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It was unusual to meet somebody so genuine and kind in a place like Bullworth.
Most people at Bullworth acted as if they had some sort of bizarre virus that had taken over their brains, whispering to them to break every law in the book.
But Pete was nothing like that. Pete was soft-spoken, caring, and well-meaning. He had a tendency to trust easily and have his heart broken in the process.
Jimmy wasn’t sure why he'd stuck by his side for so long.
They hadn’t hung out properly in about three weeks. Today was actually the only day that he hadn’t had to run off to break up some fight between cliques or beat somebody up. Really it was actually quite peculiar with how little had happened.
He’d been planning on catching up on homework before the silence broke and he’d have to go back to failing his classes in the sake of saving the school from Gary. But Pete had asked to hang out and Jimmy couldn’t bring himself to say no.
He’d been expecting for them to make small talk about class, video games, and other small things of that nature that weren’t typically at the centre of their conversations.
Instead, Pete had laid down on Jimmy’s floor and stared at the ceiling in quiet contemplation.
Jimmy of course realized that the correct thing to do was ask if Pete was okay, but any attempt at doing so would be met with a “yes, I’m okay” and “there’s nothing going on” and “I’m just tired.”
So he let it be. He turned around with a sigh and did his algebra in silence.
Twenty minutes later when he’d grown sick of solving for X, he looked back to find Pete fast asleep.
He was half tempted to shake Pete awake and kick him out; it’s what he would do with anyone else. Pete had asked to hang out, not sleep. If he really was so tired, then he had his own room he could rest in.
But Jimmy couldn’t bring himself to do so. Perhaps, unknowingly, he’d grown a soft spot for Pete.
He stood from his chair and lifted Pete up off the ground, holding him like a princess.
Pete curled in, his head instinctively snuggling into Jimmy’s chest.
He set Pete down on his bed and tucked him in carefully, patting down the wrinkles.
Outside, he could hear incoherent yelling.
He couldn’t stay. Something had to have happened, and it was up to Jimmy to fix Gary’s wrongdoings.
But his heart still weirdly ached to stay with Pete. It was strange, nothing he’d ever experienced before quite matching the silent calling to Pete that his body begged for. But alas, he couldn’t listen. He had other business to attend to.
Still though, he took a long moment to admire the delicateness of Pete’s face. He looked soft and sweetly innocent, entirely aloof to the pain of being awake as it was so much simpler to sleep away.
Jimmy felt his heart swell in his chest. Being trusted by someone when most feared him was so unfamiliar to him.
He reached forward, gently caressing Pete’s face.
Pete hummed, leaning into Jimmy’s touch.
Carefully, he stepped away from Pete and flicked the lights off to his room. He shut the door as quietly as he could and prayed that today’s conflict would be a quick-fix so he could make his way back to Pete.