"S-sorry," Evan muttered out, blushing as they both started making their way to the orchard, with Connor taking the lead, "a-about Jared, I mean. H-he's super protective over me and stuff."

Connor nodded, still a little too nervous to be making eye contact with Evan, "Yeah, uh, I would assume so. It's me, who wouldn't be worried?"

Evan could see that he was frowning, and immediately he felt so guilty. He just leaned forward and hugged Connor from behind, which took them both by surprise.

"H-hey, don't say that," Evan said, confidence in his voice, "you are s-so wonderful."

Evan held the hug for a couple of seconds more, before retracting his arms and gripping onto the corner of his button up shirt. He apologised profusely for the sudden hug, and sudden invasion of personal space, which Connor replied by telling him to stop apologising.

"There's nothing to be sorry about," Connor said, now smiling at Evan, "it's nice to hear a compliment about me."

-----

"And here we are!"

The cobblestone walls that surrounded the orchard had plants growing on it, giving the entire place a natural vibe. The entrance had a small little ark overhead that was beautifully decorated with roses and dandelions. Walking through it almost feels like entering a realm of fantasy.

"Woah," Evan muttered, mystified by the look of the entrance in itself.

"It's nice, right?"

Evan was extremely excited by the nature beyond the cobblestone walls, Connor noticed. His shoulders were relaxed, he isn't gripping onto his shirt anymore, not anxious anymore. Suddenly, Connor noticed the despair in his eyes. He noticed how Evan had lightly gripped onto his cast, still keeping the facade of a smile plastered to his face.

But, as quickly as the sadness appeared, it disappeared. Evan was bubbly again, turning to Connor with a bright smile.

"This place is so nice!"

"Right?" Connor exclaimed, feeling the excitement from Evan rubbing off on him. He then held onto Evan's hand, leading him into the orchard. This sudden grip shocked Evan, when he suddenly jerked forward. However, that shock was replaced with pure joy as his face flooded with red at the sight of Connor holding his hand.

Evan looked up, only to see the back of Connor's head, and looked down, quickly following Connor to wherever he wanted to lead him to. Evan couldn't see the light blush on Connor's face, whose mind was currently occupied with the sentence, "I'm holding his hand, people are going to think we're a couple."

Connor led Evan to one of the taller trees in the orchard, which provided the perfect shade as he set up the picnic. The tree was very tall, and it was surrounded by many other trees. This provided the perfect calm rustling of leaves in the wind that calmed Evan as he watched Connor set up. Not only that, they had the perfect view of the horizon.

Soon, they were both seated on the blanket, chewing on the sandwiches Connor bought on the way to Evan's house.

"So, do you like it?"

Evan was so relaxed, he didn't hear Connor talk to him. Connor had to tap his shoulder to bring him back to reality. This cause Evan to frantically apologise for getting distracted, and cause Connor to chuckle.

"It's fine, really," he smiled, his voice nice and soothing, "that's why I brought you here in the first place."

Evan tilted his head a bit, to show his intrigue.

"What?"

"I brought you here so that you can relax. You always seem so tense, so nervous," Connor stopped, taking a bite out of his sandwich and chewed, "but you relax when you talk about nature."

Evan blushed, his eyes darting around to anything to avoid staring at Connor.

"O-oh, really?" Evan managed to stutter out, "thank you so much."

"No need to thank me," Connor chuckled, which only made Evan feel even more in love with Connor. So, they just sat there, chatting the day away as the rustling of leaves filled the background, as the gentle breeze blew past them.

"So, what do you want to do when you graduate?"

Evan looked at Connor, who was looking at him with interest in his eyes.

"L-let's see," Evan thought, as he never really thought about his future that much. He had no reason to think that far ahead after that incident...

"I-I think I'm just gonna try to find, um, find some jobs to earn money," Evan answered, very truthfully at that. He didn't have any career plans set out for himself, and all he really wanted was for his life to go by peacefully.

Connor seemed shocked.

"You didn't want to be a florist," Connor asked. Evan thought about it, and then shook his head.

"I do! Trust me, I do," Evan started, seeing memories of his past float by. Many horrible memories such as his Dad moving out, and him and his mother surviving off of saving as much money as possible. All those memories made him rethink his choices, "I just...feel that I shouldn't do that right now."

Immediately, Connor sniffed out a lie, and he didn't keep quiet.

"Did something happen with trees recently?"

Evan's eyes widened, and immediately his shoulders tensed, his body was filled with an uncomfortable warmth that made him shift around. His question was too specific, it was almost as if he had witnessed it himself. There was no way anyone could have seen him. He walked into the forest alone. He even glanced around to make sure that there was no one there to stop him.

Had Connor actually been there?

He turned to Connor with the same sense of fear, Connor returning that look with his own worried gaze.

"Did something happen?"

Connor was serious. He wasn't about to just let this look of fear slide. He looked at Evan, urging him to continue with explaining what happen with trees.

"C'mon, Evan," Connor cooed, and properly sat up to face Evan. It made Evan blush, to think about how Connor had been concerned about him even though he didn't say a single thing. He had understood him perfectly through gestures.

"O-okay," Evan replied, although he had no intention of giving Connor any real information.

"W-when I worked as an apprentice park ranger, I-I had to, um, get this-this cat of this, uh, really tall tree?"

Connor nodded, paying full attention.

"And-and when I climbed upwards, the cat. It, um, it climbed down while I climbed up. So, uh, I was now really tall up this tree? But, that cat wasn't there. So I looked down, got really scared and, um, lost my grip and I-I fell down, b-breaking my arm."

Connor looked horrified. He had a frown on his face, clearly upset by the story, but he still kept his attention completely on Evan, not saying a single word to disrupt him.

Evan, noticing this display of sadness, chuckled, and continued to tell the story, "b-but there's this ten minutes, where I just laid there. I was like, somebody's coming, I said that to myself as I laid there, any second now, someone's coming!"

So now, Evan is nervously chuckling, while Connor stared at him, so very scared that Evan would laugh about something as morbid as that.

"Evan."

Connor had a stoic tone. His voice frightened Evan so much that it almost made Evan jump when he heard it interrupt his story.

"Y-Yes, Connor?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"C-Connor...?"

Connor leaned forward, enveloping Evan in this huge hug. Evan felt his own arms squeezing against his body, against Connor's chest and he felt Connor's arm wrap around his body. He felt Connor's messy hair press against his face, feeling how soft it was. He felt Connor's chin resting on his shoulder, shifting slightly. He felt his own heart beating loudly against Connor's.

"C-connor!"

"Evan."

"...yeah?"

He felt Connor take a breath.

"I'm not gonna judge you for it, just let it out."

With that sentence, Evan felt warm tears flow from his eyes. He felt his body pressing into Connor's, his arms wrapping around Connor's. He felt himself weaken all his muscles as he hitched his breath, trying to breathe through his cries. He felt himself grip onto Connor's clothes, as if letting go will make him fall, as if letting go will cause him to crash, as if it was his last hope.

He felt warm tears flow down from his eyes, from his cheek, and staining Connor's shirt. He just screamed his feeling out, crying loudly in the process. He felt Connor pet his back comfortingly, as if telling Evan that he should just cry until he was done. Evan felt his heart ache, as he let out tears. He felt like he couldn't breathe, as he let out everything he had pent up within him from his past.

And they just hugged, miuntes spent trying to let out all the negative emotion in his system.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Evan would repeat, apologising about his existence, about how he caused so many troubles to the people around him. Connor would reply with "no, don't be," saying things like, 'you're amazing' and 'you're wonderful'.

They soon broke apart, Evan still sobbing a bit. He looked at Connor through teary eyes, and saw that Connor had been crying as well. His eyes were red, tear streaks staining his cheeks as he properly sat back down.

Connor, trying his best to wipe his own tears away, started to smile for Evan. "Now that you don't feel like shit, can you tell me the truth about your cast?"

Evan, still calming his emotions and choking back tears, responded quietly.

"I-I tried, um," hitching his breath at 'um' when he tried to speak, "tried to take my own life, by, um, jumping off the tree..."

Connor gasped, but it was mostly shocked that Evan was just like him. Broken, sad, and in despair. Hiding behind a facade. Not from the fact that he tried to take his own life. He knew that Evan did that, during his little fake story about saving a cat. He knew that there was no way a cat can be in a forest or orchard, anyways. Rules stated that there was a certain limit as to how far a pet can go in the orchards around these parts, since a pet was once killed by a deadly plant in one orchard.

"...Evan," Connor cooed, placing his hand on Evan's shoulder, "I know how you feel."

He pulled his sleeve back, revealing many cuts across his left wrist. Then, he moved his other sleeve up, revealing more wrist cuts. Evan gasped, gripping onto Connor's arms and staring in shock. His tears flowed again, and he hugged Connor, leaning against his chest

"Please don't kill yourself, Connor. Y-You're," Evan paused, about to say that he loved Connor with all his heart and would love to kiss him, but he managed to stop himself before he confessed, "one of my only friends. I don't want to lose you."

Connor, feeling his own tears flowing, hugged back. He finally found someone who knew his actual personality, and was just as messed up as him.

"You too, Evan," Connor chuckled, still crying a bit, "I don't want to lose you either."

This was when Connor saw that the sun was setting. The environment around them set in the warm yellow of the setting sun. The sky had a beautiful blend of purple, orange and yellow.

Connor tapped on Evan's shoulder, watching Evan tearfully look up at him. Connor then pointed towards the setting sun, making Evan release Connor from his hug reluctantly to look at what he was pointing at. Evan's eyes then shone, like hope was finally filling his body. He looked mystified with the beauty in front of him.

The sun was setting. Beautiful shades of orange, yellow, purple and blue blended together, creating a wonderfully lukewarm colour.

"W-woah," Evan muttered, amazed at how amazing the entire plain looked. The beautiful tall grass dancing in the wind in front of this beautiful orb of yellow, the calming rustling of leaves of the trees behind them filling his ears.

"Pretty, right," Connor asked, relaxing at the sight of Evan relaxing.

"Yeah," Evan muttered out, "just like you, Connor."

Evan had mumbled the last part to himself, which made Connor hearing a mesh of words and his name.

"Sorry, what?"

Evan was too distracted by the setting sun, so it took a moment before he noticed Connor's question and blushed, scrabbling together words.

"N-nothing," Evan managed to say, "I was just thanking you for bringing me here. I loved it."

Connor chuckled, holding a thumbs-up, "yeah, no problem!"

-----

Connor had finished packing up all the picnic stuff, and they both are at the entrance of the orchard. By this time, the sky was already coated with a layer of dark blue, the light from buildings around them turning on, illuminating the dark night sky with the bright florescent lights.

They both started walking together, a lot happier now that they both let out their emotions for the time being. Evan walked beside Connor, head staring at the floor as he grasped at his own hands nervously. Connor glanced over, listening to the quiet shuffling of leaves, their loud footsteps and the deafening silence.

"You okay?"

Evan looked up at Connor, who he could see with the light of the street lamps shining on his face, illuminating a smile. He nodded quietly, earning a relaxed sigh from Connor.

"Yeah, me too. It's...nice. To let out your emotions for once."

Evan nodded once more, quietly looking back down at the stretching and contracting of both of their shadows under the bright pale yellow lights.

Connor just continued looking forward, when the thought of Friday popped into his head. He turned to Evan, a little nervous, but asked his question anyways.

"Right, so my mom has decided to ask you to come over on Friday?"

Evan looked up at Connor again, raising and eyebrow at the question. Connor just shrugged, casually looking back forward and continuing their walk.

"You up for it?"

"Uh, y-yeah, okay."

"Great, I'd love to have you over."

Evan saw Connor turn to him, a kind and warm smile. A beautiful and trusting smile. One that he could gaze at forever. He felt his heart beating, his face burning up, and he turned away.

Connor tapped on Evan's shoulder, making him look over again. He noticed that Connor had made a strange symbol looking thing with his hands, and held it over his mouth. His left hand was balled into a fist, with his right thumb being gripped by the left hand. After that, the remaining four fingers formed an arc connecting the hands. It kinda looked like a lock of some sort?

"I promise I won't tell anyone about your crying today, and you won't tell about mine. Deal?"

Evan's eyes widened, but felt a chuckle emerge from his mouth. He copied what Connor did, with a bit of help from him, and spoke, "deal."

The two smiled at each other, glad them at they have became closer together after this outing.

-----

Jared emerged from the open door, practically pouncing on Evan, leaving Connor speechless as he noticed that Jared was searching Evan's body and aggressively hissing at Connor.

"Evan! Are you hurt? Did he touch you?"

"N-no, Jared. I told you we wouldn't do that," Evan replied, blushing and looking down at that statement.

"Alright, imma go now. Bye, Ev."

With that, Connor waved Evan goodbye and was walking away. Evan did the same, waving back and walking into his house while simultaneously shoving Jared into the house before he could try to shout at Connor for supposedly touching Evan.