Chapter Text
Connor Murphy stood under the flickering lights of the boys' bathroom, joint in hand, foot pressed against the wall his shoulders were also leaned against. His wild hair fell in his face, covering his left eye which probably mirrored the right which was pulled down by very dark bags. Evan was absolutely rooted to his spot. Connor hadn't noticed that he'd entered the bathroom yet, his stare fixed somewhere else entirely as he took hits off the joint between his fingers. As much as Evan really, really wanted to just turn and find another bathroom to eat his lunch in, there was something borderline intoxicating about watching Connor. He was used to seeing him with a scowl plastered on his face, eyebrows drawn angrily over squinted and dark eyes about to yell at someone or beat the living daylights out of them. But here, there was just calm (aside from the frantic beating of Evan's heart and his sweaty hands that probably weren't sweaty before, but now that he'd thought about it, there was no way they weren't).
Connor finally noticed Evan's presence and narrowed his eyes. "Can I help you?" His voice was bitter and the words almost physically pushed Evan back with the force they were spat out at him.
"O-oh, um, no, I'm so sorry. It's just, uh, um, this is where I usually, um, e-eat lunch, and I've, um, well, I've never seen you here before, s-so, I was just a little bit, um..."
"A little bit what exactly?" Connor questioned, not letting Evan continue. His voice was beginning to raise, but he made no move toward Evan. He was safe standing in front of the door.
"J-just a little surprised, th-that's all."
"Why is it surprising that I'm in here, huh?"
Evan swallowed hard and used his good hand to tug at the collar around his neck that felt like it was slowly strangling him as the room heated up.
"It's... uh, um... It's n-not a bad thing," Evan replied quietly. Connor rose an eyebrow and took another drag, a longer one, his eyes locked on Evan.
There was a moment of silence. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, and it was better than being screamed at. Evan's stomach then appropriately growled loud enough for Connor to hear. Evan's hand flew to his stomach immediately in an attempt to will it quiet because he wasn't really ready to move. Connor exhaled the sour smelling stuff from his mouth and gestured his hand to the brown paper bag Evan was holding.
"Don't let me stop you from eating, Hansen," he said. "Obviously you're hungry."
Evan nodded, willing himself to shut his mouth and not ramble on. He was about to make his way into a stall when Connor clicked his tongue.
"You don't have to eat in there."
So he didn't. Evan stood in the doorway of the stall just staring at Connor with wide eyes. Connor exhaled with force and rolled his eyes before looking back at Evan.
"Why are you eating in here in the first place?" he questioned.
Evan looked away, his eyes focusing in on a particularly grimy tile of the floor. He didn't necessarily want to answer Connor. He was afraid of what would happen if Connor knew he didn't have anywhere to sit and eat or anyone to sit and eat with. He didn't want to have to deal with another bully. And clearly, Connor knew who he was, so maybe there really was no point in trying to hide it because he already knew he had no friends and what if it only gets worse when he gets caught lying or keeping the truth from Connor which was kind of technically lying anyway, and oh God what if-
"I asked you a question," Connor growled, interrupting Evan's thought process. Evan swallowed hard and fought to look into Connor's eyes.
"I... I um, Idon'thaveanyonetositwithbecauseihavenofriendssoieatinthebathroominsteadand-"
"If I can't understand your answer, what would the point be in asking the question in the first place?" Connor cut Evan off, finishing off his joint and putting it out against the wall before tossing it in the trash can.
"S-so sorry," Evan muttered in reply, taking a deep breath to restate his answer to Connor's original question.
"Well if that doesn't ring a bell," Connor responded. His voice was laced with something sad, but the specific emotion Evan couldn't pinpoint.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Evan said under his breath. Connor perked up a bit almost as if he couldn't believe what he'd heard. He also clenched his fists a moment later, only to unclench them and take a deep breath. Evan was surprised to see him control his temper for once although why it was there in the first place he didn't quite understand.
There was silence and Evan decided that it was now or never to eat, so he pulled out the sandwich from his bag and removed it from where it had been in the Ziploc. He took a few bites in silence with Connor just kind of standing there, staring at the ceiling. He was almost kind of distracting with his head tilted up and his pale hand with its chipped black nails run through and kind of stuck in his hair. Sure, Evan had struggled with feelings like this before, but he never expected to find himself attracted to high Connor Murphy in a high school bathroom.
He realized then that he was staring and that didn't go so well the first time, so he turned his attention back to eating his sandwich and tried to forget that Connor was even there, like, three feet away.
"So... how'd you break your arm?"
Evan jumped as Connor broke the silence. He almost choked on the turkey and swiss in his throat. "I... I, uh, fell out of a tree."
"Well, if that isn't the saddest fucking thing I've ever heard," Connor replied with what sounded kind of like a little laugh. "Why were you in a tree in the first place? At a party trying to hide from the cops? Trying to get to third base with some girl and lose your grip when she takes off her-"
Evan coughed, quite loudly, face starting to flush. His wide eyes turned to Connor who wore a smirk on his face, palms turned upwards expectantly.
"N-no, nothing like... nothing like those things at all," Evan replied. "I was just, um, climbing, and I sort of... fell."
"That's not a very good story," Connor quipped. Evan let out a nervous laugh and nodded quickly in agreement.
"Y-yeah, no, it's really not, is it? Ahaha, n-nope, just, um... j-just lost my balance."
Connor stopped talking for a second and just kind of stared at Evan, who, in turn, blushed from the attention and tried to focus on finishing his sandwich.
"Nobody's signed your cast yet," Connor noted. Evan just kind of nodded.
"Yeah."
"I'll sign it. You got a sharpie?"
Evan slowly nodded and shoved the last of his sandwich in his mouth so he could fiddle through his backpack to hand Connor a black sharpie he kept in his side pocket just in case. He wasn't sure how to feel about it, but it was always nicer to be on somebody's good side rather than their bad one. Connor's hand was surprisingly soft as he gently took the sharpie from Evan's hand. Despite that, he yanked kind of hard on Evan's casted arm, causing him to yelp in pain a little bit. Connor looked at Evan for a second but didn't say anything before signing his name quite large on one side of the cast. He gave the sharpie back to Evan and then shoved his hands in his hoodie pockets.
"Well, there... we can both pretend that we've got friends now." Connor kind of half-smiled as he walked backwards and out the door of the bathroom leaving Evan a little confused and in awe and a lot of other things.
He decided to focus on finishing his lunch and then probably message Jared.
Ev.Han.51: Jared.
Ev.Han.51: Jared, please answer me.
JrodK: wat do u want
Ev.Han.51: I just survived an encounter with Connor Murphy.
JrodK: ok
JrodK: do u want a medal or somethn
Ev.Han.51: No!
Ev.Han.51: I don't know, I just...
Ev.Han.51: You always said Connor was a really bad dude, but he wasn't all that bad.
JrodK: earth 2 evan
JrodK: as an 8 yr old he threw a goddamn printer @ a teacher
JrodK: he shoved me in a lockr like 2 yrs ago
JrodK: idk wat happened but hes still an asshole dude
Ev.Han.51: Okay, maybe, but what do I do?
Ev.Han.51: He signed my cast.
JrodK: i dont have time 2 talk to u about this dumb shit
*JrodK is offline*
Ev.Han.51: Jared c'mon.
Ev.Han.51: Jared?
Ev.Han.51: You kind of suck.
Okay so first chapter is done! This is my first time using Ao3 to write/publish things, so please lemme know if anything is messed up. ALSO sorry if characters are a little OoC. I'm trying, but I also kind of suck at trying. I'll try and get the next chapter up soon. This was just kind of an introductory thing to get warmed up. Sorry if it's short also. Agh! So many apologies.