Chapter Text
Evan’s hand shoots up to his face to stifle a laugh, his eyes crinkling. “Connor! Connor stop!” He pushes his lab partner away and attempts to compose himself. Connor rolls his eyes, chuckling a bit as well. In between the giggling, the two of them turn to face the other and get caught in an infinite staring match.
Betas don’t have the best sense of smell but Jared isn’t an idiot. He can smell the feeling of love wafting off the two of them. It makes his stomach do somersaults and bile to rise in his throat. Connor and Evan doing all this relationship shit makes him sick. Literally. He’s had to run out of chemistry before to go puke in the bathroom because of how sickly sweet the relationship has gotten.
Jared hates how normalized the intense PDA is. Poor betas like him and the rest of the general public have to suffer through horrible, and frankly over the top, interactions between alphas and omegas. Doesn’t help that Evan should be with him, not Connor!
See, Jared is a little bit of a planner.
The second he saw young Evan Hansen as a young Jared Kleinman he knew he was going to get with that boy, second genders be damned. When he presented as a beta, Jared wasn’t put off. It was what he expected. Both of his parents are betas and many more Kleinman's before them were as well. It was according to his plan. Evan being an omega didn’t throw the plan off course much. Jared was well aware the omega status would make it more difficult to stay on track, but there is nothing Jared is if not stubborn.
The only wrench in his plan he had never accounted for was the Murphy’s, first Zoe, now Connor.
The entire Connor Murphy suicide situation that played out ruined much of Jared’s picture perfect future. Evan got very tied up with Zoe Murphy thanks to the fake emails and pretending to be Connor’s ‘secret best friend.’ Jared should have never agreed to helping Evan out with those emails because look where he is now! Connor got out of rehab and practically stole Evan from Zoe. Asshole move in Jared’s opinion. He’s the only one who’s allowed to be an asshole and steal Evan from people. He’s not actually an asshole for that, though. Just taking what’s rightfully his.
Speaking of what’s rightfully his, Evan looks so happy. Jared hates that he isn’t the one making him happy, but seeing Evan this smiley is nice. Evan’s rarely that filled with joy around Jared alone. The jokes he cracks and his subtle attempts at courting don’t rile much up. The omega tends to awkwardly laugh, send a very strained smile, give a thumbs up and leave Jared alone to meet up with his actual favorite person. There was a time Jared was his favorite person. There isn’t a day that goes by where Jared doesn’t miss those times. Before everything turned into this mess.
He rolls his eyes, moving his focus away from the couple in front of him to try to get his work done. He’s so far behind in the worksheet because the biggest sign in the entirety of the world is flashing the words “Connor Murphy is stealing your (future) boyfriend!” in big bold letters every time the pair make the slightest bit of contact.
The bell rings and releases Jared from the horror show in front of him. He slings his backpack over his shoulder and moves to get to the cafeteria. His feet move with a mind of their own, guiding him as far away from the couple as possible. On his trek to the lunch room his eyes are assaulted with Connor and Evan kissing in the hallway before separating to get to their next classes. So gross, how is Jared even supposed to eat now?
He trudges through the lunch line before sitting down at a random table in the corner of the cafeteria. He pulls out his phone, not expecting any company. The school, being evil, decided to put him in the first lunch wave (way too early for lunch in his opinion) and not put any of his friends with him. Everyone and their mother seems to be against the ‘insanely cool’ Jared Kleinman.
“Hey Jared!” Jared is startled out of his intense focus on Evan’s Instagram by the sound of a very female voice. Now, he’s not saying that he doesn’t have any girl friends (or girlfriends if you catch his drift) but he doesn’t think there’s any girls here who would ever want to speak to him. The slight smell of artificial bubblegum hitting his nose causes the situation to make a whole lot more sense.
“Alana.” He grumbles, throwing his phone face down onto the lunch table. Alana has tried being chummy with him ever since all the Connor Project stuff. Truly, he didn’t want to be in the Connor Project. He didn’t care for Connor then and he sure as hell doesn’t care for him now (the fucking boyfriend stealer…). He was only ever there because Evan wanted him there and once Evan didn’t, he bounced. Alana still hasn’t received that message. The little messenger birdies that give social cues must have skipped her when the “Jared Kleinman is too cool and awesome for you” letters got sent out. “Do you need anything?”
“Nope!” She looks at Jared expectantly, as if he’s going to be the main driver in this conversion. Bold assumption since Alana was the one who approached in the first place. “Well, I guess you looked really down and I figured I could cheer you up.” Oh. Fantastic. He’s charity work. He figured he was only being spoken to for Alana’s gain. He had just a sliver of hope that Alana had just been talking to him because he’s good and nice to talk to. Not that other people don’t talk to him! Everybody talks to him, everybody adores Jared. World’s Favorite Beta. Definitely.
“I don’t need cheering up, don’t you have some group to run off too? You don’t have to be around me anymore. The Connor Project is kind of over because Connor is…alive?” That looked to set something off in Alana. Her carefully put together image cracked very slightly. Her one eye twitched and her foot bounced underneath the table.
“No!” She blurted out the word, her instincts moving before her brain could. She takes a deep breath in before continuing. “I mean, no. The Connor Project will never be over to me. Sure, Connor is alive, but that doesn’t mean his story and everything that surrounds him should be pushed aside and kept away. Everyone can be empowered by that.” Her words rattle on at a fast-pace, causing Jared to strain to understand them and keep up. The only thing he really gets from that grand speech is that Alana has an obsession with Connor. A huge one at that.
He doesn’t think that this obsession is like the one he might have for Evan, not at all. Jared really does adore Evan, adores the way Evan makes him feel. Alana, on the other hand, looks to just enjoy the concept of Connor. Jared’s never seen her speak to him, like EVER. Yet, she runs an entire project dedicated to his suicide attempt. Jared could never be that shallow. “All I’m seeing is that you really like Connor and you don’t want to let him go.”
Alana raises an eyebrow, subconsciously moving away from the other beta as a defense. “Why would you think that? I think that the message is important. That’s what the Connor Project is about now. Not, not about Connor.” Her voice wavers every time she says Connor’s name, like if she says a few more times he’ll appear.
“Sure, Alana. That’s why you run a website dedicated to Connor Murphy and constantly talk about how you two are ‘good friends.’ It’s all for suicide awareness.” Jared doesn’t buy ANY of the shit Alana is spewing. He would know when people just talk in lies and half-truths, that’s what he does ALL the time. Going below the bra with that girl from camp wasn’t exactly a lie, but it wasn’t exactly the truth either. Jared just knows how to manipulate words and a story to fit the narrative he wants. So does Alana, just not as effectively and definitely not to Jared.
“It is for suicide awareness! I don’t even look at Connor’s Instagram anymore because it is so not about him.” She shoves her phone in Jared’s face and scrolls quickly through her feed as proof of no Connor Murphy.
“Isn’t that just because he blocked you?” Jared turns away from the phone, trying to seem disinterested again. He knows that Connor blocks a lot of people, he’s been blocked. It’s very safe to assume Connor wouldn’t be down with Alana’s weird making him a martyr shit.
“What? No! Connor hasn’t blocked me. I’ll show you.” She turns her phone towards herself. Her thumbs make quick work of the keyboard as she finds Connor’s account. Her face drops when she sees it though. She recovers, putting back on a happy face. “He hasn’t blocked me.”
“Whatever makes you feel better.” He pauses for a moment, thinking. He’s hoping that Alana just goes away. The conversation has fizzled out and he’s embarrassed her horribly.
Alana stays wallowing in her sadness, taking up very valuable space at Jared’s table. “Hey, I’m really sorry. You could always try to actually talk to him? Instead of doing whatever stalker shit you’re doing now.”
“First of all,” She takes a deep breath to prepare for the big speech she’ll probably be making. Alana Beck normally is bad enough, upset Alana Beck is a nightmare. “I am not a stalker. I am extremely respectful of Connor and the Murphy family. Second of all, you can’t be talking!”
“What?? Alana, you can’t be serious. I don’t even like Connor. I kind of hate him!” Jared is taken aback by the sudden accusation. He is NOT a stalker, and certainly not for Connor.
“Jesus, you are dense. Not for Connor, for Evan!” Oh. That makes a whole lot more sense. Still he’s not a stalker! He’s stalked Evan’s Instagram and maybe completely derailed his route to class to be able to talk to him but that is NOT stalking. Maybe he has a few tendencies (Evan’s jacket that hangs in his closet can tell you that), that doesn’t mean a thing! Can’t a guy be comforted by his best friend’s scent?
“I don’t stalk him. I’ve seen you following Connor around the halls like a puppy. You are so much worse than me.” Jared’s voice raises slightly in volume.
“I have to follow him around to even get a chance at talking with him because Evan is always around!” Alana must have realized how loud the two were being. She looks around, giving out hushed apologies to anyone in their vicinity. “I wish they would just break up.”
Break up. That’s it!
A lightbulb goes off in Jared’s head. He stares directly into Alana’s eyes. He grabs hold of her arms, a grin forming on his face.
“I have the best idea.”