Enervate - Five Prompts Version

Enervated, Tony collapsed on his couch and stared at the photo album. It contained all the memories from his and Jimmy’s less than stellar childhood, but somehow they still looked like they were having fun in all of them. He had to laugh as he looked at the photo that always made him laugh and ask what the hell is on Jimmy’s head?

Their faces were so red. He wasn’t sure if it was from exertion or laughter or even tears as they stood together arms wrapped around each other as brothers. He tried to remember if it was spaghetti and meatballs or pipe cleaners or just what it was that had ended up in Jimmy’s hair that day.

You see, not many people at NCIS knew this, but Jimmy had in some ways saved Tony’s life when he was a young kid. They’d first met at boarding school where they’d both had beds on the second floor which made it hard to sneak out. Tony’s father had cheaped out and put him in a boarding school for poor people.

Jimmy’s parents weren’t poor, but they weren’t rich either and they’d had to take jobs where they couldn’t be home to watch Jimmy, so he’d ended up at the same boarding school as Tony. They were amongst 10 or so other boys that all slept in the same room. They didn’t hit it off immediately.

No, Tony spent his first few months at boarding school rebelling and earning himself a bit of a criminal record by breaking into various rooms that they weren’t allowed and even snuck out a couple of times to break into a store or nearby house. Jimmy on the other hand had immediately applied himself to school. It was actually the difference in behavior that led to the instructors pairing Jimmy and Tony up in class in hopes that Jimmy’s behavior would rub off on Tony before he was completely unredeemable.

It was as they were forced to work together for school that Tony and Jimmy realized they had a lot in common and became fast friends. Jimmy graduated before Tony. In fact, after Jimmy graduated, Tony’s father pulled him out of school because Tony went right back to his criminal past.

Tony finally escaped his father’s clutches with the help of Jimmy and started rooming with him. Jimmy had a job as a vet and was going to school, but he still made time for Tony. The cops hated when they hung around because Tony’s curiosity would always lead to him poking things he shouldn’t and then Jimmy would end up having to help bail him out or at least talk fast to get the cops to not put Tony in jail.

Tony couldn’t help wondering if it was too late or if he should go back and try to graduate. His life now was so much better than it had ever been with his father, but he knew that it could be even better, too. Somehow Jimmy managed to convince him to get his GED and go straight to college.

Now, they were both working at NCIS. Or they had been. Jimmy had ended up going after a suspect with a car, which wasn't part of his job, and the suspect had fired through the window.

Jimmy had been dead before the ambulance even arrived. Now, all that Tony had left of Jimmy was this photo album. The Nickelback song, Photograph, kept running through Tony's head.

If I could relive those days
I know the one thing that would never change

Every memory of looking out the back door
I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor
It's hard to say it, time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye.
Every memory of walking out the front door
I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for
It's hard to say it, time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye.

Look at this photograph
Every time I do it makes me laugh
Every time I do it makes me...

He'd never wanted to say goodbye to his friend this way, but he had to. He just hoped that he could continue to make Jimmy proud at NCIS.