The Smoke From His Lips

6

"So you wanna talk to him?" Evan asked with a raised eyebrow and pursed lips. He sat on the bed right next to him and sighed. "You're going the wrong way. You took a U-turn."

"Uh." Jared paused an uncomfortable amount of time. "K-turn at most, take it or leave it."

"Jesus Christ, Jared, you cant insult someone and expect them to weirdly fall in lov——"

"Who said anything about love?" Jared snapped quickly and defensively, eyes darting to Evan as he asked. What the fuck? Jared just thought Connor was interesting. He was mysterious, nobody knew much about him, nobody grew close to him, and he just seemed so closed off that Jared couldn't help but become attracted to the challenge of it and the, possibly great, reward of knowing who Connor Murphy exactly is.

"I assume things!" Evan squeaked a small yelp, speaking considerably faster and higher that he did before, given that Jared's tone of voice spiked his anxiety way up. "You know I assume things a lot and Connor thought we were dating and he was quick to ask and I thought maybe you seemed like you like him so I assumed you did because you seemed and I'm sorry Jared I'm sorry if that made you weirded out——"

"I love you, Ev," Jared sighed with a soft and endearing smile, "but you goooottta stop hyperventilating——"

"I'm not hyperventilating!"

"Do you need like a paper bag or something? You look like you're gonna have an aneurism——"

"I'm not! No aneurisms!"

"You look like you're gonna cry, that's gonna make me cry. If I start crying, then you'll just cry harder. It's a viscous cycle."

Evan groaned and let himself fall into Jared, forehead thumping on his shoulder and body smushed limp. "Stoooooop."

Jared snorted a short chuckle, "You know it's true."

Evan huffed but let a small chuckle slip out. The brotherly bond between the two really did that to him. He groaned with a slight chuckle to his breath and hugged Jared, and Jared hugged Evan tightly back.

"Did you really think that Connor would be crazy about being your friend after you called him a school shooter basically?" Evan asked quietly, slightly scoffing in his tone.

"No," Jared mumbled under his breath and rested his chin on Evans shoulder as they sat and hugged loosely now. "It was just, like, the only thing I could say."

"... I'm socially inept by nature and I can tell you at least ten other things you could have started with."

"I can'ver do it! Not normally, I got nervous," Jared groaned, voice rushing from how frantic he got. "I just, impulse, kinda... ugh!"

Evan frowned and sat up straight, gently placed his hand over Jared's and sighed. Jared turned his hand and grabbed onto Evan's. He was very dependent on physical contact, it traced back a long while, so Evan's learned to offer hugs and hands. "It's okay, Jare. I promise." Reassurance, that's what he needed, but both knew that was a promise that could never be definite.

"What do I do? I know I fucked up, I saw him go outside and smoke," Jared said firmly out of the blue. It took close to a minute just to say that. Just to get those words out in the right order.

Evan paused for a moment. "What does him smoking have to do with it? He smokes a lot, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, but he hates it," Jared mumbled quietly and looked at his hands, glasses sliding slightly as he did. "That means he probably does it when he's really stressed, duh! I fucked up hard."

"Text him," Evan suggested with a shrug.

"I don't have his number."

"I do," Evan said with a small smile. "Zoe gave it to me after the second time she lost her phone."

Jared smiled slightly but it was more than obvious to Evan that Jared was drop dead nervous about everything. He wasn't sure if it was Connor in general or the situation Jared jammed himself in that was the cause, so he imagined it as a bit of both.

"I'm gonna die," Jared stated with the same nervous smile.
~

Oof. Go Jared, you can't hide your gay anymore

Hi hi hi sorry i was inactive for a bit I was too busy dying for a tad mount of time. Still am dying, just less now

Please vote and comment and shit like that I'm a whore