(Hey! We're at fifty one-shots total!)
Connor had noticed the boy the moment he had walked into class. It wasn't exactly unusual for him to notice people, after all, he was an artist, he loved people and their unique features. Hell, in the past he had spent hours on the little details such as the placement of strands of hair or freckles.
But this boy, he was something different. The moment Connor had seen him, he knew that he wanted to draw him. So, that was exactly what he did.
At first, it was little doodles on the side on his papers as he tried to get Jared's features right.
No, his hair didn't part quite like that.
No, his smile was much wider than that.
Then, it was sketches in his notebook. The first was one of Jared asleep on his desk, it was the only time Jared sat still long enough for Connor to get a perfect pose from him.
Gradually, Connor got better at drawing the boy. He was able to draw pictures of Jared laughing, Jared chewing gum, Jared playing video games, Jared making breakfast. Not that he had seen Jared do the last few things, but he could definitely imagine it.
Then, one day after the bell had just rung, Connor and Jared had bumped into each other, sending their belongings flying.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry." Jared had leaned down to quickly gather his items. Connor bent down to help.
"Yeah, it's no big deal." Connor coughed, hugging his sketchbook and binder to his chest. Jared had smiled and walked off to his next class.
Connor had almost melted right then and there, Jared had smiled at him. He headed to his next class, still lovesick as he sat down and opened his sketchbook, ready to draw Jared picking up papers.
However, once he opened the black sketchbook, he immediately realized something was wrong. Instead of the first page showing the drawing of Jared sleeping, it read:
Jared's Journal
Stay out
Especially Evan cause I know you'd love to read what an interesting life looks like
Holy fuck, Connor had Jared's journal.
Glancing around quickly, he opened up to the next page.
I got this journal as a present from my mom, like, five years ago because she said that I should write down all my funny stories because I'd be really cool for me to read them as an adult someday. So, here's the very awesome tale of the insanely cool Jared Kleinman-
Connor's head jolted up mid paragraph as he realized something.
If he had Jared's journal, that meant Jared had his sketchbook.
Connor froze, this was bad. The moment Jared saw those drawing he'd think Connor was a stalker or something. He had to get his sketchbook back as soon as possible.
Class was agonizingly slow and Connor's mind kept drifting to how close Jared's journal was.
He shouldn't invade Jared's privacy-
Before Connor knew it, he had pulled he journal out of his bag again and had opened up to a random page.
Hey Evan, if you do happen to read this, it's totally obvious when you're making puppy eyes at Zoe from across the room.
Speaking of Murphys, that Connor boy is always looking at me in class.
Connor had to pause, his heart was racing so fast. Jared really knew how much he looked at the boy?
It makes me wonder what he's thinking.
Connor flipped the page only to find that was the end of the journal entry. The next page went off about computer class. That was all Jared had to say about him?
He bell rang and Connor picked up his stuff, maybe he could still catch Jared before the boy saw the drawings.
Connor knew exactly where Jared's locker was, he had sat nearby and drawn Jared once while he was forced to clean his locker. Luckily it took him forever so Connor had plenty of time to finish the drawing.
Sure enough, Jared was at his locker grabbing his Biology book.
"Hey, Kleinman!" Connor called. Jared looked around, a confused look on his face. Finally, they made eyes contact as Connor caught up to him.
"Oh, hey." Jared smiled.
"I think we accidentally swapped books." Connor opened his bag and dug through it for the journal.
Immediately, Jared turned pink. "What? You mean when we dropped our stuff?"
"Yeah, don't worry, I didn't read anything past the first page." Connor lied, handing Jared his book. He shivered when Jared's hand brushed his.
Jared laughed, "Well, thanks, I guess." He began to dig through his own bag. "It's weird how we have such similar journals."
"Well, great minds think alike." Connor chuckled, relieved when he saw Jared pull his sketchbook out of his bag.
"Ah, but fools rarely differ." Jared replied, handing the notebook to Connor. However, Jared let go a little bit too soon, as Connor hadn't gotten a full hold of it yet, which sent the sketchbook flying to the ground.
The book had opened to a drawing of Jared holding a rose stem in his mouth as he winked.
Fuck.
Jared stared in shock at the picture for a second, not saying anything. Connor quickly bent down and closed the sketchbook, avoiding eye contact. There was no coming back from that.
"That... that was me." Jared said simply, looking up at Connor.
"Yeah." Connor said in a small voice. Jared paused again, biting his lip.
"It was a good drawing." Jared blinked at him. Connor hugged the sketchbook closer to himself.
"Uh, thanks." He coughed.
"...would you like me to pose for you sometime?"
