#lee!jared

[old desc: my device at 1%] Dad and Jared angst

Promoted by an anon!

Summary: Jared is going through a tough time, but Evan and Connor think they can help!

Set in an AU where Connor never died and he, Evan and Jared became best friends!

“Oh, uh, hi Zoe”, Evan muttered, as Zoe stepped out of her bedroom and into the hallway. Zoe just smiled at him: “Hey Evan”. Being best friends with Connor meant spending quite a lot of time at the Murphy’s house, which was great in theory, but seeing Connor’s younger sister Zoe so often was rather overwhelming. Evan had a huge crush on Zoe, but he put so much effort into making sure that she wouldn’t find out that it was kind of draining.

Jared, the third member of their little friendship group, would often tease Evan about it. Of course, it was only light and friendly teasing, but sometimes it was just too much for Evan. 

But Jared was late that Thursday afternoon, so he hadn't witnessed that little interaction and therefore couldn’t tease Evan about it later.

Jared being late wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. The dude often arrived a few minutes late to the boy’s little hang-sessions, wether they be at the park or at one of the boy’s houses. 

Evan knocked on the door to Connor’s room, making the long-haired teen chuckle: “You know you don’t have to knock every time you wish to enter my room, right?”. 

Evan slowly opened the door, finding Connor at his desk, drawing in his sketchpad. He paced over to where Connor was sitting and looked over his shoulder to see a beautiful pencil-drawing of a countryside landscape laid out before him. 

“Thats nice”, Evan stated. “I know”, Connor replied. He than ripped a piece of paper out of the book and handed it to Evan: “Here, you can draw something while we wait for the Kleinman to get here”. 

Evan took it and grabbed one of Connor’s heavy books to rest it on, and leaned his back against Connor’s bed and got to work.

Evan often lost track of time when he was drawing, but Connor certainly didn’t, and he started to get a bit confused when Jared still hadn’t arrived after ten minutes. 

He whipped his phone out of his jean pocket: “Jared?”. Evan jumped at the break of silence, having been completely lost in his drawing of a pine tree forest. He wasn’t a very good drawer, but he really loved drawing, so it didn’t really matter. 

“Jared, whats up, your like fifteen minutes late bro!”

Jared said something Evan couldn’t make out from the other end of the phone. 

“Wow, that’s really weird bro”, Connor said, “I guess I’ll see you in five”.

“What happened?”, Evan asked as Jared put his phone down and stood up to look at him. “Jared completely forgot that we had planned this!”, Connor exclaimed. 

That was very strange, Evan thought, Jared was always late but he was never forgetful. Something big must have happened that distracted him.

Evan and Connor seemed to be on the same page, as Connor said: “I think something must have gone wrong, we can ask him when he gets here”.

Five minutes later, Jared arrived, “WASSUP PRICK-HEADS!”. Typical Jared. 

“What we’re interested in’, Connor said, “Is whats up with you”.

“Ah”, Jared said, “I just forgot because a pretty shitty thing happened with bullies today, I got distracted”. 

Evan patted the side of Connor’s bed, gesturing for Jared to come sit there, “Oh, buddy, what happened?”.

Jared sighed, sat next to Evan, and looked down, “Ugh, those dicks. They just said some nasty stuff about - about-”.

Jared started shaking. This must have been pretty serious. Connor sat on the other side of him, and Evan wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

Jared took a deep breath in, “They said some nasty stuff about my parents’ divorce. And about how it was probably my fault and shit. And I just-”. Jared took another breath in, his eyes getting a little wet. 

Jared was the toughest guy that the other two knew. He could literally be beaten up by a whole gang and come out laughing about it smugly! But his family was something very close to his heart, and we was still struggling to get over the big split-up.

“I just, I wanted it to stop, and they kept saying things and I...”, Jared rested his head on Connor’s shoulder, “They really hurt me guys. I know it sounds pathetic but-”.

“Nononono, it doesn’t sound pathetic at all”, Connor informed the glasses-wearer, “We all have things that we hold close to our hearts”. Connor smirked and added, “Like Evan with Zoe”.

Evan blushed, “Shut up! At least I’m not the one with a crush on a Schuyler sister!”. “Hey”, Connor defended, “It’s not my fault that Lin hired such a hot actor to play Angelica!”. 

“Actress”, Jared corrected the man who his head was rested upon, “A female actor is an actress”. “Oh Jared, your so old fashioned”, Connor said teasingly. 

Jared sat up straight, “Thanks guys, for cheering me up I mean. You really make a difference”. 

Connor cracked a grin: “Oh my dog! Jared saying something nice! I thought I’d never see the day!”.

“Oh my dog! Connor making an educated insight, I thought I’d never see the- HEY!”. Connor had reached his hand under Jared’s arm and poked him there. “Wow, I thought I’d never see the ‘hey’ either”, Connor teased.

“Connor! What gives?!”, Jared complained, “You know I’m sensitive there!”. 

“Oh yes”, Evan smirked, “We are both aware that you are a little ticklish”.

“Only under my arms!”, Jared argued, “And says you Evan, your a breathing walking tickle spot!”. Evan blushed at that.

Suddenly, Jared’s eyes widened, and he started shaking again, “Spot...spot”.

Connor and Evan shared a concerned look, before looking down at Jared between them. 

“Spot...oh, I almost forgot...they called my father’s house...the perfect spot for-”

“Hey, hey”, Connor interrupted, rubbing Jared’s back, “It’s okay, you don’t have to repeat them”. Connor slipped his right hand under Jared’s am, causing him to shriek and smack it off.

“Connor! This isn’t the time!”. 

Evan smiled and scooted closer to Jared, “Why Jared, this is the perfect time. You have been hurt, so it is only our duty as your best friends to put a smile back on your fa-”.

“Hey!”, Zoe interrupted, swinging open the door, “I heard a scream, what’s going in in here?”.  Evan turned dark red, “Oh, hey Zoe”.

Connor grinned at his sister, “Oh, I just tickled my little buddy over here”.

“Asshole!”, Jared grunted. 

Zoe grinned, “Oh, I get it, we have a freakishly ticklish guy in here”.

“I am not freakishly ticklish, I only have one spot!”, Jared remarked, “Evan, he’s the one who’s freakishly tickl-AH!”.

Evan had poked under Jared’s other arm, and tackled him over. Connor smirked and pinned Jared’s arms above his head.

“Ev, don’t you fucking da-AHAHAHAH NOHOHO!”. 

Evan clawed his fingers up and down Jared’s helpless underarms, “ZOHOHOHHOEEE HEHELP!”.

Zoe smirked: “As you wish”.

“NOHOHOH WAHAIT, DOHHOHON’T HEHELP THEHEHEHEHEM!”.

Zoe just giggled as she sat beside Evan and helped with the tickling. Evan tuned a deep red with Zoe sitting next to him, her giggling as they occasionally brushed fingers together, tickling Jared out of his mind.

That giggle of Zoe’s; Evan wasn’t sure if he could take this much longer. He stood up, causing the other three to look up at him.

“Aw, are you chickening out Ev?”, Connor teased, “Are you too afraid that Jared will get you back?”.

“Well, ah...”, Evan stuttered. Zoe smiled, “You know that if you chicken out now, you’ll be my next victim”. Evan turned a darker shade of red. Zoe just chuckled and went back to tickling a helpless Jared.

“NANHAHAHAHA ZOHOHOHOHE WAHAHAHAIT! NAOHOHOHHO, EHEHEHEVAN GOHOHOHOHO AWAHAHAHAY!”.

Evan had sat on Connor’s side of Jared instead, and went back to his attack.

Evan’s fingers clawed and prodded precisely, and Zoe’s scribbled and teased lightly. The combination of the two was almost unbearable for poor Jared.

Almost.

He was actually kind of enjoying himself. After a rough afternoon, laughing his head off was almost freeing. Like locking away the door to his misery and throwing away the key. 

But that didn’t stop him from struggling.

“IHIHIHI WIHIHIHIHILL KIHIHIHIHILL YOHOHOHOHU AHAHAHAHALL AHAHAHAHAFTER THIHIHIHIS!” Jared cried, desperately jerking his torso up and down against the bed. 

The other three just smiled, happy with the madness that they were inflicting on their friend. But still, it had to end at some point, the guy needed to breathe. 

Connor unpinned Jared’s arms, and as soon as he did, Jared pounced on Evan.

“Oh, your in for it!”.

And the room erupted in laughter once more.