Connor sat in the library, fiddling with some color pens. Evan had given them to him for his birthday, along with a bunch of other art supplies.
Ever since Evan had found out he could draw, he couldn't really, he was pretty bad, at least in his opinion, he'd been buying any art supplies he could afford.
Connor had protested at first, he knew his boyfriend was on the poorer side of things, but Evan insisted.
First it was just some nicer markers, but after Evan started working for the forest rangers again, he'd started buying Connor more expensive art supplies. First it was a nice pencil set, then it was a leather bound sketchbook, and then it was these fancy, probably expensive, pens.
Connor sighed and forced himself to focus on the drawing in front of him. As a thank you gift to Evan, he wanted to draw him in a forest. But for some goddamn reason he couldn't get the shape of the trees correctly. They always looked slightly off and it was seriously started to piss Connor off.
He growled before smacking the sketchbook away and banging his head down on the table.
Evan looked up from his book with a concerned frown.
"Y-you alright Connor?" He asked.
Connor sighed and closed his eyes, forcing himself to relax against the cool plastic of the table. "'M fine." He mumbled.
He could practially see Evan disapproving frown.
"You can talk to me, you know that."
"I'm fine Evan." Connor said. "Just can't seem to draw fucking trees right..."
He heard some papers ruffling before a soft gasp. He raised his head, an eyebrow raised.
"What?" He asked before paling when he saw that Evan had his sketchbook.
"D-Don't look at that!" He yelled before snatching it away.
"C-Connor, those were great!" Evan said.
Connor blushed and scowled. "No they weren't, the shitty trees don't look natural. It throws the whole fucking image off."
"I thought it looked fine?" Evan offered.
Connor sighed before putting his sketchbook back on the table. "Could be better."
"You're not a professional Connor." Evan said gently. He picked up the sketchbook and flicked through it. "You shouldn't be so hard on yourself."
Connor shrugged, picking at his nails.
"Don't do that." Evan chided.
Grumbling, Connor picked up a pen and decided to doodle on his arms. That way he wouldn't have to see Evan's no doubt disgusted look as he flicked through his sketchbook.
He was just finishing doodling a couple of dogs on his arm when he heard a sniffle.
"Evan?" He said, panicking when he saw his boyfriend tearing. "W-why are you crying?"
"Connor..."
Evan showed him the sketch he'd been looking at and Connor felt his stomach drop.
It was one he'd drawn after a particularly bad argument with his dad. He could still remember the tears flowing down his face, the tingling in his wrists, the urge to just end it all.
He'd been about to grab his blade when he'd seen the sketchbook Evan had gifted him. Instead of cutting, which he knew would disappoint his boyfriend, he decided to sketch his anguish anyways.
He'd been meaning to tear the image out, but had never gotten around to it and it was soon forgotten.
"You, you drew this right?" Evan asked.
Connor nodded. "It was a while ago." He muttered. "I was having a bad day."
Evan dropped the sketchbook and hugged Connor tightly.
"Talk to me next time." He said and Connor could feel his tears dripping down his neck. "I'll always be here."
Connor sobbed into his shoulder and nodded.
