I have the entire plot of this story planned already, but like, I always do, and I don't always stick to it. The key is to know when to be flexible and when to be stubborn, because stories sometimes have minds of their own, you know?

I'm currently studying Greek, hence the titles. Every time I write vita like beta I feel wrong, bc I know better now, I shouldn't, but also, if I wrote vita no one would know wtf I'm talking about


3. Ομολογίες

Connor would admit he was an asshole, but not in the way Kleinman is an asshole, Connor is violent, sure, and often defensive, but Kleinman just spends his time digging around for things to make others snap, and while Connor probably wasn't the kind of person someone like Evan Hansen should be around of, Kleinman was way, way worse. At the very least Connor was honest, rude, and anger prone, and volatile, but not any less honest because of that.

Connor is also very protective, particularly with Tera, who is the only person that actually gets happy to see him, so there are plenty of reasons why Connor shouldn't be showing Hansen this, and yet…

Yet here he is, guiding Evan Hansen to Tera's nest, and he doesn't actually know why, but thinks if he asks Hansen enough questions maybe the answer will appear in front of him, so he does.

"You never told me what you were doing here in the first place"

Hansen shakes in place, despite the fact that neither has stopped walking, and Connor thinks he has a right to do so, because he's following an alpha into an unknown location, away from prying eyes; but then again, Connor isn't the normal alpha, he's one that has a now again-human two year old in his arms, so… he isn't sure what that brings to the table.

Showing Hansen the nest is an impulse, really, but when he sees the shorter boy's look darken into one he recognizes too well, it becomes something else, something he can't quite figure out. He thinks Hansen makes up an excuse to cover up what he really came to the orchard for, Connor doesn't call his bullshit because he's familiar with failure, so if Hansen wants to lie to himself, then Connor's not gonna stop him; but it means that he came without telling anyone, because Connor knows how this works.

Tera is quiet as they walk, but her hazel eyes are wide open and set on Evan, they look particularly amber right now, as they tend to whenever she de-transforms, but they'll go back to their weird greenish-brown when they're at the nest; Connor still thinks it's cool that they change with the light, and with the transformation. Connor thinks Tera is smarter than she should be for someone her age, or maybe he's actually being more affected by this whole taking care of her than he cares to admit.

Evan glances at her every once in a while, only when Connor isn't directly looking at him, but the alpha still catches his from the corner of his eye; his expression is odd, like he can't decide how to feel about her, but there's no trace of the disgust Connor sort of expected, considering what Tera was, but something else entirely. Connor gets distracted for a second, as he checks for any signs that someone might've stumbled into the area while he was away, finding nothing as per usual, when his seriously justified paranoid investigation is interrupted by laughter.

It takes him a moment to realize it came from Tera, bright and loud like children's laughter tends to be, and he notices Evan looks exponentially more relaxed now, a smile trying to draw itself on his lips. Connor feels like he's been deprived of an important experience, as Evan notices his eyes, grows flustered, and proceeds to glare at the ground; Connor somehow manages to swallow the disappointed whine that wants to leave him.

The trees open to the abandoned building turned nest, Tera transforms again and jumps out of his arms to run inside, Connor motions for Evan to walk in first. The part they enter through has no roof, not due to the building being old, but like it was ripped out of its place, the actual nest is in the still covered part, dimly illuminated thanks to the sun filtering in.

Tera makes a run to the pile of cloth her mom had left behind, most of the nest was already built when Connor found it, and makes a weird sound; Evan shakes in place, like he's battling with his instincts, Connor huffs.

"What?"

Evan whirls towards him, frowns for a moment, and then looks back to the ground; Connor almost misses the weight of his eyes on him, and chides himself for it, it's just his inner alpha dicking with him as per usual.

"She wants you to join her"

Evan sounds embarrassed about it, like there's something lewd about using his omega abilities to translate for Connor, or maybe he's weary because alphas don't usually take well to being taught things by omegas; which explained why most high-school teachers were either alphas or betas. But Connor was more than ok with it; really, anything that helped him keep Tera happy was good in his book, and he knew he was lacking in the guardian department, at least Evan had instinct to fall back on when he didn't know how to dad. Connor was trying to be a dad; he knew he was, somewhere deep inside him, but well… wording.

Connor makes his way towards the cloth pile, wherein Tera has buried herself, tail swishing just in sight; something told Connor to transform, and he was often glad when his instincts actually helped some, so he did, careful to go straight to his leopard form; there was no need for Evan to know everything. Evan, somehow unaffected by the signal Tera was sending to 'come play with her', most likely due to his distance, sat down in a dry patch of wood that was still away from the outline of the nest watching them; or maybe his preservation instinct was stronger than the 'please child' one.

"I'm guessing she takes after her other parent then"

He says that with a soft expression on his face, eyes trained to the breathing bundle beside Connor, then, like a glass braking, his eyes go wide and fly towards Connor.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry, it's just, she's a fire drake, and obviously you're not, I mean, you know that, of course, and I- wait, do you still even understand me?"

Connor nodded, before his attention was dragged away by an emerging Tera, who huffed at him but then glanced at Evan and made another noise. Evan frowns for a moment, and then shakes his head like he's trying to change the train his thoughts had gone to.

"She's confused about me being here"

"I think you're paraphrasing that one, but she is two year old, so I'll let this one slide"

"I mean, I do want to know, but she does as well, I promise"

"And I'm inclined to believe you, surprisingly"

Connor doesn't have an explanation on the top of his head, not a truthful one anyways, but he doesn't think Evan will take well to half-truths with everything that's happened between them. Connor does stumble into something that sort of makes sense, even if it feels slightly off, but it's the best he'll get, so it'll have to do.

"You're here because I need help from an omega; Tera isn't mine, so I don't get all the parental instincts around her I would with my own pup, but an omega? Well, you get the picture"

Evan's mouth forms a silent 'oh', and then something raw takes over his features, as though he's seeing Connor for the very first time, actually seeing him; then he swallows looking at his nails.

"I'm not sure I'd be of much help, omega or no; but I… I know what our society does to her kind, so, I want to regardless?"

Connor licks his lips, almost surprising himself at the feel of fur underneath his tongue, but he manages not to let it be external.

"Would I have your word that none of this leaves the orchard?"

Evan gets this resolute look on his face; it changed his entire posture, and Connor finds himself liking how it looks on him.

"I promise"

"Ok"

"I should get going, my mom will get worried if I'm not home when she stops to change"

"Yeah, let me guide you back to civilization, don't want to raise any suspicions"

Evan nods, standing up and dusting himself, Connor turns to Tera, who's now giving him that look she always gets when she realizes he's about to leave.

"I'll be right back firefly"

Connor takes Evan through the shortest route back to the fence, stopping there and waiting, watching as the omega shook in place for a moment, before he realized what was happening and vaulted with a short wave goodbye. Connor was amused and understanding over anything else, a solid feeling that the other would come back to help stray him from the other options.

Connor didn't realize, until much later, that there was no way someone who transformed into a fox could understand someone who transformed into a leopard, not when in animal form; that the only reason Evan did was because he was a shapeshifter, but the omega hadn't acted surprised… now that he thought about it, why had Hansen been able to understand Tera? Instincts did little to help a language barrier. Something didn't fit.