tw: family fight, mentions of malnutrition

"connor? connor, wake up."

connor reluctantly opened his eyes to the sight of jared hovering over him in a white room. "they said that you're fine. c'mon. zoe's in the room next to you, and your mom and dad are pissed. you need to see her."

connor sat up as the events from yesterday afternoon came rushing through his mind. his eyes widened.

"evan. where's evan?" connor searched jared's face for an answer.

jared looked at the ground and bit his lip. "he... we'll talk about that later. for now, you need to see your parents."

jared helped him up and walked connor to zoe's room, where the sound of yelling was already sneaking through the cracks in the door. connor groaned. he was too tired to think about confronting his parents with this secret that he's kept. he just wanted to see evan.

"good luck," jared whispered, and then connor opened the door while jared made his way back to wherever he came from.

***

"i just don't understand why you wouldn't tell me something like this, connor," cynthia sniffed from a chair.

"mom, i just didn't want to make a big deal out of it. it's not a big deal,"
connor replied.

"you lied to your parents, connor. and your sister has been hurt. it is a big deal," larry jumped in, sighing.

connor glanced over at zoe, resting in her bed. her eyes were drooping, and she was struggling not to bump her shoulder, where justin's bullet had hit her. ("he was aiming for my head. i dodged," she had whispered to connor.)

"connor and i weren't lying. we were on sibling trips. we just weren't doing recreational activities on those trips," zoe pointed out.

"and you never even told us you were gay," larry kept scolding connor, ignoring zoe's comment.

connor sighed. "i thought you guys would make a big deal about that, too. i live with a very dramatic family."

"connor, we would've made a big deal because it is all a very, very big deal! can't you see? we're your parents. we want to know this stuff about you! we want to know what's going on in your life!" cynthia exclaimed.

"i don't always want to share! why can't you just accept that some things are kept private?" connor pleaded back.

"because what we are talking about isn't something that should be kept private, connor!" larry spat.

"QUIET!" zoe shouted, and the room was suddenly devoid of all arguing as all eyes turned to the girl on the hospital bed.

"please. just be quiet..." she was crying softly, small tears making their way down her face. "i'm so tired. i don't want to talk about this right now. i just want to sleep."

connor immediately felt bad. before his parents could say anything more, he left the room.

screw this, he thought. i need to find evan.

and he started down the hallway to the waiting room.

***

when he got there, jared saw him and jumped up, but connor didn't acknowledge the boy with glasses.

he went to the check in desk and immediately stated, "evan hansen."

the lady jumped a little at connor's tone, and jared put a hand on connor's shoulder. "connor..." jared said, a warning note in his tone.

"i-i'm sorry, sir, mr. hansen is in the operating room. even if he wasn't in surgery, he isn't cleared for visitors yet," the woman said, a little bit visibly shaken at the intensity in connor's expression.

"operating room? wha-" connor started, but jared had grabbed his arm and dragged him away.

"jared! what the hell is going on?" connor whispered harshly.

"he's in surgery because his organs were failing from malnutrition," jared hissed back. "as you would probably notice if you were paying attention to the colors!"

jared was right. the colors were so dim that they were almost towards shades of gray.

connor plopped down in a chair and sighed, preparing himself for more waiting. he suddenly heard a loud crunch from jared's direction.

jared was eating something out of his laptop bag, and it was staining his fingers purple. connor leaned over to see and jared pulled it away.

"it's none of your business what i'm eating," he said in between bites.

"it is my business if i'm going to smell like lavender for the rest of the day because i sit next to you while you're eating it," connor teased.

jared sighed and looked away for a split second. connor snuck a peek in his laptop bag and saw a.... lush cosmetics paper bag? with a... half-eaten, round, purple-and-pink-swirled something in it.

holy crap, connor thought in amusement.

"jared? are you eating a bath bomb?" connor asked, the hilarity of the situation striking him.

jared turned back to connor, his face flushed a little in embarrassment. he broke off a piece and took another purple bite. "i lov the cronch, okay?" he whispered around the bite, his words coming out distorted because his mouth was full.

in turn, connor started laughing so hard that he had to excuse himself to go to the restroom.