The hair-tie snapped against his wrist.

Evan's eyes were glued to the table as the trio waited for their drinks to arrive. The two friends had brought Evan a few blocks east of the campus, to a small, 24-hour diner that he had never been to before.

"You've never been here?" Smitty had asked in disbelief, feigning hurt as Evan shook his head with a small smile. "Aw man, you're missing out. But don't worry, today you shall become educated!" He threw an arm around Evan's shoulder, causing the boy to flinch at both the loudness and the sudden contact. Smitty didn't seem to notice though as he caught sight of their destination. "We're about to change your life, Ev!"

"Calm down there, Smit. It's just a diner." Smitty pouted at Scott's statement. Ignoring it, Scott turned to Evan as they neared the diner. "Sorry, I know he's a bit much sometimes."

Now, they sat at a booth in the corner near the restrooms. Scott and Smitty sat together on one side while Evan sat by himself on the other. It was quiet, but it was a comfortable kind of quiet, which Evan found quite weird since he hardly knew the two- who he had actually discovered were actual roommates.

"So, how old are you?" Smitty asked out of the blue as the waiter came by with drinks, placing two glasses of juice and one glass of water on the table. "If you're a freshman...you must be, 18?"

Evan lifted his head, cheeks slightly flush. "O-oh, um, I'm actually 20. I took a bit of a gap year after high school." He fiddled both with the hair tie and the end of his sleeve. "It was just an... impulsive decision, kind of."

"That's cool, actually. You don't see a lot of people go to college after a gap year." Scott spoke up, trying to make Evan more comfortable with talking, sensing the boy was a bit nervous. "Smitty wanted to take a gap year too, or at least that's what he told me when I moved in, but I still don't believe him." He gave the boy besides him the side-eye. Evan smiled, but not even he could decide if it was real or not.

He snapped the tie once more, Scott glanced down but quickly looked back up as Evan began to speak. His eyes were still fixed on his sleeve. "I actually wasn't too sure about it; all my life people had been telling me that I had to go to college right after high school otherwise I couldn't get anywhere, but after senior year I realized I.... really, really, needed a break. So, I took the chance." He looked up, surprised to see how interested the two were in what he had to say. "So, roommates, huh? Bet that's a pretty interesting story. How did you two meet exactly?" Instead of looking back down, Evan made an effort to look at the two.

Jonathan really wanted him to make friends, and Evan really wanted to try for him.

"Well, when I first moved in-" Scott was cut off by a groan from Smitty, who put his head down on the table as if begging his friend to not say what he was about to say. A laugh escaped Scott as he continued, placing his elbows on the table and leaning in. "So, I get there and open the door; I knew I was gonna have a roommate, but I don't think Smitty did because when I opened the door," he begins to laugh as he remembers.

"No one told me I had a roommate!" Smitty cried in defense while Scott laughed.

"I walked in and he's stood on the coffee table in nothing but his underwear dancing to-"

"Don't you dare!"

"Taylor Swift." Smitty clutched at his chest as if he had been shot while Evan erupts into laughter. His hand leaves the hair tie as he puts his head down to laugh even harder. Meanwhile, Scott smiled in triumph, having managed to both embarrass his roommate and make Evan laugh. It was quite the victory since Evan had been quiet the entire time.

"Come on, haven't you done something embarrassing in front of your roommate, Evan?" Smitty was desperate. "You know, something that you both swore to never talk about again." He shot a glare at Scott, who was still laughing.

Evan pretended to think for a couple moments before shaking his head. "No, actually. You're all alone, Smitty." The already embarrassed teen let out an annoyed groan as the waiter came by to take their orders. The trio all ordered burgers, Scott ordering a shake to go along with it as well.

"So," Scott moved the conversation after the waiter left, "do you live in the dorms, Evan?"

The older boy shook his head, his hands in his lap as he snapped the hair tie against his wrist once again. "No, I live in an apartment just a little bit away from campus. It's nothing fancy, but it's cozy." He looks towards the window to his right, now just twirling the hair-tie around his wrist, the snaps were beginning to sting again which meant that he should probably stop for now. Evan couldn't allow himself to fall back into bad habits.

The other two were still leaned in towards the elder, very interested in what he was saying. Honestly, Evan didn't know if that was a friendly gesture or not, so he looked at anything he could in order to avoid confronting it.

Soon, the food arrived and the trio began to dig in; Evan ate much slower than the other two. The last time he had ate out with more people than just Jonathan had been a few months after graduation when his friends wanted to catch up. Evan had been so nervous that he had lied and said he already ate, but ended up just ordering a dessert to make his story more believable. It was so stressful he had thrown up as soon as the two got back to their apartment. After that, Evan didn't really talk to anyone from his past, except for his family and Jonathan. He knew it was unhealthy, but Evan was used to unhealthy.

"So, you have roommates, Ev?" Smitty spoke in between chewing on his burger, ketchup and mustard spilling out the corners of his mouth. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that he was the one with the most energy at the table.

Silently, Evan nodded. "Just one." He spoke pretty quietly, munching on a few fries after replying. "I'm not a very social person." Not anymore, Evan thought as he looked back down at his plate.

The roommates sat across from him shared a look, almost as if they were asking each other if they were making Evan uncomfortable, but Scott ended up shrugging and continuing the conversation. Although, he was somewhat aware that he should avoid questions that were a little too personal.

"So," Scott continues the conversation, "what's your major?"

———

The apartment was quiet as Evan stepped into it with a deep breath. After hearing the door close with a 'click' behind him, he ventured further inside, holding his keys and phone in one hand while flicking on the light switch with the other.

"Jon?" He called out even though it was clear he was the only one there. The apartment looked the same as he had left it this morning. In the sink, he could see the dirty dishes that had been put in there the night before.

Evan walked over to the spare bedroom, where Jonathan had insisted on setting up a desk for Evan to study at. Jonathan had a desk, too, but his had been set up in a corner of the living room so that it wouldn't bother Evan if he was sleeping. The raven-haired boy had said that he didn't mind the noise, but Jonathan knew how important it was for Evan to get as much sleep as he could.

So, why did Evan's desk have to be in the spare bedroom? For almost the same reasons, neither of the boys wanted to bother the other with their studies. At first, the desks were going to be right next to each other, but Evan had suggested that they should probably be separate since they were study different things and being together could cause a distraction.

His backpack slumped onto the floor next to his desk chair as he walked into the spare bedroom. Sitting down, he rummaged through his bag briefly to find his phone charger. His phone was already on his desk, waiting to be charged.

After bending down to plug his phone in and standing back up, he felt a rush in his head, causing him to sit down. He first thought it was just going to go away, but after a few minutes, it turned into a headache, and he felt a small degree of nausea, most likely caused by the head rush. Evan groaned, knowing he would have to get a pill from the cabinet to dull the pain.

Going into the medicine cabinet always made him feel anxious ever since he had started living with Jonathan.

——

"Jonathan, my head hurts." It had been a week since the couple had moved in together, and Evan still wasn't used to it.

"You know where the medication is." Jonathan replies from the couch, briefly glancing up at Evan who was stood behind the couch. He saw the conflicted look on Evan's face. "You can get it yourself, Ev."

Since the incident, Evan had been locked out of pretty much every dangerous thing at his house. Utensils had been locked into the cabinets, medicine was kept in a locked drawer. If he needed something from there, he had to ask. If his parents weren't home and he had a pounding headache, then he was out of luck. Personally, he thought it was kind of an extreme to do, but who was he to question his parents after what he had done?

"I know, I just...." Evan trailed off, looking down at the couch as his head throbbed with pain. He couldn't find a justification in what he had done other than he wasn't used to living in a place where he was trusted again.

"It's okay, just get the medication and lay down, Ev." And that's what Evan had done.

——

He opened the cabinet warily, still in the mindset that someone was going to scold him for getting medicine without permission. It was stupid, Evan knew it was. He hadn't needed permission for over a year now, why did he still feel like he needed to?

Two pills poured out into his palm. He put one of them back in the bottle since his headache wasn't too severe. Afterwards he walked back into the kitchen to get a glass of water to take with it.

Evan went to the bedroom, kicking off his shoes and laying on top of the covers and closing his eyes, just waiting for the medicine to start kicking in. He let out a small yawn after a few moments.

His arm began to itch and all he did was snap the hair tie against his wrist once again as he felt his body get heavy with sleep. Another yawn escapes him as he drifts off, soon falling into a light sleep.

He woke with a start, breathing heavy and unable to remember what he had been dreaming about, but assumed that it was bad. At least he felt that he had gotten some sleep. "Ev? You home?" He heard Jonathan call from the living room and assumed that that's why Evan had woken up. "Evan?"

"In here." Evan called back, calming himself down as he laid back. At least his headache was gone now. He heard footsteps come down the hall.

Jonathan soon stood in the doorway, flicking on the light and frowning. "Sorry, did I wake you?" He sounded guilty.

Evan shook his head. "No, I just had a headache, so I came to lay down. You're fine." He lied, not wanting Jonathan to feel bad, with a small smile on his lips. Evan patted the spot besides him. "Come here." He beckoned for his boyfriend to join him, which he did without hesitation. "How was your day?"

Jonathan gave him a quick kiss before answering. "It was kind of boring, I was just doing the same thing as yesterday. My professors had us taking notes all day. What about you? Did you have a good first day?"

Evan took a moment, thinking back to his classes, completely terrified every time he so much as breathed. He remembered sitting across from Scott and Smitty, people he wasn't quite sure yet if they were friends, not knowing what to say and barely making eye contact. He thought about what a relief it was to be home because he didn't have to talk to anyone except Jonathan.

"It was good. Not as bad as I thought it would be." Evan lied, smiling at his boyfriend. "I even made a couple of friends."