god thats a lot of flowers

Pros and Connors

So, there's good news and bad news, boys, girls and everyone in between.

The good news is that it did not end terribly. Yet.

The bad news is that Jared would not leave Evan alone about this. At all.

The problem was barely Connor's fault- It's been a week since he first contacted Evan and ever since then they've exchanged some texts. At first it was awkward- He asked why Connor was up so late and Connor replied with "insomnia" and then "why are you up so early?" to which Evan said "work" and that was the most interesting part of their exchange, since it just turned to a bunch of "hey"s and "how are you doing? Good. you?"s.

But when Connor shared a photo of a design he recently drew as a concept sketch asking if he knew anything about flower symbolism, "Or whatever it's called", and asked what flowers could be put together to mean "fuck you".

The 'u' in 'fuck' was replaced with a star an hour later, because Mrs. Murphy had done another look through his phone- Something they did every other week since Connor had gone to the hospital in the beginning of the year due to him trying to kill himself- and while she was happy about his potential friend, didn't want him to curse in front of him.

After Evan gave his advice (and asked Alana, who clearly knew more about it than he did), they chatted regularly. Which was strange, because it was like reverse-meeting someone online. Or do people usually do this? Probably not. To be completely honest, speaking over the internet was much easier than in real life, and he prefered that Connor did not visit him again in his store.

When the teen told Jared this, or, really, Jared interrogated him after he was acting happier and more confident than usual, it was like the end of the world for Evan and his joy. Mostly his pride, however. Whatever pride he had left, at least.

"How's your boyfriend?" was the most common question that he'd ask when they met up. Of course, there's a reason why he keeps appearing around the poor boy. Jared's dad was out of town so his mom kept sending him over to Evan's house constantly, despite Jared being 18 and totally able to take care of himself. Which is a lie. Evan may not end up being the best functioning adult but Jared's not gonna, either.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Would be the response.

"Seems like it." Would follow.

Evan didn't even know if Jared was saying that on purpose so that would happen, but it did. A lot.

So he tried to change it up a bit.

"How's your boyfriend, Ev?" Jared smirked, sauntering up to him with a starbucks in his hand. God, Jared's such a white girl.

"Good, what about you?"

His plan to 'shake things up' did not work.

The way Evan just casually accepted it destroyed Jared. He burst into laughter so hard that the drink he was taking a sip out of was spit everywhere and the anxious boy realized his mistake.

'Abort abort abort abort' rang in his head as he flushed a bright red and sealed his mouth tight.

Remember what Bo Burnham Tweeted. Stop talking and you stop fucking shit up.

-

April 19th, 5:28

con: did you see what i did there

evee: ?

con: wait

change ur name to 'pro'

pro: ???????

con: ur the (flower) pro and im the con(nor)

Evan stifled laughter as he checked his phone a few hours after his unfortunate hang out with Jared.

pro: pft

but noooooo ur not that bad

con: irrelevant,

pro: aw i still love you

platonically

con: i, too, platonically enjoy your existence.

Another laugh escaped his lips as he typed one last text before putting his phone down and continuing working.

pro: : D

i gtg, cant text at work too much

A smile grew on Evan's face when he heard his phone vibrate 3 more times- 3 texts proving that Connor's declaration of friendship was true. He didn't check them, however, obeying the work rules and simply sitting at the counter stool, one hand cupping his cheek as he leaned on his arm, the other laying on the cold top as he waited for a few customers to finish picking out some flowers that Alana was helping them with.

For once, he wasn't afraid of messing up the money exchange.

-

Was it weird to visit your friend during lunch despite you haven't seen him in a week? Probably. Should Connor do this? Probably not.

Maybe Evan enjoyed texting him, but he wouldn't enjoy talking to him. Online Connor is not real Connor. It's hard to be as nice in the real world.

He wouldn't like him.

Connor knew that.

What he didn't expect was Evan to visit him.

Evan looked really, really nervous stepping into the store, which was a given since wearing a blue polo shirt and wiping sweaty hands on his pants seemed out of place in the dark and edgy studio.

God, was Connor glad he wasn't doing someone's tattoo at the moment.

"Hey," He waved, pulling a facade of chillness so that he'd seem cool.

Evan's face lit up the tiniest bit, which was still enough to make anyone's day, honestly, and walked towards him.

"I- Hi, uh, t-this might be really weird...? M-my friend, well, family friend, said you worked here so I thought I'd uh, visit?" He stuttered, keeping an inconsistent pace in his voice, speeding up words here but pausing at other moments. It was really, really cute.

Evan is really, really, really, really cute.

Thank god Zoe was in the back, unable to see the gayest look given by Connor in his entire life and laugh at it.

Did it look gay? Zoe'd probably think so. Did Evan think so? He hoped he didn't.

It took Connor a few moments before remembering it was silent (aside from a few buzzes in the background and the screamo music playing).

"Who's... your family friend?"

"D- Uh, Jared Kleinman? Got fired from lush 2 times and hired again 3 times?"

"I think I know him. Or Zoe does, at least," Zoe knew everyone. So clearly Connor's tone was not the nicest when saying that.

Evan winced at the not-so-nice sibling bond they seemed to have. It seemed pretty good in the flower shop. Or did siblings just act like this? Siblings are weird. He had a few half-siblings in Colorado, where his dad lived and had his own family, and he visited three times. They seemed fine.

"How do you even get re-hired twice?" Connor continued, giving a snicker at the end.

He probably disappointed Evan. Evan wanted the cool Connor, not the weird one working at a tattoo studio but only really giving tattoos once or twice a month.

"I... Don't know? He even got kicked out once, but then they hired him again because he managed to set up a truce with the manager? Something about stealing bath bombs when he was originally hired, then he smuggled them through someone else so the manager agreed to hire him back if he stopped smuggling them or something?"

"Why was he fired the second time?"

"Because he kept stealing them?" Evan chuckled. If he could easily start a discussion on how weird Jared was like this to everyone, his social anxiety would've been gone by then.

"Oh my god."

"Yeah, I know."