Connor was excited to go to school, for once in his life.

He woke up with so much gusto, he had to spend five minutes trying to correct it to fit his normal front. When he faced the mirror in his bathroom, he saw a smile. A genuine smile. One that actually matched the feelings of joy in his heart, and wasn't just faked to please others.

That felt fucking fantastic. To smile, to actually expect something nice to happen.

Connor was excited to talk to Evan, this time in real life and not over text. He wore a grey T-shirt, and put a black hoodie over it, with long blue jeans. He grabbed a comb, attempting to shape his mess of a hair into something much more uniform, but gave up after grooming it took five minutes and it didn't even look like he tried.

He just sighed, and grabbed his satchel, shoving his notebook inside. He then searched around. His wallet, in his pocket. Phone? Oh, it's on the bed. He then left for downstairs, meeting with his family.

"Connor, good morning!" His mom said, with much enthusiasm like always.

"Good morning, mom," Connor replied, taking a seat beside his dad and laid his satchel down on the ground. His dad did the same thing as he always did, he looked through his newspaper and ignored the family completely.

Connor reached forward and grabbed a slice of bread, spread some peanut butter on it and folded it in half. He then grabbed a cup, pouring the milk from the milk carton on the table into it and setting the cup in front of him.

He bit into the peanut butter and chewed, as his mother piped up.

"Oh, Connor, have you managed to invite Evan over?"

Connor froze, as he saw his dad look up from his newspaper out of the corner of his eye. He knew exactly what his father was going to say. Oh, Connor has friends? He dreaded it.

And Larry said exactly that.

This made Cynthia respond, quite negatively, "Larry, don't say that!" This earned her an eye roll.

Larry looked back down at his newspaper, as Zoe came down to the table, her own bag slung over her shoulder.

"Good morning, Zoey!" Cynthia exclaimed, as Zoe sat down and placed her bag on the floor.

"Good morning, Honey," Larry said, his eyes still fixated on the newspaper in his hand.

"Good morning," she replied, still a bit sleepy.

Connor just ate, ignoring Zoe and her good morning, infuriated by his father's attitude towards Connor having a friend.

-----

Connor opened the doors to his school, seeing everyone give him the same look of fear, of shock, of detest. All except a pair of blue eyes in the crowd of people that was filled with happiness and joy when they saw Connor.

Evan made his way over to Connor, a smile hanging on his face.

"H-Hi Connor," Evan said, waving his hand with the cast.

"Hi, Ev," Connor said, smiling back at Evan. He saw Evan fidgeting with his shirt's hem, a little awkwardly so as he had a cast. Connor then placed his hand on his back, making both of them walk down the hall.

"C'mon, let's go to class," Connor smiled, noticing that Evan blushed a bit, and smiled back. They both walked over to Evan's locker, where he took out the Geography textbook.

"So, you said you really like nature, right," Connor asked, as Evan locked up his locker. He saw Evan turn to him, his face lit up and a sparkle in his eyes out of excitement.

"Yeah, n-nature's nice!"

"Oh? How so," Connor replied, as the both started to walk towards their class together. They both took Geography after all.

"B-because, it's nice to just sit-sit down somewhere, a-and just hear the leaves rustling a-and the wind in your face," Evan said, his shoulders less tense, his body relaxing at the thought.

"Oh," Connor replied, noticing how Evan tends to relax when talking about nature, which completely dismisses his fidgety persona, "that sounds nice!"

"Y-yeah, too bad I don't really have the t-time to relax nowadays, hahahah..."

Connor noticed that Evan was tensing up a bit again, so he tried to think of something, anything that could help. That's when his mind wandered to the old orchard that closed down seven years ago. He and his family use to go there for weekend picnics, when they were still little.

"Oh, how about today," Connor placed his hand on Evan's shoulder, "we go to this old orchard that me and my family use to go?"

"A-an old orchard?" Evan repeated, intrigued by the sudden idea.

"Yeah, you in?"

"U-uh, sure! I love yo—to! I'd love to!"

"Great! Uh, I'll meet you after school to go to your house," Connor said, noticing the people around them staring. It probably was strange to see Evan and Connor together, huh? "To know how to get there."

"H-huh? Y-you don't have to," Evan stuttered, as he gripped the textbook closer to his chest, finding comfort in occupying his hands with a book, "we can just go after school?"

"If we went after school," Connor replied, noticing that some students had a sort of look of disgust, of fear, which angered Connor.

"We would miss the awesome view at sunset," he ended, glaring at those who dared look at them with disgust, and then looking back at Evan with a smile.

"O-oh!"

He saw that Evan's face was kinda red, but he didn't really want him to start explaining all of it with panic, since he might have a panic attack, so he let it slide.

They both reached the class room, entering to find that a good half of the class was already there. Some chatting with others, some doing last minute homework, and some just doing their own stuff. Connor kind of pulled Evan to the back of the class, and the both sat down next to each other. Not that Evan would have refused, even if he had a choice.

"S-so, how does the orchard l-look like," Evan asked, placing his Geography textbook on the desk quietly, and then his bag leaning against the leg of the table.

"Hahaha, c'mon," Connor chuckled, jokingly punching Evan's shoulder, careful not to punch too hard as he might hurt his broken arm, "if I told you, I would ruin the experience."

"O-oh, f-fair point," Evan replied, getting a little more excited, now that Connor built it up, his expectations went up, "it must be really nice, huh?"

"Yeah, it's nice."

He saw Connor resting his head on his arm, a sort of reminiscent smile. "Been a while though, since I've been there."

Evan saw this and felt his face warm up at how Connor looked amazingly sweet, amazingly handsome, and he turned his head away to hide his red face. Connor noticed that Evan looked away, but didn't question it, again, in case it's an anxiety issue.

"Alright," their Geography teacher called out, grabbing the attention of the whole class, "take your seats, everyone. Class is going to start soon."

-----

It's lunch now, and Connor had to stay behind because apparently he burned some of the Math teacher's worksheets in the bin and hid it under his desk. He muttered something about the teacher being a huge dick, so he deserved it or something.

This made Evan think about trying to change Connor's behaviour to make him nicer.

Evan went and sit with Alana and Jared. Upon arriving at their table, Evan heard something about a cat, and Jared laughing loudly.

"Oh, hey, nerd," Jared called out, as Evan took a seat beside him. They've actually become a bit closer since the last summer break, Jared is very much protective over Evan, like an older brother, but he doesn't show it in public. Evan appreciates that Jared was at least nicer to him.

"Hello, Evan," Alana added in, her eyes filled with the same desire of spouting about something she most likely did over the summer.

"Hi," Evan replied timidly to the both of them, quietly taking out his water bottle from his book bag. He didn't buy anything from the stores as he was afraid to talk to the people manning the store.

"So..." Jared started, elongating the 'o's for a while, before breaking into an ear-to-ear grin, "how is your boyfriend?"

Evan looked at Jared. He kinda stared at him for a bit before realising what he said. Then, his face started to heat up, his hands gripping tightly at the textbooks in his bag.

"H-huh? What are you t-talking about," Evan responded, although it sounds more like a mesh of words.

Jared, used to Evan's often indecipherable way of talking, understood what he meant to say, and proceeded to tease him a bit more.

"You know," Jared started, giving a sort of evil look, "you two have been real close since yesterday."

At this point, Evan is shrinking behind his bag, trying to hide his body from the world.

"W-we're just friends," Evan said, trying his best not to hide behind his bag anymore. Instead he had a death grip on the textbooks.

Yeah, just friends, Evan thought, sad that they couldn't be more.

"Oh, Connor Murphy?"

Alana spoke, getting the attention of both of the boys. She smiled, and then proceeded to recite her speech in the same format as ever. First, she says that they were Chemistry lab partners back in 10th grade. Then, she will say that they were acquaintances, but never specifying if that meant that they were friends.

Evan wonders if Alana ever calls anyone her friend.

-----

"He threw it at my face, though," Connor countered, as he held on to the sling of his satchel. Evan and Connor were walking to Evan's home together, while Connor complained about gym class.

"Y-yeah, but did you r-really have to kick him in the shin?"

Connor stared at Evan, as if though the statement he made had the most obvious answer in the world.

"C-connor, he was c-crying," Evan added on, noticing the answer written on Connor's face, a look of remorselessness. "You made him skip the whole d-day of school."

"Well, he deserved it, didn't he?"

"H-how?"

Connor put his finger to his lip and stared at the sky, to show that he was thinking for a suitable enough reason to give Evan. He thought of something, and looked back at Evan with a casual look.

"Well, he was laughing at me when he threw the ball."

This made Evan rethink the entire situation. He stared at Connor, to try to find some sort of facial expression that could show that he lied, but was greeted with a look of geniunity as he faced away from Evan to focus on walking.

"O-oh, then I guess he did deserve it," Evan replied, seeing Connor smirk emerging. His face lit up at the mutual agreement. Evan, realising what he said was incredibly mean, started to correct himself out of habit.

"I'm sorry! Oh my gosh, that was so mean, I didn't mean to say it at all, it was just that he-he was laughing and if you kicked him, it would be fair trade and-"

"What are you sorry about? He was the one that kicked me, not you," Connor interrupted, getting a sorry in response. How counter productive.

"You know, I kinda didn't expect you," Connor chuckled, pointing to Evan to emphasise his point as Evan looked on, keeping quiet, "Evan Hansen, to diss anyone!"

A few seconds of silence passed.

"You wanna talk shit about him, don't you," Connor quietly whispered, giving Evan a sly look.

"Y-yes, very much so," Evan replied, quickly and even more quietly.

They both looked at each other at the same time, as Evan answered Connor's question. Evan once again tugged at his shirt's, unsure about what to do at this situation. Suddenly, they both started to laugh together.

They both just laughed, and any tension in the air immediately faded into nothingness, not that there even was any between the two.

It was then Connor noticed that they have been walking for a bit now. He reached into his pockets, bringing his phone out. Apparently it's been a good twenty minutes since they left school. That didn't feel like twenty minutes though.

"Oh, we're here," he heard Evan say. He glanced over to see a house. Not too shabby, actually. Granted, the paint marks on the walls were peeling off a bit.

"Oh, hey," Connor looked around, scanning the environment for clues to find his way to his house. That house there, across from Evan's house, he's seen it before. That house had these little feather things hanging by the porch. It's kinda like a tail of a bird or something. It's a good five minute drive from his house, and it always stood out to Connor, this ornament that seperate it from the other identical houses. "I've seen that house before."

"O-oh, you have," Evan asked, again, fumbling with his shirt.

"Yeah, I didn't expect you to live this close to me," Connor replied, turning back to Evan's house to have a good look to remember it.

"Alright," Connor looked at Evan, who seemed to be a bit nervous to be watching Connor, and subconsciously reached for his head and brushed his fingers through Evan's hair. "See you later, Ev."

It wasn't until a few seconds passed that Connor noticed what he was doing. He quickly removed his hand, throwing it to his side as he noticed how red Evan's face had gotten in the span of that few seconds.

"S-sorry! I wasn't paying attention," Connor excused himself, feeling his face warm up.

"I...uh, it's, um, fine," Evan timidly replied, his grip on his shirt's hem getting stronger and stronger as he tried to look down to hide his blushing face.

"U-uh, I'll be here to pick you up at 5," Connor added, unable to look Evan in the eyes. "Is that okay?"

He noticed that Evan looked up at Connor's direction out of the corner of his eye, before timidly looking back down.

"Y-yeah," Evan replied, a little softer. "S-see you then."

With that, Evan walked, or rather, rushed to his house, closing the door quickly.

Connor took this as a sign to walk home.

Each step back home was horribly filled with cringing at his actions. He was mentally slapping himself for doing what he did. Combing through Evan's hair? Not only that, but actually not realising for a couple of seconds?

"Urgh, Connor, you suck," he yelled at himself.

Meanwhile, Evan was having a mini panic attack.

He was not prepared for that at all. That he was going to be pet by Connor. It really didn't help that Connor was blushing as he looked away. Evan felt as if he was falling harder for Connor, and that was not good at all! They are going to go the the orchard later. The fact that he said to go because of the view made it sound romantic, and that certainly didn't make him feel any less stressed out.