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Connor sighed when he saw Jared walking across the mall with Evan.
So much for a quick and relatively painless family trip to the mall.
It was always going to be somewhat painful, being with his family always was, but if Jared saw him he'd almost definitely come over and be annoying.
He hadn't even wanted to come, but his mom had insisted they needed a 'family day', threatening to stop paying his phone bill, and he needed his phone to talk to Jared so..
Here he was.
Thankfully, Jared didn't seem to notice him as he ducked his head and tried to blend in with the crowd.
A short while later, he had been allowed to ditch his family for half an hour, and was browsing in a bookstore, enjoying the respite.
He should've known it was too good to be true.
"Connor! I thought I saw you! It's hard to miss you, you know, cuz you're so tall," Jared said, coming up behind him, and startling him so hard he dropped the book he was looking at.
"Jared," Connor sighed, bending down to pick up the book, "Hi Evan," he added, when he saw Evan loitering awkwardly behind Jared.
"Hi," Evan replied.
"We just saw the coolest movie. It was kind of dumb, but the special effects were amazing!" Jared said.
Connor put the book back on the shelf, and watched as Jared told him about the special effects in the movie, and how he thought they'd been made.
He was sometimes glad for Jared's ability to carry on a conversation by himself like this, when he got excited.
It was good for days like today, when Connor was mad at pretty much everything and didn't exactly want to or trust himself to talk very kindly to others.
He gestured for Evan to follow him, and took Jared by the shoulders, guiding him out of the store and towards the food court.
Jared had moved onto some other topic now.
Connor wasn't exactly listening, he just enjoyed hearing Jared sound so enthusiastic.
Jared latched onto Connor's arm as they walked. He eventually finished whatever point he had been trying to make about special effects artists in the film industry and fell quiet.
"Did you give him an energy drink?" Connor asked Evan, as Jared swung himself around, using Connor's arm as a base point.
Evan nodded miserably, "He brought one to the cinema."
"Fantastic," Connor sighed.
Jared was annoying normally, but him on caffeine was another story.
Don't get him wrong, Connor generally found it quite endearing. That's why they were dating. Connor was fucked up enough to actually like the annoying shit Jared did, and Jared was desperate enough to wanna date Connor of all people.
They paused outside the bathroom, Connor left alone with Jared while Evan went in.
Jared was acting like a nut job, jumping around, occasionally poking Connor's cheek or running his fingers through his hair.
Honestly, it was exactly what Connor needed, despite how annoyed he probably looked Jared's fucking mental behaviour was actually cheering him up.
"Connor?"
Or it had been.
"Is this boy bothering you?" His dad asked from behind him.
Connor sighed as he turned to face him.
"Yes, but he's my boyfriend so really I signed up for thi-..s," Connor trailed off as he realised what he'd just said and who he'd said it to.
Even Jared knew what had just happened, because he paused, falling still at Connor's side.
"Your.. boyfriend?" Larry asked blinking, his face unreadable.
Connor bit his lip.
Well. No going back now.
"Yep. My boyfriend."
Larry looked at Jared skeptically.
"Oh good, you found Connor!" His mom said, hurrying up to them with Zoe in tow, "Oh, hello. Are you one of Connor's friends from school?" She asked when she saw Jared.
"Er…"
"He's my boyfriend. Mom, this is Jared," Connor said, "He's annoying."
He figured he may as well go big or go home right?
Although he did really want to go home right now…
He couldn't believe he just came out to his parents in front of the public toilets.
"Oh. Hello. I didn't know you- Never mind, I'm Cynthia, it's nice to meet you Jared," she said, blinking away the shock.
She nudged Larry.
"Oh! Um, I'm Larry."
"And I'm Connor, she's Zoe, and he's Jared, the only way this could get more awkward is if Evan comes back, can we please just get the rest of this day over with and save the yelling for when we get home?"
"Yelling?" Larry asked, sounding a little dazed, like he couldn't believe this was actually happening.
Cynthia frowned, "We're not going to yell at you Connor. I am going to be giving you a talking to about why we didn't know about this. Jared, I apologise for my son's rudeness. You must come over for dinner some time this week okay? I'd love to meet you properly."
Jared grinned a little, glancing at Connor.
"I'd love to Mrs Murphy, thank you for the invite."
"Kill me now," Connor groaned.
"Be nice," Cynthia scolded.
"Nice would be killing me so I don't have to sit through a dinner with you and Jared."
"Come on Connor you know you love me."
"Beside the point," Connor said.
He stepped away from Jared.
"Come on parental units. I want this day over with as quick as humanly possible," he said, gesturing for them to lead the way to whatever dumb store his mom wanted to take them to next.
They both said goodbye to Jared, being polite people who actually cared about having manners.
"Bye Connorrrrr," Jared hollered after him as they walked away.
Connor stuck his middle finger up at him in response, hearing Jared's stupid laughter ring out from behind him.
***
Connor thought he had pretty successfully avoided total disaster all day when he finally made it home.
His parents hadn't even pushed too hard on the questions about Jared, probably recognising Connor's bad mood.
He knew he'd be getting more questions soon enough, but that was future him's problem.
He picked up his phone when Jared texted him.
Hey Connor guess what
what
you basically told me you loved me today
What. Fuck. Had he?
He thought over their time at the mall. He hasn't even talked to him that much, how had he…?
Oh.
I love you too you know
You annoy me
But you loooooovvvvveee meee
yeah