After the final bell of the day rang, students rushed to leave the building and go off to their after school activities.

Jay was minding his own business, getting ready to leave himself before Daniel popped out of nowhere, making Jay flinch backwards a bit.

"See ya, Jay." He said with a smile.

Jay didn't respond, when Daniel waved he gave a confused shake of his hand.

'He helped me out in a fight, this is a good guy.' Daniel thought to himself.

"See you tomorrow!" Daniel said, before quickly walking off while talking on the phone with his mom.

"Hi, mom. Yep, school just finished. Oh? Tomorrow? Right, It's my birthday."

Jay's head perked up and (Y/N)'s eyes shot up.

"It slipped my mind."

As Daniel made his way out of the classroom, girls were whispering about how he looked like royalty, and wondered if the rumor of him being poor is true or not.

The three rich kids of the glass grit their teeth as they watched Daniel still get attention from girls, despite the face that they exposed him.

"Poor beggar."

"His undershirt has no brand name."

"And no watch."

"Cheap ass looking fucker."

"I'll make sure the girls know who he really is."

If Daniel did hear them, he payed them no mind and continued to talk to his mom. "Mom, you don't have to come. It's really okay."

Jay remained silent, as usual, as he watched Daniel leave the classroom.

After school, the group of rogue Burnt Knuckle members rallied in the alley near the school.

They were ready to beat up Daniel, despite it going against Jace's orders. But they were only Jace's orders, and they followed Vasco, not Jace. So why not?

At the edge of the alley, Jay Hong leaned against the cement wall, smoking a cigarette as he listened to the rebels plot.

He was about to stand up and do something before a voice interrupted him.

"Smoking's really bad for you, you know."

(Y/N) said as she walked towards him. Jay turned around, slightly startled at the fact that a girl he's never interacted with was approaching him.

He sat back down on the ground and watched her walk closer.

"Daniel never stops talking about it. 'Those things will kill you! They're cancer sticks!'" She she said in a higher pitched voice to imitate Daniel.

She's now standing above him and reaching into her pocket. She pulls out a stick of gum and holds it out to Jay. "Here's an alternative. Bubble Gum flavor."

Jay hesitantly takes the gum and popped it into his mouth and smothered the cigarette on the concrete.

He watched (Y/N) look down the alley at the four delinquents.

"They're really planning on beating him up on his birthday? How cruel." She sighed, listening to the conversation. She glanced down at Jay from the corner of her eye and saw that he had turned to look at the four teens as well.

"Are you going to do something?" She asked, curious to see Jay's course of action. She decided she'd sit back and watch this time, seeing as Jay was the only person she didn't have any information on in the class.

When Jay didn't answer, she began speaking again. "I could always take care of them myself." She said as she pretended to take a few steps forward, but before she got very far she felt her forearm being grabbed.

She had to stop herself from smirking. She allowed herself to be pulled back and watched as Jay walked in front of her and approach Daniel's potential assailants.

She quirked a brow as she watched Jay take on all four guys by himself, surprised at how strong the wallflower actually was. Her analyzation became more interesting than she could have hoped for.

After a few minutes, Jay came back with barely any scratches. The only damage that had been done was a few scratches on his knuckles.

"Ah, my hero." (Y/N) teased "Sit down again for a second."

Jay wordlessly followed her request, and (Y/N) crouched and placed her bag on the ground and began rummaging through it.

She finally pulled out a small box, which she took a bandaid out of.

She looked up at Jay and held out her empty hand expectantly, but the boy just looked from her hand to her face, totally clueless.

She sighed and snatched the hand that he had scrapes on, causing him to flush.

If (Y/N) noticed that he was blushing, she didn't say anything, and focused on putting the hello kitty bandage over his knuckles.

After she was finished she stood up and brushed off her skirt. She picked her bag off of the ground and hung it over her shoulders and looked down at Jay.

"Well, now that you're free, do you want to get Daniel a birthday gift? I was going to go by myself, but if you'd like to come with me you can." (Y/N) offered.

Jay nodded, about to get up before (Y/N) put her hand out to pull him up. He placed his larger hand in hers and, to Jay's surprise, she effortlessly hauled him up.

He stumbled a bit before he gained his balance. He had to jog to catch up to (Y/N), who was already making her way down the street.

It was a short, silent walk to the mall. Once they arrived, (Y/N) wondered into a few stores with Jay in tow. She ended up getting Daniel some oddly shaped gummies, a card that played music and a gift card for a clothing store.

After she was finished with her shopping, she followed Jay into luxury clothing shops and watched in horror as he casually piled clothes that cost more than a year of her rent into his carriage.

(Y/N) was stunned to silence when they had collected three full carts of expensive clothes, and nearly fainted when she saw the price when they checked out, but Jay just swiped his credit card like it was nothing.

"Jesus Christ..." She breathed, "How are we going to get these to Daniel?" She asked, but Jay just waved her off and led her out of the store and back into the mall.

They walked around for a bit more and bought themselves some boba. From there, they made their way to the food court.

(Y/N) looked at the massive amount of restaurants and food stands, ignoring the cheap American food and sketchy sushi stands. What caught her eye was a small stand in the corner that said "WORLD'S SPICIEST TTEOKBOKKI".

She looked up at Jay, "I'm going there."

The boy paled and shook his head.

"What are you saying? This is a great idea."

Jay shook his head again, harder this time.

"You're just a coward." And with that, she made her way to the tiny stand. Jay face palmed and followed after her.

He waited in line beside her and cringed when she ordered the spiciest option they had. When (Y/N) went to pay, he stopped her and added a bottle of cold milk to the order. She looked up at Jay in question, and before she cold process what was happening, Jay payed for her lunch.

(Y/N) glared up at him, and he tried to pretend he didn't shudder as he walked away. Jay went with a more tame option for lunch, opting to get a simple noodle soup and a bottle of water.

After Jay payed for his meal as well, they sat down at a table meant for two in the middle of the court.

While Jay immediately began to eat, (Y/N) was a bit more hesitant, picking at her rice cakes. Jay noticed after a few seconds, and looked up at her.

When (Y/N) noticed he was staring she playfully narrowed her eyes. "What are you lookin at?"

Jay tilted his head to look down at her untouched plate then back at her, a smirk twitching on his lips.

(Y/N) scoffed. "What? Do you know who I am? Im not scared."

Jay shrugged and went back to eating, (Y/N) grumbled to herself and picked up a rice cake with the provided utensils.

She glared at the bright red sauce dripping off of it for a moment before shoving the entire thing in her mouth.

Jay jumped in his seat when he heard a fist pound on the table, he looked up to see (Y/N) hunched over in her seat with her head resting on the table.

When she looked up, her face was red and her eyes were watering. She still had left over spicy sauce around her mouth.

Jay stared for a minute, unsure of what to do, until (Y/N)'s hand weakly reached for the carton of milk. He grabbed the carton and

(Y/N) sharply looked up, ready to lunge.

Jay rushed to open the drink and slide it back over the table to avoid being tackled over a carton of milk in the middle of a food court.

As soon as (Y/N) got her hands on the small container, she knocked it back and took the biggest sip the could manage without gagging.

She slammed the carton back down on the table, a few drops nearly splashing out and she coughed a few times. After she collected herself, she looked up at Jay with a smile despite her red face and still watering eyes.

"Jay, you've gotta try some."

The boy paled and attempted to get up and leave, but (Y/N) would not stop pouting until he sat back down and took at least a "Teeny tiny bite."

Jay's face ended up burning just as much as (Y/N)'s did, if not more. She cackled when he took the carton of milk and chugged the rest.

After that, they left the food court and threw the rest of the god forsaken rice cakes out. It was getting late, so they decided it was time to leave and try to transport Daniel's gifts to his apartment.

On the way out, (Y/N) stopped by a small store, her eyes lingering on something she had seen in the window. Before Jay could take her into the store, she looked up at him.

"Wait here." She said, and jogged into the store.

Jay stood outside for about three minutes before (Y/N) came back out with a small paper bag. When she got close enough, she opened the bag to show Jay what was inside and grinned.

"I got one for all three of us." She said, talking about the three keychains inside of the bag. Each keychain had a small stuffed bear and a golden star shaped charm dangling from it. One was black, one was brown and the last was baby blue.

"Which one do you want?" She asked, pushing the bag closer to Jay. He pressed his lips together in thought, before delicately reaching into the bag and taking the brown bear.

"Good choice. I'll give the black one to Daniel and keep the blue one since it's the cutest, hehe." (Y/N) gripped the back tightly and have an evil laugh which sounded more like a cat struggling with a hairball.

Jays a small smile slip onto his face and he shook his head.

_______________________________

SIKE, Y'ALL THOUGHT THAT WAS THE END OF THE CHAPTER? UR WRONG!!!

Daniel was walking home by himself, rushing a bit since it was getting late and the sun was setting.

'So my B-Day is almost over. It was always just mom and I, but now I'm truly alone. I wouldn't mind having a birthday party.' Daniel thought to himself.

Instead of feeling bad for himself, he clenched his fist and raised it to the sky, 'Gonna work my butt of for my birthday! Let's conquer poverty!'

When he turned into the alley that he lived in, he stopped when he saw two figures standing at the end.

"Huh? Jay? (Y/N)?"

At the other end of the alley, Jay was holding a duffel bag with a small black bear dangling from it. (Y/N) was standing next to him holding a gift bag and looking very confused.

"You live around here too, Jay?" Daniel asked excitedly.

Instead of answering, Jay dropped the bag to the ground in front to Daniel.

(Y/N) watched in silence as Jay lies about it being all old clothes, knowing that Daniel wouldn't accept them if he had known how much money Jay had spent today.

"Thanks. I'll definitely wear these." Daniel said, scratching the back of his neck.

When he turned around to ask Jay when his birthday was, he was gone, leaving just (Y/N) standing there.

Beside (Y/N) laid a huge pile of duffel bags, which were filled with clothes as well.

Daniel choked on air, and (Y/N) was still trying to figure out when and how those bags got here.

"How he got those delivered, I have no clue." (Y/N) said with a small laugh. She looked to Daniel and smiled as held out the gift bag.

"Happy birthday, dude. You're a good guy."

Daniel's face flushed red, 'It's so nice to hear that!!' He thought.

"Thanks." He said, taking the bag. Their fingers would have brushed if (Y/N) hadn't pulled away so quickly. (ˢʰᵉ ᵃᶦⁿ'ᵗ ᵃᵇᵒᵘᵗ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ˢᵗʳᵃᶦᵍʰᵗ ˢʰᶦᵗ)

She also would have asked Daniel to open her gift in front of her, but a beeping cane from her watch and she sighed.

"Ah, I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow!" She called, and began to jog off.

Daniel smiled as he watched her go on her way, and once she was out of sight he looked to the huge pile of bags outside of his apartment.

"Ah, how am I gonna get these all inside?"

________________________________

At about midnight, (Y/N) leaving her apartment in the pizza restaurant's red outfit, dreading her shift.

She sighed and adjusted her bag's straps on her shoulders and got ready to walk out of the threshold, but stopped when she saw a black duffel bag sitting on her doorstep.

She sharply inhaled and quickly took a step back as she suspiciously eyed the bag. Her eyes never left the bag as she grabbed a slipper from her shoe rack, and she threw it at the bag.

When nothing blew up after the sandal hit the bag, she crouched in front of it, her movements still slow and careful. She frowned she she saw that all that was written on the name tag was

':)'

When she finally unzipped the bag all the way and saw what was inside, she was confused. Inside of the bag was a pair of embroidered, baby pink sneakers at at least 5 pastel colored hoodies.

"Huh?" She mumbled to herself as she thought about who the hell would leave her all of this.

But after a few moments, realization dawned upon her, and a small smile crawled across her lips.

"Jay..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, done for real now.

I like the way I wrote this one a lot more than I liked the Zoe chapter.

What did you guys think?

Also, I've probably asked this before,, but how do you guys picture (Y/N) in this story?

Smol and angry? Tol and soft?

🅱️leas,, tell me how you picture yourselves?? I'm curious!!

Also, here are the sneakers I was describing, idc if you guys think they're ugly im absolute trash for anything pastel: