And you decided whether you saw beauty or destruction

Blue always suited you

(Floating Hearts)

This one's for "IHaveNoClue" on ao3

In the world where crushes were painfully hard to hide, Jared thought he was doing a fantastic job of it. He must've because it'd been years, and not a single person knew about his hearts.

The thing about crushes, though, was that you could have more than one, some came and went quicker than others, but the hearts remained, hidden in boxes labelled with names of people he never talked to, painted in all the colors imaginable. One color persisted, and Jared had boxes upon boxes filled with it, had come to somewhat despise its existence.

Jared wondered, if anyone ever felt for him, what color their hearts would be painted in, had searched every color he had saved to find a match, to find a single one missing.

Green hearts were resilient; an enabler to a point, green hearts will encourage in others what they can't accomplish themselves, but they will do so subtly as to not be called out on it; greens are often referred to as lighthearted. The best match for a green heart is a red one, but they may also do well with a violet or an orange one.

Jared accepted this, he could handle this, he had fallen for plenty of people in those three colors, he didn't have to think about the pile of boxes that didn't match him, or the person those hearts pointed to.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-{-....-...--.- .-....-..}-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Jared was honestly surprised when Evan asked him to meet in the computer lab after class, he felt spit gathering in his mouth as Evan explained why.

Apparently Evan was also good at hiding hearts, because he claimed to be crushing on someone, pretty hard too if the heart that appeared above him as he said it was any indication. Despite never having seen Evan with hearts before, Jared wasn't surprised that he was crushing for someone, what surprised him was that it wasn't the person he had thought it would be.

"It's not Zoe, Alana gets indigo hearts for her, and yours aren't"

He says it, because Jared is an observant person, and Alana is often too busy to hide her hearts well enough, also because Jared caught her a few times gazing at Zoe with that soft look people in romance movies got. Evan opens his bag, to reveal a cluster of more hearts, bright orange... a perfect match.

"He's bittersweet"

That stops him, and Jared's heart skips a beat, because the idea that Evan can like guys is new, and unexpected.

"He?"

"You had the wrong Murphy"

"What?"
Evan doesn't say anything, just closes his eyes tighter, and Jared laughs, he laughs because otherwise he'd break.

"Oh my god"

Evan finally re-opens his eyes and looks at him; Jared is an expert at faking amusement by now.

"Connor?"
The universe must be completely insane to think Evan and Connor have anything in common, much less are perfectly suited for each other.

"Yes"
"How did that happen?"

He hears Evan swallow, and knows him to be organizing his thoughts so to not stumble over words, or rush them out. Then he gets this look, like he's remembering something ethereal.

"He's terrifyingly beautiful"

Jared's eyes go to a spot right above his head, where another orange heart has appeared. He doesn't know what to make of it.

"Ok, that's the gayest thing I've seen happen"

Evan groans, closing his bag so he can hide his face in it, and the tips of his ears are red, which means he's flustered.

"What are you going to do?"

Evan lets out another groan, louder this time, and Jared worries, because he's seen Connor, seen how he acts, and he's afraid.

"Well fuck man, you went and fell for the most unapproachable person in school"
"Shut up"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-{-....-...--.- .-....-..}-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Jared happens to see Connor shoving something into his locker, small, impossible not to recognize. Hearts painted in a color Jared had seen over and over for ages, for longer than he cares to admit.

It's a bit of stretch, but Jared is hopeful. Hopeful that he's right, for reasons he refuses to think, because thinking them would require admitting that the piles of hearts back at his home exist.

Hopeful that he's wrong, because he's greedy, and he's terrified of being left aside for something perfect, he's not even close to good.