Work Text:
"Oh to hell with this!" Connor McKinley grumbled, giving up on trying to fix the handle of the kettle. It'd snapped off around an hour ago and Connor had been determined to fix it, despite their lack of super glue or anything that could safely hold it together.
"You okay Connor?" Kevin asked, walking in after having heard another clang of the kettle hitting the tabletop.
"I'm fine, I just can't get this stupid thing back together and now we won't be able to boil water and it'll be all my fault because I somehow managed to break it." Connor huffed, placing the now scrapped kettle onto the coffee table and slouching back into the couch, arms folded in front of him in frustration. Kevin fought back a smile at the adorably grumpy ginger and sat next to him. Wait what? Adorable? Kevin mentally slapped himself.
"Connor, it's not your fault, don't worry about it. I'm sure we can go one day without a kettle, and tomorrow you and I can go to the market to get a new one?" He suggested. Connor raised and eyebrow at him then nodded, before glaring at the broken one left discarded on the coffee table.
"Aww, does Connor McKinley want a hug?" Kevin teased poking the older boy in the arm a few times, trying to elicit a laugh. Connor just rolled his eyes, albeit smiling, before being wrapped up in a hug from Kevin.
"What are you doing?" He asked, tensing up.
"Giving you a hug." Kevin replied, giving Connor a light squeeze. Connor decided to relax into it, hugging him back, and just enjoy the friendly gesture, without trying to figure out any deeper meaning.
"Okay."
——————
Since then, hugging had become a regular occurrence for the boys, with Kevin usually initiating the hugs whenever Connor was sad. Kevin assured himself that it was all down to him being a good friend and comforting his friend in a very friend way when his friend most needed it. Yeah, Connor was his friend.
Today had been another one of Connor's bad days, and Kevin could see straight through the fake smile he had put on throughout the day. It was now night time, and Kevin had been asking the others where Connor had gone. He wasn't 'worried' but he was- well totally worried. Past nightfall, Uganda wasn't a nice place to be alone, what with all the scorpions, and the lions, and basically everything.
"He's probably on the roof, it's nice out, so I don't blame him." Chris Thomas said, shrugging as he turned a page in his book.
Kevin let out a quick thanks and left the hut, turning to find the ladder leaned up against the side. He breathed out a sigh of relief and climbed up, seeing a silhouette, of who he hoped was Connor, sat on the edge, back to him and legs dangling off the edge.
Kevin sat down next to him, leaving a good 2 inches in between them.
"Hey Kevin." Connor said quietly, smiling weakly at the other boy.
"Hey, what're you doing up here?" Kevin asked bumping their shoulders together.
"It's nice out here - I needed some fresh air I guess." He answered.
"Well this air is as fresh as it gets." Kevin said. Connor didn't laugh as he had hoped he would. Kevin was unsure whether hugging Connor would be a good idea - so he asked.
"Do you, uh, do you want a hug?" Kevin asked cautiously, scared that he might set of Connor off on accident.
"Yes please." His voice broke as his eyes welled up and he allowed himself to be wrapped up in Kevin's arms, crying into the brunet's shoulder.
Kevin's heart broke as he held onto Connor tightly, running his hand up and down Connors back.
"Thanks for coming up here." The crying boy whispered in between sniffles.
"It's okay." Kevin replied quietly, pressing his cheek into Connors hair and held him tightly.
—————
"Ow! Ow! Naba that hurts!" Kevin yelped as Naba worked to get the tree sap out of his hair, tugging at it. They are sat under a tree adjacent to the mission hut, with Arnold reading a comic book next to them.
"Your fault. You tried to climb the tree when I told you that it was a bad idea."
"I knoooow! I'm sorry!" Kevin rolled his eyes. Nana laughed and yanked at another sap covered lock of hair.
"Sorry doesn't get the sap out of your hair." She sing-songed. Kevin winced.
"Any chance it'll make you be a bit less rough?"
"Nope. It looks like we might need to cut it though." She said. Arnold, having his eyes glued to the comic before, now looked up to look at Kevin.
"Don't worry Best Friend! You'll still look amazing with a buzz cut!" He stifled a laugh.
Kevin huffed and looked up from his hands. Connor was walking over, some sort of tiny metal box in hand, and a smile on his face. Great.
"Oh my gosh Kevin! You look like a sad puppy!" Connor laughed, and Kevin gave him an forced toothy smile to show his annoyance.
"Anyways, Church said that this stuff helps get tree sap out." Connor said, passing the little metal tin to Naba.
"Thanks Con, you're a literal lifesaver." Kevin smiled, and Connor copied, before waving to the three of them and leaving.
Once he was out of sight, Naba began talking.
"Sooooooo, you and Connor huh?" She questioned.
"What? There's nothing going on." Kevin rolled his eyes, pretending that he wasn't turning red.
"Sure, I believe you." She said.
"Naba, c'mon we're just friends."
"Look I'm just saying, you're always hugging him - not that I'm saying that it can't be platonic, I hug you guys all the time - but between you guys, there's no way it's just platonic." She said, getting some of his hair free from the sap. Kevin lifted up a hand to argue but Naba beat him to it.
"I mean, next thing you know he's going to fall in love with you. Is that what you want?" Naba asked, lightly punching his shoulder. Kevin scoffed.
"Is that what I want?" He mimicked.
"Yes!" Arnold said loudly, closing his comic book and slamming it on the floor.
"Arnold what-"
"Kevin for Luke Skywalker's sake! It's so obvious! You guys obviously have feelings for each other!" He exclaimed, moving to sit in front of his best friend.
"You talk about each other like Chris and James, only you guys are pretending that you're not halfway in love with each other!"
Kevin turned red, his eyes wide.
"He talks about me?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah he's all like 'O-M-Gee! Did you see how pretty his hair looked today Naba?? Did you think he liked my tap dancing??'" Naba laughed, imitating an American accent.
They sat in silence for a while, until Naba clapped him on the shoulders and moved to sit next to Arnold, having finished with getting the tree sap out of Kevin's hair. Kevin was still sat there in shock.
"Kevin?" Arnold asked, waving a hand in front of his face.
"Oh my fucking god I like Connor McKinley." Kevin's hand shot up to clamp over his mouth, realising that he had said that aloud.
"There you go! Now go get him tiger!" Arnold said, giving him a friendly punch to the shoulder.
"Go wash your hair first though, looks like a bird shat in it." Naba said matter-of-factly.
Kevin stood up awkwardly, and jogged to the mission hut, waving a goodbye to Arnold and Naba. Arnold wolf whistled.
—————
It was now around 7, and Kevin had washed his hair and was now laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He knew he had missed dinner, he had heard Connor's voice calling everyone down around an hour ago. Connor.
Kevin didn't know what to do. Well, he knew what to do just not what to do 'logically'.
So he'd figured out one thing. He liked Connor. Like 'romantically'.
Did that mean he was gay?
"I'm so fucking gay holy shit." He whispered to himself.
There was nothing straight about the way his stomach did somersaults whenever he made Connor laugh, or the way his skin tingled when he hugged him. And there was absolutely nothing straight about how cute he thought Connor had looked in that sparkly pink vest.
He groaned and rolled over, pressing his face into his pillow.
"Knock knock," A familiar voice said, opening his door. Kevin didn't even have to turn around to know it was Connor. He heard something being placed down on his bedside table and felt the mattress dip a little where Connor sat on it. Kevin shuffled so he was laying on his side, but still facing away from him.
"I don't know what happened, but whenever I'm sad, you hug me. Do you want a hug?" Connor asked tentatively, fiddling with the hem of his own shirt.
Kevin turned around, sat up, and let himself be wrapped up in Connors arms, holding back tears.
"I'm sorry." Kevin mumbled, shivering, suddenly feeling very cold and very hot at the same time.
"It' all okay. Can you tell me what's gotten you so upset?" Connor asked, stroking his hair to try to calm him down.
"I'm gay Connor. I like you. And I don't know what to do." He whispered.
"Oh Kevin." Connor said, giving him a squeeze.
"I like you too." Connor continued, pulling away slightly and brushing Kevin's tears away with his thumb. Kevin smiled and Connor pulled him back into a hug running his hand through the Kevin's hair.
"Thanks for being here." Kevin said.
"It's okay Kev, it's always okay."
—————
"Kevin Price, do you take Connor McKinley to be your lawfully wedded Husband?" Arnold announced to the room of people. Kevin smiled at him and turned to look Connor in the eye, holding onto both of his hands.
"I do." He says, happy tears in his eyes.
"And Connor McKinley, do you take Kevin Price to be your lawfully wedded husband?" He turned to Connor, who was smiling ear to ear.
"Of course I do." He said.
"Great!" He clapped excitedly.
"I mean, ahem, by the power vested in me, by the state of New York, I now pronounce you husbands!" Arnold said, now unable to contain his excitement.
Kevin and Connor shared a quick but passionate kiss, before wrapping each other up in a hug, as everyone in the room stood up and cheered. The whole squad was there, Arnold, Naba, the rest of the district nine-ers, even Mafala had made it.
Through all the commotion and cheering, Connor whispered to Kevin.
"Thank you for always being there."
"It's okay, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."