Kenny never understood why Craig liked hanging out at his house. That is if you could even call it a house at this point. It was in such a state of disrepair that the town would've slapped a condemned sign on it years ago if it had given a shit about Kenny's family. It didn't, so they continued to live there, Kenny hoping that when it did finally crumble to the ground, the family wouldn't actually be inside.
Cracks, drafty windows, and mold aside, Craig often insisted that the two of them hang there. It was even weirder when he suggested they have a sleepover at Kenny's place. Kenny's room was poorly insulated and the carpeting on the floors was more of a suggestion. Kenny always tried to explain to Craig why it was a much better idea to have sleepovers at his house where there was, you know, heat. Craig would always respond the same way, with a monotone nope and a hard walk towards the shitty part of town. To be fair, Craig always brought supplies with him, namely a bunch of thick warm blankets and some fluffy pillows. It made things in Kenny's room a little better for the night. Having Craig's presence at all in Kenny's room made things better.
They were lying on the floor together in a mess of blankets and pillows listening to Dark Side of the Moon on Craig's phone. It wasn't as loud as they would have liked because it was late and Kenny's parents had finally quieted down. They had been having a screaming match for about an hour earlier on, after getting completely wasted of course. They must have finally passed out somewhere. The two teens didn't want to risk waking them up and lose the precious calm that was rare in the McCormick household.
"Clyde didn't even see it coming. I love the guy, but he's not always the brightest person." Craig smirked as he lazily tossed a baseball in the air.
"Yeah, but he's like the sweetest person in our class full of assholes," Kenny replied. "Don't tell him I said that, though. I don't need him showing up at lunch again crying because he's so happy."
Craig chuckled. "He so would, too. I promise not to tell him."
Kenny sighed and rolled onto his back, placing his hands behind his head. The two of them relaxed in silence for a few minutes, letting the music wash over them.
"Hey Craig?" Kenny began.
"Yeah?"
"Do you ever think about the future?"
"I'm into space and sci-fi stuff, dude, so yes."
"Nah, I don't mean like that. I mean the future, like, the next few years. Life after graduation. That sort of shit."
"I have. It's not too exciting."
"Try me," Kenny answered.
"Uh, well on my eighteenth birthday, I wanna go get a tattoo."
"Yeah? That's pretty fucking cool. I want one, too, but I won't be able to afford it for a long ass time." He rolled onto his side to face Craig, propping his head up on his hand. "What would you get? Ooh, and where would you get it? Some place naughty?" He grinned and stuck his tongue out between his teeth, hoping for a juicy response.
"I'd get a tattoo of Stripe right here." Craig pointed to the spot under his left collarbone. "So that she's always near my heart." His lips curved gently into a smile.
"That's really nice. I like it."
"And I'd get a tattoo that says 'Gay as fuck' right above my dick."
"WHAT? Fucking A, dude!"
"I'm just kidding. Even if it's true, I wouldn't get it tattooed on me. That's fucking dumb."
"So you're saying my idea to get 'wanna ride?' tattooed above my dick is dumb?"
Craig looked over at Kenny incredulously. Kenny stared back with a dead serious face.
"You're not actually going to do that."
"Dammit, Craig, stop being able to see through my awesome jokes!"
"They're not awesome, they're really lame. Just like you." Craig laughed as Kenny shoved his arm and called him an asshole.
"Seriously though, what I really want are piercings. Like all over. A couple in my ears, lip, tongue, maybe eyebrow. I've even thought about looking into nipple piercings." Kenny pulled his shirt up to look at his nipples. "I hear it's supposed to make them like super sensitive or some shit."
"Given how much you love your dick, you're not going to pierce that, too?"
"It's because I love her so much that I'm going to keep sharp objects far away from her, thank you very much."
"Your dick is gendered?"
"Well…yeah? Okay when you put it that way, it sounds really stupid."
Craig nodded very slowly. "Good, you're learning."
"Shut the fuck up, dude," Kenny laughed as he smacked Craig on his head, causing his hat to go askew. "I could get my ears pierced now, but…again…poor kid. I think I might try getting a job at City Wok this summer. Maybe they'll let me bring home leftover food at night. That'd be cool…" His voice drifted off as he yawned and stretched out his tired limbs.
"I can't wait to go to college," Craig spoke after a while. He caught the baseball on final time and let it roll out of his hand onto the floor. "I'm probably going to have to promise to play baseball for any college to want me, since my grades are mostly Cs, Bs at best. At least for the first year. If I bust my ass enough freshman year, then maybe I won't ever have to play the damn thing ever again."
"You don't like it?"
"Never fucking did, dude. Not back when we were in little league, and not now. It's boring as shit. I just happen to be good at it. What kind of bullshit luck is that? The only thing I'm really good at, I hate."
"Do you know what you'd want to major in?"
A wide grin spread across Craig's usually stoic face. "Astronomy. What else?"
"I should've known," Kenny smiled back. "I'll be lucky if I can get into a community college. Does Park County even have one?"
"I don't fucking know. Probably not. Or if it does, it's probably in North Park. At that point, you might as well drive to Denver and take classes there. Do you even want to go to college?"
"I'm not sure. I never tried in school because I always figured what was the point? My family wouldn't be able to afford me going to college anyway, so why bother? But now…now that everyone is talking about it and everyone seems to have their whole lives planned out, it makes me wonder if I fucked up my whole future. Like I don't want to just work some shitty job that I hate my whole life. I don't want to become my fucking parents."
Craig slowly nodded. "Yeah. My parents are okay, I guess, but…I don't think they've loved each other for a long time. That's why I don't want to turn into them. I don't want to end up in a loveless marriage and feel stuck because I have to stay with my husband 'for the kids'. Like, do they not realize that Tricia and I fucking know? Shit, I'd rather have my parents separated and happy than together are fucking miserable. 'For the kids' my ass."
Craig sighed heavily and crossed his arms. He stared at the cracked ceiling above him, thinking about how it was kind of a metaphor for his parents marriage. It's intention was to provide shelter and protection, to make them and their kids feel safe, but when it's clearly crumbling and in dire need of repair, all you can think about it how much longer it will take for it to completely cave in.
Kenny rolled back onto his side, propping himself up on one elbow.
"Dude, the minute I can finally afford to buy a car, I don't even care how shitty it is, I'm going to take Karen and just drive away. I don't even care where. Just…not here. You and Trish can come, too. We'll drive off into the sunset and go somewhere where no one knows us. Where we can start fresh and make something of ourself. Where we won't be judged and we won't be shaped by the expectations that our parents and this fucking town put on us. I'm not just the poor kid. You're not just the gay kid. We're not some lost souls with no fucking purpose who are going to just wander aimlessly forever. We are not going to become out fucking parents. We are going to prove to ourself, this goddamn town, and the whole fucking world that are worth something! We're going to look fate itself in the eye and give it the middle finger! Because we're-"
Kenny's words disappeared into the moonlit room. Craig's lips were suddenly pressed against his. Craig's hand was gently cradling his head, its fingers grabbing at his hair. The world inside that small bedroom seemed to slow down in that moment.
Craig quickly pulled away from Kenny and their world returned to its normal speed.
"Oh my god…fuck…I'm sorry…fucking hell, you're straight…I'm so sorry, I…"
Before he could continue his rambling apology, Kenny lowered himself toward Craig and kissed him in return. Although Craig couldn't prove it, it sure felt like it was happening in slow motion, the musical intro to "Eclipse" providing a near perfect soundtrack to the moment. Craig felt Kenny's lips part and lightly suck on his bottom lip before he broke away from the kiss entirely.
Kenny raised his eyebrows at his speechless friend. "When did I ever say I was straight?"
Craig let out a stuttered breath, staring into his smiling friend's eyes as they both leaned into another kiss.
They didn't know if it was love or lust or a mix of the two, but it felt so good. They weren't going to ruin the moment with worrying about what it would mean tomorrow. Talking about the future was fun, but right now their present was pretty amazing.