from eden

chapter six

"i've been facing trouble almost all my life
my sweet love, won't you pull me through"
- Trouble by; Cage The Elephant

As soon as Conie was freed from his lecture, that he did not pay attention to, he hurried to find the VKs.

He really didn't want them thinking he was exactly like Chad.

"Conie, Conie," Ben's voice called.

Conie paused and turned to face his friend.

"Ben, I really wanna-"

"Are you okay," He cut Conie off. "Is it like last time?"

"Yeah, exactly. Can I go-"

"Conie," Ben said again, he placed his hands on Conie's shoulders and squeezed gently. "Are you okay?"

This guy, Conie thought to himself as he looked at Ben. Too fucking sweet.

"I'm fine," Conie smiled softly.

"You're not though," Ben exclaimed. "You've been hiding something from me for a while now, you're getting angry more often, and it's like you're five seconds away from just losing it every moment of the day!"

Conie stared at Ben with wide eyes, he never gets loud like this.

Ben sighed, "I'm just worried for you. You need to talk to someone about whatever is going on with you. It doesn't have to be me, I'd like it to be-"

What's going on, Conie thought to himself. Ben knew pretty much everything about Conie. What did he mean by 'what's going on'?

"What's going on," Conie snapped, stepping away from Ben. "You know what's going on! I have parents who think I'm the worst person on the planet in comparison to my shitty twin brother who can never do wrong and the only thing that makes me feel better about that is when I punch someone because at least my parents are right! At least they're right that I'm an awful person and that's why they hate me!

"Not to mention, I have had two friends my whole life when Chad has had the whole school, even you! Now I've finally made new some friends. My own friends. But, of course, Chad had to go starting problems and now they probably think I'm just like him cause I'm not with them right now.

"Oh! And to make matters even fucking better I've already ruined one of those friendships since I have such a cr-"

Conie stopped himself before he could finish his sentence. He put his head in hands and took a deep breath.

Conie still hadn't told Ben he was gay.

He looked up at Ben, who went to say something, and said, "I'm gay. That's what I've been hiding from you."

The two boys were silent.

"And I have a crush on Jay."

More silence.

Ben grabbed Conie's shoulder and pulled him into a hug. Ben held Conie as tight as he could.

Conie hesitantly put his arms around Ben.

"I don't care that you're gay," Ben spoke softly. "You're my best friend and I love you no matter what. Why would you think that I care?"

Conie buried his face in Ben's shoulder.

"I don't know," He said, his voice slightly muffled. "Sometimes I have this irrational fear that you're actually just like my parents. But you're not. I love you too, man."

Ben gave Conie a squeeze in response.

They stood like that for a few moments before letting go of each other.

Conie wiped the tears forming in his eyes.

Ben sighed, "Go find the VKs, make sure they know you are not like Chad. I think I saw Jay on the tourney field so start there."

"Thanks Ben," Conie smiled. "For all that."

Ben laughed and nodded.

"Anytime."

They smiled at each other before Conie turned, making his way towards the tourney field.

"Oh and Conie," Ben said, Conie turned back around. "If Jay doesn't like you back he's an idiot."

Conie laughed at his friend and Ben just smiled at him.

--

"Ah there you are," Conie said, walking up to Jay who sat on the bleachers.

He took a seat next to him.

"How you feeling," Conie asked, patting Jay's knee.

"What do you care," Jay snapped. "You just stood there when Chad started talking and then you disappeared on us."

Conie blinked at Jay, who was looking anywhere other than at him.

"I broke Chad's nose and then my father dragged me off to lecture me," He explained. "That's... uh where I disappeared to."

"Oh," He said softly.

There was a beat of silence as Conie stretched out on the bleachers. Jay turned to stare at the prince. The black suit really did look good on him.

"I know you're planning to steal the wand," Conie stated casually, as if telling Jay about his favorite book.

"What, no," Jay laughed awkwardly. "We would never. That's ridiculous."

Truly a terrible liar.

Conie looked at his friend, "I know Ben had a serious crush on Mal and I know you were lying when you said Mal was also crushing on him. You're really bad at lying. So I just ran through other reasons for spelling him... and you'll need the wand to free your parents."

Jay looked at his lap, his face full of emotions.

"I'm not gonna tell anyone," Conie added.

"Why," Jay exclaimed, now looking back at Conie. "You have every reason to."

"Because I don't think you're gonna go through with it," He smiled softly as he spoke. "I really meant it when I said you're all good people."

Conie placed his hand on Jay's shoulder and leaned towards him, "Especially you. You, Jay, are good."

"How do you know that," Jay asked.

Conie really looked at him for a moment. Jay had taken his bun so now his hair fell framing his face and his eyes were a little glossy. Jay looked back at Conie as if he held all the answer in that moment.

"I just do," Conor responded with a grin.

He then stood up and held his hand out, "Let's go find the others, yeah? I owe them an explanation too."

Jay looked at Conie's hand and then his face for a moment.

He nodded and took Conie's hand, who pulled him up.

"Let's go," Jay smiled softly and Conie smiled back.

The two boys started walking away from the tourney field with not even an inch between them.

--

Notes: I love my disaster boys (meaning every guy in the Descendants movies) so much.

Thanks for reading! Have a good day/night! Love y'all <3

Words: 1074