Picking up the pieces

Dae wakes up the next morning to a text message from Evan. After their talk last night, the two boys just lay on the roof holding hands and staring at the stars in silence, before trading numbers and parting ways to sleep. He didn't expect Evan to text first, but he was secretly glad that the redhead had taken the initiative. Dae was still in the process of working up the courage to make that first move.

The smile pulling at his lips only brightened when he read the text from Evan that asked him in the simplest terms if he wanted to head over for a movie marathon. But suddenly, his attention shot from his phone to the door of his bedroom when the TV turned on at full volume. Knowing that that was his father's tell-tale sign for a weekend of drinking and yelling, Dae quickly brushed his teeth, slipped on some real clothes, and exited his house even quicker.

Dae cut through both of their yards, his hands in his leather jacket and the cold early afternoon air kissing his cheeks. As he walked further away from his home, he heard less and less of his father's nonsense and it allowed him to relax.

Approaching the door, Dae caught sight of himself in the mirror for the first time and realized that he hadn't fixed his hair. Before he could attempt to rake his fingers through it then ring the doorbell, Evan was opening his front door with a soft smirk on his face. The redhead glanced up at Dae's bedhead and stepped back from the door shaking his head, "Nice look."

Dae gave up trying to fix his hair with a small laugh, "Thanks. I'm trying something new."

Dae stepped through the door, and Evan responded after closing it behind them, "Not sure what you're going for. But you always look great, so..."

He could feel the heat in his cheeks and the two boys fell into momentary silence as they headed toward Evan's living room. When Dae dropped onto Evan's couch, Evan was the one to break the silence, "Okay, so, I was thinking we could watch a terrible movie? You know one of those so bad that it's good, b-rate, horror masterpieces? If you're into that."

Dae smiled back at the redhead, "Sounds like a plan to me. Got any in mind?"

"Only an entire playlist!" Evan offered a lazy wink to Dae before switching to the correct streaming service.

After a few moments of browsing and playful bickering over the synopses of certain titles, they decide on a movie to watch but before starting it, Evan gets up and heads into the kitchen to grab some of the snacks he'd already prepared. "Thought we would need these."

The smile on Dae's lips slowly melted away during the movie as both boys fell into an unsure silence. Dae kept glancing over to Evan but he looked like he was mulling over some sort of battle plan in his head each and every time. The god-awful movie helped to distract Dae from the underlying tension until the redhead spoke again, "Dae? Do you really want to know what happened?"

"You wound me," Dae shook his head. "I'm not as dumb as I look; I can follow a movie plot. Even a garbage one like-"

"What happened at Spring County. With Cam." Evan's response was short and clear, sending a shiver down Dae's spine.

And then that chill flared up immediately and Dae's hands started to ball into fists, realizing this was the first time he had a name to attach to the fucker in the video--and to the shooting. But when he glanced at Evan, his fists immediately relaxed. The redhead was staring at the screen, waiting for Dae to respond. Dae pushed down his anger, took a deep breath, and then answered Evan. "Only if you want to share..."

Evan seemed almost startled by that and his head turned quickly to exam Dae's face--and fists. A small moment of surprise leaked through his expression and it didn't necessarily make Dae feel good. But then Evan said, "I don't want to...but I feel like I have to. Does that make any sense?"

Dae opted to ignore his own hurt feelings and nodded softly; both in agreement and in support for Evan to continue. Dae watched the redhead take a deep breath, his body language tense up, and then Evan began telling Dae his story.