It's a Thursday morning, before his mother went out for work, and he needed to ask his mom about the Friday lunch that they were invited to.

"Remember, honey," his mother cooed, holding Evan's hands and stared into his eyes, "get some food."

She was referring to Evan's anxiety. He almost never orders dinner as he was always to anxious to talk to the delivery person, or the apparent "awkward silence" as he counts the change. This is why Heidi has been giving Evan money to buy some food, to train him to be more familiar with the scene and less anxious. Even though Evan could not even begin to see how that would help.

"Y-yeah," Evan said, as he let his mother kiss him on the forehead, "I will."

"Oh, and mom?"

"Yes, Evan?"

"U-uh, you know Connor, right?"

"Yes, you've told me about him days ago. What about him, honey," she asked, walking around the house and searching for her keys as well as her purse. She was walking around quickly, so very panicked.

"U-um, his mom wanted to invite, uh, invite us over to their house tomorrow."

Heidi placed her phone in her purse, stopping in place after hearing that piece of news. She turned to Evan, her eyes widened as she slowly stood up straight. She gave herself a few more seconds to comprehend the new information.

Then, she smiled. She turned to Evan, and he could see the sparkles in her eyes as she walked over to Evan, the excitement.

"Oh, honey, that's wonderful!"

She paused, ferreting through her purse to look for something. She then pulled her phone out of her purse, and pressed a few buttons. Her eyes seemed to be scanning for something. The shifted from left to right, from up to down. Evan just stood in place, uncomfortable shifting the weight of his feet.

After a few seconds of glancing at her phone, Heidi looked up, her eyes filled with even more hope than before. A smile was implanted on her face.

"Okay, this is perfect. Tomorrow I don't have any work, but I would still have school. So I can stay until 6.30, latest."

Evan felt a huge sense of relief, as he relaxed. He gave Heidi a smile.

"Alright, okay. How about you tell Mrs Murphy that," she placed her phone in her bag, and walked to the door hurriedly, "we'll have lunch together?"

"Yeah, okay," Evan responded, earning another look of joy from his mom.

"Okay, I have to go now. Bye, Evan," Heidi said, before quickly leaving and leaving Evan to shout a quick bye.

Evan then turned his phone on, and quickly texted Connor.

｛My mom said that she'll only be able to stay till 6.30pm｝

｛so lunch?｝

Then he grabbed his bag, fidgeting with his cast as he went to search for his own keys. Oh, they're in the hooks beside the door. He quickly grabbed them and went back to his room, to grab that as well as his phone.

He saw the little WhatsApp notification, and swipped down, seeing Connor's name and 2 new messages beneath it. He then tapped it, which once again brought up the nature background.

｛lol ok｝

｛see ya｝

He giggled, and then pressed the side button on his phone, heading to school.

-----

"Connor!"

Evan called out, feeling a sense of happiness as he spotted Connor's signature long, messy hair. Jared, shaking his head and acknowledging that Evan had such a giant crush on Connor with a smile, followed behind.

"Sup," Jared said, giving all sorts of random hand gestures satirically to imitate a gangster. All Connor did in response was give a nod, as if to show acknowledgement.

"You know, Connor," Jared spoke, as the three of them walked to their classes, "I don't like you at all."

"Feelings mutual," Connor replied without a single hint of hesitation, which made Evan feel uncomfortable to be in the middle of their bickering. Jared gave him a glare, his eyes pouring all sorts of animosity towards Connor. He gave off a sense of anger, even though his face still held a smile, albeit forced.

"So, I don't want to see Evan crying cuz of you, got it?" Jared finished, a dull, hateful glare aimed completely at Connor. Evan was terrified, wondering if a fight was about to break out between the two. He looked from Jared, whose face bore a look of animosity, to Connor, who had a mixture of shock and anger.

"You think I'd hurt Evan," he asked with a heavy sense of sarcasm, returning the glare of animosity with his own, "I'll literally protect him with my life."

Evan felt his face warm up at the thought of Connor hugging him, protecting him from anyone almost just like a significant other. At first, he was extremely happy that Connor cared so much for him.

Then, his mind wondered to the worst possible thoughts. How Connor might wind up dead because of how horrible Evan was. How Connor would go out of his way to be harmed, for the sake of someone as broken as he had been.

"D-don't say that, Connor," Evan responded, feeling his eyes starting to have tears threatening to fall and he desperately blinked them back. Connor noticed this behaviour, and his expression soften. He turns to Evan, absolutely sorry for suggesting that he'd hurt himself even though they had just talked about how they shouldn't be.

"N-no, no," Connor said, waving his hands in front of himself to show denial as he saw Evan staring into his eyes, "I'm so sorry, Ev! I didn't mean that at all!"

"Y-yeah, okay," Evan replied, relieved that Connor was not going to kill himself for Evan's sake, which was such a huge relief for him. He would be extremely devastated if Connor had left him alone.

Jared witnessed the exchange between the two and smiled. He noticed how Evan had been significantly calmer with Connor's presence, almost similarly to how he acts with Jared himself. It was difficult to earn Evan's trust like that, Jared thought, feeling much safer that Connor had been able to earn that trust.

"Right, you guys aren't dating," Jared rolled his eyes, questioning their stance mockingly, "and I'm not Jared. I'll go to class to leave you two love birds alone, cool?"

-----

Evan was much more anxious than normal. He paced around his room, trying not to be overwhelmed with the feeling.

Today's the day. That Friday. The day he had been invited to go over to Connor's house, along with his mother.

The whole event sounded awkward to Evan. Nerve-racking, that's for sure. He has to dress up nicely, going over to the Murphy's and sitting down next to his family and answering the little icebreakers. Everything is going to be awkward.

He would have to pretend that he didn't have an obvious crush on Connor, all while pretending to be better with other people while his mother stared at him.

What if he made a fool of himself? What if he accidentally did something that cause them to hate him, and make Connor hate him? What if-

"Evan, honey! Are you done?"

That was his mom. She snapped him out of his trance of criticising himself. He noticed that he was just staring at the full body mirror in his room, his eyes dull, with tears in the corner of his eyes. His right hand was subconsciously gripping at his cast, and his left at his polo T-shirt he had to change out of.

"Oh, s-sorry, Mom! Give me a bit more time!"

Evan calmed himself, taking in deep breaths. After being a little better, he quickly took off his polo T-shirt, walking over to his closet and scanning through all his clothes. Evan didn't exactly have a lot of clothes that were formal, since they were always the more expensive ones. So, he was relatively surprised to find this thin jacket, black in colour, hiding in his closet. He thought it looked cool, and it actually seemed and smelt clean.

He took that and wore it over a blue button up, along with jeans. He then proceeded to stare at the full body mirror, and see how it all fit together.

It seemed amazing, honestly. It made him look gorgeous, if he did say so himself. He grabbed his satchel, stuffing it with his wallet, keys, phone, medication just in case of a panic attack and a bottle of water.

He then opened the door, to see his mom in this dark blue v-neck, necklaces that were draped around her neck, with a gray pair of opaque tights. On her shoulder, her brown purse. She seemed happy and extremely excited to be meeting with his friend's family.

"Oh, I'm so excited, Evan," she exclaimed, both walking out the front door and smiling to each other, "our first little outing with your friend!"

Evan felt excited to be hanging out with Connor again, although it was a bit nerve wracking to be at your crush's house and not make a fool of yourself.

"So," Heidi was in the process of calming her excitement, regaining her mature front, "where's Connor?"

Evan was looking at the road, trying his best to spot a certain car specified by Connor, while he replied to his mother, "Uh, he should be here soon."

Speak of the devil, a black car drove up to were they were, beside the curb and leaving skid marks where the car was driven to. The car door window rolled down, Connor peeking out. Evan saw that he wore a plain white T-shirt, with his usual black jacket he alternates when his hoodie is washing, with a blue beanie holding back most of his hair. One arm hung outside the car door, the other on the driver's wheel.

Evan felt his face heat up, his heart beating faster. Connor looked natural.

Natural handsome.

Anyways.

"Oh, hi there," Heidi stretched out her left arm, expecting a handshake from him, "Connor, right?"

Connor reached the hand hanging out his car window to shake Heidi's hand, giving her a kind smile as he replied, "Right, nice to meet you, Mrs Hansen."

So his mom took the first step down the curb, trying to loop over to the other side in order to get to the passenger's seat next to Connor, but was stopped by Evan.

"Uh, Mom," Evan gripped zip at the end of the jacket, nervously twisting and turning it out of habit of keeping his hands occupied when he felt nervous, "can I, uh, sit with Connor?"

Heidi was surprised. Evan isn't usually one to try to make requests like these without giving an excuse for himself, so she waited for a few seconds. Evan didn't say anything. All he did was continue gripping at his jacket, looking at Heidi for an answer. She realised that Evan wasn't going to say anything else, so she smiled at how much more confident he had become.

"Yes, of course, honey," Heidi replied, seeing Evan light up with joy and opened the car door to sit next to Connor. She herself opened the back door, sitting on the leathery seat and slamming the car door on her way in.

So the whole ride, Evan was grinning, talking to Connor while the sound of a two male singers harmonising beautifully from the radio filled the background, as Connor replied with a small smile. Heidi felt so happy, just watching her son talk to Connor. He seemed so genuinely happy, so joyful for the first time in years. That level of happiness rarely surfaced. As a mother, she was ecstatic to have Connor take care of her son while she's not around.

-----

"Coming!"

Zoe got up from the couch, walking over from the couch to the front door, opening it to find Connor standing with Evan and his mom.

"Oh, Evan and Mrs Hansen," Zoe noted politely, and gestured for them to come in, "please come in!"

The three walked into the house, Connor going to the kitchen to find his mom cooking up some food, while Evan and Heidi sat at their couch. Chicken soup, it seemed like. It smelt quite heavenly too.

"Oh, Connor," Cynthia noticed that he entered the kitchen and called out to him, "can you help me beat the eggs?"

Connor didn't look like it, but he can actually cook. So, he frequently helps his mother cook. This is why Cynthia could ask Connor without doubt.

Connor went over to the sink, rinsed his hands and went over to the refrigerator to grab the eggs.

"How many," he asked, opening the door to the refrigerator. What stared back at him was a gust of cold air, and an almost fully stacked fridge filled with ingredients.

"Let's see, four should be enough," Cynthia responded, as she turned the dial on the stove, setting the flame that heated up the soup to a smaller one so as to not boil the soup and over steam the meat inside. She then moved on to mincemeat, while Connor proceeded to swiftly crack four eggs into a bowl. He took hold of a fork, too lazy to find himself a whisk, and started beating the egg.

—————

Evan felt his mouth water, smelling the brilliant scent of the food cooking in the kitchen. He and his mom had been on their couch watching the television, while Heidi striked a conversation with Zoe. Somehow, they manage to talk about their similar tastes in Nickelback, which was beyond Evan. All he noticed was that he was very much hungry. His stomach felt painful, as the scent of the food became unbearable.

Connor emerged from the kitchen. A white apron over his outfit and without a beanie, with his hair tied up in a messy bun and beads of perspiration all over his face. In his hand, two dishes. One with what seemed like scrambled eggs, with a sprinkle of mint on top, and the other with fried minced meat on lettuce.

Although he was extremely hungry, he didn't focus on the food. He focused on Connor instead. He looked amazing, like always. Connor placed the plates swiftly on the table, and returned into the kitchen, with Evan staring at him love struck.

-----

Both moms sat next to each other, so that they could talk more and get to know each other more. Zoe sat on Connor's right, and Evan at Connor's left.

"Hi, Mrs Hansen, I'm Cynthia," Cynthia greeted politely and enthusiastically, holding her hand out for a handshake, "sorry I couldn't get to greet you earlier! My husband couldn't make it because he's working, but I hope I've manage to make it comfortable enough."

"Oh, of course, Cynthia," Heidi replied with the same amount of enthusiasm, shaking Cynthia's hand, "call me Heidi."

Now, the mothers where just chatting about whatever, while their children quietly ate their food.

"So," Zoe spoke up, getting rather bored as she pushed her plate forward to show that she finished hers, "Evan. Connor."

Evan heard her voice, freaked out and piped up out of fear, a squeak in his voice.

"Y-YES, yes," Evan squeaked, looking up from his plate hastily to look at Zoe, seeing Connor turn to look at Zoe as well.

"You both wanna go play some games or something," she asked, a neutral look to the whole situation. Evan thought about it sincerely. They all finished their plate, and he was full.

"U-uh, yeah," he replied, smiling, "w-why not."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Connor have this small look of shock. It was barely noticable, but he was observant. He would have to ask Connor about that later.

"C-connor," Evan now faced Connor, feeling his face heat up at how he looked as he still had his hair up in a bun, "what about, uh, what about you?"

"Yeah," he replied, "I'm down."

And the three of them collectively stood up, and walked over to the stairway up to Zoe's room. Despite the sudden emptiness of the dinner table, the moms were still chatting.

They all went up a flight of stairs and reached a brown door, the word "Zoe" on a plaque hung on it. She twisted the door knob and open, her room considerably more colourful than the white walls outside. The room was a light blue, with the occasional sprinkle of colour from posters that stood out. In the corner at the opposite of the room, he could see two guitars, along with a black file with little pieces of paper sticking out. Probably her file for music scores. Over on her bed, he saw a bunch of stuffed toys, including a giant Totoro doll.

Evan, acting like the little child he is, felt his body move towards the doll. He then proceeded to jump on it and hug it with all his might, feeling it's soft fur rub against his arms.

"Oh, it's so fluffy," he exclaimed, looking over to Connor and Zoe with a bright smile. He noticed that both of them were shocked, Connor with a slight blush. Evan had looked adorable. After all, he's this seventeen year old hugging a giant Totoro doll, wrapping his legs and arms around it with a bright smile.

Evan looked at both of them, seeing Zoe start to giggle as Connor looked away to stop himself from smiling. He then looked at himself, and immediately felt his face heat up from embarrassment. He then quickly retracted his arms and legs, sitting up in Zoe's bed and stuttering out an excuse.

"O-oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to that, I just thought that it was cute! I can't believe I just did that!"

At this point, he's unable to look at either of them directly in their eyes, so his eyes wondered around the room.

"I-it's fine, honestly," Zoe replied to his endless scrambling, still laughing.

"Yeah," Connor added in, managing to stop himself from laughing too much, "I think it's glad to be hugged."

-----

"So this is happening," Connor said, chuckling a bit as he looks at Zoe and Evan. Right now, Zoe is looking up lyrics to the song 'Symphony' by Clean Bandit while Evan searched for the lyrical video. Somewhere during the game session, it was discovered that Evan loved singing. So now, Zoe, as a member of a jazz band and thus can sing very well, is asking Evan to harmonise with him, which got Evan really excited.

"Alright, you have the lyrics?"

"Y-yeah."

"Let's go!"

Zoe played the video, which had the song playing while the lyrics flashed on screen. The grand entrance of instruments tuning soon started sounding, followed by the voice of the singer.

Zoe started singing along, nailing the high notes and riffs, belting without care. Slowly, Evan got into the flow of her singing and he started to harmonise at appropriate parts. Evan personally loved harmonising. It was relatively easy, as he had a good sense of pitch, and his vocal range was not bad either, so it made them sound absolutely beautiful.

Connor heard him harmonise with Zoe, and instantly fell in love with his voice. It was amazing, as with Zoe's. The fact that he had this talent made Connor impressed. So, he felt saddened to hear Evan harmonise with her perfectly, and then immediately pointed to himself to say, "that's bad, sorry," with a chuckle.

Soon the song was over, and Connor clapped out of genuine mesmerisation.

"Evan," Zoe exclaimed, gripping his shoulders and shaking him back and forth, "you were amazing!"

"Yeah," Connor added in, grinning, "you were fucking good."

"N-nah, Zoe was the one who was amazing," he replied, blushing at Connor's compliment and gripped the edge of his jacket.

Internally, he was screaming.