Most of the time, Evan had considered himself to be an optimistic person. Sure, it may be raining, but the smell was amazing, right? Or so what if it's 102 degrees out - the sun is helping the plants. However, Evan could find absolutely nothing positive in the fact that his head had been shoved in a toilet.

He was shaking. He was crying. He was sopping wet and covered in poo water.

He hadn't even seen it coming. One minute he was putting his books in his locker so he could join Jared in the cafeteria. The next, he was being pulled by the collar into the bathroom by a group of three who would then proceed to humiliate him all without ever saying what he'd done wrong.

Had he forgotten to give someone's pencil back? No, he wouldn't have asked to begin with. Was it a look? He'd never look at anyone again. All he wanted was for someone to explain what he'd done wrong; why he'd been treated this way.

Evan sniffled and wiped his nose on the back of his trembling hand before leaning his head back onto his knees. If he could just stop the adrenaline from coursing through his veins long enough to actually do something.

He'd been so afraid they would kill him. He couldn't breath and had ended up getting some of the water in his lungs, coughing and hacking through his tears until they'd gotten scared of killing him, too, and had run away, leaving him mid panic attack on the disgusting bathroom floor. He didn't even know those guys!

The door to the bathroom opened and Evan quickly covered his mouth to keep from making any noise. His breathing was shaky and loud, but there were plenty of stalls in this bathroom. If he was lucky, maybe whoever it was would leave without ever knowing he was there.

"Evan?"

It was Jared.

Evan felt more tears rising at the realization that Jared had come looking for him, but was too afraid to reply. He breathed heavily against his fingers as Jared walked to the stall he was in and knocked.

"Come on, dude, I can see your shoes. I know it's you. Answer me."

Evan sniffed again and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Are you crying?" It wasn't accusatory, it was concern.

Evan didn't reply. He didn't know that he could get any words past his lips at this point.

"Come on, open the door."

Evan opened his eyes. Jared shifted slightly behind the door and sighed, but didn't move to leave. With hands shaking at what felt a million miles a second, Evan reached forward and pulled back the lock.

The door swung open immediately and Evan looked down to his lap as Jared took in the sight of him dripping wet and sitting on a toilet.

Jared kneeled in front of him. "Who did this?"

Evan shook his head and Jared sighed.

"You don't know or you won't tell me?"

"I-I don't-" he cut off with a sob and wrapped his arms across himself tighter.

Jared sighed once more and stood. "Let's go."

Evan looked up to him through his tears with a furrowed brow. Jared wouldn't make him go to lunch would he? He couldn't. Not right now.

"W-where?"

"Do you honestly think you're gonna make it through the rest of the day like this? I'm taking you home." He held out his hand to help him up.

Evan hesitated. Home sounded wonderful, but… "W-what about my classes-?"

"Missing one afternoon isn't going to kill you."

He had a point. Evan nodded and stood to follow Jared to the sink where he washed his face and hands. From there, Jared drove Evan home and dropped him off with instructions to take a shower and get some rest, that he'd text him later.

Evan agreed.

After his shower, Evan went back out to the couch in his living room. The quilt Connor had used the night before was still laying across the sofa and Evan picked it up, bringing it to his face.

It smelt faintly like him. Cigarettes and weed and that musky cologne he used to cover it. Evan felt tears coming back as he laid down across the couch with the quilt wrapped around him all the way up to his nose.

He was such a loser.

Evan felt weird after his nap. He awoke entangled in the quilt with tear tracks down his face and his hair in disarray, but calmer, almost numb. In his entire school career, he'd never really been subjected to actual bullying. Sure there had been teasing on occasion and people would shove past him in the hallway and knock his books down, but he'd never been actually bullied.

Jared had always said it was because he was shy and blended into the background well. Add on top the fact that most people only had to glare at him to make him into a panicked mess, the bullies had mostly thought he was too easy of a target and went for those who fought back.

Like Connor.

Evan had witnessed on several occasions the torment some of their classmates had put Connor through. It had lessened some over the years as he closed in on himself farther and rumors spread of him killing a man, but it was still present from the cockiest bullies. Had he been born with a back bone, he might've been brave enough to stand up for the kid getting shoved into his locker, who constantly was told to kill himself, who people ran from like he carried the plague, but he wasn't. He was anxious and incapable of holding his own in a conversation let alone a fight.

Evan curled up on the couch, tucking his legs up to his chest and shutting out the world. He prayed he'd never have to go to school again despite his brain telling him that was illogical. He didn't care.

Evan had been sitting in that spot for an undetermined amount of time when the doorbell rang. He jumped and stared in the direction of the front door. No one should be coming over. It must've been the mailman dropping something off. That was it. He'd leave it and Evan could go back to wallowing in self pity.

The doorbell rang again and Evan's heart dropped to his stomach.

It wasn't the mailman. Whoever it was, knew he was here. His hands shook as he stared silently in the direction of his front door. Maybe if he pretended he wasn't home, they would go away.

Luck wasn't on his side.

Pounding came through and Evan jumped once more.

"Evan, open up. I know you're in there."

It was Connor.

Connor was here.

Evan tried to cease his trembling as he stood, pulling the quilt over his shoulders as he walked to the door. Out of everyone it could've been, he was glad it was Connor. When he finally opened it, Connor was leaning against the door frame, his head rested in the crook of his propped arm. He jumped up when Evan opened the door.

"What the hell?!"

Never mind. Evan regretted opening the door now. Connor was mad. Evan's face paled several shades as he tried to find the undo button for life.

Connor stepped in before Evan could shut him out and ran a hand through his hair. It was tousled like he'd been doing that a lot recently.

"I-I'm sorry." Evan wasn't entirely sure what he was apologizing for, but if it'd calm Connor down, he'd apologize a million times over.

Connor walked toward the living room, bringing his fist up to collide with the door frame as he walked past it. Evan flinched hard. He could feel tears forming in the backs of his eyes. He held them back.

Connor pulled his sweatshirt off and threw it at the couch, possibly just to do something. He took a deep breath and released his fury. "In what world would it be okay for you to tell Jared about this?!" he yelled. His voice was like thunder.

Evan flinched, "I-I didn't-"

"Don't give me that bullshit. He told me it was my fault you had to leave today. He ranted and drew a scene. Was this on purpose!? Let me guess. You figured you'd get to make fun of me too? See how long you could draw this out before I caught on to fucked up game? How stupid do you think I am?"

Evan could only stand there, trying to fold in on himself in anyway possible. He tried not to flinch as Connor threw one of the books that had been laying on the table across the room. It hit the wall with a loud bang then dropped to the floor. He failed. It jarred his frame with such force he nearly collapsed.

He had told Jared not to confront Connor, but then again, when had Jared ever listened to him?

"It was none of his business to begin with!" Connor yelled and kicked at the couch. It didn't budge, instead Connor fell back and kicked at it again. If it hurt, he made no indication of the pain.

The couch wouldn't give him this one victory. It made no movement.

Connor turned to Evan, "Why would you think it was alright to tell him? What part of keep this quiet, don't you understand?!"

Evan didn't answer. He didn't understand. He wanted to shrivel up and disappear. His entire body was shaking, he knew. From his knees to hands, shoulders, even his jaw.

"Look at me!" His voice was wild and Evan quickly rose his eyes to look at Connor. Well, his shoulder, but Evan couldn't make eye contact right now. His body wasn't obeying him.

Apparently, Connor had wanted defiance because he let out a yell in frustration and punched at the wall he'd thrown the book at. When he punched again, Evan's eyes widened. He was going to hurt himself!

Before he'd even realized what he was doing, Evan lunged forward, the quilt dropping to his feet as he wrapped his arms around Connor from behind and effectively trapped his arms to his sides. Connor didn't struggle at first.

"What are you doing." His voice was like molten lava. Hot and fiery, but rocky. Evan could tell he was struggling to hold back.

Evan swallowed hard, "You'll hurt yourself." He whispered.

"Who cares." There it was again. That tone of voice that leaked of hopelessness and depression.

"I care." Evan whispered.

Connor swatted his hands away and broke free from his grasp. He shoved Evan hard and he fell back to the floor. Connor's gaze was livid and Evan cowered under it.

"I'm not about to sit here and listen to you make fun of me to my face." His voice was too quiet. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket angrily and grabbed a few twenties from the pocket, throwing them down to Evan. "Here's for Saturday and last night. You can go live your own pathetic existence now. I'm done."

Evan thought he'd puke at the sight of the bills. He couldn't move. He couldn't run after Connor even as he left faster than he'd come. Evan collapsed back on his back and stared at the ceiling after the front door had slammed shut. Tears streamed down his face but he couldn't find the energy to wipe them away.

He should've known. Bad things came in groups of three. Now he could only wait for the last one to catch up to him and shoot him down for good.

I'm so sorry... It's probably gonna get worse before it gets better.

On the bright side, the chapter was posted in 6 days rather than 7, so that's cool, right? Maybe not Evan... or Connor... or Jared, but...anyway! I should have the next chapter up sometime this weekend, I think. Give or take a couple days.

I know, I know. I'm crazy. I just finished spring term and am now taking summer classes. They start today. More specifically in two and a half hours. But hey! Doing this now means less work over the Fall! So it's a win in the end cus future me will appreciate this a lot. I'm only doing 6 credit hours, so I should have a lot more time for writing and hopefully getting a quicker posting schedule.

On another note, the convention was a blast and the panels went great. My favorite cosplay was Mabel. :D I'm totally doing either Connor or Evan for the next one though. Probably Evan, I have a friend who'd fit Connor decently.

As always, thank you for all of the feedback from the previous chapters. Have a great day!