensen was lost in his memories.
 Jensen awoke, his head fuzzy, not knowing where he was. He was lying on
something soft; he remembered going to the bar and ordering    waytoo many
beers, trying to forget his life just for a little while and then…nothing.
 
 He tried to move his arms but found he couldn't.  Jensen pulled harder and
heard a dull metal clanging.  Looking up he found his hands cuffed to the frame
of the bed he was lying on.  Shit.
 
 Was the guy there?  The guy who'd tormented him for the past six months, oh
God, he was gonna die just like Matt and…and… Jensen started to panic and pull
at the restraints, he could feel the room getting smaller as he fought to get
free.  He couldn't breathe, couldn't get enough air in his lungs…
 'Jensen!  Jensen, Jesus Christ, don't do this to me, wake up, please.'  Jensen
was brought abruptly back to the present by the large hand pressed against his
chest and a slow rocking motion.  He opened his eyes a little and saw Jared
behind him, holding Jensen to his chest.  'Oh, thank God.  Jensen are you
okay?  I think you had a panic attack.'

 'I...the door...locked.'  Jensen tried to make Jared understand but his brain
wasn't really functioning all that well right then.



 'Shit, I'm sorry, I just really needed to talk to you and I didn’t want anyone
to disturb us till I'd explained everything.'  He helped Jensen back up into
his chair and hurried to unlock the door and open it a fraction.  At least
then, Jensen felt like he could breathe again. 
 
 Jared sat down in the seat next to him and Jensen’s mind was clear enough now
to pull his hand away when Jared reached for it.  He'd spent the last week
angsting about being a bet, feeling equal parts stupid and humiliated, and it
wasn't a fun feeling.  And it was all Jared's fault.
  


The agonised look on Jared's face surprised him, though, and he turned to face
the taller man.  Maybe if he just got this over and done with then the jock
would stop hassling him every minute of the goddamn day.  'Talk.  You have five
minutes.'



 'Right.  Cool.  What Chad said was true.'  Jensen tensed.  'But only
technically.  My first weekend here, Chad, Tom and I got completely shitfaced
for the weekend and Chad suggested we play this game and see how many people we
could hook up with.  I agreed, so drunk out of my mind I really didn't think
about what I was doing.  Not my finest hour, I’ll admit.  But, by the end of
the weekend, I’d racked up the most points.
 
 ‘But none of the people that I hooked up with thought it was anything but a
one- time thing, I didn't hurt anyone's feelings, Jen.  I promise.  We were all
just drunk and stupid.  Anyway, Chad's carried on with the game since then,
‘cause he's kind of a douche, and at every party and mixer he goes to, whether
I'm there or not, he tries to equal my point score from that weekend.  But, as
I said, Chad's pretty much a douche and hardly ever gets laid and that just
makes him all the more determined to beat my score.  It was childish and I
really regret it, but I haven't played any kind of games since that weekend. 
And I would never play you, Jensen, never.'



 Jensen looked at the sincere look on Jared's face and thought about what Jared
had said.  It sounded too ridiculous to be anything but the truth and Jensen
did know that Chad was a bit of an asshole, he like Chris, had established
quite reputation for himself since starting at the college so it did sound like
something Chad would do. But should he risk it?  After everything, should he
trust this man?  Jensen never knew who to trust these days, it was the reason
that he didn’t date, but everything inside him was screaming at him to trust
Jared.



 'But why last night?'  Jensen had to know, it was the only thing that just
didn’t have a place in Jared’s story.
 
 'Why what last night?'

 'Why did you talk to me for the first time ever, last night, when you've
ignored me for the whole year we've been here?'

 Jared smiled a little shyly at that and Jensen didn't think he'd ever seen
that smile grace Jared's face and that thought warmed Jensen as Jared spoke, 'I
thought you were taken.  God, Jensen, the first time I saw you I just wanted to
grab you and kiss you and never stop.' 
 
Jensen felt a blush rise to his cheeks, 'But then Chris came up and put his arm
round your shoulder and led you away.  I just figured that he was your
boyfriend.   I mean every time I saw you, he was always there, so I thought
that I better stay away from you so I didn't accidently-on-purpose kiss you in
front of your boyfriend.'
 
 Jensen considered what Jared had said for a moment, that did make sense he
supposed; Chris was around him a lot and the man had very little concept of
personal space so he could see where Jared was coming from on the boyfriend
theory.


  
'Alright, Jared, I believe you.'  He bit his lip and looked up at Jared and
said, 'Just don't play me, okay, please, I couldn't take it, so if this is just
about getting in my pants then tell me now and we can leave it at that.'



 'No!  God, no Jen, I want everything you wanna give me.'  Jared replied
earnestly, grabbing for Jensen’s hand again, but this time Jensen didn’t pull
away.  Jared smiled that 100-watt smile that made Jensen freaking melt. 
'So…would that be a yes to dinner this Thursday?'



 Jensen smiled back at the taller man, 'Yes, Jay.’
 
 ****



 'You have got to be kidding me, Jensen, you can't seriously be considering
going out with that jerk?'  Chris looked at Jensen like he'd grown a second
head and while Chris' over protectiveness could be endearing at times, now was
really not one of those times.
  


'Not considering, Chris, I've already agreed.'  He took pity on his friend
seeing the stunned expression on his face, 'Look, Chris, I haven't hooked up
with anyone since I got here, Christ, I haven't even been on a date in almost a
year and a half.   I can't keep watching everyone else live their lives while I
stay locked in my room just waiting for the other shoe to drop.'



 'I'm not saying that's what you should do, Jen.  But do you really think that
Jared is the right guy to help you do that?  I just don't think you can trust
him.'


 'Well, I'm gonna have to start somewhere and Jared seems like a pretty good
guy to me.  It's not like guys are beating down my door to take me out on
dates, Chris.'  Jensen smiled a little at his friend, hoping to lighten the
conversation.
 


'Jen, you could have any guy on campus, you're the only one who doesn't see
that.'  Chris answered, completely serious, 'I don't want you settling for
someone like Jared just because you don’t think you’ve got any other choices
out there.'
 
 Jensen couldn't help the bark of laughter at that one, 'I don't think I'm the
one settling in this relationship.  Anyway, once he realises that I'm pretty
much just a ball of issues just waiting for the right thing to set me off,
he'll be out of my life before you can say I told you so.'  It was meant as a
joke but since they both knew how true the statement was, it left the air heavy
between them.



 'That's bullshit, Jensen.  And if he can't see how great you are then he's
even more of an idiot than I thought he was, and really that's saying a lot.' 
Jensen smiled at his best friend and threw an arm around his shoulder.  Chris
really was one of the best friends he'd ever had, he'd even considered letting
Chris know why he was such a freak once or twice.
  


Jensen wasn't sure how his friend would take it; whether Chris would run as far
from Jensen as possible because the crazy bastard was still out there somewhere
and could re-enter Jensen's life at any time, even though the cops had told him
that that was extremely unlikely, or go on some vigilante crusade to find the
son of a bitch out of some misplaced loyalty to Jensen.  Both possibilities
chilled him to the bone and so, for now at least, he kept his mouth firmly shut
on the subject.
  


The kernel of guilt that Chris might be in danger, just by being close to him,
ate at him at night but he couldn't do this alone, he couldn't survive on his
own, not after everything.  He had realised that a long time ago. 
 
 Jensen was also positive that actually telling anyone about his past would
certainly put them in danger if the guy decided to come back for him and finish
what he’d started; no, it was better that Chris was in the dark about that part
of his life, if only to keep him safe.



 'Thanks Chris.'  Jensen gave Chris' shoulder a firm squeeze.  Then he got up
and walked over to the wardrobe looking over his shoulder with a smirk, 'So
what should I wear?'  His only answer he got was a pillow to the face.


***** Chapter Four. *****
_ Chapter_Four._
 Jensen was frantically trying to get his second boot on in the bathroom when
he heard a knock at the dorm room door and, before he could get there limping
in one boot, he heard Chris answer it.
 
 Shit   .
 
 Jamming his foot hard enough into the boot to jar his leg, he took one look in
the bathroom mirror before flinging open the door to survey the damage.
Chris was standing in the door, hands on his hips, glaring up at a smiling
Jared.  If the taller man was uncomfortable with Chris' offensive posturing he
didn't show it, he just cut his eyes to Jensen and his smile widened.  'Hey
Jen, you ready to go?'



 'Yeah I'm good.'  Jensen mirrored that infectious smile and walked over to the
door, squeezing past his best friend as he went, 'See you later Chris,' he said
tightly as his friend refused to move or take his eyes off Jared.



 As they walked down the corridor Jared said, 'Wow, your roommate's a little
scary, ya know that?'
 
 'Nah, Chris is fine, he’s a little over-protective that’s all.'  Jared looked
like he wanted to say something more, and his raised eyebrow made Jensen feel
uncomfortable, 'So what are we up to tonight then?'



 'That, my friend, is a surprise.'  Jared's smile faltered at the uncertain
look on Jensen's face, 'That a problem, Jen?  ‘Cause we could...’
 
 Stop being such a freak   , Jensen chastised himself.  'No…sorry…uh…just not a
huge fan of surprises but I'm sure you can change all that.'  The grin he
plastered on his face was so fake that he knew that Jared saw right through
it.  The man smiled warmly at him anyway though.

 'Alright, I'll see what I can do.'

 ****

 Jensen climbed the steps after Jared, wishing for the other man's long legs or
his stamina from years spent on the football pitch, clutching the stitch in his
side.  'Jay, how much further?  I’m pretty sure my stitches have stitches?'
 
 Jared, the bastard, just chuckled, 'Almost there, princess, just a few more
stairs to go.'



 Jensen huffed at the princess comment, but was too damn tired to formulate an
appropriately snarky response.

 'Right, we're here, now close your eyes.'  Jensen really didn't want to, but
he also didn't want to show Jared how much of a paranoid weirdo he was on their
first date.
  
'Alright, but if I even so much as stub my toe, I'll kick your ass.’
 
 'Duly noted.'  Jensen felt Jared's large hand take hold of his as he closed
his eyes and instead of the usual flinch he got when someone touched him,
Jensen felt the warmth radiate from Jared's hand up his body to his chest. 
Jensen hadn't felt this safe in a long time and it shocked him when he realised
that he already trusted Jared.
 


 He didn't even know why, Jesus, he'd known the guy for all of two minutes and
yet Jensen felt safer than he had since before all this crap had happened. 
Jensen felt Jared guiding him and walked obediently wherever the hand led. 
'Okay, open your eyes.'
 
 Jensen obeyed, opening his eyes, and gasped at what he saw.  In the darkness,
under the stars, the view was amazing.  Jensen could see the forest on the
outskirts of the campus, the lights of the city in the distance and the
beautiful gardens, all painting a stunning picture below them.  'Jesus, Jared,
this is beautiful.'



 'It really, really is.'  But when Jensen turned his head to look at Jared,
Jared wasn't looking at the view, he was looking right at Jensen.  Jensen
ducked his head away to escape the scrutiny, only to have Jared catch his chin
gently with his thumb and forefinger.  'Can I kiss you Jensen, I've waited a
year to have you, please let me?'



 Jensen nodded and Jared leaned down and kissed him.  Jensen felt the
electricity shoot down his spine and join the warmth in his chest that he felt
from Jared's hand.  Jared deepened the kiss, licking so deep into Jensen's
mouth that he couldn't help the moan that broke free, only to be swallowed up
by Jared's lips.
 


 When they broke apart, both of them a little breathless, Jensen noticed his
arms were wrapped around Jared's neck and Jared's large hands were resting on
his hips.  It was so easy, they fit together so perfectly, and Jensen couldn't
quite believe this was happening.



 'Well, I think you've managed to change my mind on surprises, and feel free to
surprise me whenever you feel the urge.'  Jensen said cheekily to the taller
man in front of him, without removing his hands from the man's shoulders.
 'I will.  But that's not all of the surprise.'  Jared tilted his head behind
him and Jensen looked round the larger body before him and saw a rug and a
picnic basket on the floor and a couple of unlit candles in front of it all.
  


'How on earth did you stop anyone from stealing that, Jay?'
 
 'I left a note with 'Property of Jared Padalecki' written on it- pretty sure
no one wants to mess with the Starting Quarterback.'  It was true, no one
really wanted to get in Jared's face, the man was six and a half feet of pure
muscle; it would never be a good idea to piss him off.  Instead of the fear
that probably should have made its way down Jensen's spine at that, Jensen felt
a thrill of a totally different kind.
  


They sat down, side by side, on the rug as Jared laid out all the things he had
put in the basket; sandwiches, crisps, strawberries, cream, a couple of bags of
jelly worms and two bottles of wine.  It wasn't much but, to Jensen, it was
perfect, and even more so when Jared threaded their fingers together as they
talked through the night and well into the morning.



 ****
 'Where the fuck have you been?'

 Jensen was assaulted by the loud voice of his roommate as soon as he was over
the threshold.  He had just said goodnight to Jared on the other side of the
door; a long languid kiss that Jensen could easily have drowned in.  Jensen
really didn't want Chris ruining his good mood, especially with the lack of
sleep he'd had.



'With Jared, you know that, Chris, and now I need sleep.'

 'Jesus, I was fucking worried, it's 5am Jensen.'

 'Yes it is, Chris, and you're not my mom so back the hell off.'  Jensen was
mad now, his good mood had completely evaporated in the face of his angry
friend.  Chris had no right to treat him like a child and he didn't appreciate
it, especially not at 5am. 
 
 That seemed to cow Chris, at least, and the man marched over to his bed and
lay down, back turned towards Jensen.  Jensen could see the tension rolling off
his friend and sagged.  'Chris, I'm sorry you were worried, okay, I didn't
realise it was so late till the sun came up.  You really don't need to worry
about me so much.'
 


 'Not gonna stop, dude, just ‘cause you say you're okay; you're my best friend,
I'll always have your back.'



 'I know Chris and thanks.'



 The grunt was enough of an answer for Jensen and he lay back out on his own
bed and was asleep in moments.


***** Chapter Five. *****
 
_ Chapter_Five._
 
 'Hey Ackles.'  Jensen closed his eyes at the sound of the familiar voice. 
Jake.  The man was a friend of Jared's so Jensen really tried to be civil
whenever they met, seeing as Chris wasn’t always a bundle of laughs either, but
he really didn't like this guy.  Not like Chad, Chad was a douche, but he could
sort of see why Jared liked him even if most people couldn't.  Jake, on the
other hand, just kind of creeped him out, he couldn't put his finger on why,
but the dude just had no concept of personal space and, for Jensen, that was a
real turn off when making new friends.
 


 Maybe Jensen was just being a freak and letting his own hang ups get the best
of him; the guy had always friendly enough to him.  'Hey Jake, what can I do
for you?'  The smile on Jake's face was not exactly reassuring but the next
words out his mouth were.
  


'Jay sent me by to pick you up, his truck conked out and he said he'd wait for
you at the movies.  Get everything ready so you guys didn't miss the
previews.'  Jensen smiled, Jared had pretty much bought every type of candy the
last time they had gone to the movies.  Jensen thought he was crazy to begin
with but Jared had admitted about half way through the movie, that when Jensen
had told him a few days ago that he wasn't sure which candy was his favourite,
Jared had decided the movies was the place to find out.  Still crazy, yes, but
incredibly thoughtful as well and they’d spent the rest of the movie trying the
different types of candy rather than actually watching the film.  It had been
one of the most romantic things anyone had ever done for him.



 'Sure, thanks Jake.'  Jensen jumped into the other side of the man's pick up,
maybe the guy wasn't so bad after all if he was willing to give up his time to
run Jared’s boyfriend around.
 


 The silence was a little awkward and Jensen hoped that Jake would break it; he
wasn't really that good at that kind of thing.  Thankfully, Jared never shut up
so Jensen could just ride the wave on that one.  But once Jake spoke, he kind
of wished for the awkward silence again.



 'So, you and Jay getting serious then?'  The tone was casual enough but Jensen
could hear the tenseness beneath it.  Oh. My. God, was Jake interested in
Jared?  That was so not a conversation that Jensen was equipped to handle;
shouldn’t Jake be talking to Jared about this?

 'Uh…Jake I don't really think we should be talking about this; Jay's your
friend, I mean it's a bit personal.'  Jensen tried to steer the conversation
away from whatever this was and back into less dangerous territory.

 'Hey, me and Jay, we share everything, you don't need to worry about telling
me.'  The guy shot back, totally ignoring Jensen’s blatant brush-off.
 
 Jensen very much doubted that Jared shared anything about their relationship
with any of his team mates, Jared was kind of possessive.  At least Jensen
hoped he hadn't.
 
 'Seriously, how far have you two gone?'

 Jensen's cheeks flared at that.  He and Jared hadn't gone much passed kissing
but he still wasn't comfortable sharing that with Jake.  'As I said, Jake,
that's a little too personal for me.'  Jensen thought he saw the muscle in
Jake’s jaw lock at that, like the other man wanted to say something further. 
Jensen was glad he didn't. 
 
 Trying to compete for Jared with one of Jared's best friends would be damn
near impossible and Jensen wasn't really ready to give Jared up, not when he'd
just found him.


  
Jensen was drawn out of his musings by the distinct lack of light outside the
pick- up truck.  'Um, Jake, this isn't the way to the movies.'  Jake didn't
respond and, immediately, Jensen could feel the panic clawing at his throat. 
How had he been so stupid?  He hadn't been this careless in all the months he'd
been at the university.
 
 Jensen had felt safe with one of Jared's friends because Jared was safe,
Jesus, the guy was jealous and pissed and Jensen had no idea how far Jake was
willing to do to get him out of the way.  'Jake?'  His voice a little shaky.



 'You don't even get it do you?'  No, not really.  But talking was good,
right?  The cops always talked to the crazy guy on those shows. 
 
 'Look, I know you and Jay are close but, um, I'm not sure he sees you that
way.'



A sharp laugh from Jake had Jensen shrinking into the door.
 
 'God, Jensen, I'm not after Jay.'  Jensen frown deepened at that, now he was
completely lost. 

 'I...huh?'
 'I've been trying to get your attention for a year, Jensen.  It was fucking
hard work, too, you never went to any of the parties, and you always had your
damn guard dog around, but I think it was pretty fucking obvious how I felt
about you.'  Jensen gaped at the man next to him, and tried to think back to
any interactions they'd actually had.
 
 Jake had knocked into him at a couple of parties, groped his ass a few times,
but the guy had been so wasted at the time that Jensen hadn’t ever thought
anything of it.  Hell, he hadn’t even known the guy was gay until then.  'And
then Jay just swoops on in and whisks you away, didn't even have to fucking
try.'  Jensen saw where they were going then, right into the woods, about ten
miles from campus and way too far away from anyone else, in Jensen's opinion.
  


Not really knowing what to say to all that information, Jensen tried, 'I'm
sorry, Jake, I…uh…I just thought you were drunk,' Jake snorted at that and
Jensen wondered if this was all a big joke; Jake didn't really like him and
maybe Jared didn't either. Maybe the entire football team was going to jump out
of the trees and burst into fits of laughter at his stupidity- the team was
well known for their pranks. 
 
 To be honest, Jensen wasn't sure what he was hoping for right now, he really
liked Jared and trusted him and didn't want it to have all been a lie, but he
also didn't like being alone in the woods with Jake either.
 


 'Not drunk at all, Jensen.'  Jake stopped the car and leaned over while Jensen
all but plastered himself to the window, 'I meant what I said earlier, about
Jay, we share everything.'  Jensen got what the guy was saying but he was
pretty damn sure that Jared wouldn't want them sharing this.



 'I really don't think...' Jensen's word were cut off by Jake's mouth
descending on his, hot and demanding, and the other man's hand settling on his
crotch.  It took a second for Jensen mind to catch up, then he pushed Jake away
and punched him in the jaw.  It hurt but he figured it hurt Jake more which was
what he was going for anyway.



 'Sonofabitch.'  Jake gasped out and clutched at his chin.
 
 'Take me the fuck back Jake or I'm pretty sure Jared will do way more to you
than just punch you in the face.'  Jake's eyes widened at that, not
surprisingly, Jared was built like a brick shithouse.

 ‘Jesus, fine, just let me take a piss before we go.'  Jensen saw it for the
ruse it was; he could see the tears in the other man's eyes, at the pain, and
he knew that Jake didn't want Jensen to see them.  Christ, that was why he had
never hung out with the jocks in high school; their macho bullshit was really
pathetic.
 
 'Whatever, just get back here so I can go on my actual date.'  The words were
meant to be cutting and he saw the flicker of hurt in Jake's eyes before the
other man turned away and jumped out of the car.



 Five minutes later, Jensen was getting restless.  Jake was being an asshole
and he really didn't want Jared to think that he'd skipped out on their date. 
Shit, Jake was probably lying and Jared was still waiting for him at the
library where they'd agreed to meet.  Jensen rolled his window down and stuck
his head out, 'Come the hell on, man, I need to get back, shake it off and
let's go.'
 
 Silence.
 


 Jensen craned his head out of the window and looked around the dark forest.
 There wasn't a sound, no birds, no animals and definitely no Jake.  The panic
he had managed to tamp down from earlier flared up again and he brought his
head back into the cab of the truck and rolled up the window with almost manic
speed.  Jensen knew he was being stupid, Jake was just pissed at the rejection
and was trying to scare him, he didn't know about Jensen's past.  It wasn't
Jake’s fault that this kind of thing affected Jensen way more than it would any
other normal college guy.  That didn't help calm his panic though.



 Jensen grabbed his phone was inputting Chris' number before he even realised
that he had no signal.
 


 Shit.
 
 It had to be the trees; they were pretty far into the woods.  Jensen reached
over to the other side of the car and felt the keys dangling from the
ignition.  Not wanting to get out of the car, he'd probably have a heart attack
if Jake jumped out at him, right then, with all the adrenaline pumping through
his system.
  


So he started to scoot across the seats, it was awkward with the gear shift in
the way, but he had almost managed it when a long slow scratch sounded from the
side of the car.
 
 Jensen stopped moving.  Completely.  Stopped even breathing.
 
 Then another scrape joined the first, only this one was longer.  Drawn out. 
It sounded like nails being scratched along the side of the car.  Jensen was
starting to feel light headed from the lack of oxygen and forced himself to
take a moment and just breathe.
 
 In that same instant, a dull thud hit the roof and Jensen gasped and threw
himself back into his seat, ducking to get away from the clanking noise above
him.
 
 'Stop it, stop it, Jake, this isn't funny.'  Jensen called out.  This was one
sick joke, he knew this urban legend and there was no fucking way he was
opening the door to see what Jake had planned for him.
 
 Then the scratching started on the roof.  Just like the story.  He knew that
Jake was doing it, he had to be.  God only knew how he got up onto the roof
without Jensen noticing but the guy was a football player so he was certainly
agile enough and he was a master prankster so Jensen was pretty sure that the
guy could easily have found a way.



 Only, when Jensen looked out of the car windscreen, a man in black stood in
front of him.  If…if Jake was there, then who the fuck was on the roof?  But
when he looked harder he saw that the man in front of him wasn't Jake, he was
broader and more muscular.  Oh. My. God. 
 
 The scratching had stopped.  Did that mean, was Jake…Jensen leapt from the
car, he couldn't leave Jake up there if he was still alive.  The sight that
greeted him had him nearly vomiting over the leaf covered floor.  Jake's eyes
bulged out of his head and his neck was held at a strange angle, it had
obviously snapped under the weight of his body.
 
 Jensen made a move to climb up onto the roof of the car and at least cut the
boy down, Christ, he looked so fucking young.  What the hell was happening?!
 
 But then he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and saw the man in black
approaching; the knife in his hand gleaming with promises of blood and pain in
the moonlight.  Jensen stood staring, for a moment, till Jake's body suddenly
fell from the tree and landed on the roof of the car with a bang. 
 
 Jensen ran to the other side of the car, he could hear the other man
following.  Just walking, like he knew Jensen was caught, and that he wasn't
getting out of there alive.



 Jensen knew better.  He'd survived this shit before.  He wasn't dying here.
Not today.  He wasn't leaving Jared and Chris.  He threw open his door and
turned over the ignition. 
 


 Fuck.  The thing wouldn't fucking start.  God, Jared had been telling him only
last week that Jake's truck was a piece of shit.  Jensen turned the key again,
the man was at the bonnet now.
 
 Nothing.
 
 The man's hand was on the door handle to the other side of the car.
 
 He turned over the engine.
 
 It roared to life just as the man pulled open the door.  Jensen slammed the
car into reverse and sped backwards praying that no trees got in the way.  The
man was pulled away from the car, by the unexpected speed, and Jensen saw him
roll onto the ground.  Jensen gasped as he just got up with such ease that it
sent chills down his spine.
  


Jensen spun the car round, leaving the door hanging open, and shot out of the
forest leaving Jake and the man in black behind him.
 


 ****

 Jensen sped back to the library, back to Jared, back to safety.  Why was this
happening?  Was this connected to his past or some freak thing that Jensen just
happened to have gotten caught up in?  Jensen's luck always had been shit, so
it was possible.  Right?



 The ride back wasn't far but, to Jensen, it took forever.  As soon as he saw
Jared's truck parked outside the library, he stopped the car and flung himself
out of the door.


 'Hey Jen, you're.....'  The smile fell off Jared's face as Jensen ran over and
threw himself into his arms, hugging him tightly, reassuring himself that they
were both there and alright.  'What's going on Jensen?  Jesus, you're shaking.'



 'Jake...in the woods...oh god, Jared...I don't...his neck.'  Jensen knew that
he wasn't making any sense and the confused look on Jared's face only confirmed
it.



 'Jake?  Jake's at the airport; he's on his way to his parents to ski for the
week?'
 'But…that…that’s not possible, I just left him in the woods.'  The words bit
into Jensen's conscience, he'd left Jake's body to that madman not knowing what
the psycho would do with it.



 'What were you doing in the woods with Jake, Jensen?'  Jared had disengaged
himself from Jensen's at that, narrowing his eyes.
 
 Great.  'Um, Jake told me that your truck had broken down and that you’d asked
him to give me a lift to the movies.'  Jared eyes widened at that.  'And then,
he, uh, hekissedmeandIpunchedhim.'  It came out in a rush, not knowing how
Jared would react.  Would he be angry at his friend?  At Jensen?  Did he think
Jensen had led Jake on?  Oh God, would he even believe Jensen?
 
 'That asshole. I fucking knew he wanted you, he always denied it but he was
always looking at you.'  Jared did seem pissed but not at Jensen, so Jensen let
out the breath he'd been holding.  'I'm sorry about that, Jen, I'll kick his
ass when he gets home.'  That caused Jensen's stomach to twist unpleasantly and
the picture of Jake's body, hanging from the branch, flashed before his eyes.



 'That's not what I was trying to tell you, Jay.'   That earned Jensen a raised
eyebrow, 'Of course I would have told you, but we...we were attacked in the
woods, I think, I think Jake's...dead.'



 'What on earth are you talking about Jensen?'  And there was that look, the
look that all his friends had given him before it had gotten really bad back
home, before Matt had been killed and his family…Before anyone had any reason
to take him seriously and not just think he was crazy.  He didn’t like Jared
looking at him like that.



 'Jake got out to take a piss after I'd punched him.  And then he just didn't
come back.  I waited, like, five minutes before telling him to shake a leg but
when I looked outside then was nothing.  N…nothing, Jay.  He wasn't anywhere
near the pick-up and he didn't say anything when I called.  I…I didn't really
like it, I'm not good with stuff like that and so I went to start the car and
leave when something scratched down the side of the car.
 
 ‘I…kind of froze and then it happened again.  Then something fell onto the
roof and started scrapping...’  He bit his lip to keep himself from shaking as
he thought of that awful sound.

 'Jensen, this really isn't funny, it's kind of sick actually, that's one of my
best friends you're talking about.'  Jared's face was stony, an expression that
Jensen had never seen the other man wear before.  He wasn't going to stop
though, he was telling the truth damnit.
 
 'I fucking know that, and I'm not kidding.  Anyway, I was about to get out and
tell Jake to get the fuck off the roof and stop trying to creep me out when I
saw this guy in black standing in front of the truck.  And it…it wasn't Jake.' 
Jensen held the tears back; he wasn't going to cry, not in front of Jared, not
when Jared was looking at him like he was mad. 
 
 ‘The scrapping had stopped by then and I jumped out of the car to look and
Jake...his…his neck it was all wrong and his eyes...I panicked and jumped back
in the car.  The…Jake fell from the tree and the guy was coming at me with a
knife.  I just put the pick-up in reverse and drove back here as fast as I
could.'  Jensen sagged at the end of the story, feeling sick and exhausted, and
wanting nothing more than for Jared to wrap his arms around him again.
  


He didn't expect Jared to laugh at him and the sound sliced through him in ways
he couldn't even describe.  'Oh Jen, he totally got you there.  That dude was
probably Chad and Jake is laughing all the way to Austria.’



 'No, Jay it was real, I swear, I saw it.'  The tears that he’d been so adamant
not to shed were welling up again, in frustration and confusion.  Jared pulled
out his phone, pressed a couple of buttons and showed Jensen the screen.



  'Jayman, just got to the airport, board in an hour, and then it's snow and
chalet girls all the way.  See you when I get back.  Give Chad a kiss from me,
jerk.  Jake.'



 That wasn't possible. 
 
 But Jensen took the phone and saw that it was from Jake's phone and it sounded
an awful lot like Jake.
  


'I'm sorry, Jen, he was probably just pissed that you'd ignored him all these
months and had Chad set you up.  He's fine, you're fine, it was all just a
prank.’
 
 Was it?  Was it a prank and Jensen's fucked up past was making him see ghosts
where there were none?  Maybe.  Probably.  The likelihood that there was a
killer on campus was extremely low and for them to target him and Jake in the
middle of nowhere was even more so.  But still, he'd seen the look in Jake's
eyes.  He bit his lip and looked up at Jared but looked away again at the sight
of his laughing eyes.  It really wasn't funny, even if it was a prank, and
Jared shouldn't freaking be laughing at his expense.
 
 Jared seemed to pick up on Jensen's distress and put an arm around him. 
Despite his earlier wishes, Jensen realised that he really wasn't ready to be
touched just yet and pulled away.  'I really am sorry, Jensen, I'll kick his
ass doubly hard when I see him, okay?'
 
 'Okay.'  It wasn’t though.  But, Jared wasn't going to believe him anyway and
he certainly wasn't going to take him out to the woods to check, after Jared
had already looked at him like he was crazy.  The guy would think he was
certifiable if he even suggested it.  He needed someone else; someone he knew
always had his back, no matter what.
 
 Jensen needed Chris, Chris would come with him, even if there wasn't anything
to see and if it was a prank Chris wouldn't find it funny the way Jared had. 
'I'm just gonna go back to my room, I'm beat.'  He pulled away from the
quarterback.

 'But what about our date?'  Jensen looked at him, incredulous.
 


 'You're kidding, right?  I thought I was going to get gutted not half an hour
ago; funnily enough, I'm not really up for making out at the movies.'  It came
out more biting than Jensen had meant it to, but he was scared and tired, and
was really starting to wonder what was real and what was just his fucked up
mind.  He hadn't felt this off balance since the first weeks at the college,
and he didn't like it.
  


'Oh, I'm sure Chris will make you feel all better.'  The sneer in Jared's tone
took Jensen by surprise.  What the hell did Jared have to be angry about?



 'What do you mean by that?'  Jensen asked, his tone tight.

 'Chris, your keeper, always ready to ride in as your white fucking knight.' 
That made Jensen mad because if Jared had been any kind of boyfriend he would
have been furious at his friend for kissing Jensen.  And at the cruel prank
Jake had played on him, instead of simply laughing at Jensen.  It made him
question Jared and their entire relationship.
 


 'Well it might be nice for someone to.'  That got a sheepish look from Jared
and Jensen felt a stab of satisfaction at that.  'I was fucking terrified,
Jared, I don't...I don't like things like that, it's not funny to me.'  Oh god,
he was going to cry.  'Night Jared, don't call me for a couple of days, okay, I
need to think some things through.'
 
 Jensen turned away and walked back to his dorm ignoring Jared's calls.


 ****
 As soon as Jensen opened the door, Chris was there asking if he was okay.
 
 Jensen knew that he was pale and still had tear tracks down his face from when
he'd walked away from Jared.



 'I don't...Chris...I think I'm going crazy.'  On his way back, Jensen had been
trying to put it all together in his mind.  The whole thing was ludicrous, that
Jensen would be targeted by two different pyschos in one lifetime.  It could
have been the same guy but Jensen hadn’t heard anything or gotten any letters
since he’d left.  He'd changed his name and moved half way across the country,
it would have been damn near impossible for the guy to follow him, right? 
 


 So that left the uncomfortable idea that Jensen had just been seeing shadows
when there was nothing but a couple of college boys and a harmless prank or…or
maybe even nothing at all...had the whole evening even happened the way he
thought it had or had Jensen's fucked up pysche just made it all up?
 
 Jared probably thought he was an attention seeker at best, he'd been called
that before, and a psycho at worst.
  


'Of course you're not crazy, Jen, what’s this all about?'  Chris sat him down
on the bed, nothing but concern written on his face.



 Jensen relayed everything that had happened, the hand gripping his own
tightened as he described Jared's callous reaction to the news. 
 
 As the tears filled his eyes, again, Chris just pulled him into a much needed
hug and held him tightly, as Jensen buried his face in the shorter man's neck,
seeking the comfort that he had wanted so desperately from his boyfriend
earlier.



 'That bastard.'  Chris pulled away to look Jensen in the eye.  'What do you
wanna do Jen?'



 Jensen didn't really know.  He wanted to go back and check the woods, check
for the body, but he didn't want Chris looking at him like Jared had for
suggesting it.  Even worse, if they went, he wasn't sure what he'd do if they
found a body....or if they didn’t.

 'Do you wanna check out the woods?  I'll come with you if you do.'  Jensen
smiled weakly at his friend; Chris always had had an uncanny ability to know
what Jensen was thinking.

 'Yeah, I think…yeah.  I'm sure it was a prank, Chris, but...but I just have to
know.'  Chris merely nodded and grabbed his car keys.
  


'I'm sure it was just a fucking disgusting joke, too, and that boy is gonna be
drinking out of a straw for the rest of the year when I’m through with him, but
I know it'll make you feel better just to be sure.   Come on, I'll drive.' 
That made Jensen think of Jake's truck and how he had just left it in the
middle of the road, he hoped Jared had taken care of it.   It did support the
idea that the black clothed man was a friend of Jake's, though, and that he
took him to the airport while Jensen sped off with the man's pick up.
 


 They arrived at the woods two hours after Jensen had left it.  It was a little
difficult to find the spot but when Jensen was sure he'd found it, he jumped
out and started looking around.  There was no evidence that they'd even been
there that evening, let alone Jake's body or the rope.  There were no tyre
tracks that Jensen was sure that he must have made when he high-tailed it out
of there.
 


 The possibility that Jake had never taken him into the woods at all, but had
merely lent Jensen his truck before going to the airport, was rearing its ugly
head.  Jensen had had problems before, after Matt’s death, seeing things that
weren't there; nothing this extreme but…



 'Jen, buddy, there's nothing here, I think Jake really did plan this as a joke
and took off.'  Jensen should have been relieved that Jake was clearly okay and
the only casualty here was his pride and perhaps his relationship with Jared
but he still felt uneasy. 
 
 No matter how much his mind told him that maybe none of the evening had
happened or that it was all just some elaborate prank, he couldn't forget the
look in Jake's eyes nor the glint of that knife; sharp and deadly.

 'You're right, Chris, let's just get back.'  Chris squeezed his arm in comfort
and took him back to their room.


***** Chapter Six. *****
 
_ Chapter_Six._


 Jensen missed his classes for the next two days; he was feeling off balance
and didn't think he could handle being around all those people.  Chris was
great, he made sure Jensen ate, slept as much as he could when he wasn’t waking
up in a cold sweat, and got him any assignments he missed.



 On his third day of almost total isolation from the entire world outside room
three on the second floor of Winchester, there was a knock at the door that
sent a chill down Jensen's spine.  He knew that he was reverting back to that
scared student he'd been during those first few months but he didn't really
know how to stop it.
 


 Jensen cautiously opened the door and saw Jared standing there.  He looked
awful; he had dark bags under his eyes, pale skin and lanky greasy hair.
 
 'Jay, what's the matter?'   His concern for the taller man overrode any anger
he felt towards him; he still cared about Jared even after what had transpired
the other night and if something bad had happened, like it looked like it had,
he would be there for him.  Jensen stepped forward and placed a hand against
the man's cheek feeling the beginnings of a beard growing.
  


'I'm really sorry Jensen.  I was completely out of line the other night.  I
shouldn't have laughed but growing up with Chad and hanging out with Jake and
the other guys- it’s just the kind of thing they do.  I know you're not used to
it and it was in pretty poor taste and I should have been making sure you were
okay.  I'm so sorry.'
 
 The words were out in a rush and the poor guy looked so wretched that Jensen
felt he had to invite him into the room.  He couldn’t just leave him out on the
doorstep after that.



 'It's alright, Jared.'  Jensen said quietly, even though it really wasn't. 
But he didn't blame Jared for that, not really, he blamed the psychopath from
four years ago for that.  'I…I overreacted and I'm sure anyone else would have
found it funny but I…there's some stuff that happened to me that makes me not
good with that.'  He wasn't telling Jared about his past, not yet.  Jared had
already glimpsed his crazy side, he wasn't about to start shove it all out into
the light just yet, not when their relationship was still so new.



 'I'm still really sorry and I'm hoping I haven't been too much of an idiot to
get a second chance with you?'  God, how could Jensen ever say no to those
pleading eyes?
  


'Technically, Padalecki, I think this would be your third chance, given the
disaster that was that Omega Delta Pi frat party.'   Jensen fought to keep the
smirk off his face at Jared's stricken look, wanting to laugh; as if Jensen
wasn't the lucky one in their relationship.  'But...seeing as that was pretty
much Chad's fault and this was Jake's, I suppose,' he let out a fake, and
overdone, long-suffering sigh.  'I could give you one more chance.'
 


 He let himself smile then, really smile for the first time in days, letting
the other man know that he was kidding. 

 
 Jared moved quicker than Jensen even registered and lifted Jensen up and
kissed him firmly on the mouth.  'Thank God I still get to do that.  I promise,
Jen, no more fuck ups, new friends, I definitely need new friends.'  Jensen
laughed at the other man's enthusiasm and half-heartedly patted Jared's muscled
chest to put him down. Maybe...maybe he slipped in a little grope there too. 
Hey, it had been two days and the guy was built okay?  'Right, I think I need
to take you out for a disgustingly expensive dinner to make up for my bastard-
ness.'
 
 'You really don't need to, Jay, I was only kidding.'  Jensen said, suddenly a
little self-conscious when, in truth, Jensen knew that he was lucky Jared had
ever even looked at him let alone asking for a second or in this case, a third
chance with him.
 
 'No, you were right,’  Jared continued.  ‘I have a lot to make up for.  So…KFC
here we come.'  Jared dead panned.
 


 Jensen threw his head back and laughed, ‘Idiot.’  Slapping Jared lightly on
the chest, yeah, he was damn lucky.
 


 ****
 


 Dinner, thankfully, was not KFC - not that Jensen had any problems with that
but he kind of felt a dinner date shouldn't really consist of food eaten out of
a bucket - but a nice little Italian restaurant about ten minutes away from the
campus.
 
 They had wine instead of beer, starters as well as dessert, and it was sort of
perfect.  And Jared was sort of perfect too; the more Jensen learned about the
guy the more he wanted to know.  Even so, that left Jensen with doubts, how
could someone like Jared ever want someone like him?  But Jensen kept those
thoughts to himself, allowing himself to enjoy Jared now for as long as the
other man would have him.
  


Chris was out at a concert that night and he was staying at Steve's so Jensen
decided to invite Jared back for a couple of beers.  A couple of beers turned
into a pretty heavy make out session on Jensen's bed and Jared had his hands
firmly on Jensen's ass when the door flew open and Chris walked in.


  
Jensen was so startled that he kicked Jared off the bed and onto the floor.
'Jesus, Jay, are you alright?'



 'Oh, for fuck's sake, Jen, that was something I really didn't wanna see.' 
Chris said, at the same time, shielding his eyes.



 Jensen reached down and pulled Jared to his feet, the other man looked a
little dazed and a lot pissed off but otherwise alright.  'What the hell are
you doing here Chris?  You said you were staying at Steve's tonight?'
 
 'What?  I texted you earlier to tell you that the gig was cancelled and that I
was coming home after all.'  Jensen felt Jared bristle at the way Chris used
the word home in relation to their dorm room but ignored it; he could
understand why Jared was pissed.  'Anyway, I thought this loser was firmly out
of the picture after his charming behaviour the other night?'



 Jensen pulled out his phone in lieu of answering that minefield of a question,
'Well, one- I didn't get your text and two- we worked it out.'



 'You worked it out?'  Chris' eyebrows reached his hairline in shock.
  


'Yeah, we worked it out, Christian.'  The disdain dripped off Jared's words as
he looked down at the shorter man, an arm wound possessively around Jensen's
waist.
 
 Chris' eyes narrowed but he didn't say anything.  'Well if you guys can just
finish whatever the fuck you're doing, I can go to bed.'  Chris made a crude
hand gesture and flopped onto his bed.
  


Jensen grabbed Jared’s hand and pulled him out of the room and closed the door
on his roommate.  'I'm really sorry, Jay, raincheck?'



 Jared was looking at the door with a frown on his face, Jensen hated that
expression, it really didn't suit Jared at all.  'Does that guy have a tracker
device on you or something?'



 Jensen laughed and rolled his eyes.  'Nah, Chris really doesn't want to know
what the two of us were gonna do in that dorm room so if he knew we were in
there there's no way he would have come back, believe me.  The guy's as
straight as an arrow; I honestly think gay sex scares him.'  He grinned at
Jared before his eyes widened as he realised what he’d just said and he could
feel the heat rising to his cheeks, thankful that Jared wasn’t looking at him
right then. 
 
 Heavy making out was a long way away from actual sex and since Jensen hadn’t
done that since, well ever really, he was totally not ready for that yet.



 'Hmph.'  Jared shook his head and the frown receded, as he turned back to face
Jensen, leaving a smile that looked much more at home on the handsome man's
face.  'We'll go to my place next time, Chad would just shout something like
'remember the lube' and chuck a condom at us then leave.  It’s pretty much the
only advantage to having a douche for a roommate.'  He shrugged as if that was
just something he had learnt to live with.
  


'Okay, next time.'  Jensen kissed Jared again, deeper this time then pulled
away.  Jared groaned as Jensen pulled away, and Jensen chuckled at the idea of
sending Jared home with a hard on the size of Texas.  He pushed Jared away and
the look of heat, tempered with barely concealed frustration, he saw in Jared’s
eyes was almost worth it.  Almost. 


***** Chapter Seven. *****
 
_ Chapter_Seven._
  

 ‘Why are we even here again?’  Chris groaned as he pulled his jacket tighter
around himself against the rain and the cold.
 
 ‘Because Jensen’s insanely hot and buff boyfriend is out there training.’ 
Danneel answered, as though it was obvious why they were all sitting there
freezing their asses off.
 

 ‘Yeah, I repeat; why are wehere?’  Chris indicated all the guys in the group.
 
 Jensen wrapped one arm around his friend’s shoulder, ‘You’re providing moral
support and letting me know that you accept Jared as my boyfriend.’  Chris just
grunted; Jensen knew that the man wasn’t overly happy about Jensen dating the
jock but at least he’d stopped glaring at Jared every time he saw him, mostly. 
‘Plus, I’m pretty sure Misha can appreciate the view, right Meesh?’
 

 Misha just shrugged, ‘Hot is hot.’ 
 
 Jensen grinned and returned his eyes to the field as he watched his boyfriend
charge up and down the pitch; he’d never been all that interested in football
until he’d met Jared Padalecki but he was starting to see the merits of the
game, namely the ones Danneel had named.  He blushed when Jared scored and
waved up to Jensen in the stands.
 
 ‘Christ, I don’t know who I’m more jealous of,’ Katie grumbled, looking
between them.  Jensen snorted, he was pretty sure the entire female, and some
of the male, student body envied him at that moment. 
 
 The game continued, and they gradually got wetter and colder until finally
Beaver blew his whistle and told the football players to get their asses into
the changing rooms.  Jensen ignored Chris’ muttered, ‘Thank God!’ and jumped
down the bleachers to meet Jared on the pitch.  They usually went up after his
games so he’d wait for Jared outside the changing rooms till he was ready to
go.   Jared pulled his helmet off and kissed Jensen hard on the lips; the
adrenaline really amped up Jared’s sex drive and Jensen had found another
reason for suddenly liking football, a whole lot. 
 

 ‘You were great.’  Jensen breathed against the taller man’s lips as he pulled
back. 
 
 ‘Thanks.  Must be my lucky charm, I always play better when you’re around.’ 
He whispered in Jensen’s ear, ‘And even before we were dating, I used to see
you up there, course I didn’t know then that you came for me, but I know I
played all the better ‘cause you were there.’  He pulled back and grinned,
running his thumb over the blush on Jensen’s cheek.  Jensen hadn’t realised
that Jared had noticed him at the games before.
 
 ‘Um…I’ll let you get showered and wait for you here, okay?’  Jensen said,
shifting a little from one foot to another; he still always kind of expected
Jared to say no whenever Jensen suggested they spend time together.
 

 Jared looked at him then, narrowing his eyes like he was thinking, and then
shook his head.  Jensen’s stomach plummeted, was this the moment?  Was it all
over?  ‘Nope, can’t do it, I’m afraid.’
 
 ‘Oh.’  Jensen tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice, ‘I’ll
just…HEY!’
 

 Jensen was lifted up over Jared’s shoulder before he even realised what was
happening, ‘What?  What are you doing, Jared?’
 
 ‘Can’t wait I’m afraid, we’re going back to my room right now so I can
thoroughly take advantage of you and your obvious lack of resistance to my
manly charms.’  Jared replied, his voice showing no strain at all at keeping
Jensen’s weight over his broad shoulder.
 
 Jensen squirmed, his face bright red at the thought of what he must look
like.  He tried to tamp down how hot it was that Jared was able to manhandle
him so easily and attempted to keep the annoyance in his voice when he
answered, ‘Jared, put me down, you can’t just…’   He squirmed again, trying to
keep his hardening cock away from his boyfriend’s body, that would be a little
difficult to explain since he was trying to project annoyance and not arousal.
 

 A hard slap on his ass stopped him instantly.  ‘Better.’  Jared said, turning
on his heel, heading back in the direction of his dorm room. 
 

 ‘That’s it, there is no way that I’m coming to that jerk’s practice again,
ever again, no matter how much Jensen tries to bribe me.’  Jensen heard Chris’
tight, horrified voice.
 
 ‘There’s no way that I’m missinga practice, ever again, if this is how it ends
every time.’  Danneel retorted, her voice high and breathy.
 

 ‘Lucky bastards.’  Katie muttered under her breath.
 

 Jensen was just happy when Jared neared the edge of the football field,
carrying him towards Jared’s truck.  And if Jensen cock was hard against his
boyfriend’s solid body, well, that was no one’s business but his own. 
 
 ****
 
 ‘So, did you enjoy the game?’  Jared asked as he opened the door to his dorm.
 

 ‘Would have enjoyed it better had I not been manhandled off the field
afterwards.’  Jensen grumbled back as he followed Jared into the room.  He
gasped as he felt his back hit the wooden door, Jared right in front of him,
staring intensely into his eyes, the barest hint of a smile gracing his lips.
 

 ‘Really, baby?  Didn’t feel like you were all that upset about it when you
were over my shoulder.’  He ground his hips against Jensen’s to    emphasise
his point, at least Jensen’s hard on had pretty much gone during the ride in
the truck.  Jensen still blushed, though, at the thought that Jared had felt
him hard against his body, despite Jensen’s best efforts to keep him in the
dark to that embarrassing little fact.
 

 ‘I…um…no…’  Jensen stammered back, his brain short circuiting as Jared leaned
in to nip at his neck.
 
 ‘Yeah?  It kind of felt to me like you were real happy about it.’  He ground
his hips hard into Jensen’s again, shocking a moan out of Jensen as he felt his
own cock hardening again from the friction.  Jared leaned in and licked around
the shell of his ear before whispering, ‘Wanna know what I think?’  Jensen
wasn’t really sure about the answer to that so he settled for letting his head
fall back, with a thunk, against the door, ‘I think you liked it, I think you
liked the fact that I could do anything I wanted to you right then.’  He kissed
down Jensen’s neck, ‘And I think you liked the fact that everyone on that field
now knows that you’re mine.’  He bit down hard on Jensen’s neck and Jensen came
in his shorts; unsure as to whether it was the bite or the claim of ownership
that had sent him over the edge. 
 

 When Jensen came back to himself, he realised that Jared was pretty much
holding him up against the door since his legs seemed to have given up on their
job of supporting his weight.  He flushed bright red at the wet feeling in his
shorts; did he really just come from a few dirty words and a little grinding?
 

 God,    how humiliating.  He ducked his head away, hoping to hide his blush
from his boyfriend.
 
 Jared nudged his cheek with his nose, ‘Hey, don’t be embarrassed, that was all
kinds of hot, Jen, believe me.’  He brought Jensen’s hand down briefly to the
front of his shorts and Jensen found an answering wet patch on the front. 
‘That’s what you do to me, Jen, never felt anything like it.’  Jared kissed
Jensen again, chastely on the lips, before backing away slightly to let Jensen
move away from the door.  Confident that his legs wouldn’t give out once he
moved away from the solid support of the door, Jensen followed Jared over to
his bed.
 
 They lay down, and Jared sat against the headboard with Jensen between his
legs, his broad chest pressed to Jensen’s back.  Jared wrapped his arms around
Jensen and kissed him on the top of the head.  Even though it was barely nine
o’clock, Jensen couldn’t help his eyes drifting closed pulling him into sleep,
warm and safe in Jared’s tight embrace.


***** Chapter Eight. *****
_ Chapter_Eight._
 
 Jensen stumbled back to his dorm room.  It was a little after two in the
morning; he and Jared had been out at a Jazz bar and had totally lost track of
time.  Jensen opened the door and was about to turn the lights on in the almost
pitch black room when he heard a grunt and a whimper from the other side of the
room.  Jesus Christ!  And Chris had the audacity to gripe about him and Jared
when he'd clearly brought back some bimbo to fuck in their dorm room knowing
that Jensen was coming back tonight.
 
 The asshole should have just told him to stay at Jared's.  It shouldn't
surprise him though, Chris had pulled this shit before but it did piss him off
and he certainly didn't have the energy to walk all the way over to the other
side of campus to Jared's room.

 Jensen closed his eyes so as to not scar his corneas by seeing Chris' naked
ass (again!) and said overly loudly, 'Don't worry guys, I’m just gonna put my
I-pod on and you can ...go back to doing...whatever it is you're doing, okay.' 
Another louder grunt and Jensen took that as agreement as he crawled into bed,
feeling his way in the dark.  He grabbed his I-pod and put the earphones in his
ears and turned the volume up to the highest setting. 
 
 Normally he wouldn't have been able to sleep with music pounding that loudly
in his ears but he was so exhausted, and he had a class at nine, that he was
asleep before the first song was over.
 
 ****
 
 Jensen’s playlist had finished sometime in the night so he heard his phone
alarm loud and clear when it went off at eight the next morning.  Rubbing his
eyes, he got up and stumbled towards the bathroom, used the toilet and went to
make his way back to his side of the room.

 'Shit!'  Jensen's foot slipped on something wet on the floor and he went down
on his hands and knees, using his hands to catch himself, just in time, to stop
his face smashing into the floor.  He looked down and saw that his hands were
covered in red paint.  Jensen's sleep-hazy brain tried to connect the paint to
his room but failed.
 
 He looked down at his body; he was covered, his boxers and shirt were
saturated with the stuff.  Only it really didn't feel like paint.
 
 It looked like…

 Jensen breathing picked up as his mind slowly started to wake up as he looked
at the red covering and dripping from his hands.  Oh. My. God!  Please no. 
Please.  Jensen's head snapped up and what he saw had him tumbling back onto
the floor, onto his ass, this time.

 'AREN'T YOU GLAD YOU DIDN'T TURN THE LIGHT ON?'
 
 Was written across the white wall of his dorm room, above Chris's bed, in
red.  From his spot, on the floor, he could see Chris in his bed but there…
there was red everywhere.  Forcing himself to stand, Jensen walked over to his
best friend's bed and took in the body lying on its side, curled in on itself,
hidden under the bed covers.  Steeling his resolve, Jensen reached out a
shaking hand and shook his friend's shoulder. 
 
 ‘Chris, buddy, it's time to wake up, we've got class in half an hour and
there's no way I can carry your heavy ass all the way to the psych building.' 
The joke fell flat amidst the gory scene around him.  He shook harder the lump
in the bed harder, feeling the tears choking him.
  


'Come on, Chris, come on, please, not you…don't...not you.’  Jensen pulled hard
enough that the body rolled over and the bed sheets fell away and Jensen saw
blue eyes staring vacantly at the ceiling.  OH GOD!  Jensen vomited at the side
of the bed. 
 
 Once he had gotten his breathing and body back under control Jensen looked
back at his friend.   It wasn't Chris.  It was Steve.  And Jensen would feel
terrible till the end of his days for the slight relief that rang through him
that those blue eyes didn't belong to his best friend.
 
 The tears were coming hard and fast now as Jensen rang campus security, taking
in the slit wrists and bruise circling his friend's neck.
  


'Campus Security, how can we help?'
 
 'Um…hello,' Jensen croaked, 'This is Jensen. Jensen Ackles from Winchester,
room three.  There's been an accident, there's…a…a body...in...my room... it's
Steve Carlson...he's...he's hurt.'  He couldn't say it, not another person
Jensen cared about, not again.



 'Alright, Mr Ackles, stay calm, security is on its way now, stay where you are
and try not to touch your friend, he may be in need of medical attention that
you can’t provide.'  It wasn't true, Steve was well past any kind of help but
he nodded anyway.
  


'Okay, I'll be here.'  Jensen turned to his side of the room and saw something
on his pillow.   Nonono, not again.  The envelope looked the same, the writing
on the front lookedthe same.  Jensen opened it and dropped the paper onto the
floor by his bed.
 
 ‘SURPRISE.'
 Jensen moved back and sat on his bed, not noticing the red seeping from his
clothes into the clean white sheets underneath him.  Jensen picked up his cell
and typed in another number.
  


'Well, good morning, sexy, to what do I owe the pleasure this early in the
morning?'

 'Jay?'  His voice broke over the phone.

'Jensen, what's wrong?  What happened?'  The teasing tone was gone in an
instant.
 
 'You need to come, please, I need you.'  Jensen pleaded over the phone, his
voice barely above a whisper.  Even if Jared decided that Jensen was too much
trouble after this, he still needed Jared now, otherwise he was afraid that
he’d just fall apart in the dorm room and nothing and no one would ever be able
to put him back together again.

'Right, I’m on my way.'  Jensen could hear the rumple and jangle of Jared
grabbing his jacket and keys down the phone.  'You in your room?'
 
 'Yes.  Hurry.'  Jensen curled up on his bed and waited for Jared to come and
find him.


  
'HOLY FUCK!'  Jensen fell off the bed at the yell, hitting the floor hard.
  


'Jensen what the fuck? What the hell...oh my God, Steve?'  It was only Chris,
but Jensen was still shaking from the shock.  Maybe he'd been shaking since
he'd first fallen, he didn't know.  Jensen felt arms wrap around him in a steel
grip.
  


'Jensen, are you alright?'  Jensen nodded then shook his head.  He really
wasn't, nothing was alright, this was all his fault, he knew it was.
 
 'Oh my God, Jensen, that's…Steve.'  Jensen felt the tears soak into his T-
shirt where Chris' head rested on his shoulder.  Chris never cried, never.  But
Jensen really couldn't blame him; he and Steve were really close.
 
 Jensen gripped Chris all the harder, thankful that his friend was still alive
and breathing, he didn't know what he would have done had it been Chris in that
bed.
  
There was a knock on the door and an accompanying deep voice called, ‘Mr
Ackles, Campus Security.'

 Chris released him and moved to his side, still close enough for Jensen to
feel his body heat.  He was grateful; it helped reassure his shattering mind
that Chris was still there.
 
 'It's open.'  He called back.  Two security guards in uniform entered the
room.  The younger gasped and his face went white so fast that Jensen thought
he might pass out.  The other one had his radio out as soon as he saw the blood
and was clearly calling in the police to deal with the body and cancelling any
emergency medical assistance they’d arranged.  ‘Mr Ackles?'



 Jensen nodded and stepped forward.  'I'm Jensen Ackles.  This is my roommate
Christian Kane.'



 'And the man on the bed?'

 'That's... Steve Carlson, he's a friend of ours.  I didn't even realise it was
him till I saw the body this morning.'

 'Wait a second, you were here last night?'  The officer asked in disbelief.

 Jensen coloured, this really wasn't going to sound good for him.  For all he
could prove, he was the only one in the room with Steve last night, even though
he had heard and felt a third person there.  'Yeah, I came back about two and I
heard noises from the other bed.'  He looked down and blushed and then felt
like an idiot considering what had really being going on in that bed.  'I
thought it was Chris with a girl, and I didn't want to interrupt so I just, oh
God, I just left the lights off and put on my I-pod so I didn’t have to hear
it.'



 Christ, not only was it his fault for bringing his shit on his friends, if
only he'd turned on the goddamned light.  What must Steve have been thinking
when he said he was just gonna leave them to it?  Those whimpers, he was
begging Jensen to help him but Jensen was too much of a stupid bastard to
realise it.
  


The security offer was writing down everything Jensen had said, probably with a
note next to it saying ‘guilty as hell’,whilst the other one was fingering his
tazer.   He was going be arrested and he knew it.  Shit.



 'What this?'  Jensen turned back to Chris who was holding up the note.



 'I found that on my pillow.'  Jensen said evasively.
 


 'What the hell does it mean, Jensen?'

 Jensen opened his mouth to answer when six foot five inches of Jared Padalecki
burst through the door.   It would have been funny had the scene not been so
tragic.   Jared went from sixty to zero the instant he saw the blood, on the
walls, on the bed, on Steve and all over Jensen.



 Then he shook his head and marched over to Jensen, pulling him into a tight
hug.  Jensen relaxed instantly into the embrace, allowing some of the tension
that was keeping his muscles corded to bleed out of his body.

 'Jensen what happened?  Is that Steve?'  Jared didn't know Steve all that
well, they'd only met a couple of times, so Jensen just nodded and clung
tighter to the taller man.  'Who did this?'  Even with his suspicions that this
was connected to his past, Jensen still had no answers; he'd never known who it
was before so he didn't know who it was then either. 
 
 One thing he did know was that his friends deserved an explanation and even if
they turned away from him, hell, it would probably be better for them if they
did, they deserved the truth.
 
 'I need to talk to you both, can you guys wait around for a bit until after
I’ve talked to the police.'  Jensen didn't look at either of them when he
asked, knowing that they would both stay.  He just hoped he wasn't about to be
carted off to a jail cell.
 
 'Sure, Jen, whatever you need, we'll be here.'  Chris answered, a comforting
hand resting on his shoulder.
 
 ****



 An hour later and Jensen had told the police everything that had happened the
night before and about his life before coming to Stanford.  He could see they
didn't believe that his past was connected to all this, he'd seen those
disbelieving looks before, but at least now they just thought of him as a
traumatised kid rather than a homicidal murderer and had let him go.



 Jensen found Chris and Jared waiting for him in the quad where he and Chris
always sat to study.  Jared got up as soon as he saw Jensen and strode over to
him putting an arm out to bring him into a hug.  Jensen flinched away from the
contact, the memories of all those years ago too fresh in his mind to deal with
any kind of contact.  Jared's face was a mixture of hurt and confusion and
Jensen felt fucking awful; the poor guy would never have come anywhere near
Jensen if Jensen had told him the truth from the start.
  


'I…uh…I need to tell you guys some things, about me, but can you just wait till
I'm done before you ask any questions.  I need to get this out all in one go or
it's not gonna happen but you both, you need to know.'  Jensen let his mind
wander back to three years ago, when it all begun, and somewhere he never let
it go.


  
'My name isn't Jensen Ackles.  Well technically, it is, now, but it wasn't
always- it was Jensen Thompson.  I had to change it two years ago after some
stuff happened and that name wasn't safe anymore.  I was 17 when it all
started.  I started getting letters and presents in my locker at school, on the
doorstep, in the mail.  Weird stuff, you know, talking to me like I was their
boyfriend or something.  They weren't signed and when I told my family and my
actual boyfriend, they just told me to ignore it, that it was just some kid
with a crush and that they’d get over it.
 
 ‘So I did, I left it, but the letters just kept coming, freaking hundreds of
them, and they were getting really personal, talking about things that no one
should know about me and talking about shit that made me uncomfortable.

 ‘That's when my boyfriend finally took notice, six months later, when the
letters started detailing all the things that the person wanted to do to me. 
So then I went to the cops and told them but there was fuck all they could do
about it so we settled for my boyfriend burning everything I got. 
 
 Matt was starting to get pissed about it all whereas I was just fucking
scared, the guy was like obsessed and I lived with my…my family, I couldn't
imagine anything happening to them.  Then one of the kids I was tutoring got
the shit kicked out of him, I mean he’d asked me out a little while ago and I
think he still had a bit of crush on me, God only knew why, but it had never
gone anywhere.  Still I couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, he'd
gotten hurt because of me, that it was my fault.
 
 ‘Anyway, one day I got this letter and it was just different.  It was talking
about our future together, like years from then, and it was just weird, but I
didn't know what it meant.  I was so fucking stupid.  That night the cops came
to my house to tell me my boyfriend was dead.’  Jensen swallowed, remembering
how he’d fallen apart that night, then again at the funeral. 
 
 ‘The cops claimed it was a mugging gone wrong but I knew it wasn't.  I told
them everything but they looked at me like…like I was trying to make his death
about me.  But I wasn't, I swear I wasn't.’  He looked up at the two most
important people in his life, pleadingly, and taking in their shocked
expressions.  He quickly looked away and continued the story in the same,
almost detached fashion as before.



 ‘Anyway, after the funeral, I got this huge punch of roses and a card that
said ‘Soon’.  I went straight to the cops and they hooked me up with a 24/
7 police detective to look after me.  I actually felt pretty good about that;
there was one at my house too, looking after my family.  Things were good for a
couple of months, there were no letters, no gifts and I thought it was over and
I was starting to believe that maybe my boyfriend's death had just been a
tragic accident, the mugging they had insisted it was.
  


‘Then the shit really hit the fan.’  This was going to be the hard bit, this
was going to be the make it or break it point of his relationships with the two
men in front of him.  He could barely look at himself in the mirrors some days
so he knew what knowing this could do to the way they saw him.  ‘I was walking
home from school with my guard and suddenly there's this thud behind me.  I
stopped and looked round and the cop was on the floor and there was blood
pooling around his head.  I rushed over to him but something hit me over the
back of the head and knocked me out before I even touched him.



 ‘I woke up and ...and…it wasn't good.  The guy who took me was...there, on top
of me.'  Jensen looked away then, there was no way he was elaborating on that
sentence; he hadn't told the cops about that and hoped that the doctors didn't
know.   He certainly didn't want his boyfriend and his best friend knowing that
had happened to him. 
 


 'I head butted him hard enough to knock him out.  It took me almost twenty
minutes to unbind my hands from the headboard.  There...there was a gun, and I
shot him.  He didn't even move.  I dropped the gun and ran.  I was found two
days later by a couple hiking through the woods and they took me to hospital. 
 
 ‘I was told I’d been in a coma for a week and a half whilst everything
healed.   When I woke up, my family wasn't there and that was really strange
because we were really close.
 
 ‘A cop came by and told me that there had been a fire, arson, and that...that
my family hadn't made it.  I...blacked out again after that.  As soon as I woke
up, I discharged myself and left.  That first year on my own wasn't easy; I was
in a pretty dark place for a lot of it and did some stupid things.  Well more
stupid. 
 
 ‘Then a year ago I said enough was enough and enrolled here, moved thousands
of miles away from where it had all happened and didn't look back.  But...but
now he's back and I can't...not again…and Steve...it's all my fault...but I
thought he was dead, no one could find where he had taken me, I was sure I had
killed him, I mean I shot him.' 
 
 Jensen was done, he broke down into sobs.  Strong arms came around his body
and pulled him against a muscled chest.  He breathed in the scent of Jared and
turned his face into the other man's neck, knowing he didn’t have much longer
when he was going to be allowed to do this.  Talking about it all again showed
him exactly what he needed to do, no matter how much it would tear him apart. 
He needed to think of his friends now, their lives were in danger as long as
they were near him so they needed to be…not near him anymore.
 
 'Jensen, none of that was your fault.  And this isn't your fault either.  I
promise.  The only person to blame here is the asshole who hurt you and Steve.'



 'He's right, Jen, we're here for you, nothing's gonna happen to you while
we're around.'  Chris added.

 Jensen pushed away from Jared's chest at that, even though it physically hurt
to do it.  'No!'  He said sharply, it had been a really stressful day for
Jensen and he was having trouble keeping control of his emotions.  Taking in
their looks of confusion, he continued, 'No, you have to stay away from me. 
Chris, you need a new roommate, it shouldn't be too hard since our rooms are
going be off limits for the next year at least and Jay, God, you more than
anyone, need to walk away from this.'  From me.

 'Well, I’m sorry to burst you bubble, princess, but the bastard quarterback
and I aren't going anywhere.'  Chris stood with his arms folded across his
chest looking down at him seated on the bench.
  
'You don't understand, you two are the most important people in my life, and
who ever this is, believe me, they'll know that.  I'm not risking you, I'm not
going to get you two killed like I…' he stopped, he couldn't go down that route
again, he needed to push all that guilt back into the little box in his mind
that had blown open that morning.  'Look, you just...you need to...I want you
two to leave me alone, okay, so I can handle this.  I just don't need either of
you crowding me right now.'  He made the words as harsh as he could given that
his heart was breaking but maybe if he was enough of an asshole they'd want to
ditch him.

 'Jensen,' Jared voice was soft in his ear like he was coaxing down a feral
tiger, 'I know that's not what you really want.'  No it most definitely wasn't,
but he couldn't let Jared know that.  'And even if it is, it's certainly not
what you need.  We're sticking with you in this till this psycho's found
okay.'  Jensen shook his head, no, that wasn't right, they were meant to be
running, getting away from him as fast as their legs could carry them.


  
'Damn straight, jerk,' Chris smiled, probably his first smile to Jared ever and
it would have been heart-warming to Jensen for his best friend and boyfriend to
finally be getting along if it didn't mean they were ganging up on him and
going to get themselves killed.  'We're not going anywhere- you and I, we're
getting a new room but in Harvelle, not Winchester, and you don't go anywhere
alone alright.  Either Jay or I are gonna be with you 24/7, isn't that just
awesome for you?'  The teasing tone in Chris' voice brought a small smile to
his face.
 
 He was fucking exhausted and really needed to sleep but he needed to say
this.  'Chris, I'm so sorry about…'

 Chris held this hand up, palm facing Jensen, 'Stop Jensen.  Steve's death
wasn't your fault and he would never have blamed you, I know that for sure. 
He'd just want us to keep you safe now.'  Jensen simply nodded, not sure if
that was really true, he was pretty sure that Steve, wherever he was right
then, was cursing the day Jensen was born.
 
 He turned to Jared who was frowning down at his phone.  'Jay what is it?' 
Jared looked up at him then and his face was as deathly pale as it had been
back at his and Chris' dorm room.  'I...I haven't heard back from Jake, he was
meant to be back three days ago but I figured he'd found some chalet girl and
shacked up with her for a few more days.  But...you don't think…?'  They were
all silent for a moment remembering Jensen's story a couple of weeks ago which
Jensen had convinced himself was a huge prank even though Chad had sworn he
hadn't been involved.

 
 'Try...try calling him, Jay.'  Jensen's voice shook as Jared keyed in the
familiar number.  He shook his head minutely.  'It says the number's been
disconnected.   I'm going to call his mom.'  Chris and Jensen left Jared to
make the call.  When he came back, any colour still left in his face had
completely drained from it, 'His mom said he never showed up, they didn't worry
because Jake’s such a flake and he had sent them a text saying that there was
an important game he didn't wanna miss.'



 Shit!  'Oh God, then…then, what happened…it really fucking happened and I
just...I left him there and then...oh my God…'  After everything that had
happened that morning, he couldn’t deal with the fresh blanket of guilt that
was surrounding his body, he felt like he was drowning in it.



 'Jensen!  Stop!  Calm down.  He was already dead when you realised what was
going on, there's nothing you could have done.’  Jared told him, his large
hands gripping Jensen’s biceps so hard that Jensen was sure he would have
bruises tomorrow.

'But…'
 
 'No Jensen, this isn’t your fault.'

 'Funny that people have to keep telling me that.  Don't see a pattern here,
Jay?   This whole fucking mess is my fault, if I hadn’t come here, Steve and
Jake would still be alive and you guys wouldn't be in danger.  Shit, I should…
I should just go, transfer to New York or something.  That city's fucking
massive, like to see him find me there.’  He said bitterly.
  


'No Jensen!'  The vehemence in Chris' voice stopped him.  'You can't keep
running, one day he’s gonna find you and I'll let hell freeze over before I let
him find you without me there.'  The determination in Chris’ eyes had Jensen
biting his lip anxiously.



 Jensen felt the tears rise to his eyes again.  'Thanks Chris.'



 'Don't mention it.  You know how difficult it is for me to find people willing
to lend me beer and money and you, my friend, are one of the lucky few; you
think I'm letting anything get in the way of that.'  Jensen's laugh came out as
more of a sob and Chris squeezed his shoulder again in silent reassurance. 
'Right, we all have class and I don't think this jerk should get in the way of
that, we won't give him the satisfaction, so that means me and Jen are off to
psyche and you, Jared, are off to wherever you go when you're not with Jen.'



 Jared rolled his eyes at Chris, hearing the barely veiled insult that jocks
didn't actually attend any classes, and that they didn't have enough brains to
pass any of them anyway.  'You sure you'll be alright Jen?'



 'Yeah I'll be fine with Chris, you go to your history class.'  Jensen walked
up and gave the taller man a chaste kiss on the lips; he was feeling a little
too raw for anything more than that right then.  And honestly he wasn't sure
Jared would want him touching him after everything he'd just revealed.  Jensen
felt dirty himself so God only knew what Jared thought of him.



 That thought flew out of his mind, though, as he was pulled into a tight hug
by the larger man, 'It's gonna be okay, I’m not gonna let anything happen to
you.'  Was whispered in his ear, only loud enough for him to hear.  The idea of
Jared protecting him sent a thrill of fear and a wave of warmth through him at
the same time, just to add to the mountain of confusing, conflicting stuff he
was feeling right then.  Warmth that Jared still wanted to protect him after
hearing everything about Jensen's past and fear that Jared might just get in
the killer's way and get himself hurt. 
 
 The larger man pulled back, giving Jensen a quick kiss on the nose.  'See you
tonight?'



 'Yeah, I'll…come watch you practice, if you want, and we can do something
after that?'  Jensen loved watching Jared practise, his boyfriend was
perfection on the field and it made him feel aroused and proud all at the same
time to watch him.  He was still amazed that that gorgeous guy wanted to spend
time with someone like him.



 'Sounds perfect.  See you then.'  Jared nodded to Chris, a temporary truce
having been established, then jogged off to his next class.


***** Chapter Nine. *****
 
_ Chapter_Nine._
 
 The next few days were pretty incident free except for Coach Beaver nearly
banning Jensen from all future practice football sessions for distracting his
quarterback.  Jensen thought that was exceedingly unfair seeing as all he was
doing was sitting on the bleachers; it wasn't his fault if his boyfriend kept
sneaking glances up at him and missing the ball.  It made Jensen feel all warm
inside to have Jared's attention focused on him like that.



 The police were no closer to catching the guy who'd killed Steve and no one
had found Jake so he'd just been told to carry on as normal.  That was easy for
them to say; they didn't have a serial killer coming after them and their
friends.  As such, Jensen tried to keep the same routine; he still went to
class, he still went out (with Jared or Chris) and he still worked his job at
the student bar.
 
 The only change he did make was that he didn't hang around with anyone but
Chris and Jared; there was no way he was flagging up any of his other friends
as targets and since none of them knew the risks like Chris and Jared they
wouldn’t know that they needed to be careful.
  


Campus security was crap; they had done fuck all except issue warnings for
everyone to avoid going out around alone after dark and to always have a cell
phone on them.  Which was pretty much what everyone tended to do anyway, it was
the 21st century, for God's sake, it was just what you did.



 Jensen had been offered 24 hour police protection but had declined it.  Jared
had been pissed when he’d found out, thinking that the idea sounded pretty
sensible, but all it took was Jensen reminding him what happened the last time
he had been given that privilege and he said no more on the subject.  Chris was
surprisingly silent on the issue; Jensen had thought he would really push for a
continuous police presence around Jensen, but Jensen was thankful he hadn't. 
Chris did know him damn well and probably knew why Jensen would be hesitant to
have that, without Jensen needing to spell it out to him.



 ****
 The following Monday, he was sat alone in his new dorm room since Jared was at
an Away game and Chris had a gig, working with someone who wasn't Steve, even
though Jensen really tried not to dwell on that fact.  He was watching this new
show he’d stumbled across, whilst flicking aimlessly through the channels,
about two brothers who fought the Supernatural; it was pretty good and the tall
guy was really kind of hot.
 
 Suddenly, his cell phone rang making him jump; he didn't expect a call from
Jared for another couple of hours and not one at all from Chris.  His brow
furrowed when he saw the caller ID flash up as MISHA.  He hadn't spoken to the
guy all week and he couldn't imagine what Misha wanted to talk to him about at
9pm on a Monday night.  He really hoped that he wasn’t about to get chewed out
for being a really shitty friend, he didn’t think he could handle that right
now.



 'Hello?'
 'J-J-Jen...Jensen?'  Jensen was on his feet instantly, something was wrong,
terribly wrong, he could feel it.



 'Misha, what's wrong, are you okay?'



 'I...I…He said...said I had...to...c-c-c-all you, only you.'  Jensen's heart
was beating so fast he thought he might just have a heart attack in the middle
of the dorm room.



 ‘Misha, man, who said you have to call me, where are you?'  Jensen asked his
friend, worriedly, trying to keep the panic out of his voice.

 'I...I...I d-d-don't know.  It's s-s-so c-c-cold Jensen.  The i-i-ice...'



 'Meesh, I don't know what you're talking about; you said that there was
someone with you?'  Jensen hated to push his friend but he needed to know, he
needed to know what he was about to walk into.
 
 'Yeah, he's g-g-gone now but he s-s-said he'll b-b-be b-b-back to talk t-t-to
you.'  Misha answered, clearly completely at a loss to explain what was
happening.
 


 Jesus Christ   , he needed to find Misha right the fuck now.  He grabbed his
coat and flew out the door.


  
'Right, Misha is there anything you remember?  Is there anything familiar about
where you are so I can find you?'  The campus wasn’t huge but Jensen really
didn’t have time to go looking through every building before the pyscho came
back for his friend.



 'D-d-don't remember anything.  I-I-I'm in a b-b-bathroom but the door, it's l-
l-locked, I t-t-tried it.'  Jensen could hear the other man crying then and it
broke his heart, Misha never let anything upset him.  Never.  'H-h-he c-cc-ut
out my k-k-kidney, Jensen. Help me please.'



 The man was growing more hysterical as the call went on and Jensen couldn’t
blame him.  Fuck!  This was so not happening.  'Okay, buddy, it's alright, it's
gonna be alright.'  He soothed his friend down the phone, now he just needed to
make sure it happened.


  
'So this bathroom, any idea where you think it is, there a window to look
out?'  Jensen questioned in the same calm voice he had used before.
 
 'Y-Y-yeah, I-I-I can't fit through, b-b-but I-I-I can look out.'  Jensen heard
scuffling and the groans of pain as the man, on the other end of the line, made
his slow way across the bathroom.  He must have been so fucking scared and
Jensen hated himself all the more, in that moment, because it was his damn
fault Misha was there at all.  It should have been him- it always should have
been him.  'O-O-Oh I know where I-I-I am.  It's S-S-Singer Hall, J-J-Jen.'



 'Awesome, great job, Misha, I can be there in five. You sit tight, I'll be
there soon.'
 
 Jensen heard a clatter followed by a loud bang.  'Meesh?'  He said
tentatively.



 He heard a distant ‘NONONONONONO’ and a scream.  'Misha!'  He said louder down
the phone.



 'This is why you really shouldn't make friends Jensen.'  Then the line went
dead.
 
 The voice was a dull monotone, clearly modified by some sort of device -
unrecognisable.
  


No.  Please no.  He ran to Singer Hall, his vision blurring as he got closer.
He didn't even care anymore that he was running towards the killer.  As Jensen
ran, he grabbed his cell phone and dialled the police and an ambulance for
Misha, he was sure the guy would be okay, Jensen was almost there; if he just
ran fast enough, Misha would be okay.
  


Once inside the derelict hall, Jensen grabbed a long plank of wood, that was
leaning against the wall from the unfinished renovations, to use as a weapon
and took the stairs three at a time.  At the top of the stairs, he saw that the
door to the end bathroom was slightly ajar, and the unmistakable bloody
handprint on the doorframe made his stomach lurch.
  


Gripping the wood beam tightly, Jensen slowly approached the door.  He pushed
it open gently and whispered as quietly as he could, 'Misha.’  He stepped over
the threshold and into the bathroom and it was like deja vu, Misha's nearly
naked body was lying in a tub filled with ice.  Another friend lying before
him, no sign of life in his body.  The ice was stained almost completely red
from a slash across the other man's abdomen that had sent half of his bowel
tumbling to the floor.
 
 Jensen swallowed down the vomit, this time, and the panic.  He walked over to
his friend to check his pulse, it was stupid given that half of Misha’s insides
were on the outside now.  (Jensen was pretty much in shock and he felt he could
probably be forgiven that one.)  But when he saw the vacant blue eyes staring
up at the ceiling and the mouth open in a silent scream of agony he backed away
rapidly till his back hit the opposite wall and he sank down onto the cold,
tiled floor.


  
Jensen sat, for a moment, trying to catch his breath so that he didn't pass out
before he realised his hand had landed on something soft.  He looked down and
saw his right hand pressing on a kidney…a bloody kidney.  Jensen screamed and
scrambled away.  At that instant, the door swung open and a man in a beige
hooded trench coat walked in. 
 
 Jensen couldn't see his face in the dark of the room and behind the man's
pulled up hood but he could feel the menace in his eyes.

 An axe split the tiles on the floor next to where he sat.  Jensen jumped up
and pushed the man away as he struggled to get his axe out of the floor again. 
Jensen ran out the door but cried out when he felt the axe blade graze down his
right arm, cutting into the flesh.  He just kept running.



***** Chapter Ten. *****
 
   Chapter_Ten.
 Jensen met the cops outside, blood dripping down his arm onto the floor.
 The paramedics were patching up his arm as he police asked him questions about
what had happened.  Jensen just stared blankly forward, saying nothing.   The
police obviously took pity on him and left him alone once he didn't answer any
of their questions.



 Another friend dead.  Because of him.  And he had been so close, five minutes
earlier, and Misha would have made it.  The guy was right about one thing
though; this was why Jensen wasn’t allowed to have friends, he just brought all
his shit down on their heads.  Maybe he shouldn’t have run away, maybe he
should have just let the bastard get him and then it would all be over and
everyone else would be safe.



 He was escorted back to his room and passed out as soon as his head met the
pillow.


 ****
 In the morning, he was awoken by a hand shaking his shoulder gently.  'Come
on, Jen, we need to get you showered and out of those clothes.'   It was Chris
and Jensen turned to look at his friend.  Chris’ expression was a mixture of
concerned and sad.  'You with me Jen?'



 Jensen nodded.  Yes, he was still with them but Misha wasn't, he was gone and
it was all Jensen’s fault.  'Misha...he…'



 'I know Jen.'  Chris pulled him into a hug despite Jensen's desperate need of
a shower.  'I'm sorry you had to see that.  Now how about that shower, yeah?'



 Jensen frowned and Chris gestured down at him.  Jensen looked down and he was
covered in splatters of blood, some his own and some his friend's.  He looked
down at his hands and laughed bitterly, 'Well, would you look at that.  What do
you think of that symbolism, eh Chris?'  His hands were red with dried blood;
Misha's blood was literally on his hands.



 'Stop it Jensen.'  Chris said sternly.
  


'Why?  You know Misha called me last night, begged me to help him and I was so
close, so close Chris and I still couldn't save him.'  Jensen shot back.  He
was such a failure; he might as well have gutted Misha himself for all the help
he had been to the other man.

 'No one would have been able to.'  Chris replied, in such a reasonable voice
that it only made Jensen more angry and frustrated.  Chris wasn’t allowed to be
this understanding when he had caused Misha and Steve’s deaths; he wasn’t
allowed to be Jensen’s friend after that.  Jensen just didn’t deserve it.



 'He sounded so confused, the guy didn’t even know why it had happened, no idea
that he was gonna die because he had made friends with a freak.  The psycho was
fucking right, I should never have made friends here, never.'



 'You’re not a freak, Jensen, and Misha didn't need to know any of that shit;
it would have made absolutely no difference in the end.  And I knew the guy
too, okay, if you had told him about your past he would have stood by you, no
matter the risk.'  Chris reassured him.



 Jensen just shook his head, he'd never know if that was true, Misha was never
given the choice to stick by him or not.  He wasn't sure whom he hated more
right then, himself or the killer.
  


'This was not your fault.'  And there it was again, that magic phrase that
Jensen had heard so often in his young life.  He was damn sure that if none of
these things were his fault then he shouldn’t have been hearing that phrase
quite so much.
 
 'Right.'  Jensen said tightly as he pulled his shirt over his head, wincing at
the pull on his arm.  He held the shirt in front of his chest until he got into
the bathroom, no one had seen those scars outside the hospital and he didn't
intend Chris to ever see them either.  He had left them out of the story on
purpose. 
 
 Jensen looked at his chest in the mirror over the sink.  There were several
random, faint criss- crossed scars which had pretty much healed and he was sure
he could only see them because he knew they were there and knew how they had
gotten there.
 
 His gaze drifted lower to his hip where a vivid white scar stood out even
against his pale skin, that cut had been deep, dug into the flesh again and
again to make sure that it would never fade and Jensen would never be able to
forget the message.   The doctors had said it would likely never heal
completely and that he would carry the awful reminder for the rest of his life.



  'SEE ME.
EVER MINE'



 Jensen slipped off his trousers and stepped into the shower.  He turned the
water on, leaving it on cold and allowed the painful shards of cold water to
cut into his skin.  It was no less punishment than he deserved.


 ****

 Jensen distinctly remembered sitting on the couch, while the pretended to
watch a documentary on whales, so he was kind of surprised when he opened his
eyes and he was in his bed.  What was even more surprising was that Jared was
sitting on the bed looking down at him, stroking his hair.

 'Hey, baby.  Feeling any better?'  He asked, his voice full of concern that
Jensen just didn't deserve.  Jensen shrugged casually and swallowed the lump in
his throat, he really just wanted to bury his face in Jared's chest and cry
until the hand crushing his heart was gone and he could breathe again.
 
 'We can do that.'  Jared smiled fondly and Jensen realised he must have said
that out loud.  He blushed and didn't move from his prone position.  Jared
sighed, leaned down and pulled Jensen into his broad chest; Jensen resisted for
a moment, pulling away; he shouldn't be being comforted right then, not after
what had happened to Misha. 
 
 He couldn’t help it though, his eyes began to drift closed again and within
moments, he was asleep again, Jared’s fingers carding lightly through his hair.


***** Chapter Eleven. *****
 
_ Chapter_Eleven._
 
 Jensen was almost dozing off as he drove back to campus.  Jared had told him,
that after what had happened to Misha, he was going to quit the football team,
not wanting to spend half his games away from campus, away from Jensen. 
 
 That was ludicrous and he had told Jared so - as if he wasn’t causing Jared,
perfect Jared, enough trouble as it was - so he’d suggested that he could take
Jared’s truck (it was way more reliable than Jensen’s beat up old chevy) to all
of Jared’s Away games, and Jensen could come to the Home games as well.  To be
honest, Jensen had pretty much gone to all of Jared’s Home games before they
had started dating so it wasn’t really much of a stretch for him to come watch
the Away ones as well now that they were.
 
 On instinct, Jensen flashed the driver on the other side of the road who had
forgotten to turn its lights on.
 
 Instantly, something clicked in Jensen’s brain but it was too late; the other
car swerved and pulled into his lane behind them, dangerously close to the
bumper of Jared’s truck. 
 
 Jensen knew that he needed to get back to campus, back to Jared or Chris, to
be honest at that precise moment, he would have settled for anywhere that
wasn’t that deserted road.  As if the other car had heard him, Jensen felt a
hard bump against the back of the truck that caused him to lose control of the
truck for a moment, before getting it back under control.
 
 Jensen was cursing under his breath as he weaved across the road trying to
absorb the hits from the car behind them.  Jensen looked out the back window,
desperately trying to see the face of the other driver but that damn ever-
present hood was still hiding his face.  He turned back just in time to feel
such a hard shove that it pushed the truck off the road, down the slope at the
side and into the woods. 
 
 The truck struck a tree and it all went dark.
 

 ****
 
 Jensen woke up a little while later, still in the same position he had been in
before the crash.  His head was thumping and he felt nauseous; he was pretty
sure he had a concussion but he was awake so he considered himself lucky.  He
turned in his seat, trying to get at the door handle, and a pain ripped through
his side at the movement.
 
 Jensen really needed to get out of there, there was no telling where the
killer was; he’d clearly passed out when he’d hit the tree and the guy could
have been anywhere. 
 
 ‘Jen?’ Jensen opened his eyes, not realising that he’d closed them and looked
in the direction of the voice.
 
 ‘Oh thank God.’  He all but whispered, ‘Jared, we need to get out of here, the
killer…’  Jensen turned back to his door, hissing at the pain in his side,
trying to force it open.  There was something dripping in his eyes, he reached
up and wiped it away.
 
 ‘Jen, baby, you need to stay still okay.’  Jared’s voice was soft but strong
but Jensen still couldn’t figure out why they weren’t moving, why Jared was
even there?  Whatever, they just needed to get out of there.  He couldn’t get
the car door to budge.  ‘Jen?’
 
 ‘What is it Jared?  We…we have to…Jay…I don’t…’  Jensen looked back up at
Jared’s pale face and followed the taller man’s eye-line to his abdomen.  He
saw a large shard of windscreen glass protruding from his stomach.  ‘Oh.’
 
 ‘It’s okay, Jensen, the ambulance is already on its way, it’ll be here in a
few minutes then we can get you out of here.’  Jared voice was soothing and
Jensen felt the tension leaving his muscles as the pain began to fade and his
eyes started to close again, ‘No!  Jen, stay awake.  Stay awake for me,
please,help is coming.  Jen!’ 
 
 But the yelling just seemed so far away, maybe this was it; to be fair, Jensen
could admit he’d had a good run, this had been coming since he was seventeen
and maybe now, the rest of his friends would be safe.
 
 With that comforting thought, he gave himself up to oblivion.
 
 ****
 
 Jensen woke up to bright lights and a strong smell that stung his nose.  And
shouting.  It was all making his head pound painfully and he just wanted it to
stop; he wanted the peacefulness back that he’d enjoyed only moments before.
 
 ‘Mr. Kane, you’re going to have to leave if you can’t calm down.’  Chris? 
Chris was there?  And where was there exactly?  Jensen forced his eyes all the
way open and slowly moved his head from side to side to take in his
surroundings.  Ah, the hospital then.   He levered himself up in the bed and
tried to follow the argument raging outside his curtained cubicle.
 
 ‘You were meant to be looking after him; you had to take care of him for all
of 24 fucking hours and you couldn’t even do that.  He almost died, you idiot,
and it would’ve been all your fault.’
 
 ‘I wasn’t in the car with him Kane, how the hell was I supposed to stop that
psycho if I wasn’t even there!’
 
 ‘Never again, he’s never going anywhere with you again!’


 ‘Will, you guys keep it down out there; some of us are trying to die in peace
here.’ 


 Even though he knew it was coming, he was still surprised when Chris ripped
back the curtain.
 
 ‘That’s so    unbelievably    not funny Jensen.’
 

 ‘Come on, it’s a little funny.’  Jensen flashed his best fake grin up at his
best friend, and upon only receiving a glare back from him, he turned the grin
on his boyfriend instead but he got the same result there.  He sighed, ‘Look, I
was just trying to stop you guys tearing each other’s throats out okay.’
 
 Both glares turned to guilty looks; it was quite amazing to Jensen how they
could look so similar and yet were so very different.
 
 ‘So, Jen, do you remember what happened?’  Chris asked after a moment or two
of silence.
 
 ‘Kind of…it’s a bit hazy but I flashed this guy who didn’t have his lights
on,’ he saw the other two men open their mouths but cut them off, ‘I know, I
know, it was freaking stupid but I was exhausted and not really thinking.  I
haven’t slept properly in weeks and I just…just did it as habit.  As soon as
I’d done it, I knew what a dumbass move it was but by then it was too late and
the asshole was already trying to run me off the road.  Apparently he
succeeded.’  He smiled again, trying to play down the situation a little.  He
knew, though, if Jared hadn’t found him, he would have been dead; either he
would have bled out or that psycho would have come back to finish the job.
 
 Something flickered in his brain, something completely unwanted and unbidden;
he suddenly felt nauseous in a way that had nothing to do with the concussion
he was surely suffering from.  ‘Then you.  I remember you being there Jared. 
How did you find me?’  How did Jared find him?   In the vastness of those
woods, it was pretty much impossible to find anything down there, especially in
the pitch black.
 
 ‘Well, you didn’t come back to my dorm so I went looking for you.  I drove all
along the road and came back to a spot where the road fence was broken, and
there were tyre marks leading into the forest and I just assumed…I hoped it
wasn’t you.  But it was.’  Chris looked incredulously at Jared; it was   pretty
damn far-fetched but it couldhave happened like that. 
 
 Jensen bit his lip, he really wanted to believe Jared because the only other
alternative for Jared knowing where Jensen was…was unthinkable.
 
 He would leave it for the moment; he had precious few people he could trust
right then and all of them happened to be in the room with him.  Jensen didn’t
really have the luxury of alienated his friends, and he was probably just being
paranoid anyway.  Even if the little voice in his head told him that Jared had
never been present at the same time that the killer had been, so it couldhave
been him all along.
 
 ‘So what’s the damage?’  He asked, desperate to change the subject before
Chris could start prodding holes in Jared’s story, Jensen didn’t think he could
take that right then.  Chris held power of attorney for him, so the doctors
would have told him everything that he needed to know about Jensen’s
condition. 
 
 Jensen had no family left so he had asked Chris, within a month of knowing
him, if he would take on the responsibility- hey, they were young; Chris
probably never thought he’d ever be in the position to actually have to use it
or make any decisions on Jensen’s behalf.  But that had been before he had
known what a clusterfuck Jensen’s life really was.
 
 Chris stepped forward, turning his suspicious eyes away from Jared, who had
since moved to the chair beside Jensen’s bed, looking almost afraid to touch
him.  ‘Well, the doc said they removed a huge chunk of glass from your gut; it
pierced your stomach so they needed to sow all that up before they could do
much else.  You lost a shit load of blood from there and from where you banged
your head up pretty good.  You’ve been asleep for like a day and a half,
they’ve been monitoring your brain for any swelling, but the doc said you’ll
probably be okay if they don’t see anything in 24 hours.’
 
 ‘So I can go home then?’  Jensen asked hopefully; he’d spent way too much time
in hospitals in his life, as a patient and waiting for news on his family. 
None of those times had ended well.
  
 ‘No fucking way.’  Chris blurted out.
 
 ‘Not yet Jen.’  Jared said more softly and reached for Jensen’s hand this
time, like he had clearly been wanting to do since he had sat down.  ‘Don’t
worry we won’t leave you here alone, I’ve made sure that there’s going to be a
cop on your door 24/7 and I’m not going anywhere.’  Jensen didn’t want to point
out all the flaws in that plan, the chief one being that a personal 24 hour cop
didn’t stop him from getting kidnapped and…the first time and he also really
didn’t want Jared there.  All that did was put him in the line of fire when
this bastard came to finish Jensen off, which he invariably would given the
fact that at the moment Jensen was a sitting duck and had all the strength of a
new born kitten.
 
 ‘Neither am I.’  Chris said walking to the other side of Jensen’s bed. 
Great.   Two friends he had to worry about.
 
 ‘Look, guys, I think it’s alright if you go home, you know.  He won’t try
anything here, there are nurses and doctors around all the time and like you
said, Jay, there’s going to be a cop on the door all day and all night.  I’ll
be fine.  You two, just go home.’  To Jensen’s distress, his friends were
already moving, but not in the direction he wanted, not in the direction of the
door to the ward.
 
 Jared just dipped into his bag and pulled out a book on Shakespeare and
brought his long legs up to cross them at the bottom of Jensen’s bed and Chris
dragged a chair from another cubicle over to the side opposite Jared and sat
with a FHM magazine perched on his knee.
 
 ‘Guys, you can’t…’
 
 He was silenced by a chaste kiss from Jared, geez, the guy didn’t even really
have to move he was so freaking tall.  ‘We can and we will.’  He added a little
more quietly, obviously meant for Jensen’s ears only, ‘I’m not leaving you
alone again, Jensen; until we find this asshole, think of me as your shadow,
where you go, I go.  We’re in this together, right until the very end.’
 
 Jensen gave the other man a weak smile. Wow, did that sound ominous or was it
just him? 
 
 ****


 Jensen had been sat staring at the familiar brown envelope in his lap for the
past hour.  He knew that he was due at Jared’s soon and needed to leave but he
couldn’t seem to stop staring at it.  Logically, he knew that no matter how
long he left it, the thing inside wouldn’t change; the words written wouldn’t
be any different if he just never opened it at all.  Jensen knew he had to read
it; the killer had sent it to him for a reason and if it gave him some sort of
clue, any hint at what the guy wanted or what he was going to do next, Jensen
couldn’t afford to miss it.
 
 Still, he stayed staring at the envelope.  Clearly, logic wasn’t his friend
right then.
 
 His phone vibrating next to him made him almost jump out of his skin.  He
looked down to see a text from Jared.
 
 ‘Where r u?  R u ok?’
 
 Fingers trembling, he quickly typed back, ‘Fine, be there is 20.’ With that,
he scooped up the unopened envelope and put it into his backpack before
swinging the bag onto his back.  Whatever was inside was meant to torment
Jensen, no one else, so opening it with Jared might give him some of the
support he needed actually to get the damn thing out.
 

 ****
 

 Jensen arrived half an hour later to Jared’s and knocked on the door.  Jared
opened the door, hair still wet from the shower, and pulled Jensen inside. 
‘What’s the matter, Jensen?’  He asked instantly; it was like the guy could
read his freaking mind.
 
 Jensen considered lying for a moment but he had brought the envelope with him
for a reason so pretending everything was okay would kind of defeat the point
of that.
 
 ‘I got another letter today.’  He said quietly.
 
 ‘Oh.  What did it say?’  Jared asked calmly although Jensen could feel the
tension in the room climb up a few notches.
 
 Jensen just shrugged, a little ashamed that he was too much of a coward to
open the package alone, but he’d had enough surprises in brown envelopes to
last him a life time.  He pulled the unopened envelope out of his back pack and
settled it on his thighs, his hands clasped tightly together on top of it.
 
 ‘Do you want me to open it for you?’  Jared asked.
 
 Jensen shook his head fervently.  There was no knowing what was inside, hell
there could be a needle or a razor in there for all Jensen knew.  There was no
way he was putting Jared in danger like that, any more danger his conscience
helpfully added.  Plus the message was meant for him, the torment for him, so
he wouldn’t put that on another human being. 
 
 Running a hand nervously across the back of his neck, he flipped the envelope
over with shaking hands and was just about to rip open the top when he felt
something heavy settle against his back.  He looked around and saw Jared
sitting behind him, his hand resting reassuringly in the centre of his back,
grounding him in the present and stopping him from drifting off into the
horrors of the past.  Jensen nodded jerkily, hoping his thanks was understood.
 

 Jensen tore open the package and peeked inside.  Instead of the usual
indistinct white paper, there appeared to be something small and plastic
inside.  Jensen tipped the envelope upside down and a DVD case fell into his
lap.
 
 ‘WATCH ME.’     Was written over the transparent case cover.  Fear and
trepidation crept into Jensen’s gut; he really didn’t want to know what was on
that disc, it could have been anything.  The bastard had sent him some pretty
nasty and downright terrifying photos over the years; he didn’t want to think
about what the guy felt Jensen needed to watch live.
 
 Nonetheless, he had to watch it.  Jensen pulled his laptop out of his bag and
connected it to the mains in Jared’s room.  He placed the DVD in the slot and
waited for it to load.   
 
 The screen was dark; Jensen could barely make out what was being shown.  It
looked like a dorm room and he could distinctly see a bed close to the screen
but that was pretty much all he could make out.  Suddenly, a bedside lamp
switched on and Jensen saw Danneel lazily stretching out on her bed.
 
 ‘Oh my God, is that…’  Jared asked over his shoulder, his hand still planted
firmly on the middle of Jensen’s back.
 
 ‘Danni, yeah, it is.’  The cold uneasy feeling in his gut was spreading
through the rest of body, chilling him to the bone.  He fished his phone out of
his pocket and quickly dialled Danni’s cell number; unsurprisingly it went to
voice mail.  But that didn’t have to mean anything, Jensen told himself, Danni
was really busy; she belonged to a shitload of clubs and had probably just
turned it off so they weren’t disturbed.  He rang her dorm room number and
waited for seventeen rings before giving up, she had probably gone out; the
girl had a social life that Paris Hilton would envy.
 

 He flicked his eyes back to the screen when he heard a giggle and Danni say,
‘Rufus, that’s gross, bad dog.’  Rufus was Danneel’s dog, no one but her
closest friends and her roommate knew that she had him, but she’d found him
wandering round the campus one day and sort of adopted him despite the ‘No
Pets’ rule the college employed. 
 
 Jensen watched as Danni wiped her hand on the bed spread.  This was looking
awfully familiar. 
 
 The DVD jumped and Danni was in the room again but just in a towel, clearly
fresh out of the shower.  Jensen felt like a perv watching his friend and it
made him feel sick that the bastard had seen Danneel like that too.  ‘Rufus? 
Rufus, honey, tea time.’  The girl called as she stepped out of the frame. 
Danneel came back into focus a few moments later looking confused, she
obviously hadn’t found Rufus and there weren’t many places for the little dog
to hide.
 
 ‘Rufus, where are you sweetie?’  She sat down on the bed and then laughed. 
‘Hon, what have I said about licking my feet.  Bad dog.’  She hopped off the
bed and knelt down just as a hand shot out from under the bed and grabbed her
wrist.  ‘What the fuck!’  She yelled and then screamed as the hand, and now
arm, gripped tight and started to drag her under the bed. ‘Get off me!’
 
 Jensen crutched the laptop harder, his knuckles turning white.   He dialled
Danneel’s dorm room number again, listening to the endless, unanswered rings
just as his friend disappeared under the bed.  A high pitched scream echoed
from the computer and tapered off into a wet, gurgling sound.  Then it all went
silent.  Nothing in the room moved.  Nothing. 
 
 Jensen was breathing fast, the phone still pressed to his ear, as the constant
ringing helped confirm his suspicions that his friend would never be picking up
her phone again.


***** Chapter Twelve. *****

 
_ Chapter_Twelve._
 
 ‘Jensen, Jensen.’  Jensen batted away the hands on his face, he just wanted to
go back to sleep, he was so damn tired.   Whoever the jerk trying to wake him
up was, grabbed his hands and held them tight.  Jensen opened his eyes and saw
Jared looking down at him worriedly, ‘Jen?’
 
 ‘Jay?’  Jensen shook his head, had they gone to bed last night?  He couldn’t
remember going to sleep.  Last night.  Then it all flooded back to him; the
DVD, Danneel, the…the man under the bed.  He shot up on the bed, immediately
regretting it as a wave of dizziness and nausea overtook him and he nearly
passed out.  Again apparently.
 
 ‘You okay, you passed out?’  Jared large hand was on his forehead checking his
temperature whilst pretending to brush away some stray hair. 
 
 ‘I’m sorry.’  He was such a loser, Jared hadn’t fucking passed out after
watching the damn DVD and he had seen everything that Jensen had.  It was
just…well, he had been amped up for hours about what was in the envelope and
his stress levels had obviously peaked when he had seen Danneel dragged under
the bed. 
 

 ‘Don’t be sorry, baby, it was fucking awful to watch, I was nearly gone there
too, to tell you the truth.’  But he wasn’t though; he was still there holding
Jensen against his chest, supporting his weight when Jensen clearly couldn’t do
it himself.
 
 ‘Danni?’  Jensen said quietly, not really wanting to know the answer.  He
looked up at Jared for the first time since he had pressed play on the damn
DVD.  The man was pale, his handsome features drawn into a frown, and Jensen
knew the answer before he even told him.  Danni was dead, probably had been
dead hours before Jensen had even received the DVD. 
 
 ‘I’m so sorry, Jensen; I called campus security and they went to check her
place.   She was…dead.  They think it happened sometime yesterday, her
roommate’s visiting her parents for a couple of days so they can’t get an exact
time, no one was around to find the body.’  He paused, clearly unsure as to
whether he should continue, ‘They found the dog hanging in the shower with a
message written on the wall.
 
 'PEOPLE CAN LICK TOO'
 

 Jensen just nodded, it was what Jensen expected; the man had obviously felt
the need to complete the urban legend to the letter and finish the scene with
the iconic words smeared in blood across the wall.  ‘Who the fuck is this guy,
Jen?’
 
 ‘I…I don’t know Jay.’  He said shaking his head, feeling the tears pricking at
the backs of his eyes again.  He felt so fucking helpless and it just wasn’t
fair, how was he supposed to fight something when he couldn’t get anywhere near
it?   Jensen was more than ready for a showdown with this guy, if it meant the
man would stop killing off his friends, but that obviously wasn’t the guy’s
plan just yet.  He was clearly saving Jensen for last, letting him watch his
friends die knowing it was his fault, before he finally came for Jensen
himself.
 

 Jensen felt himself pulled tighter against Jared’s chest and buried his head
in the larger man’s neck.  It felt so good to be held like this, Jared felt so
always strong, so solid, like he could protect Jensen from anything.  Jensen
brought his arms up and around Jared so his hands could cling to Jared’s
muscular back through his thin T-shirt.   The man felt so alive under his
fingertips; proof that not everything in Jensen’s world was falling apart. 
 

 He still had this, he still had Jared, and he needed the other man to remind
him that they were both still there and both still alive.
 
 Jensen pushed himself up and sat down in Jared’s lap before wrapping his arms
around the larger man again.
 

 ‘Jen, what are you doing?’  Jared asked, but didn’t loosen his own hold on
Jensen.
 
 ‘I just…I just…I need to feel, to feel something, Jay, please.’  He kissed
Jared’s neck; he had very little experience of all this since he’d pretty much
locked himself away from the world at 18 and hadn’t had a boyfriend since Matt.
 
 ‘Okay, baby, it’s okay.’  Jared stroked his large hands up and down Jensen’s
sides and back, both soothing him and sending shivers down his spine at the
same time.  Jensen gasped at the feel of Jared’s hard cock against his ass, as
he sat back, but rocked down hard, drawing a groan from the other man.  ‘Don’t
push anything Jen, we don’t have to do anything.’  The tightness in Jared’s
voice, the barely maintained control, only spurred Jensen on, he wanted this. 
Jensen didn’t care how wrong it was to be doing this when so much bad had
happened; he just knew he needed it and he needed Jared.
 
 ‘I want to, please Jared, please.’  He rocked down again on the man’s
substantial erection hoping Jared would get the point and not make him say it.
  
 Jared merely nodded, his brow a tight line of concentration, ‘You done
anything like this before?’  Jensen wanted to be insulted, Jesus he was 20, why
would Jared assume he was a virgin.  But he was, because what had happened
before, just didn’t fucking count, and if Jared had really listened to his
story he would have probably guessed that Jensen was.  Jensen just nodded and
blushed, feeling every bit the freak he was.  ‘Hey, that’s okay, I’ll go
slow.’  Jensen felt himself lifted as Jared laid him back on the bed. 
 

 He felt the larger man reach for the hem of his shirt and then he remembered
like a bolt form the blue.  ‘Wait!’  Jared stopped instantly looking at Jensen
worriedly.  ‘I…we just need to turn the lights out.’  If Jared wanted to do
this naked, which Jensen was all for since a naked Jared would be even hotter
than a clothed Jared - a naked him, however…not so much. 
 
 Jared raised an eyebrow and gave Jensen that look that made it feel like he
was looking right into his soul, ‘Why?’
 
 ‘Just…just because…I like it that way.’  The excuse was lame and he knew that
Jared didn’t buy it for a moment if the look of disbelief on his face was any
indication.
 
 ‘Real reason Jen.’  Jared said softly, placing a hand on the side of Jensen’s
face.  Jensen wanted to push into the touch and tell Jared the last bit of his
story but, God, hadn’t the rest of it been bad enough?  And with everything
that had happened over the last couple of weeks and everything they’d seen that
day, what if this last thing was just too much and Jared walked out the door.
 
 He couldn’t risk it.
 
 So Jensen pulled away from the hand and sat up, ‘Fine.  If you don’t wanna do
this Jared, that’s fine with me, I’ve got shit loads of stuff to do today
anyway.’  He swung his legs over the side of the bed and made to get up, grab
his bag and leave.  He felt Jared large, but gentle, hand latch onto his arm;
the pressure firm but not harsh.
 

 ‘Jen, I never said that.’  He said, still using that soft understanding voice
that made Jensen just want to sit back down and tell him everything even if he
knew he’d only regret it when Jared walked out the door and out of his life. 
‘It’s just I know you and you never do anything without a reason, so what’s the
reason for this?’
 
 ‘I…I…’  He just couldn’t say it, the scars pretty much confirmed what he
hadn’t been able to tell his friends before.  Where they were on him, what they
said, it made it pretty damn obvious what had happened in that room.  Jensen
bit his lip trying to figure out a plausible lie to tell his boyfriend for why
he couldn’t take his shirt off during sex or why he wanted the light off.
 
 ‘Don’t lie to me Jensen.’  Christ, how did he do that?!  Jensen dared to look
back at Jared, who was still sitting on the bed; it looked like he hadn’t moved
since Jensen had sat back up.  His face was kind, understanding, but his eyes
held a steely quality telling Jensen that if he lied to him now…
 

 Jensen shook his head and let Jared pull him back onto the bed so they were
facing each other on the sheets, close enough that Jensen could hear Jared
breathing; slow and calm and everything Jensen wasn’t.  ‘Jen, you know you can
tell me anything and it’ll never change the way I feel about you but I can’t
take you lying to me.  This is all pointless if you don’t trust me.’  It wasn’t
meant unkindly, it was just the truth, and Jensen knew it but the very idea
that they might not work out sent a shard of pain through his chest, making
breathing even more difficult.  ‘Come on, just tell me what it is, maybe I can
help.’
 
 Jensen snorted a bitter laugh at that, as soon as Jared knew he was going to
be running as fast as possible in the other direction - there was just only so
much weird a normal person could take.  But he also knew that Jared wasn’t
going to let it go and for some reason Jensen couldn’t lie for shit around
Jared; he’d never been all that good at it in the first place but with Jared it
was damn near impossible.  ‘Fine, you wanna see, just remember you asked to see
this.’  Jared jaw clenched like he wanted to say something to that but Jensen
ignored him and whipped the T-shirt off, hoping the band aid rule was best. 
Jared frowned at him blankly with a kind of confused expression on his face.
 

 ‘What?’  Jensen asked irritably, desperately trying to keep from crossing his
arms across his chest.
 

 ‘I don’t see anything.’
 
 ‘Oh for fuck’s sake.’  Jensen grabbed Jared’s hand and drew it up to his
chest, placing it over the scars, which might well be invisible to Jared in the
low light of the room, but he knew the man would be able to feel the raised
lines across his chest. 
 
 ‘Jesus.’  Jared whispered and all the anger left Jensen, replaced by fear and
rejection dousing him like a bucket of cold water.  He dropped Jared’s hand and
made to move away and grab his shirt.  But Jared stopped him, his hand still
tracing Jensen’s chest.  Jensen closed his eyes against the tears he knew were
forming, he wouldn’t cry about it, he’d cried too many times about that night. 
He gasped when he felt warm lips press against his chest.
 
 Jared’s hand continued to map across his chest, moving down to feel over his
abs and Jensen felt his tongue trace the lines of his scars.  ‘So beautiful.’ 
Jensen snorted, the guy was clearly off his rocker, no wonder he’d stuck around
for so long.  ‘Jensen, you are beautiful, these don’t make you anything less
than you are.  You’re still the guy I’m in love with.’  Jensen’s eyes flew
open, at that, to look at the man in front of him.
 
 ‘Jay, I don’t think…’  Jensen shook his head in denial, Jared didn’t know what
he was saying, what he was getting tangled up in.  They hadn’t even explored
half of Jensen’s issues yet and he was already coming off as a crazy bastard.
 
 ‘Yeah, well lucky it’s not up to you then isn’t it, Jensen, because I do.  I
loved you since that moment on the rooftop and I’ve loved you every moment
since.’  Jared splayed the hand on Jensen’s chest and gently pushed Jensen back
onto the pillows.  Jensen, still a little dazed from Jared’s confession, went
without argument till he was lying on his back with Jared hovering above him. 
‘And like I said, nothing, is ever gonna change that.’  He leaned down and
kissed Jensen deeply until he had Jensen arching up against his body.
 
 Jared held his hips down and that jolted Jensen right back to reality; his
pants had fallen down a little more when Jared had pushed him back the second
time, revealing his sharp hip bones over the waistband.  Jared had stopped
moving his hands, his thumbs still for the first time since he’d started
touching Jensen and no longer rubbing the soothing circles they had been.  He
knew that Jared had felt it and it was so much worse than the scars on his
chest.
  
 Jensen watched apprehensively as Jared pulled away from him and looked down to
where his hand still rested on Jensen’s hip.  Jensen swallowed and it sounded
loud in the silent room.  He watched as Jared peeled his hand away to see what
was scribed into the skin on Jensen’s hip, the sharp intake of breath from
Jared told Jensen that he’d read it.  Jensen looked to the side staring at
Jared’s wardrobe, anywhere but at the man above him, he could feel the flush of
shame burning his cheeks red as he laid there with his defilement written all
over his body.
 
 He was shocked when he felt Jared breath on his ear, ‘I love you Jensen.’  And
Jared kissed him again.  Jensen had to be dreaming, there was no other
explanation for it, this couldn’t be playing out this way.  Jared was meant to
be disgusted, meant to tear his hands away before Jensen’s vile body got him
dirty but instead Jared was trailing his hands down Jensen’s sides and kissing
and nipping the side of his neck. 
 
 Jensen couldn’t hold back the moan as Jared thrust his hard cock downwards
into his own answering erection, his dick having somewhat perked up from the
pleasure/pain sensation of Jared biting and licking at his neck and chest. 
‘Jay!’  He choked out before he could help himself, biting down hard on his
bottom lip to stop any more wayward words shooting out of his mouth and
embarrassing him.
 
 Jared smirked and kissed him again, nipping at his bottom lip, until Jensen
released it from his own teeth, ‘Don’t hold back, baby, I wanna hear you, wanna
hear that you like what I’m doing to you.’  Jensen flushed again, half
embarrassment, half arousal and damn near yelled when Jared surprised him by
shoving his enormous hand into Jensen’s pants and wrapping it around his cock,
stroking it hard and firm.  ‘You like that, baby?’ 
 
 Jensen nodded shakily as his eyes fluttered closed and he was so close, he was
gonna…and then Jared’s hand was gone.  Jensen whined and humped his hips up
wantonly looking for that miraculous hand, opening his eyes and giving Jared an
angry, questioning look. 



Jared just smirked and leaned down to kiss him before whispering in his ear,
‘Not yet, baby, you don’t come till I’m inside you.’  Figured that Jared would
be toppy in bed, he was pretty damn competitive and commanding on the football
field so it figured he’d be the same in the bedroom.  That probably shouldn’t
be as much of a turn on to Jensen as it was.  He tried to glare at Jared but it
probably would have worked better if his erection hadn’t twitched at Jared’s
dirty whisper in his ear.  ‘Don’t look at me like that, Jen, trust me, this is
gonna be fucking    unbelievable   .’ 
 

 Jensen damn near whimpered at that.  Jared moved away from the bed, stripping
off his shirt and pants quickly and pulling his boxers down his legs and
throwing them to the floor, unashamedly.  And, wow, it wasn’t like the guy had
anything to be ashamed of; Jensen had known that Jared was build but Jesus
fucking Christ, the guy had muscles on his muscles.  And he was hung like a
fucking horse; it was huge.  Jared heard a cough and then, mortified, realised
he’d been staring right at his boyfriend’s cock for at least a minute and
blushed bright red.
 
 Jared just grinned and moved back to the bed, ‘Like what you see, baby?’ 
Jensen just nodded, still blushing, it was pretty obvious that he did like what
he saw.  ‘Good, because the view from up here is pretty damn amazing too.’ 
Yeah, right, as if Jensen could even compare to Jared, the guy was a fucking
Greek God. 



‘Don’t!  I can hear you thinking Jen.  Seriously, you are easily the hottest
guy on campus; you don’t see it but half the student body watches you walking
across the quad with Chris every morning.  There are at least five girls in
your psyche class that don’t actually take psyche, they just spend their free
period in there watching you and hoping you’ll talk to them.  And there’s this
guy on the football team, think he’s the quarterback, who thinks you’re pretty
much the sexiest thing he’s ever seen, so stop doubting yourself.  You’re so
much more than you see.’  He leaned down to kiss Jensen again, ‘And that’s
easily the longest conversation I’ve ever had during sex so maybe we could get
down to the actual sex now, yeah?’  He smiled at Jensen, and Jensen, still a
little stunned just nodded, ‘Good.’
 
 The zipper on his pants seemed loud in the room as Jared pulled it down.  He
moaned when Jared put his large hand right over his cock and massaged it
through his boxers whilst he used the other to pull the jeans down and off his
legs as Jensen struggled to keep his hips from bucking up into Jared’s hand. 
Jensen’s heartbeat sky-rocketed when he felt Jared’s fingers trace the
waistband of his boxers, just the whisper of a promise of putting his hand back
inside.  God, Jensen wanted him to put it back, he wanted the feel of skin on
skin again.
 
 Then, suddenly, cold air hit his cock as Jared pulled his boxers down fast and
off his legs.  The change in sensation from too hot to too cold almost had
Jensen coming but he remembered Jared’s earlier words and closed his eyes to
stave it off a little longer.
 
 Jensen felt Jared staring at him and opened his eyes to look up at the taller
man.  Jared was just looking down at him, stretched out over his body, ‘So
gorgeous, knew you’d be beautiful everywhere, just wait here, baby.’  Jared was
off the bed in an instant and disappearing into the bathroom the next.
 
 Jensen’s cock was harder than he could ever remember it being, he was
desperate for someone to touch it.  Almost unconsciously, he brought his hand
down and started pumping it slowly with his hand.  As he felt himself getting
close to the edge, he sped up his hand and squeezed slightly, bringing himself
closer.
 
 A sharp slap to the back of his hand had him opening his eyes to see Jared
standing over him again.   ‘What did I say, Jensen?’  He pulled Jensen’s hand
away from his cock and raised it above his head before bringing the other one
up with it.  ‘Since you can’t seem to keep your hands to yourself, I want you
to keep them there and not move them till I tell you that you can okay, baby.’
 
 Jensen knew that he should be telling Jared where he could shove his orders
but he still didn’t move his hands from where Jared had put them and he
couldn’t help the moan that broke free when Jared leaned in and whispered ‘Good
boy’ in his ear.
 
 Jensen tried to keep himself still as Jared put one hand back on his cock,
pumping it slowly again, steadily enough to keep Jensen right on the edge of
his orgasm but not enough to tip him over.  The bastard.  ‘Jay?’  It came out
less of a question and more of a whimper.
 
 ‘What do you want, baby?’
 
 ‘I…I…’  He felt his cheeks heat with embarrassment even under the flush of
arousal painting his body.  He didn’t think he could say it.  His breath
hitched when he felt Jared stroke a finger over his hole, not pressing in, just
stroking.  ‘Please.’  He said brokenly, he felt like Jared was taking him apart
and he had never felt so good in his whole life. 
 
 ‘This what you want, Jensen?  You want me in here?’  To punctuate the
question, Jared let the tip of his finger slip into Jensen’s ass before
removing it again.
 
 Jensen nodded his head jerkily and pressed his head back against the pillow as
Jared pushed a long digit all the way into his hole.  It burned for a moment
but Jared kept his finger still allowing Jensen’s body to adjust to the
intrusion.  Jensen’s breathing was becoming more erratic and his hips were
moving of their own accord, trying to get Jared further in. 
 
 The slap on his ass cheek had him crying out and clenching down on the finger
in his ass.  ‘No moving, Jensen, we do this my way.  Don’t make me put you over
my lap.’  Jensen couldn’t help the twitch of his hips at the idea of Jared
spanking him over his huge lap with his hugehands.  The fingers of Jared’s
other hand traced over the red mark on Jensen’s ass and it was the sweetest
mixture of pleasure and pain that Jensen had ever experienced.  ‘Or maybe I
won’t, it doesn’t seem like it would be all that much of a punishment for you,
Jensen.’  Jared let his fingers dig into the flesh of Jensen’s red ass, for a
second, making Jensen gasp in shock and unexpected arousal.  He clearly had a
spanking kink, who knew? 
 
 Jensen was just starting to get his breathing under control, as much as he
could with Jared’s finger up his ass and his hand caressing his red ass cheek,
reminding him constantly of the stinging red skin and how it gotten that way. 
When Jared began to pump his finger in and out of Jensen’s ass, it went
smoothly, eased by the lube Jared had brought back from the bathroom, and
Jensen felt the man add another finger and start pumping both of them into
him.  ‘That’s it baby, open up for me.’  Jensen just nodded, lost in the
sensations of that slight burning with the overwhelming sense of fullness and
Jared, Jared everywhere.
 
 The burning increased when he felt Jared scissor his fingers in his ass and he
hissed at the sting.  ‘Shhh it’s okay, Jen, it’ll get better in a minute.’  He
brought his hand back down to Jensen’s cock and started to stroke it back to
hardness again. 
 
 Jared was right, the burning only lasted a moment as he focused on Jared’s
tight, hot grip on his cock.  He barely even felt Jared add the third finger
until he pressed back into Jared’s hand and felt that the intrusion was much
wider than it had been before.
 
 ‘I…I…I’m ready Jay, please.’ He had been hanging on the edge for at least half
an hour whilst Jared played his body like a goddamn instrument; there was no
doubt that Jared had a control kink in the bedroom.  What was a bit more of a
surprise, though, was that Jensen really, really liked it.
 
 ‘Okay, baby, I’ll give you what you need.’  Jensen heard the crinkle of foil
and then felt something larger than Jared’s fingers pressing against his hole
and he screwed up his eyes.  He swallowed trying to quell down the sudden fear
that washed over him, it had hurt last time, really hurt, and he wasn’t sure
that he was ready to go through all that again. 
 
 ‘Jensen, open your eyes and look at me.’  All trace of teasing was gone from
Jared’s face and he looked more serious than Jensen had ever seen him look,
‘Don’t worry.  If you need me to stop at any time, I’ll stop immediately, you
just say the word.  We can stop now if you need to.  You never have to worry
with me, I promise to take care of you, I’ll never hurt you.’  The sincerity in
the man’s voice helped the rest of his anxiety drain away and he nodded, giving
Jared the all clear to keep going.
 
 Jensen felt Jared press in and whilst it burned a little, it was so much
better than it had been that time before.  Jared stopped every time the pain
got too much for Jensen and held himself still until Jensen nodded for him to
start moving again.   Once Jared was fully inside, he held himself still,
looking down at Jensen, looking at him like he was trying to read him.  Jared
obviously saw what he wanted because he bent down and kissed Jensen deeply
whilst pulling almost all the way out and thrusting back in.
 
 ‘Ah!’  Jensen gasped and Jared smiled wickedly and thrust in again, changing
the angle slightly each time until Jensen felt something explode inside him,
‘Jesus Fucking Christ.’
 
 ‘Just call me Jared.’  Jared winked and set up a punishing rhythm that had him
hitting that same place every time, making Jensen see stars.  Finally, it was
too much, after having been on edge since they had gotten on the bed and Jensen
came with a shout, arching off the bed.
 
 Jared leaned forward again and kissed him again, ‘So beautiful, so perfect,
baby.’   Jensen didn’t have the capacity to do anything but nod as Jared
continued to thrust into him until he felt Jared tense up and curse as he came
into the condom.   Jared pulled out gently and landed on the bed next to
Jensen, breathing heavily, his eyes closed.
 
 Then he turned to Jensen, propping his head up on his elbow and gently pulled
Jensen’s hands down.  Jensen hadn’t realised till then that they hadn’t moved,
at all, from where Jared had put them.  He blushed at that thought and his
spent cock gave a weak twitch against his thigh.
 
 Jared, tenderly, kissed each one of his knuckles and pushed slightly at
Jensen’s shoulder till he lay on his side.  Jensen felt Jared press up against
his back, wind a strong arm around his stomach and pull him close; they were
going to be a sticky mess in the morning but right then, Jensen, feeling safe
in his boyfriend’s arms, couldn’t bring himself to care.


***** Chapter Thirteen. *****
 
_ Chapter_Thirteen._
 
 After the disaster that was Jensen coming back from Jared’s last Away game,
Jared had gone alone this time and Jensen had been left in the capable, but
very over protective, hands of Chris while the other man was away.  
 
 Jensen had needed some time off campus and, in all honesty, some time away
from his best friend as well.  The man hadn’t left his side since Jared had
gotten on the football team bus that morning and it was kind of stifling, to
say the least. 
 
 Jensen had told his friend that he was going to the public library in town
which was only about 45 minutes away from the campus and always had other
people there.  It was, also, pretty much the only place that he thought Chris
wouldn’t follow him.  Chris and libraries simply didn’t mix; too much quiet,
too few people and way too many books.  Plus, according to Chris, the
librarians weren’t even hot and it was ruining all his library related porn
fantasies just being there. 
 
 So there Jensen was sitting in the middle of the fantasy section, his feet
propped up on a handy chair in front of him, as he let himself get immersed in
a world without blood and death and crazy serial killers that wanted to cut
your heart out.
 
 ‘J-J-Jensen?’  A small voice behind him quietly said.  Jensen closed his eyes
and prayed for patience that he really didn’t possess right then.  It was
Gabriel, one of the assistance librarians.  The guy was sweet and all; he had
kind of followed Jensen around like a lost puppy the first few times he had
come in there until Chris had seen how uncomfortable it had made Jensen and had
had a kindly chat with Gabe.  After that, whenever Jensen came in the guy had
just watched him from afar, like the whole freaking time he was there.  It made
Jensen’s skin itch to have that kind of scrutiny on him. 
 
 It was one of the reasons he so rarely went to the town library when he could
just about make do with the university one.
 
 ‘Hey Gabe, how you doing, man?’  He asked politely, hoping to get the awkward
small talk out of the way so he could get back to his books and back to
ignoring his creepy almost stalker.
 
 ‘I-I-I’m good Jensen.  H-h-haven’t seen you around in a w-w-while.’  He
sounded sad and Jensen risked a look up at him from his book.  Wow, the guy was
way too fucking close; he had practically    moulded    himself to Jensen’s
side and, Jesus Christ, did the guy just sniff him?  Gabe was nice, sweet even,
but he was a little too intense for Jensen, too focused on him, especially
after everything that had happened.  To be honest, he just wasn’t Jensen’s
type.  He was shorter than Jensen, skinnier and just plain smaller.  Jensen
liked his partners tall, muscular and stronger than him; guys able to manhandle
him into whatever position they wanted, his type was, well…his type was Jared
actually.
 
 Jensen subtly shifted himself away from the other man and replied as calmly as
he could given his generally high anxiety levels.
 
 ‘Um, yeah, no…I haven’t been able to get off campus in the last few weeks, you
know, loads of assignments and stuff.’  Jensen fumbled for a suitable lie.  He
kind of figured that ‘You creep me out too much for me to come here anymore’
was a tad harsh.
 
 ‘And all those killings.’  Or maybe not.  Jensen blinked in shock at the
abrupt statement.  That was a little odd right?  And no stutter that time, not
even a hint of one, like for once the man was completely confident in what he
was saying.  That wasn’t good.
 
 Jensen’s instincts were pretty good, developed from years of constantly
looking over his shoulder, and they were telling him that he needed to get the
fuck out of there.  He looked around the fantasy section and saw that there was
not one other soul there with them, just him and Gabe.  Shit.
 
 ‘Yeah.  Right.  Well, I gotta get going Gabe, I got a really important paper
due tomorrow and…and I don’t want to be up all night trying to get it done.’ 
Jensen got up from his chair and moved away from the shorter man.
 
 A hand shot out and grabbed his arm and Jensen was reminded so starkly of that
hand shooting out from under Danneel’s bed that he stumbled backwards, almost
falling over in his haste to get away.  Gabe’s grip was surprisingly strong.
 ‘But you only j-j-just got h-h-here?’  He questioned.
 
 How did the guy even know that?  ‘Yeah, but…’  Jensen had nothing, only panic,
so he tore his arm out of the other man’s grip and ran for the library doors. 
He heard Gabe calling his name as he rummaged in his pockets for Jared’s truck
keys. 
 
 Jensen looked over his shoulder only to see that Gabe had followed him out of
the building and was nearing him and Jared’s truck.  Jensen quickly slipped
into the seat and locked the door, feeling calmer knowing that he had a glass
and metal barrier between himself and the strange librarian. 
 
 Jensen put the key in the ignition and looked back at the library one last
time.  Gabe was staring at the truck, with a wide eyed look on his face, and
frantically waving his arms around.  He was shouting something, probably urging
Jensen back into the library.  But over the roar of the engine, Jensen couldn’t
hear what the other man was saying.
 
 Jensen hit the accelerator, giving the truck more gas than it needed and sped
off back down the road to the university leaving the crazy librarian behind
him.
 

****
 

Jensen could feel his heart rate slowing down and his breath was no longer
coming in short pants.  It was dark by then, and there were no other cars on
the back roads back to the university.  It felt oddly quiet after the encounter
he’d just had.  Jensen checked in his rear view mirror but saw nothing but inky
blackness. 
 
 He let his mind wander back to the library and what it could all mean.  Could
the guy after them be Gabe?  It seemed so unlikely but, then again, some of the
most notorious serial killers were people one would least suspect - look at
Gacy or Dahmer; both charming but complete homicidal sadists and hell, didn’t
some people think Jack the Ripper was a freaking Royal?  So yeah, Jensen wasn’t
going to rule out anyone, no matter how unlikely they seemed.
 
 Jensen took his phone out to give Chris a call to tell him that he was coming
back a little early.  He wasn’t going to tell him about the Gabe fiasco,
though, Chris would kill the poor guy for sure this time and Jensen was about
90%, well 75% sure that he wasn’t their guy; he was just a little weird and a
little touchy feely.  The thing bleeped in his hand. 
 
 Gabe?  Jensen sighed; he’d given the guy his number the first time they’d met
thinking that maybe Gabe would make a good study buddy at the library, before
he, you know, got weird.  The man had clearly kept his number.  He pressed the
message open, keeping one eye on the road and one on his phone, holding his
breath wondering what kind of weird apology the guy was going to give for
earlier.
 
 ‘JENSEN!  THERE’S SOMEONE IN THE BACK SEAT.’
 
 Jensen’s eyes shot up to his rear view mirror again but, instead of the inky
blackness he had seen before, he saw white teeth pulled into a smile in a face
hidden by a beige hood.  Fuck!  The axe hit to the left of his hand on the
steering wheel and the truck swerved dangerously close to the edge of the road
before Jensen managed to bring it back under control.  His hand was stinging
and he could feel blood dripping from a shallow cut on the top of his wrist and
down his arm.
 
 Jensen ducked a moment later when he heard the axe whistle through the air
again, narrowly missing his head.  He was not having another car accident. 
Jensen eased his foot off the accelerator and pushed it gently onto the brake,
hoping the man behind him wouldn’t notice the slight change in speed.  The axe
came down again and lodged in the seat inches from his shoulder, had Jensen not
moved to the left, at the last moment, as he had seen it come down out, it
would have chopped his fucking arm off. 
 
 Jensen allowed the car to slow down a little more before making the decision
and throwing himself from the vehicle. 
 
 Jensen rolled several times, bringing his arms up in front of the face and
protecting his head.  It hurt like a son of a bitch but it was better than
being hacked up by a fucking axe.  Jensen watched Jared’s truck go over the
side of the road, praying that the damn thing would just freaking explode with
the asshole still inside.  He slowly got to his feet on very shaky legs and
looked down at the damage.  His arms and hands were terribly scratched up but
it felt like they had protected his face and he was sure that he hadn’t hit his
head – so yay, no concussion.  Jensen’s jeans were ripped open and his legs
were bleeding in several places; the denim rubbed painfully over the grazes but
it didn’t look like anything too serious.
 
 Jensen looked around to try and get his bearings and almost cried with relief
when he saw the first buildings of the campus about a miles walk away; thank
God he had made it almost all the way back in his car before that psycho had
shown himself.  Jensen took off at a run, oh okay, a fast limping walk, back to
campus, desperate to get back to his best friend.  Hopefully his boyfriend
would be back from his game by then. 
 
 ****
 
 Jensen struggled back to campus, limping on his painful legs.  When this was
all over it was gonna be a long time before Jensen would ever be able to sit
comfortably in a car again; first Jake, then the accident and now he’d almost
had an axe to the back of the head.  Yeah, a damn long time. 
 
 Jensen fumbled for his keys, he had put Jared’s key on his own set a couple of
weeks ago.  They had agreed that it would be better if Jensen always had
somewhere that he could go and lock himself up in if Jared wasn’t there.  Like
then for instance.  He’d called Jared a dozen times as he’d made his way back
to campus but he hadn’t got any reply.  He’d be freaking out if the killer
hadn’t just spent the last twenty minutes trying to chop his head off with an
axe.  The man couldn’t have been trying to lop Jared’s head off.  That was some
comforting logic, about as comforting as things ever got in Jensen’s world.
 
 Finally, he found the right key and fit it into the lock.  It stuck for a
moment before the door jerked open and allowed him inside.  Jensen quickly
turned and relocked the door, pulled the chain across and checked all the
window locks.  As he went around and checked under the beds, in the closets and
even behind the shower curtain he pulled out his phone, needing to hear his
best friend’s voice.  It never hurt to be cautious; Jensen had learned that the
hard way and he still forgot sometimes.
 
 ‘Hey Chris, it’s Jensen, I’ve just been attacked in the truck, call me.’ 
 
 He’d been so stupid, he would normally always check the back seat before
starting his journey, especially given this guy’s current penchant for urban
legends, but he’d been too preoccupied by the other weirdo he’d been leaving
behind to check.   Secure in the knowledge that the room looked empty and that
no axe wielding murderers were going to jump out at him, he took out his mobile
again.  
 
 Jensen had no missed calls or messages from Jared, but if he was training then
that wasn’t a huge surprise.  God, the guy would probably freak out at the
number of messages Jensen had left on his phone.
 
 But he needed to let Jared know that he had made it back to Jared’s dorm room
and was planning on spending the night.  Jared would definitely make Jensen
feel better about his brush with death; Jared had a remarkable talent of making
him forget all the crap that was going on, well actually, Jared tended to make
Jensen forget his own name.
 
 He called the phone and was surprised when he heard the distinctive ringtone
of his boyfriend’s cell - ‘Carry on My Wayward Son.’ Jensen smiled and moved
over to Jared’s desk to pick it up; Jared would have thrown a fit had Jensen
been the one to leave his cell in his room.  As Jensen neared the desk, he felt
his stomach flop at what he saw there.
 
 Hundreds of black and white pictures of Jensen; some of them years old, back
when…back from the first time around.  Jensen’s shaking hands shifted through
the pile of photos; there were some of him sleeping, some of him with Misha,
and Jake and Chad.  Jesus Christ.  It was Jared.  It was Jared all along.
 
 Jensen backed away, he fucking needed to get out of here.  He needed to get
back to Chris and warn the other man too; Chris might not have liked Jared but
he certainly trusted that Jared wasn’t a psycho killer.
 
 Jensen backed further away and tripped over something on the floor.  He fell
into a rickety old wardrobe by the bed and the door swung wide open with the
impact.  An axe fell out and thudded onto the ground next to him.  Jensen just
stared at it in shock; it must have been hidden by the clothes when he had
checked the room earlier.  The door hung open and Jensen held his breath as he
looked inside.   Hanging next to one of Jared’s football sweaters was an old
too familiar beige trench coat, complete with a hood.  Jensen pulled it from
the wardrobe and dropped it to the floor with the axe the moment he saw the
blood splattered across the mid drift of the garment.
 
 Jared.
 
 Jared   ?
 
 How could he do this?
 
 Jensen was already moving; he wrenched the chain off the door and yanked it
open and all but threw himself outside.  He didn’t run; he didn’t want to
attract any attention to himself until he had reached Campus Security and could
get Jared’s crazy ass arrested.
 
 ‘Jen?’
 
 Shit!
 
 ‘Jensen?  What is it?  I thought we were meeting at yours tonight?  Has
something happened?’  Jared shot off questions, feigning concern.
 
 Too fucking right something’s happened, I’ve just found out that    you’rethe
pyscho who murdered my family all those years ago.  ‘No, it’s all good, Jay.’ 
The nickname tasted sour on his tongue.  ‘I’m gonna have to call a rain-check
on tonight though, I need to find Chris, I’ve got to talk to him about
something.’


Jared narrowed his eyes at him then, clearly suspicious, and Jensen prayed that
he hadn’t seen through Jensen’s lies, ‘Alright, call me when you get home so I
know you’re there.’ 
 
 ‘Will do.’  And with that Jensen resumed his fast paced walking; away from
Jared and away from the axe and trench coat in that room.
 
 Jensen heard the quiet, ‘What the…?’  Then Jensen heard Jared yell and he
broke into a run, he hadn’t been on the track team in high school for nothing,
Jensen was pretty damn fast when he put his mind to it, ‘JENSEN!  NO!  JENSEN,
COME BACK HERE!’
 
 Like fuck! And Jensen just carried on running.


***** Chapter Fourteen. *****

 
_ Chapter_Fourteen.__
 
  Jensen ran through the quad desperately trying to get his cell phone out of
his pocket.  After a few moments fumbling, he found the small black device and
flipped it open, pressing 1 on the speed dial.
 
  ‘Chris, it’s Jared.  The fucking killer it’s…it’s Jared.  Call me back, let
me know you’re alright.’  He snapped the phone closed.
 
  Jensen called campus security next but they simply told him that pranks were
not appreciated in light of the students who had been lost.   He tried to
explain who he was and that all the victims were hisfriends but the call
operator just told him that only made it worse and hung up on him.
   
God, he had found himself, once again, wishing his family was still around to
help him, his brother would have handled this whole thing way better than
Jensen ever could have.
 
  'Don't be such a pussy, Jen, just stand up to them, show 'em what you’re made
of and they'll leave you the fuck alone.’


  Although, to be honest, a pyscho killer intent on chopping him into little
bits was slightly more intimidating than fifth grade bullies and he felt that
his brother would probably have forgiven him for his reluctance to go head to
head with the guy.

  Jensen sped through the quad but as he neared Singer Hall again.  It was
still considered a crime scene and a wave of unease washed over him when he saw
a light in one of the top windows.  Call him paranoid, but no one was supposed
to be in those buildings, even the cops had cleared out, only leaving their
yellow crime scene tape behind.
 
  Jensen knew that was where all of this craziness was going to come to a head,
once and for all.
 
  He pulled out the silver letter opener he'd picked up from Jared’s desk
earlier, as he pushed open the heavy doors of the derelict structure.  Jensen
couldn't hear anything, at first, but soon voices began to filter through the
silence. 
 
  Jensen walked towards the noise and realised that the voices were arguing. 
He breathed a sigh of relief when he recognised one of them as Chris and threw
the door of the room open.  Jensen was surprised to see Jared there too; the
two of them looking angrily at one another.

  'What the hell is going on here?'  Jensen kept the knife held up in Jared’s
direction. Jared sighed.
   
'You've got it all wrong, Jen, I have no idea where those photos came from.'  
Jensen moved closer to Chris, wanting to make sure that his friend was
alright.   'Jensen, wait, I think you need to step away from Chris. Step away
and walk towards me.'
 
  Jensen looked at Jared like he was mad, which given the fact that he was a
serial killer he probably was, but he stopped moving all the same.  'What the
hell are you talking about?'

  'I heard screaming, Jen, that's the only reason I'm here.  I found...Katie
downstairs, she's dead.  I'm so sorry.  But the only other person here was
Chris and he's fucking covered in blood Jensen.'  Jensen turned to look at
Chris then, really look and there was an awful lot of blood on Chris.  His
clothes were practically covered in it, drops dripping ominously, in the quiet
of the night, onto the wooden floorboards.
   
He started to back away from them both.  'You cut yourself Chris?'
   
'No, it’s not my blood, Jen.  I found Katie and I tried to help her but...I was
too late, this bastard got here before me, he chopped her up real good, Christ,
probably with the same axe he tried to get you with.'  Chris spat vehemently.
 
  Jensen froze.
 
  'How did...?  Chris, I never told you he attacked me with an axe.'  The
silence that followed was damn near deafening.  This could not be happening.

  'Yeah you did, on the phone, you left me that message.'

  'No, Chris I didn't.'  Jensen took a couple of deep breaths, willing himself
not to be sick.  He raised the knife in front of him swinging it between his
boyfriend and his best friend.

  'Well, that’s how the legend goes isn’t it, Jen?  I mean, the guy's been
pretty accurate so far, I was just filling in the blanks.'  Chris explained but
something in his eyes unnerved Jensen and he didn't know how he knew it but he
did; Chris was lying.
 
  Which meant he did know about the axe in the car. Which also meant... shit,
shit shit.


  Chris' shoulders slumped as he watched Jensen reach the same conclusion Jared
had come to.  'Well fuck, you weren't meant to find out till I'd gotten this
bastard out of the way but you know what they say about best laid plans and
all.'  Chris reached behind himself and pulled a gun out from the back of his
jeans, aiming it right at Jared.
   
Nonononono, not again, not Jared, not now.   'No please, Chris, please.'  He
took a step towards Chris, 'Why are you doing this?'

  'Why?' Chris looked at him then but kept his gun trained on Jared, 'Because 
I needed to show you again after all these years that I'm the only one who can
look after you, I'm the only one you can depend on, and I'm the only one who'll
do anything, anything, to have you.'

  That wasn't right, Chris wasn't gay.  And years?  He'd known Chris barely
over a year.  'Chris, I've only known you since August, I don't understand...'

  'Yes Jensen, you've only known me since you were 20 but I've known you since
you were seventeen…and I've known you pretty damn well.  As good as Jay here
anyway.'  Chris smirked.  It took a moment for Jensen to register what that
look meant and when he did his stomach did a violent jolt.
 
  It was Chris?  Chris killed Matt, killed his family, killed all his friends
and now he wanted to kill Jared too. 
 
  Well, no fucking way!  That was not going happen, not because of Jensen, not
again.  Jensen had gotten Jared tangled up in all this, it was his job to get
the guy out of it again.
 
 ‘Jesus, why didn’t you say anything Chris?  I’ve been crushing on you for over
a year, why do you think I didn’t date anyone else?  I was just waiting for you
to notice me.’  It was weak, but hey, the guy was crazy so who knew what he
would believe.  He took a step in Chris’s direction despite the hissed ‘Jensen,
no’ from Jared.
 
 ‘What about this jerk then?’  Chris asked, waving his gun in Jared’s
direction, but at least he was still looking at Jensen, that was a good sign
right?
 
 ‘What, Jared?’  Jensen laughed and hoped it didn’t sound as fake to Chris as
it did to his own ears.  ‘I just found the guy that would make you the most
jealous, piss you off the most, and was hoping that maybe that might get you to
stand up and take what you wanted.’  Jensen moved slowly over to Chris, he
needed to get that gun or, at least, get it away from Chris.  When he reached
the shorter man, Jensen forced his shaking hands through the man’s long brown
hair, conveniently placing himself between Chris and Jared, and more
importantly, Jared and the gun.
 
 Jensen watched as Chris’ eyes flickered closed for a second in pleasure and he
made a quick grab for the gun.  But Chris was too fast and he opened his steel
blue eyes to look right at Jensen, a smirk on his lips.  ‘You’re good Jensen,
but you’re not that good.’  Chris grabbed his arm with surprising strength and
threw Jensen against the wall and swung back to aim the gun at Jared.
 
 But Jared was gone.
 
 The relief that washed over Jensen almost made him want to cry.  If he was
going to die, that was…that was almost fine as long as he didn’t take any more
people he cared about with him.
 
 The relief was short lived as fear began to claw at his insides knowing that
he was alone with the guy who had tormented him and ruined his life all those
years ago.   ‘Well, Jensen, at least this one knew when to quit didn’t he? 
Unlike Matt,’  Chris said his former boyfriend’s name with such disdain that it
made Jensen feel sick; Matt had been a good guy and Chris had no right to talk
about him that way or talk about him at all actually.  
 
 ‘He saw me, you know, leaving one of my letters in your post box.  He
confronted me about it outside that shitty little restaurant he worked in and I
told him that, if he just backed the fuck down and left you and me alone, he
wouldn’t get hurt.  The idiot told me to fuck off and threatened me, me,away
from you like he wasn’t the one getting in the way of our future together. 
Well, let’s just say, when someone pisses me off there’s never much left of
them after I’m done with them.’
 
 ‘And my family?  What the hell did they ever do?  I’m pretty sure my twelve
year old sister didn’t tell you to fuck off.’  Jensen said angrily, it was all
so pointless; he and Chris would never be together and apparently that was what
they had all died for.
 
 ‘That was unfortunate but there aren’t many permanent ways of getting family
out of the picture except for the obvious.  You didn’t need them anymore, you
had me, but whilst they were still around, you were going to keep running back
to them instead of to me.’  Chris shrugged at him, like the murder of Jensen’s
entire family had been nothing, no more than a means to an end.
 
 ‘Jesus Fucking Christ!’  Jensen shouted, running a hand through his short
hair.  ‘You never thought of just saying ‘Hey’ and asking me out for a fucking
coffee!’  Jensen couldn’t believe it, it was all so ludicrous and, just as he
suspected, all his fault.
 
 ‘I fucking tried!  I worked at that Costa outside your school for more than a
year.  I asked you if you wanted to get a coffee with me and you said no. 
This…all of this is on you Jensen.’  Chris shouted back, clearly getting
frustrated by Jensen’s lack of co-operation. 
 
 Jensen didn’t even remember that, he would have sworn blind that he’d never
met the man in front of him before last year.  He barely even remembered there
being a Costa outside his school.
 
 ‘And all this - killing off all of our friends?’
 
 ‘Again, regrettable, I kind of liked Steve, but sacrifices must be made to get
the things we want.  And the urban legend spin was a nice touch, don’t you
think?  Do you remember why?  It was the first psyche paper we ever worked on
together; you were so damn fascinated about where they came from; it was kind
of my gift to you, you got to see them in action.  Awesome right?’  He grinned
at Jensen, a grin that Jensen had never seen on Chris’ face.  ‘And now, Jensen,
I’ve finally got what I wanted because there’s no way you won’t come with me. 
You’ve got nothing left, no one left.’  Jensen swallowed as he walked backwards
away from the armed man.  The backs of his legs hit the old, rickety bed that
he hadn’t even noticed was in the room before.  No way.  That was not happening
again but he couldn’t come up with a plan, not with the gun pointing at his
heart as Chris used it to push him backwards onto the bed.
 
 Jensen bit his lip and closed his eyes, he wouldn’t cry for this asshole.
 
 And then to Jensen’s surprise, a heavy weight fell against his chest.
 
 He opened his eyes and saw Jared standing next to the bed with a huge wooden
plank in his hand, ‘Wrong, asshole, he’s got me.’  Jared picked up the gun
gingerly between his thumb and forefinger and threw it across the room.
 
 Jensen breathed out a sigh of relief and pushed Chris’s body off him.  Jared
helped him up off the bed, ‘You okay, baby?’  Jared brushed a hand through his
hair and Jensen just nodded into his chest, ‘I would never do anything to hurt
you, never.’
 
 ‘What are we gonna do about him?’  Jensen nodded over his shoulder at the
still figure on the bed. 
 
 It all happened so fast; Chris screamed and brought a large knife up over his
head ready to plunge down on them both.
 
 BANG! BANG!
 
 Chris looked down at his chest to see two bullet wounds; Jared and Jensen
watched as he fell to the bed and then slowly turned to the door.
 
 Standing there was a bloody and beaten up looking Chad, ‘Thought it looked
like you needed some help losers!’
 
 Jensen and Jared looked at each other and then burst out laughing; a
hysterical sound born of nearly dying so many times in the last 24 hours.
 
 When they had gotten themselves under control again, Jensen took the gun from
Chad and put a bullet in Chris’ head.  At Jared and Chad’s quizzical and
slightly disturbed looks he simply shrugged, ‘I’d like to see him come back
from that.’
 
 With that, the three of them walked out into the dawn.
 
 THE END.
 
 
 THANKS FOR READING!!  xx
 
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