Aster bit his lip as he concentrated on the paper before him. He's gotten all jittery waiting for Jack to arrive, so he'd decided to calm his nerves by sketching. He'd quickly lost himself in the task and now he was working on a drawing of Sophie playing in the snow, a Valentine's Day gift for her to hang up in her room.
A sudden weight on his shoulder drew him out of his drawing zone. Apparently Jack had arrived, since the albino was leaning against him, happily reading a book and munching on a cookie. When had he gotten here?
"Sorry, was I ignoring you?" Aster asked, looping an arm around his boyfriend's waist.
Jack looked up from his book and smiled. "Kinda, but that's okay. You can go back to drawing."
Aster set down his sketchpad as a goofy grin fought for control of his face. Boyfriend. He was really coming to like that word. "Nah, I can work on it later."
Then he noticed how tired Jack appeared and his smile changed into a look of concern. He'd been so busy trying to keep himself from looking like a love struck idiot throughout the day that he'd forgotten just how bad his boyfriend had looked that morning.
He did look a bit better now, no more trembling, but that wasn't good enough.
"Jack, are you alright?"
The smaller teen yawned and snuggling closer to Aster, but before he could reply a tray was slammed down on the table and they suddenly found themselves staring into the fiercely gleaming, violet eyes of Ana Romoli.
"Details. Now."
Both boys turned crimson.
Ana laughed and sat down as Nick and Sandy took their places at the table. None of them touched their food, though. They simply sat, grinning, and waited.
"In case you can't tell, we're dating now, and that's really all you need to know." Aster announced, holding onto Jack protectively and glaring at the rest of the gang.
Sandy clapped in delight, but the others weren't letting them get away that easy.
"No way!" Ana exclaimed, folding her arms across her chest as she did so. "I've had to worry about you two for way too long to let you off that easy."
The blushes only grew.
Jack started to stammer out something, but then another yawn took hold of him and Aster got an idea. He rose to his feet, pulled Jack to his, and grinned at the gang. "Sorry, guys, Jack isn't feeling that well, so I'm gonna take him to the nurse's office and let him sleep. It might take me a while, so I'll just take my stuff with me and see you guys later."
Jack didn't protest, but Ana jumped to her feet and grabbed Aster' bandana from his head.
"Hey!" He tried to grab it back, but she was too fast for him to catch.
"You can have it back when I get the full story from one of you."
The Australian was going to argue with her, but another yawn from Jack made him stop. He hadn't been kidding about taking Jack to the infirmary.
With an annoyed glare at Ana, Aster took hold of his boyfriend's hand was about to lead him away from the gang when Sandy stopped him. In the small teen's hand was… an mp3 player?
Aster took the offered gadget and gave Sandy a questioning look, but the other teen merely smiled and pointed to Jack.
The artist got it then. "For when he's sleeping?"
Sandy nodded and Aster grinned.
"Okay, we'll give it a go. That's mate."
Then the couple headed off.
Unsurprisingly, Jack was more than happy to just let Aster lead him along. The white-haired teen had been on an emotional high most of the morning, but the adrenaline rush was fading fast and he really was very tired. Aster had said something about sleep, right? Sleep was good. Cuddles were good, too… wait, where was he going to be sleeping?
Jack shook his head slightly, exhaustion clouding his thoughts as he asked, "Where are we going?"
"Like I said, the infirmary. The nurse will let you take a nap there during lunch as long as there's a free bed."
Jack smiled drowsily. "Sleep is good."
"Mmhm, and you're gonna listen to whatever this is, too," Aster added, handing Jack Sandy's gift as the duo entered the infirmary.
A brief conversation with the nurse later, Jack was lying down in a dark room, listening to the sound of waves crashing against a shore and the cries if dolphins. It didn't take long for the soothing sounds to lull him to sleep and his dreams were nothing but sweet for the first time in weeks.
Jack held back a yawn as he pushed open the unfamiliar door. He really wanted to know what Aster had said to the nurse to get her to let him sleep through the rest of the day, not that he was complaining. He'd needed the rest. In fact, he wouldn't mind a little more, but first he had to find his boyfriend. He just hoped he had the right room.
One look told him that he probably did.
The room was long, narrow, and practically covered with paintings and shelves of pottery. Unfamiliar music blasted from a radio by the door into which a pink ipod had been plugged. A group of interestingly dressed teens were sitting around a table in the far corner, talking, and a single girl in a long, white smock was standing near the entryway, glaring at a painting with a paintbrush clasped tightly in her hand.
Jack didn't want to both the talking kids, so he cautiously approached the glaring artist and tapped her on the shoulder.
She turned to face him and, for a moment, all the frustration of her glower was focused on him. Jack was about to apologize and run away when her face brightened into a pleasant smile and she said, "Oh, hello! Can I help you?"
Oh good. He wasn't going to be yelled at. That was nice. "Yeah, um, do you know where Aster is?"
She nodded and gestured towards a door at the back of the room. "I think he's in there, throwing. At least, that's where he normally is."
Jack thanked her and she gave him another kind smile before returning to glaring at her canvas.
After a final, nervous glance at the girl, he walked across the paint splattered floor to the doorway she'd indicated. Inside the new room, Aster was sitting at a spinning pottery wheel, his brow furrowed in concentration as he carefully ran his fingers along a slab of spinning, grey clay.
Jack smiled in relief at the sight of his boyfriend and stepped into the room, letting the door close behind him. He winced slightly at the creaking sound it made, but Aster didn't seem to even hear the noise, let alone realize he had an audience. The music was too loud and he was too intent on his pot to see anything else.
As Jack watched, the Australian leaned close to his project to fix some minor detail and, suddenly, his hair was caught in the clay.
"Not again," he groan as he stopped the wheel and pulled the hair out, frowning at the indentation it had left in his pot.
Jack couldn't help but laugh, drawing Aster's attention to him.
The moment he saw who was here, the tan teen's frown turned into a smile, making Jack blush as Aster brushed his hair out of his eyes with his arm and said, "You know, you're allowed to interrupt me."
Jack grinned and walked over to his side. "I like watching you work. I got your bandana back from Ana, by the way."
Aster grabbed a rag from the bench he was sitting on and cleaned the clay off his hands before gratefully taking the blue cloth from his boyfriend.
Then he expertly folded the bandana into a headband shape and tied it around his head while saying, "I always get my hair caught in the clay when I'm not wearing one of these."
Jack nodded, timidly shuffling his feet. This was the first time he and Aster had really been alone since that morning and it was making his heart race. "I think you look better when you're wearing one."
Aster started at the admission and then grinned. "I do, too."
His grin turned to a slight frown when he looked down at his pot, but then he shrugged and said, "Well, I really don't care enough to fix this."
With that, he squashed the clay down into a ball.
Jack made an odd sound and Aster shot him a worried look before asking, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's just, I thought it looked nice. It must have taken you a while to get it looking like that and then you squashed it!"
"A while? Jack, it probably took me all of five minutes. Throwing's really not that hard once you get the hang of it." Aster got up from the stool and motioned for Jack to sit down. "Here, I'll show you."
Jack shook his head furiously. "No, I don't think I'd be very good."
"Jack, if I can let you see me make a fool of myself on ice skates, then you can let me teach you how to throw. Now, sit down."
Reluctantly, Jack took a seat before the potter's wheel and Aster grinned. Finally, a chance for him to show off.
"Okay, the first thing you need to do is wet your hands."
Jack sighed and dipped his fingers into the bucket of clay colored water sitting on the edge of the wheel's stand. Aster rolled his eyes. "Jack, I said wet your hands."
He demonstrated, leaning over and plunging his hands into the water so that they were fully soaked. Jack followed suit unenthusiastically.
"Now, start the wheel turning by pushing on that peddle by your foot."
Jack did so, watching as the wheel and clay began to turn.
"Okay, this is the hard part. You have to press your hands to the clay and center it on the wheel."
The albino did his best to follow the instructions, pressing his hands to the wet clay and trying to force it into a circular shape, but all he seemed to be doing was splashing wet clay onto his jeans. Aster laughed and wrapped his arms around Jack, placing tan hands on top of pale white ones, his chin resting on Jack's shoulder.
"Here, like this."
Jack was finding it a little hard to concentrate on the lesson with Aster so close, but he did his best, allowing his boyfriend to guide his hands through the process. Together, they got the clay centered on the wheel and Aster began to guide him through the steps of shaping it into a bowl.
At first, Jack mostly just watched at adept, tan fingers pressed into the center of the clay, pulling it into the needed shape, but then Aster took Jack's hands in his and wordlessly showed him what to do. It was surprisingly easy and, soon, a crude bowl was spinning beneath their fingers.
Jack turned his head to look into Aster's green eyes, grinning at his success, and Aster smiled back. Then he realized just how close their faces were and, blushing, Jack closed the small distance between them, shyly pressing pale lips to rosy pink ones. Aster happily kissed him back.
The pottery lesson was forgotten as the two young lovers lost themselves in the kiss until the sound of an amused cough broke them apart. An unfamiliar woman in a loose, black jacket and paint splattered jeans was leaning in the doorway, smirking at them.
"Aster, who's the cutie?"
As Jack blushed crimson, Aster grinned at the woman. "Marie, this is my boyfriend, Jack. Jack, this is the head of the art department, Marie Crane."
She winked at Jack and said, "Nice to meet you," before pushing off the door and entering the room.
As she walked over to them, Aster took his hands from Jack's and stopped the throwing wheel from spinning. Then he looked at the pot and smirked.
"Well, that turned out interesting."
They all looked down at the pot. Sometime during the kiss the clay had been slightly manhandled, making it lopsided. Aster didn't seem to mind, though, as he grabbed a long piece of wire and quickly drew it along the wheel, freeing the misshapen pot from the surface.
"What are you gonna do with it?" Jack asked curiously, his face still slightly red.
"I'm gonna fire it, of course," Aster explained as he grabbed a wooden tray and carefully placed their pot onto it.
"But it looks terrible!"
"On the contrary, I think it's the best piece I've made all day." Aster said with a grin as Marie laughed at Jack's quickly returning blush.
"Oh Aster, he's adorable! Why haven't you brought him around before?"
Aster placed the wooden tray onto a rack in the corner of the room and shrugged. "We kind-of just started dating today…"
As Marie made an understanding sound, Aster grabbed a damp towel and gently took Jack's hands in his, drawing his boyfriend's shy gaze from the floor.
"Here, go ahead and clean off the clay with this. I'll take you to the washing room after I've finished tidying up and you can get off the rest."
"Actually," Marie interjected, drawing the duo's attention, "before you do that, I have a favor to ask."
Aster drew his hands from Jack's and the albino began to clean off the grey goop as the artist said, "Sure, what's up?"
"Well, Aster, would you be a dear and help me mix up a new batch of clay?"
The Australian seemed puzzled by the request. "But I just checked the supply, like, an hour ago. It looked like we had enough to last us until Monday."
"Well, we did, but then one of the idiots in my beginning art class decided it would be fun to play with the clay while I was getting paint from the supply closet. We only just finished the cleanup and now I don't have any clay for class on Monday."
Aster grimace in annoyance and glanced at Jack. "You okay with waiting a bit longer to leave?"
Jack nodded and Marie beamed. "Thanks, Aster. I don't know what I'll do when you graduate."
"A lot more heavy lifting, that's for sure." Was the amused reply as Aster took Jack's hand in his and lead him from the room.
Marie lead the way through the main art room to another side room full of heavy looking bags and several, large metal contraptions.
The Australian didn't bother to ask for instructions. He simply let go of Jack's hand, grabbed a bag off the floor, and threw it over his shoulder. Marie didn't offer any assistance. She simply stood by Jack and watched as Aster set the bag down by one of the machines and began to measure out powder.
Unsure what to do, Jack nervously asked the woman, "Shouldn't we help?"
She looked at him and grinned mischievously. "Sure, go ahead and grab that bag."
He tried to lift the beige bag with blue lettering she'd motioned to, but he couldn't budge it. "Wow, these things weigh a ton!"
Then Aster was by his side, easily lifting the heavy bag for him with an amused grin. "Don't worry; I'll take care of it, Frostbite."
"Okay" was the albino's embarrassed reply as he resumed standing by Marie, suddenly very aware of how his boyfriend had gotten his muscles.
The teacher placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I have trouble lifting those things, that's why I let Aster make the clay for me."
"That and she hates having to scoop the wet clay out of the mixer," Aster added as he poured grey powder into the machine.
"Guilty as charged."
"And you like it?" Jack asked, looking between the pair.
Aster nodded. "Yeah, it's why I got into throwing. Back in sixth grade, my art teacher broke his leg and wasn't able to mix clay, so he asked me to help. I really liked doing it, so he let me help any time he needed to make clay from then on. When I got to the high school and Marie realized I knew how to do this, she was more than willing to let me do it for her."
Marie nodded appreciatively. "I can do it when need be, but Aster's got a natural talent for mixing that sludge that I am sadly lacking. Those muscles of his definitely help, too."
Aster finished adding the powder and rose to his feet. "Now we just have to wait for the machine to mix it."
"How long does that take?"
"About twenty minutes, give or take," Marie replied with a shrug. "If you two need to go I can take it from here."
Aster glanced at the clock on the wall and pursed his lips. "We probably should. I have no doubt that Ana's waiting for us."
Jack nodded in agreement and the trio made their way back to the main room. Here, Aster and Jack rinsed the remaining clay from their hands and said goodbye to the teacher as they grabbed their backpacks.
Marie acknowledge the farewell and called after them, "Bring him around again, Aster. I've never seen you smile so much!"
Laughing at Jack's sudden blush, the Australian promised to do so as the couple entered the hallway and headed for the end of the building where an annoyed Ana was undoubtedly waiting.
When Ana saw Jack's jeans she let out a cry of dismay. "Jack! What happened?"
He looked down and realized that the once blue material was now covered in splotches of dried clay. "Oh, Aster showed me how to throw."
Ana glared at the grinning Australian. "Just because you're dating him doesn't mean you have to look like him, Jack! The paint and clay covered look is not a good one."
Aster winked at Jack as he replied, "Awe, Ana, I thought you'd find it cute. The whole matching couple thing"
She made a face and headed out the door into the chill, winter air with a dismissive cry of "It's not!"
Aster laughed and took Jack's hand in his as the trio left the building and headed towards Ana and Aster's neighborhood.
As the two boys exchanged happy smiles Aster said, "Mk, whatever you say, Ana. Whatever you say."