FireFly

Chapter Two

Evan saw this boy on the ground, looking broken and defeated. The sobs forcing themselves out of his shaking frame reminded the blond boy all too well of nights he had spent crying into a pillow. In that moment, Evan Hansen decided he was going to do whatever it took to help Connor Murphy.

"Evan Hansen." Connor replied, using the sleeve of his black hoodie to wipe his face, "Please, can you just... leave?"

Evan shook his head, "I-I don't think I should-"

"Yeah well what do you know?" He asked rhetorically, "Really, dude I'm fine."

"Y-You don't look f-fine." Evan argued, picking at the hem of his blue polo shirt.

Really, why was he bothering? He knew who it was, Connor Murphy the 'School Shooter Freak'. He didn't think Connor knew that Evan knew who he was though.

"Hey leave me the fuck alone, alright?" Connor snapped, standing up fully to glare at Evan. This was a stance that he had accommodated all to quickly to, and it very rapidly became his defensive move for when he felt vulnerable. His striking height towered over anyone who'd cross him, eyes narrowed dulling the blue hues to an offsetting grey sort of colour and through slightly parted lips he panted out breaths of hot air, indicating his levels of frustration his body withheld.

This was also the pose his body took when he orgasmed, minus the height part because that's just weird. But who was keeping track?

The anxious boy let a small gasp escape his chapped lips and took a step back nervously. He'd heard stories about the long haired boy not shying away from a brawl and Evan really wasn't the fighting kind of type.

Connor noticed the fearful step that Evan took and immediately regretted being so harsh. He flopped back down on the ground and leaned against a tree. Honestly, he was so sick and tired of being an arsehole to everybody he met.

So if his pathetic attempt at taking his own life didn't work out then there must've been a reason. Somewhere, in this great fucked up world of ours, someone has decided that Connor Murphy needs a reason to live and if that reason is a shy, blonde, freckled boy with a stutter then so fucking be it.

"Sorry." He sighed, raking a hand through his hair. A shimmer of hope cracking through his depressive facade when Evan took an apprehensive step forward, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I'm just trying to get away from..." what was he trying to get away from, exactly? His brain? His parents? Himself? "Family problems."

Evan nodded, "Well if there's one thing I-I can relate to it's f-family problems." He stated with a self deprecating laugh at the end and joined Connor in sitting by his side at the tree.

"Oh yeah?"

Evan furrowed his eyebrows and bit the inside of his cheek. He wasn't stupid enough to vent to a virtual stranger about the trauma of his Dad up and leaving him at a young age. That'd just make things awkward and Evan hoped to, touch wood, make a friend out of this boy who was so desperately looked to need one.

Connor noticed that the blonde boy clearly didn't want to talk about it so he changed the subject before he could reply, "What are you doing here anyway?"

A question he could answer, Evan thought and grinned. "I-I work here, actually. Just for the summer, it's pretty cool there's a lot of t-trees."

"You like trees?" The Murphy boy bit his lip to hide his smirk. Really, he didn't think he'd ever met anyone who was fascinated with trees. It was... endearing?

"Yeah." Evan shrugged and Connor noticed how his stutter seemed to disappear once he got the boy talking about something he obviously felt very strongly about, "They contribute a lot to the Earth. Kind of like humans but they don't produce any of the bad things we do, just good and pure life forms with a purpose."

"I wonder what that's like." Connor mused, learning his head back against the rough bark of the tree and looking up at the clouds.

"Having a purpose?"

"Well sure. But I meant contributing something to the Earth, something worthwhile."

Evan only nodded, not knowing what to say. He knew where Connor was coming from. It was a thought that managed to trigger his anxiety in the most ridiculous hours of the morning. He absolutely loathed the idea of having his life wasted, living a life with nothing to show for it at the end. God, it sounded like a bad John Green novel.

"I- I should probably get back to w-work." Evan excused, an apologetic look on his face.

"Yeah 'course," Connor said, voice rough from not having used it. How long had they been sitting there just watching the clouds past by? "Hey, er, can I get your number? If you wanna ever talk about trees or... your family."

What did he do?! Evan panicked, obviously he wanted Connor to have his number. He was nice, when he wanted to be, seemed to be in the same boat as him thought process wise and, if Evan was being honest, he was pretty cute.

"S-Sure." He said and put his contact details into Connor's smashed up phone, saving it as 'Evan H :)'

"Cheers." The long haired boy grinned, and stood up with Evan, "I'll text you. See you around, Hansen." He nodded to the anxious boy before turning his back and walking away.

"Yeah, see you." Evan replied quietly, watching Connor go.

He wondered what it would be like to be friends with Connor Murphy. Everyone at school would be shocked, Connor wasn't exactly 'Mr Popular' but who knows? This could be good for both of them, Evan needed a friend and Connor clearly needed someone to talk to. To hell with what everyone else thought of them, school doesn't start for another 3 months, there's no way any amount of damage could be done before then.

Right?

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Tumblr: MakingFlowersCreek

AO3: Drac_Hoe_No

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Iris
Xoxo