These Broken Parts

Lost in Thought

Connor sat up against Evan's pillow, reading a book. Beside him, Evan was snoring. He smiled at his anxious boy, who looked the exact opposite of anxious when he slept. He brushed a stray piece of hair out of Evan's face. Evan stirred but didn't wake. Connor smiled, kissing his forehead. He put his book on the night table beside him, carefully getting out of bed. He slipped on pajama bottoms and a t-shirt (Which he, uh, left at Evan's house for situations like this...), then crept out of the room, heading downstairs for a midnight snack – literally, since it was 12:15am.

He sat at the kitchen table, munching on some cereal, when a noise startled him. He looked up.

"Hey, Ev. Sorry, did I wake you?"

Evan shook his head, grabbing a bowl from the cabinet and joining Connor for a snack.

"I woke up and you weren't there," Evan said shoveling cereal into his mouth. "Figured I'd find you down here."

Connor nodded. They ate in comfortable silence, then made there way back upstairs. They settled back into bed, Connor sitting up to read and Evan curling in alongside him.

"Let's not forget to set an alarm, okay? We have a very bad habit of getting caught by our moms because of falling asleep..." Connor remarked dryly, flipping a page in his book.

Evan grinned, leaning back to set his alarm clock, then quickly snuggling back in to Connor.

"Done," Evan said, closing his eyes and sighing in contentment.

"Will the light bother you? I just can't sleep yet," Connor admitted. He felt Evan shake his head no. He held his book with one hand, and rubbed Evan's back with the other until Evan was snoring again. He smiled down at his boyfriend, his heart full of love, before going back to his book.

~*~*~

When the alarm went off, Connor groaned in annoyance, reluctantly lifting his arm off Evan's back and swatting at the OFF button. The absence of Connor's arm made Evan shiver and tuck closer to Connor.

"Don't do that," Connor groaned. "You'll make me want to stay in bed with you all day, and we gotta get moving soon."

"Do we have to?" Evan asked with an annoyed huff.

"Yep," Connor said reluctantly. He kissed Evan's nose, then propped himself up on his elbows, looking down at Evan. "I wish we didn't, but yep."

Evan sighed, flipping onto his back and looking up at Connor. "I don't wanna..."

"I know," Connor agreed, shrugging. "But if we skip school again, they'll DEFINITELY call our parents."

Evan made a face, reluctantly sitting up. Connor followed his cue, and they got up and rummaged around, going about their morning routines – dressing, cleaning up, and grabbing their bags.

They held hands on their walk to school, both yawning every few minutes.

"Stop yawning, you're making me yawn," Connor complained.

"Can't help it," Evan said with a shrug. "Besides, you're yawning more than me."

"Can't help it," Connor replied, echoing Evan's words. Truth was, Connor's insomnia had been getting bad again for a few weeks now. That was always the first sign he was one trigger away from a bad depressive episode. He couldn't figure out why, when he had everything going for him right now. He shook the thought away as they approached the school building.

They stopped at the bottom of the steps, both giving each other "here we go" looks, and making their way into the building.

~*~*~