This Is Our War, Our Beautiful Lie

“Jared... nothing you can possibly tell me now can change what I meant about the press” I replied, lifting my head and escaping his sweet embrace, moving to the living room and sitting on the comfy red leather couch.

“Maybe it will...” He said, getting into the living room as well, and sitting beside me.

“No, Jared. But, if you want, we'll do the video with you, guys. Me and you... Who is the oldest from the band?” I asked, starting to make pairs of who would be with who; I betted Bianca would stay with Shannon, since I vaguely remembered he was the older.

“Shannon, duh, he is twenty-four, Tomo is just twenty” he answered, relaxed as he lent back on the couch, making me turn a bit to look at him.

“Jared, you forgot about yourself, because, you’re the oldest. Wait a second... Shannon wasn't, supposedly, older than you?” I asked, confused; I was pretty sure Shannon was older than him. But how could he be twenty-four and be older than Jared, whom was thirty-nine?

“That's what I was trying to tell you, Dannie” he passed a hand through his blond short hair, taking a quiet sigh; I stared at his blue eyes, the confusion already buried on my face getting deeper.

“What's up, Jared? I'm getting a little scared...” I told him, although I wasn’t really scared, I was just afraid his answer would be nonsense.

“Well... it's a sad story.” He warned me; oh, well, my life was already a sad story; another one wouldn’t hurt me.

“Don't worry, I can handle” I answered. I had already been through tough stuff, after all.

“Then, okay. So, hum, I had a brother... his name was Jared, too. But he was older than me, he was thirty-three, but everybody thought we were twins. Not that a lot of people knew us, but okay. He was an actor, and he was teaching me, but that wasn't exactly my dream, what I really wanted was to get my band known. And he supported us, even helping in some lyrics for the album "A Beautiful Lie". But, one day, we were at home, and he decided to go to the shop, buy some popcorn, and one car hit him. He died right there, and I was so devastated I couldn't even breathe; I was too young for that. It was six years ago.” He explained; I understood why he restricted to tell plain facts, not going into the details very much; it hurt too much to do that, I knew it.

“But you were almost his age...” I said, though, not really understanding what that had to do with him being older or younger than Shannon.

“No, I was just sixteen, you know...” He replied, and my eyes widened.

“Wait, again?”

“I was just sixteen; but, when he died, I grew up so much I started living the life he should've lived. I started, right there, pretending I was him, and told everyone I was him. I went to his funeral, and saw my mom crying over me, because they all thought I had died, instead of him. I asked Shannon and Tomo to not tell anyone, and they kept their promise” he said. He was crying, and so was I; I didn’t expect this to come this way. He looked at me, still tears falling from his beautiful ocean eyes. “You said you could handle it.”

“I never thought it'd go that way... But I totally understand what you felt, and what you feel” I told him, while I went to sit on his lap; I was not only comforting him, but also finding the strength for what I was about to do; to tell him, to be exact. “Come with me” I said after while, getting up and pulling him to my room; when we arrived there, I showed him the photo I had on my desk.

“Dannie, it's not the same pain of letting a friend go away” he told me, still crying; yet, he narrowed his eyebrows, looking between me and the picture

“This was my sister. She is my age” I said; only after saying that I realized I had used the present tense; I still thought she was alive, somewhere.

“But you still can visit her” he told me, putting the picture down and looking back at me.

“No I can't.” He was going to reply, but I shut him. “I don't know if you've noticed, but this house has another room. That room was from my sister, we moved in together” I started, taking a deep breath, before I could continue.

“And what happened?” He asked, confused.

“One night, we were both coming from a friend's house, and it was really dark. We passed the stadium where I met you, and were passing the street where I was attacked today. Someone pulled her, and I got scared. I stopped, shocked, and looked at the darkest side of the street. What I saw traumatized me.”

“What was happening, my love?” He asked, worried, getting closer.

“I couldn't see a thing, so I got into the dark... and a man was with a body under himself. I didn't want to, but instinctively got closer. He was having sex with the body. It was a dead body. It was my sister” I said. I was so lost in my thoughts that I wasn't in my room anymore. I was back on that day, on that street. “’NO! SARAH! NO!', I screamed. 'Get away, or you'll be next', the man said. I ran. I should've stayed there, with my sister. I should've been killed. He was a hunter, and all the cops were after him. I had seen his face pretty well. I could recognize him anywhere, and I told the police, but he disappeared; until today. It was him. I know it.” I said, snapping back into reality.

“Everything's fine, now, Dannie.” Jared hugged me, rubbing circles on my back, trying to soothe me.

“No, it's not, Jared. My sister should be alive. She should be here, have a boyfriend, and finish college… We were so young... We were just nineteen when it all happened. Only three years past. And I'm not over it, Jay. I can't get over it...” I told him, crying and hugging him tighter

“I will help you. We will heal each other. But now you need to rest. You need to sleep” Jared said, letting go of me and pulling me to the bed. “Sleep, honey, I'll be back tomorrow.”

“NO! Stay with me, please. I can't be alone, now. Not after tonight. Please...” I begged;
Jared came to the bed, with me, and we didn't even bother about the clothing. We slept with the clothes we had on, above the sheets. I hugged him, and rested my head on his chest, the last tears from that night escaping my eyes; then, I fell asleep.

I woke up, still hugging Jared. I looked at his face, and smiled at his sweetness; I could bet he was really tired, though. I kissed his neck, and got up, trying not to wake him up in the process; I had a little surprise in store for him.

“Where are you going?” He asked, suspicious. I smiled towards him, and rolled my eyes a bit.

“Just going to make our breakfast, baby. But since you ruined my surprise for you, I think it can wait a bit” I answered, going to lie next to him again, hugging him like I had before.

“Now, it's better” he said, smiling at me and making me feel all fuzzy and warm inside; he had that effect on me. I kissed him until we both couldn't breathe, replying to his sweet words in the best way I could think of.

“I love you” Jared said, after our lips disconnected; we were staring at each other’s eyes. His eyes had a sparkle I had never seen before, when he said those three words, which made me smile.

“But you barely know me” I replied, still smiling at him; I snuggled a little closer to him, our noses touching and our breath hitting each other’s lips.

“But I know you enough” he answered back, pecking my lips one time; after that, we went back to our former position, which we both found very comforting.

“I love you too” I said, after our kiss had had its end; he smiled at me just as I was smiling at him.

“Yeah, if I can't love you because I barely know you, what do you have to say in your defense?” He asked, joking; I rolled my eyes at him and then moved my nose against his a little bit.

“I know you since I was thirteen, silly boy. Your songs say it all” I told him, giggling for a single second; he laughed a bit as well, but not for long.

“Bad excuse” he replied, after that.

We kissed again, but this time we could feel desire covered in flames on that kiss. I got upon him, and kept kissing him all the way through it. We took off our clothes, and soon enough we were having sex; re-uniting sex, I think. We spent a lot of time doing it, but we had an excuse: none of us had sex since we separated, three months ago.

“Yeah, I really love you” I said, when we finished. I was covered in sweat and very tired, but still felt as if I was on a high.

He kissed my neck “So do I, my love.”

Unfortunately, I had to ruin our sweet after-sex high moment; I got hungry. We went to the bathroom and took a shower [a dirty shower, shall I add], and then went to the kitchen. It was lunch time; Jared surprised me, by saying he knew how to cook.

“You really do, or you'll burn my kitchen?” I asked, playing with him a bit.

“Ah-ah, very funny; I really do” he answered, smiling at me, although he didn’t find my joke funny; not even a tiny bit! I ignored it, though, and just did what I wanted to do, while he started preparing our meal.

I was wearing his shirt, only, and he was wearing his jeans. I hugged him by his back while he was doing our lunch; he was going to make some roasted chicken, so, he prepared all and put it on the oven. Then he turned to me.

“You're beautiful, my love” he told me, his hands placed on the bottom of my back.

“No, I'm not. You are. And I love your blue eyes” I answered, smiling at him and biting my lip after that; yes, ladies and gentleman, I’m a lip-biter, and I’m proud of it.

“And I love the way your straight, blond and red hair falls through your back; the way your grey eyes look into mine; the way your skin is so pale; the way your hands are smaller than mine. I love the way you walk, you talk, you smile, you laugh, you breathe... I love you” he said, melting me and turning me into a cute marshmallow under his words.

“You're so sweet; and not only for what you say. I mean it literally, too” I replied, smartly; there was no way he could equalize what I was saying to him. “The taste of your lips is amazing.”

“Really?” He asked, a smirk playing along his beautiful lips; I was going to kiss him, but he got back, scaring me a little. “No, no. If you want some sugar, you'll have to beg” he laughed. I burned him with my eyes, but he didn't move. Finally, I exhaled, and started my begging process.

“Please, Jared, let me kiss you” I said, feeling like a fool; my voice was a little cold, and I was a bit mad at him.

“You have to do better than that, sweetheart” he replied, his nose touching mine for less than a second, and then he got back again.

Okay, better, I thought.

“Jared Joseph Leto, would you please let a girl that really loves you kiss you? She needs you; she needs your protection, your kisses, your smile, your laugh, your tears, your dreams... She wants you” I said, looking directly in his eyes; there was no way he could deny me a kiss after that!

“Well...” he said, moving a little closer. “Before that, I have to ask you a question... I know it will sound old-fashioned, but...”

“But?” I asked; I had always had a bad case with ‘buts’ [not butts, you perverts!].

“Will you be my girlfriend?” He asked, flushing; I flashed him a smile, and remembered one thing.

“I've always dreamed of this...” I whispered, leaning a bit closer to him.

“So, you will?” He was really afraid I'd say no; I could just play with him like he played with me, for a little while.

“If you kiss me, I can consider that...” I blackmailed him; as expected, he kissed me right away.

“Of course I will, silly” I answered, putting my arms around his neck; then, I kissed him again, tasting his sweet lips and feeling in heaven, once again. In the meanwhile, the chicken got ready, and we ate it; after we had finished, we cleaned the kitchen and such. After that, we went to my room to get dressed, and he started to tickle me; I tickled back, and after we both couldn’t breathe, we stopped and got dressed. When we were both dressed and calm, we left home; I had no idea where we were going, and I told him that.

“Well, now I'll show you where I live” he replied, smiling.