Craving (JJ x James)

21.

Justin sat at his bed that evening when his phone beeped indicating a message.

James: so you should make art for me when I ask you to

James: we're gonna meet in the upstairs bathroom for you to hand it to me, I don't want people to see us together

James: I'll need some sketched art by tomorrow, bring it.

Justin read the messages that sounded more like orders. He didn't mind though, not after what Yorch had said. Did he even have to view this as a strenuous task when there was a possibility that James would fall more in love with him each time he saw him.

He grabbed his new sketchbook from his drawer and started to think of what to draw. He was someone who hardly created art unless he had inspiration for it, so he was going to draw what he felt was right. Besides, James hadn't specified what he wanted Justin to draw.

Before he could even start, his cell phone rang. Justin answered it quickly when he saw that it was his cousin Sangwon.

'Hey,' Justin said the moment he had answered and put his phone to his ear.

'Hey Justin, how are you doing?' Sangwon replied. 'James didn't do anything silly again did he?'

'No.' he answered. 'He just kind of told me to help him with art class.'

'Help him with art class? After what he did? Tell me you said no.' Sangwon sounded angry.

'Of – of course.' he stammered. Everyone had told him to say no, but he knew for sure he wasn't going to listen. He just had to keep it to himself.

'Good, that guy is a jerk...how could he even ask you that...?'

'Sangwon,' Justin said quickly. 'I don't want your friendship with James to be sabotaged because of what he did. You guys were friends before me, I don't want you to hate him.

'Yeah but you're my cousin and you come first. I can't be friends with someone who hurt my family like that.'

'No I kind of contributed too.' he answered guiltily. 'I guess if I avoided him like you had warned me and listened to him when he told me to stay away from him at the get-go, this wouldn't have happened.'

Sangwon sighed. 'It doesn't matter anyway. Just...promise me you're really staying away from him and you're focusing on your own life okay?'

'Yeah I...' he slightly chocked. '...promise.'

'Great. Goodnight then.'

'Goodnight.' Justin hang up guiltily. He surely wasn't staying away from James; he was lying to his cousin.

𓆩♡𓆪

Justin raced through the hallways the next day and made his way quickly up the stairs. He had just received a message from James telling him to quickly give him the art, and today of all days, Justin was late. Well it wasn't his fault that he had spent his entire evening creating the perfect art for James and finding inspiration.

Justin finally made his way to the upstairs bathrooms and entered, finding James leaning on the counter with his arms crossed.

'Took you long enough.' he said in an annoyed tone. But this time, Justin had indeed taken note of how James had looked at him from top to bottom as if taking in his appearance. But it was only for a fragment of a second, but highly satisfying for Justin who had to keep himself from smiling.

James opened his hand for Justin to give him the art.

Justin opened his bag and handed over the rolled up paper to James. James didn't even say thank you, he just started to leave.

'Aren't you going to check it out first?' Justin asked him for his caution. He wanted to make sure James was comfortable with what had been sketched.

'What for? You're a great artist anyway.' he answered and walked out.

Well, in the end it was James' own decision. He walked out of the bathroom with a small smile, still thinking about how James had looked at him.

Later that afternoon, James was having his first his first art session. He was already bored, surrounded by people who didn't seem anything like him. They were probably deep artists who enjoyed this stuff, and James certainly did not enjoy this stuff. He was simply trying to get a higher GPA. He had sat next to the school president Yorch, and James couldn't help but notice how well the art elective suited Yorch. He was lame enough in his view.

'Alright so, we have a new student who's joined this class.' the teacher announced with a smile on his face. He was a tall slim man with dark short hair. Certainly didn't look like the stereotypical art teacher who took art to the extreme, but James could definitely tell he would not be found teaching something like Mathematics. 'We're so proud to have you here James Zhao, I'm sure you already heard that on the first day you must show your piece of art. Anything that you're comfortable with drawing and would love to show to the class.'

'Yes sir,' he nodded.

'Please, go ahead and show us.' he said as he moved away from the front of the classroom and gave him a chance to walk to the front and stand in front of everyone.

He unrolled the paper and held it out to the students. He knew it had to be good, he was positive it was good.

'Oooh,' the people reacted in unison, while some looked at each other in confusion a while later.

'You can't get more narcissistic than that.' Someone commented lowly. 'I mean...why would your first art piece be of yourself?'

'He's so good though.'

James had no idea what that meant. Before he could look at the sketch, the teacher started to speak.

'This is so brilliant, I love what you are trying to depict.' the man commented as he walked closer. 'In a way you think you're a good person but at the same time you keep that part of yourself locked away.'

'What!?' James asked in surprise. He finally turned the paper around and looked at it himself. There was a pencil sketch of two James; one was standing outside the cell while another sat down within it. The one who stood outside had keys which James assumed belonged to the cell and had devil's horns. The other one instead had a halo. James couldn't help but notice how similar it was to what Justin had been sketching in the bathroom. He wondered if Justin really felt that way about him or had simply sketched it this way to embarrass him.

'Yes,' the teacher continued. 'Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is about you being a kind person beneath an evil exterior isn't it?'

Some of the students chuckled as they caught a glimpse of what they thought was James' vulnerable side.

The teacher placed a hand on James' shoulder. 'I hope one day you'll let that pure side of you out James Zhao. Good job, amazing art.'

'It's just art,' he corrected. 'I'm not showing a fake persona.' he didn't want everyone to think he was tender beneath what he showed.

He then started to return to his seat. His eyes met with Yorch's, and he could tell that Yorch was unhappy to see him in that class. Of course he looked away a minute later, but that look that Yorch gave him was unmistakably dislike. Of course he probably disliked him after how he had treated Justin that day in the cafeteria.

Once James was done with art class, he was going to give Justin a piece of his mind. How could he create art so embarrassing that it made everyone in class talking about his so-called innocence or purity? It was totally humiliating for people to view him that way.

And if Justin really viewed him that way, James felt he was completely wrong...

craving.