Chapter Text
Are you busy right now?
No. Fourth date?
Do you want to come over?
You don’t have a television
I do. It is in my room.
I can be in your room?
Why is that scandalous?
Hudson laughed to himself. Oh maybe because after knowing each other for weeks they had kissed each other three times. Three very chaste kisses. A few touches on very non-scandalous parts of their bodies. And now he would be allowed in his bedroom?
He was taking too long to respond so he decided to stop thinking too much.
You are right. It is not. I can leave in 20 minutes. It will take me around 20 minutes to get there. And I have to leave at 5. There is a team thing that I cannot miss.
It doesn’t have to be today. If you are busy.
I am not busy until 5. Until then, I would much rather spend that time with you than write this stupid paper.
So you are just avoiding responsibilities. Wow. Way to make someone feel special.
You are special. *wink* Now let me get off this phone and get ready. See you soon.
Hudson waited a minute for a response but turned the screen off when none came through.
He almost put cologne on but decided against it. His father hated certain strong smells and from what he had gathered from Connor, he also had sensory issues.
Sensory issues that made him like to touch things. Once Hudson realized that, he started to notice how often Connor would use his hands. If they were not clasped together, he was touching something.
“Hi.” Hudson smiled as Connor opened the apartment building door for him. “I’m early.”
“Good.” Connor returned the smile and looked down at Hudson’s chest as he passed by him. “You look nice.”
“The team thing is a fundraiser.” Hudson followed Connor to the elevator. “People give more money when we dress nice. Especially older women.”
“What age do you typically date?” Connor leaned back against the elevator wall with his hands behind him.
“My age?” Hudson shrugged. “You want like a range or something?”
“No.” Connor pressed off against the wall and started to his apartment. As he walked, his left arm went out and he traced along the wall with his fingertip. “I have never dated anyone your age. Which sounds like I date a lot more than I have. My only relationship was with someone much older than you.”
“Is that because you are so mature?” Hudson rested his hand on Connor's lower back while he opened the door for them. “So wise with your ability to learn languages and read people’s minds?”
“I don’t read people’s minds.” Connor closed the door behind them and leaned in closer to him. His eyes stayed on Hudson’s eyes and Hudson smiled. “I take in everything and analyze it quicker than others. It can piss people off. They think I’m being rude and not letting them finish speaking. But really my brain already finished their thought and got bored waiting.”
“What am I-” Hudson was cut off by Connor’s lips.
Lips that moved away and then were right back.
Hands that were holding the sides of his dress shirt.
And his tongue moving into his mouth.
Breathing out through his nose, Hudson opened his mouth to chase his tongue.
Right as he felt his heart starting to beat faster, Connor jerked back from him.
“I’m sorry.” Hudson stepped backward and ran into the door. “It felt good and I thought-”
“You thought right.” Connor was looking down at Hudson’s feet as he tensed his arms as he clasped his hands together. “I thought it was better today, but you make it worse.”
“I’m sorry.” Hudson leaned his head down to try and find Connor’s eyes. Once he had them and Connor straightened up to look at him, he smiled. “How do I make it worse?”
“I don’t date people my age because they…” Connor tilted his head and looked up and then over before back to him.
His eyes stayed on him but he didn’t say anything.
“We don’t have to talk about this right now.” Hudson smiled and raised his hands up between them. “We can put it on a shelf and come back to it later.”
“Are you going to leave?” Connor let out a slow breath and then took in a deep one.
“Not until 5.” Hudson hovered his hands over Connor’s upper arms and pressed them down once he got Connor nodding his approval. “What film did you pick based on our compatibility?”
“There were a few actually.” Connor raised his heels up and pressed into Hudson’s hands before taking a step forward. “But I decided on the most basic choice.”
“Are we off to see the Wizard?” Hudson laughed when Connor lowered himself down onto his heels.
“We don’t have to pay attention to it.” Connor nodded his head after Hudson did. “So we can…”
“Talk?” Hudson smiled at the large grin that spread across his face. Taking in his eyes, Hudson saw they were green. “I thought your eyes were blue.”
“They change color.” Connor pressed up against Hudson’s hands. “My mother jokes that they are my built-in mood rings. It has to do with the lighting. Don’t worry, they don’t turn red or anything. Unless I’m crying. They alternate within the blue-green spectrum.”
“Cool.” Hudson pressed on Connor’s arms and started walking them toward the bedroom. “I will follow the blue-green brick road to your room.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Connor twisted himself to walk forward. “But okay.”
Hudson did not hide that he was taking in everything he could about Connor’s room.
Whereas the rest of the apartment was sterile, Connor’s room felt alive with his personality.
He had a desk with stacks of books on it.
A soft green paint color covering the walls.
A bed set that matched.
And several pillows of various textures and sizes.
His closet was closed, but Hudson could imagine that it was organized in a similar way.
“I will make an exception to outside clothes being on my bed because I need to wash the covers tonight.” Connor took off most of the pillows and placed them on a chair next to the bed. “It is harder to wash those. You don’t get to play with them.”
“What do I get to play with?” Hudson followed Connor onto the bed and sat with his back against the headboard.
Connor was sitting to the right of him with his legs crossed and his back sharing the headboard. Connor bumped his knee against Hudson’s lower thigh and started the movie.
The film was projected onto the wall in front of them, with the soft green adding a soothing hue to the sepia-tone film.
Connor did not answer him.
Looking to the right, Hudson found Connor staring at him. “What?”
Connor smiled and pressed his finger down the length of Hudson’s thigh. His eyes followed the path of his finger. “People have always called me an old soul. I thought deeper and felt more than other kids my age. I related better to adults. Until I became one and people my age were still in a different world than I was. Older people typically do not have the same hangups as people our age. They can overlook things that are not important.”
“So what do you see in me?” Hudson kept his tone light. He was somewhat joking, but he also wanted to know the answer. “People call me childish most of the time.”
“Maybe I need to not take life so seriously all the time.” Connor opened his hand and rested it on Hudson’s thigh. His eyes followed up Hudson’s body to his face. “And you are nice to me. You didn’t laugh like most people do when I get overwhelmed and act strange. You are patient. You don’t like rules, but you have followed all the rules I gave you. You have a kind soul. Who wouldn’t want to be something more with you?”
As Dorothy walked into the The Land of Oz, the film turning from sepia-tone to vibrant technicolor, Hudson felt himself falling into a new world as well.
He had never been in love.
In fact, serious relationships had always scared Hudson. There was too much pressure with being attached to just one person.
He always thought that he was destined to be a perpetual bachelor.
It wasn’t the first time Hudson had been wrong about his life.
Hudson rested his hand on top of Connor’s hand while they watched the film.
Other than quick, random comments about what was happening in the movie, they sat in the comfortable silence that Hudson had never had with anyone else before.
Hudson ignored the time, but Connor made sure that he left at 5 to get to his event. They were not able to finish the film, but they both knew how it ended.
“I will text you later.” Hudson leaned forward and kissed Connor quickly near the door. “This was nice.”
“It was.” Connor kissed him again, keeping their lips pressed together a bit longer.
“See you.” Hudson took a step backward out the door and kept his eyes on him until he was forced to turn around.
Connor watched him until he walked into the elevator.
Leaning back against the elevator wall, Hudson pressed his head back and smiled.
They texted a few messages back and forth.
Mainly about what they were doing, but nothing serious.
Connor asked Hudson to come to his apartment four days later but Hudson said that he had a game. He could come afterward.
Connor did not respond, but Hudson didn’t worry about it. Connor did that at times.
Dribbling the ball down the court toward the hoop, Hudson paused long enough to aim and watched as the ball went through the hoop.
They were in the lead and the other team had increased their defense, but with only a few minutes left in the game, the Wildcats were likely going to keep their lead.
High-fiving Landen, they both followed through and smacked each other on the ass with a jump.
Landen ran off to his position and Hudson looked over to the crowd cheering for him.
Starting to run to his position, Hudson paused as his eyes landed on someone standing against the wall near the exit.
Connor was wearing a Wildcats sweatshirt with the hood up and his arms wrapped inside the pouch. One of the strings in his mouth and his eyes on him.
As their eyes locked, they both smiled at one another and the sounds of the crowd fell away.
Connor Not A Sports Fan was at his game.
If he was not in the middle of a game, he would have run over and kissed him.
Instead, he focused on the game and played even harder with someone he wanted to impress watching him.
Each time he looked in his direction, Connor was watching him with those intense eyes. His mouth chewing on the string and ignoring everyone else in the room.
He scored the last point of the game and finished his high-five ritual with a teammate before looking to Connor.
Only, this time he was not there.
It was loud with everyone cheering and the sound system blasting music so he did not blame Connor for needing to leave.
He only cared that he had been there.
His grin stayed on his face as they continued their celebration in the locker room. His teammates probably assumed that Hudson was happy about their win, but it was solely because Connor had come to his game.
Waving off his friends asking for him to hang out with them at a club, Hudson ran to the L.
He only wanted to see one person.
And from his text message to him, Connor felt the same.