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Thick snow bewildered outside as a certain blonde teenager sat at his desk, head down against his arm, which was laying on top of a paper that he had been working on previously. This also led to him forgetting about his friend coming over to raid his already empty closet for old clothes. Despite the conditions outside, Craig always managed to catch a ride with his parents whether they approved of Kenny or not. When he did get there, he snuck in through Kennys broken window as always and landed carefully on the rotting floor. “Hey, Ken?” Craig whispered, knowing the circumstances that he was in with his family.
Taking his shoes off, he made his way over to the desk where Kenny was sleeping and squatted down next to the desk. “Wake up.” Craig deadpanned, poking the male's side with his index finger. Kenny was a heavy sleeper, so Craig knew that he probably wouldn’t wake up very easily. “Kenny, wake up man.” he said a little louder. He knew that he couldn’t get much louder, so he decided to just get up and tidy up the blonde's room while he waited. For once it wasn’t in the worst conditions, so Craig could assume that Karen probably came through and cleaned it.
There were a few textbooks scattered around on the bed near the floor, which made it pretty clear that Kenny did try and study a little but eventually fell asleep while doing so. This made Craig smile a little, maybe Kenny was finally trying. It was unlikely that he was, but seeing that he may be trying made Craig happy. “Gosh, Kenny…” He whispered under his breath and picked up a few pieces of glass from the floor. God knows where they even came from, but Craig picked them up and discarded them all the same. “What am I going to do with you?” He continued as he walked back over to Kenny.
He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping like this, face squished against his arm and his brows relaxed. Craig reached forward to brush his falling bangs out of his face, letting his fingers linger on Kennys cheek. The yellow-orange light from his desk lamp was making him glow almost and Craig couldn’t help but keep his eyes glued to Kenny. The boy was so pretty, despite the bruises that littered his jaw whenever Craig pulled back his hair. Despite the way the bottom of his ribs and hips jutted out as a result of his poor eating habits. Despite the cuts and scars all over his body, he was so beautiful and he didn’t see it; how?
Funnily enough, Kenny began to stir at the light touches to his jaw and Craig pulled away suddenly. “Hey.” He muttered and put his hands in his pockets. Kenny blinked open his eyes a little and looked around to see who was in his room. Waking up to someone in his room commonly went like this; it was usually his parents. He was happy to report that it wasn’t his parents and just Craig. “When did you fall asleep?” He added.
Shrugging, Kenny kept his head where it was (except he covered his jaw with his hair again, not knowing that Craig had seen it). “Not sure.” The blonde murmured tiredly. He went to close his eyes again before the Peruvian caught him and made him sit up. “Let me sleep, Craig..” Kenny mumbled behind his arm, frowning. This was a nice contrast to his usual brash and outgoing personality.
“Hey, you’re supposed to help me with some clothes.” Craig reminded Kenny, prodding his side again. Kenny groaned and got up, abandoning the letter he was working on. In reality, Kenny was just glad to get some peaceful sleep while his parents were out for once, he didn’t mind Craig coming over.
The blonde got to his makeshift closet and squatted down on his knees. Studying his movements, Craig went to stand beside Kenny. There were a lot of different small things in the closet ranging from clothes to random old cigarette boxes. He caught a few folded up pieces of paper and things from middle school too, making him sad. “Here, try some of those first.” Kenny suddenly said, snapping Craig out of the trance he was in while he was trying to read a note on the floor.
There were a few pairs of shorts that the noirette briefly remembered Kenny wearing in middle school, but other than that, he hadn’t seen some of these before. It was weird that Craig spent so much of his life around Kenny and had never seen some of them. Backing up, he slid his pants down and tried on the clothes, mocking a fashion show for Kenny. “How do I look?” He said playfully.
Kenny gave a tired smile as Craig did his little sarcastic struts down the room, something completely out of his nature. Maybe at some point Craig had realized that Kenny was the one for him, even if Kenny didn’t feel the same about Craig; it had ultimately changed the way that he had viewed the blonde. It changed the way he acted and how funny he found his jokes. It changed how these clothes felt on his skin. It changed how it felt when Kennys eyes met his, just like right now.
Craig smiled awkwardly and looked down, staring at the pair of black jeans that were probably way too baggy on him for it to look good. “You look good like that, in my clothes.” Kenny complemented and handed him a pair of boxer shorts. “They're way too small for me.” He continued with a nonchalant shrug. Craig didn’t usually even wear boxer shorts, so this was a little odd for him but he nodded and set them aside.
“Thanks, really, you didn’t have to give me anything.” The Peruvian mumbled and gathered everything in a folded pile. “What were you working on?” He asked, wandering over to sit at the desk. There was a small piece of paper and a broken pencil laying on top of it. It was very unusual to see Kenny doing anything related to writing, especially on paper, so Craig was curious. “Dear Tammy…” He whispered to himself and stopped when he saw the name. Craig decided to ignore the rest of the half-written note.
Kenny had appeared behind Craig and he was holding the back of the chair as he waited for his friend to finish reading. “Is that a good start? I’m planning on asking Tammy to be my girlfriend again.” The blonde mentioned enthusiastically, practically jumping around like a little dog. Despite this, Craig was unhappy.
Tammy had never been a good influence on Kenny, let alone a good person to him. The blonde knew this and isolated himself every time something went wrong. Kenny knew that Tammy didn’t really like him, but he still held out hope that eventually she would. Kenny knew that eventually would never come.
It was a wonder that Kenny could still stand himself after letting himself be broken down constantly. Craig always saw how bad he got when he found out the brunette had cheated on him yet again. It was heartbreaking to see Kenny coming to school with his eyeliner smudged instead of being neatly applied because he had been crying beforehand.
Looking up at Kenny, Craig frowned. “She’s going to hurt you again, Kenny.” He whispered sadly, searching his friends eyes for any sort of playfulness. There wasn’t any. “Cmon, please say you’re joking. This happens every time.” Even if it happened every single time, Craig was always there to hold Kenny when he cried.
“It’ll be different this time, I’ll do better.” Kenny whispered back, continuing to smile softly. Through all of this, he always smiled. This was disappointing Craig, so he got up and placed his hands on the sides of Kenny's face. “I’ll do better for her.” He murmured again, tearful.
Craigs heart was breaking at this point. He shook his head and rubbed his thumbs along Kennys freckled cheekbones. Making his move wasn’t the goal today, which was okay because of the situation. “You’re better than her.” Craig whispered and stood on his toes to give Kenny a kiss on the cheek. “Promise me you wont go back to her?”
Hesitating, Kenny nodded a little and looked down. It would only be a matter of time before Craig saw if this was a true promise, but he would just have to wait. “Let me stay the night, Kenny, it's okay.” The Peruvian continued to soothe, rubbing the blonde's face comfortingly. He nodded again and walked with Craig to his bed. Everyone knew that Kenny's home wasn't in a good condition, they just didn’t know how bad it was. Craig had gotten used to the thin mattress on the floor.
Clouds had started to cover the moon, making it increasingly difficult to see the outline of Kennys fingers over his stomach. Friends usually cuddle, right? It was a hard question for Craig to work out because Kennys fingers had a tight grip on his shirt, rubbing his thumb over the small strip of exposed skin lovingly. Craig wasn’t entirely sure as to what he should have felt. “Are you awake?” he whispered delicately. Knowing the answer to this, Craig placed his hand on top of Kennys and closed his eyes to also sleep, trying his best not to think about the situation they were in.
-
February was filled with more snow and a much different energy in the air; specifically around Kenny. He had followed his promise, but the blonde had still been staring at Tammy, this time not longingly. Perhaps closer to the way Craig looked at her. At the same time, he was also looking at Craig a lot more than usual.
The two had been staying at each other's houses off and on, though Craigs parents had never approved of Kenny hanging around their beloved son. Practically everyone knew what the blonde was all about at this point; especially parents. It was a wonder that the Tucker parents didn’t call the police when they realized their son had snuck out to see Kenny again.
At the same time, they could see how Kenny got Craig out of his shell. Hearing their laughter coming down the stairs every time he came over made them happy for him, at least. If anything could get the little Peruvian boy out of his shell, it was Kenny and his guinea pig. Combine the two and the boy was in heaven.
When Craig snapped out of it, Kenny was staring at him, this time deciding to give a small wave. Craig liked how oblivious to things he could be. He waved back and went back to his work, honestly just looking forward to hearing the sweet ring of the release bell so Kenny could come over to his house to move the bed for him. Sadly, they couldn't just beeline to the beat up car, Craig had something to take care of beforehand, so they would just have to meet there instead.
It wasn’t anything important anyways, just picking up some packet for his new classes. When he decided to pack up, the bell rang and he saw Kenny rush out to get to his truck, whereas Craig waited for everyone to leave before going up to the professor and receiving the packet to go through it with her. The process took about fifteen minutes, so hopefully Kenny hadn’t gotten irritated and left him.
The parking lot was fairly empty by now save a few cars, one of those being Kennys beat up Jeep. Kenny was leaning against the driver's side door, presumably smoking. When the Peruvian got closer, he could see he was with someone else who was nervously glancing around in front of Kenny. At least it wasn't Tammy for once. Meeting eyes with the person, they walked off like nothing was happening and Craig immediately knew what was up. “I didn’t know you started dealing again!” He called cheerily, honestly just teasing the boy. Craig never really had a problem with Kenny selling drugs, he knew that's how he got by and he also wasn't in the place to judge; being pretty rich and all.
“You scared my first customer back off!” The blonde called back with a hesitant wave. It was like the past weeks hadn’t happened. “You ready to head out, astronaut?” Kenny continued playfully, taking the heavy bag from Craigs shoulders and putting it in the trunk. Craig had always liked the natural charm that Kenny had, taking bags for people, opening doors, paying for people without question; he was simply a romantic human being.
Nodding, the two made their ways to their respectful sides of the car and got in. Kenny eventually buckled Craig in once he had made it to that side; Kenny never wore his seatbelt. “Thanks.” He shakily whispered. They went back to their own seats like they didn't have a moment just a few minutes ago. “Do you have any homework to do before you move my bed?” He asked before looking over at Kenny as they entered the highway.
Kenny shook his head and bit his lip in thought. “Why, you worried about my grades?” He teased. Of course Craig was worried about Kennys grade, anyone who really cared about him did. “I’ll move your bed as long as you let me hold Stripe.” He grinned whilst looking over at Craig.
Craig always looked so much different after school. The tightly drawn frown on his face melted away into a very soft smile that kept the blonde in good spirits. “Fine, but only after we finish.” Craig responded and shoved the southerners shoulder, perhaps trying to flirt. “I got him a new tub!” Craig continued enthusiastically. He always was when talking about Stripe.
Agreeing, Kenny tapped on the steering wheel as he drove. He had always found Kennys nervous mannerisms to be cute. “I can't wait to see it.” The blonde said warmly. “Think I could fit in it?” He added on as he parked neatly in the paved driveway.
Giggling, Craig shook his head and led his friend inside after he grabbed the bag from the back. “Hey Mrs. and Mr. Tucker!” He smiled, oblivious to the fact that they didn’t like him. Craig grabbed his hand to drag him upstairs as he smiled giddily at the one sided conversation. “I really think they're starting to like me.” Kenny continued with a big smile up the stairs.
Clearly they weren’t starting to like the bad influence that was basically starting to move into their house, Craig knew this for a fact. “Okay, I want the bed to be under the window like that. It's so you can get in easier at night..” Craig mumbled the last part sheepishly and looked away.
“Oh, okay.” the older boy agreed with a nod. “It shouldn't take me too long.” Kenny continued and immediately went to lift the end of the frame off the floor and pulling it. Craig watched him pull the bed with ease, feeling his knees get weak.
Kenny’s muscles were admirable, because as far as anyone knew, he didn’t really work out. This made Craig smile dorkily at the blondes over exaggerated actions as he pulled the wooden frame. “Do you need help?” Craig piped up, offering any opportunity to be near Kenny. He shook his head, but smiled over at the younger male. They met eyes for a moment before Craig looked away with embarrassment.
After Kenny was done with the bed, he flopped dramatically on it and closed his eyes. “Good thing you had me, huh?” He teased from where he lay, arm over his eyes. This made Craig laugh a little more before he took off his jacket and went over to join the blonde. Not before going to untie the man's shoes first, though. Craig smiled wider once he realized that the boots he was wearing were a pair that Craig got him a few years prior; it was a wonder that they still fit. “Thank you, Tucks..” Kenny continued to sigh when Craig pulled off the boots and put them by the door.
Body heat radiated from the blonde from where he was, Craig could feel it from where he also went to lay down. Looking over at Kenny, his hand was on his stomach while his other was draped over his eyes peacefully. There was a slight urge to grab the hand on his stomach. “Thank you for coming over.” The raven whispered softly. He knew that Kenny didn’t really have a choice sometimes. Sometimes Craig couldn’t tell if Kennys life had gotten better or worse since they had grown up.
“It’s okay, I appreciate you letting me stay some nights.” Kennys voice was still a hushed whisper, but Craig liked it; he liked the energy in the room, between the two. Then it fell silent again. Right before he was about to grab Kennys hand, he rolled onto his side, still covering his eyes. Instead of grabbing his free hand, Craig instead rolled over to face Kenny and shuffled closer so his head was against the blonde's chest.
It was still silent. Kenny had let his arm find its way around Craigs waist and it remained quiet. Kenny smelled like weed and some shitty cologne he had splashed on this morning, just like every other day. Craig never liked the smell of weed, but now it was all he could think of after his friend left the house. The Peruvian tilted his head up a little to look at his friend, who was unexpectedly laying normally now.
Peaceful wasn't a word that people would normally use to describe Kenny, but Craig would. Away from all of the eyes, Kenny was peaceful. He was quiet and he would listen, or at least pretend he was and that was enough for Craig. And that's how he looked now, eyes closed and a small smile on his freshly unshaven face. He looked close to falling asleep, he looked happy. Kenny always looked happy when he was at Craig's house. That was something that Craig would always provide for the man.
Craig finally put his head back down and allowed his friend to put his head back on top. To say Kenny felt safe in this situation was an understatement. All signs of stress had gone out of the window the moment he got in there. Craig listened to Kenny's heartbeat slow as he fell asleep. Once he was finally passed out, Craig took the liberty of looking back up to his friend and pressing a light kiss to his lips. What happened while he was asleep, he didn't have to know. “I love you, Ken.”
-
Valentines day had arrived, Kenny hadn’t been seen at school for a few days; typical bender. Despite knowing where he probably was, Craig couldn't help but feel worried as he looked over to his locker. This prompted Craig to open his phone and go to their last texts from a few days previous. Smiling, he continued to read a little bit. Kenny always sent him the silliest texts when he needed them.
Craig figured he would visit Kenny after school to make sure he was okay. Hopefully he hadn’t done anything to upset the senior. It was the end of the day anyway, it just meant packing up and walking over. The blonde didn’t live too far from the school, he just felt uneasy walking there all the time. It was a wonder Kenny survived growing up there.
Of course, another layer of snow had fallen the night before so it was cold and wet outside. Hopefully Kennys trailer had survived. It seemingly had. Craig knew better than to knock on the door, so he crept around the side to Kenny's bedroom window.
Peeking inside, you could clearly see the blondes messy hair poking out from the thin princess blanket that Karen had covered him with. The sight was precious to the peruvian whenever he got into the room and squatted in front of the bed. After he had soaked enough of it up, he got up and went over to the desk where he saw the remnants of cocaine on the desk; Karen had cleaned it up. “God…”
There was a couple crumpled balls of paper on the ground also, confusing Craig. Kenny never did work, so this was a weird sight. The trashcan by the desk was overflowing with these crumpled balls, along with a dead bouquet of flowers. Curious as to who these could even be for (or where Kenny got the money for this), the sophomore picked up a piece of paper and uncrumpled it. It took him a moment to understand, but after a few moments, Craig recognized his name.
The notes were honestly pretty flattering the more Craig read. He began to smile as he continued going through the papers. Each were individual notes to Craig, dated completely different, but they were all to him. Suddenly the flowers made sense. Shuffling over, he took them out of the trashcan and looked at them. Some of them were in okay condition still, so he took out the dead ones and kept the living ones. “Oh Kenny…” he said sadly as he looked over at the man.
He had rolled over onto his stomach, his face finally showing a little bit. He had shaved his stubble and put in a new ring for his nose piercing; the silver fit him perfectly. Craig studied him carefully and eventually sat down next to him. Someday he would have to bring some more blankets. One of Kennys callused hands was tangled in his hair, something that probably helped him sleep, just as Craig had rubbing the bridge of his nose. Something about helping Kenny out of this situation of active addiction and abuse was calming to Craig.
Kenny stirred as the raven replaced Kennys hand with his own. By all means, he was a heavy sleeper, he had just been out for days. “Hey…” he whispered, taking his friend by surprise. Kenny kept his eyes closed as Craig massaged his scalp. “How was school, Tucks?” The blonde continued to slur.
“It was okay, I’ve missed you.” Craig said softly as he tilted his head to look at Kenny better. “How long have you been asleep, honey?” He continued a little flirtatiously, knowing that his friend's face would flush. Kenny was silent for a while, honestly looking like he had fallen back asleep, but he eventually hummed a little.
Watching him, Craig blushed instead and smiled. “A while, I don’t want to get up…” Kenny grumbled and swallowed hard. Craig could tell that he was dehydrated, so he reached for his bag and got his water bottle out. “Thanks.” He continued to whisper before letting Craig help him drink.
As he sat there watching and helping, the Peruvian remembered the notes he read. “Hey, I’ll be your valentine.” He said cautiously. There was no telling what Kenny was going to say, but it seemed like he was in a slightly more serious mood right now. “If you still want me to be, I saw the flowers…” Craig added quickly after.
The senior looked puzzled for a moment before looking at Craig. “Of course I still want that. I threw everything away because I thought it was dumb.” He mumbled stupidly, eventually going to lay back down so he could hide his face better.
“No, it's not dumb! You should’ve told me how you felt, I feel the same.” Craig exclaimed, quickly quieting down after. “Let's go back to my place, you can take a shower and I’ll make you some coffee.”