We need more Kleinsen

Just Joking

Jared always jokes.
Everyone knew this.
He was rarely serious about things.

Now he's staring at his ceiling.
A random song blasting through his earbuds sounded like a mouse squeak compared to his racing thoughts.

Jared always jokes, so it makes sense why Evan wouldn't take his confession seriously.

He spilled out all his thoughts of how much he loved Evan,
But Evan got mad at him and told him to
'Stop joking'

Jared always jokes.
Evan would always roll his eyes or snort at his jokes,
But sometimes, Jared's jokes angered him.
Sometimes Jared took a joke too far.

Jared learned his limits.
He knew Evan hated 'joke flirting'.
He knew Evan hated father abandonment jokes, but that was obvious.
Jared knew when to stop.

Jared always jokes,
But Jared knows his boundaries,
So why didn't Evan trust him when he gave him his heart?

Why did he take it and throw it out like some joke?

Jared felt like the boy who cried wolf.

He made too many jokes, so the one time he wasn't joking,
He was the one who got hurt.

Jared stared blankly as the thoughts engulfed his mind.
He laughed hollowly as tears fell down his face.

Jared played it off as a joke to avoid the embarrassment.

At the moment, the music along with the thoughts were drowning him.
He didn't notice the door open and Evan walk in.

Evan came over to check on Jared, for the latter seemed out of it after 'joke' confessing.
At least that's what Evan thought it was.

Evan saw Jared laying down, facing upwards, tear droplets crawling down the sides of his face.

Jared's bitter chuckles could be heard throughout the room.

"Jared?"
Evan whispered, more to himself than anything else.
Evan then had a thought.
"Seriously? Again? Do you ever get tired of these dumb jokes?"

Evan scoffed and shook his head in annoyance.
What Evan didn't realize was that Jared had seen Evan out of the corner of his eye and had turned off his music.

He heard the words Evan said.
Once again, the boy who cried wolf was not joking.
But no one knew, and it was his own fault.

A soft, pained sob came from Jared.
Evan suddenly realized that this wasn't a joke.

Evan sat near Jared and placed Jared's head on his lap.
Jared tried to hold in his pain, but another sorrowful sob broke through.

Evan ran a hand gently through the other male's soft hair.
Jared's attempts to conceal his cries were in vain.
He decided to just let it all out.

Jared's loud sobs rung in Evan's ears as he pondered about what could possibly make Jared Kleinman so sad.

A choking sound coming from Jared snapped Evan out of his head.
His breaths sounded shallow and painful, like he was slowly losing his breath.

Jared's choking turned to wheezing and struggling to breath.
Evan panicked, what was happening?

Suddenly, Jared stopped coughing and wheezing.
He stopped breathing all together.

Evan realized that Jared was dead, causing him to jump off the bed in shock.

Evan found an empty, white container lying lazily under the bed.
He also noticed that there was a note in Jared's limp hand.

Evan's breath hitched as he realized what Jared did.

Overdose.

But why?

The note stood out and everything else disappeared for a second.
Evan picked it up and read.

Oh no.
Evan realized that even though in the note, Jared said it was his own fault, it was indeed Evan's fault for not taking him seriously.
Evan's tears seemed to flood the room, drowning Evan in his sorrow.

Jared always joked.

But who knew it would be the death of him...