And you decided whether you saw beauty or destruction

Revelations on a crumbling building

(Superhero and vigilante)

This one goes to "the entire bee population" on ao3

On Connor's whole being a vigilante routine, he usually avoided danger, but he wasn't all that good with it, which had caused its fair amount of scars; it was a bit funny that Connor was so ok with risking his life, but couldn't talk to a cute boy.

However that changes abruptly when another villain attacks, this time at Connor's college, and there's no sign of Cedar; which meant Connor had to get people out of the building before it collapsed on them . He manages to get almost everyone out when a girl points out that there's someone still inside, so Connor rushes in.

The building starts giving in underneath him as he hurries through the halls, then he hears curses coming from the lunch room and runs that way. He finds Evan Hansen, whom Connor recognizes instantly, standing in the middle of the room, with his hands pointing upwards.

"Come on Evan, you've done this a hundred times, just concentrate"

Connor wants to reach out, to stop Evan from whatever he's doing and bring him to safety, when a pair of thick vines sprout from his arms, and Connor is frozen in place. The vines grow quickly, faster than they ever would normally; covering the building inside out, then Evan connects them to the ground, so that they hold when he detaches them from his arms.

"Evan?"
Evan whirls around, face white as a sheet, and now that Connor's seen this it seems stupid that he hadn't noticed before; the mask Cedar wore only really served to hide Evan's freckles, Connor has stared enough at the rest of him that he should've seen it, but he hadn't.

"Nightshade"
His voice shakes, and Connor only ever heard it once before, but that Evan was annoyed and tired, this Evan was weary.

"You're Cedar"
"Y-yes"
Connor wants to punch something, preferably the asshole trying to destroy the college, he completely ruined his first meeting with his crush; he was an ass to Evan Hansen, fuck him.

"I uh... I have to go change really quick, think you can hold things up for a bit?"
Yep, that's definitely Cedar, but it's also definitely Evan, so Connor nods dumbly and heads back outside, to distract the villain. Evan comes out of the building a few minutes later, in full costume, and quickly traps the villain with his vines, just in time for the police and ambulances to arrive; he takes his leave, and someone asks Connor about the kid that had been inside, he somehow answers satisfactorily before running after Cedar.

He sees him going into an alleyway, backpack on his shoulders, it makes for a ridiculous image.

"Evan, wait"

Cedar stops and turns to him, he's wearing the mask, and the difference is so minimal that Connor feels like an idiot once more.

"How do you even know my name?"
Connor has nothing to lose, not really.

"We share some classes; you probably don't know who I am"

"You're Connor Murphy"
Connor is taken aback by the fact that the cutest boy on campus knows his full name; Evan must read his surprise wrong.
"Oh god, I'm sorry, that's probably so weird, I just- you don't even use a mask, so..."
Connor is ashamed of taking so long to figure this out, so he agrees with Evan, just so he doesn't find out.

"I'm honestly surprised more people haven't figured it out"

"Well, you're the only other person who knows I'm... me, and my mask doesn't cover that much"

He gives Connor an amused smile, and Connor's heart skips a few beats, reminding him that this is still the boy he's head over heels for.

"I uh... I'm sorry about screaming at you back when"

Evan seems surprised at this, granted, Connor's apologizing for something that happened months ago.

"No, no! You were completely right, I needed it; I was being reckless"

"Still, there were better ways"

Evan smiles at him, something familiar in his expression.

"I'm not gonna fight you on this"

Connor bursts out laughing, for a number of reasons, like the tone Evan uses, and the pose he gets in, and the fact that they're both still in full hero gear. Evan slowly, but surely joins him, and they they're both laughing in an alley, like they don't spend the good majority of their time risking their lives for the greater good.

When they regain their breaths Evan takes a step closer to Connor, causing his heart beat to increase sharply.
"Do you want to get some ice cream?"

Connor just nods, lips dry, knowing it's an invitation to friendship, but he might as well start somewhere. Evan smiles at him brightly at him; and Connor figures he couldn't have said no if he tried.