Quia in Aeternum - DEH/BMC

Tell the Truth

Yes, I am aware of the irony. Not angst, I promise. 

 Evan stared at his shelf of potion bottles. No one said he had to do it. He could just trust that he was being paranoid and that everything was fine, but...

He had to know for sure. It was the only way he'd be able to get his brain to shut up about it. Admittedly, the last potion he'd tried was a bit of a flop, but there was no harm done if it didn't do anything. He grabbed a bottle and stuffed it in his pocket, taking a deep breath and stumbling out of his room. Only one way to find out.

A few glistening gold drops in his sundae at their date that evening was all it took. At least, it was all it was supposed to take.

"Connor?" He hummed around his spoonful of ice cream, looking over at Evan. "You, you like me, right?"

"Well, duh. We wouldn't be here if I didn't."

"Right, but um... Like, do you like me like me or have you just been being nice to me this whole time?" Connor set his dessert down on the plastic parlor table and shot Evan a glare. His eyes were twinkling.

"Listen up, boyfriend. You're a fucking good guy, got it?" He was gesturing with his spoon, pointing the red plastic at Evan's nose. Evan went cross eyed trying to follow it. "I don't have friends. I never have. You're special and don't you forget it. I don't just like you, I love you. No pity bullshit here, got it? Now if that could be enough to shut your anxiety up, we should get going. You said your mom wanted you home by seven, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Connor pecked him on the cheek and stood, leading the way to the car.

"Um..."

"Spit it out."

"If, if I've been keeping some kind of, um..." Last chance. If there was any chance this stupid potion was working, which it almost definitely wasn't, because Connor still just sounded like Connor, no sudden niceness or anything that Evan thought was supposed to happen... Either way, Evan had to know this. He danced around his words. "Let's say, hypothetically, of course, that I've been, like, keeping this secret from, from everyone my whole life and, and um, obviously haven't told you either, like, that bit's important, because I can't tell you either because I'm af--wor--not, not sure how you'd react, um... Would, would you be mad?" Connor raised his eyebrows.

"Hypothetically?"

"Y-yeah."

"Hypothetically, I don't care."

"Wh-what?"

"Everyone makes such a big fucking deal about secrets. As long as you aren't going go vampire and try to kill me, I don't give a shit." A crooked smile dusted Connor's lips, amused by the thought of Evan being a bloodthirsty monster. Evan chuckled.

"I--yeah. Thanks." He breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe the potion didn't work. Maybe Connor was lying, but he was damn good at it. It was sweet. Even if he wasn't telling the truth, he cared enough to keep Evan happy.

Evan went to sleep early that night, head swimming, not with paranoia, but with thoughts of his beautiful boyfriend. He didn't even notice the stream of notifications from Zoe, asking if Connor had been weird on their date because, "He won't shut up about you. He's being super apologetic about stuff that I don't even remember. He says he ripped my doll's head off when he was seven because he was jealous I was playing with it instead of him but he didn't know how to deal with it? Evan, help. He even told mom where his weed stash is. I've never seen him like this. What did you do?"