hey!!! im in need of a better cover for this book, if anyone's got any good ideas/suggestions or is willing to make one,,,, dont be shy lmao im far from threatening

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“Look, I'm sorry I dragged you away from your boyfriend, alright?” Tyler sets Evan down just outside of the hospital. “But look, I just needed to talk.”

Evan frowns. “So Bryce doesn't need attention?”

“What? Of course he does! But…” Tyler pauses to look around, then hunches over Evan to whisper. “I… I think Panda and Brock are hiding something.”

This surprises Evan. He hadn't been expecting this. “What do you mean..?”

“I mean, Panda and Brock are acting shady as fuck! Did you not notice how much they've been whispering to each other and only each other?! Or how they've been avoiding everyone except each other? It's shady as fuck and I don't trust any of it,” Tyler says sternly.

Evan takes a moment to process everything he's heard. “So… you think they're dating or-”

“Uh, fuck no! Everyone knows Brock has it bad for Brian. Buuut,” Tyler says, eyes widening with realization, “Brock did skip the morning make out session for Anthony, and that's impossible to make him do!”

“Hey, what's impossible?” Luke is suddenly right next to them, a grin on his face. “Come on, tell ya old pal Luke!”

“Your boyfriend not needing attention,” Tyler says snappily. “That's what's impossible, you saggy tit.”

Luke shrugs, a smug grin on his face. “What can I say? Bryce can't get enough of me and Ry. We're addicting, I can't blame him!” He laughs at his own joke and gives a sheepish smile. “Nah, but really, it's not that he needs our attention. It's that we can't stay away from him if we tried,” he explains. “Have you ever seen Bryce on his own? He's such a cute little shit! I can't resist his pretty face, that beautiful motherfucker.”

Evan isn't sure why a part of him feels so jealous right about now. Does Jonathan ever talk about him like this, so proud and happy? Can they end up like these three? Bryce, Luke and Ryan are always by each other's side, snuggling and kissing like it's the end of the world. Evan wants to do that! He wants to crawl into Jonathan's lap and be snuggled and hugged and held, he wants Jon to get down on one knee and fucking propose to him and….

Actually, maybe he'll have to do the proposing. Jon's rather oblivious. A minor setback in his plans for the future, but oh well. He'll work around it.

“Speaking of Ry, where is he? I haven't seen him around for a couple days,” Tyler says suddenly, pulling Evan out of his thoughts. “Where does he go when he just vanishes like this?”

Luke shrugs. “He says he needs space from time to time. He's a troubled guy, you know? Ry needs his personal space from time to time, and as one of his boyfriends I simply accept it and wait for his return with open arms.”

They both nod. Very devoted, Luke is. Evan hopes he and Jon can be like this, too.

--

Evan walks into Bryce's hospital room, where Bryce is laying in the bed almost motionless. He's just staring up at the ceiling, blank as could be.

“What's wrong with my lil’ angel?” Luke walks into the room right behind him, pushing past Evan and Tyler to get to his boyfriend. “Baby? Honey, you okay?”

“How many meds is he on?” Even Tyler looks concerned.

Bryce takes a moment to process the fact that Luke's standing above him. He gives a small gasp, shakily reaching out to him. His hand barely makes it above his body before it falls back to his side.  “Lukey..? Luke….”

Luke leans in, concerned. “Yes?”

“The fire,” Bryce whimpers. “The… the fire, Luke, the fire…”

Evan feels Tyler lean in close to him. “Is he crazy, or..?”

“Maybe,” Evan responds. “He might be.”

They watch in silence as Luke listens to Bryce murmur something to Luke. Luke's eyes widen, a gasp coming out of him as he leans in and listens closer to Bryce.

“Oh… oh fuck no,” Luke says, loud enough this time for Evan and Tyler to hear. “You're kidding me right?! That's…” Luke laughs nervously, “That ain't true! Sweet cheeks, baby, you're kidding me, aren't you?”

Bryce shakes his head. Luke seems panicked now. “I saw it,” Bryce mumbles. Evan now realizes that he moved closer without realizing it, and so he takes a step back.

Luke runs out of the room, babbling something about finding Ryan and telling him something. Tyler watches Bryce for a moment as he groans loudly and goes back to staring at the ceiling. He turns to Evan, as if he's supposed to help, but Evan doesn't know what to do either so he just shrugs.

“Bryce? Bryce… are you okay?”

No response. Evan tries again.

“Hey, Bryce… You feeling better?”

Still no response. Tyler steps forwards, going up to Bryce and shaking the bed frame. “Hey, Prince Fuckface! We're talking to you!”

“No,” is all Bryce answers, leaving them at a loss for words.

Okay then. So maybe they're not speaking to Bryce. Now at a loss for words, Evan and Tyler decide to go away and figure out what's wrong by themselves.

--

The air is cold. Evan's not so sure when this cold weather started, but it's a rather nice change from the usual warm, muggy weather that's normal to this area. No more humidity or hot, gross sweaty summer days for them. Just nice, cool weather and maybe even some snow! This is why he walks into Jon's dorm room with a grin.

“Hey! How's the cutest kinda-boyfriend feeling?” He kicks the door open with a grin, a box in both of his hands. It's pretty big, and is wrapped up nicely in a light blue paper. There was a bow on it, but it must've blown off from the wind.

Jonathan sits up in his bed, looking delightfully surprised. The hospital staff let him go, they healed him as much as they could then let him go. Apparently magic doesn't quite help heal burns that easily, or grow back hair that was singed off. Who would've guessed?

Jon grins as soon as he sees the present, holding his hands out greedily. “Delirious gets a present! Oh, oh my damn god!”

Evan feels himself smiling. He's so cute when he's excited…

“You like what you see?” Evan playfully tosses the present to Jon, who immediately scrambles to unwrap it.

A baby blue teddy bear is in the box, a little mask on its face. Jonathan pulls it out with an excited cry of “Teddy bear!” He hugs it tightly and grins at Evan. “Dude! You're the- the fuckin’ best, man! Bestest boyfriend ever!”

Jon then, with no warning, jumps out of bed and drags Evan in for a kiss. Evan smiles into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Jon's neck to pull him closer. He would've run his hands through Jonathan's hair, but a good bit of it got burned off so the ladies at the hospital shaved it all.

(It's a good look for Jonathan, Evan silently decides as he pulls away. Just means less hair for Evan to mess with.)

“What's the present for? Are- are you just that happy to see Delirious?”

“Kinda,” Evan confesses quietly. He reaches over and fixes Jon's jacket on his shoulders. “Luke told me your birthday was in May. I figured as your significant other I'd get you a birthday present some seven months late. Eight if you wait a couple more days,” he says softly. “I know it's stupid, but you look like you could use the happy.”

Jon is still grinning. Even with burns all over his body, he looks absolutely handsome like this. Evan can feel himself swooning just at the thought of his boyfriend shirtless. He happily watches as Jon shoves the teddy inside his hoodie pocket, the little head sticking out, then as Jon grabs him by the wrist and begins to pull him through the hall.

“Come on,” he shouts. “Mini texted me! He wants us to go visit him out by the choir building!”

Evan can't help the smile on his face as an idea comes to his head. He stops running, Jon forced to stop shortly after him. He ignores Jon's confused look and simply holds his arms out. “Carry me?”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jonathan gives him a bewildered look. “You- you want… I'm fucking wounded! I'm hurt, dammit! You're supposed to nur- nurse me back to health like all the other pretty nurses!”

Evan fires back with ease. “Well you're supposed to carry me like a knight in shining armor!” He does a little twirl for emphasis.

He revels in the way Jon pouts at him. Yes, give Evan all the power over this dork right here.

“Fine,” Jon huffs, scooping Evan up into his arms. He kisses Evan on the nose and tosses the teddy into Evan's arms. “I carry you, you carry Teddy. He's our baby now.”

Evan laughs. “Yes, this is our family. Me, you, and our teddy children. All fifteen of them.”

“They better have pretty eyes like you,” Jon grumbles. “And they better be good singers. And perfect, in general. Like you.”