It dulls into a silence that feels exactly like a too tightly pulled string, Connor's been learning to be gentler, but it's a work in progress
He slumps against the wall, dropping so he's sitting on the ground, as far away from Zoe as he can make himself while doing this particular thing
He takes a deep breath, and starts with the obvious
"I… I owe you a lot of apologies, and I know… I know saying sorry now isn't going to fix things, but still… I'm sorry; I want to make it up to you"
Zoe's face contorts into a pained expression, she doesn't like this subject, and she's trying really hard not to scream at him, he can tell, not that he wouldn't deserve it
"You… you were kind of horrible"
She gives him a pointed look, Connor exhales
"I'm aware"
Zoe nods, acknowledging what he said
"But I can- I can see you're trying, right now? This has been the longest you've gone without… without snapping at someone"
"I can't promise you I won't either, because sometimes it's just too much, and life is an asshole, but I don't… I don't want to hurt you anymore, hell; I never meant to hurt you in the first place"
Zoe gives him a tight lipped smile at that, so Connor continues
"And it's a bit frustrating, because I wanted so badly to be able to come to you, to talk to you about… well, talk about Evan, because really, that's were my head has been lately"
He brushes a hand through his hair, eyes wandering off to sit at some random spot in the house
"But I was also thinking about you, and what an asshole I was to you, and I wanted to fix things, because I really miss you"
He doesn't look at her again, but he hears footsteps, and feels when she drops by him
"Connor, look at me"
Only then does he turn his head, slowly as not to startle her, just in case
"I miss you too, so I'm willing to give you a chance, ok?"
He nods fervently, she then stand up, offers him a hand to help him up, and guides him to the couch
"Now, I want details"
Connor lets out a breathy laugh, but this is an easy topic, a good place to start
^~^~^~^~^~[Pov change]~^~^~^~^~^
It was less of a butterfly clapping its wings, and more of a snowball turning into an avalanche; no. It was a fire, a forest fire in the driest day of summer, miles away from anyone who could stop it, Evan felt like he was burning
Richard; and here Evan takes a page out of Connor's book and decides to not refer to this man as his family, comes to talk to him again, this time with more warning, or rather, Evan figured he would make an appearance, because Richard doesn't actually bother to warn Heidi that he will come by, acts like the house is his when it hasn't been for seven out of the ten years in which he hasn't shown his face here
Here's where it happens, because he was seven when Richard decided to go away, and he's 17 now, and so much has changed since then, particularly now. Richard is sitting in the couch of his house, like it's the most normal thing ever, like he isn't entirely out of place in the picture; he stands up when he sees Evan and asks his mom to leave them alone, she glances at Evan who has his hands clenched at his sides, and he nods, unaware of the decided look that has taken over his face
"Evan, I think we should talk"
"You want to talk? That's fucking rich! You've had 10 years to talk, to try and patch things up, to explain yourself, but did you?!"
Richard frowned, opening his mouth, Evan wasn't having that
"You never called or emailed, or made any contact, you barely ever paid for child support, you don't get to come parading back like nothing happened, you don't get to calmly ask me to meet your children, you don't get to talk to me"
"It's that boy, isn't it? I knew he was a bad influence as soon as I saw him"
Evan saw red, quite literally, and he knew it to be his own eyes that were raging, his own heart pounding, he saw his dad step back, and only then realized he was glaring
"Stop talking like you know anything about me! The last time you saw me I was seven, so, not sorry that I stopped giving a damn about your opinion, and kindly go fuck yourself"
Richard gapes; Evan notices the colors coming back to him and leaves before his mind has the time to catch up with him, locks himself in his room and slumps on his bed feeling… well, nothing really, which is kind of weird, because he expected guilt, but he isn't feeling particularly proud of what he did, he is glad that he got all of it out of his system, but other than that he's just left to stare at his ceiling, then he reaches for his phone, because he owes his soulmate an explanation
You: I had a talk with Richard
You: Sorry if the world turned red
Con 3: Totally understandable
Con 3: Are you ok though?
You: Honestly?
You: I've no idea
Con 3: Want out of there?
You: Yeah
You: I think that's a good idea
Con 3: Omw
You: I might come out of the window
You: Don't freak out?
Con 3: I won't if you're careful
You: ;)