Kleinman
K ill help
I dont know all of it but ill tell you what i know if it helps evan
Preferably in person tho
Connor
fine
when and where
Kleinman
Starbucks at six
Connor
this sounds like the gayest date
Kleinman
Nah evan can have you all to himself
Connor decided not to even protest; he didn't necessarily want to. Instead, he returned home and began the homework he wouldn't be completing, but his mind wandered almost instantly. He'd remembered his and Evan's date-that-wasn't-a-date and how he'd dig his nails into his hand when he stuttered. Connor wanted to believe that was the extent of his self-destruction, but his pessimism got the better of him and he sent himself into a nervous breakdown.
To compensate for the anxiety brewing in his chest, he showed up at Starbucks an hour early, just in case Jared showed early so they could get to the bottom of it quicker. At exactly six o' clock, Jared left an employees-only area, scanning the area for Connor.
"You work here?" Connor asked in disbelief as he played with the straw of the tea he'd ordered long ago but was too nervous to drink.
"Yeah, why else would I want to meet at Starbucks?" Jared asked in disgust, clearly having some animosity built up against the café.
"Evan."
"Evan."
"What's wrong with him?"
"Well, a lot, actually. Have you had a conversation with him? He stutters constant-"
"Kleinman. I'm serious."
"I don't exactly know why you care."
"I'm not here to explain myself. Tell me what's going on with Evan."
"I saw... like, cuts on his arms and stuff." Jared gave in, sighing as he looked to his lap.
"Are you sure?" Connor closed his eyes as he took a shaky breath, "Were they definitely cuts? Or could they be nail marks?"
"What? No, they were definitely cuts. I don't know why though. It's your turn to tell me what you know."
"When we hung out a little while ago, he wasn't stuttering or nervous at all, so I thought he was better. But then, he started to stutter again and I made a stupid joke, so he got anxious and he, like, dug his nails into his skin? And I asked him about it and he said he was trying to make himself stop stuttering by associating it with pain."
"That idiot," Jared facepalmed, "He read some study on Facebook, which is crawling with fake news articles, but I guess he took it too seriously."
"What do we do about it?"
"You're his boyfriend, you figure it out."
•••
Evan sat alone at home watching the same reruns of How I Met Your Mother that he watched nearly every night when he got a call from his mother.
"Hey, Mom-" he began but was quickly cut off.
"Evan!" his mother pleaded into the phone, "My shift got extended, there's no more coffee in the break room, and I cannot make it through this entire shift without some goddamned coffee. Please, I need you to bring me something."
"Where from?"
"The Starbucks on 5th Street is close to the house, I just need something fast."
She told him her order as he slipped on his shoes and grabbed his mother's car keys from the table, as she was taking rides from a co-worker on Fridays and Saturdays just in case Evan had plans.
He really didn't want to go in, but the drive-thru was too long of a queue and his mother needed coffee as soon as he could get it to her, so he parked close to the door and mentally prepared himself to talk to the barista. He glanced around nervously as he waited for his mother's drink, careful not to make eye contact in the crowded café.
His eyes widened as his gaze fell on two familiar faces in the back of the seating area as confusion overtook him. Connor and Jared hated each other - why were they hanging out? Why did it bother him? Suddenly the barista called his name, catching the attention of all three.
"Evan?" Connor jumped up and walked over to him as he took the drink from the barista, "What are you doing here?"
"I- uh," Evan looked from Connor to the cup in his hand, holding it up before saying, "Coffee."
"Well, yeah, but you don't like coffee. Are you here with someone?"
Evan tried not to laugh. Who would he be here with? His only two friends were hanging out in a coffee shop without him. Evan shook his head and excused himself, saying he was in a rush and pulled away from Connor.
"Evan doesn't like coffee," Connor announced as he sat back down with Jared, "Why is he buying coffee?"
"Why do you care that he's buying coffee?" Jared sighed, not really interested.
"He's not going to drink coffee. He wouldn't even talk to the barista unless it was for someone he really cares about. Who is he buying coffee for?"
"Is Connor Murphy jealous?"
"No! I'm just confused. Shut up, you're the one who wouldn't talk to him because he hung out with me."
"He made me think it was a date!"
"Why would that matter? Wait, did he think it was a date?"
"You know damn well why it matters. It matters for the same reason that him buying coffee matters. We both like Evan, and we both like him as more than a friend, which is why we're sitting in a fucking Starbucks on a Friday night when neither of us can stand each other. I've been competing against you for Evan, idiot."
"Well, that sucks. I could compete against you for Evan's attention, but apparently, someone else got it before either of us did."
