(Jesse's POV)

Wow, today's been long and hard. Syrus and I planned together during free period and now have a solid plan, but I need to not worry about my image and worry about Yuki to make it work. When I got home I saw my mom sitting at the kitchen table again staring out the window. I sighed but then I smiled, sat down in front of her and took her hands in mine, "Hey mom?"

She looked up with a sad look in her eyes, "What is it sweetie?"

Nervousness rose up in me and I looked down at the table, uncertain, but then I remembered Yuki. How he sat at the table with his thin wrists and his bottle of pills. My resolve strengthened as I looked up and grinned, "What do you think about taking in a boy and having him be part of our family?"

Shock, happiness and fear spread across her face before she got suspicious, wow that's the most emotion I've seen in a long time.

"Who is he?"

I smiled, "Well, no one really knows his first name but his last name is Yuki, and his family doesn't treat him well. He's my partner for the trip tomorrow so I'll get to know more about him but is it possible that if this goes well he could maybe spend the night a few times at least so you can get to know him a bit? I don't want his dad to hurt him anymore mom."

She seemed to understand that. We sat at the table for the next half hour talking about how I could get closer to Yuki and get his trust, but it involved me forgetting my class and putting myself out there. That kind of freaked me out a bit but it wouldn't be fair to Yuki if I did that. I remembered that I had homework so we stopped after half an hour, and when I was about to leave the kitchen she called after me. When I turned she smiled, "You're doing the right thing by putting yourself beyond social classes, don't let anyone tell you differently."

That made me happy and after I quickly did my homework and packed for the trip I lied down on my bed and imagined sitting next to Yuki for a two day bus ride and rooming with him for a week. Scenarios played in my head and most of them ended up with me getting rejected by my friends, but I remembered how Jim supported me in the lunch room and figured I'd at least have one friend if I did this. I went to sleep happy, since one friend was all I needed to do this.

The Next Day

I woke up and felt determined, today I was gonna start showing Yuki that he can trust me. I took a shower and got dressed in jeans and a teal t-shirt, I slipped my necklace over my head and tucked it under my shirt. Once I was ready I double checked my bag and added my phone charger and some extra clothes, including my swim trunks. After I finished with breakfast I threw my toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant and my retainer into the bag. But when I checked the clock on my wall I realized I was gonna miss my bus if I didn't get my butt out of the house so I ran down the stairs with my duffle bag and my sketch book, which I slipped in as I opened the front door. Mom stopped me and smiled, "How about I drive you today, okay?"

I grinned and nodded before we casually walked to her car and drove to school. When we got there everyone was sitting outside with their bags, suitcases, or just plain backpacks. Mom drove me up to the front and all my friends came up and said hi to my mom as I got out. All the girls were staring at me funny though, I just smiled and waved. One of the girls came up to me and stood a little too close, "So Johan, you're still coming to my party next week right? It's gonna be a blast to be away from the nerds. And it'd be nice to be with you, if you know what I mean."

She winked and kissed my cheek, I frowned and stepped away, "Actually Stephanie, I'm just gonna stay home that day, we're celebrating my dad's birthday the next day so I wanna be home that weekend."

Yuki was standing in the crowd and looked up at me when I said that, his hair and glasses were covering his eyes though. I smiled and walked over to him, "Hey Yuki, you ready for the trip?"

He held up a small bag and nodded. A frown broke out on my face again as I looked down at Yuki, "That's not enough for a week."

I watched as he shrugged and mumbled, "It's all I have."

Shock ran through my nerves as I touched his arm, "Really?"

His whole body jumped when I touched his clothed arm, and nodded as he stepped back a little bit. My body tensed as I saw he was shaking, "Hey, I didn't mean to scare you. You can borrow some of my clothes if you want, I brought some extras. I really didn't mean to scare you though, I'm sorry Yuki."

Happiness filled my chest as he looked up and stopped shaking, "Why are you being so nice to me?"

I chuckled, "I wanna get to know you, so I don't want to be mean to you. This week is all about getting to know your partner so I want to do this right and maybe even be friends."

His jaw dropped a little bit, making me grin. But he smiled softly, he actually smiled and I felt like the happiest person in the world to witness that. Banner called everyone around so I touched Yuki's shoulder and smiled, "We should go get our seats then, and do you want the window seat?"

I heard some gasps behind me and saw that Adrian, Alexis and Chazz gasped like I just told them I was really a girl. Yuki seemed surprised too but regained his composure as he pushed his glasses further up his nose. It was a small nose, just like the rest of him, but it was actually cute like a girl's nose. Anyway he looked down again and simply said, "Yes."

It was enough for me, so I just smiled and led him to the crowd. We stood at the edge until an older guy, probably barely out of his thirties, came up to us, "Hey are you two Jesse and Yuki?"

I nodded and shook hands with him while Yuki hid behind me, "I'm Jesse, who're you?"

He chuckled, "Name's Joey Wheeler, my best friend is the principal so he asked me to come watch you wild partiers on a trip. Now I know how you populars work so I'll say this, no alcohol, drugs and no sex on this trip."

That seemed fair enough since I didn't plan on doing any of those, "I wasn't actually planning on doing any of that but okay. You might wanna tell Adrian and Chazz that though."

He smiled and nodded before walking over to a group of populars and repeating the same speech he gave me. My body relaxed as I sighed, "Gosh adults freak me out."

Yuki was still behind me shaking, but he was also grabbing onto my shirt and pressed up against me from the crowd behind him. It made me surprisingly happy to have him clinging to me like that. That was when Banner called Yuki and I, so I turned and had Yuki hugging my chest instead as I waved my arm signaling where we were. Banner called out ten, which would be our seat number to and back from the beach. I thanked him and grabbed Yuki's hand, "It's okay Yuki, let's go get our seat before the stampede comes. I'll protect you, you'll be fine."

Yuki looked up as his glasses reflected the sun a bit, not letting me see his eyes, and mumbled quietly, "Thank you Jesse."

Wow, I've never liked how a person says my name but wow, the way he said it was amazing. I smiled and led him to our seat before letting him take the window seat. Once I sat down Jim was coming on with his partner, turns out he had the seat right behind us. I grinned and said hello as Yuki just curled up against the window, which was hard to watch. Tyranno eyed me as I reached over and touched his shoulder, "Yuki?"

Yuki looked up after he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "Yes?"

"You okay?"

He looked a little surprised I think before he gave a small yawn, "I'm tired."

I smiled, "Then go to sleep, I'll make sure no one bothers you."

His glasses blocked me from seeing his eyes again, gosh I wonder what they look like, and he simply scooted closer to me and fell asleep on my shoulder. Tyranno gasped and was about to tell me something but Jim just covered his mouth, which resulted in Tyranno licking his hand so that was funny to watch. Just as everyone was getting on the people in front of us looked over and were about to poke Yuki with pencils. I slipped my arm around him so his head was in the crook of my neck and I growled, "Don't you dare touch him."

They looked genuinely scared as they yelped and sat back down in their seat. I looked down and saw his head was sliding down my chest so I gently moved his head back up. Then I did something that surprised everyone, including me. I brought his legs onto my lap and changed our positions so that I was sitting against the window. I brought my leg up so he wouldn't fall and then just let him sleep. Banner and Joey sat in the front seats as the bus driver finished putting our bags in the undercarriage. I looked and saw Yuki's bag sitting on the curb, uh-oh. I slid out from under Yuki and told Jim to watch him before I went out and put Yuki's bag in the undercarriage just as he was closing it, "You forgot one."

He looked at me and gasped, "Oh my, I'm sorry. I didn't think it was anyone's."

I grinned, "It's Yuki's, just please don't forget it again."

"Sure thing, I'm sorry again."

I shook my head, "It's no biggy, as long as we fixed it it's okay. Thank you, but now I have to get back to my seat."

He nodded and I walked back into the bus and back to Yuki, who was sound asleep as Jim blocked everyone's tries at hurting him. I growled at everyone and told them to back off before thanking Jim and sitting down next to the window again; I lifted Yuki up and fixed my position before putting him down again. When he reached my chest he squirmed until he clung to my chest and head lied on my collarbone. I chuckled and pet his hair, and wow was it soft. He seemed to like it too since he moaned and snuggled me more. The bus driver climbed into his seat and started the bus, and I saw everyone get into comfortable positions and pull out their ipods. I pulled mine out and put on my headphones, then I turned on Fall Out Boy and listened to their new album. When we reached the highway that led to the beach everyone was either asleep or playing on a gaming device. I was one of the ones who fell asleep, after I made sure Yuki wouldn't slip or fall I took his glasses off so he wouldn't break them and hooked them onto my shirt. He looked like a little angel as I brushed hair out of his face, he had little freckles sprinkling his cheeks and nose and really long, dark eyelashes. I smiled and pet his hair again until I fell asleep with my arm around his waist.

That Night (Yuki's POV)

I felt warm, which was surprising since we were on a bus. My eyes felt heavy and I really didn't want to wake up, and I wish I didn't when I saw that it was pitch dark outside. My body tensed up as I clung onto what I was on and buried my face in it. I heard groaning as something around my waist tightened and I felt the thing under me rising and falling before repeating. I looked up and saw it was a little blurry, where are my glasses? I reached out and whimpered as I saw the shadows dancing around the light from the street lamps. The groaning started again, "Yuki? What's wrong?"

Jesse? Everything seemed to click into place at that moment, I was lying on Jesse, oh my god I fell asleep on his chest? I thought I fell asleep on his shoulder! I started to shake again as I remembered the darkness. Jesse sat up a little bit and I found out his legs were apart, entangling with mine. He pet my hair which was surprisingly relaxing, and I soon found myself lying on his chest and giving soft sounds of happiness, almost. He chuckled and I heard something in his chest, and as I listened harder it was his heartbeat. It was going a little faster than a normal heart rate as mine was too, but it was nice to listen to. I felt Jesse move and when I looked up he put my glasses on for me. I saw a clearer version of him and smiled softly, "Thank you."

He smiled sleepily, "No problem, now are you gonna go back to sleep?"

I saw a shadow move in the corner of my eyes and whimpered, "It's dark."

Jesse had a blank expression for a minute or two until his eyes widened, "You're afraid of the dark?"

My body tensed up again, he was going to laugh at me and bully me like all the other populars. I just hid my face in his chest again and shook. He surprised me, again, when he just pet my hair and held me tighter, "It's okay, nothing's gonna hurt you if I'm here, I promise. Now go back to sleep, when you wake up the darkness will be gone."

I nodded and felt him take my glasses off, he did this all while he was half asleep too. Is Jesse Andeson, the captain of the Water Polo team and quarterback for the high school football team, actually gonna be my friend? Maybe he'll take me away from my dad… nah that'll never happen.

Done. I might do some spiritshipping but nothing lemony, just some sweet stuff. Mostly it'll be friendship stuff but yeah. Thanks for reading ^.^