So, Connor is stressed at the moment.

He is preparing for a little picnic for the both of them. Found a little picnic basket, managed to get the picnic blanket as well. He decided to stop by a 7-11 to get some sandwiches, since he didn't really have any spreads.

Now, his outfit.

What would he wear?

Earlier, he texted Evan about the little picnic thing, which took Evan a while to reply as he kept typing something, but then rethinking on it. He told Connor that he'd love to have a picnic, which briefly made Connor have this sudden urge to protect him?

Whatever.

Right. His outfit.

He was currently swimming his way through a sea of dark clothes. He had thrown all his clothes out to find something sensible, but to no avail.

He searched, until he heard some footsteps echoing near him. To his right. They were loud, and then they got closer and closer.

"Connor, can you help me with my make-up-"

The footsteps halted at the door.

He lifted his head up from the sea of clothes and looked towards his door, his sister standing in the doorway with a make-up set in left hand, a brush on her right and eye shadow on her right eye that was too thick of a layer.

She stared at Connor, a neutral look.

"Wow," was all she said.

Connor gave her sister a look of unamusment.

"Help."

He saw Zoe's eyes widen a bit, before returning to her neutral look. She blinked a few times, stared at the sea of clothes once more and looked back at Connor.

"Right, okay," she replied, walking over to Connor and placing her make-up set on his table as she passed by it. She helped Connor find a nice looking shirt, while she asked short questions.

"Is it Evan?"

Connor nodded.

"How important," she quickly asked again, before adding, "to you."

"Very."

Zoe stared at him, giving a sort of glare. Connor immediately got what she mean, and elaborated on what he meant.

"Let's see," Connor mumbled, thinking of the perfect way to phrase his words, "'I broke my guitar on the day of the performance and I need a new one now', important?"

"Oh geez," Zoe responded, impressed by how much this specific outing meant to Connor. "Alright then, how fancy?"

This took a moment more to think.

A trip to the orchard definitely isn't tuxedo fancy, but it still should be relatively fancy, right? How exactly is that supposed to be described?

"Oh," Connor thought that he should just tell her it was a picnic. That way, the expectation should be obvious, "it's a picnic."

Zoe had a neutral look during this entire exchange, up to this point. To this point, her lips curled upwards, revealing a smirk as well as her suggestive stare.

"What's that look for?"

Zoe's smile only got wider, as amusement became more evident.

"Date with Evan?"

Connor stared at Zoe, a look of unamusment. Suddenly, the realisation slapped him across the face. His mind reviewed all of the actions from the moment they became friends, to that point. They started chatting, walking by each other to class, sitting together. For fuck's sake, Connor pet his head. Of course people were going to think that they were dating. Of course Zoe was gonna think that, which is why she would even think of it as a date.

Connor felt his face heat up, as his sister proceeded to snicker, quite loudly.

"N-no, Zoe," Connor defended, his lips felt empty, like he forgot how to speak English. Like his mouth suddenly gave up on moving altogether, "it's just an outing."

Zoe continued snickering, but she knew that she shouldn't push it any further than that. Otherwise, Connor might start punching holes in the walls.

"Alright, alright," she stated, pointing back to the shirts strewn all over the ground, "let's pick you a shirt."

-----

"Alright, so why exactly am I here?"

Jared asked, as he stared at Evan, who was pacing up and down with a more than obvious blush on his face as he gripped the hem of his shirt nervously.

"Jared, I have no-no idea what to do, and I'm freaking out right now, I can't even think properly-"

Evan was muttering to himself. He felt panicky. He was panicking. He didn't have a good grip on his breathing right now. He tried to take in air, but felt nothing take in. It's just a rising and falling of his chest. He felt his hearing go deaf. He could not hear what Jared was saying anymore. His legs were weak. They gave way, and he slid down. He expected to feel his body drop on the floor, but he felt someone grip his arms and waist.

He felt something go over his mouth, something noisy. Kind of like paper? He couldn't focus on looking at anything right now. Whatever it was, it helped a lot. As he started to take in the air through this paper thing, he started hearing again. Jared's voice was soothing.

"Don't worry, breathe. I got you. I'm here."

Jared was holding Evan up, but he decided that he would feel better closer to the ground, so he slowly slid both their bodies to the ground.

Evan felt his hearing and breathing come back to him, and noticed that Jared was still holding the paper bag over his mouth.

Slowly, his breathing slowed down. He started to calm down, his heart beating slower and slower. He started to relax. Jared was sliding his hand down Evan's back in slow strokes, as if to comfort Evan.

The thing is, Jared has done this many times before. Dealing with Evan's sudden panic attacks. That's why he carries a paper bag everywhere he goes. He knows panic attacks can happen anytime, since anything could be stressful enough to give Evan one.

Soon, Jared led Evan to his bed. They both sat up, shoulder to shoulder.

"You feeling better, Evan?"

"Y-yeah," Evan weakly responded, trying to control his breathing a bit, "sorry about that."

Jared had a look of sadness, which was natural. He didn't like that Evan apologised for something he couldn't control.

"No," Jared whispered, leaning in and wrapping his arms around Evan, "don't be sorry."

To Evan, this is how he finds comfort. He needs someone to hug him so that he calms down. So that he can calm his nerves. Since Jared has done this so many times, Evan now finds comfort in Jared's hugs. So, he hugs back.

Jared, trying to lighten the mood, broke the hug and grinned at Evan, "So, what did you want to tell me?"

Evan breathed in, and tried his best to say what he wanted to say calmly.

"I, uh, s-so, uh, Connor! H-he, uh, he asked me, uh..."

Evan felt Jared hold his hand. He squeezed it to show that Evan could grip it if he felt nervous. Evan, noticing the squeeze, relaxed his shoulder. He found that his nervousness was easing away, thanks to his hand.

"He, uh, he asked me to a picnic," Evan started, his hands instinctively squeezing Jared's, "at this old orchard his family used to go to."

"Okay," Jared started to smirk, as he felt the tension in the air die down, "so you are going on a date. Continue."

Evan felt his face burn up, and he squeezed Jared's hand a bit tighter.

"J-Jared!"

"Okay, okay! So you're worried about your clothes?"

"W-well, no."

Jared looked on, seeing that Evan was nervous again. He instantly knew Evan was going to confess something, and Jared urged him to tell him, without being to forceful.

"I have to t-tell you something, Jared."

"Evan, you can tell me anything."

Evan let out a sigh of preparation, muttering 'okay's quietly to himself to boost his confidence, to the point he can tell Jared. All Jared did was watch him quietly, to pick up any signs of his anxiety worsening. His eyes glanced around, attentive.

"The reason I'm worried," Evan whispered, "is because I'm i-in love with Connor."

Jared looked at Evan, mystified. Then, the mystified look morphed into amusement, then to acknowledgement.

"Oh, I see!"

Jared was thinking to himself for a quick second, and then spoke again.

"Okay, so you like Connor? I thought it was Zoe," Jared looked at Evan, and smiled at him. It was a genuine smile, "thanks, Evan. I know it was hard for you to tell me, but you did it anyways."

Now, Jared was gushing like a mother at her child.

"Oh, I'm so proud of my baby," Jared said, which would make Evan blush out of embarrassment. Jared was strangely a mix of a mother and a brother, which was just weird to think about.

Then, they both laughed.

"Okay," Jared smiled, standing up and walking over to the closet in front of them. He gripped onto the handle, and slid the door open, revealing all of Evan's clothes, "let's get my baby some nice clothes to wear!"

"Jared!"

"Hahaha, sorry, Evan. But really, Connor Murphy? That's a strange choice," Jared said, as he dug his hands into the shirts that hang on a pole on a hanger, "bad boys, huh?"

At this point, Evan's face was completely red.

"Sorry, Evan," Jared said, pulling out a blue button up shirt to consider. "But, you have to admit that that sounds like a date."

"That's the thing!" Evan exclaimed as Jared placed the blue button up back onto the rack, staring at the selection of clothes once more, "it sounds like a date, and I am not ready!"

Evan buried his face in his hands, to avoid staring at Jared any longer with his beet red face. He could hear Jared chuckling, very loudly as well, which made him feel even more anxious about the little 'date'.

No, not date.

It's not a date.

Nope, just friends on an outing.

...

Right?

Jared now pulled out a darker blue T-shirt, that was just a plain dark blue shirt, no design, no words. He then reached for the blue button up again, and smiled.

He pulled both these shirts out and threw them at Evan, who managed to catch them by impromptu.

"Right," Jared said, pointing to the plain blue T-shirt, "put that on, and then," -his finger shifted over to the button up- "put that on without buttoning it up."

Then, Jared left the room. He knows how conscious Evan is about his body, so he left for him to start changing. And so, Evan followed his instructions, and started dressing. After he put on everything, he stared at himself in the mirror, mystified.

"Okay, I'm done," Evan called out to Jared, who then opened the door and walked in, to see Evan admiring how he looked in the full body mirror.

"Oh, hey," Jared looked at Evan, glancing up and down, "you look great!"

"Yeah," Evan was smiling. He really did look good, and for the first time in a while, he felt confident in his looks, "thanks to you, Jared."

"No," Jared frowned, holding Evan's shoulders with his hands so that Evan was now facing him and looking at him, "you should be more confident, Evan."

"You look great, and it's all cuz you are great!"

Once again, Evan smiled. He then went over and hugged Jared, who hugged back.

"Now, let's make your date drool," Jared proudly proclaim, as Evan blushed heavily, hiding his head in his hands when he heard Jared call Connor his date.

-----

They heard a doorbell, in the midst of them playing a multiplayer game Jared found recently. Evan's face was red from laughing, and Jared was just concentrating.

"O-oh, that must be Connor," Evan spoke, which became more of a whisper as his mind went to the word date again. He took a deep breath, stood up and made his way towards the door. He had to take a second, hand gripping the handle before pushing down on it and revealing Connor, who was wearing a long sleeved shirt with a black torso and gray sleeves with blue jeans, and hung a picnic basket from his arm.

"Oh, hey, Ev."

Evan was about to respond, if not for the 'ooo pet names?' comment from Jared.

"Oh, hello to you too, fuckmen."

This prompted Jared to flip Connor off.

"A-anyways," Evan interrupted their bickering, mentally face palming, "l-let's go."

"Uh, yeah."

Evan walked out of his house and stood next to Connor, and noticed that Jared had abruptly stood up from the couch they were on just a while ago, and was making his way to the two of them.

"Oh, wait, wait," Jared walked to the entrance, and stared at the two of them.

"Have fun, you two!" Jared waved at both of them, and then glared at Connor, "Evan better still have his virginity when he gets back here, Connor."

This made the both of them blush heavily, with Evan trying his best to stutter out something to deny that claim and Connor looking away to avoid eye contact.