"Kevin!" Chris called to Elder Price, coming around the corner to the living room. Kevin looked up expectantly at his name, wondering what was going on.
"Yeah?" he asked, unsure what to expect.
"Connor's upset." Chris told him. "He's crying."
"What?" Kevin sat up, instantly concerned at the idea of his boyfriend crying. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know." Chris shrugged. "I can't get anything out of him. I tried, but I think it'd be best if you went."
"I'll go." Kevin announced, leaping up and heading for Connor's room.
"I'll be here. Until dinner." Chris called back, and Kevin rolled his eyes. It wasn't that Chris didn't care about Connor, it was just that he wasn't great with people. Having been forced to be perky for most of his mission training, he was perfectly content to be a bit of a snarky asshole when he felt like it.
Kevin slipped into Connor's room very quietly, closing the door behind him. He locked it too, but he didn't realise because it was such a habit - he always seemed to lock the door when he and Connor were alone in a room.
Connor, as Chris had reported, was lying on his bed, crying quietly to himself. He didn't register Kevin coming in, and Kevin sympathetically at his boyfriend's heartache, whatever it was about.
He went and sat down on the edge of Connor's bed, careful not to startle him.
"Connor?" he prompted the other boy quietly. Conner, suddenly aware of another human being's presence, looked up through tearful eyes, and smiled helplessly at Kevin.
"Oh," he sniffed, "hey, honey."
"What's wrong?" Kevin asked him, shifting closer as Connor continued to weep.
"I just..." he sobbed, "I just got a letter from my...parents."
"Oh, no." Kevin said quietly, and Connor actually laughed.
"No, it's...not that." he told him boyfriend, sitting up a little way and drying his eyes - or at least attempting to - with a tiny smile. "No. My mom...told me that...my cat got sick and...well, she's..." He found that he couldn't continued and burst back into floods of tears. Kevin sighed and pulled him into a hug.
"I'm sorry, Connor." he whispered kindly. Kevin had never had a cat, but he knew it was painful when a pet died. His own dog had died the previous year, and he'd refused to come out of his room for a week - except for Church, of course. And school. But at the weekend, he couldn't be seen. Except at meal times. But he was crying.
"It's alright." Connor attempted to say, and Kevin only just understood him. "It's just...I had her since...she was a...kitten. She was...so cute. Poor Mitzi."
"I understand." Kevin consoled him, smiling at his cat's name and rubbing his back as he clung to him. "When Pongo died I was in mourning for a whole week."
"Pongo?" Connor asked, looking at him curiously. "The dalmatian?"
"No, Pongo was my dog." Kevin laughed. "I named him after the dalmatian."
"Oh." Connor smiled. "What...what kind of dog was he?"
"Ugh, terrier." Kevin told him, and he chuckled.
"I can't believe I'm crying over a cat." he said.
"Why?" Kevin asked. "It's okay to cry over pets. They teach us companionship."
"Don't start getting deep with me, Kevin."
"What else do you want me to say?"
"Oh, I don't know." Connor shrugged. "It's just..." he sighed. "I wasn't gonna cry until I started thinking about how on cold evenings she's curl up in my lap when I was sitting by the fire, and at Christmas she'd come and play with the decorations on the tree and how she's always get her claws caught up in my scarfs. And then when she was scared she used to cling on to my leg and not let go until I picked her up. And how to get my attention she'd get in between me and whatever I was doing and lick my nose." He paused, welling up again. "And I wasn't going to cry until I realised that she'll never do it again. The house'll just be empty without her."
Kevin had held on to Connor tighter when he had started to talk again because he'd known that Connor had been going to upset himself even more.
"It's okay, Connor." he told him. "Hey, you know what? I'll get you a new kitten when we get back, and then you can have another adorable thing to love."
"Other than you." Connor laughed. "You don't have to do that, Kevin."
"I want to." Kevin told him, stroking his hair fondly. "I don't like seeing you upset."
"Thanks, honey." he smiled weakly, trying his best not to start crying again.
"Don't worry about it." Kevin whispered, kissing the top of his head gently. Connor nuzzled his head into Kevin's chest, and Kevin felt him pushing him down, asking him to lie down on the bed. With a smile, he did so, so Connor was lying on top of him, snuggling into him in that way only Connor could. Kevin ran a hand through his hair again, feeling rather content.
He looked at Connor with a smile and asked,
"You alright?"
"Yeah, I think so." Connor sighed in reply, sitting up so his legs were across Kevin's and their hips were perpendicular to each other.
"Sure?" Kevin checked, propping himself up with his elbows.
"Reasonably." Connor smiled. "I'm still upset, but I'll try not to mope in my room for a week." Kevin rolled his eyes again looked away from Connor, shaking his head.
"Honestly." he said. "I come to make you feel better and you just start making fun of me again."
Connor laughed to himself and leant back down to Kevin, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips, which he returned with great satisfaction.
"Thank you for cheering me up." Connor whispered to him, stroking his fingers over Kevin's face.
"You're welcome." Kevin replied.
He lay down again, and Connor draped himself over his body with a contented sigh. Kevin was glad that he was able to make Connor happy. It gave him some kind of sense of accomplishment. He closed his eyes, letting the silence envelop them. It was nice to have moments like this, he thought.
After a while, Kevin looked at Connor with both eyes open. The older boy's eyes glistened slightly, and Kevin smiled.
"You know I love you, don't you, Connor?" he said quietly.
"Of course I do." Connor replied. "And you know I love you, right?"
"Yeah, I do." Kevin nodded at him. "And you know what? I can't wait to own a kitten with you."
"Oh, Kevin." Connor laughed.