breathe; tree bros

seven

connor finished the small sketch of the teacher supervising detention in the back of his notebook, adding some shading where necessary, making sure to get the perfect, unflattering angle.

he slid the paper over to evan, who looked at it for a second before bursting in to a fit of silent laughter.

he placed his head down on the desk and bit his lip till it hurt, trying to contain himself.

connor was less cautious, letting out a small laugh to which he got a glare. he glared right back before turning to evan-who was still trying to keep quiet.

eventually, the laughing stopped and all that could be heard was the scratching of pencils; no work was actually going on, though. just bored doodling.

connor focused on the detailing on his desk, the small nooks in the wood and lines decorating the surface.

evan slid his notebook back to him, but now with a little note underneath the doodle.

come back to mine after this? i'm buying pizza :)

connor smiled and wrote a short reply underneath, and returned the notebook to evan who didn't dare to make eye contact in case of rejection and embarrassment.

this changed when he read the small
yeah sure :), and smiled at connor.

connor tried to think back to the last time he went to a friends house.
he couldn't think of a time.

he couldn't remember the last time he called someone a friend.

-

"it's, uh- just down this road."

"your neighbourhood- it's really pretty."

"yeah, i-i suppose it is."

evan hadn't really noticed before. he liked the trees- they were the only thing he liked about his neighbourhood. he didn't like the people, or the houses.

but he liked trees.

he turned back to connor, making a quick decision that what he wanted to say was appropriate and not totally embarrassing.

"i-i really like the trees." his voice was quiet.

"the trees?"

"yeah- that probably sounds really lame, i'm sorry."

"no, it doesn't. don't be ashamed of the things you like," he bumped evan's shoulder with his own, "tell me about them."

"th-the trees?"

"yeah."

"well, uh," he pointed to one growing in someone's garden, "that one there? that's an alder tree, and the flowers are called catkins. and uh- there are different types of the same tree. like, um, red, green and black alders."

"that's cool. and also, pretty unbelievable that you can just recollect all that."

"oh, thanks."

they eventually made it to evan's house, evan nonchalantly throwing his bag on the couch and telling connor he could do the same.

"you play xbox?" connor asked, inspecting the box underneath his tv.

"y-yeah. like modern warfare and stuff."

"dude, modern warfare is my favourite! we should play!"

"fine, but i'll kick your ass." evan smiled to himself, he sounded confident. he liked that.

"oh it's on, hansen."