· N E R D ·

t w e n t y - n i n e

"Evan! Thank Christ!"

"J... Jon...?"

"Yeah, it's me, baby. Are you okay?"

"Uh..." He was out again.

"Damn it. Thanks for finding him, um...?"

"Eric. That's what everyone calls me."

"Well thank you, Eric. Truly."

"No problem, man. I know how young kids are with alcohol. I'd be more surprised to not find someone in here drunk off their ass."

"C'mon, Ev, let's get you out of here."

• · • · •

He woke up in the middle of Jonathan changing his clothes. For some reason, he started to bawl, which was the exact opposite of what Jonathan thought he would do.

"Evan, honey, what's wrong? What happened?"

"Jonathan..." he cried.

"I'm here, Evan, I'm here." He put down the Asian's pajama pants and got on the bed with him, embracing him tightly. "Why are you crying?" At this point, considering Evan's past, anything could have happened to him.

"Because... I love you so much, Jon..."

If that sentence had been spoken under different circumstances, the American would have laughed; however, he was rather concerned.

"I love you too, Ev. Why is that making you cry?"

"What if... What if we rushed...? What if we moved too fast...?"

"What do you mean?"

"We started... in November... We knew each other for three months and we kissed... What if it was too soon? We barely know each other... but I love you so much... What if we get to know each other more... Spend more time together... What if you get tired of me?... You thought I was so weird when we met... I've caused you so many problems... I'm sorry, Jonathan, I'm sorry! Please don't leave me...!"

The bawling turned to wailing and Jonathan was flabbergasted. Were these normal thoughts Evan had? It made his heart break.

"I'm not leaving you, Evan Fong. You've caused no problems that I'm not willing to deal with for you. I won't ever get tired of you. Without you, my life wouldn't be interesting. You're an adventure of your own and I seek adventure. I thought you were weird because you proved all of my stereotypical thoughts wrong. I didn't think I could get along with a nerd... Hell, I didn't think I'd get WITH a nerd... But I love you too much to care. You open my eyes and it's worth every minute with you."

It was silent. Jonathan looked down and saw Evan asleep for the third time that night. He carefully got up and put the pants on his half-naked boyfriend, tucking him in. After he was also changed, he joined Evan in the bed under the comforter.

"You'll see how much I love you when we go to Germany," Jonathan whispered, mainly to himself. "You'll know we didn't rush. I promise."

• · • · •

The American woke up when he felt the coolness of the space next to him.

"Ev...?"

Silence.

With a groan, he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He looked around and noticed he was alone, so he walked out of Evan's room, towards their kitchen.

"Evan?"

There was the missing person, sitting at the table with coffee and a frown.

"Good morning," Evan greeted, frown still intact.

"Is it?"

Sigh. "No. My head really hurts. What happened last night?"

"You don't remember?"

"No..." The frown turned in to a worried look. "Gosh, I didn't do or say anything embarrassing, did I? Oh no..."

Jonathan placed his hand on the younger's and looked in his eyes. "You're fine, Evan. We danced, Brian and Scotty got you drunk even though we're all underage so I have no idea how they got the alcohol, and then you passed out. I brought us back here, changed yours and my clothes, and then went to sleep."

Not the full truth, but not a lie, either.

"Thank goodness... What happened to my glasses, though?"

"I don't know. I didn't even notice. Do you have an extra pair?"

"Yeah, but the style is different. They're more round than square. Still pink, thankfully."

Jonathan smiled. "Good. Pink is definitely a good color on you. It'd be weird seeing anything but pink when I look at your face."

Evan smiled back. Clearly he didn't remember spilling his thoughts and emotions. That was good, because Jonathan surely wasn't going to be the one to tell him the whole story.