Broken Wings - Jared/Chris BigBang Fic (8/10)
Chapter Eight
Going back to his old life, between school, sports and friends, was harder than he thought. The school had to make new adjustments, specifically for him, just like his home had been practically rebuilt to accommodate for his disability, and everything everyone did singled out the fact that he could no longer walk and that he was different. He was no longer seen as the star basketball player but as some sad boy who couldn’t play normal sports or do normal things anymore. No one ever realized that it was still just him there and that nothing about him had really changed. A lot of people told him he was limited, but Jared soon learnt that they just didn’t really know him.
Jared and Chris awoke early the next morning, Jared ready to commence his usual daily routine the same as always. Chris, on the other hand, was a bit slower on the uptake. Sure, he was good with early mornings, but he never thought that Jared would be one to just forget the past day’s events so easily. Jared had the dogs leashed up and ready to go within a few minutes, waiting patiently for Chris to get up.
“Are you coming with?” Jared asked, his mouth smiling, but his eyes guarded.
“Jay? Can we just talk for a minute?” Chris begged, scared that he had lost Jared regardless of what they has spoken about the night before. He knew Jared said he was forgiven, but he has also said how hard it was for him to trust people.
“What’s there to talk about? I have to give these guys a good run before I go in to open up the shop. Did you want to come for the run or not?” Jared asked again.
Chris took Jared’s offer as a peace offering, nodding his head quickly before sliding out of bed and getting dressed. He just hoped that they would be able to talk a bit, at least on the run, before Chris had to face everyone at the tattoo parlor.
If Chris had thought that Jared’s idea of a ‘run’ meant a simple jog around the block for the dogs, then Chris had definitely been sorely mistaken. With all the work Chris did on his ranch, he was by no means unfit, but watching Jared push himself to and past his limits with his dogs was something else. Jared used everything he had and put it all into keeping up with his dogs as they pulled him through the park’s walkway, using his skill and experience to ensure that he didn’t run anyone over at the speed he was going at. By the end of the first half hour, Chris was panting and sweating, barely able to get to words out. Jared, on the other hand, looked ready for more.
“Jay, I think it’s about time to head back, don’t you?” Chris huffed out between large gulps of air.
Jared shook his head, as if only just remembering that Chris was with him, and looked up at the other man. “Sorry about that, sometimes I just need to get everything out...” Jared explained.
“It’s okay. Just remember, next time, that I ain’t as young as you!” Chris said in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Jared smiled and nodded his head, “Here, can you hold Sadie. It will make the trip back easier,” Jared asked, holding up the smaller dog’s leash for Chris to take.
“Sure thing... So do you do this every morning?” Chris asked, glad to see Jared was now simply walking back, meaning that they could use this time to talk some things out.
“More often than not, yeah, sometimes my back is too messed up to do anything like this, but when I feel okay, I love to race around,” Jared explained. “It’s just a good way for me to release any pent up energy and to clear my head a little.”
“About that... I know last night you said we were okay, but I don’t know,” Chris started, not meeting Jared’s eyes. “I just felt like this morning you couldn’t stand the sight of me or something. I know I did and said some shitty things yesterday, and it’s gonna take a bit for you to trust me again, but I really thought we’d be okay,” Chris sighed, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.
“We are okay, Chris. I did forgive you, and we just have to keep moving forward. I ain’t gonna lie to you and say that what you said last night still doesn’t sting, but I guess I’m use to it...” Jared sighed. “In high school, everyone started acting differently around me, and I didn’t really want them to, but I got use to it. I guess it’s kinda like that,” Jared shrugged.
“No, Jay, I don’t want you to be expecting those sort of things from me. I made a mistake once, but that’s it! I swear to you, I won’t make that same mistake ever again! I trust you, Jared, with everything I have,” Chris said, stopping to finally face Jared, his body crouching down so that he was eye level with his boyfriend. “I love you so much, Jared.”
“I love you, too, Chris, and I believe you. It was stupid what happened last night. We both made mistakes, and we were both exhausted. I’ve put it all behind me now, I swear. I’ll even prove it to you when we get back to my place,” Jared said, his eyes suddenly lighting up with a new idea.
Chris nodded hesitantly, reluctantly allowing Jared to do things the way he thought best. They finished their walk and returned home, Jared patting the dogs quickly before letting them off their leashes to get water before starting to strip down.
“I’m going to go grab a quick shower,” Jared said once his shirt was off, “you’re welcome to join me,” he added as he turned his chair around, facing back and giving Chris a sly smile.
Normally, Chris wouldn’t have thought twice about the offer, but this time, he wasn’t so sure. Ultimately pushing his insecurities aside, he quickly stripped down and joined Jared in the large shower. The younger man had already situated himself on the small bench in the shower by the time Chris entered, the plains of this body already glistening with water droplets. Chris’ eyes tracked the droplets movements, as they raced down all the dips and curves, pooling in Jared’s lap.
“You’re beautiful,” Chris mumbled, just loud enough for Jared to hear.
Jared smiled softly, “And you’re gorgeous,” Jared replied, his own eyes cataloguing every area of Chris’ work-hardened body. “Come here,” Jared asked; his arm out beckoning Chris to come forward, the older man situating himself between Jared’s legs carefully under the shower’s spray.
Jared leaned forward and pressed his lips to Chris’ stomach, enjoying the feel of the muscles quivering beneath his lips. His hand splayed out over Chris’ hip, thumb gently stroking at the smooth skin beneath as Jared's lips created a trail further south.
“Jay... Please...” Chris moaned, his own fingers twisting in Jared’s hair, silently urging him on.
Jared licked his lips, a wolfish grin gracing his face before he bent lower, engulfing the head of Chris’ cock into his mouth. He rubbed the tip of his tongue against the underside of the head, opening his mouth wider and pushing himself further onto the hard member, his lips stretching obscenely wide around the thick cock. Chris moaned in pleasure, his breath coming out in quick pants, his body aching for more.
Both of Jared's hands slid around Chris’ hips, gripping tightly to the firm muscle and kneading it, pushing Chris closer and closer until his nose was nestled into the course hair at the base of Chris’ cock. It didn’t honestly take much. Between the cool water cascading over his body and the tight, warm heat of Jared’s mouth, Chris came almost embarrassingly quickly, Jared drinking the thick, white liquid greedily.
“Let’s get cleaned up,” Jared whispered softly, pulling off of Chris and wiping his mouth before wrapping his arms around Chris’ middle once again and resting his head against the firm stomach.
“Was that what you had in mind before when you said you wanted to prove to me that you were past everything? Cause while I really loved that... I don’t think it really...” Chris started only to be cut off by Jared kissing his stomach once again.
“No, Chris, that wasn’t what I had in mind; I still wanna show you something. I guess you can call it an added bonus,” Jared shrugged, smiling.
The two men quickly washed up. Chris offering to return the favor, but Jared turned him down, simply stating that they really didn’t have enough time to waste in trying to get him aroused, before getting out of the shower and getting dressed, Jared purposefully pulling a long sleeve shirt over his head to cover up the bright white bandage that was back over his forearm.
“So what did you want to show me then?” Chris asked, his patience waning.
“Here, follow me,” Jared simply said, rolling himself back into his bedroom and over towards his walk-in closet. “I haven’t ever really shown or told anyone about this, but back when I was a kid, I drew like all the time. Usually, like kids do, I gave them to my parent’s to put up on the fridge or whatever, but there were some that I just never showed... and they... well, they ended up in here,” Jared started, nodding his head in the direction of his wardrobe.
“Okay and?” Chris asked, still not really following Jared, but understanding and appreciating that Jared was about to show him something very personal.
“Well, the pictures I kept to myself were usually pictures of family... well, those I considered my family anyway...” Jared shrugged, pushing the door open and rolling his chair in.
Jared flicked on the small light and awkwardly pushed some of the hanging clothes out of the way revealing a collage of pictures, paintings and sketches. Chris crouched down low and scrutinized the artworks in front of him. It was obvious that the artworks acted almost as a time line to Jared’s life. There was never a picture taken down once it was put up, and looking at the first picture pinned up, it was obvious that it was done when Jared had been very young.
“How old were you when you did this one?” Chris asked, pointing at the first picture which was that of his family, Chris knowing so from the photos on Jared’s mantle.
“I was probably twelve or thirteen?” Jared said with a nonchalant shrug. He knew he had talent. People told him every day and paid him for his works on their body, but he still couldn’t really see why.
“That’s amazing,” Chris breathed out, feeling a sense of pride form in his gut of Jared.
Chris continued to study Jared’s artworks. Most were simple sketches of his friends and family. Jensen and Chad appearing early on, and then, Sandy and Mike started making several appearances. There were even a few of Jason further down the line. There were many faces he was unfamiliar with; however, they only appeared on the wall once or twice at most - ex-boyfriends maybe - Chris thought.
At the end of the wall, the end of the timeline and a personal insight into Jared’s life, Chris stopped, still stooped down low, next to Jared’s chair, balancing with a hand on the chair’s armrest. He knelt staring, speechless, for what felt like hours but in reality couldn’t have been more than a minute or two, until he heard Jared cough nervously behind him, waiting on him to react in some way.
“What... what do you think?” Jared asked, feeling more nervous than he ever had before.
“These are amazing, really beautiful! When did you? When’d you have the time to do all of these? Why?” Chris asked all in one breath, looking over all the sketches, painting and other artworks that were pinned up.
Chris’ hand reached out, his fingers hesitating mere millimeters away, dancing over the gray photo-like image of himself. One was a close up of his face, his eyes were closed, obviously in sleep, and his hair tussled over his shoulder framing his face. Others were a full length drawing, with the bed sheets having long since been pushed down by the two moving bodies and his legs twisted around Jared’s.
There were many more still. Some standing and staring, and the final one, the most detailed, and yet simple sketch, was of him sitting on his horse, reigns lax and arms crossed over the horn of the saddle. His hat was low and partially covering his eyes, but he was looking right at the viewer, and Chris could see the emotion that poured off the page, that Jared put into the art, all of it.
“I don’t know... They don’t really take me as much time as you’d probably think they would. I guess I just see you, and I have to get it down on paper. I always have my sketch pads around, and usually, I can find a pencil or pen or something to draw with laying around... you’re just an inspiration. Ain’t much else to it really...” Jared said simply.
“But there are so many of me up here?” Chris questioned.
“Yeah, to be honest, I was a bit surprised. Looking back, I never realized how many drawings of you I had actually done, and I don’t mean that in a kinda creepy, stalkerish way. Most of these are actually done by memory, and there are a few others that I haven’t put up here either. The reason I wanted to show you this was because I guess... it’s real rare for a boyfriend to get up on this wall, especially more than once. It has happened, obviously,” Jared started, nodding his head towards the door, “but not often... I guess, I just wanted you to see how much you really do mean to me and that I really do mean it when I say I have moved on, because there is so much here between us that I’m not willing to risk just because of some misunderstanding. You said you won’t jump to conclusions again, and I trust that you won’t,” Jared finished.
“I won’t, Jay, I promise,” Chris said, turning around and kissing Jared full on the lips, his hand wrapping around and cupping the back of Jared’s head to bring him in closer.
“Good, now, come on. I have to go into the studio for a bit, and then, we can do something fun today,” Jared smiled, wheeling himself out of the room.
Chris hung back for an extra moment, taking another look at all the pictures up on the wall, for the first time realizing that Jared wasn’t in a single one of them. Pushing that fact to the back of his mind, Chris stood back up and, with a final nod of his head, switched the light off and exited the closet.
Sandy was the first to greet them as they entered through the back door. She smiled sweetly as Jared greeted her, leaning down to give the man a quick peck on each cheek before telling him that Mike and Jensen were looking for him to talk about some shop business or something. Jared thanked her and left Chris with her, thinking his man would be in good hands.
Chris smiled at Sandy, moving to pass her to wait for Jared in his office when all of a sudden he was pushed into the office and pressed up hard against the door, effectively closing it to anyone outside.
“Wha-?” Chris gasped in shock before Sandy covered his mouth with one of her delicate hands.
“Now, you listen here, and you listen well,” she said using a surprising amount of force and strength to keep Chris pinned to the wall. Chris tested her hold slightly but decided against it, letting the petite girl get whatever problem she had off her chest.
“I don’t know exactly what happened yesterday between you and Jared, and I don’t really care to find out. All I know is that Jared came in here with not only a bleeding arm but a bruised heart, and yeah, I know how corny that sounds whatever, but you have no idea how hard it is for Jared to let someone in as much as he has obviously let you in! You can’t do that to our boy, and you definitely can’t do it around here. If I ever see Jared hurt again because of something you did or said, you better watch yourself,” Sandy ranted, ending it all in a huff.
“You done?” Chris asked simply, taking a moment to think about exactly what he was going to say in return. “I get it, okay, he’s your friend. He’s been hurt in the past, and if I hurt him, I’m dead, but like I said to you on the phone, Sweetie, I’d deserve any sort of punishment you could come up with if I hurt Jared, and I’d let you dish it out if I did ever hurt him in any way. I made a mistake once, and it will never happen again. One time is one time too many for me,” Chris said in a much calmer manner.
“Good. You have to take care of our boy. I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but he’s got me worried,” Sandy said, her voice shaking slightly as she let out a breath, her eyes starting to mist with unshed tears.
“I know you care about him, so do I, I love him. And he’s okay, I’m making sure of that,” Chris reassured, pulling the smaller girl in under his arms and wrapping her up in a tight hug.
Jared entered the room just as the pair were pulling away from each other, awkwardly coughing in an attempt to hide any discomfort or tension in the room. “What did they want with you, Jay?” Chris asked, moving over to his lover and wrapping his arms around Jared’s broad shoulders.
“Oh, nothing, just some things for the shop we’re all trying to get organized,” Jared said offhandedly. “How about you two? What were you guys in here talking about?” Jared asked.
Both Chris and Sandy looked at each other, sizing one another up, before Sandy responded, saying that it was nothing before changing the topic quickly. Jared was none the wiser.
Next Chapter | Masterpost