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Freak Show, Geek Show (a kleinsen fic) ch.3

两天前写完忘发老福特的第三章

本来不打算继续写了，结果在a站上传的竟然有人看了而且催更🤣于是

Author's Notes: This chapter was cut off when I first got distracted by YouTube videos then somehow got COVID without even going outdoors for weeks...for some reason. So, we're finally at the famous 「encounter scene」. I literally drafted out the entire story for that one line, which means whatever happens after this chapter might be completely random. tbh I don't even know if I should keep writing this, since it's starting to sound weirdly cringe for some reason, but I got a few request on writing more, so I decided to finish this one at least. Also, there's probably gonna be some characters mentioned in the story from other musicals. Not sure if it's a crossover yet, but just so you know, if you ever find one character weirdly familiar, don't worry. It's completely intentional lol. Okay, so, this note is taking me way too long to finish. Enjoy reading :)

Ch.3 You're...Out Of Your Tree

Evan took a deep breath, and squeezed his eyes shut. 

This is NOT how he expected his Tuesday to end.

The light heated air of July slowly drained their way through the cracked open car window into his lungs. 

Just....Calm down.

Calm down.

It's fine. 

Inhale——wait, he just did that a second ago——exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale...

In——

“It's okay, sweetie. It's just for a couple of weeks.” His mother's voice eventually broke his new found breathing pattern. 

The sentiment was meant to be comforting, yet all it did was slap on a cold reminder of the fact that he messed up, BIG TIME. 

See, when Evan decided to agree on playing a friendly little game of cards, it was no more than an excuse for him to leave. 

He had expected the adults to laugh it off or just forget about the whole thing after that night.

What he didn't expect was for them to start placing bets after miraculously remembering what happened the other day.

And Evan, being the anxiety-ridden-mess that he was, had literally no ability of rejecting. 

He would have sworn it was the worst experience of his life if his mother didn't show up directly after he lost, which he reacted to with the only thing he excelled at in the miserable seventeen years of his life——apologize frantically.

“No, it's okay, Evan. What's the stake？” Heidi said, trying hard to keep it all together for him. Her clenching hand on the wallet, however, disagreed with the calm exterior she presented. 

“A nephew.”he heard himself choke out.

For the first time in his life, Evan hoped his mother was mad at him. 

It wasn't fair how she worked twice as hard to raise him

alone in the past few years.

It wasn't fair for her to clean up after whatever mess he made.

And it certainly wasn't making things any easier for Evan when she kept assuring him that “it's okay” when it definitely wasn't.

“You can even be friends. Who knows?”

Oh god there's going to be a complete stranger in their house.

Invading his private space.

They'll have to pay for the person's food. 

And the extra water bills.

Not to mention the fact that Evan wasn't exactly very enthusiastic towards little kids, or kids his age.

And let's just say the feeling might be mutual.

Back to panicking it is. 

He could hear his own breath speed up audibly. 

“Evan,” She tried again, “It's not you. Don't beat yourself up on this. I would have agreed if they asked me anyway. The bet was only just a way to bring it up.”

“but-see, that——that's not true,”he managed to argue,“I agreed to it in the first place. I don't——I shouldn't have agreed to it if I didn't like it. and I lost, so it's my fault.”

Heidi signed hard, but finally decided to remain quiet, leaving him, once again, with his own thoughts. 

A few minutes passed as they both waited for the upcoming “guest”.

The neighborhood fell silent, aside from voices coming out of the house at some point, but he couldn't quite make out the contents.

Evan stared at his doodled cast to get his mind off whatever was about to happen, his mother's words hanging in the back of his head.

You can even be friends——Evan couldn't even befriend a squirrel if he wanted to. 

The closest experience he's ever had that could possibly qualify as “making friends” was politely allowing his lab partner to sign his cast in seven different types of handwritings after she voluntarily suggested the idea during a group discussion in class.

Veronica, that was her name, never talked to him ever since.

Or maybe it was the other way around.

He didn't know how to re-approach her and randomly struck up a conversation.

What he do know is,  if he ever talked to her again, he'd probably say something stupid and just ruin the entire first impression.

So all he did was take a look at his cast every now and then, and replay that one scene over and over again, thinking how nice it WOULD HAVE BEEN if he ever got the nerves to actually talk to her and be friends.

Because he was THAT pathetic. 

Eventually, the muffled conversations came to a stop, 

soon replaced by light footsteps coming up the entrance.

“Hey.” Evan dropped his head. Not bothering to look up. He could hear his mother working up her best hosting tone as the guest approached, “Guess you'll be staying with us for a few.”

“Hi there.”

A brief pause hung in the air, meaning the previous greeting was directed at him, instead of his mom.

Well, this is new. 

At this point of his life, Evan was almost certain he was born with the capability of camouflaging into any background possible.

Taking a deep breath, he finally worked up the courage to raise his head.

“Hi.....?”

Evan froze as it dawned on him——why the person was talking to him.

Why they chose to talk to him specifically.

He blinked at the sudden dejavu, the familiarity of the stranger's profile under the dim street light——

Right there, right that moment, in front of him, was the boy he just saw the other night.

“You're...out of your tree...” He blurted out before he could stop himself. 

Great. 

Another awkward moment of his life to look back and cringe apon.

To his surprise, the response came in a sarcastic tone rather than disgust

“It wasn't MY tree.” 

A soft scoff followed. And once again, that distinguishable smile spreaded across the his face. Thinning lips, tooth gaps, gleaming eyes, a slightly scrunched up nose. 

It was almost relieving to look at, despite the stressing atmosphere.

Heidi looked back and forth between the two as if they were speaking in German code and she was the one to interpret. 

Evan was sure she'd come back with loads of questions once they're alone.

“Hi. Ms. Hansen, right?” The boy continued casually as if he's actually an invited guest——

He is, technically. 

It's just the whole concept of having someone you barely know anything about stay over last minute isn't exactly considered “invited” in Evan's book.

Invited, means you have to be informed earlier. 

Invited, means you're actually familiar enough with this person to casually ask them to sleep in your house.——not that he had anyone even close enough to “ask”anyway.

Invited, means you don't get awkward greetings and intros because they would have ALREADY BEEN considered a genuine friend.

“Sorry for intruding.” Yet, not a single sign of apology on his face. The stranger seemed to be making random conversations just based on experience, instead of actually meaning things when he say it. Though Evan was almost certain there's something else under the polite mask he's put on.

“Don't be, and call me Heidi” his mother beamed, “And I'm sure you've met my son Evan.”

The boy nodded vaguely——Not agreeing, and not completely disagreeing.

If Evan knew about this trick just a day ago, none of this would have happened. Or maybe he'd somehow manage to mess up again. He's Evan Hansen afterall.

“I'm Jared, by the way. Jared Kleinman.”

They got into the car after a short exchange of names and greetings.

None of them spoke on their way, but for some reason, the tension eased up a bit. Jared didn't have much luggage with him, so he simply offered to settle at the back of the car with his bag on the other side, much to Evan's relief.

“Alright. You can take the guest room for tonight. Bathroom's right there down the hallway.” Heidi exclaimed. She seemed pleased with the guest's manners despite her own exhaustion from a late night shift.“Breakfast will be ready around 7. I hope you don't mind getting up so early on holidays.”

“No worries. I'm usually up by 6.” Jared said with an assuring smile.“Thanks for the shelter again.”

“It's okay. We always had a spare room. It'll be nice with extra company——Now if there's anything you need, feel free to ask.”

The textbook exchange of aminenties ended with Heidi exiting the room to get some rest herself. 

Evan stared hard at the floor as he felt his anxiety slowly creep in at the thought of being left alone with someone else.

“You don't talk much, do you?” He looked up to see the other boy carefully observing him like he was some endangered specy of frogs.

Couldn't blame him though. 

Considering the uneasy feeling in his stomach at the moment, Evan was sure he had the whole “deer-in-the-headlights” expression plastered on his face.

It was just then when Evan got to have a closer look at him:

It was the same set of clothes, except for a change of shorts. The button up that was tied up on his waist on their last encounter was now worn loosely unbuttoned over his T-shirt with a rainbow pin attached to the upper left pocket.

“uh...No？”

“Jesus Christ” the boy laughed in an almost sympathetic way, while his eyes showed a complete different emotion. 

“You do know that we don't eat little kids in the city and make bags out of their skin right?” 

It was meant to be a joke, but he tightened up anyways.

“No, I know.” The reply came off a lot harsher than expected, judging from the slight frown of confusion he got in return. 

“Okay...?”

Okay, so clearly Evan wasn't the only one internally dying of awkwardness at the moment. 

Point proved: Even the chattiest of all people can be weirded out in a conversation with him.

“Anyways, I'd better head to where I belong.”The door closed behind after the stranger made his excuse and left.

Evan slumped back on the couch and stared at the ceiling, wondering if it's just this one day or his entire life that he's failed. 

One thing's for sure, he thought as he made his way into his own room upstairs:

This is going to be a long week.