-Reaching Out-(Treebros)

22

Larry sat on the Hansen's couch, watching Connor come out. Connor seemed armed and ready for a fight, and that hurt his heart. Just seeing him like that only made him realize just how much he had damaged his family, his son.

Connor slowly took a seat, but he was far, distance, just like he always was. He was gripping the fabric of his jeans tightly, like Larry's presence enough caused a spark to go off inside him, that would inevitably cause an explosion.

"I don't think any apology can make up for what I've done to you, your mother, or even your sister," Larry said slowly.

"You're right," Connor answered sharply and harshly. It doesn't."

"I want to make it up to you, even if you don't believe me. I'm signing you up for therapy, like Heidi and your mother suggested," Larry explained, looking over at him.

Any ounce of anger immediately left Connor, and was replaced with confusion, sadness, and yearning. Therapy was all he ever wanted. "... What?"

"Your mother... she suggested that I read up about Bipolar. It's hard for me to put myself in your shoes, but... it helped me understand what you're going through. Besides, I know I need it too," Larry sighed.

"You're serious, right?" Connor asked quietly.

Larry nodded slowly. "I can't help you with your... disorder, but I can help you find a professional. I need to work on my temper."

"You hit Evan," Connor said lowly, and he didn't want to look back on that.

"I couldn't get it out of my head. I still can't, actually. Unfortunately for you, you inherited my irrational decision making," Larry shook his head. "I really need to apologize to him, too."

"Why didn't you try to do this before?" Connor asked, because he had to know. He needed to know what took him so long to realize this.

"Because it'd put attention on you. The bad type of attention," Larry stated.

Connor scoffed, "So you didn't want anyone to know I was fucked up?"

"I didn't mean it like that," Larry sighed again. "You remember what happened after the printer incident?"

Connor simply nodded, crossing his arms.

"The other kids targeted you and made fun of you, and the school didn't do anything to stop it," Larry frowned at the memory. "I didn't want you going through that again."

"Evan goes to therapy, and he doesn't get picked on," Connor countered.

"Because he's from an average family. We're rich, we have more attention on us. Someone would find out," Larry sat up.

"So you were just... try to protect me?" Connor tried to wrap his head around the idea.

"Even if it wasn't the best way I could, I tried to, anyway. But now, I can do things the right way," Larry nodded.

Connor made a small smile, "I'm sorry for fighting with you, all the time."

"And I'm sorry for provoking you," Larry smiled back.

Heidi stepped out into the living room, and smiled, seeing the two getting along. "I'm surprised at how much you changed, Larry."

"It wasn't easy," he chuckled. "My parents didn't believe in mental illnesses or anything like that, so that's how I was raised. Adjusting to it was... more difficult than I thought."

"At least you're rekindling your bond now, and that's what matters most," Heidi hummed.

"You can come home whenever you'd like," Larry looked at Connor.

"As much as I'd like to, I wanna spend a little more time with Evan," Connor said sheepishly.

"Evan's a good kid, so that's fine with me. Just text your mother and let her know, she wants to hear from you more, anyways," Larry stood up. "Well, I better head back."

"Bye, Dad," Connor watched him go.

Afterwards, Connor headed back to Evan's room, where he could hear him talking on the phone. He simply waited for the conversation to wrap up, and went inside when he was done.

"Who was that?" He asked, sitting down on his bed.

"Jared," Evan said, and laughed when Connor made a face of disgust. "Don't worry, we talked things out, and, and it t-turns he does think of me as a friend, he was, he was just letting his p-pride get in the way of it."

"Does this mean we have to start hanging out with Kleinman?" Connor pouted, resting his head on Evan's shoulder when he sat beside him.

Evan giggled, "Yes! So please, d-don't murder him!"

"No promises," Connor muttered, wrapping his arms around Evan's waist, and shut his eyes afterwards.

"That's as g-good as I'm gonna get, huh?" Evan smiled back at him.

Connor just hummed, and pulled Evan onto his lap.

"Things go okay with your dad? I didn't hear any arguing," Evan took one of Connor's hands, and began to gently mess with his fingers. He played with a ring on his pointer finger.

Connor smiled, "He actually apologized, for like, everything. And he said he's gonna sign me up for therapy."

"Therapy? Connor, holy shit! T-that's amazing!" Evan looked back at him, and grinned.

"He also wants to apologize for punching you," Connor said with a grimace.

Evan made a face, "That's gonna be.."

"Awkward?" Connor supplied.

"Yup," he clicked his tongue. "Well, at least he's doing the right thing now, right?"

"Yeah..." Connor hugged him a little closer.

Things were finally looking up for once.