He Came to Get Me - Bruiseshipping AU

Here Comes a Thought

Jay had one more day before they were moving onto their final paper for their project. Unfortunately for him, he was still conjuring up ideas of what to draw. On the bright side, he had made progress since yesterday after Cole dropped him off back home.

Speaking of, yesterday had marked exactly four years they had been together. Jay's stomach sunk when he found out too last moment, as he had wanted to do something special for the two of them. Sadly for them, they had other things going on that day, such as trying to fix the awkward tension between them.

Even though it seemed like things had gone back to the way they were, Jay still found himself tripping over his own feet. Not to mention that he was still holding onto Cole's sketchbook. He wasn't actually sure why he hadn't given it back yet. Maybe a part of him just wanted to hold onto it for a little longer.

Currently, he was sitting in his art class at the back of the classroom with Zane on his left as they began to polish up their first draft of the project. They had all split into groups of two and taken different sections of the room.

Zane was already almost finished with his first draft while Jay, on the other hand, had gotten nowhere. He was still trying to pick out the idea that qualified best to him, but no matter which one he chose, there was always some difficult task within that idea of the project that Jay just did not want to deal with.

"Are you going to the bookstore again, Jay?"

Jay swiftly turned to his art buddy. "Course I am, Zane! It's technically my only way home. Why you ask?"

"Pixal invited me to have dinner with her and Skylor."

Jay rested his chin in the palm of his hand and leaned closer to Zane. "Ooh! Who else is coming?"

"I think I remember Skylor had invited Nya and Kai as well." Zane colored in a bubble on his page and sighed. "Can I tell you something?"

Jay was taken aback by the tone of Zane's voice. He sounded like something had been worrying him and that he needed to get it out, as if it were some secret. He nodded frantically. "Of course! You can tell me anything. We are friends, yanno?"

"Very well." Zane dropped his pencil and turned on the stool to face Jay. "I have never gone out with this many people before. It is new to me, and, and scary. What if I mess something up?"

Jay understood what Zane was saying perfectly well. Since he first met Zane, he had learned that his friend had been homeschooled and didn't have many people to call his friends. Jay made the promise to always stay by Zane's side and help him make new friends and open up his world. Sure, Zane could be a little shy, but he was kind and gracious and always put others before him, but definitely not a doormat.

"Mess something up?" Jay kicked a foot up in the air and dropped it over his other. "Zane, you're not going to 'mess something up', because you know why? You're you and you just do whatever makes you feel comfortable! Who cares what other people think?"

"You really think so?" Zane asked.

"Why wouldn't I? Besides, if you feel like you can be yourself around Pixal, knowing she's there will probably be like a comfort thing, amiright?"

Zane agreed silently. "You're right…"

"Oh, man, I'm starting to sound like Cole…" Jay sensed a quavering in his voice and he wondered why. "Hah, except he'd probably say a lot more than what I had to offer. Funny, he always says that to me…" Jay gasped suddenly and bounced to his feet, holding his sketchbook to his chest with stars in his eyes.

"I just had an idea!"

Zane jolted into an upright position and glared at Jay. "You have an idea for what your project will be?"