Work Text:
I
“Uhhh, Elder McKinley?” Kevin asked, entering the main room of the Mission Hut. He held up the paper in his hands for the District Leader, who was sitting on the couch, to see. “A dancing competition?”
Elder McKinley stood up and took the paper, nodding along as he read over it. “Yes, I remember. I put this up like 10 minutes ago.”
“A dancing competition?” Kevin repeated the statement, “Really.”
“Do you have a problem with it?” Elder McKinley asked.
“No…” Kevin fidgeted nervously with his sleeves.
Elder McKinley snickered, “Oh Elder Price, It’s okay to admit you’re not the best at everything.”
“It’s not that!”
“Look,” Kevin’s eyes followed the movement as Elder McKinley pointed to a sentence on the paper. “If you want we can be partners. I know you’re really competitive.”
“I- uh,” He struggled slightly to try and maintain his confident demeanor. “That- Fine.”
Elder McKinley grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. “Great. Want to start?”
Kevin blinked, “Uhm, right now?”
“Why not?” he shrugged, “Best to start early.”
“Oh.” Kevin shuffled as Elder McKinley wrapped one hand around his wrist and placed it on his shoulder. “Elder McKinley-”
“Connor.” He interrupted abruptly.
His brow furrowed, “What?”
“Connor,” He repeated. The tips of his ears began to turn red. “Call me Connor, please.”
“Right. I’m Kevin, then.”
“I know.”
“Oh.”
Elder M- Connor, nodded, his grip tightening on Kevin’s wrist. “So. What kind of dance are we going to do?” He tried for a conversation.
Connor shrugged. “Maybe like a…” He relinquished his grip on Kevin, which sent a strange sense of disappointment washing over him. He did a weird and complicated move. He took a deep breath and smiled at Kevin. “See that?”
Kevin was aware of his mouth hanging open dumbly, but he didn’t feel able to close it. “Uhhh, no?”
He tried not to fluster when Connor snickered. Maybe he was right. He really didn’t like not being good at something. He jumped when Connor slung one arm over his waist and tugged him into his side. He stepped forward on one leg, counting under his breath. Kevin tried to mimic his motions as best he could, luckily for his pride he only stumbled slightly. Finally, Connor paused, patting Kevin on the shoulder. “Very good.” He praised. The compliments warmed his face pleasantly. “Now. We just have to work on that bit a little more and we should be good to move on. We’re going to be amazing!” He nearly squealed out the last bit like an overexcited preteen girl, and ushered Kevin out the door. “You go practice. I need to finish up this paperwork to make sure we have money for groceries next week. Buh bye.”
II
Kevin and Connor had been dancing together for a few weeks by now. Kevin had liked to think he had improved quite a bit, but not yet enough to stop himself from stepping on the other elder’s toes. They had just finished up their latest session, Kevin was panting and breathless, while Connor, albeit a little red-faced, looked much more put together.
He tried to ignore the way his eyes were immediately drawn to the skin hovering over the waistband of his sweatpants. Connor smiled at him. “Good job, Kev. You’re finally getting the steps.”
“Yeah. Uh. Thanks.” It wasn’t his fault that his nickname coming out of Connor’s mouth was the equivalent to- well. There wasn’t even a comparison that would qualify.
Connnor held his hand forward, “Here. Let’s try it one more time. Right? Then we can try the next part.”
Kevin didn;’t take his hand, instead, he gaped at him. “The next part? There’s more?”
Connor shickered at his shocked expression. “Of course. We’re not just doing an 8 step routine.”
“Ohn.” He stated, a little dumbly. “Okay.” He finally accepted his outstretched hand stepped closer to Connor. “Let’s do this?”
Connor led him through the short first part of their routine and then slowly guided him to the next part. This was a little harder, and required Kevin to press himself closer to Connor's side as he twirled him around, just to prevent himself from stumbling over the other man’s feet. No other possible reason of course.
The door clicked open and Elder Cunningham and Elder Church stood there in the door. Elder Church doubled over with laughter as Elder Cunningham stared at them with his mouth hanging open. “BEST FRIEND?!?” He yelled, his voice as obnoxiously loud as ever. Connor and Kevin quickly broke away from each other. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
“Uhhh,” They side-eyed each other. “Dancing?” Kevin knew he was telling the truth, so why did it sound like he was lying?
“Uh-huh. Right. Dancing.” Elder Church raised his eyebrow skeptically.
“We were!” Connor brushed invisible dust off of his shirt. Why would there ever be dirt on him? He always looked impeccable. “Look. What do you two need?”
“Well.” Elder Church and Elder Cunningham stepped into the room, “We’ve noticed that the two of you have been disappearing together lately, we wanted to figure out why.”
Connor shook his head vehemently, “Elder…” He started warningly, “I’ve already told you. I don’t-” He stopped himself suddenly. “Anyway. Elder Price,” He addressed Kevin, “Very good work today. But I think this is where we should wrap it up. Elder Church? I think we need to have a conversation.” Connor grabbed Elder Church’s arm rather forcefully and marched out of the room with him. This left only Arnold and Kevin.
“You know I don’t care about you and Connor, right?” Arnold said. “I think you’re really cute together actually. Like… Princess Leia and Han Solo!”
“What?” Kevin whipped over to face him. “Arn- No! We’re not… It’s definitely not like that.”
A smile dawned on Arnold's face and he nodded slowly, “Right… Right!” He winked, “You don’t have feelings for Elder McKinley!” He finger gunned Kevin awkwardly. “I gotchu best friend.”
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Not that he didn’t trust Arnold completely (well, he at least trusted him a little bit?), but the expression his companion had on his face was at least a little worrying.
Arnold was already backing out of the door. “ Whatever you say . I’m going to go update Nitrogen on the news.”
“Update- No! Arnold! Come back!”
“I support you, best friend!”
III.
The incident with Arnold had only posed a concerning thought in Kevin’s mind. Did he like Elder McKinley like… like that ? At first, he was absolutely against the idea. Homosexuality was a sin, wasn’t it?
But then he started noticing himself appreciating the smaller things about Connor. Like the way he could be clumsy on a regular day, but the second it came to dancing he was all soft hands and graceful steps. The way he would never mock Kevin for making a mistake, he would always barely let out a chuckle and reteach the steps to him, warming Kevin’s hand in his all the while.
These rather, disturbing, revelations all led him up to this moment. Connor clutching the back of his shoulders, Kevin’s arms were looped around his neck as he clung onto him desperately. “Ohmygodohmygodohmygodpleasedon’tdropme.”
“I’m not going to drop you!” Connor gasped out, even as his hands slipped and he dug his fingernails into his shirt. “I’m just- oh em gosh. It’s stuck.”
“What? What’s stuck?” Kevin squeaked.
Connor fumbled with the spot where his nametag had attached itself to the buttons of Kevin’s shirt. “Are you trying to pull it out?”
“Yes- Yes I’m trying! It’s not working!”
“Then PUSH!” Connor tried to follow Kevin’s yelled directions but it didn’t work. “Why is nothing happening?”
Connor’s hands slid further down his shoulders and he began to lower Kevin to the ground. “I’m just going to-” Kevin gasped sharply as his back hit the ground. “Oh stop, I know I didn’t hurt you!”
Kevin wasn’t expecting to feel Connor’s entire weight rest on his chest. “SOrry,” Connor muttered, “I just need to. Ah!” He finally sat up, holding up his badge, his eyes locked on Kevin’s and he abruptly rolled off of him.
Kevin tried to catch his breath. “That was so hard .” His head lolled sideways and he caught Connor’s eye. They burst out in laughter as one. Connor curled up on his side and giggled hysterically, Kevin followed in suit, tears nearly leaking from his eyes.
Finally their laughter died down. Connor sat up, his legs crossed as he leaned over to help Kevin sit up too. “I think we’ll need to try that again.” Connor grinned at him.
Kevin groaned and flopped right back down on the ground. “Not today though. I’m so tired.”
“Oh you’re tired?” Connor scoffed, “I was the one holding you up.”
Kevin rounded on him, cocking his eyebrow, “Sure. But you were also the one that somehow got their name tag stuck on my buttons.”
“Whatever.” They went silent, staring at each other.
He cleared his throat abruptly, not able to stand the quiet. “So… uh.”
“Right.” Connor stood up and brushed off of his pant legs. “Do you need a hand?” He stuck out his hand to Kevinn.
Kevin grabbed it and allowed Connor to pull him to his feet. “I have to go…” He jammed his thumb over his shoulder, “Do something.”
“Oh, yes, me too! District Leader… You know.”
“Bye, Connor.”
“Uh. Bye, El- Kevin.”
Kevin side-stepped out the room, holding Connor’s gaze for an uncomfortably long time. Until finally the door clicked shut behind him. He sighed thankful and turned only to see Arnold and Elder Church standing right there.
Elder Church was shaking his head slowly in disappointment and Arnold looked extremely both excited and confused. “So. Kev…. did you get some ?”
“What?” Kevin asked, “What do you mean, Elder?”
Arnold wiggled his eyebrows, “We heard you guys.”
“No!” He buried his face into his hands. “I swear, that is not what happened.”
“Just don’t do it in our room,” Arnold wrinkled his nose.
Kevin scoffed, “Like you can be talking about that! The amount of times I’ve walked in on you and Nabulungi!”
Arnold shrugged, “I stand by what I said.”
IV
After the disaster that was them trying to do the dip and failing, they had tried it again a handful of times. All of which had gone considerably better than the original. And Kevin was actually becoming more confident in the steps, and would occasionally actually be able to keep up with Connor. This, of course, only caused Connor to praise him more. Which, in turn, caused Kevin to cut their meetings short more often so he could run away, deal with his uhm- little problem - and go whine to Arnold about these weird feelings.
Arnold had accepted his role as Kevin’s therapist who would speak in weird metaphors about Star Wars or Lord of The Rings or whatever.
“You need to be like Aragorn to Eowyn.” He could still hear Arnold’s voice ringing in his ears as Connor swung him around.
“So… uh what kind of dance is this?” Kevin winced as he trod on Connor’s feet. “Sorry.”
Connor spun and dipped Kevin (yes, they had gotten much better). “It’s called Swing Dancing. I prefer tap but really-” He paused as they did a particularly difficult step. “I thought this would be a better option for a dance with you.”
They finished their routine and stepped away from each other. “Really?” Kevin decided this was the perfect time to show off what he had learned from the books Arnold had snuck into the missionhut ever since he decided that Kevin needed to know more about dancing. “I thought swing dancing was like… faster and stuff.” And stuff nevermind about showing off his knowledge.
Connor chuckled, “Okay fine. You want to see real swing dancing?” Kevin shrugged and nodded. “It has to go fast, and you have to listen to me.” He warned, holding out his hand for him.
“Sure.” Kevin accepted his hand. What he wasn’t expecting was for Connor to immediately spin him into his arms.
‘“Do the Charleston step like we’ve been practicing…” Kevin grinned as they did it in unison.
“Oh come on, this is so easy!” He scoffed. Connor seized his other wrist.
“Hold on!”
Kevin faltered. “What are you-?” He trailed off with a yelp as Connor swung him in between his legs. He expected to trip and fall, but Connor hoisted him right back up on his feet.
“Bend your knees,” Connor told him, Kevin complied quickly and he picked him up and swung him around. “Good job.” Kevin squeaked indignantly when he found himself upside down.
He felt relief wash over him when his feet were finally back on the ground. “How’d you like it?” Connor asked, grinning at the stunned expression on Kevin’s face.
“You’re really strong.” He blurted out. Why had his mind immediately jumped to the muscles that Connor undoubtedly had hidden underneath that shirt.
Connor didn’t seem to know how to respond either; he flushed and shifted on both feet. His face was nearly the same shade of his hair. “Thanks. Let’s uh… do our routine. Maybe we can add something like that in it? Okay.”
It was finally the day that Connor had set the dancing competition on. Most of the Elders, along with some of the villagers had signed up. There wasn’t a judge or anything, but even so, Kevin still couldn’t help the nerves he felt. Connor was nearly bouncing off the walls in excitement.
He had burst into Kevin’s room early that morning, “Kev. Kevin! Come on, wake up!”
Kevin rubbed his eyes open. Ever since they had left the church he hadn’t woken up early. “Whatisit?” He muttered.
Connor flopped on the bed, grasping at the sheets. “Oh come on Elder! It’s today, finally!”
“Right.” Kevin yawned. “Why did I have to get up early for this?”
“Becauseeee,” Connor grabbed his wrist and pulled him up out of bed. “You need to practice.”
Kevin didn’t know how anyone was supposed to refuse the sight of Connor McKinley grinning at them with his hair flopping over his eyes and the softness of his hand in theirs this early in the morning. “Okay.” He stumbled out of bed regardless of this motivation.
It took a few hours for everyone who had signed up to arrive and then the people who had needed some entertainment decided to show up. They were at the makeshift stage that the villagers had erected for the play they had performed for the mission president. Connor was peeking out from backstage, bouncing on the balls of his feet excitedly. “Kev, are you ready?” His eyes were wide open.
Kevin couldn’t believe the butterflies he felt for once. It wasn’t something he had experienced his first day in the MTC, or Uganda, or even when he confronted the General. It wasn’t so much afraid of messing up as much as letting Connor down, he knew how important it was to him. “Look at Naba go!” Connor squealed, clinging to Kevin’s arm and dragging him to the wings of the stage. “We’re up next!”
When Naba was done, Connor took a deep breath and dragged Kevin onto the stage. Out in the audience Kevin could see all of the other Elders in the front row, with Mafala and Gotswana. There were about two more rows of villagers behind them.
Elder Thomas was sitting in front of the music player, he clicked on the play button. The music he and Connor had been practicing with crackled out of the speaker.
Connor spun him into a twirl and Kevin allowed himself to give into the muscle memory he had slowly developed over the weeks of practice.
At the end he could tell that Connor was imagining the thunderous applause he deserved, not the scattered half-hearted clapping of the villagers and the Elders and the over-enthusiastic screaming of Arnold.
Connor turned to him, “Kev, I-” His eyes flickered back to the crowd behind them. “Come on.” He was promptly rushed off of the stage by the other boy, “Kevin. Please, tell me if I misread this. But I really really want to kiss you right now.”
Kevin’s mouth hung open, “I- you- Yes.”
“Oh,” Connor leaned forward and pecked Kevin clumsily across the lips, mostly missing him and kissing him more so on his chin instead.
Kevin giggled. “That… was my first kiss.”
“I don’t know if that really counted,” Connor mumbled, his face once more, bright red.
“Want to try again?”
+1
Kevin couldn’t say he was the best cook, after all it definitely wasn’t his cooking that won his district leader over for him. But he was making his specialty dish that his mother had taught him. Macaroni and Brie with crab. Connor entered their shared apartment with a bang like always, singing some show tune and dropping his dance stuff on the ground.
“Hey, baby.” Kevin greeted him with a smile as always. He watched as Connor seamlessly shifted over to singing whatever song was on the radio.
Connor leaned over and kissed him softly, and then promptly stole the spoon out of Kevin’s hand and took a spoonful of the mac and cheese. “Tastes amazing babe.” He remarked through a mouthful of food.
Kevin whacked him in the arm with the spoon, “Close your mouth.”
“Hey!” Connor perked his head up, “Recognize this song?” He bumped Kevin in the arm with his arm.
Kevin stopped to listen for a moment, when he did, a smile dawned on his face. “This is the song we danced to at that stupid dancing competition like 5 years ago?”
“Yeap.” Connor intertwined their fingers. “Still remember it?”
“Like it was yesterday.” Kevin sidled towards him, “But can you still get your old man body to lift me like that?”
Despite the height difference, Connor could pick Kevin up. And he wasn’t afraid to prove it. He seized Kevin around the waist and lifted him up in the air, twirling him around.
Kevin wrapped his legs around Connor’s waist, “Still got it in you, huh?”
“You know, 26 isn’t that old.”
Kevin stuck his tongue out, “25 is younger.”
Connor rolled his eyes and shut him up with a kiss, his hips still swayed in time to the music. Kevin did trust Connor with his life, but he couldn’t resist the sigh of relief he felt when his feet were finally back on the ground.
“I love you,” Connor lifted himself on his tip-toes in what Kevin thought was to give him a kiss, but instead he just snatched another mouthful of food, he then darted away from the swat Kevin aimed at him from the ladle.
He sighed, “Fine. You win this time. Love you too, Con!”