It's Understandable: A Tronnor AU

13. Change

As soon as Connor walked into his house, Cheryl was waiting at the doorway like a puppy. She tossed her phone from hand to hand, raising her eyebrows expectantly. Pursing her lips, trying to contain her laughter, she didn't even have to speak for Connor to know what she wanted. He shifted his weight to one side, smiling knowingly as he waited for her to bombard him with questions.

"'Won't be home 'til late,'" Cheryl chirpily read from her phone, "'On a date, love you xoxo.' Care to explain, Connor?"

Connor shrugged, his crazy smile flushing a facade of nonchalance down the drain. "I went on a date."

With the grin on her face, Cheryl may as well have been a giddy teenage girl. She moved with hoppy steps, pulling Connor to the kitchen and sitting him down so she could interrogate him. "With who? Where did he take you? Tell me everything."

Connor raised an eyebrow. "Mom, I think you know who."

"That Trey kid? The one who was..." She made quotation marks with her fingers, "...just your friend?"

Connor threw back his head and laughed, which caught Cheryl completely off guard; she hadn't seen Connor laugh, really laugh, in ages. "It's Troye, but yes. And I wouldn't say just friends anymore." He shook his head, his face reddening by the second. "He...we had the best night. It was amazing, he's amazing. I don't know what to do with myself I'm so flustered!"

He told his mother the entire story, about the sushi, the first kiss and the botanical gardens. He told her about the ranunculus gesture and the way they confirmed their boyfriendship under the stark white gazebo. The story was a little tampered; he told it so it was completely legal, involved pecks instead of making out and was void of purple Kool-Aid. He didn't need his mother to worry, only to have that expression of pure excitement stay on her face forever.

As soon as he finished, Cheryl quickly wrapped her arms around her son's shoulders. "He makes you happier?"

Connor smiled. "He really does."

"Oh my God, my baby has a boyfriend!" Cheryl clapped. She put her hand on Connor's cheek, tears springing to her eyes. "But I guess you're not such a baby anymore, are you?"

"Oh my God, Mom...don't cry."

Cheryl was silent for a moment, her face contorting in this weird seriousness. "I'm just...adulthood is hard, Con. I think you've gotten a taste of that." She sniffed, smiling sadly. "It's hard to see you exposed to it all, and I'm so happy you have somebody to be with you through it, you know? Somebody who makes you less...sad."

Connor's heart stopped. The way she said the word sad, and the way she looked at him...the undertone of specific reference was clear. Did she know? Had she seen the marks? The stash of razors? Did she hear him throwing up? She couldn't know. She couldn't. Not until he got better. Not until it's the past.

He shook the possibility away, because she wasn't saying anything outright, and he definitely wasn't bringing that up himself. So he just smiled and brought back the subject of Troye. "Yeah, he...he understands me. He really does."

Cheryl wiped her eyes. "I'm so glad."

It seemed like that was the end of the conversation, so Connor stood up to go to bed. His mother asked him if he wanted a snack, and he thought about it for a second, before shaking his head in a grateful no. He was still a bit iffy about eating, but he would get out of that pit eventually. He was about to leave, but stopped to hug his mother tightly. "I love you, Mom.

Cheryl squeezed her eyes closed tightly, trying to relish her son's happiness before he became down again. Though she hoped to all holy forces that he wouldn't. "I love you too, Con. So much."