It was probably less obvious to him as it became his "normal" over time. They want to believe and trust their friend. Meanwhile this is basically a condensation of the drama. Considering Jaden's had a girlfriend things snapping into focus with some separation would lend some credence to him not being gay like Nick. I know a few people from college around that age that wound up directionless and couch-surfing/mooching/homeless for multiple years. It could get a little weird but that's how guy friends sometimes are. Military, sports teams, fraternities, etc. are all environments where behavior similar to this is common. Fags and women seem to have some kind of Yaoi/Fujoshi bias when observing this. Which is admittedly fair as it's generally understood letting either in the loop ruins it.
While Jaden could just be a much better wardrobe-navigator than Nick I think it's clear things are only going one way even if Jaden is gay. It strikes me more as a dumbass 19 year old not realizing there's no "free" anything. The pictures are really jumping out at me though. Nick is obviously obsessed, so why are these sleeping creepshots all he has to show for years of effort? This was a surprisingly relevant observation:
This particular brand of pervert would likely not care about how exactly their subject is incapacitated. The important thing to them is that they are. So why the primary focus on when he's drunk/passed out? Surely this wouldn't be the only thing from years of close contact. It does make a lot of sense if you would benefit from a reference of how someone was before you do something. There's the distinct possibility these are "before" images where the "after" betrays Nick's faggotry/criminality.
