Two Player Game

~Chapter Eleven~

Evan is a nervous wreck all day. It's a mess. By the end of the day he just wants to go back to bed. Jared hates seeing him like this.

"Hey..... Evan." He sounds a little sad. The thought of Evan dead has been going through his head all day.

"Jared." He smiles a little. Only a little. His face is a little sore.

"How's your face holdin' up?" To be honest, he's probably gonna go home and cry. He just needs to.

"It's... Managing. Are you okay?" This precious chid. He's bruised and overly anxious, but he's concerned about Jared over himself. Too pure.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Why?"

"You seem... Upset. Is something wrong?" He's starting to get real nervous. "Did- Did I do something wrong? That's all I seem to do lately I-"

"Stop it. Stop beating yourself up like this." He pauses. "I'm upset... because you didn't do anything wrong."

"... W-what?"

"You didn't do anything wrong.. and you're getting hurt for it."

"... You're tlaking about- Jared, it's fine, it's not even that bad, look, it's going away. Doesn't even hurt that bad." Evan actually has a low pain tolerance and is sore all over. Jared looks very hurt by that and doesn't even look at it.

"It's not okay Evan. He needs to not abuse you! No matter how mad he is! And NOTHING IS YOUR FAULT." He might actaully cry now. Evan goes quiet and looks down.

".... It's... It's not his fault. I just gotta be more careful. That's all." He's not getting it. Jared cares too much about this boy.

"It's fine. It's okay. Evan himself starts to tear up before Jared does. "Jared if it's my fault, I don't make it worse. If- if I don't blame him he won't leave me." He looks up at him. "And a lot of it is my fault. I'm not... I'm not strong enough to say it isnt." He sniffs and laughs bitterly. "Pathetic, isn't it?" The the tears starts silently.

Jared hugs him and hugs him tight. He's not gonna go to practice today. He's going to help him. If only Evan knew how he felt.

He mumbles. "I can't lose you too..." Evan whimpers at Jared's touch.

"J-Jared, I'm Fragile right now."

"I-I'm sorry, I-" He let's go, blushing from embarrassment and tears streaming down his face. The first time anyone has ever seen Jared Kleinman cry. Even hesiates before putting his hands on Jared's shoulders and eventually gently holding him in his arms.

"Just be gentle with me." He nods, being as careful as he can. He wants to tell him about how he feels about him but he just.... he can't.

Evan whispers. "He's leaving anyway. He's moving a cross the damn country, Jared, I'll probably never see him again." He's shaking a little now.

"Evan... I'm so sorry."

"The worst part is... I'm almost relieved. I love Connor but... I'm scared around him now. Anything I say or do could set him off, Jared. I've got bruises all over, my whole body hurts."Jared's arms drop.

"I've been trying to tell you... I know you love him.. but don't you see that he isn't the right one for you?"

"....I don't know. He's the only one that ever shows me affection now. I- I'm so desperate for love that I'll overlook anything he does to me. I love him too much." He's stopped crying, for now at least. He doesn't know what else to do.

".... I don't want him to leave, but I don't want him to stay."

"I don't know what to do.."

"I don't either, I'm trying so hard to fix things, but it isn't working. When it's good, it's so great, but when it isn't..." Jared doesn't know how to say "I love you."

"Jared I'm scared. I-I don't want to go home alone with him. W-what if I screw up again? I'm black and blue enough as it is."

"Then... just tell him you had forgot you made plans with me already. I'll take you to my house and we'll sort this out."

"...Okay." He pulls out his phone and sends Connor a message.

E: [Connor, I'm so sorry, I completely forgot I've already made plans for the evening.]

There's only a moment before he gets a response.

C: [Seriously Evan? You're gonna blow me off? For who? Jared? You're fucking cheating on me aren't you?]

Evan Panics.

E: [No! no no no I Would never, Connor honest!]

Jared's gonna stay with Evan. He's not gonna let Connor do anything to him and no matter what, he's gonna stand up to Connor, in front of Evan.

E: [Connor, I wouldn't.]

C: [Sure. Let me cool off. I'll see you tomorrow.]

E: [Okay.. I love you.]

Evan doesn't get a response.

".....Is everything alright?" Evan shakes his head and holds up his phone.

"Evan-" Evan bursts into tears.

"I don't know what to do!"

"Shh shh shh," He's trying to calm him down. "I know, that's why we're going to my house. To figure out what to do." Evan's a shaking, bawling mess. People are starting to stare. He wipes his eyes roughly. Jared glares at them as responds with.

"What the hell are you looking at?"

"Jeez, calm down-"

"We just wanted to know what was wrong-" Evan takes a couple shaky breathes.

"I-I need to go." Jared sighs and jogs after him.

"Evan, c'mon." He's gonna walk him to his house.