Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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Jensen lived near a park, he could see it from his window, yet he had never had the change to actually go into it. Today, though, he felt the need to go and explore it, to actually enjoy the free time that he wasn’t having these days.

The gates were huge and beautiful. After 2 hours of walking in the big and small roads, through the bridges and under, Jensen was mesmerized, lost, and thinking that he should have come sooner. It was way bigger than it looked from the outside, and Jensen had just fallen in love with the beauty of it all. When Jensen found the exit, he promised himself he was going to start visiting that park every morning. Even if he had to make the time for it.

Two months have passed since he began to come to the beautiful park. His friends were starting to question where he was spending his extra time, since he sometimes had to call off plans with them just to have the time for his new hobby: going to the park. As he promised, he went there every day, yet he still didn’t know the whole place. He could buy a map, but that would be no fun. He wanted to be the one discovering every bit of it alone. It was like the park had become a part of his life, a place where he could be whatever he wanted, a place to think.

This time, he wakes up with the need to sing and play. A need he hadn’t felt in a long time. He picked up his guitar and looked at it for a long time, not exactly knowing if he should. So, he made his decision, he packed his guitar and a small lunch. He walked across the street and went to the park with the guitar and a bag.

He walked through the roads he knew now, seeing old people, young couples, kids, and all kinds of people. He already knew places where he, most likely, wouldn’t find anyone, taking in account that the park was far from small. Although, he went to all the private spots he knew, and he didn’t find it quite right to play in there. If Christ was with him, he would say he was just finding excuses not to play. Maybe he was.

He just wanted a place where he could feel safe and at ease. He thought the park was going to help him, but apparently it didn’t make quite a difference. He was feeling a bit frustrated and decided to quit for the day. He took a step back just to turn around when he felt falling backwards, his instincts were fast and he turned away in middle air, falling with his knees and hands on the floor.

He took a sigh of relief while composing himself, more for the surprise of it all than the fall. He stood up, thanking God for not falling with his back and breaking the guitar.

He tried to take the dirt from his jeans and hands, when he finally looked around. For some seconds he was more than confused, he wasn’t in the same place when he fell. The first thought was ‘what the hell…’

Then he started to look around. He soon noticed the bush that was behind him. With his hands he tried to separate the branches apart and saw where he had been seconds ago, apparently he had fallen from the bushes and ended up here. ‘Well’ Jensen thought, looking once more around, this time really looking at the view.

There was a small road in front of him surrounded by trees, where the sun crossed them and made a beautiful effect. Jensen had two choices, going back or exploring this road. First things first. Jensen posed all his things carefully on the ground and took his camera out of the bag he was carrying with him. Jensen was proud of himself for always having his camera with him.

After he was satisfied, he decided to go down the road, maybe he would be able to take even more beautiful photos of the place. Jensen left everything in one place and stayed with his camera, then he went down the road very carefully, watching every move, since it seemed the road hadn’t been used for a while.

What he found at the end of the road wasn’t exactly what he was expecting, there was an old small door made of wood. Jensen approached and pushed the door; the door automatically cracked opened, creaking, like it was supposed to be closed - but Time had other plans for it. Maybe it was a good idea to just walk away now, but Jensen was a curious person by nature. He went across the door, thinking this all seemed a bit similar to the secret garden story, if the door was any reference for it.

There it was, again a small road, but this one seemed cleaner, greener as well, not so wild, and so secret and small; like a safe place. Jensen took three steps forward when he started to listen kids laughing and talking. He couldn’t understand what they were saying, but they seemed close enough.

Maybe they had found the same road as Jensen. Jensen started to walk slowly down the road, at the end there was a small turn to the right, where these kids must be.

“Shut up Jully” Jensen hears a kid saying

“But… But… He is going to die” A small girl responded to the kid while crying, it seemed to Jensen almost sobbing.

“You don’t know that… Let’s hear it till the end, ok?”

The kind didn’t seem mad, as far as Jensen could tell by his voice. He seemed frustrated and excited at the same time.

“Come on Jully. Let's just hear what happened.” A sweet and lovely voice said, this time a grown up. A voice that made a shiver run down Jensen spine and made him stop. Only two steps to actually seeing these people, Jensen was thinking for the first time that maybe he was intruding.

“O… OK” Jully (Jensen thought), finally said

There was a moment of silence, when suddenly that sweet voice began again

“The king's son was beyond him with pain, and in his despair he leapt down from the tower. He escaped alive, but the thorns into which he fell pierced his eyes.”

Jensen couldn’t help it, if he thought this man's voice was beautiful seconds ago, then this time there wasn’t anything comparable to it. His voice was perfect, in so many ways that Jensen couldn’t even describe it. Because of this, Jensen took the two steps that were stopping him from seeing this man.

Jensen sees them: one man sitting on a bench with two small children, each one sitting on a different leg of the man. Jensen knew right there his life had changed completely. He wasn’t thinking about anything, he was just there, staring like a fool, wide eyes and his mouth a bit open looking at the scene in front of him. If he was in his right mind he would have taken a picture with his camera that he was still carrying in his hand.

“Who is that?” The kid who was more turned to his direction asked once he saw him. The girl that had her back to him turned her little head to see him. The man turned to look right to him, at first a bit surprised, then he seemed a bit angry. The man closed the big book he was reading the story from and posed it on the beach before saying to the kids to wait inside.

When he said it, the kids didn’t even question, they just started to run in the other direction. Jensen speculated there was a house somewhere. When they couldn’t see the kids anymore the man stood up, stared at him and asked him tiredly.

“Who are you? You aren’t supposed to be here”

“I’m… ar…” Jensen tried to compose himself, he was making a bad impression. Once he felt more normal he asked, hesitating

“I’m not in the park anymore, am I?” It didn’t seem really like a question to both of them

The man sighed “No, You are not… Did you really just got lost?”

The man asked looking at Jensen camera and Jensen frowned

“What do you mean?”

The other man studied him just by staring at him, before looking the other way

“Nothing, sorry. I get a bit suspicious sometimes. Forget about it.”

“No problem”

Jensen said, not quite sure what had just happened. Maybe the guy thought he was a crazy man taking pictures of families, or something. Once he thought about it, it really seemed suspicious. Damn it.

Jensen was going to say something to make it clear he wasn’t a perv of any kind when the man approached him. Jensen realized for the first time the man was way taller than him; that didn’t happen often.

“So, do you need directions to get out of here? Do you prefer going out to the street or back to the park?”

“I can always go through the way I came” Jensen said while forcing a smile

“Well, you could… Do you want to?”

Jensen thought about it a second. Maybe it was the better idea, in the other hand he didn’t feel the energy to walk that much again.

“Ok, just follow me” The man said before he answered the question. Jensen followed him.

“I don’t want to impose or anything, but I’m Jensen”

He introduced himself smiling, one of his smiles he normally used for women. Jared stopped and looked at him for some seconds, before he said

“Jared”

Giving Jensen for the first time a smile, it was small but it was there; it was a start. This made Jensen smile even wider, a happier and honest smile.

“Awesome” He said, without thinking. Jared frowned but laughed a bit, like he was amused

Jensen knew down to his bones that this was going to be the beginning of something really amazing, he would make sure of it.