It's been awhile since that little bonding time with the four of them. Evan still could not help but feel extremely intrigued about one particular sentence during the bonding session. This feeling of wanting something made all the lessons in the day feel longer, feel more torturous. His mind kept repeating the same words over and over again in his mind.

It was about Connor's crush.

Connor said that he was gonna tell him after the bonding session was over, but it never happened. Connor kept that little secret to himself. It made Evan extremely curious and the fact that Connor had not told him tore him up. So, fueled by his determination to find out, he had enlisted Jared for help. Not the best choice, but that's all he's got.

Jared was about to open his locker when he felt a yank from someone. He turned around to see Evan, once again glancing over his shoulder to make sure no one was looking, acting extremely suspicious.

"Oh my god," he said, facepalming and chuckling, "are we having another bonding time?"

Evan shook his head and leaned forward to whisper his thoughts to Jared. He was listening in, giving his full attention to Evan as Evan spewed his ridiculous thought. Evan spilled about how he wanted to know about Connor's crush, completely avoiding to tell him about when he was told this.

"Wait, huh," Jared asked, going back to opening his locker as class was going to start soon, "why do you want to know?"

"It's his business, right," he added on, remembering not to say his name out loud so that Evan did not freak out.

"Y-yeah, I know," Evan mumbled, trying to think of some sort of excuse that would not let Jared know that Connor had told him, "I-I, uh, I'm j-just very curious. Yeah, that."

He smiled nervously, as Jared raised a brow. Jared then rolled his eyes, letting out a chuckle.

"Alright. I'll help."

Jared was reaching into his locker to grab the Biology textbook, when he felt Evan tug on his sleeves once more, frantically so.

"D-don't, um, don't straight up ask him either," Evan added on, once again pulling at the hem of his shirt out of habit.

"He's not exactly straight, Evan."

"J-Jared, focus," he replied, exasperated, "I don't want him to find out that I had asked."

"Okay," Jared acknowledged, locking up his locker and shifting the textbook in his hand, "I'll be undercover."

He swiped his hands away from himself, squinting his eyes and slowly tried to slink away, as if to emphasise that he was gonna be secretive ironically as he's making himself much more obvious. This action just made Evan facepalm, although he was laughing at Jared's actions as well.

"Hey, Ev," Connor greeted, walking up behind Evan with a smile, "Jared."

Jared gave him a quick salute and walked away to his class, giving Evan a smile before rushing towards class. This left Evan standing awkwardly next to Connor. He nervously glanced up at Connor, noticing how Connor was quite a bit taller than him, how he seemed perfect to hug. He noticed his eyes. Wow, they were pretty. Evan stared at Connor, a mystified look on his face and practically ignoring everything around him.

"Dude, you're spacing out," he called out, knocking Evan's forehead gently with his knuckle, his palm facing away from Evan. Evan felt the soft knock, which snapped him out of his trance of admiring his crush's face.

"O-oh," he quickly replied, looking away from Connor, "yeah, um, sorry."

Connor noticed that Evan seemed more distracted. This made him extremely worried. He did not know what Evan was considering in his head, so he was scared that Evan was planning on a suicide attempt again. He frowned, determined to try and stay close to Evan to check on him.

-----

It was lunch, and Connor had not been with him.

Again, Connor had hit someone. This time, the excuse was very much valid that Evan had to excuse him. He had heard from Alana, who had been in his Chemistry class, that there was this guy, Robert was his name? He had been teasing Connor all day. Commenting on how he was a weirdo, throwing in slurs and such. Finally, as class ended, he slurred about something which greatly ticked Connor off. Connor even gave him a final warning, she said, before he swung at Robert.

Evan glanced over beside him out of habit, realising that Connor had not been there to smile back at him, Connor had not been there to keep him company. That got him thinking. He realised that Connor had been unexpectedly closer to him. All day, he had been close to Evan in any way possible when they had classes together. Evan thought that he was probably just being paranoid.

He was replaying all of the scenes where this was true. During Geography class, Connor sat beside Evan. Evan would notice out of the corner of his eyes that Connor had been taking occasional glances at him.

He suddenly felt a tap on his shoulders, which made him flinch. He looked towards the direction of the tapping, and saw that Jared was there. In his hands, he held a tray of the cafeteria food. He had the most irritated look on his face.

"Dude, what the hell," he exclaimed, as he set down his tray full of the cafeteria's strange food choices. Is that asparagus or something? There was some sort of green...thing? It looked like a pile of goo.

"W-what," Evan asked, thinking he himself did something wrong. He could feel the apologies in his mouth as he continued to wait for Jared to answer.

"Connor was literally all over you today," he replied, sitting down a tad bit aggressively to show his mild infuriation, "what happened?"

"I-I, um, I don't know," he muttered out, leaning his head on his palms as his arms supported the weight of his head on the table, "but I, um, I thought I was just i-imagining things."

"Well, what now," he asked, picking up a fork to poke at the green substance on his tray. He felt himself cringe at the repulsing look and feeling of this food, "we can discuss a plan since he isn't here."

Evan thought about a plan, but his mind was blank. He had not actually thought of an idea before asking Jared for help. He was kind of hoping that Jared would come up with several.

"I-uh-I don't really have one," Evan muttered. Jared gave himself a few moments to think, and then his face lit up. He opened his mouth to tell Evan, only to someone interrupt them. Connor had just arrived.

"Hey, Ev, Jared," he greeted, making Jared immediately shut his mouth and Evan nervously greeting back, "what were you two chatting about?"

Jared, immediately realising that Evan will most likely cave in to the pressure of making up a lie, stepped in to make sure that they continue keeping the plan a secret.

"Evan was talking about the bathbomb thing."

That got Connor smiling.

"Oh, why," he asked, trying his very best to cover the grin that was stuck on his face.

"I don't know, maybe he was curious if I did," Jared replied, quickly giving Evan a wink to signify for Evan to follow through with his lie, "even though I told everyone I don't."

"B-but," Evan fake-countered, to make it more realistic, "they said they, um, they saw you doing that!"

"I told you," Jared replied, personally glad that they were able to pull off a lie. Connor was pretty difficult to lie to, since he was rather observant, "it was my aunt."

Connor snickered, which made both Jared and Evan heave a sigh of relief.

"Haha, I didn't really believe it," Connor added in, chuckling, "since those things will kill you if you eat them."

Evan, noticing a perfect way for them to end this specific fake argument with what Connor just said, spoke up, "yeah, I guess that's true. S-sorry, Jared."

"Yeah," Jared replied, a sigh of relief that the lie went through, "glad that's over with."

-----

Connor started noticing a strange behaviour about Evan from that lunch onward. For this whole week, Connor had been trying to stay near Evan, but he noticed that Evan had been shying away, even though he usually stays with him.

This made Connor start jumping to conclusion. First, he was trying to get away to find an opportunity to harm himself. He thought that was definitely it, until he thought about it logically. Evan wouldn't want to kill himself, mostly because he would flinch at the thought of an inanimate object pretend-dying. For him to want to try it, again? Yeah, that didn't sound like him at all.

Then the second conclusion. He's gotten tired of Connor. This was the one he was the most scared of. The fact that Evan would try to get away from Connor hurt him emotionally. Evan was his best friend, granted he didn't really have that many he called friends, but he was still his best friend nonetheless. If he wished to stop being friends, maybe they should talk about it.

And so, he decided to confront Evan.

It was the last day of the week, school had just ended. He rushed out of his class, his brows furrowed, his hands balled into fists. He was more than angry. He was furious. Why was he trying to avoid him that much?

He glanced at the hall. It was quickly becoming empty, and he soon spotted Evan by his signature white cast, moving his textbooks into his locker. Connor walked up to him, and then placed his hand on his shoulder. Connor noticed that Evan flinched a lot more than usual, so he took note to be a lot more gentle with his taps.

"Oh, um, hi," Evan quietly muttered, shutting his locker and locking it up.

"Can you follow me?"

"O-oh, um, yeah okay."

With that, Connor completely let go of Evan, and just started walking. Evan, flustered that Connor was starting to walk away, quickly gripped onto the sling on his backpack and swiftly ran behind Connor.

"C-connor," Evan asked timidly as he was being led away by Connor, who felt like his heart was being shredded into pieces just hearing him call his name after his assumption of the ending of their friendship. He kept quiet, just walking and leading Evan to the centre of the school for his confirmation.

"W-what happened?"

Once more, he kept quiet.

Finally, he led then both to the centre of the school. Right in front of the giant tree in the middle of a small little garden. He spun around to face Evan. He felt his heart hurt, pounding against his ears. His entire body was uncomfortable, unable to feel comfort in knowing that Evan possibly hated him

"...C-connor?"

"Why," he spoke, but instead shouted. That shocked both of them, but mostly Connor. He must have a lot more pent up rage about this than he had previously thought. He took a deep breath, and let it out, feeling his heart calm down a bit now.

"Why," he repeated, much quieter now, "have you been trying to avoid me?"

He saw Evan's face morph from a look of confusion, to pure horror. He noticed this, and kept spilling all his emotions onto Evan out of impulse.

"I've been trying my fucking hardest to, to be your friend, and you're just gonna fucking abandon me," he asked, noticing that he had been raising his voice. He felt more rage behind his words, more sadness in his heart, more tears threatening to pour.

"Am I that bad," he asked, immediately seeing Evan flinch as if someone stabbed him with knives, and then twisted them while pushing them further in. It looked as if he was personally hurt by those four words, the look of sadness from Evan that Connor absolutely hated seeing.

"Do you...am I...just someone you can throw away just like that," Connor raised his voice again, and then saw a flash of anger on Evan's face. A glare, something he had not expected Evan to be capable of doing.

"Connor!" Evan shouted, making both of them flinch. The shout from the shy and timid Evan shocked both of them, enough to make them both quiet.

"D-do you really think that I don't want you as a friend? How do you think I feel," Evan asked, throwing all the pent up rage from years after years of being ignored, being abandoned onto Connor.

"But you-"

"I freaking like you, Connor! That's why I avoided you. I wanted to find out who your crush is, so I can help you get with whoever they are," he exclaimed, tears threatening to fall.

Evan felt his face burn up, his chest burned and hurt more than ever before. He felt his mouth moving on it's own, admitting his feelings to Connor without a hint of hesitation.

"...Because I know I'll never get a chance, that's why," he ended. Saying that out loud really made him realise the situation he's in. That made him extremely sad, that that was his current situation. Unrequited love. His legs didn't feel strong enough to stand on their own, feeling as if they were bound to give in soon.

"Th-that's...why," he repeated his own words again, feeling tears flow down his cheek. He sunk to the ground, covering his face with his palms, as tears fell.

And then he remembered the dream. Connor's eyes burning with anger. He felt the fear of rejection. The words were still so very evident in his mind.

I will never love you.

Evan felt so afraid of that outcome.

Connor felt so guilty. He felt so fucking guilty that he had made Evan feel so sad, so insecure, so depressed, over something that was so very wrong. He looked up at Evan, noticing that he himself had been looking down, and he realised that Evan was gone. He wasn't in front of him anymore.

And so he ran.

He ran and ran, looking into classrooms, scanning the entire canteen, looking into the toilets, searching his way blindly into the supply closet, all while pushing past students to see any blue shirt, any brown hair, any white cast with black ink, anything at all. At this point, he wasn't even in control of his body. His body was moving on it's own, not that he was complaining anyways. He needed to focus on finding Evan.

He climbed up the stairs, rushing his way past teachers, and reached the roof. His hands immediately gripped the knob and threw open the door, the fresh air and wind blew in his face. For the first time in that thirty minutes of searching, he paused, he relaxed, he stopped moving.

He found Evan.

He was hunched over, his back against the bricks of the area which sheltered the stairwell. His shoulders hitched. He had been crying, Connor concluded.

He said nothing, and walked over to sit beside him. He could hear his soft sobbing, and it seemed like he was trying to hide his crying.

"Look, Evan," he spoke, reaching his hand around Evan's shoulders, pulling Evan's head up and resting it on his shoulders, gently ruffling his hair and just feeling how soft it was as the quiet wind blew in the background, "I'm sorry."

Evan looked up. His eyes were red. There were streaks of tears from his eyes to his chin. Connor bit his lip, mentally cursing himself for making him cry.

"N-no," he replied, softly. His voice was filled with sadness, which made Connor hate himself even more for causing it, "I'm sorry, for, um, shouting at you."

"Why are you sorry," Connor exclaimed, noticing that his tone made Evan flinch and he immediately quieten down, "I'm the one who didn't fucking tell you anything. It's my fault."

Evan kept quiet, enjoying his time on Connor's shoulder and trying his best to stop crying while Connor gently pet his head and ruffled his hair.

After ten minutes, both had calmed down, Evan still leaning on Connor's shoulder. Evan was finally able to breathe without hitching his breath. Connor also managed to stop himself from crying with him.

"So," Connor spoke, but his voice hoarse and it came out more of a weak whisper, but Evan heard him perfectly, "I think I have something to tell you."

"Y-yeah, um, please do."

"I, um," Connor sheepishly smiled at Evan, a light blush on his face, "I have a crush on you, Evan."

Evan blinked. He looked up at Connor slowly, still trying to process the information he just learned. He blinked again. Then his face heat up.

He quickly leaned away from Connor, extremely taken aback by what he had just said. He tried to talk but his voice wouldn't work. He took a deep breath, and tried his best to stop shaking from excitement, even though he couldn't stop.

"...what," he managed to stammer out, a weak voice with a hint of voice breaking.

Connor looked Evan directly in the eyes, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him closer to him. The sudden eye contact made Evan nervous, so he looked at any other parts of his face.

"Evan," Connor said, enunciating as clearly as possible, "I like you."

Evan heard the words again. This must be a dream, right? Right! It has to be. And so he shut his eyes, and he tried to wake himself up. But he still felt Connor's palms wrapped around his arms. He still felt the gust blowing against his face. He still felt the bricks behind him leaning against him.

And then he felt more tears fall.

This time, he wasn't sad. Happiness tugged at the corner of his lips, making him have this wide smile.

"A-are you serious," Evan asked, still a bit hesitant. Connor smirked and pulled Evan closer to him, giving him a kiss on his lips and then embracing him.

Evan felt his heart beating quickly, as he pressed his body against Connor's, feeling Connor's beating heart against his. He was so happy right now he could just stay like this for forever.

-----

Jared's eyes scanned every nook and cranny of the school to find Evan or Connor, to explain and calm his rage.

He was in his class, listening to his teacher continue ranting something about the grades of the class after the bell rang when he noticed that someone in a blue polo rush by. He was about to ignore him when he saw a flash of white on his arm. He saw tears in his eyes as he ran past, so now he was getting to the bottom of this.

So, imagine his surprise when he saw Evan walking out of the door that led to the stairwell to the roof, smiling as he held Connor's hand and was walking with him.

"Evan," he exclaimed, getting the attention of both of them. He rushed towards them in the now practically empty hallway, "Connor, I...what is happening?"

Evan gripped Connor's hand, smiling as he looked from Connor, who gave a nod, to Jared, who continued to try and analyse the situation. Evan was so happy, Jared noted. Whatever happened to them earlier must have been solved.

"W-well, um, you see, we're dating now."

Jared at first stared at them, dumfounded by the new knowledge. It took him a few seconds, but he finally ingested the new knowledge. His smile turned into a grin, as he leaned in to give Evan a hug.

"Well, about time! I was wondering when you two would get together."

Evan blushed, as Connor went in for a kiss on Evan's forehead. Evan was very much happy with how it all turned out, how it wasn't what he thought at all.

"Well," Connor responded, wrapping his arms around Evan's waist and resting his head on Evan's head, as Evan leaned on his chest, "I love him, might as well ask him out now."

Evan giggled, as he felt the warmth of Connor's body on his. For the first time in a long while, he felt incredibly delighted. He felt calm, burying himself in Connor's arms.