"I'm done with this shit!" Elder Church threw his hand of cards on the ground when he was declared the loser, "This game is rigged!"

Poptarts booed at the Elder, "You're just out of luck tonight!"

"Ugh, I'm done," Elder Church stretched as he stood up from the floor, "Count me out for the next round."

Connor saw his opportunity to help integrate Kevin into the group of Elders. He nudged Kevin, "Wanna play?"

Kevin looked up from his position on Connor's lap, where his head laid, "No."

Connor sighed, "So you don't want to play Uno, you don't want to tell me what Arnold said about me, and you don't want to talk about what's bothering you. What do you want to do then?"

Kevin looked up again, "Can we do nothing?"

"Fine, whatever you want," Connor went back to running his fingers through Kevin's hair.

Connor lifted his gaze from Kevin to the group of Elders on the floor. His eyes met Elder Davis', and the other boy immediately averted his gaze. Connor sighed and his shoulders slumped.

"What?" Kevin asked.

"Nothing."

Kevin took Connor's reply as a retaliation on his own reluctance to share, "Look, it's not that I don't want to tell you. But I've promised Arnold I wouldn't."

"Yeah, okay."

Connor was never going to win against Kevin. Not now, not ever.

—

It was dead in the middle of the night when Connor was rudely roused from his dreamless sleep by a strong grip on his arm.

"Connor," someone whispered and shook him, hard.

He meant to ask What? but all that came out was a croak. It couldn't be morning already, right? Who the heck was interrupting him from his beauty sleep?

The shaking didn't let up, so he had no choice but to open his eyes.

"Connor."

Connor murmured, "I'm up, I'm up. What's the matter, Kev?"

"I thought I can do it, but I can't."

Connor frowned at the distress in Kevin's voice. He pushed his blankets away and sat up immediately, "Hey, what's wrong?"

Kevin threw a look at a sleeping Poptarts, and tried to pull Connor out of bed. Connor was too sleepy and baffled to resist him, "Where're we going?"

Kevin led Connor out of his room, "I need you to sleep with me."

"What?!" Connor's eyes bulged.

"No, not that! I need you to sleep in my room with me."

"But Arnold-"

"Arnold's not here," Kevin admitted sheepishly, "Mafala is away visiting some relatives in Kampala, so Arnold's staying over with Nabulungi."

"He what?!" Connor exclaimed. That was most certainly against their rules.

Everything about last evening was starting to make sense to Connor. But why was Kevin telling him now? What was Kevin afraid of, the dark?

Connor followed Kevin into his empty room, "Arnold knows that he's not allowed to do that right? I'll have to put him on cleaning and weeding duty for that. And we both know that you'll be the one doing all the actual work."

"But I-," Kevin pouted, "Can't you pretend that you didn't see anything?"

In his mind, Connor already knew that he wasn't going to punish Kevin for it, "I wouldn't have actually, if you haven't woken me up in the middle of the night. So what's the matter?"

Although, the thought of his Elders sneaking out at night without Connor's knowledge terrified him greatly. Didn't they know that all the rules were put in place for their own safety?

"Ever since- since the incident with-," Kevin hugged himself, "I can't sleep alone. When I close my eyes, it reminds me of- it's like I'm back at- I feel like he's coming to get me."

Connor's heart shattered at Kevin's admission. He was not aware how deeply affected Kevin still was by his encounter with the General, because he never ever spoke about it. And nobody dared to bring it up. Connor still didn't know the details of what happened that day, Kevin didn't reveal it to anyone, not even Arnold, but Connor knew enough. It was something truly terrible.

Connor would never forgive himself for leaving Kevin behind that day. He supposed this was why he was always overprotective when it comes to Kevin, and Connor lets him get away with almost anything, like lying about the whereabouts of his companion or being rude to Connor. He was making up to Kevin for being a horrible district leader, and he was making sure that nothing like that ever happened again.

"Kev, I'm sorry that-"

"No!" Kevin cut him off, "No, I don't want to talk about it now. Just shut up and sleep with me," he climbed into his own bed.

Connor could do that. He would do anything for Kevin. He would give anything to take Kevin's hurt and trauma away.

Kevin wrapped his blanket tightly around himself, and left Connor to figure out where he was going to sleep. Just like the other night, Connor pushed the two beds together.

He got into Arnold's bed and snuggled up behind Kevin, paying no heed to the uncomfortable dip between the mattresses.

"Goodnight Kev," Connor pressed his lips onto the top of Kevin's head.

"Mmmm…night."

—

"Elder Cunningham," Connor was there when Arnold walked through the front door the next morning.

He must have planned to sneak into his room to change, and join the Elders at breakfast.

"Oh hey! Elder McKinley!" Arnold greeted too brightly, "I went for a walk. What a nice morning, right?"

"Uh huh," Connor nodded, "Do your walks normally last the whole night?"

Arnold's jaw dropped, "Did Kevin-"

"Look, Elder Cunningham," Connor dropped his hands from his hips, "Just because we're not an actual district anymore, doesn't mean that we don't have to follow the rules. Sure, some rules are just plain ridiculous, and yes, it's okay to throw them out the window. But rules like not venturing out into the dark by yourself, and spending the night somewhere else without informing me, they're not there with the intention of making your life difficult. They're put in place to protect you. I'm just trying to keep everyone safe. Do you think I actually like nagging at everyone all the time?"

"Ye-"

Connor raised his index finger, "Shush. I'm not done yet. Another thing, I don't know what you and Nabulungi are doing in your free time, nor do I want to, but please be careful Elder Cunningham. I'm sure I don't need to explain The Birds and The Bees to you. We really cannot afford to deal with the consequences of what your actions might bring, understood?"

"Okay? But-"

"Nope. Still not done yet. I need to tell you something about Kevin," Connor proceeded to tell him what happened during the night when Arnold was gone.

Arnold was mortified, "I'm- I didn't know that he's still-"

"You're not to tell him that I've told you this, I'm sure he doesn't want to talk about it. Just make sure that this doesn't happen again, alright?"

"Of course!" Arnold gave Connor a salute, and then meekly asked, "Does that mean I'll have to be on cleaning duty for the next two weeks?"

"Actually, the punishment would have been cleaning AND weeding duties for two weeks," Arnold gulped at that, "But no, I'm letting you off with just a verbal warning this time."

Arnold leaped forward and gave Connor a bone-crushing hug, "Oh thank goodness! I knew that it'd be useful for Kevin to be dating the district leader."

"Elder Cunningham! That's not why-," Arnold was gone before Connor could finish.

Connor groaned in indignation.