Random OneShots

I got you

By: literallyjer on Ao3

Clustin

~~~~~

Six months.

That's how long it took for Justin Foley to get underneath Clay Jensen's skin. In the six months since Clay and his family had taken Justin in, and the paperwork for adoption had been started, Clay was more and more affected by every little thing that they other boy did.

At first it was little things, like when Justin would hesitate before he touched anything in the house because he was too afraid that any screw up would get him kicked out. It took two weeks of Clay reassuring him that he was home before Justin started moving more freely. And once he was comfortable, the older boy began to show a side of himself that Clay had only just discovered existed.

Justin was a sweet guy. He wasn't entirely the asshole that Clay had known prior to Hannah's death. Even after her death, Clay was convinced that Justin was a horrible person for what happened with Jessica. It wasn't until he took the time to get to know Justin and see how much he hated himself for that incident that Clay was able to see that he wasn't a bad guy—he'd just had a rough life.

But after the trials, and the near school shooting with Tyler, Clay was able to see just how sweet of a guy that Justin was. He constantly checked in on his friends, and even went out of his way to check on Tyler. After word got out of what had happened to Tyler in the bathroom that day with Monty, Clay had to force Justin to stay inside because the fire behind the older boy's eyes scared Clay and he wasn't sure what he would have done had he found Monty and got his hands on him.

And there was no denying how close Clay and Justin had gotten. After everything, there were days when Clay couldn't bring himself to get out of bed. Having an assault riffled aimed at your face wasn't something that anyone could just get over. So sometimes there were nightmares that left Clay screaming and waking up drenched in sweat. Luckily, Justin and Clay were sharing a room, and on those nights when Clay was awoken by those terrifying dreams, Justin was there on his bed calming him down and reassuring him that he was safe and that everything would be okay.

That's how their bond had started to build in the first place. Justin looking after Clay and making sure that he was okay both at night and the morning after. And in return, Clay made Justin feel at home. Little things like making him food whenever he made some for himself, or letting Justin drive them around instead of always doing it himself. Or even just making sure Justin knew he had someone by inviting him out whenever Clay was going somewhere. He wanted Justin to know that he wasn't alone—the same way Justin was doing for him.

"Hey what are you doing tonight?" Justin asked. He was laying on his bed tossing a basketball up in the air and catching it as it fell.

Clay turned around in the desk chair to look at him. "Uh, I don't know. Nothing probably."

Justin chuckled and shook his head. "You need to get out more."

"Yeah, you keep saying that." Clay rolled his eyes and turned back toward his laptop.

"No seriously," Justin said and sat up on his bed. "You need to have more fun Clay. You had a rough last couple of years and you need to let loose. It's going to be senior year and your high school experience shouldn't consist entirely of suicides, rapes, and trials."

The room was silent. Clay kept looking at his laptop but he wasn't focused on it. Instead his head was turning with all the truth that Justin had just spoken. For the most part, his life did consist of nothing but tragedy.

"Shit." Justin whispered. "Sorry Clay, I didn't mean to overstep."

Clay shook his head and turned back to the jock. "You didn't. You're right. Surprisingly."