'Drawing'

Zacky Baker was a quiet boy. There were only a few places in his life where he felt that he could truly be himself - at home and among his close friends. At home, the 17 year old would absorb himself in doing what he loved the most – drawing. He could spend hours on end sitting alone in his room drawing. His latest artistic endeavor was a portrait. He had started out with the outline of a face and had slowly been working on it until it was complete. He had no idea where this image came from in his mind, but what he had created was undeniably beautiful. The image itself remained black and white but Zacky could imagine what this person would look like exactly.

He imagined tanned skin, dark brown, almost black hair that Zacky fashioned to be in a spiked up manner. The eyes on the picture were the metallic grey of the pencil he used but he imagined that they would be smoldering, dark brown eyes. He had given the boy high cheekbones and a square jaw. He had drawn a button nose that was adorned by a nose ring. The boy's lips were thin, but they held a smirk that was almost devilish in Zacky's eyes.

To Zacky, this boy was perfect but he knew that he didn't exist. No one in his life looked like this. If you asked Zacky he would tell you that perhaps it was his subconscious revealing to him his perfect guy. Whatever it was, Zacky had never been more proud of any other image he created and so he decided to upload it onto his deviant art page immediately. After his work was submitted he sat back and looked at the screen, admiring the image that he had been working on for countless hours. He took the original and placed it in his art folder with all his other completed works…this was by far his favourite.

~

Two weeks later, Zacky was sitting in his English class waiting for his teacher who was late, as usual. He felt a ruler jab him in the back and turned around to see his friend Matt sitting behind him grinning.

"What?"

"I just wanted to say hello, jeez, you don't have to 'What?' me like that"

"Sorry, I'm just a bit tired I guess"

Matt furrowed his brows, "Didn't get much sleep last night?"

"Not really, I don't know…I never have trouble going to sleep. I just felt nervous for today for some reason"

Matt nodded his head in understanding, "Well, I bet this will wake you up", Matt said with a smile, "I heard from Matt B, who heard from Jason who saw it with his own eyes that Jimmy and Johnny went to the movies last night"

Zacky furrowed his brows, "That is quite possibly the most boring story you have ever told me Shads. If anything, that made me feel more sleepy"

Matt shook his head, "No as in they went to the movies…like a date"

Zacky's eyes widened in surprise, "What? I don't believe you!!"

Matt's grin widened, "I'm telling you man, Jason saw them leaving the movie theatre holding hands and then they got into Jimmy's car and he saw them kiss"

Zacky couldn't believe it. Sure everyone knew that Jimmy was bi, but he had no idea that little Johnny batted for the other team. Matt smirked.

"Wide awake now aren't you"

Before Zacky could respond his attention was drawn to the front of the class.

"Sorry I'm late everyone but I had a new student to bring to our class. I would like everyone to give a warm welcome to Brian Haner"

It was only then that Zacky noticed the boy standing to the side of the teacher and if he hadn't been sitting, he would have definitely collapsed from the shock. Standing there next to his English teacher was HIM. The boy that he had finished drawing two weeks ago was standing at the front of his classroom. They were identical, from the spiked hair to the high cheekbones, those thin lips and those eyes that Zacky had imagined to be brown were there looking around the classroom. No rational thought was going through his head. He was in utter disbelief. He couldn't think straight, his head was spinning, and not in a good way. He wasn't even listening when the teacher guided Brian to take the spare seat next to him. Zacky stared into space – how was this possible?

When he finally pulled himself together, he looked to his side and saw the boy sitting there. The boy turned around, noticing Zacky's gaze and smiled.

"Hey", Brian said, his voice was sweetly smooth. This was no drawing staring back at him. Zacky blushed. He couldn't help but giggle, murmuring a quick 'hey' back as he looked away from the gorgeous boy – his creation – that was sitting next to him. He picked up his pencil and began doodling on a blank page, not daring to look to his side because he was certain that his mind had just been playing tricks on him.

~

As lunch time rolled around Zacky couldn't get his mind off of this 'Brian' character. How could it be that Zacky would draw someone from his imagination and then a few weeks later he would show up at his school? He couldn't explain it and his mind was beginning to hurt because it was working so hard. He was barely listening to Johnny's rambling about whatever he was talking about and didn't even notice when someone sat next to him until Matt's voice cut through his thoughts.

"Guys, this is Brian. He's cool, so be nice"
Zacky looked up as he heard Jimmy cackle. "Come on Shads, when are we ever not nice. We are like the nicest people in the world. We could win awards for our niceness"

Zacky shook his head. If there was one thing that Jimmy was good at doing, it was talking crap. But he was the funniest guy in their little group of friends so everyone loved him. His eccentricities were just what made him 'Jimmy'.

"That's Jimmy, you can ignore him. The little guy is Johnny and you already know Zacky"

Zacky looked up and saw Brian looking at him, those dark brown eyes seemed to be looking deep into his soul. "Oh yeah, from English. Nice to see you again Zacky"

Zacky nodded and blushed. He just couldn't get used to the fact that 'Brian' was real. It was too weird for words and somehow, he felt uncomfortable, like it was all some big trick. But no logical reason for Brian's existence made sense to Zacky. They had never met before this day. He was vaguely listening to Brian say he had moved here from San Francisco, but Zacky had never been there in his life. When he started thinking about genies in bottles granting wishes or that maybe Hogwarts does exist, he knew that he had been thinking about this way too much. There was only one word to explain this without going into the 'Brian is a wizard' category and that word was – coincidence.

"So how do you like Huntington Beach so far?", Zacky heard Johnny ask as he zoned back into his friends conversation.

"It's great. I love being so close to the beach, I can literally walk there from my house"

"You like to surf?", Matt asked.

"Yeah, but the waves weren't all that good off San Fran. I hear they are so much better here"

"Well, we should all go to the beach sometime. Everyone in?"

There was a chorus of approval from all of the guys and Zacky nodded his head. He really needed to stop being so quiet. Brian probably already thought he was a freak from this morning when he giggled but his thoughts were consuming him and he didn't think they would be going away anytime soon.

~

Two weeks later and Zacky found himself sitting in his room working on a group English project with none other then Brian. Brian had been hanging out with Matt, Johnny, Jimmy and Zacky since that day at lunch and had quickly wormed his way into the heart of the group. Zacky began thinking less and less about the picture he had drawn, simply believing that it was somehow a coincidence.

"Grrr I really don't like English!!! And this project is stupid, I mean, who really cares about poetry anyway"

Brian laughed at Zacky's rant. Somehow out of all the guys in the group, he felt closest to Zacky straight away, even though for some reason Zacky had been really shy towards him early on.

"I know its stupid, but the sooner we get it done the sooner we can do something else"

Zacky nodded in agreement, "Fine, but first I need a coke". Zacky got up from his seat and started walking towards the door.

"Grab me one", Brian said, as Zacky was halfway out the door.

"I was going to!!", Zacky yelled back from down the hall.

Brian laughed as he got up and stretched out his limbs, his back cracking as he stretched his arms out wide. From the corner of his eye, he saw something sticking out from underneath Zacky's bed. Curiously, he went over and pulled out a black folder, plopping down on the bed before opening it up. Inside were numerous drawings, some still life and some landscape. Brian flicked through the folder and admired each one, blown away by Zacky's talent. As he continued through the folder he stumbled upon a portrait that made him gasp for breath. Zacky had drawn a picture of him. There was no question about the fact that it was him, it had to be. Every little detail was perfect, from the way he had his hair styled on most days to the sharpness of his jaw.

At that moment, Zacky walked back into the room and paled when he saw Brian looking at the folder. He ran into the room and threw the coke cans on the bed before snatching up the folder.

"Who said you could look at this?", Zacky said, a slight amount of anger radiated from his voice, his stance defensive as he stared at Brian accusingly.

"I-I'm sorry, I just…that was me"

Zacky bowed his head. He was hoping that Brian wouldn't realise, but how could he not. The picture was an exact replica of the boy sitting on his bed.

"You are really talented you know"

Zacky smiled slightly but didn't look back up at Brian. He was just hoping with all his heart that he didn't see the date on which he had signed the picture as complete.

"Thanks", Zacky said.

"I just have one question though…You signed the picture and dated it a few weeks before I even got here…how is that possible?"

Zacky collapsed onto the chair next to his desk. He looked up at Brian and was speechless. He hadn't been able to explain it to himself. How on earth could he even begin to start explaining it to Brian?

"That's because I finished drawing it on that date…before I ever saw you. I don't know how to explain it. I just started drawing one day and that was the end result. You scared the shit out of me when you walked into English cause…well, I thought I had made you up. Sometimes I still think that you are just a figment of my imagination…that I somehow drew the perfect guy and then by magic you actually showed up. I must sound like a crazy person, huh?"

Brian got up from the bed and sat on the wheelie chair adjacent from Zacky.

"I am definitely not a figment of your imagination…and I can prove it to you"

Brian gripped the arm rests of Zacky's wheelie chair and pulled the boy towards him, quickly snatching Zacky's lips into a kiss. Zacky gasped at the contact, taking a moment before he started kissing back, wrapping his arms around Brian's neck and threading his fingers through the silky hair at the back of his head. Both boys stood up from their chairs as Brian snaked his arms around Zacky's waist, leading the shorter boy over to the bed as he gently guided him onto it. Their lips never lost contact as Brian hovered over Zacky, putting everything he had into that one kiss.

Brian pulled away and looked into Zacky's eyes, a light tinge of red erupted onto the shorter boys cheeks.

"Do you believe that I am real now?", Brian asked as a smirk took over his thin lips.

Zacky nodded, his fingers ghosting over Brian's cheek bones and down to those thin pink lips, that smirk that he had drawn all those weeks ago was present on Brian's face.

"How would you explain it…you know, how I knew you before I knew you"

Brian smiled, "Well, maybe somewhere deep inside here", Brian said as he rested his hand over Zacky's heart, "You knew that I was coming and what I looked like and that we were meant to be"

Zacky smiled, his gaze never leaving those chocolate brown eyes that he knew so well. "You think we were meant to be?", Zacky asked as his fingers got lost within Brian's dark brown locks. Brian grinned as he leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss to Zacky's lips. Zacky smiled as Brian pulled away, enjoying the feeling of Brian's body weight pressed firmly against his.

"I know we were meant to be"