always // treebros soulmate au

chapter three ~ station

tw: panic attack

connor's hand fell out of zoe's and he dropped to the ground. his heart ached, and the pain was too much. he couldn't hold himself up anymore.

"i'm so sorry that i had to break this news to you, i can't imagine what it must feel like..."

jared's apologies fell on deaf, ringing ears. connor couldn't move. he could barely breathe.

all he could do was scream and sob.

he slightly sensed zoe shaking his shoulders and jared freaking out, but he couldn't respond to any sort of outside stimuli.

and then everything went black.

***

he woke up on jared's couch, an ice pack on his forehead and a glass of water on the coffee table. the colors were pastel shades, which didn't help connor's panic attack that he had had earlier. and he was tired. so tired.

he heard zoe talking on the phone. "actually, we decided to meet up with some old friends. can we just have this week for ourselves? we'll be back next sunday... mom, it's summer, i don't have school tomorrow... yeah, bonding time is going great. our friends are here, i'll call you later. bye."

zoe hung up and was suddenly hovering over connor. "hi, sleepyhead. you feeling better?"

"physically, yes. emotionally? ha," connor replied, half-groaning.

zoe sighed, and sat on the one couch cushion that connor wasn't taking up. "i know. i'm so sorry, connor."

"i'm just... i don't know what i am. i'm just hopeless, helpless, and hurting, all at the same time," connor admitted, his voice cracking. zoe grabbed his hand and gripped it in an attempt to comfort him.

jared walked into the room with his laptop and sat in the chair across from the couch. "well, sleeping beauty's awake. i have more information, if you're ready and willing."

connor sat up slowly and nodded.

"the police haven't given up, but it's one of those cases that has been pushed to the back of their minds and the bottom of the pile. a lot of people have just completely lost hope. evan never graduated high school, because he never got to start his senior year. and, most people think that if he was found, he'd just be a body," jared said, opening his laptop and typing on it.

"but he's not dead. i would know if he was dead. i wouldn't be able to see colors, and everything would've gone back to black and white," connor spat out hopefully.

"exactly. which is why we need to get you down to the police station," jared slammed his laptop and looked at connor seriously. "now."

***

when they arrived, a nice policeman had immediately taken connor into an interrogation room for questioning while zoe filled out some paperwork and jared did some research in the lobby.

the policeman pointed to a chair, told connor to sit down, and then sat across from him.

"first of all, i want you to know that we're not blaming you for anything. you are not in trouble at the moment. if you say something of suspicion, however..." he chuckled a bit, and connor nodded in understanding.

"second of all, you are being recorded, for legal purposes. and, thirdly, my name is hercules. please refer to me as such."

"i understand," connor replied, being as respectful as possible.

"okay, let's get started. so your name is connor murphy, and you're here with information about evan hansen. go ahead with your story, and i'll interrupt with questions when needed."

connor cleared his throat nervously. "okay, so, about a year ago, i was walking on fifth avenue in new york city towards our family's penthouse. we had just moved in at the time. so, i was just walking down the street, when suddenly... well, if you don't mind me asking, sir, do you have a soulmate?"

hercules smiled. "i do. his name is lafayette. we've been together for fifteen years."

connor smiled. "congratulations. so, i was walking down the street, when i suddenly meet someone's eyes. and i can see that they're blue. and i'm really confused at first, because i was seeing black and white beforehand. but then i noticed that everything was colorful, and the boy whose eyes i met... yeah, he's adorable, and he's my soulmate."

hercules smiled. "you're blushing."

connor looked surprised. "w-what? no, no i'm not-"

"you are. and it's adorable, how much you care. reminds me of my younger years. so i'm assuming that this guy is evan?"

"yes, i'm getting to that. so, i was in a complete state of shock - and then he's pulled into an alleyway. i ran over there and looked, but he was gone. obviously, i was crushed."

"you do realize that you witnessed the exact moment that evan disappeared?" hercules asked gently.

connor looked down at the ground and nodded. "y-yeah. i do."

"okay. continue."

"so i ran home and i was sobbing and just really confused. i thought that he had ran away because he didn't like me... i thought he would never want to see me again. my sister zoe showed me this website, lostsoulmates.com, and i posted a description on it. i got a ton of leads in the past year, one of which led me to jared. he showed me a picture of evan in his yearbook, i confirmed that evan was my soulmate, and then he..." tears started falling down connor's face, but he forced himself to continue. "he broke the news to me. i think i passed out, and when i woke up, he immediately brought me here for questioning."

connor looked up and met hercules's eyes. "and i will do whatever it takes to get him back. i will do anything."

hercules nodded, and handed connor tissues. "i know. i know, connor."

connor got himself back together while hercules looked through his notes.

"i've got a few questions, if you have the answers. what alleyway?" hercules asked gently.

connor thought for a little bit before responding, "between tiffany and saks."

"what was the date?"

that was something connor couldn't forget. "june 14, 2016."

"okay, i'm going to go plug the information into our database. i think you might have actually - well, i'm not allowed to tell you anything just yet. you can return to the lobby now, but don't go home just yet."

hercules stood up, and connor followed suit. they shook hands and then went their separate ways.

***

connor was sitting next to zoe and jared for about an hour before the policeman returned.

hercules sat across from them and looked at jared. "was there someone named justin brooks in your grade at some point?"

"justin brooks... yes! he was in our grade until he moved, after sophomore year," jared easily responded.

"do you remember where he moved to?"

"new york city."

"did justin and evan ever talk?"

"i think at some point, they did. but there was a falling-out - oh." jared's face lit up with recognition and realization at what the policeman was basically asking.

hercules looked at his files and then looked back up. "i think it's safe to say that we have a suspect."

***

A/N:

please dont look up lostsoulmates.com because it might be a real thing and i wouldn't know :/