Bearclaw Valley snake oil

Kepler. That fit the boy in front of him infinitely better than the alias he was using, Evien thought, a smile working its way onto his lips. Thank you for trusting me. For opening up. For being you. And for all Evien was the more vocal of the two, there were still things he left unsaid, as well. If there was a surgical bulb exposing Taylor, Fields, Kepler, in that moment, Evien was more than willing to be the one who made sure it wasn't hot enough to burn.

The name hangs in the air between them a moment, and Evien decides it's his turn to speak again. "Thank you," he says simply, echoing his thoughts from before. There was more weight behind those words than just about anything he'd ever said in his entire life. 

"Can I use your name?" the boy asks then, because if this boy wanted, he'd never call him anything else besides Taylor, or Fields, or whatever he wished to be called. Kepler wasn't his to use without permission, and certainly not outside the bounds of this conversation.