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Connor isn’t entirely sure he knows what love is. Sure, he sees it on the television, hears his parents saying ‘I love you’ to each other, will sometimes say it to the cats and dogs on the street that let him stroke them, but he doesn’t really get it.
He thinks he might love Macklin though.
Mack’s next to him now, their arms pressed together as they lay side by side, gaze fixed on the sunny blue sky above them. It’s an uncanny shade of blue, but Connor likes it. Likes it because Mack had been the one to drag him outside, the gap in his teeth on full display as he begged Connor’s mum to let him out.
“It’s so sunny, and my mum says the sun is good for us!” Mack had said. His mother hadn’t even stopped him, just told Connor to stay safe and return before dark.
So yeah. Connor likes the weirdly bright shade of blue. Thinks it might be his new favourite colour for as long as Mack stays by his side.
“Hey Connor?” Mack says and Connor hums, turning his head to face Mack. Mack isn’t looking at him, his gaze still fixed on the sky. Connor doesn’t mind though. He gets to stare at Mack and feel those weird feelings in his tummy.
When Mack doesn’t respond, Connor frowns softly. “Yeah?” He prompts, and Mack finally turns to meet his gaze. He’s smiling and Connor can’t help but smile back. Mack makes his tummy ache.
“Do you ever think about the fact that one day, we might get to be in the sky a bunch?” Mack says. Connor frowns in confusion, fingers deftly plucking at the strands of grass by his hip. “When we play in the NHL, I mean,” Mack clarifies with a giggle.
Connor giggles too before he smiles and sighs fondly. “Maybe.”
“I hope I get to play with you,” Mack says. There’s a rustle of grass before Connor feels fingers linking with his own. When he looks down at his hand, he finds Mack’s entwined with it, and when he looks back up at Mack’s face, there’s a soft flush to his skin.
Connor can feel his own body temperature rising, and he realises that it feels like the movies. He shuffles closer until his lips meet the material of Mack’s shirt, right over the curve of his shoulder.
“I hope so too,” Connor says. It comes out quieter than he’d anticipated, but Mack still responds.
“Me and you, side by side in the big blue sky,” Mack giggles. “It sounds nice.”
“It does.”
~
Connor sighs, ignoring the persistent ache in his shoulder. He looks up at the blue sky, the memory still fresh in his head, and wonders if Mack is doing the same wherever he is. He drops his head, and mutters Mack’s silly little quip, the words already on the tip of his tongue.
“Me and you, side by side in the big blue sky.”