"The bus is late," Connor muttered to himself while shading his eyes from the burning sun with his hand.

"Come back into the shade, Connor. You're going to get sunburned," Kevin waved at him from under a tree.

"I don't want to miss the bus."

"We're not going to miss the bus. We're in a bus station, you idiot," Kevin yelled, "C'mon back."

Truth to be told, Connor was way too excited to stay waiting in the shade. He had a surprise planned for Kevin, which he had entrusted Poptarts to carry out. Connor thought Project Show-Kevin-That-People-Cared was more important than ever, now that Kevin had officially missed the plane which his parents had wanted him to get on.

"Oh! Oh! I think that's our bus," Connor shouted in excitement.

"I can see that," Kevin rolled his eyes.

Kevin had woken up in the same sullen mood he has been for the past few days. When Connor did a sweep of the room before they checked out, he found Kevin's copy of the Book of Mormon in the trash. He was afraid to ask, and he wasn't sure if Kevin wanted to talk about it, so Connor pretended that they hadn't left anything behind.

"Here, I'll take the bags, you go and find us a seat on the bus," Connor offered.

Connor was going to miss having Kevin all by himself. Once they get back to the village, they would be constantly surrounded by all the other Elders again, although it would mostly be Arnold who surrounds Kevin. Wherever Kevin goes, Arnold goes too. Connor hoped that Kevin and him could continue to talk like they did for the past few days.

Talking to someone about his feelings never failed to make Connor feel better when he was down. Kevin probably talks to Arnold, but Connor doubted that Arnold even knew about his plane ticket, seeing that Arnold was still all cheery and nonchalantly fooling around with the other Elders when Connor returned.

—

They got settled into their seats right before the bus started moving. Kevin watched the trees go by outside the window, while Connor continued working on his laptop.

"Where did you go last night?" Kevin turned to ask Connor.

Connor stopped his typing, "I didn't realise you were awake."

"I woke up after you closed the door and left."

"Did I wake you? Sorry about that," Connor pursed his lips, "I went out to use the payphone in the lobby. To call the hut- mom. To call home."

Connor mentally slapped himself. He didn't know why he felt the need to lie to Kevin about calling his parents, and by the time he realised that he probably should just tell the truth, he was already halfway through his sentence.

"What did I say about you being the worst at lying?" Kevin scoffed.

"Sorry, I just- I didn't want- your parents- you know what? I'm gonna shut up now," Connor cussed inwardly at his train wreck of a reply.

"Is everything okay back home?" Kevin prompted.

Connor nodded, "Yeah, I guess you could say it's okay. My parents are no longer Mormons."

"What?!" Kevin frowned, "What happened?"

Connor figured that he would spare Kevin the detail of how Mr and Mrs Price visited his parents and basically advised them to disown Connor too, "They just didn't believe in the Church's teachings anymore, I guess."

"Try again, McKinley. Was it because of what we did?"

"In a way?" Connor chose his words carefully, "my parents were just not very comfortable with how the Church dealt with our situation."

"What do you mean?" Kevin pried, "What did the Church do?"

"Well…," Connor stalled, and Kevin glared at him to continue. "I don't know?" He finished lamely.

"Connor McKinley," Kevin growled.

"Look, I don't want to lie to you, I can't lie anyway, but I can't tell you, please stop asking," Connor begged.

"Why not?"

Connor shrugged mutely, and made a zipping motion on his lips.

"Please tell me, Connor. I need to know. I need to know that the Church forced my parents to do this somehow, and not because they actually cared more about their neighbours' fucking opinions than their own son," Kevin spat.

"The Church didn't force them to leave," Connor murmured, avoiding Kevin's gaze.

"Okay? Then why did they leave?"

Connor was getting increasingly flustered. He didn't want to say the wrong thing, "Because…of me. They left because of me."

"I don't get it. You just said that they weren't being ex-communicated because of what we did."

"Not officially, no. But talking to certain members of the Church made them realised some stuff," Connor knew that he sounded incredibly evasive.

"You mean they were not officially kicked out like we did, but they were pressured to leave somehow? But by whom? I know that the Bishop doesn't do stuff like that."

Connor's face must have given it away, because Kevin shook his head and laughed bitterly, "Wow. Fucking wow."

Connor felt like crying in frustration. Everything is turning into such a clusterfudge.

"My parents are the fucking best, aren't they? Well, if their child doesn't live up to their expectations than why do they need him around at all, right?" Kevin mocked, "See, I told you, Connor McKinley. Nobody wants me in their lives, not even my own fucking family."

"No!" Connor yelled and lowered his volume self-consciously, "That's not true. I do want you in my life. I'm glad you're in my life, Kevin Price."

Kevin stared at him for a few seconds, before closing his eyes and laying his head back onto the seat, "Yeah, whatever."

"I mean it," Connor pleaded, "I'm not lying! You'd know if I'm lying, since according to you, I'm the worst liar you have ever known. It's not pity either. I really really lo-," Connor covered his mouth in shock. He couldn't believe that he had almost confessed his feelings to Kevin. His heart was beating a mile a minute, and his hands were all clammy, "Well, I mean-"

"Please stop talking, Connor," Kevin grabbed Connor's arm, "my head fucking hurts."

"Oh yeah, sure," Connor breathed.

Rude as that was, Connor was glad that Kevin had stopped him from digging an even deeper hole.

Connor was pretty sure that Kevin would hate the surprise coming-home party which he had planned. With Kevin's current mood, he wouldn't want to have to deal with everyone in the village at the moment. Whenever Kevin got upset, he would always run away and lock himself in his room and wallow in misery by himself. Connor thought that they were all way past the age for that kind of behaviour, but that was just what Kevin does.

Connor didn't have a phone on him, so he had no way to tell Poptarts to call it off.

Poptarts! Oh dear lord, Connor forgot about Poptarts! If The Prices had visited Connor's parents, they must have also spoken to Mr and Mrs Thomas! This was bad. This was very bad.

—

Connor spent the whole three hour long journey fretting, about Kevin, about his mission companion. He had tried to resume working on his laptop, but there was no way he would be able to concentrate on anything else at the moment. Beside him, Kevin kept his eyes closed for the whole journey. Connor knew he wasn't actually asleep.

Connor nudged Kevin with his leg, "We're almost there."

Kevin nodded without opening his eyes.

Connor sighed at his non-committal response, and started packing his things.

"Connor?"

Connor pulled the drawstrings on his bag shut, "Hmm?"

"I'm sorry."

Connor looked at Kevin with a quizzical expression.

"I'm a mess, and I'm always taking it out on you. I'm sorry," Kevin finished sincerely.

Connor nodded, "It's okay." He already knew he would forgive Kevin for anything when he gets earnestly apologetic like that. Connor would forgive Kevin for things he hasn't even done yet.

"No, it's not. I was being a dick."

"That you were," Connor smiled, "How's your head?"

"Better," Kevin returned his smile, "and I'm glad that your parents stood up for you. Even if it does make me a little jealous."

Connor's smile faltered a little, he didn't know what to say to that.

Kevin clasped his hands together, "I can't wait to go home."

Connor smiled wider when he heard Kevin refer to the village as their home, "We've only been gone for three days."

"It's three days too long. I miss my bed," Kevin grinned stupidly. The kind which made Connor melt inside.

"Your bed is probably Nabulungi's now," Connor teased.

Kevin's improved mood was highly contagious. Connor was beginning to think that everything was going to turn out okay after all.

—

"Where's everybody?" Kevin noted as they stepped off the bus. The village square, which would usually be bustling with activity at this time of day, was uncharacteristically quiet.

Connor took it as a sign that Poptarts did manage to gather everyone for the surprise party. He was still feeling a little apprehensive about the whole thing, but with a hand on the small of Kevin's back, they made their way to the mission hut.

"Do you need help with that?" Kevin pointed to the two bags that Connor had slung on his shoulder, "I can carry my own bag you know."

"You aren't supposed to be carrying anything heavy, I heard what the doctor said," Connor frowned.

Kevin rolled his eyes, "Right, because a few pieces of clothing is so heavy."

The both of them walked up to the front door of the mission hut, and Connor let Kevin go in first.

Kevin pushed the door open, and they were met with a chorus of "Surprise!"

Kevin blinked blankly at the extremely crowded living room of the mission hut.

"What's all this?" Kevin read the banner, which was slung lopsidedly on the wall, "Get Well Soon Elder Pric?"

"Uh, we ran out of space for the 'e'," Arnold explained.

Connor heard Elder Church mutter something along the lines of, "Elder Prick is back." Which earned him a glare from Connor, and an elbow to his ribs from Poptarts.

Arnold stepped forward and engulfed Kevin in a gentler version of his usual bone-crushing bear hugs, "Welcome back, best friend!"

"Did you plan this?" Kevin looked at his mission companion in awe.

Arnold pointed to Connor, "Nah buddy, this is all Elder McKinley's idea."

Kevin stared at Connor with his mouth opened, "How did you even- I don't- This is just-," Kevin's eyes roamed over everyone in the room.

Mafala suddenly said, "This is the first time I have seen Elder Price with nothing to say."

The room erupted into laughter, and Kevin still had the awestruck expression on his face.

"Come! Let us eat," Kimbay took Kevin's hand and led him to the table in the centre of the room, which was piled high with food.

Kevin's head swivelled around to look for Connor while he was being pulled along by Kimbay.

Connor was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling of love for Kevin Price when he held Kevin's gaze.

"You're staring, Connor," Poptarts put an arm around Connor's shoulders.

"What? Shut up."