AN: This is a Celebration! I was on Tumblr this morning and saw the most beautiful thing; an adorable picture of KanCon! Like, legit smooches of cuteness and it was the first one I had ever seen aside from that one other picture and I'm just so excited I'm writing this! Woo! I love everything!
Connor twisted his hands together nervously. It was his first day of school and he was alone. His family had moved here to "get away from it all." His parents seemed to think that the hustle and bustle of the big city was the cause of their strained marriage. So, they moved back to his mother's home town, in a rather rural area of Boston. At least, no one was likely to make fun of him for being half Native American. There was a reservation in the area and this was the school all of the kids went to if they lived there or near it like he did.
The bus dropped him and several other kids of various ages off at the front of the school and they all scattered. Except Connor. He just sort of stood there, petrified. Connor could be outgoing and confident, so long as he didn't feel so utterly alone in a strange, new place. He didn't even know where he was supposed to go. All he had was a slip of paper with the name of his teacher on it. Maybe he should just ditch. No one would notice. He would just find some quiet, secluded place and read until it was time to go home. And continue this until he graduated school forever.
He turned to put his plan into motion, only to run straight into another boy, "S-Sorry." Connor stuttered out, taking a couple steps back.
"No problem." The other boy said. They tried to move past each other but that annoying thing happened when they both just kept getting in each other's way. Connor could feel the heat rushing to his face. "Aren't you going the wrong way?" the boy said, tilting his head slightly.
"I, uh…was going home…" Connor confessed, sheepishly, folding his hands over each other.
"You'll get in trouble if you get caught skipping class, you know." The boy said.
"I won't get caught…" Connor mumbled and looked down at his hands.
There was a short moment of silence before the other boy spoke, "You're new here, aren't you?" Connor didn't have to answer, "Well, here. I can show you around. What's your name?"
"Connor…"
"Connor? My name is… You can call me Kanen. My whole name is too hard to say for some people." He said, offering a friendly smile. Connor tried to smile back. "What grade are you in Connor? Who's your teacher?"
Connor fiddled with his hands a little less, "I'm…in the second grade. My teacher is, uh…" he quickly unfolded the piece of paper, "Mrs. Patterson." He read aloud.
"I had her last year. You'll like her. She's really nice. I can show you where her room is if you want." Connor nodded and Kanen led to way towards his class room.
His first day of class had actually been alright. His teacher didn't make them do any real work and they spent the first half of the day going around the room, saying names and telling a little bit about themselves. Connor got to see Kanen again at lunch and recess and they played a bit together. Even going home wasn't so bad because his parents weren't fighting. In fact, they seemed happy. When he walked in the front door they were going through old pictures, getting distracted from the unpacking they were supposed to be doing.
His mother asked him how his day had been and he told her about Kanen and his teacher and this one girl in class that could speak French. His father picked him up with a grunt and playful complaint that one of them was getting too old for that.
This was one of the happiest days of Connor's life.
Connor pulled the pillow over his head to tried and block out the yelling coming from down stairs. His parents were fighting again. They had been doing that a lot lately. Some things were said that Connor really didn't want to hear. Sometimes they were mortifyingly personal jabs, like how his could satisfy his mother in bed like he used to. Most of the time though, it was arguing over expenses or Connor's rising. And they all ended with a door slamming.
Tonight was especially bad. As hard as he tried to close out the sound, he could still hear his mother shouting at his father to just go and not bother coming back this time. She had said that once or twice in previous fights. But Father always came back.
This time though. This time felt different. When he heard the door slam, he hesitated for a second before jumping out of bed and running down the stairs as fast as he could. His mother had her head in her hands, trying not to cry and failing. He ran for the door and outside onto the porch in time to watch his father speed off in his car.
"Dad!" he cried out, hoping his father would hear him, would see him. Hoping his father would turn around and stay. Stay here. With him and his mother.
Haytham didn't come back that night. Or the next day. Or the day after that. Every now and then, Connor would catch his mother crying when she thought he wasn't around. She was a strong, stubborn woman who never wanted anyone to see her cry. So, Connor didn't try to offer her comfort in those times. When he did, he would do it in small, subtle ways. Like, cooking dinner for the two of them, or keeping the house tidy.
When he went to school he was always quiet. His friends asked him a few times if he was alright since, normally, Connor would be rather confident and cheerful around them. But eventually they stopped asking. All but Kanen and Aveline. Kanen because he knew Connor wasn't alright and honestly wanted to help. Aveline because she knew Connor wasn't alright and was too stubborn to leave him alone.
Eventually, he told them. Just them. He asked them not to spread the word around and the promised. Kanen didn't talk much to anyone outside of their group and Aveline, though a bit talkative, knew how to keep a secret. His dear friends were also clever enough to only try to make him feel better in subtle ways. Although, once, when no one was watching, Kanen did give Connor a hug. One of the nicest hugs he had ever gotten. Connor wasn't much of a hugger. But it was still nice. "You give good hugs." Connor mumbled idly.
"Don't say it's because I'm fat." Kanen responded with a completely straight face.
Connor couldn't help it. He laughed. He actually laughed. It felt like he hadn't laughed in ages, even though it had only been a week or so.
He really needed that laugh.
Connor was having a sleep-over party. If you could call it a party. He had only invited Kanen and Aveline. It was nothing personal against his other friends; he just wasn't as close to them as he was to the other two. It had taken some convincing with his mother to let Aveline over. For some reason, she though Connor was going to "put the moves on her" when Kanen went to sleep or something. His mother was weird. Connor wasn't even really thinking about girls. He was only fifteen, after all. He wasn't really supposed to, right?
In the end, the two were allowed over, though Aveline had to sleep in the guest room. "Like we're actually going to sleep!" the girl exclaimed. The statement could have been taken in an entirely different direction by Connor's mother had she not held up a case of caffeinated soda and a multiplayer video game for the console that Connor had in his room.
Ironically, Aveline was the first one to tap out at around eleven at night. Not willingly, mind you. She actually passed out on Connor's bed while the boys were busy shooting each other in the game. They had tried to move her but Aveline was…not the nicest person to wake up. "Avy, you're gonna get me in trouble." Connor almost whined. The girl promptly responded by rolling over and mumbling something akin to…chicken nuggets? She apparently talked in her sleep. A story for another time.
"We can just sleep in the guest room." Kanen suggested.
Connor saw no reason to disagree, though Aveline would be getting a stern talking to in the morning. They turned the game off and went to the guest room, piling onto the bed as only two teenage boys would. They got comfortable in bed and were honestly planning on sleeping but that just didn't happen during a sleep-over apparently.
"I can't believe your mom let you have a girl over. She's so cool." Kanen commented.
Connor just shrugged, "I guess. She wasn't gonna though. She though me and Avy would flirt or something. I don't know."
Kanen barely paused, "You two should totally go out."
"What?!" Connor whispered harshly in place of yelling his surprise, "I don't even like Aveline like that!" he hastily explained, blushing furiously. Fortunately, it was dark and Kanen couldn't see.
"Why not? You think she's cute right? Everyone says you two flirt all the time." Kanen turned on his side to face Connor.
"Well, we don't. I'm not really even thinking about that stuff right now. Aren't we too young for girlfriends?"
"Not really, Connor." Kanen's expression was hard to read in the dark but he sounded a few notches shy of surprised.
Connor just shrugged again.
Kanen paused a while this time before asking, "Are you gay?"
"What? Gay? Me?" Connor was a mixture between surprised and confused by this seemingly random question.
"Yeah," Kanen said as if it were nothing, "I mean, that might explain why you don't like Avy, right? Most of the guys in our school wanna date her. And the ones that don't are either scared of her or probably gay."
Connor practically sputtered nonsensical words before he could coherently respond, "I don't know if I'm gay! We are too young for this crap." And he rolled on his back and put a hand to his face.
Kanen laughed quietly and then got really quiet. It sort of unnerved Connor how quiet he got and when he looked over, his friend was looking away, biting at his lip, "I think…I'm gay." He said slowly, as if testing to see how Connor would react.
The other boy looked at him, "And?"
Kanen looked back at him, slightly surprised, "And what?"
"Is that it? You might be gay?"
"Well…yeah."
"No juicy tales of experimentation or secret crush on one of the guys in school? You're just gay?"
Kanen looked as if he were about to say something before turning over on his other side, back to Connor, "Go to sleep."
"You like someone!" Connor almost shouted but still kept his voice on check so not to disturb his mother. He did, however, sit up and bounce on the bed, lightly. Enough to keep his friend from falling asleep.
"Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you!" Kanen said, retreating underneath the covers.
"What? Why not?" The bouncing only increased.
"Would you just go to sleep?"
"Not until you tell me!"
"You act like a girl."
"So? Not gonna keep me from prying the information out of you." Connor said, cheerfully.
Kanen only grumbled before sitting up and facing his friend with feigned irritation, "You won't like it." He informed.
"Just tell me." Connor said, feeling victorious. Kanen looked at the other boy. Just looked. It took Connor a minute. But when he did get it, "Oh."
"I told you, you wouldn't like it." Kanen said, and looked down, picking at the sheets.
"It's not that! It's just…oh."
"Yeah…well, don't think I'm gonna creep on you or anything, okay? 'Cause I won't. You're probably straight anyway so…whatever." The other boy refused to look at Connor.
"Kanen." Connor said, putting a hand on his friends shoulder. He still didn't look up. "Kanen, will you look at me?"
"Uh-uh." His friend said in refusal and covered his face with both hands.
"Kanen," he grumbled. He pried one of Kanen's hands away from his face with the use of both hands only to have an entire arm replace it. Connor only grumbled more and squeezed Kanen's hand. His mother did this when she cried, sometimes. Maybe not exactly like this, but the hiding thing, yeah. Connor really didn't like to see one of his closest friends so upset. He didn't even know what he had done but clearly, he had done something to cause this.
He put his forehead on Kanen's arm since he wouldn't move it and wouldn't let go of his hand. He thought seriously about the prospect of being gay. He honestly didn't know if he was or not. But there was a way to find out.
"Kanen," he said quietly before tilting his head in just the right way so that he could brush his lips against the other boy's. Kanen hesitantly moved his arm out of the way to look at Connor. They looked at each other for a moment before Connor spoke up, "I don't…know if I'm, like, gay. But, uh…" he shrugged, "We could try a few things…if you want."
That night was filled with slow, shy kisses and unsure touches. They cuddle in bed and held hands and tangled their legs together, both not really sure on what was okay and what was going too far. It was a quiet, peaceful night between the two of them and in the morning they talked. They would decide to test things. To see how much they liked each other. If everything went well, then maybe, maybe they would date.
Connor couldn't believe his luck.
High school was stressful. But winter break was a blessing. At least from school. Not so much for Connor, personally, seeing as how he was going to stay with Haytham for most of the break. His parents had shared custody, keeping Connor on a steady plan of alternating holidays and summer breaks. Haytham had him this Christmas, which really sucked because Connor didn't want to leave his boyfriend. With no one but Aveline to keep him company. The girl was as huge a fangirl as they came. And had assumed the role of slightly over protective mother-hen. Poor, poor Kanen.
He was leaving today once his father arrived to pick him up. Kanen and Aveline had shown up to see him off, though Aveline found some convenient excuse to give them some alone time. They stood on Connor's front porch, casually. There was no romantic touching because they were both dragging their feet as far as coming out to their families went and even if Ziio did know, Connor really didn't want his mom walking in on them. So, they stood an appropriate distance apart, carrying out a casual conversation until Kanen got quiet.
"Uh-oh." Connor stated, breaking the silence.
"What?"
"You're thinking."
"So?"
"So you only get quiet like that when you're thinking about something depressing. Out with it." Connor prodded.
Kanen sighed, "I'm going to miss you, alright?" and he crossed his arms, proceeding to pout.
"Kanen," Connor assumed the role of dutiful boyfriend and abandoned all fears of PDA to comfort Kanen by placing both hands on the other male's hips and bumping their foreheads together and touching noses just because he knew Kanen liked it when they did that. They shared a sweet, brief kiss before Connor backed up just slightly and moved his hands to Kanen's hair. The other male liked to keep it long and, being the son of the tribe's Chief, it had been twisted into two, traditional braids. But a few shorter locks fell around his face (which had lost the baby fat and hardened into a man's face). "It'll be fine. I'll call you every day and come back with a present for you, alright?" he offered his friend a smile.
Kanen couldn't help but smile slightly, "Promise?" he pulled one of Connor's hands down to their sides and lazily wrapped their pinkies together.
"Promise." Connor confirmed, completely linking their pinkies. He kissed Kanen on the lips once more before moving to stand at his side, a little less intimately but keeping their shoulders touching.
Connor's father pulled up a few minutes later. Aveline was nowhere to be found, which was slightly terrifying but Ziio did come out to say goodbye to Connor and give Haytham a…weary look.
"Connor." He said curtly with his fading British accent.
"Haytham." His father positively bristled at being called his first name by his own son. Connor clearly harbored a bit of bitterness towards his father.
"Ready to go, then?" he continued, trying to make it look as though the "name calling" didn't bother him.
"Yeah, let me just grab my bags."
Connor didn't miss the sad, seemingly longing look in his father's eyes when he glanced at Ziio. But his mother followed him inside without so much as a second glance at Haytham and didn't come back out. She would probably cry when they left. Not so much for Connor's leaving, though.
Connor would come back.
They were at it again. Haytham and Connor would not cease their endless insults and witty come-backs until one left the apartment to calm down. However, neither one seemed inclined to go out in the middle of a snow storm. So, it was essentially a pissing contest; who could yell the most bullshit the loudest. Because, really, they ran out of clever insult last week. Half of the stuff they were saying to each other wasn't even true and they damn well knew it.
Things were escalating rather quickly, as a matter of fact. It wasn't too much longer until Connor shouted out, "I'm gay!"
Haytham was thrown for a split second before shouting back, "Well, that's good then!"
"Good!"
"Good!"
They glared at each other for a long while, breathing heavily. Connor broke first and gracefully stopped off to his room and slammed the door behind him, leaving Haytham to properly process what was just said.
Connor paced his room anxiously. Why did he even say that? The argument hadn't even been going in that direction. He just sort of…took advantage of the momentum from his anger. He took out his phone and dialed Kanen. He would calm Connor down.
'Hello?'
"Hey."
'Connor! I was wondering when you were gonna call.'
At that, he glanced at the clock and realized it was nine o'clock at night, "Yeah, sorry. I got into it with my dad."
'Again? Neither of you are going to survive this winter if you keep this up.'
"I told him."
There was a brief silence, 'You…you told him? Like, told him?'
"Yeah."
'So, how did he take it?'
"Well, I said it in the middle of the fight so he just sort of yelled 'good!' and that was it…"
'Huh…well, at least it's out there, yeah?'
"Yeah." Connor sighed. He was just enjoying the sound of his boyfriend's voice.
'I'll tell my parents when you get back. I'm not as brave as you are.'
"I don't want you to feel pressured into it."
'I don't. I need to tell them eventually, right? You're just giving me a confidence boost right now.'
They laughed, "I miss you."
'I miss you, too.'
They continued to talk calmly like this for maybe an hour before there was a knock at Connor's door. "Connor? Can we talk, son?"
"Hey, I gotta go. I think my dad just realized I told him I'm gay."
'Yeah, okay. Good luck.'
"Thanks." After hanging up Connor opened the door for Haytham, "Father." He said bitterly.
"Who were you talking to?" he asked.
"My boyfriend." Connor crossed his arms and leaned in the door frame.
"Ah, yes, well," Haytham cleared his throat, "I just wanted to let you know, that I am perfectly alright with you being gay and that, even though we fight and argue and you say how much you hate me, I still love you."
Connor stood there, quietly with his jaw slightly dropped. Neither one of them were very good at showing softer emotions towards each other. This was…phenomenal of Haytham. "Thanks…dad."
Haytham smiled and held up his arms.
Connor looked at him sideways, "What are you doing?"
"I am going to hug you now." Haytham said, completely serious as he advanced upon Connor.
"No. No, no, no. No you're not." Connor backed up and half-heartedly tried to keep Haytham off of him.
"Ooooh yes I am."
And he did. Haytham Kenway hugged his son. And Connor just stood there and let it happen. He even hugged back a little.
Connor sat down the last of the boxes that went to their room in the apartment. They had graduated high school together, Connor had gotten a part time job, and they were moving in together. Aveline was their roommate as well. Actually, it was only because of her and her richer than rich family that they could even afford this place. And Aveline was trying to be somewhat independent so it wasn't an outrageously expensive place. But it was nice with two bedrooms, a full bathroom and a decent kitchen you could move around in. Kanen had started to unpack while Aveline and Connor were bringing in the rest of the boxes. The bed was made and a desk had been set up in the corner of the room.
Kanen was currently bent over an opened box and Connor could resist. He groped his lover's butt. It always surprised Kanen In the most adorable way and this time was no different. He yelped and turned around quickly before giving Connor a false scowl. It didn't stay on his face for long. Connor made sure of that with a quick kiss and a tight embrace around the other's hips.
He looked at the freshly made bed and then back at the bedroom door, an idea forming. He left Kanen long enough to run for the opened door and shout at Aveline to go run some errands in town. When the girl tried to argue Connor went for her weakness and allowed her to assume that he and Kanen would be doing dirty things while she was gone after dropping a less than subtle hint.
When he heard the front door shut, he turned to Kanen and shut the door behind him, "What do you say we break in the new place?" he said with an attempt at a seductive look.
Kanen rolled his eyes but made his way over to Connor anyway. The kissed soft but deeply at first but rapidly became more hungry. They nipped and sucked at each other's lips, jaw, throat, whatever was convenient as they simultaneously worked at each other's clothes. They fell back onto the bed and bodily argued over who would be on top, Kanen eventually winning out and Connor not complaining. He freed their erections from their constraints and grinded a bit before taking each other in hand.
The room was filled with the sound of their lustful breathing and moans of ecstasy. The lube was still packed away somewhere so there wouldn't be any of that going on but they were still enjoying themselves. Kanen moaned and grunted loudly as he spilled into Connor's hand. He slowed his own hand around Connor as Kanen trailed open-mouthed kisses across his throat, chest stomach, pausing just long enough to leave a mark on Connor's hip before taking his length into his mouth.
Connor gasped when he felt Kanen's hot, wet mouth around him. He gave small, shallow thrusts against the warm cavern. He didn't last long after Kanen swirled his tongue in just the right way. He groaned with satisfaction as his lover swallowed around him, running fingers through messed hair. Kanen rolled his head to rest against Connor's hip and nuzzled his skin, planting little kisses every now and then. He moved only enough so that he could lie between Connor's legs in a way that was comfortable for both of them.
They murmured sweet words to each other and stroked bare skin. They were content. One day, they were sure, they would marry and maybe have children. Connor had always wanted a family. And he wanted nothing more than to share that life with his best friend, his lover. "I love you." He whispered as he lazily stroked Kanen's hair.
"I love you, too" Kanen said, and laced his fingers with Connor's free hand.
AN: What the hell is it with this couple that just makes me want to write fluff? Omg, seriously, I can't even. I might post a few side drabbles from this piece of work but those will be separate fics and I am going to bed now. Goodnight! :D
