Chapter One
Morning Surprises
Jared woke up to see big green eyes staring at him over the top of the mattress. Not much else was visible besides blonde hair that was styled interestingly enough like Jared's own hair. Squeezing his eyes shut sure that it was some kind of early morning hallucination; Jared rubbed his fists into his eyes until he saw stars behind his eyelids. Unfortunately, when he opened them again, the same big green eyes stared back at him.
"Ja," the child said and Jared frowned wondering which of his friends was so witless that he decided it was a good idea to pull a prank that involved someone's kid. Briefly he wondered if this was Jensen's idea of payback after the fight they'd had the night before. Leaving him with some unsuspecting child seemed to be strangely apt after the fight they'd had. "JEN!" Jared bellowed loudly enough to surely wake his lazy boyfriend from bed on the sofa where he'd stomped off to the previous night.
"What Ja?" The little boy asked, his voice muffled by the mattress. Rubbing a hand over his face again, Jared finally sat up, glad that he'd slept in his boxers the night before, and hadn't gone commando like he normally did when Jensen was snuggled up equally naked next to him.
"Where'd you come from little guy?" Jared asked reaching over the side of the mattress and pulling the small boy up and onto his lap. He was slightly relieved to see the kid had found one of Jensen's old t-shirts and put it on at some point, but it left him even further aggravated at the moron who set this prank up. He really wanted answers, or to kick the shit out of whomever thought this would be funny. Unfortunately, all the kid would say was, "Ja" so it did not appear as if answers were forthcoming.
"JENSEN WAKE YOUR LAZY BUTT UP!" Jared bellowed again, wincing when he saw the little boy looking scared with his hands over his ears, and sniffling slightly as big tears filled his little eyes.
"Shit, I mean heck, I mean damnit," Jared stopped and took a deep breath then sighed and smiled weakly before scooting to the edge of the bed and standing, putting the child on his hip as he made his way through the house. "Is up," the little boy said finally looking disgruntled when he finally dropped his hands from his ears.
"Jen's up?" Jared repeated frowning as he headed down the hallway towards the living room. Only once he reached the room he spotted an empty couch with a pile of clothes that Jared recognized as the ones Jensen had been wearing the night before. Jared frowned again looking at the child. "Do you know where he is kiddo?" Frowning the child put his hands on his hips and grunted at Jared unhappily. "I right here, Ja!" He said, his four-year-old voice reflecting every bit of his frustration.
Snorting Jared rolled his eyes wondering how they had convinced such a small kid to pretend to be Jensen. Turning headed for the kitchen, Jared intended to get them both some breakfast while they waited for Jen to reappear from wherever he'd gone to. "I am so kicking his ass when he gets back." Jared muttered before deciding to get the paper off the front stoop before going to the kitchen.
Upon reaching the door though, he was forced to pause at the sight of the chain stretched across the frame resting easily in its slot where Jared had put it the previous night while they were arguing. To the right of the door, staring mockingly at him were both Jensen's car key ring and the house key ring along with Jared's key ring which had his car and house key on it. The presence of all three key rings indicated Jensen hadn't left unless he had magically found a way to latch the chain from outside the house. Heaven only knew the child currently resting on his hip couldn't have reached up high enough to latch it, even with a chair.
Impressively enough, the child on his hip waited patiently, hands again over his little ears, while Jared paced though the house calling Jensen's name at the top of his lungs repeatedly. When he reached the back patio door, still locked from the inside, Jared had to growl with frustration before looking down at the child who seemed to be watching him patiently as if waiting for Jared to figure out something important and meaningful. "I here, Ja." The child finally said, dropping his hands from his ears still watching Jared expectantly, his eyes big and sad.
"Jen," Jared whispered, wide eyed and voice full of disbelief not wanting to believe what he was being told, and yet not really having much choice in the matter.
"I right here, Ja," the child repeated for what seemed like the millionth time, and Jared was forced to understand and accept what the child had been trying to tell him for the better part of fifteen minutes. Jensen, his lover, his partner, his best friend and occasional monumental pain in his ass, was currently sitting cradled on his left hip with big green eyes, messy blonde hair, in all of his 4 year old glory.
This wasn't good.
After several minutes of panicking and swearing a lot, Jared finally made his way back to the living room, where he was seated on the couch staring at Jensen who had perched his little body on Jared's legs, while he stared back at him. Jared couldn't help but think of the argument from the night before. He wanted to believe that this was just some kind of fucked up coincidence, but he'd spent too long in Kripke-land to really think that was a possibility. He doubted there was enough coincidence in the world for him to have wished Jensen was 4 during an angry passionate fight, then to wake up the next morning to find a 4-year-old Jensen in his apartment, and anything other than something supernatural.
He found himself wondering what the pre-school sized Jensen remembered of the night before, but didn't want to ask. He was afraid to ask. The fight had been just one of many they'd been having lately. They'd all seemed to come out of nowhere. One minute they were happy, and the next they were fighting for reasons Jared still had no clue as to why. If mini-Jensen remembered the fight, Jared didn't want to remind him of it if he had temporarily forgotten, and if he didn't have any memory of the fight with this strange age change thing going on, Jared certainly wasn't going to have to try and explain it to the little guy. Unfortunately, it seemed Jensen's little brain had decided to take matters out of Jared's hands, regardless of Jared's well meaning intentions.
"I sorry, Ja," Mini-Jensen said quietly, his little lip trembling as his eyes began to fill with tears. "No be mad a' me please?" If the trembling lip hadn't been enough to undo Jared, the tear filled eyes, and wobbly little voice certainly were. Soon enough Jared had Jensen tucked tightly to his body as Jensen's little frame shook with sobs. "No go 'way, please Ja! I no meaned it!"
"Jen," Jared whispered rocking the little boy from side to side rubbing his back as he did Jeff's kids when they cried. "Hey, come on, buddy, it's ok. Why do you think I'm goin' away? Why would I be mad at you?"
"I say'd bad things to me Ja," Little Jen cried, his pudgy little hands holding tightly onto Jared's shirt as he cried. "Say'd I goin' leave wifout you. Say'd bad things an' hurted me Ja. I no meaned!"
Jared sighed rocking the little boy until his tears finally stopped and he calmed enough so that Jared could sit him properly in his lap. Obviously he wasn't going to be lucky enough to not to have to have this conversation with an impressionable 4 year old who seemed to have all the memories that grownup Jensen did. He didn't quite get what good it did to have made Jensen 4 and yet still give him a grown up's memories, but then he didn't quite get this whole thing. On the other hand it occurred to him that this may be his only chance to get some answers as to what had been going on lately.
So, while his conscience wasn't sure it approved of this plan to quiz the distraught child, Jared was forging ahead with it anyway. "If'n you didn't mean it, Jen, then why did you say it? It seems like all you do lately is be pissed at me."
"I thought that if I maked you go 'way now, it no would hurt as mush as when you leabed me later. But I wrong, me Ja, it hurt bad NOW an' I no wants you leabe me!" Jensen cried out, and Jared had to wait to respond until he could get Little Jensen calmed down again once more rocking him and rubbing his back.
"Why would you think I was leaving?" Jay asked once Jensen was quieted again. "Have I done something to make you think I was unhappy? Did I say something to make you think I didn't love you anymore?"
"Eberbody leaves," Jensen whispered holding tightly onto Jared's arm with his two little hands. "No eber have anybody stay long. Longest they eber stayed was eighteen monfs. That goin' be in two an haf monfs. I thought if I maked you leave now then I no would cry as mush when you leaved later. But, I was wrong Ja, it hurts bad. I no wan' you leabe!"
Sighing Jared rested his head on top of Jensen's wishing not for the first time since he'd woken up, that grown up Jensen was in front of him so he could beat the crap out of him. Unfortunately, or maybe it was fortunately Jared wasn't quite sure, it was the baby version, and as aggravated as he was at his boyfriend, Jared would never hurt a child. "Jen," he groaned before sitting up and using his strength advantage turned the child so that he could look at him in the eye.
"I swear when this is all over, I'ma kick your ass. You did all this, put me through hell for the last two months actin' like a damned Sybil because you thought I was leavin' only because you hadn't ever had a relationship last more'n 18 months?" When Jensen's little head bobbed up and down, Jared's resolve almost broke. 'After all,' he thought, 'parents spanked their kids every day.'
Then Jensen's little eyes filled with tears again and he just couldn't. "An' Mommy beed bad lately lots. She buggin' me 'bout a girl, sayin' I gots stop this filfy Godless stuff. An' I realized she ain' neber gonna 'cept yous an mes an it maked me sad an' that maked me mad an' I started takin' its out on you eben though I knowed it no your fault an' no wanted you to go 'way. But I thought if you was goin' leabe then you should jus' do it now for mommy stopped lobin' me anymore." Jensen's lip began to tremble again at the thought of his mother and the very real possibility that she could not love him anymore. Jared had to reel in the anger he felt for the woman.
"Jen, why didn't you just tell me she was pulling all that again? Damnit, you shouldn't have had to deal with all that crap all alone. I thought she had gotten over that." Tilting Jensen's little face upward, Jared forced him to look him in the eye before he spoke again. "I'ma say this a million times if'n I have to Jensen. I love you. I love you. I love you. I am not going anywhere because I love you. I'm sorry your mother is pulling this crap again, and I wish I could make it go away, but I know I can't. All I can do is tell you that I love you. Hell Jenny, my family loves you and while I know it ain't the same, my momma'll treat you like her own son for the rest of your life. I. Am. Not. Leaving. You! I. Am. Not. Leaving. You. I am not leaving you because I. Love. You. I would die without you. Do you understand?"
Nodding Jensen threw his little arms around Jared's neck crying again as he held on tight. "I sorry me, Ja! I sorry an' me lobes you toos!" Ignoring his own watery eyes, Jared rocked Jensen once again until the little boy finally fell asleep in his arms.
By the time Jensen woke up, Jared had called Kim after realizing that he was clutching that damned pendant while they'd been arguing and had gotten the answer he needed. Luckily for Kim, he was thousands of miles away when he said, "Shit you mean that damn thing really works?" Somehow Jared wasn't as impressed with the results as Kim was and had threatened dismemberment when Kim mentioned telling Eric.
"If I ever see a script where Sam or Dean gets miniaturized into a child version of themselves Manners, I am tearin' you limb from limb," Jared had growled. Kim was smart enough, and had been around long enough to know the boy was serious.
Luckily, it hadn't taken Kim long to find out that the wish spell was only a 48 hour version and come Monday morning, Little Jensen would be his normal big self again, just in time for the trip to Texas that Jared hoped he was now going on with Jensen again. After getting finding out what he needed, Jared had still had plenty of time to work out what he was going to do with his 48 hours.
While he may regret the fight and desperately wished that he could take away the hurtful things they each had said, he didn't now so much resent this time he was going to get with Mini-Jensen. Dean had been stuck in a long and painfully serious season last year, and Jensen just hadn't gotten his sparkle back yet. Jared figured if 48 hours as a kid didn't fix things up, nothing would and preceded to make a list of all the things they could do in the next two days.
Hearing to the spare room, Jared rummaged around in the closet reaching as far back as he could, letting out a triumph shout when his fingers found the strap of the bag he was looking for. Jared's older brother had taken in a foster kid for awhile, even gone so far as to have started adoption proceedings before the father mysteriously appeared out of nowhere and broken all of their hearts. As Jared remembered, the kid had been about Jensen's current size, so hopefully some of the clothes they'd planned on giving him as a gift would fit Jensen.
"Ja," Jared heard the soft voice call, but before he could even get out of the closet, he heard little feet pattering over the carpet behind him. "What doin'?" Pushing things back into place, Jared stepped backward, dodging Jensen's little body, which was planted almost directly behind him. Moving to the bed, Jared set the bag down and pulled Jensen up sitting him beside him before rummaging through the bag.
"Remember all that stuff we bought Jesse before his dad came back and took him? I thought maybe some of it would fit you." Jared explained looking up to see a bouncing Jensen nodding back big. Jared couldn't help but grin watching his pint sized lover, although mentally he was trying to refrain from thinking of him as such at the moment, because just eww. "As I recall you thought some of this stuff was pretty cool."
Jensen nodded again poking his head between Jared's arms so he could look in the bag. "Boots Ja!" Jensen exclaimed trying to pull out the bigger box from the bottom while Jared tried to pull all the clothes out that were on top of it.
"Chill, dude," Jared laughed getting the clothes out before helping Jensen pull out the mini-biker boots they'd bought remembering how Jensen had ooh'd and aah'd over them. "I hope they fit," Jared muttered to himself as he opened the box pulling one tiny boot out before holding it up to Jensen's foot. "Looks like a perfect fit man!" Shuffling through the clothes, Jay selected a pair of jeans and held up two shirts, remembering how his mamma'd given him choices as far back as he could remember. "Transformers or a dump truck?"
"TRANSFOMA! MORE DEN MEET DA EYE!" Jensen shouted bouncing even more on the bed and Jared outright laughed this time laying the shirt out with the jeans and a pair of underwear and socks with them.
"OK, man, how 'bout we go take showers. I'll take mine real quick then fill the tub so you can wash. While you're takin a bath I'll dress and set out breakfast. Then after we eat, we can either go to the zoo or the aquarium."
"FISHYS!!" Jensen shouted again, and Jay nodded picking mini-Jen up and putting him on his hip. "The aquarium it is then."
After his own shower was done, Jensen was happily seated in the tub with bubbles, and some toys they kept around for when their pint-sized nieces and nephews came up from Texas to visit. Leaning against the doorway, Jared watched Jensen playing with one of the action figures and a boat apparently staging an attack smiling to himself.
He had to admit, he was being given a rare look into a Jensen that he never imagined he'd get. Jared figured anyone in a relationship wondered at some point what his or her lover had been like as a child. Never though did one think they would actually get a chance to see it. In a way Jared was grateful to Kim and the strange spell the amulet had put on his lover.
Turning away from Jensen, Jared made his way to the bedroom where he dressed quickly then headed to the kitchen pulling out some too sugary sweet cereal that Jared loved, but Jensen normally hated. Then as he made toast and got juice poured, Jared considered his boyfriend and what this spell had done. It seemed to have given Jensen an odd mental combination where he had his adult memories, and yet he looked at things with a child's eye. Jared wasn't sure he understood it, and had yet to figure out of it was a good thing or bad. Despite how little time he'd spent with baby Jensen, Jared already missed things about big Jensen that he doubted would go away until he had him back.
He missed waking up and being able to watch him as he slept, running his fingers carefully over freckled cheekbones and eyelids. He missed the way they'd make up after a fight like they'd had the night before, touching and loving slowly and gently until their passions overtook them. He even missed Jensen's evil pre-coffee glower because he knew it would lead to post-caffeinated snuggling in the middle of the kitchen.
Over the last few months they'd been doing this fighting but never really making up routine they'd fallen into, Jared had missed other things he'd begun to wonder if he'd ever get back. He missed stupid squabbles over tv channels. He playful debates over silly things like who was hotter Phelps or Lochte. He missed deep intense conversations like did they do enough to give back for what they had gained with their fame. He missed the connection. Most of all he missed his friend.
To hell with sex and cuddling, with silly arguments and guy watching. He missed the best friend he'd discovered in Jensen long before he ever considered him being anything more. His friend Jensen was something that could never be replaced by anyone or anything no matter what happened between him and lover Jensen. For Jared, that was probably the most valuable lesson he'd learned over the course of this painful period they had been going through.
Jared could only hope that Jensen's return to his adult size would signal the end of things.
Read Chapter Two of Two plus Epilogue of Little Green Eyes by KliqzAngel
