Why was he holding his hand (when he's supposed to be mine?)

chapter 3 - drawing class -

The fluorescent lighting of the school beamed down on the stool in between David and Will where one of them needed to be sitting so the other could draw them.

“Did you want to go first?” David questioned. “Sure.” Will said in what he hoped to God was a nonchalant tone. Now he had to stare at and draw the very attractive person's face who he had been trying to avoid staring at.


David moved onto the stool and sat in a slouch, hair tumbling into his eyes. “Okay.” Will thought “This was easy.”

David looked so similar to Mike and Will had drawn Mike many times. Except Will wasn’t thinking about Mike. As his mind spiraled around trying to think about David’s face and not Mike’s, a face was slowly emerging on the paper.

Will was good at art. At first when he was a kid it had just been stupid drawings, but now especially after having moved to California with no friends and only time to practice he had gotten quite good. The charcoal he had been smudging around on the paper now looked enough like David for Will to be pleased. Except for the eyes. Which he hadn’t done yet. Because in order to draw someone's eyes you have to stare into them. Taking a deep breath Will looked up.

David's eyes were a deep brown with flecks of gold in them. Charcoal in hand Will studied them for what could only have been a few seconds. He was about to look away when David’s expression changed. An almost teasing look entered his eyes causing Will’s stomach to swoop. The drawing was finished enough for him to be happy with it and,  with a secret satisfaction he noticed nobody else had finished drawing their partner yet.

He hurried the paper around enthusiastically and grinned at David.

“Well? Whaddya think?”

David’s eyebrows lifted for a quick moment before returning to the calm, lazy expression they normally sat in. “Wow, I don't know how I’m gonna top that Byers.”

Will blushed in embarrassment, moving to the stool for David to draw him.

At first he had stared at the space on the wall directly behind David’s head, but somewhere along the way he had decided that if he was going to be pining away after this boy anyways he might as well stare at his face.

The color rose to Will’s face as David’s eyes met him. “ You’re blushing” David muttered a small smile on his lips, eyes still on the paper he was sketching on.

“What? No!” “Uhm well yes I am but it's not because of like anything weird, I’m just umm remembering something embarrassing from earlier today.”

David nodded, looking like he almost believed Will,  then he gave Will that same stupid stomach swooping, teasing smile. “Was it when you ran into a total stranger and knocked his stuff everywhere?”

Grinning Will agreed. “Yeah, Definitely that.” Both boys shared an amused smile before David said in a quieter tone “Y’know I wouldn’t have cared if you were blushing.”

Huh? Will’s brain was going into overdrive but he decided that comment was something he could think about later. Composing himself he said “Yeah well don’t get your hopes up.” Hoping it came off in a smooth joking tone not a oh my God I’m obsessed with this dude I met this morning tone.

By the time class was done David hadn’t finished Will’s drawing and was told he would have to try to get it done before Wednesday.

“Hey I’m really busy for the next couple of school days.” David said to Will, hurriedly stuffing supplies into his backpack. “Maybe I could come over to your place to finish it tomorrow night? I just will not have time during the school day.”

Will couldn’t believe his luck. “Yeah Sure” He said, proud of the cool nonchalant tone he seemed to have mastered.

“I’ll write down the address for you.” Scribbling his address quickly onto a paper and tucking into one of the pockets of David’s overflowing backpack.

“Cool, see you tomorrow then.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

Will watched David leave, once again stuck in his own mind thinking about how lucky he was to have met this new handsome guy when - “ Mr. Byers, were you planning on standing there all day or were you actually going to pack up and leave my classroom at some point today?”

Startled Will quickly started putting his pencils and charcoal away while muttering an apology.

That’s when Mike Wheeler walked in.