Art Deco ▷ Ned Leeds | ✓

15 - GET USED TO THIS

"Well, that's okay," Ned said, giving her a good natured smile, "If you want, I can find you people."

She snorted, shaking her head as she continued to draw. "I'm okay, Ned, thanks."

After finishing up half of her plans—she was pleased with the batch of confessions she had chosen, and didn't want to speed through them too quickly—she turned to Ned who was starting to look up alternatives to parts on his laptop.

"How do you know what to do?" she asked, shifting to look at him, and he shrugged, shifting the page so she could see.

"Practice," he explained, showing her his laptop screen and pointing to the alternative parts he was looking for, "You know, I take apart stuff, and I look up how they work, what the pieces are used for, it's really complicated, but we learn about this stuff in Robotics. Which Peter quit..."

He shook his head, shrugging as he continued to search. "He and I are hanging out later tonight, so I can get him to help me with these. You know, I think he got most of his own supplies from the Robotics lab. Come on, let's go."

"Wait, what are we doing?" she asked, tucking away her sketchbook, standing as she watched him toss his things into his bag and push himself onto his feet.

"We're gonna borrow some stuff," he said, rushing to the door and peering out the deserted hallway before heading out, motioning for her to follow.

With no other choice, she followed close behind him, rolling her eyes at how they were crouched low to the ground, as if they were going to get caught at any second. They were at a school, going around the classrooms wasn't really considered a capitol offense.

Regardless, they stepped into the Robotics lab which was teeming with other students who were working on projects, the teacher reading a book and being generally uninterested in what they were doing, which was a win for the two teens.

"So I'll probably get this finished by Thursday so we can test it out before you plant it on your dad, but basically you just stick it on something you know he's gonna have on him at all times and you can just listen in," Ned explained, rummaging around in the various drawers and buckets while Brooke hopped up onto one of the empty tables, watching him work as she pulled out her sketchbook, opening to a new page to relax.

She still had yet to return the art book back to Mr. Wayland, but she did enjoy looking at it and taking in the angular style of Art Deco. She implemented it once into one of the paintings, but she wanted to try and add it into her own style without it clashing so greatly. But she would need her book for that, so she wrote herself a note in the corner of the page and worked on drawing something else.

Looking towards Ned who was now stuffing things into his bag, she hummed, figuring that she might as well try to draw him. He was all round features, not sharp angles, but she liked that about him. He oozed a feeling of softness, and seemed very open about everything.

She decided to work on full body figure studies, sketching him out as he crouched down to peer further into the lower cabinets pressed up against the wall, then him bent over his laptop, lips parted as he read whatever article or Wikipedia page he had opened up to.

It took a few tries to get his features right, and she wasn't too pleased with all her iterations, especially the earlier ones making him thinner than he was; it didn't suit him at all, and she wanted to accurately depict his wide nose and big lips, which took her a few tries all, though she was glad to have already gotten a head start with Liz who had big lips of her own.

"What're you drawing?" Ned asked, stopping just before he looked over at her work, averting his eyes, "Can I see?"

"Uh, no, they're sketches, I don't really want to show you those," she said, stammering her way through, hating to say no, yet not wanting him to see the terrible renditions she had done of him.