Double Penetration

Exaggeration

Cole:

It's Thursday now and we haven't seen Evan much in the last couple of days. We still have classes with him, but we haven't actively sought him out, as per his wishes. 

I thought Ace might have made him back away a bit, but Evan seemed to feel the same towards both of us, so no harm, no foul. 

Today, though, Evan didn't show up to school at all. 

At lunch, we asked Noah where his brother was and if he was okay. Noah said Evan wasn't feeling good and had stayed home. We knew that was a lie, but didn't say anything, just sat down with our mate's brother and Mark(they'd sort of grown on us, even if Mark consistently flirted with Evan. It was only fine because even when Evan flirted back or laughed, he didn't seem to really be interested in Mark.

We finished the school day, went home, handled some pack responsibilities, did our homework, and the day was over with only some disappointment. 

§~•~§~•~§

Evan was back after two more absent days, to our delighted surprise. And, to our relief, he looked good. As in, he didn't look like an anxiety-riddled mess like we'd expected when he was at home, avoiding us. He looked healthy and clean.

His eyes scanned the room, expression steely and not giving away anything as he moved to sit at the end of a middle row. Closer to us than he'd sat before his absences. It was progress. Ace still pouted, but didn't say anything. 

"Stay here, I'll be right back, okay?" I told my twin. Ace nodded, still pouting. 

"Just be careful. He seems….delicate, right now." I raised a brow and looked back at our mate. He didn't look delicate, but I nodded. I moved to sit in a seat next to Evan. I could hear his heartbeat get faster if I focused. 

"Hey, you okay?" Couldn't go wrong with showing basic concern for another person. 

Evan shrugged half-heartedly. "Fine, I guess. I uh, I didn't mean to snap at Ace. I wasn't trying to be a bitch, I just didn't have any tolerance that day." He admitted, focusing on the sketch he was shading. I didn't want to look too closely because I knew artists valued their privacy until their stuff was finished(Phil was a great artist and let us hang around while he painted, but his most important rule was that we weren't allowed to look at what he was working on until he said so. "Trust the process, even when it's sketchy." He'd said, winking). 

"I….you know, I can't say I get it because I love being around people. But I do kind of understand being introverted thanks to Ace." 

Evan gave me a disbelieving look. I laughed quietly. 

"I know, I know. I'm not kidding, though." At Evan's look, I continued. "He may seem like a people person, but he's more of a people pleaser. He's not as book smart as I am and while it didn't bother him in elementary school when grades didn't matter and our mother was still around, it got harder for him to handle when we hit high school. Worse because we lost our mother right before high school started." Cole explained. 

Evan tilted his head. Most people would empathize with things involving parents, but Evan didn't. And his parents weren't living with him and Noah. Hm. Interesting. 

"How does he have top grades in the year, then?" Evan asked, thankfully not accusing, just curious. 

I smiled. "I study with him every day that we don't have sports practices and on off seasons, it's whenever he starts to struggle with something he doesn't understand." 

Evan hummed. "I do that with Noah too. I'm just glad I'm good at math, otherwise that poor kid would be struggling a lot. I'd still be fine with his grades even if his math grade was terrible, but he wants to pass, so I help him pass." He said, smiling fondly.