Step Into the Sun

23

Congress: hey

Ev: Oh my god

Congress: what??

Ev: Jared has a theme. Your name is now Congress.

Congress: oh god

Ev: Anyway

Ev: How are you?

Congress: i'm...

Congress: alive

Ev: Is there something wrong?

Ev: You know you can tell me if there is :)

Congress: uh, yeah actually

Ev: Go on

Congress: um

Congress: james confronted me last night after I got home.

Congress: i kind of stood up to him

Congress: or i tried to at least

Ev: What happened?

Congress: we got in a fight

Ev: Like a verbal or a physical fight?

Congress: physical

Ev: Are you okay??

Congress: like i said, i'm alive.

Congress: he kind of messed up my face

Congress: eliot asked about it, i told them not to worry

Ev: Oh, Connor...

Ev: I'm gonna meet you there, okay?

Congress: you don't have to, i'm fine really.

Ev: Please

Congress: i mean if you want to, you can

Ev: Okay it'll be like five minutes. Don't move.

Evan pulled on his jacket and gathered his wallet and his phone, stuffing them into his pockets. Jared was in class, so Evan left right away and locked the door behind himself.

He made it to the coffee shop quickly and found Connor at the same table as he had been at last time Evan met him there.

"Evan," Eliot called from the counter, waving him over. "Do you know what happened to him? He looks like shit."

"He got in a fist fight. Crazy ex-boyfriend, kind of, I guess," Evan answered, glancing over at Connor who had his hood pulled over his head to hide his face. "Is it bad?"

"I'm not a doctor," they shrugged, raising one eyebrow, "but I don't think you'll be seeing his clean, handsome face for at least a couple weeks."

"Oh god." Evan gulped, frowning for multiple reasons. "Thanks for worrying. I appreciate your existence."

"Aw, no problem, bud."

Taking a deep breath, Evan walked over to Connor's table.

"Hey," he greeted, taking the seat across from him.

Connor muttered a noise in response, staring down at his arms, which were folded on the table, with his hood and his hair covering his face.

"Let me see," Evan insisted, leaning in a little bit.

"I don't think you want to," Connor mumbled.

Carefully, Evan placed his hand under Connor's chin and lifted it up so he could see his battered face. At the first sight of his injuries, Evan's vision went a little blurry. The colour began to drain from his face.

A ring of purple surrounded Connor's left eye, with a cut right above his eyebrow. There was another cut across the bridge of his nose and his lip was a tad bit puffy still, with a purple shadow underneath. He also had scrapes and a bruise on his right cheek. It was bad.

"Yep," he breathed, blinking a few times. "You're pretty banged up."

"I told you." Connor looked back down. "Now you can hate my face too."

"N-no! I don't hate your face," Evan defended quickly. "I never have and I never will. I just... Don't do well with injuries. When I broke my arm in high school, I blacked out almost five times. Which probably did some more damage, considering I had to walk myself to the front of the park and... Ugh."

He shuddered at the memory.

"I'm sorry," Connor sighed. "Maybe you should stay away from me for a while until I get better."

"No, Connor," Evan shook his head, grabbing Connor's hand, "I don't care. Your presence in my life is more important than my stupid phobia. I can get over it until you're better."

"That's bullshit, Evan. I can't ask you to do that for me," he argued quietly, pulling his hand back. "Please. Don't force yourself to do what you don't want to."

"I want to be around you," he admitted, frowning at Connor. "Why are you resisting this so hard?"

"I'm sorry," Connor breathed, laying his head down on top of his arms on the table. "I'm just really insecure."

Evan stood up and moved to squat next to Connor, wrapping his arm around his shoulders.

"I'm never going to judge you," he assured, resting his face next to Connor's. "I thoroughly enjoy you exactly the way you are."

Connor nodded, not fully believing Evan, but trying to.

"Come on. Let's go to the dorm. We can watch Stranger Things and wait for Jared to get home."

He nodded again and stood up with Evan, who shifted his arm so it was around Connor's waist as they left the coffee shop together.

hi fun fact: ben ross is currently my favourite human