The lake sparkled under the late afternoon sun. After a failed attempt, which lasted three hours, of teaching Elder Church how to do shading and blending with his paintbrush, Kevin had enough and they decided to call it a day. More than happy to oblige, Elder Church returned to the mission hut to start on dinner, while Connor and Kevin took a stroll to the lake.

Kevin was back in his shirtless ways, due to the hot weather, not that Connor was complaining at all. Connor was sitting beside Kevin on the rocky outcrop, who was laid on his back and basking in the golden sunlight.

Kevin was not wearing the bandage on his side anymore, and with the stitches removed, he now has steri-strips across the thin red line.

"It's smaller than I thought," Connor frowned, "I mean for all the pain it caused you."

Kevin rolled his head over to look at Connor, "Are you implying that I'm a wimp?"

"I don't know, are you?" Connor gave Kevin a playful smirk.

"Oh fuck off," Kevin punched Connor in his knee.

"Ow," Connor rubbed at his knee, "At least it won't be leaving too big of a scar, right?"

"Why, do you not accept damaged goods, Connor McKinley?"

"Maybe. Where can I get a refund?"

"Oh Connor, if you think that this is the only scar I have, you're going to be very disappointed," Kevin laughed.

"Really?"

Connor didn't have a lot of scars on his own body. He was never an adventurous kid. He never dared to climb trees or do wheelies on his bike, hence the lack of broken bones and scars. The only scar he had was on his forearm. He was scratched by a very angry cat once, when he volunteered at the local animal shelter.

"I was in the track and field team in high school, what did you expect?"

"You were supposed to be running, not falling down?" Connor teased.

"What can I say? I'm very competitive."

"Or maybe you're not just not very good at it."

Kevin pushed himself up onto his elbows, "Are you trying to prove a point?"

Connor was caught off guard, "What are you talking about?"

Kevin studied Connor for a moment, before laying back down, "Forget it."

Connor wanted to forget it, because from Kevin's tone, it seemed like they were heading into yet another argument.

"What is it?" Connor asked nevertheless.

"I said forget it."

The last time Connor let Kevin bottle his feelings up, they nearly ended up as cat food.

"And I said what's troubling you?" Connor laid down beside Kevin. He didn't want to start a fight, he merely wanted to help.

Kevin took a deep breath, "I don't need to have my ass kissed at every turn alright? I don't care what people think. I don't! I really don't," even Kevin didn't look that convinced himself, "But I also don't appreciate getting insulted either."

"I was just-," Connor should go get lessons on how to flirt better, huh?

Kevin took Connor's hand, "I know, I know. That's why I told you to forget about it. I'm just over-reacting," he sighed, "But you can never let anything go, can you?"

Connor gave a kiss to Kevin's temple, "Never."

Kevin was a conundrum. How could someone who is so confident and holds himself at such high esteem be so insecure at the same time? With every conversation Connor had with Kevin, he was peeling away the layers to uncover what was underneath. Of course, it wasn't easy, it was more like pulling teeth than peeling the skin off onions. Fortunately for Connor, patience was one of his strong suits.

—

"You know what, bud?" Arnold nearly jumped up from the couch the three of them were splayed on.

"What?" Kevin asked without sparing a glance at Arnold.

Arnold was unable to contain his excitement, and he started slapping Connor and Kevin on their arms, "We should have a double date! Yes! We should totally do that!"

"Ow ow ow," the both of them tried to shy away.

Arnold was undeterred, "You and McKinley, me and Nabu. Sorry Poptarts, once you've gotten yourself a girlfriend, then we can go on a triple date."

"I'd rather not," Poptarts droned from his position on the floor.

"Nabu and I," Kevin corrected Arnold, and glanced at Connor, "I guess we could?"

Connor shrugged, "Sure. I don't see why not."

"Awesome!" Arnold cheered, "We'll go tomorrow!"

"Whoa, whoa! Hold up," Connor held up a hand, "It's only the middle of the week. We still have work to do tomorrow."

"You can give us a day off!"

Connor frowned, "I can't do that Arnold, it wouldn't be fair to the other Elders."

"Then give them a day off too!" Arnold grinned.

"Yeah Connor, give us a day off too," Poptarts begged, "I want to lie in bed all day and not move an inch. I think I deserved it after chasing after the kids and Cunningham all day."

Connor was not sure if they were being serious, "We can't just take days off whenever we like? We've got work to do."

"Why not?" Kevin added, "It's not like we're on a job or anything. Even normal employees get vacation days. Nobody's going to say no to a day off. Well, maybe except for you, Mr Workaholic. Are you actually going to say no?"

Connor felt like he was being ganged up against. If he said yes this time, who was to say they wouldn't try to weasel their way out of work next time?

"I don't know," Connor weighed his options.

Arnold grabbed onto Connor's arm, and shot him a silent pleading look. It was the same look he used on Kevin when he wanted to stay the night at Nabulungi's.

"Just this once?" Connor checked.

"Uhhhh," Arnold clearly wanted to make this a regular occurrence, "Yeah?"

"Yes! Yes, I'll take whatever I can get right now," Poptarts agreed, "Whoever thought that a two-day weekend was enough?"

Connor pursed his lips, he was probably going to regret this, "Okay, one day."

Arnold pumped his fists in the air, "You're the best, McKinley!"

"Hey!" Kevin pouted, "I thought I was the best."

Arnold grinned, "Oh of course you are, Kev. McKinley's the best out of everyone else who's not you."

"Aww, how very kind of you," Connor raised his eyebrow, "So, what's the plan?"

"Sleep," Poptarts piped up.

Arnold's eyes brightened, "Oh, oh! You guys are going to love this! Nabu is going to bring us to see her secret garden."

Kevin chuckled, "Are you sure it's for us all and not for you alone?"

"What? Why would it be?" Arnold looked confused.

"Oh Arn," Kevin shook his head.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Kevin Price," Connor laughed.

—

"Are we there yet?" Kevin panted as they continued the uphill trek, like they had been doing for the past two hours.

Connor realised that they would have to go back down after this, and he wasn't sure if his jellied legs would be able to support him on his downhill trek. Arnold and Nabulungi were nowhere to be seen. Arnold had started falling behind fairly early on, and Nabulungi had told them to go ahead first.

"Maybe we should wait here for Nabulungi and Arnold," Connor downed a big gulp of disgustingly warm water.

Connor didn't think that they were lost, since there had only been one path ahead of them. They kept to the marked path religiously, unwilling to risk a repeat performance of their lion encounter. But the hill itself didn't look like it was that tall from their starting point on the ground. They should have reached the top by now, if not, an hour ago, judging by the relentless pace they were going at. Because according to Kevin, the faster they climbed, the less tiring it would be.

They couldn't even find a good vintage point to check where they were, as the path was bordered by thick lines of tall trees.

Kevin coughed and doubled over with his hands on his knees.

"Are you alright?" Connor walked over to Kevin.

Kevin grimaced, "Got a stitch on my side."

Connor pointed to a small boulder by the side of the path, "Let's sit here to wait for them."

"Okay, but what if we are somehow lost? We'll be waiting for forever and they still wouldn't find us here," Kevin was making Connor nervous, "Maybe we should turn back."

"We can't be lost? There was no other way to go."

"I don't know, maybe Nabulungi calls it a secret garden because it's off the path," Kevin gestured as he sat down on the boulder.

"How are we going to find them then?" Connor sighed, "What we need are phones!"

Connor could think of a dozen other sticky situations the Elders had encountered in the past couple of weeks, which could have easily been prevented if they had their phones with them.

"You're telling me."

Connor tilted his head up to the sky, "What do you want to do now?"

Kevin held up a finger, "Gimme a minute."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Connor swept Kevin's sweaty bangs off his forehead.

Kevin winced and nodded, "My stamina's all shot."

"Here, hydration time," Connor handed his bottle over.

"There you two are!"

Connor and Kevin both jumped at the voice.

"Nabulungi!" Connor frowned. How did she get ahead of them?

"What took you guys so long?" Nabulungi looked amused.

Kevin narrowed his eyes at Nabulungi, "There's a shortcut."

Nabulungi shrugged, "Come, we've been waiting for so long, we thought that you two were eaten by lions."

Connor was too exhausted to even be mad at Nabulungi, "Lead the way, I guess."

—

The garden was well worth the effort. It was only three minutes away from where Connor and Kevin had stopped, and like Kevin said, was off the marked path. They later learnt that the path would actually lead them to a cave instead of the impressive flower field on the top of the hill. Naturally, Kevin got very excited about that. Connor on the other hand, was not as enthusiastic about entering a dark hole filled with bat droppings and who knows what else.

"You know, it's creepy to stare while someone's asleep," Arnold commented mid-chew, carrot stick dangling from his mouth.

Connor tore his gaze away from Kevin, who had dozed off while laid across Connor's lap, in the middle of the vast, colourful field.

"Leave him alone, Arnold," Nabulungi laughed, "I'd stare at Elder Price too."

Arnold thought about it for a moment before nodding, "Oh yeah, I get what you mean."

"Okaaaay, enough of this," Connor stopped it before things got real weird, "Don't talk while you chew."

Nabulungi wiggled her eyebrows, "Tell me, Elder McKinley, have you and Elder Price done it yet?"

"What?!" Connor squeaked, "Oh em gosh, guys!"

"Oh," Arnold and Nabulungi both smirked and exchanged glances.

"Whatever you two are thinking, stop it!" Connor yelled, "Stop!"

Arnold and Nabulungi burst into rambunctious laughter.

Connor could feel his face heating up, "Ugh, you two are infuriating!"

"What's happening?" Kevin mumbled sleepily.

Connor cleared his throat, "Nothing."

"Nabu and I just wanted to know if you and Connor have done The Sex yet," Arnold talked over Connor.

"Uh huh," Kevin rubbed at his eyes, "It's none of your business."

Nabulungi hummed, "Is that a yes?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Connor shrieked, "Kev!"

—

"How did your day go?" Connor threw himself into his bed with a contented sigh. He was not looking forward to the aches from his abused muscles that would probably make themselves known the next morning. Maybe he should have given everyone the Friday off too.

Poptarts glanced up at him from the top of his book, "I didn't leave my bed until after lunchtime, and I had the whole hut to myself the whole day."

"Sounds fun," Connor teased.

Poptarts huffed, "You won't understand," and went back to reading his book, and suddenly closed his book with a snap, "Oh, yes! Before I forget!"

"What?"

"There was a Mr Greene looking for you on the phone this afternoon."

Connor sprung up from his bed immediately.

Well, crap.