I haven't been on this app all day so I completely forgot to update this earlier lol

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"Do you think it's too soon to start working on the english project?" Evan asked out of nowhere, breaking the silence amongst his friends. "I just, I just don't want to rush it."

"You just want to start it now because you know you're gonna have a hard time." David joked, nudging Lui's shoulder, Evan's question now forgotten as everyone began to laugh.

"Shut up, I do actually want a good grade on this." He shot a playful glare at David, trying to brush off his comment. Surprisingly, he actually couldn't. "Does anybody have some alcohol?" He asked, looking around as all his friends shook their heads.

"Sorry, bud, can't help your alcoholism today." Lui laughed, and Evan forced himself to chuckle. It was a good joke, he had to convince himself, it was funny and he should laugh.

"Whatever, I'm just gonna start the project. I'm sure Jonathan was going to pester me about it anyway."

"Exactly, because he knows you don't know shit about love." Tyler spoke up, smirking playfully at him.

"Not to mention I'm shit at writing." Evan had given up at defending himself, his friends would poke fun at him for as long as they could. He checked his phone to get the time. "I gotta go, Jonathan and I are meeting at his place in like fifteen minutes."

"Use protection." Brock mumbled under his breath, giggling.

Evan rolled his eyes, scowling. "Can you guys find something else to joke about for once?" He snapped, getting up and leaving.

---

He nervously stood in front of the door, heart beating rapidly as he forced himself to ring the doorbell. Ringing it twice, he brought his hand back and clasped it together with his other, rocking back and forth on the balls of his heels as he waited for his english partner to answer the door.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out to see a text from Tyler.

Tyler: dude you should totally make a move ;)

As he read the message, his throat felt a bit dry and he could hear the shuffling of footsteps coming from inside. Hurriedly, he replied to the message before forcing his phone back into his pocket.

Evan: shut up, tyler

"Hey Evan." Jonathan's voice caused Evan to jump suddenly as his head shot up. The boy's soft laughter that followed Evan's action made him a little bit less angry at him for scaring him. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"It's fine. I wasn't p-paying attention, it's fine, all my fault." Evan smiled at him, trying to control his urge to say anything more.

As he was lead inside, Jonathan explained that his parents weren't home- at which point he turned to look for Evan's reaction, even though it appeared that he had barely been listening.

"So, you wanted to start writing out some poems? Maybe work on our individual essays along the way? Well, I should probably warn you, I'm not a good writer. Especially when it comes to romance and love and all that sappy shit." Evan spoke as soon as they reached Jonathan's room, looking around the place and trying to make it seem like he was just curious instead of trying to get to know him better by seeing the things he liked. "Nice room." He commented.

"Uh, thanks?" Jonathan didn't know how to act around Evan, he was totally different than what he had expected. So far, there had been no attempts to get with him. Even when they were this close to his bed. "You're nicer than I thought you'd be." He admitted without meaning to.

Evan was taken off-guard. "How did you think I would act?" His voice was cautious, and he tried to mask the sudden skip in his heartbeat. Slowly, he slid his backpack off his shoulders so he could get his laptop.

"I don't know, I just expected you to hit on me by now." Jonathan sat down on his floor, Evan following him about a second later.

Evan winked at the boy jokingly, getting a bit more comfortable around him by now. "Oh? So you want me to hit on you? Cause' I will, just ask." He leaned toward him a bit with a small chuckle.

"No thanks, I'm good." Jonathan, although a bit uncomfortable, brushed it off with a laugh since it was obviously a joke. "Seriously, though, you're actually not going to hit on me?"

Evan glanced downward as he felt his face begin to heat up under the other boy's intense stare. "I don't hit on everyone, you know that, right? I'm not that much of a fuckboy, I just like to have fun sometimes. Don't worry, I'm not gonna hit on you."

"Shit, I'm sorry, I was being out of line, I didn't mean to be insensitive, I just-"

"It's fine, seriously. Let's just work on this, yeah?" Evan smiled at him just to keep the conversation off of him.

"Right." They both had their laptops out by now, eyes glued to their screens and their fingers slowly gliding across the keys as they struggled to find a perfect combination of words. "About an hour before we review them?" Evan just nodded, pulling out his headphones.

--

"Roses are red,

Violets are blue.

But none of that matters,

when I'm looking at you."

DELETE.

Evan frustratedly pressed the delete key on his keyboard, undoing everything he had just typed. Love poems-or just poems in general- were not his forte, and he absolutely hated everything he was typing. He let out a sigh, tearing the earbuds from his ears.

"I hate it." He complained, momentarily forgetting that he was next to Jonathan. "This is awful, I can't do it."

"Hey, I'm sure it's not awful, Evan. Come on, lemme read it." Jonathan placed his own laptop down beside him, holding his hands out for Evan's.

"Ugh, fine." Evan grumbled, hurriedly typing something out before unplugging his headphones and handing the computer over to the other boy. "Just tell me if it sucks, I won't be offended or anything."

Jonathan just nodded as he began to read what was on the screen, his eyes silently shifting from left to right, two fingers on the touchpad, ready to scroll down when he needed.

"Here." Jonathan said after a few minutes, handing his laptop over to Evan so that he wasn't just awkwardly sitting beside him. "Read what I have so far."

"Fair enough." Evan accepted the device and fixed himself into a position much like Jonathan's.

Comfortable silence fell between the two, save for the occasional 'click' of the touchpad on the laptops and their hushed, even breaths.

Their eyes scanned the screens in front of them with interest, scrolling up every few seconds once they reached the end of a page. Jonathan carefully read over every word that Evan had typed, every once and a while feeling a bit shocked as he pieced together a possible meaning.

As Evan scrolled through the other boy's poems, he subconsciously began to silently tap his finger against the side of the laptop, something he often did when he was anxious or nervous about something.

Evan actually really liked the other boy's poetry, it combatted his own perfectly, taking a softer, more nurturing, and fanciful approach to the emotion, and it was beautifully written.

"Everlasting,

A common word I would use to describe this,

This, swirl of suffocating emotions,

The feel of gentle ocean waves crashing into me.

It's everlasting,

How perfect we are."

Reading it, Evan knew that his writing couldn't even begin to compare to it. In comparison, his own was sloppy and lackluster.

He continued through the other pages with ease and interest, carefully reading them over while Jonathan most likely did the same thing with his.

Eventually, they switched laptops.

"Yours are great, Evan." Was all that Jonathan said as he handed back the boy's laptop.

"Likewise, Jonathan." Evan had to force himself to say his full name, rather than shortening it like he often did with his friends.

He glanced out the window, surprised to see the sunset. Shutting his laptop, he gathered his things as he turned to look at the other boy. "I should probably get home, my mom is going to be pissed." Evan lied, remembering very clearly that his parents were away for work, and had even suggested themselves that he stay with a friend.

"Are you sure? I mean, my mom can cook us dinner and you can stay-" Jonathan sensed that Evan was being dishonest.

"I don't want to make things awkward." Evan spoke firmly, looking at Jonathan with a serious face.

"What do you mean? It's really not a big deal."

"That's a lie. Of course it's a big deal. It happened with all of my friends, trust me, you don't want me to stick around. Especially since you seem like the type who tells your parents a lot-"

"Evan, you're not making sense-"

"I'm a fuckboy, plain and simple. You know how people treat fuckboys? Like a parasite, you don't want me around. I'm trying not to infect you."

Jonathan was shocked at Evan's outburst and/or rant that he had just spat. There was so much feeling built up in it that all he could do was stand there.

Evan's eyes widened as he took in what he said. "Sorry, I-I don't, I-sorry, I have to go, I'm sorry." He rushed out of Jonathan's room as fast as possible, being out the door a few seconds later.

"Quit fucking things up." He cursed at himself as he began his long walk home.