In a Faraway Land Timestamp
Brightly Shining
760 words; PG
In A Faraway Land timestamp for elless18 from the holiday timestamp post.
As they step between another batch of pine trees, Jensen takes a deep breath and keeps looking at the tip-top of each tree, thankful he can see the blue sky beyond all these branches. The trees are tucked tightly together and he’s almost feeling claustrophobic in the faux maze.
From a bit away, he hears Jared ask oddly, “How about a balsam fir?” Jensen nears Jared just as he’s looking up from the sign pitched into the ground to take in the entirety of the tree in front of him then glances around. “These things have weird names. Douglas fir, grand fir, noble fir.”
Jensen gives Jared an strange look, but Jared only smirks in reply.
“You know the white fir isn’t even white? It’s still green.”
“I think it’s blue-green, actually,” he replies as he turns to keep walking through the lot of Christmas trees.
It’d been Jared’s idea to pick one out together for their first Christmas living together, even if they each had fake trees from past years. Jared had insisted it was a whole new world for Jensen, and them together, so why not embrace it?
Jensen stops near a grouping of spruces and takes a deep breath. The earthiness of the trees around him remind him of a forest he once saw … back there. His heart feels heavy in his chest, as if it’s about to take off and pound erratically or his lungs to shrink up with the inability to breathe.
He’s been waiting for any reaction to most anything lately, ever since he and Jared both came to an understanding of what all had happened in Cassidonia and that they were both so closely tied to the place.
Carefully, Jensen reaches out to grab hold of a few spruce needles, softly rubbing his fingers over them. He’s waiting for his body to respond to the touch, to hear the sudden howls of the steeds, racing footfalls, shouting and fighting, anything to ring through his ears.
He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes for a moment, and when he opens them, Jared’s standing beside him with a gentle smile and rosy cheeks. When Jared adjusts the edge of his ear warmers, strands of hair go astray, but they fit with the happy-go-lucky way he looks at Jensen. “You find one you like?”
Jensen searched Jared’s eyes and the only trace of wrongness he finds is when Jared’s face starts to turn into something more akin confusion as he watches back.
“You okay?” Jared asks quietly, wrapping a hand around Jensen’s elbow.
Shaking his head, Jensen tries to smile and joke, but he’s sure it all comes out flat. “Don’t know why we have to get a new tree anyway. We’ve got two perfectly good ones at home.”
Jared’s lips draw up in a strange smile he’s been showing lately, but Jensen’s uncertain he wants to know the real reason for it, so he steps forward to keep looking. Maybe the scent of fresh trees is getting to Jared, or maybe he’s hungry and stifling his grumbling stomach, or maybe - as Jensen’s now realizing - it’s because Jensen said home.
Jared follows, wraps his arms around Jensen’s shoulders, and lightly shakes him. “It’s the spontaneity,” he insists with a light, playful tone. “To get out one Saturday afternoon and see something and just say ‘there, that’s it, that’s the one I want, and I’m not leaving without it’.”
Jensen slowly turns in Jared’s arms and has a feeling he has Jared’s same strange smile on his own lips. He’s suddenly unable to identify any traces from the noble Jared he once knew and this one here. It’s utterly foreign, given how many times Jensen has had to fight down phantom touches and sounds, but it’s in a good way, certainly, because Jensen now remembers the Saturday morning after he’d returned to his life and had spotted Jared - this Jared - at the coffee shop, and thought ‘that’s him, I can’t live without his smile.’
“You sure you’re okay?” Jared asks slowly.
Jensen looks away, eyes going up to the clear blue sky before coming back down to meet Jared’s. The world around them is theirs, not some foreign land with fewer hours of daylight than danger, and Jensen feels his cheeks ache when he realizes he’s been grinning at Jared long enough to make them both seem a little crazy for not moving.
He nods a little and clears his throat. Murmurs, “Yeah, I’m really good.”
760 words; PG
In A Faraway Land timestamp for elless18 from the holiday timestamp post.
As they step between another batch of pine trees, Jensen takes a deep breath and keeps looking at the tip-top of each tree, thankful he can see the blue sky beyond all these branches. The trees are tucked tightly together and he’s almost feeling claustrophobic in the faux maze.
From a bit away, he hears Jared ask oddly, “How about a balsam fir?” Jensen nears Jared just as he’s looking up from the sign pitched into the ground to take in the entirety of the tree in front of him then glances around. “These things have weird names. Douglas fir, grand fir, noble fir.”
Jensen gives Jared an strange look, but Jared only smirks in reply.
“You know the white fir isn’t even white? It’s still green.”
“I think it’s blue-green, actually,” he replies as he turns to keep walking through the lot of Christmas trees.
It’d been Jared’s idea to pick one out together for their first Christmas living together, even if they each had fake trees from past years. Jared had insisted it was a whole new world for Jensen, and them together, so why not embrace it?
Jensen stops near a grouping of spruces and takes a deep breath. The earthiness of the trees around him remind him of a forest he once saw … back there. His heart feels heavy in his chest, as if it’s about to take off and pound erratically or his lungs to shrink up with the inability to breathe.
He’s been waiting for any reaction to most anything lately, ever since he and Jared both came to an understanding of what all had happened in Cassidonia and that they were both so closely tied to the place.
Carefully, Jensen reaches out to grab hold of a few spruce needles, softly rubbing his fingers over them. He’s waiting for his body to respond to the touch, to hear the sudden howls of the steeds, racing footfalls, shouting and fighting, anything to ring through his ears.
He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes for a moment, and when he opens them, Jared’s standing beside him with a gentle smile and rosy cheeks. When Jared adjusts the edge of his ear warmers, strands of hair go astray, but they fit with the happy-go-lucky way he looks at Jensen. “You find one you like?”
Jensen searched Jared’s eyes and the only trace of wrongness he finds is when Jared’s face starts to turn into something more akin confusion as he watches back.
“You okay?” Jared asks quietly, wrapping a hand around Jensen’s elbow.
Shaking his head, Jensen tries to smile and joke, but he’s sure it all comes out flat. “Don’t know why we have to get a new tree anyway. We’ve got two perfectly good ones at home.”
Jared’s lips draw up in a strange smile he’s been showing lately, but Jensen’s uncertain he wants to know the real reason for it, so he steps forward to keep looking. Maybe the scent of fresh trees is getting to Jared, or maybe he’s hungry and stifling his grumbling stomach, or maybe - as Jensen’s now realizing - it’s because Jensen said home.
Jared follows, wraps his arms around Jensen’s shoulders, and lightly shakes him. “It’s the spontaneity,” he insists with a light, playful tone. “To get out one Saturday afternoon and see something and just say ‘there, that’s it, that’s the one I want, and I’m not leaving without it’.”
Jensen slowly turns in Jared’s arms and has a feeling he has Jared’s same strange smile on his own lips. He’s suddenly unable to identify any traces from the noble Jared he once knew and this one here. It’s utterly foreign, given how many times Jensen has had to fight down phantom touches and sounds, but it’s in a good way, certainly, because Jensen now remembers the Saturday morning after he’d returned to his life and had spotted Jared - this Jared - at the coffee shop, and thought ‘that’s him, I can’t live without his smile.’
“You sure you’re okay?” Jared asks slowly.
Jensen looks away, eyes going up to the clear blue sky before coming back down to meet Jared’s. The world around them is theirs, not some foreign land with fewer hours of daylight than danger, and Jensen feels his cheeks ache when he realizes he’s been grinning at Jared long enough to make them both seem a little crazy for not moving.
He nods a little and clears his throat. Murmurs, “Yeah, I’m really good.”