And you decided whether you saw beauty or destruction

What rich romantic planet are you from?

(Different musical)

This one's for "MerrytheCookie" on ao3

Evan was walking away from a party.

Ok, so, the words Evan and party in a same sentence are odd, because the fact that he's walking away means that he went to a party.

Evan Hansen went to a party completely of his own volition.

Evan went to a party, invited by one of his classmates, and tried to talk things over with his ex, only to be shut down harshly. So, to reiterate, Evan was walking away from a party.

He finds a bench in his way to the dorms, and decides to fulfill the trope of sad heartbroken character by slumping into it. He isn't expecting anyone to come by, actually he's hopping for the opposite, but things don't go his way anymore.

"Hey there late bird"
Evan looks up at Connor with an expression that he hopes reads 'seriously?', because that's what he's feeling right now. Connor rolls his eyes and drops down beside Evan unceremoniously.
"Ok, spill"

And for whatever reason, Evan does, in a flurry of words; he describes exactly how shitty this year has been so far.

"Wait, back up, you've came to Harvard to follow a man?"

"When you put it like that it sounds stupid"

"Because it is!"

Evan had enough.

"Oh, yeah? What was your reason to come here?"

"I was made to go here"
"And that's better than mine? At least I wanted to be here"

He's panting, not used to screaming this much, much less to someone he barely knows, Connor, instead of storming off in anger like Evan expects him to, starts laughing. He's actually laughing so much that he almost falls off of the bench, Evan watches perplexed.

"Jesus, I didn't think you had it in you"

There's a couple reasons why Evan starts laughing along, none of which he can pin point, but it's the middle of the night, they're sitting in a bench, completely alone, laughing over nothing, and to any passerby they'll look crazy, but the night seems to be a bit brighter.

"How do you manage?"
"Hmm?"
"Studying something you don't like, I would never be able to handle it"

"I wanted the independency, fixated in being good enough that I could live on my own, cut ties with my toxic family"

"Does it work?"

"It's what's kept me going"

Connor smiles at him, something off in his expression, like he's sending a silent message to Evan, or trying to, because Evan doesn't know what to do with it.

"You might wanna get one of those, a reason to keep going"
Oh, Evan realizes, he knows... he knows, and he gets it, Evan can sense it in his soul, so he's ok with him knowing.

"Would you help me?"

"Sure, why the hell not?"